@database "ar230.guide" @Node MAIN "Amiga Report Online Magazine #2.30 -- October 23, 1994" @{" Turn the Page " link "menu"} _ ____ ___ ______ _______ _ 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##__ """"" """"""""""" " """""" """""" """"""" """"" """""" ###### ###### ###### ###### ###### ######## TM ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #### ## ## ## #### ## ## ## #### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ### ###### ## ###### ## ### ## International Online Magazine "THE Online Source for Amiga Information!" Copyright 1994 Skynet Publications All Rights Reserved // =====================================//==================================== == October 23, 1994 \\// Issue No. 2.30 == =========================================================================== @endnode @node "menu" "Amiga Report Main Menu" @toc "menu" =========================================================================== == Main Menu == =========================================================================== @{" Editorial and Opinion " link P1} @{" News and Features " link P2} @{" Reviews " link P3} @{" Reader Mail " link P4} @{" FTP and Product Announcements " link P2-2} ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @{" About AMIGA REPORT " link P5} @{" Dealer Directory " link P6-3} Contact Information and Copyrights Amiga Dealer Addresses and Numbers @{" Where to Get AR " link P5B} @{" Commercial Products " link P6} Mailing List & Distribution Sites Online Services, Dealers, Ordering ______________________________________________ // | | // ========//====| Amiga Report International Online Magazine |======//===== == \\// | Issue No. 2.30 October 24, 1994 | \\// == ==============| "THE Online Source for Amiga Information!" |============= |______________________________________________| c.s.a.editor.desk Amiga News Dealer Directory Distribution BBS's Product Announcements Reader Mail Emulation Rambler AR Contest! AR Reader Survey AR Wants You! SPECIAL FEATURES REVIEWS @endnode =========================================================================== == The Amiga Report Staff == =========================================================================== @node P8-1 "Editor" @toc P5-1 =========================================================================== == EDITOR == =========================================================================== Jason Compton ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Internet Address -------- ------- jcompton@cup.portal.com 1838 Chicago Ave. #419 jcompton@bbs.xnet.com Evanston, IL 60201-3806 USA Fax Phone --- ----- 708/491-4064 708/332-4599 @endnode @node P8-2 "Assistant Editor" @toc P5-1 =========================================================================== == ASSISTANT EDITOR == =========================================================================== Robert Niles ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Internet Address -------- ------- rniles@pnw.net P.O. Box 8041 Yakima, WA 98908 FidoNet Fax ------- --- 1:3407/103 509/248-5645 @endnode @node P8-3 "European Editor" @toc P5-1 =========================================================================== == EUROPEAN EDITOR == =========================================================================== Michael Wolf ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Internet -------- MikeWolf@bonebag.tynet.sub.org @endnode @node P8-4 "Contributing Editor" @toc P5-1 =========================================================================== == CONTIBUTING EDITOR == =========================================================================== David Tiberio ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Internet -------- dtiberio@libserv1.ic.sunysb.edu @endnode @node P8-5 "Copy Editor" @toc P5-1 =========================================================================== == COPY EDITOR == =========================================================================== Katie Nelson ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Internet -------- Kati@cup.portal.com @endnode @node P1-1 "compt.sys.editor.desk" @toc P1 =========================================================================== == compt.sys.editor.desk By: @{" Jason Compton " link P8-1} == =========================================================================== First off: Big changes for Amiga Report! The demonic listserv from Hell is no more, replaced by a manual Terminus script. This means that if you have any list requests, they've got to be mailed to me and processed. It'll take a bit longer this way, but hopefully only one copy of each issue will be mailed. Second: as you may have noticed by now, Amiga Report got a facelift. Tell us what you think. Blame @{" Katie Nelson " link P8-5}, the changes were her idea. :) (I personally like it.) Another week, another conference... The third in a series of Amiga Report online conferences was held this past Wednesday on Delphi, with Alex Amor from CEI returning to answer questions. Now, to once again answer an accusation. Commodore UK's management has, REPEATEDLY, been invited to conferences. They have been given my home number with a 24-hour invitation to call. Sharon McGuffie, a specialist at C= UK, has bothered Pleasance and Proudfoot on my account more than once with my invitation to online conferences. So far, they have not given her an answer to the invitations. Either yes or no. The minute they say yes, I'll scramble to get them airtime. I'm sure Portal, BIX, and Delphi will be ready to go as well. I'll say it again: I'm not trying to keep news from people. On the contrary, I'm trying to get as much as possible. When I find something out (the Chinese financial backing of the MBO), people accuse me of favoring CEI...presumably they think I'm making it up. I'm not. I got it verified through as many sources as possible: it's not possible at present to verify it with Commodore UK because of reasons I just explained. A number of people have asked for conferences on IRC. I personally think the instability of IRC combined with the relative difficulty in moderating a conference would make it impractical, but I will try to get both parties to consider dropping by sometime. To condense information that can be found fragmented in the conference, here's the bidding update: The bidding is now in a public phase. Essentially, all interested parties will get together in a building in early to mid November, sit in separate rooms, and bid until it hurts. It seems there is NOT a "final bid" for any specific party, either CEI or C= UK, despite reports to the contrary. The final bid would seem to be the bidder who isn't challenged by the other parties. A contract HAS been written based on Commodore UK's bid. This was done at the request of the highest bidder, CEI. They took this tactic at the advice of their lawyers in order to protect the value of their own bid. The strategy is known as "Stalking Horse" bidding, and is designed to put other parties at a disadvantage: Nobody knows how high the stalking horse was willing to go in the private phase, so it makes it that much more difficult to figure out how high they will go publicly. Anybody, including myself, can now bid against the contract bid. However, I haven't sold enough floor scrubbers to make my bid viable. That being said...enjoy the magazine. @endnode @node P4 "Reader Mail" @toc "menu" =========================================================================== == Reader Mail == =========================================================================== From: Johan Van Houtven (vanhoutv@nbre.nfe.be) ----- Here are my coments about some of the things that were said on the recent CEI Conference on Portal. 