@database "ar122.guide" @Node MAIN "Amiga Report 1.22, August 27, 1993" @{" Open Magazine " 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 August 27, 1993 No. 1.22 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From STR Publishing [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport @endnode @node P2-1 "Where to find Amiga Report" @toc "menu" WHERE TO FIND AMIGA REPORT -------------------------- Click on the button of the system nearest you for more information. FidoNet Systems --------------- @{" OMAHA AMIGANET " link P2-1-11} ........................................Omaha, Nebraska @{" NOVA BBS " link P2-1-1} ...................................Cleveland, Tennessee @{" IN THE MEANTIME BBS " link P2-1-2} .....................................Yakima, Washington @{" CLOUD'S CORNER BBS " link P2-1-3} ..................................Bremerton, Washington @{" BIOSMATICA BBS " link P2-1-4} ...............................................Portugal @{" AMIGA JUNCTION 9 " link P2-1-5} .........................................United Kingdom @{" BITSTREAM BBS " link P2-1-6} ....................................Nelson, New Zealand @{" REALM OF TWILIGHT " link P2-1-13} ........................................Ontario, Canada @{" METNET TRIANGLE " link P2-1-14} ............................Kingston Upon Hull, England Non-FidoNet Systems ------------------- @{" FREELAND MAINFRAME " link P2-1-7} ....................................Olympia, Washington @{" LAHO BBS " link P2-1-8} .....................................Seinajoki, Finland @{" FALLING BBS " link P2-1-9} .................................................Norway @{" COMMAND LINE BBS " link P2-1-10} ........................................Toronto, Canada @{" RENDEZVOUS BBS " link P2-1-12} ............................................New Zealand @endnode See the end of this document for numbers to each BBS. ___________________________________________________________________________ /// 08/27/93 Amiga Report 1.22 "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information" -------------------------- · The Editor's Desk · CPU Report · New Products · Dealer Directory · AR Online · AR Confidential · Emulation Examiner · A.M.I.G.A. · HP ScanJet Driver » WOCA Pasadena Seminar Information « » Atari Jaguar Conference on Delphi « » Commodore US Announces Amiga CD32 « =========================================================================== Amiga Report International Online Magazine "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information" » FEATURING WEEKLY « Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware · Software · Corporate · R & D · Imports =========================================================================== PORTAL · DELPHI · FIDO · INTERNET · BIX · NVN · AMIGANET =========================================================================== @node P1-1 "From the Editor's Desk" @toc "menu" /// From the Editor's Desk "Saying it like it is!" ---------------------- This week, you'll find two JPEG files in the Amiga Report archive. One is a scan of a B&W photograph that accompanied the CD32 press release by Commodore US. The other is a JPEG of a GIF of the Atari Jaguar. I know you're not supposed to JPEG GIFs, but I didn't want to put a 50K GIF file in the archive, when I could JPEG it down to 11K... it's a little fuzzy, but the savings is worth it. If anybody wants the actual GIF, it's in the World of Video Games SIG on Delphi. I also lowered the quality level on the CD32 JPEG to drop it from 85K down to 38K. It too is a little fuzzier than the original, but I really didn't want to have a 200K archive this week. The original is available on Portal. Many thanks to Harv Laser on Portal for scanning the CD32 photo! Rob @ Amiga Report @endnode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @node P2-2 "AR Staff" @toc "menu" The Amiga Report Staff Dedicated to serving you! ====================== Editor in Chief =============== Robert Glover Portal: Rob-G Delphi: ROB_G FidoNet: 1:285/11 Internet: ROB_G@Delphi.COM Associate Editors ================= Technical Department -------------------- Robert Niles Portal: RNiles Delphi: RNILES FidoNet: 1:3407/104 Internet: RNILES@Delphi.COM Graphics Department ------------------- Mike Troxell Portal: One day, maybe? FidoNet: 1:362/508 Internet: M.Troxell1@genie.geis.com ________________________________________ Contributing Correspondents =========================== Jason Compton John Deegan Chad Freeman Esa Haapaniemi Stephen Harvey PC DIVISION ATARI DIVISION MAC DIVISION =========== ============== ============ Roger D. Stevens Ralph F. Mariano R. Albritton @endnode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @node P1-2 "CPU Status Report" @toc "menu" /// CPU Status Report Late Breaking Industry-Wide News ----------------- Computer Products Update - CPU Report ------------------------ ---------- Weekly Happenings in the Computer World Issue #34 By John Deegan ATARI CORP. REVEALS PLANS FOR JAGUAR RELEASE - The Atari Jaguar, Atari Corp.'s 64-bit interactive multimedia entertainment system was unveiled at its headquarters yesterday to rave reactions and applause from the press. Atari's goal is to establish the Jaguar as the industry standard for interactive multimedia performance, made in the United States at an affordable price. Open to targeted gaming publications, as well as national and local media, the news conference served to show the press actual working Jaguars. A prototype of the CD peripheral, to be introduced next year, was also shown. The press had an opportunity to view several games in development, which included titles such as "Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy," a spectacular true color, three dimensional multi-faceted game, "Alien vs. Predator," based on the blockbuster motion pictures from 20th Century Fox, and "Cybermorph," showcasing the Jaguar's ability to manipulate 3D shapes in a 3D world in real time. In addition, Atari President Sam Tramiel announced plans to distribute 50,000 Jaguars in the New York and San Francisco markets this year, with a national roll-out next year. "We plan an aggressive advertising and marketing campaign for the fall," said Tramiel. "And by next year, we plan to sell more than 500,000 units." The news conference also served to bring to light technical aspects of the Jaguar which had not been made public until now. Presentations were made giving an overview of the Jaguar's 64-bit system architecture and actual proprietary chips which took Atari three years to develop. "The system's 64-bits are true 64-bits," said Tramiel. "There is over 100 times more power in this compact unit than both the SNES and the Genesis." MICROSOFT IS SAID TO BE PREPARING NEW VERSION OF DOS 6.0 - Sources close to Microsoft Corp. are saying the software publisher is preparing to release a new version of its DOS 6.0 operating system. Reports are that the new release will be out this fall and includes protective measures designed to prevent problems with DoubleSpace, the new DOS's compression option. Microsoft has denied the alleged flaws. PHILIPS OFFERS VIDEO ON DEMAND DECODER - Philips Consumer Electronics has announced a compact digital set-top decoder for Video on Demand (VOD) applications over telephone wire. The designated Home Interactive Multimedia Terminal converts 1.5 Mbit/s digital TV signals into NTSC or Pal analog signals for display on standard television sets. First applications are expected to be in Video Dial Tone (VDT) where telephone companies are experimenting with delivering digital TV signals into the home via existing twisted-pair telephone lines. Typically, hundreds of movies will be stored on a telephone network server. The user at home will view an on- screen catalog of the available movies and order selections. The control system receives signals from an infrared remote control and relays them back into the communications network. This enables interactive control of remote source material with VCR-like functions such as Play, Stop, Pause, etc. It also allows data from the video server -- such as the movie catalog -- to be displayed on the screen. The highly integrated Home Interactive Multimedia Terminal combines three systems in one compact unit; a standard T1 communications interface system, an MPEG-1 decoder and a control system. While viewing television, it's still possible to use the telephone line for regular calls. Billing for telephone can also be separated from billing for the TV services. MAN DRAWS PRISON TIME FOR DISTRIBUTING PORN THROUGH A BBS - A Campbell, Calif., man has been sentenced to five years and eight months in state prison for distributing pornographic materials through a computer bulletin board system. The man, William David Steen, also has been ordered to pay a $1,200 fine. Steen pleaded no contest in March to charges he distributed pornography through the BBS to two Sacramento teenagers. Authorities say Steen used the BBS to make contact with the teens in 1991 and later provided them with computer equipment and pornographic materials. L.A. NAMED TOP PIRACY CITY - Los Angeles now is the nation's top city for software piracy, according to research by the Software Publishers Association. In a statement from Washington, the SPA says that during the year ending June 30 it brought 34 piracy cases -- including suits and audits of businesses and other organizations for compliance with federal copyright laws -- to a close in L.A. The SPA says New York and San Francisco rank second and third as America's most notorious cities for software pirates. The SPA concluded 28 actions against pirates in New York and 18 in San Francisco. Fourth and fifth-ranked cities in the SPA study are Houston and Dallas, with 14 and 10 cases respectively. Meanwhile, the SPA says its work also: -:- Ranks California, Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois, respectively, as the top five states for anti-piracy actions over the past three years. Together, they account for nearly two-thirds (62%) of the SPA's actions. -:- Shows that since 1990, five types of organizations were most likely to be involved in anti-piracy actions: manufacturers, consul- tants, retailers, financial service providers and engineering firms. Manufacturers were involved in 24% of the actions, while consulting firms were implicated in 22%, retail businesses in 15%, financial service providers in 9% and engineering firms in 7%. FEDS TO FUND CHIP RESEARCH - The U.S. Commerce Department has drafted a plan to subsidize research on certain types of computer chips. Sources say the plan is the clearest sign yet of the administration's desire to help high-technology industries in the international marketplace rather than through protectionist tariffs on imports. An unnamed administration official said that while the U.S. reliance on imports of the devices "doesn't present an immediate threat to national security, improving the capabilies of the domestic industry is desirable for both economic and national security." The plan calls for the creation of a federally financed research center for chip packages and more research spending on chip packaging materials. It also calls for Defence Department advice to the domestic industry on how to win more military contracts, and a working group of federal and industry officials to review ways to increase efficiency. The total cost of the effort has not been worked out. @endnode __________________________________________________ @node P1-3 "CBM Announces the CD32" @toc "menu" COMMODORE US ANNOUNCES AMIGA CD32 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Lauren Keffer Commodore Business Machines, Inc. (215) 431 ,9478 Commodore Announces Introduction of the Amiga CD32 (West Chester, PA, August 13, 1993) Commodore Business Machines today announced the introduction of the Amiga CD32 to be held at the World of Commodore Amiga show in Pasadena, California on September 10, 1993. The new Amiga CD32, a 32,bit game console with a double-speed CD-ROM drive, is based on the very successful Advanced Graphics Architecture TM chip set. It can display and animate graphics in 256,000 colors to create realistic, three-dimensional graphics and animations for games and video applications. Similar in appearance to other types of game consoles, the Amiga CD32 includes a hand-held, 11-button game controller and connectors for standard Amiga mouse, joystick and keyboard. The Amiga CD32 is easily connected to a TV set,composite monitor or SVHS video monitor. The Amiga CD32 provides users with access to many existing CDTV game and reference titles. Psygnosis, Ocean, Acclaim, Virgin Games and other notable game developers are introducing new games for the Amiga CD32 . About 30 games are expected to be available by October, 1993. An optional MPEG module allows software developers to incorporate video, movie segments and TV-like backgrounds into their applications. This technology provides game enthusiasts with a new class of action-packed games that include CD-quality sound. The Amiga CD32 plays VideoCD industry standard full-motion music videos and movies as well as standard audio CDs and CD+G discs. Price for the Amiga CD32 will be competitive with the price of 1 6-bit systems. @endnode ------------------------------ @node P1-4 "TorqueWare for the Amiga" @toc "menu" TORQUEWARE FOR THE Amiga TITLE TorqueWare(TM) for the Amiga(R) VERSION 1.0 COMPANY AugmenTek 3606 S. 180th St. C-22 SeaTac, WA 98188-4339 USA Contact: Stephen Rondeau, President Phone: 206-246-6077 email: sbr@halcyon.com AUTHOR Licensed from Torque Systems, Inc. TorqueWare is a trademark of Torque Systems, Inc. Amiga is a registered trademark of Commodore-Amiga, Inc. AmigaDOS and KickStart are trademarks of Commodore-Amiga, Inc. Linda is a registered trademark of Scientific Computing Associates. Ported to the Amiga, supported and sold by AugmenTek. This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors. DESCRIPTION TorqueWare for the Amiga is a programming tool that allows your program to: * run faster by using multiple processors, * share data among multiple processors/processes, * access data by partial content, and * be source-code portable to other TorqueWare-supported computers. TorqueWare can be thought of as a compiler extension that allows you to distribute computation and data within one or among more than one processors, as in a network of computers or (in the future) multiprocessor boards. By itself it does not, say, accelerate rendering or create software agents for you, but it provides the means by which rendering can be accelerated (tests show an almost linear speedup with raytracing code) and software agents can be developed and coordinated. Like a compiler, there is no good demonstration of its capabilities, since its utility depends on the creativity of the programmer. There are, however, two good books that provide some insight on how to program in parallel and possible uses of this programming model ('Mirror Worlds' by Gelernter). This programming tool is a simple but powerful way to build distributed programs, and is based on the Linda(R) programming model. It provides the means to coordinate multiple processes and access a global data space from one or more processors. A run-time system and six C function calls allow adding data to and removing/reading data from that global data space, and executing functions either remotely or locally. To change from running locally, where one develops and tests on one processor with multitasked processes, to running in a distributed fashion is simple and involves no recompilation or linking (unless you are running on a non-Amiga system). TorqueWare for the Amiga interoperates with other TorqueWare products available from Torque Systems, Inc. Their products run on Apple Macintosh computers, Silicon Graphics workstations, and other computers, and are accessible using just the Base Development System and Ethernet hardware. The Base Development System consists of the C preprocessor, standalone local link libraries, local and network support tools, example programs, a graphical user interface (to setup and start execution), and online documentation (including a tutorial). The local tools allow development of parallelized applications using multitasking on one computer; therefore, nearly all applications will run slower than their equivalent sequential versions. Creating a networked application for an all-Amiga (or mixed) network involves purchasing the networking add-on product for each additional CPU and setting some switches -- no coding change is generally required. The networked application will run faster than the local if there is a good deal more computation than communication. Some applications are simply more feasible to model and maintain in a distributed fashion rather than in a sequential one; speed may not be the only reason to distribute your application across a network. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS * AmigaDOS/Kickstart(TM) 2.04 or higher * Approximately 275KB RAM plus 85KB per local process, additional * SAS/C(R) compiler * General TCP/IP Networking add-on: - Networking hardware: Ethernet, Arcnet, serial port; parallel port (with Shareware plip.device) - About 150KB RAM plus 85KB per remote process PRICE All prices are in U.S. currency. Base Development System : $100. General TCP/IP Network add-on, per Amiga CPU: $200. Applicable tax and shipping/handling are not included in the list prices. DISTRIBUTABILITY Only items marked as being freely-redistributable are. All others are NOT distributable. Any object code or executable code that is linked with TorqueWare link libraries must be licensed by AugmenTek for distribution. There are no restrictions on distributing source code that contains TorqueWare calls, or resulting object code that is not linked with TorqueWare link libraries. This means that executable public domain, freeware/giftware, shareware, and demos (and possibly other forms of public software) that include executable TorqueWare calls to link libraries, managers, network listeners and servicers are not permitted. @endnode ------------------------------ @node P1-5 "Amiga Computer Club' First Annual" @toc "menu" Announcing the Amiga Computer Club's First Annual *** SWAP MEET *** The Amiga Computer Club (ACC) is proud to present to you it's first annual Swap Meet. It will be held on September 5th from 11:00 AM until 4:00 PM (Or whenever everyone decides to go home :-) Come, and bring anything for the Amiga that you don't use or need anymore. Who knows, if you bring that old genlock, or the game you used to love, but just doesn't work on your new machine anymore, you could come home with something you always wanted. Printers, HardDrives, Monitors, Genlocks, Games, Utilities, and other software or hardware are all accepted. Plus, as added incentive, we are having a raffle, with many new and exciting things being given as prizes. Just a few of the prizes to the ever expanding list are: Software from Dr. T's; Games and other software donated by MegaBytes n' More; Games and utilitty software from FineTastic Computers; Software from Gold Disk; and much _MUCH_ more! Also, if you either own a retail outlet, or make an Amiga product, and would like a little "free press", call or e-mail us to get a mailing address to send flyers and/or donations to our raffle to. If you are in the New England, make it a date and come to the First Annual ACC Swap Meet! If you are interested in further information, such as directions or if you want a table to sell your own items, please call: Bill Young: (508) 432-3986 Or contact Jeffrey Peden by Internet: Politikill@cup.portal.com And ask about the "ACC Swap Meet." The ACC Swap Meet will be held on Sunday, September 5th, at C3TV Community Television Access Center in Yarmouth, MA. @endnode ------------------------------ @node P1-6 "INOVAtronics Announcement" @toc "menu" INOVAtronics ANNOUNCES NEW LICENSING AND DISTRIBUTION POLICY Inovatronics, Inc 8499 Greenville Ave. #209B Dallas, TX 75231 Phone: (214) 340-4991 FAX: (214) 340-8514 August 19, 1993 RE: New CanDo 2.5 Runtime License and Distribution Policy Dear CanDo User, With respect to changes in Commodore's marketing and repositioning of the Amiga computer we've modified our policy regarding the distribution of software created using CanDo. With the marketplace becoming more vertically positioned with specialized needs and less high volume, main stream oriented, Inovatronics is adjusting to compensate, This alteration will particularly affect developers that market and sell their software commercially. Specifically, there are three types of software license arrangements that are available to developers. 1. Shareware and Freely distributed software. Authors of non-commercial applications that are to be distributed freely among other enthusiasts and hobbyist may acquire a special version of CanDo Deckbrowser and DeckBinder. Deckbrowser may then be included with the author's application and enable any Amiga user to run the CanDo application. Authors may obtain Deckbrowser and DeckBinder simply by providing a copy of their distributed CanDo application to Inovatronics, Inc. When launched, the new Deckbrowser now contains a small notice stating that it is explicitly for non-commercial use only. 2. Commercially marketed, sold and distributed software packages. Developers of commercial software packages that are authored partially or entirely with CanDo must obtain a software license agreement from Inovatronics, Inc. A custom CanDo runtime system will be provided to the developer that may be distributed with the application. The developer will be charged a yearly license fee for the runtime system that will be determined by Inovatronics, Inc. Typical fees will range between $50 to $200 and based upon the actual application. This license will cover single or multiple software titles and apply toward all units sold. 3. Business, institutional, and value added software, used by or sold with vertically oriented hardware systems. Businesses, Institutions and Value Added Resellers that customize systems with CanDo applications then disseminate or resell the software/hardware solutions are required to either include a CanDo retail unit or license a CanDo runtime system from Inovatronics for each hardware delivery system. Fees will be based on specific application and will be designed to be very cost effective for the user. Given these new policies, and with accurate information concerning our users, we can offer better support and more powerful and flexible products in the future. If you have additional questions or would like more information please write or phone us at 1-214-340-4991. Thank You Tim Martin President @endnode ------------------------------ @node P1-7 "News from Portal" @toc "menu" NEWS FROM PORTAL CUSTOMER SERVICE Re: Busy Signal Advisory We have been experiencing busy signals lately. This message is to remind you of the best phone number for you to call. If you are calling with a 2400 baud modem, dial 408/725-0561 If you are calling with a 9600 (v.32), 14400 (v.32bis) or a PEP modem, dial 408/973-8091 In order to cut down on busy signals, we urge you to connect to the correct modem pool. Only 1/3 of our 2400 baud modems are in use, while our high are speed modems overloaded. All modems connect to the same interface so you do not lose any functionality by connecting to a different modem pool. If you have any questions, please mail them to CS. (cs@cup.portal.com) Thanks! @endnode ------------------------------ @node P5-1 "SpeedRAMsey v1.2a" @toc "menu" SPEEDRAMSEY 1.2a AVAILABLE FOR FTP TITLE SpeedRamsey VERSION 1.2a AUTHOR Holger Lubitz eMail: hal@caty.north.de DESCRIPTION SpeedRamsey sets/resets the skip mode bit in the Rev G Ramsey for faster RAM access on A4000s with 60 ns or faster DRAM. Can be started from shell or Workbench, fully commented source code and extensive documentation are included. NEW FEATURES This is the first version released to Aminet. New to previous versions posted to comp.sys.amiga.hardware are updated docs and version info. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Amiga 4000 or Amiga 3000 upgraded with the Rev G ramsey 60 ns DRAM or faster HOST NAME All Aminet mirrors, for example ftp.wustl.edu [128.252.135.4] DIRECTORY pub/aminet/hard/misc FILE NAMES SpeedRamsey12a.lha (binary, source and documentation) DISTRIBUTABILITY Free for non-commercial distribution in its unmodified archive @endnode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @node P1-8 "Online Weekly" @toc "menu" /// ONLINE WEEKLY Amiga Report Online The lines are buzzing! --------------------------------- Below is a message from a friend who has decided to take the plunge and get a PC. This is partially due to GEnie's recent Commodore Insider's Conference. This conference was, in my opinion, in extremely poor taste. It portrayed Commodore as a company that will be dead in six months. Yet this is not true. The answers given by these so-called "Insiders" whose handles are DEEPMODEM and DEEPTHOUGHT were simply speculation. None could be confirmed as fact. Most of their answers were "Nope" or "Don't know." The air of the conference was of doom and gloom. Why on earth GEnie ran this conference is beyond me. All it has done is cause more Amiga owners to sell out for other platforms. It has managed to pour salt into a long-open wound. I will not print the conference for two reasons... first, we do not support GEnie anymore, and haven't for several months. Secondly, it did enough damage just on GEnie. I'm not going to have a hand in circulating it further. This is my friend's message: > After using some high end PC's lately, I have to really disagree with > your die-hard staying away from them. > As sad as it is, it's really foolish to buy anything else now. PC > technology is SO far ahead. > I'm very seriously thinking about getting a PC very soon. I've been > running Norton's Desktop and it's really amazing. It has lots of > Amiga similar features, but has lots that blow the Amiga away. For > instance, it has a built in viewer program similar to MultiView, but > WAY superior. When you click on a file on drive c: for instance, it > will show the file in a small, resizeable box. It recognizes like 100 > types of files and shows them in native format. GIF, PCX, BMP, Excel, > Word, WP, ANYTHING you can think of. You don't even need to native > software to see an Excel document for example, and it even looks like > you have Excel running! > It's built into the desktop, and is REALLY cool. > Also I've been reading some write-ups on OS/2 lately and it's pretty > impressive. True protected pre-emptive multitasking. I just read a > write up where the guy said it's really wierd, as you can go MONTHS > without even rebooting or resetting your machine. It's that stable, > and if a program bombs, it's protected and you can just shut it off. > You can get a 486DX2-66 w/ 256k cache, 345meg hard drive, 1 meg Vesa > Local Bus video with 1280x1024, 15" monitor, etc. for $2299. > You can get Dell's top line Dimension 466V XPS for a list of $3199. > It has a 486DX2-66 (upgradeable to Pentium), High-speed 256k static > RAM external cache, 12ms *450mb* Local Bus hard drive, double-speed CD > ROM, 16 meg RAM upgradable to 64 meg on the motherboard, 15" UltraScan > .28dp monitor, and last but not least: The Vesa Local-bus Viper Video > Card. "Thanks to the Viper, the 466V Ultimate features a flicker-free > display at all resolutions. You can work with a palette of 16 million > brilliant colors. Oh, and before we forget, the Viper has 2 magabytes > of it's own VRAM for the kind of face-warping acceleration that leaves > others blinking in the dust...At 60 million winmarks, it's the fastest > PC graphics accelerator on Planet Earth. For $199 more you can add > two amplified, fully powered Labtec CS550 stereo speakers and a > Dimension XPS 466V Ultimate..." > WOW! That's unblievable performance. Pretty good at $3198. That's > for a Dell too, with the best customer service anywhere, plus no > worrying about incompatible add-ons. Nothing else to add. Photo-CD > compatible CD-ROM, Vesa Local bus, huge hard drive, etc. > Slap OS/2 on that, or Windows with Norton's, and you have access to > the best software in the world, at speeds that would make even Windoze > blaze. Plus, my scanner could really come alive at those 24-bit > resolutions!!! > I'm getting damn tempted right now. Every time I go into any store > here and see the mountains of software and have to explain to someone > "No, I can't run that..." I get tired of it. Even lots of the VAX > software expects PC mating software on the other end... > The Amiga's the best system, but I fear it's way behind and will only > fall farther. You did know that Compute's Amiga Resource (the mag Denny > edited) is gone... > A modern top-line PC is really cool dude. I've been using one for a > long time, and with the proper software they really come alive. QEMM > makes DOS memory management EASY, and OS/2 does away with the limit in > the first place. There are utilities to make it do most anything the > Amiga can, too. Think of all the accessories you have running on the > Amiga to make it do what it does. Same deal. > Protected pre-emptive multitasking, the ability to run apps the Amiga > can only dream of, and MUCH better graphics. > Dell's video even has the ability to have "virtual" screens just like > the Amiga. > As I sit on my Amiga, I keep telling myself "Damn, this is sooo cool. > I can't imagine anything else." Then I go to work and the prejudice > slowly wears off. I find myself more and more saying "Damn this is > cool. I wish my Amiga could do/run this." > Have you ever used MS Word, or Ami-Pro, or Excel? Light years ahead > of the Amiga. The list goes on... TrueType fonts, etc. I have a > Corel-Draw CD with hundres of TT fonts, all scaleable, and tons > of Postscript clip art. > All the jive you read about the nightmare of setting them up and > getting them configured right, etc. is just a joke. Sure, for the > average guy it might be something, but for someone versed in computers > like us it's EASY. Windows is MUCH easier to setup and make run than > the Amiga. Remember how the Amiga looked when you first got it, and > all you had to do to make it work right? > The Amiga's a hackers computer. You don't think about it because you > are used to it. You should see what a PC can do with a hacker aboard. > Ok, enough. I've already decided to get one. My honest advice coming > from a long-time Amiga head is for you too also when your Amiga > becomes obsolete. > My only decision is when to do it...now or later. I could probably > get enough for my setup right now to get that Dell, or come close... > I think that, then I imagine life without Amiga. Damn, that would > suck....it just feels so natural to me. It's really sad that it > worked out the way it did. I remember when other computers besides > the PC had a chance. No more. Everyone is pouring development into > PC's. All the new stuff is there now, and it will become more so in >the future. > God I feel bad about this, but the thought of 24-bit high res > super-fast video, 16-bit sound, huge hard drive, awesome speed, and the > CD ROM has me going... If you want a PC, buy a PC. I'm not going to try to stop you. It's just that I refuse to purchase inferior technology (be it software or hardware) just to have what everybody else has. I refuse to help make Microsoft any richer. Intel chips SUCK and that's all there is to it. The design stinks. When PC's go RISC, I'll consider it, but as long as they use the current Intel chips, no way. Talk to any programmer that has written for a Motorola chip and they'll tell you how bass-ackwards Intel chip design is. I sure hope the PowerPC chips aren't like this. If you have to buy a PC, at least wait until the first of the year... by then, 486's will be really cheap, what with the Pentium out in force by that time. Upgrading a 486 to a Pentium is a bad idea... you're getting a 32-bit version of a 64-bit chip, so you gain nothing. If you want a Pentium, get a Pentium. Otherwise get a 486/66 and leave it at that. When I can get a PC that can multitask as well as the Amiga (which means being able to format four floppies at once, download at 14.4K and who knows what else), for under $2000, I'll consider it. I don't have $4000 for a top-of-the-line Dell, Gateway, Insight, Zeos or whatever. Now, the side of me that loves playing with new technology would LOVE to have one of those PC's to augment my 1200. And I'd also like to have a Falcon. Just because it's new and different. But I refuse to replace a superior machine with an inferior DOS box, no matter how good the software has gotten, again, just to have what everybody else has. The software on the Amiga is very, very nice. I have no problem at all with Final Copy II, ADPro, Directory Opus, ImageMaster, GPFax, etc. But it all comes down to the fact that clones have become so popular, that nothing else is considered very seriously. People buy them without a second thought. Then they bitch and moan about not being able to use it. Far too many times have I volunteered to help somebody that just bought a PC learn to use it. I should have said "Did you ask me BEFORE you bought it? No? Then why are you asking me now?" And let them lie in their own bed. I must disagree about PC's not being difficult to setup. My roommate has a loaded Gateway 2000 486DX/33, and is constantly bitching about how hard it is to make things work. He's a hacker-type too. He has four different config.sys files that he has to use to make various programs and games work, thanks to the ever-present 640K barrier. And no matter what front-end you use (Windoze, Norton Desktop, etc), you'll STILL have to use that damn DOS prompt at one point or another. On the Amiga, the CLI is an OPTION, not REQUIRED. You should have heard him the night he tried installing OS/2! About every fifteen minutes he'd scream "This isn't so [censored] hard on an ST!" (he's a former Atari ST owner, like myself). To this day, OS/2 is