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Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Followup-To: comp.sys.amstrad.8bit Reply-To: roussin@genesis8.frmug.fr.net Archive-name: amstrad8bit-faq Posting-Frequency: monthly (4th day) comp.sys.amstrad.8bit Frequently Asked Questions v0.83 (04/26/97) The FAQ exists in three versions : - AMSTRAD.FAQ : english text, always up to date, - AMSTRAD.HTM : english HTML (v0.80 from 1 to 2.1, v0.72 after), - FRENCH.FAQ : french text (v0.73, not yet entirely translated from the english version). The latest versions of these FAQ are archived on : - primary site : ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/ - FAQ archive (english text only) : ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.sys.amstrad.8bit - ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/di/dibald/FAQS and ftp://ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs The first french translation was done by Pierre Guerrier. The conversion from text to HTML was first done by Erwann Gaudal. Thanks to them. This FAQ is posted twice a month on the 4th and 19th to comp.sys.amstrad.8bit, and only once on the 4th to comp.answers and news.answers (well on 19th if I forgot to add *.answers on 4th !). Lines preceded by '+' have been added since the last FAQ. Lines preceded by '*' have been modified "" Both added and modified are in bold in the HTML FAQ This FAQ is written by : - Emmanuel Roussin, roussin@genesis8.frmug.fr.net, section 1 to 11, - Mark Ray, mjr13@bigfoot.com, section 12 (Amstrad Notepad), - still waiting for somebody who could write a PCW part, send it to E.R., for the moment it's the section 13), an article from Howard Fisher If you have any ideas for the FAQ, send an email to the correct person. About parts written by E.R., as english isn't my mother tongue, this FAQ has certainly typing mistakes, grammar errors, etc... I welcome all the corrections. This FAQ is freeware (you can use as you want, but we keep the copyright). We will greatly appreciate if you ask our permission, before using it in commercial stuff, whatever it could be. Parts of this FAQ are taken from the documentation of CPCEMU, some are from the main faq keeper (E.R.) and Mark Ray (Notepad part), other parts are taken from articles of the newsgroup, thanks to : michaels@jake.unsw.edu.au llopis@cs.unc.edu (Noel Llopis) l21ba540@rz.unibw-muenchen.de (Robert Steindl) ard@siva.bris.ac.uk kmc56@cantva.canterbury.ac.nz (Kenneth Crawford) simonh@cvcge.ic.ac.uk (Dr S.J. Harris) ml322523@dingo.cc.uq.oz.au (Ben Williamson) dcredirect@diablo.eimages.co.uk (David Cantrell) rrotz@ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu (rrotz) nwc@kom.auc.dk (Peter Sorensen) Dave@kechb.demon.co.uk (David Long) ksweber@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Klaus Weber) ianmacd@xs4all.nl (Ian Macdonald) iri@aber.ac.uk (IAN RODERIC IZETT) K.E.W.Thacker@cm.cf.ac.uk (K Thacker) slog@cix.compulink.co.uk (Roger Bradley) matthew.phillips@christ-church.oxford.ac.uk richard@angelos.demon.co.uk (Richard Fairhurst) hubersn@lcs.wn.bawue.de (Steffen Huber) dik@dix.teuto.de (Dirk Eismann) makra@cip.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de (Martin Krausse) guerrier@ecoledoc.ibp.fr (Pierre Guerrier) prhunt@dyson.brisnet.org.au ------------ Table of Contents Introduction 1) Emulators and utilities 1.1) emulators 1.2) utilities 2) Where can I find emulators, ROMs and programs ? 2.1) FTP sites 2.2) WWW 2.3) BBS 2.4) How to use programs with emulators or real CPC ? 3) How can I transfer my programs from CPC to PC ? 3.1) 3" drive on PC 3.2) 3,5" or 5,25" drive on CPC 3.3) parallel cable 3.4) RS 232 / RS 422 (Macintosh) 3.5) Companies 3.6) Tapes 4) Maps, advices, solutions, pokes... 5) My CPC internal drive doesn't work anymore 6) How can I help the CPC/PCW world ? 7) Commercial games wich are now PD, freeware or shareware 8) Useful address and information 8.1) Snail mail addresses 8.2) information 8.3) Email addresses 9) Fanzines 9.1) on paper 9.2) on disk 10) Additionnal hardware 10.1) Hard disk 10.2) Multiface II 10.3) ROMCARD and RAMCARD 10.4) Sound Player 1 and 2 10.5) Network 11) Upcoming CPC meetings 12) The Amstrad Notepad 12.1) What is it? 12.2) How can I buy one? 12.3) What peripherals can I use? 12.3.1 Printing 12.3.2 Extra Memory 12.4) How do I connect it to a PC? 12.5) BASIC 12.5.1 Where can I find programs for it? 12.5.2 Can I use the Word Processor to enter listings? 12.5.3 Can I make a program auto-run? 12.6) Other Programs 12.7) I've just crashed it... 12.8) I've just broken it... 12.9) Help! Where to ask. 12.10) Internet resources. 13) PCW 13.1) Transfering between PCW and PC --------------------------- Introduction This unmoderated newsgroup comp.sys.amstrad.8bit is open to discussions about the Z80 Amstrad computers : CPC (464, 664, 6128, 464+, 6128+), GX4000, PCW (8256, 8512, 9256, 9512, 9512+, QUibble) and NC-100 notepad. It was created in august 1994 from an idea by Marco Vieth and David Long (maintainer of the UK Demon PD library). Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to : - CPC/GX4000/PCW/NC-100 hardware and software, - emulators, - specific Amstrad CP/M files, overlays... - ads for selling/buying the relative hardware and software. etc... The only topic that is excluded : discussion of Amstrad PC-compatible (1512, 1640, 2x86, 3x86 and others Amstrad compatible I don't know) because these computers are really compatible, so comp.sys.ibm.pc.* newsgroups must be used. The GX 4000 was the Amstrad 8 bit console. The "new" console ran enhanced graphics and sound. It had a colour palette of 4096, hardware sprites, hardware scrolling, and used 128K carts. Yes games were made for it, there are about 10-20 still available in England. Amstrad also released computers that had the GX 4000 hardware and cart facilities, but still could use tapes and disks. The white 8 bit Amstrads were the 464+ and 6128+. 1) Emulators and utilities All the following emulators and utilities can be found on ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator, or use the HTML frontend : ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/frontend/emulator.htm 1.1) emulators For the moment, there are six emulators for PC, four for Amiga, two for Acorn RISC OS machines, one for Unix (SUNos for the moment) and MAC (Power MAC and 68k MAC). There is a commercial spectrum emulator for the CPC, reviewed in Amstrad Action. 1.1.1) CPCEMU (PC) The first widely known emulator is CPCEMU by Marco Vieth, the last version is 1.4 (look for CPCEMU14.ZIP). It needs at least a 386 SX/DX with a VGA display, runs with MS-DOS and OS/2 2.x DOS box. Marco Vieth has slowed his development with version 1.3, but still released minor modifications. Version 1.4 is now out (end of march 96) with GUS support by Ulrich Doewich, french documentation by the FAQ keeper and Jean-Pierre MARQUET, on line help, 2 joysticks, VESA resolutions, new SNA2GIF, better FDC routines... 1.1.2) CPE (for PC and Amiga) CPE, written by Bernd Schmidt and now maintained by Ulrich Doewich (reports bugs, suggestions to cyrel@cybercube.com) since v5.1, look for CPE51.ZIP, it needs least a 386 SX/DX or higher with MS-DOS. What are the main differences with CPCEMU ? Mostly CPE manages better graphics. CPE v5.2 is at a beta stage, with a better sound and a .DSK file selector. If you are interested, you can get CPE sources for the PC version, look for CPESRC51.ZIP On mid-february 95, Bernd Schmidt released amiga CPE, needs 68000, 1 Mo. Looks for ACPE_NEW.LZH, it will be the last version. 1.1.3) A-CPC (PC) The Amstrad CPC emulator (v0.3beta) by Herman Dullink on PC, needs 386sx at least and VGA, look for CPC03.ZIP, doesn't work with my computer, a new version will come when Herman will be less busy. 1.1.4) PC-CPC (PC) A PC version 0.40 of AMI-CPC by Ludovic Deplanque (see below 1.1.7), look for PCCPC040.LZH, and AMICPCUT.LZH for conversion between .CPC and .DSK images disks. 1.1.5) NO$CPC (PC) Another german emulator, by Martin Korth, last version is 1.3, look for NO$CPC13.ZIP 1.1.6) RWCPC (PC) An emulator by Richard Wilson (ParaDOS), look for RWCPC.ZIP 1.1.7) AMI-CPC (Amiga) Now CPC emulators are no more the speciality of germans, here is a french CPC emulator for AMIGA, by Ludovic Deplanque. Look for AMI-CPC v0.40 : AMICPC40.LZH, which includes sources. Ludovic is adding .DSK support, still in beta, but it works already. You will need AMICPCUT.LZH, utilities for the conversion between .CPC and .DSK images disks. 