====================================================================== _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors- / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional e-mail KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING || Newsmagazine) ====================================================================== AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 990319 A M I G A ' 9 9 - A W A T E R S H E D S H O W A M I G A O S 3 . 5 D E S C R I B E D A M I G A A N D U G N M E E T D E A T H R O B S A M I G A C O M M U N I T Y L E T T E R F R O M P E T R O E - M A I L F R O M H A V E M O S E O N M M C F R E E J A V A F O R A M I G A ! S P E C I A L F O R A M I G A ' S 1 4 T H B I R T H D A Y - - A N D 1 5 T H B I R T H D A Y C E L E B R A T I O N C T M A S H O W I N I N D I A P H O T O G E N I C S 4 . 0 L A U N C H E D F O N T W I T H E U R O S Y M B O L A V A I L A B L E A M I G A T V P A I N T N O W F R E E ! B A S I L I S K I I F R E E M A C E M U L A T O R A U D I O E N H A N C E M E N T D E V I C E T O R N A D O 3 D 3 . 0 D U E I N M A Y S T A R G A T E 1 . 1 A N N O U N C E D A R T E F F E C T 3 N O W S H I P P I N G Editor's Thoughts and Introduction: This newsletter is already almost too long, so I'm not going to say much right here. Most of my thoughts this time will be found below, in comments on the just completed Amiga 99 show. We actually held this issue a day or two, hoping to hear more reaction from the show. The community has been almost eerily silent about the show. My thoughts on that are in the article. There's an amazing amount of Amiga news right now, and that in part is because many people make announcements at show time. Several of these are significant, and we think you'll find the stories very interesting. We'll have to hold one or two for the next issue. Last issue announced the beginning of a new regime at Amiga, one that has much promise for the future. With this issue, we start chronicling how they're doing. Stay with us, we'll keep you informed. Brad Webb, Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail to the E-ditor: 15 Mar 1999 Hello Brad. I know you are gonna have one heck of a crammed issue of Amiga Update coming out soon. But if you have got room, can you mention the announcement that NewIcons 4.5 is now available. (assuming you haven't got that already) - I love newicons - better than that mwb. Regards Mikey C ------ Mikey C, Good news for NewIcons users. We may have a story in the next issue. Brad ~~~~~~ 16 Mar 1999 Dear Sir, I have an Amiga 500 C with about a bushel basket full of soft ware. I had to stop using it because I couldn't get a print driver that works well with an HP 690 Ink Jet printer. I love using the machine -- it is old, like me -- but still runs well. Can you offer any information on how to keep my old machine fairly close to up to date? Sincerely, Dudley ------ Dudley, I wish I had an answer for you. If any of our readers knows of a driver for the HP 690, please let us know and we'll run the information in the next issue. Brad ~~~~~~ 27 Feb 99 In the Dec 19, 1998 newsletter, you listed BlackIRC as being available. Excuse me if you have already addressed my question in a late issue, but I didn't see an address or web page for more info or purchasing. Love the newsletter. You are doing a great job, keep it up. Thanks so much. Alan ------ Alan, You can find BlackIRC at any Aminet site. We're pleased you like "Amiga Update"; thanks for saying so! Brad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A ' 9 9 - A W A T E R S H E D S H O W By Brad Webb What to make of the Amiga 99 show just concluded in Saint Louis, USA? Circumstances we couldn't control prevented "Amiga Update" from having a representative at the show. However, there are always many good show reports available after an Amiga show, so we went looking for the best to bring you. This time, there has been almost nothing. The best we've seen so far is by CUCUG's Kevin Hisle on their web site. Check it out for a list of those who had booths, and many good photos. But even Kevin's report says virtually nothing about the "big" events - speeches by the new President of Amiga, Jim Collas, and others, concerning the new corporate structure, the move to San Diego, the development plans and so on. In part, this is probably due to the fact that the new regime and its newly announced fast track development plans had been in place only a short time when the show started. In part, it may be due to the few postings we have seen being marked as not for reposting. That doesn't explain why more folks haven't given their impressions of events, however. From what we can learn, it's still too early to be certain how the Amiga community views the new order. We think that's why there's been so much silence. Mr. Collas is saying all the right things. That's good, but Amigans have heard that before. The plan sounds good, but Amigan's have had plans described before without results. Our reading, based on letters from readers who attended and poking around the community a bit, is that most people are hopeful but wary. They appreciated what they heard at the show, but will only be convinced the world is improving when it happens. The good news is people still believe a future can be built, and they are