AmstradComputerUser34-0987.pdf

September 1987 a

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WIN: A visit to Aston Martin

What happens

inside The Cage

Plus: Pokes, programs,

news, views and reviews

Cash Control with HFP

Ofﬁcial Amstrad Home Computing Magazine

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MASTERFILE III

FOR THE AMSTRAD CPC 6128 (ALSO CPC 464/664 WITH DK 'TRONICS 64K RAM)

FIRMLY ESTABLISHED

ALL THIS POWER

This is no toy thrown together in BASIC and half-

tested, but real machine-coded computing power

professionally constructed. We have had IBM and

Apricot users beg us for a MASTERFILE for their

machines — when they had seen the earlier CPC

MASTERFILE. All this power is yours for „..

£39.95.

MASTERFILE III is now ﬁ rmly established as

THE ﬁ ling system for the CPC6128. It has received

rapturous reviews and we could paper the walls of

our new ofﬁ ces with our customers' letters of

appreciation.

For the beneﬁt of newcomers to the CPC machines:

MASTERFILE III is a powerful and ﬂexible data

ﬁling and retrieval system. All "database" systems

require that your data is organised into ﬁelds and

records. Unlike most, MASTERFILE does not

commit you to ﬁ eld lengths or formats, since ALL

data is variable-length and optional. Files are not

pre-formatted, and only used bytes are saved to

disc. Also, unlike the rest, MASTERFILE allows

multiple user-deﬁned ways of viewing/printing

your data, And unique in its price range, MASTER-

FILE offers RELATIONAL FILE options, where-

by common data can be entered just once and

shared by many records. Maximum ﬁ eld size is

240, maximum ﬁ elds per record is over 50, and

maximum ﬁ le size is 64K. Room for 1,000 full

names and addresses, for example. Only one disc

drive is required. It is menu-driven throughout, and

comes with detailed illustrated manual, and exam-

ple ﬁles.

For those who already have an earlier MASTER-

FILE, we offer updates; please telephone for

details. You will be amazed at the performance

improvements and extra functions.

*** PCW users: be patient, MASTERFILE 8000

will be ready early in 1987 ***

MASTERCALC 128 SPREADSHEET

We also have one of the fastest and friendliest

spread-sheet programs around, MASTERCALC

128_ Its special features include: individual tailor-

ing of column widths and precision ; relocatable

formulae; split-screen option; automatic cursor

advance; text output to printer, or to disc for

interface with PROTEXT or TASWORD; hi-res

graphic histogram of any three rows. MASTER-

CALC 128 runs on CPC6128, or CPC464/664 with

DK'tronics RAM. The price is just 03.00

SO VERY VERSATILE

Just about ANY kind of information can be

handled by MASTERFILE. You can EXPORT the

data to other systems (e.g. PROTEXT/MERGE and

TASWORD). You can even merge your own USER

BASIC to MASTERFILE for customised ﬁ le

processing, or build new ﬁles from other computer

sources. The speed of SEARCH of MASTERFILE

is second to none. Records can be sorted ascending/

descending, character or signed numeric, even

embedded keys such as surnames. Other functions

are ﬁ eld-to-ﬁ eld calculations, and several-across

label printing. We simply don't have room to list all

the features; give us a call if you are still in doubt

of the power of MASTER FILE III.

PaSIUKOLt

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SPECIAL OFFER

You can save i10 by taking MASTERFILE III and

MASTERCALC 128 for a combined price of just

£6295.

Prices include VAT and P&P to anywhere in

Europe. Elsewhere please add 20% for air-mail

service. ACCESS/VISA/MASTERCARD welcome,

written or telephoned, quoting card expiry date.

Make cheques payable to "Campbell Systems".

Our normal response is return of post, 1st class.

CAMPBELL SYSTEMS Dept. (ACU)

7 Station Road, EPPING, Essex CM16 4HA,

England. Tel: (0378) 77762/3.

