May 1990 MAGazine Volume 6 Number 5

Table Of Contents

CALENDAR OF EVENTS - MAY 1990

Saturday May 12, 1990 - 1:00 pm - The General Meeting will be held in the Parrish Building, Room #7, which is east of Jennings Hall on the Campus of State Technical Institute of Memphis. We will discuss topics of general interest to the group. Also, David Bath will be describing all the new items that were introduced at The World Of Amiga show in New York. And also demonstrate the new Migrapf Handscanner.

SEE YOU THERE!

Happy Mothers Day

A Computer Windows Lament

To my darling Husband,

I am sending you this letter in a bogus software company envelope so that you will be sure to read it.

Please forgive the deception, but I thought you should know what has been going on at our home since your Amiga Computer entered our lives two years ago.

Little Jennifer turned three in September. She looks a lot like you did at that age. She is an attractive child and quite smart. She still remembers that you spent the whole afternoon with us on her birthday. What a grand day for Jenny despite the fact that it was stormy and the electricity was out.

The children are doing well. Tommy is seven now and is a bright handsome boy. He has developed quite an interest in the arts. He drew a family portrait for a school project. All the figures were good but yours was excellent! The chair and the back of your head are very realistic. You would be very proud of him. The house is in good shape. I had the livingroom painted last spring. I'm not sure if you noticed it. I made sure the painters cut air holes in the drop cloth so you wouldn't be disturbed.

Well my dear, I must be going. Uncle Lars, Mr. Senson, I mean, is taking all of us on a ski trip and there is packing to do. I have hired a housekeeper to take care of things while we are away. She'll keep things in order, fill your coffee cup and bring your meals to your desk, just the way you like it. I hope you and the Amiga have a lovely time while we are gone. Tommy, Jenny, and I will think of you often. Try to remember us while your disks are booting.

Love, Mary

The Folowing products were used in producing this newsletter.

PAGESTREAM

PENPAL

MIGRAPH SCANNER

COMPUSERVE

TOUCHUP

MAGazine
Memphis Amiga Group
Box 17426
Memphis, TN 38187

MAGazine is published monthly by the Memphis Amiga Group (MAG), a nonprofit organization offering assistance to fellow Amiga owners and those interested in Amiga. Membership in the Memphis Amiga Group is available for an annual fee of $20 per family. Memphis Amiga Group officers for 1990 are:

PRESIDENT
Todd Rooks
(901) 373-0198

VICE PRESIDENT
Brian Akey
(901) 458-3699

SECRETARY/TREASURER
Raymond Ginn
(901) 756-8514

LIBRARIAN
Bill Bowers
(901) 360-0003

MAGazine EDITOR
David Bath
(901) 458-8937

Duck Pond BBS
24 hours
2400 baud
(901) 761-3729

ATTENTION AMIGA RETAILERS
REACH A DEDICATED
CUSTOMER BASE
ADVERTISE IN MAGazine
CONTACT DAVID BATH FOR MORE INFO
HM 901-458-8937
work 901-373-9098

AND THIS JUST IN

By Johnny C Lately

Hello, again!

I'm Johnny Come Lately, back again to tell you about the hottest new goings-on in AmigaLand. And boy-oh-boy!, does Johnny C. have news you can use!

COMMODORE RELEASES AMIGA 3000!

The biggest news during the past month was the big, big release (finally!) of the Amiga 3000 CPU by Commodore. Hey, folks, this is one sexy machine, and hot-to-trot with its 68030 main processor, true 32-bit architecture, 2 Megabytes of RAM, built-in "flicker-switch", WorkBench 2.0, and AmigaVision!

WHAT DID JOHNNY SAY "WORKBENCH 2.0"??

...Yes, my friends, Amiga has finally brought out the elusive WorkBench 2.0 (nee WorkBench 1.4). All Amiga 3000's are ready to use the new operating system, which boosts an embossed 3-D look. CLI commands will be executable from the WorkBench. There will also be access to and viewing of ALL files (regardless of whether or not they have an icon). And more, MUCH more! "OS 2.0 WorkBench" will begin shipping immediately, bundled with AmigaVision, in the new A3000. Enhancer kits for the A2000's and A500's will be released separately later this year.

"AMIGAVISION" Whats This Anyway

AmigaVision is the new MultiMedia home-authoring system that will be included with every new Amiga bought after May (it will be available separately for $149 for those of us who already own an Amiga). The AmigaVision software, in the words of Commodore, can be used to create "applications ranging from complex business presentations to daily courseware". It will allow end users to combine graphic, text, video, and audio components via a flowchart-like icon-based system. It will have serial device drivers for laserdisc players. VCR's, CD systems, etc. Johnny C thinks it's gonna blow the Mac's HyperCard (whazzat?) out of the water. It'll be available at the end of May.

THE LATEST AND GREATEST

Okay! Okay! Johnny know that most of you are bored by all this hardware stuff. I hear you out there yelling. "Games! Where are all the GAMES!!" Never let it be said that Johnny doesn't listen. Here's what's new and hot (or at least lukewarm) and already out for your wallet to cry over:

Jonny C. likes to pick out his favorite new release each month, and this month Jonny wants to call your attention to Chamber of the Sci-Mutant Priestess. With a name like that, it's GOT to be corny, right? Wrong-o! This is a sizzling-hot adventure game, abounding with interesting characters and graphically intense scenery. Be careful not to insult the wrong people! (snicker) CotSMP is another InfoGrames import masterpiece, distributed in the United States by DataEast/Draconian. Johnny's Hot new conversion of the month is Pirates. The popular game has finally reached the Amiga market, to the cheering of the crowds. This is MicroProse's second entry for the Amiga, and promises to be much better received than Gunship was (which looked like a quick port of the C-64 version). I think you'll find that THIS time Microprose didn't skimp on the graphics! (Just wait 'til you see it!)

WHAT THAT WHEN?!

Here's something to give one pause. After a couple of years of lots of talk, NewTek will finally be shipping the VIDEOTOASTER come the end of May or the start of June. That's right, sports fans, the VIDEO TOASTER (Close your mouth -your chin is gonna get a rugburn)! It's going to be hot, with it's combination of genlocking, frame-grabbing, videotitling, special-effecting abilities. And all for less than $1600! This baby has already received an award or two, and is expected to revolutionize PC video standards, and solidify the Amiga's multimedia leadership position. This is of course aimed as a professional tool, but Johnny thinks it would make a really neat toy, too...

By the time you read this, we should all be expecting the arrival of another long-awaited item. DUNGEON MASTER 2:CHAOS STRIKE BACK should be on the way right about now. Yes, Lord Chaos is back and he's not happy. Actually, it's not so much that he's back but that he's set a trap or two for you before you defeated him in the last game. This one is definitely for winners of the first scenario, as you won't get too far without some pretty tough characters to withstand Chaos' machinations. It also includes an editor for your character's pictures (a bit of electronic plastic surgery!)

Also, last month Jonny told ya' that Their Finest Hour should be in your hands while you read my initial column. Well, Lucasfilm had some last-minute delays, but rest assured that THIS time it's all on-the-ball, and the software is atthe duplicators even as I word-process what you're reading.

QUICKIES:

Coming soon for the Amiga are AD&D-The Championships of Kryan (See! Told ya!), Math Blaster Plus, Ghouls and Ghosts, The Killing Game Show (from Psygnosis), Operation Thunderbolt (an Oper. Wolf sequel), A-10 Tank Killer, Prince of Persia, Wings of Fury, Rings of Medusa, Bandit Kings of Ancient China, Brain Blaster, Codename: Iceman, The Colonel's Request, and Waterloo.

F-19 Stealth Fighter has now been pushed back to an expected October release date, but to make it up MicroProse has gotten M1 Tank Platoon together and that should be ready for us by July, as should Koei's Gengis Khan. The fall should finally see the release of Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny, followed by Ultima VI: The False Prophet at the beginning of the new year. Don't tell anyone *I* told ya', but Origin's working on a new line of adventure games. The title alone should be enough to spark an interest: Worlds of Ultima, Volume 1: Savage Empire. This will be the start of games in the Ultima style that will take place outside of Britannia/Sosaria, on other worlds. It'll be made first for IBM's, of course, but soon afterward for the Amiga. In fact, Origin's Marketing Manager Greg Malone was quoted iCOMPUTER GAMING WORLD as saying "...it is a widely recognized trend among entertainment software publishers today to focus title development on the remaining strong markets, namely IBM & compatibles, Amiga, and the Commodore 64." So Amiga is second only to the vast IBM market, and Apple and Atari seem to be missing from that statement entirely. And how about THAT, sports fans?

Johhny C.

New Treasurer,

We want to congratulate our new secretary/treasurer Raymond Ginn. He was elected last month to fill the position Keith Burns was forced to give up due to work conflicts.

Good Luck, Raymond

Views From The Editor

This month was an exciting month for Amiga owners everywhere. Just think, we now have the long anticipated Amiga 3000, also the Toaster and Workbench 2.0 are ready to ship. And, last but certainly not least we are, once again, on the coveted cover of Byte magazine, which to computer fanatics is like the cover of Vogue for fashion.

I hope everyone enjoys the changes I have made so far with the MAGazine, I'm working on getting everyone to get their articles to me earlier so I can get the letter to you before the meeting, (whew! that's the hard part.)

I am also looking for a used copy machine so that I can increase the size even more. Copy centers want too much money too copy the newsletter each month, and a copy machine will allow me to double the size of the letter for a fraction of the cost now.

I feel this letter should reflect the growing interest in our computer. Each month we are increasing our membership, and I want our letter to be further inducement to perspective members. To accomplish this goal I will need the help of all the members. This can be anything, from suggestions to articles. If you do not feel that you can express yourself on paper feel free to call me. You can tell me what you would like to convey and I will put it in Black and White for you. Everyone knows something they can contribute.

To get the letter out earlier I am moving the deadline for articles up to two weeks before the meeting. It takes quite a wihle to organized and design the letter each month. It is more than flowing text into a template. Appropriate graphics need to be found or made, layout must be designed, etc. So far I am enjoying my position very much and I hope the newsletter will continue to be a source of pride for our group.

David Bath

New York

I guess that in the future if I looked back over all the Amiga shows over all the years, I would still choose to attend this one. I have to say that the Hunter Group did one heck of a job in organizing a show that contained as much excitement as the host city (this by the way was New York's first Amiga show.)

Mr. Hunter managed to asssure that his show would be one of the biggest ever offered, not in terms of a large numbers of exhibitors, but in the enormity of the unveilings that occured during the two days.

Commodore was by far the overall star of this show but they did have to share the spotlight with a few other companies. I will try to do relay, in this article, everything I saw and played with during the weekend.

As I entered the room the dominating force was Commodores brand new booth sporting Amiga 3000s, displaying the Workbench 2.0, all over the place, by the way I could read the screens from about 15 to 20 feet away it is so clear. But more on Commodore later.

While trying to clear my eyes of the dazzle displayed by the Commodore the very next wonder to greet my eyes is the fantastic New Tek booth displaying none other than completed Video Toaster, I now know how Dorothy felt. There aren't words to describe the features of this relatively small piece of hardware that is estimated to replace $60,000 dollars of broadcast quality special effects generators.

Here are some of the stats for the Toaster;

Well what does all this mean in everyday terms. WOW! Amazing, (we seem to use this word a lot with the Amiga),

And these are just a few of the major features of this fantastic little board. If all this seems hard to believe you ought to see it operate. The show promoters had to keep someone there to help spellbound spectators find their way to other areas.

From here I go to the Migraph booth to see the eagerly awaited Migraph Handscanner. This is another quality piece of hardware now available for the Amiga. This scanner will work in 100 dpi, 200 dpi, True 300 dpi, and true 400 dpi. It also has three dither settings and a line mode. The software is not complete as of yet but they are working on it. The only part not finished is the paint portion. The software will load any format from IBM, Mac, Atari, GIF, and IFF file and convert them to IFF clipart. It seems to be very powerful from what I have been able to do with it in a short period of time. It will be showing the scanner at the meeting.

Over at Gold Disk they were busy showing off their new multimedia product Showmaker. This is similar to Deluxe Paint III from what I saw it did not look quite as powerful. Although for someone who is not Video literate this is the ideal program. It has more features than most programs of its kind and is easier to use. They were also showing ProDraw 2.0. This product should be released at anytime now.

Almost next door was Soft Logic. They were telling everyone about the future of Pagestream 2.0. This release is supposed to incorporate Compugraphic Outline Fonts and support for structured graphics. No date set for it yet.

One piece of hardware almost overlooked because of all the other major announcements should interest Amiga 500 owners. It is manufactured by Pulsar, and it is called The Power P C Board. Now this board replaces the 501 card and makes the 500 completely PC XT compatible, without a bridgeboard.

Here are the features;

AMIGA FEATURES

Makes use of Amiga's ports and video. I watched this work for a while and it was doing a good job with Ventura Publisher. Makes another good selling point for our side.

The biggest rumor of the show was that there is a chance that Lotus 123 will be ported over for the Amiga.

I probably can't say anything the 3000 that you haven't already heard, read or seen. All I can say is where I get mine. It is by far the cleanest looking product Commodore has ever product COmmodore has ever produced. And that goes for Workbench 2.0 also. There is no way we, as commodore owners, will be snubbed by the computer industry any longer. Commodore has to taken seriously as a contender in all markets now. More on this at the meeting.

There was much more to do in New York than I have room for here but I will be happy to answer any questions on Saturday.

David Bath