Atari Forever Volumes 1 & 2   Eu-Soft œ19.99 each from 16/32 
Systems
   Reviewed by Colin Monro


Rating: 80%

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These are two massive collections of clip-art, good-quality 
photographic image, tasty backgrounds, MOD  and .HSN sound files 
and various tools ranging from the Apex suite of animation players 
to archivers and what appears to be most of the InterActive 
software list! Together they form a useful bag of bits and pieces.
 The two disks have that made-for-a-Bulletin-Board feel about 
them. There is a limited range of clip-art, mainly frames, 
textures, symbols  and flourishes to add something to a desktop 
publishing layout, duplicated in a variety of formats: PCX, IMG, 
CVG and EPS. There aren't many Atari programs that can import EPS 
files so you'll be better off sticking with either the bitmap 
formats or using the Calamus Vector Graphics instead. The 
inclusion of freely scalable versions will save us designers many 
an hour slaving over a hot vectoriser! Kandinsky owners can also 
chew through a folder full of GEM images. 
 There are also collections of Public Domain library disks but 
sadly little in the way of english language catalogues so it's 
trial and error to find what you're after.
 A special mention must be made of the railway pictures (The 
"Bahnphotos" folders on each disk). I don't know why they are 
there but they undoubtedly form a beautifully scanned collection 
of colour and black and white photographs featuring all aspects of 
the German railways. Train enthusiasts will have a field day.
Also of note is a large collection of vintage postcard pictures 
which are of a high enough quality to print out and use as the 
real thing! Just take heed of  the attached copyright notices...
 These CD-ROMs should perhaps be sold together; they compliment 
each other and certainly the train-spotters will want Volume 2 
after they've bought Volume 1!