Amiga Report Online Magazine #2.08 -- March 4, 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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%% March 4, 1994 \\// Issue No. 2.08 %%
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Table of Contents
Columns and Features News, Reviews, and More!
About AMIGA REPORT Staff, Copyright information
Dealer Directory Amiga Dealer Addresses and Numbers
Commercial Online Services Sign-Up Information
FTP Announcements New Files Available for FTP
AR Distribution Sites Where to get AMIGA REPORT
____________________________________________
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%%%%%%%%//%%%%%| Amiga Report International Online Magazine |%%%%%%%//%%%%%
%% \\// | Issue No. 2.08 March 4, 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
UseNet Reviews Product Announcements Emulation Rambler
SPECIAL FEATURES
Philosophical Wax ........................................Jason Compton
MS-DOS Blues .............................................Shane Bumpurs
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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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Well, did you hear? Stac won against the computer industry giant Microsoft.
Nobody thought they would. But personally I'm glad they did. As for the
first time those at Microsoft know that they are going to have a hard
time beating up on the little guys. $120 Million might not mean much to
Microsoft, but it's a good slap in the face.
Well the @{" CD32 " system "display cd32_bb.iff"} sales in Europe are looking good. A report from the UK
stated that the CD32 is the leading CD game machine over there. The CD32
is taking up 39.4% of the market, with the second place winner going to
MegaCD. And Philips CD-I taking up the rear with only 1.8%.
Someone also report seeing an advertisement in Canada. I don't know how
that might come along for those who are in the US, but it's a start. It
looked as if the commercial was done by one of the local dealers.
I did see a boring CD-I commercial the other day. It wasn't all that bad,
but was extremely repetative, and a little hoaky. This guy want to know the
meaning of life. So somehow he gets to the "Wall". Anyways the "Wall" goes
and shows him about some of the software available. And a few other
off the "Wall" people came into view ...like a female named "help".
Very strange indeed, but it does underscore one point. That marketing
is an important part of selling a product or service. Mareting is
precisely what CBM needs to do. I don't care about the costs. Ask
anyone who sell a product or service.
We found out that since CBM Australia is no longer in existance that
there will be warrentee support for those of you covered. A company
called CompuAid will be taking over. I don't have more information
on that but will try to get it to those concerned next week.
Edward Anderson (edwarda@ee.pdx.edu) has asked that we carry a
classifieds section in AR. Now I'm all for this, except for the
problem in which it could increase the size of AR quite a bit.
I have no idea how much, but this is what he proposes:
---cut---
I had thought about the size increase myself, and I personally would not
mind. It only takes me 5 minutes to download Amiga Report at 2400, but I
understand some people have download limits.
I don't think it's ever a good idea to limit the size of any magazine even if
if it's an online magazine. I was always more excited when I could download
a larger AR###.LHA file (More Amiga Stuff!). IMHO I feel that a classifieds
section is at least as important as the 'Dealer Directory'. A local amiga
user will probably be closer to me than a dealer (more approachable too).
If either of these sections are large, I'd feel that the Amiga Computing seen
is a hot bed of activity.
Also, We could control the size of the Classified's Section by having
a highly formalized classified Ad:
BOLD ATTENTION GETTER
3 - 4 Lines
Name
Phone#
Email
We could put these ads in two column format. Price is free, of course.
What do you think?
---cut---
So please let either him or I know what you think on this.
In the meantime, let's get on with the show!
Delphi
Table of Contents
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%% Delphi Internet Services -- Your Connection to the World! %%
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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 - It's getting better all the time!
AR Staff
Table of Contents
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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
Emulation Editor
================
Jason Compton
Internet: jcompton@tcity.com
European Editor
===============
Jesper Juul
Internet: norjj@stud.hum.aau.dk
Amiga Report Mailing List
Table of Contents
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%% Amiga Report Maillist List %%
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No Official Amiga Report Distribution Site in your local calling area? Are
you tired of waiting for your local BBS or online service to get Amiga
Report each week? If so, have we got a deal for you!
If you have an internet mailing address, you can receive Amiga Report
in UUENCODED form each week as soon as the issue is released. To be put
on the list, send Email to rniles@hebron.connected.com. Your
account must be able to handle mail of any size to ensure an intact copy.
For example, many systems have a 100K limit on incoming messages.
Many thanks to PORTAL Communications for setting this service up for us!
P.S.: Please be sure to include your Email address in the text of your
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** IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE be certain your host can accept mail over
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** address in it, it will be removed from the list. Thanks!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amiga News
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%% Amiga News %%
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Jaeger Software at Portal
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Amiga Zone is pleased to announce the addition of another
new company to our Vendor area.
"Go amiga;3" to get to the Vendor area, then select your choice
from the menu. Any and all of our Vendor areas can be added to
your Portal subscriptions. Just enter the area of your choice
and type "sub" to subscribe.
Here is info about our newest vendor: Jaeger Software, Inc. :
--------------------------
Welcome to the Jaeger Software, Inc. customer support area.
Jaeger Software is a small company based in Rockville, Md that
specializes in computer flight simulation. From the detailed aerodynamic
model to the lightning-fast frame rate, the Fighter Duel series is known
for simulating the "feel" of flying. With a full selection of aircraft and
added features, the latest entry, Fighter Duel Pro 2 delivers the flight
simulation package for the serious aviator.
Regional, National and International tournaments using Fighter Duel Pro 2
are regulary staged. To get in on them, contact Drew Dorman, national
tournament coordinator at 1-314-367-3916 or email him at
GHOST.RIDER@genie.geis.com.
Jaeger representative, Matt Shaw will check in regularly to answer any
questions on Jaeger products.
As of 2/1/94 Jaeger has released four products.
Fighter Duel - Corsair vs. Zero RELEASED 12/91:
- The original Hi-res Interlace WWII flight simulator.
- Featured 24-29 frame per second smoothness even while playing over
modem.
Fighter Duel Pro 1.0 RELEASED 11/92:
- Brought the individually modelled aircraft number to 16.
- You may fly against two enemy aircraft at one time.
- Added analog rudder control.
- Introduced our unique ability to connect a second Amiga as a Rearview.
- New Tournament and score keeping abilities.
Fighter Duel Pro Flight Recorder RELEASED 3/93:
- All the features of FDPro1 with the ability to use FDPro's accurate
aerodynamic model to make smooth and natural looking flight path data for
use in popular Amiga 3D rendering software such as Newtek's Lightwave 3D,
Impulse's Imagine, and Virtual Reality Lab's VistaPro.
- Flight Recorder is used as a tool on such tv show's as NBC's SeaQuest DSV.
Fighter Duel Pro 2 RELEASED 1/94:
FDPro2 has all the features of FDPro1 plus..
- Compatibility with both AGA and original chipsets. Thirty-five percent
performance increase with Amiga 1200 & 4000 models displaying the
AGA 640 x 400 Hi-res No Flicker video mode.
- The super planes, including the German ME-262 jet, the rocket-powered
Komet, the TA-152H version of the FW-190, the ME-110, the Japanese
KI-84, the Russian Yak-3, the American F2G Corsair and P-61 Black
Widow, and arguably the best fighter of WWII, the British Mark XIV
Spitfire. This brings the number of individually modelled and flight
tested aircraft to a total of twenty-five.
- Fly against a 4 aircraft formation, with individual fuselage colors and
markedly improved aggressiveness and tracking abilities. Plus, change
the foe aircraft type during flight.
- A redesigned gunnery system that accurately plots bullet trajectories
and includes a sophisticated lead-computing gunsight.
- Keyboard equivalents for all aircraft functions.
- Instant view keys for use in all modes with the ability to lock the
view, including the rear view playermode.
- View control with "Hat" switch on Thrustmaster and the new CH
Flightstick Pro analog sticks.
- A shaded sky distinguished by smoothness and color accuracy.
- Additional types of aircraft damage, war emergency power boost, plus
unlimited ammo option.
- A new and improved pre-flight interface using point and click selections.
- Automatic detection and utilization of advanced processors and larger
memory systems.
- New one-player modes including a tourney start against a foe, a wingman
mode where you fly wing with one computer controlled aircraft and battle
two others, and a stationary gunnery mode where you man an anti-aircraft
machine gun while attacked by computer controlled aircraft.
- The two-player hookup system now features 1200-9600 baud modem as well as
null modem cable support and phonebook storage of your FDPro 2 opponent's
phone numbers.
- A "chat" mode that allows in-flight communication in two-player modes,
plus the ability to send preset comments with a single keystroke.
- With a two-player hookup it is now possible to battle computer-controlled
foes, either as a M-E110 or P-61 pilot and gunner, or lead and wing
formation
CBP Announces Service for Computer Artists and Videographers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
February 1, 1994
For Immediate Release
Contact: Belle Daily
CBP is pleased to announce Geoffrey Williams' Computer Artist and
Videographer Report. Written for professionals creating video or graphics
using the Amiga computer or Video Toaster, the CAV Report helps them keep
abreast of the rapidly changing market.
Subscribers receive the monthly Computer Artist and Videographer Report, a
six page newsletter containing the latest news, business forecasts and
advice. Often with news just a few days old, it offers information far
more timely than from any other printed source, and it presents it in a
clear, honest, and direct fashion. It also includes a regular column on
business techniques and practices for the working professional. The report
contains no advertising or filler.
They also receive the Intro Disk, which uses the standard Installer to add
the latest libraries and other important utilities to the subscriber's
computer. It includes a powerful disk cataloger with databases for disks
available through CBP, and useful compression software.
The most unique part of the service is the monthly disk, each one on a
specific graphics or video topic. Each disk has an extensive hypertext
interface written by Geoffrey Williams that makes using them a snap, even
for those new to computers. The problems with using the included freely
distributable programs have been eliminated, as they are automatically
configured, and fully integrated into the hypertext interface. Running a
program is as simple as clicking on its name in the text that describes
what it does. Besides just giving you useful tested software, the disks
give you an understanding of what the software does and under what
situations you would want to use it, as well as background information
about the topic itself and interactive glossary definitions.
Geoffrey is well known for his extensive knowledge of FD software, and
he gathers it from sources around the world.
Also included is the quarterly HyperMedia Journal, a hypertext disk based
magazine with articles, tutorials, and reviews, much of it interactive.
Tutorials can take control of the program they are discussing, and teach
interactively, and readers can click on unfamiliar terms for instant
definitions. It includes original material as well as electronically
distributed news and articles.
Subscribers receive a total of 17 disks and the monthly printed report.
Geoffrey Williams is an Amiga columnist and respected writer on video and
multimedia, and his writing appears regularly in professional publications.
He has created videos, interactive kiosks, and multimedia presentations for
a wide variety of industrial clients. The CAV Report is published by
Creative Business Presentations, a company that has done computer based
presentations and publishing on an international scale.
Subscription price is $80 per year. For more information, contact
CBP, 1833 Verdugo Vista Drive, Glendale, CA 90218, (818) 240-9845.
CBP Publications announces Geoffrey Williams' History of Games
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For Immediate Release
Contact: Belle Daily
CBP Publications is pleased to announce Geoffrey Williams' History of
Games, a digital interactive hypertext book. Witty, entertainingly
written, and exhaustively researched, Geoffrey Williams' History
of Games is one of the most extensive game histories ever written.
