Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Amiga Update (1997-01-06)
======================================================================
_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || 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
----------------------------------------------------------------------
970106
N E W M O D E L A M I G A S N O W O F F I C I A L
A M I G A V S . P C - N O C O N T E S T !
A M T A L K A N N O U N C E D
A M I G A Z O N E T O G E T W E B I N T E R F A C E
Editor's notes and introduction:
In all honesty, there' nothing earth shaking in this issue. We've
collected some interesting items in the last few days and thought we'd
get them to you while they're still fresh. The official announcement
of the new model Amigas from QuikPak was just spotted by us today, so
that's the trigger for sending this first issue of the new year. Note
that these are variations on the existing A4000 Amiga, but very
interesting none the less. The luggable computers will certainly
appeal to many, but the prices are steep. These are truly
professional machines.
The Amiga vs. PC story is an amusing tale we spotted recently in the
Amiga newsgroups on the Internet. It's included here as a moral
builder for those who've been wondering if the future will ever become
clear again for our favorite computer, and as something to help
explain us for those of you who've never actually used an Amiga.
The AmTalk product for use on the Internet should appeal to the web
wise Amigans, at least those who spend a lot of time on the Net
chatting. Full particulars are below.
Harv Laser, embattled Sysop of the Amiga Zone, has an announcement of
interest to those who frequent the Zone or who might be considering
subscribing. As Zone denizens ourselves, we're looking forward to the
new interface.
Finally - no, we have no new information on the Amiga and any new
owners. You can rest assured as soon as we do, we'll get the
story to you. Let's hope we have such news before this year is much
older!
Brad Webb,
Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q U I K P A K ' S N E W M O D E L S A N N O U N C E D
{The following information has just been posted by QuikPak, builder of
"big box" Amigas (A4000 series) for Amiga Technologies. These
computers were first seen at recent computer shows. Brad}
A4060L -A4060, complete luggable system with LCD display for field use
A5050T -A5050T, Pentium-Amiga built into one computer!
A1630LD - COMING SOON! {We have no idea what this will be. Brad}
Details:
QuikPak -A4060L
** A4040L model 1
QuikPak is proud to present one of thier latest computer models, the
A4060 luggable system. It is the ideal configuration for users who
require their computer for field work. When combined with the NewTek
Video Toaster & Video Toaster Flyer it becomes a completely portable
non-linear video editing suite.
MSRP: $4495.00 U.S.
2MB Chip Ram
16MB Fast Ram
High resolution LCD display
2GIG hard drive
6x CD-ROM drive w/ AsimCDFS pre-installed
Motorola 68040 25MHz CPU
** A4040L model 2
MSRP: $9495.00 U.S.
2MB Chip Ram
16MB Fast Ram
High resolution LCD display
2GIG Hard Drive
6x CD-ROM drive w/ AsimCDFS pre-installed
Motorola 68040 25MHz CPU
NewTek Video Toaster & Video Toaster Flyer
- Non-linear video editing suite
** A4060L model 1
MSRP: $4995.00 U.S.
2MB Chip Ram
16MB Fast Ram
High resolution LCD display
2GIG hard drive
6x CD-ROM drive w/ AsimCDFS pre-installed
Motorola 68060 50MHz CPU
** A4060L model 2
MSRP: $9995.00 U.S.
2MB Chip Ram
16MB Fast Ram
High resolution LCD display
2GIG Hard Drive
6x CD-ROM drive w/ AsimCDFS pre-installed
Motorola 68060 50MHz CPU
NewTek Video Toaster & Video Toaster Flyer
- Non-linear video editing suite
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T W O C O M P U T E R S , O N E J O B . . .
Amiga vs. PC - No contest
Thu, 02 Jan 1997 07:10:36 -0800
I have been reading a lot of posts about the PC vs. the Amiga, and
want to put my 1.99 cents (PC math) in.
I work for the Defense Department, and we have 486/DX2-66 (state of
the art when we got them 2 years ago). We had a project to write a
new warehouse inventory system, and I volunteered to make changes in
the existing database.
It was simply a matter of updating the database - e.g. changing all
the "BX2" codes to "TS2". So I converted the database to a flat ASCII
file and loaded it into WordPerfect. I used the search and replace
function to start making the changes. The file was about 2 megs big,
so there were a lot of changes. WordPerfect stopped after making the
first thousand or so changes, and said the buffer was full. It
wouldn't let me proceed until I had saved the file. Saving the 2 meg
file took about five minutes (Windows, or WordPerfect, has to make a
copy to the hard disk as well as in RAM?). Then the search and
replace made the next 1000 modifications (we are still on the first
code change, remember) and repeated the save file process, etc. I
read the Washington Times - Sports, Business, editorials, local
section, want ads, politics, etc.
After an hour, it had made all the changes for that first
search-and-replace. This was taking too long, so I saved the file
(even after you exit from WordDefect, the machine's hard disk is
whirring for another five minutes before you regain control of it.
Why does Windows assume you are so stupid you have to have a backup
copy of everything, on the hard disk?
I loaded the same file into Word for Windows, but it did the same
thing as WordDefect - long file saves, search-and-replace buffer full,
continuously whirring hard disk, long periods of computer catatonia.
I read all my old NewMedia magazines and was pacing around the
cubicle.
The two meg file is too big for Windows, even with 16 Megs of ram.
In short, it chokes on something that big.
Time to go home. This was going to take several weeks at this rate.
I compressed the file onto a diskette, and when I got home, put it
on my A3000 (with 6 megs of memory - the PC at work has 16 megs). I
loaded the whole file into UEdit (a $15 shareware program vs. the
$400 we paid for WordDefect and Warred with Windows), made the changes
in about 20 minutes, and the next morning went back to work.
I told the boss I was finished with the database update, and he was
impressed. Once again I told him about how the Amiga had helped me,
and once again I got that blank look - the kind of look that gives you
the impression he thinks you just stepped off a spaceship and are
speaking Martian.
Yes, I suppose a Super Pentium 500 with 128 megs of ram will be able
to ran faster and handle bigger files than my A3000, but as far as I
am concerned, "PC" stands for Piece of Crap.
Jim Fairbrother
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M T A L K 1 . 0 A N N O U N C E D
Oliver Wagner
31-Dec-96
AmTALK 1.0 released
===================
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 a user on a dynamic IP
address even if you don't know which IP 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.
- works with Miami, AmiTCP and as225r2-derived TCP/IP stacks.
How to obtain AmTALK 1.0
========================
Internet:
---------
WWW: http://www.vapor.com/amtalk/
FTP: ftp.vapor.com, /pub/amtalk/
Mail:
-----
Mail to "fileserv@vapor.com", put "SEND AMTALK" in the body.
/*****************************************
* Vaporware Announcement list *
* WWW: http://www.vapor.com/support/ *
* Listserver help: "petidomo@vapor.com" *
*****************************************/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A Z O N E T O G E T W E B I N T E R F A C E !
NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)
Mon, 6 Jan 1997 00:53:30 GMT
Greetings.. The AmigaZone SIG (formerly on Plink and Portal and now
hosted by CalWeb) will soon have a full Web interface. You'll be able
to signup and become a Zone member and traverse/use/post/download
to/from our message bases and file libraries with your Web browser!
This will give you three different ways to use the Zone:
-telnet into our Wildcat5 inteface (BBS-style.. menu driven,
customizable to your liking, etc.)
-FTP into our libraries at our members-only FTP site
-Browser your way into both at our upcoming new Web address.
(Note that the current zone Web address of http://www.amigazone.com,
the page I have been maintaining since June of '95, still exists, is
still maintained and will continue to exist. It does not, however
give you access to the Zone's msg bases and file libraries. It does,
however have a bunch of flowing prose, interesting links, Sysop bios,
a lovely and talented guestbook and a buncha other stuff, and I just
added a new backdrop to it today, so like Joe Bob says, check it out.)
If you sign up with CalWeb and say "AmigaZone sent me" when you do,
you get:
- free signup (signup fee waived)
- full CalWeb UNIX shell account with 10 meg free storage (at
calweb.com)
- full, unlimited access to the AmigaZone: message bases, file
libraries, CD ROM libraries online, all the Fish disks online,
Usenet newsgroups, live nightly chats, Sunday prize contests,
and a living breathing online Amiga "community" where your questions
get answered and not ignored. No one is made to feel like a moron.
- and soon, a full Web interface to the Zone via your favorite
browser. Even with frames if you want'em.
Two week free trial accounts are still available. Visit our web site
(see .sig below) for details.
People are always clamoring for more Amiga support. Magazines have
folded up and blown away. Dealers and user groups have shut down.
Amiga shows are fewer and farther between. Sysops on other services
have flown the coop, or just ignore their customers. Or even worse,
talk down to them.
Trust me when I tell you that I've spent the past 12 years of my life
maintaining the AmigaZone on three different online services. It
hasn't been easy but it's been fun and I'll keep doing it as long as I
can make a living doing it.
But I need your help. Won't you please join us?
Harv
*Portal AmigaZone has moved to CalWeb - signup is FREE!
*Call 1-800-509-9322 (24 hrs.), say "Amiga Zone sent me."
*Visit http://www.amigazone.com for more info.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net: some issues available at:
http://www.sharbor.com/amiga/news/ (in html format)
http://www.amigacom.com (in ASCII text)
All back issues available (in ASCII text) at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1996 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || Brad Webb/AmigaUpdate
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || bandr@globaldialog.com
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ ||
======================================================================
