KOSH [Kommunity Orientated Software Hardware]

Weekly Summary

Week Commencing: 13th March 1999

Number: 012

Mailing List: kosh-general

In the mailing list this week, the following items were discussed. Please do
not email the scribe regarding any of these topics, it is not his job to answer
these questions but merely to report  the topics of conversation. If you have
any queries about this summary, please email ben@kosh.net, stating the Summary
Number, and Mailing List Name, and he will try to answer your queries.

a)

Subject: Alternative filesystem mechanics

Summary of debate: Part of the feature set for the filesystem "SFS" is that it
                   supports a "run-time defragmenter" that defragments the
                   drive when the user isn't accessing it. Still in development
                   but take a look at the following if interested:
                   http://www.xs4all.nl/~hjohn/SFS/features.htm

                   There is a similar tool under development for PFS2


b)

Subject: File locations

Summary of debate: If the end user wants to be able to keep their files in
                   locations not originally designed for, eg: applications in
                   the applications area then they should be able to do so.


c)

Subject: Sets

Summary of debate: A collection of files/objects could be termed a set. Sets
                   can contain subsets. Two sets can also contain common
                   objects without one being a subset of another. Folders and
                   drawers as terms lack this ability of multiplicity.

                   Soft sets would contain only references to objects. Hard
                   sets would contain the objects themselves.


d)

Subject: Moving around a GUI

Summary of debate: At the moment most GUI's are designed so that you move
                   around them vertically and then horizontally (or vice
                   versa). As a result moving windows, text, pictures etc. in a
                   fluid and accurate diagonal manner can be haphazard at best.
                   For example: resizing windows in 2 plains at once is OK, but
                   after that you are left with a vertical and a horizontal
                   scroll bar and nothing that combines both (except the new
                   track wheel mice - but these have their problems).

                   Therefore it would be nice if KOSH could have diagonal
                   movement built in as standard in an intuitive way.


e)

Subject: New keys on keyboards

Summary of debate: It would be nice if KOSHkeyboards had cut, copy and paste
                   keys in intuitive positions. However you should be able to
                   define your own clipboard keys so adding these three may not
                   be necessary. If we did add these keys they would need to be
                   placed in the main area of the keyboard and not off to one
                   side (eg: near the keypad) as accessing them becomes slower.

f)

Subject: Abstraction and Backing up data

Summary of debate: Scribe's note: this is a subject that I have summarised in
                   depth as it is central to a number of concerns that people
                   have expressed about the object sea.

                   KOSH will fully abstract physical and logical devices in a
                   comprehensive and easy-to-live-with manner. Therefore it
                   will be possible to locate all animations, text objects,
                   application objects, etc individually (eg: .jpg) or by
                   group (eg: all picture types etc) that are present on the
                   system irrespective of where they are located.

                   There is no relationship between the layout of the
                   filesystem as presented to the user and the physical
                   location of the files on a disk.

                   However there should still be a way to find all data
                   relating to a particular object or objects. This could be
                   one of the many entries in the object "database". Therefore
                   an option to display the system as per the conventional
                   currently used directory tree system should also be included
                   as this could be of use when wanting to do things like data
                   backups.

                   However the user should not need to see this. The backup
                   tool perhaps does but it can present the information to you
                   in whatever way you like.

                   Backup tools would probably take a frozen object and
                   compress it (if not already) and store it on the chosen
                   backup media, and note the pertinent information in some
                   index object it maintains of the backup.

                   Backup tools don't need to work directly with the storage
                   system on the drive, just with the objects themselves. It is
                   unlikely that people would often want to perform a
                   block-by-block backup of their files.

                   With an object sea, you throw your work into the sea. To
                   enable you to find it again, it has one or several strings
                   attached to it. When you need it you can just pull in the
                   right string until your creation comes up to the surface. A
                   natural worry that this creates is that the descriptive
                   strings could get broken and objects could therefore be
                   theoretically lost in the sea.

                   Therefore objects in the object sea will not float in an
                   arbitrary way. The objects will be ordered, even if they can
                   have links all over the place.

                   When sending an object to another KOSH machine the class
                   object and associated binding would be understood. however
                   when passing this same object (eg: a JPEG file) to a Linux
                   or Windows machine, they don't know KOSH object structures or
                   class bindings. Further, "JPEG" has a fairly precise
                   definition as a byte-stream. When sending this out to other
                   systems, just that JPEG stream would be wanted. Likewise
                   when importing: a JPEG (again as an example) from another
                   system should be inserted into a JPEG object.

                   Having the ability to add compression, cryptification or other
                   services to the objectsystem is a very good idea.

g)

Subject: Java Serialization

Summary of debate: See: http://www.javasoft.com - In Java there is something
                   called serialization which provides an easy way to implement
                   loads and saves of data in an ArrayList (from the Java API).
                   This could be the same with the Object Sea except that load
                   and save are replaced with freeze/unfreeze.


h)

Subject: Engineering Jobs at Amiga (in San Jose)

Summary of debate: See: http://www.amiga.de or the post forwarded to the ML by
                   Paul May dated 13/03/99, title as per the above subject
                   for information about positions with Amiga.


i)

Subject: Status of AROS

Summary of debate: Paul May has also forwarded a statement on AROS and where it
                   is currently at to the ML, dated 13/03/99, title: [TA] AROS
                   Statement (fwd).


j)

Subject: Icons (continued)

Summary of debate: Do we want fixed size icons which must occupy a specific
                   square or do we go for the Amiga approach which is more
                   flexible but potentially untidier and harder to handle?


k)

Subject: Force feedback input devices

Summary of debate: The idea to have force feedback devices such as a mouse was
                   suggested. This could (for example) let the user feel
                   scrollbars as channels, resizing windows as pulling elastic
                   and selecting icons becoming heavier the more you picked up.


l)

Subject: Mouse-Responsive Speech in a GUI

Summary of debate: As the mouse (or other control device) moves around the
                   desktop a voice could quietly tell the user the name
                   associated with each icon that is passed over, or some other
                   sound, word, or phrase specific to it. This then provides
                   aural confirmation of selection for those who may benefit
                   from such a feature. The same type of aural presentation
                   could equally as an option be implemented for menus and
                   controls within an application. The same applies to context
                   menus in web browsers.


m)

Subject: Heat dissipation in KOSHboxes (continuing "Waterproofing KOSH")

Summary of debate: Two links recommended regarding cooling chips are:
                   http://www.kryotech.com/ and
                   http://www.totalpc.net/hardware/renegade/
                   Kryotech manufactures cooling cases for PCs that use a
                   refrigerating base that runs through a heatsink that you can
                   then affix to your CPU in place of a standard heatsink.

                   The best solution to overheating would be to use low power
                   components and some sensible power management system that
                   can power down unused parts of the system.

                   As for radio interference as previously mentioned, the way
                   to solve this is with shielding which converts radiation
                   back into heat which can then be dissipated via some inbuilt
                   system.

                   The orientation of cards to allow for unfanned convective
                   currents to be optimised could be important. Orientating
                   cards on a vertical plane would not hinder heat
                   dissipation.

                   We must ensure that any KOSHbox that is produced can compete
                   in the general marketplace and therefore special cases and
                   heat dissipation units may increase the cost and reduce
                   sales potential when put next to an average PC. Therefore
                   apart from passive design points (eg: orientating cards
                   vertically) there may be little we can do initially to
                   improve designs.



n)

Subject: Virtual memory in newer NetBSD systems

Summary of debate: See: http://www.ccrc.wustl.edu/pub/chuck/tech/uvm/ for some
                   technical documents on the above.


o)

Subject: Compiling for the Object Sea

Summary of debate: How far would existing compilers need to be rewritten to
                   take account of the new object system when taking into
                   account the fact that programs tend to save data as
                   separate files?

                   A set of functions in the OO filesystem would allow existing
                   applications to be directed to use the new system and not
                   rely on traditional methods of saving. A method would be
                   needed to map the old style files onto the OO filespace.

                   It was stated that this would have nothing to do with
                   compilers as most languages have I/O as some kind of library
                   routine. Allowing for some functions being rewritten there
                   should be no problem.


p)

Subject: RAM disks

Summary of debate: Implementing a RAM: disk aka Amiga-style but designed to
                   work with virtual memory so that the data would be held on
                   disk but not placed in memory. This could be a better way to
                   handle things than temporary files in Windows.

                   Perhaps if everything is conceptually in RAM (including
                   contents of physical disks). Some systems use this and it
                   would building an OO system with persistent objects.

                   There could actually be a (small?) application which does
                   about the same thing as a RAM: disk.


q)

Subject: Task masking

Summary of debate: Could we set up a system where, via a quick option, certain
                   running tasks are suspended and hidden according to user
                   settings and (optionally) another one that's been frozen in
                   the background gets re-activated and set as the current
                   running application?

                   Hotkeys could accommodate this.


r)

Subject: Use of computers by those with disabilities

Summary of debate: See:
     http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/The_Paper/Weekly/Story/0,3605,30692,00.html
                   which is relevant to the above subject particularly as KOSH
                   aims to enable accessibility for all.


s)

Subject: Speed and thousands of files

Summary of debate: In a traditional filesystem organising several thousand
                   files into several directories with several subdirectories
                   allows for a relatively fast search and locate for an
                   individual file. With the Object Sea references to objects
                   will similarly allow fast access - most likely faster
                   if a directory class optimised for large numbers of files
                   was created.


t)

Subject: Printing of objects

Summary of debate: Objects could be made to include the details to be able to
                   print themselves if text (or show themselves if pictures -
                   or both if either etc). This would remove concerns about
                   having the correct viewer/whatever to be able to use the
                   object. Could Amiga-style datatypes be used for this?


u)

Subject: Computer knit-wear

Summary of debate: See: http://wearables.stanford.edu/ for (what one scribe-e
                   describes as) a "combined pocket computer and hand warmer".


v)

Subject: Userinterface Working Group

Summary of debate: Timo Suoranta wants to work on user interfaces. For this he
                   would like a mailing list and a working group set up. Timo
                   details that this would be started by making one version of
                   the user interface with a limited C++ object model. Then when
                   the KOSH object model is available this can be rewritten or
                   translated. The first version would run on top of X.

                   Timo will look at some existing user interfaces which have
                   free source code and see if this can be utilised. See:
                   http://www.fsai.fh-trier.de/~schmitzj/Xclasses/ which could
                   be relevant.

                   It turns out that Xclasses had some building trouble, but
                   another promising toolkit could be: http://fltk.easysw.com
                   which Timo built on his NetBSD system.


w)

Subject: Disadvantages of the Windows interface (again)

Summary of debate: Greg says the URL quoted last time should have been:
                   http://www.iarchitect.com/msoft.htm - that little "l" makes
                   all the difference:)

Cyberstorm G3/G4 Zusatzinfos
Author: Wolf Dietrich
Date: 1999/03/21
Forum: de.comp.sys.amiga.misc

In den ersten zwei Tagen nach der Ankündigung unseres Cyberstorm
G3/G4-Projekts haben wir bereits eine recht positive Resonanz erhalten.
Allen denen, die bereits jetzt dieses Projekt durch ein Vorbestellung
unterstützen, möchte ich daher schon einmal herzlich danken. Da
allerdings auch einige Fragen gestellt wurden, und in ersten Kommentaren
in dieser Newsgroup einige Dinge gesagt wurde, die m.E. der Ergänzung
bedürfen, möchte ich diese hier kurz ansprechen.

1. Leistungsdaten
Das Cyberstorm G3/G4 ist eine reine PowerPC-Lösung, die als erste
PPC-Karte für Amiga keinen 68k-Prozessor benötigt. Sie wird mit
G3-Prozessoren mit mindestens 400MHz oder G4/Altivec-CPUs geliefert
werden (auf  Interposer ZIF- Prozessormodulen). Es wird immer mindestens
1 MB Cache vorhanden sein. Über das PCI-Interface lassen sich beliebige
PCI-Karten betreiben (wir werden uns über mechanischen Anforderungen mit
den Tower-Herstellern unterhalten); hier bietet sich für alle Entwickler
die Möglichkeit, Karten mit PCI-Chips zu bauen oder z.B. PC-Karten mit
Amiga-Treibern zu versehen und anzubieten. Erweiterungen von unserer
Seite sind derzeit nicht vorgesehen; wir werden aufgrund von Nachfragen
allerdings prüfen, ob wir einen Slot für vorhandene
CyberVisionPPC-Karten vorsehen kann.

Zusätzliche on-board Features sind auch nicht vorgesehen; ggfs. könnte
allerdings noch ein FireWire-IF integriert werden, das werden wir in den
nächsten Wochen prüfen. Theoretisch (und praktisch) könnten wir auch
zwei Prozessorsockel (und die dazugehörige MP-Logik) auf dem Board
unterbringen, allerdings wäre für MP-Betrieb die Softwareunterstützung
völlig offen; hier sind andere als wir gefragt...


