Dave Haynie Online Conference March 6, 1996

Hazy Daves Speaks on Compuserve
Note: this file is available as /docs/misc/Haynie.lha on Aminet.
Short    : Transcript/Dave Haynie Compuserve Conference
Uploader : guidryjd@occ-uky.campus.mci.net (Jon Guidry)
Editor   : guidryjd@occ-uky.campus.mci.net (Jon Guidry)
Type     : docs/misc

Long :

This is a transcript of a Compuserve conference with Dave Haynie on
6-Mar-96 at 10PM EST until about 2 AM EST.  Thanks to Skal Loret for
helping get Dave in a conference, and thanks to our moderator, Asha
DeVelder.

Standard disclaimer is that this transcript is made for public consumption,
and that no profit can be obtained from it.  Permission was granted from
all the Compuserve posters to redistribute this in the public domain.
This transcript was edited by myself, Jon Guidry.  I can be netmailed at
1:3803/11 (within FIDOnet) or e-mailed at guidryjd@occ-uky.campus.mci.net.

Jon Guidry
03/14/96

This conference was held on 6-Mar-96 at 10PM EST until about 2 AM EST.

This transcript is mostly the original thing, only minor editing was done to it. So, have fun! :)

- Begin Transcript -

(1-10,Asha) Hi Y'all! :)

(1-7,Agamotto (RHMIII)) /twiddle

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Asha!!!!! (1-10,Asha) (giggle)

(1-10,Asha) Is that you Holly? Or are you Jeff?

(1-7,Agamotto (RHMIII)) Hey, ahsa, we get to chat live

(1-6,Jon Guidry) mixed identity crisis? :)

(1-4,Holly Sullivan) It's me, Jeff's on the 3, checking the fidomail. he just got home.

(1-4,Holly Sullivan)

(1-7,Agamotto (RHMIII)) schizoid bisexual?

(1-4,Holly Sullivan)

(1-10,Asha) Agamotto: Is that your real name? If not, please change it

(1-7,Agamotto (RHMIII)) fido was light today, gave me a chance to catch up

(1-6,Jon Guidry) I just hop on the Internet and get my FIDOmail ;)

(1-4,Holly) Fido's never light when you read as many echos as I do. :)

(1-4,Holly) Jon: you're beinbg disgusting again. ;)

(1-7,R.H. Murdock III]) Asha: that better?

(1-10,Asha) Agamotto: Please change to your real name (/name Yourname)

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Holly: why? It's just a standard ppp account :)

(1-4,Holly) Jon: I don't get my mail thru the net, I have to wait for Planet C. :p

(1-10,Asha) RH: Sure if you want to be called RH

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Holly: there's a message explaining it that should be out RSN on the AMIGA echo

(1-7,R.H. Murdock III) /name Randy Murdock III

(1-4,Holly) Jon: :)

(1-6,Jon Guidry) so who else is supposed to be here? Where's Skal?

(1-4,Holly) Skal's on tour with Bob Seger.

(1-7,R.H. Murdock III) I keep myself down to 12 echos, any more and my dog would starve

(1-4,Holly) I think he left his Amiga at home. :(

(1-10,Asha) Joyce is here!

(1-4,Holly) WHERE?

(1-7,R.H. Murdock III) Not to mention having to empty the bit bucket

(1-6,Jon Guidry) yea, where?

(1-10,Asha) Holly in the forum, on her way!

(1-4,Holly) get a bigger bit bucket ;)

(1-13,Roy) Hello ALL :)

(1-14,Michael Webb) Could someone tell me how to pass commands to CIS in the conference room?

(1-4,Holly) Ahhhh.

(1-6,Jon Guidry) my bit bucket is full :)

(1-4,Holly) Jon: I can imagine. ;)

(1-13,Roy) Michael - Always us a back slash /

(1-4,Holly) Hiya Roy!

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Roy? :)

(1-14,Michael Webb) That's a normal slash you typed: which?

(1-7,R.H. Murdock III) I am still deciding on which 1

(1-4,Holly) Michael: the one by the right shift key.

(1-13,Roy) Michael the one I typed

(1-7,R.H. Murdock III) Gig drive to get, then probably a zip drive

(1-7,R.H. Murdock III) Anyone hear about peterK confirming that someone is working on AGA

(1-7,R.H. Murdock III) for non machines

(1-14,Michael Webb) thanks for zee help

(1-13,Roy) Michael - Then if you need help type /help

(1-14,Michael Webb) No one else sees the output, do they?

(1-7,R.H. Murdock III) not here at any rate

(1-10,Asha) Micheal: they shouldn't

(1-6,Jon Guidry) question: when you do a /users, why do the numbers skip? I'm 6, there's a 7, but no 8 or 9

(1-14,Michael Webb) Ok. I'm properly oriented now. Thanks.

(1-4,Holly) Michael: nope, just you.

(1-13,Roy) Michael - NO the slash will stop the output

(1-10,Asha) Randy: When you last tried changing your name to Randy, it didn't take

(1-7,R.H. Murdock III) /name Randy Murdock III

(1-10,Asha) Jon: Cause those are the job numbers, people can be in other parts of the

(1-10,Asha) forums

(1-4,Holly) Jon: I guess as people login and out, their numbers change.

(1-13,Roy) Jon - try /user all

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Asha: ah okay

(1-6,Jon Guidry) there we go :)

(1-10,Asha) Randy: Still didn't work.. try /han Randy...etc.

(1-9,Joyce D.) Hello, All!

(1-10,Asha) Hiya Joyce! :)

(1-4,Holly) Hiya Joyce!!

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) /han Randy Murdock III

(1-14,Michael Webb) Hiya, Joyce!

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Joyce!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(1-15,Maria) /name worked for me.

(1-13,Roy) Hi Joyce

(1-10,Asha) Randy, workeD!

(1-15,Maria) hi all

(1-10,Asha) Hi Maria!

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) oK, whew, I love learning new softs

(1-9,Joyce D.) ROY: Is this a Roy I know? ;)

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) /who roy

(1-15,Maria) hi Asha

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Joyce: took time off ure hectic schedule?

(1-13,Roy) Joyce - Don't know - I was just figure you out too :)

(1-5,Eric Douglas) How many minutes to dave.

(1-9,Joyce D.) Holly: So, do you have Jeff & Todd hanging over your shoulder?

(1-4,Holly) Bunch of lurkers tonight

(1-10,Asha) Eric: According to my clock, 3

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) not lurking...just treading water until Dave shows up :)

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) Any conferences coming up on the IRC anytime soon?

(1-4,Holly) Joyce: Can think of better places. (EG)

(1-6,Jon Guidry) it's 9pm on Terminus's clock :)

(1-9,Joyce D.) Jon: Howdy! Took a quick peek at the echo--no one's bashing any one too badly!

