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        ^1T H E   W O R L D   O F   C O M M O D O R E  S H O W 

                     ^114th - 17th NOVEMBER 1991.

                 ^1A Special Report from Mike Tilley.

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^4 Mike  Tilley  visited  the  show  on  Friday  15th  November.  As we
^4couldn't  get  there to see things for ourselves, we asked him to see
^4what  was  on  offer,  especially things that would be of interest to
^4Amos users.

^6 Not only did he agree to that, but he found out that Francois Lionet
^6would  be  at  the  Europress  stand.   So armed with a portable tape
^6recorder,  he  set  out  to  interview  Francois.  What follows is an
^6edited  transcript  of  the  tape  Mike  sent  to  us,  it  was  very
^6 interesting  to  listen  to  Francois talk about Amos, and Mike asked
^6plenty of questions!

^4 Thanks  must  go  to Mike for comming up with this fantastic `scoop'
^4interview,  and to Francois for finding 40 minutes in a very busy day
^4to talk to him.

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^2Francois:^5 I've never seen Totally Amos,..

^6Mike:   ^5It's  very  new, you may have heard of the couple who produce
^5the  magazine  -  Len & Anne Tucker - they produce quite a lot of the
^5Deja  Vu  licenseware.   The  1st  issue has only just come out, this
^5interview is for the 2nd issue

^2Francois: ^5Can you ask them to send it to me?

                   ^4(No sooner said than done!! A.)

^6Mike:   ^5I've  got  a  couple of questions from Anne & Len to ask you.
^5They  would  like  to  thank you for the change that Amos has made to
^5their  lives,  and  hope to meet you some day.  They  weren't able to
^5come to the show,

^2Francois: ^5I'd like to meet them...

^6Mike:   ^5I'd  like  to  say the same, your program/system has meant so
^5much  to me & 1000's of other people who otherwise couldn't produce a
^5solitary thing .  It's an incredible system that has changed a lot of
^5people's lives.

^2Francois:   ^5It's what I wanted when I first came on the Amiga.  I was
^5so lost & I wanted a good language I was so lost It was impossible...
^5I hate `c' and assembly language when you come on this machine is so

^6Mike: ^5Tell me, how does a vet become a computer programmer?

^2Francois:  ^5By buying a computer when you  start training to be a vet!
^5With  this  type of study, you have obligatory classes in the morning
^5and  in  the afternoon you can come or not.  So guess where I was?  I
^5was  in  front  of  my computer every afternon!  The first computer I
^5bought was a very odd one a 502, then I bought an Oric

^6Mike: ^5I remember the Oric

^2Francois:   ^5I  wrote  my  first game on it with a title, a high score
^5table,  main game, it was good and worth selling it I made money with
^5it.   I  thought  Then I made a few games on the Oric then I bought a
^5Commodore  64  Can  you  recall Chicken Chase?  That was me!!!  There
^5 were a few others not so well known

^2Mike:   ^5Can  you tell me, other than doing Amos itself, do you prefer
^5doing utilities to Games programming?

^6Francois:   ^5I  was  a  game programmer, I did Chicken chase and other
^5games  called  Rank  Xerox on the Atari ST I did Captain Blood on the
^5Commodore  64  and  on PC.  I was basically a games programmer before
^5making Stos so I knew what was needed

^6Mike:   ^5Did  you  create Stos because you wanted an engine to use for
^5your own programming?

^2Francois:  ^5No, I used to work with jawx they let me meet somebody who
^5wanted  to  do  a new Dos on the Atari ST because we did not like Gem
^5when  it was on ST.  We decided to do a new Dos just like MS dos, but
^5on the ST.  I would do a basic I decided to do fancy instructions for
^5sprites and animation , sprites and all the things that did not exist
^5in GFA

^6Mike:  ^5Did it gradually evolve from there start small and get bigger?

^2Francois:   ^5First  there was Stos 4 years ago, which went quite well,
^5then  we  decided  to  do  an  Amiga  version  and  then came the big
^5question,  should  we  do  exactly  the  same or change it to fit the
^5machine?   We  decided  to  write  the entire program for the machine
^5otherwise it would be a bad product .

^5 The  way  I work, I cann't send an exact spec out, beforehand that's
^5the  main  problem with me!  And Richard is always saying that to me!
^5I can tell you that I want sprites....  I can say that it'll be good,
^5but  that's about it!  The ideas come when I program as with a lot of
^5people.

^6Mike:   ^5Did  ypour  interest  in  computers  begin simply by buying a
^5computer?  Did you just want to play games?

^2Francois:   ^5I  had  a  TI  57  at  first  -  do  you  remember  Texas
^5Instruments?   with  the  49  steps  of  programming it was fun and I
^5wanted  to  go  further .  I had a very rare computer in France, only
^5about  10  people  had it so I had no contacts.  So first I made some
^5games  in basic and I saw that it didn't go fast enough so I tried to
^5to  assemble by hand doing the code and looking through a book.  Then
^5I  did a small monitor in basic to assemble for myself, and did a few
^5games later, I did a nice Defender.  It was fast and furious.