2. Preis
Die Prozessormodule für Apple PowerMacs mit 400MHz/1MB Backside-Cache
kosten derzeit rund DM 1.700 inkl. MwSt. auf dem deutschen Markt. Wer
also zum aktuellen Vorbestellungspreis von DM 2.030,-- eine Cyberstorm
G3/G4 mit 400MHz G3 ordert, auf der genau ein solches G3 ZIF-Modul wie
in den PowerMacs eingesetzt wird, kauft, erhält das "Cyberstorm
Baseboard" mit dem A4000-Interface, dem SDRAM-Memory Controller bis zu
1GB, sowie dem PCI 2.1 Interface für DM 330,-- Mehrpreis. Dies ist wohl
alles andere als teuer.

Außerdem sollte man berücksichtigen, daß man ggfs. durch den Verkauf
einer vorhandenen Prozessorkarte die Kosten noch etwas reduzieren kann -
und wenn es nur ein paar hundert Mark sind. Bei einem anderen Ansatz ,
z.B. einer Z3-Karte, ist dies eher problematisch, da ein G3 im
Zorro-III-Slot weiterhin den 68k benötigt - zumindest als
Interrupt-Server (was eigentlich auch keinen "100% native PPC kernel"
erlauben dürfte).


3. Vorkasse
Wie (ab Montag abend auch in Deutsch) aus unserer Ankündigung
hervorgeht, verlangen wir - sobald nach Eingang von 1000 Bestellungen
das Projekt gestartet wird - eine Vorkasse von DM 250. Diese wird auf
ein notarielles Anderkonto geleistet, und uns nur dann zur Verfügung
gestellt, wenn wir  innerhalb einer festgelegten Frist die Boards an die
Kunden liefern (Einzelheiten hierzu werden den Vorbestellern zusammen
mit einer Proforma-Rechnung bei Projektstart zugehen). Erfüllen wir die
zugesagte Leistung nicht, erhalten die Kunden ihr Geld zurück. Bei einer
Storno seitens des Kunden besteht allerdings kein Erstattungsanspruch.

Da wir heute nicht einschätzen können, ob sich die sechsstelligen
Investitionen, die für Entwicklung, Prototypisierung, Test und
Produktionsstart notwendig sind, rechnen werden, sehen wir diesen
Mechanismus als einzig sinnvolle Möglichkeit an, das Projekt zu
realisieren. Wir denken, daß man dies als eine Art Partnerschaft
zwischen den Kunden, die Interesse am Erscheinen und Kauf dieses
Produkts haben, und uns, die wir das Produkt bei ausreichender und
gesicherter Nachfrage gerne realisieren möchten, sehen kann. Nebenbei
kann eine über diesen Vorbestellungs-Mechanismus abgesicherte
Entwicklung auch zeitlich gestrafft durchgeführt werden, da eine
gesonderte Finanzierung möglich ist.


4. Lohnt sich ein Upgrade überhaupt noch oder Warum baut man nicht
gleich einen neuen Rechner?

Dies muß natürlich jeder für sich selbst entscheiden. Wer z.B. sieht,
daß ein neuer 300 MHz PC im April 98 DM 2.800 kostet und das gleiche
Produkt im November des gleichen Jahres für DM 1.350 erhältlich ist, muß
sich die Frage stellen, ob er sich überhaupt einen Computer oder
irgendein Zubehör kaufen sollte...

Man muß daher wohl eher den Wert und Nutzen der Leistung, die man zu
einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt einkauft, absolut bewerten. Hier steht eine
400MHz G3-Karte (mit Speichererweiterung und PCI-Interface) für rund
2000 Mark sicherlich recht gut da. Da man über PCI beliebige aktuelle
Hardwareprodukte anschließen kann, wird für eine Erweiterung mit
günstigem Zubehör nur noch die Treiberentwicklung benötigt - und
zumindest für SCSI, Grafik und einiges andere besteht hierfür immer noch
ausreichend Entwicklerpotential. Daran, daß man als Gehäuse und für's
I/O noch die alte A4000-Hardware weiterverwendet (um's mal so überspitzt
zu sagen), gibt es ja eigentlich auch nichts einzuwenden. Wenn man dabei
Erweiterungen, die man schon hat, weiterbenutzen kann, umso besser.

Ein neuer Rechner für AmigaOS wäre natürlich noch besser, aber dies läßt
sich nur dann realisieren, wenn es dazu ein klares (unterstützendes)
Statement und entsprechende Aktivitäten von AI gibt. Die G3/G4
Generation wäre nach unserer Meinung weiterhin der sinnvolle Weg in die
Zukunft, auch mit neuen OS-Versionen. Aber leider beteiligen wir uns
derzeit nicht an Visionen, sondern bauen eben ganz bodenständig nur ein
Stück Hardware...


Wir werden in der Zukunft weitere Infos zu diesem Projekt
veröffentlichen, und auch auf typische Fragen eingehen. Ich bitte, von
Fragen direkt an mich per email abzusehen, ich werde sie (aus zeitlichen
Gründen) mit an Sicherheit grenzender Wahrscheinlichkeit nicht
beantworten können

Ich hoffe, daß wir dieses neue Projekt erfolgreich durchführen können,
und daß es weiterhin genug Unterstützung der Anwender für den Amiga
gibt, und auch das Interesse, mit diesem System ins neue Jahrtausend zu
gehen.

---------------------------------------------------------
Wolf Dietrich, GM phase 5 digital products
wd@gf.phase5.de   http://www.phase5.de


In the first two days after the announcement of our Cyberstorm G3/G4-Projekts we already
received a quite positive resonance. Those, which support this project already now by
vorbestellung, I would like to thank all already once cordially therefore. Since however also some
questions were asked, and in first comments into this newsgroup was said some things, which
require m.E. the supplement, would like I these briefly here to address.

1. Performance data the Cyberstorm G3/G4 is a pure power PC solution, which does not need
68k-Prozessor as the first PPC card for Amiga. It will be supplied with G3-Prozessoren with at
least 400MHz or G4/Altivec-CPUs (on Interposer ZIF processor modules). It will be available
always at least 1 MB Cache. Over the PCI INTERFACE any PCI cards can be operated (we will
us over mechanical request maintained with the Tower manufacturers); here is offered the
possibility, cards with for all developers PCI chip

Additional on board feature are not intended also; if necessary however still another FireWire IF
could be integrated, which we become in the next weeks to check. Theoretically (and practically)
we could accommodate also two processor bases (and the pertinent MP logic) on the board,
however the software support would be completely open for MP operation; here others than we in
demand are...

2. DM 1,700 cost price the processor modules for Apple PowerMacs with 400MHz/1MB Backside
Cache at present approximately inclusive MwSt. on the German market. Who thus at the current
priceprice price of DM 2,030, - - a Cyberstorm G3/G4 with 400MHz G3 orders, on which exactly
such G3 ZIF module is inserted as into the PowerMacs, buys, receives the " Cyberstorm cousin
board " with the A4000-Interface, the SDRAM MEMORY CONTROLLER up to 1GB, as well as the
PCI 2,1 INTERFACES for DM 330, - - additional price. This is probably everything else as
expensive.

Additionally one should consider that one can if necessary reduce the costs by the sales of an
available processor card still somewhat - and if there only a few hundred Marks is. With another
beginning, e.g. a Z3-Karte, this is rather problematic, since a G3 in the Zorro III Slot needs further
the 68k - at least as INTERRUPT server (which actually also no " 100% native PPC might permit
kernel ").

3. Vorkasse as (starting from Monday evening also into German) from our announcement follows,
requires we - as soon as after receipt by 1000 orders the project is started - a vorkasse of DM
250. This is carried out on a notarial Anderkonto one, and made available us only if we supply the
boards within a determined period to the customers (details for this will happen to the
Vorbestellern as well as a pro forma calculation with project start). If we do not fulfill the assured
performance, the customers receive their cash back. With cancellation on the part of the
customer however no claim to reimbursement exists.

Since we cannot estimate today whether the six-digit investments, which are necessary for
development, Prototypisierung, test and production start will count themselves, regard we this
mechanism as only meaningful possibility of implementing the project. We think that one can see
this as a type partnership between the customers, who have interest in the appearance and
purchase of this product and us, whom we would like to implement the product with sufficient and
secured demand gladly. Besides a development secured by this mechanism can be executed also
temporally tightened, since a separate financing is possible.

4. Is a Upgrade worthwhile itself at all still or why builds one not directly a new computer?
This must naturally decide everyone for itself. Who sees e.g. that new 300 mc/s PC in April it
costs 98 DM 2,800 and the same product in the November of the same yearly for DM 1,350 is
available, the question to place itself whether he should buy at all a computer or any
accessories...

One must evaluate therefore probably rather the value and use of the performance, which one
buys at a certain point in time, absolutely. Here is a 400MHz G3-Karte (with memory expansion
and PCI INTERFACE) for approximately 2000 Marks surely quite well there. Since one can attach
any current hardware products over PCI, for an extension with favorable accessories the driver
development is only needed - and at least for SCSI, diagram and some different one for this still
sufficiently developer potential exists. To the fact that one gives I/O still the old A4000-Hardware
as housing and fuer's re-used (um's exaggerates times in such a way to say), it also nothing to
actually object. If one can retain thereby extensions, which one has already, the better.

A new computer for Amiga OS would be naturally still better, but this can be implemented only if
there are in addition a clear (supporting) statement and appropriate activities of AI. The G3/G4
generation would be according to our opinion further the meaningful way into the future, also with
new OS versions. But we unfortunately take part at present not in visions, but build ourselves
evenly quite natively only one piece hardware...

We will publish further information in the future to this project, and will deal also with typical
questions. I please to refrain I her (for temporal reasons) also at security of bordering probability
to answer will not be able from questions directly to me by email

I hope that we can successfully execute this new project, and that there is further enough support
of the users for the Amiga, and also the interest to go with this system in the new millenium.

---------------------------------------------------------
Wolf Dietrich, GM phase 5 digital products
wd@gf.phase5.de   http://www.phase5.de

======================================================================
   _    __      _     <>_   __      _    ||
  /\\    |\    /||    ||   /  `    /\\   ||  A M I G A   U P D A T E 
 /__\\   | \  / ||    ||  || ___  /__\\  ||     -News and Rumors-
/    \\_ |  \/  ||_  _||_  \__// /    \\_||   (An Occasional e-mail
         KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING         ||       Newsmagazine)
======================================================================
        AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.      
----------------------------------------------------------------------
990319

     A M I G A   ' 9 9   -   A   W A T E R S H E D   S H O W 

           A M I G A   O S   3 . 5   D E S C R I B E D

               A M I G A   A N D   U G N   M E E T 

        D E A T H   R O B S   A M I G A   C O M M U N I T Y 

                L E T T E R   F R O M   P E T R O 

       E - M A I L   F R O M   H A V E M O S E   O N   M M C 

              F R E E   J A V A   F O R   A M I G A ! 

 S P E C I A L   F O R   A M I G A ' S   1 4 T H   B I R T H D A Y - 

    - A N D   1 5 T H   B I R T H D A Y   C E L E B R A T I O N 

                C T M A   S H O W   I N   I N D I A  

          P H O T O G E N I C S   4 . 0   L A U N C H E D

   F O N T   W I T H   E U R O   S Y M B O L   A V A I L A B L E 

          A M I G A   T V   P A I N T   N O W   F R E E ! 

     B A S I L I S K   I I   F R E E   M A C   E M U L A T O R 

          A U D I O   E N H A N C E M E N T   D E V I C E

         T O R N A D O   3 D   3 . 0   D U E   I N   M A Y

            S T A R G A T E   1 . 1   A N N O U N C E D 

         A R T   E F F E C T   3   N O W   S H I P P I N G 

Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:

 This newsletter is already almost too long, so I'm not going to say
much right here. Most of my thoughts this time will be found below, in
comments on the just completed Amiga 99 show. We actually held this
issue a day or two, hoping to hear more reaction from the show. The
community has been almost eerily silent about the show. My thoughts on
that are in the article.
 There's an amazing amount of Amiga news right now, and that in part
is because many people make announcements at show time. Several of
these are significant, and we think you'll find the stories very
interesting. We'll have to hold one or two for the next issue.
 Last issue announced the beginning of a new regime at Amiga, one that
has much promise for the future. With this issue, we start chronicling
how they're doing. Stay with us, we'll keep you informed.
 Brad Webb,
 Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail to the E-ditor:


15 Mar 1999 

Hello Brad.

I know you are gonna have one heck of a crammed issue of Amiga Update coming
out soon.

But if you have got room, can you mention the announcement that NewIcons 4.5
is now available.
(assuming you haven't got that already)

- I love newicons - better than that mwb.

Regards
Mikey C
------
Mikey C,
 Good news for NewIcons users. We may have a story in the next issue.
 Brad

~~~~~~
16 Mar 1999 

Dear Sir,

 I have an Amiga 500 C with about a bushel basket full of soft ware. I
had to stop using it because I couldn't get a print driver that works
well with an HP 690 Ink Jet printer. I love using the machine -- it is
old, like me -- but still runs well. Can you offer any information on
how to keep my old machine fairly close to up to date?

Sincerely,

Dudley 
------
Dudley,
 I wish I had an answer for you. If any of our readers knows of a
driver for the HP 690, please let us know and we'll run the
information in the next issue.
 Brad

~~~~~~
27 Feb 99 

 In the Dec 19, 1998 newsletter, you listed BlackIRC as being
available. Excuse me if you have already addressed my question in a
late issue, but I didn't see an address or web page for more info or
purchasing.
 
