Amiga Report Online Magazine #3.10 -- May 17, 1995
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"THE Online Source for Amiga Information!"
Copyright 1995 FS Publications
All Rights Reserved
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== May 17, 1995 \\// Issue No. 3.10 ==
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Table of Contents
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== Main Menu ==
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Editorial and Opinion Featured Articles
Reviews News & Press Releases
FTP Announcements Reader Mail
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About AMIGA REPORT
Contact Information and Copyrights
Where to Get AR Advertisements
Mailing List & Distribution Sites Online Services, Dealers, Ordering
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// | | //
========//====| Amiga Report International Online Magazine |======//=====
== \\// | Issue No. 3.10 May 17, 1995 | \\// ==
==============| "THE Online Source for Amiga Information!" |=============
|______________________________________________|
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== The Amiga Report Staff ==
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Editor
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== EDITOR ==
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Jason Compton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Internet Address
-------- -------
jcompton@shell.portal.com 1203 Alexander Ave
jcompton@xnet.com Streamwood, IL 60107-3003
USA
Fax Phone
--- -----
708/741-0689 708/289-7047
Senior Editor
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== SENIOR EDITOR ==
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Robert Niles
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Internet Address
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rniles@Wolfe.NET 506 W. Orchard
Selah, WA 98942
FidoNet Fax
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1:3407/103 509/697-5064
Assistant Editor
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== ASSISTANT EDITOR ==
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Katherine Nelson
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Internet
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Kati@cup.portal.com
Games Editor
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== GAMES EDITOR ==
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Sean Caszatt
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Internet
--------
Sean.Caszatt@f512.n2601.z1.fidonet.org
compt.sys.editor.desk
Table of Contents
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== compt.sys.editor.desk By: Jason Compton ==
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What is there to say?
Not enough, unfortunately. Escom has appointed a head of engineering for
"Amiga Computer" (the current working name for the new Escom company that
will handle the Commodore assets) in Dr. Peter Kittel, a veteran of
Commodore Germany.
As of now, though, the company has no chief executive, hasn't moved into a
building yet, hasn't announced distribution plans for North America, South
America, or Australia, and hasn't announced concrete plans for future Amiga
technology.
As such, there's still no "good place" to contact Escom and be heard on the
Amiga issue.
I do give them full credit-things have got to be hectic right now. But it
is very hard on those who must sit and wait.
There is something good-Dr. Kittel has agreed to do an Amiga Report IRC
conference, and has offered to do a regular "questions and answers" column
for us.
As things are now, things certainly aren't at a standstill. I'm playing
phone tag with the CEO of Viscorp, a company that just licensed the Amiga
technology from Escom. Three major shows are planned for North America
this year-independently organized, but you can't have everything.
And we got our own listserv again. What could be better?
In other news, the first issue of the Amiga Report Tech Journal is out, and
was received quite well. Submissions are welcome-and encouraged. Contact
Gregory Block, the editor, as editor@oubliette.com.
Keep paying attention, it's bound to get more hectic before it calms
down...
Jason
Commercial Products
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== Commercial Products ==
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Editor's Choice Jason's picks
Commercial Online Services Sign-Up Information
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Opinion News Articles Reviews Announce
Reader Mail
Table of Contents
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== Reader Mail ==
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From: BChandley@aol.com
Subject: Follow up
Dear Jason,
A while back I wrote you and your staff to tell you what a great job you do
informing the Amiga community about news and new products for the Amiga.
You continue to do a great job and all more important now that Amiga World
bit the dust.
The reason I am writing you this time is the concern I have with a company
in which I feel produces one of the top five software products for the
amiga.In March of last year I purchased Scala Info Channel and Info channel
player. Since the purchase I have tried many times to get more informa
tion from Scala on new releases of the Info Channel software and new
product information. I have gotten absolutely nowhere with this company.
It is really sad to purchase $3,000 dollars worth of software from a
company and not be able to be informed of new product. A company such as
Scala that creates software to keep people informed at that. Please see
what you can find out from this company. Maybe you have to have a magizine
to find out anything from them!
Feel free to use this letter anyway you see fit. I hope anyone considering
buying a product from Scala will understand they will never hear a word
from them.
Thanks for any help in this matter.
Bruce Chandley BChandlley@aol.com
--------------------------------------
From: flundin@canit.se@canit.se (Fredrik Lundin)
Date: Tue May 09 15:07:05 1995
Hi Amiganoids...
After reading the information from Escoms head, Manfred Schmidt, when he
said they "think to integrate CD-32 in a PC".
As I see it, yeah.. maybe a good idea, but is it worth it ? I always
thought the CD32 was perfect for those who wanted the ability to play good
CD-ROM based games, without the need to buy an expensive 'Multimedia' PC
(Soundburner.. blaster and CD-ROM).
1. Most games on the CD32 are available on the PC clowns, sometimes
the CD32 use more colours and much better scrolling etc, but
considering that several of the PC bestsellers DO NOT exist on the CD32,
a PC486 user with a 'multimedia' system, do not really need or want a
CD32 card in his Amiga, unless some really really good games only come
out for the CD32, and the CD32-card had a price of less ca. 99 USD.
(no need for CD-ROM, powersupply, case etc.. cuts costs!)
2. One other great feature with the CD32 is the expansion box, for
someone without a PC, and have bought the CD32 only for games (as
described earlier above) could later buy this box, SX1 is the only one
at the moment.. and that way get into computers! Not with PC or MAC,
not with Windows.. but with AmigaOS! The next time he might buy
something more expensive.. but he want the same system he learned
his computing on, not some tricky and expensive PC. :)
3. AMIGA-card for the PC, was also mentioned, as well for the
Apple Performa and Power PC. This is a much better idea!
The hard thing is to convice the PC-users to buy the card though...
After that, they might partially convert from Windows to AmigaOS...
If someone could manage to write CyberGfx or EGS drivers to use the
SVGA graphics built-in most PC's also, hmm.. could this work ?
I would like to know what other people think ! Also ask yer PC and MAC
'friends', after you have shown them the AmigaOS on your Amiga.. "If you
could have this, for lets say... 250-300 USD on a card, would you buy it?"
Amiga Report Listserv!
Table of Contents
After what has been entirely too much screwing around with custom scripts
and a hand-maintained mailing list, Amiga Report once again has a real
listserv! (And yes, we fixed the problem where the whole world could write
to it.
The address is listserv@itesmvf1.rzs.itesm.mx. In the body of the message,
tell it-
SUB AREPORT <real name> To subscribe to AREPORT
UNSUB AREPORT To unsubscribe from AREPORT
HELP To get general listserv commands help
Notice that you will be subscribed to whatever address you write the
message from-and unsubscribing works the same way. If you need to
unsubscribe an account you cannot write mail from, write mail to
Jason Compton for removal.
Thanks to Alejandro Kurczyn for getting this service established for us.
AmigaOS Project Update
Table of Contents
UPDATE INFORMATION ABOUT THE AMIGOS PROJECT, APRIL 29th, 1995
ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES
- Chris Gordon is no longer with the team, he got a job offer and had to
go. He used to be the design coordinator.
- Chris Yiannias will lose his connection soon, the old WWW site
(far0066.urh.uiuc.edu) is obsolete and just contains a link to the new
site. Also this site has been unavailable for ftp for quite some time now.
- Philippe Brand is the new WWW/Net coordinator. The site has been up for
quite some time now:
ftp://amigos.telesys-innov.fr/pub/AmigOS
http://www.telesys-innov.fr/AmigOS/AOS.html.
These WWW pages are mainly kept up to date by me. A log of changes to
these pages is available from the main page.
- A German mirror of the WWW pages is availabe:
http://ernie.MI.Uni-Koeln.DE/Amiga/AOS/AOS.html
An US based mirror will be available soon.
- Olaf Barthel is the new design coordinator.
- Maarten ter Mors has been very busy with other things, he should be
available again soon.
- Version 3.0 of the memberdatabase is available at the WWW/FTP site.
UPDATE INFORMATION REGARDING THE PROJECT
There is a lot of confusion about the status of the project, as can be seen
on the mailinglist. The votes have determined the following:
- We will make a binary compatible clone of the OS, which should mean that
all _properly_ written programs should run on Amiga hardware. More on this
below.
- Memory protection should be added where possible. It will not be
required, and can be turned off. Under the existing OS it's impossible to
have full protection, and only new programs specifically written for it
will benefit to some extent.
- Virtual memory should be supported by the OS. Again: old programs will
not benefit (an external program like a new version of VMM should provide
that) but new programs asking for it will get it whenever possible.
- Resource tracking: only available to new programs. Having resource
tracking for old programs is very likely to break them. It may be possible
to 'promote' some of the existing programs though, but we'll see about that
later.
- Multiuser support will be added. (comparable to what muFS does, but with
a little more security). Having multiple concurrent users on the same
system can never be safe, but the files on the system should be rather safe
this way. It is also very good for networking and multiple configurations
for programs. Again it's possible to turn the multiuser support off, all
programs/files will then be executed/owned by root.
For a thorough discussion on the issues above, please read the IRC log.
It's available at the FTP/WWW site.
The OS will be able to run 'old' properly written programs on the Amiga
hardware *only*. Other systems will never be able to run these programs,
unless these programs are modified and recompiled. (Modifications required
should be small, like the Execbase offset can't always be on address 4 on
other systems). We also planned to have very strict programming guidelines
to ensure compatibility between different systems. Hardware hacking is
considered illegal.
The current API will be retained, improvements can only be made through new
interfaces in the API. New features shall not break old programs that are
written properly. Programmers using old API calls that can be considered
obsolete will be pushed very hard to remove these calls from their
programs.
WHAT ARE WE (THE COORDINATORS) WORKING ON?
Busy forming a team to work on the core of the system. Hardly any design
is needed for this, since it's basically copying the API and writing the
underlying routines. The only real design required (and that's true for
all of the OS) is the adding of new features. Ofcourse, any designs are
appreciated for this, but these should fit the guidelines in this text.
This core (think of something like the bootstrap, expansion.library,
exec.library, dos.library and all other things required) is the base of the
system. What it does is allow us to develop further on this core.
The core will:
- install some code that survives resets, if possible
- recognize the hardware of the system running on
- mount any filesystems available
- access the boot-filesystem to obtain the files it needs
- install available drivers
- bring the system to some sort of a default hardware state supported by
all platforms commonly used
- start the 'real' booting of the system (execute s:startup-sequence)
ADDITIONAL
- The language to use is ANSI-C. *Only* code that can't be written in
ANSI-C should be written in assembly. Optimizations can always be done
later, it's more important to have it working first and have the code as
portable as possible.
- All this talk about Object-Oriented programming is very nice, but it's
only possible to add an OO layer later on, otherwise the programming for
the OS could only be done through some specific language like C++. OO can
and will be supported through things like BOOPSI.
- On the mailinglist people are talking about having intermediate code
created by some sort of compiler. Upon installation this code should then
get it's final compilation stage for the specific target machine. This is
currently not an issue, it can always be dealt with later, and even better:
Vidar Hokstad is already working on such a system. Read the SDE files
available at the ftp site for more information. Vidar should have some
initial testing done soon, by the way.
- As soon as we're able to establish contact with Escom, we'll see about
working with them on this project. Several options are available, and any
or all will be considered.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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To unsubscribe send mail to: amigosannounce-request@aobh.xs4all.nl
In the message the line : delete <your email address>
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Change in USG Information
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Change in USG Information
-------------------------
From: micke.persson@dst.ct.se (Micke Persson)
Subject: USG
Hi, Jason!
I have a message for you from Peter Bornhall, Users Standards Group. He
recently asked in USG-Net, someone to tell you this and in case you haven't
got the info already, here it is; :)
Peter has trouble with his internet gateway, and his email's to you just
bounces back. He wanted to tell you that the address information in AR307
was changed around AR's release (bad timing), and the CORRECT address to
Peter Bornhall now, is;
Peter Bornhall Fido: 2:203/322.3 or 2:201/417.41
Bäck 5, Främmestad Amiga: 39:160/307.3
S-46598 NOSSEBRO
SWEDEN peter.bornhall@p3.tweed.ct.se
// Micke Persson, USG-Net Zone Coordinator
Escom's BBS
Table of Contents
We at Amiga Report have been provided with the information for Escom AG's
BBS.
+49-6252-73027 Line 1
+49-6252-73028 Line 2
+49-6252-73029 Line 3
Protocols: X-, Y-, Z-Modem, Kermit
Settings: 8N1
Baud-Rate: 14400
Online: 24h
Photogenics 1.2 Update
Table of Contents
PHOTOGENICS 1.2 UPDATE
Almathera is releasing on 15th May its new update of Photogenics.
Photogenics 1.2 contains important new features which have been developed
with the end-user's wishes in mind. We improved and added tools, options
for paintmodes and better support for different file formats. The update
from ealier versions to 1.2 is only available from Almathera.
Photogenics 1.2 list of new features:
Warper tool added:
The easy-to-use warper tool allows you to distort, stretch, bend and twirl
parts of your image.
Printing added:
One of the most frequent requests from end-users was to be able to print -
Photogenics can now print to any preferences supported printer.
Photogenics also supports the STUDIO II colour management system (not
included) for true 24-bit colour quality printouts.
CyBERgraphics 24-bit painting:
Photogenics can now paint in hi-colour (15/16 bit) and true colour (24-bit)
directly with any graphics card that supports the CyBERgraphics standard
(eg. CyBERvision 64, Picasso II, Retina Z3, etc..). Requires
CyBERgraphics drivers (not included)
Transparency Gradients added:
You can now apply various transparency gradients to rectangles, circles or
other shapes you draw and give the direction of your transparency.
Crop option added:
You can now crop an image to remove unwanted borders etc...
We added also for the end-user with non-AGA machines the
Ham6.gio/ShowHam6.gio and the 16 Colour preview. Photogenics can now save
and display standard Ham (or Ham-6)images as well as being run in a 16
colour preview.
Some improvement has been made to the Previews (Photogenics uses high
quality dithering to get near 24-bit quality from a 256-colour display) and
the Compose mode (You can use other paintmodes inside compose to combine
the two images in many different ways). You will also find new Paintmodes
(colourise, gamma, mirage, jitter etc...), NewIcon support, New .GIOs
(TIFF, PCX, HAM6, RETINA, ProGrab24, etc...) and many other improvements.
Photogenics1.2 is better, bigger and heavier with a 150 pages manual. It
retails at £59.95 and the upgrade from 1.1a to 1.2 costs only £15.00. You
can purchase Photogenics 1.2 direct from Almathera, Southerton House, 92-94
Church Road, Mitcham CR4 3TD.
Ten on Ten
Table of Contents
TEN ON TEN
Almathera decided that the dedicated Amiga user deserved a real big
goody. For the first time in the Amiga history a complete pack of ten
disks will be for sale for the price of £39.95.
The Ten pack contains:
Three early titles from Almathera CDPDI, CDPDII and DEMOI. PANDORA which
contains ClipArt, textures, photo libraries and demos on multimedia
application for POS, POI, Education and training: it is a must for any
collector of PD. World Vista Atlas - now works on all Amiga CD-ROM - is an
interactive atlas with maps, socio-demographic facts and audio track of
speeches and music. THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE contains the
complete text of all Shakespeare's plays, poems and sonnets. A very
useful reference for all students. TEAM YANKEE , the tank game recently
re-released on the Amiga, has been included for the fun orientated
Amigaist. If you think that is not good enough we have also three new
disks that will not be published separately: The PHOTOGENICS 1.2 Demo with
a library of picutres to play with. Our own compilation of Clip Art and
Fonts.
The Networking CD is your only bootable disc and gives you all information
you need to get the maximum from your nine other CDs This CD contains comms
software and information about WWW, Mosaic, Usenet, the Archie browser,
AmiTCP (get on-line software), Netreck the interacive game, the World fact
to complete your World Vista Atlas and much more.
As with all Almathera products the Ten on Ten pack lives up to the
reputation of quality and excellence for which we have become renown
world-wide. We don't substitute price for quality. However, this is a
limited edition pack, we are producing ONLY 3000 units.
You can order your Ten on Ten pack for £39.95 from Almathera, Boundary
Business Court, 92-94 Church Road, Mitcham CR4 3TD, telephone 0181-687
0040
Delfina DSP
Table of Contents
PRELIMINARY INTRODUCTION TO THE DELFINA DSP
1. WHAT IS DELFINA DSP?
Delfina DSP is a multifeatured audio board containing a fully programmable
powerful 20 MIPS Digital Signal Processor. The board is capable of 16bit
stereo digitizing and multichannel playback at 50kHz. Price will be under
$700, with an introductionary price for the Internetters at $400.
Features:
- 40 MHz Motorola DSP56002 processor
* 20 MIPS
* 24 bit data bus
* 56 bit accumulators
* Most instructions executed in one cycle
- 96k/192k/384k SRAM
* Dual ported (addressable from Amiga)
* Zero-waitstate (25ns)
- Stereo AD/DA (analog-digital-analog) converter (CS4215)
* Sample frequencies upto 50 kHz
* 16 or 8 bit linear, u-law or A-law audio data coding
* Programmable gain and attenuation
* Microphone and line level inputs
* Headphone and line level outputs
* On-chip anti-aliasing/smoothing filters
- High-speed RS232 interface (max. 2.5Mbit/s)
- Centronics interface
- Zorro II interface
- Fully programmable using included libraries
Software:
DELFINA software version 0.9 beta includes the following:
- delfaudio.library
* multiple 16-bit or 8-bit channels
* sound digitizing
* samples in PC or Amiga format
* sample rates upto 48 kHz
* channel panning and other effects
- delfina.library
* for user's own DSP software
* several DSP programs can be configured as interrupts
* full mastership of the card possible
- delfser.device
* serial.device compatible
* max. 115200 bps
* minimal CPU usage on Amiga
- delfpar.device
* parallel.device compatible
* minimal CPU usage on Amiga
More sofware will be released later.
2. HOW AND WHY TO CONTACT US?
The board is at prototype stage, so changes can still be made according to
good propositions and requirements. The libraries and applications for the
card will be continuously developed even after the product has been
shipped, so we will be always open for fresh ideas. We'd be glad to join
the discussion about wishes for features on the Internet News.
For information, reply or mail to:
Teemu.Suikki@lut.fi (design, software)
Jyrki.Petsalo@lut.fi (marketing)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Delfina DSP. Discover the Sound of Power.
NewTek Licenses 'HIIP'
Table of Contents
For Immediate Release
NewTek, Inc. Announces Agreement with Elastic Reality "HIIP" Host
Independent Imaging Protocol will be included with LightWave 3D
Multi-Platform and Video Toaster System 4.0
March 18, 1995 Topeka, KS
--NewTek, Inc today announced that they have licensed the Host Independent
Imaging Protocol (HIIP) from Elastic Reality, Inc. for inclusion in
NewTek's Emmy award winning Video Toaster and LightWave 3D products. As a
result of this license, Video Toaster and LightWave 3D users will have
seamless connectivity to the most important image file formats in the film,
television and multimedia industries. HIIP is a single unified
programmer's library which hides from view all of the complexities
associated with supporting a large number of im age file formats across
multiple computer platforms. Users of LightWave 3D and Video Toaster
System 4.0 will benefit from HIIP's automatic file format detection which
frees users from having to remember an image's format or having to adhere
to a rigid file naming convention. HIIP's flexible sizing and color space
conversion capabilities give NewTek customers the creative freedom to be
able to always use the right image for any desired purpose. "Being
available for the Silicon Graphics, Windows, Macintosh and Amiga platforms,
HIIP provides a universal link between the growing number of platforms
supported by LightWave 3D" said Arnie Cachelin, Director of the LightWave
Plug-In group. "There was a natural fit.... Elastic Reality's HIIP code
had all the right handles to easily plug in to LightWave's open
architecture." continued Cachelin. HIIP's inclusion in the Toaster System
4.0 software allows Switcher, ToasterPaint and ToasterCG to make use of
images in more than 20 formats including: JPEG, PICT, Alias, Wavefront,
Targa, SGI, TIF and Cineon.
