Fred 43

Issue 43

Magazine

BM                         Editorial

Readers,  you  are to be proud of your humble li'l editor. After
last month's deadline fiasco, albeit a Lemmings induced one, and
even  with  February being a very short month (it is in fact the
shortest,  fact  fans - it has just 28 days!), this FRED is very
very nearly back on track (not quite, but we're getting there).

I  must confess, this isn't a sudden desire to  impress you all;
there  are ulterior motives. Mainly, my cash supply is dwindling
rapidly  and  I felt I'd better get some more off Colin. He does
have  a  habit  of  asking  me for completed magazines before he
gives me my monthly handout though. So, I had to get FRED done.

I've also got more pesky exams coming up, and rather than try to
combine studying with FREDing as I did in December, I thought it
might  be  fun (!) to get FRED out of the way before "Ye Week Of
Doome" as we cheerfully call it.

We've  got  the  first  of  the Driver, SAMPaint, and of course,
Lemmings reviews in the letters page, so read and learn!
BM                            News

Need  a  new  disc  drive  for Mr Coupe? Then this piece of news
should prove most interesting. The SAM's faithful slimline drive
is  no  longer  available,  so  West  Coast have started using a
different  type.  The  thing  is, this one will not fit directly
into  the  SAM.  It  needs  a  different  interface. Being ever-
resourceful,  though, West Coast have found a solution. You send
down  young  Sammy,  and  they put in the disc drive for you and
promptly  send it back up to you, all  before you can say "Brian
certainly is a well sexy stud of a man."

Again  on  a hardware(ish) note, Blue Alpha are on the move. Not
as  in  a roadshow, but in the change of location sense. They've
toddled back to their Swansea address for the simple reason that
they  prefer  their postcodes to begin SA6 rather than the nasty
(boo,  hiss)  SA8  of  the Pontardawe address. And who can blame
them. Get in contact with them now at:
    [redacted]

NOTE: They don't have phones set up yet, so don't try and phone!
BM                            News

Steve Nutting is in the new-product selling mood again, and this
time  he's  trying to persuade everybody to buy, erm, let's see,
ah  yes! - SC_Swedish-Bimbos-In-Rubber. That's it. He has chosen
to call it SC_MONITOR PRO for short though.

SC_Monitor  Pro  is a compilation of various pieces of software;
it has Steve's original SC_Monitor, with things speeded up a bit
and  a  couple  of  bugs taken outside for a swift and merciless
kicking. It also has TurboMon, by Simon Owen, which he describes
as  "a  clever and fun Monitor program for slow running Spectrum
and SAM programs, games, etc."

There  is  also  a database of machine code opcodes; this is the
one given away with the SC_Filer program.

SC_Monitor Pro retails at £15, and you can order it from:

  [redacted]

BM                      Lemmings Quotes

Here  are just some of the nice things you all have to say about
it!

* Thanks for the safe arrival of Lemmings - a great game for SAM
at last! - P.Rushton, Leeds

* Thank you for Lemmings, it's the best SAM game I ever saw.
- L. Daniel, Austria


*  Lemmings  has  definitely  been  worth the wait; it looks and
sounds   brilliant.   There's   nothing   more  satisfying  than
exploding,  squashing, burning and drowning Lemmings! - J.Marsh,
Cardiff

*  I  received  Lemmings  this  morning  in  the  post  and have
thoroughly enjoyed it. - C. Burden, Isle Of Wight


                        Lemmings Quotes

*  Thanks for Lemmings received today. What a great conversion -
it  works  like  a  dream.  Very  definetely  best played with a
rodent. Glad I've got one. - J. Powell, Salford

* I recently received a copy of Lemmings from you. Basically the
game  is  excellent  :  neat  programming,  slick  presentation,
annoying music (not a criticism) and flippin' addictive to boot!
- J. Hancock, Reading

*  Many  thanks for the copy of SAM Lemmings. I'm pleased to say
that  it  is  every  bit as good as I'd hoped, if not better. It
must   be  the  most  impressive  SAM  game  to  date,  and  any
self-respecting  SAM  owner  ought to buy it! Everyone connected
with this SAM conversion has done a great job, and a huge amount
of  work  must  have  gone  into  it.  I  hope it proves to be a
financial  success for you, and that it may lead to more quality
games  appearing,  whether  they're licensed titles or not.
- P. Glover, Birmingham

                        Lemmings Quotes

A WEEK LATER...

*  My  initial  delight  with Lemmings has turned into fanatical
admiration!  What  a  pity such a game wasn't available when SAM
was  launched,  to  show  us all how good a machine it was.
- P. Glover, Birmingham

*  Many,  many  thanks  to  all  involved with SAMPaint. It is a
superb  program  and I have found I can hardly put it down. Even
my  daughter,  who  turned  five  years old a week or so ago, is
enjoying  using  it.  Everything about it is so well implemented
and  the  tutorial/manual  is  the  best  I  have  used  yet.
- D.Shepherd, Bristol

*  I  have to say this is a marvelous conversion. I have enjoyed
the few levels that I've tried so far. Keep up the good work and
hopefully  we'll  see  some  more  conversions  in the future.
- A.Jones, Coventry

                        Lemmings Quotes

* The game is an excellent conversion and puts other versions to
shame being under half the price. - J.Hampton, Scarborough

*  Thank you for sending Lemmings. It's a great game and I enjoy
playing it. - G.Jess, Norfolk

* I am writing this letter to complain about that atrocious game
you have the gall to call Lemmings and I am sending this, along
with the disc in the faint hope of a refun...

<<<  NOISE  OF VAN SCREECHING TO A HALT AND SEVERAL MEN IN WHITE
COATS RUNNING DOWN THE DRIVE WITH BASEBALL BATS >>>

                            LATER...

