====================================================================== _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors- / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional e-mail "SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW" || News Source) ====================================================================== AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 000319 L A T E S T E X E C U T I V E U P D A T E G I F T S A T A M I G A 2 K B A N Q U E T A M I G A 2 K M E S S A G E T O D E V E L O P E R S W H A T ' S U P W I T H W O R L D O F A M I G A 2 0 0 0 ? A M I G A W E S T C O A S T S H O W A M I G A F O R M A T D I E S A S . . . . . . A N E W U K M A G I S B O R N A F D - C O P Y R I G H T N E W S O F I N T E R E S T T O S P A N I S H A M I G A N S N E W E D I T O R F O R A I O M A G A Z I N E P R O G R E S S R E P O R T - N E W U S M A G B E W A R E - F A K E W A R P S P E E D V E R S I O N M I T C H Y P A R T N E R S H I P A N N O U N C E D M O U S E W H E E L S F O R A M I G A S Q U I R R E L S M O V E T O A N A L O G I C A M I C H A T T O B E F R E E W A R E A M I T E C H A D V E R T I S I N G P R O J E C T B L A C K I R C 1 . 1 I S F R E E W A R E C L O A N T O ' S A M I G A E X P L O R E R 3 . 5 L O W E R P R I C E O N I N F R A B O X V A P O R W A R E A U T O M A T E D F A Q Editor's Thoughts and Introduction: Lots of material for you today, and a question. Below is the latest Executive Update from the Amiga Inc. web site. We've been carrying these for some time as they are the definitive "word from the top" in the Amiga community. However, these updates are easily found at the Amiga web sites, and do take up considerable space in "Amiga Update", sometimes displacing other items. So we wonder - what would our readers prefer? Should we continue to carry these very important announcements, or should we just let you know when one has been issued? Let us know your thoughts - we'll be listening. There's an amazing amount of information on Amiga publications in this issue, including some interesting information in the Executive Update. Over in Britain, what may have been the premier Amiga magazine worldwide, "Amiga Format" has folded. This is a tremendous loss. However, in what almost looks like "out with old, in with the new", a new magazine for the UK has been announced. It's not quite an even trade though - surely the new publication will have to prove itself to gain the respect "Amiga Format" had. We wish them luck in doing just that. Finally, in Germany there's a new Amiga publication being launched. Here's what the execellent Czech Amiga News site has to say about it: "The german newssite amiga.topcool.de plans to publish a new German printed amiga-magazine. If amiga.topcool.de get 200 preorders of the first issue, the magazine will release in Summer 2000." Contact them at: http://homepages.go.com/~amigaistcool/ausgabe.htm We hope you enjoy this issue, and hope to see some of you at Amiga 2k in St. Louis soon! Brad Webb, Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail to the E-ditor: 3 Mar 2000 Hi: Please, if at possible try to help me out by passing this message on to the U.S. Amiga community at large. I am looking for an Amiga programming genius that can help to restore a lost partition of my 400 meg Quantum Lightning, that I use in my Amiga 3000. In a nut shell, attempting to format a 100 meg Zip at 2:30am, I made a "minor" mistake and started reformatting the HD. Recognizing what was going on, I powered the machine down and called in the three wise men from the now defunct Amiga club. They resurrected the corps, and told me that all of the data is A-OK -, but that the partition went out to lunch. They felt that the partition data was still encoded on the HD, but did not know were to look. I don't have much money to spend, but would like to trade an Amiga 3000 for the service. There is one more truly minor problem with another HD (murphy's law) that would take to much time here to list. But again, it is a minor problem. If you happen to know someone in particular who might be willing to help then send me a quick E-mail. Thank you very much, ~~~~~~ Mike, Sounds like you have a problem. Can anyone help? Please send information to "Amiga Update" and we'll pass it on quickly. Brad ====== 26 Feb 2000 What about the new BVision? I am Italian and proud owner of a Power towered A1200 with PPC. I need a BVision. How can I buy it and where? Best regards. Prof. Mimmo P. ~~~~~~ Professor Mimmo P., Another question I'm going to have to pass to the readership. It's a good thing we have knowledgable readers. Anyone have an answer? Brad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- L A T E S T E X E C U T I V E U P D A T E March 10, 2000 Dear Friends: With all of the continuing rumors out there, one would think that we were gone, or just spending the money that we raised on homes in Hawaii, or doing nothing. I can assure you that this is not the case. As mentioned in the previous update, if you do not read it here do not believe it. This months letter is going to be a long one, and I apologize in advance for the length. There is a lot of information here so take your time. Recently I received an e-mail message that brought to my attention a sad reality. When Gateway purchased Amiga in 1997 they made many promises, and in fact there were 6 different product announcements during their tenure. I was involved with two of them, QNX, and Linux. While I believed that we were going to deliver on the two product versions that I was involved in, they did not materialize, and it has hurt many of you. The decisions to change or alter either of these announcements was not mine, but I was a part of the team that was involved in both. For this I am very sorry. It is because of the reasons mentioned above that I promised not to say anything or announce anything until it was done, and ready. I know that this is difficult, especially with the number of great people and Amiga companies who are feeling the continued strain, but I did not want to have us all go through any more false starts, and undelivered dreams. April 1, 2000 is the date, and St. Louis is the place. This is the first opportunity for ``your'' Amiga company to present, demonstrate, speak, and see the first product to come out of Amiga - The new Developer System. In fact one lucky show attendee will win one of these systems. With all of the above said; Another month, and a great deal of work has been completed. Many of you believe nothing is happening, I can assure you that a great deal has been occurring. Amiga - ``So the World May Know''. There have been some great new hires, many new partnerships and great progress as we are moving forward. There is more information about them mentioned below. Partnerships Tao-Group The first of course was the announcement with Tao-Group which has been moving along great. In St. Louis we will be showing the first round of the Amiga/Tao system. There is a great deal of work to be done, but we are far enough along to launch the new developer system for Tao at the show. Haage & Partner We have entered into a long term relationship with H&P that will provide API's and a path towards to the future OS. This includes new updated versions of Storm