Elastic Reality Inc., recently merged with Avid Technology, Inc., is best
known for its namesake product, the multiple-award winning Elastic Reality
special effects system. Widely adopted among high-end post-production
users, Elastic Reality special effects have been featured in such recent
productions as Forrest Gump, Stargate, Star Trek: Generations, and Tank
Girl. For more information contact NewTek, Inc. customer service at
1-800-847-6111 or Elastic Reality at (608)273-6585.
Viscorp license
Table of Contents
Thanks to Michael Kraemer for pulling this clip from his local German
newspaper on May 10, 1995:
HEPPENHEIM/CHICAGO.
The Heppenheim-based PC dealer ESCOM AG and the US firm Visual Information
Services Corp intend to cooperate in the field of interactive TV. ESCOM
will license the Amiga technology they bought in April. According to ESCOM
it will allow the access to online services via ordinary TV connections.
Viscorp can be contacted at 312-935-1010.
Video Toaster Box
Table of Contents
For Immediate Release
NewTek, Inc., Announces Portable Video Toaster for Windows
April 9, 1995, NAB Las Vegas
NewTek Inc., today announced a portable, standalone Video Toaster for
Windows NT and Windows 95. NewTek is known for developing the Emmy
Award-winning Video Toaster, the product that launched the desktop video
industry. The original Video Toaster established itself as the standard
for desktop-based video production," said Tim Jenison, inventor of the
Toaster and president of NewTek. "With the Video Toaster for Windows,
we're opening our doors to millions of Windows-based video producers." The
new Video Toaster utilizes NewTek's proprietary video compression
technique, VTASC, for real-time recording, playback, and non-linear
editing. The unit features a built-in time base corrector and utilizes
off-the-shelf computer hard drives for recording video. In addition, you
can work with a total of 8 tracks of 16-bit, CD-quality audio. The Video
Toaster serves as both a Record Deck in the field and an A/B Roll Edit
System in the studio. The original Toaster is known for its video effects,
color processing, character generation, paint, and 3D graphics. It
changed the face of the video industry by being the first video device to
incorporate all of the major production tools in one box at an incredibly
affordable price. With the standalone Toaster, NewTek has added non-linear
editing, CD-quality audio, and portability to the equation. Now you can
record video, capture freeze frames, add titles, design graphics, edit
scenes, insert 3D animations, and put together a complete video program
using a single, sensible "drag and drop" interface. Pricing for the
standalone Video Toaster begins at $7995.00, and the system is expected
ship in the third quarter of 1995. A professional model, which includes a
built-in control module with 5.6" LCD monitor screen and front panel
buttons, wil l also be available for $9995.00. Both models ship complete
with the ability to run Video Toaster software when connected to any
computer running Windows NT or Windows 95. In the field, the professional
model can be operated entirely from its front panel LCD controls. It can
even perform basic editing on the fly. The control panel with the LCD
monitor was added primarily for electronic news gathering and electronic
field production users, "But everyone will love it," says Jenison. "It's
very sharp and clear. You can shoot and play back anywhere, anytime,
without the need to be hooked up to a computer." In the field, this will
allow the cameraman to control the Toaster via his camera cable. During
the ride home from the shoot, the producer can review the footage on the
LCD front panel button. Back at the studio, the editor can control the
entire system via SCSI cable control from any Windows NT or Windows
95-based PC. "Over the last few years, we've had thousands and thousands
of people beg us t o release the Video Toaster for other computer
platforms," said Donetta Colboch, NewTek's Director of Marketing. "Now,
the world's most popular and affordable video production system is
available for the world's most widely-used personal computers. We
listened to their requests, then we added a digital disk recorder and audio
DSP (digital signal processing) system." The system has also been given new
versatility. "You can record and play back at the same time, so it's a
natural as a commercial insertion system or for the new cable-on-demand
providers." Video Toaster for Windows includes the tremendously-popular
graphics package LightWave 3D, a full-featured 3D animation system renowned
for its easy to use interface and powerful features. The new Toaster can
even function as the animation recorder for LightWave so that artists can
create flying logos, animated spots, scrolling credits, and more, direct to
disk, with the ability to play them back immediately. NewTek has given
careful consideration to its e xisting user base. The heart of the new
Video Toaster is the Flyer non-linear editing hardware. The Flyer's
operating system has been completely rewritten to act as the brain of the
new Toaster. At the same time it remains fully compatible with the current
Flyer hardware, which will allow Video Toaster Flyer owners to convert
their present Video Toaster system into the new Video Toaster easily. The
new Toaster not only works with Windows NT but also with present Amiga
Toaster systems. NewTek will make available a Video Toaster Bay
(essentially the new Video Toaster package minus the Flyer) to current
owners so they may enjoy the expanded capabilities of the portable system
while retaining all of the abilities of their current system. The cost of
the Video Toaster Bay for current Flyer users will be $2995.00. The
professional version will be $4995.00. For more information contact NewTek
Inc., customer service at 1-800-847-6111.
AmiJAM '95
Table of Contents
==========================================================================
Amijam '95, July 15-16 1995
Amiga Users of Calgary svermuelen@ragnarok.mtroyal.ab.ca
==========================================================================
Only Amiga Makes it Possible
The Amiga Users of Calgary are once again sponsoring Western Canada's
largest Amiga show!
Amijam'95 will be held Saturday July 15 and Sunday July 16, 1995 from 10am
to 6pm daily, at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) Campus
Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, home of the Calgary Stampede.
This will be the third time AMUC has funded, organized and participated in
the running of this Northwest regional Amiga computer show. In the past,
we have seen many attendees from all the western provinces and the
northwestern United States. We have every confidence that Amijam'95 will
attract even more attendees from the region.
As the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede is running concurrently with
Amijam'95, we hope to attract many more out-of-town visitors, by jointly
advertizing Amijam'95 with the Calgary Stampede Board. Our show promotion
also includes print ads in prominent Amiga magazines and heavy exposure on
the Internet.
Where to stay for Amijam'95
Accomodations
As Amijam'95 is being held during the same week as the Calgary Stampede,
hotel space in Calgary may be limited. The following hotels are near the
show site (within a 10 to 20 minute ride on Calgary's Light Rail Transit
System). Please tell them you are attending a conference at SAIT (Southern
Alberta Institute of Technology). Prices are in the range of CDN$75.00 to
CDN$110.00 per night for single occupancy. That's about US$55.00 to
US$80.00 at current rates of exchange. Double occupancy is typically an
additional $10.00 per night.
Avondale Motor Inn, 1-800-917-7779 or (403) 289-1921
Comfort Inn, 1-800-228-5150 or (403) 289-2581
Econo Lodge, 1-800-424-6423 or (403) 289-2561
Royal Wayne Motor Inn, (403) 289-6651
Highlander Hotel, (403) 289-1961
Lord Nelson Motor Inn, 1-800-661-6017 or (403) 269-8262
Days Inn, 1-800-325-2525 or (403) 289-5571
Holiday Inn Express, 1-800-HOL-IDAY or (403) 289-6600
Travelodge (North), 1-800-578-7878 or (403) 289-0211
Canadian Pacific-The Palliser, 1-800-441-1414
The International, 1-800-661-8627 or (403) 265-9600
Best Western-Village Park Inn, 1-800-528-1234 or (403) 289-0241
These are all located either at the west end of downtown within a few
blocks of an LRT station (SAIT is two stops up the line) or in the
northwest in a concentration of motels called Motel Village (SAIT is two
stops down the line) beside the football stadium.
SAIT Hotel Services
Worthy of separate note are SAIT's hotel services. These are run by its
Hotel Management Training program. The Amijam show site is just a couple
minutes stroll between buildings on the SAIT campus. The details are:
CDN$19.00 per person per night, plus 5% hotel tax Rooms are two bed
suites, full (daily) service is included in price To book, phone the SAIT
housing office at (403) 284-8102 and ask for Linda Lampson.
Contacting AMUC
By mail
You can write AMUC at the following address:
AMUC
Box 34230
#19, 1200 37th St. S.W.
Calgary, Alberta, CANADA
T3C 3W2
By email
Or you can email AMUC at:
info@amuc.mtroyal.ab.ca
Private communications should be sent to an individual's address at the
AMUC Express site, if in doubt you can email the Chairman:
amuc_chairman@amuc.mtroyal.ab.ca
Orders:
Orders for AMUC CDROMs can be placed by credit card to the address:
orders@amuc.mtroyal.ab.ca
By phone
AMUC also has a 24 hour answering machine which you can call to
get the current information on SIG and other Meeting locations.
The number is: (403) 244-6990
Promotion Plans for Amijam'95
AMUC's plans to promote Amijam'95 include:
Mail out to potential exhibitors and presenters (at the begining of April),
Construction of this WWW site,
Accouncements to the various USENET and FidoNet newsgroups and some mailing
lists,
Direct email to key people,
Advertising with AMUC CDROM sales,
Promotion at various other shows in the Calgary area,
Advertising in an Amiga magazine (probably Amazing Computing),
Advertising in The Computer Paper,
Local (Calgary area) radio coverage.
These are listed in approximate order of implementation.
Features of Amijam'95
What's to see and do at Amijam'95
Seminars
To entertain and teach both the neophyte and seasoned Amigan. Current list
of seminars:
Seminars and Workshops
Below is a list of current seminar and workshop topics planned
for Amijam'95. More seminars and workshops will be added as
speakers confirm.
Connecting to the Internet
The Video Toaster
Using Lightwave
3D Rendering Tricks, Tips and Techniques
Linear and Non-Linear Video Editing
MIDI Music Inside and Out
Inexpensive Colour Desktop Publishing
ARexx Programming (beginner and advanced)
Writing Runtime C++ Class Libraries
Developing Applications with MUI
Do-It-Yourself Amiga Upgrading
Presenters will receive a presentation fee or credit towards the cost of
their booth space. It is our intent to assemble a CDROM for the show,
containing seminar notes and freely-distributable supporting materials
(graphics, sounds, fonts, programs, etc.).
If you are interested in presenting a seminar or workshop at Amijam'95
(even if it is already listed here), please contact the Amijam organizing
committee with your ideas and equipment requirements. Send email to:
amijam@amuc.mtroyal.ab.ca
The number of workshops we can present will depend on the
availablity of equipment for the hands-on lab. In the past
this was supplied by Commodore, but we will have to find other
sources this time. If you can help here please contact us.
Exhibit area
A hall has been booked for a trade show exhibit area. Expect to see
vendors, developers, rare Amiga hardware, the Amiga museum, the Project
Multimedia Demo and a trading area for used hardware and software.
Games area
Multiplayer games for all Amigas and a focus on CD32 and A1200 gaming.
Open panel sessions
General Q&A on several topics with a panel of experts.
Amiga solutions CDROM
Enhance your visit to Amijam with a CDROM of tips, tricks and proceedings.
The CDROM will feature the first issue of the Amiga solutions database.
Personal networking registry
If you will help others for free or a fee, register here and a book or disk
will be available to all at the end of the show.
Fixit booth
Amiga hardware diagnosis and repair.
Registering for Amijam'95
Amijam'95 Registration Form
Please print this out, fill it in and send it to AMUC. A printable
PostScript version of this form will be placed online soon.
Company Address:
Company Name: _________________________________________
Contact Name: _________________________________________
Title: ________________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________
Address: ______________________________________________
City: _________________________________________________
Province/State: _______________________________________
Postal Code: __________________________________________
Email: ________________________________________________
Fax: __________________________________________________
Phone: ________________________________________________
We intend to exhibit:
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
We Wish to Reserve:
First choice booth numbers: ___________________________
Second choice numbers: ________________________________
Note the first 8 feet is $250.00, each additional 8 feet is $150.00.
Do you require volunteers to help man your booth? _____
Executed by (please print): ______________________________________________
Signature: _______________________________________________________________
City: ____________________________________________________________________
Date: ____________________________________________________________________
Trade Show Floor Plan for Amijam'95
Trade Show Exhibit Room
Eventually there will be a map of the floor space in the Symposium Room,
the main Amijam'95 show exhibit room. Seminars, workshops and other
activities will be held in other rooms we have booked in the SAIT Campus
Centre. Major exhibitors will be placed in the corners to draw traffic and
maximize flow, as has been done in past Amijams.
AMUC can provide volunteers to help man your booth.
Booth Pricing
The first 8 feet is $250.00, additional 8 foot segments are $150.00 each.
Reduction in booth pricing, in exchange for seminar and workshop
presentations or for loan of equipment for use at the show, may be
negotiated.
Booking
Booth space reservations are on a first come, first served basis. We have
some space reserved for whoever wins the Amiga bidding war (as Commodore,
GVP and NewTek have exhibited at previous Amijam shows).
Refunds
To receive a full refund, cancellation of an application for a booth must
be received by AMUC no later than June 15, 1995. After this date no
refunds will be issued.
AMUC's Amiga Marketplace
The next CDROM of public domain and freely redistributable software (and
future ones too) that AMUC publishes will contain a database of companies,
organizations and individuals in the Amiga Marketplace. So if you're a:
Programmer
Publisher
Distributer
Dealer
Consultant
Teacher
Artist
Musician
Video pro
User
Alien life form
and would like to be included in our database, let us know.
What we'll need from you:
Some contact information that others can use to reach you, such as:
Name and address
Phone number
FAX number
Email address
What general category you want to be listed under, such as:
User
User Group
Service (repairs)
Support (consulting, training)
Software producer
Hardware producer
Dealer
Distributer
Manufacturer (publisher)
And what you would like to say about yourself or your company. Please
avoid easily dated material.
What's this going to cost?
A single listing of 500 bytes or less is currently free.
Multiple listings (up to 5) of up to a total of 20K bytes are free with
either a purchase of the current AMUC CDROM set or a pre-order of the next
AMUC CDROM. If you need more space please contact AMUC directly.
How to submit listings:
Send listings by email to AMUC either as ASCII text (for the 500 bytes free
offer) or as UUencoded LHARC archives. Or you can put them on floppy disk
and mail it to AMUC.
Traveling to Amijam'95
Travel Arrangements
North American Amijam'95 Delegates
Canadian Airlines International and their regional partners have been
selected as the official carrier for the Amijam'95 Convention. Canadian
Airlines' Convention Air Reservation Office will guarantee you a minimum
savings of 15% off the full economy fare when you travel with them to
Amijam'95. Canadian delegates will be guaranteed a savings of 35% off the
full economy fares within Canada. American delegates will be guaranteed a
savings of 30% off the full economy fare.
Two nights' minimum stay and 7 day advance purchase is required.
Cancellation and rebooking penalties apply. Advance purchase fares offer
even greater savings. Should you qualify, you will be offered the lowest
available fare at time of booking (certain purchase requirements apply).
Please Contact:
Canadian Airlines' Convention Air Office toll-free at 1-800-665-5554 and
advise them you will be attending the Amijam'95 Convention, July 15-16,
1995 in Calgary. Our file registration number is 2384.
When making your registrations through your local travel agent, please
ensure they register your booking with Canadian Airlines Convention Air
Office. Canadian Airlines' regional partners include: Air Atlantic,
Inter-Canadien, Canadian Partners, Calm Air, Canadian North and Time Air.
Canadian Plus members continue to earn valuable mileage points with
Canada's best frequent flyer program.
Transporting Show and Exhibit Material
If you need to transport trade show or exhibit material, Canadian Airlines
offers 25% off regular Canadian air cargo tarrifs within Canada.
Coordination of cargo shipments must be organized through a local Canadian
Air Cargo Office, and the registration number 2384 must be quoted to obtain
the discount.
For more information
Canadian Airlines (http://www.cdnair.ca)
Cadvision's Travel Guide
(http://www.cadvision.com/guide/travel/travel.html)
A last word about AMUC
AMUC is a non-profit organization dedicated to the support of Amiga Users
and the promotion of the Amiga computer.
AC '95
Table of Contents
==========================================================================
The official Info Pack on the Amiga Convention '95
==========================================================================
[From its organizers...]
Please feel free to spread this file around wherver you can, as long as it
is not altered. We don't want people to show up at the wrong city or
during the wrong month!
WHY: We are putting on the Amiga Convention '95 (AC 95) to support our
favorite computer, the Amiga! We feel that for too long, the Amiga
has been ignored, and now that the Amiga is owned by people who
actually will support it well, we want to help them out in any way we
can. We also want to get a lot of people together to have a really
cool time!
WHERE: A College Cafeteria in Montreal, large enough to hold over 1,000
people, not including the surrounding rooms.
WHEN : August 1995
ENTRANCE COST: 7 Canadian dollars
COST FOR RENTING TABLES : $100 - 1 day, $150 - 2 days, for one table of
6' by 3' and chairs.
ACCESABILITY: The show is easily accesable by bus and train, as well as
having lots of parking space in the vicinity for cars.
COMPETITIONS:
Gfx (3d)
--------
1st place : $300
2nd place : $200
3rd place : $100
Music (mod 4 track)
-----------------
1st place : $300
2nd place : $200
3rd place : $100
Intro (64k max.)
----------------
1st place : $500
2nd place : $300
3rd place : $200
Demo (2 megs)
-------------
1st place : $1000
2nd place : $600
3rd place : $300
* Special Award ceremonies to give out a special prizes for the persons
that made some amazing thing with the Amiga Computers! (to encourage
some developers that are doing crazy thing with the amiga!)
Dealers/Devlopers on list already!
-----------------------------------
We are currently talking to the AMIGA COMPANY, owned by Escom, to get them
involved with the show. It will be announced in a later announcement
whether they are coming or not.
RCS Managements, Montreal(Canada) maker of X-Calbur, Fusion-Forty
GfxBase Eletronic, Montreal(Canada) a local stores!
Eletromike, Quebec(Canada) anohter stores!
Wonder Computers Montreal(Canada) also have stores in Ottawa,Toronto!
the biggest Canadian Amiga retailers!
PreSpect Technics Montreal(Canada) importers/dealers and also devlopers!
of hardware products!
Amiga Link: The online Amiga magazine!
* We will have Audio/visual equipment setup for presentations of demos,
programs, hardware, new products, etc.
If you want to buy a table, get more information on the show, or just
talk to the organizers, e-mail <af666@freenet.hsc.colorado.edu> or
<Zool@cyberwar.com>
N.B.
----
This is just the first announcement of AC '95. There will be soon a second
announcement in Amiga Link and Amiga Report magazines with the specific
dates and giving more info. Keep an eye out for it!
PC-Task Conference
Table of Contents
Amiga Report will be sponsoring an IRC conference with Chris Hames, the
author of PC-Task 3.1, and Justin Deeley of Quasar Distribution
Sunday, May 28, 1995 at 10:30 PM CET/4:30 PM Eastern US time
(Monday, May 29, 1995 at 7:30 AM for those in the Melbourne area)
Tentatively, the conference will be on channel #pctask. However, if in
doubt, join channel #amiga shortly before the conference time for
information on last-minute changes.
Escom Fax
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
ESCOM FAX: ESCOM ANSWERS QUESTIONS
===========================================================================
In early May, Marv Birkinbine from Maxximum Video in Boise, Idaho (US)
contacted Manfred Schmitt, president and majority owner of Escom AG. The
transcript of the fax follows.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1: (Marvin Birkinbine) It has been said that you plan on making 64's,
600's, 1200's. Is this true? What about CD-32's, full-motion video
module, etc.?