 Love the newsletter. You are doing a great job, keep it up.

Thanks so much.

Alan 
------
Alan,
 You can find BlackIRC at any Aminet site.
 We're pleased you like "Amiga Update"; thanks for saying so!
 Brad
----------------------------------------------------------------------

    A M I G A   ' 9 9   -   A   W A T E R S H E D   S H O W 

By Brad Webb

 What to make of the Amiga 99 show just concluded in Saint Louis, USA?
Circumstances we couldn't control prevented "Amiga Update" from having
a representative at the show. However, there are always many good show
reports available after an Amiga show, so we went looking for the best
to bring you. This time, there has been almost nothing. The best we've
seen so far is by CUCUG's Kevin Hisle on their web site. Check it out
for a list of those who had booths, and many good photos. But even
Kevin's report says virtually nothing about the "big" events -
speeches by the new President of Amiga, Jim Collas, and others,
concerning the new corporate structure, the move to San Diego, the
development plans and so on.
 
 In part, this is probably due to the fact that the new regime and its
newly announced fast track development plans had been in place only a
short time when the show started. In part, it may be due to the few
postings we have seen being marked as not for reposting. That doesn't
explain why more folks haven't given their impressions of events,
however.
 
 From what we can learn, it's still too early to be certain how the
Amiga community views the new order. We think that's why there's been
so much silence. Mr. Collas is saying all the right things. That's
good, but Amigans have heard that before. The plan sounds good, but
Amigan's have had plans described before without results. Our reading,
based on letters from readers who attended and poking around the
community a bit, is that most people are hopeful but wary. They
appreciated what they heard at the show, but will only be convinced
the world is improving when it happens. The good news is people still
believe a future can be built, and they are willing to contribute if
they can. The bad news is they're not prepared to be excited to talk
about it much. It's up to Amiga to make them excited, by following
through. Our guess? We think Amiga will follow through this time, and
there will be some excitement down the road.
 
 We've seen reports that the biggest group of doubters are the
developers. It's hard to judge how accurate that is, but they've
certainly lost the most with the direction Amiga Incorporated has
limped in up till now. We have reports of a deep divide between Amiga
Inc. and the developers being detected at the show. As these are
subjective reactions, we can only hope things aren't as bad as the
impressions some folks received. We did receive other reports that the
developers were more excited by the new directions Amiga Inc. is
talking about than the user community is. This somewhat schizophrenic
reaction to recent news isn't surprising - it will take some time to
see where we're really going. One thing to keep in mind is that
developers are business people, and must have a love of the Amiga or
they wouldn't be in that business. Help create a market they can
thrive in, and they'll be there for you.
 
 There were several important announcements at the show from the
companies involved. We have stories on many of them below. Our vote
for the top news would have two stories tied - the "Daytona" Java
Virtual Machine from top Amiga developer Holger Kruse, and the news
about the "Classic" Amiga OS from Amiga itself. The pages put up at
Amiga International's web site at the time of the show indicate that
not only is 3.5 alive and well, there may even be further upgrades
beyond that. This is a genuine shock, and if it's indicative of the
new thinking going on within Amiga, then we find it very encouraging.
Of course, part of the reason for more than one upcoming revision of
Classic OS is that Amiga is too far behind to put everything in the
next release and get it out any time soon.
 
 According to those who listened to Mr. Collas's speech, he had many
encouraging points to make. First among them was that Amiga now has
the full support of Gateway, who have placed seasoned senior
management in the division and given it a meaningful budget. As if to
underscore this, Amiga has posted several job openings.
 
 Mr. Collas also announced the first version of the new Amiga
operating environment, to be called AmigaSoft 4.0, will be released in
September for developer use. We're not sure why the term is operating
environment rather than operating system. We'll be watching to see if
there's significance to the choice of words. In any event, the final
version is due later in the year. AmigaSoft will apparently support
multiple processors, an unexpected and welcome development. AmigaSoft
5.0 will follow in 2000.
 
 Apparently Mr. Collas has high goals for the Amiga. He mentioned as
many as 30 million sales being targeted, but added that would require
the proper strategies to accomplish. He also promised more involvement
in the Amiga community, with better communications and support
programs for developers, magazines, dealers, shows and distributors.
 
 All this sounds very good, and must have raised the hopes of
most listeners. One thing we've all learned in recent years, though -
we'll listen, we'll hope, but we'll only believe when we see it. If we
do see it, Mr. Collas and the rest of Amiga can count on support and
praise from the community well beyond the standing ovation he received
in Saint Louis.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

              A M I G A   O S   3 . 5   D E S C R I B E D

BENEFITS OF THE AMIGAOS 3.5 UPDATE

        Easy Internet Access
        Support for Hard disks > 4GB
        Modern Graphical User Interface (GUI)
        Extensive CD-ROM Support
        Support for current Printers
        PowerPC Support
        HTML Online Documentation
        Bug Fixes



     EASY INTERNET ACCESS

 TCP/IP Stack
 o Easy to setup the connection to your provider within minutes
 o Multi user support
 o Multi interface support (Internet and Ethernet)
 o Latest Socks v4/5 client module for firewalls
 o Enhanced SANA II support for fast transfer rates
 
 WWW Browser with Offline/Online Support
 o Browsing the OS 3.5 docs and the Internet
 
 New Cross-Application E-mail Library
 o General API for sending and receiving of E-mails
 
 New EMail Client
 o Based on the E-mail library
 
 

     SUPPORT FOR HARD DISKS > 4GB

 NSDPatch
 o New standard for 64 Bit Devices
 o Updated Info, Format, Diskcopy and FastFileSystem
 
 New HDToolBox
 o The low-level library processes the following tasks
 o Scanning the SCSI bus
 o Read the physical information of the hard disk
 o Read/write the logical information (RDB)
 o Create Mount files
 o Read special Mount entries to restore the RDB
 o HDToolBox applicatsion that uses the low-level library
 o New GUI style



     MODERN GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI)

 New Icon Set (Glow Icons)
 o New complete icon set for all system tools
 o New icons for most applications

 New Icon Library
 o Icons with up to 256 colors
 o Automatic color adaptation
 o NewIcon compatible
 o Compatible to OS 3.1 icons

 New BOOPSI Library
 o New complete set of powerful BOOPSI gadgets
 o Very fast, modular and scalable
 o AmigaOS compatible implementation
 o Compatible to existing BOOPSI classes
 
 New Resource Library
 o Loads and manages all GUI resources
 o Change the GUI without recompilation of the application
 o Can be used with any programming language
 
 New GUI Editor for Developers
 o WYSIWYG GUI editor
 o Creates resource files that are used by the new resource library
 o Automatic localization of the application



     EXTENSIVE CD-ROM SUPPORT

 CacheCDFS
 o ISO9660, RockRidge, Joliet (Win 95/98) and MAC HFS compatible
 o Supports Amiga protection bit and file comments
 o MultiSession CD-ROM support
 
 New PlayCD
 o (programmable) Audio player for SCSI and ATAPI CD-ROM drives
 o Low memory consumption
 
 New CDFSPrefs
 o CacheCDFS preferences for 'on the fly' configuration



     FULL PRINTER SUPPORT

 New Printer Device
 o Drivers for all common printers
 o PowerPC support
 o New functions to print all kinds of bitmaps
 o New API to define page size and page break correctly
 o Support for 24 bit Picasso96 DumpRastPort command
 o TurboPrint compatible functions to print 8 Bit chunky and 16/24 bit
 bitmaps

 New Printer Preferences
 o Updated for new GUI style
 
 
 
     POWERPC SUPPORT

 New WarpUP PowerPC Support
 o AmigaOS compatible integration
 o Extensive functionality
 o Hardware independent driver system, easy to extend
 
 New Preferences
 o Updated for new GUI style
 


     HTML DOCUMENTATION

 New Comprehensive Instructions
 o Reworked documentation for Workbench, DOS, ARexx and Harddisk
 o Completion of all the new featues of AmigaOS 3.5
 o Extensive Illustrations
 o Bilingual English/German



     BUG FIXES

 o Corrections and Extensions
 o Accelerated and reworked Workbench
 o Extened and reworked ASL library
 o Reworked Bullet library
 o Reworked Diskfont library
 o New datatypes for JPG, GIF, AIFF
 o New SCSI Mount tool
 o Reworked A2024 monitor driver
 o Reworked CLI command (Join, Status, Type)



     THE FUTURE (PLANS AND OPTIONS)

 3.6, 3.7, ....
 o Further Releases or AddOn Packages
 
 
 4.0 - A New Release for the Classic Amiga
 o New reworked and extended Kickstart
 o Extended PowerPC Support
 o New 68K Emulator for PPC-only systems
 o Many new System Libraries ( Graphics.Library, Layers.library, etc)
 as PPC-native


Amiga OS 3.5 System Requirements

 In order to upgrade your Amiga system to OS 3.5, it must be equipped
 with the following hardware:
 
 o CD-ROM drive
 o Hard drive
 o 68020 or higher processor
 o Amiga 3.1 ROMs
 o 4 MB Fast RAM
 
 For better performance, Amiga Inc. recommends:
 
 o 68030 or higher processor
 o 8 MB Fast RAM
 o Graphics accelerator and/or scandoubler
 o Modem
 
 To take full advantage of OS 3.5 we also recommend you add the
 following:
 
 o 68060 processor with PowerPC accellerator card
 o 16-bit sound card
 o 32 MB Fast RAM
 o I/O Accelerator
 

Amiga OS 3.5 Frequently Asked Questions

 Q. When will 3.5 be completed?
 A. 3.5 is scheduled for release the first half of 1999. 3.5 is still
    on schedule.
 
 Q. How much will it cost?
 A. 3.5 has a targeted list price for USD$49.95
 
 Q. Where are the RTG and RTA support?
 A. These are features that are no longer part of the core of 3.5. We
    are evaluating these features.
 
 Q. Will there be PPC support?
 A. Yes. 3.5 will have PPC co-processor support.
 
 Q. Will it run on a Macintosh?
 A. No.
 
 Q. Will 3.5 support MUI?
 A. As 3.1 does currently.
 
 Q. Will 3.5 have new icon support?
 A. Yes. More specifics will follow.
 
 Q. Do you plan on to bundle the 3.1 ROM with the 3.5 upgrade?
 A. This will be up to the reseller. We are not intending to offer a
 3.1/3.5 bundle.
 
 Q. Is this the last upgrade for the Amiga Classic?
 A. There are plans for further Updates as well as AddOn packages for
    OS 3.5
 
 Q. Is QNX playing some role in 3.5?
 A. No. QNX is only working with Amiga on the NG Amiga.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                A M I G A   A N D   U G N   M E E T 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UGN Representatives meet with Amiga

17 March, 1999

Wayne Hunt
Executive Director
User Group Network
http://ugn.amiga.org
User Group Network Mailing List

 {This is from the UGN's mailing list, covering the metting between
Amiga's management team and the User Group Network. Amiga President
Jim Collas, Jeff Schindler, Bill McEwen, Jim VonHolle and Darreck
Lisle were all in attendance. Below is the story as posted. Brad}

 To elaborate, or at least help Steven with the points he had, I was
asked at the last minute to assemble no more than 12 people to meet
face-to-face with Jim Collas "sometime Saturday afternoon" to
represent the User Groups (and users) out there. This occurred at
roughly 10:00pm Friday night.
 
 8:00 Saturday morning, we had the UGN representative breakfast which
lasted until about 9:30 or so, then found out from our liason, Darreck
Lisle, that it was to happen at 11am that morning. I made the
invitation to the attendees there, then literally RAN around the hall
and show floor searching out each and every user group president and
UGN representative I could find to attend the meeting. If anyone
wasn't included, it was not for lack of trying, it's simply the fact
that I didn't run across you before I had found 12 other people. As
for the rest, here's what happened.

 After hauling our own chairs from the King James conference room, we
all squeezed into Mr. Collas' suite to be greeted by Mr. Collas with
"do you have any questions for us?" Oh boy was that ever an
understatement! What followed was almost one and a half hours
(overlapping the UGN luncheon) of feedback and discussion on several
relevant subjects to include;

- the community
----

 The Amiga staff there pointed out to us that they really would like
to involve themselves fully in the existing community and in fact,
become a part of it rather than simply "the company". JimC (who did
most of the talking) pointed out to us that he's aware that Gateway
has been "screwing up" and underestimating the Amiga community and
they want to make amends by becoming not only the company, but "part
of the community as well".
 
 It was pointed out to the Amiga management that the public needs more
news of every kind to come from the company. Not just "these are the
specs and dates" type news, but all of it. It was suggested that;
 
 1. they look into the production of a biweekly or monthly mailing to
all of the User Groups which would contain giveaway trinkets and news
updates. (similar to Gateway's "Prairie News" newsletter)
 
 2. if they really want to start participating in the community, they
might consider actively participating (when possible) in things like
the UGN Mailing list.
 
 3. let us know the personality details of the crew to make them a
part of the community. Let us know who's hired and their background,
etc.
 
