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Amiga Update (1997-12-30)
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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.
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971230
A M I G A S A L E S I N I N D I A
C H R I S T M A S G R E E T I N G S U P D A T E D
" C R O S S G R A D E " O F F E R E D
M Y S T I Q U E S U P P O R T E D B Y A I
S C I E N T I F I C A M I G A N I N F O N E E D E D
L A T E S T I S S U E O F " T H E L A I R "
A M I G A W E B S E R V E R - N E W V E R S I O N
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:
Another Amiga year is about to end. Some are calling 1997 the year
that saved the Amiga. While that has yet to be proven, it certainly
has been a year with more hope than any we've seen in a long while,
thanks to Gateway 2000. 1998 will have to be the year when the promise
is realized, or the promise won't mean much. At "Amiga Update", we're
looking forward to the new year with anticipation. We hope you are
too.
We bring you another installment of "The Amiga Informer Annex" this
time. We have a series of reviews that appeared originally in TAI to
run in this space for this and the next few issues. We actually picked
this issue's review at random (honest!).
This is a quiet time of the year for most businesses, so there's
nothing really earthshaking in this issue - or is there? The lead
story, a sale of 2,000 Amigas in India, is well worth contemplating.
How long do you suppose it's been since that many Amigas were sold at
one time? We consider this very good news.
We have other interesting items for you also, including a smile
inducing Christmas press release from Nova Design. We suspect, but
can't prove, that the good folks there were using their holiday
wassail bowls a bit early. Whatever the case, we hope all our readers
who celebrate Christmas had a joyous one, and wish the blessings of
Hanukkah and Kwanzaa on our readers who celebrate those holidays. To
all of you, we wish the best Amiga New Year possible.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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A M I G A S A L E S I N I N D I A
December 12th, 1997
AMIGA International, Inc. increases international sales
New Delhi, Dec. 12th, 1997 - During the BCS India '97 fair (India's
4th International Exhibition & Conference on Broadcast Cable and
Satellite) Shaf Information & Teknologies PVT. LTD, Mumbai, India, has
signed an order for 2,000 AMIGA A1200 units in New Delhi. Delivery is
scheduled for beginning of February 1998.
Shaf was set up in 1993 to address the desktop video segment. The
company has a nation-wide network of 50 dedicated dealers and 10
studio product dealers who are provided with marketing and after-sale
support. Shaf provides comprehensive solutions in the desktop video
products and high end 3D animation software. In India, Shaf is the
authorized dealer for AMIGA International, Inc. (Germany), SCALA-As
(Norway), CIS (France), Deskstation Technology, Inc. (USA), Digital
Processing Systems Ltd. (UK), Eyeon Software, Inc. (USA) and NewTec,
Inc. (USA).
"This order for India is the biggest order in the Asian region AMIGA
International, Inc. has ever signed. We are very proud to supply our
A1200 as a base equipment (Multi Language Titler). AMIGA A1200 is
covering title, advertise and logo at the same time, and it is used in
India especially for cable operators, the broadcast and videographics
industry. It is a huge market. The basis of success is to work
together with competent partners like Shaf", said Petro Tyschtschenko,
President of AMIGA International, Inc.
Pradeep S. Kohli, Director Finance, Shaf, stated: "This first big
order will be the beginning of a long relationship between AMIGA
International, Inc. and Shaf. I am quite sure that other orders will
follow to ramp up the Indian broadcasting market.AMIGA is one of the
best and efficient solutions".
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C H R I S T M A S G R E E T I N G S U P D A T E D
For Immediate Release
Contact:
C. Kringle
Nova Design, Inc.
December 24th, 1997 - Richmond, VA. Nova Design, Inc. is pleased to
announce the immediate availability of Christmas Greetings '97!
This long awaited upgrade has been in development for nearly a full
year and replaces the previous releases, Christmas Greetings '96 and
Christmas Greetings '95.
"Due to a design flaw in the previous two releases of Christmas
Greetings, they were immediately outmoded within approximately a week
of their release. However, with the release of Christmas Greetings '97
we think this product will last!", said product delivery spokesman C.
