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                         ^1E A S Y   A M O S .

               ^2Europress announce their latest product.

                         ^7A Preview by SPARX.

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^7 Europress  took  the  covers  off  their new package at The World of
^7Commodore  Show  held  in  November.  Those of you who managed to get
^7there  might well have had a look at it - although not many will have
^7been  as  lucky  as Mike Tilley who was talked through the program by
^7Francois Lionet himself!  (see Mike's interview with Francois in this
^7section of T.A.)

^6 Europress have let us see a pre-release version of Easy Amos so that
^6we can tell you a bit about it.  Please bear in mind that the version
^6we  have  seen  is  not complete, so this is just a quick look at the
^6product as it is being developed.

^7 It  has  been  introduced as a stepping stone to programming in Amos
^7itself and has extra features to make learning easier.  Some of these
^7features will be included in Amos 2 which will be released early this
^7year.

^6 Europress say that this program is aimed at the beginner, I would go
^6a  bit  further  and  say  that it would be particularly suitable for
^6children who want to start programming.

^7 The command list has been reduced from 500 to around 300 as the more
^7complex  ones  have  been  stripped out making the language easier to
^7understand.   The  package  should  give  a  gentle introduction into
^7programming with Amos itself.

^4 Visually,  Easy  Amos  is  worlds  away  from  Amos,  it is far more
^4friendly  looking  with  a better coordinated colour scheme (designer
^4Amos?)  This  should be less intimidating for those who are unused to
^4using such programs.

^1 Great  news  for  us  hardened  Amos  addicts  - There is a new file
^1requester!!!   This  is  one feature which will feature in Amos 2, so
^1we're told.  The best way to describe the differences between the two
^1requesters  is to say that what we're all used to is a Skoda, whereas
^1the  Easy  Amos requester is a Rolls Royce!  It looks better and runs
^1better,  the  only thing (still) missing is an easy way of displaying
^1the  logical  devices, having to press right mouse to get them causes
^1great  confusion!   Note to Eurress, there is enough room for another
^1button  to  select devices!  The usual features from the original are
^1here,  OK,  Quit,  etc  and in addition to the up/down arrows we have
^1left/right  arrows.   This  clever  requester remembers paths, so now
^1there is no need to Set Dir.

^4 The  layout of the editor screen remains the same, with the addition
^4of  embossed buttons insted of the flat boxes we're used to.  All the
^4functions  remain  from  Amos, but there is a new button, this is the
^4real goody in the package, it says TUTOR.

^1 Clicking  here  changes the screen display.  You will now see a mini
^1version  of  your screen at the top left, complete with the number of
^1the  screen  you  are  viewing.   On  the right there are buttons and
^1arrows  used  for  moving through the tutor.  Your Amos listing is at
^1the  bottom  of  the screen, you can now move through your program in
^1steps  -  one line at a time, or a few at a time, so you will be able
^1to see how your program works, (or where it doesn't!)

^5 The  graphical  changes  are  displayed before your very eyes in the
^5quarter  size screen.  This feature is exceptionally well thought out
^5and  will  be invaluable to ALL programmers.  Let's hope that it gets
^5into Amos2!  This fantastic addition to an already superb programming
^5system  not  only  lets you step through your program as you can with
^5the follow command, but actualy lets you see what you are doing.  You
^5can go to the full size version of the program at the touch of a key.
^5 That's  about  all we can say about the editor itself as our version
^5is still under development and therefore is incomplete.

^2 There are also some very useful programs on the disk.

^2 We  have  Amos  Disk,  this  is a Diskmaster type of disk management
^2program which gives you several disk handling functions.

^6 The  screen  display has two large text boxes with a central control
^6strip.   The functions this program can perform include Copy, Rename,
^6Delete, Make Dir, Examine, Format and Disk Copy.

^2 These  last  three  functions are very important, at last we will be
^2 able  to format and copy disks from inside Amos.  The examine feature
^2is  really  great.  You can take ANY Amos file and have a look at it,
^2whether it contains text, pictures, or bobs.  Nearly everyone who has
^2worked  with  Amos  has  probably needed one of these functions while
^2inside  Amos,  and has had to leave Amos to find another program that
^2will serve the purpose.

^4 Another file on the disk is called Challenge, this turns out to be an
^4(as  yet)  incomplete  quiz  type  of  tutorial.  This should help to
^4reinforce  the  basics  of  programming in the minds of learners.  It
^4looks promising.

^6 Now  we come to the Bob Editor.  This must be the BEST bob editor to
^6be written for Amos so far.  It seems to everything you'll ever need!
^6It  can animate, change resolutions, make the coffee, and has lots of
^6buttons  that  no  doubt  will  control  many more functions when the
^6program is released.

^4 This  program  is set out very impressively and would, I'm sure have
^4made a commercial release in its own right.  I look forward to seeing
^4the full version and doing a full review for you.

^6 Next  on  the  disk  we  find BLOCKBUSTER, and without Bob Holdness!
^6This  isn't  a  clone  of the TV show, but a breakout game written by
^6Ronnie  `Arcadia'  Simpson  to  show  that although this is a cutdown
^6version of Amos, the programs it can produce are just as good as when
^6Amos itself is used.  Nice one Ronnie!

^4 Another example is titled Easy Database, this again looks promising
^4and shows that even business applications can still be produced with
^4Easy Amos.
 
^6 There are other files on disk showing further examples, but I don't
^6know if all these will appear on release, although I should imagine
^6that most of them will.

^2 I must admit that when I first heard of Easy Amos, I thought that if
^2all the high powered commands were taken out we'd be left with Amiga
^2Basic! Not so, I apologise for even thinking it!

^2 This package is a great introduction to the fantastic world of Amos
^2that has been created for us by Francois. Even if just the bits I've
^2seen are perfected, we'll have a great package!

^7 Do  not  fret  if  you  think  that  Amos  is  being outdone by it's
^7offspring,  Francois  says in his interview, that Amos 2 will include
^7all the best new features from Easy Amos.

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