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Amiga Update (1997-02-14)
======================================================================
_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors-
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional Newsletter)
BACK FOR THE FUTURE ||
======================================================================
AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga Technologies, GmbH
----------------------------------------------------------------------
970214
U P D A T E O N A M I G A B U Y O U T
U P G R A D E O F F E R F O R S B A S E 4 P R O
A M I G A R E J U V E N A T I O N S U R V E Y
P R O G R A M M I N G C O N T E S T
A M I T A L K 1 . 2 F O R I R C
M O R E O N G A T E W A Y A M I G A S H O W
N E W V O Y A G E R D O E S F R A M E S !
C O N V E R T E R F O R P C M O U S E
N I F T Y L I S T O F A M I G A P A T E N T S
Editor's Introduction and Thoughts:
First, a Happy Valentine's day to our readers. Hope this day finds
you enjoying the companionship of someone special. Or of a special
computer, if you prefer (and some folks do).
No earthshaking news this time. We have a recent posting by Jason
Compton that adds some details to the Amiga buyout story, but no real
answers. Those should come nearer the end of the month - if at all, of
course.
Arguably the best database manager ever written for the Amiga was/is
SuperBase, in its various configurations. It's most recently been
known as SBase4Pro. We recently learned of an upgrade available to all
Amiga users of this product, and today received additional information
beyond the basic press release, all of which we are happy to send your
way.
The rest of the newsletter consists of items we've been collecting
for the last week or so. We have an interesting announcement of the
launch of the Independent Amiga Rejuvenation Survey. It seems to have
gotten the interest of Amiga PowerPC developer Phase 5. Details below.
There's also a couple of stories for limited audiences - if you're a
programmer, you may find the programming contest note we came across
of interest. If you like to visit the Internet's IRC for a chat, the
Amitalk press release will appeal to you.
The crew putting together the Gateway Amiga Show in Saint Louis has
provided an update on what's going to be happening there. It keeps
getting more interesting. We have the information this time.
Amiga's first Web browser capable of really handling frames is
available now in a pre-release form. We've used it and while it isn't
perfect, it does do a reasonable job - and it's certainly the best
available for our computer. We appreciate the efforts made on Voyager,
and with the active feedback from the Amiga community the release
version should be pretty impressive.
If you've ever had trouble coming up with a mouse for your Amiga, you
might find the TOPOLINO mouse converter of value.
And finally, we ran across a posting in the Usenet a while back that
caught our attention. Ben Hutchings of Great Britain performed search
for patents that pertain to the Amiga. We found this more interesting
than we would have expected, and think you will too.
We hope you enjoy this issue.
Brad Webb,
Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
U P D A T E O N A M I G A P U R C H A S E
Date: 8 Feb 1997 08:00:38 GMT
I got a returned call from David Robinson, Mr. Hembach's US attorney.
(Not to be confused with Dan Robinson, currently with QuikPak, nor any
of his sons.)
Basically, as I anticipated, he was not willing to discuss very much.
He would go so far as to confirm that what QuikPak has said is
basically all true, i.e.:
Yes, there was a date set at which Hembach stopped actively courting
bids. Yes, QuikPak did make a bid. Yes, Hembach hopes to have his
decision made at the end of the month.
However, he did not rule out the entertaining of any more bids--if
someone shows up with a suitcase full of money they will not be turned
away.
He was, not surprisingly, not willing to discuss any of the other
alleged bidders.
We made plans to speak again in early March. So until then, unless
some party makes a statement that we can attempt to confirm or reject
based on Robinson's counsel, I wouldn't expect any news of major
import on this front for the rest of the month.
--
Jason Compton jcompton@xnet.com
Editor-in-Chief, Amiga Report Magazine (847) 741-0689 FAX
AR on Aminet - docs/mags/ar???.lha WWW - http://www.cucug.org/ar/
Pythagoras with the looking glass... ...reflects the full moon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S B A S E 4 P R O U P G R A D E O F F E R
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, February 5th 1997
Contact: Joe Rothman
Mr. Hardware Computers
59 Storey Ave.
Central Islip, NY 11722-2332 USA
516-234-8110 Voice or Fax
Central Islip, NY - Wednesday, February 5th 1997 Mr. Hardware
Computers announced today that they are offering a special upgrade
price for anyone currently in possession of a previous release of
SBase4 or SBase4Pro Amiga. We don't care if you were the original
purchaser or not. All we need is the registration number from the
version you currently own.
