| ★ APPLICATIONS ★ DISQUE ★ MAX DESKTOP ★ |
| MAX Desktop v1.0 Excel Software et A.M.S Ltd (CPC Revue) | MAX Desktop (Amstrad Computer User) | MAX Desktop (Amstrad Action) | Sampling the menus (Popular Computing Weekly) |
The 16-bit Macintosh caused something of a stir when Apple Computers introduced it earlier this decade: man communicated with machine via a mouse. The keyboard almost became redundant - operations were performed by moving a pointer (controlled by the mouse). This friendly environment of windows, icons, mouse and pointer was given the acronym WIMP.
For almost two years AMS has been selling AMX Ait, the first to bring WIMPs to 8-bit micros such as the Amstrad CPCs. Others followed: AMX Pagemaker, 3D Zicon and now Max. Max is a control panel through which you can access all functions of the standard Amstrad disk-operating system - such as formatting and sector-editing - without having to remember obscure commands. When you load Max puB-down menus appear at the top of the screen and several icons come to rest on the right. A window announcing itself as Control Panel gets plonked in the middle of the screen. From the panel you can alter ink and paper colours, redefine keys or select joystick or change the sensitivity of the input device. Any options you alter can be saved, so that next time you load Max it will be set to your liking. Max operates in the high-resolution mode and is graphically pleasing. The icons are well designed - some are even amusing. The way windows appear and disappear is stunning. But what really makes Max shine is that it can open windows anywhere on the screen and enlarge or reduce them. Icons can't be moved around - a pity. Guided tour The control icons on screen-right cause windows to open. The topmost icon gets you out of Max and back to Basic. The next represents a disk drive. It has the letters A and B underneath. Clicking the pointer over a letter selects either first or second drive. A further click will produce a window showing the disk's directory. The directory is displayed as a series of icons with the file's name beneath. For example, binary files show as an apple with a bite (byte) taken out of it; an assembly file is pictured by a chip. Below the drive icon are a group of four that give certain control over windows: windows can be enlarged or reduced. More than one window can be open; by clicking the correct icon you can shuffle between windows or swap between the last two opened. It is possible to run either Basic or machine-code programs from within Max by first selecting a file and then clicking the "run" icon. Max is the only program I know of that offers this function. And extremely handy it is too. The other icons, bar the trashcan (you erase files by putting them in the bin), are duplicated in the pull-down menus. Drop 'em, buster The first pull-down menu. File, includes options for locking (equivalent to read-only), unlocking (read-write), hiding (people won't see the file in the directory listing), erasing, unerasing and renaming files. Files can even be sorted by type (Basic, binary, Ascii and so on) or alphabetically. From the Disc menu it is possible to copy or format disks. The copier is held in a program separate to Max. Unfortunately it doesn't use the WIMP environment, which mars the overall effect. You have to reload Max. Also included in the Disc menu is a powerful sector editor. Apart from being able to fiddle with directory sectors (or for that matter any sector), you can elect to view (and alter) all sectors belonging to a particular file. The remaining menu is System. It allows you to alter the current user number. There is much more to Max-, multiple erasing, file copying, extended file information, hard copy of the directory or sector... Although AMS tends to jump the gun, advertising or releasing products too soon, you are always guaranteed a well-written and easy-to-follow manual. AMS products are also of the highest standard, Max being no exception. It is a utility that looks good, performs well and has a wealth of features. Deserves to be seen on your Amstrad.
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