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Amiga Update (1999-05-19)
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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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990519
M A Y L E T T E R F R O M J I M C O L A S
A M I G A H I R I N G S
U P D A T E O N M A J O R A C T I V I T I E S - M A Y
S O F T L O G I K H A S M O V E D
P A G E S T R E A M 4 . 0 A N N O U N C E D
T A B L E E D I T O R F R O M S O F T L O G I C
O L Y M P I C T O W N A N D A T L A N T A A M I G A N S
B I L L M C E W E N V I S I T S P A N O R A M A
I C O A W E B S I T E B A C K
A M I G A D E L A Y - J U S T A R U M O R
M O R E O N A M I G A W O R L D
E D U C A T I O N A L S O F T W A R E A V A I L A B L E
M U I B A S E 1 . 1 A V A I L A B L E
A M I G A N S : A C H A N C E T O H E L P !
A M I G A R E M O T E A D M I N T O O L
P E R S U A S I V E P P C
R U M O R : G V P A N D P P C
P O W E R S T A T I O N F O R I M A G E F X
I M A G E F X S U P P O R T O N N E T
P I V - M O O V I D ( W H A T A N A M E ! )
N E W T E K : C O N V E N I E N C E U P G R A D E
J A V A B A S E D I F F V I E W E R
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
Interesting things this time, and we're even going to talk about
ourselves for a bit in this Introduction. First, please look below for
answers to all those nagging questions about SoftLogic and PageStream,
which simply has to be one of the all time hottest Amiga programs.
Good news ... and a pleasant surprise or two!!
Amiga is making good on its promise to keep the community better
informed. Below you will find a huge amount of information from Amiga
covering activities during the month of May. This was sent directly to
"Amiga Update" as part of Amiga's increasing outreach effort. This is
one of the best signs we've seen in some time and we applaud it!
We also have a surprise of our own this time, about "Amiga Update".
In the early days, when this publication was nothing more than a
private mailing for a small group, we didn't make a big thing of
archiving issues. As a result, many of the early issues/notes were not
available to us when we started our archive web site. Well, thanks to
a longtime reader and his careful preservation of old files, we've now
added 13 old issues, never seen before by most readers, to the web
site. These include the first "issue" - really just a group mailing -
announcing the death of Commodore, and the first mailing which used
the "Amiga Update" name and an actual header. Take a look on our site
- we think Amiga history buffs especially will enjoy these.
We believe there are no copyright concerns with these issues, but
since they were originally intended for private distribution only,
we'll be very open to any concerns anyone may have.
We have also received a copy of the one missing issue from 1996,
number 960503, from the same source. That one will require a bit of
cleaning up to remove it from the message in which it's embedded, but
it should be on the site with a few days.
We hope you enjoy the old messages in those issues, and the new
information in this one.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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E-mail to the E-ditor:
17MAY99
Brad,
What has become of SoftLogik. I have tried for weeks to contact them
by phone. All I get is a tape recording. E-mail messages are returned.
Alex
~~~~~~
Alex,
Almost nothing we've ever seen has produced the kind of mail the
seeming disapearance of SoftLogic has! This should please them very
much. The answer is below, our lead story this issue.
Brad
======
3 May 1999
Dear Brad,
I wanted to let you know that your e-mail..update has been a very
important aspect for me in keeping up my enthusiam for the amiga. I
live in an area (probably like many) that has no close or even
relatively close dealers. I am the only one of about 7 people left in
my immediate area using the amiga at this time and it certainly gets
quiet when you "don't know what to do". Like many... I'm forced to do
my own hardware changes etc. and that is pretty scary.
I haven't written before now but I wanted you to know how much your
efforts and others involved is appreciated!!
Sincerely,
Nelson :-)
~~~~~~
Nelson,
... and we certainly appreciate your kind words. We'll keep "Amiga
Update" coming as long as there's a reason for it to exist.
Brad
======
1 May 1999
Dear Brad,
ref amiga update 990430
Help with Eds A4KT and help in general.
A good source of info for all Amiga models, RAM, accelerators, cards,
pin outs etc is
"The Big Book of Amiga Hardware" at www.amigaworld.freeserve.co.uk
produced by Ian Chapman.
It covers all models from the 1000 upwards and is kept up to date.
(Latest entry dated 25 April 1999)
mikdom
~~~~~~
Mikdom,
Thanks, that's good information. We hope it povides all the help Ed
needs.
Brad
======
1 May 1999
Dear Brad,
Now that I've had my second pint of tea, and I'm a bit more awake :)
here is some more gen which might help fellow Amigans.
I bought an external ZIP drive about 3 years ago and it suffered the
click of death (and trashed 2 of my ZIP disks in the process).
So I contacted the Iomega helpline (for the UK it's in Dublin) who
after checking my drives ser no and symptoms immediately organised a
replacement ZIP drive which will be here within 15 days, FREE !!!!!
not even any postage, also included is free return postage for the
faulty drive wia UPS.
They also confirmed with me how many disks had been trashed by the
faulty drive, so, I suspect they may also replace those as well.
Regards
mikdom
~~~~~~
Mikdom,
We're familiar with this problem on Zip drives, and suspect many
Amigans are also - maybe to their horror. Your information should help
a lot.
Thanks,
Brad
======
12 May 1999
Dear. Mr. Webb,
I found it very disheartening to compare Mr. Collas claims to want to
prove himself to the Amiga community with his list of community
activities. From the absence of any reference to AmiWest99, it would
appear there is no interest in west coast US market by the new chief
executive. I haven't seen since his open letter which would indicate
anyone from Aimga will be present or that there is any support for the
only west coast Amiga show this year. It will be interesting to see if
the European market is big enough to support the operation since it
would appear parts of the US market already have been written off.
