Touchmaster Graphics Tablet

Sinclair User

TACTILE TEACHER For many applications the standard QWERTY keyboard is far from ideal. The Touchmaster, from Touchmaster Ltd, is one way to make data input easier. It is a pad with a flat surface on which, as you draw, the position of the pen is returned to the computer. By using a number of different overlays different parts of the pad can be made to represent different things and so the keyboard can almost be dispensed with. The Touchmaster is sold as a complete package of pad, power supply, stylus, interface and a drawing program. Interfaces are available for a number of computers - Spectrum, BBC, Commodore 64, VC, 20 and Dragon - so if you change your computer you need only a new interface. As the package costs £149.95 that is a definite advantage. The Spectrum interface is a standard black box which fits flat into the user port. An extension edge connector is provided on the back and a 3ft cable connects to the parallel socket on the pad. The pad also has a serial connector, possibly useful for a QL version, and a socket marked 'Foot Switch' but there is nothing in the instructions about that. The drawing program, called Multipaint, has a number of features but does not compare too well with other drawing programs. On the plus side, apart from entering text and loading the program, the keyboard does not have to be used, which consequently speeds drawing. When drawing freehand you can alter the 'brush' to give different thicknesses and styles. The usual facilities of filling areas, drawing circles, boxes and polygons and changing the attributes are available. You can load and save screens but for some reason that facility could not be made to work. What it lacks are the grid overlays, magnification, scrolling and flipping of the more comprehensive programs. You can only draw on the top 22 lines of the screen and, as there is no grid on the pad overlay, you can easily lose your position. Touchmaster sells a number of other programs for use with the pad. Of the three we look at - Simon's Shapes, Simon Saw and Simon Says - only the last one would hold a child's attention for long. Simon Saw entails finding the correct jigsaw pieces to make a picture. If you succeed you can feed the cat. In Simon Says you build up a cartoon style photo-fit face. The computer then moves randomly some of the features and you have to repeat the sequence. You do that by pressing either the feature or the word on the pad. Then you get to feed the by now grossly overweight cat. Although the instructions say you can run the Touchmaster using your finger, instead of the stylus, it needed more pressure than a small child could give. That may be because it was new but try one out if you are buying for your children. The only comparable product to the Touchmaster is the British Micro Graphpad. The Graphpad is about £6.00 cheaper and has a superior drawing program but can not be swopped from one computer to another and, as yet, does not have any additional software. If Touchmaster can improve the quality of the software it could better realise its potential. Touchmaster Ltd, [redacted].