Erm...where was I?...oh yes, I know, it seems that I was playing
the  ST version and therefore I owe you an apology. I would just
like  to  congratulate  everyone  involved  in the production of
Lemmings and everyone who bought this game. - S.Rowe, Penzance
                        Lemmings Quotes

*  I  am  very impressed with the game. I got it for my grandson
originally, but he has a job to get near it. I find it extremely
addictuve  (should have a health warning label!) and is the best
arcade strategy game I have yet seen. - L.Farmer, Knaresborough

*  The  animation  is  a  joy to behold, the in-game effects and
music are good and the game is SO addictive! - W.Easson, Glasgow

* I am writing to say how fantastic I think Lemmings is, all the
tunes  and all the levels are there, the only thing stopping SAM
Lemmings  from being a definite conversion is the little "Oh No"
from  the  starting  Lemmings. This aside Lemmings is perfect.
- A.Jewitt, Corbridge



[Ed]  And  there  you go. Now come on, even Colin and I couldn't
think  up  such  a  wierd  and wonderful comments, so it must be
true! Have you got your Lemmings yet...?                - BRIAN
BM                      SAMPaint Article

And  now,  in  a quite magnificent piece of customer support, we
proudly present the first of what will hopefully become a series
of  articles  by Graham Burtenshaw, the very author of SAMPaint,
ex-editor  of  Enceladus  and  all-round superstar. These should
help  not only you to get the most out of the best paint program
ever  ever  written  ever ever ever, but will help us to fill up
quite a bit of magazine space (hurrah!).

Remember kids - if some nasty man in a dirty raincoat, who has a
nervous  tic  and  a  quite  horrendous  complexion  offers  you
something  called,  "Flash!",  just  say no. And don't forget to
tell  a  teacher  or somebody you trust. It could well save your
SAM...






GB           SAMPaint Article by Graham Burtenshaw

In  this  and  the  following  series  of  articles  I  hope  to
illustrate  some  of the finer points of SAMPaint, describe some
of  its  many  uses,  and  also  explain some of the programming
"tricks"  which  I used. SAMPaint took over a year to write, and
was  subject  to extensive revision as it was being written. The
manual, long though it is, only gives brief descriptions of each
function  and  doesn't  really  concentrate  on  how the various
features can be used together - if I'd included such discussions
the manual would be twice its present length.

If   you've  bought  SAMPaint,  you  should  find  the  articles
"illuminating";  if you haven't yet sent away for it then I hope
I'll  be  able  to persuade you to do so soon!! And get a mouse,
whether  you've  got  SAMPaint  or  not.  It  makes  an enormous
difference. A 1 Meg helps as well, as does a (colour) printer...




GB                      SAMPaint Article

Please feel free to write to me if you've got anything at all to
say about SAMPaint, either via FRED or direct:
                          [redacted]

(Include   a  stamp if you want a personal reply, otherwise I'll
answer via FRED).

To  start off with, a word about MasterDOS usage. Apparently the
SAMPaint/MasterDOS compatibility has been reported by some users
to  be a bit dodgy. This I believe is due to the fact that there
are  several versions of MasterDOS in use, some of which may not
be  100%  compatible  with  SAMPaint.  However,  we  have tested
SAMPaint  using  the most recently released version of MasterDOS
and  have  not  encountered  any  problems.

GB                      SAMPaint Article

If  you want to use MasterDOS with SAMPaint but are finding that
this presents difficulties, I suggest that you upgrade your copy
of MasterDOS.

You  may  be  wondering  what  advantages  there  are  to  using
MasterDOS...  essentially  it  allows  you  to  set up a RAMdisc
(using  a  1Meg  memory  extension)  which  can be accessed from
SAMPaint.  This  gives  you much faster file manipulation and is
particularly  convenient  if  you  want  to  make use of a large
number  of screens: copying them into the RAMdisc before loading
SAMPaint  will  save  a lot of time when it comes to loading the
individual  screens  in.  The adjusted screens can then be saved
at  high  speed back to RAMdisc and the whole lot transferred to
disc  at the end of the session. This last operation is provided
by  an  option  on SAMPaint's FILE menu which was not present in
early versions. In fact there have been a number of additions to
the  FILE menu which are not mentioned in the manual. You should
have  received  details of these with your copy of SAMPaint, but
if not, they are as follows.
GB                      SAMPaint Article

The  "Directory"  option now gives a different type of directory
depending  on whether you select it with the left or right mouse
button.  Pressing  the left button will give the normal SAMPaint
type  directory,  displaying  all  files on the disc but without
any  information  regarding file type/length. Pressing the right
button  will  give  a  longer directory (equivalent to a BASIC'S
DIR1),  which  can  be exitted from by pressing the mouse button
(at the end) or by pressing "n" when the screen fills up.

Erase, Exit and Boot work as described in the manual.

There  is  now a Format option which formats the disc in Drive 1
using either SAMDOS or MasterDOS.

There  is  also  a new "Copy files" option which is intended for
use  with  MasterDOS RAMdiscs. This will copy all files from the
RAMdisc  to  the disc in Drive 1 (using the MasterDOS convention
to  confirm each file).

GB                      SAMPaint Article

If you have been making alterations to a large number of screens
held  on  RAMdisc,  this  option  provides  a  convenient way to
transfer the screens to disc. (It is necessary since there is no
way  to  exit  to BASIC as such from SAMPaint. The "Exit" option
resets  the computer, and the "Boot" option will get you back to
BASIC  if  you boot a BASIC file, but most programs will not run
properly after SAMPaint has been in residence)).

If  you  do use RAMdiscs, make sure that you save valued screens
to disc every now and again in case of power cuts etc...

Now a couple of SAMPaint "demos". These are just examples of how
some   of   the  functions  can be used together to good effect.
Please  let  me  know  if  you  find  any  particularly  amazing
combinations which other users might want to know about, because
I've  got  better  things  to  do  than  sit  around thinking up
"demos", like avoiding lectures...


GB                      SAMPaint Article

And if you come up with any decent animbrushes, animations, fill
pattern  blocks,  brush blocks, fonts, palette sequences or Bend
data files, then Colin will be glad to use them to pad out FRED.
Not to mention screens created with SAMPaint of course.


DEMO 1  -  try it out to see what it looks like!
           (if you can work it out!)

