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Amiga Update (1997-11-14)
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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 ||
======================================================================
AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Gateway 2000, Inc.
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971114
N E W T E K S P E A K S
A M I G A U S E R G R O U P N E T W O R K
M A E A F U N S U C C E S S
C O M P U T E R ' 9 7 I S U N D E R W A Y
N E W C Y G N U S E D P R O F E S S I O N A L
A M I G A I N F O R M E R S W E E P S T A K E S
F I A S C O 2 . 1 D A T A B A S E M A N A G E R
N E W S F R O M V U L C A N S O F T W A R E L T D
M O N T E ' S W I P E W O R K S V O L U M E 1
M I D I T R A C K E R V E R S I O N 1 . 2
P G P D E V E L O P M E N T F O R A M I G A E N D S
F E A T U R E - A M I G A I N F O R M E R A N N E X
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
We begin this issue with an important announcement from NewTek. My
editorial in the last issue produced some interesting comments and
letters from readers. There's too much material to print here, but the
responses - well thought out, almost all of them - covered a wide
range. Some thought it was unfair to criticize NewTek, especially when
no formal statement was available with the company's actual
announcements. Others agreed with the main points. Basically, I said
NewTek always had a tendency to want to be the tail that wags the dog,
and comments by Expo attendees brought that to mind. I stand by that
observation about NewTek. It's not too surprising - their products are
wondrous things, and worth the acclaim they received. But their
approach is not always in the best interest of the Amiga. The
statement we have below shows a much more business-like approach to
things. Coming a month after the announcements it refers to, and not
being "in sync" with the reports we received just after the Expo, it
may be an exercise in backtracking - or those who commented on the
Expo could have over-reacted. Either way, we welcome the statement and
find it reassuring.
There's a lot of product information for you this time. It's worth
reminding everyone that these stories are almost all written by the
products' promoters, and only lightly edited. That doesn't mean
there's anything wrong with what's said. If we found a problem with
any of these stories, we wouldn't run them (keep in mind we haven't
tested the products either). This does mean that the sometimes
breathless enthusiasm you see in them is the attitude of the promoter,
not "Amiga Update" so read them as you would an advertisement.
We have quite a bit of information on PGP or "Pretty Good Privacy"
this time. Our story for the "Amiga Informer Annex" section just
happens to coincide with an interesting announcement about Amiga PGP.
We've quoted extensively from the Amiga PGP home page, and have both
items for you below.
We hope you enjoy this issue, and keep writing with your thoughts. We
welcome them all.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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E-MAIL TO THE E-DITOR
The Amiga Update web site
"http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/" says that the July
2 issue of Amiga Update is the latest. I'd sort of figured you'd gone
out of business, until I saw more issues listed at
"http://www.comcen.com.au/~paulm/AUD/index.html", and then also found
more in your web site's "1997 issues" section. Just thought I'd let
you know...
-Steven Sittser
{Yes, we had a small site maintenance problem. We hope no one else was
inconvenienced. Typically, we put the latest issue on the site a day
or two after it goes to the e-mail subscribers. Sorry 'bout that!
Brad}
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N E W T E K S P E A K S
11 Nov. 1997
Dear Loyal NewTek Customer:
Well, I am pleased to see that the passion for NewTek and our products
is still strong. However, I do believe that a number of misconceptions
are brewing. I'd like to take the time to address these issues to all
of you so that you have a clear picture of where NewTek stands.
At NewTek Expo last month a statement was made during the dealer
meeting on Sunday afternoon that referred to NewTek's Amiga
development being "on hold." NewTek is in the desktop video
development business, today, and for the last 10 years the Amiga has
been the most suitable computer for this development. Now that the
Amiga is in the hands of Gateway 2000 we are evaluating our next move.
Gateway provides us with the potential to pursue a number of different
avenues of development, some obvious, others less so. I am in
conversation on virtually a daily basis with the folks at Gateway
working on an agreement. One of the first steps taken by Gateway is
the licensing of QuikPak. We have encouraged this association and are
please to see that a dependable supply of equipment, parts and
warranty service will be available to all Amiga users.
As for our commitment to you, our customers, NewTek's mission has
always been to provide our customers with the most powerful tools
possible at a price that is affordable. This approach has resulted in
a significantly large number of people being able to enter careers and
make a living doing something they enjoy where it may not have been
possible otherwise. Since our move to San Antonio we have committed
substantial additional resources to improving our customer service.
