01.Jul.2005
Brad Webb (E-Mail)
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Newsletter: Amiga Update #050630
Brad Webbs newsletter "Amiga Update" contains a summary of the more important Amiga related news of the last four weeks. The June issue has now been released:
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A M I G A | 050630 | U P D A T E
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"SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW"
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AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.
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L A S T N O N - C O M M E R C I A L R E L E A S E 4 . 0 !
A M I G A , R I V E R D E E P A G R E E M E N T
A M I G A A N Y W H E R E R U N S O N U 3 D R I V E S
N A F B A R B E Q U E P A R T Y I S S C H E D U L E D
A M I W E S T L A T E S T N E W S
A M I G B G F O R F U N I N S W E D E N
N E W B O O K O N R E X X I S O U T
A M I G A S Y S P A R T 2 F O R W I N U A E
P A P Y R U S P R E - O R D E R S N O W T A K E N
A M I P O D D E R V E R S I O N 1 I S F R E E W A R E
W I N U A E I S A T 1 . 0 !
We have significant numbers to celebrate this month. The numbers are
4.0 and 1.0. Well, almost 4.0. What's significant about that number is
that this month sees the last release of Amiga OS 4.0 before the full
commercial release! That's a great step in the history of Amiga OS.
Your patience will still be tested, however, as the story below
mentions "a few months" before the commercial release will be ready.
The 1.0 number relates to Win UAE. After more version releases than I
can count, the program has finally hit the magic 1.0 designation.
Congratulations are in order.
While all this is going on, the Amiga community stays as active as
ever. We have several stories this issue on upcoming Amiga events. We
were disappointed to learn the budget for AmiWest will only allow that
venerable show to run for one day, but it looks as though it will be a
very interesting day. Meanwhile, our Nordic Amigan groups have their
own events to talk about. They sound to be just as much fun. Norway is
the land of my ancestors, so I'd love to get to both of those northern
shows.
There are many positive items to read in this issue. We hope you
enjoy them all.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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E-mail to the E-ditor:
I am a former Amiga user who still tries to follow the happening in
the Amiga World. Thanks ( And congratulations on your twelfth
anniversary) for your efforts in keeping this alive. I am at least
aware that the Amiga still exists. But.. I am now confused as to what
the Amiga is and what it can do for the average user. Can you
possibly, in very layman's terms, produce an article that explains
what Amiga has to offer? I understand there have been numerous
ownership changes and false promises but somehow an Amiga product
still exists. I would look forward to a in-depth breakdown of what
Amiga offers and possibly where one may purchase these products.
Thanks Bill
~~~~~~
Bill,
Wow. You ask some very pertinent and difficult questions. In truth,
I'm not sure how to answer fully. What I usually do in cases like this
is ask for comments from the readers, who have much more collective
wisdom than I do.
How about it readers? What can the Amiga do for the average user at
this time in its life? Please send your thoughts to
amigaupdate@globaldialog.com and we'll share them in future issues.
My personal take is that the Amiga's role is now much reduced from
what it had been. Linux has taken on the mantle of the main
alternative to Windows, even more so than Apple. However, the Amiga
still offers what I've long considered to be the best operating system
available. It's compact, consistent code, with commands and features
that are not available in any other operating systems. As just one
simple example, I've long wished for something like filenotes in every
other operating system I've used.
Amiga OS is also proprietary without being overpriced or suffering
from monopolistic practices by the company that owns it. If a user is
concerned about the liabilities often talked about for Linux and other
open source code, Amiga OS offers a good alternative. Keep in mind
that the core of Apple OS is now a version of BSD UNIX, so there are
potential liabilities even there. Personally, I think that issue is
considerably overblown, but the fact remains there are no such issues
with Amiga OS.
Here's a web page where you can find some Amiga dealers:
http://www.eyetech.co.uk/dealers.php
Regards,
Brad
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L A S T N O N - C O M M E R C I A L R E L E A S E 4 . 0 !
Leuven, Belgium. 13 June, 2005.
Hyperion Entertainment announces the immediate availability of the
final intermediate update of Amiga OS 4.0 prior to its full commercial
release later this year.