Sincerely,
John
~~~~~~
John,
Interesting observations and understandable, especially given the new
Amiga's history so far. We'll be watching closely to see if Amiga does
attend AmiWest99 and any other North American shows. At this point, I
find it hard to believe Amiga would write off any large market.
However, stranger things have happened ...
Brad
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M A Y L E T T E R F R O M J I M C O L A S
19 May, 1999
Dear Amigans,
April was a very busy month for Amiga with much activity and good
progress. I received over 1200 emails from people around the world, I
met with key representatives of the Amiga community in Germany and the
U.K, we added to our executive staff, we established relationships
with key technology partners, and we finalized our 1999 product plans.
The amount of emails I received from the Amiga community has been
overwhelming. Most of them were emails of support and encouragement
while many others gave me suggestions and input on technology and
products. These emails have been wonderful. They are uplifting,
insightful, interesting, and fun to read. People in this community
have a great personality. Many were short emails of encouragement but
just as many went on for several pages listing insights, suggestions,
and opinions. Thank you very much for your emails of support. They
have been tremendously encouraging to the Amiga executive team and me.
There were, of course, also some emails sent by Amigans who are
frustrated by the situation. These emails were also valuable in giving
me insight into the mistakes of the past so that I could avoid them as
we press toward the future. Please keep the emails coming.
I apologize for not responding to all of the email sent to me. I have
personally responded to over 600 emails but was unable to keep up with
the volumes. I want to assure you that I read every email sent to me
and that they play an important role in defining our future plans. I
will continue to respond to as many emails as possible on a personal
basis. This brings me to the main subject of this month's letter:
communication. It is important that we set up an effective process for
communicating with the Amiga community. Emails and requests for
meetings are overwhelming Amiga executives at this time. This volume
of communication is very encouraging but I am concerned that we can't
personally respond to every one of them and it will become frustrating
to the community.
We are working on plans to improve communications between Amiga and
the community. These plans will consist of multiple programs
including: the current executive update, an email response team, a new
Amiga Advisory Council, polls on future product features, better
monthly user group communication, and improved communication to the
Amiga press. Detailed information on all of these programs will be
posted on our web site in the next several weeks. In addition to
keeping the community up to date on Amiga activities, the main goal of
these programs is to involve the community in setting future Amiga
plans. All of us need to work on this together to make sure we are
setting plans that will help the community and allow Amiga to drive
the next computing revolution.
One of the planned communications programs is a new "Amiga Advisory
Council" or AAC. The idea for this program came from my discussions
with people in the Amiga community. It is difficult to get thousands
of people involved in our planning process so we need to establish a
more manageable forum. The plan is to set up an advisory council
consisting of people that are viewed as leaders in the Amiga
community. Members of this council will be "elected" by the Amiga
community. We are currently working on the details of the "election"
process. This council must represent all major constituencies of the
Amiga community so that we can get a full set of concerns and inputs
regarding future Amiga plans. We will set-up special message boards,
email lists, and meetings allowing the AAC to communicate effectively.
Information on AAC meetings and decisions will be communicated to the
Amiga community. Keep watching our web site for updates on this
program. We will also make sure information gets published to Amiga
magazines and user groups.
In late April I traveled to Germany and the U.K. to meet with
representatives and leaders of the Amiga community to discuss Amiga's
future plans and get the community's help in setting these plans. I
apologize to the people that did not have the opportunity to
participate in these meetings but I had to keep the meetings to a
manageable size. There were about 30 to 40 people in each country
representing developers, dealers, distributors, user groups, and
press. I think that these meetings were very informative and
productive. They will allow me to optimize our future plans while
taking the requirements of the Amiga community into account. To give
you an example, we spent a considerable amount of time talking about
how to bridge the community from the current Amiga platform to the
next generation. The current Amiga platform has several years of
useful life remaining but people are not investing in it because it is
dated and the next generation is around the corner. One suggestion is
to port the next generation AmigaSoftTM Operating Environment (OE) so
that it runs on a current Amiga configured with a Power PC expansion
card. This would not be an optimum configuration but it would extend
the life of current PowerPC Amigas. We are looking into this
possibility and will keep you updated.
On a personal note, I had a wonderful time in Germany and the U.K.
The trip was both productive and very enjoyable. The trip was packed
with excellent food and good people. I really enjoyed meeting with
people from the Amiga community. After six years of working with
executives in the PC industry, it is a breath of fresh air to work
with people that have so much passion and enthusiasm about what they
believe in. I especially enjoyed the extended conversations in the
bars and pubs. These tended to get even more passionate and creative.
To those of you who participated in the events, I thank you for making
my trip both productive and enjoyable. In case you are curious, the
most challenging part of my trip was sitting still while Petro drove
me on the autobahn at 240 km/hour. I thank god for solid and stable
German automobiles and good German beer.
Before I end this letter I would like to cover a few more topics that
came up frequently in emails sent to me. First, I would like to
clarify our hardware product plans. Amiga is planning to come out with
a next generation multimedia computer in late Q4 of the year. This
computer will have a unique architecture, a great operating system,
awesome 3D gaming performance, and advanced multimedia features. I am
confident that this computer will meet your expectations for a great
next generation Amiga. Unfortunately, we can't disclose details of the
new computer yet since we are under non-disclosure agreements with our
technology partners. We also need to be careful about alerting our
competition to our plans. One thing I can say is that the technology
partners we are working with are extremely excited about our direction
and technology. There are Amigans in all major technology companies
and they are eager to support us in driving a new computer revolution.
These partners include some major technology and component companies
in the computer industry. We should be ready to disclose more at the
World of Amiga and AmiWest shows in July.
The new Amiga multimedia computer will also support a home networked
"information appliance" environment that will allow networked devices
throughout the house access to the power and features of this
computer. I need to clarify the term "information appliances" which is
becoming a popular term in the computer industry. "Information
appliances" are not digital toasters, refrigerators, and ovens with
LCD displays. They are devices such as wireless LCD tablets, Internet
terminals, game machines, and digital set-top boxes. These devices
will all be connected together through a single network and will be
integrated into a single comprehensive operating environment. This is
the reason why we use the term "operating environment", or OE, to
describe our new software rather than operating system. Our software
is much more than the underlying operating system.