^6Mike: ^5Did you ever study programming formally? 

^2Francois:^5 No, never.

^6Mike: ^5Did you learn Assembler machine code by yourself?

^2Francois:^5 Yes with books.

^6Mike:  ^5I remember a long time ago a friend and I were doing a program
^5in  Assembler  and  it had one little bug and we were looking through
^5reams of paper its a nightmare, but you obviously love it.
 
 ^5Is  there any aspect of programming that interests you more than any
^5other?   are  you  more interested  in sounds and graphics or is your
^5interest across the board?
 
^2Francois:   ^5I'm  more  interested  in  ease  of  use I like to design
^5interface and also animation and the speed it goes very interested in
^5all the new possibilities in the CDTV The way you can put big samples
^5etc in it.

^6Mike: ^5Do you think that there will be a CDTV version of Amos?

^2Francois:   ^5It's  what  we're  going to do in the next month.  We are
^5going  to  do  a special extension to Amos to get the most out of the
^5CDTV.   You will be able to play audio tracks and do a really good CD
^5product on Amos.

^6Mike: ^5Your Amos goes from strength to strength....

^2Francois: ^5Yes. You've heard of Easy Amos?
 
^6Mike:   ^5Yes  I've  seen  it  advertised, as an Amos user, is it worth
^5getting  Easy  Amos.  Do you use it with Amos, or is it a stand alone
^5product?

^2Francois:   ^5It  is  a  stand  alone  program, we have removed all the
^5difficult  instructions such as sprites.  The instruction set has now
^5been  cut  to  300 commands.  There is also a monitor which is called
^5the Tutor in which you have a reduced window on your program, you can
^5step  through  your  program  with break points to help on evaluating
^5expressions.   I've  also  done  new  graphics  and put them into the
^5editor,  so  the  interface  is much better.  So we will release Easy
^5Amos, and immediately after, Amos 2 which will grab parts of the Easy
^5Amos layout, the requestor etc and some other new things.

^6Mike:   ^5Was  the  Commodore 64 the first Commodore machine you worked
^5on?  You didn't go the way of the Vic 20?

^2Francois:   ^5I  played with it a bit, but what I want is a PET, if you
^5know of anyone who is selling a PET then I want to buy it!

 ^4(Can  anyone  help  Francois  find  a  PET  computer?  It's an early
^4Commodore  machine  Francois  would  like  for his collection.  If so
^4Please write to us at T.A.!)

^6Mike:   ^5What  do  you think of the games' market in general, not just
^5Amos games?

^2Francois:   ^5The  French  games market is crazy - it's not a good one.
^5Not so many people have computers, and there a people pirating a lot.
^5The  distribution  is  strangely done, there are a few big companies,
^5but  programs  are  not well distributed.  The English market is much
^5more  professional,  they  are  three  years ahead of the rest of the
^5world.   You  compare  AMIGA  FORMAT which sells about 100,000 copies
^5with the most popular French magazine which sells 15,000 copies.

^4 Mike tells Francois that he thought that the French market would have
^4been  bigger as the French are such creative people and after all, it
^4is the home of Amos!

^6Mike:  ^5Did you think that so many different things would be done with
^5Amos when he was developing the system.

^2Francois:   ^5No, not at all.  It was a dream selling 40,000 copies.  I
^5just  did  my  best.   When I was doing STOS, I used to have my small
^5calculator  an  say that if I sell so many I will win (earn) so much.
^5But  then  I  didn't win so much.  So I stopped doing multiplications
^5and I just wait and see.

^6Mike:  ^5Did you start programming Amos before you met Richard Vanner?

^2Francois:   ^5I  did  STOS in France with JAWX, and JAWX found a French
^5editor,  but  the  package  was  not  good or well distributed and it
^5didn't  have  a  name.  But it was very professional with the Dos and
^5very  friendly  with the Basic.  It had no aim at all which is why we
^5only  sold  50  -  100.   JAWX  went  to  England and found Europress
^5Software, who were Mandarin then, and that's when we proposed STOS to
^5them.They  said to get rid of the Dos and keep the Basic which pushed
^5me  to write some utilities.  Then the program was redesigned and put
^5into a very colourful box to be on the games shelf.

^6Mike: ^5How long ago was this?

^2Francois: ^5About three to four years ago.

^6Mike:   ^5Most  programmers  try  to keep their skills a secret because
^5they  don't  want just anyone comming along and using their skills to
^5make  a  Mega program.  Did you ever feel that you wanted to keep the
^5Amos system to yourself?

^2Francois:  ^5I never keep any routines for myself - I think that people
^5who  do  that  are  a bit rediculous.  If you were able to write this
^5routine  six months ago, then you are six months ahead of the guy who
^5is  wanting  to  use  it,  so you will always be in front of him.  It
^5makes  people dislike you and not want to be with you after.  So just
^5be fair with the people and it will come back to you.

^4Mike thanks Francois for being so willing to share his knowledge with
^4everyone,  and  says of the freedom to program now enjoyed by so many
^4people.

