A Haymarket publication SETTING THE STANDARD Summer 1985 £1.50 come to terms with computers DOYOUNEEDAMI — 20 reasons why 1 IIiiVtI- lip- . T 1 1 MSX is a worldwide computer standard, chosen by most of the world’s largest electronics companies. With MSX machines, all software and all hardware is completely compatible . . . games, educational and business programs as well as disks, joysticks and printers, which means you can borrow your friends’ MSX software and play it on your machine, and because it’s an agreed standard, it will be here for years to come. Obsolete? Not with MSX. Like other MSX manufacturers our Hitbit 75 has the best ‘basic’ around, great coloui; great sound, a 64k memory and more ports than you’ll probably ever need. Hitbit also has a disk drive, printei; data cartridge and a remote control joy- stick. But, who else offers free, a unique personal data base that can store addresses, schedules or even remind you when to feed the cat? Who else offers our superb Sony styling? Who else enjoys such a reputation for reliability? Only the Sony Hitbit the logical choice in computers. sS^y. Summer 1985 Volume 1 Number 2 CREDITS EDITORIAL Editor: Kester Cranswick Assistant Editor: Sally Wood Art Editor: Richard Grill Secretary: Nikkie Smith Photography: Crispin Thomas, Stan Papior, Paul Debois, Matthew Barnes, Robert Brooks, Lucilla Phelps Group Editor: Gareth Renowden Publisher: Paul Camp ADVERTISING Advertisement Manager: Neil , Alldritt Advertising Production: Julia Cox Technical queries; we regret these cannot be answered over the telephone. However should you wish to write in we will endeavour to answer any queries through the magazine. SUBSCRIPTIONS: UK £7 Europe £10 Overseas £10 Airmail-Middle East £15 Airmail-North America, Africa, India £18 Airmail-Aust., NZ, Japan £20 Back numbers and subscriptions: obtainable by post from the Book Sales Department, 12-14 Ansdell Street, London W8 5TR. Telephone: 01-937 7288. Please a\',o\N t\wo \weeks for delivery. The editor welcomes any corrections or additions. Prices quoted in editorial and advertisements are correct at press day but may be subject to variation. Every care is taken in compiling the contents of the magazine to ensure they are correct and accurate, but the publisher assumes no responsibility for any effect from errors or omissions. All material published in What MSX? is copyright and reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden, except by permission of the publishers. Editorial, advertising and circulation departments: Haymarket Publishing Ltd., 38-42 Hampton Road, Teddington, Middlesex TWll OJE Telephone: 01-977 8787 Photosetting and litho origination by: Meadway Graphics, Carlisle House, 198 Victoria Road, Romford, Essex RLl 2NX Printed by: Chase Web Offset, St Austell, Cornwall ®Haymarket Publishing 1985 5 MSX micros are coming down in price. 1985 machines are being shown in Japan. There are Arabic MSX computers and MSX software is coming out in a torrent. We’ve the latest news on all this, and more. l>AUDCTmA»l 19 Here's your chance to own a handsome Sony Hit Bit and disk drive. Just solve ten simple clues to pinpoint the winning square on a ten by ten grid. ON Four brand new MSX micros get the test treatment and we’ve been playing the best games too. 20 Yamaha CX-5M. Is it a computer or a synthesizer, or both? 26 Software. 21 new titles reviewed, with Manic Miner best of the test. 34 Goldstar FC-200. The least expensive MSX to date - is it a bargain or not? 56 Mitsubishi MLF-48. With just 32K, is the Mitsubishi RAMshackle? 64 Panasonic CF-2700. No one will kick sand in the Panasonic’s face. Find out why not. GROUP 68 MSX V The Rest. How good is MSX? We put a Sony up against five top non-MSX rivals. 77 Joystick Duel. Debbie Goldfinch flexes her wrists and puts twenty joysticks through their paces. Yamaha sounded out — page 20 Software listed In Buyers Guide Jargon explained — page 85 15 Interview. Kay Nish i, Mr MSX himself, talks to What MSX? about MSX’s past, present and future. 68 MSX Worldwide. What’s happening to the MSX around the world . lain Dawson finds out. 72 BASIC Beginnings. Tom Sato traces the development of MSX BASIC from the very beginning. STARTING 11 Why Buy? Should you or shouldn’t you buy a computer? Fill in the chart and find out. 85 Computer Terms. Do you know the difference between a PEEK and a POKE or a bubble and a bus? Learn to talk computerese with us. 94 Name That Game. We trace the evolution of computer games from ping pong to sophisticated adventures. BUYERS 99 A comprehensive guide to all MSX computers, peripherals software, joysticks and printers. If you want to know what’s available for your MSX, you’ll find details in these data pages. Manic Minor Is tops — page 26 MSX takes on the rest — page 40 Joysticks — we try 20 — page 77 HAYDON PLACE, GUILDFORD, SURREY GUI 4LR OPEN HI-TECH DEPARTMENT CX5M The CX5M Computer is specifically designed for a wide range of music generation, programming and^ editing tasks, interfacing with other Yamaha digital instruments and components OPTIONAL PROGRAMMES: • YRM101 FM Music Computer-A must for all composers and arrangers. With an On-Screen music staff. Onto which you ‘write’ notes, input from Computer Keyboard or direct from the Music Keyboard. • YRM1 02 FM Voicing Program - For precise control over the CX5M digital FM Voice Generator, to edit and alter pre-programmed voices or create new voices of your own. MUSIC COMPUTER • MIDI-COMPATIBLE - For playback control, auto- sequencing of Yamaha DX Synthesizers, RX Drum machines and other MIDI compatible equipment. • YAMAHA DIGITAL FM VOICE GENERATOR - With 46 built in voices. Plus your own. • YRM1 03 DX7 Voicing Program - For DX7 owner's.Displays all DX7 voice parameters. Therefore, programming is direct from the CX5M Computer Keyboard. • YRM1 04 Music Macro - For incorporating top-quality musical voices into BASIC computer programmes. Call Steve on Guildford (0483) 38212 LOW END MSX PRICES TUMBLE Price cuts and budget compu- ters have heralded a boom at the lower end of the MSX market. That is against the background of a falling pound that should be making im- ported products more expen- sive. First below the £200 barrier was Goldstar, with their 64K MSX computer reviewed in this issue. Toshiba weren’t long In responding, cutting the price of the HX-10 by £40 to £239.95, and throwing in a package of games software worth over £21. The games are Manic Miner, Hunchback and French Is Fun. The HX-10 is being discounted even more in some outlets. Mitsubishi chose the free software approach in a bid to offer better value for money. Buy the ML-F48 or ML-F80 computer and you'll be given a six pack of games software worth over £45. With the 32K MLF-48 costing just£225, it is a tempting offer. Soon to arrive is another Korean-made machine, the Network NW200, with a sub- £200 price. And David Cros- weller, PR man for Goldstar, claims that £150 MSX micros are not only possible but likely in the near future. With other non-MSX companies engaged in a vicious price war that is causingcasualtiesgalore, and a pound that will hopefully regain some ground, lower priced MSX micros are looking ever more certain. MSX GOES ARABIC MSX is reaching the Arab world thanks to a tie-up between Microsoft and a Kuwaiti com- pany called Alalamiah Soft- ware. The result is Arabic/ English MSX computers and Arabic software. Two manufacturers are mak- ing Arabic versions of their computers. They are Hitachi and Yamaha. The changes made include a full Arabic character set and right to left cursor movement. Keys are marked with Arabic and En- glish characters. Software to be launched with the computers includes prog- rams, such as Arab/English tutors, Koran quizzes and Ara- bic design programs. Alala- miah hope to launch around five new titles a month. Typical of the new compu- ters is the Yamaha AX-100, based on the CX-5M. It costs £300 and has none of the musical features of the CX-5M . It does have a text writer program and another to con- vert Islam and Gregorian calendars. Future Alalamiah plans in- clude an Arabic Disk Operating System and Arabic printers. MSX PLUS FROM TOSHIBA Toshiba have been showing their next MSX micro to the trade in Japan and the US. Called the HX-22, it is radically different from the HX-10 on the specifications front. The main feature is an extra area of memory that can be used to store up to 16 prog- rams, as if they were stored on a disk drive. It is what is called a RAM disk. The programs are loaded upfromtapeordiskand can then be loaded very rapidly into the main RAM using BASIC commands. The RAM disk stores 32K of program or data, and can be treated Just like an external disk drive. You can use it to store data to be output to a printer, so the computer can carry on computing while things are being printed out. Other specifications include a two way RS-232C interface, so one MSX micro can 'talk' to another and a built-in word processing package. As this last item is for the Japanese market, it won't be on any export versions of the HX-22 and will probably be replaced by another business-type program. The HX-22 will cost more than current MSX micros, but actual prices and delivery dates aren’t known yet. BUILT IN DISK FROM SPECTRAVIDEO At a recent American trade show Spectra video displayed their next computer, called the Express. Its most interesting feature was a built-in 3.5in diskdrive. Inside there will be 64K RAM and 16K VRAM. The keyboard features 73 keys and a cursor keypad. A retractable handle is found on the back of the casing, and literature claimed that a carrying case would be supplied. Interfaces include RS-232C and Centronics ports, two Joystick ports and two I/O ports. The brochure claimed that built-in software would include a memo writer, spreadsheet, report writer and file handler. The disk drive will allow MSX-DOS, Disk BASIC and CP/M software to be run. Spectravideo were also showing a network interface that allows 32 machines to be connected together, sharing a ten Megabyte hard disk stor- age device. There’s an MSX style data recorder (the S VI- 767) and an MSX version of the Quickshot 2 Joystick. The new computer is still some months away, and will probably be launched in the Autumn. r MMCiiL A powerful and virtually full implementation of Standard Pascal. A valuable educational and development tool in an incredibly small size (19K) for such a complete language compiler, compiles directly to Z80 code which executes very quickly, typically at least 40 times faster than the BASIC equivalent. INTEGERS, REALs, CHARs, ARRAYS, SETs, RECORDS, POINTERS, IF . . . THEN . . . ELSE, CASE . . . OF, WHILE ... DO, REPEAT . . . UNTIL, FOR ... DO, fully recursive procedures and functions, value and variable parameters etc. etc. So much that you will not believe it. You MUST write for details. £19-95 An excellent, fast (4000 lines per minute) assembler coupled with a powerful disassembler Idebugger. So many features that we cannot possibly do the package justice here - conditional assembly, assembly from tape, macros, secreen and line editing, full arithmetic, front panel debugger with disassembler, single step, multiple breakpoints, modify, list and move memory etc. Everything you need AND fully relocatable so that it works on ALL MSX machines with more than I6K memory. 180 High Street North Dunstable, Beds. LU6 1AT Te(; (0582)696421 All prices, UK delivered, relate to MSX versions. Our software is available for many other Z80 machines e.g. Amstrad CPC 464, ZX Spectrum, Memotech, SHARP MZ700, NewBrain, CPjM etc. Please write for details. J DISC WARRIOR Travel the 3D computer complex alone on constant alert for the android guards and robot canines. Your mission— the cataclysmic destruction of the master CPU. Armed only with your electrified ^ boomerang' power disc, blast your way through . force barriers, defend yourself against enemies whilst searching out parts of the master key and constructing the superbomb before the ultimate destruction can be achieved. Send for full colour product leaflet (enclose a stamp) Alligata Software Ltd., 1 Orange Street, Sheffield 51 4DW Tel (0742) 755796 Software Limited TAKE FIVE RECORDERS > v' ::>... '■ ; • «cvSvJ^ V Computer dedicated data recorders are much more effi- cient at loading and saving cassette based computer programs than audio cassette recorders and five new models have recently come onto the market. A German data recorder, currently distributed by Twill- star Computers retails at £25.95 butdoesn’tincludethe MSX cassette cable at £3.95 and the power supply unit costing £4.95. LED lights dis- play “Ready", “Save", "Load" and "Control" functions and it has an automatic level control and shut off. Binatone’s data recorder costs £29.95 and includes an optimised Load-Save circuitry, cue/review facility and a tape counter for program indexing. A high pitched tone can be heard while a program is being saved. The price includes the MSX cassette cable. Spectravideo’s SVI-767 data recorder costs £29.95 and includes the MSX cassette cable. Network and Micro Dealer's data recorders, both have in- built audio speakers and are not exclusively dedicated to computer use. The NW900 from Network costs £29.95 including the MSX cassette cable and Micro Dealer’s Omega Compurecor- der is priced at £24.95 together with a head alignment tape but not an MSX cassette cable. Thatmaycomewithyour computer. JOYSTICKS REVAMPED Joysticks of all shapes and sizes were launched at the L.E.T trade show in February. Spectravideo added two more joysticks to their Quick- shot range, the cream-coloured Quickshot II and the black Quickshot V at £14.95 and £11.95 respectively. Both have two fire buttons on the handle and the latter sports a large keypad on the base. Both Joysticks have an auto- matic fast firing function as well as a twin fire action enabling the user to use the handle's two fire buttons to control two diff erentactions on screen. This function won’t work unless software has been written to utilise it. Software manufacturers take note! Kempston Micro Electronics have renamed and revamped two of their Joysticks: the Competition Pro 5000 and 3000 are now called the For- mula 1 and 2 at £16.95 and £11.95 respectively. These and the Scoreboard Joystick, a box-like device with two fire buttons at£28. 95 are now part of their new Grand Prix range. Changes include the colour — now blue and the addition of micro switches which Kemp- ston claim endow the control- lers with more precise and positive actions. Voltmace have at last added a MSX compatible version to their Joystick range, the Delta 3SM. Retailing at £11.95, it has three red fire buttons. The Powerplay Joystick from Protek Computing is their latest addition to their range of computer peripherals and costs £11.95. It has three red fire buttons and a rapid fire function. Finally, Vulcan Elec- tronics have launched an MSX Joystick costing £13. LOW COST DISK DRIVE DEVELOPMENTS Disk drives are the most efficient means of saving and loading data and MSX is de- signed to support a disk drive system. All information is loaded onto magnetic disks and these are able to store much more data than either cassette tapes or ROM cartridges. At present there are four MSX compatible disk drives avail- able, but only two, the Sony HBD-50 and the Spectravideo SVI-707, will randomly access files at any position on disk. The other two use sequent! a I access systems which means that they run through the track sectors until they reach the relevant file. Sony’s disk drive uses 3.5 inch disks and offers 360K of usable memory for a £350 price tag. It connects to the micro via the cartridge port. It will run MSX-DOS when the disk version becomes avail- able and is supplied with DISK BASIC. Spectravideo’s disk drive uses 5.25 inch double-sided double density disksand offers 326K of memory for £345. The Tiny disk drive, the MC 132 designed by the Japanese company TE and distributed by Cambridge Micro Computer Centre provides Just 32k of unformatted memory for a much lower £40. It uses a sequential access system and small 2.5 inch disks. Microlink’s Quick disk drive costs about £130 and holds 128K unformatted memory. It uses double-sided double de- nsity 2. 8inchdisks and likethe Tiny disk drive has a sequential access system. What ftis woman doing? Several years ago, I was a university teacher. One even- ing my wife and I were visiting a group of college friends. One them began discussing a very simple small business that a person can start at home — a “home money project”, as he called it. But when he told me how much money it brought in, I almost dropped my coffee cup on my lap. My wife and 1 discussed the project as we were driving home. We decided to try it. The project kept us busy about 8-9 hours each week. We used our dining room as an office and kept supplies in one corner of our hall cupboard. At first our income was small — it»75 to it»95 per week. But, as the months passed, our “kitchen table” income climbed to over ifc680 per week. Let me emphasize one thing. This is very important. Our “money project” is moral, honest and downright enjoyable. And, it’s 100% your own. It doesn’t involve working for anyone else. I explained the project to my mother. She was 71 years old and lived by herself in a flat on West Market Street. Within the first 90 days she made over it>3,000. All by herself! As our curiosity grew, we discovered a variety of other people making money but with somewhat different projects... I talked with a housewife who’s been earning thousands of pounds for over six years. She uses one comer of her garage as a work area. • She makes up to io200 per week in her spare time. • She provides a needed service to her community. • She works exclusively at home.. .using a card table. She doesn’t need a special office of any kind. • She works for no one else. Tliere is no selling involved. Most of her clients call her at home. In fact, she installed a phone in the garage. i i; x;'’- > ■ : : : TRY THIS TEST 1. Whcn your Guide arrives, select one project. Read the directions carefullv. Remember to begin slowly. 2. Tr>' it for six months. 3. At the end of this trial period, examine your income. If you’re not satisfied with the results, return the Ciuide and we will REFUND YOUR FULL PURCHASE PRICE ...NO CONDITIONS NO DEIAYS. • Her service is so simple that almost anyone with a flair for crafts could start the same business in their own neighbourhood within 20 days. The photo above shows her busy with one of her craft projects (full details are given to you). OVER £35,000 PER YEAR Two housewives I Spoke with started a similar project two years ago. Both of them have young children at home and households to run — in addition to their home-based business. Currently, their part-time project is bringing in over it»3 5, ()()() a year. Another couple using the same pro- ject we used made i 14,870 in just five months. Obviously, this is exceptional income. What you make will be up to you. But the income potential from some of these pro- jects can be staggering. A husband and wife team I spoke with started a money 1985 Chartsearch Ltd, II Blomfield Street, London project similar to ours. Last year, operating hill time, they earned over iL.l()8,()00 — all at home on their farm. HOWTOSTART First, you must be willing to work. All of these pro- jects require time, energy and creativity. Second, you’ll need some working space in your home or fiat. A telephone will help, too. Third, our projects are tested and workable. No en- velope stuffing schemes, no “party plans”, no door-to-door selling. None of that nonsense. You won’t need “capital” to begin. Many of the projects can be started for as little as io25 to You won’t need youth. Maturity and experience are excellent assets. You won’t have to wait. Most of these projects can be started in just 15 days\ Quite frankly, we’re happy to share them with you. Because they involve creative projects that can be duplicated in thousands of neighbourhoods all over the country. The opportunity is nation- wide. We won’t be competing with you and you won’t be competing with us. That’s why we’ve put everything in a simple, easy-to-follOw Starter Guide. It shows you step by step how to begin each project. MONEY BACK IF NOT DELIGHTE^ To prove that you can make extra money at home, you have our positive 100% money-back guarantee. Order your guide. Keep it for up to six months. This gives you time to actually try> a project yourself If you’re not satisfied, just return it. We’ll send you a ftill reftind within three working days.. .no nonsense ...no excuses. This is the fairest way I know to help you get started. To: Chartsearch Ltd., 1 1 Blomfield Street, London EC2M 7AY Please send me the complete Home Money Projects Starter Guide for which I enclose payment of i»l 2.95 (includes postage and packing) □ Cheque/Postal Order of £12.95 enclosed □ Please charge my Credit Card as follows: A/C number ( Access/Visa/Diners/Amex ) From: Name BLOCK Address CAPITALS PLEASE Postcode Signed Rcei.stcrcJ in Ln^and No. 1.540222 Date SOFTWARE ON SHOW MSX software made the big- gest impact at an otherwise unexciting L.E.T show in Febru- ary. Very few new products or software ideas were in evi- dence apart from the wide variety of MSX products. Many software houses have converted one or two of their best selling games for the MSX, but they are loath to start producing more titles because of the difficulty in finding dealers willing to take them. An Ocean Software spokes- man told us that although they were including their game De- cathlon in the software pack- age accompanying Toshiba’s computer, they had no inten- tion of trying to sell it separate- ly. 'It justwouldn’t sell’ he said. Artie Computing have con- verted their bestseller, Mutant Monty for MSX, but will only make it to order. Melbourne House are waiting to see how their new conversion. The Hob- bit, priced at £14.95 does before converting Mugsy or Classic Adventure. Clive Bailey of Beyond told usthatthey would be waitingto see how the demand for MSX games went before producing anything — a comment we heard several times before leaving the show! Fortunately not everyone shared their pessimism. Some of the companies at the show were so confident of MSX products that they were selling nothing else — Electric Soft- ware, Konami and Aackosoft International, a Dutch com- pany, for example. Electric were demonstrating a number of games including their newest two, Le Mans, a racing car simulator and The Wreck, a graphics adventure, both at £9.95. Zaxxon and Buck Rod- gers each costing £11.95 will be available this month. Elec- tric also have plans to import two Japanese games called Chack’n Pop and Ferq. A num- ber of professional MSX DOS games are in the pipeline. Aackosoft showed us the Aackotext and the Aackobase, a word processor and data base which can be linked together, costing about £45 each for both a disk and cassette. Games include Alpha Blaster, Scramble, Jet Fighter, Space Busters and Jet Bomber retailing at about £9. Another vote of confidence for MSX products comes from Europe where the MSX compu- ters have really taken off. Without exception, all the soft- ware houses told us that Euro- pean dealers had expressed great interest in MSX games because the MSX computers aresellinglike hotcakes. Mike Hall of Electric Software told us that Philips had imported 40,000 of theircomputers into Italy and had quickly sold every one — surprising because there was very little MSX soft- ware there! Despite a hint of pessimism from some of the software houses we discovered that many of them were planning to produce cassette-based games. Alligata are bringing out Superbowl, an American football simulation in May for £7.95. A.S.K are selling Num- ber Chaser, an educational gameutilisingmental arithme- tic skills for 5 to 14 year olds, retailing at £8.95. Bubble Bus have used a Bridge Grand Master to write Boardello, a type of Othello for £7.95. CDS Microsystems are currently developing Steve Davis Snooker and will be doing a Pool version for the European market. They’re also bringing out Castle Blackstar, part of a trilogy for £6.95. DK’Tronics are planning to release two games costing £9.95 each this month — Pop Eye and Minder, described by Roger Barnard, a DK’Tronic spokesman as 'a different ex- perience altogether’ (we wait with bated breath!). Icon Software are scheduled to release their four MSX games over the next couple of months and Chyralis is the first. Following on will be Frankenstein, Cave Man Cap- ers and Phantom Zone. They’ll all retail at £6.95. Level 9 Computing’s latest adventure is Emerald Isle which follows your efforts to get off an island in the Bermu- da Triangle, priced at £6.95. Mastertronic’s new £1.99 game is Splash and should be available this month. Mirror- soft’s conversion of Games Creator, out this month will cost £12.95. Mr Micro were demonstrating their two new games. Mayhem and Zakil Wood, a graphics adventure, for £7.95 each. Quicksilva plans to launch four program conversions; Ant Attack, Fred and Sprite Editor for £7.95 each and Games Designer at£9.95. Maths Invaders, an educa- tional maths game for 4 to 12 year olds from Stell Software retails at £7.95. Finally, Ter- minal Software p reviewed the i r first MSX game. Lazy Jones costing £8.95. All this software activity from both new and established companies is surely a healthy signfor increasinginterestand confidence in MSX. PRINT OUT Books for the MSX owner continue to be announced and released. Melbourne House have issued their third MSX book, 'MSX Exposed’ by Joe Pritchard. Priced at £7.95, it is a beginners introduction to programming, leading up to an introduction to Machine Code. Collins have two MSX titles in the shops. ‘Working With MSX BASIC’ costs £7.95 and is by the prolific author Ian Sinc- lair, and is a guide to program- mingMSXmicros.'MSXGames Book’ is the second title, and it is by Jim Gregory. Out in May will be ‘Very Basic BAS 1C’ by Derek Ekkersha w and Peter Schofield, from Century Communications. Costingjust £2.95, the blurb claims it will guide the first time MSX user through the first few weeks of programming. ZOB STORY Collect all 16 fragments of the armour of Zob while fight- ing off over 86 monsters, to complete PSS’s new adventure game. Sword and Sorcery cost- ing£10. All the action runs over real time and the player is able to control weapons during com- bat sequences. The program contains 635 locations, almost 2,000 objects and has an 800 word dictionary. More information from PSS on (0203) 667556. QUALITY PRINTERS FOR QUALITY RESULTS Dot Matrix and Daisy Wheel Printers PRICES NOW INCLUDE DELIVERY AND VAT! DWP 1120 £299.00 DP 1100 £263.00 FULL RANGE OF PRINTER CABLES AVAILABLE (PLEASE STATE MACHINE TYPE) ALSO RANGE OF COMPUTER STATIONERY IN STOCK INC BESPOKE LINES SOUTH COAST Print speed 20cps (Repeat), 18cps (at Shannon Text) Print Wheel: 96 character printwheels are compatible with theQUME ★ Maximum paper width 13 inches ★ Characters per line 120-180 ★ Interface 8-bit parallel compatible with the Centronics (optional RS232C) Credit facilities available. Please allow 14 days delivery. TELOTWHEm^ (0258) 56700 CASH REGISTERS LTD. FREEPOST, BLANDFORD, DORSET Tel: (0730) 895273 Tel: (0730) 895296 PROUDLY PRESENT THEIR EXCITING NEW PRODUCTS FOR YOU HARDWARE QUICK DISK DRIVE ... £ The first real alternative to Micro- Cassettes 138.00 (Software now being developecJ for this Quick Access Drive). PRINTERS ... £ J.P. 100a (100CPS-80COL) 199.00 J.P. 130a(130CPS-80COL) 229.00 J.P. 136a (130CPS-136COL) 389.00 M.C.P. 80 (4 Colour Printer Plotter) 179.00 Hardware prices are exclusive of VAT Software prices are inclusive of VAT Please tick the MSX Software required. THE MSX USER SOFTWARE TITLES. . . (incl. VAT)£ □ ERIC & THE FLOATERS 5.95 □ DRILLER TANKS 8.95 □ BINARY LAND 8.95 BEAN RIDER 11.99 GHOSTBUSTERS 11.99 □ MANIC MINER 7.95 STOP THE EXPRESS 6.95 DOG FIGHTER 6.95 □ NINJA 6.95 □ JET SET WILLY 6.95 □ ANT ATTACK 7.95 □ HYPER VIPER 7.95 □ SUPER DOORS 8.95 □ NUTS & MILK 8.95 MAH NONG CRAZE 8.95 FIRE RESCUE 7.95 □ SUBMARINE SHOOTER 8.95 PICK AA/Y 4 TITLES AND GET 7 FREE TITLE FREE £ □ No charge BEAMSTICK FED UP WITH SPAGHETTI JUNCTION COMING OUTOF YOUR MSX? MICRO INK HAS SOLVED YOUR PROBLEM WITH THIS REVOLUTIONARY FAST ACTION, TWIN FIRE, INFRA- RED JOYSTICK Circa! 39.95 JOYCARD ONLY ...8.95 ORDER ENQUIRY Name: Address: Telephone: Cheque/Postal Order made payable to: MICR57 / LINK Software £1 .00 p&p (Total) £ Hardware £3.00 p&p (Total) £ "BOWYERS", STEEP MARSH LISS, HANTS. GU32 2BJ K Kti I T ialkto a computer buff and you’ll wonder how man survived before the dawn of computers. History is divided into years P.C. (Pre Computer) and years A.C. (After Clive). Those who don’t agree with this apparently suf- fer from a Luddite mentality. This view is hopelessly at odds with the view of the person who’s yet to fall prey to the attractions of the microchip and who sees the whole phe- nomenon as a case of technol- ogy gone mad. Between these two schools lie you, wondering whether to take the plunge and buy a computer. £300 or so is a tidy sum to spend on a whim. The family may not appreciate the Thinking of buying a computer? Here are twenty reasons why you shouid fortnight in Spain being sacri- ficed for a glorified calculator. What can a computer do? What can you do with a compu- ter? Can you do without a computer? It is worth spending a little time deciding if and why you need a computer. At the end of this article there is a chart to fill in. It will focus your thoughts and help you decide if you need a computer or not. It should also help you to plan your comput- ing purchases in order to get exactly what you need for a particular purpose. Consider it a profile of your computing requirements. If you haven’t really thought seriously about what you can use a computer for, you have one reason staring you in the face. Curiosity is perhaps the best name for it. No matter how rationally you debate the pros and cons of using a computer for different applications, in the final analysis, there is no better proof than hands on experience. All the debate in the world can’t equal practical experimentation. And, once you have a computer, new applications will almost cer- tainly spring to mind, with you i n the ideal position to try them out. Unfortunately, buying a computer is an expensive way to answer the question "What if?’’ If the a nswer tu rns out to be that you really don’t need a computer after all, you’ve wasted good money. Ideally, it would be great to hire a computer for a short period to find out what they are like. That’s not often possible, so you’ll need to evaluate diffe- rent applications in your head. Games are the obvious ap- plication. If you have ever felt attracted to amusement arcades, you'll know the adre- nal in-activating properties of a good arcade game. Unfortu- nately, at 20p a go, mastering the games in an arcade en- vironment is costly. Buying a computer gives you the chance to try arcade favourites in the comfort of your own home, and at a cost of just a few pounds for as many attempts as you want. You won’t have the eyes ofthe world on you, and will be able to play as and when the urge takes you. Of course there is an alterna- tive to the computer, in the shape of the once popular video games machines. These are now in attics across the land, replaced by the compu- ter. Games are still available but the choice is limited and cartridges are expensive. MSX computers take cartridges, so if you want the best quality games and instant loading, you have that option available. Alternatively, pocket ver- sions of arcade games, using liquid crystal displays, are available for £20 or so. Once you’ve got the knack of a particu lar game , these toys are precious little use. The other option is not to play arcade games at all — a difficult decision to stick to. With all the games available, you’re boundtofind something that gives you an itchy trigger finger. Arcade gamesaren’tthe only sort. If you feel your reflexes are too slow to survive a planetary invasion, adventure games offer a more cerebral form of entertainment, and certainly aren’t imitated in amusement arcades. You’ll be plunged into an imaginary world, having to survive on your wits and intelli- gence. There may be monsters to do battle with, treasure to collect and plenty to keep you amused over long winter even- ings. The non-computer a Iternative to this type of game is the printed adventure game book. Written in sections, your decisions lead you to one section after another, trying to solve the adventure. Such books are inexpensive, widely available, portable (unlike MSX computers), but once mastered, not much use. If you’ve never been adventuring before, they are worth trying out to see if you like the genre of game. Adventure and arcade games are a world apart from traditional parlour and pub games. Fear not — these too are available for computers. Whether your preference is for bridge, chess, cribbage or backgammon, you’ll probably find a program that lets you play against your computer. Computers make mean oppo- nents and such games give ample opportunity to brush up on your skills, providing you can accept being beaten by a machine. The other advantage is that you can play if no-one around wants to or is able to. The alternative is to buy the cards, pieces or board needed fora game. Many peoplefind it decidedly odd playing a game like chess on a television screen. However, buying the bits doesn’t guarantee oppo- nents, norwill you learn a good game unless you find a good teacher. Chess machines do exist, combining a real board with a computer program, but the best of these cost as much as a budget MSX computer. That’s nothing compared to the cost of trying out a flight simulator or taking driving lessons in a Formula One racing car. Countless compu- ters have been sold to enthu- siasts wanting to fly or race without leaving the living room. With a computer and a program you can pilot a Boeing 737 , fly thespace shuttle, race around Silverstone, command a submarine and much, much more. The only alternative is perhaps a racing car simulator in an amusement arcade, but this is costly and not as convenient as a computer simulation. Simulatorsalsoprovide use- ful practice if you want to learn to fly or to drive. Most are pretty realistic and it won’t matter how many times you crash. Computers make excellent teachers of other subjects too. They have infinite patience, always teach at your own pace and to learn a new subject, all you need i s a new program . The rangeof subjects you can learn with a computer is limited only by the imagination of program- mers. Science, history, litera- ture and maths programs are all available. Asmall library of programs can replace a large library of books. If you are travelling to a foreign land, you could get a language program to teach you the native lingo. Compared to the cost of a proper language course, a computer is quite reasonably priced. You’ll find programs that teach you about computer lan- guages too. BASIC is the ob- vious language to learn, though at a more advanced stage, you may want to learn Machine Code. One program could do thejob of many books, and probably teach you more too. Learningabout computers is yet another reason to buy a computer. Books teach just so much — at some point you’ll have to get your hands on a machine. You may wonderwhy there is any need to learn about com- puters in the first place. Com- puteracy is not yet essential to survival in the modern world, but all the signs are that computers are going to play a more and more important role in our lives. Those who know about computers will be better placed to take advantage of the changes happening around them, when it comes to A video games machine gives games entertainment, but that’s all. Computers can play more traditional games too, with only one person. Your computer could do the Job of a typewriter, with a word processing program, or replace a cardbox, or act as a directory, with the right software. All you have to do Is add programs and peripherals w//<' v work habits, home conveni- ences and so on. Training on computers is training for the future. Children already learn a good deal about computers at school. Having a computer in the home isa wayfor parents to keep up with theyoun g ones ( or at least not be so far behind), and forthe children to practise what they are taught. You don't need to have the same compu- ter as the one at school — so long as your computer has a good BASIC, as MSX compu- ters do, and a good range of software available. Given you have a computer, you can choose from the multi- tude of educational programs available for children of all ages. Mathsandspelling prog- rams are the most common, though there are many revision programs available for adv- anced 'A' and ‘O' level subjects. If you don't understand the subjects your children are studying, leave it to a program and a computer to help them . For mathematical applica- tions, whether in a homework context or for scientific pur- poses, the computer is a natural. It works faster than a pocket calculator, can have very complex calculations programmed in and can of course be connected to a pr i nter for hard copy of results. You could buy a programmable scientific calculator, which is much more portable than a computer, butthe best of these cost £100 or more, still need programming and do nothing more than calculate. If you want to tackle serious scien- tific calculations, a computer is the answer. Computers come in handy for hobbies too. Astronomers or astrologers could use the calculation facilities. Electri- cians could write programs to test circuit designs. War gamesenthusiasts could prog- ram the calcu lations they need into a computer. Gamblers could work out odds. When you have a computer, it is amazing what uses you can dream up. Data storage is an estab- lished application. With a database program you can store all manner of informa- tion. It could be a catalogue of records or books. It could be details of a stamp or butterfly collection. It could be a direc- tory of friends’ addresses and telephone numbers. Cynics say that electronic storage of data is merely an expensive way of replacing fi ies or address books. To store data, you have to plan a system and enter all the information. In many cases, the old paper and card methods are cheaper, more accessible and easier to use. Still, if you have a great deal of data that may need to be manipulated, a computer can be a very efficient filing system. In the home, a computer can do much more than just store an address book. It should be possible, and companies like Sony have demonstrated that it is possible, to control many things in a house. A computer could control the central heat- ing, monitor power consump- tion, set the video or burglar alarms — just plug in and program the appliance. We have a way to go yet before such applications become widespread but computer buffs with a DIY bent are a I ready tacki i ng such projects. Control of the home is a futuristic reason for buying a computer but a reason none- theless. On a more practical level, a computer in the home can be used to run accounts and budgeting software to keep a track of finances. It could store family trees, and with connec- tions to electronic databases, it could be used for electronic shopping. In a sense it is just replacing paper, but only a computer nut would claim that computers are the answer to everything. What they do do is produce more reliable systems that are stepping stones to the future. Electronic mail is one fea- ture of the future that is very much today. With a modem you can link intoelectronicmailbox networks and communicate with other computer users, swapping tips, chatting, leav- ing messages and so on. You can access databases to get latest news, travel reports, financial information and so on. Electronic communi- cations is a booming industry and one you can join right now. Accounts may suggest busi- ness applications. It is a com- mon fallacy that a home micro can run a large business. A standard MSX machine with financial and word processor programs, a disk drive and printer should be able to hand- le the accounts, data and documentation of a very small company or a home business. For larger companies, you real- ly want to be considering an office micro, costing £1000 or more. One huge advantage of MSX computers is that they can run CP/M business programs from the office micro, if an MSX d isk drive is fitted. This means that you could bring work home from the office, plug in your MSX micro and carry on com- puting. Certainly business applications make a good reason to buy a computer for the home. The alternative is either hiring accountants or sticking with reams of paper- work. The mention of word proces- sing will cause many eyebrows to raise. It is becoming ack- nowledged as a most impor- tant computer application. In the businessenvironment, this is certainly the case, but in the home, the use may be more limited. It depends on how much correspondence you have. If you already have a reasonable typewriter, a com- puter for word processing may be overkill, as you'll need to buy a printer too. But if you are a budding novelist or do plenty of correspondence that must look good, a computer is much cheaper than hiring a typist. Writing need not be res- tricted to letters and books. There are many, many people who have made money out of computers by writing prog- rams. That needs a computer and some knowledge of prog- ramming, butacomputeristhe first step. Buy a computer, master programming skills, come up with an original idea and you could have a best seller on your hands. In the early days of MSX you'll have more chance of finding a markettoo. Asan alternative to programs you might also con- sider books or magazine arti- cles. Both are lucrative fields. With the right breaks, you'll find computing is one hobby that can pay for itself. If you start to investigate programming you'll almost certainly come to know the graphics potential of MSX computers. Many computer buffs use their machines almost solely for graphics pur- poses. Design studios experi- ment with Computer Aided Design (CAD). Other hobbyists connect cameras to their com- puters and generate computer images of their subjects. It is relatively easy to write simple programs that use mathe- matical relationshipsto gener- ate beautiful patterns on screen or on paper. Computer graphics is a field that is fascinating, satisfying to the creative instinct and fertile ground for experimentation. Much the same can be said about computer music. MSX computers have a sound chip that is capable of some stun- ning effects. You can write you own tunes or load programs that turn your computer into a miniature synthesizer. Yama- ha’s MSX computercomeswith a proper piano-style keyboard and outplays many synthe- sizers costing much more. It is good enough to be used on stage. Buying a proper musical instrument or synthesizer is an alternative. If music is your only interest, then a kosher instrument will be more satis- fying than a programmed com- puter. But, if music is just one of many interests, the answer may be different. Computers could be justi- fied in the interests of family goodwill too. Having a compu- ter i n the house will give bored children someting to amuse themselves with. The family that plays together stays -together. Beware of the dan- gers of getting so involved with your new toy that you shut yourself away from the family though. It is all too easy to become totally absorbed in games or programming, to the exclusion of other commit- ments. Own i ng a computer wi 1 1 prob- ably not transform your life immediately. But if you add up all the things you could do with it, you'll probably see that what a computer makes possible is more than enough to justify the expense. If you consider the cost of all the alternatives you'll need to do the same as you can with a computer, you'll realize that a computer is excellent value for money. So, fill in the chart, see what your need rating is and we hope you’ll shortly be a paid up member of the computing fraternity. What's more, we hope you'll be a member of the MSX computing fraternity. ■■ Do you really need a computer? Fill In and find out Reason No Way Couldn't Care Give It AGO Definitely Interested Essential Learn about computers Play arcade games Help with hobbies Word processing Join computer networks Manage home finances Make music Make money Play adventure games Keep the kids amused Do scientific calculations Use simulators Organize data Curiosity Play strategy games Control the home Education Everyone else has one Run a small business Explore computer graphics 1 point 2 points 3 points 4 points 5 points Total up your points for your answers: 20-40 Stick to a si ide ru le 40-60 Discuss it with the family 60-80 Discuss it with a dealer 80 plus what are you waiting for? MSX exists largely due to the efforts of one man - Kay Nishi. We’ve been talking to him about the MSX phenomena K ay NIshI is a difficult man to get in touch with. He aimost iives aboard a Jumbo Jet and even his secret- ary has a hard time keeping track of his movements. Stiii, as the man who most deserves the titie Mr MSX, you can understand why he is so franti- caily busy. When I eventually got to talk to him, after an exchange of at least a dozen Telexes, it was 1.15a.m. in Tokyo, a time when most of us would rather be tucked up in bed. Not Kay Nishi. He was still living and breathing MSX with incredible enthusiasm. Kazuhiro Nishi has been into computers from their very ear- liest days. Based on a small computer magazine called ASCII, he founded a company of the same name. In 1978, following an agreement with Microsoft in America, ASCII Microsoft Ltd. was estab- lished, to market American software and Microsoft BASIC in the Far East Then along came Spectra- video, wanting to build a home micro in Hong Kong. ASCII IS ‘When I was nine or ten years old, my father brought home a programmable electronic machine. It triggered my Interest’ Microsoft agreed to supply the BASIC and developed what was almostMSX BASIC. Kaysawhis chance. He had an excellent BASIC, he was in the heart of the Japanese multi-nationals, and he began to spread the idea of a standard in home computing. The bigcompanies jumped at the chance to get into home computers and the standard was announced in 1983. The rest is history. Kay spends his time co- ordinating the development of MSX on a worldwide basis, flying from country to country selling the concept and spreading new ideas. He is the public face on what is becom- ing a phenomenon in the computer industry and thor- ughly deserves to be called Mr MSX. Ho wdidyou first get involved in computing? When I was nine or ten years old, some 20 years ago, my father brought home a programmable electronic machine. It triggered my in- terest. I was fascinated by the way it could handle numbers and wondered if it could handle text and graphics in the same manner. The potential uses of such a machine could be enormous. At school I was an electro- nics whizz kid. I am into amateur radio astronomy (I once built my own telescope) and photography. So I became very involved with the early computers. Though I took a degree in mechanical en- gineering and robotics at col- lege, most of my knowledge is self taught, and I knew the basics of electronics by the time I reached university. Then, in 1975, General In- struments introduced a video games chip and at the same time Intel announced their 8080 processor. From then on I knew where my future lay, and you know the history of MSX. Would you describe yourself as a computing professional? I think I still have a hobbyist approach to computing. To me it is still great fun. I am also impressed by the theoretical beauty of the latest develop- ments and the challenge of bridging the gap between the theory and its practical imple- mentation is a real driving force. Is MSX a real advance on current computers, or is standardization the important thing? Everyone thinks that stan- dardization is achieved by the actions of some large, invisi- ble body. Standardization is notas importantasall that — it is the separation of software and hardware that is crucial. Until MSX, the two have been closely related. By that I mean that software has been de- veloped for a particular micro, and dependent on that micro. The life of a micro is a chain of events. In the first year, hardware is designed. In the second year, it is built. In the third year, software is de- veloped. In the fourth year. software and hardware sales are at much the same rate. In the fifth year, software sales dominate as the hardware starts to saturate the market. In the next year, hardware sales accelerate as the amount of software gives cus- tomer confidence, and on it goes. This linking of hardware and software is the total evil of this business. If you look at consumer goods, you'll see a different situation. Take the record, audio tape, video and televi- sion markets. The hardware is manufactured and developed by major companies, irrespec- tive of the software (records, cassettes, TV programs and so on) The hardware companies can devote their efforts to producing low cost, high quali- ty hardware. The software companiescan concentrate on producing better records, tapes or software. Until now, software com- panies have had to co-operate closely with the hardware manufacturers. They have had ♦ keep one eye out for models being discontinued and have not been free to develop pro- ducts independently of the hardware companies. With MSX, companies can now de- velop hardware or software without having to worry about what is happening in the other camp. Compatible Take Sinclair for example. With the launch of the Spec- trum, all those companies producing ZX81 software were caught outand made unhappy. So too was the consumer. If he or