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Amiga Update (1999-02-07)
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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 Amiga, Inc.
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990207
N E W T E K W I L L B E A T A M I G A 9 9
O N E D A Y A M I G A S H O W I N U K
S E C O N D K I C K S T A R T S H O W
S T A R T U P K I T S F O R U S E R G R O U P S
C H A N G E S A T A M I G A F O R M A T
A M I G A N U T T A A W A R D S A N N O U N C E D
A M I G A N S C A N H E L P O Z R E D C R O S S
I C O A V O T I N G O N N E W B Y L A W S
V I R U S W A R N I N G !
P O W E R - U P / W A R P - U P P E T I T I O N
S C R E E N S N E E D S H E L P
S T O R M O F T H E E Y E R E L E A S E D
B A S E 0 W E B S E R V I C E F R O M Z E N M E T A L
1 2 0 0 N E T W O R K C A R D F R O M H & P
V U L C A N A M E R I C A S P E C I A L S
P O T E N T I A L L Y : J A V A F O R A M I G A ?
T H E N E W A M I G A F O R E V E R
S I D S T A T I O N S Y N T H E S I Z E R
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
Many interesting things to send your way today, including a few
unusual items.
For instance, two of our stories aren't exactly Amiga oriented, but
they do have relevance. Take a look at the Electricalfire article
below. If enough Amiga folks got involved in that effort, it might
lead to Java for Amiga, plugging one of the biggest holes in the
Amiga's software suite. Anyone able to handle this? We hope so!
The other related story concerns a Swedish firm that's built a new
MIDI device based on, of all things, the old Commodore C-64 SID chip!
We thought the old-time Commodorans would find this interesting, as
would all the MIDI enthusiasts who use Amigas.
Seems you just never know what might turn up in the computer world.
Amiga Forever:
One thing that turned up recently, and on which we have a story
below, is the latest version of "Amiga Forever" from Cloanto. This is
the licensed Amiga emulator for Windows based machines. We've had the
opportunity to work with this emulator for the last few weeks and have
been pleasantly surprised with how well it performs. It's handled just
about everything we've thrown at it, with only minor exceptions. These
included the icon editor creating icons of the wrong size when we used
imported images. The editor somehow didn't sense the size of the
images. We've also had a few "ghost" images pop up on the Workbench
when using some software, and had to do a Workbench redraw. These are
extremely minor issues, when compared to the fact that all
productivity software we've tried so far has worked well, if a bit
slowly sometime on the aging 133Mhz system we have for test. On a
faster computer, we think you'd find little difference from actual
Amiga hardware. We'll keep you posted over the long haul as we work
with this intriguing product.
We're mentioning our experiences with "Amiga Forever", as we've
received several letters from Amigans looking to find ways to stay in
the Amiga community when forced to use PCs. With "Amiga Forever" going
for $30, this could be one of the best ways to live in both worlds.
Furthermore, it certainly provides the most economical way we can
thing of to acquire an Amiga laptop.
The next thing we have to do is try some games and see how well they
work. We'll let you know.
In the meantime we have lots for you to read, and hope you enjoy this
issue.
Brad Webb,
Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail to the E-ditor:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4 Feb 99 08:02:56 EST
I've been subscribing to your wonderful e-zine for quite some time
now and I just wanted to say thank you and keep up the EXCELLENT work.
That having been said, I'd also like to lay praise on Jeff Schindler
for sending you an open letter to your readers. Many have been
complaining that Amiga Inc has been too silent too long. Maybe Jeff
heard us or maybe his letter is a fluke. Let's all hope it's not the
latter. At any rate I'd like to invite Jeff to monthly send us an open
letter. Let us know that something indeed is going on behind closed
doors. We don't need to know every detail. We just need some
assurrance that SOMETHING is happening. A montly letter could be used
to update the Amiga Community as milestones of the AmigaOS V3.5 and
V5.0 projects are completed. A commitment to provide monthly updates
may have a side benefit in that it may provide the discipline
necessary to help keep these projects on track. Go Amiga!
Thomas
______
Thomas,
Thank you very much for the kind words.
I must point out the letter from Mr. Schindler was not sent to me or
to "Amiga Update", but was instead made available to everyone on the
Amiga Inc. website. He has issued such letters from time to time, and
when they appear we'll bring them to you. I agree it would be a good
idea to make them monthly and we'd be more than happy to help get them
out to Amigans around the world.
Brad
~~~~~~
31 Jan 1999
Hello and thank you for all you've done for English-speaking Amiga
users everywhere.
I just read FWD Computing's letter {in our last issue. Brad}. I know
Amiga dealers need sales to stay in business. Please tell me what the
point is in putting my faithful, old A1200 in a tower case just so I
can add a PPC accelerator card? In around a year there's going to be a
new Amiga model with a CPU that'll make even PPCs look like Intel, not
to mention a whole new OS. Given that it has to be a choice, (and
unless I win a lottery, it does), obviously I'm going to save up for a
new NG Amiga, not try to keep my old A1200 going forever.
Software is another matter; if it'll run under 3.5, they say, it'll
run under 5.x, so it makes sense to upgrade. Or if I needed a Video
Toaster solution, business smarts would tell me I need it now, not
next year. But if I have enough computer power to make do with until
the NG Amiga comes out, it's just common sense to wait for new
hardware.
