What's New
AMIGAphile Volume 1 Number 2 (AUGUST 1992)
COMMERCIAL
Supra Corporation is now shipping GP FAX software with its SupraFAXModems; the SupraFAXModem Plus and the SupraFAXModem V.32bis which are both external. As of the May 1, 1992 price list, the SupraFAXModem Plus is $219.95 US and the SupraFAXModem V.32bis is $479.95. The GP FAX software is also available separately for $99.95. If you don't have a local Supra dealer, these products many be ordered directly from Supra. Their customer service number is 1-800 -727-8772. [Ed. - I contacted Supra about obtaining a modem for review and was told that no special program was available for review products and I would just have to purchase one to see what it's like. Looks like a job for one of you brave readers.]
Commodore Business Machines has released its 386sx bridge board the A2386sx. [Ed. - Since I have no affiliation with CBM other than owning one of their fine machines, I am unable to provide any specifications at this time. Please contact Commodore for more information]
SimEarth has just hit retailers shelves. The new addition from the makers of SimCity promises as much fun creating worlds as SimCity did creating cities.
Soon to be released: MegaTraveller II
Quantum introduces the Quantum Passport XL (tm) - the high-performance removable hard drive that features effective access times as fast as 9ms and capacities up to 240MB. According to their literature, the Passport XL removable hard drives come in 50, 105, 120, and 240 MB capacities, are SCSI and SCSI-2 compatible, and include Quantum's 2-year renewable warranty. For more information contact Quantum at 1-800-624-5545.
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Amiga SOX - multi-format sound converter Amiga release 2.0, after public release 5 by Lance Norskog and Sundry Contributors, Amiga port by David Champion. SOX converts *between* any two of 8SVX, AIFF, HCOM, ulaw, VOC, WAV, and raw (signed/unsigned, byte/word/longword) sound formats. You should be able to convert *any* sound file to a format readable by *any* Amiga application, and vice versa. SOX can also perform any of various effects on a sound file, including echo, vibrato, rate change (resample), volume change, filter (low-pass, band-pass), and a minimal statistical analysis.
- The Amiga version includes FPU (68881/2 math coprocessor) and non-FPU versions to perform mathematically intensive effects more quickly, and a set of scripts for the Amiga Shell and for U. Dominik Mueller's csh which perform many of the most common conversions without the full command line.
- AmigaSOX is freely distributable. Copyright 1992 Lance Norskog and Sundry Contributors.
ZMachine 1.0.3 - Patch level update - Minor new features and bug fixes. ZMachine 1.0.3 is an Amiga port of the freely distributable ZIL interpreter. ZIL is the "Zork Implementation Language" used by Infocom text adventure games.
- New for this release: Special support for using ZMachine along with BBS software as a means of providing on-line infocom games. In BBS mode, ZMachine can restrict where user created save files are stored and what the files are named. Using ZMachine's BBS mode and BBS scripts, multiple on-line Infocom adventures can be provided with each user having a personal set of save game files for each game. ZMachine also supports the CLI quick exit feature and ctrl-c exit-signaling in BBS mode.
- The Amiga port of ZMachine is copyrighted but freely distributable, no fee of any kind is requested.
The newest revision of the CMUS (Common Musical Score) IFF file format by Talin is version 0.4 (dated July 7, 1992). The CMUS format is for interchanging musical data using Common Music Notation. The project is currently under development on the BIX conference amiga.dev/iff. This version does not include the tabulature item as that is still being worked on. This spec WILL change!!
MFR - MagicFileRequester version 2.0c (Minor update to 2.0) by Stefan Stuntz (stuntz@informatik.tu-muenchen.de). MFR is a replacement for all other file requesters. Features include complete keyboard control, nice outfit, proportional font support, directory caching, file find mechanism, file class support, file notification, many configuration options, history list, ... MFR is distributed as shareware (US $ 15, DM 20).