 4. include as news when AI goes out and talks to major third party
 companies
 
 5. it was suggested by several representatives (not me) that Amiga
needs to really get on the ball as far as website updates and that
they:
 o make the .com a suitable, professional site
 o use the .net site for network services such as free web services to
 UG's and free e-mail to all (ala gateway.net)
 o use the UGN's .org site for all outgoing news to users and groups
 which didn't fit on the .com site.
 
 6. Mr. Collas stressed that they (Gateway) had underestimated the
need to support the current machines and market and he firmly pledged
that "the classic machines aren't going away for at least another two
or three years". Now, he didn't offer specifics other than the fact
that they would continue (or in the minds of some attendees, start)
supporting and developing for the "Classic Amiga line" even after the
newmachines were introduced. Editor's note: Combined with the
announcement from H&P that there would be a 3.6, 3.7, etc, the
lifeline of the Amiga "Classic" machines seems ensured.
 
 7. We (the UGN) need to get our contact information verified and
updated in the database so that each User Group could be contacted
directly from Amiga with pertinent mailings, etc. It was also
recommended that EACH user group update their own records and include
the address information of each user, past and present for a private
database which Amiga would use to let people know that "something
wonderful is happening" and to keep an eye on the Amiga.
 
- developers and dealers
 
 We discussed several points of relevance where keeping developers
involved was concerned. Jim Collas said they would (or were) consider
a "sponsored development" (for lack of better terms) program whereby
Amiga could be petitioned by established developers for financial
assistance to complete a project or upgrade in return for some
percentage.
 
 There were also various pointers about keeping dealers involved and
perhaps Amiga organizing discounts on products for Amiga User Groups
through every available, relevant dealer (not just Amiga dealers, but
major players such as Yamaha {speakers}, 3Com {modems and network
cards}, and others.)

 Overall, most every point was designed to help every other part of
the community (Amiga, user groups, developers, and vendors) bring in
both memberships and interest. It is also designed to stop the slow
decline of interest in User Groups and the Amiga in general.
 
 For the first time, as many there will attest, we really felt like
Amiga was actually listening and very, VERY interested in what we had
to say. During the meeting, we got the distinct impression that we
were hearing Jim Collas thinking out loud and that a lot of the
feedback we provided came as a profound surprise to them. A lot of "we
should do this" and such. Later Sunday, I was approached by a
management member who stated that he was told to "be sure this stuff
happens" so I am actually psyched and waiting for stuff to happen.
 
 ***** Current status (just got off the phone)***** is that we (the
UGN and Amiga.org) are working towards reaching a formal agreement
with Amiga to handle and be recognized as the central location for
Amiga Organizations as per number 5 above (the ICOA voted to move
their website to Amiga.org Friday at the show). The mailings (#1
above) aren't expected to actually start until mid April, which will
give the UGN time to get it's ducks in a row.
 
 We need to start assembling and submitting user information to them
ASAP.
 
 Amiga is also in the midst of moving their offices from South Dakota
to San Diego which has all the staff tied up at the moment with
logistics. Once the Agreement is reached to use Amiga.org for
organizations, changes will start occurring and we will start seeing a
lot more news items flowing from Amiga as they've designated a staff
member specifically to disseminating news to the community.

Feedback is welcomed,

Wayne Hunt
Executive Director
User Group Network
http://ugn.amiga.org

"Users Helping Users"
----------------------------------------------------------------------

         D E A T H   R O B S   A M I G A   C O M M U N I T Y 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Amiga loses a Champion

3 March, 1999

Hello,

 Mr. Hardware Computers has some sad news to bring you. *Joe Rothman*
(Mr. Hardware) died this morning March 3, 1999. He died suddenly of
apparent Heart failure. Pam, his wife found him dead early this
morning. Joe was a main pillar in the *Amiga* community since the
beginning. Pam's picture even appeared on one of the Amiga 500 boxes.
The future of Mr. Hardware will be announced. If you have any
questions please direct them to me, Russ Norrby (516)821-2364 or
nvp@northeast.net. Pam will not be answering the phone for the next
week or so.
 
 The funeral will be this Friday 10-11am for visitation Moloney
Funeral Hall in Central Islip, NY (516)234-6000 Please do not bring
flowers but , if you would like to make a dontation for his wife Pam.
Make all checks out to Pam Rothman and send to 38 Pearl Rd. Rocky
Point, NY 11778.

Amiga Forever!!!

Sincerely, Russ Norrby

Field Rep for Mr. Hardware & LICA, Treasurer
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                L E T T E R   F R O M   P E T R O 

2 Mar 99 13:08:19 -0600
                       Open letter to the Amiga Community

 February 8, 1999 - a historical day.

 This day reminded me of the spirit of 1985, when Amiga was presented
to the world public in New York.
 
 This time a vision is born: Making computers a natural part of
everyday life.
 
 It is almost 2 years ago, since the take over by Gateway. Many people
know me as an impatient man and you may anticipate how difficult the
period from March 97 to February 8, 1999 was. A time of low
communication with the Amiga community, low public relations and low
information about visions, missions and goals.
 
 But my dear Amigans, I can reassure you the ray of hope will become a
bright sun within the next 6 month. The Amiga will be lead to the
future under the technical experienced management of an absolute
professional. Jim Collas, Senior Vice President Product Development &
Management of Gateway, Inc. has decided to modify his position and to
work for Amiga only. To reach all our goals, I will work on his side
and support him with all my energy.
 
 Our mission is:
 
 To create a revolutionary and compelling systems architecture and
operating environment for multimedia computers and digital information
appliances which can easily be imbedded into consumer computing
devices and enables innovative Internet services.
 
 Without talk big, I can tell you that in the middle of November 99 we
will launch the new Amiga systems architecture and operation
environment.
 
 For this purpose we will organise press conferences to inform the
public about our goals and directions. Besides the new and
revolutionary Amiga Operating System we are working on our existing
platform to present the upgrade 3.5 as soon as possible
 
 First detailed information will be presented in St. Louis, USA (March
12. - 14.). We hope to be in the position to sell the first Operating
System upgrades 3.5 in summer 99. The German company Haage & Partner
and myself will take care about this project.
 
 AMIGA International, Inc. and Amiga, Inc. will conquer as one team
the computer world; under the management of Jim Collas - and you my
dear Amigans, will be a part of it.
 
 Help us performing our goals. Jim Collas will inform you within the
next days about the organisation, plans and goals of our company.
 
 A very exciting time is coming and it is for me and my staff a honour
to be a part of a new computer generation as pioneer and to pave the
way for the future just like it was at Commodore.
 
 Long live our beloved Amiga and our community

Yours
Petro Tyschtschenko
March 1999
----------------------------------------------------------------------

      E - M A I L   F R O M   H A V E M O S E   O N   M M C 

12 Mar 1999 

{The following note from Amiga's Dr. Allan Havemose was discovered on
the Net. The MMC, for those new to the term, is the "Magical Mystery
Chip", or the mysterious processor which will be at the heart of the
next generation of Amigas. Brad}

>The MMC-maker (which one ever - as Allan told us at Cologne there are
>several MMC-like chips in development) would be crazy to tie himself
>too much to a startup-company like AI, who knows if they'll have
>success. And AI doesn't look like they want to tie themselves again
>too much to one architecture (although they need of course one to
>start with).

 We probably made a mistake by not making it completely clear that our
target specs were being met by several MMC at the time of the
announcement (WOA London last year). And with technology moving very
rapidly, who would want to be tied down with just one partner ?

I know that the MMC speculation has been fun, but there unfortunately
isn't much to speculate about. We just have not had to make a decision
yet, so we haven't !

It's really that simple :)

Allan

--
Allan Havemose, Ph.D.
Amiga Vice President, Engineering
email:havemose@amiga.com (W)
email:havemose@ix.netcom.com (H)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

              F R E E   J A V A   F O R   A M I G A ! 

 Nordic Global made a surprise announcement at Amiga99--Java for the
Amiga! And best of all, the runtime package and developer package will
be FREE!

----
Daytona(tm)
Java(tm) for AmigaOS

 Daytona is a complete Java 2 runtime system for AmigaOS, based on the
"Java 2 Platform" by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Among other things it
contains support for
 
 o The complete Java 2 API and class set, directly derived from Sun's
 reference implementation, and therefore 100% compatible with the
 official Java specifications and releases (unlike some other Java
 runtime engines for Amiga OS).

 o Multithreading, using a native Amiga implementation. No Unix
 emulation code or libraries required.
 
 o File and socket I/O (multithreaded) including multicasting,
 URLhandling and Internet protocol engines.
 
 o AWT (Abstract Windows Toolkit): The basic Daytona package contains
 AWT runtime classes, but no native bindings AWT bindings for native
 AmigaOS displays are available as part of the Dayton~LUS package.
 
 o JFC (Java Foundation Classes): Swing, Java 2D.
 
 o CORBA.

Daytona is available FREE of charge.

----
DaytonaDEV(tm)

 DaytonaDEV is an add-on to Daytona. It is intended for developers who
want to write their own Java programs, and compile them into Java byte
code. DaytonaDEV contains the following items:
 
 o Java byte-code compiler: launcher and all required runtime classes.
 
 o Various tools (bytecode disassembler, documentation generator,
   archive management tools etc.)

DaytonaDEV is available FREE of charge.

----

 Daytona PLUS(tm) DaytonaPLUS is an independently developed add-on to
Daytona that provides additional Amiga-specific features. DaytonaPLUS
contains:
 
 o AWT bindings for native AmigaOS displays. Includes support for
 CyberGraphX and Picasso96 high/truecolor screens.

 o BOOPSI "look-and-feel" for Swing.

 o Applet API and runtime system with a stand-alone Applet viewer and
 a documented Applet API library, allowing Daytona to be used to add
 Java Applet support to AmigaOS web browsers.

 o PowerPC support for PowerUP

 o JIT (Just-In-Time) compilers for 68K and PPC.

 o Support for precompiled native (68K and PPC) versions of all
 standard Java runtime classes. Daytona and DaytonaDEV come with
 complete sets of 68K/PPC-precompiled runtime classes for use with
 DaytonaPLUS.
 
 DaytonaPLUS is distributed as shareware and requires registration.
Registration fee: to be announced. For more information please contact
Holger Kruse at Nordic Global Inc. (kruse@nordicglobal . corn,
http://www.nordicglobal.com/). Projected release date of first public
beta versions: summer 1999. Features are subject to change.

----

 Daytona, DaytonaDEV and DaytonaPLUS are trademarks of Nordic Global
Inc. Java and all Java-based marks are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other
collutnea. Nordic Global Inc., Daytona, DaytonaDEV and DaytonaPLUS are
independent of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 S P E C I A L   F O R   A M I G A ' S   1 4 T H   B I R T H D A Y - 


Amiga Is 14 This Year
----

 We at Trogladite Software, and World Of Amiga, decided that we wanted
to do more for the Amiga's 14th birthday than just slap a 'Special
Edition' title on Issue 4 and have done with it. So, we are going to
release Issue 4 on May 20th (instead of June, when it should be
released), and then release WOA Special Issue 1 on June 15th June.
 
 Since this is happening, we need input from you, the readers. Games,
articles, utils, pictures, animations, whatever. Just send it to the
address at the bottom of this page. We've already got loads of
exciting things lined up, including articles from famous Amiga
shareware developers (and a special guest appearance from a well known
man at Amiga Inc... you'll have to wait and see who).
 
 The address to send stuff to is woa14@trogsoft.freeserve.co.uk
----------------------------------------------------------------------

    - A N D   1 5 T H   B I R T H D A Y   C E L E B R A T I O N 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16th, 1999

Amiga 15th Anniversary Celebration in Atlanta (Amiga:2000)

 Class of '85 Reunion: On July 21st, 2000, we are celebrating the 15th
anniversary of a machine that started a revolution that is still felt
today. The Amiga spawned a cult religion of unbelievable proportion
and magnitude, which keeps the spirit alive in spite of tremendous
adversity.
 
 Come celebrate as we commemorate the life of the Amiga. Join Carl
Sassenrath, Ron Nicholson, Dave Haynie, Matt Dillon, and many many
more Amiga luminaries for presentations on Friday, Saturday and
Sunday. Topping things off will be a banquet awards dinner on Saturday
night honoring those in the Amiga community, and remembering those who
are no longer with us.
 
 You can sign up for a yearbook that spans from the early days of the
Lorraine right up to the show, complete with development notes from
the designers, pictures, and stories from the original Amiga, Inc, and
Commodore-Amiga teams. Also, tidbits from developers and trade shows
will round out the yearbook. There will also be a Boing class ring, as
well as a limited edition event T-shirt autographed by VIPs at the
show.

and.. much... much... more.

Contacts:
William Coldwell, A2K coordinator (billc@warped.com)
Lamar Morgan, A2K coordinator (lamar@mindspring.com)


Mailing List:
Send "subscribe a2k" to listserv@amiga2000.org


Web page:
http://www.amiga2000.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                  C T M A   S H O W   I N   I N D I A  

              Cable TV Show '99 in Calcutta, India (CTMA)

 (From the Amiga Web site.) From February 23 - 25, 1999, the third big
exhibition for cable TV in India took place in Calcutta, India. AMIGA
International, Inc. attended the exhibition with an own booth,
represented by our distributor Raja Electronics from Delhi. The show
was a complete success for AMIGA. A lot of people from the cable TV
industry came over from nearby Bangladesh to stock up with A1200's.
 
