Amiga Report Online Magazine #2.06 -- February 11, 1994
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International Online Magazine
"Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information."
Copyright © 1994 Skynet Publications
All Rights Reserved
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%% February 11, 1994 \\// Issue No. 2.06 %%
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%% \\// | Issue No. 2.06 February 11, 1994 | \\// %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%| "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information" |%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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· The Editor's Desk · Compuserve Conference · FTP Announcements
· Reader Mail · Dealer Directory · Distribution BBS's
» SPECIAL FEATURES «
Emulation Rambler ........................................Jason Compton
Usenet Review: Space Hulk ................................Brian Mogged
Usenet Review: MainActor ............................Keith Christopher
Calcomp DrawingBoard III ..................................John Collier
The CD32 .................................................Thomas Reamer
Simlife AGA Review ......................................Brian Salsbury
Philosophical Wax ........................................Jason Compton
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%% DELPHI · PORTAL · FIDO · INTERNET %%
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The Editor's Desk
Table of Contents
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%% The Editor's Desk By Robert Niles %%
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The responce has been just fantastic!! We have been receiving articles,
comments, queries, and such from people all over. We've received a quite
a few new articles, and I believe more are on the way!
I thank you all for your interest and your help!! If we can keep this
up, then this magazine is going to flourish! No problem!
Well, this is my first week as editor for Amiga Report. There's been
some changes that you most certainly will notice, and some that might not
be so apparent. We've added new staff (and will be adding more), moved
things around, removed some things (some permanant, some not).
Hopefully to make this magazine even better. We're not done yet but, you'll
have to let me know if we succeed!
With all the changes going on, we're going to take a week off to regroup
and to reorganize ourselves. Also to just give us all a break and refresh
ourselves. But don't stop those articles and information from coming
in. We'll need them for the next Amiga Report! Which will be out on
the 25th of February.
On one final note. CERT has put out an advisory stating that someone
or a group of people have been able to access individual's passwords
from many sites on the Internet. CERT advises that people should
change their passwords as soon as possible. CERT and the FBI are
investigating the incident. As of right now Internet sites have
been instructed on how to combat this problem. So for your own
security, please change your passwords and spread the word!!
(Thanks to Harv of Portal's Amiga Zone for this information)
Enjoy!
Delphi
Table of Contents
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Amiga Report International Online Magazine is available every week 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
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DELPHI services via a local phone call
JOIN -- DELPHI
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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 AMIGAREPORT and press RETURN.
DELPHI's best plan is the 20/20 plan. It gives you 20 hours each month
for the low price of only $19.95! Additional hours are only $1.50 each!
This covers 1200, 2400 and even 9600 connections!
For more information, and details on other plans, call
DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-695-4005
SPECIAL FEATURES
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(Internet option is $3/month extra)
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DELPHI - It's getting better all the time!
AR Staff
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%% The Amiga Report Staff %%
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Editor
======
Robert Niles
Portal: RNiles
FidoNet: 1:3407/103
Internet: rniles@hebron.connected.com
Fax: 509-966-3828
US Mail: P.O. Box 8041
Yakima, Wa 98908
Assistant Editor
================
R. Gideon
Internet: rgideon@hebron.connected.com
Emulation Editor
================
Jason Compton
Internet: jcompton@tcity.com
European Editor
===============
Jesper Juul
Internet: norjj@stud.ham.aau.dk
UseNet Review - Space Hulk
Table of Contents
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%% UseNet Review - Space Hulk by Brian Mogged %%
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PRODUCT NAME
Space Hulk
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
A 3-dimensional space game which has you going about shooting
millions of aliens and finding rare artifacts. Based largely on the GDW
classic board game.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Electronic Arts
Address: Slough
PO Box 835
Slough, Berkshire,
SL3 8XU
PO Box 7586
San Mateo CA 94403-7586
USA
Telephone: (315) 572-ARTS (USA)
(0735) 546465 (UK)
E-mail: 76004.237@compuserve.com (US)
ea@cix.compulink.co.uk (UK)
LIST PRICE
I paid $44.95 (US). I do not know the list price.
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
On the outside of the box it is written that it will run on
the Amiga 500, 500+, 600, 1200, 2000, and 3000. It does not
state that it will run on an A4000 HMMM!!!
SOFTWARE
None.
COPY PROTECTION
None, that I can tell.... They tell you to make a backup of all the
disks before you play the game. The game will write to disk 3 extensively.
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Amiga 2000 with GVP 3001 card
8 megabytes RAM
Two floppy drives
120 meg hard drive
I tried to run it on:
Amiga 1200
MBX030 board with 4 megs of memory,
Two floppy drives
200 meg hard drive
INSTALLATION
No installation. Just put disks in the floppy drive and boot up the
Amiga.... See "DISLIKES" below for complaints.
INTRODUCTION
In October of 1993, I went down to my local Amiga store to buy Hired
Guns. Well, Hired Guns was not out yet, but they just got in Space Hulk. I
had played Space Crusade from Gremlin and this looked close to it. So after
a few minutes, I made the impulse buy of my lifetime. I bought Space Hulk
and returned home with a smile on my face.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE GAME
For those people who are not familiar with this game, here is a short
summary of what it is all about. The game takes place in the far dark
future. What happens is that warp space travel becomes commonplace. After
thousands of years, there have been space ships that became lost in warp
space itself. Every once in a while, a ship that has been lost might appear
in real space for a while and then disappear. These ships are called Space
Hulks. On some of these Space Hulks are some creatures who are called
Genestealers. To make this explanation easier, Genestealers are evil and
must be destroyed in all cases.
You control up to ten Space Marines. Space Marines are armored
warriors who have amazing amounts of weaponry. After selecting the level or
"continue a save game", the player is given a mission to accomplish. These
missions are like kill all Genestealers, get an ancient object, or both.
After the mission briefing screen and after the game loads up, you are
greeted with a "READY!" out of the speakers. On the screen in five windows
is the front view of the players that you control. The bigger window is the
player you directly control. With the player you can directly control you
can tell him to shoot his gun, turn right, turn left, and open and close
doors. In the bottom left corner of the screen is a radar map that shows the
aliens, your people, and the hallways themselves.
There is also on the bottom right corner a freeze button and a pause
button. The freeze button is very important: when activated, the game is
paused, but you can enter commands for the space marines to do. The players
have only so much freeze time, and freeze time is used up when you have it
activated. To accumulate (or recharge) freeze time the player must let real
time go by. If you click on the map instantly a map screen comes up. This
map screen contains on the right side of the screen a scrollable map of the
areas that you KNOW. This means that if you do not know (or see) an area it
is not visible on the map screen. This map screen is updated in real time
so you will see blips moving on the screen and the marines will move on the
map. Map screen has all the commands that the player can do as selectable
commands. At this point the player can tell up to five commands ahead to
any space marines that he controls. That is basically the whole game.
GAME CONTROLS
Is mostly an a simple point-and-shoot control method as described
above. Not that bad. They are keyboard commands to select specific
teammates and to tell the same commands to different terminators. Not very
many commands after that.
GAMEPLAY
The game itself has four sets of adventure: a tutorial, an advance
tutorial, Space Hulk original missions, and the Deathwing Campaign. The
game itself is hard. Very hard. Maybe just a little too hard. I can't
seem to finish one of the advance tutorial missions and I TRIED my hardest.
I wish the tutorial were just a little more gradual. I always like to die
in under thirty seconds and then reload the whole mission back in :-(.
DOCUMENTATION
The documentation is in three books. Two of the books are written
specifically for the IBM version, and the third book is strictly for the
Amiga. The documentation is very good and it explains ideas and concepts
much better than I do. :-) The manual is very good and gives enough detail so
people who have never heard of the Game Design Workshop game would be able
to play this game effectively. Nice pictures in the book really give a good
atmosphere for the game.
LIKES AND DISLIKES
I like the sound effects in the game itself, they are very appropriate.
When you walk forward the view screen does not Immediately step forward.
The view scrolls forward. The control system is not bad.
And now, time for "Dislikes, or Why I Want To Kill Electronic Arts."
I would like more freeze time. I overall would prefer to have a true
freeze time where I can freeze indefinitely and take as long as I like to
make any decisions on that map.
I also have problems closing doors in the game. Sometimes the door
closes, sometimes it doesn't: it is very touchy.
The graphics are VERY dithered in the front view. In the manual,
they state that they rendered the graphics originally on the Amiga in Real
3D. It looked like they render the graphics in 256 colors and ran it
through a poor video software that was told to convert it to 4 colors.
There is no voice in the mission briefing scene (there is a voice in the
original IBM version).
It keeps one save game at a time per disk. So you must copy disk 3
another time if you want to play another game. It will erase a saved game
on the disk if you start another game up.
Now, Electronic Arts in their infinite wisdom made Space Hulk for the
Amiga in three non-copy-protected dos disks. Now this seems good, except
that you CANNOT install the disks on the hard drive. I thought that I could
live with this, but even on a failed mission the disk access to reload the
same mission takes about two minutes! What is even worse with just two
floppy drives you will still be swapping disks!!! This makes the game
completely WORTHLESS!!!
COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
It is natural to compare Space Hulk to Space Crusade. Simply put,
Space Crusade is a license from Game Design Workshop. To describe it
simply: take the three dimensional parts of Space Hulk. Play always on the
map screen and give the player all the time in the world to decide. Space
Crusade is a very fun game! Space Hulk isn't.
Hired Guns is very close to Space Hulk. But, Hired Guns looks so
much better, and in the long run I feel I have more control in Hired Guns.
Hired Guns is a great game, Space Hulk is bad!
BUGS
Well, it does not run on an Amiga 1200 with a MBX030 board in it! I
have tried everything.... It works with my 1200 without the MBX030 board
but not with it in. Strange....
VENDOR SUPPORT
I have twice tried to e-mail the vender and have received no
answer. I have called Electronic Arts (American phone number) and got no
useful response.
CONCLUSIONS
After two weeks of owning Space Hulk I went back to my local Amiga
store and bought Hired Guns. I have not really touched Space Hulk since....
Overall, I really hate Space Hulk. Poor graphics, no hard drive
support, swapping disks with two floppy drive, long load times, and not
working on my 1200 with the MBX board in really kills this game in my
opinion. If this type of game interests you, go out an buy Space Crusade or
Hired Guns.
