08/1997
@database "ar313.guide"
@Node MAIN "Amiga Report Online Magazine #3.13 -- July 11, 1995"
@{" Turn the Page " link MENU}
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"THE Online Source for Amiga Information!"
Copyright 1995 FS Publications
All Rights Reserved
//
=====================================//====================================
== July 11, 1995 \\// Issue No. 3.13 ==
===========================================================================
@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}
@{" FTP Announcements " 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. 3.13 July 11, 1995 | \\// ==
==============| "THE Online Source for Amiga Information!" |=============
|______________________________________________|
@endnode
===========================================================================
== The Amiga Report Staff ==
===========================================================================
@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 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 KATIE "Assistant Editor"
@toc STAFF
===========================================================================
== ASSISTANT EDITOR ==
===========================================================================
Katherine Nelson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Internet
--------
Kati@cup.portal.com
@endnode
@node SEAN "Games Editor"
@toc STAFF
===========================================================================
== GAMES EDITOR ==
===========================================================================
Sean Caszatt
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Internet
--------
Sean.Caszatt@f512.n2601.z1.fidonet.org
@endnode
@node EDITORIAL "compt.sys.editor.desk"
@toc OPINION
===========================================================================
== compt.sys.editor.desk By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} ==
===========================================================================
In just a couple of days, I'll be on a plane to Calgary, Canada for the
AmiJAM '95 show. I'll be giving a couple of speeches there.
Sorry for the delays in getting this issue out. Both @{" Katie " link KATIE} and I have been
working quite a bit lately, and the magazine release just kept slipping
farther and farther away...
(Incidentally, for those of you who think AR looks good, it's all her
fault. I have very little to do with it. If she didn't lay this thing
out, it would never get done.)
So, what's there to talk about? Well, I just got a press release from
Amiga Technologies (and so did you, it's in the issue.) Pretty standard
stuff, the sort of commitment-type rhetoric we heard at the May 30th press
conference. Nothing earth-shattering like "Hey, we hired some engineers"
or "Hey, here's our marketing plan for the next 6 months."
SPEAKING of marketing, here's some news. (Hey, we included this press
release, too!) The Amiga 4000T, 040/25, 6 megs of memory and 540 megs of
hard drive space, is being set at an initial street price of $3500.
Now that you've picked yourself up off the floor, let me explain.
Ed Goff, legal counsel for Amiga Technologies, former legal counsel and VP
of Commodore, and de facto head of North American operations for Amiga
Technologies, was the "bad guy" who got to declare this price. In a phone
conversation with me, he claimed it was due to production costs, and that
the price could/would drop after 1995. I was not the first to point out to
him the fact that it put the Amiga in a very uncomfortable price position
against the competition, which can deliver more raw horsepower for much
less money.
I don't know where it goes from here. Goff and Amiga Technologies
certainly haven't heard the last about this price, as it is not a good
sign. Of course, if they sell all their inventory at this price the day
they release the machines, they're utter geniouses and will have raised
copious amounts of operating cash. Still, I'd like to see a 4000 that I
might be able to afford, maybe, someday...
Ah well. Enough for one issue, there's plenty to read, so off you go.
Jason
@endnode
@node COMMERCIAL "Commercial Products"
@toc MENU
===========================================================================
== Commercial Products ==
===========================================================================
@{" Editor's Choice " link EDITORCHOICE} Jason's picks
@{" Commercial Online Services " link ONLINE} Sign-Up Information
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Announce " link FTP}
@endnode
@node MAIL "Reader Mail"
@toc MENU
===========================================================================
== Reader Mail ==
===========================================================================
From: Seth Harman
To whom it may concern,
Seeing as what has been happening with the Amiga as of late, I have
been spending alot of time discussing with other people many wishes that we
have as to the direction that Amiga Technologies should take. For the
machine to succeed in today's market it needs, obviously, to be as
attractive as possible to potential buyers. The current Amiga user base,
while somewhat large and quite loyal, not only pales in comparison to the
current PC and Mac markets, but is also not adequate enough, in my opinion,
to keep the machine alive for an extended period of time. This leads me to
the main point of this letter.
One of the things that I feel is tantamount to the survival of the Amiga in
the future is software. Obviously software availability is an issue but
I'm more concerned with what Amiga Technologies/ESCOM plan on including
with the machines they are going to sell. Included software is a necessity
in today's market and is an important factor in machine price, obviously,
due to the added cost of the software itself that the company incurs. With
price as a HUGE issue in recent Amiga history I think this is something
that whoever is in charge of making a decision needs to think about very
carefully.
Recently, rumors have surfaced that the next Amigas will be shipping with
some version of SCALA as included software. I'd like to point out, first
of all, that I have nothing to indicate that this rumor has any substance
or not. But, in case it does, I'd like to make it clear that myself and
many others feel this is not a good idea.
In case you may have forgotten, Commodore tried something strikingly
similar to this a few years ago when they started including AmigaVision
with many new Amigas sold. From my personal experience and the experience
of others this was an utter waste of money. Frankly, no one used it.
Granted, there were a few people that spent alot of time on it creating
elaborate presentations for fun but no one that I have had contact with
could name a single thing they would consider useful come out of that
particular program. Now I would like to state up front that I believe
SCALA to be light years ahead of AmigaVision but I still don't see what
possible use could come out of this program for the typical user. I have
heard from some people about all of the current projects around the globe
that involve SCALA in some way or the other but all of them were things
like computer generated displays at major theme parks or baseball stadiums.
SCALA is probably perfect for these applications but I see no real use in
the home market for this program.
From speaking to many different people I have determined that one thing
people believe Commodore to have done right (and I use that phrase loosely)
was to include Final Copy in a package with the 1200's and 4000's.
Thinking about that I went on a quest to discover what software was most
commonly shipped with machines sold to home users. [Note: My quest
involved mainly looking at what was shipping with PC's and Mac's but I
really didn't have any other choice] The two most common things I saw being
sold as a package with a machine were a word processor and maybe a game or
two. In some cases a utility type program, usually a file manager, was
also included (Norton Desktop being the most common one I encountered).
With this evidence in hand I began to ask people what they thought should
be shipped with Amigas. Mainly I heard "A word processor, a game or two,
and a paint program." The first two I agree with but the second one I'm not
so sure about. Anyway, my theory on all of this is that people should be
able to by a machine as a package, so that they can go home, plug it in,
and start getting some productivity out of it. A word processor is a
perfect choice for this since it can appeal to many people regardless of
age or profession. The game aspect is also important since I can't name a
single person that doesn't like a good game now and then. Also, what
better way to show off an area the Amiga excels in (graphics) than with a
good game?
The other piece of software I think should seriously be considered is
Directory Opus. This program is, hands down, one of the most useful pieces
of software in existence for the Amiga. Out of all the people I know that
use Amigas, I only know of a handful of people that don't use Directory
Opus, and almost all of them run some other type or file manager anyway. I
think that if the marketing people at Amiga Technologies/ESCOM were to do a
little research into this they'd find out that I'm not too far off the
mark.
In summation, I think that Amiga Technologies/ESCOM should learn from what
Commodore attempted to do and also look at what other companies on
competing platforms are doing. If the particular combination of software
I'm suggesting works for PC's and Mac's, there must be a reason and I feel
that reason is because that is what people want. If you want to sell
machines you must heed the wishes of the market. And once you draw that
market in, I think the Amiga has the power to keep them around.
Seth Harman
seth@worf.netins.net
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
From: "Thomas Hemmer"
To: jcompton@shell.portal.com, HEMMER@Cris.FH-Coburg.DE
Hi Jason,
15 minutes ago, I got AmigaReport 3.12 and (of course) immediately started
reading. There's one letter to the editor (hey, that's you ;-)) that I
can't let be uncommented. Its from Bill Silvey and he complains about the
small number of A4000T Escom will send to North America. Only 10,000, he
said.
Hey, man! This means (according to ESCOM) 10,000 in 1995! Of a total
production of 25,000 in 1995. They actually can't produce more! Its not
so easy to get the parts and start assembly in a Fab somewhere in the
world, where probably never any AMIGA was build (Remember that the former
production line of 4000s was in the C= Plant in the Phillipines). Its a
hell of a job for Amiga Technologies GmbH to get this 25,000 A4000Ts ready
for the Christmas Market, not to forget the 120,000 A1200s the want to sell
this year. So, and whats about 10,000? Too less for the american AMIGA
market? Really? That's 40%!!! Never had the american market 40% of the
sales, NEVER! As I heard that Escom wants to sell 10,000 A4000Ts to North
America, I thought "Well, that's a large number, but o.k. they ever had a
higher percentage of the high-end-models there, why not. And ESCOM could
wash away all fears of american AMIGA users, that they won't be supported"
That's what I thought til I read this letter in ar312.
ESCOM will announce a distributor (or more) for the US and Canada. If
you're lucky, CEI will be among them. There will be a R&D department in
the US, probably in Norristown. What else do you want? What causes this
fears? Maybe you (the amican users) are a bit jealous that from now on the
news and rumors are faster spread in Europe. And maybe the support will be
better in Europe than in the US. But unil April 94 it was the other way
round. You got the news and the best support (remember CATS, we never had
such good support). Now you're a bit away from the decisions. Are this
the reasons for your paranoic now-the-world-is-going-under-mentality? Do
you really think we Europeans (or we Germans) couldn't make the AMIGA a
success? So you have to remember firms like MacroSystems (Draco,
WarpEngine...), phase 5 (Cybervision64, Cyberstorm, Blizzard, FastLane Z3
...) etc. And remember: more than THREE million AMIGAs (maybe nearly 4)
were sold in Europe. If there ever was an economic success of the AMIGA,
then it was totally european-made!
I personally think that ESCOM was the best what happened to AMIGA since
1990. And they were the BEST choice at the auction. Neither Alex Amor nor
David Pleasance had nearly as much financial power as ESCOM. So be a
little more optimistic! The AMIGA will be resurrected and new AMIGA-models
will (according to Dr. Peter Kittel and others) have all the features that
made AMIGA successful.
Come on, you americans, relax! Its going to be better, maybe better than
it ever was!
@endnode
@node NEWS1 "Change of CD's"
@toc NEWS
The Frozenfish CDROM that was mounted at Uni Wuerzburg has
been replaced with a copy of the new Meeting Pearls 2 CDROM.
You can access the MP2 by FTP:
ftp.rz.uni-wuerzburg.de pub/amiga/mpearls2
or by WWW:
ftp://ftp.rz.uni-wuerzburg.de/pub/amiga/mpearls2/index.html
ftp://ftp.rz.uni-wuerzburg.de/pub/amiga/mpearls2/indexe.html
(the first URL leads to the German-language pages, the second one
to the English-language pages).
I am the admin of the Amiga subtree of Uni Wuerzburg's ftp server.
If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to send e-mail
to jow@rz.uni-wuerzburg.de.
-- Juergen Weinelt
@endnode
@node NEWS2 "Cheaper Chunky"
@toc NEWS
From: Scott Ferrero
Subject: Re: Chunky mode GFX Card for Amiga
To: Jens Schoenfeld
It seems that two Amiga developers have been hit by the same brainstorm.
Scott Ferrero (sferrero@enterprise.powerup.com.au) and Jens Schoenfeld
(sysop@nostlgic.tng.oche.de) have both been working on a DCTV-style Amiga
attachment designed to bring a low-cost chunky graphics mode or two to the
aging Amiga graphics system.
The most obvious application would be towards "texture-mapping" games such
as Doom, however both have grander plans for their as yet unreleased
devices.
Mr. Ferrero has been keeping me up to date on their independent progress,
and they are now considering joining forces. Watch this space.
@endnode
@node NEWS3 "MasterISO Copy"
@toc NEWS
Paul Reeves of Asimware Innovations Inc. recently announced that the
program NG-Master, a freely redistributable ISO 9660 CD-ROM mastering
package, was in fact merely a slightly modified version of Asimware's
MasterISO software, essentially only altered text strings.
Mr. Reeves sent AR a demo version of MasterISO and the NG-Master
distribution. While we are not in a position to verify his claims with a
disassembly comparison (and such things are touchy issues), and we don't
even have the complete MasterISO distribution to compare with, rest assured
that we'll look into it.
@endnode
@node NEWS4 "Amiga Production"
@toc NEWS
[I normally don't like to do this sort of direct reprinting, but Stets
knows his stuff and I haven't been able to get a hold of the relevant
parties for our own article...and it's important news. -Jason]
AMIGA PRODUCTION TO BE RESUMED IN U.S.
By DAN STETS
Knight-Ridder News Service
PHILADELPHIA -- In a surprise move, Escom AG, the German computer company
that bought the remains of Commodore International Ltd., plans to start
manufacturing Amiga computers in the United States by August.
The Amiga, a sophisticated personal computer that had multimedia capability
years before competitors, has been out of production for more than 18
months.
Edward Goff, who works for Escom as a consultant, said he hoped to have
Amiga 4000 model towers, which contain the main workings of the desktop
computers, available for distribution by the end of August.
Escom had planned to restart making Amigas in China, or possibly Europe,
but so far has been unable to work out a manufacturing agreement with a
Chinese company. A European company has agreed to do some Amiga assembly.
The circuit boards for the computers will be produced by Zober Industries
Inc., a contract manufacturer, in Croydon, Pa. The computers themselves
will be assembled by Quikpak Corp. of Norristown, Pa.
Executives of the two firms said details of the manufacturing had not been
finalized.
Goff was vice president and general counsel of Commodore. He and two
former Commodore engineers now are working as consultants for Escom, with
the assignment of starting production here.
Commodore, which had its North American headquarters in West Chester, Pa.,
went into liquidation in May 1994. Escom paid $10 million for the
company's core assets and technology in April.
At that time, Escom President Manfred Schmitt said he wanted to resume
production of all Commodore products in China if possible. Commodore had
last done its manufacturing in the Philippines.
However, Petro Tyschtschenko, general manager of a newly formed Escom
subsidiary, Amiga Technologies GmbH, said the Chinese would not be ready to
begin manufacturing for at least a year.
Tyschtschenko said in a telephone interview last week that Escom wanted to
produce 22,000 Amiga 4000s this year. The circuit boards for all the
computers will be made in the Philadelphia area, and about 10,000 of the
machines will be assembled near Philadelphia for the North American market,
he said.
The remaining 12,000 circuit boards probably will be shipped to Scotland,
where the computers themselves will be made by a contract manufacturer that
used to assemble some machines for Commodore. These 12,000 machines will
be sold in Europe, he said.
''I think we can start production in July or August,'' said Tyschtschenko.
The company also hopes to manufacture 100,000 to 120,000 of the smaller
Amiga 1200s this year in Europe for the European market, he said.
Escom has formed a separate Commodore subsidiary that will begin making
multimedia computers based on Intel's Pentium microprocessor this year,
Tyschtschenko said. These machines will be sold in Europe under the
Commodore label.
''It is completely separated from Amiga,'' he said.
Goff said Escom was looking for alliances with companies interested in
licensing Amiga technology for other applications, such as set-top boxes
for television.
Escom also will be seeking the best way to further develop Amiga
technology, Goff said. In the past, Amigas have appealed to the higher end
of the computer market and have been used for video processing, especially
in North America.
@endnode
@node NEWS5 "PowerPC"
@toc NEWS
In Motorola's quarterly PowerPC report, Escom is listed in a crowd of about
75 companies as one using the PowerPC chip.
Mind you, this is not proof-positive that Amiga Technologies will use the
PowerPC. But it is an indicator that there has been some sort of
communication between the two parties, and that can't be bad.
[Thanks to Motorola employee Eric Rainbolt for the report. -Jason]
@endnode
@node NEWS6 "ShapeShifter"
@toc NEWS
TITLE
ShapeShifter
VERSION
3.0
AUTHOR
Christian Bauer
EMail: bauec002@goofy.zdv.uni-mainz.de
SMail: Christian Bauer, Langenaustr.65, 56070 Koblenz, Germany
DESCRIPTION
ShapeShifter is a multitasking shareware Macintosh-II emulator for
the Amiga computer. It allows to run Macintosh software concurrently
to Amiga applications without hardware add-ons or modifications.
Some of the emulation's features:
- Color display up to 256 colors on AGA Amigas (16 colors on ECS)
and up to 16,7 million colors on graphics cards (Picasso-II,
EGS, Merlin and CyBERgraphics cards are supported)
- No MMU required, even runs on A1200
- Macintosh hard disks can be simulated in Amiga files or Amiga
hard disk partitions
[unregistered version has no hard disk partition support]
- Can use Amiga floppy drives, serial, parallel and SCSI ports
from the Mac
[use of SCSI not possible in unregistered version]
- Mac HD disks can be read directly with an HD floppy drive,
Mac 800K disks cannot be read, Mac 720K disks, however, can
- Multichannel sound output and parallel-port sound digitizers
supported
- Access to Ethernet networks with MacTCP
- Text clipboard sharing between Mac and Amiga
- File handler to access Macintosh volumes from the Workbench
- Speed comparable to a real Mac with equivalent hardware
The most important changes in V3.0:
- The SCSI routines are more compatible (e.g. SCSIProbe and the
HDT drivers now run)
- You can select which floppy drives ShapeShifter will use as the
first and the second Macintosh drive
- You can select which volume to boot from
- The serial driver has been heavily improved and now supports
fully asynicro R+D.
In the US, add $5/$10/$20 for UPS shipping, ground/blue/red label,
respectively. Overseas: It is recommended that you consider $20 to be the
minimum cost for shipping. If you plan to order more than one item, E-mail
for shipping cost.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sidewinder's Future Shock II CD is now available through Amiga Report.
Featuring 15 Amiga-generated tunes totalling 71 minutes, Eric Gieseke's
work is captured on an Amiga-independent media.
Available for US$12.00. Please add $5 for shipping.
Make check or money order payable to @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}. Orders will be
drop-shipped from Sidewinder Productions.
For overseas orders, please contact through E-Mail before ordering.
@endnode
@node DELPHI "Delphi"
@toc ONLINE
===========================================================================
== Delphi Internet Services -- Your Connection to the World! ==
===========================================================================
Amiga Report International Online Magazine and the Amiga Report Coverdisk
are available in the Amiga SIG on DELPHI. Amiga Report readers are invited
to join DELPHI and become a part of the friendly community of Amiga
enthusiasts there.
SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access
DELPHI services via a local phone call
JOIN -- DELPHI
--------------
Via modem, dial up DELPHI at 1-800-695-4002
then...
When connected, press RETURN once or twice
and..
At Username: type JOINDELPHI and press RETURN,
At Password: type AMIGAUSER and press RETURN.
For more information, call
DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-695-4005
SPECIAL FEATURES
----------------
* Complete Internet connection -- Telnet, FTP, IRC, Gopher, E-Mail and
more! (Internet option is $3/month extra)
* SIGs for all types of computers -- Amiga, IBM, Macintosh, Atari, etc.
* An active Amiga SIG hosting conferances, Usenet, Latest wares, and
FTP Gopher coming soon
* Large file databases!
* SIGs for hobbies, video games, graphics, and more!
* Business and world news, stock reports, etc.
* Grolier's Electronic Encyclopedia!
DELPHI - It's getting better all the time!
@endnode
@node PORTAL "Portal"
@toc ONLINE
===========================================================================
== Portal: A Great Place For Amiga Users ==
===========================================================================
The Portal Information Network's Amiga Zone
The AFFORDABLE alternative for online Amiga information
-------------------------------------------------------
Portal is the home of acclaimed Amiga Zone, a full-service online SIG
(Special Interest Group) for Amiga owners and users. We promise, and
WE DELIVER ongoing & aggressive Amiga support!
You can dial into Portal to access the Amiga Zone in many ways: direct
dial to our San Jose, CA high-speed modems (you pay for the phone call
if it's not local), or though any SprintNet or Compu$erve indial anywhere
(with a small hourly fee) or via the World-wide Internet "telnet"
program to portal.com (no hourly fee).
Even Delphi and BIX users can Telnet into Portal for a flat $19.95 a month,
with *unlimited* use.
Portal is NOT just another shell service! Its Online system is fully
menu-driven with on-screen commands and help, and you can easily customize
it for your favorite terminal program and screen size.
Some of Portal/Amiga Zone's amazing features include:
* 2.5 GIGabytes of Amiga-specific file space - we have so much Amiga Stuff
online, we've lost count!
* The *entire* Fred Fish collection of freely distributable software,
online. ALL 1000 disks!
* Fast, Batch Zmodem file transfer protocol. Download up to 100 files at
once, of any size, with one command.
* Amiga vendor areas with participants like AmigaWorld, Elastic
Reality (ASDG), Soft-Logik, Apex Publishing, and others.
* 40 "regular" Amiga libraries with over 10,000 files. Hot new stuff
arrives daily.
* No upload/download "ratios" EVER. Download as much as you want, as
often as you want, and never feel pressured doing it.
* Live, interactive nightly chats with Amiga folks whose names you will
recognize. Special conferences. Random chance prize contests. We
have given away thousands of bucks worth of Amiga prizes - more than
any other online service.
* Message bases where you can ask questions about *anything* Amiga
related and get quick replies from the experts.
* Amiga Internet mailing lists for Imagine, AMosaic, LightWave, EGS,
OpalVision & others feed right into the Zone message bases. Read
months worth of postings. No need to clutter your mailbox with them.
* FREE unlimited Internet Email with 5 meg of free storage.
* A FREE UNIX Shell account with another 5 meg of free storage.
You can run Amiga Mosaic through your shell and explore the
vast World Wide Web!
* Portal has the Usenet. Thousands of "newsgroups" in which you can read
and post articles about virtually any subject you can possibly
imagine.
* Other Portal SIGs (Special Interest Groups) online for Mac, IBM, Sun,
UNIX, Science Fiction, Disney, and dozens more. ALL Portal SIGs are
accessible to ALL Portal customers with NO surcharges ever. You
never worry "Ooops... Am I paying for this area?" again!
* Portal was THE FIRST online service to offer a full package of Internet
features: IRC, FTP, TELNET, MUDS, LIBS. And you get FREE unlimited
usage of all of them.
* Our exclusive PortalX by Steve Tibbett, the graphical "front end" for
Portal which will let you automatically click'n'download your waiting
email, messages, Usenet groups and binary files! Reply to mail and
messages offline using your favorite editor and your replies are sent
automatically the next time you log into Portal. (PortalX requires
Workbench 2.04 or higher)
* Portal does NOT stick it to high speed modem users. Whether you log in
at 1200 or 2400 or 9600 or 14.4K you pay the same low price.
To join Portal or for more information call:
1-800-433-6444 (voice) 9a.m.-5p.m. Mon-Fri, Pacific Time
1-408-973-9111 (voice) 9a.m.-5p.m. Mon-Fri, Pacific Time
1-408-725-0561 (modem 3/12/2400) 24 hours every day
1-408-725-0560 (modem 96/14400) 24 hours every day
or enter "C PORTAL" from any Sprintnet dial-in, or "portal" at any
CI$ network dialin, or telnet to "portal.com" from anywhere,
and then enter "online" and then "info"
Call and join today. Tell the friendly Portal Customer Service
representative, "The Amiga Zone and Amiga Report sent me!"
[Editor's Note: Be sure to tell them that you are an Amiga user, so they
can notify the AmigaZone sysops to send their Welcome Letter and other
information!]
The Portal Information Network accepts MasterCard, Visa, or you can pre-pay
any amount by personal check or money order. The Portal Online System is a
trademark of The Portal Information Network. SLIP, UUCP and custom domain
accounts are also available.
@endnode
@node GENIE "GEnie"
@toc ONLINE
===========================================================================
== GEnie: Internet access, online games, more ==
===========================================================================
* What is GEnie?
GEnie is a commercial on-line service that offers many services at a
reasonable monthly rate. Some of the general services are:
- Over 150,000 software files to download
- Uploads to GEnie are free of any connect charges, so upload those
Public Domain programs to add to the Starship Amiga Roundtable's
vast selection of programs for free!
- Real-time chat
- Dozens of special-interest discussion areas
- Challenging multi-player games with graphics (yes, there are Amiga
front-ends)
- Worldwide news, weather and sports
- Electronic mail to and from the Internet
- FTP Service which provides users with interactive access to any of
the millions of files available for public access on the Internet
- Usenet Newsgroups Service which allow users to participate in the
global discussion areas collectively known as USENET
- Outbound Telnet Service which enables users to connect to other host
computers through the Internet
- GEnie Mall with nearly 40 different vendors
- Starship Amiga Roundtable which contains gigabytes of Amiga-only
files
- Commodore Roundtable for VIC-20, C-64, C-128 and other Commodore
computers
- Other Amiga software companies have their own Roundtables for
customer support such as Soft-Logik where all the latest program
patches and support files are available for their products
- AmiAladdin Support Roundtable for getting the latest updates to the
GEnie Aladdin software which is used to make maneuvering the GEnie
menu system much easier and faster. This is a specific area for the
Amiga version of this software which is free of charge
- Hundreds of other areas and services available
* How do I sigh up for GEnie?
You may sign up for GEnie service by one of two methods:
(1) Using your modem (8N1 half duplex 300/1200/2400 baud) dial
1-800-638-8369. Upon connection immediately enter HHH (Return),
don't wait for any on-screen prompt. At the U#= prompt type SIGNUP
(Return). You may use a major credit card account or your checking
account (US only.)
(2) Call GEnie client services via voice at 1-800-638-9636 or
1-301-251-6475 from outside the US and Canada.
@endnode
@node BBS_AUSTRALIA "Distribution BBSes - Australia"
@toc BBS
===========================================================================
== Distribution BBSes - Australia ==
===========================================================================
-=NEW ZEALAND=-
* BITSTREAM BBS *
FidoNET 3:771/850.0 AmigaNET 41:644/850.0
+64-(0)3-548-5321, SupraFaxModem 28k8 VFast Class
-=SYDNEY=-
* CONTINENTAL DRIFT BBS *
USENET, Internet E-mail, Fidonet, Aminet
(+61) 2 949 4256
@endnode
@node BBS_EUROPE "Distribution BBSes - Europe"
@toc BBS
===========================================================================
== Distribution BBSes - Europe ==
===========================================================================
ey' philosophy, every original copy of
'SIMthesizer' will have a different internal Parasitic factor. This
ensures that sounds created on one copy of 'SIMthesizer' will not sound
exactly the same as on another.
Elements
--------
Where applicable, elements have extensive parameter and modulation
capabilities.
Sound Sources
-------------
Oscillator: Sin/Cosine, Sawtooth/Triangle, Pulse Width
Sample: External sound sample data file
Wavetable: Multi-sample loops
Phonetic Speech: Phonetics based waveform generation
Noise: Color controlled parametric equalization where noise spectrum
can be defined using an RGB palette selector. This feature
provides the ability to create noise content other than the
standard White/Pink.
- Modulation parameters: Pitch, symmetry, amplitude.
Outputs/Monitors
----------------
Oscillocope, speaker, file, standard MIDI transfer.
Envelopes
---------
Fully controllable/programable Envelopes are available for
modulation of Sound Sources, Wave Shapers, Filters and other
Envelopes.
: Exponential, dampen, DC offset, gate, linear envelope
- Modulation parameters: amplitude.
Mathematical Functions
----------------------
These functions provide a means to mix and modify sounds.
: Sum, multiply, average, gain, integration, differentiation,
cross-fade.
Feedback / Echo / Delay
-----------------------
Multi-Element feedback registers allow generated signals to modulate
themselves and/or other element's parameters.
Filters
-------
Provide a means of emphasizing/suppressing harmonic content.
: Low, high, band pass, notch reject, all pass.
- Modulation parameters: Cut-off frequency, resonance/Q
Transforms
----------
Allow direct modification of waverform shape using algorithms
based on gamma curves, parabolas, sinusoids, linearity,
non-linearities (such as diodes) and arbitrary shapes.
- Modulation parameters: dependant on the shaping algorithm.
Clipping
--------
Should any potential clipping occur at any point in the sound generation
process, the 'element icon', where clipping would occur, is highlighted and
the sound designer may examine the waveform and consider modifications.
Because 'SIMthesizer' generates sounds in a higher resolution than the
ouput waveform, clipping will not actually occur, but warnings will be
generated to show elements where clipping would exist on the output
waveform.
Data Conversion
---------------
8/12/16/24/32 bit data conversion.
Raw, IFF-8SVX, AIFF, NeXT, Sun, Wave, U-Law, A-Law, AVR, Mac, IRCAM, Voc,
SampleVision, etc.
==========================================================================
WaveFormer
==========================================================================
'WaveFormer' is a waveform editing system designed to work standalone or in
conjunction with professional sampling hardware and third party audio
cards. Support for hard disk recording hardware is planned.
Includes many time saving features such as 'free-hand repair mode' which
adjusts bad sample data. For example: given levels '0 5 10 32767 10 0',
the level 32767 is very likely to be incorrect. To repair it, simply drag
the mouse over the offending sample and it is adjusted to '0 5 10 5 10 0'.
Features
--------
Waveform Transformation
-----------------------
Morphing, enhanced digital effects, Fourier analysis and transforms,
free-hand edit, algorithm editing, cross-fading, percent complete
indicator for intensive calculations, non-destructive (undo).
Waveform Viewing
----------------
Simultaneous full and zoomed displays, multiple graph methods
(Min/Avg/Max, Min/+Avg/-Avg/Max, Filled, Points, etc.),
multi-colored, enhanced split-view (ideal for loop alignment).
Auto-Location
-------------
Multiple definable increment/decrement values for scrolling,
jump-to: start/end/mark/loop start/loop end/ range start/range
end/last edit, auto locate: 0/min/max/range.
Waveform Auditioning
--------------------
Audible auditioning even while editing.
Bookmarks
---------
Multiple bookmarks can be visually/numerically defined, named and
assigned as loop points/ranges/or just notes for future reference,
on/off toggling.
Clipboard
---------
Each clip can be named and assigned to a temporary buffer or to disk
storage, clipped ranges can be selected from a list of names for
copying/pasting, non-destructive (undo).
Looping
-------
Smoothing, multi-loops, auto/manual looping, forward/reverse/ping
pong.
Waveform Editing
----------------
Free-hand edit, free-hand repair.
Data Conversion
---------------
8/12/16/24/32 bit data conversion.
Raw, IFF-8SVX, AIFF, NeXT, Sun, Wave, U-Law, A-Law, AVR, Mac,
IRCAM, Voc, SampleVision, etc.
* Features, such as the number of waveform buffers, clips and bookmarks,
are limited only by available memory and/or disk storage space.
==========================================================================
MIDI SYStem EXplorer
==========================================================================
'MIDI SYStem EXplorer' is an extensively configurable MIDI exploration
system, including a patch editor, librarian, control system and much
more...
Features
--------
- Extensive customization allows the user to design standard
interfaces for all MIDI products connected to the system.
- Graphic interfaces are designed external to the main program. This
minimizes memory requirements and increases the interface speed.
- Just about everything is customizable, including: layout, fonts,
gadgets, colors, images, menus, MIDI events, etc.
- Allows the user to enter MIDI information from a device's user manual
and configure a custom interface to access parameters.
- Supports ALL MIDI events.
- Patch/Librarian data is stored in MIDI standard format, for easy
importing to other software.
- Has the ability to edit individual parameters on devices that only
support patch dumps.
- MIDI communication can operate with realtime feedback and/or through
user interaction.
- Edits can be made without connection to a MIDI device, if required.
- Includes lots of examples and common device interfaces, to get you
started.
==========================================================================
Sampler Utility
==========================================================================
'Sampler Utility' provides the capability of transferring sample data
between professional audio samplers and a computer.
Features
--------
Data Exchange
-------------
Disk (direct read/write of many professional sampler disk formats on
standard Amiga disk drives), standard MIDI transfer. (SCSI
communication is planned).
Waveform Auditioning
--------------------
Audible auditioning of waveforms.
Disk/Patch/Tone Information
---------------------------
Disk name, patch/tone lists, parameter information, etc.
Data Conversion
---------------
8/12/16/24/32 bit data conversion.
Raw, IFF-8SVX, AIFF, NeXT, Sun, Wave, U-Law, A-Law, AVR, Mac,
IRCAM, Voc, SampleVision, etc.
==========================================================================
'young monkey', 'SIMthesizer', 'MIDI SYStem EXplorer', 'WaveFormer' and
'Sampler Utility' are copyrights of 'young monkey studios' and 'scott
dhomas trenn'.
@endnode
@node NEWS9 "DirOpus 5 Conference"
@toc NEWS
On July 30th, 1995, Amiga Report Magazine will be holding an IRC conference
with Jon Potter, author of the expansive DirOpus 5 directory
organizer/Workbench replacement program.
The conference is scheduled to begin at 5:30 PM EST (8:00 AM July 31st for
those in Potter's neck of Australia) on EFNet IRC.
All participants should meet in IRC channel #amiga. The name of the
conference channel will be announced there.
@endnode
@node NEWS10 "Amiga Technologies Press Release"
@toc NEWS
[Literally hot off the presses, Gilles Bourdin of Amiga Technologies popped
this in my mailbox today. -Jason]
Amiga Technologies
Together with ESCOM in the new Multimedia age.
A bit of history :
1985. New York. A new computer is presented to the amazed press by
Commodore. What journalists saw there was the beginning of a big adventure
for millions of people worldwide : The Amiga was born !
Its incredible features in video, sound and animation, thanks to a smart
design of custom processors, bundled to a fully multitasking OS and the
powerfull 68000 processor from Motorola quickly made the Amiga the system
of choice for all computer fans.
The first Amiga had 256 Kilobytes of Memory and an 880 Kilobyte 3,5 inch
disk drive. Ten years later, hundreds of megabytes of memory can be used
and the latest 68060 processor from Motorola is 100 times faster than the
original 68000.
Through this computer, a real community of users has been created, software
and hardware suppliers quickly joined the bandwaggon to create a true
environment for those who new from the beginning that the Amiga was more
than just a tool to type letters and to run spreadsheets.
The Amiga also had its detractors : "Animation and sound ? that's just
good for games, no need of that for serious applications". This is what
could be heard and read some years ago, when the competition was still
struggling with monotasking and monochrome systems. These same people are
now saying that they invented Multimedia...
The keyword Multimedia : an important keyword for those who know that Amiga
actually invented Multimedia. ESCOM knew that from the beginning and
recognized in the Amiga a valuable technology, the key to future computing
and entertainment, a key to success.
In April 1995, after a long period of latency it finally happened : ESCOM
took over the complete technological and intellectual property of Commodore
in a spectacular auction in ... New york. Amiga users, professionals as
hobbyists were very worried ; what was going to happen to their computer of
choice, what would ESCOM's plans be ? ESCOM received hundreds of user
letters from all around the world, asking to continue manufacturing and
development of the System.
This is actually a phenomenon that can only be observed very rarely for a
product : commitment and even attachement of a devoted international
community. Support by dozens of dedicated magazines : More than ten
magazines for Germany and the UK alone ! And several more in other
countries.
All these factors made Manfred Schmitt, President of the executive board at
ESCOM, decide to buy AMIGA and create a new daughtercompany : AMIGA
Technologies. The commitment to the technology and its future was
brilliantly demonstrated in Frankfurt, at a major international press
conference on May 30, 1995, only one month after the takeover.
OPERATIONS AND COMPANY PHILOSOPHY
AMIGA Technologies is a 100 % daughtercompany of ESCOM. We are located in
Bensheim, 40 miles southwards of Frankfurt and a few miles away from
Heppenheim, where ESCOM has its offices.
Our team
To be good in making, selling and promoting the Amiga, one has to like the
Amiga and stand behind it. We at AMIGA Technologies think that our team
has to be made of Amiga specialists who believe in what they are doing and
that's the way we go. Once completed, our staff will be of about 50
people, working in sales, production, marketing/PR, accounting and
finances, human ressources, support and especially development of new
hardware and software. We think internationaly because we are an
international company. People from all parts of the world are joining our
young and dynamic team. In our offices, English is more often spoken than
German.
Production
Production and quality control are high priorities to ensure total customer
satisfaction; We only work with the best part providers and most reputable
assemblers to assure the high degree of reliability we want for our
systems.
Distribution
Distribution and logistics are also important keys to successful operations
for us. Our worldwide distribution is centralized in the Netherlands where
we have the infrastructure needed to provide Amigas to the world. In each
country, we have a distribution unit to assure the relay and proper support
needed locally. This can be as a subsidiary or with a distribution and
sales partner, depending on the needs.
Our Market
The Amiga market has a high potential and first of all is a worldwide
market. The multimedia market is even bigger and it is our market of
choice. With the high potential of our technology in this aspect, we know
that we have the best chances to become an important player very soon. In
the United States, where the number of local Cable Televisions is
increasing rapidly, the Amiga is an appreciated system for broadcasting
applications. Amigas are used in Hollywood to make films and productions
like Babylon V or Seaquest DSV are some examples among others. Companies
use our computers with multimedia authoring systems, which quality and
power is unmatched on other platforms.
Our partners
Third party support on the Amiga is excellent and numerous. We know that
we have creative and productive partners who make the Amiga a better system
every day. We want to work together with these people and build up
fruitful partnerships with them. We allready have signed agreements with
SCALA software to bundle our systems with their outstanding multimedia
authoring system. The Amiga can now be used as a powerfull multimedia
workstation out of the box.
Our technology, development and what we can make out of it.
Power to the user is our goal at short and long term. Going RISC is a
priority for us. Porting our operating system to a new generation hardware
technology in a user-friendly manner is the best way to keep our loyal
customers and gain new ones. For the short term, implemanting the fast
68060 processor from Motorola is an evident move we will do quickly.
Again, here we hire the most excellent technicians and have the best
partners to achieve this ambitious endeavour. The future of home computing
resides in intelligent and integrated high-technology devices like
set-top-boxes which combine user friendliness, powerfull hardware,
communication skills and online services. All we need is coming very soon
: the communication highways, the online service providers, pay TV and home
shopping. All this bundled to our technology will enable us to bring new
and exciting products to the customer at extremely attractive prices.
OUR PRODUCTS
From the entry level AMIGA 1200 to the high-end AMIGA 4000 Tower, our
product range is suited for everyone, from the computer freak to the
professional user.
The AMIGA 1200, thanks to its low price is a perfect home computer and its
expandability will give the user many upgrade possibilities for faster
processors, more memory or new storage medias.
The CD 32 console is based on the AMIGA 1200 Technology and comes standard
with a CD ROM drive. The storage capacity of this media, combined to the
graphics and sound abilities of the Amiga
The Amiga 4000 Tower is perfectly suited for the professional video and
multimedia market and has sufficient connectors and free room to host any
kind of internal expansion device. For more computing power, the 68040
processor can be replaced with the new 68060 from Motorola.
An exciting device for multimedia and interactive applications are the new
Virtual IO glasses. distributed and promoted in cooperation with Amiga
Technologies. With virtual IO, the Amiga user will have a closer
relationship to his computer !
People
Petro Tyschtschenko
General executive officer
Gilles Bourdin
Company spokesman
Peter Kittel
Development
Gwynne Thomas
Material & Production
Rolf Wiehe
Distribution Germany
Regards,
Gilles Bourdin Marketing / Public Relations
Tel +49 6251 130 92 39 Fax +49 6251 130 92 40
--
Amiga Technologies GmbH
Berliner Ring 89
D-64625 Bensheim
Germany
--
@endnode
@node NEWS11 "CEI Press Release"
@toc NEWS
Friday, July 7 4:34am Creative Equipment Int.
N E W S R E L E A S E
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Creative Equipment International is pleased to announce that it will
distribute the new line of Amiga computers through CEI dealers in North and
South America. The first machines are already being built by Amiga
Technologies in the United States and should be available in the last part
of Q3.
Alex Amor President of CEI states, "We are excited to be able to
re-introduce the Amiga back into the Americas. This agreement opens the
door for joint future projects under discussions. We are and have always
been committed to the Amiga."
Ed Goff, Amiga Technologies North American representative states, "We are
extremely pleased that CEI will be distributing the Amiga into North and
South America. They will be bringing a strong dealer network and countless
years of Amiga experience.
The new Amiga 4000T is being positioned as a high end video workstation.
The base model will have a Motorola 68040 processor operating at 25 Mhz.
The new 4000T will be packaged in a sleek tower unit. Exact pricing and
specifications will be announced shortly.
Creative Equipment International is a Miami based international distributor
of multimedia products. Amiga Technologies GmbH is a German based company.
Amiga is a trademark of Escom AG. For more information contact Director of
Marketing Chuck Schenk at (305) 266-2800 ext 111.
=======
(On company letterhead)
Dear CEI Dealers:
Good news as promised! The Amiga 4000T will be the first machine to be
available. New models will follow shortly thereafter. In North America,
Amiga Technologies GmbH is concentrating on the high end desktop video
market first. CEI is assisting Amiga Technologies in various aspects of
creative marketing and product development.
The Amiga 4000T will be a tower based model with the Motorola 68040
processor operating at 25Mhz. Initial configurations are expected to be
6MBs of Ram and 540MB hard disk. Introductory pricing is set for a street
price of $3499.00 CEI will be offering different configurations including
complete Flyer workstations ready to plug and play.
Everything that is humanly and legally possible to maintain the dealers
profit margins will be done. Our goal is to make all dealers profitable.
We will be instituting a number of programs that will reward dealers that
maintain high service standards, local customer support and proper profit
margins.
Enclosed (BY MAIL) you will find our new dealer application, dealer
contract, credit application and forecast sheet. CEI is reinstituting
credit terms to those that qualify. Machines will only be available to
those that return the completed forms. If you assume that because you
purchased from us in the past you do not need to fill out the new
applications, you are mistaken. A new marketing campaign with dealer
referral service is being instituted and without the applications you will
be left off.
We realize that the price of the Amiga 4000T is slightly higher than we all
would have wished. At the same token there is pent up market demand and
the A4000T/FLYER combo is still unbeatable.
The number of computers built will be determined by the number of completed
dealer applications and your forecasts. Please fax the forecast as soon as
possible. Mail the other forms to our address above.
We are quite excited about the Amiga's long term prospects. During the
coming months, you will see a number of announcements that will regain our
dominance in the multimedia markets.
Sincerely,
Alex Amor
@endnode
@node FEATURE1 "Wonderful Musical MODs"
@toc FEATURE
===========================================================================
THOSE WONDERFUL MUSICAL MODS
Sidewinder sidewind@crl.com
===========================================================================
Howdy, my name is Sidewinder. Maybe some of you have heard of me, or some
of my music. I'm a musician, and I'm into MODs..
MODs... What was started in Europe by the Amiga Computer Underground DEMO
scene of the late 80s. With all the excitement and energy of the times,
the spread like wildfire, from across the European continent, over the
oceans the Americas, and even farther then that. The World is listening.
So, what exactly is a MOD you may ask?
MOD, a shorter term for MODule, is basically just a file varied in size.
They are usually anywhere from 10k up to 400k and beyond, containing a
song, or the data for a song, and all the instruments it plays, stuck
together with the data in the form of samples. Since they are all in one
file, this makes for very fast loading into your computer...
How do you play MODs? Easy, for the most part...
There are many programs to play these files since there are many MOD
formats to play. By far, the most popular is the Soundtracker/Pro-Tracker
format. 85-90 Percent of all MODs are in this format. Also on PCs there
is S3M, which is basically a spin-off of MODs, usually with more voices and
other features, but still not as popular as MODs.
* FOR SERIOUS SOUND, HOOK-UP A DECENT SOUND SYSTEM TO YOUR COMPUTER *
To make a MOD....
Personally, I believe the MOD format (also known as tracking) is the
ultimate way to compose music. Anything is possible if you can live with
the limitations. I listen to the early MOD music and then load up a newer
Hardcore Rave, Jazz, or Piano MODs just as if I was listening to something
off the latest CD. It boggles the mind to think they were probally
composed on the same 4 channel 'tracker'. Perhaps one day every serious
musician will be using a 64 voice, 16-bit tracker for some truly mind
blowing crap. :)
Today, limitations due to the nature of sound quality and having to work
with the rough 8 bit samples, can be OVERCOME.
* Advantages over MIDI
Much faster for laying down your tracks, drums, bass, synthlicks oboes,
whatever. I've done dance crap songs in under 10 minutes. Realtime
Control (ie. what you hear is what you get as you're making the tracks.)
Easy sequencing and everything is layed out in blocks (known as patterns)
easily copied over and edited into a new pattern. You can sample as you go
all in one package, usually on the same screen. You can paste, export, and
manipulate anything you sample as you're tracking away..
* Disadvantages
Quality is still not up to par of most keyboard/MIDI/computer setups There
are confusing amounts of commands to learn (muck about.. have fun and
you'll learn cool stuff, and I'm STILL learning new stuff!) It's Addicting.
(You'll make so many MODs you won't know what to do with them!)
The Scene..
The MOD scene has exploded into the 90s. For those who know what it's
about the scene is one of variety. Thousands of free floating songs of
every style imaginable.. All you really need is a computer, and a sound
card if you have PC, plus a GOOD sound system. (TV speakers just don't do
justice anymore),and a source for MODs (Most BBSes have MODs, and the
internet. My favorite source is on AmiNet. Lots of cool music is released
every week, as well as crappy music.) The whole concept of commerical
freely distributable material, you can listen to MODs while modeming,
working, etc. It's the essence of cyberspace, a place to listen, and to be
heard. I don't even listen to commercial radio anymore, unless they play
MODs.
I've actually had some of my MODules played at clubs and on the local radio
and around the world. Some people actually like the raw feel, especically
all the low end frequencys that tend to come out better in MODs. Just
check out some of my MODs on the Internet and hear for yourself.
Who I am..
My first taste of computer music was on the C-64 (SIDs RULE!). I even
messed with early MOD like trackers. It was great, though I was more into
graphics, but I was always curious about computer music. In 1987 I bought
an Amiga computer, and my world changed forever. I started doing MODs in
1991, while overseas in Indonesia, using an old Amiga 500 that I had taken
around the planet. I didn't even know I could make all those cool tunes i
was hearing in Euro-Demos sent to me by friends back home in Europe..
When i started tracking, I knew this was what I wanted in music and here I
am 175 MODs later. In 1993/94 I produced an audio CD (Future Shock 2) made
entirely from MODs produced on Amiga computers, which I sell mainly to the
underground scene and whoever else wants to hear it. I can say I've
improved my style, and maybe I'll be nearly as good as the European MOD
masters.. maybe..
Basically, anyone can learn how to make MODs. Just know what you want and
don't be afraid. Enter with an open mind, and let it happen.
* Places to get MOD music on the Internet -
Aminet sites will carry them (one of the fastest is ftp.netnet.net or
ftp.cdrom.com - /pub/aminet/mods. In Europe try ftp.luth.se. To check out
some of my cool music go /mods/sidew.)
happy tracks.
SIDEWINDER homepage http://nverenin.extern.ucsd.edu/sidewind/sw.html
@endnode
@node FEATURE2 "The Emulation Rambler"
@toc FEATURE
===========================================================================
THE EMULATION RAMBLER: EMPLANT/SHAPESHIFTER FACEOFF!
By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================
Oh, the hotbed of controversy emulators can be.
It all got started soon after the release of Christian Bauer's
ShapeShifter, a multitasking color software-only Macintosh emulator. At a
registration price of under US$50, it seemed like the mighty Emplant may
have met its match.
Then, the allegations flew. Jim Drew, developer of the Emplant
hardware/software combo, accused Bauer of stealing code from Emplant,
Apple, and A-Max IV (a hardware/software Macintosh emulator that has been
out of development for over a year now.) One reference to an included
Apple copyright was explained away by Bauer as an essential text string
necessary for proper recognition by some Apple programs.
Not even that was the end. Not too long after, Urban Mueller,
administrator of Aminet, publicly announced that the Emplant Mac emulation
would be removed immediately from the FTP network, citing questionable
copyrighted material found in the Macintosh emulator executable. Mueller
went on to say that he had contacted Drew for comment and received none,
and that Bauer had sent him a signed statement that ShapeShifter was wholly
his own work.
This is the statement relayed by Paul Lesurf, UK distributor for the
Utilities Unlimited Emplant.
-------------------------------
This statement was passed to me from Jim Drew in response to Urban
Mueller`s decision to remove the Mac Emplant software from Aminet.
Please also note that Mr. Mueller has taken this decision without speaking
to either Jim Drew or Utilities Unlimited. He only sent one e-mail, and
Jim has very limited access and was also away for ten days recently.
I apologise to anyone who usually obtains their updates from Aminet, but we
will ensure the software is made available to anyone who has difficulty.
Both Utilities Unlimited and Blittersoft have BBS support also.
Jim`s statement reads :
"There have been recent allegations that Utilities Unlimited International,
Inc. has stolen ROM code from Apple Computers, Inc. (in particular, a
section of code apparently very similar to a portion of Apple's 512K and 1
meg ROMs). We would like to set the record straight...
The section of code is very similar, but it is not identical. The code in
question is Apple's 32 bit memory manager. The version of this code we are
using is newer (improved) over the previous code found in the 32 bit clean
ROMs. This code is similar to what is used in INIT_32, MODE_32, and many
commerical products (virtual memory managers). This code is part of
Apple's developer material. We are registered Apple developers. We
receive Apple developer material, have an AppleLink account, and everything
else associated with being a certified Apple developer. As developers, we
have a license to use material contained within the developer packages
mailed out by Apple (on CD-ROMs). We also have submitted our application
for a special license to use the MacOS logo (the smiley guy)."
--------------------------------
As of now, that's the end. Spectrum emulation is much more peaceful,
n'est-ce pas?
@endnode
@node FEATURE3 "RoboSport TCP Primer"
@toc FEATURE
===========================================================================
ROBOSPORT TCP PRIMER
Fallous fallous@ksu.ksu.edu
===========================================================================
[Hey, I asked him, and he said he just wanted to be known as "Fallous." I
can't help it. -Jason]
So you've had Maxis' RoboSport gathering dust in your trusty software
shelf, and heard that it would work with a TCP/IP link? Well you're right!
And this is to help you set up the beast, since the Maxis docs remain very
silent on the issue of Amiga networking.
First, you will need AmiTCP (3.0b2 and 4.x have been tested, but all
versions should work) or Mlink. Of course, it helps to actually have these
installed and some sort of net connection as well.
Before you start RoboSporting on the net, you will need to create an entry
for it so AmiTCP can handle it. This is painless if you do exactly what I
tell you. cd to AmiTCP:db and edit the services file. Go to the bottom of
the file, where you should see entries for Amiga clients and their port
numbers. on a line under one of these entries, enter:
RoboSport 4555/tcp
make sure to type it in EXACTLY as written, since this is case-sensitive.
If you're already running AmiTCP, you will have to restart it by rebooting,
or stopnet. After restarting AmiTCP, you are ready to proceed.
After running RoboSport, and entering the copy protection codes, you will
have a menu sitting in the middle of the screen, which is the QuickStart
menu. Press the right mouse button and go to the titlebar menu. Under the
Edit heading will be the line "Open TCP/IP Connection..." and that's what
you want. After releasing the button on this selection, a TCP/IP
Configuration window will appear in the center of the screen. There are 2
ways to run RoboSport in the TCP mode:
As a Client(secondary)-
First, make sure that the secondary option button is lit, then enter the
name you want for yourself in the "Your Name" textfield, then press enter.
Second, in the "Host Name" textfield, enter the site name of the machine
you are going to connect to (the server or primary machine). Press enter
and click on OK button. You should get a window saying "Waiting to Talk."
If you get something other than this message, recheck that you enter the
hostname address correctly, retry, and if it still doesn't work, skip to
the troubleshooting section of this file.
As a Server(primary)-
Again, make sure that the secondary option button is lit, then enter the
name you want for yourself in the "Your Name" textfield and press enter.
Then enter YOUR address in the "Host Name" textfield, and press enter.
Then click on the primary button, make sure it's lit, and press the OK
button. You should now have a menu that will list the names of the users
as they log onto your machine. When all of the users you wish to have are
on the list, continue with the game.
Installing on Mlink:
Ok, there are two ways to use RoboSport with Mlink, and both involve the
SERVFILE tooltype.
1 - With an existing SERVFILE
Simply add: RoboSport 4555/tcp to the end of the existing file.
2 - Without an existing SERVFILE
You need to create a file and set Mlink to check it for port aliases. This
is easily done by simply editing a file (which we'll call foo, but could be
any name) and on the first line type:
RoboSport 4555/tcp
then save the file.
Once you have saved the file, click once on the Mlink icon, and go to
Information in the Icons menu of WB. Click on the SERVFILE tooltype, and
type SERVFILE=work:foo(or whatever the full pathname of the file you
created is) and save the new information. Now all should be well.
Actual Game Play:
Game play is pretty much according to the manual from here on, but there
are some warnings that should be noted. First, only the PRIMARY machine
should end the different play sessions, such as Talk, etc. If a machine
crashes, let the primary machine cut it off the network. Also, if you
experience numerous crashes during network play, try to avoid using the
talk window to communicate. Most of us use an IRC client to talk and stay
away from the built-in talk window since we've experienced a number of
crashes when using the talk window, but they seemed to disappear when we
stopped using it. The running of the game is covered in the manual, and is
fairly obvious anyway, so I won't get into the intricacies of the game
itself. A word of caution though: This is an old game, and I recommend
that you turn off all commodities before running, as well as disabling any
040 features such as copyback, etc. The game is marginally
system-friendly, but it does generate Enforcer hits out the wazoo. You may
have to suffer a few crashes before getting it running, but that's the joys
of computing.
TroubleShooting-
As of now, I haven't encountered any difficulties by using this file to
set-up RoboSport. However, if someone does find problems, email me at
fallous@ksu.ksu.edu
and I'll try to solve the problem and include it in this troubleshooting
section for the next update.
DISCLAIMER---
This little piece of help was generated by fallous, who is not responsible
(for anything actually) for any damage or cursing, or criminal acts
committed out of sheer frustration with this file. If you need any online
help, I can be found on IRC, either Undernet or effnet, #amiga.
Have Fun, and don't break anything.
@endnode
@node FEATURE4 "VisCorp Overview"
@toc FEATURE
===========================================================================
VISCORP OVERVIEW
===========================================================================
[The corporate info packet for VisCorp, the North American licensees of the
Amiga technology. -Jason]
VisCorp Overview
VisCorp is an Illinois corporation with offices in Chicago and engineering
facilities in Westchester, Pennsylvania and in the Silicon Valley area of
California.
VisCorp has developed a unique interactive set-top device (trademarked
"ED") that enables a host of new interactive services that can be
delivered over existing cable or even telephone systems, without the
necessity for new and highly expensive hybrid fiber/coaxial broadband
plant. This new platform is designed to be low cost and enables the
television set to act much like a modem-equipped computer with all
functions being controlled by a familiar hand-held remote control.
The ED provides unique telephone management features, on-screen TV program
guides, fax and e-mail, Internet access, and the ability to down-load and
play arcade quality video games right on the TV. With a non-technical and
friendly front-of-screen experience and a target retail price of about
$300, ED will make the information superhighway accessible to the mass
market. Business Case
On-line services are growing rapidly. By some estimates access to the
Internet is growing at a rate as high as 20% per month and is expected to
top 100 million users world-wide by the end of 19961. Many cable and
telephone companies are launching trials of broadband video-on-demand
interactive technologies.
However modem-equipped personal computers are still priced well out of the
reach of many families and their complexity remains daunting to others.
Interactive television technology to support full motion video-on-demand
is still extremely expensive with most digital set-tops being priced in
excess of $1,000. Further, in order to deliver compelling programming,
such set-tops must be backed-up by tens of millions of dollars in
telecommunications infrastructure upgrades including ATM switching systems
and powerful digital servers in each market.
It is VisCorp's belief that there is a market opportunity to provide
revenue producing interactive services to the mass market that do not
involve deployment of such technologies and which are far cheaper and
easier to use than the typical PC.
To do this, VisCorp has designed a set-top appliance that uses a highly
efficient design and operating system that greatly reduces the amount of
memory needed to manipulate video images on the TV. Memory is the one
irreducible cost in digital electronics, and by reducing a dependence on
memory, VisCorp has brought the cost of the device down to where it can
penetrate the mass market.
VisCorp intends to license consumer electronics manufacturers and
distributors to produce the hardware and market it to consumers. VisCorp
has had preliminary discussions with several manufacturers, including
Pioneer, Zenith, Toshiba and Freedom Star. Unless offered a substantial
up-front exclusive royalty, VisCorp intends to provide as many
manufacturers as possible with the right to use the technology.
VisCorp expects to get only a relatively low revenue stream from this
manufacturing licenses, and instead plans to receive substantially all of
its revenue from the variety of services it intends to make available
through the ED. The nominal licensing fee is designed to encourage a
low-priced device to be offered with the expectation of greater acceptance
by consumers and a level of market penetration that will permit the use of
the ED as a new electronic publishing platform.
While the ED will be an open system and, in theory, any application
developer can write for it, the ability to develop applications to run in
the reduced memory environment of the ED is not widely available.
Consequently, VisCorp's intimate knowledge of the operating system is
expected to enable it to get to market sooner with more compelling
programming than any emergent competition.
As this happens, product marketing on this new medium will grow
explosively. Whether the consumer is looking for a movie, an interactive
game, a house, a sweater, a particular kitchen appliance, or simply
information about a vacation destination, he or she will need the ability
to either quickly locate a specific product or service or to have fun
browsing selections while looking for an impulse purchase opportunity.
The ED Interactive Set-Top
The Company's initial hardware product, the ED, is an electronic device
designed to be placed on top of - or next to - a television set. The ED
is designed to permit consumers to perform a variety of functions and
utilize a number of on-line interactive services which the Company expects
to make available in the future, including video games, home shopping,
educational programs and fax capability. To the extent these services are
currently available to consumers they are not available except on office
devices and personal computers. The ED can be marketed for a small
fraction of the cost of such devices and also can support entirely new
capabilities such as advanced telephone management.
The ED is essentially a highly cost-optimized computer with a graphical,
simple-to-use interface which can be remotely configured from a host
operating system. It comes equipped with a modem, video and audio
circuitry and a controller. The ED is connected to an ordinary telephone
line and uses the consumer's standard television set as a monitor. ED can
present text and graphics on a television set using specially configured
fonts so that it is readable at normal viewing distances. The ED can also
overlay graphics and text on the television picture or bring up a solid
background to facilitate information viewing.
The ED converts the consumer's television set into a high-quality duplex
speaker phone with one-touch on-screen dialing so that calls may be placed
from the living room couch with the remote control. In locations where
caller ID is available, ED scans the incoming call and checks the number
against a database. If it recognizes the number, ED scrolls the name of
the incoming caller across the TV picture and the viewer may answer the
call and speak to the person with a flick of the remote control.
Included on the ED is a magnetic card stripe reader so that credit or
debit cards may be swiped to confirm transactions and debit cards may be
"filled" with electronic funds drawn on the consumer's bank. Some of the
other features that the Company has implemented and intends to provide
through the ED are:
* a user-friendly interface to the Internet including a Web Browser,
* a linking mechanism to allow multiple users in different homes to play
the same video games, competing in real time,
* in-home gaming and wagering,
* a voice bulletin board on the Internet,
* one-touch remote dialing of 800 numbers for reservations, hotel booking
etc,
* one-touch dialing of home delivery and catalog shopping services,
* classified and "Yellow Pages" type advertising,
* guides to restaurants and other entertainment,
* statistics gathering programs to track consumer TV viewing patterns and
usage of the of specific interactive services,
* a complete transaction processing, tracking and billing mechanism,
* distribution of electronic coupons,
* electronic banking including secure encryption and the ability to "fill"
debit cards,
* various specialized applications for the hospitality and health care
industries.
Management Team
* Chief Executive Officer- Bill Buck Former President of Cableshare US,
and Vice President for New Business Development at ICTV, both pioneering
interactive television technology and programming developers.
* Chief Operating Officer - David Serlin, Co Founder and former Director,
Executive VP and COO of ICTV, a 85-person pioneering interactive
technology company, now backed by IBM and Cox and currently retained as
the prime vendor and system integrator for Cox Cables on-going Interactive
Television Trial in Omaha.
* Chief Financial Officer - Marv Lerch, Former CEO, President and Chief
Financial Officer of Cableshare Ltd., a early developer of interactive
video systems that supplied the technology and programming for a 10,000
home test by JC Penney in 1988 and 1989 and by AT&T and Bell Atlantic in
1991-1993
* Chief Technical Officer-Don Gilbreath, Former Director of R&D and Market
Development for Commodore Electronics Ltd. and the designer of the
Commodore CD-TV interactive product.
* Chief Pain-in-the-Butt Bozo-Roger Remillard, former salesman for a
commercial painting contractor.
Company Background
The Company was formed in Chicago, Illinois on May 1, 1990 under the name
Information on Command, Inc. The Company changed its name to Visual
Information Service Corp. on May 22, 1990. The Company has a limited
history of operations. The principals of the Company began developing the
ED technology in 1990 and first produced a prototype in May 1993. In
November 1994, the Company hired its current managment team and in
December 1994, the Company established a relationship with its first
interactive service provider, NTN Communications, Inc. In May 1995, the
Company licensed the rights to the former Commodore Amiga technology, now
owned by ESCOM AG of Germany. By incorporating elements of the efficient
Amiga chip-set and operating system into the ED box, the Company believes
it can reduce manufacturing costs and also enable the ED box to utilize
the vast library of exiting Amiga software, particularly arcade quality
video games.
The Company has not yet begun manufacturing the ED (other than a small
number of prototypes) and is conducting a six-month market trial in
conjunction with focus group studies of the ED in up to 25 homes on a
cable system in a Detroit suburb. After completion of this study and
after making further refinements and modifications to the ED, VisCorp
plans to begin manufacturing and mass marketing the ED during early 1996.
1 Peter Auditore, "X Opens The Internet" Computer Technology Review, Fall
1994, p 18.
@endnode
@node REVIEW1 "Review: MagicWorkbench 2.0"
@toc REVIEW
===========================================================================
REVIEW: MAGIC WORKBENCH 2.0
By: @{" Katherine Nelson " link KATIE}
===========================================================================
Maybe you've tried to demonstrate the attraction of the Amiga to "friends"
who own PC's or Macs. The MS-DOS people may appreciate the power and
versatility of AmigaDOS. However, the minute any Windows or color Mac user
takes a look at the standard four-color Workbench with black and white
icons, you've lost them completely. They won't listen to your prattle
about how little memory is needed to run games or applications. And they
won't count how many programs you can run at once. They just sit back and
say, "My computer can use more than 4 colors. My computer has color
icons."
What you need is something to improve the look of your Workbench. There
are several Workbench visual improvement packages available, and one of the
most famous of these is Magic Workbench.
Magic Workbench is an icon/palette/background/utility package from Martin
Huttenloher, with some help with the backgrounds and utilities. It
provides an 8-color Workbench palette, but with version 2.0 you can use any
number of colors while retaining the correct colors for the icons (see
"Utilities" below...)
There have been many arguments over the merits of the particular 8 colors
(black, white, 3 greys, and muted blue, peach, and tan) used by MWB. Some
users feel that the color choice is too "dull" or "boring". However, I
don't believe that the palette was intended to be overly bright. It lends
a silky look to a Workbench that may be more professional and less "fun"
than other color choices. Only your own personal preference can determine
if the palette is right for you.
The icons themselves are infinitely more interesting than the originals.
They have consistent sizes for each type, a consistent "style", the use of
gradients to improve performance, and a natural 3-D look.
The best improvement over the original icons, in my opinion, is in the
preferences icons. About on par for ugliness with the original prefs
icons, were the original disk/devices icons. The MWB versions are
decidedly much more appealing, in that they are more "descriptive" and more
artistically designed.
Also included in the way of icons are System, Devs, Utilities, and
Miscellaneous (such as the Trashcan) icons. These display the same
attractiveness found in the prefs and devices icons.
With previous versions of Magic Workbench, there were a few complaints that
although the drawer design was an improvement over the original, the
drawers were still too boring. Version 2.0 now includes "imagedrawers",
which are drawer icons with small pictures on the front that describe the
contents. I feel that this is one of the better improvements to Magic
Workbench, because it causes the loss of repetitiveness while keeping
uniformity. This is especially nice, because the main directory of my hard
drive is primarily drawers that lead to the programs, and facing nothing
but 16 drawers in a window was getting a little mind-numbing at times.
The only dislike that I have with the icons, is the fact that the Hard
Disk icons (while very pretty) are not the same size as the other devices
icons. This may not be important to many people, but I would enjoy having
the hard drive icons and the RAM icon line up in the same manner as all of
the other MWB icons do within their windows. This is a fairly minor point,
however.
For those wishing to convert icons other than the standard System ones to
the Magic Workbench style, there are many icons available in the pix/icons
and pix/mwb directories of @{" Aminet " link AMINET}.
The patterns included with Magic Workbench are very attractive, and match
the style of the icons well. There are over 50 of them, and many more can
be had on most Amiga BBSes as well as the large supply on Aminet. However,
there is very little difference between two of the "Egypt" patterns, and
between a couple of the "Stripes" patterns. I think the space they use
could be better spent with more patterns of the caliber of "Marble",
"Leather", and "Paper" backgrounds.
Improved versions of Helvetica and Courier fonts are included in various
sizes, as well as the XEN font.
Also included for those who use Tool Manager or other "dock" programs, are
a drawer-full of very nice MWB-style dockbrushes, so your Workbench can
further improve its professional workstation image.
Utilities:
---------
MagicWB-Demon: This is the utility that prevents 8 color icons from looking
like crap on screens with 16 or more colors. It moves the MWB colors from
the first and last four to the first eight colors in the palette. Icons
can stay in 3 bit planes, and this allows for smaller icon size and greater
speed because of it.
MagicCopper: An adapted version of WBVerlauf by Christian A. Weber, that
is included with Magic Workbench 2.0. On AGA machines, it displays a
24-bit Copper gradient on a selected color in the background. A few
patterns are included that are designed to work with this particular
enhancement.
IconUpdate: A utility by Gerri Körner and Martin Huttenloher that allows
you to update the images of your icons without altering the other
information the icon contains, such as tool types, location, stack size,
etc.
Also included are scripts and configurations for TolleUhr and DOpus that
give them the Magic Workbench "look".
Notes:
-----
The Registration fee is $20US/30DM/Ł15UK/etc..., and one registers through
SASG. Information for registering can be found by downloading the demo
version of Magic Workbench 2.0, or by writing to sasg@nathan.gun.de
Or, write to the author at:
Internet: xen@magic.in-ulm.de
Postal: Martin Huttenloher
Am Hochstrđß 4
89081 Ulm
Germany
Please register Magic Workbench if you enjoy it, because right now, the
Amiga shareware market is the primary source of anything for the Amiga.
Also, if Mr. Huttenloher receives enough compensation for his past efforts
on Magic Workbench, he may be persuaded to put forth more effort, and
create a much-needed and much-desired 16-color Magic Workbench. (And I
would get to review it. :) )
--- --- --- --- ---
If you do register MWB, don't be surprised if every once in a while, (very
rarely, actually), something very very cool appears on your bootup-screen
and makes cool noises. If anyone can figure out how to make this appear
more often, write to @{" me " link KATIE}!
@endnode
@endnode
@node REVIEW2 "Review: JPEGonDCTV"
@toc REVIEW
============================================================================
REVIEW: JPEGONDCTV VERSION 1.01
Michael Briggs IRC: Slime_Dog mbriggs@deltanet.com
============================================================================
Title: JPEGonDCTV v1.01
Author: Nicolas Dade / n9rzb / nicolas-dade@uiuc.edu
Hardware: DCTV Display Device
Cost: Not stated in the doc file. Nicolas has put in a copyright
statement, but no Freeware/Shareware type statement.
Jpeg compression is latest and greatest way to go for pictures. It has
many advantages over other formats. The file size is the most noticeable,
and it is very portable. Amiga, MS/DOS and Mac users can view them without
any conversion. It seems that there is finally a standard that everybody
likes.
On the Amiga, the best choice for a jpeg viewer that I have found is
FJPEG. I have been told that it does a wonderful job viewing jpeg images
on an AGA machine in HAM8. Unfortunately, on ECS machines, it displays in
HAM6. While this would be fine for most people, I own a DCTV unit that
just sits on the table while I view jpeg files in HAM6. :-(
Recently, I was browsing though the Aminet looking for the new version
of FastView, when I seen JPEGonDCTV100.lha. Since then, my Jpeg viewing
has been a much happier experience.
On the up side:
This program is fast! Faster than FastView, FastJpeg and ViewTek! And
of course, DCTV looks MUCH better than HAM6.
On the down side:
Version 1.01 is a CLI only application and only will view one file at a
time. I have overcome this by using SPAT. The following line in my
S:Shell-Startup makes things go real smooth.
Alias s "spat jpegondctv []#? nolace 3planes"
The above line allows me to just type "s pat" where "pat" = any pattern
for multiple files and views them on a 3 plane non-interlaced screen for
speed.
Hopefully, the next version will support multiple files. It would be
very nice to configure it in Dopus filetypes. :-)
@endnode
@node REVIEW3 "Review: Toaster Oven 4000GT"
@toc REVIEW
===========================================================================
REVIEW: TOASTER OVEN 4000GT
Andre Perusse animax@ra.isisnet.com
===========================================================================
PRODUCT NAME
Toaster Oven 4000GT
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
A VERY LARGE tower case for Amiga 4000 computers.
COMPANY INFORMATION
Anti-Gravity Products
456 Lincoln Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90402
Tel: (310) 393-6650
Fax: (310) 576-6383
The entire Toaster Oven series is manufactured by Ambitious Technologies.
Note: I was working for an Amiga dealer at the time that I ordered this
unit. I actually bought it from the dealer I worked for.
LIST PRICE
I don't know what it lists for, but I paid $1599.00 CDN (about $1150 US)
for the 4000GT. And if you live outside the USA, be prepared to pay a
hefty shipping charge.
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
You must supply a desktop Amiga 4000 computer.
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Amiga 4000 w/Warp Engine 4040
34MB RAM
Workbench 3.0
Video Toaster/Flyer w/2 x 9GB Hard Drives
REVIEW
The Toaster Oven is essentially a tower case for Amiga 4000 computers. To
assemble your 4000 Tower, you move all of the components from your desktop
4000 into the new Tower Case. This encompasses moving the motherboard,
daughter card, hard drive(s), floppy drive(s), Zorro and PC cards, and the
Processor Card. Additionally, the drive bay cover on the dektop's 3.5"
drive bay must be used on the Toaster Oven to cover its unused 3.5" drive
bay (unless, of course, you have another 3.5" device that must remain
uncovered).
The 4000GT is apparently the interim replacement for the GT-4400 which has
been advertised (for quite some time, I might add) by Anti-Gravity in
North American Amiga magazines. In fact, when I was first trying to order
the GT-4400, the salesperson didn't know what I was talking about. He was
only familiar with the basic Toaster Oven model and didn't realize that
his company had been advertising the GT-4400 for months. (The GT-4400 was
a larger version of the basic Toaster Oven with more drive bays and a more
powerful Power Supply Unit). Upon trying to place an order for this unit,
I was met with several delays. Granted, Anti-Gravity never committed to a
shipping date although I was told more than once that it "should" be ready
next week. I was not too upset over the delays, but I would think twice
before ordering something from Anti-Gravity that I needed in a hurry. (As
a side note, I had ordered two units as I was working for an Amiga dealer
at the time; ie. I had ordered them as a dealer, not as a consumer.)
Eventually, I was told that they could finally ship a model called the
4000GT, which was "essentially" the same thing.
Let me start off by stating that this unit is HUGE. It is all metal (not
plastic) and it measures 2.5 feet tall by 9 inches wide by 20 inches deep.
The unit comes with casters but I chose not to install them. They would
have added about 2 inches to the height of the unit. On the front, there
is room for 2 half-height 3.5" drives and 5 half-height 5.25" drives. A
removable metal door covers these bays. Internally, there is room for 11
(eleven!) half-height 5.25" drives (they mount on their sides). That's a
lot of bays (and the main reason why I spent the big bucks for this unit).
The base unit comes with a pitiful 250 watt power supply. When you're
talking about putting several 9 GB A/V drives in this Tower, a 250 watt
PSU is rather puny. I was expecting a 400 watt PSU like I had tried to
order (the specs for the GT-4400 had it listed as standard). Because I
didn't get the EXACT specifications for the new 4000GT (I assumed they
were virtually identical to the GT-4400), I wasn't aware that a 250 watt
PSU was standard. I can't put the blame entirely on Anti-Gravity for this
one, although selling this large a tower with anything less than a 400
watt PSU does not make sense to me. A large fan is located on the front
inside of the unit (like the 3000T, only much larger) in addition to the
fan of the Power Supply. The much advertised "Big Ethyl Sisterboard"
never did make it into this unit (I knew this when I ordered it, however,
so it was no surprise).
Included with the unit is a different sisterboard, which allows you to add
6 cards that fit into a PC XT slot. These slots do not provide any
communication to the computer - they are powered slots only. They are
meant for such cards as TBC's and other assorted video-related cards. The
advantage here is that these slots are isolated from the Zorro slots. The
sisterboard also contains the new video slot. This relocates video cards
(such as the Toaster) so they are no longer in-line with a Zorro slot.
The assembly of the ToasterOven proceeded as follows:
1. Disassemble desktop 4000. Completely. Unscrew and unplug everything.
2. Secure motherboard to ToasterOven chassis. The motherboard is mounted
vertically, with the Mouse ports facing straight down. Two internal
cables are provided to re-route the mouse ports to the back of the
chassis. This places the mouse ports above the serial port.
3. Secure processor card (in my case a Warp Engine) and attach all
motherboard cables (IDE, Floppy, SCSI, Motherboard Power, Keyboard Lock
Jumper, LED jumpers)
4. Attach provided "sister board" to second level "daughterboard
platform" (a sheet metal plate). This platform is secured about 3 inches
from the motherboard. Once the platform is secured to the chassis,
getting at the motherboard is a real pain. If you want to have an
external connector for your SCSI port, it would be a good idea to install
it BEFORE securing this platform. Also, pulling the sisterboard power
cable through the large slot in the platform should be done now.
5. Install provided daughtercard extender. This relocates the CBM
daughtercard to the same platform as mentioned is step four (the
daughtercard lies alongside the sisterboard). From here, two small ribbon
cables relocate the video slot to the sister board. By doing this, the
Zorro slot that is in-line with the video slot becomes available. And if
you have a Video Toaster, the adjoining Zorro slot is also freed up.
Confused yet?
6. Install drives (floppy, hard disk, CD-ROM, etc.). Actually, I found
that it made more sense to install all the drives FIRST. Because of the
way the the internal drive bays are arranged, drives are easier to secure
if they are done first. Otherwise, the daugherboard platform gets in the
way.
7. Install Zorro/PC cards. I found this to be very aggrevating. The
daughtercard platform is too far away from the side of the chassis that
you install the cards on. This results in cards not being seated
properly. The cards do not make good contact and are prone to popping
out. This can be remedied with the skillful use of a round file. There
is a card bracket (the piece of metal where you actually screw your
expansion cards into) which is held in place by screws. If you use a file
to enlarge the screw holes just a little bit, you can move the bracket a
fraction of an inch closer to the daughtercard platform. Expansion cards
will now fit better.
The kit was fairly complete, but it needed more than a little work to make
things fit properly. First, the drive bay that is intended for the floppy
drive does not have the screw holes drilled in the right position. You
must drill four new holes through the sheet metal so that you can position
and secure your floppy drive properly. Additionally, the large fan in one
of the 4000GTs made a horrible whine as it resonated against the chassis.
I remedied this by placing rubber foam between the fan and the chassis (an
hour-long operation due to the way the fan is secured to the chassis).
The other unit did not exhibit this problem. The ToasterOven 4000GT came
with all the screws I needed and most of the extension cables. You will
have to fabricate your own hard drive activity LED cable and your own
Keyboard Lock cable, however (the cables from the desktop are too short).
And if you're like me and installed all of your Video Toaster Flyer hard
drives inside the case, you'll need to have custom SCSI cables made.
This unit did not come with an LED display either. There was a spot on
the front of the unit for it, but it just wasn't included.
DOCUMENTATION
A seven page manual details how to put everything together. It is
sufficient, but hardly a professional job. There are several diagrams
which help, but there are too few that illustrate "how" to do something.
Many intricate details are lacking and the user must examine things
carefully before proceeding. For the amount of money I paid for the
4000GT, this manual should have been many times better.
LIKES
I like the fact that I can put everything inside of this box. It is big
and sturdy. The option to put casters on the unit is also nice. Extra
holes are provided on the back of the chassis to allow for external
connectors (SCSI ports, other I/O ports). When closed, the small metal
door muffles the sound of the fan and makes things a little less noisy.
DISLIKES
One thing that was particularly disappointing about the unit was the lack
of an LED display. Yes, I know they are fairly useless but there was a big
gaping hole where it was supposed to go. The transparent red plastic cover
was provided, however (cute, but I was not impressed). A minor complaint
is the organization of everything. Many screws are in positions that are
near impossible to get to (how did they get there in the first place?).
However, I have yet to see a case that was completely accessable. The 250
watt PSU is a real bummer, too. Make sure that you order the PSU that you
want. And have a drill and metal file handy when you assemble the 4000GT.
For a unit that cost this much money, it should have been done better.
Paying $1150 US for a CASE is insane enough without having to drill holes
in it.
COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
The only other product that I have seen in this same category is the
Commodore-made Amiga 4000T. The A4000T has an extra Zorro slot (for a
total of 5) and 2 video slots, which is nice. However, the A4000T doesn't
have anywhere near the storage capacity of the ToasterOven 4000GT.
Additionally, adding a Video Toaster to the A4000T covers up BOTH video
slots (and their in-line Zorro slots). This is not the case with the
4000GT, which seperates the video slot from the Zorro slots. Also, adding
an accelerator card to the A4000T is difficult as a drive platform covers
the processor slot. I had to cut a hole in this platform in order to fit a
Warp Engine into an A4000T. There is plenty of room in the ToasterOven for
a processor card, and no cutting is required. I have heard about a new
Tower case by a different manufacturer which provides 7 Zorro slots. As
far as I'm concerned, you can never have too many Zorro slots.
WARRANTY
There is a one-year warranty on all electronic components.
CONCLUSIONS
If you want to have your Flyer system completely enclosed in one box (and
have fairly deep pockets), the 4000GT is for you. It has its problems,
but I for one am quite (though not 100%) satisfied with it.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
This article is Copyright 1995 by Andre Perusse. All rights reserved.
@endnode
@node REVIEW4 "Aminet 6 CD-ROM"
@toc REVIEW
===========================================================================
REVIEW: AMINET 6 CD-ROM
By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================
Hard to argue with running success. The Aminet collection of CD-ROMs, up
until now a quarterly phenomenon, are going bimonthly. Aminet itself is
doing the largest volumes of new software and downloads as it has in its
history-enough to prompt the North American site, ftp.netnet.net, to pick
up the aliases aminet.com and aminet.org for convenience. Hey, at least
some sectors of the Amiga market are doing well.
Aminet 6, dated June 1995, is a 634 meg collection of "the newest, the
best, and all the demos" of Aminet, as well as a licensed copy of all Amiga
Report issues up to and including AR3.08 and the auction issue. (Yes,
licensed. We really make people license these compilations.)
The comfy AmigaGuide interface is back, with just about everything
ready-to-run (even most of the demos worked properly straight from the
interface, which is pretty rare for demos). A search tool for Amiga Report
articles (those in AmigaGuide format, meaning all but the first 13 issues)
is included, which is quite useful for me when I need to look up old
reviews to figure out what it was I said.
The mod collection is particularly enjoyable this time around, with the
usual shuffle feature for random selection, and a quick rating system from
Urban. Hopefully, the new Aminet ratings system will give a more
objective viewpoint, saving Urban from having to condemn or endorse all of
the mods on the disc.
Quick access is provided for the collection of games and pictures on the
disc, many of which are excellent.
With the policy of providing free CDs for contributors (i.e. those whose
files are on Aminet), the still-low price of 25DM (roughly US$19-$20), and
the complete Amiga Report archive...I have a hard time seeing how anybody
could be displeased with Aminet 6.
Stefan Ossowski's Schatztruhe
Veronikastr. 33
D-45131 Essen
Germany
++49 201 788 778
Amiga Library Services
610 North Alma School Rd.
Suite 18
Chandler, AZ 85224-3687
USA
602-917-0917
@endnode
@node REVIEW5 "Alpha Paint"
@toc REVIEW
===========================================================================
REVIEW: ALPHA PAINT
Douglas J. Nakakihara djn@ix.netcom.com
===========================================================================
/********************************************************************
NOTICE: This is the originally submitted text for an article that appeared
in issue #138 of MICROTIMES magazine. (There are some slight edited
differences between the published version and this one.)
This article is freely-distributable as long as it remains unchanged and
this notice and the copyright remain included.
This article may not be re-published in any magazine, newsletter, or
similar media, including those electronically distributed, without
obtaining prior approval from the author. This provision does *not* apply
to USENET or BBSs.
Specific permission has been granted to Amiga Report.
Copyright(C)1995 Douglas J. Nakakihara.
The author can be reached thru Internet at djn@ix.netcom.com.
MICROTIMES is published by BAM Media, Inc.
3470 Buskirk Ave.
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(510)934-3700
MICROTIMES is available free at various distribution points (usually
computer stores) throughout California. The Northern edition is over 300
pages, while the Southern edition is a little less than 200 pages. This is
a multi-platform magazine, which includes Amiga coverage. Over 200,000
copies are distributed each month. Call the office above for subscription
rates and back issue prices.
See WEB page at http://www.microtimes.com.
/********************************************************************
Alpha Paint: 36-bit Butter for your Toast
By Douglas J. Nakakihara
If you really need professional results, I've always thought that it was
better to paint in RGB and then hope and pray it looked OK on a composite
monitor. Well, after using AlphaPaint from InnoVision Technology, I can
now see that the problem was in my tools, not in the display capability.
Alpha Paint lets you paint right on the Toaster's Program monitor, so it's
WYSIWYG in the purest sense.
Alpha Channel
With 24-bit real-time painting capabilities, an 8-bit graphics alpha
channel, and a 4-bit dithered video alpha channel, Alpha Paint is billed as
a "36-bit" paint program. Actually, Alpha Paint implements several
different alpha channel tools. There are brush graphics and video alpha
channels, a weight (density) control, and a stencil alpha channel.
Generally, graphics alpha channels are used to composite graphics together,
like when you stamp a brush down with some level of transparency over a
full-screen image. Video alpha channels allow video to show through
graphics. So parts of an image may appe ar solid when viewed as a graphic;
however, when keyed over video, defined areas will appear transparent,
letting you see the underlying video.
The brush alpha channels affect the pen or brush you are painting with and
allow you to independently control their graphics and video transparency.
Weight control is a global density setting and directs the overall amount
of "paint" that is applied. The stencil alpha channel is a protection
mechanism that masks out defined areas of the screen.
The Magic Wand tool lets you quickly define a stencil alpha channel.
Using a definable tolerance range, this tool will unprotect (unmask) areas
of the screen. This works best when the desired object is against a fairly
solid-color background. Depending on the situation, this feature may
eliminate the need to trace an object by hand.
Hyper-Palette
Alpha Paint's palette has 200 "Color Boxes" displayed in selectable banks
of 20. In addition to merely defining a solid color, a Color Box can also
define a "spread pattern" (see below). This allows you to quickly fill
objects with gradients and other patterns as well as define alpha channels.
As you would expect, you can copy between Color Boxes, swap contents, and
create a spread between two Boxes. Individual colors can be defined using
either RGB or HSV (Hue, Saturation, and Value) values. There is also a
24-bit hue and saturation color wheel called a "Color Cube" and a Value
slider available to visually fix a color.
Spread 'Em
The right side of the Palette menu is devoted to custom "spreads."
Essentially this is a color range creation tool, but goes beyond the usual
implementation. As you add colors to the "Spread Preview Bar", a gradient
is formed based on where you place the colors on the bar. A color can be
repositioned by simply dragging its position indicator, and there is an
option to evenly space all colors. Color order can be globally rotated or
inverted. Individual colors can be deleted or duplicated as well. Spreads
can be linear, circular, or radial. Plus, you can adjust the Z-axis
rotation of linear and radial spreads.
Drawing Tools
The basic drawing tools like line, curve, rectangle, circle, ellipse,
polygon, free-hand shape, fill, text, airbrush, etc. are present and
accounted for. The cutting tool is used in conjunction with any of the
geometric shape drawing tools (i.e., circle, polygon, etc.).
Magnification is fixed at 75, 100, 200, 400, and 800 percent of normal.
In the Pen menu, you can choose between circle, oval, and rectangle for
your pen shape. Besides just allowing you to adjust the pen size, you can
also adjust its width and even rotate it. (Obviously, the later doesn't do
much if your pen shape is a circle .) Adjustable feathering is available to
give brush strokes a soft professional-looking edge. The Fade setting
allows you to define how the applied pen or brush will gradually increase
or decrease in one continuous stroke.
Fill 'Er Up
The common Fill tool has some interesting nuances in Alpha Paint. Not only
can you fill an area with a brush, but you have the option of automatically
scaling it to fit the area or having it warped to fill the area. A
tolerance level can be set to determine how close to the original color a
pixel can be when Alpha Paint calculates the fill area.
Text
Alpha Paint supports Toaster, Chroma, and Postscript fonts. Adjustable
attributes include height, width, italics, character spacing, Z-axis
rotation, line spacing, and line justification. With Postscript fonts, you
have the option of wrapping the text around a circle. Once the text has
been defined, you can then apply brush attributes, like rotation, shadows,
etc.
Brushing Up
Brushes can be loaded (and saved) from the Brush menu in addition to being
cut-out from the main screen. When loading a brush you have the options of
trimming black pixels (RGB 0,0,0) from the edges and adjusting the aspect
ratio for (square pixel) brushes created on the Macintosh. From this menu
you also set the global brush graphics and video alpha channels.
You may also size and rotate a brush. The parameters for both of these
attributes may be set manually or interactively. When rotating a brush,
besides allowing you to position and rotate in the X, Y, and Z dimensions,
you can also set the focal length. This allows you to set the visual depth
of field making the brush appear flat or elongated along the Z-axis.
Brushes can be given a beveled edge, outlined, and extruded. There are
also provisions for shadows, as well as back-lit glow and neon-outline
effects, all with adjustable parameters. As an alternative to a brush's
original colors, you can change them to any of the Color Boxes or even map
a new image on it. Edges have the option of being feathered. You may set
independent graphics and video visibility parameters, which are used in
conjunction with the brush alpha channel settings. Most of these brush
attributes are equally applicable to when you are drawing with a pen or
adding text.
The brush tools are also used for compositing full-screen images using
alpha channels. For example, by selecting a left-to-right
greyscale-gradient Color Box for the graphics alpha channel, a full-screen
brush can be stamped down and fade in horizontally over a colored
background.
Drawing Modes
In addition to a normal drawing mode there is Rub Thru, Erase, Hue,
Colorize, Negative, Smear, Watercolor, Mix, Lighten, Darken, Smooth,
Sharpen, Gamma, Contrast, and Oil Paint. Rub Thru lets you paint the swap
screen image into the main screen. The Erase mode replaces pixels with the
current background color. Hue replaces the color hue of a pixel with the
that of the current Color Box. Colorize replaces the hue and saturation
and can be used to colorize greyscale images. The Negative mode reverses
the RGB value of pixels.
The Smear mode smudges areas of an image. Watercolor paints with the
current Color Box, but blends-in existing pixels. Mix is similar but uses
an existing color in the image instead of the Color Box. Smooth can be
used to blur the edges of an object while Sharpen enhances edges. Gamma
and Contrast adjust the difference between light and dark colors. The Oil
Paint mode applies an "impressionist painting style" that mimics oil
painting.
To make using things like Rub Thru a little easier, there is an "Onion
Skin" option. This allows the swap screen to show thru at 25-percent
visibility.
TV O.D.'d
The TV Controls Menu includes standard image correction parameters like
gamma, contrast, brightness, color, sharpness, tint, red, green, and blue.
Additionally, there are special effect operators like embossing, negative,
posterize, mosaic, and oil paint. Embossing adds an engraved look to an
image. Posterize reduces the number of colors yielding a "blown-up"
poster-like effect. Mosaic pixelizes the picture into squares. Negative
and Oil Paint work as described previously for Drawing modes.
I Do I Don't
If you're like me and love to try many things out before committing (OK,
some people call these mistakes.), you'll be glad to know that Alpha Paint
features multiple undo and redo, limited only by your RAM. Moreover, redo
is taken one step further with Redo+. This will re-perform the last
drawing operation using the existing paint attributes. So let's say you
just painstakingly outlined an object by hand, but you forgot you wanted a
feathered border. Well just undo your first attempt, adjust the feathering
setting, and hit Redo+. This can save you so much time when you're trying
to tweak something to get "just" the right effect.
Where appropriate, Alpha Paint features preview windows that give you a
rough idea of what the results of your settings will be. Definitely a
time-saver and something we're seeing more and more of in newer
applications.
File Formats
Alpha Paint can save images in Framestore, IFF24, and JPEG formats.
Brushes can be saved in IFF24 only. Alpha Paint can load these formats,
plus rendered Toaster/Montage CG pages and all IFF images, except low-res
HAM6. (Note: Montage is InnoVision's Toaster CG product.)
Graphics on Video
The Play Menu combines some basic functions of the Toaster Switcher and
Alpha Paint graphics. Generally this will be used to overlay graphics on
video; however, you can also overlay video on video with an alpha channel
mask. For transitions, a fixed-speed fade and cut are provided.
Little Big Things
There are so many little things in Alpha Paint designed to save time and
make your life easier. For example, if you want a brush automatically
pasted down in the center of the screen, just press the Return key. The
Clear-to tool lets you quickly clear the screen to any color/pattern in the
palette. Often after you've adjusted a bunch of settings for a certain
effect, you may want to clear out all settings and start fresh for the next
one. Just hit the F1 key and everything is reset to the default settings,
but the image is left untouched.
System Requirements
Alpha Paint requires Video Toaster 2.0 or greater, 12MB Fast RAM, 1MB Chip
RAM, 10MB hard drive space, a 68030 CPU or better, and AmigaDOS 1.3+.
Alpha Paint does some serious calculations and you'll want all of the
horsepower you can get! The program also supports Wacom and CalComp
pressure sensitive drawing tablets.
Comments and Criticisms
Alpha Paint really needs ARexx support. Besides just being able to batch
process images, it would allow you to animate some of the effects. It
would also be nice if all option parameters could be set using the mouse,
instead of only some. This would minimize having to move your hand back
and forth between the mouse and keyboard. The mini-sliders introduced in
LightWave 3.5 would be perfect.
Another limitation is that you cannot multitask out of Alpha Paint and do
something else. It basically takes over the whole machine. (I am told,
however, that this was a necessary evil to get Alpha Paint to perform its
magic.)
I also wish that the controls interface optionally or simultaneously
appeared on the Amiga RGB monitor. Some Toaster users (like me) have their
Toaster monitors off to the side. As such, they may not be located in a
position where it is comfortable to do detailed work. Interestingly, you
can faintly see the interface on the Amiga RGB monitor if you turn the
brightness up on your monitor.
Conclusion
Alpha Paint is one heck of a program. It comes with a thick three-ring
notebook manual with many tutorials to have you up and running in no time.
You'll soon be able to literally whip up a beautiful complex video graphic
in just minutes.
I'll be the first to admit that you could duplicate everything that Alpha
Paint does using other programs you probably already have. However, Alpha
Paint puts it all there right in front of you. Right at your finger tips.
All wrapped up in one straight-forward easy-to-use package. If you make
your living with the Toaster, you need this program. It's priced a bit
higher than other Amiga paint programs, but it will save you time and
quickly pay for itself.
AlphaPaint
$699.95 (Available direct for $399 for a limited time)
InnoVision Technology
1933 Davis Street, Ste 238
San Leandro, CA 94577
(510) 638-0800
@endnode
@node REVIEW6 "CrossDOS 6 Pro by Consultron"
@toc REVIEW
===========================================================================
REVIEW: CROSSDOS 6 PRO BY CONSULTRON
By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================
You're really supposed to wait until the end of a review to summarize your
opinion on a product. But I just can't wait to say it.
If you don't have CrossDos on your system already (i.e. if you don't have a
high enough Workbench version or you haven't purchased it), please, do
yourself a favor and pick up CrossDos 6 Pro. If you already have CrossDos,
you'll be doing yourself a smaller favor by getting CrossDos 6 Pro, since
you'll get faster disk accesses and enhanced support for emulators and hard
drive formatting. You'll need OS 2.0 or better to make it work,
incidentally.
There. I'm done. Although I suppose I should justify the above
statements...
CrossDos 6 Pro is the latest installment in the long-running commercial
MS-DOS format disk filesystem for the Amiga. It's been around for quite
some time, and was so tremendously useful Commodore licensed it for use in
recent versions of the Amiga operating system. You didn't get all of the
niceties, but you got some usable support for floppies and hard drives.
One of the things you didn't get, thankfully, was the "nice try, but not
very useful" CrossPC IBM XT emulator (formerly known as IBeM, licensed by
Consultron.) Back in the days of PC-Task 1.0, IBeM was a worthy
challenger. But with PC-Task 2.0 and enhanced graphic support as well as a
reasonable user interface, IBeM's usefulness was fading fast. PC-Task 3
makes IBeM look silly, and Consultron hacked it out of the package and cut
the price of the CrossDos 6 package as a result.
CrossDos gives you transparent access to MS-DOS (and Atari ST, since it's
the same format) floppies and hard drives on your Amiga. Floppy support is
provided through a simple DEVS: attachment, PCx: (x being 0, 1, 2, 3).
When a PC floppy is inserted in DF0:, PC0: accesses it. (There are
utilities that purport to unify PC0: and DF0:, meaning you don't have to
deal with "Not a DOS disk in DF0:" if you accidentally choose it instead of
PC0:) Real PC hard drives (or Bernoulli/Syquest cartridges) can be
accessed by CrossDos' straightforward setup system.
Has access speed improved? Yes, and high density owners will rejoice.
High density access used to be a horrifying experience, with the already
slow high density drive slowed even more by the CrossDos transfer speed.
It's still nothing to get excited about, but it's an improvement. Hard
drive access purports to be up to ten times faster. I don't trust device
speed testing programs. Suffice it to say, it's somewhat faster.
One nice and useful feature for emulator owners is the ability to create an
"image" of a real MS-DOS hard drive on an otherwise AmigaDOS drive, either
as a partition or a file-drive. In other words, if you've got a hankering
to transfer a useful collection of PC software for use on PC-Task or
Emplant PC, CrossDos steps in, copies everything over for you and makes it
accessable. At the same time, this means that existing partition or
file-drive users can access their software through the Amiga file system.
Given that most useful PC file management software is either not as good as
the Amiga alternative or is far too slow to be useful on most emulator
systems, having this sort of transparent file access for copying files and
such is a great boon.
I'm happy. I'm glad CrossDos has hit this high, and I'm happy Consultron
is still around to tell us about it.
See above for my summary.
Consultron
8959 Ridge Road
Plymouth, MI 48170-3213
313-459-7271
@endnode
@node REVIEW7 "Magic Illusions CD-ROM"
@toc REVIEW
===========================================================================
REVIEW: MAGIC ILLUSIONS CD-ROM
By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================
Stefan Ossowski's Schatztruhe has become quite an important Amiga
publisher. With the flagship of the Aminet CD-ROM set, the Schatztruhe
also publishes TurboCalc 2.0 and a slew of other CD-ROMs. Many of these
have been reviewed in AR, and, for the most part, we've been very
supportive.
Even The Beauty of Chaos, perhaps a slightly overindulgent work from a pair
of fractal fans, was tolerable. But I think Magic Illusions comes
dangerously close to the line of being ridiculous.
It is a collection of over 200 stereograms in IFF, BMP, and GIF format, in
three resolutions. (320x240, 640x480, 1024x768) Tools are included to
create your own.
Stereograms, for those of you who have missed the trend, are pictures that
have been altered by an algorythm to look like a pile of garbage but, when
stared at correctly, produce a 3D illusion of the object under that pile of
garbage.
Mathematical and physical justification and explanation of the phenomenon
is included, in both German and English (although some words slipped by the
translators).
I suppose I should come out and admit that I have a very difficult time
seeing stereograms. That being said...
Isn't this a bit much? Granted, I'd rather buy a CD with 200 stereogram
images than a book of 50, but if I had my choice I wouldn't buy either.
For true fans of the genre-and I mean FANS-I suppose it's a must-have. But
for the rest of the world...I just don't see the allure.
Stefan Ossowski's Schatztruhe
Veronikastr. 33
D-45131 Essen
Germany
++49 201 788 778
Amiga Library Services
610 North Alma School Rd.
Suite 18
Chandler, AZ 85224-3687
USA
602-917-0917
@endnode
@node REVIEW8 "MaxDOS 2.5"
@toc REVIEW
===========================================================================
REVIEW: MAXDOS 2.5 BY MEDIA4 PRODUCTIONS
By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================
I've been around the MaxDOS bend before, in a comparison review between
MaxDos 2.0 and CrossMac in......
Amiga Report 2.32.
At that time, I pointed out that both MaxDOS and CrossMac did the job of
providing a transparent Mac filesystem for the Amiga. CrossMac just did it
prettier, with more support tools.
No longer. MaxDOS 2.5 adds the sort of goodies CrossMac offered, including
icon display (black and white for both of them, unfortunately), resource
extractors, file type modification, and relatively straightforward
assignment of AmigaDOS file types to Mac programs.
The solid Mounter, for creating and using Mac partitions, still exists. It
has stabilized (it would crash on one of my Mac partitions, for reasons not
even Media4 could ever pin down), and is still very easy to use. Once
you're up and running, there's your Mac filesystem, complete with data and
resource fork idiosyncracies.
The included commodity MaxDOSFiles can make what was once a pain, modem
transfers of Mac software, more straightforward by, among other things,
monitoring the use of MacBinary files on specified devices. It can also
protect the user (or the drive, depending on your viewpoint) from seeing
files the Mac OS would hide from them.
On the downside, the costs of being an Amiga development company have
dictated that MaxDOS 2.5 now comes with even more minimalist packaging than
before...and no hardcopy manual. The AmigaGuide manual included is great,
and does the job, and to be honest, I'm glad to see online text references
build legitimacy. But some people like hardcopy manuals just as they like
hardcopy magazines, so you have been notified.
Street prices on the software have dropped below $100, which is good to
see, particularly with the competition of ShapeShifter, the low-cost
shareware Mac emulator which recently added a minimalist Mac filesystem for
the Amiga side of operations. MaxDOS still comes out cheaper in that you
don't need the Mac ROMs or OS. But the tide may be turning.
Still, MaxDOS 2.5 does what it says it does, and does it well.
Media4 Productions, Inc.
515-225-7409 voice
515-225-6370 fax
blandwehr@bix.com
@endnode
@node REVIEW9 "The Music Maker"
@toc REVIEW
===========================================================================
REVIEW: THE MUSIC MAKER BY JOHN MCDONOUGH
By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================
MOD compilation CD-ROMs are a dime a dozen. And that's not a bad thing, if
you like a lot of MODs.
MOD collections on audio CD are considerably more rare. They're wonderful
if you want to take, say, your favorite Sidewinder MODs with you on the go,
or to capture the pleasantly eclectic variety on The Best of the Amiga
Scene CD.
And then there's a totally new sort of fish-The Music Maker, a CD from the
fledgeling Laughing Cat Records and New Age artist John McDonough.
Forget everything you're used to in a MOD CD...because The Music Maker
isn't. MIDI composed on the Amiga, McDonough has created what seems to be
the first Contemporary New Age collection authored on our favorite machine.
For those of you as unfamiliar with the genre as I am, suffice it to say
that the music is totally instrumental, heavy on piano/keyboard, and fairly
low-key. It won't make you run out and crusade for world peace, mind you,
but it also won't give you a pounding headache.
From the first, title track through to the tenth (Wind of the Spirit),
McDonough creates a smooth flow of sound that seems to fly by. No song
becomes "tiresome", tempting you to hit the fast forward button. Most
importantly, it doesn't sound like "fake music."
I'm impressed. The sound quality is superb, the track selection excellent,
the overall effect moving without being sappy or overpowering. I hope this
is not the last showing we see from McDonough and Laughing Cat.
John Mc Donough
(201) 831-9785
midikat@gti.net
@endnode
@node REVIEW10 "CyberGames by Cyberpunk Developments"
@toc REVIEW
===========================================================================
REVIEW: CYBERGAMES BY CYBERPUNK DEVELOPMENTS
By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================
Anybody remember Barbarian? It was a C-64 game that involved two players
hacking, slashing, and cutting off each other's head.
Barbarian, meet the 90s. Cybergames is a battle-duel type game of the
Barbarian/Mortal Kombat/etc. etc. genre, two players on a two-dimensional
profile field beating the hell out of each other.
Important to note is that now it's the 90s and you can't really expect to
get through the whole game with the same weapon, as you might have years
ago in Barbarian. Now, the object is to beat the hell out of your
opponent, preferably with fairly difficult moves like kicks and body cuts,
to earn money to buy better weaponry and...body parts.
Yes, the "Cyber" in Cybergames means you're in a William Gibsonish future
world in which body parts are readily exchanged for cybernetic
improvements. If all goes well, you'll go from a guy in a loincloth with a
wimpy sword to a chrome monster with an electric field mace-ish thing by
the end of the game.
Because the Cybergames are a long series of duels in which you try to
become the champion by beating the hell out of a few dozen computer
opponents (you can also duel against a friend indefinately). Each opponent
comes with a picture (that looks to be in the obscure PCHG format, but
don't quote me) and a little blurb, like "Kill..." to tune you in to their
"personality".
Unfortunately, you see an awful lot of totally robotic opponents with only
"Silent" to say, and pretty much everyone fights the same, other than
having different weaponry and body parts.
Falling objects like pools of fire and proximity mines, as well as a set of
climbing bars overhead from which you can kick your opponent, give the old
format enough of a boost to keep the concept fresh, as do the missile
weapons you can buy and fire at your opponent.
It's a pity that the control system is so unpredictable-combinations of
moves are certainly possible, but the program seems to have a difficult
time reconciling a held fire button, leaving you to click away in
frustration as you get your head cut off for failing to finish off the
other guy.
The graphics are colorful enough for ECS, but the animation leaves a bit to
be desired in the "fluid" category. These guys don't really walk like
people do.
I have a lot on my wish list for Cybergames. As it stands, it is an
excellent sucessor to the Barbarian line, and while only having the stock
finishing move of the severed head (which, by the way, is quite
entertaining) might even attract a dedicated fan of the Mortal Kombat line.
Cybergames is "PAL and sort of NTSC", meaning that for the full screen
display you should really use PAL, but NTSC is acceptable for playing.
Cybergames is pretty much a shareware steal at $15, and a demo is available
from Aminet, in game/misc.
@endnode
@node FTP1 "WreadFiles47.lha"
@toc FTP
TITLE
WreadFiles47.lha
VERSION
WreadFiles Version 4.7 (November 1994)
AUTHOR
Michael L. Barlow
GEnie: M.Barlow1
Internet: M.Barlow1@GEnie.geis.com
or MikeB@cuix.pscu.com
DESCRIPTION
WreadFiles is a vocal text file reader program for use on the
Commodore Amiga. The text is both printed to the screen and spoken.
The basic features are summarized as follows:
o Text is read in sentences rather than lines.
o Dynamic Speech Correction on over 4000 word or word fragments.
o Reading Rate: 920 (A1000) to 1290 (A4000) bytes/minute.
o Corrected Pronunciation of many place and personal names.
o Corrected Pronunciation of some foreign names and expressions.
o Corrected Pronunciation of many abbreviations containing vowels.
o Expansion of many capitalized abbreviations.
o Standard pronunciation of many multi-digit numbers.
o ANSI color codes stripped from text displayed or spoken.
o Ignores repeated characters.
o Different voices for user interface and reading.
< Alternate voice for text delineated by brackets.
-> These brackets are often used to identify quoted text. <-
<< Three basic types are supported. Single or double brackets >>
> may be forward or reverse, left side only or left and right. <
o Single file or indexed multi-file read modes.
o Run from Workbench or CLI.
o Used with A1000 (OS 1.3), A3000 (OS 2.04-2.1), and A4000
(OS 3.0)
o ASL file requester for input file selection for OS 2.04+.
NEW FEATURES
o Correcting vocabulary increased 20-25%.
o Alternate high-contrast color setup: white text on black
background in addition to the normal black text on lavender
green.
o Program icon tooltypes now enable user pre-selection of reading
rate, color and full screen ASL file requester.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Standard Amiga Translator.library and Narrator.device required.
2.04 versions recommended. 1 Meg or more ram recommended.
External speakers required.
AVAILABILITY
GEnie: (Since NOV 94) Page 555,3 File Number 24627
Aminet: (Since FEB 95)
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/misc/WreadFiles47.lha (125763)
PRICE
No fee requested for non-commercial use.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Option to Copyright reserved.
Blanket permission granted for distribution to BBS's and public
domain archives as long as no specific charges are made for this
program beyond normal BBS access or archive distribution costs and
as long as the archive is left intact in it's original form.
@endnode
@node FTP2 "Recall 3.0"
@toc FTP
TITLE
Recall
VERSION
3.0
AUTHOR
Ketil Hunn
Nabbetorpveien 35B
N-1632 Gamle Fredrikstad
NORWAY
E-Mail: Ketil.Hunn@hiMolde.no
DESCRIPTION
A program to keep track of birthdays, anniversaries and other important
events. It is an easy-to-use, intuition-based utility for the absent-
minded and it is considered to be the best reminder utility, program
launcher and alarm clock fascility available for the Amiga platform.
FEATURES
o be reminded with requesters, alerts or practically anything that can be
displayed on an Amiga-monitor
o automatically start programs (CLI/WB/AREXX/BATCH) depending on the date,
time or weekday
o create input events at certain days/time/weekday
o keep track of the remaining days/time to important events
o keep track of the days/time since important events happened
o be reminded every # day (e.g. every 14th day)
o be reminded # days before or after the event
o be reminded once a day, every time you boot, before or after a certain
date, before or after a certain hour or minute
o be reminded about events until you acknowledge them
o be reminded on certain weekdays
o display unlimited lines of text in the same requester or alert
o group different events and make them appear simultaneously
o keep a simple database of the birthdays of family and friends
o let your Amiga keep track of how old people are by insterting the date
of birth in the middle of the string where you want to display the age
(I.e. the text "Adam is {years:08/05/1970} years old today" may be
displayed as "Adam is 24 years old today".)
o make advanced events which are displayed for example after 21:00 every
3rd day the first 7 days of every 2nd month the next 4 years
o combine all of the attributes mentioned above in the same event
o enter these events in an easy-to-use, totally font adaptable multi-
window environment and without the need of programming-knowledge, just
by entering the desired text and pressing a few buttons
o localized for most languages supported by Commodore as well as some
unsupported ones
o well documented - over 100K of documentation!
NEW FEATURES
o The checker may stay resident in memory (optional) and keep on
reminding you until you quit the program or turn off your machine.
Will check the events every minute (idle time may be overridden).).
o The checker is a commodity, and may be controlled via the Commodore's
Commodities Exchange program.
o Unlimited number of dates can be attached to the same event.
o You can combine weekdays and date, allowing you to make events which
will be shown i.e. the third Sunday in a month etc.
o Major update of the calculation fields: allowing you to include both
the current date, current time, calculation of days, calculation of
years, current weekday and such in the SAME event! The fields can be
selected and inserted from a requester.
o Possibility to group only certain events, flash certain events etc.
o Recursive directories, allows you to make folders of events i.e.
keeping all birthday-events in a folder called Birthdays. Unlimited
number of levels!
o Search and replace of events.
o Recall can pop up requesters on any public screen.
o New powerful type of event: Input - generates input-events and
hotkey-presses.
o New type of event: AREXX - runs AREXX scripts directly.
o Modular built. Its functionality may be extended with modules.
...and much more
Various bug fixes.
REQUIREMENTS
OS 2.04 or higher. The programs will take advantage of Kickstart
2.1/3.0/3.1 and 68020+ processors if found.
OS 2.1 or higher for localization.
Harddisk is recommended for unpacking the complete distribution.
AVAILABILITY
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/cdity/RecallV30.lha (242252)
PRICE
Shareware fee of $15 or 100 Norwegian kroner is requested.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
The archive may be spread through BBS, Internet, AmiNet and on Public
Domain disks as long as the archive is not modified in any way. This
means that you can copy it freely as long as you don't ask for a more than
nominal copying fee. This fee must not be more than US $5 or 5 DM. It
would be much appreciated if magazines notified me through e-mail or
ordinary mail if they include Recall on a cover-disk.
If you wish to include Recall on a magazine cover disk, you may do so as
long as you send a complimentary copy of the magazine issue in which it
appears to my home address. The entire package must be included on the
disk, not just the executable. Please contact me in advance to ensure you
have the latest version.
If you wish to supply Recall as part of a CD-ROM compilation of freeware,
you may do so as long as the disc contains at least 20 Mb of other
freeware. Otherwise, contact me first please. Explicit permission is
granted to distribute Recall on any CD-ROM produced by Fred Fish / Amiga
Library Services, and on any officially supported Aminet compilation CD-
ROM.
@endnode
@node FTP3 "BlitzBlank 2.60"
@toc FTP
TITLE
BlitzBlank
VERSION
2.60
AUTHOR
Thomas Boerkel
E-Mail: thomas@amiga_inside2.schiele-ct.de
DESCRIPTION
BlitzBlank is a modular screen blanker package with the
following features:
- stable
- fast
- low cpu-time usage by the blanker task
- comfortable
- highly configurable
- many interesting, fancy, nice modules
- compatible with most graphics cards
- build-in mouseblanker
- nice GUI
- ARexx interface
- joyport monitoring
- AmigaGuide docs with context-sensitive help
- Installer script for easy and automatic installing
- flexible random option
- no burn-in if the blanker halts (because another task needs
the CPU)
- no crash or hang, if a nasty program opens its window on the
blanker screen
- adjustable mouse sensitivity
- reblanking
- UnInstaller for riskless testing
- 39 modules:
AmigaSign, ASwarm, Butterfly, Clock, Crumble, Dissolve, Electric,
Execute, Fade, Flash, FlyingToaster, Fountain, Fractal, Goats,
Gravity, Guru, Life, Lines, Mandel, Maze, Melt, Mosaic, Noise,
PatternCycling, Plasma, Pyro, Radar, Skyline, Slideshow, Snow,
Splines, Spot, StarField, Text, TicTacToe, Tiles, Tunnel, Worms,
Worms2.
NEW FEATURES
- 10 new modules:
ASwarm, FlyingToaster, Fractal, Goats, Gravity, Maze, Plasma,
Skyline, StarField, TicTacToe
- reblanking
- BlitzBlank rewritten in C -> significantly shorter (39 KB -> 16 KB)
- many bugfixes and enhancements (see history in the guide)
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
- AmigaOS 2.0 or better
- MUI 2.3
AVAILABILITY
FTP/Internet: AmiNet and mirrors
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/blank/BlitzBlank260.lha
(656459 bytes)
PRICE
GIFT/CARD-ware (if the user WANTS to give something)
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Freely distributable.
Copyright 1993-1995 by Thomas Boerkel.
Copyright of some modules by their respective authors.
@endnode
@node FTP20 "prlink 0.8.0a"
TITLE
prlink
VERSION
0.8.0a
AUTHORS
Marko Mdkeld
Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert
DESCRIPTION
Hello all!
After half a year of lazy development, I release my data transfer
system. It uses a parallel cable between an Amiga or a PC compatible
and a 8-bit CBM system (The PETs, Vic20, C64 and C128 are currently
supported). On the PC side, the program compiles under Linux, and it
can be compiled under DOS fairly easily, too. (If you can do this,
please send the patches and executables to me.)
The Amiga and PET ports were done by Olaf Seibert
. He will soon make an Amiga binary version of
the package available.
Prlink is probably one of the most complete systems available. It
lets you to load and run programs off your PC's or Amiga's disks on
the remote C= computer with a command issued on the PC or Amiga. You
can also save remote C= memory to a file. Prlink supports also a
banked memory expansion (256kB on C64, up to 1MB on C128), and a
Commodore REU up to 15 megabytes.
Prlink is implemented as an IRQ wedge, so you can use the C= computer
for something else between the transfers.
Besides loading and saving memory, you can launch Vic-20 cartridges,
provided that you have a Vic-20 equipped with a RAM expansion at $a000
(and at $6000 for 16 kB games).
You can also transfer files with prrfile and prwfile. Prdisk lets you
to transfer whole disks. Standard routines are used, and the disk
size may be up to 999 tracks * 1000 sectors per track = 999000 blocks.
Useful for backing up your 9090 harddisk on the PET. :-)
If you have any comments or questions or suggestions for improvements,
feel free to contact us. I will answer any
PC-related questions, and Olaf Seibert will be happy to help Amiga and
PET users at .
With best regards,
Marko Mdkeld
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
ixemul.library (included)
DASM 2.02 to reassemble 6502 code, if desired for reconfiguration.
AVAILABILITY
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/cbm/transfer/Amiga/prlink-amiga-0.8.0a.lha
ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/cbm/programming/dasm202.tar.gz
or on Aminet:
ftp://ftp.luth.se/pub/aminet/misc/emu/prlink-amiga.lha
ftp://ftp.luth.se/pub/aminet/dev/cross/dasm202.lha
(note that I think it doesn't belong in misc/emu but in something
like comm/misc, because it handles the Real Thing and not an
emulation, but such is life)
PRICE
Free.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Copyright 1994, 1995 by Marko Mdkeld and Olaf Seibert.
The GNU General Public License applies.
@endnode
@node FTP4 "FreshFish Volume 9"
@toc FTP
TITLE
FreshFish Volume 9 CD-ROM
VERSION
Volume 9
AUTHOR
Amiga Library Services
E-Mail: orders@amigalib.com
DESCRIPTION
The FreshFish CD-ROM series is a 2-CD set released approximately every
two months, that contains approximately 1.1 Gb of useful programmer's
tools, submissions of newly released material, useful documentation,
etc.
Volume 9 contains new ports of GNU Fortran, GNU octave, and UnixTeX.
Many other utilities, such as GNU ADA are updated. Also included are
copies of newly released disks 1001-1060 from the floppy library.
The material is roughly divided into the following sections:
Size Area Description
------ ---- -----------
626 Mb BBS BBS ready material selected from the other
sections of the CD, as well as from previous
CD's, on a space available basis. Also includes
full GNU source code, original baseline source,
diff files, etc, all in archived form.
227 Mb Useful Misc useful tools, libraries, documentation,
source code examples, hardware/software reviews,
descriptions of previous CD's and floppies, etc.
94 Mb GNU Binaries, libraries, runtime files, and documentation
for utilities in the GNU tree. Source is now located
in the BBS tree.
142 Mb New Ready-to-run new submissions and other material
received since the previous FreshFish CD.
49 Mb Tools CD-ROM administration tools, documentation,
search utils, etc.
The GNU tree contains the following utilities (per an "ls" of the
GNU:bin directory):
MakeTeXPK ecc grotty nohup tex
[ echo groups nroff texi2dvi
addftinfo ed gs objcopy texindex
afm2tfm egrep gsbj objdump tfmtodit
afmtodit emacs gsdj octave tftopl
amigados-gcc env gslj octave-1.1.1 touch
ar etags gslp octave-bug tr
as expand gsnd od true
autoconf expr gsoelim paste unexpand
autoconf-1.11 f2c gsrenderfont patch uniq
autoconf-2.1 f77 gtbl patgen unprotoize
autoconf-2.2 false gtroff pathchk unshar
autoheader fgrep gunzip perl updatedb
autoreconf find gzexe pfbtops users
autoscan flex gzip pitool uudecode
autoupdate flex++ head pktogf uuencode
awk fmt hostname pktype v
basename fold id pltotf vdir
bc font2c ident pooltype vftovp
bdftops g++ ifnames pr virmf
bibtex g77 indent printenv virtex
bison gas info printf vptovf
brik gasp inimf protoize wc
c++ gawk initex ps2ascii wdiff
c++filt gcc install ps2epsi weave
cat gcc-2.3.3 ispell psbb who
chgrp gcc-2.6.3 ixconfig pwd whoami
chmod gcc-2.6.4 ixtrace ranlib xargs
chown gccv join rcs yes
ci gccv-2.3.3 jove rcsdiff zcat
cksum gccv-2.6.3 kpsewhich rcsmerge zcmp
cmmf gccv-2.6.4 ksh red zdiff
cmp gdb latex rlog zforce
co genclass ld rm zgrep
comm geqn less rmdir zmore
cp gftodvi lesskey sdiff znew
cpio gftopk lkbib sed
csplit gftype ln sh
cut gindxbib locate shar
d glookbib logname size
date gnatbind look sleep
dbugprof gnatbl ls sort
dc gnatchop m4 split
dd gnatchp make strings
df gnatf makeinfo strip
diff gnatk8 merge stty
diff3 gneqn mf sum
dir gnroff mft sync
dirname gperf mkdir tac
doschk gpic mkfifo tail
du grefer mknod taintperl
dumphunks grep mt tangle
dvicopy grodvi mv tar
dvilj4 groff nice teachjove
dvips grog nl tee
dvitype grops nm test
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Requires system software capable of reading ISO-9660 Level 2 CD-ROM's.
PRICE
$19.95 (2 CD's in one slimline jewel case)
DISTRIBUTABILITY
The compilation is Copyright (C) 1995 by Amiga Library Services, however
there are liberal copying conditions for the entire contents to hard drive
of tape distribution, as well as individual components of the distributon.
AVAILABILITY
Available for immediate shipment.
Amiga Library Services
610 N. Alma School Road, Suite 18
Chandler, AZ 85224-3687
USA
FAX or Voice: (602) 491-0048
Voicemail Only: (800) 804-0833
@endnode
@node FTP5 "Translator Library 42.3"
@toc FTP
TITLE
Translator Library (Multilingual-speech version)
VERSION
42.3
AUTHOR
Francesco Devitt
Internet: ffranc@comp.vuw.ac.nz
Telephone: +64 4 388-3215
Home page: http://www.comp.vuw.ac.nz/~ffranc/amiga/translator.html
DESCRIPTION
New features:
o Recursive rules: right hand sides can be re-translated
o Bugs were fixed
Features:
o Allows language to be specified in the text to be translated
o Replaces Commodore's translator.library
o Provides multi-lingual text-to-speech support
o Works with all OS versions
With versions of the OS before 2.1 Commodore supplied text-to-speech
software on the Workbench discs. This library replaces the Commodore
supplied translator library. The origional translates text to phonemes
for use with the narrator device. It is used in software with speech
output such as "Say" and "Term".
Unfortunately for non-American users the origional library translates
all text as if it were American English. It can not handle other
languages or dialects.
This library is a drop-in replacement and works with all software that
currently uses the Commodore speech system. With this version of
translator library (version 42.1) the user can specify which language
the translator should use. The following languages/dialects/accents
are supported by this library:
English Deutsch
American Polski
Italiano Svenska
Cymraeg Maori
Suomi Island
Not all useful I know. However it is not difficult to write
translation files for other languages with the exception of languages
like English and French which have more exceptions than most. I hope
that users of this system will be motivated to create accent
description files for the language(s) they speak.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Requires any version of the OS greater than 1.3. Some features are
not supported on pre-2.04 systems and systems without the locale
library.
To be of any practical use it requires any version of the narrator
device and software that talks.
AVAILABILITY
Available from Aminet, eg:
ftp://ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/aminet/util/libs/translator42.lha
81444 bytes
PRICE
Free.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Copyright 1995 Francesco Devitt.
Freely distributable. Donations gratefully received.
@endnode
@node FTP6 "AmiSlate 1.2"
@toc FTP
TITLE
AmiSlate
VERSION
1.2
AUTHOR
Jeremy Friesner
E-Mail: jfriesne@ucsd.edu
DESCRIPTION
AmiSlate is a paint program that allows you and a friend to paint
together, on the same "canvas", over an AmiTCP link.
Features:
- Runs in a resizable window on a custom screen, public screen, or
Workbench screen.
- Supports most standard painting "tools", including freehand
dot, freehand draw, line, filled and unfilled circles and
rectangles, polygons, and flood fill.
- Flexible design allows both users to draw at the same time,
even multiple ARexx scripts can be run simultaneously.
- Has a "chat bar" at the bottom of the window to facilitate
textual communication between users.
- Will transparently map colors to different palettes in real time,
allowing users to use screens of differing depths.
- Loads and saves IFF ILBM format picture files.
- Has Record/Playback Macro features.
- An extremely full-featured ARexx port, allowing AmiSlate to
be extended by the user to play games or do other interesting
things. AmiSlate comes with a number of demonstration ARexx
scripts, including scripts to play chess and Tic-Tac-Toe over
the network.
- Installer script included.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Requires Workbench 2.04 or above. AmiTCP3.0b2 or higher is required
to use AmiSlate's networking features.
AVAILABILITY
Available on Aminet:
ftp://ftp.netnet.net/pub/aminet/comm/tcp/AmiSlate1.2.lha (103 KBytes)
PRICE
AmiSlate is DonationWare. If you find AmiSlate to your liking and
use it often, please consider sending me a donation of five to ten
dollars.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
AmiSlate is freely distributable as long as no charge is made for
it other than a small fee for the cost of the media.
@endnode
@node FTP7 "Amiga CDROM Guide 1.1"
@toc FTP
TITLE
Amiga CDROM Guide
VERSION
1.1
AUTHOR
I, Anders Bakkevold, has made this guide. For comments,
contribution etc contact me via e-mail:
anders.bakkevold@norway.bbs.no
DESCRIPTION
Amiga CDROM Guide (ACDG) was made to help Amiga-owners
to pick the right CDROM for their needs. It doesn't
include commecial games or photoCD-discs, but all Amiga
PD/clipart/fonts/modules collections.
- It is in the Amigaguide-format.
- You will find all the vital information on a CDROM, like
price, contents, publisher etc.
- Covers 128 CDROMs
- 45+ of the CDROMs have a review
- If you're interrested in for instance raytracing, click
on the keyword "Raytracing" to get a list of all CDROMs
that can be assosiated with ratracing.
- Other keywords: Clipart, fonts, pictures, utilities,
GNU, text-files, fish etc
NEW FEATURES
A lot has been changed since the first version (v1.0),
which wasn't uploaded to Aminet.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
You will need a program able to display Amigaguide
files. Workbench 3.0 and up has this build-in with
the program "Multiview". For Workbench 1.3 and 2.x
I reccomend the program PPguide, which is available
on Aminet.
AVAILABILITY
Amiga CDROM Guide is available from any Aminet site,
for instance:
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/docs/hyper/ACDGv11.lha (42843)
PRICE
Amiga CDROM Guide is freeware.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Amiga CDROM Guide v1.1 is copyright 1995 Anders Bakkevold.
All rights reserved. You may copy it as you like, as
long as no changes are made to the archive, and you
don't charge more than ś3.00 for the media and
copying fees.
@endnode
@node FTP8 "XpkDisk 37.8c"
@toc FTP
TITLE
XpkDisk
VERSION
37.8c
AUTHOR
Olaf 'Rhialto' Seibert
DESCRIPTION
`xpkdisk.device' is an exec-style device that looks like
trackdisk.device and similar disks. The difference is that it
compresses its data and stores it in multiple files in an existing
filesystem. It uses the XPK (eXternal PacKer) standard to do the
actual compression. This has many advantages.
This aproach differs from compressing file systems: they compress
on a per-file basis, and generally limit the maximum size of files
that they can handle to the available memory.
NEW FEATURES
* Version 37.8 works around a horrible bug that is really caused by
XPK when track files are not compressible. Look in the source
file "devio.c" for details, near the symbol XPKBUG.
* You can now change the XPKD: assign on the fly, if you're careful.
* xdClear now works with the fake scsi.device, which does not seem to
know about ETD_* commands.
* Now keeps the old track file while writing a new one. The old
track file is only deleted after successfully writing the new one.
You have more control about what to do in such situations.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
AmigaDOS 2.04 or better is required for some features to work.
Xpk version 2.5 or better (available from Aminet sites as well).
A hard disk, a fast processor and lots of RAM are highly
recommended but not strictly necessary.
AVAILABILITY
Aminet: util/pack/xpkDisk37_8c.lha, for instance
ftp://ftp.luth.se/pub/aminet/util/pack/xpkDisk37_8c.lha
PRICE
Free.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Copyright 1995 by Olaf Seibert.
The GNU General Public License applies.
@endnode
@node FTP9 "Analay 1.11"
@toc FTP
TITLE
Analay
VERSION
1.11
AUTHOR
Marc Necker
(Marc@buster.tynet.sub.org)
DESCRIPTION
Analay is a new analysis program which provides all the standard
functions such a program needs. The special feature of this
program is the integrated DTP mode which allows you to layout
a page with full WYSIWYG! The program is divided into two
independent parts running at the same time as separate tasks.
The Math Mode contains all functions for plotting and analyzing
function graphs. It's no problem to create the derivative of
functions or to calculate the zeros or the area between functions
to name only three of the many facilities. Moreover, the design of
the graphs can be changed in many ways. You also can place texts,
points, etc. in the windows or hatch an area. Tables, lists and
legends can be created as well.
The Layout Mode contains a small, but complete DTP program with
full WYSIWYG and Intellifont support! It allows you to layout
a page with function graphs, tables, lists, legends, text blocks,
etc. Moreover, it knows formulas which no program apart form TeX
was able to display or print up to know! The page can be printed
in the highest resolution your Workbench printer driver allows
for your printer!
NEW FEATURES
- English program texts and English documentation
- Zoom up to 500% in Layout Mode
- Some bug fixes
- Fixed a bug with power functions in V1.1
DISTRIBUTABILITY
The Analay archive without key file can be distributed freely
as long as all files are kept together. You also may place it on
PD-collections or CDs.
REQUIREMENTS
Analay runs on every Amiga with AmigaOS 2.04 or higher and at
least 1.5MByte RAM. It's better if you have got more RAM and
a harddisk.
To use all of the program's features AmigaOS 3.0 or higher is
required (e.g. color printout).
RELEASE DATE
April 6, 1995
HOST NAME
Any AmiNet-Server
i.e.
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/misc/math/Analay111.lha (425437)
DIRECTORY
/pub/aminet/misc/math
FILE NAME
Analay111.lha
PRICE
Shareware-fee of 20US-$/30DM. See the documentation for
further information. Some functions are disabled in the
unregistered version, e.g. the print-function.
@endnode
@node FTP10 "myisoicons 1.0"
@toc FTP
TITLE
myisoicons.lha
VERSION
1.0
AUTHOR
David Wiles
BMDE, Medical Faculty
UNIVERSITY OF STELLENBOSCH
South Africa
E-Mail: dw@itu.sun.ac.za
dw@maties.sun.ac.za
DESCRIPTION
Icons in isometric style a la NewIcons. A set of IFF pictures that can be
used to create icons in the style of the "NewIcons" package. Various
elements from the pictures can be combined to create an icon to suit your
personal preferences. Examples (in IFF format) of all common icons are
provided.(SYS: icons) All icons are a standard size and format, to give
their final appearance on the Workbench a neat and organized look. No more
cluttered screens and windows and no more massive, gaudy icons. The icons
images can be picked up from the IFF pictures as IFF brushes, and then
imported into your favorite icon editor, and the icons created from there.
A few screen grabs have been included to show off the "isoicons".
What makes this package different?
This is the only package, that I know of, that allows the you to construct
your own icons from the "clip art" provided. Also ALL the images are in IFF
picture format and can be edited and created using the power of a paint
program like DPaint or Brilliance. (This way you won't have to put up with
using icon editors like the terrible IconEd program from Workbench 2.0+.
:-()
The imagery only uses the first 4 colors on a 16-color picture, so
more colors can be used in the icons. That is better than working with
a 8- or 16-color icon from somewhere else and then losing most of the
visual detail when reducing the palette to suite your Workbench. :-(
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Any Amiga from an A1000 to an A4000!
A paint program capable of reading and saving standard Amiga IFF pictures.
AmigaDOS 1.2 to 3.1 compatible. (Palettes may differ between OS versions)
Tons of huge, lousy, gaudy icons, and a messy Workbench. :-)
NTSC or PAL compatible. (The images are PAL 640 X 512 16-colour format)
Archive created with LHA 1.38.
AVAILABILITY
ftp://netnet2.netnet.net/pub/aminet/pix/icon/myisoicons.lha (226172)
or: Any Aminet mirror site. Found in the pix/icon directory.
PRICE
Free (see DISTRIBUTABILITY)
DISTRIBUTABILITY
This product is freeware and placed in the Public Domain with the
following provisos:
I would appreciate e-mail should you download the archive and you like or
dislike it. Comments, suggestions, praise and criticism are welcome.
Some of the imagery is based on other Amigan's work. A lot is my own.
Don't go and claim it as your own, if you have a conscience.
I give express permission to Urban Mueller, the Aminet administrator, and
Fred Fish, the Amiga Library Disk (Fish Disk) administrator to include this
archive on their respective PD collections, as they see fit.
OTHER
A second collection will be uploaded by June/July. Keep an eye out for
myisoicons02.lha.
Archive uploaded to Aminet mirror netnet2.netnet.net at 09h00 on 13
April, 1995. Expect it to be mirrored to the all Aminet mirrors by 18
April, 1995. (wuarchive.wustl.edu is impossible to access at ANY time
for me) >:-C
@endnode
@node FTP11 "Guida"
@toc FTP
TITLE
Guida
VERSION
Last published issue is 7.
AUTHOR
Dalibor Kezele (main editor)
Toplicka 127
42204 Turcin
Croatia
phone: +385 42 651 567 (20pm CET)
e-mail: dkezele@oleh.srce.hr
sentinel@bonus.fido.hr
Fidonet: DALIBOR KEZELE 2:381/120
DESCRIPTION
Guida is a free magazine in AmigaGuide format in CROATIAN language.
Themes we cover are: Amiga scene, Internet scene, BBS scene, computer
news, programming, hardware, software, informatic language(s) etc. Some
texts aren't computer-related, but we think they're interesting to Amiga
users. The new issue is out every three weeks.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Any Amiga with AmigaGuide tool. It doesn't use any of new AmigaGuide
functions so it can be read on an old Amiga 500. Also Croatian font is
needed but we deliver it within lha archive.
A reader also must know CROATIAN in order to understand text.
AVAILABILITY
Available via ftp:
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida0.lha (65442)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida2_5.lha (72150)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida3_14.lha (49495)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida4_99.lha (33992)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida5.lha (42814)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida6.lha (52954)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida7.lha (72571)
Available via WWW:
http://rasipl1.rasip.etf.hr/~chonky/guida.html (main menu)
PRICE
Guida is free.
OTHER
Plain ASCII format of any issue is also available.
For more information or subscription contact main editor.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Copyright (c) 1994, 1995 by Dalibor S. Kezele
Guida is free. Changing the content is forbiden!
@endnode
@node FTP12 "HTML-Heaven 1.1b"
@toc FTP
TITLE
HTML-Heaven
VERSION
1.1b
AUTHOR
Paul Kolenbrander
Email : paul@serena.iaehv.nl
Post : Turfveldenstraat 37
NL-5632 XH EINDHOVEN
The NETHERLANDS
DESCRIPTION
HTML-Heaven is a suite of _four_ programs intended to make the
creation and maintenance of WWW (HTML) pages easy. The programs
in the suite interface with your favorite editor (providing it
supports text insertion via ARexx) to provide you with a very
comfortable environment. Now inserting HTML commands is as simple
as point and click. This is the upgrade from version 1.1 with a
host of exiting new features.
NEW FEATURES
Version 1.1a has all the features of version 1.1. Plus:
* Support for two new editors. MEmacs (thanks to Ellis Pritchard)
and PolyEd.
* Improved script for GoldEd now supports blocks the same way that
the TTX script does. Same goes for the PolyEd and SE scripts.
Just mark a block and hit eg. the gadget in HTML-Heaven.
* Support for character entities so you can now embed special
characters like ®, ć and ţ for example.
* The brunt of the new NetScape extensions to the HTML language.
* The documentation is now also included in HTML format.
On-line browsing: http://www.iaehv.nl/users/paul/main.html
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
HTML-Heaven requires:
* Workbench 2.04 or above.
* ARexx (bundled with Workbench 2.04 and above.)
* Around 1MB of free memory.
* About 400KB of floppy or harddisk space. (installing the entire
suite and all docs including the HTML versions.)
