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Amiga Update (1999-02-21)
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_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors-
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional e-mail
KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING || Newsmagazine)
======================================================================
AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.
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990221
A N O T E F R O M D R . H A V E M O S E
J A V A ( K A F F E ) F O R T H E A M I G A
A M I G A S H O W ' 9 9 I N B E L G I U M
V U L C A N E N D S A M I G A N E W S S E R V I C E
K I C K S T A R T S H O W I N U . K . : U P D A T E
R E N D E R F A R M W I L L B E S O L D
E N T E R P R I S E S W F R O M C L A S S Y D E S I G N S
C L I C K B O O M P O R T A L O P E N S
I B M W I L L O F F E R L I N U X
X - A R C 1 . 3 A V A I L A B L E
N E T A X 1 2 0 0 F R O M H & P
S T A R G A T E F O R Y O U R E - M A I L
A M O Z I L L A R E S P O N D S T O A C C U S A T I O N S
F R E E A M I G A A N D A M O Z I L L A X
N E W T C P / I P S T A C K A N N O U N C E D
W A T E R V A P O U R B R O W S E R
N E W S I D E W I N D E R C D
I S E N G A R D N O T G O N E A F T E R A L L
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
Insane times in the Amiga community! If you prowl the net, you may
have seen a long diatribe against the clickBOOM staff from several
programmers in Eastern Europe alleging a large variety of unethical
and illegal actions. In return, it appears clickBOOM may be
considering legal action. We know we can't do justice to both sides in
this argument in "Amiga Update", so we're not going to try. We just
can't check out the sources. We're simply going to say that, if true,
clickBOOM has much to be ashamed of. If not true, the accusations made
are libelous at best and damaging to the Amiga community at worst. If
anything makes it to court, we'll report on that.
A second diatribe was recently made against the people at aMozilla.
We carry aMozilla's response below, as that's a formal news release.
We do wonder how much infighting our small and endangered community
can tolerate. For that matter, it can't tolerate a lot of bad or
malevolent operations by any companies, either. Maybe we're still
operating on the Commodore principle and are trying to put ourselves
in the grave. There's an old American saying about "shooting yourself
in the foot". Seems to us some of our community should be wearing
shoes with targets painted on them. Enough of this.
We would much rather mention clickBOOM's name in regards to something
very creative and welcome they've come up with. This is the new
clickBOOM portal. We have a story on it below. We also have an "Amiga
Update" section in their news area, and are quite pleased with the
chance to participate.
Lots to read in this issue, including all sorts of activity in the
web browser world. We just mentioned aMozilla, but it seems that
browser has gotten a new name - aMozillaX - and joined the Free Amiga
site. Details are below. Then there's the new browser Water Vapour. We
have no idea where that name came from, but we do have information on
the browser below.
How about real Java for the Amiga, though we're not sure what you can
do with it yet? Check out the Kaffe story below. This could be the
start of something very significant. There's also a new tcp/ip stack
announced, a mailer, show news and other goodies.
We hope you enjoy this issue.
Brad Webb,
Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail to the E-ditor:
7 Feb 1999
Brad,
Newsletter problem! **
I was not able to read the last half of your wonderful(!) newsletter
just delivered (Feb7) from YAM.
Thanks for an otherwise VERY fine publication!! Keep up the good work
- we need you!
Kind regards
Peter
~~~~~~
Peter,
You weren't the only one unfortunately. One batch of the newsletter
went off with the problem you described. The problem wasn't with YAM,
and a reboot cured it. Whenever we detect a mailing problem, we will
immediately send out another set of copies. We hope this doesn't cause
anyone problems. Over the years, we've had only a few of these but,
being human, we suspect we'll have a few more. If anyone ever receives
a bad copy which is not followed by a complete one, let us know
please.
Thanks for the pat on the back, we really appreciate it.
Brad
======
9 Feb 1999
Just a short note from a long-time Amigan.
Re your latest newsletter (2/7/99), I very much agree with Thomas: NO
ONE with any sense should be using "NG" when describing new Amigas.
People do NOT associate "NG" with "Next Generation". This is an
abbreviation for "No Good". The only time people think of "Next
Generation" it is with reference to Star Trek and then it is always
"TNG" ("The Next Generation"). Considering how much time has passed
since the introduction of the last Amiga, how about "Amiga II" for the
new machine(s)?
Christopher
~~~~~~
Christopher,
You seem to be in the majority on this. Amiga Inc., if you're reading
this you may want to rethink your designation. Even if the Amiga
community understands and likes the name, the competition will have a
field day with it.
I suppose it's like Chevrolet naming a car the "Nova" which means "no
go" in Spanish, or Toyota naming one Cresida (you'll have to know your
Shakespeare for that one).
Thanks for the comments,
Brad
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A N O T E F R O M D R . H A V E M O S E
{We found this on the net, and thought everyone would should be aware
of it. Our thanks to Ed Dana for posting this. Brad}
15 Feb 1999
Always concerned about confidence in the Amiga scene, I contacted
Allan Havemose about the current state of things. Below is his
response:
====
Hi Ed,
Good to hear from you!
