When I see a book which contains the words 'getting more' in the title, I'm immediately sceptical. Many of these merely offer information not included in the manuals of the machines.

I was, therefore, relieved to find that Getting More From Your Oric contains original information presented in an interesting way.

This book is for those with the Oric 1 with V1.0 ROM, or those with an Atmos with a version 1.1 ROM.

It differs from many in that it not only describes the Basic of the Oric and Atmos, but also the workings of the machine and its main components. Also, different features such as the sound and graphics commands are examined together with how the hardware copes with those tasks.

This mixture of hardware and software is a relief, and it answers many questions. Knowing how Basic does this or that is one thing, but knowing how the machine copes with a task is another.

Much of the text is devoted to how the Oric and Atmos work as a system, with chapters covering machine code, the operating system, useful programs and so on.

For an insight into how things work with these machines, I recommend this title.

David Janda