DON'T MISS THE MAY CUCUG MEETING!
You could win hundreds of dollars in valuable prizes!
Well, kids, it's that time again! This month's CUCUG meeting (Thursday, May 18th) is our annual Spring Computerfest and Swap Meet and one meeting you will not want to miss! We have received thousands of dollars in prizes all of which will be given away or raffled off to members attending. In addition, the club has purchased the coolest add-on for your Amiga, an Iomega ZIP Drive which will be included in the raffle. If you are NOT a member, you may join at the meeting and participate in the fun. If you are a member, don't forget to show up and bring some money to buy extra tickets! FREE refreshments will also be served.
There will be two tiers of prizes. ORANGE tickets are $1.00 and are good for prizes with a retail value of $98.00 or less and prizes are available on a first-drawn, first choice basis. Every member attending will be given a FREE ORANGE raffle ticket. GREEN tickets are $2.00 and are good for prizes with a retail value of more than $98.00 and any hardware item. A few of the GREEN ticket prizes include Easy Ledgers, Typesmith v2.5, DirOpus v5, ImageFX v1.51, TapeWorm FS, and, of course, the ZIP drive. You may choose one specific title per green ticket. Members purchasing tickets may win more than one item. There is NO LIMIT on the number of tickets you may purchase.
SPECIAL BONUS!
The first 50 ticket buyers are guaranteed to "win" at least one, $99.00 prize! That's right, be one of the first 50 CUCUG members to buy raffle tickets, and we'll GIVE YOU a copy of GVP's fabulous CineMorph, commercial morphing software absolutely FREE! This is a deal you cannot refuse!
You must be a CUCUG member and present to win. Non-members may join at the meeting. Dues are $20.00 for the remainder of the year.
Come to the meeting and WIN!
Thursday: Auction Day
I attended the Commodore assets purchase hearing this morning in the Old Courthouse Bankruptcy court in Manhattan, NY.
I was in a hurry to get there, so I'd forgotten my notebook, and don't have any names to mention. I stayed until the court recess at 12:00pm (to be adjourned at 2:00pm), and had to leave to come back to work. However, I am able to positively report the following data:
NOTE: I wish to make it perfectly clear that this information is presented to the best of my own understanding of the proceedings, and I claim no factual guarantee of this information.
By recess time, the judge had been presented with (from the liquidator representative) a list of undisputed facts pertaining to the proceedings details thus far. At this point (noontime), he will have to make one of two choices by the end of the day:
Also, since I personally am interested only in what the purchaser plans to do with the assets after the purchase, I don't yet side with either party, although (I believe) that Dell has much more capital to work with.
I asked a Dell legal counselor what Dell plans to do with the Commodore product line, and she responded with "I have no idea."
Can anyone give info on this?
I just got off the phone with one of the interested parties in the Commodore liquidation. The meeting in New York adjourned at 2:45 PM New York time. Here is a summary of the information I received:
At the morning session the requirements for bidding were announced. Of the seven entities who had expressed interest in bidding, only three submitted sealed bids. The others were either unable or unwilling to conform to the terms announced in the morning. CBM-UK was not there bidding for the remains of Commodore, they were soliciting offers for an equity buyout touting their continued profitability as an on-going company. CEI was there but did not submit a bid, possibly to try to enter the process tomorrow.
At the afternoon session the sealed bids were announced. The three bidders were:
Two of the bids were disqualified for containing extra conditions that were not in compliance with the terms announced in the morning session. The nature of the extra conditions, and for the disqualifications, was not disclosed.
The sale was awarded to ESCOM for their original $5 mil. bid. There will be a hearing tomorrow to approve the sale, at which time there are expected to be at least 3 challenges to the award: one by an unnamed Dutch company, one by IBM alleging some kind of cross-licensing agreement violation, and one from the creditors committee. There may also be challenges from the unsuccessful bidders, the liquidators, or other interested parties.
A reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer was there and there will be a story in the Inquirer tomorrow.
NEW YORK - Apr. 21 - Escom AG, of Germany, picked up the assets of Commodore International Ltd. for the bargain-basement price of $6.6 million at an auction here Thursday.
About a half-dozen companies interested in Commodore's assets appeared at the auction, but only Escom and Dell Computer Co. submitted bids backed up by the required $1 million security deposit.
Dell's bid was disqualified because the company attached some unspecified conditions.
Escom president Manfred Schmitt said his company would resume manufacturing Amiga and other popular Commodore products and start making Apple- and IBM-compatible computers with the Commodore name for the European market.
Schmitt said he would attempt to manufacture all of the traditional Commodore products, even the advanced Amiga 4000, in China. He said he planned to approach Motorola Co. about microprocessors for a new Commodore PowerPC, which would be similar to the PowerMac manufactured by Apple Computer Co. This new PowerPC would likely be built in Europe.
Escom has no plans to resume any of Commodore's American manufacturing operations. Commodore had its North American headquarters in West Chester, Pa.
However, before Escom can launch its new strategy, the purchase must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York and the Supreme Court of the Bahamas, where bankrupt Commodore was incorporated.
That approval is not yet certain since Commodore's creditors have not yet agreed to the sale price, and both IBM and the trustee for Commodore's assets in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the Philippines are objecting to the sale.
Judge James L. Garrity Jr. has scheduled a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Friday to consider the proposed sale to Escom as well as the objections. Commodore's creditors are owed more than $100 million. Previous estimates of Commodore's auction value were as high as $20 million, so the creditors are likely to have reservations about the Escom sale price.
The auction, which was supposed to be the end of Commodore's bankruptcy saga, was a bizarre affair. A standing-room-only crowd of 65 people filled a conference room at the Midtown headquarters of Fullbright & Jaworski, the American law firm representing Commodore's Bahamian liquidators.
Almost half the group were lawyers. There were representatives of the creditors' committee and of two creditors, Prudential Insurance and Microsoft Co. Also on hand were representatives of a Chinese electronic-game company, New Star, as well as another Chinese company, Tietsin Trust & Investment Co., which is the parent firm of yet another game company.
If its proposal is approved, Escom plans a joint venture with Tietsin to manufacture the traditional Commodore products at a factory near Beijing.
Also represented were several small American technology companies, including Computer Connection, of Stockton, Calif., which submitted a bid which was disqualified because the firm failed to include the required $1 million deposit.
One attorney joked that never had he seen so many people show up for an auction prepared to pay so little.
Schmitt said he was not surprised that Escom apparently had been able to acquire Commodore for such a low price. If the other companies had been willing to pay more, they would have signed a contract with the liquidators months ago.
Another likely bidder, Creative Equipment International, of Miami, apparently teamed up with Dell in its unsuccessful bid. The managers of Commodore's United Kingdom team, who have been trying to buy Commodore's assets for months, withdrew before the bidding began.
Dell was represented at the auctions by Dalton Kaye, the company's vice president and treasurer, who said after the auction that his company had not yet given up its attempt to buy Commodore.
Kaye complained that Dell had become aware of the auction only two weeks ago and had not yet had time to evaluate either the bid documents or Commodore's assets.
Dell, of Austin, Texas, makes personal computers for businesses and individuals. In its latest fiscal year, which ended in January, sales rose 21 percent to $3.5 billion, and the company had a profit of $149 million compared with a loss of $36 million the year before.
Neither the amount of the Dell bid nor of the Computer Connection bid was made public. Kaye declined to specify what conditions Dell had attached to its bid.
If Dell is really serious about pursuing Commodore, a shoot-out with Escom could prove interesting. Dell had sales last year of $3.4 billion. Escom, which is the second largest computer company in Germany, had sales of about $1.1 billion.
Escom will end up paying the Bahamian liquidators no more than $5 million for Commodore's assets. The company already has paid the German bankruptcy trustee of Commodore's German subsidiary 2.2 million German marks, the equivalent of about $1.6 million for the right to use the Commodore logo in Germany.
Transmitted: 95-04-21 04:14:29 EDT
Copyright 1995 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News
[van Tienen is a former vice-president of Commodore International.]
JG: How much can you say about your plans for the Amiga?
BvT: We are setting up a group of advisors to advice us which products we should produce and we are digging into every product solutions not only Amigas but other products like Commodore products, TV set-top boxes, we are considering PowerPCs with Amiga, we are considering everything at the moment.
