The October 16 meeting will be one of CUCUG's split SIG meetings. The Amiga SIG will have Mark Landman putting the software "Real 3D" through its paces. John Lynn has also promised to try his two camera video set-up again. The Macintosh SIGwill be another Richard Rollins/Emil Cobb tour de force. Come and contribute to the fun.
We'd also like to welcome back returning members Matt Sawyer and Anthony E. Bodo.
The Midwest Amiga Exposition also brought us some new and returning members. The new folks are Michael Rudas, Mike Block, Hans Wolff, John Feigleson, Mark Ziegler, A.D.A. Computers, Frank Tornichio, Daniel & Tammy Allen, Keith Schuxler, Leonard Karpowicz, Mike Buford, Mike Pershing, Jack Scurlock, and W. Adrian D'Alessio.
Our returning members are Bolton Peck, Frank G. Salvatini, Nathan Morse and, back from 1996, Don Romero.
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.
David's new Amiga is a pre-owned, stock A4000/040 desktop unit with sixteen Megs of Fast RAM, two Megs of chip RAM, 340-Meg IDE hard drive, GVP 4008 SCSI controller and a 3X SCSI CD-ROM drive. The Video Toaster 4000 and LightWave3D are brand-new, still-in-the-shrinkwrap items.
All of CUCUG congratulates David on his win and we thank all who purchased tickets, helping to support CUCUG's fundraising efforts.
Please continue to send in your news items and link submissions, we will get to them when we return.
Thank you for your understanding.
Reported by Team AMIGA members at MAE (Columbus, Ohio) ...
It is official!!! Amiga Inc, announces OS3.5 with P5 PPC board support will be done by the first half of '99! It was not announced however, whether the OS3.5 upgrade will use the P5 or H&P PPC software. [Gary later stated, "it will be H&P software."]
Developed in combination with a lot of Amiga developers, OS3.5 Upgrade will use the current 3.1 ROMs and will be a CD ONLY release! There will be no PPC version, however PPC support will be included using either P5 or H&P PPC software, as stated above.
Highlights concerning the OS3.5 upgrade:
Plus bug fixes and updates to several areas of the OS
Purposes of the OS3.5 upgrade is to support all the advanced hardware/software that is on the Classic Amiga market and to allow developers to code for a higher spec Amiga Classic. This will open the door for more and better software and hardware for the Classic Amiga while giving developers more transition time into the NG Amiga!
There will also be a full Classic OS3.5 emulator shipping with the NG OS so we can all start buying software again secure in the knowledge that it will be supported and runnable with the NG Amiga!
This 3.5OS upgrade and the promise of full emulation in the NG Amiga will smooth the transition for all Amiga users to the NG Amiga.
In the next week or so, a website will go up especially for OS3.5 and Amiga Inc will begin releasing information on the upgrade to the Amiga press. More details about OS3.5 will also be released in Cologne.
Addendum:
This is certainly better news than we had been led to expect! Congrats, Gary, for your hard work and dedication, which I know are their own rewards! ;} I hope we can do as well for the next big step!
Everybody who is working on the 3.5 project -- Good hunting! This is the place to be!
Gary Peake:
Thanks to all of you and especially Mick [Tinker] and Holger [Kruse] and Olaf [Bartel] for their considered support here and elsewhere. Without me being able to say that all of Team AMIGA wants this, I doubt Jeff [Schindler] would have gone for it.
Credit Mick Tinker's tenacity and forethought here! He developed and stuck with the plan and just needed some external backing to get it approved.
Mick Tinker:
You are modest Gary (and Fleecy, Olaf, Joe Torre, etc), who worked away in the background out of the public eye. All I did was sow the seeds, bang a few heads together, draft some notes and let everyone else get on with the hard day-to-day work of convincing people and turning it into a plan. If anyone's interested I will add the notes I wrote to my web site. The notes were written between 4-6am on Sunday morning 17th May 98, so that they could be in Jeff's hands later that day at the WoA show. And, to anyone who saw my hardware talk later that day, I apologise for my lack of preparation (I made it up as I went along) and red eyes!
Regards,
Mick Tinker, Access Innovation Ltd, England
index@cix.co.uk
http://www.cix.co.uk/~index
Ok, its up there:
http://www.cix.co.uk/~index/classic_amiga_proposal.html
Amiga of Minnesota Interest Group Alliance (A.M.I.G.A.) is pleased to announce that we have acquired a license to produce and distribute in a NON-Commercial way, the technology to upgrade the CDTV to OS 2.0+.
We are currently testing with OS 3.1, and are seeking response from potential purchaser's of the product. It will consist of 2 PROMs which install in the CDTV, and allow the unit to operate with the CD Drive active, and a 3.1 ROM installed. This license is to us alone and cannot be transferred to any other party. Because it is NON-Commercial, response of potential buyers will determine the price, as how many PROMs we purchase determines the price.
We have determined that the price will be between $15 and $30 US. The more interested parties the lower the price can be.
This has been a long 16 month negotiation, and could not have been possible without the help of many people, CUCUG included for the posting of the FAQ directories some time ago.
Please direct all response to thedoctor@wavetech.net and a file will be built on that.
System Requirements for using Amiga Bodyguard are AmigaOS 3.x, an Amiga using an 68030, 68040 or 68060 with MMU, and 4MB of FastRAM.
Amiga Bodyguard will be available at the end of September 1998.
[Source: http://www.schatztruhe.de/softe/bodyguard.html ]
The date has been set for the release of the newest version of the Macintosh operating system, as Apple Computer also prepares to roll out a low-cost PowerBook portable computer early next month.
Apple will unveil an updated version of its operating system software, Mac OS 8.5, with special launch events to be held by resellers on October 17, according to industry sources.
An Apple spokesperson would not comment on the release date.
The upgrade from OS 8.1 will feature vastly improved performance in some areas, such as saving files over a network, which Apple says will be up to three times faster. The updated OS also will include improved file and Internet search functions, as demonstrated at recent industry trade shows such as Seybold SF.
