Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Amiga Update (1996-06-04)
-=========================================================================-
_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || Amiga Update -News and Rumors
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ ||(A Very Occasional Newsletter)
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ ||
BACK FOR THE FUTURE ||
-=========================================================================-
AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga Technolgies, GmbH
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
960604
O F F I C I A L W O R D F R O M T O U L O U S E
N E W P R I N T E R F R O M F A R G O
M B E N C H P R O J E C T
A M I N E T - T H E B I G G E S T I N T H E W O R L D
About this issue:
For a change from the recent past, how about an issue with positive
stories only - no possible feuds, no arguments over the Amiga's future
directions, no "my vision is superior to your vision" stories?
Our last issue (960527) carried an unofficial report from the key Amiga
meeting in Toulouse, France. We now have an official report from VIScorp
and present it to you. The report was written by David Rosen, who we
remember as one of the more enthusiastic and capable of Commodore's
marketing people (yes, there were such individuals!).
Some Amiga sites have been mentioning a new printer from color printing
wizards Fargo. As the information we have below shows, there's no such
thing as an Amiga version but apparently you can use it with an Amiga. Some
of the accesories, such as the mug creation kit, we have our doubts about.
We suggest you call Fargo or a trustworthy Amiga dealer before investing in
this unit.
There are few more customizable computers than an Amiga so people are
always trying to improve it. We've picked up on an interesting effort to
improve on the Workbench and present information from the home page of the
individual behind the effort.
Finally, some very interesting news from Aminet, arguably the most
important freeware/shareware Amiga software archive on the Internet. We've
always known the Amiga has a tremendous amount of software in these
categories, all the more amazing due to the small size of the Amiga
community. Now it seems Aminet has been recognized as the largest site of
it's type - for any computer. How about that? (And, they're having a
contest - details below.)
Brad
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
V I S C O R P ' S T O U L O U S E R E P O R T
VIScorp's Toulouse Gathering
By David Rosen, 25-May-96
In anticipation of VIScorp's likely acquisition of Amiga, we convened a
gathering of Amiga developers, vendors and users in Toulouse, Fr., on
Sunday, May 19th. It was a successful event, drawing over 250 people!
This event was far more comprehensive than an initial press conference held
after the Amiga World show in London in April, and serves as a model for a
planned series of additional gatherings to be held the future. The purpose
of this gathering was two-fold: first, to provide an opportunity for
VIScorp to introduce its senior management and corporate vision to the
Amiga community and, second, to secure valuable feedback from the community
as to their concerns and suggestions about the future of the Amiga. The
conference was organized by Eric Laffont, without whose commitment it would
neither have happened nor been as successful as it was. Our deepest thanks
go out to Eric!
The day-long gathering was divided into four major parts: (1) a morning
session of presentations and Q (2) an informal lunch during which
participants could meet and discuss the morning session; (3) an afternoon
session of two parallel workshops, one with developers and the other with
vendors/distributors (users and the press circulated between workshops);
and (4) a concluding summary session followed by a reception. The morning
session was carried in realtime on the Internet's chat services, the IRC,
and many people throughout the world participated. The following presents
an overview of the presentations made during the morning session; the
afternoon sessions consisted of less formal presentation by VIScorp
personnel and provided participants with an opportunity to raise specific
questions and/or put forward their own ideas and concerns.
The morning session was the linchpin for the day's events. Bill Buck (CEO)
provided the opening introduction and laid out VIScorp's corporate mission
of a twin set-top and desk-top business -- this mission is anchored in a
fundamental commitment to the Amiga OS and its long-term maturation. Bill
made clear that VIScorp's commitment to the Amiga computer was based on a
strong belief that it could be a profitable business once again. Bill
reiterated the fact that VIScorp had not as yet secured ownership of the
Amiga and, therefore, could not layout specific plans. Nevertheless, in
anticipation of the acquisition, VIScorp had initiated preliminary
discussions with a number of companies (e.g., Motorola) as to further
platform development. Bill concluded his presentation with a demonstration
of the "ED" set-top appliance and a discussion of the company's belief in
the long-term opportunities of the Internet/Web.
