$f86|2-Q & A $9ae Submitted by Dan/Page $69d Do you have a problem with your Amiga? Do you detest your disk drive, hate your hard disk, or mourn over your modulator? Well write to Q&A, the biggest Amiga Q&A section in the universe! (We think - RICK) Please remember to include an SAE if you want a personal reply. Send your problems to us at : Daniel Wood (PAGE Q&A), 3 Cavendish Drive, Darlington, Co Durham, Darlington, Co Durham, England DL1 2GQ. Now let's see what your problems have been this disk... Q. I am going to buy a modem, which type should I buy? DANIEL CHESTER, MIDDLESBROUGH A. Good name you've got there... Well really the answer is, buy the fastest you can afford, the cost of it will soon pay back due to the saving in phone bills. DAN $ff0 [Get a 33.6 minimum. Go for a USR or Zoom. Novatech do cheap modems. Don't bother with an x2 (56k) as most lines can't handle the speed and they only deliver about 53k max on download anyway. Buy a software upgradeable one. Middlesbrough doesn't have great lines but Zooms and USRs work ok here. Kei] $69d Q. I have a couple of questions I would like to ask. Firstly please could you tell me if there is a CD-ROM drive out for the Amiga 600 and if so how much, and where could I purchase one from, secondly, is there a PC Emulator Circuit Board for the 600 as there is the 500 and 500+. If you can answer any of these questions I would be extremely obliged. COLIN MALCOLM, DARLINGTON A. We certainly can help. Unfortunetly no body has ever released a CD-ROM drive for the Amiga 600 (Don't know why there are cracking good machines, I use one myself incidently), but do not worry there is a way. What you need to do is to get hold of a CDTV, this is a special Amiga which has a CD-ROM drive built in, these used to sell for around £300 but since then they have dropped to around £150 or less, the trick is finding one. With the CDTV you can use a special device called a PARNET-LINK, this is a cheap cable (Around £20) which can be used to connect the two Amigas together and then you can use your 600 to use the CDTV as a CD-ROM drive. Also the CDTV has all the standard Amiga ports so you can connect normal Amiga printers, TV's, Monitors, Disk Drives (As there isn't one built in to the CDTV), Printers etc. Then you will need some software to link it up, this software is called Parnet and you can get it from 17-Bit Software (TEL: 0924 366982) on disks number 2603a and 2603b. This program has to be put on the Amiga and the CDTV, which will mean that a Disk Drive will be needed for the CDTV, if you have an external floppy drive for your 600 you could always connect this to it, you can get the cable from Almathera on 081687 0040 for less that twenty quid this also has the Parnet software with it too. There is meant to be an A600 CD-ROM coming soon for the 600 from The First Computer Centre if you would prefer a drive to the CDTV, call them on 0532 319444. CDTV's are not sold very much these days, so you could hunt in the Darlington Advertiser and The South Durham Times free newspapers as there are often CDTV's in there, or try calling Hobbyte on 0727 856005 as they may have some left. As for the 600 PC Emulator... no there is no Circuit Board PC Emulator for the 600 but there is a disk called PCTask that does the same job, but is a bit slower and works with the 600, is costs £49.95 and you can get it from Meridan Software Distribution, East House, East Road Industrial Estate, East Road, London SW19 1AR. DAN $ff0 [Bull. Amida is using a SCSI II CD-ROM using a Squirrel interface on his A600. Kei] $69d Q. I have seen a friends Amiga 500 PLUS computer and I have a 1.2 A500 with Workbench 1.3. He has a picture created with Deluxe Paint IV for a backdrop on Workbench, can I do this on my Amiga? JIM COLLINS, TEESIDE A. Well your friend has a 2.1 A500+ which has a COMPLETELY different Workbench to your 1.3 system. This picture-on-the-backdrop system is one of the preferences in Workbench 2 & 3. You cannot do this on your 500 without extra software. There is such a program in the Fred Fish range of Amiga PD disks. I can't for the life of me remember which one though. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. But try contacting a few PD suppliers and see if they have such a program. The Fred Fish one I saw is somewhere in between Disk 1 and 660 as it was on the CDPD 1 Compact Disc for the CDTV. RICK $ff0 [It's called backcloth and comes with a butterfly image. Just buy a second hand A1200 and use Workbench 3. A1200's are going for £100 around here with nothing extra. Kei] $69d Q. I have recently heard a song that I have heard before a long time ago, please help me remember where I have heard it. It goes like this... I've goht a bran' neww combiyne 'arvesterrr, an' uyyl give yuuw the kuuy, luyts all join togeyther noyw in perfec' 'armoneeeey! NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED A. Well when I said that you didn't strictly have to write in about Amiga specific problems to Q&A this wasn't really what I was expecting! Any way, this song is from a '70's pop song (and a crap one at that!) which was quite big. I wonder what made them think of those lyrics... RICK Q. I own a Canon BJ10sx bubble jet printer and my ink cartridge has recently reached it's death point. What I would like to know is, can I re-use it? RICHARD GRAFTFORD, DURHAM A. Yah! (Sorry). You can certainly re-use Canon BC01 Cartridges (The ones the 10sx uses), you can refill any Canon cartidges and loads of other ink jet cartridges too. Try checking your local Rymans if you have one in the big D, or phone TRILOGIG on 0274 691115 as they normally stock them. DAN Q. Can I use my A570 CD-ROM drive on an A1200? JOAN OWEN, BISHOP AUKLAND A. No. The A570 CD-ROM drive was made only for the Amiga 500 series and uses the edge connecter which is unique to the A500 range. You can however use the CD1200 which is a CD-ROM which emulates the CD³² console for the A1200, it is not yet available at the time of writing in this country although it should (should) be available by the end of December. RICK Q. I use an Acorn Electron and I am having trouble setting the computer to use my TV. When I turn it on there is a loud hissing but the picture is on the screen, if I turn down the volume it goes. Also I lose the top line on my screen. Can you help me? B.TURNER, NEWCASTLE A. The Acorn Electron I use also hisses, you just turn down the sound and it goes, you don't need the TV sound on as the Electron provides it's own sound through the internal speaker, if you buy a set of connection leads to connect the sound to your TV it will not hiss and the sound will come out of the TV. The top line of the screen is missing on some TV sets if you use an Acorn Electron, this is due to the way the Electron sends it's signals, and it applies to nearly all computers. If you were using a BBC micro then I could tell you to use the *TV command to fix this but for some really crap idea this was one of the commands removed from Electron BASIC. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. DAN Q. I have an A500P and I am going to buy a memory expansion for it to expand it to 2M. I have read in Amiga Shopper once that you should buy the model without the clock as having two clocks can crash the machine, but I read in CU Amiga that you should buy the model with the clock as it disables the internal clock if the expansion is not fitted with one. What are your views? AMY WILLOWS, STOCKTON A. Well I am using a 2M 500P at the moment to write this answer and it has an expansion with no clock, and it works fine, the internal clock is ticking away at the top of my screen and keeping the time after it goes off, so I say get the one with no clock. DAN $ff0 [When you write this? 1990? Kei] $69d Q. Is it possible to copy commercial games? I have tried using the Copy option from the Icons menu on Workbench but it says : Disk in device DF0: NDOS. Can you help? GEORGE KELLY, MIDDX A. Yes it is possible to copy commercial games although it is against the law to do so. Under the 1983 data protections act it is an offence to duplicate any piece of software that has been copyrighted by the author/publisher without the author/publishers written permission. You are not even allowed to make back ups for your self. It is very strange that companies who sell programs such as XCopy, which is designed to backup commercial disks, are allowed to sell them by law, and you are allowed to buy them by law, if you don't use them! MIKE $ff0 [Use a copier that doesn't attempt to fix errors or checksums but just copies whatever it sees. Kei] $69d Q. In my DF1: disk drive I have damaged a spring by forcing the disks in too hard and now it wont eject properly. Where can I get it repaired? DANIEL CAUSER, RICHMOND A. Try opening up your disk drive (When unplugged!) and see if you can attach the spring. No body really repairs disk drives because it is cheaper to buy a new one than get it fixed in most cases. DAN $ff0 [Scrap your Disk Drive and put another HD inside your Amiga in that space then hook up a ZIP, DITTO or JAZ drive to it. Floppies are extinct unless you are a warez trader. Kei] $69d Q. I have a 5.25" disk drive for my Amiga and I use it alot, but when I am in Amiga DOS I have to reboot my system to reconise a new disk, is there a piece of software I could buy to fix this so that I can just change over without rebooting? NICHOLAS SLATER, SLOUGH A. Yes! In AmigaDOS just use the following command: (Don't type the prompt remember!) 1.Workbench3.0:> Diskchange And then insert a new disk and it will change. DAN And that's it for this disk. Send your questions to: Dan Wood 3 Cavendish Drive Darlington Co Durham DL1 2GQ $ff0 [Or send any modern hardware questions to the WORD staff! Kei] $69d end