I'm sorry if that disappoints my local Amiga dealers, I know they
need buying customers to stay in business, but I'm not made of money
either, thank you!
Allan
______
Allan,
You're produced a very timely and thoughtful message. I can't argue
with your points, and doubt many other Amigans could either. This is
one reason the Amiga market is declining of course. The only answer I
can see is for Amiga Inc. to get the next generation to market as
quickly as possible. It's horridly frustrating to not be able to do
more to solve this problem.
Brad
~~~~~~
22 Jan 1999
Hello Brad
On 22-Jan-99, you wrote:
He [Petro]says a multimedia workstation based around the PowerPC chip
running AmigaOS 3.5 could sell next year for less than $US1500 and
deliver comparable performance to NT or Mac machines costing several
times that amount. A DVD-based set-top interactive box with Net
access is also planned.
I will personally fly to Germany and kiss Petro's feet if this ever
happens. Sounds an awful lot like the fabled "68080" ...
19 Jan 1999
Announcement for immediate release:
Amiga Apache Web server with PHP Web scripting language: now
available for free.
Somebody tell who ever wrote that release that PHP/Apache has ALWAYS
been free... :/
{Name withheld by request}
______
Name withheld,
Interesting observations and good points, both of them, about items
from our last issue. Thanks for sending them along.
Brad
~~~~~~
4 Feb 99 08:
Please tell Jeff {Schindler} and others not to use the term "NG
Amiga". You and I know he means Next Generation Amiga. Any good
marketing person knows never to put "NG" in a product name because NG
stands for "No Good". Are you listening Jeff? Why not call the new
Amiga something catchy like "New Amiga" or "New Technology Amiga"? How
about asking your readers, Brad, to suggest a new name?
Thomas
______
Thomas,
You raise a good point. However, it may not be as bad as in years
past since "Start Trek: The Next Generation" came along. That program
has actually made NG mean Next Generation to many people. Hovever, not
so many that there aren't probably more who would in fact think of No
Good.
We'd be happy to hear suggestions from readers on alternative names.
Brad
~~~~~~
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N E W T E K W I L L B E A T A M I G A 9 9
February 3, 1999
NewTek signs on as an exhibitor at Amiga 99, the Gateway Computer Show
With headquarters in San Antonio, NewTek is a leading provider of
full-featured video editing, animation, and special effects tools. The
company's products are used worldwide on projects from home video to
feature film, including some of the most widely anticipated recent
blockbusters, such as Men in Black, Titanic, Lost in Space, HBO's From
the Earth to the Moon, and The Jackal. website:
http://www.newtek.com.
See them, and so many others, in St. Louis March 12 - 14 at Amiga 99,
the largest Amiga show in the U.S. Check our web site at:
http://www.amiga-stl.com
Bob Scharp
Amigan-St. Louis
bscharp@icon-stl.net
The Gateway Computer Show - Amiga 99©
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O N E D A Y A M I G A S H O W I N U K
5 Feb 1999
Gasteiner Technologies will be holding an Amiga show on Saturday
February 13 1999 at
18-22 Sterling Way,
Edmonton,
London N18 2YZ
UNITED KINGDOM
HiSOFT SYSTEMS (http://www.hisoft.co.uk), Power Computing
(http://www.powerc.com) and others will be there.
The entrance fee is
3 UKP Adults
2 UKP Children
Come along for some good sale bargains on many Amiga products.
The show will be open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
You can get to the show by
Road: We are located on the A406 (North Circular Road) at the
Edmonton Angel. Approx 10mins from the M25 (Junction 10). Also last
junction of the M11 (Junction 1).
Train: Main Line Station (British Rail) is Silver Street Station.
Bus: Buses number 34, 102, 279, 259, and 144
See you there!
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S E C O N D K I C K S T A R T S H O W
19/12/98 Kickstart Show 2 Announced.
The Kickstart User Group, based in Ottershaw, Surrey have announced
the date for their second Kickstart Amiga Show.
The Place: Brook Hall, Brox Road, Ottershaw in Surrey.
The Date: Saturday February 27th 1999.
The Time: 1pm-5pm.
Admission fee: One Pound
Amiga International are officially supporting this years' show, and
Petro Tyschtschenko has kindly donated a complete A1200 Magic Pack
along with an assortment of Amiga gear, all of which will be given
away to show goers throughout the day.
The show will consist of a sale of Amiga hardware and software, games
competitions throughout the day, demonstrations of Amiga applications
and new hardware and the opportunity to join the Kickstart User Group.
In all it's a great day out where you can have fun, get help with your
Amiga problems and meet other Amiga users.
------------------
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:
Stands:
18 stands selling new and second-user Amiga software and hardware.
Refreshments will also be on sale and a Kickstart membership stand
will also be on hand to answer questions and handle membership
enquiries from show-goers.
Competitions:
Amiga International are supporting the show by offering a complete
A1200 Magic Pack (worth 200 pound) for the grand draw, which each
show-goer is automatically entered into. There will also be various
Amiga give-aways throughout the day and great prizes for the various
gaming contests planned.
