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Amiga Update (1997-06-07)
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_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors-
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional Newsletter)
BACK FOR THE FUTURE ||
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AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga International, GmbH
----------------------------------------------------------------------
970607
P E T R O I N A T L A N T A
P . O S P R E R E L E A S E I N J U L Y
A U S T R A L I A N A M I G A S H O W
N E W S O U N D C A R D
L A T E S T V E R S I O N O F S H A P E S H I F T E R
V I D E O T U R T L E
U P D A T E O N U P C O M I N G Y A M
T A E N N O T E S
A A A A W A R D S A P P L I C A T I O N S
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
Some interesting items have come our way in recent days. First, Amiga
International's Petro Tyschtschenko was in the US recently for a visit
to Gateway 2000 headquarters. He also made a guest appearance at the
Atlanta, Georgia, Amiga users' group meeting. We have a report and a
transcript for you.
NewTek Moving?
Another interesting story appeared in a copyrighted article in the
Kansas newspaper the Capital-Journal for June 3. Since it's
copyrighted, we can't run it here but we can tell you about it. The
gist of the story is that NewTek Inc. is considering leaving their
long time Kansas home in Topeka, probably for a location in Texas.
Reasons cited include difficulty in convincing qualified employees to
come to Kansas, and the "not a pro-business" attitude of the state. It
seems unlikely a move would affect the company's products much.
Everyone watching the various "sort-of Amiga" products being
developed will find our announcement from proDAD interesting. Their
Amiga-like p.OS operating system will have a prerelease version
available in July. Details are below.
We have a story on the upcoming Amiga show in Australia. It'll be
held the end of June.
There's product news as well. An interesting new sound card is
available, as is an updated version of "ShapeShifter", the popular
Macintosh software emulator. We found a brief announcement of
something called "the Video Turtle" in the Usenet postings. Find out
more below.
In other news, The Amiga Education Network has picked up steam since
the buyout of Amiga by Gateway 2000, and has provided a press release.
And finally, the AAA awards are upcoming. Applications for association
with the awards system are due soon.
Nothing earthshaking this time around, just a group of stories
showing a forward moving Amiga community. We find that reassuring.
Brad Webb,
Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P E T R O I N A T L A N T A
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Permission Granted to Distribute without Alteration
Atlanta, GA
May 31, 1997
A-I's Petro Tyschtschenko Addresses Amiga Atlanta
----
(Atlanta, Georgia)- The Williams meeting room of the Dunwoody Public
Library was utterly quiet and completely packed. On Saturday May 31, a
standing room only crowd of amost seventy-five Amiga users listened
attentively to hear the first US address on the future of their
favorite computer.
Petro Tyschtschenko, Managing Director of Amiga International
addressed the May General Meeting of Amiga Atlanta, Inc. Just days
before he had met with the Board of Directors of the new owners of the
Amiga platform- Gateway 2000.
Out-of-town attendees almost outnumbered Atlanta members, with some
people traveling from as far as Florida, Alabama, and Dayton Ohio to
hear the news.
In marked contrast to past owners of the Amiga, Petro not only made a
statement (transcribed below) but stayed to answer questions and hear
suggestions from the audience for almost an hour.
Most notible was his call for unity to the Amiga devloper's community
as well as an exciting preview of the new Amiga International's
desires for the future.
Also presenting at the meeting was Scaal Loret, who flew in from New
York to participate. He is a founder of the Jay Miner Society for the
Advancement of Personal Computing. This non-profit group seeks to
enhance individuality by expanding, instead of restricting, user
options in personal computing.
All attendees were in agreement that an historic event had finally
taken place on US soil. After years of emphasis on the European
market, the Amiga was finally, in the words of Petro, "back home
again".
Contact:
Bob Castro.
Vice-President Amiga Atlanta, Inc. User Group
PO Box 49103
Atlanta, GA 30359-1103
Or via email at: bcastro@mindspring.com
---------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Permission Granted to Distribute without Alteration
Atlanta, GA
May 31, 1997
Petro Tyschtschenko's Speech at AAi Meeting Transcript
Here is what Petro Tyschtschencko, Managing Director of Amiga
International had to say during his recent presentation to the Amiga
Atlanta, Inc. User Group (AAi).
----
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for this kind invitation
here to Atlanta. Thank you very much for the invitation.
This is my first event here in the United States, and I'm really
impressed to see all these activities around our Amiga. When I arrived
yesterday midnight, I could already feel the warm hospitality. It is
nice to see that our Amiga platform is gifted by a community of
competent people.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is no longer a secret that we have got a
friend in business -- Gateway 2000, the new home for our Amiga.
