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Amiga Update (1998-10-31)
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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 ||
======================================================================
AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Gateway, Inc.
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981031
T H E A M I G A I N F O R M E R A N N E X !
M A C T H E K N I F E - O R M A C T H E N A F F ?
A M I G A L A W S U I T R E S O L V E D !
N E W T E K S I D E S T E P S A 4 0 0 0 S H O R T A G E
L A Z A R U S S H U T D O W N ? C U C U G T H R E A T E N E D
F L E E C Y M O S S A T N O V . N C A U G M E E T I N G
A M I G A S U R V I V O R D O I N G W E L L
N E W F R O M N O V A D E S I G N A T C O L O G N E
I N F O R M E R # 1 6 I S O U T
S T O P T H E M A D N E S S ! S H I R T S A V A I L A B L E
M U I B A S E 1 . 0 A N N O U N C E D
P A X T R O N O F F E R S B A T T E R Y I N S U R A N C E
S C A R Y F X F O R H A L L O W E E N A N D B E Y O N D
W I L D F I R E 7 T O S H O W A T C O L O G N E
A M I G A R E T A R G E T A B L E A U D I O - S Y S T E M
N E W S F R O M H & P
" T H E L A S T P A T R I O T " F O R N G A M I G A
T H E L A T E S T F R O M C L I C K B O O M
C O R R E C T P R I C E S F O R R A N D O M I Z E I T E M S
A M I N E T 2 7 D E S C R I B E D
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
We expected to write an editorial this time about the lawsuit
involving QuikPak. Instead, to our surprise, we find the legal lunacy
is finally over! This is an important event for the Amiga community as
it should clear the way for the production of A4000s to begin again.
Now it's up to the Amiga companies to make that happen, and to make
them available everywhere, including the Americas. We'll be keeping a
close eye on that for you. For now, our thanks to anyone and everyone
who had a hand in ending this crippling situation.
Legal matters abound this month. The good folks at CUCUG find
themselves involved in a controversy with the Lazarus web site. Legal
action is threatened there also. We suppose that's not too surprising
as suing has replaced baseball as the American National Sport. Sue
first, think later is all the rage. (That's NOT intended as a comment
on the merits of the case, either way. We don't have enough
information to make a judgment. It IS a comment on US society and its
approach to the law in general.)
Fortunately not everyone resorts to calling lawyers when wrong
information appears in print or on the net. Sometimes laughter is much
more appropriate. Read the article on Mac the Knife (or Naff) below to
see what we mean.
As if all that isn't enough controversy for one issue, there was some
information in the most recent issue of "Amiga Informer" that
disturbed Holger Kruse. We begin this time with a special edition of
"The Amiga Informer Annex" in order to help put everything to right as
quickly and as well as possible.
There's lots more to read in this issue also. You'll notice we have
positive, growth oriented stories about Amiga publications this time,
in contrast to some stories carried not all that long ago. Things go
in cycles, and there should be some assurance here that the world
isn't ready to end just yet.
Finally,
Brad Webb,
Editor
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_ __ _ __ _ ____ _ _
The AMIGA /\\ |\ || |\ || || \\ /
I N F O R M E R /__\\ | \ || | \ || ||-- \\
/ \\__| \||_ | \||_ ||___ _/\\_ Section
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CORRECTIONS!
As is the policy of The Informer, we print any corrections to
our articles if these corrections are brought to our attention.
In issue 16 we printed a news brief which discussed Miami
software by Holger Kruse. Mr. Kruse contacted us and pointed out
incorrect or misleading information in our article. The following is
a letter direct from Mr. Kruse. We apologize for our incorrect
information and want to provide our readers with the correct
information as detailed by Mr. Kruse personally.
Fletcher Haug
Editor in chief
________________________________________________
Article in question as it appeared in issue 16.
"It was recently reported on Usenet that Holger Kruse, author of the
brilliant Miami TCP software, included a "back door" in his program to
catch pirates. This back door detects fake keyfiles and sends the
pirate's information to Holger without their knowledge. Mr. Kruse
defended this action, stating it does not affect legitimate registered
users and is only aimed at curbing piracy, which according to Kruse is
rampant. Kruse already stated that due to piracy he has "indefinitely"
put off expanding his efforts after the release of Miami 3.2 and Miami
Deluxe 1.0. This puts his future support for the Amiga in question. We
at The Informer applaud the efforts of Mr. Kruse to curb piracy and
would like to see more software incorporate piracy traps."
------ End of Quote-----------------------------
The above article contains two grave errors:
> It was recently reported on Usenet that Holger Kruse, author of the
brilliant
> Miami TCP software, included a "back door" in his program
to catch pirates.
This is incorrect.
First of all, it was not "reported on Usenet" that Miami contains a
back door. What really happened is that a software pirate made an
incorrect and slanderous accusation on Usenet, sent from an anonymous
account, alleging the existence of a "back door" in Miami. He did not
give any conclusive evidence, but instead gave potentially dangerous
"advice" how to "circumvent" the alleged "back door", which Nordic
Global Inc. immediately denied. The accusation in the original,
anonymous article can hardly be considered a "report".
