Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Amiga Update (2002-05-31)
======================================================================
________
_________ ____ _|__ __ __|_______ _________
__\ _____ \\\\ \_ _/ //___// _____//______\ _____ \\
// \\\\ /. \\\\__ \/ __// \\ \\____. /// \\\\ /. \\
\\___\¯ /___///___\ /___\ \\_________//\\___\¯ /___//
¯ \/ ¯ ¯ \/. |¯ ¯|z!o ¯ ¯ \/ ¯
A M I G A |#020531 | U P D A T E
|________|
"SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW"
======================================================================
AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
L A T E S T A M I G A 1 N E W S F R O M E Y E T E C H
F O L L O W - U P F R O M T H E N E T
A M I W E S T 2 0 0 2 I N F O R M A T I O N
T A O A N D K Y O C E R A T E A M O N P D A
H I G H W A Y U S B A V A I L A B L E E N D O F M A Y
I N G A C O M I N G T O A M I G A C O M P U T I N G
I O S P I R I T F X S C A N 4 . 0 N E W S
D I A M O N D B O X N E W V E R S I O N R E L E A S E D
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
In some ways May was another slow news month. We didn't even see an
executive update from Amiga. But check out our leadoff story from
Eyetech!! It is almost worth a newsletter by itself.
Meantime, over in the Axis of Evil Computer Style, we understand
Micro$oft is being investigated by the SEC (Securities and Exchange
Commission) for falsifying records. Plus, they are apparently being
sued by a French software company for illegal use of code. So - would
the same MS lawyers who prosecute the cases of piracy of MS products
be the ones who defend the company in such a case? We wonder.
No, we don't feel this justifies stealing software from anyone,
including Micro$oft. Theft is theft. Also - Micro$oft - hypocrisy is
hypocrisy.
We sense that work continues inexorably forward in the Amiga arena,
both at Amiga itself and with those working on Amiga One and OS4. So,
while it's been a slow month it does look like some very interesting
things aren't all that far away.
We hope you enjoy this issue.
Brad Webb,
Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail to the E-ditor:
5 May 2002
Brad you done good! this is among the most interesting of articles on
our Amiga. It saddens me to see HandP turn to the Dark Side in their
dealings with the community. especially where in impinges on the state
of health of someone who put his heart and soul into amithalon. and if
Amiga decide to work with Micro sloth that can only benefit all of us,
It supplies cash flow to Amiga, makes Windows a better os and we all
win ( no pun intended)
Dan
~~~~~~
Dan,
Last month was a difficult month to get your arms around, with the
HandP situation and the real mess over Morph OS. I think we gave the
community a good snapshot of what was going on, without making Amiga
look like a bunch of thugs - which they are not - or looking like
sellouts to Micro$oft - which they are not.
Regards,
Brad
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
L A T E S T A M I G A 1 N E W S F R O M E Y E T E C H
30 May, 2002
The AmigaOneG3-SE
The first model in our AmigaOne range is the AmigaOneG3-SE. This is
in effect a 600Mhz G3 Amiga accelerator with built in 10/100 ethernet,
USB, PCI/AGP interface and memory slots for up to 2GB of SDRAM. As
well as being many times more powerful and at (UKP350/USD500/Euro600*)
around half the price of the previously most powerful Amiga PPC
accelerator (the phase 5 Cyberstorm PPC 604 240MHz).
In fact you can regard the AmigaOneG3-SE as a high performance
accelerator that comes with a free, built in computer! This means that
you no longer need an attached A1200 or special tower case if you only
intend to run retargetable Amiga applications. (For hardware-hitting
applications an interface card to connect an Amiga 1200 motherboard to
the A1G3-SE a PCI card interface will be available from Escena). The
A1G3-SE also comes with a full range of legacy peripherals, and will
run PPC Linux (and PPC UAE) in addition to running the new PPC-only
OS4 natively.
The AmigaOneG3-SE will not be shipped to end users until OS4 is
ready, but boards for OS4 developers and beta testers are already out
in the field.