The Technical Support staff has doubled in size and over half of that
team has a focus on nothing but Toaster and Flyer issues.
Additionally, we have numerous Amiga programmers on staff working on
future developments.
One of the other business components that NewTek has committed a great
deal of resources to is third party development. For many customers
one of the most appealing aspects of the NewTek line of products is
the wealth of support from third party developers that provides
additional capabilities and depth of functionality to our products. We
welcome and encourage this support and expect to see much more
development from this arena on the Toaster and Flyer, in addition to
LightWave.
We remain committed to Amiga technology and believe the future holds
the potential for more great things. We have never stopped believing
in or supporting the Amiga, our users, or the creative talent that
finds ways to use or improve our technology.
As always, we appreciate the high value that you place on NewTek and
our products. It is absolutely our mission, in fact our passion, to
make sure that you have the most powerful, exciting tools possible and
still at a price that makes our competitors crazy.
Dwight Parscale
President and CEO
NewTek Partners, LP
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A M I G A U S E R G R O U P N E T W O R K
14 Nov 1997
Amiga User Group Network Formed
By Wayne Hunt
Amiga Inc, in association with Amiga.org wish to announce the
formation of the Official Amiga User Group Network. Designed with both
Amiga User Groups and Amiga, Inc. in mind, the User Group Network
(UGN) will allow User Groups and Amiga, Inc. to interact in close
cooperation.
The User Group Network is an internet-based system intended to get
essential news out to the users as quickly and efficiently as possible
by presenting a unified interface between Amiga, Inc. and the user
groups. News from Amiga, Inc. is fed directly to the User Group
Network, then broadcast to all of the network members via direct
e-mail.
To join the User Group Network, please visit the User Group Network
site at http://www.amiga.org/usergroups to fill out a quick and easy
web form. Your group's information is then placed in the Official User
Group Registry which will be available for everyone.
More information about this project can be found at the User Group
Network site on Amiga.org (http://www.amiga.org/usergroups).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M A E A F U N S U C C E S S
According to published accounts on the net, the Midwest Amiga Expo,
held November 1 and 2 in Columbus, Ohio, was a rousing success. The
atmosphere was upbeat, Amigans from all over had a chance to mingle
and meet, and a true sense of community was much in evidence. A speech
by Petro Tyschtschenko contributed to the positive atmosphere but may
have disappointed slightly when he stated any big announcements would
be coming from the Cologne show. That show started today (November
14).
The Developers' Meeting turned into a more or less open to the public
affair, with little news provided. Future Developers' Meetings will
most likely have restricted attendance, starting with the one in
Cologne. That will allow more meaningful work to be done.
There were products to see, demos to watch and a great deal of
activity. The comments we've received remind us of the spirit you'd
find in the "Ami Expo" and similar shows held when the Amiga was young
and the future wide open. At this time, we believe and hope there's
a better corporate structure to keep that positive feeling going
forward.
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C O M P U T E R ' 9 7 I S U N D E R W A Y
{The Computer '97 in Cologne, Germany is getting underway as we finish
this issue. The following description is quoted from the Amiga
International home page on the web. Brad}
The Computer '97 exhibition
Unfortunately, the makers of the official Computer '97 website decided
to have their pages available in german, only. So we thought it might
be a good idea to at least give an overview of what those pages are
about anyway...
The Show is held in Koeln (Cologne), Germany, from November 14th -
16th, exhibition grounds Halls 11 and 12. Up to 65,000 people visit
the show every year. It's the biggest exhibition for Amigans in the
world! Tickets are available for DM 22,oo and DM 17,oo (children and
students).
Features
You'll be able to see the latest and hottest (not Amiga only) in
Hardware, Applications, Games, Multimedia, Internet and so much more.
There are workshops held by famous programmers and other folks, hot
news will be announced, press conferences and speeches will be held,
you can talk to us (AMIGA International, Inc.), the guys from the
AMIGA R&D department (AMIGA, Inc.), and so on, and so on...
Exhibitors
Have a look at http://www.computer97.de/ausstell.htm to see the
exhibitors.
See ya! :-)
RELATED STORY
Thu, 13 Nov
Amiga Forever Workshop
Visitors of the Computer '97 show are invited to attend the Amiga
Forever workshop held by Cloanto this Saturday, November 15, 14:00.
All questions from the public will be welcome.
Amiga Forever 1.0 Preview Edition Shipping
Given the strong interest expressed by users after the original
announcement of Amiga Forever, a special "Preview Edition" of Amiga
Forever, with a version number of 1.0, has been released, slightly
ahead of the planned schedule. This version allows the more
technically-experienced users to immediately explore many of the
features of the final release, without paying an additional price (the
list price of the upgrade from the preview version to the final
version will not be higher than the difference between the two).
For additional information please refer to the Amiga Forever Home page
at http://www.cloanto.com/amiga/forever/. The page has been recently
extended with a Frequently Asked Questions section.
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N E W C Y G N U S E D P R O F E S S I O N A L
12 Nov 1997
Cygnus Ed Professional Release 4 is available!
Suggested Retail Price DM 69.00 Updates DM 39.00
US$ 41.00 US$ 23.00
(Updates are only possible, if you send us the original disk of your
old CygnusEd version.)
Cygnus Ed Professional Release 4 ist verfügbar!
Empfohlener Verkaufspreis DM 69,00 Updates DM 39.00
(Updates sind nur möglich gegen Einsendung der alten CygnusEd
Programmdiskette.)
******
Ordering information:
The most convenient method of placing an order is to use our
electronic order form located at http://www.schatztruhe.de/order.html.
You can also send an E-Mail to stefano@schatztruhe.de including your
address and the products you wish to order.
******
CygnusEd Professional Release 4
The premier Amiga text editor celebrates its 10th anniversary with a
revised and enhanced edition.
Highlights include:
* Optimized text editing and output code written in assembly language;
text can scroll faster than the eye can see or smoothly depending
on your preference
* All new Search and Replace requester which supports escape sequences
like \n, \r, etc.
* Search/Replace history functions
* Fast search routine that scans over 100,000 characters per second on
68000 machines -- faster even on 68020 and higher machines
* Editing undo/redo feature limited only by available memory
* Matching token support for brackets, `C' style comments and HTML
tags
* Increased characters-per-line limit (now 32000 characters)
* Alternate numeric entry in binary and hexadecimal
* Cursor position and other information are stored with project icons
* Graphical macro editor; enhanced to be able to print the macro list
* Updated ARexx interface with new commands
* AppWindow and AppMenu support (drag & drop)
* Updated, font sensitive user interface; this includes proper menu
layout
* New menu items for
Indenting blocks
Erasing blocks
Changing spaces into tabulator and the other way round
Highlighting single words
Changing the text block to lower case or upper case characters
Using the text block as replacement text
Moving to the location of the last editing operation
* Compatible with Picasso II, CyberGraphX and Picasso96 software
* Updated and revised online documentation; now includes a complete
description of the ARexx interface and its commands
* Multiple views
* Hot-key activation
* Crash recovery tool included; if the operating system crashes, the
files you were editing are no longer lost
* Text formatting commands
* Asynchronous printing
* Special editor version included for 68020 and higher machines
* Editable document size limited only by available memory
... and many more new features!
Requirements:
Operating system 2.04 or higher
1 MByte of system memory recommended
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A I N F O R M E R S W E E P S T A K E S
Amiga University Online Sweepstakes at The Amiga Informer
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 5, 1997
Would you like to win a brand new, accelerated Amiga 1200, or
fantastic Amiga software?
Well, now's your chance!
The Amiga Informer, Pantheon Systems Company, and the top Amiga
vendors in the industry have joined together to create the ultimate
online prize giveaway!
Enroll in the Amiga University Online Sweepstakes at The Amiga
Informer's web site, and you'll automatically be eligible to win
fantastic Amiga prizes, including Aladdin 4D 5.0, DrawStudio 2.0,
PageStream 3.3, or even a fully-equipped Amiga 1200 computer complete
with the Jet Fire 134 accelerator and 8 MB of fast RAM!
All you have to do is visit http://www.amigainformer.com/ and follow
the links to Amiga U. Answer the Amiga University's challenging Amiga
trivia questions correctly, and you'll increase your chance of
winning! Plus, you'll be eligible for the Amiga U Dean's List, the
Hall of Fame of Amigans in the know.
New trivia questions will be posted every two weeks, so you'll have
plenty of chances to increase your odds, and while you're at it,
you'll get a sampling of the best The Amiga Informer Web Site has to
offer the Amiga public.
The Amiga University features prizes provided by Soft Logik
Publishing, Haage and Partner, Nova Design, Software Hut, and Paxtron
Corp., and is administrated by Pantheon Systems Company. The Amiga
Informer looks forward to your participation in this fantastic prize
giveaway!
RELATED STORY
14 Nov 1997
Attention all Amiga University sweepstakes participants!