Miami does not contain any "back doors". It never has and never will.
A "back door" is, by definition, an intended and concealed mechanism
in hardware or software, unknown to system administrators, that allows
people outside of an organization to access or otherwise affect
hardware or software inside of an organization, bypassing intended
security mechanisms, authentication checks and authorization checks,
without the system administrators' knowledge. Such mechanisms are
usually illegal, and accusing software of having a "back door" is a
very serious allegation.
Miami does not contain any such mechanism, neither for piracy
detection nor for other purposes. There is no intended mechanism in
Miami by which Nordic Global Inc. or anyone else can in any way affect
a computer running Miami (crash it, break into it, steal files from
it, spy on the user etc.), regardless of whether the user is
unregistered, registered, or using a pirated copy of Miami.
Neither does Miami contain any mechanism by which the program sends
unsolicited personal information on unregistered or registered users
anywhere, or by which anyone can obtain such information from a
running copy of Miami.
> Kruse already stated that due to piracy he has "indefinitely" put
off
> expanding his efforts after the release of Miami 3.2 and Miami
Deluxe
> 1.0. This puts his future support for the Amiga in question.
This is incorrect.
Holger Kruse stated that after Miami 3.2 and Miami Deluxe 1.0 the
development of future versions will depend on the state of the Amiga
market, which, at the current time, is in a rather bad shape, so it
would take some improvement of the Amiga market before we would
consider starting to work on any major new versions (Miami 4.0 or
Miami Deluxe 2.0). No decision not to develop such versions has been
made yet though. One of the factors determining the amount of work
spent on future versions will be the amount and extent of piracy. This
in no way affects software support for existing software and their
customers though.
We never stated that we have "indefinitely put off expanding [our]
efforts [to develop Amiga software] after the release of Miami 3.2 and
Miami Deluxe 1.0". We are still fully committed to the Amiga platform,
and users can continue to expect technical support, updates and bug
fixes through the usual channels.
We never stated "This puts [our] future support for the Amiga in
question." either. The amount of time spent on future Amiga software
and the scope of future software releases will obviously depend on the
state of the market though, as explained above.
At this time "Miami" and "Miami Deluxe" are fully supported Amiga
software products, and we have no intention to change this in the
foreseeable future.
--
Holger Kruse kruse@nordicglobal.com
http://www.nordicglobal.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M A C T H E K N I F E - O R M A C T H E N A F F ?
It seems there's been some "Macintrash" distributed to the world at
large recently concerning the future Amiga models now being developed.
We bring you what individuals at Amiga Incorporated have had to say on
the subject.
First, this from Amiga's Fleecy Moss, posted to an Amiga newsgroup on
the net ...
---
Amiga Inc. Debunks Mac The Knife Article
29 Oct 1998
Mac the knife? Mac the Naff more like...
For those concerned about the recent Mac the Naff article describing
LazyRus, the new snoozy walrus rumoured to be breeding up in the flat,
flat lands of South Dakota, please rest assured that this story is
about as factual as a Milosevic peace accord.
We would never present the Amiga community with something so ordinary.
Whilst Apple and all their little pips may be happy with an average
machine stored in a translucent blue potty, we are set to rewrite the
manifesto for the digital information revolution.
...unfortunately, as with most good things, it takes time.
---
... and this from Amiga Incorporated's Bill McEwen, posted on the
Amiga Inc. website ...
---
An Open Letter to the Amiga Community -
October 29, 1998
The recent article in MacWeek concerning the Gateway/Amiga computer
is completely false. While entertaining reading there is no truth to
the story. I am sure that we will all look forward to the next story
from another non-Amiga publication, as they try to get it right.
Thank you again for your support.
Bill McEwen
Head of Marketing, Amiga Inc.
billm@amiga.com
425-413-2620
Fax 425-413-2640
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A L A W S U I T R E S O L V E D !
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
28 October, 1998
The Amiga 4000 lawsuit between Dr. Bernhard Hembach and QuikPak has
been resolved.
The two parties reached an agreement on Monday that will force
QuikPak to send all of its inventory to Germany where manufacturing of
Amiga 4000 computers, based on the remaining parts and inventory, will
once again begin. About 2,000 Amiga 4000 computers could be back in
the market by Christmas. NewTekniques magazine was the first to report
a special investigative report on the lawsuit (click here) on July 3
and is working on obtaining the official court records of the
settlement. Stay tuned to the [http://www.newtekniques.com/TekTicker/]
NewTekniques Daily TekTicker for more information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W T E K S I D E S T E P S A 4 0 0 0 S H O R T A G E
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
28 October, 1998
The special Toaster/Flyer systems at fantastic prices, announced by
Newtek a while ago and then made not available because of the Amiga
non-availability, are back!!! Newtek has made arrangements for Amiga
Towers, suitable for Toaster/Flyer application to be manufactured from
existing A1200 boards with expansion and modification for card slots
and system add-ons.
