Description
Issue 17
| Item | Author | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Menu | Andy Green | |
| Magazine | Back-issue summary, puzzle corner | |
| Letters | Prince of Persia, Flexipage | |
| Yahtzee | Dan Dooré | Classic mouse dice game |
| Turtle + | William McGugan | Similar to LOGO language |
| Sector editor | Colin Cameron | Edit the contents of sectors! |
| Directory manager | Colin Cameron | Directory utility |
| Fred moves | Calvin Allett | Fred moves in mysterious ways… |
| MC pt 11 | Steve Taylor | Search: “MC 11” Keyscanning; redefine keys routine |
| Axcellent | Ian Slavin | Progs by Ian Slavin |
| Memory game | Joao Nuno Coelho | Similar to Simon game |
| Cutesy demos | Colin Cameron, John Hancock, Andy Monk | Several sickeningly cute demos |
| Megablast 2 | Simon Cooke | Updated sample tune from Fred 12 with graphics. |
| Credit scroll | Howard Price | Vertical scroller, credits style |
| Pipe palette | Mark Walker | Improve fonts’ appearances |
| Cosmic Demo | Dan Dooré | colourful patterns |
| Talking clock | William McGugan | Clock that, um, talks with the Voicebox |
| Smoker | William McGugan | Sam takes up the evil weed?! |
Magazine
Freditorial
Good Day to you all and welcome to the second Christmas issue
of FRED - although by some discrete form of forgetfulness I may
be correct in saying that I never mentioned Christmas even once
in the last Xmas issue! Hmmm...I'll blame it on the recession.
And now some sad news : some of you will have been following
the Fastline/FRED "feud" throughout various magazines which
proved extremely amusing for many people (especially myself).
Sadly this has drawn to a close - Fastline has gone. At the
beginning of November he decided to call it a day and moved to
the Atari ST. I think it might have something to do with him
making various comments about FRED and myself in the recent
issues of Enceladus. Amongst the comments about FRED were that
it was "c**p", he said I was a "dickhead" and said I'd be
running FRED from the Intensive Care Unit! Someone (ooooh! I
wonder who.....!) thoughtfully pointed out to him that if Ken
Barlow got £50,000 for being called "boring" he could be in
serious trouble. Mere days later he ceased trading - funny huh?
Freditorial
No debts are known and all "Fastline" discs are to be taken
over by the SCPDSA. Prices etc are unconfirmed but if you now
wish to order any discs which Fastline previously stocked you
will have to subscribe to the SCPDSA.
Another new disc 'zine has been launched. From the technical
editor of "ZAT", Dave Ledbury comes SAM Quartet. As the name
suggests, it is published every three months and costs £1.50
plus postage (although you'd be pretty damn clever if you worked
that out from the name!). There should be a short review or
extented mention in the letters/reviews section.
Discs / details available from the usual ZAT address :
[redacted]
News
I've also just received the preview version of the first SAM
Coupe Adventure Club disc. Obviously, it's very heavily based on
adventures although it also covers other interesting subjects
such as reviewing magazines etc
Mr Ron Stirling has recently sent me issue 2 of REVIEW. Ron
has good editorial and artistic skills which provide nice
effects and an interesting read although the magazine suffers
slightly on the programming side eg coding for the games, menu
control etc however one thing I did like is the BASIC game HOT
PURSUIT on the disc. Firstly you have to race along a (straight)
road catching time tablets which you need to catch up with a
speeding villain in level 2. Level three has you shooting at
criminals a la Op. Wolf style expect they don't seem to shoot
back. It is an extremely simple game to play and doesn't really
warrant a second shot except for the nice graphics. Very nicely
presented but the coding lets it down from what could have been
a good game.
News
A recent press release from Hilton Computer Services indicates
that their Personal Banking (no spelling mistakes here!) System
(or PBS for short) is now available. Apparently it's based on
the PC version and costs £19.95. The address is :
[redacted]
There have been a few replies to last months "plea" for
persons to help develop programs. I forgot to mention that I
need "imagination" people. To explain : to come up with ideas
for games or taking other people's ideas and adding to them.
Obviously you need to know that the Coupe cannot emulate an
Archimedes but no technical skills are at all necessary.
Misc.
This litle tip from Calvin Allett was supposed to go in last
month but due to a last-week panic I didn't have time. If you
liked playing the Light Cycles game on FRED9 but found it boring
playing by yourself then add these lines :
5 LET SCORE = 0
245 LET SCORE = SCORE + 1
280 IF (KE1 BAND1)=1 THEN LET SP1 =1: ELSE LET SP1=2: ELSE LET
SCORE = SCORE +1
835 PRINT AT 10,3; PAPER 4 ; PEN 8 ;"YOUR SCORE WAS ";SCORE:
LET SCORE = 0
You will probably be admiring this wonderful new magazine
reader by Cookie - it's pretty damn impressive huh? Yet another
first for FRED - the software of the nineties.
Adam Perry has written in to ask whether anyone else has
encountered problems of movements being corrupted whilst using a
joystick splitter - and of course, the way round it!
The BIG BAD and very very ugly competition
Everyone who bought Impatience will remember the Triltex
competition back in FRED 15. To be totally honest I didn't
expect it to be done for months and months - if at all! It seems
I've underestimated the average SAM user because I've had no
less than TWELVE entries and they've all been correct! The
overall winner was Andy Green (Phantom Software spookily
enough!) unfortunately I cannot offer any "runners-up" prizes. I
will however say "Jolly Well done everyone" followed by "so NOW
is someone going to tell me how to complete it?". Although a
dozen entries is hardly a revelation (!) considering the value
of the prize I will promise to have similar competitions in
future issues hopefully as future titles are released.
Sadly, there's no news on the FREDsoft front that I can reveal
but things are going well. There are currently several programs
under development and although contracts have yet to be drawn up
I will say that progress is good.
FREDsoft ctd.
In a few days you will see the reviews of Impatience as
published in Your Sinclair (a Megagame), Sinclair User
and possibly CRASH although details of the review have
not been made available. The ZAT review recently appeared giving
it the nice figure of 87%. Once the SU and CRASH reviews have
been confirmed then that is about all you'll hear about
Impatience for a while. Unless of course you're interested in
playing some extra levels??? If enough people would like to
play on against the tiles of Triltex then please get in touch
and you may well be bamboozled for the second time. The price
is undecided but it will definately be under £5 which may mean
that SAMCo and your local dealer will not be stocking it but
I'll give you more details as I dream them up (well, someone
around here has to do it don't they!).
SU have just said that they think they've given Impatience 84%
Meantime, I'm still needing to know what games YOU want to see
produced on the SAM (and don't say F16 or Sim City PLLLLEASE!)
News
You may remember that Colin Jordan got 16 bit company Digital
Magic interested in getting a few of their games converted to
coupe format (especially Escape From Colditz - a Great Escape
clone). Sadly, they are no longer. The circumstances are a
little bit suspicious but no details have been made available.
Prince Of Persia is finally released and judging by your
comments when you phone up - you love it and think it was well
worth the wait although many of you were a bit put off by the
number of bugs still lurking in it. But still, it's a good
production and it's pleasing to hear people like it.
I did have another FRED exclusive - unfortunately, I quick
phone call from a certain person told me to "disregard any
information regarding this project". Sad, but true. Although I
could print the info without any consequence, I am a man of my
word so I'll try and get "permission" for next issue - and maybe
even a demo/screenshots ???????
Irrelevant?
Now, with any luck you will have noticed a printed label on
the front of your envelope this morning. This is because a) I've
finally got my new and groovy Swift 24 printer which has only
taken me 18 months to save up for and b) I've transferred all my
records to computer! This essentially saves me endless hours of
writing up subscriptions, addresses on envelopes and also
means I can find SAM users in specific areas, so if you want to
send me an unaddressed, stamped envelope I will pass your
details on to someone in your area.
Actually, it's getting dangerously near the production time
and still no sign of my little (!) printer so I' getting
increasingly worried about the prospect of having to write out
hundreds of names and addresses again...
M Collins BBC - Below Benchmark Calibre ?
To date, the BBC has been getting a lot of criticism about
it's standards - not that they appear to have dropped lately,
but, for example, Channel 4 has recently vastly improved it's
image with a number of great comedies, interesting chat shows
(with exception to Oprah!) and popular magazine programmes. The
Beeb has totally changed Top Of The Pops with a number of good
and bad points. I'm sure no-one really cares that they've moved
to a bigger and better studio but also the on-screen computer
effects hamper the viewing, the digits on the "countdowns" are
misleading and there is a mediocre TOTP theme tune played with
the credits instead of squeezing another song in. In fact, the
only credential is that all acts are now live. A fine way to
soak up the licence payer's money.
