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Text File | 1992-10-11 | 40.5 KB | 919 lines

* . . * . . *StarShip* . . . ____________________________________________________ /____________________________________________________\ * // \\ // _ _ _ _____ _ \\ // ( \ / )(_) / _ ) __/ ) \\ . || \ \ / /_ ____ _ __ _ / /_) /_____ ___(_ __) || . || \ \_/ // )/ __ )( \/ \/ )/ ____// _ )/ __)/ / || \\ \ // // ___/ \ // / / /_) // / / / // \\ \_/(_/(____) \_/\_/(_/ (_____/(_/ (_/ tm // * \\ // * \\__________________________________________________// \__________________________________________________/ . . * . . . * ______________________________________________________________________ October 1992 Editor: Jim Meyer Volume 1 Number Seven (V1.7) Publisher: Peggy Herrington Producer: deb Christensen ______________________________________________________________________ Film at Eleven ........................................ Jim Meyer 1 ViewPoint ...................................... Peggy Herrington 2 Boom Box .......................................... Howard Wooten 3 Thinker ............................................... Jim Meyer 4 DigiPrint IBM Bus Mouse Interface ..................... Jim Meyer 5 AmigaVision Flow Control - Variables ................. Kevin Rahe 6 SCSI I and II, Part One ............................ Greg Guthman 8 EdARexxMODStars ................................... Sylvia Lutnes 11 The New *StarShip* Trivia Night ................. deb Christensen 13 ______________________________________________________________________ ViewPort is a *StarShip*(tm) Production available on GEnie(R). For details and information about contributing, send GE Mail to JIM.MEYER. Copyright (C) 1992 *StarShip*. Freely distributable when kept intact. To join GEnie, dial 1-800-638-8369 with your modem. Upon CONNECTion, enter hhh. At the U#= prompt enter SIGNUP. Have a major credit card or your checking account number handy. ______________________________________________________________________ ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 1 Film at Eleven by Jim Meyer My, how the ranks have thinned. First, there was Mr. Bobo. He abandoned the Amiga and leapt into the world of Windows, doing so with a parting shot at Commodore. Matthew Leeds wasn't far behind, writing his last column for MicroTimes as a scathing commentary on the state of the Amiga. Finally, Phil Robinson pronounced the Amiga dead. And then came the Amiga 4000, accompanied by a spirit of renewed determination on the part of Commodore Marketing - yes, there IS such a thing - and a commitment to the future from Commodore Engineering. Mr. Robinson, at least, seems to have kept an open mind about the Amiga. Mssrs. Bobo and Leeds, having burned their bridges behind them, will not be heard from again. Now, another columnist is threatening to sever the word "Amiga" from his vocabulary. Because of Commodore's marketing? Because the Amiga isn't all he wants it to be? Hardly. It seems that the President of an Amiga user group wrote to this columnist's magazine and charged that their Amiga coverage was related to the amount of advertising that Commodore did in their magazine. Anyone who knows the magazine business knows that this is a silly charge. Most columnists live nowhere near the magazine for which they write, have little or no idea of what advertising will appear in the magazine, and write their columns many months in advance. None of this is conducive to a cozy advertiser-writer relationship. But should any of this make any difference? All writers are accepted, to some degree, as legitimate experts. As such, all writers have a responsibility to be as informed as possible, to present the best, most accurate information to their readers. While bias can often add flavor to one's writing, some degree of objectivity and open-mindedness is imperative. And this is most true for columnists who write about "computing in general." Thin skin does not wear well on a writer. For one thing, it's likely to be abraded by an Editor. For another thing, there will always be a reader who disagrees with what you say, or - in the case of the user group President - who leaps to an unwarranted conclusion. Such is life. Most writers live in a universe devoid of sycophants, those ego-strokers who tell you that everything you do is wonderful. Most writers learn about rejection and differing opinions early, and most writers learn to live with it. So who is this writer? It doesn't matter. Perhaps it's time we refuse to stroke someone unceasingly in the hope of seeing a few favorable words about the Amiga in print. Perhaps it's time we demand quality articles from curious, well-informed writers who are still fascinated by new developments and who actually take the time to learn something about the machines they mention. Can we afford to have one less person writing about the Amiga? Well, I'd rather see more, and I have a feeling that the A4000 will be impossible to ignore. Meanwhile, the next time I hear a writer threaten to stop writing about the Amiga every time someone says something unkind about his or her article, I'm hitting the "off" switch. I don't need that kind of journalism. How about you? What do you think? Let us know; leave your comments in the ViewPort topic. ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 2 ViewPoint by Peggy Herrington I talk with a variety of people in the course of gathering the *StarShip* 5-MINUTE Weekend News, which conversations can be enlightening to say the least. Although nowhere as common as it was even two or three years ago, occasionally I still have to describe commercial information services to the people I talk with (yes, computer industry professionals) because they've never been online. They have no idea what they're missing! Many's the time I've credited what professional success I've enjoyed to the networks. There's simply no way I could have stayed current with the market from an extra bedroom in my house in the southwest without them. The entire industry is painfully aware that PC market penetration hasn't been spectacular, a subject that often crops up in these conversations. One person I talked with a while back had statistics that went something like this: Personal computers and microwave ovens were introduced in the U.S. at roughly the same time in the late 1970s. According to this survey, microwave ovens are now present in around 75% of U.S. households, while PCs are in only about 25% -- and it doesn't take a degree in marketing to know that most of them are NOT equipped with modems. While I could philosophize about the reasons for this trend, I'd rather point to a more positive aspect of it and congratulate you. Since ViewPort is distributed only online, the fact that you're reading it means you're among the people at the forefront of the industry. You're taking advantage of something most people don't even realize exists. Let me mention something else that figures into my point: shopping malls. In a word, they're overbuilt. Someone else I talked with recently referred to a survey claiming that there are now five times as many shopping malls in the U.S. as we need! Retail action, it seems, has shifted from from malls to discount houses like K-Mart and Target. And where are the computer stores? They're still in the malls, of course. Take your average PC owner who uses his system for business, pleasure or both. He (and it IS a guy) has two means of shopping for software: at computer stores in the malls, and by reading computer magazines. Unlike you, he doesn't go online, so he knows nothing of reputable mail order suppliers. He's stuck with fractured computer retailers who typically know little about anything except IBM products, and - although I hate admitting this - sometimes biased and often ill-informed product reviews in the magazines. Even when he discovers a product in a computer mag that grabs his interest, he may not find it in a store. He won't be able to talk to anyone who's ever laid eyes on it before he orders it from a mail order house -- if he even bothers. On the other hand, you CAN get hands-on opinions about most anything -- and NOT from someone with an agenda -- from people just like you who have used it (and competing products) personally. How? By leaving a message on the electronic bulletin board of your choice, and checking back later. You can find out about reputable mail order suppliers there, too. The Information Age offers benefits like this to everyone plugged into it, and there will undoubtedly be more of us before society passes onto some other Age. Commercial networks -- especially GEnie -- are growing, and we of the *StarShip* think it's because of the many advantages this medium offers. In short, we think we're a better alternative than stores and magazines. What do you think? Leave your thoughts in Feedback to the SysOps on GEnie page 555 and perhaps your opinion will end up here next month. ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 3 BoomBox by Howard Wooten DR.T's Music Software has entered the recreational market with the release of "Boom Box", an interactive music program designed to capitalize on the popularity of Rap music. As a professional musician, I had serious doubts if Boom Box would prove to have any merit, since its sole purpose is to create dance music in several different Rap styles. About a year ago, Casio released a mini-keyboard that allows the user to trigger samples over a looped background of drums and bass. Boom Box provides the software/hardware equivalent for the Amiga (or IBM PC). Unlike the somewhat conservative approach of most DR.T's software, Boom Box is like a Saturday morning cartoon, loud, garish and full of jive and hype. The back of the box loudly proclaims: "Caution! Boom Box May Be More FUN than you're prepared for!" Well... guess what? If you don't take this program too seriously, it is indeed a lot of fun! Some of the grooves are infectious, and the samples range from good to excellent. The program's main screen (file #17025 in library 6) is an eight color representation of a typical portable cassette player - two large speakers and a tape deck with the usual Record, Pause and Play, control buttons. The secondary (and more powerful) Jam/Remix screen is where stereo echo, tempo change and mix-down take place. Boom Box starts by loading a default style plus six user-controlled Rap samples. The user samples can be triggered from the Amiga's keyboard or triggered from onscreen solo pads in the Jam/Remix portion of the program. Included in the two disk set are seven styles plus 49 IFF samples. A style consists of a drum part, a matching bass part and a lead or keyboard part; it's up to you to trigger the heavy guitar samples, orchestra hits, assorted screams and turntable scratches. Even though Boom Box can load standard IFF samples, you are stuck forever with the seven Rap styles the program ships with. Fortunately, the Jam/Remix portion of the program offers a set of variations for each part. The drum track has four variations, and the bass and keyboard parts have three variations each. Between the seven user styles and the variations, many unique combinations can be set up, recorded, and saved. Did I mention recording? Once the record button in the tape transport is pressed every mouse movement, sample trigger, tempo change & button press is recorded. Files are saved in a proprietary Boom Box format with a three letter .BOX extension. Boom Box features full on-line help and multitasks reasonably well. It should be noted that this program is limited in scope and offers no hidden features, midi control or much chance of future expansion. Nevertheless, it works as advertised. Boom Box Requires 1 meg RAM and workbench 1.3 or 2.0. Dr. T's Music Software 220 Boylston Street Chestnut Hill, MA 02167 $59.95 ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 4 Thinker by Jim Meyer It doesn't look like much, this VCR case with a line drawing of Rodan's sculpture, and the name of the company - Poor Person Software - might give one pause. But take a look inside at the program called Thinker. There's a good chance that its many capabilities can make your life easier. It might be difficult to get beyond the description of a "Hierarchical Hypertext Idea Processor" - four multisyllablic words that can mean practically anything - but that's what we're here for. To begin with, let's look at that "hierarchical text processing" concept. You may recognize this as an outlining technique. Statements in an outline exist in a hierarchy, a series of levels, and each level's "ranking" is indicated by the amount of indentation. In Thinker, as with other programs of this type, you can expand outlines by steps, viewing just the level 1 items, levels 1 and 2, and so on. For example, the "skeleton" for a review of Thinker might look like this: Thinker What it is Hierarchical text Hypertext Links Graphics Commands Conclusions Note that the primary topic is "Thinker." If this review had been done as a Thinker document, all of the topics and sub-topics could be collapsed until only the word "Thinker" would be visible. Each topic and sub-topic, once visible, can be expanded or contracted independently. I happen to like "outline processors," and I'd be happy if that was all there was to Thinker. But there's more to Thinker. Remember that second word? Hypertext? This gives individual words within a document the ability to trigger specific actions. The usual hypertext application allows you to double-click on a word to trigger a secondary document elaborating on that word. Thinker goes beyond that, allowing you to attach specific actions to keywords. You can launch a program, show an IFF image, play a sound, pass an ARexx command, or execute a CLI command through the hypertext links. This paragraph is an example of <Thinker> <Hypertext> Each word enclosed within angle brackets is a hypertext <link>. When you double-click on one of these words, Thinker searches for a link. If the link is to text, you'll get a requestor asking if you want it displayed in the current window, a new window, or