willing to contribute if they can. The bad news is they're not prepared to be excited to talk about it much. It's up to Amiga to make them excited, by following through. Our guess? We think Amiga will follow through this time, and there will be some excitement down the road. We've seen reports that the biggest group of doubters are the developers. It's hard to judge how accurate that is, but they've certainly lost the most with the direction Amiga Incorporated has limped in up till now. We have reports of a deep divide between Amiga Inc. and the developers being detected at the show. As these are subjective reactions, we can only hope things aren't as bad as the impressions some folks received. We did receive other reports that the developers were more excited by the new directions Amiga Inc. is talking about than the user community is. This somewhat schizophrenic reaction to recent news isn't surprising - it will take some time to see where we're really going. One thing to keep in mind is that developers are business people, and must have a love of the Amiga or they wouldn't be in that business. Help create a market they can thrive in, and they'll be there for you. There were several important announcements at the show from the companies involved. We have stories on many of them below. Our vote for the top news would have two stories tied - the "Daytona" Java Virtual Machine from top Amiga developer Holger Kruse, and the news about the "Classic" Amiga OS from Amiga itself. The pages put up at Amiga International's web site at the time of the show indicate that not only is 3.5 alive and well, there may even be further upgrades beyond that. This is a genuine shock, and if it's indicative of the new thinking going on within Amiga, then we find it very encouraging. Of course, part of the reason for more than one upcoming revision of Classic OS is that Amiga is too far behind to put everything in the next release and get it out any time soon. According to those who listened to Mr. Collas's speech, he had many encouraging points to make. First among them was that Amiga now has the full support of Gateway, who have placed seasoned senior management in the division and given it a meaningful budget. As if to underscore this, Amiga has posted several job openings. Mr. Collas also announced the first version of the new Amiga operating environment, to be called AmigaSoft 4.0, will be released in September for developer use. We're not sure why the term is operating environment rather than operating system. We'll be watching to see if there's significance to the choice of words. In any event, the final version is due later in the year. AmigaSoft will apparently support multiple processors, an unexpected and welcome development. AmigaSoft 5.0 will follow in 2000. Apparently Mr. Collas has high goals for the Amiga. He mentioned as many as 30 million sales being targeted, but added that would require the proper strategies to accomplish. He also promised more involvement in the Amiga community, with better communications and support programs for developers, magazines, dealers, shows and distributors. All this sounds very good, and must have raised the hopes of most listeners. One thing we've all learned in recent years, though - we'll listen, we'll hope, but we'll only believe when we see it. If we do see it, Mr. Collas and the rest of Amiga can count on support and praise from the community well beyond the standing ovation he received in Saint Louis. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A O S 3 . 5 D E S C R I B E D BENEFITS OF THE AMIGAOS 3.5 UPDATE Easy Internet Access Support for Hard disks > 4GB Modern Graphical User Interface (GUI) Extensive CD-ROM Support Support for current Printers PowerPC Support HTML Online Documentation Bug Fixes EASY INTERNET ACCESS TCP/IP Stack o Easy to setup the connection to your provider within minutes o Multi user support o Multi interface support (Internet and Ethernet) o Latest Socks v4/5 client module for firewalls o Enhanced SANA II support for fast transfer rates WWW Browser with Offline/Online Support o Browsing the OS 3.5 docs and the Internet New Cross-Application E-mail Library o General API for sending and receiving of E-mails New EMail Client o Based on the E-mail library SUPPORT FOR HARD DISKS > 4GB NSDPatch o New standard for 64 Bit Devices o Updated Info, Format, Diskcopy and FastFileSystem New HDToolBox o The low-level library processes the following tasks o Scanning the SCSI bus o Read the physical information of the hard disk o Read/write the logical information (RDB) o Create Mount files o Read special Mount entries to restore the RDB o HDToolBox applicatsion that uses the low-level library o New GUI style MODERN GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI) New Icon Set (Glow Icons) o New complete icon set for all system tools o New icons for most applications New Icon Library o Icons with up to 256 colors o Automatic color adaptation o NewIcon compatible o Compatible to OS 3.1 icons New BOOPSI Library o New complete set of powerful BOOPSI gadgets o Very fast, modular and scalable o AmigaOS compatible implementation o Compatible to existing BOOPSI classes New Resource Library o Loads and manages all GUI resources o Change the GUI without recompilation of the application