====================================================================== _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors- / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional Newsletter) BACK FOR THE FUTURE || ====================================================================== AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Gateway 2000, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 971003 A M I G A I N T E R N A T I O N A L ' S L I S L E S P E A K S G A T E W A Y L A Y O F F S I N P R O C E S S S H O R T N O T I C E ! - S H O W I N W A S H I N G T O N F L Y E R M A S T E R G U I D E S C H E D U L E F R E E N E W T E K P A S S E S A U S T R A L I A N A M I G A A N N U A L L A U N C H E D A M I G A I N F O R M E R I S S U E 1 0 A N O T H E R A M I G A P R O M O D I S T R I B U T O R A 4 0 0 0 T C L O N E S T O B E M A D E G L O O M 3 Z O M B I E E D I T I O N N E W I C O N S V E R S I O N 4 . 0 M A G I C W B 2 . 1 P P H A S E 5 A 1 2 0 0 P O W E R U P N E W S P I O S W A R P U P F O R P P C SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL T H E H I S T O R Y O F T H E A M I G A Part Three Editor's Thoughts and Introduction: Wow! There's so much news coming out for Amiga right now that this issue is huge, even though we sent one your way not that long ago. It's a real joy to see so much activity. We have news from Gateway, publications, and new products. We also wrap up our excellent three part history of the Amiga from author Philip S. Moore. A few readers have wondered about the sequence of events in the history. Keep in mind the author used a flashback technique, so the story intentionally jumps from current to past. I'm keeping my notes short because of the length of this issue. Just one thing - yes, we do have a story on layoffs of Gateway 2000. No, we don't want to hear any tired old nonsense about a "curse of Amiga". Note the total employment figures in our story, and keep in mind that Amiga International is hiring. Better to give more thought to the first story, on a speech by AI's Darreck Lisle. Enjoy this issue! Brad Webb, Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A I N T E R N A T I O N A L ' S L I S L E S P E A K S Amiga Inc.'s Darreck Lisle Addresses Amiga User Group {The following was reprinted with permission from the Amiga Users of the Heartland. Thank you AUoH! Brad} AUoH Meeting - September 16, 1997 Mr. Lisle started off by telling the club how he got his job at Amiga, Inc. Basically, he got the job by continually offering his services until Gateway 2000 finally gave in. He stated he has an Amiga 1200 on his desk for work purposes, and an Amiga 4000T for home use. The A4000T at home has an 060 card, a Catweasel controller with two HD floppies, and additional expansion equipment. He also talked about why we haven't heard any press releases from Amiga, Inc.License disputes and liquidator disputes need to be resolved before a press release can be approved.The Vice President hiring process is nearing completion, so barring any further delays, we should be hearing a press release soon. Darreck then went on to talk about Amiga, Inc.'s approach to marketing. Open licensing will be utilized to speed up development while Amiga, Inc. completes its start-up cycle. One application for this open licensing could be in the area of Consumer Electronics where a small, highly-stable OS is critical. Some applications he speculated on include a palmtop Amiga, an Amiga-based security system, Amiga-based smart homes and Amiga-based cable TV boxes. A comment was made how it would be bad for the system running your house to crash because you would have to reboot your house. Companies are coming to Amiga, Inc. with requests to receive licenses so they may pursue development on Amiga-based consumer electronics applications. It is Darreck's opinion that Amiga has a bright future because Amiga International and Amiga, Inc. are starting a cycle of slowly gaining momentum which will build in the upcoming months. Another possible use of the Amiga technology may be into the existing Gateway Destination market. This technology incorporates a TV into the computer so regular TV viewing is done on a 31" screen, but as a task on the computer. The current use of PCs for this task has led to many families having to reboot their TV often due to crashes. Cooperation with third-party developers is also a priority as they are the driving force behind research and development at the present time. Darreck also said that he thinks the time frame for the release of AmigaOS 3.5 will be sometime within the next six months. AmigaOS 4.0 should be available before this time next year. AmigaOS 3.5 will use the existing 3.1 ROMs. Amiga, Inc. is currently trying to collect all pertinent Amiga archives and technology. They are also attempting to assemble a comprehensive Amiga library of