The Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group

The Status Register - February, 2000


This newsletter will never appear on CUCUG.ORG before the monthly CUCUG meeting it is intended to announce. This is in deference to actual CUCUG members. They get each edition hot off the presses. If you'd like to join our group, you can get the pertinent facts by looking in the "Information About CUCUG" page. If you'd care to look at prior editions of the newsletter, they may be found via the Status Register Newsletter page.
News     PC     Mac     Amiga     CUCUG

February 2000


To move quickly to an article of your choice, use the search feature of your reader or the hypertext directory above. Enjoy.

February News:

The February Meeting

The next CUCUG meeting will be held on our regular third Thursday of the month: Thursday, February 17th, at 7:00 pm, at the Bresnan Community Center. Directions to the Bresnan are on the end of this newsletter.

The February 17 meeting will be a split SIG meeting. For the Mac SIG, Charlie Melby will be doing a presentation on LinuxPPC. For the PC SIG, Jim Lewis and company will be doing an introduction to the world of MP3.

ToC

Welcome New Members

We'd like to welcome the newest member of our group, joining us in the last month: Steven Kohls (PowerMac).

We'd also like to thanks renewing members James E. Lewis, Garry Morenz, Fred Holy, Kenneth D. Walker, Octave J. Landry, Steve Peters, Michael R. Habermann, Don Berg, and Teri Frerichs.

We welcome any kind of input or feedback from members. Have an article or review you'd like to submit? Send it in. Have a comment? Email any officer you like. Involvement is the driving force of any user group. Welcome to the group.

ToC

Web Assault on E-commerce Sites

The Web was rocked earlier this week by an unprecedented series of attacks that temporarily blacked out a half-dozen of the largest e-commerce and portal sites on the Web, drawing international attention. The attacks centered on Yahoo, eBay, ZDNet, CNN and several other high-profile Web sites. The attacker(s) used a method called "distributed denial of service" attacks, which involves sending such a large number of fraudulent requests for information at a Web site that it buckles under the load, becoming inaccessible to the outside world. For more on this story see:

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-201-1545382-0.html?tag=st.ne.1002.bgif?st.ne.fd.gif.k

ToC

Phase5 files for bankruptcy

Application for insolvency was made
Press release from Phase5

Source: Fax from Phase 5 dated 02/09/2000 14.43 h
English: Translation from Martina Jacobs for amiga-news.de

Oberursel, 02/09/2000: On January 26., 2000 application for insolvency was made about the property of phase 5 digital production, and the application proceedings have been established by a decree made by the competent county court on the same day. During the regular application procedure there are negotiations about assumption, and continuation of the Amiga technology field with among others prospective buyers. By that, continuation of the current development and products shall be attained, especially as for the new G4 acceleration boards.

Every customer who did product preordering from and product prepayment to phase5 digital products will become informed about their objective rights in writing, once the insolvency proceeding will be established.

Anmerkung der Redaktion:
Annotation from editors:

Vorlr Insolvenzverwalter:
Provisional administrator of insolvency proceeding:

Angelika Amend
Am Aufstieg 10
61476 Kronberg
Tel. 0049 (0)6173/940341

ToC

DCE to continue Phase5 hardware

Posted by Christian Kemp on 10-Feb-2000
Amiga News Network

Ralph Schmidt wrote in comp.sys.amiga.misc:

"The last Phase5's Amiga products are and will be continued by DCE (www.dcecom.de)." He also points out that he's not employed by Phase5, does not own any part of Phase5 and therefore is not responsible for any of this.

Ben Vost, Editor of Amiga Format, writes on the Amiga Format Bulletin:

"I've known about p5 for about three weeks, and the major concern was what to do about folk who'd actually stumped up the deposit and so on. While there may not be a G4 in the works, people who did pay a deposit should get their money back... however, since DCE paid for a licence to manufacturer some of the p5 products, they may also pay a small sum to be able to finalise the G4 boards that p5 *was* developing..."

[Editor's Note: See DCE Interview in the Amiga Section of this newsletter.]

ToC

Reaction to the loss of Phase5

greenboy, spokesman for the Phoenix organization, writes:

"phase 5's insolvency should have very little impact on Phoenix or QNX plans. As it was, they were not able to proceed with their announced Amiga-oriented intentions. But Neutrino's hardware needs are in no way dependent on phase 5.

"So the only effect will be within a small portion of the public which still believes phase 5 is the keystone, when in fact it is not. The interviews I've done attempt to clarify those misperceptions and are reaching a large print and web readership.

"Whether phase 5 will be reborn under a different guise remains to be seen."

[Source: http://flyingmice.com/squid/moobunny/amiga/messages/27379.shtml ]

Mick Tinker of Access Innovation responded to a repair request by Gary Storm of SEAL (http://seal-amiga.co.uk), who has "a 'just out of warranty' PPC 603e+ which has a duff flash-rom", by saying:

Try sales@analogic.co.uk I don't know if they specifically repair PPC boards, but they can certainly replaced the flash for you.

ToC

Meeting with Bill McEwen in Frankfurt

Translation: Martin Baute

On Monday (1-17-2000) a group of Amiga developers, dealers and the press had a meeting with Bill McEwen (Chief Executive Officer Amiga Inc.) in Frankfurt, Germany. Bill explained his vision for the future of the Amiga and Amiga's co-operation with TAO Group.

Present at the first meeting after the Amiga takeover by Bill McEwen and Fleecy Moss were mainly hardware and software developers, as well as representatives of the two remaining German Amiga print magazines and of course myself for amiga-news.de.

The meeting was intended as a "getting to know each other" meeting. Bill McEwen is not a no-name, but so far he was rather behind the scenes at Amiga Inc.

However, he brought some goodies with him to Frankfurt. He explained the partnership with Tao, and that their OS will be part of the new Amiga generation. He assured us that not only a developer box specification will be released in February, but also that the necessary software will be offered for free download at the same time.

For the late summer, the introduction of the first consumer system is scheduled. The exact specification of this model is not yet decided upon, and depends on the results of his numerous talks with developers during his trip to Europe.

All in all, a beginning for the next - and hopefully successful - attempt to revive the Amiga. In any case, Bill McEwen earned broad support at the Frankfurt meeting.

ToC

The Amiga Link Directory is Unveiled

05 Feb 2000 - amiga-news.de

amiga-news.de opened the new Amiga Link Directory (ALD) for the public on 23.1.2000. The new directory`s aim is to become THE directory for AMIGA-pages. Innovative, a software-company based in Herzogenaurach/Germany developed the required technology for this exciting enterprise.

Entries are sorted by categories and letters or can be found easily via the available search-function. In order to guarantee an always up-to-date database, entries can be changed by the "owners" of the entry at any time via a previously defined password. For every entry, if provided by the "owner", further information is available. This can include, but is not limited to the postal address as well as the phone-number, email-address and homepage.

The ALD will also partially be available via the popular Aminet-CDs (means: only entries of "owners" who want their entries to be part of a "directory" on the Aminet-CD). For the first time there will be a bridge between the AMIGA-online and -offline-world - and it will be called ALD. This way communication within the AMIGA-community will improve and companies can also reach users, that don`t have an Internet connection yet.

Help us building the greatest online-directory for AMIGA-websites worldwide and add your website today.

The ALD can be found at: http://www.amiga-news.de/cgi-bin/anwd-db.pl

ToC

Aminet Hunter

from Andrew Elia, AmigaSoc

Feb. 12, 2000 - AmigaSoc UK is proud to present Aminet Hunter. Aminet Hunter is probably the most advanced Aminet search engine on the Internet. Designed with the same technology that many commercial websites employ, speed, power, efficiency, and ease of use are guaranteed. Originally scheduled for launch at World Of Amiga '99, the project has been held back due to various other commitments we've had. We firmly believe that you'll agree it's been worth the wait! Try it now!

http://uk.amigasoc.org/asearch/

ToC

Amiga Inc. and Haage & Partner announce a path towards the future

February 11, 2000 - Maple Valley, WA - Amiga Inc and Haage & Partner are pleased to announce a full and long term strategic partnership designed to benefit both the classic Amiga, and the Amigas of the future.

"This announcement gives us particular pleasure" said Bill McEwen, CEO and President of Amiga, Inc. "Haage and Partner are one of the pillars of the Amiga community and have done much to see it survive through the last five years. Now, in partnership we can not only ensure a smooth and hopefully seamless transition for the classic community, but finally move forwards to take advantage of, and define the technology of tomorrow."

"We have stood by the Amiga for many years because it is a wonderful platform." said Markus Nerding, a Managing Director of Haage & Partner. "Having taken a look at the new plans and technologies being worked on by Amiga Inc, we are impressed with how they have managed to capture the spirit of the classic Amiga and move it forwards. We will work with them to ensure compatibility with the classic software and to move the Amiga forwards with exciting new products."

Amiga Incorporated is dedicated to the development, design, and implementation of components, services, and models that support the digital experience of tomorrow. Amiga lead the world into the multi-media experience in the early 80's, and will lead it into the Digital content universe of the future. They can be reached at 425-413-2620, or via the web at www.Amiga.com or www.Amiga.de.

Haage & Partner is the leading manufacturer of development systems and applications for the Amiga family of computers. The Storm series for 68K and PowerPC provides a powerful suite of programming tools. Their mission is to provide the Amiga market with the most effective tools and applications possible.

They can be contacted at HAAGE & PARTNER Computer GmbH, Schlossborner Weg 7, 61479 Glashuetten, Germany, Phone: +49-6174-966100, Fax: +49-6174-966101, www.haage-partner.com.