In addition to the full multimedia computer described above, Amiga
will also develop reference desigs for a variety of "information
appliance" companion devices such as wireless LCD tablets. Our goal is
to enable a full home computing environment rather than just a
computer. We will encourage others to develop and ship
Amiga-compatible computers and information appliances. To help clarify
our plans to the Amiga community, we are releasing our initial product
concept to the Amiga press to publish in the next issues. I hope this
helps clarify our product plans. We will continue to disclose details
as they become available and as is appropriate.
The second topic that I would like to cover is Amiga support for
developers. The Amiga development community is important to us and we
will be taking an active role in support Amiga developers. We are
evaluating plans for financial support as well as in-depth technical
support. We will communicate more about this plan within 60 to 90 days
when we also start releasing more technical information for
developers.
I have also updated the "major activities" sub-section under the
"executive update" section on our web site. This will give you some
more detail on the status of Amiga programs so I encourage you to read
it. We have also added a top 10 questions web page to the "executive
update" section. This page will answer the top questions asked in
emails sent to me.
In closing I would like to say that I am more excited then ever about
the opportunities for Amiga and the Amiga community. It has been a
long wait but the Amiga community is still the greatest community in
the computer industry and the time is ideal for a new revolutionary
architecture and platform. I will keep you posted on our progress and
promise to disclose as more details as soon as possible and
appropriate.
Sincerely,
Jim Collas
President, Amiga
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A H I R I N G S
19 May, 1999
From Amiga
Amiga Hires Computer Industry Veteran as CTO
Amiga has hired computer industry veteran Dr. Rick LeFaivre as its
chief technology officer and senior vice president of advanced
technology. Prior to joining Amiga, Dr. LeFaivre served as senior vice
president of R&D and chief technology officer at Inprise Corporation,
formed from the merger of Borland International and Visigenic
Software. He has held key executive management positions in the
computer industry including vice president of the Advanced Technology
Group at Apple Computer, vice president of engineering for the Network
Systems Division at Silicon Graphics Computer Systems, and director of
Windows and Graphics Systems at Sun Microsystems. Jim Collas,
president of Amiga stated that "Rick is an incredibly valuable
addition to the Amiga team. He brings with him a wealth of technology
experience and industry contacts." Jim went on to state that "hiring
top level talent like Rick should be a clear indication to the Amiga
community that we are dedicated to the development of exciting
technology for the new Amiga platform."
Amiga Hires Experienced Senior Executive As COO
Amiga has hired senior executive Tom Schmidt as its Vice President
and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to joining Amiga, Mr. Schmidt
served as Vice President and General Manager of a strategic business
enterprise within AlliedSignal, an advanced technology and
manufacturing company based in Morristown, NJ. Previous to
AlliedSignal, Mr. Schmidt worked at Baxter Healthcare Corporation in
several key operating and sales and marketing roles. He also served as
a Senior Project Manager and Strategic Management Consultant at Arthur
Andersen. Jim Collas, president of Amiga, stated that " at Amiga, we
are serious about building a substantial company for the future and
Tom has the experience and general management capabilities required to
build and manage a world-class corporate structure." Jim went on to
state that "Amiga is being positioned for a major come back and we
must be prepared to manage the growth associated with these plans. Tom
is the ideal person for this job."
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U P D A T E O N M A J O R A C T I V I T I E S - M A Y
19 May, 1999
From Amiga
Operations/Planning:
1) We are looking in San Diego to move out of the Gateway building
into a separate Amiga building in order to accommodate the expansion
in Amiga's San Diego staff.
New Staff:
1) We hired Dr. Rick LeFaivre as our Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
and Sr. VP of advanced technology. Dr. LeFaivre is a senior technology
executive who has worked for Apple, Silicon Graphics, Sun, and
Inprise. See the associated Amiga website news release for more
information.
2) We hired Tom Schmidt as our Chief Operating Officer (COO). Tom
Schmidt is an experienced senior executive from Allied Signal, which
is a $30 billion corporation. See the associated Amiga website news
release for more information.
3) Several weeks ago, we placed Amiga employment ads in major
newspapers and have a significant amount of highly qualified leads
that we are reviewing.
4) We have hired a full time recruiter to coordinate our expanded
recruiting efforts.
Major Development Programs:
1) O/S 3.5 - This product is being developed by Haage & Partner under
contract from Amiga. The target release date is late July or early
August. We are talking to Amiga hardware development companies to
qualify hardware products targeted at the O/S 3.5 release. We plan to
come out with a recommended hardware configuration and list of
qualified Amiga hardware products for the O/S 3.5 release.
2) AmigaSoftTM Operating Environment (OE) - We are developing our
next generation operating environment including operating system, user
interface, and some revolutionary software structures to be disclosed
at a later date. Target beta version is 3Q99 with final in late 4Q99.
We are also looking at the possibility of porting this new AmigaSoftTM
OE to the O/S 3.5 recommended hardware configurations. If we can
accomplish this it will allow people to run the new OE on specific
Amiga configurations with PowerPC boards.
3) Next generation hardware architecture - Being developed as a
foundation for all next generation Amiga products. We are within
several weeks of final component selection.
4) AmigaSoftTM development system - This is planned in 3Q99 along
with the beta release of the new AmigaSoftTM Operating Environment.
5) Initial next generation computer - We are developing the next
generation computer that will be used to launch the next generation
systems architecture and operating environment. Target release date is
late 4Q99. Please see this week's letter to the community for more
information.
6) We have released concept drawings of the next generation Amiga
products to the Amiga press.