o Can be used with any programming language New GUI Editor for Developers o WYSIWYG GUI editor o Creates resource files that are used by the new resource library o Automatic localization of the application EXTENSIVE CD-ROM SUPPORT CacheCDFS o ISO9660, RockRidge, Joliet (Win 95/98) and MAC HFS compatible o Supports Amiga protection bit and file comments o MultiSession CD-ROM support New PlayCD o (programmable) Audio player for SCSI and ATAPI CD-ROM drives o Low memory consumption New CDFSPrefs o CacheCDFS preferences for 'on the fly' configuration FULL PRINTER SUPPORT New Printer Device o Drivers for all common printers o PowerPC support o New functions to print all kinds of bitmaps o New API to define page size and page break correctly o Support for 24 bit Picasso96 DumpRastPort command o TurboPrint compatible functions to print 8 Bit chunky and 16/24 bit bitmaps New Printer Preferences o Updated for new GUI style POWERPC SUPPORT New WarpUP PowerPC Support o AmigaOS compatible integration o Extensive functionality o Hardware independent driver system, easy to extend New Preferences o Updated for new GUI style HTML DOCUMENTATION New Comprehensive Instructions o Reworked documentation for Workbench, DOS, ARexx and Harddisk o Completion of all the new featues of AmigaOS 3.5 o Extensive Illustrations o Bilingual English/German BUG FIXES o Corrections and Extensions o Accelerated and reworked Workbench o Extened and reworked ASL library o Reworked Bullet library o Reworked Diskfont library o New datatypes for JPG, GIF, AIFF o New SCSI Mount tool o Reworked A2024 monitor driver o Reworked CLI command (Join, Status, Type) THE FUTURE (PLANS AND OPTIONS) 3.6, 3.7, .... o Further Releases or AddOn Packages 4.0 - A New Release for the Classic Amiga o New reworked and extended Kickstart o Extended PowerPC Support o New 68K Emulator for PPC-only systems o Many new System Libraries ( Graphics.Library, Layers.library, etc) as PPC-native Amiga OS 3.5 System Requirements In order to upgrade your Amiga system to OS 3.5, it must be equipped with the following hardware: o CD-ROM drive o Hard drive o 68020 or higher processor o Amiga 3.1 ROMs o 4 MB Fast RAM For better performance, Amiga Inc. recommends: o 68030 or higher processor o 8 MB Fast RAM o Graphics accelerator and/or scandoubler o Modem To take full advantage of OS 3.5 we also recommend you add the following: o 68060 processor with PowerPC accellerator card o 16-bit sound card o 32 MB Fast RAM o I/O Accelerator Amiga OS 3.5 Frequently Asked Questions Q. When will 3.5 be completed? A. 3.5 is scheduled for release the first half of 1999. 3.5 is still on schedule. Q. How much will it cost? A. 3.5 has a targeted list price for USD$49.95 Q. Where are the RTG and RTA support? A. These are features that are no longer part of the core of 3.5. We are evaluating these features. Q. Will there be PPC support? A. Yes. 3.5 will have PPC co-processor support. Q. Will it run on a Macintosh? A. No. Q. Will 3.5 support MUI? A. As 3.1 does currently. Q. Will 3.5 have new icon support? A. Yes. More specifics will follow. Q. Do you plan on to bundle the 3.1 ROM with the 3.5 upgrade? A. This will be up to the reseller. We are not intending to offer a 3.1/3.5 bundle. Q. Is this the last upgrade for the Amiga Classic? A. There are plans for further Updates as well as AddOn packages for OS 3.5 Q. Is QNX playing some role in 3.5? A. No. QNX is only working with Amiga on the NG Amiga. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A A N D U G N M E E T FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE UGN Representatives meet with Amiga 17 March, 1999 Wayne Hunt Executive Director User Group Network http://ugn.amiga.org User Group Network Mailing List {This is from the UGN's mailing list, covering the metting between Amiga's management team and the User Group Network. Amiga President Jim Collas, Jeff Schindler, Bill McEwen, Jim VonHolle and Darreck Lisle were all in attendance. Below is the story as posted. Brad} To elaborate, or at least help Steven with the points he had, I was asked at the last minute to assemble no more than 12 people to meet face-to-face with Jim Collas "sometime Saturday afternoon" to represent the User Groups (and users) out there. This occurred at roughly 10:00pm Friday night. 8:00 Saturday morning, we had the UGN representative breakfast which lasted until about 9:30 or so, then found out from our liason, Darreck Lisle, that it was to happen at 11am that morning. I made the invitation to the attendees there, then literally RAN around the hall and show floor searching out each and every user group president and UGN representative I could find to attend the meeting. If anyone wasn't included, it was not for lack of trying, it's simply the fact that I didn't run across you before I had found 12 other people. As for the rest, here's what happened. After hauling our own chairs from the King James conference room, we all squeezed into Mr. Collas' suite to be greeted by Mr. Collas with "do you have any questions for us?" Oh boy was that ever an understatement! What followed was almost one and a half hours (overlapping the UGN luncheon) of feedback and discussion on several relevant subjects to include; - the community ---- The Amiga staff there pointed out to us that they really would like