@database "ar321.guide" @Node MAIN "Amiga Report Online Magazine #3.21 -- November 30, 1995" =========================================================================== November 30, 1995 @{" Turn the Page " link MENU} Issue No.3.21 =========================================================================== ,a c4%&; 1%%%b 9%=~ " m; mmmm; nmm mmmmm .,pmq,. m; j#6 ##6 j### ### ,#'~ ~`g, j#6 ##&; ##&; #### ### ,#f `# ##&; jP##6 ###6 jP### ### .##' " jP##6 #'$#&; #$#&; #'### ### i## #'$#&; jP l##6 #l##6 jP ### ### &## jP l##6 #' $#&; # $#&;#' ### ### &## #' $#&; j#mmmd##6 # l##6P ### ### ?## mmmw j#mmmd##6 #' $#&; # $##' ### ### ##; $#$ #' $#&; jP l##6 # l#P ### ### `#l ,&#'jP l##6 #' ###mm # $' mm###mm mm###mm `#q,.,p#' #' ###mm (R) "~^~" &&&&q, , ,P `b d' tm d' ,P d&&&P ;P .,d' ,c&&q, &&&&q, ,c&&q, q&,e&q ;P' d&&&P ;P' `& d' `b ;P' `b dP~ `P d' ;P'`&; dB&&&&P ;P ,P d' P ;P ;P d' `&; &, , d' .,d' &, .,d' d' d' , &&& &&'`&&&P' ;B&&&P' `&&&P' &&& `&P' d' ;P &&& "THE Online Source for Amiga Information!" Copyright 1995 FS Publications All Rights Reserved @endnode @node MENU "Amiga Report Main Menu" @toc MAIN =========================================================================== == Main Menu == =========================================================================== @{" Editorial and Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Featured Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" News & Press Releases " link NEWS} @{" Aminet Charts " link FTP} @{" Reader Mail " link MAIL} --------------------------------- @{" About AMIGA REPORT " link ABOUT} @{" Dealer Directory " link DEALER} Contact Information and Copyrights Amiga Dealer Addresses and Numbers @{" Where to Get AR " link WHERE} @{" Advertisements " link COMMERCIAL} Mailing List & Distribution Sites Online Services, Dealers, Ordering ______________________________________________ // | | // ========//====| Amiga Report International Online Magazine |======//===== == \\// | Issue No. 3.21 November 30, 1995 | \\// == ==============| "THE Online Source for Amiga Information!" |============= |______________________________________________| @endnode @node JASON "Editor" @toc STAFF =========================================================================== EDITOR =========================================================================== Jason Compton ============= Internet Address -------- ------- jcompton@shell.portal.com 1203 Alexander Ave jcompton@xnet.com Streamwood, IL 60107-3003 USA Fax Phone --- ----- 708/741-0689 708/289-7047 @endnode @node KATIE "Assistant Editor" @toc STAFF =========================================================================== == ASSISTANT EDITOR == =========================================================================== Katherine Nelson ================ Internet -------- Kati@cup.portal.com @endnode @node ROBERT "Senior Editor" @toc STAFF =========================================================================== SENIOR EDITOR =========================================================================== Robert Niles ============ Internet Address -------- ------- rniles@Wolfe.NET 506 W. Orchard Selah, WA 98942 FidoNet Fax ------- --- 1:3407/103 509/697-5064 @endnode @node WILLIAM "Contributing Editor" @toc STAFF =========================================================================== CONTRIBUTING EDITOR =========================================================================== William Near ============ Internet -------- wnear@epix.net @endnode @node ADDISON "Contributing Editor" @toc STAFF =========================================================================== CONTRIBUTING EDITOR =========================================================================== Addison Laurent =============== Internet -------- addison@jobe.shell.portal.com @endnode @node EDITORIAL "compt.sys.editor.desk" @toc OPINION =========================================================================== compt.sys.editor.desk By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== Just a brief, unfortunate update on the world of Amiga journalism outside the steady confines of Amiga Report: Datormagazin, the only Swedish Amiga publication, has ceased production. The publisher cited insufficient circulation as the reason. Scientific Amigan, the newsletter dedicated to really wild and impressive applications of the Amiga in real-life research and science will publish one last issue. Both of the publisher's Amigas died, in rapid succession, and the publication had put him in considerable debt as it was. Readers may request refunds, but the publisher would really appreciate if you'd let him keep it since he's lost money by SA as it is... Amiga Game Zone, which published its third issue in October 1994 but continually promised a fourth, will publish two more issues before February 1996 and will cease both producing magazines and selling Amiga games. The publisher blames the Commodore-Amiga Technologies gap of one year on their decision. Readers are being offered credit on their subscriptions towards the purchase of merchandise sold by AGZ. With the death of SA and the finally confirmed demise of AGZ, North America will be back to having only one printed Amiga publication, Amazing Computing, a 48 page monthly. Sweden will have none. However, we're happy to point out that Swedes, Canadians, Americans, and Mexicans alike will still be able to get Amiga Report, every two weeks, as usual. The potential for new enterprisers to step into the void is quite high. Already in North America, at least two independent projects are underway to launch Amiga magazines as early as February. Whether or not they materialize, we'll be here. On a more upbeat note, I was thrilled to get word that the first Amiga 4000Ts have been delivered to SMG, the North American distributors for Amiga Technologies, and will be shipped to dealers overnight, if requested. These will be the first new Amigas in the New World after a 20 month hiatus. Hopefully, 4000Ts will make their way to the rest of the world as 1200s make their way out of Europe. We will do our best to provide an in-depth look at the 4000T, which to date is by far the least visible Amiga (with less than 1000 Commodore units worldwide) but seems to be the key to preserving the Amiga's chances as a high-end machine. World of Amiga Toronto is less than two weeks away, and may interfere slightly with AR's publication schedule. However, we will complete two issues in December, for a total of 24 on the year. (Remember, while the last issue of the year will be 3.23, ARAuction came out in April, or have you blocked that brutal period out of your memory yet?) Averaging two a month isn't bad. :) Read up. Jason @endnode @node COMMERCIAL "Commercial Products" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Commercial Products =========================================================================== @{" Editor's Choice " link EDITORCHOICE} Jason's picks @{" Portal Information Systems " link PORTAL} A great place for Amiga users. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @endnode @node MAIL "Reader Mail" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Reader Mail =========================================================================== From: aTmosh@amiga.ow.nl (Thomas Tavoly) Subject: Re: Cologne report... [In this case, it's Writer Mail. Thomas provided one of our insightful looks at the Cologne Amiga show last issue, and these details just barely missed our release time for AR 3.20. -Jason] As a side note: I forgot to mention that I also saw a protoype MPEG decoder for the Squirrel interface in an external box, I think it played a Star Trek movie. Availability or price unknown. Also, I managed to get the CD-ROM player going with ShapeShifter, for this I used the empcd.device included with the ShapeShifter archive and the NEC CD-ROM driver available from (amongst others) the Next Generation BBS. This is a ShapeShifter support site, Tel.: +49-261-805012 or +49-261-84280. It recognizes a 'PC' ISO-9660 disc I bought and even the CD32 version of Impossible Mission 2025. I don't have any Mac HFS discs yet, but those should be supported even without the NEC driver on the Mac side. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- From: Jeff Massie Subject: Reader Mail Well here are my two cents on the Amiga situation and where I would like to see things go. 1. Compatibility, I would like to see some of it retained but not to include everything. We all know that the loss of demos and games could be made up in no time, and if you do not believe that just look at the new files that come into aminet every day. A good point of cut off is the 2.04 OS or even the 3.1, as these are the places where the OS really started straitening itself out. Aga could be included as long as no one had to bend over backwards or have to pay through the wallet for it. Not to sound condescending but the official word from Commodore with 2.04+ were not to bang the hardware. Tough lesson, maybe. 2. Since we are getting new cpus lets see a better serial port. RTG is a definite must too. 3. 64 bit system, I do not know how feasible this would be but I think that it would keep amiga on the cutting edge of computers again. (only considering home computers). To make room for the power pc a rewrite for the OS needs to be made anyway, I sure do now want a non native OS. 4. Custom chips, I think that they should be left in. I hear a lot of people who complain about what they represent, 1985 technology. If they were put on a board so they were removable and RTG implemented, the ultimate system could be had. The most troublesome thing that I hear is how a lot of people want the next amiga to use regular SVGA cards. Doesn't it sound like we will then just be following the clones. When the Amiga came out it had a 32 bit OS, no one had that, there wasn't a home computer that could touch the graphics, and lets not forget sound. Now it just seems like some people just want to follow the industry. 3d chip sets seem the way to go to me, now I have no problem with using standard components and chips that are available, but I still want to be able to do things like have a ntsc screen and pull it down and view my vga, pal, etc. screen at the same time. Basically use standard components to make a VERY unstandard custom chipset. The only reason that the amiga is still around is that it might be a little outdated but it is still not far off of the mark, and the machine was basically designed in 85. I want the next Amiga that I buy to still be at the cutting edge 10 years later while clones and macs are still trying to catch up. To do this we need AT to really take a hard look at what will be coming in 10 years and try and put it in the Amiga now so that we can look other users in the eye again and say can your machine do this, I think not. AT lead us into the future, not let us follow! Jeff jdm7703@silver.sdsmt.edu --- --- --- --- --- --- --- From: Eyal Teler Subject: Amiga advantages Reading Nickolas Marentes' article in AR 319 brought back a few memories. Memories of last Saturday, actually, when I moved some more stuff from my old and now unused A500 to my PC. Apart from the hassle of renaming files (actually, I think that OS/2 has an LHA or LZH compatible archiver, so I could have used that, and just pack and unpack with the full names -- but it's too late for this), I again encountered the one valuable Amiga feature that I haven't seen in any other OS -- regular expression filenames. I mistakenly copied a bunch of files without renaming them, so I wanted to erase them, but keep the file "list", so I just did "delete a:~(list)" and it did what I wanted ("a:" is my PC compatible drive). How I miss this feature. Nickolas mentions the MPEG cards for the PC. In fact, MPC3, the next multimedia standard (i.e., the minimum hardware necessary for playing new games) will include a 75MHz Pentium, Quad-speed drive, MPEG and a wavetable card. And shortly many PCs will actually arrive in this configuration, likely for under $2000. AmiTech will have to work hard and quickly to have the Amiga show any comparable qualities. Regarding Jake Hamby's open letter to AmiTech, I have a few comments. First of all, regarding the target audience, I think he's a bit off. I have no doubt that I know less than Mr. Hamby when it comes to the American market, but somehow I'm doubting that Unix users will flock to the Amiga. The PC happens to be cheaper and more powerful, and has enough Unix clones of its own. With PC ethernet cards being extremely cheap, and very high resolution/multi colour graphics cards are much cheaper than Amiga equivalents, and with Unix users typically not interested in any other OS (good as AmigaDOS may be), I can't see the Amiga as a very attractive proposition. The other targets may well be valid, but they are not in the consumer market. If the American public is only interested in power at a low price, instead of functionality, then I can't see how the Amiga can succeed (considering the success of the PC, innovation is not what the American public wants). Regarding hardware innovations, I'm again not sure if it'll work. One can try, I suppose, but I think it'll be more beneficial to start with standard technology, like a quad speed CD-ROM drive -- this is cheaper than the ZIP drive, and the cost for companies to distribute software on CD-ROM is way cheaper than on a ZIP drive (or even on diskettes). When the CD-ROM drive is there, the ZIP could be given as an option, with bundled backup software. Okay, I'm already going more with what I want than with what the American public wants (which I'm not sure anybody really knows). So the other thing I want is an upgradable processor, like on the PC. I admit, a processor without an MMU won't run UNIX, but most PC users don't run UNIX, and I don't want it, either. A low clock 68EC040 will probably cost less than a fast 68030 (the 68EC040 cost $50 in 1K quantity a year or two ago), and will probably run faster (just like the 486SX replaced the 386 in the PC world). The great thing about the 68EC040 is that you can easily upgrade by swapping a full 68040 in, or even a 68060 (although a small daughter board might be required). This also saves designing a special 68030 board for the A4000, or using a 68030 board for the 68040 (making memory access slower than possible for the 68040). For the above expandability reason I'd also like to see a 68EC030 in the A1200. It won't give any significant speed increase over the current 68EC020, but it will be easily upgradable to a full 68030. Add build in memory expansion, and you can at last leave the single expansion port for graphics cards, hardware PC emulators, and so on, cards which nobody today develops, simply because the port is reserved for processor and memory expansion. Eyal --- --- --- --- --- --- --- From: Gabriele Peterle 338446/IF Subject: Hello from Italy ! Hi Jason, a big CIAO to you and all the AR readers! After I looked at the empty Reader's Mail column in AR3.19, I decide to write something, so here is my short opinion about the Amiga today. My name is Gabriele Peterle (if you don't remember me look at AR2.27). Many things have changed since then, something in better, something in worse. I see the Amiga's situation has get better (what's worse than be dead ? ;) ; I think the AT team is working quite good, in particular because they are a small company. Obviously I would like to have _now_ a Power Amiga but this is impossible, thus I will wait until I can (my trusty 500 is at the beginning of "her" 8th winter but her 030/882 hearts are still beating regularly : the doctor says the pulse are 33.000.000/second; a little over(clocked) but her body is responding well; she runs the MIle in 0.184 seconds and the MFLOP in 1.136 seconds :D ). The problems are for the people who want buy a new computer today; the Amiga is unknown, now more than a year ago, by the large computer users; plus, the Amiga offer is quite small (in quantity, but not in quality) and the Mac&Clone offer, instead, is bigger than ever (in quantity, but not in quality ;). So if someone of you must jump ship today I don't blame you, but be ready to jump back when we'll overtake you with our rocket tomorrow ! ;) I see the BeBox as a "fire exit"; if there will be a fire (=> no more Amigas) I'll escape through it, but until then.... ( NOTE: before the BeBox creation there was no possible escape ! I would be killed by a PC ! ). AT has to work hard in the research, development, production and marketing sides (and I'm almost sure they will do), and us, Amiga users, have to support our "friends" (and I'm sure I will do). AT, I hope to be introduced soon to one of your "powerful girls" ! ;) ..hEy..nO!...WhAT arE yOu doiNg ? ...gIVe me BACk thE CoNtROl oF The sHIfT keY...No i'M noT uNFaiThfUl !...oK, ok I pRoMIse iT; I wOn't LEavE YOu aPArt; You'Ll bE ConNeCTed toGEtHeR !...Ok?........ .....Phew!... ( my 500 is very jealous! :) Again, these are only words, but again I had some fun writing it and it wouldn't been so if there wouldn't been the AMIGA. Thanks. Ciao. Gabriele --- --- --- --- --- --- --- From: Theodore Hatzikostas Subject: Thanx.. I am an simple amiga user. I'd like to tell you that I appreciate all the things you are doing for all of us. Thanks again, from a Greek reader of your excellent mag. Yours, Teodore Hatzikostas. You're welcome. -Jason @endnode @node NEWS1 "Organizer 2.0" @toc NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 17, 1995 PRESS CONTACT: Ellen Kazmaier tel: 314-256-9595; fax: 314-256-9595 DIGITA AND SOFT-LOGIK RELEASE ORGANIZER 2.0 (St. Louis) Soft-Logik Publishing is pleased to announce the North American release of Digita Organizer 2.0. This is a feature update to Organizer 1.1 and will be available in early December. Organizer is a personal information manager (PIM) for Amiga computers. It uses a tabbed notebook metaphor with spiral bound pages to simplify organizing appointments, tasks and addresses. Organizer can remind users of appointments and can repeat events with any frequency. It allows users to manage to do lists and keep track of addresses. Custom pages can be printed for Day-Timer(tm), Filofax(tm), Rolodex(tm), Time Manager(tm) and other paper oganizer binders. Organizer addresses can shared with Datastore(tm) or mail merged with Wordworth(R) or PageStream(R). The new features in 2.0 are: Link events, tasks and addresses to each other; Scroll through list of Diary Events on each day. Mark addresses on the page; Improved DigiSense(tm) with Auto Capitalization of addresses; Faster Supplements and Diary Themes. Salutation field for addreses; Export first/last name formats; Supplement navigation buttons; New Settings options for disabling page animation and conflicting event alerts. The 1996 Plus Pack is included at no extra charge. Organizer 2.0 version is available as a disk upgrade for $25 directly from Soft-Logik. The suggested retail price is $140. Owners of other Soft-Logik programs may order it directly from Soft-Logik for $75. Soft-Logik Publishing recently released Organizer 1.1. This maintenance uppe to Organizer 1.0 includes minor bug fixes and the primary 1996 US and Canada diary theme. It is intended for those customers who choose not to upgrade to Organizer 2.0. An online patch from the 1.0 North American version to the 1.1 North American version will be available soon. Updates via disk are also available on request for a nominal disk charge of $10. ORGANIZER 1996 PLUS PACK: This add-on package for Organizer 1.x (included with 2.0) contains many updated themes and supplements. It is available separately from Soft-Logik for $15. The included Diary themes are: Astronomy, Born On This Day, Celebrity Birthdays, Died on This Day, Disasters, Discoveries, Famous Battles, Firsts, Historical Days, Sporting Events, Trivia, 9 Religious Calendars, and more. The Supplements include: Animals, Art, Astrology, Astronomy, Award Winners, Born on This Day, Computers, Culture Events, Died on This Day, Disasters, Discoveries, Famous Battles, Firsts, Gardening, Health, History, Home Hints, Hotels, Internet, Measurement Units, Movie Classics, Music Milestones, National Country Days, Olympics (past and Atlanta 96), Our Planet, Recipes, Registered Charities, Religions, Restaurants, Sport, Telephone, Dialing Codes, Travelling, Radio Stations, Social Season Events, Theatre, Telephone Numbers, Useful Addresses, Wine Guide, and more. Organizer 1.0 was awarded 92%% by Amiga Format and 90%% by Amiga Shopper and is one of the best-selling Amiga applications. Digita International is the leading publisher of Amiga productivity software in Europe and Soft-Logik Publishing is the leading publisher of Amiga productivity software in North America. Soft-Logik sells and supports Digita's Wordworth, Datastore and Organizer in the United States and Canada, while Digita International(R) sells them in other countries. Kevin Davidson, Asst. Moderator AmigaZone Vendor Support - PORTAL SOFT-LOGIK BBS: (314) 256-8971 e-mail Tech support questions to: tech@slpc.com @endnode @node NEWS2 "Virus Checker" @toc NEWS For immediate and sudden rlease. The source code to Virus_Checker is now for sale to anyone that can offer a good figure for it. It is in Macro68 style and conforms to the new syntax. The reason. After the release of 8.3 I got alot of abusive e-mail messages saying VC did not do this, and vc did not do that, and the install script does not work, and hundreds of is this a real release message. My time is limited at present and I get very little time to even get to my computer let alone program it. My email is backing up something awful in my mailbox. Another reason is that VC is no longer a hobby. A hobby is something you do that gives you enjoyment. VC does not do this anymore. If it paid for itself then it may be different. Whats happening with the keyfiles? The keyfile will be left in (the pirates will probably take it out anyway and that is one further reason), if I did take it out all those who registered would be disadvantaged. I will still take and send out registrations as they come in. I may even release one or 2 more bug fixes as I get time and add a few more viruses. This decision was about a month in the making but it has been made. --- johnv@tower.actrix.gen.nz | Author of |PGP FingerPrint PGP Public Key available | Virus_Checker |2A 41 F4 EC 7C D7 D3 DC | |57 DE 64 9A 4E 9E D3 E8 @endnode @node NEWS3 "AmigaLink 2.0 / Envoy 2.0 Package" @toc NEWS ==================================================================== Amiga-Link PRESS RELEASE October 25, 1995 ==================================================================== The AmigaLink 2.0 / Envoy 2.0 Networking Package ------------------------------------------------- AmiTrix Development announced today that they will now be distributing the Amiga-Link/Envoy networking package for all Amigas. Arrangements have been made with Intangible Assets Manufacturing (IAM), and with ABF Computer GbR, that will see "Envoy 2.0" bundled together with an updated, fully translated version of "AmigaLink", to be assembled and distributed by AmiTrix. Amiga-Link is a complete solution to your Amiga peer-to-peer networking needs. With the included software and hardware, you can share your hard drives and printers, as well as run other network applications. This package is compatible with all Amiga models, using the floppy port for maximum compatibility across models, and keeping other ports available for their intended uses. Low cost "rendering farms" are now possible. The Amiga-Link package comes with both the standard AmigaLink software and also the Amiga Envoy software. The Amigalink software's advantage is that it works with AmigaOS1.3, providing compatibility with older machines, whereas Amiga Envoy requires 2.04 or higher, but provides superior performance, device sharing, and an API that allows for the development of third-party networking applications, with many already available. Amiga-Link provides a less expensive method of peer to peer networking using compact modules connected to the external floppy port and linked together with BNC connectors and coaxial cables. The SANA-II device driver allows all Amiga's (including those without Zorro-II expansion slots), to be connected in a network of up to 20 machines, within a distance of 330 feet (100m). DMA data transfer, at 450,000 bps from network to memory, avoids CPU contention common to the parallel/serial port networks, and leaves these ports free for normal use. This is roughly equivalent to ArcNet speed, and although slower than ethernet, is less than half the cost. The AmigaLink software has GUI tools for Workbench control of Import & Export functions, network Statistics & Diagnostics tools for testing and troubleshooting both hardware & software, while a Printer Spooler program allows for network printer sharing. Its SANA-II compatibility allows other software to be run concurrently such as AmiTCP, providing great flexibility when networking various Amiga's together. A newly revised English manual is included. Amiga Envoy is the standard Amiga peer-to-peer networking software that was developed by Commodore's Amiga Networking Group. Its performance, user-interface and API are consistent with the philosophy of the Amiga Operating System. Amiga Envoy provides a simple messaging interface for the easy development of reliable network applications. Included applications enable connected Amiga computers to share their hard disks, CD-ROMs, and printers transparently. Third-party applications can also provide extra functionality such as electronic mail, remote computer access, multi-user databases and multi-player games. New features for Envoy 2.0 include support of AmigaOS 2.04 DOS packet types (including notification and record locking), support for removable media, enhanced reliability & robust recovery, localization, AmigaGuide documentation, and more. MSRP for the basic 2 unit package is $299.00 US, or $379.00 CAN. Expansion kits, cable options and accesories are also available. Dealer and Educational Institution inquiries welcomed. For more information or ordering AmiTrix products, contact us at: AmiTrix Development, 5312 - 47 Street, Beaumont, Alberta, T4X 1H9 Canada Phone or Fax: +1 403-929-8459 (Please leave your mailing address on phone messages when requesting information, or contact us via email at the address shown below) Email: sales@amitrix.com Sincerely Andy Buist AmiTrix Development @endnode @node NEWS4 "Disect v2.0" @toc NEWS TITLE Disect - Symbolic dissassembler & debugger. VERSION 2.0 (11.11.95) AUTHOR Dave M. Alderson email: dave@twilite.demon.co.uk DESCRIPTION Disect is a very powerful combined disassembler/debugger program, which has been designed to be easy to use. Its power is achieved at the expense of memory: the minimum requirement is 1Mb; for larger projects, 2Mb will be required. The debugger allows an executable file, a disk boot-block, a binary file, or an area of memory to be loaded and created as a Process. It is even possible to grab an existing memory-resident Process. A Process's instructions can be executed individually, or the Process can be activated, with or without breakpoints installed. System exceptions can be trapped before they crash the machine, and program symbols can be read from executable files. The disassembler allows a loaded program to be commented, have blank lines inserted, and have it's numbers and addresses replaced with constant or program symbols. All the symbols of Release 3 of the system include files are available to the disassembler. A program which has been dissected in this way can then be saved as two source files: a program file, and a support file. The support file will contain EQUs for all required constant symbols. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Disect requires Release 2 of the Amiga operating system; it also requires the ASL library, and GadTools library. AVAILABILITY ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/aminet/dev/debug/Disectv20b.lha (283158) PRICE Requested shareware fee is 20 uk pounds. DISTRIBUTABILITY The version available on aminet is a 98% functional demo version which is freely distributable, but remains copyrighted D.M. Alderson 1995. OTHER If there are any further queries regarding this software or its usage please email, dave@twilite.demon.co.uk, who will be only too happy to chat with you. @endnode @node NEWS5 "MAC Emulation Professional" @toc NEWS MAC Emulation Professional November 16th, 1995 - Official Press Release Utilities Unlimited International, Incorporated is pleased to announce it is now taking orders for their latest emulation module for EMPLANT. The new module is named, "MAC Emulation Professional" and offers a wider range of Macintosh emulation capabilities. Although much of code is based on the previous MAC emulation, the new code is completely new, smaller, and faster. Besides the standard features you have come to expect from our previous MAC emulation, these additional features make this emulation module worth having: * Completely new OS2.x+ style guide compliant user interface, using gadtools. * Opens on a public screen. No more custom screens. * ASL is now used for all file requesters. * Built-in help when using OS3.0 or later. * Support for all known 512K-1meg 680x0 color MAC ROM's. This includes ROMS from: MAC II/x/cx/ci/si, LC, LCII, LCIII, color classic, Quadra 700-950. All ROM's work with CPU caches on. All ROM's will support an FPU, whether designed to or not. * Virtual memory support! * MAC OS is partially re-written so it does not constantly busy loop, giving the Amiga side more CPU time and allowing lower priority tasks to run (such as screen blankers and auto disk changes). * Support for EtherTalk and other EtherNet based applications when using a SANA-II compliant EtherNet driver. * Built-in support for CD-ROM's not connected to EMPLANT's SCSI port. * Faster interrupt and exception handling. * Enhanced video driver support (larger sizes, more colors). * Enhanced file transfer capabilities (ability to set filetype and creator, filename filtering, and more). * Enhanced multitasking code prevents Amiga serial.device lockups. * Enhanced sound support. You can set the emulation to use the Amiga's audio exclusively, or shared (audio channels can be stolen by the Amiga if necessary). * New custom logic chip improves bus timing, boosting performance and reliability of EMPLANT's VIA interrupts, serial communications, and SCSI operations. * New utilities, and much, much more! This package includes the new software, updated documentation, and a new custom logic chip that replaces and existing chip on your EMPLANT board. Paul (Blittersoft) For European orders : Tel : +44 (0)1908 261466 Fax : +44 (0)1908 261488 @endnode @node NEWS6 "The Workbench Snap Competition" @toc NEWS +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Announcing : The Workbench Snap of the Month Competition | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ The INTERNATIONAL AMIGA SOCIETY hereby announces The Workbench Snap of the month competition. We will run this in order to encourage Amiga users to register with the IAS, and to increase the level of activity and excitement in the Amiga world. Each month between the 1st and the 20th entries will be accepted via email to IAS-Queries@ArtWorks.apana.org.au or by normal mail to IAS Workbench Snap of the Month P.O. Box 201 Kingsbury, Victoria 3083 Australia Between the 21st and the 1st of the next month, the entries will be scrutinised by 4 judges, with the results being published on the 1st at http://Snark.apana.org.au/IAS/WBSnap/ and in the IAS newsletter which is called "Diversity". The rules and a complete description are available at http://Snark.apana.org.au/IAS/WBSnap/ or by asking at either of the above addresses. The only restriction is that you must be an IAS member, or a member of an IAS member organisation. Entries will first be accepted during November and results published on December 1st. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Queries to : IAS-Queries@ArtWorks.apana.org.au | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ @endnode @node NEWS7 "IAS Global System-File Registration" @toc NEWS +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The International Amiga Society | | Requesting Comments from Amiga Developers | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | GLOBAL SYSTEM-FILE NAME REGISTRY | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Amiga programmers have been creating *.library files for over 10 years now, and quite a few times over that period there have been conflicts between the names of these files. So The International Amiga Society would like to receive suggestions and comments from software developers about the feasibility of setting up a global system file name registry. With a global name registry, before you create a catalog file, a device file, a library file or any other system file you would check with the registry whether there was already an existing file of that name somewhere, and maybe register a file name for your own use. Ideally such a system would foster greater compatibility between different Amiga products, both commercial and public domain products. It would provide a framework for conflict resolution which does not involve the end user (as it does now), although no mechanism for this currently exists. And it would remove one area of worry for Amiga programmers. Given that such a registry is of immeditate (although perhaps small) benefit to the Amiga community, that running it would cost little in terms of time and resources, The International Amiga Society would be an ideal vehicle for such a system. It is with this in mind that we hereby request for appropriate discussion of the issues involved and any other concerns that you might have to take place. Once the issues become clear, the IAS will take steps to ensure that such a system is put in place. +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Queries should be addressed to IAS-Queries@ArtWorks.apana.org.au | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ @endnode @node NEWS8 "Utilities Unlimited WWW Site" @toc NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT FROM UUI ===================== "November 15th, 1995 Utilities Unlimited now has a World Wide Web site for its software distribution. The URL is http://www.mag-net.co.uk/Bsoft From this day forward, Utilities Unlimited International, Inc. (Utilities) and Jim Drew (Drew) will no longer allow any of its/their copyrighted software to be distributed via any means other than Utilities' web site, BBS, and any commercial services where Utilities and/or Drew maintains a public support forum, unless written permission is given. ALL software copyrighted by Utilities and/or Drew is to be removed from any service not supported directly by Utilities and/or Drew. ALL software copyrighted by Utilities and/or Drew will not to be included with any other software package, bundle, or mailing. This includes, but is not limited to, all forms of magnetic media, optical media, and fax. Utilities and Drew are giving all services a 30 day period to remove all software copyrighted by Utilities and/or Drew. Please pass this information on to anyone who has software copyrighted by Utilities and/or Drew on their BBS, internet, usenet, or www site." Paul (Blittersoft) @endnode @node NEWS9 "Zodiac's Point rel. 3.11" @toc NEWS TITLE Zodiac's Point VERSION Release 3.11 Version 37.204 (17.10.95) AUTHOR Ralph Seichter Am Christenrain 12 56479 Stein Germany zodiac@darkness.gun.de DESCRIPTION "Zodiac's Point" (ZP) is a powerful, comfortable and yet compact point software package for the European "Z-Netz". A lot of features have been added or improved since the last release, especially the ARexx port and the memory handling. The implemented standard language is German, an English catalog file is included. NEW FEATURES ZP has been greatly enhanced, especially the ARexx port. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS AmigaOS 2.x or better required, OS 3.x functions will be used if they are available. A harddisk is strongly recommended. AVAILABILITY ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/comm/misc/zpoint-3.11.lha ZP is also available on every other Aminet mirror. PRICE ZP is shareware. You can decide how much ZP is worth to you, the minimum registration fee is 15 DM. DISTRIBUTION Shareware, for details see documentation. The unregistered version is fully functional. @endnode @node NEWS10 "Image Processing Revelations Demo" @toc NEWS TITLE Image Processing Revelations (IPR) Demo Release VERSION v1.1 COMPANY Barnie Productions P.O.Box 172 2270 AD Voorburg The Netherlands PHONE/FAX: (int)-31-70 3854173 EMAIL: barnie@xs4all.nl DESCRIPTION IPR Demo Release is the demoversion of 'Image Processing Revelations' (version 1.1), a FAST and INTUITIVE image processing package. Especially its fast operation and the easy intuitive way to control the image processing is IPR's major advantage. IPR Demo Release gives you the chance to look and feel IPR's smooth and intuitive operation. - Supported fileformats of the Demo Release: BMP, GIF, IFF, JPEG (only greyscale), TIFF, PCX, TARGA, Multipic (*) (*) Special Amiga-libraries, allowing further loading of PBM, VLAB, YUVN, PGM, PPM, QRT, SunRaster, XIPaint, and others. The full version of IPR also supports colour-JPEG, PhotoCD and Datatypes. - Support for all amiga-chipsets (support for PAL, NTSC, DblPAL, DblNTSC, VGA, MULTISCAN and others) - Easy to master, intuitive, consistent interface. - Color-manipulations on one of (or a combination of) the red, green or blue components of the picture. - Color-manipulations on specified color-registers. - Real time color manipulation. - Brightness, BroadCast, ColorFilter, ColorLimiter, Contrast, GammaCorrect, GrayScale, Intensity Range, Negative, Palette, Posterize, Solarize, Arc, Fisheye, Flip, Mirror, MultipleCopy, Rotate, Shear, Sinewave, Pixelize, Spotlight, Zoom, LineArt, Relief, ApplyPalette, ColorReduction, Palette optimization, RenderHAM, CropRectangle, Scale, and more! - Each function has a built-in demo-mode, showing the user the possibilities of that function. - Integrated viewer. The Demo Release does NOT support 24-bit images, can't save images, can't grab screens, does NOT handle AREXX-commands and does not come with a user manual. The full version of IPR supports 24-bit images (with realtime color manipulation!!), can save images in all of the above mentioned fileformats, can grab screens, has a powerfull AREXX-interface and comes with an extensive manual, covering a lot of examples (including a short but complete introduction on the use of AREXX). SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS IPR Demo Release is compatible with all Amiga computers equipped with KickStart 2.0 (v37) or higher and minimal 2 MegaBytes of memory. AVAILABLITY Aminet: ftp://ftp.luth.se/pub/aminet/gfx/conv/IPR_1_1_Demo.lha To order the full version, send an international money order to the above address. PRICE The Demo Release is free! All prices given including post and packaging. Netherlands 250 HFL Germany 240 DEM Belgium 5000 BEF Europe 180 US$ GOS, Turkey 180 US$ Other 200 US$ DISTRIBUTABILITY Copyright (C) 1995 by Barnie Productions RELEASE DATE The full version of IPR was released on April 14, 1995. The version 1.1 release was released on November 1, 1995. Jaco Barnhoorn, President, Barnie Productions @endnode @node NEWS11 "W.F.M.H MaxManager" @toc NEWS TITLE W.F.M.H. MaxManager - Directory Opus alike tool for MAX's BBS VERSION 1.0 AUTHOR Marcin Orlowski E-Mail......: carlos@felix.univ.szczecin.pl MaxNet......: 86:30042/203 FidoNet.....: 2:481/22.2 GlobalNet...: 52:4800/6 Packet Radio: SQ1BSC @ SR1BBS.