JG: How soon do you think you'll be able to have Amigas in production?
BvT: We haven't decided yet, but we have all the links with the factories. Escom is a big European group at the moment, we assemble our own machines, we have all the contacts with the manufacturers, we spoke already with them, the only thing is which product should we produce, which quality an then we get started. We presume we'll have the first products, the first Amiga products on the market within 3 months...
JG: As I understand it, ESCOM is one of the biggest computer-sellers in Europe, I assume AMIGAS will be in all their stores, is that true?
BvT: Not only Amigas but we will also produce Commodore PCs, ja, and of course we will use our own stores in Europe but besides that we will distribute products into other countries and also to other dealers in Europe...
JG: The Amiga has a very vibrant community as well as many public domain programmers, do you plan to use them in any way or contact them and ask them what they think...
BvT: Of course, of course, ja...
JG: With the developers as well?
BvT: Ja, ja, everybody will be involved...as many as possible to advice us on the Commodore and Amiga products...
JG: Do you plan to attempt to hire any of the technicians who used to be with Commodore?
BvT: Of course, we are already busy with it and already have some contracts. But a lot of Commodore people are already working for ESCOM, for instance I was vice-president of Commodore International, Peter Tachenko... I think there are already roughly 100 ex-Commodore people working for ESCOM at the moment.
JG: Do you have a position on whether you would license the Amiga technology and software to clone-makers?
BvT: Not only to clone makers but also to people who want to produce products and need some of our licenses. We are already busy with that, we've made some principal contacts, ja, on that.
JG: How long have you been working to try and buy what was left of Commodore?
BvT: We started with it, let's see, eh, last year in August 1994.
JG: Had ESCOM been interested in the Amiga before the buy-out, in having Amigas in their stores?
BvT: The point is that ESCOM. ...must have lasted 3/4 years. We sold Amigas in the past in our stores...
GG: You are aware that the Amiga has a tremendously loyal following?
BvT: We know Commodore very well because I was vice-president of Commodore International and I know everybody and everything about C= of course...
GG: Do you intend to use this energy that comes from the passion of the Amiga users?
BvT: Of course, of course, the biggest asset is not only the name and the products but also the user-groups. There are millions of Amiga users and even more 64 users still, ja. We are also planning to roll out products in China and other countries...
GG: How would you achieve this contact with the users? Would you put up a site on the Internet?
BvT: We haven't decided yet but everything is possible. Also we would use the magazines of course, there are hundreds of magazines, so ok, we haven't got the deal yet, but as you heard in the court now it looks like we'll get the deal in a couple of weeks, we have planned a lot but now we'll be able to roll it out, ja? So give us some time, ja, we'll consider everything...
GG: Could the users be in touch with you, say over the next month or so and communicate their concern?
BvT: Ja, we will install people everywhere, in Europe, in the States. Call me and I will tell you who and where they are. We are aware of the frustrations users had under the old management...
JG: Do you have any plans already in place or being discussed with CEI about working with them on the Amiga?
BvT: We can't disclose that at the moment.
JG: Was C= UK part of the buy-out?
BvT: (pointing at Colin Proudfoot passing by) That's C= UK... "Ok, Colin, see you next week, ok?" It's not part of the deal at the moment, but next week we have an appointment with C= to see what we can do with them. We are talking with them...
JG: Do you have plans to work with them or to possibly buy them out?
BvT: Both are possible...
GG: My main concern is for the users, this has been a long slog...
BvT: Yes, I think it is a good thing that finally there is this sale. We already wanted to buy last year, but we couldn't proceed, we couldn't hurry it up, ja, it took so long...
JG: Can I ask you a bit of a personal question? Do you own an Amiga yourself? Which one?"
BvT: I don't own an Amiga at the moment...
JG: (smiling) But you're planning on getting one, yeah?
BvT: I,I,I..I've used Amiga in the past, ja, in my office. I'll get a new one that's coming out, we don't know what spec it will be, we are working on it hard at the moment...
JG: Do you have any plans to have some online chats on the Internet? Do make more use of the Internet?
BvT: Of course the Internet is going around right now, it's very popular in the States, also booming right now in Europe, so ja, something will happen... We will set up support groups to get to know what is going on all over the place...
JG: Do you plan to make separate Amiga packages with software bundles, let's say a Modem Package, a Game Package, as C= UK has done in the past?
BvT: It worked very well out in the UK, I know the figures because I was involved and everything is possible...but we can also bring out other products under the Amiga name, ja, we can also bring other technology into the Amiga, if you want, ja, we haven't defined it yet but we are considering everything and we expect a lot from Commodore and Amiga, otherwise we wouldn't have bought it, ja?
(Missed first question)
CP: C= UK is waiting for this thing to be over. We then look forward to working with ESCOM and reviewing their plans for the future of Commodore cause they're gonna drive the technology and in effect they are quit likely to end up the owners of the C= UK business.
JG: Do you believe ESCOM will buy C=UK as they exist right now or do you believe they will license you as clone-makers?
CP: I don't think ESCOM will leave C=UK outside its organization, so it's a technical question in accounting terms whether it's expedient for them to keep the corporate identity as it is today or create a new corporate identity or use their existing structure and merge the C=UK within that. I think that was is key is that they will retain a lot of the staff from the UK organization because we have the expertise on the market place.
JG: If you were allowed to make your own plans for the UK market of the Amiga, what would they be? If ESCOM gave you that, how would market the Amiga and make it viable again?
CP: I don't think that is a realistic question because if you look at the market place as a whole you can't exclude the UK from the rest of Europe or the rest of the world. Computing nowadays is very much a global market and we would have to fall in line with ESCOM. A regards to what marketing plans we would see, David Pleasance has outlined the plans he would have for the market place and the products and how it would develop. In fact, he will be talking to ESCOM about these things next week and we will see how many of those ideas they will wish to adopt.
JG: So you're saying that there is nothing that separates the UK market from the rest of the European market or the global market?
CP: Europe is now a common market and there are no technical boundaries for free movement of goods and services so a product that's launched in the UK one day we'll find in Germany the next day, or in Holland or in Denmark.
JG: I heard that C=UK has good developers' relationships. Have you been talking to them about the buyout and what information have you gotten from them that might be helpful to ESCOM?
CP: Well the UK has a very strong software community and a lot of developers are based in there and we've been talking to them throughout the buyout, we've been discussing ideas for eventual new products and I think ESCOM will be very interested in the discussion that we had and the results of those discussions.
JG: Is there any technology that C=UK has that has not been released or that it still owns the rights to?
CP: C=UK has never owned any of the rights to the technology, it's merely been a licensee. All rights have always been held by CEL in the Bahamas or Commodore-Amiga in California. To come back to the developers, we recognize and I think the ESCOM people recognize how important the relationships with the development community are and on behalf of David and myself I wish to thank the development community for their support over the last 12 months. It' been absolutely tremendous, we couldn't have asked for any more support or any better encouragement from the guys all around the world. Hopefully we're looking forward to working with ESCOM working with the developers' community and putting the Amiga back on top of the market place, which is what we wanted all along.
JG: The US is a very competitive, intense and big market. Do you think ESCOM will want to and are able to attack it properly?
CP: You should ask them. I can only speculate and have a personal opinion and I would say the following: ESCOM have been phenomenally successful as a PC vendor in Europe and they have grown the business tremendously. Where do they go from there? They look to North America. How they penetrate the American market? Can they do it with a "me-too" computer? No they can't! So therefore they need a product to differentiate themselves from the rest of the competition and just maybe, just maybe, the Amiga is that product.
JG: What are your personal feelings about the end of the buyout?
CP: I'm very glad it's over!
JG: Are you an Amiga user yourself?
CP: I have a CD32 at home and in the office a Commodore 486 PC.
JG: Do you have any plans of switching to the Amiga?
CP: I am not a technologist I am a businessman. What I do is I talk to David Pleasance and the rest of the guys in the UK to get an understanding from them about the technology and its applications. My job is business.
Today, after 12 long months, the C= bankruptcy FINALLY ended. And, like the whole bankruptcy up to now, it was not without many problems.