Round 2 of the Amiga University competition exam is now underway! The
trivia is tougher, but you'll increase your chances of winning that
accelerated Amiga 1200 computer with every correct answer you submit!
Not enrolled in the Amiga University yet? Just go to
www.amigainformer.com to join the scholarly race to win great Amiga
prizes, including Aladdin 4D 5.0, DrawStudio 2.0, PageStream 3.3, or
the grand prize: a brand-new Amiga 1200 computer complete with a
JetFire 134 accelerator and 8 MB of fast RAM.
The Amiga University is brought to you by the Amiga Informer
magazine, Pantheon Systems Company, Soft-Logik Publishing Corp,
Software Hut, Paxtron Corp., Nova Design, and Haage & Partner.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
F I A S C O 2 . 1 D A T A B A S E M A N A G E R
28 Oct 1997
TITLE
Fiasco 2.1
AUTHOR
Nils Bandener
Dekanatsgasse 4
34369 Hofgeismar
Germany
mailto:nils@dinoex.sub.org
mailto:nilsb@amigaworld.com
DESCRIPTION
Fiasco is an easy to use and powerful database program.
Many different types of databases can be created with
Fiasco. The structure of a database is defined with
the mouse in a style guide compliant mask editor. While
designing the mask you can choose from a wide range
of field types, including listview fields and datatypes
fields. To add complex functionality, Fiasco features an
ARexx port and a formula system for calculated fields. The
record access system is dynamic, thus you can use databases
that are larger than your available RAM.
Additional features include an import/export function,
a print function and a powerful search function.
NEW FEATURES
- Support of formulae for calculated fields
- Improved search function that can search by several
fields and by formulae.
- Revised ARexx port.
- Var String fields may be displayed in the list window.
- Float, date and time fields use locale.library for
formatting.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
The minimum requirements for Fiasco are Amiga OS 2.04 and 1 MB RAM.
The recommended configuration, that allows the use of all Fiasco
features, is Amiga OS 3.x, 68020 processor, 2 MB RAM and a hard
disk.
Fiasco 2.1 requires gtlayout.library (v42 or highet). It is included
in the distribution archive.
AVAILABILITY
Fiasco can be downloaded from the Fiasco support homepage
http://www.amigaworld.com/support/fiasco/
or from any Aminet mirror, e.g.:
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/biz/dbase/fiasco_main.lha
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/biz/dbase/fiasco_doc_eng.lha
ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/biz/dbase/fiasco_doc_deu.lha
PRICE
Fiasco 2.1 is shareware. The price is 25 US Dollars or 30 DM plus
shipping. Senders of gifts for Fiasco 1.x can get a free
registration.
DISTRIBUTABILITY
Fiasco Copyright ) 1995-1997 Nils Bandener.
Shareware.
Distribution archives may be freely distributed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W S F R O M V U L C A N S O F T W A R E L T D
13 Nov 1997
Latest Genetic Species Screenshots and information now available from
the Vulcan Website.
Genetic Species now looks set for a February 1998 launch due to
refinements and improvements, we now have a deidicated Developer
HomePage for up to the minute information, linked at the Vulcan site.
RELATED STORY
7 Nov 1997
Uropa2, Vulcan's second Amiga CD ROM release was officially launched
on the 6th November 1997.
You are the newest edition to the Centurion Task Force, your mission
is to save Uropa2 from destruction at the hands of the Kapone droids.
Communications with the moon have ceased and the fate of the colonists
is unknown. Your task is to rescue any colonists that have survived,
destroy the Kapones and ultimately seek out the mastermind behind
their rebellion. Uropa2 offers a unique gaming experience! Your
mission based adventures cover a multitude of 3D Isometric locations
connected by a 3D Vector Light-Sourced environment in which you will
need to master the arts of Hovar flight and battle skills.
Minimum Specs
-------------
Any Amiga, Hard Drive, 68000 CPU, 2Mb Memory (1Mb Chip, 1Mb Any) 4x
speed CD ROM Drive.
