28.Aug.2000
Brad Webb per eMail
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Amiga Update Newsletter
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_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors-
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional e-mail
"SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW" || News Source)
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AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.
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000827
R U K S U N L I N K S W I T H A M I G A
A M I G A & R E D H A T W O R K I N G T O G E T H E R
E X E C U T I V E U P D A T E F R O M B I L L M C E W E N
J U S T A F T E R O U R L A S T I S S U E . . .
A M I G A / I N F O M E D I A A N N O U C E M E N T
A M I G A K D H L I N K
A M I G A A N D M A T R O X A L L I A N C E
A M I W E S T 2 0 0 0 : A R E V I E W
A C E I S T H E P L A C E
P A U L N O L A N J O I N S A M I G A
" A M I G A F U T U R E " ' S F U T U R E . . .
F W D P A R T N E R S W I T H A N G E L I T E
I F U S I O N P R O G R E S S N O T E D
S V I E W I V A N D I M A G E F X
E L B O X A N D C Y B E R G R A P H X D E A L
P H A T E D I T F O R A M I G A O E
P I C T R I S A N N O U N C E D
W B N O T E S 1 . 0 3 M A I N T E N A N C E R E L E A S E
N O T E S F R O M A P C - T C P
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
Lots of press releases from Amiga Inc. figure in this issue. That's
both good and well, not bad, but not ideal. You can find most of these
press releases at Amiga's web site if you wish. We bring them to you
because many people rely on us to provide this news. We wish we had
more news from other sources, but it's been a bit sparse this month.
That's one reason for the newsletter coming out so near the end of the
month.
That's the way it is with news - some months a lot, some not so much.
In a small market like ours it shows more than in larger markets.
However, the news we bring is mostly encouraging. The progress Amiga
is making is consistent and long term. We haven't seen this determined
a drive for the future from the Amiga's owners since - well, maybe
never before.
We like that. A lot.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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E-mail to the E-ditor:
12 Aug 2000
Hi Brad,
I search anything about Music-x.
Sites, performances (Music-x Midifiles),
other users !!!
Can you help me ???
Thanks
Johan
~~~~~~
Can any reader help Johan with his search? Let us know, we'll pass
the information on.
Thanks,
Brad
=======
20 Jul 2000
Hi,Brad;
I am enjoying issue 0718, and thanks
My Question or thought is this:
Did the "Powers That Be" consider that probably most Amiga owners
don't have CD-Roms on their machines? This is strictly my estimate
based on the people who attend various User-Groups in my area.
I realize that those users who are near one of the few service
centers in the U.S., can go and receive expert attention at getting a
cd-rom installed in his or her computer. This has restricted me from
installing 3.5 OS.
In preparation for my 1200, I purchased a DataFlyer SCSI, them
purchased the Driver software, purchased 3.1 chip and 3.5 OS. Guess
what! The driver software is not compatiable with the SCSI nor even
the CD-Rom that I borrowed.
I also have a 3000 at work, and a 2000 at home. I will not install
3.5 on the other machines due to one person in my User group that does
have a cd -rom has a problem with his cpu after installing the 3.5 OS.
It may have been the "politically correct" thing to do putting the OS
on a CD, but I bet it has lost many, many buyers that don't have a
cd-rom.
Sincerely,
Nelson
~~~~~~~
I understand your frustration, but technology marches on and the
CD/ROM is now a more economical method of delivering software than the
floppy disk, in many cases. It's also much more reliable.
It's not that difficult or expensive to add a CD/ROM drive to an
Amiga, and it's becoming more and more necessary even without 3.5
coming on CD/ROM.
My biggest 3.5 concern may relate to yours. It seems if you mix SCSI
and IDE on a given Amiga, you will likely have problems doing an
install. This is ridiculous and needs to be fixed quickly.
For what it's worth, we've been running 3.5 on an A3000 and an A4000
at "Amiga Update" for quite some time with no problems after we got a
successful installation. I, for one, won't go back.
Thanks for your thoughts,
Brad
=======
23 Aug 2000
Hello Brad,
How goes it? Help! I'm pulling my hair out. I've got a problem with
my system, there is a problem with my clip unit. When clip more than a
few lines of text from an application and try to paste it either with
the menu paste item or Amiga V the cursor flashes and nothing happens.
If it is just a few lines, about 10 say from my startup-sequence it
works fine but any more and it won't work. If I do the stack command
from the WB menu execute command it shows the current stack to be 8192
bytes. The Conclips stacks is set at 4096 and the clipboard.device is
set at 4096.
My system consist of:
A3000 68030
OS3.5
2 megs. chip 16 megs fast ram
C-1950 Monitor
I GB Conner HD
1GB Jaz
Catweasel HD Drive controller With IBM HD Drive with buda IDE
(buda not instaled yet)
Picasso IV with the Concierto sound module & mic.
inturnal and exturnal DD 3.5 disk drives
Exturnal CDrom
If you have any idea of what's wrong
e-mail me ASAP.
Kind regards
Don
~~~~~~
Don,
I don't have enough experience with some of the equipment you list to
attempt an complete answer, though I do wonder if your stack values
may prove to be too small. We have a tremendous resource in our
readers, so let's hope one of them can provide better guidance.
If you can, please contact us at "AU" and we'll get you in touch with
Don.
Thanks,
Brad
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R U K S U N L I N K S W I T H A M I G A
Snoqualmie, WA, August 22,2000 - Amiga Inc. is pleased to announce
that it has reached an agreement with Ruksun Software Technologies to
bring its award winning Messenger Force and IMAP Force products to
Amiga. Ruksun Software Technologies is one of the pioneering companies
in the development of Internet and Connectivity application software
for mobile and wireless devices that run the Windows CE, Palm OS and
EPOC platforms. As key players in the mobile and wireless computing
industry, Ruksun's portfolio consists of end-user mobile applications,
innovative Internet-based technologies, wireless client implementation
and wireless messaging platforms.