if you want to cancel. If the link is to a graphic, you can display it in a full screen - with its original palette - or in a Workbench window, where the graphic will be remapped to use the Workbench palette. If, for example, you were talking about art (see <Art/Thinker,>) the user could double-click on the phrase "see <Art/Thinker,>" to display the graphic Thinker, by Rodan. Thinker is actually an alternate interface. Thanks to the ability to link to CLI commands and external programs, you can create a Thinker document that lets you do anything you can do from the CLI. In fact, the inclusion of TinyDraw gives you the ability to incorporate object-oriented drawing within a Thinker document. And thanks to the ARexx interface, Thinker can be used by other applications. ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 5 Thinker can be daunting, with complex menus and a large number of new commands to learn. The manual is a terse, reference-style affair, and has no index and a very short tutorial. Fortunately, the examples are themselves tutorials, and they cover quite a bit of ground. You'll find that you don't need to learn much to get started with Thinker. The rest is gravy. There are a few things I don't like about Thinker. There doesn't appear to be any provision for stand-alone applications, so you can't distribute Thinker documents unless the recipients also have Thinker. The operation of the Thinker window is a bit quirky for mouse highlighting operations, and there's no scroll bar. (There are three flavors of scroll arrows, though, and they all operate in continuous or single-click mode.) On the other hand, there's quite a bit I like about Thinker. It's easy to set up an outline or a simple hypertext document, and I especially liked the ability to choose to view links in the same window or in a new window. This lets you be in several places in a document at once, or view related information as an "aside." Thinker is strictly text-based, making the creation of "hypermedia" documents simpler than with other programs. And the price is right. If you're shopping for a hyper-capable program, give Thinker a look. Reuires 512k; 1 Mb or more recommended. Not copy-protected. Poor Person Software 3721 Starr King Circle Palo Alto, CA 94306 (415) 493-7234 $59.95 SHORT TAKE: The DigiPrint IBM Bus Mouse Interface by Jim Meyer The Amiga may be my favorite computer, but the mouse that comes with it leaves something to be desired. The old-style Amiga mouse was too wide, and the buttons had a spongy feel. The mouse currently shipping with the A4000 has a more comfortable shape, and more responsive buttons, but it's too light for my taste. Meanwhile, one of my favorite mice - the Microsoft mouse - was just unusable on my Amiga. Enter the DigiPrint IBM Bus Mouse Interface. The interface is a short length of wire with a a DB-9 connector at one end and a round 9-pin connector at the other. You plug in your IBM Bus Mouse into one end, and plug the other into your Amiga. That's all there is to it! According to Gene Clay, President of DigiPrint, the interface will support any mouse designated as a bus mouse. I have the Microsoft InPort mouse plugged into mine; Gene has a 3-button Logitech plugged into his. Be forewarned, though, that Bus Mice are rapidly becoming extinct, as serial mice take hold. DigiPrint also sells the IBM Analog Interface, which we'll cover next month. Both products sell for $9.95, plus $3.00 Shipping and Handling, and are warranteed for 90 days. DigiPrint P.O. Box 13016 Richmond, VA 23225 (804) 560-1769 ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 6 Programming with AmigaVision Flow Control - Part IV: Variables by Kevin Rahe Variable Basics Variables in AmigaVision serve the same purpose they do in other languages, which is to represent data values that are not specifically known at the time a program (flow) is written. Like BASIC, and unlike ARexx, variables in AV are typed. That is, each variable can contain a specific type of data, and no other. For example, an integer variable cannot be assigned the value of a character string. The basic types of variables are similar to those found in many BASIC implementations: The Integer type can represent positive and negative integers; the Float type can represent numeric values that contain a decimal point; Strings can represent strings of text characters. As with BASIC, AV doesn't require you to explicitly define the type of a variable before using it. AV will implicitly "figure out" the type of a variable based on the value initially assigned to it. You can see the type AV assigns to a variable by looking at its name in the Expression Editor's Variables list. Variables followed by the letter "I" are integers, those by an "F" floats, and those with an "S" are strings. A variable is defined in AV by setting it equal to some value. String variables are often set to the empty string (""), while numeric values are set to 0 (or 0.0 in the case of a float). In specific cases you may choose to initialize a variable to a different value. AV allows you to define variables in Module, Subroutine and Variables icons. Where a variable is defined implies where it can be used, or its scope. Variables defined in a Module or Subroutine icon can only be used within the Module or Subroutine in which they're defined. These are referred to as local variables. Variables defined in a Variables icon, on the other hand, are global in scope, and can be used anywhere in the flow. Before defining a variable, ask yourself where it will be used. It's generally good programming practice to define variables needed only in a particular module or subroutine as local variables. This will prevent them from interfering with variables used by other modules or subroutines. Note that if a module icon is a child of another module icon, the lower-level module can use variables defined in the parent module's icon. If a variable will be used in more than one module or subroutine, then it should be defined as a global variable. Global variables are defined with a Variables icon. While Variables icons can be placed anywhere in a flow, it's best to place a Variables icon before the first Module icon in the flow for the definition of global variables. This will ensure that global variables will always appear in the "Variables" window of the Expression Editor, anywhere in the flow. An array is a list of variables of the same type, referenced by the same name. Individual entries in the list are referenced by a number (1, 4, 32, etc.). Arrays are useful for keeping lists of related data values. For example, you might use an array to hold employee names, or test questions. Unfortunately, arrays are not supported in AV. ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 7 We can, however, employ some creative techniques to simulate arrays in the current version of AV. Because strings in AV can be very large (up to at least 32000 characters), we can use them to hold lists of smaller values. Since AV sees strings as only a single group of multiple characters, we must devise our own ways to manage and access array entries. One technique I've used successfully is that of using a separator string to mark the boundary between one array entry and the next. First, initialize the string array with the separator (I prefer "^^^"), in an appropriate Variables, Module or Subroutine icon: MyArray = "^^^" Then, initialize an integer variable to keep track of the number of entries in the array: MyArrayEntryCount = 0 Finally, construct the array by adding entries, with a separator character after each, incrementing the counter variable with each entry added: MyArray = MyArray + EntryValue + "^^^" MyArrayEntryCount = inc(MyArrayEntryCount) Now we have a string variable that contains a list of values separated by "^^^" and a counter indicating how many entries are in the array. To get the value of a particular entry in the array, use a loop to search through the string for separator characters, until the desired one has been found. Start by initializing two integer variables, one to count the array entries (EntryNum) and one to indicate the position of the array entry (EntryPos). Next, create a Loop icon that will loop until the desired entry is found. Assuming N contains the array entry number we want the value for, the Loop parameters should be: Loop (Counted) Start = 1 Step = 1 Stop = N Var = EntryNum As a child of the Loop icon, place a Variables icon that will update EntryPos: Variables icon EntryPos = findstr("^^^", MyArray, EntryPos) + 3 After the Loop icon (not as its child), place another Variables icon to obtain the final array entry value: Variables EntryVal = substr(MyArray, EntryPos, findstr("^^^", MyArray, EntryPos) - EntryPos) The variable EntryVal now contains the text of array entry N. While this technique works, it is useful only for the simplest array needs. For example, replacing an array value is a considerably complex operation, requiring lengthy string expression, and sorting such an array with only the facilities provided in AV would be almost unthinkable. The speed of accessing such arrays is also relatively poor, especially when they contain more than a few dozen entries. ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 8 The Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI I & II) BY Greg R. Guthman (a.k.a. AmigaDoc) PART ONE One of the many things the Amiga owner can be proud to stand up and say is that the system they are using is quite scuzzy! One of the worst labels in the computer industry is actually an acronym for one of the fastest, most versatile and widely used hardware device control schemes in use today on any platform. Although the name implies that the interface is for small systems, it is used for system up to and including the fastest supercomputers of the day. In this article, we will look at the history, electronic specifications. Since the SCSI standard is so widely used, much of this information could apply to any computer using this interface. 1) History: The Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) was adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in 1986. The history of the concept that SCSI employs goes back to the 1960's when IBM developed a standard on their own called OEM channel. Other computer manufacturers promptly sued the government when the ANSI committee decided to adopt this system as "the" interface standard. At the same time ANSI was trying to develop a non-propietary bus standard, Shugart Associates, the disk drive company, was developing on of their own for their new line of "intelligent drives". This Shugart Associates System Interface (SASI) was designed from the start to be a low cost interface. This new system was quickly embraced by manufacturers such as Xebec and Western Digital. Within a few short years, ANSI had formalized this standard in addition to the one they had worked out which was called IPI for Intelligent Peripheral Interface. They chose the name SCSI for the new interface so it did not contain any reference to a specific manufacturer. SCSI (Pronounced "scuzzy") was born. 2) Specifications (SCSI-I): The SCSI bus system can be shared by many devices. These may include hard disk drives, CD-ROMs, printers, Tape backup units, modems, removable disk drives, floppy drives and much more. It has both a "physical" and a "logical" interface. The physical interface specifies the electrical connections, cables and timing of the signals that allow the system to communicate with other devices. The logical interface is the actual communication "protocol" or language that allows these systems to change to different modes and resolve conflicts etc. A device on the SCSI bus is either referred to as an "initiator" or a "target". As the name implies, a target is the object of a request of a initiator. However, some devices can act as a target or an initiator. Peripheral such as drives and tapes are usually targets. The targets are defined as a device "class". This allows system programmers to write generic software for a "class" of devices such as hard disk drive without having to worry about the specific drive that might be attached as a target. In fact, no information is required to attach a new drive to the bus. The information for the drive characteristics are read right from the drive during initialization. The bus can be configured in one of three arrangements. Single Initiator/Single Target, Single Initiator/Multiple Target or Multiple Initiator/Multiple Target. The most common configuration for the Amiga is the second of these choices. The initiator is normally a computer and a "host controller". This is connected to a combination SPC/Controller. SPC stands for SCSI Protocol Converter. ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 9 The bus allows up to 8 devices of any combination of hosts or peripheral controllers. Each host can have 8 devices, and each of those device can have 256 logical "subunits". This allows for over 14,000 items on the bus! The transfer speed of the bus is up to 5 megabytes per second for SCSI-I and up to 40 megabytes per second for the newer SCSI-II! 3) Electrical connections: The electronic connections of SCSI come in two configurations. The first is single-ended and the other is differential. Both of these use 18 control signals, one power line for the termination resistor (discussed later) and multiple grounds. Both systems are configured in a daisy chain fashion so that all the signals are common to all the devices. The single- ended design has all of the signals referenced to a common ground, while the differential references each signal uniquely. The latter system is a lot less susceptible to electrical noise. The single-ended system is normally used for internal devices and the specifications only support a 6- meter length, while the differential system allows up to 25 meters and used often for external hookups. Each end of the "chain" has to end with a terminating resistor. This single resistor which matches the characteristic impedance of the bus. In essence, this allows the signals to