An overview of the added functionality:
* New Kernel
* New IDE devices
* New Picasso96/Graphics and monitor drivers
* Warp3D V51 (Including support for Voodoo 3, Voodoo 4/5, and Radeon
7x00)
* WarpUp support
* New Shell and updated shell commands
* Update reaction classes and new intuition
* New Roadshow TCP/IP stack and updated eth3com.device
* All new version of the Sirion USB stack and usbprinter.device
* Updated datatypes
* Updated Preferences programs
* Updated Locale
* And much more
Registered users of Amiga OS 4.0 can download update 3 from Hyperion
Entertainment's website.
Hyperion Entertainment and the Amiga OS 4.0 development team wish to
thank you for your continued patience and support which we hope will
be rewarded in a few months time.
http://www.hyperion-entertainment.biz/
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A M I G A , R I V E R D E E P A G R E E M E N T
June 15, 2005 - San Francisco, CA
Riverdeep and Amiga, Inc. have announced a development and marketing
distribution agreement making it possible for several of the award
winning Educational Edmark(R) titles to be created for the mobile
market using AmigaAnywhere? technology.
The Riverdeep Edmark titles offer the very best in interactive
education and adventure. These award winning titles will offer
exciting animations, compelling stories, and hours of fun.
Amiga, Inc. developed one of the first computing platforms used in
the education and entertainment markets, and is looking forward to
continuing this role by introducing these titles to a new market and
audience.
"Amiga is a world recognized brand and a leading technology company,"
said Damian Dale, Riverdeep's Director of Licensing and Business
Development. "By using their AmigaAnywhere? platform, they will be
able to create and offer these Riverdeep Edmark titles to a whole new
audience and introduce children to a new way of learning."
"When Amiga began looking for an education partner to create new
offerings in the mobile space, we immediately thought of Riverdeep and
Edmark," said Bill McEwen, Amiga's Vice President, Product and Market
Development. "Now parents will be able to offer new choices in mobile
entertainment, ensuring that their children not only enjoy what they
are playing, but learn something as well"
Amiga will be bringing the following titles to the AmigaAnywhere?
platform: Mighty Math Astro Algebra, Mighty Math® Cosmic Geometry?,
Mighty Math Calculating Crew, Mighty Math Number Heroes, MindTwister
Math, Strategy Challenge Collection 2 In the Wild, Strategy Challenge
Collection 1 Around the World, Thinkin' Things Collection 1 Toony the
Loons Lagoon, Thinkin' Things Collection 2, Thinkin' Things Collection
3 and Thinkin' Things Sky Island Mysteries. These titles are expected
to ship this year and pricing has not yet been established. In
addition to mobile devices, AmigaAnywhere technology will allow the
applications to be run on Set-top boxes, Personal Media Players, and
other digital devices.
About Riverdeep:
Riverdeep Inc., A Limited Liability Company, with offices in San
Francisco, California, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Dublin (Ireland) and
Manchester (United Kingdom) is a leading publisher of interactive
products focusing on education and personal productivity for the
consumer and school markets. For more information, call toll free
888-242-6747 or visit www.riverdeep.net
http://www.riverdeep.net.
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A M I G A A N Y W H E R E R U N S O N U 3 D R I V E S
June 7, 2005 - U3 Global Developer Summit, San Jose, CA Amiga Inc.
today announced that AmigaAnywhere is compatible with the U3 smart
drive computing platform. Consumers will be able to play graphically
rich, high-performance Amiga content on U3 powered USB smart drives.
AmigaAnywhere is the digital environment that enables and simplifies
access to the same applications from a variety of devices. Amiga lets
consumers enjoy rich-media content featuring extraordinary
audio-visual quality, high-speed interactive gaming, education and
entertainment, all playing on a diverse universe of devices. For the
last four years, Amiga?s proprietary technology has transformed
removable memory cards into virtual drives, seamlessly launching,
running and removing the memory footprint of applications on wired and
wireless devices.