(1-4,Holly) It's 7:02 thanks. :)

(1-4,Holly) And almost Joyce's bedtime. ;)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) 6:59 by my watch

(1-6,Jon Guidry) it's only 9pm here :)

(1-10,Asha) When Dave does show up, I'd like this NOT to start a free for all

(1-15,Maria) Terminus? as in the First Foundation?

(1-20,tom) Hello, all. I'm new to the forum - trying to setup AmiTCP on my 1200.

(1-20,tom) ideas?

(1-9,Joyce D.) Holly: What, one of my boytoys is here? ;)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) 7pm here :)

(1-10,Asha) I'd like people to let me introduce him, and, when it's time, post a ? when

(1-10,Asha) you want to ask Dave a question

(1-13,RoyP.) Asha - are you going FORMAL CO rules

(1-9,Joyce D.) 8:59 PM here

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) Ok, I'll be polite, only 2000 questions >-]

(1-6,Jon Guidry) tom: I have 4.2 registered. Works nice. A1200 too :)

(1-4,Holly) Joyce: YOu tell ME. :) The boytoys on this end are caressing the 'Miggys.

(1-18,Mr C) Hi everybody

(1-10,Asha) Roy: Semi-formal, I'd like to avoid chaos

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) Tom: I gave up o it after three months on my 3000

(1-20,tom) Jon: I'm using a text file put out by Lothar Bartsch to set it up - what

(1-13,RoyP.) Hello Mr. C

(1-20,tom) did you do?

(1-6,Jon Guidry) tom: 4.2's setup was automated.. right down to ppp.device

(1-4,Holly) Folks, listen to Asha re: the conf rules!

(1-15,Maria) bummer....I have a A3000 should I just give up too?

(1-20,tom) Jon: was that the commercial version? I'm using the demo.

(1-10,Asha) Mr. C: Please change to your real name (first would be fine with us)

(1-6,Jon Guidry) tom: yeah... $99 :)

(1-10,Asha) ATTENTION!!!!

(1-12,Stuart)

(1-10,Asha) Thanks!

(1-4,Holly) AmiTCP is easy to setup. at least InterInstall worked great for me. :)

(1-4,Holly) .

(1-20,tom) Jon: where did you pick it up (and does it give www graphics?)

(1-10,Asha) This is about to become a semi-formal conference.

(1-10,Asha) TOM!! Please!!

(1-10,Asha) I'd appreciate it, if, after Dave shows up, any other conversations go

(1-10,Asha) private or cease.

(1-5,Eric Douglas) can we make faces at him?

(1-10,Asha) I'd like this to be an orderly and polite conference. When someone is

(1-10,Asha) answering or asking a question, please let them finish before asking another.

(1-10,Asha) Eric: Yes you can as long as you don't type them in...:)

(1-10,Asha) Ok?

(1-6,Jon Guidry)

(1-18,Dave H) Yo!

(1-10,Asha) Dave's in the Conference room! :)

(1-21,Joanne Calhoun) Hello, how do I get a name

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) applause from all :)

(1-18,Dave H) I seem to have gotten telnet to work.

(1-12,Stuart) Yay Dave!

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) you're the expert!

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) Isn't telnet fun?

(1-18,Dave H) Yup

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) asha, you start; we're all tongue tied :)

(1-9,Joyce D.) (in awe)

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) I was just being polite...

(1-10,Asha) I'd like to welcome Dave Haynie to our conference. Words fail to say how we all appreciate his continued devotion to our computer of choice. Perhaps Dave has something to say before we open the floor to questions?

(1-18,Dave H) I guess I should thank everyone for coming out tonight, and for sticking by the Amiga through some rought times. It hasn't been easy for any of us. In fact, the stress of these past few years did in both my car and my cat Iggy these past 6 months. Maybe better times lie ahead. ga

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) ?

(1-9,Joyce D.) ?

(1-10,Asha) Randy: ga

(1-15,Maria) ?

(1-21,Joanne) Sorry bout Iggy.

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) Sorry to hear about Iggy. How are things at SCALA?

(1-18,Dave H) Scala may actually turn a profit this year. They certainly have had some lean times, but the AT bundle has certainly been a welcome surprise. They will have a PC product out in May, essentially the level of MM400 on the Amiga. There has been a port to one set-top box as well, but the folks behind that box have had technical problems unrelated to the Scala pieces, so that's delayed. For those who haven't been following Scala, the group I'm with, in Exton PA, was formed out of the ashes of Commodore to build a portable, Multimedia-capable OS to run Scala apps on top. This is because, aside fro the Amiga, nothing we looked at could do real multimedia. That was started over two years ago and is now just nearing completion. ga

(1-6,Jon Guidry) ?

(1-5,Eric Douglas) ?

(1-10,Asha) Joyce: ga

(1-21,Joanne) Excuse me, what about the rumors flying around about Escom?

(1-18,Dave H) Such as?

(1-9,Joyce D.) First of all I want to say I'm honored to share your ASCII! :-) (And invite you to the Fidonet AMIGA echo where people who love the Amiga like to hang out ::shameless plug::) I'd like to know what projects you're currently working on and whether ESCOM has approached you about consulting.

(1-18,Dave H) Projects I'm working on...

(1-6,Jon Guidry) distribute this conf transcript. Do we have your permission?

(1-6,Jon Guidry) oops.. :)

(1-18,Dave H) At Scala, I developed their class compiler, which is necessary to manage the Scala object model. It's a bit C++ program, useful as hell at Scala but not exactly as cool as "hey, come seem my new computer" type stuff I did at C=. On my own, of course, there's has been DiskSalv 3, 4, and the Deathbed Vigil. I'm working on a music project, and possibly some audio software at some point ('040s aren't really fast enough). I have been in touch with Amiga Technologies, and I'm offering my input into the architecture of Power Amiga systems. They do have a group doing systems design under contract, so it' snot like I'm moving to Germany or anything. But I suppose I do have a long-term big picture view they can't get easily elsewhere. One of the big problems with the Amiga, and also the fun, is that "the mainstream" doesn't build systems that way. So if you want to make Amigas, you pretty much need Amiga people.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-21,Joanne) ?

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) ?

(1-23,Jon Eriquezzo) (Thank God for Disk Salve!)

(1-5,Eric Douglas) ?

(1-10,Asha) Jon Guidy: ga

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Dave: has there ever been any other plans for the PCMCIA port other than memory? I've been scrounging all over

(1-6,Jon Guidry) did my whole question get through? :)

(1-18,Dave H) The PCMCIA port is a general purpose 16-bit I/O port. It certainly will handle modems. I don't know of any effort at C= or AT to write drivers for any specific modem card. That seems like something that's a good 3rd party project, since the cards are plentiful, getting cheap (they weren't back when the A600 came out), and a driver is the kind of thing a garage shop company could develop and sell along with a modem card for far, far less than a C= or At ever could have.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-26,Mr Challeron) ?