1. Clear Screen 1 and select the Blue colour scale.
2. Use a fill pattern or something to draw a checkerboard
   pattern of alternating pixels. Use colours 1 and 4, and make
   the checkerboard about 50 x 50 pixels in size.
3. Grab the pattern as a block, and then use the Perspective
   operation with X=-6, Y=0, Z=0, P=0.8, S=18. (or similar).
4. Grab the new block by undoing the OK screen and grabbing the
   whole screen. Use the Rescale function to fit the chessboard
   (quicker to type by two letters.. (but totally cancelled by
   the explanation...)) onto the screen with space to spare
GB                      SAMPaint Article

   (say 1/5 of the height of the screen) at the top.
5. Select Screen 2, and perform a vertical gradient fill over
   the whole screen light blue at the top and ink 1 at the
   bottom. Select Screen 3 and do a similar gradient fill but
   with ink 4 at the bottom.
   Return to Screen 1, and use the Replace window operation to
   replace the ink 1 chessboard squares with Screen 2, and the
   ink 4 chessboard squares with Screen 3.
   You should now have an expansive three-dimensional shaded
   chess-board leaning into the screen. This represents the
   "ground", whether you like it or not.
6. Do a radial gradient fill, using colours 15>11 in the top
   (blank) part of the screen, with the extent of the gradient
   fill covering the whole of this portion of the screen.
   This is your "Sun". You can sort out the colours later.
7. Do a vertical gradient fill on a blank screen, with ink 15
   at the top and ink 14 at the bottom (use a large dither).
   Then use the Replace window operation to replace the ink 14
   with ink 0. This gives a 'monochrome gradient fill'.
GB                      SAMPaint Article

8. After clearing the current font, click on the font definition
   icon and define the whole of the gradient fill (ie, the whole
   screen) as the first letter of your name.
9. On the main menu, select the COL.SHIFT brush mode, ink 15,
   and a single pixel brush. Click on the Text icon, and use
   the dialogue box to select "Brush" text mode.
   Now position the top of the text pointer on the "horizon",
   (and on the left border), and press the key corresponding to
   your initial. This will plot the letter defined as a
   gradient fill using the COL.SHIFT mode, which has the
   effect of lightening the chessboard at the top but not so
   much at the bottom. Do this two or three times and your
   landscape will be realistically illuminated by the rising Sun
   (This method is better than using the SHIFT window operations
   since they only work over rectangles. You could however use
   stippling or airbrushing to acheive the right effect). The
   Stencil mode might be useful here as well.
10.Admire your handywork.

GB                      SAMPaint Article

   You can now revert to the residual habit of all art package
   junkies, which is to OK your screen and then go through all
   the options seeing how they affect the picture for no good
   reason other than to get a cheap thrill.

   An interesting variation on this idea is to apply perspective
   not to a blue chessboard, but to a plasma, which can then be
   considered to represent various images. Eg, shades of blue
   for an ocean, green/brown/blue for a "map" type affair,
   monochrome for "stars" and so on, etc etc etc. Plasmas can
   be mapped onto spheres to create planetoids, or distorted
   into various other shapes to give some excellent effects.



DEMO 2  -  "Star Trek"

1. Select Line Patterns, and use the line pattern editor to make
   a line pattern consisting of 7 places with one place set.
GB                      SAMPaint Article

2. Select Colour Cycle (colours 1>14, delay=7).
3. Use the radial line function to draw some lines radiating
   from the centre of the screen (not necessarily touching).
4. Set all the palette colours to black except for one which can
   be set to your favourite colour.
5. Select Palette Cycling (colours 1>14, delay=1).
6. Fall into a deep yet fulfilling trance whilst gazing at the
   screen.

   Obviously there are lots of variations on this.


DEMO 3  -  a quickie

1. Create a plasma using colours 1-14.
2. Write your dog's name in a flowing hand using colour 15 and
   a good sized brush.
3. Use the Shadow window operation to shadow it with colour 0.

GB                      SAMPaint Article

4. Click on the Palette Sequencing (1-14) icon whilst holding
   down SYMBOL. (Or if you prefer, without).

   And so on.


Anyway,   I   hope   that   this  will  provide  you  with  some
entertainment. Please let me know what sort of things you'd like
to know about, or tell me about any of your own ideas, so that I
can write something coherent for next month!!






[Ed]  Cheers  Graham.  Nice  to see you haven't forgotten how to
write since you stopped doing Enceladus! :O)
                                                         - BRIAN
BM                 Ah well. It had to happen

Some  very bad news now, SAMers. Without going through pages and
pages  of  waffle,  I'm  leaving FRED. No, please, don't cry (or
laugh  -  I'm warning you!), don't throw tantrums or threaten to
go  on  a hunger strike. The time has simply come for me to stop
being editor.

"But why, oh master of our existence? Have we offended? Shall we
make  a sacrifice...?" I hear you plead. Do not fret though. The
reason  I'm giving up FRED is simply that I don't have the time.
I  am  trying  to  get  a degree, and the extra pressure of FRED
every  month  is not something I think I'll be able to cope with
next  year,  when  I'm  told  the  work  actually starts getting
difficult.  It's  hard enough at the moment (as you can probably
all  tell  from  the  fact that the past 7 or 8 issues have been
distinctly erroneous in the old puntuality area!).

I'll  still be here for a while though. I can hardly just up and
leave, can I? Which brings me nicely onto the next point...

BM                        New Editor!!

FRED  is  going to need a new editor, and it could well be YOU!!
We  are  now  looking  for  somebody to take my place (ha. As if
anybody is quite the omniscient figure I am! The very thought is
enough to make me laugh...) starting as soon as possible.

We are looking for somebody who is:

a) a keen SAM owner and user
b) confident at written English. You don't need to be a Stephen
   King, but you must be able to express yourself fairly clearly
   (unlike me. I just talk a load of bull most of the time!)
c) capable of writing small BASIC programs. Nothing hugely
   complex, just like the wee intros at the starts of programs
   that I usually do in yellow headings and blue text. That sort
   of thing. If you can understand the BASIC involved in our
   normal main menus, then you can handle the programming aspect
d) very cool indeed. Or maybe just moderately cool. This is open
   to negotation.

BM                         New Editor

e) a fan of indie and metal music. This, again, is fully
   negotiable
f) reluctant to be paid vast amounts of money. Colin will
   attempt to force small sums of money upon you every so often,
   though, so beware!
g) reliable - don't take on the job and then give up after
              two issues
h) committed - see above
i) you must have plenty spare time. Compiling FRED does take up
   a large chunk of time, and tends to be more along the lines
   of a vast amount of work once a month rather than, say, an
   hour a day every day. That's the case with me, anyway.
j) it would be nice if you have a sense of humour. Again, this
   hasn't stopped me any...
k) you must be descended from royalty in a clear line. No, maybe
   we'll miss this one.



BM                         New Editor

We  are  looking  for  somebody  for  any  walk  of  life,  from
schoolkids  to pensioners, as long as the important parts of the
little a) - k) above are fulfilled. The only thing I must stress
is that you must have the time to do this on a regular basis. We
will let students take on the job, but please don't start it and
six months later claim you've too much work.