to involve themselves fully in the existing community and in fact, become a part of it rather than simply "the company". JimC (who did most of the talking) pointed out to us that he's aware that Gateway has been "screwing up" and underestimating the Amiga community and they want to make amends by becoming not only the company, but "part of the community as well". It was pointed out to the Amiga management that the public needs more news of every kind to come from the company. Not just "these are the specs and dates" type news, but all of it. It was suggested that; 1. they look into the production of a biweekly or monthly mailing to all of the User Groups which would contain giveaway trinkets and news updates. (similar to Gateway's "Prairie News" newsletter) 2. if they really want to start participating in the community, they might consider actively participating (when possible) in things like the UGN Mailing list. 3. let us know the personality details of the crew to make them a part of the community. Let us know who's hired and their background, etc. 4. include as news when AI goes out and talks to major third party companies 5. it was suggested by several representatives (not me) that Amiga needs to really get on the ball as far as website updates and that they: o make the .com a suitable, professional site o use the .net site for network services such as free web services to UG's and free e-mail to all (ala gateway.net) o use the UGN's .org site for all outgoing news to users and groups which didn't fit on the .com site. 6. Mr. Collas stressed that they (Gateway) had underestimated the need to support the current machines and market and he firmly pledged that "the classic machines aren't going away for at least another two or three years". Now, he didn't offer specifics other than the fact that they would continue (or in the minds of some attendees, start) supporting and developing for the "Classic Amiga line" even after the newmachines were introduced. Editor's note: Combined with the announcement from H&P that there would be a 3.6, 3.7, etc, the lifeline of the Amiga "Classic" machines seems ensured. 7. We (the UGN) need to get our contact information verified and updated in the database so that each User Group could be contacted directly from Amiga with pertinent mailings, etc. It was also recommended that EACH user group update their own records and include the address information of each user, past and present for a private database which Amiga would use to let people know that "something wonderful is happening" and to keep an eye on the Amiga. - developers and dealers We discussed several points of relevance where keeping developers involved was concerned. Jim Collas said they would (or were) consider a "sponsored development" (for lack of better terms) program whereby Amiga could be petitioned by established developers for financial assistance to complete a project or upgrade in return for some percentage. There were also various pointers about keeping dealers involved and perhaps Amiga organizing discounts on products for Amiga User Groups through every available, relevant dealer (not just Amiga dealers, but major players such as Yamaha {speakers}, 3Com {modems and network cards}, and others.) Overall, most every point was designed to help every other part of the community (Amiga, user groups, developers, and vendors) bring in both memberships and interest. It is also designed to stop the slow decline of interest in User Groups and the Amiga in general. For the first time, as many there will attest, we really felt like Amiga was actually listening and very, VERY interested in what we had to say. During the meeting, we got the distinct impression that we were hearing Jim Collas thinking out loud and that a lot of the feedback we provided came as a profound surprise to them. A lot of "we should do this" and such. Later Sunday, I was approached by a management member who stated that he was told to "be sure this stuff happens" so I am actually psyched and waiting for stuff to happen. ***** Current status (just got off the phone)***** is that we (the UGN and Amiga.org) are working towards reaching a formal agreement with Amiga to handle and be recognized as the central location for Amiga Organizations as per number 5 above (the ICOA voted to move their website to Amiga.org Friday at the show). The mailings (#1 above) aren't expected to actually start until mid April, which will give the UGN time to get it's ducks in a row. We need to start assembling and submitting user information to them ASAP. Amiga is also in the midst of moving their offices from South Dakota to San Diego which has all the staff tied up at the moment with logistics. Once the Agreement is reached to use Amiga.org for organizations, changes will start occurring and we will start seeing a lot more news items flowing from Amiga as they've designated a staff member specifically to disseminating news to the community. Feedback is welcomed, Wayne Hunt Executive Director User Group Network http://ugn.amiga.org "Users Helping Users" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- D E A T H R O B S A M I G A C O M M U N I T Y FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Amiga loses a Champion 3 March, 1999 Hello, Mr. Hardware Computers has some sad