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Amiga Update (1999-01-22)
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_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors-
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional Newsletter)
KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING ||
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AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.
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990122
O P E N L E T T E R F R O M J E F F S C H I N D L E R
P E T R O S P E A K S I N A U S T R A L I A
N E W A M I G A S E C T I O N , N E W T E K N I Q U E S
C H A N G E S A T N E W T E K
A N O V E L U S E F O R A M I G A
A M I G A 9 9 D O O R P R I Z E S
C O N T E S T S A T A M I G A 9 9
M O R E O N A M I G A A C T I V E
N O R W E G I A N M A G W A N T S S T A F F
G A M E S S O U R C E C O D E R E L E A S E D
D E V E L O P M E N T S T O P S A T I S E N G A R D
S T A R G A T E A R R I V E S
N E W Y O R K I S U P G R A D E D
T W O N E W G A M E S : A L I V E M E D I A S O F T
A P A C H E F O R A M I G A , F O R F R E E
R E G I S T R A T I O N S E R V I C E F O R A U T H O R S
E U R O C O N V E R T E R D E B U T S
M U S I C C D M A D E O N A M I G A
A R T S T U D I O P R O F E S S I O N A L
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
Wow, our second issue of the year already. January is nearly over,
and considering what some of the weather has been like here, that's
good news for me.
We have a number of good news items for you as well. There's nothing
spectacular here, just a steady stream of new products and services
arriving on the Amiga scene. In a community like ours, with so much
that is unsettled, we should all be grateful for such a situation.
Not everything is positive, of course. It never is. See the story
from Isengard below
However, for the most part there are good things to read this time,
including some different and unusual stories.
We hope you enjoy them.
I have a request for you this time. Somehow, we've lost all copies of
an issue from our archive server. We're not sure how it happened, but
if anyone out there has a copy of issue 960503, we'd be very grateful
if you'd send it our way. Thanks in advance!
Brad Webb,
Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail to the E-ditor:
9 Jan 1999
Greetings & happy New Year to all Amiga users and as well to Pee See
infidels! I expected the excellent magazine Amiga Informer to merge
with Amazing Amiga long time ago! Wishing them best of prosperity. As
long as I'm on this planet. I will be an AMIGA user/supporter....Also,
couldn't the fine people from AUI, CU Amiga & Amiga Shopper get a
"Green Card" & come to the States and support the Amiga in one form or
another?...Doomsday cometh for Fuehrer Bill Gates!...tony
PS: You may reprint this message anywhere, anytime
anyplace you want!
===
Tony,
I'm sure most Amigans wish them the best in their merger. As for the
folks in Europe, they may have other ways of keeping busy than
emigrating here. They seem to be having a resurgence of sorts for
Amiga magazines. Besides the "AmigaActive" magazine we told you about
last time (more details in this issue) we catch rumors of another
called "Amiga Style". It's supposed to be a games magazine.
Brad
~~~~~~
8 Jan 1999
Hi,
I read this in your Newsletter and I am wondering is it for real? If so how
can I contact the software company?
. . . Y O U R A M I G A A S A P H O N E
X-Phone Telephone Software Information
Apocalypse Software
Warren
===
Warren,
You can reach Apocalypse Software at their website:
www.vmc.de/cscholling/html_cs/eng_as.html We haven't found many links
to them, or their name in most Amiga databases, so we thought we'd
answer your letter in this issue as others probably have the same
question. Thanks for asking it.
Brad
~~~~~~
9 Jan 1999
Well Brad, with the demise of Amiga Informer, looks like we are
almost on our own here in North America. We here at FWD computing will
sorely miss them, but not give up. There is, for those who are REALLY
paying attention, a lot of new and good software coming out for the
Amigas. Some of these are: Candy Factory Pro, Fantastic Dreams,
Cybergrafx V4, Envoy V3, SuperView Productivity Suite, Winbench98, Eat
the Whistle, Olofight, Top Games gold 1 to 3 (three Cds), 500 Screen
savers2, Anime Babes Collectors CD, Red hat Linux 5.1, the
Vulcanology, the new version of Magellan. etc. Quite a number of these
new CDs and disks support the PowerPC, so I strongly suggest that
everyone who can should just opt for one of these. Those who have them
for the most part seem to be happy with them. Get a tower system for
your computer. they are available for 500, 1200, 4000 and the 3000
(and maybe more I do not know about) in order to expand what you have
and take advantage of a graphics card. Please do not just stick around
with an unexpanded machine and complain about lack of support. If you
opt for a PC you will be constantly upgrading just to use any new
software. We have enough patches and improvements already around and
some in the works that were they compiled together we could have our
own version of 3.5 ready to go on CD, and "maybe" on disk, but what a
collection of disks that would be.
Rather than wait for Amiga Inc, Amiga Int and Gateway to lead...we
should all be leading them. Get involved in the UGN, attend and
support Amiga Computer shows, really support the remaining dealers and
encourage new ones to start up.
We here at FWD computing are trying to keep in stock all the latest
software we can for the Amiga....not just to look at, but to have it
here for the users. We have not given up, just tried to offer good
service to users. When the business warrants it we will go to offering
credit card service, but not till then (most users do not know what
credit cards cost the dealer, or that a dealer can be stuck with a
long term contract he is responsible for even if he goes under).
Thanks to all of our customers from 1998! Frank Davis
FWD Computing
fdavis@iquest.net
http://members.tripod.com/~FWDcomputing/
Working to make computing fun!