Consumers can now enjoy this same mobility, ease-of-use and security
by running AmigaAnywhere on U3 powered USB smart drives when they ship
this fall. "By supporting the U3 smart drive computing platform, we
take yet another step forward in making it easy for consumers to
instantly and safely run all types of content on their favorite
devices," said Garry Hare, Amiga president and chief executive
officer. "And by supporting the U3 smart drive computing platform we
have instant access to leading USB smart drive manufacturers and tens
of millions of USB smart drive users."
"Amiga is a natural fit for the U3 smart drive computing platform
since many consumers have the desire to mobilize their rich,
graphical, high-performance, premium sound applications" said U3 Chief
Technology Officer Gideon Shaanan. "Amiga adds unique value to the
whole U3 community, by quickly enabling a tremendous catalog of
multimedia titles."
U3 is a trademark of U3 LLC. All other brand and product names are or
may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services
of, their respective owners.
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N A F B A R B E Q U E P A R T Y I S S C H E D U L E D
25 June, 2005
NAF - Norsk amigaforening (English: Norwegian Amiga Association) - a
Norwegian Amiga user group acknowledged by Amiga Inc. founded in 1992
by me (Tommy R. Strand), is holding its annual NAF Barbeque Party
(since 2003).
Mainly for all members of NAF, but others, especially from the Amiga
platform community are most welcome. For the first time this year, we
have people travelling almost 1000 km to the venue, and at the moment
we have 11 people that have registered. From past experiences, we are
expecting this number to rise to about 20.
Please visit NAF web site at http://naf.as/ for more information
(sorry, Norwegian only). We DO welcome foreigners, especially for
instance those who we are in contact with on the EFnet and
AmigaworldNET IRC networks.
Remember: This is a party with a high level of decency and respect
in the usual manners and is already known to be a positive part of the
existing Amiga IRC community.
Don't forget: Time: Saturday, 2nd of July, 2005. Place: The city of
Mo i Rana, Nordland, Norway (The city beneath the Arctic Circle!)
If you wish, on Sunday we will have a drive by car around in the
community to collect you. Rana is afaik Norway's 4th largest community
in area, and can give you lots of positive experiences of both nature
and friendly people.
YOU are MOST WELCOME!
Read more (sorry, Norwegian only) here:
http://naf.as/index.php?side=pressemeldinger&vis=516
Kind regards
Tommy R. Strand
Marketing Director
Norsk amigaforening
http://naf.as
http://amigaguiden.info
SPECIAL IMMEDIATE INFORMATION RELEASE for AmiWest 2005, July 23rd,
2005 in Sacramento, California! Our webpage at www.sacc.org/amiwest is
being updated with all the current show information. We encourage you
to visit our site to see the rest of the current information.
Amiga Forever,
Sacramento Amiga Computer Club
AmiWest 2005 Committee
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A M I W E S T L A T E S T N E W S
29 June, 2005
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RICHARD DRUMMOND TO SPEAK AT AMIWEST 2005 BANQUET!
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By special arrangement, Amiga OS4 developer Richard Drummond will
present the banquet address at the AmiWest 2005 Saturday evening
banquet! He is our **surprise** speaker this year! Here is a bio of
Richard (courtesy of AmiWest committee member Charles Pickrell) to
help you get better acquainted!
Richard, our guest speaker, is playing a dual role at AmiWest this
year. He is representing himself and the excellent work that he has
contributed to E-UAE (the Amiga emulation system for
Unix/Linux/Mac/Amiga) and to the AmigaOS4 port of SDL (the popular
cross-platform game-programming toolkit), as well as representing
Hyperion Entertainment and the OS4 project. But first we would like to
share a little bit about Richard's background.
The son of a police officer Richard grew up in Scotland and due to
his father's line of work moved often, having lived in many parts of
the country including Dingwall, Ullapool, Orkney and Glasgow (where he
studied Electronics and Software Engineering at the University of
Glasgow).
In 1984 at the age of ten Richard got his first "real" computer, a
Commodore64 and began teaching himself to program in BASIC, and later
in assembly language. He claims he never wrote any C64 software of
significance, but rather used the platform to cut his teeth on
computing in general. Later in 1988 Richard moved up to the Amiga 500
and began programming in earnest on the Amiga OS platform.