The tower system included will run on a 68060 running at 50MHz and
will include a 4GB hard drive, a 32X CDRom, HighDensity floppy, and a
300 watt power supply all in an eight bay tower. Best of all the one
year warrantee is from and will be honored by Newtek.
Infotronics Prices and available systems:
* Video Toaster and Flyer in the new Amiga Tower: $4795
* A Complete Flyer System, The system described above with two 18GB
Video Drives and a 2GB Audio drive: $7795
* A Complete Toaster System, The Toaster 4000 installed in one of the
new Amiga Tower Systems: $3395
These can be ordered at any time but Newteks first order, for
mid-November delivery had to be submitted on the 28th. The success of
this approach may depend on how many people respond to the initial
offering.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
L A Z A R U S S H U T D O W N ? C U C U G T H R E A T E N E D
CUCUG, operators of "The Amiga Web Directory", arguably the best
Amiga web site of them all, has become involved in a dispute with web
site Lazarus over a news story posted to "The Amiga Web Directory".
Below is the original story, the Lazarus response and the note CUCUG
added to the response when posting it to "The Amiga Web Directory".
----
Gateway Cracks the Whip?
A popular web site famous for its distribution of Amiga ROMS, cracked
games and utilities has been forced to close its doors, according to a
message posted on the main page of the site. The following message now
adorns the site where lists of pirate downloads once occupied:
"Gateway 2000, Inc. acting for Amiga Development LLC. demanded that
this site be taken down immediately for posting and distributing
illegally copyrighted software"
"The site will remain suspended for the remaining of the
investigation."
The site, known as "Lazarus", appears to no longer offer offending,
pirated software. According to some users who claim to have visited
the site in the past, the operators had once actually sold a
collection of select, Amiga-oriented, illegal software on CD.
The Lazarus site has never been listed in the Amiga Web Directory as
it is against the policy of CUCUG to list such links.
{Following is the Lazarus site response:}
Lazarus Responds to CUCUG News Item, Threatens to Sue CUCUG
We {CUCUG} received the following email just hours after posting news
that "Lazarus", a widely known pirate software site had been forced
off the Internet by Gateway for posting and distributing illegal,
copyrighted software. In it, Lazarus denys that Amiga ROMs were
available for download and discounts the notion that what it was
engaged in was "piracy" since many of the programs on its site were no
longer commercially available. They also threatened to sue CUCUG for
libel.
While CUCUG stands by its original story, we offer this note here in
the interest of fairness.
Kevin Hisel, Webmaster Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group
---
Date sent: Thu, 29 Oct 1998
Dear Sirs,
In the interest of fairness and accuracy, we must insist that the
news item currently carried by the CUCUG within its Amiga Web
Directory, concerning the Lazarus organisation, be amended to reflect
the following details:
Lazarus famously does not distribute Amiga ROMs, either by means of
download via its US-located server, or by linkage to any other
Internet site. To suggest otherwise is scandalous.
Lazarus does not, and has never, condoned piracy of Amiga software.
The "pirate downloads" referred to within the news item portrays
Lazarus as a source for commercially availalabe Amiga software. This
is absolutely not the case.
Whilst Lazarus has indeed erroneously included certain items of
software which are available for commercial purchase (Disk Salv IV by
Dave Haynie and Nib by Jim Drew), such matters have been dealt with by
swift action, in order to minimise the effects of such an oversight.
These are isolated incidents and do not constitute "lists of pirate
downloads".
Conversely, Lazarus has the permission of vast amounts of ex-Amiga
programmers, publishers and developers whose programs appear with
their blessing. We have exercised our right not to highlight specific
items in an effort to centralise their availability, instead, we offer
a universal and generic disclaimer.
Your news item, therefore, is misleading, innacurate and defamatory.
Unless it is edited to acknowledge the above, or is replaced by an
apology, or is removed in the next 48 hours, Lazarus will seek to
proceed with libel action against the CUCUG and the Amiga Web
Directory.
Quite how an entire website might be removed permanently on the
say-so of one particular group of individuals is inconceivable.
Additionally, claiming that a website has sold "a collection of...
illegal software on CD" is highly unwise.
Frankly, I'd have expected better editorial from such a
highly-regarded and well-respected source of Amiga news.
--- Mark Wright on behalf of Lazarus
----------------------------------------------------------------------
F L E E C Y M O S S A T N O V . N C A U G M E E T I N G
26 Oct 1998
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The National Capital Amiga Users Group invites all interested Amigans
to attend its November Main Meeting featuring Amiga Inc.'s Fleecy
Moss. Fleecy plans to speak and hold a Q&A session one week before the
big Computer'98 Show in Cologne, Germany. The Main Meeting will be
held on Saturday, the 7th of November at 1 PM in the Dolly Madison
Library. For directions, please consult the NCAUG Web Page at
http://www.ncaug.org.
