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Amiga Update (1999-05-28)
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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)
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AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.
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990528
L E T T E R F R O M D R . L E F A I V R E
A M I G A A T B O T H A M I W E S T 9 9 , W O A 9 9
A M I W E S T 9 9 U P D A T E
A M I G A L A U N C H E S A D V I S O R Y C O U N C I L
A U S T R A L A S I A N A M I G A G R O U P F O R M E D
A M I G A C T I V E O N L I N E
H A C K E R S V I O L A T E A M I G A . O R D
H T T P R E S U M E F A K E V E R S I O N
A A A A W A R D S V O T I N G
D A Y T O N C O M P U T E R F E S T
S W E D I S H E - M A I L G A M E S M A G A Z I N E
I M P R O V E D C L U B B E D F R O M S E A L
C R Y S T A L S O F T W A R E A T A N T
M O N O L I T H P O R T S T O A M I G A , M A C
F I N A L A C T
I M A G E F X 4 W I T H A N I M A T I O N
A M I C O M S Y S
N E W A M I G A F O R E V E R
P A G E S T R E A M 4 . 0 T O S O F T W A R E H U T
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
May has been an interesting month. There was little news at the
beginning, so little that it wasn't until the 19th that we sent out
our first issue. Then, there was so much all at once that a few things
had to be held till this issue. Ah well, you can't plan when news will
appear.
Amiga Concepts and Japan
Recently, Amiga has begun releasing concept drawings for the next
generation machine. There will be many available in the press and
probably on the net starting next week. We hope you get a chance to
see some of those not now available. When you look at them, keep in
mind some information recently noted in an article by by Brooke
Crothers, Staff Writer for CNET News.com. In this article Mr. Crothers
discusses some new Gateway computers released recently in Japan.
Here's a quote from the article:
"Gateway is now selling a computer in Japan which packs all the
computer's electronics, including a DVD-ROM drive and 4GB hard drive,
into the back of a liquid crystal display (LCD)."
These machines have a very small "footprint", vitally important in
the Japanese business environment where space is at a real premium,
even desk space. However, this would be a very practical and forward
looking design for the American market also. There are other
interesting innovations in these new machines as well. Mr Crothers
goes on to say:
"Gateway, in its current system, also integrates into the 15-inch LCD
a high-speed graphics chip from ATI Technologies, a 400-MHz Advanced
Micro Devices K6-2 processor, a networking chip, a modem, and a chip
for playing back DVD video. The LCD uses active-matrix technology.
This whole system sells for about 250,000 yen, which is less than
$2,500."
Can't help but wonder if there aren't a few hints about the new Amiga
here.
Brad Webb,
Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail to the E-ditor:
25 May 1999
Well, I've been looking for Amiga Update for at least a month. I
always used to read Amiga Update at
"http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/index.html", and then
suddenly one day that address didn't work anymore. I was instead taken
to "http://www.gdinet.com/missing.html", which gave me an option to
check a "Table of Contents, or "Search GDI", whatever that is. Neither
option turned up Amiga Update. Every page of Amiga links that I
visited, plus Alta Vista and Hotbot, and I think Yahoo, gave me only
the old address.
Finally, today I found the new address listed at
"http://www.cucug.org/amimagazines.html".
Next time you move, may I suggest that you: (1) post big, giant
notices in Amiga Update for at least a month or two ahead of time (not
a tiny notice in the copyright statement at the bottom of one issue),
(2) Notify all the major Amiga pages that link to you, along with
(when possible) Yahoo and the major search engines, and (3) post a
message at the old address telling what the new address is.
-Steven
~~~~~~
Good suggestions Steven, and we'll keep them in mind. I want to point
out to all our readers that the web site was started as a location for
archives of past issues and was not really intended as the place for
people to pick up copies. We're very happy that you do, but it just
didn't occur to us that many folks would. In fact, it's common that we
don't get the latest issue to the web site till it's been in
subscribers hands for a few days. That's likely to continue,
especially with hot news in rushed-out issues.
As we discussed Steven's letter with other Amigans, we discovered
there were quite a few who get AU from the website. Now we wonder how
many there are ...
Incidentally, the address is at the bottom of each and every issue,
though we did have an error in the first issue carrying the new
address. Some letters were capitalized when they shouldn't have been.
Brad
======
20 May 1999
Brad,
Thank You for all the hard work you continue to do. I wrote last year
with a IBM compatible looking for an Amiga, well that is still the
case. I was wondering where I can get information about emulation for
the Amiga. Both the Amiga OS on other systems and other systems or
game machines (SNES, Genesis, NeoGeo) on the Amiga. I am looking to
find out possibly the best systems or software to emulate an Amiga on,
if I can't find a machine. If I can I want to know about which
software is best to emulate the other machine/consoles. Thank You!
Patrick Tyner
~~~~~~
Hi Patrick,
There are real hardware Amigas available from a number of sources.
You might have to do a little searching. If you have a web browser,
start at http://www.cucug.org/amiga.html and work from their companies
page. Also, check out the story about "Amiga Forever", below.
Brad
======
{Last issue we published a letter from a reader who was upset that,
as he thought, Amiga had no plans to attend AmiWest99. We received the
following letter from Amiga President Jim Collas, setting the matter
straight. Mr. Collas apparently wrote directly to the reader as well.
We reprint the reader's original letter below. Mr. Collas's answer.
Brad}
21 May 1999
Dear John,
We are planning to support AmiWest99. I mention this in my May letter
to the community which was released yesterday but I forgot to add it
to the community activities section for May. I apologize for my
mistake. I will post a news release in the next few days announcing
our support for AmiWest99. As you know AMiWest and WOA fall on the
same days this year. It's unfortunate but we didn't have control over
this. We are working on plans to split the Amiga executives between
the two shows. We are also working on announcements and activities for
both shows.
