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StarShip 5 MINUTE Weekend Newscast (1993 08 13)
Welcome to the
____
/ ___) *StarShip* 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast
/ (_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ ___)
/ (__ very weekend the *StarShip* on GEnie presents a new 5-MINUTE Weekend
(_____) Newscast in Communications Room 10 in the Real-Time Conference Area.
Featuring late-breaking stories from the Amiga community, these dynamic,
scrolling newscasts cycle every 5 minutes, so you can stop by between 6PM and
3AM Eastern time on Friday, or 3PM and 3AM Eastern time on Saturday or Sunday
and learn everything that happened during the preceding week. Industry news,
product announcements, upgrades, rumors, special *StarShip* activities, trade
show reports, GEnie usage tips, humor, recommended files to download...
... the works -- and it ONLY takes 5 minutes!
Each 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast is available on *StarShip* Menu #10 during the
following week. Periodically, newscasts are combined and made available for
downloading from the *StarShip* Library.
____________________________________________________________
// \
|| -*- IMPORTANT! -*- |
|| |
|| As long as individual stories are kept intact and credit |
|| is given, this material may be reproduced in ALL or PART |
|| on a privately owned BBS or in a user group newsletter. |
|| See wording for proper credit at the end of this Newscast. |
\\____________________________________________________________/
|| |
|| |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks to Denny Atkin
for his generous input.
Here we go!...
DateLine: Augutst 13, 1993
This 5-MINUTE Newscast presents the following stories:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Spectronics Introduces Merlin 24-bit Graphics Board
2. Iomega Intros Bernoulli Drives For Commodore Amiga
3. Next Week's Hot Summer Nights *StarShip* Conferences
4. Soft-Logik Translates Professional Page Document Format
5. INOVAtronics Releases CanDo Upgrade V2.5
6. Fish to be Available on CDROM
*StarShip* NEWS *Flash*
1st of 6 Stories
Spectronics Introduces Merlin 24-bit Graphics Board
_ _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ \/ \ Champaign, IL -- August 3, 1993
/ \
/ /\ /\ \
(_/ \/ \_)eet the board that has been the subject of discussion on some
major computer networks and Bulletin Boards for quite some time now.
Based on hardware, custom designed for Amiga, Merlin offers unbelievable
speed and powerful features at an incredibly low price.
Bundled with flexible productivity software, X-Pert will once again redefine
the standards for 24 bit graphics on Amiga.
A variety of outputs, such as RGB, Y/C and Composite, together with the
possibility to add a genlock and a digitizer make Merlin the all-in-one
solutio for demanding artists and video professionals, Fifty Megapixel per
second, a Blitter forty times faster than the original Amiga Blitter, and a
throughput-speed of more than 20Mb per second (2) when used in a Zorro III
slot will prove powerful enough to take the wait out of even the most
demanding tasks.
The integration of Picture in Picture (1) will allow you to watch real time
video at 30 fps, in 24 bit and a resolution of 320x200 pixels, right on your
workbench. No more jerky, black and white previews, but real live video.
Included Software:
* Merlin INTUITION EMULATOR
2.0/2.1/3.0 (AA Chipset emulation on A2000/A3000)
* Merlin TV-PAINT 2.0
* Merlin ANIMATOR
* Merlin PICLOADER
* Merlin DIASHOW
* Merlin CHECK
Features:
* 24 bit- 16,000,000 colors
* 50 Megapixel/second
* More than 20 Mb/second throughput (2)
* 1280x1024 in 24 bit
* 1600x1280 in 16 bit
* 2048x2048 in 8 bit
* All resolutions non-interlaced
* 1,2, or 4 Mb of VRAM
New: Up to 16 Mb of VRAM on board possible
* Composite and Y/C output
* 15 pin D-Sub output
* Zorro II/Zorro III compatible with automatic detection
* 24 bit real time Picture in Picture (1)
* Electronic Monitor Switch
Price List:
Boards
1Mb VRAM $699.00
2Mb VRAM $799.00
4Mb VRAM $999.00
Add-on Modules:
Digitizer $699.00
Genlock $699.00
(1) Picture in Picture is only possible with the optional digitizer module.
(2) 20 Mb per second or higher throughput rate only possible when used in a
Zorro III slot. Throughput rate in a Zorro III slot is approx. 3 Mb per
second.