Game Specs
----------
10 Gigantic, Strategy Based Missions
3D Isometric Action Adventure
3D Vector Light-Sourced Locations
Myriad's of tactical Problems to Solve
Full Digital Speech Throughout
Progressive Weapons and Status Capabilities
Linear Plot Progression
Full Blown 3D Rendered Intro Animation
Highly Configurable to allow for Individual Preferences
Extra Hovar Wars Game with Serial Link Up for Two Players
In addition, Uropa2 supports the following languages:
English, German, Italian, French, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish,
Danish, Portuguese and Czech
R.R.P. - 29.99 (UK Pounds)
Available from all good retailers around the world or direct from our
primary distributor
Weird Science Ltd (0116) 246 3800
-----------
COMING SOON
-----------
THE FINAL ODYSSEY - This masterpiece of a game will be released at the
end of November best described as an Action/Adventure/Puzzler, the
Final Odyssey combines detailed and entertaining graphics and gameplay
to perfection. You play the part of Theseus on his quest to free six
rather lovely maidens from the evil clutches of the Minotaur. The
Final Odyssey is so vast that we have been unable to reach the end
(somewhat disturbing as we're supposed to be testing it) but then
rather unsurprising as some of the levels reconstruct themselves
everytime you play......
Peter Spinaze is Vulcan's multi talented developer of this fine game.
The beautifully crafted graphics in The Final Odyssey have won Peter a
scholarship at Silicon Studio which is a state of the art
international facility dedicated to training digital artists.
Silicon Studio is one of only 3 flagship training centres world-wide
and is the most advanced digital media training centre in the industry
in the Asia Pacific region to date.
Peter's particular scholarship is a 3D Animation scholarship. He is
using Alias/Wavefront PowerAnimator as his 3D Rendering software and
using the latest Silicon Graphics hardware. The same gear they used to
make Jurassic Park etc. The hardware consists of O2's, Octane's, and
an Onyx2 Infinite Reality supercomputer.
We are all very proud of him here at Vulcan but not at all surprised.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M O N T E ' S W I P E W O R K S V O L U M E 1
These are not your father's Toaster Wipes!
Tired of paying BIG BUCKS for SMALL WIPES? "Now for something
completely different" it's Monte's WipeWorks vol. 1--a CD-ROM with 30
(count'em) FULL COLOR wipes...including wipes with animated
backgrounds!
Check out the info on this page. And imagine using these KILLER wipes
in your own productions!
Thanks to everybody who's flooding my emailbox with requests for the
CD. For the rest of you...what's keeping you? Here's a ton of info for
you to look at.
Monte's WipeWorks vol. 1 gives you 50 percent more wipes (not 20, but
30)...at less than 50% of the cost...and zero percent rendering! All
wipes are ready to load and use...fully tested for Toaster and Flyer
compatibility...and every CD is guaranteed to be free of defects.
Here's a complete listing of all 30 color wipes:
Page Peels
Monte's WipeWorks gives you Peelz with Pizzaz! No more wishing for
real DVE style image mapping...these peels look just like the
heavy-duty DVE peels without the fuss and muss and $$. Some are
layered peels, with a 3D-style move between the "A" channel and the
"B" channel.
You get:
* RollNfly (3D style)
* TigerPeel
* ReversePeel
* 4WayPeel (looks like the Avid peel)
* FlameNfly (3D style)
* IvoryPeel (2 styles)
* GlossPeel (2 styles)
* RoldGold (3D style)
Absolutely Excellent Transitions
3D Animated Wipes are fully-rendered transitions that kick butt!
Here's a complete list with descriptions of each.
* Jurassic Wipe --straight from the lost world to you. Outa nowhere,
this humongous T-Rex jumps up and gobbles you. As you slide down his
gullet, you find yourself in another place....
* NeFrameIn --here's that really cool 3D beveled frame look, complete
with reflection-mapping and bright neon marquee lights. Great for
weddings, sports, theater stuff...and you'll think of lots more ways
to use it.
* MachineWipe --it's a gizmo...it's techno...it's Sci-Fi in Hi-Res....
* CamToss --don't try this at home! Throw the camcorder up into the
air...you see your scene in the viewfinder. Then the camera spins,
revealing the next scene in the lens.
* Hollywood --your video is flying over Tinseltown. As the
searchlights sweep the horizon, your next scene appears.
* BlueGlow --squiggly bolts of waycool plasma are zooming around
underneath your video. Don't worry--they won't burn you. Also
available as GreenGlow.
* Celebrate --it's party time, complete with fireworks and balloons.
Perfect for any festive occasion.
* Industrial --deep below ground in our secret classified lab, the Men
In Black have produced...the next scene!
* NiteWipe --both scenes in nifty granite frames, side by side. All
you need is a host with Koppel hair....
* TimeTunnel --the current scene vanishes into the mists of time, then
the next scene rushes toward you...