Your Spectrum

Henry Budgett

TOUCH AND GO! There've been several digitisers on the market for the Spectrum, but only the Touchmaster claims to be a keyboard replacement. Henry Budgett puts theory into practise - check out his findings... We've seen a few digitisers around for the ZX Spectrum, but only one that's been promoted heavily as a replacement for the keyboard! The Touchmaster graphics tablet also claims to operate (with a suitable interface, of course) with almost all the current home computers. UNDER PRESSURE? Based on an A4-sized pressure sensitive membrane, the Touchmaster comes in a neat grey case measuring some 350mm by 330mm by 35mm. The back of the case is raised slightly so that it tilts the tablet to form a convenient drawing surface. All connections to the tablet are at the rear, and it's here that one of the differences between the Touchmaster and its rivals becomes obvious. Power is supplied from a plug-in transformer and a single red LED shows that the power is on... but there's no power switch fitted. Presumably, to allow the tablet to be used with as many home computers as possible, there are both parallel and serial interface sockets on the rear panel, together with an unexplained socket for a 'foot switch' - should you want to play 'footsie' with the device, maybe? Whatever it's for, it's not mentioned in the accompanying hardware manual. Using the same sort of membrane technology as ZX81/Spectrum keyboards, the tablet provides a 256 by 236 point resolution. The upper, carbon fibre, layer is held away from a lower resistive film by an insulating mesh. Thus, if you apply pressure to any point on the upper layer, the two layers are forced into contact; the actual pressure point is determined as a co-ordinate by a microprocessor built into the tablet that scans the top film in one direction while scanning the lower resistive film in the other. Once a point of contact has been established, the co-ordinate is relayed to the Spectrum via the parallel interface. (On a point of interest, it's worth noting that the Touchmaster's resolution is well below the Hi-res screen displays on several of the home computers it's available for; for example, it'll be impossible to resolve the Touchmaster's output to a single dot on the BBC Micro in Mode 0). A plug-in interface is provided as part of the Touchmaster package to connect it up to the Spectrum. Along with a generous length of ribbon cable, the 'black box' interface unit contains a standard Z80 PI A chip; an extension connector is provided out the back of the unit for additional peripherals. The unit's definitely over-sized and projects far more that it needs to from the Spectrum's rear, but this is no doubt the result of using a standard box rather than poor design. THE BITTER PILL As a piece of hardware, the Touchmaster tablet would seem to have a lot going for it - especially when compared with its rivals like the Grafpad. It's built robustly and offers a full A4-sized drawing area that can be used for both drawing and the touch selection of menus. I suppose it could be considered an advantage that the Touchmaster, with new interface and software, would work with another computer - should you commit the cardinal sin of attempting to upgrade from the Spectrum (Hah, no way! Ed.). It's a shame that the documentation should be so poor compared with the standard of the tablet itself; the hardware manual covers the connection of the tablet and provides a number of simple Basic programs to read co-ordinates from it... but little else. Touchmaster's manufacturers are bringing out a range of software called Touchware, designed specifically for use with the graphic tablet; games and educational programs seem to form the bulk of the planned material, but the real proof of success will come if independent software houses decide to support it as well. Of course, the main stumbling block will be its price - nowadays, an independent hardware add-on has to justify its relatively high price to an awful lot of users before the market accepts it as standard. The Touchmaster graphic tablet does provide users with the means to copy drawings and diagrams from paper to the Spectrum's screen, although the serious artist will probably be forced to re-load the picture under control of something like Melbourne Draw to make the final version worth close inspection. As for replacing the keyboard with a Touchmaster... well, the keyboards's not that great, but I still have my doubts. Until there's adequate software support, the use of the tablet would be restricted to the selection of on-screen options or simple games control... and you'll still need the keyboard for data entry, and loading up Multipoint and the like. It's a nice thought to be going on with…

DATASHEET Name: Touchmaster Product: Touch-sensitive pad Manufacturer: Touchmaster Ltd, [redacted] Price: £149.95 Software Supplied: Multipaint Additional Software Available: Othello £9.99, Draughts £9.99, Perilous Castle £9.99, Touchware educational titles to come.

THE SOFT TOUCH A drawing program called Multipaint comes with the Touchmaster and, while it does provide a demonstration of how software could elevate the device, it's not the best example. You control the program from the tablet's surface; the only other time you need to use the keyboard is when you want to write on-screen or select a filename when saving or loading pictures. Providing a physical 'menu' of the facilities available, a plastic template fits over the top of the drawing surface; the right-hand edge of the template is marked with two columns of options and those currently selected are displayed in a status window at the bottom of the screen. Five different brush types can be selected and each of these can be any width from two pixels to 32 pixels, in steps of two. Once you've selected the required colours and brush types, further options are available allowing you to create boxes, circles, polygons and 'rubber-banded' lines. Once created on-screen, the program offers the option of SAVEing to tape and then LOADing them back. Actually sketching the required design on the tablet is best achieved with a stylus (a suitable one is supplied with the Touch master) but a finger can be used instead. Unfortunately, Multipaint offers no more than the most basic of features. A 'Fill' option is marked and documented but, certainly on the version I tested, it didn't appear to operate in the expected manner... or, to put it another way. It didn't appear to work at all! Neither is there any facility for magnification or editing. But possibly the most obvious omission is the lack of any means of editing the screen - irrespective of the INK colours used. On an attribute-based system like the ZX Spectrum, where it's often easier to draw in black and white before adding the colours, this is an essential facility! There's no way that Multipaint can be compared with something like Melbourne Draw because, although they're fairly similar, the latter does actually work!

Personal Computer News

PLUG IN PARAPHERNALIA Our eight-page guide to Christmas peripherals. PICK OF THE PRINTERS MONITORS IN FOCUS DISK DRIVES ASSESSED ...AND OTHER ADD-ONS DECIPHERING THE PERIPHERALS PUZZLE Once you've had a computer for a little while,you may be wondering what else you can do with it, aside from playing games and writing the odd program. Buying one of the wealth of peripherals currently on the market can open up a whole new realm of possibilities, by presenting new programming challenges, new types of software,and providing more capabilities for your computer. The problem is, what to buy, for how much,and where from? Probably the most uninteresting peripherals are printers,which are only of real use for word processing, screen dumps,and program listings. These come in many different types, sizes, prices and capabilities,from dot matrix to daisywheel. Of much more interest these days are modems. Unfortunately,they can give you that dreaded disease known as Hackery, which includes symptoms such as high telephone bills, sleepless nights and no interest in anything else. Other add-ons include light pens and touch pads for budding computer artists. These generally come with some software, but make sure when you buy that there are some details on howto program it yourself. The same applies to joysticks and tracker balls. On some machines handling these is easy but on others, such as the Spectrum and Electron, things area little more difficult. There are so many gadgets available that it would be impossible to name them all. Out of these, perhaps the most exciting are second processors, some of which can turn your humble home micro into something approaching the power of a minicomputer. Others are just add-ons to allow a sought after CP/M system. These are much more common, being available for the BBC, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC464, and Sinclair QL, to name but a few. One point to bear in mind when you buy something extra for your micro is what you are going to do with it when you become fed up with the applications that come with it. If you make sure that there are details on how to access and control it, you will be able to write your own routines to run it, thereby giving it a whole new lease of life. PCN's six page peripherals guide should give you some idea of what is available, how much you should expect to pay, and where you can get them from. PRINTERS Many people think they can live without printers, probably due to their high prices, but eventually you'll probably want one for your microcomputer. There are a number of types around, from the more expensive daisy wheels to the cheaper thermal or ballpoint pen printers. Not to be forgotten, too, are the ubiquitous dot matrix and the ink jet types. The former are generally judged by their Epson compatibility and features. Once the type of printer has been decided upon, there are then a number of additional features to choose from, print buffers, RS232 or Centronics, graphics capabilities, redefinable character sets, and speed being just a few. A printer with all of these the Smith Corona D200 for example - can cost up to £500. Alternatively, a ballpoint pen plotter such as a MCP-40 will cost around £150, but this only takes narrow paper and doesn't give you half the facilities. THERMAL BROTHER EP-22 The EP-22 is quite cheap and will take either thermal paper or a carbon ribbon. It has a keyboard, which makes it a word processor too. PRICE: £169.95 INTERFACES: RS232 REVIEW: Issue 35 FEED MECH: Pinch PRINT MECH: Thermal paper or thermal carbon ribbon PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED (APPROX): 16cps POWER SUPPLY: 4 U2 batteries AVAILABILITY: Brother [redacted] BROTHER HR5 The HR5 thermal printer from Brother basically uses the same mechanism as the EP-22 and EP-44. PRICE: £180.55 INTERFACES: RS232 REVIEW: Issue 47 FEED MECH: Pinch PRINT MECH: Thermal paper or carbon ribbon PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED (APPROX): 16cps POWER SUPPLY: 4 U2 batteries AVAILABILITY: Jones & Brother [redacted] DOT MATRIX SMITH CORONA D200 If you want a dot matrix that does nearly everything for your needs then the Smith Corona D200, at £483, is a good buy. PRICE: £483 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics, both fitted REVIEW: Issue 87 FEED MECH: Pinch and tractor PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 160cps FEATURES: 2K internal buffer, NLQ AVAILABILITY: Smith Corona dealers WALTERS WM80 