The launch of Mac OS 8.5, formerly code-named Allegro, will be the first major upgrade to the Mac OS since July 1997, when OS 8.0 was launched. OS 8.1 was launched in January. The OS 8.5 upgrade was first scheduled for release this July, but its ship date was subsequently pushed back to September and then to October.
But first, Apple tomorrow will release a new PowerBook, according to sources at several resellers. Although Apple recently boasted that it had 14.1-inch displays as standard equipment on all its notebooks, the company will offer a PowerBook with a 12.1-inch active matrix display--but at a correspondingly lower price.
The system will be priced at $2,299 and will come with the 233-MHz PowerPC 750 chip with "backside" cache for improved performance, unlike the older "cacheless" 233-MHz models with 12.1-inch dual scan displays that are currently priced at $1,999.
"As long as they have the parts, they'll sell it, but there's no telling how long going that's to be," one industry source said.
Meanwhile, customers could still find themselves waiting for the 300-MHz PowerPC PowerBook models, including those who ordered the preceding high-end model with the 292-MHz PowerPC processor that was discontinued in early September, sources at several major resellers report.
Availability of the 266-MHz PowerBooks has improved over previous mid-range models, but overall, supply has not met demand, resellers report.
Apple interim chief executive Steve Jobs said at the beginning of the month that the company should be able to fulfill demand by the end of September.
http://www.amiga.com/dev_reference/index.shtml#rkms
Although this doesn't solve the lack of availability of the most recent AmigaDOS documentation, it does however indicate some 'Classic' Amiga support in the first person from the step-parent company.
http://www.metabox.de/pios/uk/index.html
AmigaZone, the premiere online service for Amiga owners, announced today that it has doubled the memory and disk space of its hardware host system to better serve its members. Our hardware now runs with 128 meg of RAM and nearly 20 GIGabytes of mirrored disk space, for virtually unlimited storage of our huge, ever-expanding collection of Amiga files, which go back to 1985, with fresh stuff arriving daily.
Hosted by CalWeb Internet Services, the biggest ISP in California's capital city, (home to the AmiWest show), AmigaZone runs a Wildcat5 or "WINS" system. Wildcat5 provides AmigaZone's members with total flexibility in how they wish to access the system:
Telnet to our friendly, hot-key driven BBS system, or browse in our fast Web interface to access over 40,000 files, and 40,000 text articles in Amiga Usenet and Fidonet newsgroups, Amiga mailing lists, and local message bases. We also feature .QWK packet transfers, an online image thumbnail maker, over a dozen ways to personalize and customize your account, our famous live chatting area with Sunday night prize contests, and members have access to our private FTP site and POP3 mail server. You can even log into our multiple interfaces simultaneously.
For more information about AmigaZone or to join and get your own account via secure signup, just visit http://www.amigazone.com
AmigaZone is a Trademark of Harv Laser. Harv is a CUCUG member.
It supplies four serial- and two EPP/ECP-parallel-ports. In addition to that there are two module ports to install an AHI-compatible sound-module and a SANAII-compatibel Ethernet-module which are being developed. Another module for 1.44MB-disc-drives is planned.
The serial highspeed ports provide 64 Byte of FIFO-memory, the EPP/ECP-parallel-ports have a 16 Byte FIFO which qualifies the IOBlix for high demands (e.g. mailboxes). Besides the internal FIFO the IOBlix can be upgraded to up to 8KByte of external FIFO-memory which can be related to each module.
The parallel-ports support the uni- and bidirectional modes to be compatible with all printers. Scanner-drivers (in combination with ScanQuix4) and drivers for backup-devices (such as ZIP-drives/streamers) are planned for the EPP/ECP-mode. The IOBlix is designed as a ZorroII-Slot-card so it is compatible with all Amiga2/3/4000 and Amiga1200 systems with Zorro-Expansion.
Transfer rate: 460 KBaud, theoretical 1.5 MBaud
The price is $149.95. To order call 1-800-932-6442 or email us.
Anthony, Customer Service, Software Hut Inc.
[Source: Amiga News Index of the Amiga Web Directory.]
Casady & Greene today released a free update to Conflict Catcher 8.0, adding full Mac OS 8.5 compatibility. The previous version, 8.0.1, provided partial information for performing a Clean-Install System Merge with Mac OS 8.5; the new Conflict Catcher 8.0.2 completes the feature in anticipation of Apple's new operating system later this month. The 8.0.2 update also includes support for more monitor types, along with additional descriptions of startup files. For more information about Conflict Catcher 8, see "Nice Catch, Conflict Catcher" in TidBITS-446. The 8.0.2 updater is a 1.8 MB download. [JLC]
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05086
http://www.casadyg.com/downloads/
We reserve reporting on public betas to truly impressive releases, and Qualcomm's Eudora Pro 4.1 beta falls squarely into that category. Although the revision number is a small bump, the feature list will have long- time Eudora users drooling. Eudora Pro 4.1 now supports IMAP, includes an inline spell checker like Microsoft Word 98, offers a completely revamped Search command, provides an optional preview pane in mailbox windows, colorizes quoted text, and adds a Speak action to filters. A neat minor feature is the x-eudora-setting URL type that enables users to click an x-eudora-setting URL sent in an email message and edit that setting in a graphical interface - this feature provides access to Eudora's numerous tweaky settings without requiring ResEdit or AppleScript. Although the time-limited beta has been solid in our testing, it has known bugs, and we don't recommend you try it without a backup of your mail folder. The current beta, 4.1b26, is a 3 MB download. Do note that the README file's wording regarding Eudora not working with FreePPP is unfortunate and incorrect - Eudora works fine with FreePPP, but the OT/PPP and MacSLIP settings panel doesn't apply to FreePPP. [ACE]
Nisus Software has taken the unusual step of releasing an older version of their powerful word processor, Nisus Writer 4.1, for free. Nisus Writer 4.1 offers features that remain unmatched in other word processors, including unlimited undo, discontiguous selection, customizable multiple key keyboard shortcuts, GREP searching, powerful macro capabilities, graphics creation, and support for WorldScript. Nisus Writer 5 has been out since 1996 (see "Nisus Writer Turns 5" in TidBITS-352), and although it added many welcome features, Nisus Writer 4.1 worked well for us for years. You can read more about Nisus in our three-issue review of Nisus 3.0 in TidBITS-116, TidBITS-117, and TidBITS-118, and in our three-part review of Nisus 4.0 - "Text Processing," "Word and Document Processing," and "Multimedia Features" - in TidBITS-263, TidBITS-264, and TidBITS-265. [ACE]
http://www.nisus.com/nisusdl/login.asp?new=yes
http://www.nisus-soft.com/5.0_features.html
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbser=1055
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbser=1054
The free Nisus Writer 4.1 doesn't include a printed manual or technical support, but you can purchase both separately, and a copy of Joe Kissell's book, The Nisus Way, might prove useful (see "I Am Joe's Book" in TidBITS-319). You can also upgrade to the current Nisus Writer 5.1 for $50 ($40 without a printed manual). Nisus Software deserves credit for this bold move - with the dominance of juggernauts like Microsoft Word, small companies must introduce as many people as possible to their products to stand a chance at surviving. Giving away an old version as an incentive could be successful guerilla marketing - in the first three days, over 6,000 people downloaded Nisus Writer 4.1. [ACE]
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1558284559/tidbitselectro00A/
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=01089
Yeltsin immediately called together his Cabinet and told them, "I have two really bad news items for you. One, God really exists and, two, tomorrow he will destroy the Earth."