It also goes beyond traditional publishing by incorporating a powerful
graphics based hypertext interface, allowing the reader to click on icons
or key words to jump to other subjects, follow hypertext links, or play
the game described in the text.
Geoffrey has carefully collected the best PD games in the various
categories and added additional games he wrote to make the collection
more complete. Readers will be able to interactively play over 100
games, for thousands of hours of reading and entertainment.
The topics covered include board games, card and dice games, arcades
(pinball to video), the history of computing and computer games, gambling,
carnival games, puzzles, eyeplay (the history of optical illusions), word
play (everything from self-referential sentences to word play poetry and
party games), mathematical games, games of logic, and even a little magic.
The intitial release is on floppy diskette for the Amiga computer, with a
CD-ROM for the Mac, PC, and Amiga platforms available in the last quarter
of 1994. For more information, contact:
CBP, 1833 Verdugo Vista Drive,
Glendale, CA 91208, (818) 240-9845.
CIS conference with ASDG
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%% CIS conference with ASDG %%
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10:08:31 PM EST Friday, February 11, 1994
NarkM/MOD:
I would like to welcome Perry Kivolowitz of ASDG to our Conference. Perry
is the President of ASDG. ASDG has been an Amiga developer since the
beginning.
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.
(1-6,pk-asdg)
And I'm sure that I'll be able to answer your
questions in detail since we're a small crowd
tonight.
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Well I'll start with--What is new in Adpro v2.5?
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok, There are a LOT of new things in ADPro 2.5...
I'll try to summarize...
First and foremost is an entirely new user interface.
In fact, several new user interfaces.
We have made ADPro 2.5 completely style guide compliant
and quite user configurable. Our surveys of our
customers suggested that some people preferred a button
oriented user interface for ease of use,
while others preferred a list based user interface for
speed. In the new version we offer both, and both
formats can be intermixed freely.
The results are that the new ADPro is even more easy
to use than our previous product, and actually improves
people's productivity at the same time. Beta testers
reported being able to move through 20 to 40 percent
more work simply due to user interface changes.
On another front, there's a lot more display boards
supported in the new version and how display boards
are supported at all has improved greatly. You can
now run ADPro directly on many display boards, the
WorkBench, or any other public screen for that matter.
ADPro will render in a Window, and on many display
baords, will render in a window along with its
user interface.
Some of the display boards added are all EGS
boards, the Retina, and Retina ZIII, also the
Picasso, the Video Toaster, and others.
On another front, user written arexx programs
are now fully part of the user configurable user
interface (hows that for gratuitous use of the
word user?)
Also, there are more than 100 pre-written ARexx
programs which are now part of the ADPro
environment. FRED, the much misunderstood ADPro
Animation Editor has been improved and with so
many pre-written ARexx programs, it is quite
likely that an average user would NEVER have
to learn ARexx at all - just point and click
to combine the ARexx programs into larger
and more sophisticated applications.
There are some new operators, some new formats
and a great deal of new flexibility in compositing.
There's an improved manual - with 9 tutorials
amounting to 150 new pages of quality text.
That's only scratching the surface, there's a lot
more. ga
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Wow.. impressive. Has Gigamem been tested to work with ADPro?
Yes it has - in fact it should be common knowledge that
GigaMem was written FOR ADPro, I understand. And, we are
including a coupon for a substantial discount on GigaMem
in the ADPro box.
ga
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Paul.. go ahead.
(1-7,Paul Idol)
This is just a wacked out notion, but is there any chance that Ad Pro will
ever support PhotoShop plug-ins? I don't know anything
about the technical details, but it sure would be great. GA
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok
Photoshop PI's (I saw your same request to those "other" people) wo uld
represent quite a challenge to get working on the Amiga. We are licensed
Adobe Photoshop developers due to our
presence on other platforms - really the only thing
running in your favor is that the Mac is also a
Motorola based machine - other than that - just
about everything that can be different - is.
ga
(1-10,Mike Smith)
Is there a way to have a small 24bit Picasso window and run Adp
ro in 8 colors?
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ADPro's user interface will now run on any screen which
makes itself available as a public screen. ADPro can also
run directly on several other screen types that, while
not public, are still accessible. You can run ADPro
on the Picasso screen with a 24 bit window sitting next to it
yes.
ga
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
How is ASDG Products used in the production of Babylon 5?
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok
Our envolvement with B5 goes way
way
way
back.
We developed several key pieces of technology which made
the pilot possible. At that time, Foundation Imaging had been waiti ng for
more than a year for a digital video interface to
come out of Newtek. We were called in, and created our
Abekas support for them.
This support was critical as there was no other
viable means of moving such a large amount of video imagery onto an d off
of our beloved Amiga.
So, every CG shot in B5 did (and still does) go through ADPro
to get to video.
Secondly...
We were developing our morphing technology right
when their script called for a morphing antagoinist.
Foundation had both GVPs and BBSs morphing product
at the time and had rejected both as unworkable.
A fellow there was at the time doing a review
for Amiga World on morphing products and it became
known to them that we were doing one too. They
flew out to our site and did some tests and were
convinced that (what became) MorphPlus was the
way to go. I went out there several times
during the filming of the pilot and actually
created several of the key morphing shots myself
on my Amiga 3000 at my own home.
...
Currently,
our involvement with B5 continues...
Our Abekas digital video stuff is now used by
them on 4 platforms - Amiga, Mac, SGI and
Windows. Our morphing products are used by them
on both the Amiga and Macintosh - there's an
extremely cool creature coming - whose details
I won't divulge but suffice to say that this
is an entirely CG generated creature with
some detailed effects that haven't really
been imagined before.
They continue to ADPro for just about everything.
ga
(1-7,Paul Idol)
So to be clear, there are no plans for PI support? Sorry to be so.. well
GA
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok
That is correct, we (at least) have not considered
the idea before you posed it.
ga
(1-10,Mike Smith)
The Picasso thing again - I don't have to run Adpro in 24bit (slow) mode
to see a small window in 24 bit? (I'm still waiting !! for my upgrade) ga
(1-6,pk-asdg)
I beleive that you can run the Picasso in two ways...
First, you can place ADPro's user interface directly on the Picasso and
render in a window right there..second, you can run ADPro on
the Amiga and render seperately to the Picasso - something that's changed
in the new ADPro is that you don't need display board
SAVERs anymore. Simply select the display boards screen type
as if it were another Amiga screen type and hit EXECUTE, the
image appears there. For backwards compatibility, I think theres
a way to call display boards as if they were savers too.
ga
(1-8,Wolf Faust) Well, but what about PhotoCD?
(1-6,pk-asdg)
I'd be happy to provide PhotoCD - how about we contract
the German company who purchased a license to make ADPro
support for us? What that be acceptable?
ga
(1-8,Wolf Faust)
Well, did you talk to Olaf the programmer of PhotoWorX?
(1-6,pk-asdg)
No - I haven't yet - just thought of the idea - if you talk
to him let him know he should drop me some email/phone etc.
ok?
(1-8,Wolf Faust)
ok
(1-6,pk-asdg)
There. PhotoCD.
Next? :-)
(1-7,Paul Idol)
Yikes. Ok - Elastic Reality. What are the differences generally between
it and AdPro - is EA higher or lower, will the products converge, is there
PhotoCD support for it <g> etc. GA
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok
ElasticReality was developed concurrently for the Mac and Silicon G
raphics workstations. The SGI version was released first and is a much
more powerful product due to the speed with which we can prototype new
ideas on the SGI. It entered an already crowded SGI morphing market and in
short order has destroyed the market for anyone else. No BS. A substantial
amount of all the shaping shifting you see on TV and in the movies is done
with ER SGI. I can give examples, if you'd like. The Mac version is also a
capable product with a similar user interface as the SGI version.
Both versions share EXACTLY the SAME internal code as MorphPlus.
Therefore, in theory, anything those products can do, MorphPlus
can do, aliet with more difficulty due to the user interface advatages
that ER has.
The idea of porting ER to the Amiga has been discussed at great
length and is still being discussed. There isn't a day that goes
by without someone (actually - alot of someones) asking for it.
The issues which must be addressed are pretty difficult. Mostly,
we need to be able to have the faith that if we adopt a specific
graphics display board to host ER's GUI onto, that that board
be the one with the widest appeal. It simply won't do to have
ER run on a standard Amiga screen - altrhough if too much time pass es, we
may opt for that.
ga
(1-7,Paul Idol)
Thanks. One ER thing I've read about that I'd love to have on the Amiga,
interface aside, is the vector-based (?) i.e. non-point-based mor phing.
GA
(1-6,pk-asdg)
you mean the NON vector based approach ....
Morph Plus uses vectors, ER turned that inside out
and provides total control over the morphing process
using only shapes. Since you're doing shape shifting, why
not use Shapes? You know, I wish Ben were here so he
could take credit for inventing it. :-)
ga
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Pk.. since you mentioned SGI.. briefly what do you think of Indy?
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok
Indy is a way cool machine but it isn't really the
low priced PC SGI originally hoped people would
perceive it as. As a base price unit, it
doesn't come with much memory or a hard disk, but adding
memory and a harddisk is cheap (if you don't buy it from SGI).
Consider that an R4000 MIPS processor is anywhere from 5 to 50 times the
speed of a fast 68040. The machine can really scream.
And that's a pun - if you didn't get it.
ga
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
hehe.. Mike Smith.. go ahead.
(1-10,Mike Smith)
Let's face it ... The Picasso RULES!!! (Don't you agree?) ga
(1-6,pk-asdg)
Let's Face It - Somebody better rule so that some standards
will emerge :-)
ga
(1-14,sja)
Perry, ASDG is one of (few) major software developers left in the Amiga
market. What are ASDG's thoughts of the future? You've expanded to other
platforms, do you envision more moves in that direction.
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok
To borrow the words of some major league ball player...
De Amiga Been Berry Berry Good To Me...
You won't see us run away from the machine - as the fact
that we're releasing the biggest changes to ADPro ever would
suggest. But I must say, Commodore is nowhere. They have
ceased to be a player in the computer industry. And, there's
no reason to beleive that anything will change that soon.
On the other hand, there are 4,000,000 people who
(much to the "embarrasment" of Commodore according
to John Dilulo) who have made a choice to stick
with that machine. So in summary? I can tell you
that the Amiga counts for a very big chunk of our
income. I've invested 7 years of my life to it. And
for good or ill, I'm here to stay at least a bunch
longer.
ga
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Pk, you might want to read the Haynie & Jesup CO and follow
the 20 questions to Commodore Marketing..
I spoke to John Dilillu by the way..
(1-14,sja)
Perry, what's up with CEDPro? I switched to something else a while ba but
would like to give an updated CEDPro a try.
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok
CED....ahhhhhh CED.....
We've updated it - massively.
Version 3.5 is out now - and it's quite good. You
really should give it a look. The author, by the
way, is now a full time staff person at ASDG and
is responsible for a lot of the high speed display
board support in the new ADPro.
ga
(1-14,sja) Is there an upgrade provision? Or just pick it up at my
dealer? There is an upgrade program - yes. Give us a call. Also,
there's some secret keystroke combination in the new
ADPro which enables another cool feature which the
author of CED snuck in on me. If you twist my arm,
I'll spill the beans.
ga
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Twist!!
(1-7,Paul Idol)
TWIST!
(1-10,Mike Smith)
spill!!