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CONTENTS

- 7 -

7 News

10 Gallup chart

11 Letters

18 Seek and Ye Shall Find

23 Hairy Hacker

74 LSB

38 The Living Daylights

TD is JB on the CPC. Binary Bond

follows the plot of the ﬁlm. Simon

Rockman looks at both.

42 Cage Page

Amsters Cage is one of the liveliest

areas on Prestel, where Amstrad

owners dive in to ask and answer

questions. Have a look at what they

are saying.

48 Ball Games

What have Arkanoid, Ball Breaker

and Krakout got to do with politics,

gambling and children. No one is

sure, not even Jeremy Clarkson.

29 Amstrad BBS

Amstrad bulletin boards are

growing. A quick guided tour takes

you around the interesting sigs.

46 Assembly Point

Once a program gets too big to be

developed in memory you have to

resort to some reading and writing.

Peter Green explains how this is

done.

53 Frootee

A fast agricultural game for you to

type in.

32 Home Finance Package

Look after your LSD and VAT with

HFP, a home budget control

.package for CPYM plus.

57 Software reviews

Liz'll ﬁx it. If you want to ﬂy an

F-15, a spaceship or run along the

roof of a train then there is a game

in here for you, Nigel, Colin and Liz

venture into computerdom armed

with a mere joystick.

40 Phault Phinding

Cure the listing lament by knowing

what to look for when things go

wrong. Rupert Goodwins offers the

solution.

50 Investigating roms

Sideways roms hide away under

the screen ram. Richard Sargent

explains the hows, whys and

wherefores of unmasking them.

„,•••• •

11-1

•.110 614 400 ki 006

68 Come on 'round ladies and gents,

ave a look at what I've got to offer

you this month. The art studio for

painting types 'n Brian Clough's

football fortunes for the terrace

trendies.

27 Bond Compo

Win a trip to see Aston Martins

being built, or a valuable collectors

model, or whistling key ring. Do

you know your 007?

Cov er photograph,

- Ma•tyn

007 Gun T,ogo copyright ,

C. ; •

AMSTRAD

COMPUTER USER

Editorial and Advertising ofﬁces:

169 King's Road, Brserwood, Essex CM14 4E F.

Tel: 0277-234459 (Editorial); 0277 234434 (Advertising)

Telec om Gold: 72:MA G021

Published by Avralite Ltd, 36/38 St. Petersgate, Stockport SKI 11

Amstrad is a regratered trade mark, and with thE

, 4mstrad C o m p u t e r U se r, is u se d w it h t h e p e rm issio n o f

Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc. No part of this publi-

cation may be reproduced without permission. While every

effort is made to ensure the accuracy of all features and

lis tings we cannot accept any liability for any mistakes or

misprints The views and opinions expressed are not neces

sadly those of Amstrad or Amsoft but represent the views

of our many readers, users, and contributors, Matedal for

publication is only accepted on an all-rights basis, We regret

that Amstrad Computer User cannot enter into persona(

correspondence, g Arra n t , L t d 1 9 8 7

News t ra d e d ist rib u t io n ; D ie m o n d -Eu ro p re ss Sa e s & D ist ilb u rio n L t d .

Unit F . Ou rg e ss R e a d , I vyh o u se L a n e , H a st in g s. Ea st Su sse x T N 3 5 4 N R .

Tel: 0424 430422.

The ofﬁcial magazine for all

user s of Amstrad computers

Editor: Sim o n R o ckm a n

Advertisement Manager; Jane Nolan

Advertisement Assistant: Lorraine Day

Page 3

Amstrad User September 1987

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Bargain bonanza

was a much bigger stage for this prestige

event - but we could have done with at

least. twice as much room again.

"One thing's for sure - this show is

an even bigger bonanza for Amstrad

users and suppliers than any previous

event in the series".