AVAILABILITY
- ftp://ftp.iaehv.nl/pub/users/paul/amiga/HTML-Heaven.lha
- WWW - http://www.iaehv.nl/users/paul/index.html
- Most Aminet sites. Examples of which are:
USA: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/aminet/text/hyper/HTML-Heaven.lha
EUR: ftp://ftp.luth.se/pub/aminet/text/hyper/HTML-Heaven.lha
PRICE
The registration fee for the HTML-Heaven package still is only:
- Nederland Dfl 15,-
- Europe DM 15,- / Dfl 15,-
- Rest of the World US$ 15.- / Dfl 20.-
DISTRIBUTABILITY
The unregistered version is freely distributable.
The registered version and it's custom keyfile are *NOT* freely
distributable.
This suite of programs is copyright 1994 by Paul Kolenbrander.
OTHER
To encourage users to register, (I'd like to get some return for
all this effort I have put into creating the suite.) the freely
distributable versions does not support ToolTypes/parameters and
will not supply on-line help. Furthermore a 'reminder' requester
appears on exiting any of the four programs comprising the suite.
The unregistered versions will also not allow more than 5 ARexx
commands per session. They'll keep functioning, but ignore any
further ARexx commands given by the user as it has unloaded it's
ARexx Host.
@endnode
@node FTP13 "EazyBBS 2.21"
@toc FTP
TITLE
EazyBBS (Mailbox)
VERSION
2.21
AUTHOR
Andreas M. Kirchwitz
E-Mail: amk@zikzak.in-berlin.de
DESCRIPTION
EazyBBS is a Unix/Uucp-like BBS (Bulletin Board System) (aka Mailbox)
with UUCP network support for multiple users on multiple ports.
Multi-language support for input, output and commands. Configurable
commands, online help for every command. Extremely fast VT102
emulation. Full-screen editor, full-screen input/output masks,
full-screen file lister, full-screen chat and line chat. Online games
(Greed, Sokoban, Global War).
Z-Modem (xprzmodem.library) and X-Modem (builtin). Comfortable
Batch-Download and Batch-Upload. AmiNet-like .readme files
(containing file data) for upload and download. Also supports
those "brain-dead" FILE_ID.DIZ files.
Thread-oriented message system. Binary mails. Personal newstree for
every user, automatically shows new messages and files in subscribed
boards and file-areas. Checks integrity of archives and lists contents
of archives (highly configurable). CRC checksums to verify correct
file transfer.
Handles cursor-keys. Builtin support for "Umlaute", configurable
Umlaute conversion after upload and before download. Builtin pager,
users can edit their personal configuration easily.
Commands, filenames, boards, file-areas can be abbreviated.
AmigaDOS pattern-matching for various commands.
EazyBBS runs on own screen or in window (on any public screen).
Fonts configurable. No wimpy GUI, no fancy gadgets... everything's
done with VT102 masks (quite comfortable), perfect for remote
maintenance.
Configurable for any modem, ISDN board and multi I/O card.
Can be started from Uucp-getty (on already established connection).
Access to boards and file-areas can be restricted to certain users
(Unix-like owner/group concept), every group may have one or more
moderators. Optionally, all upload may be unaccessable by default,
then checked by the moderators and unlocked (if okay).
Very flexible import of peripherals (eg, CD-ROMs or any other
devices). Certain files and directories can be excluded.
Directories can be archived and transferred in one file (program
configurable, size check... configurable).
EazyBBS is comfortable but has no full-blown GUI. If the Workbench
is your home and you even don't know how to spell the word "Shell"
then EazyBBS is maybe not for you. But if you can handle a shell
and if you like sophisticated software -- then you'll like EazyBBS ;)
German support BBS with discussion boards, also available via UUCP.
NEW FEATURES
Changes since version 2.19 (summary):
- File-list and file-check scripts for LZX.
- Two editable scripts to pre-process batch-uploaded files.
- Improved scripts for daily listing of files (for Anon-UUCP and News).
- Improved support for AmigaUUCP sendmail.
- Some internal changes, enhancements and bug fixes.
See file "History.Txt" in archive EazyBBS-2.21.lha for
complete listing of changes and new features.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
AmigaOS 2.0 (or higher).
Knowledge of german language since most documents are in german
(don't worry, translation to english is in preparation...
translators welcome ;-)
AVAILABILITY
FTP/Internet: AmiNet and mirrors
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/comm/bbs/EazyBBS-2.21.lha (772141)
UUCP/E-Mail : mail-server@cs.tu-berlin.de
Send mail to the address above and put the
line "send /pub/aminet/comm/bbs/EazyBBS-2.21.lha"
in the body.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Shareware, freely distributable.
Copyright by Andreas M. Kirchwitz.
@endnode
@node FTP14 "HZview1.52b"
@toc FTP
TITLE
HZview1.52b
VERSION
V1.52b (4.30.1995)
AUTHOR
Ji Ma
e-mail: maji@u.washington.edu
DESCRIPTION
A small and very fast chinese GuoBiao (a binary chienses
character encoding mothod) text viewer with nice graphical
user interface. It supports both 8 bit (raw) or 7 bit
(HanZi) encoding.
- can also be used to normal ascii text viewer
- can be iconified
Big source of GB material is archived at site:
cnd.org//pub/ifcss.org/china-studies/huangxin-collections/
Shareware version limits maximum display 10 pages.
register version will remove such limitation.
NEW FEATURES
version 1.0b
- V3.1 compatable:
- New GUI with MUI
- Support mouse and keyboard short cuts
- Small
- Fast
- written in C++
- help file in amiga guide format
- include some of chinese classic stories (ENJOY!!!).
...and many more.
version 1.5b
- add space between lines, make they easy to read
- add book mark control
- add option -a to show ascii file
- add keyboard short cut for next page - space bar
keyboard short cut for mark page - M
- open file implemented
- properly enable and disable menus and buttons
- implement the print from menu
version 1.52b
- now support 7 bit GB encoding (HanZi). Finally
program name agrees with its function.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
HZview is shareware. It is freely distributable, as long as
you distribute all files! Feel free to include it in public
domain collections (i.e. fishdisks).
REQUIREMENTS
Workbench 2.04 or higher
chinese bitmap font library cclib.16 (included)
should place in the same directory as program
High Resolution Interlaced screen (640x400).
RELEASE DATE
April 30, 1995.
AVAILABILITY
Any AmiNet site, for example:
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminettext/show/HZview1.52b.lha (319795)
PRICE
Shareware fee of $20 US
@endnode
@node FTP15 "SmartCopy 1.4a"
@toc FTP
TITLE
SmartCopy
VERSION
1.4a
AUTHOS
Rask I. Lambertsen
E-mail: gc948374@gbar.dtu.dk
DESCRIPTION
Easy-to-use file copier with GUI. Good for copying a bunch of
files from a harddisk to floppy disks, as it figures out which
files will fit and only copies those files. If more disks are
required, you will be prompted for them.
Should support any type of disk device (including diskspare
and PFS).
Similar programs are available, but (as far as I know) the don't
have a GUI.
NEW FEATURES
This is a bug-fix to version 1.4. Version 1.4 kept a lock on
the screen on which the window opened, making the public
screen feature totally useless.
This version is also nearly 1 kb smaller that v1.4.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
AmigaOS 2.0 (or higher).
AVAILABILITY
FTP: Aminet and mirrors
ftp://ftp.luth.se/pub/aminet/disk/misc/SmartCopy1_4a.lha
PRICE
Free.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Freely distributable, Copyright by Rask I. Lambersen.
@endnode
@node FTP16 "HWUpdate 2.1"
@toc FTP
TITLE
HWUpdate
VERSION
2.1
AUTHOR
Dan J. Fraser
Internet: jyergaw@julian.uwo.ca
FidoNet: Dan Fraser@1:2401/201.0
Phone: 519-438-5277 (North America)
DESCRIPTION
HWUpdate is a quick-and-dirty utility I wrote to compensate
for a major oversight on the part of CNet/3's programming team.
Because of a severely silly error in CNet's IUUNEWS program,
the highwater marks of any UUCP areas with message numbers over
2^15 were screwed up everytime IUUNEWS was run.
This program reads in a UUCP/NNTP "ACTIVE" file, and just
updates CNet's highwater marks.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
CNet/3 version 3.0c
Must be using an "ACTIVE" file based UUCP system.
AVAILIBILITY
Any aminet site, for example:
ftp://ftp.netnet.net/pub/aminet/comm/cnet/HWUpdate2.lha
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Giftware.
@endnode
@node FTP17 "BattleDuel 1.03"
@toc FTP
TITLE
BattleDuel V1.03
AUTHOR
Jochen Terstiege
Michael David
Marco Seine
DESCRIPTION
BattleDuel is a game like 'Artillery Duel' on the C-64:
Two players fight against each other with cannons placed in a
windy mountainous landscape. To hit the other they change the
power and angle of the cannons. A duel is finished if one of
the cannons is totally damaged.
Some features:
- up to 4 players
- computer opponents
- normal duel mode, 2 tournament modes, practice mode
- ECS/AGA/GraphicBoard support (only one program)
- nice graphics and sound effects
- full multitasking
- OS friendly
NEW FEATURES
- Screenmode Requester for better support of graphicboards
(tested with PicassoII and Piccolo)
- Minor bug fixes
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Kickstart2.0, Harddisk, Flickerfixer recommended, at least 1 MB memory
AVAILABILITY
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/game/2play/BattleDuel.lha (582236)
PRICE
Shareware fee of $15 US / DM 20
DISTRIBUTABILITY
BattleDuel is Shareware!
Copyright (C) 1995 Jochen Terstiege, Michael David, Marco Seine
@endnode
@node FTP18 "BBSwitch1.0"
@toc FTP
TITLE
BBSwitch1.0 - An electronic monitor switch for the A2386SX
VERSION
Release 1.0.
AUTHOR
Remi Lenoir
Email:
DESCRIPTION
BBSwitch is an electronic monitor switch designed to allow an
A2386SX BridgeBoard, equiped with a VGA card, and an AMIGA to
share a monitor. Actually, BBSwitch is an AmigaGuide document
describing an electronic monitor switch (ie. how it works,
how to build one, etc...).
The switch is controlled by the 4 pin mini din connector of
the BridgeBoard and is fully compatible with the SXServ
software written by Frank Mariak.
Although it was designed to be connected to an A2386SX, it can
also be used with other devices if you can provide an interface
similar to the A2386SX (a +5V power supply and a TTL compatible
signal) and write the software for it.
FEATURES
- 2 VGA inputs (high density 15 pin connectors)
- 1 VGA ouput (high density 15 pin connector)
- 1 Power/Control input (4 pin mini-din connector)
- No external power supply required
- Fully electronic design, no relays
REQUIREMENTS
- AmigaGuide Software
- A Commodore A2386SX BridgeBoard with a VGA card.
- A software capable of controling the 4 pin mini connector of
the BridgeBoard (SXServ for example).
AVAILABILITY
BBSwitch is FREEWARE and is available from Aminet.
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/hard/misc/BBSwitch1.0.lha
PRICE
It is FREE.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
It is FREEWARE, not public domain.
BBSwitch1.0 is (C) Copyrighted 1995 Remi Lenoir.
@endnode
@node FTP19 "plip.device 38.12"
@toc FTP
TITLE
plip.device 38.12
AUTHOR
Original Authors: Oliver Wagner & Michael Balzer
Bug fix modifications: R. Jeremy James
Further development: Martin J. Laubach
DESCRIPTION
plip.device is a SANA-II compliant (internal) parallel port
network interface driver - this version is a bug fix described in
the New Features section, someone who tested this for me suggested
it made a 25% speed increase which I doubt since I haven't done
anything to that part of the code, except compile with SAS/C
6.55, and I suspect they upgraded from an old(er than 38.11)
version of plip.device but this is unknown, if you observe a
speed increase due to this version of plip.device please post in
comp.sys.amiga.networking.
NEW FEATURES
S2_DEVICEQUERY command now respects the correct usage of the
SizeAvailable & SizeSupplied fields of the Sana2DeviceQuery
structure passed to the S2_DEVICEQUERY command.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
A working internal parallel port, cable made as described in the
docs and a SANA-II compliant Networking Package such as Envoy.
AVAILABILITY
Aminet
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/comm/net/plip3812.lha (7760)
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/comm/net/plip3812src.lha (23636)
PRICE, DISTRIBUTABILITY & OTHER LEGAL STUFF
While Oliver & Michael were supporting plip.device it was
considered Shareware but I (and someone else I know working on
plip.device) have tried mailing both of them without success.
They have also released the source to Aminet so I guess they've
placed it in the Public Domain (I remember one of them talking
about releasing it under a GNU license while the ADSP network was
alive).
R. Jeremy James PO Box 36254,
Christchurch,
++64-3-379 9000 New Zealand.
@endnode
@node CHARTS1 "Aminet Charts, June 19th"
@toc FTP
The most downloaded files from Aminet during the week until 19-Jun-95
| Updated weekly. Most popular file on top.
|
|File Dir Size Age Description
|----------------- --- ---- --- -----------
VChck655.lha util/virus 123K 1+Version 6.55 of Virus_Checker. Amiga Vir
anews19.lha docs/mags 507K 0+AmyNews 19, June 1995. News magazine.
AtariEmulator.lha misc/emu 111K 0+Atari 1040ST Emulator (English)
DCopy31.lha disk/misc 39K 0+DCopy 3, The Best PD Copier!!
AirMail.lha comm/mail 95K 1+GUI internet mailer
ss20p.lha misc/emu 55K 1+Update for shapeshifter (p)
ixemul4100-bin.lha dev/gcc 1.4M 0+IXemul.library 41.0
NewLogo.lha pix/illu 19K 0+Should this be the new Amiga Tech. logo?
TolleUhr13.lha util/time 89K 0+Beautyful analogous clock, v1.3
ScreenGrab.lha gfx/misc 4K 1+OS3.0 Screen grabber
cybergames.lha game/misc 676K 1+Violent fighting game
Escom-CEI.lha docs/misc 2K 0+ESCOM & CEI TO HOLD MEETING SOON!
mui23usr.lha dev/gui 662K 24+MagicUserInterface V2.3, user files
Counter.lha game/think 56K 0+Nice logical game with 100 levels + edit
Iconian2_93.lha gfx/edit 171K 1+OS3.0 icon editor, NewIcon support.
GloomDemo.lha game/demo 428K 1+Playable "Gloom"-Demo (Doom-like)
SwazInfo18.lha util/wb 73K 0+Patches workbench icon information
AmiTALK155.lha comm/tcp 60K 1+Misc. fixes and paste support.
AmiTCP-demo-40.lha comm/tcp 738K 33+TCP/IP protocol stack
EasyCalc.lha biz/misc 121K 0+A Powerfull Shareware Spreadsheet
@endnode
@node CHARTS2 "Aminet Charts, June 26th"
@toc FTP
The most downloaded files from Aminet during the week until 26-Jun-95
| Updated weekly. Most popular file on top.
|
|File Dir Size Age Description
|----------------- --- ---- --- -----------
ar312.lha docs/mags 118K 0+Amiga Report 3.12, June 18, 1995
ShapeShift3_0.lha misc/emu 188K 0+Macintosh II emulator, V3.0
ZGIFDT39.16.lha util/dtype 7K 0+The FASTEST gif.datatype there is.
ShapeUpd3_0b.lha misc/emu 48K 0+ShapeShifter Update V3.0b
Dopus511.lha biz/patch 383K 0+Patch for Directory Opus 5.0 & 5.10 -> 5
AmigaElm-v7.lha comm/mail 208K 1+Mail-Reader (UUCP/Internet), v7 (7.150)
DraCoGuide.lha docs/hyper 329K 0+Info/pix about the DraCo Amiga-clone
xanim8.lha gfx/show 253K 0+XAnim: Avi/Quicktime/FLI/FLC/IFF/GIF/MPE
Culture_Tank.lha game/2play 226K 1+Tank combat by Culture, 1-6 players
Escom-CEI.lha docs/misc 2K 1+ESCOM & CEI TO HOLD MEETING SOON!
windows95.jpg pix/misc 73K 1+The GENUINE Win 95 logo :)
Watergirl.lha pix/art 108K 0+Amazing Picture by JCS/Neoplasia^Sector7
AmiTCP_sesn1.1.lha comm/tcp 8K 1+SLIP dialer,news spooler,purger (v 1.1)
CCC.lha game/misc 415K 0+Destroy a large city with your monster.
AmiTCP-demo-40.lha comm/tcp 738K 34+TCP/IP protocol stack
SwazInfo18b.lha util/wb 73K 1+Patches workbench icon information
MWB_DOpus54.lha pix/icon 142K 0+Nice MWB Icons, & template for DOpus5
GoldED310.lha text/edit 869K 0+Programmer's editor with many features
PanicSociety.lha game/role 772K 0+Multilevel graphic puzzle adventure. V1.
@endnode
@node CHARTS3 "Aminet Charts, July 2"
@toc FTP
The most downloaded files from Aminet during the week until 2-Jul-95
| Updated weekly. Most popular file on top.
|
|File Dir Size Age Description
|----------------- --- ---- --- -----------
EasyPatch078.lha util/cdity 9K 0+The Requester Patcher
BMPdt402.lha util/dtype 12K 0+Bmp picture datatype v40.2 for >= OS3.0
CaBoom.lha util/boot 15K 0+Windows explode on opening/closing
ixemul4101-bin.lha dev/gcc 1.6M 0+IXemul.library 41.1
VChck656.lha util/virus 126K 0+Version 6.56 of Virus_Checker. Amiga Vir
RedrawWb.lha util/cli 2K 0+A Workbench redrawer
png_dt.lha util/dtype 76K 0+PNG DataType v1.0
vt-chick.lha game/think 623K 0+Cardset for REKO's Klondike AGA - VT Chi
mn_ansitest.lha comm/mebbs 3K 1+ANSI Test Door for MEBBSNet
AGA_Morphy.lha pix/eric 694K 0+AGA_Morphy Anim by Eric Schwartz
TBOML10s.lha docs/hyper 18K 0+The Big Old Monitor List, Monitor Specs
BatMan.Anim.lha pix/eric 109K 0+Batman Anim by Eric Schwartz
gif2png_0_51c.lha gfx/conv 80K 0+GIF 2 PNG converter (40% faster) (beta)
Amijam.lha docs/anno 46K 0+Information and map to Amijam'95
Asteroids.lha pix/eric 159K 0+Asteroids Anim by Eric Schwartz
io08dev.lha dev/misc 10K 0+An I/O library (Developers Only)
GMC-BBS-210.lha comm/bbs 616K 0+Plug and Play BBS with Bi,X,Y,Z Modem...
Mars_Puppies.lha pix/eric 138K 0+Puppies from Mars Anim by Eric Schwartz
AmigaElm-v7157.lha comm/mail 208K 0+Mail-Reader (UUCP/Internet), v7 (7.157)
DeluxePacMan.lha game/misc 166K 108+Pacman type game. V1.4
@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 jcompton@bbs.xnet.com and in the body of the
message ask nicely to be added to the list.
ie: Please add me to the mailing list for Amiga Report magazine. My
addresss is .
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:
aminet.com
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
The following AR site also has a mailto form, allowing you to mail to Amiga
Report from the web site.
08/1997