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Amiga Update (1997-11-28)
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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 Gateway 2000, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
971128
R E P O R T F R O M C O L O G N E " C O M P U T E R 9 7 "
I N D E X " A C C E S S " A V A I L A B L E N O W
S P E E C H B Y N E W T E K ' S J E N N I S O N
I C O A U S E R R E P N O M I N A T I O N S
G R O U P B A C K S S T A N D A R D J A V A
" O S N E W S " W I L L C O V E R A M I G A O S
S I M M F O N I E T O P O W E R S O L U T I O N S
M A S T E R I S O V 2 . 0 D E M O
S T U D I O 2 A I F F V E R S I O N 2 . 1
T I G E R ' S B A N E F R O M L O N G B O W
T H E A M I G A I N F O R M E R A N N E X !
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
Sometimes issues take on a focus all their own. Without planning it,
this issue of "Amiga Update" developed a focus on the future of the
Amiga. We have three interesting items from the important "Computer
97" show held recently in Cologne. First are two reports from
attendees, who share their impressions with us. Then, in the "Amiga
Informer Annex" we have an insider's summary of the speech to
developers by Amiga Incorporated's top man, Jeff Schindler.
If that isn't enough, we have items on the future direction of Java,
which may prove very important to the Amiga down the road, and
recognition from "OS News" that the Amiga is undergoing a rebirth.
There's also a report on a key speech by "NewTek's" leader Tim
Jennison. Maybe a second focus for this issue is speeches?
To round things out, there are product announcements as well as
reviews in the "Amiga Informer Annex" section.
Oregon Research on the ropes:
=============================
We received the latest edition of the "Oregon Research News" today. On
reading it, we realized it could be the last. The company, which sells
its own products and HiSoft products in the US, may not last past the
new year according to owner Bob Luneski. Market downturns have forced
them to shrink to a fraction of their former size. The frank and
moving newsletter apologizes for past service problems caused by the
downsizing, and asks for nothing more than people who want their
products to order them now. The idea is to stay afloat until new Amiga
sales can again bring in new customers. One way to look at it is like
this - it may be your last chance to obtain the products they sell.
Contact them at (503) 620-4919 or write to Oregon Research, 16200
S.W. Pacific Hwy., Suite 162, Tigard, OR 97224. Visit their web site
at www.ores.com/~ores.
Despite that unpleasant thought, things are looking up as this issue
shows. Even the "Oregon Research News" notes the Amiga's future looks
good. We hope they make it there to enjoy it with the rest of us.
We also hope you have fun with this issue.
Brad Webb,
Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-MAIL TO THE E-DITOR:
Hi Brad Thank you for putting my WipeWorks in your news letter {issue
971114}, I do appreciate it. For some reason I didn't see either one
of my phone numbers or my E-Mail adress I sure did miss them them they
were on the bottom under the We Take Requests section. 813-345-6283
813-384-9414 vtoaster@gte.net
Is there anything we can do?
The CD is Shipping Now.
Thanks for all your help
Dan Salafia
------
Happy to run them with this issue Dan. Good luck with your product!
Brad
----------------------------------------------------------------------
R E P O R T F R O M C O L O G N E " C O M P U T E R 9 7 "
17 Nov 1997
By Richard Koerber
The most important booths are Amiga International, Phase 5 and
Haage&Partner. Then there are also ProDAD, VillageTronic, Micronic and
RBM. Else, there are only some retailer booths (more or less known).
News
----
Phase 5 presented WildFire PPC, and some other PPC products. I was
most impressed when they played some MPEG anims as Workbench backdrop!
8-) Also there is a pretty cool WYSIWYG LaTeX editor announced at the
booth, but they have nothing to do with Phase 5.
Haage&Partner showed the StormC and PageStream 3.3, and also announced
their Java port on a poster (but there was no presentation).
ProDAD: pOS is currently ported to other systems.
VillageTronic presented the Picasso IV, which is really impressive.
At the Micronik booth, an intelligent PC/Amiga switch was presented.
So you will only need one monitor, one keyboard and one mouse for
both systems.
At the Reflections booth, they played a video sequence. It was a Star
Trek against Star Wars fight. Funny, but the Enterprise was in a bad
shape at the ending. ;-)
Amiga International (yes, I know you were waiting for this one ;)
presented MakeCD, Miami V3, Siamese, two new Amiga boards and some
other items. The "new" boards are still the good old AGA machines,
only new PCBs. One was in my opinion quite ready for a pizza box, with
only one Zorro slot (even no CPU slot). The other one has the size of
a 5,25" slot. It was fitted in a kind of tower where you usually only
put four SCSI devices into.
On Sunday, I found an Amiga 5000. It wasn't actually running, but the
tower case was openend and layed to its side, so you could easily have
a look into its guts.
The Amiga 5000 and 6000 are both AGA based machines. The Amiga 5000
was designed to have a 68030/50 processor, but after the feedback DCE
got at the fair, it will finally have a 68040/25 or 68040/40. The
Amiga 6000 will use an 68060/50. There is a special expansion slot,
which is prepared for Zorro II/Zorro III daugtherboards, but could
also use PCI in future releases.
