COPYRIGHT MICRO COMPUTER MART 1989 MicroMart (UK) Ltd 24 Richmond Road Olton Solihull West Midlands THEY ARE MORE THAN WORD PROCESSORS "GERRY AUSTIN INTRODUCES THE AMSTRAD PCW SERIES OF MICROS AND EXPLAINS THEIR CAPABILITIES" I have certainly heard and read the title to this article so many times that I nearly dismissed it as a worn out cliche. I wonder how many potential purchasers have been put off this powerful micro by the sales and marketing bumph about the PCW being a word processor? It is an excellent word processor, do not get me wrong, but it can offer so much more to anyone that wants to explore the plethora of cheap software available for it. The Humble Z80 Microprocessors were originally developed for space and military applications. Intel offered the first microprocessors commercially in the early 1970's and soon after Zilog came onto the scene in 1976 with the Z80. The Z80 was faster and cheaper than Intel's 8080 and soon became the new standard for business computers in the late 1970's with a common configuration of 64K RAM, dual 8" floppies, and CP/M. The Z80 chip has been placed at the heart of many micro computers, especially those intended for the home and small business market in the 1980's. The Z80 is what is known as an 8 bit processor which means that it can operate on eight bits of data at a time. More powerful processors like the Intel 8086 handle 16 bits at once and even more powerful processors can handle 32 bits at a time. As a general rule of thumb the more bits that can be moved around the machine at once increases the speed at which it can operate. This leaves the PCW near the bottom of the stack when it comes to speed but it all depends upon what you wish to use your micro for - on the whole a word processor can't make use of the extra speeds of the faster chips. Applications that require these faster speeds are not usually used by home micro users and the small businessman/woman isn't likely to mind waiting a few seconds longer for the processor when necessary. The Three Stooges Amstrad PCW's come in three configurations: PCW8256, PCW8512 and PCW9512. The PCW8256 and 8512 are the same machine with two exceptions - the 8512 has a second 3" double sided, double density disc drive and 512K of memory as standard while the 8256 has one single sided, single density drive and 256K of memory. Both the 8000 machines have a 9 pin dot matrix printer. On the other hand the PCW9512 has one 3" double sided, double density disc drive and 512K of memory. The most important difference between the 8000's and PCW9512 is its daisy wheel printer giving full letter quality output but lacking the graphics capability of the dot matrix version on the 8000's. Software Support CP/M Plus, DR LOGO, Mallard BASIC and LocoScript are bundled with the three models but the PCW9512 has LocoScript 2, an updated and more powerful version of its predecessor. LocoScript is the PCW's dedicated word processing software. LocoScript 2 has an integral spelling checker and is much faster all around than LocoScript 1 and has the ability to use a wide variety of external printers - all lacking on the original version. CP/M Plus - or as it is sometimes known as, CP/M 3 - is Digital Research's latest version of the once industry standard operating system CP/M 2. CP/M is similar to MS DOS as used by IBM PC's and their compatibles. Indeed, anyone that can use one operating system could use the other with a little effort. This compatibility between micros that operate under CP/M means that there is a vast base of software that can be used on the PCW's with little or no conversion. Many software houses have converted their programs to run under CP/M Plus and are available at remarkably low prices. The Amstrad PCW, with its wide user base has opened up a mass market of ready installed software, add ons and upgrades. Well known names like WordStar, Dbase 11, Supercalc, Multiplan and the like are all available for our humble Z80 based PCW. Many will be happy with LocoScript as their main word processor, not only because it is supplied with the PCW but because it offers users a very friendly environment in which to work. Its main criticism is its lack of speed but apart from this it is a powerful word processor with lots of features lurking beneath the many pull down menus. You will have to go a long way to find something similar that can easily make use of the integral printer and dedicated keyboard. LocoScript 1 can print out around 150 characters but with LocoScript 2 this has been increased to a massive 400+ with the ability to define a further 16 of your own. In addition to the usual alphanumerics we are all accustomed to the PCW dot matrix printer can handle Greek, Cyrillic, Continental, Mathematical and Technical symbols. This should satisfy even the most demanding application that the PCW may be called upon to cope with. Rumour has it that Locomotive software are developing an Arabic LocoScript to follow their other language versions and to satisfy customer demand. If you really need a zippy word processor there are some quick ones available in the Public Domain and many will be familiar with Protext, a commercial program that comes highly recommended because of its speed and extensive facilities. One drawback that many may find a nuisance is that LocoScript does not run from the CP/M operating system. In order to run CP/M applications you must exit LocoScript, reset the micro and boot CP/M before loading your favourite database, spreadsheet or data file. There is a utility available that can partition the PCW's memory and have two programs available at once, it's called 'Flipper'. The user is able to 'hot key' from one application to another. A very real advantage when you regularly need to work with LocoScript and CP/M based data files in your database, for example. BASIC Mallard BASIC, like LocoScript, was developed by Locomotive Software. Mallard BASIC is loaded after booting the PCW with CP/M. Apart from Mallard BASIC's lack of graphics commands it is quite powerful and can be mastered quickly by those wishing to write their own programs. BASIC stands for Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Do not let this name fool you though, quite powerful programs can be written in BASIC - you may be surprised just how much commercial software is written in this language for the PCW. Once you become proficient you will be able to convert programs from one dialect of BASIC to another but many program listings are printed in the various computer magazines ready to type in and run. DR LOGO LOGO was originally developed by Seymour Papert, Professor of Mathematics and now famous for his educational research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. LOGO has become famous for its turtle graphics and use with children but it isn't solely 'childs play' either. Its simplicity can be very useful for anyone wanting to ease themselves into computer programming before tackling BASIC or other high level languages. DR LOGO, as supplied with the PCW is the Digital Research version and as you would expect, coming from the developers of CP/M, it runs under that operating system. FREE Software The Amstrad PCW is gradually building up a very useful repertoire of Public Domain software. Much of the existing CP/M public domain software will not run on the PCW's until it has been installed. This involves customising such things as screen displays, printer devices and keyboard operations. If software has been written specifically for another machine you may have problems installing it or need specialised advice but many CP/M programs have been written with portability in mind and come with their own installation programs. Once installed these programs can usually be run directly on the PCW. There are ready installed public domain programs available for the PCW to meet most users needs: graphics, word processors, home accounts, languages (Pascal, Small C, Valgol, Prolog, E BASIC), databases, games, many varied utilities and even a fully featured bulletin board. Many public domain programs are as good as, and in some cases better than, their commercial counterparts but generally where they are inferior is the standard of documentation. A few programs - EXPERT 86, (an expert system shell) for example - are offered as shareware. This is a 'try before you buy' concept that relies upon free distribution methods through user groups and public domain libraries. It also relies upon the honesty of the end user and his willingness to register his copy of the program for a fee of a few pounds. This registration usually brings extra benefits such as a user manual, software support and the latest version. Come on - Try me When choosing a computer system find the software that you want to use and then choose a machine to run it on. That is the usual advice given to newcomers to the computer market, and very good advice it is too. If you are interested in a low cost micro and the PCW sounds like it might be what you are looking for, try and get a dealer, or better still someone at your local computer club or user group to show you what the machine is capable of. There is no substitute for actually seeing the system at work. And there is no doubt that there is plenty of powerful software available to fit just about every application you may have in mind whether it be budget desktop publishing, accounting, games and entertainment, programming or education and training. A quick glimpse through any of the specific PCW magazines will soon give you an idea of what you can expect from a PCW. Upgrades There are a number of options for PCW owners to upgrade their machines, the first and probably most useful is to upgrade the memory to its maximum of 512K. This costs about œ50 for the 256K that is required for the PCW8256 to become a single drive 8512. To add another 3" disc drive to the basic model is very easily done - the connecting plugs are ready and waiting - and costs about œ100. If you wish, you could connect an external 3.5" or 5.25" disc drive instead of a 3" one, in any event you will add a further 706 K of on line storage to the basic machine. Lightpens, mice, joysticks, graphics tablets and the like can also be added straight onto the expansion connector at the rear of the monitor and do not require the RS232 interface. Modems, external printers and other devices that require a serial or parallel interface may also be added to the 8000's by buying a serial interface costing about œ50. For PCW9512 owners there is no need to buy a serial RS232 interface to add other devices and this model already comes with the full compliment of RAM. To give graphics printout capability an external dot matrix printer may be added directly to the appropriate port and an additional double sided double density disc drive is available for increasing storage capacities. Limitations The PCW has its motherboard and disc drives resident in the monitor case and power to the printer is also supplied from that point. This means that you are tied to the built in display which is green for the PCW8000's and paper white on the PCW9512. You can not connect another printer without buying an RS232 interface for the 8000 machines either. The screen resolution is good, 90 columns by 32 lines and more than adequate for most applications but if you have serious design work or technical drawing in mind it may not be of a high enough resolution. The built in 9 pin dot matrix printer of the PCW8000's will give good NLQ quality with a new print ribbon, but do not expect it to compare with the newer 24 pin machines or LQ output of a daisy wheel printer. Some software can achieve remarkable graphics printouts by performing multiple passes of the print head. If you need professional quality you would be wise to see exactly what the printer is capable of. CP/M itself could prove to be a serious limitation to the user needing to have integrated software capable of helping to control his/her activities. After CP/M has been loaded you are left with 61K of program space. The PCW8256 has a further 112K of RAM which it uses as its silicon M: drive. The PCW8512 and 9512 machines have the same amount of program space but a much larger and more useful silicon disc of 368K. The silicon disc is a temporary disc drive in RAM - very fast but everything stored there is lost when the machine is reset or turned off. With these limitations in mind you may consider that the PCW would still be a good investment. There are over a million machines out there with many more happy users. There is still plenty of life left yet in the Z80 and I am still pleasantly surprised by the ever increasing range of quality, affordable software that is still being developed for the PCW's. Over the coming months I shall be looking at some of the well seasoned favourites available for the PCW and seeking out new programs as they become available. I look forward to joining you again soon. Your letters and questions are welcomed on all matters concerning PCW's via Micro Computer Mart. 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