Path: menudo.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!usenet From: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (Reviewer with no e-mail address) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: For Adults Only CD-ROM discs Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.multimedia Date: 3 Feb 1993 19:41:11 GMT Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett Lines: 154 Sender: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator) Distribution: world Message-ID: <1kp74nINNjqs@menudo.uh.edu> Reply-To: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu Keywords: CD-ROM, graphics, adult, erotica, commercial [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This review is by Thomas Baetzler, who does not currently have an e-mail address. He may be reached on FidoNet on the Medic BBS, 2:241/7509.2, or by mail: Thomas Baetzler, Herrenstr. 62, 7500 Karlsruhe, FRG. - Dan] PRODUCT NAME For Adults Only ("FAO") CD-ROM discs, volumes 1-3 BRIEF DESCRIPTION A set of three CD-ROM disks containing "adult" erotic material like .gif graphics, .fli and .gl anims as well as text files and programs. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Profit Publishing Address: 2956 N. Campbell Ave. Tucson, AZ 85719 USA Telephone: (602) 577-9696 (Information/International) (800) 843-7990 (Orders - Visa/MC - US & Canada only) Fax: (602) 577-9624 (24 Hour FAX) BBS: (602) 299-0693 (Profit Press BBS) (602) 577-6969 (FAO BBS) LIST PRICE The suggested retail price is $199 (US) for the complete set. I have seen it advertised in Germany for as low as DM 198 ($130 US). SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS Since these are CD-ROM disks, you'll need a CD-ROM drive and CD-ROM filesystem software. COPY PROTECTION None, except for its large size. :-) Each volume of FAO contains over 600 MB of data. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 2500/30 running OS 2.04. GVP Series II SCSI interface NEC CDR-74 CD-ROM drive AsimCDFS CD-ROM filesystem software Since the FAO discs are standard ISO 9660 discs, they should be readable on any CD-ROM drive under any OS revision. I have not tested these discs on a CDTV. REVIEW The FAO discs have been produced with the IBM PC user in mind. Most of the supplied support software is for MS/DOS and Windows, with some Unix and Mac viewer programs thrown in for perks. Consequently, the discs are mastered in ISO 9660 Level 1, which means that filenames are limited to MS-DOS length (8 characters plus 3-character suffix). The picture files are arranged thematically into different directories, where they are subdivided according to their graphic resolution. According to one's tastes, there's the usual assortment of G- to R- and X-rated pictures, as well as themes like Orientals, gay males/females or "Studs for Ladies". Directory names tend to be a one or two letter abbreviation like "GM" or "X". The pictures come in the usual (S)VGA resolutions from 320x200, 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768 up to 1280x1024. Most are 256 color, although there is a fair share of black-and-white pictures, too. The digitizing quality is up to the "standard" set by the notorious alt.binaries.pictures.erotica newsgroup. That is, there is some good material, and lots of blurred and badly cropped images of doubtful origin. The animations are of about the same quality: it's all you've come to expect from an "adult" BBS. A small quirk is the inclusion of a .fli player program with every archived .fli animation. I have not tried any of the supplied "adult" PC software. And last of all, there's a collection of about 1,500 adult story files [text]. The real number of stories is somewhat lower, since many stories have been split into multiple files, and some are delivered in duplicate and even triplicate. Most of the stories seem to be gathered from BBSes, which accounts for missing title and author information. The disc has no reference which maps file names to story titles, and it is sorely lacking. DOCUMENTATION The FAO set comes without any kind of printed information. There isn't even a cover leaf for the CD-ROM case. There are some ".doc" files scattered around the discs describing how to set them up in a PC-style BBS environment, as well as some short descriptions what to find where. LIKES AND DISLIKES My impression of the FAO collection is that it was thrown together because the material was there. I mean the data's there, but it's not too well organized. Whoever did the FAO didn't invest much effort besides the special access software. Putting together a better collection would involve a better selection of the images as well as other editorial changes like giving directories longer, more descriptive names. Of course there really should be an Amiga directory containing the usual utility software. It's not really needed, but it would be a courtesy. [MODERATOR'S NOTE: "GIF" files can be viewed on Amigas by a number of different freely distributable programs. - Dan] BUGS The volumes of the FAO collection have "long" names like "FAO_1", with *27* trailing "_" characters!! The Device List function in SID 2.0 crashes immediately when such a volume is mounted. However, this is Timm Martin's problem. As a registered SID user, I would have reported it, if only his "support" BBS was online... CONCLUSIONS The FAO collection is probably nothing you'll ever be missing if you're not an avid collector of "adult" GIF images or a BBS sysop starving for users. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1993 Thomas Baetzler. All rights reserved. --- Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu