The Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group

The Status Register - June, 1998


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

June 1998


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

June News:

The June Meeting

The next CUCUG meeting will be held on our regular third Thursday of the month: Thursday, June 18th, at 7:00 pm, at the Bresnan Community Center. Direction are on the back page.

The June 18 meeting will be a joint meeting. Topics on the Internet, of interest to all computer users, will be covered, from how to use search engines to which cool sites to visit. Should be a fun night.

ToC

Welcome New Members

We'd like to welcome our newest members, joining us in the last month: Deena Vichugsananon (Powerbook 540c), Chris Brand (C64, A1200/2000, CD32), Robert K. Blair (A500/1200), Billie R. Crisp Jr. (A500, Mac 68K, ClonePC), George Hamilton (A500/4000), Robert Ball (A1200/2000), Maurice J. Raymond (A2000), Jens Bastet (C64/128, A500/2000/4000), Robert Eric Sapp (C64/128, PowerMac, ClonePC), Michael Duffield (A3000, ClonePC), Dave Oldaker (A4000), George Pal (A2000, ClonePC), Roger Helvey (A500/1200), Rodney T. Cape (C64, A500, ClonePC), David Jucovic (A1200), Robby Dellamonica (A4000), Steven White (A1000/2000, PowerMac), Victor D. Erickson (C64/C128, A1000), Scott Sargis (A4000), Benoit Deschenes (C64, A500/1000/1200/2000/3000/4000, CD32, ClonePC), Spencer Morris (A500/1200/2000/3000), Friedrich P.Ernst (A1200), Bruce R. Bowman (A500/2000/3000/4000, CD32), Kenneth Rose (A1200), Arthur Perkins (C64, A2000, Clone PC), John D. Luke (C64/C128, A500/1000/2000, Mac 68K, PowerMac, ClonePC), Timothy Hartley (A1200), Bradley Markham (A1000/2000/4000), Kevin O'Brien (A1200/3000/4000, Powerbook), Stuart Bachamp (A500/1200/2000/4000, ClonePC), Bob Reising (A2000), David W. Morris (A500/1000/2000/3000/4000, CD32), Lee C. Olson (A500/600/3000, ClonePC).

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

ToC

4-gigabit memory chips?

By Kurt Oeler, Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
June 12, 1998, 4:50 p.m. PT
URL: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,23134,00.html

Samsung Electronics has wrapped up development work on an advanced manufacturing process that would enable the production of memory processors with more than 60 times the capacity of today's 64-megabit DRAM chips.

Earlier this week, the South Korean firm presented details of a 0.13-micron semiconductor manufacturing process to a conference in Hawaii.

Chips made under the 0.13-micron process would be smaller and more densely packed with transistors than current processors. Under this process, a semiconductor maker could fit as much as 4 gigabits of memory onto a single chip, far more memory than manufacturers can squeeze onto chips today.

Currently, the 0.25-micron process is cutting edge, although Intel and others aim to bring an 0.18-micron process online in the next few years. Samsung claims that it is the first company to get to a .13-micron process.

Samsung further said the new process can be adopted to existing products, meaning chipmakers and chipmaking equipment firms wouldn't have to change over to new technologies.

The technology could lead to better and less expensive memory. The 4-gigabit memory chip is three generations more advanced than the 64-megabit chip now employed in high-end servers and workstations. One 4-gigabit chip equals 500MB of memory.

After the PC completes the transition from 16-megabit to 64-megabit chips later this year, memory will move onto 256-megabit chips and then 1-gigabit chips. Chip technology traditionally advances by a factor of four, although some manufacturers are planning to produce 128-megabit chips.

On the production side, manufacturers have assumed that current lithography technology (used for etching the lines where transistors are laid into silicon wafers) will become antiquated by the time the industry reaches 0.13 microns, because those lines cannot be thinner than the light beams used to etch them. A human hair is about 100 microns thick.

But Samsung says its technology can be used with current lithography processes. "The breakthrough will reduce the amount of risk associated with massive new investments in the semiconductor industry, and is expected to bring the 4-gigabit [memory chip] to market at least three years earlier than previously expected," Samsung said in a statement.

The announcement comes as good news for Samsung, which earlier this week suspended production of 16-megabit memory chips (called DRAMs, or dynamic random access memory) because the cost of production is currently greater than the selling price. Other manufacturers have taken similar steps, as the memory chip industry is in the midst of a glut.

ToC

PPC chips: 600 MHz, 1 GHz versions coming

by MacCentral Staff (news@maccentral.com)

IBM will deliver a 64-bit, 600 MHz version of the PowerPC chip, even while hedging its bets with a version of AIX for Intel's in-the-works Merced chip, according to Information Week.

The 600 MHz Power PC chip is due in the first quarter of next year. By 2000, the PowerPC will reach 1 GHz, followed by a copper-enhanced chip, says Information Week.

AIX is IBM's version of its Unix operating system. Information Week speculates that IBM is developing the Merced version in case Intel's 64-bit chip is a smash hit. But the company "has not gone so far as to retrofit the RS/6000 for Merced, or to devise a marketing Strategy," according to the article.

ToC

Antitrust Lawsuit Filed Against Microsoft

TidBITS#430/18-May-98

After settlement talks collapsed this weekend, the United States Department of Justice and 20 states have filed closely related antitrust lawsuits against Microsoft. The lawsuits allege that Microsoft has illegally exploited its dominant position in operating systems to extend that dominance into the Internet software market. In addition, the lawsuit filed by the states accuses Microsoft of unfairly using its position to promote Microsoft Office at the expense of competitors. Microsoft has said that it will fight the charges in court, although Microsoft chairman Bill Gates also said the company is still open to settling. For more details, see ZDNet's "Special Report: U.S. v. Microsoft." [ACE]

http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/special/msvdoj.html

ToC

FTC votes to sue Intel

By Michael Kanellos, Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM
June 8, 1998, 1:45 p.m. PT
URL: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,22907,00.html

The Federal Trade Commission voted today to sue Intel, charging the company with using its market dominance to hurt rivals and hinder competition in the computing industry.

The agency listed PC leader Compaq Computer as a company that allegedly was injured by Intel's business practices. It added that the chipmaker had violated antitrust law in dealings with two other computer manufacturers: Digital Equipment, and Intergraph.

William J. Baer, the director of the FTC's bureau of competition, said that in each case Intel withheld critical information when they asserted their own intellectual property rights. (Intel is an investor in CNET: The Computer Network.)

The FTC's case involves Intel's arbitrary termination of agreements to provide technological information on forthcoming chips - which, as a result, unfairly benefited Intel or reduced competition. Specifically, the FTC said Intel withdrew nondisclosure agreements from Digital, Intergraph, and Compaq in three instances because the companies attempted to assert intellectual property rights against Intel or an Intel partner.

These intellectual property rights would have presented a challenge to Intel, the agency charged, if the companies had in fact been able to engage in fair competition.

By withholding the information, regulators say these companies were either unable to come out with computers at the same time as their competitors, to their detriment, or were forced to disgorge intellectual property that they otherwise did not want to license to Intel. The chip giant also allegedly pressured third parties not to work with these three companies during the time of trouble.

Digital and Compaq settled their differences with Intel. PC maker Intergraph has a pending lawsuit against the company.

In a statement released today, Intergraph said: "It is reassuring that FTC investigators apparently believe our concerns reflect a broad threat to the computer industry. However, our lawsuit stands on its own and is the first time, as far as we know, that Intel has been accused of abusive behavior, antitrust violations, and patent infringement all in one suit."

Intel was able to force arrangements on these three parties, the FTC argues, because these companies depend on microprocessors and other components made by Intel, including peripheral chips and PC circuit boards.

"It is illegal under the antitrust laws to wield monopoly power to lock others out of the market," Baer said. "Intel used its market power to cut off its own customers who asserted their own patents. Intel deliberately sought to injure these companies in order to protect itself."

In response, Intel countered that the FTC's case is "based upon a mistaken interpretation of the law and the facts."

"For more than ten years, Intel has taken unprecedented steps to ensure that all of our activities and policies are in full compliance with existing law," said F. Thomas Dunlap, Intel vice president and general counsel, in a statement. "The commission's decision today signals that they want to change the very laws upon which we've based our policies.

"Intel has shared its intellectual property and early samples of its products with a number of key customers. These customers work with Intel to develop products for the market on a mutually beneficial basis," Dunlap added.

The suit is fairly specific, according to Baer. Intel can continue to bargain over intellectual property rights. The company, however, cannot leverage its market share in processors on the bargaining table. "Intel can't use the weapon only if it has to secure its monopoly on a going-forward basis," Baer noted. "The suit seeks to prevent Intel from repeating this conduct in the future."