Shows and Community Activities:
1) I visited Germany and the U.K. and met with representatives of the
Amiga community. We held meetings with leaders of the Amiga community
and discussed future Amiga plans.
2) We will sponsor and participate in the 1999 London World of Amiga
show in late July.
3) We are also planning to support the AmiWest show in late July.
4) We are planning for the Cologne and Las Vegas shows in November.
5) Petro and Jim Von Holle are developing reseller, distributor, and
magazine support programs to help the Amiga community.
6) We are also working on some user group support programs and
improved communication programs.
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S O F T L O G I K H A S M O V E D
990516
SoftLogik on the move!
As reported online earlier, SoftLogik is moving. The building in St.
Louis was closed February 24th, 1999. I finalized the purchase of a
new location in Wisconsin on Tuesday, March 9th, 1999.
SoftLogik's new home will be located on the same piece of ground that
I will be living on. The only problem is that this new building is not
complete. This is expected to take a few more months, and then we can
get the permits, and then the phone lines and address. (Don't ask,
long story about local red tape will result).
Until then, we now have cellular phone service, and we are going to
try running the customer database off of a generator between the hours
of noon and 4pm central time. We will try and answer the phones at
other times than that, but if you leave a voice mail message we will
get back to you by the next business day.
During our down time, evidently our ISP failed to maintain our web
site. It was entirely my fault, but that doesn't make it any less
disastrous. While in the process of doing everything else, I managed
to track down a new ISP with a good reputation and a fair price. For
those who saw SoftLogik disappear from the radar, we are sorry, but
reports of our demise are untrue!
What about the development schedule? Good news actually. Without
phones, mail and email to answer, I've been getting a lot of
PageStream4 and Windows code fixed. I took all the source code and
dumped it to my new laptop. I've been working on the kitchen table of
my friends house where I had been living the first month. It took me a
couple days to get familiar with the new stuff, but I'm back at it
now. And the nice thing is this machine is _fast_. I used to be able
to take a Coke break (don't really drink much coffee) during a
compile. Now a full compile only take about 10 minutes, and an
incremental compile is done before I can catch my breath. Now I can
work in my truck, on a lawn chair, at McDonald's, the real estate
office, where ever life takes me while I get SoftLogik settled
Thanks for your understanding, and thanks for being a customer!
Deron Kazmaier
President
SoftLogik Publishing Corp.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P A G E S T R E A M 4 . 0 A N N O U N C E D
PageStream 4.0
With all the work that has gone on internally for the PageStream
Windows final release, we realize that getting 4.0 finished is a top
priority. PageStream4.0 is the first major update to PageStream in
over 3 years. We have been saving your feature requests, looking at
the current industry "leaders" (we use that term loosely around
here!), and thinking of ways to improve an already great product.
Obviously, the trick has been to try and deliver the features needed
and still keep the same easy of use that puts us heads above the rest.
Features such as indexing, table of contents, complex page numbers,
and figure numbering and figure tables make long documents a snap.
Editable kerning pairs, tracking tables, and hanging punctuation make
PageStream's typographic capabilities even more outstanding. Doing
color work? Than you will impressed with the color trapping of objects
and text. Trying to generate both print and online materials? Let PDF
and HTML export help you. PageStream4 has something new to offer in
every step creating anything from color pages to technical drawings to
newsletters to books.
When will it be available?
We have already passed our initial target release date due to
personal circumstances. However, since the end of February progress
has been steady and rapid. We are now expecting to ship PageStream4.0
by August. This is a conservative date, but we figure no one will get
upset if we release the program early. The feature set is final, the
interface is frozen, and the manual is well underway. Any customer who
purchases an upgrade or full copy of PageStream 4.0 before it is
released will be able to download an advance copy of the program from
the Internet, and will receive a copy of xxx along with the final
version of PageStream4.0. Not to mention our endless gratitude for
supporting and participating in the development of the best desktop
publishing program!
What makes you so sure it won't take 2 years, like 3.0 did, to get it
"right"?
Unlike PageStream3.0, we are building upon the core code.
PageStream3.0 was a complete rewrite from the ground up. Every line of
code was rewritten. On the other hand, PageStream4.0 is built on top
of the PageStream3 code. We laid a solid foundation in PageStream3. We
are building on to it. In fact, PageStream3.4 had greater impact on
feature reliability with the change to the entire undo function than
the features added in PageStream4.0.
OK, I'm sold. How much?
For existing owners of PageStream3.3, the upgrade price to 4.0 is
$75. PageStream3.1 and 3.2 registered owners can upgrade to 4.0 for
$95. This includes the program on CD-Rom, full online help, and a new
manual. When ordering, please include your name, address, email
address, registration number, method of payment and a daytime number
where you can be reached. Place your order today!
PageStream 4.0 new features include:
o Native Indexing
o PDF export
o Multilevel chapter/page numbering/names (ie 6.8.1)
o Hilight Page Number/Data/Time etc to edit
o Defined styletags & variables at chapter level
o Native signature printing (many pages on 1)
o Business card/label printing (many copies of a page on 1)
o Configurable FPO size
o HTML text import/export
o Definable default text attributes
o Fonts/Styles in use toggle
o Local page guides
o Layers
o Drag & Drop text
o Find & Replace improvements
- insert special characters
- wildcards
- attributes
o Trapping
o Automatic before and after paragraph rules
o True smallcaps
o Table of contents generation
o Figure numbering
o Table of figure generation
o Paragraph numbering
o Definable Kerning Pairs
o Definable Tracking Tables
o Optical alignment/Hanging punctuation
o Edit mask in place
o Page Setup for spreads/range of pages
o Bookmarks
o Collect for output
o Lasso select
o Distributed on CD-Rom
o and much, much more!
