AmigaShopper69-Dec96.pdf

Issue 69 December 1996 £4.50 US $9.95 • Hfl 19.95

State of

the art

Is Art Effect the most powerful

Amiga graphics package?

Find out how this cover

was created and

read the full

review, p14

• State of the art: The first and most complete review

of the hot new graphics program, Art Effect. W e’ve

taken it and put in through all the tests.

• Directory Opus 5.5: After a further 1 2 months of

development, is this the program we wanted?

• CD drives: The new generation of drives that take the

A1200 past its previous IDE limitations.

• OctaMED SoundStudio: The brand new version of

OctaMED promises to put the Amiga back at the

forefront of computer-generated music.

• Quarterback: Repackaged and re-released as a new

bundle, the Quarterback suite could prove invaluable.

• CyberStorm II: What makes this accelerator card for

the A4000 so special? We find out.

• Amiga Answers and Public Domain: The answers

to your technical questions and all the new PD.

• Tutorials: CanDo , Blitz BASIC 2 and a special

W W W HTML page creation tutorial.

PLUS:

Create your

own Web pages

A complete tutorial

based on software on

this month’s Coverdisk

From the makers of

9 77096

0094

GASTEINER T E L : 0 1 8 1 3 4 5 6 0 0 0

F A X :0181 3 4 5 6 8 6 8

18 - 22 Sterling Way, North Circular Road,

Edmonton London N18 2YZ

Open Monday to Saturday 9am to 6pm

540 2.5” HARD DRIVE

£129.00

HALF PRICE

FPU

WITH

ANY RAM CARD

FOR A1200

O F F E R

MONITORS

O F M O N T H

dJULR

* IIV I L>

MICROVITEC 1438

MICROVITEC 17”

£259

£499

RAM EXPANSION

7 2 P I N S I M M

HARD DRIVES

f LOWEST PRICES

GUARANTEED

£ 2 9 . 9 5

IDE 2.5" HARD DRIVES FOR A600. '

A1200 SX1 & SX32

80MB

£65

A1200 RAM CARDS WITH CLOCK

& FPU SOCKET

t N C V A T

340MB

£129

540MB

£129

2MB

£39

4MB

£64

730mb

£169

800MB

£199

MEMORY SIMMS

8MB

£99

1.2MB

£199

A600 RAM CARD

1MB

£20

COMPLETE WITH SOFTWARE & CABLES

3.5’ SLIM IDE HARD DRIVES FOR A4000 &

A1200

§)4K§)IM[B £111®

£1i®

1.SOOO £1i®

1.y©0@ £17®

2GIG £239

COMPLETE WITH SOFTWARE & CABLES

"LOWEST PRICES A

GUARANTEED

SIMMS FOR A4000, VIPER, APOLLO,

MAGNUM, HAWK AND MANY OTHER

CARDS PHONE FOR DETAILS TODAY

72PIN 32BIT

1MB WITH CLOCK

£35

A500 RAM CARD

1/5MB £15

A500 PLUS RAM CARD

1MB

£20

2MB

4MB

8MB

16MB

32MB

£ 2 0

£40

£39

£99

£189

FPU MATHS-COPRO

S ' FPU INCREASES SPEED ON AMIGA RAM~~ X

CARDS & ACCELERATORS

30PIN 16BIT

28mhz

33mhz

50mhz

£20

£29

£59

1MB

4MB

£15

£70

SCSI HARD DRIVES

/ 250MB

540MB

1.2GIG

2GIG

4GIG

EXTERNAL SCSI CASE w ith p o w e r s u p p ly

£69

£139

£219

£299

£499

£59

SCSI CARD OR SQUIRREL IS NEEDED TO RUN SCSI

V _______________ DEVICES ON AMIGA

REMOVABLE MEDIA

ACCELERATORS

SYQUEST

f LOWEST PRICES

GUARANTEED

VIPER APOLLO AND MANY OTHER

CARDS PHONE FOR DETAILS TODAY

EZ 135 EXT.

ZIPP 100MB

JAZZ 1GIG INT.

JAZZ 1GIG EXT.