1.1.8) A-CPC (Amiga) The CPC emulator for Amiga by K.E.W. Thacker is finally out in septembre 1995. For the latest version, look for ACPCDE20.LHA, it's a demo/evaluation version of the real shareware. Don't forget the web page of Kevin (see section 2.2), it's the best and biggest. 1.1.9) Emu-CPC (Amiga) Another french CPC emulator on AMIGA by Stephane Tavenard, look for EmuCPC v0.7 : EMUCPC07.LZX 1.1.10) !CPC (Acorn) !CPC is a CPC emulator for Acorn RISC OS machines (Archimedes/RISC PC) by Mark RISON. Look for CPCDEMO.ZIP, see his web page for information (in section 2.2). 1.1.11) !CPCemu (Acorn) This emulator for Acorn RISC OS machines is written by Andreas Stroiczek, aka Face Hugger. Current version is 1.10, look for CPCEM110.ZIP on ftp.ibp.fr, or on ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/acorn/long/emulator/ ftp://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/systems/acorn/riscos/emulator/ 1.1.12) CPC++ (Unix and MAC) This emulator for SUNos and MAC is written by Brice Rive. Version 1.3.2 for PowerMAC, look for CPC132PM.ARJ Version 1.3.2 for 68k MAC, look for CPC13268.ARJ Version 1.3.0 for SunOS, look for CPC130SU.ZIP http://www.worldnet.fr/~brice/cpc/cpcpp.html 1.1.13) SIMCPC (PC) Presumably the first CPC emulator written, for PC/XT/AT (c) 1989, 90 by GHE, Aachen. It is only black and white, but with additional ROMs; only a "beer humour". Look for SIMCPC.ZIP 1.1.14) Other emulators - CPCEMUII (?) : in development since October 1993 by Paco Lopez (Spain). Still unavalaible. It uses the same disk format as CPCEMU. - an Unix/Linux Emulator by Mark Conmy, mpc@scs.leeds.ac.uk. Last time I heard about it, the emulation was finished but it didn't support snapshot or DSK. Maybe he has finished these extras. - a linux emulator by Noel Llopis, to be ported to other unix. 1.2 Utilities 1.2.1) SNA2GIF (PC) SNA2GIF v1.1 by Marco Vieth, is included in CPCEMU14.ZIP, it extracts screens from snapshots to GIF format. 1.2.2) SNAP GRAB (PC) SNAP GRAB v1.1 is a freeware by Georg Schwarz to extract screens from snapshots to Multiface II format, which can be seen on real CPC even with a multiface. If you want to see the picture on your PC, you will need CPC2TIF, see below. Look for SNAPGR11.ZIP. 1.2.3) CPC2x (was CPC to TIFF) (PC) CPC2x v2.0 by Michael Stroucken converts Amstrad CPC screens to the graphic TIF and GIF format. Look for CPC2X.ZIP with sources and binaries for MSDOS and CP/M. 1.2.4) CPC file system (PC) CPC fs v0.85 by Derik van Zutphen transfer CPC files between .DSK files and DOS files, in the two ways, look for CPCFS085.ZIP. Last version : http://home.t-online.de/home/derik/cpcfs/ 1.2.5) CPC extractor (PC) CPC extractor v1.0 by Guillaume Genty extracts files from .DSK files. Look for CPCEXT.ZIP. 1.2.6) Transfer (PC) Transfer v2.1 by Christian Horn, transfers DOS files to .DSK files. You need to be in the directory where the DOS files are, otherwise it won't work. The .DSK file can be in another directory. Look for TRANSF21.ZIP. 1.2.7) Multiface II to Snapshot (PC) M2TOSNA v1.1 by James McKay converts CPC Multiface II files to 64 Ko and 128 Ko snapshots files. Look for M2TOSNA1.ZIP. 1.2.8) CPDread (PC) Copy Protected Disk reader v3.24 by Ulrich Doewich, utility to transfer CPC disks into the common DSK file format of CPC emulators. It uses the extended DSK format which manages better copy protected disks. Look for CPDR324.ZIP 1.2.9) MACTerm (MAC) Transfer files between CPC and MAC with a parallel cable, look for CPCTERM.ZIP 1.2.10) 22disk (PC) 22disk is a shareware utility by Sybex which can read/write/format CP/M disks on PC. It can use CPC disks formats with a definition file called CPMDISKS.DEF which comes with CPCEMU, or EURO.DEF (EURODEF.ZIP). Don't use it under OS/2 or win95). Look for 22DSK144.RAR 1.2.11) DIC (PC) Disc Image Copier by Tim Rieman, transfer DATA and SYSTEM disc from CPC to PC with a parallel cable, look for DIC120.ZIP 1.2.12) AIFF decoder (Unix, PC, Amiga) AIFF decoder v1.1 by Pierre Guerrier, MSDOS port (DECODR11.ZIP) by Ulrich Doewich, Amiga port (AMIAIFF.LZH) by Kevin Thacker, a tool for retrieving data from sampled Amstrad CPC tapes, C sources included. 1.2.13) PC2CPC (PC) PC2CPC v2.0 converts CPC emulator EDSK images to 3" disks via the CPCEMU parallel link, look for PC2CPC.ZIP + 1.2.14) DSK-CPC (PC) + + DSK-CPC by Robin Tanner, it runs on a CPC with a 720 Ko DOS disk in B: + drive. It will read .DSK files from that disk, and write them as real + disks in the A: drive. 2) Where can find the emulators, ROMs and programs ? ROMs are now included with CPCEMU and CPE, with the permission of Amstrad and Locomotive Software. 2.1) FTP sites - ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad, thanks to Remy Card, ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/frontend/menu.htm (HTML front end with the list of all files, size and description included). all questions about this site should be directed to roussin@genesis8.frmug.fr.net All files comes from 'Genesis the 8bit generation BBS' (see 2.3). - ftp://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/pub/cpc, mirror of ftp.ibp.fr by The Great Brubaker <root@aiind.upv.es> - ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc, thanks to Arnt Gulbrandsen for creating the site, and to Noel Llopis to maintain it, ROMs, CPC programs, emulators, send what you have in /pub/cpc/incoming look for the HTML frontend : http://www.dcs.napier.ac.uk/~bsc4074/amstrad/amstrad.html - ftp://sunshine.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/pub/joscho/cpcemu mirror of ftp.nvg.unit.no, limit of ftp-users to 4 from 8-18 CET and to 10 from 18-8 CET. Any questions, remarks and additions to joscho@informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de - ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/cpm, thanks to Paul Martin, specific amstrad CP/M related files. Paul Martin (pm@nowster.demon.co.uk) will send anyone, who can give him proof (photocopy of the CP/M disk with the serial number for example) that they have original Amstrad CP/M Plus, the binary ROM images of his "CP/M Plus ROMs" for free. - ftp://adams.eimages.co.uk - partial mirror of ftp.nvg.unit.no, by David Cantrell 2.2) WWW New sites sorted by address : - ftp:/ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/amstrad.htm, this FAQ in HTML, - the biggest Amstrad web page is the one from Kevin Thacker, the A-CPC author (Amiga CPC emulator). http://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/~amstrad - Tim Rieman, author of DIC (Disc image copy), see 1.2.11), http://home.t-online.de/home/TCS-Software/english.htm - Amstrad, http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/amstrad - http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~pgarga.ca2/au/aboutau.html The english disk zine 'Amstrad User' by - http://www.dcs.napier.ac.uk/~bsc4074/amstrad/amstrad.html An HTML frontend for ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/2839/amstrad.html Front end to David Cantrells games resource which is located at htpp://www.eimages.co.uk/users/davidc/cpc/games - A prototype homepage for STS, the British CPC group, is now on-line, with also the BTL fanzine (see 9.2.5), maintained by Richard Fairhurst http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/6845/ - http://www.interlog.com/~cyrel/cpc, updated 18th april 1997 Ulrich Doewich, added GUS support to CPCEMU & CPE, and new SB sound & better FDC code to CPE. New homepage for CPE and CPDRead at - http://www.locomotive.com Locomotive Software, for the PCW - Tolkien computer games for Amstrad CPC : http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/amstrad.html - Michael Stroucken, author of CPC2x (see 1.2.3): http://www1.pitt.edu/~mxsst1/cpc/, with technical data about repairing CPC monitor and power supply. Old adresses not sorted : - PCW Plus magazine's : http://webserv.futurenet.co.uk/computing/pcwplus.html It's pretty new and not a lot of info on it yet. - Mark Rison, author of !CPC (RISC CPC emulator), http://www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk:8080/rison/cpc/cpc.html - Wacci, an U.K. CPC paper zine (see section 9.1.2). http://users.ox.ac.uk/~chri0264/wowww.html - The Computer Journal (TCJ) : http://www2.psyber.com/~tcj/ - PCW page by Jake Last : http://www.cus.umist.ac.uk/~octopus (unreachable the 03/09/97) - NC100 page By Mark Ray : http://www.uea.ac.uk/~u9428232/NC/ - Peter Sorensen (Aka NWC) : http://www.kom.auc.dk/~nwc/ - United Amstrad User Group (UAUG) : http://adams.eimages.co.uk/users/davidc/uaug/ There will be software available to download and the firmware guide in HTML, see sections 8.1.3.3) and 9.1.3) - Brice Rive, author of the CPC++ emulator (SunOS) http://www.worldnet.fr/~brice/cpc/cpcpp.shtml - http://www.8bit.com/cpcmaine.htm (english) http://www.8bit.com/cpcmain.htm (german) a little bit empty for the moment :-) - Ian Macdonald, about PCW, http://www.xs4all.nl/~ianmacd/PCW.htm - Schlumpf of Frankenteam, http://home.pages.de/~Schlumpf makes CPC-Telegramm (german disk fanzine, see section 9.2.10) - Amstrad CPC poke database (for CPCEMU), you can submit your pokes to be added in the database : http://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/~sergio/cpc 2.3) BBS - Aspects (2:250/107) : +44 1617920260, in United Kingdom, sysop Dave Gorski, V32b, CPCEMU v1.2, programs (mostly in basic), - Genesis the 8bit generation (2:320/220) : +33 1 39 07 29 58, in France, up to V34, sysop : Emmanuel Roussin. last versions of emulators, qwerty and azerty 6128 ROMs, freeware, shareware, PD, disk zines, pokes, solutions, demos and a few commercial games (with the permission of their respective authors). * For the moment, there are 1213 files for about 46 Mo of compressed programs. For fido users, you can file request ALLFILES.ZIP, and then what is interesting you. Many thanks to Kangaroo, Tom&Jerry and Juggler for the files they sent me. - Razormaid (2:2471/6009) : +49 711 4204329, in Germany, up to V32b and Zyxel, sysop : Thorsten Mitschele aka Kangaroo in the CPC scene, it has the same files as Genesis, with some delay. CPC files have been erased, Kangaroo had too few people interested in them, he could perhaps change his mind if people call his bbs about CPC. - ZNODE 51 : +49 89 961 45 75, in Germany, from 15:00 to 3:00 CET (MEZ), up to V32b, CPC files. - The Dream Machine (2:442/600) : +44-1222-689812, Cardiff, Wales, U.K., V21 throuph v34/VFC, sysops : David J. Thomas and Rachael Munns, this bbs carry CPC and CP/M files, and the c.s.a.8 newsgroup. - Chill out zone : +49 821 2290356, Augsburg, Germany, v21 to v32b, sysop : Dark Sector, CPC files (coming from Razormaid). - Kittis Box (2:2448/53): +49-234-682887, Bochum, Germany,V34-VFC, sysop: Thorsten Franke, this bbs carry CPC and CP/M Files, it is the home of the CPCNet, a german speeking network for CPC-Users based on fidotechnology and ZConnect. To get infos write a mail to Botho@kitti.ftg.donut.de or get via fido-file-request the file CPCNET - Chaos Cottage : +44 1736 756633, Hayle, Cornwall, U.K., V34,sysop : Nigel Woolcock (jacob@spuddy.mew.co.uk), CP/M file area (mainly PCW) with 5 Mo, AMSTRAD, CPM, CPMTECH fido echos and the csa8 newsgroup available. 2.4) How to use the programs with emulators or real CPC 2.4.1) DSK files These files are images of a disk, you "insert" a disk with F3 in CPCEMU, and F6 with CPE, then you can type CAT to see the files, 2.4.2) CPC files You can either put these files in the TAPE directory of your emulator, or inject them in a .DSK file (look for 1.2.4 and 1.2.6). 2.4.3) How to run programs with a CPC or emulator ? Type CAT to get the directory of the disk, mostly programs are runned with a BASIC loader, so looks for *.BAS, then type RUN"name.BAS" (.BAS can be omitted). If there isn't a basic loader, run directly the .BINary program, type RUN"name.BIN" (.BIN can be omitted). Some disks doesn't have a real directory, and must be launched with the CP/M command : |CPM. For running tapes on a real CPC, type RUN", the CPC will launch the first program on the tape. 3) How can I transfer programs from CPC to PC ? Later mentions of DDI-1 can also be remplaced by FD-1 (which comes without the interface for the 464) 3.1) 3" drive on PC Porting files across from CPC to PC for use in CPCEMU is easy, at least, if you have a DDI-1 disk drive it's easy! You need to follow these instructions. Follow them exactly. As is usual with things like this, you do everything entirely at your own risk. I have done this on my own PC without damaging it, but can not guarantee that it will work with yours. If you do damage your computer, it is YOUR FAULT. Note of the FAQ keeper, I have a report of someone trying the following instructions, who had his controller burnt, so beware, do it only if you have another controler in case where the first controller would burn. These instructions only apply to the DDI-1 package. They MAY work with the FD1 3" second drive, and will definitely NOT work with the internal drives on 6128s, 664s, and 6128+s. Install 22DISK! You will need to tell it you have no A: drive, and that B: is a 360K drive, physical unit 0, on the Primary adapter, with step-rate of 12 milli-seconds. You will also need the CPMDISKS.DEF file from CPCEMU. 0 Install 22DISK with CPMDISKS.DEF coming with CPCEMU or the one from EURODEF.ZIP 1 open your PC, following all usual precautions such as turning off the power and discharging any static electricity on your body! 2 Unplug any floppy drives. This step is important. (See note 1) 3 Find the connector which is meant for the B: drive. (It is probably on the same cable as the connector for the A: drive. The A: connector has a twist in it. The B: connector is the other one!) 4 Plug it into your DDI-1 drive unit. You may have to file the keyway on the connector off. (Different PCs have different keyways on their connectors, so you may not have to attack it with a file. So much for standardisation!) 5 Turn the DDI-1 drive on first, then the PC. When it does the Power-on test, press DEL to enter the setup menu (you have got an AMI BIOS haven't you?). Tell it you have no A: drive and a 360K 5.25" B: drive. (See note 2) 6 Use 22DISK to read (not under OS/2 or windows 95), write and format your 3" disks to your heart's content ! You could also use ANADISK I suppose. 7 When you've finished, restore the machine its original state. As well as using CPC disks, you'll probably be able to use Spectrum 3 disks if you have an appropriate CPMDISKS.DEF. If of course you want to use Speccy disks... Note 1 : Amstrad's disk drive is reasonably standard, but not quite! When you install it, it claims to be both your physical drive 0 and physical drive 1. As such, if you expect it to be just drive 1 (B:), and leave unit 0 (A:) still plugged in, it will promptly ram the heads of unit 0 hard against the end stop, promptly trashing your unit 0. I found this the hard way, and had to buy a new 3.5" floppy drive. Note 2 : If you don't have an AMI BIOS, then this will be different. You may have to run a program from a system disk which came with your computer. ------------- The pinouts of the 3" drive are _identical_ to the ones of a 5.25" drive - it will just plug in. It's a long time since I was inside my Einstein, but I'm pretty sure that drive is a 40track SS unit - what a PC would call a 180K drive. Things like the Disk Change line may be different, but if you set up your PC to ignore that (and possibly tell it it's a 360K drive), you should be OK. I've used a 3" drive (actually a Double-sided model) with an original IBM XT in this way. A reply to the last two paragraphs : It actually depends on the type of 3" drive. Some of them had a 34 way connector like the IBM PC 5.25 " drive (i.e. PCB gold plated edge connector) and are compatible. Genuine Amstrad drives on the other hand have a 26 way PCB header which contains all the useful signals, although some have been removed. I remember, that the 34 way connectors are only nearly compatible. In those days arround 1985, I connected a CPC 464 External drive to another CPM computer with standard 5.25" drives like the PC-drives. It was necessary t swap the lines since the pin numbering was mirrored compared to the standard. I also think that the exact layout depends on the Version of the computer (CPC 464/664/6128). So be careful and do not ruin your hardware by building sh circuits! (It shouldn't be very difficult to verify which are the GND-lines ) A complement to this reply The amstrad and PC disk connections are as follows: 24 pin Amstrad disk drive: Index 2 * * 1 GND DS0 4 * * 3 GND DS1 6 * * 5 GND Motor 8 * * 7 GND Dirn 10 * * 9 GND Step 12 * * 11 GND Wdata 14 * * 13 GND Wenable 16 * * 15 GND Track0 18 * * 16 GND WProt 20 * * 19 GND Rdata 22 * * 21 GND Side 24 * * 23 GND N.C ? 26 * * 25 GND 34 pin Standard disk drive: Head Load 2 * * 1 GND In Use ? 