As stated in the editorial Acorn expects to have shipped out all replacement 1.2 ROM sets by the end of February. Your copy of ArcWriter should arrive about a week after the 1.2 ROMs. Acorn has said that it will continue to supply ArcWriter free to all new Archimedes owners up to the end of March this year. In its usual fashion, Acorn has managed to send two ROM sets to some customers, and has followed this up with a letter asking for the return of one of the sets. Unfortunately, this letter has also been received by some unhappy Archimedes users still waiting for their first replacement ROM set!
1st Word Plus (see the review in this issue) is forecast for release at the end of March, though the price still has to be fixed, and Kermit, the public domain communications software, is due out at about the same time for £56.35 (to cover documentation and packaging says Acorn). Version 1.09 of the PC Emulator offering greater compatibility and some increase in speed has now been released. Existing users may upgrade to the latest version through BEEBUG by returning the original PC Emulator disc (NOT the MS-DOS disc) with a handling fee of £10 which includes postage.
The Acorn ROM podule is now in stock, but the hard disc upgrade for the 300 series is not expected until April.
Logotron, originators of the best selling Logo for the BBC series has announced an Archimedes version operating at up to ten times the speed of the original and with a very much larger workspace. Graphics using Logo now offers the possibility of 1024 by 960 pixel resolution with up to 256 colours in certain modes, and the option of a 132 column editor. Archimedes Logo costs £60.00 from Logotron Ltd, Dales Brewery, Gwydir Street, Cambridge CB1 2LJ or telephone (0223) 323656.
Armadillo Systems Ltd has announced that their Archimedes Sound Sampler is now available at a cost of £126.50 inc. VAT. Contact Armadillo at 17 Glaston Road, Uppingham, Leics. LE15 9PX or telephone (0572) 822499.
New software house, CCD Computer Services, has announced a range of products for the Archimedes. The Fortran Graphics Library adds over 90 graphics subroutines for use with the Acorn Fortran 77 compiler and costs £49.50. The XED Text-File Editor is designed specifically for creating and editing text files such as Fortran, Pascal, and C source code. Full screen editing is possible using the mouse in 40, 80 or 132 column mode, but with full access to star commands to compile and run programs, enter Basic etc. XED costs £19.50. Lastly, the Printer Module provides the Archimedes with a fast and flexible printer buffer for just £12.50. All prices are fully inclusive. CCD are at 71 Marlborough Park Avenue, Sidcup, Kent DA15 9DL or telephone 01-302 5427.
A suite of programs of interest to all ex-BBC micro users with an Archimedes has been produced by Resource, a consortium of four local education authorities. The utilities are intended to assist in the conversion of BBC programs to run on an Archimedes. Examples of the utilities available include BBCscan for checking tokenised Basic, PicConv for converting screen dumps and GXR Sprites, and UdgConv for converting User Defined Characters. The package originates through Acorn but is being marketed by Resource with Acorn's agreement for £18.34 inc. VAT and p&p. Resource also expects to release an I/O podule shortly, with 16 bit input and output ports and two high speed (100KHz) A to D converters. Price including supporting software is expected to be around £120. For further information contact Nigel Hunter at Resource on (0302) 63800 or write to Exeter Road, Off Coventry Grove, Doncaster DN2 4PY.