The only reason I stopped was that I typically received 100's of
angry emails after each posting. I simply got tired of the large
number of people who only wanted to vent and not listen. I know this
doesn't help the larger group who is truly interested in seeing the
Amiga move forward, but I ultimate had to prioritize my time.
We are making good progress, btw. I should be able to make a number
of exciting announcements within a few weeks.
Allan
====
I find it interesting his comments about 100s of angry EMails. It's
probably frustrating for him that no matter what he or AI does/says,
too many people think they are screwing up.
Now, for those of you who are dissapointed that there weren't any
details in his response, please consider the fact that he didn't have
to respond at all.
And finally, concerning those announcements, please remember that he
said: "I *should* be able to...". Life, being what it is, could change
that.
--
Sincerely,
Ed Dana
----------------------------------------------------------------------
J A V A ( K A F F E ) F O R T H E A M I G A
{Interested in real Java for the Amiga? The Kaffe project, among
others, has been moving us forward for some time. Now, you can get
Kaffe in running order, not just source code. The recently posted file
http://www.black-sun.co.uk/Kaffe1.0b3.lha, is a pre-compiled Java
Virtual Engine for the Amiga 1200 with '030 processor, as we
understand it. Below is a post to the net providing some information
on getting Kaffe running. Our thanks to Nicholai Benalal for making
this post available, and to all the folks behind Kaffe for the Amiga.
NOTE; we've not tried this file, nor do we know for sure it really
works as a JVE. Sounds good though, so if you're interested in trying
it out, maybe you can tell us? Brad}
Download the following archive:
http://www.black-sun.co.uk/Kaffe1.0b3.lha
This archive should be enough to test that Kaffe works but you should
download the source archive from http://www.transvirtual.com/ That
archive includes tests that you can run. Please report by email if
you find anything abnormal. I know that there's work to be done to
make everything in the .../test/regression/ directory work as
expected.
*1) Please set your stack HIGH!* Kaffe will crash if you don't. 2)
unpack Kaffe1.0b3.lha to some directory 3) assign Kaffe: to that
directory 4) setenv CLASSPATH
".;Kaffe:.;kaffe:Klasses.jar;kaffe:pizza.jar" 5) start your X server
6) use "Kaffe XYZ" to start XYZ or "Kaffe -jar XYZ.jar" if it's a
*.jar
And please don't ask me how to use the X server. I've got too much
mail to answer already :-)
--
Nicholai Benalal
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A M I G A S H O W ' 9 9 I N B E L G I U M
10 Feb 99
Amiga Fans!
!!!!! AMIGA SHOW '99 !!!!!
8 and 9 May 1999
Grand Rue, 4
7070 Le Roeulx
Belgium
Easy access - Motorway Paris-Brussels / Exit 21
FREE parking ! (+ 200 Places)
This year, for the first time, and the closest to France yet!
(20 Min. from Maubeuge / 30 Min. from Valencienne / 5 Min. Mons)
VILLAGE TRONIC - PHASE 5 - POWER COMPUTING - HISOFT - MOTIONSTUDIOS
/************ Come and snap up SPECIAL AMIGA OFFERS ****************\
* Presentation of new AMIGA / Hardware & Software *
* from the Amiga 500 to the Power-Up/Warp-OS via the DRACO *
* New stuff, as well as SUPER second-hand bargains *
* *
* !!!!! CRAZY Prices !!!!! *
* *
* (Questionnaire with prizes - Past, Present & Future of the AMIGA)*
\******************************************************************/
MACRO SYSTEM-CLICKBOOM-VULCAN SOFTWARE-HAAGE & PARTNERS-MICRONIK
***************************
!!!!! BILL GATES FREE !!!!!
***************************
Entry price:
250 BF - 40 FF - 6 Eur.
!!! Reductions for CLUBS & Fanzines !!!
Booths for hire (Special prices for non-commercial use)
RESERVE NOW !!!!!
"Accommodation available, see site"
Maps, reservations and other information available at
AmigaCentre@skynet.be
http://users.skynet.be/sheeva
http2//www.amigashow.com
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V U L C A N E N D S A M I G A N E W S S E R V I C E
10 Feb 1999
{Looks like the hadwriting is on the wall for Vulcan's participation
in the Amiga market. We received the following note recently from
their UK news service. Brad}
Hello Amiga Press,
Vulcan is closing this Amiga news service and deleting the subscriber
list due to non Vulcan activity in the Amiga market.
If any of you also write for the PC then please visit our website and
re-register your publication. {Not likely. Brad}
Live long & Prosper
Paul Carrington (Director)
Vulcan Software Limited
Vulcan House, 72 Queens Road, Buckland, Portsmouth, Hants PO27NA U.K.
{For those who may not have seen this, here are some quotes from
Vulcan's web site. Brad}
30th January 1999
Vulcans Transition Complete
Since January 1998, Vulcan Software has been implementing a 'massive
overhaul' and refinement of its operating procedures.
The beginning of 1999 sees Vulcan abandon it's previous role as a
publishing company (after 5 years) and become a fully fledged
commercial development company, exclusively for the PC CDRom platform.
Paul Carrington states, The transition was hard but also very
exciting, only now can I start to see the rewards of everyone's
efforts in making this change a reality. We are all aware of the
overwhelming development competition that exists in this market and we
are keen to raise the technology stakes with our innovative approach
and quash competition with every release."