The National Capital Amiga Users Group has been serving the
Washington, DC Metro user since 1985! SIGs for Internet, Music,
Programming, and Video help provide a wide range of services for NCAUG
members. For information please go to the NCAUG Web Page
(http://www.ncaug.org), or email Chairman Fabian Jimenez
(fabian@cais.com), or Vice-Chairman Bill Borsari (tekmage@amiga.org).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A S U R V I V O R D O I N G W E L L
Amiga Survivor Magazine Reports Early Success, New Look
Hello Amiga fanatics!
Well, Amiga Survivor is proving more of a success than any of us
could imagine. Our print-run increases every month and new subscribers
are added to our database daily. Even after a mere three issues! And
now everyone around the world can have a taste of it. Amiga Survivor
has recently had a complete overhaul, both the magazine, and it's
official homepage
(http://www.crystal-software.com/AmigaSurvivor/survindex.html). Go see
for yourself the new-look covers, new logos, and get information about
distributors and contents of the magazine. Since the new look and new
promotions, many stores around the planet are now stocking issues, in
the US, Canada, The UK and the rest of Europe. Have a look at the
website to see if there's a store near you! Or you can order online
and have each issue delivered to your door!
At one point in it's life, Amiga Survivor was just a games magazine,
but due to it's popularity, it has grown to covering more 'serious'
items, with the help of some ex-CU Amiga staff members. And in the
coming months, AS is set to gain more pages, and the possibility of
swelling to an A4 format!
Amiga Survivor has also recently gained the rights to distribute the
incredibly popular U.S publicaton, Amiga Informer in the UK! Be one of
the first European residents to own this fine magazine by ordering it
from the Amiga Survivor website.
(http://www.crystal-software.com/AmigaSurvivor/survindex.html)
Of course, Amiga Survivor could always benefit from being even more
popular, so if you're an Amiga stockist anywhere in the world, then
you could be one of the many distributors to stock this new, popular
publication. Please note that Amiga Survivor is available via
mail-order only, and not on news-stands!
Amiga Survivor is the ONLY place to read the Work-In-Progress of
Gilbert Goodmate and the Mushroom of Phungoria (the excellent Monkey
Island 3 / Disney inspired adventure game) courtesy of Prelusion and
Crystal Software. Read the latest games reviews, previews, special
features, regular articles, and the latest Amiga news, all sandwiched
between a glorious full colour cover!
If you require any further information, then visit the website, or
e-mail the editor, Robert Iveson at:
robert@survivor.enterprise-plc.com
You can subscribe online for a bulk amount of issues, or merely just
the one to give it a try. You never know, it might be just what you're
looking for in a magazine.....
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W F R O M N O V A D E S I G N A T C O L O G N E
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nova Design, Inc. to show Newest ImageFX and Aladdin 4D at Cologne
23 October, 1998
Come see Nova Design, Inc. and their German distributor Oberland at
the upcoming Computer '98 show in Cologne, Germany on November 13th
through the 15th, 1998.
Nova Design, Inc. will be exhibiting the latest releases of ImageFX
and Aladdin 4D. See all the new features of these exciting software
packages. Plus a few surprizes!
ImageFX 3.2 is the all new version of the Amiga's top-rated image
editing and special effects package. ImageFX now offers more special
effects, Photoshop PSD file format and Filter Factory compatibility,
multiple image buffers and views, as well as the most advanced image
layers/compositing system anywhere!
Aladdin 4D is a 3D modeling, rendering and animation package. Nova
Design, Inc. has improved Aladdin 4D with new features and a
completely Amiga Style Guide compliant interface. Aladdin 4D is the
perfect package for the beginning 3D artist - while offering features
for the professional that aren't available in any other Amiga 3D
package.
Show Specials
Oberland will be selling ImageFX and Aladdin 4D for Nova Design,
Inc.during the show at fantastic show specials. If you have been
thinking about purchasing ImageFX and Aladdin 4D, Computer '98 will be
the place to be. See Oberland's booth at the show for a list of all
the show specials!
Upgrades
Upgrades from the older ImageFX 2.0 through 2.6 releases are only
$79.95 plus shipping. Versions of ImageFX prior to 2.0 can be upgraded
for only $124.95 plus shipping. Prices in Britain and Germany may
vary.
You can order via 1-800-IMAGE-69 in the US and Canada or call (804)
282-1157 elsewhere. Orders can also be faxed to (804) 282-3768 or
mailed to the Nova Design, Inc , 1910 Byrd Avenue, Suite 204,
Richmond, VA 23230 USA, Attention: Upgrades
To order your upgrade in Germany from Oberland just call them at
06173-608-0, or mail them at: Oberland Computer, In der Schneithohl 5,
D-61476 Kronberg im Taunus
To order your upgrade from Compute! in Britain call them at:
0181-303-1800, or mail them at: Compute!, 5 Blackfen Parade, Sidcup,
Kent, Da15 9LU
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I N F O R M E R # 1 6 I S O U T
19 Oct 1998
Greetings all,
Issue 16 of The Amiga Informer is now available at all our retail
dealers. To get an issue, you can either contact one of the dealers
listed in every issue of The Informer and on our website, or call us
to subscribe.
