Moss PD
It's always good to hear about the launch of a new project that is aimed at 8-bit Acorn users and Moss PD ("A public domain library for the Acorn Electron") seems to have got off to a flying start.
There are already approximately 50 disks in the catalogue. The majority contain clip-art ('Cutouts') suitable for use with the AMX Pagemaker, Stop Press and Slogger SP64 Desktop Publishing systems.
The extensive range of clip-art is split into nineteen categories as shown below:
| Animals | Badges | Biology |
| Buildings | Circuit Symbols | Famous People |
| General | Hagar | Jobs |
| Maps | Music | Office |
| People | Phones | Plants |
| Sport | Starsigns | Stationery |
| Transport |
I was sent a random selection of images from the above disks, and very good they were too!
As well as clip-art, the library can also supply disks in the following categories:
| Applications | Business | Demos |
| Education | Games | Graphics |
| Miscellaneous | Programming | Rom Images |
| Screen Pictures | Utilities |
Anyone who was familiar with Robert Cooper's (now defunct) Electron PD library will recognise a number of titles on these disks. Some other titles have also been supplied on Alan Blundell's BBC PD disks in the past.
Personally, I have had some trouble with a few of these programs when using the ACP/Pres AP3 ADFS system as some files require PAGE to be set below &1D00 or will only run with Shadow RAM present. But don't let this put you off because, as I say, I have only had experience of a small number of these programs.
One option I was surprised at - but pleased to see - was that customised 'Pick-n-Mix' disks are on offer. This means you can order a disk full of the files of your choice. Each file in the catalogue is listed with its length/size in kilobytes so you can work out how many disks will be required to fulfil your order.
Disks are very reasonably priced at just one pound each, regardless of format: ADFS or DFS. However, only 3.5" disks are available which will be a disappointment for many people.
As I indicated earlier, this is a pretty impressive catalogue for such a young library and is well worth a serious look in my opinion. And note that if you don't own a DTP system, you can still load cutout images with the viewer on this EUG disk.
Alternatively, you can purchase a disk-based catalogue also containing some handy utilities direct from EUG.
Will Watts, EUG #12