[Source: HAAGE & PARTNER Computer - www.haage-partner.com]

ToC

Fleecy on development team training

Posted by Christian Kemp on 13-Feb-2000 16:17 GMT
Amiga Newtork News - http://www.ann.lu/

fleecy writes: "Just to let you all know. I am in Seattle at the moment for a third round of training with our new development team. 4 weeks ago, 4 of the Amiga team were trained. Last week 3 more were trained, along with 2 guys from an Amiga company that is a strategic partner. This week, 5 more of the development team is being trained. In 3 weeks time, the final training will occur with our last member, and 3 or 4 people from at least 2 Amiga companies that are also strategic partners. The entire team will be introduced once the training is finished, and the strategic partners will be announced. Things are happening."

ToC

Amiga 2K - Banquet Speaker - Bill McEwen

It is with great pleasure that we announce that Mr. Bill McEwen, President and CEO of Amiga Inc., will be our guest speaker at the Amiga 2K banquet Saturday April 1, 2000. Bill is well know to most Amiga fans as the former "Marketing Man" of Gateway's Amiga division.

Not to be one to be left out of the best computer in town, he arranged to buy the company from his former bosses. That has to be a feather in his cap. To be able to tell people that you so believe in a product, that after you leave a company, you arrange to buy it, is just admirable. I don't think they saw it coming, or they never would have left Bill leave.

So are we in for an interesting tale, undoubtedly. Will we hear about his ideas, I'm sure. Will we enjoy listening to the man who loves and owns our beloved Amiga... You Betcha!

Ticketing arrangements are as follows:

Tickets to the Amiga 2K banquet are $35. They will only be sold in advance, until March 18, 2000.


Admission tickets are $17 for two days - in advance.
                   or $12 for one day  - in advance.

At the door, Admission tickets are $20 for two days.
                                or $15 for one day. 

Class tickets are only available at the ticket table, during show hours. A schedule of classes will be posted later.

Remember... Orders for tickets must be received no later than March 18, 2000.

Please mail your requests to:

Amigan-St. Louis
PO Box 672
Bridgeton, MO 63044

Banquet tickets are sold on a first come basis. The last two years we sold out, so don't wait too long.

Sincerely,

Bob Scharp
Amigan-St. Louis
bscharp@icon-stl.net

ToC

PC-Task for the Amiga Abandoned

from Frank Busse in d.c.s.a.m - 03 Feb 2000

Bad news for all PC-Task users hoping for a PowerPC version. Chris Hames cancels further development of PC-Task since he lost interest in the project.

ToC

Amazing Computing Filed For Bankruptcy in December

With all the trauma that occurred around the turn of the year, with the Amiga Web Directory going down and Amiga Inc. being sold yet again, this story slipped under the radar. My apologies. Amazing Computing, the first and last print magazine covering the Amiga in North America, filed for bankruptcy just before the end of the year. Whether this is permanent liquidation or just a reorganization is still unclear. All Amigans wish its Editor Don Hicks all the best.

ToC

Transmeta don't plan 68k support

Posted by Christian Kemp on 14-Feb-2000 20:02 GMT
Amiga Newtork News - http://www.ann.lu/

Black Hand says he repeatedly mailed Transmeta to enquire about 68k emulation support, or the possibility to access and modify the morphing code. Here's what Frank Priscaro replied: "Supporting the Amiga was something that we considered early on, but had to drop because all of our resources needed to be focused on the Linux and x86 markets. We have no plans at this time to support the 68K family of processors."

ToC

BeOS 5 will be a free download

Beginning later in the first quarter of 2000, you will be able to download BeOS 5 -- the upcoming version of Be's acclaimed personal computer operating system -- free for personal, non-commercial use.

BeOS 5 is the newest version of BeOS, an alternative desktop operating system designed to deliver the most satisfying experience possible on a personal computer. BeOS provides a high-performance and robust platform for all applications, excelling in the areas of audio and video manipulation.

Thanks to innovative new technology from Be, you will be able to download BeOS 5 via a Web browser and store it as a file within Windows. No repartitioning will be necessary, and launching BeOS 5 will be as simple as double-clicking an icon on your desktop.

If you would like to be notified as soon as BeOS 5 is available for download, send a blank e-mail to freebeos@be.com. We will send you an e-mail message the moment it's ready.

[Source: http://www.be.com/products/freebeos/ on 1/18/200 ]

[Editor's Note: You can also view an FAQ at the above address. Below are a few pertinent items from that FAQ. ]

Free BeOS 5 FAQ:

Updated 1/18/2000 11:45 AM PST

Q: Where can I download BeOS 5 for free?
A: You will be able to download it at http://free.be.com/.

Q: Can I download BeOS 5 now?
A: No, BeOS 5 will be available for download later in the first quarter of 2000 (i.e., no later than March 31).

Q: Will BeOS 5 work on my Intel-compatible personal computer?
A: The chances are good, especially if it was manufactured recently. Check http://www.be.com/compatible for compatibility details.

Q: Will BeOS 5 work on my MacOS personal computer?
A: If you use a Power Macintosh -- i.e., not a G3 or later series computer -- it may work. Due to the unavailability of technical specifications, however, BeOS 5 is not compatible with current Apple computers. Check http://www.be.com/compatible for compatibility details.

Q: Will I be able to install BeOS 5 within operating systems other than Windows?
A: Not at this time. Note, though, that if you don't use Windows, you will be able to install BeOS as a stand-alone operating system ...

ToC

Pocket-sized USB and FireWire Hard Drives

In what may signal the introduction of an entirely new class of portable storage devices, both LaCie and VST Technologies--respected names in the Macintosh developer community--recently announced pocket-sized hard disk drives sporting both USB and FireWire ports.

That's great news for Mac users, making it easier than ever to transfer data among PowerBook, iBook, iMac, or Power Mac G4 computers with USB ports, FireWire ports, or both.

LaCie will offer 6GB and 18GB Pocket Drives, while VST will offer 6GB, 12GB, 18GB, and 25GB USB/FireWire Hard Drives. Both companies expect to begin shipping products in the first quarter of 2000.

For pricing and other information about these new products, visit:

http://www.lacie.com/pocket/

- and -

http://www.vsttech.com/vst/products.nsf/pl_fwusbhd

[Source: Apple eNews, February 10, 2000, Volume 3, Issue 4. Apple eNews is a periodic news communication from Apple Computer. To subscribe to Apple eNews, go to: http://www.apple.com/signmeup/.]

ToC

Free Interactive Courses from CodeWarriorU

You don't have to pack, worry about roommates, or stand in line at the Registrar's office. Not if you matriculate at Metrowerk's CodeWarrior University.

The first online university that specializes in code, CodeWarriorU offers free interactive courses on C++ and CodeWarrior, the leading programming language and development environment for developing applications for the Macintosh. Open to coders of all levels, the courses are free and are available online, 24 hours a day.

For more information, visit:

http://www.codewarrioru.com/

[Source: Apple eNews, February 10, 2000, Volume 3, Issue 4. Apple eNews is a periodic news communication from Apple Computer. To subscribe to Apple eNews, go to: http://www.apple.com/signmeup/.]

ToC

AirPort 1.1 Takes Off

TidBITS#516/07-Feb-00

Apple has released AirPort 1.1, a software update that improves user control over AirPort Base Stations and adds a few eagerly awaited features to the company's wireless networking technology. AirPort 1.1 offers more control over a Base Station's built-in modem by adding a modem status indicator and a Connect button (previously, you had to launch an Internet application such as a Web browser or email client to force a connection). The new software now supports using multiple base stations within the same network (which Apple refers to as roaming), and enables you to specify access to computers based on the IDs of their AirPort Cards for greater security. Also, the update includes the capability to set up an AirPort-equipped Mac as a base station without requiring an AirPort Base Station device. AirPort 1.1 is a free 4.3 MB download. [JLC]

http://www.apple.com/airport/
http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnum/n11570

ToC

The PC Section:

Windows Hints and Tips

Here is the first installment of what should be a very helpful bit of information for our Windows users. If you have any Hints or Tips you would like to see in this section, please feel free to email them to Dave Witt. His email address is davew@assochq.org . If your submission is used, you won't get a free set of steak knives, or a T-Shirt or anything like that; you will just get your name in our monthly newsletter. :)

ToC

Making Your Own Toolbar

1. Create a new folder on your hard drive (easiest to find if it's on the desktop) and name it something like "My Toolbar."
2. Right click on the start button, and click on Open.
3. Go to the Programs group (folder).
4. Open your "My Toolbar" folder into a second Explorer window. You should now have two -- one with Programs, and one, empty, "My Toolbar."
5. Find the program group (say, Games) that you want the toolbar for and copy all the shortcuts into your empty "My Toolbar" folder.
6. Right-click on the taskbar, and choose New, Toolbar.
7. When the Explorer window comes up, point to your "My Toolbar" folder. Now you have a new toolbar.
8. Customize it! Drag your toolbar to the desktop (top, side, wherever you want it). Resize it 'till you can only see the icons in the folder.
9. Right-click on the sizing handle once your toolbar is in place. Uncheck "Show Text" and "Show Title."

I have found this very handy, and have toolbars on every side of my screen parked with icons, so I can launch anything right from there.

ToC

Fun with Hot Keys

I know some people like to use the keyboard for quick access to certain options in Windows, instead of having to dig through numerous menus or even having to search for them. Well, here are a couple Hot Key combos that may make life a little easier.

Fun with the SHIFT key

Hold down SHIFT with the following:

Fun with Function keys in Explorer

Fun with the Windows Key

If you have a keyboard with the Windows keys, you have access to all kinds of shortcuts. Hold down the Windows key with the following:

For more Hot Keys, you can check out Microsoft's Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q126/4/49.asp

ToC

Different ways of Minimizing open windows

CLOSE ALL YOUR OPEN WINDOWS (you may remember one or two of these, but try them all!)

