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Disk 19 News
SAM Amature
Programming & Electronics Mag
Reviewed By
H.J. STANLEY
I have never done a review before, so you will have to forgive
any mistakes I make (Spelling or otherwise). The first mistake I
made was to agree to do this review.
The first thing to do is shorten the name of the disc mag I am
reviewing, Which will be known as the (SAP&E ) from here on in,
as I have been told on various occasions that I have the
attention span of a goldfish,(what an insult to the goldfish).
Well to start ! Like all discs you load up by pressing f9 and up
comes a menu screen, (and very nice It looks too),you are
given a choice of options from one to eight.
1.Introduction
2.The Z80+ the history
3.Questions & answers
4.Letters
5.Digital Electronics
6.Assembly language
7.And finally
8.adverts
I shall go through each one in turn, the introduction is what it
says. He tells you all about the mag, about its aims, what it
wants to do (to educate I think), and all about Shane Smith the
editor (clever chap).
Number two gives a brief history of the Z80 microchip. There is
not much more I can say about this as I myself am not an
historian and the subject holds no interest for me. That is my
own opinion but it may be of interest to others.
Number three is an answering column to readers of the mag, eg if
you want to build a main frame computer, don't ask (YET), but if
you have a problem with a small circuit, then write in, or a
query about machine code, then start typing fellow mag readers.
Number four is what it says, a letter column, you can write in I
suppose with constructive suggestions about content and format
(DID I REALLY SAY FORMAT).
Number five is an explanation of the logic gates used in digital
electronics. He goes into some detail here, so it might be as
well to print out this part of the mag, as if you are the same
as me, your eyes tend to go a bit funny if you concentrate hard
on reading what is on the screen. Having said this I found it
very interesting, but what are we to make from it all!.
Number six is a starter introduction to assembly language. Mr
Smith likes assembly language and assumes that every one else
does too. He dismisses basic out of hand as being too slow for
lots of things. It may be true to say this, but lots of people
still use basic for lots of things, including programing,(WHY
SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE BASIC!).
Number seven is a round up of what has gone before and how to
pay for futher issues of the mag, where to send your hard earned
cash, no pounds sterling but chequc or postal order.
Number eight is an advert section to advertise you wares, what
ever they may be.
The SAP&E mag is a good idea for people such as myself who
happen to like computing and electronics. I think given time and
a little luck, it could develope into quite a good mag. I look
forward to future issues, meanwhile I am heating up my soldering
iron.
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Manic Miner Reviewed By Chris Savage
Oh no he's back, that manic miner that kept me awake for hours
with " I'll just have one more go before I turn in", back in the
eighties.
And here I am again years on, sitting up all hours reviewing
this infuriating addictive game. At my age I should Know better!
I's all there but better , the same cute characters but more
colourful , the same "drive you up the wall" tune, but only in
wonderful SAM tones, rather than the rustling fart of the
Speccy. Plus more levels ! What more could any platform
masochist want?
Even the dodgy collision detection is still there. Come on, own
up ! How many of you forgot how you had to jump very late to
avoid smashing Willy's head against the 2nd stalactite, or is it
stalagmite? I never could remember ! on the first level , and
how many times have you shouted " It was nowhere near me " as
frustration sets in as you start on level 1 for the umpteenth
time? Now there's a criticism , why could we not have had an
improvement here?
Why not an access code for the level you finally die on?
It gets really tedious having to keep churning through the
same old stages time after time . My only other real complaint
"apart from not being able to get much further than I did eight
years ago !" - the colours on some of the level backgrounds .
With SAM's palette, the choice of colouring could have been
better on some scenes. A worthy effort in bringing THE speccy
platform classic to the SAM . PS, no Dave, I dont want to review
Jet Set Willy when it appears, anything else, but I need my
sleep !
BEST REGARDS CHRIS SAVAGE MEMBER 383
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Metempschosis PD Disks
Reviewed by S. Atkins
These are a selection of disks which total to about 12. I
was sent 6 of these disks to have a look at, which range from
one pound a disk to three pounds for a double disk issue. There
were two film demos (one of which is a double disk demo) and the
three others were just disk magazines.
The disks which clearly stand out are the film demos. The
Terminator demo is simply stunning. It is directly converted
from an Archimedes and it certainly shoms. The digitised screens
are very clear and partly shaded in. It all rolls very smoothly
and has to be seen to be believed. The Highlander demo is on
just one disk but the quality is just as good as the other demo.
It cleverly repeats some of the scenes shown to lengthen the
demo. Both disks are well presented and must be among the best
digitised demos about, especially as they work out at just 1.50
per disk.
The other disks are essentially just disk magazines
though they are of higher quality than some other magazines
about. They all feature the usual news, reviews, screens etc.
but they also contain some really good demos. The animation disk
has mainly cartoon-style demos which are well done, my favourite
being the Dirty Larry one which involves some good old fashioned
mindless violence. The Xmas issue disk has some fantastic
screens which seem be original, and a Ninja Storm demo which is
my favourite. The Wibbly Bits disk is again just a disk magazine
but with very good original demos - one being a demo showing 46
on screen colours at once using some digitsed pictures. These
three disks are all well presented and a complete bargain at
just one pound a throw.