The first two applications being developed by Ruksun for Amiga
include award winning IMAP Force and Messenger Force.
Messenger Force is Ruksun's Instant Messaging client that is device
agnostic and works on all the popular hand held devices powered by
Windows CE, Psion devices using the EPOC OS and Palm hand-helds that
run the Palm OS. A soon-to-be-released version will allow Instant
Messaging via cell phones.
Messenger Force, like other popular instant messaging clients, allows
for devices to be notified when other contact list are online such
that they may communicate in real time via Instant Messages. Messenger
Force is a small footprint, comprehensive messaging product that
supports authenticated user logon, auto notification, contact list
management, status management, and access permission, as well as
asynchronous and real time messages and notifications.
IMAP Force will be the first email client for Amiga that will support
the IMAP4 protocol for online access to mail. IMAP Force is designed
to allow mobile users to quickly and selectively browse through their
messages without having to download either the large message or large
attachments. IMAP Force allows users to send mail messages via SMTP,
and supports Quoted Printable encoding and non-ASCII text in headers.
IMAP Force includes POP3 functionality allowing users to access their
POP3 accounts and to perform simple mail operations.
"I have followed the Ruksun development efforts for many years, and
it is really exciting to be able to include their great skills and
great products in the Amiga Family," said Bill McEwen, President/CEO
of Amiga, Inc. "Ruksun products will be great additions for our OEM
partners, and the Amiga Community."
Randall Hughes, Vice President, Sales and Strategic Alliances at
Amiga Inc. noted, "We are thrilled to include best of breed products
as Messenger Force and IMAP Force to Amiga. We are equally happy to
see our platform validated by a partner who has distinguished itself
on other platforms. We know that Ruksun, like our other partners, will
enjoy the binary compatibility value proposition of Amiga and continue
to innovate rather than rewriting existing applications."
Rajkumar Chainani, CEO at Ruksun Software says, "Ruksun is pleased to
partner with Amiga and extend our popular products to support this
platform. We believe that the Amiga OS lends itself to tremendous
possibilities for connected digital appliances and non-PC devices. As
time goes by, Ruksun will continue to create revolutionary products
for this revolutionary platform."
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A M I G A & R E D H A T W O R K I N G T O G E T H E R
Snoqualmie, WA, August 21, 2000 - Amiga (www.amiga.com) has announced
today an agreement with Red Hat, Inc. (NASDAQ: RHAT), the leader in
open source internet infrastructure, to provide high performance
multimedia for the Linux platform. The agreement gives the Redhat.com
community access to Amiga's Software Developer Kit. Bill McEwen, Amiga
President/CEO, said that the company selected Red Hat because of its
leadership and abilities to assist in the development of the new
Amiga.
"The Amiga community has already created significant content
including games and exciting Java applications with the Amiga SDK.
With the response that we received from the members of the Red Hat
team, they clearly understand what the Amiga has meant to the
development of personal computer as we know it today. And more
important, they are eager to provide support and add significantly to
the solid foundation we have been developing," McEwen said.
"We're excited to be working with Amiga," said Paul McNamara, VP of
Products and Platforms at Red Hat. "With a multimedia consumer layer
available with Red Hat as the foundation, new markets and new users
will be able to take advantage of Linux and the software available on
Redhat.com."
"The strategic relationship and partnership with the Tao Group in
Reading, England (www.tao-group.com) that we announced at the
beginning of this year, added to this support from Red Hat, gives the
New Amiga a very exciting and real story," McEwen added.
The new Amiga SDK is the embodiment of the Amiga multimedia computing
experience. With tools, support, and exciting new applications already
in development for the new Amiga, developers can quickly begin
creating games, multimedia applications, and can use Java for even
more opportunities. With the purchase of the SDK a developer will
receive free updates for the next 12 months, and the scout level of
Amiga's support program.
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E X E C U T I V E U P D A T E F R O M B I L L M C E W E N
August 8, 2000 - Greetings to the Global Amiga Family
It has been a hectic several weeks, and we are moving even faster
this week.
There will be some new announcements in the next few days that should
be of interest to everyone as we work hard to expand the members of
the Amiga family.
I would like to say a big "Thank You" to everyone who attended the
show in Sacramento California, and another special thank you to John
and Jan Zacharius and the rest of the SACC team. They did a great job.
I am writing this letter as a quick answer to some questions that I
have received in the last 48 hours.
As mentioned before, if you hear something that you need to confirm,
ask. Every member of the Amiga team is more than willing to answer
questions. It gets somewhat tiresome to constantly get rumors sent to
us after they have been out there for several days or even weeks.
Here are answers to two rumors that need to be addressed immediately:
1. Once you sell the remaining A1200's you are pulling out of
Germany.
Answer: No. We have no plans of pulling out of Germany. In fact we
are looking at ways to increase our presence in all of Europe, Asia,
South America, and even here in North America. There are several ideas
on the table, and even some names have been attached to the ideas.
There will more information available when we are ready to share the
plans.
We are certainly not going to disregard the business in these
markets.
We are a growing company and very excited about the future.
2. You are going to begin selling new A4000's and there are already
1,000 of these new A4000's being built.
Answer: Who came up with this one? There is no manufacturing of any
Amiga except the new desktop, notebook, and handheld in the works.
I have asked before, and now I will ask again, please stop these
rumors. If you hear one, contact any member of the Amiga Team
directly, and we will answer you.
Thank you for your continued support.