Sincerely, Jim
May 12, 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
----------------------------------------------------------------------
L E T T E R F R O M D R . L E F A I V R E
May 26, 1999
Letter from Amiga's new CTO, Dr. Rick LeFaivre
Dear Amigans,
I thought it would be appropriate for me to "introduce" myself to the
Amiga community, having joined the new Amiga in April as chief
technology officer and senior VP of R&D. Just as Jim Collas is opening
up communications channels as our new CEO, I'll try to communicate as
openly as I can about Amiga's technology vision and directions.
First, a little about my background, and why I'm at Amiga. I wrote my
first computer program (on an IBM 1620) in 1966, and got my first job
as a (student) programmer in 1967. Over the past 32 years, I've been
privileged to participate in the evolution of computing from the
mainframe to the minicomputer to the personal computer to the
Internet. I started my career as a computer science professor doing
research in artificial intelligence and advanced programming
environments (LISP, SmallTalk, and an AI language I developed in the
early 70's called FUZZY). I moved into industrial R&D in 1978, and
over the years have directed R&D organizations at companies such as
Tektronix, Sun Microsystems, Apple Computer, Silicon Graphics and
Borland International (now Inprise). At Apple, where I oversaw
advanced technology R&D, we pioneered technologies such as QuickTime,
PlainTalk, QuickTime-VR, and a host of other innovations that were
subsequently copied by our friends at a large software company located
in the Northwest corner of the United States (sigh). We also provided
funding for the world's first Internet browser, and set up Apple's
first Internet web site.
I spent most of my career as a UNIX user and, later, a Macintosh
user. I managed to avoid having to use Microsoft DOS or Windows prior
to Windows 95, but for the past several years have had the, uh,
"pleasure" of being a Windows 95/98 user. I must confess that I have
never been an Amiga user, but I was well aware of what was going on in
the Amiga community as the Amiga and Video Toaster moved multimedia
into the mainstream. People at Apple had a great respect for the
Amiga, and the communities always seemed similar to me. I am rapidly
learning more about the spirit of innovation that has been at the
heart of the Amiga community since the first Amiga was shipped in the
mid-80's.
Well, it is now 1999, and we find ourselves at the dawn of a new
millennium, and the dawn of the information age. The personal
computer, as represented by Windows PC's and Macintoshes, is now a
mature product category, with little true innovation occurring in the
PC industry. What's next? With the PC industry now in it's third
decade, what will be the next big "S-curve" that will dominate the
next 20 years of computing? Clearly, it will involve the emerging
global information infrastructure, which is creating a fundamental
transformation of business, communications and, indeed, human culture.
In many ways, we are transitioning from the era of computing -
building faster and faster computers that may, incidentally, be
networked - to the era of communications, with powerful ubiquitous
communications networks that connect a wide variety of computing
devices.
We at Amiga feel that unleashing the full power of this emerging
information infrastructure requires much more than a PC with a browser
plugged into the Internet. What is needed is a complete home computing
environment that ties together powerful multimedia convergence
computers with easy-to-use information appliances, all transparently
accessing content and services on the Internet. As Jim has told you,
our vision and mission is to make computers a natural part of everyday
life by creating an industry-standard systems architecture and
operating environment for this new world. In essence, we want to
redefine the home computing experience for the 21st Century, combining
awesome multimedia, transparent networking and Internet access, and a
user experience that makes a computer or information appliance as easy
to use as... a toaster!
It's a very exciting time as the spirit of the Amiga starts building
again. Personally, I'm thrilled to be a part of the new Amiga team,
working with Jim, Petro, Jeff Schindler, Allan Havemose, and the other
top people who are being attracted to this opportunity. I look forward
to sharing more about our vision, technologies and products in the
months to come. Stay tuned...
Rick LeFaivre
CTO and SVP, R&D
Amiga, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A A T B O T H A M I W E S T 9 9 , W O A 9 9
San Diego - May 21, 1999 - AMIGA announces participation at AmiWest99 and
World of AMIGA 99 shows.
AMIGA will be supporting and participating at two major AMIGA shows in July,
AmiWest99 in Sacramento, California and World of AMIGA 99 in London,
England. These shows will occur over the same weekend. "Participating in two
shows at the same time will present some challenges but we are looking
forward to simultaneously discussing our plans for the future with great
audiences on two continents," said Jim Collas. "We are looking at ways to
connect the two events and show that AMIGA users represent a great worldwide
community."
AMIGA executives will be at both of the shows, and look forward to sharing
more details about what we have been doing over the past few months and how
we are moving towards the future.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the shows.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I W E S T 9 9 U P D A T E
24 May, 1999
At this time we do not know which AMIGA executives will be at
AmiWest. We will alert you as soon as we have that information.
Earlier, AMIGA President Jim Collas had announced that Amiga is
supporting AmiWest99. In his May, 1999, "Update on Major Activities",
Jim Collas announced that Amiga is "planning to support the AmiWest
show in late July." And in his "Open Letter to the Community", Jim
stated
"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."
{See our last issue, 990519, for a complete copy of both items. Brad}
AmiWest is also also working with the World of Amiga in London, which
is being held on the same weekend, to make this a "World Wide Amiga
Weekend". For those of you in Europe and the United Kingdom who can't
make it to the US for the AmiWest show should plan to visit the World
of Amiga (http://www.worldofamiga.com) on July 24th and 25th.
For a a preliminary list of companies/clubs that are either
participating in or exhibiting at AmiWest99 see our web page at
http://www.sacc.org/amiwest
We are adding new exhibitors daily. So watch our web page for
additional names.