1) Alex Armor said nothing really important that I (we ?) didn't already know. Not that I blame him for this. Maybe there was nothing more to tell. And it wouldn't be very wise for him to tell us things that his competitors would also like to know, would it? :) "CEI-Alex: [...] a German concern [...] " Why didn't Alex name the "German concern"? ESCOM. Does Alex know what he is up against? Here are some loose thoughts about ESCOM: Does Alex know that Scala might be 'behind' (can't find the right word, sorry) ESCOM's bid? Some ex-C= managers are now working for ESCOM. In Holland you have 'Mr. Van Thienen' (sp?), in Belgium you have 'Mr. De Waegeneire' (sp?). You can see Scala's InfoChannel running in several Escom shops in Holland. I have heard that ESCOM is determined to outbid every bid from David Pleasance. Scala needs the Amiga, at least for a while, to sell InfoChannel systems. Scala has most of the ex-C= engineers. Do I need to remind anybody of that? 2) It were the remarks of some Ex-Commodore engineers that made the conference most interesting, IMHO. Dave Haynie: I just had a question or two to call on the AAA vs. RISC issue. One might wonder if the current engineers' recommendations against AAA is based on the fact that no one involved with AAA is actually left at C=, rather than its suitability versus a RISC project that is [a] not Amiga compatible in the least, and [b] not yet in silicon. The RISC project certainly makes a better CD32. I don't necessarily believe it makes a better A4000, at least not yet. My thoughts: DaveH works for Scala. Scala needs Amiga's. Scala would like to have AAA systems (today). :) Scala fears that if DavidP or CEI have it their way, there will never be an AAA system. Isn't it all rather obvious? Even the (ex) engineers know there is a market? :) Scala knows. And ESCOM has has a distribution channel, they have their own dealer network (PC-oriented I might add). They have marketing muscle. - Mr. Houtven also expressed the idea that Scala was in support of Escom. Dave Haynie and Scala in the US have both publicly (according to Dave) expressed their support for CEI in this matter. I haven't been in contact with Escom to hear what they have to say, but I recently obtained contact info and will be trying... @endnode @node P2-6 "Press Releases" @toc P2 =========================================================================== == Press Releases == =========================================================================== COMPANY NAME: Black Tie Software FULL ADDRESS: 4474 Valley Quail Blvd North Westerville, OH. 43081 PHONE/EMAIL: (614)891-3721 M-F 6-10PM EST, Sat&Sun 12-10PM ronn@btsoft.cmhnet.org (Internet) PRODUCT/PRICE: Michaels Math Quiz $30 DESCRIPTION: Michaels Math Quiz (MMQ) is a game that sharpens the math skills of children 6 years and older. MMQ holds the child's interest with high quality graphics, animations and digitized sounds. MMQ is unique because it allows the child to pick a variety of games regardless of the type of math problems they are practicing. MMQ allows the child to practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. There are two levels of difficulty for each of the practice types. MMQ includes four games. The games are Racing, Picture Puzzle, Space Shuttle, and Noah's Ark. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: OS1.3 or Later (2.1 Compatible), 1.8Meg free memory, 2 Floppy Drives or Hard Disk Recommended. AREXX COMPATIBLE: Yes ------------------------------------------------------------------------- COMPANY NAME: Black Tie Software FULL ADDRESS: 4474 Valley Quail Blvd North Westerville, OH. 43081 PHONE/EMAIL: (614)891-3721 M-F 6-10PM EST, Sat&Sun 12-10PM ronn@btsoft.cmhnet.org (Internet) PRODUCT/PRICE: ProWrite Tools $25 DESCRIPTION: ProWrite Tools is a collection of ARexx programs that extend the functionality of ProWrite V3.3. These tools include a table of contents generator, an index generator and utilities to mark and review table of contents and index entries. The table of contents and index generators feature completely automatic operation including status windows with progress bars to indicate current operation and relative work remaining. These utilities are highly sophisticated ARexx applications that are heavily optimized and fully commented. They are an excellent example of the power of ARexx to adapt a program to entirely new uses. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: OS1.3 or Later(2.1 Compatible), ARexx, 2 Floppy Drives or Hard Disk Recommended. AREXX COMPATIBLE: Yes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRODUCT: Structured Clipart DESCRIPTION: The Black Tie Software Clipart Collection consists of over 240 highly detailed structured images in Adobe Illustrator format. The images have the following features. * Created by Award winning Artist. * Full color images. * Optimized for color and grey-scale printing on laser and dot-matrix printers. * Most images are done a simulated 3D perspective. The adobe illustrator format is one of the most portable structured graphics formats, allowing this collection to be used on a variety of different computer platforms including the Amiga, Mackintosh and IBM PC compatible. This collection can be used direcly on the Amiga using the following packages (Art Expression, ProVector, PageStream, FinalWriter) without the need to purchase an expensive postscript printer. Additional Amiga DTP packages can also use the collection but will require a postscript printer or interpreter. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: See requirements for desktop publishing package used. AREXX COMPATIBLE: N/A AVAILABILITY: Estimated 4th Quarter 1994 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Many thanks to Daniel Barrett and his pet mastodon, Two-Ton Tusky, for their help in reviewing this text. --- IPISA'94 Incontro dei Programmatori Italiani per lo Sviluppo Amiga Fourth Edition Saturday, November 19 1994 Milano, Italy The Italian Amiga community will meet on November 19th, 1994, at the fourth annual IPISA conference. IPISA stands for Incontro dei Programmatori Italiani per lo Sviluppo su Amiga (Italian Programmers' Meeting for Amiga Development). IPISA is an open meeting (advance registration is required for a small fee) focussing on non-commercial products, projects and ideas, and on the distribution of high-quality information and advanced software tools. It is also a chance for (usually isolated) novice users to talk each other and to consult qualified and experienced Amiga users. IPISA is (and has been) a valuable occasion for small Italian enterprises working with the Amiga to do some head-hunting and to arrange professional talks with usually unreachable people, such as magazines chief editors and journalists, freelance programmers, etc. In the past, IPISA was an opportunity for Commodore Italia to introduce new products (the MPEG card at IPISA'93 was a hit) and to answer questions on its policies. Commodore Italia has always supported the IPISA conference by helping in the organization phase, by giving computers and sample products, and by participating in the conference through its representatives. About past IPISA conferences As