(Manfred Schmidt) CD-32 production we will also start soon. Also
we think to integrate CD-32 in a PC as well as in televisions.
We will also cooperate with many suppliers like Motorola and Apple
for new applications. The idea is to produce an Amiga PC board
which fits into Intel machines, Apple Performa and Power PC.
2: (MB) (No, not THAT MB!) Will you be setting up a U.S. distributor?
Will it be CEI? If not then who?
(MS) Yes! Not yet decided! We talk with all.
3: (MB) Will you make monitors? What kind? Multisync?
(MS) Yes, Amiga monitors. Specifications not yet decided.
4: (MB) Will you be fixing the 1200 & 4000 so they don't require 15KHz
scan? (For better picture quality.)
(MS) Yes, in next generation for 1996.
5: (MB) Will you consider national advertising in the U.S.?
(MS) Yes, in cooperation with distributors and dealers.
6: (MB) Maxximum Video would be a great place to have those spots produced,
and the cheapest!!!!!!!! [Ed. Note: Sorry for shameless commercialism.]
(MS) O.K.
7: (MB) It is said that you are looking into a Power PC chip configuration.
Have you considered the PA RISC? In the U.S. an 80MHz computer is where
the competition is. The PA RISC at 125 MHz would be a step ahead and it is
already reverse-engineered to emulate the Motorola.
(MS) We are always looking for the most powerful machines.
8: (MB) Will you be looking at continued A2000 support?
(MS) We talk with [obscured] to do it.
9: (MB) Will you be including hard drives with your systems?
(MS) Optional.
10: (MB) What sort of development do you see ESCOM pursuing to advance the
Amiga technology?
(MS) We will work with new projects, when we have defined the R&D
team. We will integrate the most successful engineers from the
team. We will integrate the most successful engineers from the
market.
11: (MB) Will you be setting up a U.S. engineering team?
(MS) Yes.
12: (MB) Will you be contacting Newtek to arrange new support for the
Amiga?
(MS) We have to.
13: (MB) Will you be contacting H-P to produce chipsets or a joint
agreement to license them to be a clone maker?
(MS) Yes.
14: (MB) Where do you see Amiga and Commodore one year from now? Two years
from now? Five years from now?
(MS) We will be one of the most successful multimedia companies in
the world. Commodore with Amiga will be a 1 billion US$ company
within three years.
15: (MB) How long do you expect it will take to bring product to market in
the U.S.?
(MS) September 1995.
16: (MB) Will you sell directly in the U.S.?
(MS) No, through distributors only.
17: (MB) How are you going to encourage software development in the U.S.?
(MS) Please wait. We have some ideas.
18: (MB) What kinds of incentives will you be able to offer the dealer?
(MS) Products, products ...
19: (MB) Will you be developing 16-bit audio for the Amiga? What about
MIDI?
(MS) Please wait.
20: (MB) Will you be correcting the dealer/distribution problem that
Commodore made?
(MS) I hope so. We will try our best.
(MB) Well, that is about all I have for now. Sorry it is so boring but
these are questions that a large number of my customers would like to know.
[Ed. Note: and you know how boring WE are!] I will close for now and get
this in the fax and send it to you. Thank you very much for taking the
time to fax with me. And I hope to have a long and happy relationship with
ESCOM.
Please fax this back ASAP to Maxximum Video Creations Inc., 208-322-3091 in
Boise, Idaho, U.S.A. As of 4-30-95 you can E-mail me at:
Madmaxx@micron.net.
Thank you again for your help and LONG LIVE COMMODORE/AMIGA/ESCOM!!!
Very truly yours,
<signed>
Marvin Birkinbine
4-27-95
(MS) Please send your company profile. Best regards.
Manfred Schmidt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Courtesy of Marv Birkinbine Transcribed by Sam Johnson
Madmaxx@micron.net unclesam@micron.net
Editor
AUSI Monitor
Amiga Users of Southwest Idaho
Usual disclaimers apply.
Amigas In Education
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
ADVICE FOR ESCOM IN THE EDUCATIONAL MARKET
By Lori and Ralph Vinciguerra
===========================================================================
As the new owners of the Amiga technology, Escom AG, attempt to formulate a
marketing plan they must consider one of the biggest market areas:
education. Schools, universities, and home educators are just beginning to
use computers to teach everything from literature and languages to math and
science. Many educational institutions are trying to decide on which
platform to purchase and what types of software are available. Many
educators that we have spoken to believe that the Amiga is a very viable
choice for schools. However, certain actions on the part of Escom will
help inform the decision-makers that there is another choice besides PC or
Mac. The suggestions which follow will help Escom foster the necessary
confidence in the Amiga and its new owners.
The first and most important action is to introduce the Amiga technology
into schools by providing educational discounts. Loaner or free machines
should be placed in schools to expose teachers and children to the Amiga.
Apple has made huge inroads into the educational market because they have
seen the importance of supporting the school systems. Also, children who
use Amigas in school are more likely to purchase them for home use.
Many schools and classrooms are starting to connect to the information
highway. Leverage AmiTCP and AMosaic and produce an Amiga-based
Internet-in-a-Box. Give it away FREE to schools who buy Amigas on an
educational discount (check out IBM's OS/2 Warp which has internet tools
bundled for an example). This will provide easy access to the Internet,
connecting the user with endless Amiga resources and countless Amiga users.
Along the same vein, start an Escom Amiga World Wide Web site (also gopher,
mailserver, and FTP) which is both an AmiNet mirror and a source for new
information, system specifications, support, Q&A, suggestions, and pointers
to other Amiga resources. Get on the information superhighway! All of the
other major players (Sun, Apple,SGI, HP, IBM) are out there. This will
give educators an immediate contact point on the Internet and confidence in
the Amiga.
Direct market to home educators. A low cost, highly capable machine like
the Amiga 1200 would be very effective if co-marketed with a handful of
educational software packages and perhaps a magazine devoted to the topic.
The Amiga Educator's List Newsletter is published quarterly and is a free
resource for people with e-mail or Internet access.
Vision impaired people who could benefit from the built in speech
capability should be a very good market. Inform special education
departments at schools and universities of the Amiga's strength in this
area.
Provide seminars for schools to learn how to integrate computers into their
classroom. Not only would Escom benefit from the seminar fees, but the
Amiga name would be remembered when the school goes to purchase machines.
Advertise in magazines which target educators. There are large sections of
family magazines, such as Family Life, Parents, Parenting, etc, dedicated
to software. There are also trade magazines and catalogs designed
specifically to sell computers and software to educators. Find out what
these are and make sure that the Amiga is visible.
An announcement for AC's Guide to the Amiga should be included with each
new machine. Perhaps ESCOM and PiM Publications can negotiate shipping one
issue of the Guide with each machine. This would provide the user with a
list of a majority of the available software. It would also provide the
publisher with a chance to advertise Amazing Computing. Since there is a
whole section devoted to education, it would help inform teachers of the
amount of available software.
Make the Amiga easy to network. Many schools are networking machines from
different classrooms together to avoid to management of large numbers of
floppies. Apple has done an excellent job of providing networking support
with the MacIntosh. The Amiga should at least come with simple networking
software and the means to hook machines together.
We hope that the representatives from Escom consider carefully each of
these suggestions. The Amiga is now represented in at least 100 schools or
school systems in the United States and Canada alone (see school list).
Because it has been successful in these schools, we believe that the
educational market is open to the acceptance of Amigas. Escom has the
opportunity to enter this market at a critical time. We wish Escom good
luck in their newly acquired business.
--
Opportunity With Learning - Educational Software for the Future
460 Summer Ave. Reading, MA 01867-3819
Lori Vinciguerra - President
Internet: owl@davinci.reading.MA.US
Amigas in Education
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
AMIGAS IN EDUCATION
By Lori Vinciguerra
===========================================================================
The following is a list of schools with Amiga Labs. If there are more of
you out there or if any of these no longer exists please let us know. We
will attempt to maintain an updated list and publish it in the AEL
newsletter on a regular basis. As you can see from the current list, we
are interested in all levels of schooling, from K-12 to college. I have
received many inputs for the list this month. I have also included the
list from "Famous Amiga Uses" compiled by David Tiberio and available on
Aminet.
School Name Departments
Alberni School District 70/Vancouver,BC Art, Media
Arizona State University Education, Multimedia
Atlanta College of Art/Georgia Graphics
Ball State University/Indiana Video Information
Banting Memorial High School/Ontario Video Toaster
Bishop P.F. Reding Secondary School Video
Bridgerland Literacy Program Reading
California Institute of the Arts Animation, Video
California State University at Fresno Media
Cameron University Physics, Communications
Carleton University/Ontario ---
Centralia Community College TV production
Charles Sturt University/Australia Image analysis, Art
Colgate University Art & Art History
College of St. Rose Physics, Math
Capilano College/Vancouver Computer Graphics
Costano School/ E. Palo Alto, CA ---
Drake University/Iowa TV
Emily Carr Inst. of Art & Design/Vancouver Film & Video
Ferris State University/Michigan TV
Fresno Community College/CA Video Information
Graphic School/Belgrade, Yugoslavia Animation, Image processing
Grossmont College Multimedia
Institute for Biochemistry/ Austria ---
Intermedia Arts/Minneapolis, Minnesota Animation, video
Kent State Telecommunications
Kentucky Educational Television Physics, Satelite TV
Logan Middle School/Utah ---
Logan High School/Utah Industrial Arts
Loyalist College/Ontario TV
Maarstricht University Hospital/Netherlands ---
Marine Institute of Technology/Newfoundland Multimedia, Video Information
Massachusetts College of Art Art
Massasoit Community College/Brockton,MA Cable TV
Middleton High School/Wisconsin Video Toasters
Minneapolic Community College (MCC) Film & Video
Modesto Junior College/California Art, Animation
NY Institute of Technology Art, Animation
Nicholson Catholic College/Ontario Media, Art
N Adeleide School of Art Edu./Australia Art
Ohio State University Art
Olympia High School/WA Video
Orange Coast College/Costa Mesa, CA Art, Multimedia
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine ---
Reg. School #7/ Winsted, CT Math
Remsen Central School/New York Word Processing
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Electronic Arts
Rhode Island School of Design ---
Saint Francis de Sales School for the Deaf/NY Media
Sherwood Secondary School/Hamilton, ONT ---
Southwest Research Institute/Texas ---
Space Telescope Science Institute/Maryland Video information
SUNY Albany Math
SUNY Oswego Graphics
SUNY Stony Brook TV
Stephen Leacock Collegiate/Scarborough,ONT Multimedia, TV Studio
Stevenson-Britannia School/Manitoba Elementary school
Toronto K-12 School System Art, Wordprocessing
Tulane University Video & Television
Tulsa Junior College of Oklahoma Video
University of Bergen, Norway ---
University of California/Santa Barbara Video
University of California/Santa Cruz ---
University of Florida ---
University of Georgia Fine Arts
University of Maryland Film & Video
University of Massachusetts/Lowell Computer Science
University of Minnesota/Twin Cities Video
University of North Texas Video Information, TV
University of Oulu/Finland Chem.,Computing,Geophysics,Math
University of South Florida Graphics
University of Tampa Animation
University of Toronto
University of Utah Video
University of Wisconsin Hospital Medical Research
University of Wyoming TV
Utah State University Instructional Tech, Vieo, TV
Valencia Community College Physics
Walton High School/Georgia ---
Western Illinois University Broadcast, Weather
Western State College/Colorado Art, TV
Westford Academy (MA) Math
--
Opportunity With Learning - Educational Software for the Future
460 Summer Ave. Reading, MA 01867-3819
Lori Vinciguerra - President
Internet: owl@davinci.reading.MA.US
Optimism Abounds at Video Toaster Expo '94
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
OPTIMISM ABOUNDS AT VIDEO TOASTER EXPO '94
Douglas J. Nakakihara djn@ix.netcom.com
===========================================================================
NOTICE: This is the originally submitted text for an article that appeared
in the March 6, 1995 issue (#134) of MICROTIMES magazine. (There are some
slight edited differences between the published version and this one.)
This article is freely-distributable as long as it remains unchanged and
this notice and the copyright remain included.
This article may not be re-published in any magazine, newsletter, or
similar media, including those electronically distributed, without
obtaining prior approval from the author. This provision does *not* apply
to USENET or BBSs.
Specific permission has been granted to Amiga Report.
Copyright(C)1995 Douglas J. Nakakihara.
The author can be reached thru Internet at djn@ix.netcom.com.
MICROTIMES is published by BAM Media, Inc.
3470 Buskirk Ave.
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(510)934-3700
MICROTIMES is available free at various distribution points (usually
computer stores) throughout California. The Northern edition is over 300
pages, while the Southern edition is a little less than 200 pages. This is
a multi-platform magazine, which includes Amiga coverage. About 200,000
copies are distributed each month.
SUBSCRIPTIONS (13 issues):
US: 4th Class $35 (allow 3-4 weeks for delivery), 1st Class $65
(allow 1-2 weeks for delivery).
MEXICO & CANADA: Surface Mail $50 (allow 4 weeks for delivery).
Air Mail $75 (allow 1 week for delivery).
OVERSEAS: Surface Mail $50 (Allow 6-10 weeks for delivery).
Air Mail $178 (Allow 1 week for delivery).
SAMPLE ISSUES: $5 ($6 for overseas) to cover postage.
BACK ISSUES: $6.
Although, efforts have been made to ensure the above information is
correct, there is no guarantee and prices are subject to change without
prior notice.
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Avid Media Group, publishers of "Video Toaster User" magazine, hosted
the first Video Toaster Expo at the Universal City Hilton & Towers,
December 14th and 15th. Held concurrently with a wide variety of Video
Toaster and LightWave 3D training seminars, was an exhibit floor with over
50 third-party developers and other support companies. Over 3,000 people
attended this mid-week show indicating a continued strong interest in the
Amiga/Video Toaster platform.
Famous Faces
Expo attendees included many recognizable faces. Of course, VTU
Editor-in-Chief Jim Plant and Managing Editor Doug Carey were present and
very busy keeping things going. Other attendees I saw included John Gross
and Taylor Kurasaki from Amblin Imaging, Tim Jennison, Donetta Colboch, Lee
and Kathy Stranahan, Bob Anderson, Brad Carvey, Alan Hastings, Stuart
Ferguson, and a crew of others from NewTek. A very special thanks and
congratulations to VTU's Ann Pulley who was the major force in getting the
show to come off as well as it did. (My apologies to the tons of others I
am sure I missed or didn't recognize.)
Jennison Speaks
The day began with a keynote speaker address by NewTek President, Tim
Jennison. He didn't offer any news about the future of the Amiga; however,
Tim did have some interesting things to say about NewTek. Jennison
indicated that the Flyer and LightWave are the company's future. Without
being too specific, he indicated that the Flyer depends very little on the
host machine (i.e., Amiga). Considering that LightWave is totally
platform-independent, the conclusion is obvious. Apparently, NewTek is
not as dependent on the Amiga as people might think.
Flyer Finally Flies
Demo Flyers supposedly started shipping in limited quantity to dealers
in November. People who pre-paid to reserve a Flyer will be given the
option of getting one with ".9" software. This is a pretty solid version,
but not final. The final version will be a free upgrade and will
supposedly ship by the time you read this. This will coincide with the 4.0
Toaster (and I'm assuming LightWave 3D) upgrade.
NewTek is being very secretive about what hard drives will work. I've
even heard that they may have to sell "Flyer approved" drives themselves.
Apparently, hard drives differ in performance, even if they are the same
model from the same manufacturer.
So where's my Flyer review unit? Well, I posed that very question to
NewTek marketing director Donetta Colboch. Apparently, the first batch of
boards are going out to dealers and people who have actually paid for them.
But, I am "on the list" and I should get one at some point.
LightWave Q&A
Also on the agenda for the day I attended was a "Q&A" session with
LightWave programmers Alan Hastings and Stuart Ferguson. It's hard to
believe that these two regular-looking guys single-handedly wrote the
program that is revolutionizing computer graphics.
The big news for the next version of LightWave is "plug-in technology."
This allows any developer to tie external programs into LightWave as if
they were part of LightWave itself. To make this feature as powerful as
possible, they got input from developers already doing plug-ins for
programs like PhotoShop and 3D Studio and found out what they liked and
what would make things easier. Alan was very frank when he pointed out
that the people doing these type of things would be able to take LightWave
farther than he ever could.
If there is good news in this cross-platform movement for Amiga users,
it's that LightWave will remain totally compatible across platforms. If
you make a scene file or object on an SGI, you can load and render them on
your Amiga. Hastings and Ferguson use a single body of code as the basis
for all of the versions, which should guarantee compatibility. Plug-ins
unfortunately will apparently have to be platform specific.
Fast Rendering
Several developers showed Windows NT machines equipped with 275MHz DEC
Alpha CPUs. Carrera Computers has one based on a DEC motherboard. Aspen
and Flight Technologies also had DEC Alpha systems, based on Aspen
motherboards. (If you are really daring, you can actually purchase an
Aspen motherboard separately and piece together your own system.
Personally, I think you'd be better off buying a configured system,
considering price, hardware compatibiltiy headaches, and system support.)
Prices hovered around $10,000, but that's for a complete system with 32 to
64MB of RAM and a 1GB hard drive.
Currently, with respect to LightWave, all of these DEC Alpha-based
computers are only being used as rendering engines for an Amiga running
LightWave, via ScreamerNet. However, NewTek will soon be shipping a native
Windows NT version of LightWave for the DEC Alpha chip, eliminating the
need for an Amiga or ScreamerNet. The great thing about these speed demons
is that they can function as regular PCs too! You can run 16-bit Windows
programs as well as native DEC Alpha Windows NT programs.
Not to be out done, DeskStation Technology announced the Raptor III.
The big news about this machine is that the CPU is on a daughtercard (ala
Amiga 4000) so it can be upgraded to MIPs, DEC Alpha, and PowerPC CPUs.
This may minimize the fears of obsolesence; however, I have yet to see such
a feature work in reality since so many other things change beside the CPU.
Amiga in Motion
VLab-Motion, distributed by NoahJi's, is a hot JPEG-based non- linear
digital editing system for the Amiga. It has Y/C as well as composite
inputs and outputs, plus an optional expansion module for digital component
input/output. No TBC is required. The graphical interface allows you to
create videos using cut-and-paste and drag-and- drop editing functions.
Transitions are all rendered, but they were completed pretty quickly.
There are also several "ADPro" like effects that can be applied to clips of
video.
The quality of the output is totally based on the capabilities of your
Amiga. As such, a fast SCSI II interface with a very fast hard drive is
highly recommended. The more data that you can pump through your machine,
the better the output. 16-bit audio is provided by their Toccata sound
board product and it supposedly will handle 256 layers of audio!
New Amiga?
NoahJi's announced plans to ship an AmigaOS-compatible workstation based
on the Motorola 68060 called DraCo. Features include Fast SCSI II,
dedicated 32-bit interfaces for Retina BLT and VLab Motion, five Zorro II
slots, triple-speed CD-ROM, 4MB RAM expandable to 128MB. It will
reportedly be compatible with all Amiga hardware and software that is not
dependent on the Amiga custom chipset and capable of 2:1 JPEG! It should
be available by mid-1995 and cost about the same as a comparably equipped
A4000.
Good Connections
I was also quite impressed with Interworks' T-Net product. This is a
distributive rendering software package that runs on the company's
Ethernet-based peer-to-peer network, ENLAN-DFS. (It will also support
ScreamerNet systems.) T-Net will administer rendering multiple LightWave 3D
scenes among several machines. You can even identify specific frames to
render. There are also provisions to adjust resolution, anti-aliasing
level, raytracing options, etc. right from the interface.