===
Fran,
It's a real pleasure to hear from a dealer who's got a positive
approach and some good advice to give. When you see all the products
listed together, it does help you to realize the world hasn't ended
yet.
I long ago started creating my own "3.5", as I think many other users
have. One advantage of the Amiga community is it's ability to supply
us with enough pieces to upgrade the operating system on our own.
User groups, the remaining Amiga publications and the Net all provide
good information to help others do the same.
Thanks for the note,
Brad
----------------------------------------------------------------------
O P E N L E T T E R F R O M J E F F S C H I N D L E R
An Open Letter to the Amiga Community - December 1998
Amiga has always had certain strengths that have never been matched
by any other operating system. It's small, efficient, and
multimedia-centric. As Allan Havemose as often said, "We just did it
right." Even today the Amiga can outperform and outrun today's
dominant operating system.
There has been a great deal of excitement and concern over the last
few weeks about the future for the Amiga. With the recent announcement
in Germany of our OS partner QNX and the demonstration of what this
package can do, we began speeding forward to the future.
When Amiga Inc. was formed our goal was to determine the best road
for Amiga to take. We wanted to:
o Continue the current development path and create another version of
the operating system.
o Build a new team from scratch and re-write the OS with the new
features necessary to be competitive.
o Locate an operating system with the same ideals and spirit that the
Amiga has.
We joined in a partnership with QNX to create the NG Amiga. But that
didn't mean that we intended to forget about the classic system users
and the faithful Amiga community. We're going to continue working on
getting 3.5 out the door, but we also need to get started working on
the new operating system.
We are committed to a long and exciting future for the Amiga, and the
community that has kept this magnificent architecture alive.
Amiga 3.5 is a work in progress; it has NOT been abandoned. We
learned over the last several weeks, that what we believed we were
getting from our partners in the project was not always what they
understood they were to deliver. So we are going back to each and
every partner in the 3.5 project to make sure that what they are
working on is what our customers require. It is critical that we
deliver what we promised--a complete package.
Some of you have been concerned about the future of Amiga and our
commitment to our developers and the community. Please know that your
questions and e-mails have not been ignored. We are working very hard
to complete the final phases of 3.5 and get the developer programs and
final specifications worked out with our partner QNX. We want to
deliver the most robust and exciting operating system ever. We will do
it.
Thanks for your patience and support. The Amiga is on the right path,
and we look forward to delivering both 3.5 and the NG Amiga soon.
Keep the faith. We're close.
Jeff Schindler
General Manager
Amiga Inc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P E T R O S P E A K S I N A U S T R A L I A
{During his recent visit to Australia, Managing Director of Amiga
International Inc. Petro Tyschtshenko was interviewed by several
members of the press. We can't reprint their stories word for word,
but we can bring you some interesting quotes. Brad}
* From http://technology.news.com.au/techno/4197226.htm
Title: Tenacious Amiga on comeback trail
By Garth Montgomery, writing on 19 January
...
Gateway expects to generate $100 million revenue from Amiga in the
year 2000, and Mr Tyschtshenko is confident of meeting the target.
The specifications call for an entertainment machine focused on
multimedia games and real-time animation, Internet and networking
support, plus digital interface standards for convergence processing
hardware.
...
However, demand {for Amigas} still exists, according to Mr
Tyschtshenko. He generated 10 million Deutschemarks ($9.5 million) in
sales between March 1997 and December 1998, with only six staff
selling A1200 machines developed in 1991.
...
Revenue now comes mainly from poker machines and a booming wedding
video industry on the {Indian} sub-continent.
* From http://www.it.fairfax.com.au/990119/hardware/it2.html
Title: Information Technology - hardware
Amiga on track to a comeback
By Nathan Cochrane, writing on 19 January
...
``Commodore never got in touch with the users of the computer,''
Tyschtschenko said. ``It's important to understand what people are
doing. In the hard times, when I wasn't aware what was happening from
day to day, with the bankruptcy I got encouraging e-mails from users.
They said `don't give up'.
``The community is very creative and I cared for these people.''
...
He says a multimedia workstation based around the PowerPC chip and
running AmigaOS 3.5 could sell next year for less than $US1500 and
deliver comparable performance to NT or Mac machines costing several
times that amount. A DVD-based set-top interactive box with Net access
is also planned.
...
``Regarding the processor platform, I've spoken to Schindler and he
told me they (Amiga Inc, the design arm of Amiga) would like to make
up their mind late in the European summer for processors.
``There are so many things going on so they would like to grab the best
technology they can.''
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W A M I G A S E C T I O N , N E W T E K N I Q U E S
NewTekniques Adds New Amiga/Toaster/Flyer Section!
For Immediate Release
January 22, 1999
(Santa Ana, CA) NewTekniques magazine has announced a new 16-page
black and white section that will cover the Amiga, Video Toaster, and
Video Toaster Flyer beginning with the February/March 1999 issue.
Called, "The Gateway," this new section will appear in the middle of
the magazine with 16 pages of dedicated Amiga, Toaster, and Flyer
news, tutorials, and reviews, plus advertisements from Amiga, Toaster,
and Flyer companies. Each issue will have 10-11 pages of editorial
coverage and 4-5 pages of ads.
"NewTekniques takes reader feedback very seriously," says
NewTekniques associate publisher, Joe Tracy. "One request we've
received from our Amiga, Toaster, and Flyer readers is that they'd
like to see more print coverage.
We had to come up with a way of doing this without cutting out any
LightWave or Aura coverage. Using black & white pages in the middle of
the magazine was the solution!"
"The Gateway" will have its own editor in chief. NewTekniques "Amiga
in Motion" columnist, Dhomas Trenn, has been named the editor of this
section. Before NewTekniques, Trenn was a regular columnist for
CU-Amiga and The Amiga Informer magazines.
"Since joining the NewTekniques team, I have had a lot of ideas for
increasing coverage for Amiga, Toaster, and Flyer users," says Trenn.
"With my new position and the expanded magazine, we can make this a
reality."
The plan has been in the works for several months and had to meet
specific financial requirements for approval. The project was given
the green light late last year and has been in production ever since.
One of the key elements to making this section possible is the Amiga,
Toaster, and Flyer advertisers. Companies that will appear in the
first issue of "The Gateway," making the section possible, are
Dimension Technologies, DVS Direct, The Lively Computer, Amiga '99,
Software Hut, Videolink, OZware, and Videology.
"These companies each have made an investment in the Amiga, Toaster,
and Flyer community that is greatly appreciated," says Tracy. "We also
greatly appreciate our regular readers who got the ball rolling on
this solution with their requests for expanded coverage."
In addition to the new print section, "The Gateway" will have its own
reader-only area on the Web, separate from the current NewTekniques
bonus area. This area will contain more bonus coverage, columns,
reviews, and downloads to coincide with articles in the print
magazine.
"If you were to add the new print section and the new bonus area on
the Web, it would total about 25+ pages of dedicated coverage for the
Amiga, Toaster, and Flyer," says Tracy.
Each issue of the print side will contain Amiga, Toaster, and Flyer
news, the Flying High column (strictly tutorials), a Toaster column, a
feature covering areas like "improving the performance of your Amiga,"
a question and answer column and a review. The bonus Web site will
include Bob Ketchum's "Idea Factory," a new "better business" column
by Kevin Hanley, a tips column by Tim Roberts, additional Amiga
coverage, and reviews. The bonus section will open in conjunction with
the shipping of each issue.
Subscribers can also expect to see future articles by Jason Compton,
Fletcher Haug, Bohus Blahut, Paul Lara, Greg Scott, and other
long-time Amigans.
"It's great to see that NewTekniques has been listening to the needs
of Toaster/Flyer users," says Hanley who runs his own video business
and is the brains behind The Ultimate Flyer Demo. "Now, we will all
have a lot to look forward to with each and every issue of
NewTekniques!"
The February/March issue of NewTekniques ships on February 15 to
subscribers. Pages 21 - 36 contain "The Gateway" section. "The
Gateway" will be a regular section in each print edition of
NewTekniques. The bonus area for the first issue of "The Gateway" will
open on February 20. Instructions to access "The Gateway" online will
appear on February 20 at http://www.newtekniques.com/bonus.
"We want the bonus area for 'The Gateway' to be on-line before the
reader receives each issue of the printed version," says Trenn. "This
way the downloadable files and extra material are immediately
available."
Print coverage of the Amiga, Toaster, and Flyer has been drastically
reduced throughout the world. So could this be considered a gamble for
NewTekniques?
"It's never a gamble when you invest in readers," says Tracy. "We're
increasing our LightWave coverage, Amiga coverage, Toaster coverage,
and Flyer coverage. I believe when you take time to invest in readers
and answer their suggestions that they will take time to invest in
you. It's a win-win situation."
For information on subscribing to NewTekniques, visit
http://www.newtekniques.com/TekTicker/Subscribe/subscribe.html. If you
are not a subscriber and want to receive the February/March issue,
then call
1-800-346-0085 to subscribe and tell the person taking your order
that you want your subscription to start with the February/March
issue.
If you are interested in contributing to "The Gateway" or have ideas
for what coverage you would like to see, please email Dhomas Trenn at
dhomas@youngmonkey.ca.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C H A N G E S A T N E W T E K
NewTek Implements Strategic Staff Changes
(January 7) NewTek today announced that it has promoted Donetta
Colboch to executive vice president of sales and marketing, Julian
Critchfield to executive vice president of engineering, Steve
Doubleday to CFO/executive vice president of finance and
administration, Pinakin Katbamna (PK) to vice president of sales and
Brad Peebler to vice president of marketing. The has company
reorganized its engineering, marketing, operations and sales groups to
focus on next generation products.
"NewTek will be introducing some very exciting 'next generation'
products during 1999," said Tim Jenison, CEO and founder of NewTek.
"The industry knowledge and experience each of these individuals bring
to their posts will not only be paramount for our new products and
strategies, but will help propel us into the new millennium."
"NewTek has the best selling 3D software in the film, video and
broadcast markets with a 50% market share, according to a research
study we completed in 1998, " said Wanda Meloni, sr. analysts with Jon
Peddie Associates. "Appointing these high-profile and high-energy
individuals into key positions at NewTek is definitely a win-win
situation for all involved, especially NewTek's customers."
New Executive Vice Presidents Donetta Colboch, executive vice
president sales and marketing. In her new role, Colboch will oversee
NewTek's sales and marketing worldwide.
She will drive the development of strategic sales and marketing plans
and have bottom line accountability for the companies sales and
marketing growth.
Julian Critchfield, executive vice president engineering. Critchfield
will head up NewTek's hardware and software engineering department.