(1-14,Mike Webb) ?

(1-10,Asha) Eric Douglas: ga

(1-2,Frederic Ericksen) `s

(1-5,Eric Douglas) the foloowing I have is unforimed. Do you wish to hear it I would like to get your feedback on it.

(1-18,Dave H) It's your dime!

(1-5,Eric Douglas) The sam report I got came out of miami fl. It said that on march 3 escom stock trading was suspended. What do you see for the future of a this is unconfired, but would like any news you might have

(1-18,Dave H) I know absolutely nothing about Escom finances. I have enough trouble with my own.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-6,Jon Guidry) heh

(1-23,Jon Eriquezzo) ?

(1-10,Asha) Joanne: ga

(1-12,Stuart)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) ?

(1-21,Joanne) Hi, The rumors about Escom and AT are flying. Any concerns?

(1-18,Dave H) Rumors have been flying in the Amiga industry since 1985. Sometimes bad ones proved to be true, and when that happens, it's bad for the Amiga. Most of the rumors in the past were not true, and I don't really expect that to change either. My best advice is to regard rumors as noise -- you can't really learn anything from them, good or bad. ga

(1-13,RoyP) ?

(1-10,Asha) Bronwen Pitchford: ga

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) do we have permission to distribute this to our friendswho weren't lucky enough to be here tonight? to repeat Jon's question...

(1-18,Dave H) That's up to CI$

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) er, asha?

(1-4,Holly) ?

(1-5,Eric Douglas) ?

(1-18,Dave H) (eg, it's fine with me)

(1-10,Asha) For those interested, to repost, you'll need to get permission form each person who posts here in the conference. You can do this by typing it

(1-9,Joyce D.)

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) I freely give my permission now

(1-10,Asha) privately /# message

(1-6,Jon Guidry) to me

(1-21,Joanne) Joanne Calhoun gives permission.

(1-10,Asha) Asha DeVelder gives permission

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) bronwen pitchford gives permission

(1-14,Mike Webb) Mike Webb gives permission

(1-13,RoyP) Roy Pahnke gives permission

(1-4,Holly) the one and only Holly Sullivan gives her permission. :)

(1-5,Eric Douglas) eric douglas no problem.

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) (maybe we should save this for the end...?)

(1-10,Asha) Ok....the rest in private please!

(1-18,Dave H) Dave Haynie gives permission, and needs another beer...

(1-19,bruce) bruce cooke gives permission.

(1-4,Holly) ?

(1-10,Asha) Mr Challeron: ga

(1-26,Mr Challeron) Dave: How do you view AT's efforts to "mainstream" the Amiga, i.e., with PPC chip, OS porting, etc?

(1-18,Dave H) AT is doing the right things.

(1-18,Dave H) Before C= folded, I was looking into using more standard parts, going to RISC for extra performance, PCI bus for standard cards, etc. These are all good and necessary moves. At the high end at least, a Power Amiga can be PPCP compliant, so you can run any PPC OS on it. That's extra security for Amiga fans who are nervous about buying a new system. That will let Escom sell systems to people who would never buy AmigaOS systems, and perhaps turn a few on to the AmigaOS in the process. That will make it easier for Amigaoids to get Amigas past the corporate system-censors. And it'll allow 3rd parties like Macrosystems, Phase 5, etc. to make real Amiga clones if they like. Everyone wins. ga

(1-10,Asha) ?

(1-10,Asha) Mike Webb: ga

(1-14,Mike Webb) typing...

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) I would like to say, that as a "visually challenged" person, the Amiga is the only OS that has been very friendly at all.

(1-14,Mike Webb) In reference to the consultation with AT, what do you think they should do with the next generation of Amigas as far as graphics/video/sound hardware (custom chipset vs. graphics board, etc.) are concerned?

(1-18,Dave H) Strangely enough, the next generation "multimedia subsystem" is one of the things they're asking me to look into. I have plenty of ideas; there are things being done now at both established chip companies and startups that are as far beyond the Amiga chipsets (even AAA) as the original Amiga was above PClone stuff at the time. These things will show up from time to time on PClones, but no one's really going to take advantage of anything on a PC that doesn't fall neatly into a Windows API. The Amiga has no such constraints -- it's whatever its designers say it is, in HW and SW. ga

(1-10,Asha) Jon Eriquezzo: ga

(1-23,Jon Eriquezzo) I've recently joined TEAM AMIGA , and I fill out every question card that comes my way. my question is can you recommend a good way to let AT know what AMIGA users want and need? ga

(1-18,Dave H) Skal told me the Team Amiga story...

(1-18,Dave H) The AT folks are on the nets. Dr. Peter, Mick, and others will see what you write, at least in the newsgroups on the Internet. And you could certainly write them, though having been in that position, I'll tell you that too much of that kind of thing results in most of it being chucked. There's just not enough time in the day to look at what everyone has to say. Also, users not experienced in the art of computer design have a tendency to ask for a trip to the moon at trip-to-Hoboken prices. There will be some program, administered by AT, to actually (hold your breathe) do some research into this. They are meeting with users and developers. Most of this action is in Europe, going on during CeBit, and I don't know all the details. But it's progress, more than C= generally did, and blessed all the way up to the top. ga

(1-12,Stuart) Super-cooled hypercube for $299

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) cool beans...

(1-10,Asha) RoyP: ga

(1-13,RoyP) A question -- and then a follow up Please...

(1-13,RoyP) With the announcement by Orical (sp?) of the NETBox (or whatever itis call)... How do you see AT Surfer Pac competing and have you seen the Browser. ga

(1-18,Dave H) Oracle, for those who don't know, has announced a thing they call the Network Computer. This puppy is based on a ARM CPU, 8MB of RAM, 4MB or so of Flash ROM, television display, and a V34 modem (cable modems to follow). It runs a browser and perhaps Java code. Sun is working on a similar thing, and Apple has been scrambling to reposition their "Pippin" architecture (which they don't plan to release themselves) as a similar thing. The target price for these guys is $500. That's a bit more than the Surfer Pac of today sure, and I suspect right out of the box a Network Computer might make a slightly better network system than the Surfer. And yet, is that really what you want? Especially in Europe or South Jersey, where you pay for connect time from the phone company to get to your ISP, even if he's giving you a flat rate, you're going to find the crossover point quickly. I had a $140 phone bill last month; I pretty much hit that crossover point monthly. Not to mention ISP storage. Today, most ISPs don't charge for storage, since after all, you don't put much more than a Web page and your pending mail up there, except for a few dinosaurs still using shell-only accounts. But just wait until the whole schemmeggie is sold in terms of on-line storage. You can bet they start to charge for it. I pretty much pegged the mainframe concept as a dead end 17 years ago when I started playing with microcomputers. I don't see it as realistic that it comes back. Plus, I think a low-end PowerAmiga will be a whole lot more competitive with these Network Computers. And they'll also play kick-ass stand-alone games, they'll let you edit text, record MIDI, program, etc. Maybe NC's will be a fad, maybe they'll catch on in corporations. But the Amiga will kick their butts as long as AT hangs in there and gets the job done.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-21,Joanne) ?