1. Hold the SHIFT key and click the X button on the right side of the open window's title bar
2. Hold the Windows key down and press "D"
3. Right click on the taskbar and choose Minimize All Windows from the drop-down menu
4. An often-forgotten icon on the Quick Launch bar -- Show Desktop -- minimizes everything instantly
5. Click the Start menu, and then run. In the command line, type a period (.) and hit ENTER. You'll get a new window with all the contents of your desktop!

ToC

Special bonus tip

Need a change from Explorer? From the Start menu choose Run, and in the command line, type WINFILE. It will open the Windows 3.1 File Manager.

ToC

How to restart Windows without rebooting your machine

When you click Shutdown, and Restart, instead of clicking "OK", click on Restart, and while holding either Shift key down, click "OK". That will restart Windows, instead of doing a warm reboot, saving you at least 5 minutes.

ToC

Multiply Your Start Column

Under Windows 95, when you click on Start, and Programs, if you have a lot of programs installed, you will see 2 columns of programs listed. Under 98, they did away with the multiple columns, and made it scrollable. If you liked the way Windows 95 had the double or triple columns, this tip is for you.

The following tip applies to Windows 98, with Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 or 5 installed.

1. Run REGEDIT (Start, Run, REGEDIT).
2. Find the following key: HKEY_Local_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\explorer.
3. Within the explorer folder, click the Advanced folder once to select it.
4. Right-click an unoccupied area in the right-hand pane. Click New, then String Value.
5. In the name box that appears, type StartMenuScrollPrograms (all one word), then press Enter.
6. Right-click the name you just created, and then click Modify. In the Value Data box, type FALSE, and then click OK.
7. Exit REGEDIT

It should not be necessary to restart Windows. When you click Start and then Programs, your menu will now show multiple columns instead of a single column with scroll arrows, assuming you have a long Programs list.

ToC

Welp, that's it for this month, again, if you have any Hints or Tips, please email them to davew@assochq.org and we will get them in the newsletter.

ToC

Will Microsoft finally conquer Piracy???

New users of Office 2000 will get a taste of Microsoft Corp.'s latest anti-piracy measure: forced registration. The company is inserting a new feature into an upcoming release of its word processing software that will cause the product to malfunction if a person doesn't register after launching it 50 times.

Users of volume licenses, such as those working at big companies, won't have to register. The so-called Registration Wizard doesn't require users to give any more information than their country of origin, Microsoft said. And they can register anonymously through fax, phone, e-mail or snail mail.

The company clashed with privacy experts over Office 97 last spring, when it was discovered that some Word and Excel documents contained code numbers that could identify the source of the document. Microsoft quickly issued a patch and now says Office 2000 documents will not have a similar identifier.

The Registration Wizard has been part of a two-year-long pilot program, which was designed as an aggressive move to combat software piracy.

"Counterfeiting is a big problem. What makes it even more difficult is the Internet," said Jackie Carriker, who works on Microsoft's anti-piracy efforts. The Web makes it easy for pirates to buy and sell software, sometimes to unsuspecting consumers. In January, the company succeeded in taking down 100 sites that distributed counterfeit copies of Windows 2000, a product that isn't scheduled to launch until next week. The number of counterfeit distribution sites has grown to 2 million in 1999 from 100,000 in 1997, according to industry trade groups.

Microsoft also is adding new anti-piracy features to Windows 2000, including a hologram that covers the entire CD-ROM and a new certificate of authenticity.

ToC

New Windows ME Expected by late May

Microsoft's next consumer operating system, dubbed Windows Me, could debut as early as May 26, according to a new report.

Windows Me -- short for Windows Millennium Edition -- is the final Microsoft operating system based on the company's Windows 9x line designed for home users. The launch is set for late May, according to Paul Thurrott, publisher of the WinInfo, a Windows user newsletter. International versions will ship to a variety of countries by early July, according to the report.

Previously referred to by its internal code-name Millennium, Microsoft announced last week that it would release the operating system under the new name. The software will be available at retail stores for PC users to purchase an upgrade and will be loaded on new consumer computers.

Microsoft declined to comment on the report.

The company has not officially disclosed the ship date or exact feature set for the new consumer operating system. "All we will say is Windows Me will be released sometime later this year," a Microsoft representative said.

Microsoft originally planned to stop producing operating systems based on its archaic DOS technology with Windows 98, which was released in June of 1998. Instead, due to delays in its other products and continuing demand from consumers as a result of the skyrocketing popularity of the Internet, the company extended the life of the product with Windows 98, Second Edition, and now Windows Me.

After the release this year, the consumer operating systems will be based on the Windows NT code base, thought to be more stable and crash-resistant than Windows 9x. Windows Me will in fact resemble Windows NT and Windows 2000, the new corporate operating system due from the company on Feb. 17, in terms of the look and feel of the user interface, according to WinInfo.

"Windows Me is a consumer-oriented product that will incorporate enhancements of customers that want to use a PC in their home, whereas Windows 2000 was developed for users in a business environment," according to a statement from the company.

In general, Windows Me is focused around four key areas, according to Microsoft: digital media and entertainment, the online experience, home networking and hardware compatibility and overall system reliability. In addition, the product will include a digital video editing application, Movie Maker, demonstrated by chairman Bill Gates at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last month. These four areas of focus reflect the changes in computer use since Windows 98 was introduced, Microsoft executives have said in the past. The changing styles have had a wide impact on the company and its products.

Microsoft executives have always denied the speculation that Windows 98 was extended through Second Edition and now Me because of delays in readying the consumer version of Windows 2000. Instead, they assert that the interim releases were necessary because of the unprecedented popularity of consumer Internet technologies like digital music and digital media, along with the company's push toward home networking.

Windows Me is still being beta tested, Microsoft said. The company released the second beta, or trial version of the operating system, to testers in late November. At least one more version, which will include the digital video editing software, will be released to testers before the final product ships. "We will do as many betas as needed," a source said today, declining to specify how many test version are usually required or how long a typical beta test period generally takes. "It's just too early to say right now." The beta tester site ActiveWin reports that the third beta version is due out in March, with the final software code released to CD-ROM and PC manufacturers by May.

After its possible debut in the United States and Latin America on May 26, Windows Me will begin shipping internationally, according to WinInfo. The software will be released in Germany and Spain on June 9, France and Italy on June 16, and Brazil, Holland and Sweden on June 20. The Japanese version of Windows Me will be released on June 25, followed by the Danish version on July 5, according to WinInfo. Additional Asian editions will ship throughout July, according to the newsletter.

After Windows Me, Microsoft will work on the development of the consumer version of Windows 2000, code-named Whistler, according to the company.

ToC

Microsoft prepares Service Pack 1 for 2000

With a couple of weeks remaining before the official release of Windows 2000, Microsoft is already preparing a package of fixes and updates, sources say. The fixes, called Windows 2000 Service Pack 1, will apparently be released in June, timed to coincide with the release of Windows 2000 DataCenter edition. DataCenter is the highest-end edition of the operating system, designed to run data-intensive Web and e-commerce servers.

It will also include a service pack code-named Asteroid, sources say. Service packs, or SPs, are a collection of bug fixes and feature enhancements issued as routine updates to original software releases. This particular service pack, however, may have more significant implications because many large companies have indicated they will not consider adopting the new operating system until it has been released. Windows 2000 SP1 will be available as a free download from the Microsoft Web site in June and will be much smaller than any previous service packs, according to an email report from Paul Thurrott, publisher of a daily Windows newsletter.

Thurrott first reported earlier this week the consolidation of two future operating system development projects within Microsoft, an internal reorganization that the company confirmed occurred very recently. A Microsoft representative declined to comment on the timing of the first service pack, citing a policy of not commenting on rumors. Windows 2000 DataCenter will be released four months after the official release of Windows 2000 Workstation, the representative said, in June.

Windows 2000 is Microsoft's upcoming operating system for corporate computer users, and the company's most ambitious -- and delayed -- software development project to date. Envisioned as the centerpiece to Microsoft's business and consumer strategies, it is hoped that Windows 2000 will serve as the backend to a universe of computers and devices running on Microsoft client software using Microsoft Internet services.

Analysts said the four-month delay between the official release of Windows 2000 and the service pack is well within the normal course of operating system releases, especially one as involved as Windows 2000. "It's not that unusual," said Dwight Davis, an analyst with Summit Strategies. "Part of the problem for Microsoft is they have to freeze the code well in advance of it getting into people's hands--creating an OS is a never-ending task."

While the update to Windows 2000 may be a non-event in terms of software development, it could encourage some companies to upgrade their corporate computers and servers, Davis said. "I don't think the news of a service pack will really have a major impact one way or another, but it's probably a factor in Microsoft's thinking," he said. "I don't think it would have driven them to release it sooner than they would have. But it's never bad advice to wait for a new operating system to get some of the kinks worked out."

SP1 will be a much smaller file size than other service packs because it will not include anything other than necessary bug fixes, according to Thurrott. Recent service releases from Microsoft for Windows 98 have generated some amount of controversy because they have included new functionality and features, which typical service packs do not usually offer. "Windows 2000 SP1 will contain only the most crucial fixes, and no added fluff," according to Thurrott. The Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that SP1 for Windows 2000 will be "slipstreamable," which means that the Windows 2000 installation will automatically include all of the bug fixes included in the service release.

"It's probably fair to say that the bulk of people -- because of the scope of Windows 2000, plus it being a new OS -- will be cautious rather than rash in adopting the new OS," Davis concluded.

ToC

Intel previews Itanium, IA-64

In a sneak peek of next week's Intel Developer Forum, Intel previewed its Itanium processor and IA-64 architecture at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco this week.

Gadi Singer, vice president and general manger of Intel's IA-64 processor division, said the combination of hardware and software features of the Itanium processor, including the 800-MHz production frequency, makes the Itanium processor ideal for raw scientific performance as well as e-business applications. In short, Singer said, the Itanium is the "most significant processor development since the 486."