Kringle.
Bundled together with Christmas Greetings '97 is Happy New Year '97 -
which has been available since January 1st, 1997 as a separate
product. Happy New Year '97 comes with a coupon for a free upgrade to
Happy New Year '98 which is expected to ship by March 17th, 1998.
Other Nova Design, Inc. personnel were heard to exclaim, "Happy
Holidays to you and your family as well as to all of our friends in
the Amiga community!"
Christmas Greetings '97, Happy Holidays '97 are (not) trademarks of
Nova Design, Inc.
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" C R O S S G R A D E " O F F E R E D
December 17, 1997
For the first time in its history Nova Design, Inc. is offering a
unique opportunity to all Art Department Pro. owners.
For a very limited time ADPro owners can crossgrade to the most
powerful and easy to use image editing and special effects software on
any platform, ImageFX. From now until February 28th, 1998 ADPro owners
can crossgrade to ImageFX for only $179.00 US!
To qualify for this unbelievable offer simply send the inside cover
page of your ADPro manual with a check, money order, or credit card
information to Nova Design, Inc. and your copy of ImageFX will be on
its way. If you'd like to buy it from your local dealer, tell them to
contact us for details on how they too can participate in this
terrific offer. Time is short so act now and save on the most powerful
use image editing and special effects package anywhere.
This offer will end at midnight on February 28th, 1998. All orders
MUST contain payment and the inside cover page from the ADPro manual.
Offer applies to ImageFX 2.6 only. Questions? Call 1-800-IMAGE-69 or
(804) 282-1157 1-4pm eastern US time.
Nova Design, Inc.
1910 Byrd Avenue, Suite 204
Richmond, VA 23230 USA
Attn: CROSSGRADE
Nova Design, Inc., 1910 Byrd Avenue, Suite 204, Richmond, VA 23230.
For customer support or information call (804) 282-6528, or fax us at;
(804) 282-3768.
ImageFX, and Aladdin 4D are trademarks of Nova Design, Inc. Video
Toaster and Toaster are trademarks of Newtek, Inc. All other
trademarks are held by their respective owners.
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M Y S T I Q U E S U P P O R T E D B Y A I
Hello everyone,
Amiga International has shown their support for the Amiga's Premier
Children's Site by sponsoring the site's creators, Mystique
Corporation!!
Mystique has been sponsored an A4000T following a recent meeting in
Cologne between Petro Tyschtschenko of Amiga International and Conor
Kerr - Director, Mystique Corporation.
Now it is your turn to show your support for children's software on
the Amiga.
The latest update of the site includes a new FORUM, a means by which
you can put forward your ideas and comments on children's software on
the Amiga.
It is our intention to have these ideas acted upon so that when the
new Amigas are released (whatever form they may take), they are able
to compete with PCs as a great computer for all the family!!
I am sure that you are aware that current software for children is
extremely limited, so help us change that by offering your thoughts to
the entire Amiga community!!
All comments from developers, parents and children are very welcome
:-)
Also...We are looking for people to help us with expanding the site.
Surf on over NOW to see how you can help us with reviews, stories or
artwork and to add your ideas to the forum...
http://www.mystcorp.u-net.com
Thanks everyone. Merry Christmas!!
Conor Kerr
Director, Mystique Corporation
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S C I E N T I F I C A M I G A N I N F O N E E D E D
20 Dec 1997
Robert B. Pigford
Since the launch of the Scientific Amigan website, several readers
have written with excellent questions and looking for information of a
scientific nature. Listed below are some of the requests. If you have
any information related to these topics, please contact Scientific
Amigan via email to <cyrano@calweb.com> or stop by the website at
<http://www.calweb.com/~cyrano>. Thanks in advance for your help!
Some of the palmtop computers on the market today feature an IRDA
(Infra-Red Data Access) port for data transfer at much higher rates
than serial. What's needed is a hardware device to make an IRDA port
for the Amiga.
LC50 is the point on a medication dose-response curve where a 50%
response is predicted in biological systems. Abbott's formula is one
typical approach to estimating this value. What's needed is an
application on the Amiga complete these analyses.
Numerous, very specialized applications are in use by students,
scientists and engineers all over the world. Some are even interested
in doing these on the Amiga. One particular need is for a program on
the Amiga to plot diagrams of Bode, Nyquist and Root Locus.
A few years back, there was a program called ASPICE, which was the
Amiga version of SPICE, a popular mainframe-based circuit analysis
program. What's the latest version of this program? Another related
program in the PClone world was CC, which solved and plotted
derivative functions, Taylor series and Fourier analysis. Is a port of
this program available for the Amiga?
As home automation continues to increase in popularity, Amiga owners
are wondering if those aging beige boxes may be used as the basis for
such systems.
--
Rob Pigford. <cyrano@calweb.com> Member Team AMIGAn
RBProductions - home of Scientific Amigan
http://www.calweb.com/~cyrano/
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L A T E S T I S S U E O F " T H E L A I R "
Online Amiga Zine The Lair Announces Latest Issue
Dear fellow Amigans, We here at The Lair are proud to announce the
release of issue 10, which has just gone online, at
http://amigaworld.com/thelair/.
This month, we've got another cracker lined up, with all the news,
views and information you could possibly wish for Christmas, and more.
In this issue, we take a close look at the development of spam on the
Net, investigate PCI as a possible addition to future Amigas, and have
a review of 1997, as the year everything changed for the Amiga,
featuring all the major stories of the last year. We're also having a
poll on whether the Amiga should continue down the Custom road, or
should switch to "off the shelf" components instead. Last months' poll
results are also here, while Gatebert will be making another of his
now regular appearances. Interviews with Fleecy Moss of the ICOA, and
Gareth Murfin, the creator of Ultimate Gloom, Gloom 3, will also be
put up shortly.
In short, we've got another great issue lined up for your pleasure at
this festive time of the year, and remember- no subscription is
necessary, all this is absolutely free! Just point your sleighs to
amigaworld.com/thelair/, and discover The Lair for yourself!
Best wishes to you all,
Chris Hanretty, aka Obscure Reference, Editor
D2282118@infotrade.co.uk
Erik Elgersma, aka Tricky Dickie, Deputy Editor
elgersma@worldonline.nl
The Lair! - the definitive Amiga e-zine.
But you already knew that.
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A M I G A W E B S E R V E R - N E W V E R S I O N
Amiga Apache 1.3B3 Web Server Released
The Amiga Apache http server project is happy to announce the new
1.3b3 release of the professional Apache webserver. It is available
for download at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~albertv/apache/index.html
The Amiga Apache webserver is a port of the professional Apache
webserver, used by more than 40% of all servers on the Internet. Amiga
Apache is compatible with the original Unix Apache and uses the same
configuration files and uses the same options.
The Amiga Apache webserver is enhanced with the ability to execute
AREXX scripts (allthough it has no Arexx port of its own). This means
that Amiga programs can interface with the server for in- and output.
For example, it is possible and easy to connect a database program
with Arexx support to Apache with the help of AREXX scripts.
The Amiga Apache http server project is runned by Jeff Shepherd who
has made the port, Bert Vortman, maintainer of the Amiga Apache binary
& source distribution, the homepage and the documentation and Brett
Burridge who maintains the FAQ, Thorsten Hiddessen, Robert Ramiega,
Eirik Synnes, Hans de Groot and Per-Olof Yliniemi who are running a
mirror site and many beta-testers.
There are 2 mailinglists available: apache-users for contact between
Amiga apache users and apache-l for betatesters. Send a mail to:
majordomo@spinnewiel.xs4all.nl with the message: subscribe
apache-users
The mailinglists are running on an Amiga that is NOT connected 24h a
day so expect some delay. The mailinglists are run by the majordomo
mailinglist software.
Bert Vortman, maintainer of the Apache Homepage.
Here is a selection of a list of new features that Amiga Apache
supports: (more info at the Amiga Apache homepage
(http://www.dsdelft.nl/~apache/).
Amiga Apache HTTP Server Version 1.3 Selection of new features.
