Date:         Fri, 03 Sep 1999 23:15:36 +0200
From:         Darek Dulian
To:           "Amiga-News.de" petra.struck@online-club.de
Subject:      FastATA'99 & AllegroCDFS new sofware for PowerFlyer Controller

ELBOX Computer is proud to present FastATA'99 ver.4.x.
FastATA'99 4.x is the fourth generation ATA/ATAPI control
software for ELBOX FastATA/PowerFlyer/Winner HighSpeed
Controllers for Amiga 1200.

With this software the newest PowerFlyer/FastATA/Winner
High Speed Controllers with new EIDE/UltraATA HHDs
may reach over 10 MB/sec. (Sysinfo, DriveSpeed) and with
new CD-ROM drives may exceed 7 MB/sec.

>From FastATA'99 ver.4.0 on, controller users could choose between
spliting HDD > 4 GB into 4 GB logical units or using DirectSCSI
and TD64 commands.

If you would like to receive e-mail updates of the software written
for the PowerFlyer FastATA-2/EIDE Controller, please send a message
to:       support@elbox.com
subject:  subscribe FastATA'99
body:     [your name], [your ATA3.driver version],
          [the serial number of your controller]

If you have a controller version without AllegroCDFS,
you may want to purchase it from:
sales@powerc.demon.co.uk
or
sales@elbox.com
or your local distributors.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read more:

THE  FAST ATA-2/EIDE CONTROLLER

In recent times, the extremely dynamic progress in the mass production
technology of data storage media has resulted in a huge increase
of their capacity and speed. It is especially apparent in the devices
which make use of the FAST ATA-2/EIDE standard of communication with
computers.
Enhanced IDE is at present the most common controller standard for
hard drives, CD-ROM drives, CD-RW drives, DVD drives, etc.

The Amiga 1200 has a built-in hard disk controller in the IDE standard.
However, only the PIO 0 mode of operation has been implemented in the
Amiga 1200, which is the slowest of all PIO modes with a maximum
transfer rate of about 3 MB/s.

The FAST ATA-2/EIDE Controller idea has been based upon the
assumption to fully use the currently produced devices in
the FAST ATA-2/EIDE standard with their increased speed and capacity.
The aim of this solution is to adapt the existing Amiga computer
systems to the new, many times more effective devices, while retaining
full compatibility with the existing software and hardware installed
in the system.

The FAST ATA-2/EIDE Controller has been designed to fit inside the
Amiga 1200 in its standard casing or in any Tower-type casing.
The controller works with two EIDE ports, which can accommodate up
to four devices. Apart from the PIO 0 standard, necessary for
booting up the Amiga computer from a hard disk and for accepting
the oldest types of devices, the card also provides for fast
PIO 3 and PIO 4 modes.



THE  FAST ATA-2/EIDE CONTROLLER FEATURES

The  FAST ATA-2/EIDE Controller with its many features represents
the highest technology controller in its category. The following
list describes some of these features:

Fast transfer rate of up to 16.6 MB/s

The  FAST ATA-2/EIDE Controller with its maximum transfer rate
of 16.6 MB/s in the PIO 4 mode offers a huge capacity reserve for
fast mass storage devices, especially for fast hard drives.
Therefore, applications may run much faster if they can count on
fast access to large data files.

Support of ATAPI standard devices

The  FAST ATA-2/EIDE Controller implements the ATAPI standard as
well, for use with devices like CD-ROM drives, DVD drives, etc.
This enables the connection of ATAPI-standard devices to the Amiga
with no need for the installation of additional software.

Two buffered and terminated EIDE ports

The controller operates with two EIDE ports, which enable
installation of up to four IDE/EIDE/ATAPI devices. Both controller
ports are fully buffered and terminated in accordance with the
recommendations set forth in the ATA-3 specification.

Fully compatible with hard drives of over 4 GB capacity

Limitations on the size of hard disks have been overcome in the
FAST ATA-2/EIDE Controller. The  FAST ATA-2/EIDE Controller may be
used with hard drives of over 4 GB capacity with no need to change
the FastFileSystem used so far for file management.

Automatically configured devices

The Controller automatically recognises any devices attached to it,
negotiates the highest possible data transfer rates, switches the
devices into its appropriate mode and performs data transfers at
their maximum transfer rates.

Automatic recognition of the processor type

The  FAST ATA-2/EIDE Controller automatically detects processor type
used and optimises and modifies some software routines
in order to achieve the highest possible data transfer rate between
the controller and the computer memory.

32-bit access

The computer recognises the controller as a 32-bit device configured
in the address space of the previous IDE controller, which has been
disconnected. Full 32-bit operation of the controller combined with
very efficient software guarantees a significant increase in the
speed of your computer.

Other features of the  FAST ATA-2/EIDE Controller:

* 2 devices in different modes of operation (PIO 3 or PIO 4)
  may be connected simultaneously to each of the ports without speed
  reduction.
* New mass storage data verification procedure free of ROM-based errors.
* The software installation is performed automatically by the
  installation programme script found in the enclosed floppy disk.

Reply-To:        digital-images-news@egroups.com
From:            Stuart Walker
To;              digital-images-news@egroups.com
Date:            Fri, 03 Sep 1999 23:20:52 +0000
Subject:         [digital-images-news] Digital Images Update

To Amiga users worldwide,

Due to recent announcements and problems with Amiga, Digital Images regrets
that we will be suspending all AmigaMCC projects including Sabrina Offline.
Space Station 3000 and Wipeout 2097 will be released as planned, but we will
be suspending all other Amiga developments until further notice.

Everyone behind Digital Images has enthusiastically supported the Amiga
through the good times and the bad times. But with the recent troubles with
Amiga, the entire team has unanimously decided to suspend all Amiga
developments (with the exception of Space Station 3000 and Wipeout 2097). We
regret to have to take these measures, but Digital Images cannot afford to
spend time, resources and money developing for a computer which now, as it
seems may never appear.

We hope that everybody reading this understands our position as this is the
last thing that any of us would ever have wanted to do, but Amiga have made
promise after promise that something would appear, but it has not.

We deeply regret this decision, but it is a final measure that has to be
taken. We wish that we wouldn't have to go this far, but we now have no
other option - it is the last thing that any of us wanted to do. We would
appreciate it if everybody understood our position and wouldn't send e-mails
of anger and abuse. We have done everything in our power to avoid this, but
it just isn't possible.

If the Amiga does indeed rise again, which we hope it does, we will return.

We hope that you will enjoy our upcoming releases of Space Station 3000 and
Wipeout 2097.

If you do have any questions or queries concerning this announcement, please
e-mail info@digital-images.demon.co.uk

We thank you all once again for your loyal and devoted support.

Kind Regards,

Stuart Walker
Digital Images

• header expanded by needs-field
• bugfix: delete to trap-error when opening a directory
• bugfix: MIME version in system/standard/email corrected
• bugfix: arguments to objects and functions now retain upper/lowercase
• bugfix: system/console/tab-size
• bugfix: find now works on ports
• bugfix: copy now works on ports even when not copying to start of port
• bugfix: problems with multiplication of money values
• on reading an empty file, an empty string is now returned.

• Your Amiga will get the most up-to-date CPU which was ever available in an Amiga, including any upgrade processor boards
• Your Amiga will offer a processing performance which is superior to nearly any available personal computer system today - supercomputer performance on your desktop! Plus even the option for symmetrical Multi-Processing with Dual-XPC7400 modules for those who need the real bang....
• Your Amiga is technologically up-to-date - with powerful hardware, expansion options and the support of highly modern Operating Systems including backwards compatibility to the Amiga OS 3.x.

* Forwarded from newsgroup "a Mail"
* Originally from: Fabian Jimenez (fabian@cais.com)
* Original date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 23:01:48 -0400

Hello All,

I regret to inform that Bill McEwen told me as of
Tuesday he will no longer be under contract at
Amiga.  Sigh.

I called him about some newsletter plans he had
in mind, only to receive yet another bit of
disappointing news.

Regards,
Fabian
--
Fabian Jimenez : fabian@cais.com : ICQ# 21377601
       Editor, Amiga Intuition Newsletter
National Capital Amiga Users Group, www.ncaug.org

From:       Janne Siren siren@mikrobitti.fi
Reply-To:   siren@mikrobitti.fi
Subject:    Press release: Finnish Saku 99 Event This Saturday
Date:       Wed, 1 Sep 1999 17:18:34 +0300


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Finnish Saku 99 Event This Saturday

Webcam and IRC Channel Available

ESPOO, FINLAND - September 1, 1999 - Saku 99, the biggest Amiga event in
Finland this year, will be on this Saturday in Vantaa. The show starts at
12 o'clock and will feature Amiga related competitions, demonstrations,
retailers and video films. Amiga's Petro Tyschtschenko and AmigaOS 3.5
previews will be there as well. Attendance is free of charge.

For those who can't attend, the Finnish Amiga Users Group will be hosting a
webcam and an IRC channel (#saku99 at IRCnet) with live comments from the
exhibition place. Please note the Finnish timezone (EET, GMT+2). You should
also check out the Saku 99 invitation intro in Aminet for pictures and
other highlights (demo/intro/saku99.lha).

Please visit http://batman.jytol.fi/~saku/english/ or our mirror site
http://tzimmola.tky.hut.fi/saku/english/, for further information. E-mail
inquiries may be sent to Janne Sirén (siren@mikrobitti.fi).

About Saku 99

Saku 99 will be the biggest Amiga event in Finland this year. Following the
success of Saku 98, which was visited by some 500 Amiga enthusiasts, Saku
99 is aimed to be bigger and better than the previous events. Mr. Petro
Tyschtschenko of Amiga has already confirmed his presence and other great
highlights are planned. Saku 99 will be held on Saturday September 4th 1999
at the Science Centre Heureka in Vantaa, near Helsinki.

About Finnish Amiga Users Group

Finnish Amiga Users Group (Suomen Amiga-käyttäjät ry.) is a non-profit
organization for promoting Amiga computing and helping Amiga users in
Finland. Also known as Saku, after it's disk magazine, the group is trying
to accomplish it's goals by organizing meetings and by publishing a disk
magazine. Since 1993 the Finnish Amiga Users Group and it's predecessors
have released over thirty issues of the disk magazine and held several
public gatherings. Other accomplishments include the Web site and Sakunet,
a national Fidonet style network of Amiga related bulletin board systems.

• 3-band equalizer with mid-sweep (includes new GUI when version v2.0829 or higher is used)
• low shelving filter (bass control)
  - high shelving filter (treble control)

• PFS Doctor, a repair program for the difficult case
• expansion of the delete directory to up to 992 entries!
• extra long filenames, (optionally) up to 100 characters!
• HDInsttools for easy installation
• own PFS format command
• miscellaneous bugfixes

• adding a new generic search function in the maxi search, enabling for the first time the search for special keywords in the additional databases like economy, history etc. (full text search)
• complete rework and bugfixes
  • NewLook-Menus for OS 3.0+ (no more changing menu colors)
  • flashing pointer for cities and small countries now working correctly
  • scrolling of the maps pixel by pixel per keyboard
  • sorting speed-up due to presorted databases
  • faster search functions (in Assembler)
  • VisualPrefs now supported nearly completely
  • GeoWorld-Fonts can now stay in the same directory
• interaction with all requesters now completely by keyboard
• option to give distances in miles instead of kilometers
• requester "no information available" now with configurable time-out
• reworked and expanded prefs window (among others display mode, font, use, save or reset prefs)
• expansion of the city database for Austria, Switzerland, Brasil and US cities (over 1100 cities with ZUP code, 6119 cities total)
• expanding the city databases with details about country / state capitals
• expanding the country databases with details about the Internet abbreviation (e.g. .de, .uk, .us)
• informations about the databases are now kept in a seperate GeoWorld.data file, so an expansion of the databases does no longer imply a change of the main program
• expansion of the info requester
• rewritten and expanded online help
• reworked and extremly expanded data about the inhabitants of the countries (over 100 kByte text!!)

• Midi tower with 230W power supply
• 68040 (40 MHz) or 68060 (50 MHz)
• 2 MB ChipRAM (on A4000 mainboard)
• IDE controller (on A4000 mainboard)
• SCSI2 controller (on the processor board) for hard drives and CD-ROMs
• 7 Zorro II/III slots
• 5 ISA slots (non-active)
• 2 video slots
• 3,5" floppy drive HD 1.76 MB
• original A4000 keyboard
• original Amiga mouse
• 40speed IDE CD-ROM drive
• 13.1 GB IDE hard drive
• AmigaOS 3.5