news to bring you. *Joe Rothman* (Mr. Hardware) died this morning March 3, 1999. He died suddenly of apparent Heart failure. Pam, his wife found him dead early this morning. Joe was a main pillar in the *Amiga* community since the beginning. Pam's picture even appeared on one of the Amiga 500 boxes. The future of Mr. Hardware will be announced. If you have any questions please direct them to me, Russ Norrby (516)821-2364 or nvp@northeast.net. Pam will not be answering the phone for the next week or so. The funeral will be this Friday 10-11am for visitation Moloney Funeral Hall in Central Islip, NY (516)234-6000 Please do not bring flowers but , if you would like to make a dontation for his wife Pam. Make all checks out to Pam Rothman and send to 38 Pearl Rd. Rocky Point, NY 11778. Amiga Forever!!! Sincerely, Russ Norrby Field Rep for Mr. Hardware & LICA, Treasurer ---------------------------------------------------------------------- L E T T E R F R O M P E T R O 2 Mar 99 13:08:19 -0600 Open letter to the Amiga Community February 8, 1999 - a historical day. This day reminded me of the spirit of 1985, when Amiga was presented to the world public in New York. This time a vision is born: Making computers a natural part of everyday life. It is almost 2 years ago, since the take over by Gateway. Many people know me as an impatient man and you may anticipate how difficult the period from March 97 to February 8, 1999 was. A time of low communication with the Amiga community, low public relations and low information about visions, missions and goals. But my dear Amigans, I can reassure you the ray of hope will become a bright sun within the next 6 month. The Amiga will be lead to the future under the technical experienced management of an absolute professional. Jim Collas, Senior Vice President Product Development & Management of Gateway, Inc. has decided to modify his position and to work for Amiga only. To reach all our goals, I will work on his side and support him with all my energy. Our mission is: To create a revolutionary and compelling systems architecture and operating environment for multimedia computers and digital information appliances which can easily be imbedded into consumer computing devices and enables innovative Internet services. Without talk big, I can tell you that in the middle of November 99 we will launch the new Amiga systems architecture and operation environment. For this purpose we will organise press conferences to inform the public about our goals and directions. Besides the new and revolutionary Amiga Operating System we are working on our existing platform to present the upgrade 3.5 as soon as possible First detailed information will be presented in St. Louis, USA (March 12. - 14.). We hope to be in the position to sell the first Operating System upgrades 3.5 in summer 99. The German company Haage & Partner and myself will take care about this project. AMIGA International, Inc. and Amiga, Inc. will conquer as one team the computer world; under the management of Jim Collas - and you my dear Amigans, will be a part of it. Help us performing our goals. Jim Collas will inform you within the next days about the organisation, plans and goals of our company. A very exciting time is coming and it is for me and my staff a honour to be a part of a new computer generation as pioneer and to pave the way for the future just like it was at Commodore. Long live our beloved Amiga and our community Yours Petro Tyschtschenko March 1999 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E - M A I L F R O M H A V E M O S E O N M M C 12 Mar 1999 {The following note from Amiga's Dr. Allan Havemose was discovered on the Net. The MMC, for those new to the term, is the "Magical Mystery Chip", or the mysterious processor which will be at the heart of the next generation of Amigas. Brad} >The MMC-maker (which one ever - as Allan told us at Cologne there are >several MMC-like chips in development) would be crazy to tie himself >too much to a startup-company like AI, who knows if they'll have >success. And AI doesn't look like they want to tie themselves again >too much to one architecture (although they need of course one to >start with). We probably made a mistake by not making it completely clear that our target specs were being met by several MMC at the time of the announcement (WOA London last year). And with technology moving very rapidly, who would want to be tied down with just one partner ? I know that the MMC speculation has been fun, but there unfortunately isn't much to speculate about. We just have not had to make a decision yet, so we haven't ! It's really that simple :) Allan -- Allan Havemose, Ph.D. Amiga Vice President, Engineering email:havemose@amiga.com (W) email:havemose@ix.netcom.com (H) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- F R E E J A V A F O R A M I G A ! Nordic Global made a surprise announcement at Amiga99--Java for the Amiga! And best of all, the runtime package and developer package will be FREE! ---- Daytona(tm) Java(tm) for AmigaOS Daytona is a complete Java 2 runtime system for AmigaOS, based on the "Java 2 Platform" by Sun Microsystems, Inc. Among other things it contains support for o The complete Java 2 API and class set, directly derived from Sun's reference implementation, and