she wants to upgrade from say a Spectrum to a QL, all the existing software must be writ- ten off as it is not compatible. So, compatability is impor- tant, but it isthe independence of hardware and software that isthe most crucial ingredient. MSX IN JAPAN MSX activity in Japan is weil ahead of activity here, with more machines, software and peripherals available. Sur- veying the latest develop- ments gives a good idea of what lies in store for us. Budget MSXcomputersare a real ity. Casio have an 8K m icro selling for just over £100. It has rubberised keys, two but- tons for Track and Field type games, cursor keys and a cursor keypad. An expansion unit, for around £50, gives the a bj I ity to add extra RAM, up to 64k. Casio are also selling cartridge programs, including Circus Charlie and UFO. Sony have a budget MSX machine, the £170 HitBit HB- 101. IthasjustlGKof RAM, but features space age styling, a carrying handle, built-in joys- tick and a full complement of keys. Sony also have announced plans for two ne w m i cros — the HB-701 and the HB-701FD. Both have keyboards linked to the main processing unit by a cable and the latter machine has built-in 3.5in disk drives. Teleton have a 32K machine with a separate keyboard. Their monitor is also a TV, and has the computing unit built into the base. Hitachi have built a stereo cassette recorder into their MB-H2 micro. Itisa 64Kmodel with 16K of built-in firmware. This gives the user a graphics program, a musical program, a program to scan the contents of cassettes and locate a . Sony’s HB-101 Is a budget 16K micro particular program, plus a Machine Code utilityforwriting Machine Code programs. The MB-H2alsohasanRGBoutput. Graphics are certainly big news, with a number of video imposition units becoming available. Sanyo's MPC-X de- vice allows a resolution of 512 X 204 pixels, 512 colours and has an RGB output. The Pioneer PX7BX micro can be interfaced to Pioneer’s laser disc player and laser disc controller to use the graphics from these devices. An extra 8 K of ROM i s used for P-BASI C , to control these devices. Graphics imposition devices allow you to mix computer and video or TV graphics. You'll National’s CF2601 Superimpositlon unit typifies the new wave of peripherals Is the UK an important mar- ket, or is MSX more likely to succeed in Europe? The UK market is extremely important. Home computer penetration of the market is already very high, with a higher percentage of families owning computers than in perhaps any other country. It is a mature market, and our mission is very clearly to establish MSX in the UK, by giving consumers a production that can be totally satisfied with. computer mainly as a games machine, or are the serious applications more important? It is impossible to ignore the games market. Entertainment is a very important factor in the world of computing. But I see databases. It will be possible to transmit software via these means too, at a very reason- able cost. So, communica- tions is an important facet of home computing. ‘I still have a hobbyist approach to computing. Tome it is still great fun. I am also Impressed by the theoretical beauty of the latest developments’ How will you maintain com- patability between eight, six- teen and 32 bit versions of MSX? I can’t comment on that at this stage, though I must stress that all MSX micros will be upwardly compatible. You will be able to run today’s is MSX basically a begin- ner’s micro, or an upgrade machine? It is both .With the least expensive machines, costing perhaps £100 or so, we wiil have a rival to the Sinclair Spectrum and other micros. Price is important to the begin- ner. Yet the upwardly compati- ble nature of MSX means that it wiil appeal to users seeking a more sophisticated machine that wili grow with them. Is the future of the home more serious applications as being the more important, particularly in the field of communications. This fa I Is into two categories — personal and mass com- muncations. Personal com- munications is the realm of electronic mail and person to person computer communica- tion, via networks, bulletin boards and the like. Mass communications is for things like Ceefax, Prestel and other How will the various national software markets interrelate? We should find a great deal of co-operation. Ai ready Japanese companies are mak- ing inroads into the American and European markets. No doubt there wili a reverse flow of ideas and products. need a video recorder and an MSX computer first. Then units such as the National CF-2601 Super Imposition Unit, Pioneer Video Art graphics tablet and Pioneer ER-101 video inter- face can be used. Yamaha have developed a number of interesting devices. Two are card readers. One reads music, the other graphics. A card is passed through a reading device and the data is loaded into the co'itiputer. You can thus hold a library of cards that can be loaded in an instant. Yamaha also have a Japanese charac- ter word processor. A budget rival to the car- f tridge is being talked about I too. It involves mounting a legless blob of programmed silicon onto a board that slots into the cartridge slot. The main advantage is that it is cheaper than conventional cartridge software. The software charts are dominated by cartridge prog- rams. Best sellers at the mo- ment include Konami’s Hyper Sports 2, Activision's Pitfall 2 and Antarctic Adventure. There is a version of Athletic land, with Cabbage Patch Kidsasthe actors and Ghostbusters is being heavily promoted. With all this activity, we can look forward to some exciting developments in MSX in the near future. Casio 8KMSX can be expanded to 64K. Japan’s top game Is Hyper Sports 2 Do you see MSX as being a viable business system, parti- cularly with MSX-DOS on the horizon? I don’t want to see MSX in the office, though it may be suit- able for some situations. With 64K of memory, a Z80 proces- sor, a printer, disk drives and so on attached, an MSX com- puter wil i rival any comparable eight bit micro in the office environment. software and peripherals on future generations of machines. Will the need to maintain upward compatability inhibit development of future MSX machines? There is certainly a cost factor to be borne. It won’t be cheap maintaining the upward com- patability, and we may notto be able to use the very latest technology when it first be- comes available. The benefits will be worth it though. How can you see MSX ex- panding? There wili obviously be up- ward expansion, with machines having more and more peripherals, better spe- cifications and features. There is aiso horizontai expansion. That is the linking of MSX to other consumer products such as video, television, audio systems and so on. However, i can’t see MSX becoming a major home controlling de- vice. It can handle a minimal amount of security protection and so forth, but it would need a very different system to run a computerized home. MSX is best suited to the control of video, audio and communica- tion devices. How long before MSX be- comes the standard in com- puting? It already is a standard, of sorts, and we will be devoting all our energies to making it more and more so. We are committed to MSX. By now it was we it past two in the morning in Tokyo. Kay had an early flight to catch, for another MSX meeting another country. IH ‘Standardization is not as important as aii that - it is the separation of software and hardware that is the most crucial ingredient ofMSjC ★ Toshiba HX-10, plus cassette data recorder, plus Toshiba joystick, plus three free games pack, plus Toshiba 140E colour television/monitor, plus 3 year guarantee r.r.p. £522.75 OUR PRICE ★ Toshiba HX-10, plus cassette data recorder, plus Toshiba joystick, plus three free games pack, plus 3 year guarantee r.r.p. £370.80 OUR PRICE HARRY GARLICK LTD 1 Church Street, Barnoldswick, Lancashire Tel: (0282) 813309 MEDLICOTT BROTHERS FOR TOSHIBA The versatile HX-10, for business use antd computer games Call in for a (demo! 53 MARDOL, SHREWSBURY, SHROPSHIRE Tel: 0743 3060 Your leading Toshiba stockist! COTTON COMPUTERS LTD 80 OUNDLE ROAD PETERBOROUGH Tel: 0733 49303 ESSEX ELECTRONICS 1 23 WOODLANDS ROAD ILFORD, ESSEX Tel: 01-4784083 Full range of Toshiba MSX hardware and software. Come in for a demonstration Your leading HX- 10 stockists WEST END VIDEO 6 MARBLE ARCH LONDON W1 Tel: 01-402 8661 No. 1 in Calderdale FRED MOORE LTD 15-17, Southgate, Halifax 2-6 Commercial Street, Halifax Tel: 0422 67763 1, Wellington Arcade, Brighouse Tel; 719660 CHARLES H. SHAW 60a New Street, Huddersfield Tel: 32443 Your leading HX-10 stockists R. J. PRATT & SON 35-35a HIGH STREET STEVENAGE Tel: (0438) 312885 Full range of Toshiba MSX hardware, software and accessories available. Come in for a demonstration 1ft Pinpoint a square on our grid and you couid win a super Sony outfit worth £6S0. Just soive ten ciues S omeone, maybe you, Is going to win a super Sony MSX system. All It takes Is a bit of deduction, a postcard to us and Lady Luck to make sure you are first out of the sack. Up for grabs is the superb Sony Hit Bit HB-75B, as re- viewed in our MSX Versus The Rest group test. ltisa64KMSX micro with a built-in suite of software, ali the features you could want and worth around £300. In addition, the winner will also be getting the Sony HBD-55 Disk Drive, a 3. Sin format disk drive unit with disk BASIC and the ability to store 360K of program. It costs around £350. We're sure you’ll QUESTIONS 1. Start at the hexadecimal « equivalent of 179. 2. Go two left if the HB-75B has an RGB socket. 3. Go down the number of keys on the cursor keypad. 4. Go right the number of letters on the red key on the Hit Bit. 5. Go up the number of tone channels on an MSX micro. 6. Go left the number of bits in a nibble. 7. Go diagonally South-East the equivalent of binary 101. 8. Go up the number of shift keys on the Hit Bit. 9. Go left the number of Sony Joystick models. 10. Go two up, three right, one down. agree that it is a superb prize. To win, you’ll need to have your wits about you. See that ten by ten grid of squares? One of those squares contains the prize, and we want to know the letter/number co-ordinates of that square. We're not leaving it entirely to guesswork. There is a sequ- ence of ten instructions that will pinpoint the square exact- ly. You just have to make sense of the instructions. The first instruction gives you a starting place. The rest send you on a path through the squares, with the last one you reach the answer we want. You’ll find all the answers either in this issue or by applying the principles out- lined invariousarticles. Even if you know nothing about com- puters, you should be able to work out the solution. Once you have worked out an answer, write it on the back of a post card and send it off to us. Don’t forget to write your name and address on the post card too. We’ll accept entries up until last post of 31st May, 1985. 8 B H J ' ■ ■■•1 ** — -- ' ! ^ r ---1 r- ■■ r -t i i — ■■■ ^ ■ h' . i 1 1 1 ; ' i 1 \ 1 L — _ . * j ] . i ^ ? I i 1 . _ . r h * 1 — ! ^ ' i • 1 , ‘ L ! 1 1 ; i ' : 1 J \ 1 - III rnr, ...... i 1 i r 1 i 1 i i s L 1 i ' 1 1 1 i ; i 1 1 ■ I i a 3 J TO ENTER One square on the coded grid contains the prize. Directions to find that square are given by the ten questions. Answer them correctly, follow the in- structions and you will end up at the right square. Write the co-ordinates of that square on the back of a postcard and send it to: Sony MSX Competition, What MSX?, 38-42 Hampton Road, Teddington, Middlesex TWll OJE. All entries must reach us by last post of 31st May, 1985. The first correct entry drawn after that date wins the prize. RULES 1. Entries should be on a postcard clearly marked with the name and address of the entrant. 2. ASonyHitBitHB-75BMSX computer and HBD-55 disk drive will be offered to the first correct entry drawn after the closing date. 3. The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. 4. The competition is not open to employees of Haymar- ket Publishing, their agents or suppliers, nor the employees of companies participating in the competition. No overseas entries can be accepted. ■'i & select STOP CLS HOME INS Control and cursor keys are bunched together on the right hand side S ynthesizers have been enjoying a boom in recent years. The best, with every conceivable musical and electronic feature, have changed the face of modem music. Mass market models have become less and less costly, yet pack more and more in. Then there has been the boom in home computers, with many mnning musically orien- tated programs. Even so, home computers have stayed home computers and synthesizers have stayed synthesizers. Yamaha are changing all that, with their CX-5M MSX computer, priced at around £449. It is a full blooded synthesizer and a 32K MSX computer. Despite the high price, Yamaha are selling all they can get their hands on. The synthesizer element makes the CX-5M a radically different proposition from, other MSX computers. The difference is the built-in synth, called an FM Sound Synth- esizer. In addition to the computing powers of the MSX part of the CX-5M and its musical abili- ties, Yamaha buyers can also add a range of musical peripherals. These include two keyboards and four cartridge- based programs. With these you can compose music, ex- pand the sound commands of MSX BASIC, generate new sounds or interface the CX-5M to Yamaha’s DX-7 synthesizer. Those of us with a musica I bent will be drawn to the Yamaha like bees to a honey pot. In examining the CX-5M, we have to look not only at its abilities as an MSX micro, but also at the features of the synthesizer unit. We've also tried out the cartridge pro- grams, as anyone interested in the CX-5M will almost certainly be interested in the programs. Prices break down as fol- lows. Yamaha CX-5M £449 YK-01 mini keyboard £85 YK-lOstandard keyboard £165 YRM-IOIFM MusicComposer £36 YRM-102 FM Voicing Program £36 YRM-103 DX-7 Voicing Pro- gram £36 YRM-104 FM Music Macro £36 To use the Yamaha as any sort of musical instrument, you’ll need a keyboard. That means a minimum spend of £534. For that amount you cou Id buy a top 64K MSX m icro and a pretty good portable synthesizer from the Casio range. The CX-5M needs to be good to justify its price. It is. ‘Those of us with a musical bent will be drawn to the Yamaha like bees to a honeypot’ You can buy the CX-5M without a keyboard, though most dealers will be keen to sell you a two box package. Let’s see what’s in the compu- ter box first. The box contains the CX-5M, a large transformer unit, an owner’s manual, a BASIC manual, RF and remote cas- sette leads. At first glance, it seems like a fairly normal package. As MSX computers go, the CX-5M is not quite as well specified as the rivals. For a start, itislimitedto32Kofuser memory. That means it won’t be able to run MSX-DOS, or CP/M software for business applications. You may also find that some commercial games will need more than 32K of memory, thus restrict- ing your software choice. Word processors and data bases wi 1 1 store less data too. Sti 1 1 , for the average home user, 32K is not a major limitation, and we rather suspect that the Yama- ha will be bought for its music- al, rather than computing power. The main body is on a par with other MSX m icros asf ar as size goes, despite the large external transformer that plugs securely into the back of the keyboard section. The size is because of the FM music synthesizer in the computer. A metal plate on the base of the CX-5M coves the synth- esizer gubbins, a PCB some 11cm square with five sockets to reach the outside world. No, the unit cannot be fitted to other MSX computers. The synthesizer has an oblong, 20 pin socket for the keyboard, two phono sockets for output of the left and right sound channels plus two five pin DIN sockets for MIDI inter- facing. Apart from these extra goodies, the CX-5M is similar to other MSX machines. It is finished in shades of grey with white printing on the keys. There are 48 alpha- numeric keys, including a blank key that gives European accents if used in conjunction with the SELECT key. The five function keys I ine up above the keyboard. Shift keys What you see on screen with the FM Voicing program, as dumped to a Toshiba HX-P550 printer Score printed out and written with the FM Music Composer program are oversize and the return key easily found. The CAPS key has a built in engaged light. Cursor control keys are clus- tered on the right. Left and right keys are large enough, the up and down keys are normal keys. For hard, fast games playing, it is not a terribly satisfactory arrange- ment, and a joystick will be a useful buy. Still, for use with the music programs, the cursor keys are quite good enough. Above them is a cluster of five control keys, including the STOP key. One-handed press- ing of CTRL and STOP is a physical impossibility. All the keys are nicely sculp- ted and the entire keyboard is at a comfortable angle. There is a little give to it, detracting from the overall appeal. As MSX keyboards go, the Yama- ha is not quite up with the best. Synthesizer connections aside, it comes up a little poorly too in the interface stakes. On the right you'll find the usual two nine-pin Joystick ports. The back has a socket for the transformer, RF, video and audio phono sockets and an Amphenol type Centronics printer socket. That’s all standard. So too is the cartridge port on the top of the casing. It has an internal reset switch so that inserting a cartridge wil I cause the computer to momentarily switch off and thus not damage the cartridge. There is no second cartridge slot. On the back there is an edge connector with 50 con- tacts. To use a second car- tridge or cartridge-fit peripher- al , you wi 1 1 have to buy the £19 CA-01 Cartridge Adaptor. This fits the rear connector and al lows a second cartridge to be used. In use, as a computer, the Yamaha performs well. The separate transformer keeps very cool indeed, even though it is a rather thirsty beast, consuming SOW of power. The 64K Sanyo MPC-lOO uses a third of this. Picture and sound quality is as good as monitors, TVs, amplifiers and the like allow. *¥3013113 owners may come to rue the omission of a second expansion port’ Documentation is more con- cerned with the musical aspects of the CX-5M. The Owner’s Manual explains the keyboard, setting up and how to use a cassette recorder. The BASIC manual isa command by command guide to MSX BASIC, with little on how to program. If you wantto learn to write BASIC programs, and use the com- puting ability of the CX-5M, you'll probably be paying a visit to your local bookshop. So much for the computer side of the Yamaha. Though it may not be a match forthe 64K rivalsasanMSXmicro, iteasily outstrips them when it comes to music. The on-board music equip- ment is called an FM Sound Synthesizer. The FM stands for Frequency Modulation, and it refers to a particular way of generating sounds that Yama- ha have developed. To access the synthesizer, enter the command "CALL MUSIC”. The screen display changes to an array of five blocks showing what noises the instrument will make, de- tails of the rhythm section and so on. The program is able to generate up to eight different voices, or sounds. There is a range of 46 pre-set voices to choose from. You can add automatic rhythm and bass accompaniments, record and playback passages of music up to 2000 notes long and output a stereo signal through hi-fi , an amplifierorMIDI devices. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and it allows different electronic instru- ments to be controlled from a central device. Learning how to play it prop- erly wi 1 1 take time, study of the manual and your own musical talent. When you first switch to the synthesizer mode, you’ll have BRASS 1 as the sound , no rhythm accompaniment and the keyboard split at Middle C. That means that notes above this will be sounded one at a time,, notes below can be pi ayed as chords of u p to seven notes. This is known as the poly/mono keyboard split. The 46 voices cover a wide range of sounds. You can choose from brass, trumpet, strings, organs, flute, oboe or clarinet if your tastes are classical. For modern music, there is 'funky electric bass’, electric organ and three elec- tric pianos. DIY rhythm can be supplied by snare drum, steel drum, timpani or plain percus- sion. More unusual instruments are provided too — harp, clavinet, koto, zitar, vib- ■'aphone and bell. There are Two standard Joystick ports are provided, above Rear 50-pln Interface Is, unfortunately, non-standard Power socket Is on back, top right, above phono sockets esc w CTf^i Sf- iU ' T M V»VA\V ^ Main keyboard Is reasonable without being an outstanding feature. A musical keyboard Is worth buying even some non-instrumental sounds, such as raindrops, bird chirping, train, ambulance and cow bells. You can alter the keyboard split to either reverse the poly and mono halves of the keyboard, or to give either entirely mono or entirely polyphonic sound. The only thing you can’t do is play with more than two different sounds. What you can do is add rhythm and bass accompani- ment, so your music can have percussion, solo bass and rhythm chords accompanying it. There are six preset rhythms. Solo bass accompaniment gives you a choice of six instruments — two bass, guitar, horn, brass and flute. ‘You can subtly alter the nature of the sound, the length of the notes overlap, tonal brilliance and so on’ The last four are also the options for chord accompani- ment. Solo bass accompaniment is automatic and goes with the rhythm. Chord bass also goes with the rhythm, but the chord playeddependson which ofthe fourteen lowest keyboard notes is pressed. This restricts the number of keys you can use for normal playing. Accompaniment can have its tempo raised or lowered, volume adjusted and you can opt for minor, seventh or minor seventh chord accompani- ment. So, with the FM Sound Synth- esiser you can make very sophisticated music with a minimum of effort. You can have a playingsequence saved as you play it, and replayed with you adding live keyboard accompaniment. You can save performances to tape, and reload them (this is a slow business, so use long tapes). And , when you get more experi- ence, you can subtly alter the nature ofthe sound, the length of the notes overlap, tonal brilliance and so on. In short, you can do an awful lot, musically, with the FM Sound Synthesiser. The YK-01 keyboard is fine for the home musician. It spans nearly four octaves, is 55cm long and can be played quite comfortably on the knees. The keys are smaller than those of a normal piano, and you may want to invest in the larger YK-10 keyboard if you plan to play a great deal. Once you get used to playing the thing, you may wantto start writingyour own compositions. For that you’ll need the FM Music Composer cartridge, and a printer so you can print out musical scores. The latest versions ofthe programs work with Epson-compatible prin- ters as well as MSX printers. The composer stores up to 8239 items of data (less if you are using sounds you have made up yourself). You can write in up to eight parts, using up to eight sounds, and easily edit scores when they have been entered. Composer is a bit like a word processor for musicians. Notes can be entered either by keyboard , by menu or played in. To make the most of the program though, you’ll have to study a lengthy manual. A knowledge of musical terms will certainly make some ofthe more arcane points clearer. The first steps are easy enough. Selects part, a music- al key and a time signature. Two staves are shown on the screen, one treble, one bass. Below that is a menu, with note and other options, and below that the part number, bar number and memory left. A command line shows your input. Inputting scores is a tedious business until you get used to it. You have to select the length of note, down to a hemidemisemiquaver (l/64th note). You then select the position onthe stave by moving the cursor up or down, using alphanumeric keys or playing the note on the musical keyboard. If you are entering notes of different lengths, you’ll have to go back to the menu to alter the length. Similarly, if you want to enter flats, sharps, naturals, ties, triplets, dots, rests or com- pound notes, it is again back to the menu. Using the musical keyboard is the easiest way to enter notes, but it is not quite as simpleasplaying a melodyand watching it appear on the screen. When it comes to editing a score, the Yamaha program comes into its own. Use the i nsert, delete and backspacing keys to amend or correct your music. You can clear an entire part or voice with a few key- strokes, overwrite wrong pas- sages and copy bars to other sections ofthe score. In addition to conventional note entering, the program allowsthe full range of musical marginalia to be used. You can alter the dynamics from very soft (ppp) to very loud (fff). Individual notes can be accented, or passages grad- ually made to increase or decrease in volume, to give crescendos or decrescendos. Musical tempo can be ad- justed, notes extended or sus- tain added. You can alter the way a note sounds too, by altering its voiced and un- voiced length. Vibrato and tremolo can be adjusted, the volume of each part set to a different value and parts fine tuned or transposed on the musical scale by up to 24 semitones. What's more, you can make very subtle changes in these factors too, allowing far greater control than even the most accomplished musi- cian could achieve. To make the most of this program, you'll need to know a crotchet from a quaver, and take the time to learn its features. Master it and you'll easily be able to write very complex scores. Even if you aren’t experienced, it is an excellent way to learn about music in the comfort of your own home. The voicing program (YRM- 102) is to generate your own sounds, and a must if you like playing around with noises. To use it, you'll have to learn about howYamaha's FM sound generation system works and ^pend plenty of time ex- jDerimenting. fc Up to 48 new voices can be generated. The keyboard will give the voice you are working on and a comparison voice. • • « 1 % « ♦ ^ X • m m * « • « A » * • • Ik • * « » • • « « « • # *■ ♦ i \ t t A. < f ♦ 1 > > ♦ : tc ♦ > « • • « ♦ « .O' Jfx '' # # # w * ♦ V > « % » > r ^ « « • p * p m * V This Is what the FM Sound Synthesizer looks like from underneath Data can be printed out, saved to cassette, swapped with other data and copied. You can alter all the parameters in the voice, once you understand how sounds are constructed. On screen you are presented with all relevant voice data. The manual gives a good idea of how to proceed and a few sample noises to program for yourself. But the real value of this program only comes when you start playing around for yourself. It is not a program for the average home musician; it is more suited to synthesizer players who want to experi- ment with new sounds. The DX-7 Voicing Program is very similar but uses the facili- ties and sounds of the DX-7 synthesizer for the sounds generated. The main differ- ence is that the DX-7 has six sound generators, compared to the four of the CX-5M. The fourth cartridge is of great interest to BASIC pro- grammers. The FM Music Mac- ro adds no less than 36 new commands to MSX BASIC, allowingthefacilitiesofthe FM synthesizer to be used in BASIC programs. LIKES Musical facilities Cartridge programs MIDI interface The program takes nearly 9K of RAM. It allows you to write programs using any four of the voices in the synthesizer, plus a percussion part. Sound can be output through the MIDI interface. The commands are all pre- fixed by CALL or _ and the lengthy manual explains them quite clearly. There is a certain similarity between the FM Music Macro and the normal sound commands of MSX BASIC, but the Music Macro can do so much more, and is easier to work with. You can pick and choose instruments at random, generate your own rhythm, fine tune pitch and volume, play sections of a track, list the available voices and even output a synchronis- ing signal to a cassette re- corder. For non-musical purposes, there are three commands that Extra interfaces for the synth — keyboard plug, MIDI DIN plugs and two phone sockets for stereo output enable you to load to and from data cartridges, if you have a second cartridge installed. You can of course combine the Music Macro commands with normal BASIC, and this means DISLIKES Single cartridge port 32K RAM BASIC documentation you can combine music and graphics, or build super sound effects into games. Unfortu- nately, you won't be able to run these commands on compu- ters without the FM Music Macro. The only problem is that because the program uses the interrupt routines from both the computer and the synth unit, keyboard scanning is slower than normal. You have to be very deliberate in enter- ing programs. It is all too easy to press a key and not have it register — an annoyingfeature ofthe program. This aside, it is a wonderful utility for BASIC programmers. Verdict As you may have gathered, we liked the CX-5M. As an MSX computer, It has a few short- comings, but as a synthesizer for the home or even the studio. It is a super instrument. The programs are worth invest- ing in too, though which ones will depend on your interests. There Is no direct competi- tion to the CX-5M and the price means It is likely only to appeal to those with a keen interest in music, if that sounds like you, you’ll like the sound of the Yamaha, and find It a good computer as well. YAMAHA CX-5M £449 SPECIFICATION 1 CPU Z-80A equivalent (3.6MHz clock) MEMORY RAM ROM VIDEO RAM KEYBOARD TYPE KEYS 32K 32K MSX BASIC 16K NUMERIC KEYPAD Full travel 48 Alphanumeric 25 control keys Cursor keypad No VIDEO DISPLAY EXPANSION BUS CARTRIDGE PORT PRINTER SERIAL PORT CASSEHE OTHER RESET DIMENSIONS WEIGHT POWER SUPPLY FINISH One 1 1 X Centronics No 8-pin DIN Keyboard socket No 422 X 207 X 68mm (W X D X H) 2.7kg External transformer TEXT GRAPHICS COLOURS SPRITES OUTPUT 40 characters x 24 lines Maximum resolution 256 X 192 pixels 16 32 TV Monitor SOUND GENERATOR OUTPUTS 3 channels with 8 octave range Mono audio output 2 X stereo . phono jacks 2 X MIDI DIN sockets INTERFACFS JOYSTICKS 2 Atari standard Light/dark grey case, dark grey keys with white lettering SOFTWARE INCLUDED FM Music Synthesiser SUPPLIED ACCESSORIES 1 video cable 1 cassette interface cable 2 instruction manuals DISTRIBUTOR Yamaha-Kemble Music (UK) Ltd, Mount Avenue, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MKl IJE Tel: (0908) 71771 YOUR No 1 NSK CENTRE SYSTEM Now with a 3 year guarantee and FREE Software Starter Pack maaiaw A MITSUBISHI SERIES ML Model HC-7GB — £275.00 SONY HIT^BIT 1 £299.95 PANASONIC CF-2700 ML-F48 — £245.00 ML-F80 — £299.00 with FREE ROM cartridge £279.00 BUY FROM THE EXPERTS WITH CONFIDENCE TAVISTOCK HI-FI LTD 21 THE BROADWAY, BEDFORD MK20 2TL Tel: Bedford (0234) 56323 SOFTWARE PACKS New software arriving daily ^ — ask for our full list KUMA KONAMI SKYJAGUAR £16.95 DRILLER TANKS £8.95 SUPERCOBRA £16.95 KINGSVALET £16.95 BINARY LAND £8.95 COMICBAKERY £16.95 ELECTRIC ERICS THE FLOATERS ; £5.95 HYPER SPORTS! £1695 SHARK HUNTER £8.95 DOGFIGHTER £695 HYPEROLYMPICI £1695 NORSEMAN £8.95 HYPERVIPER E7.95 HYPEROLYMPICII £16.95 BUZZ OFF £7.95 COCO IN THE CASTLE £6.95 ANTARCTICADVENTURE ZAXXON £11-95 CRIBBAGE £5.95 £16.95 BUCK ROGERS £11.95 HOLDFAST £5.95 ATHLETIC LAND ae.95 LEMANS £9.95 HOME BUDGET £14.95 MONKEY ACADEMY £16.95 THEWRECK £9.95 DATABASE £19.95 CIRCUSCHARLIE £16.95 BACKGAMMON £9.95 ZEN MACHINE CODE £19.95 TIMEPILOT £16.95 P.S.S. KUMAFORTH £39.95 TENNIS £1695 LES FLICS £7.95 COMMUNICATIONS WITH YIEAIKUNGFU £16.95 MAXIMA £7 95 VIEWDATA £19.95 MOPI RANGER £16.95 CHAMP £1295 TOSHIBA HX-10 COMPUTER HX-P570 PLOTTER PRINTER HPX-5500 PRINTER KPT22 CASSETTE RECORDER HXJ400 JOYSTICKS SOFTWARE STARTER PACK (5 GAMES) SPECIAL PRICE" PRICE LIST JVC £239.95 £249.00 £399.95 £29.95 £12.95 £30.00 SONY HIT BIT COMPUTER £299.95 HBD50 MICRO FLOPPY DISK UNIT £349.95 JS 55 JOYSTICKS £19.95 TCM737 DATA RECORDER £39.95 PRN/C41 PLOTTER PRINTER £249.95 HC-7GB COMPUTER HC-R105 DATA RECORDER HC-J61 5 JOYSTICKS SANYO MPC 100 COMPUTER MLT 001 LIGHT PEN DR202 DATA RECORDER MJY002 JOYSTICKS DR101 CASSETTE RECORDER £275.00 £89.95 £12.95 £299.95 £89.95 £44.95 £12.95 £34.95 NATIONAL PANASONIC CF2700 with free ROM cartridge £279.00 MITSUBISHI ML-F48 COMPUTER ML-F80 COMPUTER £24500 £299.00 ORDER TOTAL £ 1 All prices include VAT and post and packing. All items include a full year guarantee. Products are stocked and usually despatched within 10 days Overseas customers add £4 post and packing. Cheques Postal Order, etc., payable to TAVISTOCK HI-FI LTD. Telephone orders (0234) 56323. Please debit my Access Barclay card Card Number Signature Name. Address L WMSX 4/85 Wetakealookatthe cream of the latest MSXsoftware. uite a crop of quality Isoftware has been re- leased since the last What we have reviewed here is the cream of the crop and it shows that MSX owners now have a wide variety of excellent games, utilities and educational software to choose from. We’ve chosen Manic Miner, an exciting and addictive arcade game to be our star game. Our games represent the best adventures, classic and traditional games current- ly available. In addition we have reviewed a BASIC tuto- rial. All the programs are rated out often and the screen shots should give you an idea of what the game looks like. Manic Miner by Software Projects Manic Miner is a classic in every sense of the word. Brain- child of Matthew Smith, it first saw the light of day in October 1983. Since then it has never been out of the best seller charts. Now, aftera conversion by Cameron Else, it can be played on MSX computers. You control MinerWilly as he explores a series of 20 caverns deep below suburban Surbi- ton. Each cavern hasa series of platforms and obstacles, a collection of various and humorous nasties plus a num- ber of keys or other objects that must be collected. After loading, the pictures- que title screen details the various controls. A selection of keys or a joystick can be used. For some reason, cursor con- trol keys are not used. The movements are simple enough — left, right and leap. There is a game pause facility, a quit feature and the volume of the sound effects can be altered. Do nothing at this stage and the game will go into a demon- stration mode, showing off each of the twenty screens in turn. Use the wait facility to examine them in detail, for they are most amusing. Each screen has a name, such as Eugene’s Lair, Wacky Amoebatrons or Return of the Alien Kong Beast. The title gives some idea of the nasties in store. Matthew Smith certai niy has a perverse imagination. You’ve heard the phrase ‘sweet six- teen'. The sixteenth screen has marauding sugar bowls and sugar cubes to collect. In the Attack of the Mutant Tele- phones, you havetocollectten pence pieces. The two Kong screens have bananas scat- tered around. Another screen has predatory pacmen, another has snapping lavatory bowls. Other foes include kan- garoos, teddy bears, pen- guins, ducks and eyes. In the Skylab Landing Bay, you have to avoid falling skylabs. Such things add mightily to Manic Miner. Besides the moving things, you also have to work out a safe path to collect all the objects. Hampering you are collapsing or moving platforms. In addi- tion, you only have a certain time limit, indicated by an air supply line below the screen, f You get points for every object collected and the time it takes to clear a screen. 10,000 points gains you an extra life. You start with three lives. The opening screen has a very fair rendition of the Blue Danube accompanying it. Dur- ing the game, the tune changes to Peer Gynt's Hall of the Mountain King, plus the sound of your movements. The graphics are excellent. Sprites are detailed and col- ourful. Movement is smooth and sprite collision accurate. An additional attraction is that it is not impossible to get some success in Manic Miner. There is enough of a challenge to keep you absorbed for months, trying to get through all the screens in the fastest possible time. But even begin- ners should be able to master a few screens. Manic Miner is a worthy top game. If you haven't already got it, buy it tomorrow. Tennis by Konami II Snowman byQuicksilva d 9 I Wimbledon was never as exciting as Konami’s new ten- nis game. We are hooked and guarantee that you will be too. Three tennis game vari- ations and three speed levels are available: a singles match with you pitting your skill against a computer-controlled opponent: a game against another player and doubles with you and a partner playing the computer. The tennis court is pictured on screen with one end reced- ing into the distance. The umpire sits on the familiar high chair calling out decisions — LET, IN, OUT, FAULT and no arguing allowed! The players are women and so you only play three sets. The score board at the back of the court automatically records all scores. Using either a joystick or keyboard to control the game you really do get the feeling that you are playing tennis. You improve dramatically with practice and soon you find yourself hitting lobs, volleys and crafty corner shots. The players on court look amazingly realistic and even Jump up and down while wait- ing for a serve. A black shadow accompanies the ball giving you some idea of the ball’s position, height and speed. Konami’s Tennis is exciting, very entertaining and a real challenge. It’s indoor tennis at its best. The Snowman is a platform game based on the children’s book written by Raymond Briggs. Therearefourstagesto it, each getting more difficult. The aim is to build a snowman bycollectingsnowflakes. Once he is built his eyes, scarf and other bits have to be collected. That takes two more stages. When he is complete, you must stop him from melting by collecting six ice cubes. Throughout the game food such as turkey and Christmas pudding must be eaten to stay a I ive . A bar at the bottom of the screen shows how much en- ergy remains. Run out of food and you lose one of your three lives. Care has to be taken in case the little man falls off. If this happensan angel appearswith a bed onto which he falls. All through the game there are of course enemies. For example little gas flames try to melt the snow which you need to build your snowman. An ice lolly or alarm clock gives you 20 seconds in which the gas flames cannot melt your snow or the boy can hang under- neath the platform until the enemies pass over you . The Snowman has a typical Christmas theme to it, with Christmas carols playing and snow falling continuously. If you like a challenge then you will love this game. A r 1 L 1 I i w Disc Warrior Billed as an arcade adven- ture, Disc Warrior is a rather different game from what we usually see. It is you against a massive computer complex, and your task is to destroy the master central processing unit. On the screen you get an almostthree dimensional view of part of the playing area, with a gridded floor and plenty of colourful detail. You move a white man around with either the Joystick or cursor control keys. Your attacking weapons are discs that boomerang back to you. An area sensor shows nearby attackers — robot dogs, androids and floating spheres. Damage is also done bvAlligata by force fields and electric floor panels. A bar below the screen shows how much ener- gy you have left. Besides staying alive, you have to collect various objects to help you in your mission. These include keys, a bomb, energy cells and rubber boots. Getting from one area of the maze to another is by either walking, teleporting or using a travel disc. With good graphics and sound and a massive maze to explore, Disc Warrior will keep you wandering away for ages. Mapping will help you reach your goal, but we can guaran- tee you’ll find Disc Warrior a match for your skills. Chuckle Egg by A&F Software ' 1 1 7 i A k. W One of the most popular platform games has been Chuckle Egg. This MSX version is every bit as good as the original. It is a platform game in which the object is to collect a dozen golden eggs scattered around the screen. Platforms are link- ed by ladders and elevators. Your little man can move left, right or Jump. Making life difficult for you are wandering blue birds. Con- tact with one is lethal. Sotoo is not completing a screen within a given time limit. You have five lives to play with. Loading is quick and reli- able. Ajoystick or user defined keys can be used and from one to four people can play. Po i nts a re ga i ned f 0 r CO 1 1 act- ing eggs, piles of corn and completing each screen. As with most platform games, each screen needs a particular route. There are eight separate screens, with an additional yellow duck on the second round, more blue birds and faster action. All in all there are 256 screens to complete. The graphics are made of only a few different elements. Movement is smooth and over- lap problems not too notice- able. Collision detection is accurate too. The sounds con- sist of an introductory tune, walking noises and pickup noises. Chuckie Egg is a most ad- dictive game and a cl .^lisic of its type. You’ll spend weeks trying to master its many stages to get ever higher scores. Hunchback by Ocean Software Mr Wong's Loopy Laundry by Artie Computing Laundry days w this. Mr Wong, the Chinese laundryman, is trying to gather his laundry. But there’s a maniacal iron, deadly soap sudsandanevilsackof laundry after him. It all sounds ludi- crous but it makes an excel lent platform game. Menus at the start let you select one or two players, loud, low or no sound and joystick or cursor key control. The Chinaman continues in his current direction unless you alter it. You aren’t totally defence- less. Firing gives off a burst of starch that temporarily im- mobilises the foe. Starch sup- plies are limited, and if you run out, you'll need to rush and get a refill. You have three lives at the start. Laundry is picked up by passing over it and carried to the laundry chute. There are six items of clothing per screen. You get points for each item collected and a time bonus for finishing the screen quickly. A high score feature keeps track of your best efforts. Graphics are excellent. A spinning washing machine adds to the effect. Sound is a continuous Ragtime melody that is decidedly catchy. All this makes Mr Wong's Loopy Laundry one of the better, and wackier, platform games we have seen. m 7 ' 1 1 Hunchback hasall the ingre- dients for a really good fairy- tale: the beautiful damsel in distress and the ugly admirer anxious to prove his love by rescuing her. Quasimodo, dressed up in a bright apple green outfit, starts off the game by bound- ing along besides the castle wall to the tune of Teddy Bears’ Picnic. The task in hand is to negotiate 14 walls and rescue the helpless female. Burning cannon balls roll towards Quasimodo in the first screen and every time he completes a wall and rings a bell he gets an enormous amount of points. If Quasimo- do manages to complete five walls and collect five bells without losing one of his three lives he gets a super bonus. A time limit on each wall is provided by a guard dressed up in chainmail. Heclimbsupthe wall at the beginning of each screen and stabs the hunch- back in the back. Fiendish obstacles on the walls include burning fireballs, arrows flying through the air as well as guards sticking spears up through gaps in the wall. In the higher levels everything happens at once. The game will only operate with a Joystick, but should appeal to all ages. It's a great game. by Kuma Computers II Spacewalk by Mastertronic Iga the overlord has plans to conquer the entire country using his Ninja assassins and first on the hit list is the Kogan castle. Your role in the game is to control one of these Ninja assassins, suitably outfitted in a red romper suit and armed with Syurikens (star shaped knives). The action is divided be- tween three locations: the outside, the inside and the top of the castle. As well as his knives, the Ninja has one other aide — Makimonocs or magic- al scrolls that lie around the castle and appear and dis- appear at random. If opened, the scrolls endow you with magical powers. The magic disappears very quickly, but while it lasts it is very effective for fighting off the castle defenders. The castle guards are a pretty efficient bunch and you will have to be extremely quick to dodge the spiked cannon balls, knives and various types of ammunition they throw at you while you're trying to chuck knives back. Negotiating the first two levels was difficult but pos- sible. The top of the castle is another matter! The sound and graphic effects i n N i nj a a re good . but a few more castle locations would have enhanced the game. From the look of Spacewalk, you'd be excused forthinking it costs far more than £1.99. Value is a keynote. Spacewalk has you control- ling a spaceman whose task is to collect falling satellites and return them to a spaceship. Various obstacles moving across the screen must be either avoided or destroyed, and the satellite must be reached before it touches the ground. It’s a simple enough idea. Control is by either joystick or cursor control keys. The space bar/fire button serves another function besides blasting things — it lets you grab the spinning satellite. Current and high scores are shown at the top of the screen. You can choose either to try and get through as many screens as you can (there are sixteen in all), or amass a high score by simply picking up the satellite and then holding it as you blast away at obstacles. Four lives are available, though if the satellite crashes, the game comes to an untimely end. Sound and graphics are fair. The sprites are a bit samey, screen after screen, and the obstacles not very varied. They do pose a challenge though. Action is at a leisurely pace, with firing slower than you might like. For £1.99, this is a bargain game but itwon’tgivethe same amount of entertainment as a good, normal price game. Cubit CASS: £7.95 by IVIr Micro ( L 6 Cubit, a sort of three-dimen- sional noughts and crosses, offers confirmed arcade game addicts the chance to pit their mental skills rather than their reflexes against the computer. The game’s action takes place on four coloured grids which line themselves up on top of each other on screen. Each grid contains sixteen squares in a four by four formation. You are given the chance to play against the computer, a formidable opponent, or a friend and you can choose to go either first or second. The aim in this game of devious cunning is to place four counters in a straight line either horizonta I ly , vertica I ly or diagonally on the grids before the opponent does. If you are playing the computer you're going to need some sort of brilliant strategy because it alwaysseems to win especially with the vertical lines, as they are d ifficult to see on the grids. Either the keyboard or a joystick will move the counters round the board and every move is accompanied by high pitched bleeping sounds. The lucky victor's winning line is covered with white countersand I WIN, YOU WIN or A WINNER isannounced on the screen. The computer can be beaten and once you've worked outthe magic strategy, the game loses its charm. But until then Cubit is fun and extremely addictive. 737 Flight Simulator Written by a real 737 pilot, this simulator strives for authenticity beyond all else. The result is a program that is understandably complex, and provides a great challenge to budding aviators. A lengthy manual guidesyou through the theory of flying and the controls. You'll need to study it, as there are 22 controls to master. Joystick is an option. You can start at take-off, mid-flight or landing stages. Engine volume can be ad- justed, and an input beep enabled. You can also alterthe stall speed, wind direction, choose night flying or even design your own airfield. The display is of aircraft instru- ments, some analog, some byMirrorsoft digital. On take-off and landing the airstrip is visible. At other times you see a map of the airfield. Take-off is quite simple. So is flying around. In fact these activities are pretty boring, accompanied as they are by only the drone of simulated engines. Landing is the tricky part, as you have to get the right approach speed, rate of descent and .centre on the runway. Audible alarms warn of danger. Function keys are used to good effect, though one criti- cism is that response times to key commands are very slow. As simulators go, this one is certainly realistic. ' 6 • CASS: £9.95 All the best thrillers have a chase along the top of a speeding train. Stop the Ex- press brings that excitement to MSX computers. A man is dropped by heli- copter onto the top of the speeding ITA Express. He has to run up to the front of the tra i n within a given time limit. He can jump the gap between carriages, move fonvards or backwards and lie down. Lying down is essential if he is to avoid low railway signals and knives thrown by pursuing bandits. Bandits emerge from car- riages in pairs and chase the hero. He can run fast, duck or turn around and attempt to karate kick them off the train. He can also grab a ‘snake bird' as it flies past, drop it behind him and leave it to see off the bandits. If he falls off or is caught, he tumbles ignomi- niouslytothe ground in a heap. You’ve three men to play with. The sound effects revolve around the sound of a train. Graphics are colourful and chunky, in the Japanese style. Mastering the game takes some doing. Fortunately events occur in the same pattern each time you play, so experience is a good teacher. However, once you get the knack, the game does lose some of its initial challenge. Sparkie CART: £18 by Sony 7 i Sparkie, a bright red bomb with a long fuse, is treading a dangerous path as he wanders round a lime green maze inhabited by little fires and sparks. Your task is to guide Sparkie round each of the four maze formations using either a joy- stick or keyboard, incinerating everything in sight with his laser gun. On the first level there are three fires in the maze. From these emerge little baby sparks which chase Soarkie round the corridors lighting his tail on contact. Once the fuse starts to sizzle the only way Sparkie can save himself is to douse it in a bucket of water very quickly. If he’s too late it’s curtains for Sparkie. He has three opportunities to save himself. Occasionally part of the wall starts to glow red and orange signalling the arrival of a lighter. Bumping into one of these is fatal and Sparkie explodes with a resounding boom. Other deadly fiery ene- mies include mobile pink and purple flames. Sparkie moves round accompanied by high pitched tink tink sounds and, once he has negotiated the increasing- ly difficult four levels, he goes back to the slightly faster first maze. It's a great gj.