(1-7,Randy Murdock III) I'll take my 3000, thank you... Have to go, thanks Asha, Dave for being here!

(1-10,Asha) Roy: did you have a followup?

(1-13,RoyP) Speaking of "low-end". Have you ever heard talk of developing, possibly...a "Mid-Range" PowerAmiga like a new A2000 size box.

(1-4,Holly) ?

(1-18,Dave H) I don' know that an A2000-sized box is necessarily "mid-range". In the traditional C= terms, a low-end system is clearly a highly integrated, A1200-type thing with some machine-specific expansion. Any box-with-slots-and-external-keyboard thing in the A2000 mold I would peg at "mid-to-high", but I really don't see multiple systems to start with, just different bundles. You put a slower CPU in there, you have your midrange system. Put in a 604 and some cache, you're high-end, but still cheaper than today's high-end.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-10,Asha) Eric Douglas: ga

(1-5,Eric Douglas) What is your idea on what the amiga will be like in 2 years, and what is the most promising news you have heard about anything.

(1-18,Dave H) I would hope that in early 1998, AT has sold their first million Power Amigas, the OS is now totally PowerPC code (at least as much as that matters, legacy stuff might stay in 68K code as it does on the Mac), etc. Your low end machine goes for about $500on the street, while mid and high end systems start at $1200 or so. Two companies so far have entered the "Amiga Clone" market, shipping the PPCP version of AmigaOS as standard on their systems. The basic Power Amiga of the time does at least 1280x1024 noninterlaced graphics, 24-bit if you spring for the graphics memory. It can also do NTSC and PAL, and it can do MPEG playback, full screen at 30fps. It has some 3D support hardware as standard for graphics, as well as the fast blitter. General MIDI and 16-bit digital audio I/O are also standard. That's what I can hope, and none of that is impossible. I guess the most encouraging news so far has been that AT asked me about this stuff, so I have some idea that this might actually happen. ga

(1-14,Mike Webb) ?

(1-10,Asha) Holly: ga

(1-4,Holly) Thanks. Dave, you mentioned you were working on music.. What I was wondering, what is it, something Scala-related or ?? (nosy me)

(1-4,Holly) ga

(1-18,Dave H) No, the music stuff is just one of my many personal projects. I've been into music, listening and writing for years, but never had the time or equipoment to get anything done.

(1-4,Holly) Ahh.. Hmmm, what's up with projects at Scala? (looking at a Scala box on my shelf.) :)

(1-18,Dave H) Like I said before, the Scala MM100 for the PC is supposed to be out in May. This was a total redesign, which gives you a somewhat more refined MM400-class program on standard PC hardware. The way this works is that Scala wrote their own portable 32-bit, multimedia friendly, object-oriented OS to host Scala stuff on, and they put as much of that as necessary on the target system. The bottom line was that, once you left the Amiga, multimedia support pretty much went away, at least the way we rekon "multimedia" on the Amiga. There's another port currently on a major digital television set-top box, and more on the way in '96. This is good in some ways, though the extra layers make the system slower than the finely tuned Amiga versions. But it's very portable, so they could do a Power Amiga version no problem, should The Management decide that's a good target to support (eg, in becoming a "real company", this isn't a decision in Engineering's hands, though virtually everyone in Engineering is from the Amiga industry). ga

(1-10,Asha) Asha: ga

(1-10,Asha) Dave: A couple of related questions

(1-10,Asha) Have you seen the Surfer software? And do you like it?

(1-10,Asha) Also, do you know anything about an Amiga port/licence for Java? ga

(1-13,RoyP) ?

(1-6,Jon Guidry) ? too :)

(1-18,Dave H) I haven't seen it all. I played with the VooDoo mail program, and it's by far the best mail program I have seen on any platform, IMHO. I haven't used the browser yet; my Amiga to internet is fairly low bandwidth right now, no one supports Telebit modems anymore. I have a fast modem on the PC, and ethernet, so I may eventually have a router set up so I can use this stuff. Or I'll break down and buy a real V34 modem -- thing having just bought a car that's a problem (free cash), and in the next year I may have a much better internet hookup... As far as Java, I've heard from a few folks on the net who claim to be actively involved in an Amiga port. While I'm from Jersey, not Missouri, I'll still fell better when they can show me, but it does sound like something is happening.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-10,Asha) Thanks!

(1-10,Asha) Joanne: ga

(1-21,Joanne) Anything about P'jami and 4.0 OS, are they due out soon? ga

(1-18,Dave H) I don't know; I assume 4.0 is being kept for the PowerAmiga OS. Pieces may show up from Phase 5 before then (Phase 5 and AT are trying to estabish some dialog, so efforts aren't duplicated). They're still making software decisions, some of which pertains to the distribution model of the OS in its early days. The official goalfar as I know is Power Amiga in 1Q97, which implies an offical OS release. There could be developer stuff long before then (the BeBox model).

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-10,Asha) Mike Webb: ga

(1-5,Eric Douglas) ?

(1-14,Mike Webb) Is there any chance you could tell us any general information about the specifications of the AAA chipset?

(1-21,Joanne) Thanks gotta go. A real pleasure. :)

(1-18,Dave H) Sure. First of all, the AAA chipset was never finished. We had prototypes that were flawed, but did some real stuff, though they weren't functional enough to run the OS. New revisions of each of the four chips had been taped out. The AAA chipset was a 32/64-bit implementation of the Amiga architecture. It maintained as much register-level compatibility as possible with the OCS chipset, while adding zillions of 32-bit registers. It consists of four chips: Andrea, Linda, Monica, and Mary. Andrea is the Agnus analog, Monica the new Denise, and Mary replace Paula. Linda is a double-buffered line buffer, which makes it possible to run pixels and the chip bus at differen clock rates, and also does some neat compression tricks. There are two AAA system configurations. A 32-bit systems consists of one of each chip. A 64-bit system is made using two Linda and two Monica chips. Chip RAM can be DRAM or VRAM; VRAM runs pixels twice as fast and eliminates display DMA from the chip bus proper. A 64-bit VRAM system can run 1280x1024 at around 11-12 bits/pixel at 60Hz, and many other resolutions are possible, including all your AA favorites. The system supports planar displays to 16-bit, as well as chunky displays, HAM8, HAM10, and HAM8-chunky. The 8 sprites still exist, and can go up to 128-bits wide. There's also a single bit overlay, and you can have dual 8-bit playfields too. 24-bits/pixel is supported as "byte-planes", which we called "hybrid" pixels (a little chunky, a little planar). The blitter and copper do 32-bit as well as the old 16-bit stuff. 32-bit blits are pixel addressed, and there are new blitter operations, like add, add with saturation, sort, and tally. Blits can use long bursts, so you get 32-bits moved in 70ns, rather than today's 16-bits moved in 280ns. The copper has a move multiple instruction, and a blitter interrupt (eg, copper lists can very cleanly feed the blitter new instructions). The audio supports 8 channels, 16-bits/sample with rates up to some 100kHz. Channels don't pan, but can be assigned left or right. No synthesis is available on-chip. Audio output can be divided by 2 or 4 to avoid clipping in the mix, and an 18-bit digital ouput is also available. Floppy handles standard 1MB, 2MB, and 4MB discs with or without real sectors. It also handles the CD-ROM encoding, RLL, and some digital radio format. It's technically fast enough for 1x CD-ROM or ST-506 hard disks. There are two buffered serial ports.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-14,Mike Webb) Well, you said just about everything. Thanks. I've been wanting to know for awhile.

(1-10,Asha) RoyP: ga

(1-13,RoyP) This is a question for JimDoc, who couldn't be here...

(1-13,RoyP) He asks about Development on a DiskSalv for AFS...

(1-13,RoyP) Wants to go for the AFS-Pro but is waiting for a DiskSalv to work with it. ga

(1-18,Dave H) Well, there's a provisional DiskSalv 4 release, in the hands of Fourth Level Development for about two months now. It does Salvage only on AFS partitions, and that Salvage in all honesty could be better (much of the problem is finding good stuff under AFS, the traditional Amiga file systems' use of a distributed directory structure may annoy you with the 99.99% of use for directory listings and all,but it's a beautiful thing for that 0.01% of the time you're recovering failed stuff). I do intend to improve the Salvage and add fix-in-place. Other things, like a trip or two to Germany for example, have made my time on DS4 kind of scarce recently, so some of these things haven't happened yet. I do intent to get to them as time permits. ga

(1-10,Asha) Jon Guidry: ga

(1-13,RoyP) Thank u Dave. Keep up the good (no GREAT) work that you do.

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Two semi-related questinos:

(1-6,Jon Guidry) 1) What kind of other Amiga's were there when CBM went bankrupt (in development) ... and

(1-6,Jon Guidry) 2) What are all the saying you know of on the Amigas' motherboards? :)

(1-18,Dave H) 1) By the time C= went under, development had really been stymied for some time (it's a related issue, refer to "The Deathbed Vigil and other tales of digital angst" for one view on some these factors). Things had been humming along on the A3000+ in the first half of 1991 (the A3000+ being the best of the A3000 and A4000 combined with a DSP3210 and kick-ass audio subsystem), then a new management came in and killed all the projects currently in the works. The A3000+ was reduced to a "development vehicle" for AA, AA was intentionally delayed for 6 months so Mehdi Ali would think the previous engineeing management has been screwing it up (they weren't), etc. During the next year or so, I launched a number of "future projects", some asked for, some obvious bandaids, and some just to keep me from leaving C=. There was a DSP board, a spinoff of the A3000+, which did actually see life after a 3rd party licensed the design (the design itself was done by two engineers assigned the project after Lew Eggebrecht took over Engineering, in itself at the least a local maximum). I had a new architecture pretty much done, on paper, by the Summer of 1992. For a short time I actually had a guy designing some of it (I was too busy with A4091 and AAA prototype), but he was yanked to help out on CD32. This architecture, called "Acutiator", was the next generation mid-to-high end architecture, designed to replace the A3000 architecture. It was highly integrated (to lower cost), highly modular (to let us make a number of well designed motherboards from the same chips, rather than a kludge like parts of the A4000), and ready to support '040, '060, and RISC. Very little of this was ever even designed, unfortunately.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-6,Jon Guidry) what bout part 2? :-)

(1-18,Dave H) Whoop!

(1-18,Dave H) 2) Well, there weren't that many "sayings" on my motherboards, we generally stuck to code names. The best saying was on the A2000 prototype, Rev 2 or 3. This was something I did in 1986. In '85 and '86, we had a devistating round of layoffs at C=, based on the fact that the C64/C128 were aging and C= had paid buckets of money for Amiga. So on the bottom of the A2000 PCB was inscribed "The Few, The Proud, The Remaining", and below that, the initials of everyone left in Engineering. Henri Rubin made us take it off, so all you see is the "HAYNIE/FISHER" on the top of that corner (Terry Fisher did the PCB layout). Every motherboard has a code name. Everything George Robbins worked on was some reference to the B-52's. I had "The Boss" (A2000), "The Edge" (A2630), "B2" (A3000, Hedley named it), "Gemini" (an experimental multiprocessing Zorro III card), "Nyx" (the AAA prototype), and others I can't think of at the moment.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-14,Mike Webb) ?

(1-6,Jon Guidry) thanks Dave!

(1-10,Asha) It's getting late

(1-10,Asha) So I'd like to just do the last remaining (two) questions

(1-10,Asha) Eric Douglas: ga

(1-18,Dave H) Late is a relative term I usually crash around 4AM.

(1-6,Jon Guidry) a true Amigan :)

(1-5,Eric Douglas) skip me my question was answered.

(1-10,Asha) Well, Dave, if you want to continue, that's fine with me!

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) ok, let's keep going! :)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) YEA!

(1-10,Asha) Mike Webb: ga

(1-18,Dave H) I don't mind going a bit longer. \

(1-14,Mike Webb) typing...

(1-13,RoyP) ?

(1-1,The Man) ??

(1-14,Mike Webb) I hope this isn't too vague; in the January 1995 issue of Amiga World

(1-18,Dave H) New CD, New Beer, I'm here.

(1-14,Mike Webb) (moment of silence) in which there is a sort of a chronology about the Amiga, there are a few pictures that show the Amiga design team doing strange things, like wearing white bags with green wigs, or you wielding a sword. Is there any explanation for that (just wondering, seemed kind of interesting) :-) (end of question)

(1-18,Dave H) Yes!

(1-18,Dave H) The sword shot was from a Halloween party. AW had asked for any weird Amiga-related photos they could use, and I guess that made the cut. I still have that Claymore, but I use Japanese style swords these days. The green wigs were from a DevCon, I think it was Colorado. The story: C= management had hired Jeff Scherb as VP of Developer Support (before this, CATS was led by a Director I guess). Scherb was an ok guy, but wanted to show a professional face at DevCons. Clearly this has to be remedied, and so a bunch of the CATS and Software folks got together and decide to pull a prank. What you see there is a live re-enactment of "Lemmings"... ga

(1-10,Asha) RoyP: ga

(1-14,Mike Webb) Lol respectfully

(1-13,RoyP) Typing....

(1-13,RoyP) Dave AT has had problems getting HD drives for the A4000...