Before I continue, first of all I would like to say thank you for your
understanding, for your patience, that you, my friends, have kept
Amiga alive.
It is your success that our wonderful technology, our Amiga, has
survived. With Gateway 2000, we all, and Amiga, I believe, will have a
great and bright future. Gateway 2000 is a well-known, solid and
established company in a computer world. Gateway 2000 is a leading
global marketer of personal computers. Ted Wait, the chairman and CEO,
founded Gateway 2000 in September, 1985. The company is located in
North Sioux City, South Dakota and Gateway 2000 became a public
company in 1993. Today, Gateway 2000 sells more PCs, compatible
systems in the U.S., through direct marketing, than any other company.
Gateway 2000 has a vision: to be the leading marketer of personal
computers, products in the world, and Amiga is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Gateway 2000.
Gateway's mission is to grow the business faster than the competition
by better understanding and serving the desires of the customer. And,
ladies and gentlemen, Amiga is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gateway
2000.
Gateway 2000's values are respect, teamwork, common sense,
effectiveness, aggressiveness, honesty and, of course, fun. And Amiga
is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gateway 2000.
Should I say more? You would like to hear some facts about revenue? No
problem. Revenue up 37% from 1995. 1.9 million Gateway PCs shipped in
1996. Shipments up 43% from `95. Earnings up 47% from `95.
International revenue up 69.5%. I believe, ladies and gentlemen,
there's a bright future for Amiga, for our community and for Amiga
International.
As I mentioned already in London, the basis of my strategy is 3
elements:
Supporting the existing Amiga community. How? That's why I'm here.
Through conventions, through press conferences, and the Internet
(watch www.Amiga.de), meetings, of course, and useful initiatives
coming from the Amiga community.
Second, leveraging the existing Amiga technology through broad
licensing. The basic of success in this project is to work together
with partners to define a common path of development.
The Amiga market cannot afford to split; we must go together.
Together, in one direction. For us to keep the market alive it is
necessary to assist many companies in developing products. Products
through broad licensing. Our licensing policy will be very open,
broad, and of course, simple. Licensing will be focused on standards,
Amiga OS, chip sets, trademarks, boards, etc. Whatever you would like.
The third basic element of the strategy is assisting in developing new
products, based on open standards, through the home computer and video
market. It is very important that we explore an open Amiga platform
and use industry standard components. That would make our products
cheaper to produce, faster to develop, and easier to upgrade.
At this time, we are identifying candidates to manage the R&D
department. Be sure, we will explore the most efficient method of
determining R&D. Amiga's intention is to support the development
community through concepts such as the open Amiga initiative. We will
explore other concepts to bring developers on the platform. We will
explore the development of an Amiga OS upgrade and we will address the
features and functions that are necessary. You can be absolutely sure
that Gateway 2000 will provide resources to reinvigorate the Amiga
marketplace and keep Amiga a profitable subsidiary.
Long live our Amiga and our strong community.
Thank you very much.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P . O S P R E R E L E A S E I N J U L Y
p.OS PreRelease will be available
at the middle of July!
Suggested Retail Price DM 49.00
*********
Ordering information:
The most convenient method of placing an order is to use our
electronic order form located at http://www.schatztruhe.de/order.html.
You can also send an E-Mail to stefano@schatztruhe.de including your
address and the products you wish to order. Please do not forget to
include your credit cards details.
*********
Product Information
Since its first introduction this new operating system, an innovation
started on the Amiga platform, gained tremendous interest from the
Amiga community.
With this prerelease every user gets the opportunity to take a closer
look into the philosophy of p.OS - the operating system which will
soon be available for the Amiga and many other platforms.
The prerelease is a nearly complete operating system at a reduced
introductory price! You may also upgrade this version to the final
release without having to pay more than the difference in price.
For the price of DM 49,00 you'll obtain the p.OS PreRelease on CD ROM
or on floppy disc. And as a special introduction bonus you receive -
for free - additional demos and tools, which demonstrate the abilities
of this operating system. An online tutor introduces you comfortably
and with the greatest of ease to all the technical innovations and
allows you to become immediately familiar with this powerful operating
system.
An excerpt of the features of the prerelease (CD ROM version):
- Complete p.OS workbench
Powerful and comfortable workbench with
* Taskmanager,
* Taskbar,
* polished Drag&Drop- and windows technology
- Powerful p.OS shell
* Many commands with extra options for controlling the DOS
* Comfortable extras like a history slider and Drag&Drop technology
in the
shell make its use absolutely simple.