Under Critchfield's leadership, NewTek's engineering department will
be consolidated to better integrate all of NewTek's hardware and
software products. This integration will be essential for NewTek's
next generation products, slated for introduction later the year.
Steve Doubleday, CFO and executive vice president finance and
administration. Doubleday will now head up finance and administration
with responsibility for all p&l, accounting, human resources and day
to day operations. This department consolidation will streamline
operations and better mirror traditional finance and administration
departments.
New Vice Presidents Pinakin Katbamna, vice president worldwide sales.
Katbamna will spearhead NewTek's entire sales organization. Katbamna
will be responsible for all sales channels including e-commerce,
e-business, distributor and dealer relations, and international sales.
Katbamna will also focus on saturating new markets including gaming
and government.
Brad Peebler, vice president of marketing. Peebler, as vice president
of marketing, will oversee strategic direction of marketing for
NewTek's complete product line including LightWave 3D, Inspire 3D,
Aura, Calibar and The Video Toaster. He will have a strong focus on
developing marketing plans for NewTek's next generation products
slated for introduction starting in mid 1999. He will also spearhead
partner relationships, product marketing, and marketing
communications.
The staff changes are effective immediately.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A N O V E L U S E F O R A M I G A
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Central Islip, NY Friday, January 8, 1999 Headyn Thecloudes
Publishing announced today the mystery/science fiction novel Mirror of
Suspicion has been completely produced on the Amiga.
The novel's first chapter is posted on the Mirror of Suspicion
website, http://www.li.net/~mirror. which was also created on the
Amiga. The web site has generated so much interest that Pamela decided
to publish the entire novel on her Amiga. Mr. Hardware Computers
provided the expert technical support needed to make this happen.
Reader's comments are available on the website now that copies of the
book are on sale.
Pamela used PageStream3 to typeset Mirror of Suspicion. The book is
printed on a state of the art 1200 DPI duplexing laser printer. Mr.
Hardware used his Amiga and the internet to locate an excellent book
binding system that's imported from the Netherlands. Each book is
personalized with the author's signature. "Everything came out
beatifully," the happy writer was quoted as exclaiming. Future
publications will be produced in the same way, showing that Amiga,
even in adversity, can still do it all, better.
Author Pamela Renee, aka Ms. Software, says "Amiga is still the
computer for the creative mind". Pam was one of the spokespersons for
the well known Commodore 1989 ad campaign. She appeared in print ads
and a promotional video called Creative People on the Amiga with her
husband, Joe Rothman.
Pamela says she wouldn't endorse a product she didn't believe in. The
Amiga makes it possible to easily express new thoughts and ideas. To
Pamela that makes it the best computer. "I'm a talented writer who has
been encouraged by the publishing world. They like my work, but there
isn't a genre they can squeeze it into. The same narrow thinking that
makes the corporate world so PC dependent, makes them want to always
publish the same thing over and over again. The Amiga and the internet
give me the power to say fie on the big publishing houses. Let's let
the public decide what they want to read."
If you are looking for something different, Mirror of Suspicion is a
Mystery/Science Fiction Novel set in the new millenium.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A 9 9 D O O R P R I Z E S
PRESS RELEASE:
Amiga 99 -Door Prizes!
January 18, 1999
Door Prizes! Yes, everyone loves door prizes. Amigan-St. Louis,
producers of the Gateway Computer Show-Amiga 99 are pleased to
announce a major addition to our already exceedingly nice selection of
door prizes.
Two 1/2 hour periods of 727 simulator time, in a real airline
simulator.
TWA has graciously rented us two 30 minute periods in their Boeing
727 aircraft simulator at St. Louis as door prizes. Winners of either
of these door prizes will be escorted to the TWA training department
at midnight, Saturday evening, just after the banquet to experience
the trill of a lifetime.
Imagine being at the controls of a real aircraft simulator. Any of us
who have enjoyed flying the computer simulators can only imagine the
thrill of handling this gigantic piece of hardware. Now two lucky
winners will actually get behind the controls of TWA's 727 airline
simulator. The same kind that airlines all over the world use to train
their pilots. You can appreciate what an exciting experience this will
be for the winners.
The lucky individuals will have the opportunity to fly with a real
pilot in this simulator, and will receive an official flight logbook,
in which we will list the 30 minutes of time spent flying this marvel
of flight training.
These two prizes make an exciting addition to all the fine prizes
that so many companies are providing. Check our web page at:
http://www.amiga-stl.com under Amiga99/prizes to see a more complete
list. Check back because the list is growing every week. Tickets may
be ordered by calling: 1-800-59-AMIGA (26442).
Don't wait any longer, purchase your tickets to Amiga 99, the Gateway
Computer Show being held in St. Louis, MO, Friday March 12 - Sunday
March 14 at the Henry VIII hotel. Winners will be selected from the
Saturday prize drawing at the close of Saturdays show.
Winners must be present to win and only this time slot is available
for the prize. Simulator will be flown in night mode, with motion off.
The Amiga... It's taking off, and so is Amiga 99!
Bob Scharp
bscharp@icon-stl.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C O N T E S T S A T A M I G A 9 9
Amiga99 Show Sponsors Graphic and Programming Contest
PRESS RELEASE:
Amiga 99 - Screen Saver & Art Contest!