(1-14,sja)
Twist, twist! <grin>
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok
(1-6,pk-asdg)
Before I get to that :-)
Another thing added to ADPro 2.5 is direct support for
the Fargo Primera in Dye Sub mode. This support
obviates the necesseity to purchase Fargo's
own dye sub option (but actually purchasing it
does give you some other benefits). The Fargo
was a heavily asked for feature - so heavily in
fact that we could not ignore it. Also added
is support for the Digital Broadcast 32 and
direct support for the DPS PAR.
Any more ADPro questions? Before I spill?
(1-7,Paul Idol)
Ok. As a motion picture guy, albeit with little money, what I want to
know is how does AdPro handle autoscrolling and manipulation of super-
bitmaps and which 3d party boards support superbitmaps? GA
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok
The beans I was going to spill bears upon this - as far as
(1-6,pk-asdg) which display boards support it? All display boards which
ADPro supports (with the exception of the DCTV and (hehe) the HAM-E) are
granted ADPro's support of super bitmaps as part of their
suppoort - if you mean - which support it with hardware
based scrolling, that's a different question and one which
I don't have the answers to at my fingertips. The
thing I was going to divulge is ADPro 2.5's support for joysticks. Yes,
joysticks.
You can enable joystick based scrolling by hitting the following
key sequence WHEN A RENDER WINDOW IS OPEN AND
ACTIVE!!!! ready:
Amiga Alt Space Alt Amiga
make sure you don't hit the control key too.
Once you've done this, the enabled state will
be saved.
Hit the fire button to scroll faster.
ga
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
I am sure we are going to see this appear in a game mag now. :-)
(1-7,Paul Idol)
Why the secrecy?
(1-6,pk-asdg)
You really want to know?...
ok
It was secret because the programmers knew that I would
never sanction such a frivolous bit of nonsense so they
kept it secret and out of the manual so I wouldn't
find out till it was released.
Now you know. :-)
ga
Let's give some stuff away to the die hards.!
(1-10,Mike Smith)
yeah
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Steve, it is usually the high roll that gets it?
(1-14,sja)
Yep, do a /roll 100
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
hehe.. then others would accuse of us of being bought. :-)
Ok.. get your practice rolls out of the way!
(1-6,pk-asdg)
Lets start with giving away....
An ADPro 2.5, a PCP, and a Pro Control - $495 (approx) value.
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Oooh!
(1-7,Paul Idol)
Are we rolling for real, or just show yet?
(1-7,Paul Idol)
Wow!!!!!
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Everyone ready?
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Roll!!
(***DICE***) Leslie T. Bartiromo rolled (100) 80
(***DICE***) Mike Smith rolled (100) 11
(***DICE***) BobR rolled (100) 87
(***DICE***) Paul Idol rolled (11) 1
(***DICE***) MarkM/MOD rolled (100) 8
(***DICE***) sja rolled (100) 53
(***DICE***) Paul Idol rolled (100) 28
(***DICE***) BobR rolled (100) 4
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
BobR wins.. :-)
(1-10,Mike Smith)
hey perry let's give away a CED!
(1-6,pk-asdg)
ok.... This time, no sysops ;-)
(1-6,pk-asdg)
We'll give away an ADPro 2.5, a PCP, a Pro Control AND a ced. a little
more than 600 bucks value.
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Ready ... ? Set.. Go!
(***DICE***) Mike Smith rolled (100) 46
(***DICE***) Leslie T. Bartiromo rolled (100) 76
(***DICE***) Paul Idol rolled (100) 35
(1-3,MarkM/MOD)
Is that it..? If so.. Leslie... you win! Come on down!
(1-2,Leslie T. Bartiromo)
Alright!
*******************************************************
* That is right! If you were not there you missed out on a chance
* on $1100 dollars worth of ASDG software!
*
* Was there more? Sure! Perry stayed with us until the wee hours
* ofthe morning!
*
* 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.
*
*******************************************************
UseNet Review - Amiback 2.0g
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% UseNet Review - AmiBack 2.0g by Mike Schwager %%
%% mschwage@next3.corp.mot.com %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
PRODUCT NAME
Ami-Back, version 2.0g
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Hard disk backup software for the Amiga.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Moonlighter Software Development
Address: 3208-C East Colonial Drive, Suite 204
Orlando, Florida 32803
USA
Phone: (407) 384-9484
Fax: (407) 384-9391
LIST PRICE
$79.95 (US). I paid about $45 (US) for it.
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
The program has no official RAM requirements, but I
recommend 1 MB of RAM or more.
SOFTWARE
None
COPY PROTECTION
None
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Amiga 500, Rev. 5 Motherboard, 1 Meg Agnus installed.
2 Meg Fast RAM (3 Meg RAM total).
52 Meg hard drive, Supra SCSI controller.
1 external 880K floppy.
AmigaDOS 1.3.
Amiga 500, Rev. 5 Motherboard, 1 Meg Agnus.
4 Meg Fast RAM (5 Meg RAM total).
157 Meg hard drive, Supra SCSI controller.
1 external 880K floppy.
AmigaDOS 1.3.
INTRODUCTION
Summary (out of 5 stars, with a '+' for extra points):
Manual: *****
Tech Support: **+
Robustness: **+
Ease of use: ***+
Overall: ***
Ami-Back bills itself as "The Ultimate Backup Utility". I don't know
about that. To me, the ultimate utility would be rock-solid, very easy to
set up and use, fast, and worry-free. Personally, I would bill Ami-Back as
"The Pretty Good Backup Utility". It comes up short in some ways. It is an
almost-good product. Were it less buggy, I would be very, very happy.
Ami-Back comes on 1 disk, and includes versions for both the
AmigaDOS 1.3 and 2.0. I'm still an AmigaDOS 1.3 user, so that's the only
version I was able to test. Your mileage may differ.
[MODERATOR'S NOTE: It turns out that I am an Ami-Back user too.
Some of the features (and problems) of Ami-Back described in this
review are different in the AmigaDOS 2.0 version. - Dan]
INSTALLATION
Installation was simple. Pop the disk in the drive, double click the
Install icon, and away it goes. There's not a whole lot to it. Ami-Back
just puts the binaries and libraries in their proper places. In "Expert"
install mode, you are able to place the binaries wherever you'd like.
After installation, you either double-click on Ami-Back's icon, or
run Ami-Back from the CLI. Personally, I'm a CLI user. Ami-Back opens up
its own non-interlaced screen. The colors are not settable, but they're a
reasonable mix of gray, white, and black. Pretty utilitarian, but then
that's what it's all about, no? The main screen is very simple - logo and
copyright information on the left, and 4 large buttons on the right:
"Backup", "Restore", "Scheduler", and "Quit". I have not used the scheduler
at all, as I'm a poor old floppy drive user who must be there when the
backups are running. "Backup" and "Restore" are naturally the more
important buttons here.
At this point, I should mention that the manual, though not verbose,
is really quite adequate for the job. Often, I will want to skim over a
manual, looking for the meaty stuff and mentally throwing away the
nonessentials. Sometimes that gets me into trouble as I might miss an
important item in my haste. Ami-Back's manual is clear and gets right to
the point. It takes you through the necessary steps, in the order you need
to do them, to get your backup going. I followed the manual pretty closely
when first using the program. It coincides with the program and its
structure and order very well.
The first thing you do is configure the program. There are three
menus on the main Ami-Back screen, and under the Preferences menu is the
"Program Configuration" item. Configuring the program mostly means
specifying the locations of the various log and configuration files for your
different backups. The default locations are the s: directory, but you can
change them here.
Once you've saved the program configuration, you need to set up a
backup configuration. The backup configuration window contains most of the
important backup file and directory selection filters and gadgets. It's
where most of the work is done to get Ami-Back set up. You select the "New
Configuration" menu item to give your configuration a name. Then you select
the "Backup Configuration" menu item. This procedure is a little confusing
(you can forget to select "New Configuration"), so you need to take care
that you're saving the proper config file with the proper config selections.
In the Backup Configuration screen, all your disk devices show up as
icons near the top. You can select as many as you'd like with the mouse, or
go ahead and type directory or partition names in the string gadget just
below the icons, separating them with a space. You can then select a
destination which can be floppies, a tape drive, an AmigaDOS file, or one of
your partitions. You can select the backup type; Ami-Back will do standard
AmigaDOS partitions as well as image backups of UNIX and/or Mac partitions.
You can choose to verify the backup or not, and you can set up a filename or
directory filter. I hope they improve that filter; it was rather confusing
to use. It can use a facelift. I don't use it much. It looks like it's
pretty powerful, but for what I do it's not worth any hassle. For example,
AmiBack is fast enough that I just let it back up my #?.o files in my work
directories. You can also tell AmiBack to backup files only within a
certain date range.
Additionally, there are a bunch of little buttons that control
various things: whether to set the archive bit after backing a file up,
whether to turn on compression, whether or not you want Ami-Back to warn you
before it overwrites a floppy, etc.
BACKUPS
Once you are done setting up the backup configuration, you save it.
Now you can load it whenever you want to do that particular backup. Once the
proper configuration is loaded, all you need to do is click the "Backup"
button on the main screen.
After you click the "Backup" button, AmiBack will scan the entire
partition(s). Normally this goes quite quickly, say within a minute or two
for a 10 Meg partition, but having fancy filters will slow it down. Once it
completes the scan, a "Backup Information" screen shows up. There, all kinds
of useful information is shown: estimated and actual Files, Bytes, and
Disks used, bar meters showing percent completion on the current media and
on the backup as a whole, the name of the file currently being compressed
and backed up, status of the backup destination devices (Ready, Not Ready,
or In Use), time spent backing up, time spent waiting for the user, and
estimated time till completion (of the backup, of course).
At this point you have the option of starting the backup or
canceling it and redoing your configuration. Click on Begin, and away you
go! Ami-Back does not assume that the floppies currently in the drives are
backup disks. You must pop in the disks after hitting "Begin"; a nice little
safety feature. However, you can tell AmiBack not to put up a requestor
prior to writing to each floppy after the first ones. Personally, I like
having that feature. I just keep all nonessential floppies out of harm's
way. But realize that it can be dangerous.
Once AmiBack starts, it watches the floppy drives asynchronously.
This means that after Ami-Back finishes writing to a disk (say, in DF0:), it
continues writing to your other floppy (say, DF1:). While it is writing,
you can pop out the old floppy in DF0: and insert a new one. Ami-Back
displays helpful messages like "DF0: Not Ready" when it's time to change the
disk in DF0:, and "DF0: Ready" after you have inserted a new disk. If you
are vigilant, backups go about as fast as it takes to write continuously to
the floppy drives, even with a 68000-based Amiga.
PERFORMANCE
AmiBack uses 44K of Chip RAM and 283K of Fast RAM when it is first
loaded. It uses more RAM depending on how much data you are trying to back
up. For example, backing up a 10 Meg partition with 1,300 files causes an
additional 66K of Fast RAM to be used. So I'd say it's not well suited for
Amigas with only 512K RAM, but it should work OK in 1 Meg.
AmiBack multitasks quite well. Naturally you must make sure that
you don't need your floppies while running your backups (if you back up to
floppy). However, you can pretty much do whatever else you want while the
backups are running. The usual caveats apply when trying to do "Live"
backups. As with any machine, if your data is important to you, it's best
to just leave the computer alone until backups have finished.
