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_ ____ ___ ______ _______ _ d# ####b g#00 `N##0" _agN#0P0N# d# d## jN## j##F J## _dN0" " d## .#]## _P ##L jN##F ### g#0" .#]## dE_j## # 0## jF ##F j##F j##' ______ dE_j## .0"""N## d" ##L0 ##F 0## 0## "9##F" .0"""5## .dF' ]## jF ##0 ##F ##F `##k d## .dF' j## .g#_ _j##___g#__ ]N _j##L_ _d##L_ `#Nh___g#N' .g#_ _j##__ """"" """"""""""" " """""" """""" """"""" """"" """""" *---== STReport International Online Magazine ==---* """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" * AMIGA EDITION * "The Original Amiga Online Magazine" from STR Publishing """""""""""""" [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport April 9, 1993 No. 1.04 ========================================================================== ----------------------------------------- * THE BOUNTY BBS * Home of STR Publications * RUNNING TURBOBOARD BBS * 904-786-4176 USR DS 16.8 24hrs - 7 days ----------------------------------------- * NOVA BBS * Amiga Report Headquarters * RUNNING STARNET BBS * FidoNet 1:362/508 615-472-9748 USR DS 16.8 24hrs - 7 days ----------------------------------------- ____________________________________________________________________________ > 04/09/93 STR-Amiga 1.04 "The Original * Independent * Online Magazine!" """"""""""""""""""""""" - The Editor's Desk - CPU Report - New Products - Rendered Reality - STR Confidential - Amiga Tip of the Week - Dealer Directory - STR Online - XFH Review - Meet Denny Atkin - WoC Conference - Color Hand Scanner -* Amiga 5000 Confirmed??? *- -* Desktop Video on a Shoestring Budget *- -* PageStream 3.0 *- ============================================================================ Amiga Report International Online Magazine From STR Publications [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport The Original * Independent * Online Magazine -* FEATURING WEEKLY *- "Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware ~ Software ~ Corporate ~ R & D ~ Imports ============================================================================ GENIE ~ DELPHI ~ NVN ~ BIX ~ PORTAL ~ FIDO ~ INTERNET ============================================================================ :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT: _________________________________ Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo) Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN. GEnie costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited evening and weekend access to more than 100 services including electronic mail, online encyclopedia, shopping, news, entertainment, single-player games, and bulletin boards on leisure and professional subjects. With many other services, including the biggest collection of files to download and the best online games, for only $6 per hour. MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! Any time during your first month of membership if you are not completely satisfied, just ask for your $4.95 back. GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric Information Services/GEnie, reprinted with permission **************************************************************************** > From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" """""""""""""""""""""" Another show has come and gone. The World of Commodore show in New York this past weekend was a definite success. Commodore and many third party vendors showed some neat new products, that are either available now, or will be available in the near future. Due to prior committments, we were unable to attend the show or prepare a report about it. I was considering reprinting a report from GEnie's 5-minute news, or their ViewPort online magazine, but I decided to simply refer our readers to those two publications for more show info, as this week's issue is already rather large. That's the April 2nd issue of the GEnie 5-Minute News, or the April issue of ViewPort. They can be found on GEnie, or on various FTP sites and public BBS's. On another note, I'm worried. A good friend of mine that has been into Atari computers as long as I had been (before my switch) has just about decided to abandon them as well, since the Falcon is still nowhere to be seen in the USA. The problem is that he said he's actually starting to LIKE Windows. As in Microsoft's Windows for the PC. Ack! I've been trying to get him to give the Amiga a close look ever since I made the switch, and he said he would. But, he says that the PC is the most power for the money. Unfortunately, he's right. The 4000/030 is the only machine he'll consider, and with street prices of $1800 and up, it makes a 486/33 system for $1400 look awfully good. I'm trying to convince him that if nothing else, the Amiga's superior multitasking OS is worth the extra money. But then he points out that support isn't that easy to come by. Commodore is going a great job in terms of getting new machines out the door, and software manufacturers are releasing some really cool software. But... where can you buy it??? Dealers are still few and far between. So far, only two dealers have asked to be included in our Dealer Directory. I know there are more than that. But even in a major city like Orlando, Florida, where my friend lives, there is no Amiga dealer. The Yellow Pages list one, but he says they don't answer their phone. The closest dealer to me is 120 miles away in Houston, Texas. Before I moved out here, the closest dealer was also 120 miles away in Atlanta. Software, Etc. said that they would carry the Amiga 1200, but they were apparently way down on Commodore's list for receiving stock. Commodore MUST get the machines into more stores. They must recruit new dealers, and most of all, they must ADVERTISE. The general public knows little or nothing about the Amiga. When Joe Blow decides to buy a computer, he buys a PC. Or if he has any sense at all, he buys a Mac. Where does he go to buy one of these computers? Almost anywhere. SAM's Club, Wal Mart, Sears, Best Buy, Target, all of the mass merchandisers are carrying clones and the Mac Performa line. Don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing Commodore. I'm still very pleased with my A1200, and wouldn't trade it for anything (except perhaps for an A4000!). But if others are to experience the wonder of being an Amiga owner, they must know the machine exists. We have two special treats this week -- the transcripts from two GEnie Realtime Conferences (RTC's). One is a 'live' report from the World of Commodore show and the other is the Meet Denny Atkin conference. Both are quite good and provide for some really entertaining reading. Enjoy! Rob @ Amiga Report International Online Magazine """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Amiga Report's Staff DEDICATED TO SERVING YOU! """""""""""""""""""" Editor ------ Robert Glover Technical Editor Graphics Editor Contributing Editor ---------------- --------------- ------------------- Micah Thompson Mike Troxell Tom Mulcahy GEnie: BOOMER.T M.TROXELL1 FidoNet: 1:362/508.5 1:260/322 Delphi: 16BITTER Bix: HELMET Contributing Correspondents --------------------------- Jeffrey Blanchard Michael Heinz PC DIVISION ATARI DIVISION MAC DIVISION ----------- -------------- ------------ Roger D. Stevens Ralph F. Mariano R. Albritton IMPORTANT NOTICE """""""""""""""" Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc... via E-Mail to: Delphi........................ ROB_G GEnie......................... ROB-G Internet.......................ROB_G@Delphi.COM """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > CPU STATUS REPORT LATE BREAKING INDUSTRY-WIDE NEWS ================= SOFTLOGIK ANNOUNCES PAGESTREAM 3.0 Every few years a program comes along that changes the way people use a computer. PageMaker for the Macintosh and Publishing Partner for the Atari ST were introduced in 1986 and were the first desktop publishing programs. Publishing Partner grew into PageStream, and quickly became the best-selling desktop publisher for Amiga computers. AmigaWorld gave it their coveted Expert's Choice award and proclaimed that PageStream is the best. AmigaUser International named it the heavyweight champion and Amazing Amiga called it a jewel of a program. But underneath the years of improvements, it was still the Publishing Partner that Personal Publishing magazine called a knockout program back in 1986. The way you think about publishing has just changed again. We're proud to announce PageStream 3.0. This is not just an upgrade, but a completely new program. PageStream 3: it will change the way you think about publishing. PARTIAL PAGESTREAM 3.0 FEATURE LIST x feature present o feature present/limited implementation NB unlimited means limited only by memory + more formats may be added before release ? could not be confirmed INTERFACE PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Maximum number of open documents unlimited 7 1 Max number of document views unlimited 1 1 Reveal/Hide document views x Moveable document view windows x x Save program defaults x x Load program defaults x x Pasteboard/bleed area x x x User-specified pasteboard size x x o Toolbox x x o set position x x set tool size x set toolbox orientation x Edit Toolbox x x o Number of palettes/panels 6 6 0 Measurement system options 11 7 3 Set ruler zero point and offset x x o User-specified view magnification x x o Number of view magnifications 13 6 5 View magnification zoom x x x Show/Hide invisible characters x x Undo levels unlimited 1 1 Online help x x context sensitive x o cross-referenced ("hyper") help x DOCUMENT CONSTRUCTION PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Number of pre-defined page sizes 9 5 6 Maximum page size (in inches) 2330"x2330" 48"x48" 48"x48" Different page sizes in a document x x Change page size at any time x x x Maximum document size (in pages) unlimited 2000 9999 Single and double sided documents x x x Page spreads x o Maximum number of master pages unlimited 127 0 Hide master page objects x Visual page arrangement x x x Divide documents into sections x o Divide sections into chapters x Automatic page numbering x o o Link and unlink columns x x o WORD PROCESSING PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Cut, copy and paste text x x x standard keyboard shortcuts x x Multiple Style sheets x o o Load and save style sheets x x x Find and replace text/attributes x x o Find and replace style sheets x Spelling checker x x o Import/Export formats 7/7+ 9/6 9/0 auto conversion of quotes x x auto conversion of commas x x auto conversion of dashes x x Maximum number of tabs unlimited 20 16 number of alignment options 4 4 1 place numerically or manually x x o right indent tab x x User-definable tab leaders x x List all articles used x x TYPOGRAPHY PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Number of outline font systems 3 2 1 Font sizes 1-50,000 2-720 2-720 increments 0.01 pts 0.001 pts 0.125 pts horizontally scale text x x Align text vertically x x Indents and outdents x x x Auto/Manual hyphenation x x o hyphenation controls x x x Auto/Manual kerning x x o edit kerning pairs x x x Auto/Manual tracking x x o Absolute and relative leading x x x increments 0.01 pts 0.001 pts 0.01 pts Frameless text x convert frameless <-> framed x Convert shapes to text columns x Apply color and fill styles to text x o o Automatic drop caps x x o Automatic bulleted paragraphs x GRAPHICS PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Import Bitmapped Pictures x x x number of formats 6+ 8? 5 set frequency, angle and pattern x x contrast and posting control x x bitmap fencing for text flow x x display bitmaps in color x x x externally linked bitmaps x x x Import Structured Drawings x x x number of formats 5+ 4 2 dissolve into paths and shapes x Import EPS Illustrations x x x interpretable EPS formats 2+ 0 3 show bitmap preview TIFF/PICT x x o Make pages into EPS files x x x List graphics in a document x x x COLORS PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Number of color models 6 6 2 24 bit color support x x x Create process and spot colors x x x Color Tints x x shade increments 0.01% 0.1% UCR/GCR x x x Set screen angle and frequency x x x TRAPPING PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Automatic trapping x x User-definable trapping x x Chokes & Spreads x x Knockouts & Overprints x x Set trapping for each plate x x DRAWING AND OBJECT EDITING PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Drawing tools x x x basic shapes x x x freehand x pen/draw tool x Select multiple objects x x x add/remove from selection x x select behind x x Bring/Send to Front, Back x x Bring/Send Forward, Backward x x Cut, copy and paste x x x Move and nudge objects x x Step and repeat duplication x x Rotate and skew objects x x o rotation increments 0.001° 0.001° 1° Group/Ungroup objects x x o Lock/Unlock objects x x o Distribute objects x x Set color/line/fill of objects x o o Bitmap fills x x Gradient fills x o Object fills x Text runaround objects x x o Extend objects across page spreads x x PAGE LAYOUT PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Margin and column guides x x Object guides x x snap-to-guides, snap distance x x Grid x x x snap-to-grid x x x PRINTING PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Current page, range, even/odd x x o Printer spreads x Print CMYK/mechanical separations x x o Plate control x x Tiling, thumbnails, crop/reg x x x Print PostScript to disk x x x Render to bitmapped picture x Custom Printer Drivers x x PostScript x x Hewlett-Packard inkjet/laser x Epson compatibles x Plotter support x PPD support x x ENVIRONMENT PAGESTREAM QUARKXPRESS PROPAGE Open program architecture x x (for adding extensions) Text (article) editor x x Picture (bitmap) editor x o HotLinks compatible x x ARexx (scripting) compatible x o ARexx (scripting) record x AGA compatible x n/a o Workbench screen compatible x n/a x Public screen compatible x n/a create public screens x n/a Custom screen compatible x n/a x Follows interface style guidelines x x Price $299.95 $895 $299.95 Price and features subject to change before release. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS Amiga computer, hard drive, 2MB of memory (512K chip), and AmigaDOS 1.3 or higher. If you are a registered owner of a Soft-Logik product, you will be notified of the release of PageStream 3.0 (expected in late summer 93). You can order now by Visa or MasterCard and you will not be billed until shipment of your copy. Retail price: $299.95 Upgrade from PageStream 2.x and HotLinks Editions 1.x: $ 95.00 Upgrade from PageStream 2.x: $125.00 Upgrade from PageStream 1.x: $150.00 Competitive Upgrade (from any desktop publisher): $175.00 You must be registered to upgrade from PageStream, and must provide proof of ownership for a competitive upgrade. If you have purchased PageStream 2.2 on or after March 15, 1993, you are entitled to a free upgrade. Sales: 1-800-829-8608 Or: 1-314-894-8608 Fax: 1-314-894-3280 SHIPPING/HANDLING $5 in USA/Canada $15 for other countries CALL FOR A FREE BROCHURE PageStream is a registered trademark of Soft-Logik Publishing Corp. XPress is a registered trademark of Quark, Inc. Professional Page is a registered trademark of Gold Disk, Inc. __________________________________________________ MIGRAPH COLORBURST COLOR HAND SCANNER At last, a color hand scanner for Amiga Systems that's fast and accurate and affordable. With the Migraph ColorBurst(tm) you can now produce crisp, clear, vivid color images for all your video and multimedia projects, on- screen presentations, and desktop publications. And have a lot of fun doing it. Speedy scanning. Great detail. The ColorBurst's large scanning window -- more than fourinches wide -- provides fast, single-pass scanning. Six scannng resolutions from 50 to 400 dots per inch (dpi) let you scan images at the resolution best suited to your chosen output device. And five scanning modes give you the flexibility to work with color, grayscale and black-&-white images, all with one scanner. So you can produce exactly the image you need for the output option of your choice: on-screen display, laser and Linotronic printouts, or slides. Non-nonsense software. The Migraph ColorBurst comes with easy-to-use imaging software for accurate, efficient scanning. It picks up 262,144 brilliant colors in a single pass (or 4,096 colors if you're working on a lower-memory system). The same software lets you quickly and easily save your image in a variety of standard file formats, ready for direct export to video, graphics, and desktop publishing applications. So you can export images for use with the Toaster, for enhancement in a program like Deluxe Paint, or for printing in publishing programs like PageStream and Professional Page. ______________________________________________________________________ / \ | Migraph ColorBurst: A Scanning Mode for Every Need | |------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Super Color Color Gray-scale Monochrome | | | | Output options 262,144 4,096 64 levels Black and | | colors colors of grey White | | | | Bits per pixel 18-bit 12-bit 6-bit 1-bit | | | | Resolution settings 50, 100, 50, 100, 100, 200 100, 200, | | (dpi) 150, 200 150, 200 300, 400 300, 400 | \______________________________________________________________________/ A Three-in-One Scanning Solution Versatility is the ColorBurst's specialty. If the image you're after is smaller than a full page -- whether it's a photo, ilustration, drawing, or cartoon (or business card, postcard, Christmas card, or photo identity card) -- you can scan it with the Migraph ColorBurst. It's a color scanner when you need eye-catching color graphics. A gray- scale scanner when you need full-size, true-64-level grayscale images for hassle-free, high-resolution printouts. And it's a monochrome scanner when you need crisp, clear scans of line art or text for OCR processing. With the Migraph ColorBurst, capturing high-resolution color (and gray- scale and monochrome) images has never been easier. Or more fun. Features Speed: Fast, single-pass scanning Size: Half-page scanning window - 4.13 inches wide Adjustable Resolution: Six settings from 50 to 400 dpi Five Scanning Modes: Super color, color, grayscale, dithered halftone (color), and line art (monochrome) Sensitive Color Scanning: Scan and save 262,144 vibrant colors (or 4,096 colors on low-memory systems) Grayscale Scanning: True 64-level grayscale scans at 40 dpi Monochrome Scanning: Scan line art for graphics projects or text for OCR processing Scan-and-Save Utility: Quick, accurate scanning and easy saving for direct export Versatile File Formats: Save scans in a variety of standard file formats Compact Design: Comes comlete with parallel interface and cable for easy installation System Requirements: For Amiga systems (except the 1000 model) with 2MB of memory. Note that 4MB of memory and a hard disk are recommended. For more information about the Migraph ColorBurst scanner, contact Migraph, Inc., 32700 Pacific Highway South, #14, Federal Way, WA 98003, telephone 206/838-4677 or toll free 800/223-3729 (10 to 4 Pacific time). __________________________________________________ TOASTER-FX FRAMESTORE OPERATORS FOR GVP'S IMAGE-FX SOFTWARE The ToasterFX framestore load, saver and render modules, and GVP's ImageFX software are a complete paint and image processing package for NewTek's Video Toaster. Replacing ToasterPaint, GVP's ImageFX offers complete 24 bit painting tools with an 8 bit alpha channel, airbrush tools, color balancing, com- position controls, special effects filters (oil paint, ripple, disperse, distort...), morphing and more. The ToasterFX LOAD module allows DIRECT loading of framestore files into ImageFX as 24 bit images. View the ENTIRE image on screen while painting, or choose any zoom level for detail work. The ToasterFX SAVE module saves any image loader or created in ImageFX directly to NewTek's framestore format. Convert Video Toaster framestores DIRECTLY to and from Amiga IFF24, JPEG, Targa, TIFF, GIF, Alias formats and more. The RENDER module can directly display to the Video Toaster's framebuffers without leaving the ImageFX interface. (choose between DV1 or DV2). ToasterFX competely integrates the operation of ImageFX with the Video Toaster, allowing direct access from the Toaster's switcher screen. ToasterFX also includes stand-alone utilities for: o Converting Framestores to IFF24 images o Converting IFF24 images to Framestores o Displaying any Amiga screen directly to a Toaster framebuffer ToasterFX requires GVP's ImageFX for painting and image processing functions. Painting and image processing can be acomplished on any Amiga computer. NewTek's Video Toaster is required only for direct displaying of framestores to the Toaster's framebuffers. ToasterFX is available at your Video Toaster and Amiga Dealer, or directly from: Byrd's Eye Software, 9001 Northgate Blvd, #135, Austin, TX 78758 (512) 835-4811 Video Toaster and ToasterPaint are registered trademarks of NewTek, Inc., ImageFX is a trademark of Great Valley Products, Inc. __________________________________________________ GVP ANNOUNECS DSS8+ SOUND SAMPLER The sucessor to our popular DSS8 sampler, this 8-bit digital sound sampling hardware interface is the quietest, most professional and attractive yet made. Assembled of high-impact, non-yellowing clear polycardonate, this is the sound sampler to own for the Amiga! It includes multifaceted software for sampling, editing, song composition, and play- back of monophonic and stereo sound samples as well as the popular .MOD song files. Connects directly to the parallel port on ALL Amiga systems (A1000 requires an adaptor) and is secured with two non-removable thumbscrews. Since this sampler's hardware performs channel selection during stereo sampling, the Amiga's processor is far less taxed than with other designs. This is very important to unaccellerated Amiga owners. These long-shafted knurled thumbscrews are part of a new, hi-tech design for DSS8+. The tapered neck and rounded corners along with a slim, crystal-clear case desgin provide for an attractive and secure interface to the host Amiga. The user can select from either monaural or stereo input via the two RCA line-level jacks or connect a microphone to the microphone jack for voice or mixed sampling. The addition of the mic jack precludes the use of clumsy adaptors or constant changes of connections at the back of the Amiga. A new utility is now provided with point-and-click configurability, allowing the user to "pop-up" a control panel in front of virtually any screen or program. It provides slider controls for left and right input levels, frequency filter setting and even sampler reference level settings for use on multiple Amigas with top-flight results. The utility is pro- vided with multi-lingual support (English, French and German) as well as configurability through a choice of hot-keys. Users will be able to access and adjust the custom features of this new hardware for use with other software sampling programs. A second utility is also provided offering an ARexx port for the sample hardware. Programmers will now be able to directly control the hardware without need for the DSS software program. One of the most significant advantages of this new design is its out- standing quality of reproductin and its lack of interference or "noise." The user is able to adjust input levels through 256 steps for both the right and left channels independently to provide optimum response for either very loud or very quiet source material. The option is even provided for "Auto Gain" whereby the software "listens" to the incoming audio material and sets itself to the best level. In addition to input level controls and sampler reference levels, there is an integrated filter, programmable through 128 steps, to enhance the quality of your sampled source material. This filter also has an "Auto" function to allow it to correctly set a filter level in conjunction with the sample rate selected. The graphical interface design makes this a producive piece of software for the novice as well as the seasoned veteran. The DSS8+ retails for $99.95 and requires 1 megabyte of memory. It will create the quietest, cleanest audio samples yet seen from an 8-bit sampler in the Amiga market, making it the ideal tool of any multimedia specialist or audio enthusiast. For more information, contact Great Valley Products, 600 Clark Avenue, King of Prussia, PA 29406, telephone 215/337-8770, fax 215/337-9922. __________________________________________________ TITLE "On The Ball" Calendar/Addressbook/To-Do List/NotePad V1.0 COMPANY Pure Logic Software 789 Butterfly Road Quincy, CA 95971 DESCRIPTION On The Ball gracefully binds four powerful applications in a symmetrical multiwindow environment. Calendar: * Instantly scroll through appointments from 1800 A.D. through the year 30,000 from any view with up to 100 appointments per day. * View and print adjustable appointment schedules from eye-catching: week-at-a-glance, month-at-a-glance, or year-at-a-glance graphical views. * 9 Powerful repeat modes automatically re-schedule appointments: Selected day(s) of week, Bi-weekly, Monthly, or Yearly, Repeat on second Tuesday of each month, (example) ...and more. * Each repeat mode can be set to repeat a certain number of times or forever. * Reminds you of your appointments -- up to 4 days in advance. * Snooze bar can be clicked on to automatically re-remind you again later. * Can search forward and backward through all appointments. * Entire program iconifies to a functional, resizable calendar icon. * Tells the number of days between two dates. Addressbook: * Sorts and searches by any field. * Mailing Labels: Print or copy to the clipboard all or selected records. Choose from many built-in generic label configurations or design your own layout. * Attatch notes to records to associate as much personal or professional information as you like to each record. * Dialer/Auto-redialer can automatically bring up your contact's note and append a new time-date stamp to help you automate transcripts of your contacts. To-Do List: * Prioritizes things you need to get done with optional due dates. * Print your daily agenda or a comprehensive to-do list. * Search To-Do List. NotePad: * Jot down and organize stand-alone notes. * Load/Save feature makes NotePad a powerful and handy text editor. * Easily attatches notes to individual Calendar, ToDo List, and Addressbook entries. * Have as many notes open at one time as you like. * Fast smooth-scrolling, resizable notes have many standard editing features such as search and replace and cut-and-paste to the clipboard. * All notes are automatically time-date stamped. * Find all notes containing certain keywords. Configurable: * Create your own "Tags" (ie. "Personal", "Birthdays", "Urgent", "Project X", etc.) to help you classify and prioritize information so you can focus on specfic categories of entries in all applications. * Extensive Arexx support with sample routines provided on disk and in manual. * On-line Preferences. * Can open under on the Workbench or on its own screen. * Can import Nag.files. * Auto-timed save feature. Compatible: * For all Amigas: 500 through 4000, WorkBench 1.3-3.x compatible. * Automatically takes advantage of many WB2.0+ features, if available. (ie. prints compugraphic fonts, font requester, etc.) * Multi-Lingual interface modules and interface for: English, German, French, Swedish, Italian, Spanish, & Dutch. * Regristration price: $40. ANONYMOUS FTP SITES FILE: OnTheBall.lha wuarchive.wustl.edu /systems/amiga/incoming/demos/commercial amiga.physik.unizh.ch /pub/aminet/biz/demo The demo will also be available on PD collections and BBS's. DISTRIBUTABILITY The demo of On The Ball is a freely redistributable program under the condition that all accompanying files are included. Users are granted a limited 30 day license for the purpose of evaluation only. After that time, you must send the $40 registration fee to: Pure Logic Software 789 Butterfly Rd. Quincy, CA 95971 USA Registered users will receive the latest commercial version of the program, a professionally printed manual, and access to future upgrades at a negligible price. Questions and comments can also be emailed to: Jason Freund/President, jfreund@relleno.engr.ucdavis.edu __________________________________________________ TITLE Aglet Modula-2 AmigaDOS V2.04 Interface VERSION 1.0-040693 COMPANY / AUTHOR Thomas Breeden Aglet Software Box 3314 Charlottesville, VA 22903 804-973-7058 email : CompuServe 75210,2424 Internet 75210.2424@compuserve.com DESCRIPTION The Aglet Modula-2 V2.04 Interface consists of over one hundred modules providing the Benchmark (TM) Modula-2 programmer with a calling interface to all of the Amiga system resident library functions distributed with AmigaDOS v2.04, as well as definitions of all system record structures and flags. Note: This product has no connection with Avant-Garde software or Leon Frenkel, the author of the Benchmark product. These M2 interface DEFINITION MODULEs follow closely the C language "includes" interface of ".h" file distributed by CATS. The supplied modules replace the Amiga-specific modules delivered (for AmigaDOS v1.2) with the original Benchmark compiler. Compatibility is maintained with the rest of the Benchmark system, with the exception of the "Simplified Amiga Library" add-on. Source for all the DEFINITION and IMPLEMENTATION modules of the interface is also included. Also included is a program, DoIFace, which can be used to create a similar interface for Benchmark programs to additional Amiga resident libraries. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS v2.04 AmigaDOS Benchmark Modula-2 Compiler PRICE The package is available from me for US$ 35.00. Shipping is included to destinations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. For other destinations, please add an additional US$ 3.00. Residents of Virginia must add an additional 4.5% state sales tax ($1.58). Please make your check or money order out to Thomas M. Breeden. DISTRIBUTABILITY Each distribution is copyrighted and licensed for a single computer. Commodore copyrighted commentary material is distributed under an "Includes Distribution License" from CATS. README A number of Test/Example programs are included, showing the usage of many of the new features of AmigaDOS 2.04, such as public screens, file notification, gadtools, asl, etc. (Otherwise, no specific documentation on using AmigaDOS v2.04 is included.) Two additional examples of interfacing to Amiga Resident Libraries are included: 1) the AmigaGuide library from Commodore 2) the ISAM library from RedShift Software. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > ONLINE WEEKLY STReport Online People... Are Talking! ============================= On GEnie: -------- From Jim Meyer (JIM.MEYER) about Brilliance... ">When will Brilliance be released?" "Well, if I stop posting answers on the board, I can finish the Tutorial section of the manual... ;-) "By the way, the animation features of Brilliance will push the envelope a bit further than that program from the San Mateo gang does. If you read the ViewPort preview, you know about unlimited buffers. (Limited by memory, actually.) One of the neater applications is compositing. Since you can store 8 animbrushes in the brush wells, and you can have different animations in different buffers, the ability to merge animations, the dynamically variable transparency, and the superb motion controls suggest some tantalizing possibilities. "I haven't explored all the possibilities yet, but I keep conceiving further and further out ideas for the tutorial, and the neat thing is that they're all possible!" From Justin Husted (R.HUSTED)... "Hey! A 17" Screen sucks! I want a 24' monitor! I WANT 25,000 x 25,000 x 24bit display with 60fps raytraced fractal modified airbrushed display on 11,000 monitors at once! I want a Dec Alpha for every PIXEL ON THE SCREEN! YEAH! I want 17,000 terabytes of Ram in the cache ALONE! I want a permanent storage device capable of storing 10,000,000,000,000 universes in 11 dimensions on each track with a -5ms access time! Yes, the device must know what the computer wants before it asks for it! I want my computer to be sentient and capable of running simulations of the universe that are more complex than the real thing at infinite speed! I want a full virtual reality cybernetic interface that knows what I want and does it... YEAH and all for - $20 - yes THEY have to pay ME to take it off their hands... "Aren't these type of posts fun? I want a computer capable of getting to 'I think therefore I am' before it's memory banks are hooked up! "Ok, who can top that? I know it's a pretty lame start and everyone will be easily able to dream up a more demanding wish list but hey, we gotta be realistic here. It'll cost at least $19.95... ;)" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > Amiga Tip of the Week ===================== By Micah Thompson Here is a very small tip that most people probably already know... Or do they? Most people are somewhat familar with the AmigaDOS Shell, and have no problem opening a Shell and executing basic commands. Most commands, like LIST for instance, execute on a file template with several wildcards available. If you want to see only icon (.info) files, you issue "LIST #?.info". But what if you want to see all files EXCEPT a certain type? AmigaDOS has a little surprise in store for you. Anytime you preface a file template with the Tilde ( ~ ) character, it means everything EXCEPT that template. For instance, let's say you want to get a listing of all files in a certain directory EXCEPT the .info files. Here is the command: LIST ~(#?.info) That tells AmigaDOS to show all files except files ending in ".info" Here is my WBStartup listing raw, using a plain "LIST" command: Arq.info 2056 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:03 Virus_Checker 26228 ----rwed 14-Feb-93 14:13:36 Virus_Checker.info 516 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:02 QuickGrab 10548 ----rwed 01-Dec-92 00:57:08 QuickGrab.info 2215 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:02 CycleToMenu 4716 ----rwed 31-Oct-92 11:59:40 CycleToMenu.info 519 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:03 ClickToFront.info 2146 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:03 CrossDOS 6304 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:15 Exchange.info 2113 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:02 AssignWedge 2632 ----rwed 27-Jun-92 20:05:06 FKey.info 639 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:03 MFR 42740 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:21 ToolManager 25236 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:24 ClickToFront 2888 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:14 CrossDOS.info 2156 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:03 Exchange 4660 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:15 FKey 7004 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:17 MFR.info 1504 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:02 ToolManager.info 1211 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:03 NoClick2.0 188 ----rwed 10-Nov-91 03:08:34 NoClick2.0.info 484 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:02 AssignWedge.info 496 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:02 Arq 22520 ----rwed 14-Oct-92 17:56:32 MouseShift 1548 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:27:18 MouseShift.info 502 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:03 AutoCentre 728 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:27:13 AutoCentre.info 2056 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:02 CpuBlit 4640 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:27:15 CpuBlit.info 2129 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:03 NewShellCX 2520 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:27:19 NewShellCX.info 574 ----rw-d Wednesday 21:02:03 That's very hard to look at with all the .info files cluttering up the picture. Here it is using the "LIST ~(#?.info)" command: Virus_Checker 26228 ----rwed 14-Feb-93 14:13:36 QuickGrab 10548 ----rwed 01-Dec-92 00:57:08 CycleToMenu 4716 ----rwed 31-Oct-92 11:59:40 CrossDOS 6304 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:15 AssignWedge 2632 ----rwed 27-Jun-92 20:05:06 MFR 42740 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:21 ToolManager 25236 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:24 ClickToFront 2888 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:14 Exchange 4660 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:15 FKey 7004 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:40:17 NoClick2.0 188 ----rwed 10-Nov-91 03:08:34 Arq 22520 ----rwed 14-Oct-92 17:56:32 MouseShift 1548 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:27:18 AutoCentre 728 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:27:13 CpuBlit 4640 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:27:15 NewShellCX 2520 ----rwed 17-Oct-92 02:27:19 Isn't that much easier to read? The uses for this seem endless! Of course, this works with all commands that accept file templates, and can be used for a variety of things. Want to delete all the files in your "Text" drawer except ones ending in .txt? Simple: DELETE ~(#?.txt) Be careful with the DELETE command and wildcards! It's best to test the template with the DIR or LIST command first to be sure you are deleting what you want. Happy Amiga'ing! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > XFH -- Xpk File System Handler STR Review ========================================= By Jeffrey Blanchard XFH, with the XPK system, is well on its way to being the final solution to runtime use of compressed files. It works on WB 1.2-3.0 and provides transparent access to files crunched with PowerPacker, Imploder, or any other compressor type as long as the proper library is available. And, it offers auto-compression that packs new files on the fly. XFH is mounted as a device handler and assigned to any existing directory. This results in a new volume being added to the WorkBench. Then any file in the underlying directory, whether packed or not, will be accessed through the XFH volume AS IF it were not packed at all. XFH unpacks the entire file and holds it in RAM as long as it is being accessed. This means, of course, that file size is limited by available memory. With autocompress on, new files written to the XFH volume will be compressed with the chosen packmode. Compression ratio and speed vary with file type and the packer chosen. Program, data, and text files can crunch up to 60% while images, because most are already compressed somewhat, usually yield less than 20% savings. LHarc, ZIP, ZOO, and other compressed files may actually end up larger if repacked; however, some packers will check and keep only the smaller file. The currently available compressors are: HUFFv0.62--a dynamic Huffman cruncher/decruncher by M.Zimmermann NUKEv1.00--an LZ77 variant with hyperfast decompression by Urban Dominik Mueller BLZWv1.00--Bryan's turbo-charged LZW compressor by Bryan Ford CBR0v1.00--CmpByteRun0 algorithm compressor by Bilbo the first of Hypenosis IMPLv0.18--Turbo Implode with dynamic compression modes by Peter Struijk FEALv1.00--Fast Encryption ALgorithm by Christian von Roques IDEAv1.00--ABP's Intl. Data Encryption Algorithm for XPK by André Beck xQuery, a utility that comes with XPK, shows speed/compression ratio for all of the compressors. Enter xQuery at the CLI prompt. Installation Guide --XFH v1.12 with XPK distribution 2.4-- 1. Double-click the install icons--The first one you come to and the one in the XFH drawer (this puts things we don't need in RAM: but we're going to reboot) 2. Move everything (except the text files) that're in the Shell drawer to your C dir.--6 files: xdir, xLoadSeg, xPack, xpk, xQuery, and xType. 3. In the XPK/XFH/devs drawer you'll find the Mountlist. Add it to your own mountlist.--delete the text at the beginning of this. 4. Add these lines to user-startup: ASSIGN XFH1: <anyVOLUME:anyDIR> <--let's assume Work:Lazarus MOUNT XH1: -NOTE the ASSIGNed name and the MOUNTed name are different XFH1: XH1: 5. you should be able to find the file S:xfh/.xfhrc_1 (in your S dir) edit it to read: ROOTDIR=Work:Lazarus <---MUST be same as ASSIGNed in step 4. VOLUMENAME=Nukem <---any name you like AUTOCOMPRESS=yes <---or no, your choice PACKMODE=NUKE <---the default packer STEPDOWN=yes <---or no, your choice XPKPRIORITY=-1 <---why not 6. Reboot. Now you should have a disk icon named Nukem: In it you should see the files and drawers of the directory you assigned XFH1: to back in step 4. Everything you access through Nukem: should appear and act as if unpacked. Everything you write to Nukem: will be NUKEd as soon as the file is closed. All files written to this Volume will be packed using the PACKMODE you put in the S/.xfhrc file, IF you also chose AUTOCOMPRESS=yes. But what of Lazarus? The directory you assigned XFH1: to. All files written to the volume 'Nukem:' will be here along with any written to Work:Lazarus. If you access it directly, the files will appear as they actually are on disk, packed or not, and the packed files will not run if accessed from this drawer--use the Volume Nukem: to run them. If you write files directly to this drawer XFH will NOT try to compress them. Finally, drag and drop icons or move files into the Volume, Nukem: However, DO NOT move them from the underlying directory, Lazarus, into Nukem: Move them somewhere else first, or, if you have WB 2.0 or better, you can use xDrop. In the drawer XPK/workbench is the file xDrop. Read the doc for it. ----> click it. Set the TOOLTYPES for it. ----> double-click it. Press Alt-Shift-P to check things out. Select files from the <Work:Lazarus> drawer and drag them to the xdrop AppIcon. xDir, a utility that comes with XPK will show file information. At the CLI prompt enter xDir Work:Lazarus ----->or wherever. WARNING -- Do not compress: Any file that XFH needs to operate. Any file opened before XFH is working. XFH v.1.34 The upgrade improves speed with the use of xScan, gives the user easy options control using WB 2.0x-3.0x features and AREXX, allows writing to packed files, and fixes bugs. This version can be easily installed as a Commodity and gives instruction for installing it to a whole partition. It comes with C source code but XPK is NOT included although it is still required. And XFH is STILL freeware! Note 1: XPK distribution 2.4 is one of the most dynamic file compression packages available on any platform. It includes packers and encryptors and several utilities, and the xpk system that creates a working environment to allow each utility to work with all of the pack/encrypt modes. Also included is a developers guide for programmers. XPK contributors: U Dominik Mueller XPK concept, xpkmaster.library, NUKE, RLEN, NONE, ENCO Bryan Ford XPK concept, xpkmaster.library, BLZW Peter Struijk Imploder, IMPL Nico Francois PowerPacker Martin A. Blatter xDrop Christian Schneider XPK concept, xLoadSeg Christian Weber iff.library adaptation, ShowIFF, MoviePro Markus Wild GCC interface & examples Hartmut Goebel Oberon interface & examples Kristian Nielsen XFH Nicola Salmoria XFH Matthias Scheler XFH *This list is likely incomplete. **************************************************************************** IMPORTANT NOTICE! ================= Amiga Report International Online Magazine is available every week in the Amiga Forum on DELPHI. Amiga Report readers are invited to join DELPHI and become a part of the friendly community of computer enthusiasts there. SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI ====================== Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access DELPHI services via a local phone call JOIN -- DELPHI -------------- Via modem, dial up DELPHI at 1-800-695-4002 then... When connected, press RETURN once or twice and.... At Password: type STREPORT and press RETURN. DELPHI's Basic Plan offers access for only $6.00 per hour, for any baud rate. The $5.95 monthly fee includes your first hour online. For more information, call: DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005 DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, MA. Try DELPHI for $1 an hour! For a limited time, you can become a trial member of DELPHI, and receive 5 hours of evening and weekend access during this month for only $5. If you're not satisfied, simply cancel your account before the end of the calendar month with no further obligation. If you keep your account active, you will automatically be enrolled in DELPHI's 10/4 Basic Plan, where you can use up to 4 weekend and evening hours a month for a minimum $10 monthly charge, with additional hours available at $3.96. But hurry, this special trial offer will expire soon! To take advantage of this limited offer, use your modem to dial 1-800-365-4636. Press <RET> once or twice. When you get the Password: prompt, type IP26 and press <RET> again. Then, just