As a matter of interest, how many "fellow youngsters" out
there have noticed the dramatic improvement in the chart music
over the last 3 months?
FRED goes a wandering...
As I may have mentioned previously, I popped down to Swansea
recently (if only to do a bit of debt collecting!). The story
was that the Birmingham Show was on the Sunday so on Thursday
night I caught a coach to good ol' Brum and a train to Swansea.
Whilst I should have been at school I had a good nosey round
SAMCo (as usual). I had a peek at demos of "Bowin and the Count
Dracula" (previewed last month) and the Arkanoid Clone "Batz 'n'
Balls" from Lord Insanity himself. Hopfully, I'll have something
more definite on them for next month but I was a little
disappointed with them both. They both featured nice graphics
and had obviously been well programmed but from what I saw they
were just Manic Miner reworked and Arkanoid with pleasant
graphics and awkward controls. However, as I've handed over my
reviewing duties I won't comment any more until you've seen the
independant reviews.
Most of you will be wondering about Lemmings. Unfortunately
there is nothing to tell - the graphics have been ported down
but no agreement has been made. You might see it by Easter but
then again that is in Welsh times...
Swansea revisited
I saw a more up-to-date version of Splat with some of the new
and ingenious levels incorporated. The scrolling has also been
improved slightly. Although I have not heard it, apparently
SAMCo have just recieved the music from Frantisek Fuka so it'll
be about the same quality as the Impatience tune which so many
of you seem to love.
The SAM seems to be doing very well abroad but markets here
have yet to pick up. Spain will soon be boasting a very talented
set of programmers - so the next SAMCo mailshot for details.
I did pick up a lot of gossip during my visit but little
things such as laws prevent me from telling anyone - sorry
folks!
The rest of my weekend in Swansea was spent doing not very
much to tell you the truth - but it was great to be back in a
country where I can have a civil conversation with someone and
neither of us understands what the other is saying! (especially
people from Brum - no offence to anyone who is related to
Birmingham except those who live in Swansea)
Oooops - wotta mistaka to maika!
Sadly, a late night on Saturday prevented us (myself and Chris
White (the one who calls himself a programmer) from getting up
in time to get a lift to the Show in time. However British Rails
excellant service got us there in only 6 hours (without any
"leaves on the line" excuses) which meant we arrived at 3.30
just in time to see the Show close at 4pm! Not many people can
travel over 500 miles and spend four days away from home and
then miss the whole point of the journey - but I can!
As I tend to miss out on the fun part of the Show, I'd love to
print a show report that anyone else did - I go to two or
three a month and I don't think my reports would vary from one
show to the next.
Naturally, I will be attending the Glasgow (1/12/91) and
London (14/12/91) Shows but I don't think it would be practical
to try for the Leeds (15/12/91).
All Formats Fairs
Hot off the press, here's a list of all the All Formats shows
in the first 6 months of '92
January February March
11 - Birmingham 1 - Donington Park 8 - Glasgow
12 - Leeds 2 - Haydock Pk Racecourse 14 - London
18 - London 8 - Washington 15 - Bristol
19 - Birstol 23 - Birmingham 21 - Donington Park
26 - Glasgow 22 - Leeds
April May June
12 - Washington 16 - London 7 - Glasgow
26 - Birmingham 17 - Bristol 14 - Haydock Park Racecourse
For more details (exact locations, directions or discount
vouchers phone me on the usual number.
Back Issues
Many of you have been asking for a complete list of contents
of all back issues. To date there has never really been such a
thing but seeing as I'm about to get a printer I thought I'd
prepare a list, and why not put it in FRED I asked myself (well,
there's not exactly dozens of other people working here to
ask is there?!). Anyway here it is and if any of your friends
are interested, they can get some FRED bumf by sending an SSAE.
Each Disc costs only £1.50
FRED issues 1 & 2 (1 disc)
Screenshots, "HAKIT" demo, PALETTE demo, calculator simulator,
MEM$ example, screens and interview with Steve Nutting.
FRED issue 3
Chocolate Factory demo, SPECTACULAR demo, animated adverts, the
acclaimed TETRIS, fractal show, mandlebrot, interview with
Zenith Graphics and screens.
Back Issues
FRED issue 4
Screenshots, "DOK" - game database, Zenith demo, Silly Demo 1 -
one of the best demos seen on the SAM yet, screens, fractal,
demo game by Zenith, basic sound machine, patch - effective line
pictures and FRED interview (!)
FRED issue 5
Screenshots, DATAPOST - mail database, screens, (very) simple
word processor, screen flipping utility, Coyote demo, example of
parallax scrolling, 128 colour demo, animated skull demo and
interview with Grafix Wizards.
FRED issue 6
Screenshots, Speccy compatible section, m/c tutorial 1, several
animated demos, diary program, useful uneraser program, address
manager, screens and SCPDSA interview.
Back Issues
FRED issue 7
Screenshots, sprite designer, screens, Freddy Kruger demo,
Flash-screen$ convertor, m/c lesson 2, filer, interview with GM
Software, 12 music tunes - 10 written by the Masters Of Magic.
FRED issue 8
Screen magnifier, MIDI program, screens, Trip-a-Tron 1 - classic
palette rotating demos, notepad utility, m/c lesson 3, FREDbase
- advanced database, 1 level playable demo of Masters Of Magic
hit game No Way Back.
FRED issue 9
Hilarious YS-type trainspotter demo, screen encrypter, Moon
Encounter - probably the most talked about character to date,
MoM musical demo, m/c lesson 4, Light Cycles - 1/2 player TRON
type game, simple fruit machine, SAM Pad, over 1,000 Spectrum
pokes, Totally Wierd demo, interview with Colin Jordan and a
puzzling mathematical game.
Back Issues
FRED issue 10
HomeWorld - game of survival, STOM - puzzle game in similar
style to Mind Games, more Encounters demos, demos by Nick
Roberts, m/c lesson 5, Tweety demo - the 3rd demo by Lord
Insanity featuring hidden game, Multi-worm, 500 more Spectrum
pokes, IQ test, revolving earth demo, disc numberer, FX
generator, menu creator and interview with Daniel Garner (S&SC).
FRED issue 11A
6 great tunes, 7 various scrollers, disc message creator, drum
beat simulator, m/c lesson 6, several mandlebrots, sound to
light convertor, Sliding Puzzle game, Last Stand - 2 player
shoot-em-up, amusing Road Signs, wireframe graphics, digital
clock, vertical scroller, 10 fonts.
Back Issues
FRED issue 11B
Trip-a-Tron 3, amusing Flashy demo, sound generator,
disassembler, another MoM demo, demo of No Way Back 2, even more
encounters demos, Bubble Bobble demo, paradoxical pictures, Mad
Tank demo, Rocket demo, spinning top demo, Sound Sampler sound
to light program.
FRED issue 12
Superb MegaBlast samples, Star Trek samples, Vortex demo, large
animated sprite, m/c lesson 7, MoM demo, screen warper, SAM
Jotter - WP, SAM pointer, m/c routines, dancing FRED logo,
triple scroller.
FRED issue 13
QL convertor, Gauntlet sample demo, Encounters demo, smooth
scroller, m/c lesson 8, demo of 16-bit Gods, header reader,
database, SIMON game, text encryptor, un-BLITZer, m/c fader
routines, m/c keyscan routines, m/c capper routines, joystick
reader.
Back Issues
FRED issue 14
demo of Triltex, Sim Island?, superb screen cruncher, fake 128K
emulator, m/c lesson 9, Fancy Fonts, SAM point 2 (SAM Mouse),
small text utility, advanced Spectrum software utility.
FRED issue 15
amazingly brilliant fruit machine, HTBA Pop Star, Popcorn sample
demo, Trip-A-Tron 4, 8 m/c routines, SAM Word - advanced WP,
Hacker - Speccy graphic hacker, fish demo.
FRED issue 16
SAM base, Sam Fox sample, Kim Wilde sample, Spanish Inquisition
demo, m/c lesson 10, Gremlin demo, SAM mouse programs, 51
fonts!, Line games.
The FRED empire!
Yep,16 discs in all only £1.50 a time.You do of course realize
that each issue normally has between 15-70 pages of magazine
including letters, hints, cheats, news, previews, competitions,
jokes and articles on wrestling, sound sampling, books, rock
legends and anything which can be classified as "MAD". There are
normally a few reviews in each issue depending on the number of
releases.
All items on FRED have not been previously released at all,
hence if you see items listed here in someone elses list then
you can be assured that FRED released it first.
While I'm at it, I'll remind you that I still have a few mouse
mats at only £3 each. A superb commercial release for only £9.99
from me, SAMCo or your local SAM dealer (if he doesn't stock it
just send me his name and address). Subscriptions are also taken
at £8 for 6 issues and £15 for 12 issues - a bargain or what?
Their Price?
And now, my dear fellows, it's time for me to slag off someone
else - except I'll explain it in a little story so I won't get
slagged off in return..... One fine day I visited my local Our
Price records store (in Dundee) and happened to decided to buy
two 12" records (Altern8 & Oceanic no less) costing me just a
tad over £8. When I safely delivered them home they were BOTH
scratched - I don't mean scratches you can see, but the needle
jumped about all over the place. Obviously, after testing all my
other records (no faults found) I took these two back for
replacement. Both records were still faulty so I adorned my
"unhappy and stern" look and went back to recieve another 2
replacements and a few apologies. I was not exactly chuffed to
find that when I got these two home they were still faulty -
that makes 6 faulty records in all! I went straight back (well,
3 days later) and demanded a refund which I duly received. Now,
a brand new HMV store just opened two doors up from Our Price so
I took my £8.38 in there and got the same two records for only
£7.88. And when I got these two home, they worked perfectly.
Strange story eh? Sad but true.
Random Thoughts...
If anyone wants an idea for a demo then how about displaying
the letter F on screen then by moving the parts of it about
slightly it'll turn into an R, then an E and then into a D. All
the letters link fairly easily and some nice smooth effects
would make a marvellous demo - doncha think?
A few people have been moaning about not having a "nickname"
in the FRED world as many contributors do. Here's a list of all
the main contributors for this issue that should be mentioned in
any scrollies (well, you can't put real names into a scrolly can
you?) : Banzai, The Smarty, Vampire, Bitabyte, Wizard, Axe,
Rabbit, Cookie, and Extreme. Some of these you won't know - so
Mr Contributor, you'd better make sure everyone does know you by
your "FREDname". Incidentally, any suggestions for me are more
than welcome, but for now just use something like FRED, CM or
even Jocko as I "occasionally" get called in Wales! (don't ask)
.
W McGugan The Puzzle Corner
Some brain teasers to get that old grey matter working.
(1) Three houses (A, B, C) each need electricity, water, and
gas. On one side of a street are the three houses and on the
other are the electricity, water and gas companies like this:
A B C
____________________________
____________________________
↑ ↑ ↑
E W G
You have to design a layout of electric wire, water pipe, gas
pipe so that each house is connected. You can not mix them and
the wire/ pipe can not cross over or go under another. You can't
have two houses connected to each other.
I will pay for 6 issues of FRED for the first person to complete
this puzzle!!
W McGugan Why on earth did he call it a corner?
(2) A fishing boat is docked in a harbour. Down the side of it
is a rope ladder that touches the water surface at the first
rung. The rungs are 1/2 a metre appart. The water level is
rising steadily at 1 metre an hour. How many more rungs will the
water cover after 2 hours?...
Ok... ok... they were fairly difficult, how about something a
bit simpler.
(3) Two English coins add up to 55p. One is not a 50p piece.
What are they?
(4) Only one of these statements is correct - which is it?
(a) Only one of these statements is false.
(b) Only two of these statements are false.
(c) Three of these statements are false.
(d) Four of these statements are false.
(e) All five of these statements are false.
W McGugan The puzzle corner
(5) A tramp collects cigarette ends from the pavement, when he
collects five he sticks them all together and makes another
cigarette, which he smokes. One day he manages to collect twenty
five cigarette ends. How many cigarettes does he get to smoke?
One last classic puzzle to end with. Which is more accurate? , a
stopped clock or a clock that is 5 minutes fast. Answers in next
months issue of FRED.
If you think you have the answer to question 1. or if you just
want to write to me then here's my address.
[redacted]
One last thing, why don't I have a nick name? There's AXE,
BANZAI etc... but I just stick with the name on my birth
certificate. How about 'ACE' or 'BIG-MAN'? That would suit me
fine. How about the one I gave you? CM
It's All Change In Swansea
I've just (and I'm not kidding about the "just"!) had a fair
bit of news from SAMCo and it's rather interesting. What you
will be most affected by is the scrapping of the newsletters and
0898 Hotline number (which I have, as a rule, refused to call).
In replacement we'll have a new disc magazine. SAMCo will
shortly be employing Dave Ledbury of ZAT to produce and organize
this monthly 'zine. The first issue is hoped to be released
sometime in February (I was quoted the 3rd week in January!)
although there will be significant charge, it is as yet
undecided. They have decided not to review their own software
(!) but hope to feature demos, news of their products and stuff
like that.
Adrian Parker ( who is Blue Alpha ) is also to be
employed by SAMCo as a technical man (he was one of the
technical men at MGT, along with Paul Thomas and Bruce). He will
also be adding updates to the technical manual in this new disc
magazine.
New news at SAMCo
The other news is that Colin Jordan is no longer working
in-house at SAMCo - he will be developing software (such as
Discovery packs, adventures etc) which will be purchased by
SAMCo and released under the Revelation label. The only thing
that's changed really is that you can't phone up SAMCo and speak
to him. However if a few of you have some questions you wish to
put to Colin then I can get in touch with him.
Also, from next issues onwards, both Your Sinclair and Crash
are supposed to be featuring three SAM pages every month.
However, Sinclair User (who gave Splat 64% and a whole page and
yet they gave Impatience 84% but only 1/4 of a page ???) are
said to be reluctant about supporting the SAM. What I strongly
recommend is that if you want to see more SAM coverage in the
glossies, write a letter to one of the three mags. That way if
every FRED reader does that (and mentions FRED), then the SAM
coverage in Speccy mags has a much healthier prospect of
growing.
.
Don't be impatient...
Yes, I know I've written a lot this month (just making up for
the last few issues) and you're all desperate to load up all the
little programs on this disc. So, I'll tell you all about them :
Remember William McGugan's great FRED dance routine? And the
"Turtle" drawing method he used? Well, now he's perfected it
with instructions and all so now you can do the same with your
name.
Calvin Allett not only supplied that little alteration earlier
this issue but he's sent in a whole disc full of programs. The
ones I've decided to use this month are all FRED orientated :
we've got FRED twirl, FRED jive, FRED stretch, FRED shrink and
flying FRED!!!! Amazing!!!
Steve Taylor comes down out of the clouds just in time to
write another revealing machine code lesson (number eleven
unless I'm thick!)
Ian Slavin is a little bit busy at college these days so his
programs only occupy ONE menu poition this month (?!?). But
The Disc goes on
still, they're a good all round selection of his works - past
and present.
From another of our Dutch friends comes The Memory Game by
Joao Nuno Coelho. Similar to the "Simon" game except you can
chose what shapes and which difficulty level you want. The keys
are 1,2 and 3 for the corresponding shapes...
So many of you liked the original MegaBlast demo back in issue
12 and you've all asked for the latest version so here it is!
The main difference is the title screen but at least I'll not
get anymore phone calls asking for it!!!
And now for a few cute little demos, they've sort of been
building up so I thought I'd make a little compilation of them.
We have the "eyes" demo converted from the PC by Colin Cameron,
a little Devil demo by John Hancock and a Geeks demo (with THAT
music again....oh no!) by Andy Monk.
On the Bits 'n' Bobs this month we've got a lurvelly credits
scroller by Howard Price, a Pipemania palette type thing by Mark
Walker, a Cosmic demo by Dan Doore (thanks for the mention in
Format Dan!), a talking Clock for those of you with a Blue Alpha
And there's more ???
Voicebox and a Smoking demo by William McGugan. Fascinating huh?
Anyway, somewhere on this disc should be a Christmassy thing or
two - Dan Doore has done a lovely Crimble demo and Steve Taylor
MIGHT have done a little Xmas demo thing on the menu or
something - but I don't know, you're the clever people!!.
Pictures are by Simon Cooke (Speccy 128K), John Hancock (Silly
Pic!), Martin Nickells (Driller, Ice Temple and a few others)
and Andy Monk as well (Jetman, Narc etc) as well as any other
pictures I may use if I have enough memory left...
I've had a new FRED advert done as you'll see if you flick
through the adverts (press "S" to save one out as a Screen$
file) which should start appearing in magazines that I've made
arrangements with.
OK, I've got to go now because I've filled up all the memory
on OutWrite and I've still got loads of Instructions to print!!
So I'll see you on the next page when I start a new file!!!
.
DD/BP YAHTZEE- HOW TO PLAY & RULES
This is yet another SAM Mouse only production which I'm sure
all you fellow mouse owners out there will appreciate. If anyone
has the time to convert it to Keys/Joystick/Joymouse, please do
so and I'll put it in the next FRED. Take it away Dan..
Yahtzee is a dice game that uses 5 dice. You must build up
patterns of numbers (e.g. 12345,11111). You have three throws
(SAM will throw the first one for you) and you can "hold" and
"free' dice by clicking on the arrowed plinths next to them
(When held, they will change colour to a darker shade). When you
have selected the dice you want to hold, click on the "Roll"
icon. If you cannot hold or roll the dice then the program is
telling you that you need to pick a category to put your dice
into. To pick a catagory, simply click in the rectangular space
where the catagory name is.
DD/BP Yahtzee Instructions
The Catagories are :
ONES/ACES - counts ONLY ONES and adds up.
TWOS - counts ONLY TWOS and adds up. Etc.
3 of a Kind - If you have 3 dice the same then add up all dice
4 of a Kind - As above but with 4 the same.
Full House - 3 of one kind and 2 of another (eg 11122, 33366)
Score 25 points.
Low Straight - A 'run' of four dice. (e.g. 1234, 2345) NB The
other value can be ANYTHING. Score 30 points.
High Straight - A run of all 5 dice. (e.g. 12345, 23456)
Score 40 points.
YAHTZEE - All 5 dice the same (The BIG One, It is customary to
yell YAHTZEE at the top of your voice at this point.
Score *50* Points.
DD/BP Yahtzee Instructions
Chance - The lucky escape, if you cannot go then this will give
a place to put your dice without affecting your score.
The BONUS is awarded if you score over 63 on the upper section
(Thats 3 of each in every upper catagory).
If there are any problems, experiment
HINT: CLICK ON THE 'DAN' ICON IN THE CORNER...
To Quit, remove FRED disc & press the reset button
Please remember, I am especially interested in mouse software
to stick on FRED because there is so little of it about but if
you have written something thats either fun or useful then
please send it in for inclusion on a future issue of FRED. As
you probably know, I can't afford to pay anyone for their
contributions because FRED magazine is a non-profit making
scheme but you do get to have your name plastered all over one
of the largest SAM magazines ever.
.
Vampire Software Sector Editor Version 2.2.
You may be the sort of person who think that they don't need a
sector editor, I hope that this program will show them that they
were wrong. Basically what a sector editor does is it allows
you to edit the infromation on a disk at a very low level. I'll
explain how the program works and give examples of it's uses.
If you look at the screen you'll see it's covered with little
boxes that are supposed to look like buttons ! If you move your
cursor over one and press a mouse button ( or F5 if your using
keys ) Then some action will be carried out. Pressing both
buttons at once ( Or Shift and F5) will activate EDIT Mode .
Now I'll explain wht all these buttons do,starting at the top.
COLOURS : Changes the colours.
HELP : Displays these pages.
<< Button : Move back one track.
< Button : Move Back one sector.
? Button : Jump to any track and sector.
> Button : Move forward one sector.
Sector Editor
>> Button : Move forward one track.
HOME : Goto Track 0, Sector 1
END : Goto last track on disk.
NEXT : If sector is part to a sam file then goto next
Sector as specified by last two bytes.
EDIT : Edit current sector.
BUILD FILE : Create SAM code file from specified Sectors.
DISK : Change disk attributes, i.e. Tracks Per Side.
SEARCH TRACK : Search Current track for target string.
SEARCH DISK : Search entire disk starting at the sector after
The Current sector.
LOAD : Reload current sector. ( UNDO Editing )
SAVE : Save current sector.
FILL : Fill sector with a specified charactor.
EXIT : Quit program and ReBoot disk.
Sector Editor
THE SCREEN
As well as the buttons on the screen there is also eight lines
in the middle this is the contents of the current sector. Below
this is an info line this displays the current track and sector
as well as the value of the current charactor. To see the value
of any charactor in the sector move the cursor over it and
click a mouse button ( Or Press F5 ).
Now that thats over with I'll explain how to use the more
advanced functions of this editor.
EDIT
A sector editor isn't much good if you can't edit the sectors!
When you activate this button a cursor appears in the sector
display. Move this using the normal cursor keys, anything else
you type will overwrite what is already there. If you wan't to
type a charactor that you can't generate from the keyboard,
then press EDIT and you can enter the ascii value. To exit this
mode and return to normal press F0. Any changes made will not be
permanant unless you SAVE the sector if you wish to get back the
unedited sector then simply LOAD it up again.
Sector Editor
DISK
SAM disks are formated to 780K, with 160 tracks, 80 per side, 10
sectors per track and 512 bytes per sector. However 720K PC
disks have only 9 sectors per track so sector 10 dosn't exist
and trying to read it will only result in an error. The DISK
option allows you to change the limits on the disk. The default
SAM format. The bytes per sector value will not change anything
apart from the BUILD FILE function. If you are reading SAM Files
it can be useful to set this to 510 to miss out the last two
bytes which direct SAM to the next sector of the file.
SEARCH TRACK
Fairly obvious, just type what you want to find and all the
sectors containg this string will be shown.
SEARCH DISK
This is a little diffrent. You type in your string as before but
when the string is matched the search stops. This is just the
way I prefer it to work, to continue the search then you have to
Sector Editor
activate the SEARCH DISK button again. NOTE : The search starts
at the sector after the current sector.
BUILD FILE
This is the really useful option, with it you can recover files
that have a bad sector in them, transfer files from computer to
computer and much more ( As all the adverts say ! )
I'll give examples of these later.
This option works by taking sectors that you specify and glueing
them together to make a SAM code file. In this version the
maximum file length is 64K.
When you activate BUILD FILE you are presented with a menu,the
options here are the diffrent ways the sectors can be arranged.
SEQENTIAL : Simply takes every sector in sequence ( Forwards or
backwards ) from a start position to an end position.
Sector Editor
ALTERNATING SIDES : This is as seqential but every time a new
track is being read the disk switches sides so it reads the
tracks like this. Tr 0, Tr 128, Tr 1, Tr 129 and so on until it
reaches the final track that you specify.
SAM FORMAT : This starts at a specified position and reads the
file in SAM Format i.e. The next track is byte 511 of this
sector and the next sector is byte 512.
USER CONTROLED : With this option you simply specify each track
and Sector to load seperatly.
To show you the power of this editor I'll give you some
examples. But first a word of warning if you intend to
experiment with this program then ensure any valuable disks you
are using are write-protected it is very easy to duff up a disk
by saving a sector in the wrong place.
Sector Editor
Example One : Games players
Some games have passcodes in them you can sometimes discover
these using this program.
First find out the first password. I'll use Hexagonia ( The
all Formats Version ) as an example. So the first password is
MAGICAL. Now search for this password using SEARCH DISK but miss
out the last letter. ( The last letter is sometimes diffrent to
show the computer it's the last letter ! ) Every time it finds
the word look around in the adjacent sectors for the other
passwords. If you can't find it then start the search again
from your new position.
You can also look through the code for hidden messages which
programers often leave. This method will not work for all games
some games encode the passwords and some games ( Like Triltex )
don't use letters for the password they use symbols ( Very
Clever ! )
Sector Editor
Example Two : PC to SAM transfer.
This method is almost completely foolproof ( But not quite ! )
First on a PC take a blank disk and format it ( This method was
tested using a disk formated to 720k so I can't promise it will
work for other formats ). Now copy a text file onto the disk.
Now on the SAM load this program and set the disk values to 80
tracks per side, 9 sectors per track and 512 bytes per sector.
Next, Find the start and end of the file and note down the track
and sector numbers. Now select BUILD FILE and choose option two
( Alternating Sides ) from the menu. Enter the start position
and the end position then just sit back and wait.
You wll be told how long the file is ( This may be a few bytes
out ) and given the option to print it, save it or forget about
it. Save it and you will have a SAM code file that started life
on a PC.
Sector Editor
Of course you don't need to stick to text files you could
transfer pictures but it might take a bit of work to get them
onto a SAM screen.
You don't need to stick to PC's either but I don't have access
to ST's or Amiga's so I don't know how their disks are laid out,
the answer is simply to experiment !
This method was designed using a Nimbus PC running MS-DOS other
systems may be different and you may have to alter the method.
I'm sure you can find many more uses for this program.
The error traping routine should catch most errors but if you
get caught in a loop of repeating errors then hit escape
and press F4. Anyone out there is welcome to nose about in my
program if they dare !
CREDITS
-------
This program by Colin ( VAMPIRE ) Cameron.
With thanks to FRED for the font and SAM Word 2 on which this
help file was written.
All letters, complaints, suggestions, etc To : VAMPIRE SOFTWARE,
[redacted]
THIS HAS BEEN A VAMPIRE SOTWARE PRODUCTION FOR FRED MAGAZINE !
