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Amiga Update (1997-05-16)
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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
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970516
A M I G A I N T E R N A T I O N A L W O A S T A T E M E N T
G A T E W A Y 2 0 0 0 W O A A N N O U N C E M E N T
W O A D E V C O N T O M O R R O W !
G A T E W A Y S T O C K S P L I T , R E P U R C H A S E
P H A S E 5 E X P A N D S P O W E R U P
N E W A M I G A P R O M O T I O N G R O U P
C L I C K B O O M A N D P O W E R U P
C L O A N T O A T W O A
A I R M A I L P R O T A K E S F L I G H T
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
Finally! What may be the most anticipated press conference in the
Amiga's history has taken place. Held in London today as a prelude to
the World of Amiga show opening tomorrow, it featured statements by
both Amiga International and Gateway 2000 on their visions of the
Amiga's future. While both statements are short on details, which
shouldn't surprise you, both statements definitely show the companies
do see a future for the Amiga. That wasn't a given, though it has been
the sense of earlier remarks from both groups.
We can't make a lot of definitive conclusions yet, but we do see some
interesting points. First, the Amiga will continue as a computer line
but will also see its technology used in other arenas. That's good
news. Second, assistance in developing products is promised. Finally,
an Open Amiga is envisioned, with the use of industry standard
products. We don't think you need to worry about a "Wintel" Amiga, but
rather we expect to see standard components used to keep the price
down. The heart of the Amiga is its efficient operating system, not
the somewhat out of date custom chips. It does look like AI has some
plans for the chipset, however.
Interestingly, nothing was said about new processor chips. We think
that's significant. It may be that AI hasn't decided on a new Power PC
based Amiga after all. The bad news is there's still a lot of mystery
left to tantalize us all. The good news is, there's a lot of mystery
left to tantalize us all - there might have been none.
There is other news in the Amiga community today, and it all has a
positive twist to it. We have a short announcement on the developers'
conference being held tomorrow as part of the World of Amiga show, for
anyone who might be close enough to attend.
We're all so used to Amiga being associated with companies on the
brink of death that the story below on Gateway's stock may be hard to
believe. Please read it and enjoy it, it's real.
Phase5 apparently thinks there's a future for Power PC in the Amiga
community. We have an announcement below of expanded plans they've
recently made public.
We've been watching a little known Amiga collaboration for some time.
Called the ARise Initiative, it has given birth to a new Amiga
promotion organization. You'll find details below. We find it
interesting that this organization is apparently referred to in the
Amiga International WOA statement.
We have some interesting product news also. clickBOOM, owners of one
of the best game company names in any computer community, have come
out strongly in support of Power PC Amigas. Cloanto, makers of the top
Amiga paint program, have their own news to announce at WOA. And the
Air Mail program from Toysoft is now available in a Pro version.
Today, the future looks bright.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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A M I G A I N T E R N A T I O N A L W O A S T A T E M E N T
Amiga International, Inc.
Press Conference London, May 16, 1997
Petro Tyschtschenko:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests. I am looking around and I
see a lot of people I know. People who have long experience with our
AMIGA products and people who support AMIGA. It is nice to see that
the AMIGA platform is gifted by a community of competent people.
These strengths are going to be of critical importance for the success
of the plans of AMIGA International, which I am going to explain to
you later. Anyway, I am happy to see you all and I would like to
welcome you on this press event. I believe there is a bright future
for AMIGA International, Inc.
Let me just explain a few details of importance, so that you can have
a better understanding of what has happened to AMIGA since the
Commodore days.
Escom AG acquired AMIGA in April 1995. During this time, an effort was
made to revitalize the AMIGA market, however Escom went into financial
difficulties and filed for bankruptcy on July 15th, 1996. During this
time, an effort was made to develop products, but due to financial
difficulties, there has not been any significant amount of new product
development by AMIGA over the past couple of years. Since filing for
bankruptcy, we have been trying to keep the marketplace alive through
inventory sales by the trustee.
However, it has truly been AMIGA community that has kept AMIGA alive
through the development of products based on newer technology and
software application developments.