AmiBack didn't seem to exhibit any anomalies with other software on
the Amiga. I have all sorts of little utilities running on my machine and I
didn't notice any incompatibilities.
[MODERATOR'S NOTE: Ami-Back 2.0 exhibits Enforcer hits if you have
the ASDG Dual Serial Card siosbx.device mounted. However, Ami-Back
2.0h fixes this problem. (The software patch is free and on Aminet
and the Moonlighter BBS.) - Dan]
This software cranks when backing up to floppies. I can do 50 Meg
in a couple of hours, user time and backup time included. AmiBack uses a
non-DOS disk format, which is good I think. The disks get written to and
verified as fast as, say, doing a DiskCopy (with verify). This is even on
my 68000-based setup. On my last backup with the 68030 accelerator, I was
timing floppies at about 1-1/2 minutes each. I guess this speed may be
because the compression is not as outstanding as it could be. My latest
backups took 41 disks for about 50 Meg or so of files - with compression on.
I should mention that perhaps 2 or 3 Meg of that is "lha" files, which
won't compress any more no matter what you do.
RESTORING
I've never done a full restore for a broken hard disk. However, I
just ran a selective restore to restore a single file. It was quick and
easy. You go to the "Restore Configuration" menu, which takes you to the
Restore Configuration screen. There you can tell AmiBack where to put your
restored files, what media the files are on, whether you want to do a
selective or complete restore, whether to overwrite existing files, etc.
Once configured to your liking, you click the "Use" button. This gets you
back to the main screen where you can now click the "Restore" button.
AmiBack will ask for the name of the index file which it created when it did
the backup. Once installed, AmiBack seems to know exactly where the file is
stored. Right away it asked me to insert disk 5 of my backup, and within
nary two minutes, my 500K lha file was restored. It took maybe 4-5 minutes,
start to finish.
AREXX
AmiBack claims to provide AREXX support. I didn't test this feature.
DOCUMENTATION
A 70-page User Guide. Short, sweet, to the point. I give the
manual an 'A'. (*****)
LIKES AND DISLIKES
The floppy disk write routines are excellent. This thing goes fast!
The file filter configuration is frustrating and confusing. I spent
a long time trying to figure out how to get it to backup only 1 directory and
all its contents. Impossible to do from the file filter; you must do that
on the Backup Configuration screen. Well, I couldn't figure out how to do
it there until through a stroke of luck I was able to speak with the right
guy at Moonlighter. See the "Bugs" section for more information.
If one of your disks goes bad in the middle of a backup, AmiBack
knows how to backtrack to the beginning of that disk, and you can put in a
new one. Ahhh...! So nice.
COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
I don't know about any others. Is ExpressCopy still out there?
Well, it was a buggy piece of junk. I received it from Supra with a ROM
upgrade a couple of years back, and forget it!
I've used Matt Dillon's backup program, and though that works ok
it's not nearly as fast or convenient as Ami-Back. It's really nice not to
have to redo an entire backup after the 10th disk out of 11 turns out to
have an error.
Using "lha" or a similar compression program seems like too much of
a hassle. AmiBack is sweet in that it combines a lot of flexibility,
configurability, and usefulness in one package.
Quarterback seems to be the one other big player in the Amiga market.
Unfortunately I don't know how it compares to Ami-Back.
BUGS
Some scary ones at the beginning. I couldn't get the software to
"label" a backup, so I just don't use that feature. It would guru
invariably when I tried. And, some 33% of the time the software would guru
just as I tried to start a backup. My last phone call to Tech Support
brought an enlightened soul, who suggested I remove the configuration file.
That seemed to work. Subsequently, I couldn't get it to guru at all during
my last backup.
But, during my last backup I had another scary happenstance. It was
backing up a partition, and I had left the room. When I came back I see the
floppy drive is spinning but AmiBack doesn't seem to be doing a dang thing.
The only thing that's happening is the "Backup Time" clock is advancing. It
wouldn't respond to any controls. So, I had to reboot my machine. A
subsequent backup of the same partition worked properly. Well, I haven't
tried to restore from it however....
During my last Tech Support call to the Enlightened Voice, I
discovered that unless you hit a return in the Backup Configuration's
"Source" string gadget, partitions or directories typed there will not be
accepted. This was the cause of much frustration for me. So you need to
make sure you put a return after the last word in the string gadget!
One time I went to Load a Configuration, and I got a tone through my
speaker. My machine was locked up. That was just once, though.
VENDOR SUPPORT
You may call Moonlighter Software for Tech Support, 9am-5pm, Monday
through Friday. They are on the East coast of the USA. The guys there
seemed moderately knowledgeable. As I mentioned above, the last time I
called, the voice on the other end diagnosed my one bug as a probable
configuration file problem, and told me to reload it. Previously, another
voice said something like "Gee, I don't know... I've seen that problem...
we'll have to take a look at that." I felt sort of like I had heard, "the
check's in the mail." Reportedly, they have Bix accounts and Bix gateways to
the Internet, but I never got responses to my email. Maybe it never got
there.
Also, on the support BBS they say there's minor upgrades. I haven't
tried the support BBS.
Overall, support gets a 'C'. (**+)
WARRANTY
"As is."
CONCLUSION
AmiBack was a little more of a hassle to get going than I would have
liked. I have a pet peeve about backup software: make it one zillion
percent robust, simple (or at least, look simple), robust, relatively easy
to learn, and did I mention that it has to be robust? One doesn't mess
around when hours and hours - nay, even man-years - of work are at stake.
AmiBack gets a B for simplicity, a C for robustness, a B+ for ease of
learning. Overall, I give it a B- (***). It's a decent program, to be
sure. I wish I felt just a little more at ease with it. "Bullet Proof Data
Backup Protection for the Amiga" does not Guru because it's unhappy with the
config file, nor spin my floppy drive aimlessly.
However, it is fast. I like how it handles the floppies. It is
quite configurable, and in all fairness it is a very thoughtful program.
It's nice that they remember us lowly 1.3 Amigans. And there has never been
a bug so nasty as to make it unusable. In short, I use it on a regular
basis. And that, dear friends, is why they make backup software.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Copyright 1994 by Mike Schwager. All rights reserved.
Usenet Review - Liberation Cd32
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% UseNet Review - Liberation CD32 by Brian S Mogged %%
%% brian.s.mogged@uwrf.edu %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
PRODUCT NAME
Liberation CD-32, version "Ratt V2.00b : Wyvern V2.00"
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
A 3-dimensional adventure/action game for the CD-32, set in the dark
future.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: Mindscape Internation LTD
Address: Priority House, Charles Avenue, Malting Park,
Burgess Hill,
West Sussex RH15 9PQ
UK
Telephone: 0444 246333
FAX: 0444 248996
LIST PRICE
I do not know, but I paid $49.95 (US).
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
Commodore CD-32
Mouse (optional)
SOFTWARE
None.
COPY PROTECTION
None.
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
A CD-32 and a mouse.
INSTALLATION
No installation is necessary. Just put the disc into the CD-32
and go.
A HISTORY OF LIBERATION
The world of Liberation is set in the 29th century, where Earth is
dying. Earth is being destroyed by commercial exploitation from large mega
corporations. One mega corporation, Bio-Corp, developed a variety of high
technology items for its sister corporation, Securi-Corp. Securi-Corp
handles almost all law enforcement activities for the government. Since the
government is concerned with other affairs, these corporations are truly in
control of Earth. Your hero (the player that you control) has learned an
important fact: androids sold by Bio-Corp for police security go berserk
when they are exposed to magnetic interference. These berserk androids
usually cause a few deaths. The corporation is covering it up by placing
people into detention centers. The object of the game is to explore the
detention center, rescue these political prisoners, and find enough evidence
to bring the mega-corporation to justice. The hero cannot go into the
detention center himself, so he sends four robots into the detention center.
Liberation is a sequel to Tony Crowther's "Captive." Since I have
not played Captive, I cannot say how similar this game is to the original,
but I can say that it is completely playable without any knowledge of
Captive.
GAMEPLAY
In Liberation, the main display may be changed by the user. By
default, the top of the screen is your Device VDU (Video Display Unit). The
middle of the screen is the three-dimensional view, with the "droids panel"
on the sides. On the bottom is the text screen.
THE DEVICE VDU (VIDEO DISPLAY UNIT)
Each robot can have two active device which can be scanners, video
bug surveillance, game preferences, city mappers, and other items that I
have not seen yet. Most of these items have a display and a option panel
that can be selected and changed. Since there are eight robots, there can be
up to eight displays active. The default display plan displays four of these
panels.
THE DROIDS PANEL
The droids panel lets you instantly see the current status of your
droids, switch position of members in your party, let you select an
android's backpack, and allows you to split up the party. This area of the
screen can be turned off so you can have a larger 3-dimensional view.
THREE DIMENTIONAL VIEW AREA
This is the first-person, three-dimensional window where you see
everything that the currently selected robot sees. This landscape is very
lush with some of the best texture bitmaps that exist in any Amiga game.
People and objects represented by textured-filled polygons (which look good
too!). You can tilt the robot's head to look up, down, left, and right.
You have not played this game until you tilt your head upwards just in time
to see a police copter in the sky.
TEXT WINDOW
This window has all the text from the current session of the game.
I have played it for ten hours straight and it STILL stores everything that
was said.
TALKING AND MANIPULATING
In this three-dimensional environment, you can talk to people, pick
up objects, give objects, shoot people, and use objects. When the player
talks to a person in the game, the text of what that person says appears in
the text window. Sometimes the game says what is on placed on the screen,
sometimes not. But most of the time, it will bring up a response screen that
has a menu your possible responses. The conversation will continue until
you move away, shoot the person, or say "good bye", or the other person
decides to end the conversation.
Grabbing an item is just as simple as moving your cursor in the 3-D
view window or the current android window and holding down a button. The
player can now move the cursor with the item into any window to be dropped,
given to other people, or placed back into inventory.
SHOOTING A PERSON IN COLD BLOOD
To shoot, swing a object, or punch in the game, you press the joypad
button. Since you have four robots and you have four buttons, each button
controls one robot. Fire fights in this game go very fast, and the outcome
of the battle becomes almost painfully apparent in this game.
DOCUMENTATION
Documentation is a 64-page pamphlet approximately the same shape and
size as a booklet inside a normal CD. It gives a very brief description of
the world, and then describes how most of the functions work and how to use
the CD-32 joypad. The rest of the manual describes how to use the mouse and
confusingly describes the repair systems of the droid.
The game manual is very informative, but is very hard to read. Even
after reading the manual about five times, I could still learn something if
I took the time and read it a sixth time. The manual is too brief in most
parts. For example, it mentions only off-handedly that you cannot save
inside of buildings using the CD-32 built in non-volatile RAM. I still do
not understand the system for doing self-repair on the robots. But still,
the manual does not tell you important facts, like that the current mission
information is in the scroll text window when you start the game. So for
four days I really did not know where I should go until I (by mistake)
scrolled up the text window and saw the mission briefing.
LIKES
What pulls me to play this game every night for the rest of my life?
I love the demo. It is about six minutes long, very good, and gets
you in the mood for the game.
Both the mouse interface and the CD-32 controller interface are very
good. The CD-32 controller at first felt awkward, but after a few hours of
play, I felt as if I had played the game throughout my life.