NOT on his machine. It just didn't want to run properly. Gee, maybe eight meg of RAM and a 340 meg hard drive just isn't enough. I didn't find my Amiga hard at all to get running. Once I had the hard setup, it was just a matter of tinkering with my preferences until I liked what I saw. It's the same thing in Windows really. But you still have to create your config.sys and autoexec.bat files. And there are all the different IRQ settings to deal with when installed new boards (Soundblaster for example). And let's not forget that a minimum useable Windows environ- ment is a 486 with localbus video and a 200 meg localbus hard drive. Any- thing less is a waste of time. So by then you're looking at around $2000 for a reputable brand (remember, you get what you pay for) with decent support. Thanks, but I can have a really nice A4000/030 for that kind of money. Rob @ Amiga Report ------------------------------ A public response to GEnie's Commodore Insiders Conference by Denny Atkin: Yeah, it was depressing. But I also think things aren't quite as bad as they seemed. There are still how many companies out there doing Amiga stuff right now and doing well enough to take out multi-thousand-dollar ads in AmigaWorld? Recent products like Brilliance, VT4000, and Emplant have done great. And the conference hosts said that the 4000 is selling very well and only problem with A1200 sales is that Commodore can't afford to manufacture enough to keep up with demand -- which means the machine's popular. Also, some of the comments have to be taken in perspective. It was obvious that the conference guests were employees or ex-employees in the development department -- they knew technical stuff, but they wrote off many questions with "that's a marketing question." So many of the answers were from an engineer's perspective. Some of them bothered me, like the comment about the Amiga being technically behind the times. Well, perhaps, compared to the new IBM PowerPC or the SGI Indy. But compared to this month's local bus PC design? Or the latest Mac running System 7.1? I don't think so. (Okay, maybe the AV Macs...) Anyway, I thought a lot of the tone of the Amiga being behind was from the perspective of someone who's hot on the latest technology, which is not necessarily what's in use out there -- or what will be in use out there a year from now either. YES, it is disturbing that development may have stagnated at CBM. But that doesn't mean it's time to write off the Amiga. It may be time to consider getting a new computer two or three years down the road, but guess what? You'd need to consider that no matter WHAT you're using. Two years ago games were designed with 286 machines in mind, and many were EGA. Now there are actually games that need a 66MHz PC to play smoothly. And on the Mac... Apple has publicly said that Motorola processors are on the way out and they're going PowerPC, so you'll probably want to replace the Mac in a couple of years too. And RISC and PowerPC machines may be the hottest things for the technical literati two years from now, rather than Intel machines. In other words, the Amiga is competitive RIGHT NOW. (IMHO, anyway.) If development is indeed stagnated and Commodore will be behind the times in a year or two, that won't be good. But chances are pretty good that whatever else you buy today will be just as outdated then too. (A couple of months ago I bought a 486DX2/66 for work -- at the time it was literally the fastest PC you could buy. Now there are PCs available that are twice the speed.) Another thing to consider is how much doom and gloom to accept from people named DEEAnyway, yes, I'm wary of what's going to happen. I think a lot of the future depends on how CD32 does overseas this Christmas. I certainly doubt we'll see AAA this year, or AA+. But I'm not ready to pronounce Commodore dead yet. How does what Commodore's working on RIGHT NOW affect what how well your computer works RIGHT NOW? It doesn't. There's not the quantity, but there IS the quality. @endnode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @node P4-5 "Amiga Report Mailing List" @toc "menu" /// Amiga Report Mailing List ------------------------- Are you tired of waiting for your local BBS or online service to get Amiga Report each week? Have you been spending more money that you want on long distance phone calls to download it from one of our Distribution Sites? If so, have we got a deal for you! If you have an internet mailing address, you can receive Amiga Report in UUENCODED form each week as soon as the issue is released. To be put on the list, send Email to Amiga-Report-Request@gnu.ai.mit.edu. Your account must be able to handle mail of any size to ensure an intact copy. For example, GEnie has a limit of about 40K per message, and most of our issues are well over that limit. Please do not send general Email to Amiga-Report-Request, only requests for subscription additions or deletions (or if you are not receiving an intact copy). All other correspondence should be directed to the editor at ROB_G@Delphi.COM. Many thanks to Bob Caron for setting this service up for us! P.S.: Please be sure to include your Email address in the text of your request message, it makes adding it to the list much easier. Thanks! @endnode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @node P1-9 "AR avail via the WWW" @toc "menu" /// Amiga Report Available via the World Wide Web! ---------------------------------------------- By Michael Witbrock (mjw@cs.cmu.ed witbrock@x25.bix.com) Although AmigaGuide is still the best way to browse Amiga Report, the magazine is now also available in a form which may be more convenient for people with direct Internet access. Amiga Report is being converted weekly to a document readable via the World Wide Web, allowing immediate access without the chore of dearchiving and downloading to an Amiga. Within a day (often less) of its release, each Amiga Report starting from AR118 will be converted into an HTML hyper- document that behaves as similarly as possible to the AmigaGuide version, and will be made available at this URL: OnlineMags For those who don't recognize that, a URL is a Uniform Resource Locator, which specifies access method and location information for information readable with WWW browsers such as NCSA mosaic. NCSA mosaic is a self contained program running under the X window system, and is available for anonymous FTP from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in directory /Mosaic. Even if you don't plan to read AmigaReport by this means, I strongly recommend that you get a copy of NCSA mosaic and play with it. The amount of information (in the form of pictures, sounds, text, and mpeg movies) it makes easily available is astounding, and the program itself is a marvel of good user interface design. I hope that someone will use the recent attempts at PD TCP/IP networking solutions and port the program to the Amiga. Happy browsing! @endnode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @node P1-10 "WOCA Pasadena" @toc "menu" /// WOCA Pasadena, Sept 10-12 '93 -- Seminars and Official Schedule ---------------------------------------------------------------- Brought to you by Harv Laser Here is the official schedule of Seminars for the World of Commodore Amiga Show, put on by Ramige Management Group, to be held Where: The Pasadena Center 300 East Green Street Pasadena, CA USA 91101 When: Sept. 10-12, 1993 Note: I'm posting this in the public interest. I'm not involved with Ramige Management Group. I plan to attend all three days of this show and hope to see/meet you there if you are too. Portal won't have a booth. Just me and a few of my fellow Sysops wandering around with glazed looks. This article is *NOT* reprinted by permission of anyone's "4 minute news". User Group newsletter editors take note: typing in someone else's press releases and then claiming ownership of them and demanding reprint credits is, at best, an odious act. This schedule was mailed to me. I scanned it with my Epson ES300C flatbed scanner using ASDG's ADPro Epson driver, then imported the saved IFF monochorme scans into MiGraph's OCR software and let it chew on them and spit out ASCII text. Spellchecking and reformatting were then done with WordPerfect for the Amiga, that horrible & obsolete software that's still (IMHO) the best all-around workhorse Amiga word processor :-) Any errors or miSpiLlenGZ are purely unintentional. Not responsible. Park and lock it. -----[Diatribe ends here. Actual press release begins here]------ SEMINAR SCHEDULE Friday. September 10. 1993 11:00 Scala's Sneak Preview : Multimedia MM300 and InfoChannel IC500 For the first time Scala Inc . will demonstrate some of the new features , new utilities , new libraries and new uses for MM300 and for InfoChannel IC500 (both to be released later this fall ) . controllers for products like genlocks , VCR, s , 24 bit boards , switchers , audio cards , Toasters and MAc and PC formats will be demonstrated and discussed . Multimedia on an Amiga has never been so easy and so powerful . 12:00 Centaur Presents OpalVision Centaur Development will be demonstrating their award-winning and critically acclaimed OpalVision 24-bit video and graphic system . You'll see the software included with every OpalVision Main Board including the powerful painting and image manipulation features included in OpalPaint and the 24-bit animation capabilities of OpalAniMATE . The seminar will also include a sneak preview of some of the features of the upcoming opalVision Video Modules , including the Digital Video Effects made possible by the opalVision Roaster Chip , framegrabbing and retouching of live video , the opal Character Generator and more ! 12:45 Axiom Demos Mew Software Tony Stutterheim, animator on seaQuest, will demonstrate WaveMaker , the new animation creation software for LightWave 3D . Tony has designed WaveMaker to make it easy to create beautiful flying-logo animations . Axiom programmers Scott Thede and Brian Wagner will demonstrate new AGA versions of Pixel 3D Professional and Anim Workshop . 1:30 Keynote Address by Commodore Business Machines Lew Eggebrecht, Vice president of Engineering , Commodore International, and Jim Dionne, President of Commodore U.S.A. will discuss future directions of Commodore. 2:30 AmiLink CIP - The Gateway to Professional Performance Editing Introducing the most important new desktop video editing product since the advent of the original AmiLink , the AmiLink CIP Personal Video Editor . AmiLink CIP can be used by anyone , from the small independent producer to the seasoned post-production veteran . AmiLink CIP represents an opportunity for videographers on al l levels to experience professional style video production using industrial grade video decks . CIP provides Flawless control of a wide variety of affordable equipment with the feel of much more expensive professional gear . CIP bridges the gap between consumer- industrial and professional equipment by allowing you to add pro- level devices to your existing CIP system . Simply add a pro-level control module and hook a BNC cable to CIP system and you've made the jump to a whole new realm of video production . AmiLink CIP is the entry-level professional version of the highly successful AmiLink professional series . 3:15 Jim Sachs Presents Brilliance - Professional Paint and Animation software Jim Sachs will give an indepth look at Digital creations , new paint and animation software - Brilliance . Jim is the Amiga artist that created "'Amiga Lagoon"' , the cover art for the Brilliance package and poster. He will share some of his techniques in using this powerful new paint and animation package . 4:00 Full Motion video Commodore will present current and future projects for incorporating MPEG Full Motion Video into the CD32 console. Movies and TV-like backgrounds for game and personal applications will be demonstrated . Saturday . September 11 . 1993 10:30 Keynote Address by Commodore Business Machines See listing for Friday, 1:30. 11:30 GVP's ImageFX Meet Warner Bros. animator, Rusty Mills , and see how GVP's ImageFX is used extensively in an upcoming animated TV series . Rusty will introduce you to dazzling effects and tips from a professional for using this dynamic and powerful software in real-life application . . . and maybe some surprises too ! 12:15 Centaur Presents OpalVision See listing for Friday , 12:00. 1:00 Axiom Demos New Software See listing for Friday, 12:45. 1:45 AmiLink CIP - The Gateway to Professional Performance Editing See listing for Friday, 2:30. 2:30 Full Motion Video See listing for Friday, 4:00. 3:15 Toaster 4000 & Lightwave 3D Video Toaster User columnist and seaQuest animator , John Gross , will demonstrate the features of NewTek' s recently released Video Toaster 4000 . Highlights include a completely upgraded switcher, character Generator and LightWave 3D . John will also talk about his experiences using the Video Toaster for the new NBC series seaQuest . Sunday, September 12, 1993 12:30 Keynote Address by Commodore Business Machines Jeff Porter, Director of Engineering, Commodore International, and John DiLullo, Director of Marketing, Commodore U.S., will discuss future directions of Commodore . 1:30 Audio-For-Video Using Studio 16 Experts from SunRize Industries wi 11 show you how easy it is to add voice overs (off camera narration) , music, and sound effects to your videos , Producing professional sounding videos is easy and costs very little. This seminar takes you through the audio production of a short video segment and outlines the equipment you need . 2:15 Jim Sachs Presents Brilliance - Professional Paint and Animation Software See listing for Friday, 3:15, 3:00 Centaur Presents OpalVision See listing for Friday , 12:00. 3:45 Morphing For the Common Man A seminar about morphing ; the exciting special effect in use throughout film and video, The use of GVP's amazing CineMorph for creating exciting , and easy , warps and morphs will be highlighted in this fascinating discussion and demonstration that will focus on techniques everyone can use . @endnode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @node P1-11 "The Emulation Examiner" @toc "menu" /// The Emulation Examiner ---------------------- By Jason Compton (jcompton@mlinknet.uucp) Or: Whatever else I decide to ramble about Hello again, everybody. I'd like to take this article as a chance to leave my rapid-fire emulation evaluation format and propose a course of action for the future of the Amiga, involving (what else?) emulators. Since I have a mindless job, I have a lot of time to think, and I managed to come up with a plan so detailed I was even able to come up with names for the products I propose. I know that Commodore marketing suggestions are a dime a dozen, but please, hear me out. If I'm right, this plan could well snag all of the people blindly lured into buying IBMs or Macs, by giving them what they think they want, and getting them an Amiga to boot. Throw an 030 Amiga (I've decided in each case which Amiga computer would be ideal to launch the model from) at customers bundled with the computer the neighbors have. Put a bloody hard drive and monitor in the package so you don't confuse and scare off the people and look less impressive than the competition in the process. Without further ado, I unveil my line of suggested products, and even analyze how their cost could come out...just in case there's any misunderstanding, I'd like to say up front that none of what I'm about to talk about is based on ANY fact. These suggested product lines are COMPLETELY the figment of my imagination, but I think they're a very good idea. The Commodore Amiga Double Dimension line- Offering not only the power and versatility of the Amiga computer and Commodore's Workbench environment [note: I really don't care if it's 2.x or 3.x at this point], as well as stunning compatibility with the IBM-compatible or Macintosh line of computers, all in the space of one desktop computer. Suggested models include: The Double Dimension Plus: Using an Amiga 3000 (or even an ECS 2000, which would be much cheaper but would involve restarting the 2000 line), a hard drive in the 120-250meg range (SCSI), a high-density floppy drive and ReadySoft's Amax-IIPlus board, the Double Dimension Plus would deliver the power and speed of the Mac II line at a greatly reduced cost, considering you get two computers out of the deal. The Mac side would emulate a Macintosh Plus, able to access virtually any Amiga peripheral, or adding its own dedicated Mac hardware. The 3000's display (or the 2000's ECS Productivity) would give a flicker-free screen with much greater resolution than the real Mac Plus. Cost: Simply putting together the cost from magazine ads, taking (these may vary wildly from source to source, I simply want to get an idea here) the 3000 030/25mhz/5meg/105meg at $1000, a usable monitor at $400, AmaxIIPlus at $300, and 128k Mac ROMs at $130, we've got a $1830 system here. Obviously, not anything to get REAL excited about, since