 AMIGA's booth was a one of the most visited booths of the exhibition.
Also, Mrs. Newel from famous German Radio Station "Deutsche Welle",
(another exhibitor) visited AMIGA's booth (picture 3). AMIGA
International, Inc. is now represented in Calcutta by both a dealer
and a service center.
 
 During the exhibition (three days), 60 A1200's were sold at the booth
and additional orders have been placed. Employees of several cable TV
companies got familiar with the AMIGA system using "Scala" during
seminars held in Lindbay hotel. AMIGA is known in India's cable TV
industry as one of the most popular and irreplaceable computer
systems.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

         P H O T O G E N I C S   4 . 0   L A U N C H E D

9th March 1999

 Paul Nolan is proud to announce Photogenics 4.0, a complete rewrite
of the original Photogenics, and the culmination of over four years of
development.
 
 Photogenics is a graphics/art package. It allows you to create
stunning images, either from scratch or by modifying existing images.
It can be used for a multitude of purposes, from simple file
conversion, to advanced photo manipulation and re-touching. It also
offers extremely realistic and easy to use media such as pencils,
chalk and watercolours to create stunning masterpieces in minutes.
 
 Photogenics is based on innovation. At its core, it works on images
unlike any other product. Nothing you draw is permanent, it can be
rubbed out as easily as it was drawn, and tweaked to perfection. This
freedom allows you to experiment to a level never before seen.
 
 Photogenics 4.0 features:
 
 o Unparalleled levels of creativity from being able to modify the
colour, transparency, image processing mode, and even the position of
what you have drawn, all in real time!

 o Realistic Media tools such as Airbrush, Chalk, Pencil, Sponge,
Watercolour, Smudge and Smear.

 o Designed to look and feel good using just a standard mouse.

 o Paint-on Image Processing allows the user to apply effects simply
by drawing with any of the media tools. Being able to just airbrush
everything on (and off!) allows instant touch ups without the need for
tedious masking. Paint modes available include AddColour, Adjust
(Brightness/Contrast/Red/Green/Blue), Bas Relief, BiColour, Blur,Burn,
BurnThru, Clone, ColourToGrey, Convolve, Darken, DifferenceRGB,
DisplaceMap, Dodge, EdgeDetect, Emboss, FlipX, FlipY, Hardlight,
Lighten, Min, Max, MotionBlur, Multiply, Negative, Overlay, Paint,
PanBlur, Pixelize, Posterize, RadialBlur, Roll, RubPaint, RubThru,
Screen, Fire, Solarize, Softlight, SubtractColour, and Tint.

 o Exclusive Paint Layer technology allows mistakes to be rubbed out
without having to redo the good parts, simply by fading out with the
right mouse button.

 o Undo/Redo system allows you to go back as far as you specify, so
that you have the power of both undo styles.
 
 o Unlimited number of easy to use layers allows fast image
composition and amazing possibilities.
 
 o Stunning Paint-On Pyrotechnics such as lens-flares, fire, and
explosions. Combine with smear to produce supernovas, waves of fire,
and even sunsets and waterfalls.
 
 o Innovative clutter free user interface (font sensitive and user
scaleable). GUI components can be docked/undocked, and positioned
wherever you please.

 o Fully multi-threaded - you'll never be kept waiting as Photogenics
responds instantly to your requests even while operations are in
progress.
 
 o Advanced yet still easy to use Alpha channel support. Use any open
image as a mask, or simply paint one straight on to the image. Updates
to the Alpha channel such as brush strokes are reflected on the main
image in real time.
 
 o 24bit Alpha channels. Only Photogenics lets you use colour Alpha
channels, which enable you to independently mask each of the red green
and blue channels. Paint on the Alpha with red, and this lets the red
component show through, paint on with yellow, and both the red and
green channels are updated. Painting with shades of grey produce
masking as normal. Create awesome effects by loading in a 24bit Alpha
channel and using it to mask image-processing effects.
 
 o Text Tool - finally you can just drag a box where you want the
text, and type it straight onto any paint layer. Supports bitmapped
and scalable fonts, with antialiasing.
 
 o Multiple Views - allows you to have as many views of an image as
you like, each with its own magnification.
 
 o Impressive colour selection facilities, with five colour choosers,
RGB and HSV sliders, and support for 256 colour swatches. You can also
pick colours from Images, with changes updating in real time.
 
 o Extensive file format support. Current list includes loading and
saving IFF-ILBM, IFF-DEEP, JPEG, Targa, TIFF, BMP, PNG, with more to
follow. Photogenics also supports loading with 24bit DataTypes.
 
 o 24bit Printing support via StudioPrint.

 o Open Architecture - Photogenics is effectively just one big
collection of plug-ins that blends seamlessly to form one program.
Third party developers can have access to the same API as Photogenics
does, allowing developers to extend the core software to an amazing
degree.

Minimum Requirements:

68020, 8Mb RAM, Amiga OS 3.0,CD ROM drive.

Recommended Requirements:

68060, 16 or 24bit display, 16Mb RAM, Amiga OS 3.0, CD ROM drive.

Pricing details to follow shortly.

Paul Nolan
----------------------------------------------------------------------

    F O N T   W I T H   E U R O   S Y M B O L   A V A I L A B L E 

1 Mar 1999

 I've made probably the first Amiga font with the new Euro currency
sign incorporated instead of the "general" currency sign. FlodisEuro
is available for downloading from the Internet address
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/7937/fl-euro.html 
/JohanBjörnson, Malmö, SWEDEN
----------------------------------------------------------------------

          A M I G A   T V   P A I N  T   N O W   F R E E ! 

March 12, 1999

 NewTek To Release Amiga TVPaint!

 NewTek surprised a lot of people at the Amiga 99 Gateway Computer
Show where it announced that it was going to release Amiga TVPaint,
which inspired the PC Aura, for free! NewTek had three representatives
at the Amiga 99 show, where it was showing off TVPaint 3.59, the Video
Toaster, and the Video Toaster Flyer. Beginning the 17th, for a
limited time, NewTek will have TVPaint 3.59 downloadable from its Web
site . Once a short survey is filled out, people will be allowed to
download the full working version of TVPaint 3.59 for free. A CyberGFX
compatible graphics card capable of displaying at least 256 colors is
required to run the program as is Amiga O/S 3.0 or higher

 TVPaint is a three layer paint and compositing program that runs on
the Amiga platform. It includes tools like Pen, Airbrush, Chalk,
Pencil, Crayon, and cutout Brushes along with an easy to use scripting
language for multiple task operations. There are over 2400 drawing and
image processing combinations available. In addition, it includes the
ability to do bump maps, smears, perspectives, blur, grain, and chroma
key.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

     B A S I L I S K   I I   F R E E   M A C   E M U L A T O R 


	Basilisk II, Version 0.3
	A free, portable Mac II emulator

	Copyright (C) 1997-1999 Christian Bauer et al.
	Freely distributable


License
-------

 Basilisk II is available under the terms of the GNU General Public
License. See the file "COPYING" that is included in this archive for
details.


Overview
--------

 Basilisk II is an attempt at creating a free, portable 68k Mac
emulator. It requires a copy of a 512K or 1MB Mac ROM and a copy of
MacOS 7.x or 8.x to run. Basilisk II is freeware and distributed under
the GNU General Public License.
 
Basilisk II has currently been ported to the following systems:
  - BeOS R4
  - Unix (tested under Linux)
  - AmigaOS 3.x

Some features of Basilisk II:
  - Runs MacOS 7.x and 8.x (7.0 not recommended)
  - Color video
  - Floppy disk driver (only 1.44MB disks supported)
  - Driver for HFS partitions and hardfiles
  - CD-ROM driver with basic audio functions
  - Serial drivers
  - SCSI Manager (old-style) emulation
  - Emulates extended ADB keyboard and 3-button mouse
  - Uses UAE 68k emulation or (under AmigaOS) real 68k processor

 The emulator is far from being complete. See the file "TODO" for a
list of unimplemented stuff.


Installation
------------

AmigaOS:

 The archive contains a precompiled AmigaOS binary (unless it's a
"src" archive). You need at least a 68020 and AmigaOS 3.0. You must
also have the "PrepareEmul" utility installed that comes with
ShapeShifter (or any equivalent PrepareEmul substitute, see the
ShapeShifter docs).
 
 Basilisk II needs a 512K or 1MB 32-bit clean Macintosh ROM image. For
copyright reasons this is not included in the archive. No, I don't
know where you can download it. No, I won't send you one. The ROM file
has to be named "ROM" and put in the same directory as the Basilisk II
executable.


Configuration
-------------

Basilisk II is configured via a text file.

AmigaOS:
  ENV:BasiliskII_prefs

 If no preferences file is present, Basilisk II will create one with
the default settings upon startup.
 
 The preferences file is a text file editable with any text editor.
Each line in this file has the format "keyword value" and describes
one preferences item. For each keyword, the meaning of the "value"
string may vary across platforms. The following keywords exist:
 
disk <volume description>

  AmigaOS:

 Partitions/drives are specified in the following format:
 /dev/<device name>/<unit>/<open flags>/<start byte>/<size>/<block
size> "start byte", "size" and "block size" are given in bytes.

floppy <floppy drive description>

 This item describes one floppy drive to be used by Basilisk II. There
 can be multiple "floppy" lines in the preferences file. If no
"floppy" line is given, Basilisk II will try to automatically detect
and use installed floppy drives. The format of the "floppy drive
description" is the same as that of "disk" lines.

cdrom <CD-ROM drive description>

 This item describes one CD-ROM drive to be used by Basilisk II. There
 can be multiple "cdrom" lines in the preferences file. If no "cdrom"
 line is given, Basilisk II will try to automatically detect and use
 installed CD-ROM drives. The format of the "CD-ROM drive description"
 is the same as that of "disk" lines.

scsi0 <SCSI target> ... scsi6 <SCSI target>

 These items describe the SCSI target to be used for a given Mac SCSI
 ID by Basilisk II. Basilisk II emulates the old SCSI Manager and
allows
 to assign a different SCSI target (they don't even have to be on the
 same SCSI bus) for each SCSI ID (0..6) as seen by the MacOS. "scsi0"
 describes the target for ID 0, "scsi1" the target for ID 1 etc.
 The format of the "SCSI target" is platform specific.

  AmigaOS:
    The "SCSI target" has the format "<device name>/<unit>" (e.g.
    "scsi.device/2").

screen <video mode>

 This item describes the type of video display to be used by Basilisk
II. The format of the "video mode" is platform specific.

  AmigaOS:
    The "video mode" is one of the following:

      win/<width>/<height>

 Black-and-white display in a window of the given size on the
 Workbench screen. This is the default and will also be used when
 one of the other options (PIP/screen) fails to open.

      pip/<width>/<height>

 15-bit truecolor display in a Picasso96 PIP. This requires
 Picasso96 as well as a PIP-capable graphics card (e.g. Picasso IV).
      
      scr/<hexadecimal mode ID>

 8/15/24-bit fullscreen display on a Picasso96 screen with the given
 mode ID. This requires Picasso96. For 15 and 24 bit, the frame buffer
 format must be QuickDraw-compatible (big-endian, xRGB 1:5:5:5 or
 xRGB 8:8:8:8). The screen size will be the default size for that
 mode ID.

seriala <serial port description>

 This item describes the serial port to be used as Port A (Modem Port)
 by Basilisk II. If no "seriala" line is given, Basilisk II will try
to automatically detect and use installed serial ports. The "serial
port description" is a platform-dependant description of a serial
port.

  AmigaOS:
    <not yet implemented>

serialb <serial port description>

 This item describes the serial port to be used as Port B (Printer
Port) by Basilisk II. If no "serialb" line is given, Basilisk II will
try to automatically detect and use installed serial ports. The format
of the "serial port description" is the same as that of the "seriala"
option.

bootdrive <drive number>

 Specify MacOS drive number of boot volume. "0" (the default) means
 "boot from first bootable volume".

bootdriver <driver number>

 Specify MacOS driver number of boot volume. "0" (the default) means
 "boot from first bootable volume". Use "-62" to boot from CD-ROM.

ramsize <bytes>

 Allocate "bytes" bytes of RAM for MacOS system and application
memory.
 The value given should be a multiple of 4096. The default is 8MB.

frameskip <frames to skip>

 For refreshed graphics modes (usually window modes), this specifies
 how many frames to skip after drawing one frame. Higher values make
 the video display more responsive but require more processing power.
 The default is "8".

modelid <MacOS model ID>

 Specifies the Model ID that Basilisk II should report to MacOS.
 The default is "5" which corresponds to a Mac IIci. If you want to
 run MacOS 8, you have to set this to "14" (Quadra 700). Other values
 are not officially supported and may result in crashed.

nocdrom <"true" or "false">

 Set this to "true" to disable Basilisk's built-in CD-ROM driver.
 The only reason to do this is if you want to use a third-party CD-ROM
 driver that uses the SCSI Manager. The default is "false".

nogui <"true" or "false">

 Set this to "true" to disable the GUI preferences editor and GUI
 error alerts. All errors will then be reported to stdout. The default
 is "false".