Live Long & Prosper!
Paul Carrington BA(Hons) Director Vulcan Software Limited
----------------------------------------------------------------------
K I C K S T A R T S H O W I N U . K . : U P D A T E
11 Feb 99
Just a short while before the Kickstart User Group opens the doors on
the 1999 Kickstart Show, and what a fantastic show it's going to be!
In case you missed the details, here?s where to find the Kickstart
Show 99:
The Place: Brook Hall, Brox Road, Ottershaw in Surrey
The Date: Saturday February 27th 1999
The Time: 1pm-5pm
Admission fee: Just
£1
Parking: 2 car parks with space for over 200 cars
The best place to buy for your Amiga Already the sale floor has
nearly 30 exhibitors signed-up, selling a range of new and second-user
Amiga hardware, software and consumables at rock-bottom prices. So if
you want game, serious software, upgrades for any Amiga model,
monitors, CD drives, hard drives, whole systems or just a ribbon for
your printer - the Kickstart Show has everything you could possibly
need.
Win a brand new A1200 & Magic Pack - JUST FOR TURNING UP! Yes that?s
right, every show-goer will be automatically entered into a Grand
Prize Draw to win a fantastic Amiga A1200 & Magic Pack, worth over
£200.
This great prize, along with other runner-up prizes have been
provided by the Kickstart Show?s generous sponsor for 1999 - Amiga
International.
Kickstart would like to thank Petro Tyschtschenko of Amiga Int. who
has kindly donated the A1200 Magic Pack along with an assortment of
Amiga gear, all of which will be given away to show goers throughout
the day.
What's on at the show
The second Kickstart Show will be bursting with even more Amiga
activities than last year, showing both Amiga owners and their friends
exactly what Amiga can REALLY do:
We've already mentioned the Grand Prize Draw and the sales area, but
that's just a small part of this exciting day out.
Games competitions will throughout the day: A multiplayer Doom
tournament (with as many as five simultaneous players in each game),
Quake death matches running on the latest Phase5 PowerPC-based
hardware, A Sensible Soccer tournament and a Skidmarks contest (with
as many as eight simultaneous players in each game). Each games
contest will be offering prizes for the winner and runner-up, courtesy
of Amiga International and ANALOGIC LTD
Demonstrations of Amiga applications:
Kickstart members will be on hand to demonstrate various
applications, such as Mac emulation under Fusion, PC Emulation under
PCX and Amiga emulation using Amiga Forever. Also on show will be new
hardware innovations including the AteoBus busboard, Pixel64 graphics
card & Ateo I/O card, A1200 and A4000 PowerPC accelerators and
applications, the new I/O Blix serial card, the Power Flyer, the
Catweasel and various A1200, A4000 & A600 tower & portable
conversions.
Advice from people who know:
The Kickstart membership stand will also be on hand to answer
questions and handle membership enquiries from show-goers. The
Kickstart User Group boasts some of the most creative minds in the UK
Amiga community, with some of the foremost experts in hardware
projects, DTP, Graphics & Animation, Mac emulation, Comms, PowerPC
software and AmigaOS to name but a few topics.
Refreshments:
We know that all this Amiga action can be thirsty work, which is why
a fully stocked refreshments area will be on hand to handle your
edible cravings!
Magazine launch:
Officially launched at the Kickstart Show will be the first issue of
the monthly Kickstart magazine Amiga Insight. This magazine, produced
totally by club members on Amiga hardware, will have a monthly mix of
news, product reviews, tutorials and informed debate about the latest
Amiga topics. The magazine is available to all Amiga users, nit just
Kickstart members.
For show enquiries and stand bookings, please contact Ray McCarthy
(Show Promoter) on ray@tadworth.demon.co.uk or call (01737) 215432.
---------------------
Directions: Directions to Brook Hall:
From the M25, J11 take the Woking exit, at the next roundabout take
the first left onto the A320 to Woking, at the next roundabout take
a left again into Murray Rd, about 20yds on the left is a car park,
park here and Brook Hall is straight in front of you, on the corner
of Murray Rd and Brox Rd.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
R E N D E R F A R M W I L L B E S O L D
18 Feb 1999
Tsunami Graphics Selling A2000 Render Farm at Amiga99
Attention Amiga Fans,
Tsunami Graphics is Selling the Farm at Amiga 99.
No, we're not getting rid of the old homestead; we're selling our
former A2000 rendering farm! Yes, all our Amiga 2000s, SCSI
controllers and RAM expansion cards. Assorted other hardware and
software, too!
Don't miss this chance to acquire a "Classic Amiga 2000" and or that
piece of expansion gear you need. All in good shape, all needing a
good home. All A2000s are stock machines with 30-day replacement or
repair warranty. Prices vary, depending on ROM revision. All systems
are revision 6.x motherboards with 1MB Agnus.
See us at the Gateway Computer Show - Amiga 99, March 12 - 14, Henry
VIII hotel, St. Louis, MO.
Rodney Schulze
Tsunami Graphics
Amiga 99 Exhibitor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E N T E R P R I S E S W F R O M C L A S S Y D E S I G N S
18 Feb 1999
Classy Designs is set to delelop Enterprise level software for the
Amiga. The first product 'Net Message Enterprise' is currently being
developed.