we said, this is the fourth conference; the first and second ones were held in Modena and were organized by three former Amiga developers. Even without press coverage, the conferences attracted 90 participants. For the 1993 conference, the organization was taken over by a large group of developers and users living in Milan. With the help of Amiga-specific magazines, FidoNet Amiga chat groups, Commodore developer support (Mr. Ettore Caurla) and fellow Amiga users who helped to "spread the word", the last conference was attended by over 150 people from all over Italy (even from Sicily, which is one full day of travel away). During the conference, relators talked about their works (mainly software programs, hardware projects, etc.), and Mr. Caurla described the terms and conditions for becoming a registered Amiga developer. He also answered many questions from users and the developer community. In the end, an impressive demo of CD32's MPEG card and CD32 games was shown. IPISA'93 was covered in depth by several Amiga-specific magazines, and reviewed by Italy's most influential computer magazine: MC Microcomputer. All reviews were entusiastic and labeled the organization "ottimo" (very good). About this year's conference The team organizing the IPISA'94 is composed of fifteen people: Roberto Attias, Vittorio Calzolari, Marco Caimi, Federica Colla, Alessandro Ferrarin, Giovanni Gentile, Fabrizio Lodi, Marco Menegon, Sergio Ruocco (chair), Carlo Santagostino, Paolo Silvera, Reinhard Spisser, Carlo Todeschini, Sebastiano Vigna and Marco Zandonadi. All of them are long time Amiga users. Some are (or have been) freelance authors for Amiga-specific magazines for years. Many of them are working (or have worked) as programmers, artists or qualified technicians for Italian companies setting up a number of commercial Amiga-based multimedia projects. This year, IPISA'94 will be held Saturday November 19, 1994, in the Conference Hall of the Centro Universitario ISU (via Valvassori Peroni 21 Milano); the hall is in the Northwest zone of the city, also known as Citta` Studi, where the Politecnico di Milano and many scientific departments of Universita` Statale di Milano are located. The tentative schedule is: 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM Registration 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Presentation and foreword 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM Conference talks (part 1) 12:30 PM - 02:00 PM Meal / Lunch break (see note) 02:00 PM - 02:30 PM Amiga, CD 32 and MPEG Video DEMO 02:30 PM - 05:00 PM Conference talks (part 2) 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM Open Mike - Free questions and answers 06:00 PM - 06:30 PM Closing talk Note: if there are enough reservations to cover costs, a complete lunch (not a simple coffe-break) will be served in the refectory (in same building of the Conference) by a catering company from 12:30 PM and 1:30 PM. Here is a tentative list of the talks. Unless otherwise specified all talks and related papers are in Italian. Wouter van Oortmerssen Amiga E v3 (English) Mirko Lalli Amiga Expert Team and Uniware Paolo Canali Advanced issues about Amiga hardware Giuseppe Ligorio 16 channel sound and blitter math operations Angelo Iacubino Mathematical generation of melodies (for MIDI instr.) Gerardo Iula AnimCommander: a fast anim player Gianluca Marcoccia, Daniele Finocchiaro, Giuseppe Sacco, Luca Viola KnapDisk, DMA Blanker, Numeric Integration library Fausto Passariello Multivariate statistic library Sebastiano Vigna and Reinhard Spisser Inspector: an advanced debugging tool (update) The IPISA Proceedings will feature additional papers from Giovanni Gentile Waiting for the Power Macintosh ;-) Daniel Barrett The new Fish 'Styx' CD (English) Andy Finkel Amiga surviving in a PC World (English) Urban Mueller Aminet reached 10,000 files (English) The conference hall can host over 500 people. It has a very large stage, a video projector with a large screen, and a powerful stereo audio amplifier complete with speakers to be connected to Amigas and CD32's. The IPISA'94 committee has also planned a 100-person pizza party to be held in an award winning pizzeria in Milan the same day at 9:30PM; reservations will be collected from the public in the morning. Participants will receive the Conference Proceedings, consisting of printed documentation and about 10 floppy disks. Disks will contain both original programs presented at the Conference and already available software tools licensed by respective authors. The fees are: - meeting admission (meal included)................................US$ 35 - meeting admission (without meal).................................US$ 20 - Conference Proceedings for non-participants (sent by air mail)...US$ 20 To join the meeting, you need to book in advance before November, 10 1994 by sending e-mail to one of the addresses listed below. ruocco@dsi.unimi.it (Sergio Ruocco) attias@dsi.unimi.it (Roberto Attias) vigna@dsi.unimi.it (Sebastiano Vigna) zandonad@dsi.unimi.it (Marco Zandonadi) Fees can be paid at the entrance. For additional informations please contact: Sergio Ruocco (Chair) Via Di Vittorio 4 I-20019 Settimo Milanese Phone: +39-2-3283896 INTERNET: ruocco@dsi.unimi.it (home, between 7:00-10:00pm. I don't speak English very well, especially on the phone.) For a good English speaker, you can call: Sebastiano Vigna Via California 22 I-20144 Milano MI Phone: +39-2-4814850 (home, 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM) BIX: svigna@bix.com INTERNET: vigna@dsi.unimi.it For a native German and good English and Italian speaker, you can call: Reinhard Spisser Via Iglesias 21 I-20128 Milano MI Phone: +39-2-27002796 (home, 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM) Phone: +39-2-39322851 (office, 10:00 AM - 17:00 PM) INTERNET: spisser@dsi.unimi.it Sincerely yours, IPISA'94 Chair Sergio Ruocco @endnode @node P2-4 "CEI Conference on Delphi" @toc P2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ __ __ _ / ) / ` | ) / /-- ,---|/ IN CONFERENCE! (__/ o (___, o \_/ \ o ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ .Mark> This conference transcript is Copyright 1994, Delphi Amiga Sig, all rights reserved. Amiga Report magazine is hereby granted exclusive non-commercial distribution rights. Commercial reprinting or redistribution of this transcript is expressly forbidden without permission. Write to "Burbs@Delphi.com" if you are a commercial magazine who wishes to publish any or all of this transcript. Do not perform any further editing on this transcript without first obtaining written permission. We welcome you to this formal Conference with our special guest of Creative Equipment, International. Also joining us tonight is Jason Compton, Editor in Chief, Amiga Report With special thanks also to him for his help in setting up tonights conferance. Since this is a formal session, we ask that participants wishing to ask a question, to type a "?" and wait to be called on before typing your question. .jcompton> Ok. First off, Alex, you can take this opportunity to give any sort of introductory info on yourself or CEI. Secondly, I think everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) would appreciate some sort of brief overview of the bidding process to come. AMIGA_ALEX> As all of you probably know CEI is on of the parties that is interested in acquiring the Commodore technology and produce Amigas. Currently, there