For additional information, consult prefs.cpp, prefs.h, sys_*.cpp,
serial_*.cpp, scsi_*.cpp and video_*.cpp.


Usage
-----

Quitting:

 The right way to quit Basilisk II is to select the "Shut Down" menu
item from the Finder's "Special" menu. You should not kill it from the
shell unless it hangs.

Floppy:

 Basilisk II can only handle 1.44MB MFM floppies. Depending on your
platform, flopy disk changes might not be detected automatically.


MacOS versions supported
------------------------

 Basilisk II has been tested (i.e. it booted) with MacOS System 7.1,
7.5 and 8.0. Your Mileage May Vary. Booting from floppy may take
several minutes, so be patient.


Technical Documentation
-----------------------

 Please see the included file "TECH" for a technical overview of the
emulator.


Acknowledgements
----------------

Contributions by:

 - Bernd Schmidt <crux@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de>: UAE 68k
emulation
 - Mac Hellwig <hellwig@iphcip1.physik.uni-mainz.de>: Some BeOS video
code
 - Bill Huey <billh@mag.ucsd.edu>: 15/16 bit DGA and 15/16/32 bit X11
 window support
 
Special thanks to:

 - Bernd Schmidt for letting me use his UAE 68k emulation
 - Daniel Bobbert who printed dozens of pages from the THINK Reference
for me years ago
 - All ShapeShifter users and beta testers
 - Apple Computer Inc., who made writing a Macintosh emulator a
child's play


Author
------

 You can contact me at <cbauer@iphcip1.physik.uni-mainz.de>. Because
of the very preliminary state of this software, I will accept neither
feature requests nor bug reports at this time. Bug fixes are welcome,
as are ports to other platforms. Please contact me before you intend
to make major changes to the source. You might be working on something
that I have already done or I may have different ideas about the Right
Way to do it.

There are two things I will NOT do:
 1. Send you Mac ROM files
 2. Explain to you how to use a Macintosh, install printer drivers
etc.


Support
-------

The official Basilisk II home page can be found at
  http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bauec002/B2Main.html


History
-------

Please consult the file "CHANGES" for the release history.


Christian Bauer
<cbauer@iphcip1.physik.uni-mainz.de>
----------------------------------------------------------------------

          A U D I O   E N H A N C E M E N T   D E V I C E

Contraption Industries Announces The Audio Enhancement Device (AED)

February 24, 1999
For Immediate Release:

 Contraption Industries announces that having affordable audio on your
Amiga that sounds great is now a reality.
 
 Frequencies that are normally rolled off by the Amiga's audio
circuitry are added, enhanced, and lightly amplified to produce
amazing dynamic range. The high frequencies are not only brought out
but are smoother and cleaner while the bass is rich, deep, and more
defined.
 
 The AED connects to the audio out of the Amiga and gets it's power
from a pass-thru on the serial port. It is compatible with all of the
Amiga models except for the A1000 and CD32. For online ordering or
more information, visit our web site.

--
Rick Hunter
Contraption Industries

Web: http://www.emagin.com/aed/index.htm
Email: cindus@emagin.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------

        T O R N A D O   3 D   3 . 0   D U E   I N   M A Y


March 1st, 1999

 ROME, ITALY (March 1st, 1999) Eyelight is proud to announce that
Tornado3D V3.0 is in advanced state of development and will be
released in May 1999. This significant update to the popular rendering
package will sport a redesigned user interface and many high end
features never before available on the Amiga. A partial feature list
can be found on http://www.tornado3d.com/
 
 After the phenomenal success of 1998's special offer that allowed
Tornado3D 1.x users to get V2.0 for free saving over 50%, Eyelight
introduced a new special offer: "Buy Tornado3D 2.1 and get V3.0 for
FREE". The offer is good until May, 31st, 1999 for any copy of V2.0,
regardless of where it has been purchased. Registered users of V2.x
will be able to download V3.0 for FREE.
 
 In addition to the FREE 3.0 offer, an extra 10% discount is available
for customers that buy Tornado3D V2.1 direct from Eyelight using the
online order form before March, 31st 1999.
 
 Tornado3D is the flagship product of Eyelight, a 3D Graphics and
animation firm located in Rome, Italy. It has full support for
PowerPC, Permedia2 and the most advanced feature set available on any
Amiga software. Tornado3D 2.1 now ships with its new, 300+ pages long,
manual.
 
 Eyelight is also pleased to announce that its web presence has
expanded with the opening of http://www.eyelight-it.com/, that focus
on Eyelight's products and services, and http://www.mage3d.com
devoted/ to 'Mage. the revolutionary 3D package for Amiga, Macintosh
and Silicon Graphics that will be unveiled at the end of March, 1999.

Eyelight
Via del Serafico, 64
00142 Rome
Italy
voice: +39-06-51965486/7
fax: +39-06-51965488
e-mail: info@tornado3d.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------

            S T A R G A T E   1 . 1   A N N O U N C E D 

3 Mar 1999 

 Toysoft Development Inc. is pleased to announce the release of
StarGate v1.1 e-mail client for the Amiga computers.
 
 StarGate includes many basic email features such as message
attachment and message decoding. StarGate comes with a very extensive
and detailed address book that supports multiple email accounts,
personal and business addresses.

StarGate 1.1 Features
---------------------

 - Multiple mailboxes. (Inbox, Draft, Outbox, Sentbox, Trashcan)
 
 -Unlimited user folders. Can file message from folder to folder.
 
 - File messages to other Folders for archiving.
 
 
 - Mail sorting. (7 different sorts)
 
 - Custom formating for mailbox and folder columns.
 
 - Supports multiple E-mail accounts. Accounts can be turned off at
anytime.
 
 - Detailed address book with multiple email acccount support.
 
 - When sending email you can address users by their first or last
name.
 
 - Auto preview of messages even in Mail Peek!!
 
 - Multiple signatures. Up to 255 characters long.
 
 - Unlimited tags. Tags can be upto 255 characters long.
 
 - Forms in colors and with sounds.
 
 - Filters for spam mail. You can Delete, File or Notify with multiple
level filters.
 
 - Multiple mail notification methods. (Sound, dialog box and filter
report)
 
 - Peek mail. Preview your mail on the mail server before downloading.
 
 - Support PowerPC for MIME decoding and encoding of files.
 
 - Direct http links to your web browser.
 
 - Easy file attachments using UU or MIME methods.
 
 - Helper files to support MIME messages.
 
 -Check mail on StartUp or on Quit.
 
 - Button, Large or Small 256 color icon interface.
 
 - And many more...


 Click http://www.toysoft-dev.com/stargate.html for a preview. To
learn more about Toysoft Development Inc. please visit
http://www.toysoft-dev.com or call 1-403-680-1656
----------------------------------------------------------------------

        A R T   E F F E C T   3   N O W   S H I P P I N G 

 The new version of ArtEffect from Haage and Partner offers a lot of
new functions an most parts have been reworked. The most conspicuous
features are: heavily improved layers, indexed colors, improved color
ranges, new filters and many optimizations


Here is a complete list of the new features:

   
 o Enhanced memory management
 
 o pictures now take up to 3 times less memory
 
 o smart undo technology saves lots of memory and time especially when
 working with layers or invertable operations like flip, rotate or
 invert selection
 
 o layers needs much less memory
 
 o Layer functionality has been strongly enhanced
 
 o there is no limit to the number of layers (of course the number is
 still limited by memory and a bit by processor speed, although ten
 layers a still quite fast)
 
 o layers can cast an adjustable shadow which is calculated on the fly
 
 o layers can be moved around
 
 o several layers can be flattened at once
 
 o layers can be duplicated
 
 o Support for grayscale and indexed color pictures
 
 o floyd steinberg dithering and reduction to any number of colors
from
 2 to 256
 
 o execute simple operations (like flip, scale, rotate) on grayscale
or
 indexed color pictures
 
 o most tools can be used with grayscale or indexed color pictures,
 although they act very limited. (no different paint modes anymore)
 
 o Graduates have been vastly improved
 
 o there are new types of graduates like: square, symmetric and
asymmetric conical
 
 o new graduate dialog allows you to specify any number of colors with
their position in the graduate; they can be simply moved around
 
 o you can specify the transparency for the graduate separately; this
is great to create halos or lensflare effects, when used in
conjunction with the radial fill
 
 o database for the graduates, so you know longer have to setup up
them each time you need them; a simple click will be enough, if they
once have been created
 
 o the graduate database is stored in an ASCII file, making it easy to
join different databases or create graduates with simple programs
 
 o Enhanced brush creator dialog
 
 o brushes (even image brushes) can now vary in size (depending on
pressure or randomly)
 
 o brushes have now a displacement setting, making it easy to create
clouds (in conjunction with the new sizing feature) or simulate the
old paint airbrush behavior
 
 o I/O modules have been improved
 
 o GIF can now save 1-8 bit/color pictures
 
 o GIF pictures can also have transparency
 
 o IFF/PNG can now save 8 bit colors pictures
 
 o JPEG can now create progressive Jpeg
 
 o New intelligent refresh technique
 
 o can speed up drawing (depending on your machine)
 
 o allows you to scroll or zoom the picture, before the refresh is
completely finished
 
 o you can even draw onto the picture, although the refresh isn't
finished yet
 
 o calculations are done on the fly (this is the main reason for the
lower memory consumption); this has the disadvantage that the
refresh time is mainly limited to your processor power
 
 o New/enhanced plugins
 
 o deinterlace filter
 
 o caricature filter is now 30% faster and has some new options
 
 o new gaussian, it's much faster and supports a size up to 100 pixels
in 1/10 pixel steps
 
 o polar coordinate filter
 
 o edgefind has been optimized and a lineart mode has been added
 
 o minor enhancements, optimizations and bug fixes
 
 o cloner now behaves like in Photoshop lalt click selects the source
the next click selects destination
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net:
 All back issues available at:
    http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive! 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1999 by Brad Webb.    Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
                 _    __      _     <>_   __      _      
   A M I G A    /\\    |\    /||    ||   /  `    /\\      A M I G A   
  U P D A T E  /__\\   | \  / ||    ||  || ___  /__\\    U P D A T E 
              /    \\_ |  \/  ||_  _||_  \__// /    \\_  
                    amigaupdate@globaldialog.com      
======================================================================

1. Preis: 1 CD Directory Opus 5 Magellan II, 1 CD DOpus PLUS
2. Preis: 1 CD Studio Professional V2.2
3. Preis: 1 ANNEX-CD "Back for the Future"

• 1 Logo (ca. 200 x 80)
• 1 Banner 400 x 40
• 1 Button 92 x 92
• 1 Button 87 x 30
• 1 Button 87 x 40

• Added sprite priorities (spr/spr and spr/bgr)
• Changed some things in the CPU-core (speed)
• Small fix to the triangle channel
• Added mapper#79 (Krazy Kreatures)
• Better support for the VS-system (still no dip-switches)
• Gzip support (need z.library)
• Fix to the Megadrive-pad reading

KOSH [Kommunity Orientated Software Hardware]

Weekly Summary

Week Commencing: 6th March 1999

Number: 011

Mailing List: kosh-general

In the mailing list this week, the following items were discussed. Please do
not email the scribe regarding any of these topics, it is not his job to answer
these questions but merely to report  the topics of conversation. If you have
any queries about this summary, please email ben@kosh.net, stating the Summary
Number, and Mailing List Name, and he will try to answer your queries.

a)

Subject: Virtual Memory

Summary of debate: For decent virtual memory support in KOSH processors will
                   probably need some form of Memory Management Unit. This
                   could cause problems if running KOSH on EC versions of 68k
                   chips. VM could still be implemented without an MMU but
                   would be unable to trap page faults which could cause
                   problems. Amiga programs such as Photogenics often have
                   their own VM implementation that may not require an MMU -
                   raw images are stored on disk and only the bits that are
                   being processed are loaded into physical memory.

                   A good scheduler could allow certain idle processes to be
                   swapped to disk until needed.

                   An alternative would be to run a machine directly from the
                   HDD but via a big memory cache so you would not have to wait
                   for it to catch up all of the time.


b)

Subject: Memory protection

Summary of debate: Memory protection is essential in full-blown KOSH - however
                   some hosted versions may not be able to support this.


c)

Subject: Database systems

Summary of debate: KOSH should feature a good base services for database
                   systems. This could include both RPG and OOP.


d)

Subject: Icons

Summary of debate: A number of people like the idea of having the icon
                   information for a particular file in a separate .info file
                   (aka Amiga-style) as previously mentioned. However when
                   copying or moving a file the appropriate icon file should
                   automatically be copied/moved as well (unless OFC the user
                   selects otherwise).

                   However it was suggested that to the end-user icons should
                   exist as a representation of the file and not be a separate
                   object themselves. It should still be easy to manipulate the
                   icons if the user desires to do so.