There is extensive real-time information about rendering activity and
statistics. T-Net will even send messages to alpha-numeric pagers on
rendering status and problems. It is highly configurable as to who it
should page in different situations as well as back up pagers to notify.
T-Net also features the ability to remotely control any of the nodes
from a single Amiga. It was surprising quick, though not as fast as really
being on the remote machine. Interworks was also showing their PCMCIA
Ethernet adapter for the Amiga 600 and 1200. In fact, they had an A1200 as
part of their demonstration T-Net rendering farm.
Other Cool Stuff
Alpha Paint from Innovision Technology has convinced me that you really
can do nice stuff painting on a composite monitor. Using the Toaster
framestore buffer for the video output, Alpha Paint provides 24-bit
real-time paint tools with a powerful 12-bit alpha channel. The product's
anti-aliasing, compositing, and auto-drop shadow abilities were very
powerful based on the demonstration I saw.
Silent Paw Productions was there touting their PAWS (Personal Amiga
Workstation) kit that allows you to transplant the guts of a 1200, 3000, or
4000 to a portable computer case. The company showed a prototype housed in
a clear plastic case and indicated that product will be available in April
1995. They estimate that a standard 2-hour battery will yield about 1.25
hours--remember, the Amiga was meant to be plugged into the wall and was
designed to be energy efficient.
ImageFX 2.0 was being shown at the Nova Design booth. This new release
looks to be a major upgrade to an already powerful image processing
program. One of the missing elements that has often kept me from using
ImageFX was the lack of a good batch processing program. This may be a
thing of the past with the included AutoFX batch processor. Some of the
other new features are thumbnail images for previewing, unlimited buffers
and brushes, new region controls, enhanced text handling, better
compositing, more effects and image processing tools, new format support,
and improved painting capabilities.
A 3D digitizing system for LightWave called VertiSketch was being
demonstrated by Blevins Enterprises. The Model I10, which I saw being
demonstrated, has sort of a robotic-like arm with a pointer on the end.
The device can triangulate the location of the tip of the pointer in 3D
space. The points appear right in the LightWave Modeler display and the
polygons are automatically built.
It seems to be somewhat of a tedious chore, but compared to what it
would take freehand, it is quicker and more accurate. All of the models
being used had thread adhered to their surfaces forming a grid net. The
pointer was then placed at intersecting lines on the grid. To draw an
analogy from image digitizing, it reminded me of using the old three-pass
DigiView setup, compared to today's video framegrabbers.
If you've been looking for a multiscan monitor for your Amiga, look no
further than CD Solutions' CD-1401. This 14-inch .28mm dot pitch monitor
scans from 15KHz to 36KHz and can handle all of the normal Amiga modes,
including Super72 and Productivity. (It does not have speakers or
composite input, however.) The display is bright and crisp--it appeared to
be a quality product. The company is currently working on a 20-inch
version. It was very nice to see a company so excited about bringing their
products to the Amiga market.
Questar Productions was showing off their new terrain-modeling product
World Construction Set. The main advantage of this package over existing
packages, like VistaPro and Scenery Animator, is that it is not limited to
a small geographic area. You can animate landscape "flybys" over the
United States or even the entire planet with reasonable memory
requirements. The terrain can also include things like streams, roads,
grass, etc. The demo animation being run was very cool.
If you are looking for a great TBC with a few extra features be sure to
check out Feral's Feral Effect. This is a TBC/Synchronizer and Digital
Video Effects device. It will work in concert with the Video Toaster and
solve one of its biggest limitations: smooth image resizing. It's great
for over-the-shoulder picture-in-picture shots.
PreVue Technologies was there with their array of Amiga-video
accessories, including the indispensable Sync Strainer. This device is the
only way to get multiscan monitors to cooperate with a genlocked
Amiga/Toaster system. If you are in need of a graphics and audio file
catalog program, FOCUS GbR's graphicRECALL may fit the bill. It is
basically a specialized front-end for Elastic Reality's ADPro and makes a
browsable catalog of miniature versions of your images. The actual file
can be viewed/played by simply double clicking on the miniature. The L.A.
Video Toaster Users Group had a booth and also a mini theater, where they
were showing some of its member's fine video work.
There were many other exhibitors, including several retailers, and I
wish I had the room to talk about them all. Suffice it to say there is
still a lot of development and excitement for the Amiga/VideoToaster.
Additionally, NewTek is very committed to continued support for the
existing installed base. For a machine that is (temporarily) no longer in
production, there is tremendous momentum here. This is good news for
whomever picks up the Amiga technology, but they better hurry!
Aspen Systems AVID Media Group Blevins Enterprises, Inc.
(303) 431-4606 (408) 774-6770 (208) 885-3805
Carrera Computers, Inc. CD Solutions DeskStation Technology
(714) 707-5051 (510) 820-5400 (913) 599-1900
Elastic Reality Flight Technologies, Inc. Feral
(608) 273-6585 (816) 525-8359 (913) 831-1791
FOCUS GbR InnoVision Technology Interworks
(212) 826-1240 (510) 638-0800 (909) 699-8120
L.A. VT User Group NewTek, Inc. NoahJi's
(818) 552-5025 (800) 847-6111 (303) 499-1975
Nova Design PreVue Technologies Questar Productions
(804) 282-5868 (800) 356-8863 (303) 659-4028
Silent Paw Productions
(703) 330-7290
MacroSystem Development's WarpEngine
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
MACROSYSTEM DEVELOPMENT'S WARPENGINE:
New Life for A3000s and Greater Speed for A4000s
Douglas J. Nakakihara djn@ix.netcom.com
===========================================================================
NOTICE: This is the originally submitted text for an article that appeared
in the February 6, 1995 issue (#133) of MICROTIMES magazine. (There are
some slight edited differences between the published version and this one.)
This article is freely-distributable as long as it remains unchanged and
this notice and the copyright remain included.
This article may not be re-published in any magazine, newsletter, or
similar media, including those electronically distributed, without
obtaining prior approval from the author. This provision does *not* apply
to USENET or BBSs.
Specific permission has been granted to Amiga Report.
Copyright(C)1995 Douglas J. Nakakihara.
The author can be reached thru Internet at djn@ix.netcom.com.
MICROTIMES is published by BAM Media, Inc.
3470 Buskirk Ave.
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(510)934-3700
MICROTIMES is available free at various distribution points (usually
computer stores) throughout California. The Northern edition is over 300
pages, while the Southern edition is a little less than 200 pages. This is
a multi-platform magazine, which includes Amiga coverage. About 200,000
copies are distributed each month.
SUBSCRIPTIONS (13 issues):
US: 4th Class $35 (allow 3-4 weeks for delivery), 1st Class $65
(allow 1-2 weeks for delivery).
MEXICO & CANADA: Surface Mail $50 (allow 4 weeks for delivery).
Air Mail $75 (allow 1 week for delivery).
OVERSEAS: Surface Mail $50 (Allow 6-10 weeks for delivery).
Air Mail $178 (Allow 1 week for delivery).
SAMPLE ISSUES: $5 ($6 for overseas) to cover postage.
BACK ISSUES: $6.
Although, efforts have been made to ensure the above information is
correct, there is no guarantee and prices are subject to change without
prior notice.
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
MacroSystem Development is shipping accelerator boards in various
configurations for both the Amiga 4000 and 3000, with built-in SCSI-2 Fast
DMA controllers. The high-end versions sport 40MHz `040 CPUs, while the
low-end model for the A4000 allows you to transplant your existing 25MHz
`040 chip and RAM to the WarpEngine for up to a 100- percent speed
increase. (Note: There is no CPU-less version for the A3000.) A4000
WarpEngines can hold up to 128MB of RAM (using 32MB SIMMs) while the A3000
versions top out at 64MB.
Because the SCSI controller is mounted directly on the board, you don't
have to worry about any Buster chip problems or incompatibilities like you
do with Zorro III expansion card alternatives. This is besides the fact
that it doesn't occupy a Zorro slot and is much faster than any
expansion-bus card.
Warping An A4000
The A4000 installation instructions are very good and I had the
accelerator portion of the WarpEngine up and running in about one-half
hour. The hardest part of the installation was removing the plastic
faceplate from the case. Commodore did a nice job with the drive
subassemblies (much better than on the 3000), but the faceplate is held by
several snaps which are difficult to undo without breaking them. (Make
sure you take the appropriate anti-static precautions when working inside
your machine.) A nice thing about the A4000 WarpEngine setup is you can add
RAM and change jumpers after the board is installed.
To test the board I got a 32MB SIMM from H. Co. Computer Products.
(incidentally, Lawrence Burkey at the company was exceptionally helpful and
knowledgeable in finding the chip I needed for the WarpEngine.) The
WarpEngine is optimized for 60ns RAM, although you can use 70, 80ns chips,
or even move existing motherboard RAM, with a decline in performance.
There are four SIMM sockets which can hold a mixture of 4, 8, 16, or 32MB
SIMMs. (Note: Ignore the instruction to rotate the SIMM "towards you." You
do, in fact, have to rotate it away from you.)
The manual has a great suggestion to move the A4000's IDE drive to the
unused space just below the floppy drive. This allowed me to put a
half-height 3.5-inch 1GB drive in it's place. (Normally there is only
enough room to add a low-profile (1-inch high) 3.5-inch drive in that
spot.) This left the 5.25-inch drive bay open for future use.
You should definitely follow the manual's advice to place the four
plastic standoffs in the motherboard first, when installing the WarpEngine.
I also found it helps to pinch the tips of the standoffs with a pair of
pliers to make it easier to snap the board in place.
A3000 Acceleration
Aside for the lack of the AGA chipset, I often prefer to use my A3000
over my A4000. I give up a lot of speed, but I like the deinterlaced
display and the on-board SCSI controller. Well, with MacroSystem
Development's 40MHz `040-based WarpEngine for the A3000, I no longer have
to give up speed.
Kick Me
Installing the A3000 version is a little more complex. First off, an
`040 will not run in an Amiga without Kickstart ROMs. My early Amiga 3000
(circa June 1990) shipped with Kickstart stored as a file on the hard disk.
As a result, I first had to install ROMs--I used 3.1 ROMs available from
MacroSystem Development. The procedure is a little tricky because the
existing ROMs are mounted upside down on a small daughtercard (sometimes
called the "ROM Tower") that plugs into the motherboard. You have to
remove this, replace the ROMs with the new ones, and plug it back in. You
might have to cut through some white plastic straps too. It helps to mark
the orientation of the daughtercard and ROMs with a black marker before you
remove them.
Total Dismantling
Although the 3000's design requires you to totally dismantle the
machine, it worked perfectly the first time and I was able to update all of
the system files without incident. (If you are upgrading from 2.x
AmigaDOS, delete all of the files in the ENVARC:sys directory. Version
3.1 apparently uses different file formats for the system preferences and
it won't automatically convert them. You'll then have to reboot and
reconfigure all of your system preferences, like fonts, Workbench
screenmode, etc.)
Warping An A3000
The WarpEngine installation instructions come in the form of a
three-page addendum. The same SIMM rotation mistake as in the 4000
installation also appears here. The instructions don't say you need to,
but you could anchor the WarpEngine with screws using the metal standoffs
on either side of the CPU connector already on the 3000's motherboard. (At
least mine had them.) Be careful though, I tightened a screw too much and
broke off one metal standoff.
There are a couple jumpers on the A3000 motherboard that need to be
changed and a jumper clip must be placed on a pin on a CIA chip. The
instructions are a little presumptuous in that you will know where pin 21
is, so for those of you that may not know (like I didn't), here's how you
figure it out. The chip will have a round dimple on one end. The pin
immediately to the left is pin one. Continuing counter- clockwise around
the chip, you count up to 21. If you are standing in front of the case
looking in, the pin is in the top-right-hand corner.
The A3000 WarpEngine is basically identical to the A4000; however, as
mentioned before, the maximum amount of RAM for the A3000 version is 64MB.
As such, there are only two SIMM sockets, where there are four on the A4000
board.
No Room To Spare
There is not much room in the A3000, so make sure the WarpEngine is
plugged in all the way and does not get dislodged when you re- install the
drive cage. On my 3000, the floppy drive was in the right drive bay and a
1GB hard drive was in the left. The original 40MB drive was in the rear
bay. I found that the floppy drive mounting bracket would press against
the fan mounted on top of the `040 chip.
My solution was to move the floppy to the left bay (the original factory
location), remove the 40MB drive, and move the 1GB drive to the rear bay.
Obviously, before doing this I had to copy all of the files from the 40MB
and set up a new boot partition. The easiest way to do this is to boot up
with a Workbench floppy disk and then move all of the files.
You may want to drill new holes in the A3000's rear hard disk mounting
plate so the hard drive can be mounted with its connectors facing forward.
(Note: you'll only be able to use two screws.) This makes it easier for the
SCSI ribbon cable to reach everything. Also, the WarpEngine butts right up
against the socket for the A3000's expansion slot daughterboard. As such,
I found it necessary to trim the bottom of the plastic insulation card that
fits behind the daughterboard.
Once put back together, the WarpEngine is totally hidden by the drive
cage. Adding more RAM or changing jumpers requires totally disassembly
again. So make sure the thing works before you piece it all together!
The Art of SCSI
The WarpEngine worked great with my Toshiba and Micropolis hard drives,
Exabyte tape drive, and 44MB Syquest. However, I could not get it to work
with my NEC double-speed CD-ROM, and my Sony DAT drive would only work if
it was turned off when booting up. I believe I could have overcome the
CD-ROM problem, if I had configured it properly; however, I don't have the
documentation for it.
Some compatibility problems can be solved by changing the SCSI jumper
settings on the WarpEngine. For example, I found I needed to use a slower
setting to get my older Toshiba drive to work reliably. I also found it
necessary to place a shunt on jumper JP1, so that SCSI termination was
powered by the bus.
An internal SCSI ribbon cable is provided with the board, but if you
have external devices, you'll have to purchase an external connector. The
external connector is the 50-pin SCSI-2 variety and attaches to the end of
the internal ribbon. On the A4000 you mount the connector using the hole
on the back of the 4000 marked "Expansion." For the 3000, you'll want the
connector mounted on a backplane to fit in the expansion slot area. You
also need a SCSI-2-to-50-pin-Centronics cable to connect to an external
SCSI device.
The WarpEngine installation disk comes with a nice utility called
SCSITools and a special WarpEngine HDToolBox icon that runs the AmigaDOS
HDToolBox program so that it will recognize the WarpEngine SCSI device.
These programs are used for initializing and partitioning hard drives.
Speed
I used the "Diner-West" scene from Brad Schenck's Diner LightWave
Objects Set (Terra Nova Development) to test the WarpEngine's performance.
The scene includes a lot of reflective elements so it requires a lot of
calculation. Resolution was set to medium with overscan.
A3000 A4000 `040-40 WarpEngine*
No AA 10m24s 4m31s 1m34s
Low AA 35m55s 15m19s 5m22s
Med. AA 54m41s 24m17s 8m39s
Raytracing on:
No AA 4h30m16s 1h10m33s 35m40s
Low AA 22h03m59s 5h51m39s 2h55m52s
Med. AA not performed 10h05m40s 5h04m37s
AA=Antialiasing, h=hours, m=minutes, s=seconds
A3000 and A4000 WarpEngine performance identical.
The A4000 WarpEngine performed two to three times faster than a stock
A4000, while the A3000 version gives a stock 3000 nearly eight times the
performance! Aside from rendering time benefits, your overall system will
be snappier. Directories will load quicker, icons will pop up faster,
screens will display faster, etc.
The WarpEngine can reportedly handle SCSI transfer rates of up to ten
MB/sec. MacroSystem Development tells me they've been able to get 9MB/sec
burst and 6MB/sec sustained with a Barracuda hard drive. My fastest drive
was not up to that spec, but it was pushing four MB/sec sustained.
According to the company, to maximize hard disk performance you can
optionally set the partition block size to 4096 from the default 512. This
must be done at the time you set up a partition, however. I tried this and
experienced an unexpected substantial reduction in usable storage space.
So if you have a lot of breathing room on your hard drive and want top
speed, this may be the way to go, otherwise, stick with the default.
Compatibility
As far as I could tell, of the few compatibility problems I encountered,
they were all related to upgrading to AmigaDOS 3.1 on my 3000. In
particular, AmigaDOS 3.1 does not like some of the old, but useful, ARP
commands. The WarpEngine worked just fine with all of the software I
tried, as well as my VideoToaster, Retina Z2, VLab, and Perisound boards.
Trade-in Policy
If you've already invested in an accelerator, Zorro III memory, or Zorro
III SCSI board, MacroSystem Development has a very liberal competitive
trade-in policy. The following will get you an `040 WarpEngine: $600 + GVP
G-Force `040, $500 + Progressive `040-28, or $950 + Fastlane, 4091 SCSI,
DKB 3128, RCS X-Calibur, or 3640 (this is the A4000-040 CPU board).
Coming Soon
Any of the WarpEngines can be upgraded to a 40MHz `040. The WarpEngine
will also be upgradable to the `060 (when it becomes available), probably
in the form of a plug-in CPU module. Soon to be released is a 50MHz card
for the Amiga 3000, called the ImpulsEngine, that will double the speed of
a 3000 and add up to 64MB of additional RAM. The board is expected to
sell, sans RAM, for under $500.
Conclusion
Breathe new life into your aging Amiga 3000 or put some added spunk into
your Amiga 4000. Better hard disk performance, greater computing power,
straight-forward installation, and solid design--you just can't go wrong
with MacroSystem Development's WarpEngine.
WarpEngine for the A3000: 28MHz $1150, 33MHz $1295, 40MHz $1495
WarpEngine for the A4000: 28MHz $899 (no CPU), 33MHz $1295, 40MHz $1495
SCSI-2 external connector, $49, $79 with cable
MacroSystem Development, Inc.
24282 Lynwood, Suite 201
Novi, MI 48374
(810) 347-3332
H. Co. Computer Products
16812 Hale Avenue
Irvine, CA 92714
(800)RAM-CHPS extension 122
The Amiga and Creation
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
THE AMIGA AND CREATION
Steven Judd sjudd@merle.acns.nwu.edu
===========================================================================
Several schools of thought on this subject have developed over the years.
Much progress has been made in this area more recently, and unanswered
questions remain, but an analysis of the subject is a currently maturing
field of study; I shall attempt to cover the salient points of current
analytical thought.
Let us begin with a typical human example:
- System Operation:
o Multitasking OS -- Most humans have the ability to pat their head
and rub their stomach simultaneously(1). Furthermore, the
average human is able to multitask preemptively, as is
clearly demonstrated by the fact that patting your head and
rubbing your stomach causes little degradation in higher
priority system tasks such as eyesight, breathing, hopping
on one foot while turning in a circle, and singing "I'm Happy
Just To Dance With You" by The Beatles. I have personally
performed this experiment, and it is easily reproducable.
o Custom processors for different subsystems -- the mere act of
watching shows like "Knight Rider"(2) while eating potato chips
demonstrates the allocation of independent resources to such
tasks as visual, audio, I/O, etc.
o Limited protection: Local failures may be contained, and
sometimes fixed, but illegal accesses/modifications can bring the
entire system to a halt.
o Auto-configuring. Put a pencil or a fork in your hands: the
typical human automatically senses the hardware expansion, and
uses it accordingly. Note that some hardware may be incompatible
with individual systems, such as chopsticks(3), gender-
specific items(4), etc.
- Hardware features:
o Built-in stereo sound
o Standard speech capability
o Easily expandable via hardware and software add-ons/upgrades.
o Although individual upgrades are made, the same basic model
has been used for thousands of years.
o Commodore logo stamped on each unit (take a close look at
your belly button sometime)
So by circumstantial deduction it is pretty clear that God uses/used an
Amiga for all His works. But there is evidence elsewhere as well; first,
an affirmation of the binary number system:
"But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever
is more than these cometh of evil."