January 4, 1999
Amigan-St. Louis, producers of the Gateway Computer Show-Amiga 99 are
pleased to announce a Graphic and Programming Contest! In cooperation
with Amiga, Inc, who have agreed to help sponsor this contest, we have
come up with a contest that will help the Amiga, and create some fun
and excitement.
Here are the basics...
Graphics and Programming Contest
Brought to you by Amigan-St. Louis with thanks to Amiga Inc.
Rules on the Graphics and Programming Contest
All entries must be sent to:
Amigan-St. Louis
Graphics & Programming Contest
P.O. Box 672
Bridgeton, MO 63044
No entries will be accepted that are postmarked after Feburary 20,
1999. They must be received by March 1, 1999 to be entered into
contest.
There are two sections to this contest.
1. Graphics
2. Programming
All decisions of the judges are final. Note: Judges only read the
English language.
More than one category may be entered by the same person.
All entries must be plainly marked with:
Title of entry
Number disks or zip cartridges (i.e.: 1 of 1, or 1 of 3 etc.)
Name of person entering
Address of person entering
Phone number of person entering.
Email address of person entering if one is available.
Example:
Boing Ball Express
1 of 1
by John Doe
1 Amiga Lane
Amigaville, SD. 11111
222-282-8888
JDoe@icon-stl.net
Entries can be LhA or JPG to save disk space. They may be sent in on
floppies, or zip cartridge. If sending floppies, send two sets, in
case of damage. Pack contents carefully.
Disks and zip cartridges will not be returned. They become the
property of Amigan-St. Louis.
All entries, including programs, pics, slides, and anims must be
declared as Public Domain.
Updates or changes to rules will be posted on web page only at:
http://www.amiga-stl.com/sccontest.html No notice of changes is
required. It is up to the participant to keep abreast of the rules. We
will try to keep changes to a minimum.
Please use a virus checker before and while doing all this work. Work
submitted containing a virus will be disallowed.
Awards will be presented at the closing of Amiga 99, March 14, 1999.
Although we would like all participants to attend, we realize some
cannot due to distance, cost and other problems. If a participant
wins, and is not present, a check in U.S. FUNDS will be mailed to the
address given on contest entry. All taxes are the responsibility of
the winner.
Details... a little more on the Graphic Development...Pics Slides &
Anims
Each of the three Graphics winners will receive: $100
All images must be a (minimum of) 640 x 480 screen. (Standard VGA
A minimum of 256 colors, or 256 shades of grey is acceptable. In
other words, you can draw a black and white picture for the contest,
but it must be on at least a 256 color screen.
Subject matter must be viewable by all ages. (This is a "G" contest
folks!)
Images themes can be Amiga Computer related, although it is not
restricted to that.
Sound is optional, but will enhance your chances of winning.
There are three (3) categories of Graphics:
Pic: Pics shown independently of others. (A stand alone picture
complying with the IFF, GIF, TIF, HAM, Ham8 or similarly accepted
formats.)
Slide Show Pics: Pics shown in conjunction with others. (eg: Subject
could depict the ease of adding an Amiga peripheral, such as an
accelerator board.) Again, Pics must comply with the IFF, GIF, TIF,
HAM, Ham8 or similar format guidelines.
Animations: A series of pics following the anim, anim7 or anim8
guidelines. Anims are not to exceed 1 minutes or 1.2 Meg file size.
A "Thumbnail" of each pic, slide show or animation is requested.
On the Programming... A Screen Saver Program.
Prize for best program is $200.
Program will be judged for it's ability to:
Show pics, slide shows and animations in the Graphics contest. It
must support, but is not limited to: IFF, GIF, TIF, PNG, HAM and Ham8.
i.e.; minimum of 256 colors on 640 x 480 VGA screen. Animations,
conforming to the anim, anim7 and anim8 standards must be supported.
Program must have the ability of playing sound.
Program must be easy to operate.
Program must work with Amiga workbench 3.x.
Entry into contest is agreement that the program is public domain.
It's author must state so in the initial code.
Entry into contest is agreement that program can be used and
distributed by: Amiga Inc. and Amigan-St. Louis free of charge with no
royalties or fees, now or in the future.
Optional - For more credit, add some or all of the following
features:
Program should load all of the above pics, slides and anims from
uncompressed or compressed forms.
Provide menu options with keyboard equivalents that comply with the
Amiga standards.
Provide support for 8 bit sound.
Provide support for 16 bit sound.
Provide on-line help when "Help" key is pressed.
Provide support for menus. Examples are listed below.
New
Open (Load)
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Provide support for current graphic cards:
Picasso II, IV
CyberVision64/3D and CyberVision PPC
Graffiti
GVP Spectrum 2mb card
Provide support for ARexx.
We all hope this will create some fun and excitement. Let's see how
many folks can create some good programming and artwork for the show.
Good Luck to all.
If you have any questions, please email me at: bscharp@icon-stl.net
Bob Scharp Amigan-St. Louis
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M O R E O N A M I G A A C T I V E
14 Jan 1999
Amiga Active - starting the Millennium early.
A new UK based Amiga Magazine is planned by PinPrint publishing for
launch this spring. Amiga Active will be a monthly, full colour glossy
magazine, with high production values and a cover-mounted CD for just
UKP 4.99.
Dynamic and forward-looking, Amiga Active will be produced by people
who understand the Amiga, addressing the wants and needs of today's
Amiga user and embracing the Amiga user of tomorrow. Amiga Active will
take a fresh look at the Amiga market with innovative content;
in-depth news, reviews and features, and everything you need to guide
you into the new era of Amiga computing.