Intel has argued that it has a right to stop giving advance proprietary information to customers on its latest products if they refuse to share their intellectual property in return.

But Intel was unsuccessful in arguing this point before a federal judge in Alabama, who granted Intergraph a preliminary injunction against the chipmaker in April. The judge ruled that Intel must give Intergraph information and enabling technology on the same basis it shared with others. Intel has appealed that ruling.

Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Washington) has written to FTC chairman Robert Pitofsky in defense of Intel, which he called "an American success story."

"This is not the proper role for the federal government," Gorton said, calling a possible suit "another example of the misguided policies of the Clinton administration."

Intel's stock was down half a point at 69.3125 in late trading.

Reuters contributed to this report.

ToC

Gateway breaks IE ranks on new computers

Computer maker will bypass Win 98 desktop, offer Netscape browser
CNN - May 27, 1998: 1:34 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Gateway Inc. said Wednesday it will be the first major computer maker to let users bypass Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 98 opening screen, promoting its own Internet access service in the process.

The company also said it will let customers who sign up for its Internet service choose either Microsoft's Internet Explorer or Netscape Communications Corp.'s Navigator as their default browser.

Gateway said it is making the move after negotiating with Microsoft for more flexibility in customizing its computers to promote Gateway services. Microsoft officials weren't available for immediate comment.

Users who click on Gateway's Internet icon will see a Gateway-designed screen that offers a choice of its own selection of Internet access providers, rather than those determined by Microsoft.

Those who don't choose Gateway's Internet access will see the standard Windows 98 desktop, although that may change as well.

"We're looking for continued flexibility with the opening screen," said Jeff Weitzen, Gateway president and chief operating officer.

People who sign up for Gateway's Internet service, Gateway.net, can choose Internet Explorer or Navigator as their default browser. Gateway.net currently has 100,000 subscribers.

The opening screen and browser issues are key elements of the government's antitrust suit against the software titan.

Under current conditions, the government argues, computer makers cannot tailor their systems to highlight their own product brands or brands that compete with Microsoft.

Microsoft has argued that it wants to provide a consistent interface for all users of Windows 98, much as McDonald's offers a consistent experience in all its restaurants.

Control over the Windows desktop has been a contentious issue for computer makers, as well. Previously, Internet service providers paid PC companies to features their services on new computers; much of that revenue now goes to Microsoft.

The government also maintains Microsoft unlawfully bars PC makers from removing Internet Explorer and distributing browsers from competing companies on their systems.

Weitzen said Gateway has always offered both browsers with its computers, but users had a difficult time accessing Navigator.

"The default choice was Internet Explorer," he said. "If you wanted to use Navigator, you needed to know how to load it."

ToC

phase 5 / Haage & Partner Circle The Wagons

May 18, 1998: In a joint anouncement after the recent World of Amiga show in London, and as a reaction to the plans revealed by Amiga Inc., Haage & Partner and phase 5 digital products have emphasized their full and continued support for the PowerPC integration. With joint efforts both vendors will further support the developers and the users of PowerPC technology, and will ensure a fast growing number of stunning and powerful applications. With many thousands of PowerUP boards being shipped so far, a number of installed systems which is rapidly growing, the PowerUP boards already provide an attractive market for all developers. This fact is underscored by many upcoming PowerUP releases of major Amiga software packages, and the increasing support of software vendors which has been agreed on during the WoA even after the announcements of Amiga Inc.

Haage & Partner and phase 5 digital products emphasized that the competition of their different approaches towards PowerPC integration, as well as the public dispute about this, are a matter of the past. "We will ensure that users of PowerUP system have a transparent integration of their PowerPC software, and will see a rich variety of most powerful applications to be released soon" say representatives of both companies. Further development of PowerPC system software shall be done with close consultations between the companies; beside that, cooperations in the development of powerful PowerPC-based system libraries and other OS extensions are being discussed.

In meetings of the managements of Haage & Partner and phase 5 digital products with Amiga Inc. already during the WoA show in London, it has been agreed that a new proposal will be presented to Amiga Inc. which outlines an alternative option to "Amiga Bridge" system planned by Amiga Inc.

This alternative is a new PowerPC-based system, which will feature the planned Amiga OS upgrade and can be out for sale in the retail channels by end of the year already. Beyond incorporating standard industry components and interfaces, such a system can provide additional options which allow for creative development and expansion in the spirit of the Amiga and can also run the current and next releases of AmigaOS.

Based on the PowerPC, this system will also provide continuity and innovation for all users and developers, and will allow the Amiga community to take part of such stunning developments such as Motorola's new AltiVec technology, an extension to the G4 PowerPC processors which will provide a breathtaking performance already early next year. With approval and support of Amiga Inc., this technology can introduce the long-awaited revival of the Amiga platform already this year, quickly providing a growing market of powerful systems which users can buy, and for which developers can develop and sell software and add-ons.

Haage & Partner and phase 5 digital products also encourage all Amiga developers who want to participate today in an existing innovation, and who want to be a part of an Amiga market which provides growth, continuity and innovation from now on and during the next years, to speak out now and commit themselves to support the PowerPC as the heart of the next generation of Amiga systems.

ToC

The Macintosh Section:

Eye On The Mac

Internet Explorer 4.01: Faster, More Stable

TidBITS#430/18-May-98

Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 4.01, a must-have upgrade for Internet Explorer users. Although there's only a single new feature - support for Apple's ColorSync technology so specially created JPEG images are displayed exactly as their creators intended - Internet Explorer 4.01 incorporates numerous bug fixes and speed improvements. Program startup and overall page display performance has improved noticeably, and Microsoft claims enhanced Java performance as well. Stability is always hard to evaluate objectively, but in our testing, 4.01 crashes less often than 4.0 did.

Included in the Internet Explorer 4.01 package is Outlook Express 4.01, which also sports performance improvements, bug fixes, plus a few new features. Outlook Express now provides support for outgoing rules, support for the StuffIt Engine, additional importing capabilities, and improved nickname support. The full combined download ranges from 12.6 MB to a whopping 29.2 MB, although if you download the Active Setup Installer (327K), you can choose which components you want to download and install. [ACE]

http://www.microsoft.com/ie/mac/ie40/
http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/iebuild/ie401_mac/en/ie401_mac.htm

ToC

New Photoshop 5 Learns to Edit Type

TidBITS#430/18-May-98

It's taken several years, but finally Photoshop's Type tool behaves like... a Type tool! Photoshop 5, the new version of Adobe's undisputed leader among image-editing applications, began shipping last week with support for editable text; in previous versions, text entered in the Type dialog box was rasterized directly to pixels, which you then had to alter using Photoshop's image tools. Also featured in this release are multiple levels of undo and redo via the new History palette, enhanced color management, built-in support for spot-color channels, built-in layer effects (such as drop shadows and bevels), a more robust Actions palette capable of automating most of Photoshop's functions, and more. Upgrades are $199 (for the full version) and $299 (upgrading from the LE "light" version); the retail price is $999, although prices from companies like TidBITS sponsor Cyberian Outpost are significantly cheaper - see the sponsorship area above for details). Although the product officially shipped this week, Adobe is noting a four to six week backlog of orders, though reports are trickling in that a few users have begun receiving upgrades. [JLC]

http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/photoshop/

ToC

Apple Logo Losing Its Colors

TidBITS#430/18-May-98

Apple loyalists will no longer be able to claim they "bleed in six colors." According to Time, Apple is peeling away the six rainbow-colored bands from the Apple logo and replacing them with "white or another solid," such as blue for the iMac. Steve Jobs allegedly made the decision about seven months ago with his design, advertising, and marketing executives, saying that the colors echoed color schemes of the 1970s and early 1980s. Likening the Apple logo to Nike's logo, Jobs said, "The shape is our swoosh." [JLC]

ToC

Minor Connectix Updates

TidBITS#431/25-May-98

Connectix has released minor updates to Virtual PC and RAM Doubler. Virtual PC 2.01 addresses problems with Ethernet networks using 802.3 frame types, fixes some game installation problems by including CDROM.SYS 2.0.1, and offers a new SYSINI.EXE file. The downloads are 1.2 MB (for Virtual PC with Windows 95) or 420K (for Virtual PC with PC DOS). Connectix also has an open beta program for an extension that addresses all known compatibility problems between RAM Doubler 2.0.2 and Microsoft Office 98, most notably an inability to launch Word 98. Although these problems occur only in highly specific situations, if you've had trouble with Office 98 that you believe might be related to RAM Doubler, it's worth trying the extension (38K download). Once Connectix finishes testing the extension, they plan to roll the code into RAM Doubler 2.0.3, which will be a free downloadable upgrade. [ACE]

http://www.connectix.com/html/vpc_updates.html
http://www.connectix.com/openbeta/ramdoubler203/

ToC

Worm Variants Wriggle Onto the Scene

by Mark H. Anbinder (mha@tidbits.com)
TidBITS#431/25-May-98

Dr Solomon's Software, the current publisher of Virex, an anti-virus utility, announced two Virex updates in quick succession last week. These new versions find and remove two newly discovered variants of the AutoStart 9805 worm, originally reported in "AutoStart Worm Breaks Mac Malware Silence" in TidBITS-428.

http://www.drsolomons.com/products/virex/updateno.cfm
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04864

Dr Solomon's says the variants replace previous versions of the worm, if found, and each uses different filenames from those used by the original AutoStart 9805 worm, making them harder to find. AutoStart 9805-B doesn't restart the computer, as do the others, and AutoStart 9805-C doesn't directly damage files. Also, the B variant targets different kinds of data files than the original for its damaging sweeps.

http://www.drsolomons.com/vircen/valerts/mac/index.cfm

TidBITS has heard of several freeware utilities designed to combat the AutoStart 9805 worm. Because these utilities fail to spot the new variants during scans, we can't recommend their use. Instead, we encourage all TidBITS readers to contact the publishers of their favorite commercial anti-virus utilities for an update. Remember that outdated anti-virus software is next to useless, and although the AutoStart 9805 worm initially appeared in Hong Kong, we've heard reports of it surfacing in the U.S. as well. If nothing else, make sure to disable the CD-ROM AutoPlay option in the QuickTime Settings control panel.

ToC

CopyPaste for the Mac

Apple Developer News #110/12-Jun-98

CopyPaste 4.2.1 is a shareware utility that improves upon the Mac OS clipboard, allowing you to easily cut and paste up to 100 items using the CopyPaste menu, key command, or palette (which displays all 100 clipboards). The CopyPaste palette allows drag-and-drop and other useful operations between the 100 clipboards and applications. (It was named MacUser Utility of the Year in 1996 and Shareware Junkies Mac Program of the Year in 1997.) Version 4.2.1 also includes a few other new features and minor bug fixes.

http://www.scriptsoftware.com

ToC

Third-Party Upgrade Cards

Apple Developer News #110/12-Jun-98

Mactell's new PowerJolt G3 processor upgrade cards provide increased bus efficiencies and performance. Mactell's optimized new design is optimized to handle handles speeds up to 500 MHz and bus speeds in excess of 50 MHz.

Mactell's new Ticket to Ride video graphic acceleration card, Mactell Vision3D PRO II lite, maximizes video graphic capabilities for 3-D, 2-D and video desktop applications offering unparalleled graphic precision to Mac OS systems.

http://www.mactell.com

Sonnet Technologies is now shipping three new models of PowerPC G3 (750) processor upgrade cards for first generation Power Macintosh Computers. Crescendo G3 upgrade cards for Power Macintosh 6100, 7100, 8100, and Performa 611x systems provide more than eight times the performance of the PowerPC 601 processors originally installed in these systems.

http://www.sonnettech.com

ToC

How to Set Up a RAID System

Apple Developer News #110/12-Jun-98

The Insanely Great Mac web site just posted an informative article by Michael Flaminio on how to set up a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) system on a Macintosh computer.

http://www.insanely-great.com/reviews/raid.html

[Sources: TidBITS and Apple Developer News. TidBITS address is http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/default.html. Apple Developer News can be found at http://support.info.apple.com/support/supportoptions/lists.html ]

ToC

The Amiga Section:

An Amiga Earthquake

by Paul Sadlik (pjs@cais.com)

This May will easily go down as the busiest month in the Amiga world this decade. During the middle of month, the London World of Amiga was the epicenter of an Amiga Incorporated earthquake. Jeff Schindler, the Amiga Inc. General Manager, announced plans for an all new super Amiga to be delivered at the end of next year. By month's end in Toronto, Jeff, Joe Torre and the new AI Head of Development, Allan Havemose, were at the International Amiga show filling in many of the gaps left by the London news.

How high does the Richter scale go?

Friday, May 15th, AI sponsored a couple of conferences - for developers and the public - where they revealed plans for a super Amiga intended to restore the our computer to the stature the original held in 1985. The new, yet to be announced hyper-powerful, multimedia Amiga features the following specs:

Of course, this all means a bit of work and a few changes for us. Jeff Schindler has reported that their development effort has been approved for the next four or so years. AI is in the process of completing negotiations to determine the kernel to be used. In stages over the next three to six months, AI will be announcing the components for the new Amiga platform.

While silicon for the new chips is finalized; a controversial, interim "OS 4" platform for cross-development was also announced: based on the peecee. This raised some of the loudest complaints from the Amiga community. Later, it was explained that the tight time schedule for this hardware demanded sticking close to existing development tools that ran on either peecee boxes, Macs or SGI workstations. Using peecee hardware made for the cheapest, most expedient solution.

Spin Control

Needless to say, London's announcements were a shock to everyone. On one hand, developers were aghast at the thought of starting on a whole new platform - needing new hardware and software. On the other, the specifications for the new platform sound impressive. Wrapped in a tight, new Amiga operating system, we may look forward to many more years of honest computing.

Before the end of the show, meetings were being held by some of the forces behind current Amiga-PowerPC development to consider their future. Out of that came the news that the formerly feuding German developers - Haage & Partner and Phase5 - were going to bury the hatchet between themselves and negotiate with AI over a PowerPC version of the new Amiga. AI responded that they would be glad to assist the companies working on a parallel PowerPC-based Amiga solution. More talks are to be held during the next couple of weeks to determine what they will do. In Toronto, discussions with Allan Havemose revealed a few more details regarding the AI plans. Initially, the OS4 or "Bridge" systems were only to be released to developers. Recognizing the lack of distinction between the Amiga's technically literate users and its developers, AI decided to make the development systems publicly available. While based on x86 (not Intel, apparently) hardware, the machines would not be hobbled any Microsoft software. The machines will rely on "Amiga Classic" cards for "Classic Amiga" compatibility and run a beta Amiga OS4 operating system as it is developed. In other words, these are certainly not machines for your kids to play Lemmings on. Finally, the OS4 API is intended to be as close as possible to the OS5 for the super Amiga hardware.

While presented with the increased hardware power, AI is looking at whole new user interface paradigms for these operating systems. Thought provoking mock ups were shown of an animated 3D interface, as well as other interchangeable "personalities" suited more towards set top box, video or "convergence" usage, etc.

Which finally points to some of the markets that AI is hoping to target with their revolutionary Amiga hardware and OS: the "digital convergence" market. This crossroads was described as someplace between existing televisions and computers. That could include the set top boxes the CDTV and VisCorp were aiming at, game consoles that the CD32 looked towards, or even more integrated, "intelligent" appliances where the computer is just a ghost inside the machine. In all of those cases, the presence of a tight, fast and flexible operating system, such as that of the Amiga, would be required to best take advantage of inexpensive hardware needed.

From there out, AI spoke of desktop systems and video work stations that would use the scalability and flexibility of the new chips and Amiga OS to maintain the qualities that define our machines today. Dr Allan Havemose's history as Commodore's Director of Systems Software (responsible for every OS since 2.0) would lead one to believe he has a good idea of what under the hood makes our machines special. Indeed, he was responsible for bringing us nifty things like datatypes, the classes system and Multiview. By starting the new operating system on one hardware platform and transferring it to the destination platform, Allan also stated that he also expected to reap additional gains in hardware portability.

Aftershocks

Throughout the Toronto show, I talked with users and developers to read their impressions of these new systems. The presence of an X86 platform anywhere in the mix worried many Amigans. The thought of starting over on a new platform bears a remarkable resemblance to the jump many made from the Commodore C64 to the Amiga 1000. After years of hardship with no new Amiga development, few new machine sales and ongoing expenses, some developers expressed doubts that they could support a costly switch to the new Amiga platform. Such a jump would require a year of work before any returns were generated. This news will undoubtedly lead to a whole new thinning of the weaker Amiga developers.

On the other hand, other developers were much more optimistic. They had already made a decision to stay with the Amiga platform with its pros and cons. They knew that the new platform was going to require a huge investment on their parts, but a jump to any platform would require such an effort. Still, staying meant avoiding the HUGE development, marketing and distribution costs of the peecee world (try starting at $500,000 to get an app seen by anyone), missing the opportunity to get trampled by MicroSloth and being in an actual community with bonds between users and developers. Getting through the next year, developers were looking forward to again having world beating hardware to really make their products shine.

Certainly, it seemed clear to everyone that this next year was going to be much different than the last four have been. In St. Louis, Jeff Schindler said that we still had a way to go through the valley to the other side. At least now we have begun to see some cool, alpine peaks ahead of us.

[Source: The National Capital Amiga Users Group newsletter, "Active Window" June, 1998. NCAUG's address is P.O. Box 12360, Arlington, VA 22209. On the web, it's http://www.ncaug.org ]

ToC

Toronto Times

by Paul Sadlik (pjs@cais.com)

Another Amiga show and another trip by Washington's Amiga diehards. Instead of going with another NCAUG table of wares to sell, Bill Borsari organized to run live InterNet "webcam" and chat sessions throughout the show from the Amiga Incorporated booth.

With a little detour to see the Indy 500, Bill and Hans Wolff made their drive to Toronto. Yours truly took a more direct route - driving through the Pennsylvania mountains - while Fabian Jimenez wimped out and jetsetted to Ontario. By Thursday night, most of us were in place and back with the Amiga regulars: Holger Kruse, Asimware's Rick and Tammy, Nova Design's Kermit Woodall and the Amiga IRC crew.

Let the Show Begin

For reasons of scheduling or experimentation, the show was scheduled to take place Friday and Saturday. By Friday morning, Bill had the webcam up and the show was appearing live on the InterNet. Also in the booth, a couple of machines were constantly online with IRC chat sessions featuring notable Amiga personalities - Jeff Schindler, Joe Torre, Holger Kruse, Kermit Woodall, Darreck Lisle, Marcus Nerding, etc.

When attendees could break away, the remainder of the show floor featured a variety of hard and software offerings for discerning Amiga fanatics. Our Internet obsession was reflected with an inaugural appearance of Toysoft showing off their Air Mail EMail and WorldNews newsgroup clients. Just released, the 3.0 version of AirMail features an easy to use and configure graphical interface wrapping a typically Amiga programmable mail client that added the ability to show EMail (between AirMail users) in graphical "forms" and server-like "Supermailbox" message handling. The premiere version of WorldNews offline newsreader presented the same easy-to-use GUI as AirMail, but its youth was reflected in some shortage of message sorting and handling options of other programs. A 2.0 version is already in the works, promising to remedy many of those shortcomings.

Holger Kruse was present with basic booth selling Miami registrations, upgrades and continuing the advertise the Miami Deluxe version in the works. Supplanting the Amiga's best InterNet TCP/IP "stack" program, the deluxe version promises the ability to mix and match local and remote networking, introducing Holger's new MNI driver system for faster networking speeds and proving a variety of LAN to Internet routing features.

One of our favorite Canadians, Rick Giannini lead the whole Asimware crew to the Toronto show to demonstrate their CD and audio utilities. Both the AsimCDFS reader and MasterISO writer software appear to be undergoing continuous upgrades to support a huge selection of CD-ROM drives available as well as minor additions for MicroSloth long file name support, etc.

A French developer, Ateo, was on hand to demonstrate their own new bus system for A1200's and A4000's. By installing special adapter board, a couple of ribbon cables are run to daughter card with four peecee ISA bus slots. Ateo was already selling Pixel64 - this system, a graphics card and driver software - for under $500. Network and I/O card drivers are to follow.

Blitzkrieg?

Next door a booth was shared by a pair of German developers: Haage & Partner and RBM. H&P's Marcus Nerding was showing off an early beta of an impressive new word processor they are working on: EasyWriter. To start with, EasyWriter handles all text in flexible text frames, employs Postscript and TrueType outline fonts (providing a replacement bullet.library so your whole system can use them) and supports footnotes (finally someone!). Sporting a modern interface, it looks like it will be a major contender in the Amiga word processor race. A 2.0 version is already planned with more sophisticated features to put it at the high end of our word processor pack.

RBM was a new name for many folks. They are a German hardware company that was showing off the TowerHawk-II - Amiga 4000 and 1200 tower cases with specific slot cards (seven Zorro 3, two video and four peecee slots for the 4000, and one video and four Zorro 2 slots for the 1200). Using a "kit" type distribution method (their cases "break down" and the internal boards are interchangeable), they were looking for companies that were interested in distribution.

RBM was also showing a prototype of a new IOBlix multipurpose I/O card that provides 4 high speed serial ports, up to 2 EEP/ECP parallel ports and a whole bunch of daughter card slots for inexpensive 16bit audio I/O and ethernet add-on boards. Interestingly, the port buffers can be expanded for very high bandwidth port usage and new drivers are promised for supporting parallel port scanners, zip drives, etc. The IOBlix should be available in July.

Across the aisle, the developer invasion continued with Cloanto showing off their Amiga Forever 2.0 emulation software for peecees. On an old 133mHz pentium laptop, the emulation looked luke warm, but people said that given a very fast machine and the Picasso96 software (on the Amiga side), the emulation was supposed to run comparably with a fast Amiga. Cloanto was also showing off version 7.1 of their Personal Paint software. Work continues on bringing 8.0 next year with true color support, layers, advanced multimedia (!) animation and maybe even MPEG support. Cloanto also stated that the new version was being implemented with internal platform independence to make for an easy switch to the coming super Amiga.

Many people recognized the German developer Individual Computers for their external Graffiti graphics peripherals that have been out for years. Here IC was showing off a whole bunch of innovative Amiga interface products: The CatWeasel floppy interface systems which allows Amigas to use cheap, commodity high density floppy drives to read virtually ANY floppy disk transparently - all Amiga, Mac, PeeCee formats. They also showed the Buddha IDE ZorroII interface, IDEFix adapter for 4 IDE drives and Kylwalda adapter for sharing floppy drives between the Amiga and CatWeasel. For the audio oriented, IC was showing off a prototype of their Atlantis sound peripheral which connects to any Amiga through a floppy drive port or CatWeasel board. The impressive Atlantis includes 20bit stereo I/O, an 80mHz Motorola 56002 DSP chip and AHI software drivers. Given this hardware, the prototype was playing MPEG-3 audio streams with virtually no load on the Amiga. The Atlantis should be available late this Summer.

Villagetronic was also represented by a local company showing off the Picasso IV boards and a number of daughter cards that are starting to hit the streets. Supplanting the already impressive graphics and flicker fixing capabilities of the base board, the PalomaIV daughtercard promises 24bit video digitizing, TV tuning and video Picture-in-Picture display on your Workbench. The Concierto audio daughtercard provides MIDI and four channel 16bit audio I/O. Finally, the PabloIV daughtercard converts the Picasso's RGB to high quality video output. All of these cards should either be available now or within the next couple of months. To keep us all interested, Villagetronic mentioned add-on 3D engines and PowerPC interfaces were also in the works.

London repercussions

AntiGravity manned another booth, showing off the Index Access Amiga clone in a mini-tower case. Unfortunately, they still didn't have any Neila Amiga clones to show (see the April Active Window). The uproar from London seemed to have kept Index's Mick Tinker from coming or finishing hardware to demonstrate. Regardless, AntiGravity is expecting to have machines coming sometime over the Summer bearing the impressive specs and prices quoted in April.

Similarly, Phase5 staff didn't make it to the show. I think they were still reeling from the London event. Instead, a double sized booth was staffed by locals showing off PPC equipped machines running the new Tornado3D modeling software and WildfirePPC animation effects software. Both of them use the PowerPC cards to varying degrees, with Wildfire providing some blazingly fast image processing results. For folks into Amiga multimedia, this could be the killer app for the PowerPC.

Britain's HiSoft was also present with a wide range of software to sell. The newest offering was the Soundprobe audio digitizing and editing software. It supports a long list of hardware digitizers and supports the new AHI interface standard. The bad news in the HiSoft booth was that they didn't think they could go through the next year waiting for the new hardware to come out and may not be active in the Amiga market much longer.

More optimistically, NovaDesign was present and upbeat as always. They were showing off their just released ImageFX 3.1 (already with fixes and improvements) and Aladdin4D 5.0 software. Kermit Woodall stated that the new versions of their software were being well received, selling well and that NovaDesign planned to work on the new platform as soon as hardware is available. It looks like we will be seeing Kermit at Amiga shows for some time to come.

The video vendors NewTek and DPS had booths showing off their products. Surprisingly, Tim Jennison, one of NewTek's founders was present all weekend. Maybe they haven't lost interest in the Amiga after all? Optimistic rumors went around that Tim was talking with AI about NewTek's possibilities on the new super Amiga platform. Either that or he just got addicted to Bill's webcam and couldn't stay away... :-)

Finally, we saw our friend Bill Panagouleas again wandering the halls with his Pyromania CD-ROMs and talk of a new project in the works: a red light version of Toaster effects and wipes for those that want to spice up certain... ahem... video productions. Don't look for DiscreteEffects in a family software store near you... :-)

In Closing

Even with the bizarre Friday-Saturday timing, the show organizer, Randomize, claimed to have had a good turn-out. The hall were in was larger than the previous two shows we went to and Saturday had some good crowds. We were even surprised to see even more NCAUG'ers that took side trips while visiting families to make the show.

At show close, Saturday night Amiga Inc hosted a party in their suite and Asimware filled their customary role stocking the bathtub with a huge quantity of Canadian microbrews. To let the Amiga community in on the festivities, Bill wired the suite with the live webcam and three chat machines.

Sunday we had time to decompress and take in some of the sights. Or was it time to recuperate from the AI party and sleep late? :-) By midday, we finally made it to the top of the CN tower and were jumping up and down on the glass floor over downtown Toronto. Nighttime brought a leisurely dinner with Virginian Kermit Woodall and more discussion of our wonderful month of May. The Amiga ride was only going to get more interesting over the next year. Everyone got your seatbelts on? This roller coaster doesn't come with airbags.

[Source: The National Capital Amiga Users Group newsletter, "Active Window" June, 1998. NCAUG's address is P.O. Box 12360, Arlington, VA 22209. On the web it's http://www.ncaug.org ]

ToC

The Dave Haynie View

From: Dave Haynie (dhaynie@jersey.net)

[Editor's Note: Soon after the World of Amiga Show in London and the announcement of the Amiga's future direction made there, one of the men most responsible for the designed of the so-called "Classic" Amigas, Dave Haynie, made the following observations, on the Team Amiga mail list.]

On Sun, 17 May 1998 18:38:24 +0000, John Block (johnblock@copywriter.co.uk) jammed all night, and by sunrise was overheard remarking:

> Revolutionary Architecture
> Multimedia processor
> - 5 to 10x today's PC

That's meaningless without elaboration.

> - Screaming 3D / 400 million pixels per second

That's either a misquote, or in the "yawn, why bother" category. I mean, the Sony PSX and the Nintendo N64 render up to 400 million triangles per second. Ok, the Nintendo drops down to around 200 million if you throw in all the shading, bilinear filtering, MIP mapping, whatever. Last year's 3D chips did better than twice this, you're usually talking 1.5 million pixels rendered per second or more. The RIVA-128 manages something like 15 billion pixel-ops per second, 5 billion floating point ops per second. Again, last year's 3D. You'll see stuff like this in under $1000 PCs this year.

> - 3 or 4 MPEG streams

If that's MPEG-1, no big deal. By most accounts, an MPEG-2 decode takes about a whole Pentium II at 200-300MHz, so three MPEG-2 streams in software might be impressive. Of course, it might not be -- there are cheap media chips from Chromatic and C-Cube (Philips Trimedia, too, but that's not yet "cheap"). that'll do MPEG-2 decoding, "in software", because they're programmable, but it's really in hardware, in that, being media chips, they have operations specifically designed to accelerate discrete cosine transforms. They wouldn't beat your A4000 on general purpose OS code.

> High speed Internet

Of all the built-in solutions, POTS is the most expensive, since anything else is probably just an Ethernet port, to which you hook up your xDSL or whatever modem.

> Sub $500 computer solution

This would be good. But they need much better 3D specs.

> Carl Sassenrath on the New Amiga: Carl really was amazed. He
> couldn't believe the performance that the new Amiga was going to
> have. He is excited that the Amiga will once again "blow the socks
> off everything else!" Jeff also said that R. J. Mical was very excited,
> but the again, everything excites him.

I would like to hear a hardware guy's perspective. I don't know how closely Carl follows the state-of-the-hardware. And while I suspect RJ is more in touch, I think anything moving in AmigaLand would make him real excited.

And hell, I'm more excited than I was. But that's maybe like saying "more alive than back when I was dead". Someone has to be the voice of reason in all of this. If they seemed to be saying anything real that matched the hype level it's all generating, I would be the first with my usual technical/market analysis of Why This Is So.

> Jeff then introduce Allan Havemose, Ph. D., who will head the software
> development for Amiga Inc.

Yeah, I heard Dr. Allan was coming back. That's pretty good news -- he did run the Amiga Software group before, and he had some good ideas, even back in the relatively bad times (Sydnes Administration) he presided over. For example, he proposed OpenGL on the proposed, basically OS-less Hombre Game system, to facilitate game programming, way before practically anyone had even heard about OpenGL (today, of course, it's the obvious call).

> Then Jeff explained that the possible new core for Amiga OS could
> be BeOS, JavaOS, Linux, or an embedded system.

Clearly, this sounds like a bad idea, especially the way Jeff is reported to be speaking of it. You don't get AmigaOS-like capabilities over an OS that doesn't support those features native. To get real AmigaOS performance, you need a real Amiga kernel.

On the plus side for this idea is the notion of the API host. This is the same approach Java is taking and Rhapsody may. To look at Java -- you can run a Java program on any machine that supports the basic Java classes. You can all "go native" with a full JavaOS talking directly to your hardware. Now, make that a Java chip, or a RISC with basically optimal Java implementation, and you may see Java stuff running realtime (there's a big-ass push for embedded Java, no doubts to shore up Sun's embedded efforts, but it's being taken seriously -- even Mot's AltiVec is supporting the Java FP standards in hardware, Mot already announced they're going into Java big). Anyway, the main idea is, of course, that you get Java everywhere.

Apple was talking about the same approach for Rhapsody/ OpenStep. Basically, you could run the Rhapsody API over top Windows, NT, UNIX, whatever. If you wanted optimal performance, you would run on native Rhapsody, of course.

So, what's this to do with the AmigaOS. Well, picture this. You have your next generation AmigaOS. Let's assume, for the moment, that they're looking at the crystal ball, the writing on the wall, my advice, etc. and whole-heartedly supporting multiplatform (even x86). This is fine, but how do you get those PC users to use AmigaOS? Can you sell them an Amiga? Probably not. Get them to reboot? That's Be's strategy, and they may just be generating enough steam in the Amiga's traditional markets to get there. Or maybe not.

With the API hosting idea, you're basically supporting the applications side of the Amiga API on any other OS. So you load up that AmigaOS x86 native on your PC, and it runs, say, PageStreamNG just dandy. Now, you reboot into Windows for some insane reason, and that same exact binary runs under Windows, only a bit slower. How? When you click on the PageStream icon in Windows, it starts an AmigaOS application runtime environment, fairly well hidden, which runs PageStream. This is a different AmigaOS, so it can change the look of its GUI to be more "windowzy", etc. The application sees the same thing, it's just AmigaOS.

Now, you're saying, "but Dave, won't that make such applications clumsy compared to Windows native applications". Uh, no. Go look at any Windows application today. Any damn wordprocessor is likely to suck up 100MB of hard disc space. Everyone (except the "Opera" guys) is using gigantic C++ application frameworks and tons of other code that's wasting cycles. This is how they get you to upgrade, after all.

Now go to BeOS, or Linux, or pOS, or anything else, and, as long as Amiga, Inc. (or a licensee) sought fit to put an Amiga application server there, you can run that same binary. True, you may need the native OS to get all possible features -- even if you run REXX in Windows (and it does exist), who else are you going to talk to?

Anyway, this approach, along with a thin binary distribution format (so the CPU just doesn't matter -- not Java, but something like ANDF), and open licensing of the OS, and they might just have something. That's a might big IF, and I kind of doubt that's what they really mean, but it's the best sense I could make out of the little that's been said. Think about it -- this is one gigantic carrot to developers who really want to write for AmigaOS but have to run elsewhere to make money. This would also be a gigantic carrot for users who straddle multiple platforms anyway -- wouldn't having the same WP in BeOS, Windows, and Linux be a great thing for someone who jumps around, even if they never used AmigaOS? And also, a way to draw them over to AmigaOS -- anyone using more than one OS has jumped that mental hurdle Microsoft has been setting up all these years.

And one other thing -- Microsoft would go ballistic! Their whole mission for the past ten years has been "control the API". This is why they have worked so hard to undermine Java and take away the whole "write once, run anywhere" idea.

And finally, this approach could speed the release of a new OS, because they could finalize the whole API before they can write every single new piece for a native system. Which, given this mysterious 4.0 release on "industry standard architecture" (which I read as x86, since I know all the code words), would make sense if it's an API host and they're going multiplatform with thin binaries.