Kindest regards, Bill McEwen, and the rest of the Amiga Team
----------------------------------------------------------------------
J U S T A F T E R O U R L A S T I S S U E . . .
July 18, 2000
In Response to Community Concerns Posted on MooBunny
We are very excited at the response that we have received in the
first few weeks of the Amiga SDK version 1 going out into the world.
We have received lots of feedback, mostly good, some not so good, and
three particular points have come up that we would like to address
before they become common untruths.
Firstly, it is true that the Amiga Foundation Layer which ships on
the SDK does not have memory protection. However, this does not mean
that AmiTM, the next generation Amiga Digital Environment will not
have memory protection. A comment made in an article in the last
AmigaWorld seems to have been interpreted in such a way as to suggest
that this is the case when in fact the point being made was that Amiga
is looking at many solutions for providing robustness and security.
AmiTM will provide a robust, secure environment and we will use the
most elegant and effective means to achieve this.
Secondly, the End User Licence Agreement that made it into the SDK is
in error as a result of a legal misinterpretation. There is NO ROYALTY
to be paid for any application either created with the SDK or which
will run on AmiTM. Amiga will be creating a scheme in which third
parties can pay a royalty to Amiga in exchange for official Amiga
certification, branding and promotion. This provides a revenue stream
to Amiga and a value add for the third party. This scheme is entirely
voluntary.
The third point has been drawn as a conclusion from the first two,
namely that Amiga is abandoning the desktop market. Nothing could be
further from the truth. The announced AmigaOne will feature processor
options ranging from 600 Mhz to 1 Ghz, with other, even more powerful
devices already on the drawing board. The conclusion to be drawn from
this is either that Amiga is very committed to the desktop market or
that we are going to build one mother of a cellphone.
We are committed to making the Amiga THE best computer system in the
world. Yes we are also going to go into other markets, but that does
not mean we are abandoning the desktop, the Amiga philosophy or the
loyal Amigans who have stood by the platform through the good and the
bad.
Thank you,
The Amiga Team
><> Bill McEwen ><>
President/CEO
Amiga Inc.
Tel 425-396-5660
Fax 425-396-5671
bill@amiga.com
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A M I G A / I N F O M E D I A A N N O U C E M E N T
16 August, 2000
Snoqualmie, WA - Houston, TX - Amiga Incorporated and Infomedia
Network, Inc. today have announced a strategic relationship in
delivering the Amiga and its content to a new line of broadband
interactive set-top box products.
Infomedia Network is dedicated to bringing the best products to their
new line of set-top boxes. These new products include TVision, the
first in a family of interactive TV set-top products that provide the
consumer with a low-cost, easy to use gateway for Internet and
Entertainment. TVision connects to corporate LANs, as well as home DSL
and cable modems through an Ethernet port and provides users with
Internet access, scaleable real-time Video Conferencing, Interactive
Video games, Movies-on-Demand, Home Banking, Point-of-Sale, and other
exciting new features without the need for a PC.
"Amiga, Incorporated and the Amiga community offer great additions to
the products and services that are planned for TVision," said Patrice
Haftman, CEO of Infomedia Network. "Now TVision customers will have
great content available to them from the best developers in the
world."
"We are excited about working with Infomedia," said Bill McEwen,
President/CEO Amiga Incorporated. "Amiga is the perfect fit for the
products and services Infomedia are looking to offer to their OEMs and
consumers. Amiga developers are already using the new Amiga SDK to
create new applications, multi-media titles, and interactive content
that are perfect for this new line of Set-top Boxes."
Infomedia Network and Amiga are privately held companies, and terms
of the transaction were not available.
For more information on either company please visit their web sites:
www.infomedia-network.com, and www.amiga.com respectively.
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A M I G A K D H L I N K
July 19, 2000
Snoqualmie, Wa. USA - Amiga Inc. is pleased to announce their
partnership with KDH Datentechnik of Horb/Stuttgart, Germany, to
distribute the new d'AMIGA Developer Machine, the Amiga Next
Generation product line as well as the AMIGA CLASSIC products.
"We are happy to ensure high quality standards in Europe for our
recently announced d'AMIGA developer machine. Gunter has been a
well-known and respected dealer for many years and has gone to great
efforts to ensure that the d'AMIGA developer machine will be available
to both developers and other dealers in Europe. We are pleased to be
able to offer as economical a solution to our community and to be able
to bundle additional support from Amiga for our developers. The
d'AMIGA developer machine represents significant value to any member
of our community. As we have stated in the past, we have bundled
additional value to the d'AMIGA developer machine that will not be
available elsewhere. If you machine does not have d'AMIGA developer
machine badge, it will not be supported in the same manner. We
encourage the community to investigate the d'AMIGA developer machine,
which will only be available for distribution through KDH in Germany.
We equally encourage the other dealers to contact KDH for availability
for your customers. We all welcome KDH to our future," said Randy
Hughes, Vice President - Sales and Strategic Alliances at Amiga Inc.
KDH Datentechnik, a well-regarded name in the Amiga community, is
ecstatic to be a part of Amiga Inc.'s plans for the future. They are
excited to have been named the exclusive supplier of d'Amiga
development machines in Europe and anticipate that sales of both SDK
and Developers machine will continue to enjoy grow by leaps and
bounds. Gunter Horbach, President of KDH Datentechnik, stated, "We are
very proud to be a part of the new Amiga future and to be able to
provide the current Amiga Classic line as well as the Next Generation
products to the Amiga community in Europe. A close and fair
relationship with our Amiga users as well as the Amiga dealers is the
key to our future. Our base of satisfied customers make us one of the
largest mail order retailers of Amiga products within Europe. We would
like to take this opportunity to thank our customers worldwide for the
opportunity to serve them as well as for their support of the current
offerings from Amiga. We encourage the user community as well as the
other dealers to investigate the excellent value of the d'AMIGA
developer machine and welcome your queries. Our customers have
encouraged us to support the Amiga platform over the years and remain
vocal in their support of the Next Generation Amiga. Customer
satisfaction, friendly and uncomplicated service in concert with the
best technical expertise remain the hallmarks of KDH. These qualities
as well as the vision of Amiga Inc. ensure a bright future for us
all."
Amiga's mission is to provide THE platform, architecture and tools
for the emerging Digital Content Universe. In doing so, we will
uniquely empower our partners and customers to create products that
will deliver on the promise of the Digital Age. The release of our
first products, the Amiga software development kit (SDK) and now, the
d'AMIGA developer machine, is enabling thousands of developers, tired
of the old platforms designed for yesteryear's services, to come over
to join with the tens of thousands of existing Amiga developers
already working with Amiga to create the content of today and
tomorrow, now. For additional information, please visit
http://www.amiga.com www.kdh-datentechnik.com
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A M I G A A N D M A T R O X A L L I A N C E
24July, 2000
Amiga Inc and Matrox are pleased to announce the creation of a
strategic alliance between the two companies.
"Amiga has always been about excellent 2D and video, and in working
closely with Matrox, we can take that to the next level and beyond"
said Fleecy Moss, VP of technology at Amiga. "Whilst having been the
leader in 3D software and content creation, 3D hardware is a
relatively new thing for the Amiga, and with what Matrox have up their
sleeves, the next wave of Amigas are going to turn 3D fiction into 3D
reality."
"Matrox is always pleased to have an opportunity to assist in
developing third party products," says Alain Thiffault, product
manager, Matrox Graphics. "Amiga has a history of offering a solid
platform and we're happy to provide resources for their future
products."
www.matrox.com.
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A M I W E S T 2 0 0 0 : A R E V I E W
by Brian Deneen, President, Sacramento Amiga Computer Club
(Used with permission.)
From the moment I walked into the room, I knew something good was
happening. I saw people that I knew (Roger Berry, Bill Clay and John
Zacharias) being helped by someone I didn't know (Rick Rudge) to get
ready for AmiWest 2000. Registration packets were being stuffed,
AmiWest 2000 banquet tickets printed, and special show edition
Amigazettes being stapled. I joined that last activity on Thursday
before the show.
The reason I knew something good was happening was the evidence of
smiles and the cameraderie being shared. Many have commented, both
inside and outside Amigadom, about the spirit of the Amiga community.
We are a very creative group of people for whom no other computer
platform will do. And that very creativity, shared and enhanced, is
what made that Thursday (and the rest of the weekend) special during
AmiWest 2000.
Those who are less creative, who need some sort of huge corporate
presence to hide behind, might think that "spirit" is amusing. If
that's your style, you are more than welcome to it. I, for one, have
worked for the two largest organizations in the entire world while
they held that status (AT&T and the US Army) and would rather be
smaller and more creative than suffocate in corporate gridlock. The
current spectacle of the PC world is ample evidence of such gridlock
for any who want to observe. I'll take my opportunities with "leaner
and meaner" platforms and companies.
This creative spirit was evident in all of the vendors present.
Hyperion Entertainment was an example, with Hyperion Belgium
represented in force along with the US representative, James Sellman.
(As an aside, James Sellman had NEVER MET his boss from Belgium, Ben
Hermans, until AmiWest this year, after 10 years of working with him
long-distance!) They loaded up their software and had it running
during the show, a graphics and sound tour de force for the serious
gamer. Another example was ProStation Audio with Jim Sutcowicz and
Floyd Diebel, both members of our club. They have seen great
development of their software with their Italian partner and had what
they deemed a successful show.
Another example is Kermit Woodall of Nova Design, who sold out and
said he'll be back next year. We met on Saturday night at the banquet
in the buffet line, having a nice conversation about music and
musicians prompted by my wearing my musicians' work clothes (a tuxedo)
to the banquet. On Sunday, I sat down at his booth and asked him to
show me what his software does, explaining along the way that I'm kind
of the village idiot when it comes to image manipulation. Half an hour
later, I was writing a check for the latest version of Image FX, the
first absolutely brand new Amiga software that I have ever purchased.
After I watched his booth for a few minutes, we discussed ideas for
AmiWest 2001. He had some good things to say and we may be using some
of his ideas in the future. For any of you who have used his software
or seen the results of those who do, I think it safe to say that
Kermit is one of our most creative community members. He was begin
ably aided by Darreck Lisle, present at previous AmiWests as a Gateway
Amiga representative.
Our own Jim Sutherland was also present, observing and helping us
arrive at prices for software and hardware that he donated to benefit
the club. SACC members like Jim make our club great and we a glad that
Jim is with us. SACC as a club is full of creative people who use the
Amiga because nothing else will do. Reliable, flexible, programmable
and configurable, with an OS (1.3-3.1) called by Byte magazine the
most elegant available, the Amiga demonstrates staying power like no
other platform in the world.
Other vendors who did very well were Pagestream, who sold out of
product even while the company was moving to Wisconsin through an
innovative rep arrangement; CompuQuick, who did very well and
commented that people buy more at AmiWest than at other shows they had
attended; and Eyetech, who had some amazing things to show and sell
(including a new developer machine that combined an Amiga 1200 and a
500 MHz PC in a DESKTOP case) and said they will be back next year -
FROM ENGLAND! FWD Computing was very friendly and gave an address of
someone handling hardware and software. Merlancia Industries was
selling both Amiga Hardware and Software and probably should get the
"overflowing booth" prize for having the most on hand. AmigaZone with
Harv Laser, founder and SYSOP, was there signing up new customers. G &
G Publishing Enterprises, publisher of "The New Amigans" magazine,
also signed up new subscribers. NorthWest Amiga Group, Inc. (another
User Group selling Amiga memorabilia and T-shirts) made at least their
second appearance at AmiWest. Anti-Gravity Products of Boxer fame had
Joe Torre as their rep onsite. AmigaOnLine.NET (a nationwide just for
Amiga Internet Provider) was demonstrating the advantages of their
service. Lostman Robert Hamilton was selling his original design
T-Shirts, shorts, and sweats. AEMail was ably represented by
programmer John Zacharias. The vendors were a healthy representation
of the major players in today's Amiga scene.
Then there was a significant list of 10 seminars given throughout the
two days of the show by very knowledgeable people, some of them (such
as Kermit Woodall, Joe Torre, and Floyd Diebel) developers of the
software/hardware they were demonstrating. We were priveleged to have
such a crew of knowledgeable presenters and look forward to having
them back and expanding the list next year. We also hope to see Bob
and Diana Scharp, organisers of the Amiga shows in St. Louis and
producer of "Bounce Back Videos" (video taping the show) back next
year.
SACC's own Jack and Rita McCann headed up this year's raffle effort
raising money for AmiWest. They did a raffle every hour on the hour
and provided a sense of structure for the days of the show. The
highlight of each raffle day was the raffling of a new A1200 computer,
donated to the show by Petro from Germany. The raffle stage was also
graced on Saturday morning by a group singing a song about Jay Miner.
Lots of enthusiasm and smiles were obvious all around.
The Jay Miner Memorial Library was also exhibited for the first time.
Bookcases loaned by Michael Salcedo and Ray Washburn, both of SACC,
housed the library for its first exhibition ever. This software
library was the personal software library of Jay Miner, father of the
Amiga 1000 computer. It contains many original and one-of-a-kind items
proudly displayed on the show stage.
User Group Network's new chair Bill Borsari gave a seminar, assisted
by Robert Hamilton, Joanne Calhoun, and others. This is a focus for
our club, as the UGN is serving as a quasi-official channel for
information from Amiga Inc. While Amiga Inc. also has their corporate
user-group liason, UGN is also being employed as an information
channel. Bill Borsari called for a new look to the UGN as a
cooperative body, freely and creatively sharing information between
user groups. One function of this sharing might be the development of
a database of newsletter articles so that information could be quickly
disseminated through the UGN server. Moderation of this forum is an
issue but the idea is a good one.
One thing the UGN is helping with is the Amiga road tour, announced
at AmiWest by Amiga Inc. president Bill McEwen. The tour, to take
place in October, will highlight developments by Amiga Inc. using the
larger user groups as geographical centers. SACC was the first one on
the map with our larger membership and assignment to reach out to a
200-mile radius around Sacramento. You will see more on this as we get
more information.
Amiga Inc. was represented at AmiWest 2000 by President Bill McEwen,
Randall Hughes and Bob Cosby (the COZ). Bill, Randy and Bob were very
cordial and forthcoming, very knowledgeable veterans of the computer
wars. Bob was joining the company the evening of the banquet and I
witnessed what he said was his first meeting with Bill. Bob has done
everything from hand-building industrial hard-disk drives for Ampex
somewhere in the dim, dark past to, most recently, telecommuting from
Walnut Creek for a software firm located in (if I remember correctly)
Pismo Beach. He is now in quality assurance at Amiga Inc. Randy worked
for QNX before signing on with Amiga Inc. 18 months ago and is
travelling with Bill to see things.
The Saturday night banquet was truly exciting. Access Sacramento was
there with multiple cameras and portable control booth to get a good
video of the banquet. One of the original Amiga beta testers, Annette
Daniels, was running one of those cameras. (Another member of the
original Amiga team, Dale Luck, paid a visit to AmiWest late on Sunday
afternoon.) I was seated at the head table in order to present our
SACC Ken Barton memorial award. Others there included John & Jan
Zacharias and granddaughters, Bill McEwen (Amiga Inc. president), Bob
Cosby (the COZ, to those of you who know), and Randall Hughes (of
Amiga Inc.).
John opened the banquet by inviting us all to line up at the buffet,
a sumptuous meal whose equal would be difficult to find at any but the
finest restaurants. (And yes, I am an experienced diner, having dined
extensively on two continents.) Good conversation was had by all while
serving. Then we presented the Ken Barton memorial award to John
Zacharias, who received it with appropriate ceremony.
Then, it was on to an Amiga television commercial featuring BB King
and several others who were using state-of-the-art Amigas (circa 1988)
in a variety of creative ways, from undersea exploration to flight
simulation to graphics design and production to music. Then the
featured speaker took the podium.
Bill McEwen, of course, was our featured banquet speaker. I won't try
to summarize the speech for you, just highlight some of the things
that stood out to me.
* One of the things I was glad to hear was that Amiga Inc. does have
a corporate development group working on hardware configurations to
run the new OS. In other words, there will be a new Amiga computer,
the Amiga One. Third party manufacturers will build them specifically
for the new OS software.
* Bill showed film clips of two interviews (one on CNN and the other
on another network) that he had done within that past two months. A
news feature on that other network was also shown. Bill has been busy
promoting the product and doing it well. And the tapes he was showing
were, he mentioned, provided FREE OF CHARGE for public presentation,
something that just doesn't happen in the media world (others are
charged up to $10,000 per tape). Unless, of course, you're Amiga!
* A New York Times reporter came to Washington state to interview
Bill and see the new corporate headquarters. The standard time frame
for such visits is about 30 minutes to an hour at most. She spent four
and a half hours talking to Bill, touring the building, etc. Probably
found more creativity per square foot there than most anywhere else on
the planet!
* Discussions with Corel, Red Hat and many unnamed software producers
are progressing well; you can read about the agreements reached so far
on the web site at www.amiga.com.
* Another welcome development: the new OS will run classic Amiga
software. Bill said, in a passing comment, that "we have something
better than emulation" that will accomplish this.
* The OS software was actually demonstrated on two screens on either
side of the speaker's platform and covering most of the wall there
(probably about 15 by 20 feet per screen). Complex images were loaded
and performed flawlessly, manipulated in real time at any speed
desired. Bill kicked the OS up on Linux and on Windows, then plugged
in a diskette to load a program (the same program) called "Tunnel"
into BOTH systems. It loaded very quickly and flew along without a
hitch. Clearly, something revolutionary is happening here.
* The new company acknowledged their debt to the Amiga community. "If
you hadn't stuck it out there would have been nothing for us to buy"
was, I believe, the gist of Bill's very laudatory comments. By the
way, Bill McEwen had never even SEEN an Amiga computer until AmiWest
'98 here in Sacramento. Now he heads up the company. No gridlock here!
* The Amiga road show was announced for the end of October, designed
to showcase the current state-of-the-art of Amiga. More details as
they become available.
* Bill also announced the new Amiga developer program. After
highlighting the huge sums of money other companies ask of their
developers up front, before any sales are made (from Sony at
$250,000.00 to Microsoft at a cool $1,000,000.00), Bill announced that
Amiga Inc. is asking $1.50 per unit sold from its developers to
participate in its programs. Those programs are to include purchasing
retail space in computer stores (endcaps, etc.), using the official
Amiga logo on packaging, and having access to technical developer
information. That $1.50 per unit is, of course, a minimum, but my
information source (an Amiga developer) has it that the MOST they are
charging anyone is under $50,000.00 for access to everything
accessible, clearly miniscule compared to even $250,000.00. Bill said
they are doing this to include everyone who has been faithful during
the lean times; they don't want to leave anyone out. They intend to
reward those who have been in the community the whole time. Again, the
creative approach to software creation.
I'm sure that other things were said; these were my standouts. The
banquet was a very exciting evening. I'm glad that I was there and
plan to attend next year.
AmiWest 2000 was the place where substantial announcements were made,
people got acquainted and re-acquainted, and a good time was had by
all. It was a lot of work but, like anything worthwhile, the reward
came in a job well done. Thanks to all of you who participated. Come
back next year and invite your friends and business associates. As the
T-shirts that Amiga Inc. handed out to everyone at the banquet said,
"It took them 15 years to catch up - now they never will."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A C E I S T H E P L A C E
29 July, 2000
The Australian Alternative Computer Expo includes:
Amiga Computer Expo
Apple Computer Expo
L-ACE (Linux- ACE)
Australian Connectivity Expo
The best operating systems all under one roof! Alternative O/S's
welcome!
When
Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd October 2000
Tentative Times: 9-6pm Saturday 9-5pm Sunday
Where
The Pits, Aughtie Drive Albert Park Lake, Albert Park (in the middle
of the park!).
The show makes provision for families, children and those on lower
incomes.
Entry fees:
$10 General
$7 Students & concession)
$20 Family
Children under 12 free
MS free zone!
Think outside the square!
Support: MC-1@bigfoot.com
Co-ordinator: Greg_T@connect.net.au
http://scsi.bizland.com/ACE-2000/ace_2000.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P A U L N O L A N J O I N S A M I G A
29 July, 2000
Amiga is committed to creating a user experience that will set the
standard for the future of digital living.
As part of the first phase, we have brought together a renowned set
of designers and developers. We are delighted to announce that Paul
Nolan will be joining the corporate Amiga team. Paul comes to us with
many years of experience in the design and implementation of numerious
graphics development and interface products.
"I`m excited to have the opportunity to help Amiga Inc. realize their
dreams for the next generation Amiga, and look forward to continuing
to support the Amiga community," Nolan said.
Paul Nolan, a distinguished application developer and graphics
expert, is the founder and CEO of Paul Nolan Software Inc., a San
Diego, California based company. His award-winning Photogenics
graphics manipulation application has met widespread acclaim since
1994 on the Classic Amiga, and will be soon be available in stores
across the country for Linux, too. More information on Paul Nolan and
the ongoing development of Photogenics can be found at
http://www.PaulNolan.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
" A M I G A F U T U R E " ' S F U T U R E . . .
14 Aug 2000
Andreas Magerl explains the current publisher, the Falke-Verlag, will
discontinue production and selling of Amiga Future after issue #27
because of commercial considerations.
Preventing the last Amiga game magazine from being closed Andreas
Magerl will continue to work with his editors. Selling will be based
on subscriptions. Therefore you should know that Andreas Magerl was
responsible for the content and the Falke-Verlag for the layout and
sales. Because he has not the marketing channels as a big publishing
house has, the further existence depends on the number of
subscriptions. A subscription form is available here. At the moment
there are 6 issues availabel for 60 DM with costs of shipment
inclusive (inside of Germany).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
F W D P A R T N E R S W I T H A N G E L I T E
19 Jul 2000
Frank and Carol Davis of FWD Computing would like to formally
announce our partnership with Angelite Productions. The owner of
Angelite Productions, in addition to their software development for
the Amiga, has also taken over the position with FWD Computing of
Sales Manager. We welcome Mike Ingall. We are adding Angelite
Productions line of software to that which we already carry for the
Classic Amiga. This line includes software for those using Linux on
their Amiga, CDs supporting BeOS, as well as thir line of adults only
CDs for the Amiga.
Mike Ingall may be contacted at:
Angelite_Prod@mailcity.com
Technical inquiries about software may be directed to Frank Davis at:
fdavis@iquest.net
Thank you,
FWD Computing
http://FWDcomputing.tripod.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I F U S I O N P R O G R E S S N O T E D
26 August, 2000
There is light at the end of the tunnel... and we are sure it is not a
train!
We will be posting the new iFUSION interface for customer review in
the near future. Since the emulation itself has been greatly
simplified, many of the options found in FUSION are no longer
necessary. For example, we do not need seperate video drivers for
every video card now. iMacs don't have floppy drives built-in, so
there is no need for a floppy control menu (floppy drives can be
accessed as a block-level device via the STORAGE menu now).
Perhaps someone can help us...
We are looking for a handler or filesystem that allows AmigaDOS
devices (DF0:, DH0:, RAM:, etc.) to be opened and controlled as a file
using standard AmigaDOS file I/O commands such as Read(), Write(),
Seek(), etc. All data transfers are done on a block level using
standard file I/O. This greatly simplifies the I/O code and allows
AmigaDOS to cache data. Hardfiles, floppy drives, and hard drives are
now handled using a common I/O. The problem is that devices can not
normally be "opened" like files. We can write a handler for this
ourselves (we wrote a Mac handler for the file transfers in FUSION
already), but we would like to find something that already exists (if
it does) to speed up the release of iFUSION! If you think you can be
of help, please email me at: msdei@ctaz.com
Thanks for hanging in there!
Jim Drew, CEO - Microcode Solutions
http://www.microcode-solutions.com/amiga/amiga.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S V I E W I V A N D I M A G E F X
14 August, 2000
Anyone who owns a valid keyfile for SViewIV now also can utilize the
new "SUPERVIEW" IFX loader module with ImageFX 2.6 and above - it's
distributed as part of the main program, but add-on wise.
Additional ultra-speed can be achieved through SuperView-Library's
optional PPC modules - which are working completely transparently.
Additional information on SViewIV/PPC can be found under
http://www.ar-kleinert.de - including download links to Aminet and to
the RegNet creditcard-based online registration site.
If you can't wait, here's some more information. SViewIV comes with
the following SVObject loaders for images:
- IFF-ACBM - Windows,OS/2 BMP - PNM (PBM,PGM,PPM)
- IFF-ILBM - JPEG (JFIF v6) - IMG (GEM Graphics)
- IFF-DEEP - PhotoCD - WPG (WP Bitmaps)
- IFF-FAXX - TIFF - MacPaint MAC
- IFF-PBM - PCX - EPS (Header/PS)
- IFF-RGB8 - Atari Degas - C64 (Koala, Doodle)
- IFF-RGBN - Spectrum ZX - TIM
- IFF-RGFX - XWD - FBM
- IFF-YUVN - Windows Icon - CDR-Previews
- QRT/POV Raytrace - Mac PICT-2 - SGI
- SPP - SVG - Targa
- Pictor/PCPaint - SunRaster - UtahRLE
- PNG - CVP (passphoto) - Icons (WB/Magic/New)
as well as all OS3-Datatypes and 24 Bit DataTypes (picture.datatype
V43).
Many formats with 24 Bit-Support. Reads XPK- and PP20-packed data via
Unpack.svobject.
Writes C-Sourcecode in chunky/RGB notation. Together with external
third party programs also the following file formats seamlessly can be
embedded:
File Format needs program also needs support for
---------------------------------------------------------
- AMF MetaView (ILBM)
- CLP MetaView (ILBM)
- DXF/AutoCAD (tm) MetaView (ILBM)
- FIG AmiFIG (Postscript)
or: MetaView (ILBM)
- CGM GPlot (Postscript)
or: MetaView (ILBM)
- IFF-DR2D MetaView (ILBM)
- IFF-DRSD MetaView (ILBM)
- Limbo Limbo 4.0 (PNM)
- Postscript (TM) Ghostscript -
- WPG-Vector MetaView (ILBM)
- WMF MetaView (ILBM)
(*) attached you find a preview copy of the IFX loader for
convenience
(**) in the current version, all images are imported
as 24 bit for quality. If there's demand for colormaps
or a SAVER module, this would be an option for
future releases.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E L B O X A N D C Y B E R G R A P H X D E A L
Krakow, PL - 24 July 2000
Elbox Computer, the developer of Amiga hardware and software, who
have designed and produced the MEDIATOR PCI 1200 busboard, announced a
partnership today with Vision Factory Development, developer of
CyberGraphX, the widely popular graphic system for Amiga computers.
Elbox Computer and Vision Factory Development will co-operate to port
and optimize the CyberGraphX graphic system for operation with PCI
graphic cards installed in the MEDIATOR PCI 1200 busboard.
CyberGraphX V3 will be available with the MEDIATOR PCI busboard.
CyberGraphX V4, the extended commercial version of this system may be
obtained from all the CyberGraphX distributors; it will enable even
more comprehensive use of the PCI graphic chipsets capacity.
Support for new graphic chipsets will be developed for both versions
(V3 and V4) of the CyberGraphX system.
Current information on drivers available for MEDIATOR will be
reported at http://www.vgr.com, the official CyberGraphX website.
CyberGraphX
The CyberGraphX standard is being supported by all major Amiga
software vendors worldwide. CyberGraphX was designed to define an
independent graphics standard for Amiga graphic boards. Continued work
on Workbench emulation was also an important issue. Over 7 years of
experience in developing graphics board software was employed in
making Workbench control screens with all the existing Amiga graphic
cards. CyberGraphX is based on hardware-dependent monitor driver and
hardware-independent libraries. This solution has many advantages, one
of these being bug fixes in the Workbench card control. Speed
optimization is another benefit available for ALL the graphic boards
supported by the CyberGraphX system. CyberGraphX works with majority
of the most popular applications on the Amiga and resources of Public
Domain and Demo software available are broad.
