@database "ar408.guide" @Node MAIN "Amiga Report Online Magazine #4.08 -- June 12, 1996" =========================================================================== June 12, 1996 @{" Turn the Page " link MENU} Issue No. 4.08 =========================================================================== ,a c4%&; 1%%%b 9%=~ " m; mmmm; nmm mmmmm .,pmq,. m; j#6 ##6 j### ### ,#'~ ~`g, j#6 ##&; ##&; #### ### ,#f `# ##&; jP##6 ###6 jP### ### .##' " jP##6 #'$#&; #$#&; #'### ### i## #'$#&; jP l##6 #l##6 jP ### ### &## jP l##6 #' $#&; # $#&;#' ### ### &## #' $#&; j#mmmd##6 # l##6P ### ### ?## mmmw j#mmmd##6 #' $#&; # $##' ### ### ##; $#$ #' $#&; jP l##6 # l#P ### ### `#l ,&#'jP l##6 #' ###mm # $' mm###mm mm###mm `#q,.,p#' #' ###mm (R) "~^~" &&&&q, , ,P `b d' tm d' ,P d&&&P ;P .,d' ,c&&q, &&&&q, ,c&&q, q&,e&q ;P' d&&&P ;P' `& d' `b ;P' `b dP~ `P d' ;P'`&; dB&&&&P ;P ,P d' P ;P ;P d' `&; &, , d' .,d' &, .,d' d' d' , &&& &&'`&&&P' ;B&&&P' `&&&P' &&& `&P' d' ;P &&& "THE Online Source for Amiga Information!" Copyright 1996 FS Publications All Rights Reserved @endnode @node MENU "Amiga Report Main Menu" @toc MAIN Amiga Report 4.08 is sponsored in part by: @{" ClickBOOM " link AD1}, authors of the upcoming @{" Capital Punishment " link AD1}, and by @{" AmiTrix Development " link AD2}, publishers of the upcoming @{" AWeb-II " link AD2}. =========================================================================== == Main Menu == =========================================================================== @{" Editorial and Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Featured Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" News & Press Releases " link NEWS} @{" Aminet Charts " link FTP} @{" Reader Mail " link MAIL} --------------------------------- @{" About AMIGA REPORT " link ABOUT} @{" Dealer Directory " link DEALER} Contact Information and Copyrights Amiga Dealer Addresses and Numbers @{" Where to Get AR " link WHERE} @{" Advertisements " link COMMERCIAL} Mailing List & Distribution Sites Online Services, Dealers, Ordering ______________________________________________ // | | // ========//====| Amiga Report International Online Magazine |======//===== == \\// | Issue No. 4.08 June 12, 1996 | \\// == ==============| "THE Online Source for Amiga Information!" |============= |______________________________________________| @endnode @node JASON "Editor" @toc STAFF =========================================================================== EDITOR =========================================================================== Jason Compton ============= Internet Address -------- ------- jcompton@shell.portal.com 1203 Alexander Ave jcompton@xnet.com Streamwood, IL 60107-3003 USA Fax Phone --- ----- 847-741-0689 847-733-0248 @endnode @node KATIE "Assistant Editor" @toc STAFF =========================================================================== == ASSISTANT EDITOR == =========================================================================== Katherine Nelson ================ Internet -------- Kati@cup.portal.com @endnode @node KEN "Games Editor" @toc STAFF =========================================================================== == GAMES EDITOR == =========================================================================== Ken Anderson ============ Internet Address -------- ------- kend@dhp.com 44 Scotland Drive ka@protec.demon.co.uk Dunfermline Fife KY12 7TD Scotland @endnode @node WILLIAM "Contributing Editor" @toc STAFF =========================================================================== CONTRIBUTING EDITOR =========================================================================== William Near ============ Internet -------- wnear@epix.net @endnode @node ADDISON "Contributing Editor" @toc STAFF =========================================================================== CONTRIBUTING EDITOR =========================================================================== Addison Laurent =============== Internet -------- addison@jobe.shell.portal.com @endnode @node EDITORIAL "compt.sys.editor.desk" @toc OPINION =========================================================================== compt.sys.editor.desk By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== Sorry, everyone. Amiga Report is way behind release schedule and there's basically nobody but me to blame. I apologize. There's been an awful lot to do in my life, both Amiga related and personal. On top of all of that, the hard drives in my 3000 were damaged beyond repair or recovery, so it's been a struggle putting the pieces back together and getting a machine up and running for my personal use, as well as keeping me in touch with everything that's going on out there. So, again, my apologies for this issue being a good two weeks late. A lot has happened, what with Phase5 and PIOS looking to pursue Amiga-ish agendas for personal computing (to varying degrees, of course). The information I'm getting from VIScorp indicates that the term of the letter of understanding between VIScorp and Escom for the sale of Amiga Technologies runs to the end of July--so the deal will have to be made by then. Bill Buck of VIScorp is in Germany now continuing negotiations. Enjoy AR 4.08--late, but still fresh. Jason @endnode @node COMMERCIAL "Commercial Products" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Commercial Products =========================================================================== @{" Capital Punishment " link AD1} The upcoming action game from ClickBOOM @{" AWeb-II " link AD2} The WWW Browser, coming from AmiTrix @{" Editor's Choice " link EDITORCHOICE} Jason's picks @{" Portal Information Systems " link PORTAL} A great place for Amiga users. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node AD1 "Capital Punishment Is Coming..." @toc MAIN THEY say: "Amiga games suck" THEY say: "Developers are gone" THEY say: "No more good games" THEY say: "Amiga is dead" ...well, WE say: F*@% THEM !!! ------------- We are clickBOOM - the angriest team in cyberspace We have developed an amazing combat epic for Amiga called Capital Punishment It is what players asked for: playable fluid fast realistic... And what they hoped for: violent wild engrossing adrenaline-pumping... And it's coming soon to blow your Amiga away! You'll engage in battle against warriors, ninjas, aliens, and an assortment of other fearsome opponents in some of the goriest fighting scenes ever seen in a video game. Amiga Computing - "Capital Punishment could take fighting games into the next millennium" Amiga Format - "Capital Punishment has been proclaimed as the ultimate video game". Amiga Report - "Capital Punishment is a very smooth and engrossing game" CU Amiga - "Frame rate is higher than any fighting game I've seen" Visit "clickBOOM" web page for more information; chance to win one of 5 free Capital Punishment games; and to download playable beta demos: http://www.io.org/~clkboom/amiga/ Internet e-mail: clkboom@io.org beware...Punishment is coming @endnode @node AD2 "AmiTrix Development, Publishers of AWeb-II" @toc COMMERCIAL =========================================================================== AmiTrix Development, 5312 - 47 Street, Beaumont, Alberta, T4X 1H9 Canada Phone/Fax:1+403-929-8459 Email:sales@amitrix.com www.networkx.com/amitrix =========================================================================== Direct Mail Order Price List ============================ (Prices subject to change without notice.) Product Description CAN $ US $ ------------------- ------- ------- AWeb-II (AWeb2.0/HTML-Heaven2.0 WWW Software) $ 55.00 $ 45.00 SCSI-TV with 2.5" Drive Adapter $200.00 $160.00 SCSI-TV570 with 2.5" Drive Adapter $210.00 $170.00 Amiga-Link/Envoy Starter Kit (2-units) $350.00 $275.00 - (also available as expansion kit with extra cable) Amiga-Link/Envoy Expander Kit (1-unit) $210.00 $165.00 Amiga-Link Expansion Kit (1-unit) $155.00 $123.00 Amiga-Link Accecories: 2-way Floppy Port Splitter $ 39.00 $ 31.00 RG58 cable - 1m(3.5ft.) $ 10.00 $ 8.00 RG58 cable - 5m(16.5ft.) $ 13.00 $ 10.50 RG58 cable - 10m(33ft.) $ 17.50 $ 14.00 - (custom lengths available on request) Extra BNC-T connectors $ 4.50 $ 3.50 The P-Net Box, a ParNet Adapter $ 15.00 $ 12.00 AM33C93A-16PC SCSI controller chip $ 26.00 $ 20.00 Active SCSI Terminator - C50 male $ 29.75 $ 23.50 Passive SCSI Terminator - C50 male/female $ 12.25 $ 9.75 External SCSI Drive Box - (Mini-Tower e/w: C50/Internal bus/C50 pass-thru) $145.00 $115.00 DIY Cable Kit (Internal) for Mini-T Ext. SCSI Box $ 30.00 $ 23.50 Hard Drives (Quantum, Micropolis) $ Call $ Call CD-ROM Drives (Sony, NEC) $ Call $ Call Anti-Static Mat (soft-20x24) & Wriststrap $ 34.00 $ 28.00 Anti-Static Wriststrap $ 8.00 $ 6.50 DB23 solder-type connector - male, female, or chrome hood - each $ 1.65 $ 1.25 Repair Services: ---------------- - A1200/4000 CIA replacements, General repairs $ Call $ Call - SMD equipment fixed charge $ 35.00 $ 28.00 - Labour rate per hour $ 35.00 $ 28.00 Shipping Costs: (most large boxed items) --------------- First Class Mail: within Canada $ 10.00 within USA $ 10.00 International $ 15.00 $ 12.00 Shipping: (for small bubble-packet items) $ 5.00 $ 5.00 Orders should include a Bank Draft/Money Order or Postal MO, payable to AmiTrix Development in CAN or US dollars. COD orders inside Canada only. Shipping costs may vary for quantity orders/alternative method of shipment. Canadian customers add 7% GST to all orders. http://www.networkx.com/amitrix/ @endnode @node MAIL "Reader Mail" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Reader Mail =========================================================================== Date: Sat, 1 Jun 1996 12:24:02 -0300 (ADT) From: John McKenzie To: Jason Compton Subject: Re: Amiga Report 4.07 Jason, hi. Firstly, I hear that you were hired by Viscorp. Congradulations. Anyway, after all this time I have finally been recieving AR and enjoying it. Thanks. My only problem is sometimes the Uuendcoding doesn't like what you sent me, and I have to go to the homepage. But it is still a good read. I wanted to comment on some things from some issues a few months ago. I for one thought it was great that you mention the demise of Atari. It is alot more relevant than you think. Atari's influence over both video games and computers in general is almost inmeasurable, everyone should be morning its passing. The video Games is obvious. The computer industry less so but very signifigant. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozinck (sp) were amonest its first employees and this is how they paid for intial research into their work. Dozens of basic concepts for connecting computers to monitors were pionered by them. (They only enforeced them when the Tramials were desperate for money but they own the patents on things like scrolling, grey pixels, having sound and image at the same time.) Most improtantly to Amiga Report, Atari gave money to start up a company that made Atari 2600 products then made their own computers. It was called Amiga. Amiga actually made a few Atari 2600 games and other items near the end of the 2600's lifespan. Then they did that computer thing. Another topic; You mentioned that Amiga made a deal with Istar for Internet access in Canada. This is very bad and I am trying to warn everyone for has promoted it. Istar is the merger of a company called NSTN and some small Westren Canadian companies. NSTN was started when the government of Nova Scotia thought it best to amalgamate and privatize the internet administration for the Unviersities across the provience. They would be allowed to sell private accounts if they could do it low key and low profile allowing the government to turn its head the other way. (I went to a University that used them and they are a 15 minute drive from my house.) NSTN never allowed Amiga users on-line until a few years ago when they allowed anyone on-line, but if it wasn't an IBM you had to custome write a script yourself. I don't believe they any longer allow VT100 connections. If you call them and ask for help they will ask you if you have the software they give out to customers and if you don't they will say "Thank you for using NSTN/Istar" and hang up. Speaking of which the software they SELL you, is sharware with a custome script. They do not pass a cent on to the authors. This incidently is illegal in Canada. Amiga Users who buy the "Surfer Pack" and actually use an account with Istar are giving money to a company that broke its mandate for its exsistance, illegally profits off of shraware which isn't theres, and specificly goes out of its way to promote the IBM platform and discourage the use of any others. (As a little amusing note, Main headquaters are located on the corner of two streets called Brownlow Avenue and Commodore Avenue. :-)) As a modemite, student and member of the local users group I have lived with these people in our midsts for years. This deal is as usefull for the Amiga as AT setting up a games division and producing games soley for the Playstation or Saturn game consoles is. Thanks for reading. Again, congradulations on your new job. - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: Aleksandar Puskas To: jcompton@xnet.com Subject: Hi! First I'd like to say hello and thanks to Amiga Report for all information you gave to the Amiga community. During sanctions, AR was only information source in Yugoslavia. All I have to say is KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, and LONG LIVE AMIGA. Reason I wrote this message is my little problem. I sent this to AR because I really don't have anyone here to ask, and Internet is not accessible to everyone in Yugoslavia. So I can't go to some IRC conference or Aminet site and ask. Only possible comunication is via e-mail (or usual mail, or if you come in-person to tell what you want <--fastest :P ). I have a LITTLE problem with my A4000. THE PrObLeM is overheating. When i bought my A4000 in January 1995 it worked fine, BUT when summer came it started to slow down. First I wondered what happened, and what is wrong. Later I find out that CPU is overheating. I opened the cover and pointed large fan into CPU. And 'solved' the problem. That was OK, summer finished, came fall, then winter and my A4000 worked well. Somewhere in between I bought CPU cooler. But the same problem showed again few weeks ago. Again the same stuff, but CPU is COLD - WHAT NOW??? When 'THIS' happens my Amiga becomes SLOOOOOOOOOW (INCREDIBLY SLOW) and memtransfer falls below 1.5 MB/s (normal is ~4.3MB/s). After a while it gets stoned and only a shutdown and cooling helps. After a closer examination of Amiga's 'hot' parts I found out that some chips on the processor board are too hot to touch. They are marked: U400 (on chip=391409-01 (I think, this one is hard to read)), U203 (391490-01), U213 (391467-01), U200 (??), U201 (??). Actually this is the part of processor board that is THE hotest. These chips are placed on processor board on the opposite side of CPU. FAST memory SIMMs and CPU are hot too, but only when Amiga is stoned when I cool down processor board they cool DOwn too (I don't cool them). Also Zorro part of daughterboard is hottish to touch. I noticed that Amiga slows down when playing games like F1GP or Breathless, or doing something like OPTIMISE from QBTools. BUT ONLY WHEN AIR TEMPERATURE IS HIGHER THEN 25 C. My Amiga don't slow down when running WITHOUT FAST RAM. Processor board is ver3.0 and motherboard is version B (I forgot to mention thiz :)). Everything else is Commodore original A4000/040 pack. Now I have few questions: Is my motherboard DEAD?, Is my processor board dead?, WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY #@>?#!?#@ Amiga??. If you have ANY ideas what could help me (except large fan - I figured out that already) PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! Send me a note Milan Belic Yugoslavia P.S. Sorry for BAD English. - - - - - - - - - - - - - From: ComputerTraining.AMNY@ny.ubs.com Date: Fri May 24 09:58:53 1996 Hey, Jason, I just read your Amiga Report editorial about "only one printed Amiga publication". [in North America] CROSSINGS has been published monthly for eight years. It covers issues related to PC and Mac emulation on the Amiga. After the next issue, I'm taking a break until fall. It will be my first vacation from CROSSINGS in eight years. It will give me a chance to build up the mailing list, give VIScorp a chance to get past the current lull, and generally give me a vacation. - Yes, this was a really stupid oversight on my part. My apologies. @endnode @node OPINION1 "Optimism in the Age of Amiga" @toc OPINION =========================================================================== Optimism in the Age of Amiga Kermit Woodall Kermit@cup.portal.com =========================================================================== Too darned often these days I get asked variations of the following question, 'Why are you still so positive on the Amiga?' My smart-aleck answer, that I've never said until now, is another question, 'Why the HELL shouldn't I be positive?!' Ask yourself this question. For a moment don't focus endlessly on the negatives dreamed up by people who have nothing better to do or have left the Amiga for the world of high priced software on Macs and PCs. After all, there are three kinds of people you should never listen to; ex-smokers, dieters, and ex-Amigans. They're all on a mission to prove that what they do now is proven right by the evils of what they did before. You there in the 'Boing' tee-shirt! Stop scratching yourself and THINK for a second. When Commodore went under did your Amiga flip over and begin emitting clouds of black smoke? Did the latest demos from Europe suddenly require features of unreleased chipsets? When Escom announced the sale of Amiga Technologies to VIScorp did your software disks magically reformat themselves into the PC format? Did your hard drive suddenly allocate an 85mb partition with the note; 'Put Windoze-95 Here'? Nope. Didn't happen did it? I don't have to make a cross-country census to check. I KNOW. Your Amiga is still doing the job you asked it to do before, during and after all the supposed crises. What did happen is that some people let some other people turn their heads and they lost their cool. Specifically, they AREN'T cool anymore. Cool Amiga users still use Amigas. The Amiga didn't lose it's Cool. Just a few more people jumped ship when they found they needed to use a word processor and a spreadsheet more than they needed to make cool graphics and animations. 'Waitaminute,' cries out a tortured Amigan! 'LightWiget ported to the PC - people do animations with it alla time now. PCs are cool now, right?' If this were so then we should have seen the end of the PC people and their platform wars, but we haven't. PCs got 3D software, sure they do, but who gets to USE it there? People whose companies do the type of work that requires budgets and expense accounts. These companies gotta be a bit bigger because on the PC, guess what, the software COSTS are quite a bit bigger. Do they sell more software there? If you'd heard what I've heard and read what I've read, you'll see the answer is too often...(drum roll)...no. 'But they have so much software, so many choices, and we're so limited now on the Amiga', cries out that tortured Amigan soul. Sadly I see the faithful are now fatally 're-educating' that soul. A moment of silence before we posthumously answer him. Choices he said? Sorry, no. No ARexx integration on the PC or Mac. No real batch processing. Pitifully few 2D paint and effects programs. Outside of 3D packages that pushed themselves over there, the rest of the graphics software there can be primitive at best. Or even worse. (cover the children's ears) Proprietary. You think cheap graphics and video solutions are appearing on the PC? Nope. The Video Toaster and Flyer, Amiga products both, are still one of the best bargains in the video industry! After early promises by various PC companies, the reality has shown up at shipping time for them. Any board similar to a Toaster, including yet-to-ship products that might offer more features, cost upwards of FIVE TIMES the cost of a Toaster. To start with! When Commodore fell, the PC industry stopped trying to compete with Toaster and Amiga prices while still hoping to fool everyone into thinking the revolution moved next door onto a PC. It didn't! Joe User in Anytown USA can't afford a $2600 Pentium, plus $10,000 of video cards and assorted hardware, plus another $5000 of new video software that can't integrate (remember, no ARexx!) and can't batch process. He can't afford the Mac prices for this stuff either. (Even if he does trust Apple to micro-manage itself out of the mess it's gotten itself into.) Look gang, it's now many years later and the Video Toaster STILL leads the desktop video revolution! I talk with the big boys, the ones you read about in all the magazines, who've 'left' the Amiga to animate on other machines. Know what they use to get everything done now? Everything. They use farms of expensive PCs to render 3D animations. Networks of SGIs running deca-thousand dollar software packages to do 2D effects. ...oh yeah, and they still keep their Amigas around for all the basic batch processing tasks that they still can't get done on all this new equipment that in some cases cost upwards of a quarter-million to put in place. What did they get out of all of this? Some increased speed in 3D animation rendering. A lot of new bills to pay. A lot of new specialized computer consultants to pay. Oh yeah, and happy people down at the local power company. Magazines don't report on all those facts. Magazines are oriented towards 'What's New' not the 'What's Here and Now'. The Amiga's software is still top notch. Honestly you can pick up a couple of software packages for a few hundred bucks on the Amiga that will do stuff that costs those tens of thousands to get on the SGI and just aren't available on the PC. Modesty prevents me from pointing out the company that makes some of this software. Really it does. Anyways, the neat thing about this is that good ole Joe User can do the same jobs as the big guys and probably at half the cost. If nothing else, he can do jobs for clients who want the Spielberg look on an infomercial budget. I've seen this sort of work, and you know what? You Amiga guys are pretty darned talented. The Amiga also has it's users. Some call it loyalty. Some call it fanaticism. It's not that mild and it's not that wild either. Mostly, despite ourselves, it's our sense of community. Example. I walk into my office the other day and in the building lobby there sits a guy waiting for someone. Turns out, it's me! Now, when you're an Amiga software developer, I've learned you expect to have local Amiga users drop by to see how things work. Turns out this 'local' Amiga user was Esa Haapaniemi. From Finland. He also brought doughnuts. Very cool. Very cool Amiga user. We had a great time. (note: before you pack your bags and plan your itinerary, I'll advise you of what Esa learned the hard, patient, way. We keep strange hours. When you sell software around the world out of a set of offices in Richmond, Virginia, you alter your hours to fit the rest of the world.) You think the Amiga's in a No-Win situation? You're right, it is! As in 'No Win-95'. The Amiga has many strengths, and when it's not the software sellers like my company, it's