Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Followup-To: comp.sys.amstrad.8bit Reply-To: roussin@genesis8.frmug.org Archive-name: amstrad8bit-faq Posting-Frequency: monthly (4th day) comp.sys.amstrad.8bit Frequently Asked Questions v1.01 (08/05/98) * lines moved in introduction The FAQ exists in four versions : - AMSTRAD.FAQ : english text, always up to date, - AMSTRAD.HTM : english HTML (v0.90 from 1 to 1.2, v0.72 after), * - FRENCH.FAQ : french text (v1.00), - GERMAN.FAQ : german text (v0.96) by Tim Riemann (TCS-Software@gmx.de). The latest versions of these FAQ are archived on : - primary site : ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/ - FAQ archive (english text only) : http://www.faqs.org/faqs/amstrad8bit-faq ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.sys.amstrad.8bit ftp://ftp.cs.nott.ac.uk/faq/amstrad8bit-faq - ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/di/dibald/FAQS and ftp://ftp.psyber.com/tcj/faqs The french translation was done by Pierre Guerrier and then by Pierre Thevenet. 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 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.org, section A1 to A11, - Mark Ray, M.J.Ray@UEA.ac.uk, section B (Amstrad Notepad), - still waiting for somebody who could write a PCW part, send it to E.R., for the moment it's the section C. 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 the corrections. This FAQ is freeware, you can use it freely for your personnal use. For commercial use, you must ask our permission before. 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) rrotz@ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu (rrotz) nwc@kom.auc.dk (Peter Sorensen) dave@altavista.net (David Long) ksweber@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de (Klaus Weber) ian@caliban.org (Ian Macdonald) iri@aber.ac.uk (IAN RODERIC IZETT) kthacker@krisalis.co.uk (K.E.W. Thacker) slog@cix.compulink.co.uk (Roger Bradley) matthew.phillips@christ-church.oxford.ac.uk richard@systemed.u-net.com (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.lip6.fr (Pierre Guerrier) prhunt@dyson.brisnet.org.au gblancha@jonque.ens.fr (Gilles Blanchard) cliffl@amstrad.com (Cliff Lawson) phil_stewart@yahoo.com s.j.matthews@btl.lhmc.ac.uk (Simon Matthews) ------------ Table of Contents Introduction A - Amstrad CPC A0) Amstrad CPC(+) and GX 4000 presentation A1) Emulators and utilities A1.1) emulators A1.2) utilities A2) Sources of emulators, ROMs and programs A2.0) IRC A2.1) FTP sites A2.2) WWW A2.3) BBS A2.4) Using programs with emulators or real CPC A3) Transfer between CPC and PC A3.1) 3" drive on PC A3.2.1) 3,5" or 5,25" drive on CPC A3.2.2) 3,5" or 5,25" drive on CPC+ A3.3) parallel cable A3.4) RS 232 / RS 422 (Macintosh) A3.5) Companies A3.6) Tapes A4) Maps, solutions, pokes, basic loaders A4.1) Maps A4.2) Solutions A4.3) Pokes A4.4) Basic loaders A5) Hardware problems A5.1) Internal drive A5.2) Components A6) How can I help the CPC/PCW world ? A6.1) Updating the FAQ A6.2) Commercial games becoming freeware A6.3) Adding files to ftp.lip6.fr A6.4) Updating ALL_CPC, ALL_HW, ALL_ROM, ALL_UTIL A7) Programs A7.1) Commercial programs wich are now PD, freeware or shareware A7.2) New non commercial games A8) Useful address and information A8.1) Snail mail addresses A8.2) information A8.3) Email addresses A9) Fanzines A9.1) on paper A9.2) on disk A10) Additionnal hardware A10.1) Hard disk A10.2) Multiface II A10.3) ROMCARD and RAMCARD A10.4) Sound Player 1 and 2 A10.5) Network A10.6) Future-OS A10.7) 2 Mo MemCard (by RAM7) A10.8) Vox card (by RAM7) A10.9) CPC ISA ) Amstrad MP3 (television) A11) Upcoming CPC meetings A12) Amstrad scene news B - Amstrad Notepad (NC) B1) What is it? B2) How can I buy one? B3) What peripherals can I use? B3.1) Printing B3.2) Extra Memory B4) How do I connect it to a PC? B5) BASIC B5.1) Where can I find programs for it? B5.2) Can I use the Word Processor to enter listings? B5.3) Can I make a program auto-run? B6) Other Programs B7) I've just crashed it... B8) I've just broken it... B9) Help! Where to ask. B10) Internet resources. C - PCW C0) PCW presentation C1) Emulators and utilities C2) Where can I find emulators, ROMs and programs ? C2.1) FTP sites C2.2) WWW C3) Transfering between PCW and PC C3.1) Disks C3.2) RS 232 C4) Shops supporting PCW C5) Hardware C6) PCW 16 D - CP/M Annexe 1 : Amstrad is dead, long live to Betacom... (removed from the faq) --------------------------- Introduction + The vote for the creation of this newsgroup passed on 28th july 1994 + with 148:36, it was effectively created on 4th august 1998. It was the * idea of Marco Vieth and David Long (maintainer of the now dead UK * Demon PD library). 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). 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. For questions about these computers see http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/index.htm A0) Amstrad CPC(+) and GX 4000 presentation Amstrad made the following CPC systems : - 1) CPC 464 (Arnold 1), - 2) CPC 664 (Arnlod 2), - 3) CPC 6128 (Arnold 3), there was also a CPC6128 cost down (Arnold 4 which was identical in operation to the original 6128 but had a new PCB and ASIC that reduced the board size and chip count to a mere fraction of the original size. If you open up a 6128 and the board fills the entire space you've got one of the originals. If you open one up and the board only occupies about 1/4 to 1/3 of the available space with a LOT of surrounding fresh air then you've got an Arnold 4. - 4) CPC 464+ (Arnold 5), - 5) CPC 6128+ (Arnold 5), - 6) GX 4000, 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. A1) Emulators and utilities All the following emulators and utilities can be found on ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator, or use the HTML frontend : ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/frontend/emulator.htm A1.1) emulators For the moment, there are 6 emulators for PC, 4 for Amiga, 2 for Acorn RISC OS machines, 1 for Unix (SUNos) and MAC (Power MAC and 68k MAC). There is a commercial spectrum emulator for the CPC, reviewed in Amstrad Action. A1.1.1) CPCEMU (PC) 06/25/98 CPCEMU by Marco Vieth, last version is 1.5, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpcemu15.zip A1.1.2) CPE (for PC and Amiga) 05/30/98 CPE, written by Bernd Schmidt and now maintained by Ulrich Doewich (reports bugs, suggestions to ulrich.doewich@shaw.wave.ca) since v5.1 Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpe52.zip, or if you have a 386, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpe51.zip For sources : ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpesrc52.zip Amiga CPE (68000, 1 Mo), last version is february 95, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/acpe_new.lzh Ulrich is programming a new 32 bit version of CPE in 1998. A1.1.3) A-CPC (PC) (06/01/97) The Amstrad CPC emulator (v0.55beta) by Herman Dullink on PC, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc055.zip Current beta version is v0.56 A1.1.4) PC-CPC (PC) A PC v0.40 of AMI-CPC by Ludovic Deplanque (see A1.1.7), get PCCPC040.LZH, and AMICPCUT.LZH for conversion between .CPC and .DSK images disks. See http://www.chez.com/deplanque A1.1.5) NO$CPC (PC) 02/21/98 Another german emulator, by Martin Korth, last version is 1.5, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/no$cpc15.zip and ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/no$cp15a.zip (XT version). see http://www.work.de/nocash A1.1.6) RWCPC and CPC emulator for windows (PC) 08/12/97 Two emulators by Richard Wilson (author of ParaDOS), the first one is for msdos, the second for windows wich comes with a debugger and an assembler. ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/rwcpc.zip ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpcwin10.zip A1.1.7) AMI-CPC (Amiga) 02/15/98 A french CPC emulator for Amiga, by Ludovic Deplanque. Last version is v0.46, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/amicpc46.lzh, includes sources. See http://www.chez.com/deplanque V0.47 will add the support for snapshots. A1.1.8) A-CPC (Amiga) The CPC emulator for Amiga is by K.E.W. Thacker. Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/acpcde20.lha A demo/evaluation version of the real shareware. Don't forget the web page of Kevin (see A2.2), it's the best and biggest. A1.1.9) Emu-CPC (Amiga) Another french CPC emulator on AMIGA by Stephane Tavenard, get EmuCPC v0.7, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/emucpc07.lzx Ami-CPC author states that Emu-CPC is better (at time of Ami-CPC 0.46). A1.1.10) !CPC (Acorn) 07/06/98 !CPC is a CPC emulator for Acorn RISC OS machines (Archimedes/RISC PC) by Mark RISON. Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc0728.zip Get the sources at http://www.acorn.com/~mrison/en/cpc/ or from lip6 as usual. A1.1.11) !CPCemu (Acorn) This emulator for Acorn RISC OS machines is written by Andreas Stroiczek, aka Face Hugger. Get v1.10 as ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpcem110.zip or on ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/acorn/long/emulator/ ftp://ftp.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/systems/acorn/riscos/emulator/ A1.1.12) CPC++ (Unix and MAC) 10/06/97 This emulator for SunOS, Linux and MAC is written by Brice Rive. PowerMAC v1.3.2, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc132pm.arj MAC v1.3.2, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc13268.arj SunOS v1.3.0, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc130su.zip Solaris v1.4, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpc140so.zip Linux v1.2, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpp120lx.zip http://www.worldnet.fr/~brice/cpc/cpcpp.html A1.1.13) 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". Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/simcpc.zip A1.1.14) Multi-Machine, or MTM (win95, other ports later) 06/27/97 Get MTM v1.30b by Paul Hodgson (paul.hodgson@multi-machine.demon.co.uk) at ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/mtmw130b.zip MTM is a win95 muli-machine emulator. Currently implimented emulation cores are Amstrad CPC (+ included), Sinclair ZX80/81 and Spectrum, Jupiter Ace and Elan Enterprise. Other cores in the pipeline are Mastersystem/Gamegear, MSX and Gameboy. A1.1.15) XCPC (unix) 02/23/98 An Unix/Linux emulator by Mark Conmy (mpc@scs.leeds.ac.uk). Emulation is fine (without sound) apart from some interrupts errors with some games and supports DSK files. The tape support and snapshot support were almost there, but not quite. It works under Irix (4,5 and 6), SunOS 4.1.3/4, Solaris and Linux. It will be posted to c.s.a.8 if/when Mark get it properly running The full source code _will_ be made available (not just binaries) under the GNU GPL. No availability date. A1.1.16) Arnold (win95) 07/19/98 A CPC/CPC+ emulator by K.E.W. Thacker for win95 and directX5, needs a pentium for enough speed as written in C. Get a preview at http://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/~amstrad/arnold/arnold.zip A1.1.17) Zsim (PC) 02/17/98 Zsim v2.41 by Jrgen G. Weber, it simulates a CP/M Z80 machine. It DOES NOT simulate CP/M. But in the ZSIM package are included a PD CP/M compatible operating system and a program to format CP/M disks, so you can run CP/M programs. It can directly read DATA and SYSTEM disks. Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/cpm/zsim241.zip A1.1.18) Yage (PC) 07/19/98 Yage v0.90 by Antoine Pitrou, a CPC emulator which handles demos like 'The demo' and 'divine megademo'. Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/yage090.zip A1.1.19) Other emulators - CPCEMUII (?) : in development since October 1993 by Paco Lopez (Spain). Still unavalaible. It uses the same disk format as CPCEMU. - a linux emulator by Noel Llopis, as 02/21/98, it's indefinitely on hold as Noel is working on his doctorate. A1.2) Utilities A1.2.1) SNA2GIF (PC) SNA2GIF v1.1 by Marco Vieth, is included in CPCEMU14.ZIP, it extracts screens from snapshots to GIF format. A1.2.2) 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 CPC2x (see a1.2.3), get SNAPGR11.ZIP. A1.2.3) CPC2x (was CPC to TIFF) (PC) CPC2x v2.0 by Michael Stroucken converts Amstrad CPC screens to the graphic TIF and GIF format. Get CPC2X.ZIP with sources and binaries for MSDOS and CP/M. A1.2.4) CPC file system (PC) 08/04/98 CPC fs v0.85.3 by Derik van Zutphen transfer CPC files between .DSK files and DOS files, in the two ways, look for ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emu-util/cpcfs085.zip Don't forget to RTFM, there is a useful batch mode. See http://home.t-online.de/home/derik/cpcfs.htm A1.2.5) 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. A1.2.6) CPDread & CPDwrite (PC) 10/22/97 Copy Protected Disk reader v3.24 by Ulrich Doewich, for transfering 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 CPDwrite v1.0, for writing back .DSK to a disk, even with protected games, look for CPDW100.ZIP A1.2.7) MACTerm (MAC) Transfer files between CPC and MAC with a parallel cable, look for CPCTERM.ZIP A1.2.8) 22disk (PC) 22disk is a shareware utility by Sydex (http://www.sydex.com) which can read/write/format CP/M disks on PC. It can read CPC disks formats with a definition file called CPMDISKS.DEF which comes with CPCEMU, or EURO.DEF (EURODEF.ZIP). You shouldn't use it under OS/2 or win95, unless you have the last version, v1.44 (22DSK144.RAR). A1.2.9) DIC (PC) 06/14/97 Disc Image Copier by Tim Rieman, transfer DATA and SYSTEM disc from CPC to PC with a parallel cable, look for DIC130.ZIP For conversion from PC to CPC, see A1.2.11 A1.2.10) 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. A1.2.11) PC2CPC (PC) PC2CPC v2.0 by James Churchill converts CPC emulator EDSK images to 3" disks via the CPCEMU parallel link, look for PC2CPC.ZIP For conversion from CPC 3" disk to PC .DSK see A1.2.9) A1.2.12) DSK-CPC (CPC) 06/05/97 DSK-CPC by Divine Coding (divine@dcs.warwick.ac.uk ) reads a .DSK or .EDSK image from a 3.5" 720Kb DOS disc and writes the image to a CPC disc, thus recreating the original software disc. It can can cope with copy-protected software. Get http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~divine/dsk-cpc.bas A1.2.13) CPCKEY (PC) CpcKey v0.3 (see A8.1.1.1.) can : - command/replace CPC keyboard with the PC keyboard, - send files between CPC and PC - modify the CPC memory, poke during games - automatic procedures, etc... - compatible Intex HEX format - compatible with CPCEMU parallel cable http://home.aol.com/SLei777 french minitel : 3614 CHEZ*LEI A1.2.14) SEND2 (CPC) 06/15/97 SEND2 v1.2 by J.GUEZENNEC (jguezenn@icor.fr) is a complete parallel transfer package which is an amelioration of CPCPARA.BAS : - 3" disk transfer (DATA, SYSTEM, IBM), - ROM transfers, - tape transfers. A1.2.15) TransCPC CPC transfile project, a project aimed at simulating a small filesystem on the Amstrad CPC with the files being stored on a PC hard disk. The project is complete, there is no plan to improve it. Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/transcpc.zip for the ASM code to be compiled with Depvac or similar for the CPC part, and any PC assembler for the PC part. + A1.2.16) ReadScr (PC) + A PC utility for ms-dos by Ark for viewing Amstrad CPC screens, with + palettes or not, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/graphic/readscr.zip A2) Sources of emulators, ROMs and programs ROMs are now included with CPCEMU and CPE, with the permission of Amstrad and Locomotive Software. If you have ROMs on a romboard, you can get them for use with an emulator, get CPCEMU, it comes with a basic program to transfer a ROM to a file. A2.0) IRC You can exchange files with Internet Relay Chat, but its primary goal is to chat with other internet users, so come to the comp.sys.amstrad.8bit IRC channel on IRCNet (try ircnet.demon.co.uk) in channel #csa8 every Sunday at 3:00pm. A2.1) FTP sites 07/19/98 If you have problems accessing FTP sites, use the following method : ftp://anonymous@ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/cpcemu15.zip for getting v1.5 of CPCEMU for example. - ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad, thanks to Remy Card, ftp://ftp.lip6.