                   Perhaps animated or active icons could be used. When you
                   move the cursor over them the icon animates, or it plays a
                   tune or gives a brief snippet of its contents, etc. If you
                   don't like this feature you could just turn it off of limit
                   its effects (eg: audio limited to 5 seconds of play).

                   Icons could be set to "pointer mode". This would allow it to
                   be set up so that one user saw one set of icons but another
                   user could see a completely different set.

                   The image pointer for each file could instead of pointing to
                   an individual icon point instead to a big database which
                   contains all of the possible icons.


e)

Subject: Group locating objects

Summary of debate: Should we have all related objects in the same place, eg:
                   all applications in applications/ etc?



f)

Subject: Object Synchronisation

Summary of debate: By being able to synchronize two or more duplicates of the
                   same object at different locations this would allow
                   trans-internet games (and presumably any other type of
                   application) to handle everything in-system (not at a server)
                   and simply synchronize a world object between each player.


g)

Subject: Application-Objects as drawers

Summary of debate: If we setup application-objects to be a form of drawer,
                   executing it would run the application, but right-click (or
                   alternate key press) on the app-object would actually open
                   it up so that the component objects were visible.

                   On the subject of drawers how about defining a drawer as a
                   physical directory with a folder being a grouping of
                   files/documents (eg: files composing a project) treated as
                   one discrete entity? Or just stick with Objects and object
                   groups.



h)

Subject: Cloning output

Summary of debate: If a window's output could be shown on another user's
                   machine by using a form of object cloning there could be
                   immediate benefits for training and network management by
                   allowing you to use the tools of your choice on network
                   whiteboards.

                   QNX Photon GUI has a concept doing this.
                   The KOSH booklist (scribe's note: thanks again John and yes
                   you can have another free plug) at:
                   http://www.snowcrash.u-net.com/kosh/booklist.html contains
                   references to the QNX system book which covers the above.

                   Perhaps synchronisation (as mentioned above) would be more
                   use as this would allow constant communication from source
                   to destination as opposed to cloning which is more to do
                   with a one-shot duplication of an object, its state and
                   data.


i)

Subject: Settings Working Group

Summary of debate: Marcus Peterson has suggested that it may be time to form a
                   Settings WG to define such things as visual design,
                   functional design, bindings between objects, containers and
                   settings, and hot to deal with import/export and multi-user.


j)

Subject: Accessing the OS

Summary of debate: As individual people each have individual preferences as to
                   how to access and use the OS (eg: desktop workspace, file
                   manager, DOS, etc) we should have an object manager and an
                   application manager as a minimum. We could then begin to
                   allow for any desired way of accessing and controlling the
                   OS.


k)

Subject: Studying systems as a whole

Summary of debate: See: http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/ASC/Cybernetics.html re
                   studying systems as a whole in relation to cybernetics.


l)

Subject: ANDF Url

Summary of debate: A company that makes ANDF stuff can be found at:
                   http://www.ddci.dk/news/brief_andf.html
                   and at:
                   http://www.npac.syr.edu/projects/hpsin/hpandf.html


m)

Subject: Supporting formats
Summary of debate: With an object based system supporting any particular type
                   of format (image, sound, text, etc) could be achieved by
                   coding the relevant object for it and inserting this into
                   the relevant part of the Object Sea.

                   The OS could provide a configuration utility for this that
                   allows programs and classes to only have a "form" for the
                   utility to fill out which could include things like image
                   and sound formats.


n)

Subject: Root object & filesystems

Summary of debate: A "root" object in the file system would be the thing that
                   exports methods for allocating and freeing data blocks and
                   perhaps dealing on a very basic level with navigation. A few
                   basic classes (such as "entity" (eg: a disk), "name", "date)
                   would be manipulated by the roots file system.

                   A "foreign" file system could be supported by creating a
                   filesystem object to represent and interact with it.

o)

Subject: Avatars and KOSH

Summary of debate: An Avatar/personality system was suggested and debated that
                   would represent the defaults setup in a system. A hierarchy
                   could serve well here.

                   A media preferences editor would set these things up as a
                   standard chart object. A program wishing to ask you would
                   query the object sea for a list of media types of the
                   specified class, but one wishing to simply write the default
                   would query the media defaults chart for this. Chart objects
                   are nothing more than a standardized way to create class
                   interections with caching (eg, you ask the chart for a
                   specific class pointer by token, not by fully specified path
                   name/URL).

p)

Subject: Novice users and system settings

Summary of debate: For the system to "know" you're a novice, would imply some
                   some intelligence in the recognition. This could break down.

                   Could a series of sets of settings starting at basic and
                   expanding up to advanced with progressively more detail where
                   you could explicitly request that the next time the settings
                   opens it does so at the level previously selected.

                   However KOSH needs to go beyond improving the range of
                   features or grouping them into fixed expertise levels to
                   allow a greater and more accurate degree of response to user
                   ability and desires.

                   The worst case would be what is generally apparent in systems
                   at the moment with every user being presented with the same
                   identical set of options to deal with, and the path that the
                   person must traverse to use these options is rigidly fixed at
                   the software factory

                   KOSH needs to be able to learn to present the user at the
                   very first request those options which the user is most
                   likely to need. This is really the only question the user
                   ever has. "How do I get the machine to do what I want it to
                   do?" A good set of defaults and thoughtful design is helpful,
                   but only as a starting point.

                   Directory requesters usually come up with the system default
                   path or an app-specific pre-configured path, but a few
                   programs are intelligent enough to remember what path the
                   user picked when performing a save (for example), and give
                   that as the first option the next time that function is
                   requested

                   We might want to consider an AI lister that, by use of some
                   artificial neural network for instance, tries to predict what
                   path the user's trying to reach. Eh, well, that would be nice
                   anyway.

                   Inherent within decent file requestors we should have an
                   intelligent form of word completion. As with all such things
                   it should aid usage of the computer and not hinder the user
                   by making unfounded assumptions.

                   User-defined menu structures are something else we should
                   implement.

                   The little personal AI that each Koshan will be growing,
                   training and nurturing (or leaving dormant) should be able to
                   recognise potentially interesting objects and organisms that
                   exist in the wider sea and bring them to the attention of
                   their owner.


q)

Subject: Standardised configuration

Summary of debate: The OS could provide a global configuration utility. With this
                   programs or classes shouldn't have to bother with their own
                   configuration, but just provide a "form" for a standard
                   configuration utility to fill out.


r)

Subject: More on KOSH helpers

Summary of debate: A KOSH helper will have to remember a number of things to be
                   successful in KOSH: Smart Dirs requestors, Version tracking,
                   smart menus, macro building and semi-automated software
                   updates,  Data-KnowledgeBase updates, an option to revert to
                   previous Configuration settings, tracking of software
                   failures and semi-auto bug reporting etc.

                   By standardizing formats (instead of the current system with
                   each application type having its own formats), the helper
                   could then use the prefs and habits of any application the
                   user uses to form its own particular knowledge-base.

                   Even without AI this sort of standardisation would simplify
                   user control over the whole range of options involved.

                   However helpers/AIs/etc have -always- in the past ended up
                   annoying people because they "learn" and make assumptions
                   about what we want to do.


s)

Subject: KOSH hotkeys

Summary of debate: When you have set a hotkey locally lots of times in different
                   applications there could be an option to make it apply
                   globally. At this point a settings editor could pop up and
                   ask you which applications should explicitly keep the chosen
                   hotkey and which should make it the same as the global one
                   which presumably would update automatically.


t)

Subject: Waterproof KOSH boxes

Summary of debate: Suggested that we make KOSH boxes waterproof to avoid damage
                   from spills of coffee that are unfortunately all too common.

                   However a waterproof box may have problems with a fan based
                   cooling system. Solutions could be to pass the internal air
                   current to the edge of the case away from the hot chips, or
                   better still make a fanless system that uses good case
                   design and materials to dissipate heat as it is generated.
                   This could be coupled with using chips that naturally do not
                   get too hot.

                   Heat dissipation to the case would have to be spread out
                   evenly and the temperature regulated to prevent the case
                   from becoming too hot.

                   Could Peltier elements be used to directly transfer heat
                   from one area to another with no moving parts? However they
                   use power and therefore generate heat themselves. An
                   alternative would be heat pipes. They are just a normal hose
                   with a cooling medium and fluff on the inside. It carries
                   heat better than for example a metal bar but can still be
                   bent and curved.

                   How would all this affect radio interference?


u)

Subject: 1999 USENIX Annual Technical Conference

Summary of debate: To be held on June 6th to 11th 1999 at Monterey Convention
                   Center & DoubleTree Hotel, Monterey California. Registration
                   by May 3rd. See the program at:
                   http://www.usenix.org/events/


v)

Subject: Paper on Task Migration

Summary of debate: Greg Webb and Clash Bowley (and possibly others by the time
                   you read this) have volunteered to produce the paper on Task
                   Migration that your humble scribe asked for.
                   (Scribe's note: Thankyou!!)


w)

Subject: disk space and scheduling

Summary of debate: With KOSH we presumably will release some form of disk
                   tools. With a defragmenter could a small area of disk space
                   be kept free so that scheduled tasks (eg: RC5 clients) could
                   run unimpeded. Could it be dynamic as the task was being
                   performed? Could the system tools pause such scheduled tasks
                   if needed and let them continue when possible?

                   With a filesystem that is well constructed to minimise the
                   need to defragment and have the ability to defragment
                   automatically as and when needed with little/no interrupts
                   (configurable by the user as usual) this problem would be
                   minimised.

                   In the object-based file system idea for KOSH, the
                   root object for any file system includes methods for
                   allocating and freeing blocks, which can be optimised
                   independently of the higher level file system objects. This
                   should make it fairly simple to incrementally de-frag.


x)

Subject: Accessing the system

Summary of debate: Rather than the standard downwards (or sideways) accessing
                   of menus we could use a pie system moving out from a central
                   point. As the pointer moves away from the center, the
                   "target" to select increases. In essence you are allowing
                   the user control over the size of the pop-up menu at each
                   instance.

                   Other alternatives could include using a hexagonal system
                   either emanating from a central point or providing a more
                   fluent way to pick sub-menus with more choice available at
                   each step. However this may not be easily accepted by people
                   who have been trained to expect 2D groupings in a
                   rectangular grid of some sort. Therefore for unfamiliar
                   users how intuitive would this system be?

                   A graffiti painting mode could provide an interesting option
                   for those that would like this. However painting can often
                   be frustrating to replicate with a mouse so this would have
                   to be kept simple.

                   If we implemented pressure sensitivity in the input device
                   we could perhaps remove the need for mouse buttons when
                   accessing the system in this GUI based manner (unless
                   someone preferred mouse buttons or keyboard shortcuts of
                   course).

                   A further suggestion is that the pointer could appear
                   somewhere other than at the top of a menu, perhaps
                   determined by the last or most frequent selection.


y)

Subject: Disadvantages of the Windows interface.

Summary of debate: See: http://www.iarchitect.com/msoft.html (NB: this was from
                   Greg's memory so it may not be quite this URL - ask him if
                   you get stuck) for a detailed analysis of the problems with
                   the Windows 95+ interface.

From:       "Allan Havemose" <havemose@ix.netcom.com>
Subject:    Engineering Jobs at Amiga (in San Jose)
Date:       13 Mar 1999 00:41:58 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc

Below is our latest Engineering job openings in San Jose. If you're
interested and think you may be qualified, please follow the directions
at the end of the message.

Most of the formatting got lost when I pasted it into this news message.
Visit www.amiga.de, select the english language tab, and look for
engineering jobs on the left hand side. Should be easier to read this
way.

As you can see, we're redoing both our web sites. The job openings will
be on www.amiga.com as soon as we finish the work.

NOTE: We have a problem with our mail server. Do NOT send email to
hr@amiga.com for the next few days. Follow the directions as the end of
this message.

I'm looking forward to speaking to qualified candidates !

Allan

*****
ASCII version: Visit www.amiga.de for the HTML version
*****
Job Descriptions for Amiga Engineering in San Jose

General

Amiga is a highly entrepreneurial start-up company. We are headquartered
in San Diego and have our development group in San Jose. All of the
following openings are based in our San Jose offices. Our San Jose
offices are located on North First Street between Trimble and the
Airport.