I heard a rumour that DCE will also build an Amiga 7000, which will
use an 68060/50 and a PowerPC. But AFAIK, there is no official
statement from DCE, so it should really be considered as a rumour.
There were also some Amiga based info kiosks shown at the Amiga booth.
Unfortunately, they seemed to use a standard TV resolution. What I
mean is: the picture flickered! It looked rather cheap compared to a
PC based kiosk. ;-(
The conference
--------------
I finally managed to get an invitation to the Amiga Developer
Conference which was held Friday at 7PM. After some introducing words
of Mr. Tyschtschenko, Jeff Schindler presented something they called
"road map". In fact, he only presented the survey results from the
last conference, and told the audience about the visions they have
about the Amiga. The only announcement was that an AmigaOS 3.5 will be
sold somewhen in 1998 (Jeff intentionally didn't mention a certain
month). It will have Internet functions, support big HDD and also have
some bugs fixed.
A positive thing was that the financing of Amiga is secured up to the
year 2000, including all advertisements. :-)
After the announcements of Petro at the Italian fair, I expected by
far more from it.
>>RELATED STORY<<
{We found this item posted to the Amiga newsgroups. It provides
another point of view and adds a few items. Brad}
First Report from the Cologne Computer '97 Show By Joachim
Sondermann-Bieker
Hi all!
I was able to have a little chat with Petro Tyschtschenko during the
Computer 97 Amiga fair in Cologne. Here's what he said in brief:
* New Amigas shall be aggressively priced to broaden the user base,
both in the home sector and the professional sector. T. gave a figure
of 400 Mark (around $230) for an entry level Amiga to 1500 Mark
(approx. $870) for the top machine. (Rem: I'm not sure how complete
such a machine can be. T. remained vague about whether you would have
to add some components to get a really decent Amiga, e.g. HD, Gfx
board or so)
* New Amigas shall be developed by Amiga Inc., USA, but not
necessarily manufactured by Amiga itself. Instead, Amiga International
is supposed to licence new developed items to whoever. Under a
"powered by Amiga" label there shall be a variety of manufacturers
that actually build Amigas. Amiga Intl.will see that certain standards
and compatibility is maintained.
* There is no decision yet which CPU shall be used in the new Amiga
line.Tyschtschenko made a pretty surprising statement: He would like
most a Motorola 68060 or 68080 at 200 MHz in a new Amiga. He pointed
out the advantage of being able to use a simple OS upgrade from 3.x
instead of a complete rewrite. He didn't elaborate whether Motorola
would be willing to build such a beast. Another option,
processor-wise, would be some sort of cooperation with Phase5 (and the
PPC board).
Besides, Tyschtschenko said pretty good about the work with Gateway
executives. Amiga sales were going up. All in all he displayed lots of
optimism though he didn't disregard possible dangers. AI stated
earlier that new Amigas were not to be expected before sometime late
in 1998. Maybe OS 3.5 will be out in the middle of the year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I N D E X " A C C E S S " A V A I L A B L E N O W
HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND -- 24 November 1997 -- Index Information Ltd is
proud to announce that the first production Access computer
successfully powered into life on 12 November 1997.
Index Information Ltd have been developing a new range of computer
designs based around the Amiga AGA Chip Set and AmigaOS V3.1 Operating
System for over 2 years. After extensive research and development,
prototyping, pre-production and user trials we are now shipping the
"Access", the first all new Licensed Amiga in volume production in the
Western World.
Mick Tinker, Managing Director of Index Information Ltd; "We have been
concentrating on corporate applications for the Amiga for many years.
Corporate applications cover a wide range of fields such as kiosks,
training & education, presentations, advertising, video production,
embedded machine controllers with interactive control interfaces,
Scala script players, etc. In general the wide range of applications
and the often-substantial volumes they achieve are not well known to
the general public, the producers preferring to concentrate on their
solution, rather than the underlying technology. The Access is the
first product to be specifically designed to address this market."
Those able to attend the Computer '97 exhibition will have had the
opportunity to see a production Access working on the Amiga
International Inc., stand.
The Access is a completely new design from the ground up, not a
repackaged A1200 or A4000. It incorporates the core Amiga Chips;
Alice, Paula and Denise, and 8520 CIA's. Many other chips seen in
older Amiga designs, such as the Gayle, Budgie, Akiko, Bridgette and
Gary chips have been replaced by a fresh new chip design which offers
the benefits of modern techniques and technological advances. An
example of the benefits this bestows on the product is a 30 percent
increase in processor access speed to CHIP memory.
The production Revision 1.3 motherboard has additional features that
will broaden its appeal and satisfy a wider range of application
needs. The most obvious is the introduction of an option for the
68EC030 processor running at 28MHz to fitted at manufacture, boosting
the performance of the base machine. Support has also been added for a
combined MPEG1/Genlock unit that is currently at the prototype stage.
Full details about the product can be found at the company's web site
at http://www.cix.co.uk/~index
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S P E E C H B Y N E W T E K ' S J E N N I S O N
As reported by Joe Tracy, Editor in Chief "NewTekniques" Magazine
This is a detailed report on the speech given by Tim Jenison at The
Lively Computer in San Diego for the San Diego Professional Video
Toaster Users Group.