If you just want a workhorse with no fancy bits, then choose a bottom-end machine such as this. PRICE: £189.75 INTERFACES: RS232 or Centronics REVIEW: Issue 43 FEED MECH: Pinch and tractor PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 80cps AVAILABILITY: Walters Microsystems International, [redacted] COLOUR INTEGREX COLORJET The Integrex Colorjet is mainly for BBC and Apple owners. A BBC screen dump program comes with this very versatile printer. PRICE: £632.50 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics REVIEW: Issue 51 and 44 FEED MECH: Pinch PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 37cps AVAILABILITY: Integrex [redacted] COMMODORE MPS 801 There are no frills on this and you will have difficulty attaching it to anything except a Commodore. PRICE: £395.95 INTERFACES: I triple Commodorey REVIEW: Issue 79 FEED MECH: Pinch and tractor PAPER SIZE: A4 width SPEED: 38cps AVAILABILITY: Commodore [redacted] DAISIES JUKI 6100 The Juki 6100 has above average speed at 17cps and is a nice cheap daisy wheel printer although it does have a few rough edges. PRICE: £385.25 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics REVIEW: Issue 17 FEED MECH: Pinch WHEEL TYPES: Triumph Adler PAPER SIZE: Up to 13in SPEED: 17cps AVAILABILITY: Most dealers SMITH CORONA L1000 The L1000 from Smith Corona is a good quality printer if a little noisy and slow. £50 extra for a parallel interface. PRICE: £368 INTERFACES: RS232 and Centronics REVIEW: Issue 78 FEED MECH: Pinch and optional tractor feed WHEEL TYPES: Smith Corona PAPER SIZE: Up to 13in SPEED: 12cps AVAILABILITY: Smith Corona dealers MODEMS Modems could well be classed as the up and coming peripheral of 1985. With the rapid growth of bulletin boards and the increase in Prestel-type systems, the number of cheap modems available has doubled since last year. One of the problems that beset their introduction was BABT/BSI approval. The modems had to be sent to the BABT or BSI for testing for compatibility with BT's telephone network. By the middle of 1984, there were so many modems awaiting the green sticker that people started selling them without. Things have settled down a bit now and there are a number of good modems on the market. These can be split up into different types - direct connection, acoustic coupler, single speed, or multi speed. The standard transmission speeds are 300/300 and 120005. The first is generally used for bulletin boards, although both Prestel and Telecom Gold are available on this speed. Whatever modem you buy, make sure you get one that fits your needs as far as baud rates go, otherwise you may feel a bit left out. COMMODORE COMMUNICATIONS Those with a Commodore 64 needn't feel left out. The Commodore Communications modem gives you access to Compunet, of course, and also Prestel. In the near future, Commodore is going to produce some software to allow user to user communication. If you want to use the various bulletin boards, you will have to acquire an RS232 port and a standard 300 modem. PRICE: £99.95 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 1200/75 INTERFACE: Commodore cartridge port and direct connection to BT CONTACT: Commodore dealers PRISM VTX 5000 One of the most popular modems for the Spectrum is the Prism VTX 5000. If you only want access to Micronet and Prestel it is ideal, although it can have a few problems with Interface 1. The way around this is to connect the whole system up without the modem and let it warm up (go and make a cup of coffee). Once warm, the VTX5000 can be connected (after powering down again) and it will work. PRICE: £99.95 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 1200/75 INTERFACE: Spectrum system bus and direct connection to BT CONTACT: Micronet 800, [redacted] PACE NIGHTINGALE The Pace Nightingale is another multi speed modem with both Bell and CCITT frequencies. It is a hard wire modem ie it connects directly into the telephone socket. Built mainly to be used with the BBC, for which the Commstar ROM is available, the complete package costs about £136. It is also available for any other RS232 compatible communications package. PRICE: £136.85 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 300/300 1200/75 INTERFACE: RS423/232 CONTACT: Pace Software [redacted] MINOR MIRACLES WS2000 The Minor Miracle WS2000 is great for bulletin board hackers and Prestel users alike. It lacks auto dial and auto answer facilities, which are a little expensive at £30 each but at least you're given