£149.32

£163.32

£299.00

£399.00

SCSI CARD OR SQUIRREL IS NEEDED TO RUN

SCSI DEVICES ON AMIGA

J QMS. QA

SCSI CARDS

BLIZZARD1230 50MHZ

0MB

FOR A600 & A1200

£159

£223

£248

£299

£399

nrAMEM £159

F O B A MIGA ) £223

(V,BT° C \ OO ^ V MHEVEBY £ 2 4 8

FOBBuzzabo6oabo

UIVI D

4MB

8MB

16MB

32MB

/ SQUIRREL

£50 ^

SQUIRREL SURF

£95

SQUIRREL MPEG

£195

CARTS

SYQUEST

£ 2 9 9

FOR A1500,A2000 & A4000

OCTOGON 4008 £99

SCSI CARD OR SQUIRREL IS NEEDED TO RUN SCSI DEVICES

ON AMIGA

EZ 135

ZIPP 100MB

JAZZ 1GIG

£16.00

£14.00

£89.00

li.OlMa<SLA

APOLLO

28MHZ

£139

£174

£274

50MHZ

£243

£278

£378

4MB

8MB

16MB

we also sell many consumables phone for details

DELIVERY CHARGES

SMALL CONSUMABLES AND SOFTWARE ITEMS UNDER THE VALUE

OF £59 PLEASE ADD £3.50 P&P.OTHER ITEMS EXCEPT LASERS,

COURIER SERVICE £10 PER BOX. OFF SHORE AND HIGHLANDS,

PLEASE CALL FOR A QUOTATION. IN ADDITION WE OFFER THE FOL

LOWING EXPRESS SERVICES: SATURDAY DELIVERY NORMAL RATE

PLUS £15 PER BOX, MORNING. NEXT DAY NORMAL RATE PLUS £10

PER BOX, E&OE PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT PRIOR

NOTICE. ALL TRADEMARKS ACKNOWLEDGED.

WORLDWIDE DELIVERY AVAILABLE.

GOVERNMENT AND MAJOR PLC PURCHASE

ORDERS WELCOME.

TRADE ENQUIRY WELCOME.

MODEMS

MOTOROLA 28.8 FAX & MODEMS

LIMITED STOCK ONLY

CD-ROMS & CD WRITERS

CD-ROMS

r new 2 speed

new 4 SPEED

NEC 6 SPEED

4speed

RICOH 2SPEED

£116.33

£198.58

£351.33

£500.00

£385..00

NOW WE ARE SURFING

£129.00

CD-WRITERS

SCSI CARD OR SQUIRREL IS NEEDED TO RUN

SCSI DEVICES ON AMIGA

Editorial f^JM jgKperW elcom e

Who’s Who

The essential magazine for Amiga enthusiasts

Consultant Editor: Nick Veitch

Deputy Editor: David Taylor

Sub Editor: Andrea Ball

Contributors:

Harriet Athay, Sue Grant, Larry Hickmott, John Kennedy, Steve

Liddle, Paul Overaa, Graeme Sandiford, Steve Bye, Linda Benson,

Ben Vost, Nick Aspell, Steve Dent and Cathy McKinnon

Photography: Rob Scott

Sales Executive: Helen Watkins

Production Manager: Richard Gingell

Production Co-ordinators: Lisa Smith

Production Technicians: Jon Moore, Mark Gover,

Simon Windsor, Chris Stocker, Brian Hook, Jason Titley

and Oliver Gibbs

Group Production Manager: Judith Green

Print Services Manager: Matthew Parker

Print Services Co-ordinator: Janet Anderson

Paper Controller: Fiona Deane

Production Administrator: Cathy Rowland

Circulation Manager: Jon Bickley

Distribution: Sue Hartley

Overseas Licences: Mark Williams ® 0171 331 3920

Publisher: Alison Morton

Managing Director: Greg Ingham

Chairman: Nick Alexander

Printed by: Southernprint Ltd, Poole, Dorset

ISSN 0961-7302 Printed in the UK

News Ttade Distribution - UK and worldwide:

Among the excellent new releases we feature this month, theres a

brand new and exciting art program. Could this be what we need

to put the Amiga back on top form again?

t seems to me that there is only a

limited point in comparing the new

Art Effect program to its Amiga

competitors. Although it might prove to

be better than these programs (read the

feature starting on page 14 to see if we

think it is), the real question for the long-term

survival of professional programs is whether they

can compete with the other platforms. There

was a time, not that long ago, when Amiga

owners could happily scoff at the PC's poor

graphics handling. Those days are gone and

with PhotoShop,

PaintShop Pro, Corel

Paint and others, the

PC now has a set of

programs that can do

things which the

Amiga can only

dream about.

Does Art Effect

redress the balance

and set the Amiga

back at the forefront? Well, it does show

once more what can be done with a low-end

machine. None of the flash effects can be

done on a 386 and I doubt that there are any

286 users out there who even know what a

graphics application is. Yet here is a program

that can apply spectacular filters on an 020-

based machine.

This is all well and good, but to get back

ahead of the competition - if such a thing is still

possible - there need to be applications which

can do more. And to do more the mean user

base of Amiga owners needs to be raised. We

think of users with 8Mb RAM expansions as very

lucky, but the price of RAM has fallen now to a

level where it so cheap that every serious user

should be at least at this level.