(1-13,RoyP) how do you see that situation and do you know of a solution for them... Also - why did it take so long for C= to even think about CD Rom drives. ga

(1-18,Dave H) The real problem is the custom nature of the Amiga HD drive. These were specified by C=, made only by Chinon. Now Chinon, being a big old supplier of C= parts, was apprently owed buckets of money by C=. You would think that AT coming along, offering to take any inventory of these drives off their hands would be a good thing for all involved, but apparently Chinon didn't want any part of it. That's what I heard, anyway. So AT is left with no manufacturer of Amiga HD drives (the trick being primarily the drive going 1/2 speed when you insert an HD disk, and transmitting Amiga disk code for the appropriate floppy format). The only viable solution for existing machines is to make this kind of drive, but AT doesn't have enough volumes to interest drive makers. The best solution for new systems is to use off-the-shelf floppy controllers; even if that's going to limit them to 1.44MB rather than 1.76MB, it's the only cost-effective solution. C= never worried about CD-ROM drives because, until the latter days, they had been considered too expensive for low-end machines. Custom designs like those in CDTV and CD32 could be done cheaply, but when off-the-shelf solutions for A500s wound up being more than 1/2 the cost of the A500, I guess C= didn't see it as a viable market. Maybe that was wrong of them -- the old C64 and C128 floppy drives were similarly priced. It wasn't an issue on the highend machines, you just bought a SCSI CD-ROM. That's what I did. An extra $10 in the A500 for cheap-ass Mac-style SCSI and it might have been a different world, eh. ga

(1-13,RoyP) CD's still aren't standard equipment. -- Sorry :(

(1-5,Eric Douglas) Been very nice. Good night dave. Good luck and I hope to meet you one day! If you ever come to vegas look me up. Nite all!

(1-10,Asha) I have no more people on my question list. If anyone has any more questions, please type ? now.

(1-6,Jon Guidry) !

(1-14,Mike Webb) ?

(1-26,Mr Challeron) ?

(1-1,Greg) ?

(1-10,Asha) Mike Webb: ga

(1-14,Mike Webb) Something you said earlier brought me to this thought: how and why did Commodore end up with the Amiga, anyway, and did all the people who designed it end up working with Commodore later?

(1-18,Dave H) Amiga was, of course, a CA startup company. It was originally funded by some private group (some doctors in Florida, I've heard), but as they needed more funds, they got a loan from Atari. By 1985 Atari was run by the ruthless Jack Tramiel. Atari was negotiating to buy the Amiga rights, but as anyone who's dealt with Jack knows, you're better off making a deal with the devil. He knew, given the loan, he could get Amiga cheap if they went into bankruptcy, and he didn't think anyone else was watching. C= was, and I really don't know how they came to be watching. But C= came through with a very good (for Amiga; they could have probably paid half what they did) offer, and Atari was paid off on the last day of the loan. Jack was very pissed. What's not so well known, if at all known, is that in the fall of '83 Jack started a "secret 68000 project" at an undisclosed "offsite location". C= at the time was already working on the C128 (you all know it) and the C900 (a megapixel UNIX workstation, for cheap back in 1983 -- go figure). It's fairly clear this became the ST, after Atari didn't get the Amiga. I don't know the C900 or ST very well, but they're said to bear more than a passing resembalance. Initally, C= maintained the whole Amiga group out in Los Gatos. This lasted through the A1000, but around the A2000 time, things began to fall apart. Management liked the proposal for the A2000 from Germany, including the BridgeBoard concept (at the time, C='s German group did all PClone designs, including the SideCar). Los Gatos folks felt their Ranger design, by all accounts superior, was politically slighted. Round the same time, Bob Welland and George Robbins (of the C900 project) were advancing their "fat" architecture, which eventually became the A500. Management decided that they wanted all Engineering in West Chester, PA. People don't leave Los Gatos for West Chester, as a rule.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-10,Asha) Jon Guidry: ga

(1-10,Asha) No question? Jon?

(1-6,Jon Guidry) This is a statement.. thanks for showing up in here, Dave. We all really appreciate it.

(1-10,Asha) Mr. Challeron: ga

(1-26,Mr Challeron) With all the current interest in Portable (if expensive) Multimedia, what are the odds we'll see a PowerAmiga Laptop (Imagine! Now your Amiga can also be your PAL!), along the order of the PPC PowerBook, if nothing else? ga

(1-6,Jon Guidry)

(1-18,Dave H) I figure its inevitable. Simply because, if nothing else, the Amiga OS will become PPCP compliant, and there will be PPCP laptops. It's also a reasonable guess that any new low end Power Amiga design could translate fairly well to the laptop. I don't know if AT is interested, and in fact, the question of an AT branded laptop will undoubtedly be dependent on more mass market success.\

(1-10,Asha) ?

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-10,Asha) Asha: ga

(1-26,Mr Challeron) Thnx

(1-10,Asha) Dave, is PPCP the new acrynym (sp?) for CHRP?

(1-18,Dave H) Yup. I bitched to Motorola about this. After all, you can pronounce CHRP (chirp), but PPCP is awkward. They Motorolaeans tend to peg CHRP/PPCP as "PReP with Apple stuff added", like for the most part, you don't need to worry about the Apple stuff unless you're doing Macs. We'll need the PowerShapeShifter to be happy with Mac stuff anyway; the multiple boot schemes they have pretty much blow (I have it on my PC, but there's no OS I really want fulltime there anyway).

(1-18,Dave H) [B

(1-18,Dave H) [B

(1-18,Dave H) [B

(1-18,Dave H) [B

(1-10,Asha) (can't backspace without a chat window)

(1-26,Mr Challeron) /send 6 yes

(1-10,Asha) Dave? Are you finished?

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-10,Asha) Are there any more questions? (type ?)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) ?

(1-10,Asha) Bronwen: ga

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) do you have any general advice or messages of good cheer for us amiga faithful?

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) :)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) we have to stay positive!

(1-18,Dave H) I believe the Power Amiga is possible, even in this day of Wintel dominance. If I didn't, I wouldn't waste my time, or AT's. I'm not at AT, and not in a position to say just what will happen, but if they do what I'm suggesting, I think they have a good shot at an Amiga Renissance.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-13,RoyP) ?

(1-10,Asha) Roy: ga

(1-13,RoyP) Do you see them having any really great announcements at CeBit or maybe Demos that we aren't already expecting. ga

(1-18,Dave H) They have a concept I think they're showing at CeBit, which I really liked. Since I don't know if it's showing public, I can't fill in the details. But I can say they have a different machine idea than anything you've seen before from C=.

(1-18,Dave H) .

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-10,Asha) Anyone else?

(1-14,Mike Webb) ?

(1-26,Mr Challeron) ?

(1-13,RoyP) Thanks Dave. Good answer (g)

(1-10,Asha) Mike ga

(1-14,Mike Webb) I realize it's been almost two years since his death, but do you have anything to say about Jay Miner? (it's strange how little I know about him, considering how instrumental he was in the Amiga's development)

(1-18,Dave H) Back in sec, Kira Baby is crying...

