************************************************************************

            EUROSCENE VOLUME 1 - DEMOS AND MORE ON CD - A REVIEW

                               BY BRUCE LAING

             © 1994 Bruce Laing for Megadisc Digital Publishing

  ************************************************************************


         43  !¡  43  !¡  43  !¡  43  !¡  43  !¡  43  !¡  43  !¡  43


  This article will have a look at about 5 years of demos, music modules,
  pictures and a few 'scene magazines on CD-ROM


  WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

   This CD-ROM features around 600 megabytes of demos and other material
  taken from the Internet's FUNET archive.  The FUNET is where you will
  find the latest demos, intros, megademos (a series of small demos
  compiled in one disk) and 'scene magazines (a how-to in designing your
  own demos, intros, etc.)

   The material contained features some of the best known demos (Jesus On
  E's, HardWired, State of the art, etc.) and some of the more
  ground-breaking material.  The demos are set up in alphabetical and in
  group order.  Also included are a huge collection of music modules in
  Med, Soundtracker/Noisetracker and a few other formats.  I havent had
  the chance to find out how many tunes are on this CD-ROM, but I can
  assure you there are plenty.  You will also find in here a number of
  pictures to view (some however, may offend a few people) as well as the
  winners from some of the major parties in the last few years (The
  gathering to name one) up until the final mastering of the CD-ROM
  (around April).  As I mentioned earlier, there's also a number of 'scene
  magazines included.  As I haven't had a look at this section yet, I won't
  comment on this section.  Finally you will also find information on both
  FUNET and Internet (the latter using the famous 'Big Dummies guide to
  Internet' file).  The big dummies guide can be found in Megadisc's PD
  collection.

  OK, CAN YOU RUN THIS ON CDTV OR CD-32

   The answer to this question is yes, but you will need a copy of the
  workbench software (OS1.3 for CDTV, OS3.0(1?) for CD-32) as the CD-ROM
  is generally set up for BBS use, so there's no system software on the
  CD.  You will also need to have a knowledge of archivers, as everything
  is in an archived format (DMS or The disk masher and Lha).  Thankfully
  these archivers have been included on the CD-ROM's tools directory

  OPERATING SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY

   A large number of the earlier demos will not work on recent models
  (A600, A1200, A4000) because the demos may require a certain version of
  Kickstart (1.2, 1.3, etc.)  My advice here is to try and get hold of a
  ROM-Sharer and locate the Kickstart chip.  For the OS2 chip, there
  should be no problems as it has been available for a long while.  The
  1.3 chips will be hard or impossible to find due to it's age.  On the
  other hand there are a few demos on this CD-ROM which will require the
  AGA chipset.  Fortunately, the compiler, THP (don't ask me his real
  name!) has included a number of programs to make the program run
  (runLame, etc) and that can be found in the tools directory in both
  unarchived and archived format.  On top of this, there is a huge list
  which lists most (if not all) demos and compatibility with your system.
  This is listed in ASCII, ANSI and AmigaGuide format.  I generally use
  the AmigaGuide file as the text reader used (MuchMore) uses up more
  memory than needed.

  CONCLUSION

   It is an excellent collection, however, a lot of the demos generally
  make use of that F word (if you are easily offended, then stay clear!)
  It's not used as much in demos nowadays.  Also I mentioned that some of
  the pictures could be offensive.  Outside of this, this is a worthwile
  collection.

  EuroScene 1 rating 8/10

  CD Title - EuroScene 1

  Publisher - Almathera

  Australian Distributor - Don Quixote Computers

  Megadisc price - $40

  Available from:

  Megadisc, Computer Affair, Solutions Rendered, AmiTech, Computer Man and
  of course from Don Quixote Computers.


                               © Bruce Laing,

                               October, 1994.


         43  !¡  43  !¡  43  !¡  43  !¡  43  !¡  43  !¡  43  !¡  43