stay at the same "level". no matter where the device is on the bus. The following bus signal definitions apply to both cable types: ACK - Acknowledge. This signal is driven active by the INIT and indicates the reception of a REQ/ACK handshake from the TARGET. BSY - Busy. The bust signal is an OR-tied signal that can be driven active by any device that wants to gain access to the bus. It is also driven active by the INIT to start an Arbitration/Selection process or by the TARGET during an Arbitration/Reselection action. Basically, when this is active the bus is in use. SEL - Select. This signal is used by the INIT to select a TARGET during a Selection process or by the TARGET to select an INIT during Reselection. C/D - Control Data. This signal is driven by the TARGET and indicates what type of information is being passed over the bus, either Control or Data. I/O - Input/Output. This signal is driven by the TARGET and indicates the flow of data. Either from the Target to the INIT or in the reverse. It is also used to indicate if a Selection or a Reselection process is taking place. MSG - Message. This signal is issued by the TARGET and indicates that a Message phase has started. REQ - Request. This signal is driven by the TARGET and works with the ACK signal to request that data transfer begin. ATN - Attention. This signal is driven by the INIT and indicates to the TARGET that an Attention condition exists. RST - Reset. This signal is OR-tied and can be driven by any device on the bus to reset or clear the bus. ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 10 DBx - Data bus. These are the actual data signals and one for parity (DBP). These are bidirectional data signals and can be detected by the INIT or the TARGET. DB0 is the least significant bit and DB7, the most. One thing to note now is that the TARGET has a lot of control over the data flow. The following signal pinouts are for the single-ended cable type. This is the most common found on the Amiga systems. The only difference in the differential system is that all pins are uniquely referenced. For example, the -DB0 signal at pin 2 has a +DB0 located at pin 3. Additionally, pin 25 is connected to TERMPWR in the differential system. In contrast, the single-ended system references all signals to a common ground and pin 25 is not connected. ------------------------------------------------------------- Single ended SCSI Pinouts | Pin | Signal | Pin | Signal ----------------------------------- 2 -DB0 4 -DB1 6 -DB2 8 -DB3 10 -DB4 12 -DB5 14 -DB6 16 -DB7 18 -DBP 20 GND 22 GND 24 GND 26 TERMPWR 28 GND 30 GND 32 -ATN 34 GND 36 -BSY 38 -ACK 40 -RST 42 -MSG 44 -SEL 46 -C/D 48 -REQ 50 -I/O All odd pins are GND except pin 25 which is not connected. The minus sign indicates an "active" low. This concludes are "introductory" tour of the SCSI bus. In my next article, we will look at the process of bus arbitration, priorities and the whole process of Selection/Reselection. We will also look at the newer SCSI-II system that was implemented on the Amiga 3000 and might be released on the A4000 with the Commodore A3090 adapter???? In the next article, when we deal with implementation, I will point out some very unique ways in which some Amiga developers have taken advantage of the SCSI-I and more recently the SCSI-II bus. We will also discuss the differences in the newer SCSI-II (son of SCSI) bus. For example, how does 40 Megabytes/second data transfer rates sound? :) ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 11 EdARexxMODStars by Sylvia Lutnes There can be more to a MOD file than hitting the PLAY button on your player. Imagine stars flying across the screen, changing direction or rotation when the music changes. Imagine being mesmerized by spinning lights while you're tapping your fingers to the drums. You can do all this through the magic of ARexx. You need the following (listed with their GEnie file numbers): EdPlayer 2.0 Edplyr20.lha #16550 (not 1.1) EuroStars ES.lzh #16149 Circus.mod CircusMOD.lha #17021 and ARexx. Okay, let's dig in and have some fun. /* Playing a MOD with EdPlayer while controlling Eurostars */ /* S.Lutnes 10/93 */ /* ARexx will be addressing (sending cmds to) 3 different 'programs' */ /* COMMAND is good old AmigaDos, EUROSTARS is Eurostar's ARexx port */ /* and EDPLAYER is EdPlayer's ARexx port. */ /* */ /* First we tell AmigaDos to run Eurostars in background mode so a */ /* stray mouseclick won't kill it. The single quotes send the */ /* command as is with no translation. This is set up for all files */ /* to be in ram: If you have them somewhere else, be sure to change */ /* the path after the 'run' and 'load' commands. */ address 'COMMAND' 'run ram:ES B' /* Let's