Touting multiprocessor scalability anywhere from 2-way to 512-way, Singer said the IA-64 Itanium processor has a migration pack allowing for backward compatibility with Intel's 32-bit architecture. Improved software/hardware synergy gives the Itanium processor greater parallel execution through "instruction loop hints" that keep the chip's rapid clock cycle "fed," according to Singer. "Memory hints" that identify data or calculations being cycled repeatedly through the processor also increase performance by routing the information in the simplest, fastest manner, he said at Monday's preview.

Intel estimates the Itanium processor can perform just over 1000 decryptions per second on prototype engineering systems, speeding encrypted business transactions while ensuring security.

While the base chip set will vary depending on the OEM, Intel's 460 GX chip set -- designed for the Itanium -- will support SDRAM (synchronous DRAM) and possibly Rambus, according to Intel officials.

The IA-64 operating environment has already been booted successfully on 64-bit Windows, Unix/Linux, and Novell, according to Singer. It will be ready for server and workstation solutions by the second half of 2000, according to Singer. With OEM commitments already shored up from Compaq, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Data General, Intel expects the IA-64 architecture to be "the solution for the next 25 years," Singer said.

ToC

The Macintosh Section:

Poll Results: They Come in Colors

by Adam C. Engst (ace@tidbits.com)
TidBITS#516/17-Feb-00

With last week's poll - "What program do you most often use to edit or create graphics?" - we knew we couldn't offer all possible responses, so we encouraged people to send notes to TidBITS Talk about what they use. Response to the poll resulted in an extremely interesting set of information, even after I weeded out redundant messages.

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=928

The Winners

Not surprisingly, the powerful Adobe Photoshop took home the award for most popular among the specific choices we offered in the poll, tallying 40 percent of the vote. Second place was more surprising, with Thorsten Lemke's GraphicConverter picking up 14 percent of the vote. After that, the results were relatively predictable, with Illustrator at around 8 percent, followed by Canvas and FreeHand at 7 percent. AppleWorks (previously known as ClarisWorks), PhotoDeluxe, ImageReady, and Painter all picked up a few votes as well. Surprisingly far down were Corel's offerings, CorelDraw and Photo-Paint, which barely registered at all, although Corel is now making a limited edition package of CorelDraw and Photo-Paint available for free.

http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/main.html
http://www.lemkesoft.de/us_gcabout.html
http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/main.html
http://www.deneba.com/dazroot/prodinfo/canvas7/
http://www.macromedia.com/software/freehand/
http://www.apple.com/appleworks/
http://www.adobe.com/products/photodeluxe/
http://www.metacreations.com/products/painter6/
http://www.corel.com/draw8mac/
http://www.corel.com/photopaint8mac/
http://www.corel.com/draw8mac_le/

The Others

In many ways, the messages we received about other programs proved more interesting, since they reminded us of programs we hadn't thought of while designing the poll and revealed numerous users of obsolete programs.

We should have added MicroFrontier's image editor Color It and Macromedia's Web graphics-oriented Fireworks to the mix, possibly with MicroFrontier's Enhance (Color It's big brother) and Macromedia's Web-animation tool Flash as well. Color It and Fireworks in particular generated messages from happy users.

http://www.microfrontier.com/
http://www.macromedia.com/

A few blasts from the past were equally as well represented by reader messages, though, including the obsolete Canvas 3.5 and the long-defunct ClarisDraw (mentioned in TidBITS-187_), SuperPaint (reviewed in TidBITS-112_), and IntelliDraw (reviewed in TidBITS-155_). Canvas 3.5's loyal following didn't surprise me much since with the ill-fated Canvas 5, Deneba started moving away from 3.5's focus on drawing and painting and has tried to turn Canvas into a professional level vector graphics and image-editing tool. You can read for yourself if they're successful in Matt Neuburg's review of Canvas 7 next week; we ran out of space this week.

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=02474
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=03174
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=02815

Also telling was the outpouring of support for these older programs, which have either been left to die by their companies or supplanted by newer versions. I turn to ClarisWorks when I need to do basic graphics, mostly because basic graphics are all that are within my reach. Perhaps the less you need, the more likely you are to stick with what you know rather than worry about new features.

Other programs that garnered a mention or two include Pierce Software's inexpensive drawing program ShareDraw, the powerful Live Picture vector-based image editing program, the drawing tools built into Microsoft PowerPoint 98, and Nova Development's Print Explosion.

http://www.peircesw.com/ShareDraw.html
http://www.calverley.co.uk/LP-GROUP
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/office/
http://www.novadevelopment.com/products/printexpl/

Studio Artist in a Garret

One unmentioned program that deserves recognition is Synthetik Software's Studio Artist. I stand no chance of being able to do justice with a description of this program, but I've found it fascinating and like no other program besides perhaps Delta Tao's defunct Monet.

http://www.deltatao.com/

Here's how I've used Studio Artist. First, you provide Studio Artist with a source graphic, either a photo, some piece of clip art, or something you sketch. Then you choose a brush style, tell Studio Artist to go into automatic drawing mode, and click a start button. Amazingly, Studio Artist then goes and draws a picture based on your original using the brush style you selected. If you don't like where it's going, you just stop the process, clear the screen, select another style, and start again. For our Christmas cards this year, I sketched the outline of a Christmas tree in ClarisWorks, opened it in Studio Artist, and tried different effects. Once I found one we liked, I placed it on a template in Print Explosion, added some text, and ended up with a reasonable card. To get an idea of what a total neophyte can do with Studio Artist, check out my samples (we ended up using the top left image and adding some color manually with green and red markers, since we don't have a color printer).

http://www.tidbits.com/resources/516/studio-artist-trees.html

Studio Artist can do far more than what I've described, including apply these sorts of effects to every frame in a QuickTime movie. Tapping its full power requires a significant learning curve (at least for people who don't already use high-end graphics programs), but if you've always wanted to apply wild effects to images or movies with a minimum of effort, Studio Artist will do the trick. It's not cheap, at $295 for the CD-ROM with electronic manuals or $330 for a box with printed manuals, but there is a free 11.2 MB demo you can download.

http://www.synthetik.com/

ToC

A Quick Dip into Aqua, the Mac OS X Interface

by Jeff Carlson (jeffc@tidbits.com)
TidBITS#513/17-Jan-00

One of the few surprises at last week's Macworld Expo in San Francisco was a first look at the new Mac OS X user interface. Although the new operating system was announced in mid-1998 and its technical features (like preemptive multitasking and protected memory) are known, those things don't have the potential to stir up the ire and interest of Mac users quite so much as the notion of tampering with the Mac OS look and feel.

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04881
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05415

So when Steve Jobs said that he was going to show off the Mac OS X user interface, which he claimed has been one of the best-kept secrets within Apple, I perked up. Sure, Mac OS X can do some whiz-bang things under the hood and not turn your Mac into putty when an application crashes, but what will I be looking at for several hours each day? How will Mac OS X affect the way I interact with my computer?

It's important to note that the demos at Macworld Expo, both during Jobs's keynote and in the Apple booth, represent the closest look at Aqua so far - and it's not much. A limited preview is available from Apple's Web site, but questions remain about elements not demonstrated at Macworld. No doubt there will be tweaks and revelations by the time Mac OS X is released later in the year.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/

The Look You Want to Feel

The success of Apple's iProducts, from iMac to iBook, has shown that appearances do matter, that the look of something can often determine its success, regardless of other technical merits. So it's no surprise that Apple's emphasis on look is moving to its software as well.

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05501

Overall, Aqua is surprisingly sparse and clean, and will be familiar to anyone who has used a Mac. The gray fill of the current Platinum interface is replaced by white, with a subtle horizontal line pattern similar to the iMac's faceplate texture. Aqua gets its name from the use of a watery, translucent look for interface elements like buttons and sliders; the top navigational elements at Apple's Web site use a similar effect.

Aqua also employs soft drop shadows to windows and menus to provide a more polished appearance and emphasize layered items. I'm surprised that I like the effect as much as I do, since drop shadows are overused. Other effects, like animation, make an appearance in Aqua. Rather than a dull black outline to denote a default button in dialog boxes, Aqua's method of highlighting a button is for it to light up and slowly pulse like the iBook's and iMac's power button.

One noticeable departure from today's interface is the placement of window controls for close, zoom, and minimize (the successor to WindowShade, which collapses the window into a new element, the Dock). All three are now round buttons located at the left edge of the title bar, and follow a traffic light metaphor: red closes, yellow minimizes, and green zooms. For people who are color blind or who still use grayscale displays, the buttons also feature a roll-over effect when you pass your cursor over them: the close button displays an X, the minimize button displays a minus sign (-), and the zoom button displays a plus sign (+). The new controls also function for both active and inactive windows, so you can close a background window without bringing it to the foreground.

It will be interesting to see how current Mac users adapt to the new arrangement. There's bound to be a bit of frustration from users who have been zooming their windows from the right side for years. Plus, a few TidBITS Talk participants have pointed out that putting destructive commands (the close button) and nondestructive commands (minimize and zoom buttons) next to one another invites danger.

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=901

Less Clutter, Less Confusion

In Mac OS X's Finder, the title bar sports one other button: a transparent blob at the right side that toggles Single Window Mode. Unlike the current user interface, where burrowing deep within a folder structure can leave a scattering of overlapping open windows, Single Window Mode displays only the active content. If you're using the Finder in Single Window Mode, only the current directory is shown; within an application, you can have multiple files open but only the active one actually displays.

Long-time Mac users may scoff at the Single Window Mode, but I think it's a great idea. Computers can be intimidating to new users, and part of that intimidation is caused by complexity; a screen full of windows that aren't in active use is complex. Sticking to the current task reduces clutter and confusion. Luckily, it's easy to toggle between modes by clicking the Single Window Mode button, though it's odd to have what appears to be a system-wide preference on every window, whereas the other controls are window-specific.