* GridLox --(bagels not included) this 3D grid with laser bolts has a
million uses.
* Rubiq --your scenes are panels on the famous cube puzzle. You don't
have to solve it to use it!
* Pedestal --your next scene looks really special at the top of our
2,000 foot pedestal. It's a rush.
* LaserIce --soooo cooool cubes of ice with laser bolts flying by.
* StarGrid --you're on the holodeck. One scene is taking off, the
other is arriving. The galaxy moves in back.
* Ca$h --this transition is right on the money for business and other
stuff. Can you find the scenes in the avalanche of greenbacks flying
thru the air?
* StarNslate --Flying stars and flying "clapper" slates for the
up-and-coming new talents. The envelope please...
* ComingUp --3D beveled type from three different directions: "Coming
Up Next" (eat yer heart out, Leno).
OK that sounds pretty good...but
HOW MUCH?
This is the best part! Not $200...not $100...just $49.95 plus $5
shipping &handling. You get all 30 color wipes PLUS Monte's
MatteWipes--Blimp, PacKman, horse, tinkRbel, StarSrch, MaKtruK,
JumboJet, TheBomb, Bubbles, Brix, Film, AeroBanr....plus matte
versions of JurassicWipe and CamToss!
Preview any wipedirect from the CD-ROM with ready-to-watch HAM
animations.
Technical Stuff
Hardware: Color wipes run only on Amiga 4000 with the Video Toaster
4000 board set. Matte wipes are suitable for Amiga 2000/Toaster 2000
systems running 3.1 or better Toaster softtware.
Memory: All Toaster wipes play from Fast RAM. For WipeWorks wipes, we
recommend at least 16MB on your system.
All wipes are tested for compatiblility with the Video Flyer.
How To Order!
Send $49.95 plus $5 shipping (total 54.95 check or money order) to the
address below. COD orders will also include the extra charge for CODs
from the delivery service. Prepay and save!
Make check or money order payable to:
Dan Salafia
3198 61st Way North
St. Petersburg, FL 33710
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M I D I T R A C K E R V E R S I O N 1 . 2
08 Nov 1997
TITLE
MidiTracker V1.2
AUTHOR
Sven Thoennissen
Karlsgraben 35
52064 Aachen
Germany
svent@pool.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
sa80@corona.tng.oche.de
DESCRIPTION
MidiTracker is a MIDI sequencer that uses the 'tracker' concept
for composing songs, hence the name. :-) Unlike other tracker
programs that have MIDI capabilities, MidiTracker has been
designed specifically for MIDI composing and does not use amiga
audio (except for the metronome). If you have used trackers
before, then it shouldn't take you too long to get accustomed
to MidiTracker.
The intention with MidiTracker is to keep everything as dynamic
as possible thus giving you more freedom and control over your
MIDI data within a tracker environment. For example, have you
ever had the problem of wanting to realtime record pitchbend,
modulation, aftertouch and sustains but the tracker either
didn't get the notes properly or wasn't capable of doing so?
Miditracker can do it.
NEW FEATURES
Important changes since 1.1:
- Midi access with Midi-Lib available!
Now you can play samples with a sample-player program!
- PC Keyboard option
- Metronome functions enhanced.
- Channelscope: New HiFi-look and peak-hold
- Sysex-Editor
- Quickloader-menu
- New Block operation functions
- Export SMF Type-1 files.
- Main window trackdisplay changes
- Tempo value is now with two decimal places.
- Synth support for: QuasiMIDI Quasar
Roland MC-303
Yamaha-XG
Yamaha CS1x
- Editable preset names for the supported synths
- Editable control sources (name + reset value)
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
- Kick 2.04, better 3.0+
- 68020 with fastram would be good
- MIDI interface plus equipment (e.g. synthesizer, keyboard)
strongly recommended for composing
AVAILABILITY
MidiTracker is available on all Aminet sites. e.g.
ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk:/aminet/mus/midi/MidiTracker.lha
It is also available at its support mailbox in Germany:
Corona BBS, Sysop is Mathias Frankenbach.
+49 241 39164 USR V34+
24846 V34 Zyxel D
4090012 V34 Zyxel 2864ID (ISDN + V34)
4090013 ISDN Master
Login: MidiTracker
Password: MidiTracker
PRICE
Shareware DM 50,- or US $35.00 or AUS $45 (at the Australian
Registration Site).