Amiga books, service manuals, technical manuals, and any other writings pertinent to the Amiga's technology. Amiga International is the marketing arm of Amiga and is based in Germany. Amiga, Inc. is the R&D arm of Amiga and is based in North Sioux City, South Dakota. Interaction with user groups is moving along. A user group network is in the works. (Editor's note: Just today I received an email from an Amiga user group coordination effort. They plan on compiling information on all Amiga user group meetings and asking Amiga resellers to include a flyer with each package shipped.) The purpose of the Developer Network is to assemble and motivate developers. The Amiga, Inc. sponsored Developer Network should be getting underway sometime around March or April of 1998. Backward compatibility to 3.0, 2.0 and 1.3 (if possible) is a priority for new software, as is standardization on a set of issues. Autoconfiguration and plug-and-play software is also a priority. Question and Answer Session The Q's and A's are not word-for-word, but are taken from my notes. One of the people who had just purchased AmigaOS 3.1 (it was being installed during the club meeting) asked the following: Q: Should we buy AmigaOS 3.1? A: Yes--you will need the ROMs for the updated AmigaOS anyway. Q: Is Amiga, Inc. interested in the educational software market? A: Yes--we feel the Amiga is ideally suited to educational uses. Q: Is graphics card compatibility going to be built into the next OS release? A: Yes--some type of RTG standard should be included as well as an AHI-type of standard. Q: How long should we expect to wait before we see new systems? A: Probably around a year. Q: How many old Commodore employees are working for Amiga, Inc.? A: A rough estimate would be around 15 to 20. However, no former Commodore employee has turned us down and has said they will contract out to Amiga, Inc. if necessary to keep their present positions. Q: Are there any other enhancements to the Amiga you foresee? A: Possibly support for the Universal Serial Bus (USB). Q: Do you know how much Gateway 2000 bought the Amiga for? A: I wish I did, but I have no clue. Q: What is Amiga, Inc.'s position on UAE, the Amiga emulator available for Microsoft and UNIX? A: The current practice of pirating Amiga ROMs will be cracked down on shortly. Q: Will Amiga, Inc. use UAE to sway Microsoft and UNIX users to the Amiga? A: Probably not--the speed of the emulation on even the fastest Pentiums is only roughly equivalent to an unexpanded Amiga 500. Q: What does Amiga, Inc. think about Java? A: We would like to see Java in the next OS, but there is still a lot to be done in this area. Q: Is Amiga, Inc. considering a "Power Up" style program like they had when the A3000 was released? A: That will most likely fall into the hands of the licensed Amiga-compatible makers to decide, but there are many uses for older Amiga systems. For instance, many technical schools modify Amiga systems for test equipment. Also, many cable channels use Amigas for the Prevue Guide and also Public Service stations. Q: Are we going to see any of the current operating system hacks, such as MUI, built into a future AmigaOS? A: Possibly--however, MUI is too large and bulky to consider making it an integral part of the OS. A TCP stack is a definite possibility, though. Using Shareware and Public Domain OS software which is currently available is probably not an option, because programmers of competing software may claim Amiga, Inc. is showing favoritism by their choices. For instance, Amiga, Inc. currently buys most of its test equipment from many different Amiga mail-order houses for this very reason. Q: Will the prices of existing systems be dropped, like say $1000 off the existing A4000T prices? A: Yes--Amiga motherboards are quite simple in design so cost should reduce, especially after improvements are made to the current design, such as optimization of the existing custom chip set. Today's technology allows chip makers to reduce the size of the Amiga's custom chips. Q: Is Amiga, Inc. investigating the possibility of giving the Amiga the ability to run software written for other OSes? A: Yes--I believe there is some work involving making the Amiga a multi-platform machine. There is also the possibility of an Amiga-on-a-card which would effectively take over the processing of an industry-standard system making it essentially an Amiga. Q: Has Amiga, Inc. discovered a lot of reverse engineering of the Amiga technology? A: Yes--especially overseas. Q: Will Amiga, Inc. be coordinating with third parties? A: Yes--that is one of the main goals of Amiga, Inc. Darreck said his goodbyes around 9:00 as he had to be up for a 7:00am appointment, and he had two hours of driving ahead of him. Here is information on how to contact Mr. Lisle: Darreck Lisle Public Relations and Events Coordinator Amiga