Clinton called an emergency meeting of Congress and told them, "I have good news and bad news. God really does exist. The bad news is tomorrow he's going to destroy the Earth."
Gates went back to Microsoft and cheerfully announced, "I have two fantastic announcements. I am one of the three most important people on Earth and The Year 2000 problem is solved."
[Source: The Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, Friday, October 2, 1998 - from our pal Carol Bosley ]
Think of the iMac as an adorable child. So cute, in fact, that he's been spoiled into believing he's exempt from the normal rules of behavior. It's almost hard to forget that if he weren't so precious, he'd be quickly dismissed as nothing more than a little brat with a lot of growing up to do.
The translucent white plastic case with aqua highlights puts a new face on the old-style Mac, housing the monitor together with the motherboard and drives. This integration and look are the iMac's differentiating selling points; beyond that, it's a normal Mac. That is, a Mac hobbled by a lot of short-sighted component choices.
This is the first Macintosh to adopt Intel's USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard for connecting peripherals such as keyboards, joysticks, printers, scanners, and so on. The compact USB keyboard acts as a hub with two connectors, one for the mouse and one for an additional device. Although the main key layout and number keypad are standard-sized, the Esc, function, and arrow keys are quarter-sized and take some getting used to.
The USB mouse takes a step backward in ergonomic design. It looks like a yo-yo, and was designed with no apparent consideration of the shape or function of an adult human hand. It's too small for most anyone with larger hands to use comfortably, and the uniform circular shape is annoying for two reasons: it doesn't fit the shape of a hand and it provides few tacticle cues as to which way is up, making it easy to inadvertently use upside down.
What? No floppy drive?
Even though very few USB peripherals are currently available, Apple left out the SCSI and serial ports that have traditionally been standard issue on the Macintosh. If you want to use your existing Mac printer, you'll have to buy a cable adapter when they become available; otherwise, you'll need access to a networked printer or you'll have to find one of the few USB printers currently available. If you need to save a file to removable media, you'll have to network the iMac (or email the file) to a computer that's better equipped, because Apple didn't see fit to outfit the iMac with a floppy drive.
The 15-inch (13.8-inch viewable area) color monitor integrated into the iMac case is quite good. Though text becomes a little small at the maximum 1,024 by 768 resolution, the display remains sharp and usable, running with an ever-so-slight flicker at a 75-Hz refresh rate. There's no perceptible flicker at 800 by 600, though, because the monitor is refreshed at a rock-solid 95 Hz.
A set of tinny-sounding stereo speakers are set below the display, with two headphone jacks on the right speakers. Line-out and mic-in jacks are mounted on the side of the case, near the connectors for the built-in 56-kbps modem. A 10/100BaseT Ethernet port offers network connectivity.
The iMac's all-in-one design and convenient carrying handle suggest portability, much like the original black-and-white Macs of yesteryear. But at 38 pounds, the iMac isn't a likely travel companion. However, the tight integration, ease of setup, and built-in Ethernet port do make it an ideal system for lugging to LAN parties.
Performance
Using CNET's application-based benchmark, the iMac underperformed relative to its G3-based Mac brethren. This is attributable both to its CPU's low 233-MHz clock speed and its comparatively slow IDE-based hard drive. However, during general applications such as browsing the Internet or word processing, it meets the "fast as you need" standard. Game performance is another matter entirely.
A full version of the now-classic game MDK comes bundled on the iMac, but playing it left me aching for a PC - any PC. Using the frame rate counter with detail set to low, it averaged about 22 frames per second. That's certainly playable, but it's less than fluid. Compare that to a similarly configured 200-MHz Pentium MMX system with no 3D acceleration: The PC runs much smoother, averaging above 30fps, and the game looks better as well.
But how well does it run Quake?
Unaccelerated MacQuake at 512 by 342 resolution, which runs in a sort of partial screen with black borders, churned out a respectable 25.2fps in the demo1 timedemo. At 640 by 480, though, it chugged along at a clunky 18.3fps. Image quality was only fair, however, with the entire screen showing a shimmery effect. Unreal was barely playable without setting the display either to an awful-looking line-doubled mode or an unrealistically low resolution.
MacQuake looked a lot better while taking advantage of the iMac's onboard Rage IIc graphics chip and running in Rave accelerated mode, but the game was barely playable at 16.4fps in 512 by 384 resolution; at 640 by 480, it managed to produce only 10.7fps. This poor performance is due partly to the 2MB of standard video memory, which is unacceptably low for 3D game acceleration. After we upgraded to 6MB of video RAM (at a cost of about $40), MacQuake ran slightly faster at 12fps at 640 by 480. The 512 by 384 scores were unchanged.