used Mac Pluses would go for much less. Selling all of this as a package, however, the unit costs would be less, so the price could conceivably drop by a couple of hundred. That's not bad, considering you get two rather nice, rather fast computers. The Double Dimension II (For evaluation purposes, I'll use an Amiga 4000 as the example computer) Based off of Commodore's AGA and Workbench 3.x systems, the Double Dimension II offers all of the features of the 4000 (a quarter million color simultaneous display possible) and other incredible graphic, sound, and productivity possibilities, and includes Utilities Unlimited's Emplant board, which offers a fully-functional Mac II-series computer which can multitask and share peripherals with the Amiga. The Amiga provides a Mac color display of up to 256 colors, and the Emplant accepts Mac boards to increase that display even further. Cost: This setup is difficult for me to price. Commodore would have to do some shuffling of its 4000-production to include a SCSI rather than an IDE drive, but let me provide some rough figures. A4000/030/120meg (listed as IDE, but let's assume SCSI) is $1750. A well-featured Emplant board is around the $400-$450 mark. Get a good monitor for around $400 more. 256k Mac ROMs, call it $300. Estimated cost of putting this thing together piecemeal is $2850. Remember, again, putting all of this together as a system would reduce the cost considerably. Nobody said buying two computers would be cheap, but this DOES come out less expensive than buying both. And I never claimed that people wouldn't have to be sold on the Amiga too. That's an integral part. This plan would make them feel like they weren't giving anything up in buying an Amiga. Let me forge forward... The Amiga Double Dimension 386 Here's where my plan gets complicated: For the IBM models, I propose restarting the line up on 2000 production. It's got the most drive bays. I also propose that all 4 PC slots be made 16 bit on the line, rather than leaving it as a hack for users. Using any model above the 2000 is somewhat wasteful, unless you're after AGA... This Amiga model would provide the flexibility and expansion of the Amiga 2000 (the original Toaster platform), as well as full access to the PC world through a 386/25 bridgeboard. While I use the term "Bridgeboard", since Vortex's Golden Gate 386 is the only 386 board still in production (Commodore is welcome to restart their 386sx line, but I feel that the Vortex board is superior), it would be the logical board to use. Cost: Again, tricky. Take a 1 meg ECS 2000 (the clearance models now) at $500-$600. Add an 030/25 board with an 80 meg HD for the Amiga side. I'll call that $550. Add the Vortex board, around $450. Since we've now got 3 free 16 bit slots, add an SVGA board, IDE floppy controller (HD is on the Vortex board) and a port card at leisure, which will run no more than $120. Better throw in a rather large IDE drive for the space-inefficient PC, say, 170 megs for around $250. The 2000 will, naturally, need to come standard with a high-density drive to support the 386 with, but I'll let C= nail that price problem out. Add a SVGA monitor, around $350 tops. Add some SIMMs, say, 4 or 6 megs worth (and it doesn't particularly matter where you put them, since the Golden Gate board allows considerable memory sharing between the Amiga and 386), which puts us around $250-$350. Rough total on this, just putting it together like I have been, is $2170. That, of course, is what 486/66s have been going for lately. But I can't stress enough how much it needs to be stressed that these are TWO good computers for the price of one. Finally, the top of the line... The Amiga Double Dimension 486 Actually, I can't say much else about this model that I didn't about the model above, except that it would be either a 486/25 (Golden Gate) or 486/33 (if they go with the EMC 486 board, an offshoot of C='s 2386sx BridgeBoard). The major differences occur in cost... Cost: Take the system I described above, but substitute $900 for the BridgeBoard in question, and take into account this: The EMC board is not expandable by use of SIMMs, and the Amiga cannot use EMC board memory. The EMC board can use Amiga memory as EMS, however, so memory placement is more vital than with the Golden Gate. In addition, EMC's board comes with a floppy controller rather than a hard drive controller, which could jack up the price a little. With all said and done, we're about in the $2600-$2650 range, more expensive than many 486/66 systems, but we're at half the speed. Once again, say it with me, everyone, you've got to sell the consumer on the Amiga, too. In summary, these packages look a lot more expensive than their Macintosh or IBM counterparts, with good reason, because you're getting an Amiga. I do not mean to suggest that the Amiga should simply be a beast of burden for IBM and Mac emulation, but I think that Commodore has lost such a huge group of customers that they must be won back with the very same machines they're flocking to. Just make sure they get the Amiga. Sooner or later, they're bound to use it. I say we grab these people with ads...preferably not television, since that didn't seem to work too well last time, but if television is the media of choice (maybe combat Apple's MTV ads), produce it on an Amiga, and tell everyone so. Final Note: I had planned to sum up a second line, proposing that both a Mac and IBM emulator be enclosed, but the cost would be rather high. It might be something to seriously consider, though, when PowerPC comes out and the clone makers crank out really expensive models. Jump in with the Amiga Triple Alliance, and smugly say, "We've been able to do that all along." Better yet, beat PowerPC to the punch. Do it now, preempting any real serious need for PowerPC. Why bother buying a system that can run cross-platform software when all you need to do is Amiga-M to the computer you want? @endnode *************************************************************************** @node P4-1 "Delphi" @toc "menu" /// Delphi: It's Getting Better All The Time! ------------------------------------------ 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 once or twice. When you get the Password: prompt, type IP26 and press 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! @endnode *************************************************************************** @node P1-12 "A.M.I.G.A." @toc "menu" /// Another Moronic, Inane and Gratuitous Article --------------------------------------------- by Chad Freeman (cjfst4+@pitt.edu or cjfst4@cislabs.pitt.edu -- Internet) (cfreeman -- BIX) Well, after a short two-week vacation, your fearless author is back, and with a new computer to boot. Yes, that's right, after my trusty old A2000 started sounding like a weed-whacker, I decided it was time to trade him in for a new model. Because of the overwhelming significance of this event in your humble author's life, he has directed the AMIGA Mis-Testing Labs (AMTL) to delay their review of the Implant so that their crack technical team can review... THE COMMODORE AMIGA 1200 When AMTL first received the A1200 from a local dealer (yes, AMTL _DOES_ have a local dealer, Mega-Bytes in Pleasant Hills, PA; 412-653-9050 (), we were impressed with the patriotic red, white and blue packaging. Upon arriving at the AMTL compound, we were even more impressed when opening of the package revealed a CPU made in the Phillipines, a mouse and power supply made in Malaysia, and a manual that was printed in one of a dozen or so foreign countries. It is good to see Commodore continuing this time-honored American tradition, even though many other businesses have abandoned the idea. Aside from the CPU, power supply, "dove bar" style mouse, and reversible picture of Jim Gould and Bill "WindoWiener" Gates in dart-board shape, AMTL found two manuals, a surprisingly small amount of styrofoam, the usual amounts of poly bags and twisties, several sheets of paper either laid in the box or stuffed into the aforementioned manuals, an RCA cable and an old-fashioned cable/tv box. It gave AMTL a feeling of nostalgia to see this old manual-switch box with the 300 ohm "crab claw" style connector. It took us back to the old Atari 800 and C-64 days, from whose overproduction runs these obviously came. After carefully reading the setup instructions (yeah right), AMTL plugged the necessary cables, cords, devices and thingamabobs into the "CPU unit with integral keyboard" and powered up the system. After an agonizingly long period of time, AMTL finally realized it had left the power strip turned off and after rectifying this error (this really should be mentioned in the documentation) the unit came on and began to boot up. What happened next was dull and boring, so AMTL will not (unlike most other reviewers) go into the details. Instead, we will present the results of our various tests in handy-dandy table format. TEST RESULT RATING Power on OK 5 stars Boot up OK 5 stars Idle OK 5 stars Power off OK 5 stars AMTL realizes these tests are incomplete, but in the short amount of time we were working with, we were unable to put the A1200 through its true paces. However, based on the testing we have done as summarized above, we give the A1200 5 stars, our "good" rating (we go from 1 to 7.432 stars, or the number of hogsheads in a rod and 2 bushels...don't you love the English measurement system?). If we did have the time to _really_ work over the A1200, I'm sure our rating would be suitably higher, because after all we spent $480 bucks on this thing, and it would be kind of stupid if we didn't like it, right? END OF REVIEW Well, thank you AMTL for a somewhat useless and moderately humorous review. But now on to the REAL business of AMIGA, which is, um, uh, well, I guess we don't HAVE a real business, do we? I mean, this is SUPPOSED to be Moronic, Inane and Gratuitous, right? After all, how else are we supposed to fool people into believing that the title of our article isn't just a clever reverse-engineered acronym? Well great, then, that review was pretty inane, so I guess we're just about finished here. All that's left is... SELECTIONS FROM THE MICROSLOTH QUOTE FILE: 'Our philosophy behind designing Windoze was simple: make it eat up as many system resources as possible and fill it with lots of colorful graphics so people really DO believe its more powerful that a TI-81 graphing calculator!' -Bill Gates in his 1992 stockholders address @endnode *************************************************************************** @node P4-2 "Portal" @toc "menu" /// Portal: A Great Place For Amiga Users -------------------------------------- Portal Communications' Amiga Zone The AFFORDABLE alternative for online Amiga information ------------------------------------------------------- The Portal Online System is the home of acclaimed Amiga Zone, which was formerly on the People/Link System. Plink went out of business in May, 1991 and The Amiga Zone's staff moved to Portal the next day. The Zone has just celebrated its second anniversary on Portal. The Amiga press raves about The Amiga Zone, when compared to its competition. If you live in the San Jose, CA area, then you can dial Portal directly. If you live elsewhere, you can reach Portal through any SprintNet (formerly Telenet) indial anywhere in the USA or through Tymnet from anywhere in North America. If you have an account on another Internet-connected system, you can connect to Portal using the UNIX Telnet programs, from anywhere in the industrialized world. Delphi and BIX users can now Telnet into Portal for a flat $19.95 a month, with *unlimited* use. Some of Portal/Amiga Zone's amazing features include: - Over 1.5 GIGabytes of Amiga-specific files, online, 24 hours a day. Portal has dedicated a 2.5 GIGabyte disk drive to the Amiga Zone. We have virtually unlimited space for files and new uploads. - The *entire* Fred Fish collection of freely distributable software, online. All of it. Every disk. Well-organized so it's easy to find exactly what you're after. - Fast, Batch Zmodem file transfer protocol. Download up to 100 files at once, of any size, with one command. - Twenty Amiga vendor areas with participants like AmigaWorld, ASDG, Soft-Logik, Black Belt, Apex Publishing, Stylus, Prolific, NES, and many others including Compute's Amiga Resource with over 4 Megabytes of exclusive Compute magazine disk stuff you won't find elsewhere. - 35 "regular" Amiga libraries with thousands of files. Hot new stuff arrives daily. Since Portal has FTP connections we can get new freely-distributable software online within MINUTES of its being announced on Usenet. - No upload/download "ratios" EVER. Download as much as you want, as often as you want, and never feel pressued doing it. Start downloading files with your first session on Portal. - Live, interactive nightly chats with Amiga folks whose names you will recognize. Special conferences. Random chance prize contests. Famous Amiga folks aren't the exception on Portal, they're the norm. Instead of stumbling around in frustration you can talk to the people who design your hardware, who write your software. - Vast Message bases where you can ask questions about *anything* Amiga related and get quick replies from the experts. - Amiga Internet mailing lists for Imagine, DCTV, LightWave, HyperAmi, Director and Landscapes are fed right into the Zone message bases. Read months worth of postings. They don't scroll off, ever! No need to clutter your mailbox with them. - FREE unlimited Internet Email. Your Portal account gets you a mailbox that's connected to the world. Send letters of any length to computer users in the entire industrialized world. No limits. No extra charges. No kidding! - Portal has the Usenet. Thousands of "newsgroups" in which you can read and post articles about virtually any subject you can possibly imagine. Usenet feeds into Portal many times each hour. There are 14 Amiga-specific Usenet newsgroups with hundreds of articles posted every day, including postings by Commodore personnel. Since Usenet is distributed worldwide, your questions and answers can be seen by literally hundreds of thousands of people the same day you post them. - Other Portal SIGs (Special Interest Groups) online for Mac, IBM, Sun, NeXT, UNIX, Science Fiction, Writers, amateur radio, and a graphics SIG with thousands of GIF files to name just a few. ALL Portal SIGs are accessible to ALL Portal customers with NO surcharges ever. - The entire UPI/Clarinet/Newsbytes news hierarchy ($4/month extra) An entire general interest newspaper and computer news magazine. - Portal featues an exciting package of Internet features: IRC, FTP, TELNET, MUDS, LIBS. Free to all Portal customers with your account. Internet Services is a menu driven version of the same kinds of utilities you can also use from your Portal UNIX shell account. - All the files you can FTP. All the chatting you can stand on the IRC. And on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) you can talk live, in real time with Amiga users in the U.K., Europe, Australia, the Far East, 24 hours a day. - Our exclusive PortalX by Steve Tibbett, the graphical "front end" for Portal which will let you automatically click'n'download your waiting email, messages, Usenet groups and binary files! Reply to mail and messages offline using your favorite editor and your replies are sent automatically the next time you log into Portal. (PortalX requires Workbench 2.04 or higher) - And Portal does NOT stick it to high speed modem users. Whether you log in at 1200 or 2400 or 9600 or 14.4K you pay the same low price. How does all that sound? Probably too good to be true. Well, it IS true. Portal Signup or for more information: 1-408-973-9111 (voice) 9a.m.