Matthew 3:37 (KJB)
Note also that the entire Amiga history closely parallels the various
narratives on the life of Jesus, the most striking resemblance being the
Amiga's death to the passion narratives. Think about it: here we have
something that was far ahead of its time, at first welcomed with praise but
later killed by those who originally embraced it, but even with the
physical entity of Commodore destroyed the spirit is alive and well, and
obvious examples of the Amiga and it's spirit are there for anyone with
eyes to see.
So it is immediately clear that God used/uses an Amiga for all of His
various works and activities. What is not clear, and is currently the
subject of much scholarly debate, is what particular kind of Amiga He uses
(5) (6) (7).
Now, there is further evidence of what other computers were used for what
things. First, take the story of Adam and Eve. Presented with paradise,
they instead embraced temptation and suffered greatly for it, and causing
all subsequent generations to also suffer. And what were they tempted
with? An Apple. And who tempted them with it? Understanding comes,
slowly but surely.
We also have the following text:
Matt 16:18 "... and upon this rock I will build by church; and
the Gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
There is extensive literature devoted to this subject, so I will not go
into it here (8).
Oh yes, one more thing is clear: when God programmed the universe, He used
FORTRAN (9) (10).
AMIGA: God used it to create the universe: and you just thought the
"Kaliedescope" demo was cool.
AMIGA: The Computer For The Creative Mind; The Computer For The Creator's
Mind.
AMIGA: Do you want to go to Hell or do you want to use an Amiga?
(Note to imaginary ESCOM people reading this message: if you want to use
the above slogans, please contact me).
References:
(1) Weasel, Vole, et.al., "Stability Criteria for Head Patting and
Tummy Rubbing", Journal of Pointless Timewasting, vol. 9
(2) Callipygian, "Michael Knight: Modern Shakespearian Metaphor",
and "KITT: The New Automotive Voyeurism", unpublished.
(3) Smith, et.al., "Chopsticks: Who The Hell Invented These Crazy
Things?", What The Hell Is Up With This, vol. 13 Issue 5
(4) Smith, et.al., "Why The Hell Don't Men Get To Wear Bras Even
Though They Have Nipples?", What The Hell Is Up With This,
vol. 13, Issue 7.
(5) Smegma, H.M.S., "God Uses An A1000", proceedings of comp.sys.
amiga.advocacy, vol. 912
(6) Pluvial, "No he doesn't you stupid twink, He uses a 5000 with
AAA", proceedings of comp.sys.amiga.advocacy, vol 3912
(7) Beelzebub, "Is Creator 1.1 available for the Mac?", proceedings
of comp.sys.amiga.misc, vol. 216
(8) various, "Extensive Literature Devoted To The Subject Of Non-Amiga
Computers And Their Banishing From Heaven So That I Don't Have To
Go Into It Here", compiled by sjudd@nwu.edu.
(9) Unknown, "FORTRAN: God's language", Apocrypha.
(10) Compilation, "Emacs vs. vi -- What does God use?", OSF document
No. 31415A-1
The State of the Amiga
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
THE STATE OF THE AMIGA
Dr. Peter Kittel peterk@combo.adsp.sub.org
===========================================================================
Mr. Schmitt, Boss of Escom, has authorized me to publish the state of
affairs.
Most important item first: I have my job, and it's the of the world-wide
boss of engineering. Yes, I know, I start into a very difficult task, as
successor of real celebrities. OTOH I had eleven years time at Commodore
to study what is the wrong strategy and which leads to success. I will
spend all effort to avoid these known errors.
And now for the big picture: There will be founded a new, completely
selfstanding daughter company of Escom AG. It will have own rooms at an
own address in Heppenheim. It will be the headquarter of the new company,
with control and coordination for the whole world. One subsidiary will
exist in any case in the Netherlands, and it will do Europe-wide
distribution and sales. Further country subsidiaries are not impossible.
Yet there are no concrete decisions about UK, USA, and Canada in
particular.
The new company is yet to be founded, but this is currently in the works
with great effort. The name is not yet decided, it will probably be
something like "Commodore-Amiga" or "Amiga-Commodore" or the like. This
company will (at least for the time coming) care exclusively for the Amiga
model palette.
As can be inferred from the first paragraph, there will be an engineering
department, for hardware and OS software. For this there exist already
promising contacts with well-known and well-reputated names. Yet there's
no problem if someone feels obliged to send his resume (no email or fax,
please) to
Escom AG
Personalabteilung
Tiergartenstr. 9
D-64646 Heppenheim
Germany
You see, we consider ourselves an international company. Of course we only
want the best ones :-).
Further there will be a Support department which will do world-wide
coordination, but also covers the german area. Thus most of these people
should be german-speaking. The Amiga Developer Support Programm ADSP will
get reactivated ASAP. About those developers currently using BIX or CIX,
we have not yet decided. These people should feel free to contact me
directly at this private account (no company one *yet* existing) and giving
some input. In the past years there was a split among the developer
community into different communication channels. Thus no direct
communication of the developers among each other was possible, and for
engineering this meant double work to explain the same issues once on one
net and then additionally on another net. We will do everything to avoid
this nonsense in future. There are big obstacles, as there are big cost
differences in different regions of the earth, and simultaneously a high
degree of confidentiality has to be maintained. - Enduser support will
happen mostly in electronic form, via mailbox, Internet, and probably also
Btx.
Of course there will be also a Marketing department and what is needed in
admin. All together this will be a rather slim company of ca. 50 people
at first, but a further expansion is of course not impossible.
It is planned to restart production of the last current model palette,
probably in full scale, but no guarantee yet for this. Also of course not
all models will appear at the same time again, one after the other. As
Escom has an own poweful casing production, they will perhaps get a
redesign of their styling, in any case for the A4000, but the hardware
under the hood remains unchanged at first. First diverse contributing
factories on earth have to revive their production of parts. New
developments would mean additional months of waiting, before you could buy
the products. That would be too big a sacrifice.
The direction of the new engineering department will definitely be the port
to some RISC platform. The choice of this RISC is still open. There are
ecstatic advocats for at least two alternatives, PPC and HP PA RISC.
Chris Ludwig gave an interesting interview about this. It will be the
first task of engineering to prepare this choice of paths into the future
with all possible expertise.
It has been decided to be very liberal in regards of licensing in the
future. So, whoever wants to build e.g. an Amiga Laptop or a set-top box,
can get chips and OS!
As you all see, much of this is still a letter of intent. The points which
are declared as still open are *really* open, so there's no use in
bombarding me with further questions.
As my work load, at least now in the building phase, will be immense, I
can't guarantee my presence on the net like before. But who knows me,
knows that that would be most painful for me myself. So let's look
forward.
In the next weeks there will be press conferences to tell more and more
details.
Long live the Amiga and for a good cooperation.
Dr. Peter Kittel - Autobiography
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
DR. PETER KITTEL - AUTOBIOGRAPHY
===========================================================================
Dear Amiga community,
following some friendly request, I try to introduce myself and show some of
my background. Most people already will know much about me from my years
of Usenet participation, but here comes a summary.
I was born in 1951. I grew up, went to school and university in northern
Germany. The university was Technische Universitaet Braunschweig, and I
studied Physics starting in 1969 and finishing my doctorate in late 1983.
My thesis was in solid state physics, optical properties of silver,
investigation of reflection spectrum in high magnetical fields under
polarization modulation and at Helium temperatures.
Already as a schoolboy I got into contact with electronics, tinkering with
simple detector radios and later transistor amplifiers. Computers were no
issue in these 60's. Electronics became more professional at university
where I did many parts of my experiments myself with the soldering iron.
Ca. midway during study I first encountered computers, at first in 1970 on
a Philips Electrologica X1, a "small" computer (needed only two rooms) with
ca. 7 KB of storage and an Algol 60 compiler as standard environment.
Later I changed to the uni's ICL mainframe, also under Algol 60. Other
programming languages I learnt were Fortran IV, Dartmoor Basic, and PL/I.
In 1978 I had my first encounter with the Commodore PET 2001, and it was
love at first sight. On the 8 K version I did my own text system, which
grew by time, and which I still sometimes use for special purposes, ported
to the PC as well as the Amiga (in Basic). For the PET I also built
interfaces, e.g. one to use an analogue X-Y-recorder as a digital plotter
via D/A converters interfaced to the User Port of the PET, or another one
to use a teletype as a printer, as needle printers were too expensive in
those days.
In 1982 I bought my own PET, a CBM 4032 plus floppy CBM 4040. The 4032 was
the "fat" version, so I immediately upgraded it to 80 columns, or a CBM
8032. On this, I did my own text processing for my thesis, the printer was
a ball typewriter, the interface again self-made to the User Port. As the
typewriter was an electrical one, not electronic, the interface consisted
also of one solenoid per typewriter key to press it down mechanically. It
was very loud and not very reliable, but it allowed to change the print
ball for mathematical symbols or normal letters. My text system of course
supported this change in a very sophisticated way.
With this 1 MHz computer I did also all the numbercrunching for my
experiments, as our uni computer centre in those years was barely useable,
with days of waiting for a single job get done. I wrote a little compiler
to get a programming language similar to those of contemporary hand-held
programmable calculators like the HP 25, and got involved deeply with
floating point numerics, as I had to write my own square root routine,
because this was the routine my calculations spent 80 % of their time in.
In these uni years I got into first contacts with Commodore, which at that
time had a new manufacturing facility including an engineering department
in Braunschweig.
When I was ready with my doctorate, I tried to get a job in Commodore
engineering in their Braunschweig facility, but a colleague from the
neighbour institute was some days faster. But they said they needed people
in the Frankfurt german headquarter of Commodore, so I got there. In
February 1984 I started in Frankfurt as member of the Support department,
responsible for peripherals support, that was at that time external
floppies and harddrives (3 Megabytes!), printers, plotters, graphics
tablets, graphics cards for the CBMs, etc.
Commodore Support at that time was devided in two sections: "PC" and
"Systems". Yes, "PC" was for the *home* computers VC 20 and C64! And
"Systems" was for those Big PETs, or CBMs. I always was in the Systems
part of Support. Later, in 1985, I was for a short time leader of the
PCompatible part of Support, as Commodore Braunschweig had developed nice
compatible computers, which immediately got big market share in Germany,
directly rivaling with IBM for place one for the coming years. But shortly
later my talent for writing and german orthography became obvious and my
main responsibility changed to documentation, i.e. german user manuals,
for all computers we shipped.
In mid 1985 we saw the first videos of the Amiga. It was so astounding!
In March 1986 it was introduced officially in Germany. We tried to copy
the marvelous show at Lincoln Center, NYC, of July 1985, in our Old Opera
in Frankfurt, but did not really get it as nicely. Soon I began
programming on it, mostly in AmigaBasic, but later also in C when it had to
be faster or get distributed to others. The following years were filled
with many .More.. Amiga and some PC manuals, many fairs like the yearly
CeBIT in Hannover and other big fairs in Germany, many support calls from
end users or companies, much support for other departments at Commodore,
e.g. Legals in cases of Copyright infringements by cloning the 1541 OS,
etc. etc.
In the late 80's I began to use data communications to look into BBSes and
Usenet from the company. When I got access to the comp.sys.amiga
newsgroups, I knew that was for me. I read them eagerly each day as the
first each morning, looking for nice info from our US people or interesting
announcements of 3rd parties. What was not so nice were Amiga bashings by
several people, PC or Mac advocats, where I stepped in and defended the
Amiga against false accusations and other bashings. This way I met a lot
of interesting people from all over the world, most of them very nice and
some rather annoying.
In the last years, beginning in 1993, the decline of Commodore began with
permanent layoffs. So eventually our developer support colleague was gone
and I had to take over. And in spring 1994, before we had our last, very
successful CeBIT show, the last colleagues of Support left, including the
boss, so I remained as the last supporter in Germany, being my own boss.
In September 1994, the german company had to file for Konkurs
(liquidation), and a Konkursverwalter (Liquidator) became the new boss. He
layed us all off, but due to german laws and my long employment at
Commodore, this got only valid at end of January 1995 for me. The last
months were depressing, .More.. they consisted of cleaning up, throwing
away much which was connected with so many memories, and preserving some
data and papers that could become valid for a potential new start.
In February 1995, I got unemployed and connected my Amiga which I had
bought from Commodore to the net from my home, where I eagerly watched all
news about the buyout of Commodore. My problem was that my news connection
was rather weak, several postings were already two weeks old until they
finally made it to my site. But then I read about the auction at 20th and
21st of April. And voila, on Saturday morning, the 22nd, I found in my
email the Auction Report by Amiga Report, and it clearly said that Escom, a
company not far from Frankfurt, had won. I instantly typed my resume and
on Monday morning drove to Heppenheim and handed it in. Several days later
they called back and shortly after that hired me.
Best Regards, Dr. Peter Kittel //
Amiga Magazine Survey
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
AMIGA MAGAZINE SURVEY
Sergio Ruocco ruocco@dsi.unimi.it
===========================================================================
In conjunction with Amiga Report Magazine, Sergio Ruocco is compiling a
list of all of the Amiga magazines in the world. We are most interested in
the print magazines, but if there is an online magazine you feel should be
included, let us know.
The idea is to have a database of worldwide support.
We do NOT need listings of the magazines from the following countries:
(it's easy enough to get on our own)
United Kingdom
Germany
United States
On the same token, we do not need information on the following online
magazines:
Guida
Amiga Link
Dark Unicorn Dispatch
Amiga Report (well, this was sort of obvious, but...)
Any others are fair game.
What we're looking for is the following information:
1. Full name of the magazine
2. The publisher
3. The full address, and phone and fax numbers.
4. E-mail contact, if applicable.
5. Number of issues per year
6. Number of issues to date and the date of the premier issue
7. # of pages in a recent issue
8. Focus (games, applications, general...?)
9. Overall impression of quality in relation to other magazines
(optional, but helpful)
Please mail your information either to Sergio Ruocco as
ruocco@dsi.unimi.it, or to Jason Compton .
Thanks for the help!
Review: Envoy 2.0
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
Miscellany from the Envoy 2.0 Review
===========================================================================
The Envoy 2.0 review from AR 3.08 left a few open ends and unclarified
remarks. Here's a bit of cleanup.
Envoy does not use TCP/IP packets, it only utilizes IP.
Envoy 2.0 IS the property of IAM and was developed by IAM. Earlier
versions of Envoy are licensed out to other companies, but only IAM and IAM
distributors have Envoy 2.0.
NetProbe, the Envoy diagnostic tool, now ships on-disk with Envoy 2.0.
Emulation Rambler
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
EMULATION RAMBLER
Jason Compton
===========================================================================
Time to do a bit of cleaning up in the world of emulation, it seems.
At the top of the list is ShapeShifter, the new, shareware, software-only,
color, multitasking Macintosh emulation. Aside from demanding a lot of
adjectives to describe it, SS delivers an Emplant Mac-sized payload for a
registration fee that's somewhere in the US$40 range. A full review is
forthcoming.
ShapeShifter has come under fire by Jim Drew of Utilities Unlimited (makers
of the Emplant) as being partially generated from copyrighted Emplant Mac
code, in addition to code from A-Max IV and Apple. Christian Bauer, the
author of ShapeShifter, denies the allegations. Opinion on the issue is
divided, and despite threatened legal action from Drew, none has been taken
yet.
ShapeShifter is available on any Aminet site, in misc/emu.
And, for a refreshing change from the dog-eat-dog of Mac and PC emulation,
comes a different sort of emulator...
fMSX Amiga 0.4 by Marat Fayzullin, ported to the Amiga by Hans Guijt
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Everyone has their own reasons for using emulators. Some need the
compatibility for business purposes. Some just like screwing around with
software that would otherwise take up desk space for a separate computer.
And then there are programs such as the Spectrum emulators and fMSX, that
make machines that didn't quite have worldwide markets widely usable.
The MSX machines were based on a standard that essentially required that
the MSX (MicroSoft, get it?) operating system be able to run. The
technology was made into machines by a number of companies, and apparently
did fairly well in Japan. (The vast majority of the available software
points to a Japanese market) I, for one, do not think I'll lay eyes on too
many MSX machines in my days, but I know I'll always have one laying around
in this form.
The MSX OS has a copyright date of 1983 (so you'd better hope MicroSoft
doesn't beat down your door for it), and while I don't have the machine's
specs handy, it seems to have pixel resolution similar to the Spectrum, but
with a greater availability of colors (16, I believe.) To run, the
software requires an 020+ and OS 3.0 or above, although the author is open
to consideration of support for 2.04 and above (but 68000 is out of the
question, for speed reasons)
The MSX supported cartridges and disks, but fMSX Amiga does not currently
support disks, so cartridge images are about all that's available to you.
Furthermore, only the smaller (16 and 32k) images can be used by fMSX Amiga
right now-the larger MegaROMs are not supported by this version.
So, why bother? Well, there are an awful lot of games available.
Certainly nothing of epic proportions, but sometimes it's nice to just kick
back and play a round of Konami Ping-Pong and take one's mind off of the
"AAA vs. 3DRISC" question. The system is multitasking, so you can leave
Ping-Pong running in case you're hit with a stress panic over AAA vs.
3DRISC after a grueling session on Usenet or IRC. This has happened to me
more than once.
What sort of speed do you get? Well...the author of the Amiga version
claims that his 030/25 machine is just short of 100%. Based on my
experiences on an 040/25 machine, I'm not so sure-then again, I've never
seen a real MSX machine. I know that by playing with the included timing
settings (only two sliders that can be changed while running the emulator),
very nice speeds can be achieved on an 040/25. On the 030, well, I'd
rather use the 040, but it is tolerable to a point.
Promised for future support are MSX disks and the MSX2 specification, which
I presume includes MegaROMs.
I've always admitted it-I'm someone that enjoys using emulators, so fMSX is
a goldmine for me. For others, who need a good reason to use them, I point
to the dozens (if not hundreds) of games readily available for diversion.
Some 8-bit classics are even available, including Loderunner, Raid on
Bungling Bay, Pastfinder, and Thexder. It's worth a look.
fMSX Amiga is available on any Aminet site, misc/emu.
ROM images can be obtained via the Web at-
http://www.cs.umd.edu/users/fms (Fayzullin's homepage)
Review: QuickText 2.0
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
REVIEW: QUICKTEXT 2.0 BY TAHOE SOFTWARE, ETC.
Jason Compton
===========================================================================
In a "Who's Who in Amiga Products" list, you probably wouldn't find Todd
Sprague and Tahoe Software recognized among the ranks of Dave Haynie of
Scala and Tim Jenison of Newtek.
But keep in mind that Tahoe's QuickText was only released a few months
ago.
QuickText 2.0, so the manual tells us, evolved out of a fairly
straightforward, no-frills video text scroller program written 6 years ago
for a high school TV news program. It has evolved into a presentation
system in its own right-albeit one a bit rough around the edges.
The working environment of QuickText revolves around layers of "screens",
on which you can place IFF pictures in up to HAM6 (The author tells me
HAM8 support has been added, but it's not in my version) as backgrounds,
add text, change colors, etc. A background animation can be substituted
for the picture.
Text handling exploits all of the features of the standard Amiga font
system (bold, italic, shadow, etc), but does not extend to specialized
proprietary fonts. Each text block is catalogued for easy editing after
the fact. Variables can be used in text blocks and updated in real-time,
most useful for scoreboard displays.
Screens can be added at will, with six standard wipe patterns for
transitions. Each screen can have its own set of characteristics
(high/low res, interlaced/non, and palette information). On-screen
doodling is supported, and may be recorded for playback at a later time.