answer the questions and within a day or two, you'll officially be a member of DELPHI! DELPHI- It's getting better all the time! **************************************************************************** > Rendered Reality "I render, therefore I am." ================ By Mike Troxell So far this year we've had AGA graphics with the release of the 1200/4000, upgrades to major graphics software such as MorphPlus, ImageMaster, DPaintIV-AGA, OpalVision 2.0 and many others, with updates promised in the near future for LightWave and Imagine. Brilliance should be shipping soon and from what I've heard, Real 3-D 2.0 could show up at any time. Add to this Commodores announcement of the 4000/030, the working MPEG board C= showed at the WOC show and their announcement of work on the AAA chipset. All in all its been a *very* good year for graphics. One of the most exciting developments on the horizon is the MPEG board I mentioned. Commodore had a working MPEG board at the WOC. They were showing a 2.3 Gigabyte Bon Jovi music video that had been compressed down to 51 Megs with the MPEG board. That's a 43:1 compression ratio! (Can you say "full motion video playback from a Hard Drive," boys and girls?) The board Commodore was showing was a working prototype, but I heard they want to get this one out as soon as possible. Full motion video will probably play a very important role in future Amigas. ANIMATION FORMATS Anim-5 has been the accepted video compression standard for some time. When a program that supports Anim-5 saves the animation it doesn't really save each frame. What Anim-5 does is save the first frame and the difference between each additional frame. Since only changes from one frame to the next are saved, the animation will take up a lot less storage space than if each complete frame had been saved. Unfortunately (or fortunatly) the size of pictures and animations have drastically increased over the last few years. People just can't get the playback speed they need from Anim-5 anymore. Enter Anim-7. If you have the latest version of ViewTek, then you've probably noticed the Anim-7 conversion program with it. Anim-7 seems to be taking over as the new standard for animation compression and playback. I've heard a lot of talk, both pros and cons, on the graphics echos about Anim-7. Some people are converting Anim-5 animations that played at 12-13 frames per second and are getting playback rates of 25-28 fps with Anim-7. Other people say they can't see any speed increase at all. The difference seems to be which machine is used. Although people are still arguing about this, it looks like the speed difference is caused by 16-bit chip RAM in some Amigas (500's, 2000's, 2500's). If companies like Impulse and other graphics software companies start building support for Anim-7 into their programs, we could start seeing animations playing at speeds close to what C= claims for the 4000. (Editor's Note: Micah and I have achieved 60 fps playback rates on his A4000, so the lack of Fast RAM in Mike's A1200 might have something to do with it.) """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > World of Commodore GEnie Realtime Conference ============================================ This is a capture of the *StarShip* World of Commodore Show Conference held on Saturday, April 3, 1993, with *Reporters in New York City! For more information about that show, see the *StarShip* 5-MINUTE Weekend News from April 2, and the forthcoming April issue of the *StarShip*'s online magazine, ViewPort. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> We have a couple of *Reporters with us who have been diligently covering the show, namely BLUE-KNIGHT (Yury German) and W.LEE18 (Bill Lee)... <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Just to bring YOU news of what's going on there.... <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> I'm going to put the room into LISTEN ONLY mode so we can take questions and hear the answers from Bill and Yury... <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Say hello, *Reporters! <BLUE-KNIGHT> Hello All!!! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Earth to Bill... come in, Bill! <[Bill] W.LEE18> hello!!! from the other computer <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Yury or Bill... <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Have you anything to say before I line up the firing squad? :) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> If you have a question, please type /RAISE <[Bill] W.LEE18> They DID have an prototype MPEG card <[Bill] W.LEE18> playing FULLMOTION 30fps video from a 4000/030 w/ IDE drive <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Okay... first question tonight is from Tex... go for it! <BLUE-KNIGHT> Well, the show was not huge and did not have many developers but C= really suprised everyone with their announcements!!! <[Stu] R.TEXADA> OK! what abvout the HIGH-end chips? <[Stu] R.TEXADA> ok, done. <[Bill] W.LEE18> There was no "OFFICIAL" mention of releasing the 24bit chips <BLUE-KNIGHT> I am sorry I have a very noisy node... If it gets worst I might have to relog on... but Bill will be here through the other line <[Stu] R.TEXADA> so? what's the skinny? <BLUE-KNIGHT> skinny????? what are we talking about??? <[Stu] R.TEXADA> the Specs. Last time they told us all anout it. 1000*1000 screens etc. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> <[Stu] R.TEXADA> OK! what abvout the HIGH-end chips? <BLUE-KNIGHT> OK there was no official release of all the specs but Lou Eggebrecht mentioned alot of things about development. <[Stu] R.TEXADA> such as...? <BLUE-KNIGHT> The thing that was mentioned is that they are going to go to two chipsets instead of one as before. <BLUE-KNIGHT> The chipsets are going to be divided in low end and heigh end <[Stu] R.TEXADA> nothing deeper than that? <BLUE-KNIGHT> The new chips is the 2 custom desing with 1 gate array (do not mind spelling I am trying to type wizard speed) <[Bill] W.LEE18> Stu,they didn't commit to any specific answers beyond that. <BLUE-KNIGHT> The gate array is going to be addressed to applications! <[SideWinder] C.GIESEKE> Hi ....My question to you is this....What is the future of Amiga Sound? <BLUE-KNIGHT> The rate is going to be 72Hz which is about 8 x as fast as ECS chips. More in Viewport! <BLUE-KNIGHT> Well DSP chipset was mentioned and it would support CD quality audio with future chips be added on to be able to go past CD audio <[SideWinder] C.GIESEKE> Would 16bit be out also for the 1200? <BLUE-KNIGHT> It is basically in second prototype right now being on the Zoro 3 slot, and the 16 bit audio could be supported throught he extra Gate Array chipset AA chipset in the futrue but nothing final at this time <W.SHADOWEN> ANY NEWS ON AGA FOR THE A3000 OR CBM CD-DRIVES FOR THE A3000? Upgraded CDTV ? <[Stu] R.TEXADA> what was that about Gate arrays? <[Eggolopolis] JIM.MEYER> (Tech note... Gate Array chips are fully programmable and add much flexibility) <BLUE-KNIGHT> They said they were going to target each machines to certain application <D.DUSSIAS> Anything about upgrading the AGA machines *A1200/A4000*? As in new motherboards for the New(er) AGA? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Anything more on that, Yury? <BLUE-KNIGHT> CD drives mentioned and basically is that commodore is going to use drives to support all 32 bit machines <[Bill] W.LEE18> I do know that certain revs of 4000 MB will require replacement to ad the DSP and SCSI II options due to a defective BUSTER design <BLUE-KNIGHT> It will support PHOTO-CD (or at least plans are to suport it if the negotiations work out) <BLUE-KNIGHT> Also it will have file support for multisection access for PhotoCd support <[Bill] W.LEE18> ICD also showed a model of ttheir new 1200 accelerator that would use a 50mhz 030 and fpu <BLUE-KNIGHT> it will also have INTERNAL file structure support fot the File system and will be faster because it will have that. <BLUE-KNIGHT> It was said it will be 99% CDTV compatible as long as specs were followed. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Next question is from Shadowen... <W.SHADOWEN> Any upgrade news about A3000 to A4000 or AGA <BLUE-KNIGHT> W.Shadowen I just answered that.... the only way is through mother board swap and C= said it was not a cost effective solution <W.SHADOWEN> Thanks. <D.DUSSIAS> So, is it worth getting a 1200, and then a '030 board, or wait till '94? <[Bill] W.LEE18> Well,the 1200 is certainly a very useful graphics machine... <[Bill] W.LEE18> But if you plan to get it only to add a fast cpu immediately, it's better to just get a 4000/30 <[Bill] W.LEE18> It would be about the same price <D.DUSSIAS> But, if the New(er) chips require a new mother board... <D.DUSSIAS> seems you'd be stuck? <[Bill] W.LEE18> There was no indication that there would be a motherboard swap avail to get the new chipset, so if you want a machiune to use now then a 1200 or 4000 is a good choice <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Kevin, you're up. <[Deviled] K.FERLAZZO> What were the new announcements from CBM, Bill? Yury mentioned they were amazing. :) <BLUE-KNIGHT> Well alot of them are described in the 5 minute news write now. <BLUE-KNIGHT> Basically the 4000T (a prototype), A MPEG board (early prototype) and plans for the future were talked about <BLUE-KNIGHT> Also new monitors which the correction will run in 800x600 but not in interlace mode <[Deviled] K.FERLAZZO> Any specifics, or did they give us the broad picture for where CBM is going now? <BLUE-KNIGHT> No plenty of specifications... alot of them on DSP boards and what they will possible contain but nothing as to exact specs was commited on! <BLUE-KNIGHT> The new Chipset but also it was specs... but nothing promised <[Deviled] K.FERLAZZO> Okay. I'm done then. Thanks guys! :) <[SouLCatcheR] C.PRESCOTT2> I have 2 questions: What is the scoup on the A4000 TOWER and what is the future of the SPEAK: or the Amiga Voice? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Ok both have interesting answers.... <BLUE-KNIGHT> The 4000T has alot of specs.... and is in the news now. The biggest specs are same as 4000 but also 2 video slots and a great design of the machine (ergonomic design) <BLUE-KNIGHT> Also SCSI-2 and IDE controlers. No specs on hard drives that are going to come with it <BLUE-KNIGHT> On the sound issue!!!!! <BLUE-KNIGHT> Get your reading glases out!!!!! <BLUE-KNIGHT> With DSP chipset C= is talking to outside AMIGA DEVELOPMENT community on adding speach recognition to the DSP board or the motherboard itself... Nothing finalized <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Did they say ANYTHING about getting the old speech guy back, Yury? Anything at all? <BLUE-KNIGHT> In other words... they are actually willing to pay $$$$ to Mac developers to transfer great software to the amiga! Although not talking directly to APPLE but developers on the MAC <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Follow up question on that, SoulCatcher? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Well that has not been talked about at all... the problem there is not with speech but with Multilanguage support! <[SouLCatcheR] C.PRESCOTT2> Also are there any rumors or info about 4meg floppies possibly being used in the future? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Folks, we'll go ahead with SoulCatcher's, but please limit any follow up questions to the topic or something closely related. :) <[SouLCatcheR] C.PRESCOTT2> About the speech issued: so they are NOT going to scrap support for synthsized speech then? <BLUE-KNIGHT> No no mention of heigher floppies but only floppies with TRUE hardware support for the 1.44 1.76 MB disks read writes.... The ones that are supplied now are sort of hacked to the Amiga by changing speeds of the drives (because the chipset can not handle this) <BLUE-KNIGHT> NO in fact they are going to add support for voice recognition! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Okay, thanks. <W.DAVIS15> Was any thing said about upgrading AGA to the Super_AGA (or whatever they call it) I'm thinking of the 4000 not the 1200 here. ga. <BLUE-KNIGHT> Well Lew (same guy as before) said that a moderboard upgrade is very possible (nothing commited though) the new chipset is termed as AA chipset! <BLUE-KNIGHT> W.Davis just one thing to add!!! <BLUE-KNIGHT> Get the 4000 you will not regret it!!! <[AmiAlad Mike] M.HOLDA> Any word on price and/or ETA of the 4000T? Is the AGA Display Enhancer as cool as it sounds? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Mike: Uncertain and Yes <BLUE-KNIGHT> Let me go further into it!!!! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Hehehehe. <BLUE-KNIGHT> The 4000T is only a show as a concept prototype item... although it was fully working and the sign on it said. RELEASE DATE PENDING FCC APPROVAL so take it at face value! <BLUE-KNIGHT> Display enhancer is going to be a very high end product with price to match <BLUE-KNIGHT> It will have VRAM on the board <BLUE-KNIGHT> So far uncertain on size of the ram 2.5 to 3 megs of it <BLUE-KNIGHT> It will support mode promotion to 72HZ mode from any screen via Hardware. <BLUE-KNIGHT> It will also have something very neat as that you can define big sizes for screens and then promote them to the 72 hz rates so it is definitely a nice product <BLUE-KNIGHT> More things on it In Viewport!!! <[AmiAlad Mike] M.HOLDA> I assume those very big sizes would be 256 colors? <BLUE-KNIGHT> No the big sizes are true 24 bit as far as we know! <[AmiAlad Mike] M.HOLDA> Cool, that's all I've got. <[Stu] R.TEXADA> Ok. What are commodore's plans in terms of: 1. Future amiga a.graphics b.sound 2. CPU boards 3. Ad campaigns? Oh and about that AGA display enhancer: does that mean that you could have a 1000 by 1000 72Hz WB screen w/256 colors or what? Also.. the AGA 256 color modes are RATHER slow. anything on speedups? Wow 24bit! <BLUE-KNIGHT> Ok Hold on a second I am going to have to answer it on point to point basis... since I can not capture the whole thing so ask 1 at a time!!!!! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> ::laughing:: Think you got enough questions in there, Stu? :) <[Stu] R.TEXADA> haha. Ok: future graphics: <[Stu] R.TEXADA> what's in the pipeline? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Future graphics is the AA or AAA chipset as names vary between anounced and developers. <BLUE-KNIGHT> The specs on the things mentioned will bein viewport but let me talk quickly about low and high end <BLUE-KNIGHT> Lower chipset 8 times as fast as ECS <BLUE-KNIGHT> And 72 HZ <BLUE-KNIGHT> Will support 800x600 at 72 hz in 24 bit. <[Stu] R.TEXADA> non-int.? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Support up to 16 meg of ram and can define it as you which chip or Fast so thats a big improvement. <BLUE-KNIGHT> Support will be either 16 to 32 bit.. .notfhing finalized! <[Stu] R.TEXADA> ok sound: <BLUE-KNIGHT> Bill is typing in the High chipset now.... so hold on a second for that. High end chipset is going to cost $$$ since Aimed at professionals <[Bill] W.LEE18> High end chipset will be 4 custom chips that support "on demand" DMA, ASYNC clock. They will also 10-20 times faster than ECS chips and support multiple blittrs <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Whoa! :) <[Stu] R.TEXADA> ok sound: <BLUE-KNIGHT> Size is 1000 x 1000 at 72 hz and will both have 16 to 32 blit colors. Also some other things that you can read about in ViewPort since its too much to go into now! <BLUE-KNIGHT> Products should be ready for production by mid to end 94 <[Stu] R.TEXADA> ok how bout that sound? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Sound is going to be suported on the new chipsets and the talk is about on high end chipset of 16 bit audio with sampling rates of 100 KHZ <BLUE-KNIGHT> Low end was mentioned as just 16 bit <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> I'd settle for 16-bit low end any day! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Thanks, Stu. Next up is... <[SideWinder] C.GIESEKE> How'bout this...IS C= GOing to FINNALY Sell Amiga in BIG Retail Outlets..And actually have REAL Cool Demos instead of Workbench or (oy) Blank screens?? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Well that is left for the ViewPort! There is some controversy there and I would rather have it in ViewPort :-) <[SideWinder] C.GIESEKE> Has production of A600s stoped? <BLUE-KNIGHT> No the 600 is still the lowest end machine and going to remain as such with no new news being given. <[Dave] D.KRISTIANSE> Any SPECULATION as to whether or not C= will release an AGA machine between 1200 & 4000/30 ? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Yes they said that they were going to try to fit the slots in with the 4000 33 mhz with an 030 in it which was announced rescently <[Dave] D.KRISTIANSE> Nothing else? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Oh I guess I can say that the biggest seller of the show was the OPAL vision board <[Ryan] R.DOBSON2> Are there any plans for C= to release CDTV with AGA? <BLUE-KNIGHT> And Denny Atkin's book of course. All of the books were sold out today at the show <BLUE-KNIGHT> Ryan nothing was mentioned.... CDTV with DCTV enhancer was shown <BLUE-KNIGHT> As for the 4000 Lew said that to reallly be of use it needs full motion video <[Ryan] R.DOBSON2> Okay, what about marketing for CDTV? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Great news, that. Which reminds me: Tuesday night this week (4/6) Denny will be here in conference and he'll give away an AUTOGRAPHED copy of his book! <BLUE-KNIGHT> Ryan I am going to leave marketing alone since that was the coverage of another reporter and will be in the magazine (ViewPort) he was the one at the lecture. <BLUE-KNIGHT> At the lecture about marketing at least! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Marketing is awfully complex to talk about here, gang. <R.KANEMARU> 1) did commodore talk about an update to 3.0dos? <R.KANEMARU> 2) what about a release of a 1/2 height hd floppy for the 4000? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Well they are currently working on newer DOS versions at all time in fact talk about RTG support was mentioned with Lew saying that there was going to be RTG standard in future release (which release is unknown) <BLUE-KNIGHT> Nothing about 1/2 height hard drive floppy! <R.KANEMARU> what about the new monitors? are they better than the 1960 I have with my 4000? <R.KANEMARU> nono, a high density floppy for the 4000 <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Folks, TWO question limit, please. In fairness to those who have been waiting for a turn. <[Bill] W.LEE18> It was basically a redesigned 1960 that included built in speaker <BLUE-KNIGHT> And lower prices on that as well! <BLUE-KNIGHT> lower prices on the new monitors! <J.MARTINEAU2> I came in late, and tihis may already have been asked, but did anyone mention AGA support for the 3000s? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Nope... No support from C= on the upgrade to 3000's. The only way is chip replacboard replacement and not cost effective. <BLUE-KNIGHT> Alot of the things that are going to be released for the 4000 is going to be able to work on the 30000 minus AGA support <J.MARTINEAU2> So it's time to sell :-) thanks <[Bill] W.LEE18> One 3rd party developer did say that they were "considering" development of an AGA upgrade device however <[Crickets] S.LUTNES> Any word from CATS about the expected AppBuilder type application that will make developing and porting applications easier? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Well nothing in terms of something like Can Do <BLUE-KNIGHT> Is that what you ment... or for graphics applications?? <[Crickets] S.LUTNES> I believe CATS was developing an interface builder program. <[Bill] W.LEE18> Nothing mentioned publicly at the show about that Crickets <W.DAVIS15> just got my q erased wait <W.DAVIS15> did you say that there was going to be <W.DAVIS15> a A4000 / 030 @ 33MHz? a full 030? <BLUE-KNIGHT> No, not that... Which is not a full 030 withough the MMU chips <BLUE-KNIGHT> Although sockets are provided for additions to it. <W.DAVIS15> but it will be a 33MHz CPU? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Dean can answer to that question... <[Am-Egg-a] DEANF> OK, The 030 based a4000 is at dealers now... <BLUE-KNIGHT> Unknown the speed all that was mentioned was that it was going to be EC030 <[Am-Egg-a] DEANF> it is the EC 030 which is no MMU, and there is NO math chip... <[Am-Egg-a] DEANF> ...there is a socket for the math chip, but it costs extra... <[Am-Egg-a] DEANF> ...you cannot replace the EC 030 with a standard 030 because it is surface mounted...] <[Bill] W.LEE18> It is a socketed CPU on the card from what I'm told so upgrade is possible <[Bill] W.LEE18> to a full MMU chip that is <[Am-Egg-a] DEANF> street price here in Atlanta is $1895, that's with 4 meg ram and 120 meg IDE Seacrate hd <[Am-Egg-a] DEANF> Mail order price will prolly be $100 or so cheaper <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Okay... thanks, Dean. :) <[pussywillow] L.DRIVER> Not sure if this is the right place to ask this...but I have heard rumors about a dos 4.0 and a A5000 <just got my A4000>...second Q is about the lines on my 1960 got the new updated DOS...but isn't there some files that I have to delete to fix this all the way? <BLUE-KNIGHT> OK.... for the first question... no 4.0 and 5000 not mentioned. <BLUE-KNIGHT> Second question is that there is a whole topic devoted to monitor drivers in the BBS where that was talked about. I think also last issue of Viewport had the AGA article in there <[pussywillow] L.DRIVER> will have to fine that article...never heard of ViewPort before <BLUE-KNIGHT> Its too hard to explain here... but the topic there will help you get that provlem solved <BLUE-KNIGHT> Well Its our online magazine... Peg and Jim might be able to fill in on it.... <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> ViewPort is the *StarShip* Monthly online magazine! shame on you. ;-) <BLUE-KNIGHT> JIM would you mind a little blurb??? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> The current issue is FREE on page 555. :) <[pussywillow] L.DRIVER> <head down> well I am new to gene... <BLUE-KNIGHT> The old issues are in the libraries! <BLUE-KNIGHT> Welcome aboard!!!! <[weekendcrew] J.ALMASOL2> did you happen to see the new ASDG demo tape, and what did you think of it? <BLUE-KNIGHT> We had great pizza and italian!!!! Just to make you jelous! <[weekendcrew] J.ALMASOL2> also, any train sets in sight? (sorry, couldn't resist :-) <BLUE-KNIGHT> Nope No demo tape... which booth was it shown in??? <[weekendcrew] J.ALMASOL2> micropace <BLUE-KNIGHT> No train sets they are in hiding in the wearhouse! <CHRIS.P> With the new emerging video animation standards coming out, animation seems to be playing a key role in hot news nowadays... (question's coming :) <BLUE-KNIGHT> Oh That tape... yes Micropace we have seen it its nice but since you are GOING to have an online Conference about it... we can talk about it then! :-) <CHRIS.P> How USEABLE was the MPEG hardware they displayed, how well did it run, and what allowances for sound did it have? <BLUE-KNIGHT> All ready for them.... there was alot great news about that!!!!!!! <BLUE-KNIGHT> The MPEG hardware was shown playing a 2+ gig file which wa compressed to 51 megs (43;1) Compression in realtime 24 bit. <CHRIS.P> (I have another quick question afterwards, if ya don't mind) <BLUE-KNIGHT> This is the early prototype board and there was no sound functioning yet.. <CHRIS.P> But sound support is forthcoming? <BLUE-KNIGHT> It will however support CD quality sound. <BLUE-KNIGHT> Also Commodore is very eager about the MPEG and they are going to release both players, boards and authoring software! <CHRIS.P> My other questions concerns Emplant: how is it? Is Sybil necessary in an A4000? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Wait a minute.. they were showing a Bon Jovi video WITHOUT sound?? <BLUE-KNIGHT> In fact they are in negotiations with C-QUBED (I think thats the spelling) <BLUE-KNIGHT> A MAC Multimedia company with excellent software to port it to Amiga! With good results in negotiations so far <CHRIS.P> Any rough price on the MPEG hardware? <[Bill] W.LEE18> No pricing on MPEG yet <BLUE-KNIGHT> Nope its early prototype with all the software going to be combined into it before released. <BLUE-KNIGHT> Bill is going to answer.... the EMPLANT question! <[Bill] W.LEE18> Emplant actually DOES work quite well... <[Bill] W.LEE18> it does NOT requiere SYBLE except to WRITE 800k disks... <R.KANEMARU> is there any way to make my 4000 go faster? A 1200 with a GVP go faster now <[Bill] W.LEE18> It works between the speedd of a CI and FX MAc <[Bill] W.LEE18> However screen refresh is still pretty slow in 254 colour mode <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Okay, that's all the questions I have stacked up, gang. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> I'll put the room into talk mode now... thanks for coming tonight, and thank you Yury and Bill for all the great info! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Talk away! <[Sidewinder] C.GIESEKE> OY!! <[Am-Egg-a] DEANF> A follow up on Emplant...did they show PC emulation or just Mac? <BOB.ELLER> Actually, you can add an external High density floppy to any Amiga with 2.0 or higher <R.KANEMARU> I can't went broke getting a 4000! <G.GILBERTSON> Was there a price and a release date on the 4091? <BLUE-KNIGHT> Just MAC emulation... and good one at that <W.DAVIS15> Chrispy -- i have a HDfloppy in my A3000 and emplant is fine without SYBIL <CHRIS.P> Really, WD? Great. <[Bill] W.LEE18> No release date (firm) on the 4091 but it will not be the WIDE version as stated earlier... <[Bill] W.LEE18> the one we saw was a handbuilt prototype with some chips marked 3090 on them too _______________________________________________________________ | | | Reprinted by permission from the *StarShip* on GEnie. | | Joining GEnie is easy! Use half duplex at 300/1200/2400 | | baud. Dial 1-800-638-8369 (Canada 1-800-387-8330). Type | | HHH at CONNECT. At the U#= prompt, type AMIGA and press | | Return. | |_______________________________________________________________| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > Desktop Video on a Shoe String Budget -- STR Special Series =========================================================== By Michael Heinz (mheinz@ssw.com) Part One: Introduction and Basic VCR Recording If you're anything like me, you're pretty curious about desktop video. You probably read every article you can find on the subject, and dream of owning your own Video Toaster. But there's a problem with both of those articles and with the Toaster -- they assume you're making videos for a living. The articles talk about setting up a "basic" system for "only" fifteen hundred dollars, and you can't get even a used Toaster for less less than two grand. Well, I don't want to do video for a living -- I have a job, thank you. And I >don't< have $2000 laying around waiting for me to spend it. (If you do, you can stop reading now.) What I want to do is play with video and learn the concepts -- maybe make a few home movies and add some titles, maybe do a little animation, maybe maybe a little digitization. Preferably for free (or at least "cheap"). That's what this series is about. I'm going to take you step by step through a desk top video flea market. I won't talk about the Video Toaster or OpalVision or the IV24. I >will< talk about starting with nothing but your Amiga, a TV and a VCR. GETTING STARTED The newer home Amiga models (the 600 and 1200) have built in composite video output. (I don't know if the 4000 does, I've never actually seen one.) The 3000, 2000 and 500 also have composite output, but only in black and white. What's composite output, you ask? Conveniently enough it's the same video signal accepted by most VCR's and TV's. Look on the back of your VCR for a pair (or three) RCA type jack labeled "IN" or "AUX" or something similar. One of those jacks will be for video input. The other (two) will be for audio. (If you don't have a VCR, see the end of the article for tips on what to look for when buying one. Face it, if you don't own a VCR, you can't record video tapes.) I can hear the gears spinning in your brain. You're thinking "you mean I can record my Amiga's sound and display to video tape?" Yes. Those of you with older machines are also thinking, "but I can only record in black and white?" Well, yes and no. For this first lesson, stick with black and white. Later, however, you can do like I did and post a message on a local BBS asking if anyone wants to sell an "A520 Encoder". This unit was designed to let Amiga 500 owners use their home TV as computer monitor, and it works beautifully with VCR's. I picked one up for $25, and I've heard of people giving them away for free. Think about what you can do with this set up. You could record tutorials on how to use your favorite software, and sell them to members of your user group. You could use your favorite "paint" program to generate titles for the shows you tape off TV. No more guessing which episode is which. You could use your favorite animation program and create the next Roger Rabbit! You could make tapes of your favorite Amiga demos and play them in the VCR's at the local Radio Shack. The possibilities are endless. Anything that you can show on your Amiga's monitor or play on its speakers can be recorded to video tape. So, let's hook up the video (we'll talk about sound in another article). You've found the video input to your VCR, and you already know where to find your Amiga's composite output jack. (Hint: It's on the back.) The next step is to find a cable to hook between them. If all you want to do is play, you might get away with a good quality speaker cable, but I don't recommend it. Unfortunately, video