StrongARM questions and answers

This page details some commonly-asked questions about the StrongARM upgrades to CC's product range. See also our list of available upgrades for more information.

1. How much faster does CC's software run on the StrongARM?
2. Will CC be offering over-the-counter upgrades at Acorn World?
3. I don't have a StrongARM; is there any point in my upgrading to the latest versions of the products anyway?
4. Why are the Impression and ArtWorks upgrades more expensive than the others?
5. Does CC need any discs or dongles returning to perform the upgrade?
6. I've already got a StrongARM, and one of the products that you've said needs an upgrade seems to work. What's going on?
7. My upgrade didn't consist of a full set of discs - am I missing some?
8. Which versions of WordWorks, Equasor and TableMate work with the StrongARM?

How much faster does CC's software run on the StrongARM?

We have only done a couple of tests so far - here are the results. Tests were performed in identical screen modes using a 133MHz StrongARM and a 33MHz ARM610 Risc PC.

Time taken by ArtWorks to render the Mini drawing:
ARM 600 - 4.5 seconds
StrongARM - 0.25 seconds

Time taken by the TurboDrivers to print to a 2.2Mb file.
ARM 600 - 1 min 52 seconds
StrongARM - 19 seconds

Will CC be offering over-the-counter upgrades at Acorn World?

Yes. As the branding on many of our products require us to make up individual discs at the time of ordering, you may have to place an order and then collect it from our stand later in the day. Be sure to bring the serial numbers of all products that you want upgrading.

I don't have a StrongARM; is there any point in my upgrading to the latest versions of the products anyway?

Not really. Most of the product upgrades only affect StrongARM compatibility. There have in the process been changes made to the Impression range and ArtWorks affecting how WIMP polls are processed which may make them perform better on existing Risc PCs. Impression Publisher Plus is now de-dongled. If either of these changes is really important to you, then you should consider upgrading, otherwise the upgrades are only aimed at StrongARM users.

Why are the Impression and ArtWorks upgrades more expensive than the others?

Because they required substantially more work to produce. Many of the upgrades to the other products are relatively trivial, and are provided more or less at cost price. With Impression and ArtWorks much more work has been done, and we need to recover these development costs by charging more.

Does CC need any discs or dongles returning to perform the upgrade?

No. All we require is your name, address, registered serial number and credit card details. You can post, fax or e-mail these details to our sales department - see the page about contacting us for details of how to do this.

I've already got a StrongARM, and one of the products that you've said needs an upgrade seems to work. What's going on?

Many of our products work to an extent. For example, Impression Style will load and run with few problems, but some operations (especially those involving graphics) may cause the machine to crash. There are only a very few CC programs (ArtWorks, for instance) that will refuse to load at all on a StrongARM machine.

My upgrade didn't consist of a full set of discs - am I missing some?

Probably not. Most of the upgrades don't include a full disc set. For instance, where our records indicate that you have version 4.04 of Publisher or later, we don't send out upgrades to WordWorks because you should already have a working version. Disc 6 of the Impression set is never sent out, because it isn't needed for any of the upgrades.

Which versions of WordWorks, Equasor and TableMate work with the StrongARM?

• WordWorks version 1.06
• Equasor version 1.04
• TableMate version 1.10i