Richard's Amiga interest grew so much that at one point he began
writing for popular Amiga magazines CU Amiga and Amiga Format. When
Amiga Format stopped publishing their magazine Richard fell away from
the Amiga scene having lost interest in a "dying platform." He then
turned to Unix and Linux platforms to fill the computing void left by
Amiga. During this time, Richard met his future wife, an American, in
the UK and they settled down together in England."
Sorry, but that's all we have time for today. However, more details
about Richard and his OS 4 involvement will be forthcoming. Have you
ordered your AmiWest tickets yet? Just go to
sacc.org/amiwest/press05-3.html, print it out, fill in the form and
send it in. You'll want to be there!
!!!!
So remember,
AmiWest 2005 is rolling! The facility is reserved and the vendors are
notified! Keep watching for these releases and tell everyone that you
know - the Amiga and the Amiga community is alive and well!
!!!!
AmiWest 2005 will be at the
Clarion Hotel Cal Expo
2600 Auburn Blvd.
Sacramento California 95821
Reservations Phone 1-800-424-6423 toll-free (local 1-916-487-7600)
and by snail-mail at the above address.
Please watch our website at www.sacc.org/amiwest for continuing news
and information regarding AmiWest 2005. We are on target for another
improved show! See you there!
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A M I G B G F O R F U N I N S W E D E N
24 Jun, 2005
The Swedish Amiga fair AmiGBG is so full it's about to pop! Still we
keep'em comin'. Announcing the popular Showcase
http://web.kicker.nu/amigbg/showcase/showcase.asp?lang=uk
with applications for Amigans demonstrated by Amigans. And the brand
new Community Section
http://web.kicker.nu/amigbg/community/community.asp?lang=uk
where the true heroes present thir work. Among the new exhibitors
is the author of Tales of Tamar. And Cloanto is now a proud sponsor of
AmiGBG 2005.
www.amigbg.com
In the Community Section of AmiGBG 2005 you will meet the people
who's sweat, blood and tears have kept the Amiga Community together
during rough times. Represented here are sites like the UK based
AmigaWorld, Swedens oldest community site Amigarulez.com, newcomers
like safir.amigaos.se and Many more! We have red sites, blue sites,
clean sites, sweet sites and above all, Amiga sites!
Check out the growing list on our website NOW!
AmiGBG Showcase
http://web.kicker.nu/amigbg/showcase/showcase.asp?lang=uk
is our attempt of putting the missing pieces together. Here we will
give developers who do not have the opportunity to attend the fair the
chance to show off their products. How about PageStream 5.0,
AudioEvolution4, Frying Pan, Horny, pegXmac and Many more!
Some products will be avalible at special *Fair prices! *Don't miss
this great opportunity to save lots of $$ on great Amiga software!
Among the new exhibitors is the creator of Tales of Tamar
http://www.tamar.net/
- Martin Wolf.
We would also like to welcome Cloanto as an official sponsor of
AmiGBG 2005!
At the fair you have the chance to win the BRAND NEW Amiga Forever
2005! http://www.amigaforever.com/
which comes bundeled with TWO DVDs!
AmiGBG - Can You say "Yiiiiippieeee!"
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N E W B O O K O N R E X X I S O U T
Rexx Programmer's Reference
by Howard Fosdick
ISBN: 0-7645-7996-7
February 2005
720 pages
US $39.99
* Originally developed for mainframes but highly portable across
platforms-from servers to desktops to handhelds-Rexx is an easy yet
powerful scripting language that's widely used for rapid application
development
* Covers Rexx interpreters for specialized functions-object-oriented,
mainframe, and handheld
* There are 8 different free Rexx interpreters optimized for
different platforms and uses. This book shows how to use them all.
* Shows how to script for GUIs, databases, web servers, XML, and
other interfaces.
* Details how to make the best use of Rexx tools and interfaces, with
examples for both Linux and Windows
* Includes a tutorial with lots of examples to help people get up and
running
http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/productCd-0764579967.html
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A M I G A S Y S P A R T 2 F O R W I N U A E
4 June, 2005
After 4 months of working we released now the second part of AmigaSYS
, with many new features and a lot of bugfixes , and this is the first
and only pre installed OS for WinUAE which is based on AmigaOS 3.9!!!