Date of speech: Thursday, November 13, 1997
---
Mr. Jenison began the evening by talking about NewTek's move to
Topeka. One of his opening remarks was:
"Yeah, we just moved from Topeka to San Antonio. Now I don't want to
be one of these 'Topeka Sucks' ya know guys, but let me tell you
something... Topeka sucks."
He stated NewTek moved to Texas because they could not hire more
people in Topeka with NewTek's strong growth. "Ever since the early
days of NewTek, we've been trying to get the hell out of Topeka," he
stated. California wasn't an option, he stated, because it is an
expensive place to live. Jenison also stated that NewTek is saving
almost one million dollars in taxes by moving from Topeka to Texas.
---
Next, Jenison stated that up until LightWave 5.0, almost all of the
work was done by Allen Hastings and Stuart Ferguson. "They're amazing
people," he said. "Now LightWave has a development team of almost a
dozen people."
---
When packing to move, Jenison stated that he came across a number of
old tapes that he wanted to show the group. He started it off by
showing the NAB '89 Penn & Teller's Guide to Video Toaster Etiquette.
The next tape he played was two of the first computer animations that
Allen Hastings did [well prior to LightWave]. The first was titled
"Infinite Loop" and the second was "Verx". He then showed another
animation by Hastings titled "Rush Hour" that was done on one of
NewTek's experimental animation/playback systems, "Chroma Dongle",
that never shipped.
Before showing the videos, he said he came across some rare business
cards that NewTek use to hand out called "Cool Friends of NewTek". He
found a box of them left and proceeded to hand one card to everyone
who was in attendance.
---
Next, Jenison asked how many people were familiar with Calibar or
owned one [about a dozen or so people raised their hands]. He then
proceeded to state he had brought one that was a "little different".
He stated that the Calibar out now has a red light. But this "new" one
also has a "green light". "Thank you very much," he stated to the
laughs of those in attendance. He then proceeded to demonstrate how
the green light was significant. It was a PAL version of Calibar. So
the unit can now be bought as a COMBINATION NTSC AND PAL tester. "Our
policy was to get the people [overseas] to convert to NTSC. It's not
working," he jokingly stated as he showed the PAL version. He then
stated that NewTek was almost finished with a Serial-Digital Calibar
with imbedded audio.
---
Jenison opened the floor to questions and answers. The first question
was in regards to NewTek's "on-hold" announcement [made at the dealer
meeting at NewTek Expo] about Flyer development on the Amiga platform.
Tim was not at the meeting where and when the announcement was made
and was not happy with the perceptions that the announcement left
[i.e. the way the announcement could be interpreted by some as
abandoning the Amiga platform].
"...I told Dwight to write a clarification and put it on the Toaster
mailing list," said Jenison. "I believe it's out there now... well,
Dwight just tried to basically clear the air. It was probably, more
than anything, a really unfortunate choice of words because Dwight was
going through, Dwight and Steve Herrmann, were going through a list of
products and their status with NewTek. And when Dwight got to Flyer
5.0 he said 'this one is on hold pending what happens at Gateway' or
something to that effect. And, you know, there is I guess an element
of truth to that because the Flyer team, having just completed 4.2,
their working on a little side project that has nothing to do with the
Flyer and were accumulating a bug list on 4.2. And we are actively
talking to Gateway."
He further stated that NewTek was very encouraged that Gateway bought
the assets of the Amiga. At the same time, he said, NewTek needs to
know what they have/had in mind with the purchase of the Amiga so that
they could plan accordingly.
"Through these roller-coaster up and downs, it has been remarkably
consistent - our sales [Toaster/Flyer sales]," said Jenison adding
that such a fact had been an astounding surprise to NewTek.
"Gateway buying the computer is yet another roll on the roller
coaster," stated Jenison. "We are encouraged because Gateway is a very
small company... we had no idea what they had in mind. We heard rumors
that they were really hoping to acquire an operating system for their
TV system [Destination]... so we put in calls to Gateway immediately
and said 'we'd like meet with you, we'd like to talk to you' and, ya
know, just nothing happened. And people write me these flames on
e-mail going, ya know, 'why don't you come out and make a statement,
why don't you come out and say that you're pleased that Gateway and
NewTek are going to do some awesome and amazing things'. But, you
know, I wrote back to the guy and said 'I can't just can't make stuff
up'... Well since then, we have met with them. Dwight went out there
and he came back very discouraged..." He went on to state that when
Dwight flew to Gateway for a meeting, the gentleman who had encouraged
the purchase of the Amiga and could make the decisions was not at that
meeting. There were three guys in his place and none of them had the
authority to make any decisions. That was the status when Dwight had
to give an update to the dealers at NewTek Expo.
"There is not a day that goes by when Dwight and I and the marketing
people, and some of the engineering people, don't discuss what we can
do with new Amiga technology," says Jenison. "... We have done a lot
of stuff with the Amiga this year. Most of which would be a surprise
to you. We look at the Gateway thing as just an opportunity to
possibly get in control of our destiny for the first time with the
Amiga."
What Gateway does affects NewTek's choices for future developments,
said Jenison.
"Nobody has stuck around with the Amiga longer than NewTek," he said.
"... we just keep charging along supporting this machine because it is
an extremely good machine. Now a lot of people say 'why the hell are
you even doing that?' I have really no culturistic goal of going out
and making sure the Amiga is a wonderful thing that goes on forever.
You know I like the computer, but it's just not my role in life to do
that. I have my own very personal reasons for why using that computer.
That computer, by sort of bizarre sets of circumstances ended up being
perfect for desktop video... The computer, as it ended up, had all
this amazing video circuitry in it. It was exactly NTSC frequencies
and it had a genlock input. And it had a real-time operating system...
The technical aspects did not change and they have not changed till
this day. It is still the only computer that can scan an image using
NTSC time... It is the only computer with a real-time operating system
that is closing keyed in to video time... In short, you could not make
a Video Toaster that would run on a Mac or on a Pentium. It would be
impossible. The only way you can do it would be to have your own
processor on board that would have a real-time operating system that
was fast on switching on video clips."
Back to the announcement, Jenison states that what should have been
said was: "There are all sorts of different scenarios we can go
through and they all kind of hinge on what we learn from Gateway. Now
if we hear from Gateway 'screw you guys, we don't want anything to do
with NewTek', that is a scenario. We can deal with that. We're use to
that as a matter of fact [laughter from audience]. Even in that case
we would not drop support. We would not stop working on it. We would
not stop thinking about it. When he said 'on hold' that is what he
really meant."
---
In wrapping up his comments on the Amiga and the 'on-hold'
announcement, Jenison stated, "On the sixth floor [NewTek's Research
and Development Lab] there is a hardcore Amiga contingent that
everyday they look at me funny if I don't have them work on Amiga
stuff. Again, it is a mature product, it is a good product that can
hold it's own with any other system out there. We think it has an
incredibly long life ahead of it and we'd like to just keep our hands
in it because as a finished product it is a thing of great beauty. The
perception that came out of that meeting was the wrong perception."
When asked where Gateway is now with the Amiga, Jenison stated that he
is "guardedly optimistic" and that the licensing of QuikPak was a good
thing for the providing of a short term Amiga source in the United
States. "That was a big change for us," he said.
---
Jenison then commented on the PlayableTV article that appeared in "The
Amiga Informer". He stated that a guy approached him at NewTek Expo
who was upset at what NewTek was doing to Mark Stross and PlayableTV
as mentioned in the article. Jenison hadn't seen the article yet, so
he read it. "So I read this article. I was very perplexed at what this
was about because nothing could be further from the truth." Jenison
stated that NewTek has gone out of it's way to help Stross solve any
problems that came up to make PlayableTV a reality [like getting Scala
running with the Flyer]. He then took a brief moment to describe
PlayableTV:
"It's really cool because you're seeing this full motion animation on
the screen and it's trying to get your attention. You can just walk up
and touch things on the screen. Instantly, without a hitch, without a
glitch, it dissolves into what you want to watch or transitions into
it or the animation spins around and becomes what you want to watch.
And then from that point you can touch other things. There is this
incredible feeling of power that you can just touch the screen and
this amazing video image just morphs and does what you want... it's a
very cool thing."
After reading the article, Jenison pulled Stross aside to discuss the
article. Says Jenison, "It turns out that it was kind of third hand
information they got on a day Mark was very frustrated... In the
article they talk about a license that Mark was needing. Mark does not
need a license... the license you get with the Toaster and Flyer is
exactly what Mark needs. What Mark needs for the clients he is going
after, he needs an assured supply of product... Dwight and I have
always told Mark that we will make those things as long as the sun
shines. As long as we can get parts for them and we'll give him a
contract to that effect."
---
Jenison briefly spoke about digital video and the Flyer. "Tape noise
is the Flyer's worse enemy," he said. "When you use digital tape,
there is no tape noise. So the Flyer is just tickled to death with
that signal..."
---
About firewire, Jenison stated "I hear from guys occasionally who are
working on a firewire connection to the Toaster." He further stated
that the benefit to using it with the Flyer is very little.
---
Jenison was asked to comment on the Trinity and their
delays/technology. However, Jenison stated that he has been asked not
to make any comments on the system as anything he says could have
future implications.
---
About HQ6, Jenison stated, "there is an HQ6 mode that we have at
NewTek. It is experimental. We're not sure that it is working right or
that it will work on all Flyer boards." He stated it is about to go
into beta testing.
---
About a Toaster for Windows, Jenison stated that it is still in
development.
---
MY THOUGHTS
It was very obvious to everyone there that Jenison was very "laid
back" and sincere in everything he said and did [he spoke for nearly
an hour and a half]. He mentioned that at NewTek Expo they got hit
with a "one-two punch" [the "on hold" announcement and PlayableTV
article] that allowed the wrong perceptions to form about their
dedication to current Toaster/Flyer users and the Amiga. The meeting
confirmed NewTek's dedication to the video market on both the Amiga
and other platforms in the future. Most obvious was the fact that what
happens with their continued development on the Amiga depends on what
Gateway does or doesn't do. NewTek has taken the steps to communicate
with Gateway and it seems that every time Gateway has shown very
little interest.
Most important, in this entire situation, is the fact that Dwight
Parscale took the time to write a public note on NewTek's position and
Tim Jenison took valuable time to fly to San Diego to speak to
Toaster/Flyer users on this subject. They took the time to communicate
[after the fact] which not only puts rumors to rest, but also shows
that they are very much dedicated to addressing the concerns of users.
Kudos to them for that. With improved Flyer marketing and commitments
from Gateway, the Flyer could yet be recognized for the powerful
machine that it is.
Sincerely,
Joe Tracy, Editor in Chief
NewTekniques
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I C O A U S E R R E P N O M I N A T I O N S
20 Nov 1997
Press release from the ICOA
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
20 November 1997
ICOA Announces the Commencement of Nominations for the User
Representative Seat
With the imminent legal incorporation of the ICOA, the recruitment of
members and the start of the nomination and election procedure to
select the first Steering Commitee, the matter of the User
Representative now needs attention.
In accordance with the by-laws of the ICOA, the TSC is now asking for
submissions by individuals, organisations, magazines and/or companies
as to how the user representative can be selected, nominated and
elected by the user community.
The TSC is looking for the following in each submission.
The method by which the user community will be consulted
The method by which potential candidates will be selected
The method by which a final candidate will be selected
The methods by which the selected candidate will pass information
from the user community into the ICOA and pass information from the
ICOA to the user community at large
The TSC is looking for submissions to be in our hands by 05 Dec 97.
The TSC will announce the selected submission on the 11 Dec 97.
The individual, organisation, company or magazine having made the
selected submission will then be responsible for carrying out its plan
so that a User Rep is available to take his or her seat by 11Jan98 on
the Steering Committee.
The post will be for 12 months. All expenses incurred by the User
Representative will be paid for by the ICOA. The User Representative
will become a full member of the ICOA for the 12 month period, with
all that that entails.
------
For more information, contact Fleecy Moss at fleecy@netreach.net
or visit the ICOA's web site at http://www.netreach.net/~fleecy/icoa/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
G R O U P B A C K S S T A N D A R D J A V A
{We found the following item in the November 7 issue of "First
Strike", an online newsletter published by Sunsoft, a Sun
Microcomputers subsidiairy. It's important to Amigans as Java is being
developed for use on the Amiga by serveral companies. There has been
some concern in the industry that moves by Microsoft could weaken the
cross platform viability of Java, something that would hurt the Amiga
especially. It seems to us this story offers hope that the standards
may hold up. Brad.}
IBM, Lotus, Oracle and Sun Announce Java Spec
NEW YORK, Nov. 3, 1997 -- IBM Corp., Lotus Development Corp., Oracle
Corp. and Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced a cooperative
development initiative to bring the first unified network computing
desktop environment to the industry. As a result, network computers
and personal computers will be able to run consistently any
application built to a single set of specifications, to be called the
"Webtop Specification." In an industry first, a team of software
developers from each company will create this next-generation network
computing desktop standard. Built upon open Internet standards, the
new specification is planned to provide developers and hardware
manufacturers a consistent environment and APIs to build and deploy
applications for Java-based network computers (NCs), personal
computers and other network computing clients. This approach is
designed to ensure that customers will be able to select the most
appropriate network device for a given application and be presented
with a consistent user interface.
http://www.fdds.com/smi/Press/sunflash/9711/sunflash.971103.3.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
" O S N E W S " W I L L C O V E R A M I G A O S
24 Nov 1997
http://www.osnews.com
In light of Gateway's purchase and the subsequent rekindling of the
Amiga fire in the public consciousness, OS News recently published an
article about the Amiga. OS News will continue to cover happenings in
the Amiga world. also new: the launch of a regular column on Linux.
This week, an introduction to Linux and its adherents. Also, check out
our daily news for all the happenings on the OS front. Power PC fans
might also be interested in several articles from last month's focus
on Rhapsody, Apple's UNIX-based next generation OS.
OS News is an online magazine dedicated to alternative operating
systems and computing environments, and the technology driven by them.
Other major high tech news sources are constrained by the mainstream,
and can give only scanty coverage to the most exciting aspect of
computing: the leading edge, but OS News explores the future of
computing, and since the future is ours to create, we want our
readers, the architects of that future, to take part in the editorial
process.
Recently OS News has been covering Rhapsody, Java, both as a language
and an OS, the Be OS, Newton, UNIX and Linux, Lucent's Inferno,
Network Computers, information appliances, even OS/2 and DOS. We also
cover emerging technologies and do hardware and software reviews.
Feature articles:
http://www.osnews.com/features.html
Daily News:
http://www.osnews.com/news.html
For more information, or to submit Amiga news or complete articles, email
david@osnews.com
David Adams
OS News
http://www.osnews.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S I M M F O N I E T O P O W E R S O L U T I O N S
17 Nov 1997
Power Solutions acquires North American distribution rights for
Simmfonie.
Winnipeg, MB, November 1, 1997-Power Solutions has reached agreement
with Gruner Buerotechnik to acquire N.A. distribution rights for
Simmfonie. Simmfonie is a new SIMM adapter for the Amiga 3000 Desktop.
Tower versions are available on request. More detailed information is
included below. Simmfonie is aggressively priced at $80 CAD: that is
about $60 USD at the latest exchange rate. Power Solutions is a new,
Amiga only, Canadian company working towards better distribution of
Amiga products.
www.PowerSolutions.mb.ca
Info@PowerSolutions.MB.CA
1-204-453-0527
* detailed information follows *
TITLE
SimmfonieA3000 (SIMMinA3000)
VERSION
1.1
MANUFACTURER
Kato Development Group
http://home.pages.de/~kato
katodev@usa.net
COMMERCIAL/Distribution
Germany: Gruner Buerotechnik, Hamburg
gruner@usa.net
Tel: 49 (0)40 72910478
Fax: 49 (0)40 72910477
US/CA : Power Solutions
Inf@PowerSolutions.MB.CA
www.PowerSolutions.mb.ca
Tel/Fax: 1-204-453-0527
You may even contact the developers directly by writing to
mailto:katodev@usa.net (Torsten or Joern)
or calling me by phone: +49 (0)4152 841391 at 18.00-xx.xx CET
DESCRIPTION
As you may know the A3000 and the Tower make use of ZIP-type
Memory which was inexpensive in the past but now is highly
overpriced.
Simmfonie simply implements the SIMM sockets in the A3000.
Ofcourse you could still pay somewhere between $10 to $15 USD per
meg for SC ZIP Ram. The ZIP Ram only provides a slight speed
advantage, about 15%. That is hardly worth paying the extra
money.
Simmfonie can use EDO ram but there are no speed benefits. This
is a limitation of the chipset used in the A3000(T) not Simmfonie.
Faster SIMMs are recommended because there is hardly any price
difference at all. As well, faster SIMMs would be more usefull
when upgrading to a CPU board that has on board SIMM sockets. You
could use 4MB or 8MB modules. The 8MB module is recommended
because there are only two SIMM slots available on the SIMMfonie
for a maximum of 16MB fast ram.
Simmfonie uses an industrial HQ board and golden steel connectors
which are placed in the ZIP sockets on the mainboard of the
A3000(T).
INSTALLATION
The installation is more difficult than it is for a Zorro board.
If you follow the step by step instructions outlined in the manual
it is no problem. None of the Simmfonie adaptors have been
returned due to a defect in the product. No machine or memory
problems have been reported after installation.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Make sure to request the proper model of Simmfonie. There is a
different version for the A3000T. It's not possible to use the
adapter together with a CPU board, but since most have on-board
sockets, this doesn't really matter.
AVAILABILITY
- Immediately in Europe
- November 1, 1997 in North America
PRICE
* price insertion by Power Solutions
Simmfonie for Amiga 3000 Desktop $80 CAD
about $60 USD
* end of price insertion
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M A S T E R I S O V 2 . 0 D E M O
22 Nov 1997
Asimware Innovations Inc. Releases MasterISO v2.0 Demonstration
Version
November 21st, 1997
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Richard Giannini
Asimware Innovations Inc.
600 Upper Wellington Street, Unit #D
Hamilton, Ontario L9A 3P9
Canada
(905)575-1042
Asimware is proud to announce the availability of the demo version of
our forthcoming MasterISO v2.0; our next generation CD-R/RW writing
software program.
Building upon our years of experience in CD-ROM and CD-R software with
AsimCDFS and MasterISO v1, we have re-designed MasterISO v2.0 from the
ground up to provide an extremely stable CD-R/RW writing program.
MasterISO v2.0 represents the input of hundreds of our users in both
the design and testing phases. MasterISO v2.0 includes the features
users have requested, organized in a logical and easy-to-use fashion.
Some new features in MasterISO include:
* Disc-At-Once writing;
* CD to CD-R/RW copying;
* Full File Manager for editing directory structures;
* On-the-fly writing from hard drive to CD-R/RW;
* Rock Ridge and Joliet file system support;
* Incremental multisession;
* Jukebox support for the Elms DVL (optional).
We believe that MasterISO represents the future of CD-R/RW mastering
software for the Amiga platform. But don't take our word for it -
download our demonstration version, from either Aminet or our WWW
site, and give it a try yourself.
MasterISO v2.0 is scheduled for an end-of-November 1997 release.
Asimware Innovations Inc. is an Amiga software development house
specializing in CD-ROM , CD-R and CD-RW technologies. Our current
product line includes AsimCDFS, MasterISO, Texture Heaven 1 & 2,
PhotoCD Manager and Audio Thunder.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S T U D I O 2 A I F F V E R S I O N 2 . 1
24 Nov 1997
TITLE
Studio2AIFF
VERSION
2.1 (public release)
AUTHOR
Kenneth "Kenny" Nilsen/
Digital Surface
EMail: kenny@bgnett.no
URL: http://www.bgnett.no/~kenny/
DESCRIPTION
This tool is capable of converting Studio 16_2.0 files to AIFF files.
Since the Sunrize company went down a few years ago there has been
very little development for the Sunrize audio cards (I only know of
about one program (commercial) that is developed afterwards, that can
handle Studio 16 files).