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wow! Good program eh? Actually, the end of game message for
Triltex is encrypted as well so you won't found that out using
this! However games like Hezagonia and all Enigma games don't
use any form of encrption.... .
Directory Manager
This program is really a mixture of useful little things it
isn't too impressive but I'm sure you'll find it useful.
The program can be used to lock out bad sectors,unerase files,
view files as if they were text, change a files type and as well
as that it makes renaming, hiding and protecting files much
easier.
NOTE : Do not use this program with MasterDOS or MasterBASIC
booted as it makes the read file, test file and lock out
functions very unpredictable as the progam has no alterations
for M/Dos or M/Basic you should just use SAMDOS !
Finding The File You Want
On the main screen you will see there is a directory with one
file highlighted this file's information is displaied in the top
half of the screen. To select a diffrent file use move your
cursor onto the arrow keys beside the directory and click a
mouse buttn or press F5. The double arrows move five places.
Directory Manager
If you change disk you can read your new disk by clicking on the
word DIRECTORY.
Changing Things
To change the name or type simply click on the word NAME or the
WORD type. To change the hide or protect status either use the
boxes at the bottom of the screen or click on the word HIDDEN or
PROTECTED in the file data.
Changing Things ( Cont. )
To erase or unerase a fill use the ERASE box, if you unerase you
will be asked to enter the file type.
To save your changes you must use the SAVE box before you move
to a diffrent file. To return to the data last SAVED use the
LOAD box, you can think of this as an undo command.
Directory Manager
Reading a File.
This will do the same as a MasterDOS MOVE TO #2 command or an
MSDOS TYPE command it will display the contents of a file as
text this can be useful for reading the message files hiding on
FRED disks, looking through code for hidden messages or simply
for reminding yourself what a file contained.
Test File.
This command will check that each of the files sectors are
intact and that the number of sectors used is the same as the
number in the directory entry.
This is most useful when uneraseing files, as it can be used to
check if another file has overwritten the erased one. If the
erased file has been overwritten then the number of sectors used
will probably be diffrent.
Directory Manager
This function also shows what sectors are used for the file,
this can be useful if you want to look at the file with a sector
editor.
If bad sectors are found you are given the option to lock then
out this is explain on the next page.
Lock Out.
Disks are not reliable. Bad sectors arr just something we have
to put up with. However if you get a bad sector on a disk
then you can't save anything becaue the computer keeps trying to
use that sector. If the sector is already in a file then you can
just leave the file but then you can't use all the good sectors
in the file. What this function does is simply tells the
computer not to use this sector. It does this by adding the
sector to the sector usage map for the first file on the disk,
this will mak the computer think that the sector is used, but
the computer will never try to use it. This only works if there
Directory Manager
is a file in the first slot. When I tested this using MasterDOS
the sectors started to repair themselves and other weird things
happened if anyone can explain why I be interested to hear from
them.
CREDITS
-------
This program by Colin ( VAMPIRE ) Cameron.
With thanks to FRED for the font and SAM Word 2 on which this
help file was written.
All letters, complaints, suggestions, etc To : VAMPIRE SOFTWARE,
at address on the
Sector Editor notes
Hidden Messages on FRED discs??? Ha! Wouldn't hear of it
(however there is a program called Circle on this disc thats not
bad...)
Cheero then chaps
Thats, the instructions for the other 3 programs on the disc and
now it's time to go. However Calvin Allett has written a lovely
article on Computers that begins just after this page which I
recommend you all read.
Meantime, FRED 18 will be out the first week in January at the
silly little price of £1.50.
FRED, Phone [redacted] if you want a chat,
[redacted] have a question to ask or just want to
hear a Scottish accent......
See you all at London on Saturday the 14th then....
PS : Outwrite's just told me that my "File Is Full" again -
512K of memory and only a 50K text file !!!! .
CRA COMPUTERS
The first machine capable of calculations was invented in 1642
by a French mathematician called Blaise Pascal, unlike the
abacus his machine used cogs, each with ten teeth instead of
beads on a wire. About two hundred years later in 1832 an
English mathematician ,Charles Babbage invented a calculator
which had most of the features of a modern computer but it was
very complicated and unreliable and nobody was interested in it.
In 1944 the first successful mechanical computer was made by an
American, Howard Aiken, it had counter wheels and electronic
motors and electromagnets to turn them, altogether it included
750,000 parts, this was outdated in 1946 by two Americans,
J.Presper Eckert and John Maunchly who built a new type of
Electronic computer, they called it "ENIAC" which stood for
"Electronic Numeral Integrator and Calculator". This machine
used hundreds of big valves to operate, cost millions of dollers
and filled a whole room.
CRA Computers
In the late 1950's transisters replaced valves as the
computers basic components and so computers started to become
smaller and more reliable and in 1958 the Integrated Circuit was
invented, a single IC could contain hundreds of transisters, all
packed onto one tiny circuit board.
In 1971 the Intel Corporation produced the Intel 4004, a single
chip which performed all the operations of the computers
processor, because it was so small it was called the
microprocessor.
The microprocessor revolutionalised the computer industry,
computers now had a single brain or Central Processing Unit
(CPU) capable of doing all the computers functions and the price
of computers dropped so that smaller companies could afford one.
Nowadays computers are everywhere including the home and can be
bought for just a few hundred pounds instead of thousands or
even millions of pounds like in the past.
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Computers have a memory just like humans and there are two main
types of memory, one of these is:
RAM-Random Access Memory, this memory is wiped or cleared
whenever the computer is switched off, it is like having an
empty book which you can write in, but which somebody will rub
out, so you have to save it for future use.
Computers have different amounts of memory and this is measured
in K's or Kilobytes, most home computers used to have a memory
of 64K but most computers now have a Megabyte of memory, a
Megabyte is made up of 1024K, some computers can have memory
added to them to expand their potential. e.g. The SAM Coupe
computer comes with 256K or 512K internal memory but can be
expanded to a whopping 4.5 Megabytes externally.
Computers can be linked together in what is called a network,
there are many types of network but the two most common are:-
CRA Computers
LAN-Local Area Network, these are normally in one building or
site such as a school and the computers are connected using
cables, there is normally one specific computer in the network
called a FILE SERVER which is normally used for handling the
files of the other computers, the FILE SERVER normally has a
disk drive atached to it which all the other computers in the
network can load and save programs with, this means that each
computer does not need to have its own disk drive or printer
because peripherals such as these can be shared between the
whole network.
One advantage of this system is that the teacher can keep an
eye on the class's work, but a major disadvantage is that if the
system breaks down the individual computers need their own disk
drive to load and save from.
WAN-Wide Area Network, this is a network which connects a vast
number of computers over a wide area usually by telephone using
what is called a MODEM (Modulator Demodulor) to scramble
CRA Computers
information that is sent and to unscramble information that is
recieved into a form that we can understand, this is a fast way
of communication and is normally used in places like Banks and
Travel Agents.
Everything a computer does is based on two numbers, 0 and 1, 0
for negative and 1 for positive, if something is positive then
the computer sends an electrical impulse (usually 5 volts) and
if it is negative then the computer does nothing.
A computer has its own language in which it thinks and this is
called machine code, you can write programs in it such as games
but it is dificult to learn so most computers have a second
language, which is much like English which is known as BASIC
(Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), it is much
easier to write programs in this but when the program is run it
is quite slow because the computer has to translate all this
into machine code before each instruction is carried out.
CRA Computers
Programs written in Basic need to have line numbers at the
beginning of each line so that the computer knows in which order
to carry them out and so the programmer can make the computer
skip back to certain lines in a loop or go to a certain part of
the program and then return to the point at which it jumped.
Programmers can also define what are known as procedures on some
computers these are a set of instructions held in the procedures
name which when that name is come across by the computer in the
program those instructions are carried, these are particularly
useful when writing games as you can define procedures for the
music, game over sequence, title and almost everything else and
call them up as needed.
One of the most important features of a computer is it's
graphics, a computers graphics are made up from dots on the
screen and these dots form pictures or text, part of the
graphics is also how many colours it has and how you can use
them, a Spectrum only has 8 colours but 7 of these can be either
CRA Computers
bright or dull so in actual fact it has 15, whereas the SAM
Coupe has 128 colours. Both the Spectrum and the SAM Coupe have
256 dots along and 192 down but the SAM Coupe's display is a lot
better than the spectrums as on the Spectrum you can only have
two colours in any 8*8 square but on the SAM Coupe you can put
any colour anywhere so long as there are no more than 16 colours
on any line, On the SAM you can also display all 128 colours on
screen at once which gives superb graphics.
As well as pictures a computer needs to be able to display text
and most computers display it in a grid of 8*8, so with a
resolution of 256 dots along that only gives you 32 characters
along the screen but on the SAM Coupe you can switch to Mode 3
which has 512 dots along which gives you a resolution of 512*192
when in this mode you can display 64 characters along the screen
or 85 is you swith to a 6*8 grid.
Peripherals also play a large part of computers and you can buy
almost anything you want, which will make the computer do a
CRA Computers
variety of different things such as speak, play music or you
could even buy a robot to follow a maze, the devices I spoke of
are Sound Samplers which allow you to record real sounds such as
your favourite music from a tape recorder or even such things as
a dog barking, or thunder digitally into the computers memory,
these sounds can then be save to cassette or disk and can also
be manipulated, you can speed up or slow down the sample, play
it backwards, play only a section of it and also do things like
fade and echo, samplers are great fun and really show what a
computers sound chip and processor can do but one drawback is
the amount of memory these use up, often at least about fifteen
to twenty K and thats just for a second, when you consider how
long a song is your running into Megabyte's worth of memory.
The other piece of hardware I mentioned which can
make the computer talk is called a speech synthesiser, when one
of these is attached to the computer a sentence can be typed in
to the computer and the computer will then speak the sentence,
the only problem with these is that most of them use what are
CRA Computers
known as allophones and thus you have to type the words and you
say them and not as they are spelt, sometimes you can try for
ages with lots of different spellings just to get the computer
to say a simple word.
Sometimes if you have a lot of software and need to access it
quickly then a disk drive isn't enough, what comes in useful
then is a Hard Disk Drive, these can hold vast amounts of data
sometimes running into hundreds of Megabytes instead of the
measly 780K usually offered by most 3.5 inch disk drives, hard
drives can also access information quicker than a normal disk
drive and are often essential in businesses or schools, these
however cost a lot more than a normal disk drive usually at
least about three hundred pound for a one with a twenty to
thirty megabyte capacity.
Another useful item is a mouse these come in all different
shapes and sizes but all do basically the same thing, that is to
move a pointer (or indeed any other icon) across the screen when
CRA Computers
you move the mouse along the desk, these come in very useful in
art packages as when you move the mouse in a circle, a circle is
drawn on the screen, as are any other movements you make, a
mouse is also useful for selecting icons as all you need
to do is move the pointer over an icon and press a button on the
mouse these icons can be anything, which can lead to
menu's, this type of environment is called W.I.M.P. This stands
for Windows,Icons,Mouse and Pointer, W.I.M.P systems are used in
most expensive computers such as the Apple Macintosh computers
but are also found in cheaper computers such as the SAM Coupe.
Another digitiser is a Video Digitiser,these work like a Sound
Sampler except that instead of digitising sound you digitise
pictures from a source, usually a video, once these pictures are
digitised they can be retouched on an art package and also put
in an animated sequence to run just like a film.
If you bought a video digitiser or indeed almost anything else
for your computer eventually you would want to print it out, to
CRA Computers
do this you would need to buy a printer, these vary in the
quality they give you and also in the price that they cost,the
most common type of printer is a dot matrix, this forms the
letters or pictures on the paper with pins on the print head, on
most cheaper dot matrix printers there are 9 pins along and 9
pins down, this gives an ok print for most purposes as most
computers only use 8 dots along and 8 down for letters but for a
more professional finish you can also get 24 pin printers, as
these have more pins they give better and less jaged results,
but albeit or more expensive and as some software can configure
the printer so that you get nearly as good a print these are not
always needed.
Dot matrix printers as well as most other types of printers
measure the speed at which they print in CPS or Characters Per
Second, two speeds are normally given, one for draft which is a
quick copy and one for NLQ which stands for Near Letter Quality
which is a very neat copy and looks like a typewiters finish.
The NLQ speed is a lot slower than the draft one and this is
CRA Computers
because to acheive a good print the printer normally goes over
the text twice in slighty different positions on the paper.
You can also get colour printers, most of these use three
ribbons to form the colours, red, blue and green and use a
combination of these for different colours, these can give good
colour print outs but if you don't change the ribbons often
enough then you sometimes get blurred results, as well as dot
matrix printers there are a number of other types you can buy
such as daisy wheel printers which have the letters on a circle
and the printer turns the wheel so that the right letter is
printed, these cannot however print graphics unless of course
you made up a picture comprising only of full stops or another
character, you can buy many different fonts for these but there
are nowhere near as many as you can have with a dot matrix and
you have to change them manually.
Other types of printers include ink jet printers which squirt
the ink onto the page, thermal printers which normally use a
CRA Computers
special type of paper which is singed by the printer and laser
printers which work on the principle of photoconductive
reprography and print with a very high quality, these print at
very high speeds, the speeds at which they print are measured in
pages per minute instead of characters per second. Lasers have
always been very expensive to buy and until now when the prices
are starting to drop are they affordable to people other than
large corporations.
As well as lots of different peripherals there are also many
different types of software for computers, one of the most
popular types of software is games but computers can do much
more serious things, such things as Word Processing, DataBases,
Spreadsheets, Desk Top Publishing, Computer Aided Design,
Keeping track of stars and many others.
A word processor is like an electronic typewriter, one text is
keyed in it can be changed to your liking, many word processors
have spelling checkers, word counting, copy, various font and
CRA Computers
point sizes and other useful features, a word count is useful
if an essay is to be typed and has to be so many words long,
without a computer you would have to count it by hand which
would be slow and tedious, but with a computer you can find out
instantaniously how many words you have typed, then when you
have finished you could check the document for spelling mistakes
or if you had written a book and decided to change one of the
characters names you could use the find and replace option to
replace the name all through the document and only when you were
happy with it would you print it out.
DataBases are useful for keeping records, they are like a
sophisticated filing cabinate, you could store names and
addresses in it, the records could then be sorted out
alphebetically by name or numerically by age, DataBases have
fields and records, if you were using the database to store
names and addresses then each record would be for a different
person and within the record each detail about them such as
there name, address, age, phone number etc would be held in a
CRA Computers
feild, some DataBases also have the ability to have pictures,
this would be useful if you had a Video Digitiser as you could
have a digitied picture of each person in their record. All the
results of a questionnaire could be fed into the database, the
database could then sort the information out to help you draw
conclusions from tha data.
Spreadsheets are sophisticated calculators with rows and columns
which make up cells, in these cells you can put numbers, text or
formulae, you can use the spreadsheet to work out profit and
loss, commision and lots of other things, you could do your
accounts on the spreadsheet, for instance if you run your own
disk magazine you could put the months along the top in the rows
and down the side in the columns you could put each of your
expenditures such as disks, labels, stamps etc, you would then
put the different amounts in to the cells for each month and you
could put the correct formulae in the cells to work out how much
you spent on disks in march or how much money you spent in june
altogether or how much you spent in the whole year, if you
CRA Computers
change for instance the amount you spent on stamps in may then
it would affect the whole spreadsheet as the totals would be
different.
Often you can buy an integrated package combining a word
processer, DataBase, SpreadSheet and Graphics utility, with such
a package you can often take data from the spreadsheet and
incorporate in into a pie chart or graph using the graphics
utility, you can also take text from the word processor to use
in the database for note's etc, these packages are often more
flexible than having the programs seperate and packages like
these are now being developed for computers that are not
business computers such as the SAM Coupe.
Desk Top Publishers are like word processor's but are even more
useful as you can do your own newsletters or fanzines because
you can set things out in columns as in newspapers, you can also
change the font style or point size for titles and include
graphics from clip art, the way the finished document will turn
CRA Computers
out depends on your own imagination and very professional stuff
can be done on these.
As I said previously there is more than just games for computers
, but there is nothing wrong with games, games can be both
educational and fun and have been proven to increase the I.Q
even if you only play space games, there are also a number of
game formats, there are puzzle games which invarioubly get you
pulling your hair out, adventure games which dungeons and
dragons fans tend to like, shoot em ups, strategy games and
traditional games such as monopoly, cluedo and chess. Computer
games can keep you occupied for hours, (especially when an
assignment is to be done).
Games are also a type of software which can push a computer to
it's very limits as far as processing power and graphics go,
imagine trying to program Prince Of Persia or Shadow Of The
Beast on a 1K ZX81, it would be impossible and so there are
always new and exciting computers coming onto the market with
CRA Computers
better graphics, better sound, blitters, maths co-processors and
just about anything else to out date previous computers.
Computers are everywhere, simple computers are in calculators,
clock radios, televisions, videos and even traffic lights,
everyday computers play a major role in everybody's life even if
they do not realise it.
A truely wonderful piece of literature from Calvin R. Allett
there which I'm sure all FRED readers will find fascinating.
Incidentally, it compliments two programs that appeared on TV
recently, The Dream Machine on 25/11 about the early history of
Computers and Equinox on 18/11 about artificial intelligence.
Two brilliant programmes to go with a brilliant article. Thank
you very much Calvin.
If anyone does feel like writing a similar style of article
(although not on the same theme) then please do so - it will get
printed.
Letters & Reviews
CC Prince Of Persia
At last it has arrived on the SAM,Prince of Persia is here and
this, as far as I know, is the first review of the completed
game.
For those of you who have just upgraded your ZX81 to a SAM and
are wondering what all this Prince stuff is about I will very
quickly recount the plot. Apolagies to those of you who have
already read this several times.
The Sultan has gone away to fight a forgein war and his Grand
Vizier Jaffar has taken over. You are a traveller from a distant
land who has fallen in love with the Sultan's lovely daughter.
Jaffar is not very happy with this so he throws you into his
deepest dungeon and takes away your sword. Then, because this
Jaffar is really a nasty piece of work, he gives the Princess
a choice - Marry him or die, and just to really ruin your day he
only gives her an hour to decide.
CC Prince Of Persia
Your task is simply to get out of the dungeon and up to the
tallest tower to rescue your true love and become Prince of
Persia, a piece of cake (Jaffar cake perhaps!) (Oi! - I do the
pathetic puns around here! - CM)
Your task is somewhat hampered by various nasty things around
the place, guards of varying skill, animated skeletons, clashing
blades, and falling floor sections. However it's not all bad
news there are potions that increase strength and various other
things, and somewhere on the first level there is your trusty
sword with which you can cut up guards easily.
The animation is the outstanding thing about the game,and that
is one of the reasons the game has been raved about in PC
magazines. The SAM animation is just as good, if not better, and
the game has generally been excelently converted. The game is
littered with nice touches that improve the quality and realism
but I'll leave you to find them for yourselves.
CC Prince Of Persia
But unfortunatly as well as the nice touches there are a few
bugs,, if you think about it we have been waiting over three
months for this game and you would have thought they could get
rid of all the problems. The worst bug is not that common,
unless you go around trying to test the computer, it takes the
form of you sort of falling out of the screen into a screen with
only a roof and a floor which ever way you go you just get to
identical rooms and you have to restart the level. Fortunatly
this bug has only happened twice to me when I was playing the
game normally and not looking for bugs, but it is still fairly
annoying. My final problem is not really with the game at all,
The instructions with the game are only for ST, Amiga or PC
owners and I can understand that it is not good sense to reprint
the whole instruction book, but I at least expected a bit of
paper explaining the SAM keys ( Cursor keys and shift if you
haven't worked it out yet ! ) and how to get the introduction
sequence ( Press I on the title screen ! )
CC Prince Of Persia
Now I've got that out of my system let me end by saying that
Prince Of Persia is a truly enjoyable game, the problems I
mentioned don't really affect the game that much. I have to say
that if you have a SAM and you don't yet have Prince Of Persia
then go and buy it now!
Forced to give it a rating I would give it 92% and thats being
a bit mean !
Prince Of Persia, Domark on Samco's revelation label.Available
From SAMCo for £14.99 - A must for all SAM owners !
Colin Cameron
Hmmm - 92%, that sounds vaguely familiar to what I gave it
way (way, way) back in issue 12 so it's nice to see my review of
this was a good 'un - CM.
RH Independant and Unprompted Magazine Reviews
Right, where do I start? I know,Enceladus.
This disc mag is now reduced to £2.50, from £3.50. I didn't
buy it at the previous price because to be honest I just thought
that was too much. However, now I have sampled it at the price I
can thoroughly reccommend it. I only have issues 6+7, but now
plan on getting back issues.
So what makes it so worthwhile? Well for a start it is
always totally packed, and with text and screen compression to
boot! The two I bought had a good amount of pictures, including
adverts (maybe you might do that again Col?) easily in double
figures. Issue 7, for example contained 20+pics. Also on the
subject of pictures, they were of a very high quality, I
especially liked the cartoony 'Integrated Logic' one!
Also, it has quite a few very funny demos. Check out 'Hammer
+ Nail', 'Batdance' and 'Deathdemo 2' on issue 6! There were
some on issue 7 as well, but I just can't think of them right
now.
RH Enceladus Independant Review
Those who like utilites are not left out either, each issue
contains procedures which I'm sure could be very useful to
someone (but not me!) and they are very well explained. They
also have a complete guide to SAM BASIC and, as with most disc
mags now, a machine code lesson. Both are very well written, and
cover the subjects perfectly.
Sorry to go on about every aspect being good, but this really
bowled me over. The presentation is of very high quality, the
text is long and NOT boring, the demos are great, just buy it,
you will not be disappointed.
SAM Supplement (issue 14) £2.00
I only recently discovered this mag, through a friend who has
bought every issue.
Well? This was also very good, although not quite my cup of
tea. I like demos, and this mag was a bit too techy for me. It
is by no means poor though, no sirree.
RH Supplement Independant Review
One thing I do like about this mag is that every issue has a
different and normally good opening sequence. This is however,
immediately followed by 'line feeds required y/n?' every issue,
which I find really annoying.
It's presented nicely, with demos, letters, adverts, tech
help, editorial and being the main options menu. So in I
dived for the demos/progs menu. Once there, I found quite a big
menu, with prog notes as a seperate option.(take note Colin,
that is a very good idea) There was an obligatory slideshow,
odds + ends (remind you of something about FRED?) and about 15
other options. Not bad. There were some average demos, and some
good options for various utilities. MasterDOS users will be
particularly pleased with the mag in general.(not just ish 14).
It was the magazine part that disappointed me though. I know
nearly all mags (not Enceladus) have had serious cut backs in
this area, but I thought this was especially poor. It is very
annoying to read, due to (1)A poor forward 1/backward 1 page
system and (2)The beep every time you select an option. Not
necessary at all, and when you want to sift through 20 pages for
RH Supplement Independant Review
something, frustrating. Whilst I'm sure many people will like
the tech section, and find it very interesting, it's just not
something I like reading.
Overall, I think this mag must appeal to a lot of people, and
admittedly it does have a very reasonable combination of demos
and utilites, I don't imagine it appealing to too many FRED
readers who I imagine to be demo/games lovers. Not bad at all,
just not the mag for me.
JUST TO ADD MY TUPPENCE WORTH (AS THEY SAY), I STILL THINK THE
SUPPLEMENT IS EXTREMELY GOOD AND I'LL POINT OUT THAT THEY HAD
THE "ODDS 'N' ENDS" MENU BEFORE I HAD "BITS 'N' BOBS". AREN'T I
HONEST?? (don't even dare to answer that!) CM
RH Outlet Independant Review
Outlet (issue 50) £3.50
Yes I know I said I do not like this sort of price but this mag
comes very highly reccommended by nearly everybody.
Why? I'm sorry Chezron, but I was disgusted. For hardcore
tech fans only in my opinion, and certainly not for the average
FRED reader. On the demos front there was extremely little, and
about 8 screens, most of which I've seen elsewhere anyway. The
intro music is dreadful, and although I didn't check, I'm sure
it used the speccy's BEEP! Shocking in my opinion.
Whilst there was an absolute load of text, and it was
accompanied by some reasonably amusing half screen pics, the
text was extremely boring. I found it an excellent cure for
insomnia! I know some people go for this sort of thing, but why
is it so highly acclaimed, even in FRED??! I even found the
tutorials boring to read, especially when compared to say,
Enceladus.
RH Outlet Independant Review
Sorry for the short review, but I have very little to say.
The price is ridiculous, especially when you consider FRED is a
meagre one pound fifty. I like to see a sense of humour at
least, and that is really lacking in my opinion. My advice to
most FRED readers is to stay well clear of this. Sorry again
Chezron, but this is just not for me.
Please note that these reviews (except for my comments!) have
nothing to do with the opinions of me and if anyone does
actually care what I honestly think of something like other mags
then phone me and I'll give my best un-biased advice (unless you
ask which magazine is the best.....)
RH Service Please
One point I'd like to make is on service. Some SAM PD
libraries/disczines have a disgraceful service (sorry, can't
mention any names). Clean your act up! Bad service is not only
annoying for the customer, but it greatly reduces the chances of
the customer ordering from the specific company again. Next time
I write (if anybody can actually put up with reading my boring
rantings, please let me know if you can!) I might hopefully
mention some people for good/bad service. Is that on Colin? Or
would I be getting me or you into bother? I'm sure you already
know how good Colin's is, so no real need to mention that. Let
me just say (without wanting to appear too far up Colin's erm,
bottom) YOU WILL NOT FIND ANY COMPANY WITH BETTER SERVICE THAN
COLIN'S.