You don't want to miss issue 16. We bring you inside information on
the recently announced OS 3.5 upgrade and what you can expect from it.
We also take a critical look at the work that needs to be done by
Amiga Inc. to get the ball rolling again. In addition to other recent
news and our usual columns like Workbench Enhancements, Caught in the
AmiNet, and Audio Adventures, issue 16 brings you a truck load of
product reviews. This issue evaluates 13 products, including;
Wildfire, EZ-VGA scandoubler/flicker-fixer, WebFTP, Picasso 4 review
in progress, Pablo II video encoder, Digital Quill, Soundprobe II,
Games Master System, Quake, Big Red Adventure, Virtual Karting 2, A-Z
of Amiga games, and Shadow of the Third Moon. Phew!
The Informer magazine is also happy to announce that it is now being
distributed in the UK and other European countries. Amiga Survivor
distribution is dispersing The Informer to shops throughout The UK,
Sweden and other countries. You can visit them at
www.crystal-software.com/AmigaSurvivor/survindex.html. Inquires can be
emailed to robert@survivor.enterprise-plc.com. One of the first big
retailers of The Informer in England is Epic Marketing and they can be
reached at www.epicmarketing.ltd.net
Our website (www.amigainformer.com) was recently updated with
articles that appeared in recently past issues of The Informer. Browse
through these to get an idea of what we are all about and to learn a
few things in the process.
So, if you want to get a fresh view of what's going on in the world
of the Amiga, get a copy of issue 16. The best way of doing that is to
call our toll free number (800-882-6442) and subscribe. You'll be glad
you did.
Cheers,
Fletcher Haug
Fletcher Haug, Editor
The Amiga Informer Magazine
eldritch@idsi.net ++ www.amigainformer.com
-------------------------------------------
Eldritch Enterprises:
Mailing: PO Box 21, Newburgh NY 12551-0021
Shipping: 52 Mt. View Ave., Newburgh NY 12550
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S T O P T H E M A D N E S S ! S H I R T S A V A I L A B L E
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - The Amiga Central Ohio Network
October 22nd, 1998
Stop the Madness! Buy Amiga!
The Amiga Central Ohio Network is pleased to announce the
availability to the general public of the "Stop the Madness!"
T-shirts. These are the same high quality shirts that we sold at the
Midwest Amiga Exposition on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. All remaining
shirts will be sold off through our on-line ordering form at
http://www.amicon.org/t-shirts.html.
These shirts are made of durable 50/50 cotton and feature screen
printing for lasting quality. If you haven't seen these these shirts,
pay a visit to our website and get yours today! These collectors items
feature the famous "World Domination Logo" on the front and the "Amiga
'98 World Tour - Alive and Kicking" on the back. All major Amiga
events from 1998 are listed.
Limited quantities means when they're gone, they're gone! Show your
support for the Amiga and give your Microsoft-loving friends something
to think about.
Visit our website today and find out how you can "Stop the Madness!"
Sincerely,
David Pearce, dpearce@amicon.org
Greg Finzer - rom310@infinet.com
The Amiga Central Ohio Network
http://www.amicon.org/
P.O. Box 18311
Columbus Ohio 43218
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M U I B A S E 1 . 0 A N N O U N C E D
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUIbase V1.0
26 October, 1998
Freiburg (Germany)
Dear Amiga-Community,
I am very pleased to announce the availability of MUIbase V1.0, a
new, relational, flexible and very powerful database for the Amiga
system. MUIbase uses - as you might already have guessed - the Magic
User Interface for a powerful and highly customize-able user
interface. This together with its internal programming language, which
uses a lisp-oriented paradigm, gives you the maximum control and power
for organizing and maintaining your personal data, ranging from
storing your CD-collections to fully-automated finance management
systems.MUIbase also offers SELECT-FROM-WHERE queries, a must-have
feature for relational databases!
As of today no similar database package has been shown up that offers
similar capabilities than MUIbase! Check it out, a demo version is
available on aminet or from:
http://www.amigaworld.com/support/muibase
Steffen Gutmann
Features
MUIbase is a fast and very flexible database for the Amiga. It is for
users who want to manage data in a comfortable and easy way.MUIbase is
able to manage any kind of data, e.g. addresses, CD series, movies, or
your income and expense.
The power of MUIbase lies in its clear and powerful graphical user
interface and its programming capabilities. The latter makes it
possible to automatically calculate and maintain nearly everything,
starting from automatically summing up values, e.g. for calculating
the total amount of income or the total amount of recorded time of a
CD, up to automatically creating and printing letters for any purpose.
MUIbase is the successor of AmigaBase, a hierarchical programmable
database which is still available but considered obsolete with the
appearance of MUIbase.