For more information contact Spectronics International, 34 East Main Street
#23 Champaign, IL 61820, telephone 217/352-0061 or fax 217/352-0063.
-*-
*StarShip* NEWS *Flash*
2nd of 6 Stories
Iomega Intros Bernoulli Drives For Commodore Amiga
____ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(_ _) Roy, Utah, U.S.A. -- August 11, 1993
/ /
_/ /
(____)omega Corp. is now shipping two versions of its popular Bernoulli drive
designed for use with Commodore Amiga personal computers.
Called the Box 150, the unit is compatible with Commodore computers that are
SCSI (Small Computer System Interface)- capable. Iomega says the 150 megabyte
(MB) capacity of the Box makes it particularly suited for personal video
production.
The Box 150 Transportable is an external unit, while the Box 150 Insider
installs inside the Amiga chassis. The Transportable has a suggested retail
price of $1,225, while the Insider will carry a $1,099 price tag. Both models
include a read and write cache, which Iomega says make them up to three times
faster than competitive removable hard drive products.
The company says Iomega drives, which use removable cartridges for data
storage that can be removed from the drive and locked up or used in other
Bernoulli-equipped computers, can withstand up to 1,000 Gs of shock. "We
literally tossed a disk from a speeding car at 60 miles-per-hour onto a
concrete highway with 100 percent data survival," according to Paul Losee,
director of Iomega's channel development.
In addition to its Bernoulli product line, Iomega also markets minicartridge
tape drives that use both QIC-80 and Irwin-formatted tapes, and a Floptical
drive which used the company's proprietary second generation holographic
technology to read and write data.
For more information, contact Iomega Corporation at 801/778-1000.
-*-
*StarShip* NEWS *Flash*
3rd of 6 Stories
_ Hot Summer Nights on the *StarShip*
/ \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ - \
/ ___ \
(_/ \_)ll Conferences start at 10PM Eastern Time in the *StarShip*
Real-Time Conference Rooms (Menu Option #2 on Page 555) unless otherwise
noted! Amiga programmers meet each Wednesday at 10PM EDT in the Pro/Am
RoundTable Conference Rooms on Page 670.
___________________________________________________________________________
| |
| August 1993 *StarShip* Hot Summer Games Schedule |
|___________________________________________________________________________|
| Monday | Tuesday |Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| Telecomm | Music | AmiGames |Multimedia| Graphics| Party! | Surprise |
|__________|__________|__________|__________|_________|__________|__________|
| 16 POKER | 17 WEEK | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| ~~~~~~|~~~~~~~~~~| | | . . 5-MINUTE Weekend News . . |
|Telecomm | Elec Arts| Accursed | HELM |Brilliance |DEEPMODEM |
| | Releases| Toys |Fantastic | Night | Can You |Tells ALL |
| Night |Deluxe |Stephen & | New |w/Digital| Beat The | About |
| | Music II | Jennifer | Program! |Creations| Hangman? |Commodore |
|__________|__________|__________|__________|_________|__________|__________|
Monday Aug 16
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Telecommunications Night
The *StarShip* Staff is standing by tonight to answer some of your
questions about Amiga terminal software. With a host of powerful
telecommunicating tools at our fingertips, sometimes it is hard to locate
the one that gets the job done you need it to.
Tuesday Aug 17
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DeluxeMusic is Released by Electronic Arts
Come meet Orlando Guzman from EA along with some of the others involved
with this great new Amiga music product, DeluxeMusic! Yes, the long
awaited program is scheduled for release and shipping this month, and
we've got EA here to talk to you about it!
Be there early so you don't miss a beat!
Wednesday Aug 18
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AmiGames Presents
Accursed Toys
Jennifer and Stephen of Accursed Toys will join our regular AmiGames hosts,
Peter and Zach, for a thrilling evening on conference.
In addition to their own game demos and game related files in the *StarShip*
Library, Jennifer and Stephen love to talk about the Art of The Game in
their own Category 30 on the Bulletin Board.
Don't miss a single inventive and exciting minute with these fun guests!
Thursday Aug 19
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Multimedia Extravaganza with
New Authoring System: HELM
Come meet Jerrell Nickerson, designer of the great new Amiga authoring and
graphics program, Helm, from Eagle Tree Software, at what promises to be an
informative and fun conference. You might want to take a look at the Helm
in the *StarShip* Library.
Friday Aug 20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brilliance Night
w/ Digital Creations
The most exciting thing to happen to Amiga graphics is a killer new paint
program from Digital Creations, Brilliance!
You can talk to the folks at Digital about all of the advantages of using
Brilliance tonight, because they'll be here at our Graphics Conference.
Saturday Aug 21
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The *StarShip* staff is going to see whether you or the Hangman lasts
longer. You DO remember how to play Hangman, right? Good. We'll bring
the Virtual Chalk and Chalkboard, you bring the pretzels and the drinks,
and lets see who wins the prizes tonight!
No special software required, just come prepared to have fun. Neck
protection is reccomended.
Sunday Aug 22
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DEEPMODEM and DEEPTHOUGHT
Tonight in Conference!
The *StarShip* has recently found two brave insiders who can 'Tell It Like
It Is' at Commodore. We have had to schedule this conference later in the
month to make sure that all our security measures are in place.
No, I can't tell you who our mystery guests are. But I will assure you
that they are well credentialed to present the inside story that NOBODY
else will tell.
We will provide each mystery guest with a voice scrambler, an ugly wig and
nerdy glasses, as well as some padded clothing. They will be seated just
behind a back-lit screen. From time to time one of our video cameras will
be able to catch a few frames of them, and in those instances, we'll be
using the new Kiki-Face-Blur effects to insure that our guests remain
strictly under cover.
If you have been wondering "What in the world is going on in West Chester?"
Wonder no more. Find out. Don't be late.
________________________________
/ \
Fun & Games & Great Amiga Info | GEnie's Amiga Multiplayer Games |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Graphical Front End Software |
Throughout the MONTH of August | and Sample Screen Shots are |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | available for downloading from |
____________________________________| Menu Option #15 on the Main |
/ | *StarShip* Menu, Page 555. |
| You Won't BELIEVE Your Eyes! \________________________________/
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| A super *special* AmigaGuide version of the *StarShip* |
| Hot Summer Games August calendar is available in the |
| *StarShip* Library, and you've never seen a AmigaGuide |
| application like it! Download your choice: |
| |
| 20439 HOTSUMMERFOR3.0GUIDE.LZH :For AmigaDOS 3.0 |
| 20440 HOTSUMMER.GUIDE.LZH :For AmigaDOS 1.3/2.+ |
| |
| Point-and-click access to oodles of wondrous games/people |
| info and stories in slick hypertext format! Grab it! |
\___________________________________________________________/
-*-
*StarShip* NEWS *Flash*
4th of 6 Stories
____ Soft-Logik Translates Professional Page Document Format
/ ___) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
( (__ St. Louis, Missouri -- August 10, 1993
\__ \
___) )
(____/oft-Logik Publishing Corporation today announced a change to the
feature set of the upcoming PageStream 3.0, a completely new version of the
#1 Amiga desktop publishing program. PageStream 3.0 will have the ability to
load Professional Page documents directly. It will also be able to load
PageStream2 documents and the new IFF DOC format documents.
"Document formats have been dark and secret for too long," said Deron
Kazmaier, the president of Soft-Logik Publishing. "Customers want the freedom
to move their documents between programs, and we are going to give them that
freedom."
For the first time, users of Gold Disk's Professional Page desktop publishing
program will be able to make the transition to PageStream painlessly. They
have been able to use their fonts with PageStream since version 2.0, and
Soft- Logik added the ability to load and edit Professional Draw
illustrations in 1992. Adding support for another program's documents is an
industry first and simplifies switching from Professional Page to PageStream.
Converting a Professional Page document for use in PageStream is a simple
task. Just choose the Open command from the Project menu and don't worry if
it is a PageStream or Professional Page file. The Professional Page document
conversion module is included free of charge with PageStream 3.0.
PageStream 3.0 will be available in early fall for $395. Customers who
purchase a full copy of PageStream 2.2 after March 15, 1993 are eligible for
a free upgrade to version 3.0 by mailing their registration card, proof of
purchase and $5 for shipping and handling, to Soft-Logik. Previous purchasers
can upgrade for $125 if they own PageStream 2.0 or higher, or for only $95 if
they own PageStream 2 and HotLinks Editions.
Professional Page users can upgrade to PageStream 2.2 now for only $175 plus
shipping and handling, and receive a free upgrade to PageStream 3.0 when it's
released.
For more information, call Soft-Logik at voice 314-894-8608, Toll free
800-829-8608, or fax: 314-894-8608.
PageStream 3.0 will change the way you think about publishing.
CALL FOR HELP
____ Soft-Logik Needs Professional Page Document Files for Testing
/ _ )~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ ___/ St. Louis, Missouri -- August 10, 1993
/ /
(_/ageStream 3.0 will have the ability to open Professional Page documents
and save them in PageStream 3's IFF DOC format. To ensure that this feature
works with real-world files, we need ProPage documents to test. We want it to
work flawlessly to make your conversion to PageStream3 as easy as possible.
While we hope to make it translate 100% of every document correctly, we
cannot guarantee this because the Professional Page document format is not
publicly available. We believe that we have successfully documented every
aspect of the ProPage document format, but we can only verify this through
extensive testing. By testing your files now, we can ensure that this feature
will work properly for you when PageStream 3.0 is released.
To have your ProPage 3 or 4 documents tested with PageStream 3.0, mail them
to:
Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation Test my Documents! 11131F South Towne
Square St. Louis, MO 63123
Note: We will keep your document files confidential and will use them only
for testing. Nobody outside of our programming and testing staff will see
your files.
-*-
*StarShip* NEWS *Flash*
5th of 6 Stories
INOVAtronics Releases CanDo Upgrade V2.5
____ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ ___) Dallas, TX -- August 9, 1993
/ /
/ (__
(_____)anDo 2.5, INOVATronics' popular multimedia authoring system software,
has added exciting new features which not only utilize the capabilties of the
new Amigas, but allow you to make more impressive applications -- easier!
Some of these enhancements include:
* AGA Graphics
* Stereo Music Files
* ASL Commodore Requesters
New Main Panel
The main panel has been cleaned up and reorganized. The XtraTools menu and
icon have been removed and replaced with a list on the main panel. This makes
it easier to find and use these tools.
New Window Editor with AGA Graphic Support
The new Window Editor is more clearly laid out. The new "Open the Window
onto..." section allows you to select the screen. You can have your window
open on any "Public" screen.
The "Available modes..." button on the Window Editor brings up a requester
allowing your to select from the modes available on your computer. This
requester is similar to your "Screen Mode" preference setting. This method
insures both the greatest possible compatibility with future Amiga
enhancements and your application's ability to run on Amigas with different
capacities.
Support for Music Files
You can now play stereo music files. You have full control over tempo and
volume. The new InovaMusic.library supports StarTracker, SoundTracker,
NoiseTracker, ProTracker, MED, OctaMED, Oktalyzer, and 15 instrument
Soundtracker music files!
Expanded Requester Support
CanDo now uses the Commodore supplied ASL File Requester which has many
expanded features such as Save Mode (which allows the user to create
directories), Multi-Select, Filter Drawers, Only Drawers, File Patterns, and
more. These features not only give you greater programming control, but
provide the users of your application a standard, powerful means of selecting
Files and Directories.
We even added support for Commodore's "Easy Requesters." These allow you to
prompt the user with a question, have as many buttons as you need or possible
responses, and have the result returned in a function call. This means you no
longer have to setup a SubDeck to ask simple questions.
New SuperMover XtraTool
This Tool allows you to easily move groups of objects in a single step. You
no longer have to Edit each object individually and attempt to move it at the
same distance as other objects.
Full Font Support
We now fully support Compugraphic and Color fonts.
Command Expansion in the Script Editor
You can define your own shortcut sequences to use in the Script Editor. For
example, you can define "wwd" to expand to "WorkWithDocument" when you press
Shift-Space following "wwd".
Layout EditorTool
Some of you may remember the Layout Editor Tool from ProPak. It is now
included with the released software. It allows you to flow text around
complicated shapes in the window.
Using the LayOut/Helper you can wrap text around complicated objects on your
window using a point and click editor. Set your margins, straight or
contoured, enter your text, and the Layout Tool will do the rest. It's as
easy as pie!
Amiga Guide Support
CanDo's Help system uses the new AmigaGuide help system. Furthermore, you can
even add AmigaGuide help files to your own applications!
CanDo 2.5 - Real Programming made Real Easy!
Version 2.5 demonstrates Inovatronics' dedication to continually enhancing
CanDo to make it the easiest, most powerful means of making real
applications. Don't get left behind! Order your upgrade today!
Limited time for no Shipping Charge!
If you order by September 30, 1993, the shipping is on us!
IMPORTANT NEW SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
CanDo now requires a Hard Drive, 2MB of RAM, andd 2.04 or later of the OS.
Furthermore, DeckBrowser is no longer included with CanDo. If you have any
questions in this regard, please call us Toll Free!
CanDo Version 2.5 Upgrade:
Upgrade from 2.0 $25.00
Upgrade from 1.6 $75.00
Upgrade previous to 1.6 $90.00
CanDo T-Shirt $16.95
BBS Disks $ 8.00 [Available in the *StarShip* Library]
For more information or to order, contact your local authorized Amiga dealer
or INOVAtronics, Inc., 8499 Greenville Avenue #209B, Dallas, TX 75231-2499,
telephone 213/340-4991, fax 214/340-8514, or Toll Free 800/875-8499.
-*-
*StarShip* Amiga *Flash*
6th of 6 Stories
Fish to be Available on CDROM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
____ August 11, 1993
(_ _) by Fred Fish fnf@fishpond.cygnus.com
/ /
_/ /
(____) have further details on the CDROM distribution. Things are still
very much in the preliminary planning phase, but as details become available
I'll continue to post updates. The quick summary of the situation is that I
am going ahead with CDROM distribution and plan to produce several types of
CDROMs.
There will be a monthly CDROM containing several categories of material,
including new material received since the previous month's CDROM, a
continuously updated set of widely used "base tools" such as archivers,
editors, compilers, text processors, etc, and possibly a few toys like the
most popular PD games, and some random selection of older material on a space
available basis.
There will be a quarterly CDROM containing the archived form of all the
previous new material from the monthly CDROM's to date, plus as much of the
floppy distribution as will fit.
When the floppy distribution reaches 1000 disks, there will be a CDROM with
the contents of the entire floppy library (assuming it can be made to fit of
course) and the library will migrate to CDROM distribution only (expected to
happen in early 1994).
Here is a quick summary of the topics that I'll cover in more depth later in
this message (not in any particular order):
o I now can be reached directly via FAX! :-)
o Why I'm going to do CDROM distributions and what it means for
the floppy distribution.
o How the CDROMs will be organized and how material will be
selected.
o How often CDROMs will be issued and what the cost will be.
o The initial production runs will be of limited quantities.
o Legal issues; redistributability, copyright, etc.
o Submission guidelines for authors.
o Library facelift wanted (calling all graphics authors).
There is a *lot* of info in this message. I decided to do it this way, rather
than break it up into lots of small little messages, each dealing with a
single topic. Feel free to upload this message to other electronic services
(BBS's, Genie, BIX, etc) where it might be of interest.
WHY CDROM DISTRIBUTIONS
More Cost Effective
It is simply far more cost effective, both for me and for the library
subscribers, to distribute the library on CDROMs than on floppy disks. The
current cost of a subscription averages about $40/month for less than 12Mb of
new material per month. A CDROM distribution, depending upon quantity, is
expected to be $20/month or less for 50-150Mb of new material per month
(assuming there actually is that much available).
Multiple Distribution Formats
With the floppy distributions, the name of the game is sometimes to see just
how much material can be crammed onto a single floppy. There is almost
always a tradeoff between the convenience of having the material in
unarchived format and the desire to get as much material as possible into a
new release, or to make something fit on a single floppy. A fair amount of
time actually goes into juggling things around until a set of 10 floppies
achieves the desired density of 95-100% full.
With a CDROM distribution, we get the best of both worlds. With a vastly
larger amount of room to play with, the new material can be distributed
directly in two forms, a ready-to-run form (unarchived) and a BBS-ready form
(archived) on the same media. This is how the monthly CDROM will be
organized. The quarterly archival CDROM's will contain only the BBS-ready
form.
COORDINATION WITH FLOPPY DISTRIBUTION
Timing of Floppy Releases
For the past several years, I've released floppy disks in batches of 10, with
a new batch being released about every 2 to 6 weeks. Beginning with the first
monthly CDROM release, floppy releases will occur when the CDROM is committed
to production, and will not be any set number of disks.
It is expected that when a new CDROM is released each month, that there will
be 15-25 floppy disks that are released at the same time, the contents of
which will make up some fraction of the new material that is included on each
CDROM. Note that not all the new material will be contained on the floppy
disks; the only way to get all the new material is via the CDROM. There will
be a supported way of recreating individual copies of the floppy disk
distribution from the contents of the CDROM.
I expect to release one more batch, 901-910 before the first CDROM is
completed. This batch should be released in the last week of August. I'm
currently projecting the first CDROM master to be completed by the last week
of September and committed to production in early October.
Migration to CDROM Only Distributions
Once the library reaches disk 1000, there will be no more floppy releases and
the library will move to CDROM only. Part of the reason for this is to allow
people time to acquire CDROM drives and part of the reason is that it would
be a shame to get this close to disk 1000 and not reach it. :-)
After the release of disk 1000, there will be a CDROM containing the entire
library, possibly in the archived BBS-ready form. The exact details will be
determined during production of the CDROM, taking into account experiences
and feedback from users of the monthly CDROMs.
ORGANIZATION OF THE CDROMs
The Monthly CDROM
The monthly CDROM is designed to meet the needs of users who want copies of
new releases of material as soon a practical with a CDROM distribution.
Depending upon when the material was received in the CDROM production cycle,
and the time to go from CDROM master to production CDROMs, there should be an
average latency of about 3 weeks.
However since it is unlikely that there will be enough new material each
month to fill a CDROM (or enough time to organize it if it was available), I
might as well include some other material on the CDROM and make effective use
of the available space. Although subject to change, it's anticipated that
the monthly CDROM will be organized into several different sections:
o A overview section containing information about the library,
this particular CDROM, hot breaking news, etc.
o A section containing material that is newly released with
this CDROM, in ready-to-run (unarchived) form.
o A section containing material that is newly released with
this CDROM, in BBS-ready (archived) form.
o A section containing installed versions of popular tools that
are anticipated to be released in updated form on each CDROM.
By leaving the CDROM mounted, you can potentially free up
several hundred megabytes of hard disk space to use for other
purposes. Of course the tools can still be copied from the
CDROM to a hard drive if you prefer the faster access speed of
the hard drive or don't wish to leave the CDROM mounted all
the time. If this section gets too large, it may be split off
onto a separate tools CDROM.
o A "filler" section. Whatever space remains after putting
everything else on the CDROM will be filled with selected
material from a previous CDROM or from the floppy based
library distributions. This may or may not include all the
new material from the previous CDROM, depending upon space
available. The intention is that if possible, users will be
able to order every other monthly CDROM (at least in the
beginning) and because of the overlap, not miss any of the
new material.
The Quarterly CDROM
This CDROM is intended to meet the needs of users who don't want the monthly
CDROM, and prefer to get their doses of new material in larger chunks over
longer intervals. It also provides a way for BBS operators to have the
maximal amount of recently released new material online using a single CDROM.
All of the material on the quarterly CDROM will be in the BBS-ready format.
The quarterly archival CDROM will contain all the new material from each of
the previous monthly CDROMs, back as far as the CDROMs go or until the
quarterly CDROM is out of space. For the first several quarterly CDROMs there
will probably not be enough older CDROM material to fill it up, so material
will be included from the floppy distribution, starting with the latest disk
and working backwards until the CDROM is full.
The Floppy Archival CDROM
Once the floppy distribution reaches 1000 disks, there will be a CDROM with
the entire contents of the floppy library, in the BBS-ready format.
LIMITED PRODUCTION RUNS OF FIRST CDROMs
The first couple of monthly CDROMs will probably have limited production
runs; basically the number of preorders plus some small percentage to cover
post production demand (20% maybe?) and another small percentage to cover
returns, promotional copies, etc (10% maybe?). Thus if there are preorders
for 300 disks, I'll probably order an extra 100 or so. The reason for this is
to reduce the risk of significantly overestimating the actual demand and
having to heat my house with unused CDROMs, using the fireplace. :-)
ORDERING INFORMATION
I've decided on the following price schedule, until it becomes more clear
exactly what the actual demand for CDROMs will be. Depending upon the actual
demand after the first two or three monthly CDROMs, the price may be adjusted
either up or down.
o $15 per CDROM, plus shipping and handling, for any four or
more CDROMs preordered by Sept 1st. Consider this a special
discount for helping to defray startup costs and for helping
to determine potential actual demand early in the process.
o $20 per CDROM, plus shipping and handling, for any CDROM
preordered before the CDROM master is committed to production,
which is expected to be late September or early October for
the first CDROM and approximately monthly thereafter.
o $30 per CDROM, plus shipping and handling, for any CDROM
ordered after the master is committed to production.
Availability cannot be guaranteed, and is on a "first come
first served" basis.
o Shipping and handling is $3 per CDROM for domestic USA first
class mail shipments and $5 per CDROM for overseas airmail
shipments. Special arrangements such as federal express are
available for a $10 special handling fee, plus actual shipping
charges.
You can order CDROMs using the same address as for the floppy distribution:
Fred Fish
1835 East Belmont Drive
Tempe, AZ 85284 USA
FAX: (602) 491-0048 (FAX only, no phone orders via voice)
Payment can be made via:
o cash (suggest registered mail)
o check, money order, international bank draft (payable in U.S.
dollars)
o credit card (VISA or MasterCard; minimum order $100).
Be sure to state in your order which CDROMs you want and include the
appropriate shipping and handling as indicated above. As with the floppy
distributions, funds not immediately used will go into an escrow account
(fully refundable at any time), to be charged against as CDROMs are shipped.
If you already have an account for the floppy distribution, you can transfer
to the CDROM account, and automatically switch over to the CDROM
distribution, by simply notifying me that this is what you'd like to do.
Currently I can only accept MasterCard or VISA orders if they are $100 or
more. I'm trying to work out an arrangement that would let me handle smaller
amounts. I'll post a followup message if this becomes reality, but it
probably won't happen until early September. Please include a statement with
your order that you agree to have the charge made to your card before
delivery of the CDROMs, subject to full refund on demand of any unused
portion.
If you FAX in a order, please sign it somewhere. Since I prefer to have a
hardcopy on file somewhere of all orders received, I'm not accepting email'd
orders, with payment via credit card, at this time.
HYPERMEDIA CONCEPTS CDROM V1.7
The next Hypermedia Concepts "Fred Fish Collection on CD ROM" disk, version
1.7, should be available by mid September. By special arrangement with
Hypermedia Concepts, this update will be available from me under the same
conditions as the other CDROM disks, and can be one of the four or more disks
preordered by Sept 1st to get the special $15 + S&H rate.
FAVORITE and MOST USED PROGRAMS
One section of the monthly CDROM will be devoted to containing programs that
are likely to be useful to a large segment of Amiga users, with a slight bias
towards developers. They will be in a ready to run form; I.E. you will not
have to copy them off of the CDROM onto your hard drive (though of course you
can if you want). In fact, getting them off of the hard drive to free up
space is part of the motivation for including them in a ready to run form.
I'm soliciting input from the user community for tools that you'd most like
to see available on the CDROM. Some of the more obvious ones that come to
mind are GNU Emacs, GNU C / C++, TeX, etc. If you submit the name of
something you'd like to see put on the CDROM, try to tell me where you think
the latest version is available from (ftp site name plus directory path is
fine).
*StarShip* News Note:
For information on the following, please download file 20572 FISHCD.LHA from
the *StarShip* Library. This information was not included here due to space
considerations.
REDISTRIBUTION and COMPILATION COPYRIGHT
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR AUTHORS
CD32 and CDTV COMPATIBILITY
INFORMATION OVERLOAD
GIVING THE LIBRARY A FACELIFT
GROUP CDROM DRIVE PURCHASE
That's it for now folks.
-Fred
-*-
Over a GIGABYTE of Amiga files in our Library!
Catch your limit of Fred FISH Disks from the *StarFish* Library.
If you are after a SINGLE PROGRAM on a Fish Disk, SEARCH for it
before downloading the disk. Most are available separately!
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