[....and this.]

On 17 May 98 10:23:57 -0600, "Gary Peake" (gpeake@wt.net) jammed all night, and by sunrise was overheard remarking:

> In 18-24 months we will have Amiga new generation with a very
> cool superchip that is anywhere from 2-10x faster in most
> operations than anything on the ground today and this box will run OS5.

Of course, I haven't seen this so-called "superchip". But I would be very, very concerned about this. First of all, it seems to get faster with every new posting. The first claims I heard about it (on the rumor mill, months ago) had it hitting Alpha-class (21164) performance levels on some things. Perhaps 2x-5x faster than the then-leading 300MHz Pentium II.

Ok, that's certainly doable. But 18-24 months? From a startup company? Only for Amigas? From Amiga, Inc?

Think about it. As I pointed out in earlier messages, you can get faster performance today on specific things. Programmable media chips may well be 20x faster than a Pentium II at one specific job. DSPs too. But they absolutely suck at general purpose code. Graphics chips already do the last few stages of a 3D pipeline 10x faster than a Pentium II, and at $30 or so, this is stuff never going back into general purpose CPUs. x86s themselves will be doing specific things 4x faster next month, when the first 3D extension ship. Intel will certainly have boosted PII performance 2x by year's end, and regular PowerPC and Alpha chips will already be 5x faster than today's Pentium II by year's end. If you add in liberal use of AltiVec, you'll peak at 80x-100x faster on certain kinds of problems (while typical performance might be 5x or even less, keep in mind that the vector unit is capable of accelerating the things that really need acceleration these days -- it's not even slightly an MMX clone/me-too thing). The new DEC 21264 is already about there today, certainly 2x any Pentium II, at least in the areas Alphas are tweaked for (floating point, bandwidth, large memory access).

Now there's the startup company thing. While Intel, Motorola, AMD, and the other chip companies have 2-3 teams working on Microprocessors, using well tuned design and production pipelines, with their own IC lines, any startup company is going to be throwing all of their resources into getting that one thing out. They will inherently take longer (the remaining time to wait is at least 2/3 of a new chip design cycle already), and when they're done, they'll be competing with the design currently under wraps, or perhaps the one after that. Everyone involved will have the next one ready to go in 6-12 months, the one after that in another 6-12 months, etc. Unless they're pipelining it, I don't believe they have much chance of being competitive -- even if they hit the ground ahead of the competition, how long can they stay there? Will they have 2x performance in 12-18 months, like everyone else does? What if they slip a year, as so many startup companies do. With something truly unique, that may not matter. When it's a CPU, everyone makes them -- you won't get noticed if yours is an also-ran, there are too many already.

Then there's volume. Where, besides the Amiga, are these superchips going? Do they really think they can get several million sold, enough to amortize all this development cost across each chip enough to make the price attractive? The next development phase has to be funded somehow. Even things like Merced will be a very slow startup -- having most of the industry behind you, being 2x-5x faster than the Pentium II of the day, and selling for $2000+ a shot still doesn't guarantee the chips get paid for anytime soon. Intel can afford to invest in the technology for 5 years, if necessary, to see it catch on. Folks blast Motorola for having too small a market for PowerPCs, and that's based on a few million Macs and a 75-100 million unit-a-year embedded business (not all on PowerPC yet, but AltiVec virtually ensures the PowerPC will win the lions share of the high-end embedded market, unless Mot does something horribly wrong).

Then there's Amiga, Inc. No offence, but who there is calling these shots? I know they have some PC industry guys from Gateway, not usually the most technology savvy folks on the planet -- like most, Gateway never did any R&D, unless you count market research, until now. And they have some pups for the Amiga market, but last I heard, no visionaries, no one who really knows the business. That doesn't mean they have to have one of my old Amiga buddies, either, just someone who understands the big picture, in practice as well as theory. I know the young excited Amiga fan types -- well meaning, but any good sales pitch could convince them some startup company has the holy grail. Most of these guys aren't reading the 50 or so industry journals, newspapers, e-zines, mailing lists, etc. that folks at my stage of the game do.

Hey, I don't mean to be a downer, but there's only one chance here, and this whole "superchip" idea sounded mondo fishy ever since it bubbled up in the rumor mill last fall. I want a new Amiga, and I agree with many of the hard decisions that'll have to be made along the way. But this really sounds like a crap shoot with loaded dice.

Dave Haynie | V.P. Technology, PIOS Computer | http://www.pios.de
Be Dev #2024 | DMX2000 Powered! | Amiga 2000, 3000, 4000, PIOS One

ToC

IRC Transcripts - IA98 - Dr. Allan Havemose

Announce: (Havemose) - Hi, I'm Allan Havemose, head of development at Amiga Inc. I'd be happy to take any technical question you may have.

Q: (Jkay) Can you fill us in on your PAST Amiga experience? I understand you are one of the "Good Guys" from old Commodore.
A: (Havemose) Sure, I joined Commodore in 1989. Initially, I ran the technical support network in Europe. As a matter of fact, I was hired to set up the European developers network. I helped arrange a couple of European developers conferences: Paris & Milan. After moving [to]the headquarters in the US, I was in charge of the Amiga OS. Release 2.1 and later were all releases of mine. I've also founded a CAD software company and been President/CEO of another computer graphics company since Amiga/Commodore.

Q: (elp) Will the new systems be modular or standard PC-case type systems?
A: (Havemose) We are planning a whole family of products, spanning set-top boxes, "computer in a keyboard" like the A1200, game systems and video workstations

Q: (Gott) What is the story about Exec? Are you going to dumb it in favor of an other kernel? According to Dave Haynie it shouldn't be difficult to build the missing features into Exec if it doesn't have to be binary compatible.
A: (Havemose) According to Carl [Sassenrath, author of AmigaOS's Exec] (and I've discussed this with him), with the types of new ground breaking architecutres we're considering, fixing Exec would amount to replacing it. The new kernel is, in spirit, very close to Exec, but will not be a patched Exec.

Q: (Comunion) Can you confirm that Amiga Inc will be porting Amiga OS to New Amiga. Is it true that Amiga Inc are planning to release a Amiga version of the OS for an Intel based chip ?
A: (Havemose) There has clearly been confusion on the nets regarding the Intel processor issue. First of all, x86 (not Intel) was only mentioned in connection with a development system, not the new Amiga. So, let's not confuse the developers system (aka system 4) with the new Amiga (aka release 5).

Q: (Gandalf) Why did you guys decide against going along with Phase 5 for using PowerPC Amigas for the future models?
A: (Havemose) As we have announced several times, we are working with Phase5 to bring their solution forward as well.

Q: (emission) Previously, portability has been stated as a goal for the future AmigaOS. Now you seem to [be] developing a reference platform based on a - although superior - proprietary chip. Is portability still a goal, and how will you maintain your "being ahead of the rest" if this technology becomes obsolete or if other companies are allowed to use the same chip?
A: (Havemose) Portability comes at several levels. One is application portability another is the OS. We will definitely have several hardware specific modules in the OS (kernel for instance). My goal is to make the UI and application model much more portable than the current Amiga mode.

Q: (Mano603e) (1) What does Amiga Inc think about Phase5 and Haage&Partner after the WOA Show? Are you talking to them now?... (2) How can Amiga Inc guarantee that mystery chip won`t be used by Wintel companies? (3) Can you clarify this x86 compatibility?... Does this mystery chip emulate PPC or 68k ?
A: (Havemose) You must be a PPC fan :) I am in daily contact with both H&P and Phase 5. As said, both companies are very important to the Amiga community and therefore to Amiga Inc. It's really as simple as that. We will work with any Amiga developer who is interested in bringing the Amiga forward to the next generation.

Q: (Kosh) Since the Amiga community includes a lot of hobbyist developers such as myself who lack significant financial resources, what would you recommend we do to prepare for the future? I know I can't afford a new machine right now (ie, no bridge machine for me), but I'd still like to know if there's anything I can do to prepare myself or my code for porting to the future system.
A: (Havemose) I guess I should ask "What do you want?" Anyway :) The reasons you outlined are exactly the reasons I selected an x86 development platform. I could have picked Macs, workstations, or anything else, but it was important to me that Amiga developers without a whole lot of funding, could get a headstart on development without a significant investment. I personally believe, that the best Amiga program[s] grew out this type of "low budget" grass roots environment.

Q: (NightSpd) 4 (sort of) questions: Will AT be relying on in-house staff programmers or contract consultants for software development? Or some mix of the two? Approximate percentages if there is any idea? Also, is the rev 4 release an emulation of the "MissTerry" chip or actual silicon on a card?
A: (Havemose) A mixture of both. I will staff both in-house and use consultants. RE emulation: we have announced two solutions: software through something similar to UAE and a version of the Siamese "Amiga on a PCI board."

Q: (Merko) Does the "development system" run under Windows(95/98/NT) or some other OS? If other, what OS?
A: (Havemose) I am unfortunatly not able to announce my OS partner yet, since not all the elements of the deal has been closed.

Q: (Hawker) 3D hardware have really taken off in the PC market, but the Amiga is left behind. With an official 3D library, this might change. Do you have any thoughts about this subject? What about OS 5?
A: (Havemose) Yes: OpenGL.

Q: (pantheon) How will the x86 developer systems be distributed? Will they be shipped as complete systems or just add-on packages for existing PCs?
A: (Havemose) In London we announced both: ie., a complete system and the necessary hardware to upgrade your own PC. If I remember, I believe that we announced at $1200 price point for the complete system. I might not be entirely right on the price.

Q: (elp) Will the new systems have SCSI, USB, FireWire and/or other standard technologies? Will TCP/IP be built in to the OS?
A: (Havemose) I'm planning on full TCP/IP stack. I would prefer just to go with Firewire for network connectivity. I haven't made a decision on USB for that reason. Let me correct myself. 1394 for device and low-cost network.

Q: (Darklite) (1) Will the new Amiga (1999) be able to use PC cards (PCI, AGP ) or will it feature a whole new bus system? (2) Will you support the PPC ports of AOS 4 & 5? (3) Can you already give some more info on the "SuperChip"?
A: (Havemose) The new system will support PCI. I gave my position on PPC earlier. The new superchip (who came up with that name anyway?) is a very high performance processing unit with multimedia functions. A couple of numbers: 400 Mpixels/sec out of the 3D engine. This 24 bit pixels with full tri-linear mip mapping. 3-4 MPEGII decode simultanious, AC-3 audio.

Q: (Dracvl) Three questions: (1) Can you tell us if the chip being used will be announced on the AmiWest? (2) Will Amiga do an image re-design, to get better branding effect? (ie., new logo, new website, etc.) It is desperately needed. (3) I represent the Second Coming Foundation, and would therefore like to know who I can contact regarding design-matters. (and AGP :) What about support for that?)
A: (Havemose) We'll announce as soon as we can. There are timing, NDA and other issues that prevents us from announcing at present. All contacts should go to Amiga Inc. Check http://www.amiga.com for who to contact.

Q: (AMPurtle) Will you be using the HP core? Oh and welcome back, looking forward to working with you again :)
A: (Havemose) Hi Allan. I cannot release any info on technology partners yet.

Q: (LowLevel) Will the new "superchip" work as a CPU or does it need an external CPU?
A: (Havemose) Good question. Again, I unfortunately cannot reveal chip level architectural information at this point. I will as soon as I can. Sorry.

Q: (siren) Petro Tyschtschenko said in an e-mail dated on 05/25/98 "sorry for confusion. OS 3.5 will be available (AMIGA Classics 68xxxx)" when asked by a Finnish Amiga user about the OS upgrade. Is this information correct, is the 3.5 coming after all?
A: (Havemose) I will have to talk to Petro about this. I've focused entirely on the new generation, while Petro and sales people have been selling and lincensing existing technology.

Q: (Cacique) Will the file system be similar to current OS? In other words, will there be a C dir with commands, S dir with startup-sequence, libs, etc. directories and *.info icon files? Will the OS (5) be ROM and software or just software? Also will AREXX be included?
A: (Havemose) The OS (or rather pieces of it) will be rommable. We will provide dir, list etc. type comments. It's not entirely clear that we're going to preserve the current directory layout. I would like to come up with a better structure, that also handles/defines installation etc. so that a user can determine what are OS files, which are appplication and which are his own data files.

(Havemose) - Let's take one more question. I have to give a talk in 25 minutes and need to get ready.

(Havemose) - OK. Hang in there. I believe that the Amiga has a very bright future ahead.

(Havemose) - We have some truly exciting technology in development. As soon as we can, we will inform the community.

(Jkay) Thank you, Dr. Havemose, for your kind considerations.

Later that afternoon (back at the lab ;-))

(Havemose) I have about 15 minutes to answer more technical question[s] on 4.0 and 5.0.

Q: (eaglelil) Dr. H, will you use USB in the new Amy for KB, mice, etc.?
A: (Havemose) I have USB on my "open question" list. I do want to use 1394 for devices and networking.

Q: (Merko) How hard/easy do you think it will be to develop for AmigaNG on current machines? Will it be similar enough to make a port easy, or will it absolutely require special development hardware to get started?
A: (Havemose) The API's will be relatively system independent. As an example, certain system specific graphics functions will require new hardware (naturally). The goal is to make 4.0 as close to 5.0 as possible, but on a different base platform.

Q: (rbn^gts) This new Mystery Monster Chip based Amiga sounds very tempting, but how will we be able to see that it's actually an Amiga? Will just the name be left? I know it'll represent the same kind of innovation as the Amiga did back in 1985 - but that's probably not enough to get all Amiga users to get one... We need something familiar! Something planned?
A: (Havemose) I do think that significant innovation is needed. What was great in 85 just doesn't always do the trick in 97. We will carry over many of the system capabilities, while also enhancing them: video (pal & ntsc) out of the box, but also adding more capabilities, such as HDTV.

Q: (JoeMango) Have Amiga Inc decided whether the 4.0 machine will be available to interested enthusiasts, or just the registered development community? Secondly, have you looked at LEP displays for cheap laptops?
A: (Havemose) Amiga Inc has stated that 4.0 will be targeted at developers, but if end-users want them, they can get them through the usual distribution channels.

Q: (Mordo) Will the object hierarchy of EXEC be maintained in the new OS kernel?
A: (Havemose) Both yes and no. The kernel will be significantly more capable than Exec. For that reason, the kernel will not be an Exec derivative, but rather a new implementation. It is close to Exec in spirit, though.

Q: (Rog) Will there be any big big news like we had 14 days ago?
A: (Havemose) Today's presentations were pretty close to the one two weeks ago. No new announcements.

Q: (NorthWay) Will anything of the current 3.1 be kept for 5.0? (I'm thinking possible _source_ compatability.) And I like message by reference instead of copy. Any chance that can be kept for some stuff? (Massively parallel systems seems to be back to that :)
A: (Havemose) We are planning to carry some of the graphics and UI elements with us. And as previously posted, the kernel is close to Exec in many way[s]. I do believe that we need to do a major upgrade for us to get a competitive system. "No amount of paint to a 1985 Chevy will ever make it a Ferarri."

Q: (Mitchman) It sounds to me like 4.0 and 5.0 will have a completely new API. What parts will be kept, and will it still look and feel like AmigaOS, or will just the name be used? I am a developer, so the API question is vital to a certain degree. Also, will there be an alternative to the C++ foundation classes? Seeing AmigaOS turn into the mistake beOS is would be horrible, IMHO.
A: (Havemose) Lots of new API's will be added. Also framework application development in C++. I don't think that the current intuition/graphics framework is flexible enough for what we need to do.

Q: (CyberWolf) Hi Dr. H. (1) Will AMIGA OS 5 be compatible with the current software? (2) Will we see ImageFX, PageStream, World Construction Set, Digital Universe on the new AMIGAs? (Have these developers said they want a new AMIGA?) (3) What kernel will be used in AMIGA OS 4/5?
A: (Havemose) We are planning to provide Classic compatibility though an Amiga classic hardware subsystem. I do expect that the market demand for such a system will diminish quickly after the release of the new system.

Q: (AmigaRevi) What about concepts like datatypes, draggable screens, slim binaries - is such [a] concept going to be used as [a] new standard for executables? Arexx question not answered, so once again, is Arexx going to be used in OS 5.x? What about REBOL?
A: (Havemose) I hope to carry datatypes over. Same for Arexx.

Q: (Weirdami) Can we expect the new OS (5) to mark the return of the beloved 'Guru Meditation'? It sounds more homey (less corporate) than its current replacement.
A: (Havemose) I've had the Guru Meditation request from several people. I guess we should put in back in :)

Q: (TA) Dr Havemose, some of the critics are saying that only the name will be left. What would you say to them? And thanks for clarifying some things for us.
A: (Havemose) My basic approach is to put the Amiga solidly back in the lead again. This cannot be done only by updating existing technology.

Q: (neure) Will the new OS support multiple CPU and multiple users?
A: (Havemose) Intially we are planning a single user system, since that's where the Amiga has been strongest in the past. We will support multiple processors.

Q: (Dave) Will there be such things as libraries, devices & resource as we know them? Will DOS be a separate thing eg. it's non-exec handlers? Will complete docs be available in one place (ie. no separate docs in Bantam books)?
A: (Havemose) Yes, there will be libs, devs, resources etc. The actual definition and layout may be different than what we have on Amiga today.

[Source: Amiga.org News ]

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What Did Carl See?

(from the source)

This is a repost from an email from Carl Sassenrath as to what he saw and what he thinks Amigans will think about it. (Forwarded from the TeamONE maillist. Kudos to Russ Yost for having the insite to simply ask Carl what it was he saw... nothing quite like the direct approach, eh?)

Don Romero (d9090@indy.net)

Here's what Carl himself said in response to my question.

Russ Yost (rryost@primenet.com)

-----Original Message-----
From: Carl Sassenrath (carl@sassenrath.com)
To: Russ Yost (rryost@primenet.com)
Date: Thursday, June 04, 1998 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: Sassenrath Sez

I saw an "early demo"... as well the architectural plans. It's very good... a perfect successor... with all the advances of the last 15 years. But, it's *very* secret and long term.

Don't even try to guess at what I am referring to... you would be wrong... you've never heard of this before. Recognize that a lot of advancements in computing happen behind closed doors (unlike the vaporous style of hyping future products practiced by some market leaders). I was honored to be invited to view and discuss it.

I wish I could say more. But, this is Amiga Inc's thunder, not mine. I'm pretty certain Amigans will accept it -- in fact they'll love it -- once they make it through the "void" (right now).

-Carl

(Russ... feel free to post this back to the group. I'm not sure when I'll be on c.s.a.m again. -CS)

... and that, hopefully, puts that question to rest.

d.r.

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The CUCUG Section:

May General Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins

After much behind the scenes preparations, the doors to the May 21st meeting opened at 7:16PM. President Jim Lewis began the traditional introduction of the CUCUG officers at 7:39PM. That task finished, Jim encouraged everyone attending to take part in the evenings festivities and win as many items as they could. This was followed with a general review of the Amiga news from the World of AMiga Show in London from last weekend. The release of the Cloanto Amiga Forever 2.0 package was mentioned, several of which were available as prizes this evening. Jim showed the AWD/CUCUG shirts available for sale and as prizes. Jim then gave a brief outline of the procedures for the evening.

Kevin Hisel then spoke on the London news, saying we are looking for another 1985 advance over the competition. Mike Latinovich talked about what he saw as positives in the news: the development machines on the Intel platform, which is cheap, and the OS moving to multiple platforms. Kevin Hopkins and Jim Lewis chipped in to flesh out the details known at the time.

The floor was then turned over to Richard Rollins who spoke about the Worldwide Developers Conference (which was Apple's equivalent) held the week before the London Amiga show. Richard talked about the release of the new PowerBook G3 models, the iMac, and where the development of the MacOS is headed. Richard mentioned the change in the Apple logo. He also noted that the new iMac computer looked like a Pacer without wheels or one of the new Volkswagen Beetles.

Kevin Hisel again took the floor to explain the procedures for the evening. Kevin then elicited a hand from the crowd for Jim Huls for his efforts in support of the Macintosh in this evenings event. Richard Rollins then did the same for Kevin for his Amiga effort.

After a break, the fun began. The major prize winners of the evening were:

Bill Zwicky - Pagestream
Jim Huls - WebTen, Cyber Studio, Freeway, Adobe Premier 4.2, Net Octopus
Quentin Barnes - Cyber Studio, Freeway
Sue Kraybill - Freeway, a GigaPack of Zip Disks
Don Berg - MasterISO
John Lynn - APC 400, MasterISO (John won two copies, donated one of them back to the group, and Mike won it.)
Michael Lambert - MasterISO
Charlie Earle - APC 280
Mark Landman - APC 280
Craig Kummerow - AlphaSmart 2000
Jason Radford - Picasso II
Harold Ravlin - Romulus/4
Emil Cobb - APC 400

Thanks to everyone who contributed to making this event a success.

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May Board Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins

The May meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, May 26, 1998, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house. (For anyone wishing to attend - which is encouraged, by the way - the address and phone number are both in the book). Present at the meeting were Jim Lewis, John Lynn, Mike Latinovich, Richard Rollins, Mark Landman, Kevin Hopkins, Jim Huls, Kevin Hisel, and Emil Cobb.

Jim Lewis: Jim began by reporting that T-shirt sales were kind of slow. He then reported on the Computer Fair receipts. Emil noted that attendance was down, but it didn't hurt us too bad. A discussion followed about an additional charge the Park District levied on us for supposedly leaving the meeting room a mess. Jim will take this up with them.

John Lynn: John said the last meeting was really cool. He said he was glad he didn't bring his motorcycle or he wouldn't have been able to make it home with all his goodies. He said he felt bad "for about five minutes" for those that didn't come to the meeting. It was fun and he had a great time.

For the Amiga SIG in June, John said Ed Serbe would be doing something cool. He said he never asks Ed what he's going to do, since he always delivers one of his usual, interesting presentations. In July Mark Landman will be drafted into doing something as well.

At this point in John's segment, Richard Rollins stated that he had wanted to do a combined meeting for June on the Internet. Similar to the one we conducted a while ago, presenting good pages to visit and which search engines to use and how to use them. There was a quick discussion and everyone agreed that this would be a good idea to pursue, so Ed and Mark will have a little more time to prepare.

Mike Latinovich: Mike said he enjoyed the cupcakes at the last meeting. Jim Lewis thanked Mike for assistance at the meeting. Mike said the event was "worth doing." Mike said one of the most enjoyable things for him was that Jason Radford came down from Peoria and he finally had the chance to meet someone he'd "known" for a long time.

Richard Rollins: Richard said he was very please with the representation the Mac received at the last meeting. It was a very good meeting and he enjoyed it.

Richard then spoke about the upcoming Mac show in New York and also about the Apple Road Show.

Richard apologized for no doughnuts at the last meeting, but everyone assured him that the cupcakes had been a hit.

Richard conclude by saying he is still doing Internet installs and that in his travels he had help a guy from Wolfram Research, who might be willing to do a presentation on Mathematica. We'll look forward to that.

Mark Landman: Mark was very pleased with his fortunes at the last meeting.

Mark gave his Treasurer's Report.

Mark said he would be willing to give a Macintosh demo of Adobe Premier 5.0 in the future.

Kevin Hopkins: Kevin distributed the mail to Kevin Hisel and Richard Rollins. He delivered the deposit receipt for memberships to Mark Landman. He passed the club copy of MacOS 8.0 to Richard Rollins, to be awarded to someone in the near future.

Kevin then told about a Post Office screw up that delayed all the foreign newsletters going out by two days.

Kevin concluded by reporting that club membership now stands at 468.

Jim Huls: Jim said the last meeting was cool. He said he was professionally disappointed, but personally happy with the way the meeting turned out.

Jim noted other donations continue to come in. There was a discussion of how to handle a recently arrived sound system.

Jim Lewis commended Jim for the fine job he did on the Macintosh side of things.

Kevin Hisel: Kevin reported that AWD potentially has a new advertiser. He also reported that we have received a Toaster and Flyer from NewTek. We will also be receiving an A4000 from National Amiga. There was an extended discussion of potentially raffling off this combined system over the web.

There was a discussion of club finances.

In related web news, Kevin reported that the AWD is averaging 120,000 hits a day. It had 160,000 hits last Thursday or Friday. He said the trend recently has been to add more news items and less new sites.

Emil Cobb: Emil reported that we had 34 members at the last meeting. He thanked the group for his new Uninterruptible Power Supply.

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The Back Page:

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

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

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

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

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 Lewis           359-1342              NOSPAMlewis_j_e@yahoo.com
Vice-President:    Emil Cobb           398-0149               e-cobb@uiuc.edu
Secretary/Editor:  Kevin Hopkins       356-5026                  kh2@uiuc.edu
Treasurer:         Mark Landman        398-2910        mlandman@earthlink.net
Corporate Agent:   Jim Lewis           359-1342              NOSPAMlewis_j_e@yahoo.com
Advisor & Mac SIG: Richard Rollins     469-2616
Webmaster:         Kevin Hisel         406-948-1999              khisel @ cucug.org
Amiga SIG:         John Lynn           586-3555              jlvideo@pdnt.com

Surf our web site:

CUCUG Home Page

Amiga Web Directory

Macintosh Web Directory

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.

CUCUG
912 Stratford Dr.
Champaign, IL
61821

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