However, even upgraded to 6MB, the Rage IIc is nowhere near up to the task of accelerating a game like Unreal. Apple at least could have opted for the already-year-old ATI Rage Pro chip used in its other G3 systems.
If the iMac's graphics subsystem (not just its graphics memory) were somehow upgradeable, then Apple's poor choice of a graphics chip could be forgiven. But the Rage IIc is soldered onto the motherboard and there are no PCI slots whatsoever, so gaming enthusiasts are left with no options. The iMac, in its current configuration, can never be a suitable platform for gaming.
This is especially irksome considering the fact that Mac users do have a good 3D acceleration option: a standalone 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics-based add-in card. To give some perspective, we installed a 6MB Canopus Pure3D card into a Power Mac 7200/120, powered by a 120-MHz PowerPC 601. Even with this much slower processor, MacQuake ran at 640 by 480 resolution at 23.1fps in full "GLQuake" glory.
Sum It Up
By flouting convention, Apple has created a cool-looking PC that no gamer should consider buying. At least not until Apple decides to build an iMac 2, featuring such cool innovations as a floppy drive and at least one expansion slot.
Got a different view? Visit our message boards, and let your voice be heard.
About the author: Ken Feinstein used a Mac exclusively from 1989 to 1995, and he still uses one at home. Tired of outdated technology? Let us know.
Facts:
iMac Apple Computer, 408/996-1010
Suggested list price: $1,299
Ups:
Attractive industrial design; integrated networking; easy setup
Downs:
Poor game performance; no expansion slots; no floppy drive;
limited peripheral availability
Configuration:
233-MHz PowerPC G3 processor; 512K L2 cache; 32MB SDRAM; ATI Rage IIc graphics with 2MB SGRAM; 24X CD-ROM drive; 4GB IDE hard disk; built-in 15-inch monitor; USB keyboard and mouse; 56-kbps modem; 10/100BASET Ethernet port; built-in stereo speakers
[Source: http://www.gamecenter.com/Hardware/Systems/Imac/?dd.cn ]
[UGN Editor's Note: The quotes and content of this article have been verified for reproduction with Amiga Incorporated.]
Midwest Amiga Expo '98 (MAE for short) has traditionally been one of the two largest yearly shows in North America. This year with over 40 exhibitors and vendors, MAE may have just moved up a notch. All I can say is that my utmost compliments go out to show organizers Ronn Black and Dave Pearce (not to forget the rest of the AmiCON crew) who did an excellent job responding to the requests and needs of attendees and vendors as well as dealing with a few unexpected complications.
The show officially didn't start until Saturday morning, but that didn't stop people from showing up beginning early Friday morning for the seminars and classes available during the day. Setup for show vendors/exhibitors started roughly at 5:00pm Friday and wrapped up while the vendor party was just getting underway. Vendor lists are available but I can't verify some of the people or names so to be fair and not exclude anyone, I'm going to deal with the personal side of the show, rather than the technical "vendor x showed up and showed his product x". I figure there will be plenty of those type reports.
The only thing I want to press on product wise was an incredibly cool shirt (which I am currently wearing to work at NASA) for sale by AmiCon which featured "Stop The Madness: Buy an Amiga" featured with a picture of a CD titled "Microsoft World Domination 99 - Total Control Edition 1.0".. Contact them at www.amicon.org to see if you can get your own, I promise you, it's really neat, not to mention making people curious as you walk down the hall...
As of showtime Saturday, since RJ Mical never made it to the show for one reason or another, Amiga Inc's own Bill McEwen gave the keynote at 5:00pm EST (GMT-5). In the keynote address, Bill McEwen gave us news of the upcoming release of OS 3.5... He stated that he couldn't give pinpoint details because OS3.5 is under a heavy Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) and is a joint/cooperative effort between approximately 20 authors with Amiga Inc's Fleecy Moss leading the project.
For the first time ever on the Amiga, you can hear the keynote speech for yourself in .gsm format at http://ugn.amiga.org/events/audio.shtml. This comes to you courtesy of a lot of hard work on the part of the User Group Network's Events Coordinator Bill Borsari (tekmage@amiga.org) and a whole dedicated crew of people who made it happen, overcoming the technical odds.
A few highlights of his speech and the OS 3.5 info include;
One of the more interesting aspects of the new 3.5 was stated that "OS 5.0 will be backwards compatible with 3.5." and that "All of the programs you have that currently run under 3.1 'should' work under 3.5..." From a development standpoint, this is incredible, but curious.
Of the release dates, Bill stated that complications with their initial partner caused delays but they've found a new partner which is quote "much, much better". Unfortunately, this will cause the release of the development machine to be pushed back another 90 to 120 days from the original November release. However! (and this is VERY IMPORTANT) he went on to state that the release of the final machine is still perfectly on track "for 4th Quarter, 1999 release". (Everyone was trying to ask questions at the same time, so not everyone heard him say that part.)
Coming soon is a new Amiga Inc web page (site?) regarding the OS 3.5 and 5.0 progress and upgrades. Mr. McEwen made specific statements to say that they are reorganizing the way they handle press releases and in the future will give exclusives and advanced knowledge to the Amiga Print magazines such as Amiga Format, Amazing Amiga, and Amiga Informer. This is presumably being done to help stop the decline of Amiga print magazines that has been so unfortunate as of late. Get out your pens and start subscribing now if you don't want to miss anything...
There will be more information on OS 3.5 as well as a look at the development machine revealed at Computer 98, in Koeln Germany next month.
It was a great show, in a great location (convention center) and for once, we weren't condemned to live off of hotel food as there was a food court and about 5 restaurants in the convention center itself. The only downside reported by the attendees that I've heard was parking availability and locating the show floor itself in the extremely large center.
Several vendors had new press releases and product out to include a display of NewTek's (www.newtek.com) new "10X" product, a new release of Weblord (www.ringlord.com) a HTML processing utility, and the User Group Network (ugn.amiga.org) itself who announced not only a new website, but a new focus, and partnerships as well.
