NEW RELEASE - DTP+ CD-ROM Floppyshop are pleased to announce the imminent release of DTP+, the first of our new range of CD-ROM products for the Atari range of computers. This quality product is the culmination of several months' work and has come about as the result of a massive collaborative effort between Floppyshop, John Weller (Mr DTP himself!), countless Shareware authors and several of the leading companies operating in the Atari market. It is this combined effort which has resulted in a single CD-ROM which is undoubtedly the DTP enthusiast's dream. Lets look at what's on offer. SO WHAT IS IT ------------- DTP+ is a collection of fonts, clip art, DTP support programs, printer drivers, printer utilities, labelling programs, word processors, image processing packages, vector graphics packages, demos of DTP related commercial programs and more besides. It includes everything you need to enhance you existing Desktop Publishing setup, regardless of which package you use. In fact, much of the contents are generic and can be used with more than one DTP application. In addition, there's a small section with a number of useful bits and pieces designed to enhance the use of your computer in general. Over 90% of the contents are in English and there's an easy to use catalogue which gives an overview of each and every program on the CD along with the full directory path to the relevant program/file. Finding things just couldn't be easier and everything is uncompressed and ready to run so there's no time wasted dearchiving or space occupied on your hard drive, almost everything runs direct from the CD. FONTS ----- Wasn't it all the rage when Compo brought out their 500 Fonts CD-ROM? So you thought that 500 fonts for œ50 was a bargain? Well here's news for you, the fonts section (and it's ONLY one section) of Floppyshop's DTP+ contains over 3,600 fonts for all popular Atari packages. There are 14 types of fonts with the largest collections being Calamus (almost 1200), True Type (almost 500), PostScript (over 400), GDOS (about 450), Signum (over 200) and Fontkit (over 150). Of course there's PageStream, Publishing Parner, That's Write and Degas fonts too. Yes, EVERY font in our collection to date! This includes the prestigious Oxieware and Bournemouth CFN collections (semi- professional fonts released as PD) and a PostScript version of the Bournemouth collection. These high quality fonts make up around 50% of the Calamus and PostScript collections and would cost around œ80 alone even at PD prices! CLIP ART -------- It is said that picture paints a thousand words and there's nothing to beat a pertinent graphic to add a bit of class to an otherwise dull flyer, poster, newsletter or magazine. Well we've done it again. There's over 8,000 clips included in our Clip Art section on DTP+! We've weeded out the duplicates and categorised everything into logical sections for ease of use. As you would expect, IMG accounts for the lion's share (over 5400 items!) and has been split into 84 main subject headings and several sub-headings besides. Included here are complete collections by Stan Otterburn and John Weller (these are astounding) and others. Other bitmapped graphics include over 160 GIF images (256 colour), over 1000 PCX clips split into 24 categories and a few hundred Degas and Tiny clips. As for vector clip art, DTP+ contains almost 800 clips in GEM Metafile format and over 200 Calamus CVGs. DTP SUPPORT UTILITIES --------------------- These have mostly originated from our various DTP support disks. There's everything imaginable to enhance the use of Calamus, PageStream, Publishing Partner and Timeworks. There's also masses of utilities aimed at GDOS and SpeedoGDOS users as well as useful file templates for Calamus, PageStream, Publishing Partner and Atari Works. Also in this section are demo versions of the top DTP sections, including DA's Layout TC v6.1 and Calamus 96, both 'hot off the presses'. FONT EDITORS ------------ Includes GEMFED for designing GDOS and Degas fonts, font editors for Publishing Partner and PageStream, Fontedit - the forerunner to FaST Club's Fontkit/Fontkit Plus, specialised font designers for creating downloadable fonts for Star and HP printers, and more... PRINTER DRIVERS --------------- Almost 300 printer drivers for just about every imaginable printer type (including the SLM804!) and application. The majority are for First Word/Wordplus (some other applications can also use these drivers) but there's also a good selection of SpeedoGDOS drivers, most notable amongst these are 600/720 dpi drivers for the newer Epson, Hewlett Packard and Canon models. There are HP drivers for near enough every application ever written! PRINTER UTILITIES ----------------- Printer controllers/command senders, screen dump utilities and other useful utilities for use with the Canon BJ300, NEC Pinwriters, Panasonic KX-P series, Epson LQs, Star NL series and others. WORD PROCESSORS --------------- Word processors, text editors, spell checkers and dictionary listings. All the popular packages are here along with demo versions of commercial ones. GRAPHIC PROGRAMS ---------------- This section comprises of image processing packages, several graphic packages which allow the creation and editing of images larger than the physical screen