AmigaSYS is a pre-installed full Amiga OS for WinUAE, like AIAB. For
install, you need a valid KickstartROM 3.0/3.1, and the image file of
Workbench and Extras Disk 3.0/3.1.
The new AmigaSYS 2.0 needs KickROM 3.1 and optional a valid OS 3.9 CD
for full features
http://amigasys.fw.hu/
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P A P Y R U S P R E - O R D E R S N O W T A K E N
16 June, 2005
AmigaOS4 Preorder has started. A minimum of 60 orders and the
promised developer system are necessary to make this port happen. The
porting work starts when these terms are fulfilled, after this
customer will receive Papyrus 68k version which will be replaced
(download) with the native OS4 Version later.
https://ssl.kundenserver.de/order.titan-computer.com/mosshop.html
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A M I P O D D E R V E R S I O N 1 I S F R E E W A R E
11 June, 2005
AmiPodder version 1.0 has just been released. AmiPodder is a utility
for subscribing to podcasts (a regularly published radio programme,
usually in MP3 format) on your Amiga. AmiPodder will download each
podcast as it is published and then you can listen to the programme on
your Amiga or transfer it to a portable music player.
Podcasting is a new Internet service that is just starting to take
off. Currently most podcasts are produced by amateurs but large media
organisations including the BBC are beginning to offer some of their
programmes as podcasts too. Recently podcasting got a big credibility
boost when Apple announced that podcast support will be included in
the next version of iTunes. With AmiPodder, Amiga users are able to
take advantage of this new technology right from the start!
AmiPodder is freeware and version 1.0 can be downloaded from:
http://www.seal-amiga.co.uk/robert/amipodder/index.html
I'm continuing to develop AmiPodder to improve the user interface and
to support podcasting standards as they evolve, if you'd like to be
part of making this software better, please join the AmiPodder mailing
list linked on the site.
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W I N U A E I S A T 1 . 0 !
5 June, 2005
Tony Wilen has released the latest version of his continuing efforts
with the Classic Amiga emulator - WinUAE (1.0).
Fixes for this release include:
* Fullscreen resolution reset if selected display mode's height was
larger than width
* Sprite emulation improvements (Battle Squadron missing high score
character and Bubba'n'Stix background mountains)
* Directory filesystem file/directory datestamp modification if
file/directory's protection flags or comment was modified (broke in
0.9.92)
* Picasso96 RAM autoconfig area memory size error (16M or larger was
always marked as 8M)
* proper AmigaForever ROM path autodetection
* AMOS filesystem freeze (workaround only, proper fix unknown)
* Kickstart 1.2 was not autodetected (wrong CRC32)
* improved JIT direct access memory area allocation (fixes JIT direct
mode problems with some Pentium 4 or NForce 3/4 boards)
* In some cases all priority-levels were changed to "Above Normal"
* bsdsocket crash fix
* Fixed swapped audio channels
* Picasso96 compatibility problem with Directory Opus 4.12
* Random crash fixed while using external drive sounds or while
loading new configuration on the fly
* Emulation fixes (Shinobi, Double Dragon 2.., broke in 0.9.91)
New Features include:
* Catweasel Windows driver support, MK1/MK3/MK4 supported (MK4 direct
floppy support and Amiga mouse support coming later)
* Nero Burning ROM ASPI is automatically used if Nero is installed
(better compatibility than Adaptec ASPI)
* Arcadia (Amiga 500 based Arcade system) game support
* Disk swapper-panel improved (path edit box and history added)
* bsdsocket emulation does not ask for internet connection if
requested address is localhost
* Emulation improvements (some Digital's demos, demo Tenebra
partially fixed, 3v Demo by Cave, New Year Demo by Phoenix, game
Sci-fi graphics corruption, Battle Squadron highscores, Bubba'n'Stix
background etc...)
* Sound sample ripper
* Improved debugger
You can find this version on the Official WinUAE homepage.
http://www.winuae.net/
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Amiga Update on the net:
All back issues available at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/~bandr/AU/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive! Now in our 12th publication year.
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Copyright 2005 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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amigaupdate@globaldialog.com
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