4 * * 3 GND DS3 6 * * 5 GND Index 8 * * 7 GND DS0 10 * * 9 GND DS1 12 * * 11 GND DS2 14 * * 13 GND Motor 16 * * 15 GND Dirn 18 * * 17 GND Step 20 * * 19 GND Wdata 22 * * 21 GND Wenable 24 * * 23 GND Track0 26 * * 25 GND WProt 28 * * 27 GND Rdata 30 * * 29 GND Side 32 * * 31 GND N.C. ? 34 * * 33 GND Note that on the Amstrad drive, DS3 and DS2 are missing. The pins marked with a ? may have been redefined on some drives (e.g. on high density PC drives, one of them is used to change the drive current - I can't remember which now), also on very old single sided drives, the Side signal used to be used to reset the drive. If you are using a 34 way connector drive in an Amstrad, you may want to hard wire Head Load to be permanently enabled (if it is used - not all drives do). 3.2) 3,5" or 5,25" drive on CPC You can use a 5,25" drive on a CPC. You have to take care about the cabling, as the 6128 uses a 36 pin port and the drive only has 34. The two problems which can arrive are: - The drive has no ready signal. That is true for some older PC drives. In this case, forget it, if you are not able to solder some IC's to simulate the signal. - You can only use one side of the disk (180k). If you want to use both sides, you have to solder in a switch, or get another DOS (Vortex XDOS or Dobbertin X-DDOS), the best DOS is ParaDOS. You can read the CPC disks on the PC with 22DISK from Sydex (look 1.2.10). 3.3) parallel cable In CPCEMU v1.4, there is a plan for such a cable, you will be able to transfer all the files with the included programs. See section 8.1.1.1) for getting this cable in France. If you have a problem with PCPARA.BAS, coming with CPCEMU, load the program into the emulator (put it in the TAPE directory) and save it as an ascii file with this command : SAVE"PCPARA.BAS",A 3.4) RS 232 / RS 422 The CPC nor the PCW have a RS 232. You can buy it, you then just need a communication program on PC and CPC/PCW and a null modem cable to exchange files between the computers. Subject: Re: PCW8512 Internet capable? Fifty quid does, indeed, mean fifty British pounds. SCA can be contacted at 146 Ham Road, Worthing, Sussex, BN11 2QS, England. Tel: +44 903 821128 or Fax: +44 903 821120. In addition to a special, high-speed serial interface (which can handle speeds of up to 38,400 baud!), they also supply many other products, such as parallel ports and memory expansions. They even sell two complete modem kits for the PCW: a slow 2400 baud model and a fast 14k4 model. Both kits come with a serial interface, but the faster modem comes with a special interface (normal ones can only handle up to 9600 baud on the PCW), better software and fax facilities. I can highly recommend this deluxe kit. I use it myself and have astounded friends by using a humble PCW to send faxes! The cheaper kit costs 169 pounds and the deluxe one 299, although you can get a twenty pound discount by mentioning that you're a 'PCW Plus' reader. Be warned, however, that you'd have to contend with the dreaded three-pronged British plug. 3.5) Companies Commercial companies can transfer your files 3.5.1) Locoscript Software (was Locomotive Software) See 13.1) 3.5.2) Rowansoft Contact Tony Gill at tgill@alystra.win-uk.net for rates. ROWANSOFT, ROWANCRAIG, ARDFERN, BY LOCHGILPHEAD, ARGYLL, PA31 8QN Tel. 01852 500 257 3.5.3) Holland Numerics Ltd Converts PCW data to PC format. A price list can be obtained by email from <phil.holland@bcs.org.uk>, or by post from: Philip R Holland Holland Numerics Ltd 94 Green Drift Royston Herts SG8 5BT United Kingdom Turnround is about 7 working days, and prices start at 5 GBP per PCW diskette converted (if copying ASCII files only and all diskettes to be used are supplied by the customer). 3.5.4) David Simpson David Simpson ( DAS@picknowl.com.au ) PO Box 187 Mitcham Shopping Centre South Australia 5062 Ph +61-8-83731693 Contact me for rates. I also supply belts and/or do the replacement for 3" drives I am the contact for Amstrad Computer Club Incorporated in South Australia. The club meets weekly on Tuesday evenings between 6:30 and 9:00pm at Torrensville Primary School, Hayward Avenue, Torrensville, SA While the club is primarily a no-brand PC compatibles club, I and several other members are familiar with CPC and PCW machines and are only too happy to help. 3.6) Tapes See 1.2.12) 4) Maps, advice, solutions, pokes, basic loaders ? Starting with CPCEMU 1.3 you can easily poke games with an external database file of pokes. Here is the structure of the database : - part, 1 character (0 to f), 0 for one poke, for multi-pokes 1 for the first, 2 for the second, etc... - name of the game, 20 characters, - description, 20 characters, blank when it's infinite lives, when there is a multi-pokes, only the description of the first poke is written. - type, 1 character, 't' for tape, 'd' for disc and 'a' for tape and disc, it's only an indication, - address, 4 characters, the poke address in hexadecimal, - byte to poke, 2 characters, a hexadecimal value, or '??' when you must type something, at this moment the explication is in the field description, - old byte, 2 characters, a hexadecimal value if a check is needed or '??' for no check, Here is an example of a DBF file saved with the command : COPY ALL TO file DELIMITED WITH " "0","Chuckie Egg 2","255 lifes","t","67c2","ff","??" "0","Combat Lynx","# choppers","t","5899","00","??" "0","Cybernoid","255 lifes","t","0227","ff","??" "0","Defenders OE","","t","8461","18","??" "1","Defenders OE","","t","8462","08","??" "0","Devils Crown","inf oxygen","t","863b","00","??" "1","Devils Crown","","t","863c","00","??" "2","Devils Crown","","t","863d","00","??" Do not hesitate to post pokes on comp.sys.amstrad.8bit, I will concatene them, and post them regularly. Amstrad CPC poke database (for CPCEMU), you can submit your pokes to be added in the database : http://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/~sergio/cpc Second, here is a message from llopis@cs.unc.edu (Noel Llopis) What do you mean you liked so much as to draw a map??? I did draw a map of almost every single game! And I still have them around (will have access to them in Xmas) so if somebody has a request... I do have all the Ultimate Filmation ones, Batman, Head over Heels, etc, etc... A LOT OF THEM! And last, simply post solutions in the newsgroup, I will keep them, and repost them when asked. But put a CTRL-L, as some people won't want to see them. Post also basic loaders with cheat. 5) My CPC internal drive doesn't work anymore If you have the error : 'disk missing', the drive belt should be the problem. Here is a working reference : CIBOTRONIC 16-20 avenue Géneral Michel Bizot 75012 PARIS FRANCE Tél: 01-44-74-83-83 Métro: Porte de Charenton. Just ask a belt for an Amstrad CPC drive, they know this. The price is about 25 FF, the reference is MASTER type CR 4092, dimensions 71.0 x 0.6 x 2.8 mm. Two other references for belts, but electronics shops I tried didn't seem to know them : KO 7000 or Konig electronics 7092.00 The best solution is to come with you old belt in an electronics shop and to see the available belts. You should look for one with the dimensions 72mm x 3 mm x 0.5 mm (although I believe it is OK to use belts in the length range of 69-72 mm long and either 3 or 4mm wide). Now how to replace it, in my example I am talking of a 6128, open it, detach the cable from the main board to the drive, unscrew the screws. You can now take the drive in your hand, look at the down of the drive, you see the green printed circuit, remove it, you see now the belt, which has certainly slipped, put the new belt, and replace all the elements. The other possibility is a fault with the index hole detection. As well as the large shutter on a 3" disc, there is also a smaller one through which the disc drive can watch for the index hole to go past. There is a LED and an associated detector that watch for this, and if either has gone wrong or got covered in dust you may get disc missing messages. 6) How can I help the CPC/PCW world ? 6.1) Updating the FAQ By sending modifications, new information for this FAQ to roussin@genesis8.frmug.fr.net 6.2) Commercial games into freeware games If you know addresses of authors who wrote programs on CPC/PCW, send me their address, I will write them to ask the persmission for letting their games to become freeware or shareware (they still will retain the copyright, even after all these years). Look for section 7), for the games which already became freeware, or almost freeware (authors stating that they don't care for the distribution of their games). 