You could hear developers and attendees alike discussing Carl Sassenrath's newly released REBOL programming language and the possibilities it opens up to Amiga online designers.
During the developer meeting with ICOA Representative, Kermit Woodall alerted us a few surprises as they announced a new refocusing of effort, a new upcoming website (at www.amiga.net), and a very much streamlined management/committee organization.
"We're no longer going to operate where things might sit in a committee with no progress." reported Mr. Woodall. "We will absolutely have to institute a way for things to get done efficiently and if there's no progress being made on a project [or team], we'll have to find a way to make it happen." He also went into depth on a new exciting project (the brainchild of AI's own Darreck Lisle) to help developers protect against software piracy.
After Dark....
After the show floor closes at an Amiga show is not the time to simply get in the car and go home. On the contrary, it's usually the best time to meet, greet, and mingle with the developers, owners, and representatives from the top Amiga efforts at the show.
Thursday Night (before the show) there were several people who gathered into the "Big Bar on 2" at the Hyatt Regency for cocktails and conversations. Of major interest to most of the people present were the prototype boards that Jens Schoenfeld of Individual Computers (www.jshoenfeld.com) brought to display. Really neat stuff!
Friday night, there was a setup/developer party to include "sumo wrestling", free munchies and beer, and a GREAT live band. I suppose the highlight of the evening is when Amiga Inc's User Group Relations Coordinator, Darreck Lisle and Former Amiga Inc Engineer, Joe Torre were set to square off in the giant latex sumo outfits. Without warning, Joe turned to face his opponent, then spun around and ran off through the hotel attracting a truly miraculous amount of attention. To keep Darreck from being disappointed, Rick Giannini (AsimWare) volunteered to step forward and pummel him without the aid of a sumo suit. To quote Rick "Suit? I don't need no stinking suit..."
Saturday night, the party resumed at a local hotspot called Jillian's. For those of you who have never seen a Jillian's, it's the consummate sports bar with pool tables, lots of large Televisions, lots of loud music, and crowds galore. About 100 or so attended the party and tinkered with the Televisions putting an Amiga up on them to run music mods and video effects through some sort of new box (I didn't get a look at it) that Darreck had bought earlier in the day. We convened to the video arcade where 8 of us went head to head in a game or 5 of Rush (a road racing game). Show organizer, Ronn Black repeatedly humiliated the other 7 of us with his victories although some suspect that he had the home-field advantage.
The evening at Jillian's couldn't have ended better, as we all gathered round a giant 60" TV to watch South Park. Most then reconvened back at the hotel for the traditional selection of Canadian beverages as supplied by AsimWare's own Rick Giannini.
Alas, Sunday for yours truly was cut short as we had to catch a flight at about noon (2 hours into the show) but the fun and excitement will easily last me until the next known show (Gateway Amiga Show in St. Louis) in March 1999.
Enjoy, and sorry if you couldn't make it... You missed a lot!
Wayne Hunt
Executive Director
User Group Network - http://ugn.amiga.org
"Users helping Users"
Fleecy Moss: Hey there Blasters 8-) My name is fleecy moss and I am the strategic projects manager for Amiga Inc. Married, 3 kids, lover of food, wine, beer, sports (proper sports) and nature.
Amiga Blast: Now we'll start with the hot questions. Gateway bought Amiga almost 18 months ago, but we are still waiting for something. We have had a lot of "rumors", and a lot of promises, but still no facts. What can you say about this?
Fleecy Moss: It has been a tough time for the Amiga community, users, developers, retailers and the press. However, AInc was true to its word. It would only say something when it had something to say. Being a research and development company, we have been doing just that, but Research always comes before Development. AInc has spent the past year and a half researching the future, talking to marketing experts, chip companies, software houses, electronics companies and a host of others in order to map out a future for the Amiga that ensures we never again have to go through the last four years. With the hiring of Allan, Bill and myself, we see Amiga Inc moving towards the end of the Research phase and more into the development phase. Now we know what we are going to do and how we are going to do it, we should hopefully be able to share this with the community.
Amiga Blast: Why is Amiga Int. speaking about a "SuperChip" instead of taking the (more reassuring) path of PPC?
Fleecy Moss: PPC is a fine desktop, workstations and server chip. It gives great performance and at a competitive price. However, the current Amiga market is based upon a computing usage model that was created in the 1980s, where computers were special function boxes that fulfilled a specific set of professional services. As we approach the new millenium, this is changing. The universal language of digital information is making a microprocessor the common element in everything from washing machines, videos, games consoles, TVs to the more usual computers. We are approaching the time where the current differences will be washed away and there will be one common term, the digital device or appliance, which can be anything that processes digital information. Devices that are either fixed or open function, which can be linked together into an intelligent matrix, where the distributed processing power is seen as a set of resources and the devices present a set if requirements..
So I agree, for the old Amiga market, of just desktops, workstations and servers, then PPC makes sense. However, we are after a much wider market, but one in which devices across the scale speak the same langage and run the same code. For that we need a processor that offers great price/performance/functionality across the whole range of devices. This is what the superchip offers.
Amiga Blast: What about the OS partners?
Fleecy Moss: We have talked to many companies and looked at many OSs. Our first task was to get rid of any that were bloated, monolithic, inflexible or overtly complicated. Simplicity, efficiency and expandibility were our guiding principles. Our second task was to look at those that remainded and see which company most shared our excitement about our vision of the future, which provided the best possible kernal and which offered the best support. A favourite has emerged and we hope that we can come to an agreement very quickly.
Amiga Blast: Why are you so mysterious, speaking about the new OS and the new SuperChip? We want to know more now!
Fleecy Moss: So do our competitors ;-) Remember that the market we are looking at owning is a conglomeration of existing markets, desktop, home, CE, net etc. These markets already have strong leaders with their own strategies and paths for survival. We want our announcement to be customers phoning them up asking why their products can't do what an Amiga can do, not reading rumours and news about it on the net or in a newsgroup. Whilst we understand the frustration of the Amiga community, they also have to understand that we are trying to bring ourselves back from the dead and then establish ourselves as a leader. We will try to get information out as we can, but we want this to be a well kept surprise - good for us and bad for our competitors.
