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Amiga Update (2000-10-22)
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_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors-
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional e-mail
"SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW" || News Source)
======================================================================
AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.
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001022
T H E A M I G A O N E I S A N N O U N C E D I N O Z
S E P T E M B E R E X E C U T I V E U P D A T E
A P C & T C P S T A T E M E N T O N E P I C U K
A M I G A F U T U R E ' S F U T U R E
S H A R K P P C F R O M E L B O X
V O O D O O N E W S F R O M D C E
E L B O X C O M P L A I N T R E V O O D O O
H A N D P G E T S T F A X P R O , G E N E S I S
S T F A X 4 . 5 I S A V A I L A B L E
F A S T E C H ' S U N N A M E D E X P A N D E R
I M A G E F X H O L I D A Y S A L E
I N S T A L L E R N G ( 3 R D P A R T Y ) A V A I L A B L E
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
The biggest news in quite a while is the annoucement of the
specifications for the new Amiga One computer at the Alternative
Computing Expo in Australia. This REALLY marks the beginning of the
next generation Amiga! There's a lot of interesting reading in the
announcement. We think you'll find it fascinating. And what's this
about Classic Amiga OS 3.9 ?!?
The "smallest" news is that we seem to have new unprofessional feuds
in the Amiga community. One involves Elbox (you'll recall we carried a
complaint from them last issue) and a particular developer about
Voodoo. The other is between APC&TPC and UK Epic. We don't know who's
right or who's wrong, or who forced who to go public, but we DO know
this is not a matter for public fighting. By contrast, at the present
time two of the highest value companies in the US market also are
feuding, at what might be a personal level involving CEOs. This feud
has already involved many millions of dollars. Just about nobody
outside of the companies is aware of this. Why? Because the people
involved are true business professionals.
We report the "good stuff", we report the "bad stuff", - and will try
to be even handed, so if anyone involved in this silliness thinks
they've not been given equal time, please contact us. Please note that
everyone involved has "good stuff" to contribute if they wish to.
The Community will build on the good stuff.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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E-mail to the E-ditor:
25 Sep 2000
Brad & company,
I realize that everyone is exploring new ways to market and sell and
get paid. However, the following eGroups ad was atop the recent AU:
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------
Your family still won't know what you do. At least they'll know where.
The resources, brainpower & breadth of opportunities at Microsoft are
unmatched. The only question is are you ready for that kind of impact?
http://click.egroups.com/1/9223/5/573261969761703
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I at first thought that it was a bad joke, but then decided maybe it
was just bad luck. So I figured, OK, I'll support AU by clicking on
it. My company firewall responded with, "Access to NON-BUSINESS chat
site BLOCKED. " Which no doubt rung a little bell in the head demon's
office of our network sysadmin, as I was checking it out during a
break at work.
So now I will finish with, No $*)(&#! Thanks, and watch your
advertisers a little bit more carefully. No need to shoot our own
market in the foot while trying to come out ahead.
Paul
~~~~~~
Paul,
You second thought was the correct thought - it was bad luck. That ad
was put on the top of AU (issue 000923) by e-groups during
transmission through their system. By agreeing to let them put ads on
the mailings, we get their services for free. We don't even see the
ads, and have no knowledge of what specific ad will be used, until
after the mailings go out.
This particular ad was very aggravating to us, but we had no way of
knowing it was going to happen.
Given that AU is totally free and has no income, we're not in a
position to pay e-groups the fee to eliminate all ads. The potential
for this to happen again exists. Best way to handle it is probably to
just ignore it. But it isn't easy.
Brad
======
Last issue we had a question from Dave regarding Castlewood's Orb
drive. Below are two answers we received from readers, one each for
IDE and SCSI versions of the drive.
Thanks to our readers for being so responsive!
Brad
24 Sep 2000
Hello Dave,
On 28 Aug 2000 you wrote:
> Has anyone used Castlewood's Orb drive on an Amiga? I hadn't found
> any information regarding that yet and was wondering if their
> headerless approach presents special problems for developing an Amiga
> driver, or what special considerations might exist for implementing an
> Orb drive on a SCSI-equipped Amiga (like my A3000UXD).
I purchased the IDE version of the ORB drive several months ago.
Unfortunately, I have not had very good luck with it. First of all,
the write speed is much lower than the read speed. It seems to read
data at a speed comparable to IDE hard drives. It writes data at less
than half that speed. I only use the ORB drive for system backup and
it takes a long time to do a backup.
I am also unable to exchange cartridges without rebooting. When I
load a new cartridge and issue a diskchange command, the system just
hangs up. I previously used a Syquest 105MB cartridge drive (IDE) and
was able to exchange disks at will.