It’s also time to look to the future and

accept that 020s and 030s should be

abandoned. If you want to do serious rendering

or graphics work, you need at least an 040,

even then you'll hanker after the extra speed of

an 060. It’s a vicious circle. Few want to invest

in new hardware until the future looks more rosy,

but without a decent user base, developers

can't create these killer applications, so they

write for lower spec machines. This discourages

programmers because they want to produce

high quality goods and to do that they have to

be able to make use of decent hardware.

Will this all change when VIScorp finally get

out a new machine? The Amiga community is

fiercely loyal, but that loyalty has been tested to

its limits. VIScorp is moving; it recently showed

a prototype casing giving an idea of its direction,

but surely it is aware that looks aren't enough. A

machine with bite, power and a low price is

needed... and soon.

All this said, there have been some excellent

releases of late. Art Effect is one and we’ve got

the rest reviewed this issue. This includes the

new systems which use IDEFix to allow four IDE

drives to be attached to an A1200. Well, it at

least makes even more cheap PC hardware

available to us all. Enjoy.

Future Publishing TT 01225 442244

Your guarantee o f value

This magazine comes from Future Publishing, a

company founded just 10 years ago, but now

selling more computer magazines than any other

publisher in Britain.

uiure

We offer:

B etter advice. Our titles are packed with tips, suggestions and explanatory

features, written by the best in the business.

S tronger reviews. We have a cast-iron policy of editorial independence, and

our reviews give clear buying recommendations.

Clearer design. You need solid information and you need it fast So our

designers highlight key elements in the articles by using charts, diagrams,

summary boxes, annotated photographs and so on.

G reater relevance. At Future, editors operate under two golden rules:

1. Understand your readers’ needs. 2. Satisfy them.

M ore reader interaction. We draw strongly on readers' contributions,

resulting in the liveliest letters pages and the best reader tips.

B etter value fo r m oney. More pages, better quality: mags you can trust

C opyright c 1996 Future Publishing Ltd. No part of this magazine

may be reproduced without written permission. We welcome contributions for

publication but regret that we cannot return any submissions. Contributions are

accepted only on the basis of full assignment of copyright to Future Publishing.

Any correspondence will be considered for publication unless you specifically

state otherwise, and we reserve the right to edit letters published.

Member of the Audit Bureau of Circulation

Audited circulation July to December 1995: 16,473

ABC

How to contact Amiga Shopper

EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING:

30 Monmouth Street, Bath, Avon BA1 2BW.

■3 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 446019.

E-mail: amshopper@cix.compulink.co.uk

EDITORIAL: Send all press releases, feature

submissions and ideas to Nick Veitch or Andrea Ball,

E-mail: aball@futurenetco.uk

COVERDISKS: If you have a contribution, commercial

or otherwise, that you would like to submit for

consideration for the Coverdisks, send it to David Taylor.

READER ENQUIRIES: Unfortunately due to staff

shortages Amiga Shopper is no longer available for

phone enquiries. We apologise for any inconvenience

this may cause.

FUTURENET: You can also contact us, or browse

through a selection of Amiga articles, tutorials etc. on

FutureNet. Point your WWW browser at:

http://www.futurenetco.uk

ADVERTISING: if you want to place an

advertisement in Amiga Shopper, contact Helen

Watkins on S ' 01225 442244.

E-mail iwatkins@futurenetco.uk

ADVERTISING COMPLAINTS:

If you have a complaint about an advertiser in

Amiga Shopper, contact Sophie Collins on

•S 01225 442244.

E-mail mops@futurenet.co.uk

CUSTOMER SERVICES: S 01225 822510

SUBSCRIPTIONS/BACK ISSUES:

If you already have a subscription and have a query,

write to:

Future Publishing Ltd, FREEPOST (BS4900),

Somerton TA11 6BR, or U 01225 822511.

Annual subscription rate: The subscription rate

for 12 issues of Amiga Shopper including postage is

£51 (UK), £58.92 (EC), £71,52 (Rest Of World).

Turn the page for the ^

contents of issue 69

December 1996

A M K S A S H O P P E R 3

Issue 69 I

o f M 1 2 0 0 ” a “Top too G am es”

C D s F R E E w it h

v & r y C D R O M d r iw ® ! ! !

ZIP DRIVES

Highly rated SCSI drive will

store lOOmb per cartridge.