Now that AMIGA is owned by a successful company - Gateway 2000 - there
is a bright future.
· Gateway 2000 is a solid and well established company in the computer
industry
· Gateway 2000 has consistently been honored with awards for products
and service
· Gateway 2000 is the right partner to give AMIGA new life and energy
for the future.
AMIGA International was formed as a US based company in March, 1997 to
acquire the assets of AMIGA Technologies GmbH. AMIGA International
will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Gateway 2000.
Over the past month, we have been very busy finalizing the
acquisition, performing due diligence, setting up operations in
Germany and communicating with the AMIGA community. We have a new
office in Langen, next to the Frankfurt airport and I am happy to
report to you that we are operational again. In Langen, we will have
three people handling sales, marketing and general administration. We
will be running at the beginning of June.
Since early April, we have four employees in Braunschweig that are
taking care of logistics and warehousing, order processing and
customer support, Internet support as well as technical service.
Finally, we are in the process of identifying an individual to manage
new product development and R&D.
What are we going to concentrate on?
Implementing our strategy.
1. Supporting the existing AMIGA community
2. Leveraging the existing AMIGA technology through broad licensing
3. Assisting in developing new products based on open standards to the
home computer and video/graphics market.
How will we support the community that has kept AMIGA alive?
Through conventions, press conferences, via the Internet, meetings and
all useful initiatives coming from the AMIGA community. I have already
been to conventions in Germany and in Sweden and will entertain any
suggestions.
Continuing to sell to the distributor network that has supported
AMIGA.
Working with developers through concepts such as the "Open AMIGA
Initiative" that is being formed with the support of many of the
prominent names in the AMIGA community.
The basics of success in this project is to work together with
partners and to define a common path of development. The AMIGA market
can not afford a split, we must go together into one direction.
For us to keep the market alive it is neccessary to assist many
companies in developing products through broad licensing. Our
licensing policy will be very open, broad and focus on licensing and
standard O/S, Chipsets and the trademarks. Also, licensing will allow
the AMIGA to be spread to many different embedded applications in
field such as medical solutions, simulation applications, fitness
equipment, irrigation systems and kiosk terminals. Of course, we are
looking for new partners.
Through licensing and focused R&D managed by AMIGA International, we
plan to assist the market place in developing new products for the
AMIGA.
We are currently exploring many of the possible new products that have
been suggested including such things as an operating system upgrade
and new hardware platforms. We would like to keep the procedure as
simple as possible. We need to talk with the technology companies from
the AMIGA business and exchange know-how. It is also important that we
explore an open AMIGA platform, use industry standard components to
make it cheaper to produce, faster to develop and easier to
upgrade.These things need to happen quickly, but in a very managed
fashion. With this strategy and the support of the AMIGA community and
Gateway 2000, we are convinced there is a bright future for the AMIGA.
That, ladies and gentlemen, concludes our presentation for today. Jim
Taylor and myself will be available for MEDIA interviews.
We hope that all of you will visit us at our booth, at the WORLD OF
AMIGA conference.
Thank you very much for your attention".
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G A T E W A Y 2 0 0 0 W O A A N N O U N C E M E N T
Amiga International, Inc.: Gateway 2000 Info, May 16, 1997
AMIGA International Acquistion Finalized
HAMMERSMITH, London, U.K., May 16, 1997 - AMIGA International, Inc., a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Gateway 2000, Inc. (Nasdaq: GATE), has
finalized the acquisition of the assets of AMIGA Technologies.
The announcement was made at a news conference prior to the opening of
the World of Amiga conference in Hammersmith, London on Saturday, May
17 and Sunday, May 18.
"We have received many communications from the AMIGA user community
regarding the acquisition", said Jim Taylor, Senior Vice President of
Global Marketing of Gateway 2000. "It is exciting to know how much
support AMIGA continues to enjoy. Every AMIGA customer should know
that we share their belief in this product and we believe that it has
a strong role in our multimedia computing world".
Taylor was joined at the news conference by Petro Tyschtschenko,
Managing Director of AMIGA International.