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Kira Baby?

(1-10,Asha) (Jon: Dave's daughter)

(1-14,Mike Webb) Has anyone truly written a fitting epilogue to that story?

(1-14,Mike Webb) ga whenever you return

(1-10,Asha) Mike: Give Dave a few minutes to rock the baby...:)

(1-6,Jon Guidry) sha :)

(1-26,Mr Challeron) Asha, I'll ask you in the event that this came up while I was crashing OS2CIM: What ever happened to the AAA chipset? ga

(1-10,Asha) Mr. Challeron: It was never finished. Last I heard AmigaTech has abandoned it as there are better chips off the shelf.

(1-14,Mike Webb) If I may comment on that...

(1-10,Asha) You can ask Dave when he gets back though...

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) this is sooooo coool what a guy, rocking babies and all! :)

(1-26,Mr Challeron) It seems like a shame, from what Dave talked about tonight.

(1-18,Dave H) Back

(1-10,Asha) Bronwen: He's a real sweetie!

(1-10,Asha) Ok... Mike, want to repost your question?

(1-14,Mike Webb) I will retype it now...

(1-18,Dave H) I sing Kira to sleep almost every night.

(1-14,Mike Webb) I realize it's been almost two years since his death, but do you have anything to say about Jay Miner? (it's strange how little I know about him, considering how instrumental he was in the Amiga's development) Has anyone truly written a fitting epilogue to that story?

(1-14,Mike Webb) ga

(1-18,Dave H) I didn't know Jay all that either, unfortunately. Perhaps better than many in West Chester; we talked at DevCons, occasionally went out for dinner when we

(1-14,Mike Webb) (bye the way, could you indicate how to pronounce his last name? I'm not sure) pardon the interruption :-)

(1-18,Dave H) were in the same town. But I'm not the one to have a deep and meaningful comment. Though I think it's a great thing to be able to have a positive effect on lots of people, and Jay's vision did this in spades.

(1-18,Dave H) (Kira's back to sleep, she just wanted hot milk and covers).

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) we all want that!

(1-4,Holly S.) and warm Amigas. :)

(1-10,Asha) (I don't know about the "hot milk" part)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) yikes

(1-18,Dave H) You pronounces it like you would when referring to a guy who digs mines.

(1-14,Mike Webb) I was wondering, with all the Spanish influence on the Amiga and the nickname "Padre" if it had a Spanish pronunciation.

(1-18,Dave H) Well, they did work in Los Gatos. But as I heard the story, their original name was something lexically similar to Amiga, but already copyrighted (I guess the name here would be a 10 point Amiga Trivia answer). So they changed a letter or so, Amiga sounded cool. The Spanish stuff came as a result.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-10,Asha) Mr Challeron: ga

(1-26,Mr Challeron) Thanks.

(1-26,Mr Challeron) Dave: I'm a little unclear on the AAA chipset, and your discussion of it earlier, because you started using "past tense", and ended up talking about what it "is". Has the whole project been dropped, or is AT working on "off-the-shelf-close-enough", and going to tweak the rest in software? ga

(1-18,Dave H) Well, there's what AAA does today, on two existing machines. But AAA itself is no more. That's the right decision, it's just too late, there's too much left undone on it, and it would cost a fortune to complete it. I can buy $15 SVGA chip with better graphics specs and faster blitters. That's a function of the way the compuyter industry has gone. Back in the Amiga's early days, no one did systej specific ASICs of any kind, except C= and a few other mass marketers. C= was a good match for the Amiga becuse of this, and the Amiga chips really were something special. You got roughly 68020 class performance on the A1000 thanks to the blitter, at a time when the '020 was a workstation CPU. And having something like an '020 doing your graphics freed up the 68000, so the system was just that much better than anything else. Over time, the PC Clone industry spawned a new class of chip makers. These guys made glue chips for PC Clones, at first, basicallyt making the "Gary" and "Buster" equivalents for PCs. Gradually, they started cloning IBM's graphics chips, and that led up to today. The companies that specialized in graphics chips were rewarded. A good systems house of today, IBM, Compaq, Apple, etc. might ship 5 million systems a year, if it's a good year. But these graphics chip companies are shipping 10's of millions of chips. They're getting expertise and volume unavailable to systems houses. Add the growth of multimedia concerns (if not good OSs to drive real MM), and you find that it's going to be very difficult to make a decent graphics chip today. If you don't have 3 years, 3 million buck, and a practiced team of 10-20 chip designers handy, you don't even step up to the plate.

(1-18,Dave H) [B

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-14,Mike Webb) Asha: permission to make pertinent comment?

(1-10,Asha) Mike: ga

(1-14,Mike Webb) I don't know if this means anything, but I was over on AT's web page, reading one of their press releases, and I saw a line that said something to ... never mind, I probably am about to say something stupid :-)

(1-14,Mike Webb) ?

(1-10,Asha) Mike Webb: ga

(1-14,Mike Webb) typing...

(1-14,Mike Webb) Please clear this up if I have a serious misunderstanding, but I've seen a number of fairly modern PC's in recent years, and not one of them has been able to keep up with my 68030 ECS machine in animation -- would these cheap SVGA chips, for all their high resolutions and more colors, really have a dream of keeping up with a newer, more powerful Amiga chipset at animation?

(1-14,Mike Webb) ga

(1-10,Asha) Do we have any more questions?

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) mighty quiet in the room! :)

(1-13,RoyP) I don't, Asha

(1-6,Jon Guidry) moi non plus

(1-18,Dave H) Sure. A good SVGA chip of today has a CPU to "chipram" bandwidth of 50MB/s-100MB/s. The best you get on an Amiga is 7MB/s. Similarly with the blitter. What you don't have on the PC, plain and simple, is the AmigaOS. SVGA chips can double buffer, they can give you a vertical blanking interrupt, and they're wicked fast in their modern incarnations. But what do you run, Windows or MS-DOS? It's like letting a monkey drive that hot new Porsche you just bought (well, I didn't, but you get the picture).

(1-14,Mike Webb) So is the AmigaOS really the Amiga's only remaining advantage?

(1-6,Jon Guidry) ! (statement)

(1-18,Dave H) Look at it this way: the PC has graphics 10x-50x faster, it has CPUs 5x-20x faster, and it costs less. And yet, the Amiga is doing stuff you can't do on the PC. Plain and simple. How else would you explain this? Scala has spent the last 2.5 years writing their own OS to allow Amiga-like things to happen on the PC. Software really is the key factor these days. Hardware evolution, if anything, was hastened by the PClone busines. Software evolution, on the other hand, has been hampered.

(1-14,Mike Webb) (comment) So I guess the AmigaOS is probably the basket in which to put the eggs.

(1-18,Dave H) a

(1-18,Dave H) gha

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-10,Asha) Jon Guidry: ga

(1-6,Jon Guidry) It's still obvious that the UAE (Useless Amiga Emulator) on DOS and UNIX stations is pretty darn slow... 10% the speed of an A500.. but disproves the theory that an Amiga can't be emulated ;)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) send 10 I just read Fido from my local bbs, there are actually two here which support ami!

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) oops! sorry

(1-6,Jon Guidry) ga :-)

(1-10,Asha) Any more questions? Comments?

(1-6,Jon Guidry) tell Skal thanks

(1-10,Asha) Will do!

(1-18,Dave H) Anything can be emulated.

(1-18,Dave H) The conditions under which something can be accurately emulated in realtime are a different story. No chip is released without being simulated to death. But running at 1/100th (or worse) the speed of actual hardware doesn't an emulator make. If they're getting 1/10th the speed of an A500 on some PC, wait awhile, eventually it'll be full speed. And I hear you're supposed to call the latest release "Unix Amiga Emulator"; I guess some authority has pronounced it usable. But don't expect it to do clean animations no matter how "useful" it gets; emulations are always at the mercy of their host environments.

(1-18,Dave H) ga

(1-10,Asha) Does anyone have any more questions?

(1-10,Asha) Well, it looks like we've run out of questions

(1-10,Asha) I'd like to thank Dave for coming to visit with us tonight and for all of his wonderfully detailed and patient answers to our questions.

(1-14,Mike Webb) Comment: I've gone well over my CompuServe free time, but it's been well worth it. Thanks, Dave!

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) standing ovation begins!

(1-10,Asha) Thanks Dave! And I hope we can invite you back again soon!

(1-26,Mr Challeron) Thanks Asha for hosting and thanks Dave for being here.

(1-13,RoyP) Thanks Dave.

(1-6,Jon Guidry) ditto. thanks, Dave!

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) it's worth it even if it's not free, Mike :)

(1-14,Mike Webb) Absolutely.

(1-18,Dave H) And I've been typing with a sore thumb.

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) should be sorer now!

(1-18,Dave H) Did I have anything else here.... Let's see.

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) a song?

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) warm milk?

(1-6,Jon Guidry) a pitcher of beer?

(1-3,Gracia M. Littauer) Super CO...Asha, you run a tight ship! Dave is the most articulate techie

(1-3,Gracia M. Littauer) I've heard yet

(1-10,Asha) Gracia: Thanks!

(1-18,Dave H) RJ sez "Keep the Faith" (RJ and Dale made it out to the Amiga Atlanta 10th anniversary dinner).

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) hey, let's all run to the virtual bar!

(1-14,Mike Webb) lol

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) i'll buy the first round :)

(1-18,Dave H) Explorer: Ford 1, Microsoft 0

(1-13,RoyP) Dave - I'd like to ask you back, sometime after the CeBit show

(1-14,Mike Webb) laughing again ;)

(1-18,Dave H) If you're looking for a beat-to-hell, tow-it-home kind of Eagle Talon AWD TSi, lemme know.

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) tsi?

(1-10,Asha) Dave: You're selling your car?

(1-18,Dave H) My car kind of died.

(1-6,Jon Guidry) what died in it? :-)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) brains and a car to boot, the man's a god!

(1-10,Asha) Ooops....

(1-10,Asha) Dave: Tow it to a dealer and trade it in! :)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) oh, tow-it-home! send it back to Greg Kinear! :)

(1-6,Jon Guidry) I need a car, but I need one that works :)

(1-18,Dave H) But, being dead, I couldn't get anything reasonable on trade-in, so I kept it.

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) ...to park in? :)

(1-10,Asha) Dave: You could turn it into a planter!

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) great minds think alike, asha!

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) how old is the talon?

(1-18,Dave H) Hey, you never know when there's a mechanical wiz, or an idiot with lots of patience, in the audience.

(1-18,Dave H) It's a '91 with 94,000 miles.

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) that's ami in a nutshell LOL

(1-6,Jon Guidry) ... in Louisiana :-)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) whew, where have you been driving to and fro?

(1-13,RoyP) Dave - You did DRIVE back and forth to Germany - Did you.

(1-10,Asha) LOL!!

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Hehe!

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) he can drive on water as well as walk on it? HO HO

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Interstate 4000? :-)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) keeping all those ami fires burning!

(1-13,RoyP) Dave - BTW, will you be going to CeBit?

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Asha: I uuencoded Jeff Grimmett a Cajun Stew.. want some? :)

(1-10,Asha) Jon: Sure, send it here as uuencoding tends to get garbled on Fido.

(1-18,Dave H) its 64 miles round trip to Scala.

(1-6,Jon Guidry) Asha: okay. Jeff ducked when I sent him the uuencoded Tabasco though.

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) how do you pronounce that word...uuen...

(1-6,Jon Guidry) you you encode I think

(1-10,Asha) U U encoded

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) thanks, i feel so newbie!

(1-10,Asha) Bronwen: Then I guess you don't want to hear about MIME... (giggle)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) isn't mime silent like the p in bath?

(1-10,Asha) Bronwen: Hee hee!! On the Amiga, almost ALL files are silent

(1-1,Dana) Not formal now? Hi.

(1-10,Asha) (you're not going to "get" me with that 'p' stuff)

(1-10,Asha) Not formal now....

(1-1,Dana) Jon: Yes

(1-13,RoyP) Dave - BTW, will you be going to CeBit?

(1-1,Dana) I was in and out briefly, sorry I missed most of this..

(1-1,Dana) I'll definitely DL the transcript

(1-10,Asha) Dana: I'll be posting the transcript when I get it edited (posted here on CIS)

(1-6,Jon Guidry) I'll post the transcript on FIDO's AMIGA echo and Aminet when I'm done.

(1-1,Dana) Cool

(1-10,Asha) GREAT conference Dave!! :)

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) waves of applause and gratitude!

(1-6,Jon Guidry) is everyone done? :) I'm about to turn transcript recording off and go to sleep :)

(1-13,RoyP) Asha: It was a wonderful CO.

(1-10,Asha) Jon: I think we're done ......

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) yes thanks ASHA and CIS!

(1-10,Asha) Roy: You're all welcome, and thanks to all of you for coming! Couldn't have done it without you!

(1-13,RoyP) Good Night everyone.

(1-14,Mike Webb) Thanks CIS, Asha, Dave, etc., it's been great

(1-10,Asha) G'night Roy!

(1-6,Jon Guidry) where'd Dave go? :)

(1-10,Asha) Mike: You're welcome!

(1-11,Bronwen Pitchford) kiss the baby for us!

(1-6,Jon Guidry) he left.

(1-6,Jon Guidry) night people!

(1-10,Asha) Dave has left the CO!

(1-6,Jon Guidry) bye Asha!

(1-10,Asha) G'night all

- End Transcript -

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