This  position may well be ideal for somebody who wants a way to
spend  evenings  when  he gets home from work, or maybe somebody
who's  unemployed and needs a way to fill in the day (other than
the  Govt's  Community  Service  scheme.  That  must make people
REALLY  feel  good about themselves...). I should point out that
this  editting lark is more of a paid hobby than a career. We're
not talking £20,000 a year, folks, or anything like it.

Get  in touch with Colin if you feel you're the man for the job.
We may even end up conducting interviews at the Gloucester show,
who knows!

BM                     More Jobs! Wahey!

There  must  be  something  in  the water here in Monifieth this
month, because we've yet another "job" on offer. This one is the
the  position  of software publisher/developer. The first thing
you do is look through the things we get sent here by people who
think  they've  got  something we might like to publish commerc-
ially.  When  you find a product which looks promising, you then
work  with the author until the product is ready to be unleashed
upon the unsuspecting public. Or something along those lines.

If  you're  interested, again get in touch with Colin for rather
for  detailed  information.  Again, I don't see this challenging
and  replacing  your  salary  as  a  neurosurgeon,  but  it  can
certainly be worthwhile.






BM                  Show! Be there! Please!

At  risk  of repeating what I've said every issue for the past 4
months  or  so,  there  is a show in Gloucester on Saturday 30th
April for Spectrum owners and SAM owners (mainly SAM owners went
to the last one from what I can gather from Colin).

EVERYBODY  will  be  there, from FRED to FORMAT, FORMAT TO FRED,
and even FRED and FORMAT will be there. There could even be some
other people there, who knows? No, there will most definitely be
squillions  of  really  really  important,  charismatic,  funny,
enthusiastic,  worth-meeting people there. And of course there's
Colin and myself to consider once you've spoken to them.

There  should  be  a  lovingly  drawn  map on Colin's newsletter
thing, which will show you exactly how to get there.

Official slogan of the show: "Be there, it'll be great"
Official slogan of the slogan: "Too many broths fatten the cook"

(The slogan of the slogan is self-contained, and has no slogan)
BM                       Disc Contents

It  appears  we're at the "Cor, what's on the disc Brian!" stage
of  the  proceedings,  and  in  true  FRED style, I shall have a
little  bit  of  a  blether before finally telling you something
useful. Now, let's start with

SCREENS:  a  selection  of manga things by Robert van der Weeke,
who  I  didn't mention for doing screens ages ago, and to whom I
still  apologise profusely whenever I hear his name. There are a
couple  of  screens from the soon-to-be-released RPG, "Legend of
Eshan" too.

TRANSFER is a group of routines by Samurai Software which enable
you to change from one screen to another in really poncy, sorry,
impressive   ways.   Demonstrations   are   included,   as   are
instructions.

DICTIONARY  by  Luke Falla may well prove invaluable to those of
you still at school or doing languages. It can load in a list of
words and their meanings, and can then test you on these.
BM                       Disc Contents

For  example,  there  is  a  file  on  this  disc called GCSE or
something which contains stacks and stacks of words and meanings
of  German  words.  Load  this  in,  select the TEST option, and
you'll be asked loads of questions along the lines of, "What is
the  word  for cathedral?" The answer being, of course, der Dom.
Or  das  Dom.  Or die Dom. Look, it's something Dom, OK?! It has
been  a  good  few  years since I binned German, so don't expect
miracles.  You  can  build  your own lists of words as well. You
don't need to take German just to use the program! Note that the
program is VERY strict about cases and things.

SOUL MAGICIAN is a game sent in by somebody who goes by the name
of,  um, NoName. It's a conversion of a PC game, and you have to
match  up  little squiggly things with crystals. To do this, you
use either 6,7,8,9,0, a joystick, or the cursors and CNTRL. Move
onto  one  of  the squiggly things, and press fire to "activate"
it.  It  will  start  squiggling exitedly. Then, move the cursor
away  from  it and press fire again, and the squiggler will move
either vertically or horizontally towards your cursor.
BM                       Disc Contents

Note  that  it  interprets  where  your cursor is in a wierd way
sometimes,  so try to position it directly along from or up from
the  squiggler  before  pressing  fire to get it to go where you
want  it. Loadsa levels to this, which should keep you happy for
a week or three.

PATIENCE. Well, we had to have another one soon, didn't we? This
one's  by  Paul Horridge, he of that really fast MC maze game we
used  a  few  issues  ago. This is another tiny wee MC game, and
it's  a quirky version of the old classic in that you can't turn
over the waste pile. This makes it VERY challenging indeed...

STEVEN  WRIGHT  is  a  massive  collection  of jokes by American
comedian  Steven  Wright.  He is NOT the radio 1 DJ! This is the
first in what I hope will become a regular part of FRED, a "Best
of  the  Net" thing, featuring text downloaded from the InterNET
at  uni.  A collection of bizarre and funny answerphone messages
next issue...

BM                       Disc Contents

E-TUNES.  Andy  Monk, Robert Pain and Peter Gallacher tinkle the
ivories  in  this  month's  slightly contributionally challenged
E-Tunes.

MODULE  this  month  has  two MOD files which you must have FRED
41's  MOD PLAYER to use. Sorry if you don't have that issue, but
you know where we, and our back issues dept, are...

INNOCENT  is  a  small  MC  demo  by Wayne Coles featuring small
rodents which I can't for the life of me recognise. Hmmm.

FONT  DESIGNER  is  by Robert Pain, and I won't insult anybody's
intelligence by explaining what it is.

ADVERTS contains something a little unusual this issue, a small
progette by Colin Anderton (or one of his little chums, sorry if
I've mis-attributed it)....


BM                       Disc Contents

BITS  N  BOBS  makes  its umpteenth comeback. You know, I really
HATE  compiling  the  B N B section. I don't know why, it's some
completely irrational thing, but I do.

Anyway,  first  in  this  Godforsaken section is Text-to-Note by
Paul  Crompton which converts DOS text files to Tasword/OUTWRITE
and Notepad format, and second is Note-to-Text which converts in
the other direction.

Next is Dotty, an interesting little game by Paul Cann.

Download  is  a  program  which  downloads  SAM fonts into LC200
printers. Which is fine if you have such a printer. I don't, and
so it's useless to me, but there you go.