#SZ.POL.EU DESCRIPTION This tool may be especially useful for all you BBS SysOps running your boards on MAX's BBS software. Up to now there was no complex utility allowing you to easily keep your whole BBS in order, so if you are looking for something like this, try the first one: W.F.M.H. Max Manager FEATURES * powerful MUI based user interface * easy import (adding) and export (copying) operations * filebase editor * multinode systems support * seven methods of databases optimalization * section editor * file hunting (all wildcards allowed) * pattern selection * section-to-drawer attachment feature * completely configurable REQUIREMENTS AmigaOS 2.04 or later, MUI (available on Aminet, "dev/gui") MAX's BBS (1.54 recommended) AVAILABILITY W.F.M.H. MaxManager's Home BBS: Silver Dream!'s BBS: +48 91 540431 Aminet, for example ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/comm/bbs/MaxManagerDemo.lha WWW page: http://dedal.univ.szczecin.pl/~carlos/MaxManager/MaxManager.html REGISTRATION To register send US$20 (cash only) to the author: Marcin Orlowski ul. Radomska 38 71-002 Szczecin Poland DISTRIBUTABILITY Demo version may be freely distributable in unaltered form. @endnode @node NEWS12 "AMIL.guide" @toc NEWS PRESS RELEASE 1. Imagine one of the following : - You are using one of those small programs that reside in the c: directory and suddenly the result of the program's execution is something unpredictable, usually causing destruction of hours' hard work (of course the same can happen for any other program). What has happened? You have just discovered a bug. - You are using a program that fulfills your needs in every aspect. It's one of those programs that are worth registering (a shareware one) or even buying (a commercial one). You believe the author should get some thanks/cash for his excellent work. - You just bought a new piece of hardware/software and something is wrong with it. The company/dealer which you bought the hardware/software from must be informed. - A new program has been released and you want more info about it. What a better way than to ask the company responsible for it? That way you could also get answers to many questions of yours regarding the actual program and you might get it delivered at you home, if you decide to buy it. What do you do in the above cases? You start searching your F/H Disks for the appropriate manual, and if you are not lucky enough to have all the manuals well organised, then the night to come is gonna be a long one. Bypassing this problem you finnaly find the manual, so you start searching for the author's/company's contact address. But how many times have you found what you were looking for? I guess not many. And when you finally find it, you discover that you have spent so many hours in searching. Also, as most of you know, lists of BBS/Newsgroups/Mailing Lists already exist in the Internet, but now there is a chance of collecting them all together in one big list, providing also any extra info that might be missing. Here comes AMIL to help you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the introduction text from AMIL.guide. The newest version of AMIL can always be found on Aminet (docs/hyper/AMIL_xxxx.lha). Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to AMIL (Amiga Main Internet List). This is (or at least tries to be) a full (???) listing of every (???) person - company - dealer - group - BBS - mailing list - newsgroup - zine related to the Amiga. Extra goodies include all Aminet sites and a lot of WWW Resources. Let's try to make it clearer. This guide contains the following : 1. People/Persons. That includes : - Programmers/Coders - Music/Gfx Artists - Hardware/Software Designers - Managers - Producers Additional information includes : - Company working for - E-Mail address - WWW address - IRC Nickname/Channel - Fidonet address - Notes about the person - "Projects" that the person has "created" 2. Companies. That includes : - Hardware/Software Distribution Companies - Hardware/Software Development Companies - Software Houses Additional information includes : - E-Mail address - FTP address - WWW address - Fidonet address - Activities - Products that are developed/distributed 3. Dealers/Vendors. That includes : - Hardware/Software Dealers - Hardware/Software Vendors Additional information includes : - E-Mail address - FTP address - WWW address - Fidonet address - Products that are distributed 4. Groups/Teams. That includes : - Programming Groups/Teams - Demo Groups/Teams - Gfx/Sfx Studios Additional information includes : - E-Mail address - FTP address - WWW address - Fidonet address - Activities - Products that are developed/distributed 5. BBS. That inlcudes all kinds of BBS dealing with Amiga. Additional information includes : - Sysop Name - E-Mail address - FTP address - Telnet address - Fidonet address - Amiganet address - Phone Lines (+modem type) 6. Mailing Lists. That includes all kinds of Mailing Lists/List Servers dealing with Amiga. Additional information includes : - E-Mail address - (Un)Subscribe address - (Un)Subscribe commands - Mail address - FTP address - Notes about the mailing list 7. Newsgroups. That includes all Usenet Newsgroups dealing with Amiga. Additional information includes : - Notes about the newsgroup - Moderator name/e-mail, if the newsgroup is moderated. 8. Zines. That includes Zines in electronic and "printed" form. Additional information includes : - E-Mail address - WWW address - Editor name/e-mail 9. Aminet Sites. That includes all sites that mirror the whole (or part of) Aminet. Additional information includes : - Country - Site name - IP address - Aminet path - Number of files mirrored 10. WWW Resources. Purpose ~~~~~~~ General purpose of this list is to provide the Amiga Community with information about every possible "PROJECT" associated with this wonderful computer. That way, you (Amiga users) can "contact" the "PROJECT" immediately and : - request misc information - send thanks/(b|f)lames (i hope not the second) - send corrections/additions/suggestions/improvements/comments - get informed about various products - exchange opinions and many more i can't even think of. - HELP THE AMIGA COMMUNITY GROW - Tassos Hadjithomaoglou chatasos@teia.ariadne-t.gr @endnode @node NEWS13 "Capital Punishment" @toc NEWS PRESS RELEASE In the beginning of 1994 "PXL COMPUTERS" of Canada set a goal to create a team consisting of experts in the fields of programming, art, and music. This team was a marriage of immensely creative forces, and was christened "CLICK BOOM". It was conceived to cause the revolution in computer games of tomorrow... ....Tomorrow is here. The very first game from "Click Boom" team to be presented to the world is a visually stunning combat epic entitled CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Distribution of the game is being negotiated with several major publishing companies. Capital Punishment should be in stores toward the end of 1995. --------------- W A R N I N G ! --------------- CAPITAL PUNISHMENT CONTAINS SCENES OF EXTREMELY REALISTIC VIOLENCE AND GORE. "PXL COMPUTERS" DOES NOT RECOMMEND THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE FOR CHILDREN OR SENSITIVE PERSONS. The plot: --------- CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - 1.Vitally harmful severe treatment or suffering; You are a warrior about to embark on a most dangerous journey. Your goal is to dethrone the evil master of an immense castle. You begin your mission in rancid, putrid catacombs of this castle. However, beware. The master is aware of your presence, and has placed guards on every floor. You must work your way up to the top of the castle, and defeat all who stand in your way in order to battle the master. Helping you along will be the spirit of your deceased mentor. However, even with his aid, this will without question be a physically-draining experience. By journey's end, you will be injured, bruised, and tired. But if you think of the price of failure, this is a small price to pay. For should you lose a battle, you will suffer a fate worse than death. You see, the master does look favorably upon assassins. Thus, he has the power to make you immortal, and you will be forced to serve him for eternity in this most unpleasant environment. Even worse, you will be confined to a single room, becoming one of his guards. And, that is the CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. Technical data: --------------- Capital Punishment is the most technically advanced and by far the most playable fighting game on Amiga. It features: - a specially developed state-of-the-art bob routine with a real-time horizontal flip that can animate two large characters, covering a combined area of over 30,000 pixels, at a rate of 25 frames per second - a horizontal scroll of 50 frames per second with acceleration and deceleration - pixel-by-pixel drawn frames of perfectly smooth animation for every character - dazzling backgrounds in 256 colours from a palette of 16.7 million - fight against another player via modem over the telephone line. - upgrading your warrior's moves as you progress in the game - a unique zone editor that has been created to maximize the combat experience through an advanced collision detection system using four collision zones (head, body, legs, and attack) for every character in every frame - semi-transparent 3D shadow that casts itself on the characters and the floor by following the characters' movements at the rate of 25 frames per second. Depending on the distance, angle or position of the main light source, the shadow deforms over walls, staircases, etc. - additional visual effects such as: realistic blood animation; red screen flash after every blow; screen shakes after a player is punched or falls; screen scroll with every move; - keyboard redefine option - a stunning soundtrack and sound FX - many secret things to discover for yourself ---------------------------------------------------------- WATCH OUT FOR A FULLY PLAYABLE DEMO OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT! COMING SOON TO A BBS NEAR YOU... ---------------------------------------------------------- (C) 1995 Pxl computers, Inc. "Click Boom" is the entertainment software team of "Pxl computers" of Canada For additional info on "Click Boom" and Capital Punishment: ----------------------------------------------- Internet e-mail address: alexander.petrovic@subterrania.tor250.org ----------------------------------------------- @endnode @node NEWS14 "patch1230scsi 39.2" @toc NEWS TITLE patch1230scsi VERSION patch1230scsi 39.2 by Thomas Kessler (01.11.95) AUTHOR Copyright ©1995 by Thomas Kessler, Sonnenstrasse 95, D-91564 Neuendettelsau, Germany. kessler@fim.uni-erlangen.de DESCRIPTION patch1230scsi is for all users of the Blizzard 1230-I and 1230-II board with scsi-controller (scsi Version 1 Rev. 22). It fixes a small bug in the device-code, which lets many programs (like ReOrg) not recognize the scsi-drives. It also removes the long(!) boot-delay and is able to install a work- around for the memory-bug, which can cause a heavy system-crash if two SIMMs are installed. NEW FEATURES The registered version (39.3) is able to replace 'PrepareEmul' which does not work on most Blizzard 1230 I/II boards. 'PrepareEmul' is required for ShapeShifter MAC-Emulation (c) by Christian Bauer (aminet/misc/emu/ShapeShift*). For registration-info get v39.2 from aminet or contact the author. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS A1200, Blizzard 1230-I/II board AVAILABILITY ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/hard/misc/patch1230.lha (3300) PRICE patch1230scsi is SHAREWARE. If you like it and if you use it longer than 14 days, send me something (DM 10 or US $10 (cash) is appropriate) and you will become a registered user. Please include also a detailed system- configuration. You will receive every update for free via email as registered user. DISTRIBUTABILITY It is illegal to distribute this program on disks which cost more than US $5 per floppy disk, or more than US $20 per CD. OTHER This software is provided as-is, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. In no event will the author be liable for direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages or data loss resulting from the use or application of this software. The entire risk as to the results and performance of this software is assumed by the user. @endnode @node NEWS15 "SetMemPri v1.1" @toc NEWS TITLE SetMemPri VERSION 1.1 (15.8.95) PROXITY SOFTWORKS A cooperation of Amiga developers. Their intention is to release high quality software under one label. Members are: Boris Folgmann, Ulrich Sibiller and Christian Hechelmann. PETS Proxity Engineering and Technical Support Usenet: pets@amiuni.tynet.sub.org Fidonet: 2:246/1416.0 (pets) AUTHOR Boris Folgmann Address: Friedrichstrasse 7 71546 Aspach Germany Usenet: Internet: WWW: Fidonet: 2:246/1416.41 (Boris) IRC: PRX PGP Fingerprint: 82 84 70 38 26 5E 50 5A 9C DB CA CA 62 0A 31 52 Phone: ++49-(0)7191-23439 Fax: ++49-(0)7191-2604 DESCRIPTION SetMemPri changes priorities of memory regions. This is useful to give fast 32-bit memory a higher priority than slow 16-bit memory. With the LIST option you get a very nice list of your memory regions. EXAMPLE > SetMemPri LIST SetMemPri 1.1 (15.8.95) Set Memory Region Priority Freeware © 1995 by PROXITY SOFTWORKS Lower Upper Free Pri Name Attributes $0280020 $0600000 30032 10 expansion memory PUBLIC FAST 24BITDMA KICK $1000020 $1400000 278704 7 GVP 32-bit RAM PUBLIC FAST $0000420 $0100000 845048 -10 chip memory PUBLIC CHIP LOCAL 24BITDMA KICK > SetMemPri "GVP 32-bit RAM" 15 LIST SetMemPri 1.1 (15.8.95) Set Memory Region Priority Freeware © 1995 by PROXITY SOFTWORKS Lower Upper Free Pri Name Attributes $1000020 $1400000 278688 15 GVP 32-bit RAM PUBLIC FAST $0280020 $0600000 28312 10 expansion memory PUBLIC FAST 24BITDMA KICK $0000420 $0100000 845048 -10 chip memory PUBLIC CHIP LOCAL 24BITDMA KICK Normally the attributes are printed in one line. This was changed only for this text to fit best in 75 columns. Notice the "before and after" effect! :-) FEATURES Simply enter SetMemPri without any arguments to get a list of the arguments. NAME : Memory region name. PRIORITY: New memory region priority (-128 to 127). LIST : List all memory regions. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Kickstart 2.04 or later Workbench 2.0 or later AVAILABILITY PRICE Free DISTRIBUTABILITY Freeware (C) 1995 by Proxity Softworks @endnode @node NEWS16 "SMG Press Release" @toc NEWS SMG Press Release Tuesday, November 28 At approximately noon today, the first shipment of A4000T systems arrived at our warehouse. We are turning these systems around immediately. Some dealers have requested that part of their first orders be sent overnight. All will be on their way to dealers tomorrow. Not all dealers who are authorized have ordered systems. Please note well - We have received several reports of consumers buying systems - and paying for them - from unauthorized dealers. There are no systems going to unauthorized dealers. BE CAREFUL @endnode @node NEWS17 "North American Warranty Information" @toc NEWS North American warranty info From: Paul Bielski, SMG The Amigas come with a four (4) month Amiga Technology warranty, and and eight (8) months SMG extended warranty. The net for the customer is one (1) year of coverage at no cost (except getting the unit to their selling dealer or an authorized repair center.) We will pay the return freight to the consumer. Since we've never had to repair any yet under the new program, I cannot say from experience what the turnaround will be. We have set very specific targets of five (5) days total. The new Amigas have indeed shipped. The first orders arrived and are on their way to dealers. Paul Bielski / SMG @endnode @node NEWS18 "WOA Directions" @toc NEWS [From Wonder Computers, information on reaching the World of Amiga show next weekend without taking an expensive taxi. -Jason] Here are instructions for getting to the World of Amiga at the Toronto International Centre of Commerce using the public transit (TTC or Toronto Transit Commission) from downtown Toronto. Take a subway to the Lawrence West subway station. There, transfer onto the Malton bus (#58B) which takes you eventually onto Airport Road and actually makes a stop directly in front of the Tor. Int. Centre of Commerce. Along the way, the bus driver will ask for $2 as an extra fee for the longer distance required to go from Metro Toronto to Mississauga (where the World of Amiga is being held). @endnode @node FEATURE1 "A Trip To Be, Inc." @toc FEATURE =========================================================================== A Trip To Be, Inc. (or: Mr. Compton Goes To Menlo Park) By: {" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== [We ran this article in AR 3.20...but neglected to create a button for it. Oops. -Jason] Schedules and plans can turn out to be funny things. I was supposed to be at the Cologne Computer '95 show (commonly, but not really accurately, referred to as the WOA), but that didn't work out. I found out, after the fact, that I could have called in a favor to go out to the Toaster show. Luckily for me, we've had so many reports for both shows in I almost feel like I was there. Equally lucky, the weekend didn't go wasted. I was able to change plans and get myself a trip to Menlo Park, home of the suddenly de-cloaked Be, Incorporated. For those who aren't aware of Be or their first product, the BeBox, here's a quick summary. Be, Inc. was founded in 1990 by Jean-Louis Gassee, who left Apple as a head engineering exec. His company set to work to create a new computer platform on the premise that multiprocessing is a good thing. To that end, the BeOS was geared to take advantage of up to 8 of them, initially AT&T's Hobbit RISC, later the Motorola/IBM/Apple PowerPC. The BeBox is the first computer to implement the BeOS, and sports PCI and ISA busses, SCSI and IDE as standard, and a boatload of onboard I/O including stereo in and out, MIDI, and IR ports. The box is driven by two PowerPC 603 chips. Be's staff hit the computer world with a blitz, first at a trade show and then with extensive information on the net. With such touted features as a multithreaded, pre-emptively multitasking OS with all the niceties like memory protection Amiga users have been asking for and compatibility with industry standard (read: inexpensive) video cards, monitors, and peripherals, my interest was caught. Besides, at the time I heard about it, the PowerAmiga announcement hadn't been made yet. So I did some talking with Gassee and he arranged a flight for me. (It was on United, which isn't nearly as nice as Kiwi, but I'm not going to get picky now.) I arrived at San Francisco airport, took a limo out to the office building, and went in. I had envisioned their office might be in a 15-story glass and metal cube building where all sorts of companies would sneer at me behind closed doors with all sorts of top secret technology I'd never see. (This is, after all, Silicon Valley.) Fortunately, it was a much more tame building than that and Be had the entire third floor so there was a minimum of intimidation. (There were an awful lot of mirrors on the first floor, but nothing I couldn't handle.) So there I was. Maureen Hendrickson, the office administrative assistant, fetched Gassee, and off he went to grab Melissa Rogers, Project Manager, Benoit Schilling, 5-year Be veteran in software, and another gentleman whose name escapes me. Gassee and I held a brief meeting, and then I was whisked off for a short tour of the office floor (very sparsely furnished, lots of old couches and tables, though.) Then came the demo. The BeBox was set up in a special room designated for demos. They have a pretty high-quality stereo setup in there, along with a prototype BeBox case, an old Hobbit-based machine, and the demo unit, housed in an open case under the table. The