@database "ar412.guide" @Node MAIN "Amiga Report Online Magazine #4.12 -- September 23, 1996" =========================================================================== September 23, 1996 @{" Turn the Page " link MENU} Issue No. 4.12 =========================================================================== ,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 4.11 is sponsored in part by: @{" ClickBOOM " link AD1}, authors of the upcoming @{" Capital Punishment " link AD1} @{" Click Here To Get Punished! " system "jbplay Punishment.8svx"} And by @{" AmiTrix Development " link AD2}, publishers of @{" 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. 4.12 September 23, 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 708-736-1286 @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} =========================================================================== I really don't want to think about how many times I've had to write this editorial. Oh, the wording is different, and the people and the places are somewhat different, but it's never fun to have to deliver the same news more than once...and in the past few years, I've said this a lot. But it still has to be said. No, there is no major news involving the Amiga acquisition. No, it was not completed on or near September 20th, which is the date we all thought was THE date. Yes, we all want it to be done really soon and realize that waiting is annoying and unproductive. And yes, the discussions are continuing, which means that VIScorp still wants to buy and Escom's trustee still wants to sell. I'm not sure what's scarier...the fact that I've said this so many times over the years in Amiga Report, or the fact that thanks to the people at CUCUG's Amiga Web Directory, you can do a search on all the old Amiga Report issues and find out for yourself. Seriously, CUCUG does a great job and Amiga Report is very thankful for the AR hosting, AR searching, Agnes Amiga-web related searching, and the monstrous Amiga Web linking they provide. You'd do yourself a favor to check out CUCUG's Amiga Web Directory if you never have. I'll go so far as to say it is for Amiga Web users what Aminet is to Amiga FTP users. http://www.cucug.org/amiga.html is the magic link. Some people on Usenet are even more annoyed than I am at hearing me say that we've got to wait longer, which they attribute to my position as Communications Manager handling Amiga inquiries and news for VIScorp. I suppose to a large extent, they're right. Nobody likes to hear that they have to wait, least of all from an official source. (I seem to remember that during the Commodore auction, we were hardly ever lucky enough to get a trustee or court-related announcement, which of course meant that at any given time you could discount or accept any rumor) Now you good readers (many of which are on Usenet, following the same threads and getting just as annoyed) have to read it here, in Amiga Report, which is still my magazine and will stay that way. That may make you even more upset. If this should happen, just keep this in mind: if it wasn't me at VIScorp, it would be someone else as the Communications Manager handling Amiga inquiries and news. And that someone else would tell the Editor-in-Chief of Amiga Report that he had to wait like everyone else. And he'd be right, too. I DO have to wait along with everyone else. Of course, the Editor in Chief of Amiga Report would tell this Communications Manager that he felt VIScorp needed to act decisively, to push ahead with the Amiga and make the community feel informed and kept up to date with the happenings of the deal. The Communications Manager would say he and the company were doing everything possible at the moment to push ahead with the acquisition. At a personal level, he might even point out to the Editor in Chief that there was only so much he could personally do, since the acquisition cash was hardly coming out of his own pocket, and that there was only so much any company could do, because sometimes the scenarios look a bit different to a Communications Manager than they do to an Editor in Chief. The bottom line of this exchange is this: we all hate to wait. You hate to wait, I hate to wait, our writers and editors hate to wait, and VIScorp hates to wait. Nobody benefits. However, if we believe in this thing that is the Amiga, and will do our individual best to keep the unpopular belief that computing should be, all at once, productive, fun, and personal, it's a bit more bearable. Why do you think I got involved in Amiga Report in the first place? Tired of watching events unfold around me, I decided to get involved in a productive way. Does being a contractor for VIScorp affect my ability to report on the Amiga? In a word, no. What would the hypothetical Communications Manager of VIScorp tell the Editor in Chief of Amiga Report that I personally, as both, can't tell you now? Nothing. But since I am in the unique position of being both people, I can tell you that the view from the business inside is not the same as it is from the journalistic outside. Trying to find a harmony between them, ah, that's the challenge. Enjoy the issue. - Jason PS: It's been quite some time since we've had a good, educational discussion threaded through several issues of AR. I'd like to suggest a topic. Please submit your thoughts, preferably in letter or opinion article form, on the following issue: A good system of "Electronic Cash" could help promote the growth of Amiga businesses (specifically, the third-party and retailer markets) worldwide. @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, from AmiTrix @{" Editor's Choice " link EDITORCHOICE} Jason's picks @{" CalWeb " link PORTAL} The new home of the Amiga Zone --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" 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 C A P I T A L P U N I S H M E N T ------------------------------------ B e w a r e . . .P u n i s h m e n t i s c o m i n g Capital Punishment is the highest rated game of 1996! ----------------------------------------------------- Amiga Computing - "One of the best games ever" Amiga Format - "There's only one word for the graphics - superb!" Amiga Action - "Capital Punishment is one of the finest games on Amiga" Amiga Games, Ger - "The best Amiga fighting game ever!" Amiga Joker, Ger - "Clean technical Knock-Out!" Amazing Computing- "You will be proud to call your Amiga a game machine" Amiga Format Gold CU Amiga Superstar Amiga Games Award Amiga Joker Mega Hit "Amiga - back with the Punishment!" E-mail: clkboom@io.org Web site: http://www.io.org/~clkboom/amiga/ @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 Sept. - 1996 ============================ (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 HD controller for CDTV with 2.5" Drive Adapter $190.00 $149.00 SCSI-TV for CDTV, with-out Adapter $180.00 $142.00 SCSI-TV570 HD controller for A570 with 2.5" Adapter $200.00 $157.00 SCSI-TV570 for A570, with-out Adapter $190.00 $149.00 Amiga-Link/Envoy Starter Kit (2-unit), $270.00 $210.00 - the peer-to-peer network for external floppy port. - (also available as expander kit with extra cable) Amiga-Link/Envoy Expander Kit (1-unit) $175.00 $135.00 Amiga-Link Expansion Kit (1-unit) $135.00 $105.00 Amiga-Link Accessories: 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 *Special - One Only* DblScan 4000 Video Card $230.00 $170.00 The P-Net Box, a ParNet Adapter $ 15.00 $ 12.00 AM33C93A-16PC SCSI controller for 3000/2091/HC+8 $ 26.00 $ 20.00 A3000 U202/U203 chip ram control PALs - each $ 15.00 $ 12.00 External Active SCSI Terminator - C50 male $ 29.75 $ 23.50 Internal Active SCSI Terminator - IDC50 male $ 19.00 $ 15.00 External Passive SCSI Terminator - C50 male/female $ 12.25 $ 9.75 DB23 solder-type connector - male, female, or chrome hood - each $ 1.65 $ 1.25 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. =========================================================================== @endnode @node MAIL "Reader Mail" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Reader Mail =========================================================================== From: Nick Christie Subject: AR410 Letters: Value of a PPP connection Hi Jason, I write in response to the letter from Rob Knop in the Reader's Mail section of Amiga Report 410, in which he promotes the use of a Unix shell account, particularly for email: 1. Ease of use: while a shell account may be easier to set up than, say, AmiTCP, you won't have the familiarity of Amiga-style GUI-based software. 2. Speed: With a shell account, you cannot download your email in a minute or two and read/respond off-line. When browsing the web, you can turn off the downloading of graphics, while still maintaining the option to retrieve them if you wish. As for the behaviour of Lynx, I do not believe it retrieves only one screen- full of text at a time. In any case, almost all graphical web browsers display text as it is received; you do not have to wait. 3. Availability: A shell account is extremely accessible, but a PPP account can be reached from any machine running a PPP client. The only drawback is that your messages will end up residing on that machine's hard disk. And I would add a fourth point: 4. File transfers are simpler across a PPP connection, allowing you to download direct to your Amiga using a native FTP client. With a shell account, you would have two transfers to deal with, for example, FTP to the account, followed by ZModem to your Amiga. Nick --- --- --- --- --- From: intrepid@netpass.com (Chuck Joslin) Subject: Amigas at Disney Jason, As a former member of a long since departed Amiga dealer in Orlando, I can add to your story about the Indiana Jones Amigas. The Amiga 2000 is also used at the MGM theme park here in Orlando to control fireworks displays. We repaired the machine used there and sold them a backup unit back in the 1989 time-frame. Another prominent user of the Amiga in Orlando is the Orlando Arena and the Orlando Magic Shak-less NBA team. Back in the Magics 2nd year in the league, I (along with two staff members), used 2 Amigas (an A2500 and a Toaster equipped A2000 (with a GVP 33MHz '030 board) to produce the graphics on the Arena JumboTron. We did six or seven games before convincing the city and the team to purchase machines for the video production room at the Arena. These machines are still in use today. Last year I formed a new company (Intrepid Communications, Inc.) which sells Computer Telephony solutions to business, business phone systems, an inhouse line of Pentium machines, UMAX SuperMac MacOS machines and hopefully, if the situation improves, new generation Amigas. We are in the process of becoming NewTek resellers (for all platforms) and are already SoftLogik dealers. Best wishes in your new relationship with VisCorp and kudos for producing Amiga Report so well for so long. We have every issue stored on our A4000 here in our office. BTW: we will soon have our new WebSite up on line. (URL: http://www.intrepidcomm.com) Be sure to drop in for a visit. Chuck Joslin President Intrepid Communications, Inc. @endnode @node OPINION1 "VIScorp: Problems Identified and Solutions Offered" @toc OPINION =========================================================================== VIScorp: Problems Identified and Solutions Offered Stephen Judd judd@merle.acns.nwu.edu =========================================================================== [Originally from comp.sys.amiga.misc. Enjoy. -Jason] Recent months have revealed a clear and unmistakable disconnect (or one perceived thereof modulo extenuating circumstances tansverse to hegemonic dialectic) between VIScorp and the Amiga community at large. With this text I hope to instigate a soporific discourse upon the current state of the Amiga dystopia, in the specific context of the internet community, and examine the invocations, both cause and effect, which characterize the abundance of banal vicissitudes permeating this newsgroup. First. VIScorp has constructed a device apparently named "ED". This name most certainly must change, as it contains the capacity to cause consternation encompassing the Amiga community -- is this product really a set-top box, or merely an editor? Will the editor continue to be a part of Amiga OS? I believe this signifies VIScorp's desire to convert the AmigaOS to a pure set-top box. For many like myself "ed" has come to symbolize AmigaOS, and this choice of name as the settop box conveys an unmistakably ominous note. To avoid this sort of confusion the company should immediately change the name to something more appropriate, such as "ED-209", or "EDLIN". Further is the referral to their box -- which is, after all, an Amiga -- as just that, a box. Not only does this indicate a detrimental attitude towards the Amiga, but the word itself contains much more ominousity, a lot: 1box \'ba^:ks\ n, pl box or box-es [ME, fr. OE, fr. L buxus, fr. Gk pyxos] (bef. 12c) esp: a widely cultivated shrub (B sempervirens) used for hedges, borders, and topiary figures ^^^^^^ Hedging their bets? PIOS explained? Or do they mean to simply use the computers as gardening tools, or perhaps larn ornaments? 2box n [ME, fr. OE, fr. LL buxis, fr. Gk pyxis, fr. pyxos box tree] (bef. 12c) 1d: the driver's seat on a carriage or coach 1e slang: GUITAR 1f slang: RECORD PLAYER A-ha! Perhaps the company really intends to use the Amiga technology to make record players! 6: a square or oblong hollow space or recess "Hollow", not a good attitude to have. "Recess", as if we were simple schoolchildren who needed something to play with. 10: PREDICAMENT, FIX Not good at all. :( But, most revealing of all: 4box n [ME] (14c) :a punch or slap esp. on the ear Truly, not a very good looking state of affairs. Secondly. To understand the dichotomy between VIScorp and the Amiga community we need to take a closer look at the two words which comprise the name itself: "VI", and "Scorp". VI -- merely the number 6, one-third of the evil triad? Probably, but equally probable is the unmistakable reference to the holy UNIX editor. Why does VIScorp have such a fixation with text editors? Is this how they view the Amiga? Is this all they know how to do back there? Does this mean that VI is to replace ED in AmigaOS? Do they intend to edit AmigaOS? If so, how? By adding more of a UNIX kernal? Or do they intend to simply use the machine for UNIX work, and drop AmigaOS altogether? Once they have dropped AmigaOS, what then? Are current programs really supposed to be compatible with UNIX? Why is the company so obsessed with UNIX? Or is the Freudian play on words the key signifier here? What has VIScorp to do with Eunuchs? Is this really the image a serious company wants to project? To imply that millions of workstations and users are somehow Eunuchs because they do not use AmigaOS, while correct, is certainly not appropriate business practice. Eunuchs have not been used in the business community, to the best of my knowledge, for many many years. And in no way could Eunuchs have been associated with Amigas, either -- after all, electricity had not been invented yet back then, right? Does VIScorp really have such a complete lack of basic fact and logic and common sense and basic fact? The second word is "Scorp". What does this word mean? It is a mystery, and that's why so is VIScorp. VIScorp is clearly a business, and as such is primarily motivated in making a profit, in expanding itself, in facing constraints placed upon it by outside influences, and working within time and budgetary limitations. They have survived for a while and are thus wholly controlled by this sort of existentence-based business thinking. We, on the other hand, are the Users, whose very lives may depend on the actions VIScorp takes. We are not constrained by similar paltry considerations, and may concern ourselves with more weighty and visionary tasks. As users, we necessarily know what VIScorp should do with the Amiga, and what technologies should be implemented, and what direction the computer should be moving. While a company must focus on producing and selling computers, and continuing its existence as a company, we are the ones who can look forwards and focus on using them: on Needs. Whereas a designer may get bogged down with design details, such is not a problem for us. We develop the "Should-Be" which follows from the "As-Is". Moreover, VIScorp clearly owes us something, as longtime Amiga users. We should be rewarded and listened to, and our ideas and designs implemented, for we have had much longer to think about the truly important issues. They should keep us informed at all times about their plans and progress, so that we may follow, and correct when necessary. We have paid our dues and the company would do well to remember that since we don't work for them, it is they who work for us. Finally, as the internet Amiga community, we speak for the uneducated, unenlightened members of the Amiga community who are not present. These ideas have stood up to the close scrutiny of everyone else in