Inc. 1-888-23-AMIGA 1-888-252-6442 Voice 1-605-232-6442 Voice 1-605-235-1002 Fax ---------------------------------------------------------------------- G A T E W A Y L A Y O F F S I N P R O C E S S Gateway says it will lay off, reassign 300 A September 30 story by John Dodge of PC Week Online and Charles Cooper, ZDNN online, reports a layoff and reassigning of up to 300 Gateway 2000 employees. The article goes on to state As part of an "ongoing global restructuring," Gateway 2000 Inc. officials announced today it will either reassign or lay off approximately 300 employees. "The North Sioux City, S.D., company said it expects to end the year with the current workforce level of more than 12,000." At the same time, Gateway announced it intends to keep hiring in some areas to "support its anticipated sales volume." Later reports on ZDNN stated actual layoffs may have affected 500 employees with up to another 500 possible. Supposedly, the affected employees have "performance issues". Gateway, while still highly profitable, has reported lower than expected earnings in the third quarter. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S H O R T N O T I C E ! - S H O W I N W A S H I N G T O N 1 Oct 1997 Christopher Maland I know it is late but we just found out about this show. It is mostly PCs but we will be there and we are working on a couple of other local Amiga dealers. It is Oct. 11, 1997, in Kent, Washington. Setup is at 7am. The show starts at 9am. Tables are still available. Call (206) 874-8711 for more info. or email zipware@nwlink.com The website is www.maland.com/zip/computershow.html. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- F L Y E R M A S T E R G U I D E S C H E D U L E Flyer Mastery Guide publishing schedule 29 September, 1997 From the Video Toaster Mailing List (VTML) for all you Flyer users out there: Here's our current {Flyer Master Guide} publishing schedule: Flyer Mastery Guide Version 2.0 ($129 new, $59 upgrade) - December 8, 1997 LightWave Mastery Guide for Flyer Owners ($129 new) - Early April, 1998 Flyer Training Guide for Students (price TBA) - late June, 1998 Full details of the above and what they include will be outlined in future press releases. It should be noted that the Flyer Mastery Guide Version 2.0 is a major upgrade and therefore will come in a new binder with printing on both sides so that the content (old and new) can fit in the manual. It will also include a special Flyer Mastery Guide CD-ROM that we are putting the final touches on now. Press releases and detailed information on the new version will be available at NewTek Expo 1997 at the Flyer Mastery Guide booth. The book, however, will not be ready until December 8. Sincerely, Joe Tracy, author Flyer Mastery Guide ---------------------------------------------------------------------- F R E E N E W T E K P A S S E S 30 September, 1997 Richmond, VA - Nova Design, Inc. in cooperation with Visual Inspirations is pleased to announce the immediate availability of FREE passes to the upcoming Newtek Expo that will be held in Universal City in Hollywood, California on October 21st and 22nd.! The passes come in sets of two and normally these passes cost $50.00 in advance or $75.00 at the door. We making available about 500 sets of passes, which are available on first come, first serve basis. We can't promise a pass for everyone, just the first 500 to send us a SASE! To get your free passes send a self addressed stamped envelope (one set of passes per envelope only!) to: Free Tickets c/o Nova Design, Inc. 1910 Byrd Avenue, Suite 204 Richmond, VA 23230 USA We can't promise the mail will get these to you in time, but we'll send these back as fast as we can since as of today there are only three weeks before the show! You are welcome to use express mail or UPS. We have daily pickups for both of these. We can't accept a FedEx return envelope, as we don't have daily FedEx pickup at our location. Please, do not call to order tickets. Neither our sales department nor order line personnel will be equipped to supply Expo passes to callers. You can ONLY get the free passes by sending the SASE to the above address. I speak for Visual Inspirations and Nova Design, Inc. when I say we're excited to be able to offer these free passes and we look forward to seeing everyone at the Newtek Expo! For more information see the Newtek Expo site at; http://www.newtekexpo.com or the Nova Design, Inc. site at; http://www.novadesign.com or Visual Inspirations site at; http://www.vionline.