*me — fast, exciting and very, very addic- tive to play. Jet Set Willy by Software Projects r L 8 1 Manic Willy is reaping the profits and has provided him- self with a mansion and a retinue of fun loving friends. His troubles start when Marie, his Italian house- keeper, finally rebels after yet another of his wild parties. The unruly guests have left bottles and glasses all over the house and she won't let him go to bed until he’s cleared every last one. She stands in front of the bedroom tapping her foot just in case he tries to sneak in! You have the task of gu i d i ng Willy round the house collect- ing the empties. It sounds simple . . . but believe us it's not! Each room is filled with vicious ordinary household objects such as revolving chainsaws, and these kill Willy on contact. He starts off in the bath- room, but his travels are not confined to the house. Loca- tions include the Banyan Tree, and the Nightmare room where Willy turns into a flying pig! All the items he collects are totted upon the bottom of the screen . Software Projects have incorporated a clever anti- piracy device using random colour codes and a compli- cated colour chart. The combinations of humour, the number of loca- tions and sheer deviousness of the game help to make it a brilliantly original and addic- tive game. Backgammon Playing the computer at any board game involving a bit more skill than luck is a challenge because the com- puter never makes mistakes. A demonstration mode takes the first time player through the motions and the accompanying booklet sets out the rules of the game clearly and efficiently. The Backgammon board appearing on the screen is placed with the two inner compartments at the bottom. You play with the red coun- ters and to decide who goes first the computer rolls a red andbluedice. Ifthe blue dice’s number is higher, then the computer moves first. Red and blue labels at the by Electric Software side of the screen represent you and the computer. Under- neath these are two three d igit numbers. The upper one indi- cates the number the player needs to throw to move off the board. You have the option to play a set of up to 64 games. Electric Software have added some realistic touches tothisgamesuch as a doubling dice. If you land on an oppo- nents unguarded piece it is automatically placed in the middle. Thisversion of Backgammon is a faithful representation of the game and will give a Backgammon addict hours of pleasure. 1 ^ OOO \ t ^ Ot 8 1 ) CASS: £8.95 Superchess Superchess isn't one of the most sophisticated chess programs on the market, but it is an adequate MSX version. Seven levels of play difficul- ty are offered. The first five levels cater for the absolute beginners to the most dedi- cated players. Thetime ittakes for the computer to respond with a move varies from about three seconds in the first level to thirty minutes in the fifth level. The chess board is squashed onto one side of the screen and is a bit too small. The chess pieces are relatively well de- fined but are occasionally diffi- cult to identify due to their diminutive size. All moves made are recorded by Kuma Computers on the left hand side of the screen. Moves are made by typing in the co-ordinates and, if an impossible move is made, the program indicates this with ILLEGAL MOVE. CHECK or CHECK MATE are also shown. If you are really stuck you can either ask the computer to move for you or ask it to recommend one. In the Analy- se mode, the entire game can be transformed. Castling can be carried out in this'mode. Superchess gives the player a good game. It is simple to operate, butasthe computer is sucha logicallyaccurateoppo- nent, the only way you will win is to use a well thought out strategy. i f CASS; £6.95 Les Flics CASS: £7.95 byPSS X 7 f i Most arcade games give you a clear idea of your task and how to achieve it. Les Flics, based on the Pink Panther adventures, tells you only that you must recover the Purple Puma diamond. All the charac- ters you might expect to find are there — Inspector Clouseau and Kaolin the Chef, policemen and cars. Life starts in a small town. You drive to one of nine buildings, avoiding police cars en route. Enter a building and you find floors linked by stairs, ladders or elevators. Various objects such as daggers, food, money and so on are scattered about. Pressing the space bar or fire button picks them up. Then you have to figure out how to use them. To get some objects, you'll need others, and you'll need everything to get the diamond. On top of that you must keep energy up by eating food, as well as keep pursuers at bay. Points are scored for stop- ping policemen and collecting objects. You have three livesto play with. Graphics are restricted by the small size of the pieces, but colourful and varied. Sound is varied too, with police sirens, motors, walking noises and so forth . The game demon- strates if not played and has a pause facility. Les FI ics needs arcade skills and some planning to master. Onceyou getthe hangof howto play, it’s a real challenge. Special Operations by Lothlorien Snowball CASS; £9.95 by Level 9 Computing 1 L 9 1 Adventure game fans will know the reputation Level 9 games have. Snowball is a science fiction adventure with, believe it or not, over 7000 locations to explore. You play the role of Kim Kimberley. It's your task to save the mammoth starship Snowball 9. Todoso you'll have to solve countless puzzles and extricate yourself from many a tricky situation. This is a text only adventure — pictures would take up valuable memory. Location de- scriptions are detailed, so there's plenty for your imagin- ation to work 0 n . There's p I e nty of humour too. Inventing 7000 locations is some achievement. To be fair, many are described in identi- cal terms and there's no need to visit every location. Once you get past some vicious nightingales it is com- forting to learn that there are few vicious creatures around. You can survive quite easily. It is getting to other parts of the adventure that poses the prob- lem. Everything you find has a use, but you'll need plenty of imagination to divine the use. The game vocabulary is some 200 words, with the usual game save, restore and quit options. Handling of com- mands is very rapid indeed, thanks to some clever Machine Code programming. All in all, adventure games with a liking for science fiction plots will find Snowball hard to beat, and equally hard to solve. Described as a ‘graphics adventure wargame'. Special Operations has you in charge of a group of commandoes, trying to sabotage an Ad- vanced Weapons Research Centre. It will keep strategists amused for hours. There are three scenarios to explore — a forest, a com- pound and the complex itself. You move around these fields of play, exploring, finding use- ful objects or clues and fight- ing off patrolling guards. The game has seven goals, from the relatively easy to the downright impossible. You choose your goal and the time you need to achieve it. You then select a group of four companions, each skilled in two different areas. Skills as d i verse as those of an actor, a forger or a sniper. With the right team, you explore the forest, its lakes, mines, pits and houses on a square map. Combat takes place on a larger scale map, man to man. Discover the compound and you'll have to work out how to get into it. At the end of the mission, you have to get back to a waiting aeroplane. The graphics are blocklike and colourful. Little sound is used. There's no need to hurry either, as nothing happens until you key in a command. This odd mix of adventure and strategy is certainly worth trying. 1 7 f i Let’s Go MSX Learning to program in BASIC is notthe easiest task in the world. Here's a set of four programs that will certainly help you on your way. The tutorials are based around four programs — a simple cashplan, a book cata- logue, a recipe finder and some simple mathematical games. More than tuition is on offer. Each lesson f ol lows a s i m i I a r pattern. Key BASIC words can be listed and definitions sum- moned. A menu allows you to select different areas of the program, orto run the practical part of the program. Being written in BASIC, load- ing is a lengthy business, and responses can be slow. A broad range of MSX BASIC bySoftCat is covered. Subjects include variables, printing, arithmetic, graphics, text handling, sound, data and debugging programs. Each command is explained atsome length. A section of the program using the command may be shown too. Function keys execute all commands. At any stage you can call upthe main menu, the glossary of terms, continue or go back to the preceding screen. It is a very user friendly program. The demonstration pro- grams are in the main useful. If you wanted to learn BASIC, this quartet of programs will cer- tainly help you on your way. ' 1 L 7 CASS: £9.95 Dungeon Adventure CASS: £9.95 by Level 9 Computing _ 9 1 The story so far . . . demon Lord is dead and his vast store of treasures is still tucked away unguarded in the Northern BlackTowerjustwait- ing for a person like yourself to go and rescue it. Sounds a fairly simple task, but unfortunately you wake up by a river, hours later, cold, damp and unarmed. Now your troubles really begin! Levels, in keeping with their excellent adventure standards have created a totally gripping, and at times extremely annoy- ing adventure game. Your imagination and inventiveness are tested to the full as you wander through the nooks and crannies of the Demon Lord's old hideout. To succeed with your quest you will have to retain a sense of humour because time and time again you'll find yourself attacked by globs of carnivor- ous Jelly, armed skeletons and other ghoulish nasties. As you wander around you come across seemingly in- nocuous objects and creatures such as grotesque bloated yellow birds with big ears, sickeningly cute octopii and corpses. Most of these things do have a purpose and if used correctly will help solve clues. Don't expect to solve this adventure in a day. It will take weeks even months to com- plete. The demon Lord has been Jolly crafty guarding his treasures and you'll need both luck and ingenuity to collect the objects. TOSHIBA available from; JOHN REES HI-FI Please ring for full details: 2 HIGH STREET EAST GRINSTEAD, SUSSEX Telephone: 0342 27787 TOSHIBA A COMPUTER OF TODAY. AND TOMORROW. The M5X from Toshiba is the very latest in Home Computer technology. It's a totally compatible system which accepts any MSX software programs in existence today and to be developed in the future. You can discover tomorrow's Home Computer technology today at Stuart Westmoreland. Stuart uestmoreland TOMORROW'S SOUND & VISION TECHNaOGY- TOCAY OERBTs HINCKUY: OAKHAMs 67 St. Peters Street. Tel: 367546. 56 Castle Street. Tel: 637605. 2 High Street. Tel: 55600, GRANTHAM: LOUGHBOROUGH : MELTON MOWBRAY: 49 High Street. Tel: 78108. 33 Cattle Market. Tel: 230465. 9-10 Cheapside. Tel: 64741. Fora free demonstration of the Toshiba HX-IO come aiong to: BRADFORD ELECTRICALS 98 HIGH STREET, EDENBRIDGE KENT Tel: (0732) 863153 or 862255 Come and try out the HX-10 at A. F. SMITH & SONS LTD 2 STAR HILL ROCHESTER, KENT Tel: (0634)45184 JATALA ELECTRONICS 488-490 CHISWICK HIGH ROAD LONDON W4 Tel: 01-995 8535 Stockists of computer software and accessories Come and see the HX^IO at JACKSONS 9 HARTFIELD ROAD FOREST ROW SUSSEX Tel: (034282) 2885 For ait your MSX requirements in Bristot contact HOOPER & SONS 26 SANDY PARK ROAD BRISLINGTON, BRISTOL Tel: 0272 775759 in Worcestershire THE REVOLUTIONARY HOME COMPUTER! ELECTRONICS TOSHIBA HX-10 64k ROM, 16 colour graphics, RF video and audio connectors, plus ports for printer, disk drive and data recorder Main stockists of Toshiba and many accessories and software J & H RUSSELL (Kidderminster Ltd) 21 -22 Coventry Street, Kidderminster, Worcestershire Tel : (0562) 2686 THE CENTRE FOR St? Specialists in software and associated peripherals TOSHIBA 48 Linby Road, Hucknall, Notts. Tel: 0602 640377 MSX COMPUTING TOSHIBA MSX .vwvsvvv ■ ^HXIO MSX Computer ^140E 14" Colour T.V. ^ Sanyo Data Recorder ^HXJ400 Joystick ic 3 Pieces of software ALL STOCK SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY. PRICES CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS ‘T'T T T \ I I I 11 1 I I r 1 11 1 T I 1 1 1 y ( i \\-. — ■■L_i 'iSSl * Instant Credit up to £1,000 Apr. 34.2% 76 ILFORD LANE. ILFORD, ESSEX Open 9-6 Mon to Sat 9-8 Friday TaI- 01478 1307 01553 2587 vrsA GOLDSTAR FC-M Goldstar’s rear holds the usual array of sockets and plugs. Note the old fashioned 50 pin expansion bus and the Centronics printer port The sprung flap protecting the cartridge port resets the Goldstar A lthough the Goldstar com- pany, producers of the Goldstar FC-200 are not as familiar to us as some of the other MSX manufacturers such as Yamaha, Toshiba and Canon, they are a huge and well established Korean com- pany. They specialise in electrical goods such as fridges, freez- ers and hi-fi and 1984's annual profits come close to seven billion dollars. The company's influence and importance in Korean is such that their con- tribution to the Korean eco- nomy makes up about 10 to 20 per cent of the countries gross national product! With such an impressive sales record at home it was surely only a matter of time before Goldstar started pro- ducing home computers. The obvious design to use was the established MSX standard already accepted by many of the giant Japanese corpora- tions — Sony, Sanyo and Mitsubishi to namea few. Asan added bonus the development costs would be kept to an absolute minimum since someone else had done all the hardwork! All Goldstar had to do was pay a licence fee and build the computers. Unlike mostoftheotherMSX computers in Britain, the FC- 200 is not sold in this country by its original manufacturers, but by Microdealer, a British distribution company. When they heard that Goldstar were planning to manufacture MSX machines, they flew over to Korea and expressed keen interest in selling Goldstar’s computer to the British. Most of the Japanese com- panies have developed peripherals such as Joysticks, printers and disk drives as well as software for their machi nes. Goldstar decided not to follow suit at least for the British market. They reckoned that Britain's own peripheral and software manufacturers would be much better qualified to know what the public in their own country wanted. The FC-200's most out- standing feature is of course its present £199 price tag. It has always been the least expensive MSX computer and over Christmas the price was lowered from the original £239 to the current £199. It’s an incredibly low price, when you consider that the Sony and Sanyo MSX computers are still retailing at £300 and on paper have virtually the same fea- tures as the Goldstar. However, prices are falling in Japan too and a Goldstar spokesman confidently ex- pected that we would soon see MSX prices around £150, albeit at the cost of the user memory. For instance a Casio MSX computer is currently selling for £80 in Tokyo, although itonlyhas4Kmemory and a calculator-type mem- brane keyboard. Another important factor in future price reductions is integrating the chips. Kay Nishi, founder of ASCII Micro- soft, revealed in December 1984 thatthey were workingon a VLSI (Very Large Scale In- tegration) chips for the MSX. So, by summer 1985 we may see a 1 1 the MSX's sel I ing at very competitive prices because one large chip is less expen- sive to make and install then several small ones! That's for the future. At the moment, the British public stil I demands a 64K machine such as the FC-200. Although the Goldstar may lack the panache and dash of some of the other more expensive MSX compu- ters, is that enough to Justify the wide price difference be- tween the Goldstar and MSX computers costing £100 more? Dudley Langmead, Micro- dealer’s Director of Opera- tions, confessed that when they first announced the price they were rather worried about the difference between the price of their machine and the other MSX's. Like many other people they wondered whether it could be anything to do with inferior quality. We have inspected the FC- 200 carefullytosee if quality is significantly different from the more expensive models, or even the Toshiba which, at £239, is the nearest competi- tor in terms of price. But consider some of the other possible reasons for the price tag. A significant factor is that the Goldstar company is not part of the Japanese MSX industry, which, while develop- ing and advertising the MSX standard, spent enormous amounts of money and is still recovering the costs. Korean labour costs are much lower than those in Japan and the American dollar is playing its part in keeping Japanese machine prices up. These reasons are reinforced by the fact that Dai Woo, another Korean company, will be re- leasing the Network NW200 in spring for £199, exactly the same price as the Goldstar. Accompanying the FC-200 are two cables: the RF and cassette cables, two manuals: operating and MSX BASIC and two cassettes: a demonstra- tion tape and Hoovermania, a game from PSS. While subtle good looks are definitely not the Goldstar’s best feature, it certainly isn't unpleasant to look at. It is one of the larger MSX models with a two tone grey casing. The corners are nicely rounded and although the paint finish was starting to wear off on our model, that was no doubt because it has been in con- stant daily use for the past four months. Four rubbery feet are enough to prevent it slipping all over a shiny desk surface. There are 73 keys altogether, 48 alphanumeric, 21 control keys and the four cursor keys. The FC-200 wins ‘the most colourful MSX’ prize with the number of colours it has incorporated into the keyboard. The alphanumeric keys are off-white with black Two Joystick ports and the cassette port are positioned on the right side lettering and the function keys are dark grey with white let- tering. The cursor keys are bright blue and occupy a large area to the left of the alphanumeric keys, easily within reach of the typist's fingers. Although not ideal for games playing due to their relatively small size they are adequate. The STOP key is bright red and the CODE and GRAPH keys are both vivid green. The colour coding is useful especially when programming and anyone unfamiliar with a keyboard will find the colouring a useful feature. Newcomers find it so easy to press the wrong keys yielding irritating time consuming mistakes. Not content with the col- oured keys, Goldstar have also incorporated some useful red and green LED lights to indi- cate when a function is in operation. For instance, a red light indicates when the com- puter is on. The keyboard slopes down and although the keys feel spongy and click loudly when pressed you soon get used to them. The keys are in the familiarQWERTYconfiguration and are excellent for word processing as they have a slightly rough surface prevent- ing fingers from slipping off. A lotofthought has gone into the design of the keyboard. Apart from colouring certain vital keys, the function keys are situated along the top and easily accessed when prog- ramming or playing games that use them. Some aspects of the key- board could be improved. Fora start there is no £ sign, but there is a $ sign! Come on Goldstar, everyone knows that the British use pound notes not dollars! There is a blank key on the lower right hand corner of the keyboard and if this is pressed with the GRAPH, CODE and CONTROL keys European ac- cents will appear on screen. The RETURN key is too smal I . On some of the MSX’s, the RETURN key is the dominant feature as it is important for programming, word proces- sing and playing some games with. On the FC-200 it's the same size as the SHIFT and function keys. The ‘-I-' sign, an important one for program- mers is thoughtlessly placed in upper case mode. It would have made more sense to have swopped itwith a less vital sign situated in a lower case posi- tion. A RESET key would have been useful, but if you press the cartridge flap in, the machine resets itself. We found this out to our cost when we accidently pressed the flap with a day's worth of word processing on the screen! (Re- setting it causes the title screen to appear and all pre- vious information in the user RAM to disappear.) Despite a few criticisms, the FC-200 keyboard is functional a nd j ust as good as some of the more expensive machines. The back of the computer holds the usual array of ports and sockets plus an interest- ing extra, a little plastic plug through which a new fuse can be fitted without opening the machine up. Goingfrom right to I eft at the back, the first interface is the 50 pin expansion bus. Although it has the same numberofpinsasthe cartridge slot, cartridges won't fit into it. Most of the add ons using the 50 pin interface are fitted with cartridge-type connectors in- cluding the Sony HBD-50 disk- drive, the Sanyo lightpen and all the memory extending RAM packs. None of these would fit into the 50 pin expansion bus. If a user wanted to expand hisFC-200'smemoryaswellas use the lightpen he or she would be at a loss because there aren't enough compati- ble expansion slots! Most other companies have sensibly dispensed with the old- fashioned expansion bus and recent micros have two cart- ridge ports. Next to the expansion bus are three phono sockets; video, audio and RF. If you are intending to purchase a moni- tor, it is worth remembering that the FC-200 will only send signals to a composite video (PAL) monitor and not an RGB monitor. Another point to keep in mind is that if you intend to use a monitor with a BNC socket you will have to pur- chase a separate cable be- cause only the RF cable, suit- able for most televisions is included with the FC-200. Panasonic are the only firm to date to include the BNC cables with their computers. Next to the RF socket is the Centronics printer port, the fuse plug, an ON/OFF rocker switch and last but not least the permanently attached power cable. On the right side of the computer is an 8 pin DIN cassette port plus two joystick sockets, an essential require- ment if you plan to use the computer for games, as some of them have a two player facility. All of these interfaces are clearly labelled so even the most absent minded person wouldfindifdifficuittoplugthe wrong cable in. Above the keyboard panel is the cartridge slot complete with sprung flap protecting the insides from potentially damaging dust and other foreign bodies. By the side is a lightpen holder, a deep hole for the pen to slot into. Unfortu- nately when we tried the Sanyo lightpen, the qnly one avail- able in Britain at the moment, it was quite difficult to operate. We asked Goldstar what the problem was and were told that it seemed to be because the Sanyo’s cartridge connector didn't quite fit properly into the FC-200’s cartridge slot. This could be due to a piece of plastic sticking out, but if you wantto use a I ightpen with your Goldstar, it might be a good idea to check whether the machine you are buying will work with the pen. So much for the interfaces. The FC-200 has everything the others have plus a few extras. Maybe the insides hold some clue to the low price. It is well held together with six screws. The computer’s innards are all neatly arranged on PCBs and held securely to the base with more screws. The largest PCB holds all the main chips including the Z80 CPU, video and sound chips. After a hard days word pro- cessing, the FC-200 tends to get extremely hot despite the grills liberally sprinkled on and under the computer. The operating manual accompanying the computer is a detailed and interesting booklet full of cartoons and illustrations, it assumes that the buyer is a first time user and explains everything: from connecting the various peripherals, monitors and data recorder, the rudiments of programming in MSX BASIC and the functions of all the keys. The other manual on MSX BASIC explains what the main language specifications for MSX BASIC are and goes into details about the main com- mand statements and func- tions of the language. The accessories supplied Hoovermania, the token piece of games software is not world shattering, but it is a playable maze game involving a hoover, broomsticks and rubbish. Toshiba and Mitsu- bishi are starting a welcome LIKES Low price Coloured keys Usable keyboard trend by including high quality software with their computers. For instance Toshiba includes three games worth £20 with their HX-10. With competition like that, Microdealer might have to consider including more software with their machine! Squares, circles and various geometric designs in red, blue and yellow are d isplayed on the demonstration tape together with some of the machines specifications. So far we have failed to find anything to explain the Gold- star's seemingly unrealistic price. What about the sound and graphics. Well we’ve play- ed dozens of games on both cassette and cartridge and DISLIKES Plasticy feel Return key Expansion bus have never noticed any differ- ence between their perform- ances on the FC-200 and that on any of the pricier MSX's. Both the graphics and sound capabilities of MSX are excel- lent and games like Antarctic Adventure from Kona mi fully demonstrate these qualities. Apart from testing the Gold- star with numerous games we have used joysticks of every description and none of them have ever failed to work. We’ve used countless data recorders to both load and save pro- grams, and again we can report no failures. Even the Sony disk drive, the HBD-50, worked smoothly. We couldn't find any inferior operational qualities to explain why it is the lowest priced MSX in Britain. As Dudley Langmead told us, the Goldstar FC-200 is not attempting to win any 'Comp- The keyboard Is perfect for word processing. Programming Is aided by colour-coded keys and LED lights uter Design of the Year’ awards, but sets out only to fulfil the basic MSX require- ments as cheaply and effi- ciently as possible. We think it does! The more expensive MSX’s, the Sony, Sanyo, Canon and so on, although cosmetically su- perior cannot claim technical superiority. At£225, the 32K Mitsubishi is more expensive than the Goldstar although it has less user memory, but does include £40 worth of software which gives it an effective price below that of the Goldstar. But it does have its restrictions. For exam- ple it won’t load The Hobbit (an adventure game using up a lot of memory). Goldstar’s nearesttrue com- petitor is the Toshiba HX-10 which at£239togetherwith its £20 of software is Just behind the FC-200 especially as it is verysimilar inappearance. The Network, when it is released will alsobeastrongcompetitor as it is the same price. If they decide to include decent soft- ware, Goldstar will have to act quickly as otherwise they may find themselves usurped from their advantagous position. Only massive price cuts by Japanese rivals will threaten the Goldstar, and it may then get cheaper in response. Verdict As a family computer which is going to get knocked around, have tea and biscuit crumbs dropped down it (we know it stands up to this ultimate test from experi- ence!) the emphasis is on value for money and durability and you will find no better bargain than the Goldstar FC-200. IH G0LDS1AR FC-200 £199 SPECIFICATION CPU Z-80A equivalent (3.6MHz clock) MEMORY RAM 64K ROM 32K MSX BASIC VIDEO RAM 16K KEYBOARD TYPE Full travel KEYS 48 Alphanumeric 21 control keys Keypad cursor control NUMERIC KEYPAD No VIDEO DISPUY TEXT 40 characters x 24 lines GRAPHICS Maximum resolution 256 X 192 pixel COLOURS 16 SPRITES 32 OUTPUT TV Monitor CARTRIDGE PORT 2 PRINTER 1 X Centronics SERIAL PORT No CASSEHE 8-pin DIN RESET No DIMENSIONS 400 X 260 X 63 (WxDxH) WEIGHT 4 7kg POWER SUPPLY Internal, captive mains lead FINISH Two-tone grey plastic case, off-white keys with black lettering. Colour cursor, stop, code and graph keys SOFTWARE INCLUDED 1 Vacuumania game demonstration program SOUND GENERATOR 3 channel with 8 octave range OUTPUTS Mono audio output (RCA phono) 150mV/10k0hm Standard INTERFACES JOYSTICKS 2 Atari standard EXPANSION BUS 1 SUPPLIED ACCESSORIES 1 RF cable 1 cassette cable Operating manual MSX Basic manual DISTRIBUTOR Microdealer UK) Ltd 29 Burrowfields Welwyn Garden City Herts AL7 4SS Tel: (07073) 28181 IW* -1* , I I I I I I I I I I I 1 ( i I i I I I I 1 1 v\ .s.' IVlicro Yamaha manufacture probably the most successful range of electronic musical instruments in the world. Their new CX5M Music Computer is no exception. The CX5M is a fully-fledged MSX micro-computer offering the exciting advantages of its breed; an ever- growing array of standardised software, 16-colour graphics, cassette and printer interfaces, twin joystick ports and expansion slot. But that’s not all. Inside the CX5 is a polyphonic, programmable FM Digital synthesiser that can be played with its own music keyboard or, via its industry-standard MIDI port, control a network of compatible musical equipment. In 1984 Yamaha’s DX Series FM Synthesizers revolu- tionised the voice of music synthesis with their stunning reproduction of natural and electronic sounds. Now the CX5 gives you that same musical fidelity simply by hooking-up through your TV monitor or Hi-Fi system. For the first time a computer is a real musical instrument. Yamaha also offer a number of music-based software ROMs. Music Macro for instance is designed specifically for the computer hobbyist. It enables you to access the CX5’s superb FM sounds from MSX BASIC and from this, program games and AV sequences using music and sound effects. Or try the FM Music Composer Program which pro- vides an on-screen musical stave for fully expressive, computer assisted composition and arrangement. So when you’ve completed your modern-day answer to Beethoven’s piano concerto... you could always start cataloguing your record collection, work out your home accounts and discover why you have that overdraft at the bank, or even just sit back and play the latest arcade game! V See and hear the CX5M only at the following Yamaha Hi-T ech Centres, musical Yamaha CX5M - Outline Features CPU - Z80A; 32K ROM; 32K RAM; 16K VRAM 16-colour graphics MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) Programmable FM voice generator (46-voice, 8- octave, 8-note poly) Music keyboard split & swap - voice and mono poly) 8-voice multi-timbral Built-in real-time performance recorder Auto-accompaniment with rhythm Yamaha Software ROMs; FM Music Macro FM Music Composer FM Voicing Program DX7 Voicing Program (Coming Soon) RX Rhythm Editor 4-track Real TTme Sequencer Price: From £534rrp (CX5M -i- YKOl music keyboard) YKIO music keyboard (full-size keys) also available Yamaha CX5M - Hearing is believing Yamaha CX5M - ‘Hearing is Believing FREE Demonstration tape. Fill in the London Rod Argent's Keyboards, 20 Denmark St, WC2. Chappell of Bond Street, 50 New Bond St, W1 Chromatix. Oak Rd, W5 Freedrrians,629 High Rd, Ell Future Music, 202 New Kings Rd, SW6 Gigsounds, 86-88 Mitcham Lane, SW16 G'gsounds, 22 Rushey Green, SE6 London Rock Shop, 26 Chalk Farm Rd, NWl Rose-Morns, 11 Denmark St WC2 Soho Soundhouse, 18a' Soho Sq, W1 Syco Systems, 20 Conduit PI, W2 Addlestone: ABC Music, 14/16 High St Barnet; ESS, 230 High St Belfast; Baird Sound Systems, 208 York St Bingley: ,JSG Music, 104 Mam St Birmingham; Jones & Crossland, 6 Smallbrook Queensway Musical Exchange, 89 Old Snow Hill Blackburn; Reidy's, 9-13 Penny St B ournemouth; Eddie Moors Music, 679 Christchurch Rd, Bristol; Bristol Guitar Workshop, 157 St Michael’s Hill London Rock Shop, 7 Union St. Cambridge; Cambridge Rock, 8 Burleigh St Cardiff; Musicland, 148-154 North Rd, Chelmsford: Future Music, 10 Baddow Rd. C olchester: Axe Music, 96 High St Croydon: Rockbottom, 74 London Rd. Derby: Derby Organ Centre 62 Babbmgton Lane 0 unfermline: Sound Control, Elgin St Eastbourne; Peter Bonner, 12a Grove Rd. Edinburgh: James Grant 53 Home St Exeter: City Music, 4 Stn. Cres, Queen st. fleet: Kingfisher Music, 20 Kings Rd. Glasgow: James Grant 404 Byres Rd, G12 McCormacks 29-33 Bath Street G2 Guildford; Andertons, 91 Haydon Place. Hadleigh (Essex): Honky Tonk, 300 London Rd. Harrow: City Music, 14a Broadwalk Heald Green (Cheshire): Sounds Great 182 Wilmsiow Rd. Ipswich: Axe Music, 41-3 St Nicholas St Leicester: Carlsbro’, 22-32 Humberstone Rd. Liverpool: Frank Hessy, 62 Stanley St. Maidstone: Sharon Music, 65 High St Mansfield: Carlsbro', 182 Chesterfield Rd. Nth. Middlesbrough: Guitarzan & Bongo Bill 23/27 Middlesbrough Road Milton Keynes: Chappell of Bond St, Silbury Boulevard. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Rock Oty, 10 Moseley St Norwich: Carlsbro', 2 Sovereign Way, Anglia Sq. Nottingham: Carlsbro’, 11-13 Hockley Peterborough: Stix, 603 Lincoln Rd Plymouth: City Music, 29-31 Eastlake St Portsmouth: Future Music, 104-106 Elm Grove, Southsea Romford: Music Village (BAJ) 10 High Rd. Chadwell Heath Sheffield: Carlsbro’, 720 City Rd. Slough: ABC Music, 324 Farnham Rd Southampton: Future Music, 85 St Mary's St Sunderland: White Sounds, 181 Hylton Rd. Swansea-. Picton Music, 9-15 Arcade. Torquay: City Music. 65 Market St Truro: (jity Music, 8 Pyder St. Warrington: Dawsons Music, 65 Sankey St Wolverhampton: 0 ie Way Music, 100 School St Listing correct at time of going to press and subject to change MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS • MCXJNT AVENUE. 0LETCHLEY, MILTON KEYNES. BUCKS. MK1 1 JE « (090B) 640202 24hr Ansaphooe (0908) 649222 Please send me full details about the Yamaha CX5M Music Computer and your FREE demonstration tape. Name Address DEPT WMSX/4/85 Yamaha-Kemble Music (UK) Ltd, Mount Avenue, Bletchley, Milton IV/ILZI 1 1C” How does MSX compare to five leading non-MSX rivals? We’ve been finding out L et nobody accuse us of being blinkered by MSX. Only the most fanatical MSX advocate would believe that MSX computers were what the world has been waiting for. There are many well estab- lished micros out there and MSX computers will have to stand up to some stiff competi- tion. That’s exactly what we’ve been doing — pitting a top MSX computer against five non- MSX machines. It is the ulti- mate test for an MSX micro, as it is vying with computers that any potential purchaser will also be considering. In the MSX corner we have the £300 Sony HitBit HB-75B. It is currentlythe best specified MSX computer, though one of the most expensive. Leading the others is the new, £130 Sinclair ZX Spectrum +, an upgrade of the best-selling ZX Spectrum. At around the same price is the junior Acorn com- puter, the Electron. A little more expensive, at £199, is another best seller, the Com- modore 64. Next up is the Memotech MTX 512, a £275 computer that has found favour with enthusiasts. Final- ly we have the Amstrad CPC 464, the price of £349 includ- ing a colour monitor and a cassette recorder. The MSX computer is up against some tough competition indeed. For the person after a home computer, such a range of machines presents a baffling choice. Price is one considera- tion. Specifications are another. They vary consider- ably between the six rivals, though all are adequate for most home micro uses, and have at least 32K of memory. There’s the BASIC peculiar to each micro to consider too, as each uses a different dialect. Then there’s the software and peripherals available, the documentation supplied with the computer, the perform- ance, reliability and so much more. Choosing a computer is no easy task. In the end it is impossible to say that one computer is, without qualification, better than all the rest. Each micro has certain strengths, each has some weaknesses. Our conclusions are at the end. SONY HITBIT HB-75B £300.001 Standardization is the key to MSX. Each maker uses the same basic ingredients, with possibiy a iittie extra some- thingto spice up the mixture, in the case of Sony, the iittie extra is a built-in suite of programs —an address file, a memo file and a simple card file. Inside the Sony is the proven Z80A microprocessor. The Microsoft MSX BASIC occupies 32K of the 64K memory. A separate 16K video chip takes care of the graphics, leaving some 28K for user programs. Sound consists of three tone channels and one noise chan- nel, ouyputthrough an external speaker. The actual machine is big- gish, due mainly to the internal transformer. In addition to the 18 alphanumeric, full travel keys, there is a large cursor keypad, five dual function keys, 17 other control keys and a red reset button. An on-off button completes the top plate. Interfacing to the outside wald is easy. There are two nine pin joystick ports for games players. Two 50 pin ports take cartridges, for in- stant program loading, or accessories such as disk drives. There is an RF output, for sending sound and video signals to a TV, a DIN audio/ video socket, an RGB socket for a monitor plus a cassette port. The printer interface is a parallel Centronics device. Two manuals are supplied with the Hitbit, along with cassette and RF cables. No software other than the bui It- in suite is supplied. That soft- ware has no documentation, but is very user friendly and needs only a data cassette to be fully functional. Compatability is the main strength of theSony. Itwilltake any MSX peripheral or soft- ware. MSX BASIC is an adv- anced language too, with full interrupt commands so that Joysticks, paddles, sprite colli- sions and soon can be incorpo- rated into BASIC programs. There is a fu 1 1 screen editor too, to help correct programs more easily. Thanks to the video chip, graphics are excellent. 32 sprites can be used, in any of 16 colours. There are four screen modes, with a max- imum resolution of 256 x 192 pixels. Text is 40 characters per line, 24 lines per screen. The Sony has more features than most MSX micros, is well engineeered and certainly pro- ving popular. |SI IW ;uiR SI ’EC TRUP HI + £130i00 1 Starting with the ZX80, Sinc- iair computers, more than any others, have made home com- puting as popular as it is today, these British designed micros have won tremendous acclaim and popularity. The Spectrum ■+■ Is the latest mod- el. It’s a cosmetically updated version of the Spectrum. Like the MSX micros, the Spectrum + has a Z80A mic- roprocessor at its heart. The BASIC is stored in 16K of ROM and there is 41K of free memory for user programs. There is neither a separate video chip, nor a separate sound chip. Sinclair BASIC is idiosyncra- tic. Only one keypress is needed to enter a complete command work, and program lines are automatically check- ed for syntax errors before they are accepted. The keys also provide 16 simple graphics characters. 21 user defined characters and 22 colour codes. This means that each key has to serve up to six functions, and learning to use the Spectrum keyboard can take some time if you are used to a normal keyboard. The keys themselves look rather smart but they have been known to come adrift from the computer and merely cover the membrane keypad of the original Spectrum. There are 40 alphanumeric keys, separated cursor control keys and 13 other control keys. This is on a body that is just 337 x 147mm. A separate transfor- mer keeps the size down. There are eight colours available for graphics, usable as border, paper or ink. Max- imum resolution is 256 x 176 pixels, with the bonus of not needing to steal program memory to get high resolution. Text is 24 lines of 32 charac- ters. Video output is to TV only. The Spectrum -I- has its own speaker built in, but there is only one sound channel. There are sockets for connecting a cassette recorder and a single expansion port, but there is no joystick port. Two fold down legs tilt the keyboard forwards slightly. The number of Spectrums sold has established a col- ossal base of software and peripherals for the Spectrum + . The -I- , with a better keyboard and with the price including a pack of six prog- rams (chess, scrabble, a word processor, computer graphics and two games) and a demo cassette, make it an attractive first time buy. The number of Spectrums sold bears out that cost. I ACORN ELECTRON Acorn made their fortune by winning a iucrative BBC con- tract and having their BBC computer adopted by schoois. The Eiectron is a cutdown version of the BBC, at around haif the price. The beige plastic case fea- tures a full travel keyboard. Inside is a 6502 processor, an alternative to the Z80A. The BASIC is stored in 32K of ROM and there's 32K of memory for programs, in theory. In prac- tice, screen displays eat up a sizeable chunk of memory, and the free memory is at best, 21K, at worst, 9K. There are no separate ICs for sound or graphics. Acorn BASIC has a healthy reputation. Some of the sound commands are redundant, as the Electron is not as well endowed in this area as the BBC, but the two dialects are identical. Like the Spectrum -I-, single key entry is available, though commands can be typed in normally if you wish. Acorn BASIC also has an ex- tremely useful PROCedure facility, so you can build prog- rams from small blocks. Add to that a full assembler, for the writing of Machine Code prog- rams, many other commands to call machine functions and you have an excellent lan- guage. The keyboard has 42 alpha- numeric keys, a cluster of cursor keys and ten other control keys. Numeric keys doubled up as function keys. There's no on/off switch. Graphic modes enable very high resolution indeed — up to 640 X 256 pixels at the highest resolution, though with only two colours. Up to eight colours are available in lower resolution modes, while in text modes, you can get 32 lines of 80 characters. Fea- tures like this explain the limited user memory. There's only one sound channel , and a built-in speaker emits it. Other interfaces are limited to a DIN cassette socket, an RGB port, audio and video jacks and a 50 pin connector. To connect Joys- ticks, printers, cartridges, modems and so forth, you’ll need to buy an expansion unit Plenty of goodies come with the Electron. There's the sepa- rate power adaptor, an RF lead, a book called ‘Starting Prog- ramming With The Electron' and an introductory cassette of simple games. A fine BASIC is the main strength of the Electron. For computing students, it merits much consideration. On a worldwide basis, Com- modore can claim to be the best known producer of home computers. The 64 Is the mainstay of their range and rivals the Spectrum in sales. A multitude of software and peripherals has been pro- duced for It too. The main processor is the 6510, again eight bit and a development of the 6502. Total memory is64K, with 38K available for programs. Graphics are handled by the Commodore exclusive VIC-11 chip, and there is another special chip, known as SID, to handle the sound. The 64's keyboard consists of 37 alphanumeric keys, four programmable function keys and 15 othercontrol keys. They are all full travel. The alpha- numeric key have graphics functions too. Two keys control cursor movement, after a fashion. A separate power adaptor keeps size down, though the chocolatey brown Commodore is chunky looking computer. It comes with an RF lead and a manual in the box. Commodore's BASIC is pret- ty atrocious, compared to what else is available. To control the sound and graphics, compli- cated POKE commands must be used. They take plenty of getting used to. What BASIC commands there are can be entered in an abbreviated form, thus speeding up prog- ram entry. Sound and visuals are excel- lent, thanks to the custom chips. Sound is output to an external speaker. It has three tone and one noise channel, giving an excellent range of sounds indeed. The graphics are good too, with 16 colours, up to eight sprites, all without stealing from program memory. The Commodore has many ports. Two Joysticks can be connected directly. TV or hifi can be connected too. To load cassette programs you'll need Commodore's own cassette recorder, as the recording method is different. For prin- ters there is a serial port; there's a user port for other peripherals and a cartridge slot for cartridge software. In its standard form, the Commodore is a fabulous games computer. The BASIC makes it less suitable fa programming. But for running custom software, the Com- modore 64 is an excellent proposition. Memotech are a British com- pany who started iife making accessories for eariy Sinciair computers. The MTX 512 is their first computer and it is aimed very much at the enthu- siast. The emphasis is on specifications and expanda- bility. The first noticeable feature is that the 512 is in an aluminium case of consider- able size and weight, even with aseparate powersupplyunit. It is a 64K machine that can be expanded up to 512K. Built in is a Machine Code Assembler/ Disassembler and a special language called Noddy. The central processor is our old friend, the Zilog Z80A. There's 24K ROM for the BASIC and 64Kfor BASIC programs, in all graphics modes. That's because there is a separate 16K video chip handling the graphics, as in the MSX com- puters. ByplugginginnewRAM chips, memory can be upped to 512K, a prodigious amount for a home computer. The keyboard has 79 metal, full travel keys. There is no single key or abbreviated com- mand method for entering programs. A bank of eight function keys is on the right of the keyboard, alongside a separate numeric keypad. This incorporates four cursor con- trol keys. The BASIC is good. Special commands allow up to eight 'windows' to be created, easy graphics routines to be con- structed and the usual prog- ram structures. Noddy is a unique language that makes text handling programs much easierto write. The Assembler/ Disassembler is for Machine Code programming while a Front Panel utility allows machine registers to be viewed or adjusted (for Machine Code programming). Graphics and sound capabi- lities are similar to those of the MSX and Commodore. Max- imum resolution is 256 x 192 pixels, with up to 32 sprites in 16 colours. Text is 24 lines of 40 characte. s. The sound has three tone and one noise channel, output externally. There are interfaces galore on the MTX. There are ports for two Joysticks, two RS232 de- vices, a parallel printer, cas- sette player, TV, a monitor, hifi and more. Besides the power supply and a very comprehen- sive manual, two games, a demo program, a blank tape and a head cleaner are sup- plied. On paper, the MTX512 is well worth its not inconsider- able cost. AWSTRAD CPC464 £349.00l Amstrad have made their reputation in the mass market hifi fieid, offering superb vaiue for money, weii specified pro- ducts. The first Amstrad com- puter is no exception to this mie. The price is as high as it is because you get not only a 64K computer, but also a built-in data recorder and a colour monitor. With monitorscosting at least a couple of hundred pounds, you can appreciate the value of the Amstrad pack- age. A dozen programs are thrown in for good measure. Themainprocessoris,yep, a Z80A. Basic takes up 32K of the 64K memory, but clever design leaves 42K for user programs. The cassette recor- der is non-detachable, the monitor a medium resolution model. The advantage of the bui It-in recorder is that cassette load- ing problems are very rare. The colour monitor gives a better image than a television, parti- cularly useful for avoiding eyestrain. The only add-on you might need is a Joystick, or two. There is a Centronics interface fora printer, a hifi output, RGB socket and an expansion port for disk drives and the like. Using another monitor is not possible unless you purchase a separate adaptor. The computer proper is made of plastic. Brightly col- oured keys adorn it. There are 47 alphanumeric keys, a sepa- rate numeric keypad, a cluster of cursor control keys and eleven other control keys, plus the cassette control keys. Dia- grams show how everything is connected together. Amstrad’s BASIC is pretty advanced. It has all you might expect, plus some useful com- mands for text or graphics windows, interrupt handling commands (to cause an action after a certain time), sound and graphics commands. Ev- erything is well documented too. Graphics are well up to scratch. The highest resolu- tion (two colour only) is 640 x 200 pixels, or 80 characters per screen line. There are 27 colours to choosefrom, though 16 is the maximum that can be used atonetime. Sprites aren’t provided. Sound is three tone and one noise channel, with a built-in speaker. Value for money is the main attribute of the Amstrad. At £239, with colour monitor, software and data recorder, it is proving a popular micro. it BE Al Ell^ AT Illy E 9rEliiiril#n.l IVIi9 Inside the Spectrum + Is the workings of the best-selling Sinclair Spectrum, based on the Z80A microprocessor Despite the apparently widely varying specifications, these six computers do have some things in common. They are all eight bit micros, using a Z80, 6502 or 6510 processor. All have a total memory of 64K or more, and 32Kor more RAM . They are all capable of being expanded considerably, and with the appropriate software could handle most game, home or small business re- quirements. In short, buy any one and you’ll have a real computer on your hands. Memory is the most impor- tant on board specification. It is divided into unerasableROM (Read Only Memory), holding the BASIC and operating sys- tem, and RAM (Random Access Memory) for programs. In addi- tion, the Memotech and MSX micros have separate 16K video chips. The Spectrum + ROM is the smallest, at just 16K. It has a non-Microsoft BASIC, so com- paring the standard of the BASIC on the basis of ROM size is a little misleading. The Commodore has a 20K ROM, and a much more limited BASIC. Memotech has a 24K BASIC while Amstrad, Acorn and MSX have 32K of BASIC in their ROM. When a program is running, memory is need for keeping track of variable, handling the graphics and so on. This can take quite a lot of the RAM that is, in theory, available. The Electron, though with a speci- fied 32K RAM, gives at best Just 21K for programs, and in the highest resolution mode, a meagre 9K. In MSX computers the 32K of BASIC overlays the RAM, with the result that just 28K is available for BASIC programs. For Machine Code, the available memory is 60K. Commodore has a similar overlap system, though the smaller BASIC means the 38K is available for BASIC. The other computers have discrete ROMs, enabling larger BASIC program areas. The Spectrum has 41K available, the Am- strad 42K and the Memotech an impressive 64K. With non- BASIC programs, their program areas are not increased. Don't be blinded by large numbers though. You can get very complex games or data- bases of considerable size in 20K. The amount of memory you'll need will depend on what you want to do with your micro — all the micros here have adequate memory for most requirements. If you want good graphics for commercially produced games, don't worry too much about graphics specifications. Software writers of any stature will use machine code, avoid- ing any limitations in the BASIC. If you write your own graphics routines in BASIC, the more colours the better. Sprites are a useful feature too. The Amstrad has the most colours, 27, the Electron the least — just eight. The others have 16 colours. Sound is more dependent on specifications. More channels will give better sounding games and music. The Spec- trum + and Electron do worst in the sound arena, with just one voice. A means of outputting the sound to an external speaker is an advantage too, as the inbuilt speakers of the Acorn, Amstrad and the Sinc- lair micros are pretty poor. When comparing specifica- tions, look too for what peripherals can be connected. The Electron and Sinclairwon’t take joysticks, for instance, without an adaptor that must be bought separately. In this area the Memotech and MSX computers score particularly well. Extras that come with the computers must be included in a comparison of specifica- tions. The Sinclair and Memotech have a selection of software supplied. The Am- strad has the colour monita and cassette player. The Sony has the memo/database firm- ware. Comparing specifications puts the Amstrad and Memotech computers in joint first place. The Electron and Spectrum -i- don't do so well, while the Commodore and Sony are par for the course. Amstrad CPC464 has a data recorder built In. Sony has a good cursor keypad, a reset button and an accent key much the same variety of sound. There’s a built-in speaker on the Amstrad. With the Sony, Commodore and Memotech micros, sound is through either a monitor or a separate amplifier. Programming different sounds is easiest on the Sony, thanks to the sub-language that is based on normal musical notation. The other machines have you inputting pitch and frequency numbers, a trial and error process at the best of times. On the Commod- ore, you'll have to use the BASIC sound commands which are very limited indeed, and a good knowledge of how the sound chip works is needed if you want to make pleasant noises. BASIC limitations fall by the wayside when you see and hear what is done in commercially produced software. Our screen shots show how the graphics compare. It is immediately obvious that sprites make for smoother, more realistic im- ages. High resolution can be an advantage, though the res- triction on colours is a limita- tion. In the sound and graphics area, MSX is a clear winner, particularly if you want to do your own programming. The Memotech comes close in specifications and the Com- modore would be an equal if it had a better BASIC. The high resolutions of the Acorn and Amstrad offerings are useful forcertain things, such as word processing, but it is worth remembering that an adaptor to give 80 column display on MSX micros is available. Comparing the graphics abiii- ties of the six rivals shows ali the machines to be well speci- fied, and each better in some areas than others. Much de- pends on whether you want to design your own graphics, or whether you want to leave that to professional programmers. Maximum screen resolution is one limitation. The Electron can show the most detail — 640 X 256 pixels, though that is with only two colours. The Amstrad does nearly as we 1 1 , at 640 X 200 pixels, though again with just two colours. Such abilities enable 80 col- umn text display, of use only if you are formatting for an 80 column printer. The Spectrum -1- shows the least detai I of the six rivals. On some of the computers, you have a choice of screen modes. This determines the detail that can be shown, how many colours can be used, what graphics can be used and so on. On the Electron there are seven modes. MSX and Memotech offer four modes, Amstrad has three. When it comes to the choice of colours, Amstrad comes out ahead. It has a range of 27 possible hues, though only 16 can be used at any one time. The other machines, bar the Electron, all manage 16 col- ours. Electron owners wi 1 1 have to make do with eight colours. Sprites (characters that can move freely around a screen) are a great aid to good graphics. Only the Sony, Memotech and Commodore machines have them. The Commodore allows up to eight independent sprites, MSX and will have the most hassle with graphics, due to the limita- tions of the BASIC. Sound comparisons see the Electron and Spectrum -i- bot- tom of the pile. They have only one voice and the sound is emitted from a tiny built-in speaker. The other micros have three tone channels and one noise channel, offering Acorn’s resolution Is very high, top, but MSX allows fine detail too MTX micros allow up to 32 sprites. Sprites are much easier to define on these machines too. The Sony even has built-in sprite collision detection, to make BASIC sprite programming easier. BASiC graphic commands are best on the Sony. It has a whole language for drawing graphics. Commodore owners Commodore’s keys are marked with graphic symbols Spectrum has a bullt-ln speaker While there are plenty of MSX home computers about, only Sanyo's MPC 100 can claim a heritage of years of experience and expertise. The kind of experience other systems can't simply be programmed with. The kind of PYnprtifsP that hpiis madp Sanvn one of the world's leading manufacturers of business micros. With a reputation for quality and, unlike t MSX competitors, a factory entirely devoted t( computer production. Thp MPC 100 fp:5fiirpc imnrpc One IS ough to match its pedigree. 