Also after this experience, Electronic Arts have now taught me only
to buy hard drive installable games that also state they will work on the
A4000. Well, Electronic Arts, I used to buy a lot of software from you
people but looks like you have lost a very loyal customer. (But I will always
consider Racing Destruction Set and Mail Order Monsters as two of the top
ten best games on all computer and video game systems for all time, even
though they are made by Electronic Arts. Hey, where are the Amiga Ports of
those two fine games?)
I would definitely update the review if some fortunately soul figured
out how to make it run on my 1200 with an MBX board, or to run the game
directly from the hard drive. But since I have been trying off and on for
three months I doubt it would be possible....
My rating is one and a half stars out of five.
Space Hulk, Space Marine, and Genestealers are trademarks of Games
Workshop LTD.
Brian.S.Mogged@uwrf.edu
Calcomp DrawingBoard III
Table of Contents
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%% Calcomp DrawingBoard III by John Collier %%
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After reading the last AMReport (2.05), about how they aren't getting many
user submissions, I decided to try and help out and write an article.
My spelling and grammer aren't the greatest and I don't write often but
I figured if my favorite computer is to survive these days I need to be an
active supporter. Before I start with my mini-review I would like to
describe my setup, I have an A4000/040 with 18megs ram, 2-Syquest 88's,
1-Maxtor 250meg HD, 1-Quantum 80meg HD, 1-Chinon 435 CDrom drive,
1-Archive Viper SCSI Tape drive, 1-SupraFaxModem V.32bis, an A4091 Scsi II
controller, GVP I/O board, Emplant Deluxe board, GVP Spectrum display board
(great, unsupected, Christmas present from the folks) and a Calcomp
DrawingBoard III (A great Christmas present to myself), and the subject of
my review.
Well with that said I would like to talk about my experiences with my
Calcomp DrawingBoard III. I've always dreamed of having one of these babies,
it's much more natural to draw/paint with a pen than a mouse, I once heard,
or read that doing artwork with a mouse is like drawing with a bar of soap, I
totally agree! I chose the Calcomp because it had all the features I wanted,
cordless pressure pen, cordless cursor, reasonable price, and most importantly
it seemed to be well supported on the Amiga. In fact the included driver
installed flawlessly and integrates perfectly with most of my Amiga software.
Upon first arrival I was disappointed to learn that it didn't come with a
cursor (they call it a cursor, I call it a mouse), just the pressure pen.
I had assumed it came with both and I was quickly told, after calling my
dealer, that the DrawingBoard III only comes with the pen. Well, that
wouldn't do so I had to shell out $80 more to get the cordless cursor, a
very nice mouse, in fact, it feels much better in the hand than my Boing
mouse. My plans were to get rid of the Boing after I got the Calcomp up
and running (since my Boing mouse pad has some badly worn spots on it) but
I soon learned that wasn't to be. It seems the Emplant software isn't
compatible with the Calcomp Cursor, it will recognize button clicks but not
any movement of the mouse. Also Prowrite 3.3.2 will not let me highlight
text with the Calcomp mouse and games such as FighterDualPro II, which take
over the system, do not recognize the Calcomp. So the bottom line is I must
keep the Boing off to the side for these situations. The Tablet plugs into
any of your Amiga's serial ports, I used one from my GVP I/O board. As I
said previously the software installer worked without a hitch and has a
variety of different configurations, I mainly stuck with the defaults except
for the data rate. They recommeded setting it to the highest level if you
had a 68040.
The Calcomp mouse and pen works fine with most of my software, including
Pagestream, PortalX, Aladdin, Typesmith, Art Expression, ADPro, ImageMaster
R/T, DeluxePaint IV, all the EGS software, including Spectrum Paint. It
didn't work properly with Prowrite 3.3.2, it won't let me highlight text
or properly pull down menus and games like FDPro II, which take over the
machine probably nuke the Calcomp driver (my untechnical opinion). The
cordless pressure pen is fantastic for drawing but I find the speed of
DPIV (v6) to be a big disappointment. The pressure feature of DP is also
messed up, it won't let you use the one pixel brush in the pressure mode.
You have to start with the 4 pixel one, why?? I found myself using the EGS
Spectrum Paint program more, even though it doesn't support the pressure
feature, it also ran faster in 24bit 800x600 mode than DP did in 8bit 640x400
and has a fantastic airbrush tool. I guess I will be purchasing a more
capable Paint program in the future, one that directly supports a pressure
pen and doesn't move like a snail.
I have one complaint about how the tablet works with my workbench. Only a
small area of the tablet is used for my Spectrum generated 800x600 intuition
workbench (around 2x2 inches), where is the whole tablet is used (12x12)
for AGA generated screens and the EGS workbench. I think this is probably
not the Calcomp drivers fault but rather the way the Spectrum Workbench driver
operates, although now that I'm used to it I rather like it. It moves fast
and you don't have to run the cursor 12 inches down your desk to get to the
other side of your workbench :-)
Overall I think this tablet is great. It makes computer art a much more
pleasant experience.
John Collier
John Collier ** FAT AGNUS BBS 914-429-7765
UseNet Review - MainActor 1.23
Table of Contents
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%% UseNet Review - MainActor 1.23 by Keith Christopher %%
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PRODUCT NAME
MainActor 1.23
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
MainActor is a modular animation package.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Markus Moenig
Address: Im Johannistal 36
52064 Aachen
Germany
Telephone: (49)-241-71844
E-mail: moenig@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
FIDO: 2:242/7.13
LIST PRICE
There are two types of registration on this product:
Package 1: $50 (US), which gets one a packet containing:
o A TeX set, printed/bound handbook.
o The latest version of the program.
o A keyfile.
o Two free updates (author must be contacted for them).
Additional updates are $20 with and $10 without a printed handbook.
Package 2: $25 (US), which gets one a packet containing:
o The latest version of MainActor.
o A key file.
Additional updates cost the same as above. No free updates here.
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
NONE.
While no substantial RAM is required, more is better.
While it is not required to run, a hard drive should not
be considered optional. (How long can an animation be on
a floppy?)
Worked great on my A2500/020 and on my A4000/040 !
A faster CPU will mean increased performance, but is not
necessary to run this software.
SOFTWARE
AmigaDOS 2.0 or higher is required.
Flawless operation under AmigaDOS 3.0. It even has AmigaDOS
3.0 specific functionality -- see later in the REVIEW
section.
COPY PROTECTION
None. However a nasty and VERY bothersome requestor will popup
during saving/loading of animations in the unregistered version. This is
very annoying.
The program installs on a hard drive simply by dearchiving it into
the partition you wish.
MACHINES USED FOR TESTING
Amiga 2500 68020/881, 8 MB Fast RAM, 1 MB Chip RAM.
52 MB hard drive.
Commodore 68020 daughter board.
Kickstart 2.05
Amiga 4000/040
Kickstart 3.0
REVIEW
Like many other animators, I felt the need to take my work and show
it to many of my friends. Of course not all of my friends own an Amiga.
Solution? Convert my animations to a style that they can display. I asked
around and no one knew how to it except using a klunky method: load the
animation, save each frame as an IFF file, then convert each to GIF format,
copy the files to a PC, and run filmmaker(TM) or GRASPRT(TM) and convert
it. No way! I thought this was to be my destiny until someone mentioned a
program called MainActor.
I ftp'd the file from my favorite Aminet site. I thought this
program can't be much as I downloaded if from my unix host, since it was
only 371K. I thought it is probably a command-line style program, slow and
klunky. Boy was I wrong!
I unarchived the LhA file, which nicely created its own drawer.
After double clicking the drawer, it opens to a nicely sized window. First
impressions: bravo to the icon creator (who I later find out is Norbert
Bogenrieder). These icons are professional looking, very creative, and
sit nicely on a Workbench screen. The next thing I see is a README file, a
Prefs drawer, Doc drawer, and an ARexx script drawer.
The two main programs are MainActor (the main program) and MainView
(MainActor's external player). I double clicked on the MainActor icon and
was presented a very nice screen with several smaller windows. First is the
Project View Settings window, used to define screen attributes as well as
the animation display mode (whether to play the anim in a window or on its
own screen). Second is the Project window, which controls which type of
animation is loaded and in what format it is saved.
A nice thing about MainActor is the modular setup. It has modules
much like ADPro(tm) for loading and saving. These modules make it easy to
upgrade: simply get a new module and put it into its proper directory. The
currently supported modules (Version 1.23 Rel 1/94) are:
Loaders Savers
------- ------
DL FLC
FLC (>320x200 FLI's) FLI
FLI IFF_ANIM5
IFF_ANIM5 IFF_ANIM7_16 and 7_32
IFF_ANIM7_16 and 7_32 IFF_ANIM8_16 and 8_32
IFF_ANIM8_16 and 8_32
Universal (automatic)
Universal_Merlin
Universal_PicassoII
Universal_Retina
These may be updated simply by adding more modules!
Next is the Project Control Panel, which has the buttons to control
anim loading, saving, playing, unloading, appending, and showing the current
frame. Basically, this window causes the magic.
Then there is a Project information window. This has buttons for
displaying information about the anim, profiling the size or the time base
and the bitmap time. This is a MOST information window: a MUST for making
FLI animations, as the PC timing differs from Amiga timing. Last but
definitely not least is the text output window or the console window. This
window spits out more information about what the program is doing. From this
I learned that FLI's may only be 320x200x256.
The program menus are pretty much self-explanatory. The Project menu
allows one to open a new project, run control panel functions, configure the
program preferences, and iconify the program (a very, very nice option -- one
of the most desirable functions any program should have). As I write this
review, I have a 68 frame animation loaded in MainActor (iconified), and am
downloading using zmodem and still getting 1620 CPS on a binary transfer!
This includes when I was saving my anim to FLI format and it rang up
approximately 1 frame per second on my A4000. Basically, this program
multitasks VERY well. There is a Misc menu which controls the opening and
closing of animations, and the selection of frames to edit/load/save/view.
There's a Text Buffer menu which allows one to print the text buffer, save
it as a file, or the it. (This refers to the text output window.) There is
an ARexx menu... anyone wonder what that is used for? Running ARexx
scripts. Lastly, there is a Windows menu which allows one to decide which
windows should open on the screen. The menus are well laid out, and almost
all of the commands have keystroke equivlents.
For only 371K (packed size), this program has a lot of horsepower. I
converted a 200 frame animation I created into an FLC format, and it broke
down to 2 frames/second! Very nice. This was running alone and in RAM.