Amiga Inc, Hyperion and ourselves have also decided to bundle OS4
directly with the boards which we ship to dealers, mainly to reduce
shipping and handling costs - and that has resulted in a small overall
price reduction to end users of the A1G3-SE + OS4 bundle to ukp
382.94*. There will be equivalent reductions on the dollar and euro
prices of the bundle to usd550* and euro652.50*.
Finally it is important to note that the AmigaOneG3-SE is fully
quality-validated and licensed by Amiga Inc to run OS4, with all
licence fees/royalties paid. AI's licence terms also stipulate that
all boards capable of running OS4 must ship with an OEM version of OS4
and must have built-in hardware protection to keep OS4 piracy to a
minimum, and this has been built into the AmigaOneG3-SE from the
outset.
A list of dealers who have already ordered demonstration /
familiarisation boards is posted on our web site
(www.eyetech.co.uk/amigaone/dealers.php). Don't worry if your
favourite dealer is not listed - several have either missed the
ordering window or decided to wait until the end user boards and OS4
is shipping. These dealers will be added to the list on our website at
the time they order end user boards from us.
Although we are advertising the A1G3-SE as an entry-level machine,
have no doubt with OS4 installed it will really fly. The 600Mhz 750CXe
cpu that is shipped with it is effectively that fastest G3 cpu
generally available and some PPC experts reckon it is likely to
deliver several hundred times the performance of an '030/50 with many
applications.
Planning for the next AmigaOne - the AmigaOne-XE
We have always said that the AmigaOneG3-SE was to be the first, entry
level, board in a range of AmigaOne boards which we have planned to
produce. Many people have asked us to give some outline details of
what we have planned for later boards in the series. So here is a
taster.
The next AmigaOne board we have planned is for an up-market (read
more flexible but more expensive) addition to the range. Further
details will be published on the Eyetech website and on the AmigaOne
mailing list at Yahoogroups at the appropriate time (but not before!).
One of the prime requirements is to provide a socketed cpu module so
that user-upgradable performance enhancements can be made as and when
faster and more complex chips - and operating system enhancements that
use them - become available. Our engineers do not believe that the
Intel Slot-1 socket (as planned for the original AmigaOne-1200) is
really suitable because of the need to minimise trace lengths between
cpu and SDRAM memory at higher clock speeds. In addition both the
Intel Slot-1 socket and the Apple ZIF cpu socket are now obsolete and
therefore not a sensible choice for a new product not yet launched.
So for the next version of the AmigaOne, the AmigaOne-XE, we have
borrowed the latest cpu socket technology from Apple in the form of
the purpose-designed `Megarray' socket. This means that we can make
low cost, tightly coupled cpu modules using either G3, G4, dual G4,
(and possibly G5 - but information on the G5 is still very sparce)
technology - for use on the same AmigaOne-XE motherboard. Upgrading
cpu power therefore only needs a simple module exchange. The prototype
socketed AmigaOne-XE board and the associated plug-in G3 and G4
modules have already been built and tested.
But before you rush off and cancel your pending AmigaOneG3-SE orders
to buy the AmigaOne-XE instead, bear in mind that this extra
flexibility will come at a price, and until OS4 supports the G4's
Altivec coprocessor, without much performance benefit either. And at
the moment, unless you are Apple, G4 cpu's are on very tight
allocation, which means that it will be several months before they are
available to anyone other than Apple at a reasonable price. At the
moment the target price for the AmigaOne-XE board with the single G4
700MHz cpu module is around UKP200/USD300/Euro350* more than the
AmigaOneG3-SE - and possibly less if Apple's demand for these cpu's
drops significantly when the G5 starts shipping.