Modal dialogs are also now specific to the windows they belong to. If you close a file that hasn't been saved, the standard "Do you want to save changes?" dialog is attached to the file's title bar, and remains there until you've acted on it - but you can still switch to another application. Also, dialogs are translucent, letting you see the data beneath them. It's hard to tell from the demo if this is actually a useful feature or an example of eye candy. Still, the translucency adds yet another level of visual polish that isn't found in current operating systems.

The Dock Is In

A new interface element to the Mac OS is the Dock, an area along the bottom of the screen where you can store apparently anything. The Dock resembles the Windows Task Bar, but you can drop inactive applications, frequently used folders or files, or favorite QuickTime movies into the Dock. The Trash is also now a member of the Dock, rather than its own element on the desktop. During Steve Jobs's demo, he repeatedly minimized items to show off the way they move: windows don't just disappear and appear in the Dock, but rather stretch and shoot their way to the bottom of the screen like an animated sheet of rubber sucked down by a vacuum cleaner, a transition called the "genie effect."

A docked item appears as an icon, either generic (like a folder) or as a preview of the item's content (such as images or QuickTime movies, which can continue to play). You can specify whether the Dock always appears or is activated when the mouse moves to that area. You can also specify the size of the Dock icons dynamically. And as the bottom of the screen fills up, the icons automatically shrink to accommodate more items. One of the highlights of Jobs's demo was the Dock's capability to enlarge each icon as the mouse passed over it, resulting in a shifting sand dunes effect whereby the adjacent icons resized in diminishing proportions.

The Dock demo elicited the biggest wows of the talk, and though it's certainly snazzy, I wonder how effective it will actually be. It feels random to have your applications and documents and whatever else just hanging out at the bottom of the screen. The placement also begs the question of what will happen to the current Mac OS's tabbed windows, which also occupy real estate at the bottom of the screen. I rely on pop-up windows for quick access to email attachments, file downloads, and aliases, and it's unclear if I can transfer that functionality to Mac OS X.

Finding the Finder

Long-time Mac users will also have to become accustomed to the idea that the Finder lives in a window by itself. (In fact, the Mac OS X Finder looks like a variation of Mac OS 9's Sherlock 2). It features buttons to access your computer, applications, documents, favorites, and people, plus a button labelled Home that takes you to a main directory of your choice (whether it's on your machine or on a network). The Finder works as a single window view by default, but you can also open multiple windows as in the existing Finder. The Finder also incorporates a third, split-pane column view, inherited from Mac OS X's NeXT origins. As you navigate the file structure of your hard disk, new columns appear to display a horizontal hierarchy of the structure.

Although putting the Finder into its own window sounds alien to most of us, it makes sense for new users. Under the current Mac OS, tell a new user to switch to the Finder, and they're likely to reply, "Huh?" That's because the Finder and the desktop are synonymous to most of us. The Finder will become the tool to find information, instead of a catch-all for file and application icons. It's also good that you can choose which view to use. It's no secret that Jobs has advocated the split-pane browsing method for years. And allegedly it took quite a bit of work within Apple to convince him that the Finder should offer traditional navigation as well as the split-pane view.

Graphics, of Quartz

Mac OS X's 2D graphics capabilities come from Quartz, a rendering engine based on PDF (which is a vague descendant of Display PostScript used in the NeXT operating system). In fact, much of the effects mentioned so far, like translucent dialog boxes and menus, drop shadows, and resizable Dock icons, are due to the Quartz engine. Another example is the use of anti-aliased text, though hopefully this feature will also be a user-definable preference. Although I find well-designed aliased text is easy to read, others find most if not all anti- aliased text alarmingly smudged, especially at small sizes. (See "Better Typography Coming to a Screen Near You" in TidBITS-403_).

http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04228

Having built-in PDF support means that applications will be able to save to PDF without additional software. However, it's not clear if Quartz will provide many of the more subtle features of PDF, such as forms, routing information, and digital signatures. Jobs did demonstrate the Quartz PDF Compositor, an application that could easily add, manipulate, and export PostScript-based artwork with drop shadows and variable transparency.

Good Enough to Lick?

During the Macworld Expo keynote, Steve Jobs reinforced his unusual oral fixation on Apple products by claiming that they were good enough to lick. Certainly, the interface looks different from the softly beveled appearance of Mac OS 8 and later. But is the Mac OS X interface just iCandy? Will the pulsing glow of an OK button really make a difference? Yes and no. The new look adds pizzazz to the interface, which is both cosmetic and functional. It's an implementation of Look Different: for someone who has never used a computer before, the interface is clean and inviting.

But the new design also serves a similar function to the iMac's external design: it will be harder for Microsoft (or others) to add pulsing buttons and animated windows to their operating systems without acknowledging that they're copying the look of the Mac. Computer makers are finding that they can't directly copy the look of the iMac, and it's likely that Apple could pursue companies that infringe upon the Aqua interface. Surprisingly, this has already begun to happen. Apple's lawyers recently sent cease-and-desist letters to a site for posting a "skin" titled WinAqua for use with the Windows interface-customization tool WindowBlinds. Apple also apparently asked Casady & Green to yank an Aqua-looking skin for SoundJam.

http://www.skinz.org/
http://www.windowblinds.net/
http://www.soundjam.com/

The demonstration at Macworld Expo was definitely a fun peek at Aqua, and it will be interesting to see more details emerge as the estimated Mac OS X release date of the middle of 2000 nears. Numerous questions remain that weren't answered in the demo. For example, the Apple logo appears in the middle of the menu bar; is it the functional Apple menu we've used for years, or just corporate branding? Either way, what happens in a program that has more than the standard handful of menus? Does the logo slide aside, or do menus wrap around it? Also, how much of the interface will be controlled by the user? Can I specify solid buttons and scroll bars if Aqua's watery elements make me seasick? Only time - roughly six months if Apple can keep its intended schedule - will give us these answers.

We'll have to wait longer for the more difficult answers, however. As Apple embarks on the next major revision of its Macintosh operating system, how durable is the interface? What happens in a few years when the translucent, bright-colored look is out of fashion - not only onscreen, but in case designs as well? Will we look back on the Aqua interface someday the way we look back on bell-bottomed pants or fluorescent leg-warmers? Will the Mac OS interface change according to Apple's ad campaigns?

It's possible. However, at the Expo keynote, Jobs began his introduction to Aqua with a black-and-white image of the first Macintosh interface. The crowd laughed, but the joke had two faces: that original screen looked so foreign compared to the colorful displays on our modern desktops; yet at the same time its windows, icons, menu bar, and Trash can are elements we see on our Macs every day. In other words, interface change is not bad in and of itself, but it must be managed carefully to be both comfortingly familiar and invitingly different.

ToC

The Amiga Section:

EXECUTIVE UPDATE - February 4, 2000

Greetings to one and all:

A great deal has occurred over the last couple of weeks, and it is only going to get more interesting as we move forward. It has been some time since I spoke with you, and I wanted to share some of the fun.

In the last two weeks we have announced our new foundation partner, started technical training with our new development team, and had many meetings with future technology partners. The responses have been overwhelmingly positive and, to quote an old song "they ain't seen nothing yet".

On January 8, 2000 at CES in Las Vegas we announced our partnership with the Tao-Group as our foundation OS partner. This is not just a technical but a strategic relationship and brings with it great rewards. I have asked Fleecy to write a short document highlighting the Amiga/Tao relationship from a more technical perspective, to save you from having to put up with my telling everyone how incredibly great and fantastic it is. We want you to make your own minds up.

In the next two weeks we will make another strategic partnership announcement with regards to the new path for Amiga. As with all our announcements, look at it against the whole picture and not in isolation.

After a week long trip to Germany and the UK I have come back with a much better understanding of what we can and cannot do. As mentioned before we are not going to make promises or product announcements. We will announce to you, the community, only after the deal is signed or the product is sitting before us. This won't put a stop to rumours, but it will make them all the more obvious. Change brings uncertainty, and in an information vacuum, mischief makers like to take the spotlight. If it isn't officially sanctioned by Amiga, don't believe it.

Our job as a company is to create exciting market opportunities for Amiga developers to take advantage of, and to give Amiga users a platform they can enjoy. This requires more than just an upgrade to the existing OS. This requires, indeed demands a complete strategy reaching into all areas of the present and the future. The time has come for all of us to move forwards, owner, developer, and user.

Many of you have sent us business proposals, and product marketing ideas, and for this we thank you, and ask for your patience as we look over them. Some are providing us with valuable insight into the desires of the Amiga community as a whole, others are providing us with a good chuckle. This is the Amiga advantage that other platforms just do not share.

Over the next few months there may be some companies that come out with their own plans, or state that we do not have the community at heart as we move forwards. The reality is, they do not know what we have planned. In order to stay focused and to keep up our incredible pace, we are not sharing our plans outside of our signed partnerships.

We have to prioritise and act singlemindedly if we are to reach our first plateau in our given timescales. Once there we will be able to pause for breath. Some are not happy about this, but they do not know the full plan. Our mission is not just about restoring the Amiga, but about pushing it forwards as THE technology for tomorrow.

This means that if you hear something annoying, or frustrating, or downright nasty, and the source is not Amiga Inc, then disregard it.

Plain and simple.

If you did not hear it from us, or read it here on this web site it is not true.

We are not asking for your trust or your undying belief. We only ask that you take us on OUR words and deeds, not on the misinterpretations of others.

We will soon be starting official meetings in Europe, the UK, and the US for developers and dealers. This will include introductory training seminars for the new OS, and introductions to the retail pricing and schedules. We will also begin the process of introducing the new web site, and putting the Amiga Advisory Council to work.

I want to thank each and every one of you for your hospitality during our meetings and for your continued support as we move forwards. We have had the chance to meet with many end users, developers, dealers, and new partners, and look forwards to meeting even more of you as time goes on.

There is a great deal of activity, with a lot of first footsteps on some truly amazing paths. New partners excited, old faces returning, familiar faces reminding us of our heritage. Indeed we are already having to move into bigger facilities, such is our rate of growth.

I know it can be frustrating but after years wandering lost in a dark place, the sun is finally starting to crack a smile on the horizon. Together, we will march into tomorrow.

Keeping the faith,

Bill McEwen and the rest of the Amiga Team.

ToC

Fleecy Moss on future Amiga hardware

from Jerry Smith (amigasmith@my-deja.com)
Date: 24 Jan 2000

Hi Everybody,

Below is a e-mail conversation with Fleecy Moss to find out what Hardware the Amiga will run on. It is edited to protect the innocent.....

Hope this clears up "some" of the questions.

Jerry Smith - Amiga Nut since 1987

P.S. no use e-mailing me - this is all I know....

------------- reply from Fleecy ---------------

From: Jerry Smith (amigasmith@my-deja.com)
To: fleecy moss (fleecy@earthlink.net)
Date: Friday, January 21, 2000 9:26 AM
Subject: Amiga/Tao OS - HW???

>Hi Fleecy,
>
>I was on the IRC session with everybody a couple of days ago and I am
>still confused >about what hardware the new Amiga/Tao software will run
>on.
>
>I have seen references that say it is multiplatform and will run on PPC
>and 86x machines.

Yes - it actually runs on a Virtual Processor, and the first release of the next wave of Amigas to the consumer can run on both x86 and PPC processors.

>PLEASE let me know if I can buy a HOT IBM box and still run the new >Amiga/Tao software on it.

We are not going to get too wacky so if that box doesn't do any weird shit then it should be ok. We are not going to get into the job of supporting every bizarre combo in the world though. HW partners will ship systems to the dealers and they will have ensured that if they do anything weird, they support it.

That was one of the mistakes that Be made.

------------- reply from Fleecy ---------------

From: Jerry Smith (amigasmith@my-deja.com)
To: fleecy moss (fleecy@earthlink.net)
Date: Sunday, January 23, 2000 11:55 PM
Subject: Re: Amiga/Tao OS - HW???

>May I pass this info on to others in the Amiga community or would you
>like me to wait for your offical release? 

It can be passed on - you answer the questions it generates though ;-)

>I expect that the new Amiga/Tao OS will be something simular in fashion
>in that it will take over a IBM box and run a Amiga (like) system.

It can do that, yes.

>I am a loooooog time Amiga user and Padre was a good friend of mine. I am
>sure he would be pleased with having the Amiga back in friendly hands.

That means a lot to all of us at Amiga. Thank you.

ToC

Interview with Thomas Dellert, DCE - 11.02.2000

Interview in German - Translator: Martina Jacobs

[amiga news:] Many users worry about how and if Phase5 products will still be available. As to our knowledge DCE already obtained a number of licences from Phase5 some time ago. How about this in detail?

[Thomas Dellert:] DCE owns exclusive rights on the following Phase5 products:

  1. Blizzard 1240
  2. Blizzard 1260
  3. Blizzard 2040
  4. Blizzard 2060
  5. Blizzard SCSI IV Kit
  6. CV 64 3D
  7. CV PPC
  8. B-Vision
  9. Cyberstorm MK III
10. Cyberstorm PPC
11. Blizzard PPC

Pos. 1-6 are already available again. Cyberstorm MK III and PPC will be shipping within the 8th week of this year. Blizzard PPC after about 7 weeks. BVison and CV PPC about today fortnight. Distribution will be done by Vesalia Computer.

[amiga news:] These are excellent news! Will DCE take over repair services for those products, too?

[Thomas Dellert:] DCE will take over repair services for those products. So, owners of elder boards don't have to worry about that.

[amiga news:] Will the licences and the availability of Phase5 products be impaired or even endangered by Phase5's application for insolvency?

[Thomas Dellert:] We've obtained exclusive rights for these products in April 1999 already. We are not paying any licence fee to P5. Rather than this we obtained the licences by a single payment. There are unobjectionable contracts. The availability of the products is secure.

[amiga news:] Will there be further software updates relating phase5 products? Are you already in contact about this with Ralph Schmitdt?

[Thomas Dellert:] A good an very important question, Petra. Yes, I had a meeting with Ralph Schmidt and Frank Mariak two days ago. We have come to terms that in the future we will cooperate very close. There will be a FTP server on our homepage, where device updates will be found for download.

[amiga-news.de:] Are there any plans for new developments based upon Phase5's products?

[Thomas Dellert:] For sure existing hardware will be produced at first. There are a lot of preorders. Since Permedia II chips have been announced by TI, we probable will be able to produce only a number of 1200 BVision or CV-PPC boards. Hence we are thinking about a Permedia III board for Amiga. This might be mounted upon the existing BVision or CV-PPC platform. Frank Mariak will develop the software for us. With the entire amount of technical know-how of Phase5 we now have a powerful package at our disposal. In any case there will be activities relating PPC. For the time being as a dual CPU resolution only.

[amiga-news.de:] In particular: Will there be a Phase5 G4 board from DCE, and will there be pay regard to prepayments Phase5 already received relating those boards? Or will there be hardware at cheaper prices, similar to Stefan Ossowski's Schatztruhe offering to all those Euromail harmed people AminetCDs at a price of DM 5 or bricks?

[Thomas Dellert:] Relating that I already met with Wolf Dietrich. Indeed at this time I cannot tell, if we will decide for a G4 project.

[amiga-news.de:] Do DCE have access to hardware of Phase5' customers, which lies at Phase5's for repair at this time?

[Thomas Dellert:] No, we haven't.

[amiga-news.de:] Thomas, thank you very much for your informative answers. We are pacified and pleased that production will continue, and that customers who have Phase5 products will be able to take up a competent service for repair at DCE.

DCE - thomas.dellert@dcecom.de

[Source: http://www.amiga-news.de/archiv/0039.shtml ]

ToC

Amiga is dead, long live Amiga!

[Editor's Note: On January 16th, Gary Storm (rusty@thunder.u-net.com)of SEAL in the UK posed some interesting questions on the Team Amiga mailing list. Steve Duff (steveduff@earthlink.net) gave some interesting answers to them.]

> - What attracted you to the Amiga in the first place?

The multitasking and the video power. I saved for an Amiga when I realized it would be cheaper to buy an A4KT and turn it into a full-on Toaster/Flyer machine than to upgrade the PowerMac I had just bought into a similarly capable Media 100 or Targa box. Ironically, it took so long for me to save the cash for used Toaster/Flyer boards that it's now possible to build a strong video workstation on the PC or Mac for about $4,000 bucks, with features and ease of use that approach the Flyer in all areas and exceed it in others. For example, for $1,200 you can add a Matrox RT2000 board to an existing PC and get dual-stream realtime editing for analog video. You can also do DV in native format (not possible on the Flyer, where you input DV through an S-video cable) but have to accept rendering for transitions and effects.. The Matrox also includes tons of effects, a full editing suite with Adobe Premiere RT, Acid Music and on top of everything else it also serves as your main graphics board thanks to its G400 chip with 32MB RAM, which aside from providing killer graphics for 3D games also allows you to run dual monitors from a single card. This piece of kit all fits on a single PCI card, does its own Time Base Correction (the secret, killer cost of Toaster/Flyer machines) and overall serves as a great example of how fast technology is moving outside of our community.

> - Why do you continue to use an Amiga, or at least hold fond thoughts for
> it in your heart? 

Obviously, to edit video. ;> But I also love the fast, responsive OS, the configurability and control and the tweakability of MUI. However, most anything fun you can do on an Amiga can also be done on a modern PC, and can often be done more easily. If you love MUI, then you'd likely go nuts over WindowBlinds, which allows you to skin Windows to your hearts content. There's no way even Visual Prefs can be compared to this monster.

> - What did you think when AGA (and later PPC) were introduced to the
> Amiga? 

AGA was already here when I arrived -- Hell, Commodore was already long gone -- I bought my miggy in December of '96!

I'm still waiting for PPC to be properly added.....but the solutions that exist now are worthy and I appreciate the risk and hard work Phase 5 put into it.

> - What would you do to update the Amiga to give it a better than fighting
> chance in the modern world (ie not the world of 1994).

I've recently concluded that there is no chance for the classic Amiga, at least insofar as attracting new users. The main draw for outsiders would be the Toaster/Flyer and/or VLab Motion, the latter of which has the advantage of being far cheaper while still retaining very strong capabilities. However, as I mentioned earlier, the prices have dropped so far on mainstream video solutions, and the capabilities have increased so substantially, that it makes no sense to start with a Toaster/Flyer when the other solutions have, for example, the advantage of local support. What we can do is make life more pleasant for current users and whatever malcontents might drift in by, for example, buying as used miggy off eBay, and in that regard a PPC port is one of the important steps. If we get moving on PPC then we can have fast CD-ripping with MP3 encoders, we can have DVD, we can have fast 3D games and in most ways enjoy high-speed modern computing. However, I also find myself continually frustrated by our underdeveloped web browsers. It's especially gnarly for Americans because we have that nasty SSL problem. I've tried on two occasions to install Miami SSL and, despite following the instructions to the letter (or so I thought), it didn't work, so I have to use my PC for e-commerce. But of course that also means I get to check RealAudio tracks at Amazon before buying CDs, I get to see streaming web video and basically I just have no problems at all when using IE5. Every little thing like that adds up to less Amiga time. If some way can be found to help our browser authors, it would be a big plus, but they have a LOT of work to do to even get close to a PC's capability, and the target is still moving.....

> - Would you keep the name Amiga? 

Absolutely!!!!

> - Is the Amiga a religious experience for you?

Nope.

> * The reason I'm still stuck with this semi-ancient (in the fast-moving
> silicon world) is because I don't feel there's anything better at the
> moment.

The gap is narrowing in everything that matters to everyone except hardcore purists.

> PC's and Mac's are more advanced in many ways (mainly hardware), but
> their key ingredient (the OS) isn't as nice/friendly/configurable/
> robust/useful as the Amiga OS.

Actually, the key ingredient is apps. I recently switched to AudioGrabber as my main MP3 app. All you do is install it, add an encoder like LAME to the same directory (or stick with the equally good Windows Media format) and that sucker works so fast, so easy, and produces such great output at 128kbps that there's no looking back. I use ModPlug on the PC to turn Amiga MOD files into WAVs that I can then convert to mp3 or burn onto a CD. This is just a small sample. Maybe in the past PC apps weren't that great, but nowadays the bar has been raised and the apps just keep getting better and better. The comparison to Amiga apps can be withering. For example, I recently received Art Studio Professional, which seemed much like an Amiga version of Paint Shop Pro or Graphic Converter. It turned out to be, by comparison, a rather amateurish, stick-shift app that was extremely awkward to use and which often crashed. By comparison to the other apps, it was all but useless. Not all Amiga apps are as underdeveloped as Art Studio, but none I know of at the moment are as well-developed as PSP.

> I think someone summed it up best that having tasted excellence, we
> can't live with mediocrity. 

Unfortunately, we are living with far too much mediocrity in the Amiga world. And until our developers can afford to hire a few more people in order to finish an app properly, we will continue to live with mediocrity.

> Surely our dreams have always been for the world to wake up and see what
> they've been missing out on? 

Then we'd better hurry, because the world is missing less and less all the time.

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The CUCUG Section:

January General Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

The January 20, 2000, General meeting began with President Lewis foregoing the introduction of club officers since everyone attending was an old hand.

Jim announced that Jack Melby and his son Charles would be co-chairing the Mac SIG this year. This evening the PC SIG would be examining UAE with the guidance of Bill Zwicky. The Mac SIG would be investigating AppleScripting.

President Lewis then opened the floor to Questions and Answers.

Vice President Emil Cobb asked, "What happened to the Mac Web Directory?" The demise of this portion of the club's web site had not been discussed at any Board meeting, so it's going dark came as a surprise to almost everyone. In the discussion that followed, it was discovered that Jim Huls had talked to webmaster Kevin Hisel about it. President Lewis said he believed it could be available for resurrection should anyone wish to do take over the job and maintain the site. It was suggested that the Mac SIG discuss this among themselves and see if anyone volunteers.

The Mac Web Directory discussion lead inevitably to the Amiga Web Directory's closure. The reasons behind that action were presented; principle among these were the state of the Amiga market, the desire to not have the site atrophy, and a waning level of enthusiasm for the hamstrung platform. In the course of that conversation, President Lewis asked Kevin Hisel, "You haven't slammed the door on the Amiga Web Directory if the Amiga picks up again have you?" Kevin's reply was, "Absolutely not."

Kevin Hisel then gave a report on the Amiga scene. He informed everyone that Amiga had been sold again. This time for a reputed $5 million to Amino Development, a company created by two former Amigans: Bill McEwen, Amiga Inc.'s former contract P.R. man (exiting on 8-31-99), and Fleecy Moss, strategic projects manager for Amiga Inc. - OS3.5 being one of them - (exiting on 11-11-98). Kevin believed, "They've said an updated Amiga is out. They're moving on to a new platform." Kevin lamented, "Those are the final nails in the coffin of the Amiga [680x0 based] as we have known it." Kevin said Amino has renamed itself Amiga and has partnered with Tao Group in the U.K. to develop the new Amiga system. There was some confusion on how to pronounce "Tao" but Ed Hadley said it sounds like "Dow, as in Dow Jones". Ed revealed that "Tao" is Chinese for "the Way." Tao Group is made up of former Amiga users, so, with that and the new owners, Kevin said the Amiga is at least among Amiga friends, perhaps for the first time in it's history. However, Kevin thought that Fleecy Moss will either be silenced or fired for talking too much. There was some intense discussion as to whether the new Amiga can translate their current situation and plans into a profitable business. There was also some concern that neither known entities at Amiga Inc. are "known for producing anything." Someone noted that the new Amiga did not get ownership of the patents. Kevin Hopkins noted, however, that they did get license to all of them, noting further that Dave Haynie, former Commodore Amiga engineer, had recently said there is nothing in the patents that would be of much use in building a modern Amiga system. The computing world has progressed to far since Commodore's demise in mid 1994 that most of the patented Amiga technology is really showing it's age.

Someone asked, "Whatever happened with iWin?" Kevin Hisel retorted, "iWin iWent."

The discussion returned to the Amiga Web Directory. Someone asked how the Amiga community had reacted to the AWD retiring. Kevin said of the messages he had been receiving were quite polarized, most said they were sorry to see the AWD go and thanks for the service for so long, but some were quite negative. There seemed to be nothing in between. The messages were running about three to one, nice to hateful. Kevin said there were requests for him to just give it so someone else to run, but Kevin said there is almost six years of development in the AWD and he didn't want to see it die at someone else's hand. The AWD still has commercial value. Kevin wistfully entertained the idea of selling it if there was a worthy bid for it. But, he seemed more interested in retaining his options to bring the AWD back should the Amiga market substantially improve.

There was news that Be will be offering BeOS 5 free. It will not require repartitioning your hard drive. This topic brought up the BeOS CD that Quentin Barnes donated to the club last month. Someone said that the self booting demo CD worked fine. Dave Witt currently has the disk for anyone else wanting to try out the BeOS. There was a discussion of how you run multiple OSes on the same machine. The Be disk has a boot manager with it.

The next topic was on "general, computer geek stuff." There are MP3 players coming out that will be CD based rather than the tediously restrictive memory based units currently available. With a CD full of MP3s, you can get 11 1/2 hours of music per disk. These units will weigh in at around $280.

Mike Latinovich let everybody know that Circuit City is currently selling a DVD player that plays MP3 CDs as well for $150. Surprisingly the unit is of pretty good quality.

One of our Mac users asked if it was possible to take an MP3 file and convert it back to a regular music CD file. The answer was yes. SoundJam can perform this task.

Apple's last quarter was better than expected. Steve Jobs was given an option to buy 10 million shares of Apple stock as compensation for the job he's doing as CEO. He was also given a Gulf Stream 5 airplane. Those go for around $23 million. Someone asked if the plane came with fuel and pilots? Such corporate financials brought up the story of an individual stock selling for $1 million per share. It was for Yahoo Japan, which is that nations main portal to the Internet.

On that note, Questions and Answers came to an end and we broke before our separate SIG meetings.

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The PC/Amiga SIG: Bill Zwicky shows UAE

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

This evening's demonstration was of UAE, the Amiga emulator running on the Windows platform. The presentation was rather informal with conversation, observations and reminiscences passing freely among those present.

One of the interesting facts that Bill mentioned is that he has one CD which holds the contents of his A3000 twice and all the floppies he ever owned.

During the demo, it surfaced that the biggest complaint with the Windows machines from former Amigans is the file requester. Many of our PC users said if they could just get rid of that crappy file requester Windows wouldn't be that bad to use.

The machine Bill used for UAE is a portable Pentium 120 MHz with 48 MB of memory.

Within UAE you have multiple CPUs supported. You choose any 68K processor emulation you need to run a particular piece of software. You can set up and save as many configurations as you need to run items from your software library.

When discussion turned to how widely UAE had spread across other platforms, someone noted that there is a version of UAE that runs on the Amiga itself. Why would you want to emulate and Amiga running on and Amiga? Why do people climb mountains?

There was a discussion of Y2K issues, both with Windows and Amiga software.

While the conversation ebbed and flowed, Bill played a little bit of Shanghai, Psycon's Cyber Sphere, and the Lemmings Demo from Christmas of 1992.

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The Macintosh SIG: Charlie and Jack Melby show AppleScript

reported by Edwin L. Hadley (e-hadley@life.uiuc.edu)

The presentation for the month of January was about Apple Script. It was presented by Charlie and Jack Melby. Jack Melby, an Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Illinois, has been a long time computer user for the production of music.

There was a small group this month due to the weather. Out of this scimpy crew, only three of us had any experience with Apple Script. For me it has always been one of those thing in the system that I just never got around to checking out for one reason or another. Well, this is not the case for Jack.

On his computer, Jack has scripts for just about everything. From a fairly simple start-up, run worm checker or other diagnostic application and check the mail, to a much more elaborate process of generating random number combinations, reformatting them using Windows based applications running in VirtualPC and processing them with Mac based applications, all working smoothly to give him the desired results with the clip of a mouse. Phew! He also wrote an Apple Script to stop Windows98's penchant for connecting to the web on start-up. It changes all the default "auto starts" to "manual starts". He also has scripts that change system defaults for various purposes, like web-surfing, running VirtualPC, music work or games.

I am not a "code freak" and I can glaze over real fast when the code gets near ankle deep. Some of what was discussed was over my head, but I did get some tidbits.

Apple Script works by linking Apple Events. Apple Events are anything you do on your computer using the mouse or keyboard. So if you were to open the Apple Script Editor, you would get a window on your desktop that records, in text form, every command you are giving your computer. It won't record the text I am typing right now, but it will have listed that I have started up Apple Script and started SimpleText and Opened a document.

BTW - I had better save this before going too far ... Be right back!
There!
I have saved this document and the Script Editor has listed it in it's script window.
... Now, where was I? ...

So, one could start the editor after start-up do a whole bunch of work, take that recorded script and set your computer up to repeat that process exactly the next day. But, this will just be the general system functions. You would have to be there to tell the various applications what to put in the documents. Now, if an application is Apple Script compliant, you can also list everything done inside that application in the Script Editor, too. Some applications are Apple Script compliant and some are not. Photoshop 5 has a limited compliancy, while Photoshop 5.5 has been made much more compliant. Connectix's VirtualPC is very Apple Script compliant, thus our fearless demonstrator's heavy use of it with Apple Script. You can tell an application is Apple Script compliant by dragging an application's icon over the Apple Script icon. If the Apple Script icon highlights, the other application is compliant.

Apple Script allows for the incorporation of code from other applications into it's own code. In a sample handed out at the demo, we were shown where the Apple Script code, for the above mentioned random number process, had Windows code quoted inside the Apple Script. Basically, it called for the start-up of VirtualPC, the start-up of a Windows applications, the opening of a document, running of a process on the info in that document, saving that document as another file in another place, closing the Windows application and opening that second file in another application, Mac based this time. He was having to open and close MS Word because MS Word stores ghost files on your hard drive that hang around until Word closes, when they disappear. So he "wrote" a script that closes Word to keep his hard drive space clear. One last dig at Microsloth, our demonstrator said that he liked running VirtualPC under Apple Script. If the process works, he can say "Oh! Look how wonderful Apple Script is!" And if the process doesn't work, he says "Well, it's all because I'm running Windows!"

There are scripts available pre-written for specific tasks. One called "John's Commands" seems to be a collection of short commands that can be strung together to make more complex scripts. Another application called T-Minus Ten, lets you attach scripted actions to run at scheduled times or from a hot key like a function key. Another neat trick is to write a script to "time out" dialog boxes. In older versions of Apple Script this was not available and people had to us shareware control panels to get such flexibility.

Because the scripts can be cut an pasted together to make new scripts, and because you can record everything you do in a day and then take specific parts of it for use in making productive shortcuts, I got to thinking that some of the art work I do could be automated. The image processing I do at work could be simplified once we upgrade to Photoshop 5.5. The thought of being able to convert 25 21"x17"x72dpi jpeg images into a 6"x9"x200dpi tiff images with a simple click of a button is very appealing. The scripts seem rather easy to produce and with a bit of trial and error, I figure I could be Apple Scripting in a short time. I know it isn't like being a real "code warrior" but it makes it seem a little bit closer. More importantly, it makes new productivity much more real.

More discussions followed that I kind of got involved in, forgetting my reporter's role - my apologies - but this shows the interest that can be generated at a meeting and is a pretty tangible recommendation for you to come yourself and join in.

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January Board Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

The January meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, January 25, 2000, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house. (For anyone wishing to attend - which is encouraged, by the way ^e address and phone number are both in the book). Present at the meeting were Jim Lewis, Dave Witt, Richard Hall, Kevin Hopkins, Emil Cobb, and Kevin Hisel.

[Dave Witt:] Dave kicked the meeting off by saying said that the last meeting was OK. He let us know that the projector for the computer is generally available for use at the meetings. Next month we'll probably do a demonstration on MP3s. Some of the software the PC SIG will cover will be Audio Catalyst 2.1 and Easy CD Creator 4.0.1. Dave concluded by saying the roads out tonight are "pretty sh_tty" due to the snow and the biting cold.

[Richard Hall:] Rich noted he had not attended the last meeting since it was his wife's birthday. He then reported on our interest income for the last year. He said we should be able to get a better rate. Rich stated he had also begun work on our taxes. He said we won't be late filing this year. There's a possibility we actually might get a refund this year. President Lewis suggested looking into income averaging due to the fluctuations in our revenue outlook. The discussion then returned to interest rates.

[Kevin Hopkins:] Kevin delivered an updated copy of the database to Kevin Hisel, for his and the President's use.

Kevin then reported on our membership situation. Kevin stated that CUCUG membership ended the year of 1999 at 626 members. As a result of the decisions to retire the Amiga Web Directory and turn our focus to local Mac and Windows users, our current membership is 54. Of those 54, 31 are categorized as Local, ie. within the state of Illinois (not necessarily within the immediate area of Champaign-Urbana). The remaining 23 are non-Local and of those only 4 renewed after the January 1 closing of the AWD. The effect of the new policy has been dramatic. President Lewis said it was not unexpected.

Kevin suggested retiring the Members on the Web page for the sake of appearances, but in the ensuing discussion, it was decided to retain it, because of it's usefulness to the remaining members.

Kevin then tendered his resignation as Amiga SIG Chairman. He said, of the remaining Amiga users attending last month's meeting, most are now dual platform users and little interest was expressed in continuing an exclusively Amiga SIG.

Kevin asked if the Mac SIG members had produced a volunteer to run the Mac Web Directory. Vice President Emil Cobb said they had not. This exchange spawned a discussion of the WinSIG web site.

[Emil Cobb:] Emil reported that Jack Melby did a pretty good job demonstrating AppleScript at the last meeting. He also began to show ViaVoice. Emil said he just scratched the surface of ViaVoice and Jack said he may do it again. Some of the other Board members commented that ViaVoice and Naturally Speaking had been competing for the Voice recognition market which was a good thing.

There was a discussion of women and computers, particularly with regards to the purchasing of new machines. This lead into a discussion of Windows machines in particular. Rich Hall related a story about his brother, a reluctant computer user, buying an IBM Aptiva, again, drawn by the IBM mystique. At this point, several of the PC users rolled their eyes and made rude noises. The Aptiva, although bearing the IBM name plate, was manufactured by Acer and has been nothing but trouble. Rich confirmed this to be his brother's case. Jim Lewis noted that Acer is now building all of Dell's consumer machines as of the first of the year. Jim said that nearly 300,000 Aptivas had shipped with the wrong driver for the video card they contained. Dave Witt said a friend of his had an Aptiva that gave him nothing but fits. It, too, turned out to be a driver problem. Dave said that the installation of Windows 98 Second Edition finally fixed the problem and it now works properly.

[Kevin Hisel:] Kevin officially reported the retirement of the Amiga Web Directory, occurring on the first of January. He said in the intervening 25 days, he has received approximately 300 emails concerning the closure, hardly any from members. He said the emails were running 4 to 1 "Thanks" to "critical". He said the critical messages only serve to remind him why he retired it.

Kevin reported that traffic on the web site, which had been averaging about 75,000 hits a day (120,000 per day in its heyday), is now down to 15,000 hits a day.

Kevin said the content of the AWD was the classic Amiga, which is dead according to Bill and Fleecy and will be serviced only "in so far as it is needed to move to the new machine.

The mention of Bill McEwen and Fleecy Moss sparked a discussion of the new Amiga Inc. Most Board members believe they paid too much for what was left of the Amiga. Kevin said the principle question to be answered is "How much gas do they have in the tank" of their new company? Venture capitalists expect a return on their money and Kevin wanted to know how far Amiga Inc. could go before hard monetary realities hit them. Concurrently, Kevin said the Amiga community is wildly speculating on what the new machine might be.

[Jim Lewis:] Jim said that the demonstration of UAE was not too reliable. Bill Zwicky had to do a lot of rebooting. Dave Witt said that that was just the usual curse of demoing anything, since Bill's UAE worked flawlessly prior to the meeting.

Jim commented very favorably on the 3M video projector used at the meeting. Dave said this unit goes for about $1700.

Jim said that when UAE was working, Bill got pretty good performance out of a P120 machine with only 48 megs of RAM. Jim said most Windows users consider 64 MB of RAM a bare minimum, 128 or more for optimum performance.

Jim reported that the classified ad would be going into the paper at the end of February. Dave Witt said that if we start attracting more novices we should start doing more demonstrations on productivity software. Programs like UAE, while great for power users, will only make the average Windows user's eyes glaze over.

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The Back Page:

The CUCUG is a not-for-profit corporation, originally organized in 1983 to support and advance the knowledge of area Commodore computer users. We've grown since then.

Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. at the Bresnan Meeting Center in the Champaign Park District Headquarters (398-2550). The Center is located at 706 Kenwood, 1/2 block south of the corner of Kenwood and John Street, in west Champaign. Kenwood is the fourth north-south street off of John as you are going west, after crossing Mattis. The Center is in the northwest corner of Centennial Park, northwest of Centennial High School.

Membership dues for individuals are $20 annually; prorated to $10 at mid year.

Our monthly newsletter, the Status Register, is delivered by email. All recent editions are available on our WWW site. To initiate a user group exchange, just send us your newsletter or contact our editor via email. As a matter of CUCUG policy, an exchange partner will be dropped after three months of no contact.

For further information, please attend the next meeting as our guest, or contact one of our officers (all at area code 217):

   President/WinSIG:   Jim Lewis                359-1342           NOSPAMlewis_j_e@yahoo.com
   Vice-President:     Emil Cobb                398-0149            e-cobb@uiuc.edu
   Secretary/Editor:   Kevin Hopkins            356-5026               kh2@uiuc.edu
   Treasurer:          Richard Hall             344-8687            rjhall1@uiuc.edu
   Corporate Agent:    Jim Lewis                359-1342           NOSPAMlewis_j_e@yahoo.com
   Board Advisor:      Richard Rollins          469-2616
   Webmaster:          Kevin Hisel              406-948-1999           khisel @ cucug.org
   Mac SIG Co-Chair:   John Melby               352-3638          jbmelby@cucug.org
   Mac SIG Co-Chair:   Charles Melby-Thompson   352-3638         charlesm@cucug.org

Surf our web site:

CUCUG Home Page

Amiga Web Directory

Macintosh Web Directory

CUCUG
912 Stratford Dr.
Champaign, IL
61821

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