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Amiga Update (2000-09-23)
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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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000923
M E T E R N E T A N D A M I G A T E A M
A S D O A M I G A A N D H Y P E R I O N
C O N C E R N O V E R P E T R O B U S I N E S S
P L A N S S T A R T F O R A M I G A 2 0 0 1
F I N N I S H U S E R S G R O U P A N N U A L M E E T I N G
T E X A S G R O U P F L E A M A R K E T
A C E I N A U S T R A L I A
N E W S F R O M C R Y S T A L I N T E R A C T I V E
H A A G E & P A R T N E R N E W S
E L B O X A I R S C O M P L A I N T
I N N O V A T I V E M O V E S O N . . .
. . . A S D O E S E P I C M A R K E T I N G
. . . A N D A S I M W A R E ?
M R . M Y S Z A M O U S E A D A P T E R
T H E P R E D A T O R F R O M E Y E T E C H
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
There's a stong dichotomy in this issue's stories. There are a number
of items showing a clear move forward on Amiga's part into the future
with its new generation of software and hardware standards. There's an
equally clear picture presented by other stories of the Classic Amiga
market shutting down.
We don't think there will be any problem with those of us dependent
on classic machines surviving until there are new computers with new
software to move to, so there's no reason for panic. There is,
however, every reason to see the transition as real and happening now.
It's about time, but we can't deny it's always a bit frightening to
move into a new existence and see the door to the old closing behind
you. Keep in mind it's an entire community making the transition, and
we're all in it together. You will also find in this issue many
stories showing just how strong our Amiga community remains.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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E-mail to the E-ditor:
27 Aug 2000
Brad,
I was glad to see that some users out there still have the A2000 and
A3000! Mine are not in operating mode at present. No fault of mine. An
expensive tradesman repair gone sour. But perhaps there is hope. I
loved those Amigas! I thought these old favorites would be left in the
dust of the 1200, and the new products I saw displayed by Bill McEwen
on The Screensavers TV show on ZDTV! Quite an impressive introduction
to the new Amiga.
Lee
~~~~~~
Lee,
Hang on, things are just starting to roll out for the new Amiga. As
noted in my comments above, you can really see the transition from the
old Amiga to the new taking place right now. At the moment, though,
the A2000s, A3000s and beyond are still working very well for many
Amigans, including me.
Brad
======
28 Aug 2000
Tell Johan that we're working on getting up more Music-x stuff, there's a
bit up on our site in the meantime in the Music section:
http://www.amigau.com/
Kevin Orme
amiga university
www.amigau.com
~~~~~~
Kevin,
Message delivered, and we've included your note for the benefit of
anyone else interested in Music-x.
Brad
======
28 Aug 2000
Thank you for the continued newsletters. I'm still an active Amiga
user and any Amiga news is greatly appreciated. My "other computer" is
a MacIntosh and news/tips having to do with Mac/Amiga interaction
would be of interest. (File exchanges via Consultron's CrossMAC
program allows some things on a Mac and Amiga to work very well with
each other).
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).
My experience with the Orb drive on a MacIntosh system is positive so
far. It seems to work equally well on the Mac's standard SCSI or from
an Ultra SCSI card. The price of the drive and the media are certainly
reasonable enough to make it an attractive option for Amiga owners if
it could be made to work on one.
Thanks for any information you may have.
-- Dave --
~~~~~~
Dave,
As I do with any topic I'm not fully familiar with, let me throw this
one out to the readership. Can anyone help Dave?
Brad
======
27 Aug 2000
I have an A4000/060 with an internal CD-ROM drive and an A500/030 and an
external ZIP drive (now, also a 2Gb Jaz drive).
I just copied the OS 3.5 data onto a ZIP disk, moved the drive over
to my A500 and installed from there.
Gary
~~~~~~
Gary,
Thanks for the suggestion. We hope this information can help some of
those at least who've asked us about installing OS 3.5 on systems
without CD/ROM drives. It'll require finding someone else with an
Amiga, a CD/ROM drive and a Zip or similar, but looks like it can be
done fairly easily.
Brad
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M E T E R N E T A N D A M I G A T E A M
Snoqualmie, WA - Reno, NV-September 20, 2000 - Business Wire - Targeting the
millions of computerless and offline consumers worldwide who will soon be
broadband enabled, Amiga and MeterNet have teamed to develop and deliver a
series of broadband SimpleBox Internet Devices powered by the next generation
Amiga.
