Q. I need to produce listings from my Amstrad but have so far been unable to track down a source of printer cables. I'm also looking for a word processing system.

Boris Southwood, Lancaster

A. Amstrad printer cables for Centronics printers are currently available from Computer Services, 63 Quilp Drive, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 4YD at £14.87 (inc P&P). If you try other sources, such as Lion House, you can expect to pay up to £22.66 (Believe it or not), while Amstrad is selling one of its own for £9.95. Contact Amsoft at 169 Kings Road, Brentwood, Essex (Tel: 0277 230222).

You should be able to cobble together a printer lead for yourself. After all it's just a question of linking a ribbon cable, a 34-pin edge connector (for the Amstrad end) and a Centronics connector: these components are available from many electronics shops such as Tandy. Most of the connectors are of the snap-together variety - so you don't even need a soldering iron.

Most of the cables available won't work properly - you'll get double line spacing from them because pin 14 (AUTO FEED XT) is connected. However, with a steady hand, sharp knife and printer manual you should be able to sever this connection to rectify the situation. Then you can play around with DIP switch settings (SW 2-3 on Epson and compatibles like Mannesmann Tally) as well as the Amstrad's WIDTH command which sets the printer line width. WIDTH 255 should stop the Amstrad sending carriage return at the end of a line.

Unfortunately, the Amstrad only sends seven bits to the printer, so you can't use the graphics facilities of printers like the FX80, or Epsons with the Graftrax option. Worse still, this poses major problems for anyone attempting to produce a high-resolution screen dump to any printer.

On the software side, Amsoft is due to release Amsword, and Tasman is producing a version of its favourably received Spectrum word processor Tasword Two. This costs £19.95 and you can order it on 0532 438301. There is also The Typist, originally for the Dragon, but we've not seen it in operation. The Typist is available for £5 from South Molton Computers, 07695 2727.