So does this mean you should cancel your existing AmigaOne-G3 order
and wait a few more months? Not at all. We anticipate a high private
resale value of used AmigaOneG3-SE boards, but to take the uncertainty
out of the process, we, and the majority of other AmigaOne dealers,
will underwrite a trade-in value of your AmigaOneG3-SE during a period
of 6 and 12 months after its purchase against the purchase of a new
AmigaOne-XE with single G4 cpu module. (You are of course still at
liberty to sell the board privately for a higher price!).
This trade-in will be at 75% of the current retail price of an
A1G3-SE 6 months after its purchase falling by 1% per month (to 69%)
at 12 months after its purchase. The board must be traded in to the
original dealer where it was purchased, by the original purchaser, be
in full working condition and be used as part payment against an
AmigaOne-XE with a single G4 cpu module. Individual dealers may also
opt to have their own trade-up scheme instead, so please check with
them when making your original purchase. Finally this offer does not
apply in conjunction with any other discount offer, such as that
applied to the A1G3-SE developer boards.
If you've been sitting on the fence wondering whether to buy an
A1G3-SE or to wait until an upgradable G4 AmigaOne is available, you
can now have the best of both worlds. Order a new, low cost
AmigaOneG3-SE now and upgrade within 12 months. What are you waiting
for?
* Prices quoted exclude local taxes and shipping charges.
http://www.eyetech.co.uk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
F O L L O W - U P F R O M T H E N E T
{After the information presented above was first made known, we
discoverd the following exchange on the NET. Alan is Alan Redhouse of
Eyetech. Some text removed for readability and to remove e-mail
addresses of participants. Brad}
30 May 2002
----- Original Message -----
> Hi Alan.
>
> About prices... The UKP 382 for an A1 + OS4 is minus VAT, so in
> total it's just shy of UKP 450 with taxes. Presumably, when you
trade in
> for a G4 model, you won't need to get OS4 again, so UKP 200 more
than a
> G3 is UKP 550 plus taxes, or a bit more than UKP 640. When you
trade in,
> you get 75% of the boards cost, is that 75% of UKP 350 or 75% of
UKP 410
> (350 + VAT)?
>
> Regards,
> Paul
Answer:
As far as OS4 is concerned all boards, new and refurbished,
rewarrantied will need to ship with OS4.x
The offer is primarily made on the hardware, but ....
Personally I would be very surprised if there was not an enhanced
version of OS4 which took advantage of some of the G4 features at the
time the AmigaOne-XE ships, and it is highly likely that purchasers of
the new board would want that IMO.
So as far as we are concerned the easiest solution would be to offer
a trade in on the A1/OS4 bundle, and I think that that would be what
most of the customers would want to do too. Obviously _we_ can replace
the licenced OEM CD of a genuinely traded in copy and destroy the
original so that there are no coffee stains etc on the version that is
resold.
alan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A M I W E S T 2 0 0 2 I N F O R M A T I O N
8 May 2002
AmiWest 2002 is rolling! The venue is the now-familiar Holiday Inn
Northeast in Sacramento, California, this year under new ownership and
management. The contract has been signed and the sponsoring Sacramento
Amiga Computer Club has committed thousands of dollars to ensure that
the show will be presented. As announced last year at the close of
AmiWest 2001, the dates for the show are July 27 & 28, the last
weekend of July. This year, we also have a co-sponsor. See below for
their complete contact information.
Our co-sponsor, Extreme Computing, has a great surprise in store for
the show this year. We are not yet at liberty to disclose what that
surprise is just yet, but it will be appearing on the AmiWest 2002
website soon.
We also will have other major players in the Amiga community there.
The list is growing longer every day. We would like to confirm the
presence of:
**Compuquick-Amigadirect**
**FWD Computing**
**Pagestream**
**Amigazone**
and
**the Amiga User Group Network**
at AmiWest 2002. No strangers to our shows, these exhibitors have
confirmed their intentions via email. Their information will be
appearing on our web page soon.