All registered users of AmigaBase can get a free upgrade to MUIbase.
MUIbase offers the following features:
* Handling of multiple projects at the same time.
* Attributes can be of type string, memo (multi line text), integer,
real, date, time, bool, choice (one item out of many items), reference
(easy way to reference a record of another table), button (for
starting MUIbase programs), and virtual (compute value on the fly).
* The string type can also manage lists of strings, files, and fonts.
An OS 3.x datatype gadget allows displaying external images.
* Unlimited number of records.
* Dynamic loading of records. Records which are not needed may be
flushed from memory (e.g. when memory is low).
* Programmability. With the easy and powerful MUIbase programming
language complex tasks can be implemented. The language also includes
a SELECT-FROM-WHERE query for easy and fast data retrieval.
* Ordering of records by any combinations of attributes.
* Flexible and powerful search and filter facility.
* Query editor which allows entering and managing of
SELECT-FROM-WHERE queries. The queries can be saved and the results
can be printed.
* Import and export facility.
* Uses MUI as user interface. The interface is highly customizable.
External images can be included in the user interface.
* Portability. MUIbase development has been done under the idea of
easy portability. The system/gui part has been separated from the
ANSI/C part such that porting MUIbase will result in only porting the
system/gui part. This is no promise that MUIbase will ever get ported
to another system, only the porting task has been made easier but may
still be complicated depending on the target system/gui. But, indeed,
I am thinking of a Java port.
The unregistered version of MUIbase is crippled in several ways. See
the MUIbase documentation for a list of limitations in the
unregistered version.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P A X T R O N O F F E R S B A T T E R Y I N S U R A N C E
WARNING - LEAKING BATTERIES
LITHIUM TYPE
Almost 20% of the repairs that our service center performs are due to
aging batteries, which leak acid on Amiga boards. Once the acid leaks
the tracers become corroded and dissolve. It is very expensive to
bring the boards back to life. If your Amiga computer is approaching 4
years old we suggest you replace the original Ni/Cd battery with a new
lithium battery. The new lithium batteries will last longer, have
twice the amperage (150 mA as opposed to 60mA) and will give you years
of trouble free service. The cost of the new exact replacement lithium
battery is $14.95 each plus shipping. It is worth the investment of
$14.95 to save a $900.00 motherboard?
NI/CD TYPE
For those of you who want to stay with the rechargeable Ni/Cd
batteries. We have just received a shipment of fresh batteries from
Germany. The Ni/Cd like the lithium above must be soldered to the
board. The Ni/Cd 3.6 volt battery is the exact Ni/Cd Amiga replacement
and is made by Varta. The price of the Ni/Cd is $9.95 plus shipping.
Paxtron Corporation Web Page: http://www.paxtron.com/ E-mail:
paxtron@cyburban.com
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S C A R Y F X F O R H A L L O W E E N A N D B E Y O N D
Bill Panagouleas of DiscreetFX & Safe Harbor are proud to present a
new product for the Amiga & Video Toaster market just in time for that
spooky time of year. Have you ever wanted to create your own B movie
Horror film or put that extra scare in your Halloween home video's?
Have you ever wanted real-time ghosts or animated pumkins in your
video's? Now you can with ScaryFX for the Video Toaster & Amiga.
ScaryFX gives you over 40 different real-time color Video Toaster 4000
effects. Don't have a Video Toaster? No problem real-time color full
screen animation brushes are also included that you can genlock over
your videos or layer them into your Amiga animations with Lightwave 3D
or ImageFX. Mary of Safe Habor said this CD-ROM is just in time for
that ghasty time of year and will compliment their new Halloween
website.
ScaryFX Includes:
Over 40 Real-time color Toaster Effects.
Over 40 color Real-time Amiga Anim Brushes.
Video Toaster Effects are speed adjustable. Matte, Overlay & Wipe
effects are included.
Toaster Effects have more colors than most NewTek effects.
Amiga animation effects can be used with any Amiga program that
supports anim5 animations.
Ghosts, skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, graves, witches & more all
included. Over 40 unique effects!
Special versions for Amiga & Video Toaster included on the same
CD-ROM
AGA or Graphics card based Amiga required. Video Toaster 4000 is
required for Real-time Toaster effects, Amiga effects are color
real-time anim brushes that can be genlocked over your videos or
composited into your Amiga animations.
To order or for more information please visit http://www.sharbor.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
W I L D F I R E 7 T O S H O W A T C O L O G N E
New Wildfire7\PPC Graphics/Effects Package Debuts at Cologne
German text below / Deutscher Text weiter unten.
25-Oct-98
Welcome to the the world of Wildfire7\PPC!
At the Computer`98 in Cologne (13.11. - 15.11.) Wildfire7\PPC will be
released. It is the successor of the award winning Wildfire5\PPC.
Visit us at the Amiga booth and the Oberland Computer booth and ask
for Andreas Küssner who will show some Wildfire demonstrations.