Amiga Active has funding, dummy issues have been drawn up, and some
of the best known names in Amiga journalism have agreed to write for
us. The only thing that we are waiting for is a distribution deal,
which we are currently negotiating.
For any Amiga magazine to succeed, newsstand distribution is
essential. In presenting our case to the distribution companies, we
need to demonstrate the degree of interest in the title. Therefore we
request all interested parties visit our temporary website at
http://www.btinternet.com/~pppsales/amiga.html, where you can register
your support for the magazine.
Why wait for the millennium? Get AmigActive!
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N O R W E G I A N M A G W A N T S S T A F F
Would you like to be a STAR, a helpfull person? Would you? We need
help for AmigaPosten, the only Norwegian Amiga magazine.
We want 5 new writers for AmigaPosten, 2 for writing stuff, 1 with a
database over evry reader and 2 who does promotion for AmigaPosten. So
if you are interested, then e-mail uss at: michal@newmedia.no, or if
you have ideas for the magazine, nice tips and so on, please e-mail at
our second adress: Aposten@mailcity.com
Remember: In the "michal@newmedia.no" I only want serious e-mail with
questions about the magazine and questions for a job here. We dont
pay, but we want to give the Amiga comunity in Norway something to
read!
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G A M E S S O U R C E C O D E R E L E A S E D
Monday, January 11th, 1999: Raven Software and Activision have
announced the source code release for Raven's blockbuster classics
Heretic and Hexen.
"As a result of the enormous popularity of the DOOM * source code, we
are extremely excited to see what the gaming public can do with the
Heretic and Hexen code," says Brian Raffel, vice president of Raven
Studios. "It is our hope that people will create such modifications as
GL Heretic and GL Hexen and support higher resolutions, greater
multiplayer capabilities, mods, and ports to new operating systems
like BeOS and Linux. The possibilities are as endless as the
community's imagination."
The file is approximately 1 meg in size and comes complete with
installer, legal information and readme files. Download it today and
let your imaginations run wild!
(For more ideas on what you can actually DO with this source code,
pay a visit to DOOM World. Pretty exciting stuff!) The Heretic/Hexen
source code is released for non-profit use.
* The DOOM source code is released for non-profit use. DOOM® is a
registered trademark of Id Software, Inc. The Id SoftwareTM name is a
trademark of Id Software, Inc. Raven, Heretic and Hexen are registered
trademarks of Raven Software Corporation. ©1996-1998 Raven Software
Corporation. Activision® is a registered trademark of Activision, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
D E V E L O P M E N T S T O P S A T I S E N G A R D
We have recently suffered a hardware failure of our Amiga development
system. Due to this unfortunate circumstance, and the fact that the
cost of replacing/upgrading the equipment to an operational state is
far too expensive in the current Amiga market, Amiga development of
Eucalyptus and Blacks Editor is indefinitely suspended.
We hope that Amiga, Inc. will have a suitable and cost-effective
Amiga solution in the near-future. Until then, there is nothing
further we can do.
Online support for our software will continue as best it can without
the ability to fix bugs and release updates.
Development of Eucalyptus for other platforms (Windows95/98, BeOS,
Linux, and Solaris) continues, and Blacks Editor is slated to be
ported to BeOS.
We regret any inconvenience this may cause, and hope to be with you
again in the Amiga community of the future.
Paul Schifferer
Isengard Developments
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S T A R G A T E A R R I V E S
Jan 20, 1999
Toysoft Development Inc. is pleased to announce the development of a
new e-mail client for the Amiga computers. StarGate includes many
basic email features such as message attachment and message decoding.
StarGate comes with a very extensive and detailed address book that
supports multiple email accounts, personal and business addresses.
Preferences are also simplified to make it easy to use.
Other features in StarGate are the ability to do quick preview of
messages, automatically store the sender's email address and name into
the address book, user selectable column views for all mailboxes and
folders, multiple accounts with multiple mail servers, enhanced
signature and tag lines, more detailed error handling.
StarGate supports button or 256 color icons interface. Additional
features that are not found in other e-mail clients are custom forms
with sounds, peek at your mail server before downloading and direct
link to your defined web browser and many more features.
Experience the coming of StarGate. Portal opening Feb 1, 1999.
See http://www.toysoft-dev.com/stargate.html for a preview. To learn
more about Toysoft Development Inc. please visit
http://www.toysoft-dev.com or call 1-403-680-1656
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W Y O R K I S U P G R A D E D
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 1999
Finale Development today announced that a NewYork II major upgrade
will be made available at Amiga '99 in St. Louis this March. This news
comes early, but Finale wanted to let both its current and potential
customers know that the much anticipated upgrade is nearing release.
Just a few of the additions include;
o Offline reading with batch/cache downloading.
o "Read & Cache" feature.
o Improved subscription manager with search function.
o Customizable toolbar images, 64 color image set available.
o Posting of attachments using MIME.
o Cross Posting ability.
o AutoWraps posts to 72 charactors per RFC.
o Bug fixes to the UUDecoder and Cache Loader.
Purchasers of the current version, dated after January 15th, will be
entited to a FREE upgrade to NewYork II. Please save your purchase
receipt.