Vendors, you too can confirm your presence at AmiWest 2002 and have
YOUR information posted to our web site. AND DON'T FORGET THAT A
DISCOUNT IS AVAILABLE if you mail in a $100.00 deposit to confirm your
show space reservation before June 15, 2002. This year our costs have
increased significantly, but you will notice that the cost to vendors
has NOT INCREASED. We are pulling out all the stops to make your
participation possible. Go to www.sacc.org/amiwest and hit the
Exhibitor Information button to see the prices!
This is the fifth year for the AmiWest shows and we are expecting a
record crowd. But no matter who shows up, we want you to be there.
Visit www.sacc.org/amiwest to DOWNLOAD YOUR TICKET ORDER FORM, a plain
text file that can be saved and printed by any ASCII text editor, or
your favorite word processor. However you choose to do it, please do
it as soon as possible so we can have your ticket waiting at the door
along with your information packet and guide to the show. See you
there!
Amiga Forever,
Brian Deneen, President
Sacramento Amiga Computer Club
for the AmiWest 2002 Committee
----------------------------------------------------------------------
T A O A N D K Y O C E R A T E A M O N P D A
Release of best-in-class `Pocket Cosmo'.
E3, Los Angeles, Ca., May 22nd 2002 - Kyocera Corporation has
announced 'Pocket Cosmo', its next generation PDA based on Tao's
intent® universal multimedia platform. This will be sold from the end
of July, initially targeted at the networks and at corporate users.
The Pocket Cosmo device will be able to deliver a new level of richer
contents to the user. Kyocera believes that it is these richer
contents that will drive the rapid growth of the mobile data
communication market.
Kyocera has used Tao Group's intent embedded application environment
including its native operating system. Together they enable a very
small memory footprint and hitherto unmatched performance levels. Due
to the performance of intent, the new PDA runs Java(TM) programs many
times faster than any other client device and it has levels of
multimedia functionality never before seen on mobile handsets enabling
the kind of content upon which consumers will place a very high
premium.
The Pocket Cosmo Fast Java environment enhances the usability of the
PDA. Its first iteration supports Tao's intent PersonalJava(TM)
edition which is Sun Microsystems-branded and compatible with
PersonalJava 1.2. intent is the first practical Java execution
environment for these kinds of devices.
The user interface of the Pocket Cosmo is entirely original with rich
menus supporting 3D movement and smooth scrolling and with
instantaneous switching of applications.
Hirao Nishiguchi, President of Kyocera said, "We are aiming to
deliver new services, ones which customers can easily utilize and
derive real value. Combining the technologies at Kyocera with the Tao
expertise has allowed us to develop this extremely exciting Pocket
Cosmo PDA."
Francis Charig, Executive Chairman of Tao Group said at the E3 show
in Los Angeles, "The work undertaken by Kyocera to develop a truly
intuitive interface has been inspirational. Kyocera is sending out a
signal to manufacturers and carriers that by using intent as the
language independent, universal multimedia platform they can create
their own brand recognition in a way that would be impossible with any
other software technology. Kyocera has developed a product that proves
that there is software technology existing already today that enables
the running of content in an easy-to-use manner that really does meet
the expectations of the consumer. Pocket Cosmo is a ground breaking
product and Kyocera has set a new benchmark in the market place."
Kyocera was one of the founder members of the Open Contents Platform
Association [OCPA] in October 2001 and its President, Yasuo
Nishiguchi, is the OCPA's Chairman. The OCPA's objective is to deliver
rich media contents across a common platform and it has adopted Tao's
intent as the core software for the standardization. The launch of the
OCPA was only 8 months ago, and this is the first Kyocera product to
utilize intent.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
H I G H W A Y U S B A V A I L A B L E E N D O F M A Y
6 May, 2002
KDH Datentechnik announces the HIGHWAY USB card will be made
available to the public by May, 31st 2002 and will be distributed by
KDH Datentechnik. This is the first time that Amiga users can connect
and use modern USB devices in connection with their classic Amigas.