"The AMIGA platform is gifted by a community of talented people", said
Tyschtschenko. "These strenghts will be of critical importance for the
success of the plans of AMIGA International".
Tyschtschenko outlined areas that AMIGA International is exploring to
reinvigorate the AMIGA market by:
· Supporting the existing AMIGA community
· Leveraging the existing AMIGA technology through broad licensing
· Assisting in developing new products based on open standards to the
home computer and video/graphics market.
AMIGA International, Inc. will operate as a seperate business unit of
Gateway 2000. AMIGA International currently has operations in
Braunschweig, Germany for Logistics and Service activities and has
opened new offices near the Frankfurt airport in Langen, Germany where
Sales and Marketing are located. AMIGA International can be reached on
the World Wide Web at www.amiga.de.
About Gateway 2000
Gateway 2000, Inc., a Fortune 500 company founded in 1985, is a global
leader in the direct marketing of PCs. The company, headquartered in
North Sioux City, South Dakota, has manufacturing facilities in the
United States, Ireland and Malaysia, and employs over 9,700 people
worldwide. Gateway 2000 products and services consistently win top
awards from leading industry publications. In 1996, the company
shipped 1.9 million systems and reported revenues of $5 billion and
net income of $250 million.
About AMIGA
Since the introduction of the AMIGA 1000 in 1985, AMIGA has
represented the embodiment of the efficient use of memory and hard
drive capacity, while pioneering industry developments in multimedia,
32-bit multitasking and autoconfiguration. AMIGA led the industry in
combining computer graphics, animation, and film sequences with stereo
sound known today as multimedia.
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W O A D E V C O N T O M O R R O W !
11 May 1997
The Developers Conference will be held at 5:30pm on Saturday 17th May,
at the "Salon Bourg" in the Novotel, following that days closing of
the exhibitors room. The meeting is expected to last about 2 hours.
The meeting will be chaired by Kermit Woodall of Nova Design who as
some people may know was also responsible for the extremely successful
conference at Amiga Gateway '97.
There will of course be no charge for entry, however since this event
is being funded by the nice folks in the AmigaSOC users group and we
would greatly appreciate any contributions as this would help us in
reclaiming some of their costs towards arranging this event.
Further details are available from our website
(http://www.qmw.ac.uk/~amiga/dev2news.html).
Andrew Elia (AmigaSoc) and Kermit Woodall (Nova Design)
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G A T E W A Y S T O C K S P L I T , R E P U R C H A S E
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Company Also Heading To New York Stock Exchange
North Sioux City, S.D., May 15, 1997 - Gateway 2000 (Nasdaq: GATE)
today announced a two-for-one stock split of its common shares, a
share repurchase program and an impending move to the New York Stock
Exchange.
At the Company's annual shareholders' meeting in Sioux City, Ted
Waitt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, told shareholders that
the Board of Directors has authorized a two-for-one stock split to
shareholders of record on June 2, 1997. The distribution is expected
to occur on or about June 16, 1997. Since its initial public offering
in December of 1993, Gateway's shares have appreciated more than 300%.
"The stock split," according to Waitt, "will improve the liquidity and
should help improve the stability of our trading patterns for all our
shareholders, particularly the larger institutional holders." As of
May 7, 1997, Gateway has approximately 77 million shares outstanding.
Upon completion of the split, the number will increase to
approximately 154 million shares. The Gateway 2000 Board of Directors
has also authorized a stock repurchase program under which the company
may purchase up to 10 million shares (adjusted for stock split) of
common stock in open market or negotiated transactions. Shares
repurchased will be available for issuance to employees under the
company's stock-based employee benefit plans. According to Waitt,
"Recently, we have seen occasions when the stock seemed undervalued in
the market. We have a great deal of confidence in the company and, if
the right opportunities present themselves, repurchasing some of the
outstanding shares is one of the best investments we could make at
this time."
Gateway also announced that its common stock has been accepted for
listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and expects to begin
trading on the Big Board under the new symbol GTW on Thursday, May 22,
1997.