By the way, sorry about the menu screen. I know it's crap, but I
have  exams starting in about 70 hours and I DO NOT HAVE TIME TO
WORRY ABOUT MENUS!! AAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!
(ahem)
BM                          Credits

Editor: Brian "stressed out and skint" McConnell
Thanks to:

Paul Crompton         Andy Monk               Samurai Software
Paul Cann             Peter Gallacher         NoName
Robert Pain           Luke Falla              Rob Van Der Weeke
Chris Dodd            Wayne Coles             Jon Hampton
Paul Horridge         Matt Round

Matt hasn't actually got anything this ish, but why break such a
long habit...

Cheques to:                                  Phone 0382 - 535963
[redacted]
                     No music again, readers, because I
                     have no time to spare, and no new CDs
                     anyway. Maybe next month, but don't
                     bet on it...
                               Bye, and have a good month, BRIAN

Letters & Reviews

                 Letter from Martin Fitzpatrick

Dear Fred

As  you  requested and I obeyed I am now about to write a letter
to  you.  If  you're  more than adequately intelligent which I'm
sure  you are (after all you have a SAM) you will have more than
likely  noticed that I have already started - you are reading it
after all (aren't you). I bet you've noticed that I have nothing
important to type here at all so I'll tell you a nice story -

Once upon a time.....no no nooo! I will not start a stroy like
that it sounds CRAP! (cover your eyes children!!)

Lets start again...

One  day  a  fat old woman was walking down the street (her name
was Besstiboo) when all of a sudden a spaceship from outer space
came  and  landed  in  front of her. Out of nowhere came a voice
that  said  "Mrs  Besstiboo, go to yonder fish and chip shop and
buy me two portions of chips!"
                 Letter from Martin Fitzpatrick

Mrs  Besstiboo  did as the voice that came from nowhere said and
went  to  buy  the chips. When she got back she put the chips on
the  floor  and  the  spaceship  beamed  them up! Miss Besstiboo
screamed out "Oy you inter-stellar GITS! pay me back NOW!!!"

All  of  a sudden 2p landed on the floor in front of her! "Oy!!"
she  screamed.  "That's not enough! Where's the rest?" Instantly
the  spaceship  took off leaving Mrs Besstiboo standing there in
the middle of the street clutching a 2p.

The  thing is Mrs Besstiboo was the sort of person who would get
her  own  way  no  matter what it took! So off she went to built
herself  a  spaceship!  When she had finished it she went to the
launch  pad which she herself had also built! and climbed inside
her  inter-galactic  super-sonic  spaceship!  And with the words
"I'll get those B*****DS!!" she took of on the quest to retrieve
her fish 'n' chips from the alien beings!

                           THE END
                 Letter from Martin Fitzpatrick

I'm  sure  there  is  someone out there who can change that nice
story into some sort of game, and if you can then you're welcome
to do just that!!

Well thats my letter done! What do a think?

And  as  the  host  of  "ART  ATTACK" on ITV would say - "Try It
Yourself!"

Come  on  people write something! Bet you can't get it as sad as
this!!
                           Goodbye
                                           Martin Fitzpatrick

BM                Reply To Martin Fitzpatrick

Well  readers  - there's the challenge. Can you come up with the
game of Mrs Besstiboo? Can you write a sadder letter?!
                                                         - BRIAN
                    Letter from Scott Inwood

Dear FRED,

Seeing  as  I'm renewing my subscription and you asked for a few
sage words for your excellent magazine, I thought I'd better put
finger to keyboard and tap out a letter.

Firstly  I  want to disagree about hardware support for the Sam.
OK,  the chances of a new ASIC or accelerator are pretty remote,
but  there is plenty of scope for little small homemade hardware
projects.  One  of  the main advantages of the Sam is if the Z80
accidentally   blew,  you  wouldn't  break  the  bank  buying  a
replacement. The Sam is sort of like a hobbiest computer for the
90's,  ie cheap and easy to interface, easy to program and cheap
to fix.

Luckily  the  Z80  is pretty easy to interface and the expansion
bus  has  all the Z80 control lines. You also have the mouse and
joystick  ports.  These  give  you  3*5 bit input ports, plus an
interrupt line.
                    Letter from Scott Inwood

The only problem is that the joystick strobe lines are connected
directly  to the address lines, so you get random strobes due to
the reading of screen memory and refreshing.

The  first  project I'm working on is a de-bounced break button.
As  anybody  who  has  used the Spectrum emulator will tell you,
usually   when  you  press  the  break  button  the  program  is
corrupted.  This  is  because  when  you  press a switch it will
oscillate  between  the two states (bouncing) before it switches
over.  This  makes the Z80 think the NMI button has been pressed
several  times  and  each  time  you  get an interrupt the PC is
stacked, so the stack can easily fill up the computer's memory.

The  switch  is  pretty  easy  to  make. You need a single pole,
double  throw  switch  (the hardest component to get) , two nand
gates  and  a  few  resistors.  I've ordered the components from
Maplin's  and  if  I  can  get  it to work I'll send the circuit
diagram to your mag.

                    Letter from Scott Inwood

I've  also  ordered  the  Z80 technical data manual and if I can
find  any  useful  info in it, it's 750 pages long, I'll send it
in.

Secondly,  I  haven't  stopped  writing  the DOS compressor. I'm
currently at the "pulling all my hair out" stage. I've fixed the
save bug (you may have noticed a couple of screens wouldn't load
on  the version I gave you at the Sam show) and got the thing to
work  using  BASIC commands but when I tried to get the thing to
work  with the COPY command everything went wrong. I finally got
the copy command to work and the compressor stopped working with
save and load. Once I've sorted out all these bugs I'll send you
the  programs  (there  are two versions: one that compresses and
decompresses, and a version that just decompresses).

I'd finally like to say keep up the good work. I look forward to
my copy of Fred each month, the fact it could arrive anytime in
the month adds to the suspense!
                                   Scott
BM                   Reply to Scott Inwood

The  SAM  is  indeed an excellent computer to "play about" with.
I'm  not  an  electronically-minded type, but I know some people
get  a  lot  of  satisfaction  from  making  little  devices for
themselves.  To  be  honest,  I'm  more than a little jealous of
people  who  can build themselves modems from toilet rolls and a
bit of sellotape!

Having  had  a brief look at the compressor that you gave Colin,
it  does  seem very powerful. Unfortunately it also appears very
intimidating  to  use.  Would  you mind if I suggested making it
a  bit  more  user-friendly...?  Keep  at it, and I hope you get
rid of those bugs.

                                                         - BRIAN





                   Letter from Michael Stocks

                                              [redacted]
Dear Brian,

I am writing this letter in reply to your plea for letters in
issue  41, I am also writing in to answer Robert Pain's question
about PD libraries.I know of one, how? because I run it!

Zodiac  PD was formed in early December, as an option chosen for
my  Duke  of  Edinburgh  Bronze  award.  Originally  to be a SAM
magazine,  I  decided to also start a PD library in repy to your
plea.  I  was  shocked  to  hear that as far as FRED knew, there
weren't any libraries still running.

                   Letter from Michael Stocks

At  the time of writing I have acquired permission to distribute
the    full   range   of   Steve's   Software   Public   Domain
(SC_SPECLONE,SC_DISCLONE,  SC_COMPRESSORS 1+2 and HUMPHREY).I am
also  trying to obtain permission to use TETRIS, TERMINATOR2 and
any other PD I can get my hands on.

If  any  FRED  readers out there have written any programs/drawn
screens  and  would like their item to become PD, please send it
to  the  address  at  the top of the page. Also if you've any PD
software that you have purchased from another PD library, please
send   or  phone  with  details  such  as  the  program's  name,
type(puzzle       game,adventure,slideshow,dissasembler,word
processor),  where you purchased it from and most importantly...
THE  NAME  OF  THE  PROGRAMMER (so that I can contact him/her to
obtain  permission  to  include  their  work  in  the  Zodiac PD
library).  If  you would like issue 1 of Zodiac, please send 50p
(cheques/PO's  payable  to M.Stocks) to the address at the topof
the page.

                   Letter from Michael Stocks

P.S. Please, PLEASE tell me about the game screenshots that
appear in the screens sections:

                             Issue 35= Submarine game
                                            and
                                        Manga games

                             Issue 38= F117-first over Bagdad

                             Issue 39= RONNIE


P.P.S Good luck with Lemmings and SAMPaint (Legend of Eshan
sounds incredible!)





BM                  Reply to Michael Stocks

It  would  appear that there is indeed a PD Library for the SAM.
If  you  have  got  anything you'd like to be made PD, and don't
want  us to put it on a FRED, then you should send it to him. Of
course,  we  at  FRED  do  pay  for all our main menu items, AND
guarantee national fame and adulation....

The  screens  we  print  in  the  screens section are just that;
screens.  They don't imply the imminent release of a game unless
expressly  stated, which is a shame but it's the truth. Sorry to
anybody whose hopes have been raised by the screens!

                                                         - BRIAN







                   Letter from Andrew Collier

Dear Colin/Brian,

I  phoned  on Wednesday 23rd February, but was rather put off by
your  being  out.  I  had intended to ask why I had not received
payment for Stereogram (# 42) and, indeed, Deflection (#38).

This  may  sound like sour grapes - and it probably is - but was
SCUM so much better than my Missile Base that you decided to use
one and not the other? I've sent M.B. again, and I'll keep doing
so until you use it. What a threat, eh?

Seriously  though,  even  if it was  supposed to be a joke, SCUM
really  was  depressingly  bad.  The  SCUM  magazine  itself was
childish,  grammar  (especially apostrophes) had been thrown out
of  the window, the "how to program" was WRONG and as for making
programs  "look proffessional", I really can't see what he would
be  able  to  write. Better ask Matt Round, who knows a lot more
about quality.

                   Letter from Andrew Collier

People  complained  about  the converted Spectrum demos (I loved
them)  but  SCUM  is  almost  embarrassing. Please don't publish
issue  2.  I  would  rather  see  empty  space  on the disc than
programs which reflect so badly on the rest of the magazine. The
whole thing could have been written for the Spectrum in 1982, it
was  that  bad.  To  have programs rejected in favour of this is
quite honestly offending.

Anyone  would  think  you  had  no programs at all, and whilst I
would  be  the  first to admit my previous programs (ie Othello,
Connect  4, Make-A-Trip, Switch, Missile Base) would be inferior
to  the  rest  of the disc, any of those would have been better,
and more fitting to the magazine, than SCUM. What an apt title.

If you've lost any of the above programs and if you ever want to
use them, drop me a line and I'll send them post haste.

                         Andrew Collier

BM                  Reply to Andrew Collier

Rearrange the following words to make two sentences:


It joke. a was

sense humour! of a Get


Thank  you. Your cheque for Stereogram will have arrived by now,
sorry  about the delay, but things sometimes take a while to get
done  here. As for the Deflection thing, we have a policy of not
paying  for  programs  which  the authors declare shareware. The
idea  is that those who use the prog pay for it, we just make it
available  for  them  to  see. I suppose I should have mentioned
this earlier, but I didn't. Oh well. You know now.
                                                         - BRIAN



                    Letter from Robert Pain

Just  me  again,  reaffirming my status as the number one letter
contributer to FRED (possibly). Less of a chat this time, I have
some  questions!!!!  But more about those later. Congratulations
on SAMPaint, it is a truly excellent product (as you may know, I
think  the  world of it - just see my review of it). Some of the
things  I have done on it are OK, but probably not worthy of the
FRED  screens section. Oh yes, Matt Round's games are just a tad
excellent,  I  like them. So here's a little proposal: Matt, why
not  write  an  article  on how to use GamesMaster so darn well?
Like the idea? (Probably not).

Back to the questions. Firstly, I'd like to know about the SCART
cable.  Does  it  plug  straight  into  a  plain  old TV? If so,
approximately  how  long  is  the entire lead?? You see, I don't
want  to  fork out for something that won't reach from my SAM to
my  TV!  As it is, my PSU SAM to TV lead is giving a pretty poor
quality  picture  and so I though about buying a new lead. Is it
worth it?

                    Letter from Robert Pain

Now  time  to  air  my views on the recent ish. I think that the
well-established  FRED  hotkey system is OK. It's just right for
the purpose, changing it would be ludicrous. Also I like the odd
scrolly,  granted  they  are  annoying if used just a little too
much,  but  they're  OK  in menus like FRED36. Continuing on the
selection  system, I like the way SAMPaint is set out. The menus
are again suitable for the purpose.