PageStream 3.4
This will be the last minor update for PageStream3 Amiga. Now don't
take this as the last version of PageStream as some magazines have
reported, since we are announcing PageStream4 as well. PageStream3.4
fixes a few obscure but difficult to fix bugs, and adds a couple much
needed features. Early versions will be available to all 3.3 owners
and the final release will be posted in the PageStream3 Amiga secure
ftp site. Updates will be made available as we go. This version will
be available for free to all registered 3.3 users as our way of saying
thanks for being so patient.
The 3.4 features include:
o Much improved Online Help
o Improved Undo/Redo
- fix in/out of page/spread/pasteboard
- undo remainder of object editing
- undo delete page/chapter etc
o Dynamically move articles to proper document/chapter level
o Spell Checking with dictionaries for most languages supported
o Color palette for text
o Drag out guides
o Reshape path curves->lines->curves and closing
o Improved Min/Max/Opt Word/Character spacing
o Speed-up editing of text, especially long articles
o Tick based palette updates for faster execution of complex articles
o Edit text hooks for extensions
o Revamp styletags, including:
- Styletag delete loop
- Character/Paragraph combo
- Styletag override
o and much, much more!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T A B L E E D I T O R F R O M S O F T L O G I C
Table Editor
SoftLogik is pleased to announce another great product for the Amiga
- The Table Editor. The Table Editor has 2 parts to it. A stand-alone
table editor/spreadsheet is the biggest part. There will also be an
extension for existing versions of PageStream3 & 4, which will allow
these tables & graphs to be imported. Direct price to PageStream
owners is $50. Place your order today!
NOTE: This product release has been delayed. Any backorders may be
cancelled by contacting us via fax, phone, or email. Work on
PageStream 3.4/4.0 has delayed this release. Expected ship date is now
September, 1999. Early releases will be available in July. Thank you
for your understanding!
Table Editor features include: multiple tables open at one time;
import tab delimited text from any existing text modules into table;
multiple charts bases on a table; common cell math. +,-,*,/, sum, avg,
max, min, abs etc.; automatic or fixed cell width and height; cell
borders and fills; import inline graphics in cells; date, time, number
formatting; text formatting (most of PageStream's); font, size, type
styles; alignment, tracking; kerning, leading; line/fill; full
scripting; view scale
Basic Charts include: Bar; Line; Scatter/Dot; Pie
The PageStream extension adds the ability to import/export
tables/charts from the table editor. It also the ability to send the
tables/charts to the table editor.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
O L Y M P I C T O W N A N D A T L A N T A A M I G A N S
10 May, 1999
A special recreation area called "Olympic Town" is to set up at Emory
University in Atlanta on Saturday, May 22nd. This is being done in
conjunction with the Special Olympics-Georgia Summer Games.
In 1997, Amiga Atlanta, Inc.(AAi) filled the multimedia void at
Olympic Town left behind by IBM some time earlier. It did not take
long for AAi to become one of the most popular exhibits there. In
fact, last year, at the request of a representative for the Special
Olympics Committee, AAi's exhibit remained open three hours after all
other exhibits in the area were closed. This year, AAi will become the
first computer user group ever to honored by the Special Olympics. At
a reception usually reserved for honoring major corporate sponsors,
AAi will be presented with a special plaque by the organization's
executive director for its outstanding contribution to the success of
Olympic Town.
AAi's Olympic Town responsibility is to provide Amiga computers for
computer games and multimedia fun for the special athletes, their
families and friends. I invite Amiga user groups, developers and
retailers to join with AAi in making a tremendous impact on the crowds
that visit our exhibit. You see, we want to pass out "goodie bags" to
our visitors as well. Please help us to fill these bags with
Amiga-related promotional items - key chains, balloons, refrigerator
magnets, T-shirts, caps, mugs, etc. We would like to pass out at least
100 goodie bags. Whatever you can send will be greatly appreciated.
Send your contributions to:
Amiga Atlanta, Inc.
Attn: Olympic Town
P.O. Box 49103
Atlanta, GA 30359-1103
If you have any questions, pleaase email your questions to
lamar@mindspring.com.
Thank you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B I L L M C E W E N V I S I T S P A N O R A M A
8 May 1999
Bill McEwen, "Marketing and Software Evangelist" from the Pacific
Northwest Amiga office in the USA, visited our computer club (Pacific
Northwest Amiga Association - PaNorAmA) general meeting on Tuesday,
May 4, 1999 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He had seen my
meeting announcement on the User Group Network (UGN) mailing list, and
decided to make an unannounced visit. After distributing a few Amiga
souvenirs (Boing beach balls, two types of key-chains, flashlights,
Amiga music CDs, and an Amiga mug for the certain club president), he
gave a discussion about the direction and goals of Amiga. There was
also a question and answer period. Our club is grateful for having
Bill McEwen visit, since special club events are sometimes difficult
to create.
By the way, he mentioned that the audited number of Amiga clubs is
significantly less than those in the club databases. Are these
databases out of date, or is there a difference of opinion as to what
constitutes a "true" Amiga club?
Regards,
Chris Sterne
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I C O A W E B S I T E B A C K
15 April, '99
The ICOA Website Is Back
The Industry Council Open Amiga (ICOA) is pleased to announce that as
of 1200 CST on May 15th, their website will be back up and running.
The new site has undergone several changes which we believe will be of
benefit to all Amiga developers. New services include file spotting,
hardware/software reviews and hardware/software specifications, just
to name a few. Visit us at http://icoa.amiga.org and let us know how
we can be of assistance.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A D E L A Y - J U S T A R U M O R
{The following was recently found in an Amiga newsgroup and does a
good job of debunking a nasty rumor. Thanks to Luca for posting it.
Brad}
7 May 1999
This community seems to gossip more than a small village full of old
ladies... ;-)
Now there are rumors claiming that Jim Collas is postponing the
delivery date of the new Amigas to year 2000. Just because it's always
better to hear it from the official voice, here it is:
<quote
We are still targeting early late Q3 for a development system and Q4
of this year for the new multimedia computer. Thanks for bringing this
to my attention. I will clarify it in my next letter to the community
due out shortly.
