★ HARDWARE ★ SOURIS ★ Beware the mouse|Popular Computing Weekly) ★ |
| AMX Mouse PCW | Hardware Souris |
Turn your PCW machine into a Wimp, with the AMX Mouse package. John Cook finds the mouse and associated software providing windows and icons easy to use Wimps. Two years ago in the home sector, the mention of a Wimp was always associated with a particular breed of programmer - while a Wimp environment inevitably conjured up images of an untidy bedroom. Two years on things have changed. It's difficult to find a micro under £500 which doesn't offer a Wimp (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointers) environment, at least as an optional extra and it's easy to see why. Wimps are wonderful. The need for Wimps arose as the computer literacy of the average computer user fell. Manipulating the intricacies of an operating system might be OK for a professional, but for a computer novice, it's a minefield designed to provoke a severe case of technofear at the touch of a button. "There must be a better way,” was the plaintive cry of thousands as they struggled with their user manuals - and as hardware limitations began to dwindle, there was. Smalltalk The fundamental Wimp concept was conceived by Xerox, with the Smalltalk project, but first brought to the marketplace by Apple with expensive Macintosh predecessor, the Lisa. The idea was to try and make the operation of the system as natural as possible and to relate concepts such as data files, programs and documents to naive users by representing them pictorially - icons. The operation of the system would be structured via a series of menus which would appear as drop down windows when summoned, and item selection and manipulation would all be carried via an on-screen pointer, controlled by a 'mouse' - basically an upturned track ball, with its movements across a surface mirrored by the pointer. Formerly its use had been confined to CAD and drawing applications, but mice were a vital part of the Wimp philosophy, freeing the user from the limitations of the keyboard. You no longer had to type to use a computer. You moved the pointer across the screen with the mouse. You no longer had to get to grips with complex operating system syntax. To select an item, you pointed to it and pressed a button on the mouse. To get a directory of a disc, you pointed to a picture of the disc, and pressed twice. Its contents would appear as pictures in a window. To copy a file from one disc to another, you selected it, then moved its outline with the mouse, over to the Disc B icon. Simple. After appearing on the Lisa, then the Macintosh, Wimp systems started to take off, with the development of Gem (Graphic Environment Manager) by Digital Research . . . which itself tussled with Apple over alleged similarities . . . less successfully, Microsoft's Windows and recently even a system for the Commodore 64, Geos. And now, low and behold, a Wimp system for the Amstrad PCW from advanced Memory Systems, with the AMX Mouse. AMX mouse Advanced Memory Systems has been producing respectable hardware/software mouse based packages for years - and this one has got to rate as one of the best. But exactly what do you get for your £79.95? First of all, the stand-alone PCW doesn't come with a mouse ... so AMS supplies you with one, together with an interface that fits on to the expansion port of the computer. The interface itself has a through-bus that allows piggy-backing of other interfaces - like the RS232 interface for instance. It is the mouse, if anything, that provides the only major disappointment of the package. It is very light, and has a plasticky, uncertain feel as you manoeuvre it across the desk top. If anywhere, this is where the costs have been cut. It has three buttons -although only two are used by the present software, the left for selection, the right to cancel. The Kempston PCW mouse (the only other on the market at £89.95) is a considerably better piece of kit per se, but when you come down to the software supplied, the AMX mouse comes out way on top. With Kempston's package, you get an adapted version of the tried and tested Write Hand Man (a concurrent desk accessory package), and a RSX patch that allows you to use the mouse in the place of cursor input. With the AMX mouse, you get a full blown Wimp environment, together with a full range of neat desktop accessories, which run concurrent with the system, but not while another program is running under the system. Wimp environment Having connected the interface and the mouse, you load in the driving software, supplied on a single disc. Initially, you must load CP/M first and type DESK, but there is a simple Startup option that automatically creates autoboot discs for you. When the driving software loads up, you are presented with a new screen layout, the Wimp environment. Gone is the dreaded A> prompt - replaced by seven icons running down the right hand vertical of the display, a menu bar along the top, a window in the centre displaying the contents of the disc, again as icons, and a pointer. Users familiar with the Wimp environment will find no surprises - and new users should discover that the new techniques are simple to pick up. Windows can be moved by clicking on the title bar along the top and moving the mouse while holding the left hand mouse button down (a mouse technique known as dragging). You find that an outline of the window moves with it. Release the button when you reach your new position, and the window is redrawn, intact. Windows are closed by clicking on the box on the top left border, resized by dragging on the box, bottom right and if necessary, the contents of windows can be scrolled left/right, up/down by clicking on the appropriate scroll bar. Items on the selected disc are displayed in the window as labelled icons. The type of icon displayed for any file will depend on the filename extension. Those ending .COM. (programs) will be represented by a picture of the PCW. Those with .TXT will look like a letter. There is some humour here too - those with .BAK are show by a safe! The seven icons permanently on the right of the screen represent the three disc drives, the three main desk accessories, Desk Diary, Memo Pad and Address Book and a Trash Can for deleting files. Clicking on a disc icon will give a directory of its contents, displayed in a window. Clicking on an accessory icon will activate that function, and all three perform well. The Trash Can is where you drag anything that you want erased .. . and foolishly, this is all too easily done. Any file displayed in a window can be dragged over to the Can and erased by just releasing the button. Erased permanently. A simple ‘Are you sure?' dialling box would have saved most of the many minor tragedies that are certain to occur in the future because of its absence. Menu Bar Simple disc management can be carried out by just clicking and dragging - but for getting more information about or renaming a file, the File option on the menu Bar must be selected. When selected, a menu drops down and you can highlight whatever option is needed ... some of which duplicate action that can be carried out via mouse only. The other options on the Menu Bar are Edit (with which you can manipulate text within the system), View (allowing you to display files not as icons, but with text), Special (for creating startup discs and exiting to CP/M) and a mouse . . . giving you access to five more desk accessories. Jotter is a much cut-down version of Memo Pad (for those particularly small thoughts perhaps), while Control Panel enables you to set keyboard repeat rate and delay, a mouse speed and a desk top colour... a choice of inverse or noninverse, as well initialising the system clock and date. Naturally, these have to be reset each time the machine is switched off. The array of goodies is finished off with an alarm clock, a calculator and a sliding block puzzle - for the particularly overstressed executive. Once called up, all these can be manipulated and used via mouse. Conclusion Our version 1.00 performed well, without crashing once throughout testing . . . and how many 1.00s can you say that about? Overall it is designed well and we found it easy to use. Those familiar with Wimp systems will be well satisfied; those not should pick up the concepts quickly and be delighted with the results. The only reservation must be about the lastability of the mouse supplied with the system, with lacked responsiveness and felt insubstantial. If you want a mouse only - go and grab Kempston's, but the AMX software is superior in almost every department and further support in the shape of paint and publishing AMS products are promised for later this year, together with a GSX device driver. On balance, I'd go for the AMX mouse.
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