Don Gilbreath (VP, Engineering) and Carl Sassenrath (Director of Software)
provided indepth technical discussions of the "ED" system as well as some
likely developments of the Amiga OS. Don showed off the new "ED"
motherboard, recently received from Solectron, and discussed the
performance capabilities of some of the key components. In addition, he
showed a new 060-based motherboard which could be made available
immediately and would increase Amiga performance by four-fold.
Carl, a member of the original group that wrote the Amiga OS, provided a
detailed discussion of some of the additions currently being implemented
for the ED/Amiga OS. He outlined twenty-four (24) specific additions to
the OS that were being developed for the set-top environment and which will
enhance the overall performance of the Amiga (they will be provided to
developers separately). Both Don and Carl discussed some of the possible
future steps that VIScorp might take if it secured Amiga, including a
review of a possible relationship with Motorola for an Amiga PowerPC; they
also identified other possible migration path options, but stress that all
these ideas were purely speculative.
David Rosen (VP, Marketing) further elaborated on Bill Buck's presentation,
clarifying VIScorp's overall objectives of the twin set-top and desk-top
strategy. He made clear that the company had originally secured a license
from Amiga Technologies because it assess the Amiga OS as uniquely
appropriate technology to facilitate the convergence of (analog) TV,
telecommunications (especially networked-based interactivity and the
Internet/Web) and computing. He stressed that the dominate approaches to
networked-based interactivity in the U.S. -- i.e., the cable/telco ITV
approach and PC/modem (or Network Computer) approach -- had stalled,
providing a unique opportunity for VIScorp's Amiga-based solution. David
stated that given the clear break of home computing into two spheres --
home/office productivity (with a "Wintel" monopoly) and gameplay (with
Sega, Sony, Nintendo dominance) -- could provide an opportunity for Amiga
because of the consumer's desire for choice, price advantage and unique
performance (true multitasking and multimedia). He added that conditions
were different in Europe (with an historically strong low-end consumer
business) and in the U.S. (with a stronger acceptance among vertical
business, especially media-production market), these differences
represented an opportunity for a well-targeted niche approach.
Eric Laffont (Manager International Technical Development Amiga) and Raquel
Velasco (Director, European Sales/Marketing) reviewed the findings of a
specially conducted Internet survey of Amiga users/developers. The survey
has more than 2,100 respondents from over 30 countries, including Peru,
Lithuania, Croatia, Uruguay as well as Europe and North America. 90
percent offered positive words of support for the Amiga and to VIScorp.
The survey focused on two areas of inquiry: (i) the status of Amiga
equipment owned/used (model, peripherals, etc.) and (ii) what they
needed/wanted for the Amiga in the future. The survey represented the
first time to our knowledge that the Amiga community had been polled and
provided us with valuable insight into its concerns. (The survey and its
findings will be posted shortly on our Web site.)
David Rosen
Vice President, Business Development
www.vistv.com
Return to the Amiga Web Directory
Champaign-Urbana Commodore Users Group / cucug@cucug.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W P R I N T E R F R O M F A R G O
FARGO Electronics--FotoFUN! Digital Color Photo Printer
FotoFUN! Digital Color Photo Printer
Features:
Spectacular Photo Quality
FotoFUN! color photos are simply stunning. You'll be proud to hand them
out to family, friends and business associates. Put them in scrapbooks and
frames, too. Print on Photo Paper Or Photo Postcards Not only can you
print on glossy photo paper, but you can also create your own photo
postcards! Great for photo Christmas and holiday cards, birth and
graduation announcements and much more. Photo postcard refill kits are
available in packages of 36 postcards with ribbon.
Optional FotoMUG!(TM) Kit
With FotoFUN!, you can even put your photos onto dishwasher-safe coffee
mugs. Using a standard household oven, you "bake" the images into the
surface of the mug. Available in a 4-pack of mugs with complete
instructions. Specifications:
Print Method:
Thermal dye-sublimation
Print Speed:
Approximately 2.5 minutes/print
Colors:
16.7 million
Resolution:
203 dpi
Interface:
Centronics-compatible 8-bit parallel or Macintosh serial
Dimensions:
9.5"W x 4.25"H x 7.5"D (241mmW x 108mmH x 191mmD)
Weight:
7.0 lbs (3.18 kg)
Available Supplies:
36-print ribbon/paper refill package
36-print ribbon/postcard refill package
36-print ribbon/photo label refill package
Product Codes:
53001 FotoFUN! Digital Color Photo Printer (Windows, 110 VAC)
53002 FotoFUN! Digital Color Photo Printer (Macintosh, 110 VAC)
53003 FotoFUN! Digital Color Photo Printer (Windows, 220 VAC)
53004 FotoFUN! Digital Color Photo Printer (Macintosh, 220 VAC)
53050 36-print ribbon/paper refill
53051 36-print ribbon/postcard refill
53056 36-print ribbon/photo label refill
53052 FotoMUG! Kit -- includes 4 mugs with instructions
Warranty:
One-year parts and labor
To FotoFUN!
(c) Copyright 1995-96 FARGO Electronics, Inc.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
M B E N C H - A N I M P R O V E D W O R K B E N C H ?
27/5/1996
MBench is a replacement for the workbench part of the AmigaOS.
MBench takes the existing workbench as a starting point and tries to
improve on it in a number of areas. The current specification of MBench
is:
Internally multitasking, load files, open windows, copy files etc... all
at the same time.
User definable quick start menu for launching programs or scripts. Just
drag icons to the SYS:StartMenu drawer to add new items.
More user friendly, progress requesters and full context sensitive online
help.
improved list view modes, sort items by clicking on the headers.
Arexx support to allow easy and powerfull expansion.
works on any Amiga running OS2.04+.
optional full display of files in list mode, so you can manipulate just
icons, files or both.
floating tool bars.
MBench is currently about 80% complete and so this is
subject to change as the program continues development.
This also means that if you have any suggestions as to
what you would like to see MBench then please let me know.
I intend to release MBench as shareware with demo versions
released to the PD and internet and a regestration fee of
around 10UKP for registration to the full version.
Hopefully MBench will be ready around late June, early July.
Please feel free to e-mail me at :
M.A.Hewitt@exeter.ac.uk
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I N E T I S T H E W O R L D ' S L A R G E S T A R C H I V E
By Urban D. Mueller
Today, May 16th 1996, four years after its inception, Aminet is the world's
largest collection of freely distributable software for any computer
system. I'd like to seize this opportunity to talk about the recent
history of our archive and thank everyone involved. Also, to celebrate the
event, we're giving away a CDROM drive and 10 Aminet CD subscriptions; read
more below.
THE PAST
It has been a long while - 17 months - since I last talked about the
Aminet. That's simply because the violent early days are definitely over.
Much about Aminet is now routine, everyone has grown used to it. (For more
on the early history, check docs/misc/5000.txt and 10000.txt).
Again, there has been steady growth. The number of mirrors has increased
from 12 to 30, we have more and better search services and other
incremental improvements. Some services still wait to be implemented,
though, especially the possibility for everyone to submit comments to
Aminet software and append them to the .readme file. Other services are
only rudimentary, like the rating facility. Clearly, improvement is due.
More important than those access features, however, are the contents. And
here, the situation looks very good. Firstly, there have been more uploads
by the users than ever before, with a record high of 430 in one week just
recently. Additional growth was caused by the fact that the Aminet CD's
now appear bi-monthly (which is the way the participants in a large survey
wanted it), and because those CD's don't get completely filled in that
short time, more material is integrated into Aminet regularly to fill them.
Thanks to that, we now have large collections of clip art, mods, fonts,
games and other interesting stuff from outside sources on Aminet.
The most important development, though, is the fact that Aminet has now
been accepted by the world outside the networks as the place where one can
publish freely distributable software to make it widely available. Thus,
almost everything that is available for the Amiga ends up here. And I am
absolutely convinced that this service, the availability of everything to
everyone, has contributed considerably to the amazing life-force that the
Amiga is showing in those tough times.
THE PRESENT
Once more, it's statistics time. Apart from the record number of 29.000
files (world record according to www.shareware.com), we're just crossing
the total size of 5 gigabytes (second to a 5.7G OS/2 distribution archive).
In addition, as mentioned before, we just saw an all time upload record of
433 files in one week. Some further stats:
Monthly uploads (excluding integrated material):
1995 1996
Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Mar Apr
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
1061 923 1129 916 1269 776 907 1068 949 873 1042 985 1240 1274
Subdirectory size in megabytes: (total: 5052M)
Growth factor since the 10000 files posting:
biz comm demo dev disk docs game gfx misc mods mus pix text util
--- ---- ---- --- ---- ---- ---- --- ---- ---- --- ---- ---- ----
119 178 902 188 20 170 431 257 246 961 44 1049 317 162
2.2 2.2 5.8 2.0 2.0 8.1 3.4 1.0 3.2 3.6 1.3 7.7 5.3 1.6
Number of files at the mirrors:
ftp.wustl.edu ALL
ftp.ninemoons.com ALL
ftp.unina.it ALL
kelly.uni-paderborn.de ALL
ftp.uni-paderborn.de ALL
ftp.grolier.fr ALL
sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk ALL
ftp.netnet.net 25950
ftp.tas.gov.au 22273
ftp.eunet.ch 20446
ftp.uni-erlangen.de 19552
ftp.luth.se 16053
ftp.ua.pt 15019
ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de 12329
ftp.tu-chemnitz.de 12329
ftp.uni-siegen.de 9009
sunsite.cnam.fr 6336
ftp.fh-augsburg.de 5647
ftp.uni-trier.de 5453
ftp.uni-stuttgart.de 3729
ftp.uni-bremen.de 3240
ftp.uni-kl.de 2180
ftp.gui.uva.es 1792
ftp.uni-oldenburg.de 916
ftp.giga.or.at 871
THE FUTURE
Currently, my main project is rewriting the Aminet mirror scripts. Duh,
you say, what does that mean for me? More than you think. The new scripts
will allow alternate main sites to take over in case wuarchive goes down,
so you get more reliable service. And they're very easy to install, so you
can expect more mirrors to pop up. Next, they run on Amigas as well, do
you can have your personal Aminet mirror on your harddisk. Finally, they
are a precondition for implementing the long promised annotations, and a
thing called views.
Annotations are the last big missing feature from Aminet. Everyone should
be able to post comments about other people's uploads, giving usage hints,
recommendations or compatibility notes. I still cannot promise any dates
on this one, but chances to get this implemented have increased now. The
other nice-to-have that's still missing are views. Views are trees of
softlinks that create a different image of the Aminet file collection. You
could, for example, have a second 'Aminet' that only contains modules, but
the modules are sorted by author. Or one that only contains files that are
in the download charts. That, too, will still take a while. Finally, some
improvements are due in the access software of Aminet CDs. That will
hopefully be adressed soon, too.
THE CONTEST
To celebrate this event, we've decided to run a big contest. To take part,
you have to guess the exact number of files there were on Aminet one year
ago, ie. on May 16th 1995. Mail your guess (just the raw number in the
body of the mail) to aminet-server@aminet.org . Among the best guesses, we
give away:
1 CDROM drive with Aminet Set 1,2,3 and a one year Aminet CD subscription
10 one year Aminet CD subscriptions
We're also accepting snail-mailed submissions, send them (just your guess
and your address) to:
Schatztruhe GmbH
Aminet-Wettbewerb
Veronikastr. 33
D-45131 Essen
GERMANY
Submissions are accepted until mid-August. Winners will be drawn then.
Good luck!
THE CREDITS
There are countless people who keep Aminet going. I'd like to thank
them all, but especially:
The uploadersfor writing freely distributable software and taking the pain
write readmes and to upload them Matthias Schelerwho helps a lot with the
daily administration and moderation at wuarchive The mirror admsfor
maintaining that large number of mirrors which made the success of Aminet
possible The beta testersfor finding all my mistakes on the CDROMs Stefan
Ossowskifor producing the Aminet CD James McCuddenfor maintaining
wuarchive.wustl.edu I hope you liked the service so far, and if you have
any comments, wishes or ideas, please do contact me. Urban D. Mueller
umueller@aminet.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1996 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
-=========================================================================-
_ __ _ <>_ __ _ || Brad Webb/AmigaUpdate
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || webb@malamute.med.ge.com
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || bandr@globaldialog.com
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ || Portal -- XJumpdisk
-=========================================================================-