* Optional «Spelling Correction» module added to distribution This
optional module corrects frequently occurring spelling errors in
document names requested from the server. This includes the correction
of miscapitalized requests (as was available in a separately available
mod_speling module as of Apache 1.1 already) but extends spelling
correction to single inserted, omitted, transposed or mistyped
characters. This catches the majority of mistyped requests. To make
use of this module, it must be enabled in the server's Configuration
file, and the CheckSpelling directive must be set to on.
* Enhanced Conditional Setting of Environment Variables The
BrowserMatch* directives of Apache 1.2 have been joined by some more
powerful brethren: SetEnvIf and SetEnvIfNoCase. These allow you to set
environment variables for server and CGI use based upon all sorts of
attributes of the request.
* Better Logging for Proxy Connect Errors In Apache 1.2 and earlier,
when the proxy had difficulty connecting to a system it would log the
error but no details. It now includes the IP address and port to which
it couldn't connect.
* Enhanced SSI String Comparisons The string-based server-side
include (SSI) flow-control directives provided by mod_include now
include comparison for less-than (), and greater-than-or-equal (>=).
Previously comparisons could only be made for equality or inequality.
* Sortable Directory Listings If a directory listing is displayed
using FancyIndexing, clicking on a column title will now sort the
listing in order by the values in that column. Selecting the column
repeatedly will toggle between ascending and descending order. This
feature can be disabled with the SuppressColumnSorting IndexOptions
keyword.
* New "Magic" MIME-typing module A new module, the optional
mod_mime_magic, has been added. It uses "magic numbers" and other
hints from a file's contents to figure out what the contents are. It
then uses this information to set the file's media type, if it cannot
be determined by the file's extension.
* Support for Directory Icon Sizing The mod_autoindex module provides
listings of directory contents when appropriate. If the FancyIndexing
option is enabled, each file in the list is preceded by an icon
representing the content type. In earlier versions of Apache, the HTML
IMG tags for these icons weren't sized, so the browser had to wait
until the images were loaded before it could lay out the page. With
1.3, the IndexOptions directive has two new keywords which allow you
to control whether pre-sized IMG tags are used. This can substantially
speed up the display of large directory listings.
* NoProxy and ProxyDomain directives added to proxy, useful for
intranets.
* AddModuleInfo directive added to mod_info Allows additional
information to be listed along with a specified module.
* Include directive The Include directive includes other config files
immediately at that point in parsing.
* Improved HTTP/1.1-style Virtual Hosts The new NameVirtualHost
directive is used to list IP address:port pairs on which
HTTP/1.1-style virtual hosting occurs. This is vhosting based on the
Host: header from the client. Previously this address was implicitly
the same as the "main address" of the machine, and this caused no end
of problems for users, and was not powerful enough. Please see the
Apache Virtual Host documentation for further details on
configuration.
* Year-2000 Improvements The default timefmt string used by
mod_include has been modified to display the year using four digits
rather than the two-digit format used previously. The mod_autoindex
module has also been modified to display years using four digits in
FancyIndexed directory listings.
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The AMIGA /\\ |\ || |\ || || \\ /
I N F O R M E R /__\\ | \ || | \ || ||-- \\
/ \\__| \||_ | \||_ ||___ _/\\_ Section
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PCX Review
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By Brad Webb
Originally appearing in issue 7 of The Amiga Informer
©1996-98 by Brad Webb and Eldritch Enterprises
The first thing to say about PCx is that it works as advertised.
That's not always guaranteed when you're dealing with a software
emulator. In this case, I'm writing this review under MS/DOS using PCx
on my Amiga 3000, just to prove it works. I am, however, using an old
MS/DOS word processor rather than Word for Windows as my standard
A3000/030/25 MHz is not fast enough to run Windows at a usable speed,
nor does it have the recommended amount of free memory. That's the bad
news. The good news is I haven't out-typed this word processor yet,
which, for me at least, means an emulator quick enough for running
MS/DOS programs.
Those MS/DOS programs run a bit more slowly on my A3000 than they do
with my 386 Bridgeboard. With a more powerful Amiga, you should see
usable speed from most any software you load. There isn't a software
PC emulator made which will run as fast as real hardware. That's why
emulators are best used for occasional tasks rather than day to day
chores.
