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Amiga Update (2001-10-30)
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A M I G A |#011030 | U P D A T E
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"SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW"
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AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.
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F I R S T R E L E A S E O F D E P L A Y E R O U T
W O R L D O F A M I G A S O U T H E A S T S A T U R D A Y
O T T A W A A M I G A S H O W 2 0 0 1
C O L O G N E A M I G A S H O W 2 0 0 1
A M I G A A C T I V E M A G A Z I N E G I V E S U P
Z E O N E O H A S T W O A P P S F O R A M I G A D E
C L O A N T O L I C E N S E S P I C A S S O 9 6 S O F T W A R E
E Y E T E C H M A K E S C A S E F O R A M I G A O N E
I M A G E F X 4 . 5 N O W S H I P P I N G !
B L O B U L A F O R A M I G A D E A N N O U N C E D
S O F T W A R E F O R S E R V I C E I N D U S T R Y U S E
N E W V E R S I O N O F M P 3 P L A Y I S O U T
W I N U A E L A T E S T V E R S I O N
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
October has been an interesting month. The Amiga DE world begins to
flesh out into reality with the release of Player 1.0 (see below)
while the Classic market continues to shrink. Shrink yes, but there
are still some very intereseting things happening there, as you'll see
in this month's stories.
On the 24th, Mick Tinker announced the end of the ill-fated Boxer
Project, long after it became moribund. The following quote is taken
from the Czech Amiga News site (http://amiga.realdreams.cz/index.html)
"Well time moves on, nothing stands still... The Amiga does not make
me a living, it hasn't for a long, long time and it doesn't look like
it ever will make me a dime. I have moved on in my life and its time
that I left the Amiga behind. It has been an interesting time. I still
love the concepts and elegance of the Amiga, many of those concepts
will move forward through the experiences of all those engineers that
have had contact with it. Amiga R.I.P."
While we think the R.I.P. is premature for Amiga, we've wondered for
some time why the end wasn't officially announced for Boxer, and we're
pleased to see this unfortunate distraction removed. Sounds harsh, but
for a long time there didn't seem to be much chance for success. It's
too bad - the product was not a bad idea when it began.
It's time to say goodbye to another Amiga stalwart, the magazine
"Amiga Active". While they talk about "major changes" in their press
release below, the changes really mean the end of the publication as
an Amiga magazine in any way. We wish them well in their new venture,
and thank them for the support they've supplied in the past.
Perhaps the most interesting item of all this month was a quote from
Bill McEwen contained in the German magazine "AMIGA aktuell" and
mentioned on the moobunny web site:
"AA: That means, that now there are also plans for an x86 version of
AmigaOS? Could you imagine cooperating with other developers, i.e.
with the AROS team?
BM: Yes, there are plans for an X86 version and a PPC version. This
has been stated for some time. I will not make a comment here on who
we are working with to accomplish our goals."
Last month in this space we expressed our belief that Amiga should
consider writing an X86 native version of Amiga OS rather than try to
create a new hardware platform. We find it encouraging that Amiga
apparently is considering such an OS, though going ahead with its
Power PC plans. If it can do both, more power to them!
We find Bill's statement interesting for another reason. We have
heard him talking about X86 Amiga OS, but I can't recall any
commitment to it on the part of Amiga before this statement, despite
his statemen. We hope we're interpreting what he said properly.
You can read the entire interview at:
http://flyingmice.com/squid/moobunny/amiga/messages/60802.shtml
And on a really positive note, there's a new version of Image FX
available. That's always exciting, Image FX being one of the premier
Amiga packages and one that still can dazzle the folks running on
lesser OS based machines. Details below.
An interesting month, and, we hope, an interesting issue for you this
time.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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E-mail to the E-ditor:
3 Oct 2001
On 30-Sep-01, Brad Webb wrote:
> Amiga, we think it's time for a hard look at your plans. Either pop
> an Amiga One on the marker right now or consider giving it up and
> writing software for the hardware that already exists. Remember,
> you've already decided you're a software company. In that case,
> selling to the hardware market that's available makes sense in spite
> of it's Wintel history. Heck, we can even save a few PCs from the
> curse of Windows that way.
Hi. :)
You have a point, Brad, about the need for movement from Amiga. As
for giving up on Amiga One and writing a version of the OS for Wintel
boxes, though, wouldn't that mean dumping everything they've been
doing since Bill & Fleecy bought Amiga back and starting the whole
thing over, yet again? Pressing on with what they've got just has to
be faster!
What worries me is that this is what happened the last time. Gateway
got just about this close to re-introducing an Amiga computer and
Something Happened! There was no explanation; the whole project was
just heaved into the dumpster for no apparent reason. We get THIS
CLOSE to Amiga coming back to life and Something Just Happens! And
every time it does, more Amigans give up. We really, really need to
know what's causing the delay this time! Even that reassurance would
help.
Hoping I don't need to burn a cross on Bill Gates's lawn,
Allan
~~~~~~
Hello Allan,
Burning a cross is probably a bad idea. Burning a few copies of
Windows might be a good idea, though.
You make some very good points, thank you for sharing them. I suspect
many other Amigans feel as you do and I can't blame anyone given how
things have gone in the past.
Take a look at the quote from the "AMIGA aktuel" interview above.
Interesting, no? Both solutions may be a possibility.
Brad
======
30 Sep 2001
Subject: AmigaOSXL
Brad, please do a piece in the future on this operating system
emulator. I would be especially interested to know if it works as
advertised. Meaning just inserting the cd and you're up and running.
The last thing I'm interested in is having to do a miriad of patches
and adding software pieces here and there to get full functionallity.
When I bought OS 3.9 I ended up giving it to a friend because of all
the hassle needed to get it running. So, I have little faith in H&P.
Thanks for listening, Gary
~~~~~~
Hello Gary,
Thanks for writing!
We'd love to do such a review, but at this point we're not in a
position to be able to. If any of our readers has gotten XL installed
and is able to write a thorough and professional review of it, we'd be
happy to consider it for publication. Gary's isn't the only note we've
received from people eager to know how well it works.
Brad
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F I R S T R E L E A S E O F D E P L A Y E R O U T
October 24, 2001- Snoqualmie, WA - Amiga announced today that it has
released AmigaDE Player 1.0 for both Microsoft Windows® and Linux.
The Amiga Digital Environment Player is the first step towards its
vision of the Digital HabitatTM and is core to the foundation of
binary portability and delivery of content to different platforms and
products.
The AmigaDE Player is built through a partnership with the Tao-Group
of Reading England and utilizes the intent® media system as its
foundation.
Using this technology, Amiga is able to provide users the ability to
access applications written for the Amiga Digital Environment on
standard desktop computers as well as other devices; such as the
Compaq iPaq, Casio Cassiopeia, Sharp Zaurus or the Psion NetBook in
the very near future.
The first release is for the Microsoft Windows and Linux platforms,
with AmigaDE Players in development for PocketPC, EPOC, Palm, WinCE,
and other systems to be released in the coming months.
Current applications written for the Amiga Digital Environment were
targeted for handheld devices but will also run on desktop computers.
The content created is binary portable. Content currently available
and being created will run on Set Top Boxes, Information Appliances,
HandHeld Computers, Cell Phones and Digital Televisions.
``We see this as the beginning of a digital revolution where the
user's computing experience is more simplified. Developers can focus
on creating great content rather than having to focus on writing
applications for specific devices,'' stated Bill McEwen, President and
CEO of Amiga Inc. ``Users will see and use Amiga content, in cars,
planes, homes, and offices. This is only the beginning.''
Along with the release of the AmigaDE Player, five applications were
released to run within the new environment (Please see associated
Press Release) . Amiga has over 3,000 developers creating applications
for the new AmigaDE.
The AmigaDE Player and applications can be purchased from the AmigaDE
shop website at http://de.amiga.com.
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W O R L D O F A M I G A S O U T H E A S T S A T U R D A Y
World of Amiga Southeast show is this Saturday!
The World of Amiga organisers would like to take the opportunity to
remind you that the greatest Amiga show on Earth, The World of Amiga
South East show, will be happening this coming Saturday, 3rd of
November 2001 at; Poplars Hall, Shenfield, Essex, UK
Exhibiting at the show will be:
27 Stationers
100% Amiga Magazine
Amiga + Matt Kille of Zeoneo, Thomas Wuergler of Pagan Games and
Possibly
Paul Burkey
Amiga Active (Show Sponsor)
Cloanto
Clubbed Magazine. (Latest Issue: 9, will be available at show)
Elbox
Eyetech Group
Fore-Matt Home Computing
Kicksoft
Mediator Support Team
Pagan Games
Stellar Dreams + Sven Harvey (AmigaMart)
Virtual Programming + James Daniels Payback + AmigaOSXL
Weird Science
And of course, the following UK usergroups will be attending and
exhibiting:
Amiga North Thames
Amiga Support Association
Blackpool Amiga Usergroup
Gloucester Amiga Group
Huddersfield Amiga User Group
Kickstart
South Essex Amiga Link
Don't forget the wonderful Hyperion Entertainment Games Arena, along
with the classic Sensible Soccer Tournament.