the option. PRICE: £149.44 Auto dial and answer boards extra at £30 each BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 300, 1200/75, half duplex 600,1200 INTERFACE: RS232 with DTR, RTS, CTS, DCD handshaking EXTRAS: Also has the Bell 103/113, 108, 202 and CCITT, V21, V23 tones standards fitted. CONTACT: Minor Miracles [redacted] SENDATA 700B For the ultimate in portability, it is hard to beat the Sendata 700B acoustic modem, distributed by Tandy. This modem will fit onto any standard telephone via its flexible connector so you can use it in a phone box if you don't mind the pips corrupting your data. PRICE: £235 BATA?: Yes BAUD RATES: Full duplex 300/300 INTERFACE: RS232 to the computer, and acoustic modem to BT CONTACT: Sendata [redacted] MONITORS The major excuse for not buying a monitor is that it's not strictly necessary if you have a TV. The counter arguments are that with a monitor you can see your superb high-resolution graphics with less eyestrain. The clincher is that someone else might want to watch TV. You mostly measure a monitor's quality by its bandwidth. This defines how fast the individual dots are scanned on the screen so obviously the faster it does this, the better the picture will be. 10MHz is at the low end of the range with the better colour monitors having over 20MHz. Another consideration is whether to buy colour or monochrome. The latter comes in various different coloured phosphors, usually green on green. Other options are orange on orange or grey on grey, if you want full colour, you must pay quite a lot more for high quality. If you are not too bothered about that there are a number of converted TV tube monitors available for much less. CHEAP COLOUR At the very cheap end come the JVC and Fidelity converted TV tube-type monitors. The JVCs come in two different versions, medium- and high-resolution. The 1302-2 is the high-resolution version but has a rather dirty white. This is generally caused by the quality of the phosphors used. However, it's not at all bad for £229.95. The lower priced version, the 1302-1, costs less at £149.95 but the bandwidth is not as good. MONITOR: JVC 1302-1/1302-2 PRICE: £253 RESOLUTION: 370 x 470 pixels/580 x 470 CRT SIZE: 14in/14in BANDWIDTH: 6MHz/10MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25/80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB analogue/TTL SYNC: Pos or neg AVAILABILITY: Opus Supplies, [redacted] The Fidelity CM14 resembles the JVCs ie it's a converted TV tube. Its advantage is that it can be interfaced to a number of different machines, and has a built-in speaker and amplifier to allow access to, for instance, the Commodore 64's sound output. Cables for a number of machines are available from Tape Recorder Spares. One drawback to the CM14 is that it gives a better picture with some computers such as the Oric, but a bad one with others, notably the Dragon. MONITOR: Fidelity CM14 PRICE: £228 RESOLUTION: 370 x 470 pixels CRT SIZE: 14in BANDWIDTH: 12MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB TTL, Audio input (1Kohm imp) SYNC: Pos or neg AVAILABILITY: Micro Peripherals [redacted] BETTER QUALITY Near the top of the range of colour monitors are Kaga, Microvitec, and one from Prism. The latter looks suspiciously like the Fidelity although it is better quality. The Kaga monitors come in a range, at the top of which is the Vision III. This has a black anti-glare tube and good colours. MONITOR: Kaga Vision III PRICE: £370 RESOLUTION: 640 x 440 CRT SIZE: 12in BANDWIDTH: 18MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB AVAILABILITY: MBS Data Efficiency, [redacted] The Cub is popular and usually found attached to BBCs. The range is wide but the standard version is probably the most common. MONITOR: Microvitec Cub 1431 PRICE: £225 RESOLUTION: 452 x 585 CRT SIZE: 12in BANDWIDTH: 18MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 CONNECTION: RGB TTL AVAILABILITY: Dealers MONOCHROME There are several monochromes around, and again, you pay for quality. A very average green-on-green monitor is Zenith's. This produces a fairly good picture on its 12in tube. It does have a switched option to allow the screen size to be altered between 40 or 80 columns. MONITOR: Zenith 123E PRICE: £90.85 RESOLUTION: 640 x 300 CRT SIZE: 12in BANDWIDTH: 18MHz CHARACTERS: 80 x 25 or 40 x 25 CONNECTION: Composite video AVAILABILITY: Most dealers Since most home micros now have an RF output socket as standard, many people want to use them with TVs. The quality of picture varies but the Sony Trinitron range is generally the best. MONITOR: Sony Trinitron KV1430 PRICE: £249 RESOLUTION: 320 x 250 CRT SIZE: 14in CHARACTERS: 60 x 25 CONNECTION: UHF switchable. AVAILABILITY: Electrical stores STORAGE Most home micros can only store data and programs on cassette, which can be a major hassle. The first big upgrade step that most micro owners take is some kind of fast access, mass storage system. For most machines this means a disk drive although for the Spectrum, Microdrives or Wafa drives are usually cheaper. As well as the disk/wafer drive, most machines need an interface to allow them to control the system. The odd one out is the Commodore 64 which has all the necessary bits and pieces built in. The problem here is that it can only be used with Commodore disk units (a typical Commodore gambit). SPECTRUM The main Spectrum storage system is the Sinclair Microdrive. This needs the Interface 1 to be fitted but once in, up to eight drives can be used, each giving access to 85K or so of storage. Unfortunately, this is not too reliable and is still rather slow, and there's no fancy filing system. The additional commands are those printed on the top row of the keyboard in red, so there are no random access files and no way of telling what type the file is until you try to load it. A better system is the Rotronics Wafa drive. This gives access to more storage space and a few more details about file types and sizes. The wafers, so far, have also been found to be much more reliable than the Sinclair Micro cartridges. SYSTEM: ZX Microdrive expansion pack PRICE: £99.95 COMMENTS: Comes with Interface 1, a single Microdrive, four pieces of software, an introductory cartridge, and a blank. Extra drives at £49.95 each. Interface 1 has a pseudo RS232 and a network port. AVAILABILITY: High street stores SYSTEM: Rotronics Wafa drive PRICE: £129.95 COMMENTS: Includes two drives, a word processor and a blank cartridge. Also includes an RS232 and a Centronics port. AVAILABILITY: High street stores BBC The BBC has one of the better filing systems found on home micros. From Basic you get proper random access files, loading and saving of programs and data with the big bonus that it is fast. The drawbacks are that you must have your Beeb altered and a disk controller fitted, costing around £100. You are also limited to a maximum of 31 files per disk and only four drives.The Acorn system is the most common, so if you don't buy its disk drives (which are not the best) you won't get a format program or a disk manual. Most dealers have sussed this and will sell you some other drives with the format disk included, or just the format disk at a nominal cost. The manual or a facsimile can be obtained in most good computer stores. There are a number of alternative filing systems for the BBC. These include the AMCOM, Watford, plus many others. They are not standard and some AcornSoft programs may not run on them. They do, however, improve on the Acorn DFS by getting around the 31 file limit. Which one you get depends on its price, performance, and what you want to do. Also for the BBC are a number of fast tape systems, including the Ikon Ultradrive and the Phloopy. The Ultradrive is better and costs about a quarter the price of a disk system. SYSTEM: Acorn DFS Upgrade PRICE: £115 Fitted DISK DRIVES: Cumana 100K £171.35, 200K £222 AVAILABILITY: Acorn Dealers SYSTEM: Watford DFS PRICE: In kit form £142.60 for single density, £97.75 for double density COMMENTS: The single density (100K 40 track) is more expensive due to the 8271 disk controller costing £90 AVAILABILITY: Watford Electronics [redacted] SYSTEM: Ikon Ultradrive PRICE: £79.95 COMMENTS: Pack of 6 cassettes £20.13 AVAILABILITY: Ikon Computer Products [redacted] AMSTRAD The Amstrad has a disk system in the offing, from Amstrad itself. This is a Hitachi drive and can be accessed from Basic using the definable I command to give IA, IB to select which drive, ITAPE, IDISC, ICPM, IDIR, IERA, and IUSER. From Basic there are, unfortunately, no random access files. The facilities are minimal with no proper filing. However, it does come with a full CP/M system and DR Logo fitted. The CP/M is the same good old standard that has been around for a number of years, the assembler is for the 8080 but on the whole, it paves the way for the Amstrad to become a full business system. SYSTEM: DDI-1 PRICE: £199.95 COMMENTS: Includes interface CP/M and DR Logo AVAILABILITY: High street stores INPUTS Input devices are things like joysticks, add-on keyboards, touchpads and light pens. Most of these can be simply plugged in and either come with their own software or can be used with existing games. Most computers have a minimum of a keyboard for input but some, most notably the original Spectrum Minus, have a keyboard that is less than suitable for a great deal of typing, as in word processing. Due to this, there has been a ready supply of add-on keyboards offerings from, for instance, Fuller, Cheetah, Transform and lately Sinclair itself, with the launch of the Spectrum Plus. Touchpads also seem to be booming with the release of the Touchmaster system for the Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Dragon. Also in the running is the KoalaPad but this is mainly for the Commodore 64 and the Apple. Also in the range of peripherals to help you with your graphics are light pens. These are usually for the Commodore 64 and imported from the US. A number of add-on Spectrum keyboards are available and most require fitting by the user. All you do is invalidate your guarantee by opening up the Spectrum's case, and pull out the keyboard connectors. These are then replugged into the add-on keyboard with the Spectrum circuit board and the add-on box re-assembled. A simpler way uses a buffer that plugs directly into the back of the Spectrum, so you don't have to invalidate your guarantee. KEYBOARD: Transform PRICE: £69.95 FITTING: Invalidates guarantee AVAILABILITY: Transform [redacted] KEYBOARD: Fuller FDS PRICE: £49.95 FITTING: Invalidates guarantee AVAILABILITY: Fuller [redacted] KEYBOARD: Stonechip PRICE: £59.95 FITTING: Plugs straight in AVAILABILITY: Stonechip Electronics [redacted] The peripheral for games players who want more speed and style is a joystick. The shape, size, and quality vary greatly but a rule of thumb is that quality costs more. Joysticks also fall into two types, is switched and analogue. The former is by far the most common with the usual connection being the standard Atari D plug with nine pins. Commodore, Atari, and Spectrum use this type and it is normally possible to obtain an interface for most other machines. The BBC micro is left out when it comes to joysticks as it uses the analogue type. These tend to be more expensive but more flexible to use. The major thing to watch out for is whether the stick might break just as you escape from the whirling hurling alien that is breathing down your back. One of the best is the Quickshot MkII, which comes with suction cups on the base to stop it slipping at tight moments. It also has its fire button built into the handle - good value for £12.95. Another good 'un is the Kempston Pro which doesn't have the fire button in the handle. It has two in tandem on the base allowing use by fight or left handers. It is also very solid. The BBC requires analogue sticks that plug into the analogue port at the back. The recommended version is marketed by Acorn but it seems to have been designed the wrong way round and is difficult to control. Other versions such as the Shado sticks from Spectrum at £16.95, come with an automatic centering mechanism that improves things no end. Of the light pen systems available, most and by far the best, are for the Commodore 64. The Flexidraw package from Inkwell Systems costs £140 but the accompanying software is flexible with full rubber banding, circles, fills, and a zoom. For the BBC, the best graphics package available is the BitStick. The trouble is that this does require the 6502 second processor and disk drives plus a souped-up joystick. However, for your money you get a system that will allow very high quality graphics to be designed and stored. The cleverest part is where you can zoom into part of a picture and then into a smaller part and so on until you run out of disk space. This means pictures can be designed with much more detail than is possible to see on screen. The major drawbacks are the price (£375 plus £199 for the second processor), and the lack of a suitable printer/plotter to obtain hard copy. The Spectrum is way behind in the graphics stakes with Touchmaster, DK'Tronics, and Stack being the few to produce something. The packages that come with these systems are primitive compared with other machines. The problem appears to be lack of interest from the US. The Touchmaster system costs £149.95 and is available from Touchmaster on [redacted]. The DK'Tronics light pen costs £19.95 and is available from DK'Tronics [redacted].