therefore 100% compatible with the official Java specifications and releases (unlike some other Java runtime engines for Amiga OS). o Multithreading, using a native Amiga implementation. No Unix emulation code or libraries required. o File and socket I/O (multithreaded) including multicasting, URLhandling and Internet protocol engines. o AWT (Abstract Windows Toolkit): The basic Daytona package contains AWT runtime classes, but no native bindings AWT bindings for native AmigaOS displays are available as part of the Dayton~LUS package. o JFC (Java Foundation Classes): Swing, Java 2D. o CORBA. Daytona is available FREE of charge. ---- DaytonaDEV(tm) DaytonaDEV is an add-on to Daytona. It is intended for developers who want to write their own Java programs, and compile them into Java byte code. DaytonaDEV contains the following items: o Java byte-code compiler: launcher and all required runtime classes. o Various tools (bytecode disassembler, documentation generator, archive management tools etc.) DaytonaDEV is available FREE of charge. ---- Daytona PLUS(tm) DaytonaPLUS is an independently developed add-on to Daytona that provides additional Amiga-specific features. DaytonaPLUS contains: o AWT bindings for native AmigaOS displays. Includes support for CyberGraphX and Picasso96 high/truecolor screens. o BOOPSI "look-and-feel" for Swing. o Applet API and runtime system with a stand-alone Applet viewer and a documented Applet API library, allowing Daytona to be used to add Java Applet support to AmigaOS web browsers. o PowerPC support for PowerUP o JIT (Just-In-Time) compilers for 68K and PPC. o Support for precompiled native (68K and PPC) versions of all standard Java runtime classes. Daytona and DaytonaDEV come with complete sets of 68K/PPC-precompiled runtime classes for use with DaytonaPLUS. DaytonaPLUS is distributed as shareware and requires registration. Registration fee: to be announced. For more information please contact Holger Kruse at Nordic Global Inc. (kruse@nordicglobal . corn, http://www.nordicglobal.com/). Projected release date of first public beta versions: summer 1999. Features are subject to change. ---- Daytona, DaytonaDEV and DaytonaPLUS are trademarks of Nordic Global Inc. Java and all Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other collutnea. Nordic Global Inc., Daytona, DaytonaDEV and DaytonaPLUS are independent of Sun Microsystems, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S P E C I A L F O R A M I G A ' S 1 4 T H B I R T H D A Y - Amiga Is 14 This Year ---- We at Trogladite Software, and World Of Amiga, decided that we wanted to do more for the Amiga's 14th birthday than just slap a 'Special Edition' title on Issue 4 and have done with it. So, we are going to release Issue 4 on May 20th (instead of June, when it should be released), and then release WOA Special Issue 1 on June 15th June. Since this is happening, we need input from you, the readers. Games, articles, utils, pictures, animations, whatever. Just send it to the address at the bottom of this page. We've already got loads of exciting things lined up, including articles from famous Amiga shareware developers (and a special guest appearance from a well known man at Amiga Inc... you'll have to wait and see who). The address to send stuff to is woa14@trogsoft.freeserve.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - A N D 1 5 T H B I R T H D A Y C E L E B R A T I O N FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 16th, 1999 Amiga 15th Anniversary Celebration in Atlanta (Amiga:2000) Class of '85 Reunion: On July 21st, 2000, we are celebrating the 15th anniversary of a machine that started a revolution that is still felt today. The Amiga spawned a cult religion of unbelievable proportion and magnitude, which keeps the spirit alive in spite of tremendous adversity. Come celebrate as we commemorate the life of the Amiga. Join Carl Sassenrath, Ron Nicholson, Dave Haynie, Matt Dillon, and many many more Amiga luminaries for presentations on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Topping things off will be a banquet awards dinner on Saturday night honoring those in the Amiga community, and remembering those who are no longer with us. You can sign up for a yearbook that spans from the early days of the Lorraine right up to the show, complete with development notes from the designers, pictures, and stories from the original Amiga, Inc, and Commodore-Amiga teams. Also, tidbits from developers and trade shows will round out the yearbook. There will also be a Boing class ring, as well as a limited edition event T-shirt autographed by VIPs at the show. and.. much... much... more. Contacts: William Coldwell, A2K coordinator (billc@warped.com) Lamar Morgan, A2K coordinator (lamar@mindspring.com) Mailing List: Send "subscribe a2k" to listserv@amiga2000.org Web page: http://www.amiga2000.