MeterNet's SimpleBox Program is dedicated to bringing best of breed solutions
to their embedded platforms and target markets. Each device incorporates a
tailored SimpleBox User Interface (UI) on top of rugged solid state hardware
with no moving parts. Along with providing simple navigation and operation,
the SimpleBox UI offers optional feature-packed integrated web based eMail
that is optimized for display on TV and VGA screens.
The initial Mid Class product to be released powered by Amiga is the
SimpleBox Java Internet Device (JID) model wb8616JID. The Simplebox wb8616JID
is value packed with a robust v4. browser, audio/video streaming, instant
messaging and fast ethernet for easy broadband connection via cable, dsl,
satellite and local area networks.
Unlike other currently available devices from America Online (AOL), Microsoft
(MSFT), Ravisent (RVST), Web-2U (MUCP) and others, the SimpleBoxJID powered
by Amiga contains a Sun Authorized Virtual Machine, a very high performance,
memory efficient solution for running JavaTM technology based media content
MeterNet and Amiga are also developing a low cost Internet Radio Device for
worldwide consumer markets targeted for release early 2001.
Amiga Incorporated is the emerging leader in multiplatform, multimedia
Operating Systems. The Amiverse offers a multi-media digital environment that
provides developers with a true write once run anywhere opportunity. Amiga
has both leveraged and expanded upon its rich 15-year history of industry
leadership in the development of what we know as multi-media.
MeterNet Corporation develops and markets broadband Internet devices,
turn-key services and tailored integrated programs. Past satisfied clients
include Ziff-Davis, America Online, Alta Vista, Shopping.com and IBM. Since
12/99 we have shipped our SimpleBox Entry Level wb6400 series worldwide.
Phase One SimpleBox wb8616JID production is limited to 10,000 units with
shipments to commence in early December.
For more SimpleBox JID program information and to place an email order
reservation visit: http://world.simplebox.com
All Trademarks are the Property of their Respective Owners.
All Rights Reserved. ##
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A S D O A M I G A A N D H Y P E R I O N
Snoqualmie, WA. Aug 30, 2000
Amiga Inc. and Hyperion Entertainment are pleased to announce a
long-term alliance to bring Hyperion's impressive list of award
winning games to the Amiverse.
Hyperion's games are a testament to the high standard set by the
Amiga community. Much like the New Amiga, Hyperion has raised the bar
to a higher level. We are proud to include Hyperion in our future. We
are equally pleased to see such a steady stream of notable developers
validating our platform.'' Said Randy Hughes, Vice President Sales and
Strategic Alliances at Amiga Inc.
The initial list of titles being developed for the Amiverse include:
Heretic II: Already released for Classic Amiga PPC, Heretic II is a
gothic-style first-person shooter.
Sin: A super realistic ego shooter in a not-too-distant future with
an intriguing plot to solve and many levels to "clean-up". Sin is due
in Q3 2000.
Shogo: Fight with your Mobile Armor Division Mech through futuristic
cities and natural sites. Face a civil war in Mech mode or Soldier
mode in this award winning ego shooter, written with the famous
LithTech 3D Engine by Monolith. Shogo is also slated for Q3 2000.
Freespace: Development has already begun and is to be completed in Q4
2000. Freespace offers many space flights combats and mission for this
space opera among stars and nebulas. A great simulation for a great
story of space war.
Alien Nations: Development is just under way. In the style of Age of
Empires II, Alien Nations will allow you to lead your people to
survive attacks from your enemies. Live long and prosper in the levels
of this great Real Time Strategy game.
Soldier of Fortune: The highly acclaimed ego shooter of the year will
come to the Amiga. Designed with the help of SEAL people, SOF is one
of the most realistic ego shooter. Experience fights against
terrorists and criminals, train to be better and always remember to
shoot first.
"Hyperion will announce new games in the near future, as we negotiate
deals with new licensors including some of the industry's biggest
names. We want to bring the Amiga the hottest and most recent games,
as it was the case in the great Amiga gaming times. With the arrival
of new hardware such as faster graphics cards, the Amiga will enjoy a
new level of performance allowing the Amiga to keep up with bigger and
better games. Keep your Amiga updated, stay tuned and roll on the
Amiga One!" said Ben Yoris, PR Manager of Hyperion.
About Hyperion
Hyperion Entertainment is a privately held Belgian company founded in
April of 1999. Hyperion aims to bring top-class entertainment software
to leading alternative platforms including Amiga. Hyperion
Entertainment has license agreements with many of the top names in the
industry including Interplay, Activision and Monolith with more deals
to be made public soon.