More details can be found at the corporate home page
John Stock, President, Classy Designs
http://www.classy-designs.com
jstock@classy-designs.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C L I C K B O O M P O R T A L O P E N S
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toronto, February 11, 1999: clickBOOM proudly introduces "The
clickBOOM Amiga Portal"
The Portal is a new way for clickBOOM users to access online
information, be it their record at clickBOOM, or Amiga-related content
-- it's a dynamic online database allowing for much closer interaction
with the Web.
"clickBOOM and clickboom.com are undisputedly at the top of the Amiga
games market.", says Sofia Tsiotsikas, PR at clickBOOM. "It is our
intention to use this leverage and extensive web-creation knowledge to
provide Amiga users with the next-generation web experience -- The
Portal. Our target is now beyond the games scope, and we are confident
The Portal will provide all Amiga users, not just players, a great
service. We strive to push technology forward, hence The Portal -- the
first and only on Amiga."
Although this is clickBOOM's first step into a non-gaming area, The
Portal is created with the same high-quality standard you'd expect to
receive from clickBOOM.
The Portal consists of the following sections:
1. AUCTIONS
2. NEWS CENTER
3. COMMUNICATION CENTER
4. STATUS INFORMATION
5. PREFERENCES
AUCTIONS
The Portal's main attraction is the fully automatic real-time online
Auction section. This is where all the action is -- you can bid on or
sell Amiga-related items at the one and only place of its kind on
Amiga. Finally there is a place for Amiga users to be able to trade
their hardware in a simple and absolutely private manner. 1. The
Portal is the place where you will find the best Amiga deals,
guaranteed. 2. If you have an Amiga-related item to sell, The Portal
is the place - hold an auction and have other Amiga users bid on it.
It's fully automatic - create a new auction in less than 5 minutes,
and don't worry about it until you make a sale at the highest offered
price. Full details on how Auctions function, are available at The
Portal.
NEWS CENTER
News Center takes a whole new step at addressing Amiga news flow on
the Internet. We guarantee you that The News Center is the simplest,
most comprehensive, one of a kind, customizable Amiga news section on
the Internet! Instead of creating another news-reporting site
clickBOOM worked with leading Amiga news sites behind the scenes to
create a single place on the Net from which you will start your news
search. The idea behind the News Center is very simple - every time
one of the 50 Amiga news sites currently supported gets updated, their
news will appear at the News Center! The news section is unbiased,
because the actual site owners update their section at The Portal!
Moreover, you can customize which news sites you want to have top
priority. Never again will you have to spend time searching sites,
only to find they haven't been updated. Just come to The Portal and
you will immediately see the latest headlines of ALL the sites, then
with just one click go to the actual site and read the news. Moreover,
the Portal will remember which sites you prefer and have them waiting
at the top of the section at your next visit! We would also like to
take this opportunity to invite all Amiga news sites not currently
featured at The Portal, to contact us.
COMMUNICATION CENTER
The Communication Center allows registered clickBOOM users to
communicate with clickBOOM in a more direct approach and receive more
efficient responses to their questions. Through a simple web interface
you can leave a message for clickBOOM and your message will get the
highest priority, because it will not go to the same pool of email
letters that non-registered users got to. Then simply check back at
any time for a response.
STATUS INFORMATION
clickBOOM registered users can also access their status information
online. The Portal recognizes when you are visiting, so it prepares
dynamic content that's tailored for you only. This makes the Portal
better and friendlier than a regular web site. Get information such as
how many BOOM$ you have; which games you have registered; what is the
status of your last order, etc.
PREFERENCES
The Preferences section allows one to easily update his personal
information such as change of email or mailing address. It also allows
for customization of the Portal, such as which News sites you prefer
to always see at the front.
The Portal is located at clickboom.com/portal
The Portal is not finished, nor will it ever be, it's a constantly
evolving flux, just like the Web itself. So, be prepared for even more
content very soon, as we get the engine running.
Best Regards,
clickBOOM
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I B M W I L L O F F E R L I N U X
18 Feb 1999
{The following quote is from a Reuters article published mid-month
and dealing with IBM's decision to offer Linux on some of its
computers. Brad}
"International Business Machines Corp., the world's largest
technology company, and Linux distributor Red Hat Software Inc. said
Thursday {18th} that IBM will begin selling computers with the Linux
operating system. Linux is a free version of the Unix operating system
for network computers that runs on Intel Corp.-based chips. IBM's
decision to offer Linux will be closely watched by Microsoft Corp.,
which has cited Linux as one of its potential competitive threats."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
X - A R C 1 . 3 A V A I L A B L E
VaporWare Announces X-Arc 1.3 Now Available
X-Arc is an archive management program for the Amiga, designed in a
similar fashion to WinZip(r) on Windows(r) systems and Stuff-It(r) for
MacOS(r).
X-Arc is somewhat different from previously released archive
management tools: those programs provided no more than a graphical
interface on top of existing archiver commands, often in a incomplete
and inflexible way.
X-Arc offers the user an extremely intuitive interface for the more
often performed operations, whilst complimenting this with a range of
advanced options suitable for the expert user.