Wildfire is the special effect system for animations, image sequences
and images.There are lots of new features - some of them are unique -
but the important thing to mention here is that Wildfire7\PPC is
totally easy to understand to anyone and user-friendly !
But it's not just an old program with a new GUI - we have completely
rewritten almost any part of it.
Some of the features are:
* easy to use MUI-Interface with lots of previews and extensive
drag&drop operations
* powerful Converter (MPEG/QT/AVI/YAFA/IFF/Image-Sequences)
* linear and nonlinear effects system
* real 3D-effects (including lightsourcing, phong-shading,
transparency, alpha-rendering)
* more than 120 PlugIns
* direct support for PPC and CyberGraphX
It is even more powerfull then Wildfire5 was.
Have a look at the demoversion (Aminet): Wildfire\7 Demo files:
----------------------
biz/demo/Wildfire7_Demo.lha ... Main files of the Demoversion
biz/demo/Wildfire7_PPC.lha ... additional PPC files for PPC+68K, main
files needed!
biz/demo/Wildfire7_3D.lha ... additional 3D operators, main files
needed!
biz/demo/Wildfire7_3DF.lha ... additional 3D Text Operator, main files
needed!
Wildfire-Support : eksec@eure.de (Andreas Kuessner)
Wildfire-Homepage : [http://www.oberland.com/amiga/wildfire/]
http://www.oberland.com/amiga/wildfire/
Wildfire distribution : Oberland Computer
In der Schneithohl 5
61476 Kronberg
Germany
Tel. ++49-(0)6173-6080
email: info@oberland.com
We hope you enjoy working with Wildfire7\PPC!
Kind regards,
Andreas Küssner,
Wildfire Project Manager.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A R E T A R G E T A B L E A U D I O - S Y S T E M
ARTAS
Amiga ReTargetable Audio-System
Too often repeated questions (TORQ)
What is ARTAS?
What is supported by ARTAS -
Who is supporting ARTAS?
Although the name might implicate that ARTAS is capable of handling
audio only it is in fact an administration system for all kinds of
streaming data such as MIDI, MPEG audio, music but video as well.
ARTAS offers an easy to use API to control multiple buffer data
streams.Playing back a sample is as easy as filling a buffer with
data, opening "artas.library" and telling the system about where the
data is, what format is has and how fast it shall be played back.
Recording is just as simple.
Where developers on non-AMIGA platforms have to do magic tricks in
order to syncroniye several components to each other ARTAS comes with
a built-in sync mechanism which can be triggered through drivers
(hard- or software based), making simultaneous MIDI and Audio along
with video playback an easy job.
Plug-Ins can be attached to all kinds of streams, ARTAS handles
needed conversion internally without making the user or developer
handling all kinds of data formats individually. Codecs are called
whenever necessary to convert from one type to another, like
converting MPEG Audio to standard Audio internally.
ARTAS allows the user to controll all drivers through simple Tags.
Applications that are aware of ARTAS are no longer limited to starting
and stopping data handling.
ARTAS is an integrated component of OS3.5 and will therefor be
available to all Amiga users world wide through established
distribution channels. It also means it does not cost anything
(besides the price for the OS upgrade itself).
There are drivers for most Amiga soundcards available on the market
as well as for well established ceased products. There will be drivers
for hardware extensions like PPC cards and DSP boards.
Developers of well known Audio applications and related software have
already stated that they will support ARTAS when it becomes available
for development purposes.
AHI is neither obsolete nor is it a competiting product. ARTAS will
allow using AHI drivers to access components that do not have native
drivers already. Since AHI is limited in its controlling mechanisms
ARTAS adds these features to AHI applications through asyncronous
editors.
Of course ARTAS will be fully OS3.5 conformous, which also means it
supports the use of additional CPUs like PPCright from the start. The
amount of CPU usage trhough ARTAS solely depends on the application
using it (and the addressed drivers), not on the system itself.
Contact: ARTAS@amiga-software.com- please note that you might have to
wait until Computer98 in Cologne is over until EMail is handled.
This page will be updated as soon as possible and will link to
projects, development information and everything else interesting
about ARTAS.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W S F R O M H & P
22 Oct 1998
Dear Amiga User,
this is the current issue of the HAAGE&PARNTER NEWS.