appears to be two interested parties (notice the word appears), I believe one is a Chinese venture that is backing the UK management team and the second is ourselves. Within the next four weeks the trustee will negotiate contracts with the interested parties and actual bidding will progress. We expect a resolution sometime in late November. There is always the possibility of another party coming to the table before this is all done. .jcompton> :) Is it your interpretation, then, that Escom has lost interest in the bidding? Also: I realize it's not up to you, but do you know why there's going to be a month lag before the bidding begins? AMIGA_ALEX> At this point in time I would not rule ESCOM out. Remember there is a lot of activity behind the scenes. As far as the time frame is concerned there are a number of legal issues which must be resolved. Including law suits, appeals, etc. BRIANKOK> Alex, thanks for doing this. I actually have several questions: (most importantly, first) You said you are interested in purchasing the amiga technology and producing them. Does this mean you are not actually buying out Commodore, just buying the technology? AMIGA_ALEX> Yes, who ever ends up with the Amiga technology is simply purchasing the assets. Not ending up with the old Commodore. BRIANKOK> Ah, i see. i thought this was a "race" to be appointed to the pres., co pres., etc. AMIGA_ALEX> Our plan is to form a lean marketing/engineering firm that designs, market, and sells Amigas. INZANE> I was wondering if you could explain your future plans for the Amiga if you win the bid. AMIGA_ALEX> As you can see I am not a touch typist, but I'll try to give you a synopsis: 1. Re introduce the current Amigas. At lower prices if possible. 2. Move the technology forward by having engineers work on new OS and new RISC chips. 3. Concentrate on markets which we can dominate; multimedia, home entertainment desktop video, etc. 4. Market...Market....Market.... let people know why the Amiga is such a good choice. I always believed the Amiga would get wider acceptance If more people just saw the machine. That's the basic nuts and bolts. FERRIERM> Thanks. Three short questions. First, there have been several bidding 'deadlines' over the last five month. And yet new parties are still accepted? What gives? Also, How does the Christmas season look for CD32? Is this season not very important to the new owners? And, what are your plans for the much larger British and European markets? AMIGA_ALEX> First, there really haven't been an official deadline. When it comes to C= rumors seem to gain momentum and there is not stopping them. I remember that all the BBSs had the information that Samsung had bought C= and an announcement was imminent. It does not look possible that we will be able to make the Christmas Season with any Amiga products. Our business plans fully take this into account based on our projections expect to see machines in late Feb 95. As the European market we are in constant contact with all the major European retailers and distributors. They have agreed to assist whoever is successful with this venture. I fully understand the importance of Europe and have been working to overcome our distance barrier. CEI will open offices in UK and Germany. .jcompton> This is being passed along from a developer: Will you re-evaluate the way developer support is handled? As he put it: "$100/year isn't bad, but all you basically got was BIX, and lately that hasn't been much." AMIGA_ALEX> Oh no not Jason Again :) Developer support is crucial to our success. We plan multiple developers conference around the world as well as joint marketing strategies. Bundling software, third party coupons, real support! ADAMGOOD> Do do you think that the amiga developers that are still around can hold out untill feb 95 AMIGA_ALEX> Yes, once they understand the direction of the new company, the market is strong and there is demand. Newtek, Scala, GVP should all be there and profit. ADAMGOOD> What about cross platform support? windows? mac? AMIGA_ALEX> If you know anything about CEI its that we believe in support for cross platfom support. We introduced the 4000MC which included the Emplant (no association to McDonalds). As future processors come into play the ability to integrate cross platform support will become easier. RUSTYW> In past statements from the UK group, they are (where) hoping to get something going in time for Xmas, Since this will not happen do you think this will the blow to out of the bidding? (I hope) AMIGA_ALEX> No, I dont believe that. The Amiga market makes good business sense, if you understand the market. BRIANKOK> One of my questions was answered. (Developer support.) An offshoot question: Will efforts to get developers to develop again be aggressive? (e.g., MicroSoft and MSWord). Another: Will the immediate development focus upon the hardware or the OS? AMIGA_ALEX> Commodore had a very closed mind... In order to garner support from outside the Amiga community these companies have to realize the potential. With the very competitive software market many software developers are looking for new opportunities. If we manage to build relationships with these companies the likelyhood of support will increase. If there is important software the new entity will of course do whatever possible to get them ported including $$$$$$$$. INZANE> Getting back to the future of the OS. I know that RTG,Networking, and memory protection are important features, but I think we also have to address the look and feel of the OS. I've seen pitures of WINDOWS `95 and some of it looks very nice. Any plans on this subject? AMIGA_ALEX> Our OS has very strong features. We plan on upgrading and improving system as well as porting to other processors. As the looks are concern we have been analysing the look and feel of other systems including Windows 95, SGI, etc. If we can improve the look of the system while mentaining the memory advantage as well the multitasking advantage we have the potential for a real winner. ADAMGOOD> I don't know anything about cei, what is the 4000mc? AMIGA_ALEX> CEI = Creative Equipment International. Most end users have not heard of us. Our goal was supplying the dealers and establishing a dealer network for Commodore. We signed up over four hundred dealers in the last year alone. The 4000MC was a stock Amiga 4000 with the Emplant, extra ram, large hard drive, System 7 and MacRoms fully integrated and ready to run both AmigaDos and System 7 out of the box. By the way we started as a Commodore PET dealer in 1977 and only sold Commodore products for the past 17 years. RUSTYW> When the Trustee(s) look at the bids, are they just looking for the highest $$$ amount or the plan that will yield the highest $$$ in the long run? AMIGA_ALEX> The job of the trustee is to get the most money for the creditors, NOW! RUSTYW> If CEI wins the rights to Amiga, and is successful in marketing, do you think other developers that have stopped or never developed for Amiga, will be attracted to develop for Amiga? AMIGA_ALEX> RustyW, if we do our jobs correctly with a little support from the Amiga community I think we can get developers back and acquire new developers. These guys are looking for the opportunity to make a buck and the Amiga and its users provide that opportunity. .Wizardess> In case someone has not asked already - what was the winning bid and are the other bids known? AMIGA_ALEX> There is no