Overall, the Metempsychosis are well programmed and cheap
with some great demos. Well worth looking into.
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Review of Primus Disk One
by S.Atkins
This is a new disk magazine and starts off with a double
disk issue. It is basically a one-man effort and seems
attractive at the price of only 1.50 for two disks.
The first disk loads up with a nice menu and good
music (though I have heard it before ). It has the usual news
and reviews section which are both well presented and well
written. There is also a guide to Flash, and a piece on Basic
which gives a listing of commands and their definitions which is
quite handy. There are also some fairly helpful utilities
including a program to help you use your mouse and a sprite
grabber.
The second disk is also nicely presented, and has another
menu full of demos and utilities. There is a very good Video
Titler as well as an SC Compressor. There is a scrolly message
which is the first one I have come across which travels at a
decent speed. The worm demo is a simple but good graphics demo.
There is a font and fade routine in there for you to use.
The thing which stands out most on the disks is the Screen$
section. These are mainly original as far as I can tell, and are
all absolutely brilliant, my favourite being the Money for
Nothing screen.
Overall this is a cheap and well put together disk wich
is worth checking out.
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THE SAM NEWSDISK
Reviewed by Steve Monk
By now you all will be aware that SAMCo have launched a monthly
newsdisk instead of the Quarterly news sheet and the 0898 news
hotline, so whats in the newsdisk ?
On booting up the newsdisk you get a nice screen telling you the
newsdisk is loading, followed by a request not to copy the
contents for your friends, and then:-
The Main Menu
It's not of mind blowing design, but it's clear and
funtional, you select which program or article you want with the
cursor keys and press enter to load it.
The Contents
Well there is the obligatory editorial followed by
SAM news. The last two issues have featured SAMCo policies on
software and hardware. All of these I find interesting, I like
to know whats going on !. Newsdisk diary keeps you in touch with
where SAMCo are doing a gig, i.e. which shows they are
attending.
Next up is the showpiece of the whole disk THE DEMO'S This has
got to be the best move SAMCo have made. On the February disk
there are four working demo's; Batz n Balls, Vegetable vocation,
Star Atlas and SAM arcade creator. It's really good to be able
to see and play about with a program before you decide to buy it
or not, and I am sure this will increase sales of software that
would otherwise just be bought by hardened games players. For
instance I don't normally buy games to play myself, I buy them
for my kids, but after playing the demo of Batz n Balls I was
hooked and bought it straight away.
ProDos screens are also featured in the Feb issue so you can see
what CP/M software looks like. There is a whole host of other
articles including a Hardware tutorial and various programming
tips - very useful.
On the whole it is a very well put together disk, not too many
spelling mistakes (there are one or two), and for the asking
price of £1.00 each for the Jan and Feb issues, it's a giveaway.
If the quality of future issues matches that of the first two,
the asking price of £2.50 per issue still represents good value.
Discounts are available for subscriptions of 6 or 12 months.
THE BAD BITS
I don't know whether it's my printer or not, but I have not as
yet successfully printed out anything from the newsdisk. Twice I
have tried to print out the full price list, firstly using the
Print All option which resulted in wall to wall chaos, i.e
nothing was in columns, the whole file was printed without
margins and had words split, and it was just a mess. Secondly, I
tried dumping each page at a time. This resulted in an orderly
printout, but the capital M's and W's were missing. The printer
I use is the Star LC200, which is supposed to be Epson standard.
If I get time I will look into it deeper.
BONUS
It's quite possible that the March issue will be a Two disk
issue, as the long awaited SAM Juggler demo is so vast that it
needs a disk of its own. I have seen the demo and it's really
worth seeing, so order your copy of the newsdisk now !.
Bye Bye from me and I !
(private joke)
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.
OOO OOO O O OOO
O O O O O O
O O OO O O O OOO
O O O O O O O
O O OOO O O OOO
I have finally got a copy of BATZ AND BALLS, and very good it is
too. I shall get a full review of it done as soon as possible,
but if you are thinking of getting it, I will warn you now that
to stand any chance of getting to the higher screens you really
must have a mouse.
Brian, Jean and myself attended the All Formats fair in
Hammersmith on 14/3/92. This was a change of venue from the
usual Horticultual Halls and was, for us, a lot harder to get
to. When we did eventually get there, we were pleased to find
that the actual hall in the Novotel was very well laid out and
also well populated with stands.
The attendance at the show was well up to expectations, due I
think in part to the fact that the organisers had laid on free
coaches to and from the Horticultual Halls to get people who had
gone to wrong halls, across to the right one.
Whilst at the show I saw the "JUGGLER" demo, which is excellent.
It will be part of SAM NEWSDISC 3, so be sure not to miss it.
I also talked to Alan Miles, who told me that as part of the
Hardware Project kit, Samco are giving a chip that can be added
to the Sam to give 32000 colours at once. I haven't received my
Project kit yet, but I am looking forward to having a look at
this.
Our next 2 shows will be:
Motor Cycle Museum (Birmingham) 26/4/92
Sandown Race course (Esher) 16/5/92
We hope to see you there for a coffee and a chat.
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