spectrum graphics - OpenLibra

A letter from
Eclipse Software
SHOPTALK
Odds and ends, letters, and company info
Dear Ray and Cliff,
Thanks for the review of Letaset
in the August issue, but your
review in the same column for
Scisoft's Astronomy disap
points! The program does not
mention Halley's Comet and is in
fact a rip off from my book ZX
Spectrum Astronomy which
Scisoft now admit and claim (in
the trade press! to have
withdrawn.
Yours sincerely
Maurice Gavin RIBA FRAS.
Fighting words indeed, and
perhaps Scisoft would like to
reply. Also I would like to point
out that in the News section in
which we printed the items we
are not reviewing products but
simply passing on information
supplied by the companies. If a
review sample is sent then a
comment may well be made and
a full review, either elsewhere or
in a subsequent issue, may be
written if we can find space to
include it.
Finally I mentioned Halley's
Comet as a reason why people
may develop an interest in
Astronomy and unintentionally
introduced the implication that
the program dealt with it. Sorry,
sackcloth and ashes time again!
Not an actual county connection,
but a recently introduced
game on the Micronet 800 service.
Developed by Mike and Lind
say Brown (Mike is the mind
behind Chatlineand Gallery), it is
a simultaneous multi-player
game in which players travel
around the UK searching for four
secret locations. Clues are flashed
onto the screen and as the
race progresses your
geographical position is indicated
by a flashing cursor.
Regular £ 1 00 cash prizes are
on offer to give you a chance to
recoup some of your telephone
bill. I haven't been on-line for
some time now but I will check
this out as soon as I can find my
modem.
The Wetwyn Currah speech syn a good buy and the tact that sound is
thesiser is an old favourite which is routed through the TV will add to the
being repackaged for Xmas. tf you effect
fancy experimenting in this area it is
Race round Britain on Micronet 800
BUD for RAM
RAM Electronics have taken
over the BUD Computers range
of peripherals. Their news
release also informs us that they
are about to release a new inter
face for the Spectrum incorporating
joystick port, reset but
ton, power indicator and expansion
slot. This should be on Ihe
market in time for Christmas but
no price has been quoted.
QL books from
Longman
The latest in the Longman
'Working with the Sinclair QL'
series is WORD PROCESSING
WITH THE QL written by David
Dempster. The book is aimed at
three possible users of the Quill
program supplied with the
machine, absolute beginners,
experienced computer users
and experienced typists.
Toenable theauthor tocover
all these areas the book is writ
ten in a very simple manner and
supported by many illustrations.
If you have problems in getting
to grips with the instructions in
the manual then this book will
supply the answers. I have been
using WP's for some time now
and i was able to learn a few
things from the book. Chapters
include Introduction, Getting
Started, Basic Editing, Filing on
Microdrive, Formatting, Advanced
Editing and Printing
Techniques. There isalsoacom
prehensive appendix section,
Mr Chips at home
Peter Ellis went through the
usual gamut of confusion and
frustration when learning to program
and decided to produce a
series of instructional programs
to help others avoid the problems
he had. HOME TUTOR is
the result and consists of
thirteen tapes dealing with such
topics as basic instructions, pro
gram design, records, files,
logic, peripherals etc.
If you are an absolute begin
ner and wish to learn in this
manner then contact Fearless
Software Ltd. We were not sup
plied with an address but ringing
10 ZX COMPUTING DECEMBER/JANUARY 1985