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A U S T R A L I A N A M I G A A N N U A L L A U N C H E D JP Media announces AAA '98 An Australian-published Amiga magazine, Australian Amiga Annual 1998 will appear in newsagents around the nation in the second quarter of 1998. The 48 page, full-colour magazine will be published by J P Media. "Sales of UK-based Amiga magazines are still strong around Australia," says publisher, John Pospisil. "Australian Amiga owners are being let down because the Amiga does not have a presence in their local newsagency. Getting the Australian Amiga Annual'98 into newsgents much surely be the Amiga community's number one priority if we are to generate mainstream awareness of the Amiga in this country." "We believe that an Amiga annual is a viable proposition as long as we can convince Amiga players in Australia and around the world that it's in their interest to support it." The magazine will be printed in full-colour on glossy paper. J P Media is currently talking to companies and individuals in Australia and overseas. It is also interested in hearing from any parties interested in supporting the project. Email J P Media jpmedia@writeme.com for a quick response. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A I N F O R M E R I S S U E 1 0 30 Sep 1997 Issue 10 of The Amiga Informer is at the printer and is expected to become available by October 17. We packed all 48 pages with the latest information to keep you in the know on what's happening in the Amiga world. I won't bore you with all the details, but here's a brief outline of what it contains. * We have 8 pages of unique news, including a behind the scene look at Gateway, a noteworthy piece by NewTekniques editor Joe Tracy, an exclusive story about a new Amiga product called Playable Television, and the first part of a series on Networking your Amiga. * You'll find our regular columns detail the facts of anonymous email remailers, the powerful SuperView Libraries, a useful directory search utility and a look at the various Kickstart ROM's. Ask Dr. Amiga covers questions on Zip drives, PC Monitors, printing trouble, validating drives, and LHA compression. * This issues reviews cover programs of interest to a wide range of users and include detailed evaluations of ArtEffect 2.0, Picture Man- ager Pro v4.1, AEMail v 1.21 and VoyagerNG 2.88. * The Game Zone reviews, previews and summarizes Capitol Pun- ishment, Alien Formula One, PGA Tour Golf and Dawn Patrol. * And you'll find all our usual announcements, news bytes, tips, mar- ketplace classified ads, and contacts. You will also find several new specials offered only to our subscribers, so check out the specials section of our website for more details. The Informer is getting set to introduce a new web-based sweep- stakes called Amiga University. In several weeks all the details on this exiting event will be released to the Amiga Community. Stay tuned to our website and the various Amiga news sources for all the information on how you can enter to win great prizes. There are several ways you can get your hands on Issue 10 of The Amiga Informer. You can purchase it at the cover price from one of our many retailers, or hope to get lucky and receive an issue when you buy a product from one of a few distributors. However, it's quite likely you've already seen an issue of The Informer and are ready to subscribe! If so, we offer a number of convenient ways to do so: * You can call toll free 1-888-88-AMIGA to subscribe by Visa or Mastercard. * You can use our secure on-line subscription form and subscribe from our website http://www.mich.com/~twalling/informer/subscribe_s.cgi * You can download an order form from our website and mail us a check. You can also request that an order form be emailed to you by sending your request to informer@mhv.net * You can fill out the on-line, no-risk no-obligation "bill me" form at http://www.amigainformer.com/subscribe.cgi (available only to US and Canadian addresses). Either way, you'll find The Informer to be a great source of useful information and insights. We've been producing issues for over 20 months and plan to continue doing so well into the future. I hope you'll give us a try. See why the Amiga World is reading The Amiga Informer. Thanks for your support, Fletcher Haug, Editor The Amiga Informer Magazine eldritch@mhv.net http://www.amigainformer.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A N O T H E R A M I G A P R O M O D I S T R I B U T O R September 27th, 1997  ICP licensed to distribute AMIGA promotional products   ICP GmbH & Co. KG, Nuernberg, Germany (publisher of the German magazine AMIGA PLUS), is licensed by AMIGA International, Inc. to distribute AMIGA promotional products such as T-Shirts, baseball caps, pens, posters etc. Contact: ICP - Innovativ Computer Presse GmbH & Co. KG Innere Cramer-Klett-Str. 6 90403 Nuernberg, Germany ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A 4 0 0 0 T C L O N E S T O B E M A D E September 30th, 1997 Nova Sector Engineering, Inc. licensed to manufacture AMIGA based computers AMIGA International, Inc. licensed Nova Sector Engineering, Inc., USA, to manufacture A4000T workstations in own cases with A4000T motherboards and the original OS 3.1. For further information: Phone: +1 (616) 361-0806 Fax: +1 (616) 365- 9596 Mail: rbertram@iserv.