Personal Computer News

Features 3/5

Documentation 4/5

Performance 2/5

Overall Value 3/5

Francis Jago 3/5

A TOUCH OF ART High-resolution graphics without touching the keyboard: Francis Jago gets to the art of the matter. PRICE: £149.95 AVAILABILITY: Touchmaster, [redacted] The ability to draw anything in high-resolution without touching the keyboard could be a programmer's dream. This touch tablet, with its accompanying Multipaint software, brings this dream nearer reality. FIRST IMPRESSIONS Both Commodore 64 and Spectrum Touchmaster come attractively packaged in a large box - the tablet is noticeably larger than any other I've used. The tablet, and the ports at the back, are identical on both versions, so it's only the interface which differs for the two. The Multipaint software provided with the Touchmaster is designed to be a basic Computer Aided Design program for budding armchair artists and possibly for more serious applications. IN USE I'd already used the Koala touch tablet with the Commodore, so I tried the Touchmaster with my 64 first. The interface plugged into the user port with no difficulty and, for a nice change, the software loaded straightaway. Touchmaster has most of the graphic commands you would expect, such as two types of circles, a polygon facility and many more basic ones. The Commodore Multipaint gave good high-resolution graphics although only sixteen colours are provided by the computer. There was no effort in programming extra shades of colour, a facility I had come to expect from programs provided with a peripheral with this price-tag. The same facility was much more expected from the Spectrum Multipaint, but I did not expect commands as important as, for example, Zoom to be missing from the Spectrum software. DOCUMENTATION The manual, although neat enough, did not give sufficient detail on each command; experimentation was the only way to properly understand some of them. The cover material used to indicate where to press on the pad to get a certain function was made from a flexible plastic, one side smooth and the other slightly rough. Unfortunately, to get the screen to register any depression on the tablet you must press the stylus hard marking both the overlay and the black sensor material underneath. I enquired whether the Multipaint overlays are available separately. The answer is that they are not available now, but Touchmaster is considering producing them separately at extra cost. The Multipaint screen layout is straightforward, and the program is remarkably easy to use. For anything but the simplest doodles, however, a program would need to be written which registers the pen's movement more accurately. Thoughtfully, Touchmaster provides the basis for writing programs at the back of its user guide. With this information, I managed to write a program more suited to my specific requirements. Another problem common to both the Spectrum, and surprisingly, the Commodore, was encountered when two separate lines crossed. The resolution of the second line decreased so much that it completely obscured the first. Although not grave, this is the kind of small programming error that restricts the serious application value of the Touchmaster. One of the nicest features of the Commodore version is the large, clear text, perfectly suited to the titling of drawings. Unfortunately, the Sinclair version uses normal Sinclair characters and is therefore much less attractive. Although neatly put together, the Touchmaster, especially the Commodore version, lacks commands which it shouldn't. This came home to me when I tried to draw a circuit diagram. I drew one diode and wanted to place the same diode an another point on the screen. Only then I realised there was no repeat function and I had to draw the same diode,the same size, in a different place. One of the nicest facilities on both versions was the FREE DOTS command which makes creating 3D drawings possible. All pictures created on the Touchmaster can be saved but, unfortunately, they can only be loaded back into the Touchmaster program which means it would be a complicated procedure to incorporate a Touchmaster picture into your own program; all budding graphic adventure writers take note. One reason for buying the Touchmaster is probably that unlike most other touch tablets, I have used, there is a large range of software. The catalogue which comes with the Touchmaster has many titles, several designed to exploit the Touchmaster's best points, eg making computers easier to use as teaching aids for young children or physically or mentally handicapped people unable to use a computer normally. VERDICT For the home user or hobbyist who wants to make the most of artistic flair, there are cheaper and better programs using joysticks or, at half the price of the Touchmaster, the Koala Pad by Audiogenic. The same applies with professional uses since the Touchmaster is just not accurate enough. To anyone who has children or pupils who have learning difficulties, not necessarily to do with computing, the Touchmaster and the extra software you can purchase (especially for the Commodore 64) could prove invaluable.

Two Sanyo TVs showing the Touchmaster Graphics.