the internet community, have been pronounced correct, and are thus inherently correct -- an incorrect idea or assumption simply cannot last in such an environment. That is the reason for the great uniformity of opinion expressed. @endnode @node OPINION2 "Amiga Survival In Australia" @toc OPINION =========================================================================== What The Amiga Needs To Survive In Australia John Pospisil pospisil@ozemail.com.au =========================================================================== The current Australian Amiga distributor can't be serious -- not about selling computers anyway. Why, might you ask, do I say this? Recently, I wrote a book, "How to buy a computer", in which I included a short section about the Amiga. In a market dominated by Wintel, and to a lesser extent Macintosh, I thought this was a nice little gesture for my personal favourite computer, the Amiga. An initial conversation with the distributor was positive -- the sales manager said he would be happy to supply a picture of an Amiga 1200 for the book. Unfortunately, when it came time to send me the picture, the sales manager didn't return my calls. I did eventually manage to get a picture of a 1200, thanks to Storm Front Studios, which was then still publishing the Australian Amiga Review. I haven't seen any Amiga advertising, nor have I seen any evidence of PR activity on behalf the Australian distributor. I have heard that an Amiga advertisement did appear in the Age. "The Australian" newspaper does very occasionally publish Amiga articles, but they seem to be sourced from the US. Two recent examples were the Eagle attempt at buying Amiga Technologies and the Viscorp announcement of the ED. Another project I have been involved in is the development and launch of a new computer magazine for a well-known Australian consumer organisation. It's designed for people who don't go for all the hype that tends to appear in most other computer magazines. In the first issue we did a story about cheap computers for under $2000. Is the Amiga mentioned? No! As editor of the magazine, I don't think it is appropriate to report on a product that is all but invisible in Australia (as much I would like to). So the Amiga completely out of the race? In my opinion, there is a huge market for a sub $1000 computer. Even computers that costs $2000 (expect to pay $3000 to $4000 for a brand-name PC in Australia) are still beyond the means of many working people (C and Ds the marketing people call them). Get a $900 computer that connects you to the Internet into a store like Harvey Norman (a very popular superstore here in Australia) and you'll sell thosuands of the bloody things. My two-bits worth For all it's worth, here's my advice to anyone who's remotely serious aabout selling Amigas in Australia. 1. Get the price right. An Amiga 1200, V34 modem and software bundle should cost AUS$899. It has to cost less than a $1000, the physchological price point for many people. As long as it does the basics, such as connect to the Internet, word process, run spreadsheets, most people won't care what the hell is under the cover. As long as it feels and looks like a 'real' computer, most people will be satisfied. If it's impossible to get the machines out at this price, than someone along the line has stuffed up big time. Even with smallish production runs, how expensive can it be to make a 68020-based computer with 2 MB RAM? 2. Abandon the discredited strategy of selling only through small dealers. The truth may be that no big distributors want to take the Amiga again, but **IT IS** important to try to get Amiga into the larger stores. Market share does count. 3. Get someone to do PR -- do it inhouse for Christ's sake, if you can't afford a PR agency. At least let the media know you exist, and that you're selling a worthwhile product. Returning their calls is a start. 4. And while you're at it, develop some point of sale strategies. Talk to an advertising company about small, but interesting, display ads in the computer sections of the metro dailies. 5. Support any of the user groups that have managed to survive. Feed them information, give them prizes to raffle off, etc All these things may seem very obvious -- but they're things the current distributor seems to totally ignore. As for me, I work everyday with the latest and greatest PCs and Macs. And yet somehow I still find my Amiga more interesting and fun to use than even the fatest PCs. I know it's probably irrational, but I kinda think it's got something to do with my Amiga having a little character. Oh, and here's the obligatory disclaimer. These opinions are my own, and do not represent the opinions of my employer. If anyone wants to drop me a line, including all you Amiga-loving venture capitialists out there, my e-mail address is pospisil@ozemail.com.au @endnode @node NEWS10 "VIScorp-Amiga Acquisition Update" @toc NEWS VIScorp-Amiga Acquisition Update September 18, 1996 Visual Information Service Corporation Chicago, IL Negotiations for the acquisition of the Amiga between VIScorp representatives and the trustee for Escom AG are ongoing and are expected to be completed shortly. Further announcements will be forthcoming when more information is publicly available. Contact: Jason Compton Communications Manager, VIScorp 111 N. Canal St. Chicago, IL 60606 312-655-0903 phone 312-655-0910 fax jcompton@xnet.com e-mail http://www.vistv.com @endnode @node NEWS1 "Electrics (V1.1) Digital Designer" @toc NEWS Electrics (V1.1) Digital Designer --------------------------------- Electrics is a group of programs for designing and simulating digital electronic circuits on the Amiga computer. The circuit to be tested is drawn using simple and complex gates. Multiple logic levels and drive strengths permit realistic circuit behavior during simulation. SCHEMATIC PROGRAM: A circuit design is drawn using Wire, Label, Text, and Symbol objects. Symbol objects are obtained from a library of simple gates (NAND, XOR, etc.) and complex TTL gates (74193, 74245, etc.). The circuit design may contain one sheet, or span up to 99 sheets. SIMULATOR PROGRAM: The circuit design is simulated by applying signal levels, and evaluating the results. The sequence of signal levels to apply is described in an ARexx script. Signal levels may be '0' (low), '1' (high), 'X' (unknown), or 'Z' (floating). The activity of the signals may be observed by connecting various viewing programs to the Simulator. Original signals may be renamed, used to create new ones, or grouped to create signal Buses. VIEWER PROGRAM: The Viewer may be connected to the Simulator in order to record signal activity during simulation. This activity is displayed as a trace waveform of both Single and Bus signals. Over 4 billion time units may be recorded for over 64000 signals. DIGITS PROGRAM: The Digits program is a multi-digit 7-segment display that may be connected to the Simulator to observe signal activity. Each digit has seven segments, a colon, and a decimal point. Individual common lines allow the digits to emulate common-Anode and common-Cathode displays. AREXX SHELL: The ARexx Shell provides a command-line shell for interactive simulation and signal probing, or for general-purpose ARexx operations. PROJECT MANAGER: The Project Manager creates and organizes design project directories. Electrics comes with illustrated AmigaGuide instructions, and requires Workbench 2.0 or greater. Electrics may be purchased by sending a postal order for US$30 + US$2 (P&S) to: 1111 West 7th Avenue Vancouver, British Columbia Canada V6H 1B5 PHONE: (604) 733-6972 EMAIL: chris_sterne@panam.wimsey.com @endnode @node NEWS4 "Worms - The Director's Cut" @toc NEWS *** WORMS - THE DIRECTOR'S CUT *** * LATEST STUFF - 2/9/96 The new version of Amiga Worms, for AGA machines only, will be released in September/October - a price has yet to be decided on, but there will be an upgrade offer for owners of the original version. The aim of this version was to give the Amiga the best possible version of WORMS 1. Thanks again to everyone on #Amiga+#Worms+csa.games who's suggested stuff for it ... Here's an (almost) complete list of the extra stuff in it ... * THE TECHY STUFF ... Over 300 colours on screen Super-smooth quarter-pixel scrolling 9 level parallax (including two layers of mountains) 24-bit fades + explosion flashes * MAD COWS, HOMING PIGEONS, OLD WOMEN ... A few of these things are still being put it in (last-minute-panic-type situation) ... but I should get them all in there ... > 15+ (count 'em) new weapons New standard weapons ... Grenade Launcher Hand Gun Petrol Bomb (Sheep has been promoted to a standard weapon as well) New special weapons ... Homing Pigeon Mad Cows Holy Hand Grenade Baseball Bat Super Sheep Sheep-on-a-Rope Sheep Strike Old Woman ... and the rest =) > Graffiti Mode Lets you paint your own level in the landscape generator - like drawing freehand in a paint package ... Worms then turns it into whatever landscape type you want (Forest/Arctic...) and places objects/bridges on it. > DIY Landscapes Using a template you can create your own types of level (like Mars/Hell...) You can also set the gravity/friction/sky-colour/water-colour, and which set of mountains it uses. > Mountain Sets You can create your own mountains (both back+front) in a paint package and then turn them into a mountain set which can be used by Worms for standard+custom levels. Both back+front mountains can use their own 16 colours. > 2-layer levels Levels can now have background scenery which you can walk infront of. On standard levels this means that tunnels+small explosions are not see-through. On custom levels you can now have a whole second picture as the background scenery. > Cavern Levels 1-in-4 levels are now caverns (this option can be turned off though) > Weapon Damage Settings The amount of damage each weapon does (and therefore the size of the crater it makes) can be changed. This lets you have weapons like Banana Bomb enabled + have a game that lasts longer than a minute =) > Air Moves Certain moves can now be done in the air. Worms also have a straight-up jump and backflip. This allows you to jump up and kamikaze, or backflip off a cliff and Ninja Rope the underneath of it. Ninja Rope can also be done repeatedly, tarzan-style - very useful in cavern levels - and dynamite can be dropped when you're swinging. > Improved Team Entry Worms now handles unlimited number of teams - they are just stored in a TWTEAM drawer. The number of games played/won, cpu setting etc. are also stored - so even if a team is hardly ever used, it's stats will still be remembered, and the team will still be selectable at Game Start. As a lot of people like to have more than 4 worms on the go, and the WormList was a bit confusing for selecting them, you can now have A+B Teams under the same name. > Improved sample-sets Samples are now loaded into fast-ram if you have it - letting you have a different sample-set for each team. Worms also handles unlimited amount of sample-sets, and uses a default set if any sound fx are missing - you don't need to include standard fx, such as the bazooka, in your set if you don't want to change them. > Personalized samples Each worm can have a specific sample for when they go byebye. So Jessica Fletcher can now go down in a blaze of glory to the Murder She Wrote theme tune ... > WormCam The equivilant of "action-tracking" on the PC/PSX version - the screen will scroll to follow moving worms/mines etc. You can also go and look at the position of each worm by pressing "*" on the keypad. WormCam can be toggled on/off with the "/" key on the keypad. > The "very exciting" crate menu Which items appear in weapon-crates, and how often they appear, can be adjusted. > Donor cards If you would like to help some worm to live after your death you can get your team to carry a donor card - when the last worm on your team dies, all your unused weapons are left in a crate ... > WormPrefs The game can be configured from a WormPrefs program for Workbench. This lets you edit the gravity/friction etc. of custom+standard levels, create 2-layer level/DIY/mountain files, assign samples to individual worms ... > Small changes ... Air Strikes are now directable, Homing Missiles can go off-screen+underwater, you can swing off-screen when on the rope, pressure or proximity mines, continue on same level option, medi-kits, wind on/off, maximum of 250 energy for worms, options can now be saved ... * CUSTOM LEVELS, BUT MORE SO If the thought of drawing levels in just 8 colours made you shout at people you didn't even know, this will calm you down. You can now use 16 (!) - the colour restrictions are the same as before ... colour 0 - transparent colour 1 - white-ish colour 2 - pink-ish (204,136,136/12,8,8) colour 3 - anything (t-shirt colour) colour 4 - lighter version of 3 colour 5-15 - anything Levels can be in AGA colours. 8-colour levels can still be loaded, but if your making an AGA level make sure you put .WRM16 on the end of it so you don't make the original Worms explode trying to load it. Also, you can now have background scenery which your worm can walk infront of. To do this draw two pictures, both 960x350 in 16 colours and using the same palette. The first picture will be the foreground, all the stuff you can stand on and shoot, and the second will be the background. In the game the two pictures are combined on screen, like the first being overlaid on the second, and as the foreground is blown up, the background is revealed. WormPrefs will eat both pictures to create a single custom level file. This means you can produce levels like the inside of a house, with the back wall drawn as background and the walls + stairs drawn as foreground. This will allow your worm to walk into the house and climb up the stairs (cor!). * THE DIRECTOR'S PATCH Because of the time the AGA version has taken up, I haven't been able to get the patch done for the original Worms. This patch will fix the infamous cd.device bug, and add some extra stuff to the game. As soon as I've got the AGA version out the way, I'll get it finished. Sorry =( * NEVER USE CHEAP 70s CONCRETE And yes, a certain "garden ornament" will probably be making an appearance... Keep on worming ... -- ANDY DAVIDSON MAD? POSSIBLY worms@thenet.co.uk WORMS HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU TODAY BY THE LETTERS A+D, AND BY THE NUMBER 17 @endnode @node NEWS5 "StormC 1.1 Starter" @toc NEWS HAAGE & PARTNER NEWS SEPTEMBER, 1996 PROFESSIONAL C(++) DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE AMIGA StormC 1.1 STARTER 16 Sept. 96 - HAAGE & PARTNER Computer announces new STARTER version of StormC 1.1. This version is especially for students and novices to ANSI C and C++ at a SRP of US$ 169. This package offers all the advantages that make StormC the best choice for programming the Amiga: integrated development system, visual project manager, fast source editor with syntax coloring, very fast ANSI C and C++ compiler, optimizing linker and the outstanding run-time system. StormC STARTER makes programming the Amiga easier and more effective. All of its components are designed for ease-of-use. StormC is a two-in-one compiler system that offers both current C standards: the well known ANSI C and the modern C++ standard (according to AT&T 3.0) for object oriented programming (OOP). New Version 1.1 of StormC We also released version 1.1 of our new StormC development system in August. It has got a lot of new features and enhancements and it is the first international version. The program is localized in English, Italian, French and German and the manual is available in English, German and soon in French too. The international demo of new version 1.1 is available on our home page and on AmiNet (biz/demo). Coming Soon: International Version of StormWIZARD One of the most time-consuming parts of programming is creating a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the program. For that we offer an easy-to-use graphical GUI editor, called StormWIZARD. Using this editor will save a lot of programming time and get you a nice and OS-compliant GUI. StormWIZARD will be available in English by the end of September at US$ 69. The latest demo is available on our home page and on AmiNet (biz/demo). Future Plans We are also working on a special version of StormC for the upcoming PowerPC boards for Amiga from Phase 5. Development is getting along well and we intent to show you a pre-version at COMPUTER 96 in Cologne (November 15 to 17). At this show there will also be a demonstration of the new OS from German company proDAD, called p-OS and we will present a special version of StormC for p-OS development too. For all these reasons StormC is the development system for the future of the Amiga. StormC supports development for current AmigaOS and the next generation PowerPC Amiga and p-OS systems. For more information, please have a look at our home page: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Haage_Partner/ HAAGE & PARTNER Computer GmbH, PO Box 80, 61191 Rosbach, Germany Phone: +49 - 6007 - 930050, Fax: +49 - 6007 - 7543 Email: 100654.3133@compuserve.com We develop to PowerUp the Amiga! @endnode @node NEWS6 "Amiga Zone Moves" @toc NEWS THE AMIGA ZONE MOVES TO CALWEB! and we're now (drumroll please...) WWW.AMIGAZONE.COM ! _________________________________________________________________ URGENT - PLEASE READ THIS! After five highly succesful years on Portal, The Amiga Zone on Portal will close on Sept. 30th, 1996 and we're moving to CalWeb Internet Services in October, 1996. Portal has decided to drop all of their internet services after a ten year run, and switch to being a different kind of company. We had to find the Zone a new home, and CalWeb will be it! The Amiga Zone will be rebuilt on CalWeb with a different look, but with the same philosophy we've always had: the Amiga is the best computer, and its owners are the best people, and it deserves the best online support possible. It'll take a while to rebuild the Zone on CalWeb. We hope to have her up and ready sometime in October. If you're currently a Portal customer, PLEASE move with us to CalWeb. We've arranged for a free signup for you. Just call 1-800-509-9322 or 1-916-641-9320 and say "The Amiga Zone Sent me!" The same deal goes for any of you who want to join the Zone but weren't Portal customers. Watch this space for more news. The Amiga Zone was reborn once before and we'll be doing it again! Stay tuned.. _________________________________________________________________ More info about the Amiga Zone is available from the link just below. Click to CalWeb's own page link below for more info. Keep coming here for updates, information, and more news, features, and links. Join CalWeb if you want to partake of the Amiga Zone SIG, re-grand-opening in October, 1996! _________________________________________________________________ CONTESTS! The Amiga Zone, in its ten year history, has given away more prizes than any other Amiga-related SIG, Forum, roundtable, spaceship, clan, club, cabal, group, or commune on any online service anywhere in the galaxy. Thanks to the generosity of Bob Luneski of Oregon Research we're currently giving out their brand new product Termite TCP in our Amiga Zone online Sunday Night Chat Contests. One Termite TCP will be given away each Sunday night until they're gone. After that, we have even more kewl Amiga prizes to give out. (If you are an Amiga product-making company and wish to donate prizes to the Amiga Zone and get your company and product name splattered all over this page.. please contact us and let us know!) To participate in the Amiga Zone's contests you must be a Portal subscriber (or after Sept. 30, 1996, a CalWeb customer) as the contests take place in our nightly, live Amiga Zone chats, and you must be present to participate and win. If you already have an ISP account elsewhere, you can Telnet into CalWeb for $0.00 per hour, 24 hours a day. Yes, Zero. Nothing. Nada. NO hourly charge if you telnet in! @endnode @node NEWS7 "clickBOOM News" @toc NEWS SUBJECT: clickBOOM news 2 We have a bad news and a good news! :) 1. First, the bad news. Apology: We have tried really hard to make Capital Punishment appear in stores on September 13. Unfortunately, we'll have to postpone it a little bit. Since we are perfectionists, everything (including boxes, manuals etc.) has to be exactly the way we wanted it. That takes time, so we had two options: - Compromise, or - Be late with the game We don't like compromises, period. Seriously, though, we hope you understand this. Capital Punishment is a superb game so it also requires every other aspect to be of the same quality. We are late, it's true, but, believe us, once you have the game you will have forgotten it was late. So, it should be out somewhere around the end of the month. But, this time, we will inform you of the exact date only when we are 100% sure of it. :) We apologize one more time. * Due to the fact above, we are extending the preordering period. For more information, please visit our web site. 2. And, now the GOOD news. We predicted a long time ago that Capital Punishment would become one of the best Amiga games of all time. Now, after Amiga magazines reviewed Capital Punishment we can very proudly tell you that we were right. Here's a brief report on the upcoming reviews: - Capital Punishment is now officially the highest rated game of 1996! All the major magazines reviewed it, and they were stunned by its quality. - Capital Punishment is now generally considered to be among the top ten games of all time! - All the magazines awarded Capital Punishment more than 90%! - Here are some of the quotes: "A game like this is unbelievable. One of the best games of all time." - Amiga Computing (third highest rated game ever). "There's only one word for the graphics in Capital Punishment - superb!" - Amiga Format "The best Amiga beat-em-up ever!" - Amiga Games "Capital Punishment scores a clean technical Knock Out! It's almost incredible what this game makes out of an ordinary Amiga." - Amiga Joker (the highest rating ever) "Capital Punishment is one of the finest games on Amiga" - Amiga Action "Frame rate is higher than any fighting game I've seen" - CU Amiga - We are also proud to say that due to its quality Capital Punishment will be on the covers of three major Amiga games magazines' (Amiga Games and Amiga Joker in Germany, and Amiga Action in UK). Thank you for your attention. We will inform you of the exact Capital Punishment release date as soon as we are 100% sure of it. clickBOOM -------------------------------------------- e-mail: clkboom@io.org web site: http://www.io.org/~clkboom/amiga/ address: Pxl computers / clickBOOM 1270 Finch Avenue West / unit 13 M3J 2G4 Toronto Canada @endnode @node NEWS8 "METCOM 96" @toc NEWS METCOM 96 Date: SEPTEMBER 28, 1996 Time: 10:00am to 5:00pm Location: The Arlington Convention Center 1200 Ballpark Way Arlington Texas Admission: Free METCOM 96 is the tenth annual show put on by the Metroplex Commodore Computer Club for its members and non-members who enjoy working with Amiga, C64 and C128 computers. The Metroplex Commodore Computer Club is not-for-profit organization devoted to the collection and dissemination of computer knowledge, to the encouragement of computer education, and to the use of Commodore computers in the home, at school, and in business. DIRECTIONS & PARKING The Arlington Convention Center is located next to the Ballpark in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers. From Dallas head west on I-30 and exit at Ballpark Way. Turn right at the stop sign at Ballpark Way. This will take you over I-30. The convention center is at the bottom of the hill on the right. From Fort Worth head east on I-30 to Nolan Ryan Expressway (exit 28B). At the traffic light turn left onto Copeland Road. At the next light turn right onto Convention Center Drive and then take another right onto Ballpark Way. Parking will cost $4.00 per vehicle. You will pay as you enter the Convention Center, and there are no in/out privileges. VIScorp to be at METCOM 96 (sorta of) Jason Compton, VIScorp employee, has agreed to be with us at METCOM this year, not in person but with us via the Internet. The details and times are still being worked out but Jason will chat with us over the Internet and answer some of our questions. BeBox Demonstration One of our own club members has agreed to bring his own BeBox to METCOM and give two demos of the computer. He will be running both an Amiga emulator on the BeBox and showing off the BeBox operating system. If you don't know what the BeBox computer is come and find out for yourself. Some people say that the BeBox is what the Amiga would or should have evolved into had Commodore let it! The times for the demos are 10:30am and 1:00pm. Classes There will be two classes offered at METCOM 96 this year. We will have a phone line to surf the net live. The cost of the classes will be $5.00 each for MCCC members and $10.00 each for non-members. Class size is limited so please register early. The Internet Installation class will be on what you need to get on the Internet with an Amiga computer. Topics covered will include the programs needed to get on the Internet, setup procedures, and Internet providers. This class will run 10:30am - 11:30am. The second class will be What to do on the Internet. Topics covered will include WWW, HTML, FTP and downloading off the Internet. This class will run from 1:00pm - 3:00pm. For further information, contact David Owens at (817) 577-2304. Flea Market A flea market, with items supplied by club members, will be open at Metcom from 10:00am until 5:00pm. At 4:00pm items left are reduced in price for even better bargains. Cash and personnel checks are accepted from club members and only cash is accepted from non-members. Jay Miner Memorial Tape This year at METCOM 96 the MCCC will be offering a two hour VHS tape of highlights of past METCOMs and a short club history. The centerpiece of the tape is Jay Miner's speech and question and answer session at METCOM 89. The cost will be $9.00 for members and $15.00 for non-members. A PAL version is also available at a slightly higher price. A limited number will be available at the show, but if the response is good orders will be taken. Other Attractions We will be having door prize drawings throughout the day. You will need to be present to win. The entire club software libraries for both the Amiga and C64/128 will be available to club members. A special on MCCC memberships will be offered; thirteen months for the price of twelve months. This offer will be good for new memberships or renewals. We are working on getting all of our local dealers to attend this year's show. We also will have a few computers set up so you can ask the clubs resident 'gurus' for help and advice. For further information please contact me; Mark Stodola mstodola@whytel.comm (972) 299-6824 from 5:00pm - 10:00pm Central time @endnode @node NEWS9 "Amiga Show '96" @toc NEWS AMIGA SHOW '96 The Amiga Show '96, organized by DeltaGraph'X, CORSAIRE Production ,and FUGAmiga, will take place November 9th and 10th,1996 at l'espace ,RENE FALLAIT, 91560 CROSNE, FRANCE (PARIS) Our goal is to bring in a maximum of visitors from all over France and Europe. We plan to open a Cybercafe at the Show, which will promote internet on the Amiga, with the help of a service provider (club-internet/Grolier). A national advertising campaign will begin in September, not only in Amiga magazines, but also in magazines dealing with Multimedia, Internet, Video and in PC and MAC magazines. TV , Radio, and Internet will be informed and invited to announce and report this event. For more information contact:--Gert René Schmidt DeltaGraph'X 4, rue des Iris F-91180, St Germain les Arpajon, FRANCE Tel and FAX: 33 1 60.84.16.14 E-mail: dgx@deltagraphx.grolier.fr--or José Pifarré E-mail jradel@club-internet.fr @endnode @node NEWS11 "Portal Internet" @toc NEWS TO OUR LOYAL PORTAL CUSTOMERS: After more than 10 years of providing Internet access services to our customers, we have decided to terminate our Internet access service and focus our efforts exclusively on Portal Infranet, our customer management and billing platform. Since introducing Infranet in May, Portal has been extremely successful, signing up customers such as Sprint, VeriSign and Mpath. In order to focus on building the Infranet business to its potential, we have chosen to terminate our Internet access service on September 30, 1996. However, to ensure that you continue to receive the service you have come to expect from us, we have negotiated a special promotional offer for you with Sprint's new Internet access service, Sprint Internet PassportSM. With Sprint Internet Passport, you will receive free Internet access service until October 31. Sprint Internet Passport has two pricing plans to choose from including unlimited access for $19.95 per month or $1.50 per hour with no minimum or maximum usage requirements. In addition, you will receive a free software kit that includes everything you need to register and access the Internet. Sprint Internet Passport is available for Microsoft Windows '95 and Windows 3.1 users. It includes Netscape Navigator 2.0 and operates at modem speeds up to 28.8 kbps per second which is twice as fast as the highest speed available through Portal's service. Additionally, Sprint Internet Passport has a dedicated web site that offers on-line customer assistance as well as e-mail, news, and search and directory services offered in conjunction with Lycos, Infoseek, Netscape and c/net. Portal and Sprint have teamed up to ensure that your transition to Sprint Internet Passport is as smooth as possible. Sprint has established a toll-free customer service number specifically for Portal customers and has dedicated customer service agents available to assist you. The number to call is 1-800-953-5000. Once you have established your Sprint Internet Passport account, Portal will forward e-mail from your existing Portal account to your new Sprint Internet Passport e-mail address through December 1, 1996. To set up your e-mail forwarding, you need to send an e-mail message including your full name, Portal e-mail address and new Sprint e-mail address to Portal at emailforward@portal.com Sprint Internet Passport is currently dial-up Internet access service only and does not offer Shell services, Web-page hosting, On-Line Services or UUCP accounts. However, Sprint is dedicated to providing first-class Internet access services and may offer certain of these services in the future. At this time, we cannot offer a special transition for these services. We encourage you to make the transition to Sprint Internet Passport as soon as possible so that you can take advantage of the special Portal promotion which expires on October 31, 1996. We will permanently terminate our Portal services on September 30, 1996. We appreciate your long-standing patronage of Portal's service and the loyalty you have shown us over the years. Should you have any questions regarding your transition to Sprint Internet Passport please e-mail us at isptrans@portal.com or call 1-888-343-4429. The Portal Information Network @endnode @node NEWS12 "PIOS to sell Be's" @toc NEWS [PIOS, a German-based company founded by former Amiga Technologies President Stefan Domeyer, has recently announced both a line of Mac clones and its decision to sell the BeBox in Germany. More information is available on http://www.pios.de/. -Jason] PIOS Computer AG _________________________________________________________________ Strategic Decision made: PIOS to sell BeBOX in Germany Hildesheim/ Paris/ Menlo Park 19th September 1996 PIOS Computer AG, the german PowerPC company, and Be Incorporated, Menlo Park, California, agreed upon a distribution agreement effective as of September 19th, 1996. Therefore, PIOS will sell the BeBOX with the Operating System BeOS and a bundled version of Code Warrior to the german market. PIOS sees the technology of BeBOX multiprocessing computers as a breaktrough in price and performance. Thanks to the architectural benefits the BeOS will have a great future, providing real preemptive multitasking and multithreading. PIOS will support the market introduction of Be products with all possible efforts. The key factor will be to support independent software developers on technological and marketing issues. The technology is ready to create a wave in the computer world. What is needed is a huge number of killer applications utilizing the strenght of the BeOS. Dr. Peter Kittel will be in charge for setting up an attractive developer support within PIOS. In close cooperation with Be Inc., he will provide an internet-based information infrastructure to speed up development of third parties. He expressively invites software developers of any size to send him an email (peterk@pios.de) or apply free of charge by using the developer application page. @endnode @node FEATURE1 "Miami vs TermiteTCP" @toc FEATURE =========================================================================== Miami vs TermiteTCP Ron Mascaro rcmasca@clark.net =========================================================================== Connecting an Amiga to the Internet has, until recently, been a somewhat difficult task, due to the difficulties of installing and configuring a TCP/IP stack, the software that allows the Amiga to communicate with other computers via the common language (protocol) of the Internet. The only available TCP/IP stacks for the Amiga, were AmiTCP and AS225, or Inet225, as it is known in its commercial incarnation. AmiTCP is somewhat difficult to set up, even for a net Guru. For the beginner, it is a nightmare. There is no GUI. To change any of the configuration settings, you had to run the install script over again. Additionally AmiTCP did not directly support dial-up connections. You either had to dial the provider from a terminal program, set the modem to stay on-line, release the serial port and then run AmiTCP, or you had to install one of the shareware GUI front-ends to do this for you. In all fairness, the latest commercial version of AmiTCP is supposed to have a rudimentary dialer, but I haven't had the opportunity to use it. I've never had the opportunity to try out AS225 or Inet225, so I don't know how difficult they are to use. Added to the installation difficulties is the fact that AmiTCP and AS225 use different Application Programming Interfaces (API), the language that the Client programs, such as FTP, use to communicate with the TCP/IP stack. Clients written for AmiTCP would not work with AS255 and vice-versa. In the past year or so, libraries have been available to allow Clients to work with either stack transparently. Still, the Amiga desperately needed a TCP/IP stack that was simple to use. All that has changed with the recent introduction of two new TCP/IP stacks for the Amiga, Miami, and TermiteTCP. Miami is a shareware program that currently is only available from the authors WWW and FTP sites. TermiteTCP is a commercial program published by Oregon Research. Both of these programs were designed specifically for dial-up connections, with ease of use a primary consideration. The focus of this review is to compare these two programs. First off, let me say that Miami and TermiteTCP are not suitable for direct LAN connections. Neither has any support for Amiga ethernet cards. Both programs are limited to dial-up connections only, although Holger Kruze, the author of Miami has hinted that he may produce a Miami Professional version if there is enough interest. However both programs have settings for use with a null-modem cable to connect two Amigas directly via the serial ports. The Interface: Miami uses the MUI GUI system. Termite uses the standard Amiga GUI. MUI is highly user configurable, but window redraws are a somewhat slower, especially on high color AGA screens. If you are using a 4 or 8 color screen, or a Graphics card, you will get much better performance. Both programs use the GUI exclusively for all configuration and connections operations. There are no text files to edit. Installation: Both Miami and TermiteTCP were easy to install. Termite uses a standard Commodore Install script to install the program. During the install process, you are asked to type in the serial number which then serialises both the install disk and the hard drive installation. Miami has no install script. You simply download the archive, and expand it to any location. There are no paths or assigns to set, so you can freely move the program around wherever is convenient, so long as all the files remain in the same directory. As Miami is a shareware program some features are disabled. By registering, you will receive a key file to enable the additional features. However the disabled features do not in anyway diminish the basic functionality of the program. Configuration: Miami really shines here. Total time to dearchive, install, configure, and connect to my ISP was an astonishingly low 10 minutes, I didn't even crack open the manual. The Readmefirst file was enough to get going, because Miami completely walks you through the procedure. It comes with a companion program called MiamiInit, that Asks for some basic information such as serial device and phone number, and modem settings. Miami includes a list of preconfigured modem settings for a number of popular modems, so you generally won't have to fumble with you modem's manual to answer these questions. It then asks whether you are configuring for SLIP, PPP, TIA or Slirp, you IP address, (if you are issued a static address), your login and password, and then it dials your provider. A window will pop up in which records your login actions. there are buttons to send your login and password, and then you can manually navigate through any additional login menus until your SLIP/PPP connection is established. Then, if you are configuring for PPP, Miami will negotiate an optimum connection. It will also attempt a DNS lookup to find the available DNS servers on your network. This may or may not be successful, depending on whether your provider supports DNS lookup, but if it fails you will just have to type in the DNS IPs that your provider has given to you. It will then verify the validity of those servers, and hang up, storing a complete configuration. After that you simply run the main Miami program and import the configuration. Then away you go. It's that easy. The script recorder works flawlessly, provided you don't make any typos/backspaces in the process. The main program allows you to edit the script if necessary. I've used script recorders on various terminal programs before, and generally you have to tweak them to get them to work properly, even if you typed correctly. This is because the script tries to send commands before they are prompted, or waits to long. Modifying the wait commands usually fixes the problem. I had no such problems with Miami, however. My script worked flawlessly first time, every time. TermiteTCP was also fairly easy to configure. Configuration is accomplished in the main program., however, you need to know all the information in advance, and set the configuration before attempting a connection. The only exception is the login script. It also has a script recorder, and it worked flawlessly once I figured out how it worked I had to look in the manual to figure out how to start and stop recording and save to disk. Not terribly difficult, but not immediately obvious either (Miami starts and stops the recorder automatically). Total elapsed time was about 25 minutes. Miami has many more configuration options than TermiteTCP, especially for PPP. You can tweak the configuration for better performance or use the defaults (There is no PPP configuration settings in TermiteTCP, so you are stuck with the internal settings). TermiteTCP is limited to the standard Modem settings, and provider information. There is only provision for one phone number. DNS servers are limited to 2 entries, and there is no setting for MTU. Miami gives you many different options for TCP/IP/PPP settings. TermiteTCP does not support SLIP/CSLIP protocalls. You must have a PPP connection to use it. Miami supports SLIP/CSLIP/PPP connections. I haven't tested TermiteTCP with TIA yet. TermiteTCP does not claim to work with TIA or Slirp. It may not work since it doesn't have a "Fake IP" option. Other Options: Miami has an internal database similar to AmiTCP for services, users, etc, which allows you to configure server daemons and allow for remote users on you system. The database is configured within the GUI, unlike AmiTCP where you have to load a text file into an editor to add or change entries. There is no database of any kind in TermiteTCP, so I doubt it is possible to add any services or allow other users to login to your computer. I don't know how you could set TermiteTCP up for Amiphone, for instance. There is no mention of this capability in the documentation. Miami also has a unique automatic activity generator which will send out a ping packet periodically at a user configurable interval. This is useful if you have a provider that disconnects after a period of inactivity. This will keep you from being disconnected should you exceed the limit, while reading a document on-line, for example. Clients: Miami comes with no client software. TermiteTCP comes with FTP and Telnet clients but they are very rudimentary. The shareware AmFTP is MUCH better, and is worth the registration Fee. The Termite Telnet client is OK, but it would not log in to my shell account using a preset login and password configuration. It would only work if I logged in manually. Other than that it seemed to work OK. There are several freeware/shareware Telnet clients available on Aminet. I wouldn't choose TermiteTCP over Miami based on the inclusion of these clients. API: Miami is compatible with the AmiTCP API. Termite uses it's own API, but also includes compatablity with the AmiTCP API. Both programs will work with AmiTCP clients. TermiteTCP includes a Software Development Kit for programmers who wish to write clients specifically for the Termite API. One drawback to TermiteTCP's custom API is that the included clients are written for this API, so they will not run with any other TCP/IP stack. It is unknown to me, whether Miami or TermiteTCP will work with AS225 clients. The API is not supported directly, but they may work with the addition of the socket.library found on Aminet. There are, however, few clients written specifically for AS225 that do not also support the AmiTCP API. Speed: TermiteTCP is marginally faster at dialing and connecting, due to the fact that Miami has to deal with the overhead of MUI windowing operations. But once on line, speed is not a factor. Both Miami, and TermiteTCP claim to have a quick auto-reconnect feature, that allows you to skip dial-in and negotiation after a system crash, if you have set the modem to stay on-line. Only Miami's seems to work, however. The TermiteTCP manual mentions it, but doesn't give any specifics on how to get it to work. The default config hangs up the modem on a loss of DTR signal, but after changing it so the modem would stay on-line, TermiteTCP apparently still insisted on trying to redial and/or renegotiate PPP. It's possible my provider does not allow renegotiation of PPP. Either way, Miami's reconnect feature that allows bypassing both dialing and renegotiation works with my provider. Documentation: TermiteTCP comes with a thick printed manual, but 2/3 of this is devoted to a Guide to the internet for new users. Only 18 pages are devoted to the program's operation, with another 22 devoted to the FTP and Telnet clients. Miami's Amigaguide manual is far more descriptive. On-line Help: Miami provides on-line help in the form of MUI "Balloon Help". If you place the mouse cursor on any gadget, and leave it there for a few seconds, a bubble will pop up telling you what the gadget does. Additionally, pressing the "Help" key loads the Amigaguide manual to a context-sensitive section of the document. TermiteTCP has no on-line help. Price Comparison: Miami - $35, TermiteTCP - $69.95 (Oregon Research currently has a direct mail-order promotional price of $59.95) Unregistered Disabled Features: TermiteTCP, N/A. Miami's disabled features minimally affect the programs functionality. Connection Time is limited to 1 hour sessions. At 1 hour Miami will spontaneously disconnect. A 30 minute warning is provided. Auto-online after passive offline is disabled. Arexx scripts are disabled. There is a limit of three phone numbers. Phone Logging is disabled. Some MUI GUI customization options are disabled. Registration: Since TermiteTCP is a commercial program, registration is simply a matter of returning a completed registration card. Miami uses an on-line 3-step registration process. The first step is to order a license code. You do this from the main program which asks for your Name, address, etc, and your e-mail address. You can send in the request on-line or via slow mail. To send it in on-line you must have a "First Virtual" payment account established. This account allows you to puchase merchandise online without revealing your Credit Card Number in your E-mail. For slow-mail you can use check, money order or cash. Once the author or other registration site receives your License request and payment, he will e-mail you a license code. This code is necessary to run the second step which is the actual registration, this step automatically sends an encrypted registration request, and in a few minutes another encrypted registration code will be returned. With this file you will run the third step that creates a pair of keys from the encrypted e-mail. These keys enable the additional features. The registration process sounds more complicated than it actually is. If for some reason the automatic registration fails, you can send the request directly to the author's e-mail address and he will process it manually. It took 3 days from the time I sent my check via slow-mail, until the author sent me the license code. The second two steps took just a few minutes. This is by far the fastest response I have ever had registering a shareware product. Conclusion: Let me just say that Miami beats TermiteTCP hands down. It's easier to use, has many more options, and is considerably cheaper. It is by far the best TCP stack around for dial-up connections. I think that $35 for Miami and $25 for AmFTP is a much better deal than $59.95 for TermiteTCP. It's amazing what a nickel will buy you these days. Yes, it does require MUI, which will cost an additional $35 to register, but you will need MUI anyway as most of the Internet Client software require it. Miami is truly the most amazing piece of Amiga software I have seen in a very long time. Where To Get Them: TermiteTCP is now available directly from Oregon Research and will most likely be available through most Amiga Retailers. Oregon Research 16200 S.W. Pacific Hwy Suite 162 Tigard, OR 97224 (503)620-4919 (503)624-2940 (FAX) Miami can be downloaded from the Miami WWW or FTP sites. WWW: http://www.nordicglobal.com/Miami.html FTP: wade1.ab.umd.edu/Miami/Miami103.lha (Version may change) Also available on Aminet: comm/tcp/Miami11.lha @endnode @node FEATURE2 "AMOS With The CD32" @toc FEATURE =========================================================================== AMOS With The CD32 C. Edward Stewart joehick@golden.net =========================================================================== Whether or not you happen to have a CD32, you may have access to a CD32 joypad. With it, you have the option of programming a lot more neat options (because it has a lot of buttons). There have been several different programs out there to read the CD32 joypad, but they all lack in one way or another. Here's my procedure that does it: Procedure PAD CD=0 : CD32=0 Lib Open 1,"lowlevel.library",40 Dreg(0)=1 CD=Lib Call(1,-30) Lib Close 1 If CD and 1 Then CD32=CD32+%1 If CD and 2 Then CD32=CD32+%10 If CD and 4 Then CD32=CD32+%100 If CD and 8 Then CD32=CD32+%1000 If CD and 131072 Then CD32=CD32+%10000 If CD and 262144 Then CD32=CD32+%100000 If CD and 524288 Then CD32=CD32+%1000000 If CD and 1048576 Then CD32=CD32+%10000000 If CD and 2097152 Then CD32=CD32+%100000000 If CD and 4194304 Then CD32=CD32+%1000000000 If CD and 8388608 Then CD32=CD32+%10000000000 End Proc[CD32] To use this procedure, you'll need to get the lowlevel.library (and a CD32 joypad) if you don't have it. Now, the procedure is nice, but without the code to use it, it's just so many cool AMOS commands. Do PAD=0 PAD : PAD=Param If PAD and 1 Then PAD_RIGHT If PAD and 2 Then PAD_LEFT If PAD and 4 Then PAD_DOWN If PAD and 8 Then PAD_UP If PAD and 16 Then PAD_PAUSE If PAD and 32 Then PAD_REWIND If PAD and 64 Then PAD_FASTFORWARD If PAD and 128 Then PAD_GREEN If PAD and 256 Then PAD_YELLOW If PAD and 512 Then PAD_RED If PAD and 1024 Then PAD_BLUE Loop This loop checks all the buttons and acts on them. If you want different buttons to be sensed sooner, move them up on the list. I've got all the different buttons labeled as procedures, but you could use Goto's or commands just as easily. The code above just shows you what values represent which buttons. Most CD32s don't have keyboards attached, so don't put places in your program for users to type unless you use some sort of CD32 joypad procedure to get the characters. Say something like the one below. Procedure CD32_TEXT CHAR$="" : CHAR=0 : A$="" : IN$="" : PAD=0 CHAR$="abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ,.!?() 1234567890" CHAR=1 Curs Off CD32: If CHAR<1 Then CHAR=69 If CHAR>69 Then CHAR=1 A$=Mid$(CHAR$,CHAR,1) Locate 0,0 : Print IN$;A$;" ";Cleft$;Cleft$; CD32A: Do : PAD=0 : PAD : PAD=Param : If PAD=0 Then Loop If PAD and 4 Then CHAR=CHAR-1 : Wait 5 : Goto CD32 If PAD and 8 Then CHAR=CHAR+1 : Wait 5 : Goto CD32 If PAD and 128 IN$=IN$+A$ Locate 0,0 Print IN$ Goto CD32B End If If PAD and 512 Then IN$=Left$(IN$,Len(IN$)-1) : Wait 15 : Goto CD32 If PAD and 1024 Then IN$=IN$+A$ : Wait 10 : Goto CD32 Goto CD32A CD32B: End Proc[IN$] To use the text procedure use the following code: CD32_TEXT : IN$=Param$ CD32 joypad up and down scroll through the letters. Blue advances a character. Red deletes a character. Green terminates input. The parameter in IN$ will contain the text entered by the user. With these procedures, you can write AMOS programs that can be included on CD32 coverdisk CDs. Also, you can have access to all those neat buttons on the CD32 joypad. You may be wondering why anyone would want to use a CD32 joypad. For one simple reason: More commands at your fingertips! So go get a CD32 joypad and start writing cool multi-button programs. @endnode @node REVIEW1 "Review: Arcade Classics Plus" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Arcade Classics Plus from Epic Marketing By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== Arcade Classics Plus, the CD from Epic Marketing, focuses largely on clones and remakes (some faithful, some only remotely so) of legendary, classic arcade games: the likes of Asteroids, Defender, Pong, etc. There's even a section for slightly more "modern" classics like Pendo and Lode Runner. Like the Epic Collection, there is a custom GUI interface. This one is significantly more attractive to use and easy to navigate. Unlike the Epic Collection, not everything is DMS compressed, which is a welcome change. Many of the files have documentation, which comes up in a scrollable window when you select the file you want more information on...however, not all of them do, so there's still some degree of guessing and testing to be done. The interface lets you uncompress the archives to the directory (or disk, for DMS) of your choice, and they can be run (by you) from there. As classics collections go, I haven't seen a better one yet. In all honesty, the quality of many Amiga recreations of classic games is not the greatest, so this is obviously reflected in what you get. (I have yet to see a decent light cycles game, and am at a loss to understand why nobody in the world has ever done a clone of the original Tron 4-event arcade game.) There are games that are without compare, however, and a special section for Jeff Minter's own brand of classics, which to many would be worth the price of admission in and of itself. And for those not so interested in pure classics, there's a collection of Assassins games disks. Quite a lot of the games here are of the "Crash_Immediately_On_AGA()" variety. You have been warned...best not to uncompress to RAM: if you value what you're working on currently. Maybe it's the interface, or the theme, or the DMS, but I didn't find myself quite as gleefully immersed in games with this disc as I did with Games Galore. It's still a more-than-decent collection if you find browsing through Aminet's game directory a harrowing task at best. I know I do. Epic Marketing 138-139 Victoria Rd. Swindon Wilts UK +44 0 1793 514188 @endnode @node REVIEW2 "Review: The Epic Collection" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: The Epic Collection By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== Didn't I just get done talking about how great it was that Golden Games had most everything unarchived? Yep, I did. Epic Marketing has been in the Amiga software and CD-ROM business for quite some time and has a considerable array of Amiga and PC CD-ROMs. The Epic Collection represents a large portion of their PD disk collection. The Epic Collection is a catchall CD, roughly akin to the AGA Experience CDs put out by Sadeness/NFA (although without the same AGA-only slant). For those ready to dive right in, there is a text file with filenames and descriptions (some more informative than others) for each of the 1000+ DMS archives on the CD. For those looking to comfortably navigate, there is a custom GUI which takes you through each category of archives and lists descriptions where appropriate. The custom interface almost, but not quite, worked under CyberGraphX. The quality of the archives isn't the problem (although some of the items are pretty questionable...you'd think someone would have figured out that SoftAGA isn't a real program and that "VT220", while an "emulator", isn't an emulator in the same way Frodo is). The DMS archiving is the problem. CD-ROMs are one of the fastest ways to move large quantities of data from a publisher to a customer. Why insist on forcing a slow de-archive to floppy? I would have accepted LHA or LZX archives without question, as the CD is rather full and likely would have been exceeded in capacity without some sort of archiving. But DMS should be a "only when necessary" archival form, not something you use because you happen to have a lot of disks with good material lying around. I also located a bit of silliness on a disk whose DMS archive included an LHA of the contents of the disk being unarchived! Using the original LHA would have saved 400k on the CD-ROM...not to mention a lot of time. As a general collection, there's nothing really wrong with The Epic Collection. There will be something for everyone--games, Reko cardsets, sound files, emulators, and more. If you don't go crazy by the time you're done un-DMSing disks, that is. Epic Marketing 138-139 Victoria Rd. Swindon Wilts UK +44 0 1793 514188 @endnode @node REVIEW3 "Review: Amiga CD-Sensation: Golden Games" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: Amiga CD-Sensation: Golden Games from Schatztruhe By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== ...apparently, Gamer's Delight 1 and 2 wasn't enough. Golden Games, the new CD from Stefan Ossowski's Schatztruhe, is the second I've seen in their new "psuedo-magazine" packaging. (The first was the "Demos are Forever" CD.) No jewel box, just an A4-sized cardboard "cover" and information in English and German on the back about the CD. The information pretty much tells you the obvious--there are a lot of games on here. Specifically, there are a lot of freely redistributable games and demos, as well as the requisite group of degrading tools to make them all work, and an extensive selection of hints. Unlike Gamer's Delight 2, there is no custom GUI interface, only the Workbench. A set of icons will configure your system to the recommended color and screenmode for browsing, and another click will set up various assigns needed to allow the games to execute directly from CD. The games are divided into 12 major categories by type, with DMS'ed archives in their own separate hierarchy. (The majority, by far, of goodies on the CD are unarchived and ready to go.) The selection, like anything of this kind, is going to be largely hit and miss, but overall I was fairly pleased. I found a few more "instant classics" and there are a number of my personal favorites on the CD. I was impressed with how much I could painlessly run off of the CD, although programs that expect to save their prefs file to progdir: are always in for a shock, which means a lot of clicking "cancel" for the user. (Unless you're smarter than I am and are running an assign-requester patch, in which case it will be less of a nuisance.) One of the things which caught me off guard was the lack of English documentation for the CD other than the introduction on the back of the packaging...the rest is German only. It's nice to be able to read about the compilation and any last-minute changes we might need to be aware of. You can use the German guide to navigate (easily) to the master index of games with documentation and click directly on the individual docs for each game. The categorization on the CD is overall a plus but I think a bit more notice should be given for those items which are just game demos (lest anybody get really excited when they see "Worms" and "Skidmarks 2" (both of which appear in the "Great Action" section). If I may digress for a minute, I've been having trouble sitting down with the Amiga and having a genuinely good time lately...it's not a problem with the Amiga, but with me, as all the work I've done on Amigas lately have made me associate them with just that--work. However, Golden Games has given me a number of incentives to start treating the Amiga less as a "work tool" and more like a computer that I genuinely enjoy using. So, for that, I am grateful. If you're having a similar problem, it's going to be worth the small fee to pick up a copy of this CD for yourself. Published by Stefan Ossowski's Schatztruhe Veronikastr. 33 45131 Essen Germany WWW: http://www.schatztruhe.de/ E-mail: stefano@tchest.e.eunet.de @endnode @node REVIEW4 "Review: Timekeepers Expansion Disk" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: Timekeepers Expansion Disk from Vulcan Software By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== Well, I guess it wasn't feasible to expand Hillsea Lido (although that's a shame, because with a few enhancements it could easily be one of my favorite games), so Vulcan wound up expanding Timekeepers. :) Seriously. Timekeepers, Vulcan's entry into the world of puzzle-solving little guys made famous by Lemmings, is a neat game. I'm not huge into solving puzzles with little tools, but games like Lemmings and Timekeepers are enough to distract me for a good length of time. Vulcan went so far as to give Timekeepers a plot. They must not have liked the deus ex machina Lemmings falling from the mystical trapdoor in the sky. The mission is to send these little Timekeepers into human history to prevent evil people from detonating nuclear weapons that would seriously disrupt the development of the Earth. These Timekeepers are special forces, the trip into the past is one way, and you are the only one who can make the mission work by getting them past, over, and through obstacles. Neat game. Not being very good at puzzle games I didn't make it very far, either, and now Vulcan wants to subject me to more. Fine, then. There is now even more challenge awaiting your Timekeeper dollar, for those people who are either hopelessly stuck somewhere and need something fresh, or those dedicated guardians who completed the original and are hungry for more. In keeping with Vulcan's "the best packaging is small packaging" principle, Timekeepers comes in a small folding container just big enough for a floppy disk and a small set of instructions which tells you, basically, that the Timekeepers expansion disk should be inserted when you're prompted for Disk 2, rather than the usual Timekeepers Disk 2 you'd otherwise be using. For hard drive users, this just means you drag across this disk's drawer instead of the original Disk 2 drawer, and if you're clever you'll just rename the original for later reference. It's a shame there's nothing to automatically handle this, but Vulcan's confidence in us is high that we'll figure it out for ourselves. For the US$10 or so that Vulcan is charging, I'm hard pressed not to recommend this to Timekeepers fans worldwide. Perhaps Vulcan might be persuaded to release their level builder someday? Good response to the expansion disk could help. Vulcan is a UK-based Amiga game publisher who sells their games through direct mail order. You can also find them on the Web. Vulcan Software 72 Queens Road Buckland Portsmouth Hants PO2 7NA England +44 0 1705 670269 voice +44 0 1705 662226 fax paul@vul-soft.demon.co.uk e-mail http://www.vulcan.co.uk @endnode @node REVIEW5 "Review: The Final Gate" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: The Final Gate - CD32 from Bigg Wolf By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== The story behind Final Gate's release is one I'd like to hear more often. The first part happens too much, the second, too little. Alternative Software developed Final Gate, made a game out of it, and went so far as to burn CDs. But it was never released. Bigg Wolf of the US stepped in, bought up the CDs and released the game. Which is nice to see...too often, I'm hearing of projects developed for the Amiga but never released (and the evidence of them is pretty staggering, considering that Ocean and Microprose had this habit of advertising them for months but deciding that taking the product to market would result in a loss above their development costs.) So in this case, Final Gate gets to see the light of day after all. The game boasts of offering FMV gameplay without an FMV cartridge. This should already be setting off the CDXL alarms in your head. (CDXL, for those unfamiliar with the CD32 and CDTV, is Commodore's format for quarter-screenish 30fps animation, which can come from a video source or other animation, such as the rendered Pirates' Gold intro.) In fact, the game is very reminiscent of other attempts at "FMV" gaming on standard Amiga setups. The two that leap to mind are Tomcat and Desert Apache from Dark Unicorn Productions, a shareware team. The plot of Final Gate, so far as I can make out, is this: you're a guy with a machine gun hanging out on a speedboat with a buddy of yours. Suddenly (much like a cat jumping up and running to another room for no good reason) you realize you have to be somewhere else, shooting at things. So your buddy starts up the boat and you're off, with a quarter-screen view of the scenery whizzing by as the boat drives on. You'll quickly notice lots of garishly colored missiles and projectiles coming at you, which you need to move your crosshair (with a gamepad) in order to shoot. Let them hit you, and you lose health points. From time to time, you'll have the opportunity to shoot an FMV person (so distinguished by the white aiming guides you see near him.) Take him out, and you get a special point and FMV bonus. Miss him, and he shoots you, taking away a lot of your precious health. Final Gate suffers from "power-up-itis", so there are some special flying objects you can shoot which will benefit you. If you've followed me this far, you've got a good feel for Final Gate. The camera work is passable but nothing that will win cinematographic awards. The gameplay, well, it's a lot like Tomcat and Apache, where you take your sprite and shoot at other sprites against a FMV backdrop. I have to admit that I wish the developers had made the CDXL full-screen, despite the blockiness that introduces, because that enhancement made Apache far superior to Tomcat. By my reckoning, Final Gate is a pretty middle-of-the-road CD32 game. I can easily rattle off a host of other CD32 titles I enjoyed a lot less, but it's certainly no Pirates' Gold (crashes and all), Liberation, or Microcosm. Note that Microcosm is itself a CDXL "shoot your bright sprite at other bright sprites" game, but it's all a question of implementation and mood, and Final Gate doesn't quite suck you in the way Microcosm does. Bigg Wolf certainly seems to realize that Final Gate isn't the end-all be-all of gaming...the exceptionally limited documentation (all of two sides of a jewel box insert) is amusingly tongue-in-cheek. Final Gate was developed for the CD32, but is actually playable to a point on a stock A4000T without any software help--you'll find that it crashes after you die, however. Bigg Wolf 12337-D Georgia Ave. Wheaton, MD 20906 USA 301-933-5030 phone/fax @endnode @node REVIEW6 "Mini-View: Kang-Fu" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Mini-View: Kang-Fu from Great Effects Development By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON} =========================================================================== I've gotten a hold of the Kang-Fu playable demo disc... Now that I've had a chance to sit down and thumb through both. I don't have the full version of Kang Fu, so I'm not comfortable giving a total review, but from what I've seen I'd like to jot down a few notes. How's "Looks like it should sit next to Zool in the 'incredible-looking platformer' category" for a comment? It does. Oh, plot's never very important in Kang Fu, but basically, you're a kangaroo who runs around collecting small kangaroos, hurling punches and boomerangs and eggs at brightly colored evil things (like umbrellas and Amiga Boing balls), collecting keys to open locks, that sort of thing. The animation is exceptional on the 4000T test system. The game supports CD32 gamepads and runs without additional software support on Amiga AGA CD setups. I'm looking forward to finding out more of Kang Fu's status. @endnode @node REVIEW7 "Review: SX32" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: SX32 CD32 enhancement hardware from DCE By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON =========================================================================== In the beginning, there was the CD32. The CD32 is perhaps the saddest story of all of the Amiga models which have sad stories. (Basically, all of them.) Unlike most of its counterparts, the CD32 was blessed with a good price point (US$400), early penetration into a new marketplace (only the CD-i, CDTV and Sega CD had established any sort of presence in console CD gaming, and only the Sega CD was what you might consider successful), and a competitive price/performance ratio (While the 3DO, released at about the same time, looked superior in a number of ways, it was US$300 more at the time.) And the 3DO wasn't even readily available in the big European Amiga markets. Even the television campaign was decent! And the early releases of games looked pretty good. But, no. Commodore didn't have any trouble selling the machines. The problem was that their credit was so bad that they couldn't build enough CD32s. Psygnosis, claiming that Commodore owed them money for assisting in the CD32's design, was less than enthusiastic about continued support. Support and market momentum lagged, and what CD32s were around wound up being stockpiled as the 3DO started to come down in price with better games. As Amigas go, the CD32 was a low-end AGA machine, comparable in features to an A1200. But the expansion options were far fewer. Aside from video output, the only link to the outside world for the CD32 was a special AUX port, designed to hold a keyboard but also capable of serial communication. Devices like the Communicator sprung up to allow rudimentary networking between a CD32 and Amiga. But there was more. There is a rear edge connector designed for the rare Commodore FMV card, which was used by developers to support a special communication board that gave a CD32 a full set of I/O ports. MicroBotics set to work on a similar device to offer commercially. They were bought by Paravision, which released the SX-1, a big gunmetal grey attachment that ups the CD32 footprint by 50%, gives you a lot of I/O ports and IDE connections, and is precariously connected by a special card that will let you plug in a FMV cartridge at the same time, if you're so lucky. People wanted more. DCE's SX32 is a good alternative to the blocky SX-1 and the other kid on the block, the ProModule. The SX32 and ProModule are seeing new versions released, but this review deals with the original SX32. The SX32 is a total rethink of the SX-1 concept. Instead of retaining FMV passthrough (not very popular of a demand) and adding an external box, the SX32 only adds a new rear panel to the CD32, which sports 5 connectors. The IDE hard drive, as it does on the SX-1, mounts directly to the SX32 mainboard. The SX32 mainboard sits inside of the CD32, and its installation requires the opening of the CD32 case. Rather upsetting is that you have to remove a groundstrap to make the SX32 fit. It's even more upsetting for me, because we have to give the SX32 back, meaning we've got this CD32 which is missing an original piece... Once you have the board laid properly in the CD32 case, you have to line up the external panel which holds the five I/O ports. This is actually a bit tougher than I anticipated, but can be done. The board is designed to hold in place fairly securely. Once done, you hold the whole assembly together with a large screw (of the sort used to hold on the old expansion port cover). The 5 new ports on your CD32 are as follows: 25-pin Parallel port: functionally indistinguishable from an Amiga or SX-1 parallel port. Use your CD32 for Parnet or printing. 