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- G L O O M 3 Z O M B I E E D I T I O N Alpha Software present Gloom 3 Zombie Edition by Gareth Murfin Gloom 3 - Zombie Edition is a new game by Gareth Murfin with fantastic artwork by James Caygill and Jason Jordache. For those of you who havent played Gloom its a fast paced and furious doom game which will have you hooked in minutes. This new version of the game is set on a zombie infested planet which you must conquer in order to succeed. Lurking in the dark shadows of each stage are hoards of flesh eating zombies who crave warm human flesh. These undead creatures come in many shapes and sizes and are always out to get YOU. Armed with your blaster you must battle you way through an amazing 50 stages in order to get to the reactors and plant a thermo nuclear device to detonate the planet.... These are the 8 stages in Gloom 3. There are 7 main stages each with seven levels, these 49 levels of blood splattering action are joined by the final stage, The Gallery which is where you will face the most horrific zombie of all.... The Gloom 3 Story The Gloom 3 Spec Features of Gloom 3 Zombie Edition 10 NEW Horrific Zombie Enemies 50 NEW fast paced, gory Levels All new SFX & GFX Full Speech Rendered game Intro 21 NEW scarey 2 player combat levels with Zombies! Tougher, Better and MUCH more scarey! CD-ROM only title Support for all 68k processors More modems supported for linkup play! 2 Player split screen and its still fast! Faster with more colours than all previous Glooms! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W I C O N S V E R S I O N 4 . 0 September 27, 1997 -- Team NewIcons is proud to announce the latest release of their revolutionary GUI icon enhancement system, NewIcons version 4.0. The NewIcons system transparently allows up to 256 color icons on the Amiga Workbench, and is supported by several Workbench enhancements such as Scalos and Directory Opus Magellan. Included with this release is a stunning new set of 32 color icons, as well as remarkable improvements in NewIcons' speed and functionality. The NewIcons package includes the DefIcons utility, which transforms all those iconless files on your hard drive into visually identifiable virtual icons on the fly as they load into an opening Workbench window. Deficons recognizes over a hundred different filetypes and identifies them almost instantly during loading. Most notably, the NewIcons System has the following new features: - Large speed increases with icon loading/rendering - Optionally shadowed or outlined icon text for easy legibility on all Workbench backdrops. - Transparent icons (no more ugly borders) that remain transparent when you drag them. - New Utilities to convert all drawers in a directory or partition to a user selected image. - Beautiful 32-color icon set and palette, which is backwards compatible with prior icon releases -- a Workbench pen saving feature. - and much, much more. NewIcons is directly supported in many commercial products, including Cloanto's Personal Paint 7, GPSoft's Directory Opus Magellan, and dozens of other commercial, shareware and freeware packages. Team NewIcons is also proud to announce that NewIcons comes preinstalled on all Micronik tower systems sold by Blittersoft. Team NewIcons releases this software free of charge, a freeware gift with our thanks to the Amiga community. We look forward to the future of the Amiga Operating System, with our hope that palette independent icons will be included as a default standard with future versions of AmigaOS. The NewIcons System can be obtained from the Official NewIcons Support Site at http://www.amiganet.org/NewIcons/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M A G I C W B 2 . 1 P SASG International Announces MagicWB 2.1p Released for Free Download Following popular demand, MagicWB 2 (which was previously only available through prior registration) is now for the first time publically available as fully installable shareware version. Get it if you still have the old and outdated MagicWB 1.2p running on your system or if you haven't yet installed MagicWB... This version is fully installable and usable, hence you can very much evaluate if you like MagicWB or not and if it's worth to register it. By installing this version you are also updating to the new MagicWB color-allocation scheme which makes you compatible with other applications using MWB. After this installation no graphics, icons etc. should appear in the wrong colors again. And the icon build-up and general workbench performance will be much faster than before: What is MagicWB? The definite WB-Enhancer no Amiga can do without. MagicWB is a full replacement for the graphic user interface