A clock may be brought up on the screen and started/stopped at will.
ARexx support is extensive, offering 61 commands for QuickText's more
useful or repetitive features.
A rather bizarre side feature is the ability to generate stereograms out
of the present screen.
The command box for QuickText is not unlike the system used by Brilliance,
a pulled-down screen that can be dismissed with a right mouse button
click. Not pretty, but effective, the option layout is logical and gets
the job done.
No, QuickText is no Scala MM300. There is no support for integrating
sound, for starters. It does multitask, but does not seem to get along
well with terminal programs (both NComm and Terminus, using any of three
serial devices, cause a system crash if running concurrently with
QuickText.) The interface could use some polishing as well, as the text
for some buttons bleeds over the edge of the buttons themselves.
At present, the program is NTSC only, although PAL support is imminent.
The machine requirements other than that are bare minimum-a 512k Amiga
with 1.3 will suffice, but of course is not recommended.
QuickText is what it is-a program designed to work best in either a
kiosk-video board environment, or as an effect and title generator
combined with a genlock (hence scoreboard and clock, and text scroll
options). Based on the demo disk and videotape, I have no doubts that in
the right hands, QuickText can become a powerful tool for these ends-and
if you bring your own soundtrack, for generating presentations as well.
Tahoe offers a demo disk and short demo tape. Contact them for details,
or grab the demo disk from any Aminet site, in biz/demo, as
QuickTextdemo.lha.
QuickText 2.0 is US$60.
Tahoe Software, Etc.
PO Box 9236
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96158
USA
(800) 939-4919 voice (US only)
(916) 649-8935 voice
Review: XiPaint3.1
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
REVIEW: XIPAINT 3.1 BY THOMAS DORN AND HERBERT BEILSCHMIDT
Jason Compton
===========================================================================
When you add a graphics card to your system, or you want HAM manipulation
less esoteric than that of Deluxe Paint, you'll need a 24-bit paint
program.
XiPaint 3.1, the program included with the MacroSystem Retina boards, has
been ported to several (in fact, most) graphic card standards, including
the still-popular EGS and the "New Big Thing", CyberGraphics. It even
supports HAM6, HAM8, and an AGA 256 color mode.
Pick the screen of your choice in the Prefs module, execute the program,
and you're off and running. The main functions are arranged in a handful
of pull-down menus as well as a convenient toolbox of buttons for the most
useful paint and manipulation tools. Painting is, of course, never as
simple as "painting" anymore, and such modes as smooth, shade, smooth,
cycle (my favorite, you can define a color range to cycle through, use the
polygon tool, and create a psychadelic delight), and work modes to alter
brightness, saturation, and color degree. Layered painting is supported,
and full animation support is promised soon.
Not being a bona fide artist, the real question for me is-is XiPaint
comfortable to use? Definitely. Everything is handled in windows that
pop up as needed to set the various parameters, preferences, or settings.
Defining brushes and pens is clear to understand and easy to get done.
Managing multiple modes, or making subtle changes to what you're doing, is
no problem as long as you remember where you put the window, which may not
be a problem anyway in higher resolutions. Importing pictures is no
problem, and the program uses its own thumbnail scheme for
frequently-accessed pictures (if desired).
Perhaps the most significant feature to XiPaint is its manual. While it
still has visible traces of having been translated into English, it is
very thorough, illuminating, and helpful when it comes to tutorial
sections.
There is also something to be said for a program with a sense of humor.
It is possible to get a requester that asks you if you wish to save your
current picture. Your options are "Yes", "Maybe", and "No". Selecting
Maybe generates a new requester saying, "Well, what do you want to do?"
-this time, limiting you to "Yes" and "No". The button in the toolbox for
the Cycle preferences is an old-style (huge front wheel) bicycle. Cute.
Back to the useful part, the program-stylistically, it is a clearly laid
out piece of software, with almost all of its features a click or two
away. ARexx support is present. Wacom tablet support is here. Almost
every graphic card is supported-it even works correctly on the A2410 EGS.
The software, moreso than the manual, shows signs of an incomplete English
translation..."farben" and such pop up at will, and there are a number of
words that were clearly a single word in German, but should have been
spaced out for English...not a big deal, but something you notice after
using it for a time.
Virtual memory support is not built in, which is a bit of a shame for a
24-bit manipulation program, so you have either to economize your 24-bit
image usage or to come up with a VM (or real memory) solution to your
problems.
I am satisfied with XiPaint. What I want it to do, it does. What I can't
immediately figure out how to do, the manual is quick to point out. A
more accomplished professional will doubtless find something incomplete
about it, but then again it IS an $80 package. The heavy-duty image
manipulation is left up to the likes of ImageFX, which is not nearly as
strong of a paint program. At the same time, while the HAM update is not
as fast as that of Photogenics, the support for high color resolutions on
non-Cybergraphics machines is better. I would recommend XiPaint as a pure
paint program in a full image processing suite.
XiPaint is distributed by MacroSystem. Contact a MacroSystem distributor
for details, or the author directly,
Thomas Dorn
tdorn@xipaint.co.at
Personal Paint 6.1
Table of Contents
==========================================================================
REVIEW: PERSONAL PAINT 6.1 BY CLOANTO
Jason Compton
==========================================================================
Personal Paint V6.1 is Cloanto's latest entry into the suddenly cluttered
field of paint programs and image processors.
But that's really not very important. What's important is that PPaint 6.1
has the most detailed disk labels I have ever seen. The dpi and color
clarity is astounding-they put a screen-capture montage on there. Great
stuff.
Well, that's secondary to the performance of the product itself. But it's
worth mentioning.
Personal Paint is a bit difficult to explain. As it stands now, it is a
strange beast, a hybrid between a paint program and a flexible image
processor, that neither establishes itself as an irreplaceable paint tool
nor will make you junk ImageFX. In some cases, though, you can complete a
project, painting and manipulating to your heart's content, without ever
leaving the program.
In the arena of painting, PPaint offers 256 color display out of a 24-bit
palette, and allows graphics cards to be used through the display database.
This gives you the flexibility of using high resolutions, but means that
you lose a bit in the translation, so to speak, by not using a true 24-bit
paint program. It is all a bit strange, actually, as you can view in HAM
while working in the 256 colors.
As far as straight painting goes, PPaint is a close cousin to DPaint,
offering animation and storyboarding support, an easy-to-use sidebar of
tools, an ever-present palette, and speedy, stable operation. In addition,
you get built-in virtual memory and encryption, several built-in languages,
and a slightly wider variety of export formats (IFF, PCX, GIF, the
encrypted mode, and directly as C source code). JPEG loading is supported
with the JPEG datatype (3.x alert!). Optimization also seems more logical
and spelled-out.
Then there is the image processing element. As you work, you can apply one
of several dozen included manipulations to the image at hand, or add your
own in the standard 5x5 matrix format. Of course, stereogram generation is
one of the included process types...
I really like the inclusion of image processing to a paint program-it seems
quite natural. It provides an alternative to the "standard" way of doing
things, using a pure paint program but turning to a high-end processing
package for manipulation. It also runs parallel in a sense to Photogenics,
combining painting and manipulation, but in a much more "orthodox" fashion
than the Almathera package.
PPaint does an awful lot of things pretty well. What it lacks is a shining
element of greatness, something that makes it leap out at you and say "I'M
the package you want!" That, I suppose, is what those pretty disks do.
Personal Paint 6.1
Cloanto Italia
PO Box 118
33100 Udine
Italy
Aminet Charts for 8-May-95
Table of Contents
| The 10 most downloaded files from Aminet during the week until 8-May-95
| Updated weekly. Most popular file on top.
|
|File Dir Size Age Description
|----------------- --- ---- --- -----------
ar309.lha docs/mags 80K 0+Amiga Report 3.09, May 2, 1995
mlink132.lha comm/net 123K 1+Direct internet access without SLIP
VChck653.lha util/virus 121K 1+Version 6.53 of Virus_Checker. Amiga
Virus
StarTrek_A.lha game/think 246K 0+Star Trek Stratagy/Action Game
ANews17.lha docs/mags 145K 0+AmyNews #17; info on new Amiga
products
StarTrek_B.lha game/think 413K 0+Star Trek Stratagy/Action Game
Lx_v2.0.lha util/arc 51K 0+Lx v2.0. Read *readme* file for more
info
Erotica_cards.lha game/think 620K 0+Cardset for Klondike Deluxe AGA (III)
HAM8bob.lha dev/e 127K 37+Bouncing bob in HAM8. Src in E v3.
XanimAmiBeta4.lha gfx/show 90K 0+Xanim for Amiga BETA_4. 3.x+AGA or
gfxcard
Table of Contents
| The 10 most downloaded files from Aminet during the week until 15-May-95
| Updated weekly. Most popular file on top.
|
|File Dir Size Age Description
|----------------- --- ---- --- -----------
Gloom.lha game/demo 427K 1+Magic Bytes' GLOOM - Playable
Preview
ar309.lha docs/mags 80K 1+Amiga Report 3.09, May 2, 1995
FontDT-1.0.lha util/dtype 19K 1+DataType for Amiga fonts
AWMWB2_1.lha pix/icon 98K 1+Magic WorkBench icons V2.1 (Complete)
PC2Am204.lha comm/net 22K 1+PC<->Amiga SerNet(or TWIN)-like
filesys
Iconian2_88.lha gfx/edit 98K 0+OS3.0 icon editor, NewIcon support.
amigalink3.lha docs/mags 83K 0+An Amiga Guide Magazine on EVERYTHIN
Spondulix.lha biz/misc 118K 0+Powerful Personal accounts system
TurboCalc.lha biz/demo 146K 1+Powerful spreadsheet demo-version,
latest
FingerInfo10.lha comm/net 2K 47+Finger useful/interesting sites
HTML-Heaven 1.1b
Table of Contents
TITLE
HTML-Heaven
VERSION
1.1b
AUTHOR
Paul Kolenbrander
Email : paul@serena.iaehv.nl
Post : Turfveldenstraat 37
NL-5632 XH EINDHOVEN
The NETHERLANDS
DESCRIPTION
HTML-Heaven is a suite of _four_ programs intended to make the
creation and maintenance of WWW (HTML) pages easy. The programs
in the suite interface with your favorite editor (providing it
supports text insertion via ARexx) to provide you with a very
comfortable environment. Now inserting HTML commands is as simple
as point and click. This is the upgrade from version 1.1 with a
host of exiting new features.
NEW FEATURES
Version 1.1a has all the features of version 1.1. Plus:
* Support for two new editors. MEmacs (thanks to Ellis Pritchard)
and PolyEd.
* Improved script for GoldEd now supports blocks the same way that
the TTX script does. Same goes for the PolyEd and SE scripts.
Just mark a block and hit eg. the <B></B> gadget in HTML-Heaven.
* Support for character entities so you can now embed special
characters like ®, æ and þ for example.
* The brunt of the new NetScape extensions to the HTML language.
* The documentation is now also included in HTML format.
On-line browsing: http://www.iaehv.nl/users/paul/main.html
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
HTML-Heaven requires:
* Workbench 2.04 or above.
* ARexx (bundled with Workbench 2.04 and above.)
* Around 1MB of free memory.
* About 400KB of floppy or harddisk space. (installing the entire
suite and all docs including the HTML versions.)
AVAILABILITY
- ftp://ftp.iaehv.nl/pub/users/paul/amiga/HTML-Heaven.lha
- WWW - http://www.iaehv.nl/users/paul/index.html
- Most Aminet sites. Examples of which are:
USA: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/aminet/text/hyper/HTML-Heaven.lha
EUR: ftp://ftp.luth.se/pub/aminet/text/hyper/HTML-Heaven.lha
PRICE
The registration fee for the HTML-Heaven package still is only:
- Nederland Dfl 15,-
- Europe DM 15,- / Dfl 15,-
- Rest of the World US$ 15.- / Dfl 20.-
DISTRIBUTABILITY
The unregistered version is freely distributable.
The registered version and it's custom keyfile are *NOT* freely
distributable.
This suite of programs is copyright 1994 by Paul Kolenbrander.
OTHER
To encourage users to register, (I'd like to get some return for
all this effort I have put into creating the suite.) the freely
distributable versions does not support ToolTypes/parameters and
will not supply on-line help. Furthermore a 'reminder' requester
appears on exiting any of the four programs comprising the suite.
The unregistered versions will also not allow more than 5 ARexx
commands per session. They'll keep functioning, but ignore any
further ARexx commands given by the user as it has unloaded it's
ARexx Host.
SpringTime 1.0
Table of Contents
TITLE
SpringTime
VERSION
1.0
COMPANY
Trecision
P.O. Box 39
16035 Rapallo (GE)
ITALY
E-Mail: pmonte@skylink.it
AUTHOR
Marco Brenco
DESCRIPTION
SpringTime is a Public Domain, freely distributable puzzle game.
In each of its 20 levels you will lead your character into a mutant
3d maze of tiles. Whenever a wall is blocking your way, you can lean
against it and it will rotate by 90 degrees, allowing you to proceed
on the newly created paths.
Your goal is to involve a spring in a series of rotations like that,
until it will bounce on the target tile.
4 kinds of special tiles will make your life harder:
1. fragile tile: dissolves after your passage.
2. "skull" tile: can only be passed on the side without the skull.
3. mobile tile: drops down with gravity.
4. teleport tile: will teleport you on a corresponding exit tile.
Some levels also feature a magic cube that unrolls as you move inside it.
That will create a footbridge in the space, allowing you to reach
locations otherwise unaccessible.
A special scheme appears every 5 levels. There every step will toggle
a tile from black and white to colours. Your goal is to colour
all the tiles in the scheme.
Features:
- 2 players option
- System of password to restart from last solved level
- Joystick and/or keyboard interface
- Help function
- Real time 3D graphics synchronised with sprites
- Parallattic background scrolling
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
AmigaOS 1.3, (PAL), 1MB RAM
AVAILABILITY
Any Aminet site
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/game/think/SpringTime.lha
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
To get the full version of Springtime with 80 levels, send US$ 10 to:
Trecision
P.O. Box 39
16035 Rapallo (GE)
ITALY
EazyBBS 2.21
Table of Contents
TITLE
EazyBBS (Mailbox)
VERSION
2.21
AUTHOR
Andreas M. Kirchwitz
E-Mail: amk@zikzak.in-berlin.de
DESCRIPTION
EazyBBS is a Unix/Uucp-like BBS (Bulletin Board System) (aka Mailbox)
with UUCP network support for multiple users on multiple ports.
Multi-language support for input, output and commands. Configurable
commands, online help for every command. Extremely fast VT102
emulation. Full-screen editor, full-screen input/output masks,
full-screen file lister, full-screen chat and line chat. Online games
(Greed, Sokoban, Global War).
Z-Modem (xprzmodem.library) and X-Modem (builtin). Comfortable
Batch-Download and Batch-Upload. AmiNet-like .readme files
(containing file data) for upload and download. Also supports
those "brain-dead" FILE_ID.DIZ files.
Thread-oriented message system. Binary mails. Personal newstree for
every user, automatically shows new messages and files in subscribed
boards and file-areas. Checks integrity of archives and lists contents
of archives (highly configurable). CRC checksums to verify correct
file transfer.
Handles cursor-keys. Builtin support for "Umlaute", configurable
Umlaute conversion after upload and before download. Builtin pager,
users can edit their personal configuration easily.
Commands, filenames, boards, file-areas can be abbreviated.
AmigaDOS pattern-matching for various commands.
EazyBBS runs on own screen or in window (on any public screen).
Fonts configurable. No wimpy GUI, no fancy gadgets... everything's
done with VT102 masks (quite comfortable), perfect for remote
maintenance.
Configurable for any modem, ISDN board and multi I/O card.
Can be started from Uucp-getty (on already established connection).
Access to boards and file-areas can be restricted to certain users
(Unix-like owner/group concept), every group may have one or more
moderators. Optionally, all upload may be unaccessable by default,
then checked by the moderators and unlocked (if okay).
Very flexible import of peripherals (eg, CD-ROMs or any other
devices). Certain files and directories can be excluded.
Directories can be archived and transferred in one file (program
configurable, size check... configurable).
EazyBBS is comfortable but has no full-blown GUI. If the Workbench
is your home and you even don't know how to spell the word "Shell"
then EazyBBS is maybe not for you. But if you can handle a shell
and if you like sophisticated software -- then you'll like EazyBBS ;)
German support BBS with discussion boards, also available via UUCP.
NEW FEATURES
Changes since version 2.19 (summary):
- File-list and file-check scripts for LZX.
- Two editable scripts to pre-process batch-uploaded files.
- Improved scripts for daily listing of files (for Anon-UUCP and News).
- Improved support for AmigaUUCP sendmail.
- Some internal changes, enhancements and bug fixes.
See file "History.Txt" in archive EazyBBS-2.21.lha for
complete listing of changes and new features.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
AmigaOS 2.0 (or higher).
Knowledge of german language since most documents are in german
(don't worry, translation to english is in preparation...
translators welcome ;-)
AVAILABILITY
FTP/Internet: AmiNet and mirrors
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/comm/bbs/EazyBBS-2.21.lha (772141)
UUCP/E-Mail : mail-server@cs.tu-berlin.de
Send mail to the address above and put the
line "send /pub/aminet/comm/bbs/EazyBBS-2.21.lha"
in the body.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Shareware, freely distributable.
Copyright by Andreas M. Kirchwitz.
easyrexx.library 2.0
Table of Contents
TITLE
easyrexx.library
VERSION
2.0
AUTHOR
Ketil Hunn
E-Mail: Ketil.Hunn@hiMolde.no
DESCRIPTION
A small and very fast shared runtime library that allows you to
add an AREXX port and AREXX commands to your application without
the need of programming.
o Makes the parsing of AREXX messages as easy as parsing DOS prompt
arguments! Uses standard DOS templates for arguments.
o Easy to use tag-based functions.
o Send AREXX messages to any named port.
o Autodoc describing all functions in the library.
o Amigaguide documentation describing programming techniques and how to
use the library.
o Complete with example sources.
NEW FEATURES
o AREXX Interface Designer. A GUI program which allows you to define
the entire AREXX interface and generate C source codes which are
ready to be compiled. The Designer features:
- Saving/merging and loading of projects. Projects from several
known products are included as examples.
- Cut and paste of both commands and arguments.
- Most commands can be controlled from the keyboard.
- Sorting and moving commands and arguments.
- Multi-window environment.
- Fully controlable through AREXX.
Several example macros are included.
- Tooltype support.
- Will make use of V3.0+ and 68020+ if available.
o New library function: ARexxCommandShell() which opens an asynchronous
AREXX commandline interface in which the user may type in AREXX
commands directly. All commands will be sent directly to the
application's AREXX port.
o Reserved commands built directly into the library. ALL
applications will inherit these commands:
GET COMMANDLIST - Returns a list of commands known to your
application.
GET AUTHOR - Returns name of application's author.
GET COPYRIGHT - Returns application's copyright.
GET VERSION - Returns application's version.
GET LASTERROR - Returns the last error.
o SendARexxCommand() can send AREXX commands asynchronously. You may
even send AREXX commands to your own port.
o SendARexxCommand() can return results from the application it was
sent to.
o All AREXX commands listed in Amiga User Interface Style Guide are
categorized and stored in projects ready to be included in your
applications.
o Installation script for easy installation.
o Information on how to register your AREXX compatible product to the
The ARexx Application List. The form to fill out is included.
o Various bug-fixes.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
OS 2.04 or higher.