Amiga Blast: What about the "power" of this SuperChip? What will be able to do with this new chip? Sony is going to release Playstation 2 which has incredible processing powers. Will we be able to "emulate" :-) it?
Fleecy Moss: As much as we would like to share the power of the superchip with you, we are under legal obligation to say nothing. There are no plans to release a PSX2 for at least 2 years but the most powerful new console, the Sega Dreamcast is really nothing more than a cut down high end PC. There should be little problem in emulating it - the better question would be Why would we want to when our games will be so much better? ;-)
Amiga Blast: What can you tell us about the "Classic" Amiga? How long will it be supported? What can you say to users owning a PPC card?
Fleecy Moss: Well, by now you should have heard the news from MAE about the OS3.5 project moving ahead. We see the classic Amiga as having a good 12-36 month life time, as both developers and users transition over to the new Amiga machines. That is a long time to go without an RTG board, a sound board or a PPC co-processor. Developers will be writing new applications and games targeted at this machine configurations, confident now that OS3.5 will provide full support for them.
To people who bought and will buy PPC co-processor cards, I say well done and I hope you enjoy being able to run all this new, enhanced software.
Amiga Blast: We just got another "rumor", about a new AmigaOS 3.5 to be released soon. Can you please give us more info?
Fleecy Moss: We will be doing OS3.5. We are finalising out sourcing contracts with almost 20 Amiga developers and companies and as soon as we can, we will open up our OS3.5 webpages to the community. We will also release full details to the print press, so make sure you buy or subscribe to your local magazines.
Amiga Blast: Is there any special thing you'd like to say to Amiga Blast readers?
Fleecy Moss: I would like to say thanks for sticking with the Amiga. I am an Amiga user, have been for 7 years and am a proud member of our community. I know the last 2 years have been frustrating beyond belief but be assured that news we hope to release in the period between now and christmas will show you that your faith in us has not been misplaced.
Please support OS3.5, please act now to upgrade your machines with graphics cards, sound cards, PPC co-processors and CD-ROM drives and please continue to buy existing and new SW products. This investment will be secure since our next generation OS will ship with an OS3.5 emulator.
......and please, remember that piracy is a crime. Support the developers who have supported us.
Note: This interview was submitted on 10/10/98.
Copyright 1998 Amiga Blast Web Magazine
[CUCUG Editor's Note: A similar interview given to Amiga Flame can be found at http://www.geocities.com/~amigaflame/amiafai.htm ]
After some discussions on Saturday night in the bar, I went home and wrote up some notes. They may not be written in a very coherent style as they were produced between 4-6am on Sunday morning 17th May 1998 so that they could be presented to Jeff Schindler later that day. I also pass on apologies to those who attended my presentation later that day as I had lost my preparation time and was pretty tired, however I made it up as I went along and it seemed to go ok!
When reading these notes please take into consideration that these were some suggestions put forward, they do not necessarily represent the way that anything is being implemented. These notes were well received and appear to have set in motion various behind the scenes initiatives, and while the credit is not down to just this note, we have seen many of the points being addressed, namely:
The document is presented here just for some historical interest.
- Mick Tinker, 6 October 1998 -
The problem
The current announcement has effectively killed the Amiga software developer, hardware developer and dealer market by removing the future for existing Amiga users. This will leave no support for the new machine.
There is no support for the original publicly stated progression to PPC/68k systems.
The interim (OS4) solution is largely a developer platform and has too short a life for many retail customers. The important sales are to developers and the wider public domain developers and to the technology fans that are looking to have the latest product. Of course there will be good sales because it is supplied by Amiga Inc and has a direct link with the future, however for the market will not survive on those sales alone (1-10k units against 100k Classic owner/buyers).
There will be no more software development so in 18 months time the Amiga applications will be too far behind the required standard.
Developers will have no funds to finance the porting and new developments required to support the new platform.
No matter what any of us think about the announcement, we cannot turn the clock back and therefore will have to find a solution that rebuilds customer confidence.
A way has to be found to bring along the whole developer and dealer community.
The Solution
Access, Phase 5 and H&P held a long discussion session in the bar and are well on the way to agreeing an interim solution. Amiga Inc., have said that they agree with the points that had been discussed and would agree subject to:
The plan
Access, P5, H&P and Amiga Inc., make a press release stating that we intend to continue the development of the Classic Amiga platform, independently of Amiga Inc. [note: this should be extended to include other developers, dealers, etc., who are behind the plan]
P5 & H&P have agreed a unified way of implementing PPC in the future - P5 will produce the hardware and H&P will supply WarpUP and developer tools to make the transition to PPC Amiga's quicker, easier and to the new unified architecture.
The dealer, developer and user community will be encouraged to back the plan as a "community lead" initiative.
Amiga Inc state that OS4 is a developer platform for the new generation machine (with interim Classic Amiga compatibility - Siamese PCI), not a replacement for the Classic Amiga. The OS5 machine is not a migration path but a new generation machine, which will have a strong support route for moving Amiga applications over to it. Amiga Inc strongly support the Classic Amiga and will release OS3.1 to H&P to carry out the development of OS3.5 and future generations of the OS.
Access Innovation look at adding support for a 32-bit PPC interface on the Siamese PCI (InsideOut) so that a single machine supports development for 68k, PPC & OS5. Ideally the basic connector and pin out should be compatible with the BoXeR (except the BoXeR supports 64 -bit data) so that the number of different PPC boards doesn't have to be too great.
The specification for Amiga OS 3.5 will have to be basically agreed. I would suggest that this includes bug fixes, support for things like large HD's, internet support and improvements to the user interface [perhaps Magellan for the front-end as the latest version has 'personality' modules that allow things like a kids interface, a professional interface, etc.]. This must be ready to ship by November 1998. [we will have to discuss if future versions are viable]
Dealers will support the initiative because it helps to maintain sales, perhaps increasing them because of the clear development strategy and the invigorated cooperation in the community.