HIGHWAY is a Zorro II USB card and comes with an integrated
4-port-hub. The user has the possibility to connect up to four USB
devices without the need for an additional hub. In addition, the
HIGHWAY card can be expanded by the new 10Mbit ethernet module NORWAY
without wasting an additional Zorro slot. A compatibility list for
Zorro-boards and Zorro-cards can be found here. The boards have been
developed and manufactured by E3B ( Michael Boehmer ). The worldwide
distribution is done by KDH Datentechnik and your local Amiga dealer
will have the cards in stock by the end of May.
The scope of delivery includes the USB software stack Poseidon by
Chris Hodges. Drivers for USB mice, keyboard and parallel interface (
printers ) and mass storage devices ( SCSI emulation : e.g.
flashcard-reader, ZIP-devices, digicams following the MSD-standard )
will be shipped in addition to the HIGHWAY card without any additional
cost. More drivers ( webcam, digicam and printers) are being developed
right now by third party companies.
We do support the development of the Amiga OS4.0 contained USB-stack
by providing the USB cards HIGHWAY and SUBWAY. Both cards serve as the
reference-hardware for the USB software-development and will be
directly supported by OS4.0. Alternatively it will also be possible to
use the provided Poseidon stack.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I N G A C O M I N G T O A M I G A C O M P U T I N G
Snoqualmie, April 15th 2002 - Computer City is pleased to announce
that they have obtained a licence from Inutilis software that will
enable them to bring the Inga gaming system to all Amiga platforms.
The Inga gaming system provides everything required by developers for
the creation of classic graphical adventure games. It includes both a
complete set of development tools and a run time engine. An easy to
learn and highly flexible scripting language makes it possible for
anyone, even non programmers to create varied and complex adventure
games whilst the the intuitive interface provides all the control and
interaction that the game player could want.
"Computer City has been working closely with Amiga for many years,
and with the introduction of Amiga Anywhere, we saw a huge
opportunity." said Ron van Herk of Computer City. "Everyone loves
adventure games but no one likes having their favourite adventure
stuck on only one platform. With Inga running on Amiga Anywhere, the
adventure is just beginning."
"It is a pleasure to welcome Inga to the Amiga platforms." said Bill
McEwen, CEO and chairman of Amiga, Inc. "As Amiga Anywhere spreads
from Handhelds to Set Top Boxes Personal Computers and beyond,
customers will demand to play their games on any digital device. This
announcement means that they won't be disappointed."
The Amiga Anywhere version will be published under Computer City's
own "Sultan Systems & Software" label.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I O S P I R I T F X S C A N 4 . 0 N E W S
15 MAY, 2002 fxSCAN 4.0 with enhanced OCR-engine and PDF-Export
We´re pleased to announce to you version 4.0 of our powerful
scannersuite fxSCAN.
Among others, new features are a strongly enhanced and accelerated
OCR-engine (based on gocr 0.3.5, now also PPC-native and with the
ability to export embedded pictures and HTML), the all-new PDF-export,
an enhanced copying function with preview and correction features,
support for Turboprint® and an all-new documentation (in German and
English) with many illustrations in HTML- and PDF-versions.
A detailed list of all new features can be found under "New in V4" at
the foot of this news item. First screenshots, a list of supported
scanners and much more can be found on the fxSCAN 4.0 site.
fxSCAN 4.0 is available starting from end of June on CD-ROM and as
Downloadversion and can now be preordered from our website! Be one of
the first to hold this exciting product in your hands! Orders via
creditcards are charged only a few days before delivery.
http://www.iospirit.de/
29 May, 2002 IOSPIRIT brings USB-scanners to the AMIGA®!
Finally its going to become a reality! Thanks to the continuous
development of fxSCAN 4.0 you will be able to use current USB
scanners, interesting both in price and technology, with the release
of the latest version!
The required drivers will be made available seperatly in the "IOUSB
Scanner Package" (IOUSB SP) with the appearance of fxSCAN 4.0. By
building upon the IOUSB technology, it will be possible to use the
drivers with both the Poseidon stack (Highway®, Subway®, MorphOS) and
the stack contained in AmigaOS® 4.0.
The first driver will support Epson® scanners. Please have a look at
the list of supported USB scanners on the fxSCAN- or IOUSB SP-subpages
for supported devices.
++ Special offer! ++ Special offer! ++
All those who preorder (no matter whether update or full version)
fxSCAN 4.0 now, get the IOUSB Scanner Package for free!! Preorder now
and save 10 EUR!! This special offer takes effect for all already
existing preorders, too.
++ Special offer! ++ Special offer! ++
Furthermore fxSCAN 4.0 does now support special scannersettings that
may be available through the respective Betascan-drivers. This
includes selection of scanner source (e.g. transparency unit or
automatic document feeder) and the internal contrast-, brightness-,
gamma- and black&white-pattern-settings of the scanner. PNG is
supported for saving now, too.
New screenshots and an updated "NEW in V4!"-list can be found at the
fxSCAN-subpages.
The delivery of fxSCAN 4.0 might be delayed (if at all!) by a maximum
of two weeks due to the new features and the required tests. Thus
delivery should start by mid of July the latest. Thanks for your
understanding.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
D I A M O N D B O X N E W V E R S I O N R E L E A S E D
17 MAY, 2002
Nikolaj Kiær Thygesen is the author of the paint-application
'DiamondBOX'. This software is so good - it is hard to believe that
you can download it for free. DiamondBOX is a paint-program similiar
to Photogenics providing all the 'big features' of commercial
paint-packages like layers, lots of filters, drawing and text tools,
splines, image-manipulation and much more. It also gives you a
intuitive and beautiful (glowicons by Martin Merz!) interface!
Now, Nikolaj Kiær Thygesen just released a new version of DiamondBOX,
version 1.50. You can download this version at the updated DiamondDice
website.
Q: What can I do with the new DiamondBOX V1.50?
A: Draw, paint and have fun. These days it may be hard to tell, but
the original layer concept stems from Photogenics. You've got a number
of the regular tools to choose from and this time I added splines.
Q: What's new in this version?
A: First of all it's got splines! Add a spline layer with an effect,
and all the knots you want - Select the type of fill in Tool::Manager
and off you go. All knots can be rearranged or deleted later on. Group
layers giving you stuff like f.ex. drop shadows behind painted ares.
The layout of Layer::Manager has changed, and tools are now assigned
to the individual layer, so one layer can use the air brush while
another layer may use the circle tool. A new Brush::Manager allows the
user to create new brushes, and maybe save one with the rest of them.
A particle fill type for regular ellipses, rectangles and polygons has
been added - it takes a little experimenting. Find its options in
Tool::Manager. An Anti-Alias tool was added to the collection. Try it
out with text. There's even a new "about.picture" (see picture on
top), and this time it wasn't made by myself :o) New submissions are
still welcome. Most recently loaded images now have a separate dialog.
Last but not least a lot of internals have changed. Please read the
change history of the guide for the rest and more details.....
Q: What can we expect from the future?
A:A lot - Features are added on a "fun factor" basis. In other words
I add whatever I'm in the mood for :o) A different way of selecting
tools, and decent cropping functionality are definitely on the top of
my list. Some kind of warping tool would also be cool. Perhaps an
undo-thing?? Decent documentation in HTML?? Don't despair if updates
don't appear too frequently. Things take time, and new releases will
pop up eventually, but feel free to let me know what you think or if a
certain function is desperately needed.
Q: What are the requirements?
A:You'll need an Amiga: 68020+, WB 3.0+, CGFX 2+ and loads of RAM
depending on your images and number of layers.
Q: Where can I get DiamondBOX?
A: Try http://www.DiamondDice.tk, and look around a little. Chill out
a the gallery for a few minutes, and then DL the program at the bottom
of the page. Finally, have fun
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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 2002 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
_ __ _ <>_ __ _
A M I G A /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ A M I G A
U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_
amigaupdate@globaldialog.com
======================================================================