Games:
Three gaming competitions are planned:
A multiplayer Doom tournament (with as many as five simultaneous
players in each game). A Sensible Soccer tournament. A Skidmarks
contest (with as many as eight simultaneous players in each game).
Demonstrations:
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, such as the AteoBus busboard and Pixel64
graphics card and various A1200 & A600 tower conversions.
Magazine launch:
Being unveiled at the Kickstart Show will be the first issue of the
new 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 - indeed everything from the fate of OS3.5 to why 880K
floppy disks should be killed off!
For show enquiries and stand bookings, please contact Raymond
McCarthy at ray@tadworth.demon.co.uk.
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.
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S T A R T U P K I T S F O R U S E R G R O U P S
UGN Announces User Group Startup Documents
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The User Group Network (UGN) is pleased to announce the availability
of the User Group Startup Documents. This kit provides a valuable
resource to those individuals wishing to start an Amiga related user
group in their area. It can also provide useful information to
existing user groups interested in making their group better.
The User Group Start Up Kit is a compilation of materials assembled
by the UGN's own Robert Hamilton (Lostman). Robert has searched high
and low to include information on the following topics: starting up,
legal issues, club services, user meetings, user needs, and working
with other groups or companies. Also available is the User Group
Startup Guide from Inprise Inc. (formally BorderBund).
If you want more information, please take your web browser and go to
"http://ugn.amiga.org/startup". The UGN Web Page can be found at
"http://ugn.amiga.org". Together the User Group Startup Kit and the
UGN can provide you all you need to have a successful Amiga User
Group.
The User Group Network is an organization dedicated to the
advancement of the Amiga computing platform and the fostering of Amiga
oriented User Groups worldwide. The UGN will work co-operatively with
the owners, licensees, user groups, and the users to establish and
expand a customer support base for licensed Amiga computer products.
The UGN will endeavor to provide a single, centralized resource for
the promotion and assistance of User Groups and users world-wide. The
UGN Web Page is located at "http://ugn.amiga.org".
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C H A N G E S A T A M I G A F O R M A T
29 Jan 1999
Hi all,
Just wanted to tell you the latest news about Amiga Format.
1. After five years of working on Amiga Format, Nick Veitch is
finally leaving to pursue an editing career on a different magazine,
called Computer Publishing which will be on sale in the UK in May.
He'll still contribute as a freelancer to Amiga Format, and Ben Vost
will take over the reins as editor.
2. This means that we really could use a staff writer on Amiga Format
to help with the production of the magazine. We'd prefer it if you
were a 1200 owner, with an interest in music, the internet, coding and
hardware and you knew how to write witty, informed and on time copy,
in order to complement the skills of the efficient Amiga Format team.
If not, but you're interested in the post which would involve you
moving to Bath, send email explaining who you are, where your Amiga
expertise lies and why you'd like the job, and we'll get you down for
an interview. You can send an email to ben.vost@futurenet.co.uk with
the subject "New Staffer", or send a letter to the usual address of 30
Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW.
3. The third bit of news concerns two new mailing lists for the
Amiga. The first - afb-announce is a list that gives out the details
of what will be in the next issue of Amiga Format before it becomes on
sale in the UK, or sent out to subscribers. If you want to know what
we'll be covering in advance, you should subscribe to this list. You
can do so by visiting http://www.egroups.com/list/afb-announce/ and
signing up. You can expect an email every four weeks or so.
We also have an open discussion list, called afb, which is available
from http://www.egroups.com/list/afb/. It's a bit hectic, but it's a
good place to get general (and specific) Amiga information. At the
moment, the list gets about 65 messages a day, so it's quite busy, but
offers the facility to read these messages on the web, so you don't
have to have your mailbox filled with them constantly. Both mailing
lists also have additional facilities in their calendar functions,
which allow you to see important upcoming events; and polls, which
allow for online voting on important topics. Join up, and see what you
think.
All the best,
--
Ben Vost T: (+44) 01225 732337
Associate Editor F: (+44) 01225 732275
Amiga Format UIN: 20459449
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A N U T T A A W A R D S A N N O U N C E D
1998 Amiga Nutta Awards.
Well, Amiga Nutta finally got around to sorting out all the replies
they got and things came out as follows, congratulations to all those
who have won.
As you can see the whole thing was dominated by three games, with
Quake taking most of the honours.
Best Game of 1998:- QUAKE
Runner-up:- Genetic Species
Third Place:- Foundation
-------------------------
Best Technical Game:- QUAKE
Best Graphics:- QUAKE
-------------------------
Best Sound:- Genetic Species
Most Playable Game:- Foundation
-------------------------
Best Developer:- Paul Burkey
Best Publisher:- ClickBOOM
-------------------------
Best Developer/Publisher Webpage:- ClickBOOM
Best Amiga Related Webpage:- Czech Amiga News
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A N S C A N H E L P O Z R E D C R O S S
2 Feb 1999
By Chris Baird
Posted to Usenet
Original artwork by well-known Amiga and cartoon artist Eric W.
Schwartz is being auctioned, with all proceeds going to charity.