DISTRIBUTABILITY
MidiTracker is Shareware. The archive as provided by myself may
not be altered. It can be distributed everywhere if done so free
of charge. MidiTracker is Copyright 1996-1997 Sven Thoennissen.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P G P D E V E L O P M E N T F O R A M I G A E N D S
{PGP may not be updated on the Amiga anytime soon, as this story
points out, but that doesn't mean it's dead nor has it become a
useless product. The "Amiga Informer Annex" that follows will make
that clearer for those not already familiar with PGP. Brad}
PGP for the Amiga
There Will Be NO Amiga PGP 5.0!
Why? Consider the following excerpts from the License that comes with
PGP 5.0:
...to use internally and solely for non-commercial purposes (as
defined above) a compiled version of the source code, including any
Corrections, Enhancements, Ports, or Translations (collectively,
"Derivative Works") you create, provided that you do NOT reproduce,
electronically post, transmit, or otherwise distribute to anyone else
any such Derivative Works... However, you may submit to PGP (or its
designee) any Derivative Works that you create, but in doing so....
PGP will be under no obligation to use, distribute or otherwise
exploit any such Derivative Works. For these same reasons, permission
to allow you or others to reproduce and distribute any such Derivative
Works or any compiled version of the source code of this Source Code
Package (i.e., anything except the unmodified version of the Source
Code Package), will generally NOT be given.
In summary: I am allowed to do my own port of PGP 5.0. I would not,
however, be allowed to distribute it. I could submit it to PGP and ask
them to distribute it. However, in the past, whenever I contacted the
MIT PGP folks about my Amiga ports, I never got a reply.Given the
regard most of the rest of the world has for the Amiga ("Amiga? Didn't
that company go out of business in the late eighties?"), I seriously
doubt that if I did submit an Amiga port to PGP that they would pay
any attention to it.
As such, I can't see it being worth my time to create an Amiga PGP
port.
So what do we do?
*
If you are multi-platformed, you can get freeware versions of PGP 5.0
for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. Naturally, however, this is
probably not what you want to hear from the Amiga PGP page.
*
Wait for somebody to do an illegal port of PGP 5.0, and use that,
hoping that PGP,Inc. will continue to ignore the Amiga and not go
after you. (This will probably be easier outside the USA, which is
further from the legal reach of PGP, Inc.) I am not interested in
illegally distributing a port myself.
*
Try to talk me into doing the port anyway, and distributing the
patches you would make to the official PGP source tree to make an
Amiga version. The problem with this is that I could never legally
distribute binaries, or even complete Amiga source. I could only
distribute patches. You would have to get the official PGP source, get
the patches, apply the patches, and then compile PGP yourself.
*
Keep using PGP 2.6.3 and PGP 2.6.3i. PGP 5.0 is capable of writing
messages which are readable by PGP 2.6.3. If people send you emssages
which you can't read (which will in general use the Diffie-Hellman
capabilities of PGP 5.0), complain to them and ask them to use the
backwards compatable functions of PGP 5.0.
Someday, if we are lucky, one of the independent efforts out there
working on cryptography libraries will produce a library capable of
dealing with all the PGP 5.0 message packets. Then, we could in
principle have an Amiga cryptography package capable of exchange
messages with PGP 5.0. In the mean time, however, we stay with the
previous version.
What is PGP?
PGP stands for "Pretty Good Privacy," and it is a public key
encryption program. Public key encryption is a scheme where any
message encrypted with public key X can only be decrypted with secret
key X. In conventional cryptography, one key (or password) is used to
both encrypt and decrypt a message. This has the problem that you need
a secure channel over which to communicate the password before you can
send encrypted messages over an insecure channel. With public key
encryption, you publish your public key as widely as possible, and
keep a tight reign on your secret key. That way, anybody with your
public key can write a message that only you can decrypt, since only
you have your secret key.
A second benefit of public key encryption is the ability to put robust
digital signatures on documentes. A message encrypted with secret key
X can only be decrypted with public key X. Therefore, if people read a
message that requires your public key to decrypt, they know that only
you could have written that message, because it was encrypted with
your secret key (which only you have).
PGP for the Amiga is maintined jointly by Robert Knop
(rknop@panisse.lbl.gov) and Peter Simons (simons@petium.rhein.de).
There is but one single source tree, the PGP 2.6.3i source tree
maintained by Stele Schumacher. From this source tree, we are able to
easily compile versions of PGP both for use in the USA and Canada (PGP
2.6.3) and for use internationally (PGP 2.6.3i). Naturally, Rob
maintains the USA version and Peter maintains the international
version.