Compatibility is another concern whenever you work with emulators. So
far, I've found good compatibility with MS/DOS applications I've run.
I've had worse luck with games and educational software. The first
program I attempted to load and run is an old spelling game called
"Spelling Fair." While it works perfectly on the Bridgeboard, it
proved unusable on PCx. The venerable program "Expert Astronomer" ran
acceptably. Newer programs will probably fare better than older, but
it might be worthwhile obtaining the demo version of PCx and testing
any package you're interested in before you invest in the commercial
version.
Some games do work well. We've successfully run "Brix" and "Alternate
Reality, the City" at speeds good enough to be playable on a 030
processor. "Wolf 3D" also ran, but not quickly enough to be playable
on the machine used for games testinga 030/26 MHz based A1200.
Windows will work if you have enough free memory at least 6 Mb of
fast RAM. I can actually get Windows to run on my A3000 with 4 Mb of
RAM free. It runs, but very, very slowly. It was also necessary to
copy the Windows files to my machine from a hardfile created on a
computer with more memorywithout the 6 free Mb of RAM, I was unable
to run Windows Setup to completion. Because of limitations in the
emulator to date, you have to launch windows with the /S switch (e.g.,
type WIN/S at your MS/DOS prompt). This will run Windows in the
"standard" mode. Also, you are restricted to using Windows 3.0 or 3.1.
Windows 3.11 and windows 95 will not work.
On a fast enough Amiga, you should be able to run Windows at a
genuinely usable speed. I would recommend at least a 040 CPU, although
you should probably have a 060, and as much RAM as possible. Keep in
mind both these recommendations are due to Windows, not PCx.
Configuring PCx is very easy. When you first launch it, a simple to
use configuration program is started. You can actually create several
different configurations for different purposes. There is no manual,
all documentation is presented in Amiga Guide format, complete with
illustrations. I'd have preferred a printed manual, but what's
provided is quite adequate.
Besides ease of configuration, PCx offers a good deal of versatility.
There are several different graphics drivers, including one that will
work with graphics boards. There are two different ways of providing
your emulated PC with a hard drive. You can use either a "hardfile" or
a dedicated Amiga partition. A hardfile is a large Amiga file that is
treated by the program as a PC hard drive. Dedicating an Amiga
partition to the emulator can speed things up considerably. During
testing, we ran Windows setup on two A3000s, one with a hardfile and
one with a dedicated partition. The "copy files" portion of the setup
took between four and five hours to complete using the hardfile; about
a half hour with the dedicated partition.
PCx is installed using the standard Amiga installation program. It's
quick and easy to get it installed and operational. PCx is at revision
1.1 as I write this. It works quite well, and I can certainly
recommend its use for occasional PC work. (That's the most I'd
recommend for any emulator. If you need to use PC software constantly,
buy a PC). It's available from Microcode Solutions and comes on one
floppy, which is packaged in a CD jewel case using a very clever
floppy disk holder insert. Price is US $59.95. If you wish to use
MS/DOS programs only, then you can use any Amiga with a 020 processor,
3 Mb or more of available fast RAM, 3 free Mb of hard disk, and Amiga
OS 2.04 or better. If you wish to run Windows, requirements are
greater. Substitute at least a 040 processor (in theory a 020 or 030
would work but it would be painful) and 6 Mb of free RAM. That's just
for the operating system. You may need additional free RAM for your
programs. This is, after all, PC emulation we're dealing with. I also
recommend a dedicated Amiga partition rather than using a hardfile. 50
Mb is a good size to start with, especially if you're considering
using Windows.
Overall this is a fine product. I expect it to be even better over
time. Right now I'd give it a grade of "B-" mainly due to
compatibility problems with some software, especially the inability to
run the newer versions of Windows. It does have real prospects of
improving to "A" in the future. If you have the system resources to
run PCx properly, you'll be pleased with it.
Rating: B-
By Brad Webb
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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
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Copyright 1997 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
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/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || bandr@globaldialog.com
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