signals are very sensitive and degrade easily. The longer the cable, the worse the connectors, the worse the picture at the other end. If you do decide you want to record things for others to watch, I strongly recommend you pop ten bucks for a good coaxial cable. Look for them in your video/electronics store. One brand name is "Monster Cable," but there are others. Look for gold connectors, and a nice >thick< cable. The thicker, the more shielding, the better the picture will look on your TV. Now you're ready for the first test. You've got the cable. Plug one end into the composite output of your Amiga, and the other end into the input of your VCR. Now you turn on your TV so you can watch what's coming out of the VCR, you turn on the VCR, you switch your workbench to interlace mode and you're off! Everything that's on your monitor is also on your TV! Except... First thing's first. You want to know why your workbench has to be in interlace mode. "Who want's to look at flicker?" you ask. Well, your VCR does. The whole reason the Amiga >has< an interlace mode is that TV and VCR signals are interlaced. You don't notice it because the picture is constantly changing, you usually watch it from about 5 feet away, and besides, when was the last time you saw a TV show that had a lot of lines only 1 pixel thick and lines of text only a 1/4 inch tall? Second thing, you're probably noticing that the TV display is fuzzy, and the colors are bleeding all over the place. These problems are also built into the video signal. The fact is, normal TV's are fairly low resolution devices. When working with video you're usually talking about 320x400 resolution -- plus overscan, and PAL, if you live in Europe. You can try 640x400 resolution, but most TV's will blur the extra pixels together. In addition, TV's can't handle the bright colors that computer monitors can. When video taping, the colors can never be brighter than 75% of maximum. On the "standard" Amiga that means never picking a color brighter than 12 on the 0-15 color scale. On the newer machines, it means not picking colors brighter than 192 on the 0-255 scale. These limitations on color and resolution are >not< as bad as you might think. The color (12,12,0) may look like a washed out brown on your monitor, but on the TV it will appear brilliant yellow. So, your Amiga's hooked up to the VCR and you've picked out some workbench colors that don't fry your TV. What to try next? Well, pop a tape into the VCR and start recording. Now, launch your favorite paint program - making sure to select an interlaced resolution. Doodle for a while. Quit. Pop in a disk of your favorite HAM pictures, and display them with your favorite slide show program. Rewind the tape and play it back. Any ideas coming to your mind? Try this idea out: You're a member of your local PTA. You've got a hot idea to raise money for this year's class trip. How do you convince people that your idea is great? Dig out that paint program again, and work up a series of charts and slides describing your idea. Make sure that the text is very large (use at least a 24 point font) and that the pictures are simple (complicated details can get lost when recorded on video tape). When you're done, display them with your favorite slide show program -- I use the PD program "mostra". If you've got a copy of AmigaVision you can get fancy and try out the different "transitions" it has -- but remember to keep each slide on the screen long enough to give everyone a chance to read it. When the presentation's perfect, record it to videotape. Now, you can either give a video presentation at the next PTA meeting or, even better, give copies to the various PTA members to watch at home. Video taped sales pitches are a big fad right now - people get videos from Ford and GM all the time. Won't they be impressed when you do the same thing? Play with this basic set up for a while, and learn what works and doesn't work on the TV. I record everything I try and play it back the next day. That way, I have a complete log of what I did, so I know how to do it again (if I liked it) or how to avoid it (if I didn't). Next time, we'll talk about adding music and narration to this basic set up. BUYING A VCR If you don't already own a VCR, you'll be happy to learn that the prices of VCRs have been falling. While a basic VCR will still set you back about $300, that VCR will have many more features than even last year's models. For recording the Amiga's output there are two required features: A composite input and a flying erase head. The composite input is easy - I would say 95% of all VCRs have composite input - so that you can hook the VCRs together and copy tapes. The flying erase head is slightly harder to find, and usually isn't found on the cheapest models. I won't give you the technical description of what a "flying erase head" is - I'll just tell you the results. With a basic VCR, if you stop recording, then start recording again, there will probably be a short burst of static where the two recordings meet. The flying erase head makes sure that this burst doesn't occur, by causing the two recordings to mesh together better. This is essential, since you will probably want to make videos longer than you can fit into your Amiga's memory at one time - so you'll have to tape the first part, pause the VCR, load the second part and then tape that. On other option you might look for is called "digital still" or "digital freeze frame". While not required for basic recording, if you ever decide you want to buy a video digitizer you will need this feature. The problem is that in order to display a freeze frame the VCR must constantly shuttle a small portion of tape back and forth over the video head. This means that a traditional "freeze frame" is never really still, and usually has a good bit of static in it. On the other hand, digital freeze frame copies that small portion of video tape into some RAM and displays it from there. The tape doesn't have to move, so there is no static. The picture really is "frozen" and you can easily grab it with a digitizer like Digi-View. If you decide to buy a VCR used, look for the same features. In addition, make the seller have the VCR cleaned before you decide to buy it. Video repair people have told me that many "broken" VCR's only need a good cleaning before they work as good as new, but don't take that on faith. Have them clean it before you buy it. **************************************************************************** > NVN WANTS YOU! STR InfoFile Another Network Supports Amiga! """"""""""""""""""""""""""" National Videotext Network (NVN) has recently added an Amiga Forum to it's growing lists of available services. The Amiga Forum is ready and waiting for you! The future of NVN will be one which continues to remain sensitive and responsive to market needs. Additional services and advances in electronic information will continue to be added, to provide unique and interesting services on an on-going basis. NVN service offerings can be broken into three categories: Basic, Premium, and Premium Plus. **************************************** **************************************** ** 9600 BAUD acious! ** ** For users with 9600 baud modems ** ** SAME PRICE AS 2400 BAUD! ** ** TRUE on line savings! ** **************************************** **************************************** Basic Services -------------- Most of the Basic services are available 24 hours a day with no connect time charges beyond the basic membership fee. However, a select group have functions for which transaction fees are charged. Basic services are accessible through a flat rate charge of $5.95 per month. Premium Services ---------------- For Premium services, Members pay connect charges for the amount of time spent in a particular service. Premium services are accessible Monday through Friday for a connect time charge of $9.00/hour from 8 am to 6 pm, and $6.00/hour from 6 pm to 8 am; and on Saturday and Sunday for a connect time charge of $6.00 all day (6 pm Friday til 8 am Monday), central time zone. 9600 Baud access is available at no additional cost! Think of the advantages of downloading at 9600 baud for 9.00 hr Prime Time or 6.00 hr non-prime time! Order an extended NVN Membership of 6 or 12 months, pay for it in advance and receive a bonus in connect time at no additional charge. Choose from two subscription plans: 6-Month Membership Pay just $30 for a 6-month Membership and receive a usage credit that entitles you to $15 of connect-time in the Premium services of your choice. Your total savings using this plan would be over $20!* 12 Month Membership Pay $50 for a full year's Membership and get even more free time on-line. We'll give you a $25 usage credit to use in your favorite Premium services or try out new ones. You could save as much as $45.* For more information about either of these plans, give us a call at 1-800-336- 9096. *Both extended Membership options, including free usage credits are nonrefund-able/nontransferable. Members are responsible for all Premium charges over the $15 or $25 usage credit. You can join NVN one of two ways. By voice phone 1-800-336-9096 (Client Services) or via modem phone 1-800-336-9092. You will be issued an Account # (usually within 24 hours) National Videotex Network and the Amiga Forum will be waiting for you. **************************************************************************** > Meet Denny Atkin GEnie Realtime Conference Transcript ===================================================== This is an edited transcript of the April 6, 1993 *StarShip* Conference with Denny Atkin, Editor of COMPUTE's Amiga Resource and author of "Best Amiga Tips & Secrets." Denny attended the NYC World of Commodore Show and addresses questions relative to that, too. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Welcome, everybody, to the conference tonight with our special guest Denny Atkin! ... <[Shadow] D.VANTREASE> So Denny, what was THE MOST exiting thing at the WOC? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Shadow, PageStream 3 <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> So we can ask Denny questions tonight in a sorta orderly fashion, I'm going to put the room into listen only mode... <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> ... and call on you in order. Please type /RAISE if you'd like to get on the question list. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Hi folks! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Denny, give us a few words, would ya? You know, interesting ones. :) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> I'm here to answer questions about my new book, <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> (oooh, tall task, Peg. :) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> ::laugh:: <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> "Denny Atkin's Best Amiga Tips and Secrets", which shipped in late January <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> from COMPUTE Books. It's essentially a collection of all the most-asked questions <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> and cool tips I've run into since buying my A1000 back in 1985... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> It includes info on AmigaDOS 1.3 through 3.0, and all Amigas, including the A1200 and A4000, with CDTV covered as well. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> And I was so burned out after finishing it that I've had occasion to use it for reference myself. :-) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Are you glad you wrote it, Denny? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> So let's start with book talk, and then we'll seg-way (where's a copy editor to fix my spellings when I need one? ;-) into questions about WOCA. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> And would you do it again? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Peggy, absolutely I'm glad I did. If you'd asked me that in mid-November, well, I'd probably have said... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> "wubba wubba... computer... get it away.." <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Hehehehe. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> And as for doing it again, if this one sells well, a sequel is always a possibility! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Very good! <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> "Denny Atkin's Not Quite as Good, But Still Useful, Amiga Tips and Secrets." <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Okay, let's go to questions... <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> First up tonight is S.WALTON4. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Go ahead, Scott. :) <[Scott W] S.WALTON4> Sorry, My question has been answered. I wanted to know about Tips II <[Scott W] S.WALTON4> I would also like to know about PgS 3.0 mentioned earlier. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Scott, PageStream 3.0 looks to be the most complete, powerful DTP program I've ever seen... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> They have the entire feature list of Quark, a great user-interface, professional publishing features... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> And I get the impression that any requests for features they get now (there's a Soft-Logik RT here on GEnie) will likely make it in. It's not slated for release until August, but the Alpha at WOCA looked very promising. <[Scott W] S.WALTON4> Thanks. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Next up is S.ANDERSON32 <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> (Everyone put Dark Side of the Moon on your stereos so we'll be listening to the same thing and we can pretend we're in the same room. I'm on track 2 right now.) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Take it away, Stan. :) <[Stan] S.ANDERSON32> Denny, ((trying to get used to this)) since I don't have the book in hand yet, (It's on order from DevWare), let me ask a q. about WOCA: The 1940 series monitors, in particular. Any clues on a release date? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> I got the impression that they're in final debugging stages on the hardware... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Apparently the prototypes didn't support Super72/laced mode. (ooooops) I'd guess it's probably a month or so before they're released.. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> The 1940 is a .39 dpi monitor, and will be primarily of interest to gamers and folks content to work in medium-res... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> the 1942 is a .28 dp monitor, and will be the one most folks will want... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Both monitors will be bigger (14") and less expensive than the 1960. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> They weren't on display at the show. :-( <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Follow up on that, Stan? <[Stan] S.ANDERSON32> Did you get a look at the ICD Viper and SCSI module? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> I'll let this question stand, but folks... please limit your questions to one at a time, in fairness for the others waiting their turn. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Stan, it was on display, but not running... I got the impression they're still debugging the design. The boards looked good, though. :) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Okay, thanks, Stan. Next up is RHETT. <RHETT> I have two questions. One concerning the book. Do you want them both now? <RHETT> Oops. Does that count as a question? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Oh, sure. And then we'll go down to one. <RHETT> On page 70, what was Bill looking at? <RHETT> Chicken leg or something? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> You better explain who Bill is,Denny. :) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Bill is my 20 pound Maine Coon Cat, and official model for the book... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> I actually did say "want some supper" to get his attention for that shot, yep. :-) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Hehehehe. I've met Bill and can attest to his appetite. <RHETT> It's a great book, Denny. My other question is did you hear I'm going to be a father near Thanksgiving? <RHETT> :-> <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> WOW! Congrats, Rhett! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Rhett is (among other things) a former editor of COMPUTE's Amiga Resource, for those of you who don't recognize his name. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Don't name him Bill. :) <RHETT> haha <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Next up tonight is Shadow. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> And coauthor of Mapping the Amiga, soon to be available in a revised edition <[Shadow] D.VANTREASE> My question concerns the futre of CD-ROM... <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Cool. We'll have to have Rhett here to talk about that when it comes out. <[Shadow] D.VANTREASE> How much is Commodore pushing to improve and come out with CD-ROM for AGA machines? <[Shadow] D.VANTREASE> (Just got my feet wet on a friends Sega CD) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Shadow, I think at this point Commodore considers CD-ROM much more a priority for AGA machines... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> than they do further CDTV development.. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Lew Eggebrecht said that CD-ROM was a "front-burner" project... <[Shadow] D.VANTREASE> Any idea of price and/or timing of one for the A1200? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> You can ask questions of Denny about his book and about the World of Commodore Show (which Denny attended) held last weekend. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Which I'd guess means Fall is likely for release.... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> And that it would be available for all Amiga models except the A600. <[Shadow] D.VANTREASE> Ok Great... and as always... "AMIGA RULES"!!! <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> No idea on price, but their price on the A590 has been VERY reasonable. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Denny will be giving away a free autographed copy of his book tonight, too. We'll get to details on that contest in a bit. <[Mark] M.TYNES> Denny, what about the 4000T.? Was it worth wating for? When is availability due? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Mark, the A4000T is probably about 2-3 months from release... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Five Zorro III slots, 4 PC slots, 2 video slots, SCSI on the motherboard.. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> tons of drive bays--BUT--expect to pay a premium price for it. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> So if you're looking for a machine under $3K, might as well go for the A4000/040. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Next up is Nick. <[Mab] S.POPE3> Hi how are you and Bill.. BTW I managed to trade a copy of ManHunter for your book.... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> We're fine. My book traded for a bad Sierra game? :THUD: <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> :-) <[Mab] S.POPE3> Just kidding... I take it that the 1940 is built around the default screen drivers right? Does the ICD viper have a socketed 68EC30?? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> The 1940 will work with all AGA screen modes. Viper 030 is surface-mount, but they sell a full-030 model as well. GA <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Thanks, Mab. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Next up is Randy. <[Mab] S.POPE3> Ok thanks for the info, I was considered going that way. What I was referring to was fixed scanning. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Oh. It has four scan rates, which coincidentally are AGA scan rates. <[Randy] R.TAYLOR67> Ive got two questions, one concerning hardware and one concerning future marketinhg <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Let's go for one question.. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Then let the others go, and I'll stick around and make sure everyone gets answered. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Denny will be giving away a free autographed copy of his book tonight, too. We'll get to details on that contest in a bit. <[Randy] R.TAYLOR67> ok how about hardware....what was your impresion of the hardware commodore anounced <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Randy, I'm very excited... <[Randy] R.TAYLOR67> in paticular the new chipsets <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> The A4000/030 fits a hole in the product line, the A4000T looks really good... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> But the new chip sets--WOW. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> These promise to be a quantum leap ahead of what we're used to, <[Randy] R.TAYLOR67> what about future software compatibility <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> and unless something major happens outside the Amiga market that I don't know is coming up... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Will be as much a quantum leap over the current state of the art as the original Amiga chipset was over CGA. :-) ... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> We're talking incredible speed, 32-bit color, huge resolutions, multiple blitters working together, etc. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> As for chipset compatibility, the low-end AA+ chipset is supposed to be hardware-compatible with AGA, and the high-end chipset will be hardware compatible with ECS and software compatible with AGA (so stuff that follows the rules will work)... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> I'd guess more stuff will break under the high-end chipset, but you won't miss your 1985 software when you see what this stuff can do. :) <[Mark] M.TYNES> Denny, the new is that the new AA+ is not compatiblewith the 4000 motherboard <[Mark] M.TYNES> will there be a cheap upgrade? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Mark, it would be relatively easy to swap out just the motherboard on an A4000.... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> letting you keep your expansion slot card, processor card, RAMs, case, floppies, etc... <[Mark] M.TYNES> What about price on the !4000T? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> We'll have a Magic Word contest after these questions, and the winner will win an autographied copy of Denny's book, "Best Amiga Tips & Secrets"!! <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> And it's much more viable than an A3000 swap... <[Mark] M.TYNES> If i don't win the book, you can chalk up another sale tomorrow! <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> But I think Commodore marketing needs to be convinced that an A4000 motherboard swap is vital when the next gen chips come out. BUT--4000 owners will want AAA, not AA+, I'm sure. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> AA+ is for the A1200-level machines. <[Mark] M.TYNES> oops, I meant the AAA <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> No price on the A4000T yet. I assume it will be a premium priced machine. GA <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Thanks, Mark. Next up is Flam. <[Mark] M.TYNES> If I'm in the market for a multi platform machine should I wait for the 4000T? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> (I'll get to that one later, Mark... Flam's up. Sorry, gotta let everyone get in!) <[FLAM] J.JOHNSON75> What do you know about/ think about the "Emplant" <[FLAM] J.JOHNSON75> BTW HI! :) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Flam, funny you should ask that... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> (Hi!) Jim gave me a review board at the show, so we'll have a full writeup in an upcoming COMPUTE... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> I saw it running at the show, with Adobe PhotoShop on the screen. It seemed to work very well., <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> The board is a quality product, the documentation is pretty poor, though, so it's not for the faint of heart. But with Jim's support here on GEnie, anyone should be up and running. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> At this point, I'd say it's for the "hacker" type who doesn't mind fooling around to get something to work right and in an optimized manner... <[FLAM] J.JOHNSON75> oh goody!!! :) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> But it's maturning rapidly, and will likely be a good general solution for color mac emulation soon. <[FLAM] J.JOHNSON75> thanks! <[Greg] G.DUIGOU> great book. How about tips on laser printers? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Ahh. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Greg, honestly, the reason there's not much there on lasers is because I haven't been able to use them much with the Amiga... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> My best tip is the one in the book--if you don't have a PostSCript laser, SaxonScript or Post are great add-ons. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> (Denny spends too much time online. Doesn't need to print. ;) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Thanks, Greg. Next up is M.ARNOLD. <M.ARNOLD6> Denny, I hate dead-air so I'll keep it flowing... <M.ARNOLD6> You've already answered a Q about the availability of an update to Mapping the Amiga <M.ARNOLD6> Please tell us WHEN the update will be available? <M.ARNOLD6> And will it include info about KS/WB 3.0? <M.ARNOLD6> Please be elaborate in your response, <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> M.Arnold.. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Peg, lett Rhett talk. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> :-) <M.ARNOLD6> I'm preparing to forwared the info to Usenet news. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> (Rhett's co-author, with RANDYT, of Mapping) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> I think he's gone, Denny. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Oooops <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Best to email RHETT or RANDYT for that info, then. GA <D.COZORT2> If the new chipset is scheduled for 1994 then <D.COZORT2> does that mean that a laptop is that far away? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Good question. The new chipset will finally make a low-power laptop viable.. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> And the prices of color LCDs are plummeting. It should be possible to make an under $2000 color Amiga laptop by then, so I'd say Commodore will be more likely to do it. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> They don't think (and I think they're wrong here) that Amigans would buy a grey-scale laptop. I would, as long as it had a monitor port. <O.IVIE1> I have an A2000 with Toaster and want the new 4000T when avaiable - will my old Toaster be upgradeable? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> O.Ivie1, I have no idea if NewTek will offer an upgrade or not. Sorry. However, Toasters aren't difficult to sell, and I've found it's usually better financially to sell hardware than to upgrade it. GA <O.IVIE1> thanks <[Gary] G.WOLFE6> OK, I have an A3000. Are there any new ways to expand the graphics, or am I better off waiting for the new more advanced Amigas? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Gary.. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> The only options now are third-party graphics cards, some of which offer hacks to let Workbench apps run on them... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> AmigDOS 4 will have retargetable graphics, meaning it won't matter what you're using hardware-wise. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Alas, AmigaDOS 4 will likely appear at the same time as the new Amigas. Right now, my answer depends on your application. <[Gary] G.WOLFE6> (I wonder how long 'til DOS4?) Thanks Denny... <[Vic] TV> Is there any news on the Networking of amigas? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Vic, Commodore's had a networking staff working hard on a project for a while... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> But Lew said they were working on something else right now, and would be back on it in a few weeks. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> In the meantime, you can get Arcnet and Ethernet cards, and Novell and DecNet are available. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> I'm currently using Parnet between the A1200 and CDTV, and a laplink cable and Twin Express between my A4000 and Jerry the PC. <[Mark] M.TYNES> with an 4000, Emplant, Emplant/IBM bridge and video card, the slots are all gone! <[Mark] M.TYNES> I the 4000T the answer? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Mark, yes. :-) <[Mark] M.TYNES> That's all, Thanks <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> (I like the easy ones. :-) <S.POPE3> How is CBM coming along on the promised DSP, do you think it will be available to A-1200 owners? What's the price of your book anyways? Jerry the PC?? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> S.Pope3, the DSP's getting closer--it's looking like a LOT is going to be coming from CBM in late summer... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> It's now a Zorro III card, and I hear rumors of a Zorro III expansion chassis or two in development for the A1200... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> I'd also expect to see a direct plug-in version from a third party for the A1200 after it's released by CBM for the A4000. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> The book is $19.95 at your local bookstore, or $22.45 shipped and autographed direct from COMPUTE. :-) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> DSP=Digital Signal Processor, which can be used for lots of things--CD-quality sound, fast JPEG work, modem emulation... <S.POPE3> Commodore sure has a lot to do with a Zorro III DSP maybe they oughta consider ReTargetable sound. :-)... Thanks. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> (if anyone wants to order the book, since I mentioned the price, send a check or Visa/MC with expiration and signature, to COMPUTE Books, Denny Book Offer, 324 W. Wendover Ave, Ste. 200, Greensboro, NC, 27408 and make sure and mention if you want me to scribble on it. :-) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Jerry the PC is named after a curmudgeonly SF writer who names his computers. :-) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Hehehehe. <[Shadow] D.VANTREASE> Has CBM said anything about future advertising? Like TV ads? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Shadow, the only thing I caught from DevCon was that the AmigaMan isn't long for this world... <[Shadow] D.VANTREASE> They must know by now we LOVE their machines but HATE their low-key marketing! <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> And the president said a consumer machine is due in the fall, their shot at the "next 64", which one would assume means it would have to be advertised. <[Shadow] D.VANTREASE> (and when will COMPUTE revive AMIGA RESOURCE!) GA and thanks <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> FYI, they said 50-70% Amigas are sold by Amiga users. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Yayyyyy us! <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Amiga Resource is alive and well. :-) As a special edition in COMPUTE. It's possible it could be broken out again in the future, but the US Amiga market will have to pick up considerably to support three mags. GA <R.BILONICK> HI! I found your book VERY useful - Thanks! I've heard that a motherboard swap is needed to use the 4091 SI've heard a motherboard swap <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> RB, thanks for letting me know! It's great to know the book's been helpful. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> If your buster chip is soldered in (and it is on most early A4000s, including mine), a motherboard swap will be needed... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Commodore hasn't worked out all the details yet, but they did assure me that early A4000 buyers will be taken care of. <R.BILONICK> I'm looking for a portable monitor for the 1200. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Since we have 1 year warranties, I'd assume the swap will be free. Alas, I don't know of any small monitors for the A1200. :-( <D.COZORT2> I may have missed this, but what are the specs on the aaa and aa+ <D.COZORT2> chips sets? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> D.Cozort, that's a tall order. :-) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Best place to look is the devcon reports from the Pasadena show, available here in the library. Higher resolutions, 24-big graphics, etc. Too much to go into here. :-) Also, I'll have full details in the June issue of Amiga Resource, out in a month. <[Dan] D.EPP> Are the A4000's going to stay IDE on the MB, or change to SCSI once the IDE interfaces are used up? Did C= say what the price was going to be on the 4091? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Dan, there really is no IDE interface. It's just a little extra stuff in the gate arrays. Commodore hasn't said, but I'd guess the A4000 will stay IDE, but IDE will in the future only be used on lower-end models. No price announcement on the A4091 yet. GA <[Dan] D.EPP> Ok thanks :) <J.WILSON107> Thanks for fitting me in Peg. Hi Denny. I came in late, so excuse me if you've answered this already. My question is about CBM's advertising in trade magazines. <J.WILSON107> What are their plans for letting people know what tha Amiga can do (customers as well as users)? <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> I wonder if Commodore knows the answer to that one. :) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> JW, all I know is that the current ads focus on folks actually doing productive things with their Amigas... <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> And that they're still actively looking for folks making money or doing "good" things with the Amiga for future campaigns. <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> (Asking me about Commodore's advertising reminds me of a question I had on my comprehensive finals for grad school, which essentially asked me how I'd fix Dan Quayle's image. :-) GA <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Hahahah.. Thanks, J.W. Our last question tonight... <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Is from someone whose name you may recognize. Go ahead Jim Drew. :) <[Jim Drew] J.DREW2> Do I get an autographed copy of your book complete with a picture of you holding the EMPLANT board I gave you? ;-) <[Jim Drew] J.DREW2> Seriously, do you know the actual attendance figures from WOC? <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Jim, alas, I sure don't. I wasn't there on Sunday. I should know early next week, though. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> I'm sure Jim will be happy to answer any questions you may have after this conference, folks. :) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> (Dying to put the Emplant board in. :-) <[Jim Drew] J.DREW2> How crowded were we really? <[Jim Drew] J.DREW2> Peg!! Sheesh! ;-) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Put you on the spot, huh, Jim. :) <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> It was packed on Saturday, especially around your booth! ;-) Looked better than last year. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Jim Drew is the developer of the EMPLANT Board.. in case you didn't know. <[Jim Drew] J.DREW2> Well, since we weren't there last year....I should hope so! hehe <[Jim Drew] J.DREW2> Thanks Denny! <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Welcome! :) <AMIGA.DOC> Remember folks, if anyone wants to get more information from Denny or wants to drop some feedback about the book you might win.... Check out the *StarShip* RT CATegory 15, TOPic 7!!!! <[Denny Atkin] DENNYA> Thanks Doc! <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Alright.. let's get into something really good now... something interesting, something worthwhile... <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Something FREE. :) <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> I'm gonna open up the room to talk, but PLEASE dont everybody do so at once! Note: Contest portion of this transcript deleted because no Amiga-specific information transpired. Winners of TWO autographed copies of Denny Atkin's "Best Amiga Tips & Secrets" were W.DAVIS15 and R.HARBISON. <[Peg] P.HERRINGTON> Thanks to everybody for coming tonight! And thank you for a great conference, Denny! _______________________________________________________________ | | | Reprinted by permission from the *StarShip* on GEnie. | | Joining GEnie is easy! Use half duplex at 300/1200/2400 | | baud. Dial 1-800-638-8369 (Canada 1-800-387-8330). Type | | HHH at CONNECT. At the U#= prompt, type AMIGA and press | | Return. | |_______________________________________________________________| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" LET IT BE ========= From the Jerry Pournelle RT on Genie By LADY.LUCK Compiled by Lloyd E. Pulley, Sr. Reprinted from STReport #9.14 I found this on another network and thought you folks might enjoy it -- especially coming from a non-programmer like me, who knows just barely enough BASIC to get caught in a never-ending FOR-NEXT loop. <G> Sung to Beatles "Let it Be": When I find my code in tons of trouble, Friends and colleagues come to me, Speaking words of wisdom: "Write in C." As the deadline fast approaches, And bugs are all that I can see, Somewhere, someone whispers: "Write in C." Write in C, write in C, Write in C, oh, write in C. LISP is dead and buried, Write in C. I used to write a lot of FORTRAN, For science it worked flawlessly. Try using it for graphics! Write in C. If you've just spent nearly 30 hours Debugging some assembly, Soon you will be glad to Write in C. Write in C, write in C, Write in C, yeah, write in C. Only wimps use BASIC. Write in C. Write in C, write in C Write in C, oh, write in C. Pascal won't quite cut it. Write in C. { Guitar Solo } Write in C, write in C, Write in C, yeah, write in C. Don't even mention COBOL. Write in C. And when the screen is fuzzy, And the editor is bugging me. I'm sick of ones and zeros, Write in C. A thousand people swear that T.P. Seven is the one for me. I hate the word PROCEDURE, Write in C. Write in C, write in C, Write in C, yeah, write in C. PL1 is 80s, Write in C. Write in C, write in C, Write in C, yeah, write in C. The government loves ADA, Write in C. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > STReport CONFIDENTIAL "Rumors Tidbits Predictions Observations Tips" """"""""""""""""""""" (Editor's Note: This file was found on Bix, and even though it states that it has been confirmed by Commodore, we have no way of knowing this. Please take it with a pound of salt, as it is certainly one of the best rumors we've found! The message is completely unedited.) *** FIRST REPORTS OF THE A5000 *** Commodore have gone for much like the A2000 large case to contain the power of this new machine. On the front panel it supports two 3.5" drive (one as standard) and two 5.25" (one holding a CD-Drive). This is the first machine to really support multi-tasking with it's three processors on board. Processors ---------- The A5000 will incorperate the new motorola 68060 + two 68EC040 processors, the '060' is clocked at over 35MHz and the two '040' clocked at 25Mhz will give the A5000 a total speed at over 60MHz. The '060' with sit on a seperate card in the cpu slot (as in the A4000) and both the '040' will sit on the motherboard. The '040' have been design to help the '060', this will be most evident at times of heavy multi-tasking. As a result of this configuration the A5000 will have a new kickstart. Kickstart/Workbench ------------------- The A5000 will have kickstart/workbench 4.0 (beta version has 3.2). This kickstart is required to control the three processors, earlier kickstarts will not be able to access the '040' (but the '060' can). This kickstart will not be released for the older machines although 4.1 will. This kickstart/workbench will enable the '040' to be assigned to different tasks and as shiped one will handle all screen and sound processing and the other will handle all of the I/O devices. This kickstart is a 1Mb chip and will be shipped on the hard drive (to be confirmed). If it is released in chip form then the chip will be placed on it's own card. This kickstart will have a user-selectable kickstart screen so the user can select which kickstart to load (either in slot or on harddrive) and the A5000 has been tested with kickstart 1.2 upwards so there will be no more compatability problems. Chipset ------- Commodore have done it again in changing the chipset as there are several new chips. The A5000 with workbench 4 is now capable of operating in all modes with a 512 colour pallet. To maintain the speed require to operate in this mode one of the '040' can be assigned to the screen display (as it is shipped). The maximum screen resolution is 4096 x 4096 with over 32 million colours on screen. This new chipset will be able to detect which chipset it should use (orig., ECS, super-ECS or AGA, super AGA) by detecting which kickstart is currently running or which is selected at a cold boot. Ram --- As the new chipset has a higher resolution and more colours more chip ram is required and commodore have responded by having 16Mb of chip ram on the motherboard (expandable to 64Mb) and 16Mb of fast ram (theoretically expandable to 1024Mb, tested to 256Mb). The chip and fast ram have been organised on a 32-bit wide structure as in the A3000 + A4000. Drives ------ The harddrive interface is the new scsi2 standard with a 210Mb slimline hardrive mounted as standard. The floppy drive is a high density type and the CD-drive is a standard A2000 internal drive. Sound ----- The sound is now 16-bit as the A4000 was supposed to have. Internal Connectors ------------------- There are eight zorro III expansion slots with three IBM slots in parallel with three zorro slots. There is no cpu slot as t) and the keyboard connector (same pins as the A4000) at the back, the mouse ports are on the right side towards the back. Price ----- Well that depends on what pack you want as as of this moment there are two 1 all above = $3499 (Appox.) 2 all above plus Amax v3.0 Mac emulator (100% compatable with all known software) + Golden gate IBM emulator = $3999 (Approx.)(uses two zorro III slots) This information has been confirmed by Commodore. """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > STR Dealer Directory ==================== Armadillo Brothers 753 East 3300 South Salt Lake City, Utah VOICE: 801-484-2791 GEnie: B.GRAY MicroSearch 9000 US 59 South, Suite 330 Houston, Texas VOICE: 713-988-2818 FAX: 713-995-4994 (Dealers: To have your name added, please send Email!) """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Amiga Report's "EDITORIAL CARTOON" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > A "Quotable Quote" """"""""""""""""" Overheard in a video/computer software store: "Do you have to have a hard drive or a soft drive?" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Amiga Report International Online Magazine ~ STR Publications -* [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport *- """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" STR Online! "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" April 9, 1993 Amiga Edition Copyright (c) 1993 All Rights Reserved No.1.04 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors and staff of Amiga Report International Online Magazine or of STR Publications. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Reprints must, without exception, include the name of the publication, date, issue number and the author's name. STReport and/or por- tions therein may not be edited in any way without prior written permission. Amiga Report, at the time of publication, is believed reasonably accurate. Amiga Report, its staff and contributors are not and cannot be held responsible for the use or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained there from. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""