6.3) Adding files to ftp.ibp.fr You could also send me your latest production, whatever it is, here is my snail mail address : Emmanuel ROUSSIN Genesis the 8bit generation 115 avenue de Paris 78000 VERSAILLES FRANCE I will then put it on my BBS and on the french FTP site (ftp.ibp.fr). I will of course send you back your disks. I can read 3"; DD 3,5" and 40 tracks 5,25" with the formats known by the PARADOS ROM, MAGIC DOS, and those defined in 22disk. Don't forget to precise which one you use, thanks. I can read the following PC media : 3,5"; 5,25"; QIC-80 tapes, ZIP disks and CD-ROM. 6.4) Updating ALL_CPC Frederic Herlem (herlem@dr.gdf.fr) is writing the complete inventory of the CPC programs. You can get this inventory at ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/all_cpc.zip, you will be able them to help him to update it. 7) Commercial games wich are now PD, freeware or shareware 7.1) Vortex Software Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, one of the three persons of Vortex Software with Costa Panayi and Luke Andrews, has released the "Vortex Emulation Package", all the games of the company for Amstrad CPC, but also for C64, Spectrum and ZX 81. Attention, the games are now FREEWARE, so Vortex Software retains the copyright. Please, do not alter them or make money with them. Look for VTX_*.ZIP Marks works now for Lucasarts on "Shadows of the Empire" for the nintendo 64. 7.2) Design Design Design Design Software have released all their CPC games (Tank Busters, Dark Star, Forbidden Planet) as freeware. With the permission of the author (Simon Brattel, crem@cix.compulink.co.uk). 7.3) Jon Ritman Some almost freeware : batman, Head over Heels, Matchday I and II, I have word of Jon Ritman which is the author, that Ocean doesn't bother to see these programs to be available. Thanks to them. Don't forget that they still own the copyright, please don't modify the programs. 7.4) Radical Software Radical Software released "Fluff" (Plus-only game, FLUFF.LZH on ftp.ibp.fr) and "Smart Plus" (Plus-only art package, supports new features and overscan) to freeware. Does someone have Smart Plus ? 7.5) Transoft (France) Transoft published three games, Bad Max (3d adventure), Atuahalpa (arcade) and 'Les dents de sa mère' (adventure). With the permission of the ownership of these games, they are now freeware, available as BADMAX.LZH, ATAHUALP.LZH and DENTMERE.LZH If you have documentation, send me it to add it to the archives, thanks. + 7.6) Sapiens + + Sapiens was written by Didier and Olivier Guillion, two brothers. + Their game was edited by Loriciels. In 1996, they got their rights + back from Loriciels, and Sapiens for win95 and MAC were released. They + also accepted to see the Amstrad CPC version become freeware, thanks + to them. Look for SAPIENS.LZH 8) Useful addresses and information 8.1) Addresses Look at 3.4) for a PCW address. 8.1.1) FRANCE 8.1.1.1) L.E.I. For a CPC to PC cable, to be used with CPCEMU, send 80 FF to (you can also write to the pseudo 'idem' on 3615 RTEL1), you will also get CPCKEY v0.2 which lets you command the CPC with the PC keyboard, transfer text files and automatic procedures : L.E.I. 46 Bd Chezy 35000 RENNES FRANCE 8.1.1.2) Futur's Futur's is a french group, they do many things, one good thing is the Soundplayer CPC, which is a better Digiblaster. The Soundplayer is used by Protracker and Digitracker, for a little sum of money if you are making it yourself : 25 FF (2.5 pounds, 5 dollars). The electroninc plan is in the paper zine Quasar issue 9, see 9.1.4) So, with this little marvelous thing, you can have 8bit samples, instead of 4bit samples, it is connected to the printer port. A SoundPlayer II exists now, more information later. 8.1.1.3) Sebastien BROUDIN Sebastien BROUDIN 4 bis avenue Gambetta Apt 30 60600 CLERMONT FRANCE He sells Megablasters, a game made by Odiesoft, released on january 1995. It's like bomber man on Amiga, but really better. The price are - 170 FF for two 3" disk, box, documentation, - 155 FF for two 3.5" disk, box, documentation, - 137 FF for box, documentation, if you send two 3" or 3.5" disks. 8.1.2) U.S.A 8.1.2.1) Sinotech Ltd. A source for Amstrad PCW, PC 1286/2286, PC1386/2386, PC 1512/6400, and PC 1640 disks, ribbons, memory and drive upgrades, etc. in the USA is: Sinotech Ltd. 218 Terrace Drive Mundelein, Illinois USA 60060 phone: (708) 566-0504 8.1.3) United Kingdom 8.1.3.1) Comsoft (was Campursoft) The FAQ keeper bought to this company a rombox and the ParaDOS ROM, the best disc OS ROM for CPC, it works great. This company is held by Peter Campbell : cam1@cix.compulink.co.uk Comsoft 10 McInstosh Crt. Wellpark Glasgow G31 2HW United Kingdom Tel/fax (044) 0141 554 4735 World wide credit card (visa, mastercard) are accepted, you can also send an international postal money order, and of course checks (U.K. only). - 8 sockets ROMBOX, and now a 16 sockets too, - ParaDOS, a ROM operating system, the best OS as AA states it. - DES (Desktop Environment System), graphical interface for CPC, like on MAC or PC Windows, on disk or ROM, - ProPrint, protext text enhancement program, fonts, font editor, on disk or ROM, - MicroDesign Plus, DTP package, - MicroDesign Extra, disc of clip arts for MicroDesign, - Maps for MD, british isles and worlds maps, - 2in1, PC to CPC, runs under CP/M, - The Basic Idea, tutorial of 42 pages and disc of examples for the aimed basic programmer, - Xexor, file management/disc backup utility (also for protected discs), - Soft-Lok v2.3, tape 2 disc, especially for speedlock protected games. Comsoft will release a PCW version of RoutePlanner in 1996. World copyrights on the CPC/PCW versions of the Protext word processor (and derivatives), Maxam assembler and Utopia utility programs, formerly published by Arnor Ltd, are now owned by WACCO and sold by ComSoft. AS OF 21 APRIL 1996: PERMISSION IS GIVEN BY BRIAN WATSON OF WACCO (BRIAN@SPHEROID.DEMON.CO.UK, VOICE: 044 1353 777006, FAX: 044 353 777471) FOR LEGITIMATE OWNERS OF PROTEXT (AND DERIVATIVES), MAXAM, UTOPIA AND OTHER WACCO PROGRAMS TO CONVERT THEM FOR USE WITHIN EMULATORS. CONTACT WACCO FOR MORE INFORMATION. 8.1.3.2) Sentinel Software Sentinel Software 41 Enmore Gardens East Sheen London SW14 8RF United Kingdom - RoutePlanner, UK navigation program - Pro-Ext, Protext extensions for desktop publishing - TUSS, utility to find sprites in games - DesText, interfaces Protext with Comsoft's DES - a wide range of CPC programming tutorials 8.1.3.3) United Amstrad User Group Membership secretary : Gordon Wooliscroft 2 Wrenbeck Drive Otley W. Yorks LS21 2BR United Kingdom The group has been going for 10 years now. We publish a magazine called "CPC User" every couple of months, and have other services for members - a disk and tape library, book library, and helplines. The magazine carries occasional articles on using CPCs in conjunction with PCs (how to set up emulators, share files, and so on), and other articles range from those aimed at beginners to experienced users, with competitions, type-ins, tutorials, and fiction. See section 2.2) for web address and 9.1.3) for fanzine. 8.1.4) Germany They are only a small number of CPC-ware traders in Germany. 8.1.4.1) Karl-Heinz Weeske Karl-Heinz Weeske Potsdamer Ring 10 D-71522 Backnang Tel +49 7191 60078 Fax +49 7191 60079 supply of: CPC hardware and software, printer ribbons (NQL401 & DMP), circuit diagrams, manuals, etc..., demand an offer list ! 8.1.4.2) Walter Kuhn Walter Kuhn EDV-Zubehör Hessenstrasse 7 (Frohnhausen) D-35684 Dillenburg Tel./Fax +49 2771 32688 supply printer ribbons Schneider/Amstrad, DMP 2000...3160 DM 6,50, NLQ 401 DM 6,50, Joyce, LQ 3500, PCW 8256/8512 DM 7,5, PCW 9512, Multistrikeband DM 7, Maxell 3"-Disks 10 pack DM 83, P & P (Germany): DM 9,50 out of Germany: pay in advance only, orders over DM 5,- only 8.2) information - the firmware guide : The CPCEMU Amstrad CPC Firmware Guide is available now! Thanks to Bob Taylor and Thomas Defoe for allowing the distribution. David Cantrell has scanned and reformatted the electronical version! It is on ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/firmware.zip. 8.3) Email addresses - Cliff Lawson (Amstrad), CLIFFL@amstrad.com, he reads the newsgroup. - Andreas Stroiczek (aka Face Hugger), n96477@pbhrzx.uni-paderborn.de DOSCOPY, Face Huggers Ultimate MegaDemo, !CPCEmu for Archimedes, and more... - WSX/INICRON, nwil0062@rz.uni-hildesheim.de - Brain Blaster & Schlumpf of Frankenteam, makra@cip.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de, CPC Telegram Disczine - Doc Bartlet, rdbarthe@trick.