winning bid at this time. The actual bid process (auction) will come later in early to mid Nov. INZANE> IS there a way people could send in our sugestions for feature we would like to see in the future OS. I know someone on DELPHI was keeping a list? AMIGA_ALEX> ABSOLUTELY, our plans include a user advisory panel in the US and Europe. This panel reports directly to the board. ADAMGOOD> You mentioned RISC earlier? Any plans to use PowerPC? Licence the Mac os? AMIGA_ALEX> It's obvious that we need to move to RISC technology sooner than later. The two RISC that have attracted the most attention is the PA RISC and the PowerPC, but this decision will be made by engineers, software designers, and you the customers. Since we believe in full cross platform compatibility the option of licensing the Mac System is not unrealistic. Cost would be the determining factor. .jcompton> (Yes, AGAIN, Alex. :)) Can you please explain the "contract bid" situation to us? As you know, the report that Commodore UK has the contract bid has been blown across the net and is being interpreted incorrectly. AMIGA_ALEX> Without going into great detail. The trustee has the ability to negotiate on contracts with multiple parties simultanously. Additionally, any bidder can bid on another parties contract. For this reason signing a contract at this stage of the games makes for good PR but little else. We had the option of agreeing on a contract but turn it down for tactical reasons I'd rather not discuss here. The bottom line is bidding for Commodore has not commenced yet. BRIANKOK> Alex, what are you looking at for price/performace ratios for new machines? (Can you give us specific CPUs/prices?) AMIGA_ALEX> NO, way too early. But, I can tell you that we understand the market pressure when you can go out an purchase a Pentium machine for under 2k. Our goals are to bring the price in line and make Amiga attractive once again. FERRIERM> Is there still a chance that the bidding process will move to the US? If so, what would the consequences be? Also, would a Windows compatible machine be possible in the next year? How about an OS/board combination for Intel or PPC based systems? AMIGA_ALEX> Anything is possible, but at this late stage it seems improbable that the court proceeding be moved. An Windows compatible machine would certaintly open up a new market but bringing in within the next year might be technologically impossible. The Amiga OS and chips make it very attractive as an add on board for PCs. As we work closer with the engineers we will be able to make better determinations. TREYE> As a developer, I am wondering where the Amiga will fit into the ODBC, SQL Server, OrACLE, ETC. world? AMIGA_ALEX> Let's face it, the Amiga is strong in digital desktop video, interactive applications, home entertainment, etc. This does not preclude the need for strong mainstream applications (Databases, Spreadsheets, etc.) But, we need to capitilize on the strenght of the technology. Since we operate CEI on 30 network Amigas, there is no one in the world who would like to see strong business software (read Relational Database with file locking....). JVANHOUTEN> Are you plannning on having packages with monitor harddrive/cdrom?? AMIGA_ALEX> YES! We have a multimedia machine, don't you think everyone should have a CD ROM :) .Wizardess> Once the dust settles have you any idea how long it will be before the "kiosk" makers can get the CD-32s I hear them so plaintively asking for? And how quickly can you ramp up general production? AMIGA_ALEX> Once a contract is in place and the legal matters are out of the way expect 60 to 90 days before the entire product line is once again available. XIS> When do you believe I will be able to get a 4000 tower system? AMIGA_ALEX> Same time frame (late Feb). .jcompton> Alex: What, theoretically, happens to the few remaining Commodore branches if you are successful? Do you ask them to join the gang, or just let them rot and liquidate? GA AMIGA_ALEX> Jason, our bid emcompasses the branches of Commodore which are do not have great liability. This will be brought into the fold of the new company. AMIGA_ALEX> Additionally, we have contacted individuals of the former C= who were valuable employees but were limited by their management. We now get to chose the cream of the crop and possibly even purchase a new floor scrubber:) he he .jcompton> Thank you, Alex. You beat me to the gratuitous floor scrubber comment of the night. Don't worry, I'll get one in. TREYE> 2 more quick questions: 1) The Amiga is a perfect machine for professional Laser Shows. Do you see this as a target for the machine? 2) What happend to those people whe have own(ed) stock in Amiga??? AMIGA_ALEX> First, the AMiga controls a large portion of the laser industry. I see this a another niche market which makes sense. We personally installed a laser system in the Miami area. The individuals who purchased Commodore stock are simply out of luck. Add me to that list. RUSTYW> Do you for see offering trade up deals for A500 and A2000 owners? and is there plans to add Amiga tech to that floor scrubber? :) AMIGA_ALEX> ABSOLUTELY! The one thing C= did well were the trade up programs. We plan on being more agressive with our customer base. Jason will be in charge of floor scrubber tech support;) BRIANKOK> Last ? from me: Why should the ppl who are deciding the fate of the Amiga choose you over CBM UK? AMIGA_ALEX> $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ BRIANKOK> heheh XIS> Seems to me Amiga OS on a PC Card would elimanate Amiga computers... wouldn't it be better to get the dos users to buy an Amiga/emplant combination? AMIGA_ALEX> NO not at all. I think its the old Trojan horse. Show what the Amiga can do and then try to go back. .Mark> If I can jump i here... How about a PCMCIA card with the Amiga Chips on it.. It would solve your laptop problem! AMIGA_ALEX> Good question. I'm afraid I dont have enough (read any) engineering background to answer that. As far as a laptop Amiga plans are in the works to co-engineer desktop and laptop models. .Del> When are we going to see ads that play up the qualities of the Amiga line against the limitations of the MS-DOS platform? I've seen it put this way: 'It takes more than a CD and a cute pair of speakers to do good multimedia!' AMIGA_ALEX> Our investors have allocated substantial funds for marketing. Our marketing budget in the first year exceeds C='s budget in the last 3 years. AMIGA_ALEX> We understand and plan to be radical in our marketing programs. RUSTYW> Does CBM UK really have that strong $$$ backing? AMIGA_ALEX> That's a hard one to answer. Our sources say that a Red Chinese company that clones cartridge is backing them. As time progesses we should better understand all the parties involved and find out the truth. .Jeff> Will the prices of the new Amigas be cheaper or at least competitive to the PC market? How about the Laptop model? AMIGA_ALEX> JEFF, I think I answered those questions...yes cheaper Amigas.. yes laptops. XIS> on the laptop just make me a lcd screen for a 1200 & I'll advertise the Amiga free AMIGA_ALEX> LCD screens for all Amigas are not out of the question. JVANHOUTEN> Do you plan on having discounts for the disabled learning blind etc, any software developes for this ????? AMIGA_ALEX> No not at this time. We do plan on implementing an aggresive educational campaign. Remember, software developers are interested in making $$. If there is a market then they will explore it. Most developers have no idea what the users want. It's important that you let them know what you need. AMIGA_ALEX> I would like to wrap this up in the next ten minutes. I have an early flight in the AM. DRACUS> How abt pushing the Amiga 1200 in Kmart, Walmart, and Sears stores like the C-64? AMIGA_ALEX> We have already reached a tentative agreement to put the CD32 into 17,000 retailers across the US. .Wizardess> Could you drop us a few words on your specific marketing background? Which markets are you active in now and which have you had outstanding success with? AMIGA_ALEX> CEI has been instrumental in obtaining wide acceptance of the Amiga into a diverse arena. AMIGA_ALEX> They include the US Army, NOAA, Walt Disney World, foreign governments, Medical Reaseach, the information markets. Many of you know that CEI has been distributing the Amiga line in Latin America. We established 20 major distributors while Commodore pulled out of those lucritive markets. Additionally, we are working with a PR and an advertising firm for some very creative adverts in this market. ECURB> Just a few minutes ago I called the AmigaWorld line. It stated that the the decision has been delayed until Nov. 2. Why is this? RUSTYW> Nothing would thrill me more than to see a full page ad for Amiga in Windos Mag!! AMIGA_ALEX> How 'bout BYTE? .Jeff> Forgive me if this ? has already been asked- Can we expect a PowerPC-based Amiga, or is 68060 more likely? RUSTYW> just seeing an amiga ad would be great!! AMIGA_ALEX> First, expect a 68060. This is logical and easier to implement. That will be followed by a RISC processor to be chosen soon. .Mark> And Jason has the final question AMIGA_ALEX> OH NO! .jcompton> What's this we've heard about a fax from CEI asking dealers for projected demand on Amigas and floor scrubbers? Just building statistics? AMIGA_ALEX> Since we are confident of the acquisition our manufacturing partner (to be announced upon acquisition) has begun to do the statistical analysis to be able to roll products of the assembly line as soon as possible. This was a statistical analysis and was not meant to encompass the entire dealer base. Some dealers were upset that they were not included in this survey, but we were only looking for the raw data, not actual orders. .Mark> Thank you all for stopping by and thanks to Alex for his time.. We wish you the best for you bid in keeping the Amiga Alive and Well! BRIANKOK> Thanks Alex, good luck! If you win, please switch the CTRL and ALT keys! :) .Wizardess> Alex, thanks a lot for coming by and answering these questions. Good luck! And please don't forget the internet address for jdow@bix.com. {^_-} KEHLAND> Thanks .Jeff> Thanks ... Take Care INZANE> good luck .Tom> Thanks for coming Alex. Drop by again soon. RUSTYW> thanks is thare a email address for feedback from users? .jcompton> Thanks, once again, for hanging around with a bunch of weirdos, Alex. .Ardell> Good Luck Alex! .Wizardess> Probably best to do it through Jason. AMIGA_ALEX> Thank you all :) Thanks for all the support! @endnode @node P2-5 "Wake-Up With Flowers" @toc P2 =========================================================================== == Wake-Up With Flowers By: Lamar Morgan == =========================================================================== Worldwide News Media Wake-up Call w/Flowers Through Amiga World and Amiga Report I have encouraged Amigans throughout the world to contact the news media and request a news investigation of Commodore. Now I am asking that those concerned about the future of the Amiga platform unite worldwide by engaging in a specific activity on a specific day. The day? Wednesday, October 26th. The activity? Send a floral arrangement to your favorite news media person. Why flowers? Letters get lost, filed or more often than not, ignored. Flowers, on the other hand, get lots of attention. Just imagine what it would be like if a news person got flowers from all over the nation or the world on a specific day for a specific reason. Well, I believe we would see some action by the press on our behalf. I can personally testify to the fact that although my letters and faxes to network newspeople resulted in almost no feedback, the delivery of one floral arrangement resulted in a phone call from a newswoman and a lengthy conversation about the Commodore situation. Nevertheless, it takes more than just one person sending flowers to one news official to get the news media in general to sit up and take notice. That is why I suggest we all make arrangements to send flowers on the same day - Wednesday, October 26th. In so doing, the news media in general will realize this is a worldwide event - that the Amiga is an international computer platform worthy of their attention. When making arrangements to send flowers, be sure the florist includes your name, home or work phone number, a request to investigate the Commodore situation and an uplifting remark. For example: To: Deborah Amos - ABC News From: Lamar Morgan (800)123-4567 Please investigate the Commodore situation. For more information, please call me. Have a nice day. Flower sending can be effective - whether it be to local or national media. (Amigans outside the US need not wire flowers overseas to be effective. Instead, send them to your favorite local or national news media person.) Remember, this is a worldwide event. For those living within the United States, the following are the names and addresses of some important news media people - although most are not household names: Ms. Molly Williams Mr. Tim Rice Bloomberg Business News New York Times Bloomberg Business Park 229 West 43rd Street Route 518 New York, NY 10036 Skillman, NJ 08558 Ms. Laura Waffenschmidt Ms. Carla Wohl Future Watch The Crusaders CNN Buena Vista Television One CNN Center 500 S. Buena Vista Street Atlanta, GA 30348 Burbank, CA 91521 Ms. Phyllis McGrady Mr. Neil Shapiro Producer Producer ABC News NBC News 157 Columbus Avenue 30 Rockefeller Center New York, NY 10023 New York, NY 10112 Mr. Paul Carroll Mr. Jim Carlton Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal 200 Liberty Street 201 California Street World Financial Center Suite 1350 New York, NY 10281 San Francisco, CA 94111 Ms. Sandy Sugawara Ms. Connie Chung Washington Post CBS News 1150 15th Street, NW 51 West 52nd Steet Washington, DC 20071 New York, NY 10019 What should you do should you receive a call in response to the flowers you sent? Answer: explain to your caller that the flowers were sent as part of a worldwide campaign by Amiga computer users to pursuade the news media to investigate the Commodore situation. Explain the situation as best you can. Then, refer the newsperson on to other knowledgeable Amigans. Three who I referred Deborah Amos of ABC News to were: 1) Mike Levin, Scala Inc. @(703)713-0900. 2) Dan Sullivan, Amiga World @(603)924-0100. 