X-Arc provides the user with a brand new and sophisticated way to add
files to an archive, mixing speed and power never seen in any similar
program on any operating system.
X-Arc is based on a modular concept, allowing any third party to
develop modules to handle new archive formats without having to alter
the main program.
X-Arc offers the ability to perform many operations, using drag&drop,
from within the main program or with standard Workbench icons (ie.
drag files from your Workbench screen to X-Arc's lister window). X-Arc
also supports drag&drop with Scalos based lister windows.
X-Arc is supplied with an advanced file recognition engine, based on
both filename and content matching, allowing the user to display any
file using a suitable external viewer.
X-Arc's interface is highly configurable and customisable.
X-Arc allows the user to install software from within the archives,
in a matter of seconds, with its installer support.
Where to download it:
FTP:
ftp.vapor.com, pub/xarc/
ftp.us.vapor.com, pub/xarc/
ftp.au.vapor.com, pub/xarc/
ftp.pl.vapor.com, pub/vapor/xarc/
AmiNet, util/arc
X-Arc.lha, 598500 Bytes (Note that ftp.us.vapor.com has generally the
best connectivity of the listed mirror sites)
WWW:
http://www.vapor.com/
http://vapor.ukonline.co.uk/ (File mirror only)
http://www.meanmachine.ch/vapor/ (File mirror only)
http://www.AmyResource.it/X-Arc/
New features since X-Arc last release (1.2) include:
o Installer support: you can now install software from within X-Arc,
without the needs to extract the archive, by just press the install
button
o Several major and minor bugfixes
o Speed improvement
o Some GUI redesign
o Some new small functions and optimized old ones
o Some new settings in the preferences
o Other minor ones improvements
New features since X-Arc release 1.1 include:
o 4 months spent to rewrite almost all program's basic routines
o Several bugs fixed, some of which where severe ones
o Fixed some illegal memory accesses
o Loading and parsing routines totally rewritten
o All secondary routine has been adapted to the new internal program
design
o You can now update the contents of a directory of loaded archive
without having to reload the whole archive
o If you perform an operation within one branch of the archive (e.g.
adding a file), only this branch is updated. The whole archive is not
reloaded again
o New routines can handle flawlessly even archives version 1.1 had
problem to manage
o Version 1.2 is 1.5 times faster than the previous version, which is
a good result since new routines are more sophisticated and reliable
o Scalos support for drag&drop
o A file-attributes column added
o Other minor ones
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E T A X 1 2 0 0 F R O M H & P
Ethernet Card
The Netax1200 is the best solution for Amiga 1200/600 owners to
network their computers in a smart and cheap way. The card plugs in
the PCMCIA slot and gives a fast, powerful and reliable Ethernet
connection, in a 100% compatible way with other platforms. The
Netax1200 is a fast PCMCIA "credit card" who comes with a detailed
printed manual, a pass-trough "T" connector for BNC cables and a disk
including the Netax software for Amiga Systems. The software features
a standard system device (netax.device), that makes the card
compatible with almost every Amiga networking software, including
Genesis, NetConnect, AmiTCP, Miami and MiamiDeLuxe. The device fully
complies to SANA-II specifics, so also other software like Envoy run
flawlessly and with no bottlenecks.
The Netax1200 also features a full combo connector for both standard
UTP and BNC cabled networks, and can also be plugged while your
computer is on with no risk for the computer or the peripherals. By
providing a full Ethernet connection, the Netax1200 can be used to
network the Amiga with almost every other computer as PCs, MACs, UNIX
like systems and so on.
The card consumes no CPU time, leaving your processor free for other
applications, unlike other networking devices do, and assures you
unthinkable speeds also on the plain 68000 mounted on the Amiga 600.
We recommend anyway at least a 68030 processor to get the best out of
your Netax1200 and reach higher speed rates. Our tests indicate that
in FTP mode, the Netax1200 provides speeds not lower than 500kb/sec.
with peaks of 600kb/sec on a simple 030. With a 060 processor the
speed goes over 800kb/sec, making the Netax1200 one of the fastest
card available for any Amiga model.
Technical Details:
o Credit card PCMCIA type II
o 10 MBit Ethernet
o Combo transceiver with UTP/BNC connectors
o Network and Transfer leds
Price: 198 DM (120 US$)
© 1999 HAAGE & PARTNER Computer - http://www.haage-partner.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S T A R G A T E F O R Y O U R E - M A I L
Toysoft Development Announces Availability of StarGate 1.0
Feb 10, 1999
Toysoft Development Inc. is pleased to announce the commercial
release of StarGate 1.0 for the Amiga computers. StarGate (SG) is a
new premier e-mail client using POP3 and SMTP protocols. SG is highly
configurable, very easy to use, 256 color icons, multiple mailboxes
and unlimited folders.
StarGate supports multiple e-mail accounts and accounts can be turned
off at anytime. Messages can be preview in all mailboxes and folders.
A Mail Peek feature lets you look at your mail server before doing the
actual message download. This will give you a visual filtering system
for spam mail.
An extensive address book lets you maintain user profile with
multiple e-mail account. StarGate also supports a unique graphical
forms with sounds, detailed error handling, file attachment is easy as
drag and drop, helper for MIME messages, customized column views in
all mailboxes and folders and many more features.