- Easy to use p.OS filer
Powerful program for organising your files and drives e.g. highly
comfortable
* copying
* viewing
* searching
of files and drives
* Drag&Drop into other tasks like e.g. the shell or picture viewers,
sound
players etc.
- incl. pOS-DOS
fast DOS system with compatibility to AmigaDOS
- incl. demos
- various WB games
- fractal demos
- creation of animations with effects
- picture viewers for different formats e.g.
IFF, JPG, GIF PNG etc.
- PhotoDirectory
- Text viewer
- Guide viewer (compatible to AmigaGuide)
- HTML-Viewer
- complete UNIX emulation with many demos
Available in mid July for only DM 49,-
p.OS PreRelease is distributed worldwide by Schatztruhe GmbH.
System requirements: Amiga with MC68020 or higher, 4MB RAM CD ROM
version: CD ROM drive / harddisk recommended Disk version : Floppy
drive (DD) and harddisk
Restrictions of this version:
- Only usable parallel to Amiga-OS
- therefore in parts limited speed in ECS/AGA modes
- Disks in MAC-OS and MS-DOS format only useable with AMIGA
drivers (but
usable parallel )
- no printed manual, but ONLINE-Guide resp. HTML-Tutor (in the disk
version
because of space limitations without graphics)
p.OS PreRelease is a product of
proDAD Software GbR
Feldelestr. 24
D-78194 Immendingen
Phone: ++49-7462-91134Fax: ++49-7462-74354
E-Mail: huber@prodad.deWWW. http://www.prodad.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E - M A I L T O T H E E - D I T O R
Subject: Your Newsletter
Thanks for the up-dates/newsletter. Nearly all my computer activity is
with an Amiga 3000. I try to up-date my software and support the
people working with the Amiga OS as best as I can. Your "back to the
future" helps a great deal towards that support.
Thanks again.
Burt
(this PC is my computer challenged children's! Except for AOL.)
----
We appreciate the kind words, and the support of the companies who in
turn support the Amiga. It's that sort of concern that's kept the
computer alive, and which Petro Tyschtschenko has been aluding to in
his recent speaches. It's what makes the Amiga community special.
Brad
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A U S T R A L I A N A M I G A S H O W
Australian Amiga Gathering
Press Release: 03/06/97
The Australian Amiga Gathering is Australia's own Amiga expo. Now less
than one month away, AAG-97 is what Australians have been waiting
years for, a dedicated Amiga show. Held on the weekend of June the
28th and 29th, it will be located at the Sydney Showground in the
Exhibition Village.
Some of the Amiga companies that will be represented at AAG-97 are;
Cloanto, Digita, DKB, Draco, Golden Image, GP Software, Haage &
Partner, HiQ Limited, Phase 5 and ProDAD !!
The show will run from 10:00 am to 05:00 pm each day.
For further details check out the web page at
http://www.pnc.com.au/~mother/expo.html
or email the organisers at
mother@pnc.com.au>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W S O U N D C A R D
3 Jun 97
ANNOUNCE: DELFINA LITE - NEW DSP AUDIO CARD FOR GENERAL USE
1. TECH
Delfina Lite is based on Delfina DSP, the world's first general use
multifunctional DSP audio card for Amiga. From the Delfina DSP some
functions have been deleted (serial/parallel ports, memory expansion)
and some functions have been added (multiple sound input, expansion
port). The modern manufacturing allows a very low price: SRP is $299.
Delfina Lite is primarily a DSP audio card, and it is best suited for
producing and recording audio with optional realtime effects. Effects
can be applied on any sound produced by Delfina or external source
transparently, and all the sounds produced by Delfina-capable programs
or external source can be mixed into Delfina's output. Delfina Lite is
also freely programmable for all general computing tasks using the
supplied compiler and libraries.
With the upcoming S/PDIF option Delfina Lite turns your Amiga into a
professional 24-bit computer audio workstation. The optional serial
port adds a new high-speed MIDI-capable serial into your computer with
very little CPU usage.
Features:
- 40 MHz Motorola DSP56002 digital signal processor
* 20 MIPS, upto 120 MOPS
* 24 bit data bus (144 dB dynamic range)
- 96kB (32kWords) SRAM
* Zero-waitstate (12ns)
- Stereo audio codec (Crystal CS4231A)
* Sample frequencies upto 48 kHz at 16 bit
* Three stereo inputs, one stereo output
* All inputs can be mixed with Delfina's output
- Two stereo RCA inputs
- One stereo RCA output
- Internal connector for audio input from CD-ROM
- expansion connector for MIDI-compatible serial port
and 24-bit S/PDIF digital I/O
- Fully programmable using the supplied software
Requirements:
- Amiga with Zorro-II slot (A2000, A3000, A4000)
- AmigaOS 2.04 or higher
- 68020 processor or higher
- about 5MB of hard disk space
2. SUPPORT
Delfina Lite fully supports AHI, the retargetable audio standard for
Amiga. Number of AHI supporting programs is steadily increasing. In
the future, Delfina Lite will also emulate the Toccata card in
software.
In addition to AHI standard, Delfina Lite can run multiple Delfina and
AHI programs at the same time, and various effects can be applied
globally, on a single program output or a single external input, with
all the sounds mixed together at wished levels. Only Delfina's DSP
usage and internal memory set the limits.
Software supporting Delfina includes:
- Octamed SoundStudio
- AudioLab16 for Delfina
- SoundFX
- Digi Booster Pro
- Hippoplayer
- APlayer
- SinED
- Play 16
- ShapeShifter 3.6
.. and many more.
Delfina Lite system software includes:
- AHI (Audio Hardware Interface) driver
* Play&record multiple channel audio
* AHI standard allows you to write software that works
on other audio boards or normal Amiga audio too
- delfina.library
* For basic operations and user's own DSP software
* Supports DSP program multitasking
* Enables audio playback and recording
- DelfPrefs
* Utility to adjust Delfina's parameters
- DelFX
* Multiple realtime effects
* Record and play AIFFstereo samples at 4000-96000 Hz
* Configurable shortcut effect combinations
* Can be used to process input or output of other
programs
- DelfLoad
* Shows DSP usage and other statistics
- MUI 3.8 unregistered version
* licensed for use with Delfina software
- A56
* DSP56002 assembler
* Allows you to write your own DSP programs
- Many example programs including source code
- Software upgrades available for free, at
http://www.sci.fi/~petsoff/ftp
3. MORE INFORMATION
Delfina Lite boards are available for order from June 16th 1997.
WWW site is at http://www.sci.fi/~petsoff
To order, use the WWW order form, or mail to:
Petsoff Limited Partnership
P.O. Box 1009
FIN-53301 LAPPEENRANTA
FINLAND
Distributors sought worldwide.
For ordering questions, please send email to:
petsalo@petsoff.pp.sci.fi (Jyrki Petsalo, marketing)
and for technical questions, please send e-mail to:
suikki@petsoff.pp.sci.fi (Teemu Suikki, hard- and software design)
----
Delfina - Discover the Sound of Power.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
L A T E S T V E R S I O N O F S H A P E S H I F T E R
1 Jun 1997
TITLE
ShapeShifter
VERSION
3.8
AUTHOR
Christian Bauer <cbauer@iphcip1.physik.uni-mainz.de>
DESCRIPTION
ShapeShifter is a multitasking shareware Macintosh-II emulator for
the Amiga and DraCo computers. It allows to run Macintosh software
concurrently to Amiga applications without hardware add-ons or
modifications.
Some of the emulation's features:
- Color display up to 256 colors on AGA Amigas (16 colors on ECS)
and up to 16.7 million colors on graphics cards
- Accelerated graphics with CyberGraphX/Picasso96
- Support for one or two monitors
- No MMU required, even runs on A1200
- Macintosh hard disks can be simulated in Amiga files or Amiga
hard disk partitions
[unregistered version has no hard disk partition support]
- Can use Amiga floppy drives, serial, parallel and SCSI ports
from the Mac
[use of SCSI not possible in unregistered version]
- Mac HD disks can be read directly with an HD floppy drive,
Mac 720K disks can be used with any Amiga floppy drive. To use
Mac 800K disks, you have to own CrossMAC and an original Mac
drive. ShapeShifter also supports the Catweasel controller.
- 8 bit stereo sound output (sound cards supported via AHI)
- Sound input with parallel-port sound digitizers
- Access to Ethernet networks
- Simple networking between two Amigas with PLIP
- Text clipboard sharing between Mac and Amiga
- File handler to access Macintosh volumes from the Workbench
- Speed comparable to a real Mac with equivalent hardware
The most important changes in V3.8:
- The Apple CD300 emulation has been replaced by an integrated
generic
CD-ROM driver.
- 15 and 24 bit modes can now be used under Picasso96.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
OS2.1, 68020 processor, 4MB of RAM, HD floppy drive recommended.
A copy of a Macintosh 512K or 1MB ROM and the Macintosh system
software are not included, but required. The ROM can be read off
of a real Mac by using a supplied program, the system software
can be bought from Apple. Note, however, that reading the ROM is
only legal if you have bought the ROMs or own a real Macintosh.