Whilst Hyperion's primary expertise is in the field of 3D engines
(LithTech, Quake 2), the company has recently been working with its
publisher Titan (www.titan-computer.com) on expanding its line-up with
strategy and RTS games as well as RPG's and simulators. The results of
these efforts will be announced over the course of the next few
months. Hyperion Entertainment is also investigating the possibility
of applying its expertise in the field of 3D graphics to
non-entertainment related areas. For additional information, please
see www.hyperion-software.com .
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C O N C E R N O V E R P E T R O B U S I N E S S
A recent posting on the Amiga-news.de website created a mini-uproar
in the Amiga community. The posting stated that Petro Tyschtschenko,
long time bastion of the Amiga community and head of Amiga
Deutschland, had founded a new company in partnership with a Frank
Basta. The company, called Power Service BmbH, appears to be a
supplier of tempory workers for software firms.
A response from Petro posted on the Czech Amiga News site indicated
no intent to leave the Amiga community or Amiga itself behind:
"Sorry but I have no plans to quit. I have only invested 50 % in Power
Service, which is a company I believe in. It is no Computer Company and no
competition... Power Service is a Job agency for IT Specialists. I will
continue with my beloved AMIGA. Best regards and thanks for your
mail...Petro"
Several web sites carried the following quote from Amiga Inc's CEO
Bill McEwen at the time the original announcement was made:
"I would be shocked and personally hurt to find out that Petro has
not been making Amiga his first priority, and that he has been using
his Amiga paid trips to India for his own personal gain. We pay him a
wonderful salary, we pay for his Mercedes, his cell phone, and his
beautiful offices. He has never spoken to me about any issues or
problems, and if he has truly been using our money and time to promote
his own company I will be extremely disappointed. I hope that
Amiga-News is wrong in their findings."
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P L A N S S T A R T F O R A M I G A 2 0 0 1
28 Aug 2000
Amiga Fans everywhere,
Amigan-St. Louis is proud to announce that the next Gateway Computer
Show... Amiga2001, will be held on March 30, 31 and April 1, 2001.
This exciting event, Amiga2001 - An Amiga Odyssey, will be our best
yet. Due to the demise of the Henry VIII hotel, it's being torn down,
we had to move our venue to a new location.
The good news is that this place has lots to offer. The show will be
hosted at the Sheraton Westport Plaza. This Sheraton has the same old
world charm that the Henry VIII did, but offers much more. It has
parking for over 3,000 cars. It's location, at West Port Plaza is
really terrific, as that puts it in the middle of entertainment,
restaurants, pubs, shopping, eateries, movie theaters, live theater, a
jazz club and much more. Under cover parking is available too.
We'll be posting something on our web site by the end of September,
so keep an eye out. In the mean time, get your vacations lined up for
March 30 - April 1. Perhaps you'd like to come early or stay longer
and arrange a little fun in St. Louis. This is an exciting town, and
your family would be certain to enjoy it if you bring them.
http://www.amiga-stl.com
Amiga2001 - An Amiga Odyssey
Sheraton at Westport, St. Louis, MO. USA
Friday March 30 thru Sunday April 1, 2001
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F I N N I S H U S E R S G R O U P A N N U A L M E E T I N G
ESPOO, FINLAND - September 21, 2000 - Finnish Amiga Users Group will
host its annual user group meeting on Saturday September 30th from
14:00 to 17:45 in Espoo, Finland. The event will start with a formal
meeting, and an informal part will follow after 15:30 o'clock.
An Amiga dealer will be present with various Amiga items for sale.
The user group will also demonstrate the Amiga Software Development
Kit on Linux. Other highlights include various Amiga magazines for
reading, demonstration of licensed Amiga mobile phone covers and
plenty of good company. Admission is free of charge and free soft
drinks will be available.
Please visit http://batman.jytol.fi/~saku/ or our mirror site
http://tzimmola.tky.hut.fi/saku/ for instructions on how to get there,
latest news, IRC coverage, webcam and more. E-mail inquiries may be
sent to Anu Seilonen (thoriel@sci.fi).
About Finnish Amiga Users Group
Finnish Amiga Users Group (Suomen Amiga-käyttäjät ry.) is a
non-profit organization for promoting Amiga computing and helping
Amiga users in Finland. Also known as Saku, after its e-zine, the
group is trying to accomplish its goals by organizing meetings and by
publishing an e-zine. Since 1993 the Finnish Amiga Users Group and its
predecessors have released over thirty issues of the magazine and held
several public gatherings. Other accomplishments include the Web site
and Sakunet, a national Fidonet style network of Amiga related
bulletin board systems.
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T E X A S G R O U P F L E A M A R K E T
18 August, 2000
Flea Market Extravaganza '00
Where: The Brookside Convention Center, Hurst, Texas
When: Saturday, October 14, 2000
Time: 12:00 to 4:00pm
Admission: Free
Background
This year we are putting on our fourteenth annual computer Amiga
show. So come and join us and show your support for the Amiga.
Amiga Computer Flea Market
Hardware and Software for Amiga computers, from members and
non-members, will be for sale. The flea market will be open to members
for a fee of 5% on items sold. A fee of 10% will be charged to
non-members on items sold.
This year tables will be available to rent for the show to
individuals. The cost for one table will be $15.00 for members and
$20.00 for non-members. Please make arrangements in advance, space is
limited.
o Sellers:
Items for sale must be turned into a club representative. Prices are
set ahead of time and sales are handled by club representatives.
Arrangements MUST BE MADE IN ADVANCE. Items will NOT be accepted on
the day of the show. There will be no exceptions. For further details
please contact the club or one of the club's representatives. Items to
be sold at the flea market may be turned in at one of the chapter
meetings or you may make arrangements with one of these club
representatives:
Mark Stodola Cedar Hill (972) 299-6824
Ned Kelly Arlington (817) 277-5825
David Owens Fort Worth (817) 847-5486
Dan Stockelman Dallas (972) 985-8522
o Buyers:
Cash and checks accepted from members.
Cash only accepted from non-members.
Prices will be reduced at 3:00 pm.
Door Prizes
A drawing will be held at the end of the day. You must be present to
win.
Amiga Computer Dealers
Space is available to rent for dealers, companies or user groups.
Please inquire on rates.
MCCC Amiga Library
The entire MCCC library of Amiga computer disks, over 2,000 disks,
will be available.
Special Membership Offer
13 months for the price of 12. This offer is good for new or renewed
memberships.
Jay Miner Memorial Tape
The MCCC will be offering a two hour VHS tape of highlights of past
METCOMs and a short club history. The centerpiece of the tape is Jay
Miner's speech and question and answer session at METCOM 89. The cost
will be $9.00 for members and $15.00 for non-members. A PAL version is
also available at a slightly higher price. A limited number will be
available at the show, but if the response is good orders will be
taken.
Directions & Parking:
The Brookside Convention Center is located at 1244 Brookside Drive in
Hurst. To get to the Convention Center get to Highway 183/121 and take
the Precinct Line Road exit and drive south on Precinct Line Road.
After approximately 0.3 miles turn left (east), on Bedford Euless
Road. Drive 0.4 miles to Brookside Drive. The Convention Center is on
the southeast corner. There is plenty of parking space, and parking is
free.
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A C E I N A U S T R A L I A
Alternative Computer Expo
Including:
Linux - ACE
Amiga Computer Expo
Apple Computer Expo
Acorn Computer Expo
Australian Connectivity Expo
ACE is about Alternatives.
ACE is about Connecting people.
ACE is about Enhancing the user experience.
It's about using computers.
It's about solutions.
It's about the best operating systems.
When:
Saturday 21st October 9am - 6pm
Sunday 22nd October 9am - 5pm
Where:
The Grand Prix Pits, Aughtie Drive Albert Park Lake, Albert Park (in
the middle of the park!).
The show makes provision for families, children and those on lower
incomes.
Entry fees:
$10 General
$7 Students & concession
$20 Family
Children under 12 free
Globally the largest Amiga participation.
While ACE 2000 is being well recieved by the computing public of many
platforms. It is particularly significant for the Amiga community. ACE
2000 is now expected to have the largest Amiga participation of any
show this year. This is easily larger than any Australian Amiga show
of recent times. All Australian dealers of Amiga products are planning
to attend! A number of overseas dealers are also in the process of
confirming.
Power Computing (UK) expected to attend.
ACE to host OS/2 install-fest!
Apple's new OS X to be on display.
Linux install-fest proposed for ACE.
Dozens of flavours of unix to feature at ACE!
The Australian newspaper published a large article about the show in
their IT section.
IRC
IRC conferences are planned at regular intervals. Keep an eye on this
site for times and dates. Paul Demark has offered to moderate the IRC
sessions. Email lanky@connect.net.au for more info.
http://www.ace2k.net/
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N E W S F R O M C R Y S T A L I N T E R A C T I V E
19/09/00
Crystal Interactive Software are please to announce that we have
chosen Blittersoft for world wide distribution of our Amiga game
software.
Blittersoft being an established and well respected company within
the Amiga community will take on exclusive distribution of all Amiga
games we produce.
Blittersoft can be contacted on +44 (0)1908 225454 or email
sales@blittersoft.com
13/09/00
Crystal Interactive Software are please to announce our merger with
fellow Hertfordshire based games developers Clearwater Interactive.
This merger expands Crystal and Clearwater game developments to
almost all computer and console platforms
More information on Clearwater can be found at www.cw-i.com
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H A A G E & P A R T N E R N E W S
14 September 2000
ArtEffect Workshop reworked
Due to the development of ArtEffect there were some inconsistencies
in the old workshop, but those are settled now. We also redesigned the
complete website. In 12 chapters you experience the amazing functions
and effects of ArtEffect. Workshop
28 August 2000
Storm C Announcement
The new version of the well-known development system will be a
quantum leap: Network capabilities, distributed Make, CVS, modified
GCC compiler with Amiga Hund format, global full text search, extended
editor, debugging of tasks and shared libraries and the new StormDOC.
06 September 2000
H&P increases personnel
In October of the past year, we already hired a new programmer,
namely Markus Poellmann. He mainly cares for StormC, and also works on
AmigaWriter. At the beginning of 2000, a new co-worker was found, Ute
Gottschalk, who takes care of accounting and datatyping. Stefan Robl
has just finished a practical period for his computer studies, in
which he created a new and portable version of StormRexx. At the
beginning of September, Alexander Bramm and Simon Neumann brought two
new co-workers. Their main concern is support, and managing of new
projects.
06 September 2000
Further co-workers wanted
For proof-reading of our website texts, press releases and manuals we
are looking for an additional English native speaker. A good knowledge
of English grammar etc. is essential. Surprisingly we already got
about 18 applications, but we only need one or two people to help on
this. Thank you very much.
www.haage-partner.com
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E L B O X A I R S C O M P L A I N T
Elbox Computer
Krakow, 21 Sep 2000
OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
We, Elbox Computer company, the company involved with microcomputer
technology for over 18 years, the company with the principles of
reliability, honesty and care for our clients, feel obliged to release
this announcement to protect interests of Amiga users.
For several weeks now, the Eyetech company has been involved in a
propaganda action against our breakthrough product for Amiga
computers: the MEDIATOR PCI. Eyetech publish and disseminate untrue
views on MEDIATOR, the exceptional busboard, and compare this high-end
product with their announced device.
It is not our way to comment on others' activities, yet under the
current circumstances we feel obliged to explain this situation and
Eyetech's accusations to Amiga users and to comment on the idea
indicated by Eyetech (or any other company behind the Eyetech
nametag).
BLIZZARD PPC LOCAL BUS LIMITATIONS:
Eyetech announced releasing a product they called competitive to our
MEDIATOR high-end card. Technical specification of this product has
been announced in such a way that Amiga users would have to misread
it.
The idea of connecting a PCI/AGP busboard directly to Blizzard PPC
cards gives worse performance than MEDIATOR because:
1. This solution is only for owners of Blizzard PPC accelerators.
You have to stick with your Blizzard PPC 603e for ever.
No change, no open structure, no versatility.
2. Practical average data transfers over the busboard connected
directly to Blizzard PPC cards will not be higher than achieved
with MEDIATOR - due to technical limitations of Blizzard PPC
cards.
3. Connection of a busboard to the connector used for inserting
a BVision card renders further use of the BVision card
impossible.
MEDIATOR OPEN SOLUTION:
The MEDIATOR high-end busboard is the best solution for Amiga
computers to offer high-speed support for PCI cards.
The MEDIATOR busboard is a well-thought product, with long-standing
history of design development and a vision for its lasting evolution,
to give Amiga users power they have not had so far.
Our basic idea is that MEDIATOR is an OPEN solution, capable of
hosting ANY turbo cards from the Amiga market. MEDIATOR is not reduced
to a Blizzard PPC-bound concept. MEDIATOR gives you the possibility to
have any turbo card you want.
MEDIATOR has been designed specifically for all the available cards
and each and every turbo card works with MEDIATOR at the maximum speed
available for the given card.
MEDIATOR PCI may offer transfer of data from/to any Amiga turbo card
at the maximum speed of up to 132 MB/s. The only practical limitation
lies in the design of the specific turbo card.
MEDIATOR is expandable, even more: it is ready for any new Amiga
cards that will be available in the future - this gives you freedom
that you have never had before.
You can use MEDIATOR with any turbo cards: Blizzard 1230, Blizzard
1240, Blizzard 1260, Blizzard PPC, Apollo 1230, Apollo 1240, Apollo
1260, Elbox 1230, MTec 1230, etc. and with any future concepts like
Amijoe and more...
MEDIATOR ADVANTAGES:
MEDIATOR has been designed optimised for any turbo card type, so that
the maximum possible performance is obtained in the given hardware
configuration.
MEDIATOR automatically recognises the turbo card type and executes
the best procedures to guarantee the highest performance possible in
this configuration. This is an unrivalled feature.
This approach is much more time- and effort- and money-consuming than
the concept of supporting Blizzard PPC cards only.
Besides, the idea of connecting a PCI/AGP busboard directly to
Blizzard PPC cards does not give you, the Amiga user, any additional
speed gains when compared with MEDIATOR - you will only feel that
Eyetech's design is simpler and possibly definitely cheaper.
We feel very sorry that Eyetech in this context is apparently
discrediting MEDIATOR's performance while being well aware of their
fallacy.
ABOUT ELBOX:
We have been developing and producing electronic equipment since 1982.
Our superb Amiga designs include:
* E-BOX tower systems and ZORRO busboards for A1200 and A4000
(also known as Power Tower in the UK and Winner Tower in Germany);
* Elbox FastATA controllers for A1200 and A4000 (known also under the
name of Power Flyer in the UK and Winner HighSpeed Controller in
Germany);
* Memory expansion cards for all types of Amiga computers and many
other minor accessories, e.g. PC Mouse interfaces (Mroocheck,
Punchinello), others.
Elbox is also the owner of Twin Spark Soft, a company producing
software for Amiga computers (in the Polish language only).
Besides Amiga devices, we design and produce industrial controllers
(e.g. for injection moulding machines) and many other high-end
devices in the fields of radio- and telecommunications (e.g. call
systems, pagers, speech coding devices).
NEW:
Please look for our further releases about ELBOX products for Amiga
computers to be on sale by the end of this year:
1. MEDIATOR evolution line (A4000 and A3000);
2. The TOTALLY NEW breakthrough turbo cards for Amiga computers
(A4000, A3000, A1200).
Mariusz Wloczysiak
ELBOX COMPUTER, Press Department
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I N N O V A T I V E M O V E S O N . . .
11.9.2000 Innovative announces future plans
Innovative, known as the developers of popular AMIGA®-titles such as
fxPAINT, fxSCAN, VHI Studio and Ultraconv today announced the future
plans of the enterprise.
fxSCAN 3.0 with intelligent OCR-engine (OCR = Optical Character
Recognition)[0m fxSCAN will soon be available in version 3.0. It will
be a major update including the following new features:
· intelligent OCR-engine
· Support for free BetaScan-drivers
· comfortable Copymachine-function
· reworked user-interface
· JPEG-files are now loaded via PPC
· many small improvements
The price for V3.0 will be at 69.- DM/35 EURO/35 US$. An update from
V1.0/V2.0 will cost 59.- DM/30 EUROR/30 US$. We won't offer updates
from V1.0 SE (ScanQuix-special edition). fxSCAN 3.0 can already be
ordered from Innovative's online-shop (http://www.innovative-web.de/)
and will be delivered as soon as the final product becomes available.
A completly new fxSCAN-website will be online at the time the new
version is introduced.
The present
Innovative regards the AMIGA®-market as too small to further exist
only from revenues of this market. The enterprise doesn't see any
tendencies towards improvement, as key-enterprises have either left
the AMIGA®-market or went out of bussiness and important hardware-
products are only available as long as they are still in stock.
Faster, more up-to-date or completly new hardware doesn't seem to be
within reach and major improvements of the current Classic-AmigaOS®
are not to be expected in near future. The AMIGA® SDK is a highlight,
but it is not a garantor for the future existance and maintenance of
the new AMIGA®-Operating-/Computersystems.
The current situation forces Innovative to look for new markets and
to no more _exclusivly_ work in the AMIGA®-market.
The future
After the availability of fxSCAN V3.0, Innovative will intensify work
on a new technology (details are not available due to reasons of
protecting Innovative's intellectual property). Programs developed
with the aid of this new technology (Codename "InNT") will be more
comfortable to use and will have an even more spectacular optic.
Furthermore programs developed with it will be highly portable to
other platforms and CPUs. Indeed porting an application is expected to
take only a few days, cutting down both the amount of development-time
and -money that has to be spent for that task. As soon as the first
version of this new technology is finished we will start porting
already known Innovative-titles to the new technology and a variety of
different platforms. Besides the AMIGA®-market, the Windows®- and
Linux®-market will be target of the developments of the company. It's
also planned to hand out licences for this new technology, but this
still has to be decided. The result of the decision will be announced
in a later, seperate press release.
The AMIGA®-conversions
We regret to say that our new technology will most probably not be
able to run on 68K-PPC-Dual-CPU-Systems as it is currently used in
some AMIGA®s, as a seperation of the GUI and the program will be hard
to perform and a 68060 definatly seems to be too slow for fluid and
comfortable work. Once the development of the first version of the new
technology is finished, Innovative will evaluate the possibilities of
a portation to MorphOS and APUS Linux and is currently planning a
portation to these platforms. The Tao® Elate®-based new AmigaOS® will
be supported by Innovative as far as it is available. This way,
AMIGA®-users will be able to continue enjoying the high-quality and
highly innovative software by Innovative.
The current products
It can't be denied that future plans are in conflict with the further
development of the current product-line for AMIGA®-computers.
Nevertheless the currently existing products will be developed further
and updates will be available at a regular basis though not as often
as in the past. As soon as the versions developed with the new
technology are available, users get an update-offer. So everybody
buying an Innovative-product today, buys a product that will be
developed further in future and that he will be able to use even after
switching to other OSes like Windows®, Linux® or "Amiga® NG" as well.
The webservices
We will stop offering webservices, as the amount of time and money
spent can in no way be justified with the resulting revenues. Existing
contracts will continue to exist for a yet undefined time whereas we
won't do any new contracts. Of course we will continue to offer
special solutions for companies in the future and we'll also keep
updating the "Amiga Link Directory".
Frequently asked questions
Question:
So you'll stop development for the AMIGA ?
Answer:
No. Please read the paragraphs "The AMIGA-conversions" and "The
current products" carefully.
Question:
You're always talking about a new technology, what is it ?
Answer:
Our intellectual property. Therefore no information on this will be
made available to the public on request (please don't send us EMail,
letters, call or fax us) but exclusivly on our own initative via our
website. Any information not found on our website isn't true.
Question:
When will you have finished works on the new technology ?
Answer:
As we don't want to put us under pressure with this strategically
important development, we won't release any time-table in near
future.
Question:
Which products do you plan ?
Answer:
Our information policy doesn't foresee the announcement of new
products
at this time.
Question:
I'd like to license this new technology. How much is it for a license
?
Answer:
We think about handing out licenses at a later time, but we haven't
come
to a decision on this yet and therefore can't give you prices..
Question:
I'd like to betatest. Simply send me a beta!
Answer:
We won't send out betas.
Disclaimer: AMIGA® is a registered trademark of Amiga, Inc. Windows®
is a registered trademark of Microsoft. Linux® is a registered
trademark of Linus Torvalds. Elate® is a registered trademark of the
Tao Group. All informations are subject to change without notice. You
can not derive demands/rights from this piece of information.
2.7.2000 VHI Studio reads from Sony® Memorysticks
Thanks to a new VHI-driver (sony_msac_sr1.vhi), AMIGA®-users finally
can access Sony® Memorysticks®. The driver uses the "Sony®
MSAC-SR1"-reader for the serial port, that is shipped with most
Sony®-cameras. If you want to see Memorysticks® and
Compactflash®-cards compared regarding their size, visit our website
and click on "Press release" below to see some pictures.
EMail: info@innovative-web.de
WWW: http://www.innovative-web.de/
Phone: +(0)049 (0)9132/735163
Fax: +(0)049 (0)69/791247970
----------------------------------------------------------------------
. . . A S D O E S E P I C M A R K E T I N G
12 September, 2000
Epic Marketing Germany waves goodbye after 4 years on the Amiga
market, our company is set to close on septembre 30. But this is no
reason for despair. After October 1 there will not be one but two new
Epic companies in the market.
Epic Interacticve Entertainment software will primarily focus on the
development and distribution of top notch games for the Apple
Macintosh market. The Amiga One and the Atari Milan computers will be
supported once they see the light of day.
Epic Multimedia will enter the market in October too. You will find
information on their products, which will include games, infotainment
and edutainment for various computer systems (Apple Mac, Windows,
Linux, Amiga One, Milan) on our webpage from mid octobre.
For the Classic Amiga Epic Interactive will develop and distribute
the titles "Simon The Sorcerer 2", "Earth 2140" and Dafel: Bloodline".
Whether they continue to support the platform in the future is
heavily dependant on the success of these titles. "Earth 2140" can now
be preordered for DM 89.95 until October 15th. After that it will cost
99.95.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
. . . A N D A S I M W A R E ?
{The following item was found on the Czech Amiga News site, a
resource which can be counted among the most reliable. Brad}
22.9.2k Asimware discontinues Amiga Support
Len Carsner: "After recently purchasing MasterISO 2.6, I emailed
Asimware with a question concerning a problem I was having. I received
a form letter which stated "Effective September 6th, 2000 all
production, development, and support for Amiga products is
discontinued. Sales of MasterISO will still be available through
Software Hut. Our Amiga products will NOT be released to the public
domain. Thank You for eight great years." At the end was a statement
promoting their PC software."
Len Carsner via ANN
ExiE
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M R . M Y S Z A M O U S E A D A P T E R
3 September, 2000
Merlancia Industries is pleased to announce the upcoming release of
the Mr. Mysza PS/2 Mouse adapter. Finally! After all this time, all
Amigans can now share in the world of PS/2 devices made for IBM/PC
compatible systems! From the super-cool Crystal Trackball to the
Kensington optical mouse, you now have a full range of up-to-date,
current, mice and mice alternatives.
Specs:
The Mr. Mysza also supports up to four buttons and the scroll mouse
(utility drivers included) for additional ease of use. The Mr. Mysza
is fully "plug and play". Just plug in the Mr. Mysza, and your choice
of literally thousands of PS/2 devices and you are set to go! All you
need is the adapter and a PS/2 mouse device to get up and going. There
is no need for additional software to use Mr. Mysza! (Except to use
features such as the scroller on scroll mice.)
Price:
The Mr. Mysza will be be at about the $25 mark, much less then the
current serial mouse converters. There will also be bundles of Mr.
Mysza and the Crystal Trackball available for about the $50 mark.
Availability:
The Mr. Mysza will be available in about 7 to 14 days. The first
batch of Mr. Myszas is almost complete...
What is included?:
Included in the package is the Mr. Mysza adapter, a disc containing
the software to use the scroller on scroll mice and additional buttons
on 3+ button mice, and a manual.
Also upcoming is the RedBoard adapter, and infa-red keyboard adapter
for Amiga computers. A separate press release will follow with
information about the RedBoard.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T H E P R E D A T O R F R O M E Y E T E C H
3 September, 2000
From The Eyetech Group Ltd
The Predator: 3xPCI + 1xAGP + SDRAM expansion with direct PPC
processor interface for the A4000 desktop and towered A1200
As part of our ongoing discussions with top end games developers, one
of their major concerns is how to get sufficiently fast graphics cards
on the installed base of A1200 / A4000 PPC machines. The Permedia 2
chipset, although still the best graphics solution currently available
on the A1200, is now quite dated in its 3-D performance. The Elbox
Mediator is a partial solution, but is severely hampered because all
A1200 accelerators - including the Blizzard PPC - only bring 24
address lines out to the edge connector meaning that all data transfer
has to be carried out within the 8MB Zorro2 address window. For modern
graphics cards this will inevitably involve 4 fold or greater
multiplexing thus crippling the transfer rate between processor and
graphics card. In addition, PCI graphics cards themselves are now
increasingly hard to obtain and will be obsolete in a few months time.
So what are we doing about it?
The Predator expansion bus will come in separate versions for the
A1200 and A4000 desktop (an A4000 tower version will be produced later
if there is sufficient demand). Each will come equipped with 3xPCI
slots and 1xAGP (graphics card) slot (with an additional regular A4000
video slot in the A4000 version). In addition there will be a single
SDRAM (PC100 DIMM) socket for up to 256MB. As the bus is fully PCI 2.1
compliant, including bus mastering and DMA facilities, this SDRAM can
be used directly by either or both of the PPC CPU and the AGP graphics
card.
By directly connecting to the expansion connector on the BlizzardPPC
and CyberstormPPC the expansion bus has the full 4GB of address space
of the PPC CPU without the penalties of any existing Zorro 2 conflicts
or address space multiplexing. The bus itself runs at 66MHz x 4 bytes
wide for unprecedented transfer rates (for a classic Amiga) both
between cards (using bus mastering and DMA) and - more importantly -
between the AGP connector and the PPC CPU.
The board has been designed as a full multilayer PCB with 2 ground
planes and signal path length equalisation. Work on porting the
Voodoo-5 3D drivers (to be shipped with the board) is already
underway. And the best news of all is that this state-of-the-art
expansion bus will be available ub late September / early October at a
target price of just £169.95 including VAT.
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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!
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Copyright 2000 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
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