Software Notes Please let me know if you need (1) a jargon busting box (2) a comparison chart for software (3) and so on.. Note, throughout this lead I've speal digitizer with a Z. I don't know what house style is, but you might need to do a global search/replace. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ SOFTWARE REVIEWS CanDo2 picture: cd.jpeg One of the first, and still one of the best authoring programs is CanDo from Inovatronics. This has to be one of the most underrated Amiga programs ever - hardly anyone seems to realise that you can do almost anything with CanDo. Programs or decks consist of special cards. Each card can be a window or a screen with or without an IFF picture backdrop. AGA images are now fully support in the latest versions. On the card you can place animations, buttons, text, lists of items, pull-down menus - just about everything you could need. You then write scripts (by pointing and clicking, or directly with a text editor) to define what happens whenever a particular action is taken. For example, a button may inform CanDo to display a new Card or play a sound sample - or both. Other actions are handled automatically, so for example inserting a new floppy disk can be detected. There is even a timer to launch specific scripts are specific times. Input support is extensive, as is the ARexx interface for linking CanDo Decks with other programs. CanDo is my multimedia tool of choice. It might not be lightning fast, but it doesn't almost everything I could possibly need. caption: Using CanDo to create the Tourist Information system was quite straightforward. The buttons were actually part of the screen image to keep palette match problems at bay. Overlaying some of CanDo's 'shape only' buttons ensured they still did something when they were clicked (when I was testing it). In the finished system, the joystick reading routines were used to scan the extra switches connected to the second mouse port. Product: CanDo 2.5 Price: £149.95 Availability: Meridan Software Helm picture: helm.iff Helm is a relatively new multimedia authoring program, that seems to be a cross between CanDo and Hyperbook. It offers a huge range of options including remote CDTV control and AGA graphics support, whilst avoiding the multiple sliding screens of CanDo to provide a slightly faster user-interface. It has special features dedicated to creating hypertext documents, and remember these text files can now also include moving graphics and sound. Creating pictures is made a lot simpler by the inclusion of a dedicated drawing program, so you don't have to keep flipping back to Deluxe Paint or whatever. Best of all is the freely distributable browser program which means you can share your work with anyone who has an Amiga. If you wish Hyperbook had been updated, well it has: it's just changed its name to Helm in the process. caption: The familiar AmigaDOS gadgets and requestors make Helm an easy program to use. Create hypertext instruction manuals in minutes and send them to all your friends with the freely distributable browser program. Product: Helm Price: £99.95 Availability: Meridian MediaPoint Pictures mp1.iff, mp2.iff Aimed squarely as competition for Scala, MediaPoint does pretty well for itself. It was written by the same people who brought us Real 3D, and received a strong review in the January 1994 issue. As Scala it uses the same sort of pinky-lilac screen with point and click event bars. Animations, sound and ARexx messages can all be produced depending on input or pre-set times. The extensive set of example image and sound files which come with MediaPoint will mean you can probably create half a dozen applications before you need to buy a scanner or digitizer. Also like Scala, MediaPoint is rather expensive and worse still you may find you have a pay a royalty or buy a license to use it on a stand-alone terminal. mp1.iff MediaPoint can cope with AGA pictures, and then overlay it's own text and gadget devices. The nice wipes will add a polished finish to any presentation. mp2.iff Sound modules are supported, although not those created by MED. Thankfully both MediaPoint and MEDplayer talk ARexx, so all is not lost. Product: MediaPoint Price: £399.95 Availability: Meridian Software Scala You're probably sick of SCALA, aren't you? If last month's extravaganza wasn't enough for you here's a brief re-cap. SCALA is the multimedia tool that the professionals use. It supports almost everything under the sun, and is in use all over the World. Even IBM use it for presentations. If you want to know more, look at last month's issue. Or watch cable TV in the States, book into a Danish hotel or buy a MacDonalds. (any picture from last month's issue should suffice) Product: SCALA MM300 Price: £329.99 Availability: Scala UK Ltd HyperBook (no pictures - I don't have hyperbook. it was given away on the coverdisk back but I can't find the issue. I think it was the one with the lightbulb on the cover? Anyway, there are lots of pictures in the tutorial section. Hyperbook was developed by GoldDisk, who are probably better known for their DTP