Plus, live presentations in our presentation area from: Cloanto,
Elbox, Eyetech and Amiga. Presentations start at 1:45pm.
Doors open at 12:00 noon and close at 5:00pm. Entrance fee is a
miserly £3.50. Prize winners will be announced at 4:45pm
Finally, we regret to announce that Haage & Partner have decided not
to attend our Amiga show. - Perhaps the UK Amiga market isn't
important enough for them!
For more details please see our website http://www.worldofamiga.com.
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O T T A W A A M I G A S H O W 2 0 0 1
Show Date: Saturday, November 17, 2001
Show Time:11:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Show Location:
Routhier Centre
172 Guigues Street, Main floor
Ottawa, Canada
The Amiga.info user group is hosting the first Ottawa Amiga show.
Come and see what is new with the Amiga computer and operating system.
Get parts and software from dealers. There will be contests and
prizes. The show is open to the public and admission is free!
Come and see the new digital environment. Amiga Inc. will be there to
answer your questions.
The Ottawa Amiga Show is sponsored by Technomages and Cinereal Pro
Video. All prices listed on this website are in Canadian funds.
----
List of Exhibitors
Here is a list of exhibitors that will be attending the show,
confirmed so far:
o Amiga Inc.
o Amiga.info (User Group)
o Cinereal Pro Video (Amiga Retailer)
o Downtown Amiga (Amiga Retailer)
o Technomages (Website Developer)
----
Show Events
Here are some events you can expect at the Ottawa Amiga Show.
1. Amiga Inc. will be there! Meet them in person and see all the
latest software and hardware.
2. Cinereal Pro Video will have a live demo of the NewTek
Toaster/Flyer and the Matrox RT2500. This is a rare opportunity to see
these powerful video systems in action! There will be three Flyer
systems on hand. Cinereal will also have many software specials such
as Personal Paint 7.1 for only $34.95!
3. Play video games at the Amiga.info booth for a chance to win
prizes! Highest score of the day will the winner!
4. We are thinking of having a Laser Quest game Saturday evening. Any
comments or other ideas are greatly appreciated.
----
Room Reservations
Here are recommendations for hotel rooms within 15 minute walking
distance to the show:
o Novotel Ottawa (Nicholas)
o The Westin Hotel (Rideau Centre)
o The Ottawa Mariott Hotel (Dalhousie)
----
Information for Exhibitors
The cost for a booth at the show will only be $50.00 (Canadian Funds)
for the day! Space is limited, so reserve now!
There will be media coverage of the event from Monitor Magazine and
local media.
We are also looking for companies to donate prizes for the show.
For more details and for payment information, please contact us at
amigashow@technomages.net.
----
Show Contacts
For additional information and questions about the Ottawa Amiga Show,
please email amigashow@technomages.net
If you would like to be kept up to date on show announcements, send
an email to oas-subscribe@technomages.net and you will be subscribed
to the show's mailing list.
http://www.technomages.net/amigashow/
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C O L O G N E A M I G A S H O W 2 0 0 1
19 Oct 2001
November 17th-18th, 2001
MediaPark 6, Cologne, Germany
Organized by falkemedia and AMIGAplus
The long tradition of the wintry AMIGA-fair in Cologne will be
continued this year!
From 17th to 18th November 2001 the long awaited AMIGA-fair AMIGA
2001 will be held at MediaPark6 in Köln (Cologne), Germany.
We expect all important hardware- and software-developers,
distributors, dealers and press-members from the AMIGA-market, and the
announcements of new AMIGA-software and -hardware will make many
AMIGA-users visit this event. Following the fair on Saturday evening a
conference for developers, dealers and distributors will be held.
On the website of AMIGA 2001 located at http://www.amiga-messe.de You
will find further details and latest news about the fair. If You have
further questions, please don't hesitate to contact falkemedia or
AMIGAplus!
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A M I G A A C T I V E M A G A Z I N E G I V E S U P
Fri 19 Oct
Amiga Active Magazine Announces Major Changes
Amiga Active, the world's leading Amiga magazine, is undergoing
significant changes to meet the challenges of a changed marketplace.