At Amiga we are designing next generation Internet-ready,
consumer-oriented digital appliances. The Amiga name is associated the
world over with user-friendly, low cost, powerful computing. We are
taking this philosophy into the next generation, enabling products from
hand held Internet appliances to high-end graphics computers that help
the user rather than frustrate them. See www.amiga.com or www.amiga.de
for more details on Amiga, our history and the community.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record in the computer
industry. While each opening has special requirements the general
expectations are:
* Proven industry track record
* Demonstrable ability to deliver robust, top-quality software on time
* Committed to success and willing to "do what it takes" to deliver
industry leading product
* BS/MS/Ph.D. in computer science or electronic engineering
* Strong proven technical skills in C++

Job Descriptions

Principal Engineer/Manager Positions

User Interface Group:
* More than 10 years of commercial experience in generating compelling
user-interfaces
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with real-time, multimedia operating systems
* Experience with Client/Server graphical user interfaces
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Understanding of system architecture and design of operating systems
* Ability to lead, manage and mentor a group of software and
human-factors engineers


Networking and e-commerce Group:
* More than 10 years of commercial experience in networking, e-commerce
and transaction processing.
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with real-time, multimedia operating systems
* Experience with Client/Server transaction/e-commerce systems
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Understanding of system architecture and design of operating systems
* Ability to lead, manage and mentor a group of software engineers


 Sr. Software Engineer/Software Engineer Positions:

Graphics/Video/OpenGL/Audio/Gaming (multiple positions)
* More than 5 years of commercial experience in one or more of the
following
* 2D/3D graphics engines
* OpenGL application programming
* Applications using Digital video algorithms (MPEG, codec's)
* Applications using Digital audio algorithms (AC-3, positional audio,
mp3)
* Gaming technologies
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with real-time, multimedia operating systems
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Experience with embedded programming.
* Ability to write specifications

User Interface (multiple positions)
* More than 5 years of commercial experience in one or more of the
following
* Consumer user interfaces
* Desktop user interfaces
* Use of multimedia (video, graphics, animation and audio) in user
interfaces
* Preferences and Configuration
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with real-time, multimedia operating systems
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Experience with embedded programming.
* Ability to write specifications


Human Factors (multiple positions)
* More than 5 years of commercial experience in one or more of the
following
* Design of consumer user interfaces
* Design of desktop user interfaces
* Usability studies
* Proven creative background with a strong sense for good "user
experiences"
* Working knowledge of today's leading operating systems: Windows, Mac,
UNIX, QNX and AmigaOS
* Ability to clearly articulate user interface designs

Networking/e-commerce/transactions (multiple positions)
* More than 5 years of commercial experience in one or more of the
following
* Basic networking technologies (TCP/IP, SMTP, POP3 etc.)
* Browsers and their implementation
* E-commerce standards
* Encryption and Authentication
* Cable interfaces
* Billing & Logging
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with real-time, multimedia operating systems
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Experience with embedded programming.
* Ability to write specifications

Build manager
* More than 3 years of experience managing the build process of a larger
software development group
* Revision control, release management, Documentation control
* Ability to write smaller tools and utilities to assist the development
process
* Good technical skills with an understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Ability to work well with engineering staff and management

Quality Assurance & Test
* More than 3 years of industry experience in the field of software test
and quality assurance:
* Write test-suites and run them
* Tenacity to identify and isolate bugs and inconsistent behavior
* Work as a member of a software development team.
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Experience with embedded programming.
* Ability to write test-plan


How to Apply

If you would like to apply for one of the openings please forward a copy
of your resume to one of the following addresses. Be sure to clearly
indicate the position you are applying for.

Email:
Email: andrew.mccartney@gateway.com
Make sure you to include the word Amiga in the subject line

Fax:
Fax:   (619) 799-3949
Attn: Andrew McCartney, Amiga Human Resources

Mail:
 4545 Towne Centre Crt
 San Diego, CA 92121
 Attn: Andrew McCartney, Amiga Human Resources



Amiga is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Amiga does
not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion,
gender, national origin, age, disability, Vietnam Era veteran or special
disabled veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other protected
status as provided by law.





--
Allan Havemose, Ph.D.
Amiga Vice President, Engineering
email:havemose@amiga.com (W)
email:havemose@ix.netcom.com (H)

AMIGA-aktuell-Special +++ AMIGA-aktuell-Special +++ AMIGA-aktuell-Special

Neues von der Amiga 99 (13.03.99)
---------------------------------

Wie in AMIGA aktuell 3/99 berichtet, findet in diesen Tagen in den USA die
Messe Amiga 99 statt. An einer IRC-Konferenz, die kuerzlich abgehalten
wurde, nahmen auch Amiga-Praesident Jim Collas und der Leiter der
Amiga-Produktentwicklung Jeff Schindler teil. Nachfolgend die wichtigsten
Details zum Amiga der naechsten Generation, die genannt worden sind:

- Das erste AmigaNG-Produkt werde das Entwicklersystem sein.

- Amiga erwaege, fuer das Entwicklersystem optional eine Erweiterungskarte
anzubieten, die Multimedia-Features und -Leistung zur Verfuegung stellt,
die nicht jeder PC bieten koenne.

- Das zweite AmigaNG-Produkt werde ein Multimedia-Computer sein.

- Amiga will einen Computer zum Preis von etwa 500 US-Dollar mit der
Leistung eines 3000US-Dollar-PCs ermoeglichen.

- Amiga wolle selbst neue Hardware vorstellen, jedoch solle der AmigaNG
eine offene Architektur besitzen, so dass die Technologie in vielerlei
Produkten verwendbar sei.

- Letztendlich peile man eine Gesamtstueckzahl von 20-30 Millionen
Geraeten an.

- Das neue Amiga-Betriebssystem werde Multiprocessing unterstuetzen.

- Weitere Details zur Architektur sollen auf Entwicklerkonferenzen im
Sommer und Herbst bekanntgegeben werden. An anderer Stelle wurden die
Monate Juli/August (moeglicherweise frueher) genannt.

- Amiga verhandele mit verschiedenen grossen Softwareunternehmen ueber
AmigaNG-Unterstuetzung, von denen bislang keine ausdruecklich "nein"
gesagt habe.

- Der AmigaNG soll ueber das bestehende Haendlernetz verkauft werden.

- Amiga werde als weltweite Firma gefuehrt, der Schwerpunkt liege auf den
Laendern, in denen der Amiga am weitesten verbreitet ist, also
Deutschland,
UK und USA.

- Der erste grosse Auftritt von Amiga soll auf der Comdex im Herbst
stattfinden.

- Noch in diesem Jahr soll eine bedeutende Menge an Geld fuer
Marketingmassnahmen bereitgestellt werden.


In einer Rede gab Jim Collas weitere Details bekannt:

- Das neue Amiga-Betriebssystem werde den Namen "AmigaSoft" tragen. Die
erste Version, AmigaSoft 4.0 alpha (fuer Entwickler), werde im September
erscheinen, die endgueltige Version soll Ende des Jahres auf den Markt
kommen.

- Eine Betaversion von AmigaSoft 5.0 soll Ende des Jahres erscheinen, die
endgueltige Version soll im zweiten Quartal des Jahres 2000 fertig sein.

- AmigaSoft soll eine "revolutionaere" Software-Architektur und eine
vollstaendige Entwicklungsumgebung bereitstellen.

- Jim Collas versprach eine bessere Kommunikation zwischen Amiga und der
Amiga-Gemeinde.

- Amiga haette nun die volle Unterstuetzung durch den Mutterkonzern
Gateway.
How to Apply

Amiga sucht Entwickler (13.03.99)
---------------------------------

Parallel zur Amiga 99 startete Dr. Allan Havemose, der Leiter der
Amiga-Softwareentwicklung, eine Aktion, die die Einstellung von
Mitarbeitern zum Ziel hat:


»Below is our latest Engineering job openings in San Jose. If you're
interested and think you may be qualified, please follow the directions
at the end of the message.

Most of the formatting got lost when I pasted it into this news message.
Visit www.amiga.de, select the english language tab, and look for
engineering jobs on the left hand side. Should be easier to read this
way.

As you can see, we're redoing both our web sites. The job openings will
be on www.amiga.com as soon as we finish the work.

NOTE: We have a problem with our mail server. Do NOT send email to
hr@amiga.com for the next few days. Follow the directions as the end of
this message.

I'm looking forward to speaking to qualified candidates !

Allan

*****
ASCII version: Visit www.amiga.de for the HTML version
*****
Job Descriptions for Amiga Engineering in San Jose

General

Amiga is a highly entrepreneurial start-up company. We are headquartered
in San Diego and have our development group in San Jose. All of the
following openings are based in our San Jose offices. Our San Jose
offices are located on North First Street between Trimble and the
Airport.

At Amiga we are designing next generation Internet-ready,
consumer-oriented digital appliances. The Amiga name is associated the
world over with user-friendly, low cost, powerful computing. We are
taking this philosophy into the next generation, enabling products from
hand held Internet appliances to high-end graphics computers that help
the user rather than frustrate them. See www.amiga.com or www.amiga.de
for more details on Amiga, our history and the community.

The successful candidate will have a proven track record in the computer
industry. While each opening has special requirements the general
expectations are:
* Proven industry track record
* Demonstrable ability to deliver robust, top-quality software on time
* Committed to success and willing to  do what it takes  to deliver
industry leading product
* BS/MS/Ph.D. in computer science or electronic engineering
* Strong proven technical skills in C++

Job Descriptions

Principal Engineer/Manager Positions

User Interface Group:
* More than 10 years of commercial experience in generating compelling
user-interfaces
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with real-time, multimedia operating systems
* Experience with Client/Server graphical user interfaces
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Understanding of system architecture and design of operating systems
* Ability to lead, manage and mentor a group of software and
human-factors engineers


Networking and e-commerce Group:
* More than 10 years of commercial experience in networking, e-commerce
and transaction processing.
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with real-time, multimedia operating systems
* Experience with Client/Server transaction/e-commerce systems
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Understanding of system architecture and design of operating systems
* Ability to lead, manage and mentor a group of software engineers


 Sr. Software Engineer/Software Engineer Positions:

Graphics/Video/OpenGL/Audio/Gaming (multiple positions)
* More than 5 years of commercial experience in one or more of the
following
* 2D/3D graphics engines
* OpenGL application programming
* Applications using Digital video algorithms (MPEG, codec s)
* Applications using Digital audio algorithms (AC-3, positional audio,
mp3)
* Gaming technologies
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with real-time, multimedia operating systems
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Experience with embedded programming.
* Ability to write specifications

User Interface (multiple positions)
* More than 5 years of commercial experience in one or more of the
following
* Consumer user interfaces
* Desktop user interfaces
* Use of multimedia (video, graphics, animation and audio) in user
interfaces
* Preferences and Configuration
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with real-time, multimedia operating systems
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Experience with embedded programming.
* Ability to write specifications


Human Factors (multiple positions)
* More than 5 years of commercial experience in one or more of the
following
* Design of consumer user interfaces
* Design of desktop user interfaces
* Usability studies
* Proven creative background with a strong sense for good  user
experiences
* Working knowledge of today s leading operating systems: Windows, Mac,
UNIX, QNX and AmigaOS
* Ability to clearly articulate user interface designs

Networking/e-commerce/transactions (multiple positions)
* More than 5 years of commercial experience in one or more of the
following
* Basic networking technologies (TCP/IP, SMTP, POP3 etc.)
* Browsers and their implementation
* E-commerce standards
* Encryption and Authentication
* Cable interfaces
* Billing & Logging
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with real-time, multimedia operating systems
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Experience with embedded programming.
* Ability to write specifications




Build manager
* More than 3 years of experience managing the build process of a larger
software development group
* Revision control, release management, Documentation control
* Ability to write smaller tools and utilities to assist the development
process
* Good technical skills with an understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Ability to work well with engineering staff and management

Quality Assurance & Test
* More than 3 years of industry experience in the field of software test
and quality assurance:
* Write test-suites and run them
* Tenacity to identify and isolate bugs and inconsistent behavior
* Work as a member of a software development team.
* Strong technical skills with a good understanding of C++ and Java
technologies
* Experience with QNX, UNIX, Linux, WindowsNT, AmigaOS or similar modern
OS
* Experience with embedded programming.
* Ability to write test-plan




If you would like to apply for one of the openings please forward a copy
of your resume to one of the following addresses. Be sure to clearly
indicate the position you are applying for.

Email:
Email: andrew.mccartney@gateway.com
Make sure you to include the word Amiga in the subject line

Fax:
Fax:   (619) 799-3949
Attn: Andrew McCartney, Amiga Human Resources

Mail:
 4545 Towne Centre Crt
 San Diego, CA 92121
 Attn: Andrew McCartney, Amiga Human Resources



Amiga is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Amiga does
not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion,
gender, national origin, age, disability, Vietnam Era veteran or special
disabled veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other protected
status as provided by law.


--
Allan Havemose, Ph.D.
Amiga Vice President, Engineering
email:havemose@amiga.com (W)
email:havemose@ix.netcom.com (H)«


--

Und noch zwei Kurzmeldungen:

* Bei dem Programm 'Daytona', das Nordic Global fuer den Sommer
angekuendigt hat, handelt es sich um eine Java Virtual Machine.

* YAM ist in der Version 2.0 Preview 7 erschienen und kann auf
http://www.yam.ch heruntergeladen werden.

--

E-Mail-Abos von AMIGA aktuell koennen unter Angabe der gewuenschten
Version (1. AMIGAGuide oder HTML; 2. mit oder ohne Grafiken) kostenlos auf
den WWW-Sites http://www.mediaspace.net/amigaaktuell und
http://www.vmc.de/aakt bzw. per E-Mail (aakt@gmx.de) eingerichtet werden.

© 1999 Carsten Schroeder - Der Inhalt dieser Mail darf nur vollstaendig
und ohne Aenderungen weiterverbreitet werden.

AMIGA-aktuell-Special +++ AMIGA-aktuell-Special +++ AMIGA-aktuell-Special