The graphics are excellent. I haven't see this style of graphics on
the Amiga done with so much detail!! You really feel like you are there.
The outside graphics look very dark and gritty. The interior views look
very close to what I would expect to see inside a building. I loved the
picture of the dog on the wall.
The configurability of this game is incredible. You can move around
windows, turn on/off selected windows, turn on/off voice, sound and music,
and select levels of detail that you can turn on/off. This allows you to
have information on the screen that you consider important.
The scrollable text window holds previous conversations. It makes
remembering old information just a scroll of the window away.
The music is not annoying. I find the music very soothing and
enjoyable.
The sound and voice are pleasant. Gun shots ring out. Very clear
sound complements the music and the game. Voice (when present) is very
welcome and give some good atmosphere.
Very fast CD-ROM access gives this game a very smooth feel. The
waits when loading are very short, and loading is necessary only when going
inside or outside of a building.
VERY BIG. You won't run out of places to explore in this game! This
game is huge. I was just blown away on how big it is. What is even better
is there are over 4000 missions in the game. Even better is that it
randomizes elements in the game so it will play different every time. This
almost promises a longevity I have not seen in a game for a while!
And any game that gives you an opportunity to kill K-9 is a good game
in my book!
DISLIKES
Maybe the game is TOO BIG and COMPLEX. I still feel overwhelmed when
I play the game. If you want to play this game, plan to spend a huge amount
of time.
Combat is a little on the blah side. Not very much you can do. Just
shoot your gun and run away.
I get many of my items robbed from me too often!!! It happens too
often. I just get really upset about it. The worst part is that I usually
realize that my gun is stolen right when I try to shoot it.
Voice is not always running in the game. Sometimes the person that
you are talking to speaks and sometimes the person doesn't. It really drives
me up the wall.
IMPROVEMENTS
Well maybe a little better CD-32 control pad system. I still
sometimes shoot people while I am talking. Voice should be used throughout
the game. Maybe a training game that is just in a small house. Maybe let
me walk by a person without getting robbed!
COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
Hired Guns by Psygnosis came into my mind instantly when I first
started to play this game. I believe that Hired Guns is much better at
combat, but Liberation has a very good plot and good graphics.
Since I do not have the original Captive, I can not compare this
software to the original game.
BUGS
There are a few bugs with this game. The list of bugs that followed
was produced by Dave Cole (Dave_Cole@guru.apana.org.au). Dave ran
Liberation on a PAL CD-32 with a version number Ratt V2.00 : Wyvern V1.92.
* Guru's occasionally (only 2 times for me). It has reset for some
people, when there are too many people in the room. (I haven't
noticed this however.)
* When initiating a conversation, sometimes a person will accuse
you of "clobbering" them. Other people have said that if you
shoot a thief, then everyone else say that you have shot them.
(Haven't noticed this myself, but could be the reason.)
* Sometimes when you go to talk to someone, garbage such as "87#&^j"
will come up in their window, and your response window doesn't
always have a response (have to cycle through several responses
before one actually shows up).
* When using the Mapper - Comms, in a taxi, it will say "Autopilot
initiated" (or something like that), yet it will not go anywhere
if the destination is in the current zone.
(You have to leave the zone, and then re-select the destination).
* When talking to people about the "Captive", and they ask you for
some dosh, you can select "well.." or "let's see.." and then
select something like "I'll have to go to the bank and come back
later.." they will give you the info anyway. Now this could be
on purpose, as they can't be bothered waiting around, yet one of
them said at the end of their speech "..Thanks for the dosh".
* The amount of time played, displayed in the disk access menu, is not
always accurate. To start off with (up to about 8 hours), it was
OK, but then it said that I'd been playing for 386 days, then 1058
days, and finally 2685 days!
* The percentage of game done is sometimes stuffed for a little while
(usually just after saving), as when you've only completed 1%,
it may say that you've completed 99%.
* Harri Pesonen (harry@elfuerte.fipnet.fi) says:
I have noticed a strange bug. When I check the different body
parts in the Repair state, it seems that the left leg of one
robot is the same as the head of another, and the same as the
right leg of the third, and the same as the left hand of the
fourth, etc.
* When you look "up", the wall image is upside down (i.e., the down
image reversed).
* Percentage of game played sometimes just stays as "New Game"
(I haven't noticed this yet, but it has reset the time for me).
* The most annoying (and worst bug), is as follows: Game wouldn't save
in flash RAM, as it said that it was "too big and to try in the
city, and that if that didn't work try another zone." The thing
is, this happened while I was outside, in the city, and I did try
other zones, but to no avail. It did save to the RAM disk
though. HOWEVER, because of its being unable to save to the
flash-RAM, it somehow WIPED the game which was previously there,
thus still not allowing me to save the RAM-disk version to
flash-RAM. When looking at the game-save slots (after I had
removed the recoverable ram disk), all I had in there was one
locked save game of Diggers (seven slots in length). Now surely
the game doesn't need 93 slots? I have had saves which take only
47, and with the most that I know of about 80. Because of this
bug, about 15 hours or so has to be replayed. Hopefully, all the
info that I wrote down will still be valid (wishful thinking).
I had the "reversed graphics when looking up" problem, but I myself
have not had the other problems as of this time.
VENDOR SUPPORT
Since Mindscape has no known address in the United States, I have
written them a letter since I can not find an e-mail address for the company.
I have not received a response from the vendor at this time.
CONCLUSIONS
Liberation - finally, a product that gives you a reason to own the
CD-32. The game is so big, it is guaranteed not to be pushed into a corner
for a long time! I haven't had this much fun with an RPG style game since
Final Fantasy II for the Super Nintendo.
I definitely give it five blasters rounds out of five.
Brian.s.Mogged@Uwrf.edu <- send all mail to this address.
MS-DOS Blues
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% MS-DOS Blues by Shane Bumpurs %%
%% UH9311@VicVX1.Vic.UH.EDU %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
I have upgraded from an IBM Reply 50Mhz-486slc to an
IBM ValuePoint DX33- with OverDrive Processor. This
is a work funded machine or I wouldn't have one.
I still can't format a disk with file manager and run anything else.
I get and "out of resources" error when running Excel and I've got 16Megs.
When I run in 24-bit 640x480 mode the mouse flickers and kinda drags along.
I still can't get any better sound than beeps and boops. (unless I plunk
cash down for a sound card. I don't think so Tim.) The windows sounds
using the speaker-driver freeze the machine on high-quality mode.
I still haven't found a ray-tracer that makes better output than the Amiga
ones.
I still witness StRaNgE shut downs in Windows at my work place.
I still can't play any REAL neat games from Windows.
I still can't play any REAL neat games without renaming my config.sys &
autoexec.bat
I am still wondering where and what stealth memory is REALLY.
I still want a New Amiga.
The neat games are on the IBM because the cash is there. I have played
Wolfenstein 3D, Blake Stone, and Doom. They're cool indeed but there is
no real reason why they couldn't be ported to the Amiga.
Honestly, I think we will all be whipping a dead horse unless Commodore
doesn't change their ways. I have my old Amiga down because my Monitor
croaked and I'm not sure if I should buy a new one or not. The monitary
news looks bleak (if its true). Commodores image is like the invisible
man. No one has seen it, so no one will trust it. I'm waiting for the
Amiga 5000 I _WILL_ buy it if they make it till the end of this year
when I hear it will be out. They have a good product that only the
so called "fanatical" customers will endorse. It is a great machine and
has great potential, its just a shame when anyone that knows about it
mentions it they get a response like, "Amiga what? What is that? From
Commodore? Like the 64 no doubt." I'm honestly sorry the world chose
VHS versus Betamax and is now choosing IBM versus Amiga. I'll stand fast
because I have the so called best of IBM and I'm not impressed. Macs are
OK but they are still less interesting than the Amiga.
--------------------------------------
The road to success - Sooner or Later?
--------------------------------------
I think the following things will get Commodore back on track with
the key lying in the CD32 court. I'll talk as if Commodore were
listening. (its kindof a dream of mine.)
Continue with CD32 but do U.S. Advertising, only in America can a cool
commercial change peoples buying habits quickly. Or maybe not Europe
could do with similar commercials.
Suggestions for Commercials:
============================================================================
Do a snazzy quick flashing commercial with heart thumping music with
flashy text of Commodore CD32 and show some kids playing it wildly. Have
a wicked sounding voice guy introduce it calling it the first 32 bit CD etc.
Use black backgrounds to project a hard core game image. Then flash lotsa
pictures of Platform games (Zool, James Pond etc) and ending the commercial
with Microcosm playing on screen. If possible try to squeeze in some sport
game (socker, football, hocky anything will do) for the older kid-sport
jock types. Also throw in Mortal Kombat (if available) or Body Blows
too this will associate a hit game on other platforms and give even
more appeal. (As more nifty games come in update the commercial especially
any 3D Wolfenstein Style games.)
Maybe a second commercial later on after the first one comes on, do the
CD-player bit. Use white backgrounds because it gives a clean cut image
in mind. Still have the same kind of flashy text but have a different
announcer guy with maybe a British accent talking about the CD-Quality
sound etc. Show the CD-Player interface and play a few pieces of Beethoven,
Rolling Stones (if possible), and something a bit rock-pop modern like
Pocket Full of Kryptonite from the Spin Doctors. Have the announcer
give the goodies on its movie playing ability and give somekind of relative
quality versus VHS etc. Then zoom onto the MPEG player bit and maybe
list 2 or 3 titles that are already available "at you nearest dealer"
Absolutely give a 800 number to find nearest dealer.
============================================================================
Get AAA out as fast as possible leaning development toward the New Generation
CD^64 but for goodness sake do whatever possible to make someway for it
to still play CD32 titles. Anything maybe a AGA cartridge or piggyback board
or something easy to install. This is crutial, if not CD32 user will be
ticked and won't upgrade because the next generation after AAA will
"probably" not run AAA stuff. If you can't swing it, at least to a decent
upgrade offer for CD32 owners.
After the AAA version is ready. Do similar commercials lean heavily on
the graphics (show pictures-no specs yet). Lay on the thick voiced announcer
to then talk about the CD speed and 16 million colors in real time and 3d
graphics rendering engine, enhanced sound etc. all while crisp music is
playing. It doesn't have to be a real CD just real crisp music, I'm sure
if you used a real CD someone would want some cash for it so better off
without it.
It wouldn't hurt after this stuff hits and stirrs up a bit to talk about
the workstation of the future, Amiga 4000 etc. Specs are good here!
IF your gonna do a Mac hybrid with the emplant like the rumors say,
throw in the compatibility thing then mention IBM compat. with
"hardware emulation modules" coming soon. Do the A5000 thickly coat
the commercial with mention of the RISC cpu upgrade allowing
Microsoft NT Compatibility. Show the OS off man for sure show more than
one process going at the same time. Format a disk, run terminal software,
spread sheet or word processor then, mention (as if we didnt expect) the
chess game running in the back ground. This would be sufficient to
curtail the IBMers from trying the same thing their poor old terminal
software would croak, if it would even run while formating a disk.
The CD^64, Emplant 4000 and A5000 are based of of the rumor mill in
AR201. But this plan would bring things back to "normal" for Commodore
even possibly put things back in the green like the old C64 days.
Anyway I feel better now I think I can go to sleep now knowing I said my
piece.
(Arguments are welcome I have too much to do
already and it would just top my day off.)