With the first consumer version of the next generation Amiga
environment, the AmigaDE player, finally available to the public,
Amiga have stepped into the future, and Amiga Active magazine is
following suit.
Issue 26 of Amiga Active magazine will be released on the 25th of
October. This issue will contain the normal mix of forward-looking and
"Classic Amiga" content, including the most detailed preview of the
Amiga DE to date, revealing for the first time much of what is
actually going into the next-generation Operating Environment which
Amiga are building on top of the binary-portable intent JTE (Java
Technology Edition) multimedia engine from Tao Group. This will be the
last time that Amiga's journey into the next generation will be a
matter of previews and predictions. The next generation has arrived.
Amiga Active has been preparing for this from the very beginning.
Since the very first issue we have been covering the revolution taking
place in computing, and over recent months our coverage has increased
through our ever-expanding "Next Generation" section. We are now
taking the magazine itself into the next stage with a change in focus,
and a change in name - to digital.
The first issue of the new format, under the name digital, will be
hitting the shelves on November 29th. The magazine will focus on the
current revolution in computing that is taking place thanks to the
distribution of computing power to many networked components, through
Internet and wireless technologies. Digital media are playing in our
lives and in our computing environments, and digital magazine will be
covering this new area of cutting edge technology in the same
detailed, informative and entertaining fashion that we have covered
the Amiga market over the last two years.
digital will be there to cover the revolution that Amiga are
entering, but will not focus exclusively on Amiga technology. Amiga
Inc. are entering a new marketplace at the forefront of a
technological innovation that is changing the face of computing in
every shape and form, from the desktop to personal communication
devices. So are we. We enter that market with the attitudes, ideas and
understanding of how these things need to be done that the Amiga
market has engendered. Just as Amiga hope to take the lessons of Amiga
into the next generation of computing devices, we will be taking the
lessons of Amiga Active into the next generation of computing
magazines.
With the head start we have been granted through being an Amiga
magazine - which has required us to be very forward-looking over
recent years - and through the strong links we have developed with
some of the key players in this expanding market, we believe that we
are in a position to offer our readers a unique insight into the
products, companies and technologies that will define this new market.
The formula we have successfully developed through over two years of
publishing Amiga Active magazine has always been developed with these
changes in mind, and will provide a familiar and effective formula for
covering the wider brief that digital magazine will cover.
If you want to stay Active, get digital!
----
Issue 26 of Amiga Active, out on October 26th, contains further
information on the change, but in the meantime, we have compiled a FAQ
below that we hope will answer most - if not all - of your questions.
Please continue reading...
----
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: When's the change taking place?
A: The next issue (number 26) will be the last one released under the
name Amiga Active, and goes on sale on October 25th. The following
issue (released, as always, on the last Thursday of the month -
November 29th) will bear the new title, digital.
Q: Will this change affect price and availability?
A: Due to the wider brief of the magazine, we will no longer be cover
mounting a CD-ROM every month. This will be reflected in a price drop
to £3.50 (UKP). Subscribers will be given extensions to their
subscriptions to compensate for the lowered cover price - each
subscriber will be sent full details shortly. We anticipate a wider
newsstand exposure of the magazine.
Q: Are you dropping "Amiga Classic" coverage?
A: Largely. Where it remains relevant to the present rather than the
past we will continue to cover it, but we won't be covering products
aimed at the now tiny "classic" market. To be honest this has become
increasingly difficult for us to do over recent months, both in terms
of financial viability and in terms of finding anything new to cover.
Q: Is the same team involved?
A: Yes. While we are continually on the look-out for new writing
talent, the current team will continue to produce the magazine just as
they have done for the previous 26 issues.
Q: What kind of things can we expect to see in digital?
A: A lot of what you have seen in Amiga Active. We'll have the same
technology coverage, the same mix of reviews, features and regulars,
and a style and layout which is a refinement of the current appearance
of the magazine. The real difference is that the broader market
coverage of next generation computing that has so far been mostly
restricted to the "Next Generation" section of the magazine will
expand to fill the space that has been left behind by dropping
coverage of the "Classic Amiga".
Q: We still use classic Amigas! What are we supposed to do?