all in the OS. That little mighty marvel of marvelous microcoded ingenuity; AmigaDOS. No bloated 16-bit prehistory. No gratuitous river of driver software for this display or that display included to make everyone happy. Remember the laughable reports of 'Windoze for Microwaves'? I'm serious. Bill thought his coders could shrink down Windoze to make a general purpose control paradigm for household appliances. I'll admit I sometimes can't puzzle out 'auto-defrost' but at least if I get it wrong my Microwave doesn't crash with a Group Protection Fault and reboot my frozen dinner into my forehead. VIScorp with their ED settop box have the right idea. The Amiga - It's the 'No-Win' solution! If you think the current situation with the Amiga is anything but great, you're sanity-challenged. VIScorp is shelling out 40 million samolians to grab this technology. Folks, they had licensed all the rights they needed for their business-as-usual. They're looking for the business that's as-unusual now. Escom rebuilt, in a wowzer of a fast time too, the Amiga and Amiga Technologies into a viable company. Now Amiga Tech. and VIScorp seem very pleased with all the Amiga 'clones'. Want to know a secret. I'm very pleased too. Clones made the PC the force it is today. If IBM hadn't screwed up and left the door open for the PC technology to slip out, they would've killed the PC back in the 1980's. Did you realize there are at least, today, FIVE companies creating Amiga 'clones'? Macrosystems/DraCo (they hate to admit it, but it's a pretty decent Amiga clone), Eagle Computers GmbH, PIOS, phase5, and Quikpak. Clones mean competition. Competition means prices fall. Falling prices mean sales. Sales mean more competition. Lather, rinse, repeat. Check what's happening already with the pricing on the Eagle 4000TE computers if you don't think this will happen! PIOS, phase5 and others are going to be vying to bring you the next generation of PowerPC based Amiga hardware. This is closer than you think and it has the possibility of being cheaper than you think as well. It's all silicon and the prices of sand aren't rising like they used to! The Amiga's got cool users, great magazines (like Amiga Report), cutting edge software, the best operating system and some aggressively interesting hardware here - with more coming every time I turn around! So why am I positive about the Amiga? Why? Because I'm still having FUN! Kermit Woodall Nova Design, Inc. 1910 Byrd Avenue, Suite 214 Richmond, VA 23230 USA http://www.novadesign.com @endnode @node OPINION2 "Amiga: The Respected Alternative" @toc OPINION =========================================================================== Amiga: The Respected Alternative Sergei Nester autech.research@tassie.net.au =========================================================================== How to get the AMIGA back as a respected alternative choice to the high volume ubiquitous INTEL/MAC boxes. There are many different reasons for buying a Macintosh or IBM system, which may be summed up by the following broad categories Software, Numbers, Cost, Market Perception and proliferation of 3rd party add ons. Software is fairly well self explanatory with industry standards existing in such titles as Word, Photoshop, 3D Studio, Lotus/Excel, Netscape, etc. But did you know that some of the IBM's most innovative software started life on the AMIGA ? Lightwave, SCALA, Truescape (used to be Caligari), BARS and PIPES (bought by Microsoft), Art Department Professional (Now forms the backbone of Elastic Reality's software suite) and Real 3D, to name but a few. Large Numbers of these systems and numbers that are expected to sell, help to keep a continued developmental critical mass occurring, allowing hype of technology around the corner to continue driving the industry, meaning people are likely to buy the technology today, knowing their system will be upgradeable in the future (it doesn't always happen, but it happens more often then not). With a small base of users and potential users (a lá AMIGA), the public are more likely to wait and see the next model before making a decision, quite often that decision is to wait and see what the model after the next model will be like, when they get tired of waiting then they will go out and choose the best value for money. Cost is an all important criterion these days, now that the price resiliant computer hobbyist is but a small percentage of total computer users. Now that computers are standard fixtures for the home or office they have become just computers with very little definition between brands and very little understanding of the actual features of each system. Very rarely, these days, do people say "I'm saving up to buy an IBM PC 386 DX (Buyers always stressed the DX) with 8 MEGABYTES (Huge amounts of RAM at the time) a 100 Megabyte Hard disk, etc, etc. These days the common statement is "We've decided to get a computer...We'll just look around to find the best deal". A lot of the gee whiz excitement has disappeared (except amongst technophilic dinosaurs such as myself). When it comes to the actual buying stage, why spend money on either a brand you have never heard of or on a brand you thought had ceased to exist? And even when it was around it was "...just a games machine". When in an argument with a MAC/INTEL owner, and they pull out this throwaway line, rebut this statement by telling your heckling adversary that the games industry happens to be driving the IBM juggernaut. Advertising is one way MACS/INTELS stay in the public's consciousness, the other way, and this is the most effective reason, is the incorporation of these systems into our everyday life and vocabulary. "Who hasn't heard of MICROSOFT? put up your hands...Now please all those who have had lobotomies within the last ten years please put up your hands, ah...I see". 3RD party add ons and the sheer number of 3RD party peripheral producers means there is a card to this and a card to do that. There is now a card that can let you tune into the radio...the only problem is it costs about a hundred times more than the old faithful tranny you can buy from Tandy...But, the point is such a card exists ! It also means that the more useful addons (aimed at the majority of users) are produced in large numbers by several competing companies, allowing the price vs performance ratio to be both reduced (price) and increased (performance). It also means that cutting edge technology is more likely to be incorporated into mainstream technology. So where does that leave the AMIGA and any other technological fringe dweller (Be, NEXT, etc.)? well quite frankly it leaves them on the fringe. Sure each of these systems is having success in some niche areas, but an entire computer platform cannot exist in a niche forever, for example the AMIGA created the MULTIMEDIA, TV GRAPHICS and GAMES niches but has seen domination in these areas reduced dramatically, and in some cases has seen its membership revoked from the very clubs it created. There are still some great aspects about AMIGA. Most notably is the fierce dedication to the platform. This is perhaps because of the fascinating sense of history associated with the inception and conception of t is system. I wont explain the history as it is a great story in itself. Having a sense of history binds people together and forms a reason to fight for what you believe in. Another great feature is the feeling that your computer is an individual with character all of it's own. How many other computers have silicon chips with names such as LISA, FAT AGNUS, DENISE and GARY?. How many computers get GURU MEDITATION errors when they inevitably crash? So perhaps being a fringe dweller does have its advantages. So how can we remain a fringe dweller but also enter the mainstream? (this sounds like a contradiction in terms but it is achievable). Like this.... By looking at the past to understand why the AMIGA was successful in the first place. By looking forward at where the computer industry is heading. By looking at how the industry is moving forward and finally by looking at what people want today. Why was the AMIGA successful from 1985 up until 1992? Innovation is the key word here, but also innovation that was affordable. In a period when INTEL machines were strutting their CGA/EGA feathers and MACINTOSHES suddenly realised apples were red, and not black and blue after all. Along came a computer system that contained a realistic (at the time) graphics system (With a true colour system of 4096 colours on screen at once). Four voice STEREO sound. TRUE MULTITASKING, Plug'n'Play and a decent processor, all of this combined into a package that would remain unbeaten until the 386/VGA era and at a price that was ridiculously low compared to other systems at the time. In 1992 the AGA AMIGAs arrived to counter the INTEL attack, unfortunately the only area where the AMIGA was still ahead of the game was the Multitasking operating system and Plug'n'Play. Strangely these features are still unmatched today. Where is the Computer industry heading? Who knows??..No one can say for sure, and it is this uncertainty that can make or break a hardware manufacturer. There are however some fairly obvious trends. Remote connections, such as internet and leased line operations. Windows NT (Microsoft have stated that after 1997 Windows '95 will be dead and they will be pushing NT). POWER PC/INTEL. Standard equipment included with a computer will be higher performance. Higher quality software given away with each system. Standardising of high performance expansion, graphics and sound subsystems. Subtle Incorporation of computer systems into the lounge room (designer cases). Software will increasingly become bloatware (The same program except with more useless features than the previous version). Realtime 3D will become commonplace. There are some very interesting technologies coming through the super pipeline. Recent developments in 3D/Holographic RAM, Super fast graphic/sound Subsystems (TriMedia, S3, etc.) and new monitor technology that moves past the limitation of RGB displays. How it is getting there? Because of the critical mass factor, storage, memory and processing power has become increasingly cheap, therefore the trend is to either keep systems at the same price but add substantially more computing power or by drastically reducing the price of base models. As newer applications and more bloatware is released, the hardware requirements are increased. The time difference between updates to the entry level system is getting shorter and shorter. But this could cause a consumer backlash but it would only be a small minority. What do people want today? They want the best priced entry level system (Or quite often one or two models up from the entry level). Very rarely will you find someone buying a sub-entry level system (unless they have a specific requirement, no money, or they are able to upgrade the systems cheaply). So from all this a successful system could be unleashed. The ideal would machine maintain a fine line between performance, innovation and price, allow mainstream software to run and would have the potential to be upgraded for many generations of computing. It is easy to place a wish list of technical requirements into a box and proclaim fervently that every man and his dog will want to buy one. Harder is producing a sustainable long term development strategy. A well documented mistake that the old Commodore made was to suspend development of cutting edge technology in favour of saturation of the existing systems. Other platforms manufacturers quite quickly overtook and understood that the computer market is not stagnant. The 8 Point Plan 1. The first step to producing a successful new generation AMIGA and keep it successful is to listen to the devoted hordes of AMIGAphiles, for every one hundred ridiculous or unviable requests there is guaranteed to be some that will keep appearing up on everyone's wish list. This is not something to be ignored, as it is these people who will be the greatest proponents of the system. Do not alienate a very large and dedicated band of people. Equally important to listen to are the software producers and vertical application developers (Such as my company). We are the ones who will produce applications that will encourage people to use and buy these systems. Remember the greatest form of advertising is to have people using your systems, people who are likely to be in the media, people who are respected and perhaps just a little bit "cool" or popular. Think what the AMIGA would be like if people such as Andy Warhol,William Gibson, Arthur C. Clarke, NEWTEK, IL&M (Star Trek Next Generation) and Amblin (Seaquest DSV) did not use and be seen to be using this platform. Finally ensure you look at where the computer industry is heading as whole. 2. The second step is to theoretically put together all these suggestions in the form of a finished product, using readily available parts and cost it out. 3. Thirdly, examine cutting edge technologies and try to determine development time, production costs, life of the technology and expandability of the technology. Then determine how they may replace and also enhance the off the shelf components out of step two. The key here is to provide a system that is ahead of the competition when you release it and to ensure you can maintain your lead, at least long enough to ensure brand loyalty. 4. Fourth, put together a team of radical thinkers, conventional thinkers, problem solvers, hardware designers, concept designers, artistic designers, program designers and industry stalwarts. This will ensure the greatest diversity of ideas, problems/solutions and eventually innovation. Aim your sights past the next generation, to ensure when your hardware is released it is not out of date. 5. Fifth release specifications well before the release of the actual system, and ensure development systems are available well before the release of the system. 6. Sixth, Standardise as much of the non performance architecture as possible. All performance dependent architecture should be standardised, but with the ability to be upgraded with ease. 7. Seven, Maintain the individuality of the system without compromising point six. 8. Eight, Do not do any of this tentatively or half-heartedly, embrace a pro-development philosophy. Encourage people to get involved. (The Escom web is a great place to start to allow peole to offer feedback, ideas and criticisms) For value added resellers (such as ourselves) we require development systems free of charge. And as much technical support as possible. An important consideration that must be taken into account is how to get the other fifity percent of the world's population into computing. Very few companies attempt to aim hardware at females, there is still an attitude of providing the most grunt and most gee whizz items into the bigest box and aim it at males. A leaf should be taken out of the automotive industry, who have suddenly realised that women will buy a car if the car is aimed at their desires and needs. What should be in the system? It is not so much the specifics of each item, but more the role each feature must play in the overall package. CPU- Compatible with Windows NT, Infinitely upgradeable, Decent entry level performance, reliance on subsystems for everything but system management processing power. Ability for more processors to be added. Cacheable BUS- Compatibility with current standards, but also easily changeable in the future. Extra expansion slots should be easy to add. MEMORY- Either used as memory available to the whole system, or available to user definable sub-systems. Each sub-system can allow addition of RAM, where no RAM is present in the sub-system, it falls back to the system RAM. Allows for different price/performance levels. 3D/Holographic should be developed (Imagine 10 gigabytes of system RAM) STORAGE- Whatever is standard at the time of release should be used, (3D/Holographic RAM could be substituted for a traditional Hard disk). REMOVABLE MEDIA- Syquest, ZIP Drive, High Density CD. SOUND- An open ended sound system should be used, one that allows multiple processors (DSP, Tri Medias, etc.) and RAM to be added depending on each users requirements. Perhaps development on a real time wave form mixing processor would be advantageous. VIDEO- Same as Sound sub system, but a definite look well beyond what is standard in video today. Simultaneous video output necessary. As well look at developments in monitor technology by Sony and Canon (12 primary colour LED screens). Alleviate the need for actual expansion cards to keep expansion cheap. CONNECTORS- Allow easy addition of extra ports such as SERIAL, PARALLEL, VIDEO OUTPUT etc. Have these addons made by AMIGA TECH and move away from the card style and more into a plug in module. Direct support for capturing sound and video, connection to telephone/cable lines and VR will be required as standard. CASE- This is going to be more relevant in the coming years. Accessibility to add extras is going to be very important, especially as the systems become more integrated in the lounge room. Exterior design is going to become more aesthetically pleasing. Anyone for a walnut and burr case ? The Operating System is the second concern. The AMIGA is the only system that contains a three dimensional window system. The AMIGA can open new screens, each with its own windows, that are completely independent of the screens behind them, this allows for a much larger more efficient workspace. This must be kept at all costs as it is this one feature above all others that is truly unique. Multitasking must be expanded upon, with an architecture as above an AMIGA could become a multiuser computer. Software drivers must be written for any card that can fit into the Expansion Bus. Areas that have been identified and have been sorely missing, are Networking, Memory Management, Printing, RTG, RTS (Retargetable Sound) and Internet connectability. Although AMIGA OS feels elegant in operation, it does not look elegant and great pains must be taken to make the OS look simple yet advanced. Try to interpret the desktop from a new angle, without losing confidence from people used to the traditional Desktop/Workbench look and feel. Multi OS. To run Windows NT or APPLE SYSTEM 7.5 is essential, but to run NT means the loss of individuality, and the small details that make the AMIGA OS so terrific to use. So perhaps NT could run alongside AMIGA OS (Very resource hungry). They could be run separately one at a time (Impractical for file transfers). A combination of these two. Or an extension to the NT OS could be developed, that enhances NT. Whichever way is preferable, it must allow the greatest flexibility for the future. Intelligent but strict guidelines must be adhered to by developers, we do not want problems of software developers, producing "system Illegal" software. Encouragement to use retargetable code is a must. Self deleting software is becoming a standard requirement..(if you have seen my LIBS: Directory you will understand the logic of this). An interesting idea pioneered by ACORN was that of antialiased text, which unfortunately never succeeded, but could be reintroduced to work on outline font technology, giving the crispest text display of any computer system. And allowing cleaner representations of text on LCD screens and smaller screens. (it would be really nice in a word processor or DTP). Now that all the discussion is out of the way how to implement it? Stage one: Already completed- Reintroduction of AMIGAs back into the market place. Stage two: Already Completed- Alliance with strategic partners (SCALA, NEWTEK, MOTOROLA). Licensing of OS and hardware. Sure up software developers, especially ones that are PC/MAC only. Stage three: Begin the 8 point plan as set out above. Stage four: Implement stepping stone OS Stage five: Implement new Hardware. Phase out marketing of old hardware, but keep production going as long as there is demand (i.e. Vertical markets, Set-Top boxes etc.) Stage six: Implement new OS. Stage seven: Keep returning to Stage three. An Example of base level system could be. This is only an example nothing more Single 603 Power PC Chip. 2 PCI Slots. Single Graphics Processor 1 eg RAM (800x600 64k colours) Single Sound Processor 1 Meg RAM (18 Voice Stereo at 16 bit) 1 Parallel + 1 Serial port 8 Meg System RAM AMIGA OS only 1 SVGA, 1 COMPOSITE Video Output 1 DVD CD Rom Drive 1 ZIP Drive. 1 Gigabyte Hard Disk. 15 inch SVGA Monitor Price $1795 US Add ons example. Extra 603 upgrade module from: $145ea 604 Upgrade Module from: $295ea Extra DSP for sound: $95ea Extra Glint/S3 graphics chip $145ea Extra Serial/Parallel/SCSI module:$29 ea Larger case:White 6 slot $150 Larger case:Designer 6 slot from $200 An example of a high end system: Dual 604 power PC chips + 2 Meg Cache 4 PCI 2 Zorro IV slots Dual Graphics processors 6 Meg VRAM (1600x1024 24 bit) Dual Sound Processors 2 Meg VRAM (36 voice at 24 bit, 3D sound) 2 parallel, 3 serial connectors 64 Meg System RAM AMIGA OS+NT extensions Dual SVGA, 1 Composite, 1 SVHS connectors Video, Sound input connectors. 1 High Density ZIP Drive 1 DVD CD ROM 4 Gigabyte Hard Disk 17 inch SVGA Monitor Price $9950 US Wish list stuff. There are many areas not covered here such as how do you get a wish list system down to a price that the general public can afford? Who do you approach who would be a dedicated proponent of this system? Should it be taken carefully and slowly and carefully or should all the resources be utilised and get it done as fast as possible? Who will buy it? Can we make any money out of it? Stage one and two are completed, it is now time to start the 8 point plan, and put together a dynamic, dedicated, innovative team. And when the desire and enthusiasm start flowing, then it will become infectious. Please reply to this however you feel about it, some discussion from ESCOM would be appreciated. Sergei Nester. Project Director Autech Research SNESTER autech.research@Tassie.net.au Sergei Nester C/O Autech Research P.O. Box 764 Launceston Tasmania Australia, 7250 Ph +61 018 123344 Fax +61 03 342481 @endnode Subject: Forthcoming Amigas: Open letter from France This is an open letter to whoever plans to build new Amigas. As for now the situation is totally unclear and seems more like a Dallas episode than everything else. As of Today, we know that AT is ready to build PPC Amigas, Phase5 is building its own prototype, MacroSystems is known to think hard about it, and Pios will build PPC Amigas. This should be what all Amiga owner wanted, as everybody seems to like PPC Amiga. Major problem however is that those companies will build also new operating system for their amiga. Their amiga, and not for the other companies' PPC Amigas. I'm speaking as for now for the largest part of the French Amiga Community,both Net users, BBS users and friends. Chances are that all Amiga users althrough the world feel the same way as we do. What we want is a SINGLE operating system. We don't want to buy in a near future a PPC Amiga from Viscorp and find out that it is not compatible on the software level with Phase5's Amiga, which in turn is not compatible with PIOS's Amiga. What we want is some sort of cooperation between those companies, as little as possible if they want it, but cooperation anyway, for both software and hardware. We want a portable operating system, which can run on either systems and we want add-ons which will work on either systems. Perhaps this letter has no reason to exist, perhaps there's already strong cooperation between companies, but rumors, lack of information, and even companies official talks, tend to proove this kind of letter is necessary. Feel free to proove us we're wrong. Co-signed: Users, IRC, BBS, Usenet fr.comp.sys.amiga, RTC: Philippe Brand,Jean Luc Sorrel,Samuel Devulder,Stephane Haytaian,Frank Prevot Laurent Giroud,Laurent Caillat-Vallet,Vincent Oneto,Sylvain Rougier,Yann Serra Yann Moreaux,Philippe Thomas,Tardif Hugues,Laurent Rochetta,Thomas Thery Franck Chevalier,Guillaume Bozon,Yohann Auriau,Thomas Cuzin Rambaut Thomas Mangin,Sebastien Provost,Sven Luther,Laurent Delayen,Jerome Zago Alban Brument,Franck Aniere,Gwenael Tranvouez,Yann-Erick Proy Alexandre Gevers,Nikita De Heering,Christopher Potter,Corinne Villemin-Gacon Jean-Alexis Montignies,Pierre Cadeot,Michael Bruyere,Rolf Diensten Patrice Pappalardo,Frederic Poels,Francois Billard,Yannick Perret Nicolas Maillet,Nicolas Pomarede,Mathieu Gardere,Gilles Masson Jean-Philippe Metz,Jerome Jantzen,Francis Mouthaud,Sebastien Greau Arnaud Dury,Christelle Gabin,Olivier Biffaud,Yves Libercier,David Presle Olivier Fabre,Emmanuel Barriera,Georges Merlino,Jean-Francois Pik Sebasien Godbille,Lionel Menou,Laurent Thouy,Patrice Cornillon Christophe Laino,Eric Menou,Guillaume Proux,Frederic Mossmann,Jerome Lovy Jerome Chesnot,Nicolas Gelenne,Benoit Planquelle,Alexandre Granvaud Michel Franquenk,Laurent Angeli,Loic Le Texier,Claude Dehais,Vincent Ardiet Frederic Helly,Franck Gimond,Thierry Martinez,Yohann Courtois,Emmanuel Letondor Sylvain Martinez,Hakim Ramdane,David Kaminski,Yvan Le Texier,Hadrien Nilsson Yan Pujante,Laurent Peron, Frederic Planche Etienne Schneider,Jean-Christophe Pottier,Frederic Botton Stephane Gaubert,Regis Rampnoux,Ludovic Robinot,Olivier Lahaye,Frank Geider Alexandre Del Bigio,Frederic Leconte,Stelian Pop,Jerome Souquieres Regis Levie,Rodrigo Reyes,Philippe Lespinasse,Georges Goncalves,Eric Levesque, Florent Monteilhet,Christophe Labouisse,Stephane Legrand,Jean-Marc Xiume Nicolas Pernoud,Stephane Desneux,Philippe Bastiani,Florent Brun,Cedric Souchon Philippe Fabry,Luc Gibert,Remi Perrot,Michel Julien,Fabrice Sabatier Gilbert Helbecque,Alain Chofardet,Denis Bernard,Christian Herblot Stephane Bunel,Jean-Claude Dang,Simon Gris,Laurent Desarmes,Alain Petit Otmar Bender,David Molinier,Philippe Carpinelli,Dominique Douteaux,Michel Donat Olivier Brosse,Pascal Roch,Christophe Le Roch,Gael Martinez,Ludovic Brevilet Emmanuel Vacher,Arnaud Meurgues,Patrice Orio,Eric Totel,Jean-Yves Catella David Dudziak,Denis Ribayrol,Olivier Aubert,Olivier Jeannet,Patrick Castel Gilles Morain,Emmanuel Doguet,Thibault Carrier,Aymeric Vague,Cyrille Thieullet Xavier Billault,Laurent Jean-Rigaud,Nicolas Dehaine,Christophe Lize Christophe Herubel,Jean-Pierre Riviere,Frederic Dalesme,Paul Redondo Kersten Emmrich,Fabrice Hulen,Marc Ferrari,Jacques Pereira Jean Francois Bouderlique,Guillaume Laurent,Wilfried Dupeyroux,Loic Devaux Jean-Bernard Corazzi,Jerome Fleury,Denis Gounelle,Eric Gerard,Pascal Belaubre Eric Giguere,Olivier Collard,Jean-Philippe Gadenne,Stephane Anquetil P Lefrancois,Denis Galiana,Vincent Morenas,Laurent Gely,Guillaume Girard Eric Delord,Herve Sonneville,Philippe Bastiani,Georges Segel,Philippe Rousseaux Francois Lemarchand,Laurent Desarmes,Regis Levie,Pierre Delisle Fabrice Hulen,Jean-Luc Manchon,Bruno Rohee,Daniel Mercier,Frank Atikossi,.... and a few thousands more, all members of french amiga community. French Companies/Newspapers/User Associations: Ailpe Informatique, Anews, Dream, Gelain, Amie, Corvette Production Frontieres Informatique, Ramses Diffusion @endnode Cleveland Area Amiga Users Group 18813 Harlan Dr. Maple Hts., Ohio 44137-2239 VIScorp 111 North Canal Street, Suite 933 Chicago, IL 60606 Subject: An Open letter to all Amiga Enthusiasts. To the Managers and Amigans at VIScorp, and Amiga User Every where, We the members of The Cleveland Area Amiga Users Group, are interested in the plans of VIScorp for the Amiga. We have pledged support to the Amiga and have expressed that support by in vesting money and time in our machines. We still find the Amiga our choice of computer and look forward to the next generation of Amiga computers. The PowerAmiga is an example of a new generation that we would definitely be interested in purchasing. Many professionals and enthusiasts make up our group. Two (and perhaps more ) are well known in the Amiga community. We all have an interest in seeing the Amiga continue and would support any company endeavour to continue producing the machines we love. In fact we are willing to offer our time in anyway that would be helpful to you and your efforts to create the next generation as well as update current soft-and-hardware. We will share our next Journal, the Amiga-GURU that we have published for over ten years. In fact, last February was the tenth anniversary of our User Group. We look forward to hearing about your plans for the future of the Amiga and hope that you include user groups, such as ours, in those plans. Our offer to help is no ploy; it is a serious commitment to con tinuing the only computer that created a community of users rather than just purchasers. We hope that other User Groups and you will join with us in renewing our community through a new generation of commitment, cooperation and soft/hardware. Membership of The Cleveland Area Amiga Users Group Peter Babula George Woodworth Joanne Bandlow Ed Marconi Dan French Larry Keller Bob Tracy Frank Augustine Steven Yee George Pirkel Tony Botta James Boros Douglas Lehnhart Jeffery Burford Paul Marinchick Frank Purdy John Welch Bill Strack Steve Roberts Mike Kramer Carl Hartman Sally Caskey John Rozack Arthur Luecke James Marras Phyllis Edberg Dale Barnett Doug Blakeley David Hare Al Gudenas James Wessel Carl Skala Julia Grauel Ken Gessford Sanford Lebovitz Clifford Holt Alexander Rivera Christopher Simmons Wayne Draznin Calvin Simmons Art Rossi Jim Wohl Mike Rozack Philip Stelmashuk Edith Goldstein Chuck Miller Mark Schweter @endnode @node OPINION3 "Amigas of the Future" @toc OPINION =========================================================================== Amigas of the Future Eyal Teler teler@cs.huji.ac.il =========================================================================== After reading the Message from Sweden in AR4.07, I felt that my own opinion should be heard, as a representative of a different viewpoint. I'm a PC owner for almost a year and a half now (a slow 486-66, but still considerably faster than my Amiga was). I'm still following the Amiga scene, because I like the Amiga, although I must say that as time passes, even PC OSs are getting better in some areas than the Amiga OS (and the hardware, well...). I can't say I represent any specific crowd. Basically, I like cheap machines which do a lot of things; I don't need the newest, greatest technology, but I do buy good things when I see them (like the Syquest EZ135); I play games and do word processing most of the time, but I also program and run the occasional paint or 3D program. With the new potential buyout, which means that new Amigas will likely take even longer to arrive, I'm getting a bit pessimistic, but I'm still hopeful. So here's what I think (I tried to keep to the numbering of the Swedish text). What I have in mind is a kind of "stop gap" machine. Something good enough to convince people that the Amiga is a worthwhile buy (or at least worth checking out). I'd love a PowerPC Amiga (or whatever fast processor) for the future, and I know what I want from it (again, a cheap price is first on the list), but I think that something is needed in the meanwhile, and a Walker-like Amiga is a good start. 1. I always liked the small boxes of the A500 and its kin, but it seems that most others don't. Big boxes are more practical, since they allow more devices inside. So here I agree with others (and AT, it seems). 2. Standard components are a good thing, especially if they are advanced enough. Again the Walker is a good thing. 3. SCSI should be optional. EIDE is cheap, and provides very high speeds. EIDE disks are cheaper than their SCSI counterpart. Most computer users (i.e., PC users) seem to be satisfied with EIDE. 4. The Amiga should have a large hard disk and a CD-ROM as standard. Prices are quite cheap - a quad speed CD-ROM would cost me $60+VAT here in Israel, so it should be even cheaper in the US, for example. Don't go for the latest and greates hardware. I want a cheap Amiga which is good enough. I don't want to pay for technology which I don't really need (like 8x CD-ROMs - even though these should be very cheap by the time the Walker arrives, so perhaps should be included). I certainly don't want to be forced to buy non-standard technology for a high price (like a ZIP), where I'd rather select it by myself (and get an IDE EZ135). 5. I'll come back to the bundled software later. 6. AGA is not very good as a hardware standard. I'd still say that an AGA Amiga could sell, because AGA is adequate for many needs. If possible, a very cheap PC SVGA chip should be includes (and the two should be integrated as best as possible). Even a pure frame buffer with no acceleration will be enough - it gives a chunky display and low end true colour (or high colour). I don't need 16-bit sound. More voices will be nice (most PC programs take a lot of CPU time to simulate several voices on non-wave-table sound cards), but for now the Amiga sound is still adequate for games, especially with CD sound available through the CD-ROM drive. A DSP might be a nice addition, although a Java chip could be a nice alternative. 7. MP and RT can be a nice addition for a future OS upgrade. I think than most important for the OS will be support of SVGA cards as standard, especially if the new Amiga comes with a PCI bus. 10. A virtual workbench might not be practical (especially with the low resolutions of today's VR glasses), but built in support for 3D and VR could be a nice addition to a next generation Amiga. A VR bundle could be a nice thing, but will only work if it comes with enough software (i.e., games), and is cheap enough to compete with PC offerings. 11. Put all the cheap hardware you can into the Amiga. Sound sampling first. All PCs have it. 8 bit is enough for now. Allow both LINE IN and MIC. Voice control could be added. Even if it's minimal, it'll be nice. The number of voice controlled games on the PC is very small (I know of one), strangely enough, so Amiga could have a good start in this area. MIDI will also be nice. If you can have decent quality genlocking as standard (for cheap), that'll be nice too. A DSP (or Java chip) are cheap, too, so might be another option. Don't go overboard, though - putting a $200 3D chip and a $200 detachable drive will raise the price too much and provide too little benefit (PC programmers usually prefer to use the CPU for 3D anyway, because it's more flexible). 12. Use a 20MHz 68EC040 as the entry level CPU. These cost $50 in quantities of 1000 some 3 years ago. I don't know the current prices, but they must be cheap enough, even in the socketed version. A socketed 68EC040 should on one hand be adequate and cheap for an entry level Amiga, and on the other hand be upgradable to a fast 68060 in the same socket. (PC people will appreciate this.) 13. Keep the price low! A low end Pentium multimedia machine costs less than $1500. For this price you can get 16MB of RAM and a 1.3MB hard disk, a 16-bit sound card and 6x CD-ROM drive, a 15" monitor, and some bundled software. Sure, it'll be a nameless PC, but it'll survive for a year or two (by which time it'll be old technology). The Amiga won't be able to compete in terms of power, but might be able to survive if it has a low price point, and comes with an attractive enough bundle. Price is more important than features. Hardware features which are not dirt cheap to add shouldn't be added, unless current software will be able to use them (like a MIDI interface, for example). Take a DSP, for example - it might be a nice option, but it won't survive into the PowerPC age (as happened to Macs), and older Amigas don't have it. Unless the stop-gap Amiga is with us for a long time, the DSP won't get much use (a Java chip will get more use, probably). 14. Bundle, bundle, bundle! This is probably most important. This is, IMHO, what can make the Amiga sell, and can make people write programs for it. I wanted to write about this to AT, so I'll kind of address this to them. The first target of bundling is convincing people that the Amiga has software. This is a very difficult task, considering that the PC has considerably more software in most (if not all) areas. Contrary to popular Amiga misconception, PC software is cheap and powerful (although there are of course very powerful programs which are also very expensive). Building a good software library can be done by buying British PC mags (as in the case of the Amiga), and Imagine 3 and Vista Pro 3 have already been bundled with Future Publishing magazines. IMO, the Amiga should be bundled with as much software as possible. This doesn't have to be the latest software, but it has to cover every type of software imaginable. And software which is not bundled as a full program should be there as a demo. Give everything that was given with Amiga mags. PC bundles are usually unimaginative - a productivity bundle, a photo editing (and perhaps morphing) program, a multimedia encyclopaedia, some games and some educational programs. The Amiga should come with 3D programs, MIDI programs (Bar&Pipes, Music X), automatic music creators, sampling and effects software, image editors, multimedia design programs (Scala and the like), DTP programs, structured drawing, and, of course, productivity programs of all types. Emulators should be there in force, too. Mac and PC ones, of course, but C64 and others, too. Just put everything. If there's no place on one CD, use two. Almost forgot Internet and networking programs. Internet is very important. And don't hesitate to give good PD programs in the bundle. Not to be forgotten are games. The PC is very strong here. There should be games of all types included. The obligatory Doom-style games should be there, of course, but adventure/RPG/strategy games should be there in force, too, as much as possible. If there's one reason I like PC gaming is the number of strategy and adventure games. It doesn't matter if the bundled games are a bit old, but people must know that the Amiga has everything. X-COM (UFO: enemy unknown), Sim-City 2000, Frontier, King's Quest 6, Simon the Sorcerer should be put there. Even oldies like Eye of the Beholder could add to the attractiveness of the bundle. Did Magic Carpet ever make it to the Amiga? Any decent flight simulator? And, of course, the arcade style games. These have always been better on the Amiga. The number of actual games bundled should not be too great, but they should be as varied as possible, and there should be as many demos as possible. There should also be a CD32 game (or a specially designed CD game), to prove that multimedia and game animations are known to the Amiga. Try to include games and demos which run from Workbench, and can quit back to it. Windows 95 users will soon see it as a must. Include a British-magazine-style instructions for the software. A 200-300 page magazine, with 10 page instructions and tutorials for full programs, 1-2 pages for demos, 1/2 page to 1 page for games and game demos. And this mag should include upgrade offers to the full packages and latest versions. The other way of convincing people that the Amiga is worth something is to put technology demos on the disk. If possible, put demos of things the PC cannot do, or doens't have as standard yet. For example (the only thing I can think of that the PC doesn't really have), do overscan video. Is it possible to display high frame rate full screen HAM8 (or even just 256 colour) overscan video from a quad speed drive? I hope that a 68EC040 or a bundle DSP could do it. Voice control of some Workbench elements? Why not bundle a head mounted microphone for this? Have a tutorial with video and speech. Everything that shows that the Amiga is still at the forefront of technology (even though it's not) should be put there. Make people feel at home with the Amiga. Give as much documentation as possible. What you don't give as books give as AmigaGuide docs (or HTML docs, for this matter). Have interactive tutorials of both workbench and the shell. Have full ARexx docs. Have tips and tricks. Show the special features of the Amiga. Give online docs for bundled programs. The last thing that the bundle should do is make people write for the Amiga. For one thing, companies will want their programs and demos to appear on the CDs, and PD programmers will also want the recognition (I assume that the bundle will change every several months). But the other way to convince people to write for the Amiga is to make it easy, and that's where the bundle comes in. First of all, give as much documentation as possible. It shouldn't be too difficult to create an AmigaGuide version of Includes and Autodocs. And giving the latest includes in the bundle will also be nice. Give instructions on ARexx programming, have a programming guide for the Installer. Everything possible should be there. I don't expect the complete books of how to program the Amiga, but the above will give a good start for programmers. Secondly, bundle programming languages. When I said that I want everything bundled, I meant it. Give AMOS, Blitz, Devpac, DICE, and anything else which have been given on coverdisks. Let the companies offer upgrade options to the latest, full versions. Give PD language implementation (Oberon, etc.). Include GUI creators. That's very important - no PC programming suite will come without one. If possible, this bundle should be made available to existing Amiga owners. Okay, that's it for now. Comments are welcome. Eyal -- teler@cs.huji.ac.il ET's home page is at http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~teler @endnode @node NEWS1 "ShapeShifter v3.5" @toc NEWS TITLE ShapeShifter VERSION 3.5 AUTHOR Christian Bauer EMail: bauec002@goofy.zdv.uni-mainz.de SMail: Christian Bauer, Max-Planck-Str.60, 55124 Mainz, Germany DESCRIPTION ShapeShifter is a multitasking shareware Macintosh-II emulator for the Amiga and DraCo computers. It allows to run Macintosh software concurrently to Amiga applications without hardware add-ons or modifications. Some of the emulation's features: - Color display up to 256 colors on AGA Amigas (16 colors on ECS) and up to 16.7 million colors on graphics cards - Support for one or two monitors - No MMU required, even runs on A1200 - Macintosh hard disks can be simulated in Amiga files or Amiga hard disk partitions [unregistered version has no hard disk partition support] - Can use Amiga floppy drives, serial, parallel and SCSI ports from the Mac [use of SCSI not possible in unregistered version] - Mac HD disks can be read directly with an HD floppy drive, Mac 720K disks can be used with any Amiga floppy drive. To use Mac 800K disks, you have to own CrossMAC and an original Mac drive - Multichannel sound output and parallel-port sound digitizers supported - Access to Ethernet networks - Simple networking between two Amigas with PLIP - Text clipboard sharing between Mac and Amiga - File handler to access Macintosh volumes from the Workbench - Speed comparable to a real Mac with equivalent hardware The most important changes in V3.5: - AppleTalk/MacTCP/MacIPX can be used on two Amigas connected via PLIP - ShapeShifter is System 7.5.3 compatible - System 7.5.1 runs better on the DraCo - The serial driver allows using 115 and 230kbps transmission speed on an appropriately fast machine - New PrepareEmul which co-operates better with other KickTags SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OS2.1, 68020 processor, 4MB of RAM, HD floppy drive recommended. A copy of a Macintosh 512K or 1MB ROM and the Macintosh system software are not included, but required. The ROM can be read off of a real Mac by using a supplied program, the system software can be bought from Apple. Note, however, that reading the ROM is only legal if you have bought the ROMs or own a real Macintosh. AVAILABILITY Aminet sites: /misc/emu/ShapeShifter.lha ftp://ftp.biologie.uni-erlangen.de/incoming/ShapeShifter3_5.lha Next Generation BBS, Germany (ShapeShifter support BBS) Port 1: +49-261-805012 (Zyx19.2/ISDN) Port 2: +49-261-84280 (V.FC) PRICING The requested shareware fee is DM 50,- or US$ 40. Upon registration you will receive a keyfile that enables the disabled features (SCSI and hard disk partition support). DISTRIBUTABILITY Shareware (DM 50,- or US$ 40 requested) @endnode @node NEWS2 "ImageFX Online Special" @toc NEWS ImageFX Online Summer Special For Immediate Release Contact: Bob Fisher Nova Design, Inc. 1910 Byrd Avenue, Suite 214 Richmond, VA 23230 USA 804-282-3768 Fax Richmond, VA - Tuesday, May 28, 1996. Nova Design, Inc. announced that beginning immediately they are offering a summer special on in stock copies of ImageFX 2.1a, the previous release of ImageFX. This limited time offer is being made directly to th e online community via Compuserve and the Internet while supplies last. Step Up To ImageFX! Have you always wanted realtime interactive previews? Advanced 24-bit painting tools? Complete, real, Toaster/Flyer support? Regionalized image processing and special effects? Complete image format conversion tools? Multiple UNDO features? Batch processing? Virtual Memory? Full color, 15/16/24-bit, displays? Blue/Green Screen compositing? Morphing? Lens Flares? All these features, and hundreds more, are in ImageFX. Unprecedented Bargain This summer special is a unique once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity. It offers a discount never before made to the Amiga public that cannot be matched. Video Toaster User magazine says, "You must have this program. Period." Amazing Computing called ImageFX, "Photoshop/Fractal Painter for the Amiga". Computer Video put it more simply when they said, "Holy cow!". Limited Time Offer The summer special ends on June 30, 1996 or when the current stock of ImageFX 2.1a is depleted. Absolutely no upgrade orders will be taken after that date. Special Pricing The summer special on ImageFX 2.1a is priced at only $169.95 plus shipping and handling charges of $5.00 US - $7.00 elsewhere. To order call us at 1-800-IMAGE-69 in the US and Canada, or (804) 282-1157 elsewhere, to place your order at extension 20 6. You can also order via email at: orders@novadesign.com - anytime day or night! Take advantage of our instant upgrade to ImageFX 2.6 as well! For only an additional $34.95 you can immediately upgrade to the newest ImageFX release as well! ImageFX is a trademark of Nova Design, Inc. All other trademarks are held by their respective owners. See us on-line at http://www.novadesign.com @endnode @node NEWS3 "Aweb-II" @toc NEWS ========================================================================== AmiTrix PRESS RELEASE June 3, 1996 ========================================================================== Announcing AWeb-II, the Amiga Web Browser & HTML Generator! ----------------------------------------------------------- AmiTrix Development is pleased to announce the first commercial release of the popular WWW Browser "AWeb" by Yvon Rozijn, along with the first commercial release of the "HTML-Heaven" suite of code generating tools by Paul Kolenbrander. Both programs will be bundled together with additional tools in the new AWeb-II package to be published & distributed by AmiTrix. AWeb-II will include the following: - AWeb v2.0, now with support for background images, localization, icons, hierarchical hotlist, background/text/link colours, image borders, centering, enhanced lists, user-configurable ARexx menu, more ARexx commands, limited frame support, history window, external default images, plug-in support for mail/FTP/telnet/news, automatic TCP stack start/stop, and other new HTML 3.2 tags, with more to come. - HTML-Heaven v2.0, with new ToolChest and Charrie programs, added support for HTML 3.2 tags, HTML tutorial, and WYSIWYG editing using AWeb with almost any ARexx compatible text editor. Create your own Web Pages and documents with ease by simple point & click insertion of tags from the tool lists, and now Charrie adds HTML entities as well. More new features are under development. - AWebMail & AWebFTP ARexx plug-ins by Josef Faulkner. - FTPMount v0.8 FTP filesystem plug-in by Evan Scott. - HTTX, an HTML to text conversion program by Gabriele Favrin. - A free upgrade will be provided to registered purchasers of AWeb-II once the addition of table support and further HTML 3.2 features have been completed. The authors wish to assure the existing registered users of the shareware versions of AWeb v1.x and HTML-Heaven v1.x that they will be able to upgrade to the new version. AmiTrix is proud to have been selected as the exclusive distributor for AWeb and HTML-Heaven! Along with AWeb-II, SCSI-TV, SCSI-TV570, AmigaLink, and other new products to be released in the coming months, we look forward to the continued revival of the Amiga. A new demo version of AWeb v1.2 has now been uploaded to AmiNet for you to try out, some of the advanced features are not enabled in it, of course. AWeb-II requires at least 2MB Ram, Workbench/Kickstart 3.0 or better, a TCP/IP stack to access the WWW, and appropriate GIF/JPEG datatypes. Scheduled release date for AWeb-II is July 1/96, MSRP will be $45.00 US. Dealer and Customer inquiries welcomed, for more information or ordering AmiTrix products, contact us at: AmiTrix Development, 5312 - 47 Street, Beaumont, Alberta, T4X 1H9 Canada Phone or Fax: 1+ 403-929-8459 (Please leave your mailing address, phone/fax number, and/or email) (address on phone messages when requesting information.) You may also contact us via email at the addresses shown below. Email: sales@amitrix.com or: support@amitrix.com http://www.networkx.com/amitrix/index.html ========================================================================== Cheers, --- + _ ____________ tm Dale Currie ____ ___ _ + | /.