In the auction on April 20, only two companies had bid, Escom and Dell. Escom was the German computer retailer, and Dell is a big American computer company. CEI, long thought to be a bidder, had thrown in their hat with Dell, so that Dell would work with CEI on the Amiga, although CEI would be the ones running the show in respects to the Amiga. Escom's bid was the starting bid of approximately 5 million dollars, as well as the money they spent on the C= trademark, approximately 1.3 million dollars. Dell made a bid at 2 PM of an undisclosed amount. However, that bid was rejected for Escom's bid, because it had conditions attached to it, whereas Escom's bid was unconditional.
After the auction ended, and Escom's bid was accepted, Dell continued to work on, trying to make a more suitable bid. Their second bid was a $15 million bid, with the condition that they be allowed a 30 day waiting period to look at the Amiga and decide if they wanted to keep it. If they decided not to keep it, they would forfeit their $1 million deposit, and the whole process of getting another bidder would have to go on again.
In the hearing on Friday, April 21, the Creditor's Committee wanted to accept Dell/CEI's bid. However, Escom felt that was unfair, because Dell's bid was placed after Escom's bid was accepted. There was much legal wrangling, but finally, the judge asked that during the recess the parties try to work out an agreement. After 3 hours, the court re-adjourned, and Escom said that they would agree to raise their bid by $6.5 million, to 12 million dollars. Although that was less than Dell/CEI's bid of $15 million dollars, the Creditor's agreed to drop the objection to stop Escom winning the Amiga, because Dell could back out of the deal and then they'd have to go through the process again.
Escom is working with a Chinese manufacturer to make Amigas, and they said that they should have new Amigas on the market within 2 months. They have said that they are interested in upgrading the Amiga to the Power PC chip, although they have said that the future is wide open, and that no technical decisions are set in stone. They have already hired many former C= technicians and workers to work on the Amiga once again. Escom has said that they will sell Amigas in all their stores, and that they may also use the Amiga technology in other products, such as set-top boxes, as well as possibly licencing Amiga technology to other companies interested in making Amiga clones.
Escom has sales of approximately 2 billion dollars last year.
Escom apparently wants to enter the American computer market, but felt that entering with PCs alone would be very tough, as there are already many PC retailers in America. As such, they wanted to have a new technology, such as the Amiga, to bring to American markets. Escom has said that they will be setting up an American operation very soon.
Commodore UK did not place a bid at the auction, apparently because their backer dropped out. However, Colin Proudfoot of C= UK and Escom have both stated that it 2 weeks they will be holding talks as to Escom either licencing Amiga technology to C= UK, or, more likely, buying C= UK.
Escom has said that they will work with Amiga developers, user groups, and the Internet to support the Amiga.
The Philippine plant and stock in it wasn't included in the auction, but it will most likely be sold to Escom for $1 million soon, because it may actually be illegal to sell it to anyone other than Escom.
All this information is true. I was at the hearing on April 21, all 8 hours of it. I would like to thank Jason Compton, for bringing so much news to the Amiga community during the dark time of the buyout. I would also like to thank Georgio Gomelsky, for bringing me into the Commodore hearing and getting me interviews with Colin Proudfoot and the head of the Amiga operations at Escom, and the great Amiga PD/Shareware developers, who make some of the best products out there for little monetary compensation.
And finally, I'd like to thank the whole Amiga community. You guys have given me some of the best times of my life, and for that I am eternally grateful.
On April 20th, 1995 Escom's bid of $6.4 million became the bid of record for the Auction of Commodore's remaining assets. It received a counter bid from Dell Computers, the silent partner supporting CEI of Florida, of $7.3 million.
In addition, three objections to the auction where heard. One from IBM claimed rights to Commodore patents under an agreement made many years ago wherein IBM and Commodore exchanged patent rights.
On April 21, 1995, Dell computer increased its offer to $15 million, with the contracted plans to have CEI begin management of the Amiga Computer manufacturing company, resulting from the purchase of the remaining Commodore assets. Prior to lunch, the presiding judge indicated to Escom, that they could have the winning bid if t hey increased their current offer of $6.4 million to a total of $13.4 million. After lunch, Escom made the bid of $13.4 million and was awarded the contract for the purchase of Commodore's assets.
It is believed that Escom has already made arrangements for a company based in Beijing to purchase the manufacturing portion of the contract and leave Escom with the German trademark and Commodore name for German marketing, the original asset that Escom wanted.
Although the bid was supposed to go to the highest bidder, there was some discussion as to the whether all of the patents, as listed as Commodore's assets, where free and clear. With the possibility that any manufacturing effort would result in continued royalty payments for those unclear patent rights, CEI and Dell had argued for clear title to all Commodore assets.
Whether there is a possibility of appeal, from the short changed creditors, or whether Escom will be seeking a stateside manufacturer or distributor for the possible Amigas, and what the Beijing company is planning to do with the Amiga, should its rumored contract with Escom be real, is not known at this time.
This is the situation with Commodore as I know it, Friday, April 21st, 1995 at 11:41PM EST.
NEW YORK -- The pioneering computers of Commodore Electronics Ltd., whose production was halted last year after the company's long, sorry decline, came back from the dead with the help of a German computer retailer.
Escom AG, which operates about 1,500 computer stores in Europe, paid $10 million for the rights to the Commodore name, its patents and intellectual property in a bankruptcy-court auction. Escom yesterday said it plans to resume production of Commodore personal computers, including its famed Amiga model, in China and to distribute them world-wide.
The news cheered longtime Commodore users, a small but fanatically loyal group who had watched in dismay as the sale of Commodore's assets dragged out for a year.
"I'm glad it's finally over," said Jason Compton, a Northwestern University student who publishes the Amiga Report on the Internet. But he said he worries about Escom's long-term commitment to the Amiga, a proprietary computer that is neither fish nor fowl in a PC market divided between computers adhering to the International Business Machines Corp. standard and those that operate on Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh software.
Escom, Mr. Compton says, may find it too expensive to develop a much-needed follow-on model to the current Amiga, a design first introduced in 1985, and may quietly let the model die while continuing to use the Commodore name on IBM-standard PCs, which it currently sells under the Escom name.
But Escom said it has big plans for the Amiga. In addition to resuming production of the entire product line, it says it will integrate Amiga technology into the MS-DOS software format, used on 80% of the world's PCs. It also plans to develop TV set-top control boxes, used for interactive TV, based on the Amiga design.
Commodore derived about 80% of its sales in Europe, said Petro Tyschtschenko, Escom's general manager of production. A particularly attractive market for the retailer may be "the kids who bought them when they were 10 or 12 years old" and now are looking for a new model, said Mr. Tyschtschenko, who worked for Commodore until recently.
Commodore sold about five million Amigas, which incorporated such multimedia features as color video and stereo sound years before most other PCs. The auction, overseen by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, attracted a last-minute, $15 million bid from Dell Computer Corp., which didn't plan to restart production but was interested in Commodore's patents. But Dell attached certain conditions to its bid, which tipped the scales in favor of Escom, according to lawyers for the German concern and the court appointed liquidators.
Escom said it has signed a pact for a joint venture with Tianjin Family-Issued Multimedia Co. in China to make the Commodore line. Escom has no plans to use any of the former production facilities or offices of Commodore, which was based in West Chester, Pa.
Amiga users, take heart: U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York on Friday approved the sale of the assets of Commodore International to Escom AG of Germany, Knight-Ridder reports.
Ardent Amiga fans have been waiting since Commodore filed for liquidation a year ago to know whether their once cutting-edge machines would have a future.
Escom agreed to pay $10 million for Commodore's core assets, including its Amiga computers. President Manfred Schmitt has said that Escom will restart production of all Commodore products, and will make IBM PC-compatible and Apple-compatible PowerPCs under the Commodore name for the European market.
Bernard van Tienen, a member of Escom's board of directors, promised that American Commodore users and fans would not be forgotten. "We didn't buy Commodore just to have it. We bought it to develope the technology and to sell products," he said.
I just spent 30-40 minutes with Alex Amor at CEI in Miami. Hard to tell he was the loser! The enthusiasm and optimism are still very evident.
"Sure we lost", he said, "but the fat lady has only sung a few notes, stay tuned for the rest of the song...we still have some cards left to play."
I am not privy to what surprising big cards he may hold (although his smile seemed to indicate they could be major), but some of the obvious options for CEI were openly discussed, as follows:
Alex has retained a cordial relationship with ESCOM throughout, and he has even avoided the "spoiler" image that might have resulted from the bidding action that forced ESCOM to spend $12 million rather than $5 million. Dell played that role with Alex in the background. He anticipates that ESCOM will call on CEI for a role in their sales plans for the US. He expects ESCOM to manufacture A1200s and A4000s in the near future, but is unsure of their commitment beyond that. In short, he sees a future Amiga role for CEI in collaboration with ESCOM.
Additionally, a sort of "love affair" has blossomed in recent weeks between CEI and Dell...a personal compatibility and shared philosophies that could result in "something else". In this regard, Alex seemed fascinated with the concept of introducing a new line of computers bearing the names of flowers! (a la fruity Apple, MacIntosh, etc.) This was mentioned during the conversation about Dell Computers. (Even after an exhausting week in New York, Alex was out in the local computer stores on Sunday...checking out the Dell machines). In summary, there may be a Dell connection in CEI's future.
If you are wondering about the CBM-UK gang, as I have quoted Alex often in the Sam Reports, they were never truly in the picture. They were in NYC as spectators only. Alex added today that the Brits and the Germans do not get along at all!
During this long, frank conversation, Alex and his staff were busily xeroxing and binding three-inch-thick manuals entitled... "Amiga Technology". The meaning of that is left to the imagination. If this is a "loser", it is impossible to tell!
Translation from German of message received by dealers via Reuters:
ESCOM continues well-known brand names "Commodore" and "Amiga". Amiga video/multimedia technology bought by auction.
Bochum/Heppenheim. ESCOM AG has obtained the rights of the Commodore group in the course of an auction in New York. The transaction includes all rights to intellectual property, technology, trade marks, and patents of Commodore and Amiga.
The technology of the Commodore group, which went into liquidation due to mismanagement, is considered in expert circles as the key technology for the future multimedia market. Through this take-over, Escom can become the leading provider of multimedia technology for private users.
The company intends to continue the well-known and successful product lines under the trade marks of Commodore and Amiga. The Commodore PCs are to be distributed world wide through distributors and mass-markets. Escom plans to manufacture the legendary Commodore C64 again for the target markets in Eastern Europe. Production and distribution of the Amiga 4000, 1200, and 600 will be continued.
Parallel to this Escom is working on the integration of Amiga and traditional PC technology. For end users Escom plans to offer PC boards in the near future which copy the multimedia functions of the Amiga machines in the areas of audio and video on traditional personal computers. With special Amiga TV settop boxes the company pursues the goal to also set a milestone for the future market of interactive television henceforth.
With Tianjin Family-Used Multimedia Co.Ltd., Tijanjing/PR China, a licensing agreement was reached for marketing and production of Amiga based computers. This company advanced to be the leading manufacturer of 16 bit game machines with 1 million units sold in 1994 and has one of the largest distribution organizations in the People's Republic at its disposal. Tianjin Family-Used Multimedia Co.Ltd.'s market share there is 80 per cent.
Through this Chinese partner Escom has made accessible for itself one of the most important growth markets for Commodore products. Currently negotiations with the leading far east and US distributors are underway for further licensing agreements in order to open up the Commodore/Amiga technology for the world market.
HOT FAX FROM MAD MAXX!
Marv Birkinbine, our redoubtable Boise video expert, Amiga dealer, and man-with-ear-to-ground, recently faxed a list of questions to Manfred Schmidt, president and owner of 51% of ESCOM AG, the parent company of the Amiga buyout winner. This morning, Tuesday May 2nd, he got a reply. What follows is my transcription. This appears genuine; I've seen the original. Marv assures me it's OK to post.
Marvin Birkinbine: It has been said that you plan on making 64's, 600's, 1200's. Is this true? What about CD-32's, full-motion video module, etc.?
Manfred Schmidt: CD-32 production we will also start soon. Also we think to integrate CD-32 in a PC as well as in televisions.
We will also cooperate with many suppliers like Motorola and Apple for new applications. The idea is to produce an Amiga PC board which fits into Intel machines, Apple Performa and Power PC.
Birkinbine: Will you be setting up a U.S. distributor? Will it be CEI? If not then who?
Schmidt: Yes! Not yet decided! We talk with all.
Birkinbine: Will you make monitors? What kind? Multisync?
Schmidt: Yes, Amiga monitors. Specifications not yet decided.
Birkinbine: Will you be fixing the 1200 & 4000 so they don't require 15KHz scan? (For better picture quality.)
Schmidt: Yes, in next generation for 1996.
Birkinbine: Will you consider national advertising in the U.S.?
Schmidt: Yes, in cooperation with distributors and dealers.
Birkinbine: Maxximum Video would be a great place to have those spots produced, and the cheapest!!!!!!! [Ed. Note: Sorry for shameless commercialism.]
Schmidt: O.K.
Birkinbine: It is said that you are looking into a Power PC chip configuration. Have you considered the PA RISC? In the U.S. an 80MHz computer is where the competition is. The PA RISC at 125 MHz would be a step ahead and it is already reverse-engineered to emulate the Motorola.
Schmidt: We are always looking for the most powerful machines.
Birkinbine: Will you be looking at continued A2000 support?
Schmidt: We talk with [obscured] to do it.
Birkinbine: Will you be including hard drives with your systems?
Schmidt: Optional.
Birkinbine: What sort of development do you see ESCOM pursuing to advance the Amiga technology?
Schmidt: We will work with new projects, when we have defined the R&D team. We will integrate the most successful engineers from the market.
Birkinbine: Will you be setting up a U.S. engineering team?
Schmidt: Yes.
Birkinbine: Will you be contacting Newtek to arrange new support for the Amiga?
Schmidt: We have to.
Birkinbine: Will you be contacting H-P to produce chipsets or a joint agreement to license them to be a clone maker?
Schmidt: Yes.
Birkinbine: Where do you see Amiga and Commodore one year from now? Two years from now? Five years from now?
Schmidt: We will be one of the most successful multimedia companies in the world. Commodore with Amiga will be a 1 billion US$ company within three years.
Birkinbine: How long do you expect it will take to bring product to market in the U.S.?
Schmidt: September 1995.
Birkinbine: Will you sell directly in the U.S.?
Schmidt: No, through distributors only.
Birkinbine: How are you going to encourage software development in the U.S.?
Schmidt: Please wait. We have some ideas.
Birkinbine: What kinds of incentives will you be able to offer the dealer?
Schmidt: Products, products ...
Birkinbine: Will you be developing 16-bit audio for the Amiga? What about MIDI?
Schmidt: Please wait.
Birkinbine: Will you be correcting the dealer/distribution problem that Commodore made?
Schmidt: I hope so. We will try our best.
Birkinbine: Well, that is about all I have for now. Sorry it is so boring but these are questions that a large number of my customers would like to know. [Ed. Note: and you know how boring WE are!] I will close for now and get this in the fax and send it to you. Thank you very much for taking the time to fax with me. And I hope to have a long and happy relationship with ESCOM.
Please fax this back ASAP to Maxximum Video Creations Inc., 208-322-3091 in Boise, Idaho, U.S.A. As of 4-30-95 you can E-mail me at:
Madmaxx@micron.net.
Thank you again for your help and LONG LIVE COMMODORE/ AMIGA/ ESCOM!!!
Very truly yours,
(signed)
Marvin Birkinbine
4-27-95
Schmidt: Please send your company profile. Best regards. -- Manfred Schmidt
Courtesy of Marv Birkinbine Transcribed by Sam Johnson
Madmaxx@micron.net unclesam@micron.net
Editor, AUSI Monitor
Amiga Users of Southwest Idaho
Usual disclaimers apply.When asked by Nicolai Thilo (nilo@login.dknet.dk) to share his thoughts on the ESCOM buyout, Dave responded:
It's a hard call for me, since I don't know ESCOM that well. From what I have heard of them, they're probably in a better position than any of the other contenders, unless CEI really had managed to get Dell involved. And maybe, even then. The Amiga was always far better established in Europe, now it's European owned. ESCOM has stores, so they don't have to fight to get shelf space. They're already in the PC business, though I gather most of their stuff is made on contract. Even at that, they have some sort of infrastructure already in place; the others would probably have to develop one.
Of course, who knows what they're planning to do with the Amiga. I suspect the partners in China are hungry for the low end video games. The Chinese home market is still virtually untapped by the West or the East, and I gather is largely populated by a ripoff, er, clone of the 8-bit Nintendo. A low cost 32-bit system now, with some promise of even better things to come, would probably be good for a few million units a year in China alone.
For the native market, NOW would be a good time to make sure there's something for the home other than PClones. Windows 95 will up the ante on what functions as a base-level home PC, no matter what Microsoft claims as a minimum configuration. So will OS/2 Warp, if that picks up in popularity. There's a market for something else, though I expect they'll get more trouble from game machines, since a large majority of home buyers expect to play games. I think a low cost CD-ROM, as add-on or built-in, is essential to the revamped A1200 (however they revamp it); CD-ROM is to 1990s computers what floppies were to the Apple II and C64.
They need to get aggressive on new development. That's where I wonder about ESCOM. Far as I know, none of the Amiga Engineers have been contacted by ESCOM, not that any would move to Germany. If ESCOM has been farming everything out, they're not set up to do internal development. And to most PC makers, "internal development" means, at best, deciding who's glue chip set they like the best and making their own PCB from the manufacturer's reference design. This doesn't take an Engineer, a good technician can do it. Continued Amiga development, hardware and software, is two orders of Engineering magnitude above this.
So I wonder what they're up for...
Dave Haynie, Sr. Systems Engineer, Scala Inc., US R&D
ex-Commodore Engineering, Class of '94
C= Failure n. See: Greed
Subject: Amiga Resurrection
From: peterk@combo.adsp.sub.org (Dr. Peter Kittel)
Date: 7 May 95 23:33:30 MEZ
Mr. Schmitt, Boss of Escom, has authorized me to publish the state of affairs.
Most important item first: I have my job, and it's that of the world-wide boss of engineering. Yes, I know, I start into a very difficult task, as successor of real celebrities. OTOH [On The Other Hand], I had eleven years time at Commodore to study what is the wrong strategy and which leads to success. I will spend all effort to avoid these known errors.
And now for the big picture: There will be founded a new, completely self-standing daughter company of Escom AG. It will have [its] own rooms at [its] own address in Heppenheim. It will be the headquarter of the new company, with control and coordination for the whole world. One subsidiary will exist in any case in the Netherlands, and it will do Europe-wide distribution and sales. Further country subsidiaries are not impossible. Yet there are no concrete decisions about UK, USA, and Canada in particular.
The new company is yet to be founded, but this is currently in the works with great effort. The name is not yet decided, it will probably be something like "Commodore-Amiga" or "Amiga-Commodore" or the like. This company will (at least for the time coming) care exclusively for the Amiga model palette.
As can be inferred from the first paragraph, there will be an engineering department, for hardware and OS software. For this there exist already promising contacts with well-known and well-reputed names. Yet there's no problem if someone feels obliged to send his resume (no email or fax, please) to:
Escom AG Personalabteilung Tiergartenstr. 9 D-64646 Heppenheim GermanyYou see, we consider ourselves an international company. Of course we only want the best ones :-).
Further, there will be a Support department which will do world-wide coordination, but also covers the German area. Thus, most of these people should be German-speaking. The Amiga Developer Support Program (ADSP) will get reactivated ASAP. About those developers currently using BIX or CIX, we have not yet decided. These people should feel free to contact me directly at this private account (no company one *yet* existing) and giving some input. In the past years, there was a split among the developer community into different communication channels. Thus no direct communication of the developers among each other was possible, and for engineering this meant double work to explain the same issues once on one net and then additionally on another net. We will do everything to avoid this nonsense in future. There are big obstacles, as there are big cost differences in different regions of the earth, and simultaneously a high degree of confidentiality has to be maintained. End-user support will happen mostly in electronic form, via mailbox, Internet, and probably also Btx.
Of course, there will be also a Marketing department and what is needed in admin. All together this will be a rather slim company of ca. 50 people at first, but a further expansion is, of course, not impossible.
It is planned to restart production of the last current model palette, probably in full scale, but no guarantee yet for this. Also, of course, not all models will appear at the same time again, one after the other. As Escom has an own powerful casing production, they will perhaps get a redesign of their styling, in any case for the A4000, but the hardware under the hood remains unchanged at first. First, diverse contributing factories on earth have to revive their production of parts. New developments would mean additional months of waiting, before you could buy the products. That would be too big a sacrifice.
The direction of the new engineering department will definitely be the port to some RISC platform. The choice of this RISC is still open. There are ecstatic advocates for at least two alternatives, PPC and HP PA RISC. Chris Ludwig gave an interesting interview about this. It will be the first task of engineering to prepare this choice of paths into the future with all possible expertise.
It has been decided to be very liberal in regards of licensing in the future. So, whoever wants to build e.g. an Amiga Laptop or a set-top box, can get chips and OS!
As you all see, much of this is still a letter of intent. The points which are declared as still open are *really* open, so there's no use in bombarding me with further questions.
As my work load, at least now, in the building phase, will be immense, I can't guarantee my presence on the net like before. But who knows me, knows that that would be most painful for me myself. So let's look forward.
In the next weeks there will be press conferences to tell more and more details.
Long live the Amiga and for a good cooperation.
-- Best Regards, Dr. Peter Kittel
Private Site in Frankfurt, Germany
Email to: peterk@combo.ganesha.com
Now re-employed at The New Commodore in Heppenheim, Germany
Stay cool, not cold (Cool bleiben, nicht kalt); H. J. Friedrichs
We have discontinued the mirror of the Aminet archives. The best alternate site for these files is ftp.wustl.edu.Jason Compton (jcompton@xnet.com), the Editor of Amiga Report, postulates that this was probably "Because Aminet wasn't generating any income now that Urban's switched CD publishers."-=- Matthew L. Seidl
seidl@cdrom.com
It would appear that GVP is going out of business, based on a fax I recieved yesterday when I faxed in a problem with my PhonePak/VFX board. It reads as follows:
Dear Customer:
We are sorry to inform you that, due to the difficult conditions in the Amiga market, GVP has ceased ongoing operations. Our tech support staff has been laid off. Only the staff required for liquidation and shutdown of the company remails. We cannot help you for your request for technical support.
It goes on to give a name and phone number of an individual who can provide basic assistance with hardware repairs.
I can only assume that this happened sometime Thursday or Friday, because I recieved a letter from GVP dated April 12 (Wednesday) from somebody in technical support providing specific answers to some of my questions about the problem I was having.
Anyone else heard/seen any more details about this? GVP made some great stuff for the Amiga, and it'll be sad to see them go...
News: GVP/Escom from MicroPace
From: Aaron Smith (Mustang@vrb.com)
Date: Thu, 4 May 95 03:48:27
I spoke with my distributor, MicroPace, yesterday. MicroPace is right behind CEI as an Amiga computer and peripheral dealer. They have been dealing in IBM products mostly for the passed year due to the lack of being able to get Amiga's.
Anyway to the point. I was told they had been in contact with Escom and hope to be distributing Amigas from them within a few months. They will not stop selling IBM's at all but will be supporting both. I hope this supports the Amiga on a card for the PC as well. It was good to know they have already been talking and setting up what is going to be done. Escom have been speaking with CEI and CBM UK as well it seems.
The other point of news, He told me that GVP is no longer GVP. It was bought by a company in the midwest and they are going to bring out new products, as well as some of the old one, within 3 months.
This news was given to me. I believe it completely. You can take it for whatever you want.
From: Jason Compton (jcompton@xnet.com)
Date: Fri, 5-May-1995 2:11pm
The midwest of the UK, maybe, according to CEI...
Their version is that GVP held a sort of auction to sell off its assets, intellectual property, etc. CEI put in a low bid and Power Computing of the UK put in a high bid, and took the goods home.
From: Aaron Smith (Mustang@vrb.com)
Date: Sun, 7 May 95 09:28:12
Perhaps I misunderstood then? He I thought he said MidEast or MidWestern spot. Well no matter where those assets are, they were bought that is just the news I wanted to get out.
Other news I got right from the mouth of MicroPace, They are in mid discussion with Escom to become the sole Amiga North American distributor. Now this doesn't mean they can't in turn ship to CEI/etc etc. But from what they said they aren't happy about CEI costing them another 6.x Million for the Amiga when they just about had it.
I believe in the end everyone will have it, though, that is just good business sense. They said they hope to have machines in stock and ready to go out the door the end of September with new products before that. They were most excited about the Amiga-on-a-card AGA chipset with a 680x0 ideas and future products. The dealer I was talking to said he would love to drop one in his Pentium Machine that runs OS2/Warp and have AmigaOS, as well, in the background. We then started to chuckle about how he could run the OS2/Warp, AmigaOS, ----> Mac/Shapeshifter/C64/AppleII and all that jive :)
I don't know how many read all the way through Amiga Report but according to the latest issue Jason is selling the full 3.1 kits from Villagetronic that are distributed in the US by Expert Services. He has them for the following prices:
Amiga 500/2000 - $105 Amiga 3000/4000 - $120 (works with the 1200 but no PCMCIA support)There is a shipping and handling fee but that depends on how you want to receive it. The cheapest I saw listed was $5.
Although Escom has recently purchased the Amiga tech and will hopefully get new OS 3.1 kits out the door soon, we have no way of knowing how soon. If you're like me and want or need a graphics card for your Amiga, this is a very good deal. KS/WB 3.1 was a step towards RTG and makes life with a graphics card easier and incredibly more useful than just as a frame buffer.
I just thought I'd post this here for those who may not have been aware of this deal. If you're interested, check out the latest AmigaReport for more detailed info.
From the May '95 "New Media" magazine, pg 15:
"Buy five Bernoulli 230 disks, get a free 230 drive."
"1.1 Gigabytes plus a free drive for only $495."
"... limited time offer... call you authorized Iomega Service Bureau or Iomega at 1-800-MY-STUFF to find out who that is..."
Last year, I got the forms from Monarch in Papa Del's center.
Newtek's "big" NAB announcement was a Toaster/Flyer combo for the PC. It is essentially a battery run, portable unit that uses a SCSI interface to either an Amiga or a PC. It allows the user to record video directly to HDs in the field. My understanding is that the Toaster used in it does not have all the features of the Amiga based Toaster but does do some things better such as using rendered transitions via Lightwave. It appears that the demo units were pretty much prototypes with a lot of work to go. Amiga Toaster/Flyer users will be offered a major discount on the new units (it appears to be about 50% off list).
Of interest, Tim Jenison, Newtek President, is now back in hardware R&D to get things moving. He hired a new CEO to run the company (a former assistant States Attorney for Kansas- expecting trouble? ;-) It appears R&D is moving quickly with Tim back where he started (at a better income level, though!)
More info may be in the net file for graphics that KH2 puts here. I heard that Harv Laser from Portal had posted the press releases there.
Looks good for keeping Amigas around when other systems are purchased!
Just of interest for you net.junkies (or soon.to.be.net.junkies):
I finally got ahold of someone ALIVE at SOLTEC's 800# (800-SOL-1TEC), and they referred me to a local office (355-7659) that they have set up over here.
According to the guy I talked to, this office has been around for ~3 weeks now. (Kinda funny how none of this was really announced on PNet or something, but oh well...)
For those who do not know, SOLTEC is a local Internet provider (look at it as a kind of alternative to Prairienet, with a better field record) that provide SLIP/PPP (and Shell?) access via local dialups at up to 28.8kbps (using US Robotics Courier modems).
The lady I talked to at the local office said that "SLIP/PPP accounts are $30/mo for unlimited access; this does not mean you can stay connected forever, because we have a ratio of about 20:1 users to modems, and we just can't have someone sitting there hogging lines for days, BUT you have no limits otherwise." (basically, use what ya need)
I guess there's like a $30 setup fee for the account, which is paid up front, and the montly charge ($30) comes up AFTER your month, so... Not a bad deal all around. I'm signing up my account tomorrow. :)
What's new in the world of Commodore? Who cares! What's new in the world of the C=64 and the C=128? Plenty! Hard to believe, but true. Most of the following information was culled from either LOADSTAR or Commodore World. Both of these publications are beacons of light for the 64/128 faithful in a world of IBM darkness. Both provide a wealth of information in a timely manner for a nominal fee. Speaking of fees, LOADSTAR is restructuring its subscription policy. They're not saying too much, just strongly hinting that when you go to resubscribe, asking about their reduced rates just may get you a deal. They also are talking of alternative billing plans, beside their annual or semi-annual plans. Again, they say to call them and talk about it. The only thing that will kill LOADSTAR would be a major drop in subscriptions. I don't see that happening in the near future. dieHard magazine just announced that they are going to only six issues a year. Commodore World has 8, while LOADSTAR has 12 for the 11th straight year. All are great sources for any 64 or 128 user.
In the last LOADSTAR, there was an interview with CMD. There was the history of the Company from its humble beginnings, including, of course, Jiffy DOS. Very interesting. A few items of interest came from that interview. One was that there were no plans to quit the market soon. If anything, they seem to be growing. They have no plans to produce a version 3.0 of GEOS. (The reasons are sound and in the interview.) They did drop a tidbit that caught my attention, though. They mentioned that Maurice Randall is working on an 80 column, full color version of geoPublish. (Tell me it's true!) No release date yet, but can it be longer than the wait for the Commodore auction? They also were very proud of the FD series of drives, particularly the 4000, since CMD was able to put it out for the 64/128 before the 3.2 MB was available on other platforms. They mentioned that their hard drives are still popular, although priced higher than some of the other brands, due to lack of volume. They mentioned some systems that use the 20MB HD ($299) up to bulletin boards on Commodores with in excess of 2 gigabytes. RAMLINK is another item in which they are pleased. All in all, it seemed the thing that CMD takes most pride in is their success with filling niches that exist or develop, and their treating customers like they would want to be treated. If you have ever dealt with them, you'll know that this is true. It's a great interview, so check it out if you haven't yet done so.
Commodore World now has printed issue #6. It has been high class from the beginning. Features this issue include word processing reviews (only the very best made it), page layout tips, software reviews (even some new ones coming from Europe!), 128D device switch installation, tips, what's new in several areas, some on GEOS, programming, telecommunica- tions, and much more. If you love to drop names, here are some of the authors of the articles and features: Steve Vander Ark, Maurice Randall, Doug Cotton, Jim Brain, and Jim Butterfield, just to name a few. If you've been around awhile, you'll recognize these people as some of the best in the business today. They have plenty to share. Commodore World also is nurturing a European connection that seems to be taking shape. They had information on a German based GEOS group, and even a new game called "Heavenbound", that has advanced graphics and sound. This could be a whole new world if this connection goes somewhere. Check all of this out in the latest Commodore World.
As I mentioned, dieHard has cut back on the amount of their offerings. As Brian Crosthwaite said, he was putting out 20 issues of dieHard a year, if you count the Spinner (disk publication). He also sounded pretty burned out, mentioning 100 hour work weeks. He also mentioned that they were unsuccessful in finding a disk copying system, so he's been doing all of the Spinners on 1541's. They burned out four in two days last month. Their new plan is to do the Spinner one month and the dieHard publication the next. The schedule is: January-Spinner, February-publication, March-Spinner, April-publication, and so on. dieHard is different from Commodore World, but I feel that they compliment each other well.
Finally, for those of you on the net, there are tons of sources on the CUCUG section of Prairienet. For the newcomers to the club, check out the file directories on STARSHIP. Both of these are great local sources in addition to the other sources in the world of cyberspace. Don't let anyone convince you that the 64 or 128 is dead. There are plenty of resources out there. You just have to look a bit. Hopefully you now will know of a few places to start.
It is somewhat ironic, and in other ways a sign of the times. Aminet, the worldwide repository of freely distributable Amiga software, continues to grow-in fact, its pace is ever increasing.
For a "dead" machine, that's interesting. On the one hand, it goes against what should be the logical flow-with a stagnant market, software circulation and development should decrease. Of course, on the other hand, it reflects a shift in Amiga business-as-usual: now that full-blown companies find it difficult to justify financial investment in the Amiga, it falls to the developers to distribute the product as they see fit, and say what you will about shareware, but at least you don't have to pay to have boxes made and manuals printed.
Anyway, the point of all this is that the Aminet CD-ROM series has done well enough that it's become a quarterly phenomenon and been turned into a comprehensive (at the time of the capture, anyway) four-disc Aminet Set #1.
Aminet CD 5 just continues the fine tradition. Nothing major has changed - the intuitive AmigaGuide interface is still present to guide you through the contents. The theme of this disc is games, and roughly 1000 are present.
Over 400 megs on this CD are new since the release of Aminet CD 4, and over 200 from the release of Aminet Set 1. So, unless you've got a large hard drive and lots of time to FTP, this is the most efficient way to get a hold of all of it.
The only major change this disc represents is the end of the "Share" vs. "Gold" concept. Chalk it up as an experiment that resulted in failure, as only a tiny portion of the Share buyers sent in the recommended contribution (or any contribution, for that matter.) So this and future CDs until further notice will be priced at 25 DM (approx. US$19). Not bad at all.
Aminet and the CD series have established themselves as the clear #1 source of freely redistributable software, and show no signs of slowing - in fact, Urban Mueller, the chief Aminet administrator, has indicated that serious consideration is being given to making the series bimonthly, rather than the 3-4 month intervals being observed presently.
Sadly, Aminet 5 still does not contain the entire Amiga Report archive. However, I'm told Aminet 6 will. Stay tuned...
Published by North American Distribution: Stefan Osowski's Schatztruhe Amiga Library Services D-45131 Essen 602-917-0917 Germany info@amigalib.comToC
The April 20th meeting began with President Huls' traditional introduction of CUCUG's officers. He then opened the floor for our Question and Answer Session.
You can use your own terminal software for your BBS calls and you can use net applications if you have your own TCP/IP stack and PPP software.
As you can see, this does not seem to be the panacea that most net dweebs have been looking for.
CUCUGAMI #143:
AmiBoppin (a huge commercial game demo) and Slider (the nicest looking 15 number slider game he's seen).
CUCUGAMI #144:
PacWar (a Pac Man styled game. Kevin said, "The thing I like about it is that it is overly violent."), SpringTime (Kevin called it "the star" of this disk. It a game about maneuvering a spring around various levels, however, due to our mouse blanker taking out the sprites, Kevin played most of this one blind.), and Teleterm (a pretty capable, fast, minimalist terminal program).
The April Amiga SIG was introduced to voice mail by Quentin Barnes and his GVP PhonePak set up. Quentin began by detailing his machine: a Amiga 2000 with an '010 processor and 3 megs of memory, the PhonePak card, a little thing called a WinkBug (costs about $50) used as a display so he doesn't have to leave his monitor on, and a LineMan that runs 24 hours a day.
Quentin then ran us through the PhonePak software which you use to record answering machine style messages, record incoming calls, use to remotely retrieve your messages, and route incoming calls and faxes to any number of separate mail boxes. Quentin showed us how easy it was to set the whole thing up - ten minutes, tops, he said. First you start with a Master which you can visualize as a root directory. This answers the phone and routes your calls to the appropriate mailbox, or subdirectory. Quentin set up two mail boxes: JimH and RichR, for the purpose of his demonstration. He then had Jim Huls record a message for the answering machine. As an aside, Quentin mentioned that the PhonePak was developed by the Atlantic Design Group and GVP marketed it.
Quentin reiterated that with the PhonePak you can retrieve your messages and faxes remotely. It also has a scheduler in it that allows you set up a time (when the rates are low) for it to call a given number and send a message or a fax to whomever you want.
Vic Serbe asked Quentin if he wanted to receive a fax. Quentin said sure, so Vic whipped out his IBM TC 500 subnotebook and sent Quentin's machine a fax. Once received, after a little dinking around, Quentin sent it back to Vic. (Jim Lewis found out it was putting both of his lines on hold.) Quentin said you could send 10 megs of information in about 17 minutes.
Quentin said the PhonePak is available from Select Solutions for about $200 to $220. Jim Huls said he's seen it for as little as $130 on comp.sys.amiga.marketplace. Quentin said, "I've yet to find anything a commercial system can do that this can't do." He said the comparable thing on the PC is about $500 and on the Mac runs about $350.
As a final point, quentin said the PhonePak software has a great ARexx port.
To round out the night, Quentin then showed his Air Link, a little infrared device he's been playing with to operate like his TV remote control. He promised to demo this fascinating toy at a later date.
Thanks, Quentin, for a great demonstration of a fine product.
The 64/128 SIG for April started with 8 members present. Rich Rollins made an announcement that there are C64 emulators available for the Macintosh platform (C64.sit and commodore-64-emulator.hqx). C64.sit is now available on STARSHIP in the "Other" section. For those who have Macs, but still love some of the 64 options, try it out. The only thing that Rich said that was different was that the screen came up white instead of blue.
Next, Dennis Reed took over with his presentation of the amazing Fun Graphics Machine. Dennis has been working with FGM for some time now, and when he has run into a problem or needed advice, he has contacted the author of the program, Ron Hackley. Dennis says that Ron has been really responsive and helpful. Ron advised Dennis to go with the Cannon Bubble Jet when Dennis was looking for a new printer, and Dennis says it has turned out to be a great choice.
After firing up FGM, Dennis briefly discussed the opening screen, which gives 5 choices; Creator, Demo, Printer, Clipart, and ScreenFinder. Dennis loaded the Creator, where you do most of your work. As it loaded, he passed out samples of some of his work. (We found out that he not only deals in magic, but loves the blackjack tables in Vegas.) After the program loaded, he mentioned that you can link up to 3 screens either across or down. You also have several choices at the next screen. You can go to the HiRes screen, load or save a graphic, hires screen, or a character set, or you can edit characters, use the printer, or use disk functions.
Dennis went right to the HiRes screen. He brought up several examples of work that he had done. He showed how he had modified and improved each version. He corrected the jagged edges with the editor, which really made a difference. He showed us how you could correct one letter, then capture and transfer it to other places on the screen. He showed how you could justify text in any manner, including vertically. You could stretch text or graphics, again, in any direction. He made business cards for his magic club using FGM. He also made up a strategy card for playing blackjack. It was a matrix of dealer cards versus your cards, and what to do in each situation. This showed off not only Dennis' creativity, but also the vertical justification and transparency features of FGM.
He also mentioned that all of the character sets on the keyboard were available in FGM. There is also a disk for sale with 75 additional fonts available that gives you even more options. There was a question as to which printers were the best. Dennis uses the Canon Bubble Jet 200 now. He said that Commodore printers don't do so well, that you would be better off with an Epson or Epson emulating printer. (The old 7 versus 8 pin problem.)
Dennis made one linked screen that showed an ace and a ten, slanted and with shadows. Very impressive, even if you can't see the whole screen at once. Most of the features in FGM are easy, which is the case in slipping between linked screens. Also, editing adjacent screens is also easy. (Maybe that's why the program is so fun! It's easy!) Word wrap is a handy feature that works between linked screens. You can put any graphic from any other major graphics format anywhere you want. You can also capture any part of the screen at any time and repeat it for a pattern effect, including a border. The features of FGM allow you to manipulate anything on the screen in any manner you wish, and it is limited only by your imagination. Dennis said that although it took a long time to learn the features, it was well worth it. (From my experience, it was one of those programs you just have to jump into with both feet. It was incredible what you could do once you started.) Dennis ended his presentation with a demo provided with the program that pretty much showed off most of the features of FGM.
Fun Graphics Machine is available from Ron Hackley, The FGM Connection, P.O. Box 2206, Roseburg, OR, 97470, for only $24.95. For more information, call 1 503 496-2234.
Thanks to Dennis for a great presentation of a great program!
The April meeting of the CUCUG executive board was held on Wednesday, April 26th at 7PM at Kevin Hisel's house (address and phone number, both in the book). Present at the meeting were Jim Huls, Mark Landman, Mike Latinovich, Craig Kummerow, Kevin Hopkins, Anderson Yau, Richard Rollins Jon Sago, Mark Bellon, Emil Cobb, Kevin Hisel and Jim Lewis.
Mark Landman: We had four new members join us in March. We had none in April.
Mark said he returned the unsold books to Intangible Assets.
He informed us that the $10 per month donation to Prairienet had begun on the 15th of the month.
Mark said that he had our taxes prepared at the Tax Shop at a substantial savings to the club.
The club's investment CD is maturing nicely.
When asked about our application to the IRS, Mark said there was nothing new. They're still stalling.
Mike Latinovich: Mike said he enjoyed the PhonePak demonstration. On the topic of the Commodore buyout, Mike says he is "iffy". "I don't care as long as my machine keeps running. I'm generally disappointed with how things are turning out."
Craig Kummerow: Craig began by extending a "welcome back" to Anderson Yau and Mark Bellon. This was echoed by the rest of the Board.
Speaking of the C64/128 SIG, Craig said he was real pleased with how the Fun Graphics Machine program turned out. Eight members were in attendance. The noise of the meeting hall was not distracting.
Craig handed out a tentative program calender for the rest of the year.
Craig will bring the Gast/Stevenson software to the next meeting.
Kevin Hopkins (KH2): Kevin presented the exchange newsletters and handed out the mail. Kevin informed the Board members that we have received newsletters from two new groups: Civic 64/128 in Oxnard, California, and Amiga Atlanta (Georgia). He also pointed out an article in the Northwest Amiga Group's newsletter (Portland, Oregon) which detailed some of the difficulties they have been going through, problem with a familiar ring. Kevin later posted this article to the Board section of the BBS so it could be examined more easily. (Thanks to Garry Stasiuk, President, NAG)
Jim Lewis: Jim said he was impressed with Quentin's GVP PhonePak presentation.
On the topic if the new meeting hall, Jim said his vote was to stay there. The people he talked to said they liked it more than didn't.
Jim reported that the Corporate Report has been filed.
Speaking on the Commodore buyout situation, Jim said it was "interesting." He's not worried. He's puzzled. He believes it would be a same if someone doesn't produce Amigas. Jim Huls interjected that over in Europe, people seem to be pretty happy with the outcome.
Jon Sago: Jon said he has received a fax from CEI saying that Escom will produce machines.
Anderson Yau: Anderson said he thought everything went pretty well at the meeting. "I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while. Glad to see everyone."
Richard Rollins: Rich said he'd just installed the new drive for 330 megs more storage on the BBS. "We need a Y-cable for the tape backup. We have room for three more drives."
Speaking on the April meeting, Rich said, "Quentin did a fantastic job."
Mark Bellon: Mark informed everyone that memory prices have been going up as much as $30 a day recently. With the release of Windows95 coming soon, there is a fear that memory will disappear the way floppy disks did when Windows 3.1 was released. Win95 is another memory pig from Microsoft.
High density disks will also be the target of hording since Windows95 will require 25 HD disks per copy for its release. Five other major applications for Windows95 are also scheduled for release at, or about, the same time. All requiring numerous HD disks. So, if you need disks, get them now.
Richard Rollins: Rich suggested that due to Commodore's uncertain circumstances and the effect that has had on our raffle contributions, we should consider purchasing a 28.8 modem to insure a decent prize. We could price the tickets at $3 or $5 to defray the cost. Kevin Hisel recommended that maybe we could get one of the new Iomega Zip drives. Mark Bellon said that MacWarehouse has 20,000 Zip drives on back order. Iomega is shipping 3000 drives a week but orders are running 5000 to 8000 per week. However, through Mark's corporate connection he said he might be able to get one. The Board authorized Mark to try.
Mark Bellon: Mark then made the proposal that brought him back to the CUCUG Board. He and Richard Rollins would like to start a Macintosh SIG under CUCUG's auspices.
The reasons for this proposal are that the local Mac group is dead. The UI group is "in your face insulting to anyone who is not connected with the University". What both lack is a strong organization with a desire to serve the community. CUCUG has these strengths.
What Richard and Mark offer is Richard as SIG Chairman and Mark as Librarian. Both would be wiling to demonstrate software and hardware at the meetings. Mark says he has 13 megs of choice Public Domain software for Library disks, enough for the next year. This would provide significant revenue for the club. They also have 15 to 20 people who have expressed an interest in joining such an organization.
What they would desire from CUCUG is a place to meet along with us and perhaps a page in the newsletter.
Mark said there are similarities between the Amiga and Mac communities and he feels they could coexist quite well under the CUCUG banner. He said, although the Mac is achieving the Amiga level a decade late, it is getting there.
Needless to say, this proposal sparked an extended discussion. The fundamental themes that were heard in the discussion were that, with the state of Commodore and the Amiga so much in doubt, the long term future of our group is cloudy. Our numbers and income are murky, at best. A developing and supported technology like the Macintosh would bring interest, enthusiasm, new members, and new resources into the group. On the other hand, diluting the focus of our group away from the Commodore family could open up the gates to factionalism. The 8-bit SIG and the Amiga SIG have lived together harmoniously since the inclusion of the Amiga group in October of 1987. It is a testament to the quality of our members that we weathered that change. We could probably expect to see the same thing happen with taking the Macintosh under our wing. That being said, at Emil Cobb's suggestion, the Board decided that on an issue so large we should discuss it with the members at the next General Meeting.
Richard and Mark offered to do a Macintosh demo at the May meeting so that CUCUG's members could see the Mac close up. They also offered to give a special demo to the Board at Mark's house on May 13th at 1 pm. With that the issue was tabled.
Emil Cobb: Emil said, "Good meeting last month."
Jim Huls: Jim said the May meeting will be at the Union Hall. There was a discussion of perhaps partitioning the room up to reduce the competing sources of noise. It was suggested that if we moved to the Union Hall full time, we might be able to persuade them to give us other rooms to handle the problem. Jim said maybe we should make the jump and get it over with. Richard Rollins moved that we make the change in meeting site to the Electricians Hall permanent. Craig Kummerow seconded the motion. It was approved.
Jim said he is still trying to swing the deal to purchase modems from USRobotics at User Group rates. He said they seem to want to come to one of our meetings. Everyone said, "Fine."
Kevin Hisel (KH1): Kevin's characterization of disk sales in April is unprintable, according to the guidelines the newsletter has been given on such linguistic matters.
On the topic of raffle donations, he had this to say, "The donation of prizes is down, but that should be expected given the current state of affairs. However, we do still have lots of stuff to give away, including a very special "premium" item, and it's almost guaranteed that everyone who buys a ticket will win a prize!" [It seems that this has markedly improved since the Board meeting.]
There was a discussion of the prizes and how to price the tickets.
Finally, Kevin reported that Hobbico had donated a C64, a BusCard II IEEE interface and an SFD-1001 1.2 meg IEEE floppy drive to CUCUG.
Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the IBEW Local 601 Union Hall (352-1741), located at 2901 Research Road in the Interstate Research Park in northwest Champaign. To get there, go north on Mattis over I-74 and turn right at the second stop light, onto Interstate Drive. Then take the first "real" left at Research Road. The Electrician's Hall is the third building on your left. There's a big flag pole right out front and it's directly across the street from one of Hobbico's signs. You should park and enter the building in the back.
ASCII text files of all recent Status Register newsletters are available for downloading on our BBS or our WWW site. Other user group newsletter editors may leave a comment to the BBS Sysop to request free access. To initiate a newsletter exchange, just send us your newsletter. As a matter of CUCUG policy, a newsletter exchange partner will be dropped after three months of no contact.
This newsletter was prepared with PageStream 2.22 on an Amiga 3000 25/100 and output to an HP Laserjet IIP plus. Pagestream was donated to CUCUG by Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation.
For further information, please attend the next meeting as our guest, or contact one of our officers(all at area code 217):
President: Jim Huls 892-8730 Vice-President: David Witt 684-2815 maddog@prairienet.org Secretary/Editor: Kevin Hopkins 356-5026 kh2@uiuc.edu Treasurer: Mark Landman 398-2910 mlandman@prairienet.org Corporate Agent: Jim Lewis 359-1342 NOSPAMlewis_j_e@yahoo.com Librarian/Sysop: Kevin Hisel 406-948-1999 khisel @ cucug.org C64/128 SIG: Craig Kummerow 784-5919 cwkummer@prairienet.org Board Advisor: Richard Rollins 469-2616 RERollins@aol.com
Call our Starship CUCUG BBS at (217) 356-8056, always online, up to 14,400 baud, supporting all CBM computers. Surf our home page at
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