Shane Bumpurs - Computer Addict
Reader Mail
Table of Contents
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%% Reader Mail %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Steve_Herring@matrix.rain.com (Steve Herring)
Subject: NewTek Announcement
I've heard that NewTek is going to be requesting Toaster created
video/graphics from user groups. These Toaster creations will be
demonstrated in Las Vegas at the National Association of Broadcasters
Convention (NAB). If anyone has a creation they'd like some exposure for,
contact Christina Knighton at NewTek, or leave Internet E-Mail to me, and I
can give you more info. When I get the letter to User Groups, I'll send it
to Amiga Report!
Videos should be at LEAST first generation S-VHS. And graphics files are
preferred to be in RGB format.
For more info, leave E-Mail to me, Steve Herring at:
Steve_Herring@matrix.rain.com
or call Christina Knighton at NewTek:
1-800-847-6111
Tell her that you heard it from Steve Herring! :)
-----------------------------
From: sprovost@BIX.com
Subject: world of commodore info
hi!!just read ar 2.07, great setup!
you mentioned that you heard that world of commodore in new york was cancelled
sadly this is true, i talked to Karen at Ramige management and she confirmed
my suspicions. she found out that Jeff S had resigned after winter ces.
after finding this out karen decided to cancel the show due to the fact
that there is no one in the CEO slot in commodore now. she does not want
to risk it until there is someone running the show. she did confirm that
pasedena in december is still on!!!
Also i just got a a1200 with wb 3.0 and can't get multiview working for
Amiga Report (reports "wrong data type")
any ideas?
thanks
stephen
[Ed: Can anyone with 3.x help him with the problem with the datatypes?]
-----------------------------
From: Roy Teale <tealro@wwc.edu>
Subject: something for Amiga Report
*** Happiness is a working A2630 ***
( and a Picasso ][ )
As luck(?) would have it, the very day that AmigaReport 207 (see "Slow-
Machine, Great Display Blues" in that issue) came out, my A2630 came back
from Kasara Microsystems. Where nobody else could help me, Kasara came
through. The board worked great the first time I plugged it in! So,
much thanks to John from Kasara, and they can count on me doing business
with them in the future.
BTW, The Picasso ][ works just perfect in my A2000/2630 setup.
I am very impressed! (I know, I know... I should try using it in an
A3000.) I'm really looking forward to AmigaDOS3.1, as well as
software updates for the Picasso drivers (which are available for
anonymous ftp at terrapin-station.umd.edu as they are released). So far,
A2000/3000 users are limited to a 16-color Workbench with Picasso (of
course, this is a limit imposed by AmigaDOS, not the Picasso).
Any users out there who wish to get on the Picasso mailing list (whose
purpose is to inform and to discuss, not to flame) can send a message
to picasso-request@terrapin-station.umd.edu. The message should
say: "subscribe Picasso" in the body of the message (you can leave
the Subject: line blank).
UseNet Review - Bars and Pipes Pro v2.0
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% UseNet Review - Bars and Pipes Pro v2.0 by Pasi Kovanen %%
%% tron@westlink.fipnet.fi %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
PRODUCT NAME
Bars and Pipes Professional version 2.0 ("BPPro") (18 February 93)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
Bars and Pipes Professional is one of the Amiga's most advanced MIDI
sequencing programs. The newest version has added many multimedia
capabilities.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
Name: The Blue Ribbon Soundworks Ltd.
Address: 1605 Chantilly Drive
Suite 200
Atlanta, Georgia 30324
USA
Telephone: (404) 315-0212
Telefax: (404) 315-0213
LIST PRICE
2295 FIM, approximately $350 (US). The US street price is a bit
above $200, I think.
SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
At least 1 meg of RAM (2 meg recommended).
For MIDI usage, a synthesizer with MIDI is necessary.
For multimedia applications, it's not necessary.
Works with accelerated Amigas.
SOFTWARE
None.
COPY PROTECTION
BPPro is serialized: when installed for the first time, a
registration number must be typed in. The number is printed on the disk
label.
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
Amiga 1200:
2 MB of Chip RAM
AGA chipset
Kickstart 3.0
Workbench 3.0
240 MB Maxtor hard disk
GVP JAWS A1230:
68030/40
68882/40
4 MB of Fast RAM,
A MIDI interface
Korg M1 synthesizer
INSTALLATION
Installation is done with Blue Ribbon's installing software.
I'd prefer the Commodore Installer.
INTRODUCTION
I will concentrate on the sequencing capabilities, because I'm not
so interested in building my own multimedia presentations. BPPro is a
sequencer with thousands of functions and many original ideas. It's not as
conventional as Dr. T's Keyboard Controlled Sequencer (KCS) and is not a
"tracker" program.
REVIEW
A couple of years ago, I had a quick look at the original Bars and
Pipes Pro. It looked fine and powerful, but without the manual it was really
difficult to use (yes, it was a pirate version, I confess). I used OctaMED
with my M1 and it was nice to use, though music created with OctaMED sounds
like... well, music created with OctaMED. Some friends recommended that I
get Dr. T's KCS. I gave it a chance, but everything had to be done with
numbers. "I had enough of mathematics in High School" (finally over!) I
thought and deleted KCS from my hard drive.
A few months ago, I decided to buy BPPro II. It came and I had a
quick look at it. It looked even more fine and powerful, but without
reading the manual it was really difficult to use. So I read the manual,
and the program started opening to me.
Basically, BPPro works just like any other sequencer. One has an
unlimited amount of tracks to record on. Any track can use any MIDI
channel. But that's as conventional as BPPro gets BPPro. Every track has
its own pipeline (I wonder how they invented the program's name :-)) with a
"valve". The valve controls the musical flow. The pipe can be connected to
three parts: the MIDI-in part, the note part, and the MIDI-out part. When
you record music, the notes go through the MIDI-in part and get to the note
part. When BPPro plays the notes, the go through the MIDI-out part.
Surprising, eh?
Why all these parts? The most powerful little things in BPPro are
called Tools. Tools are modules, separate from BPPro, that are used for
tasks like transposing, quantization, echoing, and even unquantization!
There are dozens of tools in the program, and I have only tried a few of
them. If one puts a tool just before the note part of the pipe, every note
recorded will be processed with that tool. But if one places the tool in
the MIDI-out part, the notes will be recorded unchanged and then processed
every time they go to MIDI-out. One can place many tools into every
pipeline, and thus it's very easy to try different quantizations and
transpositions.
There can be dozens of windows open, and one can change parameters
for tools in real-time while the song plays.
Accessories are a bit like tools, but they cannot be placed on the
pipeline. Accessories are also modules and control BPPro's extensive ARexx
functions, Standard MIDI File importing and exporting, and system exclusive
recording, among other things. They are like programs that open on BPPro's
screen.
Tools and Accessories have fun names and icons. "Toasty" controls
the Toaster, "SMoose" loads and saves SMUS songs and has a picture of a pink
moose(!!), "ANIMal" plays animations, "G-LOCKenspiel" controls the GVP G-Lock
genlock, and so on.
There are many ways to edit the recorded piece of music. When one
double-clicks on the track, an editing window opens. Here one can select
classical notation (which can be printed), hybrid (which shows notes as
lines), piano-roll, guitar tablature (for guitar freaks) or list editing. I
find hybrid the easiest way for editing the notes. One edits the music with
a wand, hand, and other editing tools (these are not the Tools explained
above). With the hand, one grabs notes and drags them to new positions. The
wand alters lengths. Rubber deletes notes, and Pen creates new ones. Hard
parts of a song can be recorded by step editing.
Also, pattern editing facilities exist but I haven't had experience
with them yet. When I looked at them for the first time, the program crashed
(I got scared, you know).
Editing the tempo is very easy. You draw a tempo line onto the
tempo map with the mouse. You can easily create linear, sudden, or
exponential tempo changes. My only complaint is that I would like to have
the tempo line relative to the selected "main" tempo; i.e., if I changed the
main tempo from 125 BPM to 120 BPM, the tempo line also should drop by 5 BPM.
Also, mixing is easy. The Mix Maestro window has sliders and knobs
for every channel in the song, and movements of these gadgets can be
recorded in real time. The knob usually controls panning (MIDI controller
number 10) but you can change it to control something else. (Panning
doesn't work with the Korg M1, by the way.). The slider works like the
volume slider in a mixing board and usually affects MIDI volume
(MIDI controller number 7).
Song Construction is a nice window. Here you can break your song
into named sections (A, B, C, etc.) and put the sections in any order you
wish.
The multimedia support is extensive with full SMPTE support. It
also has support for Scala, the Video Toaster, Sunrise AD516 card, and its
own slide show program. The SMPTE tracks can be set to real-time mode.
Real-time tracks do not react to tempo changes.
Every track can have its own time signature. This can create really
exciting results, I think (I haven't tried this yet).
DOCUMENTATION
Documentation is in a bound manual almost 400 pages long. It is a
bit boring to read (I didn't expect a best-seller, but...) and it lacks a
tutorial. This isn't so nice, because the program has many, many functions
and you don't learn them just by reading. But the easiest way to learn how
to use this program is simply to use the program.
LIKES
Tools are a wonderful invention. I can change my music in almost
every way I like without destroying the original recording. Non-destructive
editing rules!
Hybrid editing works fine.
BPPro can record System exclusive dumps long "enough", whereas KCS
is limited to 16 KB only.
Importing and exporting MIDI files is easy.
BPPro is expandable; for example, SuperJAM! can be integrated.
DISLIKES
Bugs :(. (Look below)
The program has very strange windows. They may look "cool" with
Kickstart 1.3, but with Kickstart 2.0 or better I would like to see
gadtools.library used and normal Amiga windows. Drop AmigaDOS 1.3 support!
There's no direct, good support for Amiga's 8-bit samples. A tool
called "SamplePhone" does play samples, but every sample plays only on one
pitch.
Step recording should have a quick access to note lengths. For
example, F1 should create a whole note, and F5 a sixteenth note.
I would like to see more extensive pattern support.
Access to some features requires little complicated maneuvers. More
buttons and keyboard support are wanted.
COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
I've tried to use KCS but it seemed far too ugly and difficult to
use.
I'm a beta-tester for OctaMED Professional and have been using that
program for over two years now. The direct tracker style is good for
"computer music styles" like techno, not for "living" music. Also it's very
difficult to export songs from OctaMED to other sequencers. Nowadays I
mainly use BPPro.
BUGS
Lots of bugs. :(
The printing of the notes is quite buggy. Sometimes, notes are
printed without their stems.
When I save extra-hires notes into an IFF file with the Save command,
BPPro tends to go into "fireworks mode" (crash) very often. Also normal
printing sometimes crashes.
The hybrid editor usually works fine, but the notation editor has
zillions of bugs. The notating resolution does nothing, and sometimes BPPro
won't even show the notes (staff centering doesn't work).
The punch-in recording should start playing one measure before the
selected point, and then switch on recording. For about two weeks, it
always started directly on the punch-in point. Now it works fine, though.
Very strange.
I had some trouble a while ago, when the program used to crash
almost every time I started it... and if it did start, it still crashed in a
few seconds. I re-installed BPPro and tried about everything, but nothing
helped. Then I realized the problem: I had my Video Backup System on the
serial port, and it constantly inputs video data to the Amiga. BPPro is the
first program I've seen to crash when it receives that signal.
And this one is really serious. Two times has BPPro crashed when
saving the song, thus destroying both the older and newer version. That's
unacceptable.
VENDOR SUPPORT
It does exist, but not here in Finland. 60 days of free technical
support.
WARRANTY
I'm not sure about any warranties, but I think they are not
essential with software products.
CONCLUSIONS
Despite the long list of dislikes and bugs, BPPro is a good
sequencer, the best for the Amiga I think. If Blue Ribbon only fixed those
bugs and added some comfortableness, this would be an almost perfect
sequencer.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Every typo Copyright 1994 Clumsy Fingers Ltd.
Unfortunately I do not have USENET access. For any comments or
upgrade notices, please contact my friend Tapio Ronkainen,
tron@westlink.fipnet.fi. He'll send your messages to me (I hope...).
- Pasi Kovanen
Philosophical Wax
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% Philosophical Wax By Jason Compton %%
%% (jcompton@tcity.com) %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
There's a thread on comp.sys.amiga.misc going about the predjudice in the
general and computer news media against the Amiga and Commodore in general.
I've noted it before and won't make a general, damning statement even
though the list is endless. Instead, I want to focus on one particular
organization which long-time readers of Amiga Report might remember:
NewsBytes.
Back when Amiga Report carried NewsBytes reports weekly, I noticed that
the coverage of Amiga information in them suddenly seemed to dry up one day.
Puzzled, I did a bit of asking around and got their mail address, sent off
a letter explaining who I was and asked my question: "Why not more
support?" I got a letter back asking me, in effect, why NewsBytes was in
Amiga Report in the first place, since according to her (Wendy Woods,
NewsBytes editor) we had no right to publish it. I told Rob Glover
(Remember him? Our old editor?) who was puzzled since he got permission to
run it. No, Ms. Woods told me, we had to pay a bunch of money to her and
that Visa or MasterCard would be fine. Still no answer to my question,
but since I felt so bad for creating the situation I didn't say anything.
For a little while. Finally, once we lost NewsBytes coverage, I wrote her
back ONCE AGAIN asking for an explanation for the lack of Amiga coverage.
That was probably a month and a half ago. Thanks, Wendy, for being so
prompt.
On a brighter side, Commodore International and MOST of its subsidiaries
are still in business. :)
Seriously, Commodore should have hired Atari's publicist. A company with
a stock value of 75 cents tells the world they've got a cool game
machine, and it goes up above 10 dollars? It wasn't overnight, but
still...a company that can't build its own machines has people excited?
And we get upset when Commodore shuts plants down and 1200s are in short
supply? Yep, it could be better and it could be worse for us.
On a final note: It has been encouraging to see the submissions increase
for AR. I think we're on a path to do well. I also wish the best of
luck to CD^32View Magazine. I hope it works out as well for you as it
has here.
Emulation Rambler
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% Emulation Rambler By Jason Compton %%
%% (jcompton@tcity.com) %%
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
]
Welcome back, emulation fans. I'll delve into Emplant Part Four, with
some 4.0 and some A-Max updates...
Emplant Updates and a Quicker Way
---------------------------------
Emplant V4.0 is out, with the long-promised Amiga serial support. I don't
have it up and running yet. There have been the usual installation
problems, but that's usual. L. Todd Masco has set up a mailing list for
the new updates. To get on the list, send some mail to
emplant-request@clinton.com. There are over 60 people on the list now
and 4.0 IS mailing. Something got garbled in my copy, however, which is
why I don't have it yet. The mailings are pretty fast. I got it Tuesday,
and I heard about it no earlier than this past Sunday. It's considerably
easier than trying to get through to Utilities Unlimited's BBS.
Benchmarks! Yeah!
------------------
I turn my column over to Mauricio Piacentini for a time, who has been
instrumental in providing me with benchmarks and reviewing Emplant-run
software I can't get my hands on (you'll see that momentarily) For now,
here are his Speedometer readings for an Amiga 4000/040 with EGS Spectrum
board and Mac emulation software V3.91. I'll include the entire list,
since it's the only one this issue...ready?
System Information:
Computer: Mac Quadra 900
CPU: MC68040
FPU: Integral FPU
MMU: Mac II AMU
Color Quickdraw: 2.30 (32 Bit QD)
System Version: 7.1.6
Finder Version: 7.1
AppleTalk Version: Not Loaded
LaserWriter Version: Not Found
StyleWriter Version:Not Found
ImageWriter Version: Not Found
ROM Version: $0178
ROM Size: 256
Bit Depth: 8
Horizontal DPI: 72
Vertical DPI: 72
Primary Screen Size: 640 x 480
Physical RAM: 14336K
Logical RAM: 14336K
Addressing Mode: 32 bit
Alias Manager: Present
Apple Events: Present
Comm. Toolbox: 7.1.6
Script Manager: 7.1.6
Text Edit: Version 5
Time Manager: Version 3 (Extended)
P.R. Results (Uses Mac Classic as 1.0):
CPU: 14.416
Graphics: 4.557
Disk: 2.872 Name of Hard Disk tested: MACDiskao
Math: 113.936
Performance Rating (OLD PR): 19.102
Performance Rating (NEW PR): 6.094
Benchmark Results (Uses Mac Classic as 1.0):
KWhetstones: 1666.666 228.310
Dhrystones: 18072.289 18.548
Towers: 17.828
QuickSort: 15.147
Bubble Sort: 17.234
Queens: 18.320
Puzzle: 19.485
Permutations: 19.543
Fast Fourier: 158.662
F.P. Matrix Multiply: 120.129
Integer Matrix Multiply: 18.413
Sieve: 12.889
Benchmark Average: 55.376
FPU Tests (Uses Mac II as 1.0):
FFPU Fast Fourier: 8.944
FPU KWhetstones: 3749.999 5.250
FPU F.P. Matrix Mult.: 7.166
FPU Test Average: 7.120
Color Tests (Uses Mac II as 1.0):
Black & White: 0.000
4 Colors: 0.000
16 Colors: 0.000
256 Colors: 2.138
Color Test Average: 2.138
]
Just to recap, when I last posted his results under I believe Emplant 3.4,
the CPU rating was .3 lower and the Math rating was 40 points lower. Not
too bad of an improvement, I'm led to say. One thing that puzzles me is
that the FPU average is actually LOWER this time, at 7.12 compared to the
previous 7.336. Strange. Perhaps the FPU routines were not improved at
the expense of better regular math routines. I can't say. Any theories?
A program that doesn't work!
----------------------------
I've actually found a program that just does not work with any acceptable
functionality on the Emplant: Graphical Analysis by Vernier Software.
It's basically a small program which allows you to enter data and plot it
on a few different types of graphs. The problem is that all of the data
gets garbage tacked onto the end of it. The result is unacceptable. The
copyright date is 1991, so I cannot be sure if it is a System 7.1 or 32-
bit addressing conflict. I can't verify either from Emplant (24-bit mode
eludes me), but I do know it runs on A-Max II under System 6.0.5. It
also works on "real" Macs under 6.0.7, and I am almost positive I have
seen it on System 7.
More Mauricio!
--------------
I admit, I have been falling a little behind in terms of getting
more Mac programs to test out. I promise this will improve, and I
won't hesitate to update you on new programs I encounter even after
the Emplant/A-Max IV series has ended. Mauricio comes to my rescue
with some information on programs I wouldn't have much chance of
rounding up on my own...
Adobe Photoshop 2.5: "Performs flawlessly with Emplant 3.91, and
it's very fast...24-bit modes are too slow to use, except for a
quick view of your work-in-progress." (he does say that 256 is
usable).
Fractal Painter 2.0: "A strange bug: it can only be used one time!
When it quits, it tries to write something to the file 'Painter
settings', and this file can't be used again!! The solution is to
reinstall the file, or move a previous saved copy over to the
corrupted one. Not very good..."
After Effects 1.1: "Works solidly with Emplant."
Premiere: "Quicktime editing is ok, Quicktime playback on my system is
equal to a Quadra 900".
Paint Alchemy Photoshop plug-in: "Crashes every time it previews
something. I think this is not an Emplant problem, because Paint
Alchemy crashes randomly when used with a Quadra 800, so let's not blame
Jim on that."
If anyone has a suggestion as to how to move large amounts of files back
and forth between Emplant (we're talking faster than using the transfer
utility), let him know at mauricio.piacentini%mandic@ax.apc.org. For
that matter, let me know, so I can let everyone else know. His current
plan is to use a PC-formatted Syquest cartridge and access it by both
sides.
Promises for the future
-----------------------
I've got PageMaker coming, I've got some more games and assorted
utilities to run, and I now have A-Max IV.
FLASH!
------
I DO have Emplant Mac V4.0 right now. Next week will be a complete look,
but for now, here's some selected bits of information from the text files
in the new release:
Amiga serial and back-and-forth text clipping is now supported.
The new multi-os.device bugs are being hammered out.
Some i/o has been improved.
The menus have changed and the config screen can be iconified.
Both Emplant serial ports now support AppleTalk.
Chauna is Jim's wife.
Finally, the best piece of news for potential Emplant buyers: Emplant
now supports the original v1.1 and v1.2 256k Mac ROMs, the ones
without high density support. Apparently, Mac dealers and suppliers
are literally throwing these things away, and can be had for very
cheap, if for anything at all. Emplant will use them and still
supports high density drives.
That's it for this week. Keep the emulators warm.
P.S. There's also a comment in there that reads: "Special input to
Denny Atkin for his input and unbiased reviews. :-)". I know who Mr.
Atkin is, but I don't get the joke.
Amiga RealTime Monitor
Table of Contents
TITLE
ARTM Amiga RealTime Monitor
RELEASE
2.0
AUTHOR
Franz-Josef Mertens (fjmumerlin.tynet.sub.org)
SHORT
A system to monitor and change system structures
DESCRIPTION
ARTM 2.0 (Amiga Real Time Monitor) displays and controls
system activity such as tasks, windows, libraries, devices,
resources, ports, residents, interrupts, vectors, memory,
mounts, assigns, locks, fonts, hardware, res_cmds, semaphores
a little SystemMonitor and display the last Alert.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
ARTM requires Amigados 2.04 or higher.
NEW FEATURES
Function Semaphoren is added.
Semaphoren could be released and or removed.
The ARTM window is sizeable.
Create an ARTM.guide
Onlinehelp with HELP-KEY over guide created
Create an Installer script
EnforcerHits removed
HOST NAME
AMINET (E.G. WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU)
DIRECTORY
/PUB/AMINET/UTIL/MONI
FILE NAME
ARTM20.LHA - include all files (program guides etc.)
PRICE
ARTM is shareware.
Registered versions are available for $15US or 20DM.
See documentation for details.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
The archive are greely distributable in original and
unmodified form. See documentation for details.
ARTM is (C) copyright 1991-94 by Franz-Josef Mertens & D.Jansen
Table of Contents
TITLE
The Duniho and Duniho Life Pattern Indicator
VERSION
V3.20
AUTHOR
Fergus Duniho
E-mail: fdnh@troi.cc.rochester.edu
Netmail: The Holodeck BBS 1:2613/336
DESCRIPTION
The DDLI is a personality indicator measures for four different sets of
preferences that result in a total of sixteen different psychological
types. These four sets of preferences are
How we orient our lives:
Extraversion vs. Introversion
How we prefer to gather information:
Sensing vs. iNtuition
How we prefer to make decisions:
Thinking vs. Feeling
Which sort of lifestyle we prefer:
Judging vs. Perceiving
These 16 types correspond to the psychological types that Carl Jung
described in _Psychological Types_. They also corresond to the 16
Myers-Briggs types measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
The DDLI asks you a series of multiple choice questions and calculates
its results from your answers. It asks you to rank each of your
answers on a scale from 1 to 7. It also asks you questions on other
sets of preferences that are supposed to match various combinations of
the above four sets. This is so it provides a check on itself, as it
can be fallible.
The DDLI comes with extensive support material. Included are full
length descriptions of each one of the 16 types, the "Personality Type
Summary" by Jon Noring, and my own description of the Life Pattern
personality model.
NEW FEATURES
A "No Preference" option for each question.
Instructions at the beginning of the program.
Recognizes that "X" preferences are compatible with other
preferences.
Fidonet Netmail address added.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
None
HOST
Any AMINET Site such as wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4)
DIRECTORY
/pub/aminet/misc/misc
ARCHIVE NAME
DDLI320.lha
EAGUI.library v2.1
Table of Contents
TITLE
EAGUI.library
VERSION
2.1
AUTHOR
Marcel Offermans
2:281/614.1@fidonet
marcel@dutw30.tudelft.nl
Frank Groen
2:281/614.2@fidonet
fgroen@tudw12.tudelft.nl
DESCRIPTION
The Environment Adaptive Graphic User Interface (EAGUI) is a system
which allows you to build interfaces that, as the name suggests, adapt
to the environment they're run in. It uses normal GadTools and BOOPSI
gadgets, and does not modify them in any way. This allows programmers to
implement EAGUI in existing applications easily.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
EAGUI needs at least Release 2 of the AmigaOS, and is Release 3 aware.
HOST NAME
Available on AmiNet
ftp.uni-paderborn.de (131.234.2.32)
DIRECTORY
/pub/aminet/dev/gui
FILE NAMES
EAGUI21.lha (43014 bytes)
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Copyright (C) 1993, 1994 Marcel Offermans and Frank Groen. You may
distribute this package for free only if you don't make any money out of
it yourself. If you do, or use it in a ShareWare or Commercial program,
you must contact us first for a license.
OTHER
The archive can also be freq'ed from The Amiga Developers Domain (TADD)
at (2:281/614@fidonet). Using the magic filename EAGUI always gets you
the latest available version. You can reach TADD at +31-15-157954 or
alternatively +31-15-144825.
GRn v2.1
Table of Contents
TITLE
GRn - Gadtools Read News
VERSION = RELEASE
2.1
COMPANY
none
AUTHOR
Michael B. Smith <mbs@adastra.cvl.va.us>
DESCRIPTION
GRn is Gadtools Read News, a fully-featured, Gadtools-based newsreader
for the Amiga, running Release 2.0 or above. Some special features are
available on higher releases.
GRn supports locally stored news (via AmigaUUCP, C News, or NNTPxfer)
and NNTP in a variety of ways (AS225r2, AmiTCP 2.2 or above, DNet, AUW
and direct connection via serial.device or serial clone).
GRn 2.1 is an update to GRn 2.0. Several new features have been added,
and several bugs have been fixed. Refer to GRn.guide for detailed
information on operating GRn. The file INSTALL tells you how to install
GRn (sorry, Installer script didn't happen).
Significant changes between GRn 2.0 and GRn 2.1:
New Features:
+ AmiTCP is now supported
+ AUW is now supported
+ ReplyPrefix configuration variable added
+ GRnSaveDir configuration variable added
+ MODEID=SCREENMODE argument added
+ When GRn opens a Custom Screen, it now sets AutoScroll.
+ New GRn icon
+ Use the system busy pointer on v39 and up
+ NOSCAN only applies to the scan at startup
+ Add From: header to all news and mail created
(NOTE: this requires a fixed postnews for AmigaUUCP.)
+ LAST=SUBSCRIBELAST argument added
+ Keyboard shortcuts for the article list were added
+ UserShells are now supported for all external programs (this
means they can be AmigaDOS scripts, AREXX programs, etc.)
+ eXtract command added
+ A Distribution header is no longer added by default, unless an
article being replied to had one
Bug Fixes:
+ serial.device input no longer busy-loops
+ NNTP articles are not retrieved a second time for Save, Print,
Reply, Forward, etc.
+ You may now "Mark" an article as UNREAD, even when it is the
only article in a newsgroup
+ GRn now works better with tin
+ Refresh of borders on v37 and v38 is complete
+ The proper detailpen is now used in the subscription window
+ Requestors are now draggable
+ Subject/From headers over 512 characters will no longer cause
GRn to write over memory it does not own
+ No longer allow cancellation of arbitrary articles
+ Properly close socket.library if NNTP server connection failed.
+ Large fonts will not mess up the subscribe window any longer
+ The last article in a newsgroup may be marked as unread.
+ On v39 and above, mouse and keyboard movements are dealt with
correctly, when both are used to adjust a listview.
+ "Followup-To: poster" is now honored
+ The HOSTNAME argument is no longer treated as a synonym for the
NNTPSERVER argument.
REQUIREMENTS
Any Amiga with Workbench Release 2.0 or better.
To use NNTP requires an NNTP connection to *somewhere*.
HOST NAME
Hopper.ITC.Virginia.EDU
(Probably also on Aminet)
DIRECTORY
pub/amiga
FILE NAME
GRn-2.1.lha
PRICE & DISTRIBUTABILITY
GRn 2.1 is copyright 1992 - 1994 by Michael B. Smith.
GRn is copyright 1991 - 1992 by Michael H. Schwartz.
Freely distributable but not public domain, GRn is freeware. You are
free to send me money if you want. My address is in the documentation.
LazyBench v1.14
TITLE
LazyBench
VERSION
1.14
COMPANY
None
AUTHOR
Werther 'Mircko' Pirani
e-mail: werther@karunko.nervous.com
DESCRIPTION
LazyBench is a little utility for lazy people with a hard
disk crammed full of goodies which are too difficult to reach
because they are buried away in drawers inside drawers inside
drawers inside drawers...
LazyBench installs itself as a commodity, adds an item under
the Workbench "Tools" menu and waits in the background. Use its
hot key combination to pop up its window, then select an item from
the list displayed to launch your favourite application with no
need to mess around with windows and drawers: if you can click on
it, LazyBench can launch it!
This is LazyBench V1.14: OS 2.xx only, font sensitive,
Style Guide compliant and fully configurable.
Features:
* No extra libraries, handlers or devices required;
* Very small: just 18116 bytes!
* Supports both Tools and Projects;
* Unlimited number of entries in the configuration file which is a
plain text file containing a list of paths to your applications.
The configuration file can be edited/created with any text editor
or from within LazyBench itself.
* Supports virtual screens in any resolution. No matter how big your
screen is, LazyBench always pops up its window in the upper left
corner of the visible part of the Workbench screen. Alternatively,
you can make LazyBench open its window at a fixed position.
* Each LazyBench gadget (including the ListView scroller) has a
single key equivalent, so you could use it even without a mouse!
* Supports standard commodities Tool Types like CX_POPUP, CX_HOTKEY
and CX_PRIORITY, plus many more to give you full control over its
behaviour and GUI;
* 100% font sensitive. You can choose to use either the System Font,
the Workbench Icon Font or the Screen Font: LazyBench changes its
window dimensions accordingly!
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Kickstart/Workbench 2.0 or higher.
HOST NAME
Any AMINET host, i.e.
( ftp.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) )
DIRECTORY
/pub/aminet/os20/wb
FILE NAME
LazyBench114.lha (size: 23718 bytes, docs included!)
PRICE
Absolutely free! :-)
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Freely Distributable. Copyright (c) 1993,94 Werther 'Mircko' Pirani
LANGAUGE
English
MUI File Request v1.1
Table of Contents
NAME
MUI Fido File Request 1.1
DESCRIPTION
MUI Fido File Request is a GUI for selecting files from a filelist,
which almost every Fidonet mailbox provides for download.
The list of selected files is written to a .REQ-file in your
outbound directory.
The next time you call up your Fido Boss these files are
automatically downloaded by your Fidonet communications software.
CHANGES
1.0 Initial release (23.01.94)
1.1 (17.02.94)
- clipboard support
- 4D addressing is used for the request file
- multiple nodes
- download of the selected files
- XPK support
- appending of passwords to the selected filenames
HARD- AND SOFTWARE-REQUIREMENTS
- Amiga OS 2.04
- WB 2.1 (if you want to make use of localization)
- Stefan Stuntz' Magic User Interface 2.0 or better
INSTALLATION
Installer script supplied.
DOWNLOAD
Any Aminet site, e.g.
Switzerland litamiga.epfl.ch 128.178.151.32 pub/aminet/
Scandinavia ftp.luth.se 130.240.18.2 pub/aminet/
Germany ftp.uni-kl.de 131.246.9.95 pub/aminet/
Germany ftp.uni-erlangen.de 131.188.1.43 pub/aminet/
Germany ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de 130.149.17.7 pub/aminet/
Germany ftp.uni-paderborn.de 131.234.2.32 pub/aminet/
USA ftp.wustl.edu 128.252.135.4 pub/aminet/
USA ftp.cdrom.com 192.153.46.2 pub/aminet/
USA merlin.etsu.edu 192.43.199.20 pub/aminet/
DIRECTORY
comm/fido
FILE NAME
MUIFFR11.lha
FURTHER SOURCES
FIDO:
Mowgli 2:242/7 +49-(0)241-40 59 49
2:2452/107
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Freely distributable, but copyrighted.
AUTHOR
Martin Steppler
Internet: steppler@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
ADSP: steppler@cookies.adsp.sub.org
Fido: 2:242/7.12 Martin_Steppler@mowgli.fido.de
FidoLite: 2:2452/107.12
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.
In Closing
Table of Contents
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%% _ _ __ ___ _ %%
%% /\\ |\\ /| || // \ /\\ %%
%% / \\ | \\ /|| ||(< __ / \\ %%
%% /--- \\| \/ || || \\_||/--- \\ %%
%% /______________________________\\ %%
%% / \\ %%
%% Amiga Report International Online Magazine %%
%% March 4, 1994 ~ Issue No. 2.08 %%
%% 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.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The most downloaded files from wustl.edu during the week until 28-Feb-94
File Dir Size Description
------------------- --- ---- -----------
PPShow40.lha gfx/show 79K+ILBM/ANIM/GIF/JPEG/DataTypes viewer
SysInfo323.lha util/moni 48K SysInfo v3.23
motowb.lha util/wb 30K+Motorola backdrops for MagicWB.
DiskSpareDevic16.lha disk/misc 15K+Use 984kB or 1.968MB floppy disks!
Incinerator.lha game/demo 236K 3d Missile Command type game playable demo
MWB_Icons-1.1.lha util/wb 39K+Another MagicWB icon collection
AGA-Klondike1-3.lzh game/think 394K+Klondike AGA, Works on 1200/4000
lx103.lha util/arc 34K+Fast LhA compatable dearchiver/decompresso
whats-up.lha mods/pro 464K+4 Non-blondes techno mod
RDS20.lha gfx/3d 123K+Random dot stereogram generator v2.0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