3) Jim Drew, Utilities Unlimited @(602)680-9004. Of course, you do not have to use the people I just mentioned. You probably have your own list of sources. Bottom line is to show the news media a united worldwide Amiga community and their concern for the future of the computer platform. Let's show the media so they will tell the world that Amigans mean business and their computer platform really is amazing. @endnode @node P2-1 "AmiNet Hits 10,000!" @toc P2 =========================================================================== == AmiNet Hits 10,000! == =========================================================================== Today, October 14th 1994, three years after its inception, Aminet has hit a total number of 10,000 online files. Again, I would like to step on the soapbox and talk what happended in the meantime, how Aminet looks today, and what is still in the making. And of course I'd like to thank the countless people who helped to make Aminet what it is today. THE HISTORY ----------- As I expected, there's not nearly as many stories to tell about the the second 5000 files that found their way onto Aminet as there were about the first 5000. Considering how violent the early days of Aminet were, this is certainly a progress. Yes, there were some notable events. There was a first go at integrating the boing archive into Aminet (thanks once again to the many, many volunteers who helped). Also, the manufacturer of the Aminet CD ROM's has changed - for the better, I hope. We've also introduced some new services, like gopher and WWW servers, new mirrors, and 50 BBSes carrying Aminet. But far more important is that Aminet now has become established standard. Aminet now grown to a point where almost everyone on the Internet has a working Aminet mirror nearby, which removes the need to use international Internet lines. There are 20 official Aminet mirrors now, plus another dozen inofficial or partial ones. Aminet can also be accessed from about 60 BBSes around the world, as well as on CD-ROM and diskettes. Amiga magazines have started quoting Aminet as the source of the freely distributable software they review. It looks like a dream has come true. Back when I started doing the 50 Megabyte archive that was to become Aminet, I had a look at how the distribution of freely distributable software worked. It was quite messy. There were many possible channels (different FTP sites, independent BBSes, and lots of diskette PD series) where a software author could place his releases, but none of them came even close to reaching everyone. And none of those channels came anywhere close to carrying all the Amiga software released. Wouldn't it be much nicer if there existed a large pool where simply *all* Amiga software is released and stored? It was a complete utopia when Aminet was founded. It starts to become reality now. Much like the Fish disks in the early days, Aminet has now become the place to check for new software. We had the luck (lots of luck, considering how much could have gone wrong) to see a good thing succeed so totally that I don't expect any of my future ideas will ever come close. Internet is a strange place to be. Aminet is being run by a team of 60 administrators who, for the most part, have never seen each other or even talked to each other. Aminet is moderated by a Swiss who never got closer than 1000 miles to the computer he does his work on. The uploads are contributed by people who, for the most part, are never going to know who they wrote them for. We may not know each other. But the users of the Amiga are, more than the users of any other computer in the world, and on the Internet more than anywhere else, a community. And I am happy to have provided one bond that keeps that community together. THE PRESENT ----------- Monthly downloads in thousands (at wuarchive). The recent decline shows a shift to the mirrors, since wuarchive is full almost all of the time. Newer data not available. 1993 1994 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 48 25 36 45 49 33 204 280 264 233 229 214 212 210 210 167 Monthly uploads (files): 1993 1994 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep ... Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 235 396 609 389 431 287 333 419 502 642 709 814 660 588 568 648 Subdir size in megabytes: (total: 1713 M) Growth factor since the 5000 files posting: biz comm demo dev docs disk game gfx misc mods mus pix text util --- ---- ---- --- ---- ---- ---- --- ---- ---- --- --- ---- ---- 53 81 154 93 21 10 128 262 77 265 33 136 59 98 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.2 - 3.6 2.0 2.5 2.1 2.0 1.1 2.0 1.3 2.2 Number of files at some mirrors: Mirror Files ------ ----- ftp.wustl.edu 10000 ftp.netnet.net 10000 ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk 10000 ftp.uni-paderborn.de 10000 (soon) ftp.cdrom.com 9230 ftp.uni-erlangen.de 7281 ftp.eunet.ch 5410 ftp.etsu.edu 5100 ftp.uni-stuttgart.de 4584 ftp.uni-siegen.de 1501 ftp.uni-kl.de 1488 ftp.math.ethz.ch 1058 THE FUTURE ---------- There really isn't very much left that I can promise for the future. What I promised last time is reality now. A few improvements are still ahead, though: So far Aminet is very hard to use for people with mail only access to Internet. I plan to make their lives easier with a distributed specialized mail server for Aminet, and a mail-upload facility. Also planned is an Aminet CD access tool that combines the browsing and searching capabilities of the current software without using Amigaguide for viewing. Don't expect it very soon, though. But the last real step ahead I'm trying to get implemented is called annotations. This will allow everyone to stick a short comment to the .readme file of somebody else's upload, thus turning Aminet into a two-way communication medium. That way, you will for example be able to point out that a program does not run under AGA , or give a program a rating (which will be collected, averaged and published). The whole thing is quite complicated to get going, though, so give me some time.... And of course, if there is any additional service you would like to see in Aminet, just tell me. I'm running out of ideas :) CREDITS ------- There are countless people who keep Aminet going. I'd like to thank them all, but especially: The uploaders for writing freely distributable software and taking the pain write readmes and to upload them Matthias Scheler who helps a lot with the daily administration and moderation at wuarchive The volunteers who helped with integrating the boing software collection into Aminet The mirror adms for maintaining that large number of mirrors which made the success of Aminet possible Fred Fish for helping combine his software collection with Aminet Martin Schulze for his great job with beta testing the Aminet CD and for forwarding diskette contributions to Aminet Stefan Ossowski for producing the Aminet CD at a very low price Chris Myers for maintaining wuarchive.wustl.edu Karl Frederick for maintaining the Aminet mailing lists I hope you liked the service so far, and if you have any comments, wishes or ideas, please to contact me. Let's hope we'll be able to see a 15,000 file posting about one year from now. @endnode @node P2-6 "AmiTCP 3.0b2 HowTo" @toc P2 =========================================================================== == AmiTCP 3.0b2: A HowTo By: Keith Christopher == =========================================================================== Ok so you're back in school and you dailup the Academic computing center. You are riding down the information super highway sitting behind the cockpit of an amiga, It's unfortunate that you have this masterful multitasking machine and you are limited to one serial connection. Oh the things you could do if you could open more than one win- dow and while that ftp to the local aminet site that travels obiviously through a 56K line somewhere has you reading the jolt cola can in your hand was happening you could be surfing along the internet