64K memor>; }erb 16 colour graphics, and 3 channel/8 octave md Operable by joystick or light pen options, :h machine includes a bonus of two free pieces software. Most MSX manufacturers have vet to prove themselves in computers. Sanyo have been doing so for years. Which is worth remembering, or instead of solid rock, you could end up building your MSX business ® SANYO on sand SEE SAN YQ THEN DECIDE FOR FURTHER DETAILS CONTACT SANYO MARUBENI (UK) LTD.. SANYO HOUSE, OTTERSPOOL WAY, WATFORD, HERTS. TEL: WATFORD 46363. ASSOCIATE MEMBER OF RADIO. ELECTRICAL AND TELEVISION RETAILERS’ ASSOCIATION (RETRA) LTD. ON BASIC The BASIC language In all these micros bar the Spectrum + Is a dialect of Microsoft BASIC, written to the manufac- turer’s brief. BASICS vary be- cause machines have different strengths, different makers have different ideas about what makes a good BASIC and experience shows what fea- tures are likely to be most appealing. Sinclair have de- veloped their own BASIC, inde- pendently of Microsoft. When the dialects are com- pared, just 27 words are com- mon to all six languages. They are some scientific functions (SIN, EXP and ABS for inst- ance) , the most basic of BASIC words (RUN, GOSUB, PRINT, LIST and so on) plus a few miscellaneous terms (CHR$. LEN RESTORE). If you wanted to write a program that ran on all six computers, it would need to be pretty simple. If you want a structured program with graphics and sounds, you will need to familiarize yourself with each machine’s BASIC. Judged solely by the number of BASIC commands available, the Commodore is the pauper of the troop, with Just 63 instructions. Memotech and Sinclair BASICS havejust under a hundred commands. Acorn feature 126. MSX BASIC accepts 155 words, while top of the pile isAmstrad, with 159 separate commands. Of course there’s more to al I this than just the number of commands. The ideal BASIC would have easy to use graphic and sound commands, the ability to incorporate peripherals into BASIC prog- rams, simple access to the computer’s operating system and fast program execution times. The most common method of measuring the speed of different BASICS is through a system of benchmarks. These are eight short programs that make the computer execute a simple function many times. Thetimeto run each program is noted, and times can be com- pared. Slowcoach is the Sinclair, with an average time of 54.8sec. The Amstrad has the fastest BASIC, averaging just 14.6sec for the benchmarks. The Sony is on the slow side, at 44.4sec. Memotech and Acorn have faster BASICS, the Com- modore is middling. What this means to you, the user is that games or routines written in BASIC will be speedier on the Amstrad than on the Sinclair, given the most economical program struc- tures are used. Stick to Machine Code though and you’ll not find a slow BASIC a handicap. Machine Code op- erations are much, much fas- ter than BASIC equivalents. Efficient programs are built on efficient programming. Cer- tain BASIC command struc- tures make thisfar easier. FOR . . . NEXT and IF . . . THEN commands are in all six BASICS. So are GOSUB and GOTO commands. An ELSE extensions to the IF . . . THEN structure is available on all bar Sinclair and Memotech mic- ros. Acorn provide a REPEAT . . . UNTIL loop and a very useful PROCedure function. This a 1 1 ows you to write a program i n blocks, calling the blocks, or procedures, as they are needed. Amstrad provide a WHILE . . .WEND loop, a close relation to the REPEAT . . . UNTIL. Entry of programs is facili- tated by a shortening of com- mands. With Spectrum BASIC, a single key press is used to enter each command — once you get used to the system it is straightforward. On the Elec- tron you can use either a single keypress to enter a command, or type it in letter by letter. MSX computers have five dual-function keys with ten frequently used commands on tap. Their function can be easily changed so they could input a frequently used com- mand or command sequence. A good editor makes enter- ingand debugging BASIC prog- rams so much easier. MSX computers have far and away the best editor. You can amend any line, anywhere on the screen, insertingordeletingat the stroke of a key. Pressing RETURN enters the line or lines. The Sinclair system of checking each line before it is accepted is excellent too. Memotech allow one line to be edited at a time, with insertion and deletion. Incor- rect lines can’t be entered either, as on the Spectrum +. Memotech’s BASIC screen area Spectrum has single key entry of BASIC keywords. It takes getting used to When writing BASIC prog- rams, error messages can be vital. Most are pretty specific. The Acorn and Amstrad compu- ters print up not only the error message but also the erroneous line for you to cor- rect. Of course teaching you to use BASIC and the computer is the role of the documentation supplied with the machine. Standards vary widely. The Sony comes with two ringbound books. The first is a very simple, almost patronis- ing introduction to the compu- ter and BASIC. By the end you will have written some short programs and know the fun- damentals of the language. The second book examines each command in detail, plus the interface devices. It is a good combination. Sinclair supply a colourful Manuals for the six micros booklet that looks good and gives a thorough overview of Sinclair BASIC. Commodore’s manual is the least impress- ive, being dry and not easy going for the beginner. Memotech’s manual is stuf- fed full of technical informa- tion about the MTX computer and its components. The BASIC is dealt with rather sketchily, but the Noddy and Assembler packages are covered too. Amstrad have a good manual too, and it is more accessible to the newcomer. Acorn, with both a book and a manual, provide solid technical in- formation and a good introduc- tion to BASIC. Of course there are many books written for and about these six computers, so any deficiencies in the accom- paying documentation can be overcome, at a price. There are several BASIC fea- tures that will be welcomed by all programmers. The first of these is a facility to automati- cally generate line numbers. It is found on MSX, Memotech, Acorn and Amstrad micros, absent on Sinclair and Com- modore machines. A renumber facility, to renumber programs when they have been written and debugged, is a feature of the Sony MSX and Amstrad computers. To ease debug- ging, a trace facility is another useful aid. It records the path of a program, so errors can be more easily located. You’ll find this feature on MSX, Amstrad and Acorn micros. Whenyou’ve finished a prog- ram, itishandytoknowthatthe recording of it is uncorrupted. For that you’ll need a verify facility. Neitherthe Amstrad or Acorn micros have one. A AO KEYBOARD Acorn’s cursor keys are found on the top right of the keyboard Memotech has numeric keypad and a bankof function keys merge facility is another thing to look out for. With this, you conjoin two programs together in memory. MSX, Spectrum and Amstrad computers have this. Being eight bit computers, the range of integer numbers that can be handled by these micros is from -32767 to 32768. Outside that range exponential numbers are us^from 2.9 x 10“^® to 1.7 X 10^®. MSX micros can handle such numbers up to 14 accurate places; the competi- I tas manage only nine accu- ‘ rate places. MSX BASIC can be ordered to restrict accuracy to six significant figures, saving on memory. Decimal is the most used number base. Computers work in binary though, and if you had the Amstrad or Sony, you could work with binary numbers. These two a Iso you to work with hexadecimal (base 16) num- bers, and the Sony alone caters for octal (base eight) numbers. All six micros store number and string variables. The Spec- trum -1- and MTX micros lack integer variables, a more effi- cient means of storing smal- lish numbers. The Spectrum + also has no time variable. With the other computers, events can be programmed to occur at set times or intervals. Comparing the BASIC lan- guages shows that, speed aside, MSX BASIC is very well constructed. Commodore’s BASIC is the most restricting and Sinclair's has notable omissions. Memotech BASIC B let down on the mathematic- al side. Acorn and Amstrad I BASICS are both very good . Good BASIC and specifications are all very well, but an un- friendly computer with a poor keyboard can be a liability. Facilities such as cursor con- trol keys, reset buttons and so on can make a big, big differ- ence. The Sony is well equipped in this respect. It has an on/off button to save pulling plugs in and out of sockets. There is a red reset button , giving a warm start. To the right of the main keyboard is a cluster of large cursor control keys that are far better than any other cursor control keys in this group of micros. The all important return key is extra large and in the d isti nctive grey of other control keys. There are two shift keys, a caps lock facility and other keys so you can insert or delete characters easily. With the five programmable function keys and facilities such as automa- tic line generation, the Sony is particularly easy to write prog- rams on. Keys are slightly concave and have a firm, positive feel when pushed. Text entry with the Sony is a Joy and it is a product with a real feel to it. At the opposite end of the spectrum is the Spectrum -I-. This has the idiosyncraticsing- le key entry system, designed to make life very awkward for those not used to the system. Keys are marked with a Jumble of words, letters and shapes and no colours signal signifi- cant keys. The individual keys are scal- loped and a supported in such a way that larger keys have a very definite wobble. Keys can come adrift too. Pressing them gives a mushy sensation and the whole arrangement is rather sorry. Cursor control keys do exist next to a miniscule space bar. There is no on/off button, nor a power 0 n I i ght. A reset button is found under the side of the keyboard. Two legs raise the whole computer slightly to improve the angle of the keys, but anyone wanting a compu- ter for entry of programs or text won't find the Spectrum -i- very pleasant. Memotech's metal finish gives the MTX 512 a solid feel and it is blessed with all mannerof keys. On the far right are the eight function keys, though they are of little use unless you incorporate them into a program. The numeric keypad is fine for entry of large amounts of numeric data. It has cursor arrows marked on four keys, though this arrange- ment is not as good as a proper cursor keypad. No colours liven the keyboard and the return key is noteasyto locate. The numeric keys have control functions marked on them, helping prog- ram entry a little. There is no on/off switch on the body of the computer — a hassle if the power supply is out of reach. Text entry is quite pleasant. They keys have a firm feel to them. Program entry is not so good, as lines are entered at the bottom of the screen, and transferred to the upper part of the screen when the return key is pressed. Itcan make reading programs tricky. The overall impression of the Amstrad keyboard is a plasticy one. There are plenty of bright colours, a cluster of cursor control keys, a numeric keypad and the cassette recorder sec- tion. The unit is long and unwieldy because of this. Best features are an enor- mous return key, a power on light, well spaced keys and an on/off switch. The kit also has far fewer tra i I i n g wi res than the other computers, giving a tidier desktop. Against this, the keys have a cheap feel about them and rather too much bounce. Commodore’s keyboard is nicely angled and has function keys on the right. There's a power lamp, a large return key and the keys feel good. The four cursor keys are a Joke. Still, for word processing, the Commodore is well made. The Electron’s keyboard also has a ridiculous cluster of cursor control keys. It lacks a numeric keypad and other lux- uries, has no power switch and the keys rattle a I ittle too much . On the keyboard front then, Sony are out ahead, Amstrad, Memotech and Commodore are on a par and the Spectrum falls well behind. Sony’s keyboard has function keys and a solid feel that’s fine for typing 49 0 r • 'rsc rAO C fRL Q r • • • AJ • • • • ••••• r* •••••( iHirr • • ■ . •* *. •- • • • .* • • • • •*•* • • • • • * • • . • . • • • ' • • 4 • *•* 1 * • • •"•*«*•* £34995 TOSHIBA HXP550 DOT MATRIX PRINTER • •••••• LOOT • • • • • •••••• 9 • • • « 9 ••• 9 9 9 9 9 \%\ ♦ •••••• ♦ • • • • • • • • TOSHIBA MSX HOME COMPUTER Toshiba's MSX Computec the HX-IO. is a powerful home computer designed to satisfy the needs of the first time user: the computer enthusiast,, and businessman alike. * 64K Memory * 1 6 colours * 73 Full stroke keys ♦ Centronics printer interface ♦ RF and video connections ♦ Audio output connection * ROM cartridge slot * Cassette recorder interface * Twin joystick ports in efficiency Easy to use cartridges give instant programmes for *\X/ord processing * Mail shot * Spread sheet *Card index *Cash accounts TRACK DOWN THE TIGER SHOP IN YOUR TOWN or Contact TIGER Pennyfarthing Street, Salisbury Wiltshire SPl ILL Tel ; 0722 20411 SlSElU iThe Independent Group of Electrical Retailers sonmitE timt No prizes for guessing which computers come out tops when it comes to the matter of software. Both the Spectrum and Commodore 64 have be- come f irmiy established as the favourites with software wri- ters. The iarge number of Spectrum and Commodore owners is responsibie for that situation. The Spectrum + is by and large a games machine, and has an enormous variety of games available for it. What- ever your taste, there will be something. There is also plen- ty of more serious software, but the limitations of the keyboard meansthatthe Spec- trum -I- is not best suited to things such as word proces- sing. The Commodore 64 has attracted a host of entertaining and serious software, and is used for all sorts of applica- tions. One problem is that only a Commodore-compatible cassette recorder can be used for loading programs, and this means some extra expense. Loading times are on the long side too. Still, disk based software is available if you have a disk drive. ‘The Acorn Electron does, In theory, run most of the software written for the BBC computer’ For the other machines, Sony included, not nearly so much software is available. Software companies are un- willing to develop software for a machine that may not be available in large numbers. Without software, the compu- ter has less chance of suc- ceeding, and so less software is produced and so . . . Memotech have fallen foul of this. Most of their software is produced in-house and what there is is either old hat or not up to Spectrum and Commo- dore standards. This situation seems unlikely to improve. The Acorn Electron does, in theory, run most of the soft- ware written for the BBC com- puter. However, the 'Electron runs at a slower pace, so arcade games are not as fast. Matchpoint on MSX, Chequered Flag on Spectrum, Pothole Pete on Memotech, Manic Miner on Amstrad and Ghostbusters on Commodore The limited memory left when graphics are used is another problem too. Electron software is certainly around, but it is not in the same league as that of the big two. Amstrad's CPC 464 has got off the ground nicely and is attracting many software houses. Intimeitshouldhavea large library of titles available, both for games and for more seriousapplications. Thestan- dard is high too and the built-in cassette recorder means that cassette loading problems are rare. ‘The big software houses are aware of the importance of MSX and are busy converting titles’ MSX is the newest arrival on the computer scene, so it is only natural that software is still in relatively short supply. Even so, most of the big software houses are aware of the importance of MSX and busy converting best selling titles to run on the new machines. At the moment, the main emphasis is on game and educational software, as that is where most sales are made. MSX has two more factors in its favour too. The first is the ability to take cartridge-based software, loading instantly and every time. Cartridge software is independent of machine memory too, so can be very complex. The second factor is that MSX opens the way for the Japanese software giants to get involved in the British scene. Companies such as Konami and Hudsonsoft are producers of many excellent titles and will certainly be setting high standards. Comparing software at the moment thus puts the Com- modore and Spectrum compu- ters at a distinct advantage. The Memotech is outclassed, while Amstrad and Electron software seems to be on the way to becoming established. MSX software is developing very rapidly too, and providing you don’t want thousands of titles in every shop right now, won't disappoint. EXPANSION Sinclair Spectrum + also needs an expansion device for attaching peripherals such as a printer or a modem or a disk drive r Memotech’s two RS-2332C ports can be wired In to give useful facilities Commodore’s expansion bus Is of their own design but well supported Acorn's expansion Is limited without an accessory expansion peripheral The computer is only the heart of what can be a large system capable of doing all sorts of tasks. That is why the expansion potential should be considered. Black marks go against the Electron and Spectrum + right at the start. In their as bought form, very I ittle can be added to them. For that you’ll need an expansion interface, and these cost around £50 each. Until you get these devices, you’ll be unable to connect joysticks, printers, disk drives and so forth. Amstrad aside, all these micros can be connected directly to a television set and cassette recorder. To use any- thing other than the supplied monitor, the Amstrad needsan adaptor, costing around £30. The monitor is probably all you’ll want to use though. ‘In short, all six computers can be made to accept the most popular types of peripherals’ Sony give plenty of inter- faces. For better image quality there is an RGB socket and DIN audio/video socket. There are two Joystick ports and an interface for a parallel Centro- nics printer. There are also two general purpose expansion ports, for disk drives, car- tridges, communications adaptors and much, much more. MSXhasbeen designed, from the outset, with expansion in mind. In the future, we are told that it will be able to run TVs, HiFi, central heating, musical instruments and such things from an MSX computer. At present, this is not possible, but the track record of the companies involved should en- sure such things do appear. The Memotech is another computer with expansion as a strong point. It can be ex- panded internally to give up to 512Kof memory. There are two joystick ports, a printer port and outputs for both monitor and amplifier. The two RS- 232C ports aren’t wired i n , and that’s a problem. Still, enthu- siasts will be able to connect a whole host of goodies. Amstrad have launched only a few peripherals to date. The CPC 464 wi 1 1 take two joysticks and a disk drive, a parallel printer, as well as sending sound to an ampi if ier. A gener- al purpose expansion port should give scope for more peripherals too. Commodore have their own interfaces, restricting the prin- ters, cassette recorders and such I ike thatcan be used . This restricts expansion slightly, but most peripherals are avail- able. These include modems, disk drives and cartridges. Two joystick ports are a standard feature. The Spectrum -f has a huge range of supporting peripher- als available, thanks largely to the ingenuity of product desig- ners. The Interface 1 allows joysticks, serial printers, mod- ems and the infamous Micro- drive units to be attached. Spectrums can also be linked together in a network. Acorn’s expansion units for the Electron allow all the usual peripherals to be connected up, including a disk drive, cartridge software, printers and joysticks. In short, all six computers can be made to accept the most . popular types of peripherals. You may need an adaptor, or be restricted to certain types of devices, but a system can be built around each computer. MSX is, if promises are fulfilled, the most expandable machine of the bunch, and the one to back if you are into gadgets. The Memotech is the most expandable in itsoriginal form. Spectrum and Electron computers will need extra spent on them if they are to be expanded, whilethe Amstrad is a little short on peripherals at the moment. The Commodore is fine, if you stick to the right peripherals. But MSX comes out well in this field. Sony has a standard expansion port, an RGB socket, a parallel printer port and two Joystick ports. Only RS-232 Is missing Verdict Now that we’ve considered how the various computers stand in relation to each other, how does MSX shape up? Is it a contender, or Is it outdated and outspecified? What is immmediately evi- dent is that MSX doesn’t stand for innovative technology to turn the world on its head — player. If you already have a colour TV and a portable cas- sette player, all you are really getting is less wires. The Commodore, Electron and Spectrum -i- are good value too. The Sony MSX is a bit pricey, but it is a quality product. Cheaper MSX machines are available. yet. It is also fair to point out The picture that emerges is that MSX is still in its child- one that should cheer MSX hood, and future develop- ments may well be both amaz- ingandtechnicallyfar ahead of anything else. Remember too that the MSX representative in this group is the most expen- sive MSX micro (bar the Yama- ha CX-5M synthesiser) and MSX micros with the same basic specifications are avail- able for £200 or less. The outsta nd i ng areas of the Sony and other MSX computers are in their usability, graphics and sound potential . Thanks to a BASIC tailored very much to home programmers wanting to use the features of MSX com- puters to the full, MSX machines are the most user- friendly available. Both the Amstrad and Acorn computers have BASICS of a comparable standard, and MSX BASIC suffers from being rather slow. That is not a major shortcoming as Machine Code programming will give all the speed you want. Purely on specifications, the only MSX failing is that the BASIC overlaps RAM, leaving less user memory for BASIC programs. Again, Machine Code users wi 1 1 not suffer from this, and in all other respects, the Sony is as well specified, if not better specified, than the rivals. Expansion, on present form, leaves MSX a little behind. However, if things go accord- ing to plan, you'll be able to expand MSX in a way the other computer manufacturers can only dream of. Similarly, in the software field MSX is at present sti 1 1 too new to be in a strong position. Thesignsaregood though, and we confidently expect MSX software to be every bit as varied and exciting as that for Commodore or Spectrum machines. Value for money considera- tions see the Amstrad as king, if you want a monitor and tape supporters. True, an MSX com- puter on its own is merely a very competent machine using ex- isting technology. Against this, the MSX concept is so broad in its sweep that in time it will have a profound influence on the gadgets we use today. An MSX computer will become an integral part of the house- hold — that’s the promise of MSX. It is a promise that the other systems won’t be able to achieve easily, as the com- panies are not producers of other consumer goods. That’s the strength of MSX. Buying MSX at the moment is buying a computer with a future. At present MSX is stiii getting estabiished, and if you want access to a wide range of software and peripherais, mic- ros such as the Spectrum + and Commodore 64 may be more attractive. But, even if you are buying just the compu- ter, MSX computers compare very favourabiy indeed. They may not have the giamour of the iatest machines, or the foiiowing of oider machines, but for the first time you can buy a computer made for everybody, not just buffs and whizzkids. COMPUTER ACORN ELECTRON AMSTRAD CPC464 COMMODORE 64 MEMOTECH MTXS12 SINCLAIR SPECTRUM+ SONY HITBIT PRICE £129 £349 £190 £275 £130 £300 CPU 6502 Z80A 6510 Z80A Z80A Z80A CLOCK 2MHz 4MHz IMHz 4MHz 4MHz 4MHz ’ RAM 32K 64K 64K 64K 48K 64K ROM 32K 32K 20K 24K 16K 32K FREE RAM 9-21K 42K 38K 64K 41K 28K KEYS 56 74 66 79 57 74 CURSOR PAD Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes FUNCKEYS 10 12 4 8 0 5 USERDEF 10 32 4 8 0 5 NUM.PAD No Yes No Yes No No MAX TEXT 80x32 80x24 40x25 40x24 32x24 40x24 MAX PIXEL 640x256 640x200 320x200 256x192 256x176 256x192 COLOURS ' 8 27 16 16 16 16 SPRITES 0 0 8 32 0 32 RGB Yes No Yes Yes No Yes VOICES 1 4 4 4 1 4 HIFI OUT No Yes Yes Yes No Yes SPEAKER Yes Yes No No Yes No MAX BAUD 1200 2000 1200 2400 1500 2400 JOYSTICKS 0 2 2 2 0 2 CENTRONICS No Yes No Yes No Yes RS232 No No No No Yes No EXP PORT Yes Yes 2 No Yes 2 For those in the know Anyone conversant with home computers will know precisely why MSX was worth waiting for. The sheer proliferation of computer and software systems flooding the market loudly underlined the need for a unified standard So the major companies jointly developed a single computer and software system. The result — MSX — the format that will be standard for all time. And those in the know will not be surprised that Mitsubishi are in the vanguard of the MSX movement. For, with the F'Series, Mitsubishi offers everything that MSX is and more. GRAPHICS Maximum resolution of 256 x 192 pixels with all 16 colours available on the screen at the same time. 32 sprites in two sizes and two magnifications allowing easy creation of ‘3D’ graphics. 255 pre-defined characters all of which can be used as straight text or easily mixed with graphics. L • ^ EXPANSION PRINTER MONITOR BUS PORT OUTPORT SOUND Three independent channels which can be output through the TV loudspeakers at any volume, individually or simultaneously, at any of the available 8 octaves. All three channels can use the ‘noise’ generator for stunning sound effects. KEYBOARD 7 3 moving keys, ergonomically designed for many hours of fatigue free use. Large cursor control keys which are excellent for both programme editing and game playing. 5 function keys giving 10 pre-defined functions which can easily be redefined from ‘BASIC’ using the ‘KEY’ command. MSX BASIC is possibly the most comprehensive version of the original language. There is a complete set of commands for creating graphics and sounds, manipulating text and moving sprites. In addition to this there are ‘built-in’ interrupt routines for detecting sprite collisions, function key selections and joy-stick fire buttons. MANSION The Mitsubishi 64k ML-F80 and 32k ML-F48 are both equipped with 2 cartridge ports, 2 joy -stick ports and a centronics compatible parallel interface. It is through these devices that the MSX system can be expanded for use with disc-drives, printers, serial interfaces, modems and other peripherals. SOFTWARE ON CASSETTE The MSX system can load and save data onto cassette at 1200 or 2400 baud and unlike certain other home computers, the Mitsubishi F-series can be used with a normal domestic tape recorder for this purpose. When you put all of these features together, with the knowledge that Mitsubishi is the largest manufacturer of Mainframe computers in Japan, those in the know will immediately recognise the true potential of the Mitsubishi F-series. Vi yrrr c=4 : : r ^00 C-ssO; : E>"=tWW^ 400 RETURN oo 1 1 ■ - ’f^rj r vi:, .'•.Vj * * i'f I- 1 > jA'ii f V ij O For those who aren’t The Mitsubishi MSX family computer is everything you wanted to know about computers, but didn’t know who to ask. It’s friendly, it’s fun and so simple, a grown man can use it. Yet so versatile even his computer-versed children would be hard-stretched to over-tax it. It operates with any colour TV set. just plug it in, and the full power of the computer is instantly at your fingertips. FOR FATHER The Mitsubishi MSX can do many things, from keeping a simple check on the bank balance to running a complete business with customer account files, stock control programmes and word processing. It is just as much at home keeping control of your record or stamp collection or playing ‘strategy’ games such as chess, othello or.contract bridge. FOR MOTHER education and entertainment. And you can be secure in the knowledge that regardless of future developments, any investments made in MSX hardware, software and peripherals today will always be compatable with the Mitsubishi F-series. So if you’ve waited until now to buy a computer, you couldn’t have timed it more perfectly. Get to know one today, MITSUBISHI COMPUTERS Mitsubishi Electric (UK) Ltd., Hertford Place, Denham Way, Rickmansworth, Herts WD3 2BJ.Tel:0923 77( There is the opportunity to store recipes and other household information or keeping record of the children’s progress at school. Household accounts can also be recorded so that savings can be planned for holidays and other seasonal expenses. FOR THE CHILDREN There is education, particularly computer education. In a world where computer literacy is now of foremost importance, MSX offers a broad base of educational software. With simple programmes for the very young through to complex programmes for older students like language learning. Also, the graphics system of the Mitsubishi computer ensures that the MSX versions of your favourite games are reproduced with incredible speed and accuracy. Undoubtedly, MSX is the format for the future, and will become the byword for computer SPECIFICATIONS CPU: Special keys for Z80A(3.6MHz) screen editing Memory: Sound: ROM: 32 KB 8 octaves RAM:64KB(F80) 3 channels for RAM: 32KB(F48) sound or ‘noise’ Video Ram: 16 KB Output by TV sound Screen Displays: or External Audio *Text Mode: Amplifier 40 columns x24 Cassette lines Interface: ^Graphics: 1200-2400 baud 256 X 192 pixels Motor controlled Colours: 16 by CPU (15+transparent) Parallel Sprites: 32 Interface: Output: RF, Centronics Composite Video Joy*Stick: Keyboard: 2x 9 pin 73 moving-key connectors keyboard Rom-Cartridge: 5 function keys 2 X 50 pin Cursor control keys connector *Subiect to Scan of Monitor w < “f* |,'> 1 ' ■ 1 \ J V 9 i f i ‘-jj^^jMSSSI^ iljHP^^H ft MITSUBISHI There’s no shortage of Interfaces along the back of the ML-F48. Grill Is for cooling, but It looks good too. Note the cover on the cartridge port Cursor keypad Is fine for games players — the keys are this size B ritons, It is thought, are obsessed by numbers. That’s why, when the Japanese were planning their MSX invasion, they were con- vinced that only computers with 64K of memory had a chance of selling. One company, Mitsubishi Electric, weren’t quite so sure of this though, and they have hedged their bets by bringing in a less expensive 32K MSX computer, the ML-F48. In Japan there is nothing sacrosanct about the 64K computer. In fact, 64K is the exception rather than the norm. Most of the MSX machines on sale are 16K or 32K, and there is even an 8K Casio computer. A shortage of memory certainly hasn't ham- pered sales. In the UK, 64K machines started arriving with price tags of around £300, though non- Japanese 64K machines could be bought for less. The £300 price has been a bit of a handicap, with the most popu- lar non-MSX micros priced at £200 or less. The ML-F48 is priced at a more affordable £225 and comes with £45 worth of free games software. It has all the features and frills of its ML-F80 big brother. What it’s not got is 64Kof RAM . The question in the minds of potential purchasers will be "What does this shortage of memory mean?" To look at the ML-F48, there’s little to make you think it was any different to other MSX computers. Cosmetically it differs dramatically from the 64K version, though the cas- ings are identical. The 64K Mitsubishi is finished in pedestrian black with white and grey keys. The 32K version has a snappy si I ver case, emblazoned with a black band and with keys i n off-white or mid-grey. To our eyes it is certainly one of the better looking MSX machines avail- able. It is supplied with a remote control cassette lead, an RF lead to connect to the TV’s aerial socket, a sumptuous 304 page manual and a com- plementary cassette with two games and a demo program on it. There’s also that six pack of popular games. ‘To our eyes It Is certainly one of the better looking MSX machines available’ The manual doubles up for the two computers. At no point does it indicate any different procedures for the 32K machine. At this stage, you must be beginning to thinkthat there is no difference, except inonespecificationandaprice figure. Powering up tends to con- firm this. The message ‘28815 Bytes free’ appears in white letters on the blue screen. That’s the same message as you’ll get from a 64KMSXwhen it is switched on. Something fishy is going on. It is all to do with how the available memory is used. For that, it is necessary to delve into the interior of the Mitsu- bishi. Six screws hold the top on. Inside is a neat, well-assem- bled col lection of silicon chips, resistors, diodes, transfor- mers and output devices. A large number of the chips are of Mitsubishi’s own manufac- ture and there are no EPROMs. A plastic hood protects the electronically dangerous parts and a large metal plate helps support the keyboard. There seems to be no shor- tage of components, no place where 32K of RAM chips has been leftout. You might expect the ML-F48 to be the same as the ML-F80, but with a few ICs less. The ML-F48 is a different animal entirely. It uses an older type of chip, the four by one bit chip, instead of the more expensive sixteen by one bit chip of the 64K computer. The older chips need a higher voltage and more of them are needed to do the same job. It means that the PCB is totally different, and the two Mitsu- bishi computers bear little internal resemblance. So much for our ideas of a stri pped down 64K computer! ‘At the moment there is no disadvantage to the ML-F48 for BASiC users’ 32K doesn’t impose much restriction on the programs you can write or run. That is largely because of the inefficient way memory is used in the 64K machines. In a 64K MSX 32K of the available RAM is overlayed by the 32K BASIC. This leaves 32K for BASIC programs, though in practice the amount is 28K, as some memory is needed to keep track of vari- ables and so forth. The ML-F48 has the same memory in BASIC, with the BASIC butting onto the RAM. If you don’t have enough room for your BASIC programs on the 32K machine, you won’t get any more room by buying a 64K machine. Mind you, plans for 64K MSX with virtually 64K of user memory are well advanced. At the moment, there is no disadvan- tage to the ML-F48 for BASIC users. A difference may become apparent if you try and load large quantities of Machine Code. Here the full 64K of a 64K micro becomes available. so twice as much code can be stored . We tried out a wide variety of commercially produced MachineCode programs onthe ML-F48. Level Nine adven- tures loaded and ran perfectly. Arcade games gave no prob- lems. The only non-runner was The Hobbit, Melbourne House’s sophisticated adven- ture. Ithadtoomuchcodetofit the Mitsubishi. However, a game of this complexity is very rare indeed, and the programs that won'tf itthe M L-F48 wi 1 1 be miniscule in number. We haven’t had any sophisti- cated Machine Code business packages yet, and this might be another area of limitation. With a word processor or data- base that held data in Machine Code format, and used no BASIC, a 64K machine would hold considerably more than this computer. Cartridge software poses no such problem, as it contains its own ROM, and operates inde- pendently of the MSX memory. On the software front, the 32K RAM seems to be a relatively insignificant shortcoming. There will bea problem if you want to run MSX-DOS and CP/M software. This needs a ful 1 64K of memory, so can’t be run on a 32K MSX. MSX-DOS BASIC will operate quite happily though, so you can use a disk drive to store programs and data. So, we have a £225 compu- ter that on the face of it is almost as good as rivals cost- ing£75more. lstheML-F48as good a bargain as it seems? You’ll need a cassette recor- der, television and plug to get going. MSX computers don’t have too many problems load- ing programs from cassette, given a decent recording. The cable provided has a remote control jack too. ‘The free commercial games supplied ate In a different league entirely’ Running the demo program gives a good idea of what an MSX computer can do. Graphics and sound are ably demonstrated, add-ons ex- plained and uses suggested. The two sample games on the demo cassette are pretty naff. Breakout is a simple version of the once upon a time arcade favourite. Othello is a strategy game that is more playable but only a little more exciting than checkers. Five function keys double up to give ten user definable operations The free commercial games are in a different league entire- ly and you’ll find some re- viewed in this issue. Blagger is a platform game, with your character collecting keys. Chuckie Egg is another classic platform game. Eric and The Floaters is an amusing maze game and Mr Wong’s Loopy Laundry isanother variation on the platform theme. Les Flics put you in the role of the Pink Panther, while Shark Hunter casts you as an Eskimo. All these games are of a very high sta n d a rd a n d a n exce 1 1 e n t star t to any collection of software. Playing the games and en- tering BASIC programs will show you how good the Mitsu- bishi keyboard is. The keys are Inside, the ML-F48 Is veiy different to the ML-F80 and built to the highest standards slightly scallopped, angled pleasantly upwards and clearly marked. They have a solid feel too, unlike the mushy or boun- cy feel of other keyboards. Word processors will find the Mitsubishi ML-F48 a joy to use. The Mitsubishi has a full complement of keys — 48 alphanumeric, 21 control keys and a cursor keypad. One key, marked with Continental ac- cents is inoperative, presum- ably because it is not needed by English programmers. Control keys are accessible enough. The CAPS LOCK has a red lamp indicating it is set The return key is easily the largest on the board and the space bar is large enough for touch typists. Reaching CTRL and STOP with one hand is simple too, unlike on some other MSX computers. Power on is shown by a green light next to the ML-F48 logo. There’s an on/off switch on the left of the casing. The function keys are a little on the small side, and the use of more colour to pick out key controls would be an improve- ment as wou Id the add ition of a reset button. Still, by current standards, the ML-F48 keyboards is very good indeed. The cursor keypad is four separate keys with a long travel. For fast games this is a disadvantage, and a joystick will make life easier. All the usual interfaces are provided. Two joystick ports are on the right hand side of the case. Mitsubishi have their own joysticks at around £15, though virtually any joystick can be fitted. Next to the joystick ports is an eight pin DIN socket for cassette players, enabling full remote control with the sup- plied lead. Along the back is a per- manently connected power MITSUBISHI TWo Joystick ports and the cassette Interface are on the right hand end of the ML-F48. Note the attractive two tone finish too cable and three phono sockets for RF (television), audio and video output. They are clearly marked. Then there's a locking parallel Centronics printer in- terface and a covered cartridge port. A second cartridge port, with flap, is on the top of the case. Both ports will take a cartridge or cartridge port fit- ting peripheral. We tried out the Sanyo lightpen and the Sony disk drive on the 32K Mitsubishi. In both cases the verdict was the same — no problems. That's a good demonstration of MSX compatib il ity too — M itsubishi computer, Sanyo lightpen and data recorder, Sony disk drive and Microvitec monitor. Con- LIKES Gk)od value for money Quality of construction Supplied software ifeyboard action trary to the claims of sceptics, compatibility is a fact of life in the MSX world. The fact that the ML-F48 is only 32K is no disadvantage to this. Performance is first class. Even when left switched on overnight, there is no abnor- mal overheating. Awell-grilled case sees to that. Picture and sound quality is more depen- dent on the quality of the television, though for optimum results, you'll need a monitor and a Hi Fi system. Documentation is fine. The 304 page manual details each BASIC command, with example programs, grouped together under files, graphics, sound and so on. There's a good overviewofthe system too, and the language is not too patro- nising. Appendices detail con- trol codes, error messages and entry points for BASIC routines — good, useful information. All in all, the ML-F48 has plentygoingforit.Thefactthat DISLIKES Limitations of 32K No reset switch Demonstration games it has 'merely' 32Kof RAM is no handicap unless you are load- ing programs with more than 32K of code (very rare at the moment), or using coded busi- ness programs, in which case you won't be able to hold as much information or wantingto run CP/M software with a disk drive. All available peripherals will fit, all cartridge software will run. Until we get true 64K machines, you might as well save money and stick to 32K, if you want a quality Japanese machine and pennies are short. Verdict As you are getting over £45 worth of games software with Mitsubishi computers, the price is even more reasonabie. Shopping around may weii yieid prices of iess than £225. Our verdict has to be that the ML-F48 is an MSX computer with pienty going for it and exceiient vaiue for money to boot. MITSUBISHI ML-F48 £225 SPECIFICATION CPU Z-80A equivalent EXPANSION BUS No (3.6MHz clock) CARTRIDGE PORT 2 MEMORY PRINTER 1 X Centronics SERIAL PORT No RAM 32K CASSEHE 8-pin DIN ROM 32K MSX BASIC RESET No VIDEO RAM 16K DIMENSIONS KEYBOARD TYPE Full travel WEIGHT 370 x270 x70mm (WxDxH) KEYS 48 Alphanumeric 2.7kg 21contol keys Keypadcursor control POWERSUPPLY Internal, captive mains NUMERIC No lead KEYPAD FINISH Black/silyer plastic VIDEO DISPLAY case, grey keys with black lettering TEXT 40 characters x 24 lines SOFTWARE INCLUDED GRAPHICS Maximum resolution Demo + 2 games, 256 X 192 pixel Blagger.Les Flics, COLOURS 16 MrWong’sLoopy Laundry, Eric and SPRITES 32 The Floaters, OUTPUT TV Chuckie Egg, Shark Monitor Hunter SOUND SUPPLIEDACCESSORIES 1 RF cable GENERATOR 3 channels with 8 1 cassette lead octave range Instruction manual OUTPUTS Mono audio output (RCA phono) DISTRIBUTOR Mitsubishi Electric INTERFACES 150mV/10k0hm Standard (UK) Ltd, Otterspool Way, Watford, Herts WD28LD JOYSTICKS 2 Atari standard Tel: 0923 770000 SEE AND HEAR THE YAMAHA CX5M AT THE FOLLOWING HI-TECH DEALERS . . . SH/iRpn musiGM G MUSIC CENTRES YAMAHA CX5M Music Computer The Ultimate Music Computer System SOFTWARE -CARTRIDGES - PERIPHERALS - free bbochure available ON request ALL IN STOCK INSTANT CREDIT MAIL ORDER OPEN SIX DAYS A WEEK 9am-5.30pm ciy months interest free CREDIT SHARpnmusiGM G 65 High Street, Maidstone, Kent ME1 4 1 SR Tel: (0622)61649/61407 Please supply Access or I enclose £ Barclaycard Name Address.