WOW! Now to all my friends who have a PC: wait until you see the animations
an Amiga can create! This however is not the only thing this program is
useful for. Say you wanted to grab a particular image from an FLI animation
you've seen and put it into you Amiga animation. Simple. Load the
animation, select the particular frame you want (highlight it and then
select Show from the control panel to see if it's the correct one), then
click on the Select save module button in the project window. When the
requestor comes up, click on the animation saver bar and it flips to PICTURE
saver! Save it as IFF and incorporate it into your anim!
That's right: not only can one load/save in various anim formats,
but also MainActor allows one to load/save the following picture formats:
LOAD SAVE
---- ----
GIF IFF
IFF Workbench Icon <---most cool!
PCX
Universal (autoload type)
Universal_Merlin
Universal_PicassoII
Universal_Retina
Workbench-Icon
MainActor also has excellent ARexx support, with more scripts planned for
the future! For those ARexx junkies out there, this ranks up there!
This program ranks in my high priority backup directory: don't want
to lose this one due to hard disk crash.
This software is not copy protected; however, during the course of
saving a anim to FLI format I kept getting the requestor every 2-3 frames.
This requestor freezes up the processing of you anim until you click OK. I
decided that I couldn't wait until my key file arrived. Markus sent the key
via email, and much to my pleasure, this program flows smoothly now. The
documentation comes in 2 basic versions: disk based and printed TeX bound.
The printed documentation is very well done! It is staple bound and on a
very good bond paper. It is will organized and easy to read. Good font
choices. The disk based documentation is also well organized (AmigaGuide
format) and covers the use of the software very well! The differences
between the two? Other than the obvious that one if printed and one is
diskbased, the printed documentation comes with the $50 registration package
and the diskbased comes with both the $50 and the $25 documentation.
The program is registered by placing your personal keyfile in the L:
directory and then assigning MainActor to where ever you installed it: i.e.,
"assign MainActor: hd3:MainActor".
I didn't get a disk due to my lack of patience and my getting the
archive and key file via email. Markus sent them to me the very next day,
and when I had a question he answered it in the same manner.
This software is one of the most useful software packages I've used!
It is almost hard to believe it's shareware. I think ASDG ought to look into
this software!
I've been waiting for software that will do what this does! It even
has an ICONIFY option! (Which I think all programs should have.) This
software multitasks like a champ and does what it is supposed to do. I
created a 200 frame animation with some serious morphing and converted it
into FLC format and (even though a couple of PC FLC players choked on it) it
worked fine. I'm surprised ASDG hasn't contacted Markus and asked about
buying it from him. This software has a very good user interface and works
well under 2.X and 3.0! In fact, it operates a little faster under 3.0! If
you animate and you want to convert it to a PC format or various other
formats listed above, and want the easiest most trouble free way to do it,
MainActor is for you! I really hope to see this software updated and would
definitely like to see more coded by Markus.
EXCELLENT JOB MARKUS!!!!!
Some exciting features planned for the future:
Faster Hard disk playback of IFFANIM formats.
Animation loader/saver for VRLIs (Vistapro format and Real
3d anim format)
MPEG and JPEG loader.
More ARexx scripts
Synching sound.
More special modules for commercial hardware..
The archive comes with online documentation in amigaguide format,
ASCII format, and DVI format. The guide files are well laid out and easy to
navigate. The information is complete.
DOCUMENTATION
MainActor comes in two different versions, one with printed
documentation and one without.
The printed documentation is in TeX format and is very clear and
concise in describing the features on this software. It is also an
attractive manual, that is printed on a good bond paper so one doesn't have
to worry too much about tearing. The font size is easy to read and the
manual is very well laid out.
The disk based documentation comes in 3 different formats:
AmigaGuide: Very well organized and detailed, well done!
ASCII: The icon defaults to call more and is the ACSII version of the
guide documentation.
DVI: Didn't look at it. (no need to really. I had the printed and
amigaguide docs! )
LIKES AND DISLIKES
I most liked the modular programming, this will make
upgrades/updates easy and painless. New modules,
copy then in the respective drawer(s) (loaders/savers)
done.
I have to mention the ICONIFY menu option (A. <- keystroke option)
it worked flawlessly! I am always a fan of this option.
Improvements? I would love to see an MPEG saver! I spoke to
Markus about this and he said that in the
event he could get information on it, he
would give it a try, but thought it was beyond his
programming ability. After seeing MainActor in action
I don't think anything is beyond Markus's skill as a
programmer.
Sound support is promised in a future version. Which
will be VERY nice!
GRASPRT saver also would be nice.
COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
MainActor is alone in what it does and shines like a bright star!
ASDG's ADPro(tm) is the only package that I've see to come close,
and we all know how much it costs! I think ASDG should take
a look at Markus's software! While ADPro(tm) is the best of
the best, I feel that MainActor ranks up there. I use it to
do with animation what I use ADPro(tm) to do with image
files.
BUGS
I had a problem running some animations I converted to FLC format on
my PC (I need one for work compatibility) which had major morph sequences in
them. After talking to Markus via email and trying a different FLC player, I
determined it was the FLC player not the animation.
VENDOR SUPPORT
I emailed Markus about the above problem and he responded quickly and
hammered out some suggestion which worked. Rating: A+. Markus knows his
software and its limitations and high points!`
WARRANTY
Author is not responsible for misuse or damage caused by MainActor.
(Taken straight from the documentation.)
CONCLUSIONS
I have concluded that this product will stay in my Amiga software
collection as long as it maintains the quality (or better) that it has today.
***** (5 out of 5 stars!)
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Copyright 1994 Keith Christopher. All rights reserved.
http://tomahawk.welch.jhu.edu/
CIS Conference
Table of Contents
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%% CIS Conference with Dave Haynie and Randell Jesup %%
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10:02:31 PM EST Thursday, February 3, 1994
MarkM/MOD:
<bang> <bang> <bang> goes the gavel. :-)
I would like to welcome you all to this online conference. It has been a
long time since we have had a formal CO. I plan on getting many of them
put together in upcomming months. Later this month we will have Utilities
Unlimited as well as GVP. I have others slated for later.
Let me go ahead and send this formal stuff...
Greetings.
I would like to welcome our special guests Dave Haynie and Randell Jesup
from Commodore. Dave Haynie is a Senior Systems Engineer with Commodore
International Services Group.
Randell Jesup is the Operating Systems Development leader with Commodore
International Services group.
I ask that everyone keep from asking 'marketing' questions, or questions
about particular issues dealing with the sales of Amiga products. These
engineers have agreed to speak with us about current technology and
announced technology.
Since this is a formal conference, please ask questions by typing a '?"
first. When I tell you to go ahead, then send your question. At the end
of your question--type GA to indicate the end of your
question so that the guest can answer.
If you have a follow up comment, enter a ! and I'll recognize you.
Randell Jesup:
Before we start, I'd like to let people know there
are things we can't talk about, of course. Please keep that in mind.
KarlK: Guys, is anything being done about the port speed in the
next generation?
Randell Jesup:
Port speed? which port?
KarlK:
Serial and Par
Dave Haynie:
We realize some limitations are present in the current serial
implementation. The main problem is the lack of a FIFO, something that
was added in the latest generation of PClone serial ports. We have looked
into addressing that. On the other hand, we don't have any immediate
plans to offer a complete IEEE 1284 parallel port, but it is likely that
future systems will offer a faster mode that could conceivable become an
IEEE 1284 work-alike.
Ron Romine:
Does the Custom Chips (Lisa & Alice) run at 7mhz or 14mhz? And if 14mhz,
have they always had that speed capibility?
Dave Haynie:
I guess that's a HW question too. The concept of "running at" a specific
clock speed is an architecture-dependent thing. The Lisa chip's input
clock is 28MHz (nominal), the Alice's inp ut clock is 14MHz. Alice runs
the same bus cycle as a 14MHz 68000, in terms of clock count. Lisa's data
transfer is more like that of a 14MHz 68030, in terms of how much data is
transferred per cycle (eg, Lisa runs a 32-bit burstcycle). The ECS and
original chip set was also equivalent to a 14MHz 68000 in cycle speed.
Clark:
Any ideas to add a true spooler for printing & is DSP going to be there?
Randell Jesup:
No one is currently working on a spooler, though there are versions
available in the PD I think.
As for DSP, there are already some DSP boards available (sunrise), and
we've been making projects we don't currently have time to finish are
available to developers. I think you'll see the ex-Commodore DSP board
soon.
MarkM/MOD:
What is the real problem with A4000s that will not cold boot?
Dave Haynie:
The last I heard on that problem, it was some kind of start up problem
with the Seagate IDE hard drives. I don't know the final analysis,
although I don't believe it was a stiction problem (similar symptoms were
due to this on some Quantums a few years back). Greg Berlin did find and
address the problem several months back.
Randell Jesup:
Also, I think it was an interaction between the power-supply rise-time and
the drive. It wasn't stiction, I heard the results from Schilling.
Ron Romine:
Is this a problem with IDE SPT and battmem not waiting long enough?
Randell Jesup:
No, it's the rise time of the PS voltage confusing the drive. Battmem
isn't involved. Other drives are fine.
Dave Haynie:
The problem addressed was a drive-specific thing, related to the drive's
initialization interacting with the power-supply startup. This is NOT the
"traditional" Seagate slow-boot problem, which is a SCSI-specific thing if
I'm not mistaken.
Dean/DKB:
In the next released OS, will there be support for multiple printers?
Randell Jesup:
Printers: If we can find time and resources, we'd like to get that done.
It shouldn't be too hard. It's not top priority, of course.
Jim Philippou:
What type & speed processor are you planning for the Amiga NG?
Dave Haynie:
The next generation (which, incidently, will try to give some
consideration to A3000/A4000 owners) will pick up with high speed '040s
and '060s. Given a modular processor interface, and of course what you
have all heard from Lew Eggebrecht's talks, RISC is a drop-in at some
point as well.
Jim Philippou:
Are you planning to build any type CPU board that fits into an A3000 with
the higher processing power?
Dave Haynie:
The A3000 currently supports A4000 processor modules (I'm soaking in one).
The real problem, and why we did not recommend the A3640 module for use in
the A3000, is that the 68040 came out significantly hotter than we had
planned for. Going to 3V in future processors, plus some things we can do
to our own system implementation, should (eg, we believe so at this point,
I can't promise with absolute [certainty]) yield modules that work in all
A3000/A4000.