Waitt said, "We believe the company and its shareholders will benefit
from this move to the NYSE. This change should provide lower
transaction costs and result in a more efficient market for the stock.
While Gateway's stock on the Nasdaq has performed well over the last
three years by dealer market standards, we have reached the point
where listing on the NYSE will deliver substantial benefits to our
company and shareholders."
NYSE President and Chief Operating Officer William R. Johnston,
addressing shareholders at the Sioux City meeting, called the addition
of Gateway 2000 to the Big Board a tremendous move for both the
company and the Exchange. "Gateway 2000 is one of America's best
business stories," said Johnston. "Their move to the New York Stock
Exchange underscores the leadership positions both organizations enjoy
in their respective fields."
In other news, shareholders reelected Ted Waitt, Chase Carey and Jim
McCann to the Board of Directors.
Waitt told the 250 shareholders gathered for the meeting that the
company intended to pursue an aggressive global growth strategy in
1997. Specifically, the company considers the major account and
portables business to be significant opportunities over the course of
the year. Waitt referred to new data from one of the industry's
leading research firms that named Gateway 2000 as the leader in brand
loyalty, repurchase intentions and the education sector as indicative
of the momentum the company has generated over the first quarter of
the year.
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P H A S E 5 E X P A N D S P O W E R U P
phase 5 digital products expands the PowerUp product line
Oberursel, May 12, 1997: phase 5 digital products today announced the
expansion of the PowerUp product family for Amiga computers. Beside
the two products that had been announced earlier, the Cyberstorm PPC
and the Blizzard 603e Power Board, there will be an additional model
for the A12000, the Blizzard 603e+ Power Board, which combines the
PowerPC RISC processor with an 68040 or 68060 CPU, as well as a model
for the Amiga 1500/2000, the Blizzard 2604 Power Board. Additionally,
it has been decided that all PowerUp board will come with SCSI on
board instead of beeing an option, which adds additional value to
these products.
With this expanded product line, phase 5 digital products offers a
complete line of PowerUp accelerators for the Amiga 1200, 1500/2000,
3000 and 4000 models, and provides a smooth upgrade path for owners of
68030-, 68040- or 68060-based accelerators. Additionally, phase 5 will
release a fast graphics card as an add-on to those PowerUp models that
go into the desktop and tower models, namely the Cyberstorm PPC and
the Blizzard 2604 Power Board. The 1997 PowerUp accelerator product
line includes the follwoing models:
Cyberstorm PPC
The Cyberstorm PPC accelerator is the high-end PowerUp accelerator for
Amiga 3000/4000(T) systems and systems with a compatible processor
slot. It features a high-performance PowerPC604e RISC processor in
different clock speeds and a socket for either a 68040 or a 68060
processor, a memory expansion option for up to 128 MByte of ultra-fast
64-bit memory, a Wide-Ultra-SCSI controller on board and an expansion
slot for high-performance expansions such as the CyberVisionPPC (see
below). This board is ideally suited for all A3000/A4000 users who
already own an accelerator with either a 68040 or 68060 processor; for
Cyberstorm users it will be the PowerUp upgrade offer.
Blizzard 603e Power Board
The Blizzard 603e Power Board is the inexpensive PowerUp accelerator
for Amiga 1200 systems. It features a high-performance PowerPC603e
RISC processor @ 175 MHz clock speed and a socket for a 68030
companion processor @ 50 MHz, a memory expansion option for up to 64
MByte of high-speed memory, and a Fast-SCSI-II controller on board.
This board is ideally suited for all A1200 users who already own an
accelerator with a socketed 68030 processor; for Blizzard 1230-II,
Blizzard 1230-III and Blizzard 1230-IV users it will be the PowerUp
upgrade offer.
Blizzard 603e+ Power Board
The Blizzard 603e+ Power Board is the high-end PowerUp accelerator for
Amiga 1200 systems. It features a high-performance PowerPC603e RISC
processor @ 200 MHz clock speed and a socket for a 68040 or 68060
companion processor, a memory expansion option for up to 64 MByte of
high-speed memory, and a Fast-SCSI-II controller on board. This board
will be ideally suited for all A1200 users who already own an
accelerator with a 68040 or 68060 processor; for Blizzard 1240T/ERC
and Blizzard 1260 users it will be the PowerUp upgrade offer.