of the Workbench and has become the standard on the Amiga. MagicWB 2.x is completely restructured on a new color-allocation scheme which more than doubles the speed of the WB and reduces chip-consumption to only a third compared with all previous versions and also features a highly improved color palette. MWB 2.x introduces a never-before-seen standard for over four dozen of new image-drawers to achieve a more diversified look on your WB. More icons, dock-brushes, a dozen of new patterns, fonts and a AA-support complete this special product. Note: If you already are a registered user of MagicWB 2, don't install this shareware version but read the "About MagicWB" readme first and copy the udpated MagicWB fonts over your old fonts. That's all. Contact: http://www.sasg.com/index.html - SASG International ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P H A S E 5 A 1 2 0 0 P O W E R U P N E W S New PowerUP models for Amiga 1200 There will be several changes to the PowerUp accelerator board product series for Amiga 1200 compared to the announced products. phase 5 digital products decided, based on the strong demands from the customers, to expand the product palette and to offer different processor clock rates. The following products will be offered BLIZZARD 603e+ Power Board This board will be the first one of the series available for the Amiga 1200 user and delivery will start at the Cologne Amiga Show. It requires a 68040 at 25, 33 or 40 MHz or a 68060 at 50 MHz as companion CPU. It is the best choice for an upgrade from a Blzzard 1240T/ERC or a BLIZZARD 1260.The BLIZZARD 603e+ will be - contrary to the announcement - equipped with two SIMM sockets. A Fast SCSI-II controller is implemented on the board.As a special additional feature a graphics board direct slot is also implemented, enabling the customer to use the high end graphics adaptor BVisionPPC without the need of an additional bus backplane. By using the direct slot, bypassing the limitations of the Zorro bus system, the BVisionPPC graphics board speed will beat any known graphics board. The BLIZZARD 603e+ will be available with PowerPC 603e CPUs running at 160, 200 and 250 MHz.BLIZZARD 603e Power Board This board will be the second member of the A1200 accelerator board family and will be delivered before Christmas. It requires a 68030 at 50 MHz as companion CPU and is therefor the choice for upgrading from the BLIZZARD 1230 board series (model II, III, IV).The additional features are nearly identical to the BLIZZARD 603e+ Power Board series, as there are two SIMM sockets, the intgrated Fast SCSI-II controller and the graphics board direct slot. Also the different versions concerning clock rates of the PowerPC 603e CPU are the same as with the BLIZZARD 603e+ Power Boards and will be available at 160, 200 and 250 MHz ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P I O S W A R P U P F O R P P C The real speed is warp speed! A high-speed kernel for PowerUP Finally the Amiga has its PowerPC. Everyone of us owes Phase 5 a lot of gratitude for that. Because it was them who steered the CPU-discussion into the right direction. Through their PowerUP¨-boards they ensure that the Amiga will regain its rightful position at the top of technology. The PowerPC-technology offers a maximum of technological security for the future. Under the banner of their motto NO RISC NO FUN", Motorola have already taken the first step that Intel processors have yet to make.Due to this decision, CPUs with a clock speed of up to 350 MHz are now available. And a limit to this is not in sight. Hardware-development is only one side of the coin in this respect. Without the appropriate software even the very best hardware is not really worth much. Therefore the biggest burden is currently carried by software developers all over this world. They are pondering the question whether porting their software to the PPC will pay off. Switching to a new CPU involves porting and maintaining the software for two different kinds of CPU. It is due to this fact that many software developers (despite promising announcements) still sit back and watch the market before starting the effort of doing a port. What makes the right decision easier is a software-interface to the hardware which guarantees that future hardware-developments can be utilised by the software without changing it (it does not matter whether this hardware will be a new PowerPC-board from a third-party manufacturer or a PowerPC-Amiga from Amiga International Inc.). Exactly this functionality is offered by WarpOS which was developed on the Phase 5 dual-processor boards by our authors Sam Jordan, Michael Rock and Jochen Becher. WarpUP forms a so-called hardware-abstraction-layer (HAL) between the hardware and software-applications. This HAL guarantees the proper function of these applications on different