\ .. | __ \ / dalec@amitrix.com / __[___]__ T tm | | /___\ /\/\ | | |_) | X support@amitrix.com / (o.o) | | | / \/ ^^ \ | | | \ | / \ Edmonton AB Canada / `-^-' | | |/ - D E V E L O P M E N T - \ AmiTrix /___ Z O R R O I N K !| + --------------------- Technical Support ---------------- + @endnode @node NEWS4 "Wolf Dietrich Responds" @toc NEWS Open answer on Dave Haynie's comments on the current Amiga situation of May 22 from Wolf Dietrich, General Manager phase 5 digital products, on May 25, 96 With interest I have read Dave's comments on the current Amiga situation. As we and the Amiga are in a situation where a lot of major decisions for the future of this system are to come, I would like to answer some of his comments to reflect our position and partial different view of things. First of all, there was no animosity on our part against AT - we just wanted to get things going, and so we started the PowerUP project in late 95 as AT wasn't giving any view or commitment. We had been offering AT all of our support for quite a long time, and continued to do so in a situation where there was no development, no resources, no vision; what Dave believes to be an animosity was simply the great concern that things wouldn't go into the right direction for the Amiga. Meanwhile, all development on AT side is cancelled, so there is no more cooperation as there is nothing left to cooperate in. But let's get into some technical considerations. First of all, Dave states that our software development is kind of a hack. Funny to hear that, as he has not seen a single line of code, and also was not involved in in-depth discussions about what we are doing. To simply state the facts: For our PowerUp program, which's goal is to develop PPC upgrade boards for existing Amiga systems, we have re-written Exec and Expansion in PPC Natice Code, and two versions of 68k emulators to run the rest of the OS out of the system ROM. This is not a kind of a hack, but simple the first step which we could realize. Our plan to add a PPC native version of CyberGraphX - which has emerged as a standard today - is just a software add-on to increase the performance of those upgraded systems where parts of the OS have to be emulated. This way is not very different from, for example, having a 68040 or a 68060 library to emulate in software what is different in the processor hardware - however, as 68k and PPC have some significant differences, it can not simply be realized by a library or a new setpatch, but needs a completely re-written, but fully function-compatible Exec. Now getting to the comments on the hardware design. First of all, I leave it up to the public to judge if our announced systems are overpriced (see http://www.phase.de in the news section); also the non-standard argument is missing any fundamental. I know from the technology meetings which AT, Motorola and phase5 joined in the recent months, that Dave's vision of a new computer is a standard PPRP mainboard, with a PPC CPU and a PCI bus and that's it; any idea of adding something specific which would have to be developed had been rejected by him in these discussions. But, all innovative developments today contain some individual parts, mostly in form of FPGAs or ASICs; it's the only way to build something that stands out of the mass markets. We at phase 5 definitely believe that a new Amiga system needs some unique H/W features as it had in the past; just having a ported OS running on a standard PPRP system which also runs MacOS, WindowsNT, and so on, would be the death of AmigaOS simple as there would be no sufficient reason for S/W developers to continue writing their code for Amiga OS. But even if Amiga OS would survive for some time with some application or shareware support, it would be the death of the Vision Amiga which never had been just another PC (no matter if there is a PPC or a Pentium inside). As Dave's comments on the rapid changes of the industry are concerned: We know these rapid changes, we live - succesfully - in this world. Are chips more complex to design today? Chips are more complex, but sophisticated design tools, powerful design workstations, and comprehensive functionality libraries are available today for ASIC designers. Today it's possible to start *VERY* complex designs on FPGA basis and go to the more expensive silicon in certain stages of the development. IC processes are *NOT* exponentially more expensive than some years ago, at least not for companies who want to do custom designs and get strongest support from various ASIC suppliers in the world, among them the very big names such as Motorola. Yes, even those big ones go together to build new fabs for the next millennium, but were we talking about building a next generation IC fab? As a summary of this, let me say the following: It has never been easier even for medium-sized companies to develop own, complex and demanding custom ICs than today. In such custom designs, visionary ideas can be realized cheaper than ever to provide extremely powerful products. Yes, by choosing *COMPLETELY* standard system (such as fully-assembled PPC mainboards) the cost of a system may be reduced by some bucks - but not by hundreds of Dollars. And that's what we, as we stated, don't want to do - dropping great concepts and features that make up a very special and powerful system to maybe save $25. OK, all practical bits aside, Dave came up with the question what will come out in the end. It's as simple as this: A computer that runs a PPC OS which is compatible with Amiga OS. Long before this computer comes out, *LOTS* of developers who have already joined the PowerUp program and are supported by us can prepare their software to make use of advanced features of this new OS, while other existing software will be running with the current features in 68k emulation. As most professional software vendors do support the PowerUp program, PPC native apps should be there in a considerable quantity and quality by next year - just as, for example, many software companies today already support the CyberGraphX standard which has brought an Amiga-OS compatible 24-bit engine to all these programs and those users who have a hardware that can display 24 bits of color. As a matter of fact, what we are doing is the development for a next generation OS which is Amiga compatible. We have decided to move on with our projects after we had lost months of futile discussions with AT - without those, beta developers today would have the first PPC developer boards in their hands. We can't afford to waste more time. We do see the problem that the Amiga community can't support multiple OSs, and we are absolutely open to discuss these issues with the owner of the OS, probably VIScorp, once they have time for us to talk about these things. However, Dave Haynie and the new company PIOS, which he is working for, must also keep this in mind. It's obviously PIOS, a new company, that starts out of nothing (and with no recognizable concept or development behing it) and claims for themselves to develop and market an OS "which will be recognized by the market as the next generation of the former AMIGA OS 3.1." (as read in their web site). This leaves a lot of questions open. We had meetings with the PIOS top management already, who requested our support and cooperation, so I must wonder whether Dave's comments are only given with an intention to support PIOS' position in the market. BTW, everybody out there may estimate if it is more realistic that an experienced hardware manufacturer, holding an established market position, develops a powerful custom ASIC based system, or that a startup company wants to bring the "ultimate Power Amiga" to life and reach a larger market share than Apple Computer in four years from now. phase 5 is very well aware that it will be a big and demanding task to write an Amiga-OS compatible PPC OS; however, we have a large team of very experienced S/W developers, and we have been working on parts of this project for quite some time. While I can not judge how much efforts other mentioned companies spent into their projects, we are sure to reach our goals with the strong efforts we invest into this project. To finalize my open answer, I must strictly reject that last comment from Dave, which we could see as an affront. We will neither adopt an unnamed OS nor will we offer an ugly hack; but much more important, we are not "stealing the AmigaOS", as Dave assumes. There are lots of peope out there, and companies which these people work for, who have been involved closely with Commodore or AT in the past, and do have access to proprietary information. We had several negotiations with AT, but no final agreements, and we never had any access to proprietary information or other proprietary stuff. Dave may address his assumptions that someone could steal the AmigaOS into the direction of such people mentioned above, but not into ours. Again, I strictly reject any statement that includes any such speculation. I hope this statement supports readers building up their own opinion of the current situation around the Amiga. phase 5 digital products, to reinforce this, is committed to the idea and vision Amiga. We'll continue with our project and support for all Amiga developers, fans and users. Everybody out there please feel free to mail us her/his comments and suggestions for the future of the Amiga and our project. Wolf Dietrich General Manager of phase 5 digital products Amiga-dedicated since the A1000 You can contact phase 5 digital products at: http://www.phase5.de mail@phase5.de aproject@phase5.de Fax +49 6171 583789 or by mail to the street address: phase 5 digital products In der Au 26 61440 Oberursel, Germany @endnode @node NEWS5 "Spherical Worlds" @toc NEWS Spherical Worlds A Game by 4-Matted Published by NEO Software GmbH. Features: - 15 tricky levels. - a lot of bonus-levels. - many different extra weapons - rendered animations will guarantee the atmosphere - fast and smooth scrolling in all directions. - harddisk installable. Genre: - Shoot'em up. Runable: - all Amigas with min. 1MB RAM. Available for: - all Amigas with 1MB. - Amiga CD-ROM. Available from: - April 1996. Meet us in the World Wide Web: http://www.info.co.at/neo Playable demo available on Aminet (check below). ___________________________________________________________________________ SHORT DESCRIPTION Game has top-view. As it has all of the movement smooth (not just scrolling) it gives great feeling of speed, and playability. Additionaly, enemies have various intelligence, from slow and stupid to fast with guns/mines. However, you have enough fire power to deal with them. Many weapons you use are fully different one from each other. And there are also few extras, like guided missiles and nukes. Special weapon screen with rendered rotating weapon images is used for fitting mentioned equipment and weapons. Sounds follow the game and have great influence on raising game level of realism. 1 ANIMATED (RENDERED) FULL SCREEN MOVIE-LIKE SEQUENCES Movie-like intro, lasts few minutes. Full screen animation is played in HAM mode (4096 colours on screen) with background music. Ending sequence will reward best players. There are also animated scenes beetwen game-levels. EXTRA FEATURES You are expected with few extras like ingame rendered pictures, and animations, and bonus levels. 3D full screen motion level with moving perspective and deadly walls comming towards your ship-carrier really has to be seen in motion. All of that is better to see than to talk about, and better to look in motion than to look at static pictures, so check free demo on Aminet... ___________________________________________________________________________ Spherical Worlds - playable demo also available on any Aminet FTP site and Aminet CD (as soon as it is released) pub/aminet/game/demo or aminet/game/demo (depending of FTP site) Game file is named: sworlds.lha For example: ftp://ftp.netnet.net/pub/aminet/game/demo/sworlds.lha ftp://ftp.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/game/demo/sworlds.lha ftp://ftp.tas.gov.au/pub/aminet/game/demo/sworlds.lha ftp://ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk/aminet/game/demo/sworlds.lha @endnode @node NEWS6 "Aminet is Biggest FTP Archive" @toc NEWS Subject: Aminet is world's largest archive - contest Aminet message of the day - special issue AMINET IS THE WORLD'S LARGEST COLLECTION OF FREELY DISTRIBUTABLE SOFTWARE According to the statistics at www.shareware.com, the 29000 files found in Aminet now represent the world's largest collection of freely distributable software for any computer system. This is an incredible achievement by everyone involved, but especially the authors of all the software found here. We all owe them a big thank you. At the same time, Aminet shows the fastest natural growth ever with 427 files uploaded just last week. And its size just crossed five gigabytes, which is almost twice the size it was one year ago. If you would like more info on what has been going on lately, read docs/misc/30000.txt CONTEST - 60 CDs AND ONE DRIVE TO BE WON To celebrate this event, we have decided to run another contest. To take part, estimate the number of files that were on Aminet one year ago, on 16-May-95, and send your answer, just the number, in the body of a mail to aminet-server@aminet.org (you should get a confirmation mail). The ten people who get the closest win a one year Aminet CD subscription, and the best guess in addition wins a quadspeed CDROM drive to go with it. Only one vote per person. Good luck! Urban D. Mueller - umueller@aminet.org @endnode @node NEWS7 "Amiga Locale Homepage" @toc NEWS The AMIGA Locale Homepage http://www.intercom.no/~andersb/locale The aim of this page is to create a center for translations and translators. First of all you will find information about what programs are available in a specific language. As of the 22 May, Norsk and Greek are available, but more is being made. This still means that I need someone to take care of these languages: Dansk, Deutsch, Frangais, Italiano, Espaqol, Nederlands, polski, Portugujs, Suomi, Svenska and maybe even more that I can't think of. If you think you can help with one of the languages, contact me at the email mentioned later. Futhermore, I want to create a network of translators, to help programmers get their programs translated. If you can translate programs which support locale into a language, please contact me, or look on the web-page for more information. For comments, suggestions or flames, contact: Email: andersb@intercom.no (Anders Bakkevold) url: http://www.intercom.no/~andersb/locale @endnode @node NEWS8 "OctaMED Soundstudio V1" @toc NEWS OctaMED Soundstudio V1 Release Date - Prices And Ordering Details OctaMED Soundstudio V1 will be released on August 1st 1996 The floppy disk version will be supplied with a manual, whereas the Compact Disk will have the manual in Guide format on the CD itself and at time of writing it is planned to have not only an English language version of the program on the CD, but also German, French Italian and may even have the much forgotten Polish language. If you have a CD unit, then purchase of the CD version is a much better deal due to us not having to charge for the expensive printed manual, however, if you decide later that you still want it, you will be able to obtain a copy by sending the special inlay card which will be within the CD cover. Until licencing is sorted out, the floppy version will only be available directly from RBF Software, however, the CD should be available from your local supplier and if he does not stock it.... Ask him to fax us on +44 (01) 703 785680 If you wish to purchase the floppy disk, or for that matter, the CD version directly from us, then here are the prices:- Floppy disk version with printed manual (for new users).... (Registered V6 users see the Med User Group Members prices below) ( For those interested in the CD, please read prices further on ) ORDERS FROM WITHIN UK: 75.00 GBP ORDERS FROM WITHIN REST OF EC: 85.00 GBP ORDERS FROM REST OF WORLD: 90.00 GBP GBP = POUNDS STERLING This price includes postage, two installation diskettes, plus laser printed manual and a years free Med User Group Membership. Price for currently Registered MED USER GROUP members:- ( These Prices also apply to registered V6 purchasers ) As a member, all you have to do is include your MUG registration number As a registered V6 owner, you need to include the "ownercode" given in the "about" window of the program. (These upgrade prices only relate to the floppy version, not the CD) ( no MUG registration number, or no V6 ownercode details, no deal! ) ORDERS FROM WITHIN UK: 35.00 GBP ORDERS FROM WITHIN REST OF EC: 40.00 GBP ORDERS FROM REST OF WORLD: 45.00 GBP Okay, now for the Compact Disk version: Upgrade prices for the Weird Science V6 CD purchasers are given in brackets, but please remember that to obtain this upgrade offer directly from us, you must quote the "ownercode" details that are displayed in the "about" window of the program. We cannot give you the upgrade price without this being quoted with orders. ORDERS FROM WITHIN UK: 34.99 GBP ( 24.99 ) ORDERS FROM WITHIN REST OF EC: 39.99 GBP ( 29.99 ) ORDERS FROM REST OF WORLD: 44.99 GBP ( 34.99 ) Please note that all the above quoted prices only relate to orders made directly from RBF- Software in the UK. All prices quoted are inclusive of postage etc. Send orders to: RBF Software. 169, Dale Valley Rd, HollyBrook, Southampton S016 6QX ENGLAND. Methods of payment UK: Orders accepted via postal order, cheque, cash (by registered post only), made payable to RBF Software Outside UK: Giro, Bankers draught, or Eurocheque, made payable to RBF Software Or: American Express, made payable to R. Burt-Frost (not RBF Software). Note that RBF Software will only supply the English language version of the floppy at this time and we do not accept credit card orders. The above prices will *not* apply to other suppliers of the Floppy or CD versions as they have their own prices due to various things like importation duties, translation costs, taxes etc. Should you have any difficulties obtaing the CD version, or if you have any questions e-mail: rbfsoft@cix.compulink.co.uk Or post to the above address, however, PLEASE note: ..no return stamp, or IRC no reply. @endnode @node NEWS9 "PC <-> Amiga Filesystem" @toc NEWS TITLE PC <-> Amiga 'network' filesystem VERSION Version 3.8 AUTHOR Michal Kara Krosenska 543 Praha 8 - Troja 181 00 CZECH REPUBLIC E-Mail: lemming@k332.feld.cvut.cz DESCRIPTION Have you ever transfered something between Amiga and PC? You have three ways how to do it: 1) "floppy net" - copy file to a DD disk in the MS-DOS format and read it by the Amiga 2) Use TWIN or EasyLink. But it has a big disadvantage - it can transfer file, but it does not allow applications on Amiga to directly access PC's drives - it's not a filesystem. 3) Use terminal programs and ZMODEM (or another) file transfer protocol. Disadvantage? As above. 4) Use AmiTCP. But you should have some knowledge about TCP/IP networking to install it. So I decided to write my own filesystem with the feature of remote access to files on PC from your Amiga. How it works? You just run program on PC, then 'mount PC:' on Amiga and you can see directories like 'c', 'a', etc. in the 'PC:' device. This program uses the master-slave technique (Yes, PC is the slave :-). Transfers are fully independent (it is called the non-context protocol), so if you write "type pc:c/LongFile.txt" and after some time reset PC and run the PC part again, the text will continue scrolling. NEW FEATURES Since version 3.4 - Bidirectional parallel support (at least 40 KB/s from PC to AM and 26 KB from AM to PC). - Windows 95's extended filename support. Since version 3.2 - Parallel support - bigger transfer rates (over 18 KB/s from AM to PC and about 11 KB/s from PC to AM with A500 and 386SX. It grows up with computer speed. It is about 35 KB/s and 20KB/s for accelerated A1200 and 486DX-2) Since version 2.4 - The main fix is that in finally works with all IRQs from 2 to 7 and not just IRQ 4. - Program made commodity - Debugging version now available to public, written PC2AmigaProblems.guide, written PC2AmAna. - Configuration may be done via configuration programs (no changing of files in a text editor). - Some improvements in serial routines. Now you can use 57600 (about 4.5 KB/s) with A500 and 386SX/40MHz. - A brand new icon set - Some other bugs fixed REQUIREMENTS - Kickstart 2.0+, MS-DOS 6.0+ - Nullmodem cable or LapLink cable (called parallel nullmodem) (not included in the package - just its schemes :-) - igs.library (included in the package) - Commodore Installer. Not included in the package, but I think you have it. (I don't want to include another 100KB of code that almost anyone already has.) AVAILABILITY Program is available on any Aminet site as file PC2Am308.lha in the comm/misc directory. PRICE Program is freeware. But if you really like it, you can send me a gift or leave a message. DISTRIBUTABILITY Free as long as the package is not sold for a profit and you notified me that you have included the PD archive / coverdisk. @endnode @node NEWS10 "Amiga Clone" @toc NEWS Newstar/Rightiming Electronics Corporation of New Jersey, USA, has indicated that it will be building an Amiga-compatible computer for the Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong markets. Dubbed the Amiga 5A00, the machine will be Amiga OS 3.1 based, with a built-in CD-ROM drive. The processor will be a standard 68000 CPU. Few other details are currently available. The machine will be marketed as a home/internet computer, and the company is planning to establish its own Internet service provider to handle Internet for the Chinese market of its computer. For more information, contact: Jing Jian Li Vice Chairman/Vice President Rightiming Electronics Corporation 20 Lexington Ave Trenton, NJ 07104 newstar1@ix.netcom.com P. (609)882-0306 F. (609)882-7050 @endnode @node NEWS11 "Portals" @toc NEWS A.N.G.L.E., Amiga Net Games for Light Entertainment, introduces: PORTALS Portals is a Freely Distributable, Internet-based, Fantasy Role Playing game which recreates the feel of a real RPG (i.e., one played with real people) because -- wait for it -- you are playing with real people, who could be anywhere in the world. ...THE STORY SO FAR... In the beginning, there was one land. The inhabitants were similar to the humans of our planet. Suddenly, a massive magical shockwave shattered the land, and the territories were separated, isolated from one another by a powerful magical flux. Over the millennia, the descendants of the original race adapted to their environment. The fittest survived and new races were born. In one territory, children were born whose bodies were part stone. In another, their skin was leathery, reptillian. In another, the harsh conditions led to the placing of great emphasis on combat. In the frozen icelands, beset by many predators, acute hearing and speed became the norm. And in the temparate territory, the comfortable life gave rise to a weaker race, who had more time to study the magical arts and develop them as their means of defence. Now, that magical charge is dying away and the territories are growing closer together. Small doorways are appearing in the flux, "portals" through which a person may move from one territory to another. In time, they will grow stable but, for now, they seem to appear and disappear at random. As the races begin to mix, their leaders develop their own agendas. Some wish to conquer the newly rediscovered territories. Some to make peace. Others, merely to ensure their race survives. Although a state of total peace does not exist between every Lord, and travellers should beware of putting themselves on the wrong side, this could be the perfect time for heroes. Quests are waiting for those brave enough to attempt them, chests of gold lie in wait for reward, and uncharted areas beckon to explorers. The history book, awaits... WHAT DOES PORTALS LOOK LIKE? If we were into generalizations, we'd describe Portals, as "a Fantasy Role Playing game that looks a bit like Chaos Engine, borrows some bits from Zelda, pays a tribute to the best MUDs around, and adds tons of its own nice touches to top it all." Still, this would make Portals no justice at all, so let's introduce some of its features: - Eight different territories to explore. Providing you're able to locate the "portals", you could move from the green and peaceful Mantero, through the barren land of Ertanis, to the caves of Kranaria. - Brand new races to choose from. Being a dwarf or an elf is all very well, but wait until you've played a Seleth or a Golem! - Cooperative and/or competitive strategies depending either on your mood, or on the task at hand -- how's that for opportunism? - Weapons, armours, scrolls, spells, you name it. Not every race is good at everything but, on the other hand, every race can have a go at just about everything. - Exploring, battling, trading, stealing. Make friends or, then again, probably not. Do whatever you feel like, but be prepared to live by the consequences of your behaviour. - Shops, inns, buildings, treasures, hazards and traps. No need to rent to keep your valuable equipment -- as long as you're not fighting for your life, you're free to save and quit just about everywhere. - Powerful, yet simple and effective chat system. - Short-term missions (i.e., tasks) you could even complete on your own. Well, with a bit of luck and the right equipment, that is! - Long-term missions (i.e., quests) devised by the Lords according to their own agendas. To succeed, a team effort -- and a well-assorted team at that -- is definitely required. WHERE TO GET PORTALS? Well, "Portals" is not yet available. We're neither a major, nor a minor software house or, for that matter, a publishing company. Not that's there's something wrong about staying in business, being profitable and all that, heaven forbid! It's just that our focus is more on providing games for an area that has not been explored well on the Amiga, and our intention is to provide "Portals" as a gift to games players worldwide. Still, although we're not involved with the game's industry, we're not absolute beginners, either. Some of us are full-time programmers with a strong background in UN*X networking. However, before you ask, we're definitely Amiga people and, given the opportunity, we like playing games! Right now A.N.G.L.E. spans the globe -- from Australia, through Europe, to North America -- and it's comprised by eight members. Everything would be hunky-dory, but we're either full-time employed, part-time employed or plain students with even tighter deadlines. On the one hand, this means we're working on "Portals" in our spare time, often late at night; on the other hand, this game is really a labour of love and, this is the best bit, we plan to make it Freely Distributable. To sum it up, we're constantly looking for more team members. Since "Portals" needs tons of hand-drawn graphics, we especially need more gfx people, but more programmers and a couple of extra musicians to speed things up, would be just as great. A.N.G.L.E. ON THE WWW Detailed and up to date info, including some VERY early graphics and a couple of audio snippets, are available at: http://www.iper.net/angle and no, it's not a typo -- it's actually "iper", not "hyper"! :) A.N.G.L.E. BY E-MAIL Good old e-mail can be used as well. Send your comments to: ANGLE-admin@karunko.nervous.com @endnode @node NEWS12 "wfmhcybergfx_r3d.library" @toc NEWS TITLE wfmhcybergfx_r3d.library VERSION 40.1 AUTHOR Miloslaw Smyk E-Mail: smykm@felix.univ.szczecin.pl WWW: http://dedal.man.szczecin.pl/~thorgal/ IRC: Thorgal S-Mail: Miloslaw Smyk ul. Orawska 22/34 70-131 Szczecin POLAND DESCRIPTION This is external display library for Real3D v3.11, 3.21, 3.30 and CyberGraphX, which has some special features. FEATURES - rendering on 15/16/24-bit deep screens directly to windows you use for modelling, - simultaneous rendering to several windows at once, -two optional dithering modes - Floyd-Steinberg and ordered 4x4 for high quality 15- and 16-bit deep renderings, - contents of any window can be saved as IFF file, -small preferences editor that lets you change dithering modes and save your preferred settings to disk, -you can have more than one copy of Real3D using this library at the same time. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS - gfx-board with CyberGraphX - Real3D v3.11, 3.21 or 3.30 AVAILABILITY via aminet (gfx/board/wfmhcybergfx.lha) or from the homepage http://dedal.man.szczecin.pl/~thorgal/R3D/main.html PRICE US$ 20 or 30DM for registration special price 25PLZ for people living in Poland registration see doc-file DISTRIBUTABILITY The unregistered version is freely distributable if it is done in a noncommercial way and the contents of the archive are kept intact. The registered version is not freely distributable. Miloslaw Smyk @endnode @node NEWS13 "NetConnect CD-Rom" @toc NEWS PRESS RELEASE FAO : Existing Amiga Internet users and/or ISP's Subject : NetConnect CD-Rom Date : 15/05/96 We Need Your Help! ================== We are in the advanced stages of compiling an "all you need" to get onto the Internet CD for the Amiga. This CD will contain licenced software, will be very easy-to-use and will be aimed at users who: * Want Internet access but don't know how to get online * Haven't thought about access but may do after reviews etc * Have Internet access but cannot get their programs to interact properly NetConnect will contain a full suite of software including some "extras" that will present on the CD. NetConnect will contain two pieces of previously un-announced software that will be released at the same time as the CD - and they are looking good! NetConnect will be available in late June and promotional information will be released soon! We need you help to make a CD that is as easy as possible for the new user. Two areas: 1. ISP information 2. Your Internet experiences 1. ISP Information ================== Part of the CD will be a simple (but well featured) interface that is already pre-configured with ISP information. This will allow the user to select an ISP and not have to worry about netmasks, DNS servers etc etc. We need some information about your Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) details. ISP's outside the UK are paramount! We currently have info for: UK : Demon, Global, Enterprise, I-Way, NetKonect, FirstNet, NetDirect, Bogomip, UK Online, Zen Internet Norway : Norconnect Austria : I-Node Germany : Lemke & Fuerst, Axis Information Systems, NET Network Team Switzerland : Bitcom The information needed is: 1. Company name (and country) 2. Contact details (i.e. address, telephone number, email address) 3. DNS Server Address (1 & 2) 4. NetMask 5. Mail Server 6. FTP Server (if applicable) 7. WWW Server 8. IRC Server (if applicable) 9. POP3 Server (if applicable) 10. Static or Dynamic Connection (or both?) 11. SLIP or PPP Dialup Supported? 12. MAX. Modem Speed Connection? 13. List of POPs (Place AND Numbers - i.e. Manchester 0161 123 1234) + any other useful information We *may* need your help with beta-testing. If you have an ISP that is not listed above then we could use you to test the software for that ISP! Tell us if you are interested in beta-testing. 2. Your Internet Experiences ============================ To make ease-of-use absolutely paramount we want to know what you would do to make Amiga Internet access easier! i.e. What could be done about TCP software, PPP, system setups, Amiga support with ISP's etc. Even if you think that the Amiga needs more Internet support within Amiga magazines! Many thanks for your time. If you want any information about NetConnect, the contents or would like to help us with beta-testing, contact us as soon as possible. Our e-mail address can be found below. All the best, Chris Wiles Active Software. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACTIVE SOFTWARE | Tel - +44 1325 352260 P.O. Box 151, | E-Mail - chris@active2.demon.co.uk Darlington, | E-Mail - enquiries@active2.demon.co.uk County Durham, | Contact- Chris Wiles DL3 8YT, ENGLAND | Hours - 9.30am - 6pm GMT Monday to Friday @endnode @node NEWS14 "IAM Press Release Pack" @toc NEWS Intangible Assets Manufacturing Announces DiskSalv 4 Drexel Hill, PA (May, 1996) Intangible Assets Manufacturing announced the release of DiskSalv 4, the end result of an internal overhaul of the program by the author, Dave Haynie. While few external features have been changed, it has been reworked to fix even more disk problems and to more easily support more filesystems. The utility still supports disk recovery for hard, floppy, and removable media. Other highlights of the program remain such as salvage, undelete, repair, unformat, check, and cleanup. Freely redistributable patch updates for DiskSalv 4 will be available in the future, as there was for version 3. (In fact, patch 1 is already available for anonymous FTP from file://ftp.iam.com/biz/iam) DiskSalv4 is priced at US$40, and upgrades from DiskSalv3 are available for $10 plus shipping and handling. http://www.iam.com info@iam.com --- Intangible Assets Manufacturing announces a second printing of Connect Your Amiga! A Guide to the Internet, LANs, BBSs, and Online Services Drexel Hill, PA (May 24, 1996) Intangible Assets Manufacturing announces the second printing of its best selling book, Connect Your Amiga! A Guide to the Internet, LANs, BBSs, and Online Services, by Dale L. Larson. The book is revised and updated to include more about the World Wide Web and how to get access to the Internet from the Amiga. It also provides coverage of using the Amiga to access BBS systems and other online services. For owners of more than one computer, the book explains how Amigas can share files and printers with each other on a network, and how Amigas can connect to PCs, Macs and other computers on a network. The author is an expert on the Amiga and on computer networking. Mr. Larson was a Software Engineer in Commodore's Amiga Networking Group. He worked on AS225 and is one of the principal authors of both the SANA-II Network Device Driver Specification and the original Amiga Envoy specification documents. Despite rising printing costs, IAM kept the list price of the book to $24.95. For users who face the chicken-and-egg problem of not being able to get the software to get started with communications, networks and the Internet, IAM also offers an eight-disk set of freely redistributable software. That set is available seperately for US$27, or with the book for a package price of only $49.95. All prices are exclusive of shipping and handling. The revised book is already at the printer, and IAM will begin shipping to customers the week of June 10. We are accepting advance orders now. http://www.iam.com/ info@iam.com [Note, the book did, in fact, start shipping to customers on Monday, June 10.] --- Intangible Assets Manufacturing New North American distributor of DICE Drexel Hill, PA (May 24, 1996) Obvious Implementations Corporation has appointed IAM as new North American distributor of both the popular C compiler, DICE, and the remaining Deathbed Vigil T-shirts. DICE version 3.2 is the complete, integrated development environment that comes with a full C language compiler for the Amiga. Its 450 page manual has examples and tutorials making this the fastest and easiest way to get started with programming. It is available for $100 or for $75 to students or owners of other programming development packages. The Deathbed Vigil T-shirt features the eject button on the front and signatures of former Commodore engineers on the back. Each are 100% cotton, black, and available for $17 in sizes S-XXXL. Outside of North America, all orders for these products should go to the local distributors, not to IAM. Technical support for DICE is still provided by OIC. All non-sales questions should be directed to OIC. Owners of DICE 3.x can upgrade to 3.2 with the patch available for anonymous FTP from file://ftp.iam.com/biz/iam. http://www.iam.com/ info@iam.com @endnode @node FEATURE1 "Amiga-VIScorp Feedback" @toc FEATURE =========================================================================== Amiga-VIScorp Feedback =========================================================================== [The standardized Amiga feedback form is back, and improved. In addition to sending these to Eric Laffont, consider sending them to me, as VIScorp's consultant on Amiga communicatons, at jcompton@xnet.com. -Jason] Amiga-VIScorp Feedback Form 05-21-96 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THIS FORM IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. PLEASE BE CERTAIN THAT YOU ARE USING THE MOST CURRENT FORM BY CHECKING ON THE INTERNET FOR "THE AMIGA WEB DIRECTORY" AND "AMIGA REPORT" ON A REGULAR BASIS! Email this completed form to: "elaffont@pratique.fr" *or*, if you are having trouble sending it to the aforementioned address, send it to : "viking@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca" and it will be forwarded to Eric Laffont. Please use this form when sending feedback to VIScorp. This will help ensure that your response will be noted along with any changes of opinion. THIS FORM IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. Thank you. Regards, Vance Schowalter. Personal Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Name [ Company Name [ Street Address [ City/Town [ Province/State [ Postal Code [ Country [ Home Phone [ Business Phone [ Fax [ Internet Email [ Homepage (URL) [ Please use an asterix "*" whenever prompted by a multiple choice question. Do not add comments to them, as they will be ignored. If you feel that comments are necessary, please use the last query which specifically asks for additional comments. When prompted for comments, please make them clear and concise. This questionnaire refers solely to Amiga hardware and software. Do *not* include PC and/or Mac hardware that you may own apart from your Amiga hardware. 1. Have you used this feedback form before? ( ) Yes ( ) No 2. In which capacity are you associated with the Amiga computer? (Check all that apply) ( ) User ( ) Dealer ( ) Developer 3. How old are you? ( ) 10-15 ( ) 16-20 ( ) 21-25 ( ) 26-30 ( ) 31-35 ( ) 36-40 ( ) Over 40 4. What is your current Marital Status? ( ) Single ( ) Married ( ) Divorced ( ) Widowed 5. Which Gender are you? ( ) Male ( ) Female 6. How many other people use your Amiga(s)? ( ) 1-2 ( ) 3-4 ( ) 5-6 ( ) More than 6 (7+) ( ) None 7. Which Amiga(s) do you currently use/own? (Check all that apply) ( ) CDTV ( ) CD32 ( ) A500 ( ) A600 ( ) A1000 ( ) A1200 ( ) A1500 ( ) A2000 ( ) A2500 ( ) A3000 ( ) A3000T ( ) A4000 ( ) A4000T 8. Which AmigaDOS do you currently use? (Check all that apply) ( ) 1.1 ( ) 1.2 ( ) 1.3 ( ) 2.0 ( ) 2.1 ( ) 3.0 ( ) 3.1 9. Do you have 1 or more hard drives? ( ) Yes ( ) No 10. Do you have 1 or more CD-ROM drives? ( ) Yes ( ) No 11. Do you have 1 or more Removable Tape/HardDisk Backup drives? ( ) Yes ( ) No 12. Do you have 1 or more high density (1.76mb) disk drives? ( ) Yes ( ) No 13. Do you have a modem? ( ) Yes, highspeed ( ) Yes, less than 9600 baud ( ) No 14. Which Graphic Cards, if any, do you use? (Check all that apply) ( ) CyberVision64 ( ) Retina ZII/III ( ) Piccolo ( ) Merlin ( ) Harlequin ( ) Picasso I/II ( ) OpalVision ( ) Spectrum ( ) Other________________________________ ( ) None 15. Which Expansion Accelerator Cards, if any, do you use? (Check all that apply) ( ) 020 ( ) 030 ( ) 040 ( ) 060 ( ) None 16. How much total (chip & fast) memory does your Amiga have? (if you have more than one Amiga, choose the highest) ( ) Under 2mb ( ) 3-5 ( ) 6-10 ( ) 11-18 ( ) More than 18 (up to 128mb) 17. Do you have PC and/or Mac emulation? ( ) Yes ( ) No 18. How long have you been using an Amiga? ( ) Less than 1 year ( ) Less than 5 years (2 to 4) ( ) Less than 10 years (6 to 9) ( ) More than 10 years (10+) 19. How would you rate your Amiga skills and knowledge? ( ) Expert ( ) Advanced ( ) Average ( ) Novice 20. Number each from 1(least to 10(most) according to degree of personal importance. ( ) Multi-media (ie. Scala) ( ) Telecommunications (ie. bulletin board system user/sysop) ( ) Internet (ie. cyberdude/tte) ( ) Business (ie. spreadsheet) ( ) CAD (ie. architecture) ( ) Publishing (ie. books, magazines, newsletters, software) ( ) Education (ie. teacher/student software) ( ) Science (ie. Maple) ( ) Music (ie. MIDI, MOD) ( ) Art (ie. Andy Warhol inspired) ( ) Video (ie. Video Toaster) ( ) Programming (ie. ARexx, Basic, C) ( ) Image Processing (ie. photography, filmmaking special effects) ( ) Entertainment (ie. games) ( ) Other _____________________ 21. Should VIScorp (Amiga Technologies) continue R&D of the Amiga as a personal computer? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 22. Should the AmigaDOS be ported to other platforms? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 23. Should AmigaDOS come with full Internet features? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 24. Should there be an HTML(1/2/3) datatype? (this would allow MultiView to be used as an Internet browser and HTML text viewer) ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 25. Should there be more datatypes to support PC and Mac multi-media animation formats? (ie. QuickTime, AVI, Fli, MPEG) ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 26. Should AmigaDOS have currently available features enhanced? (ie. shell, commodities, (faster?)datatypes) ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 27. Should AmigaDOS have MUI-like enhancements to its GUI system? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 28. Should AmigaDOS have virtual memory as a user preference option? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 29. Should Retargetable Graphics support be implemented? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 30. Should Disk Defragmentor utilities be included with the AmigaDOS Hard Disk Tools? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 31. Should Amiga Technologies continue with its current Power Amiga plans? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 32. What do you feel should be done to improve the Amiga's graphics capabilities? > 33. What do you feel should be done to improve the Amiga's audio capabilities? > 34. Would you like to see Amiga clones? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 35. Would you like to see Amiga laptops? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 36. Should all Amigas come with a hard drive? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 37. Should all Amigas come with a CD-ROM drive? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 38. Should future Amigas have the option, like current Pentium PC's, of multi-processor expandability? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 39. Should some or all Amigas come with 1.76mb High Density disk drives? ( ) Yes, all ( ) Yes, some ( ) No, none ( ) Undecided 40. Should some or all Amigas come with video encoded S-Video (S-VHS) output jack? (Provides the sharpest image output) ( ) Yes, all ( ) Yes, some ( ) No, none ( ) Undecided 41. Should some or all Amigas come with a built-in 24 bit video digitizer (uses S-Video (S-VHS) input jack to provide sharpest image input)? ( ) Yes, all ( ) Yes, some ( ) No, none ( ) Undecided 42. Should some or all Amigas come with a built-in 16/32 bit audio digitizer (includes microphone, stand and sampler voice recognition software)? ( ) Yes, all ( ) Yes, some ( ) No, none ( ) Undecided 43. Should some or all Amigas come with a built-in MIDI port? ( ) Yes, all ( ) Yes, some ( ) No, none ( ) Undecided 44. Should Full Motion Video (MPEG I/II) hardware be optionally available for all Amigas? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 45. Should all Amigas ship with two or more mb of Graphics memory? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 46. How many mb of Fast memory should Amigas ship with? ( ) 1 ( ) 2 ( ) 4 ( ) 6 ( ) 8 ( ) 10 ( ) More than 10 (11 to 18) ( ) More than 18 (19 to 128) ( ) Undecided 47. Should hands-on components be ergonomically designed? (ie. keyboards, mice, etc) ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 48. Should mouse, joystick, and keyboard ports have user-definable (modular) locations at the front, side(s), and back of the Amiga chassis? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 49. On which side would you prefer them to be, if you could only have one choice? ( ) Front ( ) Left ( ) Back ( ) Right ( ) Undecided 50. Should some or all Amigas support internal high-speed modems? ( ) Yes, all ( ) Yes, some ( ) No, none ( ) Undecided 51. Should some or all Amigas have Video Expansion slots? (ie. for the Video Toaster(Flyer)) ( ) Yes, all ( ) Yes, some ( ) No, none ( ) Undecided 52. If Amigas include a CD-ROM drive, should the AmigaDOS be on a CD-ROM instead of floppy disks? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 53. Should the talents of professional Amiga users be taken advantage of to enhance marketing capability and quality? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 54. Should closer alliances continue to be actively sought out with major 3rd party developers to produce a better Amiga product faster? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 55. Should VIScorp (Amiga Technologies) maintain International Amiga research and development? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 56. Should VIScorp (Amiga Technologies) incorporate global volunteer Amiga user groups into official promotional activities such as organizing Amiga computer shows, competitions for various applications, etc? ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 57. Should VIScorp (Amiga Technologies) enlist the best coder groups to produce storefront demos that are specifically directed at potential Amiga buyers? (The demos would mention software/hardware specs and show off graphics and audio at their best) ( ) Yes ( ) No ( ) Undecided 58. How do you see the Amiga in 2 years, based on the current VIScorp (Amiga Technologies) intentions that you are aware of? > 59. Enter any additional comments not answered above, below. Please be as clear and as concise as possible. > @endnode @node REVIEW1 "Review: Sci Fi Sensations 2" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: Sci Fi Sensations 2 Gerard Sweeney gss@arts.gla.ac.uk =========================================================================== I've just received Sci Fi Sensations 2, and was shocked at what I found.. It is 95% of a carbon copy of Sci Fi Sensations #1.. In fact, it seems they've added very little, and removed quite a lot from the original Sci Fi Sensations #1 for Disk 1, and just re-issued Disk 2! Read on for the full details......... These are the interesting files on Sci-Fi Sensations 2 NOT found on Sci-Fi Sensations 1.... DISK 1 ====== AMIGA ONLY 000FILES.TXT ALIENSJOKE.DMS CONTACTHASBEENMAD.DMS HUMANIOD_BB.DMS SPACEACEDEMO.DMS STARTREKGAME_A.DMS STARTREKGAME_B.DMS STARWARS_OBJECTS_D.DMS TERMINATOR2_DEMOA.DMS TERMINATOR2_DEMOB.DMS THETHING.DMS TOBIAS_STARTREK_A.DMS TOBIAS_STARTREK_B.DMS There are other non-matching files in this directory. However, these are simply renames (usually replacing _ with -). ********************************************************************* GAME GFX BACK.IFF CHARARMSs.iff CHARBEAR.iff CHARFACE.iff CHARFUZ.iff CHARROBO.iff README README.info TWOPLAY.IFF ********************************************************************* IMAGES (Root) AMT-Readme ALIENS - No new files AMT - No new files (in fact there's a readme less!!) BATMAN - No new files (in fact there's 2 less!) BLADERUNNER - No new files (1 corrupt file less) DRWHO - No new files (DOCTOR03.GIF still corrupt) MISC_PIX - No new files (in fact there's 21 LESS!!) PC_BATS - NO new files PREDATOR - No new files RANGERS - No new files ROBOCOP - No new files STAR TREK - No new files (in fact there's 40 LESS!!!) SEA QUEST - No new files STAR WARS - No new files (in fact there's 7 LESS!!) TERMIN8OR - No new files (in fact there's 1 LESS!) TOTALREC - No new files It would have been nice to have the Trek pics split up into their different categories (Classic, TNG, DS9, Voyager). ********************************************************************* INFOTEXT FAQ/MANGA FAQ/ROBOTICS FAQ/STAR TREK WHOMII - .Info file (WOW!) WHOMIII -.Info file ********************************************************************* MUSIC 2CYBER.MOD AIRWOLF2.MOD AIRWOLFT.MOD ALIENAT.MOD ALIENHAZ.MOD ARMYBEAT.MOD AUSTEXCD.MOD BATMAN2.MOD BEYOND.MOD BEYOND20.MOD BEYONDAG.MOD BEYONDBE.MOD BEYONDFO.MOD BEYONDMU.MOD BEYONDYO.MOD CABAL.MOD ... Yes, very sci-fi.. Ripped from a game? COMMAND.MOD COMMANDO.MOD CRUEL.MOD CYBER.MOD CYBERNOD.MOD CYBERNOT.MOD CYBERRID.MOD CYBERTIT.MOD CYBERTON.MOD CYBERTRO.MOD CYBERZON.MOD CYBEXERK.MOD CYBRNOID.MOD ... See Cabal.mod DARK.MOD DARKMOON.MOD DAWN.MOD EVILBEAT.MOD FABEL.MOD GALACT2.MOD GALAXYII.MOD GALAXYT.MOD GHOSTBUS.MOD HUBBARD.MOD INGAME.MOD known as DASBOOT2.MOD INGAME1.MOD INNERSPA.MOD INSANITY.MOD KICKSTAR.MOD LASER1.MOD LASER2.MOD LEDSTORM.MOD LIGHT2.MOD LIGHTYEA.MOD LOSTTIME.MOD LUSH123.MOD MANDFORC.MOD MAX_HEAD.MOD MILKYWAY.MOD MILLENIU.MOD NOVA.MOD ODYSS6.MOD ODYSSE3.MOD ODYSSEE1.MOD ODYSSEE2.MOD ODYSSEE3.MOD ODYSSEY4.MOD OXEGENE2.MOD PANTHER.MOD PARALLAX.MOD PLANET.MOD POWERDRI.MOD POWEREM2.MOD README SPACE.MOD SPACE2.MOD SPACEBAL.MOD.. Hmm, ripped from a Spaceballs demo. Sci fi?! SPACECAD.MOD SPACECON.MOD SPACECRU.MOD SPACEDEB.MOD - identical to SPACE_DE.MOD SPACEDEL.MOD SPACEHEA.MOD SPACEHEM.MOD SPACEJOU.MOD SPACEJUN.MOD SPACELOV.MOD SPACEMIX.MOD SPACEMUZ.MOD SPACESAD.MOD SPACESON.MOD SPACETRA.MOD SPACETRP.MOD SPACEVOY.MOD SPACEWAL.MOD SPACEWEA.MOD SPACIG.MOD SPAFLI.MOD SWIV.MOD... See CABAL.MOD TERMIN8.MOD called TER.MOD on Sci-Fi 1 ********************************************************************* SAMPLES README.TXT Note:- For some obscure reason, the samples are now only in Amiga IFF format in the subject directories while WAV formats have been lumped together in separate directories called WAVS1 and WAVS2 , thus making it more difficult for PC users to use the subject dirs, and more difficult for Amiga users to use the WAVS dirs... What was wrong with the dual-format idea in Sci-Fi #1???? 2001 - No new files ALIENS - No new files BLADERUN - No New files & EATTHIS.SND still in wrong area (ALIENS dir) CLOSEENC - No new files COMICAL - No new files DEMOLISH - No new files DRWHO - No new files (ENTRE.SND still in wrong area) MISC - No new files.. Mistakes include:- 1.SND is from Robocop, similar to "ROBOCOP.SND" in ROBOCOP Dir AIRLOCK.SND is corrupt at end BECREAT.SND is Star Trek : Voyager + snip of Generations BIGGUN12&3 - some warning of bad language? CITIZEN.SND is from Demolition Man (Dir DEMOLISH) CYBERNET.SND is from Terminator (Dir Termn8or) FINED.SND is from Demolition Man (Dir DEMOLISH) GREETS.SMD is from Demolition Man (Dir DEMOLISH) LIVE1.SND - Bad language MDK.SND is from Demolition Man (Dir DEMOLISH) MOTOR.SND is from Terminator 2 (Dir TERMN8OR) MUSIC.SND is from Terminator 2 (Dir Termn8or) PHOTON.SND is from Star Trek QUACK.SND is from Star Trek : Voyager (and it's QUARK) SAPD.SND is from Demolition Man (Dir DEMOLISH) WARP2.SND is from Star Trek : Voyager WHATTHE.SND is from Robocop II (Dir ROBOCOP) YAK.SND is from Star Trek : Voyager ROBOCOP - No new files STAR TREK - No new files. Mistakes include:- ALERT.SND & GQ.SND are identical COMPUTE.SND is still corrupt DEADJIM2.SND is totally unusable (static) HAVENT.SND is corrupt JOAN.SND is corrupt MCCOY2.SND & MCCOY5.SND are identical MCCOY.SND & MCCOY4.SND are identical ROGER.SND is in the wrong area (dir MISC) SOUNDx1.SND is in the wrong area (dir MISC) SOUND11.SND & SOUNDX11.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUND2.SND & SOUNDX2.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUND3.SND & SOUNDX3.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUND4.SND & SOUNDX4.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUND5.SND & SOUNDX5.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUND6.SND & SOUNDX6.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUND7.SND & SOUNDX7.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUND8.SND & SOUNDX8.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUND9.SND & SOUNDX9.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUND10.SND & SOUNDX10.SND are identical SOUND11.SND & SOUNDX11.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUND12.SND & SOUNDX12.SND identical & in wrong dir (MISC) SOUNDx13.SND is an IFF picture [images/startrek] SPOCK2.SND & SPOCK9.SND are identical SPOCK3.SND & SCAN.SND are the same THEME2.SND & TREK2.SND are identical TREK42.SND is corrupt TREKORG.SND is corrupt TREKTNG.SND is corrupt USERGRP.SND is just a Powerpacked text file It would have been nice to have the Trek samples split up into their different categories (Classic, TNG, DS9, Voyager). STARWARS - No new files. Mistake:- C3PO.SND is actually K9 from Doctor Who TERMN8OR - No new files. Directory "wavs1" on Saturday 08-Jun-96 ATTACK.WAV 38500 AWESOME.WAV 23012 AWKWARD.WAV 64642 BASH.WAV 51732 BEAM.WAV 22998 Star Trek BEAM2.WAV 2012 CORRUPT COMPUTE.WAV 27404 COMPUTER.WAV 9728 Star Trek DICKWAD.WAV 12483 Star Trek DOCTOR1.WAV 39322 Star Trek DOCTOR2.WAV 21416 Star Trek DOCTOR3.WAV 34798 Star Trek DOCTOR4.WAV 48508 Star Trek DOCTOR5.WAV 19912 SAME AS DOCTOR5.SND IS STARTREK DIR ENG2BRID.WAV 49379 Star Trek ENGAGE.WAV 17720 Star Trek ENGAGE2.WAV 25425 Star Trek ENGAGE3.WAV 46134 Star Trek ENGAGSEQ.WAV 43549 Star Trek ENGALRT.WAV 22048 Star Trek ENGCMPON.WAV 30738 Star Trek ENGCOMP1.WAV 235290 Star Trek ENGSCROL.WAV 20608 Star Trek ENTERWHN.WAV 52560 Star Trek ERROR.WAV 11404 2001 EXPLAIN.WAV 68594 Star Trek F-0.WAV 6044 F-1.WAV 6044 F-2.WAV 4844 F-3.WAV 4844 F-4.WAV 4844 F-5.WAV 7244 F-6.WAV 7244 F-7.WAV 6044 F-8.WAV 4844 F-9.WAV 6044 F-ANYKEY.WAV 14444 F-HELLO.WAV 6044 FAILURE.WAV 8654 Star Trek/Misc FIRE.WAV 4689 Star Trek FIREPHAZ.WAV 12548 Star Trek GALAXY.WAV 353536 GDDY2DIE.WAV 60585 Star Trek GENQTRS.WAV 45263 Star Trek GRAVIT.WAV 28588 Star Trek HAIL2.WAV 40770 Star Trek HAND.WAV 39468 Star Trek HEALTHY.WAV 9771 Star Trek HELIVE.WAV 19920 Star Trek HES_DEAD.WAV 31646 OK version of DEADJIM2.SND (TREK Dir) HFREQOPN.WAV 56492 Star Trek HFREQSND.WAV 17002 Star Trek HIHAL.WAV 79687 2001 HYPO.WAV 4144 KABOOM.WAV 56156 KIRKHERE.WAV 14576 Star Trek KLAXON1.WAV 10764 Same as StarTrek/Klaxon.SND KLAXON2.WAV 60816 Same as StarTrek/Klaxon.SND (Looped) LIGHT.WAV 39069 Star Trek LOGIC.WAV 98324 Same as StarTrek/Spock1.SND MAINJUNC.WAV 18114 Star Trek MARVIN1.WAV 31242 Same as Misc/Depress.snd MARVIN2.WAV 38162 MARVIN3.WAV 22198 MARVIN4.WAV 19834 MARVIN5.WAV 42778 MCCOY.WAV 17952 Star Trek MEDIMPOS.WAV 15894 Star Trek MIND.WAV 42596 2001 ONLY2.WAV 12502 PHAZOR1.WAV 8866 Star Trek (Similar to Misc/Photon.snd) PHOTTORP.WAV 29346 Star Trek PITFOR.WAV 39212 Star Trek POWERL.WAV 26412 Star Trek POWTOAST.WAV 42075 PROGRESS.WAV 28828 PROVERB.WAV 51584 Star Trek PURPOS.WAV 12249 README.TXT 231 ROUTEALL.WAV 63560 Star Trek RUBBER.WAV 440938 You call this SCI FI?!?!? SCOTTY.WAV 24674 Same as POWERL.WAV SFX1.WAV 21746 SFX2.WAV 21342 SFX3.WAV 20896 SIREN.WAV 32056 SITU.WAV 14380 SOM.WAV 10032 SPOCKD.WAV 24620 Same as MCCOY.WAV SPOCKVIE.WAV 43052 Star Trek SPOOKLA1.WAV 25872 ST-SEX.WAV 39741 Star Trek ST-TNG.WAV 76410 Star Trek SUBETHA.WAV 64700 SW1USEF.WAV 34076 T2DOWN.WAV 90156 Terminator II T2PLEASE.WAV 196652 Terminator II T2THEME.WAV 198110 Corrupt TOHUMAN2.WAV 61488 2001 TRANENER.WAV 20589 Star Trek TRANSP1.WAV 19734 Same as Tranener.wav TREKDOOR.WAV 11052 Same as Startrek/Doors.snd TRIBBLE4.WAV 45575 Star Trek TRIBBLE6.WAV 26370 Star Trek TZSHORT.WAV 17692 UFO.WAV 811282 Just sounds like lift Muzack! VIEWER.WAV 43366 Star Trek VISTA.WAV 27688 Improved TERMN8OR/ASTALAV.SND VOLCWAV.WAV 305426 Science FACT? VULCAN.WAV 16850 Same as STARTREK/VULCAN.SND WARN1.WAV 37950 WARN2.WAV 96857 WHISTLE.WAV 15404 Star Trek WHYHERE.WAV 24604 WRONG.WAV 55572 Directory "wavs2" on Saturday 08- BABY.WAV 28125 Similar to WAVS1/VISTA.WAV BABY1.WAV 90919 Similar to WAVS1/VISTA.WAV BACKOFFM.WAV 21012 BARF.WAV 16748 This is sci fi?! BARK.WAV 8412 This is sci fi?! BARK2_44.WAV 51344 This is sci fi?! BEAM.WAV 22998 Identical to WAVS1/BEAM.WAV BEBACK.WAV 30764 Terminator II BEEP1.WAV 10432 Star Trek BELCH.WAV 16672 This is sci fi?! BELONG.WAV 47604 This is sci fi?! BETTER.WAV 27458 This is sci fi?! BIGGUN.WAV 40530 BIKEHORN.WAV 3814 This is sci fi?! CAGNEY.WAV 11074 This is sci fi?! CAMRA.WAV 43598 This is sci fi?! CAPKANG.WAV 185289 This is sci fi?! CARHORN.WAV 45100 This is sci fi?! CASHREG.WAV 23090 This is sci fi?! CHANOPEN.WAV 16703 Star Trek CHARGE.WAV 40628 This is sci fi?! CHICKEN.WAV 24865 CHILL1.WAV 11881 Terminator II CHILL2.WAV 25030 Terminator II CHILLOUT.WAV 38956 Same as CHILL2.WAV CHIMES.WAV 15920 From Microsoft Windows!! CHORD.WAV 24982 From Microsoft Windows!! CLARIC.WAV 15661 Silence Of The Lambs COMCATR1.WAV 18868 Star Trek COMCATR2.WAV 13286 Star Trek COMM.WAV 4702 Similar to BEEP1.WAV COMMUNIC.WAV 12646 Similar to BEEP1.WAV COMP1.WAV 20630 COMP10.WAV 51986 Star Trek DAMN.WAV 22322 This is sci fi?! DATALATR.WAV 68594 Star Trek DEADJIM.WAV 10597 Star Trek DEMOLISH.WAV 25356 DEPRESS.WAV 35270 Similar to WAVS1/MARVIN1.WAV DERROR.WAV 34318 From Microsoft Windows!! DICKWAD.WAV 12483 Terminator II DING.WAV 11598 From Microsoft Windows!! DINGO.WAV 20412 Hitch Hikers Guide DOCTOR1.WAV 39322 Identical to WAVS1/DOCTOR1.WAV DOCTOR2.WAV 21416 Identical to WAVS1/DOCTOR2.WAV DOCTOR3.WAV 34798 Identical to WAVS1/DOCTOR3.WAV DOCTOR4.WAV 48508 Identical to WAVS1/DOCTOR4.WAV DOCTOR5.WAV 19912 Identical to WAVS1/DOCTOR5.WAV DOESNOTC.WAV 11224 DOGBARK.WAV 12810 This is sci fi?! DOINK.WAV 5712 DONE.WAV 19740 DONTLIKE.WAV 24620 DONTTHNK.WAV 14964 DOOM.WAV 49964 DOOR.WAV 7110 Star Trek DOORBELL.WAV 20460 Star Trek DOORBL2.WAV 41122 Star Trek (Similar to DOORBELL.WAV) DOORNOCK.WAV 8492 This is sci fi?! DOOROPEN.WAV 27104 This is sci fi?! DOORS1.WAV 94820 Star Trek DOORSLID.WAV 22194 Star Trek DOWN.WAV 35910 This is sci fi?! DROOPY.WAV 13676 DROPIMP2.WAV 79993 Star Trek DRSTUPID.WAV 37932 DRUM.WAV 41070 This is sci fi?! DRUM1.WAV 47148 This is sci fi?! EARLGREY.WAV 65998 Star Trek ECHO1.WAV 16288 This is sci fi?! ELGUITAR.WAV 15726 This is sci fi?! EVRYTHIN.WAV 32414 This is sci fi?! FANFARE.WAV 44070 This is sci fi?! FELTLIKE.WAV 65284 Star Trek FLAGUP.WAV 9913 FLYBY.WAV 65998 Star Trek FOGHORN.WAV 78347 FOODSYNT.WAV 46990 FORCEFLD.WAV 79346 FUNNY.WAV 63661 Star Trek GAMEOVER.WAV 12976 Aliens GAS.WAV 9384 This is sci fi?! GIGGLE.WAV 22716 This is sci fi?! GLASBK.WAV 26975 This is sci fi?! GLASBREK.WAV 35624 This is sci fi?! GLASS.WAV 14864 This is sci fi?! GLASS1.WAV 37064 This is sci fi?! GLASS2.WAV 25408 This is sci fi?! GLASS3.WAV 45100 This is sci fi?! GLASSBRK.WAV 6530 This is sci fi?! GONG.WAV 42072 This is sci fi?! GOODMO.WAV 53128 This is sci fi?! Good Morning Vietnam GOODMO1.WAV 79148 The Simpsons. This is sci fi?! GOODMRNG.WAV 7968 This is sci fi?! GOYELLOW.WAV 7193 Star Trek GRENADE.WAV 95924 This is sci fi?! GUN1.WAV 16428 This is sci fi?! GUN2.WAV 20524 This is sci fi?! GUNFIGHT.WAV 24246 This is sci fi?! GUNSHOT.WAV 8350 This is sci fi?! HALT.WAV 36696 Star Trek HAN.WAV 20178 Star Wars HANDSAW.WAV 22768 This is sci fi?! HAPPYJOY.WAV 78892 Ren & Stimpy HARDER.WAV 12332 HBEAT1.WAV 5664 Star Trek HBEAT2.WAV 36144 Star Trek HELLO-O.WAV 19710 HELMET.WAV 37774 HIMAN.WAV 5445 The Simpsons. This is sci fi?! HITME.WAV 23276 HI_THERE.WAV 65178 HOMERD.WAV 6030 The Simpsons. This is sci fi?! HORSE.WAV 22026 HREADY.WAV 19590 Star Trek JAMES.WAV 11406 James Brown. This is sci fi?! JAWHARP.WAV 31276 JUMP.WAV 70806 JURYRIG.WAV 15044 Star Trek LAUGH1.WAV 22830 LAUGH2.WAV 21364 LAUGH3.WAV 24230 LTSPARTY.WAV 17206 Let's Party! This is sci fi?! M-BYE.WAV 12044 MACHIN22.WAV 46942 MANOVER.WAV 32332 Falling overboard. This is sci fi?! MASTER.WAV 32606 MED-LARK.WAV 72038 This is sci fi?! MEDSCAN1.WAV 8864 Star Trek MEDSCAN2.WAV 30288 Star Trek MF-THINK.WAV 25874 MG1.WAV 11074 MIGHTY.WAV 83470 Mighty Mouse MKMYDY.WAV 34184 This is sci fi?! MONEY1.WAV 39724 This is sci fi?! MONEY3.WAV 65580 This is sci fi?! MONEY5.WAV 20268 This is sci fi?! MONKEY.WAV 15369 MWJAM.WAV 23989 "Jam".. This is sci fi?! MYADVICE.WAV 46944 NEVERMND.WAV 16058 NOPROB.WAV 8774 Terminator II NOSEPICK.WAV 46577 NOT.WAV 14715 NOWAY.WAV 34952 NOWHERES.WAV 26700 NYUKNYUK.WAV 41804 OH.WAV 11296 OHJOY.WAV 16832 OOOHHH.WAV 21770 ORSONLA1.WAV 24668 OUCH.WAV 5434 PARDON.WAV 13438 PENAL.WAV 26010 PEPSI.WAV 62836 Back To The Future(?) PERMIS.WAV 9846 Star Trek PHONERNG.WAV 53290 This is sci fi?! PILEDRIV.WAV 23737 This is sci fi?! PINKPAN.WAV 87914 PLANE1.WAV 24618 This is sci fi?! PLANE2.WAV 86216 This is sci fi?! PLAY.WAV 8864 POP.WAV 4486 PROGRESS.WAV 28828 PROTOPLM.WAV 49950 RED.WAV 11368 Star Trek TNG REN.WAV 43864 ROCKYH01.WAV 92998 This is sci fi?! RODNEY.WAV 37954 This is sci fi?! RODNEY3.WAV 56302 This is sci fi?! SCRATCH.WAV 54372 This is sci fi?! SEALION.WAV 3246 This is sci fi?! SFX1.WAV 21746 SFX2.WAV 21342 SFX3.WAV 20896 SHIPHIT.WAV 43464 SHORT.WAV 35244 SHORTS.WAV 12350 Simpsons. This is sci fi?! SOUND1.WAV 78062 SOYTANLY.WAV 22128 SPAM.WAV 67486 Monty Python. This is sci fi?! SPEED.WAV 13250 SPOOKLA1.WAV 25872 Identical to WAVS1/SPOOKLA1.WAV STBUT4.WAV 4456 Star Trek STBUTN1.WAV 5560 Star Trek STBUTN2.WAV 2250 Star Trek STBUTN3.WAV 5560 Star Trek STFIGHT1.WAV 16172 Street Fighter II STFIGHT2.WAV 16268 Street Fighter II STFIGHT3.WAV 14468 Street Fighter II STFIGHT4.WAV 10844 Street Fighter II STIMPY.WAV 16906 STING.WAV 22688 This is sci fi?! STINKY.WAV 31220 This is sci fi?! STRIKE.WAV 53292 This is sci fi?! SWICHOFF.WAV 27730 This is sci fi?! SWINE.WAV 54505 This is sci fi?! TEMP.WAV 37064 This is sci fi?! THANKS.WAV 10120 This is sci fi?! THERE.WAV 44538 This is sci fi?! TICKTOCK.WAV 21398 This is sci fi?! TOMLIN.WAV 34906 This is sci fi?! TPBEEP0.WAV 3288 This is sci fi?! TPBEEP1.WAV 5126 This is sci fi?! TPBEEP2.WAV 6030 This is sci fi?! TPBEEP3.WAV 3858 This is sci fi?! TPBEEP4.WAV 4378 This is sci fi?! TPBEEP5.WAV 2656 This is sci fi?! TPBEEP6.WAV 3070 This is sci fi?! TPBEEP7.WAV 3014 This is sci fi?! TPBEEP8.WAV 2910 This is sci fi?! TPBEEP9.WAV 3032 This is sci fi?! TPBUSY.WAV 51314 This is sci fi?! TPERROR.WAV 22484 This is sci fi?! TPRINGT.WAV 50762 This is sci fi?! TPTONE.WAV 29756 This is sci fi?! TRAIN.WAV 34064 This is sci fi?! TRASH.WAV 45868 Star Trek TRIB_HAP.WAV 84596 Star Trek TRIB_MAD.WAV 27344 Star Trek TRIXWAVE.WAV 21316 UH-OH-.WAV 17903 UNWISE.WAV 23468 Star Trek VACATION.WAV 19932 Terminator II VAULT.WAV 17780 WHALES.WAV 43501 Star Trek WHATISIT.WAV 22314 WHEE.WAV 22810 WIGGLE.WAV 11588 WILD5.WAV 96508 WOLFHOWL.WAV 40354 WOOW1.WAV 11180 WORFHOOD.WAV 77286 Star Trek WORKING.WAV 50752 Star Trek WWEXSQZ.WAV 15758 WWMENTAL.WAV 22124 WWPARDON.WAV 69076 WWSCHWNG.WAV 19830 TOOLS AMIGA/sox.txt AMIGA/sox_000 DOS/VOC2WAV DOS/VOC_TOOL WINDOWS/000FILES.TXT WINDOWS/10OFBEST WINDOWS/AAPLAY WINDOWS/AMFJBOX WINDOWS/MOD4WIN WINDOWS/PSP3/PSP1.CMP WINDOWS/WAVTOOLS WINDOWS/WINFLIC DISK 2 ====== Disk 2 of Sci Fi Sensations #1 and #2 are not just slightly similar, they are IDENTICAL. I did a file comparison, a directory comparison, and then when I still wasn't convinced, I created a filelist for both CD's (using LIST ALL), then used a file compare which compares two files of equal length (which these were incidentally), and there were NO differences at all.. *** END OF CD COMPARISONS *** So, what does all this mean? Is Sci-Fi Sensations an upgrade disk as it claims on the CD.. I'd have to say no. Upgrade implies getting a lot of new files. As it stands you only gain about 90 MODS, the quality of which can only be described as laughable. Oh, you do get some WAV samples, most of which are of similarly poor quality as the MODs. Do either have ANYTHING to do with Sci-Fi? As a rule, no. I'm sorry but simply because the MODs have the word SPACE in them doesn't count (eg. a MOD ripped from a SPACEballs demo), and if the compiler of this CD can REALLY stand there and tell us that (poor quality) samples of things like car horns, belches and even the built-in samples from Microsoft Windows have anything to do with Science Fiction, then he/she shouldn't be compiling Sci-Fi, they should be WRITING it! While on the subject of samples, the organisation can be classed quite neatly as a joke. Some samples are saved off as Amiga IFF's, and split into categories (though I use this term in its broadest possible context), while a whole batch of others are dumped without thought into "WAVS1" and "WAVS2". The result is that Amiga owners can't use the samples in the WAVs drawers without a converter, and PC users face the same problem vice-versa. @endnode @node REVIEW2 "Review: Final Writer 5" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Final Writer 5 Review By: @{" William Near " link WILLIAM} =========================================================================== Well, here we are again with another update to Final Writer by Softwood. The beta of Final Writer that I received looks promising and sports many improvements and additions to an already topnotch word processor. Final Writer 5 comes on three disks and is as easy to install as previous versions due to the wise use of the Commodore Installer. Upon first glance, Final Writer 5 looks very much the same as Final Writer 4, but there's more power lurking under the surface. SO WHAT'S NEW AND IMPROVED ANYWAY? I'm glad you asked! While I'm not going to cover every detail of the changes to Final Writer, I will describe the biggest changes and improvements. Of course, this is a purely subjective thing -- what may be important to me might be of little to no interest to you. I'll try to cover as many points as space will allow, though. One word: TABLES! Yes, you read that right. Table support is now included in Final Writer. No more of those ARexx hacks which were floating around on the Aminet, no matter how good they were. Tables can be created and modified from a requester in a variety of ways. You have control over: grid line appearance, color of backgrounds in cell regions, text flow around tables, multiple paragraphs in each cell, line thickness and color, and data formatting for groups of cells within a table. Even the type specs and paragraph options work within tables. This feature is most certainly one of the biggest additions to Final Writer thus far. In the font's department there is now a menu choice for direct access to the font requester. That means no more fumbling through other requesters just to select a different font. Preloading fonts is now possible as well. Just select which fonts you'd like to load upon starting Final Writer or creating a new document and they will appear in the font list. ASL (Amiga Standard Library) requesters are now an option within Final Writer. You can opt to use these requesters, the standard Final Writer requesters, or a combination of the two for selecting files or fonts to open. ASL requesters are great because you can resize and position them any way you desire, type the path name directly in the requester, use the cursor keys for navigation, and type the first letter of a filename or font and have the requester jump directly to the first entry that matches. Final Writer now incorporates an Auto Correct feature. Auto Correct can be used to substitute one set of letters for another. For instance, you could set up an Auto Correct item that would replace each occurrence of "cm" with the word "Commodore". This would save you the effort of having to type repetitive words, especially long ones, over and over throughout your document. You could also set up an Auto Correct item that will correct your most mistyped words in a document. Let's say that you always type the word "foriegn" in your documents, you could set an item up that will automatically spell the word as "foreign". Auto Correct can even automatically capitalize the first letter in a new sentence and eliminate double capitals within a sentence. Section click-tabs can now be displayed without also having to display page number click-tabs. This can be very useful when jumping from section to section and for preserving screen real estate by eliminating the page number click-tabs on the current document. Of course, the other click-tab options are still available. Final Writer's custom screen is now a public screen. This enables other programs or applications to open their screens on the Final Writer screen. ARexx programmers should find this to be especially good news. An HTML (HyperText Markup Language) save option has been added too! Now you can create a World Wide Web page with relative ease. Just type in the text that you desire and import any graphics you'd like into the document. Save the new document with the HTML option and Final Writer will write the appropriate code for you to use! I tested it out and it seems to work fine. The only thing I wish it could do is create text links to other pages of your document. It's a nice addition that goes a long way towards helping you set up your initial HTML document. Final Writer now allows you to save a specific set of preferences for future use. You can select any predefined preferences from a menu choice and they will be loaded and made active. This can be handy if you like to have your toolbar in a certain position while creating HTML pages and you'd like it in another position for general writing. This is a very simplified example, but you get the idea. Anything you want to adjust and save can be easily accomplished. Finally, Rich Text Format (RTF) support is here! This is a method used by many word processors on differing platforms to save a document and import it into another package with a minimum of formatting loss. Now you can easily take your Final Writer documents to and from work with ease. Sections within your document can now be easily rearranged. No longer do you have to use the clunky cut and paste method. Now you can just drag the section names from within a requester to whatever position you'd like them to appear in your document. Documents can now be created with a template. If you open an existing document with the New From Template menu choice, Final Writer will update all time and date insertions in the document and rename it as Untitled. This will prevent you from saving over top of the original document when making revisions. This has happened to me in the past while writing reviews for Amiga Report. You have the Auto Save feature set and the next thing you know you've just overwritten your original document that you were modifying! This won't happen any more. The Zoom options have been moved into a direct pulldown menu choice. Now it is much faster to change the magnification of your document to one of the eight predefined choices. Of course, you can still set the magnification manually from the requester as in past versions of Final Writer. Great news for Workbench 3.x users -- Final Writer now supports Datatypes for importing any kind of graphic into your documents. The grammar checker has been updated to the latest version too. Floating palettes are now available for the Tool, Button, and Style bars. The Button and Style palettes are resizable, while the Tool palette is not. ALL THIS AND WINDOWS TOO. Softwood has also released a version of Final Writer for the Windows-based machines. Now you can use Final Writer on your Windows and Workbench systems. The files are completely portable between both versions and a special deal has been offered by Softwood to buy them both at the same time. I would like to add that this in no way means that Softwood is defecting to the enemy. They are just trying to open up their product on other platforms and have assured us that the Amiga version's development will continue into the foreseeable future. So don't worry! WISH LIST I wish that there was an insert file option in Final Writer. I really hate having to open a second document and then cut and paste the information into my working document. I would like to see a mail merge to file option too, instead of having to wait endlessly while Final Writer generates each page of a mail merge. I could generate the merged file and print it later. A page preview feature would also be nice. Sure, I can set the Zoom to 55% or so, but it doesn't appear on its own screen. Finally, I'd like to be able to create links on the HTML pages, but this first effort in this area by Softwood is still pretty good. SUMMARY Once again, Softwood has done a great job of revising an already powerful word processor for the Amiga. Woody and the gang should be commended for sticking by the Amiga throughout the thick and thin times of this platform's sorted history. So, go out and buy the upgrade or buy Final Writer for the first time -- you won't be sorry. @endnode @node REVIEW3 "Review: Total Football" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: Total Football By: @{" Ken Anderson " link KEN} =========================================================================== Warning: this review contains no silly footballing references like "sick as a parrot" or "a game of two halves". A timely release from Domark, as the European Championships kick off (arf) in Britain. Hopefully it won't be too long before we hear more about the eagerly awaited Championship Manager 2 ... For all you puzzled Americans, "football" in this title is soccer - real football. None of that shoulder-pads-and-quarter-ton-of-ironwork lark for us - this is the game of kings. Kicking an inflated cow's bladder around a muddy field with the aim of putting the ball between two sticks may seem like an odd idea for a game, but it's one that's caught on over the years. Up until now, the undisputed champion of footy games has been Sensible Soccer. Since wrenching the league cup from Kick Off 2, Sensi has been the game that the others have failed to beat. TF isn't better than Sensi, but them again it doesn't try to be. Rather than the almost-top-down view of Sensi, TF takes the FIFA-style isometric display. The players move with an alleged 1,700 frames of animation, and very nicely they move too. When a player is fouled, he gets up and hobbles away - pitifully or heroically, depending on whether he's one of your guys. Better than this is the display put on when your team scores - you can make him race around the pitch, summersaulting, punching the air and making obscene sexual gestures to the crowd. The control system does take a little getting used to. Pressing the joystick button once performs a pass to your nearest player. Pressing it twice in quick succession results in a mid-strength kick, with the addition of after-touch, whilst triple-clicking punts the ball up the field in the general direction your player is facing. This does take a bit of getting used to, especially as the game system has to wait to determine how many clicks you're going to make - there's a slight lag between pressing the button for a pass and the ball actually leaving your feet. This can lead to screams of frustration from untrained rival human opponents. Things are improved with a two-button joystick, where the buttons are used independently to control the kicking power. In fact, two-button controllers (which no serious Amiga games should be without) will allow a couple of extra moves which single-buttoners can't do. Away from the actual gameplay, there's the usual plethora of options - length of match, pitch type, team selection, and so on. Playing against the computer is fine for practice, but - like most things in life - it's more fun with another person. In fact, invite a few chums around, set up a league or a championship competition, and you can re-enact the whole of Euro 96 in front of your monitor. Who knows - Scotland might even win in this one. At the end of each half, statistics are displayed for the previous session - possession, territory, corners and fouls. Perfect for settling those "I played better than you" arguments. A few minor niggles: the game isn't HD installable - not a major problem, as the game uses all available memory to keep disk swaps at a minimum, but an irritating omission. Also, if player one chooses a two-button joystick, player two must use a two-button device too ... annoying if you only have one joypad. However, these are tiny flaws. It's a fast, attractive game that is surprisingly addictive - even after the umpteenth 3-0 defeat, you'll still be back for more. Add a few friends, and you'll be over the moon, Brian ... oh dammit. Pros: Plays like a dream, and is almost as much fun to watch as to take part - just like real football. Cons: Computer-controlled goalies are too computer-controlled. Will get boring without human opponents. @endnode @node REVIEW4 "Review: XP8" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: XP8 By: @{" Ken Anderson " link KEN} =========================================================================== You know how it is - sometimes you just want to sit down in front of your computer and not really think about what you're doing. The marketing people call it "visual bubble-gum", but marketing people would call a spade a manually- operated earth-excavation device if they though that people would pay an extra 25% for it. Enter XP8, from the independent WeatherMine Software. Perfect for those times when mindlessly killing a few aliens will soothe all those troubles away. The plot is the usual shoot'em'up nonsense - rogue satellite drifts into your space, you send back a ship to say "hello", and before you know it, it's all-out war, and of course it's down to you to save the day. What it boils down to is firing small groups of pixels at much larger groups of pixels, in the hope of credible score. Shipping on four disks, XP8 installs nicely onto the hard disk, and after a few static intro screens to recap the plot, it's time to set the options and get blasting. Ten seconds after choosing "start", you'll more than likely be thinking something along the lines of "Blimey, this looks like Stardust". If you haven't heard of Stardust, you've obviously been hiding somewhere remote for the last couple of years. Stardust was basically the old Atari classic Asteroids, given the full Amiga treatment, with stunning ray-traced graphics and over-the-top presentation. XP8 doesn't look as good as Stardust, but in places it comes damn close. The first level is a bit tame, with kamikaze lines of aliens flooding down the screen to be dispatched with your peashooter of a laser. Destroying aliens reaps the reward of power-ups - power-up your weapon, increase your shields - the standard stuff. As you move through the levels, more weapons make themselves available. Level two hots things up a bit, adding ground-based enemies. By this time, the game's more like Banshee, with tall buildings to crash into. It's not always clear exactly what is and isn't to be avoided, but you learn quickly. By the fourth level, you daren't blink for fear of missing something that could spell death. Passcodes are provided at the end of each level, which helps ... but most of the levels are *very* big. And? That's about it. Looks smashing, though. Just about everything is ray-traced; nice shiny aliens get shot by shiny bullets, which causes them to explode in shiny explosions. The whole thing runs at 50 frames per second - resulting in a silky- smooth scroller, and with 5 large levels to fight through, a lot of work has gone into making this game look good. An unusual idea is the customise option - elements of the game can be made easier - or tougher - at your own discretion. Whether you'll want to use these options until you've completed the game "normally" is up to you... So it's the gameplay of Banshee with the graphics of Stardust. If you want an advert for just how good an Amiga game can look, buy this. If you loved Banshee or Stardust, buy this. If you love a good old-fashioned blast, buy this. In fact, unless you don't own a joystick and can't stand any kind of game when you have to stay awake, buy this. At only 20UKP, it's a bargain. (XP8 is currently AGA only. An ECS version was scheduled for the end of May - hopefully we'll have more news in the next issue.) XP8 can be ordered from: WeatherMine Software, 50 Taleworth Road, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 2PY, UK. Cheques/IMO/PO for 19.99UKP to WeatherMine Software. Pros: The best-looking Amiga game for some time. Can be made more or less challenging with the customisable options. Cons: Not exactly a "deep" game, and so won't appeal to everyone. @endnode @node REVIEW5 "Review: Tek-Magik Accelerator" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: Tek-Magik Accelerator Antonios Karantze a.karantze@genie.geis.com =========================================================================== The Writer : a.karantze@genie.geis.com, 100233,1452@compuserve.com Product : Tek-Magik Accelerator Card (Available now) Amiga Model : A1500 (UK), A2000, A2500 (US) Type : 68040 or 68060 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- System Used: A2000 rev 4.1, ECS chipset, Kickstart 3.1, Workbench 3.1, ICD Flicker Free Video I (FFV), EMPLANT Deluxe, Picasso 2 (2mb RAM), Quantum Pro 340mb, Quantum Trailblazer 850mb, Reno Portable CD-ROM drive, Iomega ZIP drive, Supra 14.4LC modem, Philips SVGA monitor, Power Computing 1.76 HD Floppy, Cybergraphics v2.16 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The lost prince? perhaps it is. This card is one of the last projects that GVP had on their drawing boards before they decided to call it a day and implode. Based on the highly desirable G-Force line of A2000 accelerators, these cards represent awesome power and one of the last injections of life into that workhouse line of Amiga computers. The first accelerator I ever purchased was an ICD AdSpeed, a 68000 running at 14Mhz. This was soon traded in on a CSA Derringer 030 card running at 25Mhz, which on my Amiga programs performed admirably, if a little slowly. Ever since I installed a Picasso 2 card in my A2000 however, I longed for more and more speed, and so I purchased the 68060 card (and drove the receptionist at Power Computing nuts until it was released!) I run multiple emulation systems, as readers who know me will attest, such as EMPLANT {MACPRO and e586DX), Shapeshifter, and PC Task 3.1. Whereas the Amiga OS is a nifty runner, the MacOS and Windows3.1 are real resource hogs. Using these programs made for an interesting workout on the 060 processor. The Card. The card itself is a multi-layered A2000 type card (ie Big and Brutish) that is very sturdy and well designed. The 68060 sits in the top right corner, a little sliver of silicon and graphite no more than 4cm square. A fan sits on top of it, although at 3.3v it certainly doesn't draw as much power as the 68040 (5v). An internal 50pin SCSI-2 connector runs along the top of the card, and about half of the card's length is taken up with SIMM sockets. There is also an external SCSI-2 connector, but this is not the standard 25-pin D-type found on other SCSI-1 cards. It is a High Density Fast connector, a square D-type 50-pin type. These are more unusual but are necessary for the SCSI standard to achieve the higher speeds that have been touted for some years (remember the 10mb/s issue?). There are four 72-pin industry standard sockets and four GVP 64-pin sockets. These sockets are wired to each other, meaning that you can't fill all eight banks of the card. For example, if you put a simm in the first GVP socket you can't use the first 72pin socket, and so on. Making things slightly worse, if you use a double-sided PC simm (These have chips on both sides of the chip), you use up two of the GVP sockets!. This can be confusing, and I found myself having to read through the manual two to three times to figure this out. Installation of the card is more involved. Since I had the machine open, I decided to take the opportunity to clean the motherboard of dust and other little nasties before I installed the card. I'm glad I did! To put the card into my V12 system required a lot of cable juggling and pressure balancing. The power cords coming from my A2000 power supply stick straight into the card and put pressure on it. After bending and moving I relieved most of the pressure and felt more comfortable, anyway. I made up new cables for my hard drives and floppy drives, and proceeded to slowly rebuild the system from the ground up, a process that took just under one hour. Having spent a hell of a lot of money on the card, I was not about to risk damaging something by rushing into installation, and I would strongly recommend that others who purchase this or any other card take their time. It is well worth the effort! The Processors The card can take either the 68040 or 68060 chip, although the type of chip available varies according to the dealer involved (see above). Each processor has it's own quirks regarding the type of SIMM you use as well. Current spec SIMMs run at either 70ns or 60ns, but there are many available second hand that are 80ns or slower. Avoid these like the plague! not only is their resell value low, they are bound to be old and not liked by this card! The 68040 will get by on 80ns SIMMs, but prefers faster ones. The 68060 absolutely needs 70ns or faster, no exceptions. Realistically, the speed figures are very negligible, but as processors become faster they need support chips that can keep up. I have heard of Pentium 75's that have spat up 70ns SIMMs only to work great on 60ns SIMMs, and P75's are'nt that much faster than the 68060. The Phoenix Rises So how did the installation go? Let's just say that when I first installed it, I was not impressed. Workbench 3.1 is a great OS. It has a few gaps in what is offered (actually, there are a lot of gaps, but lets hope that Amiga Technologies and Viscorp set about correcting that with WB 3.2 and WB4.0). It is not designed to deal with 68040 and 68060 processors very well, and needs all manner of additional software installed before it will perform optimally. In theory, all SCSI controllers should follow Commodore's Rigid Disk Block (RDB) specifications. That way, if you move an Amiga formatted Hard Disk from one controller to another, it will boot the system with no trouble. When I first booted the system, it would crash 100% when using the Hard disk. Booting from floppy worked fine, but I couldn't install the software because the installer used the floppy drive as the boot drive, not the hard drive. What was found to be at fault was the SetPatch command in Workbench3.1. Unbelievable though it may sound, on removal of this command the system fired up and loaded a very unstable workbench. Unstable, because the afore-mentioned support libraries had not been installed. Installation of the support software tidied things up 99% and from there the system worked great... almost (you'll see why soon). The Performance What a rush! Sysinfo, that most reliable of speed testers (not), reports that my system runs at 39.15 MIPS, 70x faster than my old A500 and 2x faster than an A4000. The Blizzard is reported to run at 37.15 MIPS (if you believe the print advertising), and no records are available on the Wildfire card. Sysinfo is not the most reliable benchmark program, and so I have included the results from Sysspeed, an interesting program I found on the front of an Amiga Computing magazine (thank you guys!) SysSpeed V1.2 - TestResults ============================ Your System : CPU: 68060 FPU: 68060 ChipSet: ECS OS: 3.1 A1k2_030 : CPU: 68030 FPU: ----- ChipSet: AGA OS: 3.0 A2k_040c : CPU: 68040 FPU: 68040 ChipSet: OCS OS: 3.0 A4k_040 : CPU: 68040 FPU: 68040 ChipSet: AGA OS: 3.1 A4k_060C : CPU: 68060 FPU: 68060 ChipSet: AGA OS: 3.1 CompareBase : You Compare : A4k_040 +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Test | You | A1k2_030| A2k_040c| A4k_040 | A4k_060C| Compare | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ADPro Results in Sec. | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | JPEG Load | 1.30 | 5.19 | 2.42 | 3.72 | 1.13 | 2.86 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ColorChar. | ---- | 9.05 | 6.49 | 9.56 | 3.69 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fresco | ---- | 17.59 | 8.87 | 12.83 | 4.73 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Blur | 0.61 | 2.12 | 0.91 | 1.34 | 0.50 | 2.16 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Twirl | 2.65 | 9.76 | 3.59 | 6.11 | 1.80 | 2.30 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Rotate | 2.19 | 9.12 | 3.36 | 5.48 | 1.55 | 2.49 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Scale | 0.24 | 0.84 | 0.57 | 0.80 | 0.18 | 3.34 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Mosaic | 2.17 | 30.64 | 5.44 | 7.92 | 1.14 | 3.63 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | HistEqual. | 0.43 | 11.41 | 4.05 | 5.45 | 0.35 | 12.39 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ImageStudio Results in Sec. | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | JPEG Load | ---- | ---- | 1.12 | 1.64 | 0.47 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Scale | ---- | ---- | 0.68 | 1.13 | 0.31 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | BlurHigh | ---- | ---- | 4.29 | 5.93 | 1.15 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Cross | ---- | ---- | 1.86 | 2.73 | 0.61 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Diagonal | ---- | ---- | 2.22 | 3.18 | 0.67 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Focus | ---- | ---- | 1.66 | 2.39 | 0.53 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Shake | ---- | ---- | 2.02 | 2.94 | 0.65 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Texture | ---- | ---- | 2.60 | 3.69 | 0.77 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | EmbossHigh | ---- | ---- | 2.16 | 3.11 | 0.69 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | CygnusEd Results in Sec. | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | TextLoad | ---- | 0.44 | 0.46 | 0.47 | 0.26 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Search | ---- | 3.52 | 3.50 | 3.05 | 0.73 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Replace | ---- | 3.58 | 1.89 | 2.47 | 0.81 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Linescroll | ---- | 6.82 | 6.31 | 2.99 | 1.87 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Pagescroll | ---- | 4.19 | 5.06 | 2.32 | 0.58 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ChangeCase | ---- | 6.59 | 2.97 | 3.93 | 1.50 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | RotMarked | ---- | 1.35 | 1.02 | 1.36 | 0.43 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | GoldEd Results in Sec. | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | TextLoad | ---- | ---- | 1.05 | 1.02 | 0.38 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Search | ---- | ---- | 2.17 | 2.32 | 0.79 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Replace | ---- | ---- | 0.76 | 0.80 | 0.25 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Linescroll | ---- | ---- | 4.60 | 1.96 | 1.33 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Pagescroll | ---- | ---- | 3.20 | 1.68 | 0.54 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | UpperCase | ---- | ---- | 0.42 | 0.52 | 0.15 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Sort Lines | ---- | ---- | 3.65 | 5.20 | 1.35 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Cruncher Results in Sec. | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | LhaCrunch | 3.20 | 5.97 | 4.10 | 9.03 | 2.19 | 2.82 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | LhaTest | 0.32 | 0.64 | 0.46 | 0.70 | 0.23 | 2.19 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | LhaDeCrunch | 0.46 | 0.79 | 0.56 | 0.99 | 0.30 | 2.15 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | XPKCrunch | ---- | 13.24 | 8.28 | 14.58 | 5.01 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | XPKDeCrunch | ---- | 2.45 | 1.60 | 2.40 | 0.78 | ---- | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | PPCrunch | 6.82 | 6.63 | 6.44 | 13.89 | 3.85 | 2.03 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | PPDeCrunch | 0.24 | 0.50 | 0.40 | 0.72 | 0.17 | 3.02 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Memory Results in MB/s | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ReadROMb | 17.85 | 4.76 | 7.57 | 5.64 | 15.32 | 3.16 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ReadROMw | 25.00 | 9.24 | 14.70 | 10.27 | 22.70 | 2.43 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ReadROMl | 41.66 | 17.44 | 25.00 | 12.36 | 30.66 | 3.36 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ReadFastb | 17.85 | 4.76 | 7.81 | 5.67 | 20.61 | 3.14 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ReadFastw | 25.00 | 9.24 | 15.62 | 10.47 | 33.89 | 2.38 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ReadFastl | 41.66 | 17.44 | 27.77 | 13.01 | 51.47 | 3.20 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | WriteFastb | 17.85 | 6.11 | 8.06 | 4.83 | 20.67 | 3.69 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | WriteFastw | 22.72 | 12.21 | 15.62 | 7.17 | 35.32 | 3.16 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | WriteFastl | 27.77 | 24.40 | 15.62 | 7.98 | 40.32 | 3.48 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fast2Fastb | 6.41 | 3.84 | 6.09 | 3.00 | 9.65 | 2.13 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fast2Fastw | 7.81 | 7.26 | 9.61 | 4.30 | 13.58 | 1.81 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fast2Fastl | 8.33 | 13.06 | 10.41 | 4.41 | 16.40 | 1.88 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fast2Fastm | 8.33 | 12.90 | 13.88 | 3.91 | 16.86 | 2.12 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fast2Fast16 | 10.86 | ---- | 17.85 | 6.02 | 20.77 | 1.80 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ReadChipb | 1.16 | 0.92 | 1.16 | 0.87 | 1.16 | 1.33 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ReadChipw | 2.33 | 1.85 | 2.31 | 1.74 | 2.33 | 1.33 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ReadChipl | 2.80 | 3.70 | 2.80 | 3.49 | 4.66 | 0.80 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | WriteChipb | 1.16 | 1.74 | 1.44 | 1.01 | 1.75 | 1.15 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | WriteChipw | 2.31 | 3.48 | 2.90 | 2.02 | 3.51 | 1.14 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | WriteChipl | 2.77 | 6.96 | 3.28 | 4.05 | 7.03 | 0.68 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Chip2Chipb | 0.58 | 0.87 | 0.58 | 0.50 | 0.70 | 1.15 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Chip2Chipw | 1.16 | 1.74 | 1.16 | 1.01 | 1.40 | 1.14 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Chip2Chipl | 1.39 | 3.48 | 1.39 | 2.02 | 2.80 | 0.68 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Chip2Chipm | 1.39 | 3.19 | 1.49 | 2.02 | 2.81 | 0.68 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Chip2Chip16 | 1.65 | ---- | 1.72 | 2.05 | 3.31 | 0.80 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fast2Chipb | 1.14 | 0.92 | 1.16 | 0.95 | 1.71 | 1.19 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fast2Chipw | 2.25 | 1.85 | 2.31 | 1.81 | 3.34 | 1.23 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fast2Chipl | 2.68 | 3.69 | 2.80 | 3.30 | 6.40 | 0.81 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fast2Chipm | 2.65 | 5.27 | 3.08 | 2.99 | 6.51 | 0.88 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Fast2Chip16 | 3.01 | ---- | 3.33 | 3.15 | 5.62 | 0.95 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Drive Results in MB/s | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | CreateFile | 2.71 | 0.90 | 1.56 | 2.81 | 3.38 | 0.96 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | WriteFile | 2.68 | 0.90 | 1.37 | 2.12 | 1.91 | 1.26 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ReadFile | 2.74 | 1.32 | 1.65 | 2.67 | 3.44 | 1.02 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | Intuition Results in Op/s | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | OpenWin16 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 34 | 2.00 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | OpenWin256 | 16 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 31 | 2.00 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | WinLayer16 | 15 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 29 | 1.87 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | WinLayer256 | 15 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 27 | 1.87 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | SizeWin16 | 30 | 13 | 18 | 20 | 37 | 1.50 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | SizeWin256 | 32 | 9 | 18 | 20 | 37 | 1.60 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | MoveWin16 | 62 | 19 | 62 | 78 | 104 | 0.79 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | MoveWin256 | 68 | 11 | 58 | 78 | 103 | 0.87 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ConOutP16 | 49 | 41 | 46 | 93 | 139 | 0.52 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | ConOutP256 | 51 | 31 | 46 | 97 | 139 | 0.52 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | OpenScr16 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1.00 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | OpenScr256 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1.00 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | SwapScr16 | 2 | 50 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 0.40 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ | SwapScr256 | 2 | 50 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 0.40 | +-------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ The Emulations The Amiga has one of the most unique capabilities of any computer I have ever used: emulation. Love it or loathe it, emulation is a tried and true method for software use - when developing DOS for the 8088, Bill Gates and Paul Allen emulated the 8088 chip on a DEC PDP machine, so that when it was run on a real chip, it worked great. Emulators have been hit and miss on the Amiga. Generally, Macintosh was an easy platform to emulate, because both used Motorola processors. Most of these emulators look out for specific system "calls" and send back the right message. Hence the emulation is pretty quick. PC emulators have to emulate the Intel CPU and then emulate the systems calls, adding lots of overhead. Enough of that. The results are: Macintosh. I used Speedometer 4.0 on the MAC, which uses a Quadra 605 as the base machine (it runs an 040 @ 25Mhz). Using MacPRO running on the EMPLANT card, my machine registered 3.6x faster, beating a Powermac 6100/60, which used the PowerPC 601 chip running at 60Mhz. In the Math tests however, the Powermac came out 107x faster, whereas the 68060 came out 37x faster, and this is where the PowerPC's strength lies - it's very good at maths. Shapeshifter 3.5 reports as 3x faster using the same program. PC. e586DX, the PC module for EMPLANT, is currently at version 2.3, and I consider it to be unfinished as it lacks quite a few features when compared to the more polished MacPRO. Using Norton Tools 5.1, a 386 DX 33 clocks out at 31x faster than a normal XT. e586DX registers at 19.1x faster, equivalent to about a 386 DX 20 or 386 SX 25. This is enough for the program to be usable with DOS programs and barely tolerable with low-end Windows programs (but nothing along the lines of Excel 5 or Word 6). PC Task 3.1 in Turbo mode comes out 13x faster than an XT using the same program. Caveats Now come the problems. (1) For the life of me, I cannot figure this problem out. On cold boot, the system will crash 100% guarenteed. No amount of software reinstallation will fix the problem, and the problem is not related to drive spin-up speed. I have sent Power Computing mail on this topic and have yet to see a reply, so if they are reading you have been notified... When I reboot the system, everything runs great. If you have a long and involved User-Startup file like mine, you should be prepared to move commands around and redirect all output to >NIL: , otherwise the system will crash. (2) The non-standard SCSI port did cause me some trouble. Finding a cable to connect my ZIP drive was difficult, and most of the Macintosh expert stores I contacted din't know what I was talking about! In the end, I obtained one from the MacZone, but it did cost me $85 NZ, about $57US or 40. When I connected up the ZIP, I was pleasantly surprised to find the card automatically recognised the drive (but only with a disk in it!). I would still prefer to use a dedicated DOS driver or one such as that provided by HiSoft (which I have yet to test). Conclusions Should you upgrade or purchase the card? obviously that depends on your finances and whether you wish to invest in a platform that has no parent support (currently the Amiga is a bit like the Italian Government - new stewardship every year!). I found the boost incredible - I went from a slow 030 to the 060, a tremendous leap in power. If you use a 68000 A2000, the leap will be transformational, and will open up a new level of computing scope and power for you (emulators!). If you have an 040, then I would be in two minds. Unless your machine is used for work purposes and time=money for you, the investment would probably not be worth it. I find the card invaluable. The reason I included the ex VAT costs in the UK prices is because I live in New Zealand, and goods exported from the UK should have VAT (17.5%) removed from the prices. When you compare this to the US prices, the card comes out much, much cheaper! UK Supplier : Power Computing Ltd 44 A/B Stanley Street Bedford MK41 7RW ENGLAND Price : 68040 @ 33Mhz 645 (544 ex VAT) : 68060 @ 50Mhz 746 (646 ex VAT) US Supplier : Software Hut Folcroft East Business Park 313 Henderson Drive Sharon Hill, PA 19079 USA Price : 68040LC @ 33Mhz $879 : 68040 @ 33Mhz $979 : 68040 @ 40Mhz $1079 : 68060 @ 50Mhz $1459 Mr. Hardware Computers PO Box 148 Central Islip, NY 11722 USA Price : 68040 @ 33Mhz $975 : 68040 @ 40Mhz $1150 : 68060 @ 50Mhz $1451 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Competitors: The 2060 card by Blizzard (of Cyberstorm fame). Available from: Gordon Harwood Computers Limited (Available now) Dept. AM F/B6 New Street, Alfreton Derbyshire, DE55 7BP ENGLAND Price : 68060 @ 50Mhz 699 (619 ex VAT) DKB Wildfire (DKB). Availability unknown, but the above dealers do list this card in their catalogs. Price : 68060 @ 50Mhz $1699, $1539 street price ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @endnode @node CHARTS1 "Aminet Charts: 20-May-96" @toc FTP | The most downloaded files from Aminet during the week until 20-May-96 | Updated weekly. Most popular file on top. | |File Dir Size Age Description |----------------- --- ---- --- ----------- ar407.lha docs/mags 129K 0+Amiga Report 4.07, May 18, 1996 AmiPPP10a.lha comm/net 119K 0+A great PPP device with GUI v1.0a FastIPrefs4017.lha util/boot 28K 0+IPrefs 40.17 & WBPattern 40.02 Installer-43_3.lha util/misc 104K 1+Amiga Technologies V43.3 Installer d AWebBGUI.lha comm/tcp 8K 1+Improving the speed of AWeb's settin AWebSave.lha comm/tcp 2K 0+Script allowing AWeb to save pics/so xfpointer.lha util/wb 1K 0+Cool *X-Files* pointer for WB. ReqToolsUsr.lha util/libs 157K 1+ReqTools 2.5 - the requester toolkit PictDT43.lha util/dtype 182K 1+Picture.datatype V43.714 for AGA/CGr AmiPhone1.80.lha comm/net 121K 1+AmiTCP based voice chat program Gui-FTP.lha comm/tcp 362K 1+Gui-FTP V3.1 GUI based FTP client CA31.lha util/wb 240K 1+ClassAction 3.1 (MUI && GT version) FontDT-1.2.lha util/dtype 30K 0+DataType for Amiga fonts mwm105.lha text/hyper 76K 0+Magic Web Maker v1.05 - Enhancements Voyager.lha comm/net 276K 1+WWW-Browser, Netscape/HTML3-extensio voyzmime-1.0.lha comm/net 1K 0+Voyager ARexx script to use zmime fo wbstars.lha util/wb 30K 0+V.9 the warp engine for the Workbenc AWebBookmarks.lha comm/misc 3K 0+Hierarchical HTML bookmarks cp6.lha comm/tcp 465K 0+Amitcp4/PPP14 Installer, Dialler and Klingon-Accent.lha util/libs 96K 0+Klingon Accent for translator.librar | The highest rated programs during the week until 20-May-96 | Updated weekly. Best program on top. Please rate all the programs you | download. To do so, send to aminet-server@wuarchive.wustl.edu : | RATE | where is the file you want to judge and is a mark from 0..10 | with 10 being the best. You can rate several programs in one mail, but | don't rate your own programs. Example: RATE dev/gui/mui23usr.lha 8 | |File Dir Size Age Description |----------------- --- ---- --- ----------- AmiPOP118.lha comm/net 98K 34+Amiga POP3 Client V1.18 AmigaBase22.lha biz/dbase 462K 25+Powerful programmable database with Knights242.lha game/2play 223K 80+Two-player violent dungeon bashing SneechV1_5.lha game/2play 390K 9+NEW Vers of *THE BEST* Multi Snake G ViperAGA12.lha game/2play 390K 81+Updated AGA Snake game with 6 player Defektris.lha game/think 142K 76+Enhanced Tetris with custom level ed Hydrocis19.lha game/think 194K 17+V1.9, with real time water simulatio voxel087.lha gfx/aga 788K 6+Voxel Engine 0.87 by Silicon Motion ShapeShifter.lha misc/emu 224K 2+Macintosh II emulator, V3.5 LhA_e138.run util/arc 107K 193 LhA evaluation version 1.38 PowerSnap22a.lha util/cdity 54K 118+Snap and paste anywhere using the mo ficherosdelsis.lha docs/hyper 59K 1+AmigaGuide Text containig info about ALynx.lha comm/net 277K 43+Textbased WWW browser (AmiTCP/MLink) nemac411.lha game/demo 132K 7+Update of texture map game xtrndemo.lha game/demo 680K 20+XTreme Racing Net Demo BorisBall.lha game/demo 339K 5+Demo of a Megaball beater with 8 BAL DGalaga2.6cAGA.lha game/shoot 465K 34+Latest version of the best shoot em' xanim8.lha gfx/show 253K 47+XAnim: Avi/Quicktime/FLI/FLC/IFF/GIF MCP110.lha util/cdity 395K 15+MAJOR UPDATE! The mother of the WB-U EasyFR21.lha comm/fido 116K 10+V2.1 F'Req handler. XPK & traplist MetaTool.lha comm/mail 207K 9+The Amiga MIME Mailer (40.5) AWeb.lha comm/tcp 263K 4+Fast, graphical WWW browser V 1.1 bu speed.lha demo/aga 64K 55+Triumph AGA intro (TG95). 040/882 re BrainState.lha demo/file 665K 48+AGA Demo by Cryptoburners. 2nd at TG a95-tsl.lha demo/ta95 566K 38+Fruitkitchen by The Silents DK - Fro ar406.lha docs/mags 113K 3+Amiga Report 4.06, April 23, 1996 MasterBlast221.lha game/2play 197K 25+The ultimate Dynablaster Clone V2.2 RoketzPD_V2.25.lha game/2play 670K 66+Ver. 2.25 of this AGA only gravity-s poing2.lha game/2play 320K 10+A cool pong game with powerups & mor SpringTime.lha game/think 295K 57+Great 3d puzzle game by TRECISION @endnode @node MAILLIST "Amiga Report Mailing List" @toc WHERE =========================================================================== Amiga Report Mailing List =========================================================================== If you have an internet mailing address, you can receive Amiga Report in @{"UUENCODED" link UUENCODE} form each week as soon as the issue is released. To be put on the list, send Email to majordomo@amigalib.com Your subject header will be ignored. In the body of the message, enter subscribe areport The system will automatically pull your e-mail address from the message header. Your account must be able to handle mail of any size to ensure an intact copy. For example, many systems have a 100K limit on incoming messages. ** IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE be certain your host can accept mail over ** ** 100K! We have had a lot of bouncebacks recently from systems with a ** ** 100K size limit for incoming mail. If we get a bounceback with your ** ** address in it, it will be removed from the list. Thanks! ** @endnode @node UUENCODE @toc MAILLIST =========================================================================== UUDecoding Amiga Report =========================================================================== If you receive Amiga Report from the direct mailing list, it will arrive in UUEncoded format. This format allows programs and archive files to be sent through mail by converting the binary into combinations of ASCII characters. In the message, it will basically look like a lot of trash surrounded by begin and end, followed by the size of the file. To UUDecode Amiga Report, you first need to get a UUDecoding program, such as UUxT by Asher Feldman. This program is available on Aminet in pub/aminet/arc/ Then you must download the message that it is contained in. Don't worry about message headers, the UUDecoding program will ignore them. There is a GUI interface for UUxT, which should be explained in the docs. However, the quickest method for UUDecoding the magazine is to type uuxt x ar.uu at the command prompt. You will then have to decompress the archive with lha, and you will then have Amiga Report in all of its AmigaGuide glory. If you have any questions, you can write to @{"Jason Compton" link JASON} @endnode @node AMINET "Aminet" @toc WHERE Aminet ====== To get Amiga Report from Aminet, simply FTP to any Aminet site, CD to docs/mags. All the back issues are located there as well. Sites: ftp.netnet.net, ftp.wustl.edu, ftp.luth.se, ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk @endnode @node WWW "World Wide Web" @toc WHERE World Wide Web ============== AR can also be read with Mosaic (in either AmigaGuide or html form). Reading AmigaReport with Mosaic removes the necessity to download it. It can also be read using programs found in UNIX sites such as LYNX. Simply tell Mosaic to open one of the following URLs: http://www.omnipresence.com/Amiga/News/AR/ http://www.pwr.wroc.pl/AMIGA/AR/ http://mm.iit.uni-miskolc.hu/Data/AR http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/amiga/ar/ http://ramiga.rnet.cgi.com/~AR http://www.sci.muni.cz/ar/ http://metro.turnpike.net/P/panther/main.html http://www.lysator.liu.se/amiga/ar/ http://ArtWorks.apana.org.au/AmigaReport.html http://www.vol.it/mirror/amiga/ http://www.cucug.org/ar/ar.html http://www.acropolis.net/clubs/amiga/amigareport/ http://www.bengala.saccii.net.au/ar/main.html The following AR sites also have a mailto form, allowing you to mail to Amiga Report from the web site. Amiga Filesystem " link NEWS9} Cross-platform connection @{" Portals " link NEWS11} ANGLE's first release coming soon @{" wfmhcybergfx_r3d " link NEWS12} Real3D Cybergraphics support @{" NetConnect CD-Rom " link NEWS13} Coming soon, input needed --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node FEATURE "Featured Articles" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Featured Articles =========================================================================== @{" Amiga-VIScorp Feedback " link FEATURE1} A refined form. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node REVIEW "Reviews" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Reviews =========================================================================== @{" Final Writer 5 " link REVIEW2} A first look! @{" Tek-Magik Accelerator " link REVIEW5} Go really, really fast. @{" Total Football " link REVIEW3} Totally. @{" XP8 " link REVIEW4} Shooting asteroids 'n stuff @{" Sci Fi Sensations 2 " link REVIEW1} An unhappy dissection --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node FTP "Aminet Charts" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Aminet Charts =========================================================================== @{" 20-May-96 " link CHARTS1} --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node ABOUT "About AMIGA REPORT" @toc MENU =========================================================================== About AMIGA REPORT =========================================================================== @{" AR Staff " link STAFF} The Editors and writers @{" Writing Guidelines " link GUIDELINE} What you need to do to write for us @{" Copyright Information " link COPYRIGHT} The legal stuff --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node STAFF "The Staff" @toc ABOUT =========================================================================== The Staff =========================================================================== Editor: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} Assistant Editor: @{" Katherine Nelson " link KATIE} Games Editor: @{" Ken Anderson " link KEN} Contributing Editor: @{" William Near " link WILLIAM} Contributing Editor: @{" Addison Laurent " link ADDISON} --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node WHERE "Where to Get AR" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Where to Get AR =========================================================================== @{" The AR Mailing List " link MAILLIST} @{" Aminet " link AMINET} @{" World Wide Web " link WWW} @{" Distribution Sites " link BBS} @{" Commercial Services " link PORTAL} --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node BBS "Distribution Sites" @toc WHERE =========================================================================== Distribution BBSes =========================================================================== Arranged by Continent: @{" Asia " link BBS_ASIA} @{" Australia " link BBS_AUSTRALIA} @{" Europe " link BBS_EUROPE} @{" North America " link BBS_NAMERICA} @{" South America " link BBS_SAMERICA} Sysops: To have your name added, please send @{"Email", link JASON} with the BBS name, its location (Country, province/state) your name, any internet/fidonet addresses, and the phone number of your BBS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node DEALER "Dealer Directory" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Dealer Directory =========================================================================== Arranged by Continent: @{" Asia " link DEAL_ASIA} @{" Australia " link DEAL_AUSTRALIA} @{" Europe " link DEAL_EUROPE} @{" North America " link DEAL_NAMERICA} Dealers: To have your name added, please send @{"Email", link JASON} with the name, address, phone, and net address (if available) of your establishment. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode