The February 15th meeting will be one of our split SIG meetings. The Mac SIG presentation will be given by Tim Thomas on KPT Bryce, a computer generated image program. The Amiga SIG will view a flatbed scanner demo by Jim Lewis. The C64/128 SIG will be gathering to reconstitute itself under the guidance of Emil Cobb. Come one,come all!
We would also like to welcome back our renewing members: William Baxter, John Dooley, Ken Egan, Kevin Miller, Garry Morenz, Bailey Parker, LaVonne Plotner, Jon Sago, Marlowe Slater, Darlene Smith, Harold C. Walker, and Ken Walker.
Yesterday, February 5, the CUCUG web site took 11,918 total, non-graphic file hits which is a new record. We also served up 112.65 megabytes worth of info to visitors. The primary reason is that we are now carrying Amiga Report Magazine locally and the new issue just went up late Sunday. AR accounted for about 30% of all our hits yesterday!
Not bad numbers when you consider that we have no pornography.
Also, I am now nearly certain that we have the most popular Amiga web page on the planet (with the possible exception of Amiga Technologies themselves). [The former leader] has posted a hit counter on [that] page. I can say that we get roughly three times as many visitors. Just a year ago, [that] page ... was THE main Amiga page on the net. I believe that this is no longer true -- in a big way.
Attention Motorola Power 28.8 modem owners! The new FLASH ROM updates for revision 4 are now posted on the BBS.
For the Amiga, you'll want to download PR122795.LZH in the Amiga section and follow the instructions provided in the "softload.txt" file. Basically, this tells you how to upload the new operating system to your modem using Xmodem/CRC transfer protocol, a feature built into the modem. Amiga users can ignore the "update.#?" files, since they only pertain to MS-Dos platform machines.
For the Mac, you need to download PC288V4.HQX. I am uncertain about what you do next, but I'm guessing it will be fairly straightforward since a special updater utility is included for the Mac.
One very special difference this time: Two FLASH ROM files are now included depending on the version of your modem. Carefully read "readme.txt" to determine which code set you need to install on your modem.
The "AMIGA Surfer" pack will hit the shelves at the end of January 1996.
The "AMIGA Surfer" consists of an Amiga A1200HD multimedia system fitted with 260MB hard drive and two megabytes of RAM, together with a complete suite of Internet software and a 14,400bps modem. The package will be priced at approximately USD 720 (exclusive of VAT). This complete solution from Amiga Technologies is the cheapest available plug & play Internet bundle.
The Amiga A1200 is video-compatible and can be easily connected to a Television set, saving the additional cost of a monitor.
Other Internet options soon to be available from Amiga Technologies include: the "Surfkit", a package consisting of the Internet software suite and modem, at an approximate price of USD 190 (excluding VAT). A package call "Surfware" is also being planned which will provide the Internet software alone.
All packs will include an option to connect to the IBM Internet Link and get 100 hours free connection.
About the Internet Software:
PRESS CONTACT :
Gilles Bourdin Tel +49 6252 709 195
AMIGA Technologies GmbH Fax +49 6252 709 520
Berliner Ring 89 E-Mail : gbo@amiga.de
D-64625 Bensheim, Germany http://www.amiga.de/
ToC
Talks between Sun Microsystems and Apple Computer have snagged over the issue of price, according to a report from Reuters.
A source in the Reuters report said talks between the two companies are ongoing, but a deal is not imminent. Other sources quoted in the report said Sun chairman Scott McNealy is unwilling to pay more than $25 per share for Apple stock.
McNealy had offered a price of $28 per share a few weeks ago, but after the disastrous first quarter financials reported by Apple, the Sun chairman was unwilling to pay more than $25.
The deal between Sun Microsystems (http://www.sun.com/) and Apple Computer (http://www.apple.com/) is stalled indefinitely as officials continue to haggle over price.
Now that talks appear to have broken down, other companies are circling the ailing Apple, including Motorola (http://www.motorola.com/) and Sony (http://www.sony.com/).
If and when the deal finally goes through depends on how desperate Apple becomes, said Rob Enderle, an analyst with Giga Information Group (http://www.expernet.com/) in San Jose, California.
"Desperation could drive them into accepting a deal they wouldn't accept otherwise. Right now they are fighting hard over price. As always, the perception of the value of the seller seems to be out of line with the buyer," said Enderle.
But there are other hurdles to the deal besides price. "Both companies have gone to RISC, but they're different implementations," Enderle said.
If the deal does go through, it's likely to be a failure, said Andrew Allison, a veteran Unix analyst based in Carmel, California. "I think the deal will join the long list of mergers that fail. The difficulties will be the egos of the people involved. It's hard to believe that Sun would be able to resist messing with the Mac and the Mac OS. Messing with either one would be a dangerous thing," Allison said. "Apple is clearly in a fragile condition today. It would be easy to tip it over the edge," he added.
Despite that fragility, Giga's Enderle said, "The bottom line is that Apple needs a deal, and they need it badly. They would have ended up with more money if they sold to IBM. If they completely bypass the Sun deal, they might take a lower price in a few months or downsize the company even more," he noted.
In addition, company officials plan to present to the board of directors in two weeks further plans for restructuring the company.
To make matters worse, Standard & Poor announced a downgrading of the company's debt rating, a change that will make it more costly for Apple to take on debt.
As the deal to merge with Sun Microsystems appeared to be permanently snagged, Apple officials reportedly have sought bids from other companies, including IBM (http://www.ibm.com/) and Motorola (http://www.motorola.com/).
Apple Computer confirmed this evening that company CEO Michael Spindler is being replaced by National Semiconductor chief Gilbert Amelio. Amelio resigned from National Semiconductor earlier in the day.
"It's a very good choice. His management style is not to go into a siege mentality and just try to cut costs," said Pieter Hartsook, a veteran Apple analyst and editor of The Hartsook Letter.
Apparently, Amelio is also savvy to the politics at Apple. "Supposedly he will also assume chairman of the board status, and that raises his value in my eyes," said Hartsook. "The fact that he understands the need for complete control bodes well."
Hartsook did have one word of caution. "The only yellow flag is that [Amelio's] experience in turnarounds is with Nat Semi, which is a much smaller company than Apple, although they have about the same number of employees. The question is, can he manage [Apple] which is six times larger than National Semiconductor?"
Apple Computer welcomed new chief Gilbert Amelio by announcing a price cut for its Performa line. The question is: are the price cuts Apple's way of celebrating the ouster of Michael Spindler or is this yet another sign of desperation for the beleaguered computer maker?
Apple today announced that it has reduced prices up to 11 percent, from $2,799 to $1,699, on select Macintosh Performas. The company is also offering rebates from $150 up to $500 when consumers purchase an Apple printer, display, and computer.
The price reduction is due to overstock, according to Pieter Hartsook, a veteran Apple analyst and editor of The Hartsook Letter. "I think what we're seeing is the start of an inventory clearance sale," said Hartsook. "They [Apple] want to get rid of these machines prior to the introduction of new models in the spring. I would be surprised if we don't see further price reductions on these models in the next few weeks," he added.
Apple's decision to lower prices is not a sign that the company will pull out of the low-end market, according to Hartsook. "I suspect that Apple isn't going to the leave the consumer market," he said. "They may in fact execute an idea that Spindler floated, which is to consolidate the product line to have fewer models and few design centers," he added.
However, some disagree. Apple needs to rethink its low-end line strategy in order to survive, according to Michael Goulde, analyst with Patricia Seybold Group. "It might make sense to encourage the clone market for the low end and keep the high end for itself," said Goulde. "Apple will sacrifice loyal customers in favor of the power user."
China's State Council has instituted draft rules for Internet use intended to limit Chinese citizens' exposure to objectionable content.
According to the China News Agency, the Council stressed its provisional approval for global computer links, but did not disclose details regarding specific regulations.
Several weeks ago, Chinese officials expressed concern over the lack of resources available to control Net content and vowed to take measures to deal with the problem.
The Chinese government has recognized the value of the Internet but is concerned about uncensored material reaching its users.
In a joint statement issued earlier this week, the Chinese State Council and Communist Party's Central Committee acknowledged the value of the Net in increasing global information exchanges, promoting economic construction, and aiding scientific development, and said that China is increasing its links between domestic computer systems and the Internet.
In the statement, Chinese officials expressed concern about the lack of control over Net content, which gives users access to pornography and other harmful material. Officials say they must take effective measures to deal with the problem.
The Chinese government's statement comes on the heels of CompuServe's compliance with a request from German officials to block access to newsgroups containing sexually explicit material.
A last-minute flurry of email messages, faxes, and old-fashioned mail failed to deter House and Senate members from voting to pass by a wide margin the Telecommunications Reform bill containing an unchanged version of the Communications Decency Act late today.
The House voted 416 to 9 in favor of the bill despite the inclusion of the CDA. The CDA segment calls for fines and jail sentences for Internet content providers who distribute "indecent materials" to minors. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 91 to 5.
"I think we're going to have a bill here and we're going to have to fix some of it over the next few months," said congressman Rick White (R-Washington) in a telephone interview with c|net Radio's Brian Cooley.
Even though he voted for the bill, White said he's not happy with the CDA measure. "I'm concerned that the indecency standards for material on the Internet may well be unconstitutional and there's an expedited judicial process, so we should know within a year if this standard works constitutionally," said White.
However, during that one-year judicial review period, the law will be enforced.
White said that if the bill turns out to be unconstitutional, Congress will fix it. "If it doesn't, we'll be right back to the drawing board trying to figure something that will probably be more appealing to members of the Internet community."
Not surprisingly, opponents of the CDA measure are not as sanguine as White. Immediately following the Senate vote, the American Civil Liberties Union published a statement denouncing the vote and announcing plans to file a lawsuit challenging the bill.
"The ACLU has been for several months preparing the actual litigation that we will file to challenge the bill," said Anne Beeson, cyberspace policy analyst for the nonprofit organization.
The plaintiffs in the ACLU suit will be Internet content providers disseminating information on topics such as safe sex, AIDS education, and human rights. "We are ready to walk into court to challenge the bill; we have already coordinated the group of plaintiffs who will participate in the suit," she said.
For more info on the issue see c|net's in-depth feature on censorship in cyberspace (http://www.cnet.com/Content/ Features/Dlife/Censorship/index.html) or tune-in to c|net radio (http://www.cnet.com/Content/Radio/).
As expected, President Clinton today signed into law a telecommunications bill that is going to have far-reaching implications on the online industry. The expected passage of the bill has galvanized many in the online community to protest against the "Internet smut" provisions. The bill will make it a crime to knowingly transmit "indecent" material over the Net that could be viewed by a minor. Those found guilty could face up to two years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.
"It's a sad day for free speech in America," said Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the ACLU. "These are criminal laws, and we don't believe that anyone can really understand at this point what materials and content is permissible and what's not," he said.
The ACLU and other organizations have since filed a lawsuit to impose a ban on the act while it is under consideration. The judge in the federal district court in Philadelphia has set a 3 p.m. (ET) hearing to review the motion for the temporary restraining order, according to Steinhardt. "We're hopeful we will win. Even the president has expressed some reservations about this section," he said. Steinhardt thinks this issue will likely end up in the U.S. Supreme Court in the next two years.
Other provisions include:
Whether you turn your pages black, or shut down your site entirely, you'll send a message that the Net must remain free. There are things on the Web that give many people pause, but it is up to PARENTS to teach their children the values they need.
How Do I Participate?
If you are 'going dark' in protest let us know. For instructions on how to fade to black, go to the Voters Telecommunications Watch site (http://www.vtw.org/speech/). Use the Congressional Contact Web Site (http://www.pubtech.com/congcont/index.htm) to get a hold of your elected representative with your opinion. And most importantly, VOTE in November.
[The number of those joining the cause is] too many to change the Web page, but the 580 page print out of sites is being used to show the press your support!! We've halted the counter. There have been so many of you, the cgi was creating a bottleneck!!
For More Information, Email: rbottoms@nuvo.net at Points of Darkness.
"Why is this Web page blackened (and why does it have a black strip across it for browsers that don't support background colors)?"
For the 48 hours after the signing of the Telecom Bill (and its Communications Decency Amendment) into law, please take part also in the Blacked-Out Web Page Campaign.
Blue Ribbon Campaign Introduction
A blue ribbon is chosen as the symbol for the preservation of basic civil rights in the electronic world. The blue ribbon is of course inspired by the yellow POW/MIA and red AIDS/HIV ribbons, and also by the (U.S.) Second Amendment & public land usage rights blue ribbons, the breast cancer pink ribbon, etc.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation ((http://www.eff.org) and other civil liberties groups ask that a blue ribbon be worn or displayed to show support for the essential human right of free speech. This fundamental building block of free society, affirmed by the U.S. Bill of Rights in 1791, and by the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, has been sacrificed in the 1996 Telecom Bill.
The blue ribbon will be a way to raise awareness of these issues, from locally to globally, and for the quiet voice of reason to be heard.
The voice of reason knows that free speech doesn't equate to sexual harassment, abuse of children, or the breeding of hatred or intolerance.
We insist that any material that's legal in bookstores, newspapers, or public libraries must be legal online. See below for info on how to get Blue Ribbon graphics for your WWW pages.
Blue Ribbon Graphics
All Web users are strongly encouraged to place a blue ribbon graphic on their servers, such as the ones below.
http://www.eff.org/pub/Graphics/Icons/BlueRibbon/rib_wh_brdr.gif
http://www.eff.org/pub/Graphics/Icons/BlueRibbon/rib_bar_wh.gif
If you would like to point your Blue Ribbon icon at EFF's Blue Ribbon page (the page you are reading now), you can add this HTML Anchor (http://www.eff.org/BlueRibbon/bluehtml.txt) to your homepage (or a similar one, pointing to another Blue Ribbon Site).
Many other versions are available, including borderless, transparent, grey and black backgrounds, smaller versions, an outline version, and a textless version for incorporation into larger banners (as a standalone icon, please use the versions with text, so people have some idea that there IS a blue ribbon campaign and what it is about when they first encounter it - not everyone has a color monitor, so the verbal name of the campaign is important to pass around.) Thank you for your support and activism, and remember - it's YOUR rights you are fighting for! Wear a real blue ribbon, so people ask you what it's all about.
If you are not sure why you need to participate in the Blue Ribbon Campaign and stand up for your free speech, or uncertain how your rights are threatened, please see our Internet Censorship Legislation Alerts Page (http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/index.html#exon).
Other Blue Ribbon Pages
Here are some other sites providing Blue Ribbon pages. You might wish to refer people to one of these sites as well as or in place of ours. This will help reduce load on our system, and help spread the word into other online communities (e.g. via having someone within each community provide a blue ribbon page, rather than everyone having to figure out who we are and how we relate to their interests). This is *not* a list of people supporting the blue ribbon campaign and putting blue ribbons on their WWW pages - there are already thousands!
NOTE: For the time being, we're also listing WWW Blackout pages here (see above - for 48 hours after Clinton signs the CDA into law, which is threatened for Thu. Feb 8, turn your Web pages black in mourning for the Internet.) As with the ribbon effort, we're just listing resources for more info on the black-out campaign, not every supporter of it.
Some important theological questions can best be answered by thinking of God as a computer programmer:
Q: Did God really create the world in seven days?
A: He did it in six days and nights while living on cola and
candy bars. On the seventh day he went home and found out his
girlfriend had left him.
Q: What causes God to intervene in earthly affairs?
A: If a critical error occurs, the system pages him automatically
and he logs on from home to try to bring it up. Otherwise, things
can wait until tomorrow.
Q: How come the Age of Miracles ended?
A: That was the development phase of the project. Now we're in
the maintenance phase.
Q: Who is Satan?
A: Satan is an MIS director who takes credit for more powers than
he actually possesses, so nonprogrammers become scared of him.
God thinks he's irritating but irrelevant.
Q: Why does God allow evil to happen?
A: God thought he eliminated evil in one of the earlier revs.
Q: How can I protect myself from evil?
A: Change your password every month and don't make it a name, a
common word, or a date like your birthday.
Q: If I pray to God, will he listen?
A: You can waste his time telling him what to do, or you can just
get off his back and let him program.
Q: Some people claim they hear the voice of God. Is this true?
A: They are much more likely to receive email.
[Source: The Digital Dispatch, the c|net newsletter, V. 2, N. 5, Feb. 1, 1996. C|Net's address is http://www.cnet.com/].
How would you like to easily keep tabs on every message you or anyone else posts into the Usenet newsgroups? Yes, it's easy to snoop on friends and foes alike with a super-cool, little Web site service called Deja News (http://www.dejanews.com/).
Deja News keeps copies of every message posted to Usenet for about the last six months and offers some very effective search capabilities. Besides being able to search all of the newsgroups for any messages containing specific keywords, you can keep track every message any individual posts in all newsgroups. I currently use this feature to read all messages posted by Gilles Bourdin or Dr. Peter Kittel--both Amiga Technologies big shots. You can use it to keep tabs on your wife, your kids, your boss or even yourself (good for multiple personality disorder sufferers).
Let's get started. Point your fave browser to the Deja News search screen (you'll need forms support in your browser--if you're on Prairienet and using Lynx, you're all set):
http://www.dejanews.com/forms/dnq.html
Now, enter some text that you think might be in a message that your snoopee has written recently. The person's name or any other unique text from a known .signature might be a good place to start. After you enter the text, you'll see a list of all messages that contain that text sorted in "scored" order--the Deja News server decides which messages are most relevant to your search criteria. You can read any of the messages displayed by clicking on the subject fields on the left half of the screen. Cool, eh? But we're on a snooping mission, here, so don't get too distracted.
Once you finally find a message written by your target, click on their e-mail address shown on the right side of the screen. You'll then be taken to the Author Profile screen which lists all of the newsgroups this person has posted to in the last six months or so. Now, the good part: use your browser's bookmark feature to add the Author Profile page to your list of bookmarks. You now have an instant link that will display all of the messages written by the person you wish to snoop on! From the Author Profile page you may click on the various newsgroup names and you will be taken to a list of messages posted by that author in that newsgroup.
I have about nine people in my "snoop list" and I am not telling you who they are. One of them could be you!
(Another good Usenet search engine is Alta Vista - http://altavista.digital.com/ - sponsored by DEC. It doesn't have the Author Profile feature but catalogs many more newsgroups. Plus it's also the world's largest search engine for Web sites, too!)
While it's difficult to back up a claim like "access to all 8 billion words found in over 16 million Web pages," the search results speak for themselves, with matches sometimes in the millions (a search for "Web index" brought in 7 million!). Sure, some matches are duplicates and some match only one word, but those are still jaw-dropping numbers.
Big-time competitor Lycos has a lot more hype behind its supposed indexing reach (with graphs and mind-boggling numbers to prove it), but Alta Vista (http://altavista.digital.com/) focuses on searches and doesn't bother with the news and reviews. For those who aren't daunted by Boolean searches--you know, the "Amazon AND forest AND disappearing" kind--you can go to the head of the class and enter Alta Vista's Advanced Query zone.
Looking for a fun quotient in your Web index? Check into Alta Vista's Surprise section, the Web equivalent to a CD player's random shuffle. You choose from categories like art, movies, sports, Elvis sightings, or anything goes, and then -- poof! -- you're sent to a random location on the Web. Quality is out the window with this section -- you might end up laughing at "I Saw Elvis in a Bowl of Cabbage Soup" or reading a snore-inducing thesis on "Hormone Replacement."
Alta Vista doesn't have the categorical organization that the Yahoo index does, but in sheer volume, Yahoo is to Alta Vista what your local library is to the Library of Congress.
[Source: C|Net Online. The address is http://www.cnet.com/ ].
The Casio QV-10 is slick. And clever. And addictive. Just the ticket for any of you thinking about diving head-first into the digital photography revolution. But with a twist. The Casio QV-10 digital camera knows all about your Mac or PC, so you can download the digital images you capture with it directly to your computer. Once there you can manipulate them, paste them into documents, print them out on a color printer or use them in your own World Wide Web pages. In short, the Casio QV-10 is the first step toward digital imaging fun and games.
And all for less than $750.
How does it work? A lot like a film camera. And a little like a small camcorder. The QV-10 is about the size of the smallest 35-mm point-and-click film cameras on the market. The lens is a tiny affair on the left side of the box, and it will swivel nearly 360 degrees, so you can shoot yourself if you like. The back of the camera offers a color LCD screen, a smaller version of those found on fancier camcorders these days. The digital "shutter" release is where you'd expect it to be - on the top right of the camera.
To take an image, turn the camera on, put it into record mode (you can also put it into play mode so you can play back the images you have recorded, using the built-in LCD screen). Swivel the lens and point it at your desired scene, frame your image by looking at the LCD screen, and press the digital release button. That's it. The image will be recorded, you'll get a "WAIT" message and then you can do the whole thing over - 96 times, in fact - before you have to download the images to your PC, print them on a color printer, or erase them.
Each image is numbered by the camera, so when you switch to playback mode, you can go through them quickly, finding the one you want. You can protect images from being erased by pushing a button (the camera stores the images permanently, without battery power, until you decide to erase them from memory) or you can enlarge part of an image to reveal extra detail. You can even connect the thing to your TV for direct playback.
The unit comes with the connection cable and adapters and software to hook up to your Windows PC or Mac. Once the images are on your computer, you can edit them, enhance them, rotate them or do just about anything to them using the software supplied by Casio or with other imaging software, such as Adobe's PhotoShop.
The biggest drawback to this camera is its lack of a zoom lens. A future model should fix this by adding a 3X lens, so you can better frame your shots. In addition, the unit is small, with a number of small buttons and connector jacks, which may prove troublesome.
Crabb's Bottom Line: Casio QV-10 Digital Camera
Rating: 9.5
The Goods: Way-cool for computer and photography buffs.
Cost: $750 Works with Macs and Windows PCs.
[Source: From the newsletter of the Fox Valley Computer Society, February, 1996. FVCS's address is c/o Dan Kairis, Editor, P.O. Box 188, South Elgin, Illinois 60177-0188.
Chicago Sun-Times computer columnist Don Crabb writes Thursday and Sunday. He can be reach on the Internet (decc@cs.uchicago.edu). Or visit Don on the Sun-Times' World Wide Web home page at http://www.suntimes.com. Or you can write him at Chicago Sun-Times, Financial News Department, 401 N. Wabash, Chicago, IL 60611. Please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Due to heavy volume of mail, Crabb regrets he may not answer every letter personally. This article appeared in the January 4th, 1996 edition.]
The information that follows is only a rumor. I can't vouch for it or answer any questions about it. If you believe this information and somehow lose your farm, blame someone else.
Whispered by CYNRCR@ELY
on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 1995 - 5:32am:
Has anyone else heard of the latest product from Maurice Randall? A 128 GEOS Web Browser-Term program called The Wave! Lots of goodies with this one. Maurice already has a basic term package written, and is working on getting everything else working. Check out the messages left on Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.cbm for a lot more info. Yes a 64 version is to be worked on AFTER the 128 version is shipped. Might even try dropping snail mail [with SASE] to: Click Here Software Co., P.O. Box 606, Charlotte, MI 48813.
Forwarded by MIKE@DMB
on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 1995 - 10:02am:
Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT: New CD for the C-64/128
Date: 5 Nov. 1995 14:30 GMT
A new CD for the C-64/128 is ready: "BREADBOX-CD". It contains around 1200 disks (C-64 format) with legal software (shareware/freeware and PD) for the C-64, the C128 and for GEOS too. It contains demo versions of 64NET (with GEOS support, writing to PC disabled), CD-ROM Commander 128 (reads CDs from a SCSI-CD-ROM connected to a CMD-HD), CD-Audio-player (for SCSI-CD-ROMs connected to a CMD-HD) and 10 mostly German commercial GEOS programs. Also there is a patch to run GEOS with the emulators PC64 and C64S on the CD. Additionally, there is a WINDOWS program to display pies, read D64 directories, copy and unzip files. The CD is mastered with booklet (German) and cover. The CD is priced at DM 49 or $35 plus shipping based on actual cost. For further information, you may email me at mmatting@cube.net. Matthias.
[Source: From the Kankakee River Valley Computer Users Group newsletter, "Interface" February, 1996. KRVCUG's address is P.O. Box 931, Kankakee, Illinois 60901.]
There's a topic that has been popping up during our meetings lately. In the December newsletter, an article appeared concerning battery leakage and the destruction it can cause. As a coincidence, a fellow member had suffered just this fate. As the word spread through the ranks, so did the fear. Trust me, this can be a serious problem to face. I've seen it myself.
The problem may not be as serious as the article tried to make it out to be, though. The ones who need to worry are those who may use their computer infrequently, buy a computer from someone who has stopped using it for a while, or never check their clock. A frequent user will keep his battery charged up, and if he keeps an eye on his clock for the proper time, he'll be ready for the impending death of his battery. NiCad batteries, as well as any other kind, have a tendency to leak after being left in a state of discharge for a long period of time, just the sort of situation you will get from setting around not being used. The one I saw was a 500 with a lithium battery on its memory board. It had set for about a year unused.
The battery in the 2000 and 3000 is a stack of batteries held together by a vinyl wrap. When one dies, it stops the flow of current usually and the clock stops keeping time when you power down. I've noticed a few people who don't keep an eye on the clock, and don't notice it's showing the wrong time, even though they are daily users of their computer. They are asking for the problem to strike. A clock not keeping proper time is your first warning of this problem.
But even if your clock shows the wrong time, don't panic immediately. It could be the game you played. One of my favorites keeps setting the time wrong regularly. If you have that, set the time and check it the next day. If it's still wrong, it's time to worry. The battery isn't easy to change, but it's not impossible. On the other hand, changing the battery now means more time not to worry. Just keep an eye on the time!
[Source: From the Metroplex Commodore Computer Club newsletter, "MCCC News" February, 1996. MCCC's address is P.O. Box 813, Bedford, Texas 76095.]
S.E. Morris (fish@csc.liv.ac.uk): As far as I know, there *will* be a PPC board for the humble A1200.
Hardware-wise, a modest PPC board for the A1200, supporting a PPC603 and maybe a SIMM module or two, is no more difficult than a 68040 or 68060 board. These both exist, so why not a PowerPC board? They will need that Power AmigaOS in ROM, of course.
Dave Haynie, Sr. Systems Engineer, Scala Inc., US R&D
ex-Commodore Engineering
In [wfblanDL5rr5.ItI@netcom.com], wfblan@netcom.com (Wells Fargo Bank) writes:
Currently, the Amiga has EGS and CyberGfx as RTG standards. These, however, hardly compare with the RTG abilities, for instance, on the Mac.
Of course they do. Graphics.library isn't as elegant as QuickDraw in some respects, but it's just as effective an abstraction.
When will the Amiga have such a standard that no matter what you are using as a video source, anything will work through it?
When programs stop bypassing the graphics.library and hitting the hardware directly. This isn't done on the Mac. That's partially because Apple has been alot nastier at breaking programs that even bend the rules under MacOS, and partly because there was nothing very interesting to bang these in the first place, especially on early Macs.