A: We still use classic Amigas, too. However, the reality we have had
to face over the last few months is that covering them in a commercial
magazine is becoming impossible. The Amiga market itself is now almost
totally focused on creating a transition into the next generation, and
we're simply jumping ahead of the transition. We're all sad to be
leaving our A1200's and A4000's out of this, but on the other hand
we're all relieved to be able to cover interesting innovations rather
than filling pages with reviews of bug-fixed shareware updates because
there is so little to write about.
Nobody thought that commercial Amiga magazines could have survived
for so long covering computers released the best part of a decade ago.
Now that Amiga has finally moved on, we are moving on too. The classic
line will no doubt remain a hobby for us as with many of you, and
fortunately there are great web sites and small, non-commercial titles
such as Clubbed to support our hobby.
Q: digital is going to cover the whole new market for computing in
the "digital media revolution." How much of that will be Amiga
specific?
A: That depends on Amiga's impact on the market. We're all Amiga fans
here and will be promoting them and their partners, but we will be
covering the broad sweep of activity in this market.
Q: Is this change a good thing or a bad thing?
A: That depends on your point of view. If you're still happy with
your A500, you'll probably find this a bad thing. If, on the other
hand, you've been missing the days when the Amiga was at the forefront
of technology, innovating and leading the way rather than eternally
playing catch-up, then this is very much a good thing.
Q: What are digital's plans for the future?
A: Amiga Active magazine is transforming into digital magazine. As
originally
planned, this will remain the flagship title from our publishers
Active Media Group (formerly Pinprint Publishing). digital will be our
"beach head" title, and will over time lead to further launches in the
new digital space. If Amiga Inc. are as successful as we hope they
will be, this will include a new Amiga specific title in the future.
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Z E O N E O H A S T W O A P P S F O R A M I G A D E
Snoqualmie, WA - October 29, 2001 Zeoneo have announced two new
applications that run on the AmigaDE Player. The games are Planet Zed,
a classic-style vertical scroll shoot `em up providing intense
spaceship battles over varied terrain and Convex, an addictive puzzle
game. Both games come with superb 16-bit graphics and multi channel
sound.
The AmigaDE Player from Amiga, Inc. is based on the intent®
multimedia engine from the Tao Group of Reading, England, and provides
binary portability across a number of platforms. Amiga has released
the AmigaDE Player for Linux and Microsoft Windows®. The games from
Zeoneo and the AmigaDE Player are available from the AmigaDE shop web
site at http://de.amiga.com.
Early reviewers of the Zeoneo games have raved over the quality of
the graphics and the addictive nature of the games. ``Planet Zed pays
homage to the wonderful spirit of the classic Arcade era whilst
dragging it into the future and demonstrating that games can be fun
again,'' said Fleecy Moss, Chief Technology Officer of Amiga, Inc.
``Zeoneo is excited to be working with Amiga in creating quality
games for the AmigaDE Player'' said Matthew Kille, founder of Zeoneo.
``The underlying Tao technology had great potential and once
Amiga-like concepts were applied to it, the results became
ground-breaking! We look forward to being at the forefront of this new
revolution''.
"Matthew Kille is the classic Amiga developer. Amiga has always been
known for the excellent quality of its multimedia content and Matt
carries on that proud Amiga tradition,'' said Bill McEwen, President
and CEO of Amiga, Inc.
About Zeoneo
Zeoneo was founded in January 2001 and is focused on creating quality
games for the Amiga market. Its founder, Matthew Kille, is well known
in the Amiga community and has the wide range of development skills
required to succeed in the interactive gaming industry. Zeoneo's
exclusive commitment to the AmigaOS and AmigaDE systems will result in
a number of products being released over time, beginning with its
first two PDA titles - Planet Zed and Convex. For more information
about Zeoneo, email contact@zeoneo.com or visit http://www.zeoneo.com.
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C L O A N T O L I C E N S E S P I C A S S O 9 6 S O F T W A R E
29 October, 2001
Cloanto is proud to announce that it licensed both the "Picasso96"
software from Alexander Kneer and Tobias Abt, and Brian King's
"UAEgfx" Monitor implementation, for use in Amiga Forever.
A shareware version of Picasso96 has been providing RTG (Amiga
retargetable graphics) functionality to the emulation software which
is part of Amiga Forever since 1997. With the new license Cloanto
would like to acknowledge the precious contribution of the Picasso96
Team to the ease of use, compatibility and speed which made Amiga
Forever so successful, and further contribute to the future
development of the Picasso96 software. The new license replaces the
shareware status of the Picasso96 software included in Amiga Forever.