Sincerely,
Jim
<quote>
Luca
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M O R E O N A M I G A W O R L D
1 May 1999
OK; Amiga World at dejanews.com info:
1) you have to be a member of dejanews to get to be a member of
AmigaWorld (it's a private area ) 1a)Once a member send me a e-mail
and I'll invite you .
2)AmigaWorld has sofware based forums for LightWave,Imagine,Amos,and
more to come along with a good trader forum for good vendors and amiga
users selling amiga items along as bad vendors/trader forums as well
to help amiga users not to get burned.
I also have a forum in this area called usergroup(s) this is so amiga
user group founders and members can talk to other members and others
on a weekly or monthly way and with a topic of the groups choice in a
forum for those of us with out irc useage etc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E D U C A T I O N A L S O F T W A R E A V A I L A B L E
13 May 1999
10 OUT OF 10 EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
The excellent 10 out of 10 range of educational software has finally
been *re-released*. FORE-MATT Home Computing is pleased to announce
that we have stock of all 18 titles available for the Amiga. In
addition we can also take orders for a selection of worksheet packs
which compliment the software. This now makes available the most
extensive range of educational software seen on the Amiga for many
years! The award winning fun learning system for home and school is
now just 9.99 UKP per title.
DINOSAURS (All ages)
EARLY ESSENTIALS (Age 3-7)
ENGLISH (Age 6-16)
ESSENTIAL IT (All ages)
ESSENTIAL MATHS (Age 5-12)
ESSENTIAL SCIENCE (Age 5-12)
FRENCH (Age 8-16)
GEOGRAPHY (Age 5-12)
GERMAN (Age 8-16)
JUNIOR ESSENTIALS (Age 5-11) Some of the topics covered by this
package include spelling, structures of English, multiplication up to
10 x 10, mental addition, sign recognition, word recognition, UK
geography, and simple science.
MATHS ALGEBRA (Age 6-16)
MATHS GEOMETRY (Age 6-16)
MATHS NUMBER (Age 6-16)
MATHS STATISTICS (Age 6-16)
SPELLING AND PUNCTUATION (All ages)
SPELLING STRUCTURED (Under 9/SpLd)
TABLES (All ages) Reinforcement and practice of multiplication tables
made fun.
WORDS (Age 3-11) The fun way to boost vocabulary and improve
spelling.
10 OUT OF 10 EDUCAITONAL RESOURCES
WORKSHEETS A set of photocopiable worksheets cross-referenced with
revision tasks for children to perform using the Award Winning 10 Out
of 10 Educational Software Series. Each worksheet pack contains
approximately 30 sheets of printed A4 paper to compliment the software
or to be used on their own as a revision aid.
Titles available at 4.99 UKP each are:
Early Essentials
Essential Science
Essential Maths
Essential IT
Junior Essentials
Numbers
Tables
Spelling Structured
Dinosaurs
Punctuation
For more information please contact us at
sales@forematt.free-online.co.uk
or call
UK +44 (0)1793 853802
----------------------------------------------------------------------
M U I B A S E 1 . 1 A V A I L A B L E
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MUIBase 1.1 Released
5 May, 1999
MUIbase, a fast, relational, and programmable database for the Amiga
Computer got a set of new powerful features and is now in V1.1. Check
it out! It's available for download on the MUIbase home page:
http://www.amigaworld.com/support/muibase/
New feautures:
o Improved import of records, now allows for double quotes in
strings.
o Improved display of record contents: only the fields in windows
that are currently open are computed and displayed.
o Double clicking in query result listviews (query editor and virtual
attributes) now shows the selected record in the corresponding table
mask.
o New editing fields for AskMulti: "choicelist" and "options", and
bubble help support.
o Font selection for all gui elements.
o Support of an include directory.
o Better debugging for external include files: line and column
information of where the error occured in the include file is now
displayed.
o Option to compile without debug information for obtaining better
run-time, and menu item "Program - Compile" for compiling program
without opening program editor first.
o Help nodes for all menu items.
o Some bug fixes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A N S : A C H A N C E T O H E L P !
{Posted to the net by Jonathan Gapen. Thanks Jonathan!, Brad}
5 May 1999
It's "The OS War to Cure Cystic Fibrosis," a chance to show your OS
loyalty and to marshal the forces of .advocacy for a good cause. Now,
AmigaOS is already way behind, so visit
http://earth.vol.com/~winesett/ and show 'em what for!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A R E M O T E A D M I N T O O L
15 May, 1999
URL : http://www.escape-net.org/3amigos-soft/main.htm
From 3AMIGOS Software
Portal Opening 2 - Remote Administration Tool For The Amiga!
"Portal Opening 2 [PO2] is a remote administration
tool that allows an Amiga to be controlled by another
Amiga using the TCP/IP protocol.
Useful for LANs/WANs and the Internet."
URL : http://www.escape-net.org/3amigos-soft/main.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P E R S U A S I V E P P C
30 Apr 1999
From Andreas R. Kleinert:
Hi,
this is just a small press information on my PPC programs.
Recent tests have shown, that the latest versions of
nearly all of my PPC programs - including SView/PPC and
the akDatatypes - do perfectly work together with
Frank Wille's ppc.library emulation for WarpOS,
starting with V0.6b.
Unfortunately, WarpOS V4.0 only does include V0.6 - however,
the newest version always can be found on Frank's homepage
under http://home.owl.de/~frank/
Using the ppc.library emulation yet is the recommended
way of running my programs under WarpOS - although a few
programs/modules already do exist as WOS versions (which
mainly still are under development and not yet complete).
SView/PPC and the akDatatypes do offer preferences options
for switching between the two possible selections under
WOS: the emulation will be utilized when auto-detection
and the respective "ppclib emu" option are enabled.