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C T M A S H O W I N I N D I A Cable TV Show '99 in Calcutta, India (CTMA) (From the Amiga Web site.) From February 23 - 25, 1999, the third big exhibition for cable TV in India took place in Calcutta, India. AMIGA International, Inc. attended the exhibition with an own booth, represented by our distributor Raja Electronics from Delhi. The show was a complete success for AMIGA. A lot of people from the cable TV industry came over from nearby Bangladesh to stock up with A1200's. AMIGA's booth was a one of the most visited booths of the exhibition. Also, Mrs. Newel from famous German Radio Station "Deutsche Welle", (another exhibitor) visited AMIGA's booth (picture 3). AMIGA International, Inc. is now represented in Calcutta by both a dealer and a service center. During the exhibition (three days), 60 A1200's were sold at the booth and additional orders have been placed. Employees of several cable TV companies got familiar with the AMIGA system using "Scala" during seminars held in Lindbay hotel. AMIGA is known in India's cable TV industry as one of the most popular and irreplaceable computer systems. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P H O T O G E N I C S 4 . 0 L A U N C H E D 9th March 1999 Paul Nolan is proud to announce Photogenics 4.0, a complete rewrite of the original Photogenics, and the culmination of over four years of development. Photogenics is a graphics/art package. It allows you to create stunning images, either from scratch or by modifying existing images. It can be used for a multitude of purposes, from simple file conversion, to advanced photo manipulation and re-touching. It also offers extremely realistic and easy to use media such as pencils, chalk and watercolours to create stunning masterpieces in minutes. Photogenics is based on innovation. At its core, it works on images unlike any other product. Nothing you draw is permanent, it can be rubbed out as easily as it was drawn, and tweaked to perfection. This freedom allows you to experiment to a level never before seen. Photogenics 4.0 features: o Unparalleled levels of creativity from being able to modify the colour, transparency, image processing mode, and even the position of what you have drawn, all in real time! o Realistic Media tools such as Airbrush, Chalk, Pencil, Sponge, Watercolour, Smudge and Smear. o Designed to look and feel good using just a standard mouse. o Paint-on Image Processing allows the user to apply effects simply by drawing with any of the media tools. Being able to just airbrush everything on (and off!) allows instant touch ups without the need for tedious masking. Paint modes available include AddColour, Adjust (Brightness/Contrast/Red/Green/Blue), Bas Relief, BiColour, Blur,Burn, BurnThru, Clone, ColourToGrey, Convolve, Darken, DifferenceRGB, DisplaceMap, Dodge, EdgeDetect, Emboss, FlipX, FlipY, Hardlight, Lighten, Min, Max, MotionBlur, Multiply, Negative, Overlay, Paint, PanBlur, Pixelize, Posterize, RadialBlur, Roll, RubPaint, RubThru, Screen, Fire, Solarize, Softlight, SubtractColour, and Tint. o Exclusive Paint Layer technology allows mistakes to be rubbed out without having to redo the good parts, simply by fading out with the right mouse button. o Undo/Redo system allows you to go back as far as you specify, so that you have the power of both undo styles. o Unlimited number of easy to use layers allows fast image composition and amazing possibilities. o Stunning Paint-On Pyrotechnics such as lens-flares, fire, and explosions. Combine with smear to produce supernovas, waves of fire, and even sunsets and waterfalls. o Innovative clutter free user interface (font sensitive and user scaleable). GUI components can be docked/undocked, and positioned wherever you please. o Fully multi-threaded - you'll never be kept waiting as Photogenics responds instantly to your requests even while operations are in progress. o Advanced yet still easy to use Alpha channel support. Use any open image as a mask, or simply paint one straight on to the image. Updates to the Alpha channel such as brush strokes are reflected on the main image in real time. o 24bit Alpha channels. Only Photogenics lets you use colour Alpha channels, which enable you to independently mask each of the red green and blue channels. Paint on the Alpha with red, and this lets the red component show through, paint on with yellow, and both the red and green channels are updated. Painting with shades of grey produce masking as normal. Create awesome effects by loading in a 24bit Alpha channel and using it to mask image-processing effects. o Text Tool - finally you can just drag a box where you want the text, and type it straight onto any paint layer. Supports bitmapped and scalable fonts, with antialiasing. o Multiple Views - allows you to have as many views of an image as you like, each with its own magnification. o Impressive colour selection facilities, with five colour choosers, RGB and HSV sliders, and support for 256 colour swatches. You can also pick colours from Images, with changes updating in real time. o Extensive file format support. Current list includes loading and saving IFF-ILBM, IFF-DEEP, JPEG, Targa, TIFF, BMP, PNG, with more to follow. Photogenics also supports loading with 24bit DataTypes. o 24bit Printing support via StudioPrint. o Open Architecture - Photogenics is effectively just one big collection of plug-ins that blends seamlessly to form one program. Third party developers can have access to the same API as Photogenics does, allowing developers to extend the core software to an amazing degree. Minimum Requirements: 68020, 8Mb RAM, Amiga OS 3.0,CD ROM drive. Recommended Requirements: 68060, 16 or 24bit display, 16Mb RAM, Amiga