The artwork was won (by me) in a competition that Eric ran on The
Official E.S. Productions Website <http://www.coax.net/people/erics/>,
and with his okay whatever money I can get from ripping this off I'm
donating to the Australian Red Cross through their New England branch.
This is /real/ artwork to hang on your wall and admire! Be the envy
of all your friends! Scrape Eric's skin cells from the paper and clone
him! Do what ever you want with it, and assist a humanitarian
organisation in the process.
For practical reasons, payment and delivery of the framed artwork is
being limited to Australian residents only-- I'd prefer not having to
hassle with international exchange and postage (but feel free to
arrange with a friend). Bidding will close at midnight EST on the 28th
of February (1300 hours UTC Feb 28). The winning bidder will receive
the artwork and make payment by COD. (Disclaimer: Eric knows of this,
but so far only the local branch of the Australian Red Cross knows
what I'm up too. :)
The auction webpage is at: http://mcs.une.edu.au/~cbaird/auction.html
Thank you for your interest!
--
Chris Baird,, <cbaird@turing.une.edu.au>
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I C O A V O T I N G O N N E W B Y L A W S
29 January 1999
For Immediate Release
All ICOA members and all Amiga Developers interested in becoming ICOA
members are invited to take part in a vote to approve new bylaws for
the ICOA.
The new bylaws are intended to open the ICOA up and move it towards
an organization devoted to helping Amiga developers help each other
directly and through common projects.
Go to http://www.amiga.net/icoa-bin/vote.cgi?module=reg and follow
the procedures for casting your vote. To reduce voting irregularities,
email registration is required and free email servers like Hotmail and
others are screened out.
Voting will take place immediately and will be open until the weekend
of February the 6th, 1999. Over the weekend the vote results will be
finalized and made available.
Remember - vote early, but don't vote often!
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V I R U S W A R N I N G !
Kuang Eleven Virus Warning!
5 Febuaray 1999
Extract taken from Kuang11Update.readme 2.34 (5.2.99)
Warning
All Kuang Eleven users who have received an update in the past few
weeks are at risk!
Two viruses have been released via the update server attached to
different versions of the file rexxkuang11.library (normally placed in
LIBS:), and also affecting the file C:Mount.
Details
The two versions of the library which were infected are shown below,
along with some details:
rexxkuang11.library 0.36 ( 4/02/99)
* File size: 31,172
* Attaches itself to your C:Mount file (any version) unless
* SnoopDOS is running
* Performs "run >NIL: newshell TCP:2551" (both the library and
C:Mount)
* Allows remote CLI (shell) access to your computer
* Calls itself "Vaginitis #2" by "STD"
* Does NOT spread to any other files (other than C:Mount)
rexxkuang11.library 0.27 (27/12/98)
* File size: 26,532 bytes
* Performs "RUN >NIL: newshell tcp:2333" when the library is opened
* Allows remote CLI (shell) access to your computer
* Calls itself "Vaginitis #3" by "STD"
* Does NOT spread to any other files
Solution
You should have received version 0.37 (or later) of
rexxkuang11.library with this update. You should verify this by
typing:
Version LIBS:rexxkuang11.library FILE FULL
You should get the response:
rexxkuang11.library 0.37 ( 5/02/99)
or a later version.
* Reboot your system (if possible, do NOT go online).
* Replace the file C:Mount from your original disks, or some other
reliable source.
* Reboot AGAIN.
If you have any copies of rexxkuang11.library versions 0.27 and 0.36,
they should be deleted, as these were never legitimately uploaded to
the update server.
Explanation
The server at which the Amiga Coding Syndicate's updates are stored
was hacked by an unknown, malicious person or persons. We have changed
our passwords and have made every effort to secure our site.
We sincerely regret any inconvenience this has caused anyone.
If you wish to eliminate auto-updates from your Kuang Eleven
installation, simply rename or delete the file Rexx/Kuang11UPD.amirx
(relative to your AmIRC directory).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P O W E R - U P / W A R P - U P P E T I T I O N
3 Feb 1999
The petition about free choice when choosing PPC kernel is going on
for some time.
So far more than 400 Amiga users signed the letter which will be sent
to phase5 (Mr. Wolf Dietrich) to remove ppc.library from flashrom and
place it in libs instead.
The petition Web page is http://jagor.srce.hr/~doozanic/.
There you can obtain all information about petition you need.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S C R E E N S N E E D S H E L P
Stockholm 29 January,1999
Since we first announced Screens, the new operating system for
high-end Amigas, a lot of people have asked how they can aid and take
part in the project and while t certainly has not been the only
question it is indeed a valid one. Since we regard Screens to be a
"peoples OS" it is now our turn to ask you, the Amiga users, the
question "how do you want Screens to be?" and in cooperation with
Amiga Universe we aim to do so through a number of inquiries where we
will ask for suggestions concerning a specific part of Screens.
First out is the GUI (or Graphical User Interface) and thus we would
like you to submit your ideas on any, and we mean ANY, part of the
GUI, preferably as images saved in a non-destroying format. JPEG is
fine (In fact we recommend it.) just as long as you save the image in
100% quality. However, if you cannot or do not wish to illustrate your
ideas we are more than willing to recieve written descriptions.