PowerPC-concepts. To every software-developer this offers a risk-free start into a new era of software-development for the Amiga. WarpUP forms the interface between the 68K-, PowerPC-hardware, the 68K-operating system software and the software-applications. The premier issue is of course to optimally exploit the speed provided by the PowerPC-CPU while at the same time making applications as easy to port as possible. For the first time on the Amiga, WarpUP allows using native PowerPC-applications as well as applications and shared libraries in mixed- and fat-binary form. The StormC C/C++ developer system offers the possibility to compile an AmigaOS-application as a native PowerPC application by simply setting a compiler option. The necessary switching between the 68K-AmigaOS and the PowerPC- functions is handled by the WarpOS-kernel within WarpUP. This is a valuable advantage for the software developer. The reason for this is that even a direct port of the software achieves a sufficient performance increase. Conceptual changes to the software only become necessary if even the last bit is too be squeezed out of the system. WarpUP offers the following advantages: * Highspeed communication-interface between the 68K- and PowerPC-CPU. * Entirely native multitasking, native memory management, semaphores, list-/tag-management, signalling, message handling. * Facultative memory protection: tasks are given the option of allocating protected memory areas. * Virtual signals, i.e. signals are CPU-shared and are always redirected to the correct CPU. * Inter-CPU message-system: messages can be passed between the CPUs * Optimal use of the PPC-MMU and the PPC-Cache * MMU/Exception-handling support for applications * PowerSave-function that shuts down the PPC if no applications use it * PowerPC-Enforcer (protects the first page) * Detailed crash-requester that optimally aids the developer in finding errors * Integrated debugging system to make bug-tracking easier. * Special support for highly optimized software such as games and demos. * Support for Amiga-compliant applications. * PowerPC native, mixed- and fat-binary applications and shared-libraries. * Also usable for alternative developer systems such as Modula- or E-compilers with PowerPC-support because objects are not mandatorily created in ELF; instead the tried and tested Amiga-compliant hunk-format can be used as well. * Easy installation * Hardware-independent * Optimal future prospects We save the best for last, of course: WarpUP can be obtained free of charge from HAAGE&PARTNER! You only have to pay your phone costs. Download! This is our contribution towards a brighter Amiga-future. Further information can be obtained from: HAAGE&PARTNER Computer GmbH PO. Box 80 D 61188 Rosbach Germany Tel.: ++49 6007 930050 Fax: ++49 6007 7543 E-Mail: warpup@haage-partner.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL SPECIAL T H E H I S T O R Y O F T H E A M I G A Part Three The following "Amiga Update" Special Feature is presented by permission of the author. It was originally published in "Computer Bits magazine". Uncontrolled Execution: The strange saga of the Amiga Uncontrolled Execution ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The strange saga of the Amiga ... by Philip S. Moore ... continued ... Within days of Commodore's 1994 announcement, the company employees dispersed and the remaining assets were in the hands of the creditors. This should have been the end of the story, but a strange thing started to happen -- peripheral and software producers began to come forward, vowing their continued support for the platform. First a handful, then dozens -- enough to keep the Amiga alive, at least for the time being. Instead of a quick death, it became a protracted waiting game, with everyone watching to see what the bankruptcy agreement would indicate for the future. If the assets were auctioned piecemeal, then the chances that the Amiga would return were remote. If the company remained a single entity, then the story wasn't over. Almost immediately, former Commodore staff members were hired by companies interested in acquiring the Amiga or its technology. As the companies indicated their interest in the Amiga, the creditors of Commodore began to see an opportunity to sell the company, not in pieces, but as a single package. An agreement was reached for settlement of claims and a date was set for receiving offers for the entire assets of Commodore, including the Amiga. On that day, April 21, 1995, the offers were opened, and the winner was a German computer and electronics retailer, Escom A.G. The company looked like a perfect match. The Commodore creditors were, if not happy, at least satisfied. The Amiga's community of users and suppliers thought the crisis was over, and the future looked assured. ------ North Sioux City, South Dakota is about as far