25-pin Serial port: functionally indistinguishable from an Amiga serial port, and superior to my mind than the SX-1's serial port, which is 9-pin. 25-pin has been the Amiga standard, and I imagine we all have 25-pin serial cables by now. Amiga Floppy connector: functionally indistinguishable from an Amiga or SX-1 external floppy connector. Allows you to boot from floppy or use floppies in conjunction with CD32 games (like Liberation) or from Workbench. RGB Video connector: To my eye, functionally indistinguishable from an Amiga or SX-1 external RGB connector. Designed to plug into a 1084-style monitor. 15-pin VGA Video Connector: Not a scan-doubler, but it duplicates the function of the 23-to-15 pin RGB-to-VGA conversion devices (affectionately called "The Silver Box" at Amiga Report.) Allows you to plug a true multisync monitor directly into the CD32 for games, or to use a VGA monitor under VGA/DBL modes in Workbench. In addition, you get the internal 2.5 inch IDE header, and a single SIMM slot which will accept up to 8 megabytes. (Tested successfully with 4 and 1.) Fast memory is a boon for the acceleration of the CD32, but unfortunately it is not always compatible with CD32 games. Documentation is exceedingly scarce. My Eyetech-provided SX32 came only with installation instructions, not operating instructions. There is an Eyetech-provided HD setup disk, which will install AmigaOS 3.0 from the included CDPD CD-ROM and assist a novice in setting up a hard drive. What's good about the SX32? Well, on its own merits, it offers just about everything a CD32 user needs to make their machine a full-blown Amiga. A new model promises FPU capability as well as the memory expansion. Compared to the SX-1, the installation is extremely sound. The ports are all in the same place, as opposed to the SX-1's 3-sided approach. And nothing should obstruct the original CD32 hardware, unlike the SX-1 which when coupled with a silver box made the power plug a tight fit. (Besides, the VGA adapter replaces the need for the silver box.) What's bad? Well, as a general complaint, Commodore gave 030 boards to its developers, and I'm surprised nobody has followed suit yet. (Paravision and Hi-Tech claimed they would release enhanced SX-1s with 030s, but that hasn't happened.) Installation was a bit more down and dirty than I would have liked...I don't personally mind opening my Amigas, but the CD32 is a pretty rare piece of hardware and I don't know how many people want to poke around in them. And the SX32 is missing two SX-1 features which were exceptionally useful: a PC-keyboard port and a memory-disable switch. While the AUX port is still available for A4000 keyboards (or A2000/3000 keyboards with the included adapter), those keyboards are significantly more expensive than your garden variety PC keyboard. As for the memory disable, since there's no good way to get at the memory in the SX32 without opening your machine, if you want it disabled you'll have to rely on a Degrader-type program. The SX-1 switch was a great benefit at times. Overall, the SX32 is a very good expander for the CD32. It offers a lot that the SX-1 didn't, or didn't implement as well...but not everything. If you've got a spare Amiga keyboard, the SX32 is the clear choice. If not, you may want to think twice about your overall cost. Provided and distributed by: Eyetech Group Ltd. The Old Bank 12 West Green Stokesley North Yorks TS9 5BB United Kingdom ++44 0 1642 713 185 voice ++44 0 1642 713 634 fax eyetech@cix.compulink.co.uk e-mail @endnode @node REVIEW8 "Apollo 1240/40 Accelerator Card Review Part 2" @toc REVIEW =========================================================================== Review: Apollo 1240/40 Accelerator Card Part 2 By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON =========================================================================== Recently, we took a look at the Apollo 1240/40 card. Now it's time to take a look at the numbers. We ran three benchmark routines as well as the AIBB comparison suite. The benchmarks were run with FastExec installed, which moves exec.library to RAM and gives a significant performance increase to the Apollo card. The first test was a raytrace render of the Staircase example from Cinema4D. It was rendered in 320x400 resolution on the following machines: An Amiga Tech A4000T with 14 megs of memory and a standard 3640 040/25 card A Macrosystem Draco with 32 megs of memory and the Draco 060/50 card An A1200 with 10 megs of memory and the Falcon 040/25 card An A1200 with 10 megs of memory and the CyberStorm 060/50 card An A1200 with 10 megs of memory and the Apollo 040/40 card The time breakdown is as follows (in minutes:seconds) Cyberstorm-- 1:26 Apollo-- 2:31 Draco-- 5:05 Falcon-- 5:05 4000T-- 6:01 The Cyberstorm wins the test, as well it should as it is an 060 card. Furthermore, the Cyberstorm was running CyberPatcher, which enhances the FPU performance of a select number of programs (of which Cinema4D is one). The Apollo clocks in with performance far better than that of an 040/25 machine (either the Falcon or the 4000T). It is worth noticing that the Draco under Cinema4D is exactly as fast as the Falcon. We ran this test a number of times with the same result. The answer seems to lie with CyberPatcher saving the day for the Cyberstorm. Draco users do not have a similar recourse. The Apollo, in this application, offers a great deal more performance than anything else in its price class. Moving along to the ImageFX tests, we ran two effects on the included "guy.jpg" picture. The first was the Sobel Edge Detect algorithm, run on the 4000T, the Apollo, and the CyberStorm. The time breakdown here, in seconds.hundredths of seconds: Cyberstorm-- 2.87 Apollo-- 6.63 A4000T-- 10.68 Here, the Apollo is working a great deal faster than the stock 040/25 A4000T but is not on the same pace as the 060/50 Cyberstorm. The final test was run using the Crystallize effect with default settings. Time breakdowns: Cyberstorm-- 3.36 Apollo-- 6.46 4000T-- 10.73 As we saw in the first test, under this particular situation the Apollo performs at better than 50% of the 060 speed. (ImageFX, incidentally, is not currently supported by the version of Cyberpatcher we used) It is also nearly twice as fast as the 4000T. By these standards, then, the Apollo is a significantly speedy card. The AIBB benchmarks offer additional insight as well. By and large, of course, in the comparison between the Cyberstorm 1260, the Apollo, the Falcon, and a 4000T, the Cyberstorm rules the day. But in most tests, the Apollo outperforms its 040 cousins (the Falcon and 4000T) by at least 20% and sometimes over 100%. The MemTest, in particular, is won by the Apollo, with the 4000T's poor memory system rating only 22% of the Apollo's score. Some graphically-oriented tests are fastest on the Apollo as well, notably the WritePixel and EllipseTest. But overall, the CyberStorm 060 outscores the Apollo on most intense-mathematics tests, usually at a level of 50-125%, with the 040/25 machines far behind. There are a couple of concerns with the Apollo. One is the lack of disable option for pesky software that is not 040-friendly. The other is the fact that towards the end of our tests here at AR, the Apollo fan failed, making it difficult to complete our tests. This may of course just be an isolated case. The Apollo is retailing for well under US$500 these days, which in comparison to other 040 options (the overpriced Falcon), slower 030 options (which can reach over $300), and the high-end 060 choices (at least US$800), is a good performance/price choice. If you're looking for a serious (but not end-all be-all) speed increase and are opposed to the concept of spending more than you bought your 1200 for just to speed it up, the Apollo is worth a serious look. Provided for review by Datakompaniet Datakompaniet AS Trondheim Innovation Centre N-7030 Trondheim Norway +47 7354 0375 voice +47 7354 3861 fax datakompaniet@interlink.no e-mail http://www.interlink.no/datakompaniet (accepting online orders) @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 is also available on the WWW! Some of the mirror sites include a mail form, allowing you to mail to Amiga Report from the web site and some also include a search engine allowing you to search recent issues for specific topics and keywords (if your browser has forms capability). Simply tell your browser to open one of the following URLs (pick a location nearest you for the best performance): Australia http://ArtWorks.apana.org.au/AmigaReport.html http://www.deepwoods.saccii.net.au/ar/menu.html http://www.livewire.com.au/amiga/cucug/ar/ar.html (w/search and mail) http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~pec/amiga.html Germany http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/amiga/ar/ Greece http://www.acropolis.net/clubs/amiga/amigareport/ Hungary http://mm.iit.uni-miskolc.hu/Data/AR Italy http://www.vol.it/mirror/amiga/ar/ar.html Poland http://www.pwr.wroc.pl/AMIGA/AR/ Sweden http://www.lysator.liu.se/amiga/ar/ United Kingdom http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~gowdy/Amiga/AmigaReport/ http://www.iprom.com/amigaweb/amiga.html/ar/ar.html (w/search and mail) http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/kcci1 USA http://www.cucug.org/ar/ar.html (w/search and mail) http://www.omnipresence.com/Amiga/News/AR/ Additional Amiga information can also be accessed at this URL: http://www.cucug.org/amiga.html Mosaic for the Amiga can be found on Aminet in directory comm/net, or (using anonymous ftp) on max.physics.sunysb.edu @endnode @node COPYRIGHT "Copyright Information" @toc ABOUT =========================================================================== Amiga Report International Online Magazine September 23, 1996 Issue No. 4.12 Copyright 1996 FS Publications All Rights Reserved =========================================================================== Views, Opinions and Articles presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors and staff of Amiga Report International Online Magazine or of FS Publications. Permission to reprint articles is hereby denied, unless otherwise noted. All reprint requests should be directed to the editor. Amiga Report and/or portions therein may not be edited in any way without prior written permission. However, translation into a language other than English is acceptible, provided the editor is notified beforehand and the original meaning is not altered. Amiga Report may be distributed on privately owned not-for-profit bulletin board systems (fees to cover cost of operation are acceptable), and major online services such as (but not limited to) Delphi and Portal. Distribution on public domain disks is acceptable provided proceeds are only to cover the cost of the disk (e.g. no more than $5 US). CD-ROM compilers should contact the editor. Distribution on for-profit magazine cover disks requires written permission from the editor. Amiga Report is a not-for-profit publication. Amiga Report, at the time of publication, is believed reasonably accurate. Amiga Report, its staff and contributors are not and cannot be held responsible for the use or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained there from. Amiga Report is not affiliated with Escom AG or VIScorp. All items quoted in whole or in part are done so under the Fair Use Provision of the Copyright Laws of the United States Penal Code. Any Electronic Mail sent to the editors may be reprinted, in whole or in part, without any previous permission of the author, unless said electronic mail is specifically requested not to be reprinted. =========================================================================== @endnode @node GUIDELINE "Amiga Report Writing Guidelines" @toc ABOUT =========================================================================== Amiga Report Writing Guidelines =========================================================================== The three most important requirements for submissions to Amiga Report are: 1. Please use English. 2. Please use paragraphs. It's hard on the eyes to have solid screens of text. If you don't know where to make a paragraph break, guess. 3. Please put a blank line in between paragraphs. It makes formatting the magazine much much easier. 4. Please send us your article in ASCII format. Note: If you want to check ahead of time to make sure we'll print your article, please write to the @{"Editor" link JASON}. Please stipulate as well if you wish to retain copyright or hand it over to the editor. @endnode @node EDITORCHOICE "Editor's Choice" @toc COMMERCIAL =========================================================================== Editor's Choice =========================================================================== These are selected products, reviewed by myself, that I've liked. So, I've landed them and decided to sell them. All prices are in $US. John McDonough's The Music Maker, a Contemporary New Age CD composed on the Amiga, is available through Amiga Report. The crisp, clean sounds and calm melodies present a welcome alternative to many pounding alternatives. Available for US$12.00 plus $3 shipping in the US. Non-US orders, please contact before ordering. Check or money order accepted addressed to @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}, shipments made by the artist. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Issue | Approximate | Amiga Report | | Product | Reviewed | Retail Price | Reader Price | ---------------------------------|----------|--------------|--------------| | | | | | |GPFax Amiga Fax Software | 2.30 | $100.00 | $60.00 | | (Class 1 and 2) | | | | | | | | | |Micro R+D CD-ROM Volume 1 | 2.25 | $69.00 | $30.00 | | (Includes early Transition | | | | | graphics converter and loads| | | | | of artwork) | | | | | | | | | |Micro R+D CD-ROM Volume 2 | 2.26 | $99.95 | $46.75 | | (Includes entire Nature's | | | | | Backdrop series) | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Orders may be placed via check, money order, or postal cheque, made out to Jason Compton. Visa/Mastercard accepted via post or E-Mail. No CODs. Mail all orders to @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}. Orders will be processed by Amiga Report and drop-shipped from Micro R+D. In the US, add $5/$10/$20 for UPS shipping, ground/blue/red label, respectively. Overseas: It is recommended that you consider $20 to be the minimum cost for shipping. If you plan to order more than one item, E-mail for shipping cost. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sidewinder's Future Shock II CD is now available through Amiga Report. Featuring 15 Amiga-generated tunes totalling 71 minutes, Eric Gieseke's work is captured on an Amiga-independent media. Available for US$12.00. Please add $5 for shipping. Make check or money order payable to @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}. Orders will be drop-shipped from Sidewinder Productions. For overseas orders, please contact through E-Mail before ordering. @endnode @node PORTAL "CalWeb" @toc ONLINE =========================================================================== CalWeb: The Home of the Amiga Zone! =========================================================================== AMIGA ZONE MOVES TO CALWEB! THE AMIGA ZONE MOVES FROM PORTAL TO CALWEB INTERNET SERVICES For over ten years the Amiga Zone has been an online resource, home, community, oasis, for Amiga owners. For over ten years I've made my living running the Zone and supporting Amiga users all over the USA, Canada, and the world. Five years ago when American People/Link pulled their own plug, we had to find the Zone a new home and we found a good one on the Portal Online System. Well, it's happened again.. Portal has informed all of its customers that its ten year history as an online service and Internet provider is coming to an end on Sept. 30, 1996. This is very sad, it's short-notice, and the decision is completely out of my control, but it's also irreversible. Portal is changing its entire business plan from being an ISP to selling an accounting system to other online services. So be it. It's sad, but like I said, the Zone went through this before and now we'll go through it again, and come out the other side better and wiser. THE AMIGA ZONE IS MOVING TO CALWEB INTERNET SERVICES. CalWeb (http://www.calweb.com) is a two year old Internet provider located in Sacramento, CA. It has a good sized customer base, and very knowledgeable support staff. It's also run by a long time Amiga owner who has been a friend of mine for many years. The world of modeming has changed much in the last ten years. In 1985 you had very few choices and you had 1200 baud. These days, everyone and his dog has an ISP running and a web page But the vast majority of those providers don't know an Amiga from a hole in the ground, and could care less about Amiga owners. Say "AWeb" or "IBrowse" to them and they'll say "Omega? Amoeba? What? Huh? They still make those things?" CalWeb is different because it's the new home of the Amiga Zone. In October 1996, a new custom front-end menued system will be added to CalWeb to host the Zone. It'll have features for Zone users that neither Plink nor Portal ever had nor were they willing to add. The tradition of a friendly online Amiga community, run by long time Amiga owners, users and lovers will continue. Message bases, huge file libraries (we plan to move over the 20,000+ files we have on the Zone on Portal to CalWeb, MANY of which you'll never see on Aminet or anywhere else), live nightly chats, vendor support and our famous prize contests will continue. We've given away tens of thousands of dollars worth of Amiga prizes in the last ten years. No one else even comes close. I urge any and all of you who were on Plink, or who are now on Portal or who may have left Portal.. or even if you were never on either but used or still use another online service to join CalWeb for the Amiga Zone. I personally promise you the best online Amiga community we can possibly build. You will not be disappointed. CalWeb has arranged a special signup offer for you! Call: 1-800-509-9322 or 1-916-641-9320 or telnet to calweb.com, login as "guest", and follow the prompts. You can join CalWeb for US$19.95 flat, a month. CalWeb takes major credit cards or you can establish a monthly invoiced account if you don't have plastic. The signup is FREE. To get this deal you must say "THE AMIGA ZONE SENT ME" when you call or signup online. I hope to see lots of you join CalWeb. You can telnet into it from anywhere for no hourly charges at all. Your $19.95/mo fee covers everything and also gets you ten meg of storage which includes hosting your own personal web page. Naturally, when the Zone opens there, you'll have unlimited use of all of its features and areas. Never a "money meter" clock to worry about. Your personal or business CalWeb Web pages are maintained by you via FTP. It's pretty slick. You can make a net connection to the server with any Amiga FTP client, put your files onto it, the permissions are automatically set (no "chmod-ing" required!) and flip to your running browser and see the changes instantly. The Amiga Zone's new home is already up at: http://www.amigazone.com running on CalWeb's server. Ckeck it out! Please feel free to write to me at harv@amigazone.com or harv@cup.portal.com if you want more information. Remember to say "THE AMIGA ZONE SENT ME!" when you join. A splendid time is guaranteed for all. Please plan to join us in the Amiga Zone on CalWeb! @endnode @node BBS_ASIA "Distribution BBSes - Asia" @toc BBS =========================================================================== Distribution BBSes - Asia =========================================================================== -=JAPAN=- * GIGA SONIC FACTOR * Email: kfr01002@niftyserve.or.jp +81-(0)564-55-4864 @endnode @node BBS_AUSTRALASIA "Distribution BBSes - Australasia" @toc BBS =========================================================================== Distribution BBSes - Australasia =========================================================================== -=NEW ZEALAND=- * BITSTREAM BBS * FidoNET 3:771/850.0 AmigaNET 41:644/850.0 +64-(0)3-548-5321 -=VICTORIA=- * NORTH WEST AMIGA BBS * EMail: mozza@nwamiga.apana.org.au Fido: 3:633/265.0 BBS Phone/Fax: +61 3 9331 2831 USR Courier V.Everything @endnode @node BBS_EUROPE "Distribution BBSes - Europe" @toc BBS =========================================================================== Distribution BBSes - Europe =========================================================================== -=FINLAND=- * HANG UP BBS * Email: helpdesk@hangup.dystopia.fi (telnetable site) +358 - 09 - 278 8054 * LAHO BBS * +358-64-414 1516 +358-64-414 0400 +358-64-414 6800 +358-64-423 1300 * KINDERGARTEN * Email: matthias.bartosik@hut.fi +358-0-881 32 36 -=FRANCE=- * DYNAMIX BBS * Email: erlsoft@mcom.mcom.fr +33.1.48.89.96.66 Minitel to Modem * RAMSES THE AMIGA FLYING * Internet: user.name@ramses.fdn.org Fidonet: 2/320/104-105-106 +33-1-45845623 +33-1-53791200 -=GERMANY=- * DOOM OF DARKNESS * Email: marc_doerre@doom.ping.de +49 (0)4223 8355 19200 AR-Infoservice, contact Kai Szymanski kai@doom.gun.de * IMAGINE BBS * Email: Sysop@imagine.commo.mcnet.de +49-69-4304948 Login: GAST (Download area: "Amiga-Report") * LEGUANS BYTE CHANNEL * Usenet: andreas@lbcmbx.in-berlin.de 49-30-8110060 49-30-8122442 Login as User: "amiga", Passwd: "report" * REDEYE BBS * Internet: sysop@coolsurf.de Modem/ISDN: +49-89.54662690 Modem only:+49.89.54662680 * STINGRAY DATABASE * EMail: sysop@sting-db.zer.sub.org.dbp.de +49 208 496807 * VISION THING BBS * ++49(0)345 663914 System Password: Amiga -=GREECE=- * HELLAS ON LINE * EMail: cocos@prometheus.hol.gr Telnet: hellas.hol.gr ++301/ 620-6001, 620-6604, 620-9500 * ODYSSEY BBS * email: odyssey@acropolis.net Amiganet: 39:250/1.0 ++301-4123502 23.00-09.00 Local Time http://www.acropolis.net/~konem/odygb.html -=IRELAND=- * FWIBBLE! * Fidonet: 2:263/900.0 E-Mail: 9517693@ul.ie Phone: +353-902-36124 Midnight to 8am (GMT) Freq "Readme.txt" for details -=ITALY=- * AMIGA PROFESSIONAL BBS * Amy Professional Club, Italian Amos Club +(39)-49-604488 * AMIPRO BBS* AR and AMINET distributor +39-49604488 * FRANZ BBS * EMsil: mc3510@mclink.it +39/6/6627667 * IDCMP * Fidonet 2:322/405 +39-542-25983 * SPEED OF LIFE * FidoNet 2:335/533 AmigaNet 39:102/12 The AMIGA Alchemists' BBS +39-931-833773 -=NETHERLANDS=- * AMIGA ONLINE BS HEEMSTEDE * Fidonet: 2:280/464.0, 2:280/412.0 Internet: michiel@aobh.xs4all.nl +31-23-282002 +31-23-470739 * THE HELL BBS * Fido-Net : 2:281/418.0 e-mail : root@hell.xs4all.nl +31-(0)70-3468783 * TRACE BBS GRONINGEN * FidoNET 2:282/529.0 Internet Martin@trace.idn.nl +31-(0)-50-410143 * X-TREME BBS * Internet: u055231@vm.uci.kun.nl +31-167064414 -=NORWAY=- * FALLING BBS * EMail: christon@powertech.no +47 69 256117 -=POLAND=- * SILVER DREAM!'S BBS * SysOp: Silver Dream +48 91 540431 -=PORTUGAL=- * CIUA BBS * FidoNet 2:361/9 Internet: denise.ci.ua.pt +351-34-382080/382081 -=RUSSIA=- * NEW ORDER BBS * E-Mail: norder@norder.spb.su FidoNet: 2:5030/221.0 +7-812-2909561 -=SPAIN=- * GURU MEDITATION * +34-1-383-1317 * LA MITAD OSCURA * E-Mail: jovergon@offcampus.es Fido: 2:341/35.19 +34-1-3524613 * MAZAGON - BBS - SYSTEMS * E-mail: jgomez@maze.mazanet.es FTP: ftp-mail@ftp.mazanet.es +34 59 536267 Login: a-report -=SWEDEN=- * CICERON * E-mail: a1009@itv.se +46 612 22011 -=TURKIYE=- * NEEDFUL THINGS * E-Mail: Erdinc.Corbaci@beygir.bbs.tr 90-216-3629417 -=UKRAINE=- * AMIGA HOME BBZ * E-Mail: Oleg.Khimich@bbs.te.net.ua FidoNet: 2:467/88.0 +380-482-325043 -=UNITED KINGDOM=- * AMIGA JUNCTION 9 * Internet: sysadmin@junct9.demon.co.uk FidoNet: 2:440/20 +44 (0)372 271000 * CREATIONS BBS * E-Mail: mat@darkside.demon.co.uk 2:254/524@Fidonet +44-0181-665-9887 * DRAUGHTFLOW BBS * Email: Ian_Cooper@draught.demon.co.uk +44 (01707) 328484 * METNET CCS * Email: metnet@demon.co.uk FidoNet: 2:2502/129.0 2:2502/130.0 +44-1482-442251 +44-1482-444910 * OCTAMED USER BBS * EMail: rbfsoft@cix.compulink.co.uk +44 (01703) 703446 * SCRATCH BBS * EMail: kcci1@solx1.susx.ac.uk Official Super Skidmarks site +44-1273-389267 @endnode @node BBS_NAMERICA "Distribution BBSes - North America" @toc BBS =========================================================================== Distribution BBSes - North America =========================================================================== -=ARIZONA=- * MESSENGER OF THE GODS BBS * mercury@primenet.com 602-326-1095 -=BRITISH COLUMBIA=- * COMM-LINK BBS * EMail: steve_hooper@comm.tfbbs.wimsey.com Fido: 1:153/210.0 604-945-6192 -=CALIFORNIA=- * TIERRA-MIGA BBS * FidoNet: 1:202/638.0 Internet: torment.cts.com 619.292.0754 * VIRTUAL PALACE BBS * Sysop Email: tibor@ecst.csuchico.edu 916-343-7420 * AMIGA AND IBM ONLY BBS * EMail: vonmolk@crash.cts.com AmigaNET: 40:406/7.0 (619)428-4887 -=FLORIDA=- * LAST! AMIGA BBS * (305) 456-0126 -=ILLINOIS=- * EMERALD KEEP BBS * FidoNet: 1:2250/2 AmigaNet: 40:206/1 618-394-0065 * PHANTOM'S LAIR * FidoNet: 1:115/469.0 Phantom Net Coordinator: 11:1115/0.0-11:1115/1.0 708-469-9510 708-469-9520 * STARSHIP CUCUG * Email: khisel@prairienet.org (217)356-8056 * THE STYGIAN ABYSS BBS * FIDONet-1:115/384.0 312-384-0616 312-384-6250 (FREQ line) -=LOUISIANA=- * The Catacomb * E-mail: Geoff148@delphi.com 504-882-6576 -=MAINE=- * THE KOBAYASHI ALTERNATIVE BBS * FidoNet: 1:326/404.0 (207)/784-2130 (207)/946-5665 ftp.tka.com for back issues of AR -=MEXICO=- * AMIGA BBS * FidoNet 4:975/7 (5) 887-3080 * AMIGA SERVER BBS * 5158736 * TERCER PLANETA BBS * FX Network 800:525/1 [525]-606-2162 -=MISSISSIPPI=- * THE GATEWAY BBS * InterNet: stace@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil FidoNet: 1:3604/60.0 601-374-2697 -=MICHIGAN=- * DC PRODUCTIONS * Email: dcpro!chetw@heifetz.msen.com 616-373-0287 -=NEVADA=- * PUP-TEK BBS * EMail: darkwolf@accessnv.com 702-553-2403 -=NEW JERSEY=- * T.B.P. VIDEO SLATE * 201-586-3623 * DLTACOM AMIGA BBS * Internet: dltacom.camphq.fidonet.org Fidonet: 1:2606/216.0 (201) 398-8559 -=NEW YORK=- * THE BELFRY(!) * stiggy@belfry.org 718.793.4796 718.793.4905 http://www.belfry.org/ -=ONTARIO=- * COMMAND LINE BBS * 416-533-8321 * CYBERSPACE * joehick@ophielia.waterloo.net (519) 579-0072 (519) 579-0173 * EDGE OF REALITY BBS * EMail: murray.smith@er.gryn.org Fido: 1:244/320.0 (905)578-5048 -=QUEBEC=- * CLUB AMIGA DE QUEBEC * Internet: snaclaq@megatoon.com Voice: (418) 666-5969 (418) 666-4146 (418) 666-6960 Nom d'usager: AMREPORT Mot de passe: AMIGA * GfxBase BBS* E-mail: ai257@freenet.hsc.colorado.edu Fidonet: 1:167/192 514-769-0565 -=TENNESSEE=- * AMIGA CENTRAL! * Email: root@amicent.raider.net 615-383-9679 * NOVA BBS * FidoNet 1:362/508.0 615-472-9748 -=VIRGINIA=- * NETWORK XXIII DATA SYSTEM * EMail: gottfrie@acca.nmsu.edu 804-266-1763 Login: anon Password: nopass -=WASHINGTON=- * FREELAND MAINFRAME * Internet - freemf.wa.com (360)412-0228 * PIONEERS BBS * FidoNet: 1:343/54.0 206-775-7983 Login: Long Distance Password: longdistance Or FREQ: AR.lha @endnode @node BBS_SAMERICA "Distribution BBSes - South America" @toc BBS =========================================================================== Distribution BBSes - South America =========================================================================== -=BRAZIL=- * AMIGA DO PC BBS * Fidonet: 4:801/44 Internet: fimoraes@dcc.unicamp.br +55-192-33-2260 Weekdays: 19-07 (-3 GMT) Weekends: 24 hours @endnode @node DEAL_ASIA "Dealers - Asia" @toc DEALER =========================================================================== Dealers - Asia =========================================================================== -=JAPAN=- Grey Matter Ltd. 1-22-3,Minami Magome HillTop House 2F suite 201 Ota-ku,Tokyo 143 Tel:+81 (0)3 5709-5549 Fax:+81 (0)3 5709-1907 BBS: +81 (0)3 5709-1907 Email: nighty@gmatter.japan-online.or.jp @endnode @node DEAL_AUSTRALASIA "Dealers - Australasia" @toc DEALER =========================================================================== Dealers - Australasia =========================================================================== -=QUEENSLAND=- Image Domain 92 Bridge St Fortitude Valley, Brisbane E-mail: imagedomain@msn.com Voice: 617-3216-1240 Fax: 617-3852-2720 Synapse Computers 190 Riding Road Hawthorne, Brisbane 4171 Voice/Fax: +61 7-3899-0980 -=NEW SOUTH WALES=- Amiga Genius 826 Hunter St. Newcastle West, NSW 2302 Ph: +61 49 623-222 Fax: +61 49 623-583 E-Mail: cdgtb@hunterlink.net.au Unitech Electronics Pty. Ltd. / Maverick Amiga 8B Tummul Place St. Andrews, Sydney 2566 Voice: +61 2 9820 3555 Fax: +61 2 9603 8685 -=NEW ZEALAND=- CompKarori LG/F Karori Shopping Mall Karori, Wellington Tel/Fax: +64 4 476-0212 Email: sales@compkarori.co.nz @endnode @node DEAL_EUROPE "Dealers - Europe" @toc DEALER =========================================================================== Dealers - Europe =========================================================================== -=AUSTRIA=- A.R.T. Computeranimation Ges.m.b.H. Feldstrasse 13 3300 Amstetten Tel: +43 7472/63566-0 Fax: +43 7472/63566-6 Solaris Computec Ges.m.b.H. Mariahilfpark 1 A-6020 Innsbruck Tel: ++43-512/272724 Fax: ++43-512/272724-2 EMail: solaris@computec.co.at -=BELGIUM=- AVM Technology Rue de Rotheux, 279 B-4100 Seraing Voice: +32 (0)41 38.16.06 Fax: +32 (0)41 38.15.69 Email: defraj@mail.interpac.be CLICK! N.V. Boomsesteenweg 468 B-2610 Wilrijk - Antwerpen VOICE: +32 (0)3 828.18.15 FAX: +32 (0)3 828.67.36 INTERNET: vanhoutv@nbre.nfe.be FIDO: 2:292/603.9 -=BULGARIA=- KlubVerband ITA Gmbh 1309 Sofia P.F.13, KukushStr. 1-2 Tel: +359-2-221471 Fax: +359-2-230062 Email: KVITA@VIRBUS.BG Contact: Dr. ING B. Pavlov -=DENMARK=- Data Service Att. Soren Petersen Kaerhaven2a 2th 6400 Sonderborg Phone/Fax: +45 74 43 17 36 EMail: sorpe-95@sdbg.ih.dk Nemesis Amy BBS EMail: boersting@hoa.ping.dk Fido: 2:238/43 USR 33k6 V.E. +45 75-353726 -=FINLAND=- Lincware Computers Ltd Lovkullankuja 3 10300 KARJAA Voice: +358-50-5573696 Fax: +358-11-231511 EMail: linctech@freenet.hut.fi -=FRANCE=- ASCII Informatique 10 Rue de Lepante 06000 NICE Tel: (33) 93 13 08 66 Fax: (33) 93 13 90 95 Quartz Infomatique 2 bis, avenue de Brogny F-74000 ANNECY Tel./Fax (automatique): +33 50.52.83.31 E-Mail: tcp@imaginet.fr -=GERMANY=- AMItech Systems GmbH Ludwigstrasse 4 D-95028 Hof/Saale VOICE: +49 9281 142812 FAX: +49 9281 142712 EMail: bsd@blacky.netz.sub.de dcp, desing+commercial partner GmbH Alfredstr. 1 D-22087 Hamburg Tel.: + 49 40 251176 Fax: +49 40 2518567 EMail: info@dcp.de WWW: http://www.dcp.de Hartmann & Riedel GdbR Hertzstr. 33 D-76287 Rheinstetten EMail: rick@p22.aop.schiele-ct.de Fido: 2:2476/12.22 Voice: +49 (7242) 2021 Fax: +49 (7242) 5909 Please call before visiting, or we may be closed. Hirsch & Wolf OHG Mittelstra_e 33 D-56564 Neuwied Voice: +49 (2631) 8399-0 Fax: +49 (2631) 8399-31 Pro Video Elektronik Roßmarkt 38 D-63739 Aschaffenburg Tel: (49) 6021 15713 Fax: (49) 6021 15713 -=ITALY=- C.A.T.M.U. snc Casella Postale 63 10023 Chieri (TO) Tel/Fax: +39 11 9415237 EMail: fer@inrete.it (Ferruccio Zamuner) Fido: 2:334/21.19 Cloanto Italia srl Via G. B. Bison 24 33100 Udine Tel: +39 432 545902 Fax: +39 432 609051 E-Mail: info@cloanto.com http://www.cloanto.com -=NETHERLANDS=- Chaos Systems Watermolen 18 NL-1622 LG Hoorn (NH) Voice: +31-(0)229-233922 Fax/Data: +31-(0)229-TBA E-mail: marioh@fwi.uva.nl WWW: http://gene.fwi.uva.nl/~marioh/ -=SPAIN=- Amiga Center Argullós, 127 08016 Barcelona Tel: (93) 276 38 06 Fax: (93) 276 30 80 Amiga Center Alicante Segura, 27 03004 Alicante Tel: (96) 514 37 34 Audio Vision San Jose, 53 Gijon (Asturias) Tel. (98) 535 24 79 Centro Informático Boadilla Convento, 6 28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid) Tel: (91) 632 27 65 Fax: (91) 632 10 99 Centro Mail Tel: (91) 380 28 92 C.R.E. San Francisco, 85 48003 Bilbao (Vizcaya) Tel: (94) 444 98 84 Fax: (94) 444 98 84 Donosti Frame Avda. de Madrid, 15 20011 San Sebastián (Guipuzcoa) Tel: (943) 42 07 45 Fax: (943) 42 45 88 Eurobit Informatica C/. Gral. Garcia de la Herran, 4 11100 - San Fernando Cadiz Tel/Fax: (956) 896375 GaliFrame Galerías Príncipe, 22 Vigo (Pontevedra) Tel: (986) 22 89 94 Fax: (986) 22 89 94 Invision San Isidro, 12-18 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) Tel: (91) 676 20 56/59 Fax: (91) 656 10 04 Invision Salamanca, 53 46005 Valencia Tel: (96) 395 02 43/44 Fax: (96) 395 02 44 Norsoft Bedoya, 4-6 32003 Orense Tel: (988) 24 90 46 Fax: (988) 23 42 07 PiXeLSOFT Felipe II, 3bis 34004 Palencia Tel: (979) 71 27 00 Fax: (979) 71 28 28 Tu Amiga Ordinadors C/ Progreso, 6 08120 La LLagosta (Barcelona) Tel: +34-3-5603604 Fax: +34-3-5603607 vb soft Provenza, 436 08025 Barcelona Tel: (93) 456 15 45 Fax: (93) 456 15 45 -=NORWAY=- DataKompaniet ANS Trondheim Innovation Centre Prof. Brochs gt. 6 N-7030 Trondheim Tel: +47 7354 0375 Fax: +47 7394 3861 EMail:datakompaniet@interlink.no WWW:http://www.interlink.no/datakompaniet Sezam Software Ulsmĺgveien 11a N-5o5o Nesttun Tel/Fax: +47 55100070 (9-20) ABBS: +47 55101730 (24t) Email: oleksy@telepost.no -=SWEDEN=- DataVision Box 1305 753 11 Uppsala Street Address: Sysslomansgatan 9 Orders: +46 (0)18-123400 Shop: +46 (0)18-124009 Fax: +46 (0)18-100650 -=UNITED KINGDOM=- Almathera Systems Ltd Southerton House / Boundary Business Court 92-94 Church Road Mitcham, Surrey / CR4 3TD VOICE: (UK) 081 687 0040 FAX: (UK) 081 687 0490 Sales: almathera@cix.compulink.co.uk Tech: jralph@cix.compulink.co.uk Brian Fowler Computers Ltd 90 South Street / Exeter Devon / EX1 1EN Voice: (01392) 499 755 Fax: (01392) 493 393 Internet: brian_fowler@cix.compulink.co.uk Computer Magic Unit 8 / Freemans Yard Doncaster Road / Barnsley / S71 1QH Tel: 01226 218255 / 0378 425281 Visage Computers 27 Watnall Road Hucknall / Nottingham Tel: +44 (0)115 9642828 Tel/Fax: +44 (0)115 9642898 EMail: visage@innotts.co.uk @endnode @node DEAL_NAMERICA "Dealers - North America" @toc DEALER =========================================================================== Dealers - North America =========================================================================== -=CANADA=- Animax Multimedia, Inc. Willow Tree Tower 6009 Quinpool Road, Suite 802 Halifax, Nova Scotia B3K 5J7 Ph: (902) 429-1921 Fax: (902) 429-1923 EMail: info@animax.com http://www.animax.com/ APC Computer Services 402-5 Tangreen Crt Willowdale, Ont. M2M 3Z1 Voice/Fax: (416) 733-1434 EMail: shadow@interlog.com WWW: www.interlog.com/~shadow/apccomp.html Atlantis Kobetek Inc. 1496 Lower Water St. Halifax, NS / B3J 1R9 Phone: (902)-422-6556 Fax: (902)-423-9339 E-mail: atkobetek@ra.isisnet.com Atlas Computers & Consulting - Derek Davlut 400 Telstar Avenue Suite 701 Sudbury, ON / P3E 5V7 Phone: (705) 522-1923 Fax: (705) 522-1923 EMail: s2200147@nickel.laurentian.ca CineReal Pro-Video 272 Avondale Avenue Ottawa, Ontario K1Z 7G8 Phone/Fax: (613) 798-8150 (Call first to fax) EMail: cinereal@proton.com Computer Shop of Calgary, Ltd. 3515 - 18th Street S.W. Calgary, Alberta T2T 4T9 Ph. 1-403-243-4358 Fx: 1-403-243-2684 Email: austin@canuck.com WWW: http://www.canuck.com/cshop Computerology Direct Powell River, BC V8A-4Z3 Call 24 hrs. orders/inquiries: 604/483-3679 Amiga users ask for HEAD SALES REP for quicker response! Comspec Communications Inc 74 Wingold Ave Toronto, Ontario M6B 1P5 Computer Centre: (416) 785-8348 Sales: (416) 785-3553 Fax: 416-785-3668 Internet: bryanf@comcorp.comspec.com, bryanf@accesspt.north.net ElectroMike Inc. 1375 Boul. Charest Ouest Quebec, Quebec G1N2E7 Tel: (418) 681-4138, (800) 463-1501 Fax: (418) 681-5880 Forest Diskasaurus 35 Albert St., P.O.Box 84 Forest, Ontario N0N 1J0 Tel/Fax: 519-786-2454 EMail: saurus@xcelco.on.ca GfxBase Electronique, Inc 1727 Shevchenko Montreal, Quebec Voice: 514-367-2575 Fax: 514-367-5265 BBS: 514-769-0565 Le Groupe PowerLand 630 Champagne Rosemere, Quebec J7A 4K9 Voice: 514-893-6296 Fax/BBS: 514-965-7295 Email: mchabot@nationalnet.com National Amiga Oakville, Ontario Fax: 905-845-3295 EMail: gscott@interlog.com WWW: http://www.interlog.com/~gscott/NationalAmiga.html Oby's Amigo Computing Shop 765 Barrydowne Rd Sudbury, Ontario P3A 3T6 Voice/Fax: (705)524-5826 Email: obys@vianet.on.ca http://icewall.vianet.on.ca/pages/obys Randomize Computers R.R. #2 Tottenham, Ont. L0G 1W0 vox: 905-939-8371 fax: 905-939-8745 email: randomize@interlog.com www: www.interlog.com/~randomize/ Software Supermart 11010 - 101 Street Edmonton, Alberta T5H-2T1 Voice: (403) 425-0691 Fax: (403) 426-1701 EMail: ssmart@planet.eon.net SpectrumTech Electronics 412-1205 Fennell Avenue East Hamilton, ON L8T 1T1 Voice: (905) 388-9575 BBS: (905) 388-2542 E-Mail: ste@spectrum.gryn.org Contact: Derek Clarke Wonder Computers Ottawa Retail Store 1315 Richmond Road Ottawa, Ontario K2B 8J7 Voice: (613) 721-1800 Fax: 613-721-6992 Wonder Computers Vancouver Sales Office 2229 Edinburgh St. New Westminster, BC W3M 2Y2 (604) 524-2151 voice young monkey studios 797 Mitchell Street Fredericton, NB E3B 3S8 Phone: (506) 459-7088 Fax: (506) 459-7099 EMail: sales@youngmonkey.ca -=UNITED STATES=- A&D Computer 211 South St. Milford, NH 03055-3743 Voice/Fax: 603-672-4700 BBS: 603-673-2788 Internet: amiga@mv.mv.com Alex Electronics 597 Circlewood Dr. Paradise, CA 95969 Voice: 916-872-0896 BBS: 915-872-3711 EMail: alex@ecst.csuchico.edu WWW: http://www.km-cd.com/~alex/ Amigability Computers P.O. Box 572 Plantsville, CT 06479 VOICE: 203-276-8175 Internet: caldi@pcnet.com Amiga-Crossing PO Box 12A Cumberland Center, ME 04021 VOICE: (800) 498-3959 (Maine only) VOICE: (207) 829-3959 FAX: (207) 829-3522 Internet: amiga-x@tka.com Amiga Library Services 610 Alma School Rd, #18 Chandler, Az 85224-3687 Voice: (800) 804-0833 Fax: (602) 491-0048 E-Mail: orders@amigalib.com Amiga Video Solutions 1568 Randolph Avenue St. Paul, MN 55105 Voice: 612-698-1175 Fax: 612-224-3823 BBS: 612-698-1918 Net: wohno001@maroon.tc.umn.edu Applied Multimedia Inc. 89 Northill St. Stamford, CT 06907 VOICE: (203) 348-0108 Apogee Technologies 1851 University Parkway Sarasota, FL 34243 VOICE: 813-355-6121 Portal: Apogee Internet: Apogee@cup.portal.com Armadillo Brothers 753 East 3300 South Salt Lake City, Utah VOICE: 801-484-2791 Internet: B.GRAY@genie.geis.com Computer Advantage 7370 Hickman Road Des Moines, IA 50322 Voice/Fax: 515-252-6167 Internet: Number1@netins.net Computer Concepts 18001 Bothell-Everett Hwy, Suite "0" Bothell, WA 98012 VOICE: (206) 481-3666 Computer Link 6573 middlebelt Garden City MI 48135 Voice: 313-522-6005 Fax: 313-522-3119 clink@m-net.arbornet.org The Computer Source 515 Kings Highway East Fairfield, CT 06432 Voice: (203) 336-3100 Fax: (203) 335-3259 Computers International, Inc. 5415 Hixson Pike Chattanooga, TN 37343 VOICE: 615-843-0630 Computerwise Computers 3006 North Main Logan, UT 84322 Concord Computer Solutions 2745 Concord Blvd. Suite 5 Concord, CA 94519 Orders: 1-888-80-AMIGA Info/Tech: 510-680-0143 BBS/Fax: 510-680-4987 Email: moxley@value.net http://www.ccompsol.com/ CyberTech Labs PO Box 56941 North Pole, Alaska 99705 Vox: (907) 451-3285 BBS1 : (907) 488-2547 BBS2 & Fax: (907) 488-2647 EMail: 71516.600@CompuServe.com Fido: 1:355/17.0 DC Productions 218 Stockbridge Avenue Kalamazoo, MI 49001 (616)373-1985 (800)9DC-PROD Email: dcpro!chetw@heifetz.msen.com Digital Arts 1321 North Walnut P.O. Box 5206 Bloomington, IN 47807-5206 VOICE: (812)330-0124 FAX: (812)330-0126 BIX: msears Digital Castle 4046 Hubbell Ave. Suite 155 Des Moines, IA 50317-4434 Voice: (515) 266-5098 EMail: Sheep@netins.net Electronic Connection 635 Penn Ave West Reading, PA 19611 Phone: 610-372-1010 Fax: 610-378-0996 HHH Enterprises PO Box 10 Hartwood, VA 22471 Contact: Tom Harmon Voice: (540) 752-2100 Email: ko4ox@erols.com HT Electronics E-Mail: HT Electronics@cup.portal.com BIX: msears 422 S. Hillview Dr. 211 Lathrop Way, Ste. A. Milipitas, CA 95035 Sacramento, CA 95815 V: (408) 934-7700 V: (916) 925-0900 F: (408) 934-7717 F: (916) 925-2829 Industrial Video, Inc. 1601 North Ridge Rd. Lorain, OH 44055 VOICE: 800-362-6150, 216-233-4000 Contact: John Gray Internet: af741@cleveland.freenet.edu Kipp Visual Systems 360-C Christopher Ave. Gaithersburg Md, 20878 301-670-7906 kipp@rasputin.umd.edu Krulewich Enterprises 554 Vega Dr Corpus Christi, TX 78418 Voice: (512) 937-4624 Email: 1040.3444@compuserve.com The Lively Computer - Tom Lively 8314 Parkway Dr. La Mesa, CA 91942 Voice: 619-589-9455 Fax: 619-589-5230 Net: tlively@connectnet.com Magic Page 3043 Luther Street Winston-Salem, NC 27127 Voice/Fax: 910-785-3695 E-mail: Spiff@ix.netcom.com Contact: Patrick Smith MicroSearch 9000 US 59 South, Suite 330 Houston, Texas VOICE: 713-988-2818 FAX: 713-995-4994 MicroTech Solutions, Inc. 1885 N. Farnsworth Ave. Suites 6-7-8 Aurora, IL 60505-1162 Voice: 708-851-3033 Fax: 708-851-3825 BBS: 708-851-3929 Email: info@mt-inc.com WWW: http://www.mt-inc.com/ Mr. Hardware Computers P.O. Box 148 / 59 Storey Ave. Central Islip, NY 11722 VOICE: 516-234-8110 FAX: 516-234-8110 A.M.U.G. BBS: 516-234-6046 Paxtron Corporation 28 Grove Street Spring Valley, NY 10977 Voice: 914-576-6522 Orders: 800-815-3241 Fax: 914-624-3239 PSI Animations 17924 SW Pilkington Road Lake Oswego, OR 97035 VOICE: 503-624-8185 Internet: PSIANIM@agora.rain.com Raymond Commodore Amiga 795 Raymond Avenue St. Paul, MN 55114-1521 VOICE: 612.642.9890 FAX: 612.642.9891 Safe Harbor Computers W226 N900 Eastmound Dr Waukesha, WI 53186 Orders: 800-544-6599 Fax: 414-548-8130 WWW Catalog: www.sharbor.com Slipped Disk 170 E 12 Mile Rd Madison Heights, Michigan 48071 Voice: (810) 546-DISK BBS: (810) 399-1292 Fido: 1:120/321.0 Software Plus Chicago 2945 W Peterson Suite 209 Chicago, Illinois VOICE: 312-878-7800 System Eyes Computer Store 730M Milford Rd Ste 345 Merrimack, NH 03054-4642 Voice: (603) 4244-1188 Fax: (603) 424-3939 EMail: j_sauter@systemeye.ultranet.com TJ's Unlimited P.O. Box #354 North Greece, NY 14515-0354 VOICE: 716-225-5810 BBS: 716-225-8631 FIDO: 1:2613/323 INTERNET: neil@rochgte.fidonet.org WenteK - Amiga Computers 10317 N. Scottsdale Rd. Scottsdale, Ax. 85253 Voice: 602-483-7200 Fax: 602-483-6826 EMail: robert2@doitnow.com Zipperware 76 South Main St. Seattle, WA 98104 VOICE: 206-223-1107 FAX: 206-223-9395 E-Mail: zipware@nwlink.com WWW: http://www.speakeasy.org/zipperware @endnode @node OPINION "Editorial and Opinion" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Editorial and Opinion =========================================================================== @{" compt.sys.editor.desk " link EDITORIAL} "Wait" is a four-letter word @{" Amiga Survival in Australia " link OPINION2} One journalist's view @{" VIScorp Problems/Solutions " link OPINION1} Identified and solved. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node NEWS "News & Press Releases" @toc MENU =========================================================================== News & Press Releases =========================================================================== @{" VIScorp Acquisition Update " link NEWS10} Not much of an update, but... @{" Portal Internet " link NEWS11} Portal's change of focus @{" Amiga Zone Moves " link NEWS6} From Portal to CalWeb @{" PIOS to sell Be's " link NEWS12} PIOS will sell BeBox in Germany @{" Electrics Digital Designer " link NEWS1} Design and simulate circuits @{" Worms - The Director's Cut " link NEWS4} AGA Worms News @{" StormC 1.1 Starter " link NEWS5} An attractive C development offer @{" clickBOOM News " link NEWS7} Capital Punishment... @{" METCOM 96 " link NEWS8} The upcoming Texas show @{" Amiga Show '96 " link NEWS9} French Amiga show --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" 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 =========================================================================== @{" Miami vs TermiteTCP " link FEATURE1} Take a look... @{" AMOS With The CD32 " link FEATURE2} CD32 benefits under AMOS ------------------k FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node FEATURE "Featured Articles" @toc MENU =========================================================================== Featured Articles =========================================================================== @{" Miami vs TermiteTCP " link FEATURE1} Take a look... @{" AMOS With The CD32 " link FEATURE2} CD32 benefits under AMOS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" 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 =========================================================================== @{" Apollo 1240/40 Accel " link REVIEW8} Performance and speed... @{" SX32 " link REVIEW7} The low-profile CD32 expander @{" Golden Games " link REVIEW3} A catchall game collection @{" Timekeepers Expansion " link REVIEW4} More maddening puzzle levels @{" The Final Gate " link REVIEW5} FMV-type CD32 game @{" Arcade Classics Plus " link REVIEW1} Defender, Asteroids, etc... @{" The Epic Collection " link REVIEW2} Loads of PD disks @{" Kang-Fu " link REVIEW6} A preview... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" 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 =========================================================================== @{" 22-Sep-96 " link CHARTS1} --------------------------------------------------------------------------- @{" News " link NEWS} @{" Opinion " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{" Reviews " link REVIEW} @{" Charts " link FTP} @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode @node CHARTS1 "Aminet Charts September 22, 1996" @toc FTP | The most downloaded files from Aminet during the week until 22-Sep-96 | Updated weekly. Most popular file on top. | |File Dir Size Age Description |----------------- --- ---- --- ----------- ProDev_jfifdt.lha util/dtype 31K 0+JFIF-Datatype V43 replacement (jpg v VirusZ_II134.lha util/virus 181K 0+VirusZ v1.34 by Georg Hoermann SSpeed15.lha util/moni 335K 0+SysSpeed V 1.5 - THE Speedtester ..g DeliTracker227.lha mus/play 721K 0+Fixed players: IT, S3M and XM. new P amicdfs237.lha disk/cdrom 126K 0+AmiCDFS (AmiCDROM) v2.37 AmigaVGB.lha misc/emu 164K 0+Nintendo Gameboy emulator V0.7 TaskBar6.lha util/wb 69K 0+Win95 style taskbar v6 (Now with pre IconBar2.lha util/wb 21K 0+A flexible, user-configurable icon t FastExec23.lzh util/boot 11K 1+Moves exec.library to fast memory WebDesign13.lha comm/www 206K 1+Web Design1.3 html authoring softwar mcx257.lha util/cdity 75K 0+Multi Function Commodity Voodoo-1.269.lha comm/mail 600K 0+GUI PGP/MIME E-Mail reader for OS 3. VT289.lha util/virus 819K 1 V2.89 of the famous viruskiller by H FalconsWB.jpg pix/wb 187K 0+The best WB I've seen in months - MI HTDS_030.lha util/dtype 38K 0+HTDS 40.5 datatype binaries for 6803 ALockUtils.lha util/misc 240K 0+Security system for Amiga. V1.1 trackdisk64.lha dev/misc 15K 1+64-bit extensions for hard disks > 4 shtml.lha util/shell 16K 0+.html to .txt converter. j_KingdomSkies.lha mods/melod 277K 20+Melodic mod by Jase *****+ WaterCooledAmi.lha hard/hack 15K 1+V1.1 of the Water Cooled Amiga | The highest rated programs during the week until 22-Sep-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 |----------------- --- ---- --- ----------- AmiFTP-1.607.lha comm/tcp 271K 11+Easy to use GUI FTP client for OS 2. AmFTP153.lha comm/tcp 196K 28+AmFTP - ftp/Archie/ADT/ADT-Find Clie YAM13_2.lha comm/mail 341K 2+MUI Internet mailer V1.3.2 YAM13_2upd.lha comm/mail 84K 2+MUI Internet mailer, Update from V1. KNews.lha comm/news 11K 3+Usenet news downloader and uudecoder 1497.lha game/2play 109K 3+Multiplayer Colonization-clone. V0.1 MarbleHD.lha game/patch 25K 4+HD Installer & Patch for Marble Madn Z2Install.lha game/patch 24K 3+Zeewolf 2 Hard Drive Installer cannon2hd.lha game/patch 14K 4+HD Installer for Cannon Fodder 2 V1. dshd.lha game/patch 18K 4+HD Installer for Desert Strike V1.1 mkiihd.lha game/patch 30K 4+HD Installer for Mortal Kombat II V1 offroadpatch.lha game/patch 8K 4+Super Offroad Racer Disk Patcher for pxhd.lha game/patch 23K 4+HD Installer for Project-X Special E sfhd.lha game/patch 16K 4+HD Installer for Shadow Fighter V1.0 xenon2hd.lha game/patch 30K 1+Xenon 2 HD-Installer V1.1 & Fix jokulator.lha misc/misc 13K 5+DOSjokulator v6.2, it's a little fun IntelOut.lha mods/voice 1.3M 6+OctaMED dance mod, based on the famo SPlayer_v1.2.lha mus/play 148K 2+V1.2 - The Awesome GUI for Play16 BKR.Rally.jpg pix/trace 39K 3+Lightwave traced Bigfoot BKR.Walker.jpg pix/trace 29K 3+Lightwave traced Walker BKR.Watertap.jpg pix/trace 28K 3+Lightwave traced Watertap bkr.omf.jpg pix/trace 38K 3+Lightwave traced One Man Fighter LTLv12.lha util/arc 15K 3+GUI to repack LHA into LZX NewIconsV3.lha util/wb 539K 7+The Ultimate GUI Enhancement System, viscorp3.lha docs/misc 30K 3+VIScorp Information 960621 to 960831 AmIRC.lha comm/tcp 816K 25+Fully featured GUI IRC Client (v1.1) a1200hardfaq.lha hard/misc 9K 7+A1200 Hardware FAQ, v2.0 (08/96) a4khard.lha hard/misc 65K 7+Amiga 4000 Hardware Guide, v4.0 (08/ StormC_Demo1_1.lha biz/demo 1.2M 5+StormC (Demo): ANSI C & C++ Developm @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} @{" Australasia " link BBS_AUSTRALASIA} @{" 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} @{" Australasia " link DEAL_AUSTRALASIA} @{" Europe " l @{" Adverts " link COMMERCIAL} @endnode