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Amiga Update (2004-11-30)
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A M I G A | 041130 | 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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I T ' S P I A N E T A A M I G A T I M E A G A I N !
S A F I R C O N F E D E R A T I O N I N S W E D E N
A M I G A D E V B O X F O R P R O G R A M M E R S
W I F I F O R A M I G A 1 2 0 0
F A S T A T A F R O M E L B O X
B A R S N P I P E S N E W R E L E A S E
A U D I O E V O L U T I O N 4 . 0 I S O U T
N E W R E L E A S E - T V R T U N E R C O N T R O L
F R O M T H E N O S T A L G I A D E P T .
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
It seems like November has just started, and here we are at the end
of it. Some months are like that. We haven't seen a great deal of
earth-shaking news in the Amiga community, but we sense a growing
feeling of confidence in the future even so. It probably has something
to do with the availability of the developers' version of OS4 and the
efforts that seems to have triggered in Amiga developers, and the
pleasure it's given to users. This is great. We hope the feeling
continues and grows.
For our own part, we had a surprise or two during the month. In the
process of negotiating some new arrangements with our ISP, the Amiga
Update archive site vanished. This was quickly pointed out by some
readers who wondered if we'd gone out of business. Not exactly, we're
still here - but we aren't a business and that was part of the
problem. We pay for that site, but AU is not self supporting, so we
made some changes to lower costs. We had no idea that the site would
vanish, along with all data on-line.
What we've done is re-establish the site, with the same ISP (it was
mis-communication, not really their fault). We've put the site back up
on a URL we used some time ago. You can find it here:
http://www.globaldialog.com/~bandr/AU/index.html
Since the site has been a restore from archived files, we know there
may be some problems. Please drop us a note if you notice anything
unusual. We have eliminated the links page, as it was out of date and
didn't seem to get much use even when it was up to date. All else
should be the same as it was. We hope we've not caused any
inconvenience for anyone, and we hope you enjoy this issue.
Brad Webb,
Editor
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I T ' S P I A N E T A A M I G A T I M E A G A I N !
10 November, 2004
Rome - December 12th, 2004, Pianeta Amiga, the most important Amiga
event in Italy, will take place. This time, Pianeta Amiga, unusually
as pre-Christmas event, will be held in a new and important place:
Rome, few steps away from the railway station. More details will be
given in the next days.
Like former editions, there will be important news, many exhibitors
and several international and national VIPs. With contributions by all
Italian resellers and organized by the JASA team in joint-work with
Virtual Works and Bitplane, this eight edition will be an important
meeting for the community to discuss about the future of our platform
while getting hand on the latest things in a growing market in this
unique corner-stone-moment of Amiga history.
During the next few days all detail will be published through mailing
lists and the event's own website {URL not available as we write this.
Brad} . We are waiting for you all, December 12th 2004, for the Amiga
event of the year.
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S A F I R C O N F E D E R A T I O N I N S W E D E N
14 November, 2004
The SAFIR confederation has gathered all the Amiga clubs of Sweden
in one place. A portal has emerged with news, meetings, discussions
and projects that concern the Amiga. With modern hardware like the
AmigaOne and a modern PowerPC native operating sytem like AmigaOS4, we
have once again a bright future ahead. The portal is in Swedish only.
Visit safir.amigaos.se http://safir.amigaos.se now!
United we stand, divided we fall.
It has been a turbulent time these last few years for the Amiga. Our
dear platform has been ripped and torn to pieces, even dragged to
court, all for nothing. Now that the fog of war has settled, there is
a huge need to gather our forces for something much more important
than winning or losing.
Some of the areas of interest for SAFIR:
o Azine - To help the best Amiga magazine in Sweden evolve.
o AmiGBG - To make certain the success with the Swedish Amiga fair
continues.
o Bringing resources and assets together for development.
o Software rebates - Through coordinated orders of software we can
get group discounts.
o AAA - Perhaps we'll resurrect the "Trippel A - awards".
o Meetings IRL, at computer parties, minihacks, and why not a
Christmas gathering! :)
The Portal contains among other things:
o News
o Forums
o "My page"
o Private Messages
o Blog (web-log)
o Project pages (*)
o Hardware database (*)
o Gallery (*)
o File area (*)
(* Features currently beeing developed)
If You look at the Amiga related efforts in Sweden the past two
years, You will realize the marvelous development! New Amiga clubs,
the annual fair AmiGBG that creates envy among Amigans worldwide, OS4
on Tour, OS4 pre-release parties, minihacks and computer parties in
abundance, just to mention a few.
The Amiga is on it's way back, no doubt about that.
Are You ready?
Note: SAFIR will also work closely with other platforms. There is
already an ongoing cooperation with a few Linux associations and this
list will grow considerably in the future. For the Amiga(R) to grow as
an alternative platform we need to attract new developers. SAFIR is a
part of that effort.
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A M I G A D E V B O X F O R P R O G R A M M E R S
20 November,2004
There are many talented coders out there, many of whom would like to
write software for OS4 but are unable to afford the necessary
hardware. As a result, OS4 is loosing these talented coders, and
loosing possible software development which would help further the
platform. This problem was discussed at Amigaworld.net in the
following Topic:
amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=8340&forum=15&31
Amiga Dev Box intends to address this problem. Amiga Dev Box is a
community initiative designed to partner the developer without OS 4
with a tester who has an Amiga One/OS 4 box. The tester can either
lend them the box or allow the developer remote access to build at an
agreed time (or run commands to build themselves). The tester provides
the SDK autodocs on CD to the developer and between them they get a
product to release. This is a private agreement between the Developer
and the Tester, Amiga Dev Box simply provides a way of posting your
details so both parties can meet and come to an agreement.
Status reports on apps being ported will be added to the site as
things progress.
Many Thanks
The Amiga Dev Box Team.
http://amigadevbox.happybiscuit.com/
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W I F I F O R A M I G A 1 2 0 0
9 November, 2004
The PC and Mac have had wireless networking for a while now. Now the
Amiga 1200 can join in!
AmigaKit.com's latest networking product is NETPCM010- the PCMCIA
wireless network card.
If you have a wireless broadband modem in your home, you can pick up
the internet with this card without running miles of cable around the
house.
This card is "WiFi" 802.11b compliant and can allow you to connect
wirelessly to other wirelessly enabled computers such as PCs, laptops
and Airport-enabled Macs and Powerbooks. Now you can exchange data
with them easier.
To learn more about this card visit AmigaKit.com website at
http://www.amigakit.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=121
They are in stock now.
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F A S T A T A F R O M E L B O X
17 November, 2004
Elbox Computer is now shipping the new Fast ATA 1200 MK-III
controller, the latest addition to the Fast ATA line of ATA drive
controller products for Amiga Classic computers.
The Fast ATA 1200 MK-III controller provides high performance support
for up to four ATA/IDE storage devices running up to five times faster
than the standard Amiga 1200 IDE controller. Fast ATA 1200 MK-III has
a new redesigned printed circuit board and new firmware, which results
in enhanced performance with lower processor load when compared
against earlier FastATA 1200 versions.
Click here http://elbox.com/products/extra_prod/fa_1200pack.html
Requirements:
* Amiga 1200 in a standard desktop case or in a tower case
The package contents:
* Fast ATA 1200 MK-III controller
* Floppy disk with:
- AllegroCDFS and
- FastATA'99 software
* One 60cm 80-wire ATA-133 cable
* User's Manual
For more information about the Fast ATA 1200 MK-III controller,
please visit the Elbox website at
www.elbox.com/products/fast_ata_1200_mk3.html
For photo of the Fast ATA 1200 MK-III controller, please refer to the
Elbox website http://elbox.com/products/extra_prod/fastata_mk3.html.
Pricing and availability: The FAST ATA 1200 MK-III controller is now
shipping at the suggested retail price of EUR 69.95 (VAT excl.) To
locate an authorized distributor in your area visit the Elbox Computer
website at www.elbox.com/buy.html
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B A R S N P I P E S N E W R E L E A S E
15 November, 2004
Alfred Faust has released v1.24 of the Midi Sequencing program Bars N
Pipes for the Amiga.
Changes include:
Ver. 1.23 (16.01.2004)
* bugs removed:
1. reason for the crash when loading some original Accessories
removed.
For this completely recompiled.
Ver. 1.24 (10.11.2004)
* added:
1. Choosing the backgroundcolor of a trackname, which is saved
within the song
* New:
Screenmoderequester, gadtools-GUI, most requesters may be used by
keyboard-shortcuts, CAMD-Library, new 32 colors design,
Localisation - a german catalog is included, and much more.
Download Bars'N'Pipes 1.24
http://www.alfred-j-faust.de/download/BnP1_24.lha (801KB LHA)
Visit http://www.alfred-j-faust.de/indexeng.html homepage for more
information.
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A U D I O E V O L U T I O N 4 . 0 I S O U T
19 November, 2004
We are proud to announce that today, the audio harddisk recording and
editing software Audio Evolution 4.0 has been released.
Since the last update about 3 years ago, Audio Evolution has
undergone a significant amount of enhancements, besides the port to
AmigaOS4 native. The most prominent are non-linear non-destructive
editing, effect automation, automation recording, unlimited undo, MIDI
remote control and updates to the GUI. Also smaller enhancements like
a metronome, many grid options, track height adjustment, improved
automation editing on the timeline and new effect plug-ins etc. are
included. Audio Evolution 4.0 now also comes with a brand new manual
in PDF format which is also used as online help.
For people who haven't seen Audio Evolution 4 yet, there is a demo on
the OS4 pre CD, an updated demo (with bugfixes) on our website and you
can find some screenshots here:
http://www.audio-evolution.com/AE4/Screenshots.html
You can order directly from the distributor Computer City
(http://www.compcity.nl, mail to info@compcity.nl) or ask your local
dealer. Registered users of Audio Evolution 3 will get a discount.
Prices are 149 euro for new users and 70 euro for upgrades. A printed
manual can be purchased separately for a small additional cost. Please
ask your dealer for more information.
For more information please visit http://www.audio-evolution.com or
contact us at info@audio-evolution.com.
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N E W R E L E A S E - T V R T U N E R C O N T R O L
27 November, 2004
A new version of the TvR program by Robert Krajcarz is now available.
This program enables control of any TV tuner PCI card working in the
Elbox Mediator.
Hardware requirements:
* Amiga with a Mediator PCI busboard
* Any TV tuner PCI card working in Mediator
* (Optional) SoundBlaster PCI128 sound card
* (Optional) TV tuner remote control unit
TvR allows seeking radio/TV stations, composing a TV program list,
tuning TV screen parameters (brightness, contrast, saturation),
switching channels, changing TV window size (from 10% of the standard
TV size to fullscreen), selecting video source (TV/CINCH/SVHS),
switching between sound modes (mono, stereo) and controlling volume.
In the fullscreen mode, TvR provides OSD (On Screen Display) for the
performed functions. Stopping (freezing) TV frames and saving TV
screenshots to the hard drive is also supported.
You can operate the program from the GUI, from the keyboard, or from
the remote control unit, which is also supported.
http://ext.neostrada.pl/tvr/tvr_medium.jpg
Changes in ver. 2.5 and 2.6 of TvR:
* minimising sound cracks when TV programs are switched
* closing the TV window automatically switches on the radio mode
* hiding the mouse pointer in FULLSCREEN
* saving the TV window position
* saving single frames
* correcting the SVHS input operation
* the F4 key used for changing colour coding systems
* expansion of skin management procedures
* adding keyboard control for frame stopping
TvR 2.6 is available for downlod at
www.ppa.pl/software/download/tvr_26.lha Skins for TvR are available at
www.ppa.pl/software/download/tvr_skins.lha
The program page (in Polish only) is located on PPA news sevice
at www.ppa.pl/software/software-tvr.html.
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F R O M T H E N O S T A L G I A D E P T .
LONDON, United Kingdom - 19th November 2004 - The Toy:Lobster Company
today announced the appointment of Just Distribution as distributor to
the Video Game Sector for the upcoming Commodore 64(tm)
Plug-in-and-play Games System. Just Distribution will handle the
independent sector and selected key retail accounts within the Video
Game sector for the UK Toy company and will bring with them a wealth
of experience in this category. The product line, which commences
shipping from February 2005, is being hailed as a breakthrough in the
new market of Plug-in-and-play Direct to Television handheld Video
Game Systems. The unit, packing 30 full games, is fully Commodore
branded and utilises the actual operating system used on the original
C64. The games are not replicas of the originals - they actually are
the originals. The controller is an exact replica of the instantly
recognisable Competition Pro 5000 Joystick.
"There is a massive Commodore fan base still active in the market"
commented Toy:Lobster Marketing Director, Simon Jones, "These days
they own a PlayStation 2 or X-Box and are often still active software
purchasers. We needed a partner with great penetration into the
retailers serving this sector and we believe that JUST truly
understand what we're doing here." Andrew Blumson, Director, Just
Distribution added, "We've begun to make a real name for ourselves in
this category and see the Commodore 64 as a real leap forward in the
technology used. We're very excited about the opportunity here and are
looking forward to working with Toy:Lobster on this project"
For more information, please contact: Simon Jones; The Toy:Lobster
Company Tel: + 44 (0) 208 757 5770, Fax: + 44 (0) 208 757 5775, Email:
simon.jones@toylobster.com <mailto:simon.jones@toylobster.com> Andrew
Blumson; Just Distribution Ltd Tel: + 44 (0) 1992 703816, Fax: + 44
(0) 1992 703811 Email: ablumson@justdistribution.co.uk
About The Toy:Lobster Company The Toy:Lobster company is an
independent toy company that manufactures, licenses and distributes a
large range of leisure products, predominantly created and marketed
for young adults. The company is exclusive distributor for lines from
companies such as; Colorific Australia, Cutting Edge Toys, Best Pals
Inc.
----
C64 Direct-to-TV available November 26th in the US. Commodore
officially announces the launch of the C64 Direct-to-TV in the US.
This "C64DTV" was on air all day through QVC on November 26th. Mammoth
Toys has been appointed by Commodore for this product as the official
distributor for the US, Canada and Latin America. The first shipped
order quantity is over 200.000 pieces.
----
In December there will be a limited quantity of the NTSC version
available on Commodore's website. Commodore will keep you informed at
the news section of http://www.commodoreworld.com/ when more
information is available.
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Amiga Update on the net:
All back issues available at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/~bandr/AU/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive! Now in our 11th year.
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Copyright 2004 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
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U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E
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