Comes Complete with

power supply, SCSI cable, ' ^

instructions and cartridge. \

ZIP DRIVES £159.99 OR

£ 1 9 9 .9 9 w ith S q u irre l

J[»I 1lT«

. !^ |ff^ R pu^'h^ed. w jth B

DATAFLYER ONLY

SCSI device

SQUIRRE

device

SURF SQUIRREL

SCSI device

Incredibly fast (upto 4x faster than a ZIP drive) SCSI

drive will store a massive 135mb per cartridge.

Comes complete with power supply, SCSI cable,

instructions and cartridge.

len purchsed with a SCSI

-■ -

with a

R EM O VABLE

D R IV E

B sP fe

m M -'

SQUIRREL SCSI INTERFACE ALS<

AVAILABLE FOR ONLY

PCMCIA fitting SCSI interface

£139.99

EZ DRIVES

ORUJrijAajwith Squirrel

MEMORY EXPANSIONS

MODEMS

Our highly rated, top quality feature packed

modems are ideal for Amiga users. All modems

include our FREE MODEM ACCESSORIES PACK

(worth £19,99) which includes a cable to

connect the modem to the Amiga,

NCOMM comms software, Amiga Guide

to Comms and a list of Bulletin Boards

A1200 trapdoor fitting memory expansions feature a battery

backed clock and a socket for an accelerator FPU.

N E A R LY DO UBLES THE SPEED OF

THE A 1 2 0 0

£94.99

£29.99

from which you will be able to download

vast amounts of free software as well as

have access to E-MAIL facilities.

• MNP 2-4 Error Correction • MNP 5 Data Corrj>ression • Fax

Class I and II compatible, Group 3 • _ Haj^g A n j|

page manual • 12 Months

: £24.99

DISCOLOGY

Discology is the ultimate in disk copying power for the Amiga.

The package comprises the Discology Disk, manual and

Discology cartridge for making copies of heavily protected

programs with an external disk drive. Discology will also

format disks, check disks for errors etc.

1 4 4 0 0 M O DEM £ 6 9 . 9 9

|2880JPJ“---------

£44.99

GP FAX SOFTWARE

ANTIVIRUS

Anti Virus Professional is the most powerful tool for detecting and removing virus

es. Anti Virus pro will check and device hard drives, floppy disks and even CD ROM

drives for viruses. Very straight forward to use, includes a full 50 page manual.

ALSO AVAILAB

CLOCK CARTRIDGE £

ASIM CDFS £

CACHE CDFS £<

EPIC ENCYCLOPEDIA CD £'.

LE...

19.99

49.99

44.99

19.99

ORDER NOW BEFORE A VIRUS

DESTROYS YOUR SYSTEM !!!

PLEASE PHONE FOR A FULL INFORMATION SHEET

WORLD OF A1200 CD and TO

GAMES CD £7.49 EACH or i

P 100 A1200

FREE with

£19.99

tSUIH FOR

m ■ Ah

WW f ft f ff

every CD ROM drive!!.

F r e e i j h D i i e

t o

. p l a c e s

CD-ROM DRIVES

TfiJu/jr* r#l DOUBLE SPEED

CD-ROM DRIVE WITH SQUIRREL

Fully featured SCSI CD-ROM drive for use with the^l^O otr

A600, Simply connects via the PCMCIA port. ■v. V f l #

[ j y i

[ i j

1 H - T i

s i r e

o . l

ilL OR

C O M PA Q . DOUBLE

SPEED CD-ROM with

Squirrel ONLY £139.99

0 . 1

AMIGi

CHES

N O W

\e dest

ru fa n c i.

Q M

ULTRA 4 SPEED

ULTRA 8 SPEED

F m tw K !* W ik 1

T O T t l

4MB SIMM £34.99

8MB SIMM £59.99 OR

16MB SIMM £99.99 WHEN

PURCHASED WITH AN

APOLLO ACCELERATOR

CD W^TH

M M C J L L 3

2.5" HARD DRIVES

uonnect etc accepted

2 SPEED SCSI CD-ROM

6 SPEED SCSI CD-ROM

SPEED SCSI CD-ROM

add £40.00

OPEN:

inday to Friday 9am to 6

Saturday 9am to 12pm

Personal callers

welcome.

’lease phone first i

check availability

of any item.

, U J . \ w

M ;3 M : ■

DIRECTIONS:

om the M62 Junction

head towards Bury.

We are 50 yards or

the right hand side a

the third set of lights

le door to our premis

is next to the

florists opposite

the Masons Pub.

540MB SCSI

)RIVE

£129.99

DRIVE

420mb

£199.99

Omb Hard

1080mb

2GIG SCSI HARD DRIVE

(deduct! S-l'XOIfoHuncasetfedrivel

rfces include VAT. Postage and pac

be charged at £3.50 per order (U.l

0 Europe and £12.50 rest of the w

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