^6Mike:  ^5What do you think of Syntex's Demos?  Do you know them?

^2Francois:   ^5Yes,  I  know  Syntex,  at least by phone as they live in
^5Corsica.  They are amazing, I don't know how they can do this!

^6Mike:^5  I think that the most amazing thing about Amos is the way that
^5extra  bits  can  be  bolted  on to the system.  What do you think of
^5Aaron Fothergill's Tome extension?

^2Francois:^5  It's really great.

^6Mike:  ^5Do you have plans to write any extensions yourself for Amos?

^2Francois:^5   First  there  will  be Amos 2, then a music extension and
^5screen dumps, and the CDTV extension.

^6Mike:  ^5But no special extension such as the 3-D Editor.

^2Francois:^5   No,  I didn't have any input into 3-D, but I did over see
^5the project.
 
^4Mike  tells  Francois  that  he  thinks that being able to move a 3-D
^4object  around in Amos is fantastic as it takes a lot of mathematical
^4functions.

^6Mike:^5  Have you got a favourite game that's been programmed in Amos?

^2Francois:^5  Ooh...  that's a bad question!  But I've been working on a
^5game for Easy Amos.

^6Mike: ^5 Have you completed Easy Amos?

^2Francois:^5   Not  absolutely  finished, but we're at the very end.  It
^5will be released early next year.

^6Mike:^5  If you program in Easy Amos, can you still use the compiler?

^2Francois: ^5  No,  the  polocy  with Easy Amos is that it will be about
^5half  the  price  of  Amos, and in Easy Amos you will get a voucher so
^5that you'll get Amos cheaper.  You'll get both for about the price of
^5Amos.

^6Mike:^5  So it's a good introduction to programming with Amos?

^2Francois:^5   Yes  we  want to convince people who say that Amos is too
^5confusing.   You  will  be  able to compile a program written in Easy
^5Amos when you have the compiler and Amos itself.  You cannot call the
^5compiler  from  inside  Easy  Amos,  but  you  can use your Easy Amos
^5program inside Amos and so compile it from there.

^6Mike:^5   Now  a  question from Len and Anne.  How is the PC version of
^5Amos comming along?

^2Francois:^5   We  are  designing  the  product  now,  and  work will be
^5starting  next  year.It's  going to be nice!  I think that it will be
^5compiler  only because on the PC market it is essential.  It is going
^5to  be  a  boring  program  because  of  all  the  graphic  and sound
^5differences, but I will be producing this with another guy.

^4 Here Francois starts to show Easy Amos to Mike.  We are lucky enough
^4to  have  seen a preview copy, so it is easier for us to imagine what
^4is  going  on.   To  help everyone else, we have included a review of
^4Easy Amos in the Rewiew section of this issue.

^7 The  following  are snippets of Francois's commentary as he put Easy
^7Amos through its paces.

^2...The  requestor is really attractive, it is different, it remembers
^2the path, I don't have to do Set Dir anymore.

^2...You  have an online Help.  You just put the cursor where you want,
^2and press Help.  You then have the Help window.

^2...Now the bob Editor, I did the graphics....You have your bank here,
^2they  all  fit in so you  can test the Animation.  You can change the
^2colour of the background, so...

^2...The  Editor  looks  great...   This is going into Amos 2 with more
^2functions.   The Animation Screen will have more functions.  There is
^2a  menu  to  enable you to select what you want.  From the Editor you
^2can  grab  a bob, put it in and edit it.  You can set the hot spot in
^2defined places.

^4 Francois  here  showed how a background can be grabbed and a bob put
^4onto this background whilst still in the Editor.

^2 You  can change the way your window is displayed.  ...You can make a
^2bob as big as you like, 320 x 200 if you want - and it's so easy!  If
^2you want to edit the list, you click on the hand.

^4 Mike says that the Bob Editor is Amos's answer to Dpaint!

^2...Another  utility  with  Easy  Amos  is  Amos Disk.  This is a disk
^2utility  rather  like Diskmaster, but in Amos - it will be in Amos 2.
^2Well, you can copy,delete, it will tell you what sort of file you are
^2looking  at,  `this  is an IFF picture' This is an Amos program' etc.
^2...You  can  request  anything  from  here,  you  can  play  a  music
^2file...set  the  frequency...  play samples...  you can pull each one
^2out and examine it or read Ascii files with the Ascii reader...format
^2a disk...  ...This was a facility that was lacking in Amos

^2 Let's show you the tutor...  it's a blockbuster!

^2...You've got a window on your program, you've got the output of your
^2screen.   There's  a  window telling you what the next instruction is
^2going  to  be.   You  see  the  program  is taking place in the small
^2window.

^4 Unfortunately,  as  Francois  starts  to  explain the tutor, someone
^4whisked him away......

^4 ......he did give us nearly 45 minutes out of a very busy day, so we
^4can't grumble!

^5 Many Many thanks to Mike Tilley and his tape recorder!

^4...and of course to Francois for all he has given us with Amos!

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