             Public Domain.            
                                       
  The Tom Cooper recently wrote to me  
(casually polishes knuckles, head      
swells) after I sent him a disk, to    
remark that a new improved version of  
Styx was available that worked on RO3.1
and that a new game called DinoSaw was 
now available from APDL, DataStream and
The DataFile. Hot news indeed! Didn't  
send me a disk in return (cos he didn't
have any, what did he think I sent him,
thin blue cheesecake?) so that will get
a review in full course from After Dark
or maybe this column. Other 'hot' news 
from the PD scene includes the quality 
window editor - glazier. Very good with
all the features of other template     
editors plus some features that make   
this one of those must-have utilities. 
I for one find that FormEd is fiddly so
think this should be my definitive way 
to design windows from now on.         
   Admit it. Most people use PD to get 
some games (in the hope of finding a   
new Gyrinus2) and really want reviews  
of games in any PD column. Conspicious 
by their abscence in the newsstand mags
recently, I will try to rectify this   
problem, firstly with a review of Spit-
fire. Very nice simulator from ( where 
else? ) the flight sim toolkit which   
features well designed polygons and    
some nicely designed intro graphics.   
This and DinoSaw should be your next   
game purchases. Of course I could point
out the two excellent games, Nasty2 and
designer which are PD and supplied with
this magazine but they ain't quite in  
the same league. Everyone seems very   
keen at the moment to point out the    
imminent closure of Equinox PD. Yeah? I
wasn't aware they were open but then I 
only ever use libraries beginning with 
the word 'Data'. But I am sure this is  
not a good thing. The number of Public 
Domain libraries seems to be shrinking,
maybe because new Acorn owners tend to 
subscribe to those with sufficient dosh
to advertise. Such is life. Speaking of
advertisements, I was thrilled to tiny 
little bits to see a DataFile advert   
featuring two of my applications. Wow! 
Before this, the only times I have been
- in any form - in an Acorn magazine   
was a few HacMan columns where he used 
some of my marvelous cheats and hints. 
(although I do have a letter from the  
original HacMan complimenting my rather
'definitive' ThunderStruck map) If you 
want a good reason to send stuff into  
the libraries, that has to be agood   
one, the chance of fame. Now I usually 
reserve my praise for DataFile and Data
Stream but I must draw attention to    
Planet PD because their prices seem to 
look quite reasonable and because I    
have not seen them before. 1.00 plus  
a p+p cost of 50p. Each disk is pick n 
mix of compressed software and the 50p 
covers the whole order, no matter how  
many disks you get. This won't be as   
much use for small orders as DataStream
but might still be worth a look for big
orders. My only reservation is that    
they did not mention anything about HD 
disks. Check it out. DataDtream have an
improved games pack with six disks for 
3.99 including all the big games from 
the KORC trilogy to Gyrinus2 (v3.5) and
Tertis. The 15th catalogue from Data   
File (HD version) has 3130k of software
compressed onto it including a 900 disk
catalogue, a flight sim, music and of  
course two of my very own applications.
At 1.50 (HD disk or 2 DD disks) this  
is vastly better value than a magazine 
with naff cover disk. TTFN as Tom would
say.                                   
**