Support and upgrades will continue to be provided by Cloanto as part
of the Amiga Forever product.
Thanks to the Picasso96 implementation in the Amiga emulation, when
an Amiga program makes a function call to open an RTG screen, or to
otherwise read or change its contents, that functionality is in most
part executed as native and very fast x86 code. Furthermore, the
Windows versions of the emulation programs included with Amiga Forever
(i.e. WinUAE and WinFellow) fully exploit the latest versions of
Microsoft DirectX, which is normally used by games and multimedia
applications to provide maximum performance by providing low-level
access to specialized hardware features, without having to re-write
hardware-specific code. In practice this means that while other
emulation programs only offer proper support for a handful of display
cards, Amiga Forever has been running fine and will continue to run
fine with hundreds of different display cards, including most graphics
card currently available, and those which will be released with
Windows drivers in the future.
The combination of Picasso96 and DirectX technologies provides
palette-based, hi-color, true-color and multi-monitor screen modes
well beyond the functionality and speed of the original Amiga
hardware. Also, while other emulation packages do not even support
simple peripherals such as a USB mouse, keyboard, joystick and
speakers, DirectX includes DirectInput and DirectSound, which allow
the emulation as included in Amiga Forever to support all popular
input and sound devices.
The Picasso96 software is just one of the many components which have
been carefully selected, preinstalled and tested for compatibility in
Amiga Forever, to make Amiga emulation a simple one-click experience
which works on the widest possible range of different PCs. Hundreds of
other items, including for example GIF/LZW code used under license
from Unisys Corporation (and not available in the version of Personal
Paint included on Aminet), ColorFonts and AnimFonts by Kara Computer
Graphics, and anything from entire software packages to single icons
are carefully listed in the Copyright and Credits sections of the
Amiga Forever documentation (which includes 8 KB of text only to list
the individual third-party contributions).
In spite of increasingly difficult times Cloanto keeps improving its
own software technology and licensing valued third-party contents to
constantly improve Amiga Forever and offer continued support and
compatibility to the Amiga community. Cloanto is grateful to all of
its valued customers for supporting these efforts.
LINKS
Picasso96 Home Page
http://picasso96.home.pages.de/
Amiga Forever Home Page
http://amigaforever.info
Cloanto Home Page
http://cloanto.com
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E Y E T E C H M A K E S C A S E F O R A M I G A O N E
19 October, 2001
The AmigaOne which is to be released shortly is the first new Amiga
System to be designed for nearly a decade. In addition to providing an
upgrade and transition path from the Classic Amiga hardware and OS,
the AmigaOne and OS4 will provide the sort of levels of performance
only previously dreamed about by Amiga users. So as well as impressing
existing Amiga users we also expect the AmigaOne to produce some real
head-turning and jaw-dropping amongst the Windows-using fraternity.
That is all very well, but first impressions count a lot, and to make
a real impact we really need a very special, top-end, purpose designed
case for the AmigaOne. And by purpose-designed we mean a case that is
designed from the outset to house an AmigaOne and A1200 assembly in a
very stylish case.
So ... over the last few months Eyetech has been working closely with
French industrial designers Naya Design to come up with what we
believe is a really stunning housing for the AmigaOne. It is made from
a machined aluminium chassis and backplate together with gold tinted
(to meet EMC compliance) plexiglass sides and top. It also features a
near-silent PSU, so Amiga users can once more enjoy peace and quiet
when using their new Amigas creatively.
Eyetech is not releasing photographic pictures until the official
launch of the AmigaOne (to reduce the risks of unauthorised copying)
but the sketch pictures at the web site will give you a very good idea
of what the final tower will look like. Enjoy!
http://www.eyetech.co.uk/addbar.php?Address=/NEWS/FIRST001.HTM
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I M A G E F X 4 . 5 N O W S H I P P I N G !
25 October, 2001
Richmond, VA - Nova Design announced the immediate availability of
the latest upgrade to ImageFX 4.5. This release adds even more
features to one of the industries most powerful image editing and
special effects package and the top package for the Amiga.
New Painting Features
The painting tools have been improved with the addition of several
new Drawmodes. These Drawmodes allow a new range of compositing so you
can composite brushes into your images will all the same tools that
the composite tool offers you for full image compositing. When
combined with the Drawstyles, which control where your pixels come
from when using brushes, you have literally thousands of possible
drawing options and combinations!
New Animation Features
ImageFX 4.0 introduced the concept of being able to load an animation
and work on individual frames just like you would a layered still
image document. ImageFX 4.5 takes this much further with the all-new
Keyframe Manager.
The Keyframe Manager allows you to combine images, animations, or
animbrushes onto any animation you have loaded. You can completely
control the path of these images or animations by specifying precise
positions at individual keyframes at any point in the animation. You
can do this with single point keys, two point keys, or four point
keys. You can scale during single point animations, use two points to
make easy 'squash and stretch' cartoony effects, or use four points
flip points around to make '3D' flying logos and other simulated
perspective tricks. With a little artistic talent it's not hard to
track something in an existing animation and add a new effect on it or
replace it with something new.
The Keyframe Manager can also process simple scripts without
bothering with compositing images or animations. You can track
lightning into a scene or have a wizard cast a glowing light with a
lens flare. The possibilities are enormous!
Upgrade Pricing
Here's the best part - the upgrade is only a low 129 DM plus shipping
and handling for owners of ImageFX 4.1 or 4.0. If you own ImageFX 3.x
the upgrade to the latest release is only 198 DM. ImageFX 2.x owners
can upgrade right through and get the latest for only 269 DM and enjoy
all the cool new features. direct online ordering
Nova Design has been a long-time supporter of the Amiga platform.
Their software packages include ImageFX, Aladdin 4D - a 3D modeling,
rendering and animation package, Millennium - the ultimate upgrade for
Newtek's Toaster and Toaster/Flyer, and Cinematte - a blue-screening
plugin for both Photoshop and Aura.
http://www.haage-partner.com/news/news_20011024_IFX45_e.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
B L O B U L A F O R A M I G A D E A N N O U N C E D
22 October, 2001
Pagan Games proudly presents Blobula. The first next-generation
platform independent game for desktop machines as well as personal
digital assistants. Thanks to AmigaDE Blobula runs on most hardware
but AmigaDE will at first be available for Linux, Microsoft Windows
and the Sharp Zaurus PDA.
Blobula is a gravity based, fast paced action game and will offer
challenges to the novice as well as the seasoned gamer. It's easy to
pick up but bounces around so much it's bloody hard to put down again.
Intuitive control system, great gameplay, excellent sound and
beautiful graphics add up to the perfect action/puzzle game! It has
been designed for the PDA market but will also be playable on desktop
computers with the AmigaDE player announced by Amiga Inc.
First there is the arcade mode where you choose between three
different players with different characteristics. You have to finish
each level before the time limit is reached and this limit gets
tighter and tighter for each level. You will be able to earn glue
which will slow down the balls and help you in getting them into the
right holes. The balls have to be activated before you can push them
through the appropriately coloured holes by touching them with your
character's ship. Once they've bumped into two other balls they will
not be active any more and can no longer exit through the holes.
There are special challenge levels where you have to complete the
levels in a certain way and some ways are quite challenging.
The two additional modes are Time Trial and Chill-out mode. Time
Trial is a race against the high-scores where you have to push all the
balls off the screen as fast as possible. In Chill-out mode you can
just relax and play around with the balls and push them off the
screen.. It is also a good way to get to know the controls of the
game.
The game uses an intuitive control system where the control of the
game becomes second nature to the player. You will soon forget that
you've probably never controlled a game in this way. It works very
well with a stylus and is also very playable with a mouse on a desktop
machine.
The game will be offered on the Sharp Zaurus portal and will later be
available from Amiga's website for desktop machines and possibly even
more PDAs.
http://www.pagan-games.com/blobula/index.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
S O F T W A R E F O R S E R V I C E I N D U S T R Y U S E
7 October, 2001
'CSM' (Service Manager) has been written specifically for Service
Industry applications, and is designed for use by staff with little or
no computer experience. This program is suitable for the total
replacement of the Job Card systems that are used by many & various
service industries, such as TV Repairs, Electricians, Appliance
repairers etc..
The interface for 'CSM' is as plain as possible to prevent the
'intimidation factor' that computers present to inexperienced users. A
consistent method for selection gadgets, requesters & information
panels has been established to ensure quick familliarity. Each section
of the program allows for customising of the background colour so that
automatic orientation & recognition can be enhanced without the user
being aware of it.
Various functions in this program require a password for access. This
is to ensure that alteration of information can only be carried out by
authorized staff members. Sections of this program that alter or
delete records may also require a password. They will also allow you a
second chance to exit before any alterations are made.
Extensive & selective help information is available in every section
by simply pressing the 'HELP' key in that particular section. Full
documentation is available from within the program via a menu or by
directly clicking the docsfile icon..
http://www.hotkey.net.au/~colstv/csm_dload/csm.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
N E W V E R S I O N O F M P 3 P L A Y I S O U T
7 oct. 2001
Short: Very small GUI for MPEGA
Uploader: carls@kajen.com (Carl Svensson)
Author: carls@kajen.com (Carl Svensson)
Type: mus/play
Version: 2.0
Replaces: mus/play/mp3Play.lha
Requires: ARexx, rexxreqtools.library, MPEGA
M P 3 P L A Y 2 . 0
=======================
(c) 2001 Carl Svensson
What's This?
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ mp3Play is a small (almost tiny) GUI for MPEGA, the
Amiga MP3 Player. It's written in ARexx and needs RexxReqTools.library
to work.
What's New since v1.2?
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
· Playlist/Multi-select file requester
· Back/Forward buttons
· Better documentation
Contents of this Distribution
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
mp3Play The GUI Script
mp3Config Configuration Script
mp3Play.doc AmigaGuide Documentation
Requirements
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
· ARexx (with RexxMast running)
· MPEGA
· rexxreqtools.library (available from aminet, reqtoolsusr.lha)
No AHI, 24-bit Workbench screen or PowerPC CPU is needed
for it to look and sound good :)
FOR MORE INFORMATION
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
...read the included Guide file.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
W I N U A E L A T E S T V E R S I O N
September 27, 2001
WinUAE 0.8.17 Release 2 is now available.
UAE 0.8.17 for Windows, Release 2
====
- Bernd Schmidt
- Bernd "Bernie" Meyer
- Toni Wilen
- Sam Jordan
- Brian King
- Bernd Roesch
- Adil Temel
- AndreasJunghans
- Mathias Ortmann
____
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Picasso96 support in (Win)UAE would not be possible
without the support and generosity of Alexander Kneer and Tobias Abt.
Please donate to the Picasso96 team if you use P96 and UAE together,
regardless of whether you use UAE with Amiga Forever from Cloanto, or
Amiga In A Box (AIAB). Click on the Picasso96 link in the About page
of the WinUAE GUI for more information.
____
STILL TO DO:
- update/add localization support for GUI
- Multi-mouse (Andreas Junghans)
- Triple buffering, so that vsync can be reintroduced.
____
KNOWN BUGS:
- Snapshot (save-state) support is not 100% yet.
- Picasso96 colour-fades are especially slow.
- Only Lemmings 3 AGA's playing screen is centered correctly,
"Lemming-mode" selection buttons on bottom of screen are still
corrupted. (AGA bitplanes do not stole copper's DMA cycles correctly
yet)
- Also Banshee AGA's scoreboard is still invisible because sprites outside
playfields (AGA only feature, not yet implemented) are always hidden.
____
WinUAE 0.8.17 Release 2
====
- FIXED: Fixed the center_image() routine which was causing crashes
with centering inside of screens less than 800x600.
- FIXED: Remove hard dependency on RegisterDeviceNotification API so
that WinUAE still works on Win95.
- FIXED: Event timing works better now, and shouldn't hang any demos
or games. (Bernd Schmidt)
- FIXED: Max out at 512-Megs of ZorroIII RAM, since 1-Gig won't work.
- FIXED: Merged in some CIA-related save-state changes. (Bernd
Schmidt)
- FIXED: Banshee AGA and Lemmings3 AGA are now mostly working, thanks
to new delay-offset code. See the "KNOWN BUGS" section above for
further details. (Toni Wilen)
- FIXED: Sound-syncro settings can be changed on-the-fly. (Jose Gil)
- ADDED: New version of "uaediskchange" utility. Put this inside your
"Amiga" installation, and call it in your startup-sequence like "run
>nil: c:uaediskchange cd0:" to watch cd0: for disk-changes. You can
watch more than one drive. (Bernd Roesch)
- CHANGED: Tweaked the sound-syncro code again. (Jose Gil)
- CHANGED: Creating an AmigaDOS .adf file from the GUI will now
create a formatted disk. (Toni Wilen)
- REMOVED: No restriction on only being able to run one instance of
WinUAE.
NOTE: USE THIS WITH CAUTION.
http://www.codepoet.com/UAE/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 2001 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
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U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_
amigaupdate@globaldialog.com
======================================================================
