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Disk 22 News
Hardware Development Kit - Sam Computers - £29.95
Review by Michael Nicholas
A kit that's made more specifically for hardware developers, and
it basically makes it so that if you were to design a piece of
hardware, then this kit would save you from giving it a specific
address or port number to operate on. The final built module
also allows you to display 32768 different colours on Sam.
The items which you will require to build the kit are:
A soldering iron
Solder
Wire cutters
Soldering braid or a solder sucker
The basic kit contains a very neatly drawn Printed Circuit
Board, 7 MicroChips, 16 resistors, 6 capacitors, 8 Led's, 3
transistors and two euroconnectors. All of these have to be
soldered onto the Printed Circuit Board.
The instructions are quite clear and it takes you through each
stage of building the board, though you must follow them very
carefully and slowly. You need to reserve about an hour and a
half, to build the board. Whatever you do, don't rush it!
I found the kit quite easy to put together, but that's probably
because I have had experience in using a soldering iron and
electronics in general. Anyway, after I had put the kit together
I plugged it into my Sam and It worked! I couldn't believe it -
Not many things that I put together actually work first time
round.
Included with the kit, you get a disc with lots of software on
it. There is a piece of software that allows you to display 2048
colours on screen at once , though unfortunately there isn't a
piece of software which shows all of the kaleidoscopes 32768
colours on screen . I can not see much difference between the
colours, but that's probably because I have not got a monitor. A
monitor can define the colours more clearly than a normal
television.
I think Sam Computers could have spent a little more time
developing software before publishing it.
The only drawbacks with this kit, is the fact that there are
not any instructions which tell you specifically how to use the
32768 colours, or how to use the hardware development side of
the kit. Sam Computers do not give much technical information
and I get the impression that they expect you to go and read all
the hardware tutorials in the newsdiscs, to know how to use it.
It's all very well, Sam computers, but what about the people who
don't get the NewsDiscs?
Another thing I noticed and that is that you don't get a box
with the kit, I'm not sure whether that is coming later on, or
not - you know how long it took to get a box for the messenger
and the Sam Bus!
The technical side of the kit:
In amongst the kit, there is a special chip called a Parallel
Interface Adaptor ( PIA ). It allows the Hardware developer to
have up to 3 useable ports. SamCo don't explain to you, how to
use these ports or what they can be defined as. The three ports
are named A, B and C. Each one can be programmed as 8 input
lines or 8 Output lines. There is also another feature to this
chip and that is that it has 3 modes of operation. You might be
saying, how does this reviewer know all of this information, if
SamCo havn't given any specific instructions? Well for a start,
I went looking through all the programs for any information. I
also have a book which explains how the PIA works.
Kaleidoscope port = 8063
Port A = 48255
Port B = 48511
Port C = 48767
Control Port = 49023
There are also 8 LED's which are mounted onto the PCB and each
of these can be lit up in any sequence you like. There are a few
demonstrations which use these, one of which makes the LED's
light up in a sequence like Newtons Cradle and another like the
front of the car,' Kitt' in Knight Rider.
One thing I must make clear and that is that when altering a
colour using the kaleidoscope, it alters all 128 of them and not
just the one you want to use. In other words, to get the full
use out of the kaleidocope you must use line interupts. You can
create line interupts in basic, but these slow programs down and
are not very effective.
All in all, if you have all the necessary tools and are
generally interested in electronics or hardware design then get
the kit. I have just heard that there are a host of little
circuits coming out soon, which will be used with the hardware
development kit. At the end of building it I can guarantee that
you will be impressed with the finished product. You will learn
a lot and gain more from getting the kit. If all fails then you
can also send the whole thing back to Sam Computers and get it
fixed for a fee of £12.
If you are not very interested in hardware design etc, but want
the kaleidoscope, then you can get the ready built kaleidoscope
for £40, though this module does not include the hardware
development circuitry.
I can't wait to see what's brought out that uses the Hardware
development kit. The whole idea of the kit is to get people more
involved in designing hardware.
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THE PERSONAL BANKING SYSTEM (PBS)
FROM HILTON COMPUTER SERVICES
as seen through the eyes of Steve Monk
Have you ever wondered how much money you have in your bank
account halfway through the month? or are your finances run from
month to month purely on a wing and a prayer ?. Will there be
enough money in the bank to pay the mortgage at the end of the
month? Well, Hilton Computer services may have the answer to
your prayers in the form of The Personal Banking System. In
brief it's a fully funtional bank accounting program to keep a
record of your transactions just as your bank does. Used to its
fullest the personal banking system is a whole lot more.
