The Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group

The Status Register - June, 2001


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     Common     PC     Mac     Amiga     CUCUG

June 2001


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

June News:

The June Meeting

The next CUCUG meeting will be held on our regular third Thursday of the month: Thursday, June 21st, at 7:00 pm, at the Illinois Technology Center. Directions to the ITC are at the end of this newsletter.

The June 21 gathering will be one of our split SIG meetings. For the Macintosh SIG, Jack Melby will do a session on getting rid of deadwood extensions, preferences, etc. in OS 9.x and below. Jack will also have some very interesting new things about OS X. For the PC SIG, Jim Huls will be demoing the general differences between Win98 and Win2k, new features in Win2k, some WinXP, and then various tips on Win2k that should be quite interesting.

ToC

Welcome New Members

We'd like to welcome the newest members of our group, joining us in the last month: Charles M. Nelson (Classic Amiga, Windows PC Desktop, Windows PC Laptop,CD-ROM Burner, Broadband Internet Connection) and Wayne E. Whitby (Classic Amiga, Windows PC Desktop, Windows PC Laptop).

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

IBM pushes new strain of chip power

By John G. Spooner
Special to CNET News.com
June 7, 2001, 9:00 p.m. PT
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6221222.html?tag=prntfr

IBM says creating super-fast, power-efficient processors for handheld computers requires only a small stretch.

The company's microelectronics division on Friday will reveal a new chipmaking technique it calls "strained silicon." The technique adds a lattice-like layer of IBM's silicon-germanium blend to the chip, which helps to increase the efficiency of its transistors.

The technique will give a 35 percent performance boost to high-end PowerPC processors used in servers and will significantly reduce the power consumption of chips used in handheld devices, IBM executives say.

The first "strained" chips will be used in IBM servers around 2003, said Bijan Davari, vice president of technology for IBM Microelectronics. These chips will be capable of speeds ranging from 4GHz to 5GHz, he said.

IBM's PowerPC chips are still chasing the 1GHz mark. The company's line of PowerPC chips for consumer and networking purposes will hit 1GHz later this year, according to the company. Its PowerPC server chips will hit the mark with the introduction of the IBM Power4 chip, also due later in the year.

This extra performance would give IBM servers more horsepower to perform tasks such as processing e-commerce transactions and delivering Web content more quickly, the executives said.

But power-efficient chips for consumers won't be far behind. Davari says stretched silicon can help create chips for handheld computers that offer gigahertz performance but consume only about half a watt of power.

Handheld computers using such chips could provide voice-driven interfaces and other advanced features to help consumers communicate more easily with a computer network.

"You can trade off the performance gain for much lower power dissipation," Davari said. "A 30 percent performance gain can be translated into two to three times (lower) power consumption."

With gigahertz processing power on tap, "you can have a handheld that can do real-time speech translation. You wouldn't need keyboards. It would just do the work," Davari said.

The strained silicon technique gets its name from the effect it has on atoms.

A layer of latticed silicon and germanium added to the chip's silicon layer increases the distance between silicon atoms inside chip transistors. This stretching cuts down on atomic forces that cause electrons to scatter, so electrons passing by experience less resistance and flow up to 70 percent faster, providing the 35 percent performance bump.

The new manufacturing technique can be used with other IBM chipmaking improvements such as silicon on insulator, the company said.

ToC

Italian court finds Micron did not infringe Rambus patents

By Jack Robertson, EBN
May 24, 2001 (11:01 AM)
URL: http://www.ebnews.com/story/OEG20010524S0043

Rambus Inc.'s synchronous-interface patent infringement case against Micron Technology Inc. was dismissed Thursday by a judge in Monza, Italy, a Micron spokesman confirmed today.

An expert technical panel set up by the Italian court last week had upheld the validity of the Rambus patents, which the Los Altos, Calif., company claimed Micron had infringed. However, the judge Thursday overruled that finding and determined that Micron had not violated the patents.

Details of the decision were sketchy, but sources close to Micron said the judge determined that Rambus' synchronous patents use a multiplexed memory bus, something Micron's SDRAM do not use. The basis for the decision was similar to that used this month in a U.S. District Court in Richmond, Va., where federal judge Robert Payne dismissed patent infringement charges brought by Rambus against Infineon Technologies AG. In that trial, the judge also found that because Infineon's SDRAM do not use the same multiplexed bus described in the Rambus patents that no violation had occurred.

