News Common PC Mac Amiga CUCUG
The April 20 gathering will be one of our split SIG meetings. Jack Melby will be giving the Macintosh SIG a closer look at ViaVoice, IBM's speech recognition software. The PC SIG is a bit of a mystery. I'm sure the WinSIGgers have something up their collective sleeves. They just haven't divulged what it is.
We'd also like to thanks renewing members Don Shaffer, William B. and Nancy Smith, and Jim D. Hughey.
We welcome any kind of input or feedback from members. Have an article or review you'd like to submit? Send it in. Have a comment? Email any officer you like. Involvement is the driving force of any user group. Welcome to the group.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has ruled that Microsoft Corporation violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by using its position in the Web browser market to "the detriment of competitors." The judge also found that Microsoft could be liable under state anti- competition laws. Judge Jackson must now schedule hearings later this year to consider remedies for Microsoft's actions, which could include structural changes to the company, business restrictions, or an actual breakup of the company. The only major point on which Judge Jackson disagreed with the government's case was that Microsoft's marketing arrangements with other companies did not ultimately exclude Netscape's browser software from the worldwide browser market. Microsoft has repeatedly said it would appeal any ruling against it; experts estimate the case could easily drag out to the year 2002. Microsoft stock was down nearly 15 percent in anticipation of Judge Jackson's announcement, dragging the NASDAQ index down 7.63 percent in its largest single- day point decline in history. [GD]
(3/28/00) Apple may ship 800MHz Power Macs before the end of the year, with
1GHz Macs coming in the first quarter of 2001, using a new reduced power
version of the G4 chip with an integrated 256k Level-2 cache as well as
support for 64- and 128-bit MaxBus, backside caches of up to 4Mb, and a
second AltiVec vector-processing unit, according to MacUser UK.
Motorola sources are now reporting that the first fully functional G4e
prototypes to be demonstrated outside the company have recently rolled off the
production line.
Running at 600-700MHz, these processors sport more than double the performance
of current G4s with a number of very attractive features:
In fact, if progress continues at this rate, we may see the first G4e-based
PowerMacs shipping this Summer, rather than the previously projected
early-Autumn estimates.
The Amiga 2000 show in St. Louis (March 31 - April 2) may turn out to have
been a watershed event. Below is a synthesis and synopsis of the information
that came out of the show from a myriad of sources.
Amiga's President Bill McEwen has made it clear he understands the strength
of the Amiga is its community. The thrust of his plans aims at building a
new community with even greater strength than before by uniting three
separate communities. He wants to unite the current Amiga community, bring
about an alliance with the Linux community, and ally with the Java
developer's community. To this end, at Amiga 2000 and in the intervening
period since, we have seen overtures to the factions in the existing Amiga
community: Haage and Partner (the PPC Amiga and original OS factions) and
the Phoenix developers group (the QNX faction). The announced partnerships
with Corel and Red Hat on the Linux front. Finally, the most recent
announcement of Amiga's plans to embrace Sun's Java technology as the
software platform for some forthcoming new Amiga products.
On the OS front, Amiga is pursuing a two pronged approach: hosted and
native. In carpenter's terms, one could look at this as a "veneer" and
"hardwood" approach. The developer box will be Tao/Elate hosted on top of
Linux, to get things rolling for developers. The final consumer box will be
native Tao/Elate, not Linux, though, of course, anyone could dual or
multi-boot Tao/Elate, Linux, and QNX.
The core of the new Amiga is Elate.
The developer machine specification is a K6-2 500Mhz, 64MB, nVidia Geforce
256 video card, Sound Blaster PCI 16, Linux and Elate - cheap, runs the Tao
system very well. In the $750 range, the developer machine should be
available in the summer. The consumer system should be out before the end
of the year.
Reporting on the Banquet at Amiga2K, Roger Wyatt wrote "Bill McEwen's after
dinner talk and demonstration was stunning in its sweep, complexity, and
scope." Here are a few highlights:
Newtek has placed its source code for the Toaster and Flyer into Open
Source status. See www.toaster.amiga.org for details.
Greenboy of the Phoenix Group joined Amiga's Gary Peake on stage to shake
hands and announce that there was no split in the Amiga community. Phoenix
and Amiga are working together.
Sun is a strategic partner of Amiga. Bill McEwen: "Our success will be the
embrace of Java." Expect to see many Java apps for Amiga.
Red Hat is another strategic partner. So is Corel. McEwen stated that there
were 18 different versions of Linux now, and by the end of the year there
would be 40 different versions available. Fragmentation is a growing
problem in the Linux market. Amiga will be the common consumer application
layer for 26 different versions of Linux. The new Amiga developer
environment will run on top of a Red Hat Linux base and foundation. Amiga
will be the common consumer interface for Corel Linux apps. Thus Amiga will
provide Java and Linux with a common interface. Amiga will be extensible
running on cell phones to servers.
This is a list of Amiga companies developing for the new Amiga: Epic, ACT,
DCE, Met@box, Scala, Amiga Development, Titan, Haage & Partner, Digital
Images, Hyperion, Crystal Software. They are porting/developing 117 titles
for the Tao based New Amiga OS.
There will be a new version of Scala for the new OS.
Espial is providing an 800k Java web browser for New Amiga. It's probably
Escape. Escape v4.0 is a web browser that delivers big functionality in a
small footprint of less than 800KB. Supporting advanced Internet standards
including HTML 4.0, forms, frames, tables, applets, images, JavaScript 1.4,
SSL v.2.0/3.0, DHTML, DOM, CSS... Escape v4.0 offers the most extensible
plug-in capability of any browser available to the embedded market. Popular
multimedia browser plug-ins including Real Networks G2 media player,
Macromedia Flash, MP3, QuickTime, MIDI and more can be supported by Espial
Escape v4.0. Escape 4.0 also integrates support for Sun's JMF (Java Media
Framework), enabling it to load audio or visual media.
Three animators from Disney donated conceptual designs for the look of the
new hardware reference designs. They are beautiful (or gruesome, depending
on your point of view). Pictures of them will be going up soon on the Amiga
website. Disney used over 500 Amigas to produce computer animation for
their films. The Disney animators, who submitted new hardware reference
designs, were Patrick Roberts, Michael Daugherty, and Arthur Argote. They
are lead designers for the new Disney movie "Dinosaurs".
Amiga is aligned with an array of consumer electronic firms including Sony,
JVC, and others.
Other long term strategic partners: Motorola, LSI, Criterion, and ARM.
There will be an upcoming announcement regarding Amiga participation in a
global ISP alliance.
In the weeks to come Tech Head Stories will provide both in-depth analysis
of the Amiga announcements in streaming video, text, and graphic formats.
