From: andyf@uk.sun.com (Andrew Fox - Sun UK - Answer centre)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.acorn.tech
Subject: Re: A couple of questions.
Date: 12 Jan 93 15:21:28 GMT
Reply-To: andyf@uk.sun.com
Organization: Sun Microsystems Ltd.

In article 794 jtn@ukc.ac.uk (Jim Noble) writes:

>Can anyone comment on Eureka? How does it compare to using, say, Pipedream?
>I know someone who is looking for a spreadsheet proggy and wanted to know if
>Eureka is any good. Comments much appreciated.

Eureka is currently the best Spreadsheet for the Arc. I've been using it since
I picked up a pre-release copy at the Acorn User Show and have had no problems.
If you have ever used Microsoft Excel (spit, spit) then you'll feel right at home
with Eureka. My only criticism is the way in which it implements it's windows.
Longman have written their own window management functions, which mean that
Eureka has a very distinctive look. Unfortunately, it looks nothing like the
rest of the WIMP, and happily ignores any pretty icon sets that you may have
loaded yourself. That aside, Eureka is fast and easy to use, and well worth the
money.

>Anyone out there got Pendown Plus? Do you think it could cope with small
>reports/essays? Or do I need Impression (or Impress. Jnr)? Someone
>mentioned that Icon Technology give a student discount on Techwriter. Can
>anyone remember how much of a discount it is?

Pendown Plus is also very good. If you are only thinking of writing small
essays etc. then this is probably a better solution than Impression, especially
considering there is no dongle to move about (if you need to move about, that is).
The whole program is written is ARM assembler, the same as Impression, and therefore
operates at a similar speed. Pendown Plus also has a very nice table generator
application, so if your documents are likely to feature tables then this is another
reason to go buy it. All in all, if you just want an easy to use, fast document
processor that's cheaper than Impression (and doesn't have a dongle) then
go buy Pendown Plus.

>Also, could an A5000 owner tell me how the ARM3 is connected (Surface
>mount/PGA/?). If it is Surface mount, does anyone know if you can get surface
>mount PGA sockets? More importantly does anyone know a dealer willing to fit
>such a socket to an A5000. Would it invalidate the warranty?

The ARM3 in an A5000 is a 160pin surface mount ceramic PGA device.
The only people I would trust to carry out this work are Atomwide. They have
a proven history of socketing the surface mount MEMC in the A5000 for their
8Mb ram upgrade, so it would not be difficult to do the same thing for the
processor.

Socketing the processor in this way definitely invalidates the warranty. 
However, Atomwide do state when fitting an 8Mb ram upgrade that they will
repair any faults on your machine free of charge if it fails whilst still in
the original warranty period. Perhaps they would do the same for socketing
the processor.

Question is, why do you want to socket it?

>Are we going to get a press release from ARMLtd. about the use of ARM2's in
>this new 3DO Console? A few (gasp) technical details perhaps? The byte
>article mentioned the use of "proprietary" graphics chipset. Could this be
>the first commercial use of the new VIDC?

Here is the info that I have gleaned so far.......

----- Begin Included Message -----


British inventors set sights on Nintendo

A british invention will power a revolutionary computer games system aimed
at challenging the domination of Nintendo and Sega.

The Interactive Multiplayer.  To be launched in the autumn, is driven by
a micro processor developed by Advanced Risc Machines (ARM), a company with
a staff of only 30, based in Cambridge.  ARM is 49% owned by Acorn
Computers, makers of the BBC microcomputer, with most of the rest of the 
shares being held by the innovative US computer manufacturer Apple.

Some of the world's biggest media and electronics companies are behind
the Multiplayer.  It has been developed by 3DO, a new company formed
by the US media giants Time Warner and MCA, with telephone operator AT&T,
Matsushita of Japan and Electronic Arts, a leading publisher and developer
of computer games.



Music

It will be much more powerful than the games consoles currently being sold by
Nitendo and Sega.  As well as computer games, the new system will be able to
play music on compact disc and will come with software for teaching purposes.
It will also be possible to watch films on CDs.