20-Oct-98: NetConnect v2.1 Service Pack
At last, the first service pack for NetConnect v2 is released. This
contains a number of upgrades to the modules within NetConnect v2:
Genesis, Microdot-II, X-Arc, AmIRC and Contact Manager. Support
19-Oct-98: AmigaWriter 1.1
Version 1.1 is a service release. Many customer requests were
fulfilled and problems that customers experienced were addressed and
fixed. The new features of 1.1 include: improved printing; font
substitution table; multi-assigns for font directories; Bubble-Help
control; complete localization; better interaction with
StormScreenManager. Update
12-Oct-98: Updated Support Pages
This weekend we updated nearly all support pages to give you a better
access. Support. We hope you like it. If you have any suggestions or
comments, please mail me: Webmaster
12-Oct-98: STFax Professional v3.5 Update
New v3.5 offers fast mem support for viewing faxes, fixes a few small
general bugs and adds a few minor features. Download
Please visit our homepage for more news and information:
http://www.haage-partner.com/e.htm
If you want to send us comments or suggestions on that list:
supportteam@haage-partner.com
If you want to recommend that list to someone please link him to:
http://www.haage-partner.com/news_mlist.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
" T H E L A S T P A T R I O T " F O R N G A M I G A
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Upcoming Game: The Last Patriot
15 October, 1998
Delsyd Software would like to announce the development of a new game
for the Amiga---The Last Patriot. After 7 months of planning and
design work,we are ready to get going. The Last Patriot will be a
puzzle-oriented first-person perspective shooter.Instead of just
mindless running and shooting,you'll have to think before you act,and
we don't mean flipping switches, either. The Last Patriot will feature
the most advanced artificial intelligence EVER seen in a video game.
Each enemy will have their own very basic thought processes,
instincts,and personalities. We are shooting for a March 2000 release
date,and it will be released for the NG Amiga. This date could get
pushed back some due to development system/Amiga NG delays.We're
putting all of our money into this project,and we think you'll enjoy
the end product.
PPC versions are being considered.We would like to hear some feedback
from Amiga gamers.If you have any questions or ideas concerning The
Last Patriot or Delsyd Software,we can be reached at
delsydsoftware@yahoo.com
We would also like to announce the October issue of Amiga Issues,our
monthly forum that deals with some of the Amiga's more controversial
issues.This month's topic involves Vulcan Software and their recent
software cancellations. Amiga Issues also contains The Software
Accelerator's Corner,where each month we review a new patch or
software tweak to keep your Amiga moving. And,there is also a section
dedicated to responses that our readers have sent us. We'll
include any letter that you send to Amiga Issues, even if we don't
agree with your opinion.
All of this information can be found on our web page at
www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/foothills/2705/index.html
We hope to hear from you very soon.See ya!
Chris Kelley
Head Programmer@Delsyd Software
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T H E L A T E S T F R O M C L I C K B O O M
22 Oct 1998
Hello from clickBOOM
We have good news and bad news for you this time.
1) Bad news first
Napalm will be slightly late. We had hoped to have it ready for Nov.
1, but that won't be possible. We expect it not to be later than Nov.
15. Will it be on sale at Computer '98? We'll try our best.
2) Good news
You wanna be the coolest dude?
Going to Computer '98 and want to have the newest
Amiga-related apparel?
Look no further -- BOOM CAP has it all.
Made out of soft flexible brushed cotton,
this high quality embroidered cap is rounder
and lower in style than the traditional
cotton baseball caps. So, not is it only ultra-comfy,
but it's also the first item with new clickBOOM logo.
Visit http://clickboom.com for more information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C O R R E C T P R I C E S F O R R A N D O M I Z E I T E M S
Oct 20, 1998
AmigaWares by Randomize, Inc. introduces its new Fall / Winter line
up including:
Amiga Turtle Neck - $25.00 US, $35.00 CDN
Amiga Zip Polo Sweat - $35.00 US, $50.00 CDN
Amiga Fleece Sweat - $40.00 US, $60.00 CDN
Also in time for the coming Christmas Season, the Christmas Gift
Bundle is now available including:
Amiga Turtle Neck
Amiga Zip Polo Sweat
Amiga Theme CD
All for $55.00 US, $85.00 CDN
AmigaWares is also offering a 10% discount on purchases of $100 CDN
or more.
These offers are valid until December 31, 1998.
Additional infomation and pictures can be found at AmigaWares own
website at http://www.amigawares.com/!
P.S. Some Advertisments in some Amiga Magazines may have different
prices than those noted here. Unfortunely some errors were made in
these maganizes. Please regard the above prices as well as those on
the website as correct.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I N E T 2 7 D E S C R I B E D
Aminet CD 27, dated October 1998, contains 1 gigabyte (uncompressed)
of software in thousands of archives. Since the release of Aminet CD
26 more than 500 MB new software has appeared. The commercial
highlight is the full AGA version of the game, KANG FU.
Contents of Aminet 27
biz 45 MB 69 files - Business software
comm 36 MB 143 files - Communications
demo 151 MB 131 files - Graphics & sound demo
dev 30 MB 105 files - Development software
disk 3 MB 36 files - Disk & HD tools
docs 54 MB 102 files - Documents
game 81 MB 189 files - Games
gfx 23 MB 67 files - Graphics software
hard 3 MB 16 files - Hardware related
misc 68 MB 52 files - Miscellaneous
mods 142 MB 269 files - Music modules
mus 36 MB 61 files - Music software
pix 233 MB 276 files - Pictures
text 5 MB 46 files - Text software
util 41 MB 209 files - Utilities
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net: some issues available at:
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 1998 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
_ __ _ <>_ __ _
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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