If Bill McEwen's Banquet speech sounded a lot like that of Jim Collas from
last year that's because Bill wrote Jim's speech.
Amiga is aiming at two markets: the digital adventurer - an extension of
the current Amiga market, and then the Domestic Digital Habitat, for those
who hate computers but love devices.
Amiga has no UAE or other emulation in current development. Although, they
are talking to 2 or 3 companies or groups who have different approaches.
In his report on Amiga2K, Joe Obrin quotes Bill McEwen as saying, "This is
not a PC company. There is no PC money in this company. That's the first
time that has happened - ever. The people we got our money from 'got it'."
McEwen and his two partners - Fleecy Moss and Randy Hughes - hold 70% of
Amiga Inc., with their Venture Capital investors (arranged by Francis
Charig of Tao) holding the other 30%. Even those investors are not
committed to the PC. So, for the first time, Amigans are in charge of the
Amiga.
Fleecy Moss and Bill McEwen had met in an airport, when both were on their
way to meet their new boss, Jeff Schindler, at Gateway Amiga for the first
time. Fleecy and Bill hit it off immediately, finding that they shared a
vision about where the future of computing would be. Ironically, neither
Fleecy nor Bill ever became regular employees of Gateway. They were both
contractors during their entire association with the company.
Fleecy and Bill, while sometimes diametrically opposed on some topics, are
great friends and are not constantly "butting heads", although they don't
always agree on everything.
The third partner in Amino Development - the company that was eventually to
buy Amiga - was Randy Hughes. Randy met Bill and Fleecy when he was working
at QNX. Randy also lost his job because of Gateway Amiga, when Collas
reversed Schindler's decision to use QNX as the kernel, and to deploy a
Linux kernel instead (of course, no kernel ever did get used).
When Bill, Randy, and Fleecy formed Amino, their only intent was to buy
Amiga. This was the whole purpose of their company.
McEwen assured the crowd at the banquet that "We will always be the owners
of the Amiga. The three of us will always be the major stockholders, and
will remain in control of the company".
Jim Collas has nothing to do with AI and doesn't have one dime invested in
it. He has formed a new business incubator called IdeaEdge Ventures based
in San Diego with Rick LeFaivre, Tom Schmidt, and Ted Waitt, among others.
He had the chance and declined.
The first issue that was addressed at the Banquet was the dealers. Amiga
had previously not had a warehouse and distribution center in the US, so
McEwen established one. He also has made a commitment to lower prices
worldwide for Amiga products, and consistent international pricing. As an
example, the Amiga 1200 will now retail for $200 US everywhere.
Amiga is working together with their dealers to make the Amiga 1200 retail
for less than $200. Unfortunately, there is no design database left for the
Amiga 1200. This was known for some time, but now the last silicon
fabrication line which would produce technology with this large a feature
size is shut down. This means that it is no longer possible to produce the
AGA chip set. When the current stock of A1200s is depleted, there can be no
more. There are 17 thousand A1200s left in Amiga's inventory, but only
1,000 of those are NTSC.
At the $200 price point, Amiga is loosing money on the A1200s, but they
want to keep the community as strong as possible for the launch of the new
product. An A1200 with a PPC accelerator will be able to run the new Amiga
OS.
Fletcher Haug has been brought on as the editor of Amiga World, which will
be the official publication of the Amiga company. This publication will be
available both in print and in downloadable form. It will focus on real
news, not rumors. In particular, it will serve as a vehicle for Amiga to
make official announcements about products and plans.
Anti Gravity Systems has acquired the rights to the BoXeR - lock, stock and
barrel - from Access Innovations, as of March 31. Mick Tinker, the original
designer of the Boxer, has joined the Anti Gravity team as Director of
BoXeR Development, along with Paul Le Surf from Blittersoft who was
assisting in bringing the Boxer to market. AI wants the BoXeR as a
transitional machine and is willing to "help" if they can. Expect to see it
released sooner rather than later. The Boxer is just the first project with
Anti Gravity Products that Amiga is interested in. The relationship with
Anti Gravity is a long term relationship. It is anticipated that Anti
Gravity Product will be producing machines capable of running the new Amiga
OS for some time to come. So, Anti Gravity will be at least one
manufacturer that the Amiga enthusiast can turn to for a purely Amiga box.
Dan Lutz from Anti Gravity gave a very short speech at the Banquet
describing the status of the Boxer project, which appears to be entering
final test.
The dearth of PPC accelerators for the Amiga was also discussed. McEwen
stated that Amiga is working very closely with MetaBox to produce the new
AmiJoe PPC accelerator for the A1200, and that this accelerator was assured
of being able to run the new OS. McEwen also stated that Amiga was working
with MetaBox to bring the price of this accelerator in at under $200. Where
possible, Amiga is now working with third party developers to help drive
the cost of third party products down.
Amiga is also working closely with DCE, who acquired the rights to produce
Phase 5's old designs. McEwen said that among steps they would take would
be to guarantee runs for third parties like DCE. The DCE accelerators are
also certain to run the new OS when it arrives.
Because of the situation with the Amiga custom chip sets and the impending
arrival of the new machine, Amiga will pursue no new development on the
current platform. But, a properly accelerated classic Amiga can be used in
conjunction with the new OS.
In addition to the exciting technology which Tao represents, they bring
along with them their various impressive technology partners. Tao's
partners include Motorola, Sony, Sun, JVC, LSI, and Criterion. McEwen
stated that every company on this list is now in active discussions with
Amiga, because of Amiga's relationship to Tao.
The main reason that the new Amiga OS will not run on a 68K is that
Motorola is an investor in Tao, Amiga's OS partner. Motorola is attempting
to move all of their customers away from the 68K family of processors, and
has requested that Tao not to develop their OS for the 68K. Tao is already
available for various other processors, including the M-core (Motorola's
new embedded CPU of choice), the MIPs, Power PC, the ARM, the Strong Arm,
and the x86.
Unofficially, the new Amiga may arrive by the end of summer 2000. When it
is released, the goal is to have more applications available concurrent
with system release than for the release of any other new platform in
history. By the end of the year, there are 127 applications projected to be
released for the new machine.
(4/13/2000) - Since the destruction of Gateway's Amiga Inc., several people
in the community have expressed a deep-rooted curiousity about where Jim
Collas and crew disappeared to. Thanks to the group from Amiganet's #Amiga
channel, we've located not only Collas, but Tom Schmidt and Rick LeFaivre
as well. Of particular interest is the fact that with one exception, none
of them even mentions having worked with/for Amiga Inc. The exception is Tom
Schmidt (What an irony).
Nordic Global Inc. is happy to announce the first public release, version
1.0c, of "Miami Deluxe", our new high-end TCP/IP router stack for Internet
and LAN access (short: "MiamiDx").