Ron Romine:
Will "3.1" be a Workbench upgrade for "3.0-Roms", or require 3.1-Roms.
Randell Jesup:
3.1 WB will not require 3.1 roms. It will require 3.0 or above.
Mike Smith:
So when will we probably maybe see the "5000"?? i.e. is it finished yet?
Dave Haynie:
I can't give you a date for the Next Generation Machine (call it A5000 if
you like, the name is a marketing decision, of course).
I have been at work on next generation technologies for the past 2-3
years, our chip group longer than that. We know what the system is going
to look like, and have some idea of when things will be ready. The design
was done a bit differently than in the past. Things are intended to be
more modular. So you may see the first of these new things show up for the
A4000 before the next generation system(s) actually are ready.
Chris Tolmie:
When will we see C= support CDROM drives for the A2-4000 series of
Amigas?
Randell Jesup:
If you mean other than SCSI drives, I think Lew has mentioned that we're
working on some adapters. Not so much for getting cheap CDROMs (though
that may be), but so you can use CD32 titles and access methods (and
mpeg). We already support SCSI CDROM drives, and 3.1 has a CDFileSystem
(from CDTV/CD32) included.
Erik Flom:
Re: the "Internal Audio Conn." on A4000s, what are the pinouts for this
connector? I've found a vendor with and adaptor, but the sound level of
the external audio is about half of what the internal Amiga Audio is. Is
there some way of controlling the input level? (Like on PC sounds boards?
:^)
Dave Haynie:
I don't have the A4000 schematics handy. Last I recall, it was a 3-pin
header that just mixes into the traditional Amiga audio output. We did a
similar thing on the A3000T. This lets you hook up a CD-ROM or DSP audio
source without the need for external mixing.
Stuart H. Brand:
Re: AAA sound support, will it be 8 Ch, 16 bit?
Dave Haynie:
The planned AAA audio subsystem is essentially an upgrade of the
traditional Amiga audio. Rather than four DMA channels at 8-bits/channel
(6 volume), it supports 8 DMA channels at 16-bits/channel (with volume,
though I don't recall the resolution). There is some question as to
whether this traditional Amiga solution is the best way to go, since the
DSP technology we developed (but have yet to place) offers more
flexibility. I think you can count on 16-bit audio in the next generation
system, hopefully it will be the best system for the $$$ we can provide.
Ron Romine:
Can the current A1200 IDE-HD interface support an IDE CD-ROM drive, if the
drive matched IDE standards and provided its own power supply?
Randell Jesup:
Well, it might. I don't have an IDE CDROM. If it acts like a disk drive,
including acting as if it's using 512-byte sectors, then it should
probably work. It won't notice disk removals, at least in anything before
3.1 (in 3.1 it might). However, if the startup code decides that the
thing attached is not a disk, it won't let you access it. So the answer
is: maybe. The ATA committee is working on something called ATAPI. ATAPI
is basically SCSI over an AT interface. To use it, we'd need a new
driver. I follow both the SCSI and ATA committees.
Jim Philippou:
What are the major features in V3.1 compaired to V2.04 and can you comment
on availability?
Randell Jesup:
3.1 vs. 2.04...
Hmm, where to start? There are a lot of changes. There's a new
filesystem (dircache). Multiview and the datatype library and classes. A
bunch of WB disk enhancements (to mount, the layout of things, etc).
HDtoolbox is new-look. Of course you get all the 2.1 stuff too (locale in
particular). Check magazine articles for a more exhaustive list. 3.1 is a
Good Thing.
MarkM/MOD:
Availability? Can you comment on that?
Randell Jesup:
Availability... That's really a marketing thing, including how it will be
made available. It should be soon, though. It's quite stable.
jon:
What will the graphic and animation capabilities of the Next Generation
Machine be like? Will RTG/DIG be a part of it?
Dave Haynie:
So, ya wanna talk graphics and animation. I could write a book on this.
In fact, some have. In general, bigger, better, faster, more. You will
have an improved (eg, faster) blitter. Graphics hardware handles chunky
pixels, 16 and 24-bit direct color. Non-interlaced resolutions can go up
to 1280x1024 (not necessarily at 24-bit, however). RTG will be an
integral feature of the next generation, and in fact necessary to handle
chunky mode pixels, for instance.
jon:
Will RTG be homegrown, or could EGS be adopted? Its here.
Randell Jesup:
RTG: We haven't ruled out EGS - I'm not the primary gfx guy, so I don't
know all the details. However, most likely we'd want something that kept
as much as possible compatibility with current software and calls. I 'm
not sure if it gives the most for that, because I (personally) haven't
looked. The GFX guys are doing that.
Fred Murray:
The latest setpatch (40.14 I believe) had a fix for A600s with Conner
hd's. Is there any chance a patch can fix this slow Seagate (st-914) slow
seagate in my 1200?
Randell Jesup:
We can't easily make a slow drive faster, unless you have a good trick for
making time run faster.... ;-)
Fred Murray:
Well, 200k/sec reads are quite slow!
Randell Jesup:
If there's a specific problem, perhaps. However it would hav e to be a
major problem. Note that many 2.5 drives _are_slow. They weren't
designed for speed. If you need a fast 2.5" drive, buy one to start, or
use something like external caching software.
Paul Idol:
Will the 4000, or the rumoured low-cost 4000, be upgradable in any way to
future architectures and OS versions, like AAA and OS 4.0, or whatever
comes after 3.1? For example, will Zorro II and III cards be usable by
future machines and vice versa?
Dave Haynie: Yes.
Paul Idol: How completely?
Randell Jesup:
New OS versions are usually runnable on older machines. That will
continue so Zorro is Zorro, as far as we are concerned. As long as it's
possible.
Paul Idol:
Well, I heard about PCI - and 3.0 was never released for AGA machines. And
what about AAA for 4000s?
Dave Haynie:
Future machines with Zorro slots will run faster Zorro III, but that's a
controller/system interface function. It does not impact on a card's
design. I am currently in the process of looking into adapting some
evolving technologies for A4000 use, officially. Like I tried to point
out earlier, a major new system doesn't happen all at once. Since our
next generation architecture is modular, pieces can be adapted for A4000
use before the A5000 is ready. I expect this will happen. PCI is a long
term key to low cost modularity. Back in 1991 I started working on the
post-A4000 architecture. I designed a "modular interconnect bus", which I
called the AMI bus, for this purpose. Later in '92, PCI was unveiled,
and it no longer made any sense to go the custom route. Still, PCI or
AMI, the main point of this design is to support on-motherboard modules,
like graphics, CPU, etc. It's a local bus replacement. It does allow us
to make an intermediate machine expandable via a PCI slot or two, but
that's about the limit on free PCI slots. I expect a full blown slotted
Amiga would also have Zorro slots, much like PCI-based Clones have EISA or
ISA.
Steve Ahlstrom:
Dave, even tho you are working on new hardware, do you see any signs that
CBM is interested in anything other than CD32? Do you have the manpower
necessary to develop both hardware and software for future computer
products?
Randell, you say you aren't the primary gfx (software) guy... who is?
Dave Haynie:
Steve, I have needed more manpower ever since I started at C= back in '83.
Randell Jesup:
Allan Havemose is head of Amiga software, and is covering GFX until we
hire more GFX people. (He used to be head of the GFX group). I'm in
charge of the OS group (ie. everything not GFX or UI, basically).
Steve Ahlstrom:
Ok .. guess I'm asking if there is an upbeat feeling or are you guys
looking for jobs?
Dave Haynie:
We have enough folks on the high-end, and a few we share with the low-end,
to do what we need to do. I would like more, it would make the "A5000"
happen faster. However, like I mentioned, you don't have to necessarily
wait for the A5000 to see the fruit of our next generation labors, if all
goes well. You do have to have every piece in place to get an A5000,
obviously.
Randell Jesup:
We have posted on the Internet requests for resume for GFX people, and may
well be posting more positions soon (in software). In GFX, we also have
Ken Dyke and Fredrick Shaw (a new hire from Ensoniq). Obviously, things
have been better. However, sales are looking up with the CD32
introduction and 1200 sales.
Stuart H. Brand:
Will there be a return of speech synthesis (localized) or perhaps voice
recognition, or are these better suited to 3rd party developers?
Randell Jesup:
Speech synth: we've been negotiating with some people, so you may see it
re-added (and better), as well as possibly non-English languages. Many of
our machines are sold to non-english-speakers, and the old narrator didn't
help them much. However, no promises. We don't have a lot of money to
throw around, and I don't know if it will happen. As for recognition:
we'll leave that to third parties. It probably requires a DSP or a very
fast processor.
Mike Smith:
What part of A5000 will we see first and when?
Dave Haynie:
The main interests seem to be adapting "A5000" CPU and graphics subsystems
to the A4000. The next generation CPU subsystem is perhaps the simplest
adaptation, though we're technically further along in graphics. I can't
really predict which will get out first. Also, as I mentioned, our DSP
technology has been reasonably solid for a year. It has been licensed out
to third parties, and if we do decide that's the best route for
motherboard audio in the it may wind up adapted to the A4000. In
engineering, I'm responsible for telling the company what's possible and
"making it so" when they have decided on the course of action. Of course,
I do attempt to influence the directions the way I see fit, but I don't
have total control. Once a complete "technology" is done, adapting it for
use on a card may be accomplished in a matter of months, so it's not like
stuff that is now working will have to wait 'til '95 or anything to be
released, if that's the course C= decides to steer.
Michael:
Forget about everything you _really_ know about CBM, and forget about who
you work for. Would each of you tell us what three things YOU would MOST
like to see in the NG machine?
Dave Haynie:
Ok, me first.
[1] Graphics. I have an oMniBus card here on my Amiga. It does
1180x900 noninterlaced, but its not fast. I want to have state of the art
graphics on the next generation system, coupled with RTG.
"State of the art" is sometimes a matter of months, that's where RTG comes
in.
[2] Modularity. Since the A2000, I have been a fan of modular
systems. Look at the A2000. By the time it was done, you had a
tricked out A2500 that ended about where the A3000 began. I believe
that's the way it should be done, and I hope I can return to this
philosophy w.r.t. the A3000/A4000 vs The New Thing. Also, I think new
architecture can make modularity nearly free -- the cost of
modularity has also been a concern.