and of course vector graphic packages. Although these may at first seem more at home on a graphics compilation, they have been specially chosen due to their usefulness in editing/enhancing images intended for use in DTP. Also included are a number of graphic file conversion, viewing and printing utilities and much more. OTHER SOFTWARE -------------- This includes useful software for any Atari. These programs are not DTP related but are virtually indispensable once you've tried them out. There's also a small Floppyshop section with demo versions of all our commercial products as well as full versions of the DegasArt tutorial (parts 1, 2, & 3), Family Roots v1 (the forerunner to our popular genealogy program) and the registered version of Xlator, a very capable German to English translation program. Finally... ---------- Despite the length of this description, we've missed out a lot! There's neither time nor space to feature everything on the CD. If we were asking œ50 for the fonts alone, it would be worth it! Or what about œ20 for the Clip Art? No chance, this unique compilation of DTP plus more, costs just œ35 + P&P (UK œ2, Europe œ3, rest of world œ4). Payment acceptable by UK cheque/PO or credit card. Overseas customers not paying by credit card can pay by Eurocheque, Post Giro, Canadian Postal Order, International Money Order (all in pounds Sterling please) or with a cheque drawn on a UK bank. PRESS RELEASE - NEW RANGE OF CD-ROM PRODUCTS * Sprachen sie Englisch? The Atari CD market is growing, there's no doubt about that. The only factor which is putting customers off 'taking the plunge' and buying a CD-ROM drive for their Atari is lack of software. It's the old chicken and egg scenario. Of those CDs which are available, the vast majority are almost entirely German in their content. Whilst fully acknowledging the fact that many of the very best Atari software packages have come out of Germany, untranslated software is of little or no use to those of us who don't understand the language. This is something Floppyshop are currently addressing with their new series of English language CD-ROMs, the first of which will be released at the Birmingham and London Atari shows in April. There is a wealth of English language software just waiting to be discovered, yet only the excellent Suzy's B's Atari Software Treasury has ever made it onto CD-ROM. We do not claim that our collections will be 100% English language, but at least 75% of the contents will be. The majority of the programs are original English language programs, some are official English versions of foreign language programs, others are amateur translations. And for those which remain in German, we have included two excellent German to English translation programs to help you along! Can't Find It? -------------- The biggest problem with the current range of CD releases is that you can't find anything on the disc! You simply don't know where to look or if you do find a program it's difficult figuring out whether or not it's what you really need for the job! Some have crude indexing systems, others have none at all. Doesn't it make you feel like it's all just shovel-ware. Cram as much as you can onto a CD and make a quick buck! Do the people who compile these CDs know that the programs actually do, do they care, do they own Atari computers? We do on all three counts! Our CDs come fully catalogued with descriptions of all programs on the disk. No that's not a joke, the descriptions are taken from our regular Shareware catalogue and adapted specially for CD use. Each program is referenced by its directory path and cross-references to other related programs are to their directory paths too. If you need a program to perform a specific task, use the search facility in the catalogue or the program name and up pops the description and directory path required. It couldn't be easier. Ready To Run... --------------- One of the biggest criticisms of existing CD-ROMs is that a proportion (sometimes all) of the software is supplied in archived format. Yes, this does mean that you get even more data packed onto the disc, there's no denying that. The main disadvantage is that (without a proper cataloguing system), the archive names are even less meaningful than the program names. You spend hours decompressing archives in the hope of finding the program you need to do the job. It's akin to finding a needle in a haystack! Even with a proper cataloguing system you have the added problem of finding space for everything. How many of you own a 1.2 GB (or larger) hard drive? Here at Floppyshop we believe convenience to be the answer and have supplied everything uncompressed and ready to run. The majority of programs and files can be run directly from the CD time and time again, without occupying so much as 1K of space on your hard drive. OK, so some programs are picky and object to this but they are few and far between. Most modern programs run from anywhere provided all files are kept together in a common directory. You've bought your CD-ROM drive, so why pay for a huge hard drive too? Extras ------ All CDs from Floppyshop will include a number of useful utilities which every Atari owner should have in his/her collection. In addition, there will be demo versions of Floppyshop's range of commercial software as well as a few commercial packages thrown in for free. For example our first release, DTP+, includes the complete DegasArt (parts 1, 2 & 3) graphics tutorial, the full Family Roots v1 and the registered version of Xlator, an excellent German to English translator program. Finally ------- Everyone who has ever purchased goods from Floppyshop knows that we are knowledgeable about our products and that our catalogue is second to none. Our CDs offer no less, our customers expect no less! Depending on the response we get to our first two releases, the plan is to produce about 5 or 6 CD-ROMs during 1997 with more to follow in 1998. Our current collection is large enough to sustain this and new programs continue to be added at an encouraging rate. So why not buy your Shareware compilation CDs from the experts. Anyone can botch together a CD, but only a Floppyshop CD has quality and ease of use written all over it! We regret that constraints of time prevent us from entering into personal correspondence about the timing and contents of future releases. We will continue to make further announcements as more titles become available. Compiling these CDs is a massive task, let us get on with it and you won't be disappointed with the results. ATARI SHOW UPDATE Following the success of the 1996 Atari Shows, Floppyshop are pleased to announce that they will be attending the Birmingham, London and Glasgow events on 26th/27th April and 11th May 1997. The last events were a real eye-opener to us. The level of enthusiasm was indescribable and they provided an excellent opportunity for us all to meet up with friends, customers and email buddies we've known for years but never had the pleasure of meeting. More importantly, we've never seen so many people attend events for a 'dead platform', proof indeed that there's still a lot of people who use Atari computers by choice. The enthusiasm shown by those who attended, combined with the sheer dedication of fellow traders made for two enjoyable days out (despite our 1200 mile round trip with no relief driver!). Mike Goodman has once again taken up the mantle and organised not just two but three events for dedicated Atarians this time round! The inclusion of a Glasgow venue is most welcome for us but just try stopping us attending the Birmingham and London Shows too! Mike puts a massive amount of effort into organising these events as do all the companies who attend. It is therefore important for all dedicated Atari users to come along to their nearest Show if it is at all humanly possible. As well as showing your support for the companies and individuals still around to support you, it is also an excellent opportunity to meet friends, old and new, and to sign up with the growing fraternity of users groups popping up throughout the country. So please make a note in your diaries and pop along if you can make it. We will all be delighted to see you. Here's a quick roundup of exhibitors, useful Show information and last (but certainly not least!) a report about what Floppyshop are getting up to. Please feel free to re-distribute this text. The more people who know about the Shows, the better for all of us. Hopefully other exhibitors will post similar bulletins in the runup to the shows. ************************************************************************ WHO'S WHO ************************************************************************ For those of you who missed previous bulletins by Mike and others, here's the current list of exhibitors:- Goodman's System Solutions Titan Designs Black Scorpion The Upgrade Shop Console Centre FaST Club HiSoft UK 16/32 Systems Portfolio Club Calamus User Atari Computing Sunrise Audio Floppyshop Best Electronics Disk Mags (Maggie, ST+, AtariPhile and others...) User Groups (STAG, WAG, AAUG, Wrinklies and more...) ************************************************************************ SHOW DETAILS ************************************************************************ All Shows from 10am to 5pm. Admission - Adults œ5 before 2pm, œ3 after. Children under 16 years œ1 all day. Special family deals tel: 01782 335650. BIRMINGHAM ---------- Saturday 26th April. Compton Suite, National Motorcycle Museum, M42, Junction 6, Birmingham. 5 minutes from Birmingham Rail station, only 2 miles from the Airport. LONDON ------ Sunday 27th April. Kew, Syon & Hampton Suites, Osterley Hotel, 764 Great West Road, Isleworth, Middlesex. 5 miles from M4, exit 2 or 3. Approx 1 mile from Osterley Tube Station. GLASGOW ------- Sunday 11th May. Kintyre Suite, Quality Central Hotel, Gordon Street, Glasgow. Next to Central Station, only 5 minutes from the M8, exit 19. ************************************************************************ FLOPPYSHOP LATEST ************************************************************************ We are working round the clock to give our customers the best possible selection of products. It's absolutely mad here at the moment with us working on no less than five new product releases! Along with existing commercial releases and special Shareware packs (which proved very popular last time round), we are aiming to have 21 products (compared to 9 last time) available for sale (six of which will make their debuts at the Shows). Everything depends on time and it's going to be tight! Here's a brief rundown of what we can talk about, there's lots more than we're keeping under wraps until the last minute! POSITIVE IMAGE v2 ----------------- This one is a MAJOR upgrade on the current release (v1.12) and should be ready in time for Birmingham and London. If not, it will hopefully make its debut in Glasgow. This product is 'in development' so we cannot give out any details at the moment, suffice to say it's going to be BIG NEWS. Don't contact us just now for details, we're too busy getting it finished and unwilling to discuss new features until they are completed. Suffice to say, we'll issue a fresh bulletin nearer the time. DTP+ ---- The first of many new CD-ROM releases from Floppyshop. As the name suggests, this is the one stop answer to all your Desktop Publishing needs. How does 3,600 fonts in Calamus, PostScript, True Type and other formats sound? Not enough? Well, how about 8,000 pieces of Clip Art? Still not satisfied? Well there's word processors, image processing packages, printer utilities, printer drivers and DTP support utilities and lots more besides. We've even got some brand new releases of the latest Shareware programs direct from the authors. Expect a separate press release on this one very soon. POWERUP ------- A brand new commercial game. Who said nobody produces Atari games any more? Power Up is a racing car game from MC Soft. The game is seen from an overhead perspective looking down on the track. Five cars participate in each race, two of which can be player controlled. Control is by keyboard or joystick and is much more responsive than similar games of this type. Power Up is unique in that it runs on any Atari computer but has the ability to utilise the blitter and DMA sound (at 25 Khz on the STE/ 50Khz on the TT and Falcon) if your hardware supports it. There's even a special fast scrolling mode for Falcon owners. Even STFM owners get digitised music! It can also output sound to Replay, Replay Professional, Playback, MV16 and Prosound Designer cartridges. There will be 12 different tracks on which to compete, each track having five different scenarios. More details on Power Up nearer the time. FONT PACKS ---------- Last year our Oxieware collection created a fair amount of interest amongst customer. We will be bringing it along this time too, but with the addition of the Bournemouth collections. Here's a brief summary of what's what:- OXIEWare Fonts - A superb collection of semi-professional Calamus fonts from Sweden. They are ALL complete implementations and are of a much higher standard than the usual PD and Shareware fonts. The OxieWare collection spans 16 disks. THE BOURNEMOUTH CFN COLLECTION - An impressive collection of over 300 fonts on 20 disks. They are the result of PostScript fonts converted by John Weller for use with Calamus. What makes these almost unique is the fact that they are supplied as complete font families (with genuine italics and bolds rather than the usual slanted and thickened versions). Where else will you find a complete family of Helvetica in 19 weights and styles? Time and effort have gone into this collection, the result being a collection of professional fonts at PD prices. THE BOURNEMOUTH POSTSCRIPT COLLECTION - This is the colection of PostScript fonts which formed the broad basis of John Weller's Bournemouth Collection. All in all this is a very well presented collection with its main strength being the sheer number of complete font families rather than one off single fonts. Supplied on 16 disks. CLIP ART -------- Our Public Domain Vector Clip Art colection in GEM format was popular last time so we will have more stock for these Shows. In addition we will have an exclusive commercial set of Vector Clip Art disks by John Weller in Calamus CVG format. These are currently being completed (the first three disks are astounding!) and we expect the set to comprise of five or six disks. More details on this new product nearer to the Shows. OTHER PRODUCTS -------------- We will of course have have all our commercial software, Positive Image v1.12, Family Roots 2, EZ-Art Professional, Easy Stitch and DegasArt along with a number of specially made up Shareware packs covering such a wide range of subject matter than there's guaranteed to be something for everyone. There's also another brand new game and an (as yet) unnamed CD-ROM but we're not talking about them just yet... WEB NEWS -------- Our WWW pages are currently being updated (sorry but these things get out of date so quickly!). The new site will feature all our new releases and several new services we are about to launch. Although everything is unchanged at the moment, we expect the new pages to be up in mid-April. Keep an eye on http://www.netkonect.net/tachyon/flopshop/ FINALLY The above information (with regard to product features and availability) is provisional and subject to change without notice. Prices are not yet finalised but you can be sure of a bargain on the day. As more information becomes available, we will be posting updates to this bulletin. Thank you for taking the time to read this message. We look forward to seeing you soon. Floppyshop, PO Box 273, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. AB15 8GJ. Tel: 01224 312756 (Intl +44 1224 312756)