AVAILABILITY
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/dev/misc/easyrexx.lha (82774)
PRICE
Free, as long as you follow the two guidelines below:
The license is the same for all software, regardless of what type of
software the library is used in, be it commercial, freeware, shareware
or whatever as long as you:
1) Note in the program and documentation that easyrexx.library is
copyrighted 1994, 1995 Ketil Hunn.
2) You give me a copy of each version of the software which uses
the library. There should be no cost to me.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
The files may be distributed as needed. That means that for products that
use the easyrexx.library, only that file needs to be distributed. For
development purposes, the library and its documentation should be all
distributed together.
ARCHandler 2.0a
Table of Contents
TITLE
ARCHandler
VERSION
2.0a [37.312 (11.4.95)]
AUTHOR
Rafael D'Halleweyn
EMail: Rafael.DHalleweyn@rug.ac.be
PaperMail: Rafael D'Halleweyn
Perckhoevelaan 17
2610 Antwerpen
BELGIUM
DESCRIPTION
ARCHandler is a filesystem that allows you to use
lha-archives as if they where directories. The files in
the archives can be used like normal files: you can
read, view and/or execute them.
NEW FEATURES
Major changes since release 2.0:
-When an extracted file is closed it isn't immediatly
deleted. When the same file is opened again in a short
time, the file doesn't have to be reextracted.
-You can now use devices and assigns in the root
directory.
-Sometimes an archive whose contents wasn't yet
completely parsed was already flushed. This generated
several Enforcer hits.
-ARCHandler could lock up when you used it to access
archives in archives.
-French and German translations.
Check the included documentation for a complete list of
changes.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
ARCHandler needs Kickstart/Workbench 2.04 or newer and
1Meg of memory. Altough ARCHandler works with
floppydisks, a harddisk is recommended.
To extract files from archives, ARCHandler uses the
'LhA' command (Copyright (c) Stefan Boberg), both the
evaluation and registered version should work.
AVAILABILITY
The package has been uploaded to AmiNET so it should be
available from your local AmiNET provider, for example:
ftp://ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk/aminet/util/arc/ARCHandler2_0a.lha
118427 bytes
PRICE
ARCHandler is shareware, the registration fee is 500 BEF
or USD 20.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
ARCHandler is Copyright 1994, 1995 Rafael D'Halleweyn.
This package is released as shareware. This means you
can copy it freely, but if you use the package on a
regular base, you have to pay the registration fee.
Guida Online Magazine (Croatian
Table of Contents
TITLE
Guida
VERSION
Last published issue is 7.
AUTHOR
Dalibor Kezele (main editor)
Toplicka 127
42204 Turcin
Croatia
phone: +385 42 651 567 (20pm CET)
e-mail: dkezele@oleh.srce.hr
sentinel@bonus.fido.hr
Fidonet: DALIBOR KEZELE 2:381/120
DESCRIPTION
Guida is a free magazine in AmigaGuide format in CROATIAN language.
Themes we cover are: Amiga scene, Internet scene, BBS scene, computer
news, programming, hardware, software, informatic language(s) etc. Some
texts aren't computer-related, but we think they're interesting to Amiga
users. The new issue is out every three weeks.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Any Amiga with AmigaGuide tool. It doesn't use any of new AmigaGuide
functions so it can be read on an old Amiga 500. Also Croatian font is
needed but we deliver it within lha archive.
A reader also must know CROATIAN in order to understand text.
AVAILABILITY
Available via ftp:
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida0.lha (65442)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida2_5.lha (72150)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida3_14.lha (49495)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida4_99.lha (33992)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida5.lha (42814)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida6.lha (52954)
ftp://aris.ffk.hr/pub/guida/Guida7.lha (72571)
Available via WWW:
http://rasipl1.rasip.etf.hr/~chonky/guida.html (main menu)
PRICE
Guida is free.
OTHER
Plain ASCII format of any issue is also available.
For more information or subscription contact main editor.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Copyright (c) 1994, 1995 by Dalibor S. Kezele
Guida is free. Changing the content is forbiden!
ChunKit 1.0
Table of Contents
TITLE
ChunKit
VERSION
1.0
AUTHOR
Patrick Rogers
E-Mail: progers@undergrad.uwaterloo.ca
DESCRIPTION
Computers store all data as sequential strings of numbers in one format
or another. Many utilities are available to view and edit files in their
most primitive state, as sequential binary data. However, since most files
are structured in a more complex fashion, it is often useful to view them
in such a structured format. ChunKit is a hex editor designed to view
and edit iff and executable files in such a structured manner.
Rather than dumping the unformated contents of the file to the screen
ChunKit first checks to see if the file is in executable or iff format.
If so, it splits the file into it's component chunks, allowing you to
examine the components of the file without having to wade through all of
it's structural information. You can then add, edit or delete any part
of the file.
ChunKit requires at least OS 2.04
Features:
* Opens all files
* Displays all iff files in a tree format allowing chunks to be
deleted, renamed or edited. This means you can read and modify
iff files easily without having to worry about iff structure.
* Executable, object and library files can be examined and edited in
a tree format. Each Hunk can be opened and it's symbol, reloc
or code blocks can be examined and modified. Symbol and debug
blocks can be removed to reduce size and load time.
* New iff and binary files can be created from scratch. If you need
to create a specific file there is no need to edit an existing
file.
* OS friendly, non modal gadtools interface, streamlined to be as
user friendly as possible (i.e.: There are a lot of features, not a
lot of buttons. The emphasis has been placed upon giving the user
as many useful features as possible without an overwhelming array
of options. If the program can determine something on it's own it
does so.)
* Fully supports the Amiga clip board.
* Modular internal design so new types of files and chunks can be
edited in the future.
* Enforcer clean.
* Non features such as non standard file requesters have not been
included. If the user prefers some other file requestor they can
patch it into their system and all of their applications can use it
and share a common interface.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
OS 2.04 or greater.
PRICE
Free.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
The archive and its contents are freely distributable.
See documentation for details.
AVAILABILITY
ChunKit is available on aminet in misc/util.
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/util/misc/ChunKit.lzh (57118)
Supra Library
Table of Contents
TITLE
Supra Library
VERSION
V1.1
RELEASE DATE
11/Apr/1995
AUTHOR
Jure Vrhovnik (jurev@gea.fer.uni-lj.si)
DESCRIPTION
First of all I must express an opinion of mine, which is sincere and
makes me very happy that it is: "Inspite of the terrible situation of the
Amiga computer, its soul still lives and it's even stronger than it has
ever been before. And we've finally realized what this soul really is -
it's Amiga users!"
Supra is a collection of routines that can be considered as a small
update to Amiga ROM libraries.
Since computer programs grow complexier day by day programmers find it hard
to cope with high level organization, and thus can't afford to use their
time for implementing basic routines. That's why Amiga's libraries are so
valuable - they help programmers to concentrate on developing larger
projects and make the pieces of a puzzle bigger. However, Amiga libraries
haven't been updated for quite a long time. The pieces of a puzzle haven't
changed, but the puzzle grows along with more advanced projects.
This is my first release of supra functions. The collection is very tiny.
However I hope this release will set a decent example that Amiga OS can and
should be updated.
Supra is a linked library which contains a few useful functions that
are easy to use. A brief description of what it contains:
o File copier
o Very easy but powerful recursive directory scanning
o Quick file type/existance checking
o Create an entire directory path (extension to CreateDir() )
o Image colour remapping (now you can show images in their real
colors on a workbench!)
o Obtain a list of best pens (extension to ObtainBestPen() )
o Add or change icon's tooltypes
Here is a list of function names:
- FCopy()
- FileType()
- RecDirInit()
- RecDirNext()
- RecDirTags()
- RecDirFree()
- MakePath()
- ObtPens()
- RelPens()
- MakeNewImg()
- FreeNewImg()
- AddToolType()
Every function is well documented and there are some useful examples
included in this archive. All source codes of functions are included.
HOST NAME
any Aminet site (e.g. ftp.netnet.net)
DIRECTORY
dev/c
FILE NAMES
SupraLib11.lha
DISTRIBUTABILITY
This library can be freely used in your own programs. You can
distribute this archive anywhere, as long as it's unchanged. You may
change the code to suit your needs, but you must report any change to
me.
LIP 1.4
Table of Contents
TITLE
LIP
VERSION
1.4
AUTHOR
Philip Marley
E-Mail: pjm100@unix.york.ac.uk
DESCRIPTION
Program to aid inducement of lucid dreams via audio suggestion Lucid
dreaming - dreaming with awareness of it being a dream, often allowing
control of events and surroundings, creating an effect similar to virtual
reality but without the need for a silly hat. Fly like a bird! Drive a
Ferrari! Magic yourself up an island paradise!
- Uses cyclic volume variations to avoid filtering by auditory
perceptual system.
- Fully configurable: user control over:
- Pitch, Frequency, Rate, and Sex of voice
- Message given
- Minimum and maximum volume reached in cycles
- Volume increase/cycle
- Delay between cycles
- All options controlled by a single menu screen - changing variables is
as easy as typing in a number
- Timer feature allowing user to start suggestions when asleep
- Visible display of time remaining before cycles start
- Comes pre-configured with all options set to those that have proved
successful in the past, allowing user to start straight away.
- Could also potentially be used as a general method for giving
suggestions while asleep
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Requires a version of workbench with SAY (e.g. 1.3)
AVAILABILITY
- Most Aminet sites. Examples of which are:
USA: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/aminet/misc/sci/LIPv1.4.lha
EUR: ftp://ftp.luth.se/pub/aminet/misc/sci/LIPv1.4.lha
PRICE
Shareware, 10 UKP or equivalent amount in any other currency if you like
it, nothing if you don't. I maintain copyright of the Amiga version and
of the original idea. Details are in the .doc file with the program...
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Please keep the program and the documentation together. Other than
that, feel free to distribute it anywhere you want...
Control Panel 4.2.1
Table of Contents
TITLE :
Control Panel
VERSION:
4.2.1
AUTHOR:
Martin Hunt E-Mail: Martin@mchunt.demon.co.uk
DESCRIPTION:
This is a suite of programs that allow easier usage of AmiTCP and related
utilities (Mail, News etc.) through a graphical interface. Included
utilities include GUI interfaces for Finger, Ping, Traceroute, Link, Plink
and Archie, there is also a GUI based newsgroup editor.
NEW FEATURES:
Version 4.2 has a completely new interface and is fully configurable.
This new interface allows control through buttons, menus or hotkeys.
There is a facility to log connections to the internet, to aid analysis of
phone bills. It also allows 2 user definable buttons and 3 additional
user definable menu options. This version 4.2.1 is a bugfix of version
4.2.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
Control Panel should run on any Amiga with KS2 or greater, you will need
to have AmiTCP installed.
AVAILABILITY:
The unregistered version is available by FTP at any Aminet site.
ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/aminet/comm/tcp/cp4.2.1.lha (114519)
ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/pub/aminet/comm/tcp/CP4.2.1_Link.lha (1496)
PRICE:
This program is shareware, the registered version includes a few extra
features and costs 5 UK Pounds. Payments by other currencies is accepted,
see the register.txt file in the archive for more details.
DISTRIBUTABILITY:
The unregistered archive which is available on Aminet, may be
redistributed freely provided no profit is made. It may be freely put
onto any bulletin board provided that it is placed in a free download
directory, i.e. the users do not have to pay the BBS to download the
file. Magazines and other commercial enterprises may redistribute this
program provided that they contact me first.
Amiga Report Mailing List
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== Amiga Report Mailing List ==
===========================================================================
If you have an internet mailing address, you can receive Amiga Report in
UUENCODED form each week as soon as the issue is released.
The address is listserv@itesmvf1.rzs.itesm.mx. In the body of the message,
tell it-
SUB AREPORT <real name> To subscribe to AREPORT
UNSUB AREPORT To unsubscribe from AREPORT
HELP To get general listserv commands help
Thanks to Alejandro Kurczyn for getting this service established for us.
Your account must be able to handle mail of any size to ensure an intact
copy. For example, many systems have a 100K limit on incoming messages.
** IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE be certain your host can accept mail over **
** 100K! We have had a lot of bouncebacks recently from systems with a **
** 100K size limit for incoming mail. If we get a bounceback with your **
** address in it, it will be removed from the list. Thanks! **
*** The following is only for Australian readers! ***
To circumvent the new pay-per-megabyte system for Australian Internet
communication, Paul Reece has been kind enough to set up an AUSTRALIAN-ONLY
mailing list, to save his fellow countrymen some money.
You can join the list by sending mail to: majordomo@info.tas.gov.au
with the single line (in body of message):
subscribe ar
Amiga Report will then be bounced to you.
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== UUDecoding Amiga Report ==
===========================================================================
If you receive Amiga Report from the direct mailing list, it will arrive in
UUEncoded format. This format allows programs and archive files to be sent
through mail by converting the binary into combinations of ASCII
characters. In the message, it will basically look like a lot of trash
surrounded by begin <filename> and end, followed by the size of the file.
To UUDecode Amiga Report, you first need to get a UUDecoding program, such
as UUxT by Asher Feldman. This program is available on Aminet in
pub/aminet/arc/
Then you must download the message that it is contained in. Don't worry
about message headers, the UUDecoding program will ignore them.
There is a GUI interface for UUxT, which should be explained in the docs.
However, the quickest method for UUDecoding the magazine is to type
uuxt x ar.uu
at the command prompt. You will then have to decompress the archive with
lha, and you will then have Amiga Report in all of its AmigaGuide glory.
If you have any questions, you can write to Jason Compton
Aminet
Table of Contents
Aminet
~~~~~~
To get Amiga Report from Aminet, simply FTP to any Aminet site, CD to
docs/mags. All the back issues are located there as well.
Sites: ftp.cdrom.com, ftp.wustl.edu, ftp.tas.gov.au, ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk
World Wide Web
Table of Contents
World Wide Web
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AR can also be read with Mosaic (in either AmigaGuide or html form).
Reading AmigaReport with Mosaic removes the necessity to download it. It
can also be read using programs found in UNIX sites such as LYNX.
Simply tell Mosaic to open one of the following URLs:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/Amiga/News/AR/
http://sun1000.ci.pwr.wroc.pl/AMIGA/AR/
http://mm.iit.uni-miskolc.hu/Data/AR
The following AR site also has a mailto form, allowing you to mail to Amiga
Report from the web site. <Make sure your reader has forms capability).
http://www.pwr.wroc.pl/AMIGA/AR/
Amiga information can also be accessed at this URL:
http://www.prairienet.org/community/clubs/cucug/amiga.html
Mosaic for the Amiga can be found on Aminet in directory comm/net, or
(using anonymous ftp) on max.physics.sunysb.edu
Mosaic for X, Macintosh(tm) and Microsoft Windows(tm) can be found on
ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu
Copyright Information
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== _ _ __ ___ _ ==
== /\\ |\\ /| || // \ /\\ ==
== / \\ | \\ /|| ||(< __ / \\ ==
== /--- \\| \/ || || \\_||/--- \\ ==
== /______________________________\\ ==
== / \\ ==
== Amiga Report International Online Magazine ==
== May 17, 1995 Issue No. 3.10 ==
== Copyright 1995 FS 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
FS Publications. Permission to reprint articles is hereby denied, unless
otherwise noted. All reprint requests should be directed to the editor.
Amiga Report and/or portions therein may not be edited in any way without
prior written permission. However, translation into a language other than
English is acceptible, provided the editor is notified beforehand and the
original meaning is not altered. Amiga Report may be distributed 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). CD-ROM compilers should contact the editor.
Distribution on for-profit magazine cover disks requires written permission
from the editor. Amiga Report is a not-for-profit publication. Amiga
Report, at the time of publication, is believed reasonably accurate. Amiga
Report, its staff and contributors 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 Escom AG. All
items quoted in whole or in part are done so under the Fair Use Provision
of the Copyright 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 is
specifically requested not to be reprinted.
===========================================================================
Amiga Report Writing Guidelines
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== Amiga Report Writing Guidelines ==
===========================================================================
The three most important requirements for submissions to Amiga Report are:
1. Please use English.
2. Please use paragraphs. It's hard on the eyes to have solid
screens of text. If you don't know where to make a paragraph break,
guess.
3. Please put a blank line in between paragraphs. It makes
formatting the magazine much much easier.
Note: If you want to check ahead of time to make sure we'll print your
article, please write to the Editor. Please stipulate as
well if you wish to retain copyright or hand it over to the editor.
Editor's Choice
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== Editor's Choice ==
===========================================================================
These are selected products, reviewed by myself, that I've liked. So, I've
landed them and decided to sell them at
All prices are in $US.
| | Issue | Approximate | Amiga Report |
| Product | Reviewed | Retail Price | Reader Price |
---------------------------------|----------|--------------|--------------|
| | | | |
|Swifty 3-button mouse | 2.28 | $39.95 | $22.75 |
| | | | |
|GPFax Amiga Fax Software | 2.30 | $100.00 | $60.00 |
| (Class 1 and 2) | | | |
| | | | |
|Micro R+D CD-ROM Volume 1 | 2.25 | $69.00 | $30.00 |
| (Includes early Transition | | | |
| graphics converter and loads| | | |
| of artwork) | | | |
| | | | |
|Micro R+D CD-ROM Volume 2 | 2.26 | $99.95 | $46.75 |
| (Includes entire Nature's | | | |
| Backdrop series) | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Orders may be placed via check, money order, or postal cheque, made out to
Micro R+D. Visa/Mastercard accepted via post or E-Mail. No CODs.
Mail all orders to Jason Compton . Orders will be processed by
Amiga Report and drop-shipped from Micro R+D.
In the US, add $5/$10/$20 for UPS shipping, ground/blue/red label,
respectively. Overseas: It is recommended that you consider $20 to be the
minimum cost for shipping. If you plan to order more than one item, E-mail
for shipping cost.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sidewinder's Future Shock II CD is now available through Amiga Report.
Featuring 15 Amiga-generated tunes totalling 71 minutes, Eric Gieseke's
work is captured on an Amiga-independent media.
Available for US$12.00. Please add $5 for shipping.
Make check or money order payable to Jason Compton . Orders will be
drop-shipped from Sidewinder Productions.
For overseas orders, please contact through E-Mail before ordering.
Delphi
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== Delphi Internet Services -- Your Connection to the World! ==
===========================================================================
Amiga Report International Online Magazine and the Amiga Report Coverdisk
are available in the Amiga SIG on DELPHI. Amiga Report readers are invited
to join DELPHI and become a part of the friendly community of Amiga
enthusiasts there.
SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access
DELPHI services via a local phone call
JOIN -- DELPHI
--------------
Via modem, dial up DELPHI at 1-800-695-4002
then...
When connected, press RETURN once or twice
and..
At Username: type JOINDELPHI and press RETURN,
At Password: type AMIGAUSER and press RETURN.
For more information, call
DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-695-4005
SPECIAL FEATURES
----------------
* Complete Internet connection -- Telnet, FTP, IRC, Gopher, E-Mail and
more! (Internet option is $3/month extra)
* SIGs for all types of computers -- Amiga, IBM, Macintosh, Atari, etc.
* An active Amiga SIG hosting conferances, Usenet, Latest wares, and
FTP Gopher coming soon
* Large file databases!
* SIGs for hobbies, video games, graphics, and more!
* Business and world news, stock reports, etc.
* Grolier's Electronic Encyclopedia!
DELPHI - It's getting better all the time!
Portal
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== Portal: A Great Place For Amiga Users ==
===========================================================================
The Portal Information Network's Amiga Zone
The AFFORDABLE alternative for online Amiga information
-------------------------------------------------------
Portal is the home of acclaimed Amiga Zone, a full-service online SIG
(Special Interest Group) for Amiga owners and users. We promise, and
WE DELIVER ongoing & aggressive Amiga support!