It is nice to get AGA quality with a video card, but it is a bummer to not be able to actually be able to use a lot of the AGA programs (games in particular) with the video card.
It's the game program at fault, there's nothing the Amiga OS can do about this. Now do realize that if programmers were forced to use graphics.library for games, these games would run considerably slower. Apple didn't have much in the way of games for years on the Macs, because nothing much beyond static adventure games would play well. Now, sure, they have Doom and lots of other modern games. But you could have these, too, on an A4000/060 with a 64-bit Cybergraphics board, though graphics.library. You're not getting this on an A1200 with AA chips.
Is a RTG standard that will work 'no matter what' a project under discussion?
You don't understand the point of RTG. Or, apparently, what a graphics library does, and what a game does differently. I hope I've cleared this up a bit.
Or as long as there is hardware 'banging' will this never really be able to happen?
There you go. You can write hardware dependent code or hardware independent code, to do most anything on a computer. What makes the latter independent of the hardware is that it "speaks" to a layer of software, using some abstraction. That software, ideally part of the OS, will in turn bang the hardware. When the hardware changes, this interface layer changes along with it. The application stays the same, so it works on the new hardware as well. But running that extra software layer takes CPU cycles. Game programmers on the A1200 demand every cycle for themselves. In all honesty, they do often need it. PowerMacs, Pentiums, and the lastest crop of game machines (Sony, Nintendo, Sega) are substantially more powerful than the A1200. I'm talkin' like 5x-10x in the CPU, up to 50x-100x on the graphics side, depending on the specific thing you're looking at.
And does that mean that nobody bangs the hardware on the Mac?
Basically, Apple got real mean if you did it. They didn't originally give a damn about game programs, that's what (at the time) Apple IIs were for. Knowing they'd break, if possible, on a new OS or hardware platfrom, and held up an object of ridicule, few every broke the programming rules on the Mac.
Ever since I got my first Amiga, I've been fascinated with the concept of Something For Nothing. It seemed to me that the MPEG concept was just that. It's simple, in theory. You take a group of pictures arranged as an ANIM and compress them. If the original ANIM was, say, 500KB, the MPEG version might be only 100KB. The smaller filesize means you can cram more animated pictures onto a disk. This is a Good Thing.
That's the up side of MPEGS. The down side is loss of picture quality, and slow playback speed. And one hidden down side: How do you actually MAKE one of these MPEG thingies?
I can live with a loss of picture quality. It's not too bad, and in many instances, it's not even noticeable. Slow playback speed can be overcome to some extent by playing the MPEG on a very fast Amiga. The other way to play it back at full speed is to plug in one of those fabled "Full Motion Video MPEG" boxes.
I have not seen any of these MPEG Hardware boxes so far, but they seem to be available for the dreaded PC. Wouldn't you just know it? Actually, one of my friends here in San Diego claims to have one, but I can't confirm this.
Back to the Burning Question: "How does one MAKE an MPEG?"
Like any other video wizardry, you need some source pictures and some software. The source is easy. Any ANIM can be converted into an MPEG. The software for this job is also easy, and won't bust your budget.
Before I got interested in this, I thought you needed something like a Video Toaster, or LightWave to make MPEGS. Not true. You will need an Amiga with at least OS2.1 and a 68020 or better. If you have an FPU, that's a bonus. A high processor speed is useful, but not necessary. A Stock 1200 can do this. Mucho RAM is recommended. The more the merrier.
Once you have achieved the minimum hardware requirement, it's time to gather the software. I'll outline the software requirements here, but at the end of this article you will find a complete listing of filenames and locations for the software needed.
Here's what the process looks like. You split the ANIM into it's component frames. You reassemble these frames into an MPEG. Sounds simple, doesn't it? It is. Trust me, I'm a programmer.
To split the anim, you can use Main Actor. The unregistered version is "Requester Crippled", so get BuildAnim and use it. It's fast and easy to use.
The other half of this process is done with an AREXXscript called Easy_MPEG (Easy). It takes the frames, converts them, and feeds groups of frames to MPEG_Encode, which spits out an MPEG for you.
The first step is to make a directory on your hard drive to work in. Place BuildAnim and your source ANIM in that directory.
Easy has several files, so I keep it in it's own directory. MPEG_Encode should be in the path, along with it's half-brother, MPEG_Play, or MP103. (The latter is preferred.)
I use an MPEG player GUI called MPEGInterface. It make watching MPEGs very easy. Place it in your working directory.
My Amiga is a 40Mhz, 030 A1200, with an 8MB SIMM Chip. When I tell you how fast these operations take place, use that as a reference for your system.
I think it would be a good idea to read the docs that accompany each of these programs. If you don't read the docs, you won't see any MPEGs.
Now, select an ANIM to test the process with. Make it a small one, say about 50K. Put a copy of the ANIM in the working directory and call up a shell. Type in BuildAnim MyAnim.anim MyAnim SPLIT.
That will break up the ANIM called MyAnim.anim into a group of sequentially named IFF files called MyAnim000. The three digit sequence added to the base filename will be needed next.
Your working directory will now contain the sequentially named frames. Now get Easy_MPEG going. Type in RX [path]Easy_MPEG. Since EASY is in another directory, you'll need to prefix the call with the proper path.
Easy will pop up a GUI. Now you simply fill in the blanks. This is the easy part. You must tell Easy where your frames reside on the drive. It needs to know the starting frame number and ending frame number. As you key in this information, Easy writes out your selections to the shell, so you can confirm your choices. Always check this data before starting the conversion process.
Easy needs to know how much "compression" to apply to the frames. Go with the defaults at first: 2,4,6. We'll get back to these numbers later. It also wants a "pattern". Use the defaults here: IPPB.
I always tell Easy to delete the frames after they are used. It's easy to recreate them. You can change the output filename to something else.
Check your entries, and when you are satisfied, press the "GO" button. The conversion can take as little as a few minutes or as long as several hours, depending on your Amiga and the source files.
Easy starts assembling the frames and converting them. When the process is complete, you will have an MPEG version of the source ANIM. Call MPEGInterface to display it.
I'll make a giant leap of faith here and assume all went well and you saw the MPEG.
The filesize of the MPEG should be smaller than the ANIM. A lot smaller. Sometimes the MPEG is not smaller. The reason is the default settings you used. You can optimize the MPEG, depending on many factors. If the ANIM has a lot of movement or a lot of colors, you will not get the big compression numbers.
On the other hand, if there is little movement in the frames, you can get compression ratios up to 100:1. This is rare. Typically you will see ratios of 20:1. That is a respectable reduction.
I have made about 150 MPEGS. The source ANIMs come from my video digitizer, VideoMaster (VM). I can capture video from the TV, tape, or my CamCorder with VM. Once edited, the resulting ANIM is usually about 150-250 frames. Each frame is a 16 color (grayscale) 160x100 IFF. Easy will convert each frame to 160x96. The cropping is automatic and is done to meet the framesize requirements of MPEG_Encode. (Included with Easy.)
The object here is to reduce the filesize until the picture quality degrades to a point you can't live with. This balancing act is done by juggling the three "Q" numbers. The default (2.4.6) will give very high quality, and low compression (bigger filesize).
The other factor is the "pattern" you apply. The default is IBBP. This is OK, but I usually use this one: IPPBPPB. That takes more memory, but makes better MPEGS. The meaning of these letters cannot be defined by mere mortals. I'm sure there is a double Phd. somewhere in the warrens of UC Berkeley who knows about this stuff.
Even more cryptic are the three "Q" numbers. They govern how much detail to remove from each source frame. The bigger the numbers, the smaller the filesize and grainier the MPEG. That's a rule of thumb.
I've found that the best MPEGs result from holding the camera steady on a tripod. MPEG_Encode looks at a "reference" frame (I) and compares the next frames to it, looking for changes. It can also look backwards to the Previous frame (P) and detect changes. These changes govern how the final MPEG looks. The fewer changes, the better the MPEG will look. Hold the camera steady!
If I am converting a video clip that has a lot of fast motion, I usually use these "Q" numbers: 6,10,14. If the clip is of a fairly stationary subject I can jack the numbers up to the 10,16,20 range. I have achieved a compression ration of 96:1, and the MPEG looked just as good as the ANIM. Only experimentation can show you the best numbers to use.
I actually read the Unix docs for MPEG_Encode to see what the numbers really mean. I didn't learn the secret. Apparently no one knows....
There are two competing MPEG playing programs. MPEG_Play is slow, but can display the picture in an Amiga window , or on a custom screen. The images are shown at the original size. This looks great.
MP103 is much faster, but displays the MPEGs at 320x200 or 640x400. The pictures are always fuzzy.
Files you will need:
I spent most of my adult life repairing computers. I found it a challenging occupation. Now that I work in another field, I miss the wonderful modifications you can do to a computer to improve their power. I love the smell of hot solder in the morning.
My favorite directory in the AmiNet is hard/hack. I like to browse the files, seeing what mods I can make to my three Amigas.
A few months ago I showed off my "A600 stuffed into a tower" to the group. Most of the attendees just gaped at it, silently wondering why someone would do this. Sometimes I wonder, myself.
Since that first public showing of my "Folly", I've added a lot more hardware, and now use the computer as a backup to my 1200. The event that changed the 600T from an idle curiosity to a real working computer was the addition of an external, A2000 keyboard.
The plans for this mod can be found in a couple of FAQs describing the addition of an external keyboard to the A1200. After closely examining the FAQs, I decided to cross-check the pin numbers for the 600. Whoops, they are not the same.
If, on the off chance you ever want to add an external keyboard to your 1200 or 600, I can help. I've done the mod on both machines. After I did the work, I drew a wiring diagram that shows the proper pin numbers. The two IFFs are in my FTP Dropbox, and can be accessed from the Web also. Addresses later.
You can also find some IFFs of the inside of the 600, and closeups of how to modify an A1000 keyboard to be compatible with the A2000's din connector.
My little 600 is humming right along now, albeit at 7Mhz. I found a couple of trick programs on the net that speed up things a bit. One is a fairly simple hack, called SmartWB that causes all windows to open in "Smart" mode. This works great. The other one is an oldie but goodie. It's called FastBlit, and actually speeds up the blitter. This causes a noticeable speed increase in refreshing text windows. It makes MUI run a bit faster also.
An external keyboard can't reset the computer without adding some more hardware. I've found two good solutions to this problem. One is to wire the Reset button on the Tower to the _KBReSET pin, and the other one is a new program that resets the computer by pressing the Control-Alt-Delete combination. The program is called pcreset.lha.
The best thing I've done to increase the performance is to install a set of 3.1 ROMS. This made a BIG difference. The Software Hut had the ROMS, which are A600 specific.
I've been looking for a replacement for Parnet. I really need my one lonely parallel port for the printers. You can't just "turn off" Parnet. You have to reset the computer to make it go away.
Since I have AmiTCP running on both my 1200 and 600, I decided to connect them. First I tried a serial connection. It worked OK, but was very slow.. Then I tried a parallel port connection called magPLIP. That worked much better. It was nearly as fast as Parnet, and could be stopped with Stopnet. I can do a NFS Mount of all the partitions on the 600, then do file transfers via SID. This is a complicated job. If you are interested, I made an IFF of the magPLIP cable, and also one for the Parnet cable. They are available from:
http://www.crl.com/~wbow/colin/sdaug.html
ftp.connectnet.com/pub/users/comal
The January 18, 1996 General meeting began with our traditional introduction of officers.
President Richard Rollins then reported that the club's new PowerMac had arrived on Tuesday (1/16/96). We got a 15" monitor with it, instead of a 14", due to some wheeling and dealing done by Mark Bellon. Also, the memory company mistakenly sent two 8 meg chips instead of two 4 meg chips. This cost $200 more than our agreed budget allowed. The price of the additional memory works out to $25 per megabyte, which is a very good price. After Richard Rollins' discussion of the situation, he asked what should be done. Garry Morenz made a motion to go ahead and purchase the additional memory. That motion was seconded by Kevin Hopkins. There followed a discussion of the club's finances. This discussion was finally closed by a motion from Kevin Hisel, seconded by Emil Cobb. The vote on whether to buy the additional memory was taken and the purchase was approved by the membership.
Richard wanted it noted that the fine folks at L2 sold us the cache for the club's Mac at cost. Thank you L2! Richard said if you order something from them and tell them Mark sent you, you can get an extra 5% off.
The final cost of the club's PowerMac set-up was $1899 total.
At this point, former member Jim Saxon entered the building and was met with a rousing round of applause. Jim - Member At Large One - has been absent from our ranks for a year, a year that almost cost him his life. We are all exceedingly glad to have Jim back and healthy.
Continuing with business, President Richard Rollins read the proposed ByLaws changes necessitated by our quest for tax exempt status from the IRS. After the reading of the proposed change to Section #2, Jim Lewis moved for acceptance, Edwin Hadley seconded. The vote was taken and the change was adopted. President Richard Rollins then read the proposed ByLaws change to Section #12. After the reading, Jim Lewis moved for acceptance, Mark Bellon seconded. The vote was taken and the change was adopted. That concluded, President Rollins extended a public thank you to Corporate Agent Jim Lewis and Treasurer Mark Landman for their efforts in trying to conclude this agonizingly slow process.
The floor was then opened up to our usual Question and Answer Session.
* Darlene Smith said she is looking for a 2400 baud modem. Jim Lewis said he would sell her his for $20.
No more questions pending, President Rollins turned the floor over to Chief Librarian Kevin Hisel, but since Kevin had no new Amiga disks for this month, he passed the floor to Macintosh Librarian Mark Bellon.
Mark announced that the Macintosh Library was up to 49 total disks. This month he would be demonstrating CUCUGMAC #19 and #20. He also announced the new policy of providing the entire Mac Library on a single ZIP disk for $69.95 (disk included). There will also be an updating service for $20 whenever you desire it.
CUCUGMAC #19: Menu Choose (a replacement for the Apple Menu Option, fixing some of its bugs), System Picker (does what it says, for booting off various disks and assigning the System to whichever one you want), Process Sky (a program that shows all about the various processes you have running on your machine and how many resources it is consuming), File Tweeker (a program that gives you control over all the various attributes of your files, see them, change them, whatever), Hearts Deluxe (plays a pretty decent game of Hearts), and AS ( a filtering program that makes sure that a text file is pure ASCII).
CUCUGMAC #20: Memory Mapper (shows where every program is in memory and how much memory they are using), Super Ruler (a Desktop Publishing aid), Robo War (a game using a robot control language, a nice way for kids to learn a little bit about programming. There is an international competition in the game for those who are interested.), Drag Thing (an icon dock for applications), and Guy Friday (an appointment manager).
After the Library presentation and just before the break, Darlene Smith asked about the health of the C64/128 SIG. The officers of the group tried to reassure her that support is still available in the group, but right now we are in serious need of volunteers. We need a SIG Chairman and a C64/128 Librarian, the former officer being the most pressing. Many of the members of CUCUG came from the C64. A lot of us still own them. So, although not readily apparent, the wealth of knowledge is still here in the group. But, we definitely need the C64/128 users in our group to come forward and take control of THEIR situation.
The last item before break was President Richard Rollins floating the prospect of a group purchase of blank ZIP disks.
Due to the fact that both people involved in this evening's demos are friends and people I work with, I felt obliged to sit in on the Macintosh SIG this time. Richard Hall was having the System software reinstalled on his brand new PowerPC 7200 after some serious problems he encountered with some software he acquired at the University. Secondly, Mike Anderson was having a new hard drive formatted and partitioned.
As I walked up, Mark Bellon and Mike were discussing some of the preparations Mark had been doing to format Mike's drive.
The official SIG meeting began with a discussion of Apple's recent financial reports. The bottom line is that Apple cut their prices to gain market share. With the first cut they gained a good deal. Two weeks later they instituted a second cut, hoping to replicate the percentage increase they had gained with the first cut. According to Mark, this didn't happen exactly; they missed their expectations by 2% and with the volume of machines they sold, they generated the loss so widely reported. They got their increase in market share, but at a price.
That topic exhausted, the SIG turned their attention to Rich Hall's ailing machine. The first thing Mark Bellon did was to comment very favorably on the design of the case of the PowerMac 7200. You can open the machine without any screws being removed. In fact, there aren't any, except for one in the motherboard bounce protector. The whole case just snaps together. Very elegant. Mark then gave everyone a tour of the inside of Rich's machine, pointing out the one part that is the most broken: the plastic "hood rod" that holds up the drive bay assembly, which just flips up like the hood of a car. People forget to release it when they shove the drive bays back down and snap it in half.
Mark showed where the RAM slots were. Rich's machine has DIMM slots. He pointed out the VRAM slots, commenting that a Mac can gain as much as a 30% speed increase just by going from 1 meg to 2 megabytes of video RAM. Mark pointed out the L2 cache slot and said a two fold increase in speed can be gained in some operations just by adding more cache memory. Mark also explained the advantage of the interleaving of RAM which is a feature of his own 7500's design.
A tidbit passed along by Mark was that if you wish to boot from a CD-ROM all you need do is hold down the C key on any of the Power Macs. He wasn't sure, but this may apply to the new 040 machines as well.
During discussions Mark also said that the newest upgrade to the Macintosh Operating System, System 7.5.3, will be released any day now (no more than 2 calendar weeks) and there is supposed to be a big increase in performance with this upgrade.
As Mark began working on Rich's machine, he talked about virtual memory. This topic came up because Rich's drive wouldn't format since a virtual memory area was still active on it.
Another tidbit passed along by Mark as he worked was that Open Transport 1.06 doesn't work well at all. A newer version is available.
Trying to locate the culprit that was leaving virtual memory on Mark decided to reset Rich's Parameter RAM. Command Option PR zaps Parameter RAM. When this RAM is corrupted, it is like your machine has Alzheimers. PRAM is battery backed up. You need to change the battery every 5 years or so. The RAM will hold you parameter settings for about 90 seconds without a battery if you can change it that fast. Or, you can use the program Tech Tool to back up your PRAM settings, then change the battery.
Another aside tidbit: the PowerTalk microphone is a really good microphone (when you can get them). They are a stereo microphone.
Virtual memory was tenaciously hanging on to Rich's hard drive and wouldn't allow Mark to reformat it. Mark discovered this was because the CD he was trying to use as the System disk was turning virtual memory on. By transferring the required System files over to a newly formatted ZIP disk, Mark was able to boot from the ZIP and prevent the CD from activating virtual memory. Mark was then able to reformat Rich's hard drive and do a clean reinstallation of the system software on the internal HD. Mark said there were a lot of bugs in the CDs produced by Apple in June and July of 1995 - corrupted disk images and other things. Guess when Rich's CD was produced.
Another aside tidbit: the PowerPC versions of Excel and Word exposed a bug is the Apple file system. These two programs were taking up to 30 seconds to boot up. Hopefully, the new System upgrade will fix this.
Having finally restored Rich's machine, Mark then proceeded to install the most current Apple patches to the 7200's System and put on some of the best of the Internet programs he has run across. He install the patches Print Update, Print Fix, Serial DMA (a new device driver), CD-ROM driver, and Open Transport 1.0.8 (whose installer forced a restart). Mark said a lot of these installers force a restart to activate the software they put on, but if you are doing a lot of patching at once, this can become quite tedious. In his opinion, the better installers give you the option to restart or not. Mark then offered Rich Text-to-Speech, but Rich said he really didn't need it as it required 16 megs of memory to work efficiently and he only has eight. Mark also had Quick Time 2.1 and Movie Player 2.1, Sound Manager 3.1, and Ethernet Built-In.
Programs Mark installed were Fetch 3.0.1b1, Netscape 1.12 and 2.0b5, Telnet, Real Audio, FreePPP 1.0.4, Sound Machine 2.5, and Disk Copy 4.2.
Mark then rebuilt the Desktop so that the System would know where everything was.
There was a discussion about CD-ROM software and installers in general. It was advised to get the net versions of the installer packages as they are easier to work with. Mark also highly recommended the program Shrink Wrap as it can work with disk images directly off your hard drive without having to go through the intermediate step of actually reconstructing the floppy disks from those images before you install. Much faster.
Finally Mark rebooted Rich's machine for the last time and checked it out. Everything was fine.
The second recipient of Mark's expertise was Mike Anderson. Mike needed help formatting his new Quantum "Lightning" 750 megabyte hard drive.
Mark used his industrial grade formatting software "FWB Toolkit" which sells for $150. The drive took four minutes to format and it took another eleven minutes to run a bad block check on it.
Mark then partitioned the drive into two equal 360 meg partitions and gave an explanation about how the size of a partition effects the allocation size files use when they are saved to the drive.
Allocation size is different than block size and has to do with the way the file system handles saving files. If the partition is too large you can waste large amounts of disk space when saving small files. Mark said there's a formula to figure this out but it gets a bit complex. Suffice it to say that if Mike had left his drive as one large partition each minimum allocation would have been 11K. That is whether the file being saved was 5 bytes long or 11K in size. With two partitions, the minimum allocation is reduced to 5K. A 5 byte file would still allocate 5K of disk space, but that's better than 11K. A small file takes up the same space as a large file up to the allocation size. If you can keep the allocation size small, you'll waste less disk space.
Mark then made one of the partitions autobootable because Mike was going to remove the small drive in his machine and replace it with this new drive, in which case he would need one partition to be his System disk.
Mark discovered that the cause of Mike's trouble was due to the software he had been attempting to use to do the job. Mark's FWB Toolkit installed the necessary drivers, updating the original Disk Manager drivers which had been corrupting the disk. Mike had used an ancient System 6.01 version of the SCSI Manager which was not a happy thing at all.
The evening ended on a far happier note.
The Amiga SIG was quiet this night not only due to the BAD WEATHER. The few of us Amigans that made it to the meeting, discussed the future "programs" to be presented by and for the membership.
Here's what we talked about:
First, we determined which meetings were to be "program" meetings (ie. not "Socials" or "Elections") and later at the Board meeting, the calendar was confirmed.
Next, we talked about who would be willing to do "programs" in the future. Here is where we need help. So far we only have three people comitted to doing a program this year, with only one being scheduled. As you can see, we need *7* more programs scheduled to fill out the meeting schedule.
The January meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, January 23, 1996, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house (address and phone number, both in the book). Due to horrible weather conditions attendance was way down. Present at the meeting were Richard Rollins, Jim Saxon, Mark Bellon, Jim Huls, Mark Landman, Kevin Hopkins, Kevin Hisel, Dave Witt and Jim Lewis.
Richard Rollins: The Mac SIG will tentatively be doing something with MIDI of a beta of Cyberdog. The C64 SIG will have Emil Cobb doing something. The Amiga SIG will be treated to a scanning demo by Jim Lewis.
Richard reported that it looks as thought Sun Microsystems is buying Apple. It is thought that they are after the Pippin (what the CD32 should have been).
Richard said he had checked with Kite Signs about a magnetic sign for the meeting room door. A 2' x 2' four color sign would run between $100 to $150. The Board felt this was out of the question. We'll make our own sign.
Jim Saxon (MAL1): Jim began by saying, "My return was most heartening." He stated that he now works at Best Buy. He's using a Mac IIsi, but he inquired about buying back his old Amiga 3000 from Kevin Hisel.
Jim reported that he has new hot HP-PCs coming in at the store. He quoted prices. If you are interested, see Jim.
Jim concluded by saying, "Glad to be back."
Mark Bellon: Mark reported that the Macintosh Library is now up to disk 49. He's updating them as he goes along and he said things are going along nicely.
Mark reported that he's seen Microsoft's Explorer. It's no Netscape, but it's OK.
Release of System 7.5.3 is imminent.
Mark said he has several new potential members in the works.
The burst of new software Mark said he had expected after the holiday season has begun to materialize.
Those Mac users interested in getting the Control Strip can do so by obtaining the most recent Display Software update.
Jim Huls: Jim brought in some extra Mac Mall catalogs.
Jim proposed that we list the current updates in the newsletter. Kevin Hopkins said if that information is provided he'd be glad to put it in. Mark said he has all the latest patches and web tools at each meeting for whoever wants them. They are free to members.
Jim also floated the idea of advertising the group by sponsoring ads in school yearbooks and calendars. This was discussed.
Mark Landman: Mark gave the Treasurer's Report. He then reported that we had 11 membership renewals in December and 9 in January. He also reported that the room rent has been paid through May.
He then stated that John Lynn had just bought a Video Toaster and said there might be some real interest in starting a Toaster SIG. The Board met this prospect with great enthusiasm. We would be sure to lend what support we could.
Kevin Hopkins (KH2): Kevin presented the exchange newsletters and handed out the mail as usual.
Kevin reported that Craig Kummerow's article "The Incredible World of the C64/128" has been picked up by several of our corresponding user groups for their own newsletters. This is always very gratifying to see.
Kevin reported that we have 44 members and 52 lost-souls at present, but renewals continue to come in. President Rollins asked about the Lost-Souls Letter. Kevin said he could provide a copy along with labels for that mailing.
Kevin asked if there had been any recent software upgrades for the Motorola modems. Mark said, no not yet.
Kevin Hisel (KH1): Kevin reported that disk sales "weren't."
The Web is "OK." Kevin and Jim Huls are talking about Jim taking over the Mac section of the CUCUG Web site.
Kevin talked about the Web Watch service. He also spoke about Deja News and Alta Vista.
Kevin said he added "search", a "random page" and "suggest a link" to the site. He also mentioned reordering the web site in general.
He said we are showing 36 different Aminet sites.
Kevin mentioned that the annual raffle is coming up. He asked the Mac people to work up a vendors list as soon as possible. The mailing date is March 15.
Dave Witt: Dave said he didn't have much to report. He said he'd try to get a monitor for the BBS. The current one is dying.
President Rollins talked to Dave about his contact at WCCU TV.
Dave said he'd talk to Jeff Miller about donating any Amiga stuff to the raffle when he closes down the Amiga Game Zone magazine.
Jim Lewis: Jim said the PC Magazine reviewed SoftRAM 95 and reported that "It's efficacy is unclear." In short, it doesn't work. The Justice Department is investigating it's maker.
Jim reported a new member he recruited. H asked if we had anything like a beginners pack for Mac users. Mark said that new members get to pick a disk free and that Disk One is like a beginners pack.
Jim reported that the Amiga SIG had an abbreviated meeting. He had nine attending members, due to the rotten weather. (The Mac SIG had 13.) He said one idea for a program was a basic investigation of HTML, which might be good for the entire group, actually.
Jim wanted to know when the social meetings were. They are in May, September, and December.
Richard Rollins: Richard said the "So You Bought a Mac" seminar might take place in March.
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: Richard Rollins 469-2616 Vice-President: Emil Cobb 398-0149 e-cobb@uiuc.edu 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 Macintosh SIG: Richard Rollins 469-2616
Call our Starship CUCUG BBS at (217) 356-8056, always online, up to 28,800 baud, supporting all CBM and Macintosh computers. Surf our home page at
To get on the net free, call Prairienet at (217) 255-9000. Login as "visitor". Once you're on, just type "go cucug" for a good place to start.