A new mailing list has been created to better support the product and
discuss plans for a future release in an open forum. To join, place
"Subscribe" in the subject of an email to;
NewYorkII-request@finale-dev.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T W O N E W G A M E S : A L I V E M E D I A S O F T
Goal! Season 98-99
Goal! Season 98-99 is the latest installment in this excellent
football series. Alive mediasoft will soon be releasing the latest
update for Goal! which features all the new teams from The Premier
League through to the Third Division, as well as the best of the
European and international teams. You also now have the option to play
league and cup competitions. New screenshots and information will be
available very soon.
Phoenix Fighters
Alive mediasoft's latest signing is an exciting little number called
Phoenix Fighters. You will see from the screenshots that PF is an
overhead shoot-em up game.
Until you get to see the demo running, you can't fully appreciate
this. PF has incredibly high speed, super smooth scrolling. This
really is a pleasure to play. There are many different missions to
play - and I do mean many! The main objective is clearly to reach the
exit, but along the way you are set smaller missions and tasks which
you must acheive before you can progress to the next stage.
There's also a Race mode. This is a high-paced, high adrenalin mode
where you race a computer controlled opponent to the exit.
There's also an obstacle course mode where you must fly around
collecting gems and bringing them back to base.
One of the best features is the Dog Fight Mode. I don't think the
title needs an explanation, but for those who haven't played many
flight games before, this is one of the best ways to test your skill -
against a friend (or enemy!)
All the modes are excellent, but then there's the added bonus of
being able to play any mode in a split-screen fashion so two of you
can play against each other on the same Amiga and same monitor.
A full feature list and demo will be available soon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A P A C H E F O R A M I G A , F O R F R E E
19 Jan 1999
Announcement for immediate release:
Amiga Apache Web server with PHP Web scripting language: now
available for free.
Apache is now the most popular Web server available in over 2 million
sites in the world. Many pages made available by Web servers are
generated dinamically with scripting languages, being Perl one of the
most popular with over 1 million users.
But for Web scripting PHP (http://www.php.net) is one of the fastest
growing languages being used in over 300.000 sites in the world. Since
PHP is a language available in an Open Source project, it was now made
available in pre-compiled archives for the Amiga.
The binary archive may be found at http://www.php.net/binaries.php3.
The documentation of PHP language may be found in several formats
(HTML, PDF, RTF, etc...) at: http://www.php.net/docs.php3.
This version of PHP 3.0.6 is available in two formats for the Amiga:
one as a standalone CGI based executable and another as language
module built-in the Amiga Apache executable.
These versions were built with support to:
* mSQL Relational Database Management System client library version
2.0.5. There is a version of mSQL for the Amiga at:
http://altern.org/cfc/msql/.
* MySQL Relational Database Management System access
* XML parsing with expat XML parser library
* PDF (Adobe Acrobat) documents on-fly generation with PDFlib version
0.6
* GIF images on-fly generation with GD library version 1.3
This version (1.3.3) of Amiga Apache (http://www.dsdelft.nl/~apache/)
was built with PHP 3.0.6 as internal module by Manuel Lemos. If you
need further assistance, send message to mlemos@acm.org.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
R E G I S T R A T I O N S E R V I C E F O R A U T H O R S
11 Jan 1999
AmigaSoc UK User Group Offers Registration Services
Calling All Shareware Authors
AmigaSoc UK is pleased to announce the start of our shareware
registration programme. In an effort to encourage more people to
register shareware, AmigaSoc will be visiting all future UK Amiga
shows (starting with the Kickstart sale on Feb 27th). At each show we
hope to be able to offer a range of shareware programs that can be
registered then and there without having to worry about currency
conversions or sending off travellers cheques to far flung corners of
the globe.
If you are the author of a shareware program and you are interested
in letting AmigaSoc help obtain registrations for your program then we
would like to hear from you. Please email chrisl@uk.amigasoc.org or
contact us via the feedback form on our website, and help us create a
valuable service for all members of the Amiga community.
More information will be made available at
http://uk.amigasoc.org/sharew are/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E U R O C O N V E R T E R D E B U T S
11 Jan 1999
A freeware Euro converter, for AmiBroker, was released on request,
on January 7. You may only find it at my website. If you use it,
all I ask is that you give me feedback.
This program can be used to convert, up or down, a whole database,
in any revalued currency, in one operation. Let's hope you never
have to use it for that purpose! Currently, the main use is to
convert databases, in certain currencies, to Euros.
The revised 1.01 version can stop at a predetermined date. This
major feature will be usefull to most who still need to convert
their database(s) to Euros. That means everyone involved with
the new currency & AmiBroker, since it was requested *after* the
inauguration date.
A few other minor problems in the initial release are also fixed.
Because of two digits years, the program has an approximate lifespan
of about 60 years, or more (depending upon your earliest database
date).
Practice before Saving, and use at your own risk.
Cheers!
The World of AmiBroker Support
http://webhome.idirect.com/~ddalley
ddalley@idirect.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M U S I C C D M A D E O N A M I G A
7 Jan 1999
Howdy Brad,
I'd like to announcing my new Album '2Badsheep for all
Amiga Music fans. Amiga made and inspired.
I invite you to visit my website and hear some mp3 songs off this disc.
http://www.txdirect.net/~sidewind/newcd.htm
This Album is Amigasynth/technopop and euro styles.)