The PBS (as it's commonly known) offers facilities for everybody
who deals with money, from individuals to clubs, and even small
businesses. As you may well appreciate a program of this
complexity could be an absolute nightmare to use, but the writer
Jack Gibbons has done a superb job in writing a program with so
many features and yet it's really very easy to use.
First you must set it up to your requirements. It's a good idea
to ask your bank or look through your last statement or two, and
extract all your regular incomes and outgoings i.e. standing
orders and direct debits and incomes such as family allowance or
family credit etc. This will enable you to enter your standing
orders into the PBS. Once set up the PBS will automatically take
these into account when calculating and displaying your account
details and balance. it doesn't matter what the frequency of
payment is, PBS can handle it even lunar months (28 days).
The SAM version of the PBS includes features such as Multiple
currencies, multiple bank accounts, Building society, credit
card and petty cash accounts. There are help screens available
just when you may need them, password control is available and
you can move money between accounts held in the PBS and the
accounts will automatically be updated to reflect the transfer.
Each entry into an account can be given an analysis code for
further analysis on one type of entry enabling you to find out
details of just your vehicle costs, or how much you have spent
at the supermarket between any given dates,
The scope of the PBS is really vast, it would take a very long
review to cover it all and to do it justice. There are five
display formats each showing a differing selection of
information and a printer is fully supported if you have one.
When using a printer you must have it ready to go on line when
you load the PBS, as during the loading sequence you are asked
whether you wish to initialize a printer or not. If you do wish
to use a printer, then the PBS will sit there and do nothing
until your printer is on line. Once the PBS is loaded and
running, you can't change your mind and use the printer unless
specified so in the loading sequence without reloading it and
choosing to initialize the printer.
One of the most useful features for me is the forward projection
mode. This, as its name implies, allows you to look into the
future and I have found this an invaluable feature. You enter
the date you wish to see, and armed with all your standing
orders etc, the PBS works out and displays what your projected
bank balance will be at that date. Brilliant!
The whole package is user friendly and is very well supported by
instantly accessable help pages. A zoom-in feature has been
incorporated so that all details of a transaction may be seen
and altered, affording the ability to search for transactions
with a given criteria and then alter or modify as required. As I
said in the beginning, at its simplest the PBS is a bank
accounting program, but even the individual can keep track of
all his or her bank and building society accounts along with
credit card accounts. It is also quite feasible for a club or
small businesses to keep accounts on the PBS. The future has
also been taken care of in as much as you can assign each entry
with a code, this is in preparation for the forthcoming general
ledger module. Also planned is a budget module.
The Sam version of PBS is closely modelled on the P.C.
version and really shows the power of our friend, Sam. Although
written completely in basic, it's reasonalbly fast, the on
screen display is pleasing to the eye with the file name and
account balance displayed in the top window, all menu options in
a bottom window and your last transactions displayed in between.
These can be scrolled up and down to show your previous
transactions.
The manual, well I have two versions, one is the P.C. version
which was originally packaged with it, and I have recently
received a draft copy of the SAM version, so I will base my
view son the draft SAM version. With 75 pages (compared to 25
for the p.c.) this manual is friendly and packed with example
menus and menu flow charts which are a really useful addition
and should enable you to use the comprehensive menu system to
its fullest without getting lost or going round in circles. This
only happens if you launch yourself into the PBS without first
getting acquainted with it by reading the manual. As manuals go
this is well laid out and again well thought out. Full
instructions are also given on the IPL program which comes with
the PBS, and allows you to confiqure the PBS to your
requirements and tastes, i.e. alter colours and set up passwords
etc. The PBS will run under Samdos or Masterdos on a 256k or
512k machine. The PBS is available from HILTON COMPUTER SERVICES
LTD, 3 Suffolk Drive, Guildford, Surrey, GU4 7FD 0483 578983 and
costs just £19.95 and comes on a 3.5" disk.
Congratulations to PBS for a very good program and for
supporting the SAM Coupe.
Footnote: I have recently received a copy of the budget module
which complements the PBS. I will shortly be giving you an
insight into this.
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BEETLE MANIA
REVIEW DAVID HALL
This is a game aimed at the 'skill' player. The aim is to store
all the barrels by using the beetle to push them through a
deceptively simple looking maze using the minimum number of
moves.
Control is by keyboard, as the joystick can't give the fine
control required. There ares a large number of rooms, these may
be entered in the usual consecutive fashion, or entered one at a
time by selecting the room number. A very handy option, as
completing some of the rooms is fiendishly difficult, (but all
are possible).
The graphics are very 'Spectrumish' but quite adequate and
clear. Little use is made of the Sam's colour capability, but
that leaves you free to concentrate on the game, which can be of
almost chess-like difficulty.