-5p.m. Mon-Fri, Pacific Time 1-408-725-0561 (modem 3/12/2400) 24 hours every day 1-408-973-8091 (modem 9600/14400) 24 hours every day or enter "C PORTAL" from any Sprintnet dial-in in the USA, or enter "portal" from any Tymnet "please log in:" prompt, USA & Canada or telnet to "portal.com" from anywhere. PORTAL'S CURRENT RATES: All prices shown are in U.S. Dollars Total Total Total Total Cost Cost Cost Cost Fee 1 hr. 5 hrs. 10 hrs.30 hrs. Startup Monthly Per Per per per per Fee Fee Hour month month month month $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Portal 19.95 19.95 2400/9600/14.4Kbps, *direct 24 hrs 0.00 19.95 19.95 19.95 19.95 2400/9600bps nonprime Sprint or Tymnet 2.50 22.95 32.45 44.95 94.95 2400/9600bps prime Sprint +% or Tymnet 5.50-10 29.95 69.95 119.95 varies 2400/9600bps non prime # PCPursuit 1.00 20.95 24.95 29.95 49.95 * plus cost of phone call if out of Portal's local dialing area Direct rates also apply to connections made to Portal using the UNIX "telnet" program from an account you may already have on an Internet-connected system. % 9600 bps Sprintnet and Tymnet available in over 300 cities areas + $10 rate prevails at smaller US Cities # PCPursuit is a service of US Sprint. Portal is a PCPursuit "Direct Access Facility" thus connection to Portal with a PCP account is simply a matter of entering C PORTAL,PCP-ID,PCP-PASSWORD at the SprintNet login prompt instead of C PORTAL. Note: Portal Direct 9600/14400 bps service is availble for both USR HST modems, and any V32/V32.bis modems. There are dozens of direct-dial high speed lines into Portal. No busy signals! SprintNet 9600bps service is V.32 modem protocol only. Tymnet 9600bps services is V.32 modem protocol only. Again, Portal does NOT surcharge high speed modem users! Portal subscribers who already have an account on an Internet-capable system elsewhere, can use that system's "telnet" program to connect to Portal for $0.00 an hour. That's right ZERO. From anywhere in the world. If you're in this category, be sure to ask the Portal reps, when you signup, how to login to Portal from your existing Internet account. Call and join today. Tell the friendly Portal Customer Service representative, "The Amiga Zone and Amiga Report sent me!" [Editor's Note: Be sure to tell them that you are an Amiga user, so they can notify the AmigaZone sysops to send their Welcome Letter and other information!] That number again: 408-973-9111. Portal Communications accepts MasterCard, Visa, or you can pre-pay any amount by personal check or money order. The Portal Online System is a trademark of Portal Communications. @endnode *************************************************************************** @node P1-13 "The Jaguar Conference" @toc "menu" /// Delphi Online Conference: The Atari Jaguar ------------------------------------------- [Editor's Note: In the interest of covering the entire industry, we're running the Delphi conference on Atari's new Jaguar video game system due out in October. Hopefully Delphi will have a similar conference for the CD32 in the near future!] On August 25, 1993, a formal Atari conference was held on the Delphi information service (e-mail to VIDGAMES@DELPHI.COM or VIDGAMES@NETCOM.COM for signup info). The conference was held to spread info on the recently announced Atari Jaguar game system. Moderating was Andy Eddy, former Executive Editor for VideoGames & Computer Entertainment magazine. Guests were Sam Tramiel, president of Atari, and Bob Brodie, Atari's director of communcations. After a lengthy delay of nearly 20 minutes while chaos reigned due to a temporary bug in Delphi's conference software, the CO started and attendees got to ask questions of Atari's execs. What follows is a *very* edited transcript of the questions and answers. The list of attendees were compiled from /WHO lists taken during the CO and in the post-formal chatter that followed; apologies to those I may have forgotten. (This "post-war" CO is in an accompanying file, for those who are interested.) Comments to my e-mailboxes, save your flames... Andy Eddy VIDGAMES@DELPHI.COM VIDGAMES@NETCOM.COM =-=-=-=-=-= Formal Atari CO attendees: 16BITTER, ADLEVIN, AEO_MAG:Tim@AEO, ALLEBARAM:Mark, ARNOLDB:Arnie!, ATARICORP, ATARIMUSIC, ATARIPOWER7, ATARITECH, BACHAND, BMHAL1000, BOBMATISKA:Bob M., BRIANXAP, BRYEDEWAARD:Bryan, CHRISBEST, CMILLAR:Chris M., DAVHEBEL, DAVIDSHORR:Dave, DJSAHN, EELIAS:Eric, EFLY:Fly, EICHER, ENFORCER2, FSDMB3, GAIARES, GENE5320, GREGG43, GREGRPH, HODOSKO:Jeff H., INNOVATOR:Jared, JAHORN, JEFFTZ, JELLISON, JES68K, JMILLAR:Jay 030, JMV, JONSEI, JONWOOD, JSCHEPP, KALL, KEITHFISHER, KKORDES1:Kent@SFT, KRISJOHNSON, LEXICOR:John @ Lexicor, LINDERDG:Dan The Man, LMCCLURE, LOUC, MARK_SCHEY, MBRADY, MICKEYANGELL, MOSA, MRBURKLEY:Michael, NOLRAM, NORMW:NormInLA, OLDGROUCH, PALAZZOL:Frank, PHUNKZIP, PLEFEBVRE:Paul, QUINNGRANFOR, RDIMICK, RJUNG, ROB_G:Rob, ROM1:Raul, RONALDB1, SAM_RAPP:Sam 030, SANZA, SBEYER, SCARPAD, SCMMETALS:Jeff, SCOTTGO, SEANSHARP, SEIGH, SLAVGRID, STEVE677, STEVENBAKER, TACK, TELENUT, THINK, THOMAS345:Tom, TOMFANN, VGCHRIS, VGJOSHO:Josho, VGZACH:Zach, VIDGAMES:Andy, VILLARREAL, VILLARREAL:JMV, WHITEW, WUNDERLEYS, YOONK VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, before we start, I'll apologize for the problems. I think Delphi... has a software bug. VIDGAMES:Andy> I'd like to start by welcoming everyone here tonight. Special thanks to Sam Tramiel and Bob Brodie of Atari for taking time out of their very busy schedule to answer some questions for us here. Finally, I'd like... ATARIPOWER7> .... let's to be patient and virtueous..... :):):) VIDGAMES:Andy> to welcome any of the Internet crowd for coming by Delphi this evening. I hope you like the system and will join us again. As an introduction, you all know that Atari announced the Jaguar last Wednesday in a press event at its Sunnyvale offices. Before the event, there was skepticism, and since there has been lots of speculation. Atari has thrown the gauntlet at 3DO, and tonight Sam and Bob will be sharing with you what makes this product so exciting. Finally, the Jaguar has sparked a flurry of heated debate. With that in mind, I'll set the law right now: NO SHENANAGANS (whatever they are) WILL BE TOLERATED! We're doing this conference as an effort to spread vital game information to the public, and disruptions make that impossible. This is a formal conference, and if you don't know the rules for how a formal CO works, you are asked to exit the Conference area (/EX twice) and re-read the banner that greets you upon entrance. Not abiding will put you in the "audience." Thanks in advance for your cooperation. Now, while those of you with questions will signal with a ? (remember, only one per customer), we'll start by asking Sam and/or Bob to open with a statement, then get to the conference... Bob and/or Sam? Comment to start? ATARICORP> Good evening everyone. On behalf of Atari Corporation, I'd like to thank you all for attending tonight's conference. We appreciate the opportunity to meet here with you, especially with our good friend Andy Eddy! Andy has been a long time supporter of Atari Corp., even preceding his involvement here in the World of Games Forum on Delphi, and we're thankful for his long-term support of our company. Tonight, we are here to talk to you about the Atari Jaguar, our exciting new 64 bit interactive multimedia entertainment system. For those of you that haven't seen the specs on the Jaguar yet, here they are: o 64-bit RISC-based multiprocessing architecture. o A very high speed 106.4 Mbyte/sec 64-bit Data path. o 27 MIPs Graphic Processor with 4K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM that is closely coupled with the Blitter that can perform a full range of graphics effects (including shading and rotations) at high speed yet is programmable for maximum flexibility. o A programmable Object Processor that can act as a variety of different video architectures, such as an advanced sprite engine, pixel-mapped based systems, character mapped based systems and many others. o 27 MIPs Digital Signal Processor with 8K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM for CD quality sound and full stereo capabilities. o A Blitter that can perform a full range of logical operations at high speed with hardware support for Z-buffering and Gouraud shading. o MC68000 CPU clocked at 13.3 MHz as a general purpose control processor. o Lifelike quality 32-bit color on NTSC or PAL television screens, yielding greater than 16 million colors. o ROM Cartridge capacity to 48 Megabits of compressed or uncompressed code. When compressed, equivalent to almost 400 Megabits. o 16 Megabits of fast page-mode DRAM. o An optional double speed CD-ROM drive. o ComLynx I/O for networked multiconsole games. o Two (expandable to literally dozens) enhanced Controller Ports, supporting digital and analog interfaces, as well as keyboards, lightguns and mice. o High performance, ergonomically designed, Controller with Joypad, 3 firebuttons, Pause, Option, and 12-key keypad with game-specific overlays. o High speed synchronous serial port for connection to modems, cable TV networks and other high performance networks. With this Fall's introduction of the Atari Jaguar, the ultimate video game system and the nation's first 64-bit interactive multimedia entertainment system, comes a plethora of both new and familiar game titles. While third party developers and publishers are actively designing software for the system, Atari programmers overseas and domestically have been developing and fine-tuning several titles for the Jaguar for release this year. The dramatic use of 3D rendering and 24-bit graphics is most prevalent in games seen on the Jaguar system. Scanned and digitized character images, as well as detailed texture mapping, lighting and shadowing effects and unrestricted motion and speed all contribute to the next level of results. Some of the upcoming game titles include: Crescent Galaxy - Lifelike three dimensionally rendered and shadowed planetary objects and lifeforms prevail in this multi-leveled side shooter. You are the young Corporal Trevor McFur of the Circle Reserve Core. Returning from a deep space reconnaissance mission, you and your shipmate intercept a long-range transmission telling you that you are the only hope in saving the galaxy against a ruthless creature. The game is visually stunning with full textured 3D renderings of creatures and planets with nine levels reflecting five different worlds. Enemies and allies include: Pop-up Poppies which explode when they sense an enemy nearby; Geysers which can spurt forth abrupt blasts of nuclear steam erupting from the Planets core; and bothersome creatures such as Skeletal Vultures, Scorpions and Flying Dinos and dozens more. Cybermorph - Surreal landscapes colored in both muted and bright tones are the background for this One-Man Rescue Probe sent into an interplanetary battlefield to rescue stranded survivors of a dying war. The Cybermorph is an adaptable, flexible machine with an outer skin programmed to react to its environment. If accelerating, it grows streamlined to reduce resistance; when banking, its wings extend to give maximum turn; when slowing up, the rear of the craft morphs into a cowl to bring the speed down quickly and smoothly. The probe flies in a full three dimensional world environment. The object is to fly over the surface of each world in a low-altitude, high speed craft saving helpless survivors and avoiding surface and air attack and alien infestation. You defend yourself by shooting anything that moves and avoid being hit yourself or colliding into tall landscape features. A holographic face speaks to you giving you information. Following lifeline sensors, you race toward the cries for help, saving survivors from all 50 moons to complete the mission. Raiden - As the ultimate arcade game conversion, the Jaguar version is considered the ideal soundalike and lookalike Raiden game. As a vertical scroller, you control aircraft flying over enemy territory, shooting militaristic tanks and aircraft, avoiding enemy gun fire and hidden missiles. This full-featured game makes use of the graphic capabilities with complex parallax scrolling and realistic and engaging audio quality. This was essentially developed as a yardstick for performance, color and sprite comparisons to showcase the Jaguar's capabilities. Speed and motion are exceptional with no slow down when mass objects are present on the screen. No other system comes close to accurately converting this arcade game to a home console. Evolution-Dino Dudes - Familiar to consumers as Dinolympics? on the Lynx or as Humans? on the PC, this title is an Atari-owned property which, seen on the Jaguar, utilizes all the graphics and colors Jaguar can represent. Vivid colors and creative use of animation facilities enhance the overall look of the game, but the 80 levels of play make this challenging as well. As a platform puzzle game, cavemen characters are taught to survive, by avoiding man-eating dinosaurs, discovering the spear, making fire and physically running, jumping and climbing their way up the evolutionary ladder. Club Drive - The most exciting vacation park in the 21st century is the theme for this pulse quickening excursion. At this fantasy driving resort, all vehicles are indestructible, and visitors can challenge their skills and courage by driving some of the most treacherous terrain and returning completely unscathed. Different levels are represented by a futuristic city, an old western town, a present day world and even a toy car world where you can drive in and around your furniture at breakneck speeds as if you were inside a toy racing car. This true 3D polygon environment is completely new to the gaming world. Checkered Flag II - Jaguar Formula One Racing hits its peak with this version using real-time 3D generated action, akin to arcade quality racing games. Cars, buildings and roads are rendered in true 3D, with options to customize your car. The game features 100% true sound effects; crashes are realistic in both sound and imagery, with parts flying and tires screeching. Racing speed is markedly intensified. Tiny Toon Adventures - Based on the popular Warner Bros. characters, this platform game utilizes the vibrant colors and graphics to the utmost. The storyline follows Buster Bunny, Babs Bunny and Plucky Duck as they embark on a rescue mission to save the planet Aurica. Bad boy Montana Max has a new toy: an Acme TiToonium-Gold Converter. The only place to get TiToonium is on the planet Aurica. The removal of TiToonium is causing grave ecological damage to Aurica. Armed with Acme Crazy Net, our heroes try to shut down the Acme TiToonium-Gold Converter. The object is to navigate through each level, locate the TiToonium Extract heroes can be selected to climb, jump and run through each level so in the end, the planet can be saved. Alien vs. Predator - Based on two 20th Century Fox feature film blockbusters, what would happen if the Alien, the Predator and a colonial Marine Corporal were put together? Who would win? You select who you will portray and the qualities each possesses is incorporated into your strategy. For instance, if you were the Alien, you could climb walls; as the Predator, your night vision is superior and as the Marine Corporal, you may be able to outwit the other two with your computer skills. Placed in realistic texture mapped corridors, your movement is put in real-time action. Camera speeds race as you're being chased down hallways with a high frame rate. Exceptional colors and shadow effects put you right into the action. Kasumi Ninja - The game is set on the small island of Kasumi in the West Pacific rim. The Kasumi Ninja are the world's finest Ninja warriors and a mist of invisibility from the Ninja Gods hides Kasumi from the world. Kasumi is undetectable, even by radar. The Gods have decided to intervene when Gyaku, a strong warrior, kills his family and the Gods must find a new strong warrior to battle him. But first, this new young Ninja must learn new skills and fight with nine other persona, each with unique martial arts abilities and special moves. The game incorporates superior graphics and animation with realistic landscapes and backgrounds. Ninja warriors utilize 91 different martial arts movements, with all the sound effects and audio consistent with this type of fighting. Tempest 2000 - This title is familiar to gamers as the favorite arcade classic using vector graphics, polygons and rapid fire. Here, the Jaguar version incorporates a starfield in the background instead of just a black background. CD quality stereo enhances this game tenfold as this fast-paced energetic game unfolds. Manipulative abilities have been modernized and updated with new features that include spins and twists not seen in the 80's, as well as an updated version to the year 2000 which takes full advantage of the Jaguar's 3D graphic polygon capabilities. We're very pleased with the reception that the Atari Jaguar has been getting from the media, especially the gaming publications! We recently had a media day, where we showed off the Jaguar and it's spectacular effects to a standing room audience. The reception was overwhelming, and to say the least, we're gratified!! Our plans for the rollout of the Jaguar are for a New York and San Francisco release in October, with the rest of the US to follow in 1994. From the US, we'll be expanding into Europe, with London, Paris, and Frankfurt as the major target cities. With that, I thank you for your attention, and we're now happy to take any questions that our audience might have, Andy! VIDGAMES:Andy> Whew, nice to have *someone* prepared (hehe). Okay, first question.. honor go to AEOMAG. ATARICORP> Sorry for some of the formatting... ga, Tim AEO_MAG:Tim@AEO> OK, can you give a benchmark (maybe aska programmer?) on how fast the polygons are? Texturemapped and flat shaded.? ga ATARICORP> Tim, this is a bit more technical than I had expected, and I don't want to hazard a guess. I'll get back to you on that, hopefully later on tonight. Sorry. ga VIDGAMES:Andy> Follow up, Tim? AEO_MAG:Tim@AEO> no, that was my question. thanks. ATARICORP> Tim, please be sure to send me email on who the people that are interested in VR are, we'll be happy to talk to