More information on the Studio 16 file format will be uploaded to
Aminet in the near future.
FEATURES
- Converts Studio 16_2.0 files to AIFF in 16-bit
- Uses sample rate from studio file
- Dumps studio file info
- FAAAST converting - Assembler with big load/convert buffer
- Small in size
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Required:
- OS 2.0 or better
- Sunrize AD516/AD1012 and Studio 16 v3.0 is recommended, but not
needed to use the tool.
AVAILABILITY
Aminet
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/mus/misc/Studio2AIFF.lha
Also look for the co-tool:
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/mus/misc/AIFF2Studio.lha
PRICE
Free
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Distributed as freeware.
Studio2AIFF is Copyright (c)1997 by Kenneth "Kenny" Nilsen/
Digital Surface.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T I G E R ' S B A N E F R O M L O N G B O W
24 Nov 1997
TITLE
Tiger's Bane
VERSION
1.0
COMPANY
Longbow Digital Arts
General Delivery,
Providence Bay,
Ontario, P0P 1T0,
Canada
(705) 377-4500
http://www.kanservu.ca/~longbow/
longbow@sympatico.ca
AUTHOR
Seumas McNally
DESCRIPTION
Tiger's Bane is a combination of side-view action game and flight
simulation. Using the keyboard, joystick, or a CD32 pad, you fly
one of 7 different real-world combat helicopters (along with up
to two computer controlled wingmen) through over 80 missions in
5 Operations, in addition to randomly generated missions. There
are over 25 different allied and enemy ground and air units, and
5 configurable weapon systems to use to blow them up. Missions
take place in cities, island chains, and deserts, and include
weather effects such as rain, wind, fog, thunder storms, and
variable time of the day and night. The game also features
multiple skill levels, and big, flashy explosions.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Any Amiga with a hard drive, 1 Meg Chip, and 1 Meg Fast.
AVAILABILITY
Tiger's Bane is available from the Longbow Digital Arts web site:
http://www.kanservu.ca/~longbow/TigersBane.lha (866051)
And from AmiNet:
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/game/shoot/TigersBane.lha (866051)
PRICE
The registration fee is $10 U.S. Dollars, or the equivelent in
other major currencies.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Tiger's Bane is Shareware, Copyright 1997 by Longbow Digital Arts.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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I N F O R M E R /__\\ | \ || | \ || ||-- \\
/ \\__| \||_ | \||_ ||___ _/\\_ Section
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Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker Summary
=======================================
Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker from Virgin Games is a billiards
game. It is programmed by Archer Maclean who did Archer Maclean's
Pool. The two programs share many similarities and both are amazing
feats of programming. Archer Maclean is very talented and has managed
to make pool games that work as well on a 68000 CPU as they do on a
68030.
The smooth animation in this game is breathtaking and it's a joy just
to watch the demo. Although basic, the graphics are very realistic
and come complete with ball shadows. Everything has been taken into
consideration; you can control the power, spin in any direction, view
in any direction, and you can even chalk your cue stick. You can play
against a friend or against up to 4 com- puter opponents at a skill
level of your choice. The crowd even applauds when one of you does
well. Whirlwind Snooker comes with a keyboard explanation card but
it's really not necessary since you can perform all of the functions
with the mouse.
The box claims that it will run on anything from an A500 to an A4000
but I found that I had to disable my 68060 and revert to the 68020 to
get it going on my A1200. The game runs from floppy only, but loading
time is minimal. It has on-disk copy protection as well as manual copy
protection, but includes a short cut adden- dum. The manual is
in-depth but it assumes you already know how to play Snooker. I found
that the best way to learn is to watch the computer play itself a
couple of times then just start playing it yourself.
Although this game is in re-release and is most likely a good value I
really cannot recommend it unless you're just a die hard billiards
lover. Archer Maclean's Pool would be the more fun choice.
By Jerimy Campbell
© Jerimy Campbell and Eldritch Enterprises. Because of space
availability, this summary never made it into a print issue of The
Informer. P.OS Pre-release Preview
p.OS Preview
============
This is a preview of the pre-release version p.OS, the new Amiga OS
from ProDAD (Pro Digital Animation Develop- ment). ProDAD are the
German creators of such notable programs as ClasriSSA, Adorage and,
Monument Designer.
P.OS stands for "portable Operating System". ProDAD claims p.OS will
be released for all major platforms (Amiga, PowerPC Amiga, Apple
Macintosh, Intel/Windows, PIOS transAM, and others.
This pre-release of p.OS comes on a CD-ROM and documentation is
contained both on the packaging and the disk itself. The printed
directions simply tell you how to either install p.OS over your
existing Amiga OS or how to run it from the CD-ROM. You will find both
a readme file on the CD as well as a hypertext browser in the OS which
allows you to read further documentation from within the OS.
When p.OS is run you will find it provides a feature laden OS. It has
a configurable task bar, icon docks, a full p.OS shell, an
DirectoryOpus 4-like directory utility, an HTML AmigaGuide
equivalent, a built-in image viewer, a number of games and demos, as
well as StormC for p.OS. There is also the capability of transparently
using drag and drop features in most areas and it has a wide array
of sounds that play when you make selections.
