@database "ar211.guide" @Node MAIN "Amiga Report Online Magazine #2.11 -- March 25, 1994" @{" Turn the Page " link "menu"} _ ____ ___ ______ _______ _ d# ####b g#00 `N##0" _agN#0P0N# d# d## jN## j##F J## _dN0" " d## .#]## _P ##L jN##F ### g#0" .#]## dE_j## # 0## jF ##F j##F j##' ______ dE_j## .0"""N## d" ##L0 ##F 0## 0## "9##F" .0"""5## .dF' ]## jF ##0 ##F ##F `##k d## .dF' j## .g#_ _j##___g#__ ]N _j##L_ _d##L_ `#Nh___g#N' .g#_ _j##__ """"" """"""""""" " """""" """""" """"""" """"" """""" ###### ###### ###### ###### ###### ######## TM ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## #### ## ## ## #### ## ## ## #### ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ## ### ###### ## ###### ## ### ## International Online Magazine "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information." Copyright 1994 Skynet Publications All Rights Reserved // %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%//%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% March 25, 1994 \\// Issue No. 2.11 %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% @endnode @node "menu" "Amiga Report 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} Amiga Dealer Addresses and Numbers @{" Commercial Online Services " link P4} Sign-Up Information @{" FTP Announcements " link P5} New Files Available for FTP @{" AR Distribution Sites " link P2-1} Where to get AMIGA REPORT ____________________________________________ // | | // %%%%%%%%//%%%%%| Amiga Report International Online Magazine |%%%%%%%//%%%%% %% \\// | Issue No. 2.11 March 25, 1994 | \\// %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%| "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information" |%%%%%%%%%%%%%% |____________________________________________| The Editor's Desk Amiga News Dealer Directory Distribution BBS's Product Announcements Emulation Rambler SPECIAL FEATURES Commodore? Brrrr! .......................................Michel Vissers Power PC ........................................................RobMan The AA+ Chipset .........................................Darren Stevens Amiga Picture Viewers ..................................Osma Ahvenlampi %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% @{" DELPHI " link P4-1} @{" PORTAL " link P4-2} @{" FIDO " link P2-1} @{" INTERNET " link P4-5} %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% @endnode @node P1-1 "The Editor's Desk" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% The Editor's Desk By Robert Niles %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% It's spring!! Well maybe someone should tell the weather that, eh? It looks like there's some changes going on. Six employees from NewTek have left and have started a venture of their own. Look for some info about that in Amiga News. I'm interested in seeing what that brings. Even Kiki went with them. Everyone's getting anxious to see the AAA computers. Talk about the AAA is coming from every corner of the Amiga community. All I can say is that I hope that we'll be able to see it. But like with everything, it will be totally dependant on CBM's marketing ...or as CBM employees say, "Commodore has marketing?" I haven't seen any advertisements for the CD32 in the U.S. Has anyone else out there? Last week I had an article called "Amiga Blues". Due to problems we were not able to give him proper credit...well, he contacted me (thanks!) and Brad Hansen (100024.3556@CompuServe.COM) is the author. Thanks to all of you who have been submitting articles or tid-bits of news. Speaking of which, I hear that CBM's 1-800 line has been disconnected. Anyone hear why? OK, it's time for me to grab the fishing pole, and for you to enjoy Amiga Report. Enjoy! @endnode @node P4-1 "Delphi" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Delphi Internet Services -- Your Connection to the World! %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Amiga Report International Online Magazine is available every week in the Amiga SIG on DELPHI. Amiga Report readers are invited to join DELPHI and become a part of the friendly community of Amiga 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 Username: type JOINDELPHI and press RETURN, At Password: type AMIGAREPORT and press RETURN. DELPHI's best plan is the 20/20 plan. It gives you 20 hours each month for the low price of only $19.95! Additional hours are only $1.50 each! This covers 1200, 2400 and even 9600 connections! For more information, and details on other plans, call DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-695-4005 SPECIAL FEATURES ---------------- Complete Internet connection -- Telnet, FTP, IRC, Gopher, E-Mail and more! (Internet option is $3/month extra) SIGs for all types of computers -- Amiga, IBM, Macintosh, Atari, etc. Large file databases! SIGs for hobbies, video games, graphics, and more! Business and world news, stock reports, etc. Grolier's Electronic Encyclopedia! DELPHI - It's getting better all the time! @endnode @node P2-2 "AR Staff" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% The Amiga Report Staff %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Editor ====== Robert Niles Portal: RNiles FidoNet: 1:3407/103 Internet: rniles@hebron.connected.com Fax: 509-966-3828 US Mail: P.O. Box 8041 Yakima, Wa 98908 Emulation Editor ================ Jason Compton Internet: jcompton@tcity.com European Editor =============== Jesper Juul Internet: norjj@stud.hum.aau.dk @endnode @node P4-5 "Amiga Report Mailing List" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Amiga Report Maillist List, the WWW, and Aminet %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% AR Mailing List ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No Official Amiga Report Distribution Site in your local calling area? Are you tired of waiting for your local BBS or online service to get Amiga Report each week? 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 rniles@hebron.connected.com. Your account must be able to handle mail of any size to ensure an intact copy. For example, many systems have a 100K limit on incoming messages. Many thanks to PORTAL Communications 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! ** IMPORTANT NOTICE: PLEASE be certain your host can accept mail over ** 100K! We have had a lot of bouncebacks recently from systems with a ** 100K size limit for incoming mail. If we get a bounceback with your ** address in it, it will be removed from the list. Thanks! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ World Wide Web ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AR can also be read with Mosaic (in either AmigaGuide or html form). Reading AmigaReport with Mosaic removes the necessity to download it. Simply tell Mosaic to open the following URL: http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/Web/People/mjw/Computer/Amiga/AR/MainPage.html Mosaic for the Amiga can be found on Aminet in directory comm/net, or (using anonymous ftp) on max.physics.sunysb.edu Mosaic for X, Macintosh(tm) and Microsoft Windows(tm) can be found on ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Aminet ~~~~~~ To get Amiga Report from Aminet, simply FTP to any Aminet site, CD to text/mags. All the back issues are located there as well. @endnode @node P1-2 "Amiga News" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Amiga News %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% New SupraFAXModem(tm) 288 Offers V.Fast Speeds for Under $400 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ALBANY, OR, FEBRUARY 1994 - The SupraFAXModem 288 raises the standard on performance with data speeds of 28,800 bps while maintaining Supra's commitment to value-oriented pricing. Scheduled to ship in March, the external model will carry a selling price of $399 while the internal SupraFAXModem(tm) 288i will debut at just $349. "These products represent a huge leap forward in technology," said Kenny Richards, Manager for PC products at Supra. "Not only can users benefit from speed that's twice as fast as the current V.32bis standard, they also get the benefits of an outstanding feature set at an unbelievable price." Based on the Rockwell(tm) V.FC (V.Fast Class) chipset, Supra's new modems utilize the core technology that is expected to be defined by the ITU-TSS in the V.34 (V.Fast) standard later this year. When the V.34 standard is finalized, it will be incorporated into the full line of SupraFAXModem 288 products. In the interim, V.FC appears to be the clear leader as a standard for 28,800 bps data communication. Wide-spread acceptance of the V.FC standard will ensure compatibility with modems from more than 60 other vendors, including Hayes, Microcom, and US Robotics. By contrast, the V.32terbo standard, which is accepted by a smaller number of modem manufacturers, can go no faster than 19,200 bps. And despite the fact that these modems are half as fast as Supra's 288 products, they do not offer a competitive price advantage. True Top-Of-The-Line Technology Both Supra's internal and external modems offer technology that goes beyond the basics of V.FC technology. By utilizing flash ROM, both of these V.Fast Class products add a new level of flexibility to modem communications. Future enhancements can be made without any hardware adjustments - just download the new code information into the ROM. Plus, the SupraFAXModem 288i utilizes SupraSmart(tm) UART technology buffering to reduce the risk of data loss during high speed transmission. This includes 16550 UART emulation which, combined with V.42bis compression, enables data speeds of up to 115,200 bps. The product also includes a Windows driver with RHSI (Rockwell High-Speed Interface) which increases the throughput capabilities. The SupraFAXModem 288 external, packs this performance into Supra's highly-praised tiny desktop modem with a revolutionary alphanumeric status display which makes it a breeze ti track all modem activity, It also includes a hardware handshaking cable that enables up to 115,200 bps communication on computers equipped with a 16550 UART. Both modems also include custom Supra features such as Silent Answer(tm) which allows both voice and fax communication on a single phone line. If it detects fax "CNG" tones, the modem routes the call to fax software. Otherwise, the modem sits silently on the phone line while the call is answered by the user or by an answering machine. Another feature, Caller ID, lets users identify incoming calls before answering. Full-Featured Functionality Both modems support industry standard protocols including the full range of Bell, MNP, and ITU-TSS (formerly CCITT) standards. Among the supported features are MNP10 for improved performance on cellular connections. Both modems support the highest- available fax speed of 14,400 bps. They also support Class 1 and 2 fax commands and are compatible with Group 3 fax machines. The modems also feature a five-year warranty, Hayes compatibility, extended AT commands and result codes, compatibility with most popular telecommunications software, autoanswer/autodial, a modular phone jack, and non-volatile memory that stores two user configurations and four phone numbers. Both the desktop faxmodem and internal card include all software, cables and instructions the user needs for getting started with high-speed data and fax communication. The bundle includes FaxTalk(r) for Windows for flawless fax transmission, Compuserve Information Manager(tm) for Windows, and COMit(tm) for DOS and Windows - a data communication program designed specifically for high-speed communication. For Macintosh owners, Supra offers the SupraFAXModem 288 Mac package for desktop users and the SupraFAXModem 288PB an internal modem for PowerBook models 100-180c. Both packages include all the software, cables and instructions the user needs for getting started with high-speed data and fax communication. The bundle includes MicroPhone(tm) LT, Compuserve Information Manager(tm), and the CCL scripts required for Apple Remote Access(tm). Packages also include FAXcilitate(tm), fax software that brings a new level of flexibility and ease-of-use to Macintosh faxing. About Supra Corporation Supra Corporation, based in Albany, Oregon, has been providing personal computer users with high-quality, low-cost peripherals since 1985. Since the original SupraModem(r) 2400 was introduced in 1987, SupraModems have been popular among consumers for excellent value in a reliable modem, and have been recommended by a variety of sources, from respected PC MAgazine and MacUser columnist John C. Dvorak to the Boston Computer Society. Supra Corporation 7101 Supra Drive SW Albany, OR 97321 Amiga Technical Support Line: 503-967-2493 Fax: 503-967-2401 [ ED's Note : Alex Johnson, of Supra's Amiga Technical Services advises ] [ that they should start shipping the SupraFAXModem 288 at the end of ] [ this month or the beginning of the next month (April). He also stated ] [ that there will probably be a sysop's purchase program with even ] [ better prices. The sysop's purchase price should be set within the ] [ next week or so. ] ============================== NEWTEK, INC ANNOUNCES SCREAMERNET RENDERING SOFTWARE FOR LIGHTWAVE 3D PROFESSIONALS Las Vegas, March 20, 1994 - NewTek, Inc., the company that brought professional video and animation production to the masses with the Video Toaster introduces ScreamerNet for LightWave 3D users. ScreamerNet is the evolution of the Screamer rendering hardware announced last August. "As we pursued development of the Screamer hardware it became evident that high speed processors were quickly becoming commodity items," said NewTek President Tim Jenison. "Rather than NewTek trying to keep up with the hardware wars we decided to release software that will allow LightWave users to select the rendering machine of their choice." ScreamerNet is a rendering software package that allows LightWave 3D users to take advantage of the rendering power offered by workstations from a variety of vendors. The software is Windows NT compatible and will support hardware that utilizes Intel, MIPS, and DEC Alpha processor chips. ScreamerNet's suggested retail price is $1995 and will support up to eight machines. LightWave 3D has become the animation package of choice for most of the cutting edge action shows in Hollywood," stated Jenison. "Television programs such as seaQuest DSV, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Babylon 5 and RoboCop are using the Video Toaster and LightWave 3D to push the envelope of visual effects. With the introduction of ScreamerNet they will have access to the rendering power they need to completely redefine the standards for effects in television and film production." "As the makers of revolutionary products like Video Toaster and the new Video Toaster Flyer, NewTek means high technology at an unbelievably low price point," said NewTek's Marketing Director Donetta Colboch. "While ScreamerNet represents a dramatic breakthrough in 3D rendering price/performance, it's designed and priced for the professional animation facility." NewTek will be showcasing the ScreamerNet software at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention, March 21-24 in Booth #11050. ============================= NEWTEK STUNS NAB WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF THE VIDEO TOASTER FLYER TAPELESS EDITING SYSTEM Las Vegas, March 20, 1994 - NewTek, Inc., the pioneers of the desktop video industry, announce the Video Toaster Flyer, the first D2 quality tapeless editing system. With the Flyer priced at $3995, NewTek once again shatters the price/performance standards for broadcast quality video production just as they did with the release of the Video Toaster in 1990. "When we originally conceived the idea for the Video Toaster it was to provide all the tools necessary to create broadcast quality television at a price almost anyone could afford." said Tim Jenison, NewTek President. "With the introduction of the Video Toaster Flyer we have made the tools even more accessible, reducing the cost of production by an order of magnitude." The Video Toaster Flyer is the result of more than seven years of intense research and development. The Video Toaster Flyer offers D2 quality video and CD quality audio editing in a tapeless, non- linear environment. The Video Toaster Flyer tapeless editor allows the user to dial in the video quality, up to lossless D2 quality. All video data is stored on computer hard drives that allow the user to access particular segments instantaneously without having to shuttle from one point to another as in traditional tape editing. The system employs an easy to use, drag and drop storyboard interface. The breakthrough technology in the Video Toaster Flyer is NewTek's revolutionary new VTASC compression algorithm. VTASC sets a new standard for hard disk based video compresson by combining D2, broadcast quality video with unprecedented compression ratios. NewTek is currently in discussion with a number of vendors looking to license VTASC and Video Toaster Flyer technology. The Video Toaster Flyer continues NewTek's tradition of providing easy to use, broadcast quality video production tools, at unbelivevably low prices.. The complete Video Toaster Flyer system provides the ability to incorporate all of the tools from the Video Toaster; digital video effects, paint graphics, titles and animations directly into productions edited from one simple interface. For Toaster LightWave 3D users, the tapeless editor will allow the blending of moving video easily and seamlessly into animated video prouctions. NewTek will be demonstrating the Video Toaster Flyer at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention, March 21-24 in Booth #11050. [ ED'S NOTE: AR would like to give thanks to Harv Laser of ] [ Portal's Amiga Zone for the last two announcements. ] ============================= EX-NEWTEK EMPLOYEES ANNOUNCE "PLAY" San Francisco, CA - Former NewTek senior staff members who left the Kansas company earlier this year have ended industry speculation by unveiling their new venture, 'PLAY'. "Launching the Video Toaster and with it the desktop video industry over the last seven years was a fantastic adventure," commented PLAY President Paul Montgomery, "Along the way we discovered some very compelling opportunities that went beyond one technology or even one platform. PLAY was formed to take advantage of those opportunities." The company, which consists primarily of Californians who relocated to Kansas to build NewTek, is based in San Francisco. "In the mid-eighties NewTek Vice-President and visionary Paul Montgomery assembled a very unique team from around the world." said Tom Egan, senior editor for Channel 4000, the leading desktop video news service. "With their accomplishments in building this industry at NewTek, they're my pick for the 'desktop video Dream Team'. I'm expecting a lot from this group." PLAY features Emmy-award winning members of the Video Toaster R & D team, including NewTek's former Head of Softwawre Development, Steve Hartford, video hardware and software guru, Ken Turcotte, and Toaster hardware design engineer, Brad Carvey. Other PLAY founders include NewTek's former Director of Marketing, Mark Randall, plus Product Development Manager and Hollywood technology pioneer, Daniel Kaye. Rounding out the PLAY executive team is a face known to millions, Kiki Stockhammer, the video industry's well-known celebrity spokesperson. PLAY will announce it's first strategic relationship at a special event on Sunday, March 20th at 7:00 P.M. in the Julius Room of Caesars Palace, Las Vegas. "We feel the 'information superhighway' and desktop video are desinted to collide sooner than anyone thinks" said Montgomery, "PLAY and our new partner Private Channels are perfectly positioned to provide the technology, content and distribution needed to realize the dream of 'video-on-demand'." @endnode @node P1-3 "Commodore? Brrrrr!" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Commodore? Brrr! by Michel Vissers %% %% v932631@si.hhs.nl %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% **** Commodore ???? Brrrrrr !!!! **** I'm a fanatic Amiga user for about 4 years now. To me there is no other computer half as good as the Amiga. BUT there is something I really don't like about it. Commodore ! Why ??? Read on and wheep B^( In all magazines you can find articles about how good C= is, but every time I read such an article I start to shiver. I have some really bad memories of C= and Amiga. It all started when I bought my first one. ACT 1: After a lot of visits to a local computershop I finally decided to sell my trusty C64 (The only thing C= really did right !) and buy an Amiga. I got a great deal and took my A500 home. I got some software to start from a friend (yes illegal, but it is nice to have some software to start with) and started playing. Untill... I coded a lot on the C64 so I was determend to continue on the Amiga and got Seka. Very nice except when the ESC key and some others don't work. Back to the shop. Fortunately for me they knew that sending the computer to C= would take ages to be fixed, so they gave me a new Amiga. ACT 2: After some coding (yes, not programming B^)) and stuff I decided to try out music aswell. So offcourse Noisetracker (and later Protracker) was the logical start. (Here it comes again) Untill... After some time my screen started acting weird. It became smaller for a few seconds and then returned to normal. At first I thought some virus got my Amiga but as it kept coming back later, even after a viruschecker had wiped out every bit of ugly routines on my disks, I knew it was a hardware problem. So, still in my warrenty period, I went back to the shop and got a replacement monitor. And I was happy again... ACT 3: BAFFF !!! Hey, where's my AsmOne screen ???? My Amiga lay there... dead. My powersupply decided to quit on me. And offcourse I was furious, because it happened just after my warrenty period ended. B^( But I went to the shop ( it was called The Shop, funny isn't it ? ) and asked them what to do. As my warrenty ended (1 month) I had to buy a new supply and they recommended that I should buy one from them so I could get their warrenty-service... But their supplies where a lot more expensive than the usual but not better. Luckily there was a big computerfair where I could buy a heavyduty supply for less than the one I could buy in the shop. So that story has a good end, but what I don't get is how a supply could possibly die with just an A500 with 0.5 chip, 0.5 fast and an external drive (Cumana, which is very good). ACT 4: Well, not much to say. Just read ACT 2 again. My monitor does the strangest things when turned on. After a minute orso it startes its showbizz again for a couple of minutes and then returns to normal. You know, I'm still using the same monitor now, but as I haven't got the money to buy a decent multisync I'll just have to bear it (for the rest of my life ????). ACT 5: Finally some good things happen. Everything I bought worked ! A 2MB memory kit for 1.0 chip and 1.5 fast, an IDE HD-controller, Digiview and lots of software. And you know what ??? They all were things NOT made by C=. ACT 6: Finally the moment has come. A1200 is available and for a great price too (cheaper than the A500 !). So offcourse I buy one. I really love it. Especially from a coders view as demos are much more interresting on an A1200. I hook it up and started doing my stuff. But after a while I started to miss my HD, so I decided to build it in my A1200. Together with a friend of mine, we bothbuild in our 3.5 inch HD's in our beloved A1200's and it worked perfect. Untill now I've never had any problems concerning the HD or powershortness. Because the A1200 is small and pretty light it's easy to take it along to friends and so I do. This however doesn't count for monitors but as it's possible to connect an Amiga to composite aswell it's no problem...I though. My composite signal was trashed ! Were's the sync ???? Bummer 1 !!! In the summerholiday I went to Sweden to a member of our group. Well, he still has a TV but the A1200 has a TV-mod so... Well, you can probably guess it. It's busted too. B^( But as I had opened my A1200 my warrenty is gone, foestie, pleite !!! Fortunately their is no ACT 7 now, but as soon as I buy something new which has the C= sign on it, ACT 7 will follow...[sigh] After something happened I always called C= first. Who knows they might happen to know something to fix my problems but they always tried to get rid of me. I like to enter C= Holland in the competition for worst service ever ! Aaaahhhh, finally got that of my chest... Michel/Oradion v932631@si.hhs.nl @endnode @node P1-4 "Power PC" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Power PC - Should we be jealous? by RobMan %% %% %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Well, on March 14th we got our hands on the Apple PowerMac 8100, the top of the new range of Apple PowerPCs, with 16Meg of Ram, 500 meg hard disk, CD player and the SoftWindows software that "runs PC apps at the speed of a 486/25". I was eager to play, to say the least. It looks good (a Quadra 800 style case with a caddyless CD drive) and cost us a rather vast 4000 UK pounds (this is NOT the retail price - we're developers) and definitely runs the kind of Mac software we need it to run. Now, I'm an Amiga-guy like you people, and I am eagerly awaiting something new from C= so I can finally move into the big league in terms of power (my '020 based A500+/CD32 are hardly muscle machines!!). So with all of this new hardware cropping up, some of us may be tempted to defect to these new PowerPCs, or Pentiums or whatever, rather than waiting for the fabled A5000. This is why I wrote this - to say that right now, as of this moment in time, I am NOT impressed enough with the PowerPC to say bye-bye Amiga people. In fact, I don't think I'll ever be impressed enough to leave the Ami. Even my humble A500+ can handle animations better than this PowerPC! In speed tests, there were several areas where even a Quadra 610 would give this thing a run for its' money. Sure there's plenty of native PPC software 'just around the corner' (yeah, right) but its performance as a Mac is, well, like a Mac -slllooooowww. The other, H-U-G-E, crunch comes when trying to run PC software. It doesn't run 386 or 486 code. No siree, it's the worlds fastest 286!! Sure, it runs windows quickly. Excel too. Doom? TFX? (the ONLY reason to even go near a PC) I need only quote from the machine itself - "Needs 386 or above to run". Aaaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhh. Dust off that old 386 and play Doom nice and slow (or on a screen 2 inches by 2 inches :-). I have it on good authority that (one day) it will run 386/486 code. I also have it on good authority that one day all machines will run as beautifully as the Amiga did in 1987! Oh dear. Perhaps now is not the best time to purchase PowerPC, Amiga people. Let's hope C= go for the PA Risc chip, or at least a PPC chip running AmigaDos. Keep it Amiga. At least WE know the truth. Tell your friends. Maybe oneday I'll even get an Amiga into this company (I could always stick an Apple sticker on it!!) - then the rest can experience power!! @endnode @node P1-5 "The AA+ Chipset" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% The AA+ Chipset by Darren Stevens %% %% Daz@mail.on-line.co.uk %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Hi there! After all those predictions and rumors in AR recently I thought I'd put my ideas into the pot... Being from England I will be staying with low-end Amigas for a long time to come. At current prices an A4000/030 would cost me more than I take home each month (a lot more for a good one!) So while I find discussions of what the AAA will be like interesting, I'd like to know more about the AA+ as thats what I will be getting next.. Well thats the problem isn't it? Theres LOTS of info about the AAA floating about, and thats not realy surprising is it? Over here in the UK at least, the Amiga (well the A1200) is doing well, so I think we get forgotten about while C= trys to reassure US Amigans. So info about the AA+ is very scarse at the moment. I'm sure it hasn't been abandoned - Dave Haynie mentioned both the high and low end groups share staff, so whats happening? A long dig through my old magazines has given me enough info to come up with some informed guesses. (Most of which will probably be wrong!) Firstly what is the AA+? ======================== Lew has said that this is an improved version of the AA, with improvements that couldn't be fitted into the AA. Basically as I see it only the Video, sprites and palette have been improved so far. AA+ will give a better blitter (Horay!), copper, proper High density floppies, a FIFO buffered serial port, and 24 bit graphics although I suspect only in normal PAL/NTSC modes. Sound may be improved. I expect the AA+ to have at least double the AA's bus bandwidth, ie ~57Mb/s (thats the same as for the low-end AAA described in AR201 Hmmmmmm....) I would also expect an increase in chip ram, which leads to a problem. The A1200's memory map is only 24 bits (16M) currently this is 2 meg chip and 9 Meg Fast. Increasing chip ram to 4 or 8 Meg will not leave much space for fast ram. There are three solutions to this:- 1) use a Full 020 with its full 32 bit addressing (and MMU) 2) Get motorola to design a new EC020 with more address lines(!) 3) use an EC030 16Mhz... I know which I'd prefer!!!! video modes: 640 x 256/200 NI 24 bit 50/60 Hz (Pal/NTSC) 640 x 512/400 NI 16 bit 50/60 Hz (DBLPal/DBLNTSC) 1280 x 512/400 NI 256 Colours 50/60 Hz (DBLPal/DBLNTSC Super Hi-res) 800 x 600 NI 256 colours 72 Hz (DBLSuper72??) (with interlaced of course) and possibly (depending on which info you believe!) 1280 x 1024 NI 16 Colours 50 Hz ...Plus of course Productivity etc, AA+ is also going to cost less as it will only be 2 chips not 3. I think it is possible that C= will Replace all current machines this Autumn. Why? - 2 reasons - Cost: AA+ should be cheaper. - AA was only a sort of stop-gap until AAA/AA+ were ready. I think I should explain what I mean by 'replace'. Current A1200 upgraded to A1200+ with AA+ and OS3.1 CD32 also given AA+ A4000/040 Given AAA for A4000/030 - could go either way! AAA/AA+ your guess is as good as mine! Cases will stay as with current models, meaning production can carry on without having to re-tool all production lines, and it may be possible for current users to upgrade motherboards in their machines, saving them some cost. One thing I hope Lew will fix is the bus rate of the AA+. From the available evidence it seems the AA runs at the same speed as the ECS. The graphical improvements are from fetching MORE not more often. However the processor in the A1200 is now twice as fast. Result:- each Custom chip set Odd cycle (remember Odd cycle is DMA only) overlays 1 odd AND 1 even from the '020. Hence the processor runs very slowly in chip ram. (I dont know this for certain by the way, but it seems logical) One other possibility, one that I think would make a *LOT* of sense is for the functions of the two different low-end gate-array chips to be incorporated into one chip. I mean the 1200's super Gary and the CD32's Akiko. Result of this is a A1200 you can plug a CD drive into, or a CD32 which turns into a computer - both very cheaply! But this is a sensible idea and we all know that C= don't always act sensibly do they? (Are you reading Lew? Dave??) What is the upshot of these ideas of mine? If Lew hasn't forgotten to improve the sound under AA+ the A1200+ will be a multimedia machine to be reconned with. And at probably the same price as the current 1200 execlent value. The new CD32 should give both Atari and 3DO sleepless nights... the CD32 - the least powerfull of the 3 machines is Dominating the CD market place over here. The AA+ will put it up there with the others spec wise, and it will still be miles ahead with software support. Happy computing all! Darren Sources (for those of you interested) Amiga Shopper 21 - Jan '93 news (pg 11) AUI April 1993 - Orlando Devcon (pg 22 - 26) AUI May/June 1993 - Lew Eggebrecht interview (pg 20 - 23) AR201, AR206 and lots of other article/files I can't remember right now. @endnode %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% European Outlook by Jesper Juul %% %% norjj@stud.hum.aau.dk %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% @node P1-6 "Emulation Rambler" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Emulation Rambler By Jason Compton %% %% Trying to keep on top of everything. (jcompton@tcity.com) %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% In the wake of Apple's PowerPC announcement (wow, they're FINALLY releasing them?) I just thought I'd remind everyone of a few things pointed out about the entire PowerPC line, in a recent MacWorld magazine... "...you won't be able to install a PowerPC Mac's version of System 7 onto a non-Apple PowerPC computer." And they say PowerPC is a cross-platform OS setup? "...any 680x0 application that requires an FPU will not run on a Power- PC; you'll have to get a PowerPC-specific software upgrade or use a slow software FPU emulator." "Other PowerPC-based computers won't run Mac software." I'll take a fast bridgeboard, an Emplant, and a 4000 any day. Now, off to the races... A-Max IV setup...and you thought Emplant was fun. ------------------- My A-Max IV is up and running now. I took the ROMs out of a friend's A-Max II (thanks Stacie!), plugged them in, and went to work. On booting up the software, I got an Error 7 preventing the System from loading itself up. "Great!" I'm thinking. Just when I get Emplant figured out, A-Max is going to bring its own barrels of joy. So I went ahead and tried playing with the various configurations, but got the same error. Fine, fine, I'll re-install the system software. THAT worked, and now A-Max IV and Emplant live happily together. Much to my surprise, neither company programmed in a clause that melts the slot with the competitor's board. Running A-Max IV ------------------- Someone made a comment on CSAE that A-Max IV has a more "professional-looking" front-end than Emplant. I'm not sure I see more "professionalism" shine through in the configuration screen. A-Max IV brings up a Workbench window with 8 option categories, significantly less than Emplant's 12. The A-Max control panel is, in general, more powerful, but I'll get into it in depth next week. First impressions...after all, they only get one chance. --------------------------------------------------- So far, I like it. In terms of its "Mac-ness", the A-Max and Emplant are to this point indistinguishable. It's the difference in setting up the Mac that makes the difference. The most obvious thing is that 4 color mode doesn't exist on A-Max, it's 2 or 16 for me and nothing inbetween. That's not a colossal loss, but I could see where 4 color mode would be missed. Other than that, neither board loses in the face of the other right away. Emplant Updates: ----------------- I've got a couple of VERY interesting programs sitting on my Mac partition right now. One is a C-64 emulator, the other is (from what I'm told) a very good image manipulation program. Unfortunately, I'm having difficulty finding something that will appease the "This file requires BinHex 4.0" requirement at the top of the files, so they're sitting as large chunks of text at the moment. (I'm making a lot of excuses, aren't I?) Maybe I'll talk about Emplant 4.1 a bit. Emplant 4.1 ----------- Well, for one thing, Jim removed the screen fade from the emulation main menu. That was rather nice, I never realized how much TIME it took. The sound routines have been modified slightly, in case a Mac program decides to bang on the Mac hardware in a very nasty fashion. Serial WORKS, however I'm having a hard time getting my modem to like the new handshaking, and no devices other than plain old serial.device seem to work with the emulation. Any others come up with an error from the emulation menu. Parallel support still works. My Emplant serial ports still don't, but a lot of that blame goes to me for not actively pursuing UU about it. Full Emplant Mailing List? ---------------------------- Remember that Emplant new-software-release mailing list at emplant-request@clinton.com? Talk is going on of making it a full- blown mailing list (although the guy who organized the whole thing hasn't commented yet) and interest seems to be running high of forming a general-information Emplant mailing list, basically for the people who are tired of the C.S.A.Emulation material. If anyone is interested in forming one, let me know, and I'll put the word out here. Another program that just doesn't work well... ------------------------------------------ For reasons I can't figure out, Despair, a PD game, does not work with the Emplant. I've tried just about every situation I can: nothing in the Amiga background, 2, 4, and 16 color modes, nothing running in the Mac background...all for nothing. Despair, a Populous spinoff in which people run around on a Donkey-Kongish world waiting for you to kill them in interesting ways, bus errors as soon as I try to kill someone, unless I wait and do nothing, in which case it bus errors shortly anyway. The game is recent enough that I don't feel confident that it is System 7.1 causing the problem, but it may well be, since a Mac associate says that bus errors tend to mean System incompatibility. The only Mac error messages I've ever seen on Emplant have been bus errors, and I KNOW it's not all incompatibility. Word's old crash problem often involved bus errors. This only makes two programs that work below satisfactory levels. Apple2000: Kevin Kralian's masterpiece -------------------------------------------- Ok, ok, so emulators don't look like masterpieces to everyone. To me, however, Kevin Kralian's Apple2000 emulator is about as close to complete as software emulators get. The Apple II+ emulation provides a multitasking Apple II+ with 64k, all video modes, keyboard (good thing, too), joystick, and sound support. The disk drive is emulated using DDD compression files which the emulator automatically recognizes and dissolves. Saves can be made in the form of memory snapshots or full disk storage, although most of it is at yet unimplemented in my version. Kralian included about 40 programs for the purposes of my emulation. So how does it taste? ------------------- Pretty good. I hadn't played Karateka in a LONG time, and I have to admit that it plays pretty authentically on my 030/25 Amiga while letting the rest of the system run as well. I remember playing Apple Karateka on an Apple many, many years ago, and this looked just the same. The disk access is incredibly faster than a real drive would be (I would hope, it's loading off the Amiga hard drive), and the screen updating is concrete. I hadn't played Choplifter in an even LONGER time. It was there in all its splendor, too. (Of course, I'm more inclined to the 64 version of these programs, but that's a matter of history.) ProDOS and AppleDOS 3.3 are both supported. Multiple disk software works, because the emulation allows you to "insert" a disk without booting off of it. Karateka plays acceptably fast while Terminus downloads at 1620 cps. It looks, for all the world, like an Apple II, the first real computer I ever used. I don't know how he could come much closer to authenticity without replacing the "A" keys with apples. (incidentally, he provides for resetting the Apple from the keyboard, too) The joystick support either lets you use a two-button joystick or allows the right alt key for the second button. It's not the greatest solution, but it works. He even includes a "calibration" method using the keyboard if the joystick behaves strangely. Ok, so what good is it? How am I supposed to get the Apple software -------------------------------------------------------------------- to the emulator, anyway? ------------------------ Well, Kralian gives detailed instructions for obtaining an Apple II ROM image, in the event you A. Own an Apple II or set of Apple II ROMs you can use with the program. B. Figure Apple has better things to do than track down illicit Apple II ROMs It involves the Apple's built-in monitor mode. Nothing too hard, he tells you exactly what to do. This is the tricky part: you need a modem. You've gotta somehow send those ROMs to the Amiga. From this point, obtaining software works in one of two ways... A. Obtain the memory image or DDD file from somewhere and put it directly on the Amiga hard drive. B. DDD compress it on the Apple side and send it over. He's obviously done a lot of it, because I've got a nice sampling of games and a few utilities (Music Maker is a riot) on my emulator. Works fine for him. WHY would I want to do such a thing? ------------------------------------ If you're reading my column, you probably have SOME measure of interest in emulation. That's the first, and most vital, step. Just to run the thing, say: "Wow, neat, an Apple II whose screen I can yank up and down", show it to a friend who'd care and put it aside would be enough for some people. I, personally, find it VERY neat and that's why I sit here week after week rambling on and on about emulators. Historical value is a consideration, as well as the mere act of saving space not needing an Apple II+ lying around. If those things don't interest you, you probably won't be too interested in ANY emulator. Ok, I'm interested. Where do I get it? --------------------------------------- Good question. Apple2000 hasn't been released anywhere yet. It may be shareware, it may appear on magazine cover disks, it may go straight into PD. It may do none of the above. Kralian hasn't decided yet. He has nailed out AGA support and is now working on better DDD and AppleDOS support, as well as solving a bug I've located that nobody else can duplicate. As always with these things, I'll let you know when I find out. That's it for this week. Until next time (one or two weeks), just remember: "multiplatform" is more than having a fast processor. Keep the emulators warm. @endnode @node P1-7 "UseNet Review - Amiga picture viewers" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% UseNet Review - SURVEY: Amiga picture viewers by Osma Ahvenlampi %% %% oahvenla@vinkku.hut.fi %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% SURVEY: Amiga picture viewers, version 2 PRODUCT NAMES, AUTHOR INFORMATION, AVAILABILITY AIVE 1.0 by Laurent Vivier ALook 3.1 by Trevor Andrews Bview 1.06 by Joeri Alberty FastJPEG 1.10 by Christoph Feck FastView 2.01 by "KRUEMELMONSTER2000" GIF.datatype 39.3 by "Steve the G" GIF_view 4.4 by Lorenzo Musto HAMGIF 2.5 by Steven Bennett ILBM.datatype 40.2 by Commodore-Amiga, Inc. JPEG.datatype 39.1 by Steve Goddard Mostra 2.0 by Sebastiano Vigna MUGiff 1.4 by Mark Rose PPShow 4.0 by Nico Francois ShowGIF 1.01 by Christophe Passuello * ViewJpeg 1.0 beta by Viewtek 1.05 by Thomas Krehbiel VirtGIF 1.0 by Patrick Maloney VJPEG 0.01 by David Blevins ZGif 0.4 by Michael Zucchi ZGIF.datatype 39.7 by Michael Zucchi * ShowGIF is the CLI counterpart of FastGIF, a better known, GUI driven GIF viewer. ShowGIF is is distributed with FastGIF. All of the software in this review, with the exception of ILBM.datatype (a part of the AmigaDOS from version 3.0 upwards) is available on Aminet, the world wide network of ftp sites for Amiga software. For further information on Aminet, ftp to ftp.wustl.edu, directory /pub/aminet, and read the README file available there. BRIEF DESCRIPTION After getting a considerable amount of response from the quick and dirty picture viewer test I made a while ago, I decided a more thorough test would be in order. For this, a friend of mine was nice enough to loan me an A1200 so that I could include AGA specific software also. Thanks, Pekka! [MODERATOR'S NOTE: The original test was posted in c.s.a.reviews on 23 February 1994, and is found in our ftp archives in the file software/graphics/PictureViewerSurvey. - Dan] Only public domain, shareware, freeware and similar software is included, simply because I do not have access to enough commercial software, nor the time to learn to use it well enough to get a fair view of the capabilities. I felt that to avoid biasing, it would be better to restrict the test to freely available software. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS For more detailed information about the specific requirements of anyof the programs, see their documentation. HARDWARE Some of the programs require the AGA chipset found on Amiga models A1200, A4000 and later. A few of the programs require a 68020 CPU or better. SOFTWARE Some of the programs require AmigaDOS version 2.0 orlater, or, most notably in the case of the Datatypes, even AmigaDOS version 3.0 or later. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga A1200 Microbotics 1230XA, 50MHz 68030 board 2MB Chip RAM, 4MB Fast RAM 130MB hard drive Kickstart version 39.106, Workbench version 40.23 BACKGROUND The hardest part was deciding what to test. For reasons described above, I left all commercial software out of the test. None would have actually fit into the description of a "picture viewer" anyway, being complicated and feature-laden image conversion and manipulation software. Next, I decided, partly for the same reasons, to leave out all programs specifically made for image conversion and manipulation. So you won't find ADPro, ImageFX, ImageMaster, HamLabPlus, NETPBM, or any other similar programs here. Sorry. What was left after this was the relatively simple programs meant for displaying pictures in various formats. Note that most, if not all, of these programs sacrifice quality for speed, unlike the dedicated converter programs. This time, AGA modes were used where applicable, and if the program supported them. No extra ECS-specific tests were made. If a program had two versions, an AGA specific and an ECS specific, the AGA specific one was used. Most programs in the review have a command line interface only, with perhaps the capability to read the options from icon tooltypes also. All tests were made using the command line interface, except in the case of ViewJpeg, which had a GUI interface only (and a horrible file requester, something that was quite common in the AmigaDOS 1.3 days). Originally, I intended to test AIVE 1.0 also. During the testing, it produced lots of alerts and even crashes, and thus I had to leave it out. From what I did find out, it was exceptionally slow and supported a subset of IFF ILBM only, so I don't think dropping it from the review changed the results too much. TABLE OF FEATURES Program IFF IFF24 PCHG GIF JPEG Mode DT Multi Slide FReq AGA ============================================================== ALook O - O - - - - O O O - Bview O - - - - - - - - O O FastJPEG - - - - O O - O O O * FastView O - - - - - - O - O - GIF.dt - - - O - NA NA NA NA NA O GIF_view - - - O - - - - - - - HAMGIF - - - O - - - O O - - ILBM.dt O - - - - NA NA NA NA NA O JPEG.dt - - - - O NA NA NA NA NA X Mostra O - O - - O - O O O O MUGiff O - - - - - - O - O - PPShow O O O O O O O O O O O ShowGIF - - - O - - - O O - O ViewJpeg - - - - O - - - - O - Viewtek O O O O O O O O O O O VirtGIF - - - O - - - - - - - VJPEG - - - - O - - - - - - ZGif - - - O - - - O - - * ZGIF.dt - - - O - NA NA NA NA NA X Key: O The program has this feature. - The program does NOT have this feature. * A separate version of the program has this feature. X AGA is required to run this program. NA Not applicable. In particular, datatypes do not have a user interface of their own, but require a viewer that supports datatypes (such as MultiView) as a front-end. Explanation of the columns: - IFF, IFF24, GIF and JPEG are picture formats. PCHG is an extension of the IFF ILBM format with a multipalette chunk mostly usable for HAM pictures. - DT means the program can use Datatypes to display pictures. - Mode means support for manual screenmode selection from the Display Database. - Multi means capability of showing multiple files on one invocation. - Slide means basic slideshow support, such as looping through the pictures, showing a picture for a specified time, and hidden decompression while showing another picture. - FReq means the pictures can be selected from a file requester. - AGA means the program supports AGA modes. PICTURES USED IN TESTING Two pictures were used in the testing. For a color picture, I decided to use a 597x796x24 scan of a Boris Vallejo painting, available on ftp.funet.fi as /pub/pics/art/BorisVallejo/bv9.jpg. This picture was downscaled and converted with the NETPBM image conversion package to all the formats used in the test, with the exception of the HAM6 version, which was converted with HamLabPlus as a PCHG HAM (using 12 color registers in the slicing). For black and white, I used a 600x787x1 clip art collage GIF which I also converted to IFF. Pic# Description 1 597x796x24 color JPEG 2 597x796x8 grayscale JPEG 3 298x796x6 lores/laced sliced (12) PCHG HAM6 4 597x796x8 hires/laced HAM8 5 299x398x4 16 color IFF 6 299x398x8 256 color IFF 7 600x768x1 B/W IFF 8 299x398x4 16 color GIF 9 299x398x8 256 color GIF 10 600x768x1 B/W GIF 11 299x398x24 IFF24 SPEED OF THE PROGRAMS The timing of the programs was done using the Spy System 3 system performance monitor package, and the CPUTime command. This program runs the program given to it as a command line argument, and after the program has finished, reports the real time and CPU time taken by the program. In the following table I have listed the real time. While on first thought, CPU time might have been more truthful, it would have not included the time used to access the disk. Some of the programs use asynchronous file I/O, decompressing at the same time as reading from the disk, while others first read a bit, then decompress, read a bit more, etc. Given the same decompression routine, a program using asynchronous I/O can be significantly faster, although the CPU time taken would be the same. This is why real time is listed. See the end of this article for the listing of both real and CPU time. The times are in seconds, and include all initializations and cleaning up the program made before and after displaying the picture. If the program wasn't capable of exiting immediately after displaying the picture, the number includes the time it took me to press the mouse button, ESCAPE, ENTER, or whatever the program required to exit. Datatypes were timed using Viewtek with the DT option. It should be kept in mind that the times below are the results of one iteration only. That is, I tested the programs once. There might be random errors that repeated testing could have eliminated. This is especially true with the viewers that could not exit automatically, where my own reaction time might account for most of the time. The CPU time could be nearer to the truth in these cases. Program 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 ALook - - 3.2 - 1.8 - 1.6 - - - - Bview - - - 7.4 2.7 - 2.6 - - - - FastJPEG 14.3 6.9 - - - - - - - - - FastView - - - - 7.9 - 3.6 - - - - GIF.dt - - - - - - - 3.1 4.7 4.5 - GIF_view - - - - - - - 14.3 17.9 19.1 - HAMGIF - - - - - - - 7.4 6.9 4.7 - ILBM.dt - - - 6.1 1.9 2.7 1.9 - - - - Mostra - - 2.7 5.8 1.4 2.2 1.2 - - - - MUGiff - - - - 5.0 - 2.4 - - - - PPShow 18.9 9.5 2.9 5.3 1.6 2.3 1.8 2.4 3.3 3.3 4.6 ShowGIF - - - - - - - 5.9 4.1 3.3 - ViewJpeg 57.9 24.1 - - - - - - - - - Viewtek 40.4 10.6 3.6 7.6 1.9 3.0 1.9 3.3 4.6 5.6 19.8 VirtGIF - - - - - - - 21.6 25.1 63.6 - VJPEG 123.6 * - - - - - - - - - ZGIF - - - - - - - 4.7 2.3 X - ZGIF.dt - - - - - - - 2.2 2.7 2.6 - * VJPEG crashed on a grayscale JPEG. X For some unknown reason, ZGif showed only a blank screen on the large black and white GIF. JPEG.datatype crashed for some unknown reason on every try. Others have reported it working, but I was not able to get it work. NOTES ON QUALITY My experience has been that on an ECS Amiga, FastJPEG produces by far the best result from a JPEG picture. In HAM8 mode on an AGA machine, the dithering is not that critical, and thus the difference in quality between FastJPEG and other JPEG viewers is less. FastJPEG also has a "dirty" option, which turns off dithering and speed up the displaying considerably. With this option, the resulting picture is very close to Viewtek quality. PPShow has a problem when rendering 24-bit to HAM. While this is only a marginal problem on HAM8, it shows up extremely clearly on ECS machines and HAM6 mode. The result is hard to describe, but diagonal and vertical lines of high contrast are messy. Some of the viewers convert 256 color GIFs to HAM6. This is a two-sided matter. While this is the only practical way of displaying the pictures in color on ECS machines, HAM6 resolution is not that good. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES I've collected here some notes that I felt might be of some use to the readers. Viewtek can show 256 color IFFs even on ECS Amigas. It will render them in HAM6 mode, and the result is identical to a 256 color GIF. In addition, it shows HAM8 pictures on ECS machines, but seems to simply strip two bitplanes out, and not do any rendering to HAM6. The result is quite weird looking. Gif_view, HAMGIF, VirtGIF and Viewtek show 256 color GIFs in HAM6 on ECS machines. Other GIF-capable viewers show them in 16 grayscales. Viewtek and PPShow can also play ANIMs. MICRO REVIEW In my opinion, the overall quality of a display viewer can be judged from three roughly equal parts: flexibility, speed, and display quality. What follows is a quick assessment of the viewers in this test in the comp.sys.amiga.reviews micro-review format. ALook | Trevor Andrews | *+ Bview | Joeri Alberty | *+ FastJPEG | Christoph Feck | **** FastView | "KRUEMELMONSTER 2000" | * GIF.datatype | "Steve the G" | **+ GIF_view | Lorenzo Musto | * HAMGIF | Steven Bennett | *+ ILBM.datatype | Commodore-Amiga, Inc. | *** Mostra | Sebastiano Vigna | *** MUGiff | Mark Rose | * PPShow | Nico Francois | ****+ ShowGIF | Christophe Passuello | **+ ViewJpeg | | * Viewtek | Thomas Krehbiel | ***+ VirtGIF | Patrick Maloney | * VJPEG | David Blevins | * ZGif | Michael Zucchi | **+ ZGIF.datatype | Michael Zucchi | **** CONCLUSIONS PPShow was great all around. You will probably want a fast viewer that can display a lot of things with good to reasonable quality, and PPShow fits the description. The JPEG and IFF24 display quality leave room for improvement, but both are fast. In case you're willing to use several viewers, I would recommend using FastJPEG for JPEGs. It is a bit faster than PPShow, and a lot better quality. If you happen to be a speed freak, or use a slow machine, you might want to consider using the ZGIF.datatype with PPShow for GIF pictures. Viewtek used to be the best all-around viewer available, and it still is quite nice. It has a lot of options, but suffers from number of bugs and chronic slowness. Personally, I'm surprised it is thought to be a fast viewer. SPECIAL NEWSFLASH FOR AMIGADOS 3.x USERS At the last moment, I decided to try Tron's PCX datatype (TPD.lha on Aminet) on a 256-color conversion of the JPEG used in the above tests. It is significantly faster than the other PCX Datatype (PCX.lha on Aminet) I've seen. The times to display the picture were 8.6 seconds (TPD) and 12.4 seconds (PCX). LOG OF THE TESTS The results of each test are given, with the picture number (see the PICTURES USED IN TESTING section, above) preceding each result. ALook 3: Real 00:00:03.202, PCPU 00:00:01.163, TCPU 00:00:01.163 5: Real 00:00:01.755, PCPU 00:00:00.824, TCPU 00:00:00.824 7: Real 00:00:01.594, PCPU 00:00:00.733, TCPU 00:00:00.733 Bview 4: Real 00:00:07.367, PCPU 00:00:02.377, TCPU 00:00:02.377 5: Real 00:00:02.735, PCPU 00:00:00.784, TCPU 00:00:00.784 7: Real 00:00:02.623, PCPU 00:00:00.722, TCPU 00:00:00.722 FastView 5: Real 00:00:07.910, PCPU 00:00:05.321, TCPU 00:00:05.321 7: Real 00:00:03.561, PCPU 00:00:02.449, TCPU 00:00:02.449 FastJPEG 1: Real 00:00:14.273, PCPU 00:00:12.610, TCPU 00:00:12.610 2: Real 00:00:06.888, PCPU 00:00:05.765, TCPU 00:00:05.765 Gif_view 8: Real 00:00:14.342, PCPU 00:00:03.799, TCPU 00:00:03.799 9: Real 00:00:17.904, PCPU 00:00:07.829, TCPU 00:00:07.829 10: Real 00:00:19.124, PCPU 00:00:10.081, TCPU 00:00:10.081 HAMGIF 8: Real 00:00:07.408, PCPU 00:00:06.327, TCPU 00:00:06.327 9: Real 00:00:06.868, PCPU 00:00:05.783, TCPU 00:00:05.783 10: Real 00:00:04.742, PCPU 00:00:03.918, TCPU 00:00:03.918 Mostra 3: Real 00:00:02.672, PCPU 00:00:00.738, TCPU 00:00:00.738 4: Real 00:00:05.813, PCPU 00:00:01.317, TCPU 00:00:01.317 5: Real 00:00:01.424, PCPU 00:00:00.378, TCPU 00:00:00.378 6: Real 00:00:02.238, PCPU 00:00:00.565, TCPU 00:00:00.565 7: Real 00:00:01.163, PCPU 00:00:00.294, TCPU 00:00:00.294 MUGiff 5: Real 00:00:05.040, PCPU 00:00:00.466, TCPU 00:00:00.466 7: Real 00:00:02.426, PCPU 00:00:00.414, TCPU 00:00:00.414 PPShow 1: Real 00:00:18.753, PCPU 00:00:16.895, TCPU 00:00:16.895 2: Real 00:00:09.490, PCPU 00:00:07.960, TCPU 00:00:07.960 3: Real 00:00:02.906, PCPU 00:00:00.885, TCPU 00:00:00.885 4: Real 00:00:05.348, PCPU 00:00:01.399, TCPU 00:00:01.399 5: Real 00:00:01.600, PCPU 00:00:00.519, TCPU 00:00:00.519 6: Real 00:00:02.298, PCPU 00:00:00.719, TCPU 00:00:00.719 7: Real 00:00:01.803, PCPU 00:00:00.503, TCPU 00:00:00.503 8: Real 00:00:02.364, PCPU 00:00:01.091, TCPU 00:00:01.091 9: Real 00:00:03.251, PCPU 00:00:01.774, TCPU 00:00:01.774 10: Real 00:00:03.265, PCPU 00:00:01.985, TCPU 00:00:01.985 11: Real 00:00:04.451, PCPU 00:00:01.873, TCPU 00:00:01.873 ShowGIF 8: Real 00:00:05.875, PCPU 00:00:00.631, TCPU 00:00:00.631 9: Real 00:00:04.128, PCPU 00:00:00.730, TCPU 00:00:00.730 10: Real 00:00:03.250, PCPU 00:00:00.831, TCPU 00:00:00.831 VirtGIF 8: Real 00:00:21.579, PCPU 00:00:15.867, TCPU 00:00:15.867 9: Real 00:00:25.079, PCPU 00:00:18.480, TCPU 00:00:18.480 10: Real 00:01:03.563, PCPU 00:00:53.264, TCPU 00:00:53.264 VJPEG 1: Real 00:02:03.594, PCPU 00:01:47.554, TCPU 00:01:47.554 2: VJPEG crashed on a grayscale JPEG Viewtek 1: Real 00:00:40.351, PCPU 00:00:37.964, TCPU 00:00:37.964 2: Real 00:00:10.576, PCPU 00:00:08.796, TCPU 00:00:08.796 3: Real 00:00:03.619, PCPU 00:00:01.126, TCPU 00:00:01.126 4: Real 00:00:07.555, PCPU 00:00:01.864, TCPU 00:00:01.864 5: Real 00:00:01.924, PCPU 00:00:00.564, TCPU 00:00:00.564 6: Real 00:00:02.957, PCPU 00:00:00.870, TCPU 00:00:00.870 7: Real 00:00:01.892, PCPU 00:00:00.554, TCPU 00:00:00.554 8: Real 00:00:03.300, PCPU 00:00:01.867, TCPU 00:00:01.867 9: Real 00:00:04.556, PCPU 00:00:02.858, TCPU 00:00:02.858 10: Real 00:00:05.630, PCPU 00:00:04.184, TCPU 00:00:04.184 11: Real 00:00:19.838, PCPU 00:00:15.922, TCPU 00:00:15.922 ZGif 8: Real 00:00:04.725, PCPU 00:00:00.620, TCPU 00:00:00.620 9: Real 00:00:02.326, PCPU 00:00:00.880, TCPU 00:00:00.880 10: for some reason, ZGif only showed a blank screen on this GIF ViewJpeg 1: Real 00:00:57.889, PCPU 00:00:48.617, TCPU 00:00:48.617 2: Real 00:00:24.114, PCPU 00:00:16.502, TCPU 00:00:16.502 JPEG.datatype crashed the test machine. The problem could not be found. GIF.datatype 8: Real 00:00:03.071, PCPU 00:00:01.867, TCPU 00:00:01.867 9: Real 00:00:04.690, PCPU 00:00:03.074, TCPU 00:00:03.074 10: Real 00:00:04.521, PCPU 00:00:03.185, TCPU 00:00:03.185 ZGIF.datatype 8: Real 00:00:02.157, PCPU 00:00:00.866, TCPU 00:00:00.866 9: Real 00:00:02.721, PCPU 00:00:01.295, TCPU 00:00:01.295 10: Real 00:00:02.591, PCPU 00:00:01.292, TCPU 00:00:01.292 ILBM.datatype 4: Real 00:00:06.051, PCPU 00:00:01.720, TCPU 00:00:02.211 5: Real 00:00:01.946, PCPU 00:00:00.563, TCPU 00:00:00.627 6: Real 00:00:02.657, PCPU 00:00:00.837, TCPU 00:00:00.963 7: Real 00:00:01.945, PCPU 00:00:00.552, TCPU 00:00:00.608 ---- 256 color 608x796 PCX picture: PCX.datatype Real 00:00:12.403, PCPU 00:00:08.577, TCPU 00:00:08.577 TPD.datatype Real 00:00:08.603, PCPU 00:00:05.658, TCPU 00:00:05.658 DISCLAIMER The author of this article cannot be held liable for any damage or loss that might result from this article. In case of doubt, interpret any information contained herein as lies and bad jokes. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION All tests made by Osma Ahvenlampi. This review is Copyright 1994 Osma Ahvenlampi. Distribution through any channels permitted. @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. 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 The *entire* Fred Fish collection of freely distributable software, online. 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. 35 "regular" Amiga libraries with thousands of files. Hot new stuff arrives daily. No upload/download "ratios" EVER. Download as much as you want, as often as you want, and never feel pressued doing it. 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. 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. 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: 408-973-9111 (voice) 9a.m.-5p.m. Mon-Fri, Pacific Time 408-725-0561 (modem 3/12/2400) 24 hours every day 408-973-8091 (modem 9600/14400) 24 hours every day or enter "C PORTAL" from any Sprintnet dial-in in the USA, 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 2.50 22.95 32.45 44.95 94.95 2400/9600bps prime Sprint +% 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 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. 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 P3 "Dealer Directory" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Dealer Directory %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 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 Internet: B.GRAY@genie.geis.com Atlantis Kobetek Inc. 1496 Lower Water St. Halifax, NS, Canada, B3J 1R9 Phone: (902)-422-6556 Fax: (902)-423-9339 BBS: (902)-492-1544 Internet: aperusse@fox.nstn.ns.ca Brian Fowler Computers Ltd 11 North St Exeter Devon EX4 3QS United Kingdom Voice: (0392) 499 755 Fax: (0392) 423 480 Internet: brian_fowler@cix.compulink.co.uk CLICK! Amiga Specialists N.V. Boomsesteenweg 468 B-2610 Wilrijk - Antwerpen Belgium - Europe VOICE: 03 / 828.18.15 FAX: 03 / 828.67.36 USENET: vanhoutv@click.augfl.be FIDO: 2:292/603.9 AmigaNet: 39:120/102.9 Comspec Communications Inc Serving your computing needs since 1976 74 Wingold Ave Toronto, Ontario Canada M6B 1P5 Computer Centre: (416) 785-8348 Service, Corporate & Educational Sales: (416) 785-3553 Fax: 416-785-3668 Internet: bryanf@comcorp.comspec.com bryanf@accesspt.north.net Computers International, Inc. 5415 Hixson Pike Chattanooga, TN 37343 VOICE: 615-843-0630 DataKompaniet ANS Pb 3187 Munkvoll N-7002 Trondheim Norway - Europe VOICE/FAX: 72 555 149 Internet: torrunes@idt.unit.no 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 BBS: 617-769-3172 Fido: 1:101/322 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 Industrial Video, Inc. 1601 North Ridge Rd. Lorain, OH 44055 VOICE: 800-362-6150 216-233-4000 Internet: af741@cleveland.freenet.edu Contact: John Gray 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 MusicMart: Media Sound & Vision 71 Wellington Road London, Ontario, Canada VOICE: 519-434-4162 FAX: 519-663-8074 BBS: 519-457-2986 FIDO: 1:221/125 AmigaNet: 40:550/1 MaxNet: 90:204/1 iNET: koops@gaul.csd.uwo.ca 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 Wonder Computers Inc. 1315 Richmond Rd. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2B 8J7 Voice: 613-596-2542 Fax: 613-596-9349 BBS: 613-829-0909 CYNOSTIC Office O1, Little Heath Industrial Estate, Old Church Road, Coventry. CV6 7NB UNITED KINGDOM Tel: +44 (0)203 681687 Fax: +44 (0)203 638508 David Cassidy email: bsupa@csv.warwick.ac.uk DataService Oy P.O. Box 50 Kuurinniityntie 30 02771 ESPOO Findland, Europe Voice: +358 (9) 400 438 301 Fax: +358 (9) 0505 0037 PROTONIC INC. Amiga RuleZ! 4-3-11 Shinbashi Yanagi Bldg 4F Minato-ku,Tokyo 105 Japan Tel:+81 (0)3 5402-7425 Fax:+81 (0)3 5402-7427 and of course the BEST Amiga BBS in Japan BBS:Grey Matter BBS +81 (0)3 5709-1907 (8N1 V32bis 24H ) Email: nighty@gmatter.twics.com Amiga Video Solutions 1568 Randolph Avenue St. Paul, MN 55105 Voice: 612-698-1175 BBS: 612-698-1918 Fax: 612-224-3823 Net: wohno001@maroon.tc.umn.edu Magic Page 3043 Luther Street Winston-Salem, NC 27127 910-785-3695 voice/fax Spiff@cup.portal.com (Dealers: To have your name added, please send Email!) @endnode @node P5-1 "BombPac CD32" @toc "menu" TITLE BombPac CD32 VERSION 2.0 AUTHOR Oliver Wagner Internet: o.wagner@aworld.aworld.de DESCRIPTION BombPac is a game loosely based on the old PacMan characters, with some `bombastic' value added. It features over 100 levels and a standalone level editor. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS BombPac for the CD32 requires an AGA Amiga (A1200, A4000, CD32) with at least OS 3.0. A game controller or joystick is recommended, but not required. Due to sprite usage, it only runs on 15 khz PAL displays, promotion is not possible. HOST NAME Available on Aminet FTP sites. Try 'wuarchive.wustl.edu'. DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/games/misc FILE NAMES bombpac_cd32.lha PRICE Shareware, $10 DISTRIBUTABILITY BombPac (C) 1993-1994 Oliver Wagner, All Rights Reserved. This archive is freely distributable. OTHER Also on AmiNet is a patch archive which makes BombPac CD32 run without the CD32 specific "lowlevel.library". @endnode ==== @node P5-2 "ParPrefs v1.0" TITLE ParPrefs VERSION 1.0 AUTHOR Benoit Mortier Email: benoit.mortier@augfl.be Phone/Fax: +32 2 672 32 68 DESCRIPTION This software was written to overcome a problem encountered by users of a multiparallel board (eg. a board that add more than one parallel port to your amiga.) It allows you to chose the device of your choice to wich the amiga will send data in place of the original parallel port. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS AmigaDos Release 2.04 (V37+) or higher HOST NAME ftp.luth.se [Aminet] DIRECTORY pub/aminet/ FILE NAMES ParPrefs.lha PRICE Shareware fee $10 DISTRIBUTABILITY Shareware, Copyright (c) 1994 Benoit Mortier Greetings Benoit Mortier ... We learn from history that we do not learn anything from history. @endnode ==== @node P5-3 "FMsynth v3.5" @toc "menu" TITLE FMsynth VERSION Version 3.5 AUTHOR Christian Stiens (stiens@math.uni-muenster.de) DESCRIPTION With `FMsynth' you can generate sounds with one of the best not sample based synthesis method, the FM-synthesis. It has six operators, four waveforms per operator, a pitch EG, a freely editable algorithm and a realtime LFO. You can save the sounds in 8SVX or raw format. The sounds can be played on the Amiga keyboard or on a keyboard which is connected to the Amiga via MIDI. In this case, the sound responds to key velocity and pitch bend wheel. Included are 260 sounds. Also included is the program `FMconvert' which converts DX7 voice banks to the FMsynth voice format. NEW FEATURES - Some minor bug fixes - Uses the preferences busy pointer - Tooltype DISPLAY for choosing the display modus SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS none HOST NAME Aminet, e.g. wuarchive.wustl.edu or ftp.uni-kl.de DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/mus/misc FILE NAME fmsynth35.lha PRICE FMsynth is Shareware. The key file is available for $20 or 30 DM. Without the key file the Save functions are disabled. DISTRIBUTABILITY The archive is freely distributable in its original and un- modified form. FMsynth is (c) 1992-1994 by Christian Stiens. @endnode === @node P5-4 "PhoneBill v2.4" @toc "menu" TITLE Phonebill VERSION 2.4 AUTHOR Raymond Penners Internet: raymondp@stack.urc.tue.nl Fido: 2:283/410.15 AmigaNet: 39:157/101.15 NLA: 14:105/2.15 DESCRIPTION `Phonebill' is, simply said, a logfile analyser. What it basically does is scan the logfile(s) generated by a terminal program or a mailer, extract all information about calls you have made by using your modem, and store this in its own (short) format. Features: * Requires Kickstart 2.04 or higher. * Supports new 3.0 features (new look menus, ...). * Nice gadtools compliant GUI. * User-definable callrates, supporting rate exceptions for certain days and dates. Handles fees and time-units with up to 4 decimals (e.g. $1.2344 dollars per 30.5678 seconds) for extra accuracy. * Supports logfiles generated by: * AmigaUUCP Timelog * AutoPilot * JrComm * MagiCall * MicroDot * MultiFax professional * NComm * Terminus * TKR-BTX * TrapDoor * TrapFax * Term (Term action-log and Term call-log) * Automatical logfile truncating. * Generates miscellaneous reports: statistics, total costs, etc. * Context-sensitive online help. NEW FEATURES * Added TKR-BTX support. * Added AutoPilot support. * Fixed a problem with the MicroDot logfile: A call ending with "NETCALL abgebrochen" was not recognized as a valid call, and therefore skipped. * Any trailing spaces entered at the end of the from/to-date strings are ignored now. * The `LogScan' signature from the term logfile did not have the appropriate dateformat. Therefore, it could happen that the signature wasn't recognized during some months, which might have resulted in `fake' (duplicate) new calls. * Generating report now is approx twice as fast due to the use of asynchronous I/O. * More commandline arguments are supported. * Added a "Save"-button in the "Settings not saved" requester. * Added `dupe'-detection: duplicate calls are automatically removed. So now there is no harm done when a logfile is accidently scanned twice. I recommend that you re-save your binary logfile by pressing `Save' in the maintenance panel, so that dupes from previous versions are removed (if there were any). SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Workbench 2.04 or higher. HOST NAME ftp.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/comm/term FILE NAME pbill24.lha (95049 bytes) PRICE Shareware fee of $8 US. DISTRIBUTABILITY The archive and its contents are freely distributable. See documentation for details. The package is (C) 1993-1994 Raymond Penners @endnode === @node P5-5 "BTNtape v3.0" @toc "menu" TITLE BTNtape - AmigaDOS handler for SCSI tape drives VERSION 3.0, March 14, 1994 AUTHOR Bob Rethemeyer (drBob@cup.portal.com) DESCRIPTION BTNtape is the "Better Than Nothing" AmigaDOS handler to access your SCSI tape drive from application programs. It can be used with Amiga TAR to do disk backup and restore and exchange data with Un*x boxes. This is version 3.0, an update to version 2.1. Includes C source code. NEW FEATURES Some of the features added since version 2.1: File number tracking, could be used to make a tape directory. Optional safety modes: read-only and append-only. Limited error recovery allows continuing after media errors. Options to rewind and/or eject tape when the file closes. BUG FIXES Fixed bad decoding of board# and LUN from 3-digit unit number. Write at end of file writes only the necessary number of blocks. Read at end of file returns all the data. More than 256 files per tape. Fixed incompatibility with Steve Koren's Job Manager (JM). See the changes.doc file for a complete list of fixes and enhancements. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS SCSI tape drive (sequential or direct-access). SCSI host adapter which provides SCSI-direct API. HOST NAME Aminet - (wuarchive.wustl.edu) and it mirror sites. DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/disk/bakup FILE NAMES BTNtape30.lha BTNtape30.readme PRICE BTNtape is FREEWARE. DISTRIBUTABILITY The BTNtape v3.0 package is freely distributable provided the entire package is kept together and unmodified. The source code is copyrighted by Robert Rethemeyer. See the readme.first file for disclaimer and further details. @endnode === @node P5-6 "AmiFlick v2.01" @toc "menu" TITLE AmiFlick VERSION v2.01 AUTHOR Garrick Meeker email: gmeeker@soda.berkeley.edu DESCRIPTION FLI files are animation files popular on IBM's. They are typically 320x200 in 256 colors. FLC's are FLI's in higher resolutions. (640x480 are the most common.) AmiFlick plays FLI and FLC animations on all Amigas. It fully supports AGA and can also write frames as IFF pictures or op5 or 7 ANIM files. NEW FEATURES AmiFlick can now write ANIM files. Files can be written in grey scale or HAM, not just 256 color. Playback is significantly faster. A version for 68030 machines is now included. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS None. (Runs under all OS versions since 1.2.) HOST NAME AmiNet (ftp.wustl.edu is one AmiNet site) DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/gfx/show/ FILE NAMES AmiFlick_v2.01.lha (Binary and doc) PRICE Free!!! DISTRIBUTABILITY Freely distributable Garrick Meeker gmeeker@soda.berkeley.edu @endnode === @node P5-7 "BinProlog v2.20" @toc "menu" TITLE BinProlog VERSION 2.20 AUTHOR Dr. Paul Tarau, Dept. of Computer Science Universite de Moncton, Moncton N.B., Canada E1A-3E9 E-MAIL: tarau@info.umoncton.ca Recompiled for Amiga: Doug Whitehead doug@cos.com SHORT A fast, reliable, small Prolog compiler. It uses standard C&M syntax. DESCRIPTION A standard implementation of Prolog, now ported to the Amiga. Prolog is a non-procedural language commonly used for Artificial Intelligence. Many Prolog programs look like inductive proofs. It is non-procedural in that one tends to specify what to look for, and Prolog will search and backtrack as necessary to try to accomplish it. Prolog is useful for parsers, knowledge representation, blind and heuristic search, theorem proving, and other app.s requiring search. And, of course, there are zealots that use it for everything. It is, to my knowledge, the fastest Prolog on the Amiga. For those in the know, it compiles to a sort of WAM-lite, and then emulates that language in compiled C. The distribution's manual does not teach Prolog. If you want that, buy a book, there are many. The WAM emulator has recently been compiled for the Amiga. You need two files, the standard BinProlog 2.20 release, and the appropriate Amiga binary. It should be able to run on any Amiga, regardless of CPU or memory available. However, you may not be able to execute interesting programs on systems with less than 1 Meg. ru.68020.amiga requires a 68020 + 68881, or 68030 or above. It clocks in at 34.9 klips (thousand logical inferences/second) on an Amiga 3000 25mhz (i.e. a 68030). ru.68000.amiga clocks in at 32.7 klips on an Amiga 3000. It has not been tested it on a 68000 Amiga, but it should be fine. HOST NAME clement.info.umoncton.ca (139.103.16.2) ARCHIVES /pub/BinProlog/BinProlog.2.20.tar.Z /pub/BinProlog/BinProlog/UNCOMPRESSED/NewPorts.2.20/Amiga/ru.68020.amiga /pub/BinProlog/BinProlog/UNCOMPRESSED/NewPorts.2.20/Amiga/ru.68000.amiga DISTRIBUTABILITY Copied from the distribution: Permission to use and modify this software is granted free of charges for research and other non-profit purposes, provided this copyright notice is added to the resulting version. Because the program is licensed free of charge, there is no warranty for the program, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Except when otherwise stated in writing the copyright holders and/or other parties provide the program "AS IS" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is with you. Should the program prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. Licensing for commercial purposes to individuals and organisations, licensing of the source code of the engine, ports to other architectures and extended versions of the programming environment are available, but need a separate agreement. @endnode === @node P5-8 "Virus Scanner v1.04" @toc "menu" TITLE Virus Scanner VERSION Currently 1.04, but it's in constant developmnet, about one update a month. COMPANY The program is supported and distributed by: Safe Hex International Snaphanevej 10 4720 Praestoe Denmark Phone +45-55992512 AUTHOR Gabriele Greco Internet: gabry@grifone.skylink.aare.net.ch Fidonet : 2:331/106.7@fidonet.org DESCRIPTION Virus Scanner is a viruskiller commodity for OS 2.0+, it's a modular program (it uses SHI bootblock.library, removelink.library and unpack.library). This means that you can update the program by simply updating the libraries. It's localized in different languages (actually English, Italian, Danish and German, but soon French) and it has some completely new features for amiga antivirus. For instance you can build a list of files you want to be checked at every disk access, and if one of these files is modified you will be notified by a requester. The newest feature of VS is the ability to compile an ASCII file that will contain the data of new viruses which will read by VS before the scan of HD or disks. New virus data will be spread via E-Mail. VS will automatically recognise them and append to the list. It can also check crunched files (more than 100 crunchers, lha and dms), and has a complete arexx port to make easy to use it also in a BBS. NEW FEATURES This is an update of version 1.03 that will improve some functions (Check files, Check vectors), has a corrected and more complete documentation and some little bugs fixed. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Virus Scanner requires Kickstart 2.0+ If 2.1 or 3.0 is detected it can be localized and on Kick 3.0 it will use some gadtools improvments. FILE NAMES vscan104.lha 132832 bytes PRICE Virus Scanner is "SafeWare": If VS will save your datas from a virus infection send $10 to the author. DISTRIBUTABILITY Virus Scanner is freely distributable through FTP sites, BBS, PD collections or coverdisks. @endnode === @node P5-9 "StatRam v3.0" @toc "menu" TITLE StatRam - recoverable ram disk VERSION 3.0 AUTHORS Nicola Salmoria Richard Waspe Originally based on VD0: by Perry S. Kivolowitz. DESCRIPTION StatRam is a recoverable ram drive. It works on any Amiga using V2.04 or greater of the OS. It handles any filesystem (either Amiga or foreign, like e.g. CrossDOS(tm)), has ten units and may be layed out like a floppy disk for quick diskcopies. It is dynamic, that is it allocates and frees memory as files are copied and deleted, and is probably the most recoverable ram drive available. Even the worst system crash will not erase it, as long as the portion of memory where it resides is not corrupted. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OS release 2.04 or newer HOST NAME Any Aminet site, for example ftp.luth.se 130.240.18.2 DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/disk/misc FILE NAME statram3.lha PRICE Free DISTRIBUTABILITY Freeware, freely distributable as long as the archive remains intact and only a nominal fee is charged for its distribution. @endnode === @node P5-10 "PGPSendmail v2.0" @toc "menu" TITLE PGPSendmail VERSION 2.0 AUTHOR Peter Simons DESCRIPTION PGPSendmail is a small tool, to encrypt your outgoing e-mail automatically, using PGP. Despite the name, PGPSendmail does *not* handle any transport stuff, but requires the original sendmail. PGPSendmail scans through the outgoing mail and checks whether a public key is available for the receipient(s). Multiple receipients via `To:' or `Cc:' are supported. If a key is available, a requester will pop up, asking you if you'd like to encrypt the mail. When you choose the "encrypt" gadget, the message-body will be encrypted and the result will be sent to sendmail to handle the routing and transport. Since PGPSendmail is only a front-end, it can be used in any kind of setup. It doesn't matter whether you use AmiTCP, UUCP or whatever to deliver your mail, PGPSendmail can be customized for your requirements. The encrypted message will look like this: Automatically encrypted message-body follows: -----BEGIN PGP MESSAGE----- Version: 2.3a owHrZAhlYmXUqV9ctnnP/pPtVcsSGRm3aDEx7G1+9enVmcr3Ff5GfN6fdKde2Zau X3kjdonMydeTi4zuvlDZH/sia1O/ZYKDsAGXt+K+0lVOyvx9h3Yc2hUkoFXGor4m uoSlJLW4hAEIPFIrFXIT83QUUvLz1EsUKvNLFTISy1IVivNzU0syMvPSFZJSS0pS ixRK8oFKdBRKMhLzQOzkosTkbLAqXq7k/JTUYnsFK11NTV4uAA== =y7/l -----END PGP MESSAGE----- SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS You need PGP 2.2 or later. HOST NAME Any Aminet host, i.e. ftp.uni-kl.de (131.246.9.95). DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/util/crypt/ FILE NAMES PGPSendmail2_0.lha PGPSendmail2_0.readme DISTRIBUTABILITY GNU General Public License -- Peter Simons, Certified Amiga Developer *** PGP key available *** ACCEPTING: MIME enhanced mail, BMS requests and ListSERV commands @endnode @node P2-3 "In Closing" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% _ _ __ ___ _ %% %% /\\ |\\ /| || // \ /\\ %% %% / \\ | \\ /|| ||(< __ / \\ %% %% /--- \\| \/ || || \\_||/--- \\ %% %% /______________________________\\ %% %% / \\ %% %% Amiga Report International Online Magazine %% %% March 25, 1994 ~ Issue No. 2.11 %% %% Copyright 1994 SkyNet Publications %% %% 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. All items quoted in whole or in part are done so under the Fair Use Provision of the Copy- right Laws of the United States Penal Code. Any Electronic Mail sent to the editors may be reprinted, in whole or in part, without any previous permission of the author, unless said electronic mail specifically requests not to be reprinted. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% @endnode @node P1 "Columns and Features" @toc "menu" @{" From the Editor's Desk " link P1-1} Saying it like it is! @{" Amiga News " link P1-2} News and Announcements @{" Commodore? Brrr! " link P1-3} Problems with the Amiga @{" Power PC " link P1-4} Should we be jealous? @{" The AA+ Chipset " link P1-5} What is it? @{" Emulation Rambler " link P1-6} Trying to keep on top of everything @{" UseNet Review " link P1-7} Amiga Picture Viewers @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} Getting better all the time! @{" Portal " link P4-2} A great place for Amiga users... @{" InterNet " link P4-5} Subscribe to the AR Mailing List @{" BIX " link P4-6} For Serious Programmers and Developers @endnode @node P5 "Files Available for FTP" @toc "menu" @{" BombPac CD32 " link P5-1} PacMan style game @{" ParPrefs v1.0 " link P5-2} Preference program FUW multiparallel boards @{" FMsynth v3.5 " link P5-3} FM synthesis @{" PhoneBill v2.4 " link P5-4} Equates phonebill w/ various programs @{" BTNtape v3.0 " link P5-5} AmigaDOS handler for SCSI tape drives @{" AmiFlick v2.01 " link P5-6} Plays FLI animation files @{" BinProlog v2.20 " link P5-7} Fast, reliable Prolog compiler @{" Virus Scanner v1.04 " link P5-8} Virus killer commodity @{" StatRAM v3.0 " link P5-9} Recoverable RAM disk @{" PGPSendmail v2.0 " link P5-10} Tool to encrypt outgoing mail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The most downloaded files from wustl.edu during the week until 21-Mar-94 File Dir Size Description ------------------- --- ---- ----------- ar209.lha text/mags 104K+Amiga Report #2.09 - 3/11/94 octane.lha game/shoot 686K+Overhead battle car game. 1meg or more. rot2.lha demo/euro 164K+A wonderful Doom-type Demo newser221.lha comm/misc 28K+new serial device 2.21 scorch177.lha game/shoot 488K+Scorched Tanks 1.77 bug fixes; Artillery-t MgWBDockIcons.lha util/wb 38K+MagicWB dock icons (8 colours) dbb118.lha util/misc 141K+GUI Digital Logic Circuit Simulator (WB2.x Filer3_11.lha util/dir 218K+Directory Utility for OS 2.04+ DragonSongMPG.lha gfx/anim 89K+MPG Lightwave Dragon anim 90 frames *AHD* jtemwb1.lha util/wb 89K+More nice MagicWb icons. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ @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 AXShell * Robert Niles, Sysop rniles@imtired.itm.com 509-966-3828 Supra V.32bis 24hrs - 7 days Yakima, Washington ******* Notice ******* After 13 September 1993, In The MeanTime will no longer be on FidoNet, thus we will no longer be accepting File REQuests (FREQs). We WILL be still accepting calls and will have the latest edition of Amiga Report online. Downloads to first time callers are still accepted. Those who call for the latest edition of Amiga Report, and who do not with to establish an account, at the first login: prompt type "bbs", at the second login: prompt type "guest". Once in type "ARMAG" (without the quotes) at any prompt. @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-3 "PIONEERS BBS" @toc "menu" * PIONEERS BBS * ** A PREMIER GENEALOGY BBS ** ** WEST COAST - Amiga Virus Busters Support BBS ** ** CD32 REVIEW Support BBS ** AND NOW Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running EXCELSIOR! BBS * Michael & Marthe Arends, Sysops FidoNet: 1:343/54.0 206-775-7983 Supra 14.4k v32.bis 24hrs - 7 days EDMONDS, Washington New users can call and get ANY copy of Amiga Report. Just call using the Name "Long Distance" and the password "Longdistance"(without the quotes of course). Users using this account will have full access to ALL past and present issues of AMIGA REPORT starting with the premier issue. The latest issue of Amiga Report can be Freq'ed (FileREQusted) from here as "AR.LHA", Freq's are valid at ANY time. @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 Sysop Email: sysadmin@junct9.royle.org Line 1 +44 (0)372 271000 14400 V.32bis/HST FidoNet 2:440/20 Line 2 +44 (0)372 278000 14400 V.32bis only FidoNet 2:440/21 Line 3 +44 (0)372 279000 2400 V.42bis/MNP Internet: user_name@junct9.royle.org @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-6 "BitStream BBS" @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 ------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-7 "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: 1:221/302 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 P2-1-8 "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 24 hrs - 7 days 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 ------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-9 "Omaha Amiganet" @toc "menu" * OMAHA AMIGANET * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running DLG Professional * Andy Wasserman, Sysop 24 hrs - 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 P2-1-10 "Amiga-Night-System" @toc "menu" * AMIGA-NIGHT-SYSTEM * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site - Finland * Running DLG Professional * Janne Saarme, Sysop 24 hrs - 7 days InterNet: luumu@fenix.fipnet.fi FidoNet: 2:220/550.0 +358-0-675840 V.32bis Helsinki, Finland @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-11 "Ramses Amiga Flying" @toc "menu" * RAMSES THE AMIGA FLYING * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- France * Running DLG Professional * Eric Delord, Sysop Philippe Brand, Co-Sysop Stephane Legrand, Co-Sysop Internet: user.name@ramses.gna.org Fidonet: 2:320/104 +33-1-60037015 USR DS 16.8 +33-1-60037713 V.32bis +33-1-60037716 1200-2400 Ramses The Amiga Flying BBS is an Amiga-dedicated BBS running DLG-Pro on a Amiga 3000, 16MB RAM, 2GB Disk space, 3 lines. We keep a dayly Aminet site mirroring, NetBSD-Amiga complete mirror site from ftp.eunet.ch (main site), Amiga Report, GNU Amiga, Ramses is the SAN/ADS/Amiganet French coordinator. @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-12 "Gateway BBS" @toc "menu" * THE GATEWAY BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running Excelsior! BBS * Stace Cunningham, Sysop Dan Butler, CoSysop 24 hrs - 7 days InterNet: stace@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil FidoNet: 1:3604/60.0 601-374-2697 Hayes Optina 28.8 V.FC Biloxi, Mississippi @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-13 "Talk City" @toc "menu" * TALK CITY * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site 708-372-0190 - 2400bps 708-372-0268 - V32 14.4K 708-372-0283 USR DS 14.4K Fido Net 1:115/372,0 Phantom Net 11:2115/2.0 Clink Net 911:6080/4.0 UUCP tcity.com Over 3 Gig of Files Online | More and More things everyday. With Three IBM CD-ROMs online, 10 lines, support for all platforms, and a REALLY dedicated sysop (The Mayor). @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-14 "Amiga BBS" @toc "menu" * Amiga BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running Excelsior! BBS * Alejandro Kurczyn, Sysop FidoNet 4:975/7 First Amiga BBS in Mexico (5) 887-3080 9600 V32,MNP Estado de Mexico, Mexico @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-15 "The Stygian Abyss" @toc "menu" * THE STYGIAN ABYSS BBS * 312-384-0616 14.4 USR Courier HST 312-384-6250 14.4 Supra V.32 bis (FREQ line) 312-384-0716 2400 USR Courier FIDONet-1:115/384.0 CLink-911:6200/2.0 NWNet-206:310/0.0--206:310/1.0 PhantomNet Central States Cooridinator-11:2115/0.0--11:2115/1.0 FaithNet Central States Cooridinator-700:6000/0.0--700:6000/1.0 AMINet Chicagoland HUB-559:2/5.0 Chicago, Illinois Over 4 GIGS of files I Over 3700 MODS I Over 120 On-Line Games Tons of digitized sounds I Over 15,000 GIFS Supporting: Amiga I IBM I Macintosh I C=64/128 SIR SAMMY-SysOp Enter.......If you dare!! @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-16 "Amiga Do PC BBS" @toc "menu" * AMIGA DO PC BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribuition Site - Brazil * Running Excelsior! v 1.18 * +55-192-33-2260 Weekdays: 19-07 (-3 GMT) Weekends: 24 hours Fidonet: 4:801/44 RBT: 12:1212/1 Virinet: 70:101/17 Internet: fimoraes@dcc.unicamp.br Francisco Moraes, sysop Campinas, SP Freq AREPORT for the newest issue avaiable. @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-17 "Comm-Link BBS" @toc "menu" * COMM-LINK BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running Excelsior Pro * 604-945-6192 USR DS 16.8 24 hrs - 7 days Fido: 1:153/210.0 AmigaNet 40:800/9100.0 InterSports: 102:540/305.0 PussNet: 169:1000/305.0 InterNet: steve_hooper@comm.tfbbs.wimsey.com Steve Hooper, Sysop Port Coquitlam, B.C. Canada @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-18 "Phantom's Lair" @toc "menu" * PHANTOM'S LAIR * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running CNET 3.0 * FidoNet: 1:115/469.0 Phantom Net Cooridinator: 11:1115/0.0-11:1115/1.0 708-469-9510 708-469-9520 CD ROMS, Over 15511 Files Online @ 2586 meg Peter Gawron, Sysop Glendale Heights, Illinois @endnode @node P2-1-19 "Tierra-Miga BBS" @toc "menu" Tierra-Miga BBS Software: CNet Gib Gilbertson 24 hours - 7 days FidoNet: 1:202/638.0 AmigaNet: 40:406/3.0 Internet: torment.cts.com Line #1: 619.292.0754 V32.bis City: San Diego, CA. @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-50 "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 P2-1-51 "LAHO" @toc "menu" * LAHO BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Finland * Running MBBS * Lenni Uitti, SysOp Tero Manninen, SysOp (PC-areas) Juha Makinen, SysOp (Amiga-areas) +358-64-414 1516, V.32bis/HST +358-64-414 0400, V.32bis/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 a CD-ROM drive. The BBS software is a Norwegian origin MBBS running in a DesqView windows. We have over 7000 files online (both for the Amiga and PC) + 650MB stuff on the Aminet CD-ROM disk. 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) even on their first call. The system has been running since 1989 and is sponsored by the local telephone company, Vaasan Ladnin Puhelin Oy. @endnode ------------------------------------------ @node P2-1-52 "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 P2-1-53 "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 P2-1-55 "Leguans Byte Channel" @toc "menu" * LEGUANS BYTE CHANNEL * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Germany * Running EazyBBS V2.11 * Andreas Geist, Sysop Usenet: andreas@lbcmbx.in-berlin.de 24 hrs - 7 days Line 1: 49-30-8110060 USR DS 16.8 Line 2: 49-30-8122442 USR DS 16.8 Login as User: "amiga", Passwd: "report" @endnode ------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-56 "Stingray Database BBS" @toc "menu" * STINGRAY DATABASE * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Germany * Running FastCall * Bernd Mienert, Sysop EMail: sysop@sting-db.zer.sub.org.dbp.de +49 208 496807 HST-Dual 24hrs - 7 days Muelheim/Ruhr, Germany @endnode -------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-57 "T.B.P. Video Slate" @toc "menu" * T.B.P. VIDEO SLATE * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site An Amiga dedicated BBS for All * Running Skyline 1.3.2 * Mark E Davidson, Sysop 24 hrs - 7 days 201-586-3623 USR 14.4 HST Rockaway, New Jersey Full Skypix menus + normal and ansi menu sets. Instant Access to all. Download on the first call. Hardware: Amiga 500 Tower custom at 14 MHz, 350 Meg maxtor, 125 Meg SCSI Maxtor, 125 Meg IDE Maxtor, Double Speed CD rom, 9 meg RAM @endnode -------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-58 "Amiga Central" @toc "menu" * AMIGA CENTRAL! * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site CNet Amiga Support Site * Running CNet Amiga BBS * Carl Tashian, Sysop Internet mail: root@amicent.raider.net 615-383-9679 1200-14.4Kbps V.32bis 24 hours - 7 days Nashville, Tennessee Hardware: Amiga 3000 Tower 68030+882@25MHz, 105 meg Quantum, 225 meg Seagate, Zoom 14.4k modem @endnode -------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-59 "Continental Drift" @toc "menu" * CONTINENTAL DRIFT BBS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site * Running DLG Pro software * Murray Chaffer & Andre Lackmann, Sysops +612 949-4256 24 hours - 7 days Sydney, Australia @endnode -------------------------------------------- @node P2-1-60 "Guru Meditation" @toc "menu" * GURU MEDITATION * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Spain * Running Remote Access * Javier Frias, SysOp +34-1-383-1317 V.32bis 24 hours - 7days Spain @endnode @node P2-1-61 "Moonlight Sonata DLG" @toc "menu" M O O N L I G H T S O N A T A D L G * Amiga Report Official Distribution Site * * DAS ModPlayer Support * 2 Nodes *FREE PUBLIC* Amiga BBS MIDI-tunes, MIDI-utils, Modules, Amiga-files Messages, Door-games, MUD... Also patches for several synths! (About 100MB of ProTracker Modules!) Node #1 - +358-18-161763 - ZyXEL V32b 19200 Node #2 - +358-18-161862 - HST DS V32 14400 Fidonet: 2:221/112.0 Keyboards: Erno Tuomainen Amiga3000 25MHz - 1.3Gigs HD BBS Software: Dialog Pro BB/OS @endnode @node P2-1-62 "Doom of Darkness" @toc "menu" * Doom of Darkness * * Home of AmBoS * Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Germany Marc Doerre (Marc_Doerre), Sysop (BBS-Owner/AmBoS-Support) Bernd Petersen (TGM), Sysop (Amiga-Software-Support) Gerhard Luehning (Klaro), Co-Sysop (Aminet-Support) Kai Szymanski (Kai), Co-Sysop (AR-Support/AmBoS-Support) Usenet: user_name@doom.platinum.werries.de Line 1 +49 (0)4223 8355 19200 V.42bis/Zyx Line 2 +49 (0)4223 3256 16800 V.42bis/Zyx Line 3 +49 (0)4223 3313 16800 V.42bis/Zyx Sysop Email: marc_doerre@doom.platinum.werries.de @endnode @node P2-1-63 "RedEye BBS" @toc "menu" REDEYE BBS * Running EXCELSIOR/UUCP/AFAX * "Official Amiga Report Distribution Site Germany/Europe" Sysop: Thorsten Meyer Internet: sysop@redeye.greenie.muc.de Line 1: +49-89-5460535 (V.32b, Zyxel EG +) Line 2: +49-89-5460071 (USR Courier V32b terbo) 24hrs - 7 days Munich, Germany Areas for Amiga, PCs, Lotus Notes Group, Amiga Report, Game Byte, Graphic Stuff, 3D-Exchange, 3D-tools, 3D-objects, McAffee, GUS, PAS, DOOM, WINDOWS-NT, OS/2 Online CD, Online Games, USENET, INTERNET, FIDO ECHOS, Developer @endnode @node P2-1 "Where to find Amiga Report" @toc "menu" %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% %% Where to find Amiga Report %% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Click on the button of the BBS nearest you for information on that system. FidoNet Systems --------------- FREQ the filename "AR.LHA" for the most current issue of Amiga Report! @{" OMAHA AMIGANET " link P2-1-9} ..................................Omaha, Nebraska @{" NOVA " link P2-1-1} .............................Cleveland, Tennessee @{" PIONEER'S BBS " link P2-1-3} ..............................Edmonds, Washington @{" BIOSMATICA " 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 P2-1-7} ..................................Ontario, Canada @{" METNET TRIANGLE " link P2-1-8} ......................Kingston Upon Hull, England @{" AMIGA-NIGHT-SYSTEM " link P2-1-10} ................................Helsinki, Finland @{" RAMSES THE AMIGA FLYING " link P2-1-11} ...........................................France @{" GATEWAY BBS " link P2-1-12} ..............................Biloxi, Mississippi @{" TALK CITY " link P2-1-13} ...............................Waukegan, Illinois @{" AMIGA BBS " link P2-1-14} .........................Estado de Mexico, Mexico @{" THE STYGIAN ABYSS " link P2-1-15} ................................Chicago, Illinois @{" AMIGA DO PC BSS " link P2-1-16} .................................Campinas, Brazil @{" COMM-LINK BBS " link P2-1-17} .......................Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada @{" PHANTOM'S LAIR " link P2-1-18} .......................Glendale Heights, Illinois @{" Tierra-Miga BBS " link P2-1-19} .....................................SanDeigo, Ca @{" MOONLIGHT SONATA DLG " link P2-1-61} .........................................Findland Non-FidoNet Systems ------------------- @{" IN THE MEANTIME " link P2-1-2} ...............................Yakima, Washington @{" FREELAND MAINFRAME " link P2-1-50} ..............................Olympia, Washington @{" LAHO " link P2-1-51} ...............................Seinajoki, Finland @{" FALLING " link P2-1-52} ...........................................Norway @{" COMMAND LINE " link P2-1-53} ..................................Toronto, Canada @{" LEGUANS BYTE CHANNEL " link P2-1-55} ..........................................Germany @{" STINGRAY DATABASE " link P2-1-56} ...........................Muelheim/Ruhr, Germany @{" T.B.P. VIDEO SLATE " link P2-1-57} .............................Rockaway, New Jersey @{" AMIGA CENTRAL " link P2-1-58} .............................Nashville, Tennessee @{" CONTINENTAL DRIFT " link P2-1-59} ................................Sydney, Australia @{" GURU MEDITATION " link P2-1-60} ............................................Spain @{" DOOM OF DARKNESS " link P2-1-62} ..................................Bremen, Germany @{" REDEYE BBS " link P2-1-63} ..................................Munich, Germany @endnode