As a matter of fact, the "ppc kernel controversy" now
is solved, at least regarding PerSuaSiVe SoftWorX products.
Thanks for listening.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
R U M O R : G V P A N D P P C
{Posted to the net by Markus Ruetter - thanks, Markus! Without
confirmation from GVP, this should be treated as just an interesting
rumor. Brad}
1 May 99
GVP - once famous for really nice hardware - have been very quiet
lately to say the least. But they are obviously not as dead as one
might have thought. A look at the last page of the latest issue of
AmigaOS (rather young German print magazine) shows a GVP ad that does
not only feature some 68k based accelerators, genlocks, GSS+ sampler
etc. but also an amazing announcement...
Apparently they are developing a PPC board! It reads:
Attention !!!!!!!!!
We are developing a PPC accelerator for the Amiga.
Planned are cards for A1200, A2000 and A3/4000.
CPU: G3 (PPC 750 512/1MB)
Peripherals: In discussion are
UWSCSI and graphics
Decision will be made
2nd Q 99
Memory: Synchronous DRAM
Available: 4. quarter 1999
Further details in the next issue
Now that's what I call news. :)
FYI: - It's on the back of the May issue, not that of April...
- Yes, that's 9 Plings in the headline.
- No, there is no confirmation on the GVP(-M) website yet.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P O W E R S T A T I O N F O R I M A G E F X
3 May 1999
PowerStation for ImageFX now Shipping
Nova Design, Inc., producers of the award winning and best selling
ImageFX package are proud to announce that PowerStation, volume one,
the first package of PowerPC modules for ImageFX is now shipping.
PowerStation is a package of ImageFX modules designed to work
directly with the PowerPC as a coprocessor. This speeds up the
specific modules up to ten times the speed of the same module running
on a native 68060 processor. In many cases the effects become nearly
real-time!
PowerStation premiered to record crowds at the Amiga '99 show in St.
Louis and became the 'must-have' item of the show with preorders
greatly exceeding expectations!
PowerStation Specifics
The PowerPC effects are for use with ImageFX 3.2 or higher only. This
first volume of modules includes the following effects, which have all
received the PowerPC treatment. The first five modules were originally
announced and premiered at the show - by release we have now added
three more!
Bubble - creates multiple bubbles over your selected image. You can
control the animation and optional color of the bubbles easily. Create
an undersea effect or psychedelic champagne bubbles!
Fire - one of ImageFX's most popular effects. Fire can create
flickering candle flames, gas-stove flames, raging forest fires and
more. All parameters can be animated or controlled through a single
slider.
Clouds - recently added to ImageFX, the Clouds effect can create
amazing multi-layered fractal clouds. It can also be used to create
fog or smoke over images, simulated explosions, or even seamless
textures of landscapes with cloud patterns animating across them.
Liquid - this is an endlessly fascinating effect that distorts your
image as if it were on water. You can create funhouse mirror
distortions or unique video transitions with this effect.
FXForge - based on the same formulas used in Adobe Photoshop's Filter
Factory package, FXForge can create an infinite number of custom
special effects using mathematical formulas. Color effects, distorting
effects, lighting effects are all possible with this amazing engine.
It remains fully compatible with the thousands of effects available on
the Internet for Adobe's Filter Factory.
Gaussian Blur - the cornerstone of many image processing tricks and
depth of field effects for videographers, this PowerPC version of
Gaussian Blur will now allow incredibly fast optical blurring.
JPEG Loader/Save - one of the most popular graphics formats to ever
come along, JPEG images are often a fraction of the original image's
size, and are used commonly on the Internet. In the past this size
savings was at the cost of slow loading and saving times. Now these
versions load and save so fast you may have saved in the time it took
you to click your mouse!
Special Preorder Pricing
'PowerStation' is available on diskette for $99.95 and is available
from your favorite Amiga dealer. Outside the US contact Oberland in
Germany or Wizard/Compute in the UK.
If you wish to order directly at full retail you can also fax your
order to (804) 282-3768 or mail it to Nova Design, Inc., 1910 Byrd
Avenue, Suite 204, Richmond, VA 23230
'PowerStation' works on any Amiga equipped with a PowerUP supported
PPC accelerator with ImageFX 3.2 or higher installed. WarpUP with the
new PowerUP compatibility should also work as well.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I M A G E F X S U P P O R T O N N E T
6 May 1999
Announce: ImageFX Support Area
------------------------------
young monkey studios is pleased to announce a support area for Nova
Design's ImageFX software. There you will find various ARexx scripts,
AutoFX scripts and Modules.
http://www.youngmonkey.ca/hands/files/ImageFX/index.html
As we get the time, we'll be adding other related information and
files, too.
ENJOY! And let us know what you think!
*****
EMail: dhomas@youngmonkey.ca
WWW: http://www.youngmonkey.ca/
797 Mitchell Street, Fredericton, NB, E3B 3S8, Canada
Phone: (506) 459-7088
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P I V - M O O V I D ( W H A T A N A M E ! )
PIV-MooVId AVI/MOV player with GUI and INDEO support for PicassoIV
graphics board
Last version: 1.0 (13.05.1999)
Required hardware:
Kickstart 3.0 or better
MC68020 or better (68040/060 recommended)
PicsassoIV graphics board (other graphicsboard NOT supported!)
1 MB of free memory
Required software:
Reqtools.library
asyncio.library v39 or newer
Picasso96 1.38 or newer (latest version recommended)
Recommended hardware:
MC68040/060 and PicassoIV in ZorroIII mode
PIV-MooVId features:
o The FASTEST AVI/MOV player for Amiga
o Support the video layer of the PicassoIV
o All decoders (espec. CinePak and Indeo) are video layer accelerated
o AVI/MOV playback in a resizable window (up to fullscreen), without
slowdown!
o AVI (Video for windows) and MOV (Quicktime) player in one file
o Support INTEL Indeo 3.1 & 3.2 (IV31 & IV32)
o 100% assembly coded (fast & short)
o Async I/O handling (direct playback from CD-ROM or HDD)
o Timer Based frame skipping method
o Synchronized audio playing
o On-fly selectable frame rate
o Fully system friendly
o Full GUI (check the screenshoot)
Supported codecs:
This part is same as at MooVId!
Plus:
Codec Name FourCC code Depth
Component Video YUV2 16/24/32 bit
PIV-MooVId status:
PIV-MooVId is FREEWARE.
Latest version can be download from AmiNET or from HERE or from
Village Tronic
Note:
There is no Indeo support in the actual public version. You can order
the needed library from me (for about 5-10DM)
http://www.dfmk.hu/~torokl/PIV-MooVId.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W T E K : C O N V E N I E N C E U P G R A D E
NewTek is pleased to announce a new install version of our 4.2 and
3.5 software. The new install consists of one CD and one floppy
diskette. For the first time, LightWave 3D 5.0 for the Amiga will be
included in the 4.2 software suite. To distinguish the release from
previous editions, we have designated the release as the "4.3
Convenience Upgrade." This release is available beginning April 2,
1999.
The Best of Both Worlds
The 4.3 Convenience Upgrade puts our best Toaster/Flyer software on
one CD and Floppy. Users will need a CD-ROM drive with driver software
in order to use the new install set. If you have a Flyer and have the
CD-ROM hooked up to the Flyer, you will need controlling software such
as AsimWare 3.9.
The 4.3 Convenience Upgrade consists of the following:
o 3.1 Toaster Software with LightWave 3D 3.2 and LightWave 3D 3.5
o 4.2 Toaster/Flyer Software with LightWave 3D 4.0 and LightWave 3D
5.0
o BigFoot PC FlyerDrive Utility
BigFoot
BigFoot is a PC based program (It DOES NOT INSTALL on an Amiga) that
will allow you to hook a Flyer drive directly to a SCSI controller on
a PC and copy a Flyer Clip to the System Drive of the PC. Lightwave 3D
and Aura can access the clip and process the clip to the system drive.
The processed clip can then be copied back onto the Flyer Drive.
BigFoot is downloadable for free from our FTP site, but since this is
a Convenience Upgrade, it seemed appropriate.
Before the release of the 4.3 Convenience Upgrade, the cost to
upgrade from 3.1 Toaster software to the current 4.2 Toaster/Flyer
software was $350. Lightwave 3D 5.0 was priced at $295. Now, you can
get all these on one CD and one floppy, that will install in all
situations, at a much lower price.
Minimum System Requirements
o For 3.1 software: Workbench 2.1 or higher, 120 MB of free hard
drive space for the Video Toaster software, 9 MB of RAM.
o For 4.2 software: FPU, Workbench 2.1 or higher, 350 MB of hard
drive space (we recommend more), 2 MB graphics RAM (also referred to
as "Chip RAM"), 16 megs of system RAM.
This is a Convenience Upgrade, meaning that the software itself has
no changes, but is simply now more conveniently packaged, and with a
few additions that make running both versions on one system easier for
the user. In particular, the icons which run the software have been
modified to set the proper libraries in place when the software is
run. This is because the 3.1 and 4.2 software versions use different
support libraries for the CG.
Benefits of the 4.3 Convenience Upgrade The complete contents of our
two best versions of the Video Toaster software are now on one CD. A
Video Toaster owner can now have both the linear-editing wizardry and
compatibility of 3.1, as well as advanced versions of LightWave 3D,
ToasterPaint, CG, and the storyboard "slideshow" playback capability
of 4.2.
LightWave 3D 5.0 is included as standard with the Video Toaster
Software for the first time.
Users with 1.0 and 2.0 software can now upgrade their software at the
least expensive price ever offered by NewTek on an upgrade from those
early versions.
Users of 3.1/3.5 can now have their software available on one
conveniently installable CD. When needed, they may even copy just one
or two files at need, instead of having to perform a complete 45+9
disk install anytime one file develops a problem.
3.1/3.5 users also get 4.2 at the lowest price it has ever been
offered to 3.1/3.5 owners, with LW 5.0 included as well.
4.2 software owners get the latest version of their software on a new
CD, with the 3.5 software included, and the lowest cost upgrade to
LightWave 3D 5.0 that we have ever offered 4.2 owners.
Pricing
We are offering the 4.3 Convenience Upgrade at the following price
structure:
o Registered 4.x owners may purchase CD and Floppy only for $ 99 (No
Manuals).
o Registered 3.x owners may purchase CD, Floppy and the 4.x Manual
for $159.
o Registered owners of 1.0 or 2.0 may purchase the 4.3 CD, Floppy,
4.x manual and 3.x Manual for $ 199.
Video Toaster Manuals are available individually for $ 99.95 each.
LightWave 3D 5.0 manuals are not included with the above, but may be
purchased with the above packages at half price, for $ 49. If
purchased separately, they are $ 99.
Shipping and handling will be added to the above prices.
Customers who wish to order may call NewTek Customer Service at
1-800-TOASTER, or send email with your phone number to
43upgrade@newtek.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
J A V A B A S E D I F F V I E W E R
W. Randelshofer
13 May, 1999
MultiShow 0.3.1
MultiShow is a multipurpose file viewer written entirely in Java.
Supported file types:
o Amiga IFF ANIM
o Amiga IFF ILBM
o GIF
o JPEG
Runs on all Operating Systems supporting Java 1.1.6 or better.
URL : http://www.mythen.ch/w.randelshofer/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net:
All back issues available at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/~amigaupdate/index.html
{Note new address!}
Stop by and check out our archive!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1999 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
_ __ _ < _ __ _
A M I G A /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ A M I G A
U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_
amigaupdate@globaldialog.com
======================================================================