- Day-timeAA/orks T el. No , f ‘ftS 9m YAMAHA CX5M COMPUTER The first truly musical micro Complete with a full range of software and a choice of two keyboard sizes 50 New Bond Street, London Wl. Telephone: 01-491 2777 ONE WAY M I G Pay us a visit and you will see and hear the amazing YAMAHA CX5M Full selection of omps uuitcirs end keyboards iilwuys dVciilnble 100 School Street Wolverhampton WV3 OMR Telephone: (0902) 23060 COMC TO im MUSIC SKCIAUSTS YAMAHA CX5M always on demonstration All available software and keyboards in stock now!! 627-631 High Road, Leytonstone, London Ell 4PA Telephone: 01-539 0288 REIDY’S BLACKBURN 9-11-13 Penny Street, Blackburn, Lancashire THE AMAZING NEW YAMAHA CX5 ★ 8-note polyphonic synthesiser ★ Language basic (DX9) on board ★ 16 Colours ★ 64K RAM Micro Computer ★ fully compatible with all other ★ 32 Sprites TELEPHONE: (0254) 6521 2 DERBY ORGAN CENTRE 62 BABINGTON LANE, DERBY Telephone; Derby 361343 NOW IN STOCK The incredible CX5M MUSIC COMPUTER from YAMAHA Call in for a demonstration HEARING IS BELIEVING Andertons » MUSIC SUPERSTORE YAMAHA HI-TECH SURREY, SUSSEX, HAMPSHIRE Haydon Place, Guildford, Surrey Tel: (0483) 38212 (lines). Telex: 859535 B A I RID JLtcL. SOLE NORTHERN IRELAND DISTRIBUTORS FOR YAMAHA HI-TECH Plus full range of software and peripherals 208-208A York St, Belfast BT15 IND. Tel: 749358 Guitar TORK.SHOP BRISTOL • ENGLAND BRISTOL’S LEADING STOCKISTS OF THE YAMAHA CX5M MUSIC COMPUTER 157-159 St Michaels Hill Bristol BS2 8DB Tel: (0272) 742675 ‘Hearing is believing’ CALL IN FOR A DEMO SOUNDS GREAT 182 Wilmsiow Road, Heald Green, Cheshire MANCHESTER’S ONLY HI-TECH AGENTS YAMAHA CX5M Hardware and software on demo and in stock TEL: 061-437 4788 Z . I J • y YAMAHA CX5M MUSIC COMPUTER If you’re looking for a personal computer to make music, look no further! Yamaha’s amazing CX5 offers the same incredible FM sound synthesizer quality as its famous DX synthesizer series! Plus all the features of the innovated MKX computer system! The CX5M is an extremely versatile computer specifically designed for a wide range of music generation, programnung and editing tasks, and for interfacmg with other Yamaha digital msiruments and components. The CX5M is a a MIDI com patible computer, allowing it to serve as a control centre for playback and automatic sequencing of theY amaha DX senes synthesizers. RX drum machines and other MIDI compatible equipment. The CX5M also has a Yamaha digital FM voice generator built-m - the same type of voice generator that has put the Yamaha DX senes Digital Programmable Algonthm Synthesizers at the forefront of the digital keyboard field. That means It IS capable of producing nch, realistic sounds that are almost mdistinguishable from acoustic instruments. In fact, 46 fine voices are provided pre-programmed. But you can also program your own to create virtually any voice you like And you can save your original voices on a standard cassette tape. A wide range of applications programs, mterface uiuts and accessones expand its music making potential enormously. ON PERMANENT DEMONSTRATION AT ALL BRANCHES NOW!! Yamaha CX-5ME Music ■ Computer m Value for money! YAIWAHA: CX-5ME fl Music Computer £449 YK-01 : Mini Keyboard £85 YK- 10: Full-keyboard £165 I YRM- 102: FM voicing ROM for internal / 4 voices £36 / J YRM- 101: FM Music composer ROM; / Q| 8 part, 8 different FM Voices for song / composition £36 / . YRM- 103: DX-7 voicing ROM: create / . and edit DX-7 voices via MIDI £36 / pj^' YRM-104: Music macro ROM: add / to programmes via MSX Basic £36 / no . i UDC-01: Data cartridge £65 C A-01 : Single cartridge adapter £ 19 Other MSX standard programmes will run on the CX-5, so now’s the time to buy a computer — the wait is over. OPENING TIMES: Mon-Fri 9.30am-6.00pm Saturday 9.30am-5.30pm Norwich Closed Wednesday ALL ITEMS MAIL ORDER DELIVERY UK ^ MAINLAND FREE. SEE AND HEAR THE YAMAHA CX5M AT THE FOLLOWING HI-TECH DEALERS ■ I Also: QX1 — TX816 — KX88— TX7— IN STOCK CALL FOR DEMONSTRATION QX7— 8 track FM digital composer/sequencer 8 module FM sound generator Virtuoso keyboard FM expander DX5— RX11 — DX7^ PF15 — Digital recorder FM synthesizer Digital drums Synthesizer Piano 104/108B Main Street, Bingley, W. Yorks Tel: Bradford (0274) 568843/564389/561044 Open till 9pm every Monday and Thursday Rod Argents M2W on a Q 20 Denmark St, London WC2 Tel: 01-379 6690 (sales) 01-240 0085 (service) Good selection of all available software in stock Come in for a demonstration or call Stuart for further information Music Store, 1 5 The Butts, Worcester T el: 61 1 744 YAMAHA PETER BONNER MUSICAL YAMAHA CX5M in stock now! 12 Grove Road Eastbourne BN21 4TJ Tel: (0323) 639335 YAMAHA TECH SALES AND SUPPORT u I 01-440 3449 Call in for a demo now! 230 HIGH STREET, BARNET, HERTS Our resident computer WIZARD can answer all your queries regarding the YAMAHA CX5 Ring or call in for a demo, or send for free info pack! 14-16 High St, Addlestone Tel: Weybridge 40139/54877 56 Surbiton Rd, Kingston Tel: 01-5469877 324-326 Farnham Rd, Slough Tel: Slough 822754 reet Cambridge 1/65093 Next to the 9^ hopping Centr e flit til INI Modern Music Store 17 St Mary’s St 90-94 40 Mitchell St Edinburgh Saltmarket Kirkcaldy Tel: Glasgow Tel: 031-557 3986 Tel: 041-552 6825 0592 260293 No. 1 for YAMAHA Hi-Tech in Elgin Street Dunfermline Tel: 0383 733353 Call in for a demo or further information on the 404 Byres Road 53-53A Home Street Glasgow G1 2 8AF Edinburgh EH3 9JP YAMAHA Tel: 041-339 3618 Tel : 031 -228 1 704 an Music Computer DEALERS IN MUSIC TECHNOLOGY t/— 0H ^ T 0’ fL ICS Id f don, Surrey CRO 2TB Tel: 01-680 1042, 01-681 0328 CX5 PACKAGE DEALS NOW AVAILABLE YAMAHA ^>C 96 Hi^ Street Colchester (0206) 65652 41 St Nicholas Street Ipswich (0473) 54996 YAMAHA leading north-west HI-TECH dealer CX5 computer and all software from stock Please call for your own personal demonstration 65 Sankey St, Warrington WA1 1 SU T el: (0925) 32591 1 6ui(ar^an & ^on€fO If it’s YAMAHA you want we have in stock a great deal of Keyboards : Hi-Tech Equipment : Drum Machines : Guitars and Basses : Drum Kits : Recording Equipment etc, all guaran- teed by our excellent in-store engineers. Easy parking nearby. Access and Barclaycard. Finance arranged (details on request). Come and see the CX5 demonstrated on our 48" Monitor Screen!! 23/27 Middlesbrough Road, South Bank, Middlesbrough, Cleveland TS6 6NW Tel: Eston Grange (0642) 467510/4561 84 10 HIGH ROAD, CHADWELL HEATH NR ROMFORD, ESSEX Tel: 01-5994228,01-598 9506 See and hear the amazing new Yamaha CX5M Music Computer — in our high-tech music store NOW! Its music making potential will astound you — and so will the price!! RQ8100 data recorder Is battery powered, compact and costs £44.50 Plenty of cables come with the CF2700, Including a BNC video cable T here it sat, glaring glee- fully at the passing shop- pers with a colourful de- monstration program cycling endlessly in the background. Onlookers gathered, over- awed by the machismo of this latest arrival on the MSX scene. It is the Panasonic CF2700 Personal Computer, and for Just £280, it could be making your other domestic appliances reach for their Bull- workers. Panasonic is pretty much a household name in this coun- try. They make video recorders and cameras, televisions, hi-fi and portable sound systems, car audio systems, calcula- tors, batteries and business equipment. The parent com- pany also makes goods under the National and Technics names — microwaves, shav- ers, vacuum cleaners and electric organs. It is a diversity typical of many MSX makers. The parent company goes under the name of Matsushita Electric and was formed in 1918. They've built a solid reputation for high qual ity pro- ducts and innovative develop- ments. Other MSX companies are going to have to watch the i r backs if Panasonic get aggres- sive. FortheirfirstMSX computer, Panasonic have followed the crowd, producing a 64K com- puter with the established range of features and at a middling price. They have also launched another variant of the MSX joystick, and a data recorder. We’ve been looking at the three items. The first thing to strike you about the Panasonic is its appearance. It is considerably larger than any of the other MSX micros we have seen. Physical measurements are a width of 426mm, a depth of 249mm and a height of 91mm. It weighs over 3.5 kilograms. The top plate is dominated by two cartridge slots. The casing is matt black, the keys mid and light grey, with white lettering. Mute green arrow keys and the machine logo form the only colour relief. The appearance is aggres- sive and business-like. This is not a computer for wimps. Such a sta nee is no bad th ing i n the MSX world. Most manufac- turers are content to give their MSX micros a conservativage style likely to appeal to Mr and Mrs Average. The Panasonic is definitely the most distinctive MSX we have seen and I ikely to attract a lot of attention on the shelf. To our eyes it is ruggedly handsome — you must draw your own Judgements. Panasonic don't supply any free software with the CF2700, though their dealers may be making special offers. You do get a plentiful supply of cables though — a TV lead, a hi-fi lead, a remote contol cassette lead and a video cable termi- nating in a BNC connector, so you should be able to connect monitors such as the Micro- vitec Cub range without buying a separate lead. You also get an introductory manual, a BASIC manual and a sheet of graphics labels. You stick these to the keys so you can see what their graphic func- tions are at a glance. Getting inside the Pana- sonic is relatively easy (though not recommended of course). The power transformer is in- side and the power cable permanently attached. A heavy metal plate underthe keyboard makes that part of the machine as solid as a rock. There’s a large heat sink to absorb heat and a metal casing around the video display processor. This keeps out stray radio fre- quency (RF) signals that might affect the picture. It is a feature we've seen on no other MSX micro and a sign that Mat- sushita have really thought about quality control. All in all, the Panasonic must rate as the best built MSX micro we have yet seen. The extra size and weight this involves is no drawback. The specifications vary not one iota from those of other 64K MSX computers. MSX BASIC occupies 32K of ROM, there's 16K of RAM for the screen display and a three tone, one noise sound gene- rator. For graphics you have sixteen colours and up to 256 separate sprites. With BASIC in memory, users have around 32K for programs and data storage. The BASIC includes sub- languages for sound and graphics, automatic line numbering, commands for us- ing joysticks and other peripherals — you’ll find more details of MSX BASIC in other articles. If you are new to programming, you’ll find MSX BASIC easy to get on with and very user friendly. It has plenty of commands to allow pro- grammers to incorporate joy- sticks, paddles, pads and other peripherals into pro- grams and commands for structured programming, to get the most efficient prog- rams. Plenty of interfaces are pro- vided . You can fittwo joysticks, a Centronics printer, two car- tridges or cartridge port inter- facing devices, a cassette recorder, TV or monitor and hi-fi. Panasonic haven't broken any boundaries with their inter- faces. The keyboard has the usual array of keys — 48 alpha- numeric, five function, 16 other control and a diamond of cursor control keys. They are well spaced, slightly scalloped and havea sol id feel. Lettering is just printed on the keys, and with heavy use may start to wear off. Asl ightly more angled keyboard would help touch typing, but no computer is perfect. What is usually a blank key on U.K. computers is marked with grave and acute accents on the Panasonic. Its use is explained early on in the manual, and the upshot is that you can quite easily type Con- tinental texts. The control keys rely a little too much on arrows to indicate StIck-on graphic symbol stickers are an excellent Idea their functions. The shift, caps lock, backspace and return keys are all marked with slightly cryptic arrows. Still, they are in the right locations and you’ll soon get used to the markings. There’s a caps lock light too. Two shift keys and a nice long space bar make for good text entry, while ESC and STOP keys can be pushed with one hand. The graphics stickers are a great idea. Stick them to the keys and you won’tha veto refer to manuals to find out how to getmusical orothercharacters available by pressing the GRAPH key simultaneously. Games playing with the cur- sorcontrol keys ispleasurable. They have a middling amount of travel and will stand up to a fair battering. The only omission from the keyboard is a reset key. Should a program crash irretrievably, your only course is to use the on/off switch under the left of the keyboard. It is a rocker switch that is not too easy to knock accidentally. There’s a red power on lamp above the cursor keys. The supplied instruction manual gives a good introduc- tion to the CF2700. The keyboard and setting up is explained. Then it is on to entering programs and a brief overview of the main program- ming areas — maths, sound, graphics, program structure and so forth. Amusing dia- grams illustrate the points made and there are short programs to try out. At the back there is a 17 page section of fairly detailed technical data about the computer. The accompanying BASIC manual is a command by command survey of MSX Panasonic’s Joystick Is different BASIC, with full explanations of each command. Between them, these two books should have you writing simple prog- rams before very long. As for the lack of a demonstration tape, that is no great loss, as once they are viewed, such thingsareusuallyconsignedto the back of a drawer. It’s far better to try a few games or write your own programs. All the ports on the Panaso- nic are capped or shielded to prevent dust entering. The two joystick ports are on the right hand side, beneath the cursor control keys. They are the standard nine pin Atari-type devices. Cartridges go in one of the two flapped slots on the top of the CF2700. It doesn’t matter which port you plug in to, though if you are using both ports, the number one port will take precedence. Manufac- turers are now standardising on the cartridge-style 50 pin interface, rather than having two different types of 50 pin expansion ports. With some of the early MSX computers, you may find that you have only one port that will take all the Two cartridge ports dominate the top of the Panasonic MSX micro peripherals (light pens, disk drives and so on) being pro- duced. You’ll have no such problems with the Panasonic. The Panasonic cartridge ports don’t have a switch to reset the machine when a flap is opened. Remember to switch the computer off when changing cartridges, as it is possible to damage them by inserting them into a running i Panasonic aren’t as yet producing a wide range of MSX peripherals, either here or In Japan’ machine. Still, prying fingers poking open a flap by mistake won’t mean the loss of a valuable, unsaved program as the computer resets itself. The rest of the interfaces are clustered on the back of the computer. There is a parallel Centronics printer i nterf ace for printers, an eight pin DIN socket for cassette recorders and sockets for audio, video and RF or television output. All are clearly labelled. The only thing missing is an RGB port. Inside, quality assembly Is apparent. Note the metal casing around the RF unit and the large Internal transformer at top left Panasonic aren’t as yet pro- ducing a wide range of MSX peripherals, either here or in Japan. They have a few moni- tors and couple of printers for the home market. Over here, all we will be seeing is a Joystick and a data recorder. Sti 1 1 , the beauty of MSX is that peripherals from other manu- facturers will work quite happily. Unlike the other MSX Joy- sticks from Japan that are exactly the same, apart from the colour of the fire button, the National CF2201 Joystick is a different model . It is priced at £19.95, slightly more than the other Japanese Joysticks, but a much better model des- pite its plasticky feel. Finished in white with three blue fire buttons, it has a positive action and a long stick that gives plenty of leverage. The data recorder is model number RQ8100 and an up- market device with a recom- mended price of £44.50. It is smaller than other data recor- ders we have seen, measuring Just 200 X 120 X 40mm. The smal I size is due to there being no on-board transformer. The unit* is battery powered only, though you can fit an AC adaptor. It is a purpose built data recorder with some useful fea- tures to make loading and saving programs easier. Atape counter is a fairly common feature. So too is a built-in condensor microphone. But- tons give the usual fast for- ward/rewind, stop, pause, play and record options. You can review a recording too, fast forwarding or rewinding with the sound coming out of the speaker. An array of other controls is found down the side of the recorder. There are Jacks for a cassette lead, with a remote control socket. Tone and volume is adjusted by ridged wheels. You can also select I'" 3 X > *’\ F -^.-J-Yl C rVx V .A r\.'. ,- l*"i.OMt: 4*‘ P O •••'.♦mi- > igA u % ¥ t n ✓ < \ / DEI. Keys are scalloped, solid and conventionally laid out. A few more colours and less arrows might help but you soon get used to It \ £ 1 f PANASONIC CF2700 £280 SPECIFICATION CPU MEMORY Z-80A equivalent (3.6MHz clock) RAM 64K ROM 32K MSX BASIC VIDEO RAM 16K KEYBOARD TYPE Full travel KEYS NUMERIC 48 alphanumeric 21 control keys Cursor keypad KEYPAD No VIDEO DISPLAY TEXT 40 characters - 24 lines GRAPHICS Maximum resolution 256 X 192 pixels COLOURS 16 SPRITES 32 OUTPUT TV Monitor SOUND GENERATOR 3 channels with 8 octave range OUTPUTS Mono audio output (6-pin DIN) 150mV/10k0hm standard INTERFACES JOYSTICKS EXPANSION 2 Atari Standard BUS None CARTRIDGE PORT 2 PRINTER 1 X Centronics SERIAL PORT No CASSERE 8-pin DIN RESET No DIMENSIONS 426 X 249 X 91 (WxDxH) WEIGHT 3.5kg POWER SUPPLY Internal, captive mains lead FINISH Black plastics case, grey and light grey keys with white lettering SOFTWARE INCLUDED None SUPPLIED ACCESSORIES 2 video cable 1 audio cable 1 cassette interface cable Instruction manual Basic manual DISTRIBUTOR Panasonic (UK) Ltd, 300-318 Bath Rd, Slough, Berks SLl 6JB Tel: (75) 34522 normal or data functions. The latter plays the tape at full blast, but not through the speaker. You can switch in the speaker to hear a muted sound of the data, to check there is a program to load. The normal use mode would be used for playing back or recording music. Another switch lets you alter the alignment of the record/ playback head. Sometimes a program that won't load with one head alignment will load with another. It is a facility found on very few low price data recorders. In use, the Panasonic recor- der loaded everyth ing we threw at it. The only problems occur- red when the batteries were runningout, and an AC adaptor can bewell recommended. The LIKES Excellent styling Quality of assembly Supplied extra s price is a little high, though it is considerably cheaper than some of the deluxe data recor- ders we have seen and it is a good looking unit. Panasonic are also import- ing a rarige of 18 cartridges, produced by the ASCII Corpora- tion of Japan. These are priced a little expensively at £18.80, but some of the games are very high quality. Still, you won’t need to own a Panasonic computer to try these games. Performance of the Pana- , sonic is what we m i ght expect of a Japanese MSX micro — excel lent. The coloursare crisp and bright, sounds well de- fined. Overheating is not a problem and any shortcomings w ill be those of your audio or video system. Panasonic’s CF2700 slots into the MSX market towards the top end of the 64K machines. It is rapidly becom- ing evident that 64K compu- ters are falling into budget and quality categories. The more expensive machines tend to be better made, come from com- panies with household names and often include worthwhile extras. The CF2700 is up against such machines as the popular Sony HitBit, the stylish JVC HC-7, the Canon V-20, the Sanyo MCP-lOO and the Mitsu- bishi MLF-80, with a six pack of games. On paper it offers nothing that can’t be matched DISLIKES No reset key Too many arrows A little pricey by its rivals and it will probably be available through many of the same outlets. Its looks and feel will play an important part in any sales success. In its favour the Panasonic has a high standard of con- struction and comes with an excellent choice of cables. It has good documentation, a solid keyboard and all the quality you’d associate with a name like Panasonic. Verdict Would we recommend It? The answer to that Is an unhesitating yes. Having said that, we’d recommend most of the rivals too, as top line MSX computersare undoubtedly ex- cellent computers. Still, the style of the Panasonic does make It stand out from the crowd and for that reason. It should prove a popular machine. If you shop around, you may also find a dealer who is prepared to throw in some free cartridge software too, and if that was the case, have no hesitation in exchang- ingmoney for micro. IH Authorities on MSX all agree it is a world-wide standards, but is this reaily the case? lain Dawson finds out M SX computer makers have been agreed on one point ever since theyannouncedthatthearrivai of their machines on Britain’s shores was imminent. MSX is a standard, they aii say. And it’s a worid-wide standard, they continue — which impiies that MSX computers the world over are identical and that they, their peripherals and their software are totally inter- changeable. But is this the case — is a Japanese MSX computer the same as its UK model, and could a Japanese MSX machine be brought i nto the UK and used without having to be altered? Now that MSX machines are finding their way into other European countries such as France, Italy and West Germany, are these computers any different from their Japanese and British counter- parts and can peripherals from one country be used with a computer from another country? The answer, in general, is no. There are differences be- tween MSX machines sold in different countries. These are mainly minor differences, since different countries use different systems to generate television pictures, have diffe- rent mains voltages and speak different languages. Butonlya few manufacturers have recog- nised that someone in the UK might want to use an Italian MSX machine without altera- tion, for example, and have builtmachines which will allow this. In general getting a fore- ign MSX machine to run here in the UK is impossible. It is almost true to say that software written to run on Japanese MSX machines will run on the MSX machines which are available in the UK. Any graphics produced by the software are distorted and the colours are not the same as those produced by Japanese machines, but the software does run. So, if Japanese software runs on UK machines, produc- ing a display on a British television set, surely it is possible to connect a British television to a Japanese com- puter and any software which is run will produce a picture on the television. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Japan and the UK, and the rest of Europe in fact, use different systems to produce colour pictures on television sets. The UK uses the PAL system. Most of the rest of Western Europe use the PAL system as well — which would be fine but for the fact that the PAL system used on continen- tal Europe is not the same as the PAL used in the UK. To make matters worse, the French and most of Eastern > > :x ^ >0^. s'' NX \\N <: .• . NX .> \'' ^ X > V No' ill n\>^ i^' :> nx---n'* '• ''N ''' '.O'v' 0 ''^ T x>#v' 'X' nS/ nS A<^ \ '^C, :;>ww^vo.Xo<->xS';'Nvx^^ Philips launched the 32K VG8000, Its first MSX, In Italy last November, but It won’t be available here until later this year. Note the slim shape and membrane-type keyboard Europe use a completely diffe- rent television system called SECAM, while the Japanese use the NTSC system to pro- duce their television pictures. Most television sets in each country are built to accept the decode signals sent using one system, and no other. Because computers use television pictures to pass information to the outside world they must use whatever system is used in the country where they are sold. So Japanese MSX machines have a video interface which sends NTSC signals, UK machines send PAL signals and any French machine generates SECAM signals. Each country's machines have different cir- cuitry to handle the sending of these signals. To a piece of software, connecting a machine which uses the PAL system to a television set which has been built to receive signals in the NTSC format is fine. It can sit there happily sending its sig- nalsout all day, and, asfaras it is concerned, a picture is being produced. To the user the situation is not fine. Although the compu- ter is successfully sending information to his television set, the set cannot understand what it is receiving, and so cannot produce a television picture. The upshot of all this is that if you connect a Japanese or an Italian or a West German MSX machine to a British colour television set and expect to see a picture — you’ll be disappointed. Mixing and matching television sets and computers from different countries is not on, unless you buy a multi-standard TV. There is another way around the problem, however. This is to use an RGB monitor rather than a television set to display anything produced by a com- puter. An RGB signal from any machine will produce an image on any RGB monitor, whatever country the computer and the monitor are from. Unfortunate- ly, only two of the MSX machines available in the UK boast an output for an RGB monitor — the JVC HC-7 and the Sony HB-75. A second, more easily solved, problem is to do with the different mains voltages used by different countries. The Japanese mains is set at 120 volts, Europe uses 230 volts, the USA and Canada use 150 volts and the UK uses 240 volts. This means that you cannot connect a foreign MSX peripheral such as a disk drive directlyto a British machine — the two pieces of equipment need different voltages to work. The way around this problem is to put a transformer between the mains outlet and the peripheral, changing the vol- tage to that needed by the peripheral. The Philips MSX machine, launched in Italy at the end of last year, has been built so that it and its peripher- als can be fed by any mains voltage between 100 volts and 600 volts. Language is a very obvious difference between countries. It is also very obvious that if manufacturers such as Sony or Mitsubishi had brought MSX machines into the UK from Japan and tried to sell them with keyboards embossed with the Japanese alphabet, or which gave error messages in Japanese, they would not have reached their sales targets. For the Arabic market, a collaboration between the Arabic firm of Al Alamiah and Microsoft i n Japan has led to an Arabic version of MSX, com- plete with Arabic characters and right to left text entry. It is perhaps the most radical transformation of an MSX com- puter yet. Although the differences be- tween French and English are not as huge as those between Japanese and English, they do exist. The French use accents in some of their words, so any machine sold in France must have these accents on its keyboard. Software, and this includes programming languages and games software, has to give instructions and messages in the language which the people in the country using it can understand. The French espe- cially have a reputation for disliking programming in BASIC because it uses English words, and are unwilling to buy software which does not give operating instructions in French. Even British machines sold in the US have to be altered if they are to succeed with the Americans — and vice versa. The changes are minimal, but noticeable — an American would have no use for a British machine which had a pound sign but no dollar sign, for example. A number of MSX manufact- urers have plans to sell their machines in the US, although no-one is offering anything there yet. if they are going to sell MSX machines in different coun- tries, the manufacturers will have to alter their products to take a particular country’s lan- guage, its mains voltage and its television system into account. Apart from these unalter- ables, the vagaries of a coun- try’s market can also lead to differences between MSX machines. An example is the different memory sizes of British and Japanese MSX machines. Most of the machines on sale in Japan have 32Kof RAM, or in some cases a miserly 16K of memory. 8K is the minimum amountof memory specified In the MSX standard. IntheUKthe situation is different — all but two Of the machines sold here have 64K of memory. The only machines to sport a smaller RAMarebuiltbyMitsubishi and Yamaha They have 32K of memory. But Mitsubishi has a 64K machine as well and the Yamaha is more a synthesiser than a computer. According to the manufac- turers the reason f orthis is that the UK is an advanced market. “The UK market' is more adv- anced than the rest of Europe, and indeed the rest of the world”, said a spokesman for Spectravideo, the company which makes the SVI-728. “MSX had to be upgraded above the Japanese level to be acceptable in the UK", con- tinued the spokesman, "and anything with less than 64K would have been seen as inferior and not accepted". This sentiment is echoed by the other MSX companies in the UK— Toshiba, Sanyo, JVC etal. A counter argument as to why Japanese machines have less memory than their UK versions is that when they were introduced in Japan over a year ago, 16K or 32K was suffi- cient, and few manufacturers have upgraded their machines -yet. Such upgrades are immi- nent though, according to manufacturers, such as Sony and Canon. But you would expect these two companies in particular to voice such an opinion: the only two com- panies which have given the Japaneseversions of their MSX machines 64K of RAM so far are — yes, you guessed it — Sony and Canon. Of the companies making MSX machines and peripher- als, Philips is the odd one out on a number of counts. It is the only European company mak- ing an MSX computer. It is the only company not to have sold its machine in Japan. And it is the only company which has not made the UK the first European country to receive its MSX offerings. Philips, which has its head- quarters in Eindhoven, Hol- land, launched its VG8000 initially in Italy at the end of September. In December the company announced its machine and peripherals in Austria and Bel- gium. But Philips' MSX pro- ducts will not be finding their way into the UK until later this year. Why has Philips decided to do this? What is so different - ‘ or bad — about the UK? "We have some production output", says Gerard Smelt of Philips, Eindhoven, stressing the word 'some'. "We cannot supply the whole European market, so we're starting off smal I and have chosen to start selling outside the UK in coun- tries like Italy and Germany RGB port, top left, overcomes compatibility problems. Far left: Japanese machines. Centre — Yamaha's Arabic micro. Left: MuRI- standard monitor. Above: assorted monitor ports where demand is comparative- ly low. The UKisa big marketfor MSX machines — only the US is bigger." We British will soak up a lot of the MSX manufacturers' combined output. By compari- son West Germany is a small market. Sanyo In Germany reckons that between 25,000 and 50,000 MSXmachineswill be bought by the Germans in the whole of 1985. Apart from Philips, there are ten other companies selling MSX computers in the UK, and one or two have launched — or at least shown — products In other European countries. JVC, Toshiba, Spectravideo and Yamaha are interested in the German market along with Philips; Sony, Canon, Hitachi, JVC, Toshiba and Sanyo have shown products in France. Sony isthe most advanced in its plans to conquer Europe. The company announced its HB-75 first in the UK, followed this by launching it in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Hol- land, Austria and Denmark in October, 1984. In the follow- ing month Sony launched its machine in Scandinavia. Sony has to ship its machines Into Europe from Japan, where they are made. It does not make any computers In the UK at present, but a Sony spokesman says that it may be doing so by this time next year. Canon has a different posi- tion. The company is preparing Europe for its machines using advertising campaigns, but so far the UK is the only European country where its V-20 is sold. Canon also admits that altering its machine for Europe is posing more problems than it thought it would do. "It’s inevitable that MSX will arrive In Europe", says Canon, "but changing the display circuitry etc means it’s going to take a bit longer to get there.” Sanyo has launched its machine, the MPC-lOO, In the UK and has shown it in France. It is possible, says Sanyo, that the French version of its machine will have a built-in data recorder — something which the UK model does not boast. Ger many wi 1 1 be Sanyo’s next target after France. The com- pany planned to launch its machinethere in March or April this year. A market not to be forgotten Is the good old US of A. The UK is a large market, but the US is even bigger. So far no-one is selling MSX machines there, although a number of com- panies have plans to do so. Sony expects to start selling MSX products In the US some- time during this year, with the launch pencilled in for the Comdex computer show in Las Vegas. Philips, too, hopes to launch a machine in the US. US machines may be more advanced than those seen already in Japan and Europe. The signs are that some may have built-in disk drives or built-in software. These machines will eventually be available in other countries too. By the end of the year MSX machines will be available around the world. The machines and peripherals sold in any one country will be Interchangeable — as was intended when the MSX mak- ers got together in the first place. But MSX machines and peripherals from different countries will not be inter- changeable. To get MSX into Europe MSX manufacturers have had to alter their machines to take account of the different television sys- tems, mains voltages and mar- ket forces in Its member coun- tries. So do all these differences mean that MSX is not really a standard after all? The answer is that despite the differences, MSX is a standard. After all, how many users will want to mix and match equipment bought from different countries? We suspect very few users indeed will be in that type of situation. Computer languages have been evolving for many years, with MSX BASIC the latest in a long line of BASICS. Tern Sato traces its development I n the early days of comput- ing, there was only one computer language avail- able, FORTRAN. FORTRAN stands for FORmular TRANsla- tion and was developed specifi- cally for scientific usage. It had useful mathematical features such as trigonometric functions and double precision accuracy which were essential for mathe- maticians and physicists but not very useful for ordinary mortals like you and i. However, asthe use of compu- ters spread during the Sixties, people with less scientific back- grounds started to use compu- ters as a tool and there was increasing need to develop a computer language which ca- tered for various subjects. This led to development of computer languages such as COBOL, LISP and BASIC. BASIC stands for Beginner's All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code and was developed by Professors Kemeney and Kurtz ofDartmouth col lege, USA. Their aim was to create a language which was so easy to learn that children could use computers. It was originally written as an educational tool for computer science students who didn't have a strong mathematical background. Unlike FORTRAN, which was very complex and difficult, BASIC could be learned in matter of a few days. Dartmouth BASIC, as it was called then, became very popu- lar and many versions were written. It even got the support of the American National Science Foundation. The popularity of Dartmouth BASIC can be attri- buted to the simplicity of the language. There is less compu- terjargon within the language to confuse the novice. The first Dartmouth BASIC was born on May 1st, 1964. To the creators' delight it ran first time. Those were the days when it was thought impossible to make a personal microcomputer and Dartmouth BASIC was confined to mini and mainframe compu- ters around universities and research institutes. Then, years later, the first microprocessor was invented. If there is one person who can be said to have contributed the most to the micro computer revolution, it is Bill Gates, found- er and president of Microsoft. Bill Gates is undoubtedly the pioneer of the microcomputer. In 1970, when he was Just thirteen, he and his friend Paul Allen were regularly using a minicomputer at a company called Computer Centre Cor- poration. They were allowed to 'hack' around with computers to find errors in any programs the company was supplied with by the minicomputer manufactur- er, Digital Equipment Corpora- tion. As long as Bill Gatesand his friend could find bugs in DEC'S programs Computer Centre Cor- ry MM v?:i4s 04 ^ ^4^ V V-. •5>< ./ ■>SC: •'^' I'! v);\ poration did not have to pay DEC the bills for the computer time the company was using. At Computer Centre Corpora- tion, Bill Gates learned a lot. In fact he was soon able to infil- trate a large network of compu- ters and was one of the earliest hackers (those people who breakintocomputers which they are not authorised to use). The film War Games was based around what Gates used to do and the hero, David- Lightman is very m u c h I i ke Gates at that time. Gates, like Light- man inthefilm, was once caught crashing an eritire network of computers, called Cybernet. When i n 1974 the fi rst m i c rop- rocessor, the 8008, was intro- duced by Intel, Paul Allen prop- osed to his friend that they should write a BASIC for it. Gates and Allen got hold of one of the very first Intel 8008 microp- rocessors and they eventually ended up writing a traffic control program for it. The 8008 is a very limited processorand Gates was not sure if they could write a BASIC for it. The following year, a tiny company called MITS announced the world's first mic- rocomputer, the Altair. The mic- rocomputer age had dawned. The response from the computer and electronics enthusiasts was ecstatic. When Gates and Allen learned of the news via Popular Electronics magazine, they im- mediately rang MITS boss Ed Roberts and told him that they had a BASIC suitable for Altair. The Altair was built around Intel's follow-uptothe 8008, the 8080 processor. It had 256 bytes (64K MSX computers have GW BASIC, for the IBM PC computers, Incorporated 14 digit accuracy, and this became a feature of MSX BASIC. MSX DOS was desiped by the man who wrote MS DOS for IBM 65536 bytes) and no display or keyboard. It had a row of switch- es and lights and to program it you had to flick the switches to load in machine code. However the Altair had a large number of slots for plug in modules, so it could be expanded. After calling Ed Roberts, Gates and Allen immediately went to an electronics shop and got fhemselve a manual for 8080, written by Adam Osborne, who eventually pioneered port- able computers, and started working on their BASIC. They knew how to program the 8008 but they had not laid their hands on an 8080 microprocessor and to add to their problems they had told Ed Roberts that they could deliver it in two or three weeks. As they didn't have an Altair to write the BASIC on. Gates and Allen wrote it on a large compu- ter at Harvard University where Gateswasinhisfirstyear. Ittook the two of them six weeksof sol id work and when they had finished Paul Allen went to see Ed Roberts. Ed Roberts was impressed. He had had a lot of programmers promising a BASIC for his Altair but Allen was the first one to come up with the product. Gates and Allen's BASIC was tested on an Altair with seven IK RAM boards, a paper tape reader and a teletype terminal connected. Allen loaded the program which madetheAltair load the BASIC by hand using the switches, then fed in the paper tape containing the BASIC. The teletype terminal printed Memory Size? Allen was excited. It had worked first time round. He typed in the amount of memory, which was 7K, then tested it by typing in PRINT 24-2 The teletype replied 4. It worked! Gates and Allen's BASIC, which was only about 4K long (MSX BASIC is 32K), wasto be sold through MITS as the official language for the Altair. Allen quit his job. Gates left his university and they came do wn to wor kfo r M ITS. Soon they formed their own company, Mic- rosoft. New computer com- panies were springing up by the dozen and Gatesand Allen found that they could charge high royalties for their BASIC. They also improved their BASIC and converted it for number of other microprocessors. Soon the micro revolution swept the world. Tandy intro- duced TRS 80, Apple, its Apple II and Commodore, the CBM PET. In 1977, across the Pacific in Japan, one Kazuhiro (Kay) Nishi and his friends had started a small magazine for computer buffs, called ASCII. Nishi, who was still at Waseda University, incorporated a company of the same name and in the following year visited Microsoftat Seattle. In terms of computer hard- ware and software, the Japanese were well behind the Americans. Nishi decided to import American software to Japan. His trip in October 1978 resulted in the formation of ASCII Microsoft Ltd, and he gained exclusive rightstosell all Microsoft products in the Far East. During the pioneering days of the late Seventies, Microsoft produced many other languages for microcomputers, but there was sti 1 1 the need to convert their early 8080 version of MS BASIC for other microprocessors. Bet- ter microprocessors, such as Z80 and 6809, had been de- veloped and even 16 bit microp- rocessors which could process twice as much data as eight bit processors were becoming readily available. In 1980 Microsoft invested in a DEC mainframe computer. This was to be used as a development tool for writing various versions of the ever popular Microsoft BASIC. Gates and Allen rewrote their BASIC into a neutral language they had devised and wrote a conversion program which would automati- cally translate the neutral lan- guage into machi ne code for any particular processor. This meant they wouldn't have to waste so much time on conversion. Thisalso meantthat a particular feature of one di- alect of MS BASIC could be quite easily added to another even though the processor used was quite different. Both in Japan and the United States many versions of MS BASIC were sold. A Microsoft BASIC compiler was launched so that the BASIC would have speed comparable to Machine Code, unlike ordinary interpreted MS BASIC. In Britain machines from Oric and Dragon had Microsoft BASIC and the American Com- modore VIC and C64 computers also used a dialect of Microsoft BASIC. In June 1980, Paul Allen was working on a 16 bit version of Microsoft BASIC for Intel’s new 8088 and 8086 processors. Both had the capability of hand- ling twice as much information as early 8 bit chips could, although the 8088 was less powerful. This BASIC was to be called GW BASIC. The following month, Bill Gates had a phone call from the biggest computer company in the world . The company was IBM and they were interested in Microsoft's software. The following year was spent developing the IBM PC. Micro- soft was responsible for all the software including the operating system — that's what you need to control the computer before it can handle BASIC. Microsoft was also able to persuade IBM to create an open system that allowed peripheral devices to be plugged into slots. The language which Microsoft gave to IBM PC, GW BASIC, was something special, too. Pre- viously, ordinary BASIC could only handle accuracy up to nine digits. That means that the maximum number you can have without losing accuracy is 9,999,999.99. Now if you are running a business and you want to do your accounts with MS > ’.'uW. \ \ ySSs, ■» BASIC, and if your turnover exceeds ten million, the compu- ter will not give you an accurate figure. To be a viable business computer the IBM PC needed more than nine digit accuracy. Microsoft rewrote all arithmetic routines in their GW BASIC so that it could handle up to 14 digits with total accuracy. 999,999,999,999.99 is a pret- ty big number and even IBM hasn't the turnover to exceed this. The disk operating system, MS-DOS, more commonly known as PC DOS, was de- veloped by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products. The IBM PC was announced in August 1981 and became the most successful and most im- itated business computer in the world. Now, though IBM may seem a long way removed from MSX, there is a good reason for bringing them into the picture. The philosophy behind MSX came from the IBM PC work. Two businessmen were the catalyst for the birth of MSX. In the summer of 1982, two Amer- ican businessmen, Alex Weiss and Harry Fox, decided to set up a microcomputer company, Spectra video, after seeing the rapid expansion of Atari and Commodore. . s s ^ ^ \ ;S«; -.'.v.'.vv »v.->Cs '.-.s'. Sv. i>-\ It-'OT War Games’ hero David LIghtman was based around Bill Gates’ exploits. Spectravideo SV-318 was the micro that spurred MSX. RIk and Sting, right, wrote most of the BASIC, while Bill Gates and Paul Allen, above, founded the Microsoft empire They were f ami I iar with manu- facturing facilities in Hong Kong as they had traded in digital watches before, and they reck- oned that they could build a home computer for less than $30, selling it for $100. They had a basic hardware design done in Hong Kong but they needed a BASIC for it. The natural choice was Microsoft. Although incorporated in New York, Weiss and Fox were based in Hong Kong. From there they tried to contact Microsoft. After two months of business letters, telephones and telexes, they centres were like. A typical hacker, he knew roughly what kind of BASIC a good micro- computer should have and he did the software specification design for the Spectravideo machine. So, ASCII Microsoft agreed to do Spectravideo's BASIC. By 1982 ASCII's Tokyo office had the same DEC development computer as Microsoft US and their staff had been fully trained at Seattle. Now, enter two more characters. The people who did the nitty gritty hard work for creating the Spectravideo's BASIC were two Japanese whizz kids called Rick and Jay. They were the ones who designed the system architec- ture, Machine Coding and all that mind boggling software which many of us would be glad to keep away from. So, we have all the actors on stage — Bill, Kay, Sting, Rick and Jay. Together they created the Spectravideo micro which eventually led to MSX. It happened like this. They decided to bring together all the good bits from the previous work they had done and stick it into a were to I d to conta ct ASC I I as they handled all Far Eastern affairs. Finally they got through to the ever omni present Kay N i sh i , who immediately flew into Hong Kong after seeing their speci- fication for the Spectravideo micro. Neither Fox or Weiss were computer buffs so in order to liase with ASCII and Microsoft, they hired Steve Ting, known to his friends as Sting. Sting is an unusual character. Previously, he had been to half a dozen universities i n the U n ited States, just to see what the computer 32KROM. Sting demanded that the BASIC should be far better than their earlier effort for eight bit micros because by 1982 there were many machines with a BASIC superiorto MS BASIC. The new SVI BASIC or MS BASIC 4.5 was to have full screen editing. They decided to use a lot of so called 'hooks' which made the BASIC interruptable, thus mak- ing it easier to expand and capable of handling many tasks at once. The computer hardware be- came much more expandable than Spectravideo initially in- tended, by providing 'slots' as on the IBM PC. To you and I 'slots' are cartridge ports on an MSX into which you can plug in just about anything. They also used the 14 digit accuracy arithmetic routines from GW BASIC. Sting wanted more. He de- manded that BASIC 4.5 should be able to handle long variable names and also have structured statements such as DO LOOPs and WHILE and WEND which all serious computer buffs love. These never made it, simply because Rick and Jay ran out of space in the 32K ROM. ‘Sting demanded that the BASIC should be far better than their earlier effort for eight bit micros’ Apparently developing the SVI BASIC was not as straightfor- ward as they hoped. Bringing in this routine and that from other BASICS was a fine idea. It meant that you didn't have to write the codes from scratch. In fact some of the codes written by Bi 1 1 Gates and Paul Allen are still left in the MSX Basic, although I am not sure which routines they are. However, putting in 'hooks' meant that every Machine Code routine had to be modified a bit to make it jump to the 'hooks'. And there are hundreds of little routines in MS BASIC. What's more, these routines were not written by one program- mer. By the time Jay and Rick started on the SVI BASIC, the previous MS BASIC had gone through so many rewrites that many people knew some of the routines but no one person knew all of them. Some of those people had even left Microsoft! What was worse was that these people were mainly based in Seattle and Rick and Jay were in Japan. The result was that Rick had to shuttle from Seattle to Tokyo dozens of times. By winter 1982/83 the machine was ready. The design was modified so that it could have up to 256Kof RAM, plug-in 80column cardsand diskdrives. Italsomeantthatthepriceofthe machine rose but the Spectra- video machine could be used as a business machine. SVI 328 and 728 were re- leased in mid-1983 i n the United States but by that time the microcomputer business was in such a chaotic state that Spec- travideo didn't do as well as Alex and Harry hoped. After delivering the SVI com- puters, Rick and Jay didn't stop work. Kay Nishi had ideas. He had long hoped to seta standard for home computers so that all software and peripherals will be compatible with one another. His friends in the industry agreed . Before MSX there were so many computers incompati- ble with each other, yet most of them used Microsoft BASIC. When Kay realised how good the Spectravideo machines were, hejustknewthat everyone would use it as a standard if it was put to them . So i n the wi nter of 1982/83 Kay went to see about 20 companies saying "I've got this ace system , do you want to go for it?" The reaction, especially, from Panasonic and Sony was enthu- siastic. Both companies had their own micros with MS BASIC and neither were making money. They jumped at the idea and so did more than a dozen other companies, including Spectra- video. By June 1983 Kay Nishi and Bill Gates announced the MSX standard with 15 manufacturers backing it. But back on ASCII's DEC, Rick and Jay were still 'improving' BASIC 4.5, now, the MSX BASIC, code-named 'corn- flake' after BIG K cornflakes. By now, the Spectravideo hardware and software had been modified enough to be regarded as a different system so that the companies involved had to negotiate with Microsoft rather than Spectravideo. MSX could now be expanded uptoone Mega Byte, the number of hooks had been increased and the BASIC better debugged. Rick and Jay didn't stop coding until a few weeks before the actual machine came out. Rick believes some of the early MSX machines may have gone out with an EPROM instead of the proper MSX ROM. After the MSX BASIC was completed, they had to develop the MSX DOS. Kay got Tim Patterson who did the MS DOS forlBMPCtodothis. RickandJay d idn't stop when the MSX project finished. By August 1983 they wereworkingonMSX2whichwill be compatible with MSX 1. And that's the history of MSX BASIC, so far. \ X" ; / / A A L/* f'l f 'X X W 'y % I — ,i V V 'V J'.X / h vV rN V O / / k 1 / / <■ J rf' O \ X- i N i** ii* >. ■"A X X X \ \ \ \ ■z V / / » ^ V \ ) o o / N V i I V 0 /. X X X ,,\ X 'X / REWRITE THE HIGH \ SCORE TABLES So, you’ve got a MSX. You’ve also got enemies. With the Gunshot, you’ll have all the opposition cowering in corners. 