Of  course, now the hardware debate. I think that SAM just isn't
designed  for powerful, fast processors. Put a 66MHz clock speed
chip  in  SAM  and  it  will be fast, but is that what we really
want?  Some people just want to show off the Coupe to others and
boast  about it, but a SAM with a power chip really just isn't a
SAM any more. If you want a 66MHz processor then go and buy a PC
with 486DX/2 or whatever, I for one love SAM just the way it is.
Keep  the  machine  we  know and love the way it is! For another
month, goodbye,

                            Robert Pain
RP                    A Review of SAMPaint

Product : SAMPaint
Requires: 512k
Price   : £24.99 (£22)


OK, Flash! was useable (but not too good, especially if you have
a  mouse) and it wasn't exactly bursting with functions, was it?
What the SAM world needed was a new program, an art package that
was  friendly  to  the  mouse  and to the user, but had some new
features to play around with (or draw with, whichever you like).
SAMPaint seems to have done this, but more about that later.

The  first  thing  that  strikes  you is the large manual, and a
rather formidable main menu. But (as the manual states) fear not
because it really isn't that bad. The manual's very well written
and  clearly explains things, so there isn't a problem. The main
thing is that everything is easily accessable, the mouse control
is excellent and the package is really well laid out.

Now, once the manual has been read a bit, the fact that you have
access  to  4 workscreens is obvious. To access the selected one
all  you  need is to press button 2 (or space). This gets rid of
the  menu  and  displays the whole workscreen at once. This does
have major advantages and is a very user-friendly system to use,
(not having to change the part of the screen to edit does really
make  a difference). To get started there are many brushes which
can be used, and to accompany this are numerous effects that can
be added over the top! If this is not enough, then you can paint
using the colour patterns available, or even using data from one
of the other workscreens! All brushes can be redefined.

If you get bored with putting lines on the screen (or dots) then
it's  time  to  explore the other options. There are just such a
lot,  I  couldn't  possibly describe them here. Of great use are
things like the gradient fills, screen fills (where you can fill
objects  such as circles with screens), block operations, window
operations,  etc. etc. There is such a diverse range, the manual
states  that it can't possibly cover everything! But as you read
through  it  everything is described, so that you can experiment
yourselves without getting in too much of a mess!

     Well, what can I say? This really is a superb package, FRED
and Graham Burtenshaw have made a corker of a package. It boasts
a LARGE number of options, it is easy to control and easy to use
and above all else it is user-friendly. Quite frankly, if anyone
else can better this then I would be surprised. If you have seen
the recent screens then you know some of the things possible,  I
can only say this is but a SMALL part of what you can do, really
an incredible number of superb effects can easily be done! All I
can say is that if you have not bought it already, then why not?
BUY IT NOW, YOU WON'T REGRET IT (especially if you have a mouse)
and by the way, I WASN'T PAID to write such a raving review,  it
is really what I personally feel. The only small gripe I have is
that you cannot undo an undo (as you could in Flash!) but I feel
this is minor and is made up for by the fact that there are four
workscreens!

CLARITY OF  MANUAL:  92%  (Well explained)
USER- FRIENDLINESS:  97%  (Simple to use)
RESULTS ACHIEVABLE:  90%  (OK, so you may need a little talent)
OVERALL PERCENTAGE:  95%  (But just get it now!)
RP                    A Review of Lemmings

Product : Lemmings
Requires: 512k
Price   : £19.99 (£18)

        One of the most talked about games in recent years, this
game caused quite a stir when it was officially announced that a
conversion was taking place.  The SAM is now the latest computer
to have Lemmings, but was the conversion worth it?

        Before I start I do not really need to tell anyone about
the idea behind this do I? Good, didn't think so. What? Have you
been hiding under a rock for the last 5 years or something? Very
well, the idea is to save a certain amount of Lemmings but using
various functions at various times. The idea really is simple!!!
The Lemmings just chuck themselves around regardless of life nor
limb,  they walk until they bash into something,  then they just
walk back the other way again. You have to skillfully guide them
to their home by climbing, floating, exploding, digging, bashing
etc. but probably you won't use all these functions at first.

        On with the review...The way the game is set out is good
as it is easy whilst fairly obvious at first,  getting harder as
you get futher.  This serves to break you  in to  the way of the
game and means that you don't have to tear your hair out, at the
start at least. By the time it begins to get hard you should be
familiar with the game and ideas should begin to emerge.

        The game itself is organised into 4 categories, starting
at FUN and ending in MAYHEM. If you haven't played before, then
fun should be the starting point, but veterans may go straight
into higher levels. As you complete one level the password for
the next is displayed, useful if you have to stop for a while,
you can go straight back to where you left off.

        But now in to the nitty-gritty, is it any good? Well, as
this is a puzzle game it will obviously appeal to such fans, but
I believe that this game has a more universal appeal. The game's
exceedingly cute, the little touches especially in the Lemmings'
animation add that little bit of sparkle to it. The graphics are
good, ported from the amiga I think. The music is quite original
and is exactly right for the game, ie. the music fits in well to
the game, although you probably won't really notice it when your
lovely Lemmings are about to dive off a cliff...

        So, the graphics and music are good,  but what about the
game? Well, firstly I must mention the control method. Being the
owner of a mouse that is what I used and found it comfortable. I
must say that mouse control is simple, but when I turned from it
to keyboard control I was less than impressed.  If you have used
a keyboard for a while then you probably won't mind this control
but I myself would strongly suggest a mouse. That out the way, I
like the Lemming selection method, including the added hot-keys.

        This game plays like a dream (unless you are frantically
trying to protect your Lemmings when you may start cursing), the
aforementioned selection method is easy to get to grips with and
easy to use. The difficulty increases nicely as you progress and
there are different ratings. The graphics and music are good.  I
can only really enthuse about the mouse control method, but I do
suppose the keyboard (and joystick) and passable. This is a game
the SAM has been waiting for,  just one such high quality game a
year would keep me happy, and I mean this really is HIGH quality
so don't mock it. If you have a mouse, buy this now, if you have
not got a mouse, make use of the Lemmings / Mouse deal that FRED
are running. In short: this is so hot don't miss it.  But PLEASE
do NOT pirate it.


GRAPHICS     : 96%  So cute.
SOUND        : 90%  Pretty good.
PLAYABILTY   : 98%  Easy at first, then difficult.
LIFE SPAN    : 95%  Have you playing for ages (I'm hooked)
ADDICTIVENESS: 99%  Keep going back for more.

OVERALL      : 96%  One of the best SAM games yet.