[3] DSP. I worked on the DSP project for about a year and a half, and I
seriously believe it is the way sound will be done in the future. I think
even the conservative PClone industry is thinking this way. Good sound
effects in a program are probably done just as well with lots of DMA
channels. The real advantage of the DSP is the sounds I expect to hear
once some good audio hackers have 25-33MFLOPs to play around with.
Randell Jesup:
1) Graphics. One guy here has a Picasso 2. I want it. Resolution is
_wonderful_. I use a Moniterm, and find 640 or 800 too narrow. As Dave
said, to be able to get state-of-the-art you need to have good RTG.
2) CPU. As with most software people, I want _speed_. More
CPU means we can build software faster (since we can layer it more with
out performance problems), and more generically (classes, things like data
types, etc). Obviously we can get faster Motorola CPU's (faster '040's,
faster memory systems, and the '060 is coming soon from them.
In the long run, RISC is the only way to go. I've been promoting RISC
Amigas around here since '89 or '90. Back at GE Corporate Research, I was
a member of a RISC CPU development team (the RPM-40).
3) hmmmm.
I usually don't think about it this way.
I'd very much like the see the DSP stuff come out; I was the software
"contact" for it (Eric Lavitsky was doing most of the sw work under
contract). I'd also like to see improvements in the OS. Unfortunately,
it's become hard to make fundamental changes to the OS due to
compatibility. For example, protection is a major pain to try to do under
Amigados. VM is possible, if a bit kludy. Eventually we may have to make
some level of break with 100% compatibility to move forward. However,
don't expect that too soon, and it may be tied to CPU issues. Oh well,
I've rambled enough.
Michael:
Now, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much credence does CBM give _your_ ideas
of what's important, as you just outlined?
Dave Haynie:
Letsee here...
Randell Jesup:
Both of us meet with Lew fairly often. Our ideas are fairly in accordance
with his, I think. That doesn't mean we'll get all we want, necessarily.
I think these broad sweeps we've given are both pretty obvious and likely.
Dave Haynie:
[1] I think Lew sees eye-to-eye with me on many of these issues. The
overall next generation plan I worked on starting back in '91 or so was
picked up on by Lew and some advanced research stuff he was working on
with Ed Hepler (our main Chip group advanced architecture guy)
independently of what I was working on. Yet, when presented in some
decently complete form, both ideas were not only along the same lines, but
had the hardware magically appeared before us, they would have played
together.
[2] see 1. Graphics is the priority, plain and simple. That's with good
multimedia support, we want to do things the Amiga way.
[3] The issues aren't settled by any means, but things do seem to be
warming to DSP. I think a realization of our DSP technology in the market
by 3rd parties in the immediate future, plus standardization on DSP as the
next generation sound device in the industry (Apple has already, but it'll
take the Clone biz to seal the deal) should promote my goals. After all,
it already works, and the simple things like "play a sample" or "record to
disk" are essentially built-ins under VCOS/VCAS.
MarkM/MOD:
Let me ask one final question... you have heard the doomsayers. Many
Amiga owners are depressed. I think this CO will help a lot by the way.
Is there anything you would like to say to the Amiga community in general?
Dave Haynie:
Sure. I'd just like to wax philosophic for a second or two.
I think the only way to address a problem of any kind is to move directly
into it. Perhaps its too much Aikido practice, but I think any other way
you're doomed. That isn't necessarily C='s business practice, but it's in
my approach to Commodore. I look at the technical problems, business
problems, etc. and make a decision. Do I attempt to address the technical
problems or do I forget about Commodore. At this point, I choose to
address the continuance of the Amiga, and I do so because I believe that
it is something worth doing, and something that will yield success. If I
did not believe this, I would have left the company, plain and simple.
Obviously, not everything is under my control, but I know what I have to
work with over the next year or so, and I judge it adequate to achieve the
necessary goals.
Randell Jesup:
Personally, I don't listen to the doomsayers... ;-)
Commodore has gone through a rough stretch recently. However, things are
starting to look brighter. CD32 has done pretty well in Europe for a
brand-new machine (far better than 3DO has done here). A1200 sales have
picked up. Financially, Commodore is in better shape than it was. Not
good shape, but better. The cost-cutting, while very painful, has given
Commodore the time it needed to launch the CD32, and to continue work on
next-generation products.
I've been here since '88. Of people in software, only one (Eric Cotton,
who manages tools and releases) has been here longer (he dates back to the
VIC-20 days). People may not remember, but the software group was much
smaller than it is now when I got here (4 people). Also, a number of
senior people who've left recently have gone to places like Scala, so I
wouldn't say that's entirely negative.
Also, if you follow the cable-box stuff in EETimes, etc, you'll know that
we're a player in that whole thing, since we bring a lite OS and good NTSC
graphics. Think of an Amiga in your information-highway set-top
terminal... ;-) There may be clouds, but a lot of them are behind us.
Certainly there are more hurdles ahead, but I think we can handle them.
*******************************************************
*
* Was there more? Yep.. sure was! Another 3 hours or so!
* Those 3 hours were not part of the formal conference so they were * not
recorded for editing. Dave talked about the differences
* between SETCPU and CPU. He talked about the future. The only way * to
see the whole story is to join CompuServe and be there when it * happens!
*
* This file may be freely distributed in any medium so long as the file *
remains intact with no changes -- including this notice.
* The conference was moderated by Mark D. Manes.
*
* If you wish to subscribe to CompuServe simply dial 1-800-787-RUSH. *
* Copyright 1994 AForums Ltd.
*
*******************************************************
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From: pcl@sailor.actrix.gen.nz (Peter Lowish)
To: rniles@hebron.connected.com
Subject: Amiga Report
Status: RO
Hi Robert
Just a note to congratulate you on taking on the "Editorship" of Amiga
Report. I have been receiving AR via the internet since vers 1.09 (I
think) and put it up on Bitstream BBS here in Nelson for all to read and
enjoy. Some 10 regular local users download it from the BBS and another
10 or so call Bitstream (+64 3 5485321) each week from around New Zealand
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Believe or not we even have a person calling from the US to get it, and
also get regular calls from Australia.
We hope to see AR survive, and I will encourge some contributions from
this end of the world.
Keep up the good work
Peter
Peter Lowish pcl@sailor.actrix.gen.nz
Voice +64 3 5481300 Nelson, New Zealand
"I like a man who grins when he fights." - Winston Churchill
-----------
From: mdaymon@sosi.com (Maxwell A Daymon)
Subject: Mistake
To: rniles@hebron.connected.com
Date: Tue, 8 Feb 1994 18:19:05 -0800
I made a mistake last month. Actually all the current 24-bit cards are
using RTG to some degree, and they are all about the same. The Picasso
II's RTG system is generally regarded as very rubust in comparison to the
others, but not "special" above and beyond that.
RTG is a concept. Any card that puts Amiga graphics through another video
chip is using RTG. It is not Commodore's RTG (obviously) but it's a
solution and there are many ways to accomplish this. The Picasso II
merely has what many consider a more refined RTG system.
The other points are all true regarding misconceptions about the Picasso
II. The GVP Spectrum is a good card, but it will probably need some
refinements as Commodore is just getting Zorro III straighted out (look
at the Super Buster problems for an example)
Sorry, for the confusion. I spoke with someone from Viona about EGS and
found that people weren't seperating EGS's 24-bit and intuition level
emulation (RTG) system.
----------------
#: 131245 S3/Hot News and Rumors
10-Feb-94 10:56:11
Sb: #Lets Play 20 Questions!
Fm: Mark Manes/SYSOP 74030,744
To: All
Greetings all,
So you wanted to talk to Commodore US? Here is your chance!
I have arranged with the VP of Commodore Marketing in the US, John Dilulu,
to answer 20 questions from us--the AmigaUser Forum here on CompuServe. I
contacted Mr. Dilulu after reading the threads here and I found him to be
quite pleasant and very interested in the Amiga, and in its users. He did
talk to me about the meeting at CES with the dealer and he feels that he
was taken out of context completely. He doesn't find all Amiga owners an
embarrassment, but rather just the radical few. The other comment he made
is that he feels the Amiga user community has decided that there is
nothing Commodore has done right--from day one. The armchair
quarterbacking without knowledge of the facts has done a lot to damage
relations between Commodore Amiga customers and Commodore personnel.
Since I am an Amiga reseller, I can relate to his concerns. After talking
with him awhile, I decided to ask him to answer some questions for the
user community here on CompuServe. He readily agreed.
It is my hope that the current anti-Dilulu thread will now die and that we
can use our connections as a group to help Commodore make decisions that
we think would be good for the company. John agreed to allow me to be his
gateway to the Amiga community here on CIS. He felt that it would be
helpful to have another perspective from the 'field'.
So, Mr. Dilulu has agreed to carry to Medhi Ali and other Commodore
executives twenty questions from this group which I will fax him in two
weeks. These twenty questions should be questions with real merit--not
questions like "Where is my software?" or "Is Commodore going to still be
in business in 6 months?"
A good question might be: "How do you intend to market the CD32 in the
United States?"
The Amiga Forum sysops will collect these questions from the users here at
CompuServe and decide which 20 we will send to Commodore. This way all of
you have a shot at asking Commodore a question.
I am hoping that many are starting to notice some fundamental improvement
here on CIS and will spread the word. We are working our connections with
Commodore and third-party developers to make your online experience more
interesting.
Pass the word--The AmigaForum here on CIS is connected. :-)
-mark=
The CD32
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% The CD32 by Thomas Reamer %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Ok, now that the release of the CD32 is coming closer to US shores,
(Well, already here for some of us) I believe a little article dedicated
to the CD32 in general is in need...
The great deal of games is already evident and the titles are not hard to
come by. The games that are here are really cool and very much enjoyable.
OK, the MPEG module is finally shipping in Canada, and has been for the
last couple weeks. We can't get it here because Commodore cut off all
Canadian CD32 support for the USA. Yes, they (Commodore) were pissed ..
Ah well....
The entire computer "link" that makes it into a computer is made which
will allow you to hook it to your existing Amiga (!!!), hook it to RGB
monitor, add regular computer stuff to make it a full computer too.
If this message is not very in place..It is because I am listening to
headphones which are plugged into my CD32 that is playing Vain at a nice
volume.
The 18bit 8X Oversampling double spin drive (said to be made by NEC)
sounds excellent and Commodore is trying to get Sony to make it cheaper.
Most of the cost of CD32 is into the CD drive alone! NEC is charging an
arm and a leg for it. So they are barganing to get it done cheaper.