8-directional action and an all-in-one moulded stem allows accuraR annihilation and strength to survive those all-night sessions. Dual fire buttons for fading fingers (and a rapid fire version when they’re really coming thick and fast). And, If you break it (and we know you’ll try) our 12-month guarantee will prove invaluable. Only £8.95. The Gunshot plugs directly into any MSX home computer. See the range of Vulcan joysticks and interfaces at your local stockist... we’ll see you on the high score tables. ELECTROmCS LTD 200 BRENT STRECT HENDON NW4 1 BH TEL: 01-203 6366 WeVe assembled twenty top Joysticks for this giant group test Debbie Goldfinch has been trying them out A Joystick is a games con- troiler that piugs into your micro to give you easier and faster control over your games playing than that offered by the keyboard. Joy- sticks come in many different styles; some don’t have a ‘stick’ as such, they may have a touch-sensitive pad, buttons or a rotating ball. They can make a big difference to your games performance — just as the right equipment for any activity can improve your per- formance, and add to your enjoyment. Many have rubber suction cups togripthe tabletop, some have rubber feet to give them some purchase and others are designed solely to be held in the hand. Models often have two fire buttons, one being for rapid fire which is useful for fast games. Most joysticks give you eight directions of movement. Lead lengths vary, so if you like to move around while you play, lookfora longer lead. Prices vary greatly too, but you don't need to spend a fortune to get a good per- former. If you are a keen games player, you will want the Joy- stick that is the most suitable to help you notch up that high score, and that does not fal I to pieces when you are in the middle of saving the planet from imminent destruction by theThargoids. So what should you look for when choosing a Joystick? Firstly, decide how much you want to spend and check for compatibilitywith your compu- ter. Then make sure that it's comfortable to hold and that you can easily reach the fire button. Check that it's stable and won't skid about, and that the handle doesn't feel too 'sloppy' or too stiff when you move it. Does the Joystick feel sturdy? Itwill have to withstand a lot of rough treatment, so ensure that the model you like comes with a decent guaran- tee. Finally, nomatterifitlooks like you should be saying 'Beam me up, Scotty' into it or using it to pilot the Space Shuttle, if you like the design and it meets the other stan- dards — get it! I n our test, we feature twenty models of Joystick and have examined them in order of price, starting with the least expensive. We used three different games to try out the sticks performance — Hyper Olympics, a two-way type game where you must move left, right and Jump (fire); Sparkie, a four-way maze game and SuperCobra, whereyou arethe pilot of a helicopter flying over a landscape avoiding or shoot- ing missiles, dropping bombs and picking up booty — an eight-way style game. The specification chart lists all the joysticks in alphabetical order and gives you all the relevant details — price, and number of fire buttons for example, at a glance. All the Joysticks had been well used in the office before the test began, so we had a fair idea of how well they would survive the wear and tear they might be subjected to in home use. Our verdict is at the end of the reports. Junior Pro £5.99 This joystick is small enough tof it comfortably into one hand and has four rubber feet that help stop it from sliding on a' table top. It Is very good for 8-way, positive and quick with little movement needed to get good response from It. The Joystick does give good control and fast response for 2 , 4 and 8-way games and it has a good sized 'rounded crescent' shaped fire button. It is good looking, simple, lightweight, easy to hold and a good performer. Junior Pro is only marred by the poor design of the knob on the stick's end. JoyCard £7.45 The Joy Card is a games controllerofsmall, 'creditcard' design. If you have large hands, it can be a tricky model to operate. The two fire buttons are placed rather close together, but It feels strong and has no moving parts to wear out. For 8-way Super Cobra, it was not too good on rapid change of direction and seemed rather Jerky. For 2- way, it was practically impos- sible to even qualify with the Joy Card, and for 4-way Spar- kle, it was difficult to change direction. With a lot of prac- tise, it could be a reasonable performer — but I don't hear any cries of ‘Don't leave home without one'! UghtnIngDeluxe £7.50 The Lightning is a light- weight, black and red Joystick. It has four sucker feet that grip quitef irmly and two reasonably sized fire buttons, one on the top of the stick, the other on the base. For 8-way SuperCobra, it responded well but felt like it was going to fall apart at any minute. It seemed to have a mind of its own and was not good for fine movements. It worked quite well for 2-way, requiring only small movement of the stick for response. For 4-way, the fire button was fast and movement was precise. One complaint with this one was that the handle, although comfortable, would be better if it was slimmer. Otherwise, it'sagood value Joystick. Atari CX-40 £7.99 Very simple in design, this Joystick is slow and uncomfort- able and needs a lot of effort to get movement from it for 4-way games. The single fire button is poor in response and for 2-way, it is again slow. It performs I ittle betterf or 8-way, it's still very stiff, a bit Jerky on diagonals and not at all com- fortable. It has four effective non-slip feet, but not much else to recommend it. Silk Stik £8.95 This is a nice looking, smal- lish Joystick, neat and simple in design and robustly built. It fits comfortably into the hand and the short stick has a marble-sized round knob at the end of it. The fire button is quite well placedtothetopleftofthe stick. For 4-way games, the stick did n't give positive move- ment and was slow to respond although the fire button work- ed well. It was better for 2-way, with I ittle effort needed to get a fast speed, and little discomfort. It didn't operate well with the 8-way; the fire button seemed slow and the stick too small to easily handle the eight direct- ions of movement. It was not easy to control and gave a rather erratic performance. Delta 3SIVI £9.95 This hand held Joystick wasn't a good overall perfor- mer. For 8-way games, it was slow to react and degree of movement needed to pi lot the helicopter in the game was too great. In Hyper Olympics, you have to put in a lot of work because the stick is so small. It was a little better for 4-way games, giving reasonable con- trol and fast fire, with a choice of three buttons, but once again these could have been bigger. It is not bad looking, light-weight, and the casing seems robust but the stick feels very flimsy. It is not real ly star quality. Atari CX-24 £9.99 This Atari is an unusual looking Joystick with two large orange fire buttons sited on the side of the casing, and a stick centred Just below these. Both casing and stick are wel I made and look like they are built to last. The stick moves well, and you don't need to move it too far to get good response for 8 and 4-way, and a fast speed for 2-way. It is comfortable to hold and the stick has a good-sized knob with raised moulding for extra grip. The fire buttons are a bit confusing until you get used to them, but are a good size and well positioned. This light- weight model is a pleasure to use and turns in a good per- formance every time. StarFIghter £10.95 Billed by Suncom as ‘the ultimate Joystick', this acco- lade seems a little too enthusi- astic. It wasn't a great Joystick for 8-way, it was passable for up. down, right, left but was sluggish in response and un- comfortable to use. It was hopelessf or HyperOlympics— it seems unlikely that it could even manage an 'egg and spoon' race at a local school sportsday! The stick is too short to be gripped easily and the base has no grip on a table top. The fire button was sluggish for the 4-way game and the Joystick generally slow to respond. The only thing in its favour is that it does seem strongly made and the price is reasonable. QulckshotSVl-101 £11.95 The Quickshot 1 has four stable sucker feet and a raised moulded section on the left hand side of the base incorp- orating a fire button. The moulded handle, which has another fire button on the top, is far too fat to be comfortable to hold. For 8-way games you have to move the handle a lotto getanythingoutof it.anditfelt a little sloppy. The fire buttons were only average in response. It didn’t break any world records in Hyper Olympics and it gave an average to slow performance for 4-way games. On the whole, it was disappointing because it was quite nicely designed and seemed well made but it’s performance f el I short of the mark. Gunshot 1 £11.95 The Gunshot has a fat, uncomfortable handle which feelsvery flimsy but which was, in fact, excellent in response for 8-way games. The two fire buttons were both easily accessible and positive. For the 2-way game, the fat hand le feels rather loose and it took a lotof effortto getany speed out of the joystick. For 4-way, it was once again a good performer, responding well and with a snappy fire button. It has four sucker feet which hold the table top firmly. The Gunshot is not the most attractive looking Joystick around; it’s rather bulky and finished in cream and a drab pale khaki colour, and the handle is too fat — but it certainly redeems itself in operation. Competition Pro 3000 £12.75 This Joystick is comfortable to use but has a rather I ight and insubstantial feel to it. It’s quite nice in design and has three fire buttons, two on the handle and one large pad on the base. For 8-way, the fire button was good and well positioned, but the stick was difficult to move and poor on diagonal movement. For 2-way, the stick didn’t offer good control and was slow. It was less than good for 4-way, being sluggish and unresponsive with a slow fire button. Not a very good Joystick if you’re aiming for record breaking scores. SuperChamp £12.95 An unusual Joystick, this; it looks I ike a flying saucer with a handle. The flex can be wound in to the base. The four sucker feet real ly do grip the table top firmly and it stays put during even the most enthusiastic use. For Hyper Olympics it is possible to get a very fast speed with this model, but you expend a lotof energy doing it. For 8-way it wasn’t bad, but onceagainyou have to thrash it to get a response. The whole centre section moves which gives the unfortunate feeling that the Joystick is about to fall apart at any minute! The fire buttons on the top and front of the handle are good because you only need to concentrate on moving. Not a bad performer, but it is rather bulky to handle. Competition Pro 5000 £13.50 The Competition Pro doesn’t have suckers. Just rubber feet and it is not easy to get a proper grip on it without putting your hand over one of the fire buttons. It does have a large round ball at the end of the stick which is particularly com- fortable to use and the two big fire buttons are easy to hit. It’s good for 8-way Super Cobra, although the response could be a bit crisper. For the 2-way game, the stick movement was a bit sloppy. Apart from this, itwaseasyto use and gave a fast speed, but it was rather Jerky on 4-way. It seems quite a sturdy Joystick, but not particularly inspiring in design. CanonVJ200 £15 This is Canon’sversionof the MSX Joystick. Several of the other MSX manufacturers in- cluding JVC and Mitsubishi have produced similar models with different coloured fire buttons. A large orange fire button covers almost the whole of the top of the stick and it has a supplementary fire button on the base. Both are well placed and for 4 and 8-way games were good in response. The stick is Joined to the base by a sort of ball and socket Joint and feels very sloppy. Despite this, it was effective and responded well in the 8-way Super Cobra game and equally well in 4-way Sparkie. It feels rather flimsy, but it is comfortable to use and gives a good account of itse I f i n games. Tac-2 £15.95 TheTac-2 is a bit like the Slik Stik’s big brother in design, and once again looks good and seems very strongly made. It has two large fire buttons either side of the stick, and the stick itself has a large round black ball on the end that fits comfortably into the palm of the hand. For 2-way, it only required a little movement to get a respectable speed out of it, and it was good to use. For 8-way, it didn't perform so well and seemed to make move- ment rather Jerky. However, it was comfortable to use, if somewhat sluggish, whichwasdisappointing. If you have large hands, another problem which arises is that the short length of stick makes it difficult to get a good grip. It seems to be quite competent for 4-way, but not that easy to use. HyperShot £15.99 Hyper Shot is designed especially for Track and Field style games. It is a large, white box-shaped device, quite styl- ish, with two large red buttons. oneforjumpandoneforrun. Its four rubber feet are rather sma 1 1 . but by design you hold it quite steady with both hands anyway. For 2- way games it is not bad. but rather limited. However, it doesn’t require much effort to get a fast speed with it. It is well made and, with no moving handle, will prob- ably last wel I . The Hyper Shot is not designed for 4 or 8-way games. JoySensor £19.95 The Joy Sensor really does look like the sort of thing that Captain Kirk might use to communicate with the SS Enterprise. It is a lightweight silver games controller, and is touch sensitive. It is not easy to use unlessyou have had a lot of practice, but once mastered it is exceptionally quick to re- spond. It’s quite good for 8-way games and although the fire panel could be a bit closer to the direction control, you can Just keep your finger on to fire continuously. There is a choice of fire and rapid fire available. I actually got a blistered finger when using the Joy Sensor to play Hyper Olympics, but did clock up some very fast Model Number of Fire Buttons Moving Direction Fast Fire Feet Length of Price 2-Way 4-Way 8-Way Supplier Atari CX-40 1 Sway No Rubber feet 120cm £7.99 ★ ★ ★ ★ Atari International (0753) 33344 Atari CX-24 2 Sway No none 150cm £9.99 ★ ★★★ ★ ★★ ★ ★★ Atari International Canon VJ200 2 Sway No Suction cups 120cm £15.00 ★ ★★ ★ ★★★ ★ ★★★ Canon (UK) Ltd 01-773 3173 Competition Pro 3000 3 Sway No Rubber feet 150cm £12.75 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★★★ Kempston Micro Electronics (0234) S56633 Competition Pro 5000 2 Sway No Rubber feet 150cm £13.50 ★★ ★ ★★ ★ ★★ 1 Kempston Micro Electronics Computer Command 2 Sway Yes Rubber feet 150cm £27.95 ★★ ★ ★★ ★ ★★★ Computer Games Ltd 01-50S 5600 Delta 3SM 3 Infinite Yes Rubber feet 130cm £9.95 ★ ★ ★ ★ Voltmace (0462) S94410 Gunshot 1 2 Sway No Suction cups 135cm £11.95 ★ ★ ★★★★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ Vulcan Electronics 01-203 6366 Hypershot 2 n/a No Rubber feet 110cm £15.99 ★ ★★ n/a n/a Konami Ltd 01-429 2446 Joycard 2 Sway No Hand held 120cm £7.45 ★ ★ ★ ★★ Hudsonsoft (UK) Ltd 01-4583310 Joy Sensor Touch Sensitive Pad Infinite Yes Hand held 150cm £19.95 ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ Consumer Electronics (061) 682 2339 Junior Pro 1 Sway No Rubber feet 150cm £5.99 ★ ★★ ★ ★★ ★ ★★ Kempston Micro Electronics Lightning Deluxe 2 Sway No Suction cups 120cm £7.50 ★ ★★ ★★★★ ★ ★★ Lightning 01-969 5255 Quickshot 1 2 Sway No Suction cups 120cm £11.95 ★ ★ ★★ ★ Spectravideo 01-330 0101 SlikStik 1 Sway No Plastic ridges 150cm £S.95 ★ ★★★ ★ ★ ★ Consumer Electronics Sony JS-55 3 Sway No Rubber feet 115cm £19.95 ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★★★ Sony (UK) Ltd (81) 61688 Sony JS-75 3 Sway No Hand held n/a £64.95 ★ ★★ ★★ ★ ★★ Sony (UK) Ltd Starfighter 1 Sway No Plastic ridges 150cm £10.95 ★ ★ ★★ ★★ Consumer Electronics Super Champ 2 12 way No Suction cups 300cm £12.95 ★ ★★ ★★ ★ ★★ Dean Electronics (0344) 885661 Tac-2 2 Sway No Plastic ridges ISOcm £15.95 ★ ★★★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ Consumer Electronics Scoring for games ★ poor ★ ★ average ★ ★ ★ good ★ ★ ★ ★ very good ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ excellent speeds. It is good for 8-way games because of its fast response but you do tend to zoom off in the wrong direction unless you concentrate. SonyJS-55 £19.95 If you've always wanted to be a racing driver, this is the joystick for you. Unfortunately, it's performance doesn't quite match its looks. The base feels solid and looks hardwearing but the movement feels very flimsy. There is an option of three fire buttons; two small ones on either side of the stick top and a large pad on the base. For 8-way, movement was imprecise and sloppy although thef ire buttons responded wel I and for 2-way it was sluggish. For the 4-way Sparkie, it's performance was much better — good and fast with the fire buttons on the handle. On the whole, the JS-55 is a very nice piece of equipment, comfort- able to use, sturdily built and good-looking — but it's not quite Grand Prix Formula One. Computer Command £27.95 The Computer Command is a very sturdy feeling Joystick and is Wico's only MSX-compatible joystick. They do have a good range of joysticks (listed in the buyers guide), but until the interface at £4.99 is available they won't operate fully with MSX. It is quite good looking, with a cream and brown base and a large red handle. It has four rubber feet on the base which stopped it sliding about reasonably well. The comfort- able handle is contoured to fit the hand. Afire button on top of the handle is easy to reach with your thumb and there is also a good sized fire button on the base. The handle allows 8-way movement and is not sloppy — ifanythingit'sa bittoofirm.lt is not good for the 2-way Hyper Olympics where the faster you waggle the handle, the faster you go, but for the 4-way it was good with the well sited fire button. For the 8-way it was very good, positive in move- ment and quick to respond. SonyJS-75 £64.95 This is a remote control joystick controller, and looks very stylish. It comes complete with interface that plugs. into your computer and has no lead — you j ust poi nt it at the screen and away you go. However, you still have to select your game option from the keyboard so you are still tied to the micro, which seems to make remote control rather pointless. The controller has three fire but- tons, two small blue ones on thesideanda large pad on top. They respond well and are easily accessible. The short handle is uncom- fortable and difficult to hold. For 2-way games, the con- troller gives fast speeds, but takes quite a lot of effort to operate. For 8-way, control is quite good but not as good as that of conventional joysticks. The JS-75 feels sturdy and, gives an adequate perform- ance for 4-way but is exceptionally uncomfortable to use. It is obviously well made, but does seem rather gimmicky and is not really worth the comparatively ex- pensive price. It's not the control ler to go for if you want to notch up megascores. Verdict Buying a Joystick is very much a matter of personal preference, and It’s ciear from the test that although you do tend to get very much what you pay for — a reasonably priced model, such as the Atari CX-40 at £7.99 often gives a very creditable performance, whereas the latest super- gadget can be a real let down. The main criterion seems to be to set yourself a top price, and then go and try those models within that range. Don’t choose the cheapest— It may not be cheap in the long run if It wears out quickly, breaks or you find it In- adequate and have to buy a better one — get the best that you can afford, and most Important, get one that feels comfortable and performs well for you. Hi [ selected branches and all good computer stores DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOMED OTHER TITLES INCLUDE Fun Words Challenge My Bluff Kriss Kross Kquiz BLAST-OfF into an incredible galaxy of exciting adventures with your MSX home computer. LET'S GO MSX takes the lid off the fascinating high per'ormance powerhouse hidden beneath the keyboard of your MSX. LET'S GO MSX puts you in the pilot's seat as you explore the star-studded array of functions at your fingertips. Teach yourself programming with the aid of your own MSX as this intriguing package charts a thrilling course through four practical working programs for you to study and keep — Personal Cashplan, Recipes, Home Librarian, Education Game. learn the skills of manipulating words, figures, drawings, colours and sounds. Complete the full SoftCat course with LET'S GO MSX (Advanced) and even lull animation on screen for action-packed games, leisure and education will be yours to command. SoRCat For further information Telephone 056589 3563 or write to: SoftCat P.O. Box 19 Knutsford WA16 OHE Available from FOR MSX IN NW SURREY TOSHIBA STOCKIST FOR THE TOSHIBA MSX COMPUTER — PRINTERS AND SOFTWARE 58 GUILDFORD STREET, CHERTSEY SURREY Tel : (09328) 63243 PERSONAL Please ask CALLERS for written WELCOME crecf/t details /Z MUSIC STOUC CorACTOTwe lAuSiC secftcxALisTS. ymaaha c % s *\ MSX MoSiC CorAPuTCft RLUiftVS ou 'DenoioSTBQTioM. SYSTEMS faoM'. ltJCUv)D\ioCt VMT ^ a f pi\x AuAilaglE CoftwaCe Jk I ^ I Amo OW 9 ^ i SToc%e. Nov» t \ ALSO 110 stock:- e.m.R. m>Oi XKMEAroLt Amo soFTMAce C<^nc n'^//56 *■ island uoq^c MOSIC Cfsac ALL PRICES lfiCLV>T3E VAT. Pa(it C.L»»*E £Asy STRcrr -t^e Freedman s C2i-gz\ hic^k LCYTONSTOioE UOfoDoTN fc.ll i+PlA. 0289 (fcLoSEi>THoJisi)f^VS 79 ORSETT ROAD, GRAYS, ESSEX RM17 5HH COMPUTER CENTRE Tel: 0375 5948 SENSATIONAL VALUE! HOME ENTERTAINMENT PACKAGE HURRY WHILE STOCKS LAST — UMITED OFFER INCLUDES TOSHIBA HX10 COMPUTER • CASSETTE RECORDER • JOYSTICK • 3 SEPARATE CASSETTE GAMES PLUS ABSOLUTELY FREE • SPECIAL SOFTWARE TAPE INTRODUCING MSX FREE COPY OF MSX COMPUTING MAGAZINE FANTASTIC PRICE £239 ONLY 3 YR GTEE, C.P.U. I enclose a cheque/postal order for £. Please debit my Access Card No K3 ^ Barclaycard No .made payable to H ReynoldsI for £ -for £. Signature. Name Address. -Tel No. POST FREE ESTABLISHED29 YEARS Learning to use your computer can seem a daunting task. We’ve been finding out how to get computer education T here is more to life and computers than zapping myriads of mutated Mar- tians. If you’ve been presented with an MSX at Christmas or are counting your pennies with the intention of investing in one, the only way you can Justify the costs is to learn how to use it properly Playing games for hours and days on end can get very boring indeed. To squeeze the abso- lute maximum out of yourMSX, you are going to have to learn what its potential really is. Those of you still at school will probably have already learned something about com- puters, but if you left school wel I before the home computer revolution really started you will probably feel rather fright- ened by them. It’s important to remember that anyone can program a computer — evenyourfiveyear old daughter is probably learn- ing to break into the national defence system with a modem . But it needs commitment and does take time, practice and a lot of patience. A computer will do anything you tell itto. Itcannotthinkfor itself and so if you make a catastrophic error like tel ling it to erase a week’s worth of programs i nstead of te 1 1 i ng it to save them, that is exactly what it will do. Poof, a week’s work gone. It would have been obvious to anyone but the computer that you'd meant save. Factors to consider in your search for computer know- ledge are whether you prefer to work on your own, the amount of spare time you have, whether you entertain thoughts of actually gaining a recognised computer qual- ification and of course your geographical location. If you live in London, the opportuni- ties for courses on computers are probably greater than i n the heights of the Scottish High- lands. As the MSX machines have only been on sale to the British pubi ic for the last few months, the avai labi I ity of MSX specific books and courses are few and far between. We have had to concentrate on the general- ised computer courses and books, workingon the principle that once you’ve grasped the basics of a computer and its capabilities you can easily adapt the ideas to the MSX. Options include evening or day classes, courses of further education, short introductory courses, teaching yourself with the aid of books or even videos. Whichever option you choose will depend on the time, money and effort you are prepared to devote to the pursuit of computer literacy. If your time is valuable, evening or day classes may be one of the most convenient ways of teaching yourself something about computers. The local education authority will give you advice on what courses have been arranged and these are usually held in adult education establish- ments. We investigated the courses held in South West London by the Richmond Adult College and found courses varying from Computer Prog- ramming in BASIC for begin- ners to a course studying the computer’s insides. They are held during the week, in the evenings and on Saturday mornings and usually last for two hours. The courses are spread out over 12 to 24 weeks and start in September, the beginning of the academic year. The Richmond Adult Col- lege charges £31.20 for a course lasting 24 weeks. These courses will give you excel lent background informa- tion on computer programming and obviously any problems you have with MSX program- mi ng ca n be d iscussed with the tutorand other members of the class. The sharing of informa- tion and problems is one of the advantages of learning in a group. For those of you needing instant computer information, short week-end courses have multiplied in the last year and are held all over the country. The organisers usual ly include food and overnight accomoda- tion in the price of the course. The classified sections of the computer magazines are a good source of this type of course. Unfortunately these are generally held on computers other than the MSX. For inst- ance Gainsborough House based in the Severn Valley works with the Commodore 64. This probably won’t present a problem, because the aim of a short course is to become familiar with computers and their potential. The Micro Learning Centre in Bourne- mouth actually adapt their courses for whatever computer you possess including the MSX. Prices on these computer jaunts varies, but the weekend course atGainsborough House costs an all inclusive £70 covering Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. Correspondence computer courses are gaining popularity and are especially useful for MSX owners either living in the middle of nowhere or who prefer to work on their own. The We went to a computer class at Gainsborough College. A weekend's course Introduced the BASIC language and programming Video tuition Is an alternative offered by Computer Television. Chris Serle Is the presenter of a general Introduction to the world of computing the number of subjects taken and the registration fee. The only problem with this type of course is that the enthusiasm and incentives usually created by attending a group class are missing. The short introductory courses give you an opportun- ity to familiarise yourself with computers very quickly, but if you are really bitten by the computer bug and you decide that you must know more about your computer perhaps a long course with the possibil ity of a recognised qualification atthe end should be considered. The local library will be an excellent source of informa- tion on course options avail- able and the assistants are always willing to point you Council for the Accreditation of Correspondence courses will give details on associations arranging approved computer courses. Wolsey Hall at the Oxford Business School runs course catering for all abilities ranging from those for com- plete beginners to detailed courses for competent compu- ter professionals. Written study units are sup- plemented by cassettes and these are sent to the student. Tests and written exercises have to be completed and sent back to personal tutors for correction. Examinations can be taken at the end although they are not compulsory and any urgent problems can be dealt with by phone. Course prices vary and depend on towards the relevant books and college prospectuses once you’ve explained what you want. But, first you have to decide what sort you are in- terested in. Local education authorities are again the best equipped to provide you with information on computer courses. The In- ner London Educational Au- thority (ILEA) have compiled Floodlight, a guide giving de- tails on part time and evening classes in Inner London. It is available from ILEA for 50 pence. Many of the courses men- tioned in Floodlight lead to professional qualifications, but every ability and interest is catered for. Everything from Research degrees in Computer Science and Numerical Analy- sistothe Hobby Computer Club can be found. Looking through the guide, we discovered courses on Computer Graphics, Introduc- tion to Machine Code Program- ming and Z80 Machine Code. Once you’ve decided what your interest is all you have to do is check that you are available when the classes are held in your area! Some of them do need ‘A’ Level or 'O' Level qualifications before you can enrol. If you become seriously in- terested in computers an'^ are considering using the compu- ter in the office or in a small business perhaps a vocational ratherthan a recreational com- puter course might be a good idea. These often involve tak- ing days off work and will result in a qualification. We enquired at the library about the day release computer courses and were handed the Index of Courses of Further Education, a booklet written by the local council representing local au- thorities, institutions, univer- sities and validating bodies. Again, many of them would need A-Level or similar qual- ificationstojoin. Varioustypes of course arrangements exist: full-time — 9 to 5 Monday to Friday; sandwich — full-time with period of time of f towork i n a Job using skills learned; block release — the student gets time off work to study; part-time day/evening, a cou- ple of evenings a week and flexi-study — students work and study by arrangement with the college. Most of these courses will need special arrangements with employers or, if you are unemployed, will need to be financed. TCACH YOUma^ Computer Programming iMfiX BASIC Books aplenty will teach you about all aspects of computing Due to the recent surge in the home computer’s popular- ity, collegesofferingcomputer courses have proliferated. Some are better than others and so it is important to remember that unscrupulous members of the community (often known as conmen!) do exist and that their only aim in I if e is to set u p bogus computer colleges, prise as much money out of you as possible for very little in return. Neil Trilby, Information Officer of the British Computer Society (BCS), advised us that "if someone is really interested in becoming relatively profi- cient with computers, they should shop around and go for a course with recognised qual- ification at the end of it, the City and Guilds for example." We asked him if there was any way of distinguishing the good from the bad and Neil advised us that "one of the tricks of a badcompanyisto tell potential customers that they must hurry up and pay the money, other- wise the place will go.” This forces people into making a decision they may regret later. "People have the right to make their own choice in their own time”, said Neil. The BCS themselves hold computer proficiency examinations. Contact the BCS for further information. Computer clubs are another good source of computer in- formation, although according to Bill McCool, Press Officer of the National Computing Cen- tre, they are really aimed at the "computer hackers — adv- anced people who treat that kind of person (computer novice) nicely — a little bit patronisingly!” In the Man- chester computer club. Bill told us, they have computer query sessions where people can get help with any program- ming problems they may be having. They plan projects like building computers out of hair- dryer motors and occasionally for lightamusementoneofthe members gives a talk on “how I wrote a new computer lan- guage!” Obviously not every single club in the country caters for the computer whizz kids, but generally they are made up of people with a fairly advanced knowledge. However, every- one has to start somewhere and if you're persistent enough, you will eventually find yourself to be one of the hackers! To find out if there is one near to you contact the Asso- ciation of Computer Clubs (ACC) who will refer you to the nearest one. If they can’t find one near enough, ask in local computer shops and examine library, school and church noticeboards. Local newspap- ers and the computer special- ist press may also yield in- formation. Books are another good source for those of you in- terested in learning more ab- out, not only your MSX compu- ter, but about computers in general and their possible applications in both the home and office. MSX books are rapidly increasing in number. For the complete beginner, the followi ng books may come in handy: MSX Exposed by Joe Pritchard from Melbourne House; Teach yourself Prog- ramming in MSX BASIC from Hodder and Stoughton, and from Honeyfold Software, the Beginners Basic Course for MSX and a Beginners Assem- bly Course for MSX. Programmer reference guides are essential for any- one with a computer and there should be two in the shops this month: The Complete Prog- rammers Reference Guide by Tom Sato, P. Mapstone and I. Muriel from Melbourne House and A Programmers Guide To The MSX System by R. Goodley and C. I. Burkinshaw from Sigma Press. For the more experienced MSX users, MSX Games Book by A. Lacey from Melbourne House, Getting More From Your MSX and Spectravideo by B. Boyde-Shaw from Sigma Press and Working With MSX BASIC by I.Sinclairfrom Collins may prove useful. To obtain a general picture of the computer world it is essential that you read a wide variety of books dealing with various aspects of computers and their applications. There are many general books ex- plaining computers, the va- rious technologies and some of the words used in computer environments. Good examples are A Glossary of Computing Terms from the British Compu- ter Society and The Penguin Computing Book by S. Curran and R. Curnow. Computers have great potential in the business en- vironment and literally hun- dreds of books exist on the subject. Selecting Business Software by E. Berman and L Dewhurst from Frances Pinter, Fundamentals of Computing by G. Willmottfrom Heinemann and Word processing for Be- ginners by S. Curran from Granada may give some in- sight into floppy disks, data base management and the advantages of word proces- sing. Granada’s Z80 Machine Code for Humans by A. Toothill and D. Barrow gives the reader some insight into program- ming short Machine Code routines and Sunshine’s Ap- plications On Your Micro by M. Grace gives the reader ideas on using a home computer in the home. Games Program- ming by E. Solomon, Fun Mathematics by C. Kosniowski and Creative Computer Graphics by A. Jankel and R. Morton all from Cambridge University Press give the read- er ideas on using the MSX creatively. The books we mentioned are only intended to be repre- sentative of the books in the computer sections of the book shops, but our I ist wi 1 1 give you an idea of what is available. If you can’t afford to rush out and buy all the latest computer books, try your local library. ComputerTele vision, a com- pany, have even produced a video called Easy Microcom- puting, costing £19.95 which aims to educate the beginner in computing. Presented ty Chris Serle of ‘That's Life’ and ‘In at the Deep End' fame, the tape gives the viewer informa- tion on the basics of comput- ing, why he or she should computerise and gives details on specific applications. With all the ideas, advice and information we have given you, you and your MSX should soon be inseparable! There isa lot more to computers than playing games and with the superb Microsoft extended BASIC language and the excel- lent sound and graphics capa- bilities you should soon be creating your own games h and programs. H ADDRESSES Association of Computer Ciubs 17 Lawrie Park Crescent London SE26 6HH Tel: 01 370 0601 British Computer Society 13 Mansfield Street London Wl Tel: 01-637 0471 Computer Teievision 9 Cavendish Square London Wl Tel: 01 580 6363 Councii for the Accreditation of Computer Coiieges 27 Marylebone Road London NWl 5JS Tel: 01 935 5391 Gainsborough House Bewdley Hill Kidderminster Worcs DYll 6BS Tel: (0562) 754041 i.L.E.A. Room 77 County Hall London Wl Tel: 01 633 1066 index of Courses for Further Education Tavistock House South Tavistock Square London WCl 9LR Tel: 01 388 0027 Micro Learning Centre 10 St Swithins Road South Bournemouth Dorset BAl 3RQ Tel: (0202) 290677 National Computing Centre Oxford Road Marichester Ml 7ED Tel: (061) 228 6333 Richmond Adult College Clifden Road Twickenham Tel: 01 892 2303 Wolsey Hall 66 Banbury Road Oxford 0X2 6PR Tel: (0865) 54231 Computer buffs speak a language all their own. Here’s a guide to the Jargon that should enable you to bluff your way through any computer club conversation G O to a computer show and listen to the conversa- tions. It’s a whole new language, isn’t It? There’s talk of mice, handshakes, buses, ports, flags, loops, clocks, bits, desktops — enough to make you think that computer buffs have taken leave of their senses. You, the newcomer to computing, seem to have little chance convincing the experts that you know what you’re talking about. The name of the game Is Jargon. Bluffing your way to becom- ing an apparent expert on computers isn't difficult. You can then hold your own when the talk turns to computers. Once you gain admittance to a clique of computer buffs, you’ll soon start to pick up real computeracy. Providing you don’t lose sight of the fact that not everyone speaks the jar- gon, you should then be able to talk about computers to any- body. Thefirstthingtodo is to start using computer buzzwords in normal conversation. You don’t ‘connect’ your TV and video — you 'interface’ them. You don’t 'look up information’ — you 'access data’. Such terms show that you are into computers. The image is further streng- thened if your briefcase starts to bulge with computer maga- zines. Spend time browsing through computer magazines i n Sm iths and borrow computer books from the public library. If they are on subjects such as databases, Machine Code programming and so on, so much the better. Gamesmanship consists of knowing what the best selling game are, being able to load games Into your computer and managing to get onto the high score table of at least two games. Alternatively, know what happens in a popular adventure after the first thirty moves or so (this can be garnered from games players or games reviews). All that then remains is to have a grasp of the fun- damentals of computing. So, pen and paper ready . . . here we go. Get your pronunciation right from the start. If in doubt, consulta computing dictionary (an essential requirement for heavy bluffing). Be sure you can say things like algorithm, baud (rhymes with bored) and heuristic without faltering. Your computer is a micro, meaning that the computing circuitry is all on one silicon chip, a microprocessor. Strict- ly speaking, you have a home micro. A desktop micro is designed for the business user, so costs more and is better suited to business soft- ware. Amainframeisthesortof computer that stores DHSS or DVLC records and databases such as Prestel. You might access the latter to get i nf orm- ation, or try and break into (hack into) the former. ‘Be sure you can say things like algorithm, baud (rhymes with bored) and heuristic without faltering* The computer and peripher- als you add to it are the hardware. Programs are soft- ware, unless they are built into the computer, in which case they are firmware. The i nside of a micro is f i I led with all sorts of jargon-induc- ing goodies. Acronyms are the rage. There's the PCB, the printed circuit board on which all the components are mounted. There's the CPU, or Central Processing Unit. That's the computing bit of the com- puter. In MSX machines it is an eight bit Z80A processor. Othertypesofeight bit proces- sor are the 6809 and 6502. The Z80A is used in computers such as the Sinclair Spectrum. Eight bit means that the processor handles data in batches or words of eight bits. A bit, short for binary digit, is the smallest unit of data. Eight bits make a byte, four bits make a nibble. A Kilobyte, often abbreviated to K, is 1024 bytes. An Mbyte, or Megabyte is colloquially a million bytes but strictly speaking 1024 x 1024 or 1,048,576 bytes. A Gigabyte is 1024 Mbytes, or a heck of a lot of memory. MSX computers are designed with a maximum capacity of a Mega- byte. All these odd numbers have to do with the binary number base at the heart of all computing. Other number bases to know about are octal (base eight) and Hexadecimal (base 16). This numbering system goes 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F,10andsoon. Numbers in this form are prefixed by hex or hash. A familiarity with these number systems is a sure sign of computeracy. Computer memory is divided into ROM and RAM. ROM is Read Only Memory — instruc- tions that are permanently embedded in the microchip and can't be changed. They control the way the micro works. RAM is Random Access Memory. It is similar to ROM, but its contents are lost when the power is turned off. It is the area occupied by programs. Generally, the greater the RAM the more the computer can store. Most MSX machines have 64K RAM . MSX micros also have 16Kof VRAM, Video Random Access Memory. This is the area where data for the video display is stored. VDP is another useful acronym, standing for Video Display Processor. In MSX mic- ros this is a Texas Instruments 9918Achip. Another importantchip is the General Instruments AY-3- 8910. This generates the sound in an MSX computer. When you start talking about the workings of microp- rocessors, you start into another level of Jargon. For a start there isthe clockspeed of the processor, measured in Megahertz or MHz. The MSX processor runs at 3.6MHz. The higher this number, the better. silicon chip too. EPROM is a term you may come across. It stands for Erasable Programm- able ROM. It is a chip on which I the ROM can be erased by ultra j violet light. A PROM can't have j its memory erased. * If RAM needs to be stored, a j CMOS or Coated Metal Oxide Semi-conductor can be used. With a small power source, this can store data or programmes when the computer is turned off. Bubble memory is another non-volatile (i.e. power inde- pendent) memory storage method. It uses arrays of bubblesina magnetic material to store information. LSI stands for Large Scale Integration, and is the means by which by upto 1000 electro- nic components are reducediD one chip. VLSI, Very Large Scale Integration, isgettingup A bus is the channel along which data is transmitted. Data travels from one address to another, altering flags (pro- cessor status indicators), reg- isters and indices. Addresses are arranged in pages of 1024 (binary at work) locations, so you'll heartalkof pagezeroand so on. Eight bit processors handle words of eight bits. More advanced are sixteen bit pro- cessors, handling data in 16 bit blocks. The Z8000 and Intel 8088 are 16 bit processors. 