On April 29th 1996 Mr. Hardware Computers purchased all rights to the
Amiga version of SBase4Pro from Oxxi, Inc. We did not publicize this
purchase because we fully expected to have been able to release an
expanded new version of SBase4 by January 1997. However, we have run
into numerous difficulties, including a total lack of contracted
support from Oxxi, Inc.
Although work continues on brand new Mr. Hardware Computers labeled
versions of all SBase4 products, it has recently come to our attention
that many people do not realize that SBase4 isn't dead. We have also
found out that many people are needlessly using buggy versions of the
current SBase4 and SBase4Pro releases. If you are among the thousands
of Amiga users who are still using SuperBase Personal, SuperBase
Professional, older versions of SBase4, or SBase4Pro, you can upgrade
to SBase4Pro v1.30n for the following prices listed below in US
dollars.
There are many good reasons for upgrading your current software to
SBase4Pro v1.30n. These include many bug fixes and some new features
that have been implemented since the version you are currently using
was created. Your participation in this upgrade program will also
make it easier for us to continue with the further development of
SBase4 and SBase4Pro.
Mr. Hardware Computers is 100% Amiga and 100% committed to the
further development of SBase4 and SBase4Pro for the Amiga. We have
some incredible new ideas and development programs we will be
implementing in the future. We invite you to help us prove that the
Amiga is better at running business software than any other computer
platform available anywhere.
{The following additional information was supplied directly to "Amiga
Update" since the above was posted. Brad}
We have been very pleased with the response we have gotten from
the Amiga community about our ownership of the SBase product line and
our special upgrade offer.
We have been so overwhelmed with email on the subject that we are
finding it impossible to respond to everyone individually. Our daily
activities as an Amiga dealership, developer, and support center leave
us very little time for correspondence. Therefore, we have decided to
try a universal response approach to the problem of answering
everyone's questions about the SBase4Pro upgrade.
The most prominent question on everyone's mind is:
How do I order the the SBase4Pro v1.30n upgrade?
Since there are so many different versions of the SuperBase and
SBase products, I'll attempt to simplify the pricing information.
From Cost
------------------------------------------------------------------
SuperBase Personal 3 or older $60.00
SuperBase Professional 3 or older $30.00
SuperBase or SBase Personal 4 from v1.0 thru v1.30m $50.00
SuperBase or SBase Professional 4 from v1.0 thru v1.30m $20.00
All prices are in US dollars and include USPS mailing to anywhere
in the continental US. Payment can be made via check, money order or
credit card. We accept Visa, MasterCard, and Discover. C.O.D.
orders can be shipped via UPS, in the continental US only, and require
an additional $7.00 shipping, handling, and C.O.D. charge.
Foreign orders will be charged actual shipping costs in addition
to the upgrade price and must be charged to a credit card. I can't
estimate what the cost of the shipping will be, but I won't overcharge
you.
Your current registration number, which can be found in the
Project Menu About selection, is required. If you have a dongle, you
don't have a registration number so you will need to send the dongle
to us at the address listed below.
Place your order via Phone or Fax at 516-234-8110. We are using
an Amiga based PhonePak system for Fax or VoiceMail so you can call 24
Hours a day 7 days a week. Fax operation is automatic. Our regular
business hours are 2:00pm to 8:00pm Eastern Standard Time. Please
send a detailed fax or leave a message if we are not in. Include your
full name, address, phone number, and your registration number. If
you will be paying by credit card, leave the credit card number,
expiration date, and the exact name on the card.
Our shipping address is:
Mr. Hardware Computers
59 Storey Avenue
Central Islip, NY 11722-2332
The second most asked question is:
What's different about SBase4Pro v1.30n?
This depends on the version of SuperBase, SBasePro, or SBase4 you
currently own. Owners of any of the Pro versions, no matter what the
name, will find that most of the changes have to do with the way the
program interfaces to the Amiga. Some examples are: Support for asl
requesters, better screen mode selection, AGA support, ability to run
on any processor including the 68060, an improved forms editor, and
many bug fixes.
Superbase owners with dongles will be pleased to know that
SBase4Pro v1.30n doesn't need a dongle. Owners of any of the personal
versions will get the full DML programming language, and the improved
forms editor.
The upgrade doesn't come with any documentation because Oxxi
still hasn't provided it to us on disk, so it looks like a completely
rewritten manual will be necessary. Most versions of the program
share the same features, and no major changes have been made that
would require additional documentation, so no additional manual should
be needed.
Several people have asked about purchasing the full program at
this time. The list price of SBase4Pro is $300.00. However,
considering the fact that any manual provided would have to be photo
copied, we will sell the full SBase4Pro v1.30n program for only
$100.00 US until a newer version of the product is ready to be
released. Of course, full upgrade privileges will be included.
We thank you for sticking with the Amiga, and for your continued
interest in SBase4Pro. Mr. Hardware Computers is 100% Amiga and 100%
committed to the future development of the SBase4 product line. We
still believe the Amiga is absolutely the best personal computer money
can buy. We intend to prove it by producing some of the best software
available for any computer. We have great plans for the SBase4,
Sbase4Pro, and the SBase4Pro RunTime module. Please tell us your
ideas for improvement.
If you have developed any SBase4 applications which you feel may
be useful to others, please contact us regarding a possible RunTime
module licensing agreement. We want to encourage everyone to release
freely distributable, shareware, and commercial SBase4 applications to
help fill the void in Amiga based business application software. We
will do all we can to help you achieve your program distribution
goals.
Joe Rothman
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E - M A I L T O T H E E - D I T O R
Hey Brad --
Do you know of any source of in-depth history of the Amiga?
It must be quite a tale!
: A review of "The Amiga Books FAQ" turned up nothing that really
deals with Amiga history. Therefore, I'm putting your question here
in hopes that one of our readers can answer it for you. It is quite a
tale - from the silicon valley start-up that produced the "joy board"
in order to generate income for development, through the competition
between Commodore and Atari (who swapped company founders along the
way) to Amiga Technologies and who-knows-what next. Brad
---
Sony or Microsoft buy Amiga Tech??
It's a joke?
: We certainly hope so. Sony might have some interest in Amiga
patents (see below) but we doubt it. That's why we ran it as a rumor.
Brad
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I N D E P E N D E N T A M I G A
R E J U V E N A T I O N S U R V E Y
Date : Mon, 03 Feb 1997 19:37:13 +0100
The Independent Amiga Rejuvenation Survey is now running at:
http://www.skip.adb.gu.se/~gunnar/iars/
Please visit it and submit your views!
I'm also happy to inform you that IARS has received an official
recognition by Phase 5 Digital Products (Cybervision, A\Box etc,). I
quote:
"Phase 5 Digital Products appreciates very much the independent
efforts of engaged Amiga community members to support the planning of
the future of the Amiga. The IARS project seems to be an excellent
means to collect and analyse the views and opinions of Amiga users all
over the world. We are looking forward to see the results which shall
be compiled in "The Independent Amiga Rejuvenation White Book", and
expect this to be a source of additional information and inputs that
can support our goal of designing the dream machine that the users
want. We hope that the IARS project is successful and gets the
response from users worldwide that it deserves.
Wolf Dietrich, General Manager Phase 5 Digital Products"
Others who have shown their interest for IARS include ProDAD and Carl
Sassenrath, who said that "It will be very insightful to see the
results.".
Sincerely
Gunnar Liljas, IARS-coordinator
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P R O G R A M M E R S - A C O N T E S T F O R Y O U
Date: 07 Feb 97 20:01:47 -500
Programming contest. Not programming an application or a boring
equation. Just a simple fun demo in Basic[DOS] or Blitz
basic[Amiga].( I'm more into C but everyone knows basic) Theres even a
prize for first place. For more info Code Bits
http://www.infi.net/~dhopkins/travis oh Code Bits a website containing
lots of info on programming games in C and Basic some opl. Gfx
routines AI etc. Code Bits Http://www.infi.net/~dhopkins/travis
Travis Hopkins
Email Dhopkins dhopkins@infi.net Code Bits
Http://www.infi.net/~dhopkins/travis
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I R C U S E R S T A K E N O T E
Sun Feb 2 09:01:27 1997
AmTALK 1.2 released
===================
How to obtain:
WWW: http://www.vapor.com/amtalk/
FTP: ftp.vapor.com, /pub/amtalk
AmiNet: /comm/tcp/amtalk.lha
E-Mail: mail to <fileserv@vapor.com>, put
"SEND AMTALK" in the body
AmTALK is a combined server/client for the Internet TALK
protocol for point-to-point online chatting.
AmTALK has the following highlites:
- fully multithreaded for several talk sessions at once.
- Auto answer facility to accept talk requests and store
incoming messages. Can be triggered manually or by
a user-definable timeout. Optional auto answer
information icon on workbench displaying number
of new and unread messages.
- "Locate" function to locate an AmTALK user on a dynamic
IP address even if you don't know the exact IP number
he is using right now.
- History of last used talk addresses for easy access.
- user configurable sounds for notifying of incoming
talk requests and successfully established talk links.
- Userlist to store frequently used talk partners,
with aliasing for easy talk start and specificable
access privilleges (override auto answer,
refuse/ignore always, locate always etc.)
- Can be started from inetd, or reside resident in
the background, activated by hotkey.
- Supports clipboard Cut & Paste from talk windows.
- Keeps a full log of incoming talk requests.
- nice and friendly GUI to start talks, control
operation and configuration.
- handles incoming talk requests with "wrong" usernames
gracefully.
- keyboard resethandler to gracefully close active talk
requests upon a soft reset.
- works with Miami, AmiTCP and as225r2-derived TCP/IP stacks.
Note that the provided Installer script doesn't work with the old OS
1.3 1.24/1.25 versions of Installer. Please get Installer-43_3.lha
from AmiNet (/util/misc) or from ftp.vapor.com,
/pub/misc/Installer-43_3.lha.
/*****************************************
* Vaporware Announcement list *
* WWW: http://www.vapor.com/support/ *
* Listserver help: <petidomo@vapor.com> *
*****************************************/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
U P D A T E O N G A T E W A Y S H O W
Gateway Computer Show - Amiga 97
brought to you by The Gateway Amiga Club, Inc.
HOT! -- NewTek to teach classes!
HOT! -- QuikPak expected to donate A4000 Tower for door prize! *
Welcome OZware, and P.J.Nordmann-FX,
our newest exhibitors
---------------------------------
What It's All About
The members of the Gateway Amiga Club, Inc. are sponsoring the third
Gateway Computer Show in St. Louis, Missouri on March 15 & 16, 1997.
We would like everyone to be a part of this show.
This two day weekend event will show the Amiga Community that the
Amiga is making headway in its efforts to come back. Utilizing our
expertise and low costs, a show of high caliber will be funded with
minimal cost. The St. Louis metropolitan area has over 2.5 million
people and is geographically centered.
In the past, many vendors have traveled to St. Louis to exhibit at
our show, including Oregon Research, Intangible Assets Manufacturing,
SoftLogik, and Amiga Library Services (Chronus).
For this show Amiga Report Magazine, Compuquick Media Center,
Intangible Assets Manufacturing (IAM), NewTek, Inc., Nova Design,
Inc., Oregon Research, QuikPak, OZware, Silent Paw Productions, Inc.,
and SoftLogik Publishing Corporation have already committed to attend.
If you wish to visit their homepages then check out the links section.
User Groups in neighboring states have gone so far as to charter
busses to attend our previous events. Amiga enthusiasts have traveled
from all over the U.S. to attend. With your help, we can make the
Amiga shine, and the entire community know that Amiga is not only
back, but on the attack!
Where's this going to be!
This show will be at the Harley Hotel, 3400 Rider Trail South, St.
Louis, MO 63045, which is located at the entrance to Earth City from
Interstate 70. Not only located right at Interstate 70 but this is
just 7 minutes from St. Louis Lambert Airport.
----------------------------------
Pricing
Admission Tickets ... must be purchased by mail from the Gateway
Amiga Club, Inc.
Admission prices are $10 per day, or $15 for two days if purchased
in advance.
Make your check out to "Gateway Computer Show" and mail it to the
following address:
Gateway Amiga Club, Inc
c/o Amiga 97
P.O. Box 811
Bridgeton, MO 63044
o Dinner Reservations
Dinner reservations for Saturday evening are limited. A
delicious buffet dinner will be served. Prices are $30 per person.
We will have a guest speaker. You won't want to miss this. You may
make reservations for the dinner along with your admission ticket
purchases.
Information
o Dates & Times
Admission to show floor is Saturday March 15, from 11 AM until 5
PM, and Sunday March 16, from 11AM until 4 PM. Please note, classes
may start earlier, and run later.
o Classes
Classes are being formulated now. This page will be updated as
soon as instructors have been confirmed. At this time we are
expecting more classes and a better variety than last show.
o Hotel Accommodations
The site is located in the suburb of Earth City, near the St.
Louis Airport. This allows easy access by highway, and air
transportation. The hotel has a large hall, restaurant, and other
facilities. The Harley Hotel is located at 3400 Rider Trail South,
St. Louis, MO. 63045. The Telephone number is (800) 321-2323 or
(314) 291-6800. Be certain to mention the Gateway Computer Show to
them when reserving a room to get the special Show Rate.
o Special Airfare Arrangements
For travel arrangements and discounts on our Official Air
Carrier, TWA, contact Best Way Travel at (800) 325-4942 or (314)
291-0110.
o Alternative Transportation ... Bus charters etc.
User clubs who are chartering busses are welcome to contact us
if you wish a link to you included on this site.
Others who are planning to attend and either wish to share their ride
or need a ride may have their email address or another contact method
listed here. Please note: We may require that you have already
purchased a ticket before you will be listed here. More on this
later.
Disclaimer: Alternative Travel is not sponsored by The Gateway Amiga
Club, Inc. and we accept no responsibility for lost rides,
uncomfortable seats, radios that don't play your kind of music, poor
travel companions or drivers who leave you off in the middle of
nowhere.
o Exhibiting Information
Call the chairman, Bob Scharp, and leave a message at (314)
739-5181. A recorder is on line.
Send email inquiries to: bscharp@icon-stl.net or write to the
following address.
Gateway Computer Show - Amiga 97
c/o Bob Scharp, Chairman
14850 Phelps Drive
Bridgeton, Mo. 63044-1934
USA
----------------------------------
Who's Coming ... Information and Links
o Amiga Report Magazine -- Online Amiga magazine by Jason Compton.
o Compuquick Media Center, Inc. -- Amiga dealer specializing in Amiga
systems, preipherals, Toaster and Flyer Systems, (Serving the Amiga
Community WORLDWIDE from Columbus, Ohio since 1990).
o Intangible Assets Manufacturing -- Amiga company developing products
such as: Amiga Envoy 2.0b, DiskSalv4, DICE 3.2, MRBackup, Deathbed
Vigil Video, MegaBall 4 and the books Connect Your Amiga! and Torn
Shapes of Desire: Internet Erotica.
o MoneySmart-Grafica Software -- Organize your finaces the smart way.
Introducing MoneySmart exclusively for the Amiga. - To order call
toll free (888) 237-7784 for inquiries (408) 249-9275 or email
graphica@calweb
o NewTek, Inc. -- Manufactures and developers of the famous Video
Toaster, Video Toaster Flyer and Lightwave 3D.
o Nova Design, Inc. -- Developers of ImageFX, an image manipulation
system, and the soon to be released Aladdin 4D.
o Oregon Research -- Bringing you such products as: Cinema 4D,
Termite, Termite TCP, IBrowse, Disk MAGIC, Surf Squirrel, Squirrel
Zip/Jazz Tools, On The Ball, Devpac 3, Hisoft Basic 2, Twist 2,
MegaloSound, Clarity 16, and GameSmith.
o OZware -- Unique video editing tools designed for NewTek's Flyer:
Co-Pilot Audio 1.0, Co-Pilot Video 1.0, Aussies Fast Frames and
Aussies Pro Tools. - Contact your dealer or call (360) 805-0148
voice, (360) 805-9786 fax. - email ozware@aol.com
o P.J.Nordmann-FX -- Paul J. Nordmann - Graphics Technician: 3D
Modeling / business graphics / toaster / flyer / amiga training. -
call (314) 773-5684. - email pjnfx@stl.net
o QuikPak -- Manufactures of the Amiga 4000T. They provide
distribution and support for all Amiga Technologies products in
North America, and are the new bidders on the Amiga technology.
o Silent Paw Productions, Inc. -- Developers of the PAWS 1200,
Portable Amiga Workstation kit, the Gecko Converter, the PAWS 4000
Case Prototype, the PAWSTRAC trackball and other related items.
o SoftLogik Publishing Corporation -- Makers of PageStream and
typeSMITH, TextFX, and related products. Distributors of:
Wordsworth 5 and Organizer.
!! And more to come
* Door prizes are subject to substitution.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W V E R S I O N O F V O Y A G E R
Date: Sun, 26 Jan 1997 22:08:51 -0600
"Today is V Day"
Voyager-NG WWW browser prerelease
=================================
*** The next generation of Amiga Web browser has arrived ***
This is a preliminary release which brings this fantastic new Web
browser to the Amiga community and allows Voyager-NG to benefit
from the largest testing base possible. With your help
Voyager-NG can be rendered faultless on the largest possible
range of Amiga set-ups.
Due to the above, Voyager is currently updated frequently.
To obtain the archive
via WWW: http://www.vapor.com/voyager/
via FTP: ftp.vapor.com, /pub/voyager/
via EMail: mail to <fileserv@vapor.com>
put "SEND VOYAGER" in the mail body
The full archive in LZX is 612 kbytes in size.
Updates will appear there regularly. Updates are also announced
on the Voyager mailing list. If you are not on it yet, you are
encouraged to subscribe. Mail to <voyager-request@vapor.com> and
put "ADD" in the body of the mail. Put "HELP" there to obtain a
complete description on how to use the mail server. The mailing
list is also a good place to discuss enhancement suggestions.
Major changes to Voyager since Version 1.0:
· Supports Frames as introduced by Netscape 2.x
· Uses internal image decoding routines. Visually incremental
on-the-fly image decoding, leaving the program operational
during decode. No more hassle with datatypes related bugs.
Optimized memory usage. The routines are optimized for speed
and are very fast. Full support of CyberGFX HiColor/TrueColor
screens and compatibles.
· Supports HTML tables. Many more HTML commands
and Netscapism's are understood (including FONT SIZE and
HR WIDTH). Improved general compatibility with broken
and nonstandard HTML code.
· Supports versatile plugin interface for third-party
extensions to the browser.
· Shipped with a handy split-screen web search engine plugin.
· Supports T/TCP "TCP for Transactions" requests,
allowing for much faster establishment of HTTP links
to servers. This is currently supported by
Miami 1.9.x beta versions only. Specified
in RFC 1644, as far as we know, Voyager is the
first browser on any platform to support this!
· Totally reworked preference setting. The transfer anim is
now configurable, too.
· New so-called 'local' menus which pop up over links and
images offering options such as opening in new window,
copying URL to clipboard, downloading to disk or adding
URL to bookmarks. Local menus also function for Frames by
offering full window viewing, saving Frame and viewing
Frame source.
· Supports Shift & Click downloading of files even from
servers with broken configuration which state
that binary data is of type "text/plain". This
happens frequently with .lha and .lzx files,
because these suffixes are missing in many
http server example mime.types files.
· Added internal SMTP (E-mail) send capability. Now also
supports mailto: links and mailto: Forms.
· Improved news handling.
· 'LED' transfer status display additionally shows
stalled transfers. (Well I thought it was neat)
· Many minor enhancements, and of course
All The Popular Bugs were fixed, too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
U S E P C M O U S E W I T H A M I G A
News Date : 04 February, 1997
Ingenieurbuero Steffen Raach
Hauptstr. 66
88379 Unterwaldhausen
Germany
Tel: 49-(0)7587/1201
Fax: 49-(0)7587/1202
email: info@raach.com
fido: 2:246/2320.13
http://www.raach.com/
The engineering consultancy Steffen Raach has evolved a converter
which makes every commercial PC Mouse connectable with the Amiga.
The converter is installed in a 3x5cm housing, which contains a
microcontroller and an interface-changer.
The TOPOLINO mouse converter is simply connected directly with the
Amiga mouseport and it is immediately ready for operation. No driver
software is needed, therefore the PC Mouse works as well in the
early-startup-menu as with games-software.
The protocols used by the companies Logitech., Mouse Systems. and
Microsoft. are supported, therefore every commercial input appliance
can be connected. Trackballs, Glidepoints or radio-controlled mice do
not cause any problems. All the specific features like third button,
high resolution ... are fully transmitted to the Amiga.
TOPOLINO can be ordered at http://www.raach.com for DM 49.-.
When used with the A2000, a mini-adapter is required (for the cost
price of DM 3.-).
A test report has been written in the german Amiga Magazin 2/97 and
another one is planned in the german Amiga Plus 3/97.
Amiga is a registered trademark of Amiga Technologies GmbH.