OS 3.0, CD ROM drive. Pricing details to follow shortly. Paul Nolan ---------------------------------------------------------------------- F O N T W I T H E U R O S Y M B O L A V A I L A B L E 1 Mar 1999 I've made probably the first Amiga font with the new Euro currency sign incorporated instead of the "general" currency sign. FlodisEuro is available for downloading from the Internet address http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/7937/fl-euro.html /JohanBjörnson, Malmö, SWEDEN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A T V P A I N T N O W F R E E ! March 12, 1999 NewTek To Release Amiga TVPaint! NewTek surprised a lot of people at the Amiga 99 Gateway Computer Show where it announced that it was going to release Amiga TVPaint, which inspired the PC Aura, for free! NewTek had three representatives at the Amiga 99 show, where it was showing off TVPaint 3.59, the Video Toaster, and the Video Toaster Flyer. Beginning the 17th, for a limited time, NewTek will have TVPaint 3.59 downloadable from its Web site . Once a short survey is filled out, people will be allowed to download the full working version of TVPaint 3.59 for free. A CyberGFX compatible graphics card capable of displaying at least 256 colors is required to run the program as is Amiga O/S 3.0 or higher TVPaint is a three layer paint and compositing program that runs on the Amiga platform. It includes tools like Pen, Airbrush, Chalk, Pencil, Crayon, and cutout Brushes along with an easy to use scripting language for multiple task operations. There are over 2400 drawing and image processing combinations available. In addition, it includes the ability to do bump maps, smears, perspectives, blur, grain, and chroma key. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- B A S I L I S K I I F R E E M A C E M U L A T O R Basilisk II, Version 0.3 A free, portable Mac II emulator Copyright (C) 1997-1999 Christian Bauer et al. Freely distributable License ------- Basilisk II is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License. See the file "COPYING" that is included in this archive for details. Overview -------- Basilisk II is an attempt at creating a free, portable 68k Mac emulator. It requires a copy of a 512K or 1MB Mac ROM and a copy of MacOS 7.x or 8.x to run. Basilisk II is freeware and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Basilisk II has currently been ported to the following systems: - BeOS R4 - Unix (tested under Linux) - AmigaOS 3.x Some features of Basilisk II: - Runs MacOS 7.x and 8.x (7.0 not recommended) - Color video - Floppy disk driver (only 1.44MB disks supported) - Driver for HFS partitions and hardfiles - CD-ROM driver with basic audio functions - Serial drivers - SCSI Manager (old-style) emulation - Emulates extended ADB keyboard and 3-button mouse - Uses UAE 68k emulation or (under AmigaOS) real 68k processor The emulator is far from being complete. See the file "TODO" for a list of unimplemented stuff. Installation ------------ AmigaOS: The archive contains a precompiled AmigaOS binary (unless it's a "src" archive). You need at least a 68020 and AmigaOS 3.0. You must also have the "PrepareEmul" utility installed that comes with ShapeShifter (or any equivalent PrepareEmul substitute, see the ShapeShifter docs). Basilisk II needs a 512K or 1MB 32-bit clean Macintosh ROM image. For copyright reasons this is not included in the archive. No, I don't know where you can download it. No, I won't send you one. The ROM file has to be named "ROM" and put in the same directory as the Basilisk II executable. Configuration ------------- Basilisk II is configured via a text file. AmigaOS: ENV:BasiliskII_prefs If no preferences file is present, Basilisk II will create one with the default settings upon startup. The preferences file is a text file editable with any text editor. Each line in this file has the format "keyword value" and describes one preferences item. For each keyword, the meaning of the "value" string may vary across platforms. The following keywords exist: disk AmigaOS: Partitions/drives are specified in the following format: /dev////// "start byte", "size" and "block size" are given in bytes. floppy This item describes one floppy drive to be used by Basilisk II. There can be multiple "floppy" lines in the preferences file. If no "floppy" line is given, Basilisk II will try to automatically detect and use installed floppy drives. The format of the "floppy drive description" is the same as that of "disk" lines. cdrom This item describes one CD-ROM drive to be used by Basilisk II. There can be multiple "cdrom" lines in the preferences file. If no "cdrom" line is given, Basilisk II will try to automatically detect and use installed CD-ROM drives. The format of the "CD-ROM drive description" is the same as that of "disk" lines. scsi0 ... scsi6 These items describe the SCSI target to be used for a given Mac SCSI ID by Basilisk II. Basilisk II emulates the old SCSI Manager and allows to assign a different SCSI target (they don't even have to be on the same SCSI bus) for each SCSI ID (0..6) as seen by the MacOS. "scsi0" describes the target for ID 0, "scsi1" the target for ID 1 etc. The format of the "SCSI target" is platform specific. AmigaOS: The "SCSI target" has the format "/" (e.g. "scsi.device/2"). screen