The new processor company produce and release the source code for a compiler (code generator), this is supplied to H&P who will integrate the compiler in their Storm development environment. Siamese Systems will develop and supply an Amiga compatibility API (Siamese PCI implements much of the Amiga API on the host and will be able to supply this element quicker and with less overall development effort). The Storm IDE will allow quick and simple movement of applications between 68k, PPC and new CPU. [note: the releasing of this compiler code is the one part that Amiga Inc., were uncertain about]
Dealers supporting the new movement will help to pull along software and hardware products from developers and help to continue the development of software products, ensuring that upgraded products keep pace with developments and will provide a good pool of applications for the new machines.
The H&P IDE will allow late movement of applications from Classic Amiga to the new machine (there may be some performance loss because of the portability API, however this will be relatively minor because of the substantial performance improvement of the CPU), allowing virtually a single source code version to compile for the 3 processors.
While supporting and profiting from their current products developers will be encouraged to develop new, next generation, applications using the "developer machines".
Amiga Inc drop the reference to OS4 and call it "development machines". OS5 is renamed to something else. The apparent progression from OS3.1->OS4->OS5 is confusing to the current Amiga owner because it suggests that their migration path is to an incompatible hardware and software upgrade, rather than to a totally new mega performance machine. They are different platforms. Classic Amiga OS version would be desirable - Amiga Inc may release the interface code for their new OS which may be useful to give a common appearance, while targeting the future Amiga's as media creation tools]
This plan is designed to keep active development going for 2 years with a 1 year overlap with the new machine, leaving developers and users happy that they have a safe platform from which they can sit back and assess the new machine rather than having to jump over the edge committing to a machine that they have not seen (and therefore moving to other platforms in the interim).
Amiga Inc., will supply design information on the new processor as soon as possible and perhaps sample boards so that we can look at developing our own motherboards for OS5. [we are for example interested in developing a future replacement for our Access kiosk board]
Conclusion
Hardware developer, software developers and dealers have an active market.
There will be active developers and applications will be current versions when they are moved to the new machine.
Developers will have cashflow to allow them to develop their next generation applications directly for the new machine.
There will be a larger active Amiga customer base available to move to the new machine, rather than trying to claw them back.
[Source: Amiga.org News ]
CUCUG Editor's comment: What was the result of the announcement at the World of Amiga show in London? Amiga Inc. "Osborned" the Amiga. Whether the intent was deliberate or a gross managerial oversight of computer history is still hotly debated. However, the body blow dealt to the Amiga community's business and enthusiasm has been palpable. It is indeed frustrating to note that it took Gateway over a year of Amiga ownership and passing judgement on revised business plans, numbering into the teens, to "Kickoff the Future." It took Mick Tinker two hours in the middle of the night to address the problems of today. It's taken another four months for Amiga Inc. to officially allow others to do the work they should have started themselves back in mid 1997. The announcement of OS3.5, albeit welcome, has the unsettling feel about it of "Too little too late." Requests that credit be given Amiga Inc. for finally doing "the Right Thing" are like asking that the cigarette companies be given credit for putting warning labels on their products. Choices performed with a gun at your head are hardly praiseworthy. It's mere acquiescence. Similarly, Amiga Inc.'s request that we support our developers is like the sentence heard right after, "Gee, I didn't know the gun was loaded." Fine leadership, Gentlemen. But, as Dennis Miller says, "That's just my opinion. I could be wrong."]
The September 17, 1998 "Social/Swap" meeting began with the traditional introduction of officers, the Help Squad. President Lewis then asked Amiga SIG Chairman John Lynn to fill us in on Amiga News.
John said, "Amiga Inc isn't giving us anything to go on. We're getting pretty discouraged." In John's estimation, "They've got three months to put up or shut up."
Mike Latinovich gave then gave a more positive slant on the news. Mike noted that the Columbus show is coming up and CUCUG is raffling the A4000/Toaster. Mike said it had just been reported that R.J. Mical's 1000 would be given away as a door prize at the show and that R. J. will be the keynote speaker there. As an aside Kevin Hisel noted that the odds in our raffle are much better than the State's lottery. Mike went into more details of what will be going on with the show preparations. Jim Lewis said we need an official note taker at the Columbus show." Both he and Mike stated, "Anybody is welcome to go."
Kevin Hisel then discussed a little bit about the mysterious OS3.5.
Turning to the Macintosh side of things, Richard Rollins said that more iMacs have been sold than any new model ever introduced. The estimates are that 800,000 to a million will be sold by the end of the year. Richard said that there would also be a new consumer machine by the second quarter. On the OS front he said he believed that OS8.5 would be out by the end of the month. Returning to the iMac, Richard reported that there is some talk about Apple out-sourcing the production of iMacs in order to meet demand.
On the local scene, Richard said that CompUSA is coming to Champaign in the Market Place Mall. He and Jim Lewis said that Simplified Computers, in the old Micro Resales building, is not really an Apple dealer.
Richard said that the influence of the iMac is causing some developers to rethink their positions on Apple support.
When asked, Richard stated that the modem problems with the iMac turned out to be a scripting problem. A new script is now available which fixes the problem.
There was a general discussion of Steve Jobs and the job he is doing for Apple. One Amiga member lamented that Amiga Inc has no one of his caliber. Richard reported that Apple stock currently is selling at 37 1/8th with a high of 40 5/8ths. He said the stock is still considered under valued.
"The new G3 Powerbooks are great," Richard said. "Very fast, very stable." Kevin Hopkins relayed the fact that Apple has said the 14.1" screen will now be standard on all Powerbooks. Jim Lewis noted that several manufacturers in the PC market are releasing laptops with 15.1 TFT screens for under $4000. Laptops are really coming into their own. Jim said that one the extreme end of the scale, for around $13,000, 50" TFT monitors are available. Jim said that there are always bad pixels on laptop screens. The problem has always been reducing the flaws to the point of getting an acceptable, tolerable number of bad pixels on the screen. The problem seems to be nearing resolution.
Jim then turned the discussion to the price/performance of Intel Celeron chips with cache memory, as he had recently purchased one. Jim said the value is that it contains the excellent Intel math unit.
Jim then asked if there were any other Questions or Answers. With a straight face, Mike Latinovich said he had tried to call the BBS the other day and couldn't get in. Everybody cracked up.
Kevin Hopkins noted that the Cybervision 64/3D is no longer being made and asked if Phase 5 is going to make a replacement for it? Mike Latinovich said there was the Cybervision PPC, but if you don't want a PPC, you're kind of out of luck.
After the formal part of the meeting was over, everyone broke up into discussion groups or watched Emil Cobb and Richard Rollins play with Emil's QuickTake 100 camera. As they milled around, everyone seemed to have a cupcake in their hand.
The September meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, September 22, 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, Jim Huls, Richard Rollins, Emil Cobb, Kevin Hopkins, Mark Landman, and Kevin Hisel.
Jim Lewis: Jim's review of the meeting was, "Good social." Jim said the Park District provided him with a form to report on the room condition. He said he did fill it out. Kevin Hopkins bought up the point that we should pay the room rent for next year now in order to lock in our meeting dates. Jim said to email him with a reminder to do that.
Jim noted that the MAE show is coming up. He noted raffle ticket checks coming in. Jim said there is a blurb on AWD about the raffle. He said the guys at Ohio excited about it. There was even a write up in Amazing concerning it. Jim said that this is the third show for the Columbus folks and it is growing.
Jim said we need to reaccess our options on a local level after the first of the year.
Kevin Hisel commented on Amiga Inc's web site content (or lack thereof). There was a discussion of future direction and focus of the club.
John Lynn: John said, "Cupcakes were good, but I was disappointed by the turn out." Only 17 members attend. John said we need to advertise.
John expressed his thanks for the acquisition of the Flyer. He said hopefully he would be able to demo it by January or February.
John said Mark Landman will be showing Real 3D and Morph Plus to the Amiga SIG in October.
John stated that he was going to try to bring in his two camera set-up again.
Mike Latinovich: Mike said, "Cupcakes were good. Food is good." Speaking to the upcoming MAE show, Mike said, "We'll have fun in Ohio. It'll be a social event; people paying their last respects. Most of the hard core Amiga IRC people are all PC guys now."
Mike reported that the tickets for the raffle are going well. About 80 people so far have responded from the web page. Kevin Hisel asked about arranging a vanity address @cucug.org for those joining in 1999. Mike said it could probably be arranged.
Mike concluded his segment by saying we need to work on getting our local attendance up.
Jim Huls: Jim reported that Corel has sent us Draw 8 and wants a review in 90 days. Mark Landman said he'd look at it. Jim had a few other mailed in items.
Richard Rollins: Richard began his segment by saying, "Jim, you've been missed." He also said, "You're all welcome for the cupcakes."
Turning to business, Richard pondered, "Not sure what we'll have next month for the Mac SIG."
Richard then talked about the Japanese Powerbook versus a U.S. modem he had to deal with on one of his installations.
He then discussed receipt of spam and his distaste for it.
Briefly turning to Apple business, Richard noted that 800,000 to one million iMacs would be sold by the end of the year. He said schools are buying entire labs of iMacs. "Encouraging." Jim Lewis said.
Emil Cobb: Emil reported that we had 17 members at the last meeting. He also offered, "I'll see if I can't come up with a demo."
Kevin Hopkins: Kevin distributed the mail to the appropriate Board members.
He reported on how the removal of the membership banner from the Amiga News page of the AWD for the raffle banner had negatively effected new memberships.
Kevin noted the need for new membership cards for 1999. He also suggested that we seriously think about upgrading the quality of the membership card itself.
Kevin presented the requested newsletters that are to be taken and distributed at the Ohio show.
Kevin closed by reporting that club membership now stands at 595.
Mark Landman: Mark addressed the topic of programs at the meetings. He mentioned he had been playing with QuickTime VR. He said, "I'll do one on it."
As Treasurer, Mark reported that he had opened another CD. He said he will open more, on a staggered ladder of maturity, as we had discussed. Mark gave a report on total club liquid assets.
Mark concluded by saying he would be unable to go to the Ohio show.
Kevin Hisel: Kevin reminded everyone that our Annual meeting is in three months. Elections will be coming up then.
Kevin stated that he was "sick of looking at the A500" that was being stored at his house. It was decided to sell it at the Ohio show. Kevin said that the raffle A4000 should likewise "leave tonight." He also had an OS3.1 package and keycaps for the club's A4000 that needed to be taken care of.
Kevin discussed the arrangement with the Kagi service. When Kevin Hopkins pointed out that the addition of their percentage would cause the cost of mailing newsletters out of the country to exceed our dues charge, Kevin said we should provide only the email version of the newsletter for international members so as not to have to raised the dues rate.
Kevin reported that John Lynn had acquired the Flyer.
Kevin announced that Tokyo Trading Company was a new banner sponsor on the web site. When asked by Mike for a web site and BBS reported, Kevin said the AWD was running at about 80,000 hits a day. BBS usage however was dead. (Will this joke never die?)
[CUCUG Editor's Note: As a final note, Gateway has moved its corporate headquarters from North Sioux City, South Dakota to San Diego, California. For want of space, I am unable to include an article published by Forbes Digital Tool (www.forbes.com) on September 28, 1998. The article covers Gateway's "country stores," the effect of falling PC prices on Gateway's core market, a behind the scenes look at the Your;)Ware program, Gateway's investements (Amiga isn't mentioned), future laptop profitability, and Gateway's web business. All in all, an interesting article. One quote I found telling, though, was this: "...the company seems much more enamored of its big home entertainment computers, called the Destination series. This sector has not prospered, while Dell has torn up the track by emphasizing its servers and business service." I direct your attention to http://www.forbes.com/tool/html/98/sep/0928/feat.htm ]
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: