April 1993 MAGazine Volume 9 Number 4

Presidents Ponderings - April

I hope that you enjoyed last months meeting. Having the opportunity to see 24 bit color scanning was exciting for me. Special thanks to Mike Amos for bringing his custom A4000 and Sharp Scanner out. I hope you learned something useful about using Parnet. I certainly did.

This next month we hope to have lined up for the meeting a live Morphing Demo! We have two video tapes that are short that demonstrate the power of the Amiga when it comes to producing special effects.

Charlie Wirth, the sysop of Eagle's Nest will demonstrate Q-Blue Reader. Using offline readers are quite the rage now in the telecommunications community and it offers great time savings.

BYLAWS CHANGES - In this newsletter there will be a copy of the bylaws with proposed revisions. Please read these carefully and come prepared to vote on the changes. Below is a summary of why we are recommending these improvements. In sections 2 & 3 the Associate Member addition is a way to increase revenues of the club and get more people involved in the group. By lowering membership prices for people who live out of town it makes it more attractive for them to participate. Mainly these folks participate by mail. They get the newsletter and occasionally attend a meeting.

Section 3 - The audit is for the club protection and the protection of the incoming board members. The expenditure limit is for your protection as well. Adding a checking account is a must. It is a way to document all expenditures by the club. Cash receipts are alright up to a point but are only as good as the person keeping the records. A bank statement provides additional documentation.

Section 5 - Having a basic group of board members is a must. Provision for vacancies must be covered in the bylaws. There are also important additions to job descriptions of each office. The most important one is the inventory of fiscal properties by the Vice President. This is for the protection of the membership and the board members.

Section 8 - While no one likes to think about the club breaking up, not to have provisions in the bylaws is unrealistic. This simply sets up guidelines to follow if it should happen.

In summary most of these changes should not be too controversial. I was shocked at the lack of discipline in the original bylaws for a group of this size. There are too many opportunities for a dishonest person to take advantage of the group. While I think that this isn't likely ever to happen, leaving the opportunity open is wrong. I am counting on your support for these changes.

See you at the next meeting!

Bob Nunn, President

2.1 Reviewed

AmigaDOS 2.1 is the latest version of the system software available for non-AGA (Advanced Graphic Architecture chipset) Amigas. I installed it without any problems simply by following the supplied directions. The installation is accomplished by Commodore's standard "installer" program.

This review will concentrate on the differences between AmigaDOS 2.04 and 2.1. Let's start with some general features. The standard File and Font requesters have been improved. Most noticeably, the file requester is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH faster than 2.04's. For example, displaying the entire C: directory (46 files) took about 0.3 seconds, and a 130-file directory took 1 second to display and 1 more second to finish reading. The file requester scans the directory asynchronously, letting the user select files and drawers even before the requester is finished reading the directory. In addition, the file requester displays not only the names but also the sizes and modification dates/times of the files... a feature that I don't find useful (and looks a little sloppy) but maybe other people will need it.

The file requester also has several nice undocumented features. First, it is an "AppWindow." This means you can drag and drop an icon onto it, and the file requester immediately loads the icon's filename and directory. You still must click "OK" to select it, which is a good safety feature. Second, if you click a second time on the "Volumes" button, the requester display toggles between the Volume list and the previous directory (which you were in when you first clicked the Volumes gadget). A very nice touch! Third, there's a mysterious little box to the left of the "Drawer" gadget. it "lights up" whenever the file requester is reading a directory, to leet you know that it's doing work. (It's so fast on a 68030 that I rarely notice the light, though.)

The font requester now pops up instantly instead of reading the Fonts: directory immediately. In addition, it reads the Fonts: directory a little faster than before (84 font names in 4.5 seconds), and it caches the Fonts: directory in between invocations! So,the second time the font requester appears (in the same, or a different, application), it reads Fonts: much faster (less than half a second). Yay.

The Devs: drawer has become more usable from the Workbench. Instead of issuing "Mount" commands from the s:User-Startup file, users can simply drag a device icon into the Sys:Devs/DOSDrivers drawer, and the device will automatically be mounted on startup. There is also a Sys:Devs/Storage drawer for keeping your unused devices in a safe place.

I think the implementation of this new feature is truly excellent, particularly as it is 100% backward compatible. The device icons' files are ordinarily Mountlist entries which can still be mounted using C:Mount. Simple and elegant!

Speaking of icons, all system icons now have all the possible tooltypes listed, with the unused ones commented out with parentheses. This is an excellent, self-documenting feature for people who don't want to refer to the manual every time they modify a tooltype. Great!

Next, let's examine Preferences. The "Prefs" icon is smaller than before - now approximately the same size as the system drawer icons. New Preferences programs include Sound, Locale, and PrinterPS. Prior to AmigaDOS 2.1, any terminal "beeps" (control-G character) would flash the screen instead of making noise. Now, the user may choose a default beep (a simple sine wave with variable pitch and duration) or any IFF 8SVX sampled sound file instead of, or in addition to, the screen flash.

Locale tells the Amiga to tailor the system software to fit different countries and languages. This changes the text, date and time formats, and other visible parameters to conform to the standards of the given country. Although I live with the USA English setting, I tested a few other countries for fun. Now I know how to say "Insert volume foo: In any drive" in 12 different languages. :-)

PSPrinter is a Postscript printer driver. I did not test this new feature.

Various other Prefs programs have some new features. "Printer" now has a "Device Unit" gadget (though you must set the UNIT tooltype to make it visible) to select an alternate device number (but not name). "Input" now has a scrolling list of keyboard types for different countries. "ScreenMode" has more detailed descriptions of its screen types. In general, gadgets and text have been rearranged so that (one hopes) they will look good for all possible languages selectable by Locale.

CrossDOS, a well-known MS-DOS filesystem for the Amiga, has become part of the system software. It allows MS-DOS disks to be read, written, and formatted using the standard Amiga drives (floppy and hard). Although I was initially confused by the implementation - see my comments under "BUGS" below - it works fine. Some people on USENET have complained because CrossDOS displays two icons for every disk: one for Amiga filesystem and one for the MS-DOS. However, this does not bother me at all,

The Format program now knows about CrossDOS as well as the Amiga filesystems. Double-clicking on the Format icon brings up a list of all mounted disk volumes.

The Calculator has a new feature: a "show tape" menu item that pops up a window to display all the calculations you have done so far, just like the tape on a real office adding machine. Unfortunately, the tape does not have a scroll bar, so our earlier calculations eventually cannot be seen. In addition, the "tape" window does not share the Calculator's menu bar, but it should. In any case, it's a useful feature.

I am sure I have missed some of the new features, but those above are the ones I have noticed the most. I wish that the upgrade kit had included a list of all the new features and bugfixes. (See SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE below.)

G-LOCK

by Jamie Mueller

Genlocking is one of the simplest and most effective ways to give your video that extra pizazz to make to make it stand out from the rest. Enter G-Lock, Great Valley Products' entry into the low-cost genlock market segment. At $449, it is priced almost exactly halfway between the high and low end genlocks available. For that price the G-Lock does offer:

1. Complete ARexx control of ALL functions
2. Software selection between 2 composite and 1 Y/C input
3. Software selection between 2 audio (monaural) inputs
4. Bass and Treble control of the audio
5. Complete control of the video processing amplifier
6. RCB color splitting for use with digitizer (Digi-View)

The G-Lock comes packaged with a 84 page manual, Amiga-to-G-Lock cable, and software. You must supply all other cables (composite, Y/C, DB23 monitor) yourself--the manual does give information for locating those hard to find cables.

I found the manual to be complete with a minimum of omissions. There are two simple tutorials to get you up and running. A small "Ready, Set, Go!" chapter is provided for those impatient folks (if they even read the manual at all!). Finally, lots of reference information--including an appendix describing all the features of the ARexx interface--is furnished with enough technical details to satisfy even the video professional.

Installing the software could not be simpler. You can either copy the CD directory off the disk to a directory on your hard drive, or use the Commodore Installer program provided. In either case, it is recommended you make a backup of the software diskette--it is not copy protected.

Once the G-Lock is connected to the Amiga and a video source, you are ready to begin. The G-Lock software has to initialize the hardware and reboot the Amiga. A nice friendly window pops up with two options: Reboot, and Quit, allowing you to change your mind. The manual mentions that the Reboot may not work with some accelerated Amigas--I had no problem on either my 3000/25 or my 500.

The G-Lock software comes configured with only the basic menus enabled. Most users will want to enable the advanced menus since any setting can be resent to factory defaults with a keystroke. You are presented with a blue screen with a video control panel. This control panel can be any one of six: Video, Audio, Advanced 1, Advanced 2, Advanced 3, or Advanced 4. From the Video panel you can select which video input or none, the keyer mode (Amiga, Video, Amiga+Video, and/or inverse), brightness, contrast, tint, or saturation. From the Audio panel, you can select from the audio inputs, as well as mix, volume, bass, treble, and muting. The advanced panels allow control of color selection, VCR or camera timebase, color control, ECS control and more. Overall, you can control any portion of the G-Lock you wish from the software.

The output quality depends significantly on the quality of the input signal. I tested the G-Lock with three different sources: a Laserdisc, S-VHS video, and broadcast video (the S-VHS VCR's tuner). The output was recorded onto 8mm. All three sources produced bright vibrant colors from the Amiga. The stability matched the input source with the Laserdisc providing the highest quality and, surprisingly, the S-VHS providing the lowest. In all cases, the resulting video is quite suitable for use in many home videos and even some low-end production work. In conclusion, I recommend G-Lock for anyone who needs a quality genlock but doesn't have the cash for the higher cost genlocks. With the many settings and ARexx support, the G-Lock makes a formidable entry in to the genlock market.

Secretary's Notes: Board Meeting, March 13, 1993

The meeting was called to order at 11:30 am, at Gridley's, by Bob Nunn. Present were: Bill Bowers, Bob and Cheryn Nunn, Terry Campbell, Officers and Donnie Webb, Brian Akey, Ron Montgomery and Charles Williams.

Discussion was continued on the Fred Fish Collection and updating of the CD roms. The grapevine says Fred Fish is considering discontinuing the collection due to poor subscription participation. Bill Bowers will call and try to find out the latest information.

The treasurer and vice president will work on finding a bank for the checking account. An account with no service charges is the preferred type. Since there are only five elected officers, the Treasurer, Librarian and either the Vice President or President with be the three authorized signatures.

Copies of the proposed bylaw changes were distributed to those present and discussion was held on each proposed change. The bylaws, with the board approved changes, is reprinted here in this newsletter for review by the general membership before the April meeting, at which time a vote will be taken whether to approve them or not.

In order for the general membership to recieve the newsletter in the alloted time before the meeting, all officers were urged to get their articles to Trevor early to allow for ample mailing time.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 noon.

Submitted by; Cheryn Nunn, Vice President

BFormat, Version 4.0

by Nick J. Cook

In a letter, Horace Walpole wrote "it was said of old Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, that she never puts dots over her i's, to save ink". I may not be that bad, but I do tend to be "thrifty," like using a printer ribbon until the print is only legible on the Bold setting. The BFormat PD utility is for all fellow cheap-skates. AmigaDOS formats only perfect diskettes; even if only one block is "bad," AmigaDOS deems the entire disk unusable. BFormat is a CLI-only utility that allows you to format those less than pristine disks by mapping out the errors. The program supports the Fast File System, any type of floppy disk, hard drive partitions, and RAD: devices. The only limitation is that Track 0 and Track 80 must be good.

BFormat camouflages the bad blocks from AmigaDOS. When a block cannot be formatted, the program marks it as "in use". These marked blocks are not attached to any AmigaDOS file, so AmigaDOS doesn't attempt to use them.

The BFormat command contains switches to flag for the file system type, as well as the options FAST, QUICK, and SLOW. The latter verifies each track with four different patterns, and lives up to its name.

I have BFormat only on floppies. One disk contained 22 bad sectors. After BFormat completed its task, the disk indicated that it was 1% full those -- were the bad sectors. Two cautions, though:

1. BFormat does not restore data; all data on the disk will be lost, just as with the regular "format" command.
2. If your disk has one hard track error, that may be a sign that the disk is on its way out, so don't put your life's work on one.

BFormat is a cinch to use, even to those of us who use the CLI as a last resort. The docs are concise and easy to understand.

BFormat Authors: T.A. Nery, R.W. Bowers, Bob Bush
"StarShip" File #10428 BFORMAT4.LZH
Also available on: Fish Disk 758.

Financial Report of the Memphis Amiga Group March, 1993

Hi Gang!

If you were not at last months meeting, you may not be aware of the new club flyer Bob Nunn had printed up. Great job Bob!

IT LOOKS GREAT!!

If you would like to have a few to give to prospective members or to leave at retail stores contact Bob or me..

Terry Campbell

Attention Last Notice

If your name is on this list and you have paid your 1993 dues please contact me at the meeting or give me a call Terry Campbell 601-393-4864

MEMPHIS AMIGA GROUP MEMBERS April 1993

If you have a change of address or phone, please notify;
Terry Campbell
(601) 393-4864

MEMPHIS AMIGA GROUP BYLAWS

After careful review of the bylaws, the executive committee has recommended the following changes be made. All changes are listed in ITALIC type. Please review these changes carefully and come prepared to discuss and vote on the changes at the next general meeting. See the President's article for more information.

I. Purpose

The Memphis Amiga Group, herewith known as of MAG, is organized for the purpose of promoting and encouraging the use and understanding of the Commodore Amiga personal computer. MAG is a non-profit organization offering assistance to fellow Amiga owners and those interested in the Amiga, through the exchange of ideas and experience in personal and general use of the Amiga.

II. Membership

Membership is open to all those who share a common interest in the objectives of MAG. A person is considered to be an active member upon payment of dues as provided herein. An active member's immediate family may particpate in group activities, however, voting privileges are only extended to those immediate family members who regularly participate in group activities. Members are expected to abide by all rules as set forth in the bylaws and are subject to dismissal for violation of these rules. An associate member is someone who lives outside a 45 mile radius of Memphis.

III. Funds

Starting membership dues are $25 for the first year, and renewal fees are $20 annually. Annual membership is valid from the first day of the month in which dues are paid for a period of 12 months and is renewable annually. Renewal Fees must be paid at or before the General Meeting of the member's expiration date. Failure to renew membership within 30 days of the anniversary date of membership, shall be sufficient cause to end a person's membership in the organization. To regain membership in the organization a starting fee of $25 must be paid. Associate members dues are $15.00 annually. All dues are non-refundable.

Operating expenses shall largely be generated by the assessment of membership dues. Dues shall be set by the executive committee, and may be changed as required. The executive committee shall have the power to determine other fund raising activities to supplement funds raised by dues.

The costs of the newsletter ads, are $10 for a quarter page, $15 for a half page and $20 for a full page. All other specifics will be negotiated and documented in a contract by both parties.

All funds received by MAG shall be placed in a general operating fund and may be audited upon request by an active member.

An audit shall be performed annually by the incoming treasurer and one board appointed non-member. The non-board member will report their findings in the March newsletter. The purpose of the audit is to insure that all financial records are reconciled and that all supporting documents are present. Disbursement of funds shall be determined by vote of the executive committee.

Expenditures of over $500.00 must be approved by a 2/3 majority vote of the general membership present at a meeting following advance written notice. Two signatures shall be required on all checks. The officers authorized to sign the checks shall be the treasurer and two other officers as elected by the board.

IV. Meetings

Meetings shall be scheduled by the executive committee on a monthly basis. Group meetings are held the second Saturday of each month from 1 PM until about 3 PM in the Farris Auditorium on the campus of State Technical Institute at Memphis. The election of officers will be held annually at the January meeting. Members must be present to vote. Nominations for office are to take place in the December general meeting.

V. The Executive Committee

The committee shall consist of the following elected officers: president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, librarian, publisher and newsletter editor. Officers receive free membership privileges for the period of their service. Officers also receive free use of the hardware library and free access to the club's software library.

A vacancy occurring in any office shall be filled for the unexpired term by a person elected by a majority vote of the executive board, notice of such election having been given as deemed necessary by the board. In no instance shall the offices of president, treasurer, librarian or newsletter editor allowed to be left vacant. If volunteers for the listed offices are not fund, the club should proceed with dissolution covered in article VIII.

The president is responsible for all group activities and shall preside over the meetings of the group and the executive committee. The president should provide the leadership necessary to meet the established purpose of MAG.

The vice president shall act for the president in his absence and shall also serve as coordinator of special interest groups and activities with other user groups. The vice president shall also keep a record of fiscal properties of the club. A yearly audit of club properties, by the incoming vice president should be performed and a report of the findings should be published in the March newsletter.

The secretary is in charge of recording the group's activities and the activities at the officers meetings, communication to people and companies outside the group. Maintain and publish the minutes of the executive board meeting in the club newsletter.

The treasurer is in charge of the finances and list of addresses, phone numbers of the group's active members. Provide a monthly report of the finances to the club membership in the newsletter each month.

The librarian shall organize and maintain a library of reference materials, public-domain software, and group purchase hardware, available to all active members. Create at least one new master disk per month.

The newsletter editor shall prepare and publish a regular newsletter, including group and special announcements as necessary.

VI. Amendments

These bylaws may be amended by a two-thirds majority of the active members in attendance at a regular or special meeting, provided that a notice of the proposed amendment is given at least seven days in advance of the meeting.

VII. Miscellaneous

The Memphis Amiga Group specifically prohibits the unauthorized sale of distribution of copyrighted material by its members. The Memphis Amiga Group, also known as MAG, is in no way connected with the Commodore-Amiga company or any other for-profit organization. Members of the committee or of the group shall not attempt to use funds or property of the group for personal or business profit.

VIII. Dissolution of MAG

In the event a quorum of officers cannot be elected the Executive Board shall be responsible for: Notifying the general membership of record in writing at least 60 days in advance of impending termination of the club. Dispose of all club property at the final general meeting with all sales sold by voice bidding for cash only. The funds and any remaining property are to be donated to any public institution 51% of those present agree upon. The funds and any remaining property are to be turned over to said institution within 72 hours of the vote by the general membership.

MAG .info

The Memphis Amiga Group (M.A.G.)
P.O. Box 752683
Memphis, TN 38175-2683

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Memphis Amiga Group (M.A.G.) is a non profit organization whose purpose is promoting and encouraging the use and understanding of the Commodore Amiga Computer Systems. Membership are open to all who share a common interest in the Amiga computer and its many wonderful and unique features. Monthly meetings are open to the public and visitors are very welcome.

MEMBERSHIP

Annual membership dues for new members is $25.00 with an annual renewal rate of $20.00. All memberships are family memberships and dues are nonrefundable.

NEWSLETTER

This newsletter is published monthly for the distribution to members of the Memphis Amiga Group. MAGazine contains meeting announcements, hardware and software reviews, video and book reviews and other information of interest to Amiga and computer users in general. Contributions are welcome and may be submitted in hardcopy or via disk in asci format at any meeting or you can upload to Videospeak BBS 853-4804. Be sure to leave a note to the sysop. The editor reserves the right to reject material related to illegal service, products or unethical practices.

CLUBS DISKS & MISC.

ADVERTISING RATES

MEETINGS

General Membership Meetings: 2nd Saturday of each month 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm in the Farris Auditorium at State Tech.

Board of Directors Meeting: 2nd Saturday of each month at 11:30 am at Gridley's on Macon Road.

All special events will be announced via the newsletters.

BOARD MEMBERS