The eighth Amstrad Show opens on

October 23 - in Manchester. Details on

Page 9,

THE seventh Amstrad Show kicked off

at Alexandra Palace in glorious

sunshine. Despite the soaring tem-

peratures inside and outside the hall,

the ﬁ rst day's attendance was double

that of any previous Amstrad Show.

Jostling in the aisles with the

indigenous population were a surpris-

ingly large number of overseas visitors

- notably from Spain, Germany and

Italy.

There was even a representative

from the ofﬁcial Chinese news agency

prowling among the stands. And at

least one Coronation Street star was

sighted among the milling throng.

Star of the show was the PC 1640

ECD, the new high resolution IBM

compatible from Amstrad.

The crystal clear text had visitors

yearning for one while the computer

was still booting up. A graphics demo

showed a number of startling pictures,

including one of the Alexandra Pavilion

in which the show was held.

At a time when most new products

are aimed at the PC and POW, it was

heartwarming to see how much

support there still is for the CPC.

AMX had the MAX rom available,

along with the new Swiss mouse. An

unusually subdued demonstration

emanated from Mike Beecher on the

Electro Music Research stand and its

Midi interfaces and synths. The EMR

stand always sounds impressive, even

with the volume set to appease neigh-

bouring exhibitors.

A rnor announced Protext for the

PC1512, "It should be ready in ﬁ ve

weeks", claimed Dave Fisk. They have

also cut the price of a couple of CP/M

plus programs.

Pocket Protext offers Protext -

without spell checking or mailmerge -

for E49.95, and Maxarn H (as reviewed a

few months back 1 has also come down

to E49.95, to cause a showdown with

Devpac 80 version 2.

Romantic Robot, master of clever

hardware design, showed a new disc

operating system for the CPC. This

supports larger disc drives, a print

spooler and a ram disc among its

myriad functions.

Look out for a review soon. It is

expected to be a real hit with serious

Arnold users.

Ian Hoare demonstrated his new

communications rom for the CPC, a

menu-driven viewdata terminal.

The software makes Prestel a joy to

use, offering automated messaging,

superb editing which includes word

wrap (a feature Ian was surprised that

no-one else included since it only took

150 bytes, cut and paste functions and

a pixel pad for graphics.

Ian was giving a disc with an early

version of the software to anyone who

placed a deposit on the rom, which will

cost about .t35. For more details call

him on 01-965 8957.

As usual the show was a bargain

buyer's dream, with lots of good deals

on software and blank discs, And the

new venue has proved a popular choice.

"This is the ﬁrst time an Amstrad Show

has been held at Alexandra Palace - a

move dictated because we outgrew our

previous location", said a spokesman

for the show organisers, Database

Exhibitions. "We came here because it

Logical choice

THE ﬁ endishly frustrating, yet totally

logical maze game Xor is now available

for the Amstrad CPC series.

It comprises 15 levels of problems in

which the player has to negotiate his

way around a series of puzzles which

require a combination of logic, 'strategy

and experience to solve.

If that sounds complicated, it is - but

Xor is also both compulsively playable

and intellectually stimulating and can

interest youngsters as well as adults

with its chess-like qualities.

It. costs ,E14.95 on disc, £9.95 on

cassette from Logotron (0223 323656).

One head good, four heads better

A FAST dot matrix printer which is

claimed to combine top quality with low

cost has been released by Precision Dis-

tribution.

The speed of the Precision 4010 at

252 lines a minute in draft mode and

55.8 lines a minute for near letter qua-

lity is the result of' four print heads.

IBM and Epson modes are available

with a choice of nine fonts and high

resolution graphics. A Centronics

interface, is standard, as is an 8k print

buffer. The machine will have a basic price

of 1..369.

Two special bundled packages

are on offer: Superbase Personal the

relational database from Precision with

GEM and a mouse; or WordPerfect

Executive, the combined word

processor, spreadsheet. and library.

Each bundle costs 1:469.

The Precision 4010 is the ﬁ rst

hardware product. bearing the com-

pany's own name badge,

Amstrad User September 1987

Page 5

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