News Common PC Mac Amiga CUCUG
The November 16 gathering will be one of our split SIG meetings. The Macintosh SIG will have a "question and answer session". The PC SIG will witness Bill Zwicky doing a video capture demonstration.
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.
Click here to download Netscape 6 Final:
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Read CNET.com's review of Netscape 6:
http://two.digital.cnet.com/cgi-bin2/flo?y=eBG40Izqg0Q0ZNU7
Check out our Netscape 6 tips and tricks:
http://two.digital.cnet.com/cgi-bin2/flo?y=eBG40Izqg0Q0Bxbd
Amiga SDK for Windows allows developers to create Amiga applications on PCs running Windows.
Oct 30, 2000, Snoqualmie, WA - Amiga Inc., developer of multi-media, multi-platform digital environments announced the release today of its software development kit for Microsoft Windows™.
The Amiga Software Developers Kit provides the initial tools and examples for developers to create applications that can run on desktops, information appliances, set top boxes, PDAs, and game systems without modification. Amiga uses Virtual Processor (VP) technology to erase the boundaries that separate different hardware architectures. Once a program is written, the same binary will run on every platform that Amiga supports. Software Developers running Microsoft Windows™ can focus on developing applications instead of porting to different platforms.
For developers, the new SDK creates a single environment that is scalable from handheld devices such as cell phones to multiprocessor servers. Current and future versions will enable compact, high performance and robust media solutions to be used across a broad range of devices using identical binary files. The New Amiga SDK is available through local retailers for $99.00 and from the Amiga web site.
"Amiga is committed to delivering operating environments to a plethora of platforms. The Amiga SDK for Windows is an opportunity to deliver a development environment to a large community that creates applications and for that community to deliver applications to different markets with no additional development costs," said Amiga Product Manager Matt Fontenot.
"We are very excited to be able to add Windows developers to the thousands of Linux developers already creating content for the new Amiga," said Bill McEwen, CEO of Amiga.
Amiga based applications can run directly on x86, PowerPC, M Core, ARM, StrongARM, MIPS R3000, R4000, R5000, SH 3, SH4, and NEC V850 processors. The Amiga OS can run hosted on Linux, Embedded Linux, Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, CE, QNX4, OS/9, and soon Palm, EPOC, VxWorks, and others.
About Amiga: Amiga Inc. provides technology to developers for writing and porting applications to a new multi-media operating systems which is hardware agnostic. Amiga based applications can run unchanged on x86, PowerPC, M Core, ARM, StrongARM, MIPS R3000, R4000, R5000, SH 3, SH4, and NEC V850 processors. The Amiga OS can run hosted on Linux, Embedded Linux, Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, CE and QNX4. Amiga is based in Snoqualmie, WA, 28 miles east of Seattle and has offices worldwide. Amiga can be reached at (425) 396-5660 or visit Amiga on the web at http://www.amiga.com.
Amiga is a trademark of Amiga Inc. intent(TM) is a trademark of Tao Group Ltd Digital Heaven(TM) is a trademark of Tao Group Ltd Linux(R) is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds Windows(R) is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation QNX is a registered trademark of QNX Software Systems Ltd OS-9(R) is a registered trademark of the Microware Systems Corporation NEC V850(R) is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation in the United States and other countries MIPS is a registered trademark and MIPS-based are trademarks of MIPS Technologies, Inc. ARM, and StrongARM are registered trademarks of ARM Limited Motorola PowerPCTM and M-CoreTM are trademarks of Motorola, Inc.
It is with a heavy heart that I am sad to announce my coming retirement from the Amiga community. As you all undoubtedly know, I have been a loyal promoter of the Amiga platform for nearly twenty years since it was first broadly introduced by Commodore in the early 1980s. Later through the difficult years with Commodore and Escom I worked tirelessly with many of you to 'Keep The Dream Alive.' Now as the new Millennium has dawned, it is time for some of us older Amigans to pass the torch on to those who still have the vigor to take Amiga onward.
With these fond memories foremost in my mind, the time has nevertheless come for me to fade from the scene. Effective at the end of this year we will close all operations and offices in Germany. By then I expect our stock of finished goods will be nearly gone. I will continue to finalize the details of the closure through the end of March next year. I will also continue to your efforts in whatever way I can, consistent with my retirement. I hope all of you can find it in your hearts to wish me well.
In the mean time please address your questions and concerns to Bill McEwen and his staff in America. I remain confident in their commitment to realize the continued aspirations of Amigans everywhere.
Petro Tyschtschenko
D-63225 Langen, Germany
23 October 2000
Microsoft acknowledged Friday that hackers had accessed source code to programs in development, but company representatives said the intruders did not see code for existing products.
The admission quells fears hackers might have stolen the source code, or blueprint, for some of Microsoft's most valuable programs, including Office, Windows Me and Windows 2000.
As a criminal investigation under the direction of the FBI progressed, the nature of the attack appeared to be more sophisticated than first suspected, adding fuel to speculations of industrial espionage.
"There's no evidence that the unauthorized intruder gained access to source code for our major products," said Microsoft spokesman Ricardo Adame. "It appears the hacker was able to view some source code under development."
Adame emphasized that while the hackers were able to view the source code, "there were no modifications or corruptions" and "no source code was downloaded."
Investigators believe a Microsoft employee received email containing a common hacker program known as a Trojan horse, which he or she unknowingly launched.
The program then attempted to spread to other computers on Microsoft's network and pilfered passwords that were later sent to a Russian email address, said sources familiar with the investigation.
While Microsoft and many other companies encrypt passwords so they cannot be easily stolen, careless employees can make the process easy for hackers, said Gartner security analyst John Pescatore.
"A lot of people have emails that say, 'Hey, I'm on vacation. If you need to get to such and such, here's the password,'" he said.
The hacker could have launched a program that searched for and retrieved emails containing the word password.
Sources familiar with the investigation said that once the hacker had obtained one or more passwords, he or she connected to Microsoft's home campus in Redmond, Wash., posing as an employee working off-site.
Once inside and behind Microsoft's security firewall, the hacker had limited access to some other computers on Microsoft's network.
"Since you're running on someone else's computer, it's assumed you are a trusted user," explained Richard Smith, chief technology officer for The Privacy Foundation. "So the hacker could have been probing around the network leisurely for a few weeks. Then they started to probe around where the source code is kept."
In fact, the criminal investigation has determined the hack started around the end of September, Adame said, and went undetected until early this week.
"There was some unusual behavior in the security protocols we use in terms of the network," he said. "That's when the security team started the whole (investigation) process."
How far the hacker got is still uncertain, but sources close to the company said much of the intrusion was confined to a single computer.
Whether, given more time, the hacker could have pilfered the development code he or she saw or gained access to more valuable code is uncertain, Pescatore said.
"The key message here is, do you know where your crown jewels are stored?" he said. "Do you have extra levels of security for your corporate crown jewels?"
Pescatore compared someone getting the source code of Windows 2000 to stealing the formula to Pepsi.
Security experts were surprisingly supportive of Microsoft, despite the amount of time the hacker may have had access to the company's network.
"If you look at what Microsoft said about the entire incident, it shows they have got auditing and logging on, which, by the way, is something many big corporations don't do very well," said Robert Graham, chief technology officer with security software maker Network Ice.
"This would point to the efficiency of Microsoft's security stance," he said.
German media conglomerate Bertelsmann said Tuesday that it has formed an alliance with online music-swapping service Napster, signaling a significant shift in the so far hostile face-off between the major record labels and the start-up.
The two companies are developing a new subscription service to let Net users swap songs copyrighted by the recording giant. Members of the proposed service would be able to search and download songs--legally--from Bertelsmann's entire catalog of artists, including Santana, the Dave Matthews Band, Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston.
Bertelsmann said it will drop its lawsuit against San Mateo, Calif.-based Napster once the service successfully launches. For now, the company will offer a loan to Napster to create the subscription service.