---
Steffen Raach
******************* TOPOLINO, PC-Maus am Amiga *******************
Ingenieurbuero Steffen Raach Hauptstr.66 88379 Unterwaldhausen
Tel: 07587/1201 Fax: 07587/1202 email: mail@raach.com
fido: 2:246/2320.13 http://www.raach.com
******************************************************************
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A P A T E N T S - V E R Y I N T E R E S T I N G
Date: 5 Feb 1997 00:56:06 GMT
A search of US patents (<URL:http://www.uspto.gov>) revealed these:
---
Some kind of joystick, I guess:
United States Patent D279,912
Lee Jul. 30, 1985
Hand operated control unit for video games
Inventors: Lee; Hugh M. (San Jose, CA).
Assignee: Amiga Corporation (Santa Clara, CA).
---
Don't know quite what this is for:
United States Patent 4,829,473
Keller, et. al. May 9, 1989
Peripheral control circuitry for personal computer
Inventors: Keller; Glenn (Los Gatos, CA); Miner; Jay G. (Mtn. View,
CA).
Assignee: Commodore-Amiga, Inc. (Los Gatos, CA).
---
The blitter:
United States Patent 4,874,164
Miner, et. al. Oct. 17, 1989
Personal computer apparatus for block transfer of bit-mapped image
data
Inventors: Miner; Jay G. (Mtn. View, CA); Dean; Dave (Ukiah, CA);
Decuir; Joseph C. (Albany, CA); Nicholson; Ronald H.
(Sunnyvale, CA); Tanaka; Akio (Burlingame, CA).
Assignee: Commodore-Amiga, Inc. (Los Gatos, CA).
---
The DSP audio system?:
United States Patent 5,418,321
Keller, et. al. May 23, 1995
Audio channel system for providing an analog signal corresponding
to a sound waveform in a computer system
Inventors: Keller; Glenn J. (Los Gatos, CA); McDonald; Timothy J.
(West Chester, PA); Redfield; James (West Chester, PA); Schmid;
Robert S. (West Chester, PA).
Assignee: Commodore Electronics, Limited (Nassau, BS).
---
Akiko's C2P:
United States Patent 5,461,680
Davis Oct. 24, 1995
Method and apparatus for converting image data between bit-plane
and multi-bit pixel data formats
Inventors: Davis; Hedley (Freemont, CA).
Assignee: Escom AG (Heppenheim, DE).
---
The multi-selection feature of Intuition menus:
United States Patent 4,772,882
Mical Sept. 20, 1988
Cursor controller user interface system
Inventors: Mical; Robert J. (San Mateo, CA).
Assignee: Commodore-Amiga, Inc. (Los Gatos, CA).
---
The Amiga itself:
United States Patent 4,777,621
Miner, et. al. Oct. 11, 1988
Video game and personal computer
Inventors: Miner; Jay G. (Mountain View, CA); Decuir; Joseph C.
(Albany, CA); Nicholson; Ronald H. (Sunnyvale, CA).
Assignee: Commodore-Amiga, Inc. (Los Gatos, CA).
---
I think this is for the floppy disk controller:
United States Patent 4,780,844
Keller Oct. 25, 1988
Data input circuit with digital phase locked loop
Inventors: Keller; Glenn (Los Gatos, CA).
Assignee: Commodore-Amiga, Inc. (Los Gatos, CA).
---
The copper:
United States Patent 5,103,499
Miner, et. al. Apr. 7, 1992
Beam synchronized coprocessor
Inventors: Miner; Jay G. (Mtn. View, CA); Dean; Dave (Ukiah, CA);
Decuir; Joseph C. (Albany, CA); Nicholson; Ronald H. (Sunnyvale,
CA); Tanaka; Akio (Burlingame, CA).
Assignee: Commodore-Amiga, Inc. (Los Gatos, CA).
---
The Bridgeboard:
United States Patent 4,954,949
Rubin Sept. 4, 1990
Universal connector device for bus networks in host
computer/co-processor computer system
Inventors: Rubin; Henri (King of Prussia, PA).
Assignee: Commodore-Amiga, Inc. (West Chester, PA).
---
There are also various cites of Amiga-related literature in patents of
various inventions related to multimedia and emulation.
There is no mention of proportional scrollbars.
--
Ben Hutchings,|finger m95bwh@booth42.ecs.ox.ac.uk|mail
benjamin.hutchings@ compsci&mathmo|lynx
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~worc0223|worcester.oxford.ac.uk Usenet
Commandment no.10: Thou shalt send complete offerings. The blessing
of Net.God is on he who posts fewer large parts than he who posts many
small ones
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