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.org All files comes from 'Genesis, the 8bit generation BBS' (see A2.3). - ftp://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/pub/cpc, mirror of ftp.lip6.fr by The Great Brubaker - 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://members.xoom.com/tacgr - 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. * A2.2) WWW 08/06/98 * removed : Sites sorted by address : - ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/amstrad.htm, this FAQ in HTML, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/frontend/menu.htm, lip6 HTML frontend. - the biggest Amstrad web page is the one from Kevin Thacker, the A-CPC author (Amiga CPC emulator). http://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/~amstrad and an UK mirror : http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~divine/~amstrad/ - http://andercheran.aiind.upv.es/~sergio/cpc Amstrad CPC poke database (for CPCEMU), you can submit your pokes to be added in the database : - http://home.pages.de/~Schlumpf Schlumpf, of Frankenteam, makes CPC-Telegramm (german disk fanzine, see section 9.2.10) - http://pages.vossnet.de/wsx Inicron page, author of the RAM-BOX (see A10.7.2) and ROM-RAM-BOX, * comes with the electronic plan and documentation (see A10.11). + - http://privat.schlund.de/arkanoid + Arkanoid site, author of ReadScr (see A1.2.16) - Tim Rieman, author of DIC (Disc image copy), see 1.2.11), 05/30/98 http://tcs.home.pages.de/ - http://www.classicgaming.com/cpe Ulrich Doewich, added GUS support to CPCEMU & CPE, and new SB sound & better FDC code to CPE. 05/30/98 - http://stewart.connect-2.co.uk/AllTCPC.html Phil Stewart's 'All Things CPC' page - http://tick.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/~rdbarthe/Bollaware.html Bollaware demos, games and utilities, german end english pages 08/03/98 - http://transrapid.simplenet.com/pdt/cpc.htm Prodatron CPC's productions - http://users.ox.ac.uk/~chri0264/wowww.html Wacci, an U.K. CPC paper zine (see section 9.1.2). - http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/index.htm Official Amstrad site with informations, files for all the Amstrad computers (CPC, PCW, PC) - http://www-asim.lip6.fr/users/pg/CPC/CPC_english.html Pierre Guerrier web site, author of XTI and AIFF - http://www.chez.com/arkos/garde.html Arkos, a french demo group - http://www.chez.com/futurs/ or its mirror http://www.i-france.com/futurs Futur's, a french group, see A8.1.1.2) - http://www.cix.co.uk/~mtilley/protext/ Protext web page - http://www.cmiag.com/~bsc/ BSC web page, all his .ST and .128 songs, Soundtrakker source code - http://www.cmiag.com/st/ Thorsten Mitschele (aka Kangaroo) music web site, get Soundtrakker 128K free, with a lot of songs - http://www.cs.unc.edu/~llopis/cpc/cpc.html Noel Llopis web page with : - History of spanish software for the Amstrad CPC, - Amstrad CPC documentation (under construction), - ACE (Amstrad CPC Emulator), soon a page for it. - http://members.xoom.com/tacgr The Amstrad CPC Games Resource, an HTML frontend for ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc and a list of all 'Amstrad Action' reviews - http://www.dur.ac.uk/~d70sw0/ Nicholas Campbell, Otto disc zine - http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1044/ Siou web page, informations about new hardware for CPC new look as 10/12/97 + - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/5242/ + Chaos, the greek CPC team, demos, utilities and the disc zine Focus - http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/6129/start.htm VN96, Virtual Net 96, a network for the Amstrad CPC, see 10.5) - http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/1842/ The Electronic Monk homepage, with his games (they are on lip6) - http://www.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/~virtech/index_amstrad.html All Amstrad CPC Virtech programs - http://www.internetica.net/amstrad/ A Web based Museum for all Amstrad CPC hardware and software including a software search engine - http://www.kom.auc.dk/~nwc/ Peter Sorensen (Aka NWC) - http://www.lysator.liu.se/tolkien-games/amstrad.html Tolkien computer games for Amstrad CPC - http://www.mygale.org/04/ipmage/ Imperial Mage, a french demo maker, download CPC music - http://www2.psyber.com/~tcj/ The Computer Journal (TCJ) - http://www.rrze.uni-erlangen.de/~sz3222/astrogirl.html Weee web page - http://www.systemed.u-net.com/ STS homepage, the British CPC group, is now on-line, with also the BTL fanzine (see 9.2.5), maintained by Richard Fairhurst, includes Amstrad PCW Hardware Reference. - http://www1.pitt.edu/~mxsst1/cpc/ Michael Stroucken, author of CPC2x (see 1.2.3), with technical data about repairing CPC monitor and power supply. - http://www.ThePentagon.com/NukeEmUp/uaug/index.html http://www.ThePentagon.com/NukeEmUp/tech/cpc.html United Amstrad User Group (UAUG), software, firmware guide in HTML, see sections 8.1.3.3) and 9.1.3) and David Cantrell site with online firmware guide and Arnor ROMs - http://www.tribal-mag.home.pages.de online version of the former Tribal Mag (discmag), see A9.2.6) - http://www.worldnet.fr/~brice/cpc/cpcpp.shtml Brice Rive, author of the CPC+ emulator (MAC and SunOS) A2.3) BBS 29/06/98 - Genesis the 8bit generation (2:320/220) : +33 1 53 95 32 43 (modem/ISDN) & 44 (modem), Paris (FRANCE), 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 authors). For the moment, there is about 68 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. - 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). - SchnickSchnackBBS (FidoNet: 2:2448/615): +49-234-9620318, Bochum, Germany, V34, X75, sysop: Armin Schaefer, this bbs carry cpc files and it is the home of the CPCNet, a german speaking network for amstrad 8bit-users (CPC,PCW,etc.) based on Fido- and ZConnect-technology. For infos on the CPCNet write a mail to CPCNet@p2.zebulon.ftg.donut.de - 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. A2.4) Using programs with emulators or real CPC A2.4.1) 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, * RUN"file_name" to run a program (.BAS or .BIN). A2.4.2) CPC files You can either put these files in the TAPE directory of your emulator, or inject them in a .DSK file with CPCFS (see A1.2.4) : * - create an empty .DSK with 'CPCFS -nd empty', * - inject files : 'cpcfs empty -mp *.*'. A2.4.3) 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. A3) Transfer between CPC and PC Later mentions of DDI-1 can also be remplaced by FD-1 (which comes without the interface for the 464) A3.1.1) 3" drive on PC (part one) 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 to 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). A3.1.2) 3" drive on PC (part two) 02/17/98 Here are other informations by Juan Perez Delgado, as I know nothing in hardware, be cautious. This doesn't apply for Schneider drives. 1. Read all first 2. Then you open your PC, and unplug and take off the cable that goes from the FD controller to the FD drives. The cable looks something like this: (including the twist between the B: and A: connectors) to FD ctler to B: drive to A: drive /-\ /-\ /-\ 2 -|---------|-|---------|-|2 4 -|---------|-|---------|-|4 6 -|---------|-|---------|-|6 8 -|---------|-|---------|-|8 10-|---------|-|-\ /----|-|10 ) 16 of ctler, A: thinks it is 10 12-|---------|-|- \/ ----|-|12 ) 14 of ctler, A: thinks it is 12 14-|---------|-|- /\ ----|-|14 ) 12 of ctler, A: thinks it is 14 16-|---------|-|-/ \----|-|16 ) 10 of ctler, A: thinks it is 16 18-|---------|-|---------|-|18 20-|---------|-|---------|-|20 22-|---------|-|---------|-|22 24-|---------|-|---------|-|24 26-|---------|-|---------|-|26 28-|---------|-|---------|-|28 30-|---------|-|---------|-|30 32-|---------|-|---------|-|32 34-|---------|-|---------|-|34 \-/ \-/ \-/ 3. Using a screwdriver and a cuttex I reordered the wires that go to the A: drive (I left some of them not connected): to FD ctler. to B: drive to A: drive /-\ /-\ 2 -|---------|-|------- You can see that signals 4 -|---------|-|------- 2,4,6,10(16 from the ctler) 6 -|---------|-|------- are not used. 8 -|---------|-|---------\ 10-|---------|-|-\ /-nc \-|-| 2 (connected to ctler pin 8) 12-|---------|-|- \/ -------|-| 4 14-|---------|-|- /\ -------|-| 6 16-|---------|-|-/ \-------|-| 8 18-|---------|-|------------|-| 10 20-|---------|-|------------|-| 12 22-|---------|-|------------|-| 14 24-|---------|-|------------|-| 16 26-|---------|-|------------|-| 18 28-|---------|-|------------|-| 20 30-|---------|-|------------|-| 22 32-|---------|-|------------|-| 24 34-|---------|-|------------|-| 26 \-/ \-/ |-| 28 |-| 30 |-| 32 |-| 34 \-/ Of course, odd pins must be connected to wires of ground (odd pins in the drive with odd pins in the ctler, doesn't matter the number). 4. Next, you open the CPC6128, and get the 3"FD, unplug only the cable that comes from the controller (the one in the 26 pin connector). 5. Plug-in the cable you have 'build' in step 3 to the FD cntler (as it was before you disconnected it), and connect the CPC 3"FD to the connector witch wires you have reordered. As the connector is 34 pin wide, and the drive is 26 pin, there will be a side not connected (corresponding to pins 28 to 34). Now you have the controller cable from the PC controller connected to the 3" drive. I think you can still connect another driver to the other free connector, but I didn't try it because I read somepeople have burned its controller doing similar things. You leave the power cable of the 3" drive connected to the CPC, as it was before. 6. Now, you switch on your CPC (monitor, then keyboard). The FD will start running continously. 7. Now, you switch on your PC. If all is Ok, nothing should burn :), and the 3" FD will stop running. Then in the bios setup you tell you have a 360Kb 5.25" drive A. You boot the PC again if needed. 8. In order to use with CPDRead, you must set your drive (cpdread.cfg) as a 360Ko drive with 360Ko disks, and you must set #STEP to 2) #STEP set to 1 worked for somebody else. A3.2.1) 3,5" or 5,25" drive on CPC 06/29/98 You can use a 3.5" or 5.25" drive on a CPC. You have to take care about the cabling, as some 6128s use a 36 pin port and the drive only has 34. A normal PC floppy cable (5 connector) can be used to connect drives, although some connectors may need changing. The six 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. - High density drives have a hi/lo signal not present on CPCs which may cause problems, it is probably best to use older 720k drives. - Some 5.25" drives, namely 720k QD drives, may cause problems, however these are not very common and so shouldn't be a cause for concern. - Drives may not work properly on the CPC by giving read errors and seek errors, etc. The first thing to do in this event is to clean the edge connector on the CPC with some IPA (head cleaner fluid), and then clean the drive heads in the same way if necessary. - The jumper setting on the drive is wrong. On older 5.25" drives you may find that they have been set to Drive 0 (DS0), in which case you need to set the drive to drive 1 (DS1) or use a PC drive cable which has a twist in it. To copy disks from 3" in drive A to 3.5"/5.25" in drive B the best method is to use Disckit2/3 that comes with CP/M, depending on which version you have. If Disckit3 doesn't work, Procopy can tackle most disks, and runs from drive B so you can copy it across to your CPC fairly easily. You can read the CPC disks on the PC with 22DISK from Sydex, or Ulrich Doewich's CPDRead (see A1.2.6 and A1.2.8). The following diagram is a pin table comparing a modern 1.44Mb 3.5" drive to the drive B connector on a CPC, which you may find useful. Note that although the CPC connector is numbered backward, it is still directly compatible. 1.44Mb 3.5" drive: CPC drive B connector All odd pins: Ground -------------> All even pins: Ground 2: Hi/lo density -----------------> 33: N/C 4: N/C ---------------------------> 31: N/C 6: N/C ---------------------------> 29: N/C 8: Index -------------------------> 27: Index 10: Motor enable A ---------------> 25: N/C 12: Drive select B ---------------> 23: Drive select 1 (B) 14: Drive select A ---------------> 21: N/C 16: Motor Enable B ---------------> 19: Motor On 18: Direction select -------------> 17: Direction Select 20: Head Step --------------------> 15: Step 22: Write data -------------------> 13: Write data 24: Write gate -------------------> 11: Write gate 26: Track 00 ---------------------> 9: Track 0 28: Write protect ----------------> 7: Write protect 30: Read data --------------------> 5: Read data 32: Head select ------------------> 3: Side 1 select 34: Disk change ------------------> 1: Ready A detailed guide more specific to 5.25" drives can be found at the All Things CPC website, and there is also information at the other CPC sites (see A2.2). A3.2.2) 3,5" or 5,25" drive on CPC+ (by Simon Matthews) Adding a 3.5" drive to the CPC 6128 was a doddle - 34 way card edge connector on one end, 34 way IDC on the other end and you were away. The numbering on the pins was pretty easy, too. Looking at the connector from the BACK of the machine, Pins 1 to 33 (odd) ran from left to right along the bottom, pins 2 to 34 (even) ran from left to right along the top. All of the top pins were grounded, and pin 1 (bottom left) was the READY line, which by convention would be denoted by the "stripe" of the ribbon cable. At the other end, a simple IDC plug connected to the external drive, usually with the "stripe" nearest to the power connector. The problem with the CPC+ is that the connector on the back of the computer is 36 way, not 34 and is numbered back to front as well. So, looking at the connector from the BACK of the machine again, pins 1 to 35 (odd) ran from RIGHT TO LEFT on the top of the connector, and pins 2 to 36 (even) ran from RIGHT TO LEFT on the bottom of the connector. Again, all of the even pins were grounded. Here's where it gets tricky... This time, pin 33 is READY, pin 31 is SIDE 1 SELECT all the way to pin 7 which is INDEX. In other words, the lines are in the same order, but different pin numbers. It all sounds quite hectic, but it's easy to sort out in practice. Firstly, take a length of 34way ribbon cable and crimp the 34way IDC connector on as usual. At the other end, peel away the cable on the other side of the "stripe" for a few centimetres. Now place this cable in the 36way Amphenol connector so that the stripe corresponds to pin 33; in other words, make sure the LEFTMOST 3 blades are left empty. The other edge of the cable should be lying on the RIGHTMOST blade, with the wire you peeled away not connected to anything. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| "stripe" --->|||||||34 WAY RIBBON CABLE|||||||| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| \ ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| \ <--- Peel away ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Goes to pin 33->||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| <--- Goes to pin 1 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| pin 35 --------------------------------------- pin 1 \ / \ 36 WAY AMPHENOL CONNECTOR / pin 36 ------------------------------------- pin 2 * LEFTMOST 3 pins (36,35,34) NOT CONNECTED * Double check all is Ok, then crimp together. Now you can test the cable on your external drive. If the drive is unresponsive, or just spins constantly, try plugging the IDC cable in the other way around; most drives want the "stripe" nearest to the power connector, but a few want it the other way around. I know it sounds complex, but have a look at the pinout diagrams and it's not too bad. A3.3) parallel cable The CPCEMU v1.4 package contains documentation on how to make such a cable yourself and includes utilities for both the PC and CPC that allow two-way communication and file transfer. However the CPCPARA.BAS file supplied in this package is to extract files from CPC disk drives, not those saved on cassette tape. For files on tape, see A1.2.14) See section A8.1.1.1) 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 A3.4) 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. Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/rs232cpc.lzh for a circuit plan for a RS 232 interface, by Tim Riemann. A3.5) Companies Commercial companies can transfer your files A3.5.1) Locoscript Software (was Locomotive Software) See C3.1) A3.5.2) Rowansoft Contact Tony Gill at tgill@alystra.win-uk.net for rates. ROWANSOFT, ROWANCRAIG, ARDFERN, BY LOCHGILPHEAD, ARGYLL, PA31 8QN Tel. 01852 500 257 A3.5.3) Holland Numerics Ltd 09/07/97 Converts PCW data to PC format. A price list can be obtained by email from , on the web page : http://www.hollandnumerics.demon.co.uk/PCWPRICE.HTM or by post from: Philip R Holland Holland Numerics Ltd 94 Green Drift Royston Herts SG8 5BT United Kingdom A3.5.4) 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. A3.6) Tapes See A1.2.10) and A1.2.14) A4) Maps, solutions, pokes, basic loaders ? A4.1) Maps 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! A4.2) Solutions http://www2.rz.hu-berlin.de/inside/angl/people/pdd/advent.html ("PDD's adventure page") It features many informations about the beginnings of these cool text adventures on our good old 8-bit computers, classed by companies, and gives a lot of links towards other related pages which should interest everybody who once enjoyed playing these games (want to play "Colossal cave" on the web?). All major companies are mentioned whith a brief historical explanation (Infocom, Magnetic Scrolls, Level 9, Melbourne house...). To be especially noticed is a link towards the ftp "IF-archive" which contains tons of informations, in particular solutions of most classic adventures, and also the really cool original cluesheets from Level 9! * A4.3) Pokes 08/05/98 Starting with CPCEMU 1.3 you can easily poke games with an external * database file of pokes. 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 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. A4.4) Basic loaders see http://privat.schlund.de/OppererSascha/CPCCHEAT.htm A5) Hardware problems A5.1) Internal drive If you have the error : 'disk missing', the drive belt should be the problem. The best solution is to come with your 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). Cibotronic at Paris (France) used to sell them, but they don't have them anymore. The reference was MASTER type CR 4092, dimensions 71.0 x 0.6 x 2.8 mm. An U.K. address : Andre Howard at 65 Altyre Way, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3ED. Price is #2.25 (UK pounds) including P&P. Still in U.K., CPC components sells them as reference AVBELT3 for 18 pences. Phone (01772) 654455. Pinboad Computers can supply belts, ask Pinboardcomputers@btinternet.com A working reference in U.K. : maplins reference RK99. 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. 5.2) Components The place to go for CPC spares is (coincidentally) a company called CPC Spares in United Kingdom, at +44 1772 654477. There are 3 Gate Array, two types beeing used on 464 (a very old cpc uses 400007, the newer ones have 400010). The AM40007 is the type used in most CPC464's and they should be available from CPC Ltd. +44 1772 654455. They're gonna be expensive though, probably about 25-35 pounds. A6) How can I help the CPC/PCW world ? A6.1) Updating the FAQ By sending corrections, modifications, new informations for this FAQ to roussin@genesis8.frmug.org A6.2) Commercial games becoming freeware 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 A7.1.1) , for the games which already became freeware, or almost freeware (authors stating that they don't care for the distribution of their games). A6.3) Adding files to ftp.lip6.fr 08/01/98 You can send me your latest production. As there is no upload directory on lip6, you will need to send me your programs uuencoded to roussin@genesis8.frmug.org (email < 500 Ko) or to roussin@blaise.lip6.fr (email > 500 Ko), or send them to ftp.nvg.unit.no and email me, or use my snail mail address : Emmanuel ROUSSIN 10 rue du Capitaine Menard 75015 PARIS FRANCE I will then put it on my BBS and on ftp://ftp.lip6.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. A6.4) Updating ALL_CPC, ALL_HW, ALL_ROM, ALL_UTIL 07/27/97 Frederic Herlem (herlem@dr.gdf.fr) is writing the complete inventory of the CPC programs. You can get this inventory at ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/all_cpc.zip, you will be able them to help him to update it. Last version is 06/04/97. Kevin Thacker (amstrad@aiind.upv.es) is writing : - inventory of all hardware produced for the CPC, look in the same directory for ALL_HW.ZIP, v1.0 is 02/04/97, - inventory of all CPC ROM software, look for ALL_ROM.ZIP, v1.0 is 02/04/97, - inventory of all CPC utilities, commercial and non-commercial, look for ALL_UTIL.ZIP, v1.0 is 02/04/97. A7) Commercial programs wich are now PD, freeware or shareware A7.1) Games A7.1.1) 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 A7.1.2) 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). A7.1.3) 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. A7.1.4) Radical Software Radical Software released "Fluff" (Plus-only game, FLUFF.LZH on ftp.lip6.fr) and "Smart Plus" (Plus-only art package, supports new features and overscan) to freeware. Does someone have Smart Plus ? A7.1.5) Transoft (France) Transoft published three games, Bad Max (3d adventure), Atuahalpa (arcade) and 'Les dents de sa mŠre' (adventure), available as BADMAX.LZH, ATAHUALP.LZH and DENTMERE.LZH If you have documentation, send me it to add it to the archives, thanks. A7.1.6) Sapiens and 'le 5e axe' (12/08/97) These two games were written by Didier and Olivier Guillion, edited by Loriciels, they have now the rights back. Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/sapiens.lzh and 5EAXE.LZH, Sapiens exists also for MAC/WIN95. A7.1.7) Cobra Soft (France) 12/08/97 CPC versions as the Oric ones of Cobra Soft programs are now freeware, get CPINBALL.LZH, TURLOGH.LZH, ATLANTIS.LZH A7.1.8) Melbourne House 10/19/97 Some of the Melbourne House games are now freely available with the permission of Beam Software (http://www.beam.com.au) : - fighting warrior, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/fighwarr.lzh, - the hobbit, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/hobbit.lzh, - lords of the rings, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/lordring.lzh, - terror molinos, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/terrmoli.lzh, - starion, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/starion.lzh, - rock'wrestle, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/rockwres.lzh, - the way of the exploding Fist, ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/games/wayofexp.lzh, - return of the exploding fist, - the way of the exploding fist, - mugsy's revenge, - sherlock holmes, - Mystery of arkham manor, - shadows of mordor. A7.2) Utilities A7.2.1) Prowort (06/06/97) Following recent requests, I (Brian Watson) have now spoken to Peter Campbell (co-owner of Protext etc) and we are making Prowort, the German version of Protext in its AMSDOS version on disc, freeware. The program will be supplied on one 3" disc, and the manual will be supplied as text files on the other 3" disc. The text files will probably require editing to provide a properly formatted printout on the owner's printer. User support is not included. The program will not be supplied on any other disc format, but permission is given for its conversion by a user to run under an emulator on his/her computer(s) only. To get it, see Brian's address at 8.1.3.4) on the two options of terms above, that is; 1) 5 pounds enclose no discs, or 2) 1 pound, enclose two 3" discs. Please apply using a padded envelope, enclose a return label, and please send payments as sterling cash or cheques/postal orders/IMOs payable to "BA Watson" PLEASE NOTE: COMSOFT DOES NOT HAVE READY COPIES OF PROWORT SO CANNOT SUPPLY THE PROGRAM UNDER THIS PROCEDURE. E-mail me at protext@spheroid.demon.co.uk for any Protext-related enquiries. A7.2.2) Tuss and Pro-Ext by Sentinel Software 06/01/98 Tuss : utility to find sprites in games. Pro-Ext : Protext enhancement providing clip art and headline facilities. A7.2.3) Arnor ROMs Arnor ROMs are now free for use with emulators ONLY, yes that doesn't mean you can blow these ROMs to use them on a real CPC, only with emulators. A8) Useful addresses and information A8.1) Addresses See A3.4) for a PCW address. A8.1.1) FRANCE A8.1.1.1) 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 v0.3 (see A1.2.12) 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 A8.1.1.2) Futur's 08/01/98 Futur's