In addition, Bertelsmann said it will purchase warrants that will give it a minority interest in the start-up. A stake in Napster could provide a lucrative return for Bertelsmann should the start-up go public. And the prospect of equity also could appeal to other record labels looking for a foothold in the company.
Bertelsmann executives invited the other major labels to follow its lead in dealing with Napster.
"There's no question that file-sharing will exist in the future as part of the media and entertainment industry," Bertelsmann chief executive Thomas Middelhoff said at a press conference in New York. "There's no way to deal with this fact (other) than to develop a business model for file-sharing."
Napster chief executive Hank Barry and founder Shawn Fanning promised that the service won't greatly be changed as a result of the deal. They said Napster will continue to offer free promotions but will include a secure membership area where people will have access to a library of music from Bertelsmann and future partners.
"My message to Napster users: If you think Napster is great now, just wait," Fanning said. "We're just getting started."
Fanning and Middelhoff then embraced.
While both sides expressed unbridled optimism over the partnership, they gave few details of how the service will work, saying they want to bring in other labels before announcing specifics.
Executives said the service would work pretty much as Napster already does, making no promises to address some of the weaknesses of the free service.
Content on Napster is provided by and stored on the personal computers of its members, with no central library. The result is that popular songs are widely available, but obscure and unpopular music is frequently difficult or impossible to find.
Executives said they would not guarantee access to the full Bertelsmann catalog because they are relying on individual Napster members to provide and store all of the files.
The file-sharing model puts much of the burden of distributing files on people with fast connections and large libraries of music. Whether those people will happily spend money on a service that turns them into unpaid BMG distributors remains to be seen.
The companies failed to explain how customers would be prevented from making membership-only material downloaded onto their PCs freely available to others.
While the companies were thin on technical details, they did drop hints about the cost for consumers. No price was announced, but Barry used $4.95 as a hypothetical example of a monthly fee that might be charged for the service.
The partnership signifies a giant leap of faith by a traditional record company in embracing one of the most popular, but controversial, services on the Internet. The Big Five labels--Bertelsmann's BMG Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and EMI Recorded Music--are embroiled in a high-profile lawsuit against Napster. The labels allege that Napster promotes the infringement of their copyrighted works, and they are trying to shut down the service.
Tuesday's deal comes as Napster pursues settlement talks with the four remaining major labels.
While the Bertelsmann agreement suggests Napster may be closer to mending fences with its adversaries than had been previously believed, the music-swapping service still faces the threat of a court-ordered closure, which could come any day.
Recording Industry Association of America chief executive Hilary Rosen called the deal promising but emphasized that the lawsuit is aimed at asserting the pre-eminence of copyright holders in setting the terms of any resolution.
"This case has always been about sending a message to the technology and venture capital communities that consumers, creators and innovators will best flourish when copyright interests are respected," Rosen said in a statement. "It has never been about peer-to-peer technology itself, which can be implemented legitimately, as today's announcement confirms. I am glad that Napster has gotten that message and hope that this announcement sends the right signal to others who are operating or intending to operate sites or businesses that facilitate piracy."
Napster's popularity has spread like wildfire. To use the service, people agree to let other Napster members tap into their hard drives to search for songs encoded in the MP3 audio compression format. This open network of MP3s lets Napster users find and download an enormous selection of songs and albums.
The problem is that many of these tracks have been downloaded without the permission of the record industry, which has taken legal action to protect its copyrights. Artists such as Metallica and Dr. Dre have been vocal opponents of Napster, saying the service promotes the theft of their works.
These actions, however, have not tempered a secret admiration for Napster among music industry executives. Some executives have conceded that Napster has been the most successful incarnation of how music can be consumed on the Web because of its ease of use and comprehensive selection.
"It's not the technology that record labels are after; it's Napster's brand and its considerable user base," said Aram Sinnreich, an analyst at Jupiter Media Metrix.
Online and traditional music executives agree that the only way to compete with Napster while protecting copyrights is to create a subscription service. However, since music consumers do not choose songs based on labels, but by artist, it would take cooperation among all the labels to make such a service effective.
Bertelsmann's willingness to shake hands with the guerrillas of the music industry could be the truce that signals the convergence of the traditional and online music businesses.
"This strategic alliance with Bertelsmann is the right next step for Napster," Napster's Barry said in a statement.
Mr. Grinich and his colleagues were dubbed the "Traitorous Eight" by William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor, after they left Shockley Semiconductor in 1957 to form Fairchild.
Fairchild produced the first commercially viable integrated circuit, a forerunner of the modern computer chip.
Mr. Grinich earned undergraduate degrees from the University of Washington and a doctorate in electrical engineering at Stanford University.
He went to work for Shockley in 1956, but left the following year after he and the seven other scientists decided they had had enough of their brilliant but temperamental boss.
Fairchild has grown into a $786 billion company with more than 8,000 employees. The company's chips power devices used in cars, computers and telecommunications equipment.
After leaving Fairchild in the late 1960s, Mr. Grinich taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford.
One of the best features in Windows is only a right-click away. It's such a timesaver that I'll bet you probably didn't even know it was there. The mystery I'm referring to is the Send To command. The purpose of this feature is to allow you to rapidly save to any storage device or bypass a file association and easily open a file in the program of your choice. Although the basic Send To menu is a short list of commands, it's rather simple to populate this list with any program or storage drive of your choosing.
Before you start, please read this short tutorial on how to place a shortcut to the Send To menu inside the Send To menu itself. I know this sounds confusing, but really, it's an additional timesaver to be used later on down the road.
Follow these steps to populate the Send To menu:
Start by finding an .EXE or a storage medium you'd like to place inside the Send To menu.
Perform a right-click on the chosen item and select Send To > Desktop (create shortcut).
Now, go to your desktop and right-click on the shortcut you just created and select Send To > Shortcut to Send To.
You now just placed the shortcut inside the Send To menu without having to manually cut and paste it inside of the Windows > Send To folder.
Now, right-click on anything and select Send To again. You should now see the program or storage device listed in the menu.
Please remember you must create a shortcut to the item you wish to include inside the Send To menu. This means you can't place the actual .EXE or storage device itself inside the menu. Now, send to your heart's content.
[Source: The Commo-Hawk Commodore/Amiga Users Group newsletter, "The File" October, 2000. CHCUG's address is P.O. Box 2724, Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52406-2724.]
Recently, I wanted to access a Mac in my home office from a Mac at the university where I also work. As both Macs were connected to the Internet via Ethernet (e.g., cable modem, T1 line), I would not use Remote Access to do this. Instead, I turned on "Enable File Sharing clients to connect over TCP/IP" from the File Sharing control panel on my home Mac (this option is available only in Mac OS 9). Normally, this would be sufficient. However, my Mac was hooked up to a local network via a LinkSys router. The firewall protection of the router prevented access to the computer. Depending upon the type of firewall hardware/software in use, there are a variety of ways around this sort of problem, such as opening up selected ports that would otherwise be behind the firewall. For the LinkSys, the solution turned out to be simpler than I had expected:
1) Access LinkSys' web-based administrative software and select the Advanced tab.
2) Select the DMZ Host tab.
3) Enter the last set of digits for the IP address of the computer that you want to make accessible (this is the same number as found in the IP Address field of the TCP/IP control panel). [Note: you can only do this for one computer on your local network.] [Note: This works best if you are not using the DHCP Server and assign a static local IP address to each Mac; with DHCP Server in use, the local IP may change each time you restart.]
* Now you are ready to roll. Copy down the WAN IP address of the router, as listed in the LinkSys Setup screen.
* To access the shared computer from a remote Mac, select Network Browser from the remote Mac. Click on the first button in the row and select "Connect to Server..." Enter the WAN IP address (that you copied) into the text box. You should now get the password login screen to the shared computer. Login and the Mac will mount. [Note: You can also do this via the AppleShare option in the Chooser instead of using Network Browser.]
Although access to your Mac is still protected by your password (unless you made the mistake of enabling Guest access), it is still more vulnerable than when it was behind the firewall. I would thus recommend only enabling DMZ Hosting when you plan to use it.
Update: As pointed out by several readers, you can alternatively selectively open up only the file-sharing port for selected Macs. To do this, go the the Forwarding tab in the Advanced screen. Enter 548 (the AFP port) as the port to be opened and enter the IP address as described above.
A follow-up
File Sharing to a firewall-protected Mac: a follow-up to yesterday's item on file sharing via TCP/IP to a Mac behind a firewall generated numerous replies. Most offered further methods for achieving this goal; a couple also looked at file sharing via Remote Access. Here are the highlights:
File sharing with DHCP Server enabled
Bruce McLaughlin notes that if your LinkSys Router is set up to use DHCP Server, you can still assign one machine a static IP address outside the Server range and use that Mac for file sharing, via the method described last time. This avoids the problem of potentially having a new IP address potentially assigned to the shared Mac each time you restart.
File sharing via AirPort and Remote Access
John Stremikis wanted to access his Mac via a Remote Access dialup connection. The Mac was connected to the Internet via an AirPort Base Station. He could not get this to work. In particular, he could not determine a WAN IP address that would access a Mac via the AirPort connection. A Mac Observer article, "Accessing Home AirPort Networks From Remote," potentially provides the answer. It's similar to what we have suggested for the LinkSys router.
Ping problem
Richard Chang notes that, even with the set-ups described here and last time, you may still have a problem if the network that the server is on does not let machines outside the network ping the server. "This is because many system admins turn off ping to the outside to fend off various network attacks. The problem is that the AppleShare Client tries to ping the server to make sure it's really there. So, even if the machines can talk to each other, the pinging step prevents a connection. The solution to this is to download Appleshare Client Setup. In the network panel you can turn off "Verify TCP Address with Ping."
Getting UDP Streaming to work
Alan Somers writes: "Your tip reminded me of a similar trick I discovered to get QuickTime and Real streaming media to work through a LinkSys router without resorting to HTTP - which isn't as smooth routers, you typically need to select HTTP rather than UDP from the QuickTime Settings control panel's Streaming Transport screen, in order to get streaming to work.] On the router's Port Forwarding page, enter the port range 6970 - 7170 and the IP address of the Mac that you want these ports forwarded to. Apply the changes and, presto, UDP streaming works!"
Apple note re using File Sharing over TCP/IP
By the way, TIL article #60506 notes: "The AppleTalk control panel must be on in order to start Personal File Sharing over IP. However, you can set your AppleTalk control panel to any setting in order to remove AppleTalk from your network connection."
[Note from Jack Melby: What the information [from The MacFixIt Page] says about the LinkSys router also applies to the MacSense xRouter that I recommend. ]
It's really cool being a member of the Amiga Advisory Council, but at the same time it can sometimes be extremely frustrating. It's cool because I can pass on the feelings and wishes of the community and - in some small way - influence the future of the Amiga. On the other hand, it's frustrating because I occasionally hear little bits of news or information that I would love to pass on to others in the Amiga community, but which I am bound to keep to myself.
This past weekend, however, I felt less like an insider and more like everyone else. Because at the ACE 2000 show in Melbourne, Bill McEwen dropped a few bombshells that took everyone by surprise - me included.
Before I get to those announcements, however, I should begin at the beginning and speak a little about the ACE 2000 show.
ACE 2000
The Alternative Computer Exhibition was promoted as an event for all those other computers that aren't reliant on Windows. That meant - primarily - Linux, Apple and Amiga. You could see MacOSX running, discuss Linux installations, buy Amiga software and peripherals, and talk with and listen to experts on all platforms.
It would be an understatement to suggest that the numbers were a little lower than every other show I've ever been to. It would probably also be an understatement to suggest that the numbers were probably a tad lower than the organisers would have hoped for. I arrived a little after three on the Saturday afternoon and found the venue nearly empty. On the two floors of the exhibition at the Melbourne Formula One Grand Prix pit offices there were probably fewer than a hundred visitors.
I checked out the MacOS rooms, and drooled over a G4 running MacOSX. I own an older PowerMac running MacOS8.6, and I enjoy using it. From what I've seen so far of OSX, I'm not overly impressed. Maybe I haven't been shown the best features, maybe the people who have been showing it to me don't know much about it themselves yet. But as much as I'd love a G4 Mac (especially one of the cubes, despite the design compromises that have been publicised so much), I'm not after it for the new OS.
There wasn't much there to be seen of Linux. I'm led to believe that there were people there to help with the usual 'installation woes', but I didn't see them. Mind you, I'm prepared to accept that that's my fault - I was keen to get to the Amiga stuff.
There were most of the remaining Amiga dealer stalwarts there, though the numbers are dwindling. Among them Unitech Electronics, ComputaMagic, and Amiga Technologies. The user groups were represented by Amiga Downunder Users Group (ADUG) and the Melbourne Amiga User Group (MAUG). Dr Greg Perry (GP Software, of DOpus, GPFax and EasyLedgers fame) was there too, along with one or two other developers. There was nothing in the way of new releases, but there was a great deal of bargain basement software and hardware.
AmigaDE - the demonstration
A small group (maybe forty people) gathered in the seminar room to meet and hear Bill McEwen, Amiga supremo. Bill spoke twice during the day - I caught the second show. The main thrust was to introduce and demonstrate the Amiga Digital Environment - AmigaDE.
First of all, why AmigaDE - why not continue to develop the current OS? "It would take six months to port the current OS to the PPC platform," Bill explained, "and even then it would only be emulating a 680x0. It would take twelve to eighteen months to do a true port."
"The AmigaDE is a full-fledged Operating System," he continued. "It can run alone as a sole Operating System, or as a real time Operating System on another Operating System."
To demonstrate this concept, he took a single floppy disk and inserted it into a laptop running windows. After a few batch files whizzed through (they were actually installing the AmigaDE operating system, and took about seven seconds) the application - a brickout game - started running. We effectively had a game running on an operating system that was running on windows - and all executed from a single floppy in seconds.
The real kicker came when he then removed the same floppy disk from the Windows laptop and inserted in into a second laptop that was running Linux. >From the same disk, the same game started running - again, a game running on AmigaDE, which was running on Linux. It was the same game code being executed in both cases.
"Paul Nolan spent months and months trying to port Photogenics to the Linux platform," Bill told us. "It took him three weeks to port it to the AmigaDE, and now he has Photogenics available for Linux and Windows as well as Amiga." Bill fired up Photogenics on his Windows laptop to prove his point.
"The Tao code is around 12kb for most platforms," Bill explained. "Though for one particular Operating System it took 88kb!" No guessing which OS he was referring to!
Of course, everyone was there to hear news - give us new products, new software, new anything! There was some feeling among attendees that the lack of announcements was causing some concern. Is there actually anything happening?
Bills' explanation was simple. "From 1997 to 1999 there were twelve product announcements - not one of them was delivered. The MCC was never actually made - the board they were showing off included six chips that never actually existed! We will not announce anything until it is ready to deliver, or until the contracts are signed, or the software is written."
Having said that, Bill did manage to save the best until last, promising some big announcements at Saturday evening's dinner.
The Big News!
Bill was the keynote speaker at the dinner. With perhaps a little over a hundred people in attendance - including a few Linux and Mac people - the big news was all Amiga, and all big. To be honest, I kinda felt sorry for the Linux/Mac guys - they must have felt so far behind by the end of the evening!
But let's get onto the announcements...
SDK Updates
There will be a version (v1.1) of the SDK for Windows shipping on the 24th of October this year. On the same date there will be an update for the Linux version of the SDK. Version 1.2 of the SDK will be released about four weeks later and it has many new features.
Much to the annoyance of some Amiga purists, there has already been more interest shown in the Windows version of the SDK than was shown in the early days of the initial Linux SDK release.
AmigaOS 3.9
This was the first piece of good news for owners of existing 'classic' Amiga models. We weren't really expecting anything - after all, Amiga Inc had very publicly declared their intentions, all of which were aimed at taking the platform forward and creating a new technology. Here was the first indication that Amiga Inc are listening - certainly, at least, to all of those current owners who would like to get still more out of their existing equipment.
Yes, there will be an update to the existing classic Amiga Operating System with the release on December 4th of AmigaOS 3.9. It will be sold for under $40 USD (though that will still be more than $100 AUD by the time is hits the shelves in Australia). Haage and Partner, who did the 3.5 update, did the long hours on this one.
Bill showed a slide of the new OS in operation. It includes it's own media player, but other new features weren't listed - I guess we'll just have to wait. The slide had the new OS mistakenly declaring itself as v4.0.
AmigaOne
Finally, the announcement of the first new Amiga hardware to be released in more than five years.
Whilst Amiga themselves won't be building the new hardware Bill did announce the final specs and the news that two companies have already signed to produce the new machines.
The AmigaOne will be able to run AmigaDE natively (that is, not on top of another OS), which will realise a 40% speed increase in it's operation. It is to have at least 64Mb RAM, a Matrox Graphics card, a minimum 10Gb HDD, USB and Firewire, 10/100 ethernet, a 56k modem and any of the vast range of chips currently supported by the AmigaDE - which currently includes PPC, x86, Arm, MCore, MIPS, SH3/4/5 and many others (including some that Bill said he couldn't yet talk about!).
Perhaps the most surprising announcement was that EyeTech have actually signed to produce the new AmigaOne computer onto a single card that can then be fitted into existing A1200 and A4000 Amigas! That means existing classic Amigas can be upgraded into AmigaOnes that can run the classic AmigaOS (like v3.9) as well as the AmigaDE! The cards will be powered by a choice of either G3 or G4 PPCs and are due to ship to developers in December 2000. The A1200 card is expected to be around $400 USD (or around $1,200 by the time it gets to Australian stores).
This announcement has already caused a great deal of comment in the community. I was one of the AAC members that took to the AAC table the feelings of many existing Amiga owners who wanted to see their classic machines continue to receive support and upgrades. That created some healthy debate - yes, we should be supporting the existing owners and existing equipment; no, we shouldn't be diverting scarce resources into old technology, we need to concentrate all our energies on the future.
Personally, and as an A4000 owner, I'm all for a G4 AmigaDE-on-a-card. And with the work parcelled out to an external supplier, I can't see that it is diverting anything from the development of the digital Amiga future.
You can find out more on Eyetech's own AmigaOne web site.
In addition to AmigaOne-on-a-card for current platforms, there was also the announcement that bPlan GmbH has signed to produce a stand-alone AmigaOne - the first new, fully-fledged, sit-it-on-the-desk-and-drool desktop Amiga computer in far too long.
There was also some mention of some x86 machines that are on the way by another OEM, but they won't be Amiga branded. The company involved wasn't mentioned.
There's more information about the AmigaOne product available through the official AmigaOne web site.
Buy a piece of Amiga Inc.
Probably the biggest surprise of the night was also the most unexpected. We kinda thought we might hear something about new machines, new developments with the SDK, etc. Increased support for classic Amiga was a pleasant surprise that several had hoped for. But there was more.
There was some expectation that at some stage Amiga Inc would be going through an IPO (Initial Public Offering, that is, going public on the stock exchange). With the NASDAQ, technology companies and dot coms currently experiencing record lows and spectacular dives, talk of an IPO probably' sounds poorly timed. Of course these things don't happen overnight. Some months of planning would already have taken place (prior to the technology dives), and there is still some months to go (so time for a recovery). "But wait," says the teleshopping salesman. "There's more!"
In this case, the plan is for an initial offering of one million shares (that is, 10% of the company) to be open only to existing members of the Amiga community at $5 USD per share. This is a special arrangement called a Registration-A filing, and the rules change from country to country. For example, there will be a minimum on all offerings of 50 shares (therefore a $250 USD minimum), and some countries may have a ceiling (such as 500 shares, for example).
Once the Registration-A has been taken care of, the IPO will begin, where another 15% of the company will be listed publicly at a different rate per share. There should be no reason (though I haven't checked) why members of the community can't also buy more shares at this stage, though they will cost more.
A total of 25% of the company released, leaving 75% in the hands of the current owners - Bill and crew.
Both of these share offerings will raise important capital for Amiga, but the Registration-A process means that the long-suffering Amiga community will also receive some reward for their loyalty. In doing so, they will also become part-owners of the Amiga's future.
The view from here ...
These were all important and historic announcements. The show itself may have had a smaller attendance than some had hoped for, but it ended up being the biggest single event on the Amiga calendar for some time.
My congratulations to Greg and his partners for sticking their necks out and pulling the show together. I understand that it ended up losing money for them * - as last year's Canberra show did for the organising members of CAUS. I'm confident that that trend will now be a thing of the past.
Bill flew into Melbourne on Friday morning, and out on Sunday morning - during those three days he spent 40 hours on a plane (apparently tossing peanuts at other passengers!! :-)). That's a serious commitment from him - though taking the risk of buying the Amiga in the first place shows that he is not averse to making big commitments.
He calls himself a benevolent dictator ("This is not a democracy - it's not even a republic."). But he's certainly a long way from some of the totalitarian megalomaniacs we've seen in the past.
My hat goes off to Bill and his team. These are exciting times for Amiga and we should all feel that the corner has been turned.
The view from here is extremely, extremely attractive. And the journey has only just begun.
Craig Delahoy, Australia, 23 October 2000
(You can learn more about these important announcements from the man himself in Bill's October 2000 Executive Update.)
* In his "ACE 2000 Official show report" on Oct. 27, Michael Czajka, one of the organizers of ACE 2000 wrote:
"An examination of core costs established that the event did turn a profit. Therefore such an event is financially viable. Unfortunately overall the event made a loss. Despite this the organisers feel that ACE was well worth holding. We had a great time, met great people and learned a great deal."
Dear Amiga Family:
I am writing this as I fly back from a wonderful two days at the ACE 2000 Amiga show in Melbourne, Australia. It was indeed a great delight and pleasure to meet with all the wonderful members of the Amiga Family Down Under, and I already look forward to my next opportunity to visit Australia.
I especially want to thank all the dealers, developers and end users who attended the seminars and the hundreds of you who joined for the banquet dinner. Amiga truly is a global family, and too much of an unknown phenomena. It is the Amiga Family who has kept this amazing system alive and growing.
I would like to take a moment to recognize the efforts of two people who especially made my stay in Australia an enjoyable and educational experience. Jeff Rose, of Unitech, the d'Amiga distributor for Australia, and Basil Flinter the Secretary of the Amiga Down Under Group or ADUG. I want to thank them both for taking the extra time to help me truly understand what Australia and New Zealand mean to Amiga, and what Amiga can do to help our its Family Down Under. I can certainly say that on my next trip I will take the time to also visit New Zealand and say hello in person.
Upcoming Products
There are many exciting things happening with Amiga and I wanted to tell the entire Amiga community what the attendees of ACE 2000 learned at the show.
Amiga will release an upgrade for the Classic AmigaOS! Version 3.9 of the AmigaOS will be shipped and ready for the 2000 holiday season. AmigaOS 3.9 is being developed in concert with Haage and Partner GmbH. A new website devoted specifically to OS3.9 will be online shortly and it will include an OS feature list and other bits of useful information. OS 3.9 will be made available to classic Amiga users for the affordable price of under $40.00 US. Watch our main website, www.amiga.com, for more details of OS 3.9 and its new website.
Because Amiga is still a Benevolent Dictatorship-and not a democracy or even a republic-we listen closely to the feedback and input from the community. Based on this feedback we strive to create products that you want, need and enjoy.
We are pleased to announce to the community the first in a series of new hardware that has been designed by Amiga and soon manufactured by Amiga OEM partners. The first in our AmigaONE series of products are the AmigaONE PPC 1200, and the AmigaONE PPC 4000 cards from Eyetech. These products will become available to developers in December this year and are designed to meet the specific needs of the Amiga Community. We have also announced another partner, bPlan GmbH, who are creating a new AmigaONE PPC based desktop computer.
More details will emerge shortly about bPlan, Eyetech and the new AmigaONE products, so visit the AmigaONE web site at http://www.amiga.com/products/one/pr.shtml to stay informed.
I would also like to announce new versions of the Amiga SDK. AmigaSDK version 1.1 will begin shipping on October 24, 2000. In addition to an upgrade for the Linux version, we are please to release the Windows version of the Amiga SDK as well.
There was a mistake in the September 28 Executive Update. As erroneously printed in the update, the Amiga SDK 1.1 does not include the sound, UI, or 3D pieces. These will be found in version 1.2, which itself will be released shortly. I am sorry for the error, but take comfort in the fact that purchasers of an Amiga SDK receive free updates and upgrades for 12 months from the date of purchase.
Closing
It has been an amazing 10 months since we started Amiga Incorporated. The community has seen the delivery of the Amiga SDK, an upgrade to the SDK, an upgrade to the Classic AmigaOS, and now the announcement of three PPC based AmigaONE products. We still have a long way to go and many more battles to fight, but I am confident that with the community behind us, and the enhancements to the product line continuing, there is a long and exciting future for Amiga.
To the user group members around the world, it is time to start calling the members who have drifted away and let them know what is happening with the new Amiga. We want them to know they can again be part of continuing the legacy that is Amiga.
Again thanks to Greg, and Michael, and the thousands of other Amigans Down Under who made ACE 2000 such a great event.
Get Boinged!
Bill McEwen and the rest of the Amiga Team
The new AmigaOS 3.9 will be presented at the WOA 2000 show in Cologne on 9. December 2000.
Same day sales of OS 3.9 will begin too...
HINTS
OS 3.9 FUNCTIONS
This temporary list shows on an extract of the new features. A more detailed list will be made public soon.
AmigaOS 3.9 + ROM-Kits - A bundle of the extensive OS update and the Kickstart 3.1 ROMs for your Amiga.
AmigaOS 3.9 comes in a nice CD-ROM box with an bi-lingual booklet (in English and German). The extensive document in HTML and PDF format is on the CD.
Price: 89,-- DM [Editor's Note: On Tuesday, November 14, 2000, 89 German Marks = 39.1389 US Dollars.]
Available: 9. December 2000
OS 3.9 REQUIREMENTS
In order to upgrade your Amiga system to OS 3.9, it must be equipped with the following hardware:
For better performance, Amiga Inc. recommends:
To take full advantage of OS 3.5 we also recommend you add the following:
This information is still temporary. All information might change without notice!
The AmigaOne 1200 & 4000, the Predator, GRex and Mediator boards - A factual clarification of similarities and differences
Eyetech Group Ltd - http://www.eyetech.co.uk/
+44 164 271 3185 : 07000 4 AMIGA :
Phone: 07000 426 442 : 01642 713 185
Fax: +44 164 271 3634 : 01642 713 634
We believe that all of the above products - including the Mediator - represent very worthwhile expansion options for Classic Amiga users. However each of the above products has been designed to give the Classic Amiga user specific and quite different expansion and forward progression capabilities, and it is therefore important to note that these different product lines are not functionally interchangeable and the type selected should be carefully chosen with regard to the Amiga's current and intended future use.
This brief note is to highlight the differences in these product lines by outlining the basic specifications of the Predator, G-Rex and AmigaOne 1200/4000 products and how their design philosophy differs both from each other and from the Mediator board from Elbox. For the sake of clarification the summary information on the Mediator board given here has been taken from public press releases and advertisements published by Elbox over the past few months.
Finally please note that we continue to refuse to get drawn into any unprofessional and public arguments with Elbox over their reaction to any products which are even vaguely competitive to their Mediator design. There are however some misleading inaccuracies in their press release of 30 October 2000 which this note will also help clear up.
The AmigaOne 1200 & 4000 are 6xPCI + 1xAGP stand-alone G3/G4 boards capable of running the Amiga DE directly (which is being ported to the design by Amiga Inc). These boards are designed to fit in the most popular A1200/A4000 tower systems, and optionally connect to the A1200/A4000 motherboard for access to Classic Amiga chipset hardware. In this mode the AmigaOne 1200/4000 can also be used to run the Classic Amiga OS & software with a very high degree of compatibility - because it has access to all the Classic Amiga custom chips.
It is however of fundamental importance to note that the A1200/A4000 'computer' now resides on the AmigaOne board - having direct high-speed access to all the AmigaOne's PCI/AGP peripherals, and only accessing the existing A1200/A4000 chipset (via the A1200 edge connector or the A4000 cpu connector) as and when required. Any existing 680x0 or PPC accelerator is entirely redundant, its function being carried out by the AmigaOne's G3/G4 cpu & memory. For this reason the provision of a pass-through accelerator slot on either the A1200 or A4000 version of the AmigaOne is completely pointless. In our view a small cardboard box provides much more cost-effective storage for an unused accelerator card than an expensive edge connector.
For entirely hardware independent (retargetable) applications the AmigaOne 1200/4000 hardware is capable of running them without an A1200 or A4000 motherboard being attached at all.
The Predator and GRex boards (which are of similar - but not identical - design) add PCI (& AGP in the case of the Predator-Plus) facilities to an Amiga 1200 or 4000 with a phase5/DCE design of PPC (or Cyberstorm Mk3) accelerator. These boards use the phase5 accelerator's local bus (which is not itself a PCI bus) graphics card connector to give a high speed interface between cpu and PCI/AGP slots. This has been implemented by using a custom-designed 'northbridge' chip on the Predator itself. The Predator also makes use of other logic on the accelerator to interface to the Amiga motherboard's onboard chipset & peripherals.
Using this local bus allows full linear addressing of the PCI/AGP cards within the cpu's address space, and allows busmastering and DMA to be implemented not just between PCI/AGP cards but between the cards and the accelerator card's onboard memory. This design does not require the use of any paging registers for data transfer between cpu and PCI board, and removes any contention between the lower speed A1200 edge connector bus (which is used exclusively for accessing the Amiga's onboard peripherals and chipset resources) and the high speed local bus (which is used exclusively for PCI/AGP access).
In addition the Predator-Plus also has provision for an on-board G3/G4 cpu and SDRAM memory to provide a user-installable PPC accelerator uprade.
Unlike the AmigaOne 1200/4000 the Predator and GRex boards need an A1200/A4000 motherboard and appropriate BizzardPPC / CyberstormPPC / Cyberstorm Mk3 accelerator installed to function.
The Mediator board from Elbox, was, in our understanding, originally designed to be a PCI-only replacement for the Zorro II-based Z4 busboard from Apollo, primarily to allow the use of low cost PCI graphics cards in an A1200. As with the Predator & GRex boards above, the Mediator was not designed to run the native Amiga DE.
The Elbox design uses a bespoke paged memory mapper to allow compatibility with all A1200 accelerators (providing they are fast enough to drive the graphics card) and transfers all data - both to the PCI and Amiga's on board peripherals/chipset resources - over the A1200 edge connector bus. For its originally intended market (ie to provide a towered A1200 with PCI sots) this is certainly a workable option.
Since the Eyetech's original Predator announcement in September 2000 Elbox have announced a variety of add-on/upgrade cards for the Mediator, to - we understand - provide it with superficially similar facilities to those embodied in the design of the Predator. However - as we understand it - these upgrades will still rely on (paged) cpu and memory access from the existing Amiga accelerator over the A1200 edge connector.
Elbox have also recently announced an A4000 version of the Mediator which, we understand, basically uses the same technology as the A1200 version but physically connects via the Zorro bus using the 8MB Zorro II address space for a paged PCI memory interface.
We hope this helps clear up the differences between these three significant upgrade products for Classic Amiga computers.
Q. Will the new Amiga and new OS allow me to continue using my current Classic Amiga software?
Your current classic Amiga software already runs on your classic Amiga, and OS3.9 will run on existing classic Amigas that meet the minimum specs. The Eyetech AmigaOne PPC 1200 and 4000 are full AmigaOne machines which make use of a classic 1200 and 4000 motherboard to provide backwards compatability when running the classic Amiga operating system.
The Eyetech AmigaOne PPC A1200 and A4000 machines will run classic Amiga applications, including OS3.9 apps. The 68K processor is emulated by the PPC machine, any retargetable libraries are aimed at the graphics and audio resources available on the AmigaOne itself, and the classic Amiga boards provide the hardware dependent resources.
Q. Will the Amiga Digital Environment install natively on a PowerMac?
We have no plans to see the Amiga DE running natively on a PowerMac in the short or medium term. In the long term, everything is an option given a viable market.
Q. Does the Amiga DE run on Classic Amigas without any PowerPC expansion (680x0 only)?
No. The AmigaDE does not support the 68K series of processors or the classic Amiga hardware.
Q. Does the Amiga DE run on Classic Amigas with Phase 5 PowerPC expansion processor cards?
It will not run natively on them but should run hosted on Linux running on top of them. If this is desired, then users should lobby a third party company to provide this as a solution.
Q. Does AmigaOS 3.9 run on x86-based computers?
No.
Q. Can Classic Amiga software be run on a future AmigaOne computer, such as an x86 AmigaOne computer?
We are currently evaluating formally extending the classic Amiga to run within the AmigaDE. If it runs in the AmigaDE, it will run on any machine that supports the AmigaDE, which includes x86 machines. However, even if it can be done (and we will not do it if it does not give us at least the performance of a top of the line classic Amiga), such functionality will not be available until 2002.
Q. Will Classic Amiga Zorro expansion hardware be accessible to the AmigaOne?
No, due to the real estate involved we dont believe it will be possible to include any Zorro slots on the AmigaOne 1200. It might be possible to fit one video passthrough slot on the A4000 version, but this would add to the cost.
Q. How "finished" will the Amiga DE be when the AmigaOne PPC 1200/4000 ships? That is, will it be a beta version or something more?
We intend to ship AmigaDE 1:0, the first consumer version of the Amiga DE.
Q. What is the difference between Amiga OS 3.9 and the Amiga DE?
OS3.9 is the latest iteration of the classic AmigaOS. The AmigaDE is the next generation software product for Amiga. The classic runs on dedicated hardware and implements an 1980s centralised architecture. The AmigaDE is hardware independent and implements an abstractual service based architecture.
Q. What is the estimated street price of the first AmigaOne expansion devices from Eyetech?
Eyetech cannot release firm prices - other than the ballpark figures given in the press release - until the Developer versions are out of test and real production starts. Thats because of the complete volatility in the chip markets at present, the extremely volatile exchange rate and economies of scale and co-operation that will emerge as the project moves forwards.
Q. Why is the AmigaOne nothing more than a PC specification?
The Zico specification is the minimum set required for the AmigaOne certification process. It represents the low end of an AmigaOne product.
Q. Where can I buy these Eyetech products in the U.S?
Several U.S. Amiga dealers are currently talking with Eyetech about carrying their products and offering representation in the States.
Q. I have an A3000 - why has Amiga forsaken me?
Amiga isn't forsaking anyone. The new Amiga company is concentrating on the future, with the Amiga Digital Environment. Actual product reaches the outside world via partner companies who work with us. It is these partner companies, such as Eyetech who create the actual product. It is Eyetech who are behind the design and production of AmigaOne PPC machines that mate with A1200 and A4000 motherboards to provide backwards compatability. They did the market research, they assessed the risk and they are moving ahead with those projects. If enough A3000 owners petition Eyetech, then Eyetech may see that an A3000 system represents a viable product; if not then perhaps a different company again could be persuaded. Sales of machines in Europe were very different from sales on the US, and a US manufacturer might partner with Eyetech to create product better suited to the US market.
Send your questions to faq-amigaone@amiga.com. Updates to this list will be posted one the first and fifteenth of each month.
Amiga announced the Amiga One specification a few weeks ago. Now, we have had some time to reflect on the situation.
Let's make a short summary of the facts:
Amiga One minimum specification
Products
Eyetech will release the first products based on this specification: The Amiga One 1200 PPC and the Amiga One 4000 PPC. These are "add-in" cards for the Amiga 1200 and the Amiga 4000 respectively. They will make use of PPC accelerator cards aimed at the Mac market. These models will dual boot AmigaOS 3.9, and the new Amiga DE. These cards can also be run without any A4000 or A1200 motherboard, but then without the Amiga OS 3.9 compatibility. Estimated release date is Q1 2001.
bPlan Gmbh is a German company, and they will make stand alone Amiga One computers with PowerPC processors.
Other manufacturers are in discussions with Amiga regarding other machines adhering with the Amiga One specification. We probably won't see these other machines until Q3 2001.
Analysis
I believe this announcement made a lot of people happy, and a lot of people were somewhat disappointed. The current Amiga owners cherished this announcement, while the many people following the Amiga market, but not using any Amigas anymore were a bit disappointed. They had looked forward to taking part in the path laid out by Amiga. But Amiga decided to support the current Amiga users instead, to let them expand their machines to modern standards.
With the Eyetech add-in products, old Amiga machines developed in 1992, will have a modern graphics chip, full classic compatibility, G3/G4 CPU's and industry standard expansion options. But most important of all, they will be able to run the Amiga DE.
>From statements made by Amiga staff earlier this year, I think this solution is something they decided on not long ago (an article in a Australian computer news site mentioned that they had plans for a Duron Amiga One).
Then why did they do this? Well, I think they did it because they don't plan to push the Amiga DE into the mainstream before 2H 2001 at the earliest. By getting the Amiga community in on the game, they get thousands of users to test their DE. In the Amiga One FAQ at www.amiga.com, they claim that it's not a beta version of the DE that will be supplied with the Amiga One computers in Q1 2001, but version 1.0 of the DE. I think this is a matter of definition. If someone think they will have a 'finished' OS in the 1.0 version think again. Just look at the first versions of the original AmigaOS, and see how it compares to later versions. But is Amiga taking advantage of the Amiga community by releasing such a rough version? In my opinion: no.
By releasing a rough version early, it benefits both them and the current Amiga market. Dealers and retailers get a very welcome revenue boost, Amiga gets a cash injection, Amiga users will have the opportunity to give Amiga feedback on the DE before it is final, and it will give the DE a decent base of users before the mainstream push, making it less of a gamble for developers to support it.
But what about all the people who are following the Amiga, but aren't using Amiga's anymore. Do they have to wait until Q3 2001 to use the DE? I asked Fleecy Moss the same question. This is his reply:
There will be a Zico'86 spec that will closely define an x86 system that we are currently porting it to. Will it run natively on any PC -that is unlikely due to many differences in motherboard configurations. Of course we would like it to but, as we keep saying, we aren't going to make the Be mistake.
We will use other OS' to provide a driver base if people want to use any type of equipment. If they want the best performance, then they will have to invest in the best hardware that supports the DE, which will be an Amiga One.
This is good news. How good, depends on how many motherboards they will be able to support. If they can support one Athlon DDR solution, one low-end Athlon solution, one PIII solution and one P4 solution I would be very happy. But I doubt they will be able to support so many chipsets from the start. I guess one or maybe two motherboard chipsets will be supported. Their choice of which chipset(s) they will support will be crucial.
Some users have voiced some concerns that the specification isn't fast enough. First of all, the specification is a minimum specification, and not a blueprint on how all Amiga One machines should be. Amiga will not try to stop someone from making a killer Amiga One machine with specs much more impressive than the one they presented. With a relatively powerful minimum specification, developers don't have to worry about if their product will run on old low-end machines. This is something PC developers struggle with on a daily basis, and is seen as one of the reasons why the Xbox will be such a hit among PC developers. They are fed up with the constant shift in performance levels.
I had hoped for some wireless networking included as standard. Wireless networking is a "gimmick" that could have made the Amiga One a better solution in the living room than the PS2. But overall, I think the specification is good.
In my opinion, whether Amiga will be successful or not, will not be decided by this specification, but other issues like partnerships, how good the DE will be, software support and Amiga product availability. Perhaps most worrying at the moment, is the lack of any major manufacturers of Amiga One machines.
Eyetech is a good company, but without the resources needed to bring the Amiga back to the mainstream. bPlan is a German company no one seems to know anything about. But given the state of their website, I doubt they are very resourceful. Amiga desperately needs a Panasonic or Motorola or Samsung or NEC or Philips on their side. If not, I fear it will at best take a very long time before Amiga will make the leap back into the mainstream. In order to achieve this, Amiga needs to build a superior product. They are trying to do this as we speak, and it's too early to tell if they will be successful or not, but their plans look very good in my opinion. The coming months will be exciting!
October 19, 2000 - Due to illness, President Jim Lewis was unable to attend. Jim had a cold or the flu. In his sted, former President Richard Rollins presided over the meeting. Richard began by saying that the presentation this evening would be on Mac OS X beta.
Richard then performed the traditional introduction of officers. He also announced that anyone wishing to renew their memberships could re-up with Treasurer Richard Hall.
Richard then kicked off the discussion portion of the meeting by relating a personal story about transferring a file from his Mac to a ZIP disk to a PC/CDROM. Norris Hansel talked about a similar bout with file types when he was working on a book. He said he wrote his text on a Mac, but had to convert the text to PC format for his publisher, who (unbeknownst to him) turned around and converted it back to Mac format for the person doing the actual layout. The snarl was finally streamlined when Norris started sending his finished text directly to the layout artist.
Attention then turned to Jack Melby's shiny new dual processor G4 sitting up at the front of the room. Jack noted that his new toy had 512 MB of RAM and a 50 GIG hard drive. This opened up the floor to a host of old computer stories, traded among those assembled, going all the way back to 4K Vic-20s.
Returning from memory lane, Greg Kline polled the members who had cable connections for their feelings on the need for firewall protection.
Kevin Hisel spoke highly of his proxy software solution, Sygate. It allows him to share his net connect with his various machines and provides firewall protection for the unbeatable price of $30.
Jack Melby recommended his MacSense MIH-120 hardware router. While quite a bit more expensive, at around $120, it is a very reliable firewall.
Quentin Barnes stated that he has constructed many cheap routers for people he knows. A cheap Pentium box off of EBay with OpenBSD installed and he can whip up a firewall solution for about $60. Others noted, with good humor, that Quentin has a depth of expertise that most computer users don't have. Quentin protested that it really wasn't that hard.
As the discussion continued, Kevin Hisel noted that most hackers aren't looking for a normal user's connectivity. Ordinary people just don't have the resources they're looking for, so why would they bother.
Quentin Barnes compared it to your Social Security number. If you're worried about anyone knowing your Social Security number, you'll probably want firewall protection. If not, you probably won't.
Some other suggestions made in the course of the discussion were IPNet router, which is a Mac software solution, and Linksys, a hardware router.
Kevin Hopkins spoke about testing the club's Mac with his cable connection at home. Using the Gibson Research Corporation "Shields Up" test at www.grc.com, a stock Mac with no unusual precautions taken was reported to be just fine.
Kevin Hisel related some of the problems that were initially discovered with cable modem connectivity. He said you used to be able to click on your network neighborhood and you'd see the whole of your actual neighborhood with shared hard drives and printers.
Quentin Barnes elaborated a little more on the routers he has constructed for people, He said you need two Ethernet cards, 16MB of RAM, and a Pentium 75. By going to www.openbsd.com, you can download a floppy image of OpenBSD and with very little tweaking you can construct a working system. This spawned a discussion of firewall/router flexibility.
Quentin also reported that Motorola has announced a 1 GHz G4. He intimated that it is actually considerably higher than that, but an announcement will come in a few months. He said it is the use of SOI, or Silicon On Insulator, that allows attaining the elevated speeds.
It was at this point that James Beauchamp, a friend and colleague of Jack Melby's, and a pioneer in computer music, came in. He was roundly welcomed.
Richard Rollins took that break in the discussion to ask about Amiga news and news from the PC world, but neither Kevin Hopkins nor Kevin Hisel had anything in particular to convey. For the Mac, Jack Melby reported that Mac OS 9.1 would be coming out soon, He also said that Office 2001 was now out and that the bug reports have started to come in.
With that said, we took our mid meeting recess.
Jack and his son Charlie divided the duties for the demonstration along generational lines. Jack chose to show Mac users what was the same and familiar in OS X, compared to the Macs of the past. Charlie then ventured to show us what was new in OS X.
Jack began by stating that the Mac OS user interface currently is sitting on hopelessly outdated software. There is a real need for a new System to bring the Macintosh into the current field of computing. To do this, Apple had two choices: build a bloated system to support everything that has been produced for the Mac to date, or build a new, lean system and run the old OS within it. Apple has chosen the later.
Jack then showed us how the Classic Environment works. It opens automatically the first time it is called and then hangs around for next time it's needed. You can turn it off, if you so desire. He then ran Word and Nisus Writer on OS 9 running within OS X just to show everyone how it worked. In this scenario, nothing is different from current Macs.
Jack then said that some applications can live between the old and the new world, ones that have been Carbonized. These applications can call on OS X for new functions without having had to be totally rewritten. As an example, Jack said that Apple Works 6 has been Carbonized to take advantage of the new features of OS X.
To control which OS an application works with, a user can open its icon and signify how the program is to conduct itself. This used to be done with Get Info. Get Info is now called the Inspector. Opening it up, you will discover that there is now a check box to tell application which OS to use. Click in your selection and you are ready to go.
For those that feel really insecure about the new look, Jack talked about "Classic Menu" produced by a third party which makes thing appear more like the old, familiar Macintosh.
Jack ventured a little into new territory, discussing Finder windows, but in the end he pronounced OS X essentially very Mac-like.
There was a general discussion about a few disparate items, Jack noting that virtual memory is not in the control of the user generally, although if necessary, it can be. He mentioned that each user can have their own customized Desktop. He advised people on how to approach the new interface: Don't log in as root. Log in as administrator. This will help prevent you from unduly tampering with you system. OS X is based on the Mach kernel from Next, which descends from BSD Unix, so if you delve down you can find things to play with.
Jack said he was heavily involved in OpenDoc development. Jobs pulled the plug on OpenDoc. At the time, Jack said he was very upset. But now, with the course the Mac OS has taken, that decision is more understandable.
Turning to the new features of OS X, Charlie took as his example a MUD, a Multi User Domain game. He said he used to played them a lot when he was younger.
Charlie said that many serious computer users feel that typing is a fast, efficient way of controlling a computer. OS X, revealing its Unix heritage, has the first official command line for Mac that anyone will actually use. (There have been others, but they are little more than vestigial.)
Charlie opened up the command line and using the C compiler that comes with OS X, compiled the source code for CircleMUD, which he had downloaded earlier from the net. As the text-based game compiled, Charlie noted that Mac OS X is not Unix' X-Windows, so you currently you can't make use of source code for graphically oriented programs, but text based stuff works fine. Jack added that there is an effort currently underway to produce the graphics libraries for Mac OS X to rectify that situation.
Once the game finished compiling, Charlie showed how the program, that began its life as Unix source coded out on the Internet, played just fine on the new Mac OS X.
To make OS X work, Charlie spoke about the recommended resources a person needs in the machine. The recommendation for OS X is 128 MB of RAM, although it will work in 64 MB. You have to have a G3 or G4 processor. Upgrade cards do work for older machines. The MacFixit and MacInTouch web sites both have help for OS X users. There has been some discussion that OS X may work on a 604 equipped PowerMac.
A discussion ensued about what Charlie and Jack have learned about the new OS X Beta. Currently, printers are a problem. There are few, if any, drivers for use in OS X. Under OS 9 in the Classic Environment things still work just fine. However, because OS X is still in Beta, companies like HP have said they won't do drivers until it is finalized. Jack said you don't have to have OS 9, but if you don't you won't be able to do much of anything, as there aren't many applications for OS X yet. To live in this interim period before software becomes native to OS X, Jack recommends a partition for OS X and one with OS 9.
The lateness of the hour brought an end to the meeting. For me, I found the presentation Jack and Charlie gave very interesting. However, I must admit I longed to see some of the "Gee Whiz" elements of the new Aqua interface. Perhaps this is the basis for another presentation. For those that would like to see Steve Jobs put OS X Beta through some of its more "flashy" paces, you can view his Apple Expo Paris showing at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/expo00/ . The Mac OS X discussion begins at the 53:12 minute mark; the actual demo begins at the 1:01:37 mark.
The October meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, October 24, 2000, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house. (For anyone wishing to attend - which is encouraged, by the way - the address and phone number are both in the book). Present at the meeting were were: Jim Lewis, Richard Hall, Charles Melby-Thomas, Jack Melby, Kevin Hopkins, and Kevin Hisel.
Jim Lewis: Jim began by expressing interest in the Amiga news coming from the ACE2000 show that Kevin Hopkins had distributed to the Board via email.
Jim stated that for the November PC SIG, Bill Zwicky will be doing a demonstration of video capture techniques via his TV Wonder board.
Quentin Barnes will be doing a dual processor Be demo in the near future.
In reference to the last meeting, Jim said he was interested in OS X.
He talked about the review in PC Magazine of a dual G4 versus a dual P3 running Photoshop 5.5, which dual processor enabled. He noted that there were bottlenecks on the 100 MHz bus and half accessing of the L2 cache.
Discussion turn to Mac OS X and there was some confusion as to which version of Unix it is based on, Berkley or Bell Labs System 5. It was noted that the Mach kernel written at Carnegie-Mellon. It was later confirmed that the public beta of Mac OS X is based on BSD Unix.
When examining what come with the OS X release, Jack said OS X has Perl already pre-installed. He said Applescript, also, is alive and well in OS X. This latter comment lead to a discussion of scripting on multiple platforms.
Rich Hall: In discussing Treasury activities, Rich noted that the web sites domain name has been renewed.
Charles Melby-Thomas: Charley said the program for next month's Mac SIG is To Be Announced.
Jack Melby: Jack said he had just received an update to Via Voice, Via Voice Enhanced Edition 2.01, and it is wonderful - a lot more customizable than the old one. While talking about software, Jack noted that Internet Explorer 5.5 is tremendous on OS X. Currently, there are three browsers available for OS X. Jack also reported that Microsoft Office 2001 for the Mac is being favorably reviewed.
Jack said that OS X comes with a very nice email program called "Mail.app" by Apple. It's still fairly bare bones and it crashes occasionally, but it's still quite promising. One of it's most interesting features is that it will send mail back to your correspondent in the format you received his/her message in. Jack spoke about switching from Eudora to Mail. He needed to transfer his Eudora mail boxes to Mail. To do this, he said to use the "Export to Unix" menu option in Eudora. Also, Jack noted that there is some good stuff in the OS X developers package which is freely downloadable.
Returning to Via Voice, Jack said it will come out for OS X when it is final. During the discussion of voice recognition software, Jack mentioned the another product in development, iListen, uses the Philips voice recognition system.
Kevin Hopkins: Kevin presented an updated copy of the membership database for official use. Kevin also delivered the mail to the appropriate officers.
Kevin then went over some of the latest developments in the Amiga news arena. He reported that the AmigaOne Hardware spec had just been announced and that two companies had signed on to produce Amiga compliant hardware. Eyetech in the UK will produce G3 and G4 accelerator cards to upgrade Classic Amigas to the new AmigaDE and bPlan in Germany will produce stand alone desktop next generation AmigaDE machines.
The discussion turned to the general topic of OSes. Jack said he really liked it, that when there is a crash in OS X, it doesn't take down your whole system. Jim talked about Windows 2000 being NT based.
Kevin Hisel: "I have nothing."
I. Offices available
A. The President - basically, the coordinator for the entire club. Appoints
committee chairs and presides over the general meetings.
B. The Vice President - performs the President's duties in his absence.
C. Treasurer - in charge of the financial affairs of the club. He/she pays
the bills.
D. Secretary - in charge of keeping all of the procedural documentation,
e.g., meeting minutes, as well as correspondence with members,
non-members and other clubs.
E. Corporation Agent - in charge of all matters dealing with CUCUG's
corporation status.
II. Candidates
A. Potential candidates should contact the chairman of the Election
Committee prior to the November meeting so that they may coordinate
the forum, etc. Kevin Hisel 217-406-948-1999
B. Nominations will be accepted from the floor at the November meeting.
C. Candidates will be given equal time in a forum to express their views
or present their platforms at the November meeting.
D. The Nominating Committee will verify that anyone nominated is a
member in good standing. Otherwise, they will not be allowed a forum.
E. Candidates' names will be published in the December newsletter.
III. Voting
A. Who can vote
1. Every member in good standing (i.e., dues paid) may vote.
2. Must have and present the current (2000) membership card.
B. Voting at the general meeting in December
1. Secret ballots will be distributed to each member that presents a
valid membership card at the December meeting.
2. The Secretary will prepare the official ballot forms. No candidates'
names will appear on the ballots themselves. Candidates' names and
the offices they seek will be posted at the meeting place by office
and then alphabetically by candidate.
C. Proxy voting
1. If you cannot attend the December meeting, you may request a
special proxy ballot from Kevin Hisel 217-406-948-1999 no later than
December 11, 2000.
2. Place filled-in ballot in a blank, sealed envelope.
3. Place blank envelope along with your valid membership card in
another envelope.
4. Address this envelope to: CUCUG, 912 Stratford Dr., Champaign, IL
61821, clearly print the word BALLOT on the front and mail it.
5. These proxy votes will be opened and verified only by the Tellers at
the December meeting and counted along with the general ballots.
6. All proxy ballots must be received at the CUCUG post office box
no later than December 21, 2000 (the day of the meeting).
D. Who you may vote for
1. You may vote for anyone. Write-in (non-nominated) votes will be
accepted and counted. The candidate with the most votes for a
particular position wins that position. In the event of a tie, the
Tellers will require a recasting for that position only.
2. To assume office, a candidate must be a member in good standing
both in 2000 and in 2001. If a winning candidate cannot be verified,
the office goes to the next verifiable candidate with the most votes.
If there are no verifiable winners, a second balloting will take place.
Proxy ballots will be counted each time.
IV. Chronology
A. October meeting
1. Announce protocol to general membership.
2. Solicit candidates.
B. November newsletter
1. Re-cap the election protocol.
C. November meeting
1. The membership will appoint a Nominating Committee.
2. Accept nominations from the floor.
3. Nominations will close.
4. Candidates will be given equal time in a forum to express their
views or present their platforms.
D. December newsletter
1. Candidates' names will be published in alphabetical order with the
offices they seek.
E. December meeting
1. Nominated candidates names and the offices they seek will be
posted in alphabetical order.
2. The President will appoint 2 or more Tellers to distribute ballots and
count the votes.
3. Votes will be taken and counted by the Tellers. Winners names will
be announced by the President.
F. January newsletter
1. Winners names will be published.
G. January meeting
1. New club officers will be installed.
ToC
President: Jim Lewis (jlewis@computers4life.com) Vice-President: Emil Cobb (e-cobb@uiuc.edu) Secretary: Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu) Treasurer: Richard Hall (rjhall1@uiuc.edu) Corporate Agent: Jim Lewis (jlewis@computers4life.com)ToC
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 jlewis@computers4life.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 jlewis@computers4life.com Board Advisor: Richard Rollins 469-2616 Webmaster: Kevin Hisel 406-948-1999 khisel @ kevinhisel.com Mac SIG Co-Chair: John Melby 352-3638 jbmelby@home.com Mac SIG Co-Chair: Charles Melby-Thompson 352-3638 charlesm@cucug.org
Surf our web site at http://www.cucug.org/