Blizzard 2604e Power Board
The Blizzard 2604e Power Board is the high-end PowerUp accelerator for
Amiga 2000 (in the UK Amiga 1500) systems. It features a
high-performance PowerPC604e RISC processor and a socket for either a
68040 or a 68060 companion processor, a memory expansion option for up
to 128 MByte of ultra-fast 64-bit memory, a Wide-Ultra-SCSI controller
on board and an expansion slot for high-performance expansions such as
the CyberVisionPPC (see below). This board is ideally suited for all
A1500/A2000 users who already own an accelerator with either a 68040
or 68060 processor; for Blizzard 2040/2060 users it will be the
PowerUp upgrade offer.
For information on technical specifications of the PoerUp accelerator
product family, refer to the PowerUp Specifications
CyberVisionPPC - A high-end graphic card for use with the Cyberstorm
PPC and the Blizzard 2604 Power Board
The CyberVisionPPC is a high-performance graphic card which can be
installed on the expnasion slot of the PowerPC604e-based PowerUp
Accelerators, the Cyberstorm PPC and the Blizzard 2604 Power Board. It
is scheduled for delivery in August, and will become available
simultaneously with the Blizzard 2604 Power Board. Especially for the
Blizzard 2604 the use of the CyberVisionPPC is highly recommended as
the slow access to the ECS chip memory or Zorro-II-based graphics
boards in the A1500/A2000 may limit the system performance in
applications with lots of graphic output; but also the performance of
the Cyberstorm PPC will benefit significantly from the data transfer
rates of up to 100 MB/s (from the processor into the video memory) in
demanding applications such as fast 3D visualization and similar
tasks.
Not only the ultra-fast access of the processor into the video memory,
but also the internal performance of the CyberVisionPPC will provide a
breathtaking performance. The CyberVisionPPC is equipped with the
powerful PERMEDIA graphics controller, which provides an outstanding
3D performance of up to 42 million textured 3D pixels per second, with
hardware-accelerated rendering functions such as z-buffering,
gouraud-shading, fogging, blending and anti-aliasing. As the design of
the PERMEDIA hardware suits perfectly for OpenGL implementations, it's
3D performance can support the CyberGL functionality of CyberGraphX V3
Native which comes along with the PowerUp boards. In combination with
the high floating-point performance of the PowerPC604e processor a
breathtaking performance in professional 3D applications can be
achieved by this implementation. Additionally, the PERMEDIA processor
supports functions like color space conversion, chroma keying and
XY-scaling which will be used by the software MPEG decoding routines
of CyberGraphX V3 Native.
The CyberVisionPPC used 64-bit wide SGRAM with a data transfer rate of
up to 660 MB/s; this in combination with the fast RAM-DAC allows
display resolutions of up to 1280x1024 pixel in true color mode and
with a high refresh rate of at least 70 Hz. The boards comes along
with 4 MB of display memory as standard. The recommended price for the
CyberVisionPPC will be at UK Pound 219.00; customers of a PowerUp
upgrade can buy this board for a special rate of UK Pound 189.00. In
the USA the recommended price for the CyberVisionPPC will be at US$
299.00; customers of a PowerUp upgrade can buy this board for a
special rate of US$ 239.00.
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N E W A M I G A P R O M O T I O N G R O U P
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 May 1997
The Jay Miner Society for Independent Computing
140 West 24th St., NY, NY 10011, USA.
THE AMIGA INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL AND THE OPEN AMIGA WORKGROUP (ICOA)
For the past nine months, an international cross section of Amiga
developers, original Amiga and Commodore veterans and informed Amiga
users (The ARise Initiative), have been discussing, debating,
analysing and deliberating over the future of the Amiga platform.
This culminated in the creation of the Industry Council/Open Amiga
working group (ICOAWG), a formal project built around the two most
promising ideas to come from the study.
The Industry Council proposes a co-operative forum of serious Amiga
designers and developers, providing them with a forum in which they
can debate, create and plan for the future of the platform as a single
set of focused concerns rather than competing against each other and
wasting time and resources re-inventing the wheel.
The Open Amiga is seen as one of the by-products of the Industry
Council. First, it would work towards the establishment of a common
set of Open API's, protocols and specifications. Secondly it would
lobby for the creation of a shrink-wrapped Amiga operating system that
could run potentially on any platform, platform specific HALs
(Hardware Abstraction Layers) providing the translations that would
allow Open AmigaOS to run on disparate systems.
A week ago, the formal project proposal was dispatched to Gateway for
their consideration and inclusion in their future plans for the Amiga.
We are pleased to announce that Gateway favorably responded to the
outreach by the ICOA, without endorsing ICOA or any strategy thus far
offered.
This weekend, at the World of Amiga show in London, representatives of
ICOA workgroup will be giving a presentation at the Amiga Society's
Developers Conference (DEVCON), on Saturday. If you are an Amiga
Developer, please attend. If you are an Amiga User, please stop by at
the Finale Developments booth at WOA. They have kindly offered us a
space to present the ICOA initiative. We look forward to seeing you
there.
For any further information please contact the project manager, Fleecy
Moss at fleecy@netreach.net
Skal Loret
Director of Communications
The Jay Miner Society for The Advancement of Personal Computing
skal@nac.net
The Industry Council Open Amiga Initiative (ICOA) is sponsored and
supported by the Jay Miner Society for The Advance of Personal
Computing. A non-profit society incorporated in the State of New York.
JMS has no economic association with any company, nor does the JMS
specifically endorse any Amiga-oriented Companies, Products or
Commercial Concerns.
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C L I C K B O O M A N D P O W E R U P
clickBOOM Supports Power Up
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, May 5, 1997: PXL computers and clickBOOM are proud to
announce a cooperation with Phase 5 Digital Products on making games
for Power Amiga.
"We strongly believe that the future for the Amiga computer lies in
PowerPC processor. Furthermore, we believe Phase 5 is and will
continue to be the Amiga hardware leader. Therefore, we have selected
Power Amiga as our future platform of choice", says Alexander
Petrovic, PXL and clickBOOM producer.
Appropriately enough, the first ever Power Amiga game will be Myst
from clickBOOM. It is a perfect opportunity for Myst and PowerUp
accelerators to appear at the same time. Following Myst, other forth
coming clickBOOM "killer games" will be fully optimized for the
PowerPC chip, as well.
Phase 5 Digital Products highly appreciates the development of Myst
for the PowerUp accelerators and the plans of clickBOOM to add PowerUp
support to more titles in the future. "We are happy to see how engaged
clickBOOM has realized all their ambitious projects in the past, and
we are excited that their new projects will be targeted for the
PowerUp accelerators" says Wolf Dietrich of phase 5. "Beside all the
demanding creativity software that we expect to come for the PowerUp
boards, it's good to see powerful games with the real thrill coming
also soon. What would such a powerhorse Amiga be without some
breathtaking amusement? Still fast, but less fun... It's really
impressive and good to see that clickBOOM is in the front line of
visionary development for a new performance dimension."
Support for Power Amigas will have several distinct advantages:
1. It will give users a valid reason to upgrade as soon as PowerPC
boards become available.
2. New clickBOOM games written for Power Amiga will be breathtaking
and a serious competition to the games on other platforms. This in
return, will make the rest of the industry look very positively on the
Amiga market.
3. Impressive CPU power will allow clickBOOM a technical freedom to
convert any big game from other platforms to the Power Amiga.
The exact timeline of clickBOOM Power Amiga releases is still to be
decided. Currently, clickBOOM's strategy can be outlined in two steps:
1. Starting with Myst, a couple of forth coming projects will support
both 680x0 and PowerPC chip.
2. ClickBOOM will use this transitional period to work on a first
Power Amiga-only "killer" game. After its release, all the following
games will be Power Amiga-only.
