CAD PAK

CAD PAK is a bitmap drawing program produced by Datalink Systems Wales which was controlled through a series of icons.

It appears to be an updated version of the earlier MPaint - we have seen two versions of this program, one of which continues to be in SuperBASIC © 1984, and a later version which was compiled with Qliberator © 1986.

Interestingly, Sandy had released another version of the program CADPAK in 1985 which was packaged with the SuperQMouse interface.

Both versions of this program moved away from the _pic file suffix for pictures to a _draw file suffix.

Quite a neat utility, this provides the most common commands you require. Only handles the standard QL 4 colour screen mode. Alas it cannot handle 512 x 256 pixels and can only handle (384 x 182 pixels) meaning that screens are only 23296 bytes in length (compared to the normal 32768 bytes).

However, the screens can be loaded directly to the QL's screen memory although they only show as 216 lines of pixels, rather than the original 256 lines. The 384 pixel display by the program is given stippled grey edges on either side.

Title: CAD PAK
Language: SuperBASIC (loaded with FLOAD) and Qliberated SuperBASIC
Author: Thomas Campbell
Publisher: Datalink Systems Wales (1986)
Year of Publication: 1986
Price as at July 1986: £14.95
Reviews: Your Sinclair Issue 7
Platforms Suitable for: All Sinclair QLs and emulators (512x256 mode)
Commercial Status: Commercial
Sources Available from: n/a
Latest Version available from: Unknown