them. AEO_MAG:Tim@AEO> okeydokey. VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, on to PHUNKZIP. PHUNKZIP> the Jag may have a 64 bit Graphics processor, but isn't it really 16 bit machine because of the 68000 CPU? ATARICORP> Tim, we can render 50 million goroud shaded pixels a second. Hope that benchmark helps. AEO_MAG:Tim@AEO> yes it does. ATARICORP> No, the 68000 is a co processor. Anation to the 16 bit ISA bus that you still get in 32 bit PCs. ga PHUNKZIP> so what chip is the CPU of the Jag? VIDGAMES:Andy> Side comment: Isn't it also true that a processor in the Jaguar can be moved... from its "main" usage (like the graphics processor) to another task if you chose to? ATARICORP> The Jaguar CPU is a 64 bit custom graphics chip. ga PHUNKZIP> last question from me: how can a graphics chip be the CPU? ATARICORP> The 64 bit custom graphics chip is a good general purpose RISC unit, but it has been specifically optimized for 3D graphics work. ga PHUNKZIP> ok thanks VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, thanks, Dave. Josh, you're up. VGJOSHO:Josho> Thanks, Andy! Guys, I'm one of those that felt a bit "burned" by the... promises of third-party LYNX support, that basically never materialized. so I'd like to know which 3rd-party publishers have definitely been... developing for the Jaguar. GA. ATARICORP> We at Atari made no promises of 3rd party publishers for the Lynx. And we are working very hard to attract 3rd party publishers to Jaguar. We will make our first formal announcements as to who has signed up in September. ga VIDGAMES:Andy> Follow-up, Josh? VGJOSHO:Josho> Ah. Okee-dokee. :-( Yes, one follow-up... As you said, you're planning a test market release in October in NY and SF... and I'm wondering when in 1994 you're planning the national rollout. GA. ATARICORP> The NY and SF markets will be shipped product in November and the rest of the national rollout will occur in the first quarter of '94 ga VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, thanks. RJUNG, you are up. GA VGJOSHO:Josho> Hmmmm...OK, thanks! Andy, back to you! RJUNG> Hi, guys. Two questions, sorry if this is against protocol. (1) What game comes with the Jaguar? (2) How does the Lynx/Jag/ComLynx connection work? Are you talkingh about Lynx and Jag versions of a title, a Lynx adaptor, But there are no gasmes planned to be on both the Lynx and Jaguar platforms? ATARICORP> We have not decided which game will be packed out. It will be a surprise. :) The ComLynx connection is a not a Lynx compatible adapter. The Jaguar will not play Lynx titles. What the ComLynx port will allow, is for software to be developed to allow Lynxes to be part of a Jaguar game as controllers. ga RJUNG> All right. Thanks. GA. ATARICORP> We're not sure what you mean, but we do plan to have some of the same titles on both platforms. VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, WUNDERLEYS is up. Go ahead with your question. WUNDERLEYS> Ok, first off, what is the CD tht you were talking about? Is it a CD-ROM or something? VIDGAMES:Andy> (If you already signaled with a ?, please don't send another one. It's confusing. Thanks.) WUNDERLEYS> Ok, and for my final question.... Will you have Fighting games? ATARICORP> We are planning a CD peripheral to be introduced during the 1st half of 1994. It can play CD audio, CD+Graphics, and of course, Jaguar CD software. It's a high performance double speed drive, and will allow for full motion video in the Jaguar software. WUNDERLEYS> Will you have fighting games? What basis of games are you going to stick to releasing? ga VIDGAMES:Andy> Side question: How much will the MPEG 2 option cost? ATARICORP> by using compression techniques called "Cine Pak". ga VIDGAMES:Andy> Bob/Sam, did you get the question about fighting games? ATARICORP> Next? WUNDERLEYS> Ok, thanx! I'm finished! GA VIDGAMES:Andy> Sorry, there was a question about fighting games. I thought that was.. still being answered. ATARICORP> Of course, we will have a fighting game of all sorts. Man against man, man against animal, animal against animal, Aliens against Predators, just like we said in our opening remarks. We are planning on having all types of games, and hope that 3rd party publishers will add a long list of titles. Andy, we are not annoucing prices at present. ga VIDGAMES:Andy> (hehe) Okay, ARNOLDB. Fire away. ARNOLDB:Arnie!> What language is native game code writen in? ATARICORP> Assembly ga ARNOLDB:Arnie!> Does the console have hardware scaling and rotating of individual sprites? VIDGAMES:Andy> That was easy enough. Follow-up? ATARICORP> Yes, and lots more besides. ga ARNOLDB:Arnie!> how many megabits will the average game be VIDGAMES:Andy> Again, easy. DAVHEBEL, you are on. ARNOLDB:Arnie!> and what phisical size are they? DAVHEBEL> Have you considered contacting Beyond Games about porting Battle wheels from the Lynx to the jag ? ARNOLDB:Arnie!> asembly as in 68000 chip or that graphics chip? VIDGAMES:Andy> Let's move on to Dave's question so that everyone else has a chance. Thanks. (We still have about 20 people with questions in line.) ATARICORP> You cannot compare the megabit size of Jaguar carts to Sega Gensis, and SNES. As Jaguar can compress data much more efficently and decompress on the flyal thanks to Sam Tramiel and Bob Brodie of Atari for taking time out of their ATARICORP> True Color graphics and CD quality stereo sound take up a lot of data. Regarding Beyond Games, of course we are talking to them. And as I said earlier, we'll announce publishers in mid September. ga VIDGAMES:Andy> (oops) DAVHEBEL> thanks ga VIDGAMES:Andy> Follow-up, Dave? ATARICORP> Arnie: ALL the processors are programmed in Assembly. DAVHEBEL> no thanks! VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, Gene5320 is up. Go ahead with your question. GENE5320> Followup on the 3rd party question. 3rd partys do make the machine, look at what Street Fighter II did for SNES. My question, will Atari put the Jaguar on "Tour" (like malls) to show it off and allow hands on with it? ga oops.. redo? VIDGAMES:Andy> Good question. ATARICORP> We are planning heavy duty marketing support, and will have point of purchase demostration units available at stores. At present, we don't plan "a tour", but might in the future. ga VIDGAMES:Andy> Follow up, Gene? GENE5320> all done VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, JONSEI is in the spotlight. JONSEI> Basically same as josho above: How many 3P's and who. Do you anticipate 3P support at launch? Are development systems available.? ga ATARICORP> We will have 3rd party publishers developing software at launch. As a matter of fact, they are working on software as we speak. They will not be shipping until Q-1. And yes, development systems are of course available. ga VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, follow-up, JONSEI? JONSEI> no. GA. VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, let's see if TELENUT is here... Nope, on to ATARIPOWER7. ATARIPOWER7> Why the timdity in getting the product out, what with the resources IBM has, surely we could have things in full blast already even! Bestest and mostest is great, add fastest, and!!!! GA followed by another !? <3 DOn't, ATARI DOES! :):):).... > Sorry, I was almost finished retyping into my text editor... :) ATARICORP> We are limited by the amount of custom chips we can get this year. In 1994 we should not have these limitations. ga VIDGAMES:Andy> Great, follow up, ATARIPOWER7? ATARIPOWER7> I'll wait in line for the next time.... ATARICORP> IBM really does have tremendous manufacturing power. And we really do agree that 3DO, don't, and Jaguar Does! ATARIPOWER7> Fair is fair! VIDGAMES:Andy> All right... SAM_RAPP. You are up. SAM_RAPP:Sam 030> Hi Guys! Thanks for being here! Thanks for all the wonderful toys! VIDGAMES:Andy> (Thanks, ATARIPOWER7) SAM_RAPP:Sam 030> I hear that there are several development systems for the Jaguar, such as TT, PC, and a stand alone system. Could you briefly describe the development environment and list the features of each system? GA ATARICORP> This question is very complicated, but basically we have a TT development environment, and a PC development environment. You can use any machine you want for art development. Of course, you should use Atari's for music work. SAM_RAPP:Sam 030> One more thing... Will you mailorder this year for us Die hards? ATARICORP> All we have time for is three more questions, sorry. VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, let's move to EELIAS. EELIAS:Eric> Will the Jaguar be modem ready or cable ready? ATARICORP> We do not have a formal reply to this, but we will consider the mail order option. EELIAS:Eric> ga ATARICORP> Again, if you are talking about the new, or yet to be available OR clearly define {interactive networks}, we do think that Jaguar can act as a set top in this environment. GA VIDGAMES:Andy> We'll skip follow-ups so we can get as many people in as possible. Sorry. EELIAS:Eric> Thanks. ga VIDGAMES:Andy> RDIMICK... you are on. RDIMICK> Will you be bringing any of the Atari coin ops to the jaguar ? - And can you please arrange for some of the initial Jaguars to be sold here on Delphi - there has to be a way!!!! please S:Andy> Okay, EFLY. Go ahead with your question. EFLY:Fly> Could you run the preliminary information again. I was late. Perhaps on the way out. VIDGAMES:Andy> It will be in the transcript. I'll have it up in a day or so. Another question? ATARICORP> We'll have a transcript for the library later. VIDGAMES:Andy> (I'll save Bob and Sam from repeating all that.) EFLY:Fly> no thanks. ga VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, Geoff. You can go. GAIARES> Go on to the next person while I get my question ready. :) VIDGAMES:Andy> I think they are about out of time. How much more, Bob/Sam? ATARICORP> One more, Andy. VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, if Geoff isn't quite ready, Telenut is back and hopefully can. TELENUT> I'm ready. VIDGAMES:Andy> GA, TELENUT. GAIARES> As a person who was disappointed in the way the lynx turned out to be a pretende the Jag to show us that it is a contender? GAIARES> Oops. GA Dave. TELENUT> How do you see the Jaguar as bieng supiror to the 3DO. As far as overall quality. ATARICORP> We feel that the power of the Jaguar will allow for a quantum leap in software experiences. And we will back this with serious marketing dollars. The Lynx is not dead, and we will advertise it in NY and San Francisco along with Jaguar. There will be 12 new Lynx titles delivered this year. VIDGAMES:Andy> Trip Hawkins referred to the Jaguar as the "Betamax" to 3DO's "VHS." Any comment? TELENUT> Do you think you can compete with the bulk of software for the 3DO? (sorry, that was my follow-up) ATARICORP> Andy, look at the prices, the 3DO is not priced to be a consumer product at well over $500. 3DO is simply overpriced. VIDGAMES:Andy> Understand. Unless Bob and Sam can take anymore questions, I'll put a close... to the formal part of the CO. Closing comments, Bob and Sam? And, again, sorry for the glitches that delayed the start. ATARICORP> Thank you all for attending. On behalf of Atari, we're very grateful for your interest in the Jaguar. We'll be seeing you in the message bases here on Delphi. Please feel to send e-mail to BOBBRO here on Delphi, my normal address. Goodnight! BRYEDEWAARD:Bryan> Kick some butt guys! :) EELIAS:Eric> nite! VIDGAMES:Andy> Okay, the transcript will be up in short order, I hope. Thanks one and... all for attending. E-mail to VIDGAMES with comments on the CO and future CO... guests. @endnode *************************************************************************** @node P4-3 "Holonet" @toc "menu" /// Holonet: Inexpensive Internet Access ------------------------------------- *** HOLONET *** HoloNet is an easy to use Internet Access BBS. HoloNet is based on custom BBS software which provides an easy to use menu driven interface. HoloNet is ideal for those looking for an easy way to use Internet services. HoloNet does not currently provide UNIX shell access. Services include: o Convenient Access A local call in 850+ cities nationwide. o Online Publications Include USA Today Decisionline, Newsbytes, Datanet Computer News, Eeeekbits, and Boardwatch Magazine. o USENET Averages over 30MB of USENET news per day. The following news readers are available: NN, TIN, and RN. o Internet E-Mail Members have an Internet E-mail address similar to: member@holonet.net o Internet Access Access to telnet, talk, finger, IRC, and FTP. (note: you must comply with the policies of any networks you use) o Single and Multi-player Games Board, card, fantasy, and puzzle games. o Support for Eudora Excellent off-line Macintosh e-mail reader. o UUCP E-mail and USENET feeds Link LAN E-mail systems and BBSes to the Internet. How to try HoloNet for FREE: Telnet: holonet.net Modem: 510-704-1058 (Berkeley, CA) at 1200, 2400, 9600, or 14400 bps. There are free demo numbers nationwide, for an automated response containg a list of access numbers, send e-mail to access@holonet.mailer.net How to get more information: E-mail: info@holonet.net Modem: 510-704-1058 at 1200, 2400, 9600, or 14400bps Voice: 510-704-0160 Fax: 510-704-8019 HoloNet is a service mark of Information Access Technologies, Inc. Copyright © 1992 Information Access Techologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. @endnode *************************************************************************** @node P1-14 "ADPro HP Scanjet" @toc "menu" /// Usenet Review: ADPro HP ScanJet IIc Driver ------------------------------------------- By Stephen Harvey and Esa Haapaniemi (sh@hplb.hpl.hp.com) (eha@phoenix.oulu.fi) PRODUCT NAME ADPro HP ScanJet IIc Driver BRIEF DESCRIPTION A driver program for scanning colour pictures with an HP ScanJet IIc scanner. Both standalone and ADPro (ASDG Art Department Professional) versions are included. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: ASDG Incorporated Address: 925 Stewart Street Madison, WI 53713 USA Telephone: (608) 273-6585 FAX: (608) 271-1988 Portal: go asdg BIX: join asdg CompuServe: go amigav (Section 2) GEnie: move 555;1 (Category 27) E-mail: pk-asdg@cup.portal.com LIST PRICE $200 (US) Available in Finland for 1500 smk. ($280). SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Amiga with SCSI port, big hard disk and lots of memory. HP ScanJet IIc. Works with all 680x0 microprocessors. A faster CPU helps. SOFTWARE AmigaDOS 1.3 or higher. COPY PROTECTION None. (Just your conscience.) MACHINES USED FOR TESTING ADPro Version A3000/25 + 10 MB memory (2 MB Chip RAM) + 210 MB hard disk. Workbench 2.1, KickROM version, no 24-bit graphics. Stand Alone Version A1500, PP&S 68040 card, 11 MB memory (1 MB Chip RAM) GVP SeriesII HD8+ SCSI card with 110 MB hard disk. Workbench 1.3/2.1 PROGRAMS INCLUDED IN THE PACKAGE The driver for ADPro2.x (reviewed by Esa Haapaniemi) and the Scan_to_disk version (reviewed by Steve Harvey) of the scanner software. REVIEW OF THE ADPRO DRIVER I asked for ASDG support of this scanner almost 2 years ago. At the time, they promised it would appear quickly. First they said it was on a development list, then in beta-testing, then they needed to finish the Morph+ software first, then they were busy with the Morph+ demand (but it was supposedly already written?) and was again under beta-testing. Finally, a local professional Amiga equipment dealer had it on his lists, and we ordered it immediately. At the same time, we bought a new version of ADPro (2.3) because the dealer couldn't give any upgrade information for version 2.1. Installation was easily done with the standard Commodore Installer program. After connecting the scanner (always remember to power off all equipment when making connections!) we could immediately try the program. The ADPro driver needs ADPro running first. You must then choose the HP-SCAN loader; and after the LOAD command, the driver opens the same screen as the standalone version. There is a scan area on the left, scaled in inches, which may be toggled with a gadget to a metric scale. The scanner bed is viewed from below, so every object on the scanner is mirrored from right to left. On the right side of the screen, there is a typical ASDG button box window with requesters for scaling and setting the scanning area (inches/cm), toggle buttons for suggested resolutions, Metric/Imperial measuring system, scan/abort/cancel and accept buttons. There is also a button to reset the scan size to full bed. The numbers that represent the needed space (RAM/disk) are doubled (see below). Brightness may be set with a slider or by typing a number directly. The scan area includes a square, mouse-controlled "rubber-band" that allows selection of an area within the whole bed. When the full bed button is pressed, the square expands to cover the maximum scan size. If the area needed is smaller than the full bed, then this can be set with the rubber-band before redoing the preview scan. When "Scan" is pressed, the scanner sends the chosen area to to the computer quickly. If the chosen area is smaller than the full bed, the area is expanded so that the height or width almost fills the screen. The area can then be set more accurately, and you can continue with zooming or accepting the area. If the ABORT or CANCEL buttons are pressed, the driver returns back to ADPro. Pressing "Accept" changes the right box to Final Scan, and the rubber-band is locked, but you can still go back to Preview Scan if needed. In Final Scan, the resolution toggles stepwise between 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 300, 400, 600 and 800 (wow!) DPI and back. If too high a resolution is chosen, the required memory meter numbers change from light gray to black. This is a little misleading, as the exact size of the file is only half of the numbers presented. This is done because ADPro needs twice the amount of memory to keep both original and edited graphics in memory at the same time. So if this meter shows that you need 6 MB of memory, the final image will only be 3M when stored on disk as a 24bit IFF file. Of course, the sizes for 24-bit, 8-bit, greyscale and 2-bit are also displayed. In Final Scan, there are also sliders for contrast and brightness, a toggle button for full colour/gray_scale/black & white scanning, and for filtering and gamma correction. I did not have much use for them and so I can not say much about them. The ABORT, CANCEL and ACCEPT buttons work like those in the Preview Scan screen. Pressing 'Accept' brings back the ADPro screen again, and the progress of the scanning is shown with a wiper like meter. The final scanning is really fast, and the 800 DPI gives good results. I did try to scan slides, but that requires a more powerful light behind the slide, as well as shutting down the scanner's own light. Also, 3D objects like pens, feathers, and clothing were scannable and the pictures usable for graphics. With 800 DPI, even the best art books seemed to have pictures made of spots and not painted directly... The scanned image was immediately usable in ADPro, and the results could be changed quite easily. If contrast or darkness was not correct, it could be corrected with ADPro or by scanning again (scanning is sometimes faster). Our lack of 24-bit graphics is a limitation, but maybe we can change the software and scanner over to a A4000/40 soon. Also as our A3000 is connected to ethernet, the output of 24-bit graphics to colour Postscript will be really easy. REVIEW OF THE SCAN_TO_DISK VERSION The standalone version is very similar to the ADPro driver. The scanning screen and controls are identical. The only difference is that after you press the ACCEPT gadget on the Final Scan screen, a file requester appears asking for the filename and directory you want the image saved in. Images are only saved in 24IFF format, so ideally you need a conversion program. I use HamLab+ which is a shareware product written by Ed Hanway, jeh@raster.kodak.com. (If anyones interested I might be persuaded to produce a review of that too.) The software uses a halfbrite screen mode to display a greyscale representation of the image you are scanning, but on AGA machines this will be an 8bit screen, which should help you set brightness more accurately, I haven't received my A4000/030 and so have been unable to try this... yet. The two buttons for filtering and gamma correction contain several options. The Gamma Correction can be None or NTSC, and the Filtering can be None, 4-Pixel, 2-Pixel or Auto. When Gamma Correction is set to NTSC, the scan is processed to compensate for the colour biasing on most monitors. The Filtering button decides the amount of smoothing that is used when the scan is scaled down. The best settings for these seem to be NTSC Gamma Correction and Auto Filtering. DOCUMENTATION The disk comes with one manual that covers installation, how to use the software, trouble shooting, etc. It explains the functions of all the gadgets, buttons, etc. in fairly good detail and explains all you need to know to use the software. I'm a beginner so I guess you don't need to be an expert to understand the documentation. All in all, it's an excellent manual to compliment a very good bit of software. LIKES AND DISLIKES I like the resolution and speed, but I dislike the ASDG way of presenting memory needs. Also I think the ASDG screens are not as professional looking as the program really is. - Esa Haapaniemi Overall I was very impressed with the package, but for the price I expected no less. The Scan_to_disk program has some irritating features. For instance if you try to write to a file already open the program quits. It would be much better if it just canceled the scan or gave a requester to retry or abort. This is a fairly important point, as without ADPro you need to use another program to check the quality of the scan results in colour, which means that the file might still be open when you next try scanning. The quality of the images produced is excellent; I have a few on tap if any one wants an example. The only other problem I've had with quality is that sometimes the scans can come out dark. Of course, this can be cured with the brightness/contrast control, but it's a shame that it's not automatic! - Steve Harvey COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS We don't have any other scanners or other software for Amigas, but the scanner was earlier used with Mac IIx and DeskScan software. On the Mac, the software seems more professional and the results are shown in colour immediately. Also DPI settings are unknown, and scanning resolution is set by a percentage of best (600 DPI ??) results. On the scanner bed window, the area can be set by starting the rubber-band from the desired point without the need to tune the preset area. Still the Amiga version is faster, and it can (memory/gigamem permitting) scan at higher resolutions, AND the files are readily transferable to other formats like GIF, IFF/ILBM, TIFF (if the saver is available). And of course I HATE Macintosh "multitasking". With the Mac version, it takes several seconds to get changed from scanning to file copying from the hard drive to HD/DD PC disks and back. - Esa Haapaniemi The only other software I've used with the ScanJet is the free PC driver that comes with the machine. The ASDG driver produces much better quality images and has a neater appearance. The only thing it loses on is that the PC software has a colour previewer. - Steve Harvey BUGS I don't know if this is a bug, but when I tried the ADPro driver the first time, the scanner screen was somewhat too low to use the rubber-band from the lowest corners. Also, if the resolution toggle was changed to something other than 50 DPI in preview mode or a preview scan was done multiple times (zoomed), the scanner jumped multiple times on the same line, and the driver just gave garbage out. During this, error scanning was really slow, and ABORT/CANCEL buttons were not functioning. A couple of days later, everything worked as it should, and no more quirks have happened to me. Maybe there had been some disturbing programs in the background at that time? One "annoying" part is in the previewer. When the selected area is zoomed, the numbers on scaling requesters show the place and size of the rubber-band, but they can not be expanded beyond the screen size. It would be much better to be able to set the position on multiple scans without having to go back to a fullbed scan first. - Esa Haapaniemi I didn't find any bugs in the Scan_to_disk version, but I did manage to crash it by scanning to RAM:. But I think that was my fault. - Steve Harvey VENDOR SUPPORT The electronic addresses listed initially are taken from the technical support section in the back of the manual, so support and assistance is available, although as yet I've not needed them. WARRANTY Unsure. I guess if you receive a faulty disk ASDG will replace it. CONCLUSIONS In my opinion, the product is really welcome on the Amiga. It's faster than the Mac version and allows greater resolutions. We could get the scanner connected to the Amiga permanently, but there are some users who need the Mac! - Esa Haapaniemi The Scan_to_disk software is excellent, as one would expect from ASDG. My challenge to ASDG on the improvement front is to change the preview scan to a colour one - even if it's supported only by AGA machines. -Steve Harvey @endnode -------------------- @node P1-14-2 "Supra releases new ROMs" @toc "menu" /// Supra Corporation releases new ROMs ----------------------------------- FaxBack Now available from Supra! FaxBack number is 503-967-0072. The automated service provides information and instructions for most of Supra current products 24hrs. a day. Call in from a Touch-Tone phone and request your document. Supra's FaxBack system will then call you back and fax the information you requested. Supra releases upgrade ROMs for the SupraFaxModem! Supra has released version 1.8 of their ROMs for the SupraFaxModem. SupraFAXModem users wishing to upgrade to the latest ROM code currently used on our production lines, can now order full upgrade kits for only $19.95! (International Orders slightly higher due to shipping costs.) Contact Supra for details on upgrading your SupraFaxModem. Supra Corporation 7101 Supra Drive SW Albany, OR 97321 Voice: 503-967-2400 503-967-2410 (Orders) 503-967-2440 (Tech Support) BBS : 503-967-2444 Fax : 503-967-2401 @endnode *************************************************************************** @node P4-4 "NVN" @toc "menu" /// NVN WANTS YOU! Another Network Supports Amiga! -------------- National Videotext Network (NVN) 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! 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 online. 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. -=* 9600 BAUD USERS *=- $6/hour non-prime time - $9/hour prime time 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. @endnode *************************************************************************** @node P4-6 "BIX" @toc "menu" /// BIX - Byte Information Exchange Lots of information! ------------------------------- BIX is the premier online service for computing professionals and enthusiasts. While other online services cater to computer novices, BIX is the place for knowledgeable people to go for answers to tough questions. You're likely to find many others in similar situations who can offer advice, give technical assistance, or point you in the right direction. BIX is divided into areas called conferences, each devoted to a particular area of interest. They range from algorithms to windows, from writers to amiga. Conferences are categorized into groups, usually referred to as exchanges, so that you can browse through whatever groups interest you and see a list of the conferences it contains. These are some of the exchanges on BIX: amiga.exchange - the place for Amiga developers and enthusiasts byte - the full text of each issue of BYTE magazine; source code too e.and.l - Entertainment and Leisure; music, pets, games, more ibm.exchange - everything from OS/2 to PC clones mac.exchange - Mac news, support, software, advice professionals - consultants, engineers, financiers gather here programmers - some of the best brains in the business! wix - the Information Exchange for Windows; Windows Magazine online writers.ex - the professional and amateur writer's exchange ************FULL INTERNET ACCESS!************ BIX also features access to the Internet - you can use FTP to transfer files from sites all over the world, telnet to log on to other online services, schools, and research sites, and send Internet mail to millions of people at services like DELPHI, CompuServe, America Online, MCI Mail, and other sites and services. Services like "WHOIS" and "Finger" are also available, with more features on the way (like USENET newsgroups; our newsreader is currently being tested and should be available very soon!) There are no usage fees or special charges for Internet access - it's all part of your BIX subscription. ================================ Rates and Connect Information: ================================ BIX membership costs $13 per month, plus connect time. There are several different ways to connect: SprintNet* $3/hour evenings/weekends $9/hour weekdays Tymnet:** $3/hour evenings/weekends $9/hour weekdays (SprintNet and Tyment rates shown are for 48 contiguous US states only.) Tymnet Canada: $4/hr eves/wkends $9/hour weekdays Tymnet Hawaii: $10/hr eves/wkends $20/hour weekdays Telnet(via Internet): $1/hour, round the clock Direct dial (Boston): $2/hour, round the clock (up to 9600 bps) * SprintNet daytime hours are from 6am to 7pm, M-F, ET. ** Tymnet daytime hours are from 7am to 6pm, M-F, ET. To find your local SprintNet number, call SprintNet at (800) 877-5045, ext. 5. Internationally, call (404) 859-7700. To find a local Tymnet number, call Tymnet at (800) 937-2862. Internationally, call (703) 442-0145. ================ There is no surcharge for 9600 bps access via either telecom carrier. There is no surcharge for up to 10mb of Internet mail per month (sent and received). There will be a charge of $1 per 100,000 bytes thereafter. ================ 20/20 PLAN OPTION (for USA-48 users only): Volume users can choose the 20/20 Advantage Plan, which is $20 per month and includes the first 20 hours of access by any combination of methods from the contiguous United States. Additional use is $1.80 per hour (additional use for telnet access is $1 an hour). The 20/20 Plan's cost is in addition to the $13 monthly fee. INTERNATIONAL USERS: If you wish to connect internationally through Tymnet or SprintNet, please contact your local PTT. BIX accepts prepaid international calls, direct dial, or telnet connections. In order to make a "collect" (not prepaid) call to BIX, your account must be verified before the charges are accepted. When you complete the registration, we'll mail you a BIX Membership Agreement by regular US Mail. Whe you receive it, sign it and return it to us by mail. When we receive it here, we'll authorize your account to make reverse charged calls. If you want to access BIX right away, contact your local PTT to set up a prepaid account. You'll pay your local carrier for your calls to BIX in advance, so there's no waiting period or verfication needed. Or, connect at BIX via telnet to x25.bix.com. SprintNet international calls from most locations are $24 an hour. Tymnet international charges vary, but are generally between $20-$30 an hour. ========================= Billing Information: ========================= You can charge your monthly BIX membership fees to your Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express card. You may have your company invoiced for one or more BIX memberships with a BIX Corporate Account. To do so, send by US Mail or fax a Purchase Order including a Purchase Order number, invoice address, contact person, a phone number where we can reach the contact person, and the company's fax number. Please direct it to the attention of Connie Lopes, who handles corporate accounts. Our fax number is 617-491-6642. Your corporate account will generally be set up within 24 hours. ======================== To Sign Up For BIX: ======================== Dial by modem 1-800-695-4882 or 617-491-5410 * (use 8 data bits, no parity, full duplex) Press a few carriage returns until you see the Login:(enter "bix") prompt, then type bix At the Name? prompt, type bix.amrpt * Users already on the internet can telnet to x25.bix.com instead. At the USERNAME: prompt enter bix, then bix.net at the Name? prompt. Once your account is registered, you can connect the same way, except at the Name? prompt you'll enter your BIXname and then your password. Using the above procedure will allow users in the 48 contiguous United States to take advantage of our special "5 for $5" offer. This offer lets you use up to 5 hours of evening/weekend time on BIX during the current calender month (whatever month you sign up in), for $5. Additional time is $1.80 per hour ($1 per hour for telnet). At the end of the calender month, you will be placed into our standard rate plan, at $13 monthly plus connect charges. You may also join the 20/20 Plan at this time. If you have other questions, please contact BIX Member Services at (800) 695-4775; send a fax to BIX at (617) 491-6642; or send Internet mail to info@bix.com. BIX Member Services hours are 12pm - 11pm, Monday through Friday, ET. @endnode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @node P1-14-1 "A Call for help" @toc "menu" /// A Call For Help! ---------------- By Robert Niles A while ago Amiga Report moved to the AmigaGuide format for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons was so that we could include pictures within the magazine in a easy, convenient way. As most pictures are somewhat large, and we really don't want to start creating an archive that is a burden to download, we would like to ask someone to create a IFF brush viewing program that we may use here with the Amiga Report magazine. We wouldn't be able to pay you for your time and efforts, but we would give you the credit due, and we would be extremely grateful! What we are looking for is this: - A program that works well within the SHELL environment. - Be able to take arguments (to load the picture brush file). - Load and display 2 to 32 color IFF brushes. - Create a border around the brush, automatically adjusting to the size of the brush. - Have the window draggable and with a close gadget. - Be as small as possible in size, using as little memory as possible. - Be compatible with 1.3 systems on up to 3.0 systems. Can this be done?? If so, this will enable us to load up picture files, and use only as much memory as needed to display what needs to be shown. Again, we wouldn't be able to pay you, but we do not ask for any rights over the program. We would just like to be able to include it within our distribution archive as needed. Send questions, comments to @{"Robert Glover or to Robert Niles" link P2-2}. Thank you, Amiga Report @endnode *************************************************************************** @node P3 "Dealer Directory" @toc "menu" /// Dealer Directory Serving our readers! ---------------- Almathera Systems Ltd Challenge House 618 Mitcham Rd Croydon, Surrey CR9 3AU England VOICE: (UK) 081 683 6418 Internet: (Sales) almathera@cix.compulink.co.uk (Technical) jralph@cix.compulink.co.uk Amigability Computers P.O. Box 572 Plantsville, CT 06479 VOICE: 203-276-8175 Internet: amiga@phantm.UUCP BIX: jbasile (Send E-mail to subscribe to our mailing list) Apogee Technologies 1851 University Parkway Sarasota, FL 34243 VOICE: 813-355-6121 Portal: Apogee Internet: Apogee@cup.portal.com Armadillo Brothers 753 East 3300 South Salt Lake City, Utah VOICE: 801-484-2791 GEnie: B.GRAY Computers International, Inc. 5415 Hixson Pike Chattanooga, TN 37343 VOICE: 615-843-0630 Digital Arts 122 West 6th Street Bloomington, IN 47404 VOICE: (812)330-0124 FAX: (812)330-0126 BIX: msears Finetastic Computers 721 Washington Street Norwood, MA 02062 VOICE: 617-762-4166 Portal: FinetasticComputers Internet: FinetasticComputers@cup.portal.com HT Electronics 275 North Mathilda Avenue Sunnyvale, CA 94086 VOICE: 408-737-0900 FAX: 408-245-3109 Portal: HT Electronics Internet: HT Electronics@cup.portal.com MicroSearch 9000 US 59 South, Suite 330 Houston, Texas VOICE: 713-988-2818 FAX: 713-995-4994 Mr. Hardware Computers P.O. Box 148 59 Storey Ave. Central Islip, NY 11722 VOICE: 516-234-8110 FAX: 516-234-8110 A.M.U.G. BBS: 516-234-6046 PSI Animations 17924 SW Pilkington Road Lake Oswego, OR 97035 VOICE: 503-624-8185 Internet: PSIANIM@agora.rain.com Software Plus Chicago 3100 W Peterson Avenue Chicago, Illinois VOICE: 312-338-6100 (Dealers: To have your name added, please send Email!) @endnode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @node P1-15 "AR Confidential" @toc "menu" /// AR Confidential We heard it through the grapevine! --------------- - Sunnyvale, CA JAGUAR TO DOMINATE ATARI'S DIRECTION ------------- For ten years Atari Corp., the company that originated video games, has been hunting for a hit product. Atari's computer offerings are hardly known and its hand-held Lynx game machine is selling slowly if at all. Hopefully this fall, when Atari launches the Jaguar, a new high powered 3-D game system it hopes will assist them to achieve total domination of Nintendo and Sega and all other video game systems now being developed. "Sega, Nintendo. They are the competition we're going after," said Atari president Sam Tramiel. "We've never believed in launching incrementally better designs. You really have to make quantum leaps in performance," said Richard Miller, Atari vice president for technology, as the company showed off the Jaguar for the first time. The Jaguar, controlled by buttons on a pad, connects to a tv set and runs games in 3-D (simulated). The device will (sometime in the future) play audio CDs and Kodak's photo CDs. Initially, it will be intro'ed in New York and San Francisco for Christmas 1993, and nationwide, hopefully, in January. Atari's Jaguar is targeting the mass consumer market & will sell for $200, an optional compact disc player will cost an additional $200. An IBM Corp. factory in Charlotte, N.C., will build the machine, but IBM is not at all involved in the marketing of the Jaguar. The Jaguar runs on 64-bit processors that are considerably faster and more powerful than the 16-bit systems sold by Sega Corp. and Nintendo Inc. The Jaguar is twice as powerful as a number of 32-bit systems due later this year. "These two chips took about three years to develop. They are a major breakthrough in technology," Miller said. "We plan to market and advertise Jaguar very, very heavily. We realize that's been our weakness in the past," Sam Tramiel said. Atari will spend $3 million on marketing in this year's fourth quarter and $45 million in 1994. Atari made it known they have about $40 million cash on hand to launch Jaguar. Atari is also considering going to the public for additional financing in 1994. @endnode ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @node P1-16 "Humor Department" @toc "menu" /// The Humor Department Jokes, Quotes, Insults, Shameless Plugs -------------------- Q: What's the difference between Microsoft and Jurassic Park? A: One is a high-tech theme park filled with vicious, predatory monsters who'll eat anything they come across, and the other is a movie. @endnode @node P2-3 "In Closing" @toc "menu" =========================================================================== Amiga Report International Online Magazine August 27, 1993 * YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE * No. 1.22 Copyright © 1993 All Rights Reserved =========================================================================== 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. Amiga Report and/or portions therein may not be edited in any way without prior written per- mission. However, translation into a language other than English is accept- ble, provided the original meaning is not altered. Amiga Report may be dis- tributed on privately owned not-for-profit bulletin board systems (fees to cover cost of operation are acceptable), and major online services such as (but not limited to) Delphi and Portal. Distribution on public domain disks is acceptable provided proceeds are only to cover the cost of the disk (e.g. no more than $5 US). Distribution on for-profit magazine cover disks requires written permission from the editor or publisher. Amiga Report is a not-for-profit publication. Amiga Report, at the time of pub- ication, is believed reasonably accurate. Amiga Report, its staff and con- ributors are not and cannot be held responsible for the use or misuse of information contained herein or the results obtained there from. Amiga Report is not affiliated with Commodore-Amiga, Inc., Commodore Business Machines, Ltd., or any other Amiga publication in any way. =========================================================================== Only * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * _ _ __ ___ _ * * /\\ |\\ /| || // \ /\\ * * / \\ | \\ /|| ||(< __ / \\ * * /--- \\| \X || || \\_||/--- \\ * * /______________________________\\ * * / \\ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Makes it possible!! @endnode @node "menu" "Amiga Report 1.22 Main Menu" @toc "menu" @{" Columns and Features " link P1} News, Reviews, and More! @{" About AMIGA REPORT " link P2} Staff, Copyright information @{" Dealer Directory " link P3} Dealer Addresses and Numbers @{" Commercial Online Services " link P4} Sign-up information @{" FTP Announcements " link P5} Files available for FTP @{" AR Distribution Sites " link P2-1} Where to get AMIGA REPORT /// 08/27/93 Amiga Report 1.22 "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information" -------------------------- · The Editor's Desk · CPU Report · New Products · Dealer Directory · AR Online · AR Confidential · Emulation Examiner · A.M.I.G.A. · HP ScanJet Driver » WOCA Pasadena Seminar Information « » Atari Jaguar Conference on Delphi « » Commodore US Announces Amiga CD32 « =========================================================================== Amiga Report International Online Magazine "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information" » FEATURING WEEKLY « Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information Hardware · Software · Corporate · R & D · Imports =========================================================================== @{" PORTAL " link P4-2} · @{" DELPHI " link P4-1} · @{" FIDO " link P2-1} · @{" INTERNET " link P4-5} · @{" BIX " link P4-6} · @{" NVN " link P4-4} =========================================================================== @endnode @node P1 "Columns and Features" @toc "menu" @{" From the Editor's Desk " link P1-1} Saying it like it is! @{" CPU Status Report " link P1-2} Computer Products Update @{" CBM Announces the CD32 " link P1-3} CD32 released in the U.S.A. @{" TORQUEWare for the Amiga " link P1-4} A programming tool for the Amiga @{" Swap Meet! " link P1-5} Amiga Computer Club's 1st Annual @{" INOVAtronic Announcement " link P1-6} New licensing and distro policy @{" News from Portal " link P1-7} Getting busy lines??? @{" Online Weekly " link P1-8} The lines ARE buzzing! @{" AR available on WWW " link P1-9} Read it on the InterNet! @{" WOCA Pasadena " link P1-10} Official schedule of seminars @{" The Emulation Examiner " link P1-11} ....a suggestion @{" A.M.I.G.A. " link P1-12} WOAH! Going AGA! @{" Delphi Online Conference " link P1-13} The Atari Jaguar @{" Usenet Review " link P1-14} ADPro HP ScanJet IIc driver @{" Amiga Report asks for help! " link P1-14-1} We need an IFF brush viewer! @{" Supra Releases new ROMs " link P1-14-2} The new ROMs are here! @{" AR Confidential " link P1-15} Jaguar to dominate Atari's direction @{" The Humor Department " link P1-16} Reality check!! @endnode @node P2 "About Amiga Report" @toc "menu" @{" For Starters " link P2-1} Where to get AMIGA REPORT @{" AR Staff " link P2-2} The Editors, and Contributers @{" In Closing " link P2-3} Copyright Information @endnode @node P4 "Commercial Online Services" @toc "menu" @{" Delphi " link P4-1} It's getting better all the time! @{" Portal " link P4-2} A great place for Amiga users... @{" Holonet " link P4-3} Inexpensive Internet Access @{" NVN " link P4-4} National Videotex Network @{" InterNet " link P4-5} Subscribe to the AR Mailing List @{" BIX " link P4-6} For Serious Programmers and Developers @endnode @node P5 "FTP Announcements" @toc "menu" @{" SpeedRAMsey v1.2a " link P5-1} Faster RAM access for the A4000 @endnode ----------------------------------------- @node P2-1-1 "NOVA" @toc "menu" * NOVA BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running Starnet BBS * Wayne Stonecipher, Sysop FidoNet 1:362/508 An Amiga Software Distribution Site (ADS) 615-472-9748 USR DS 16.8 24hrs - 7 days Cleveland, Tennessee @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-2 "In The MeanTime" @toc "menu" * IN THE MEANTIME BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running Starnet BBS * Robert Niles, Sysop FidoNet 1:3407/104 509-966-3828 Supra V.32bis 24hrs - 7 days Yakima, Washington @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-3 "Cloud's Corner" @toc "menu" * CLOUD'S CORNER BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site Starnet/MebbsNet Support Site West Coast USA * Running Starnet BBS * Larry Cloud, Sysop FidoNet 1:350/30 206-377-4290 USR HST DS 24hrs - 7 days Bremerton, Washington @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-4 "Biosmatica" @toc "menu" * BIOSMATICA BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Portugal * Running Excelsior/Trapdoor/UUCP * Celso Martinho, Sysop FidoNet 2:361/9 +351-34-382320 V.32bis 24hrs - 7 days @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-5 "Amiga Junction 9" @toc "menu" * AMIGA JUNCTION 9 * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- United Kingdom * Running DLG Professional * Stephen Anderson, Sysop Internet: user_name@junct9.royle.org Line 1 +44 (0)372 271000 14400 V.32bis/HST Fido 2:253/510 Line 2 +44 (0)372 278000 14400 V.32bis only Fido 2:253/520 Line 3 +44 (0)372 279000 2400 V.42bis/MNP Fido 2:253/530 Sysop Email: sysadmin@junct9.royle.org @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-6 @toc "menu: * BITSTREAM BBS * The BBS of the Nelson (NZ) Amiga Users Group Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running Xenolink 1.0 Z.3 * Glen Roberts, Sysop FidoNet 3:771/850 +64 3 5485321 Supra V.32bis 24hrs - 7 days Nelson, New Zealand @endnode ------------------------------------------ Amiga Report can be FREQ'd each week from the systems listed above. Use the filename AR.LHA and you will always get the latest issue. ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-7 "Freeland Mainframe" @toc "menu" * FREELAND MAINFRAME * Offical Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running DLG Progessional * John Freeland, SysOp 206-438-1670 Supra 2400zi 206-438-2273 Telebit WorldBlazer(v.32bis) 206-456-6013 Supra v.32bis 24hrs - 7 days Internet - freemf.eskimo.com Olympia, Washington @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-8 "LAHO" @toc "menu" * LAHO BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Finland * Running MBBS * Juha Makinen, Sysop +358-64-414 1516, V.32/HST +358-64-414 0400, V.32/HST +358-64-414 6800, V.32/HST +358-64-423 1300, V.32 MNP Seinajoki, Finland Our machine is a 386/33 with 20MB of memory, 1GB harddisk and upcoming CD-ROM drive. The BBS software is a Norwegian origin MBBS running in a DesqView window. We have over 6000 files online (no CD-ROM yet) containing titles for PC and Amiga or both like GIF-pictures, music-modules and text-files. The upload/download ratio is a very lousy 1:100. (i.e. you upload a 20k file and may download 2MB). Messages are mainly written in Finnish, but English is widely used by Swedish-speaking and international callers. Download-access will be granted when asked. Also Amiga-areas are available for those who will need them to avoid 'wars' between PC and Amiga users. Access to sex pictures and stories are only for persons over 18 years and given when requested. Every user has an access to download filelist (LAHOFIL.ZIP), list of Finnish 24-hour BBS's (BBSLIST.ZIP or BBSLIST.LHA) and every issue of the Amiga Report Magazine (AR101.LHA-AR1??.LHA) on their first call. The system is 4.5 years old and sponsored by the local telephone company, Vaasan Laanin Puhelin Oy. SysOps: Lenni Uitti (Main SysOp) Juha Makinen (SysOp of the Amiga-areas) Tero Manninen (SysOp of the PC-areas) @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-9 "Falling BBS" @toc "menu" * FALLING BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Norway * Running ABBS * Christopher Naas, Sysop +47 69 256117 V.32bis 24hrs - 7 days EMail: naasc@cnaas.adsp.sub.org @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-10 "Command Line BBS" @toc "menu" * COMMAND LINE BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Canada Canada's Amiga Graphics & Animation Source * Running AmiExpress BBS * Nick Poliwko, Sysop 416-533-8321 V.32 24hrs - 7 days Toronto, Canada @endnode ------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-11 "Omaha Amiganet" @toc "menu" * OMAHA AMIGANET * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running DLG Professional * Andy Wasserman, Sysop 24hrs - 7 days FidoNet 1:285/11 AmigaNet 40:200/10 Line 1: 402-333-5110 V.32bis Line 2: 402-691-0104 USR DS Omaha, Nebraska @endnode ------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-12 "Rendezvous BBS" @toc "menu" * RENDEZVOUS BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site - New Zealand New Zealand Excelsior! BBS Support Site * Running Excelsior! Professional BBS * David Dustin, Sysop Internet: postmaster@eclipse.acme.gen.nz +64 6 3566375 Supra V.32bis 24hrs - 7 days Palmerston North, New Zealand @endnode ------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-13 "Realm of Twilight" @toc "menu" * REALM OF TWILIGHT BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Canada * Running Excelsior! BBS * Thorsten Schiller, Sysop Usenet: realm.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca UUCP: ...!uunet.ca!tdkcs!realm FIDO: 1:221/202 Fish: 33:33/8 24hrs - 7 days 519-748-9365 (2400 baud) 519-748-9026 (v.32bis) Ontario, Canada Hardware: Amiga 3000, 105 Meg Quantum, 213 Meg Maxtor, 5 megs RAM @endnode ------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-14 "Metnet Triangle" @toc "menu" METNET TRIANGLE SYSTEM Official Amiga Report Distribution Site UK Support for Mebbsnet * Running Mebbsnet and Starnet 1.02a * Jon Witty, Sysop FIDO: 2:252/129.0 Line 1 44-482-473871 16.8 DS HST Lines 2-7 44-482-442251 2400 (6 lines) Line 8 44-482-491744 2400 Line 9 44-482-449028 2400 Voice helpline 44-482-491752 (anytime) Fully animated menus + normal menu sets. 500 megs HD - Usual software/messages Most doors online - Many Sigs - AMIGA AND PC SUPPORT Very active userbase and busy conference Precious days and MUD online. AMUL support site. @endnode