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de Bollaware demo/game coders - Keith A Goodyer, kgoodyer@mag-net.co.uk R-Type, f16, Dynamite Dan II, Speedzone, Gilbert Escape from Drill, Grid Iron I, - Roland Perry, has changed - Richard Clayton (was Locomotive Software Ltd), Richard@Turnpike.com - Howard Fisher (was Locomotive Software Ltd, now MD of LocroScript Software), howardf@locomotive.com - Offset (Futur's group), rimauro@bordeaux.ensam.fr Plus software and Hardware, CPC software and hardware too - Antoine Pitrou, pitrou@Email.ENST.fr, Cheese, Turbo Monitor, etc... - Georg Odenthal (Odiesoft), odie@soz.psychologie.uni-konstanz.de Megablasters, demos - Kevin Thacker (Morpheus), amstrad@andercheran.aiind.upv.es, WWW resource, A-CPC emulator (Amiga) - Ilias Fotopoulos (KOD), fotopul@ceid.upatras.gr, demos, SEX disk fanzine - Marco Vieth, ali@uni-paderborn.de, CPCEMU (emulator on PC) - Bernd Schmidt, crux@Pool.Informatik.RWTH-Aachen.DE, CPE (emulator on PC) - Mark Rison, rison@hep.phy.cam.ac.uk, !CPC (emulator on Archimedes) - Herman Dullink, csg669@wing.rug.nl, CPC (emulator on PC) - Oliver Mayer (BSC), a2888696@smail.rrz.uni-koeln.de Demos, Soundtrakker - Paul Gargan (Gliceas), c1pgarga@CompApp.DCU.IE, Amstrad User - Prodatron, pdt@uni-duisburg.de, Demos, Digitracker, X-treme - Richard Fairhurst (CRTC), richard@angelos.demon.co.uk, AA, BTL, RoutePlanner etc - Richard Wildey (Wild Thang), cs94rrw@brunel.ac.uk Sentinel Software, TUSS - Simon Forrester (Hairy), sforrester@futurenet.co.uk AA, BooTracker - Simon Matthews (Ratz), ha3012@qmw.ac.uk, Demos - Spike, klleherd@tcd.ie, Game reviews - DREAMER of TGS/CRT, Heiner@wendt.westfalen.de, Heiner de Went Tannenweg 1 48727 Billerbeck GERMANY - Mark Haigh-Hutschinson, mhh@lucasarts.com, Vortex Software, see 7.1) 18 Raffles COurt Petaluma CA 94954 U.S.A. - Mark Ray, M.Ray@UEA.ac.uk - Amstrad Notepad (NC100) - Brice Rive, brice@world-net.sct.fr, CPC++ emulator on SunOS - Brain Blaster of Frankenteam, ea522@fim.uni-erlangen.de - Schlumpf of Frankenteam, makra@cip.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de - Gert Genial of Frankenteam, hschoen@mail.uni-freiburg.de - Ulrich Doewich, cyrel@cybercude.com, CPE, other utilities, 9) Fanzines If french people are interested, don't forget to send stamps to get back your disk or paper fanzine. For foreign people, International Reply Coupons are available from post offices in all EU countries, US, Canada, and most others. A single IRC can be exchanged by the recipient for enough postage stamps to cover airmail for a letter weighing up to 10 grams. For heavier letters, such as those containing disks or 'zines, simply send more IRCs! 9.1) on paper 9.1.1) Rundschlag address : BIOS, Postfach 27 88475 Schwendi Germany Articles are mostly in german, but many are translated into english or french. Price for one issue is 7DM, you can also subscribe for five issues by sending 35 DM or an euro-cheque, or 17 IRC. You also will receive disk, state the format you use : 3" 3,5" 5,25"/40 5,25"/80 (one/doublestep) or VDOS/XDOS. You can send your own articles about the CPC scene, the best solution would be a file typed on word for windows. 9.1.2) WACCI Issues are 1 pound 50 pence each in the UK, 2 pounds in Europe and 2 pounds 50p elsewhere. Cheques and postal orders payable to WACCI at 7 Brunswood Green HAWARDEN Deeside Clwyd CH5 3JA United Kingdom Editor Paul Dwerryhouse, at the above address. They have a Book Library, Tape library, "Homegrown" Disk Library and PD Disk Library, 3" Disks supplied at 1 pound 50p each, alternative Firmware Guide and Disk, 6 pounds. Look at 2.2) for their www address. For a free sample copy of the clubs magazine either Email at DWERRYPF@AOL.COM with your name and address, or send your name and address to the snail mail address above. 9.1.3) CPC User A magazine published every couple of months by the United Amstrad User Group (UAUG), see section 2.2) and 8.1.3.3) 9.1.4) Quasar A french zine, especially about programmation on CPC and CPC+. Today is 27 february 1996, the last issue, number 9 (summer/automn 1995) is available with 6,70 FF of stamps from : Philippe Rimauro (Futur's/Quasar) 80 chemin des Maillos 09200 SAINT-GIRONS FRANCE 9.1.5) 8BIT New copy each 2 months. Issue 11 out 1st April 1996. Editor: Brian Watson of WACCO. Articles (and advertisements!) are in English and for all users of 8-bit computers. Price for one issue is 2UKP (UK) or 3UKP (rest of world). You can also subscribe for 10 issues for 25UKP. 8BIT, 39, High Street, Sutton, ELY Cambs CB6 2RA United Kingdom 9.2) on disk send me addresses, or better send me your last issue at the address given in 6), I will of course send you back your disks. Here is a message from DREAMER of TGS/CRT (see section 8.1.4) : Just today I had an idea for a new project. It's called "Project Projects". It'll be a kind of discmag with the main columns "Games", "Demos", "Zines" and "Tools". In each column you can find articles about projects that anyone wants to do or is doing, but needs help/support or whatever. For example, a coder wants to do a game like Dune 2 on CPC. But he needs graffix and musix for this and can┤t do it himself. So in "Project Projects" he writes in the column "Games" in a sub-column called "Dune 2". There he explains exactly what he wants to do and what he needs. He says, e.g., he needs a graphician for painting units, backgrounds, and logos, and a good musician. Some days after the issue of "PP" has been released (with his question for graffixmen and musicians) he is contacted by some people who wanna do the game with him. So he tells me he needs no more support and I put the game out of the projects list. Some months later the game is finished, but he needs beta testers for finding mistakes/errors and for suggestions to improve the game. So he again tells me, and I put him back into PP. You could also use PP just for making suggestions for projects. For example, you put the project "Dune 2" into games and say that coders, gfx-men and musicians are needed - so everybody for the game is needed... Perhaps some time anyone will take the idea and make it reality. I hope that this project will help and motivate the CPC users out there! When I have enough stuff for a first issue, I'll release that thingy! More news about "Project projects" on 07/09/96 : It will be released in a cooperation with "CPC Telegramm", a German fanzine. This way the German Only CT shall become international, too, and the PP gets a probably much better start... I think the first cooperation issue will be released in the next two or three months. 9.2.1) Boxon Nicolas Ader (Nicky one) Place du Donjon 32320 BASSOUES FRANCE Boxon 3 should be out at the end of 1996. 9.2.2) Demoniak Anthony Nevo (orphee) Le Louya 35290 GAEL FRANCE 9.2.3) Dracula Fanz Miguel Fremeaux (Dracula) 1 rue de la Viale 11610 VENTENAC-CABARDES FRANCE the last issue (number 5) of december 1995 is out with articles translated in english, on 2 disks, available on ftp.ibp.fr : ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/dracula5.lzh 9.2.4) Phaser Sebastien Broudin (Seb) 1 rue Emile Combes 60600 FITZ-JAMES FRANCE 9.2.5) Better Than Life An English disc fanzine, with around 40 articles (all in English) in each issue covering a huge range of subjects : opinion, humorous articles, comprehensive news coverage, demo, game, fanzine and utility reviews, and much more. It's been described by some people as the best-coded disc fanzine ever: it won't work on CPC emulators, though. Issues 1 and 2 are already out, and issue 3 should be released at the end of the 1st 1996 semester. It's freeware, and (hopefully) will be available via FTP soon. You can e-mail the editor Richard Fairhurst (CRTC / Systeme D) at richard@angelos.demon.co.uk, and BTL is now on the web pages at Kevin Thacker's site, and also on Richard Fairhurst site. 9.2.6) Tribal Mag A good german zine, with some english articles, last issue : no 7. All issues are on ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/amstrad/zines, look for tribmag?.