Unlike Nintendo and Sega, 3DO will license the technology of the Multiplayer
to other manufacturers in an atempt to get it accepted as a world standard.

The fast growing market is worth some UK pounds 500 million a year in
this country (UK) alone.  The new system represents the second recent
breakthrough for ARM.  In June, its microprocessor was chosen by Apple
to drive Newton, an all-in-one hend-held electronic diary, notebook,
general computer and fax machine to be launched later this year.

Acorn's shareholding in ARM has been one factor behind the steep rise in its
share price from 6p last February to 41.5p on Friday.


----- Begin Included Message -----


Following is some of the information I've picked up regarding
the Winter CES. Hope you're interested.


Sega previewed a device for sale in the third quarter '93.
Called the Activator, it is a group of light-beam emitting
devices (8 total) linked in a circle 3.5 feet in diameter.
The device will encircle the user, who stands up in the 
middle, waving his/her arms and legs to "activate" screen
reactions. 
It will include a 2-in-one cart with a fighting game and
a music maker which creates music by body movements.
The unit will sell for $75.

Mortal Kombat was shown for the SNES only.

The SNES was found to have captured 69% of the 16-bit
platform market, with 8.7 million systems sold. This
was confirmed by an independant research firm. This
percentage was current as of October, the system total
is current as of the end of Christmas. 2.1 million
systems (SNES) were sold at Christmas.

The 3DO system will play Music CDs, Photo-CD, Motion
Video CDs and special game CDs by 3DO. 70 Software
houses have signed on, including Virgin, Ocean, Dynamix,
Psygnosis, Maxis, Spectrum Holobyte, Paramount and
Electronic Arts. It employs a double speed CD drive
and can produce motion video at 30 frames per second
with over 100000 colors per frame, full screen.
The price will be $700 but may drop to $500 over a year's
time.

Pioneer has released a competitor to CD-I which will
play Laserdiscs, CDs, new electronic books, interactive
games and CDs/carts from the NEC/TTI TurboGrafx and
Sega Genesis. (You will need adaptors for both systems.)
This marks the first collaboration between NEC and Sega.
The release date in Japan is 7/93, U.S. 8/93, price
$725 (90000 yen), with each Game Control pack (to play
NEC/Sega games) under $480 (60000 yen). [These numbers
sound a little odd, the latter that is.] A Karaoke
add on will cost less than $160 (20000 yen).
6-10 titles will be shipped at release, 20-30 by X-Mas.
20 Companies have signed on.

Sega's new Virtua Sega "Virtual Reality" system will
include a device for 3-D stereo-optic vision and
full depth perception. For 4th quarter release.

Nintendo's Super FX chip will only add $10 to the
cost of games, thus Nintendo's list price of $49.99
for all games will go to $59.99 for SFX titles.

----- End Included Message -----

----- End Included Message -----


>Acorn, (bit hopeful this :-) are there any plans to replace the A540? Be
>nice to know what you are working towards (I don't expect I'll get an
>answer to that, ho hum).

Acorn are, in fact working on a replacement for the A540, and it should be with
us quite shortly.

It is currently called 'Victoria', in line with Acorns policy of naming machines
after Australian cities (Brisbane - A5000, Perth - A4, Adelaide - A30x0).

The prototype machine has an ARM610 running at 66Mhz in it, 8Mb of ram (with slots
for up to 64Mb), VIDC20, and a slightly newer version of RISC OS 3.

Acorn are rumoured to be going to show it to a select few at the BETT show in a
couple of weeks time. Much like their previewing of the A4 at last years show.

Hopefully we should see a 2nd/3rd quarter '93 launch, if all goes according to plan.
Expect it to cost about 2500-3000 pounds.

I hope all that waffle was of interest to you,

Cheers for now,

Andy.


+-----------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Andrew Fox,                 |     'Life, don't talk to me about life.'     |
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