32 bit processors handle 32 bit words. The Motorola 68000 is a 32 bit chip. There are other types of to one million electronic com- ponents on a single chip. ULSI (Ultra LSI) is getting over a million components on a chip. If you really want to talk futuristically, read up on biochips — microchips of the future to be carbon-based and able to grow their own compo- nents! Getting back to the present, some programming Jargon al- ways comes in handy. Lan- guages are the starting point and BASIC is the language of your MSX micro. BASIC stands for Beginners’ All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Itis a high level language, mean- ing it is quite close to English. To operate a BASIC program, the computer uses a BASIC interpreter, converting BASIC instructions to Machine Code. Machine Code is the language the microprocessor responds to. It can be written with an assembler, converting labels and acronyms entered by the programmer to the hexadecim- al language of the computer. BASIC is an interpreted lan- guage, as is FORTRAN. Other languages are compiled. The computer starts with a few primitive commands and the programmer builds new com- mands using the primitives. To run a program, the computer analyses the high level com- mands, breaking them down into primitives and executing these, compiled languages in- clude Forth, LISP and COBOL. A program is a sequence of terminals, printers, diskdrives and so on. Booting up is entering an operating system into the computer. That brings us rather neatly to the world of peripherals. A peripheral is anything you attach to a computer. Some of the terms are pretty self-ex- planatory — joystick and prin- ter for example — but there are myriads of other terms to pick up. A monitor is the generic term for the visual display unit or VDU. CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) is a synonomous term. A monochrome monitor is a black and white set. Green screen monitors have a green screen that is designed to make them easier to look at for long periods. The output to a monitor is, in this country, a composite video or PAL signal. screen by which pointing at a symbol being displayed (an icon) initiates an action. A mouse is a device that you move about on the desk; as it moves, the cursor moves on the screen. A light pen is a type of pen that ‘draws' on the screen, and is an accessory available for MSX micros. Then there is the touch pad — touch sections of it to do different things. That's available for MSX too. Programs are stored on a variety of media. For the home user, cassette tape is the most common. Greater storage capacity is possible on disks coated with a magnetized met- al oxide. The disk (note the spelling) formats vary, with popular sizes being 8", 5Va", 3 V 2 " and 3". The first two are known as floppy disks. Hard SiHAKEJj instructions to the computer. If a program doesn't run correct- ly, then it probably has a bug in it. Debugging programs is what keeps programmers up all hours of the night. With two days stubble, bags under the eyes and a sallow complexion, you can easily pass as a demon programmer. Programs are described as portable if they can be used on a range of different machines. MSX programs are portable, as are business programs written I under an operating system such as CP/M or UNIX. An operating system is a series of programs that oper- ates a computer system of The socket forthe cable may be labelled RF, standingfor Radio Frequency Other standards include NTSC and Peritel. RGB is the other video output and needs a special socket. It gives separate outputs of red, green and blue signals, driving the three cathode ray guns in the colour monitor directly and giving optimum image quality. The keyboard is used to enter text on the screen. A standard keyboard is de- scribed as a QWERTY type, after the first six alphabet keys. Alternative means to communicate with the compu- ter exist too. For instance, a touch screen is a special disks are non-bendable and holdvastamountsofdata. Also known as Winchesters, they are for large business compu- ters. The cartridge is an alterna- tive to disk storage, containing a ROM chip with the program written on it. Disk drives, cartridges and so on are con- nected to the computer via the I/O (In/Out) port. That has 50 pins or contacts on MSX com- puters. The other major interfaces are described as serial or parallel. RS-232C and Centro- nics are equivalent terms. Se- rial means that data is sent in a long stream, one bit after the other. Parallel meansthatdata is sent down eight parallel wires, one byte at a time. Printers are connected to these ports. There are, of course, several different varieties of printer. Daisy wheel printers have a spoked, circular wheel with a character ‘There are many books to educate you and computer buffs are usually only too willing to enlighten you about their hobby’ at end of each spoke. To change to different types of characters, you have to change the daisywheel. Dot matrix printers use a grid of tiny pins to print any character at all. These printers are faster but the quality is not so high. Thermal printers rely on heat to transfer ink to the page, or bring out characters on a sheet of special paper. The last major class of peripheral is concerned with computer communications. The basic tool here is the modem, short for modulator/ demodulator. This converts (modulates) signals from the computer to audible tones that are sent down a telephone line and converts these tones back to binary data at the receiving end. A Baud is the measure of data transfer speed, a figure like 1200/75 indicating that signals are sent at 75 baud and received at 1200 baud. 300 baud is another common speed. A full duplex modem is able to receive and send sig- nals simultaneously, a half duplex modem can do only one or the other. Those, then, arejustsomeof the terms you'll come across when you start talking compu- ters. There are hundreds more too, particularly when you start investigating robotics. Artifi- cial Intelligence (Al) and the frontiers of developing tech- nology. Still, there are many books to educate you and you'll find that computer buffs are usually only too willing to enlighten you about their hob- by. Just remember one thing though: it is easy enough to bluffyourway in Computerese, but blinding a novice with science is a good way to ■■ put them off for ever. Advertisers Index A Autovision 106 AF Smith & Sons Ltd 32 Alligata Software 6 Ampalsoft 81 Axis 89-93 B B&B Radios. TV Ltd 106 Bradford Electricals 32 C Conway Computer Services 104 City Music 4 Chartsearch 8 Chappell of Bond Street 25 Combined Independent Holdings 50 Carlsbro’ Sound 61 E Eric Lee (Electrical) Ltd 105 F Freedmans 81 Frasers 104 French 104 Frank Sissons 105 H H Reynolds 81 Hi Soft 6 Howes of South borough 106 Harris & Nash 106 Hi Fi Studios 106 Hoopers. Sons 32 Hydes of Chertsey 81 J James Duckworth 105 John Rees Hi Fi 32 Jatala Electronics 32 Jacksons 32 JS.H Russell 33 K KumaComputers IBC L Logic Electrical Engineers 1 05 Lion House 106 M Micro Link 10 Mitsubishi 54,55 Mitsubishi Dealers 1 04, 1 05, 1 06, 1 08 Medlicott Brothers 18 Music Village 63 P PeterTyson 106 R RS. J T elevisions 105 S Sharon Music 60 Sanyo 46, 47 South Coast Cash Registers 1 0 Software City 4 Sony IFC Stuart Westmoreland 32 Skelton Ltd 106 Somerton Video Services 106 D. Saunders 106 Sound Sense 105 Selsdon ParkTV& Video Centre 105 Sutcliffes 105 SP Electronics 33 T T ollesbury T elevision Service 1 05 Toshiba OBC Tavistock Hi Fi 25 Toshiba Dealers 18,32,33,50 U Unicolour Ltd 105 V Video Care 106 Vulcan Electronics 76 W Ward & Williams 104 Woolfmans 33 Y Yamaha 38,39 Yamaha Dealers 60-63 It’s easy to complain about an advertisement. Once you know how. One of the ways we keep a check on the advertising that appears in the press, on posters and in the cinema is by responding to consumers’ complaints. Any complaint sent to us is considered carefully and, if there’s a case to answer, a full, investigation is made. If you think you’ve got good reason to complain about an advertisement, send off for a copy of our free leaflet. It will tell you all you need to know to help us process your complaint as quickly as possible. The Advertising Standards Authority. If an advertisement is wrong, weVe here to put it right. ASA Ltd, Dept 1 Brook House, Torrington Place, London WCIE 7HN This space is donated in the interests of high standards of advertising. - General advice to readers concerning advertisements When replying to advertisements in this issue, you should note the following points: 1. Always clarify the exact nature of any guarantee being offered. 2. Never send cash — always a cheque, Postal or Money Order. 3. Insist on a written receipt. 4. Clearly state the equipment you seek, and detail any acceptable alternatives. 5. Request an immediate statement of how and when the goods are to be delivered and whether the delivery will be split. 6. Check by telephone the latest prices and availability of goods you are ordering, 7. Cases of non-supply or wrong supply of goods Should initially be taken up directly and as soon as possible with the supplier, 8. Because of fluctuations in prices and discounts, it is advisable to ensure that you reply only to advertisements published in current issues. Mail Order Protection Scheme (Limited Liability) If you order goods from mall order advertisers in this magazine and pay by post In advance of delivery, this publication (What MSX?) will consider you for compensation if the advertiser should become insolvent or bankrupt, provided: 1. You have not received the goods or had your money returned; and 2. You write to the publisher of this publication (What MSX?) explaining the position not earlier than 28 days from the day you sent your order and not later than 2 months from that day. Please do not wait until the last moment to inform us. When you write, we will tell you how to make your claim and what evidence of payment is required. We guarantee to meet the claims from readers made in accordance with the above procedure as soon as possible after the advertiser has been declared bankrupt or insolvent up to a limit of £6,500 per annum for any one advertiser so affected and up to £19,500 p.a. in respect of all insolvent advertisers. Claims may be paid for higher amounts, or when the above procedure had not been complied with, at the decision of the publication (What MSX?) but we do not guarantee to do so in view of the need to set some limit to this commitment and to learn quickly of readers* difficulties. This guarantee covers only advance payments sent in direct response to an advertisement in this magazine (not, for example, payments made in response to catalogues etc, received as a result of answering such advertisements). Classified advertisements are excluded. Note: The sums referred to are annual amounts available for compensation and they will be divided equally amongst all valid claims received. TTHEXJNIQU Buy an MSX computer and you'll invest in the future system of home comput ing. MSX is the standard operating system that offers complete compat- ibility between the best names in computer hardware and software. As technology advances, MSX will be the computer link that keeps you right in touch. As Sony continue to develop the latest in high hnology products for your home, they have )sen MSX as the operating system for all their Tie computing products. They believe that any iduct which relies on software (record players, le recorders, video recorders and computers) )uld, in the interests of both the consumer and ' manufacturer, utilise the best system as the ustry standard. IT BIT HCnu I # €r- & 4K MSX Computer with an :lusive, built-in Personal Data ik (firmware). This handy facility ibles you to enter, store, recall ] up-date all kinds of personal )rmation such as appointments, iresses, telephone numbers, etc. Operation is simple, with instruc- IK4I nOtTER/PRIKTER s Plotter/Printer produces red, en, blue and black images and iracters. Pen replacement is yand it takes a wide choice of iersizes.lncluding FREE letings pack' ware. tions appearing on the screen every step of fOQQ-dS the process. KVI430 14 MONITOR STYIE, PUSH BUTTON CONTROL TRINITRON COLOUR nLEVISION with front moun- ted RF terminal. £2309* TCM737 DATA RECORDER A mains or battery operated recorder ideal for use with your home computer £3&95 £ 249^9 JS5S JOYSTICK £19'^^ IS75RiM0TEC0MIIt0l JOYSTICK Play fast-action games from a distance without the encumbrance of cables with this quick-response remote control joystick. £64 .95 HBD50 MICRO FLOPPY-DISK UNIT stores up to 360K bytes of information on a 3 W' disk. Easily connected to the Hit Bit by using one of the expansion ports. £ 34&99 DISKDRIVE OPTION Upgrade any MSX computer for business applications with the addition of the Sony Disk Drive. Store up to 360k of information on each 3,5 inch disk and realise the fantastic potential of your MSX with this, high speed data access facility. Data from the Personal Data lank can be saved on any data storage facility including the UNIQUE HB155 RAM CARTRIDGE, available for £ 39-95 PRICES SHOWN INCLUDE VAT AND ARE CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS. E & O.E PRICES SHOWN INCLUDE VAT AND ARE CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS. E. & O.E. The MSX system has been universally adopted byli major home electronics manufacturers. With the rapd growing interest in the use of computers, each one YStEW^ onbeatable •,N ?A .■'.Vv With direct involvement in the grov\/ing use of computers in industry, Sanyo recognise the fantastic potential of the computer in the home. Drawing on their vast experience in the provision of popular home electronic products, Sanyo have selected the MSX system as the new standard and immediately taken advantage of the superb graphics capabilities with the introduction of their unique light pen option. fe: ;; • : • iPMjAwv/ .A . i. P-ji/i)- ' ... “‘>‘*4 neroiioi; - W This sophisticated piece of equip- ment offers all the advantages of 64K MSX computing. (Complete with 4 programme starter pack.) £299 .99 Plus a unique optional feature - MLTOOI LIGHT PEN This provides you with unlimited flair and flex- ibility in colour graphics design. This feature comes complete with a software package containing some intriguing graphic ^OA QQ facilities. liO%l CTP4l32irTEinEXT OLOUR TV MONITOR dvanced features include: black matrix 90° deflection tube, 30- function I.R. Remote Control, 8 programme tuning, AV terminals and Automatic Fine Tuning. DR202 MTARICOmat £34999 Top of the range machine offenng a host of high technology features. £44^ SnOM OFFER! X N. mm S:m: *' ''■'\ *** SLIM 11 DATA RECORDER MJY 002 JOYSTICK Plus special software pack. Total value over: N £5000 \ Specifically designed for use with personal computers, with phase shift switch, speaker monitor and £34 .99 MU KCORDIR An AC only recorder styled for computer use with all controls conveniently placed on top of the machine for ease of use. AC/DC operation. JOYSIKK HUY 002 £12“ When you purchase the Sanyo MPC 100 Computei: COR rPTAII R np vnilR NFARF.RT RTnnKI.RTR AMR RTHFR pRnniinT.R RFFFminwiNR pises the future potential of computer usage at home, both entertainment and practical purposes. That’s why household names famous for superb quality and value have selected MSX as the one system to become the computer industry standard. Axis bring you the best names in MSX at the best possible prices. L Dig © TOSHIBA Toshiba were the first to introduce MSX into the UK market. With their years of experience and their firm commitment to the home electronics industry, Toshiba recognise the potential of the computer in the home and have selected MSX as the realistic standard to work to. ; • ^ ‘i \ X X HX-MOO JOVSIKK £ 129 * 140E MONITOR STYLE COLOUR niiVISION The perfect partner for the HXIO, providing excellent picture and sound £189 .95 m VALUE TOSHIBA HXIO lering superb facilities and audio connectors, plus ports for wlstanding value for the first time iser or enthusiast. 64K Ram, 16 olour graphics, RF, video and printer, disk drive and data recorder. £279 .95 (For money saving HX-P550 HIGH SPEED DOT PRIKIER Printing at 105 characters per second, for fast copies of all information, including graphics symbols. Ideal for word processing £ 349.00 offer see panel) B-IgTO PLOTTER nilER Easily connected Dthe HXIO through the ri'nter interface. This (inter features image nd character plotting in 4 olours- red, green, blue and lack- making it ideal for colourful graphs, ieand bar charts. Plotting speed 00 ;285 steps per second. off the normal Axis price of the Toshiba HXIO Computer PLUS 3 year guarantee PLUS 3 Free software titles. ALL FOR nGETTO ASK YOUR DEALER FOR DETAILS OF CREDIT FACILITIES, EXTENDED GUARANTEES. ETC. AVAILABLE ON CERTAIN ITEMS. PRICES SHOWN INCLUDE VAT AND ARE CORRECT AT TIME OF GOING TO PRESS. E. & O.E ‘Offers available only while stocks last ** AxisSa ving refers to previous advertised prices or recommended retail prices. Ittli urMiL^ut AXIS COMPLETE SANYO MPC 100 Computer SANYO SLIM 10 Data Recorder SANYO MJY 002 Joystick SAMSUNG BT309K B/WTV Moi £35 worth of software amr, Monna Mxa prke £425.^ The MSX System allows the experienced ! computer user to select, from a wide range of ' peripherals, all they need for any particular JVC invented the ‘VHS’ format for video recorders, so are well aware of the advantages of standardization. They forecast MSX as the worldwide home computing standard and they see the video compatibility of their MSX as a key development path into the future. THE SPECTACULAR HC-7GB JVC The HC7GBpersonal computer from JVC is a new MSX machine designed for total compatibility be- tween other MSX machines and all MSX software. A highly advanced 64K machine, the HC-7GB has three display modes offering RF, composite video and RGB outputs. The HC-7GB MSX personal computer from JVC is the final word in home entertainment. £27900 NO 615 JOYSTICK £12-95 HC-RW5 DATA RECORDER The stylish designed HC-R105 data re- corder is an example of a machine produced to offer superb user JVC SOmVARE \NHEH YOU PUI THEAMAZINGm COM convenience, exceptional performance parameters and reliable datatrai The HC-R105 is a high speed m< giving very short ^QQ, access times to data. ZiO%l' 7255 GB 14" COLOUR TV MONITOR A fully remote con- trolled TV, ideal as a computer monitor or alone fOCQ 00 as a second TV. ymxii FOR meo ofTRusmrr Add your own tides to your video films with the Character Generator included in the JVC free software pack. FOR DETAILS OF YOUR NEAREST STOCKISTS AND OTHER MSX PRODUCTS, SEE PREVIOUS AND FACING PAGES Dlication. But, in order to help those starting a new needed to start in computing. tern, Axis have put together a special range of These “Complete Package Deals” are available Dmplete Package Deals” that contain everything to you at exclusive and unbeatable Axis prices. AXIS BRINGS A GREAT DEAL TO THE INDEPENDENT DEALER Axis is an organisation that brings you the best deals through /our existing High Street dealer. With an established reputation for personal service and care for tier customers, Axis recommended dealers.now bring you deals tiat no multiple can match. Axis provide the resources to research and select high quality products and to make them available through the independent at unbeatable prices. For “Exclusive Axis Deals” and the "Greatest Ever Care and Service”, your nearest Axis recommended dealer is: AVON RBTOL CJ. FREEMAN & CO. LTD. f.HighSt.. Portishead Tel: 0272 848180 BEDFORDSIHRE EDFORD TAVISTOCK HI FI LTD l.The Broadway Tet 0234 56323 CREWE ROY TOWNSEND SOUND & VIDEO 2 4 Victoria Street Tel; 0270 213276 CtlVnAND ~ STOCKTON N TEES MCKENNA & BROWN LTD. 81. HighStreet Tel: 0642 679995 LOUGH C F LAKE LTD 7Stoke Road Tel: 0753 38287 EAOING SEWARDS DERBY STUART WESTMORELAND 67, St Peter s Street Tel: 0332 367546 SOUTH BENFLEET HODGES & JOHNSON LTD. 285, High Road Tel: 037 45 58725 WESTCUFF HODGES & JOHNSON LTD. 9^98. Hamlet Court Road Tel: 0702 334488 CHELMSFORD RUSH HI FI 5-6, Comhill Tel: 0245 57593 CmiNPlAW NECiON ~ ABERDEEN A&G KNIGHT 108, Rosemount Place Tel: 0224 630526 Gtaautiomm SHEERNESS BRIHAIN & HOBBS. LTD. 22-24, High Street Tel: 0795 665551 LANCASHIRE PRESTON GOODRIGHTS LTD. 1 . Friargate TeF. 0772 57528 BARNOLDSWICK HARRY GARLICK (TV CENTRE) 1, Church Street Tel 0282 813309 BURNLEY HARRY GARUCK (TV CENTRE) 10. Howe Whlk Tet: 0282 371 18 NOfOHERN IRELAND SURREY NORTH BELPAST DORKING DORKING AUDIO THE GRAMOPHONE SHOP SYSTEMS 23. South street 16 Donegall Square N Tel:0232 240046 Tel; 0306 882897 NOfON VTWKSHIRE W. GLAMORGAN YORK CUSSINS & LIGHT LTD. Kings Square Tel: 0904 55666 NOTTINGHAM E.N.L AUDIOVISUAL 1 16 H8. AHreton RoadTel: 0602 78401 5 »131 Friar Street Tet 0734 599527 DARUNGTON MCKENNA& BROWN MCKNELL SEWARDS LTD. 102, Bondgate Tel: 0325 59744 l.The Broadway Tel; 0344 52255 EAST W S SE X INOSOR SONICS HI-FI LTD. EASTBOURNE CLEARVIEW RENTAL BGroveRoad Tel: 07535 60716 215, Seaside Tel 0323 21646 SUTTON LANDAU RADIO LTD. CROYDON J & T ROBINSON LTD. 20, Norfolk House, George Street Tet 01-681 2800 195 197 High Street Tel 01 643 0027 NESHAM DL CHIHENDENLTD )61,The Broadway Tet 0494 784441 BHWVCOMBE C F. LAKE LTD. 17/118 Oxford Road Tel: 0494 28605 WmiWICH NORDISLTD ), Chester Way Tet 0606 3691 SEAFORO CLEARVIEW RENTAL 34 40. High Street Tet, 0323 898989 SEWARDS GRAYS A.C.L RADIO SERVICES LTD. 1, Northman Tet 0375 4666 Tel 0256 465665 ILFORD D. WOOLFMAN LTD. KENT 76, Ilford Lane Tet 01-478 1307 GRAVESEND BENNETT & BROWN WIGSTON A G KEMBLE LTD. 63, Leicester Road Tet 0533 881557 LOUGHBOROUGH STUART WESTMORELAND 33. Cattlemarket Tet 0509 230465 GRANTHAM STUART WESTMORELAND 49. High Street Tet 0476 78108 NORWICH HUGHESTV& AUDIO 17-21, White Lion Street Tel: 0603 60935 STOKE-ON-TRENT ROY TOWNSEND SOUND & VIDEO 10. Trinity Street. Hanley Tet 0782 2891 14 STHATWCiyPC RECION ~ SALTCOATS HARRIS OF SALTCOATS 104-106, Dockhead Street Tel: 0294 64330 svimnsea RADIO SUPPLIES SWANSEA LTD. 80 Gower Road, Sketty Tel: 0792 204140 WEST YWagWIRE ~ HOUMFIRTH FRANK PLAn ELECTRICAL Victoria House, 24, Victoria Street T et 0484 682036 HAUFAX FRED MOORE LTD. 15 17 Southgate Tet 0422 67763 BINGLEY SPENCER & HILL LTD 133, Maui Street Tet 0274 565161 181-183, Windmill StreetTet 0474 52919 emand for some MSX products means supplies are limited. Please phone your dealer to check that he has stock avaUable. kite: For your local stockists of particular products in this advertisement, King Teledota 01-200 0200 ORCn TO ASK YOUR DEALER FOR DETAILS OF CREDIT FACILITIES. EXTENDED GUARANTEES, ETC. AVAILABLE ON CERTAIN ITEMS IPSWICH HUGHES IV & AUDIO 42, Buttermarket T et 0473 215093 LOWESTOFT HUGHES TV & AUDIO 62, London Road North Tel: 0502 8561 1 Though there are hundreds of computer games available, many of them fell Into definite groups. Here’s a guide to game types. T ake a garage, two compu- ter enthusiasts, inspira- tion, some free time and a rather primitive computerised Ping Pong game, mix them together and you’ve got your- seif the start of a massive computer game industry, pro- ducing hundreds of computer games on every imaginabie topic under the sun! The computer game craze a 1 1 started when two men, Steve Wozniak and fellow computer hobbyist Steve Job spent their free time building the ping pong game in a garage. Think- ing that electronic ping pong could have commercial possi- bilities, they installed it in the local cafe to test public reac- tion. Within hours the cafe owner had called to saythattherewas something wrong. So, in tre- pidation, they went back to investigate the problem and found that the coin box was completely jammed up with coins! The game had proved an overwhelming success. Nowadays it is difficult to imagine anyone actually en- joying hitting little white balls back and forthwith rectangular bats, butf ora public bored with table football and pinball, the computerised arcade game idea caught on quickly. Soon games like Breakout appeared — another ball game, that was slightly more sophisticated than ping pong. Similar in principle to squash, one or two players had to hit balls against a wall of coloured bricks. The ball bounced back at unpredicatable angles, in- troducing an element of sur- prise and skill into the games. Following closely on Break- out’s trail came the Space Invader-type games. Arcade game popularity really got off the ground with these games. Addicts squandered pocket money, pay packets, life sav- ings, marriages . . . anything and everything just to keep up the extermination of invading alien hordes. Then the rest arrived: Galaxians, Pole Posi- tion, Scrambler, Frogger, Donkey Kong — to name but a few. They poured into the amusement arcades, pubs, restaurants . . . everywhere! Gone were the penny arcade games. Amusement halls were never going to be the same after the microchip. As arcade games were be- coming more diverse and sophisticated, so the home computer industry was also flourishing. One of the main reasonsfor investing in a home computer was so that penni- less arcade fanatics could sit in front of their televisions a nd play games to their hearts content, without needing to constantly pour silver coins down a coin slot! Of course a lot of people realised the potential of the home computer, quickly formed software companies and produced vast numbers of computer games. Most are versions or copies of original arcade games, but as prog- ramming techniques improved and new ideas were added to the old, the number of game categories as well as game quality increased. No longer do we j ust have the arcade-type games. Games can be categorised as adven- tures, strategies, traditional, educational, sports or simula- tions. The ideas used in these games often overlap, produc- ing hybrids such as arcade/ strategies, arcade/adventures and even semi -educational/ traditional games! Choosing a game depends very much on personal prefer- ence. In the What MSX? oif\ce some of us prefer to spend our days mindlessly zapping alien Klingons in games like Bat- tleship Clapton II whereas others prefer the gentler attraction of guiding a happy little boy over lily ponds and water fountains as in Adven- ture Playground. It is all too easy for the computer novice eager to play games on a newly unwrapped MSX computer to dash out and buy pounds worth of software which turns out to be pretty awf u I . By knowing the game groups you can more easily decide which games are worth buying. The vast majority of games can be put into the arcade category. Popular amusement arcade games are the inspira- tion for many of them. You control the movement of an object or character, be it pen- guin, pacman, mutated zom- bie or flea, using either the ■'S,: % •a??. '■'fj '■A ',> ■.'■} t- X a keyboard or a joystick. Mindless massacres and evasive tactics are often in- volved in these games — not always — Just mostof the time! Speedy reflexes, impeccable hand to eye control, nerves of steel, long hours of practice and a great deal of patience are the qualities needed to master these games. Within the Arcade category are many sub groupings. Some are recognised by experts as arcade classics and conse- quently imitated by many. Arcade/adventures games are a hybri d . They are arcade i n the sense that a character has to move around different loca- tions dodging objects such as flying beds and an adventure because the character has a task or questto complete. Pure arcade games never end whereas arcade/adventures do have a definite goal. Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy and Pitfall II are typical of this group, although with more arcade action than adventure. Asteroids was one of the earlier space games. The play- er has control of a manoeuvr- able space ship which dashes all over the screen zapping or avoiding asteroids. Manygamesusethisidea. In Time Pilot the aircraft annihi- lates everything in the sky, and in Battleship Clapton II the player manipulates a spacecraft through space shooting multicoloured alien beings. In Centipede games the player has to whizz round a maze scenario chasing cen- tipede snakes. Hitting the snakes in the middle causes them to split in two — doubly dangerous. Life is made more difficultby monsters in pursuit. Hyper Viper is a game of this type. Donkey Kong is a very well known arcade game and has been the inspiration for many platform games. The screen is divided by platform, liberally sprinkled with obstacles and connected by ladders. Descen- dentsof the game feature lifts, ropes, holes in the floor. A fair damsel can only be rescued by climbing to the top and defeat- ing an aggressive gorilla. Hundreds of p latform games exist — Nug-it, Chuckie Egg and in games like Jet Set Willy the game extends into several screens and becomes more complicated. If guiding frogs safely over busy roads and crocodile-in- fested rivers is your idea of f u n , then a frogger game is the one for you. Good timing and snap- py thinking are needed. The road and river both run across the screen and your frog has to cross them by going from the bottom of the screen to the top. Beamrider and Waffle are typical grid games. In Beam- rider the player is caught up on a neon blue grid in the firing line of enemy projectiles and can either dodge or shoot back. An element of strategy is involved. Star Trek, perhaps the most famous example of. a grid game, has the player moving around from space sector to space sector destroying Kling- ons and other space creatures. Thegalaxyisagreatdeal larger than one screen, so to move around the player has to give grid references as well as warp factors and directions. Anyone familiar with the HUNCHBACK-TYPE arcades will remember Hun- chback. The ugly hunchback crosses several screens Jump- ing over spears, gaps in the floor and other assorted nas- ties. After about 20 different screens, the Hunchback res- cues the princess. Punchy is similar except that a police- man is trying to rescue Judy. ‘Pure arcade games never end whereas arcade/adventures do have a definite goal to achieve’ The Hunchback idea isfound in many arcade games. The characters or objects move either up or across the screen, but have no offensive poten- tial. Avoidance of things is the key to success. Other games using the Hun- chback idea are Antarctic Adventure where the penguin has to move up the screen Jumping ice crevasses or avoiding walruses, and Comic Bakery, where the baker has to run back and forth kicking furry racoons and switching the bread conveyor belt on. Any game with a variety of screens, each with a set task, is a multi-screen game. Blag- ger. Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy are good multi-screen games. Pacman, the maze game is the precursor of all maze games. The player steers round a maze gobbling dots and power pills while evading monsters. Examples of the maze game include Pyramid Warp, Oh Mummy, Packie, Sparkie and PLATFORM LT'J'... -! s \ i V :< / -# ;v “jr-rjrjTJT-x-r'jnx.j: 1. " Mi rnmm •« futmt 4MI mmA matt ^ • 90 m mat fM tk « ■W^i “-T'.XLT'J: • i . I r ' RE mmm wmm mk cS» ma- fNpfc caw mwA auNO! vtcs « a • - i 1 1 j 4 i t M ^ 4 ‘ . Binary Land. Different charac- ters and themes are used in each game, but the same sort of maze scenario is involved. Scramble is a firm favourite with arcade fans who thrive on excitement, fast movements and hit or die firing skills. A space ship is piloted over mountains, valleys and through caverns avoiding mis- siles, meteors and other assorted killers. Super Cobra and Star Avenger are excel lent examples of this type of arcade game. River Raid is a sort of vertical Scramble with the jet fighter travelling up the screen. Space Invaders is so famous it hardly needsan explanation! The player moves a rocket launcher from left to right blasting rows of aliens as they move down from the top of the screen. Maxima is a typical Space Invader game. Adapted versions include Galaxians where the aliens swerve and wheel as they descend and Polar Star where the space ship can move up the screen to attack oncoming ships. A spatial game is one in which the player has a fairly wideopenspace to manipulate the character or object around in. Spatialgames includeShark Hunter which involves an eski- mo jumping about on ice floes protecting his fish nets from the sharks and Buzz Off which hasa blue insect flying all over the screen scoffing colourful fruit which instantly turns into fatal cobwebs. In a Q-Bert game, the player is presented with a 3-D pyra- mid of blocks which change colour when touched. Coils and vindictive monsters are in PUB GAME ‘The pace of an adventur e game is much slower, but good ones can and do occupy addicts for hours' hot pursuit. Hotshoe is a Q-Bert game except that the blocks are atomic piles radiating nuclear energy. Jumping on the piles reduces this energy, although Ron Robot and mutant atoms do their best to sabotage the players efforts. Ever considered yourself to be an inventive, imaginative, intelligent bold explorer, but couldn’t be bothered to go out the front door and prove it? Then adventure games could be the answer to these burning exploratory ambitions — you don’t even have to move from the armchair! Adventure games invariably involve a quest — finding the golden ring, rescuing the trea- sure from the Dragon’s lair or liberating the magic sword. The player is presented with a description of the location he is in — where it is, what’s in it, either in text or graphic format. Text/graphic adventures have both. In any situation the player has to type into the computer keyboard what he wants to do. For instance ‘go West’, 'take sword' or perhaps ‘kill dwarf. Whatever action the player takes usually changes the location or situation. Imagination, lateral think- ing and luck are the essential qualities needed because the situations the playerfinds him- self in are often obscure. Problems In the advanced adventures, game characters each have their own personalities and react differently according to the circumstances you find them in. It should also be possible to solve the problems you en- counter in several different ways. The pace of an adventure game is much slower than that SPORT ~ A I t PTnbcill 1*1 ' ‘‘>^•1 I PLrtVI I 1 : : 2 : 3 : C C C : ^ : Cirjn : HI S< t tl # X ^ : fn^i I < I i I til I 1 TOJ HI I I t I I < I 1 V ■ of the arcades, but good ones can and do occupy addicts for hours. Level Nine, specialists in sophisticated, exciting brain taxing Adventures, have con- verted a number of their text- only adventures including Col- ossal Adventure, Adventure Quest, Lords of Time, Dungeon Adventure and Snowball to the MSX. The Hobbit is another classic for MSX. A strategy game needs neither rapid reflexes nor im- agination. An ability to think logically is the essential re- quirement. In other words the player needs brains! In a typical strategy game the player assumes a role, for instance a political candidate, an army commander or ruler of the country and is presented with information in the form of ‘A strategy game needs neither rapid reflexes nor Imagination. An ability to think logically Is essential’ charts, maps, diagrams and statistics. From these, the player assesses the position he finds himself in and makes decisions on what to do next. Special Operations and Hold- fast are typical strategy games. Cubit, a sort of three-dimen- sional noughts and crosses and Supermind, a version of Mastermind are less compli- cated types of strategy games. Hoyle’s Rules of Games, an authority on games, lists all the games falling into the tradi- tional category. All the board, card and pub games fall under this category and the player \ 1 I I I I I 1 I 1 .1 can usually play either against the computer or against another opponent. With board games such as Chess, Backgammon and Othello, the board appears on screen and the player can either use the keyboard or a joystick to make moves. The computer takes its turn and very rarely makes mistakes! Computerised card games ‘Sporting enthusiasts who prefer to enjoy sport on the TV will welcome the sport simulation games’ include Cribbage and Bridge. In these the player’s hand is displayed on screen. Pub games include all the games traditionally associ- ated with pubs. Computer Bil- liards and Hustler are both computerised versions of Poo I . Pinball games such as Roller- ball and Pinball are available for the MSX. With Rol lerba 1 1 the screen scrolls downwards as the ba 1 1 passes down the board and the flippers are controlled with two of the keys. Flashing lights and suitable sounds accompany the ball action. Making a subject fun is the best way to teach children and much of the educational soft- ware, especially the programs for the younger age range use games to teach subjects like spelling and mathematics. Monkey Academy is an ex- cellent example. A series of platforms hanging with fruit and blinds concealing num- bers confronts the player. The level of difficulty dictates how complicated the sum is. To answer it the player guides the monkey up and down the platforms avoiding the purple crab and pulling blinds down until the answer is reached. Much of the educational software uses arcade game ideas. Examples include Word Wobbler, 3D Hypermaths, Number Painterand BMXNum- ber Jump. Sporting enthusiasts who prefer to enjoy sport on the TV rather than — perish the thought — going out and actually playing themselves, will welcome the sports simulation games. Athletic events such as cricket, golf, football can be played with minimal effort. In fact twid- dlingthejoystickortappingthe keys are the only strenuous activities involved. Ping pong was the very first sports simulation game, but graphic and sound technology has moved fast and the games have become increasingly sophisticated and much more fun to play. Hyper Olympics features four athletic events, the 100 and 400 metres, long jump and the hammer throwing. Hyper Sports involves trampolines, the horse, gymnastics, diving and the horizontal bars. A joystick can be used, but waggling the stick from side to side in the 400 metres can be extremely tiring. To make the games more realistic you have to qualify in one event before you are allowed to proceed to the next one. ‘As programmers and software companies become more experienced, new games appear’ There are also golf simula- tion games — Golf and 3D Golf Simulation. Tennis is an excellent version of computer tennis. Football and cricket games are available for other computers so it will only be a matter of time before they appear as MSX versions. Flying and landing a huge Jumbo jet safely on the ground must be a thrilling experience which few people ever experi- ence, but with the flight simu- lator programs, the complica- tions and techniques of the process are emulated. Using an instrument panel filled with a 1 1 the gadgets that a professional pilot would use, the player has to fly an imagin- ary plane and touch down on a runway — without ploughing three miles into the ground as we usually find ourselves doing! Aircraft speed, altitude, flap extensions, crosswinds, wind velocity, air temperature all have to be taken into consid- eration. Various difficulty levels are usually provided. 737 Flight Simulation is an excellent example of a Flight Simulator. As programmers and soft- ware companies become more experienced, new game types constantly appear on the mar- ket. A successful, totally ori- ginal game is a rare bird and indeed is guaranteed to spawn a host of imitators. Still the imagination of games desig- ners seems far from exhausted yet. EDUCATIONAL MULTI-SCREEN 1 ^ € Z- i i "tl 0 cl T 1 n» •z: •e ru Verdict MSX software Is increasing in quantity and quality every month. Many games are being converted from other compu- ters, so there should be some- thing for every taste. Whatever type of game you prefer, there will be a wide choice. Finding out game preferences will take time, but It is worth doing if you are to avoid wasting money on games you won’t like. Check out the software guide at the back of this issue to see what’s available. We’ve sure come a long way from mm ping pong. H These are the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the major MSX software suppliers. A&FSoftware Units Canalside Industrial Estate Woodbine Street East Rochdale Lancs (0706) 341111 Activision (UK) Inc. 15 Harley House MaryleboneRd London NWl 01-4867588^ Alllgata Software Ltd 1 Orange Street Sheffield S14DW 1(0742)755796 Ampalsoft PO Box 19 Knutsford Cheshire WA160HE (0565)893563 Anirog Software 29WestHill Dartford Kent (0322) 92513 Artic Computing Ltd Main Street Brandesburton Driffield Nth. Humberside Y0258RL X0401) 435533 ASK London House 68 Upper Richmond Road London SW15 2RP 01-8746046 Bubble Bus Software 87 High Street Tonbridge Kent TN91RX (0732) 355962 CDS Silver House Silver Street Doncaster DNllHL (0302)21134 Computer Mates Ltd PO Box 2 Houghton Down Stockbridge Hampshire S020 OLE (0264) 810824 CRL 9 Kings Yard Carpenter’s Rd London E152HD 01-5332918 Electric Software Ltd 8 Green Street Willingham Cambridge CB45JA (0954) 81991 HIsoft 180 High Street North Dunstable Beds LU61AT (0582)696421 Intelligent Software Ltd 37 Bedford Square London WCl 3HW 01-636 7017 Kemp Ltd 43MuswellHill London N103PN 01-444-5499 Knights TV and Computers 108 Rose Mount Place Aberdeen AB24YW (0224)630526 KonamI Ltd 269 Field End Road Eastcote Middlesex HA4 9LS 01-4292446 Kuma Computers Ltd Unit 12 Horseshoe Park Horseshoe Road Pangbourne Berks RG8 7J W (07357)4335 Level 9 Computing 229 Hughenden Road High Wycombe Bucks HP13 5PG (0494) 26871 Uamasoft Ltd 49 Mount Pleasant Tadley Hants RG26 6BN (07356) 4478 Longman Software Longman House BurntMill Harlow Essex CM202JE (0279)26721 Mastertronic Ltd Park Lome 111 Park Road London NW8 TJL 01-935 4944 M.C. Lothlorlen 56A Park Lane Poynton Cheshire SK12 lAE (0625) 876642 Megacycal Software Ltd PO Box 6 Birkenhead Merseyside L43 6XH 051-652 3139 Micro Aid 25 Fore Street Praze Camborne Cornwall TR14 OJX (0209) 831274 MIcrocom 67 Gestridge Road Kingsteignton Devon TQ12 3HJ (0626) 60473 MIrrorsoft Mirror Group Newspapers Holborn Circus London EClP IDQ 01-822 3971 MPL Maple Walk Bexhill East Sussex TN394SN (04243) 5840 Mr Micro Ltd 69 Partington Lane Swinton Manchester M27 3AL 061-728 2282 Music Sales 78-79 Newman St London WIT SLA 01-636 7777 Ocean Software Ocean House 6 Central Street Manchester M25 5NS (061) 832 6633 The Office Junior Marketplace Oundle Nr Peterborough PE84BA (0832) 72127 Orpheus Software The Smithy Unitl Church Farm Hatley St George Nr Sandy Beds SG19 3HP (0767) 51481 Panasonic (UK) Ltd 300-318 Bath Road Slough Berks SL16JB (75) 34522 PSS 452 Stoney Stanton Road Coventry CV6 5DG (0203)667556 Quicksllva Ltd Palmerston Park House 13 Palmerston Road Southampton SOI ILL (0703) 20169 Software Projects Bearbrand Complex Allerton Road Woolton Liverpool L25 7FS (051) 428 9393 Sony UK Ltd Sony House South Street Staines Middlesex TW18 4PF (81) 61688 Spectravideo Ltd 165 Garth Road Morden Surrey SM44LH 01-3300101 Tasman Software Ltd Springfield House HydeTerrace Leeds LS2 9LN (0532) 438301 Terminal Software Derby House Derby Street Bury BL90NW 061-7614321 Toshiba (UK) Ltd Toshiba House FrimleyRoad Frimley Camberley Surrey GU165JJ (0276)62222 Virgin Games 2-4 Vernon Yard Portobello Road London Wll 2DX 01-727 8070 Visions IFelgateMews Stud I and Street London W69JT 01-7487478 Over the next 16 pages you’ll find all the Information you need to build up a complete MSX system Confused by computers? Puz- zled by peripherals? Stonkered by software? Here are the answers — or at least the information that will get you on the right track. This is as comprehensive a guide as has been humanly possibleto com- pile to the MSX computer scene. It details machines, peripherals and programs that are, oraredueto be, available. Itisdivided into six sections, over the next 16 pages. We kick off with a diagrama- tic overview of an MSX compu- ter system — what plugs into what, what different things to do and so forth. Be warned, there's no such thing as a complete system. You’ll be bankrupt before you get any- where near buying all the things that you can use with your MSX computer. The first main listing is a comparative chart of all cur- rently available MSX compu- ters. Many are reviewed in this issue of What MSX? The com- parative table shows how they stack up against each other for price, features and so forth. You should be able to compile a shortlist if you haven't already settled on a favourite machine. The next listing is of MSX peripherals. These are the pieces designed exclusively for MSX computers. You’ll find details of disk drives, light pens, speech synthesisers, touch pads, communications hardware and much more. If you're a games player, you mustconsuitthe buyers’ guide to joysticks. Here you’ll find details of all kinds of Joysticks, including paddles, remote control units, trackballs and so forth. The aliens will never stand a chance! To improve the quality of your image, consuitthe buyers’ guide to monitors. We've the facts on just about every moni- tor costing less than £500. If you think that your games look good on the domestic televi- sion, wait till you see what a monitor does to them. We’ve got a full explanation of the terms you’ll meet in the moni- tor world too. For hard print, the buyers’ guide to printers has all the hard facts. Over 100 printers are listed, costing up to £1,000 or so. Some are super fast, others offersuperquality. Some do colour, some run silently. Some can be used as an electronic typewriter, others as viewdata terminals. There’s a tremendous variety of pri nters to choose from , and this guide should put you on the right path. The last section of the Buyers’ Guide lists MSX soft ware. Some of it may not be available immediately, but is promised for the near future. As there are so many soft- ware packages available, we’ve grouped them into cate- gories. These are games, education, business, utility and other. We’ve listed the supplier of each package, and you’ll find addresses and 'phone numbers of suppliers. Some of the software may not be available through your local MSX dealer, so you may have to order direct. Prices throughout are approximate only. Peripherals may be discounted, particular- ly if they are popular and widely available. Computer prices can vary from shop to shop too. Check out advertised prices. With the huge amount of MSX hard and software arriving on the market, we’re sure you’ll find just what you are looking for to make your MSX system do what you want it to. t. JOYSTICK The most popular games controller, the joystick has one of two fire buttons and relays the player's move- ments to the computer. Some joy- sticks are available with continuous fire buttons for the cheats among us! LANGUAGES Computer languages are coded in- structions. There is a wide variety of languages available each with its own application. MSX BASIC spoken here! High level languages are computer languages easily understood by you and I but not by the processor. Low-level languages (like Machine Code) are much closer to the lan- guage of the processor but are difficult to read by humans and hard to edit. The benefit of programming in a low level language is the higher speed at which it runs. i BASIC. This stands for Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Though developed as an intro- ductory language it has now become one of the most widely used lan- guages for home computing. Various dialects exist. MSX BASIC. This is the extended version of BASIC written by the Microsoft Corporation as used on all MSX computers. ASSEMBLERS etc Assembler. Correctly called assem- bly language, this exists between the high level programming language and Machine Code which it gener- ates. Assembler carries over some of the benefits of a high level language (labels etc) yet is fast to run. Compiler. This is a program which translates your program into Machine Code — permanently. Com- piled programs are quick to run but very hard to edit. Interpreter. Unlike the compiler, an interpreter translates your program into Machine Code one line ata time. This makes programs slower to run but relatively easy to edit. MOUSE An alternative way to control the screen cursor. Works rather like a 'rolling joystick', the mouse's move- ments over your desk top are mimick- ed by the cursor on the screen. Good for building graphics. UGHTPEN The I ight sensitive element at the end of a light pen sends signals to the computer via a modulator which interfaces through the cartridge port. Lightpenscan be usedf oreducation- al games, graphics or any program which involves selecting from lists (menu driven). GRAPHICS TABLH The computer equivalent of the Etch-A-Sketch! The stylus is used to draw lines on the tablet proper while the palette is used to choose colours and hatch patterns for outline filling. MUSIC KEYBOARD To enable computers to have quick access to music without the prob- lems of coding or notation soine manufacturers are producing IVi or 4 octave keyboards which will plugin to interface cards for the MSX expansion bus. INTERFACES The SOpin input/output socket (ex- pansion bus) on the MSX computer offers expansion possibilities through the use of dedicated plug-in modules. Called 'cards' these cir- cuits can either expand the operation of the micro (an 80 column card for word processing or a data cartridge) or enable the computer to be inter- faced with specialised input devices, light pens, music keyboards etc. CPU The Central Processor Unit is simply a vast array of electronic switches which can either be on or off. These two states are represented by binary (base two) notation: there are two binary digits (bits), namely 0 and 1. Machine Code. This is the language of the processor. This is called a low-level language because it is removed from the quasi-English of a high-level language like BASIC. KEYBOARD The Keyboard is the traditional inter- face between humans and the com- puter. The standard QWERTY lay out is supplemented by some special keys on the MSX keyboard. The function keys marked Fl-FlO allow complex commands to be entered at one key stroke. Four cursor keys are used to movethe cursor up, down and across the screen. Some games programs can be played with just the cursor keys and require no joystick control. A GRAPH (Graphics) key allows the QWERTY keyboard to enter symbols with one key stroke. The GRAPH key works like the SHIFT key. The full 73 key set is made up with four keys which allow insertion and deletion, one which returns the cursor to the top left of the cleared screen and one, SELECT, which is of use in WP and data entry programs but has no use in BASIC. I MEMORY RAM (Random Access Memory) the amount of memory quoted in K (Kilobyte). ROM (Read Only Memory) this is the memory ‘set up' by the manufacturer. MSX Basic language is stored here. Like RAM this is quoted in K. Byte. Memory is determined by the number of characters which can be stored. A character is coded by an 8 bit binary word which is called a byte. Kilobyte. As computer mathematics are binary (to the base of 2) the nearest binary number to 1000 is 1024. 