Rambus executives were not immediately available to comment on the Micron decision. Earlier this month a jury in the Richmond trial found that Rambus committed fraud by hiding its SDRAM patent applications while participating in an industry JEDEC panel drafting an open SDRAM standard. Based on the decision, Infineon has asked Judge Payne to declare the Rambus patents unenforceable. Payne is now expected to rule on the motion in July.

In a separate action, Micron, Boise, Idaho, has filed suit against Rambus in a Wilmington, Del., federal court seeking to invalidate the synchronous patents. U.S. District Court Judge Roderick McKelvie has set the case aside until Judge Payne rules on the outstanding unenforceability question. The Wilmington trial is now set to open Oct. 29.

In the meantime, a court in Mannheim, Germany, is due to rule in the next several weeks on Rambus' patent infringement suits against Infineon, and somewhat later on separate complaints filed by Rambus against Micron and Hynix Semiconductor Inc. (formerly Hyundai Electronics Industries Co. Ltd.).

ToC

Late Xbox Tools Cause Concern

Reported by: David Laprad, Adrenaline Vault
Wednesday, May 23, 2001 - 9:32 am CT
URL: http://www.avault.com/news/displaynews.asp?story=5232001-93251

Leading game developers in the U.S. and Europe have told the Financial Times that their final Xbox development tools have not been delivered. The news organization speculates that further postponements could jeopardize the launch date of the console this fall. It could also threaten the caliber of the games available for the Christmas selling season, when the Xbox will be competing head-to-head with the PS2 and GameCube, Financial Times further theorizes in their report. Among the developers are Electronic Arts, the world's largest independent games creator, and Infogrames, Europe's leading games developer. The two companies also said that Xbox beta units, which are needed to polish their titles, also have not arrived. Robbie Bach, chief Xbox officer, admitted that some developers had not received the final SDKs. But he insisted that his team is on schedule and had managed to ship some final SDKs this month.

ToC

Smart Tags due in Win-XP browser

By Thomas C Greene in Washington
The Register, 8 June 2001
URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/19557.html

Microsoft will be able to subvert the content of any Web page with Smart Tags, which will act much like hyperlinks to Web content which Redmond either recommends, or is paid to recommend, if the company integrates the technology with its Windows-XP browser, as predicted in an article from Thursday's Wall Street Journal.

Smart Tags are already included in Office-XP, enabling users to implant a hyperlink-esque reference into data files using XML (Extensible Markup Language), and may be rather handy at that; but integrating them into the XP version of Internet Explorer opens up an entire new realm of on-line commercial perversions.

Assuming the Journal's prediction holds true, we can imagine, for example, that if this page were being viewed with a Smart-Tag-enabled browser, our reference to XML above could be highlighted automatically, inviting readers to pop over to Microsoft's own PR output, cheerfully burbling about its miraculous benefits.

On the other hand, we might prefer to refer our readers to a Web page denouncing XML; but whether we would or not, it ought to be our own editorial judgment which determines what links will and won't appear on our pages.

Furthermore, a reference, say, to a certain popular, white crystalline nose-rotting powder might inspire a Smart-Tag link to an advertisement for a certain carbonated water, sugar and caramel-color tooth-rotting drink known by the same name.

We're not sure we like the idea of generating copy that can be automatically converted into advertising for which we're not getting paid. And we don't imagine our venerable advertisers are going to be especially thrilled about it either.

The Smart Tag browser feature will be turned off by default in the XP final release, and MS will provide a meta tag that site owners can use to prevent Smart Tags from appearing on their sites, the Journal says.

And it will of course be possible for MS' competitors to create their own Smart Tags, but we wonder what that really means when the vast majority of surfers are going to be taken for a ride around the Web on Microsoft's virtual conveyances.

In all, this sounds like a grotesquely tasteless bit of consumerist schlock of the sort MS just adores; and we haven't begun to contemplate the security implications of Smart Tags in combination with maliciously-crafted Web pages.

But we know our beloved readers will rise to the challenge and propose a plethora of devious mis-uses for Redmond's most recent on-line marketing toy.

ToC

Updates Toast 4.1.2 to 4.1.3

This updater replaces the Toast 4.1.2 application with Toast 4.1.3. All other extensions and files remain the same. Toast 4.1.3 fixes a problem with the automatic Internet track-naming service by pointing requests to www.freedb.org.

http://www.roxio.com/en/support/toast/toastupdates.html

ToC

Another Cinemaware's classic released for free

6.6.2001 - "Continuing with our promise to deliver the classic games to you, Cinemaware proudly presents the 1991 classic Wings! Take a trip through history and relive 1916 as you must fight the Hun empire and take back the skies for the Allied troops! With over 200 increasingly difficult missions, Wings remains a true classic of the Cinemaware vault. It's only going to be available for a limited time, so run to the Wings Vault and download it today!"

Cinemaware website - www.Cinemaware.com

ToC

Amiga is looking for AmigaOS 4 beta testers

Posted on 18-May-2001 15:13 GMT
last edited 18-May-2001 15:13 GMT by Christophe Decanini

Fleecy Moss from Amiga wrote this on the AmigaOne mailing list: " Hey guys 8-) whilst I know we all want to beta test the AmigaOne/OS4, we do have code ready to test that can be run on existing Amigas. If anyone is interested in doing this, please send an email to gary@amiga.com giving your machine configs and testing skills.

You will have to sign an NDA to do the testing, but it will really help to iron out any problems and speed OS4.0 on its way. cheers. "

ToC

Win UAE 0.8.16r1 with JIT support released

Posted by nOMAAM on Saturday, May 19 @ 16:02:51 CDT

Anonymous writes "This new version (http://www.codepoet.com/UAE/download.htm) is significantly faster due to JIT technology and offers in combination with the latest release of "Amiga in a Box" (http://aiab.emuunlim.com/) a pretty decent Amiga Workbench emulation experience. Here's a screenshot (http://aiab.emuunlim.com/) of an emulated Amiga with AIAB r10 installed. Also note that WinUAE is faster when running with Windows 2000 than the other Windows releases."

WinUAE homepage - http://www.codepoet.com/UAE/

ToC

Common Ground:

RE: Burner Woes - In Defense of the PC

by Jim Lewis, CUCUG

Wow. All these trials and tribulations sound quite familiar. We have gone through all this in the PC community, but they went away several years ago.

Quoting your passage:

"Once again, this reinforces a growing feeling I've had for quite some time: upgrading an older machine is not worth it. But, for the average user and the home market in particular, not everyone can afford to buy a new machine every two or three years. The money you lay out on a machine has to last you for many years. If you don't have a viable upgrade path to keep up with the times incrementally, you're stuck in a technological limbo, a fading time capsule of functionality. Hardly a value. Needless to say, this experience has created major disappointment and left a very bad taste in the mouth of those involved. It has also served as a warning to several onlookers contemplating similar upgrading. Will they be buying an Iomega ZIP CD burner for their machines. Not likely. Myself? I look forward to OS X putting a reliable, multi-tasking, Unix-based OS under the Macintosh's hood, because the Classic OS has never measured up for anyone who cut their teeth on an Amiga."

I concur! This is the main reason I have a PC instead of a MAC. Open architecture, standardized device interfaces and low entry costs, coupled with upgradability via a new mainboard, processor and RAM when technology advances beyond your hardware. Try putting a new mainboard in a MAC... the proprietary design (read: "built-in obsolescence") precludes anything like that.

If a new and great video standard comes out that I just can't live without, I buy a card and slap it in. If I want SCSI peripherals, I put in a SCSI controller and away we go. If I want USB peripherals, I buy one and hook it to a USB port (available since the days of the original Pentium, and supported since Win95 OSR2, circa 1996). If I want a parallel port scanner to live with a parallel port Zip drive, I just install another parallel port card and we're off to the races (BTW, parallel ports are *still* standard equipment on PCs). If Windows 2000 chokes on my new Plextor IDE burner, I just install Win98SE in a dual-boot configuration and burn away.

I could go on, but I believe you are starting to get an appreciation of why I consider the PC to be the best computing choice out there. It sure isn't because of the "elegance" of the GUI, or the "brilliant" engineering and aesthetics of the case. Nor, is it for the "ease of use" of the OS. It is simply a matter of economics, economy of scale in peripherals & software and ease of upgrading when your parts get too old.

I am currently using a P-II 333, overclocked to 500MHz, 256MB RAM, 28GB hard drive space with a SCSI adapter, external Zip 250 and a scanner, happily running (relatively) stable under Win98SE. This machine has lasted for almost three years now and I still have a capable, extensible, reliable PC that serves me well every day. If necessary, I could upgrade this box in place with a new mainboard, a PIII processor (866-1GHz) and new RAM for about $500. Not only would reinstalling the OS be unnecessary, but nary even an application need be tweaked.

That, my friend, is upgradability!

ToC

The PC Section:

Just as I suspected, v.1.0 of *anything* Microsoft should be avoided like an E. Coli-burger...

Jim Lewis

From:

SCOT FINNIE'S NEWSLETTER
Information about Windows and broadband you can *use.*
May 29, 2001 -- Vol. 1, No. 5
By Scot Finnie

Angry About Office XP Activation

For most of a week I've been waging a war with Office XP. Microsoft belatedly sent me an evaluation disc after I called up and grumbled. They should have sent it over a month ago. When the CD arrived, it had a Product ID number printed on the face of the disc. This is the "gold" version of the code, so the packaging isn't final. Normally the Product ID is on the jewel case. Even so, the gold software should operate exactly as the shrinkwrap version does that you'll find in stores beginning this week.

I entered the 25-digit Product ID number on one of the earliest Setup screens, as requested. I opted to perform an "upgrade" installation of my existing Office 97 installation. After installation, and upon initial launch of any of the programs, I was faced with the Product Activation screen. When I agreed to "activate now," I was given the error message that this copy of Office XP has already been activated on another PC, and so it couldn't be activated on mine.

Hmmmm. Apparently, Microsoft was giving out CDs with the same Product ID to multiple people. The Activation nag screens are annoying because a giant window opens each time you launch any Office program. After 50 launches without activation, MS Office XP won't let you launch any more. Under word, the activation nag screen occasionally seemed to conflict with an automatic Word .DOC-file virus scan running on my PC (probably in conjunction with Norton SystemWorks 2001). Said conflict could sometimes bring Word to its knees, causing it to flash its titlebar, the Microsoft Word-equivalent of "Danger, Danger, Will Robinson."

I also had another very minor but to me annoying and strange problem. Under Word's Tools > Options > General tab there's a setting that lets you control the number of recently opened files that will appear at the bottom of the program's File menu. It's a little convenience that helps you re-open files more quickly. I've come to rely on it. For some reason, this setting was grayed out on the Word XP (or, more correctly, Word 2002) Tools > Options > General tab on my PC, and no recently opened files would appear on the Word File menu. For a while I assumed that I needed to activate or deactivate some other Word setting to make the Recently Used File List option available again, but there just wasn't anything that affected it.

-- The Fix --

I decided to solve the product activation problem first. So I called the Product Activation support number. A very nice activation rep listened to my description of the problem, tried to activate my Office XP installation remotely, and got the same error message I had, whereupon she said she'd have to have a supervisor get back to me. This was on Thursday of last week. She promised I'd hear back from them by today. So far, no call back. Meanwhile, I called Microsoft's press relations folks to find out whether they'd forgotten to send me a separate Product ID. Turns out that was probably the case, although they never quite said that. Later on Thursday I received a new Product ID from Microsoft. But I decided to check around with a few colleagues whose primary focus is reviewing Office. They received Product IDs in a separate email message. From one of Microsoft's representatives, I learned that each Product ID most reviewers received is good for 10 product activations. The version of Office XP you buy in stores is good for two activations (and I believe you have to call Microsoft for the second one). So the reviewers aren't playing with the actual beast, and many of them may not even know that.

My first Office XP installation took about three hours. The software setup is actually quite rapid -- faster than earlier versions. And the user-interface for Setup is excellent. Almost all that time was spent on importing my very large Eudora email database into Outlook. This is the first version of Outlook that hasn't choked on installing my Eudora database (which has only grown larger over the years). Figured I'd get those positive points in, because the rest is negative.

The first note of dread about product activation was introduced when I learned that I would have to uninstall Office XP entirely and then reinstall it in order to use the new Product ID Microsoft sent me. I found myself immediately exasperated that Microsoft hadn't figured out a better way to change a Product ID number. What happened to how easy production activation was supposed to be for us all? But, wait, it gets worse.

There was nothing for it but to uninstall Office XP, so I did. Losing all my Eudora data imported for Outlook in the process. I didn't bother to so much as run RegClean (Microsoft's Registry scrubbing tool) after I uninstalled Office XP and before reinstalling it. All I did was reboot and reinstall using the new Product ID. I didn't "upgrade" Office 97 this time, but I did do a custom install, opting to skip FrontPage and Access since I don't use either. This time around, product activation worked great. But I still had the annoying loss of the Recently Used File List. A quick check with a colleague showed that his Office XP installations were not lacking the Recently Used File List. So I knew something was wrong on my PC.

I decided that the probable cause of the problem could be conflicting settings in Registry. Although it's less than six months old, my test PC has had Office 97, Office 2000, and now Office XP installed on it. I was also concerned that the original Office XP upgrade of Office 97 might have glommed onto something old and messed up in Word's NORMAL.DOT file. So I uninstalled Office XP all over again. While it was uninstalled, I ran RegClean 4.1a and Norton's WinDoctor (which among other things deletes abandoned and errant registry entries). I also cleaned out all Office files at and C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office. And I ran a search for the NORMAL.DOT file, renaming it wherever I found, just for the heck of it. Even though I knew WinDoctor would leave behind some Registry entries, I decided to stop there and run the installation again.

The setup process appeared to go well. I opted this time to run the "Install Now" typical installation without any modification. The Product Activation routine detected that my machine was already properly activated from my previous installation, and so I need do nothing more. That's exactly what it should do.

-- Teeth Gnashing --

So far so good, right? Here's where I really started grinding my teeth. Unfortunately, the grayed-out Recently Used File List was still grayed out. When a user interface item for a setting is grayed out, and no other setting affects it, it usually means trouble in the Registry. I ran through all the uninstall steps as described above. This time I deleted files related to Office in C:\Program Files\Common, C:\Windows\Application Data, and I did a manual edit of the Registry to remove unnecessary Office XP entries. Mostly I focused on the locations in Registry whose key names ended with /Software/Microsoft/Office. In these locations I found entries for Office 8, 9, and 10 (97, 2000, and XP). There was such a mish-mash of entries and leave-behinds, including some settings that sounded like they might directly apply to the problem.

After running setup again, I found that product activation now thought I was trying to install on a different PC and refused to let me activate. Grrrrr! This is when steam began to issue from my ears, and it's exactly the reason why power users hate the idea of product activation in the first place. Something automatic that presumes to know what's right. Microsoft has proved over the years that it doesn't do "automatic" things well. And it's proved the point again in Office XP's activation function.

Of course, power users will eventually prevail. It didn't take long to figure out that I'd deleted a folder from one of those shared application directories that's required by product activation. I simply restored it from Recycle Bin, and Office XP was in business again. Microsoft would say that it's my own fault for deleting things. Well, maybe. But until they stop shipping software that doesn't work right out of the box, I and many others will continue to try to fix it on our own.

After all was said and done this time, Office XP is running okay. But that pesky Recently Used File List checkbox is still grayed-out, and there are one or two other quirks I'll go into next time. Microsoft support is on the case, so maybe they can figure it out.

I'll report more on Office XP in weeks to come. If you're looking for a recommendation in the meantime, my initial reaction is: There's no compelling reason to jump into Office XP. I've come across several minor usability tweaks, but the bigger stuff like Task Panes and Smart Tags will be more annoying than helpful to experienced users. Unless you always have to get the next great thing, let people like me take the shake-down cruises.

ToC

"Here is info on a good newsletter for PC-hags. This guy was a regular contributor to Windows Magazine and WinMag.com (prior to their demise)."

Jim Lewis

"One of my favorite PC newsletters is offering user group newsletter editors a one-time offer to reprint anything:

http://www.scotfinnie.com/newsletter/06.htm

He just wants a link and some credit. Some good stuff is there.

I recommend this newsletter which focuses on advanced Windows and broadband--I learn a lot from it."

Kevin Hisel

Scot Finnie Newsletter

Let's get the word out about Scot's Newsletter. Boosting subscriptions are the key to SFNL's long-term success. If you think the newsletter is worthy and you're associated with a PC users group, run a website, or are part of a company, institution, or organization in which you have the option to republish all or part of this newsletter -- I need your help. Normally, you need written permission from me to republish any part of Scot's Newsletter. But on a one-time basis, I'm granting blanket permission to anyone who would like to promote the newsletter by printing any part of it. There are only a few rules to this:

1. You must publish at least an entire section (Tip of the Week, Office XP vs. Tweak UI, etc.). No editing is permitted. This deal applies to anything from any of the six Scot's Newsletters published to date. (This does not apply to Windows Insider or the Broadband Report.)

2. I ask that you credit me, Scot Finnie, as the author, and that you publish the URL to either to the main newsletter home page or the new subscription center (your choice):

Scot's Newsletter Home Page:
http://www.scotfinnie.com/newsletter/

Scot's Newsletter Subscription Center:
http://www.scotfinnie.com/newsletter/join.htm

3. This is a one-time deal. In other words, you (that is, your group or organization) can republish me once without written permission, so long as you follow rules 1 and 2 above.

If you're interested in republishing any part of Scot's Newsletter on an ongoing basis, please email me for permission. Be sure to include details about what you want to republish, how you're publishing, who your audience, and so forth.

newsletter@scotfinnie.com?subject=Reprint_Request

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

ToC

The Macintosh Section:

Apple installs OS X on all new Macs

By Ian Fried
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
May 21, 2001, 12:20 p.m. PT
URL: http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-5992546.html?tag=prntfr

SAN JOSE, Calif.--Apple Computer has started installing the new Mac OS X operating system on all of its new computers, CEO Steve Jobs told developers at a conference here Monday.

The move comes two months ahead of schedule, amid what Jobs said is great enthusiasm for the new OS. For now, machines will also come with Mac OS 9, which will remain the default OS that appears when a new computer is turned on for the first time.

"It is going to be so easy to change the default to X, that we think a lot of customers are going" to make the switch, Jobs said during his "fireside chat"--complete with giant video fireplace--at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference.

All Macs leaving Apple's factories as of Monday have the new OS installed, while those Macs already in the distribution channel will come with a free copy of OS X.

Jobs also confirmed that, as previously reported, Apple is phasing out its use of traditional cathode-ray tube monitors. To facilitate that transition, Apple cut the price of its two flat panels and introduced a new 17-inch flat-panel display for $999.

The price of the 15-inch Studio Display was cut by $200 to $599. And the price of the 21-inch Cinema Display was chopped by $500 to $2,499.

Guernsey Research analyst Chris LeTocq said the price cut on the 15-inch monitor helps the combination of a low-end PowerMac G4 Cube and flat-panel monitor dip below $2,000.

"That's the place the Cube needed to be," LeTocq said. "Whether that is good enough to get it moving after the bad rap it's been getting is another question."

The Mac maker used its conference to release other news, as well:

* As predicted, Apple announced a new version of OS X Server. Its price ranges from $499 to $999, depending on how many computers will use it. The company will sell its Macintosh Server G4 computer with the new OS X Server for $2,999.

* Apple introduced WebObjects 5, the latest version of its Web-publishing software.

* Apple's two new stores did a combined $599,000 in sales during their opening weekend, Jobs said. Together, the two stores sold 238 Macs and 935 units of software.

Jobs used much of his speech to urge developers to bring their applications to Mac OS X.

Mac owners' "impatience is bad. It's going to get worse," said Jobs, who broke his usual pattern of sporting a black turtleneck and instead wore a white mock-turtleneck, black vest and jeans. Mac owners want Mac OS X programs, he added. "And they want them now."

Jobs cited a Macworld survey that found 68 percent of those with Macs plan to upgrade to Mac OS X this year. Of those, 82 percent plan to upgrade to OS X native applications as soon as they are available. And, depending on the program, between 57 percent and 82 percent said they would switch from one company's software to another's competing program--if one had an OS X version of a program before the other did.

Jobs also announced that OS X native versions of Macromedia's FreeHand and Apple's own FileMaker are now shipping.

Despite Jobs' contentions, LeTocq said most people who use Macs at work are unlikely to switch brands just because a rival program runs natively under OS X.

"I'd be careful about these types of surveys," LeTocq said, asserting that few people will switch from Adobe Systems' Photoshop just because there is no Mac OS X version yet.

"The chances of (people) moving are minuscule at best," he said.

ToC

The Amiga Section:

Amiga Party Pack

June 11, 2001

Greetings to members of the Amiga Family:

Wow, what a year it has been!

In the coming weeks we are going to see the releases of not one but three new Amiga Products!:

1. AmigaOne PPC /1200 - On Schedule and Rockin'

2. AmigaOS 4.0, and shortly thereafter AmigaOS 4.2 on schedule and will offer the next generation of Amiga desktop - on PPC!

3. AmigaDE 1.1 so the rest of the world may begin to learn the power of Amiga - For Cell Phones, PDA's, and other portable devices.

Because of overwhelming e-mails and suggestions, Amiga Incorporated is pleased to announce the AmigaOne, AmigaOS 4.0, 4.2, and AmigaDE pre-release party pack!

Here is how you can participate with this party pack.

Starting June 11th and ending June 16th 2001 Amiga family members can purchase a pre-release version of AmigaDE for $99.00 (US plus tax and handling), you will receive one year of updates, the SDK, a bundle of sample applications and games, and the ability to start using DE on Windows or Linux desk tops.

Next you can pick from either a $100.00 (US) discount coupon on an AmigaOne PPC/1200 for use at your local dealer, or you can receive BOTH AmigaOS 4.0 and AmigaOS 4.2 for FREE!

That's right, for one week only purchase the pre-release of AmigaDE, get the SDK, and all the trimmings and select either a $100.00 (US) discount on a new AmigaONE, OR AmigaOS 4.0 and AmigaOS 4.2 for FREE.

It's your choice, and it is available today at:

http://www.amiga.com/amigamall/index.php?cart_id=01800511382&type=software

Sincerely,
Bill McEwen

------------

Thursday, 14 Jun 2001

Bill has decided to extend the Party Pack deal for one more week to June 22nd.

You can also now order through your local dealers. We are just making announces to them now so give us a bit to get them word.

--

Gary Peake
Director - Developer Relations and Support
Amiga Inc.
http://www.amigadev.net
http://www.amiga.com

ToC

The CUCUG Section:

May General Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

May 17, 2001 - President Jim Lewis began the meeting by introducing himself, but then, looking at the crowd, realized we all knew each other, so let the rest of the officer introductions go.

Jim then announced that George Krumins would be doing a presentation on Playstation 2 this evening.

Next, he discussed the PrairieInet wireless service he subscribes to and how it has been progressing. He talked mostly about its fluctuations in speed over the months he has been involved with it. He concluded by saying, PrairieInet is starting to get its act together. He has "mostly positive; some negative" feelings about them. As an aside, he noted that DSL has hit town in a big way with McLeod as the provider. Jim also mentioned other services that have, or are about to, enter the mix. Jim summed up by calling all of this his "bandwidth report."

Kevin Hisel told everyone about the happenings in the Time Warner/AOL conglomerate. He said that all of the employees are soon to be forced to use AOL email. Kevin's review of this system is that it borders on "pathetic" at best. It has no folders, no filters and no clickable links - standard features on just about any professional email application you can name.

Kevin also reported that Palm revenues are half what Wall Street expected. This obviously is very bad for Palm stock holders and future Palm development.

Bill Zwicky brought to the attention of the membership several tech oriented flea markets, garage sales, and HAM fests.

Harold Ravlin asked about the P3 / P4 situation. Jim Lewis said to "Forget P4." He said PC 133 memory works just fine with the P3. The P4 is tied to Rambus memory which is about three time more expensive and has not performed to expectations. A comparable P3 actually out performs a P4 machine. A whole discussion ensued on Intel versus AMD processors and supporting chip sets.

Jack Melby announced that his son and Mac SIG co-chair, Charlie, had participated in the WYSE (Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering) competition recently, in which he won First Prize in the Regional division, First Prize in the Sectional division, and First Prize in the State, all in computer science, and Third Prize in Physics in all three divisions. He also won First Prize in the Mathematics Oral Competition of the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Charlie will be going to Princeton University in the Fall, majoring in Theoretical Physics. Needless to say, Jack concluded "I'm pretty damned proud of him!" So are we.

Jack said that he believed the latest update of Toast, Toast Titanium 5.0.1, would solve the issues brought up in Kevin Hopkins' article regarding his trouble getting an Iomega ZipCD-650 to work on the club's PowerMac 8600/200. [Jack was kind enough to assist in testing that hypothesis after the meeting, but it didn't prove to be the case.]

OS X has had several updates since it's release. It's currently up to version 1.0.3. Putting swap files on a separate hard drive vastly helps OS X's performance. Jack said some of the purists are complaining about the CLI in OS X, not so much about its functionality, but the fact that it's there at all. Jack's overview of OS X is that he expects to retire OS 9.1 very soon, once the applications he uses in 9.1 get updated. He is particularly looking forward to the new versions of Virtual PC and Via Voice.

One last note about OS X: you can drag stuff from the GUI into the CLI.

Jim Lewis brought up for discussion the topic that appeared in the newsletter of Office XP.

Kevin Hisel made a product recommendation of the Logitech optical mouse which can be purchased at Best Buy for $15. Kevin affixed his seal of approval to this mouse: "Good stuff."

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The Presentation: George Krumins presents the Playstation 2

George Krumins began his presentation on the Playstation 2 by taking a look at the physical unit. He noted that its peripherals all plug in the front or the back. The Playstation itself is a small unit. You can hook up to 4 game controllers to it, and one of the neat things, George said, is that you can link six Playstations together if you want.

Then, George took a closer look at the "Specifications and Optional Accessories".

George is generally pretty happy with his Playstation. The one thing he found really annoying, however, was that the power button is on the back. The Playstation has two USB ports and one Firewire port (to allow multiple Playstations hooked in tandem).

During the discussions, Kevin Hisel noted that Sony, the maker of the Playstation, has announced a bunch of deals lately allying with Microsoft foes.

George remarked that he was impressed that you have all these various ports on a $300 machine.

George said that the Playstation handles several disk formats, both CD and DVD. Initially Playstations sold to people desiring an affordable DVD player.

George talked about the Saitek DVD Controller, which is a receiver module for a remote control you can use with the Playstation. When compared to a regular DVD player, the Playstation 2 only lacks a time function. The cost for the remote receiver is an additional $20.

Everything is an accessory except for one game controller and the power cord.

George then took us out on the web to look at the Console Specs page. Next, we looked at the Gamespot page.

Playstation is VGA compatible so you can use any VGA monitor with it. George spoke about the Redant PSX2/PSX VGA Box he's getting for his Playstation.

When the discussion turned to games, Dave Witt ventured the observation that Microsoft's Train Sim was "sweet".

George then played a little of Star Wars Starfighter. He also played the shoot'em up Time Splitters and as an added bonus he showed us how to use Time Splitters' map making feature in order to customize the game to your own liking.

Time flew like the shell casings in Time Splitters until the end of the meeting. Thanks George for an entertaining presentation.

Further information on the Playstation 2 can be found on George's web site at http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~krumins/ .

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May Board Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)

May 22, 2000 - The May meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, May 22, 2001, 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: Jim Lewis, Emil Cobb, Dave Witt, Jim Huls, Kevin Hopkins, and Kevin Hisel.

Jim Lewis: Jim said the Playstation demo was pretty cool.

Next, Jim stated that we need to upgrade the club's PC. Several of the PC SIG members present discussed items that should be considered for upgrading. All the various items can be purchased for under $600. This expenditure will be raise at the next meeting for the membership's approval.

For next month's PC presentation, Jim Huls will show the operation of Windows 2000 and maybe XP if there is time.

Jim asked about new version of WinUAE. Kevin Hopkins provided some information.

Emil Cobb: Emil reported eighteen members in attendance at the May meeting.

Emil asked some questions about Kevin Hopkins' CD burning problem. He recommended defragging the hard drive and trying a new USB card.

Dave Witt: Dave reported that George was a little down on himself about his Playstation demo. He said he had been nervous. But we all thought he did a great job. Be sure to give george a pat on the back for a job well done. His demo was appreciated.

Dave offered to show network gaming at a future meeting.

Jim Huls: Jim is predicting that Windows XP will steal market share from Apple if they don't do OS X correctly.

In discussing his demo for next month, Jim said he would let Jim Lewis know about whether or not he would need an Internet connect for the program.

Jim discussed the future of Firewire networking.

As a matter of information, Jim let us know that he has become involved with the Novell User Group and may become their newsletter editor.

Jim said the meeting presentation was good, although he is not personally interested in the Playstation. He said he would rather see computer related stuff.

Kevin Hopkins: Kevin said he had nothing to discuss other than the state of his CD burning adventure.

Kevin Hisel: Kevin said he enjoyed the meeting. He thought the Playstation was kinda cool.

Kevin raised the topic of promoting the club, particularly in the Fall.

Jim Lewis said he wouldn't be President next year, although he would still be around. "It's been a wonderful run, but it's time."

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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 Illinois Technology Center. The Center is located at 7101 Tomaras Ave in Savoy. To get to the Illinois Technology Center from Champaign or Urbana, take Neil Street (Rt 45) south. Setting the trip meter in your car to zero at the McDonalds on the corner of Kirby/Florida and Neil in Champaign, you only go 2.4 miles south. Windsor will be at the one mile mark. Curtis will be at the two mile mark. Go past the Paradise Inn/Best Western motel to the next street, Tomaras Ave. on the west (right) side. Tomaras is at the 2.4 mile mark. Turn west (right) on Tomaras Ave. The parking lot entrance is immediately on the south (left) side of Tomaras Ave. Enter the building by the front door under the three flags facing Rt 45. A map can be found on the CUCUG website at http://www.cucug.org/meeting.html . The Illinois Technology Center is also on the web at www.IL-Tech-Ctr.com .

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         charlesmt@home.com

Surf our web site at http://www.cucug.org/

CUCUG
912 Stratford Dr.
Champaign, IL
61821

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