Operation Caretaker

Your Spectrum

Tony Samuels

OPERATION CARETAKER... Feel like bashing your head against a brick wall when your copy of Jet Set Willy iI has failed to load for the umpteenth time? Well bash no longer 'cos Global Software claims to have the answer. Global's new package, Operation Caretaker promises to solve all your problems - apart from a pounding headache. In case you haven't already guessed, it's an azimuth head alignment system. And for those of you that don t know, azimuth is just a posh way of referring to the position of the head in your cassette recorder. The ideal head position for reliable loading and saving is at right angles to the tape and an azimuth alignment system lets you set the heads as close to this as possible. Operation Caretaker contains a cleaning and demagnetising tape, a small screwdriver and of course a natty little piece of code. The program works by listening to a pre-recorded signal on the tape. It already knows exactly how the signal should sound, so a few calculations are all that's needed to determine whether the tape is running at the correct speed, or if the clarity of the signal is good enough for a successful LOAD. Using both graphics and text, the screen shows the tape speed and the quality of the signal - if it's not giving a good reading you'll need to adjust the azimuth with the screwdriver provided until the readings improve. All hi-tech stuff! Programs like Operation Caretaker are a relatively new idea though Speccy users have been adjusting their azimuths for years. In fact it's so simple, even the Ed could do it! All you need to do is listen to your loading signal and twiddle with the azimuth screw until the signal improves. But having used the 'twiddle method' myself for some time, I must admit that I found Operation Caretaker consistently more reliable. The only doubt I have about Operation Caretaker is the cost. £9.95 isn't particularly expensive but it's the sort of program you're only going to need now and then. So, unless you have more trouble than most, the best thing to do is persuade your local computer club to buy one so it can be loaned to members as the need arises. Alternatively, keep twiddling!

Sinclair User

Overall 3/5

Chris Bourne 3/5

Publisher: Global Price: £9.95 Memory: 48K It is often impossible to know what to do if a program crashes, or won't load. How many times can you face taking a duff tape back to the shop and asking for a new one? What many people forget is it could easily be the tape recorder causing the problem. Tape is grotty stuff. The oxides rub off on the heads and make a mess - it's like sandpaper. Also, the heads come adrift and change position. The alignment of the heads is called the azimuth, and Global has produced a piece of software to cure all ills. Operation Caretaker contains two cassettes and a screw driver. One cassette is a tape cleaner, a strip of fibrous material which rubs against the heads and collects the filth. The second cassette is a program which sends out a steady stream of data and then interprets it. The data is sent through at a high speed to make it difficult to read, and a display shows you how many bytes were accurately read. You then stick the screwdriver into the azimuth screw on the tape deck and twiddle it until the readings are as good as you can get. They tend to be a little different on each side of the tape, which is confusing, but there should be a narrow area where both are at their best. That's the point you want. As far as we could test it, the program seemed to work. Of course, the program is fairly useless if you haven't got a cassette recorder with a little hole in it for adjusting the tape heads. The package will remove a great deal of aggravation with tapes which won't load. Next time you go down to the shops to complain, you'll know you're in the right.

Read it at Sinclair User Magazine Online