IDE. They have also committed to porting all of their software to the new platform. We are also excited to work with H&P on a new version of the WarpOS that will allow the new Amiga to run on PPC accelerator cards. This means that an Amiga that has a PPC card running WarpOS will be able to run the new Amiga on that card! That's right. The new Amiga running on the current A1200s! More on H&P will become public as we continue to move forward and work through the testing programs. We are very excited about this relationship. Hyperion Hyperion and Amiga have entered into an agreement for the porting of the existing and new games to the new Amiga. This along with the great work that Ben and his team have done in working on a new 3D gaming engine for the new Amiga. They have been working very closely with the Amiga development team and Tao-Group to make the development of games for the Amiga a cut above the rest. We are very pleased to be have them as members of the new team. Epic Marketing Thomas Steiding has been a great supporter from the beginning. Epic has announced that not only will they be making their games available on the new system, but that they have secured the rights for many new games. More on Epic with a follow on announcement later. There are many more partnerships that will be revealed in St. Louis with even more exciting news. E-Mails Where to start. I continue to receive hundreds of e-mails everyday, and while I am not the only one on the team who seems to be living on e-mail, we have not been able to answer as many as we would like. We are listening, and working on many of your comments. Here are some of your concerns and what we have been doing to help: Phase 5 and their recent changes. We have been in contact with Mr. Thomas Dellert, and Mr. Stefan Domeyer, and we are working with both DCE, and Met@box to provide solutions for the Amiga market and we expect some great news soon. I can say that the conversations have been going very well, and we look forward to working towards an exciting future with both of these companies. One of the key benefits with the relationships that we have been able to strike with both of these firms is their long term commitment to Amiga. According to our initial conversations, and project plans we are working to ensure that the new Amiga will run on both of the PPC boards supplied by these companies. We will be providing more detail in product announcements from both firms. Dealer and distributors have been contacting us about their current situations and future plans. In response to the many requests we have created the Amiga Dealer Network, or ``A D N''. Randy Hughes our VP of Sales (more about him later) sent out an e-mail message to over 300 dealers, and the response has been fantastic. Many dealers are ready to begin carrying the Amiga again, and more are very excited about the future. The A D N is a way for us to better communicate our plans, hear concerns, and work together to create a stronger Amiga. As I am sure that you will see there are great things to come from the A D N. Remember that we plan on being able to run the New OS on PPC boards. Does your machine support that option? Developers and the future development plans. Training sessions at Tao-Group have been continuing for some months now, and we have a better relationship today than when we started, and we are more convinced than ever that our decision was the right one. There will be opportunity in St. Louis for others to see the Tao-System at work, and we look forward to seeing all of you there. We also will be having a developer meeting in St. Louis on March 31st at 7:00pm. This is a developer only meeting, and we will be giving information about the hardware, software tools, and the developer support program. We know that there is going to great interest in this seminar to plan ahead and get there early as space is limited. Please check the St. Louis show site, and the Amiga sites for more information. Communication with the Amiga Community. We have contracted with Equinox Design to create the new ``Amiga World'' newsletter. This will be available for free to all of the Amiga community. Initially this will be made available via the Internet from our new website and then (if demand merits) we will make a printed version. This is not in anyway in competition with the existing Amiga publications that currently are in print. This instead is targeted as a newsletter designed as a vehicle to help the community communicate better together. The Editor of Amiga World is Fletcher Haug, the former Editor and Publisher of the Amiga Informer. The first edition should be available within the first two weeks of April. There are no advertisements, and we are using this as another method to get information out to all of you, and to help the publications that we have today. More Communications with the Amiga Community. As mentioned in the past update, I have reactivated the AAC. There have been some great discussions and great ideas to come out of the conversations to date, and they will be a great help in the future as we move forward. The members of the AAC are: Christoph Dietz Carsten Schroeder Coner Kerr Andrew Elia Bill Panagouleas Craig Delahoy Ben Vost Wayne Hunt Don Hicks Goetz Ohnesorge Gary Peake Kermit Woodall Holger Kruse Thomas Frieden Juergen Haage Thomas Raukamp Heinz Wrobel Wayne Martin Thomas Svenson Jeffery Rose Randhir Jesrani Trish Zlotek Tom Lively Cade Hannan Luca Danelon Guenter Horbach Ian Greenaway David Law Paul Lesurf Bill McEwen Christian Kemp Basil Flinter We will soon be reactivating their aac.amiga.com mail accounts. New Faces for the Team There are many new people at Amiga, and we are excited about the team that we are continuing to build. Below you will find some specific detail on certain team members, here you will find the names and descriptions of the folks that I get to work the most closely with. Randall P. Hughes - VP Sales and Strategic Business Development Randy comes to us after being the VP of Sales at a very exciting Java technologies company ThinWeb. Randy and I worked together when he was my primary contact at QNX. He is a very skilled person with backgrounds in Banking, and technology. Randy understands the Amiga, and what the future brings. He has had business dealings with some of the strongest technology companies in the world. He was the person that QNX selected to open their first office in California. I know that you will enjoy meeting him in St. Louis. Now the official comments that will be going up on the web site later; Mr Hughes comes to Amiga directly from a Java based start up where he headed the sales and alliances function from inception to its filing for IPO on the NASDAQ exchange. Randy was initiated to the Amiga community as the lead manager responsible for the relationship with Amiga during his tenure at QNX where he headed the expansion to Silicon Valley and into Southern California. Randy was first and foremost a financier from his days at notable Canadian financial institutions, namely the Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank. Randy was educated at the University of Ottawa, Canada and at Marlborough College in England. Vincent P. Pfeifer - VP of Operations Vince and I worked together for several years at ConnectSoft. Vince has an incredible ability to deliver products. I have seen him time and again walk into extremely difficult situations with very hard headed engineers and stupid marketing people, and deliver amazing products. I am very pleased that he has agreed to join us. Here is his official web site description; Vince Pfeifer has 14 years experience in the computer industry with the last 12 spent in the software area. Vince joins us from GraphOn Corporation where, as Vice President of Product Development and General Manager of GraphOn's Seattle based operations, he oversaw all Engineering resources for GraphOn's multiple development sites. During his tenure at GraphOn, sales tripled while product offerings doubled. Additionally, Vince helped oversee the merger that made GraphOn a publicly traded company whose Market Capitalization quadrupled in under a year. Vince has hands-on experience building and managing software development operations as well as product management organizations. Vince has experience with both startup organizations (ConnectSoft, Exodus Technologies, GraphOn) as well as more established companies (Symantec). Why I joined Amiga, by Vincent P. Pfeifer Other than the belief that Bill McEwen could sell ice cubes to Eskimos, I joined Amiga to take on the challenge of turning a company's name and image that has become somewhat dated here in the United States into a top level, respected company in the computer industry. As I am coming off a successful venture in helping turn GraphOn into a publicly traded company with record revenues from the position of Vice President of Product Development, I was ready for a new set of responsibilities in more areas than Product Management and Engineering. Amiga offers a challenge that I look forward to: build a company from the bottom up with the benefit of having name recognition and some technology already in place. It is an opportunity to do something that I have wanted to do since my early days at 5th Generation when I sat on the Tech Support phones and listened to average users try to use relatively complicated software. I know that it sounds like a religious crusade, but I want to make computers easier for the masses, and with my position at Amiga, I have an opportunity to help influence that vision significantly. Gary Peake - Director of Developer Relations and Support My favorite man from Texas. Gary has already put thousands of hours of his life to support the Amiga, and the community worldwide. Now he has joined our team in delivering his years of experience and affection for the Amiga in supporting the efforts of the Amiga community. Tarah Mallo - Reception and Office Tarah is our first line of communication to the outside world. She has been working with the development team gathering information and support. As well as helping me to get organized. I will state for the record that the pictures of the original office were taken ``before'' she joined. Say hello to Tarah the next time you call. Kari Erickson - Executive Administration Kari is the person who will keep my life and travel plans in order. She is who you will get to speak to first before getting me, or any other member of the executive team. Kari joins us after leaving one of the very prestigious law firms here in the Seattle area, and I am sure that you can already feel her pain in having to deal with me on a day to day basis. Susan Sutton - Director of Finance and Human Resources Susan is going to take over the collection of funds, and the paying of bills. She is also the person who gets to deal with all of the employee complaints about Fleecy. Just kidding there are more complaints about me, than there are Fleecy. Gordon Stone - Director of Information Services and Information Technologies We refer to Gordon as the network man. Gordon got his start in computing by upgrading Amiga memory for recording studios in Oregon. He has since moved onto operating numerous systems, and is versed in all that is connectivity. Gordon actually will start in two weeks, but we wanted to introduce him now. Operations in Germany - New Members on our team Markus Grohmann - Order processing and EDP Markus already has a family history with Amiga, as his brother used to work with us in Braunschweig. We look forward to working with Markus. Barbara Nitzsche - Executive Assistant to Petro With the addition of Barbara to our team in Germany we will be able to have Petro out more. Next time you call Langen say hello to Barbara and welcome her to Amiga. Members of the Development Team Dean Brown - Dean founded DKB weeks after the first A1000 came out and then spent the next 15 years designing and producing all manner of add ons, expansion cards and accelerators for the whole range of Amiga computers. He brings a deep understanding of the spirit and reality of the Amiga hardware, along with an almost encyclopedic knowledge of current and future projects. He will use this to help Amiga and its partners create multiple hardware platforms for the future. Dave Taylor - Dave is another scouser, from Liverpool, UK, although he supports the wrong football team. He has spent the last ten years designing and implementing distributed manufacturing, control, and eCommerce systems for small, medium, and large companies across the globe, on Mainframe, Unix and Windows architectures. The last 3 years have seen him concentrating on distributed systems, databases, and n tier commercial systems. He brings commercial world experience, eCommerce expertise and formal methods with a refreshing new look on architecture to the company, and was also brave enough to try snowboarding with Wouter and myself. Wouter van Oortmerssen - Wouter is a tall, dutch, quake master currently completing his doctorate at Southampton University. He has been an Amigan since the early 1990's and is most well known for the excellent Amiga E language and compiler that grew from a research project into a professional system. He is bringing a fresh look at language, conversation and interaction in the new Amiverse. Andreas Kleinert - Andreas has worked for the last few years producing public domain, shareware, and commercial applications for the Amiga, PC and UNIX markets. For the Amiga market, Andreas concentrated on various graphics and datatype systems before taking up the challenge of lead developer for the SuperBase database product line. His deep knowledge of data storage, retrieval and indexing is core to creating a self describing and multi dimensional amiverse. Trond Werner Hansen - Some people are leg men, others are face men. Trond is most definitely a face man - INTERFACE man 8-) Over the last seven years he has moved from small programs to enhance workbench, through completely reimplementing layers.library as SuperLayers, to developing a NG Amiga workbench system. With configurability and simplicity being central features for the Amiverse, Trond will be helping to redefine presentation and participation in digital worlds. The Amiga Developer Support Network Crew! Gary Peake Gary has used and beta tested on most Commodore/Amiga computers from the Vic-20 to the A3000. His organizational, design, and testing skills will be a valuable asset to providing a unique, forward looking online developer