AVAILABILITY
Aminet sites: /misc/emu/ShapeShifter38.lha
http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bauec002/ShapeShifter3_8.lha
Next Generation BBS, Germany (ShapeShifter support BBS)
Port 1: +49-261-805012 (Zyx19.2/ISDN)
Port 2: +49-261-84280 (V.FC)
PRICING
The requested shareware fee is DM 50,- or US$ 40.
Upon registration you will receive a keyfile that enables the
disabled features (SCSI and hard disk partition support).
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Shareware (DM 50,- or US$ 40 requested)
Bye,
Christian
--
/ Christian Bauer, Max-Planck-Str.60, 55124 Mainz, Germany
\/ WWW homepage: http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bauec002/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
V I D E O T U R T L E
3 Jun 1997
Good News For RGB Monitor Users!!!!
A new product, the VideoTurtle from Turtle Enterprises, is now
available! This product converts RGB known as TV RGB, into S-Video
signals. Replacing the need for an older TV RGB Monitor.
ANY SYSTEM, that outputs TV RGB, can use the VideoTurtle. Some of the
many are:
Sega Genesis/32X/CD-ROM
SNES
Amiga
Atari ST
Neo Geo
Apple IIgs
Laser 128
MSX II/MSX II+
Adam
Commodore 128
TV RGB Monitors(for uses other than computer/video games)
Video Arcade Games, ones that output RGB.
IBM CGA
If interested in the VideoTurtle from Turtle Enterprises, please email
me-ab453@cleveland.freenet.edu
Thank you!
James W. Krych
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T A E N N O T E S
30 May 1997
Now that the Amiga has a new owner and AI can look forward to
operating again, we can expect renewed interest from the education
sector.
This interest has, in fact, already started, as TAEN is now receiving
enquiries regarding the availability of Amiga education software at
the present time.
This is an appeal to all publishers of education software to send me
details of any/all education software that is (i) currently
available from th= em, (ii) that they plan to resuscitate, and/or
(iii) that they are planni= ng for the future.
This information will be used to build up a global Amiga education
software database.
I would also like to hear from any persons who:
(a) Can put me in touch with publishers who appear to have fallen
victim to the Amiga's long absence from the marketplace, but who may
now be able to re-enter the Amiga market (publishers like Australia's
Software and Rush Software, and New Zealand's Lascelles Software, for
example).
(b) Can advise me of any education software (including CD-ROMs) that
th ey have found to be useful, and can recommend.
Finally, TAEN is still looking for National Representatives. Can you
be one? If so, please get in touch with me. Remember to include
details of your background and your association with the Amiga.
Basil Flinter
Convener
THE AMIGA EDUCATION NETWORK (TAEN)
P.O. BOX 353, ARMIDALE
N.S.W, 2350, AUSTRALIA
Voice: +61 67 72-2100
Email: flinter@tpgi.com.au
taen - the amiga education information highway
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A A A A W A R D S A P P L I C A T I O N S
AAA Awards Associate Applications Due
Umeå, Sweden - Sunday, June 1, 1997.
AAA Awards Associate applications are now due in one month.
Application is open for any Amiga user group in the world! Becoming an
associate means YOU get to handle the handing out of a national AAA
Award in YOUR country!
Applying
Download the application at our homepage, http://www.amiga-cg.se/aaaa/
and fill it out. The application must be sent to Amiga Computer Group
by mail, and post stamped by July 1st 1997 (for application within
1997).
For further information, see the AAA Awards homepage or contact AAA
Awards Director Martin Sahlén at martin.sahlen@amiga-cg.se. Further
rules can also be found there.
Take a stand - apply for AAA Awards Association right away!
Supporting
Visit the AAA Awards Homepage and download a AAA Awards Button which
you may include in your own WWW pages.
Updates
All the latest news regarding the AAA Awards will be made official at
the AAA Awards Homepage.
Acknowledgements
The AAA Awards is copyright © 1997 Amiga Computer Group. The AAA
Awards logo is copyright © 1997 Amiga Computer Group and Björn
Hagström. The national and international AAA Awards are copyright ©
1997 Amiga Computer Group.
AMIGA® is a registered trademark of Amiga International, Inc.
More Information
AAA Awards Homepage - http://www.amiga-cg.se/aaaa/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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)
Australian Mirror Site: http://www.comcen.com.au/~paulm/index.html
All back issues available (in ASCII text) at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/index.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1997 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
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/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || Brad Webb/AmigaUpdate
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || bandr@globaldialog.com
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ ||
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