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Archive 03/2003


31.Mar.2003
(ANF)


Instant Messenger: Jabberwocky V1.4 - 3. Preview
Tom Parker and Matthias Münch released Preview 3 of the instant messenger 'JabberWocky' version 1.4 for the Amiga. Jabber is an open source XML-protocol for a direct message interchange.

A connection to other instant messaging services like AIM, ICQ, MSN or Yahoo can be established via gateways.

Beta-Version-Download: Jabberwocky030331.lha

Changes:
  • Fixed enforcer hit when opening write window (introduced in 1.4pre1)
  • Roster icons may be loaded from disk (thanks to Jeff Gilpin).
  • Roster icon set by Martin 'Mason' Merz and Matthias Muench
  • Iconified icons by Jeff Gilpin.
  • Fix for initial iconified icon (thanks to Jeff Gilpin).
  • German Translation by Matthias Muench
  • Nederlands Translation by Djordje Slocuk
  • Polski Translation by Kamil Niescioruk and Mariusz Danilewicz
  • Srpski Translation by Djordje Slocuk
  • Spanish Translation by Roger Barranco
  • Online help activated (thanks to Jeff Gilpin)
  • Example Arexx Script (thanks to Jeff Gilpin)
  • MOS native binary compiled by Nagy Lajos
(ps) (Translation: sk)

[News message: 31. Mar. 2003, 18:33] [Comments: 0]
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31.Mar.2003
AmigaWorld (ANF)


Weekly Q&A's with Fleecy Moss - episode 3
The English online magazine AmigaWorld has published episode 3 of the regular questions and answers session with Fleecy Moss, CTO at AMIGA, Inc. (Update 2012-03-17, cg: as the original document is no longer available, the following content was moved into our database):

1) Derfs : is there an ETA on the t-shirts ? and if there isnt can you tell us anything about the delay?

Fleecy: We don't as yet have a delivery date for the Club Amiga T-shirts but we are working hard on sorting the situation out. I can't go into the reasons why we have had such issues but the delay is as irritating for Amiga as it is for those who are waiting for them. Resolution of this situation is pretty close to the top of our agenda.

2) BrianHoskins : Is there a time scale on planned multi-processor support for AOS4?

Fleecy: When moving Exec forwards into ExecSG, great care was taken to provide a foundation for a lot of features. These will be implemented as the need for them arises both from the development of the operating system itself and the requirements from third party developers.

That said, SMP support is planned for release in either 4.1 or 4.2; with the rider that plans can change. I would also caution against the desire for or claims made on behalf of Symmetric Multi-Processing or SMP. It has its uses but ultimately is limited, rather like sticking more and more engines onto a four wheel car. Proper parallel computing through a matrix of separate processor elements, all with their own schedulers and organisation models - authoritarian, pluralist, service,
anarchic etc offers a much better long term solution and is far more in the mould of 'Amiga, doing it first'.

3) Jose: Will there be various versions of AmigaOS, one for the continuation of the Classic OS on PPC hardware like the users/supporters wish, and the other the so called server, etc. OS that OS5 is to be?

Fleecy: AmigaOS will develop a service based architecture which will allow users to construct the environment that they wish. If a person doesn't want 'server' targeted services then they don't need to use them. For example if you just want a simple filing system with no security, then that could be selected. If you want a secure filing system, you can select that service.

In this way it will be possible to produce targeted builds, a family product, a developer product, a business product etc built using Amiga technology. The core and more importantly, the framework will be the same.

4) jumpship: Is there likely to be a public demostration of an OS4 beta in the near future? I understand that not everyone (ie the whole community) would be able to attend, but maybe at a mayjor user group meeting, similar to WoA, and get someone to video tape it. That way it would be hard for people to say "I could make that in XYZ program.

Fleecy: Having a publicly demonstratable build of AmigaOS4.0 that runs on CSPPC and the AmigaOne occupies our every waking breath. We are well aware that once that is shown, the rumours and untruths will then have nowhere from which to grow.

However, the nature of the project is that all the pieces are now being integrated and being an integrated whole, the public demonstration will actually come pretty close to the end of the project, when most things are actually working together. To demonstrate just a piece of it would actually take time away from the project because we would have to unwrap many of the dependencies that would be inherent in a less than whole demonstration, as well as again opening us up to the charges of 'see, told you they had only done a bit of it'.

Believe me, when we can finally demonstrate the product, the world will hear our screams of joy. I am not even going to give a time though because it is an imprecise art to predict when it will be ready for demonstration. I'd rather just tell you when it is and that moment is not now.

I can tell you that one of the current test suites being run is the process of booting a standard 68k OS3.9 on ExecSG through the 68K emulation service. That is OS3.9 being run via emulation on a PPC processor. This is just part of the validation of the AmigaOS4.0 product. Supporting the CSPPC product has cost us time and effort though because, to say the least, it is an imperfect piece of hardware. The AmigaOne is a much cleaner product and if we had had only to support it then the situation might be different.

5) z5: What are you [Amiga Inc] contributing to OS4?

Fleecy: AmigaOS4.0 is the product that begins the transition from Amiga Generation 1 to Amiga Generation 2. It has several tasks, the most important of which are to move the entire platform to a new processor and to create an abstract hardware interface which allows us to far more easily adapt to other potential hardware markets.

This skillset requires a very detailed knowledge of both the existing 68k AmigaOS as well as the PPC processor family. This is one of the reasons why we contracted this work out to Hyperion, who themselves have pulled many of the brightest and best from the Amiga developer community into the project.

Amiga Inc itself has been concentrating on the future of the AmigaOS, in particular the Amiga Generation 2 (AG2) project. The next release of the Club Amiga Magazine (CAM) carries an article about this but as AmigaOS4.0 ships, more and more of this plan will be revealed.

The future of the Amiga platform isn't just a question of technology, it is a question of application as well. It is a business, and a business requires income which requires sales. Whilst we are comfortable with slowly developing the desktop market for the Amiga, to be able to fund it properly needs other markets.

Technology and busines have to work together to bring success and Amiga is concentrating on that at the moment, allowing Hyperion and the AmigaOS4.0 team to make that first step because they are the ones best equiped to make that first step.

6) AmigaGuy: I'd like to know if there are plans (maybe it already does) to have AmigaAnywhere available through web browsers. Something sort of in the way Java or Flash work. It might be cool to write an entire web site in C++

Fleecy: Amiga Anywhere currently runs as a player, on ROM and RAM cards, as standalone host transparent applications and as a run time engine. We have blue skyed the concept of providing a browser integration solution but given those already in that space, and the fact that the player will develop into an self sufficient Internet environment of its own, we are not pursuing that path.

7) Spacemonkey: Will Amiga Inc be porting Samba 2.7 or 3.0 for AOS 4.0 or will it be relying on 3rd party/End User to provide this functionality.

Fleecy: Olaf Barthel, one of the chief AmigaOS4.0 developers is also a key member of the Amiga Samba project. His opinion mirrors my own, that Samba is a monster and that it really doesn't fit into the Amiga model.

We are looking at including the Samba project as a contribution to AmigaOS4.0 but given the large list of requirements already clogging our desks, I do not see it as a priority.

Most people will be happy to be able to network with other computers running other platforms so that they can share file and resource access. Of course,if the requirement changes then we will look again at this area.

8) Blomberg: What are the plans for the OS4 audio system beyond the current state of AHI?

Fleecy: The Audio services provided by the Amiga will be one of the first that are developed in AG2. Indeed the core audio architecture for this has been fermenting and prototyping over the past year, arising from AmigaDE audio work.

Our commitment is simple. The AmigaOS will strive to have the best audio services of any operating system. We fully intend to push ourselves forwards as a viable and attractive alternative to any offering out there, both at the hobby level and in the professional world.

9) z5: why didn't the microsoft deal come through?

Fleecy: We have a strategic relationship with Microsoft, which means that they believe our technology enhances their PocketPC and Smartphone product line. Actual deals arise out of this relationship, both directly with Microsoft and via them pushing us towards their partners who also use PocketPC and Smartphone. For example, at the CTIA show held in New Orleans last week, they provided a number of Gamecards as freebies to their partner Samsung who were launching a new PocketPC Phone Edition product. This has led to direct contact with Samsung following a successful reception, and also a number of other contacts with Samsung competitors who also expressed an interest in the Gamecard content and product.

As far as an actual deal goes, Microsoft have been selling rebadged Gamecards (2 of them at the moment) in select CompUSA stores for the past two weeks. We have not announced this both because they are not currently selling them on their website (CompUSA that is) and also because of the difficulty of synchronising a web press release with Microsoft.

We have been criticised in the past for such practices and we are trying to ensure that any press release is independently verifiable.

Microsoft are very pleased with this initial batch of Gamecards and want to move to bigger volumes, and increase the number of Gamecards (2 are in the initial launch, we have 2 more ready to go and can make another 3 quite quickly) by the summer. These were supposed to have debuted in November but technical difficulties with both the card sourcing and then with issues in PocketPC, discovered and reported by Amiga led to a 3-4 month delay.

Indeed, the first appearance of Amiga product in a mainstream computing channel has also witnessed our old friend, piracy, returning to the platform. Dean Brown, our hardware guru found three of the Gamecard packs in the Bellevue CompUSA and someone had cut one open with a scalpel and stolen the Gamecard!

10) Hooligan: How does AInc plan to ensure steady development of software?

Fleecy: Developers create software either because there is money in it for them or because they simply enjoy creating for a platform and community. Whilst we are looking at seeding some core application development, the proper solution is to create a market that is commercially viable.

This means enough users to buy enough of the product to make the cost of development of that product worthwhile. Our efforts are thus focused on increasing the size of that market, through successful launch and post launch activities in the sales and marketing domains, and in reducing the cost of development for the platform, primarily through ensuring that development can proceed as rapidly and trouble free as possible; in other words a developer toolchain, documentation and lots of support.

(Copyright © 2003 Amigaworld.net. All rights reserved.
Originally available at http://amigaworld.net/modules/fleecymoss/index.php?cat_id=3
You may freely redistribute this article, providing that a URL is provided to the original source,
and the copyright notices remain intact)
(ps) (Translation: sk)

[News message: 31. Mar. 2003, 11:51] [Comments: 0]
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31.Mar.2003
(ANF)


Amiga ColdFire Update
Again there are some news about "Amiga the ColdFire Project" by Oliver Hannaford-Day. Beside a picture of the new prototype, you will find a short german summary at the title link. (ps) (Translation: sk)

[News message: 31. Mar. 2003, 11:49] [Comments: 0]
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31.Mar.2003
Michael Asse (ANF)


Payback for GBA: status update
The work at the GBA version (GameBoy Advance) of Payback will soon be finished. Recently a multiplayer mode, new multiplayer maps ( Desert Deathmatch, Little Chicago, Tank Warfare, The Killing Zone, Woods) were added and the replay memory system was reworked.

In Payback you slip into the role of a gangster. The aim of the game is to collect as many points as possible by accomplishing missions or trickery. Versions for Amiga and Mac are allready available at the titlelink. (ps) (Translation: sk)

[News message: 31. Mar. 2003, 11:49] [Comments: 0]
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30.Mar.2003
Egon Münch (comment)


Mexikon: Cactus lexicon in HTML format
Under the title link you can find a.o.t. 'Mexikon', a lexicon on cactuses with many tips and suggestions. It also contains maps of Mexico and photos of more than 650 cactuses.

Since end of November 2002 version 3.1 of Mexikon has been available, and as we haven't covered it yet, we are herewith gladly catching up on this. Egon Münch has completely revised the cactus lexicon, fixed various errors and added new descriptions and photos. Furthermore MEXIKON doesn't use AmigaGuide anymore, but has become more platform independent by now supporting the HTML format, so every user can utilise the lexicon with an Internet browser.

The only thing that hasn't changed is the fact that MEXIKON is and will stay freeware. (ps) (Translation: cb)

[News message: 30. Mar. 2003, 19:51] [Comments: 0]
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30.Mar.2003
Andreas Falkenhahn (E-Mail)


Multimedia-Authoring-System: Hollywood Promo Pack released
There is now a Hollywood promo package available for download on the Airsoft Softwair Web page. The promo pack contains over 60 high quality screenshots which will give you an extensive impression of the powerful features of Hollywood.

Download: Hollywood_PromoPack.lha - 9 MB (ps)

[News message: 30. Mar. 2003, 19:08] [Comments: 0]
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30.Mar.2003
AmigaWorld (ANF)


Event: SlimJim's Not-so-short AmiGBG Fair Report
There is a circumstantial account by Slim Jim on the Amiga show AmiGBG which took place yesterday in Gothenburg, Sweden. (ps) (Translation: cb)

[News message: 30. Mar. 2003, 13:14] [Comments: 0]
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30.Mar.2003
Guido Mersmann (ANF)


AmigaOS game: BoulderDäsh RTX - Rockford is back!
Just in time for BoulderDäsh's 16th birthday, BoulderDäsh RTX will be released soon! The most important improvement is direct support of Picasso96 and CyberGraphics. With this all RTG problems should once and for all be a thing of the past.

Thanks to the likewise new AHI support BoulderDäsh should run on all AmigaOS compatible systems (A500, Ax000, Amithlon, MorphOS). It requires only OS 2.0 or better. Rockford is back - He will rock you! BoulderDäsh RTX V5.10 - feature list:
  • 1:1 Clone of the original

  • Runs in Multitasking

  • Online help

  • Locale support

  • Programmed according to Commodore Style Guide

  • 2D Softscrolling and full speed even on an MC68000 (no judder in the animations or when scrolling)

  • Full gfx card compatibility through Picasso96/CyberGraphics support, allowing for up to 256 colours in full screen scrolling

  • Full sound card compatibility through AHI support

  • More than 5700 levels included!

  • 35 different game graphics

  • 6 different fonts

  • 5 different sample sets

  • 6 different music tracks

  • All settings adjustable via Gadtools GUI

  • Enhanced by way of additional game elements (fake bricks, fake metal...) Thus interesting new level possibilities come about.

  • No level size limit (under NonRTG only dependent on ChipMem)

  • Savable Highscore lists for each game

  • Comfortable level editor

  • Gravitation adjustable in four directions in each level

  • Game editor to compile complete games

  • Custom game gfx can be created with a paint program

  • Custom sound effects can be integrated with a sampler

  • Custom game music can be created with a Protracker compatible music editor
(ps) (Translation: cb)

[News message: 30. Mar. 2003, 05:46] [Comments: 0]
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29.Mar.2003
Andre Sommer (ANF)


Event: Mocca LAN 8 from April, 4th till April, 6th 2003 in Hirsau
It's time again, the next Mocca is near. In almost a week the doors will be opened for the Mocca 8, taking place from April, 4th till April, 6th in Hirsau (Germany).

The Mocca is an OpenOS party, all systems are welcome. The Mocca is not a pure gamers LAN but is furthermore thought to show users other systems and to give help on individual problems for the special computers.

Further information about the Mocca 8 can be found following the title link. There you can register for the party or contact the organizers. (ps) (Translation: wk)

[News message: 29. Mar. 2003, 22:27] [Comments: 0]
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29.Mar.2003
Olaf Köbnik (email)


Amiga Arena: BabeAnoid 2.0 final version
In the past reported the Amiga Arena several times about "BabeAnoid", the Breakout clone by Richard Fhager.

The released demo version 1.10 seemed to be the one and only version for a long time as Richard Fhager lost his interest in continued development because of a lack of feedback respectively he wants to cease all his Amiga activities.

In cooperation with Wolfgang Hosemann (issue #9/02), at that time responsible for the games part of the AmigaAktuell, a call was started to continue the game's development and to activate the users to give the developer feedback for his work. This all didn't seem to bring the wanted success. The more I am pleased to announce today's release of the version 2.0 final.

Further informationen you can find here.

Support developers, then developers will support you!

Download: babeanoid.lha - 3 MB

Features are among others more than 30 different boni, six different balls, different bricks (moving, multi hit, invisible...), foes plus weapons for fighting against them, two teleporters, background pictures, smoking balls, music and sound effects, speech output, buying and selling items and much more.

The game uses 32 colors (ECS) and needs at least an Amiga with 68020 and 2MB Fast RAM. If the settings in the preferences are reduced should the game also run with 1MB Chip RAM. (ps) (Translation: wk)

[News message: 29. Mar. 2003, 21:02] [Comments: 0]
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29.Mar.2003
heise Newsticker (ANF)


heise: US law drafts may mean the end of firewalls
In the view of Edward W. Felten, professor at the Princeton University, could the new suggestions for a stronger 'Digital Millennium Copyright Act' made by some US states lead to the fact that the ownership, the selling und use of encryption software, firewalls and router software may be under penalty in the USA soon.
The (German) heise article can be found following the title link.

Another (German) article about this topic:
Golem - IT News: Firewalls soon illegal in the USA? (ps) (Translation: wk)

[News message: 29. Mar. 2003, 17:17] [Comments: 0]
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29.Mar.2003
Golem - IT News


Golem: New youth protection law: no more Linux games in the future?
»USK logo becomes a problem
From the 1st of April on could the offer of games software for Linux users in Germany be reduced in a drastic way from one day to the other. Because from this day on may only games be sold if they are marked with an age recommendation of the USK and this is only the case for a small minority of Linux games.«
Read the full (German) article under the title link.

In the Amiga sector will the situation not be very different. Games that are new released won't get around the mark but because of financial reasons it is to be expected that only a little number of already released games will get this recommendation symbol. So we are very interested in the consequences of the new youth protection law for the Amiga market and of course for the games developers. Tell us your measures.

Will old games be removed from the shelves?
Will old games get an age recommendation?
What costs does this signing cause?
Is shareware in the same way concerned as commercial software is? (ps) (Translation: wk)

[News message: 29. Mar. 2003, 13:03] [Comments: 0]
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29.Mar.2003
WHDLoad (website)


Installer: WHDLoad - New packages until 28.03.2003
With WHDLoad you can now install games, that were thought to be floppy disk only, on your hard disk. The following packages have been added respectively updated since our last mention:
  • 28.03.03 new: Mega Demo 2 - Scoopex (Scoopex) done by Psygore
  • 28.03.03 new: Mini Golf Plus (Starbyte) done by JOTD
  • 28.03.03 improved: Midwinter (Rainbird) supports German version and many other changes
  • 28.03.03 improved: Lure of the Temptress (Virgin) Italian version supported, fixed install script, access faults fixed
  • 28.03.03 new: Franko (World Software) done by JOTD
  • 28.03.03 new: Cruncher Factory (Kingsoft) done by Asman
  • 28.03.03 new: More Than Music (Alcatraz) done by Psygore
  • 28.03.03 new: Vegas Gambler (California Dreams) done by Agressor
(nba) (Translation: wk)

[News message: 29. Mar. 2003, 00:47] [Comments: 0]
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29.Mar.2003
morphos-news.de


morphos-news.de: Pegasos boards available again
Bill Buck and Raquel Velasco have announced that the first 170 Pegasos mainboards have already been sent to the retailers. Some retailers already received the boards while others will get them today, tomorrow or in the beginning of next week. The rest of the approximately 400 produced Pegasos mainboards will be sent next week to the retailers. (nba) (Translation: wk)

[News message: 29. Mar. 2003, 00:47] [Comments: 0]
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29.Mar.2003
Glenn Fuller (ANF)


Ben Fuller is dead - biography in the work
Benjamin G. Fuller, active Amiga developer since the early days, died on September, 11th 2002. The family, relatives and friends are putting a biography about Ben together and would welcome any contributions from the Amiga community.

1986 was the AAUG (Arizona Amiga Users Group) founded by Ben and some other users. Aged 17, Ben was probably one of the first and youngest developer of commercial Amiga software and visited among other things the 2nd Annual Amiga Developer's Conference in November 1986. 1988 he had worked in California at Silent Software and contributed to the creation of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" that had been distributed by Buena Vista Software and Disney. In 1992 he returned to Arizona to develop at Softwood, Inc. for example Final Copy II.

The next station was SunRize Industries, the makers of the hardware-software solution AD516/Studio16 Digital Audio Workstation. there he developed among other things the Automated Mixer of AD516/Studio16 v3.0 and its enhanced SMPTE Handling and the Amiga side including ARexx API of the software SoundSwitch that was also made compatible to the Video Toaster.

In June 2001 Fuller retired from SONICblue (ReplayTV) where he had worked since 1998 and concentrated on the photography with his Olympus E-10. His photos can be viewed on his website under the title link. Until the end Ben had used the Amiga emulator Amiga Forever running on a Dell-PC.

Please send contributions like publications, photos, reviews or comments that could help to complete the biography to ggfuller@yahoo.com or to benfuller@exreplaytv.com. (nba) (Translation: wk)

[News message: 29. Mar. 2003, 00:39] [Comments: 2 - 14. Feb. 2007, 16:09]
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