I haven't seen any GURU's off it yet hah. The CD player interface is
excellent. The gamepad controller is the "remote" control for the CD
player. Each of it's 11 buttons does something different.
Green, Shuffles Song Sequence
Yellow, Repeat
Red, Select
Blue, Stop
Right top bard button, Fast Forward
Left top bard button, Rewind
Long button towards middle, Play/Pause
Thumb controller...For doing and going wherever you would like on the
interface which even allows you to choose the type of counter you would
like to have.
Of coarse you have random play etc.
It automatically detects what type of CD you put in the drive (CD+G
etc)
The output is clean on both RF and composite (never tried S-Video output)
I always have a mouse plugged into it which I use mainly for The Labyrinth
of Time which is an awesome fully rau-traced game.
Keyboard works perfect. I used it with Pinball Fantasies which is 100%
the same as the AGA version.
Joystick works fine. I tried it out with Oscar.
The only downside I see on CD32 which is really a weak argument is the
power brick notable for it's 64 days.
I take my CD32 everywhere and it is small enough to fit in a nice case
such as a camcorder case, with CD's, mouse and all.
The CD Player sounds excellent as expected. I don't even use my other CD
players any more.....This one sounds better!
Headphones sound great in headphone jack. I did find that I heard the CD
reads through the headphones when playing labyrinth of Time, but not
through the stereo, which of coarse sounds superb too.
I read that it is based around the 4000 not the 1200. If I can recall,
that was from CD-ROM Today in an interview with Commodore marketing.
If you have been keeping up with the game and CD mags, you would have
noticed that nearly EVERY SINGLE one had either articles or game reviews
on the CD32. One magazine like Game Pro or something has now added a
section on Amiga CD games which of coarse means the CD32 also.
The future looks extremely bright for this system. I have been picking up
and reading every magazine that it is in and I am very impressed on the
excitement it has brought into the gaming and CD ROM magazine
world. If Commodore keeps their promise on their advertising that will
hit the USA, it will be HUGE.
Commdore said it will be in Infomercials, commercials, toy stores,
discount stores, QVC Home Shopping Network and others here in the USA.
Hope this was helpful for all of you. Must have been that Coca-Cola I had
with my pasta that kept me going. Well, good night to one and all!
Enjoy!
What? No conclusion? Ok, ok, here it goes...But a quick one!
So for anyone who is looking into a console to buy in the near future,
consider highly the amiga CD32. With the MPEG module, computer expansion,
and all of the fantastic chips that make the Amiga great, you will find it
to be far superior in both quality and support over any of the other
systems. Wouldn't you want a system with 150+ AWESOME titles, then
something like the 3DO with 10 titles?
SimLife AGA Review
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% Simlife AGA Review by Brian Salisbury %%
%% blakader@csos.orst.edu %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
PRODUCT NAME
SimLife AGA
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
This is another in the continuing line of 'software toys' from
Maxis ported to the Amiga by Mindscape.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Maxis
Address: 2 Theatre Square Suite 230
Orinda, CA 94563-3346
Telephone: 510-245-9700
Fax: 510-253-3736
Name: Mindscape International LTD.
Address: Priority House,Charles AVE,Maltings Park,
Burgess,West Sussex RH15 9PQ
Telephone: 0444-246333
Fax: 0444-248996
LIST PRICE
I've seen between 35 and 40 dollars
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
You need an AGA computer to run this program. Amiga 1200
or Amiga 4000
SOFTWARE
None listed
COPY PROTECTION
None (yea! Maxis!)
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Amiga 1200/14
60 mb hard drive
2 mb chip
1084s monitor
INSTALLATION
It was quite painless, all I did was boot from the first disk
(there are 4 total) and follow the instructions. You also have a choice of
installing a high-res or low-res version. It's recommended to install the
high-res version if you have a multi-sync monitor. And low-res if you don't
I don't. I tried both on my 1084s, I liked the high-res better and the flicker
wasn't that bad.
It was also reccomended that you have more than 2 megs of Ram
, but I got around that(see bugs)
You can install the game to hard or floppy drives.
REVIEW
After installing I had to boot with no start-up to conserve
memory. The game does run a little slow on my 14mhz machine, but not as to
get in the way of game play. If you decide to install the low-res version
, you'll notice an increased speed.
Now, the actual game, there are a couple of ways to look
at the game, first you can play 6 pre-made 'missions', or go into the
'experimental' mode and play around in you world. (oops, I sound like that
guy who paints on PBS!)
So, now after choosing the game type, you're presented with
a window with various buttons and sliders used create the world, they include
number of mountains, rivers,food sources and average world temperature.
Now the world takes shape(The world is represented in a 2 dimentional window)
The game uses 'layers' to represent levels of information on the World map
such as soil,mountains,water, and so on, and they can be turned off at your
command.
The planet is now complete, time to breathe life on to it!
The game comes with a pre-made zoo with animals and plantsXvA _[
Or, you can create your own plants and animals. There's a lot of detail t9o
plants and even more to animals, from what they eat and how they move and
9.
As you play there are charts and graphs that can be used to keep track
of your life forms and find out who's dying and why, population, animal
diversity and more.
I could go on and on but that gives you the basics.
DOCUMENTATION
The manual is in the typical Maxis style, that is, well writen
and witty, with a helpfull tutorial(there's one built into the game as well)
It took me awhile to go through it all, but who said creating life is easy
LIKES AND DISLIKES
I like the fact that you have ,36%:~QP=4toal contral
over your world, everything about the lian be changed to suit your needs
I also liked the general layout of the game, placement and
style of the user interface.
On the other hand, you might at some point think "what's the
point?" Luckily Maxis put in some goals to try and meet.
COMPARISON TO SIMILAR PRODUCTS
This is the first AGA game I've played , so I can't compare
it to anything, except maybe SimFarm for the PC. Both games had a similar
graphical look (buttons and icons)
BUGS
The only problam I ran into was that I couldn't run it from
Workbench(only 2 megs) I had to boot with no start-up, and then execute
a script to assign ENV to ram. I tried playing it without doing this, and I
didn't notice any difference in the game.
VENDER SUPPORT
I've had no reason to contact Maxis(or Mindscape) with any
problems
CONCLUSIONS
All in all, Maxis did a great job with this game, and Mindscape
did a terrific job in porting it the the Amiga! A welcome addition to your
AGA game library. Lets hope for SimCity 2000 AGA!
Emulation Rambler
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% Emulation Rambler By Jason Compton %%
%% (jcompton@tcity.com) %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
AAAARGH!
Sorry, everyone, for not coming up with more to show for myself
in the last couple of weeks. Lousy weather has sent my Usenet
site up and down, and apparently this review kept getting lost
in the "down" phases. I hope I don't appear to be a jerk for
seemingly dropping this review (especially to Utilities Unlimited:
they DID give me this board, after all), but I assure you, I've been
hard at work, so buckle in...
Serial Murders and Terminal Diseases
------------------------------------
Utilties Unlimited provided me with an Emplant Deluxe, meaning that it
contains both the SCSI interface and two "high-speed" serial ports, the
same shape as the ones on your average Mac (8-pin, I believe, circular.
RS-422 is the technical term). At any rate, one of the first things I
did with the board was run a diagnostic, which informed me that
everything was fine. Good. The next day, when I hooked the Emplant
serial port up to a SupraFaxModem 14.4 and tried to access it through the
Amiga side (yep, you can access them from the Amiga side. You cannot,
as of this point, access the Amiga serial port from the Emplant side,
but we'll deal with that later.) I assigned the Port to empser.device
in Terminus and tried to type. The system locked up. Ok, fine, I'll
try the other serial port. Still locked up. Ok, maybe I have the port
numbers switched. In short, I tried all 4 combinations (port A/B and
port number 0/1). No response, just lockups. Fine, I'll try to access
it from the Mac side.
I booted up the Mac emulation setup screen and went to configure the
ports. I'd screwed around with this option before and noticed that it
had a bunch of options, including "AppleTalk" and "AppleTalk"s from
x2 to x4 (in speed, which you can take advantage of when talking
to another Emplant, so the manuals say.) The options weren't there
anymore. So I ran a diagnostic. The board told me that it was an
Option-B Emplant (SCSI only) which worked fine. I was upset.
I ripped the board out and installed it in a new slot. Same response.
I put it back in the slot it was in. Same response. The following
morning, however, it told me it was an Emplant Deluxe which worked
fine. It still didn't. Then a day or two later, it started telling me
it was either an Option-B which worked fine (about 70% of the time
I got this message) or a Deluxe with malfunctioning serial ports. Ok,
so I took out the serial control chip and reseated it. No luck. I sent a
fax out to their office and got a note back from Joe Fenton asking
me if a particular chip was in the board. It's there, I need to fax
him back and let him know. When I get a response back, I'll keep
you posted.
There's another problem I've noticed, but have not had time to
completely research: The system seems to lock up when I try to
connect modem on the Amiga side and run the Mac emulation at
the same time. It may be a device driver problem, or perhaps the
term program I am using. I'll tell you more when I know more.
Word is the Word
--------------
There has been a lot of talk about MS Word crashing Emplant at
various stages, namely on quitting and on shutting down the Mac.
I am happy to report that MS Word and Emplant Mac 3.7 seem
to be coexisting quite nicely. What can I say? MS Word still looks
like MS Word, it just happens to be on a monitor labled "Commodore
1950". I still use the Amiga side to type up the articles you read in this
column.
Feeling the Need for Speed
--------------------------
Of course, everyone wants to know how an Amiga Emplant system
stacks up next to a real Mac, right? Well, my personal tests are
still to come, but Mauricio Piacentini has compiled
a set of comparisons between an Amiga 4000/040, a Mac LCIII,
a Mac Quadra 800 TVa, and a Mac Quadra 950. The Speedometer
tests are VERY long and 4 of them would put the biggest caffeine
freak to sleep. I'll throw in the better ones...
Systems Tested:
Emplant on an AMIGA 4000/40, 18 MB RAM
340MB IDE Maxtor HD (AmigaDOS Device) , GVP Spectrum EGS
24/28 Graphics Board: Speedometer calls it a Quadra 900.