For more information about our future strategy visit clickBOOM web
site at www.clickboom.com
We hope you like our plan and share our vision. Naturally, for the
Power Amiga to ultimately succeed we need your support and input. As
always, please feel free to contact us at info@clickboom.com
Best regards,
PXL computers and clickBOOM
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C L O A N T O A T W O A
Cloanto Launches Personal Paint 7.1 at World of Amiga Show in London
After weeks of sleepless nights, we have the pleasure to announce that
the Personal Paint 7.1 package will be launched at the World of Amiga
show in London this week-end. The new CD-ROM not only contains the
first Amiga PowerPC code ever shipped (excluding developer tools), but
also adds dozens of new features, including:
o Finely-tuned 68000, 68020, 68030 and 68040 editions of Personal
Paint 7.1
o New Rexx scripts, including text animation and animation paths
o Improved blitter emulation and support of third-party
graphics.library enhancements to store bitmaps in Fast RAM instead
of Chip RAM
o Improved support for environments like Siamese RTG, UAE, PowerPC and
popular Amiga utilities
o Loads TIM graphics directly from Sony PlayStation CDs, with extended
TIM saving options for developers
o New user interface languages (now totalling 16 languages)
o Improved and extended manuals (in English, German and Italian)
o Cloanto Internet graphics DataTypes (GIF, JPEG, PNG and XBM)
o GIF utilities by third parties
o Special bonus: Cloanto ColorType 3.1 software
Some of these enhancements, including a free upgrade of the main
program from version 7.0 to version 7.1, will be released on Aminet in
the "biz/cloan" directory immediately after the show. For additional
information, please write to info@cloanto.com, or visit the Cloanto
"Web Workbench" at http://www.cloanto.com/amiga/.
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A I R M A I L P R O T A K E S F L I G H T
12 May, 1997
Availability: Mid May, 1997
Toysoft Development Inc. the makers of the only commercial email
program for the Amiga has announced the release of Air Mail Pro for
Magic User Interface (MUI) and Class Act environments.
Air Mail Pro is a powerful and yet easy to use Internet email program
for sending and receiving messages using SMTP and POP protocols. Air
Mail Pro has all the features of the original version plus more.
New features in Air Mail Pro includes: more preferences are added for
user customization, log file to keep track of all incoming and
outgoing messages, new interface for composing messages, multiple
ASCII signatures, automatically get notified when a user receives your
message (only works if both users are using Air Mail Pro), additional
forms are included, import and export Address book, supports multiple
email accounts. A new Helper preference has been added to support MIME
formatted messages. Air Mail Pro can now display any types of pictures
eg: GIF, IFF, JPEG or PNG or play any types of sounds eg: IFF, AU or
WAVE and animations such as MPEG, CDXL, AVI or Quicktime using the
external helper programs.
Both MUI and ClassAct version are identical in features and can be
installed on the same system without any conflicts. The MUI version
requires MUI v3.2 or higher and the ClassAct version includes all the
BOOPSI libraries, a minimum of one meg of free RAM is recommended
after TCP/IP stack is loaded.
Air Mail Pro is compatible with AmiTCP, Miami, TermiteTCP and Mlink.
Air Mail Pro is $40.00 US plus $5.00 US for shipping and handling in
North America and $7.00 US for shipping and handling worldwide. Please
state the MUI or ClassAct version when ordering.
Registered users of Air Mail v4.2 MUI version will automatically be
given free upgrade thru email. If you have not gotten your free
upgrade please contact Toysoft Development Inc. All other registered
users of Air Mail can upgrade to Air Mail Pro MUI or ClassAct version
for $15.00 US plus $5.00 US for shipping and handling in North America
and $7.00 US for shipping and handling worldwide. Also contact Toysoft
Development Inc. for competitive upgrades.
For more information please contact:
Toysoft Development Inc.
131 - 64 Ave N. W.
Calgary Alberta
T2K 0L9 Canada
Tel: 1-403-680-1656
Email: toysoft@spots.ab.ca
WWW: http://www.spots.ab.ca/~toysoft
Danny Wong
Toysoft Development Inc.
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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
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Copyright 1997 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
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