Before you send us your ideas please understand that although we may
not choose to make the standard Screens GUI your way you will have no
trouble creating alternative GUIs as Screens will support such in a
similiar way to X windows. Then again, do not be surprised to find a
modified version of your vision of the Screens GUI when you first boot
Screens...
Once again, no matter how small your contribution may seem, please
submit it. You know, every closegadget counts. :-)
Christian Nylén, Screens project leader and main programmer. Lennart
Fridén, Screens programmer and author of the L programming language.
P.S. We would offer a free copy of Screens to everyone that
contributes, but that would be pointless as Screens will be totally
free of charge.
Contact them at: christian@mematex.se
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S T O R M O F T H E E Y E R E L E A S E D
Perth, Western Australia - 25th January 1999.
2 Bit Productions today announced the release of Storm of the Eye, a
large scale strategy wargame played via email.
Storm of the Eye is a commercial Play by Email game, which has been
in development for two and a half years, and in playtesting for the
past 6 months. The game caters for up to 100 players at a time, with
each player using a sophisticated front end program to view their
turns and input their instructions. Turns are processed weekly, with
one turn costing $2.50 Australian.
Each player has control of one of the worlds' 100 tribes. Gods
perform miracles regularly for the devout, and the sacrifice of
conquered enemies is encouraged. All is not what it seems in this
happy (yet bloodthirsty) world. A complicated sequence of events which
began thousands of years ago is rapidly nearing a conclusion, and the
future is very uncertain. 2 Bit Productions are currently accepting
reservations for places in first commercial game, which will begin
once it is full. Players will not be charged anything until the
commencement of the game. The front end program is free, and can be
downloaded from the website below. A demonstration turn is available
for download also so people can have a closer look at the mechanics of
the game.
2 Bit Productions is a small company, dedicated to providing the best
and most innovative play by email games on the market.
For more information, visit the 2 Bit Productions website at:
http://www.2bp.com/
or send email to:
info@2bp.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B A S E 0 W E B S E R V I C E F R O M Z E N M E T A L
ZenMetal Software Announces Availability of Base0 Web Service
NEWS 27-01-99: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!
Announcing new Amiga WWW Message Board software! Ray A. Akey of
ZenMetal Software is pleased to announce the release of Base0 Web
Service (B0WS). B0WS is the premiere message board software for the
Amiga and, can be used as a "bbs-style" discussion forum or as a
support message board. B0WS supports both flat and hierarchical
message areas and now has theme support.
Those interested in ordering B0WS should access the Official B0WS
Homepage at http://www.cnetbbs.net/zmnews/bowsnews.shtml. There are
links to current systems running B0WS in various themes and looks,
recent version changes and ordering information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 2 0 0 N E T W O R K C A R D F R O M H & P
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
----------------------------------------------------------------------
V U L C A N A M E R I C A S P E C I A L S
TLAS~Vulcan America Announces Special Offers
** Hello All, ***
From now till Feb 12th we will ship any order above $50 for no
shipping fee in the US. Canadian orders over $ 50 are shipped for only
$ 3. This special is for those who place their order on the web-site
ONLY. Simply put 'Shipping Special' in any unused blank on the order
form.
**** USER GROUP MEMBERS **** Mention your user group in another of
the unused blanks on the order form and we'll take 10 % off your
orders. You must be a member of an Amiga Users Group for this offer.
This group member offer is not limited to just the 2-week period like
the shipping offer. (so use it when you order)
******************************
why not visit soon to take advantage of some great offers.
Final Odyssey CD ... $ 15 (compare to $39)
The Strangers CD .... 15 (compare to $39)
Uropa 2 CD .......... 15 (compare to $39)
Many Aminet CDs on sale
lots more, come see
Just come to http://www.pantheonsys.com/tlas and click on 'Current
Specials'. Also check out our great low prices in all sections.
When you order from our site we will e-mail you back and inform you
of your total cost. We will also let you know if an item is not in
stock. We will NOT charge your credit card untill your order is ready
to ship. Most orders ship within 24 hrs.
Regards,
Terry f/TLAS~Vulcan America
TLAS~VULCAN AMERICA
302 Oxford Street
Midland, TX 79703-5535
tel: 915-694-7588 fax: 915-694-7595
************************************
http://www.pantheonsys.com/tlas
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P O T E N T I A L L Y : J A V A F O R A M I G A ?
{Extracts from the Mozilla/Electralfire web site. Anyone out there
want to get involved? Brad}
ELECTRICALFIRE FROM MOZILLA
ElectricalFire
A compiler for the Java Platform
ElectricalFire is a Java Virtual Machine that uses JIT (Just In Time)
compilation techniques to accelerate Java code execution.
ElectricalFire was designed from the start to generate
high-performance machine code and to be portable to many different
processor architectures.
ElectricalFire Compiler
Frequently Asked Questions
Author: Scott Furman
-----------------------
What is ElectricalFire ?
ElectricalFire (EF) is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) - an engine that
executes Java programs. Like many other JVM's, EF compiles Java class
files into native machine code for faster performance. (A Java
source-code compiler is first used to compile Java into the
intermediate bytecode language that is stored in Java class files.)