software. It manages to combine ease of use with an incredibly powerful ARexx interface. The interface is needed because Hyperbook can't do a great deal by itself - even the animation support isn't up to much. In it's favour is a very low price, an excellent manual and a really classy feel. Unfortunately there are problems using Hyperbook with Workbench 3 machines, and there is no AGA support. Until some upgrades come along, this is probably one to avoid. Product: Hyperbook Price: Shop around Availability: Shop around (or coverdisk 58, June issue) AmigaGuide picture: aguide.iff Commodore don't often get things right 100% of the time, but occasionally they come up with some blinders. You might not even know about it, but AmigaGuide is one of these success stories. It's a hypertext system, that should relegate all those nasty scrolling More variants to the trash can. An AmigaGuide document looks like any other text file, except for one or two little extra comments. However, then used with the AmigaGuide program these comments trigger all sorts of magic. For starters, you can control text colour and style, but you can also create 'hyperlinks' to other pages in the document. Click on an outlined word, and you immediately are brought to a detailed explanation. Click on the gadgets at the top of the screen and you can return. It's dead easy to use, and also very easy to write your own documents. The best thing is that it's free - yup, the entire AmigaGuide environment is available for nowt. I got mine with the official Commodore Native Developer Kit 3.0, but the file is freely distributable so ask your favourite PD library for a copy. caption: "Anything you get for free is worth what you pay for it" someone once said. Not so AmigaGuide, the definite Hypertext system from Commodore. Some on-line magazines even use it to distribute their wares. Product: AmigaGuide Price: Free Availability: Freely distributable AMOS The first of the BASIC language systems covered, AMOS has been around a long time now. Apart from anything else this means it is both cheap and reliable, and has also amassed a huge following with various clubs and newsletters. As you would expect from a language primarily designed for writing arcade games, AMOS is fast and has lots of support for IFF sounds and images. Unfortunately the AGA modes aren't supported, although there should be some third party extensions to plug the gaps. For multimedia applications, the Professional version of AMOS is required, as it offers standard requestors better animation support and ARexx. My main reasons for not liking it much are purely based on the fact that AMOS doesn't integrate itself with the Amiga operating system very well - it sort of sits on top and bosses the rest of the system around. Remember to get the compiler if you need stand-alone code. (There are millions of pictures of AMOS around - please pick a nice one. I can't grab AMOS screens without a Mac and a Theatrix) Product: AMOS Professional Price: £49.95 (and £34.95 for compiler) Availability: EuroPress Software BlitzBasic2 Is this the new crown prince of Amiga BASIC programs? It certainly looks as though AMOS has had its day, although there will be plenty die-hards who won't admit it. Blitz is a corking adaptation of BASIC, souped up with totally control over the Amiga hardware and one of the fastest BASIC compilers ever seen. It provides plenty of support for IFF screens and samples, and like AMOS it has an open architecture which allows third party extensions - like 3D and AGA graphics - to be added later. Again, Blitz is primarily for writing games but don't let that stop you. Knock up a few text-handling routines and a nice picture loader and you have the heart of your own multimedia system. Programs compile into stand-alone lumps of code which takes all the headaches out of distribution. (There was a picture in the Amiga Buyers Guide, and when it was first reviewed in CU a long time ago) Product: BlitzBasic2 Price: £69.95 Availability: Meridian Software Box out: Suppliers Meridian Software Distribution East House, East Road Industrial Estate, London, SW19 1AR Tel: 081 543 3500 Marcus Music 113 North Street Belfast N. Ireland BT1 1ND Tel: 0232 322871/324956 Korg (UK) Ltd, The Crystal Centre, Elmgrove Road, Harrow, Middlesex, England HA1 2YR Tel: 081 861 3595 Amiga Centre Scotland Harlequin House, Walkerburn, Peebleshire, Scotland EH43 6AB Tel: 089 687 583 MicroDeal/HiSoft Ltd, The Old School, Greenfield, Bedford, England, MK45 5DE Tel: 0525 718181 Rombo Ltd, Baird Road, Livingston, Scotland, EH54 7AZ Tel: 0506 414631 Silica Systems 1-4 The Mews Hatherley Road, Sidcup, Kent England D14 4DX Tel: 081 309 1111 SCALA UK Ltd, Mill Studio, Cranemead, Ware, Herts., England SG12 9PY Tel: 0920 444 294 Europress Software, Europa House, Adlington Park, Poynton, Macclesfield, England SK10 4NP Tel: 0625 859333 Box out: Thanks to.. Martin Lowe (Amiga Centre Scotland) for some excellent kit, Andy Leaning (Silica) for keeping us on our toes, Marcus Music for MIDI equipment and the best music shop, Bangor Town Council for not taking legal action... yet.