The game, simple in presentation, can be surprisingly addictive
and infuriating, until at last you find the sequence of moves
required to complete the current task. For the adherents of
puzzle and strategy games, Beetle Mania provides a reasonable
challenge. The higher screens being quite difficult to complete.
I have had several long-g-gg sesions stuck on some of the levels
but I'll get there yet!!
I had problems loading this on my 512K machine. By resetting my
Sam (ROM 3), with the left hand shift key held down to give 256K
mode, the game loaded ok. The price of £10.95 seems a little
high for a game of this quality, but with 50 screens, it's only
about 21 pence a game. I understand that Supplement members can
get a £1 discount.
Contact:- G. A. Bobker.
29,Chadderton Drive. Unsworth. Bury. LANCS. BL9 8NL
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THE SECRETARY
REVIEW DAVID HALL
The copy of Secretary as supplied for review is an incomplete
version, with a number of facilities not yet working. This makes
it difficult to provide a clear assessment. The program is
(was?) still under development, so my comments may prove to be
misdirected.
The Secretary is a word processor, written mainly in Basic.
Overall, the appearance of Secretary is quite pleasant, with
well laid out and comprehensive menus, plus well thought out
help information.
Whilst not a prodigous typist, I found on a number of
occasions, when I did get a good burst of speed, that I was
losing the odd character here and there. One of the facilities
not available in this version is paragraph reform, so tidying up
paragraphs is by the hard way ie. retyping.
The restriction of only accessing files with a specific suffix
means that directory catalogues are not spattered with
unloadable files. However to load a file from another source
means renaming it first.
The program can handle an impressive number of in-text printer
control codes, but as these appear to be checked from Basic,
printing is very slow. The codes resident in the program, as
supplied, are far from standard Epsom, so the first job for most
people may well be to re-allocate all the control codes. This
appears to be another facility not yet fully working. A program
is supplied to assist in this task, it works well, but the
reassigned codes didn't appear in the program when next loaded.
I found the printing menu to be very confusing, the one
exception to my comments above. Once working however, the in
text control codes give excellent print control, though as
mentioned, at the expense of speed.
Overall, whilst sporting many good features and being well
presented, the program needs considerable development if it is
to take a serious place in the market. I look forward to field
testing a fully working final version, it shows great promise.
Contact Samco ( or is it Revelation ), for more details.
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______________ISSUE 22_______________
Before you all write to me asking me how I enjoyed Florida, I
will tell you in one word BRILLIANT !.
Thats answered all the letters that were destined for my
letterbox if only someone would write them. Well on with the
news this month and its a biggy to start with :
Something big may be happening down in SAMland one of two things
are likely to happen either they will dissappear up there own
disk drives and cease to be or they won't, hows that for a look
into the future ?.
I know your all thinking whats that twit Steve Monk on about but
I can't say anymore just lookout for camel dung down in Swansea.
The dictionary project that many of us helped in compiling
should be almost finished by now, Duncan phoned me a week or two
ago and just mentioned that I was the last to finish, thats the
story of my life.
I have also read somewhere that a full blown spell checker is
now available for SAM, before writting this article I tried to
find out where I had read it but I can't find it now, so if any
one knows about it please let me know and just to get people
writting to me I will send you a stamp if your that hardup !
If you are the writer how about a review copy ?
Samco have just about nothing in stock and are well behind in
orders so whats new !. Colin Mcdonald is in residence again I
don't know how he gets invited back after some of the comments
in Fred magazine, Adrian parker is writting the manual for ESI's
Tracker music software package this promises to be a really good
program which will be reflected in the price so don't expect to
see a £20.00 price tag, its more likely to be 30-40 quid.
The digitiser is on hold at present awaiting a mega happening if
it happens, as mentioned before Samco have no hardware in stock
not the best way of selling things is it ?
If you have been waiting for Glenco's SCAD games designer from
Samco phone em up and either got your money back and buy Andy
wrights Games Master or ask Samco to send you a copy of Colin
Jordans Sam Adventure writer instead, according to Alan Miles
they are fed up with waiting for Glenco to finish the job, to
quote his actual words "I feel sorry for Glenco they have done a
grand job but we can't wait forever our users will loose
interest" yes Alan !.
By the way did you know that 300,000 gallons of water are dumped
onto the space shuttle launch pad during the first twenty
seconds of the lift off procedure, this is done to cool down the
concrete flame chutes and to deaden the noise, amazing init.
(Do they use a DEF PROC for their lift off procedure, or just a
straight GOTO space???...ED)
bye for know - Steve.
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