| ★ HARDWARE ★ SOURIS ★ AMX MOUSE ★ |
| AMX MOUSE (Microstrad) | AMX MOUSE (Amstrad Magazine) | AMX MOUSE (Hebdogiciel) | AMX MOUSE (Popular Computing Weekly) |
It's been a couple of years since the mice started swarming in the micro market. Apple started it with the Lisa and Macintosh but was soon followed by IBM-compatible products from Digital Research and Microsoft, among others. By far the most successful mouse breeder in the home computer sphere has been Advanced Memory Systems, which now caters for rodent operators on the BBC, Spectrum and Amstrad. This new release is compatible with all Amstrad machines except the PCW 8256 and 8512. The package consists of the mouse and interface, and a collection of software utilities including the excellent AMX Artdrawing program. Hardware Setting up the mouse is very simple A two-way interface plugs into the Amstrad's joystick port, while the mouse itself connects to a 20-pin socket on the interface. Power is re-routed from the monitor, to the interface, and thence to the Amstrad itself. Switch on the power and away you go. That said, the main source of irritation is the fact that the mouse tracks on a steel ball-bearing which makes it very noisy on hard surfaces, and badly prone to skidding. However, these are relatively minor criticisms. If you can find room on your desk for a rubber mat. the AMX mouse is reliable and accurate. Software The bundled software is undoubtedly the star of the show. The mouse is accompanied by four programs - AMX Control. AMX Art. an icon designer and a pattern designer. AMX Art allows you to create four-colour drawings and diagrams using a variety of graphics tools. Operation is very simple: using the mouse, you control an on-screen pointer. Move the pointer to the required tool, click the Execute button on the mouse and the pointer changes shape appropriately. For example, if you select the pencil, the pointer becomes a pencil. You can then draw lines, or freehand designs. Other tools include an aerosol lor spray-painting; boxes and circles - filled or unfilled; a paint bucket for selective fills, and a paint-roller. An enormous variety of fill-patterns is available but if the pre-set designs are not enough, you can use the pattern designer program to create your own. Colour is easily selected, if somewhat limited. Of the four colours available, two must be black and white The other two can be selected from "paint pots" in the upper corners of the screen. A print-dump is provided within the package and this will drive Epson-compatible printers (which is just about every printer these days). A Citizen 120D was used to create the illustrations here. The major problem is that backgrounds appear to revert to black, which - apart from any artisitc merit - will use up your printer ribbons at a fearsome rate. In addition to the expected functions such as saving and loading of picture files, AMX Art aIso allows you to print text in a variety of styles including bold and italics.
AMX Art Is the kind of program that will appeal to anyone - doodling is a compulsive habit. But AMX Control will have programmers licking their lips This is the software that reads and acts upon the signals generated by the mouse. What makes it so attractive is that it is programmable. The program provides 14 new Basic commands, allowing you to create your own graphics-based programs incorporating windows and icons, all under mouse control. Although the 14 commands appear simple enough, they are extremely flexible, and hence powerful. You can read and set the pointer position under mouse control, read button-clicks on the mouse, select and move icons, and so on. AMX Control allocates separate pointers for text and graphics cursors, so you can mix text and graphics quite easily too. As if the Basic commands were not sufficient, hard-bitten programmers can use their machine-code programs since the documentation provides all entry points and parameters for the routines. Conclusion At £69.95 for the complete package, the AMX Mouse represents excellent value for money. The combination of hardware and software, together with AMS's plans for future support make it the obvious choice for anyone interested in graphics on the 464. 664 or 6128. Apart from the possibility of writing your own software for the mouse, you can incorporate AMX Art pictures in your own programs too What more could you want? Peter Worlock, PopularComputingWeekly860410 |
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