Remember, AmiWest99 is being held on Friday through Sunday, July
23-25, at the Holiday Inn, Sacramento NorthEast, in Sacramento, CA.
Classes and seminars will be held Friday through Sunday with the
exhibit hall being open on Saturday, July 24th from 10 A.M. - 5 P.M
and Sunday, July 25th 10 A.M. - 4 P.M.
Specially priced tickets for AmiWest99 are available in advance by
mail. Prices are: two day admission tickets, $12 and one day admission
ticket, $8. If you elect to purchase tickets at the door, the prices
are: two day ticket at the door, $15 and One day ticket at the door,
$10.
There will be a banquet dinner on Saturday evening, July 24th. Price
is $35 per plate. Banquet tickets must be purchased in advance. They
will NOT be sold on Friday nor Saturday due to the hotel needing
attendance figures for planning the banquet.
You can mail your requests for advanced admission and banquet tickets
to:
AmiWest99
c/o Sacramento Amiga Computer Club
P.O. Box 19784
Sacramento, CA 95819-0784
Make checks payable to "AmiWest".
Special hotel room rates are available at the Holiday Inn for those
attending AmiWest99. Room rates are $ 79 (Single) and $ 89 (double) if
reservations are made by July 1. You must mention that you are
attending AmiWest to get the special rate. You can phone the Holiday
Inn at 1-916-338-5800 or 1-800-465-8329 (Toll Free) to make hotel
reservations.
Hope to see you at AmiWest99 on July 23-24, 1999,
John Zacharias, Chairperson, AmiWest99.
jzachar@calweb.com
http://www.sacc.org/amiwest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A L A U N C H E S A D V I S O R Y C O U N C I L
San Diego, CA - May 19th 1999 - Amiga announces the creation of the
Amiga Advisory Council.
"In order to make Amiga a great company, delivering the type of
innovative products that users desire, it is imperative that the
Spirit of Amiga flow throughout our products, and that Spirit is the
community." Said Jim Collas - President of Amiga
As the company moves forward, the advisory council will be
influential in helping to set the future direction of Amiga, with a
special focus on the needs and desires of the existing Amiga
community.
"The Amiga community is one of the most valuable communities in the
computer industry. They are a great resource that needs to be heard as
we maintain delivery of current product while moving into new areas
and directions for Amiga. There are great people in the community with
great ideas, and a talent pool that is without equal. It is because of
the leaders and members of this community that the Amiga is alive
today," Jim Collas - President of Amiga
The Amiga Advisory Council will consist of members from the community
and the Amiga leadership team. Candidates will be selected over the
next 30 days from nominees submitted to Amiga. Amiga will be
evaluating and selecting the candidates based on the following
criteria.
* Experience with the classic Amiga products
* Experience with the various Amiga user groups or similar Amiga
community organization (such as ICOA, Brainiac, UGN, Team Amiga, Jay
Miner Society, AmigaSOC, D.A.U.G.)
* Amiga Dealers and Distributors
* Amiga Developers
* Communication with the Advisory council will be in English and will
primarily be done via the Internet.
In the coming weeks nomination forms will be found on the Amiga
WebSite. The Amiga Advisory Council is expected to be in place by the
end on June.
Please visit the Amiga web sites www.amiga.com, and www.amiga.de to
nominate your Council Member.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A U S T R A L A S I A N A M I G A G R O U P F O R M E D
*Date*: 24 May 1999
ARMIDALE, NSW, AUSTRALIA
By Basil Flinter
As a result of Petro Tyschtschenko's visit to Australia in January
this year, it became clear that, because of their geographic
isolation, low population density, and distances involved, the Amiga
user community in Australia and New Zealand needed an organisation
which would allow them to become part of the global Amiga User Group
movement, thereby enabling them to play an important role in the
Amiga's revival, and be eligible for the special privileges it is
anticipated that AMIGA will be offering to User Group members as part
of its comeback strategy.
In other words, because of the isolation of many Amiga users and the
dispersion of the Amiga community, there was a need for a central body
which could disseminate information about the Amiga and Amiga-oriented
activities within Australia and New Zealand, and possibly the
surrounding region.
We are, therefore, pleased to announce the successful implementation
of one of the initiatives decided upon during that visit, namely the
formation of an Australasia-wide (Australasian) User Group.
This User Group, named Amiga Downunder UG Incorporated (or ADUG for
short) will be officially launched at the Amiga Downunder 1999 (ADU99)
Show which is being organised and hosted by members of the Canberra
Amiga Users Society (CAUSe) in Canberra on 21 and 22 August 1999
(http://www2.dynamite.com.au/krash/amigadu).
Membership of ADUG is open to all individuals living in Australia or
New Zealand; however, the residential qualification may be
geographically extended, in the future, to include the surrounding
region.
Although memberships will not be processed before ADUG is officially
launched at ADU99, anyone wishing to be considered for membership, or
requiring any information at all about ADUG, should contact Basil
Flinter, as indicated below, with the word "ADUG" in the subject line.
Steve Kennedy
President, ADUG
Basil Flinter Email: flinter@taen.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I G A C T I V E O N L I N E
Friday 28 May 1999.
Pinprint Publishing are delighted to announce the launch of
Amigactive Online, the official website of the forthcoming UK based,
glossy newsstand Amiga magazine, Amigactive.
Amigactive Online will form an integral part of the Amigactive
experience, and will be updated frequently with the latest news about
the magazine as well as news from the rest of the Amiga world.
We will make Amigactive the best Amiga magazine money can buy, and
you can help us to do this by filling in our first online survey - and
stand a chance of winning yourself a pair of tickets to this year's
World Of Amiga show in London in the process!
Lasty, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all those
people who have contacted us with messages of support since we
announced our decision to produce a brand new UK Amiga magazine.
Without you, we would not be here today. Thank you.
So, for all the latest information about Amigactive Magazine, visit
Amigactive Online:
www.amigactive.com
Best Regards,
The Amigactive Team.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
H A C K E R S V I O L A T E A M I G A . O R D
19 May, 1999
Amiga.org recently published a report reading: `Holger Kruse has been
successfully sued for including backdoors in his public products by a
disgruntled user. This lawsuit now confirms what many have suspected
for a while now, that Nordicglobal products contain procedures to
ILLEGALLY illicit user informations from unaware users. Amiga.org
advises users to deinstall any products from Mr. Kruse. More details
soon...'
From Amiga.org:
'I awoke this morning to find about 25 e-mails and a number of
stories posted in our own news database which were not only incorrect
but highly offensive. Rest assured, the crew at Amiga.org did NOT make
those posts and we most certainly would never thrash such a wonderful
Amiga product as Miami. Our sincere apologies go out to our readers,
and most of all to Holger Kruse of Nordic Global. For the record,
There are NO back doors in Nordic Global products, and we officially
and highly endorse the use of Miami...' ------
Nordic Global's reponse
The amiga.org website recently published a report alleging that
Nordic Global Inc. was successfully sued because of "backdoors" in our
products.
That report is false. We assume that the amiga.org web site was
"hacked" by Amiga cracker groups, and that these groups are now trying
to, once again, tarnish our good reputation, in order to retaliate
against our active anti-piracy measures. However so far we have no
confirmation yet why and how that bogus report got published on the
amiga.org web site.
In detail:
Our software does not have any backdoors, it never has and never
will. Alleged "backdoors" in Miami actually turned out to be backdoors
in a fake version of "datatypes.library", released by the members of
the Amiga cracker group Digital Corruption. That group made false
claims about alleged "backdoors" in Miami in order to cover their own
tracks.
For more information on that incident please look at the November '98
news archives of the Amiga Web Directory or any other reputable Amiga
news source. Nordic Global Inc. was instrumental in uncovering the
plot by Digital Corruption and warning users about the threat. The
incident is now well-documented with sufficient proof against the fake
version of datatypes.library.
Nordic Global Inc. does not attempt to obtain private information
from customers in any way, except in ways obvious to users, i.e.
during registration (MiamiRegister), when users are required to fill
out a form with their name and address, and during credit card
ordering, for the purpose of AVS address verification, to prevent
credit card fraud, as recommended by international credit card
regulations.
Nordic Global Inc. values the privacy of users very highly, which is
why our software contains more features to prevent and detect attacks
from the Internet than the software of any of our competitors, e.g.
powerful firewall features in Miami Deluxe.
Except for the usually anonymous rambling of some disgruntled Amiga
crackers, who see their existance threatened by pending lawsuits
against them, we are not aware that any users in any way disapprove of
our policy regarding user privacy.
No lawsuits have been filed against Nordic Global Inc., neither
regarding privacy matters nor regarding any other matter.
All of our software, including Miami and Miami Deluxe, is safe to
use, and "recommendations" to the contrary are libelous and without
factual basis. None of our software contains any mechanisms to
transfer user information to anyone without the knowledge of the user.
This is true both for users of the demo version and registered users.
We would like to stress, once again, that the ONLY software that has
ever been demonstrated to "steal" private information from users was a
fake "datatypes.library" distributed by Amiga cracker groups. This
shows clearly that the best way to protect your privacy is for you to
NOT use any pirated software, or software released by cracker
organizations.
Nordic Global Inc. assumes that the false "report" on amiga.org was
the result of the "amiga.org" web site being hacked. In that case
expect an official statement and apology from amiga.org soon.
Holger Kruse
Nordic Global Inc.
05/18/99
----------------------------------------------------------------------
H T T P R E S U M E F A K E V E R S I O N
16 May 99
Posted to the net by Andrija Antonijevic
Here's the message I wrote to HTTPResume users whose e-mail addresses
I know:
You received this message because you expressed interest in
HTTPResume. If you don't want to receive these announce messages in
the future, please tell me.
HTTPResume v1.6a appeared on Aminet. It was *not* released by me and
it's *not* official HTTPResume release. The latest official release is
still v1.6, dated 24-Apr-99 01:22:40 and its size is 107036 bytes.
Official archive is 110318, .readme 2109 bytes long. Checking on
http://www.bigfoot.com/~TheAntony/HTTPResume/ is the only way to be
sure that the new version is out. It will always have information on
latest HTTPResume releases and latest HTTPResume archive on local
server.
I have no connection to v1.6a and can't say whether it has backdoors
or anything malicious inside it (I doubt it, though). I have uploaded
the official v1.6 archive to Aminet today. If you haven't downloaded
"v1.6a", you have no reason to download any comm/www/HTTPResume.lha
archive from Aminet for a while since next version (v1.7) won't be
released in near future. If you are unsure which version you have,
download the official archive from HTTPResume page mentioned above.
If you have installed this "new" version, please replace it with the
official one. Thank you.
----
The story goes like this: Tonight I received an e-mail message:
rom: "xxx" Name and address removed to protect the guilty.
Subject: HTTP Resume
Date: 15 May 1999 10:59:59 GMT
Hello,
Just to tell you that I find it very childish of you to include
propaganda against the war in an Amiga program.
If removed the line of text and replaced it with what it should be,
and will release this on Aminet within 36 hours as version v1.6a you
can stop me by releasing your own version with the message string
REMOVED
It's your choice
That's it, l8er alligator !
[SNIP signature]
----
[The propaganda mentioned is string "Stop NATO bombs!" in title bar
of HTTPResume's main window. Any discussion about this to e-mail,
please.]
I looked at Aminet recent list and found out that HTTPResume v1.6a
was there (so much about 36 hours). The guy that uploaded it also
decided that he can speak in my name and wrote version history for
"v1.6a" making it look like I wrote (the word he likes to use,
"childish", comes to mind). The rest can be read in message above. The
scary thought is that anyone can replace anything on Aminet with no
problems, and there's nothing that can be done about that. It seems
that PGP signing is the only solution...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A A A A W A R D S V O T I N G
Stockholm, Sweden - Thursday, May 20, 1999.
It's time to cast your vote for the AAA Awards 1998! Do it now, and
you could be the lucky winner of a brand new, specially designed and
hand-airbrushed Amiga 1200HDD, or one of twenty copies of Cloanto's
"Amiga Forever Online Edition"! The AAA Awards 1998 are proudly
presented in association with AMIGA and Cloanto.
Voting
Voting is open for everyone until June 30, around the clock. These
options are available:
o Online: http://www.aaa-awards.org
o Phone: +46-90-71 00 20 (24 hours)
o Fax: +46-90-71 01 46
o Mail: Amiga Format #125 July 1999 and other magazines will contain
mail-in forms
This year's categories are
AAA Award International
AAA Award Belgium
AAA Award Spain
AAA Award Sweden
AAA Award United Kingdom
Prize Raffle
Once you vote for the AAA Award International 1998, we'll
automatically place you in the raffle to win...
o A brand new, specially designed, hand-airbrushed Amiga 1200 HDD
o One of twenty copies of Cloanto's "Amiga Forever Online Edition"
You could be the lucky winner!
Award ceremonies
The AAA Awards 1998 Winners will be presented at these locations:
AAA Award International, July 24-25
World of Amiga 99, The Kensington Town Hall Conference Centre,
London, UK
AAA Award Belgium, July 8
Waaslandia Merksem meeting, Café Pierre De Deken, Merksem, Belgium
AAA Award Spain, October 29-November 1
Radykal Amiga Party, Armilla (Granada), Spain
AAA Award Sweden, August 7-15
Stora Nolia fair, Umeå, Sweden
AAA Award United Kingdom, July 24-25
World of Amiga 99, The Kensington Town Hall Conference Centre,
London, UK
See our homepage www.aaa-awards.org for exact dates and times.
Juries
The AAA Awards Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank
all jury members throughout the world for their effort. A listing of
all juries is available at: http://www.aaa-awards.org/juries/1998/
Acknowledgements The AAA Awards are organized by Swedish user group
Amiga Computer Group in co-operation with AMIGA, AmigaSOC, Amiga Users
Club of Spain, Cloanto and Waaslandia Amiga-Only Club. The AAA Awards
is copyright © 1997-99 Amiga Computer Group. The AAA Awards logo is
copyright © 1997 Amiga Computer Group and Björn Hagström.
AMIGA® is a registered trademark of AMIGA International, Inc. /
Gateway, Inc.
Amiga Forever is a trademark of Cloanto.
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D A Y T O N C O M P U T E R F E S T
21 May, 1999
Dayton Computerfest -- An Amiga Show Within A Show
The AmiTech Dayton Amiga User Group has made arrangements with the
Dayton Microcomputer Association, sponsor of the Dayton Computerfest,
the largest computer show in this part of the country, to establish an
Amiga Area within the show. They are recruiting Amiga vendors,
developers, user groups, and individuals that wish to sell,
demonstrate, or display Amiga equipment and capabilities to take part
in the show.
The show will be August 27-29 at Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio. The
Amiga Show within the Show, with a concentrated group of Amiga vendors
and displays all in one place will provide are a number of advantages
for the Amiga user:
1. Access to a concentration of Amiga gear, all in one place.
2. Availability of a gigantic source of general supplies, such as
drives, printers, storage media, etc. at extremely attractive prices.
3. Very reasonable table prices.
Since this show normally has attendance of more than 30,000, it may
also provide the Amiga community an opportunity to make the public, as
a whole, more aware. AmiTech Dayton took this initiative after the
announcement that the Midwest Amiga Show would not be held this fall,
feeling the momentum that show established needed to be continued.
There are lots of accommodations near the show, however, with a show
this big it is best to make arrangements as early as possible.
If you would like more information about the show or wish to
participate contact:
Ron Schwartz via email
schwartr@gemair.com
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S W E D I S H E - M A I L G A M E S M A G A Z I N E
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GlädjeStickan
27th May 1999
We are very exited to present a new forum for all you game hungry
Amigans - The emailmagazine GlädjeStickan! Monthly it shows up in the
inbox of your emailprogram, filled with reviews of all kinds of Amiga
games. And it is all in Swedish. PD, SW, FW, demos or commersial;
Makes no difference. GlädjeStickan gots room for them all!
Direct you browser to http://www.amigaspel.just.nu and order a
subscription today - Totaly free of charge.
We welcome you as a subscriber
Editorial staff
/GlädjeStickan
For add. info: gladjestickan@post.utfors.se
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I M P R O V E D C L U B B E D F R O M S E A L
20 May, 1999
South Essex Amiga Link (SEAL) is proud to announce three major
improvements to the quality and service of our print Amiga magazine
"Clubbed".
1. Higher Production Quality
Starting from issue 3 (see below) Clubbed is being printed directly
from EPS files for sharper text and graphics inside the magazine and a
semi-gloss finish on the cover. The cover is now printed on 200gsm
card to give the whole magazine a more substantial feel.
2. More Pages and Increased Content
With an increasing subscriber base we can now afford to increase the
page count of the magazine, issue 3 will have a total of 40 pages
(including covers) up from 36 in previous issues. Due to the new
higher quality printing we have been able to reduce the size of images
and slightly reduce the type size while maintaining clarity to
increase the amount of text per page. With the extra pages and smaller
print we estimate the total content of issue 3 is about 25% greater
than issue 2.
3. Credit Card Payment Option
You can now pay for your Clubbed subscription using a VISA or
Mastercard credit card. We hope this payment option will make it much
easier for Amigans outside the UK to subscribe. This service is
provided for Clubbed by FORE-MATT Home Computing.
Even with these improvements the subscription price remains the same,
starting at just 10UKP for a 4 issue UK subscription.
Clubbed Issue 3 Imminent
Clubbed Issue 3 with improved print quality and more content will be
available in June, some highlights of this issue include:
How to get your Amiga on the 'net feature complemented by reviews of
popular Internet packages such as:
Netconnect 2
Miami
IBrowse
Thor
YAM
Reviews of:
Turbo Print 7
Epson Stylus Photo 700
Candy Factory Pro tutorial
As well as all the latest news and an exclusive interview with a well
known Amiga personality
About Clubbed
Clubbed is a non-profit making Amiga magazine from SEAL. It is
published quarterly and sent to SEAL members and subscribers across
the world. The magazine is A4 format with colour printed covers and
mono inside pages. Clubbed is entirely produced on Amiga systems using
several packages including PageStream 3, Draw Studio, ImageFX and
Photogenics. Every piece in the magazine is written by a dedicated
Amiga user.
Visit the Clubbed website at http://seal.amiga.tm for further
details, including world wide subscription pricing and example
articles from previous issues.
About SEAL
SEAL (South Essex Amiga Link) is an Amiga user group in the South of
England, based around the Basildon area we have about 30 enthusiastic
members and meet twice a month at a local community centre. In the
year that SEAL has been formed we have made a name for ourselves on
the UK Amiga scene with our magazine, lively website and recently
involvement with the 1999 WoA show.
Contacts
Clubbed
clubbed@williams.demon.co.uk
Clubbed
26 Wincoat Drive
BENFLEET
Essex, SS7 5AH
ENGLAND
http://seal.amiga.tm
SEAL
seal@thunder.u-net.com
http://seal.amiga.tm
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C R Y S T A L S O F T W A R E A T A N T
18 May 99
Crystal Software Live at ANT!!
Amiga North Thames are proud to announce that Crystal Software, the
Amiga Games company, will be attending the next Amiga North Thames
usergroup meeting which will be held on:
Sunday 6th of June 1999. During the Hours of 1:00pm to 5:00pm at: St.
Mary Magdalene Vestry, Windmill Hill, Enfield, Middx. EN2 7AJ.
Andrew Reed, Managing director of Crystal Software, will be showing
two of his company's forthcoming Amiga games titles, Gilbert Goodmate
and Dark Millenia. Andrew will also be joined by the lead programmer
and chief graphics artist for Dark Millenia. They will be there to
answer your questions and also to get feedback about Dark Millenia and
Amiga gaming in general.
Everyone is welcome!
Exclusive!!
We are informed that Crystal Software are hoping to have a Demo of
Dark Millenia Available by Sunday 23rd of May!!
Further details can be found on:-
Amiga North Thames. A.N.T. - http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ant.london
Crystal Software - http://www.crystal-software.com
See you there!
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M O N O L I T H P O R T S T O A M I G A , M A C
Kirkland, WA (April 28, 1999) - Monolith Productions today announced
an agreement with Hyperion Press to bring its critically acclaimed 3D
action game, Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, and the LithTech 3D Engine
to the Mac platform. By porting Monolith's popular first-person
shooter, Hyperion is answering the heavy demand by Mac users for
high-quality 3D games. In addition, Hyperion Press has also agreed to
port and maintain Shogo and Monolith's LithTech 3D Engine for the
Amiga platform. Monolith will retain ownership of both ported versions
of the engine and continue to provide Hyperion with its trademark
customer service. Hyperion will retain publishing rights to Shogo on
both platforms.
"We're very excited about the opportunity to see more games created
with the LithTech 3D Engine on the Mac and Amiga platforms. The
agreement with Hyperion will allow these users to experience what PC
gamers have come to expect from Monolith -- an intense gaming
experience," comments Jason Hall, CEO of Monolith Productions. "With
the help of Hyperion, we are expanding the following for our games and
our powerful 3D engine."
"We have chosen to license the LithTech 3D Engine because of
Monolith's superior customer service," said Evert Carton, managing
director of Hyperion Press. "As two growth areas, the Mac and Amiga
platforms represent a strong, resilient market with a strong core of
users, who are anxious to play one of last year's most popular games
-- Shogo."
Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, inspired by the Japanese "anime"
tradition, is an action-packed first-person shooter combining
spectacular environments (from neon-lit, futuristic cityscapes to
gaping desert ravines and canyons) with a meaningful storyline packed
with intriguing characters, large transforming Meccas, and plot
revelations.
Hyperion/Monolith Agreement The LithTech 3D Engine, the technology
behind Shogo, allows for a full range of powerful graphic effects,
from spectacular explosions from the game's many weapons of mass
destruction to more subtle touches, like real-time cloud shadows. It
supports motion capture technology and both hard-body animation and
soft-body mesh systems. LithTech technology allows for the full-range
of fan modifications that players have come to expect in the
first-person shooter genre. The engine also features a 'Level of
Detail' function that ensures the most efficient allocation of
polygons, making for some of the most enemy-populated environments
around. Extensive information, including FAQ's, about LithTech can be
found at www.lithtech.com.
About Monolith Productions, Inc.
Monolith Productions, Inc., based in Kirkland, WA, is a game
development and publishing company focused on combining uncompromising
gaming content with the ultimate in high-end gaming technology.
Founded by six game developers in 1995, Monolith's passion for
programming has resulted in the creation of the LithTech 3D Engine.
This proprietary software is used in the creation of Monolith
products, such as the well-received Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, and
is available for license to the wider development community, for whom
Monolith is committed to delivering the software industry standard in
licensing partner support. For the latest news and information on
Monolith and it products, visit their Web site at http://www.lith.com.
About Hyperion Press
Hyperion is a recently established Belgian-German software house
dedicated to bringing high-end PC games to PowerPC based Amiga and Mac
computers. Individual members of the Hyperion team have been involved
in various commercial and non-commercial projects on the Amiga, Mac,
Linux and PC platforms.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
F I N A L A C T
20 May, 1999
Albrecht Computer Technik
Seth 2 -- 21769 Lamstedt -- 21769 Lamstedt
Tel +49-4773-8910-73 -- Fax +49-4773-8910-72
Survey will end on 20th of May 1999!
Today.
Since no project has gathered enough interest so far the only logical
conclusion is:
Amiga is dead.
The promised support by Amiga Inc has not appeared.
The promised support for good products is not existant.
Mr. Collas has not replied to our contacts.
There has been an overall result of 1057 (sum for all projects) votes
from the survey, many of which are doubled or trippled. We have not
yet processed these mail but will do so during the next days and send
an apology to all participiants. Thanks to all who have sent in their
vote, who have sent EMail supporting our efforts and thanks to
everyone who shared his or her ideas with us so far. Thanks to all our
customers world wide - we do keep our promises and will continue to
support our products on a private base. We will even continue
development of Samplitude Opus - but we will not develop V4 for the
Amiga, sorry. This brandnew audio processing workstation will see the
light of day on a computer platform built for the future. We will
continue our succesful cooperation with major companies in the Audio
sector and create our own new market segment within 18 months.
Please understand that the result of the survey does not leave us any
other choice. We have been Amiga fans and developers from the very
first days and we are very sad about the last three years of chaos.
The Amiga is not the world - it has been a part of it, but now it is
time to sail to new shores. Latest survey news:
Current survey status (20.05.1999):
We got about 650 interest calls for the USB controller. If some
dealers had called and supported us or if the ... promised ... support
from "above" had appeared we could have done it. But developing such
devices for such a small market is too expensive, time consuming and
does not result in any improvement of market positions.
Many people have asked us about our video edit plans. Please
understand that we had to cancel these after WoA in London 1998. If
you are seriously interested in video editing (hard- and software) on
Amiga, tell Amiga International to keep promises. The USB Controler
still could appear. We planned to have at least 2xserial and 2x USB
onboard a single card (see left). Price should be below 200,-DM
including basic driver support. Without professional support we would
not develop more than a minimum of drivers. Due to the microscopic
market we will only develop this and other devices (we planned for a
SDL device - e.g. for IrDA) if someone invests the needed money.
The Encoder for MPEG Audio Layer3 seems to be of virtually no
interest to the community. Only a handful of votes have come in, not
justifying the needed investment. Again:we have ben talking about an
officially licensed encoder from FHI/Thomson, not some ported ISO
version and not some illegal, not-licenced version.
ARTAS' homepage will be updated soon to reflect the impact of the
current situation on the ARTAS project.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I M A G E F X 4 W I T H A N I M A T I O N
21 May 1999
ImageFX 4 Announced - Now with Animation!
Nova Design, Inc., creators of the award winning ImageFX package and
the highly received Aladdin 4D v5 package, are excited to announce a
brand new upgrade - ImageFX 4! ImageFX has been the required graphics
application for all Amiga owners and has been a part of Video
Toaster/Flyer owner's toolkits for years. Combining painting, image
file format conversion, image processing, and special effects, ImageFX
remains the undisputed leader in graphics manipulation on the Amiga.
Now in it's fourth major upgrade, ImageFX goes animated! If you work
on video using your Amiga or want to work on animations for the
Internet the new animation controls in ImageFX are exactly what you've
been wishing for on your Amiga. The animation system is as easy to use
as the animation controls in Amiga paint packages but far more
powerful and support full color animation, palette mapped animation
and greyscale animations as well.
ImageFX 4 - the Animated Details
Nova Design, Inc. has built on the new windowed interface introduced
in ImageFX 3.x and has added controls to directly manipulate
animations within ImageFX. Onscreen VCR-style controls have been added
to the layering system to allow you to move within the frames of an
animation or even playback the animation in your preview window.
Brushes can be animated across a series of frames and effects can be
automatically processed across frames as well!
These controls make it easy to edit animations for use on the
Internet on your own web pages. You can create hand drawn animations,
brush animations and you can easily rotoscope video sequences, add
effects, and batch process. If you want to modify web animations, it's
as easy as loading now that you can load animations. Full support for
loading and saving entire or partial FlyerClips is included for Amiga
Toaster/Flyer owners.
Many image processing functions and effects have been updated to work
directly on frames and layers now. And what would a new upgrade of
ImageFX be without new special effects? We don't know, since we've
never released without including new effects before and we're not
going to do so now. We've got some cool new effects in this release -
read on!
Fireworks
Distorter
Blob is a fun, if messy, effect. With Blob you can set your
parameters to make a translucent colored ooze slide down your image.
Looking to simulate the effect of slime? No problem with Blob!
The Text Generator has had so many improvements that it is like a
whole new module. You can now use PostscriptT fonts with it in
addition to Amiga bitmap, color, and outline fonts. You have more
control over the fonts. The fonts now can anti-alias for the best
possible display. Best of all you now see your fonts and text, exactly
as they'll appear, on the display of the image in it's own window!
CD the Light!
ImageFX now comes on CDROM for it's standard distribution. If you
don't have a CDROM drive (and you should, they're pretty inexpensive
now) ImageFX will ship with a coupon to order a copy on floppies. As a
bonus the CDROM has sequences of images, animations, and nearly the
entire contents of our Internet site as well!
Ordering the Upgrade
As of this release a new price structure is being implemented for
upgrades. If you own a version of ImageFX prior to version 2.0 your
upgrade price is now $149.95. ImageFX 2.x owners can upgrade for only
$99.95. ImageFX 3.x owners can upgrade to ImageFX 4 for only $79.95.
All upgrades include the necessary hardcopy documentation or upgrade
documentation and CDROM.
You can order via 1-800-IMAGE-69 in the US and Canada or call (804)
282-1157 elsewhere. Orders can also be faxed to (804) 282-3768 or
mailed to our address. Anyone purchasing ImageFX 3.x new after May
20th, 1998 can upgrade for free when you mail us your dated proof of
purchase.
You'll be shipped ImageFX and receive it in approximately four weeks
depending on the volume of preorders. Previous upgrades have taken
over a month to process so the earlier you order, the sooner you'll
have it!
ImageFX is also available, new, through your local Amiga dealer or
via mail order at a suggested retail price of $349.95.
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A M I C O M S Y S
21th May 1999
AmiComSys or Amiga Communicator System is an Internet application for
the Amiga OS.
The alone days on the net' is away. With AmiComSys you always will
have company while you are surfing.
It's much like ICQ but it lets you find Amigans much more easily.
AmiComSys recently changed server. The new server is located at
ACS.hostile.cx
For more information look at http://surf.to/AmiComSys/
New in version 1.25a is:
o The message requesters now uses MUI instead of Gadtools.
o SendFile now supports send resume.
o Sounds may be played at occasions.
o The main window was relayouted to make it possible to use a much
smaller window size.
o Everybody now may hide their IP-address, to prevent flooding.
o The client list supports multi selections.
o The Message History now is much faster.
o AmiComSys now have image toolbars with scrollers and more graphics.
o The toolbars now may be hidden to save space.
o The iconification mechanism is now smarter, letting you also
iconify the windows with the hotkey.
o PChat chat lines are now also saved to the Message History.
o Super Ignore lets you remove people from the client list and
HotLine.
o Free for Chat status added.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
Amiga Kickstart 39+ (WB 3.0+). There is a separate Kickstart 2.0
version. A TCP/IP-stack like Miami, AmiTCP3.0b2+ or compatible. The
MUI costum class NList.mcc v.19+. Available from Aminet, e.g
ftp://se.aminet.net/pub/aminet/dev/mui/MCC_NList0.89.lha MUI 3.8+.
Available from http://www.sasg.com
AVAILABILITY
Available from the official homepage located at:
http://surf.to/AmiComSys/ It's also available from Aminet. The
location is ftp://se.aminet.net/pub/aminet/comm/net/AmiComSysMUI.lha
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N E W A M I G A F O R E V E R
27th May 1999
We are pleased to announce that a new version of Amiga Forever Online
Edition is available for download. For this release, both the
preinstalled Amiga software and the WinUAE emulation have been updated
and improved.
The 68K CPU emulation has been carefully profiled and optimized, and
is now on average at least 20% faster than in the previous version.
CPU-wise, an average PC can now comfortably emulate a 68040 Amiga
(benchmarks are based on Personal Paint compilation times using SAS/C,
Amiga 4000/040 and Pentium II/400 PC). Experimental AGA emulation and
MIDI output are now also supported by the emulation and already have
many enthusiastic users (some of which can now at last use Bars &
Pipes Pro!) Features such as virtual memory, floating point unit, true
color RTG display modes and TCP/IP continue to be part of the default
Amiga Forever emulation configuration. The latest version of the Amiga
Explorer Amiga-PC networking software is also included.
The new version of Amiga Forever Online Edition is available for
immediate download from cloanto.com at $29.99. Amiga users in
Yugoslavia have reported credit card authorization problems in
relation to the current situation, and can therefore get the software
at no cost directly from Cloanto.
Existing CD-ROM and Online Editions of Amiga Forever can be upgraded
to the latest version of the emulation software following the
instructions at cloanto.com. The Amiga Forever pages have been
completely updated and now provide even more resources for users of
Amiga emulation. The Amiga Forever Home Page has a new, easy to
remember browser shortcut: amigaforever.com. Other Amiga product pages
at cloanto.com have been moved to a "Classic Amiga" section, in
preparation for new software titles for Amiga NG.
We are observing with interest that the emulation topic is currently
being hotly debated both on the internet and in the courts. We would
like to point out that Amiga Forever stands out as a unique example of
careful and complete licensing of the technology being emulated.
Cloanto has licensed the entire portfolio of Amiga patents, trademarks
and copyrights before even considering the publication of the
emulation, ROM and OS components which are part of Amiga Forever.
Once again, we would like to thank all Amiga users for their
continued support!
Your Cloanto Team
Amiga Forever Online Edition Home Page:
http://cloanto.com/amiga/forever/online.html
Instructions for Emulation Upgrades:
http://cloanto.com/amiga/forever/upgrades.html
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P A G E S T R E A M 4 . 0 T O S O F T W A R E H U T
Software Hut is pleased to announce that SoftLogik has
made us Exclusive North American Distributor for PageStream 4.0!!
------
PageStream v3.3 with free upgrade to 4.0: $ 229.95
Current owners of v3.3 can contact SoftLogic for an upgrade to v4.0 at
http://www.softlogik.com/
{See our last issue, 990519,for an overview of the new PageStream
4.0. Brad}
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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.
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A M I G A /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ A M I G A
U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_
amigaupdate@globaldialog.com
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