Also, the drive makes a lot of noise. My old Syquest drive made about
the same noise as a hard drive. The ORB makes a loud, several second
long, clicking noise every 15 to 20 seconds. Since I only use the
drive for backup, I began booting without a cartridge installed which
eliminates the constant sounds. I can later insert a cartridge and
mount it with the OS 3.5 Mounter tool if I need to use the drive.
Reliability has been a problem for me too. I use the drive very
little; only about twice a month for backup. About a month after
purchasing the ORB drive it suddenly stopped working. When I booted
the computer the drive would flash a red error code and would not
mount. Castlewood was very responsive though, and I was able to send
the drive back to them for an exchange. Yesterday, I got a write error
while trying to do a backup. I could read the data that was already on
the drive, but was unable to write new data. When I tried to reformat
the drive I got another flashing red error code. I tried another
cartridge and got the same result. I haven't had time to contact
CastleWood yet, to see if they will repair or replace the drive.
I would like to state for the record that my experience is with one
Castlewood ORB drive and is probably not representative of the quality
of all their drives. I have had Email contact with several users who
have the SCSI version of the drive and are happy with the ORB drive. I
have not heard from anyone else with the IDE version.
Regards,
Jeff
---
27 Sep 2000
Brad,
With regards to Dave's request for info on an Orb drive, I am using
one with my Amigas. I connect it to a 2000 with a Blizzard 2060 board,
a 3000 with the built in Amiga SCSI controller, and a PC with an
Adaptec controller by just switching the cable to whichever computer I
want to use it with. It works just fine with the Amigas; they just
think it is another removable drive like a SyJet or Syquest (ho hum).
The PC had to have drivers installed, of course, and to use it with
Drive Image on the PC, I had to do some more gyrations, but the Amigas
just use it, as expected. I HAVE found that the Orb drives are
sometimes sensitive to SCSI IDs and bus placements, particularly on
the Mac, but with the Amiga it is pretty foolproof. Haven't gotten it
to work with the Video Toaster Flyer yet, but am working on that. I
think that is a termination problem.
Just connect it up with the SCSI ID set right and the correct
termination, and format the disk. No sweat (other than the usual OS
3.5 problems).
Bob
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T H E A M I G A O N E I S A N N O U N C E D I N O Z
October 21, 2000, Melbourne, Australia - It is with great pleasure
that we are able to announce the first new Amiga hardware in over 6
years. The AmigaOne, our first consumer product, will be targeted at
the desktop and workstation market. Further products to follow will
cover the markets from Personal Digital Assistants and upwards. All
these products will run a single piece of software, the revolutionary
Amiga Digital Environment (DE).
We completed the AmigaOne specification three months ago, and dubbed
it the "zico". It is a specification and not a product because Amiga
is a software company, not a hardware manufacturer. The ability of the
Amiga DE to host itself on multiple hardware and operating system
platforms frees us from hardware dependency and gives our partners and
our customers the freedom to chose the hardware that best suits their
needs and tastes.
The zico specification is as follows;
- One AmigaDE friendly host processor (PPC, x86, Arm, SH4, MIPS)
- 64MB+ memory
- Next Generation Matrox graphics card
- Creative EMU10K1 based audio card
- 10 GB+ HD
- CD/DVD
- USB 1.0
- Firewire
- 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
- 56k modem
- Spare PCI slots for expandibility
With the completion of the specification stage of the Amiga One, we
contacted several respected hardware companies with a view to
selecting partners who would be interested in creating AmigaOne
products.
The AmigaOne process involves close co-operation between Amiga and
our partners' hardware groups, the running of the AmigaDE on the
hardware, and a thorough quality certification of the final product.
Only then can the product be called an AmigaOne.
Whilst still in detailed negotiation with several companies, we are
delighted to announce the first partner company and its initial set of
AmigaOne products.
The Eyetech Group Ltd, of Stokesley, U.K. already has an excellent
reputation in the Amiga community. They have done much to keep the
classic Amiga alive during the last five years, and we feel that in
the creation of the first new Amiga machines and the transitioning
>from the classic to the next wave, that experience will prove
invaluable.
Bill McEwen President of Amiga Inc commented: "This arrangement
builds on and extends our existing partnership agreement with Eyetech,
first announced in April of this year. Our experience during this
period has shown Eyetech to be a no-nonsense company capable of
delivering what they promise on time and this consideration also
weighed heavily in our choice of a hardware partner for the PPC based
AmigaOne."
Alan Redhouse, Managing Director of UK-based Eyetech, said; "I am
delighted that we have been able to build on our existing partnership
with Amiga and continue our close working relationship with them on
both a technical and manufacturing level. Our decade of Amiga
experience, plus our hardware and software efforts to push the Amiga
forwards means that we are able to work with Amiga to deliver a proven
upgrade solution to Amiga users which gives their existing 'Classic'
applications an immediate and substantial performance boost whilst
providing full forward compatibility with the new Amiga DE. Our work
on the Predator line of boards means that we can help Amiga to fulfill
its requirement of maximising the investment of the current community
as it moves forwards."