machine was equipped with a PCI GXE #9 graphics card running at 800x600x256 (presently, the maximum implemented resolution), a standard ISA PC Ethernet card, and a special keyboard/mouse ISA card hacked up for temporary use, as there has been a software problem with the Be's standard ports. In addition, there was some rather large amount of disk space and 32 megs of memory. Screenshots of the BeOS are available on Be's web site (listed later on.) But a description of the "feel" is in order. The influence of the Mac System isn't very hard to find--the general paradigm is the same. There's the single-screen desktop, windows that open on it, and tasks that switch either by clicking on their window or by selecting them from a list, accessed in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Amiga users will feel pretty at home opening up a "newsh", though, a bash variant shell that has full control over the filesystem. In fact, the entire OS is so tightly threaded through the built-in database that, for example, renaming a folder in a shell will immediately update all on-screen GUI references to that folder. My demo "chaperone" proceeded to show off various aspects of the BeBox--the speed of a Mandelbrot recalculation, the musical capabilities, and the interprocess clipping. Then, of course, all of them at once (two Mandelbrot zooms while two MIDI tracks and a sampled CD track played with three animation windows running.) Yes, the system slowed down (you could watch the processors fall out of sync in the Mandelbrot zooms, since each processor handles odd/even lines.) But it kept chugging along, rather nicely, too. All the while the old Hobbit box next to me ran a landscape-generating screen saver that hid an old texture-mapped game demo that wasn't exactly stable. Then it was time for more important things, like lunch. Over lunch, about a dozen Be employees gathered around. We discovered that I was the only person present who hadn't worked for Apple in some way in my lifetime. Of course, the "God I hated Apple I'm so glad I'm not there anymore" stories started flying...and there was something very eerily familiar about them. Stories of incompetent, overbearing engineering management. Stories of over-delayed product releases (Melissa was the Project Manager for Mac's Copland OS prior to coming to Be. She told us that her Apple sources indicate Copland will likely be as late as December 1997.) I got myself back behind the wheels of the BeBox for a bit longer after lunch...played around with the GUI and shell (you are arbitrarily limited to opening up 6 shells. Sorry to those Amiga folks who like opening up dozens of shells to see how many you can get, but they just set a limit and are done with the matter), and then with a Descent-like game in beta stage. All very fluid. The TCP stack seemed competent, as was their quickie web browser that was whipped up in-house. I spent time talking at length with Joe Palmer, head of hardware for Be. He described the production process (contracted out to a company who profited from an Apple loss, buying up a highly modern but abandoned production facility of theirs) and walked me through the motherboard. We also did a lot of talking about the face of the computer marketplace, the future of the Web, and earthquakes. Gassee and I had some time to talk again afterwords. He reiterated what he's been saying all along, that the BeBox is for computer enthusiasts, hackers, and those who aren't looking to just run Microsoft Office. They're not expecting to put a computer in every home, just in the homes of people who don't want the everyday. And the cost of admission reflects it, at least for now--a base unit is $1600, and that comes with essentially just the motherboard and I/O card, you supply graphics, memory, storage, and monitor. Be projects about $2500 for a "reasonably equipped" machine of 16 megs of memory and the other accessories. 16 megs is definitely a must, as the 32-meg BeBox--which wasn't running any major items worth noting--took about 11 megs to boot. The minimum OS footprint is 4.5 megs. I talked for a while with CK, Be's head of developer support. A veteran of Apple dev support, CK was largely concerned with how to get the next 670 machines to the developers that want them. (a dozen already have them.) We also talked at length about the Web and how it made his job infinitely easier--no more phone calls or mass mailings, just put it on the web site and be done with it. The BeBox is definitely for the networked crowd, or as Gassee put it, "If you come into my shop and want to buy a BeBox, but don't have an Internet account, I don't want you to buy one." After about 5 hours in the company of the Be staff and machines, it was time to call it a night. I did have dinner with Benoit the following night, where it was time to buckle down and get to some more meaty issues, like... Q: Is Be really going to focus on selling their operating system over selling machines, as the web site indicates they're inclined to do? A: Well, Benoit doesn't think so, anyway. It could easily go either way, but he and I are in agreement that we just don't see it being overly attractive to buy an operating system. Q: How easy/difficult is it to add extra processors to the BeOS, since you're supposed to be able to use up to 8 in the OS? A: At least at first, there will have to be specific OS versions for any extra processors (and extra machines, since there is no provision for changing processors on the BeBox). They are considering doing a generic version that would simply adjust to its environment, but memory overhead issues come into play. Q: Are there going to be, say, Unix variants ported to the BeBox? A: Benoit feels it would be such a difficult task it wouldn't really be worth the trouble, but the logic analyzers are available to developers if they really want to give it a shot... There was also quite a bit of questioning coming FROM Be about the Amiga, both on Thursday from the staff (including Be's webmaster who wanted to make sure Amiga users would have access to the Be developer manual) and from Benoit Friday night. But that's only fair, they paid for me to pick their brains. Quite a lot of the response to their product announcement came from Amiga users, but the subsequent announcement of upcoming PowerPC Amiga development has quelled that surge somewhat. So, the question I've been asked a lot is, "Is the BeBox the next Amiga?" Well, it all depends on what you think the Amiga is. If the Amiga is doing amazing things with relatively limited resources, the answer is clearly no--Amiga Technologies is shipping machines with less than half the memory the BeOS needs to BOOT. If you see the Amiga as simply being an example of a well-constructed alternative in the computer market, then the answer is yes, after a sense. The BeBox isn't going to be touted as a giant-killer, there are no plans to target Compaq, IBM, Dell, and Microsoft and take them out of commission. At least in Europe, the Amiga is aimed a bit more at these sorts of markets than the Be is. On the other hand, the Be has the hardware advantage at the moment--Dave Haynie has implicitly and explicitly said that the BeBox is a rough example of where the Amiga SHOULD be now, all things going according to plan and there not being an extended suspension of Amiga development. Is the BeBox a good reason to throw your Amiga out the window? Mine's staying planted on my desk. But just when it seemed that the Amiga might fade away into obscurity for good and the face of Windows would overwhelm the landscape, Be came out with a pretty impressive bang. Competition in the computer market pleases me, and I think it may have been directly responsible for Amiga Tech's sudden willingness to talk a bit more specifically about the future. I saw a lot of good things. I saw a compact but loose company with a group of talented people who enjoy working with each other and believe in what they're working on. I saw a machine that had a real personality and feel to it (No, no dragging screens up and down, but it has a feel), a real viable alternative to the Intel/Microsoft wave, a potential ally against a common foe, you might say. And I saw the reason AmiTech's been more open to their customers. So the trip was a success, even if I didn't walk out with a new computer. The Flip Side: Of course, there are always those details that are worth mentioning that just don't fit the flow of the article... Robert Reiswig (who co-authored one of the VTU Expo reports in this issue) and I got together Saturday night for a drive and a couple of rounds of Virtual Worlds Battletech. As far as we can tell, it's still all driven by Amiga 500s, and there were lots of 1084Ses in sight. Rob pretty much blew me away most of the time, but I did finish with 5 kills versus 6 times killed, and kept my score in the positive numbers. Two Be employees, at different times, pointed out that one of the things they remembered the most about the Amiga was the screen dragging. The BeBox has an application that allows you to monitor the processor usage. You can also shut off a processor to watch the load increase (useful for debugging, I'm told.) You can also shut BOTH of them off. Oops. I didn't get heckled wearing either my Amiga (PC-Task) or Be t-shirts over the weekend. Man, it's really different being in the Silicon Valley. @endnode @node FEATURE2 "Early Commodore: A History" @toc FEATURE =========================================================================== Early Commodore: A History Kenny Anderson kend@dhp.com =========================================================================== The following article was originally published in the disk magazine, Grapevine, in 1993. However, after reading several questions about Commodore's early days, and reading even more erroneous answers, I've decided to release to a wider audience. All the facts and dates below are as accurate as I can make them. I'm sorry it finishes a little abruptly, but it was originally part of a series. Kenny Anderson aka Ken D/LSD (kend@dhp.com) 4/11/95 --- Most people would claim to know quite a lot about Commodore. There's a lot of myths, a lot of bullshit, and a lot of lies. And now, as Commodore enters a new (final?) era of it's existence, it's probably a good time to take a good look at where the company came from. Commodore, like so many of the modern computing giants, didn't start out in computing at all. Commodore originally wasn't even in the electrical retail market, like Sinclair or Amstrad, but in typewriters. It all started when a young soldier at the USA Fort Dix showed a talent for unjamming typewriters. Whilst his piers were busy pretending to shoot each other and playing war games, Jack Tramiel was sorting out more basic problems with the army Hermes's. Not a talent to build an empire on, but when Tramiel left the army, he set up his own typewriter repair business in the Bronx. To supplement his income, he also moonlighted as a cab driver. Business went slowly but steadily, until Tramiel pulled off a deal with Czechoslovakia to assemble typewriters in Canada. The family upped it's roots and moved to Toronto, whilst Tramiel laid the founding stones of Commodore International. Shortly afterward, it occurred to Tramiel that he may as well sell his own typewriters as someone else. It cut out the middle man - more profit, less effort. So he took over a typewriter manufacturing concern in Berlin, and added to the growing empire that was Commodore. At that time, the business world of the States and Europe was being flooded by cheap mechanical adding machines from Japan. Showing off his talent for listening to his customers, Tramiel moved into the delights of adding machines. In 1962, the company was successful enough to go public. Entitled Commodore Business Machines, Canada, Tramiel was the president, and the chairman and banker was the president of Atlantic Acceptance Corporation, C. Powell Morgan. Three years later, C. Powell Morgan was publicly condemned by a Canadian Royal Commission for "his defiance of all accepted business principles" and acts of "rapacious and unprincipled manipulation". Whether this was justified is a matter of opinion, but the failure to meet payments on a $5 million short-term loan didn't help his case. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you view the story), Morgan died of leukaemia before he could be tried in court. The Commission also took a good long look at Commodore and Tramiel. It wasn't entirely convince of his innocence in the Morgan's affairs, but decided not to indict him. The bad publicity didn't help Commodore's position in the market, however. Money was becoming tight, and the outlook was becoming bleak for Tramiel. A lifeline came when a Canadian investor, Irving Gould, agreed to buy a substantial stake in Commodore, in return for the position of Chairman. The new team of Gould and Tramiel set to work on building commodore's position. The adding machine business was becoming a dead duck. The Japanese had the market almost sewn up. As a last-ditch attempt, Gould suggested that Tramiel take a trip to Japan, and get a little first-hand experience of the market. Whilst over there, Tramiel saw, for the first time, the new electronic desk-top calculator. Recognising the potential in the calculators, he foresaw the end of volume sales for mechanical adding machines. As soon as he returned, commodore's strategy was shifted away from adding machines, and onto electronic calculators. For the first time in months, fortune smiled on Commodore. It was Tramiel's company who took the first electronic pocket calculator onto the market, using a Bowmar LED display, and a Texas Instruments integrated chip. Only Clive Sinclair could improve on the design years later, by significantly reducing the power consumption and miniaturising the whole package. Suddenly, everyone went calculator crazy. Machines, equivalent in power to those that are now given away free with gallons of petrol and insurance quotes, were sold for $100+, then a perfectly reasonable price. Commodore, by now used to running into problems, ran into a big one. Texas Instruments, Commodore's chief supplier of the main chips in the calculators, took a leaf out of Tramiel's book. "Cutting out the middle man", they launched their own range of calculators. Of course, they used their own chips at a fraction of the cost, and this had a disastrous effect on Commodore. Chips prices dropped from $12 to a buck each. Commodore had warehouses full of calculators built containing chips at the old price. After years of steadily increasing profits, 1975 showed Commodore making a $5 million loss on sales of nearly $50 million. It taught Tramiel and Gould a lesson: relying on outside suppliers for key components was risky. Tramiel commented later: "From there on, I felt the only way to continue in the electronics business was to control our own destiny." Easier said than done, at those times; the calculator and semi-conductor markets were risky and unpredictable. Gould, once again, came to Commodore's rescue by personally guaranteeing a $3 million loan, giving Commodore enough buying power to take over MOS Technology in November 1976. MOS, a struggling manufacturer of calculator and other semiconductors, was only one of a series of acquisitions: Frontier, a Los Angeles manufacturer of CMOS chips, and MDSA, a LCD maker, were snapped up as well. This give Commodore more experience in key technologies than firms many times Commodore's size. But the important acquisition was MOS Technology, which became known as MosTek. With the company came an unknown engineer, Chuck Peddle. A year before being taken over, the MosTek team had worked out an improvement to Motorola's 6800. They called it the 6502. Legend has it that Tramiel was accosted in the corridor, one day, by Chuck Peddle. Peddle told Jack to, basically, forget about hand-held calculators. What about a desktop computer? "Build it," said Tramiel, and the PET was born, using MosTek's 6502. The announcement that Commodore were working on a computer was greeted by a resounding silence. At that time, early 1976, the US (micro)computer market was made up of hobbyists; small-time engineers, working on the kitchen table with soldering irons and home-made displays. This didn't discourage Tramiel. Working by his own idiom, "they [the public] don't yet know what they need". It's worth pointing out, at this point, that Tramiel could have easily called the new machine the Personal Electronic Transactor. But, by naming it the PET, it tamed a device which was sure to bring out the technophobes in even the most worldy of America's hobbyists. The 8K PET was first shown at the Chicago Consumer Electronics Show in 1977. It met an enthusiastic reception, but not without a behind-the-scenes rush to get the PET ready for the show. Chuck Peddle, responsible for building the prototype, was under huge pressure to get the machine ready and working in time for the show. This is a classic instance of the marketing boys driving the R&D unit. Peddle crated up the still-unfinished PET and transported it to the show. After working for 3 solid days, without sleep, he managed to get the prototype working well enough to display. However well the machine itself worked, the word was out. Within a few months, Commodore was receiving 50 calls a day from dealers, all wanting to sell the PET. This demand for the machine allowed Commodore to dictate terms to dealers. Rather than allowing just anyone to sell the machine, dealers had to demonstrate an excellent credit history, pay a cash deposit on orders, and show they had a service engineer and a retail outlet. Tramiel also concentrated on selling the PET to the US and Europe educational market. Demand continued to grow, and Tramiel remembered his marketing maxim about the middle man. "Why bother with dealers?" he asked himself. Tramiel approached the big retails chain stores, and within a few weeks, the right to sell Commodore products, which the dealers had fought so hard to obtain, was practically meaningless. The dealers were in direct competition with the household names. @endnode @node FEATURE3 "Nova Design Online Conference" @toc FEATURE =========================================================================== Nova Design Online Conference =========================================================================== jcompton > Bots and humans, please begin your logs. Welcome, everyone, to the Amiga Report Nova Design Online conference. Tonight we have Kermit Woodall, one third of Nova Design, the company that produces ImageFX 2.1a, the premier image processing system for the Amiga. This conference, in edited form, will appear in Amiga Report Magazine. NovaKermi > Thanks Jason, and other operators, for having us here. I'd also like to thank all of the ImageFX users out there, as well as you FUTURE ImageFX owners! oleg > novakermit, thanks for joining, and when is the PPC port of IFX coming? NovaKermi > I assume you mean a Power Amiga port with Native Mode modules for ImageFX hooks and effects. We're not telling. :) MrDaniel > When will the next version of ImageFX appear? What new goodies will it have? NovaKermi > Next MAJOR release of ImageFX is slated for sometime in the first half of 1996. What it will contain is a closely guarded secret. We don't really like to dicuss future features until we're right at shipping time as we don't always precisely know what will make the release. This is often due to the fact that we work closely with other Amiga companies and with our own programmers right up to deadline on cutting-edge stuff that sometimes simply isn't done in time! LoboFX > Hi NOVA... I want to ask you if you plan to have some more distribution around the world as the Amiga reaches new markets, like LatinAmerica, are you planning this? NovaKermi > Distribution in other countries is always a goal of ours, but it's often simply that no distributor has approached us seriously. We get lots of inquiries but few actually order. We're in most all major non-US countries, but not in all AREAS of those countries. Babbage > why does imagefx seem to do some things real slowl? all written in c? And do you fell the amiga is a secure platform for you and you will be sticking with it? (we hope) NovaKermi > Some functions in ImageFX may seem slow, but that's because of what they are having to do. As many many reviews have pointed out, ImageFX is as fast as it gets in effects! ImageFX is written in C and Assembly. We're a 100% Amiga company and we're doing very well thanks! Seed > Do you feel threatened by Photogenics in any way? :) NovaKermi > No, why? Photogenics has a very small subset of the features that ImageFX has. In fact, since it has no ARexx, true region control, batch processing, virtual memory, support for non-Cybergraphx cards, scanner/framegrabber support, and so on, and since it's focus is on painting - whereas our focus is on batched image processing and effects, we're two different markets. Bagman > Image Studio has an uncrash utility which saves your buffers to disk when your Amiga crashes. Any hope IFX can do something like that? NovaKermi > Email me a more detailed description and we'll look at putting it on "the list". IronDuck > I was going to ask what you think of Photogenics but you already seem to have answered that, I don't agree with your views though.. it's getting better for every update - AREXX is coming soon, etc¨ NovaKermi > If you want the best here and now, with much more advanced features to be "coming soon", then let's talk about ImageFX. Eh? ;) dlman > I know that this is going to seem like I have been living in a concrete bunker away from the rest of the world, but I thought that ImageFX was a GVP product, and GVP was out of business, and did you all aquire all rights to ImageFX? NovaKermi > Heh! We're the creators of ImageFX. GVP licensed the rights to market it, and we took it back when our contract with them ended. Very friendly parting and all that though. We market it directly now, worldwide, and continue to focus directly on the Amiga! Trib > Any chance that the next version of ImageFX will have Quicktime and AVI loaders and _savers_? I have talked to Newtek Flyer owners that would like to directly convert Flyer clips into Quicktime animations. Also, will we ever see a CyberGraphX version of ViewTek? ga NovaKermi > Some sort of support for Quicktime and AVI _may_ happen. Bear in mind that most of the popular compression CODECs used in these are either patented or undocumented. I understand the Xanim guys had to get special permission to use even a precompiled object module for thier code. A Cybergraphx version of ViewTek is very likely. scottj > Kermit, what are the chances of porting IFX to the BeBox? NovaKermi > BeBox is HIGHLY unlikely. Unless someone mails us lots and lots of cash. ;) MrDaniel > I've heard some reports about the 2GO board from Phase5. What do you think of it? Will ImageFX support it? Full screen real-time 50Hz effects would be nice. :) NovaKermi > I've heard nothing of the 2GO board as yet. Ask next time around. Rioter > What do you guys priority to improve for the next major version of ImageFX? NovaKermi > Specifics? Specifically more, and better, and updated Toaster/Flyer support... more effects, more automated batching for effects over time. That's as specific as I can be. Seed > Is there a 060 version planned? How does your current code use it? NovaKermi > '060 support is easy for us. We're pre-designed to allow specific modules for specific processors to be called automatically. Mostly you're talking a recompile to support an '060, but then again, we've yet to SEE a real '060 around here yet. mark[0] > Have you yet expirimented with or observed your software's performance on any RISC processor? NovaKermi > Nope. When a RISC Amiga shows up, or a card even, we'll know then. Harv > hey Kermit, who created that brilliant Amiga guide help system in ImageFX2? Best Amiga app help system I've ever seen. :) NovaKermi > Commodore created the Amigaguide help system Harv. Didn't you know that? ;) ...oh, you mean the CONTENTS of our Help system? ...heh heh. 'twere Mr. Laser here of course! LoboFX > I would like to see some other products coming from Nova, like Paint Programs or even a new release of Thomas' EXCELLENT Rend24 (a solution for DCTV owners)... Are you planning new products? :) ... NovaKermi > ImageFX contains a paint program...it's the only one we're working on. As for future Rend24's...probably not. IMP and AutoFX in ImageFX handle those needs. However, we DO have new products planned for the future. bcampbell> "I have never played with ImageFX that much because my CD32/SX-1 does not have a hard drive yet. So I get a friend to convert stuff with his copy. However, I noticed that ImageFX doesn't convert Digiview 21 bit images. Will this be fixed soon? NovaKermi > Digiview 21 images have loaded fine here and we've never gotten a bug report that's proved otherwise. We loaded our entire test suite of DV21's in fact. If you've got a bad DV21 image, email or mail it to us. [Intermission in which RobR, Achilles, and Quinto win CineMorph packages] Timmer > Just wondering if you have any plans to update ImageFX's GUI to use a fancy BOOPSI GUI system such as ClassAct? NovaKermi > Not in our plans at this time. We're concentrating on more effects and more compatibility with Amiga hardware as well as scanners and such. Cyberwlf > I am a Photogenics owner since V1.0 and have continually upgraded all the way through to V1.2 and also an ImageFX 1.5 user since the coverdisk giveaway ;^). Since buying Pgs1.x I have become accustomed to way Pgs does things (GUI) Vs IFX's style of doing things. Is it possible a future version of IFX will be like AdPro 2.5 or Pgs1.x? And also will you be offering in the future some sort of cross-upgrade offer or some sort of offer to make it more affordable to those who cant normally afford it.:) And one last question does IFX2.x support CyberGFX System and the Cybervision64? :) NovaKermi > ImageFX's interface system is highly acclaimed and versitile. We really do not plan to alter this. I'm not really in the marketing side of things here so I don't know about upgrade offers now that the CU Amiga deal is over. ImageFX was possibly the first program supporting Cybergraphics, well ahead of PGs, with our own preview module that let you preview, paint, and image process on the CyberG. dlman > Will IFX support the SGI file formats? and if so, will it be included or a seperate package? NovaKermi > ImageFX already supports about all of the SGI formats. SGI RGB, Softimage, Wavefront, and something else I believe. All included. Bagman > Will imagefx suport VideoMaster (the pcmcia digitizer from HighSoft)? NovaKermi > I've never heard of it, let 'em know to contact us and we'll try to support it. MrDaniel > Will the next version have a nice animation GUI (with miniature pictures, a la Scala) that makes it possible to easily edit/compose animations? Will it have full 16/24-bit CGfx support, in previews etc? Photogenics 24-bit window based GUI is quite nice. NovaKermi > Re: Animation GUI, that's a bit too specific for discussing here. As for 16/24 bit Cybergraphx support, it's had that before any other package. Yes, ImageFX does preview in full color (15/16/24-bit) on ANY Cybergraphx system. We do this in a Windowing GUI that's an offshoot of the screen-based GUI of the standard ImageFX. Babbage > with not changing what you use as your gui front end, how about changing the layout a bit, putting propper menus and such, nothing hard, making it easier to use and find things? You amybe be concentrating on effects more, but the gui is still important, its what the users communicate to your system with =:) NovaKermi > It's entirely possible for ANYONE to write their own front end to ImageFX to make it look more like Photoshop or anything. Our current interface is the result of the needs of the Amiga and the variety of addon display cards. A totally windowing display keeps any interface off of DCTV, Opalvision, and a great many other display cards that have NO internal support for interfacing with Windowing displays. If someone wanted to write a Photoshop styled interface for ImageFX and sell it directly or elsewise, I'd love to talk with them, but our primary interface exists for the needs of the vast majority of Amiga owners who can only get interfaces working via overlapping screens when they want a preview over their DCTV, IV24, Opal, etc. Schrade > I just want to repeat the sentiments that the ImageFX GUI is not the greatest. :-/ I would like to see ImageFX use a regular GadTools GUI like ADPro does OR at least a GUI like ClassAct. If you need more info on ClassAct, please let me know and I can get you in touch with the authors (Tau, caldi, Timmer) Harv > Why don't you use the newer faster jpeg scheme, kermit, such..... as in feck's fastjpeg_aga? is there a reason? NovaKermi > Our JPEG support is based on the IJG's code, although not the very latest release, whereas Feck is using his own assembly code I believe. We're trying to stay with IJG though for standardization. Seed > Did Escom ever approach you? Do you think/care about it? NovaKermi > We have and continue to talk with Escom. More I cannot say. xterm > 1) What about support for Progressive JPEG? 2) what about future [direct] support for OSes such as Win 3.1/95/NT, Unix variants (specifically SGI), etc? NovaKermi > As we upgrade to the latest IJG code we'll have progressive JPEG. If you mean porting to Win95, etc, ...absolutely not! ImageFX is Amiga software. dlman > Will IFX support DIRECT communication with the PAR and have a rotoscope type of interface for animation playback/editing? NovaKermi > Only the future will tell how the PAR support will improve. We've never seen a PAR here. The PAR module(s) were written at DPS and given to us. The module(s) lack ARexx support unfortunately. As we get and work with a PAR, support can improve. Seed > Is PNG a format you believe in? NovaKermi > The PNG is out there. It's apparently going to make a shot at being the next GIF. So long as it's supporters upgrade and maintain it, we'll support it. scottj > Kermit what happened to the agreement between Amiga image... processing companies to share buffers between their programs? NovaKermi > The agreement was never universal. ASDG/ER never responded, and they're no longer supporting the Amiga anyways now, BlackBelt created some ARexx scripts, but never supported the standard interface. Other companies have come and gone, but in the wake of Commodore, it seems that few new standards are going to be adopted for the immediate future. jcompton > This question was sent e-mail from Bohus Blahut, who reviewed ImageFX 2.1's upgrade in Amiga Report: "When will you include enveloping for your functions? Lightwave is a great example of the value of setting envelopes or "trends", and ImageMaster has them. Also, can IFX batch a single frame repeatedly throughout a sequence, i.e. an animated texture over a still? (ADPro does it.)" . NovaKermi > To my knowlege Imagemaster does not have envelopes, it's their Windows product line that does this. However, this sort of functionality is on "the list" and has been for some time. ImageFX can batch a single frame throughout a sequence, via multiple adds in AutoFX, or directly in IMP. Both are batch processors included at no extra charge in ImageFX. Frotz > OK, I have a vlab motion that i'm not using. if you pay shipping you can play with it for 2 months until I get my 060. will you support it? NovaKermi > We get loans directly from the OEMs. Thanks anyways! As for support, what do you want? Vlab JPEG loading? We're waiting on them for the information and have been for some time. I've personally asked Macrosystems in Germany about this a long time ago, and have re-asked via Noahji's personnel. Borrowing the board isn't the problem. It's knowing what's different about their JPEG format. We support standard JPEGs, and theirs don't _seem_ to be standard and aren't according to some. Babbage > do you see adpro as being serious competition to you? And what do you think to AT and their amiga upgrade plans (both ppc and non ppc base). Cheers for this irc session to us all btw. :) NovaKermi > ADpro is three year old technology that isn't supported or generally sold anymore. No, it's not competitive. The Power Amiga sounds great. The new Amiga 1200s and the new 4000 towers are finally here (yay!) and are priced reasonably for Amigas. Seed > How do you see IFX competing with the SGI rivals? I like the interface ;) NovaKermi > The Amiga doesn't compete with SGIs. The speed just isn't here. Sigh. LoboFX > OK, what about more configurable GUI ? I mean changing buttons... NovaKermi > Our current GUI can run on screens or in windows, on it's own screens or any Public Screen. It works in register color modes down to 2 colors or on other screens in up to 24-bit color. You can alter the interface to make the menus ordered in any order you like with any options you like. You can assign macros to any menu items already. It's in the manual. Even for ImageFX 1.5 for that matter. All the keys can be edited and assigned macros/ARexx scripts as well. MrDaniel > The GUI is the only thing that have kept me from buying ImageFX. Its nice for ECS/AGA machines, but I have a CV64 and want my software to make full use of it. You said that anyone could write their own front end for ImageFX. How? NovaKermi > ImageFX already takes full advantage of the Cybervision 64 and runs in full 24-bit color on it. scottj > Kermit, how about adding macro recording to IFX? I know about AutoFxbut its not the same. NovaKermi > ImageFX has built-in macro recording. Hit ! to turn it on, @ to turn it off. _Ivan_ > will nova design/IFX have the desire or opportunity or however you might state that to make their effects/filters usuable as lightwave plugins.. kind of like the KPT tools that will be available for the IBM version of lightwave, for exmple for postprocessing ? NovaKermi > Could be, only the future can tell. (ie: no comment) :) dlman > Kermi: Does IFX have 32-BIT graphics support? As far as INTERNAL image processing... If not, how does IFX handle Tranparancy? NovaKermi > Yes, internally we support 32-bits and 56-bits for many things, including compositing. Seed > Will there be full JStream support? (Digital Broadcaster) NovaKermi > Full Jstream support is already in ImageFX. Cyberwlf > IFX 1.5 has a bug when you halt arexx scripts during execution it freezes the program (well the GUI atleast :)) ...Is there any fix for this? Does IFX2.x solve this bug? (I assume it is a bug?) NovaKermi > This is not a bug. Some ARexx scripts turn the GUI off (LockGUI on) and you need to turn it back on. I keep a macro key assigned to do this. (UnlockGUI) [In the final prize round, xterm and ericgir won CineMorphs and mark[0] won an ImageFX 2.1a package] jcompton > I'd like to thank Kermit Woodall of Nova Design for spending a few hours of his time with us, Optic, Schrade, and Camelot for moderating assistance, and the dozens of you that stayed up late or got up early for this conference. :) jcompton > Kermit: Any parting words before we give out the goodies? NovaKermi > Hmmm...."So long and thanks for all the fish"? Nah, that's been done...how about, thanks for coming folks! @endnode @node FEATURE4 "Amiga E: An Overview" @toc FEATURE =========================================================================== Amiga E: An Overview Jason Hulance jason@fsel.com =========================================================================== o Price: Ł26 (Shareware) o Author: Wouter van Oortmerssen o Current Version: 3.2e Amiga users are spoilt for choice when it comes to programming languages. There are several different dialects of BASIC, especially suitable for beginners, and Assembly for the speed freaks. In between lie languages like C and Pascal. You can even try your hand at functional languages such as Lisp and Gofer. Any new language has to offer something special to stand out from this crowd. So what does Amiga E have that makes it interesting? Well, the author, Wouter van Oortmerssen, designed E to be a good, general-purpose language, since he was dissatisfied by the features and performance of C compilers. The result was a high-level, procedural language (with some functional aspects) and an extremely fast compiler. The first public release of E was v2.1a at the end of 1992. The past three years have seen it mature into a complete package of compiler, debugger and hundreds of example programs. Some well-known, quality programs have been created using E, of which two examples are the superb graphics program Photogenics (by Paul Nolan and Almathera) and the icon editor Iconian (by Chad Randall). So whay should you investigate E? Speed ----- The speed is the first thing that strikes you when you try out the E compiler. Even the longest programs compile in the blink of an eye on a standard, floppy-based A500, which is quite astonishing if you're used to a C compiler. This means that you can spend more time actually writing your programs, and you can experiment without your enthusiasm being sapped by the compiler. What's more remarkable is that speed of compilation is not a trade-off against the speed of compiled programs, and neither is it due to a cryptic syntax. E code looks very much like Pascal or Modula-2 code. However, E is based more closely on C, and an E program will run as fast, if not faster, than a similar C program. In fact, E programs can even make use of true inline Assembly, so they need never be slow. E is no slouch, but this is by no means the end of the story. The E language has a number of very useful features, some of which are based on the better features of other languages. Exceptions ---------- The idea of exceptions is borrowed from Ada, and they are used to simplify and separate the code which deals with the various error cases of a procedure or a number of procedures. This, as with many of the other features of E, can greatly increase the readability of a program by making the real code much more concise and uncluttered. Automatic exceptions simplify things further by allowing calls to library functions to automatically raise exceptions if they result in certain values (a null pointer, for example). For example, you can protect every call to AllocMem() with just one declaration, and then you can then use it without having to check the result. All your program needs to do is handle the corresponding exception. OOP --- Object Oriented Programming is supported by Amiga E, even though E is in essence a typeless language. For the uninitiated, OOP is a set of techniques which are meant to allow for faster development and easier maintenance of large programs. You do not need to use a language which supports OOP in order to use the techniques, but it's a lot easier if you do. Objects, methods, inheritance and data-hiding are the buzz-words of OOP. All these concepts have been seamlessly introduced in version 3 of Amiga E, with none of the kludges found in some other OOP languages. The original designers of the Amiga realised that OOP was an important concept, even before OOP languages were popular. Many of the core parts of the Operating System exhibit OOP features. For example, the data structure for a process includes (i.e., inherits) the structure of a task, and processes can be used with functions which operate on tasks. Lists ----- Since OS 2.0, many of the Amiga system functions make use of tag lists. In most other languages these correspond to arrays, and the problem with arrays is that they have to be initialised before they can be used. This means that the contents of a tag list are necessarily separated from the function call which uses it. In E, a tag list is just a normal list expression, so the contents of the list can be written in the same place as the function call. E also has strings (and lists) which can be safely manipulated without worrying about exceeded their maximum sizes. These data structures are at least as efficient as normal strings in C and can be used wherever normal strings might be used. This means that there is one less problem for the E programmer to worry about. Cons cells ---------- Lisp programmers know all about the power of cons cells and the usefulness of a garbage collector. By adopting these features, E allows a certain degree of functional programming. As well as being very readable, programs written in a functional language can more easily be shown to be correct. In fact, many mathematical definitions require very little effort to translate them to a functional language. Cons cells are very powerful objects which can be used to build almost any data structure, although they are most commonly used to build linked lists. A garbage collector is a mechanism for efficiently recycling any cons cells that are no longer in use. This means that programmers do not need to concern themselves with the complex task of managing memory (at least not for cons cells). Another Lisp feature that has been adopted is quoted expressions, which enables expressions to be passed around like values. The benefit of this is that the expression can be evaluated (using the Eval() function) at any time and any number of times. The resulting value depends on the values of variables at the time of evaluation, not when the expression was quoted. Quoted expressions make it possible to have functions like MapList() which apply the same expression to each element of a list, creating a new list of the same length. This makes it easy to, for example, square the contents of a list. Unification ----------- Borrowed from functional languages like Miranda and Gofer, unification (or pattern matching) can be used with lists or cons cells in E. Unification assigns values to variables based on matching some template pattern. A similar effect would commonly be achieved in other languages by using a nesting of conditional statements. The nesting gets quite deep (and unreadable) if you want to do a complicated match, but with unification all matches are linear, concise and easy to understand. The unification method can also be much more efficient. Programs like language interpreters or compilers are full of the kinds of tests that would benefit greatly from pattern matching. So is dynamic typing, where structures have tags to identify the type (or types) of the rest of the structure. In C you would probably use unions and a lot of switch statements, but in E you could do the same thing more clearly and efficiently using lists and unification. Built-in functions ------------------ There are a lot of useful functions which are part of the E language. These serve to simplify many of the standard Amiga system functions (e.g., gadget creation) and to provide support functions like those in other languages (e.g., improved memory management). The E compiler also incorporates all the function calls from the four main Amiga system libraries (Dos, Exec, Graphics and Intuition). These libraries are opened and closed automatically by every E program, so the majority of small programs do not need to explicitly open (or close) any libraries. Utilities --------- Included with the Amiga E distribution is, amongst other things, a text editor (with many E-specific features) and a very nice, source-level debugger. Of course, there is a Reference Manual, written by Wouter, which is aimed at the more experienced programmer. This is complemented by a rather extensive tutorial for beginners, but I shouldn't comment further because I wrote it! A lot of people have written modules of useful functions for use in your own E programs. Two of the best are Async and EasyGUI. Async provides a set of replacements for the normal input functions. The new functions use an asynchronous buffering technique to speed up reading from a file or device. EasyGUI, written by Wouter, provides an extremely simple way of creating font sensitive and resizable GUIs. Lists are used to specify the GUI, with tags like SLIDER to specify a slider. The layout is specified in very loose terms. For example, the tag EQROWS indicates that a collection of parts of the GUI should be laid out in equally sized rows. The actual positions and sizes of each gadget (and group of gadgets) are automatically determined, even after a resize. And, although it is not as powerful as MUI, the module is very small and very fast. Also worthy of mention is the module FilledVector, which provides a relatively simple interface to 3D filled vector rendering, using the blitter. Several of the example programs render quite complex objects as animated Workbench backdrops! Imagine a spinning and moving A1200 logo on your Workbench, using up hardly any CPU. Availability ------------ The demo distribution of Amiga E is available from Aminet (in the dev/e directory) or any good PD house. It is also available from me, as the UK registration site (Wouter lives in Holland). The demo version is the same as the full distribution, except that the demo compiler is restricted to creating small executables. This means you can try out the examples and learn the language using the Reference Manual or the Beginner's Guide before you decide whether E is for you. At current exchange rates, the registration fee is Ł26, on disk, or Ł23 via E-mail. Demo versions and compiler updates are free via E-mail, or cost Ł3 on disk. Contact: Jason Hulance (Dept E) Formal Systems 3 Alfred Street Oxford OX1 4EH Or E-mail: m88jrh@ecs.ox.ac.uk Support ------- The Reference Manual and Beginner's Guide cover most of the questions that might arise, but where they are not sufficient advice can be sought at the above addresses. If you have access to E-mail you can also join the Amiga E Mailing List, to which Wouter regularly contributes. Just send a message to:amigae-request@bkhouse.cts.com @endnode @node FEATURE5 "IPISA '95 Report @toc FEATURE =========================================================================== IPISA '95 Report Stefano Agostinelli agos001@pn.itnet.it =========================================================================== IPISA '95 Milan 18 November 1995 Hi,this text is a brief of IPISA 95. Please note that this report does not pretend to be a detailed transcript of IPISA lectures and if I forgot to mention something (highly probable) is just cause my memory is limited, so don't blame me for that, just buy me another Gigabyte. :) Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~ IPISA stands for "Incontro Programmatori Italiani per lo Sviluppo su Amiga" (E:"Italian Amiga Developers Meeting"). IPISA 95 was quite big (~400 participants); it's good to see this meeting growing steadily each year, as well as an increasing quality of lectures. Moreover this year participants were graced with two CD-ROMs and a lot of documentation. IPISA is organised by a bunch of Amiga fanatics: Roberto Attias, Federica Colla, Fabrizio Lodi, Sergio Ruocco, Carlo Santagostino, Reinhard Spisser and Marco Zandonadi. (Good work guys keep it up!) Spotlights on OOP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This year Dr. Peter Kittel was the main guest star; more on this later. Also from Germany we had Ms. "Meeting Pearls" Angela Schimdt and Storm C developers (Mr.Haage and Mr.Partner);from Portugal Mr.Lemos presenting his portable C OO library Objection. As said in the subject, OO programming was the main thread: o V.Gervasi demoed his great looking EUNice system to handle and mantain OO projects via a friendly MUI interface; this system requires using Amiga E as development language. With EUNice the programmer can in every moment know what this method does and what parameters it requires and so on;this is very very useful in large OO projects when you have to deal with many objects. The only thing I disliked is that it requires you program in E; would a version for BOOPSI programming be possible? o M.Lemos showed his Objection system which is basically a new C library dealing with OO issues; it's rather like BOOPSI but its advantage is that is already ported and available for Posix systems.Lemos showed a program designed to create state machines which used its Objection library. o F.Zuccollo presented his Media library; a sort of OO way of defining file system access (well it's a bit more complicated than that :) Zuccollo showed the limitations inherent to dos.library and the Amiga device handler design then pointed out how his system could realize a more open-minded method to deal with storage access. Well, it seemed very promising but probably he needs to develop it further to show real life applications. Other interesting lectures ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ o G.Ghibo' showed its EVPaths: a link library useful for a simpler and more powerful access to env variables; this was tailored made for TeX compilers that use env vars to define paths (like TEXINPUTS). This guy also worked hard to provide the best Amiga TeX installation there is on IPISA CD: more than 300MB of useful stuff,including: o TeX 3.14159, o MF 2.718 o METAPOST o BibTex o Midi2Tex o a revised ShowDVI 1.42 o LaTeX2espilon o MusicTex o an improved SpecialHost o hyphenation for english,german,italian o much much more o G.Falcioni and S.Guarnieri showed their great (state of art on the Amiga) Visual Neurocomputing to deal with neural networks. It's fast and its gadtools interface seems friendly and its very lot configurable. o M.Ciccione previewed his Audio Lab 16 v2 an advanced audio application that deals with 16 bit samples; it seems very powerful and its tailor made to fit audio engineers needs (at least that's what he said :). o A.Tasora talked about his Phenomena Forth/RPL modules for Real3D v3; He showed some wireframe anims made using these macros and they were incredible! So good they seemed to come from Industrial Light & Magic. Phenomena includes 15 modules (Volcan, Fan, Dynamite, Splash and many others) and are a real professional work; they will probably be included in V4 of Real 3D. o A.Longo, BreathLess author and programmer of the italian game team Fields of Vision, showed his baby. Well someone said that Doom isn't possible on Amiga....actually BreathLess is much better than Doom! He showed a prerelease version on a vanilla A4000/40 and it was so fluid I couldn't trust my eyes; the graphics are really really good,the sound is great, speed on a full screen 1x1 is excellent on A4000/40 and he said that on vanilla A1200 it's enjoyable. In fact he said that the first release (the version he demoed at IPISA) is not targeted to high-end machines, but is especially suited for A1200s in order to address initially the largest user base:for this reason he has left out PicassoII/CyberGraphX support and cut a bit the resolution of enemies. He added that if initial release sells well he'll be going to release a version especially made for high end machines and gfx cards. Having seen what BreathLess is now I think that this incredible italian team is capable to make BrathLess become the state of the art Doom clone not juts on Amiga but on any computer platform;so if you have an AGA machine run out and buy it! (first release will be out soon (for XMas sales) for a price of 69-79.000 Lit (~57-64 DM or ~43-50 USD)) o M.Puccini, of the italian development team ClassX of X-DVE fame, showed his XFA library, a shared library useful to make and play animations using XFA format; this format uses interlace cunning and its indeed fast (well a lot faster than ANIM-5) and was especially made for video playback. The product includes an anim2xfa converter. o R.Solmi talked about his new NetMail program;this program was made to handle internet mail and can be easily interfaced with POP3, SMTP, and UUCP transfer utilities. NetMail is ARexx based and offers some advanced features like automatic foldering and mime support. Speeches ~~~~~~~~ o M.C.Battilana, Cloanto's head of Personal Paint fame, was so kind to give partecipants a free pre release version of Cloanto Personal Suite CD Rom: a cd containing old versions of some commercial programs (Personal Write, Personal Font Maker, SuperBase, etc...) and Personal Paint v6.4. He talked about future OSes we're going to see in the next few years:mainly Taligent's CommonPoint and Micro$oft Cairo. o P.Canali, THE italian hardware guru, talked about his project: a PCI bridge for the 68020 (i.e. A1200). He explained the trouble in designing such a thing and talked about what directions AT can take to integrate PCI bus in new Amigas. o G.Ligorio talked about compression of images and sounds; he pointed out a clever variation of the Huffmann compression especially made to compress further IFF-ILBM containing bitmaps compressed with RLE. Guest stars ~~~~~~~~~~~ o Angela Schmidt talked about the Meeting Pearls history (herstory?:). She showed the new Meeting Pearls III and its new features. o Haage & Partner showed the Storm C C/C++ development system currently available only in German; they said that the international version will be out quite soon and that a demo version will be uploaded on Aminet in a few days. They showed the integration of the development tools: compiler,linker and debugger. C++ compilation is fast,but is not fully 3.0 compliant (I think); also the compiler has no global optimizer so source code is not as good as that produced by SAS/C: however they said that differences are in the order of 5%. This should be addressed soon of course. The debugger seems quite good and offers a more intuitive interface than cpr. All the features are available on a friendly custom BOOPSI based interface. o M.Lemos see above Dr.P.Kittel speaks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well he said lots of things and was very cordial with the audience; firstly he talked about what AT has done,what is doing now and what are future directions (a SCALA presentation helped him). What AT has done we all know: they have reintroduced Amigas A1200 and A4000T). What are they doing now? He said they will introduce soon the Q-Drive (a quad speed PCMCIA CD-ROM reader for the A1200),they will make some small changes to the OS,they are talking with many companies for strategic decisions and developments. In the more distant future: the first issue is to make AmigaOS portable, the first implementation will be PowerPC based but once they have AmigaOS available as a portable system they could as well sell it for other architectures. Regarding PowerPC he said that they want to design an entire family of Amigas from the low to the high end. The high end will be definitely CHRP compliant, while the low end will probably be not. He also said that custom graphics chip are already in the works but at an external company,if possible they will be upgraded in order to give 24bits screens, chunky modes and 16 bit audio; no it's not AAA, that is "dead" but some of its features could as well be implemented on the new graphics chips. Note that he said that they think that on new Amigas would be the user to choose this or that graphics subsytem; so I presume that the new chipset will be available on a PCI card. Talking about PCI he said that surely PCI will be available on new machines,so you could use all those speed demon PCI gfx cards. Then he talked about ADSP and assured that will be started very very soon now (he talked about 1 Dec as a reference date);certified developers are divided in Non-Commercial (100USD/year) and Commercial (300US/year) sections. The Commercial ones has to show one existing or nearly finished commercial product; commercial AT developers get phone support, non-commercial do not. All certified developers will have access to private mailing lists or something like that, while documentation will be available on the Net for everyone. Well after that we had some Q&A with him:he was very cordial and clear in his answers.Things that emerged: o AAA and Hombre are dead. o The DSP project is interesting and is being considered. o ColdFire is not fully 680x0 compatible so it has been rejected as a cpu for an interim machine. o Alpha workstations are being considered as a possible architecture to port AmigaOS to. Stefano Agostinelli @endnode @node REVIEW1 "Review: Lightspeed: A Video Magazine" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: LightSpeed: A Video Magazine Bohus Blahut bohuslav.blahut@mail.colum.edu =========================================================================== As NewTek's Lightwave 3D program gains increased visibility through television and film, it also gains a greater audience outside the Amiga community. NewTek has ported LW to the PC, and soon to the SGI. Before the LW standalone program, many Toaster sales were to 3D artists who viewed the Video hardware as an expensive dongle for the powerful LightWave 3D. As always in the Amiga community, the entrepeneur spirit stirred users to create auxilliary programs and information sources all devoted to this one program. By opening LW to the huge PC market, we are already seeing an increase in the development outside the walls of NewTek's Alcatraz. Once you take into account both commercial development, and the public domain, the sheer volume of work that has come out in the last year is staggering. There is also a new batch of Lightwave users. How is the 3D artist going to stay informed about new products and new techniques in the LW world? There are several monthly publications that deal with LW, also several tutorial videos to get you started with the software, but then where do you go? This is where the ambitious LightSpeed Video Magazine comes in. LightSpeed is a monthly video costing $12.95. I use the word "ambitious" because it's quite some undertaking to create an all-new two hour video every month. In the October issue, the video featured several LW tutorials, a video taken at SigGraph, a demo video of the commercial product Impact!, a review/demonstration of Questar's World Construction Set, and animationr's demo reels. Also available are companion LightSpeed floppy disks. These feature the scene and object files from the current video. The flopies are PC formatted, but this should serve no problem to Amiga 2.0 users who are using CrossDOS. Some of the filenames were a little strange looking on my system, but there are utilites available to ready PC files for Amiga use and vice versa. LightSpeed's approach to producing material is to allow subscribers to shoot and edit video segments in their own studios, and submit them to the magazine. The overall video quality of the individual segments is good, although I wish that producers would spice up their presentation. As a teacher, I know how important it is to keep the interest level up while teaching. The tutorials in the October issue target the beginner/intermediate animator. Manuel Cotes, creator of LightSpeed, assures me that future volumes will feature more advanced topics and projects. Particularly valuable in this volume is the "Animation Showcase" It's always good for animators of any skill level to see the work of other animators especially when we are all working with the same software. Also on this tape, I was glad to see not only the demo tape of World Construction Set (A fractal landscape generator that produces realistic looking images), but an actual user putting the software through its paces. One of the best tutorials on the tape is Kyle Thatch's "It's only 3D" segment. Thatch's segment is an intro to scale modeling in LW. His delivery is casual yet succinct, and peppered with humor. His modeling project takes users through steps to create a Lego brick. Thatch chooses the brick because it's got good basic geometry, and "you're likely to find one buried in your couch." Future LightSpeed producers should look to this as a template of effective tutoring. I would recommend that LW users look into LightSpeed. It's less expensive than other tutorial tapes, and since it's monthly it can keep up with changes in the software. It's also a unique opportunity to help forward the desktop video revolution. Manuel Cotes' assembly of the segments (with 3D animated bumpers, I might add) of independently produced video is what DTV is all about. You can purchase individual issues of LightSpeed and the companion disks at many dealers, or subscribe annually. Contact LightSpeed orders: 1.800.764.8696 info: 1.805.726.3546 fax: 1.805.726.3544 @endnode @node REVIEW2 "Review: FrozenFish August 1995 CD-ROM" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: FrozenFish August 1995 CD-ROM By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== There are a lot of merits to having the entire Fred Fish disk collection in CD-ROM format. One is that a CD-ROM stores a lot easier than 1,100 floppies do. 1,100 floppies that don't change really take up a lot of space on a hard drive. It's a significant chunk of Amiga history, and enables you to look up the contents of Fish Disk 283 and commit them to memory, just so when you meet the man himself, you can quiz him and feel somehow superior because you know the answer while all he can come up with is a blank look. In case you don't have a CD-ROM drive, though, it would really be nice if your local BBS or ISP carried the Fish archives. Your average one-horse, one CD-ROM PC BBS will probably have better ideas for its single drive than a Fish CD, but with 7-disc changers gaining popularity and dropping in price, it's not quite such an uphill battle. Combined with the fact that a number of PC CD-ROM filesystems don't deal well with filesystems more complicated than ISO 9660 Level 1 (which limits filenames to 8+3 characters), it means that just tossing in a random Fish CD might not be the best solution. That's what motivated FrozenFish. Totally ISO 9660 level 1, in 8+3 character all capital letter glory, FZF carries all 1,100 Fish disks to date in LHA format, plus a small amount of Commodore includes, and about 200 megs of material from FreshFish 9. Intended for BBSes, the individual Fish disk files are cataloged in CRC files only, as the "PI" (product information) files only identify the disk's number. A rather long treatise on KingFisher and its application with these PI files is included. The new additions from FreshFish 9 are properly cataloged with full descriptions, however. Well...there's only so much that can be said about a collection of Fish disks that hasn't been said hundreds of times before. The real issue here is cost for performance, and for $20, it's hard to complain. Of course, $20 will also get you GoldFish 1, which is a slightly less complete (since it's measurably older, it's missing the most recent 100 disks) but in a much more searchable format, including the de-archived disks, as the compilation is two CDs. An Amiga user would be well advised to pass up this collection, but then, that's the point--no self-respecting Amiga manufacturer puts "PC Compatible" on the cover of a product unless he's very serious about it. The inclusion of the new material makes the disc just that much more attractive and justifiable. So harass your favorite sysop to make room in that 7 CD changer for you. Amiga Library Services 610 N. Alma School Road Suite 18 Chandler, AZ 85224-3687 USA 602-491-0442 voice 602-491-0048 fax info@amigalib.com @endnode @node REVIEW3 "Review: MegaBall 4 from IAM" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: MegaBall 4 from IAM By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== Breakout, Brickbreaker, Arkanoid...whatever the first game you saw in this genre was, chances are you liked it. There seems to be an irresistable element to these games that brings people in droves. Hordes of beginning computer students have slaved away to recreate the game on all sorts of platforms in all sorts of languages. The premise is so simple...a bar at the bottom of the screen hits a ball around, which hits bricks at the top of the screen. Get rid of all the bricks, you win. Breakout had the original idea. Arkanoid made it slick, with the concept of falling "powerups" to give you special weapons or abilities. (It seems to be the inevitable evolution of arcade games that powerups always show up sooner or later...) MegaBall improves on the Arkanoid model, giving it a sense of style and something uniquely...Amiga. MegaBall hasn't exactly been a secret. On the contrary, it's been a shareware game for years, up to and including version 3, from the Mackey brothers, Ed and Al. A unique registration offer came to them a few years back from one Dale Larson (a pizza and a tour of Commodore, where Larson was in the Amiga Networking Group at the time), and none of them forgot about the experience. After doing well in the Amiga market, Larson decided he wanted to publish a game. After doing well in the shareware market, the Mackeys decided they wanted to be published. And so MegaBall 4 was born. MegaBall loads on virtually any Amiga system, down to a 1 meg A500 and up to an Amiga 4000/040. The game is designed to run in NTSC, but a MODEID tooltype can be used in conjunction with a special tool, included with the game, to identify valid screenmodes for play. PAL users will simply find that their entire screen isn't being used by the game. Graphics card users are encouraged to try, but not to expect great results. Just a tip: Multiscan Extra-Low Res looks bad, too. The brick-breaking idea in MegaBall form is this: Go up against multicolored bricks in anything from the standard Breakout rectangle to Santa Claus shapes. Grab powerups that may make your paddle bigger, smaller, give it guns, kill you, change the laws of physics, or a number of other things. Delight in blowing up half the screen with special Dynamite bricks, or watch in disgust as Green Slime bricks breed across the screen until they touch another brick and clone it. Wince as Blue Growers make your task difficult by blowing up into even more bricks. And, oh yeah, be sure you stay away from the "powerup" that kills (you). At the same time, one of 5 music tracks plays in the background (leaving one channel free for sound effects.) The tracks and graphics, both ECS and AGA, were designed by Al Mackey--and a fine job of it. All 5 music tracks have a very "arcade" feel to them, giving MegaBall a sense of atmosphere beyond being a simple genre piece. If the hundreds of levels included with the game bore you (and it'll take quite some time), you're welcome to build your own with the Board Editor, a ridiculously simple program that will turn you into a hero in the eyes of your jaded MegaBall-owning pals. Speaking of friends, MegaBall allows for two players, but they take turns rather than working cooperatively, as games such as CyberSphere allow. Perhaps best of all is that MegaBall is highly system friendly and multitasking. It is, bar none, THE best thing to do with your Amiga during a long download, taking away an insignificant amount of transfer time (on my 030/25 A3000) but plugging away at full speed. And should you need to check that download or render, MegaBall automatically pauses upon sensing a screen switch. If you're REALLY lucky, you'll hear the special "pause" music track. MegaBall lacks a few Arkanoidian features, such as multiball play and those annoying spaceships that come down from the top of the screen to make your job tougher. You won't notice, though, as your single ball achieves lightning speeds or you gleefully send it plunging through half a screen full of exploding bricks. You won't notice when you make a level out of your boss or ex-boy/girlfriend's name and happily blast it to bits. You won't notice when you realize it's 3 AM and you should probably get some sleep... Your US$30 buys you a loud red box, 3 disks of MegaBall 4, an AFS Floppy demo disk, and a really great game. The manual for both MegaBall and the Board Editor is in AmigaGuide (Aside from his book, Dale Larson is not one for extensive printed documentation--the printed one page insert is a record for IAM products), and includes tips for advanced players, notes to MOD authors who want to make their own works MegaBall-compatible, and the cheat keys for the game. If you've been wanting to register MegaBall 3 but just couldn't get around to it, IAM's worldwide distribution leaves you little choice but to buy MegaBall 4. Intangible Assets Manufacturing 828 Ormond Ave. Drexel Hill, PA 19026-2604 610-853-4406 voice 610-853-3733 fax info@iam.com, sales@iam.com http://www.iam.com/ @endnode @node REVIEW4 "Review: Dell HD External Amiga Floppy" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: Dell High-Density External Amiga Floppy By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== Hey, you never know where friends can come from. Ok, so they didn't do it out of the goodness of their hearts, they did it because Software Hut and Better Concepts asked them to build a whole lot. But it's done. Somebody figured out that Dell's external laptop floppy could be made Amiga compatible with just a little fuss. One hacked up cable later, the Dell floppy is now the second best way to get high density disks read on your Amiga. (The best would be an internal high density floppy, but Amiga Tech can't find anybody who wants to make them right now.) A ridiculously small footprint (Roughly 5 inches long by 4 inches wide) and slim styling (it's 5 stacked floppies tall) make it a very unassuming piece of hardware. The case is an odd smoke grey, roughly the same color as the CD32, which serves to make it the perfect companion piece for the SX-1. The Dell has no Amiga floppy passthrough, so it has to sit on the end of a floppy chain. There are no DIP switches, either, it defaults to DF2: on the A3000, skipping DF1: for the other internal bay, presumably. The drive requires no special drivers but does need Workbench 2.1 to function properly, and Software Hut recommends CrossDOS 6 Pro for PC disk reading. Good idea, too, as operating under the standard CrossDOS with the Workbench results in an awful lot of CRC errors. Besides, it's been a long time since Consultron's seen a lot of return on CrossDOS, and 6 is a worthwhile upgrade. We ran into no problems using MaxDOS and CrossMAC for Macintosh floppies. Other weak points? Well, as mentioned before, the cable is a hack. Specifically, the connector on the drive is only a small card edge with relatively little stability. The cable itself is a rather unmatching beige, ending in wrapped wire and a small circuit board, enclosed in plastic and hot-glued. Really, the casing around the board covers everything, but the only way to tell which way to put the card-edge in the connector is by the small white sticker on one side of the cable. A decent solution for the high density problem. Perhaps disgruntled 4000T owners, stuck with double density drives, can bribe their internal high density-owning friends to trade. And for US$115, it's a bit cheaper than other drives, including those which require special software drivers to operate at all. Software Hut Folcroft East Business Park 313 Henderson Dr. Sharon Hill, PA 19079 610-586-5703 voice 610-586-5606 fax No e-mail address. Encourage non-networked companies to get online! @endnode @node REVIEW5 "Review: FreshFish Vol. 10" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: FreshFish Vol. 10 By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== The quarterly series of FreshFish CDs continues. As part of Fred Fish's move away from floppy disks, a series of regular CD-ROMs was introduced. Now that Fred no longer personally compiles the disk series, it is the most frequent source for their archives from Amiga Library Services. Volume 10 features the most recent 100 Fish disks (1001-1100), which will bring GoldFish 1 (the 2 CD set with the first 1000) owners up to date. It also rings in three times as much "new material", freely redistributable software in the Aminet hierarchy. The "useful" directory, some 130 megs of it, includes licensed Commodore include files and classic, essential software titles. The remaining 300+ megs are taken up with GNU development tools and extensive source code. Searching the Fish library of discs is supported by the included KingFisher archives. In other words, the same array the Fish discs normally bring. A welcome change has come in the user interface, however. Perhaps taking a cue from the Aminet discs, FreshFish 10 has an AmigaGuide-driven menu system for searching and accessing the entire disk, with configurable preferences for handling the myriad filetypes the disk contains. An installation utility helps you set the proper viewers to the different image, text, and sound types you will encounter. The menu system makes use of ixemul.library, which the installer is happy to provide you with. The CD is still the single best source for Amiga development tools, particularly with no CATS-like organization churning out CDs for the hungry programmers out there. However, this will be changing, as will the "useful" directory. These will apparently be spun off to a new series of CD-ROMs, turning FreshFish into a disc with, well, more fresh fish--a greater focus on newly available Amiga software. Those with slow machines, or those who simply hate LHA archives, will be heartened to know that most of the non-Fish disk software is in dearchived form, ready to be copied directly off the CD. This certainly goes a long way to assist in certain decisions, since rather than dearchiving an 800k utility simply to get at the documentation to find out what it does, you have the doc file waiting for your beady little eyes to peruse. In addition, much of the software has the .pi file for BBS descriptions, saving sysops hassle and saving users confusion. After all, it's not easy to figure out what EC90-126.6.jpg is unless the .pi file tells you it's the STS-31 space shuttle, after landing. Fred Fish continues to deliver a large quantity of important Amiga resources (647 megs, all told) at a very reasonable cost ($20, or $15 if you buy a one-year subscription for $60 total.) Unless you have so many CDs you decorate the walls with them, FreshFish 10 should be a serious consideration to keep your library current. Amiga Library Services 610 N. Alma School Rd. Suite 18 Chandler, AZ 85224-3687 USA 602-491-0442 voice 602-491-0048 fax info@amigalib.com @endnode @node REVIEW6 "Review: Disect v1.7" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: Disect v1.7 Marc Kelly dave@twilite.demon.co.uk =========================================================================== [Note: The author of this piece is involved with the development and maintenance of this product. We felt the review was informative enough to merit printing. -Jason] Edited & Submitted by Bill Westhead. If you would like further information regarding this product, or would like to contact the author or Marc, please send mail to dave@twilite.demon.co.uk Product: Disect version 1.7 Type : Debugger / Dissasembler Author : D.M.Alderson (DMA) Disect is a comprehensive debugger / disassembler. Compared to the main competition, which must be HiSoft's Monam debugger, it's years ahead in terms of features. First off is it's symbol handling; point and click to define various type of symbols; data, instruction, ascii text and others. Also, when dealing with instructions, that reference structures via an address register, it will display a list of all the available labels that fit the offset to be used. It will scan a .gs preassembled symbol file as produced by Devpac. Macros are included to handle repeated operations and so is a memory monitor. It'll load virtually any type of data file from normal executables to raw binary. The interface comes as a shock after having used Monam for many years. It's full WB2 style layout is Commodore Style Guide compliant & features Underscores, Cycle gadgets and Check boxes. Menus are also included, but are only accessed when the mouse is in the menu bar, as the right mouse button is used to jump to the destination effective address of instructions. There are however problems with such a rich interface. Mostly the one of distractions; you tend to feel it's cluttered at times. Also it doesn't handle mode promotion well. The screen is a fixed size so opening on a Gfx card at 800x600 results in only the upper left side of it being used, a large display of memory and source would be nice. As it stands you get the most out of it when disassembling rather than debugging. The focus is on the source not the cpu registers, which are assigned a window at the lower left. Memory is displayed in the lower right. All the 68000's registers are displayed but users of higher spec'd machines are not catered for; FPU and MMU registers are not displayed. 68020 address modes and instructions, apart from: CAS, CAS2, CALLM, RTM, PACK, UNPK are but again FPU and MMU ones are disassembled into binary data. Apart from the problems of being stuck in Pal mode and the slight clutteredness that it induces this has to be the most versitile tool that any programmer will ever use. Even if you own HiSoft's Devpac package and use Monam it's still worth the sharewere fee because disassembling with Disect is far less painless. Overall, as a simple debugger, it's not as easy to use as others; but if you want more than a "simple" tool then this is it. The latest version of Disect (v2.0b) is available from any aminet site. eg. ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk:/pub/aminet/dev/debug/Disectv20b.lha (283158) @endnode @node REVIEW7 "Using the Zip Drive" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Using the Zip Drive Wolfram Gottfried gottfrie@acca.nmsu.edu =========================================================================== USING IOMEGA'S ZIP DRIVE ON THE AMIGA There has been a lot of writing and reviews of Iomega Corporation's ZIP removable media data drive in the PC and Mac magazines, but finding information on using this device with the Amiga has been largely a matter of asking on IRC, experimentation and button pushing. This article is a result of my efforts and experimentations, and hopefully will make it easier for others who wish to make use of this versatile storage device. WHAT IS IT: The ZIP drive is a removable media, high capacity file access storage device. For all practical purposes you can call it a removable disk hard drive although technically it is not traditional hard drive technology. Physically the drive is slightly wider than the slim-line Amiga external floppies, about the same width as the old 1010 external floppy but not as tall. The disks themselves are about 1/2 wider than a standard 3.5 floppy and appromixately twice as thick. The ZIP drive comes in 2 versions, either set up for SCSI connection or parallel port connection. You can't (to my knowledge) use the parallel port version of the ZIP drive on the Amiga, however the SCSI version works quite well if your Amiga is equipped with a SCSI interface. WILL THE ZIP DRIVE WORK ON THE AMIGA: For those who are still unsure - yes the SCSI ZIP will work! Even Iomega slips a quick reference to the Amiga in the instructions, giving a clue as to how to proceed by mentioning low-level formatting the disk that comes with the ZIP unit (which has PC and Mac software tools). And that is pretty much what you have to do, but they don't give any details on HOW to do this. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: You don't need any special software for installing the ZIP on your Amiga if you have OS 2.0 or higher. All you need is the HDToolBox program that is included in AmigaOS, or use the hard drive preparation software for your SCSI controller if it's a 3rd party unit. 3rd party SCSI hard disk preparation software should also let you use the ZIP with OS 1.3 as well. You WILL need a SCSI controller hooked to your Amiga, but a hard drive is not required. The ZIP can act as a hard drive if, for some reason, you have a SCSI controller but no hard disk. So a SCSI controller (with 25 pin connector or the correct adaptor) and either HDToolBox or 3rd party hard drive preparation software is all you need. GETTING STARTED: When you buy the ZIP drive it comes with one ZIP disk that contains Mac and Windows software tools. If you never intend to use your drive on either of those machines, you can just reformat that disk. Otherwise you may want to consider saving that disk and buying extra ZIP disks (they are sold in both PC and Mac preformatted format, doesn't matter which you buy since you will be reformatting them anyway) to reformat into Amiga format. You'll probably want additional disks anyway. CONNECTING UP: Physically connecting the drive is easy. Either use the early boot menus on your Amiga (or some other program that polls the SCSI controller and reports back the device numbers for devices currently connected to the SCSI controller), and set the ZIP drive to either device 5 or 6 with it's built in DIP switches. If you have both a SCSI device 5 and SCSI device 6 on your system already, you will need to change your configuration around to free up 5 or 6 for the ZIP drive since it only offers those 2 device numbers as options. You'll also need to enable or disable the termination on the ZIP drive. If you have some external SCSI devices, make sure that only the last device in the chain is terminated. The ZIP documentation discusses termination fairly clearly. Just make sure only the last device is terminated and you should be fine. If the ZIP is your only external SCSI device then make sure the termination is enabled. Hook up the external power supply and power up the drive and Amiga. Boot normally and make sure nothing is acting improper. If it is you probably need to check your device numbers and terminations. FORMATTING THE DISK: You'll need to do this for every ZIP disk you plan to use with the Amiga. It's exactly the same process as setting up a new hard drive from scratch, just repeat for each ZIP disk. You can reformat the disk that came with the ZIP drive or buy additional blank ZIP disks to use. Load up HDToolBox (or other hard drive preparation software). I won't try to give step by step instructions for every possible hard drive preparation program available because they are all different. I use a GVP controller and used the GVP FaaastPrep software to set up my ZIP disks but the steps are basically the same. You need to read and save the drive configuration (sectors, cylinders, low and high cylinder, etc), low level format the disk, create a partition, write an RDB and then do an AmigaDOS format. I recommend making the ZIP disks one partition but if you decide to make your zip disks multiple partitions, make sure you make them all IDENTICAL otherwise you'll have to reboot the machine for every disk change. Keep in mind that the Amiga reads the disk layout and partition information either from a dosdriver file, the RDB of the disk itself or a mountlist entry and mounts the device, you can't change parameters for a mounted drive. Keeping all your disks identical in partitioning will let you change without rebooting since the mount information will be valid for all of them. USING THE DRIVE: The ZIP drive, once formatted, works just like a hard drive or, more accurately, a very fast 95 meg floppy. So using the drive is just like using any other disk on the Amiga. There are a few things to watch out for though: * Keeping all the disk partitions the same: As discussed above, having disks with different partition setups could cause problems. * Mounting the device: The ZIP drive will only automount if a disk is in the drive when you boot your Amiga. If you want to have the ZIP device available all the time (without having to keep a disk in the drive when you boot), you will need to create a mountlist entry or dosdriver file so the system can mount the drive without reading the RDB. Some hard drive preparation programs offer the ability to create this file for you, otherwise you'll have to write down the information shown when you set up the disk for the first time and make your own. It won't harm anything to leave a disk in the drive all the time. Iomega says in the documentation that the drive can be left on all the time without harm, and the drive has an automatic spin-down feature which will stop the disk after a period of inactivity and automatically spin it back up when needed again. It gets up to speed much faster than a hard drive so this isn't really inconvenient. If the Amiga is booted with a formatted disk in the ZIP drive, you can change disks freely (assuming they are all formatted the same) because the ZIP drive will remain mounted until the next reboot. If you can't come up with a workable mountlist entry or dosdriver file, just making sure a formatted disk (with an automount RDB) is in the drive when you boot will mount it. * Booting from the ZIP: As long as you have formatted a disk, created an RDB and installed AmigaOS on the disk, you can boot from the ZIP drive as if it were any other hard disk. This could be useful if you need a custom bootup or special configuration, but keep in mind that if you boot from the ZIP and then change disks, you'll get the "Please insert volume" requestors as if you were running from a single floppy. * There is no physical write-protect: Iomega supplies a software-based write protect and password protection for the PC and Mac, but since the Amiga just uses it's native file system on the ZIP drive you don't get these functions. In this respect the ZIP acts more like a hard drive (which is also doesn't have a hard write-protect mechanism like a floppy or tape would). * Disk changes: The Amiga handles this very well as long as you don't mix formats. Just eject the disk and the Amiga will pick it up, displaying "no disk present" for the ZIP device. Put another disk in and as long as it's formatted the same the Amiga will read it just like changing floppies. * Networks: The ZIP drive seems to work just fine through the Envoy networking system. Even disk changes are reflected accurately though the network to all systems sharing access to the ZIP drive. * Speed: Iomega says the ZIP drive will do approximately 60 megs/minute sustained transfer speed. On my system I got around 980Kbytes/second which is definately close to the manufacturer's specs. The seek time is listed as 29ms, which puts the ZIP drive in the same range as some slower hard drives and well ahead of most tape drives. * Media durability: I can't say much on this because I havn't had the ZIP drive long enough to make a determination. Iomega warrants the media to be free of defects with a lifetime warranty, but the fine print says that this doesn't cover normal wear (read the warranty on most floppy disks or data tapes and you'll find the same thing). I have not heard of any problems so far, but it's too new to me to give any clear information. IN CLOSING: Despite difficulty in obtaining the ZIP drive (demend for these things is very high and after getting mine I can understand why), I would definately recommend it for anyone who needs more storage space and/or a backup device. Having file system access makes it much more convenient than tape for retrieving specific files. The ZIP is fast enough to use like a hard drive, you can install complete software packages on it and run them from the ZIP, or store your large data files on it. The disks are inexpensive (around $20.00 United States currency) and you can use as many as you need. For archiving and backing up, it's much better than using diskettes. It may seem like installing one of these drives on the Amiga sounds complex, but in reality it is no harder than installing a standard hard drive. If you are familiar with how to do that, then the ZIP will present no challenge at all. It took me less than 5 minutes from the time I opened the box to have the unit physically hooked up and start formatting. Formatting takes a little time. If Ioemga sold preformatted Amiga disks for the ZIP drive, installing it would be easier than either the PC or Mac installation. The machine I tested the ZIP drive on was an Amiga 2000 with a GVP Impact II SCSI controller and OS 3.1 @endnode @node CHARTS1 "Aminet Charts: 20-Nov-95" @toc FTP | The most downloaded files from Aminet during the week until 20-Nov-95 | Updated weekly. Most popular file on top. | |File Dir Size Age Description |----------------- --- ---- --- ----------- VChk803.lha util/virus 199K 0+Version 8.03 of Virus_Checker. Amiga ar320.lha docs/mags 114K 0+Amiga Report 3.20, November 16, 1995 Worms1.dms game/demo 295K 1+Worms Demo: It's out! Play 5 mins chunker.lha util/misc 36K 0+1.2b Split+Join files! Ami/MSDOS/Uni monsters10aga.lha game/shoot 561K 0+Multitasking WizardOfWor, 1-4 Player Worms2.dms game/demo 451K 1+Worms Demo: It's out! Play 5 mins DTpref22.lha util/wb 83K 0+Prefs-Editor for Datatypes with GUI textdtptch39_2.lha util/dtype 11K 0+V39.2 patches text.datatype to suppo AWinNetscape.lha pix/illu 77K 0+IFF pics of Netscape on the Amiga th clidt_39.2.lha util/dtype 32K 0+V39.2 displays stdout of a cli-cmd ( cyberg12.lha game/misc 1.2M 0+Brutal sword-fighting game. v1.2 WWWCache.lha comm/net 12K 1+V1.7 of Arexx script for caching ima 4000_35MHz.lha hard/misc 76K 0+27 MIPS on A4000/040 ! Last update ParNFS.lha comm/net 77K 0+Parnet filesystem 1.2 mn_ansitest.lha comm/mebbs 3K 21+ANSI Test Door for MEBBSNet Assist16.lha text/hyper 415K 0+New generation hypertext browser! Ma ACal12.lha util/time 30K 0+Calendar for MagicWB. mcx224.lha util/cdity 48K 0+Multi Function Commodity McView.lha gfx/show 13K 0+AGA "MultiColor" JPG viewer. parnet.lha comm/net 83K 0+Parnet.device + source code | The highest rated programs during the week until 20-Nov-95 | Updated weekly. Best program on top. Please rate all the programs you | download. To do so, send to aminet-server@wuarchive.wustl.edu : | RATE | where is the file you want to judge and is a mark from 0..10 | with 10 being the best. You can rate several programs in one mail, but | don't rate your own programs. Example: RATE dev/gui/mui23usr.lha 8 | |File Dir Size Age Description |----------------- --- ---- --- ----------- SmartWB.lha util/wb 4K 3+Boosts up Workbench's windows refres hdsleep.lha disk/misc 11K 4+Turns your hard drives motor off. v1 Knights242.lha game/2play 223K 54+Two-player violent dungeon bashing Knockout.lha game/2play 190K 10+Two *very* addictive multiplayer gam Team17_Demos.dms game/demo 680K 35+Demos of Alien Breed 3D and King Pin MouseBounce.lha game/gag 5K 342+Screen hack that is also a game. scrotax2.lha game/shoot 347K 9+Scrotax Version 2.01 - BUGFIXED & UP 3D_Pro.lha gfx/3d 211K 1+The easy-to-use 3D stereogram/SIRD g CGraphX212u.lha gfx/board 152K 3+CGraphX gfx extension update 2.12 DamageWolf3D_2.lha gfx/misc 292K 2+A ROTT (PC game) walkaround demo; 3D RomIcons9.lha pix/icon 336K 24+New MagicWB2.0 Icons/ImageDrawers/.. DosMan121.lha util/wb 145K 25+Complete GUI Dos Manual NetMail-13.lha comm/mail 130K 4+E-mail program with GUI, groups, fil tin130gamma.lha comm/news 182K 15+TIN 1.3 PL0 Beta 950726. UUCP/NNTP N Interplay40b.lha disk/cdrom 53K 2+CDPlayer (Archos/CD32/PowerCD/SCSI/+ ReOrg3_1.lha disk/optim 326K 115+Disk optimizer with DC-FFS support DiskSalv11_32.lha disk/salv 118K 19+Dave Haynie's DiskSalv version 11.32 ViperAGA12.lha game/2play 390K 55+Updated AGA Snake game with 6 player VK_DEMO.lha game/demo 765K 2+Virtual Karting playable demo MagiC64N.lha misc/emu 250K 3+C64 Emulator V1.01 (A1200 Bug fixed) gfft-1.12.lha misc/sci 296K 62+FFT spectrum analysis of sample file AB3Dicon.lha pix/icon 2K 2+Icon for Alien Breed 3D - MWB Style. MagicMenu_1.29.lha util/cdity 106K 103+PopUp menus for OS 2.x and newer Executive.lha util/misc 482K 3+UNIX-like task scheduler (V1.20) snoopdos30.lha util/moni 128K 61+System monitor, many new features ad NewMultiView09.lha util/sys 8K 5+A frontend for MultiView truview.lha dev/misc 10K 4+614125 colors on AGA (FAST!!) Bloodfest1.lha game/role 515K 2+Captive & HiredGuns style 3d adventu @endnode @node CHARTS2 "Aminet Charts: 27-Nov-95" @toc FTP | The most downloaded files from Aminet during the week until 27-Nov-95 | Updated weekly. Most popular file on top. | |File Dir Size Age Description |----------------- --- ---- --- ----------- mui31usr.lha dev/gui 771K 0+MagicUserInterface V3.1, user files mui31dev.lha dev/gui 574K 0+MagicUserInterface V3.1, developer f ar320.lha docs/mags 114K 1+Amiga Report 3.20, November 16, 1995 mftp1_31.lha comm/tcp 150K 0+Mftp 1.31, ftp client which uses MUI AmigaAGA-EVD12.lha misc/emu 8K 0+15bit & faster 4/8bit driver for Sha Super72-V2.lha util/misc 2K 0+Super72 800x512 @ 50Hz Non Laced Scr VChk803.lha util/virus 199K 1+Version 8.03 of Virus_Checker. Amiga amiconnect.lha comm/tcp 199K 0+V3 of Combined PPP/SLIP Dialler & Co Xoper26.lha util/moni 100K 0+A powerful system monitor (update fr MWBDrws_516.lha pix/icon 371K 0+MWB ImageDrawers Full Collection (51 amywb3.lha pix/icon 507K 1+AmyWB Icon pack Vol 3, amazing 1:1, fastmc.lha gfx/show 85K 1+Fastest truecolor-emulation (jpeg, m ImageStudio_2.lha gfx/conv 565K 0+Image processing program v2.3.0 Part ImageStudio_1.lha gfx/conv 625K 0+Image processing program v2.3.0 Part Executive.lha util/misc 527K 0+UNIX-like task scheduler (V1.30) VZ_II125.lha util/virus 159K 1+VirusZ v1.25 by Georg H rmann mpega.lha mus/play 61K 0+Fast MPEG audio decoder V1.1 (68020+ IPDial18.lha comm/tcp 53K 0+SLIP dialer; stdin/out terminal prog AmiPhone0.8B.lha comm/net 80K 0+AmiTCP based voice chat program Electrics_1_0.lha misc/sci 160K 1+Digital circuit designer, version 1. | The highest rated programs during the week until 27-Nov-95 | Updated weekly. Best program on top. Please rate all the programs you | download. To do so, send to aminet-server@wuarchive.wustl.edu : | RATE | where is the file you want to judge and is a mark from 0..10 | with 10 being the best. You can rate several programs in one mail, but | don't rate your own programs. Example: RATE dev/gui/mui23usr.lha 8 | |File Dir Size Age Description |----------------- --- ---- --- ----------- SmartWB.lha util/wb 4K 4+Boosts up Workbench's windows refres hdsleep.lha disk/misc 11K 5+Turns your hard drives motor off. v1 Knights242.lha game/2play 223K 55+Two-player violent dungeon bashing Knockout.lha game/2play 190K 11+Two *very* addictive multiplayer gam Team17_Demos.dms game/demo 680K 36+Demos of Alien Breed 3D and King Pin MouseBounce.lha game/gag 5K 343+Screen hack that is also a game. scrotax2.lha game/shoot 347K 10+Scrotax Version 2.01 - BUGFIXED & UP 3D_Pro.lha gfx/3d 211K 2+The easy-to-use 3D stereogram/SIRD g RomIcons9.lha pix/icon 336K 25+New MagicWB2.0 Icons/ImageDrawers/.. DosMan121.lha util/wb 145K 26+Complete GUI Dos Manual DamageWolf3D_2.lha gfx/misc 292K 3+A ROTT (PC game) walkaround demo; 3D NetMail-13.lha comm/mail 130K 5+E-mail program with GUI, groups, fil Online1.4.lha comm/misc 89K 23+Ultimate Phone Call Coster/Logger OS tin130gamma.lha comm/news 182K 16+TIN 1.3 PL0 Beta 950726. UUCP/NNTP N Interplay40b.lha disk/cdrom 53K 3+CDPlayer (Archos/CD32/PowerCD/SCSI/+ ReOrg3_1.lha disk/optim 326K 116+Disk optimizer with DC-FFS support DiskSalv11_32.lha disk/salv 118K 20+Dave Haynie's DiskSalv version 11.32 ViperAGA12.lha game/2play 390K 56+Updated AGA Snake game with 6 player VK_DEMO.lha game/demo 765K 3+Virtual Karting playable demo MagiC64N.lha misc/emu 250K 4+C64 Emulator V1.01 (A1200 Bug fixed) gfft-1.12.lha misc/sci 296K 63+FFT spectrum analysis of sample file MagicMenu_1.29.lha util/cdity 106K 104+PopUp menus for OS 2.x and newer Executive.lha util/misc 527K 0+UNIX-like task scheduler (V1.30) NewMultiView09.lha util/sys 8K 6+A frontend for MultiView VChk803.lha util/virus 199K 1+Version 8.03 of Virus_Checker. Amiga AB3Dicon.lha pix/icon 2K 3+Icon for Alien Breed 3D - MWB Style. truview.lha dev/misc 10K 5+614125 colors on AGA (FAST!!) @endnode @node MAILLIST "Amiga Report Mailing List" @toc WHERE =========================================================================== Amiga Report Mailing List =========================================================================== If you have an internet mailing address, you can receive Amiga Report in @{"UUENCODED" link UUENCODE} form each week as soon as the issue is released. To be put on the list, send Email to listserv@itesmvf1.rzs.itesm.mx. Your subject header will be ignored. In the body of the message, enter subscribe areport ie: subscribe areport A. R. Reader The system will automatically pull your e-mail address from the message header. Your account must be able to handle mail of any size to ensure an intact copy. For example, many systems have a 100K limit on incoming messages. ** IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE be certain your host can accept mail over ** ** 100K! We have had a lot of bouncebacks recently from systems with a ** ** 100K size limit for incoming mail. If we get a bounceback with your ** ** address in it, it will be removed from the list. Thanks! ** *** The following is only for Australian readers! *** To circumvent the new pay-per-megabyte system for Australian Internet communication, Paul Reece has been kind enough to set up an AUSTRALIAN-ONLY mailing list, to save his fellow countrymen some money. You can join the list by sending mail to: majordomo@info.tas.gov.au with the single line (in body of message): subscribe ar Amiga Report will then be bounced to you. @endnode @node UUENCODE @toc MAILLIST =========================================================================== UUDecoding Amiga Report =========================================================================== If you receive Amiga Report from the direct mailing list, it will arrive in UUEncoded format. This format allows programs and archive files to be sent through mail by converting the binary into combinations of ASCII characters. In the message, it will basically look like a lot of trash surrounded by begin and end, followed by the size of the file. To UUDecode Amiga Report, you first need to get a UUDecoding program, such as UUxT by Asher Feldman. This program is available on Aminet in pub/aminet/arc/ Then you must download the message that it is contained in. Don't worry about message headers, the UUDecoding program will ignore them. There is a GUI interface for UUxT, which should be explained in the docs. However, the quickest method for UUDecoding the magazine is to type uuxt x ar.uu at the command prompt. You will then have to decompress the archive with lha, and you will then have Amiga Report in all of its AmigaGuide glory. If you have any questions, you can write to @{"Jason Compton" link JASON} @endnode @node AMINET "Aminet" @toc WHERE Aminet ====== To get Amiga Report from Aminet, simply FTP to any Aminet site, CD to docs/mags. All the back issues are located there as well. Sites: ftp.netnet.net, ftp.wustl.edu, ftp.tas.gov.au, ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk @endnode @node WWW "World Wide Web" @toc WHERE World Wide Web ============== AR can also be read with Mosaic (in either AmigaGuide or html form). Reading AmigaReport with Mosaic removes the necessity to download it. It can also be read using programs found in UNIX sites such as LYNX. Simply tell Mosaic to open one of the following URLs: http://www.omnipresence.com/Amiga/News/AR/ http://sun1000.ci.pwr.wroc.pl/AMIGA/AR/ http://mm.iit.uni-miskolc.hu/Data/AR http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/amiga/ar/ http://ramiga.cts.com/~AR http://www.sci.muni.cz/ar/ http://metro.turnpike.net/P/panther/main.html http://www.lysator.liu.se/amiga/ar/ http://ArtWorks.apana.org.au/AmigaReport.html The following AR sites also have a mailto form, allowing you to mail to Amiga Report from the web site.