1024 Bytes make one Kilo- byte. Megabyte and Gigabyte are terms for even larger numbers of bytes. User RAM. Computers tend to use a lot of RAM when asked to generate high resolution graphics, to run other languages or specialised peripher- als. User RAM is what's left over for your programming. GENERAL Software is the general term for computer programs. Hardware is everything else, the processor, keyboard etc. Firmware is software stored in a 'hard' form, cartridges and ROM chips are good examples. Peripherals. The bolt-on goodies. This term covers, printers, plotters, joysticks, monitors and the like. VDUs. A general term for a visual output; stands for Visual Display Unit and covers monitors, and TVs. DATA STORAGE AND RETREVAL Disks andCompadCassettesarethe most common forms of permanent data storage. Both are magnetic record/erase devices. Disks offer faster access to a greater amount of stored information. Cassettes are slow but cheap. Disks are divided up into tracks and sectors. The computer needs to know where data has been stored; this ‘housekeeping’ function is run by a program called the Disk Operating System (DOS). The MSX-DOS (Micro- Soft Extended Disk Operating Sys- tem) is used by MSX machines. CP/M DOS (Control Program for Micros) is data compatible. CARTRIDGE The quickest way to load a program, but as yet the most expensive. Programs are permanently stored on a micro chip in the cartridge case which interfaces through a 50 pin cartridge socket. DATA TRANSMISSION Computers can be networked to enable one user to talk to others individually or together through ‘electronic mailboxes‘. The tele- phone system can be used via spec ia I adapters to let one computer talk to others. Modem stands for Modulator/De- modulator, a Modem turns the tele- phone system into a giant cable between distant computers. The Modem is a ‘black box' which con- verts the low voltage digital signals from the computer into an analogue signal which can be transmitted over the 'phone system. An Acoustic Coupler is a more portable and often cheaper way of interfacing a computer with the ‘phone network’. Here the computer output is used through a modulator or to drive a telephone handset through a microphone and loudspeaker. Port- able couplers offer the businessman instant access to his data base back at the office. PRINTERS AND PLOTTERS Dot matrix printers build up the patterns of letters and characters by a bank of pins striking through an inked ribbon. Printqualityvariesfrom terrible to good. Daisywheel printers are named after the spinning disc which carries the type elements on its spokes. The very highest print quality can be achieved but speed and character set is often limited. Plotters. These draw graphs and diagrams with a pen and can be either of the flat bed or platen type. A choice of pen colour is often offered. Thennal printers. These offer fast, quietbutlimitedqualityprintoftenon especially treated paper which reacts with heat to show visible lettering. Material costs and print quality are often a deciding factor against such printers. GETTING A PICTURE All MSX computers will give sound and pictures from a standard TV set through their UHF output. A dedi- cated monitor will give better resolu- tion from the video output while the audio output can be taken to a hi-fi system if the monitor has no built in loudspeaker. RGB outputs a I low indi- vidual control over the Red, Green and Blue electron guns i n the monitor colour and can be used to produce high quality graphic images. SOUND Computers have conventional aildio outputs which can be used to drive the tape or tuner input of any hi-fi system. MSX computers have three separate channels of sound, and a fourth channel of noise. Stereo outputsare possible. Acomputercan be used to define the precise wave- form of a sound just in the mannerof a synthesiser. TEXT Computers are frequently used for word processing, to write letters or reports. Most text displays give 37 characters (or 40) by 24 lines. Real word processor packages reform the text screen to 80 characters (some to 64 characters wide). Powerful edit- ing facilities enable the user to delete and insert words, phrases or paragraphs, to searchforandcorrect spelling. Dictionary programs can also be bought. GRAPHICS The sma I lest uni t of ‘graphic i nf orma- tion’ is the pixel. This can be thought of as the dot from which graphics can be built up. The MSX system uses a screen of 49152 pixels arranged in 256 columns of 192 lines. Sprites are independently prog- rammable groupings of pixels which form a recognisable character which can be ‘addressed’ around the screen. 16 colours are available to the programmer working in MSX. aUlDE Toshiba HX-10 £239 Toshiba was the first Japanese maker to bring out an MSX computer and have been the most active in promoting the standard. The HX-10 is a mid-priced unit, currently supplied with a package of software and widely available through major multiples. It is a 64K machine with the usual range of interfaces, though there is only one true cartridge port. Toshiba’s peripherals include a Joystick, an RS232-C adaptor, a dot matrix printer, a printer plotter and the usual array of data recorders and monitors. They are also importing a range of software on cassette. Sanyo MPC-lOO £299 Sanyo's M PC-100 is atthe top end of the MSX price scale. Quality is one of the Sanyo’s best attributes. It is solidly made and will take a beating. There is 64Kof RAM and a ful I range of i nterfaces. A I ight pen holder highi ights that particular Sanyo peripheral —a light pen for the creation of graphics on the screen. Sanyo also have a Joystick, data recorder and a monitor amongtheir add-ons. But it is the quality of the computer that is the main attraction. ^ rM. * St t: ^ y i ' lan h t 1 < > COMPUTER MEMORY KEYBOARD DISPLAY INTERFACES Maker Model Price Total RAM 1 UserRAM ROM Contents Type Numeric Keypad Cursor Output 1 £ joysticks Expansion bus Cartridge port St £ Serial port , C^non V-20 £280 80K 64K 32K Microsoft MSX BASIC 73 key, full stroke No Keypad RF.CV 40x24 2 2 Centronics — DIN ' 1 Gold^ar FC-20 ^£199 80K 64K 32K Microsoft MSX BASIC 73 key, full stroke No Keypad RF,CV 40x24 2 Yes 1 Centronics — DIN 1 1 1 JVC HC-7 'x-rw ; >:•>: . .*;■ -r;'- ;' . I.S . / , , : 80K 64K 32K Microsoft MSX BASIC 72 key, fuH stroke No Keypad RF, CV, RGB 40x24 2 — 2 Centronics — DIN 1 ' 1 1 Mitsubishi ML-F48 ;^5: 48K 32K 32K Microsoft MSX BASIC 73 key, full stroke No Keypad RF,CV 40x24 2 Yes 1 Centronics DIN Mitsubishi ML-F80 80K 64K 32 K Microsoft MSX BASIC 73 key, full stroke No Keypad RF,CV 40x24 2 Yes 1 Centronics DIN — 1 Panasonic CF2700 80K 64K 32K Microsoft MSX BASIC 73 key, full stroke No Keypad RF,CV 40x24 2 — 2 Centronics — DIN Sanyo MCP-lOO £299 80K 64K 32K Microsoft MSX BASIC 73 key, full stroke No Keypad RF,CV 40x24 2 Yes 1 Centronics — DIN ' Sony HB-75 £299 80K 64K 32K Microsoft MSX BASIC Sony Firmware 75 key, full stroke No Keypad RF, CV, RGB 40x24 2 — 2 Centronics — DIN 1 SpKtra- video SVI-728 £250 80K 64K 32K Microsoft MSX BASIC 90 key, full stroke Yes Keys RF,CV 40x24 2 Yes 1 Centronics — DIN 1 ' Toshiba HX-10 £239 80K 64K 32K Microsoft MSX BASIC 73^key, full stroke No Keypad RF,CV 40x24 2 Yes 1 Centronics — DIN Yamaha CX5M £534 48K 32K 32K Microsoft MSX BASIC 73 key, full stroke No Keypad RF,CV 40x24 2 Yes 1 Centronics — DIN jJi Canon V-20 £280 Canon are perhaps better known for their cameras and copiers. This is their only MSX micro and it conforms to standard 64K specifications. The attention-grabbing feature is the extra large cursor keypad that is excellent for games playing. There are two joystick ports too, and the price is a I ittle lower than the top range MSX rivals. 1 Canon's peripherals are limited to a Joystick, though they do make non-MSX printers. They are keeping a low profile in the market, with machines available mainly through Comet and Spectrum shops. The V-20 has few distinctive features, but does all a 64K MSX micro should. JVC HC-7 £279 JVC are big in the audio and video fields. In the computer field, they are playing things cool. The HC-7 is a standard 64K MSX machine, blessed with excellent styling and quality throughout. There are no special features, though JVC do have plans for an interface with video disc. They currently have a joystick and a number of data recorders available. It is a case of watch this space for other peripherals. The JVC has a middling price and if looks mean anything, it isan attractive machine. It offers nothing that other 64K machines don’t have, other than style. SOUND OTHER Reset button # I t 1 1 s “Av ’ • ■ 1 \ ‘ ' . ..-. ■ •••■' i § -S la V E E 8 No No Built-in None M(2). C, RF Canon (UK) Ltd, Canon House, 2 Manor Rd, Wallington, Surrey SM6 OAJ Comet Spectrum Nov ’84 Canon’s effort isn’t a world beater, but it does a more than adequate Job No No Built-in Demo, 1 game M(2),C,RF Microdealer (UK) Ltd, 29 Burrowfields, Welwyn Garden City, Herts AL7 ASS 600 Mar ’85 The emphasis is on value for money and durability Yes : No Built-in 1 utility, Igame M.C.RF JVC, JVC House, 12 PriestleyWay, Eldon Wall Trading Estate, Staples Corner, London NW2 G Nov ’84 JVC offer style and support plus a ‘branded’ expansion into music and video accessories No No Built-in Demo, 6 games M, C. RF Mitsubishi Electric (UK) Ltd, Otterspool Way, Watford, HertsWD2 8LD G Mar *85 Plenty going for it and excellent value for money to boot No No • Built-in Demo, 6 games M, C, RF Mitsubishi Electric (UK) Ltd, Otterspool Way, Watford, Herts WD2 8LD G Nov ’84 Those after a reliable, solid MSX computer won’t go far wrong No No Built-in None M,C.T(3) Panasonic UK Ltd, 300-318 Bath Rd, Slough, Berks SLl 6SB G Mar ’85 The style of the Panasonic does make it stand out from the crowd Yes No Built-in Demo, 3 games M(2).C, RF Sanyo Marubeni (UK) Ltd, Sanyo House, 8 Greycaine Rd, North Watford, Herts WD2 4UQ G Nov '84 The Sanyo is one of the best MSX machines in terms of quality Yes No Built-in 3 utilities tbuilt-in) M(2). C. RF Sony UK Ltd, Sony House, South St, Staines, Middx TW18 4PF G Nov ’84 The Sony HB-75 shows what the MSX standard could be all about No No External None M, C, RF, T ransf ormer Spectravideo Ltd, 165 Garth Rd, Morden, Surrey SM4 4LH G Nov ’84 It is more a business than a games machine No No Built-in Demo, 3 games M(2). C, RF Toshiba Ltd, Toshiba House, Frimley Rd, Frimley, Camberley, Surrey G Nov ’84 One of the first and most numerous of the MSX machines No No External Voicing prog YK-01 keyboard, M, C,RF Kemble-Yamaha Music (UK) Ltd, Mount Ave, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MKl UE 50-h Mar '85 As a synthesizer for the home, it is a super instrument WARDS WIlllAMS ltd. 34 Stockport Road, Romiley, Stockport, Cheshire SK6 3AF Tel: 061-430 2934 MITSUBISHI MSX VISIT THE MSX SPECIALISTS Now in stock: Disk Drives, Monitors from £74.95, Printers plus a large range of MSX Educational & Business Software to choose from including Kuma Communications Package to link your MSX to Prestel & Telecom Gold. CALL IN FOR A DEMONSTRATION V > YOUR A MITSUBISHI MSX COMPUTER DEALER Mitsubishi ML-F48 on demonstration Also stockists of MSX computers, printers, joysticks, cassette recorders and disk drives by Sony, Toshiba, JVC etc. FRENCH 52 DORDAN RD, OORDAN, TAMWORTH. STAFFS (0827) 892252 " T (1 mile from the A5 at Dordan) i Instant Credit Facilities Available I ML-F80 64K £245 inc VAT COMPUTERS MSX COMPATIBLE PRINTERS MANNESMANN TALLY MT 80 plus 1 00 CPS/80 COL £220 SMITH CORONIk Fastex-80/FT 80 CPS/80 COL £185 D-1 00 1 20 CPS/80 COL £225 MSX PRINTER CABLES £15.53 All prices are inclusive of VAT FREE DELIVERY anywhere in the UK mainland. Payment by cheque or postal order to: (OnUMY COmPUTER SERI/KES ITDl Telephone: 01-800 1796 01-802 1007 DATA PROCESSING SUPPLIES & PERIPHERALS 39 CONWAY ROAD. LONDON N15 3BB MITSUBISHI MSX COMPUTERS Stockist of the Ml.F4tl + MI..F 80 23 Elmshott Lane, Cippenham, Slough, Berks. Tel: (06286) 64333 also at 67 Dedworth Road, Windsor, Berks. Tel: (07535) 59662 JL MITSIIBISHI MSX COMPUTERS IF YOU WMIT THE m. . .WETIE GOT IT R & J TELEVISIONS jyiSX VALUE AT . 8 SUMMER STREET LOSTWITHIEL 1 FRANK SISSON ^ CORNWALL PL22 ODH Tel: 0208 872103 HIGH STREET, HUCKNALL NOTTINGHAM — 0602 63201 1 JAMES DUCKWORTH ELECTRICAL LTD 4 MARKET STREET TOTTINGTON BURY, LANCS Tel: 020 488 2555 SELSDON PARK TV I & VIDEO CENTRE 169 SELSDON PARK ROAD ADDINGTON, CROYDON SURREY Tel: 01-651 4002 | SOUND SENSE LTD 350 EDGWZUIE ROAD LONDON W2 Tel: 01-402 2100 TOLLESBURY TELEVISION SERVICE 3 HIGH STREET TOLLESBURY ESSEX CMS 8RG Tel: 0621 869309 LOGIC ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS LTD 1 1 HIGH STREET CODNOR, DERBYSHIRE Tel: 0773 43411 MITSUBISHI MSX COMPUTERS 164 LONDON ROAD SOUTH LOWESTOFT SUFFOLK TeL 0502 6 1528 Stockists of MSX computers, accessories and programmes. Come in for a demonstration ERIC LEE (ELECTRICAL) LTD 48-52 MARKET PLACE POCKLINGTON YORKSHIRE Tel: 07592 3190 SUTCLIFFES 127 QUEEN STREET MORLEY, NR. LEEDS YORKS LS27 8HE Tel: 0532 533395 ♦ MIKIIRKUI MQY PnMPIITrPQ IF YOU Yiniir 1UE BEST. . .WE 1 IE GOYIT PETER TYSON 9 WEST TOWER STEET CARLISLE CUMBRIA CA3 8QT Tel: 0228 25891 HOWES OF SOUTHBOROUGH LTD TUNBRIDGE WELLS, KENT Tel : 0892 28682/37288 R. W. WEEKS LTD (IN-STORE) TUNBRIDGE WELLS, KENT Tel : 0892 2491 9 I . D. SAUNDERS 10DARTFORDROAD MARCH CAMBRIDGESHIRE Tel: 0354 53197 HARRIS & NASH LTD 189 THE BROADWAY BROADSTONE DORSET BH18 8DH Tel: 0202 692391 Somerton Video Services West street, Somerton, Somerset TA11 6QQ Tel: 0458 73667 Video Care 33 High East Street, Dorchester DT1 1 HF Tel: 0305 66981 227 TOnENHAM COURT ROAD LONDON W1 Tel: 01-6371601 AUTOVISION 42 CHILWELL ROAD BEESTON NOTTINGHAM NG9 lEJ Tel: 0602 257623 Mitsubishi TV, Video and Computer Sales and Rentals HI-FI STUDIOS 5 CHEAPSIDE, HANLEY STOKE-ON-TRENT Tel: 0782 274754 B&B RADIO & TV LTD 123 UXBRIDGE ROAD RICKSMANSWORTH HERTS Tel: 0923 720730 SKELTONS (SOUND & VISION) LTD 32 HIGH STREET LEOMINSTER HEREFORDSHIRE HR6 8LZ Tel: 0568 2638 ntrol £64.95 Sony (UK) Ltd Starfighter 1 Sway No Plastic ridges 150cm £10.95 Consumer Electronics Sum lock Pro-Ace Competition 2 Sway No Rubber feet 150cm £12.95 Sumlock Electronics 061-834 4233 Super Champ 2 12 way No Suction cups 300cm £12.95 Dean Electronics (0344) 885661 Tac-2 2 Sway No Plastic ridges 180cm £15.95 Consumer Electronics TG En joystick 2 Sway Yes Suction cups lOOcm £27.95 Silica Shop TG Trak-Ball 1 Infinite Yes Rubber feet 200cm £49.95 Silica Shop The Arcade 1 Sway No Hand held 150cm £15.45 Silica Shop The Boss 1 Sway No Rubber feet 1 lOOcm £17.95 Consumer Games Ltd 01-508 5600 The Kraft 1 Sway No Hand held 200cm £9.95 Silica Shop 01-309 1111 Toshiba HX-J400 2 Infinite No Rubber feet 150cm £12.95 Toshiba (UK) Ltd (0276) 62222 Tracker Ball RB2 2 Infinite Yes Rubber feet lOOcm £79.00 Central Trading Exchange (0582) 64334 Voltmace Delta 3SM 3 Infinite Yes Hand held 130cm £9.95 Voltmace Ltd (0462) 894410 Wico 3 way Deluxe (3 handles) 2 Sway No Sticky feet 150cm £22.95 CGL Wico Red Ball 2 Sway Yes Rubber feet 150cm £19.95 CGL Wico Trak-Ball 2 Infinite No Rubber feet 150cm £34.95 CGL YOU WWT Sudbury Micro Systems for A A MITSUBISHI COMPUTERS ML-F48 IN STOCK NOW Plus excellent selection of MSX software, joysticks, books etc 64 North Street, Sudbury Tel: (0787)311839 BEST. . .WE'VE CHESHIRE UNBEATABLE PRICES! MITSUBISHI ML-F80 QR with free software 6-pack ■.w hi GOOD SELECTION OF SOFTWARE NOW AVAILABLE ALL MODELS ON DEMONSTRA TION MAILORDER OUR SPECIALITY ST ANN’S PARADE, WILMSLOW, CHESHIRE Telephone: (0625) 526213 III I. COLLINGWOOD T.V. SERVICES for IN STOCK NOW ML-F80 AND ML-F48 Also stockists of Sanyo & Goldstar MSX Computers, Lightpens, Joysticks, Data Recorders, Colour Monitors NORTHAMPTON’S LARGEST RANGE OF AASX SOFTWARE Buy from the experts with confidence 17 COLLINGWOOD RD, NORTHAMPTON Tel: (0604) 714770 QUESTAR ELECTRONICS STOCKISTS OF AASXML-F48 AND ML-F80 For more information and a demonstration, call in now: 1 29 Waltham Green Court Moore Park Road, Fulham SW6 Telephone: 01-381 0108 Colour monitors have been designed specifically to dis- playcomputergenerated char- actersandgraphicsclearlyand efficiently. Eye strain is also reduced. Resolution refers to the number of pixels (computer defined dots) on the monitor display surface. High and medium resolutions contain higher pixel densities then the standard so can show more detailed images. Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT) generate the monitor’s visual display and the size, usually measured in inches refers to the picture diagonal. Display depends on the monitor resolution. High and medium resolutions can dis- play 80 characters across 25 lines. Standard displays 40 characters across 25 lines. There are two main ways of sending a monitor signal. With RGB [red, green and blue] the three colours are sent as separate signals. Only the Sony and JVC will accept RGB monitors. PAL or Composite Video signals are sent with the three colours already synchro- nised. Some monitors have the facility to switch to a green monochrome screen which is useful forapplicationssuchas word processing. Model Resolution C.R.T. Display Input Green Scnen Option BulK In Speaker Brightness Contrast Horizontal Vertical Case Colour Supplier Price Commodore 1701 Medium Win 40x25 PAL No Yes Yes No Cream Commodore (0536) 205555 £230 Cub 1431 AP/MS Standard Win 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Beige Microvitec (0274) 390011 £259 Cub 1431 AP/DS Standard Win 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Beige Microvitec £259 Cub 1451 AP/MS Medium 14in 80x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Beige Microvitec • £344 Cub 1451 AP/DS Medium 14in 80x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Beige Microvitec £344 Cub 2030/CS Standard 20in 80x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Beige Microvitec £443 Ferguson MCOl Standard 14in 40x25 RGB No Yes Yes Yes Dark Grey Ferguson 01-807 3060 £230 Fidelity CM14 Standard 14in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Grey Fidelity 01-965 8771 £200 Fidelity CTM1400 Standard 14in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Grey Fidelity £220 Fidelity CTV20T Standard 20in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Teak Fidelity £300 Fidelity CTV22T Standard 22in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Teak Fidelity £340 Grundig P40125 Medium 35.6cm 80x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Silver Grundig 01-659 2468 £220 Grundig P40145 Medium 35.6cm 80x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Silver Grundig £260 Grundig P55145 Medium 50.8cm 80x25 RGB No Yes Yes Yes Silver Grundig £360 Grundig C2402 Standard 14in 40x25 RGB No Yes Yes No Silver Newark Video Centre (0636) 71475 £287 Grundig C3104 Standard 16in 40x25 RGB No Yes Yes No Silver Newark £300 Grundig C3404 Standard 16in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes No Silver Newark £344 Grundig C60100 Standard 20in 40x25 RGB No Yes Yes No Silver Newark £340 Grundig C64100 Standard 20in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes No Silver Newark £378 Grundig C70100 Standard 22in 40x25 RGB No Yes Yes No Silver Newark £378 Grundig C74100 Standard 22in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes No Silver Newark £418 Grundig C84100 Standard 26in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes No Silver Newark £546 Hantarex CT900/3 Standard 14in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes White Hantarex 01-778 1414 £297 Hantarex CT900/D1 Standard 14in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes White Hantarex £297 Hantarex CT900/D' Medium 14in 80x25 RGB No Yes Yes Yes White Hantarex £435 Hantarex CT900/D1 Standard 26in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes White Hantarex £483 ITT RL 2315 Standard 14in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes No Grey TT Consumer Products (0268) 3040 £223 ITT RL 2310/M Standard 14in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes No Grey ITT £259 ITTCT 2600 Medium 22in 80x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes No Teak in £344 ITT CT 2700/M Medium 26in 80x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes No Teak in £414 Kaga Vision Ex Standard 12in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Cream Data Efficiency (0442) 60155 £248 Kaga Vision II Medium 12in 80x25 RGB No No Yes Yes Cream Data Efficiency £328 Kaga Vision III High 12in . 80x25 RGB No No Yes Yes Cream Data Efficiency £459 Luxor HR14 High 14in 80x25 RGB No No Yes No Cream Emco Electronics 01-737 0971 £516 Normende 1534 Standard 14in 40x25 PAL No Yes Yes Yes Platinum, Black, Grey Nordmende (0296) 20501 £229 Nordmende 3510 Standard lOin 40x25 PAL No Yes Yes Yes Platinum, Black, Grey Nordmende £299 Nordmende 3534 Standard 14in 40x25 PAL No Yes Yes Yes Red, Grey Nordmende £249 Nordmende 3636 Standard 16in 40x25 PAL No Yes Yes Yes Grey Nordmende £299 Nordmende 3630 Standard 20in 40x25 PAL No Yes Yes Yes Platinum, Black, Grey Nordmende £299 Nordmende 3532 Standard 22in 40x25 PAL No Yes Yes Yes Walnut, Platinum, Black, Grey Nordmende £359 Nordmende 5102 Standard 22in 40x25 PAL No Yes Yes Yes Walnut Grey Nordmende £449 Philips CT 2007 Medium 14in 80x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes No Cream Philips 01-689 2166 £263 Phoenix FTC-1203 High 12in 80x25 RGB No No Yes Yes Cream Emco Electronics £459 Portatel Standard 20in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Silver Portatel (76) 88972 £322 Portatel Luxor Standard 16in 40x25 • RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Silver Portatel £344 Portatel 5634 Standard 22in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Silver Portatel £357 Portatel Standard 26in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes No Silver Portatel £403 Profeel KX 20PSI Medium 20in 40x25 RGB/PAL No No Yes Yes Silver Sony (81)61688 £500 Sabre Medium 14in 80x25 RGB No No Yes No White Cotron Electronics (0203) 21247 £523.25 Sabre-LP Medium 14in 80x25 RGB No No Yes No White Cotron Electronics £561.20 Sanyo CD3125 Standard 14in 40x25 RGB No No Yes Yes Cream Sanyo (0923) 46363 £228.85 Sanyo CD3195 Standard 14in 40x25 RGB/PAL No Yes Yes Yes Silver Sanyo I £309.35 Sanyo CD3117 Medium 14in 80x25 RGB No No Yes Yes Cream Sanyo £458.85 Sanyo CRT50 Medium 14in 80x25 RGB No No Yes Yes Silver Sanyo £458.85 Type: M — Dot matrix printer. The image is printed by the impact of pins from a pin matrix, the particular pins de- termining the shape of the character. Dot matrix printers are very fast. D — Daisywheel printer. These printers work rather like electronic typewriters, using a daisywheel of formed charac- ters. Quality is high, but speeds are slower and you are I imited to the characters on the daisywheel. T — Thermal printer. The print head is heated, thus transferring inkto paper, using a matrix of needles. These printers run very quietly. I — Inkjet printer. Squirts of ink are directed at the paper to form the characters. It is all relatively new and pricey. Matrix size: Applicable only to dot matrix a nd therma I printers — the number of pins used to form a character. Maximum figures are given, the more, the better the quality. Maximum speed: The number of characters per second (cps) that can be printed. Paper width: The maximum width of paper the printer will take in inches. Paper feed: T — T ractor feed . Continuous paper, perforated at the edges, i s used and width is adjustable. P — Pi nf eed . As tractor feed , but paper width is fixed. F — Friction feed . The sort of feed found on typewriters, for one sheet of paper at a time. Graphics: Block graphics. Prints using set characters provided by the printer. H — Hi-res graphics. The printer can print anything that appears on the screen, in text of graphics modes, interface : C — Centronics. The printer interface found on MSX computers. R — RS232C. An alternative printer interface that can be added to MSX computers. Other: D — the printer will print the lower portion of characters that extend below the line (g,J etc.) M — the printer has a slower printing speed to give near letter quality printing. B — the printer is battery powered. C — the pri nter pri nts i n more than one colour. Model Type Matrix Size Max Speed Paper Widths 1 Paper Feed Graphics Interface Other Price Supplier ACT Winter 11 M 9x9 lOOcps 10 T.F H C D £339 ACT ACT Writer 12 M 9x7 163cps — T.F H C D £799 ACT ACT Writer 12S M 9x7 180cps 15 T.F H c D £799 ACT ACT Writer 12FC D NA 180cps 15 T.F H c D.C £914 ACT Brother HR5 M 9x9 30cps 8 F H C.R B.D £181 Brother Brother EP44 M 24x18 16cps 8 F — R K,B £261 Brother Brother EP120 M 12x18 120cps 10 T.F H C.R M.D £305 Brother Brother HR15 D — 13cps 13.5 F — C.R D.C £512 Brother • Brother HR25 D NA 25cps 16.5 T.F — C.R D.C £863 Brother Brother HR35 D NA 35cps 16.5 T.F — C.R D.C £1,064^ Brother Canon PW1080A M 11x9 160cps 10 T.F H C D £401 Canon Canon PW1156A M 11x9 160cps 17 T.F H C D £516 Canon Canon PJ1080A 1 7x9 37cps 8.5 F H C C £574 Canon Centronics GLP 30101-6 M 9x9 50cps 8 T.F H C D £230 Centronics Centronics Horizon 80 M 11x9 160cps 12 T.F H C D.M £541 Centronics Centronics Horizon 156 M 11x9 160cps 16.5 T.F H C D.M £759 Centronics Centronics Prinstation Q40 M 7x8 160cps 10 T M C.R D £1.208 Centronics Citizen 560P M 7x5 65cps 3V2 F B C.R C £137 Datac Ltd Citizen 510 M 5x7 45cps 3 F B C.R — £205 Datac C. Itoh 7500 M 9x9 105cps 11 T.F B C — £403 C. Itoh C. Itoh 8510S M 9x9 180cps 11 T.F H C.R D £518 C. Itoh C. Itoh 8510SC M 9x9 180cps 11 T.F H C.R D.C £633 C. Itoh C. Itoh 1550S M 9x9 180cps 15 T,F H C.R D £748 C. Itoh C. Itoh 1550SC M 9x9 180cps 15 T.F H C.R D.C £863 C. Itoh Colourjet 132 1 5x8 40cps 8 F H C C.D £633 Integrex Daisystep 2000 D NA 20cps 13 F — C — £334 Micro P. Dyneer 12 D NA 12cps 11.5 F — C D £316 X-Data Dyneer DW16 D NA 16cps 16 F — C.R D £378 X-Data Dyneer DW20 D NA 20cps 13 1 F — C.R D £615 X-Data Epson P-40 T 7x9 45cps 4 F H C D.B £100 Epson Epson RX-80/T M 9x9 lOOcps i 10 T H C D £286 Epson Epson RX-80/FT M 9x9 lOOcps 1 10 T.F H C D £328 Epson Epson FX-80 M 9x9 160cps ' 10 T H c • D £503 Epson Epson DXlOO D NA 13cps 1 11 F — C.R — £546 Epson Epson TX-80 M 9x9 160cps 10 T H C D £644 Epson Epson MX-lOO M 9x9 lOOcps 16 T H C D £546 Epson Epson FX-lOO M 9x9 80cps 16 T H C D £654 Epson Getex D14 D NA 13cps 13.5 F — C.R £288 Geveke Getex SllCQ M 9x7 lOOcps — T.F H C.R D £516 Geveke Getex S31 CQ M 9x7 lOOcps 15.5 T.F H C.R D £460 Geveke Honeywell Lll-1 M 9x9 80cps — T.F H C D £401 Geveke Honeywell Sll-CQ M 16x35 lOOcps — T.F H R M.D £516 Geveke Honeywell L31C0 M 11x9 150cps 12 T B C D £776 Geveke Janome CP1018 M — 180cps 13 T B C C.D £892 Thame Systems Juki GlOO D — 18cps 15.5 F — C — £459 Micro P. Juki G300 D — 40cps 15.5 F — C — £919 Micro P. Mannesman Tally 80 M 9x7 80cps 10 T.F B C,R D £250 Mannes- man Tally Mannesman Tally 160 M 9x7 160cps 10 T.F B C.R D £631 Mannes- man Tally Mitsui 2200 M 9x9 180cps 10 F H C D £516 Thame Mitsui 4200 M 9x9 180cps 15 F H C D £643 Thame MP165 M 17x17 160cps — T.F H R M.D £309 Micro P. NEC PC 8023 D 9x7 120cps 9 T.P,F H.G C D £229 NEC NEC Pinwriter P2 M 7x9 180cps 10 T.F — C.R D.M £747 NEC OKI Microline 82A M 9x9 120cps 9.5 P.F B C.R D.M £344 X-Data OKI Microline 92 M 9x9 160cps 9.5 P.F H C.R D.M £493 X-Data OKI Microline 830 M 9x9 120cps 15.5 T.F B C.R D £562 X-Data OKI Microline 93 M 9x9 160cps 15.5 T.F H C D.M £673 X-Data OKI Microline 84 M 9x9 200cps 15.5 T.F B C — £919 X-Data Olivetti DM5060 M 9x7 120cps — F H C D £459 Olivetti Olivetti DM4100 M 9x7 120cps — T.F H C D £666 Olivetti Olympia Compact D NA 14cps 13.5 T.F — C.R — £459 Intelligent Olympia ESW 102 D NA 17cps 17 F — C.R — £650 Intelligent Panther DX109 M 9x9 96cps 10 T.F H C D £229 Datac Model Type Matrix Size Max Speed Paper Widths Paper Fe^ Graphics Interface Other Price Supplier Panther II DX120 M 9x9 120cps 10 T.F H C D.M £367 Datac Paper Tiger 8010 M 36x18 180cps 9 T.F H C.R D.M £539 Data-prod Paper Tiger 8020 M 36x18 180cps 14 T,F H C.R D.M £742 Data-prod Qume Letter Pro 20 D NA 20cps 1 13 F 1 — R.C — £604 Qume Remstar 201 D NA 13.3cps 13.5 F — C.R K.D £454 PMS Seikosha GP-50A M 5x8 40cps 5 F H C — £100 DRG Seikosha GP-500A M 5x7 50cps I 10 T — C.R — £180 DRG Seikosha lOOA M 5x7 50cps 10 T — C.R — £169 DRG Seikosha GP-550A M 9x8 50cps 10 P.F H C M.D £230 DRG Seikosha GP-250X M 5x7 50cps 10 P.F H C.R D £270 DRG Seikosha 700A M 5x8 50cps 10 P.F H C.R C £350 DRG Shinwa CPA80 M 13x9 lOOcps 10 T.F B C D £229 Micro P. Silver Reed EXP400 D NA 12cps 12 F • — C.R D £288 Silver Reed Silver Reed EXP500 D NA 16cps 13 F — C.R D £615 Silver Reed Silver Reed EXP550 D NA 19cps 17 F — C.R D £654 Silver Reed Smith Corona Fastext 80 M 9x8 80cps 11 T.F H C D £224 Smith Corona Smith Corona TPl D NA Heps 13 F — R D £250 Smith Corona Smith Corona DlOO M 9x8 120cps 11 T.F H C D £286 Smith Corona Smith Corona LIOOO D NA 12cps 13 F — C.R D £299 Smith Corona Smith Corona D200 M 17 X 18 160cps 11 T.F H C.R M.D £483 Smith Corona Smith Corona EC1300 D NA 14cps 14 F — C.R D.K £569 Smith Corona Smith Corona D300 M 17x18 160cps 15 T.F H C.R M.D £633 Smith Corona Sony PRN-C41 Pens NA lOcps — F H C D.C.G £278 Sony Star STX-80 T 9x10 60cps 10 F B C D £171 West Star Gemini 10 M 9x9 120cps 10 F B.H C D £286 West Star Gemini 15 M 9x9 120cps 15 F B C D £413 West Star Power type D NA 18cps 10 F — C D £436 West Star Delta 10 M 9x11 160cps 10 T.F B C.R D £459 West Star Delta 15 M 9x11 160cps 15 T.F B C.R D £610 West Star Radix 10 M 9x 11 200cps 10 T.F B C.R M.D £620 West Star Radix 15 M 9x11 200cps 15 T.F B C.R M.D £735 West Taxan KP-810 M 9x9 140cps 10 T.F H C.R D £367 Data E. Taxan KP-910 M 9x9 140cps 17 T.F H C D £459 Data E. Toptronic 15 D NA 13cps 13.5 F H C.R — £375 PMS Toshiba HX-P570 Pens NA -cps 12 F H . C C.D.G £250 Toshiba Toshiba HX-P550 M — 105cps 16 F H C D.G £350 Toshiba Toptronic 15 D — 13.3 13.5 F — C.R K.D £431 PMS Triumph Adler TRD 7020 D NA 20cps 14 F — C.R D £431 Triumph Adler Triumph Adler DRH 80/1 M 7x9 80cps 12 T.F H C.R D £520 Triumph Adler Triumph Adler DRH 136 M 7x9 120cps — T.F H C.R D.M £621 Triumph Adler Turbo 20 D NA 20cps 15 F — C — £344 OEM VRX80 M 7x9 lOOeps 9.5 T.F H C.R D £454 Integrex K — the printer has a keyboard, so can be used as a typewriter. F — the printer can be used as a viewdata terminal. G — the printer can print MSX graphics. ADDRESS ACT — (021) 5012284 Brother Office Equipment — 061-330 6531 Canon (UK) Ltd — 01-773 3173 Centronics — 01-581 1011 C. Itoh Electronics Co. Ltd — 01-946 4960 Datac Ltd — 061-941 2361 Data Efficiency — (0442) 60155 Dataproducts (Retail Division) Ltd — (0784) 38733 DRG Business Machines — (0934) 419914 Epson — 01-902 8892 Euro Pacific Computers (Int) Ltd — (0245) 26590 Geveke Electronics — (04867) 88676 Integrex Ltd — (0283) 215432 Intelligent Interfaces — (0789) 296879 Mannesman Tally Ltd — (0734) 788711 Microntel — (0273) 205099 Micro Peripherals — (0256) 473232 NEC — 01-267 7000 Newbury Data — (0784) 61500 OEM Peripherals — 01-748 8404 Olivetti Peripheral Equipment — 01-785 6666 PMS Developments — (0432) 265768 Qume (UK) Ltd — (0734) 584646 Silver Reed (UK) Ltd — (0923) 45976 Smith Corona Data Products -01-900 1222 Sony (UK) Ltd — (81) 61688 Thame Systems — (084) 421 6698 Toshiba (UK) Ltd— (0276) 62222 Triumph Adler — 01-253 5608 WBM Business Supplies Ltd — (04862) 66444 West Coast Peripherals — (0734) 752273 X-Data — (0753) 72331 GAMES AND SIMULATORS Title Type Format Joystick Price Supplier 3D Golf Arcade Cass No £7.95 Toshiba 737 Flight Simulator Simulator Cass Yes £9.59 Microsoft Adventure Quest Adventure Cass No £9.95 Level 9 Alpha Blaster Arcade Cass Yes TBA Aackosoft Antarctic Adventure Arcade Cart Yes £17.85 Konami Ant Attack Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Quicksilva Anty Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Monwood Armoured Assault Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Spectravideo Athletic Land Arcade Cart Yes £17.85 Konami Backgammon Traditional Cass Yes £8.95 Electric Battle Cross Arcade Cart Yes £18.00 Sony Battleship Clapton Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Toshiba Beam Rider Arcade Cass Yes £11.99 Activision Binary Land Arcade Cass Yes £8.95 Kuma Blagger Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Alligata BMX Racers Arcade Cass Yes £1.99 Mastertronic Boardello Traditional Cass No £7.95 Bubble Bus Bugaboo (The Flea) Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Quicksilva Breakout Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Bridge Traditional Cass No £9.95 Alligata Buzz Off Arcade Cass Yes £8.95 Electric Cannon Fighter Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Morwood Cave Adventure Adventure Cass No £5.95 Knights Chuckie Egg Arcade Cass Yes £6.90 A&F Circus Charlie Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Konami Coco and the Castle Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Kuma Colossal Adventure Adventure Cass No. £9.95 Level 9 Comic Bakery Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Computer Billiards Traditional Cart Yes £15.00 Sony Crazy Bullet Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Crazy Golf Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Mr Micro Crazy Train Arcade Cart Yes £18.00 Sony Cribbage Traditional Cass No £5.95 Kuma Cross Force Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Spectravideo - Cubit Strategy Cass Yes £7.95 Mr Micro Daredevil Denis Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Visions Decathlon Arcade Cass Yes £11.99 Activision Disc Warrior Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Alligata Dog Fighter Arcade Cass No £6.95 Kuma Dorodon Arcade Cart Yes £18.00 Sony DrillerTanks Arcade Cass No £8.95 Kuma Dungeon Adventure Adventure Cass No £9.95 Level 9 Emerald Isle Adventure Cass No £6.95 Level 9 Eric & The Floaters Arcade Cass Yes £5.95 Kuma Exploding Atoms Strategy Cass No £5.95 Knights Fire Rescue Arcade Cass No £7.95 Kuma Flightpath 77 Simulator Cass Yes £6.95 Anirog Flipper Slipper Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Spectravideo Frantic Freddy Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Spectravideo Fred Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Quicksilva GlugGlug Arcade Cass Yes TBA CRL Golf Traditional Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Grid Runner Arcade Cass Yes £5.00 Llamasoft Gumshoe Logic Strategy Cass No £9.20 Megacycal H.E.R.O. Arcade Cass Yes £11.99 Activision Hero Arcade Cass Yes £3.95 Microcom H iway Star Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Holdfast Strategy Cass No £5.95 Kuma Hole In One Traditional Cart Yes £14.95 Morwood Hot Shoe Arcade Cass Yes £5.95 Longman Humphrey Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Mr Micro Hunchback Arcade Cass Yes £6.90 Ocean Hustler Traditional Cass Yes £6.99 Bubble Bus Hyper Sports Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Konami Hyper Sports 2 Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Konami Hyper Viper Arcade Cass No £7.95 Kuma I.G.I. Arcade Cass Yes £3.95 Microcom Illegus Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Jet Bomber Arcade Cass Yes TBA Aackosoft * Title Type 1 Format 1 ' Joystick Price Supplier Jet Fighter Arcade Cass Yes TBA Aackosoft Jet Set Willy Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Software Proj Juno First Arcade Cart Yes £18.00 Sony Lazy Jones Arcade Cass Yes £8.95 Terminal Le Mans Arcade Cass No £9.95 Electric Les Flics Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 PSS Lords Of Time Adventure Cass No £9.95 Level 9 Knight Othello Strategy Cass No £5.95 Knights Magic Carpet Arcade Cass Yes £1.99 Mastertronic Manic Miner Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Software Proj Marine Battle Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Maxima Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 PSS Midnight Building Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Midway Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Mind Control Arcade Cass Yes £1.99 Mastertronic MrChing Arcade Cart 1 Yes £14.95 Morwood Mr Wong’s Laundry Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Artie MSX21 Traditional Cart No £18.80 Panasonic MSX Darts Traditional Cass Yes £4.95 Orpheus Ninja Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Kuma Norseman Arcade Cass Yes £8.95 Electric Nug-lt Arcade Cass Yes £3.95 Microcom Oh Mummy! Arcade Cass Yes £5.95 Longman Out Space Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Mirage Packie A rcade Cass Yes £4.95 Microcom Pairs Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Panic Junction Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Morwood Panzer Attack Strategy Cass No £7.95 Lothlorien Pinball Arcade Cass No £7.95 Toshiba Pineapply Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Pitfall II Arcade Cass Yes £11.99 Activision Polar Star Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Toshiba Punchy Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Mr Micro Pyramid Warp Arcade Cass Yes £7.95 Toshiba Return To Eden Adventure Cass No £9.95 Level 9 River Raid Arcade Cass Yes £11.99 Activision Rollerball Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Morwood S.A.S.A. Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Sector Alpha Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Spectravideo Shark Hunter Arcade Cass Yes £9.95 Electric Smash Out Arcade Cass Yes £5.95 Knights Snooker Traditional Cass Yes £8.95 Visions Snowball Adventure Cass No £9.95 Level 9 Sorcery Arcade Cass Yes £8.95 Virgin ' Space Shuttle Simulation Cass Yes £11.99 Activision Space Walk Arcade Cass Yes £1.99 Mastertronic Sparkle Arcade Cart Yes £18.00 Sony Special Operations Adventure Cass No £6.95 MC Lothlorien Spectron Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Spectravideo Spooks & Ladders Arcade Cass No £6.95 Kuma Squish ’em Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Star Avenger Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Kuma Starship Simulator Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Step Up Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Morwood Stop The Express Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 Kuma Super Billiards Traditional Cart Yes £14.95 Morwood Superchess Traditional Cass No £6.95 Kuma Super Cobra Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Konami Supermaze Strategy Cass Yes £6.95 . . Morwood Title Type Format Joystick Price Supplier Supermind Strategy Cass Yes £6.95 Morwood Superpuzzle Strategy, Cass Yes £6.95 Morwood Super Snake Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Morwood Swamp Arcade Cass Yes £3.95 Microcom T awara Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Tele Bunnie Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Tennis Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Konami The Snowman Arcade Cass No £7.95 Quicksilva The Wreck Arcade Cass Yes £9.95 Electric Time Bandits Arcade Cass Yes £6.95 PSS Time Pilot Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Konami Track & Field 1 Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Konami Track & Field 2 Arcade Cart Yes £14.95 Konami Turboat Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Turmoil Arcade Cart Yes £18.80 Panasonic Vicious Viper Arcade Cass Yes £5.95 Knights Waffle Arcade Cass Yes £3.95 Microcont Weedy Arcade Cass Yes £3.95 Microcom Zakil Wood Adventure Cass No £7.95 Mr Micro Zaxxon Arcade Cass Yes £11.95 Electric Zenji Arcade Cass Yes £11.99 Activision Title Type Format joystick Price Supplier 3D Hypermath Maths Cass Yes £7.95 Longman Adder Sums Maths Cass No £14.95 Ampalsoft BMX Number Jump' Maths Cass Yes £7.95 Longman Calculation 1 Maths 3 Cass No £9.95 Morwood Calculation 2 Maths 3 Cass No £9.95 Morwood Challenge My Bluff General 2 Cass No £9.95 Soft Cat French Is Fun Language Cass No £7.95 CDS Fun Sums Maths Cass No £14.95 Ampalsoft Fun With Words Reading Cass No £14.95 Ampalsoft German Is Fun Language Cass No £7.95 CDS Gods Of The Tomb General Cass No £9.20 Megacycal Introducing Circle 1 Maths Cass No £7.95 Spectravideo Introducing Circle 2 Maths Cass No £7.95 Spectravideo Intro Percentages Maths Cass No £7.95 Spectravideo Intro To BASIC BASIC Cass No £6.95 Spectravideo Intro To Numbers Maths 3 Cass No £9.95 Morwood Italian Is Fun Language Cass No £7.95 CDS junior Maths Maths Cass No £5.95 Knights Kriss Kross Quiz General 2 Cass No £9.95 Soft Cat Let’s Go MSX BASIC 2 Cass No £9.95 Soft Cat Mastermind General Cass No £9.99 Mirrorsoft Mastermind Quiz General Cass No £5.99 Mirrorsoft Math Bug Maths Cass Yes £6.95 Spectravideo Maths Invader Maths Cass Yes £6.95 Stell Software Memory Training 3 Cass No £9.95 Morwood Monkey Academy Maths Cart Yes £17.85 Konami Number Painter Maths Cass Yes £8.95 ASK Quiz Safari General Cass No £9.20 Megacycal MSX BASIC Tutorial BASIC Cass No £5.95 Knights Reasoning Training 3 Cass No £9.95 Morwood Reflexes Training 3 Cass No £9.95 Morwood Revise Computers Computing Cass No £8.50 Megacycal Title Type Format joystick Price Supplier Revise Physics Physics Cass No £8.50 Megacycal Simple Addition 1 Maths Cass No £7.95 Spectravideo Simple Subtraction 1 Maths Cass No £7.95 Spectravideo Spanish Is Fun Language Cass No £7.95 CDS Star Words Spelling Cass No £6.95 Spectravideo Sum Measure Maths Cass No £14.95 Ampalsoft Sum Takeaway Maths Cass No £14.95 Ampalsoft Sum Times Maths Cass No £14.95 Ampalsoft Sum Weights Maths Cass No £14.95 Ampalsoft Teach Electricity Physics Cass No £9.20 Megacycal The Sphinx Quiz General Cass No £9.20 Megacycal Typing Tutor Typing Cass No £5.95 Knights Uni’s Learning Maths Cass No £6.95 Spectravideo Word Wobbler Words Cass Yes £7.95 Longman Title Type Format joystick Price Supplier Aackobase Database Cass No £40.00 Aackosoft Aackotext Text Cass No £40.00 Aackosoft Cards ' Database Cart No £49.00 Computer Mates Cash Accounts Financial Cart ■ No £149.0 Computer Mates Cash Book Financial Cass No £14.95 Micro Aid Crediquote Retail Cart No £100.0 Office junior Database Database Cass No £19.95 Kuma Double Entry Financial Financial Cart No £99.00 Computer Mates Calculator Financial Cass No £6.95 Spectravideo Homewriter Knights Text Cart No £39.95 Sony BudgetA/C Knights Financial Cass No £14.95 Knights Mail List Addresses Cass No £14.95 Knights Mail Shot Files Cart No £99.00 Computer Mates Marginator Financial Cass No £10.00 Office junior Memo-Calc Database Cass No £14.95 Micro Aid MST-Calc Speadsheet Cass No £12.95 MST Partsearch Stock Cass No £100.0 Office junior Payroll Wages Cart No £99.00 Computer Mates Payroll Spectra Wages Cass No £29.95 Micro Aid Chequebook Financial Cass No £6.95 Spectravideo Shoppastoppa Retail Cass No £100.0 Office junior Spreadsheet Spreadsheet Cart No £49.00 Computer Mates Stock Control Stock Cass No £34.95 Kemp, T asword MSX Text Cass No £13.90 Tasman Wdpro Text Cass No £29.95 Kuma Word Processor Text Cart No £49.00 Computer Mates VAT Cracker Financial Cass No £10.00 Office junior UnUTIES Title Type Joystick Price Supplier Champ Assembler Cass No £12.95 PSS Games Designer Programming Cass Yes £9.95 Quicksilva Go-Sprite Graphics Cass Yes £9.95 Mirrorsoft Hi soft Devpack Ass/Disass Cass No £19.95 Hisoft Hisoft Pascal Pascal Cass No £29.95 Hisoft Kuma Forth Forth Cass No £39.95 Kuma Machine Code Speech Assembler Cass No £5.95 Knights Synthesizer The Games Voice Cart No £69.50 Kuma Creator Programming Cass Yes £12.95 Mirrorsoft Tasprint MSX Printing Cass No £9.90 T asman [Zen Assembler Assembler Cass No £19.95 Kuma MISCEUANEOUS Title Type Format joystick Price Supplier Address Book Addresses Cass No £6.95 Spectravideo Communications Viewdata Cass No £19.95 Kuma Home Budget Financial Cass No £14.95 Kuma MSX Demonstrator Demonstrator Cass No £5.95 Knights Music Mentor Musical Cass Yes £6.95 Spectravideo Musiwriter Musical Cart No £19.95 Music Sales Tiny Disk Drive MPlOO costs around £40 and uses 2.5ln disks and store pictures using the Graphpad pen. Touchmaster are hoping to launch a touch sensitive pad together with a graphics pack- age for £149 . 95 together with a n MSX i nterface f or£16 by the end of Spring. They have educational and games software planned, but will wait to see where the demand I ies before develop! ng them. LIGHTPEN A lightpen is essentially a pen with a light detector positioned at the tip. As yet Sanyo is the only MSX company to have produced a lightpen — the MLPOOl cost- ing£89.95. The pen is attached to a cartridge which plugs into the computers cartridge port. A graphics package utilising a 15 colour palette is available with the pen. esizer, butattachestoany MSX via a MIDI interface. Yamaha’s keyboard, the DX7, otherwise known as a digital programmable algor- ithm synthesizer retails at £1,449. Features include six sine wave operators, six envelopes, 16-polyphonic notes, 23 prog- rammable performance and 145 voice parameters. Two plug-in cartridges contain 64 preprogrammed voices each are available as accessories. The DX7 will attach to any synthesizer or MSX computer with a MIDI interface. MIDI, an acronym for Music- al Instrument Digital Interface, is the standard interface for transmitting data from one electronic music instrument to either another one or to a computer system. JVC are currently developing a MIDI for the MSX, but no details are available yet. COMNtUN'CATIONS Computer Mates have a plug- in communications cartridge combining both word proces- sing and database fad I ities for £149. It can be controlled using a joystick and users can access any electronic or viewdata ser- vice. Using a modem and an RS232C card, Kuma’s com- munications software costing £19.95 can be used to access electronic mail and viewdata services. 80 COLUMN CARD The 40 column display gener- ated by some of the MSX’s can be increased to 80 columns with an 80 column card. One advantage of this is that the CP/M packages can be used. Spectra video’s 80 column video cartridge, the SVI-727 costs £112.79. The accom- panying video cable slots into the cartridge and the monitor. INTERFACE BOARDS JVC’s RS232C i nterface board , thelF7610shouldbeavailable by April and will cost £89. ROM software with extended BASIC commands has been built into the board for com- munication purposes. A built- in terminal emulator can be accessed with BASIC com- mands . It acts as a pri nter port. Juma’s RS232C interface board costs £99.50. It provides independent transmit and receive channels including all standard hand shaking signals and will con- nect to printers. Kuma also has a parallel interface board for £59.50 which plugs into the cartridge slot. Options provided are a 3x8 bit port with full hand- shakes, a bit set and reset and a 1x8 bit bi-directional port. MSX-NET’s programmable RS232C interface fits into the cartridge slot and costs £50. It will connect to modems, prin- ters and robots. GRAPHICS TABLETS Also known as digitisers, these together with relevant soft- ware enables user to design graphics, play games or even program. The Graph Pad from British Micro comes with a graphics package and costs £125. The A4 pad can be used to design MUSICAL JVC’s keyboard, the KV600 costs £629. Preprogrammed sounds in- clude 14 basic stereo rhythms, 16 percussion instruments and hasa melody memoryof up to 300 notes. The keyboard covers four octaves and has built-in stereo speakers, although the board can be connected to ampli- fiers. It will also attach to a guitar strumboard (a stringless instrument) costing £40. The KV600 wi 1 1 operate inde- pendently as a music synth- SPEECH SYNTHESIZERS Strange robotic speech can be created with speech synthesiz- ersand mostusetheallophone system. Kuma’s package costs £69.50 and consists of cas- sette based software and a card which plugs into the cartridge slot. It uses 64 allophones. Speakeasy from Aztec Soft- ware utilises 64 allophones and costs £29.95. It is a separate unit and connects to the MSX via the printer port. ADDRESSES Aztec Software: (0924) 492826 British Micro: (0923) 48222 Cambridge Micro Computer Centre: (0223) 355404 Computer Mates: (0265) 810824 Doug Packer: 01-941 2560 JVC: 01-450 3282 Kuma Computers: (07357) 4335 Microlink: (0730) 895296 Micro Peripherals: (0256) 473232 MSX-Net: 01-788 3583 Sanyo Marubeni: (0923) 46363 Sony: (81) 61688 Spectravideo: 01-330 0101 Touchmaster: (0656) 744770 Yamaha-Kemble: (0908) 71771 STORAGE DEVICES Disk drives run and store files on floppy disks. Microlink are distributing the Quick disk drive for about £130. It holds 128K bytes of unfor- matted memory and uses dou- ble-sided double density 2.8 inch disks. Sony’s disk drive, the HBD- 50 has 500K bytes of unfor- matted memory and costs £349.95. It uses 3.5 inch floppy sing- le-sided double density disks. JVC are planning to produce a disk drive with 500K bytes of unformatted memory. It will use single-sided double densi- ty disks. A5. 5 inch disk version is also planned. The SVl-707, Spectra- vldeo’s disk drive provides 500K bytes of unformatted memory and uses 5.25 inch double-sided double density disks. It retails at £345. Sony's battery-powered C/ MOS RAM 4K data cartridge costing£39.95 offers an extra 4K of memory. Yamaha have a data cartridge too, at £65 for 4K storage. TheTiny Disk Drive MPlOO is aval lable from the Cambridgo Micro Computor Contro and costs about £40. It uses 2.5 inch disks. MEMORY EXPANSION ByaddingextraRAMtoanMSX, more programs can be com- piled. With a full 64K of RAM, some of the more sophisti- cated CP/M programs can be run. Spoctravidoo's 64K RAM cartridge, the SVl-747 pro- vides an additional 32K of memory for £100. PRINTER CABLES To connect an MSX to a parallel Centronics printer, you need a printer cable with a 15-pin amphenol (MSX pri nter socket) to 36-pin amphenol (standard Centronics printer connec- tion). Micro Peripherals are selling the 1.5 metre Canon MSX Parallel printer cable for £13.50. Aztec’s Software MSX printer cable costs £14.30. Doug Packei^s cable retails at £15, Spoctravidoo’s 1.5 metre cable costs £15.95 and Boots The Chemist are selling a 1 metre cable for £9.95. Eric and the Floaters Binary Land Driller Tank Fire Rescue Hyper Viper Database ZEN Assembler WDPRO Kuma FORTH Home Budget An outstanding selection from Kumars rapidly expanding range of Entertainment and Application Software for the MSX Micro-computer. BOOKS # Starting with the MSX # The MSX Red Book # Starting Machine Code with the MSX # Behind the Screens of the MSX. ACCESSORIES # RS232C Interface # Speech Synthesiser # Paraiiei Interface. *NEW TITLES # Star Avenger # Superchess # Stop the Express # Ninja # Mean Streets 0 Logo Turtle-graphics. Now available from larger branches of and selected branches of Co-op, Granada, Kuma Computers Ltd., Unit 12, Horseshoe Park, Horseshoe Road, Pangbourne, Berks RGB 7JW. Please send full catalogue on MSX products. Name .. Address Phone I own a MSX Computer. * Visitors wishing to call at our Pangbourne Manufacturing and Distribution Centre are advised to phone 07357-4335 first for an early appointment. Trade enquiries welcome. .MMpiriHiarirr^B^^ T/iiffSi "I'M fl TOSHIBA HXIO. rOE GOT ALL THE BEST BITS FROM EMERY OTHER HOME COMPUTER. AND- MORE . I HAME A 64K- tlEMOR-Y , LIKE THE COMMODOte 64. A e*'>» CASSETTE INTERFACE, LIKE' the" BBC. TWO JOYSTICK PORTS, LIKE THE COMMODORE 64. A BUILT IN POWER SUPPLY, LIKE THE BBC . 16' USABLE COLOURS,* LIKE* THE » ACORN ELECTRON.. OMER 70 fDLl stroke keys;; LIKE^THE BBC. A CARTRIDGE SLOT, LIKE THE COMMODORE 64. A PRINTER INTERFACE, LIKE THE ORIC ATMOS. SOUND OUTPUT THROUGH THE, T.M.~. LIKE THE CONNECTION, LIKE T' THE COMMODORE 64 . i i^F BUILT IN LIKE * THE BBC. AND: A SEPARATE 16K MI DEO MEMORY, UNLIKE MOST NON-MSX COMPUTERS. 32 SPRITES, MORE TmN MOST NON-MSX COf^PUTERS,. AND I USI MICROSOFT>EXTENDED ’ BASIC, LIKE EMERY " OTHER MSX COMPUTER. WOW. WITH A “ SPEC I F I CAT I ON . L I ST« L i KE THAT . NO WONDER YOU' ME* GOT A 64K MEMORY . 1 w * You’d expect one of the best-selling home computers in Japan to have a specification list as big as its memory. But the Toshiba HXIO doesn’t just limit itself to that. It was developed along with other Japanese home computers to operate on one language :MSX.You can swap prog rams, games, cassettes, even peripherals like disk drives, printers, and Joysticks: they’re all compatible with every other MSX computer. All of which makes MSX the system of the future. So if you want a computer that won’t be obsolete in a few years, buy an MSX. If you want one of the best-selling MSX computers in Japan, buy aToshiba HXIO. TOSHIBA