(Mac Classic is 1.0)
CPU: 14.065
Graphics: 4.578
Disk: 2.867 Name of Hard Disk tested: MACDiskao
Math: 72.756
Towers: 17.828
QuickSort: 14.714
Bubble Sort: 17.234
FPU Tests (Uses Mac II as 1.0):
FPU Fast Fourier: 9.470
FPU KWhetstones: 3749.999 5.250
FPU F.P. Matrix Mult.: 7.288
FPU Test Average: 7.336
(Screen test also uses Mac II as 1.0)
256 Colors: 2.141
System Tested:
Mac LCIII
(Using Mac Classic as 1.0)
CPU: 6.837
Graphics: 8.224
Disk: 2.457 Name of Hard Disk tested: Tildas
Math: 10.319
Towers: 5.777
QuickSort: 6.866
Bubble Sort: 8.265
(No FPU, no FPU tests run)
(Screen test: Mac II is 1.0)
256 Colors: 2.334
System Tested:
Quadra 800 TVa
(Mac Classic is 1.0)
CPU: 21.358
Graphics: 25.954
Disk: 4.556 Name of Hard Disk tested: Super Promo
Math: 136.210
Towers: 26.000
QuickSort: 23.409
Bubble Sort: 25.312
FPU Tests (Uses Mac II as 1.0):
FPU Fast Fourier: 14.636
FPU KWhetstones: 5454.545 7.636
FPU F.P. Matrix Mult.: 14.827
FPU Test Average: 12.366
(Screen test: Mac II is 1.0):
256 Colors: 6.254
System Tested:
Quadra 950
(Mac Classic is 1.0)
CPU: 17.653
Graphics: 12.374
Disk: 3.448
Math: 132.122
Towers: 21.517
QuickSort: 19.807
Bubble Sort: 20.769
FPU Tests (Uses Mac II as 1.0):
FPU Fast Fourier: 11.500
FPU KWhetstones: 4285.714 6.000
FPU F.P. Matrix Mult.: 13.030
FPU Test Average: 10.176
(Screen Test: Uses Mac II as 1.0)
256 Colors: 3.655
Wow. That was quite a bit to swallow, wasn't it? I'll let you sort through
that and gather what conclusions from there ye may choose, but I will
point to a few important notes:
In CPU testing, the Emplant scored just over 14: twice the ranking of
the LCIII, 66% of the Quadra 800 TVa, and just a few points short of
the Quadra 950. The math and FPU tests did fall below the 950 and
800 TVa's scores, but I do not think that the tests were run on a
completely recent Emplant version in which FPU routines have been
sped up. The screen tests (and people have long complained of the
Emplant screen refresh) places it at twice that of a Mac II,
just .2 from the LCIII's score. Finally, I'd just like to remind
everyone that Emplant scored what it did while using (according to
what Jim Drew has told everyone about Emplant running at 0 priority)
about 52% of theCPU's time: after all, the Amiga IS still running
while all of this is going on.
Commodities futures fading fast...
---------------------------------------
Emplant and commodities just do not get along well. It's not something
I can nail down to one program, but if I don't quit them all, I tend to run
into problems with the system. I know that KCommodity is a
notoriously bad hack to run with Emplant, and it seems that YAK
has also fallen into that category: I believe it is responsible for
making Emplant think I'd jammed down the option key. It's really
not a bad idea to get rid of the commodities anyway, conflicts or no,
simply from the standpoint of memory. No complaints, I can go without
ToolsX and YAK if I'm working on the Mac side.
k00l gAmEz, d00d!
--------------------------
Yeah, I know it's a Mac and all, but there ARE a few games worth
playing. One is Arashi (Tempest), but that doesn't work on 16 colors.
Another is Pararena, which runs great, but I'll talk about it in the next
section. Another is Glypha (Joust), looks pretty nice, actually. A couple
cheap older games like Missile and StuntCopter work as well as they're
designed to. Rescue (Star Trek) is more than decent. All of these will
require some tweaking with the screen-refresh rates, but in general
work well...unless you enable sound.
Sound? AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!
-------------------------
I remember when comp.sys.amiga.emulations was echoing with droves
of Emplant owners DEMANDING Mac stereo sound support. They got
it. I got it too. It works-unquestionably, it emulates Mac sound pretty
well, even fully supporting stereo for the few programs that ask. But:
It's really, really slow. Pararena freezes the system for a good half
second while making sounds. Glypha is slowed down to unplayability
because the flapping noise happens so often. StuntCopter looks
crippled. On the brighter side, SoundTrecker, the Mac MOD player,
DOES indeed work, even supporting stereo. It does not work at higher
than 44 khz, however (choppy), and the Mac side is rendered completely
useless while the MOD is playing: simply dragging a window interferes
with the program. On the Amiga side, you get more latitude, but the
mouse jumps somewhat. The bright side of all this? You've got
Paula just waiting to run for you on the other side, and Multi-
Player works MUCH better in conjunction with the Mac emulation
than SoundTrecker does.
Shutdown guru...
------------------------
Some people have reported persistent shutdown gurus. I have had two
in the fifty-plus times I've shut down the emulation, and I'm not easy
on the software when it's running. One of them may have been a
result of being in the "TURN POWER OFF" option menu on the Amiga
side. In all, though, gurus have not been a problem.
YAK...
------
Yak is a very nice program for the Amiga, but it's not making the Mac
very happy. Among the problems I believe I can attribute to it, I've
had keyboard errors (like it thinking that I'm holding down the option
key incessantly), disk copying errors, and sloooow copying when
it's not erroring, including a 30 to 60 second wait to even bring up the
"Copying" box...
I think I've provided enough things to think about for this week about
Emplant. I'm still very happy with the performance of it. No, it is NOT the
perfect program and nothing is. How does it compare to A-Max IV? I'd like to
tell you, but Readysoft is 5 days past the day they said they'd return my fax,
AFTER I let them know they didn't respond the first time. We'll see.
For now, Emplant is certainly adequately suited to the main purpose for which
Macs are glorified: productivity. I plan to put PageMaker through some paces
soon, maybe I'll run PageStream on the Amiga side at the same time just for
the irony of it all.
Until then, keep the emulators warm.
Philosophical Wax
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% Philosophical Wax By Jason Compton %%
%% (jcompton@tcity.com) %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Since I do so much philosophical waxing in my Emulation Rambler
column, I thought I'd try to take a little of that out in favor for a
more formal editorial-style column. Here's my attempt.
Any Amiga owner worth at least what he/she paid for their system
can't help but be at least a LITTLE perturbed at John Dilullo,
Commodore US Head of Marketing. Anyone with half a clue
as to how Nintendo and Sega have gotten where they have
realizes that to promote a game machine for the mass market
requires a mass-market approach, and in that respect I agree
that the CD^32 should not be primarily for Amiga dealers: in fact,
I know of a local Amiga dealer who is entirely lukewarm on the
idea of selling the machines. But to go ahead and essentially say
that Amiga dealers have no RIGHT to sell the machines is what
amounts to saying that Ford Escorts should now be sold exclusively at
K-Mart and Target stores rather than dealerships. (I mean no insult
to either the Ford Escort or the Amiga CD^32 by that comparison).
Then, to go ahead and say that Amiga fanatics embarrass Commodore...
it's reason to pause and wonder just what he defines a fanatic.
Is a fanatic someone who buys his company's product and shows it
off? If so, let millions of computer users worldwide (and I'm not just
talking Amiga here) be guilty and hanged for being proud to
showcase their machines ability. Close down rendering farms.
No more special effects credited to computers. Can't be fanatical
anymore. Sorry.
Now that I've got that out, I'll move on. The Bandito. Who IS
this guy, anyway? He's obviously well connected and obviously
keeps an eye on comp.sys.amiga.* groups since I've seen some
near-direct quotes pop up in his columns. It's not me, so that
narrows things down a little...aside from that, I have no idea, but
I'd like to know...it almost seems to be a committee approach, as
the Bandito's mood and attitude seem to change at least monthly.
So much for solving that enigma right now.
Amiga Report...there's something to think about. Rob Glover leaves
and Rob Niles comes in with what amounts to a stern warning for
the future: support Amiga Report or watch it wither. Ick. It seems
ironic to me that a magazine whose readership is obviously increasing
by the week, reaching more and more people through more and more
means, has had a gradually declining pool of submissions. There's
not a shortage of things to talk about: look at me! I've turned a bizarre
hobby with emulators into a (pretty close to) weekly column and I think
am actually occasionally recognized as "that emulator guy" or similar.
That's not bad for someone who sat down in July and rambled about
IBeM, PC-Task and the C-64 Package. It's not very hard, the writer's
guidelines seem to be 1. Have a pulse and 2. Have SOME method of
getting your article to an editor (for the first month and a half or so that
I wrote, my net address would bounce all mail back to the sender). I
believe Rob Niles has even provided his US Mail address, there's not
much excuse now for anyone.
That's enough wax for this week. See you again here next time there's
something just too sappy or off-topic to put in the Rambler.
Portal
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% Portal: A Great Place For Amiga Users %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Portal Communications' Amiga Zone
The AFFORDABLE alternative for online Amiga information
-------------------------------------------------------
The Portal Online System is the home of acclaimed Amiga Zone, which was
formerly on the People/Link System. Plink went out of business in May,
1991 and The Amiga Zone's staff moved to Portal the next day. The Zone has
just celebrated its second anniversary on Portal. The Amiga press raves
about The Amiga Zone, when compared to its competition.
If you live in the San Jose, CA area, then you can dial Portal directly. If
you live elsewhere, you can reach Portal through any SprintNet (formerly
Telenet) indial anywhere in the USA. If you have an account on another
Internet-connected system, you can connect to Portal using the UNIX Telnet
programs, from anywhere in the industrialized world. Delphi and BIX users
can now Telnet into Portal for a flat $19.95 a month, with *unlimited* use.
Some of Portal/Amiga Zone's amazing features include:
· Over 1.5 GIGabytes of Amiga-specific files
· The *entire* Fred Fish collection of freely distributable software, online.
· Fast, Batch Zmodem file transfer protocol. Download up to 100 files at
once, of any size, with one command.
· Twenty Amiga vendor areas with participants like AmigaWorld, ASDG,
Soft-Logik, Black Belt, Apex Publishing, Stylus, Prolific, NES.
· 35 "regular" Amiga libraries with thousands of 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 pressued doing it.
· Live, interactive nightly chats with Amiga folks whose names you
will recognize. Special conferences. Random chance prize contests.
Famous Amiga folks aren't the exception on Portal, they're the norm.
· Vast Message bases where you can ask questions about *anything*
Amiga related and get quick replies from the experts.