                                                     ROBERT PAIN




               Lemmings Review by Andrew Collier


 Fred publishing / Psygnosis
 £19.99 (£18)

 Lemmings  is  one of the most  famous games of all  time, a
rival to PAC-MAN in that my mother has heard of both of them. It
is also one  of the most converted, appearing on  a multitude of
formats. Now  the Lemmings have made  their way over to  the SAM
where  they get  blown  up,  squished, squashed,  splatted,  and
generally have a fairly uncomfortable time of it all.

 Is there much point  in me carrying on? If you're  going to buy
Lemmings then you probably already have done - if not then you
probably have some paramount reason  for resisting the flow, and
even  the most  eloquent  of favorable  prose  would shift  your
opinion one jot. Nevertheless, I've  started so I'll finish, and
anybody still reading this will very  soon find out exactly what
I think of the game. Read on...

 The first  thing I noticed were  the graphics, which  are truly
astonishing. There are  loads of neat touches, such  as the wild
hair of the blocker lemmings, and  the two Lemmings who pull the
scrolly message round on the title screen.

The  second  thing  was the lack of the two player option. I was
looking  forward  to  that, but never mind; the Spectrum version
didn't  have  it  either,  and this has all the levels of the 16
bits. Apart from that, everything from the original game is here
in all it's glory. The graphics are well drawn, and the Lemmings
themselves  are tiny but excellently animated. The backdrops are
a  wonder to behold. The only problem is that the coloured text,
on  a  patterned  background, is rather hard to read, especially
when  the  pass  words  are  random letters which don't make any
sense.

 The  music is  excellent, and  tunes  are numerous,  but I'm  a
little worried about their length. They  are rather short, and I
wouldn't  be too  surprised  if many  people  found  them a  bit
grating. Of  course, you can always  turn them off in  favour of
the FX... SILENCE!
I  don't  expect the sampled "Oh no!" when you blow up a Lemming
or anything like that, but if an icon says FX I expect more than
three  clicks  to  tell  you that a builder's bricks are running
out. (You get those with the music on anyway.)

I  imagine  you'll  say  I'm  being picky, but the game seems to
consist  of  rather more waiting than anything else. Some levels
take  an  age  to  load and decompress (during which time we are
treated  to  a looped piece of music about 10 second long) and I
can't  for  the  life  of  me  see why it needs to load anything
between the main menu and selecting a level. Still, the Amiga is
just as bad, if not worse, since the speed of its drive wouldn't
even put the +3 to shame.

Congratulations to Chris White for coding this. I've just heard
that a second  version is out, with  bugs fixed and a  few extra
improvements. Let's  hope the sound effects  are one of  them. I
won't let my mark be coloured by the fact that I have to send my
copy back in order to get this new version, even though it was a
great disappointment that it didn't  work first time. There's no
doubt that this  is the one release that people  will be looking
at, and proves that with some skill,  the Sam is capable of just
about anything.

Graphics     : 97% Colourful, clear, and excellently animated
Music        : 73% Many good tunes, but far too short
Sound effects: 03% Click, click, click; and that's it
Addictivity  : 95% A good challenge,especially on harder levels
Overall      : 94% Almost every SAM game so far  has been hailed
as "the best game yet" but this time  I mean it. Buy it now, and
we may get some more licences. Hands up for Lemmings 2!

PS Beware of the box. It's the biggest yet...

                                                 Andrew Collier







DN                      REVIEW OF DRIVER
                        by Dean Nicholas

by Revelation Software,£29.99 (£24.99 to FRED subscribers)
Needs MasterDOS to run.

Every  'proper'  computer  used  in  an  office has some sort of
user-friendly  front end, using a WIMP environment. Probably the
most  well  known and used being the versions of Windows for the
PC.  Now  it is time for the SAM's one, and it comes in the form
of Driver.

If  you have used any other WIMP systems, then you will straight
away  feel  at  home  with  Driver. It has the nice display box,
showing  icons  of  files on the disk, a cursor to move with the
keys  or  (preferably) the mouse, pull down menus (PDM's) at the
top  of  the  screen,  and  a  wastebasket for putting all those
unwanted  files.  Driver runs from the Driver desktop, where all
the  resident  applications are shown. One application always on
the  Desktop  is  the  File  Manager, where you can erase, copy,
backup, and all the things I mentioned earlier.
DN                       Driver Review

Through   the   File   Manager  you  can  also  open  any  other
applications,  of  which there are seven on the disk: Notepad, a
simple  but  user  friendly word processor that makes use of the
clipboard  (explained later); Iconmaster, for designing icons to
represent  the files. Preferences, to let you change things like
colours,  sorting  types, etc. Tutorial, a tutorial program that
guides you through the basics of operating Driver. Calculator, a
basic  calculator  with  +, -, * and / functions. Slidey Puzzle,
like  one  of those cheap slidey puzzles found at car boot sales
(with pictures, numbers or letters); finally, Install which lets
you save a customised disk with MasterDOS on.

As  mentioned  above,  Driver has a clipboard on it, letting you
cut  out  bits  of  documents on Notepad then paste them back in
somewhere  else  on  another document. This means that to copy a
chunk of text onto another document, first highlight the text by
clicking  and dragging the cursor. Then cut it out and put it on
the  clipboard, from where it can be pasted back anywhere in any
other document. This is an extremely useful facility.
DN                       Driver Review

The  same  can be said for the Driver keyword. You see, you can,
from the Driver PDM, select the BASIC command (every application
has  this)  You  will be returned to BASIC. Now, any time in the
future (provided you don't switch off or reset the computer), by
typing  in  'DRIVER',  you  will  be returned to the exact place
where you exited Driver! Believe me, this is extremely useful.

Subdirectories (in Driver,they are called Folders) can be easily
accessed,  named  and  files moved to and from them via the File
Manager.  It  is  also  very  easy  to rename files. Application
bootstraps  can  be  created,  which  gives ordinary files icons
(normally, only applications have them).

Now, onto verdict time. I cannot help but recommend that you buy
this.  It really is that good, and rivals Windows in many areas.
If  you have a mouse then you must definitely get it, as it will
make  file  editing  much  easier, and give your mouse something
useful to do.

DN                       Driver Review

Marks:

      USEFULNESS:92%
      VALUE FOR MONEY:95%
      USER-FRIENDLINESS:99%!
      OVERALL:94%

A  great  piece  of software. It shows the full potential of the
SAM, when put to use by a guy as talented as Steve Taylor. Now I
wait  in  anticipation for more applications to come out for it.
Maybe a database,anyone?

Dean Nicholas