Yes, Roger I think that would be a good idea BUT I think the
fairest way to do it is to find someone totally independant who
will order something from all the libraries on the same date and
record how long each company takes to respond - that should make
people improve their service! CM
R Hartley Prince Of Persia
At last, months later than promised (oops!), the SAM game to
make software houses sit up and think "hmm, this SAM is pretty
nifty!" is out and it is Prince Of Persia!
I had read numerous reviews of this game before I actually
got it, so I was already pretty excited about this game which
I'd ordered. (how come they all got it weeks before me?). But I,
unlike certain other reviewers, must give an honest review, cos
I paid 15 hard earned quid for it. (how come I still don't have
my copy then? - CM)
And it really is brilliant! I had already played it on the
Amiga (spit!) so had a pretty good idea of what it would be
like. The graphics aren't anything out of the ordinary, and in
fact are distinctly average (Like the Amiga (spit!) version).But
the animation is everything it's cracked up to be. It really is
amazing. When your man moves, there is none of this here 2
frames jobbies seen on a lot of games, the animation is super
smooth. I've got to admit, the extra frames don't make that much
R Hartley Prince Of Persia
of a difference from the Amiga (spit!) version, but it is
noticeable, and now you can really pee on Amiga (spit!) owners'
collective bonfires!
The sound is OK, and makes a pleasant change from Sean Conran
music in Enigma games. (I'm not saying his is rubbish, but they
do sound very samey). There is no music in game, but then there
isn't on any other version. The in game sound effects are
adequate, but hardly astonishing. Some nice little tunes when
you do various things though. The title tune is up to Frank "ha
ha look at that surname!" Fuka's usual standard. (sorry Frank!)
I know, the question on everybody's lips is "is it playable"
and yes it is. It is of a good difficulty level, and the
learning curve is just right. I think it would take an average
gamesplayer just over 2 weeks to complete it, I've got to level
9 (12 in all) in just about a week, but I haven't been putting
hours and hours into it. I've got to admit though that the
guards are real pushovers, unlike the 16 bit version. Here I
really stubbed out an Amiga (spit) owner who kept pointing out
R Hartley Prince Of Persia
that bits were different ("wrong" in his opinion). Well,he had
it pirated and when I showed him the instruction manual to show
it's the Amiga (spit!) version that's at fault that shut him up
sharpish.
Of course it's not all plain sailing and I still have a
couple of niggles. The main problem being that there are still a
number of bugs, like falling into a room that doesn't exist and
not being able to get out of it! There is not the animated intro
of the 16 bits, or at least I could not get it on my 256K SAM.
I must commend Chris White for putting bits on the 512K version
only (like the skeleton), it's made me want to buy the upgrade!
Overall, I am pleased (and it's pretty difficult to please
me, as you may see!) even the Amiga (spit!) owner was
impressed. Even bearing in mind the bugs, this game scores very
highly with me. I look forward to seeing more games from Chris!
GRAPHICS 74% SOUND 81%
PLAYABILITY 82% ANIMATION (THIS GAME ONLY) 93%
ADDICTIVENESS 87% OVERALL 91%
AN CITIZEN 120D+
This is a list of codes that I can get to work on the CITIZEN
120D with the SAM COUPE. I know that quite a few people will
already know how to get the codes to work but for anyone who is
unable to do so read on....
The first stumbling block I came to was the CHR$(27) code
which,in most cases is the ESCape ASCII code, on the COUPE you
have to substitute the "high-bit" codes i.e. for ESC use
CHR$(155), I found that starting the commands with "LET
ESC$=CHR$(155)" let me use ESC$ for ease of typing.
COMMAND ON OFF
Near Letter Quality print ESC$;"x1" ESC$;"x0"
Pica pitch (10 chas. per inch) ESC$;"P" ESC$;"M"
Elite pitch (12 CPI) ESC$;"M" ESC$;"P"
High Speed Elite ESC$;"~81" ESC$;"~80"
Contiuous Expanded ESC$;"W1" ESC$;"W0"
One Line Expanded CHR$(142) CHR$(148)
Compressed CHR$(143) CHR$(146)
AN Citizen 120+D Help
Proportional print ESC$;"p1" ESC$;"p0"
Emphasized print ESC$;"E" ESC$;"F"
Double strike print ESC$;"G" ESC$;"H"
Italic ESC$;"4" ESC$;"5"
Underline ESC$;"-1" ESC$;"-0"
Overscore ESC$;"_1" ESC$;"_0"
Reverse ESC$;"~21" ESC$;"~20"
Subscript ESC$;"S1" ESC$;"T"
Superscript ESC$;"S0" ESC$;"T"
Enlarged print ESC$;"~1";CHR$(n) (n being 0
to 6)
Master Reset ESC$;"@"
1/6 Line space ESC$;"2"
1/8 Line space ESC$;"0"
7/72 Line space ESC$;"1"
Right margin ESC$;"Q";CHR$(n) (n=1 to 255)
Courier Font ESC$;"k0"
Display Font ESC$;"k1"
Master Print ESC$;"!";CHR$(n) (n=1 to 255
AN Citizen 120 +D Help
for different styles)
Next TAB CHR$(137)
Set fixed TABS ESC$;"e";CHR$(0);CHR$(n) (n
= 2 to line length)
All of the illustrative programmes in the 120D+ manual are in
'Microbasic' and have to be transcribed for the COUPE, I have
managed quite a few of them but find where the tilde (~) is used
I cannot make the programmes work (the above excepted), also
where the programme has a CHR$(n) (n=1 to 255) in it I find that
these programmes invariably don't work. If someone can enlighten
me on how for example to show the proportional spacing, or the
line spacings of n/144 inch, and n/216 inch, or how to set
variable TABS all this would be of interest to me and maybe
others too.
Thanks go to Allan Norton for these useful pages,
unfortunately, I don't have ANY printer yet....but I'm hopeful
it'll arrive for next issue... .
JH FLEXIPAGE (Nov 91 Update) Flexibase £15.00
So did Clyde kill Eddie or was it Nick Cotton? Hang on, it's
not that long running story of townsfolk, it's the Flexipage
saga. Now let's think - it's a Sceptical ripoff - no wait it's
like Ceefax or Micronet, yes and it has blocky Spectrum
screens,and the manual (Sam specific, £1.50 for those with the
earlier one) reads like a chunk out of a fighting fantasy
gamebook (now there's an idea!) and of course David Wornham is
at this very second drafting his reply, and improving it still
further! This is the November edition (they could have a
magazine section - move over Colin MacD).
If you want a sensible lowdown on this program read Fred 11a.
If you don't know what it is you've been playing with your
A***a too much. I would say it's probably rather like one of
those string bags you used to take to the supermarket - it
expands as you fill it... Basically everyone who reviews it is
stumped because it doesn't do things until you do things to it,
and then they take it out on David because a) they haven't got
any imagination, and b)because they're not impressed with the
Crime Quiz graphics (supplied free with program). However, if
JH Flexipage
you can design 200 screens in Mode 4 (gotta spare year?), you
can produce, without any programming, a fantastic piece of
adventure/educational/information/shopping list/encyclopaedic
software, which runs automatically/interactively/free format-ly
or maybe just makes the lunch. Flexipage is really just your
mind on screen. If there's nothing there don't blame the
programmer.
SENSIBLE BIT
This version has been refined for SAM, with provision for new or
old ROM, use of MasterDOS and Ramdisk, and blockload for 512K.
There is also Flexipal (available for £3 separately) which is a
subprogram for editing the palette for any screen. In fact it's
all getting better all the time, and you can get free updates
for the price of a stamp and the return of the earlier version.
Flexibase are at 20 The Parklands,Droitwich,WR9 7DG
John Hawkins
Stop Press
That was a review by John Hawkins seeing as David Wornham so
kindly sent me an updated version. I thought it would be fairer
to get someone who uses educational software a lot to review it
and here it is! I'm not quite sure if John is getting at me or
Mr Wornham here but it's certainly interesting.
I've just received the latest Crash. It has one SAM page and a
full page review of Hexagonia. Lucy "*!@#!" Hickman is the new
editor (she came to a London Show) and Nick "I like wearing
black leather all the time" Roberts is now the Deputy editor,
for you old-Crash readers you'll be pleased to know that Corky
and Oli are still beavering away. It actually looks as if Crash
could become a magazine once more instead of the pamphlet come
comic it transformed into a few years back. SAM coverage is
reportedly going up to 3 pages a month as of next issue and YS
is said to be doing similar (I suggest you wait and see...
Nick Roberts has now set up "Images" - flogging his demos!
Details when I get them but I think old Nicko's gotten hitched
and his wife is sorting out the orders...(is this true Nick?) .