Fleecy Moss, Chief Technology Officer, Amiga Inc added: "After talks
with the hardware development staff of several companies I am
convinced that working with Eyetech will allow us to offer an elegant
solution that gives both an excellent level of backward compatibility
and a powerful basis for the new Amiga Digital Environment. Top of our
requirements list was to ensure that those Amigans who have spent
considerable money in staying with the Amiga would not be left out in
the cold. Whilst you can't please all of the people all of the time,
we think we have come up with a set of products and solutions that
will put a smile on as many faces as possible."
Eyetech is focusing on an immediate need in the existing Amiga
market. Many have already invested considerable resources in their
classic Amigas, both in terms of hardware and in terms of software.
Whilst keen to move forwards with the AmigaOne, they also want to
maximise their investment in the classic platform.
The Eyetech AmigaOne PPC 1200 is a custom board which uses Eyetech
Predator technology with the "zico" specification to provide a perfect
synergy of classic and next generation. It provides all the
functionality of the standalone AmigaOne PPC, but has been extended to
mate with a classic Amiga A1200. This allows customers who have a
serious investment in the classic Amiga to continue to use their
machines whilst also having a brand new Amiga at their disposal. The
68k processor in the A1200 will be emulated at a substantially
increased level via the PPC processor on the AmigaOne, whilst the
classic operating system can take advantage of the AmigaOne's next
generation hardware resources.
The AmigaOne PPC 4000 machine is similarly designed to allow
customers who have a significant investment in their classic Amiga
A4000 to be able to move that investment forwards whilst also
benefiting from the next generation capabilities of the AmigaOne.
The Eyetech AmigaOne PPC 1200 will be available as an upgrade for
owners of towered A1200 computers, the Eyetech AmigaOne PPC 4000 as an
upgrade for Amiga 4000 desktop computers in tower conversion cases.
Options for producing AmigaOne PPC upgrade designs for other Classic
Amiga designs (such as the A3000 and Amiga International A4000T) will
be looked at (subject to demand) once the A1200 and A4000 products are
released.
In order to implement all the features of the AmigaOne specification
the, A1200 and A4000 upgrade versions will feature one AGP and six PCI
slots, a user-upgradable G3/G4 (Macintosh-type) cpu slot, up to 512MB
SDRAM and a high speed IDE/ATAPI interface. The system will be
dual-bootable both into the Amiga DE and into Classic Amiga Workbench.
This latter feature will allow purchasers to have the performance
benefits of full G3/G4 cpu speeds and 512MB of SDRAM memory whilst
running Classic Amiga software. Both these boards are scheduled to
ship in 1Q01, with developer versions being available in December
2000.
Design of both the Eyetech AmigaOne PPC A1200 and A4000 products has
been done with great sensitivity to the existing user and developer
community.
"By releasing the classic compatible AmigaOne PPC products first,"
said Alan Redhouse. "We are providing a transitional path forwards for
the existing community, enabling them to maximise their current
investment whilst also leaping ahead with the new Amiga DE."
In order to facilitate this transition, the classic Amiga operating
system will see its lifeline extended. OS3.9, to be launched before
Christmas will add a raft of new features and functionality, and will
be able to run on the Eyetech AmigaOne PPC classic products.
Eyetech are also keen to talk to existing hardware manufacturers
about possibilities for licencing, manufacturer and other co-operation
in order to ensure a smooth transition of the existing Amiga community
from the present to the future.
Amiga is also very close to signing up partners for a standalone
AmigaOne machine. The ATX form factor AmigaOne has been designed to
run the full consumer version of the Amiga Digital Environment (DE)
allowing the best of the Classic Amiga software which has been ported
to run directly under the Amiga DE, and the use of a wide range of
Amiga DE-based digital content - such as productivity software,
content creation suites, development environments and 3-D games - to
be used 'out of the box'.
All this work - including extensive testing of hardware and software
components - is scheduled to be complete in time for end user
deliveries 3Q01. Amiga Inc is currently in negotiation with several
potential partner companies for the development and manufacture of the
stand-alone AmigaOne and its related digital content/software.
Companies interested in producing this version, utilising the PPC
processor family include Eyetech, and bplan GmbH of Germany. We hope
to have announcements to make on this within the next few weeks. Other
companies and other processors are also under negotiation.
A new website is being set up, specifically to provide a focal point
for news, questions, comment and discussion on the AmigaOne, and we
encourage people to visit it and participate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S E P T E M B E R E X E C U T I V E U P D A T E
September 28, 2000
Executive Update
Greetings to one and all.
I know it has been a long time since I last had the chance to write
to all to all of you.
It has been very, very busy, and we have seen some great successes,
and some disappointments. I have not been asleep, and to the contrary
I have not been getting much sleep of late. There is so much activity,
and so little time that I have been spending a great deal of time in
other areas and not keeping everyone up to date.
To my Friends in Italy, I apologize that I was not able to attend the
show. It was a real disappointment for me personally, as I wanted to
greet each and every one of you. The reason was not because we are
broke, or out of money as the rumors would state.
Simply, there were two companies in California that I have been
working with, and they requested a meeting that occurred over the same
period of time. With working with these OEM's we will be able to add
several million more Amigans, and the discussions went well and are
progressing quickly, these meetings were in addition to what is
mentioned in point 3 below.
Now with all the above fun stuff......
Here we go:
1. The SDK for Amiga DE.
This has been very exciting, and we are really pleased with the
number of applications and the number developers using the product to
create some great products.
The next version of the Software Development Kit will be out in the
next couple of weeks. In addition to the Linux version there is now a
version available for Windows. That's correct you are now able to
develop for the new Amiga on either Linux, or Windows.
It will feature a new raft of multimedia (Mesa, the SSEYO Koan Audio
Engine, streaming) as well better development tools, a richer AVE and
enhanced performance.
2. Amiga OS 3.5 and beyond
We are continuing taking a very hard look at the current Amiga and
how we can best move the platform forward. There are discussions on
going for some new opportunities and we will be able to share some
announcements in the very near future.
3. Amiga DE business opportunities. Wow, this is an area that is
absolutely exploding. For developers this is going to be great news.
Not only will the applications you are working on be used by your
Amiga family members, but with the deals that are either executed or
in motion there will be millions more consumers joining the Amiga
family.
Now many of you began to speculate on the Meternet announcement.
Meternet is offering a great product, and they are going to be making
it available to the Amiga community, but it is not the AmigaOne.
4. The AmigaOne.
We have listened to a great many of you with comments, suggestions,
business ideas and technical ideas. Dean Brown has been a huge help,
especially that he is now here in Snoqualmie with the other members of
the team.
Because of this input we have begun negotiations for a brand new
design. Most of the details have been worked out, and I hope to have
the finished announcement ready by the middle of October. It is my
firm belief that you will all be very pleased and excited.
5. Dealers/Distributors, and our friends in the Press:
The well of information for all of you has been too dry, and
inconsistent. To better provide information to each and every one of
you.
Amiga has created two new mailing lists. Please go to:
http://www.amigadev.net/index.php?sid=&subpage=home&function=showmail
lists or to www.amigadev.com and select mailing lists on the right
hand side of the screen. Select either press or dealer, and fill out
your information. We will begin weekly feeds to these lists to better
support our press and dealers.
I know that many of you will read that this letter says nothing, and
that there is nothing happening, other than a new motorcycle for me.
Well you are very wrong. We are meeting directly with the heads of
some of the largest computer and consumer electronics companies in the
world, and not only do they see the value in what we are offering but
they see where the Amiga community, you, is the real value.
Now we still have a ways to go, but we are moving very fast, and I
know that you will all be very proud of Amiga as we continue to make
things happen.
The biggest challenge for Amiga right now is to stay focused on our
core strengths, and not make the mistakes of those who have walked
before us.
The Amiga opportunity is huge, and sometimes overwhelming. There are
so many conflicting reports, and I have not done a very good job of
being able to communicate to all of you as well as I would like to.
We are getting much closer every day, and everyone of you are a major
part of the Amiga Family's success.
Bill McEwen and the rest of the Amiga Team
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A P C & T C P S T A T E M E N T O N E P I C U K
30 Sep 2000
I beg to inform you about the following:
APC&TCP has just one single distributor: GTI
Epic Marketing UK (not Epic Germany!!) hasn't been our English
distributor for a long time and hasn't been supplied by us with
anything. Epic UK does also not receive any legal software from our
company by other middlemen. Epic UK should not have one single product
of APC&TCP in their stock after a whole year (products which haven't
been payed for anyway), so they can't offer nor sale any of our
products. If this should be the case anyway - well, it should be clear
enough what exactly is sold there :(
APC&TCP http://www.apc-tcp.de
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A M I G A F U T U R E ' S F U T U R E
16 October, 2000
CS&E PRESSRELEASE
CS&E has recently made an agreement with Amiga Future to produce an
English version of this popular German games magazine. To begin with
Amiga Future will be included in Amiga Survivor, but after a few
issues it will be out as a publication in its own right under the
Amiga Future UK name. You can subscribe to Amiga Future UK now and you
will receive at least two FREE copies of Amiga Survivor until Amiga
Future is ready. Simply contact CS&E and leave your details, including
a credit card number if you desire. Subscription prices will be
similar to the current prices charged by Amiga Future. Amiga Future UK
will be out in the UK and beyond under the new CS&E Media label.
Best Regards,
David Connolly
Managing Director
CS&E
AMIGA FUTURE PRESSRELEASE
The Amiga Future met recently a license agreement with CS&E
(England). Starting from the output 27 of the Amiga Future now also
English users can arrive the benefit of the Amiga Future. For the
first outputs the Amiga Future will be however only once a part of the
well-known English magazine Amiga Surivor. Later the booklet will
become completely independent.
The German editorship supplies only the booklet contents of the
editorial section of the Amiga Future UK. CS&E is exclusively
responsible for subscribers, advertisement , selling price and for
pages which are particularly arranged for English users. The same
applies also to subscriptions and single orders of the English
Version.
Also the cover CD will not be 100% identical, since the English user
has no need for German info texts.
The Amiga Future appears as used and except the editorship of the
Amiga Future has nobody to influence on our magazine. Definitive
nothing will change for our German-speaking user. Naturally the
editorship looks also still further for partners in other countries.
Andreas Magerl
Chefredaktion
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S H A R K P P C F R O M E L B O X
Krakow, 12 October 2000
ELBOX COMPUTER is proud to announce the breath-taking new product:
the most powerful PowerPC accelerator for Amiga 1200, 3000 and 4000.
The new accelerator - SharkPPC G3/G4 board - is a pure PowerPC-based
processor card to be fitted in MEDIATOR PCI A1200 and MEDIATOR PCI
A3/4000 busboards.
SharkPPC G3/G4 cards give Amiga Classic computers the top performance
of the latest PowerPC technology and the power of the long-awaited
next generation computer.
New PowerPC750 processors installed in SharkPPC G3/G4 cards offer the
following performance: 17.4SPECint95@400MHz, 11.7SPECfp95@400MHz,
928DMIPS@400MHz, 22.4SPECint95@550MHz, 13.3SPECfp95@550MHz,
1276DMIPS@550MHz.
The SharkPPC G3/G4 design combines speed of PowerPC G3/G4 processors
with extremely fast on-board memory interface controlling two SDRAM
modules, up to 512MB each. The peak memory transfer rate reaches
582MB/s. The accelerator card takes control over the PCI busboard with
a 66MHz PCI 2.1 compliant interface fitted with a two-channel DMA
controller.
Communication between the existing Amiga turbo accelerator and the
SharkPPC G3/G4 card is executed with the shared SDRAM memory and the
interrupt controller in the MEDIATOR PCI hardware. The new accelerator
offers excellent bandwidth to any PCI card: 264 MB/s (132 MB/s in the
system with 33 MHz PCI cards). This powerful performance in PCI
graphic cards enables development of new superb games/graphic
applications in the native PPC code.
All the currently available Amiga software may be executed in the 68k
processor with full use of all the PCI cards installed in the
computer. It is possible because both accelerator cards installed in
the computer access all the PCI cards independently.
On top of that, in new applications to be developed both accelerators
may enhance performance of each other just the same way as it is done
in advanced multi-processor systems. This is due to the fact that
processors in both accelerators (68k/PPC and SharkPPC) work fully
simultaneously, which is for the first time available for Amiga users.
The first SharkPPC G3/G4 cards for developers will be available by
end of November, with production planned to commence in January 2001.
When new speed versions of PowerPC processors are available, the
SharkPPC line will be expanded with more models.
The suggested retail price (VAT excl.) for the SharkPPC G3/G4
accelerators are:
SharkPPC G3/G4 750@400................ EUR 390.00
(PowerPC750@400MHz and 256KB@400MHz L2 Cache)
SharkPPC G3/G4 750@550................ EUR 520.00
(PowerPC750@550MHz and 256KB@550MHz L2 Cache)
Pricing of versions with other processors will be announced
separately.
NEW
Please look for our further releases:
1. Development progress of PCI Sound and TV card drivers for MEDIATOR
PCI 1200.
2. MEDIATOR development line (A4000 and A3000).
Mariusz Wloczysiak
ELBOX COMPUTER, Press Department
----------------------------------------------------------------------
V O O D O O N E W S F R O M D C E
DCE gets exclusive rights to publish Voodoo CGX drivers
Oberhausen, Friday 13th October 2000
Today, Vision Factory Development (VFD) and DCE Computer Service
signed an exclusive contract about the use of current "CGX
Voodoo"-Drivers. In contrast to earlier announcements , this driver
will be exclusively available for the G-REX PCI expansion only.
This contract guarantees the immediate availability and the best
support a user can get for the current range of powerful voodoo
graphics boards in conjunction with all currently available ppc
accelerators of the Blizzard- and CyberStorm series.
With the expected problems of PPC 3D drivers in conjunction with
Mediator PCI and the currently available PPC accelerators in Dual-CPU
mode (68K 2D driver) in mind, VFD decided to drop the further
development of the actual Alpha Voodoo drivers for Mediator and
concentrates on development for the G-REX PCI board because drivers
were succesfully tested already.
Voodoo3 cards should give you a significant performance boost for the
current range of PPC accelerated games, flawless working of the
CyberGraphX driver can't be guaranteed due to technical hardware
limitations of Mediator PCI though, so VFD decided to go that way.
As a final note, CGX Voodoo driver alpha versions that are probably
develivered with the Mediator hardware are in no way authorized or
licensed by VFD. Current S3 ViRGE drivers are not affected by this
agreement.
DCE and VFD also decided to work together on additional drivers
regarding both networking and sound in conjunction with G-REX PCI.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E L B O X C O M P L A I N T R E V O O D O O
On Saturday, 14 Oct 2000
community of Amiga users were informed that an agreement was signed
by virtue of which Mr. Frank Mariak (Vision Factory Development)
transferred exclusive rights to Voodoo PCI drivers written by himself
to a third party.
We, ELBOX Computer, feel obliged to make the entire situation clear
to Amiga users world-wide, as the circumstances around this event are
twisted again and again and give false image of the situation to
public opinion.
Please find the below report as the clarification of what has been
transpiring in the recent weeks behind the scenes.
Background
On 24 July 2000, Elbox Computer and Vision Factory Development
jointly released an announcement on concluding an agreement, by virtue
of which VFD undertook to develop support for PCI graphic cards
installed in the MEDIATOR PCI busboard. (See
http://www.vgr.com/mediator/pressrelease1.txt )
Before this agreement was concluded, both parties negotiated and
finally decided on some specific terms and conditions of co-operation
as follows:
The key point of the agreement was that support for PCI graphic
cards in CGX3 was to be devoid of hardware acceleration, which
was to be fully developed in the CGX4 commercial version.
The parties decided to make the following commitments:
1. ELBOX Computer shall make the developer's documentation for
the MEDIATOR PCI busboard available in order to complete the
agreed work.
The developer's documentation was transferred to
Mr. Frank Mariak on 14 July 2000.
2. ELBOX Computer will provide Vision Factor Development with
computer hardware for preparing drivers for PCI graphic cards
installed in the MEDIATOR PCI 1200 busboard, which Mr. Mariak
needed at that time.
ELBOX Computer sent the hardware: Amiga 1200 in E/BOX tower
with the developer's MEDIATOR PCI 1200 busboard, 1240 turbo
card, FastATA 1200 controller, a hard disk and other necessary
add-ons as well as S3 ViRGE and Voodoo3 PCI cards to
Mr. Frank Mariak on 07 Aug 2000. Another computer hardware
set was delivered to VFD team last week.
3. Vision Factory Development shall develop support for graphic
cards operating in the MEDIATOR PCI busboard. Support for
S3 ViRGE and Voodoo3 chipsets was agreed upon as the minimum.
S3 Virge:
ELBOX Computer received a test version of an S3 ViRGE card
driver (enabling starting Workbench in the S3 ViRGE PCI card)
from Vision Factory Development on 18 July 2000;
S3 ViRGE drivers are currently available.
Voodoo3:
ELBOX Computer received a test version of Voodoo3 drivers
for MEDIATOR PCI for presentation purposes (allowing for
operation with Workbench) on 29 Sep 2000.
4. ELBOX Computer, after starting the production of the MEDIATOR PCI
busboard shall deliver a bundled free package of CyberGraphX v.3
along with drivers for all the currently supported PCI graphic
cards.
ELBOX Computer is now selling the MEDIATOR PCI busboard
through the network of its distributors world-wide.
CGX3 is bundled with MEDIATOR PCI. This is an excellent
advertising move for the commercial CGX4.
Before the agreement
ELBOX offered Mr. Frank Mariak that our programmers would prepare
drivers for various graphic chipsets, including Voodoo3 PCI, for
working with CyberGraphX. Such drivers would then be transferred in
the form of source codes written in assembler for Mr. Frank Mariak's
authorisation and distribution. We expected only making available some
developer's information related to CGX in return.
However, Mr. Mariak decided he would himself write the drivers
if we supported him with hardware and documentation. Which we did.
False information
in the announcement on selling rights to Voodoo drivers included
alleged expected technical problems related to implementation
of 3D drivers with our MEDIATOR PCI busboard.