You can also find my original
Amiga produced CD, Future Shock 2 available for a special price.
http://www.txdirect.net/~sidewind/
=========================================================
S I D E WINDER PRODUCTIONS
the unlimited music experience (art and sheep too)
http://www.txdirect.net/~sidewind/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A R T S T U D I O P R O F E S S I O N A L
ArtStudio Professional
The new version of ArtStudio was extended about many efficiently
functions.
o It makes possible the searching of lists and whole hard discs /
CD-Roms.
o ArtStudio runs on every graphic board and in every resolution
because of window technique.
o The screen mode is free choosable by screen mode requester.
o Supports PopUpMenu`s and Drag
o More than one picture overview-window can open
o Creates categories automatically on basis of directory-structur.
o Windows are free adjustable therefore many individual settings are
possible for every catalogue.
o The program supports now over 50 graphic formats which will be
recognized automatically.
o Vectorformats like Postscript, WMF, WPG, AMF, DSDR aso.
o Animationsformats: Anim5,7,8 FLI, FLC, AVI, MPEG, QUICKTIME and
further exotic formats like e.g. "TIM" well-kown from the Playstation
or FAX, ICON, FONT a.s.o.
o Supports ScanQuix directly
o You can merge two or more catalogs
o Many additional tools for converting, manipulation and displaying
of
pictures.
o Animationviewer
o Creates complete HTML-pages for presentation on Internet
automatically.
o Reads prictures from LHA, LZH and LZX -Archives.
o Creats LHA and LZX archives.
o Pictures can be converted in other graphic formats, for examble
JPEG, IFF, SunRaster, SGI, IFFDEEP, YUV etc.
o Over 40 powerful functions of picture manipulation exists and are
now included, for examble MotionBlur, Sharpen or Mirroring.
o CyberGFX supporting, the miniature pictures can be displayed in
TrueColour (24 bit), now.
o Showing of all pictures in 16 Mill. colours, it's also possible
into one window on the ArtStudio screen.
o The miniature pictures have a great picture quality because of
Bi-interpolation and Floyd-Steinberg-Dithering.
o Loading-routines and converting have been optimized which makes it
possible an essential faster reading of the pictures into the
catalogue.
o When using 24 bit mode the miniature pictures can be saved also as
JPEG formats by very low consumption of hard disc memory.
o Drivers are available for ECS, AGA, Graffiti, Retina, Picasso and
Cybergraphics.
o It's possible to include external picture viewers which are
separated in every graphic format.
o Additional tools for viewing, converting or picture manipulating by
CLI,
WB or other programs.
o Extended search function.
o The functions for converting, copying or deleting of pictures can
be
automated now.
o Directly exportation of pictures into other programs like AdPro,
ArtEffekt, XiPaint, DPaint5 and so on.
o Lots of ARexx scripts are included in this consignment.
o The program and the guide are now available in English.
o Easily handling.
o full Draco compatible when using the 68xxx routines
o improved preference setting, now in HiRes too
o output the catalogue on printer with or without the miniature
pictures or into a file
o new loadermodules: now 55 loaders avaible
o new viewermodules: Graffiticard Viewer (now for ECS-User 256 colors
on screendisplay for every graphicformat)
o further ARexx-Scripts
o JPEG-Loader 3 times faster as before
o optimize routines for 68040/060 Amigas and PowerPC routines for
full light-speed. :)
o and some little improvements
o The external viewers can set for each graphicformat or for all
formats Because of this, it`s more comfortable to set the external
viewers
o LHA/LHZ/LZX support, archives were recognized automatically and
searched for pictures. Of course it`s possible to catalogue different
pictureformats containing in a LHA-LZX files. ArtStudio also
recognized pictures which are stored in subdirectories in LHA-LZX
files resp. containing spaces in their filenames.
o You can see the contents of a LHA/LZX-archives in the Image
information-window
o Importmodul for PictureManager catalogues, they will transform in
ArtStudio`s catalogue format automatically.
o AppIcon on Workbench, because of that you can catalogue a drawer
simply by drop it`s icon on ArtStudio`s AppIcon. A ArtStudio catalogue
has to be opened before you can do this.
o easier loading of pictures resp. catalougues. ArtStudio saves the
last directory-path which you have used automatically. After a
newstart ArtStudio knows the last path and you can continue the
cataloging of your pictures.
o SpeedUpScript, to improve the speed for 40% especially useful for
PhotoCD`s. First you have to start the script than ArtStudio
o many little improvements for better handling
o external FLI/FLC Player for CyberGFX
o external AVI-Player for AGA and CyberGFX
o external QUICKTIME-Player for AGA and CyberGFX
Price: 69.- DM
Update from V1.0 to V3.1: 29.- DM
Update from V2.0 to V3.1: 29.- DM
Update from V2.5 to V3.1: 29.- DM
CrossUpdate: 39.- DM
Technical hotline for registered users:
Motion Studios
Wildermuthplatz 3
D-28211 Bremen
Tel. : +49-(0)421/24 99 66
Fax. : +49-(0)421/24 95 56
email : MotionStudios@mail.netwave.de
www.titancomputer.de/motionstudios/indexe.html
Hotline hours:
Mo. - Fr. 16.30 - 18.00 Uhr
Distribution through:
Titan Computer
Mahndorfer Heerstr. 80a
D-28307 Bremen
Tel. : +49-(0)421/48 16 20
Fax. : +49-(0)421/48 16 20
Opening hours:
Mo. - Fr. 10.00 - 13.00 und 15.00 - 19.30 Uhr
Sa. 10.00 - 14.30 Uhr
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net:
All back issues available at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1999 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
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A M I G A /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ A M I G A
U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_
amigaupdate@globaldialog.com
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