* (ZIP or LZH). Juggler of POW! postlagernd PA Donaustrasse 7-9 76437 Rastatt GERMANY 9.2.7) Art of Fantasy A TGS/Creators production. It's a discmag which is mainly about non-computer stuff, but instead about stuff like roleplaying games, fantasy books, science fiction, stories, etc. Collapse, the editor, gets nearly no contribution, so it would be good to point his mag out a bit... The first issue (the only one out up to now) was German only, but if he gets English stuff, this mag could become international soon! The address: Collapse of TGS/Creators Tobias Zimmermann Augsburger Weg 3 59439 Holzwickede GERMANY 9.2.8) Guten TAG A new disc german-only mag by the group "TAG". I don't know much to write about it now... ask the editor! His address: Gremlin of TAG Thomas Schilling Rebenweg 28 79793 Wutschingen-Horheim GERMANY 9.2.9) Coders Paradise A disc mag for all the programmers out there. All Routines the editor (Steve of Wizcat) gets are published with many explanations (normally). Steve has many problems getting enough stuff for each issue, so pointing him out would be good again... The address: Steve of Wizcat Christian Stengel Ihnbergstrasse 9/1 73479 Ellwangen Germany 9.2.10 CPC-Telegramm German two-monthly DiskZine "CPC-Telegramm" http://home.pages.de/~CPC-Telegramm The DiskZine is issued by Andreas König Harald Schoen Hutstr. 7 Hindenburgstr. 68/702 D-91056 Erlangen D-79102 Freiburg 10) Additionnal hardware 10.1) Hard disks (no more produced) 10.1.1) MFM hard drive - a Dobbertin MFM interface with 20 MB HD for 1000 DM (400 UKP), - in the very early years a Vortex Filecard with 20 MB MFM HD for 3500 DM. 10.1.2) AT IDE hard drive The GIDE is a generic Z80 device which allows easy connection of any AT (16 bit) IDE hard drive to a Z80 computer. If your Z80 is socketed, you simply unplug it, plug the GIDE into the Z80 socket, and plug the Z80 into the GIDE. You need to write your own driver software, however. This may have been already done for the CPC 464. Details on http://www.psyber.com/~tcj 10.2) Multiface II A useful add-on, connected to the expansion port, its primary use is to make snapshots, exactly like the emulators. See 1.2.7), an utility to transform multiface snapshot to emulators snapshot. 10.3) ROMCARD and RAMCARD DOS SANTOS Francisco (RAM7) 123 boulevard Strasbourg 94130 NOGENT SUR MARNE FRANCE You can contact him also now by email : ram7@genesis8.frmug.fr.net The ROMCARD is sold 300 FF, with its cable. The RAMCARD is sold about 400-450 FF. Don't expect short delays. The ROMCARD can have four 32Ko EPROMs : so that's 8 ROMs on the CPC as it uses 16Ko ROMs. Other ROMCARDs can be put in parallel, to add another four 32 Ko EPROMs each time. If you order one ROMCARD or RAMCARD, say to RAM7 where you heard of his production. 10.4) SoundPlayer 1 and 2 look section 8.1.1.2 and 9.1.4) 10.5) Network Virtual net 96, a network for Amstrad CPC, made by germans, look at (english and german page) : http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/6129/start.htm 10.6) Future-OS Not exactly hardware, an alternative OS for the CPC, loot at ( in german for the moment) : http://www.home.pages.de/~futureOS 11) Upcoming Meetings 11.1) ? 12 to 14 july 1997, organized by Karyu, in France (95000). 11.2) LPT2/BYTE97 It shoud be august 1997 in Clermont (Oise, FRANCE) 11.3) Warf Meet'97 * 27-29 june 1997, at Montlucon (03000 in France). Participation will be 30 FF/day, so 90 FF for the three days. Showers, food will be available. 12) The Amstrad Notepad 12.1) What is it? The "User-friendly" Notepad is Amstrad's idea of a what a simple word processor should be like. It is _not_ a PC-compatible and is _not_ the PenPad PDA. Its main flavours can be recognised from the following characteristic markings: The NC100 is about A4 size with a LCD "letterbox" screen, nearly full size keyboard, a PCMCIA memory card slot on the right-hand side and four coloured keys; The NC200 has a fold-down LCD screen instead and a built in 3.5" disk drive. The NC150 appears to be a French version of the NC100, but I've never seen one. Depending on the frequency of useage, the batteries can last for several months. 12.2) How can I buy one? Unfortunately, Tandy finally stopped selling them in November 1996. The best way to buy one now is probably second-hand, via the normal magazines, etc. 12.3) What peripherals can I use? The Notepads have standard Centronics parallel ports and RS232 9-pin serial ports. The system has drivers for 9 and 24 pin dot matrix, Canon inkjet and Laserjet printers. The serial port claims 9600 bps, but I can only make my NC100 work reliably at the full speed using Xmodem and the AC adapter. This seems to be a common problem probably because the AC adapter supplies 10 volts and the batteries only 6. 12.3.1 - Printing The NC can use dot matrix, inkjet and laser printers with its built-in drivers (for emulating Epson, IBM, Canon and LaserJet), but does not support changing font sizes (at least on the NC100). If anyone fancies writing the necessary software, we'd love to hear about it... 12.3.2 - Extra Memory A battery-buffered PCMCIA Memory Card will preserve you from data loss even if your Notepad crashes and increases the available memory. It also allows you to create a file with BASIC bigger than 1024 bytes. This is because BASIC allocates all available memory on startup except 1024 bytes. 12.4) How do I connect it to a PC? Brief instructions are given in the manual. You can either buy the LapCat parallel port system, or buy a "Null Modem Cable" from your local computer store and use a terminal program on the PC (Telix supports the XModem file transfers as well, but standard Windows Terminal/HyperTerminal works OK for text). Set both ends to the same speed, 8 data bits, No Parity, 1 Stop Bit, RTS/CTS handshaking on, and experiment until it works... 12.5) BASIC Oddly enough, the Notepad includes a copy of BBC BASIC. This allows you to create your own programs and download other peoples'. However, some people have found that using the WP to look at a BASIC file can crash the machine, so backup your important files first. 12.5.1 - Where can I find programs for it? Try ftp.maekong.york.ac.uk in /pub/BBC or http://www.uea.ac.uk/~u9428232/NC/files/ for starters! 12.5.2 - Can I use the Word Processor to enter listings? Certainly! To go from WP to BASIC type "*EXEC filename" into BASIC (don't forget line numbers!). To go from BASIC to WP, load the program and then type: *SPOOL document LIST *SPOOL 12.5.3 - Can I make a program auto-run? Of course - just save it with the name AUTO and whenever you start BASIC, it'll run... 12.6) Other Programs CP/M is available for the Notepad from ftp.nvg.unit.no (& mirrors) in /pub/cpc/nc100/. It needs you to have a PC-compatible linked to your Notepad and a memory card ready for it. I haven't tried it but I'm told it works on all the NC machines. 12.7) I've just crashed it... If you're lucky, switching it to standby and back will get you out. If you've got context-saving on then it definitely won't. Try these: switching on while holding Function; switching on while holding Function, Stop, Del and the right-hand Shift; removing all the batteries (including the lithium cell) and the power adapter and trying to switch on. The last two definitely blank the memory. The first two don't always. 12.8) I've just broken it... Try CPC supplies on +44 1772 654455 (Main switchboard) or Email their fax machine on remote-printer.Sales@6.6.4.4.5.6.2.7.7.1.4.4.tpc.int and ask them to 'phone you! Failing that, call Amstrad (number elsewhere in this FAQ) 12.9) Help! Where to ask. Since the demise of Amstrad and Tandy stopping to sell the Notepad, the best places to ask for help are this newsgroup (comp.sys.amstrad.8bit) or email me at M.Ray@UEA.ac.uk (until summer 1997) and I'll do my best. 12.10) Internet resources. Amstrad Notepad Users' Web - http://www.uea.ac.uk/~u9428232/NC/ mirrored at http://www.miracles.win-uk.net/NC100/ Amstrad's homepage - see above Mirko's NC100 page - http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~mir/amstrad.html NVG FTP site - ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc/nc100 13) PCW 13.1) Transfering between PCW and PC All this 13.1) comes was in article from Howard Fisher (Locoscript Software) There are two things to be considered when transferring files between PCWs and PCs : - the transfer of the information; - the use of the information after it has been transferred. Transferring the Files 3" PCWs to PCs If the PC and PCW are side by side, LocoLink provides the easiest way to transfer information between Amstrad 3" PCWs and any PC with LocoScript Professional or LocoScript PC Easy; and LocoLink for Windows from LocoScript on the PCW to most Windows word processors. LocoLink consists of a special cable and software for the PCW. The cable plugs into the expansion port of your PCW and the parallel printer port of your PC, with different versions of the cable for UK and export models of PCW. At the PC, LocoLink works within LocoScript and provides a view of a PCW disc as if it were a disc on the PC. LocoLink for Windows provides a File Manager style view of the PCW disc and lets you use the mouse to copy and convert documents. At the PCW, you simply need to run the LocoLink or LocoLink for Windows PCW software. If you cannot get your PCW and PC side by side, you can transfer between 3" and 3.5" discs by either adding a 3.5" drive to your PCW, or adding a 3" drive to your PC. In both cases you will also need to run suitable software to transfer between PCW format and PC format discs. LocoScript Software can supply a DIY 3.5" PCW drive kit - call (01306) 747756 for details. You can then copy any files to 3.5" discs and use one of the methods listed below to transfer to the PC. To add a 3" drive to your PC you will need a 3" Disk Kit which includes both the drive and software to copy files from a 3" disc to a DOS disc. This is available from Eureka on 01329 239953. 