from Germany as you can get, in miles, topography and mentality. Yet, in the executive offices of a giant South Dakota company, the future of Amiga was being decided. Quikpak, despite its good intentions, cannot raise the purchase price by the deadline and again Amiga is heading toward the brink. Time is running out for Escom's creditors and the the receiver. If the status of Amiga Technologies cannot be resolved in the immediate future, there will be no choice. The company will be shut down and the assets auctioned to the highest bidder. This scenario is the subject of the discussions in the offices of Gateway 2000, the world's largest direct marketer of personal computers. It has become the topic of interest because Ted Waitt, co-founder and president of this Fortune 500 company, has decided that Gateway 2000 may want to reach beyond its traditional business of making well-liked but unremarkable IBM-compatible machines and acquire Amiga Technologies. There is no question that Gateway 2000 has the money -- but does it make sense to spend it on the Amiga? Waitt thinks it does. At first, all he wanted were the patents. The Amiga's multimedia capability is still an industry leader and combining that with Gateway's new entry into the set-top box market offers tempting technical opportunities. However, the more he looks, the more Waitt believes that there is a future for the Amiga itself. "Amiga has some fantastic technology," he commented in an interview with Boot magazine. "But there might be a lot more than just a set of patents. There's the tremendous enthusiasm of the folks in the Amiga user environment." On top of that, there is a company operating as a small but profitable concern and an overseas market that is gaining, not losing, ground. For a man who decided that he could make computers in the middle of the Great Plains, in a town where the largest existing employer was a hog slaughterhouse, it all looks too tempting. The tortured saga of the Amiga reached a sudden and surprising end on March 27, 1997 when Gateway 2000 announced its intention to purchase Amiga Technologies GmbH. This happy turn of events startled everyone, including Amiga loyalists who had become more accustomed to bad than good news. They could not question Gateway's ability to meet the price, now down to about $16 million, but they wondered whether the company planned to close the company, take the patents, and move on. It took only a few days for Gateway to put their fears to rest. On May 18, at a news conference prior to the opening of the World of Amiga Conference in London, Gateway announced the renamed Amiga International Inc., and vowed its commitment to the future of the Amiga computer. On the platform was Jim Taylor, Gateway's senior vice president for global marketing, who noted, "It's exciting to know how much support Amiga continues to enjoy." Joined by Tyschschenko, who remained president of the renamed subsidiary, Taylor vowed to support the Amiga community. "Every Amiga customer should know that we share their belief in this product and we believe that it has a strong role in our multimedia computing world." Since then, Gateway has made good on its promises, agreeing to license Amiga's technology broadly and assist in developing new products based on an open standard. By expanding the number of companies in the Amiga business, even potential competitors, Gateway sees the opportunity to make the Amiga cheaper to produce, faster to develop and easier to upgrade. Mostly, Gateway 2000 is offering the Amiga a chance to remake history. From a long, tortured path littered with mistakes and near success, the company now has the stability and credibility to fulfill its potential. For once, Amiga's enthusiasts promise, it's a chance that will not be missed. About the Author Philip S. Moore is a Camas, WA-based public relations consultant and computer hobbiest. E-mail to philip758@delphi.com. This article was originally published in the September 1997 issue of Computer Bits magazine, and is copyright (C) 1997 by Bitwise Productions, Inc., Forest Grove, OR, (503) 359-9107. All rights reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Amiga Update on the net: some issues available at: http://www.sharbor.com/amiga/news/ (in html format) Australian Mirror Site: http://www.comcen.com.au/~paulm/index.html All back issues available (in ASCII text) at: http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1997 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified. ====================================================================== _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || Brad Webb/AmigaUpdate /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || bandr@globaldialog.com / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ || ======================================================================