· Amiga Internet mailing lists for Imagine, DCTV, LightWave, HyperAmi,
Director and Landscapes are fed right into the Zone message bases.
Read months worth of postings. They don't scroll off, ever!
No need to clutter your mailbox with them.
· FREE unlimited Internet Email. Your Portal account gets you a
mailbox that's connected to the world. Send letters of any length to
computer users in the entire industrialized world. No limits.
No extra charges. No kidding!
· 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,
NeXT, UNIX, Science Fiction, Writers, amateur radio, and a graphics
SIG with thousands of GIF files to name just a few. ALL Portal SIGs
are accessible to ALL Portal customers with NO surcharges ever.
· The entire UPI/Clarinet/Newsbytes news hierarchy ($4/month extra)
An entire general interest newspaper and computer news magazine.
· Portal featues an exciting package of Internet features: IRC, FTP,
TELNET, MUDS, LIBS. Free to all Portal customers with your account.
Internet Services is a menu driven version of the same kinds of
utilities you can also use from your Portal UNIX shell account.
· All the files you can FTP. All the chatting you can stand on the IRC.
And on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) you can talk live, in real time
with Amiga users in the U.K., Europe, Australia, the Far East,
24 hours a day.
· 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)
· And 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.
How does all that sound? Probably too good to be true. Well, it IS true.
Portal Signup or for more information:
408-973-9111 (voice) 9a.m.-5p.m. Mon-Fri, Pacific Time
408-725-0561 (modem 3/12/2400) 24 hours every day
408-973-8091 (modem 9600/14400) 24 hours every day
or enter "C PORTAL" from any Sprintnet dial-in in the USA,
or telnet to "portal.com" from anywhere.
PORTAL'S CURRENT RATES:
All prices shown are in U.S. Dollars
Total Total Total Total
Cost Cost Cost Cost
Fee 1 hr. 5 hrs. 10 hrs.30 hrs.
Startup Monthly Per Per per per per
Fee Fee Hour month month month month
$ $ $ $ $ $ $
Portal 19.95 19.95
2400/9600/14.4Kbps, *direct 24 hrs 0.00 19.95 19.95 19.95 19.95
2400/9600bps nonprime Sprint 2.50 22.95 32.45 44.95 94.95
2400/9600bps prime Sprint +% 5.50-10 29.95 69.95 119.95 varies
2400/9600bps non prime # PCPursuit 1.00 20.95 24.95 29.95 49.95
* plus cost of phone call if out of Portal's local dialing area
Direct rates also apply to connections made to Portal using the
UNIX "telnet" program from an account you may already
have on an Internet-connected system.
% 9600 bps Sprintnet in over 300 cities areas
+ $10 rate prevails at smaller US Cities
# PCPursuit is a service of US Sprint. Portal is a PCPursuit
"Direct Access Facility" thus connection to Portal with a PCP account
is simply a matter of entering C PORTAL,PCP-ID,PCP-PASSWORD at the
SprintNet login prompt instead of C PORTAL.
Note:
Portal Direct 9600/14400 bps service is availble for both USR HST
modems, and any V32/V32.bis modems. There are dozens of direct-dial
high speed lines into Portal. No busy signals!
SprintNet 9600bps service is V.32 modem protocol only.
Again, Portal does NOT surcharge high speed modem users!
Portal subscribers who already have an account on an Internet-capable
system elsewhere, can use that system's "telnet" program
to connect to Portal for $0.00 an hour. That's right ZERO. From anywhere
in the world. If you're in this category, be sure to ask the Portal
reps, when you signup, how to login to Portal from your existing
Internet account.
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!]
That number again: 408-973-9111.
Portal Communications accepts MasterCard, Visa, or you can pre-pay any
amount by personal check or money order. The Portal Online System is
a trademark of Portal Communications.
Strux v1.1
Table of Contents
TITLE
Strux
VERSION
1.1
COMPANY
PCP Hard- & Software
Andreas Guenther
Alfener Weg 10
D-33100 Paderborn
Tel.: +49 5251 63412 Fax: +49 5251 67124
AUTHOR
Andreas Guenther, email: guenther@uni-paderborn.de
DESCRIPTION
Strux is a graphical editor for flowcharts.
Flowcharts are an aid for designing programs with clear
and easy structures. With Strux, you can create and edit
them with your Amiga. The flowcharts can directly be used
for implementation and documentation.
Features:
* design using "normal" flowcharts, Nassi-Shneiderman flowcharts
or Pseudocode (you can switch between the representations at
any time)
* flowcharts can be saved as source code in any programming
language. You can define the output format according to your
personal style and requirements via a "translation table".
* existing sourcecode in Pascal or C can be converted into a
flowchart. (this is perfect for understanding programs written
by other people and will also help you with debugging your
own programs)
* unlimited number of subroutine levels
* it is possible to print flowcharts and to save them as common
IFF images.
* fonts are customizable
* context sensitive online help is included
* all settings are made via menus and windows
* complete keyboard control is possible to allow lucid work
* very easy hard disk installation
* detailed printed manual with many examples and tutorial
* demo version available
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Kickstart/Workbench 2.0 or higher is required.
HOST NAME
Any AMINET host, i.e.
( ftp.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) )
DIRECTORY
/pub/aminet/dev/misc
FILE NAMES
StruxDemo.lha (size: xxx bytes)
PRICE
110,- DM including postage
(+ 10,- DM for airmail if desired; not necessary within Europe)
(Germany: VK: 103,- DM NN: 107,-DM)
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Strux and StruxDemo are Copyright by Andreas Guenther.
StruxDemo may be freely distributed.
LANGAUGE
Strux is available in German or English.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andreas Guenther guenther@uni-paderborn.de
.,.,..,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
RUSH Release 2
Table of Contents
TITLE
Rush - Professional Directory Utility for AmigaDOS 2.x and 3.x
VERSION
Release 2 patch for registered users
AUTHOR
Douglas Keller dkeller@bix.com Comments or questions welcomed.
DESCRIPTION
RushPch2.lha is a patch that allows registered Rush release 1 users
to upgrade to Rush release 2. Note this patch is only useful to
registered Rush users.
FEATURES
Rush is an AmigaDOS 2.0 directory utility with dozens of built in
commands like copy, move, etc. It can also execute AmigaDOS
commands and ARexx scripts.
Here is a summary of major changes since release 1:
- Rush now has an Arexx port with dozens of commands.
- Added hortizontal listview scrolling.
- Center gadgets can now be scrolled if more then one screen full
of gadgets are defined.
- All known bugs have been fixed.
See the README in the archive for a full list of changes.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Rush requires AmigaDOS 2.0 or greater.
HOST NAME
Rush release 2 patch is available on:
Aminet (e.g. ftp.wustl.edu)
Bix
DIRECTORY
Aminet: /pub/aminet/util/dir
Bix: amiga listings
FILE NAMES
RushPch2.lha - Rush release 2 patch
PRICE
Registered versions of Rush are available for $25US. See README
in archive for more details.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
The Rush release 2 patch is freely distributable, registered
versions of Rush are not.
Rush is Copyright 1994 by Douglas Keller.
MultiVol v1.0
Table of Contents
TITLE
MultiVol
VERSION
1.0
COMPANY
AugmenTek
3606 S. 180th St. C-22
SeaTac, WA 98188-4339
USA
Contact: Stephen Rondeau
Phone: 206-246-6077
email: augmentek@acm.org
DESCRIPTION
MultiVol(TM) splits and joins files. The split files can be placed
on diskettes, hard disks (including removable), or RAM -- or any
combination of them. Splitting and joining are transparent to a
program, so almost all programs that use files can split a file on
output or join split file parts on input, without "knowing" that
splitting or joining is occurring.
Using MultiVol, you can:
* put a large file on diskettes or removable hard drives
Other Amiga owners or service shops can join the file parts
WITHOUT MultiVol.
* reuse ARexx(TM) procedures
MultiVol will join your procedures to the main program in a way
that looks like one complete file to ARexx.
* download a file too big to fit on one diskette to multiple
diskettes
* spread a file across the remaining disk space on multiple disks
* control splitting by remaining disk space, percentage of
available disk space, exact byte amounts, or percentage of
original file size (if known)
* discard parts of the file
Joining will create a file of only the retained parts.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
* AmigaDOS/Kickstart(TM) 2.04 or higher
PRICE
MultiVol 1.0 (base version): $40.
All prices are in U.S. currency.
Shipping/handling is $3.00 in the U.S., $5.00 elsewhere. WA state
residents add 8.2% sales tax. Terms are checks or money orders
drawn on a U.S. bank and made out to AugmenTek. Sorry, no credit
cards.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
This is a commercial product, and is not re-distributable.
TRADEMARKS
MultiVol is a trademark of AugmenTek.
ARexx is a trademark of Wishful Thinking Corp.
In Closing
Table of Contents
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%% /--- \\| \/ || || \\_||/--- \\ %%
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%% Amiga Report International Online Magazine %%
%% February 4, 1994 ~ Issue No. 2.05 %%
%% Copyright © 1994 SkyNet Publications %%
%% All Rights Reserved %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Views, Opinions and Articles presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors and staff of Amiga Report International Online Magazine or of
STR Publications. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless
otherwise noted. Reprints must, without exception, include the name of the
publication, date, issue number and the author's name. Amiga Report and/or
portions therein may not be edited in any way without prior written per-
mission. However, translation into a language other than English is accept-
ble, provided the original meaning is not altered. Amiga Report may be dis-
tributed on privately owned not-for-profit bulletin board systems (fees to
cover cost of operation are acceptable), and major online services such as
(but not limited to) Delphi and Portal. Distribution on public domain
disks is acceptable provided proceeds are only to cover the cost of the
disk (e.g. no more than $5 US). Distribution on for-profit magazine cover
disks requires written permission from the editor or publisher. Amiga
Report is a not-for-profit publication. Amiga Report, at the time of pub-
ication, is believed reasonably accurate. Amiga Report, its staff and con-
ributors are not and cannot be held responsible for the use or misuse of
information contained herein or the results obtained there from. Amiga
Report is not affiliated with Commodore-Amiga, Inc., Commodore Business
Machines, Ltd., or any other Amiga publication in any way. All items quoted
in whole or in part are done so under the Fair Use Provision of the Copy-
right Laws of the United States Penal Code. Any Electronic Mail sent to
the editors may be reprinted, in whole or in part, without any previous
permission of the author, unless said electronic mail specifically requests
not to be reprinted.
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