Please note that none such problems exist. On our request,
Mr. Mariak was to report to us any possible problems related
to his development work... and he remained silent all the time.
Using Developer's Documentation
for MEDIATOR PCI and computer hardware (including Voodoo3 PCI card)
provided free of charge by ELBOX Computer as requested by Mr. Frank
Mariak for writing Voodoo3 drivers, as it turned out, for another
company is the clearest form of breaching rules of social life
and business honesty and integrity.
New business vision
On 13 Oct 2000, Mr. Frank Mariak signed an agreement on selling
the Voodoo3 drivers for benefit of another company. In contacts
with our company, Mr. Frank Mariak never mentioned any intention
of this kind on his part, never suggested such a possibility
and never asked for or negotiated any payment for his software
writing work. He never contacted us in this issue.
Then, out of the blue, he surprised us and all Amiga users with
making a "simple BUSINESS DECISION" (original quotation from
Mr. Mariak's response to our inquiry for explanation of the
VFD & DCE's announcement) on making an alliance with a third
party for selling the above rights.
We hope this explanation clarifies the situation.
Please make sure that we refrain from any comments of ethical
or whatever nature. The above are simple facts to make you all
aware of the plot behind the scenes.
ELBOX MOVES FORWARD
In the view of the circumstances described above, ELBOX Computer
hereby announces that our programmers shall prepare software
for supporting Voodoo3 cards in the MEDIATOR PCI busboards.
These drivers will be included in the software package for the
MEDIATOR PCI busboard. We expect completing work on the first
version of this software within two weeks.
ELBOX Computer
Mariusz Wloczysiak, Press Department
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H A N D P G E T S T F A X P R O , G E N E S I S
Darlington, UK. September 28, 2000
Active Technologies and HAAGE&PARTNER Computer GmbH (H&P) have come
to a mutual agreement where the publishing rights to the fax/voice
software STFax Professional, and the copy and publishing rights to the
TCP/IP stack, Genesis, are passed from Active Technologies to H&P.
Active Technologies believe that the future of STFax Professional and
Genesis is more secure and promising under the direction of the H&P
development team. The agreement is in effect immediately and further
enquiries should be addressed to H&P.
Jürgen Haage comments on the take-over: Genesis and STFax are
strategically important products for H&P and we are glad that we can
care for their future development and porting. A first result of our
efforts will be the release of a new update of STFax by next week. We
are also planning a new look for Genesis - you will be surprised.
Active Technologies was a developer of Internet and communications
software for the Amiga computer, producing a number of award-winning
titles such as NetConnect, Genesis and STFax Professional.
H&P is the leading manufacturer of development systems and
applications for the Amiga family of computers and currently
developing next generation software for the existing and future Amiga
market. Their mission is to provide the Amiga market with the most
effective tools and applications possible. For further information,
visit www.haage-partner.com.
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S T F A X 4 . 5 I S A V A I L A B L E
13 October, 2000
The following functions have been added:
o Added ELSA MicroLink Office support for Independent Mode.
o Added support for Diamond Multimedia voice command set.
o asyncio.library is used (if available) when transferring files via
XPR
libraries (BBS transmissions).
o The check for files stored inside the modem memory will be
performed
only once when STFax is started, instead of each time the serial
device
is opened.
o The viewer will open using the last used scaling factor.
More Information on STFax
Availability
STFax 4.5 is available now and can be bought directly in our online
shop.
Full Version
The price of STFax 4.5 is 98,- DM.
Updates
There is a free update for all customers of version 4.x on our ftp
server (-> Download). Customers that do not have Internet access can
find the update on our Service-CD. Customers of older versions can get
the Update for 59,- DM.
Sidegrades
Customers of other commercial fax programs can obtain a Sidegrade for
just 79 DM. (-> Proof needed!)
www.haage-partner.com
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F A S T E C H ' S U N N A M E D E X P A N D E R
21 October, 2000
Amiga super expansion system
The as yet unnamed Amiga classic expansion system is currently in the
alpha test phase. The product will initially be released for A3000/T
and A4000/T computers.
The system provides:
- 3 PCI slots
- 3 Zorro-III compatible slots
- 1 AGP slot
- 1 SDRAM DIMM slot
- 2 CPU expansion slots
- 1 A1200 style clock slot
- 2 x serial and 1 x EPP Parallel ports
Inital CPU module offerings will be 400 MHz Motorola Power PC G4
based and 333 MHz Motorola Coldfire based (68k compatible)
Coldfire CPU module completed and in testing.
The new coldfire CPU module is now complete and in testing with the
expansion module. OS patches and library updates required are now
being developed. Initial performance testing is very impressive.
Legacy 68k Amiga applications like DTP and 3D rendering software run
at modern PC/Mac speeds.
PowerPC module has been delayed due to performance concerns. Our
Charon chipset on the Expansion system is being redesigned to allow
full speed access by both CPU modules and the PCI and AGP busses
concurrently.
Expansion System drivers now in Alpha testing stage:
- LSI(Symbios) 53C8xx SCSI
- VIA rhine ethernet (10/100)
- DEC Tulip ethernet (10/100)
- Intel Ethernet (10/100)
- Axxon I/O (HS serial parallel)
- SB-Live!
- HPT-366 IDE
GFX drivers coming soon pending RTG software decision.
http://fastech.iwarp.com
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I M A G E F X H O L I D A Y S A L E
27 September, 2000
Nova Design, Inc., the award winning leaders in graphics software for
the Amiga, is pleased to announce a special bundle and sale on ImageFX
for the holidays! We're not kidding around this time, we're not
playing softball either. This is a big league sale. We mean it -- this
one is big! Really Big!! (to quote the Shatner)
Before we tell you just how low we've cut the price of ImageFX, you
really want to know that we're adding something extra special into the
package. With EVERY sale we're including PowerStation -- the PPC
modules for ImageFX. Normally these sell for $99.95 all by themselves.
But not this time, because we're going to include them for free when
you buy ImageFX new or upgrade!
Now, here's the deal on the pricing. You're getting ImageFX and the
PowerStation modules included in the package. ImageFX itself normally
lists for $299.95 -- and sells for about $240 from most mail order
companies. If you added PowerStation to that price you'd be paying
$340 or so, but not this time. For the first time ever, we're going to
lower the price to only $199.95 for direct or reseller sales! That's
less than $200. Granted, it's only a nickel less, but it's still the
lowest price ever offered outside of Clem's copy of a used ImageFX on
eBay!
If you just need to upgrade your ImageFX -- the deal is even better,
because we're lowering the upgrade prices as well. If you're upgrading
from ImageFX 3.x, the price will be only $59.95. PowerStation ALONE
cost more than that! If you're upgrading from 2.x, the price is only
$79.95. If you have ANY other, older, version of ImageFX -- the
upgrade price is being dropped $25 down to only $124.95 now! We've
NEVER lowered upgrade prices before and we don't plan to do it ever
again.
The only 'catch' is that you better buy soon, because this sale isn't
going to last long. It's just for the holidays or until my partners
find out and make me stop!
Special Pricing Again
Okay, one more time. ImageFX, brand new, with PowerStation, is only
$199.95 for a limited time.
Upgrades from 3.x, 2.x, or older are an insanely low $59.95, $79.95
and $124.95 respectively. Also for a limited time.
Remember, ImageFX is available from your favorite Amiga reseller and
they need your business too. Outside the US contact our distributors
Haage and Partner in Germany or EyeTech in the UK. They are running
their own specials at this time and you should contact them for their
prices.
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 ATTN: INSANE PRICING
For more information visit us on the Internet at
http://www.novadesign.com
'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 also works well. ImageFX works on any Amiga
with 4mb of RAM and a hard drive.
http://www.novadesign.com/
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I N S T A L L E R N G ( 3 R D P A R T Y ) A V A I L A B L E
Oct 1, 2000
What's this thing about
First, you need an Amiga Computer for this tool. Furthermore, the
Amiga must run at least version 2.1+ of the operating system. Every
Amiga user knows the Installer tool, distributed with the system.
Well, the idea is nice, but the Installer became a pretty old thing
during the last years. Thus, in 1997 I decided to rewrite the entire
tool and the result is the InstallerNG, which you can get here. Below,
please find a few of the things which are enhanced (compared to the
old Installer) and which are completely new:
o the compiler itself is stronger and, thus, much safer
o resizeable and modern GUI; if you like, plugin the MUI interface
o mc68060 and PPC recognation and support
o many new functions (see the documentation)
o interpreter options (e.g. debug, create uninstall scripts, etc...)
o optional compiler modules
o many, many more ...
And of course, it is fully compatible to the old Installer (provided
the scripts are ok)!
Archives
The InstallerNG is Freeware. You may download the entire distribution
(binaries, documetantion, developer information, compiler modules, GUI
plugins, sample scripts), the binaries (including a version for either
68000 and 68020+ plus a debug version) or related compiler modules
here.
o complete archive (440k,Oct 1, 2000) download
o the binaries only (215k, Oct 1, 2000) download
o compiler modules (4k, Oct 1, 2000) download
If you would like to release your own GUI plugins or compiler
modules, please don't hesitate to contact me.
http://installerng.light-speed.de
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Amiga Update on the net:
All back issues available at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/~amigaupdate/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2000 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
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U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E
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