dropping by all your favorite road side stops. My kingdom for a A2065 card and a network connection. A little more time goes by and you are reading the 5 empty cans on your desk as you download the latest bounty you've ftp'd from the aminet archive. You know there's something BIG going on in #amiga on the irc server, yet you have to wait; after all you only have one modem, one serial port, and no network connection. Sound familiar ? No?! Maybe you are in your basement and you have di- aled into the local on-ramp to the information super highway, same situation. There you are flipping screens between Adpro and Deluxe paint, you've already drawn your name several hundred times, there has to be more. Where's that #?S($*# on-ramp brochure. Hmm, lets see. . . Meanwhile back at school you have decided that you will now be up all night pumped with caffiene and need to solve this problem, where did I put the Aca- demic Computing notes and announcement bulletin ? Like an Archeologist you begin to explore the depths of the piles of disks and cables, then you spy it! Blowing the dust off reveals a big wad of gun stuck in the middle covering some bold face type, lets just carefully scrape it off. . . The only thing missing in this brochure is a bikini clad girl sitting behind a terminal. . . you open the brochure breaking the little white edge seal, oh there she is, what's this next to her ? You begin to read. . . As the gum comes off you begin sweating as you try not to damage the hidden informatin below. Worse yet, it's not even your gum. Your eyes light up as you see the message below. .. Your mouth slowly mo- tions out the word. . . SLIP. . . That's it slip! You dance around a little happy with your new found information, then when the glow of discovery wears off you stop and begin thinking. . . Now what. While the above may be fictitious I do know one thing for sure, the end result is the same. Whether you come on via an on-ramp or have a connection via work or school, one sure begins to miss the network connection once at home. 10megabits per second over ethernet makes 1650 CPS via 14.4 dialup pale in comparison. The ability to connect multipule times from work leaves one dry at home with a single serial con- nection. This is where SLIP comes into play, sure there are other protocols and I will talk about them later, but one of the most common is SLIP. SLIP stands for Serial Line Inter- net Protocol. Basically TCP/IP style connection over standard serial lines. While a multi- tude exist for the various other computers, in my opinion the Amiga has only one hard core performer. AmiTCP (current version 3.0.) While several programs exist that simulate a SLIP or network connection, they do not talk IP. One of the most popular being Dnet by Matt Dillion of DICE fame. Dnet brought some tools to the Amiga that were under development on other platforms, and I still think it has one of the nicest irc clients available. (hint hint Matt, write one for AmiTCP !) The second being AUW. This program is much easier to install than Dnet but doesn't have the expanse of the tools as available for dnet. It does however, work well. By far AmiTCP is becoming one of the fastest and most popular packages available on the Aminet. Before I begin in the setup and configuration of AmiTCP, I will first need to explain a few terms I will be using. These are necessary to help you as the first timer, or the person stuck and not sure what to check an idea of how things work and how they relate to your setup. Internet Protocol or IP: The protocol used by internet hosts to communicate with one another in a standard format. Internet Protocol Address: An address or series of numbers seperated by or IP address peroids assigned to a machine that "talks" IP which identifies it to ALL other machines on the internet. This should be a unique number. e.g. 129.235.23.1 also known as dot notation.? Domain Name service or DNS: A service that "resolves" hostnames into its unique Internet address. e.g. If a machine is named amiga.net.com with an IP address of 129.235.23.1, and one wanted to connect with this machine, I could telnet to amiga.net.com, IP however, cannot understand this and the name must be "looked up" to find out it is known to the network as 129.235.23.1 routing Tables that tell a host what "route" to take to send a message to another host on the network. i.e. send it to this machine and then this machine to this machine until it hits it's destination. This is a very critical part of talking on the internet, if the tables are incorrect the computers may lose the ability to talk to anyother machine off of their local network. Ok now the moment you've been waiting for. The AmiTCP has lots of files associated with it, there is the bin or binary archive. This is the one that has the main programs in it to get AmiTCP up and running. There are many many network programs available for AmiTCP like finger, ping, ftp, telnet, napsaterm(a vt100 emulator), an irc client, a gopher client. . . the list goes on and more are produced everyday. This is a very well supported package. The basic installation requires OS 2.04 or better, 1MB of RAM and approx 2MB of diskspace. Upon un-archiving the package and double clicking he drawer icon one is greeted by a very welcomed sight, an installer icon ! I do recommend that you unarchive the package in it's final resting place. i.e. Comm:AmiTCP30b2 This will save alot of time in the installation process. If there is an old version of AmiTCP it must be removed first and then install the new version. Once you've figured out where you want to store AmiTCP, double clicking on the install_AmiTCP icon starts the ball rolling. Before doing this however I have assembled a checklist of information in the order it is requested by the install script. Hopefully it will help you streamline your thoughts. Please look this over and have the information written down. 1. hostname your computer will be assigned (without the domain): 2. Domain name: 3. Type of connect SLIP or CSLIP: 4. serial.device number (unit number): This number is usually 0 unless you have a second serial port. 5. your machines IP address: 6. NetMask: 7. Gateway: 8. Domain Name Server IP and Name: 9. default router IP address:(same as #7) 10. SLIP dialin number: 11. SLIP login and password: Now that you have the information ready lets begin by double clicking on the Install_AmiTCP icon. This is a standard installer script so it should feel fairly familiar, if this is your first time using the installer script, please read each section carefully and proceed slowly. It is another nice to notice the "Help" button, there is alot of useful information behind each one. Be sure to check them out. Default selection (intermediate [if you were an expert you wouldn't need this article would you ?] ) Install for real and you decide if you want to log it all.select the directory you want to install AmiTCP in. Selecting the default directory will save you lots of copying time and this is the main reason I suggest you unarchive it in its final home on your harddisk. Next installer will ask you the name of your host without the domain. Installer will ask you for your domain name. It will now prompt you to decide if you want to set any enviroment variables using set- env or envarc, I recommend envarc. Next it will prompt you for any aliases you wish to use for this hostname. The installer will ask you to select a device driver.