run EdPlayer in Hidden mode */ 'run ram:Edplayer -h' /* Now we'll check if the two programs were able to set up their */ /* ARexx ports. If they couldn't, then we end the program. It might */ /* wait as long as 10 seconds. */ WaitForPort EUROSTARS if rc>0 then do say 'Sorry, Eurostars port not found' exit end WaitForPort EDPLAYER if rc>0 then do say 'Sorry, couldnt find EdPlayer port' address 'EUROSTARS' 'Q' /* Must quit ES first */ exit end /* Now we're talking to EdPlayer. Tell it to load the mod file. If it */ /* couldn't, then we will KILL Edplayer and then tell Eurostars to */ /* quit too. */ address 'EDPLAYER' 'LOAD ram:circus.mod' /* remember your path */ ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 12 if rc>0 then do say 'Sorry, couldnt load MOD file' 'KILL' address 'EUROSTARS' 'Q' exit end /* Wait for the mod to load. Change this value for a longer wait. */ address 'COMMAND' 'wait 3' /* We'll be switching back and forth to talk to Edplayer and Euro- */ /* stars. SWAI n is an EdPlayer command that waits for the "nth" */ /* block before the script continues. There are many more commands */ /* you can give to EdPlayer; check the docs. EuroStars can be a bit */ /* fussy about timing, so some commands are on two lines rather than */ /* one. Experiment! */ address 'EDPLAYER' 'PLAY' address 'EUROSTARS' 'mxyz 96 0 64' address 'EDPLAYER' 'SWAI 1' address 'EUROSTARS' 'sy -2' address 'EDPLAYER' 'SWAI 4' address 'EUROSTARS' 'mxyz 2 0 4' 'sxyz 2 -4 6' address 'EDPLAYER' 'SWAI 12' address 'EUROSTARS' 'rxz 512 256' 'mxyz 0 0 0' 'sxyz 0 -12 0' address 'EDPLAYER' 'SWAI 14' address 'EUROSTARS' 'mxyz 96 0 64 rxz 0 0 sy -4' /* Now wait until the end of the mod and kill EdPlayer. Wait a few */ /* more seconds and kill Eurostars. */ address 'EDPLAYER' 'SWAI' 'KILL' address 'COMMAND' 'wait 2' address 'EUROSTARS' 'Q' /* All done. If, when you're playing around, something goes wrong and */ /* you're left with EuroStars or EdPlayer hanging, just go to a shell */ /* and type one or both of the following: */ /* */ /* rx 'address EDPLAYER KILL' */ /* rx 'address EUROSTARS Q' */ /* */ /* This should get you started. Have fun! */ ViewPort October, 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 13 ChatLines Sponsors The New *StarShip* Trivia Night This month, The *StarShip* and ChatLines is bringing you a very special new feature, an Amiga Trivia game you can play in conference! There is no special software needed, you can play with your regular terminal program. BonBon, the SysOp and Hostess on GEnie's ChatLines, is a big Amiga fan who simply adores her Amiga. She has given us special hints and help to make the Amiga version of Trivia work the same as it does on ChatLines! We're going to be doing this once a month, and the very FIRST one will be Saturday evening, October 24th, at 10 PM Eastern, in room 6 of the Amiga conference. Bone up on your Amiga trivia and history, there is no other specific theme for the night this time. Any question about the Amiga might be asked! There will be prizes for the winners. It is simple to play. You enter the Amiga conference area normally, and join room 6. When the game starts, you just /SEND your answer to the game host. The questions will pop up on your screen along with the job number indicating where the answers should be sent. You answer privately, so nobody can copy your answer. There's about 45 seconds to answer in, which should be enough time - even for the wisecracks. I just exited from one of the last test sessions with other members of the *StarShip* crew, and we had more fun in 90 minutes answering our own questions than we'd imagined! I'm not going to tell you who won, though! [Grin] Several people paid me well to keep that secret! Mark your calendars now, and come and see how a great Trivia game is run right in our standard conference area, all by the magic of an Amiga! You will have fun, you will learn things...and you could be one of the winners. For those who are curious about the details, Jamie Mueller, yes, our very own J.L.MUELLER, wrote a dedicated terminal program which acts as the game host. It handles the questions/answers file, scores, automates the responses and timing and EVERYTHING. It was written under 2.0, and after spending a lot of time with it RUNNING the game, I can tell you it is not complicated at all. I don't know how people live without Amigas! October 24th. I'll be there, probably running the game. You be there, too....with the right answers. And if you can't think of the right answers, then have some funny ones, I do love to chuckle here while scoring behind the scenes! We supply the questions, the scores and the prizes; you bring the answers; and we'll all share the fun! -deb