Another interesting aspect of this OS is that graphics are calculated
to a 24 bit (full 16.7 million colors) depth, and then dithered and
displayed at the depth you have chosen. The icon set used is both
colorful and informative. There are numerous little touches
throughout the OS that add handsomely to the environment.
There also seems to be a good deal of support for the fledgling
Operating System. Aside from the version of StormC for p.OS which
comes on the CD, Finale development's browserWeb Cruiseris being
developed for p.OS as well as the Amiga OS. ProDAD has also started a
developers program for development on p.OS called EpOS. The ProDAD
p.OS news page reports that 170 developer agree- ments have been
signed, so there should be a good flow of software coming out for the
system once it has been released.
There are some problems though. Currently, p.OS runs in cooperation
with the Amiga OS rather than on its own. This creates the impression
that it is more of an OS enhancement. It could currently be considered
an OS enhancement similar to the way DOpus Magellan integrates with
Amiga OS rather than a full fledged OS. They have a great deal of work
ahead of them in order to turn it into a truly independent OS. There
is also the news that version 3.5 of the Amiga OS will be coming out
soon and we have no idea of what its improvements will be, meaning we
could see improvements that rival those of p.OS.
ProDAD seem to have done a good job implementing well throughout items
to p.OS, and the CD comes with the promise that it will be fully
upgradable in the future to the full OS for only the difference in
price. The CD gives you a good feel for what the completed OS should
be like - and overall it is quite nice. I look forward to seeing the
complete version in the future based on what I see in this
pre-release.
P.OS is commercially available from Schatzruhe, the same outfit that
creates the Aminet CD-ROMs and others, and is available from many
Amiga retailers. It was tested under ver- sion Amiga OS 3.1 on an
A3000 030/ 25 MHz, with 2 Mb of chip RAM, 12 Mb of fast RAM, a 6X
CD-ROM drive, and a Picasso IV graphics card.
The minimum system requirements are Kickstart 2.0 (for in- stallation)
or greater, a 68020 with 4 Mb of fast RAM, a hard drive, and a CD-ROM
drive. The recommended minimum is a 68040, 8 Mb of fast RAM and a
graphics card as well as the mentioned hard drive and CD-ROM drive. It
can be pur- chased for around US $30. For further information Email:
ad- ver@prodad.de; or visit URL: http://www.prodad.de
By Bill Schuck
©Bill Schuck and Eldritch Enterprises
Because of space availability, this summary never made it into a
print issue of The Informer.
Insider Report from Cologne
===========================
Jeff Schindler, General Manager of Amiga Incorporated, made a major
speech to Amiga developers at the recent Computer '97 show in Cologne.
We were able to obtain some insider insights on what he said. Please
note that none of what follows is confirmed by Gateway or either Amiga
company, and should therefor be considered rumors.
Shindler stated the "vision" of the new Amiga companies is to become
a worldwide standard technology for convergence products; technology
that's recognised throughout the world.
The visison will be realised by making Amiga Incorporated a research
and development company, concentrating on determining the future for
Amiga. Timing is important. The last thing Amiga Inc. needs to do is
rush something out the door only to find they went down the wrong path
and cut off future growth. It's important to carry the legacy of the
past forward, and also be at or above industry standards and state of
the art. A three year roadmap is being developed.
The Amiga companies are not in the product business. They'll develop
the core architecture and move the technology forward, while other
companies build whatever products they wish from the Amiga technology.
This technology needs to be updated. It's four years old now. While
updating it, Amiga will keep in mind there can be several interfaces -
a sophisticated one for enthusiasts, and a simpler one for the sort of
person who's uneasy about getting a computer for the house.
Already Amiga Inc. is going back to some of the Amiga originators to
see what they think should happen next. Most have have been very
willing to help define the future.
Much good information came from the surveys of developers conducted
during the MAE show in Ohio. Mentioned often were the need to support
more than one processor; retargetable graphics with support for more
than one format; 3D; genlocks; add a good tcp/ip stack to the
operating system; networking; a built in web browser; keep the Zorro
expansion slots but don't ignore PCI; memory protection is needed, and
more. Nothing is established at this point but all the input is being
considered carefully.
One thing being considered is moving to digital video rather than NTSC
and PAL video standards as currently. This is important as the video
world itself moves to digital standards.
Products being looked at include a consumer internet appliance, and
all-in-one TV, VCR and Computer, and even a small computer for
children, along the lines of current LCD based units.
Already a goal is to have releases of Amiga technolgy upgrades on at
least a yearly basis.
The new operating system upgrade, 3.5, will build on what's been done
by third party developers. It will be a bridge to future operating
system releases.
Advertising budgets exist both for Amiga Inc. and Amiga International.
No numbers were mentioned beyond saying "millions of dollars for
advertising".
Plans are to build up an entire engineering staff, including hardware
and software engineers at Amiga Inc.
The new company's business plan has been approved, the money has been
approved, and it's just down to creating the execution plan and then
doing it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net: some issues available at:
http://www.sharbor.com/amiga/news/ (in html format)
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.
======================================================================
_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || Brad Webb/AmigaUpdate
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || bandr@globaldialog.com
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ ||
======================================================================
