★ LITTÉRATURE ★ ENGLISH ★ AMSTRAD CPC664 COMPUTING ★ |
| Amstrad CPC664 Computing | Littérature English |
The Amstrad CPC664 has been designed as the serious computer user's dream machine. It comes complete with disc drive and monitor at a price which is excellent by the standards of home computers, and almost unbelievable by the standards of the ‘business' machines with which it can also compete. Many buyers of the CPC664 may never have owned a computer previously, others may have used an early model of the machine which did not have a disc drive, others may have used a machine which was very differently designed. All categories of prospective buyer of the CPC664 will, I hope, find much that is useful in this book. The manual that comes with the CPC664 is one of the best, but it is always an impossible task to cater for every need, and the manual caters best for the user who has had a reasonable amount of experience in computing and programming. Very few computer owners are likely to have used the CP/M operating system on three inch discs, and former users of home computers will not have encountered CP/M at all. With this in mind, I have devoted a considerable amount of this book to the disc system of the CPC664 and to the way in which it uses CP/M. I have also included a section on printers, because most users of a machine in this class will wish to make use of a printer. Practically all users of the CPC664 will find at some time that they have applications for the machine which cannot be solved, or which can be solved only in a clumsy way by off-the-shelf software. When this type of problem arises you will need to learn how to program the CPC664 for yourself. After all, a large portion of the price of any computer is attributable to the fact that it is designed to be programmed by the user. If you own a computer and don't program it for yourself, it's rather like owning a Poggenpohl kitchen and then taking all your meals at the pub! If you have never programmed a computer before, then this book will show you how, step by easy step. If you have programmed some of the earlier models of home computers, then this book will open a completely new world of programming to you, with the advantages of using discs stressed throughout. The Amstrad CPC664 does not use the primitive version of the BASIC programming language that you may have seen on the old home computers, so its BASIC really has to be learned from scratch if you have previously used an older type of machine. The listings in this book have all been obtained directly from the computer, using an Epson printer. This might seem unimportant, but there are still books appearing in which all of the listings have been retyped, with errors appearing in almost every example. If you have problems with any of the listings in this book, you should check your typing rather than wonder if there is a mistake in the listing. All of the screen displays that are described were obtained on the Amstrad colour monitor. Several users, mainly educational users, need to connect computers to large-screen TV receivers in order to demonstrate to large numbers of viewers. This can be done using the Amstrad power pack for the CPC464 and connecting the video output of this adaptor to the TV receiver. I have therefore included details of how to set up and tune a TV receiver for the CPC664 signals, though most buyers will use the monitor which is part of the CPC664 package. As always, I am greatly indebted to the many people who made this book possible. I must congratulate Amstrad Consumer Electronics pic for yet another excellent machine, and for the open way in which they release information. At Collins Professional and Technical Books, Richard Miles and Janet Murphy have worked wonders with my manuscript, and the most efficient team of typesetters and printers in the business have collaborated to produce this book in record-breaking time. I am certain that you will agree that the effort was worthwhile. Ian Sinclair, https://CPCrulez.fr
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