Come experience the coming of StarGate at http://www.toysoft-dev.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M O Z I L L A R E S P O N D S T O A C C U S A T I O N S
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
12th Febuary 1999
On Monday {8TH}, NewTekniques magazine published the URL of an Amiga
Web column that was attacking the new aMozilla project. AMozilla has
provided NewTekniques magazine with an official response to the column
attacking its project:
------
This letter is in response to the negative article written about
aMozilla by the AmiBench website. I can fully understand Mark's
concern about something harming the Amiga market and software
developers. The aMozilla project (
http://www.amigauni.u-net.com/aMozilla/ ) will not harm the Amiga
software market it will make it grow. Netscape Communicator is already
available for over 14 different computer platforms. The fact that it
has not be on the Amiga all this time makes the Amiga market look very
limited. Netscape Navigator is the spark that ignited the entire
Internet software market. If the Amiga wants to grow and expand even
more it must have the successful brands that computer customers
expect. Unique powerful Amiga applications can still be developed but
mainstream well known applications like Netscape Communicator must be
ported to the Amiga as well. I respect the hard work that Amiga web
browser programmers have done.
Applications like IBrowse ( http://www.omnipresence.com/ibrowse/ )
and Voyager NG ( http://www.vapor.com/ ) have helped Amiga users
browse the Web for years. The fact remains though that Amiga web
browsers have not kept up with the fast paced Internet development
cycle like Netscape Communicator has. IBrowse 2.0 has been promised
for over 2 years but only minor updates have been released. Voyager NG
updates have been more regular but still lack the rich feature set of
Netscape Communicator.
The Amiga developer community is full of talented programmers with
new innovative ideas. They can't take credit for the Internet browser
though. It would have been great if the concept and idea of a web
browser came from the Amiga, but this is not the case. The employees
of Netscape Communications created Mosiac then Netscape Navigator (see
"Speeding the Net" a new book about Netscape). Amiga programmers
looked at the source code to Mosaic and begin creating Amiga web
browsers, they did not originate this software idea. Netscape's
Navigator browser so changed the way we use computers in our day to
day lives that even the company that has a monopoly on computer
software has radically changed their entire business model. Mozilla is
that one true killer app that the Amiga must have. If Amiga browser
developers want to continue to sell their programs they must add value
and enhanced their products with more features and power to make
customers want to buy them. Maybe having the Netscape free browser
available on Amiga will force IBrowse and Voyager to develop further.
Competition is always good in the software market and helps the
customer. The programmers of IBrowse and Voyager are still free to
innovate. Maybe the next great idea in web browser software will come
from them. They know what they are up against after all, the source
code to Netscape Communicator is publicly available.
When Doom, Decent, Hexen and Heretic were released on the Amiga for
free it did not destroy commercial Amiga games sales. In fact the
publicly of these games help commercial games like Amiga Quake sell
even more. Ben Rothwell should be commended for his efforts in
organizing and starting the aMozilla project. He has put many hours
into it with no pay because he knows the importance of the Amiga
getting the most popular software program of all time. Just the media
attention alone is worth its weight in gold for the Amiga. Even though
aMozilla is not yet available it has helped the Amiga get more
coverage in the general computer press. This is due to Ben's dream of
Netscape Communicator on the Amiga and the hard work of the aMozilla
team.
It's OK to champion the cause of cool Amiga only applications but
lets not forget the importance of mainstream popular software.
Netscape Communicator is not a PC-only application, it is a widely
respected program for all computers. It is coming to the Amiga at
last.
Best Regards,
Bill Panagouleas
Assistant Co-ordinator
aMozilla Publicity WG
----------------------------------------------------------------------
F R E E A M I G A A N D A M O Z I L L A X
aMozillaX
aMozillaX is a brand new Amiga Web Browser, that will be based on
Netscape technology.
This decision was made because certain limitations of the Amiga OS
existed that meant that any port of Mozilla to the Amiga would be very
difficult to achieve, without hacking basic OS functions, which would
of course, reduced the stability of the project.
With aMozillaX, we eliminate those problems, by building a new Amiga
specific base, Front End, Networking and Image Libraries. However, the
NGLayout layout code will be used, in order to keep page layout the
same as Netscape, and also to provide high end HTML functions. The
change to aMozillaX will be a positive move for aMozilla, and you
shouldnt worry that Netscape compatibility will be reduced, it wont
be, this move will only increase speed and efficiency. In fact we have
confirmed that aMozillaX will come with Real Audio and Shockwave
support.
Obviously, a major decision like this has put back the release date
of aMozilla slightly, but we do expect that the 1st Generation will be
available towards the end of May.
----
{Following is the introduction to the Free Amiga web site, which now
hosts the aMozilla - renamed aMozillaX - project.
http://www.amozilla.force9.co.uk/ Brad}
It has long been a belief of mine that Open Source projects could
prove to be a salvation to the Amiga, that if a properly organised
structure existed to port these projects, then the Amiga would benefit
from some of the great project.
The problem is, that most of these projects are too much for one man,
and to be able to fully do them justice a working structure needs to
be founded. On man shouldnt, and probably couldnt organise the
website, publicity, and do the coding himself. With aMozilla, I tried
to establish a working structure that would utilise different people's
different talents to contribute to the project. I believe that the
success of aMozilla is proving that other Open Source projects could,
too, be run in this fashion.
It is with this in mind that we establish The Free Amiga Project.
This project should magnify the talents of the various members of the
community, and enable us to port some of the best applications
available.
aMozilla worked with one Coding WG - Free Amiga will have many
different Coding WG's, all working on different projects, and the
publicity, the running of the websites, the eZine, will all be done
globally. Anyone is free to donate their talents to the project, and
suggest ideas for programs to be ported. This is a community effort.
With immediate effect, aMozilla integrates with the Free Amiga
structure.
Instead of an individual person, for example, porting Heretic, we
would like you to donate your talents to Free Amiga, where you will be
able to work with other programmers, and will be able to benefit from
the resources that we can provide.
We need anyone who can donate time to the project to email us and
tell us what you can do. It can be anything, it can be programming, it
can be writing HTML, it can be writing articles for the eZine,
whatever, every bit of help will be appreciated.
We also need people to give us ideas to what programs you would like
to see ported, and we wil work to set up working groups on those
projects. We so far have aMozilla (in progress), GIMP, GLDoom, and
Free Builder listed. Work will begin on these projects as soon as we
get donations of help. If you currently working on a port of a program
youself, why not contact us and we will welcome you into Free Amiga,
where you will benefit greatly from the help of others, which will
lead to programs becoming better, and more quickly, which obviously
will help the Amiga.
Ben Rothwell, Project Manager
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W T C P / I P S T A C H A N N O U N C E D
12 Feb 1999
Active Technologies Announce Genesis, A New TCP/IP Stack for the
Amiga
Genesis is a state-of-the-art TCP/IP stack for the Amiga computer.
Combining ease of use with advanced features, Genesis offers built in
dialup Internet connectivity and/or local area networking.
Genesis requires Magic User Interface (v3.8+) in order to operate.
Further information can be obtained from http://www.vapor.com/ or
http://www.active-net.co.uk. A demo is also available and you can
register online via the Vapor automatic registration form.
Feature list includes:
o Easy to setup. The software is fully configurable via a custom
interface, no need to edit text files. Offers simplicity, enabling a
beginner to be able to setup their stack within minutes, yet keeping
the advanced features needed for the professional user.
o Compatibility. Genesis is fully compatible with existing Amiga
Internet software. Based on the recognised and established AmiTCP
Professional kernel (v4.6), Genesis offers the highest possible
compatibility with other net products, no need for AmiTCP emulation.
o Built-in support. Genesis ships with modules for PPP, (C)SLIP and
support for other variations such as SANA-II etc. Supports Internet
access by modem, external ISDN TA, internal ISDN boards, ethernet
(such as Ariadne or Hydra), serial cards (Hypercom, IOBlix, GVP-IO
etc) and other local networks (parnet, null modem etc).
o Advanced PPP implementation: (MS)CHAP, PAP, Callback (WinNT
compatible), VJ compression, protocol field compression, MTU
negotiation, magic number negotiation, async map negotiation, MSDNS1/2
IP address negotiation, WINS1/2 IP address negotiation, Compression
Control Protocol (modules include - BSD compress, deflate and MPPC).
Also,PPP events control allows you to create scripts to perform
actions when PPP has been put on or offline.
o Dial control. Teach-me dialer, multiple phone numbers, configurable
dial script.
o Comprehensive security. Secure kernel to prevent illegal attacks
over the Internet: SYN flooding, IP fragment attacks, IP address
spoofing, land and fist attacks.
o Enhanced SANA-II. Powerful and improved SANA-II support allows the
fastest transfer rates across an ethernet network.
o Connection Wizard. Step by step Wizard interface to connect a user
to the Internet. Enter basic information, Wizard obtains the IP and
DNS information automatically and records your loginscript.
o Arexx interface and improved API - allows external software to
check status of interfaces, logged in user, active user and much more.
o Socks. Socks v4/5 client supplied as standard. Socks server
avaialble, free of charge, as a downloadable option.
o Multiple interface support. This allows you to connect and
disconnect more than one interface at one time. For instance, create
two ethernet links between an Amiga and Linux machine and another
between your Amiga and PC and then still connect and disconnect from
your Internet (dialup) connection, without the other interfaces being
affected. You can even launch Genesis on bootup so that a local area
network is put online automatically when you start your Amiga. This is
essential for a Siamese system, for example. You can then use Genesis
for modem dialup or route your dialup connection via the remote
computer. Multiple interface support is easy to setup and the
interfaces are listed within the main status window (shown here).
Allows routing between interfaces.
o Multiple-user support. Full support and API for multiple-users.
Create more than one user and then log-on via the main status window
(users can be password protected to prevent unauthorised access). The
multi-user API is currently supported by a range of Amiga Internet
software including Microdot-II, Contact Manager and soon YAM (from
r7), with more in the future.
o Multiple providers. Add multiple providers or provider
configurations with ease, then select these providers by point and
click, from the main status window. You might be testing two providers
with a 30-day trial? Setup both providers and flick between them.
o Access control. Parents have full time/access control over each
user. The system manager can setup time limitations (for example a
user could be prevented from connecting during the working hours
09:00-18:00). Genesis will double-check the current time on
connection, so that the user cannot temporarily alter the system clock
to fool software into thinking it is a weekend, for instance.
o Advanced time/cost logger. Shows each user access (or overall
access), time and date and the cost of this access. Genesis shows
statistical information to help you monitor Internet costs and time
usage.
For further information:
Active Technologies 113 Victoria Road Darlington County Durham
England, DL1 5JH.
Tel : +44 (0)1325 460116 Fax : +44 (0)1325 460117
http://www.active-net.co.uk e-mail : sales@active-net.co.uk
----------------------------------------------------------------------
W A T E R V A P O U R B R O W S E R
18th February 1999
{Taken from the official website,
http://www.scifi1.demon.co.uk/wv.html Brad}
Water Vapour
"Macho does not prove mucho"
-Zsa Zsa Gabor
{I left that in 'cause it's a great quote! Brad}
1. Introduction
Water Vapour is a new WWW browser for AmigaOS. The Amiga needs a
modern browser, one with HTML 4.0 support, JavaScript, and the
features that users on other platforms have come to take for granted.
Water Vapour is being written from the ground up, it is not a port
from UNIX, nor is it based on someone elses code. Being written in
object orientated C++, and compilation will probably be done on the
GNU g++ compiler. Water Vapour's source code will be made available as
coding continues, and as new versions of objects and files are
completed. The first source code files should be up in about two or
three weeks.
2. News
o 18th February
The first source code file has been uploaded today. It is the header
file for the linked list classes, where is the lexer code? You may be
wondering... well, the lexer needs list.h and list.cxx (nearly done)
as its final components. So this had to be done first.
o 17th February
Water Vapour is listed on both Altavista and the Looksmart search
engines.
o 14th February
Water Vapour today passed the 1500 lines of code mark!!! Yes, the
lexer is 1538 lines of C++ long and about 75% complete.
o 13th February
Continued on the HTML 4.0 lexical analyser, it is neatly packaged
together as a C++ class, it is 400 lines long already and recognises
every HTML 4.0 element. Attributes are next, followed by entities.
3. Features
o Full HTML 4.0 support
o JavaScript 1.3
o Usual AmigaOS things (ARexx, AmigaGuide, etc..)
o Object orientated
o A standard for plug-ins
4. The Competition
There are three Amiga browsers in main use at the moment (in no
particular order):
AWeb
iBrowse
Voyager
IProbe
aMozilla
5. FAQ
Will Water Vapour support JAVA?
I'm not sure yet. There is currently no complete official
implementation of JAVA on the Amiga. I haven't heard much from Haage &
Partner in a while about MERAPI, an alternative is Kaffe, but I'd have
to take a close look at it. However, JAVA is not JavaScript, and Water
Vapour will support JavaScript 1.3.
What about RealAudio, Shockwave, etc..?
Again, there is no official port and I am unsure of the legal status
if a port was made available. However, I do plan on making a standard
for plugins, so someone else will be able to write if they so wish.
Is Water Vapour open source?
No. The main reason for uploading the source as I go is to prove that
Water Vapour really exists. If anyone else wishes to use the code,
then they are free to do so.
Cool... when will it be finished?
I'm not sure. Perhaps the late summer.
Why are you bothering? You can't beat aMozilla
We'll see. I'm not convinced aMozilla will be as good as the hype
suggests, even if it is, there is still room for more than one
browser.
6. Progress
First on the list will be to write a lexical analyser for HTML 4.0,
hopefully that should be ready and debugged around two to three weeks,
I'll upload the source code. I'm already starting to think about the
GUI, programming a GUI is very long winded and will probably take
longer than the program! I was considering the idea of an object
orientated wrapper for parts of Intuition, the idea of setting a few
variables and calling mywindow.open() is very appealing and will speed
up development in the long run. Perhaps there is already such a
wrapper out there, or perhaps I'll write my own.
7. Source code Archive
Filename Size Date Description
list.h 6kb 18/02/99 23:32 The header file for the linked list classes
and related data structures
8. Contact me
You can email me at andrew.markwell@hotmail.com, with any
suggestions, comments about Water Vapour, this website (sorry it's
very simplistic for now), or anything else.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W S I D E W I N D E R C D
February 3,1999
Announcing the Sidewinder CD '2BADSHEEP official release.
This AMIGA made electronica album '2BADSHEEP is 19 tracks full of
euro-cutting synth based music, from space age new wave 80's to
mystical, low tech wild technoswingin' BASS
Original mind blowing future sound.
19 tracks 62 minutes 100% Amiga 2 SHEEP
CD MP3 AND INFO
http://www.txdirect.net/~sidewind/
'2BADSHEEP
Eric Gieseke sidewind@txdirect.net tel. 512.452.4620
JUST LOOK FOR THE 2 BAD SHEEP
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I S E N G A R D N O T G O N E A F T E R A L L
16 Feb 1999
Hallelujah! (for Amiga users)
We have finally built a working development system using UAE, so all
of you who were despairing that Eucalyptus and Blacks Editor were
gone, fear not! Development continues. So keep your suggestions (and
bug reports?) coming.
Paul Schifferer
Isengard Developments
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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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