There is a mailing list for discussing Amiga PGP at
pgpamiga@petium.rhein.de. To subscribe to this list, send a mail
message to pgpamiga-request@petium.rhein.de with the single line:
ADD yourname@youraddress
where you substitute the E-mail address you wish to add to the list.
But, wait, which version do I use?
IF you are in the USA or Canada, use PGP 2.6.3.
IF you are in any other country, use PGP 2.6.3i. The little i makes
all the difference.
Robert A. Knop Jr. / rknop@panisse.lbl.gov
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The AMIGA /\\ |\ || |\ || || \\ /
I N F O R M E R /__\\ | \ || | \ || ||-- \\
/ \\__| \||_ | \||_ ||___ _/\\_ Section
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Originally appearing in The Amiga Informer Issue 3 , Aug/Sept, 1996
Copyright 1996-97 Eldritch Enterprises
By C.Davis Sprague
One of the interesting things about the net is the false perception of
anonymity and security that it provides. People think nothing of
telling their personal feelings to the masses in Newsgroups or their
deepest secrets via Email. The overall feel of sitting at home at your
terminal and interacting with people around the world is one of
security and power. Unfortunately, this is truly only a facade. Even
if your system is secure, your system operator has access to your
Email files. Indeed, anyone with 'root' access to the system that
holds your mail could do this. What's worse? Well, who do you think
built the net, back when it was Arpanet? It was the Department of
Defense. I don't know about you, but that makes me shudder. Still,
Email is so convenient... what's a user to do?
Well, speaking strictly for myself, the internet offers too much
informa- tion and worldwide interaction to allow my paranoia to
completely para- lyze me. But the question remains; is there a way to
communicate with relative security? Enter public key cryptography.
Remember in grade school, using a substitution code so you could send
messages to your friends that other kids couldn't read? You know, E=Q,
R=S, etc. Well, this type of code requires that the sender and
receiver have the same key. This sort of thing was elaborated on in
World War II with the infamous Enigma Machine created by the Ger- mans
that basically changed the key with each letter in a pseudoran- dom
manner. More recently, cryptography developed into a division of
mathematics. Some of the best minds at MIT came together, and due to a
quirk in modular arithmetic and prime numbers, public key cryptog-
raphy was born.
The basis of the public key cryptography on the net is the patented
Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) algorithm. What you need to know about
this is; it is available for personal use via a set of complier
librar- ies; it is the basis of the program Pretty Good Privacy (PGP);
and it is classed as a munition. The latter information is simply so
you won't ac- cidentally violate federal law, and send a copy of any
program using this technology out of or into the USA. The interesting
thing about the RSA algorithm is that it uses two keys. One key to
encrypt the mes- sage and a second to decrypt it.
With this system you can publish one key (referred to as a "public"
key), and keep the second "secret" key private. Someone wanting to
send you private Email could encrypt the file with your public key,
and only you could decode it using your secret key. Further, because
the system is reversible, it is possible to "sign" a message with your
secret key, and have this signature verified with your public key by
anyone reading the message. Encrypting and signing are the two main
func- tions of the RSA based program PGP. This is definitely a
simplification of the process, but it will give you the data you need
to understand the use of this program.
Let's talk about the basic principles of secure communication using
public key cryptography.
First, your message is only as secure as your secret key. It's better
to keep your secret key on your machine at home and off the net.
Better yet, keep them on floppies and put them in the machine only for
use.
Second, make sure the public key you use to encrypt something really
belongs to the person you want to send the message to. There are
forged keys in existence. This means that not only can someone else
read the message, but your intended recipient can't. There is a way
around this, because PGP allows a checksum-like "fingerprint" of a key
to be generated for verbal (telephone or in person) verification.
Finally, encrypt frequently. The immediate assumption about encrypted
Email is that it is juicy. If you use encryption for most of your mail
it makes it difficult to determine what's juicy and what's not.
One final admonition, even with the most paranoid use of PGP, the en-
cryption is breakable. When RSA was developed the authors encrypted a
message with a twenty-someodd bit key and challenged the world to
decode it. This has been done. Indeed, although the keys used in PGP
are much larger (256 to 1024 bits), so are the NSA's computers. Still,
PGP remains state of the art encryption in the public arena, and judg-
ing from the way the government treated the programs originator
Phillip Zimmerman (he suffered several years of federal lawsuits
concerning the development and exporting of munitions), it still must
take some for- midable computer time to break a single key.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ ||
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