3.5" PCWs to PCs No physical link is required when transferring files between a 3.5" PCW and a PC with a 3.5" drive, or between a 3" PCW with an added 3" drive and a 3.5" PC. The discs can be switched between the machines but the file formats must be changed between PCW format and DOS format, so that they are readable by the other machine. Depending on if you want to do the transfer on your PCW or your PC you need different software: - To convert the files on your PCW, you need Moonstone 2-in-1. - To convert the files on your PC, you need DDriverPCW. Both of these are available from LocoScript Software. 2-in-1 is a program you run under CP/M to write PC format discs on your PCW, whereas DDriverPCW is a DOS "device driver" which enables any software on the PC to read a PCW format disc directly. For information about adding a 3.5" disc drive to your PCW, see our information sheet 'Using 3.5" Disc Drives with the PCW - Using the Transferred Files' Working with PCW files on a PC LocoScript 1, 2 and 3 documents can be used with LocoScript Professional and LocoScript PC Easy simply by editing them. LocoFile datafiles need to be "squashed" by LocoScript Professional or PC Easy before they can be used. LocoScript 1, 2 and 3 documents can be used with Windows word processors by using LocoLink for Windows to convert the documents to the form required by the Windows word processor. For other PC software first transfer to a PC format disc, then use LocoScript Professional or LocoScript PC Easy to "export" the document in a suitable format: - WordPerfect 5.1 (not PC Easy), - Wordstar, - DCA RFT, - ASCII. You will need to ask the manufacturer of the software you intend to use which of these formats are suitable. With ASCII all formatting is discarded. To use the data from a LocoFile datafile with other PC software you will need to use LocoScript Professional or LocoScript PC Easy Mailmerge commands to output the data to a LocoScript document. You should then export the document as above. Or LocoLink for Windows can be used to convert datafiles to DBase or FoxPro formats. To use any non-LocoScript PCW files (such as spreadsheet or accounts data) with other PC software you should consult the manufacturer of the PC software you intend to use for advice on how you can use the files - if this is indeed possible. Working with PC files on a PCW Except for LocoLink for Windows and DDriverPCW, the various methods above also allow files to be copied from PC to PCW discs. If these files are LocoScript documents, you can edit these documents with LocoScript 3, but not directly - first, you must use LocoScript Professional 2 or LocoScript PC Easy (version 1.01 or later) to e xport the document to LocoScript 2/3 format. This can be done directly onto a PCW disc with LocoLink or onto a DOS format disc and then converted using the other methods. Then LocoScript 2 (Version 2.50 or later) or LocoScript 3 will be able to work with the exported version of the document. LocoScript database files on a PC cannot be exported to LocoFile on a PCW directly. The information in the PC datafiles must be extracted into a data document and then transferred to LocoScript on the PCW as a normal document, as described above. On the PCW this data can then be inserted into a pre-created datafile. More information on this can be obtained from LocoScript Software. Software Versions and Requirements To use LocoLink, LocoScript Professional or LocoScript PC Easy is required. The above information applies to versions since 1 st January 94 - LocoLink for LocoScript Professional, Version 1.08 or later of LocoScript Professional and Version 1.01 or later of LocoScript PC Easy. To export from LocoScript on the PC to the PCW you need Version 2.50 or later of LocoScript on the PCW. LocoLink for Windows can convert documents and datafiles produced with any version of LocoScript. LocoLink for LocoScript Professional and DDriverPCW cost GBP 39.95 each, LocoLink for Windows costs GBP 69.95, LocoScript Professional 2 costs GBP 59.95 and LocoScript PC Easy costs GBP 39.95. We can also supply LocoLink for Windows PC only version at GBP 39.95. This just contains the PC conversion utilities - not the PCW-PC cable. If you have earlier versions of any of these products, call LocoScript Software on (01306) 747756 to upgrade. Prices include UK VAT at 17.5% and UK postage. Orders sent to Europe, add 10% postage. Orders sent outside Europe add 30% postage. Orders from outside the EEC deduct VAT. Disc Transfer Services Alternatively, you can use a disc transfer service both to copy the discs and if necessary convert the files to other PC word processor formats. Both LocoScript Software and Dave's Disc Doctor Service can do t his for you. If you have purchased LocoScript Professional our charges can be as low as GBP 1 per disc. See the following details: ----------------------------------------------------------- Use this form to order our 3" disc copying service. Simply fill in the details of the 3" discs you want copied, the sort of disc to be copied to and if appropriate the PC word processor format. Calculate the price for the service and return the form with your payment and the discs to be copied to: LocoScript Software, 10 Vincent Works, Vincent Lane, DORKING, Surrey RH4 1YL The price per disc (including the supply of the 3.5" disc) is: GBP 1 (minimum GBP5) if you have purchased our 3.5" disc drive kit, a PC package or LocoScript Professional or LocoLink for Windows; or GBP5 per disc (minimum GBP10) if you have not purchased these items. Each side of a PCW8256 low density disc is charged as a separate disc. WE DO NOT RETURN THE 3" DISCS, though we can do so for a supplement of GBP4 per disc. You should typically allow about a week for us to supply the copied discs. If we can't read any of your discs we will try on several PCWs, but if we still cannot read the disc we will simply return the 3" disc with a note. We will still charge the full fee for discs we cannot copy as the price covers the time spent carrying out the service, which can if anything be greater if disc faults occur. We will retain your old 3" discs for at least 30 days. Please ensure that you can check the copied discs within that time. We will remedy any problems (including recopying if necessary) free of charge during this period, but cannot accept responsibility for problems discovered later. Number of discs to be copied ____ (count each 180K disc side as a separate disc) Format of disc to be copied to PCW format ____ DOS format: ____ if DOS format: copy to LocoScript/Unchanged ____ Windows format word processor ____ (If Windows format, select format from: - for LocoScript Documents: Word 3, 3.1, 4, 5, 5.5, 6; Word for Windows 1, 2, 6; Wordperfect for Windows 5.1, 6; Ami Pro 1.1, 1.2, 2. 3; Wordstar 3.3, 3.31, 3.45, 4, 5, 5.5, 6, 7; Wordstar for Windows; Windows Write 3, 3.1; ASCII; RTF - for LocoFile datafiles: dBase III, III+, IV; FoxPro for Windows 2.5 Note: Non-LocoScript/File files will be copied across unchanged. Price per disc if Disc Drive Kit/LocoScript PC/LocoLink for Windows has been purchased GBP1 minimum order value GBP5 otherwise GBP5 minimum order value GBP10 Number of disc sides _____ at _____ If 3" discs to be returned at 4GBP per disc, add _____ Amount payable _______________ Payment Cheque payable to LocoScript Software Please charge my Access/Mastercard/Visa/Switch account