You can dial into Portal to access the Amiga Zone in many ways: direct
dial to our San Jose, CA high-speed modems (you pay for the phone call
if it's not local), or though any SprintNet or Compu$erve indial anywhere
(with a small hourly fee) or via the World-wide Internet "telnet"
program to portal.com (no hourly fee).
Even Delphi and BIX users can Telnet into Portal for a flat $19.95 a month,
with *unlimited* use.
Portal is NOT just another shell service! Its Online system is fully
menu-driven with on-screen commands and help, and you can easily customize
it for your favorite terminal program and screen size.
Some of Portal/Amiga Zone's amazing features include:
* 2.5 GIGabytes of Amiga-specific file space - we have so much Amiga Stuff
online, we've lost count!
* The *entire* Fred Fish collection of freely distributable software,
online. ALL 1000 disks!
* Fast, Batch Zmodem file transfer protocol. Download up to 100 files at
once, of any size, with one command.
* Amiga vendor areas with participants like AmigaWorld, Elastic
Reality (ASDG), Soft-Logik, Apex Publishing, and others.
* 40 "regular" Amiga libraries with over 10,000 files. Hot new stuff
arrives daily.
* No upload/download "ratios" EVER. Download as much as you want, as
often as you want, and never feel pressured doing it.
* Live, interactive nightly chats with Amiga folks whose names you will
recognize. Special conferences. Random chance prize contests. We
have given away thousands of bucks worth of Amiga prizes - more than
any other online service.
* Message bases where you can ask questions about *anything* Amiga
related and get quick replies from the experts.
* Amiga Internet mailing lists for Imagine, AMosaic, LightWave, EGS,
OpalVision & others feed right into the Zone message bases. Read
months worth of postings. No need to clutter your mailbox with them.
* FREE unlimited Internet Email with 5 meg of free storage.
* A FREE UNIX Shell account with another 5 meg of free storage.
You can run Amiga Mosaic through your shell and explore the
vast World Wide Web!
* Portal has the Usenet. Thousands of "newsgroups" in which you can read
and post articles about virtually any subject you can possibly
imagine.
* Other Portal SIGs (Special Interest Groups) online for Mac, IBM, Sun,
UNIX, Science Fiction, Disney, and dozens more. ALL Portal SIGs are
accessible to ALL Portal customers with NO surcharges ever. You
never worry "Ooops... Am I paying for this area?" again!
* Portal was THE FIRST online service to offer a full package of Internet
features: IRC, FTP, TELNET, MUDS, LIBS. And you get FREE unlimited
usage of all of them.
* Our exclusive PortalX by Steve Tibbett, the graphical "front end" for
Portal which will let you automatically click'n'download your waiting
email, messages, Usenet groups and binary files! Reply to mail and
messages offline using your favorite editor and your replies are sent
automatically the next time you log into Portal. (PortalX requires
Workbench 2.04 or higher)
* Portal does NOT stick it to high speed modem users. Whether you log in
at 1200 or 2400 or 9600 or 14.4K you pay the same low price.
To join Portal or for more information call:
1-800-433-6444 (voice) 9a.m.-5p.m. Mon-Fri, Pacific Time
1-408-973-9111 (voice) 9a.m.-5p.m. Mon-Fri, Pacific Time
1-408-725-0561 (modem 3/12/2400) 24 hours every day
1-408-725-0560 (modem 96/14400) 24 hours every day
or enter "C PORTAL" from any Sprintnet dial-in, or "portal" at any
CI$ network dialin, or telnet to "portal.com" from anywhere,
and then enter "online" and then "info"
Call and join today. Tell the friendly Portal Customer Service
representative, "The Amiga Zone and Amiga Report sent me!"
[Editor's Note: Be sure to tell them that you are an Amiga user, so they
can notify the AmigaZone sysops to send their Welcome Letter and other
information!]
The Portal Information Network accepts MasterCard, Visa, or you can pre-pay
any amount by personal check or money order. The Portal Online System is a
trademark of The Portal Information Network. SLIP, UUCP and custom domain
accounts are also available.
GEnie
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== GEnie: Internet access, online games, more ==
===========================================================================
* What is GEnie?
GEnie is a commercial on-line service that offers many services at a
reasonable monthly rate. Some of the general services are:
- Over 150,000 software files to download
- Uploads to GEnie are free of any connect charges, so upload those
Public Domain programs to add to the Starship Amiga Roundtable's
vast selection of programs for free!
- Real-time chat
- Dozens of special-interest discussion areas
- Challenging multi-player games with graphics (yes, there are Amiga
front-ends)
- Worldwide news, weather and sports
- Electronic mail to and from the Internet
- FTP Service which provides users with interactive access to any of
the millions of files available for public access on the Internet
- Usenet Newsgroups Service which allow users to participate in the
global discussion areas collectively known as USENET
- Outbound Telnet Service which enables users to connect to other host
computers through the Internet
- GEnie Mall with nearly 40 different vendors
- Starship Amiga Roundtable which contains gigabytes of Amiga-only
files
- Commodore Roundtable for VIC-20, C-64, C-128 and other Commodore
computers
- Other Amiga software companies have their own Roundtables for
customer support such as Soft-Logik where all the latest program
patches and support files are available for their products
- AmiAladdin Support Roundtable for getting the latest updates to the
GEnie Aladdin software which is used to make maneuvering the GEnie
menu system much easier and faster. This is a specific area for the
Amiga version of this software which is free of charge
- Hundreds of other areas and services available
* How do I sigh up for GEnie?
You may sign up for GEnie service by one of two methods:
(1) Using your modem (8N1 half duplex 300/1200/2400 baud) dial
1-800-638-8369. Upon connection immediately enter HHH (Return),
don't wait for any on-screen prompt. At the U#= prompt type SIGNUP
(Return). You may use a major credit card account or your checking
account (US only.)
(2) Call GEnie client services via voice at 1-800-638-9636 or
1-301-251-6475 from outside the US and Canada.
Distribution BBSes - Australia
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== Distribution BBSes - Australia ==
===========================================================================
-=NEW ZEALAND=-
* BITSTREAM BBS *
FidoNET 3:771/850.0 AmigaNET 41:644/850.0
+64-(0)3-548-5321, SupraFaxModem 28k8 VFast Class
-=SYDNEY=-
* CONTINENTAL DRIFT BBS *
USENET, Internet E-mail, Fidonet, Aminet
(+61) 2 949 4256
Distribution BBSes - Europe
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== Distribution BBSes - Europe ==
===========================================================================
-=FINLAND=-
* AMIGA-NIGHT-SYSTEM *
InterNet: luumu@fenix.fipnet.fi FidoNet: 2:220/550.0
+358-0-675840 V.32bis
* LAHO BBS *
+358-64-414 1516, V.32bis/HST +358-64-414 0400, V.32bis/HST
+358-64-414 6800, V.32/HST +358-64-423 1300, V.32bis
* MOONLIGHT SONATA DLG *
Fidonet: 2:221/112.0
+358-18-161763 - ZyXEL V32b 19200
* KINDERGARTEN *
Email: matthias.bartosik@hut.fi
+358-0-881 32 36, v.34/HST
-=FRANCE=-
* DYNAMIX BBS *
Email: erlsoft@mcom.mcom.fr
+33.1.48.89.96.66 Minitel (vv23) to Modem (v32bis/Videotex)
* RAMSES THE AMIGA FLYING *
Internet: user.name@ramses.fdn.org Fidonet: 2/320/104-105-106
+33-1-45845623 V.34 +33-1-53791200 V.32bis
-=GERMANY=-
* DOOM OF DARKNESS *
Email: marc_doerre@doom.ping.de
+49 (0)4223 8355 19200 V.42bis/Zyx
AR-Infoservice, contact Kai Szymanski kai@doom.gun.de
* IMAGINE BBS *
Email: Sysop@imagine.commo.mcnet.de
B+49-69-4304948 Yoriko 28.8ET V.Fast Class
Login: GAST (Download from area "Amiga-Report")
* LEGUANS BYTE CHANNEL *
Usenet: andreas@lbcmbx.in-berlin.de
49-30-8110060 49-30-8122442 USR DS 16.8
Login as User: "amiga", Passwd: "report"
* REDEYE BBS *
Internet: sysop@redeye.muc.de
+49-89-5460535 (V.32b, Zyxel EG + / USR V.34)
* STINGRAY DATABASE *
EMail: sysop@sting-db.zer.sub.org.dbp.de
+49 208 496807 HST-Dual
* VISION THING BBS *
Infect East German HQ, Keks ASCII Design World HQ
++49(0)345 663914 19200
System Password: Amiga
-=GREECE=-
* ODYSSEY BBS *
email: konem@prometheus.hol.gr 2:410/128.17@fidonet
+++ 301-412-3502 (ZyXEL 16.8K) after 23:00 local time
-=IRELAND=-
* CUGI BBS *
Fidonet: 2:263/155
+353 1 837 0204 V32bis
* HIGHWAY TO HELL BBS *
Fidonet 2:263/154 Internet: iblack@dit.ie
Online from 22:00 - 08:00 GMT +353-1-847 5217
-=ITALY=-
* AMIGA PROFESSIONAL BBS *
Amy Professional Club, Italian Amos Club
+(39)-49-604488
* SPEED OF LIFE *
FidoNet 2:332/505 AmigaNet 39:102/501
ZyX 19.2k/V32/V32bis/V42bis +39-59-226454
-=NETHERLANDS=-
* AMIGA ONLINE BS HEEMSTEDE *
Fidonet: 2:280/464.0, 2:280/412.0 Internet: michiel@aobh.xs4all.nl
+31-23-282002 +31-23-470739 14400 Supra
* THE HELL BBS *
Fido-Net : 2:281/418.0 e-mail : root@hell.xs4all.nl
+31-(0)70-3468783 (v32bis Supra)
* TRACE BBS GRONINGEN *
FidoNET 2:282/529.0 Internet Martin@trace.idn.nl
+31-(0)-50-410143 (14k4 Buad (28k8 V.34 soon)
* X-TREME BBS *
Internet: u055231@vm.uci.kun.nl
+31-167064414 (24h)
-=NORWAY=-
* FALLING BBS *
EMail: christon@powertech.no
+47 69 256117 28.8k
-=PORTUGAL=-
* CIUA BBS *
FidoNet 2:361/9 Internet: denise.ci.ua.pt
+351-34-382080/382081 (V32bis soon V34)
-=SPAIN=-
* GURU MEDITATION *
Running Remote Access
+34-1-383-1317 V.32bis
* MAZAGON - BBS - SYSTEMS *
E-mail: jgomez@maze.mazanet.es FTP: ftp-mail@ftp.mazanet.es
+34 59 536267 - Supra 28.8
Login: a-report
-=SWEDEN=-
* CICERON *
E-mail: peman@solace.mh.se
+46 612 22011
-=SWITZERLAND=-
* LINKSYSTEM LINK-CH1 *
contact: rleemann@link-ch1.aworld.de
+41 61 3215643 V32bis/Zyx16800 +41 61 3832007 ISDN X75/V110
Local newsgroup link-ch1.ml.amiga-report
-=UNITED KINGDOM=-
* AMIGA JUNCTION 9 *
Internet: sysadmin@junct9.demon.co.uk FidoNet: 2:440/20
+44 (0)372 271000 14400 V.32bis/HST
* CREATIONS BBS *
E-Mail: mat@darkside.demon.co.uk 2:254/524@Fidonet 39:139/5@Amiganet
+44-0181-665-9887 Hayes Optima 288 2400 - V.FC
* METNET CCS *
Email: metnet@demon.co.uk FidoNet: 2:2502/129.0 2:2502/130.0
10 Lines: +44-1482-442251 14k4 +44-1482-444910 16k8
Distribution BBSes - North America
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== Distribution BBSes - North America ==
===========================================================================
-=ARIZONA=-
* MESSENGER OF THE GODS BBS *
mercury@primenet.com
602-326-1095
-=BRITISH COLUMBIA=-
* COMM-LINK BBS *
InterNet: steve_hooper@comm.tfbbs.wimsey.com
Fido: 1:153/210.0 AmigaNet 40:800/9100.0 604-945-6192 USR DS 16.8
-=CALIFORNIA=-
* MYSTIC CAVERNS *
E-mail: roy@ctsnet.cts.com WWW: http://ramiga.cts.com
(619)442-7030 14.4 (619)442-7060 28.8
* TIERRA-MIGA BBS *
FidoNet: 1:202/638.0 AmigaNet: 40:406/3.0 Internet: torment.cts.com
619.292.0754 V32.bis
* VIRTUAL PALACE BBS *
Sysop Email: tibor@ecst.csuchico.edu
916-343-7420
* AMIGA AND IBM ONLY BBS *
(619)428-4887
vonmolk@crash.cts.com
AmigaNET address: 40:406/7.0
-=FLORIDA=-
* LAST! AMIGA BBS *
(305) 456-0126
USR 21600 HST D/S
-=ILLINOIS=-
* EMERALD KEEP BBS *
FidoNet: 1:2250/2 AmigaNet: 40:206/1
618-394-0065 USR 16.8k DS
* PHANTOM'S LAIR *
FidoNet: 1:115/469.0 Phantom Net Coordinator: 11:1115/0.0-11:1115/1.0
708-469-9510 708-469-9520
* STARSHIP CUCUG *
Email: khisel@prairienet.org
(217)356-8056
* THE STYGIAN ABYSS BBS *
FIDONet-1:115/384.0
312-384-0616 USR Courier HST 312-384-6250 Supra V.32 bis (FREQ line)
-=LOUISIANA=-
* The Catacomb *
E-mail: Geoff148@delphi.com
504-882-6576 Supra v.fc 28.8k
-=MAINE=-
* THE KOBAYASHI ALTERNATIVE BBS *
Usenet and FidoNet Echo Areas FidoNet: 1:326/404.0
(207)/784-2130 (207)/946-5665
-=MEXICO=-
* AMIGA BBS *
FidoNet 4:975/7
(5) 887-3080 9600 V32,MNP
* AMIGA SERVER BBS *
Now with 17 CDs available
Number: 5158736
-=MISSISSIPPI=-
* THE GATEWAY BBS *
InterNet: stace@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil FidoNet: 1:3604/60.0
601-374-2697 Hayes Optina 28.8 V.FC
-=MICHIGAN=-
* DC Productions *
Email: dcpro!chetw@heifetz.msen.com
616-373-0287
V.Everything
-=MONTREAL=-
* GfxBase BBS*
E-mail: ai257@freenet.hsc.colorado.edu Fidonet: 1:167/192
514-769-0565 14.4
-=NEW JERSEY=-
* T.B.P. VIDEO SLATE *
Full Skypix menus + normal and ansi menu sets.
201-586-3623 USR 14.4 HST
* DLTACOM Amiga BBS *
(201) 398-8559
Fidonet: 1:2606/216.0
Internet: dltacom.camphq.fidonet.org (email only)
-=NEW YORK=-
* THE BELFRY(!) *
stiggy@dorsai.dorsai.org
718.793.4796 718.793.4905
-=ONTARIO=-
* COMMAND LINE BBS *
Canada's Amiga Graphics & Animation Source
416-533-8321 V.32
* REALM OF TWILIGHT BBS *
Usenet: realm.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca FIDO: 1:221/302 Fish: 33:33/8
519-748-9365 (2400 baud) 519-748-9026 (v.32bis)
-=TENNESSEE=-
* AMIGA CENTRAL! *
Internet mail: root@amicent.raider.net
615-383-9679 1200-14.4Kbps V.32bis
* NOVA BBS *
AmigaNet 40:210/10.0 40:210/1.0 40:210/0.0 FidoNet 1:362/508.0
615-472-9748 USR DS 16.8
-=WASHINGTON=-
* FREELAND MAINFRAME *
Internet - freemf.eskimo.com
206-438-1670 Supra 2400zi 206-456-6013 Supra v.32bis
* PIONEERS BBS *
FidoNet: 1:343/54.0
206-775-7983 Supra 14.4k v32.bis
Login: Long Distance Password: longdistance
Distribution BBSes - South America
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== Distribution BBSes - South America ==
===========================================================================
-=BRAZIL=-
* AMIGA DO PC BBS *
Fidonet: 4:801/44 Internet: fimoraes@dcc.unicamp.br
Weekdays: 19-07 (-3 GMT) Weekends: 24 hours +55-192-33-2260
Editorial and Opinion
Table of Contents
===========================================================================
== Editorial and Opinion ==
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compt.sys.editor.desk Time keeps on slippin'...
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News Articles Reviews Announce Adverts
News & Press Releases
Table of Contents
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== News & Press Releases ==
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Amiga Report Listserv And there was much rejoicing.
PC-Task Conference Come to IRC...
AmigaOS Project Information update
USG Change Another information update
Escom's BBS Phone numbers and other info
Photogenics 1.2 An upgrade to the image processor
Ten on Ten Ten-pack of CDs from Almathera
Delfina DSP Multifeatured audio board
NewTek licenses 'HIIP' Agreement with Elastic Reality
AmiJAM '95 A Canadian Amiga show this summer
AC '95 A Canadian Amiga show...deja vu...
Viscorp license License for Amiga technology
Video Toaster Box A portable toaster
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Opinion Articles Reviews Announce Adverts
Featured Articles
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== Featured Articles ==
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Escom Fax Escom answers some questions
Advice for Escom ...on the educational market
Amigas in Education Listing of schools & universities
Video Toaster Expo Optimism abounds
The WarpEngine More speed from MacroSystem Dev.
Amiga and Creation A lighthearted view...
State of the Amiga Authorized statement from Escom
Dr. Peter Kittel A short autobiography
Amiga Mag. Survey Which magazines are out there?
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Opinion News Reviews Announce Adverts
Reviews
Table of Contents
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== Reviews ==
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Envoy 2.0 Corrections/clarifications from AR 3.08
Emulation Rambler The latest from the emulation scene
QuickText 2.0 Presentation and titling
XiPaint 3.1 24-bit paint program
PPaint 6.1 Painting and image processing
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Opinion News Articles Announce Adverts
FTP and Product Announcements
Table of Contents
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== FTP and Product Announcements ==
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Aminet Charts Aminet Charts for May 8, 1995
Aminet Charts Aminet Charts for May 15, 1995
HTML-Heaven 1.1b Help to write WWW documents
SpringTime 1.0 PD puzzle game
Eazy BBS 2.21 Unix-like BBS with UUCP support
easyrexx.library Add an ARexx port to your application
ARCHandler 2.0a Use lha files like directories
Guida Online Magazine Croatian AmigaGuide magazine
ChunKit 1.0 Editor that structures the hex code
Supra Library Small update to Amiga ROM libraries
LIP 1.4 Helps to induce lucid dreaming
Control Panel 4.2.1 Streamlines AmiTCP
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Opinion News Articles Reviews Adverts
About AMIGA REPORT
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== About AMIGA REPORT ==
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AR Staff The Editors and writers
Writing Guidelines What you need to do to write for us
Copyright Information The legal stuff
The Staff
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== The Staff ==
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Editor: Jason Compton
Senior Editor: Robert Niles
Assistant Editor: Katherine Nelson
Games Editor: Sean Caszatt
Where to Get AR
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== Where to Get AR ==
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The AR Mailing List
Aminet
World Wide Web
Distribution Sites
Commercial Services
Distribution Sites
Table of Contents
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== Where to find Amiga Report ==
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Arranged by Continent:
Australia
Europe
North America
South America
Sysops: To have your name added, please send Email with the BBS name,
its location (Country, province/state) your name, any internet/fidonet
addresses, and the phone number of your BBS
Commercial Online Services
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== Commercial Online Services ==
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Delphi Getting better all the time.
Portal A great place for Amiga users.
GEnie Internet access, online games, more.