support system that will set many "firsts" in the computer industry. And his association with Team Amiga will enable Amiga Inc. to provide a valuable multi-national scope to Amiga Developer Support. Gary has many years of experience with online web applications and will utilize his experience to provide an evolving Developer Support structure that will grow with us and our Amiga developers. Gary is also a current member of the 3D Development Team. Gary will host our first Amiga DevCon in St Louis on Friday March 31st and will be there to answer questions on an individual basis through April 2nd. The full program details will not be announced until then, but all developers wishing more information should contact Gary Peake at gpeake@amiga.com . For information on the time and place of the DevCon contact Bob Sharpe at bscharp@icon-stl.net Ray A. Akey Ray is the creator of CNet BBS for the Amiga Classic and has been programming for the Amiga for a number of years. Ray's understanding of all areas of product development from concept to coding to testing to finished product gives us a unique look at all areas of Amiga Developer Support needs. Ray's experience with Internet application programming will prove extremely helpful for the future of the Amiga. Ray will also be assisting in maintaining some of the online systems we will employ. Ray currently lives in Canada. G'o'tz Ohnesorge G'o'tz is one of the most aware Amigan's I know in dealing with cutting edge products and issues. He has been an Amiga user since they were first available. G'o'tz is a quick study on high-end multimedia and new technologies. His expertise in getting the facts quickly and succinctly will aid us in all areas of developer support. He will be assisting in keeping information current and available for new developers in the several online systems we will be providing. G'o'tz's knowledge of several languages will help the new Amiga Developer Support System to be truly multi-national. He is a current member of the Amiga 3D Development Team, as well. G'o'tz currently lives in Germany. Jonas Gustavsson Jonas is a long time Amiga user and has excellent experience in programming, testing and using high-end digital/multimedia applications. He has worked with 64 bit Alpha's under heavy multi-media use. Jonas' primary areas of interest is digital graphics, high-end multimedia, video editing and titling, and he has experience working in the commercial tv and movie industry as well. Jonas speaks several languages as well and will be an exceptional asset to the Amiga Developer Support System in assisting us to be multi-national. He is also currently a member of the Amiga 3D Development Team. Jonas currently lives in Sweden. More information. We have spending a great deal of time on infrastructure and getting ready for the next wave. New Building! One of the first problems was in the area of Real Estate, we currently are in 600 feet with us bulging out the walls, and being located outside of a car wash has its benefits, but it is still rather annoying with all of the car stereos going at the same time outside your front door. We are in the process of moving to our new world headquarters in Snoqualmie, Washington. The new address will be; Amiga Incorporated 34935 SE Douglas Street Suite 210 Snoqualmie, WA 98065 USA Telephone number +001 425.396.5660 Facsimile number +001 425.396.6551 We officially open the doors and are up and running on March 15th, 2000. However we will begin moving equipment, phones, servers, etc on Monday March 13th, 2000. This means that it may be more difficult to get in touch with over the next few days. We apologize in advance for any hardship this may cause. New Web Site! This is one of the number one items on the list, and the largest number of ``comments'' that we receive from the community. We have been in process building a new web site for some weeks. The difficulty has been server location and time. We have now addressed both of these issues and we plan to have a new site up in the next couple of weeks. A web site is a constant work in progress, so we look forward to your comments, and will continue to try and enhance the experience. Final thoughts. This letter does not cover all of the activities that are and continue to take place. There is so much more happening that I could spend days writing and still not keep up with it all. We are extremely busy here, and could not be having more fun. The company and the people who have contacted us to support what we are doing have been in many cases overwhelming. We have several more partnerships that we are going to be announcing in St. Louis, and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. I recently asked a long time Amigan, and a member of the select team that worked with Jay directly the reason that Jay started this venture. I have heard many ideas as to what Jay ``really'' wanted to do, and many e-mails inform me that they know what Jay had planned all along. While I never had the chance of either meeting, or speaking with Jay I thought I would ask. Simply stated ``Jay wanted to build the greatest home computing experience ever, for under 500.00''. I can tell you that his dream still lives with every member of this company, and we will deliver on his dream. I thank each and every one of you for your continued support, and look forward to the future. Keeping the faith, Bill McEwen, and the rest of the Amiga team ---------------------------------------------------------------------- G I F T S A T A M I G A 2 K B A N Q U E T March 9, 2000 Amiga Inc. will be giving away a special gift to the first 250 attendees of the BANQUET. That's right, a free gift for attending what is already one of the highlights of the Amiga 2K show. Come to the banquet, be one of the first 250 attendees, and receive a free gift from Amiga Inc. Sorry - can't say what it is, but I know you will be proud to have it. Oh yes, did you hear... Amiga Inc. is donating a "Developer System" as a door prize, in addition to a Amiga 1200. Another A1200 will be given in a separate raffle Saturday as well, courtesy of Amiga Inc. Don't forget to get your money in for the Banquet tickets. Mail a check or money order for $35 US to: Amigan-St. Louis PO Box 672 Bridgeton, MO 63044 Admission to Amiga 2K is in addition to the Banquet cost. It is as follows: Two day admission - In Advance = $17 At door = $20 One day admission - In Advance = $12 At door = $15 Class tickets will be sold at the show only. WOW! Amiga 2K is going to be HUGE! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A 2 K M E S S A G E T O D E V E L O P E R S March 8, 2000 Attention Developers, Developers wishing to develop for the newest and most experienced of the "Multimedia" and "Digitally Enlightened" Computers of the last two decades. Here's your chance to sink your teeth into development on a platform that is fun, challenging and with a known name in multimedia and video. Amiga Inc. will conduct their first "Developers Conference" at the Amiga 2K show in St. Louis, MO. USA. If you are a current, past or future potential Developer for the Amiga Computer platform, you need to attend this conference. Amiga Inc. will have all of their executives present to discuss the platform and answer questions. Experienced Amiga staff will present the "One on One" sessions. You need to attend, to get a hands on perspective of the newest and best platform development systems. To be accepted for this conference, you must fill in the "Developers Form." Upon acceptance, you will be notified by Amiga Inc. Upon entry to the conference, you will be required to show a photo ID, and sign a NDA (non-disclosure agreement). Schedule of Conference Friday March 31st, 6 PM - 8 PM - Introduction and discussions Saturday April 1st, 2 PM - 4 PM - One on one meetings Sunday April 2nd, 10 AM - 12 PM - One on one Meetings Please go to the Amiga 2K show site, http://www.amiga-stl.com/show.html click on the "Developers Form" link and fill out the form. Amiga Inc. will review your form and email you as to your acceptance for this conference. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- W H A T ' S U P W I T H W O R L D O F A M I G A 2 0 0 0 ? 15 Feb 2000 "Once again, the UK will be the centre of Amiga attention this summer. The giant World Of Amiga machine has been activated once again ... show will be happening in late June/early July. Why are we going for a summer slot ? Quite simply because Amiga have asked us to book those dates. You can be sure that they have something exceptional to show this time round... but you'll just have to trust us because we're keeping extra quiet until then! As always, the show is taking place with Amiga's full support ... etc, etc." http://uk.amigasoc.org/news/woa2000start.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A W E S T C O A S T S H O W 15 Mar 2000 The Amiga West Coast show, AmiWest 2000 is shaping up! That's right! The AmiWest committee is proud to announce we are again hosting this year's show in Sacramento, California, at the popular Holiday Inn, Sacramento NorthEast, 5321 Date Avenue Sacramento, CA 95841, on Saturday, July 29th and Sunday, July 30th, 2000. The Holiday Inn venue proved to be such a hit for last year's show that we are again holding it there. Show times are Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 10am-4pm. AmiWest is in it's third year and is the only all Amiga show produced on the West Coast. The show has proved very popular for Amiga enthusiasts in the Western United States. With the recent purchase of the Amiga by Amino (renamed Amiga Corporation) from Gateway, the Amiga appears to be on an upswing. The new Amiga Corporation is headed by Bill McEwen who can be remembered by participants at both AmiWest'98 and AmiWest'99 as a very enthusiastic supporter of the Amiga. Also part of the Amiga team are long time Amigans Fleecy Moss and Petro Tyschtschenko. You can learn more about AmiWest 2000 by accessing our web page at: http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/ If you are interested in exhibiting at AmiWest 2000, please submit the form that is provided on our web page. We need to know early who will be exhibiting. Booth sizes and pricing is yet to be determined; however, by submitting the form on our web page you will receive an exhibitor packet with all necessary forms and information when the packet becomes available. Special booth pricing will be available for user groups. This weekend event will again showcase the progress that IS the Amiga Community. Information on AmiWest 2000 will also be at the A2K show in St. Louis April 1 and 2 as part of the AEMail booth exhibit. If you're at the show stop by the AEMail booth and pick up an information packet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A F O R M A T D I E S A S . . . It's been a very sad month for me. Since I found out that AF was to close, I've had nothing but sleepless nights and now you've all found out in the worst way possible, when I thought I should be the one breaking the terrible news. Future's policy was to keep silent until the issue had finally gone to press, but now there seems little point, and in a way, I'm glad - there was nothing worse than me having to prevaricate about subscriptions or future plans for Amiga Format. The closure of Amiga Format means the end of an era for me. For thirteen years (pretty much my whole working life) I've been involved with the Amiga market in some capacity, whether that be in sales, distribution, freelance consultant and writer, or journalist and editor on Amiga Computing or Amiga Format. All this time I've been at the heart of the Amiga market and I've met and got to know some fantastic people, not least of whom are my readers. I've used some fantastic software and seen hardware dreams come and go. I've probably spent in excess of ten grand feeding my obsession and will carry on using the equipment I have at home for a long time to come. As for what I will be doing, you have no cause to fear on my or Richard's behalf: Rich has a job on Linux Format as a staff writer, working with erstwhile Amiga Format editor Nick Veitch. As for me, I hope you'll look favourably on Future's new launch - 3D World - where I'll be deputy editor and the editor of its website. 3D World will be aimed at professional 3D artists and those looking to get into that market, whatever the platform. I will be honest and say that although the only important criterion for inclusion in 3D World is image quality, the speed at which those images need to be rendered, and the quality of the support software, means that I don't think there'll be much, if any, Amiga coverage and that saddens me too. For those of you who are subscribers, there's no cause for alarm. We aren't a fly-by-night company that will let you down when it comes to dealing with your subscription. All subscribers will get a letter shortly - included with your final subscription issue, that will explain all the options. As far as any future reincarnation of Amiga Format goes, I am not yet personally convinced that Bill and Fleecy will be able to achieve all they want to, but if they do succeed I'm sure that Future Publishing will be one of the first publishers back into a new thriving Amiga market, and you can bet I'd want to be back. As such, although my new job will probably take me into the world of PCs and workstations, you can be sure I'll keep an eye on what's going on here and I've promised Bill McEwen I would remain part of the AAC in order to be better able to tell him where I think he's going wrong. :) In the meantime, I don't think that the Amiga market has died, I just know it's got to the stage where Future Publishing can't sustain Amiga Format. At the end of the day, the only reasons for this are an increasing unprofessionalism in the marketplace and a lack of people willing to part with their money. There are plenty of good dealers out there that have their customers interests at heart and it's up to you to make sure that their level of service and support don't go the way of Amiga Format. Just remember, there's still an issue on the shelves right now that contains all sorts of fantastic info (and Personal Paint 7.1b on the CD) and our next issue on sale, our last, will be well worth buying since it will contain a dissection of the Amiga market as the freelancers and staff on AF see it and a history of AF. On a personal note, it's not so easy to convey emotion while writing an email. Suffice to say that this page would be wet if it were a letter I was sending to you all. ------- I will still be around, even though I shall be working on 3D World and I look forward to speaking with all of you soon. All the best, Ben Vost Editor, Amiga Format ---------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . A N E W U K M A G I S B O R N A1200! New subscription based magazine for hardcore Amiga users. * Colour, bi-monthly A4 commercial magazine * Available at over 200 independent retailers * Cover CD featuring full games and playable demos * First with the new developments * New games reviews every month guaranteed! * Fanzine style, professionally produced. * From the makers of Commodore Faction Pre-order the first issue and you don't pay a penny until it is received and enjoyed (14 day money back guarantee) ---PAY NO MONEY NOW --- www.CsandE.co.uk 01993 812685 7 Glyme Close, Woodstock, Oxon, OX20 1LB Out every two months FIRST ISSUE 17/5/00 Single issue price £3.99 UK, £4.99 Europe, £5.99 Rest of World 6 issue subscription (includes membership to the CS&E club!) £19.99 UK, £26.99 Europe, £34.99 Rest of World Kind Regards, CS&E (Crystal Software and Electronics) sales: 7 Glyme Close, Woodstock, Oxon, OX20 1LB, Great Britain +44 (0) 1993 812685 visit our website at www.CsandE.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A F D - C O P Y R I G H T N E W S 4 March, 2000 Hello Amigans! The AFD-COPYRIGHT Official Support Site had just today its 1000th visitor! This shows that there still is interest in the "Standard Amiga FD-Software Copyright Note". The recent visitor boom happened partly due to the fact that so many Amiga News sites reported about the latest release. *Thanks to all news-webmasters for your support!* I collected some of the sites on the page "What's New?" If you are interested, you can visit the AFD-Homepage at: http://AFD.home.pages.de/ The list of news sites even includes one in Russia - and a Russian translation will be released as the 15th language soon! Keep the momentum going! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- O F I N T E R E S T T O S P A N I S H A M I G A N S 17 Feb 2000 Madrid Spain To broaden the array of services offered to professional communicators, World Internet S.A. has announced the acquisition of Free4all.com For an estimated 380 Million Pts. approximatly 2.3 million U.S.D. Free4all.com will continue to provide its Web content and contests under the Free4all brand name as a division of World Internet S.A., with President William B. Stanley and Executive Vice President Mathew S. Johnson continuing to manage Free4all.com from its headquarters in Mallorca Spain. Joining with World Internet allows us to provide a fully complete suite of powerful communications services for our clients," Rickson said. "As media technologies continue to evolve, our teams will work in tandem to develop cutting-edge, effective services to help professional communicators reach the traditional and emerging media and their audiences through Free4all.com Rickson added. When asked why Internet giants free4all.co.uk or free4all.com.au were not in the bidding? Rickson replied: Who? http://www.free4all.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W E D I T O R F O R A I O M A G A Z I N E 18 March,2000 Amiga Information Online, a magazine which is run through a unique GUI that first started in Amiga Guide in May of 1997 is about to see a change of Editor. The magazine is currently up to issue 33 and is released every month on a pre-set date. This magazine is also known to be read in 36 countries around the world with a wide reader base spanning many ages and races. The current Editor, Chris Seward of 33 issues will leave as of Issue 33 and will be replaced by Mark Tierno the current Articles Editor of the magazine. Issue 34 will be released 25th, March 2000 being the first issue compiled solely by the new Editor, Mark Tierno. The magazine will basically be the same although Chris Seward has left to bring a new lease of life into the magazine and hopefully allow it to grow to new heights and expand beond what he could personally bring it to. Chris Seward is not leaving the Amiga market and hopes to help in any other area of the Amiga market starting new projects or helping with existing ones, if your in need of some help then feel free to contact him @ chris@aio.co.uk Matters regarding the magazine and all future aspects of the magazine can be directed to its new editor, Mark Tierno @ mark@aio.co.uk You can download the latest issue of the magazine by visiting its website, http://www.aio.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P R O G R E S S R E P O R T - N E W U S M A G 16 Feb 2000 By Bill Griffin Progress report time! All the stories for the sample issue of our new Amiga magazine are ready. But I've hit a small snag. I need some more "up-front" money in order to get the sample issue printed. Here's why. The folks I've had to talk to were almost all former "Amazing ..." advertisers. I didn't realize it then but some of them lost several THOUSAND dollars when "Amazing..." when belly up. Which means they don't necessarily have the money to prepay for their ads. So, my solution is 2-fold. First of all, I am offering a "head-hunter's" fee. You'll need to take this Email, place your name and mailing address on it and send it (Email, mail or take in personally) to where you buy Amiga parts and accessories (including software). If they place a prepaid ad (any size) with us prior to April 1, 2000 and give us you name and mailing address, we will send you $10. The second part of our solution is to offer the following, outstanding deal to our fellow Amigans. Our normal subscription rate has finally been set at $24.95 per year ($34.95 in Canada/Mexico and $44.95 for the rest of the world). We were originally going to offer a special "kick-off" rate of $19.95 ($29.95 Canada/Mexico, $39.95 for the rest of the world). That special would (and will still be good) from March 1 until April 2, 2000. But, because I am still needing more "up-front" cash for the printers, I am prepared to make an extra-special offer to those of you who want a REALLY GOOD DEAL. I am prepare the cut my subscription rates to $14.95 per year ($24.95 Canada/Mexico, $34,95 for the rest of the world). There are 2 small catches, however. First, we are not (as yet) set up to accept credit cards (as soon as this changes, we WILL let everyone know). This means that the payments will have to be in check or money order. Second, the payments will have to be in US funds as none of the area banks are set up to exchange international currnecy (again, as soon as this changes, we will let you know). This special rate will only apply to payments sent to: G&G Enterprises P.O. Box 447 Edwardsburg, MI 49112-0447 USA And the special rate ($14.95/$24.95/$34.95) will only apply to subscriptions postmarked by February 29, 2000 and any received with a later postmark will be returned. I will Email you a receipt immediately upon receipt of your subscription and I will immediately send you a voting form for our "Name Our Magazine contest" along with a SASE. return the vote card by March 30th and you can help name our new magazine. NOTICE TO ALL POTENTIAL ADVERTISORS: For the first 3 issues (after the sample issue), The price on ALL ads will be open for negotiation. I have a copy of what "Amazing..." was charging for their ads, but I think they might be kind of high. Help us set the new prices by Emailing us at wd8izh@beanstalk.net, calling me at home at 616-663-7827 (although, you will probably get the voice mail) or paging me at 219-674-7928 (be sure to include your area code). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- B E W A R E - F A K E W A R P S P E E D V E R S I O N Domagoj Ozanic has published the following statement about WarpSpeed 0.9b "I would like to deny any connection with the "WarpSpeed 0.9b" software which recently appeared on supposed Peppermind Prd. download page. This page offered that software as a WarpOS Perfomance enchancer and in addition offered my email address as a support or author of that fake software. The address of that site is hosted on Tripod Web service just like mine which is surely not coincidence, so please disregard any connection of me or Warp PPC Station with that fake software." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M I T C H Y P A R T N E R S H I P A N N O U N C E D 20 February, 2000 Amiga.org and Haage & Partner to partner on Mitchy Amiga.org and Haage & Partner announced today that they will team up to make Amiga.org's Mitchy Resource Retriever the best possible resource directory and search engine for Amiga-related information, resources, and Web sites. Mitchy is a powerful Yahoo-like link directory with a search function that includes the number of hits for each resources, a rating system, Top 10 lists, and much more. Mitchy currently has about 1.000 entries. "After the well-known CUCUG Amiga Web Directory was retired at the end of 1999, we wanted to create a successor of our own," said Markus Nerding of H&P. "We made a plan and started to investigate suitable software but then realized that Amiga.org already offered such a service. Their Mitchy resource retriever had all the features we wanted to see in such an Amiga directory, and so we stopped our project and have teamed up with Amiga.org to make Mitchy even better and well-known to the Amiga community." "We started on Mitchy in early 1999," said Wayne Hunt, father and programmer of Mitchy. "I am just now making some major changes to improve its usability and performance. This partnership with H&P will help us to make Mitchy more known to the public, as well as to increase its contents. For instance, there will be regular raffles for visitors of our Web site with attractive prizes donated by H&P." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M O U S E W H E E L S F O R A M I G A 25 February, 2000 MROOCHECK - New PC Mouse Interface with Wheels support ELBOX COMPUTER proudly announces: Mroocheck PC Mouse Interface is a microprocessor based adapter for attaching any PC mouses, trackballs, glidepoints and radio-controlled mouses to all models of Amiga computers. MROOCHECK is simply connected between a PC mouse and the Amiga Mouse port. It supports all PC serial and combo mouses working in the following protocols: Mouse System format, Microsoft format, Microsoft format with Logitech extension. MROOCHECK converts these serial protocols to the Amiga Mouse Port format including all the specific features like the middle (3rd) button support or high resolution. This conversion is made by the interface microprocessor so NO additional software drivers are required. The interface start to work simultaneous with computer's start, so it could be used in the early-startup-menu (unlike the mouses connected through the serial port). MROOCHECK recognizes vertical and horizontal mouse wheels movements and converts them to Amiga analog joysticks signals. Mroocheck.driver converts Amiga analog joysticks signals (of horizontal and vertical wheels movements) from Mroocheck PC Mouse Interface to input events for input.device. Wheel movements are transmitted independent of (simultaneous with) mouse movements and three mouse buttons. Mroocheck allows scrolling in both directions (horizontal and vertical), even in mouses fitted only with one wheel! Switching directions (from vertical to horizontal) is obtained by holding the 3rd button simultaneous with the wheel movement. MROOCHECK suggested retailed price: EUR 30.00 sales@elbox.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S Q U I R R E L S M O V E T O A N A L O G I C 18 February, 2000 Squirrel products to be sold and made by Analogic Computers We are pleased to announce that the rights to manufacture and sell the Surf Squirrel, Classic Squirrel and Whippet products have been sold to Analogic Computers: http://www.analogic.co.uk/ This means that all marketing, sales and support is now handled by Analogic. Squirrel files will still be available from the HiSOFT ftp server - ftp.hisoft.co.uk - but without any support from HiSOFT. Analogic contact details: Analogic Computers (U.K.) Ltd Units 6 & 8, Ashway Centre, Elm Crescent, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey KT2 6HH. U.K. Telephone: +44(0)181 546 9575 Fax: +44(0)181 541 4671 Email: sales@analogic.co.uk Please note that the Squirrel names are still owned by HiSOFT. Analogic has the right to use the names, to manufacture the products and to sell worldwide. We are sure that the Squirrel has found a home where it will be cared for and this will ensure it a long and happy life :-) Good luck and best wishes to all at Analogic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I C H A T T O B E F R E E W A R E 18 February, 2000 Well, it's been a while. For quite some time I ceased working on AmChat out of sheer disgust for the people who pirated it before it had even been officially released. Now I'm on my way back to Australia, and things are going to change. I'll have a lot of spare time to finish off the next AmChat release once I get back, so you can expect it to be out next month. A taster of the improvements: - Chat (including multi-user chat) with full support for text styles and IRC-style mode - Redesigned event display - More complete user info - Full logging and history - Asynchronous file transfer - Extensive preferences And best of all... It will be free! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I T E C H A D V E R T I S I N G P R O J E C T 18 February, 2000 The AmiTech Advertising Project: A Progress Report Well, its been one week since we first put the word out about our attempt to give Amiga businesses the chance to get their ad in our newsletter which will be given to the attendees at the upcoming A2K show in St Louis. All I can say is so far is WOW! We received inquiries almost immediately and all were extremely positive! Already several companies have committed to place ads with us and several more are under consideration. The idea is simple: we are printing a special edition newsletter to distribute at the A2K show. Your ad can be in the hands of over one thousand die-hard Amiga users. Just contact us and say "I want to be in AmiTechs newsletter". We'll tell you how. Take a look at our ad rates and you'll see why people are saying "yes" to AmiTech special advertising offer: Full page: $16.00 Half page: $10.00 Quarter page: $7.00 Business card: $4.00 All ad prices based on 8 1/2" x 11" page. Black and white or grey tones. Check this list of people who will be advertising with us so far: CompuQuik - Ohio Amiga Vendor Software Hut - Amiga Vendor from Pennsylvania Turtle Lightning Software - Texas Amiga software vendor Bob Scharp - source for Amiga Magic Mugs and The St. Louis Amiga Shows Analogic - UK based Amiga vendor AudioLabs/Digital Audio Engineering - Home of Sound Pro audio software Ethan Dicks/Software Results - Home of the GG2+ ISA card for Amiga As you can see, some of the major players are on board already. There's still plenty of room for you! Why not consider placing an ad with us for the St Louis special? There is no easier way to get your name out to a dedicated group of people who WILL want to do business with you. Contact us today! Thanks for your consideration. Len Carsner Secretary/Treasurer - AmiTech Dayton Amiga Users Group nard@erinet.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- B L A C K I R C 1 . 1 I S F R E E W A R E 14 March, 2000 BlackIRC 1.1 Freeware Edition released Innovative's activities move more and more into the graphics-area and in development of online-applications for servers and enterprises. As a result our capacities for the further development of BlackIRC don't last and we now release it as Freeware. The integrated BlackNEWS will be continued by amiga-news.de. At the same time, we are not able to give you any more support for BlackIRC as it is now Freeware and support costs money. If a private person or company is interested in the further development of BlackIRC, we hand out sourcecode-licences starting at 5000 DEM. BlackIRC is an IRC-Client for the AMIGA, whose abilities are unique worlwide. E.g., extras like XDCC, Bots, CTCP-Flood-Protection, etc. are included by standard in the client. Even more, BlackIRC is the only IRC-Client on the AMIGA, that allows you to do videoconferences. http://www.innovative-web.de/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C L O A N T O ' S A M I G A E X P L O R E R 3 . 5 12 Mar 2000 Amiga Explorer was first released in 1997 as part of the Amiga Forever package. Version 3.5 is the result of years of refinements and feedback, and is now being released as a stand-alone product. This new version includes a revolutionary self-install feature to copy the Amiga side of the software from the PC to the Amiga with no software other than a plain Workbench disk (any version from 1.2 to 3.5 - no internet, no PC filing system, no terminal software required)! Amiga Explorer makes it possible to access the resources of an Amiga computer from one or more Windows systems. The computers may be physically connected with a "null-modem" serial cable, or via TCP/IP (e.g. Ethernet cards, or over the internet). Configuration is extremely simple and by default requires only one or two mouse clicks on the Windows side. Unique features of Amiga Explorer include: - Automatic installation of the Amiga side through the same serial cable later used by the software itself (no additional software required). Before the release of Amiga Explorer 3.5 this used to be considered an impossible task! - The Windows side can copy to and from the Amiga, and move, rename, delete, format and examine properties of Amiga files, directories and volumes through the familiar Windows Desktop and Explorer interfaces - Virtual floppy (ADF), hard disk (HDF) and ROM image files, very useful for archiving and emulation purposes, are created on the fly. ADF files can be both read from and written to Amiga floppy drives. - The Amiga side, including the self-installation part, works with all Amiga OS versions from 1.2 to 3.5 - The Windows side works on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 (several other data sharing products do not run on newer versions of Windows!) Additional information is available on the Amiga Explorer Home Page at http://amigaexplorer.com, where the software is available for immediate download for only $19.95. The sample screenshots on that page include an exclusive preview of GPSoftware's Directory Opus for Windows while it accesses an Amiga through Amiga Explorer! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- L O W E R P R I C E O N I N F R A B O X 14 March 2000 Price drops to USD 49! Description InfraBox is a hardware module that can send and receive infrared remote control signals. It connects to your computer, providing you with a powerful way to control your home entertainment equipment by software. As it can receive as well, you can also control your computer with a remote control commander. Features * Infrared transmitter o High transmission range (up to 10 metres, 30 feet). o Carrier is (de)modulated in hardware, this reduces processor usage to minimum. o 4 modulation frequencies guarantees compatibility with 98% of all consumer electronics. * Infrared receiver o Sensitive, resulting in high reception range (up to 30 metres, 100 feet). o Very immune to ambient and disturbance light such as sun and (tube) lights. * Compact stylish box o Color and style matches classic computer case designs (such as Amiga). o Transmit and receive indicator LEDs. o Small size, approximately 60 x 40 x 20 millimetres, 2.4 x 1.5 x 0.8 inches. o 1.5 metres (5 feet) of flatcable. Availability Currently, the module is available: * for Amiga computers where it connects to the 2nd gameport. Download the Amiga InfraFace software for free. * as an OEM box. The InfraBox hardware module is designed to be usable with a wide range of interfaces. Refer to the developer information for details. Native support for other interfaces, platforms and/or operating systems is being investigated at this moment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- V A P O R W A R E A U T O M A T E D F A Q 13 March, 2000 We are now providing an automated FAQ system for all Vapor products at http://faq.vapor.com/ The content is a bit sparse at the moment, but new answers are added nearly every day. The ultimate goal is provide a useful source of information to all users of Vapor applications, and to take some of the load off the mailing lists. The FAQ database is organised into per-product categories, and also one general section -- all of which can be searched easily. As a bonus, FAQ-O-Matic, the software installed on faq.vapor.com, allows *everyone* to add new entries, after registering with a valid email address. The bug tracking main page (http://bugs.vapor.com/) now provides simple statistics on pending and processed bug reports. Also, due to the recent moving of www.vapor.com's httpd to php4, the Keystone bug tracking system is now much faster. The upgrade to PHP4 caused some minor disruptions, but we now believe any such teething problems to be over. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Amiga Update on the net: All back issues available at: http://www.globaldialog.com/~amigaupdate/index.html Stop by and check out our archive! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2000 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified. ====================================================================== _ __ _ <>_ __ _ A M I G A /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ A M I G A U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ amigaupdate@globaldialog.com ======================================================================