EF's compiler is a JIT (Just-In-Time) compiler because it does not
compile code until it is executed for the first time.
What's a JIT ?
JIT is short for "Just-In-Time compiler". Here's how a Java JIT
works: When Java code calls a Java method and that method hasn't been
previously called, the caller is suspended while the compiler loads
the Java class file from the network or file system and compiles it to
machine code. After compilation completes, execution resumes in the
newly compiled method. The compilation process is completely
transparent to the Java program (except for any delay when a method is
first invoked.)
JIT compilation is superior to traditional batch compilation because:
o It allows on-demand compilation of methods. Unused methods are
never compiled.
o It enables distribution of platform-independent Java classfiles
rather than platform-dependent executables.
o In the case of network-loaded classes, a Java program can start
before its been fully loaded.
On the other hand, JIT'ing code has its disadvantages:
o It causes suspension of program execution while the compiler runs.
These short delays often aggregate into a perceptible startup delay
for a Java program or they might cause a program to run "choppily".
o JIT'ing requires that the compiler be distributed and run as part
of the JVM and also consumes more memory in order to perform the
compilation.
o JIT compilation might not produce code that's as fast as that
produced by batch compilers. This is both because the optimization
techniques used by batch compilers are too slow to use in a JIT and
because insufficient global information is available to make
optimizing decisions, e.g. inlining, when compilation proceeds
incrementally.
For these reasons, some attention may be given to a batch compilation
mode for ElectricalFire.
Is ElectricalFire a port of Sun's JDK ?
No source code from Sun's JDK is used anywhere in ElectricalFire, nor
will any be allowed in the future.
What platforms does ElectricalFire support ?
Short answer:
For now, only x86 Linux and Windows 95/98/NT are supported.
Long answer:
Really, the first question to ask is, "What processor architectures
does ElectricalFire (EF) support ?". EF was designed to be relatively
easy to port to any architecture by creating a compiler "back-end" and
writing some assembly support code. The EF source code release
contains a relatively complete x86 back-end and very incomplete
back-ends for the Power-PC, HP PA-RISC, and SPARC processors.
Second, you have to ask whether your OS is supported by the Java
runtime libraries. Since the state of ElectricalFire's runtime
libraries is highly incomplete right now, this is still an academic
question.
What's the current state of ElectricalFire ?
The project is just starting to get interesting. On x86 machines,
more than 90% of the Java Compatibility Kit (JCK) instruction tests
now pass and we are able to run javac, the Java compiler that is
itself written in Java.
Support for the java.lang and java.lang.reflect packages is
substantial, but far from complete. Basic support is available for
java.io. Virtually all other classes, e.g. AWT, do not work at all
because they require integration with the VM's native code. (When EF
was a commercial product, we were relying on being able to use Sun's
JDK1.2 classes and native code to implement virtually all high-level
library functionality.) We will work with one of the groups working on
free Java class libraries, such as the Classpath project, to add Java
standard class libraries. Late-breaking news: Sun's new Java licensing
scheme might allow the use of the JDK 1.2 libraries with
ElectricalFire. Stay tuned for further updates.
Does ElectricalFire support JDK version 1.1 or 1.2 ?
It doesn't really support either yet. See "What's the current state
of ElectricalFire ?"
What programming language does ElectricalFire use ?
Most ElectricalFire code is written in C++. A small amount is written
in platform-specific assembly code.
Does ElectricalFire contain both an interpreter and a compiler ?
Electrical fire does not contain a Java bytecode interpreter. All
Java bytecodes are compiled before executing them. Hence, there is no
opportunity to introduce bugs in which Java program behavior differs
depending on whether or not bytecode are compiled or interpreted. It
might be desirable to add an interpreter to eliminate compilation
delay for rarely-executed methods, such as static initializers.
How fast does Java code run using ElectricalFire ?
The truth is, we don't know yet. No large Java programs have been
benchmarked yet using ElectricalFire. We would expect EF to be at
least as fast as existing JITs. The goal of the project is to produce
code that has performance that is roughly on par with C/C++.
I'm a programmer, but I don't write compilers. Can I help ?
Definitely! For ElectricalFire to be successful, we will need a
strong conformance and functional test suite.
Another good place to contribute your time would be the Classpath
Project, which seeks to create an LGPL'ed replacement for the standard
Java class libraries. Without Java class libraries, ElectricalFire
would be virtually useless.
How do I use ElectricalFire for running my Java programs ?
It's a little premature for end-users to run ElectricalFire. For one
thing, there is only limited implementation of Java classes. You can't
use it with Java programs that use AWT, for example. Also, EF is still
immature, with many known bugs. Finally, there's no debugging support.
When will ElectricalFire be released as a commercial product of
Netscape ?
There are no plans to make ElectricalFire into a commercial product,
by Netscape or anyone else that we know of. There are no employees
paid by Netscape to work on ElectricalFire.
If Netscape isn't paying anyone to work on ElectricalFire, who's
going to do the development ?
You are; This is an open-source project, after all. Four people in
the original development team have volunteered to act as developers
and/or module owners, including the original compiler architect,
Waldemar Horwat. So, we have the seeds of a really good team, but lots
more people will be needed to make the project a success. If you're
interested in contributing, check out the developer roadmap.
Will ElectricalFire be the official or default JVM for the Netscape
browser ?
Netscape's OJI Project is an attempt to allow any JVM to run inside
of the browser. Netscape's commercial version of the Mozilla browser
could conceivably be distributed with a default JVM. However,
ElectricalFire will certainly not have that honor, because there are
no plans for it to be released as a commercial product. There is no
default JVM for the open-source browser and no plans to nominate
ElectricalFire for that position.
What are the origins of ElectricalFire ?
ElectricalFire began as an in-house commercial compiler project at
Netscape in early 1997. The compiler, which was never publicly
announced, was scheduled for release in June 1998. It was cancelled in
January, 1998 when the company made a strategic shift away from Java.
The source was made publicly available on mozilla.org using volunteer
effort in January of 1999.
Click here for a more detailed history of the project.
How did the project get its name ?
Scott Silver, one of the first EF developers, originally wanted to
codename the project "Sexual Chocolate". (I'm not making this up.)
That name was rejected, presumably because it would confuse Netscape's
managers: "So, this Sexual Chocolate project actually has nothing to
do with chocolate ?" Instead, Silver proposed "Electrical Fire" (two
separate words). For the open-source release, Scott Furman coalesced
the two words into one: "ElectricalFire", to make it apparent that the
project was not to be confused with a safety hazard. A word of advice
for the wise: if you end up working on a project with Scott Silver, do
not allow him to handle the project codename.
Under what terms is the source code licensed ?
ElectricalFire is provided under the Netscape Public License. See the
NPL FAQ for details.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T H E N E W A M I G A F O R E V E R
31 Jan 1999
From mcb@cloanto.com:
IMAGINE...
Imagine an Amiga with more Zorro III Fast RAM, Chip RAM and Video RAM
than you have ever dreamed of. An Amiga with virtual memory, a
floating point unit, and a processor which you can set to be as slow
and compatible as a 68000, or faster than a 68060. An Amiga with
multiple CPUs, DVD storage, Fast Ethernet and a 128-bit graphics bus.
An Amiga that can run Windows software without performance penalty,
multitasking with Amiga programs, side by side. An Amiga that will
protect your software investment and your experience, continuing to
run your favorite applications even in 50 years. An Amiga that will
give you no worries about spare parts or repair centers. An Amiga
designed to keep the pace as new CPUs are released, and at the same
time remain compatible with older programs which access the hardware
directly, or which rely on features and effects that stunned the world
and made the Amiga... an Amiga.
AMIGA HEROES
There is a group of Amiga engineers whose names and faces do not
often appear on glossy Amiga magazines, and when they do, they are
sometimes described as if they belonged to some exotic fringe. Yet for
the past years these people have not made empty promises: they have
worked hard and discretely, and they have delivered, day after day,
month after month, release after release, exciting features and
constant improvements. These creative geniuses, which so well
represent the Amiga spirit, which is not just an abstract "faith", but
passion at work, have given the Amiga the gift of immortality. Their
Amiga is the only Amiga that has not stopped evolving many years ago.
The work of these Amiga heroes, led and inspired by Bernd Schmidt and
Petter Schau, creators of UAE and Fellow, will make it possible for
any "new generation" system employing an operating system incompatible
with the Amiga, to run everybody's favorite Amiga software, regardless
of whether the CPU will come from Motorola, Intel, Transmeta or some
alien technology.
AMIGA FOREVER
More than a year ago, in response to a clear and strong demand, and
to guarantee stability and continued support to all of its users,
Cloanto licensed from the Amiga companies all the copyrights, patents
and trademarks necessary to publish an "Amiga on a CD", ready to run
on a variety of platforms. Amiga Forever was born. Before its release,
online piracy of the Amiga intellectual property had contributed to
create a situation where emulation was almost considered a dirty word.
Things have now considerably improved: with Amiga Forever, the
emulated Amiga is not only an official, respected and essential member
of the Amiga family, but also one that ranks at the top spots of the
Amiga charts. Most important, it is an Amiga that is available today,
which doubles in power every 18 months, and that will continue to run
for a very, very long time.
During the fall of 1998, the first Online Edition of Amiga Forever
was released. It became the first Amiga software title available for
sale and download entirely by electronic means in hundreds of online
stores. To make this possible, Cloanto partnered with Digital River,
the world's leading electronic distributor, with a reputation for
reliable and secure transactions, and preferred by leading companies
such as Adobe, Corel, Lotus and IBM for their own online software
sales. Once again, the Amiga was playing in the first league.
Today, a new version of Amiga Forever Online Edition is available for
download. More than a dozen software packages have been added to the
previous configuration. Everything, including the emulation software,
the Amiga OS and additional Amiga programs, comes preconfigured for
immediate use. All users of the previous version are eligible for a
free upgrade, and have been sent instructions.
The package includes a new version of Amiga Explorer, the networking
software developed by Cloanto to connect Amiga and PC systems.
Personal Paint 7.1 and TurboText are now also part of the
distribution. The Shell has been extended with KingCON, and a
ToolManager dock on the Workbench screen gives quick access to all
programs. Installation of new items has become considerably easier:
LhA and LZH archives can be extracted with a simple drag-and-drop, and
the Amiga Installer has been upgraded. TCP/IP is enabled by default in
the more professional configuration, and can be used to access the
internet, and even to run Amiga Explorer from inside the emulation,
giving the Windows Desktop access to the contents of Amiga disk image
files (ADF and HDF). An Amiga OS 1.3 configuration for running older
games, and with the original Boing! bouncing ball demo preinstalled,
is also included.
The new Amiga Forever Online Edition has a download size of 6.5 MB
(this includes the emulation software for Windows, two Amiga operating
systems and the preinstalled programs), costs $29.99, and is ready to
run immediately after the download. Upgrades to new versions of the
emulation software are free and only involve replacing one file.
FREE SUPPORT AND SOFTWARE FOR EVERYBODY
The Amiga Forever web site has been extended and updated, and now
contains even more information not just for Cloanto customers, but for
Amiga users in general. The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section
is one of the most visited Amiga pages on the web, providing advice
and links on topics which include for example how to connect an Amiga
and a PC and share a modem for internet access, how to read Amiga
floppy disks on a PC, and some considerations for those who believe
that emulation will kill the Amiga, rather than make it live forever.
MailBX, a new utility developed by Cloanto to convert Amiga mail
archives to Microsoft Mail, Outlook Express and Exchange Server, is
available for free download on the Cloanto web site and on Aminet.
Cloanto's "biz/cloan" directory on Aminet is one of the Amiga's
richest collections of free software coming from a single commercial
software house, and is expected to continue to surprise the Amiga
community with several new and important items.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Amiga Forever Home Page
http://www.cloanto.com/amiga/forever/
Amiga Forever Online Edition Download
http://www.cloanto.com/amiga/forever/online.html
Email
mailto:info@cloanto.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S I D S T A T I O N S Y N T H E S I Z E R
UElektron ESI AB Pressrelease
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Gothenburg, Sweden Jan,28,1999
Elektron ESI AB announces the SidStation MIDI Synthesizer
- unique sounds for pioneering musicians
Background
The SidStation is a MIDI-controlled synthesizer with realtime
controllers. The heart of this synthesizer is the sound generating
chip from the classic home computer Commodore C64. This soundchip,
named SID (Sound Interface Device) was developed in the early eighties
at MOS technology.
At the time the SID-chip was released to the public, it took the
computer industry by storm. There was nothing like it. It wouldn't be
either, as the development of synthesizers changed direction toward
the digital sampling and FM technology. This leaves the SID-chip as a
unique item still today.
The rediscovery of the SID-sound will be a pleasant surprise for many
pioneering sound explorers that are looking for something more exiting
than the current crop of analogue imitating 'virtual' synthesizers.
Why use the SID-chip?
One might draw parallels between the sound of the SID with the
beeping noise that was generated by the early C64-games. It is very
possible to make SidStation sound like a blipping game of Bubble
Bobble. Some will appreciate that, but that is certainly not all the
SidStation is capable of. Listening to a few examples will probably be
needed before believing that the SidStation can sound like a roaring
distorted groundshaking monster as well as an 80:s computer game.
The secret of the SID-sound is the way it is programmed. And with the
new environment in the SidStation it's now possible to create sounds
never heard before. Compare the new use of the SID with the difference
between the intended use of the TB-303 as a cheap replacement for a
bass guitarist and the acid squelches it generates today.
The SidStation can match specifications for popular modern analogue
kit, such as Novation Basstation and Waldorf Pulse, but adds many more
possibilities for sound creation.
Specifications
Hardware:
o Highest quality in all components
o Drummachine style sturdy aluminium casing
o Alfanumeric 2x16 LCD display with backlighting
o Four realtime controllers
o Rotary wheel for easy dataentry
o Numeric keyboard
o MIDI In/Out/Thru
o Audio In/Out (Audio In routed through filter)
o 100 User patches
o Dimensions: 240W x 70H x 200D [mm]
Synthesis:
o Powerful and friendly SidStation OS operating system
o Three oscillators (For three note polyphony or one monophonic
sound)
o Basic waveforms: Triangle, Sawtooth, Pulse, Mixed, Noise
o All oscillators syncable through Ringmodulation and Hardsync
o Pulsewidth modulation
o Portamento (individual for all three oscillators)
o Special C64-style arpeggiator (individual for all three
oscillators)
o Four individual routable LFO's
o Resonant analogue filter with envelope (Lowpass, Bandpass, Highpass
or any combination)
o C64 SID song player support
Availability
The SidStation is now available for ordering from all over the world
through the SidStation webpage (http://www.sidstation.com). Price for
end customer is 4000 SEK. VAT (25%) has to be added for private
customers inside the European Community.
Website
For more information, sound examples and ordering information please
visit our website at http://www.sidstation.com
About Elektron ESI AB
Elektron ESI AB, located in Gothenburg, Sweden, is a new player in
the MIDI music synthesizer market. Established in 1998 we are devoted
to create unique sounds for pioneering musicians.
SidStation is a trademark of Elektron ESI AB. All other brand or
product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective holders.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net:
All back issues available at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1999 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
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A M I G A /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ A M I G A
U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_
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