MEDIATOR PCI 1200
The MEDIATOR PCI 1200 is a new-generation busboard for Amiga 1200
computers. The MEDIATOR busboard is fitted with four PCI
2.1-compiliant slots for connecting PCI devices, thus enabling
expansion of Amiga 1200 with a variety of PCI-standard hardware
products. MEDIATOR's hardware has been made compatible with ALL the
available Amiga 1200 turbo cards. MEDIATOR PCI opens an immense wealth
of PCI cards for Amiga 1200 owners: network, sound, modem (ISDN),
decoding (MPEG-2, MP3), TV, and, most of all, graphic cards based
around chipsets like S3 ViRGE, Savage4, Voodoo3, Voodoo5, Riva TNT2,
etc. MEDIATOR PCI enables using the high-end cards based around the
latest PowerPC G3/G4 processors (available in the PCI card form) in
Amiga 1200 computers. When this feature is combined with the PCI
graphic cards, totally new superb possibilities are open for Amiga
owners.
Elbox Computer, Press Department
Mariusz Wloczysiak
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P H A T E D I T F O R A M I G A O E
PhatEdit
This is (apparently!) the worlds first GUI based text editor for
AmigaOE. It is written entirely in VP code and is completely free! The
only thing I do ask is that you tell me about any problems you find
and also keep checking our site for updates (screenshots). NOTE :
REQUIRES FILEDIALOG!
readme
FileDialog
This was written in conjunction with PhatEdit. It seemed rediculous
that each time I wanted to use a filedialog I had to write all the
window code for it and all the event handling. Now, all you do is one
qcall and the filename, directory, filter and status (OK/CANCEL) is
returned. Easy!
http://members.xoom.com/PhatRepublic/prods.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P I C T R I S A N N O U N C E D
26 August, 2000
Pictris is a highly addictive, involving puzzle game. The object of
it is simple, you are given a blank grid and you must find a picture
hidden within it. To make it easier, you are given the numbers of
consecutive blocks in the rows and columns to use to solve the
picture.
Although this may seem simple, whenever you make a mistake time is
deducted from your clock. If you run out of time, then you'll have to
start that level again. All your attempts are recorded automatically,
and hi-scores are kept.
The game is divided into 3 separate difficulty levels, and a tutorial
mode.
Although the first time you play it, it may seem difficult to play,
after you get the hang of it (pay close attention to the tips in the
guide file and tutorial) you'll find it very rewarding, and hard to
put down :)
Features:
Pictris contains 250 unique puzzles in 3 difficulty levels, ranging
from 5x5 grid tutorial puzzles, to near impossible 15x15 brain
teasers.
Each puzzle is set against a randomly chosen backdrop, with the
ability to add your own backdrop sets in IFF format.
During the game you are treated to a selection of multi-channel
Octamed sound studio modules (at up to 44.1khz mixing), again with the
ability to load your own mods.
As you play the game, you scores for each level are automatically
saved and your best time is kept. This means that even when you've
finished all the puzzles you can go back to improve your high score.
Finally, the game has support for many languages (see the demo for the
complete list)
Pictris requires a 020+ Amiga with AGA or a GFX card, and at least
1.4 megs of free chip and 4 megs of fast. It is released on CD only,
but can be run without installing to hard drive. (it does need
somewhere with write access for save files however).
Playing the game is done through mouse controls. During the game you
have the option to save the current puzzle as it is, and after every
round the game autosaves.
The demo needs 3.6 megs of hard drive space. It lacks most of the
puzzles and backdrop sets, as well as the ability to load and save
games. It does demonstrate most of pictris' in game features and
gameplay however, so it is well worth the download.
Download Demo:
From UK Aminet
From German Aminet
From USA Aminet
Order Online & Offline:
APC&TCP (International)
Or your nearest Amiga supplier
http://www.apc-tcp.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------
W B N O T E S 1 . 0 3 M A I N T E N A N C E R E L E A S E
14 August, 2000
Organise your passwords, and your life!
This is a maintainence release. If you downloaded version 1.0
yesterday (Aug 13th), you will need to download this version
WBNotes is a program inspired by the good old fashioned Post-It
notes. Those things that you stick everywhere until they eventually
become a fire risk, and lose their usefulness due to volume.
Well, you no longer need the paper ones, as WBNotes is here to help.
o Create new notes
With headers, and body text, plus a 'due time/date' which can be when
WBNotes pops the note up for you to read, and plays a nice sound to
alert you to it.
o View/Manage your notes
With the WBNotes View Notes window, you can view your notes, and
delete those that you don't want.
o Manage WBNotes
WBNotes has an easy to use preferences window which you can use to
set up the various options that WBNotes gives to you.
o Password Manager
The Password Manager is perfect for keeping all your passwords in.
You can add additional information about what a password is for, and
give it a title. Passwords are encrypted for protection.
http://users1.50megs.com/trogsoft/products/wbnotes.shtm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N O T E S F R O M A P C - T C P
26 Aug 2000
Today we sign the publishing contract with "Desert Racing". at this
time we can not present a Demo, Support-Page, Shots or other from the
game.
Forget all old demos, please. The developer work stong on the game
and make many, many new and better features...
19 Jul 2000
Today we release the demo from SeaSide. You can download on
http://www.apc-tcp.de page or Aminet.
Andreas Magerl
APC&TCP
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net:
All back issues available at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/~amigaupdate/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2000 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
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U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_
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