is a french group, they do many things. They bring you the Soundplayer (a better Digiblaster). It connects on the printer port. The Soundplayer is used by Protracker and Digitracker. You can do it yourself for about 2.7 œ of electronic components. The electroninc plan is in the paper zine Quasar issue 9, see 9.1.4). With this little marvelous thing, you can have 8bit samples, instead of 4bit samples. The SoundPlayer+ is a better SoundPlayer, which can include Virtual Net 96 (see A10.5) for 1 œ more, or which can use a CPC+ port instead of the normal CPC printer port. The SoundPlayer II exists now. It connects on the expansion port et permits to make mono 8 bits/22KHz digitalized sound. It offers one more port to connect a second Soundplayer (for stereo) or to free the printer port. For ordering a SoundPlayer+ or 2, see A9.1.4) see http://www.chez.com/futurs or http://www.i-france.com/futurs A8.1.1.3) 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. A8.1.1.4) Association des Fans de CPC (AFC) 07/28/97 AFC is alive once again, a french association whose aim is to be a link between the various CPC users. For more informations, write to : Associations des Fans de CPC GEREY Yves Les Pataudes 87220 BOISSEUIL More informations soon, like the inscription bulletin. A8.1.2) U.S.A A8.1.2.1) 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 A8.1.3) United Kingdom A8.1.3.1) Comsoft (was Campursoft) 12/08/97 I bought them a rombox and the ParaDOS ROM, the best disc OS ROM CPC. This company is held by Peter Campbell (cam1@cix.compulink.co.uk). Now on internet, http://www.systemed.u-net.com/cpc/comsoft.html 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). - ParaDOS, a ROM operating system, the best CPC OS, was available too on cartdridge for 6128+ - 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. - RoutePlanner PCW is now available as 10/22/97. 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 and Brian Watson. 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. A8.1.3.2) United Amstrad User Group 06/01/98 Martyn Baldy Sherwood 13 Rodney Close Bilon Rugby Warwickshire CV22 7HJ 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 A2.2) for web address and A9.1.3) for fanzine. 8.1.3.3) Brian Watson Brian Watson 39 High Street Sutton-in-the-Isle ELY Cambs CB6 2RA England Tel (and FAX by arrangement, phone first): +44 (0)1353 777006 E-mail: brian@spheroid.demon.co.uk Supplier or distributor of a number of products and services for users of CPCs, CPC Pluses, PCW/PcWs and some other computers. Fuller details with prices on application - The Protext family, including Proprint, Protext Office, Maxam, Utopia etc for the CPC and PCW (also the PC and Atari versions and the Prodata PC database). Free user support at normal phone rates is included with all items - Montrac: a new monitor/tracing program to work with Maxam - PcW16 operating system upgrades. Free for a DS/HD disc and return postage with your address in a padded bag - Pipeline Tutorials for the CPC: a printed tutorial course in parts (and firmware guides) with free example files on disc - Secondhand Software: an extensive range for the CPC, all originals with documentation. From 50 pence UK. Also editor of 8BIT magazine, and is the Publicity Officer of WACCI CPC club and IEBA (Independent Eight Bit Association) Send large SAE or two IRCs for Brian Watson Software catalogue. A8.1.4) Germany They are only a small number of CPC-ware traders in Germany. A8.1.4.1) 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 ! A8.1.4.2) Walter Kuhn Walter Kuhn EDV-Zubeh”r 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 A8.1.4.3) Wiedmann 06/15/97 A german company which provides somes Amstrad Support/spares, see http://www.wiedmann.com A8.2) information A8.2.1) the firmware guide The unofficial (not the proper SOFT 968 guide) 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! Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/firmware.zip A8.2.2) pinout for colour monitor u 5 1 6 4 2 (viewed from rear) 3 1 = Red 4 = Sync 2 = Green 5 = Gnd 3 = Blue 6 = Lum A8.3) Email addresses You can found other email address on Kevin Thacker web page, see A2.2) A8.3.1) Amstrad/Locomotive - Cliff Lawson (Amstrad), cliffl@amstrad.com, - Richard Clayton (was Locomotive Software Ltd), Richard@Turnpike.com, - Howard Fisher (was Locomotive Software Ltd, now MD of LocroScript Software), howardf@locomotive.com - Roland Perry (was Amstrad, now Technical Director of PR with Purpose), arnold@perry.co.uk, http://purpose.co.uk A8.3.2) Emulators authors 06/30/98 - Marco Vieth, ali@uni-paderborn.de, CPCEMU, - Bernd Schmidt, crux@Pool.Informatik.RWTH-Aachen.DE, CPE, - Ulrich Doewich, ulrich.doewich@shaw.wave.ca, CPE, utilities, - Mark Rison, mrison@acorn.co.uk, !CPC, - Herman Dullink, dullink@castel.nl, CPC, - Kevin Thacker (Morpheus), amstrad@andercheran.aiind.upv.es, A-CPC, - Brice Rive, brice@world-net.sct.fr, CPC++, - Ludovic Deplanque, deplanque@chez.com, AMI-CPC and PC-CPC, - Paul Hodgson, paul.hodgson@multi-machine.demon.co.uk, MTM. A8.3.3) demo makers 05/30/98 - Sebastien Bernard (Arkos), sbernard@hp1.esiea.fr - Andreas Stroiczek (aka Face Hugger), n96477@pbhrzx.uni-paderborn.de DOSCOPY, Face Huggers Ultimate MegaDemo, !CPCEmu for Archimedes, and more... - Doc Bartlet, rdbarthe@trick.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de Bollaware demo/game coders - Antoine Pitrou, pitrou@Email.ENST.fr, Cheese, Turbo Monitor, etc... - Mage, demo maker, Imperial.Mage@mail.dotcom.fr, - Georg Odenthal (Odiesoft), odie@soz.psychologie.uni-konstanz.de Megablasters, demos - Ilias Fotopoulos (KOD), fotopul@ceid.upatras.gr, demos, SEX disk fanzine - Oliver Mayer (BSC), a2888696@smail.rrz.uni-koeln.de Demos, Soundtrakker - Simon Matthews (Ratz), ha3012@qmw.ac.uk, Demos - Prodatron, pdt@uni-duisburg.de, Demos, Digitracker, X-treme - DREAMER of TGS/CRT, Heiner@wendt.westfalen.de, Heiner de Went Tannenweg 1 48727 Billerbeck GERMANY - Benjamin Fall, ben.f@altavista.net A8.3.4) Zines 08/05/98 - Brain Blaster & Schlumpf of Frankenteam, makra@cip.e-technik.uni-erlangen.de, CPC Telegram Disczine - Gert Genial of Frankenteam, - Richard Fairhurst (CRTC), richard@systemed.u-net.com, AA, BTL, RoutePlanner etc - 8BIT magazine, 8bit@spheroid.demon.co.uk - Juggler, editor of TRIBAL MAG ONLINE, deppisch@adv-boeblingen.de - John Bowley, WACCI magazine editor, jebowley@wacci.demon.co.uk + - Olivier Floquet (Eliot), Digital Press, benediction@rtel.fr A8.3.5) Games - Keith A Goodyer, kgoodyer@mag-net.co.uk R-Type, f16, Dynamite Dan II, Speedzone, Gilbert Escape from Drill, Grid Iron I, - Mark Haigh-Hutschinson, mhh@lucasarts.com, Vortex Software, see 7.1) 18 Raffles COurt Petaluma CA 94954 U.S.A. A8.3.6) Others - WSX/INICRON, nwil0062@rz.uni-hildesheim.de - Offset (Futur's group), new address in october 1997 Plus software and Hardware, CPC software and hardware too - Paul Gargan (Gliceas), c1pgarga@CompApp.DCU.IE, Amstrad User - Richard Wildey (Wild Thang), cs94rrw@brunel.ac.uk Sentinel Software, TUSS - Simon Forrester (Hairy), simon.forrester@futurenet.com Amstrad Action, BooTracker - Spike, klleherd@tcd.ie, Game reviews - Mark Ray, M.Ray@UEA.ac.uk - Amstrad Notepad (NC100) - Frederic Herlem, herlem@dr.gdf.fr, see A6.4 - Brian Watson (Protext, Montrac, Robot Software, Parados cartridge, Pipeline Tutorials, 8BIT magazine, PcW16 o/s upgrades, IEBA, WACCO) brian@spheroid.demon.co.uk A9) 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! A9.1) on paper A9.1.1) 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. A9.1.2) WACCI 06/22/97 Issues are 2 pounds each in the UK, 2 pounds 50 pences in Europe and 3 pounds elsewhere. Special yearly rates : 22 pounds UK, 27.50 Europe, 33 elsewhere. Cheques and postal orders payable to WACCI at 97, Tirrington Bretton PETERBOROUGH PE3 9XT United Kingdom The Editor is John Bowley, 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 brian@spheroid.demon.co.uk with your name and address, or send your name and address to the snail mail address above. A9.1.3) 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) A9.1.4) Quasar 08/01/98 A french zine, especially about programmation on CPC and CPC+. Last issue is number 14 (spring/summer 98) is available for 6,70 FF of stamps and 9 FF (photocopy) : Philippe Rimauro (Futur's/Quasar) 8 chemin des Maillos 09200 SAINT-GIRONS FRANCE A9.1.5) 8BIT New copy each 3 months. Last issue is number 19. Ends with issue 25. Editor: Brian Watson of Protext etc. Articles (and advertisements!) are in English and for users of all 8-bit computers, especially CPC, PCW and PcW16. Price for one issue is 3UKP anywhere in the world. You can also subscribe to any 10 issues for 25UKP. Payments to BA Watson, see address at 8.1.3.4) A9.1.6) Eurostrad A french paper zine, most of the articles are translated in english. Last issue is no 10 (september 96-april 97). Thomas FOURNERIE La HameliniŠre 50450 HAMBYE FRANCE A9.2) 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. A9.2.1) Boxon 07/28/97 Nicolas Ader (Nicky one) Place du Donjon 32320 BASSOUES FRANCE Boxon issue 3 is out (07-96 to 02/97). A9.2.2) Demoniak Anthony Nevo (orphee) Le Louya 35290 GAEL FRANCE You will find issues 3, 4 and 5 on ftp.lip6.fr, as dmk3.zip, dmk4.lzh and dmk5.zip A9.2.3) Dracula Fanz 08/01/98 Miguel Fremeaux (Dracula) 238 rue du cardinal Allen 59553 CUINCY FRANCE Issue 5 (december 1995) with articles in english : ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/dracula5.lzh A9.2.4) Phaser Sebastien Broudin (Seb) 1 rue Emile Combes 60600 FITZ-JAMES FRANCE A9.2.5) 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 to 4 are out. You can e-mail the editor Richard Fairhurst (CRTC / Systeme D) at richard@systemed.u-net.com, and BTL is now on the web pages at Kevin Thacker's site, and also on Richard Fairhurst site. A9.2.6) Tribal Mag 01/29/97 A good german zine, with some english articles, issue 8 is the last one. Since issue 8, available on internet, see A2.2) All issues are on ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/zines, look for tribmag?.* (ZIP or LZH). Jan Deppisch Lechstr. 10a 76437 Rastatt GERMANY deppisch@adv-boeblingen.de A9.2.7) 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 A9.2.8) 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 A9.2.9) 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 A9.2.10) CPC-Telegramm 08/04/98 German DiskZine "CPC-Telegramm", see http://home.pages.de/~CPC-Telegramm Andreas K”nig Hutstr. 7 D-91056 Erlangen A9.2.11) Digital Press 08/01/98 At first a german zine with english articles, now a french-german production with issue 3 (08/96-04/97) which is 2 disks ! Get DIGIPRE2.LZH and DIGIPRE3.LZH from ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/zines The issue 4 is in work, with a lot of external articles. For informations, write to benediction@rtel.fr : Olivier FLOQUET (Eliot) Chemin de l'Eglise 14130 DRUBEC FRANCE A10) Additionnal hardware For using older additionnal hardware on a CPC+, you will need an adaptator called a widget, as connections are not the same. They use the same connectors as german CPC (Schneider). All hardware should work with this adaptator, except the standard multiface, see A10.2 (06/09/97) Look A6.4) for a list of hardware made on CPC. A10.1) Hard disks (no more produced) A10.1.1) 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. A10.1.2) AT IDE hard drive A10.1.2.1) GIDE 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. Details on http://www.psyber.com/~tcj No GIDE for CPC, but look below for another project which is for CPC. A10.1.2.2) IDE Drives (by RAM7, see 10.3) It uses an ISA IDE controler and an adaptator card wich plugs in the expansion connector. It will be able to use IDE hard drives, CDROM (certainly) and disk drives (1.44 Mo). It should be available in mid 1997. A10.2) 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. There is a special multiface for the CPC+, standard multiface doesn't work on a plus, even with a widget. (06/09/97) A10.3) ROMCARD and RAMCARD DOS SANTOS Francisco (RAM7) 123 boulevard Strasbourg 94130 NOGENT SUR MARNE FRANCE You can contact him by email : ram7@genesis8.frmug.org 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. A10.4) SoundPlayer 1 and 2 See A8.1.1.2 and A9.1.4 A10.5) 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 Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/VN96xxx.LZH (xxx as ENG or GER) for informations about VN96. A10.6) Future-OS Not exactly hardware, an alternative OS for the CPC, look at (in german for the moment) : http://www.home.pages.de/~futureOS A10.7) Memory extension A10.7.1) 2 Mo MemCard (by RAM7) For 6128 and 6128+, it's compatible with Dk'tronics memory extensions, it plugs on the expansion connector. It uses the same memory managing of the 6128 second 64 Ko bank. It comes with two parts : - a main card, - a card with the memory, 256 Ko to 2 Mo, it accepts static (4 slots of 128 Ko or 512 Ko) and dynamic (2 slot of 256 Ko or 1 Mo for SIMM used on PC) RAM, If you are interested in informations about this card, contact RAM7, see A10.3 A10.7.2) Inicron RAM-BOX A 512 Ko RAM extension for Amstrad CPC by Inicron, get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/misc/rambox.zip or see http://pages.vossnet.de/wsx A10.8) Vox card (by RAM7) It's a sound card wich can digitalize with compression, about 20 seconds of sound with 64 Ko. It's plugged on the expansion port. It's not compatible with digiblasters cards. If you are interested in informations about this card, contact RAM7, see A10.3 A10.9) CPC ISA Connect ISA cards on your CPC, by Siou (siou@polux.freenix.fr), look at his web page : http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1044/ A10.10) Amstrad MP3 (television) 09/07/97 An Amstrad MP3 is used to look at TV on your CPC monitor. Currently available from Computer Cavern in the UK: price 30UKP. Telephone +44 1628 891022. A10.11) Inicron ROM-RAM-BOX 06/01/98 The RRB is a ROM box which doesn't need EPROMs. Up to 32 EPROMs can be simulated in the 512Kb big RAM (if build the enhanced RRB). Additional to this you can use a normal EPROM from 8-64Kb in a normal EPROM socket. See http://pages.vossnet.de/wsx A11) Upcoming Meetings None for the moment. A12) Amstrad scene news These informations comes from the AFC bulletin, see A8.1.1.4), which is only one of the services from AFC. - Odiesoft is making two new games, - new disk zines are coming, not only about CPC : HD Mag, Jabber and M.A.T., - the group MORTEL will release the disk zine DRACULA issue 6 (see A9.2.3), the demos BYTE96 & VIRUS (nice ones as I saw the previews), a slide show NO REALITY, the game PRIMAL FIGHT (a prehistorik 3 !), - several megademos are coded, one of these by ROUDOUDOU with the participation of MADE (graphism). - the latest release from Systeme D: Sanko, an extension command for CPC Protext which saves the current document in Rich Text Format (RTF), a cross-platform format devised by Microsoft and supported by many PC and Mac word-processors. B - The Amstrad Notepad (NC) B1) 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. B1.1) What came in the box? In the original NC100 pack, as sold to me, was the NC100 itself, an Amstrad Power Supply Unit (UK plug), a leatherette carry case, a grey manual and a lithium battery. The lithium battery is to keep the memory contents while the machine is switched off. The NC100 can also be powered by AA batteries. Depending on the frequency of usage, the batteries can last for several months. B2) 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. B3) 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. B3.1) 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... B3.2) 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. B4) How do I connect it to a PC? Brief instructions are given in the manual, which also mentions the LapCat parallel port system (if anyone's using that, I'd love to hear from you!). But you need a "Null Modem Cable" (as below), a suitable PC terminal program and a following wind :-) B4.1) What's the cable? The cable is a standard, off the shelf, "Null Modem Cable", available from most computer parts shops. If you really want to make your own, the NC serial port is a 9-pin RS232, and the PC cables are: 25 pins at PC 9 pins at PC NC PC NC PC 2 ----------- 2 2 ----------- 3 3 ----------- 3 3 ----------- 2 4 ----------- 6 4 ----------- 6 5 ----------- 7 5 ----------- 5 7 ----------- 5 7 ----------- 8 8 ----------- 4 8 ----------- 7 B4.2) Settings A bit of trial and error is usually needed, but generally, 9600 baud, 8 data bits, No parity, 1 stop bit, handshaking on (RTS/CTS) works well. You can do XModem transfers, but the NC's XModem isn't the normal type, so you may have to wait for the PC to "fall back" to the NC's version (can be up to 1min!) B4.3) Converting Word Processor Files Converter programs for both PC and NC to convert from the NC's word B5) 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. B5.1) 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! B5.2) 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 B5.3) Can I make a program auto-run ? Of course - just save it with the name AUTO and whenever you start BASIC, it'll run... B6) 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. B7) 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. B8) 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 (see A2.2) B9) 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. Free user support on Protext, the NC series word processor, from Brian Watson (protext@spheroid.demon.co.uk). B10) Internet resources (10/09/97) Amstrad Notepad Users' Web - http://wwwmjr.base.org/NC/ Amstrad's homepage - http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/index.htm Mirko's NC100 page - http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~mir/amstrad.html NVG FTP site - ftp://ftp.nvg.unit.no/pub/cpc/nc100 C - Amstrad PCW C0) PCW presentation Amstrad made the following PCW systems : - 1) PCW8256 - 2) PCW8512 - 3) PCW9512 - 4) PCW9512+ - 5) PcW10 - 6) PcW16 1 had 180K drives, 2 had a 180K A drive and a 720K B drive, 3 had only 720K drives. All subsequent models had 3.5" disks using CP/M format at 720K until 6 when it switched to 1.44MB in MS-DOS format. The + of model 4 was that it had a "real" parallel interface so could be sold with an external printer such as the Canon BJ10. The PcW10 wasn't really anything more than 4 in a more modern looking case. The PcW16 is a radical digression who's sole "raison d'etre" was to make a true WYSIWYG product but this meant a change in the screen and processor (to 16MHz) etc. which meant that it could not be kept compatible with the previous models (though documents ARE compatible) C1) Emulators and utilities C1.1) Emulators C1.1.1) Joyce 06/01/98 Joyce v1.22 by John Elliott, a PCW 8000 series emulator for PC. Get ftp://ftp.lip6.fr/pub/amstrad/emulator/joyce122.zip 1.1.2) Joyce MAC 07/28/97 MACOs port of Joyce by Richard Bannister Go http://internetter.com/titan/software/ C1.2) Utilities Nothing in this section C2) Where can I find emulators, ROMs and programs ? C2.1) FTP sites C2.2) WWW - http://webserv.futurenet.co.uk/computing/pcwplus.html PCW Plus magazine's, pretty new and not a lot of info on it yet. - http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/index.htm Official Amstrad site with informations, files for all the Amstrad computers (CPC, PCW, PC) - http://www.ansible.demon.co.uk/ai/index.html Ansible informaiton, makers of AnsibleIndex for LocoScript and AnsibleIndex Pro - http://www.cus.umist.ac.uk/~octopus PCW page by Jake Last - http://www.euronet.nl/users/fvempel/ PCW Joyce Computer Club : PCW serial communication with a PC, mouting a 3.5" drive on a PCW, repairing a 3" drive, upgrading memory to 512 Ko, club news, PCW ads. - http://www.locomotive.com or http://www.locosoft.demon.co.uk Locomotive Software, co-author of the Amstrad CPC and PCW ROMs, for the PCW - http://wwww.net-shopper.co.uk/creative/PcW16/ PcW16 On-line magazine - http://www.seasip.demon.co.uk/ John Elliot's CP/M page, he is the man behind some of the finest PCW freeware around and provides links to many generic CP/M resources. He's also put up exhaustive information on the PCW's XBIOS - http://www.systemed.u-net.com/pcw/hardware.html Richard Fairhurst page about PCW hardware referece - http://www.xs4all.nl/~ianmacd/PCW.html Ian Macdonald, about PCW, C3) Transfering between PCW and PC C3.1) Disks Protext is available in PCW and PC versions and Protext files transfer intact from the PCW version for editing on a PC. Also PCW and PC Protext make clean ASCII files for importing into other PC word processors for "finishing". More details from Brian Watson (protext@spheroid.demon.co.uk). The following lines comes from an 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 C3.2) RS 232 PCW is 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. C4) Shops supporting PCW Elliam Associates still supports the Amstrad 8256, 8512 and 9512 in the US with software, hardware, supplies and repairs. Their address is P.O box 2664, Atascadero, CA 93423, USA Phone (805) 466-8440 Fax (805) 461-1666 C5) Hardware C5.1) Printer The original PCW printer can't be used on another computer, being controlled by the PCW itself. C6) PCW 16 This computers is still supported by Comsoft, Creative technology and Locomotive. If you know a PcW16 owner who cannot download the operating system upgrades from Cliff Lawson's Web site, Brian Watson will supply a free upgrade for a DS/HD disk, return postage, and an address label. Send disk in a reusable padded bag to the address wich is in 8.1.3.4) The following lines comes from a csa8 article by Cliff Lawson. Unlike all previous 4MHz Amstrad Z80 machines this has a 16MHz Z80 core (hence the 16 in PcW16). I know a lot of people "hate" us for not making it binary compatible with the previous PCWs but the fact is that we couldn't do it and design the architecture optimised for graphic word processing software (which means that it is optimised for BitBlt type graphics). The screen is actually kind of VGA compatible in that it is 640x480x2 with a straight raster mapping rather than the character scan raster map and roller RAM of previous PCW (in fact a lot like the 640x200 mode on the CPC I suppose). The main thing that makes this machine such a dream to develop for is the graphic OS (windows, icons, mice are all in there in the core OS). The OS was developed in the main by Simon Hargreaves of Creative who is reknowned for MicroDesign on the previous PCWs. The Rosanne operating system that he has put together is just so advanced compared to the other Z80 operating systems that we have been responsible for in the past that it just seems a shame that any Z80 development talent out there isn't considering writing stuff for the system - you'd enjoy it, believe me. Apart from the graphic stuff, message based event system (a la Windows) you've got window, menu, dialog, scroll bar, radio button, checkbox, etc. etc. all immediately available in the OS. The OS also has a rich set of disk/flash disk filing stuff. The system read/writes MS-DOS format files/disks and can also read (not write) CP/M format files/disks. It has fairly advanced memory alloc/dealloc routines and OS support for 24 bit banked addressing. There's an RTC in there so functions exist for that. Even the spell checker in the WP is exposed as an OS callable function. Perhaps best of all is the huge support for variable typefaces for output to both the screen and printer using Swiss and Times in 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 24, 36, 72 point. The machine has an unused RS232 on the back so there's a possibility for developing email/news software - perhaps even a web browser! The system is, after all, based around a Z80 core so some bright spark could even write a CP/M emulator for it. Either just a simple thing that implements the BDOS 5 interface and offers a simple CCP through to a full implementation of CP/M 3 There's a help engine in the OS so adding Help support to your apps is also very very easy. For doing maths there's a 5 byte floating point system in the OS so sin/cos/tan/log/exp are all provided. If you want to read more about this operating system then get: http://web.ukonline.co.uk/cliff.lawson/bin/rosandoc.zip or email me direct and chat about it. D - CP/M CP/M is an operating system widely used with computers before ms-dos existed. It is available on Amstrad CPC and PCW. For more informations, read news:comp.os.cpm and its FAQ at ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.os.cpm