MiamiDx is the successor of our successful "Miami" software, the most widely
installed TCP/IP Internet software for AmigaOS, and winner of the "Amiga
Achievement Award International" in 1998 for its functionality and ease
of use.
Compared to Miami, MiamiDx provides the following additional features:
The easiest way to register or upgrade is directly from your Amiga, after
installing MiamiDx, using our one-step "QuickRegistration" scheme, paying
by credit card. Registrations are also available from our web site and
by email.
Holger Kruse
(4/10/2000) - Talks between Haage & Partner and Metabox concerning the 68k
emulation have not been finished sadly, which still delays production and
delivery of the cards.
Today (4/11/2000) Cloanto have made three of their Amiga commercial
programs free for private, non-commercial and non-profit uses:
(08 Apr 2000) - The latest incarnation of the V3 Portal for all users of
Voyager has been released. This is not just one update, but three - and
then some! Voyager 3.1 is out, with a zillion more bugs fixed and
suggestions implemented. Read a full list of changes and download the
archive from Vapor UK FTP or from one of the many mirror sites. VFlash 1.2
available, for all your Flash needs! The PPC module is complete, but please
install ppc.library 46.31 first Vpdf plugin released - view Adobe Acrobat
(PDF) files as embedded objects!
Purpose
"fat95" is a DOS handler to mount and use Win95/98 volumes just as if they were
AMIGA volumes.
System requirements
And finally...
Best regards to H.J. "Buccaneer" Pinkert for spending hours on testing and
bug reporting!!! Thanks also for his FATMOCYB: mountlist.
I have been enjoying "fat95" for some time already as part of my private
"sneaker net" to the internet PC at work. Harddisks seem to work now, too
(although still a bit slow).
On massive public demand, I'm preparing for FAT32.
Feel free to send me an email on your experiences with "fat95"!
Have Fun!
Apple has issued a Tech Info Library article cautioning iBook and PowerBook
(FireWire) owners of a potential data loss problem with those portable
Macs. Under certain low-memory situations, putting the machine to sleep
with the "Preserve memory contents on sleep" option enabled can overwrite
essential file system data. When restarted, the laptops display a flashing
question mark; after booting from a CD-ROM, the hard disk fails to appear
and Disk First Aid reports errors that cannot be repaired. Apple is working
on a software fix to be released at the end of March. In the meantime,
Apple recommends disabling the "Preserve memory contents on sleep" feature.
[JLC]
http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n25130
Apple's new Sleep Memory Extension helps protect iBook and PowerBook
(FireWire) computers from data loss or corruption when using the "Preserve
memory contents on sleep" feature under low memory situations (see "iBook,
PowerBook Data Loss Problem Noted" in TidBITS-521_). The extension, a 184K
download, disables the "Preserve memory contents on sleep" checkbox in the
Energy Saver control panel. This disables the computer's capability to
preserve memory contents to disk for recovery in the event of total power
loss during sleep; however, it also prevents users from stumbling into the
data loss problem associated with the feature. We still expect Apple to
address the actual problem in an upcoming software release; in the
meantime, this extension keeps users out of harm's way. The extension works
on English and localized versions of the Mac OS, though the ReadMe file is
available in only English. [GD]
http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnum/n11602
Apple has issued a Tech Info Library article warning owners of new
PowerBook (FireWire) machines not to install the Password Security control
panel. Although the control panel shipped with Mac OS 8.6 (it isn't
included by default on laptops using Mac OS 9), copying it from another
machine for use on a PowerBook (FireWire) can result in damaged or lost
data. Apple recommends that owners instead use the password feature found
in the Multiple Users control panel. (See "Major Features in Mac OS 9" in
TidBITS-503_ for more on working with Multiple Users.) [JLC]
http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n58612
Connectix has shipped a version of its Virtual PC Pentium emulation product
bundled with a pre-installed copy of Red Hat Linux. Running Linux within
Virtual PC removes some of the performance advantages of running versions
of Linux compiled for the Mac's native CPU (such as LinuxPPC and Yellow Dog
Linux), but makes up for it with increased installation simplicity and
compatibility with more software that's compiled to run on Linux-based PCs
rather than on Linux- based Macs. Since Virtual PC runs in a window on the
Mac, switching between the Mac OS and Linux doesn't require rebooting.
Virtual PC with Red Hat Linux costs $100 and sports the hefty system
requirements of a PowerPC G3 or G4 running at 350 MHz or faster, 1.1 GB of
disk space, Mac OS 8.6 or later, and 96 MB of RAM (128 MB recommended).
[ACE]
http://www.connectix.com/products/vpc3_linux.html
After an earlier abortive release, FileMaker, Inc. has released Macintosh
updaters for FileMaker Pro 5.0v3 that can be applied to Worldwide English
or Japanese versions of either FileMaker Pro 5.0v1 or 5.0v2 (See "FileMaker
Pro 5 Released to Controversy" in TidBITS-499_ for an overview of FileMaker
Pro 5's features and functionality.) A new feature in FileMaker 5.0v3
enables a user to open the Define Fields dialog box for a database hosted
on FileMaker Pro Server so long as no other guests are connected. FileMaker
Pro 5.0v3 also fixes problems with JPEG images, correctly imports data with
blank repetitions in repeating fields, and addresses numerous issues with
the Import Update feature for synchronizing database files. FileMaker has
published a list of fixes on its Web site; the update itself includes a
more complete list. The updater is a 3.9 MB download. [GD]
http://www.filemaker.com/support/updaters.html
Corel has bought several products from MetaCreations, including Painter,
Painter Classic, Painter 3D, Art Dabbler, Kai's Power Tools (KPT), KPT-X,
Vector Effects and Bryce. All the products are Mac and Windows compatible.
"The acquisition fits our strategic vision of offering world-class
applications for multiple platforms," says Michael Cowpland, president and
chief executive officer of Corel, in a press release. Corel is committed to
developing new versions of the Painter, KPT and Bryce product lines and
supporting the existing customer base worldwide."
Apple has released Darwin 1.0, the open source core of Mac OS X. Based on
FreeBSD and Mach 3.0 technologies, Darwin enables registered developers to
customize and enhance the kernel of Apple's forthcoming operating system.
Darwin 1.0 also includes preliminary support for Intel processors. In
addition, Apple released an update to Darwin Streaming Server, used for
streaming QuickTime content over the Internet. Darwin 1.0 is available for
free for Power Macintosh G3 and G4, PowerBook G3 (Bronze keyboard), iBook,
and iMac systems with a minimum of 32 MB of RAM and 800 MB hard disk space.
A single installer is available as a 221 MB download or as 11 segments.
http://www.publicsource.apple.com/
Mac users who require access to the latest version of Microsoft Windows can
now purchase Connectix's Virtual PC with Windows 2000. As with other
versions of Virtual PC, you can run Windows 2000 from within the Mac OS,
exchange files between operating systems, and have full USB support under
Mac OS 9. Virtual PC with Windows 2000 requires a G3 or G4 processor that's
350 MHz or faster, Mac OS 8.6 or later, 1.1 GB hard disk space, and 96 MB
of RAM.
http://www.connectix.com/products/vpc3_advanced.html
Tangentially related, Be, Inc. recently announced the free BeOS 5 Personal
Edition for Intel systems. A Pro edition that works on older PowerPC-based
systems should be available from Be's distributors (who will also set its
pricing). Be does not support Apple's G3 or G4 systems, apparently because
Apple will not provide technical information about their architecture. Be,
Inc. was the subject of much industry speculation three and a half years
ago when Apple was reportedly considering the BeOS as a future Macintosh
operating system; instead, Apple bought NeXT, whose technology forms the
backbone of the forthcoming Mac OS X. [JLC]
http://www.be.com/products/freebeos/
Netscape Communications has released a preview version of Netscape 6, its
forthcoming Internet application suite based in part on the open source
Mozilla project - though we recommend it only for the most adventurous of
Web users. Netscape 6 permits access to multiple email accounts (including
AOL accounts) and boasts a customizable sidebar plus much-improved support
for Internet standards like Cascading Style Sheets and XML. Netscape 6
doesn't resemble a Macintosh application - that could change with time -
and demonstrates the results of Netscape's acquisition by AOL with
near-frantic integration of specialized content and services. The Netscape
6 preview requires Mac OS 8.5 or better with at least a 200 MHz 604
processor; be prepared to allocate at least 25 MB of RAM to the behemoth.
The active installer is less than 200K, while a standalone installer is
about 10.6 MB. You might also check out recent discussions in TidBITS Talk
of Netscape 6 and Mozilla 5. [GD]
http://www.netscape.com/download/previewrelease.html
Apple Computer has released a free Mac OS 9.0.4 which claims to offer
enhanced USB and FireWire support, provide improved networking and power
management, plus improve video, graphics, and audio functionality. Mac OS
9.0.4 is a maintenance release; it does not add new features. The update
itself is a 12.2 MB download, and it is available either from Apple's
servers or from Mac OS 9's Software Update control panel. As of this
writing, versions are available for North American English (at the first
URL below) plus International English, French, German, Italian, Japanese,
Spanish, and Swedish. Additional localized versions should be available
soon.
http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnum/n11610
Owners of Power Mac G4s, PowerBook (FireWire) systems, and slot- loading
iMacs will also need to download and install Apple DVD Player 2.2 to
support their systems' software-based DVD decoding. Owners of blue and
white G3 systems, PowerBook G3 Series, and PowerBook (Bronze keyboard) can
stick with Apple DVD Player 1.3, since their systems decode DVDs in
hardware.
What's New
You'd think a 12 MB system software update would include a ReadMe file
explaining the changes - but in this case, you'd be wrong. Also missing is
an uninstall option: once you've upgraded to Mac OS 9.0.4, reverting to a
previous version of Mac OS 9 involves re-installing from scratch. As with
any system software update, be sure to do a _complete_backup_ before
installation, just in case.
The limited information Apple has released indicates Mac OS 9.0.4 should
address DVD playback problems on recent Macintosh systems, fix a bug
preventing slot-loading iMacs from going to sleep with an active PPP
connection, and improve compatibility with third- party FireWire cards.
Apple has published a developer technical note on Mac OS 9.0.4, although it
mashes together information from Mac OS 9.0 as well as the
hardware-specific Mac OS 9.0.2 (for some iBooks, Power Mac G4s, and
FireWire-equipped PowerBooks) and Mac 9.0.3 (for some slot-loading iMacs),
and contains a number of apparently inaccurate statements.
http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/artnum/n11624
So far, our limited experience with Mac OS 9.0.4 and our interpretation of
the information available about the update indicates you can expect the
following additional tweaks:
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05759
Mac OS 9.0.4 does not address the data corruption problem effecting iBook
and PowerBook (FireWire) systems using the "preserve memory contents on
sleep" option in the Energy Saver control panel; like Apple's Sleep Memory
Extension, Mac OS 9.0.4 merely blocks access to the feature. We've also
received numerous reports of problems connecting to USB devices under Mac
OS 9.0.4, especially HotSyncing with Palm devices. In addition, devices
like TV tuner cards from the now-defunct ixMicro which had audio
difficulties under previous versions of Mac OS 9 may lose audio capability
altogether.
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05839
Our Advice
The benefits of Mac OS 9.0.4 are mainly aimed at newer Apple hardware, so
if you have an older Mac (without USB and/or FireWire) the update may not
be useful unless you're suffering from one of the few specific problems it
fixes. Otherwise, the update is a good idea, but watch out for problems it
introduces.
Microsoft Corp. acknowledged Thursday (4-13-00) that its engineers included
in some of its Internet software a secret password -- a phrase deriding
their rivals at Netscape as "weenies" -- that could be used to gain illicit
access to hundreds of thousands of Internet sites worldwide.
The manager of Microsoft's security-response center, Steve Lipner,
acknowledged the online-security risk in an interview Thursday and described
such a backdoor password as "absolutely against our policy" and a firing
offense for the as-yet-unidentified employees.
The company planned to warn customers as soon as possible with an e-mail
bulletin and an advisory published on its corporate Web site. Microsoft
(Nasdaq: MSFT) urged customers to delete the computer file--called
"dvwssr.dll"--containing the offending code. The file is installed on the
company's Internet-server software with Frontpage 98 extensions.
While there are no reports that the alleged security flaw has been
exploited, the affected software is believed to be used by many Web sites.
By using the so-called back door, a hacker may be able to gain access to key
Web-site management files, which could in turn provide a road map to such
things as customer credit-card numbers, said security experts who discovered
the password.
Two security experts discovered the rogue computer code -- part of which was
the denigrating comment "Netscape engineers are weenies!" -- buried within
the 3-year-old piece of software. It was apparently written by a Microsoft
employee near the peak of the hard-fought wars between Netscape
Communications Corp. and Microsoft over their versions of Internet-browser
software. Netscape later was acquired by America Online Inc.
One of the experts who helped identify the file is a professional security
consultant known widely among the Internet underground as "Rain Forest
Puppy." Despite his unusual moniker, he is highly regarded by experts and
helped publicize a serious flaw in Microsoft's Internet-server software last
summer that put hundreds of high-profile Web sites at risk of intrusion.
Almost every Web-hosting provider
Russ Cooper, who runs the popular NT Bugtraq discussion forum on the
Internet, estimated that the problem threatened "almost every Web-hosting
provider."
"It's a serious flaw," Cooper said. "Chances are, you're going to find some
major sites that still have it enabled." Lipner of Microsoft said the
company will warn the nation's largest Web-site providers directly.
In an e-mail to Microsoft earlier Thursday, Rain Forest Puppy complained
that the affected code threatened to "improve a hacker's experience."
Experts said the risk was greatest at commercial Internet-hosting providers,
which maintain hundreds or thousands of separate Web sites for different
organizations.
Lipner said the problem doesn't affect Internet servers running Windows 2000
or the latest version of its server extensions included in Frontpage 2000.
The digital gaffe initially was discovered by a Europe-based employee of
ClientLogic Corp. (www.clientlogic.com) of Nashville, Tenn., which sells
e-commerce technology. The company declined to comment because of its coming
stock sale. The other expert, Rain Forest Puppy, said he was tipped off to
the code by a ClientLogic employee.
When asked about the hidden insult Thursday, Jon Mittelhauser, one of
Netscape's original engineers, called it "classic engineer rivalry."
Performance Ratings (Video/Audio): C+/A-
The AD-600A could use a better MPEG decoder, but for non-critical viewing it
provides a adequate picture. Audio quality is surprisingly excellent - truly
a mystery considering the price point.
Ease-of-Use Rating: B-
The remote probably could not have been worse if they had tried. Other than
that, it's no more difficult to use this player than any other I have run
across. Setup menus are nicely done and easy to navigate.
Value/Overall Rating: A+/B
While I would not recommend this as your primary DVD player, with an SRP of
$189, you can add it as a second player and shouldn't have to break into any
trust funds. This unit has a "Geek Toy Coolness Factor" that is simply off
the scale!
Specs and Features
Performance Features: Karaoke, MP3 Playback, Screen Saver,
2 Microphone Jacks with Volume Control, Karaoke Vocal
Assist Function, Basic Remote, Supports
DVD/CD/VCD/SVCD/CDR/CDRW Playback
Output Terminals: (1) Coaxial (AC3)/DTS Output, (2) Analog
Audio Outs, (1) S-video Out, (1) Composite Video Out
Other Features: 90 Days Labor/1 Year Parts Warranty
Review
Most of you have probably heard something by now about our new little
friend - the Apex AD-600A. So what's all the hype about? Let me try to
explain. What would you say if I told you that there was a player available
that has component video out, passes DTS, plays CDRs, CDRWs and discs with
MP3 music files... AND gives you a secret menu option to bypass Macrovision
and Region Coding? If that's not enough, then how about if I tell you it
costs less than $200? How does that grab you? It definitely caught my
attention, so I ran down (I actually drove, I don't run very fast) to my
local Circuit City and picked up one of these little imported gadgets to
see for myself.
One note: this player is also rumored to be capable of playing PAL discs on
NTSC monitors, however we have not tested this feature.
Out of the Box
As I opened the box in excitement and pulled out the player, all I could
think was: "...and people thought the Panasonic A110 was light". This
little baby weights in at just over 8 lbs wet. In all honesty, I seem to
remember that the A110 weighed about the same (but since then I have grown
more accustomed to beefier players which have a more substantial feel to
them). The overall look of the player is somewhat pleasing, but still has
the essence of the sub $300 players you see in all the standard retail
outlets - lacking any special appeal or glamour that most electronic
enthusiasts desire.
Front Panel
The front panel has most of the standard buttons found on today's DVD
players. There is an Open/Close Door button, Stop, Play, Pause, and Chapter
Skip and Chapter Reverse. You will also find two microphone inputs with
separate level adjustments for the, uh... do I dare say... Karaoke feature.
There will be no recitals of George Michael's Careless Whisper at my house,
thank you very much.
Rear Panel Connections
On the back, you will find clearly marked inputs and outputs. There is one
each of component, s-video and composite video connections. Audio
connections consist of two analog outs and one coaxial digital connection.
The only animal missing from this party is the old toslink optical
connection. Most people seem to prefer coaxial for the digital connection,
but this may be a problem for owners of certain receivers that boast more
toslink connections than coaxial. An interesting side note is the sticker
that indicates "Assembled in China", with a second line that states "APEX
Digital Inc. USA". So while the player seems to be manufactured and
assembled in China, there is a US business set up to distribute them. This
is not uncommon practice in consumer electronics.
A Look Inside
I decided to look inside the Apex to see what went into a $200 DVD player.
I had heard that there was just a standard DVD-ROM drive in it. They were
right. The unit has a DVS DVD-ROM player that looks like it came straight
out of a PC. To re-enforce that gut feeling, there's the 40-pin IDE cable
connecting the player to the internal circuit board. I had read on the Home
Theater Forum that somebody had actually taken the time to connect this
unit up to their computer, and Windows 98 detected it without a problem.
Interesting to say the least.
Player Performance
My first test with the video was connecting it to my Toshiba 65" widescreen
television via the component video connection. I popped in my Region 2 copy
of Mulholland Falls and immediately noticed that the colors were highly
over-saturated to the point that they were glowing. After I tested several
other discs, I found they all were having the same results. I was unable to
reasonably compensate for this through my user controls on the television
without compromising other source material that may play through that
input. So much for component - the next stop was s-video. This is where
things got much better. The color saturation looked more natural and the
picture really started to surprise me with its superb sharpness and detail.
As I looked through more and more DVD titles, I did notice more MPEG and
motion artifacts than I have grown accustom to with my other players. I
would venture to guess that if you were to use a smaller display device,
these problems would be less apparent and not quite as distracting. But
they will still be noticeable.
Anamorphic DVD down-conversion is always a hot topic for owners of standard
4:3 television screens. The shimmering and waving artifacts from line
removal can be very distracting when watching your favorite movie. Again,
the Apex excels in keeping a sharp and finely tuned picture performing this
daunting task. I would compare its down-conversion ability with that of my
Pioneer 414, which is definitely no slouch.
One of the many highlights of this player is the audio section. I was
pleasantly surprised that the audio output was crystal clear and sounded
just as good as my far more expensive Toshiba 5109. The Apex is very fast
on switching audio tracks and I still have not heard a single digital "pop"
error after the many discs I have run through it. What I found next really
surprised me. The D/A converters in this unit are shockingly excellent in
their performance. I played some of my favorite music CDs using the analog
outputs and was simply floored by the clarity. My normal CD transport is
the famous Pioneer CLD 704 laserdisc player, which is known for being a
superb CD transport. The Apex hung in there with almost the same level of
sound quality and soundstage reproduction. The audio section is truly
amazing, all things considered.
When you are checking out DVD players, you find yourself going through all
the menus and items to be found. The Apex makes this process easy with its
super-fast menu access. Navigation is so fast, that it makes your other DVD
players seem slow - almost like your first personal computer back in the
80s. You can zip through the menus of your favorite special edition DVDs
with Ninja quickness and cat-like reflexes. Along with the speed comes the
fastest layer change I have ever seen in a DVD player, regardless of price.
In fact, I am unable to detect the layer switch on almost every disc I have
run through it. Even the notorious layer break in The Matrix went by
without a hitch. If I didn't already know the placement, I doubt I would
have detected the break.
Playing MP3 Files
This is one very cool feature! More and more people are finding the many
advantages of the MP3 audio compression format and it's tremendous
flexibility. Now you can burn some 125 or so songs on a CDR or CDRW and
play the songs right in your home theater! The player detects the MP3 files
and gives you a menu list (restricted to 8 characters in length), letting
you use your remote navigation keys to select and play any song on the
disc. This feature alone makes the player money well spent in my eyes.
Advantages of Region Free
As I mentioned before, the Apex player lets you view discs from other
regions. But why would you want to? Home Video licensing is handled
differently by almost every studio. In some cases, different studios are
involved in the release of a movie depending on the region in question. One
example is Pulp Fiction. This Miramax film is released by Buena Vista in
Region 1 and by Miramax themselves in the other regions. The Region 2
transfer of this film is not only anamorphic widescreen, but it's also an
entirely superior transfer. Many DVD releases, which are 4:3 letterboxed in
Region 1, can be found in other regions in full anamorphic widescreen
glory. Being able to disable region coding gives the consumer alternate
choices when choosing their version of a DVD investment. You can also find
movies in other regions that are not released in Region 1, giving you more
choices in expanding your home movie library.
And Now for the Bad...
It didn't take long for people to find a serious flaw with the Apex. I was
positive that something bad would eventually show up, and indeed it has. A
major drawback is the player's inability to handle any DVD using Seamless
Branching technology. The player was unable to play either Stargate: SE or
The Abyss without getting stuck in a repeating loop as soon as the first
branch was up. It is my belief that more and more titles will start using
this feature of DVD, and I don't think you'll want to be stuck out in the
cold, being unable to play them.
Another travesty with this player is the horrid remote provided. There are
tons of tiny, poorly labeled buttons which are impossible to read in the
typical low lighting found in our home theaters. Not only is it difficult
to navigate and use the remote, but it is darn ugly.
Summary
I think with an improved MPEG decoder board, this player would rival the
best of them and be a real contender, even against players costing three
and four times as much. All things considered, I am very impressed with
Apex's initial offering to the DVD player market. But before you run down
to your local electronics store to buy one, keep this in mind: it's rumored
that the next batch of this player to hit the market will NOT feature the
secret menu to disable Macrovision and Region Coding. There is a way to
check for this by simply following these instructions:
You should see the menu option to select a region or bypass them completely
and the disabling of Macrosvision.
Naturally, the studios were not happy about this player's "unique"
features, so I'm not surprised about the rumors of the removal of the
secret menu. Stock around the United States right now is almost
non-existent, so when stock DOES become available again, beware of these
rumored firmware changes. That said, $180 for a home MP3 player still
sounds darn good to me!
Chris Maynard
It's easy for Mac users to lose sight of what the rest of the computing
industry goes through when dealing with hardware. Macs are extremely
coherent - there's only one vendor, there aren't many variables to
consider, and pricing tends not to vary widely from reseller to reseller.
None of this is true in the PC world, where the buyer can be faced with
multiple manufacturers, resellers, CPUs, video cards, hard disks,
motherboards, and more.
Why am I writing about buying PCs? After all, I'm primarily a Macintosh
user, and most people who read TidBITS also use Macs. But we all live in
the real world, and the unfortunate truth about the real world is that it's
dominated by PCs, mostly running Windows. Some people try to ignore that
uncomfortable fact, but many people simply cannot. Perhaps PCs are used
where you work, or someone in your family uses a PC - no matter what the
specifics, it's likely you'll someday be faced with buying a PC for
yourself or someone else.
Over the years, I've bought four PCs: a Compaq Contura 400C 486 laptop that
uses Windows 95, a no-name Pentium 90 for use with Linux, a no-name Pentium
150 running Windows 98, and, most recently, a Compaq iPaq with Windows
2000. I've used a variety of approaches researching and purchasing the
computers; if you must buy a PC, take a look at the processes below before
diving into the veritable can of worms that is the PC world.
Also, keep in mind that I didn't really _want_ these PCs, certainly not the
way I've wanted the many Macs I've bought over the years. I don't get any
rush from buying PCs: they've been necessary evils to expand my skills and
to support projects like my "Crossing Platforms: A Macintosh/Windows
Phrasebook" translation dictionary, and my cross-platform "Eudora for
Windows & Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide." This lack of enthusiasm
(which I suspect many Mac users would share) generally means I want to
spend as little time and money on the purchase as I can.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D1565925394/tidbitselectro00A/
A Little Help from Your Friends
The simplest approach to buying a PC is to find a friend who knows a lot
more about PCs than you do, ask for a recommendation, and even see if you
can get your friend to place the order for you. There's no shame in this
approach - after all, if you plan on remaining primarily a Mac user, you
probably aren't interested in the differences between CPUs from Intel and
AMD, or the relative merits of different motherboard configurations.
Make sure your friend understands what you want to do with the PC, since
although PCs tend to be quite cheap, you can spend a lot of money on things
like fancy video cards that are necessary only for die-hard game players.
I used this approach with the no-name Pentium 90, Some years ago in the
early days of Linux, Northwest Nexus was hosting ftp.tidbits.com on one of
their machines. As the traffic and load on the computer increased, they
asked me to move it to a new computer. I said that I'd be happy to, but
hadn't the foggiest idea what to get or how to set it up. Ralph Sims of
Northwest Nexus replied that he'd be happy to deal with all of that, so I
ordered exactly what he recommended from the local reseller he favored, and
had them deliver the configured machine to him. He installed Linux and got
everything up and running, and the machine ran with few hiccups until late
in 1999 when we swapped in a new Y2K-compliant PC with a newer version of
Linux (and _much_ larger hard disk). I found this method an extremely easy
way to buy a PC. This machine is also the easiest to own: I've set eyes on
it only once.
Think Global, Buy Local
The next easiest approach to buying a PC is to visit a local reseller that
carries major brands of computers, talk to the staff at the store, and walk
out with the computer that best meets your needs. I employed this approach
when buying the Compaq Contura 400C back in the days of my Internet Starter
Kit for Windows book. I didn't really want some beefy tower unit with a
monitor taking up space, so I decided to buy a laptop, but was dismayed at
the low-quality pointing devices used by PC laptops at the time. I've
always hated a joystick-like nipple (as the late MacWEEK editor Robert Hess
called it) mounted in the middle of the keyboard, and PC laptops then
sported a variety of weird and barely usable pointing devices. By the time
I'd found a laptop with a center-mounted trackball (like then- current
100-series PowerBooks) with no keys to the right of the Backspace key, I
was down to the Compaq Contura.
I don't remember at which computer superstore I ended up purchasing the
computer, but the superstores were quite helpful in this case, since it was
before the Web was big and I liked seeing the laptops in person. I remember
the sales staff being essentially clueless, but since laptops seldom have
many options, it wasn't a major liability. I may have paid more than was
necessary, but I had spent so much time looking at different laptops that I
wasn't about to repeat the research to find the lowest price. I suspect
many consumers are in similar situations - because the research of buying a
PC is so daunting, they buy at the first place answers their questions
reasonably and sells them a computer that meets their basic needs.
Computer superstores usually try to sell service contracts or extended
warranties, which are often not worthwhile on relatively inexpensive
computer hardware. On the other hand, if you're unfamiliar with PC hardware
and don't wish to learn much, a service contract may be more useful than
one would be for Macintosh hardware. I encourage you to read the article I
wrote about AppleCare and other alternatives back in TidBITS-478_, along
with the TidBITS Talk threads on the topic.
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05370
Ecommerce to the Rescue
Much has been made of the millions of dollars Dell has racked up through
its online ordering site, and most major PC manufacturers offer something
similar. Apple was late to the game with the Apple Store and its online
configuration feature, but as with many other things, I was amazed at how
much easier it was to buy a Mac from the Apple Store than it was to
configure a PC from well-known names like Dell, Gateway, or their brethren.
http://store.apple.com/
The problem was twofold. The Apple Store provided significantly fewer
options when customizing a purchase than most of the major PC
manufacturers' sites. For instance, the main configuration page at the
Apple Store for buying a Power Mac G4 offers 11 choices, followed by
another 8 sections of accessories on the easily ignored subsequent page for
a total of 19 options. On the Dell site's configuration page, I counted 31
options, and Gateway topped Dell with 34 options. These numbers are a
little rough because the choices can vary slightly with your initial path
into the configuration page, but no matter what, being faced with that many
options was daunting. A few sites were good about providing a way to avoid
the configuration pages, but I found that if you so much as wanted to
increase the RAM of a base machine to 128 MB, you found yourself in the
configuration morass.
"But isn't choice good?" you ask. Not always. When you're faced with too
many options, many of which are relatively unrelated (and all of which will
affect your final price), it's difficult to avoid obsessing over each one.
And that's where configuring a PC becomes truly nightmarish for the
innocent Macintosh user. Which of five video cards whose names you've never
heard before would you like? How about these four different speaker
options? Do you want a 40x or 48x CD-ROM drive, or perhaps an 8x or 12x
DVD-ROM drive with software decoding, unless a CD-RW drive would be better?
Even when the sites are good about providing explanations of each option,
it's hard to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
If you somehow manage to stay on top of the options at one site, you'll
probably fall prey to checking the slightly different options on another.
After all, only Apple makes Macs, so picking an online Macintosh reseller
is a relatively simple task based mainly on price. In the PC world, though,
you'll have trouble creating the same configuration at any two sites - the
hard disk sizes will be different, or one won't let you buy a DVD-ROM drive
in place of the CD-ROM, or something like that. No matter what you do,
you're unlikely to find significant price differences either, so the
decision isn't simplified in that fashion. Because the differences weren't
huge, it was less like comparing apples and oranges and more akin to
comparing lemons and limes. And no matter where I went, I ended up with a
sour taste in my mouth.
Most recently, I settled on a Compaq iPaq that I purchased through the
Compaq Web site. I haven't done much with the computer yet so I can't
specifically comment on it, but the reasons I chose it over more
traditional options or rolling my own were as follows:
http://www.compaq.com/metrics/directplus/iPAQ499_020200.html
Also keep in mind that at least Dell and Gateway sell refurbished computers
that have been returned for some reason or another. They're often quite
inexpensive and a good deal; the only problem is that you can't customize
them at all, so finding the right configuration may prove difficult.
Some Assembly Required
With the Windows 98-based no-name Pentium 150 that I bought several years
ago for a book project, I wanted to buy as cheaply as I could, and I ended
up working with a local reseller where you basically walk in, tell them you
want a PC, and then go down the component checklist with them. For each of
the many options, I asked what the differences were and received somewhat
terse answers from the sales guy. Service wasn't this store's forte, but
their prices were cheap, and I got the benefits of picking all my
components without the hassle of putting it all together. Plus, the PC has
worked fine for my purposes.
When the time came recently to buy another PC (the purchase that resulted
in the iPaq), I checked the pricing at that store's Web site and wasn't
impressed, so I figured I'd try to roll my own PC from scratch. Luckily, my
PC-savvy friend Alex was able to provide some guidelines about the kind of
hardware that would meet my needs at good price/performance ratios. Alex
also turned me on to the BookPC from Directron, which is a nicely
accoutered base unit to which you add only a CPU, CPU fan, RAM, hard disk,
and operating system. I didn't end up buying the $250 BookPC and the
various components because Alex ordered one and the somewhat meager and
non-standard 100 watt power supply failed instantly, as did the replacement
he received. Directron tech support wasn't responsive to email either,
which worsened an already bad situation.
http://www.directron.com/bookpc.html
Unfortunately, although I decided I couldn't risk dealing with dubious
power supplies, I realized that installing a CPU, CPU fan, RAM, hard disk,
and operating system for a BookPC fell within my knowledge level and
hardware skills. Although I would have had to order a total of five
different items, they were easily compared and readily available from
various vendors. A price comparison site called PriceWatch seemed to make
it simple to find the best price on all the components, though it was
frustrating to slog through the vast number of companies to find one who
was easy to deal with and who had the advertised component. But the prices
- wow! 40 GB hard disks for under $250. Intel Celeron 500 MHz CPUs for $80.
128 MB DIMMs for $75. I could have customized a BookPC into a killer system
for about $800. Drat that weak and non- standard power supply!
By this time I was feeling pretty full of myself, since I had found what
looked like good sources for the CPU, RAM, and hard disk. How hard could it
be, I thought, to go all out and build the entire thing from scratch? So I
spent several hours one day surfing Web sites looking for one that made it
easy to combine all the parts. By the end of the day, I had nothing to show
for my efforts but a splitting headache.
If you thought 30 options when buying a PC from Dell or Gateway was
intimidating, just try to build a PC from its component parts. To give you
an idea, consider the following shopping list of components: case,
motherboard, power supply, Ethernet card (if necessary), video card (if
necessary), sound card (if necessary), CPU, CPU fan, hard disk, floppy
disk, DVD-ROM, RAM, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and operating system. For
each component imagine having between five and fifteen choices, and those
then take you into a multi-dimensional compatibility matrix. There are some
standards, but the variables of finding a motherboard that contains
particular network, video, sound, and modem functionality which fits in a
certain case and which works with a certain CPU which draws a certain
amount of power from a certain power supply are sufficient to addle the
coolest head. It completely addled mine.
Next, I decided perhaps I should order everything from a single site, since
they would theoretically know the compatibility issues. I quickly found a
site that actually had an online configuration page (surprisingly rare
among the no-name PC vendors); unfortunately, this site was so devoid of
information about the company (phone number, address, etc.) it might as
well have been called Fly By Night, Inc.
Then I thought perhaps I should base my search on sites that other
customers liked, so I found a ratings site and checked out the top-rated
vendors. This approach proved no more fruitful - either the prices weren't
good or the site didn't carry what I wanted. And some of the companies I'd
previously contemplated had scores like 2.4 out of 7.0 (though Directron
scored 5.9 out of 7.0). It was depressing.
http://www.resellerratings.com/
Finally, I decided to try DealTime, a price comparison site that lets you
specify variables such as CPU speed, amount of RAM, and hard disk size,
along with a price range before showing you the best deals. I figured
DealTime might be able to identify some great deal that I wasn't finding
otherwise, or maybe tell me about a vendor I hadn't found, but no. After a
bunch of dithering around, I finally told DealTime to show me all PCs with
500 MHz CPUs and 128 MB of RAM for less than $800. The only results? The
Compaq iPaq, from some site that didn't have any in stock. I took the hint,
double-checked the iPaq's specs with Alex to make sure I wasn't missing
something, and ordered one directly from Compaq.
I won't pretend to be an expert on PC hardware, but I know a heck of a lot
more than I used to, and knowledge is never a bad thing. So I don't regret
my foray into the madding world of roll-your-own PCs, but I think it's safe
to recommend that Macintosh users with my level of experience or less
should probably stay away unless you have a friend who can guide you
through the twisty little passages and past the many and varied pitfalls.
The time you spend on research alone will eat up any cost savings you might
score by doing the work yourself. I also think I'll go back to PriceWatch
and DealTime in the future, since both sites cover more than just computer
hardware, and I've been thinking about a digital camcorder... perhaps when
I've recovered from the stress of this shopping experience.
Intel today released new desktop processors, even though some PC makers
report shortages of existing chips.
As previously reported, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chipmaking giant
announced 850-MHz and 866-MHz Pentium III processors, priced, respectively,
at $765 and $776 in lots of one thousand. The chips follow the recent,
accelerated introduction of a Pentium III running at 1 GHz. Price cuts are
not expected on the rest of the Pentium III processors as yet. Intel cut
Pentium III prices at the end of February.
While computer enthusiasts typically welcome the introduction of new
processors, the tight supply of the faster Pentium IIIs continues to be a
source of irritation for manufacturers and dealers who incorporate Intel
processors into their computers. Dealers have been particularly hard hit
because the bulk of the fast chips have been going to large manufacturers
like Dell.
The 800-MHz Pentium III, which was announced in December, remains
relatively difficult to find, according to dealers. The 1-GHz Pentium III
is also fairly elusive. Intel announced the chip on March 8. Dell, often
the company that gets new Intel parts to market first, shipped its first
1-GHz computers last week, according to a spokesman. But the wait time, as
quoted by a Dell salesperson this morning, averages 28 days for 1-GHz
systems.
Considering the current situation, finding the new chips will not likely be
an easy task. Still, supplies have improved for Pentium IIIs running at 750
MHz and below.
Several high-level Intel executives predicted in February that the supply
situation would stabilize by the end of the quarter, which concludes in two
weeks. Some dealers, however, said distributors and brokers have informed
them that the shortage could continue.
The shortage arises from delays last year in the release of the latest
Pentium IIIs and an acceleration of the product road map. Last October,
Intel released the "Coppermine" generation of Pentium IIIs before
historically normal inventories of the chip existed, said Intel and several
analysts. A shortage became apparent almost immediately.
Simultaneously, rival Advanced Micro Devices was finding increasing
commercial success with its Athlon processor. The two companies soon began
a speed race. Both Intel and AMD, for instance, originally planned to
release their 1-GHz chips toward the middle of the year. Intel moved up the
release to March. AMD followed suit, releasing its chip two days before
Intel.
In addition, some PC executives and analysts have stated that the typical
first quarter seasonal slowdown wasn't as bad as usual.
America Online on Wednesday pulled the plug on Gnutella, an enhanced
Napster clone that barely got out of the gate Tuesday.
When America Online-owned Nullsoft, the development house that created the
software MP3 player WinAmp, announced that their new spinoff Gnullsoft
would create an open-source Napster-like utility, music fans and
open-source proponents went wild.
On Tuesday, the company began to offer Gnutella through its Web site in an
open beta. In this pre-release format, users were encouraged to download
the program and use it to share their MP3 files.
Napster has been the target of both harsh words and threats of legal action
from music industry executives, who allege that the primary purpose of the
program is to promote piracy. University system administrators, too, aren't
fans of Napster. They have been banning the software after findings that up
to 50 percent of total university network bandwidth is hogged by the
transfer of MP3s.
Gnutella was the inevitable next step in this technology. It's open source,
which means that its source code is visible by anyone. Open source promotes
development by many hands and is touted by its fans as being a quicker,
safer and more secure way of developing software because it's always
tweaked to be made a little bit better.
It's also considered safer by system administrators, who would rather see
the guts of a program than blindly place it on computers without being able
to analyze its strengths and weaknesses.
Slashdot, a site dedicated to high-tech news and open source evangelism,
was abuzz with Gnutella's release Tuesday. With so many going to the
Gnutella site, what's known as the "Slashdot effect" occurred, jamming up
servers so that no one else could get in. Nullsoft quickly announced that
enough people had visited and the open beta was closed.
But Slashdot readers weren't the only people hearing about Gnutella for the
first time. AOL also just found out about Gnutella, and closed down the
project.
AOL has announced a merger with Time Warner, the parent company of both
Warner Music and CNN.com. The record company has been one of the loudest
critics of Napster and MP3 piracy as a whole.
Anne Bentley, a spokesperson for AOL, called Gnutella an "unauthorized
freelance project" and said the Web site had been taken down. She refused
to answer any other questions and wouldn't forward questions on to
Nullsoft.
A Nullsoft product manager contacted independently declined to comment on
Gnutella and referred all questions to AOL public relations.
Gnutella was designed, according to a features list on the now-defunct
site, to be immune to the efforts of system administrators to curb its use.
To do this, it was decentralized. Napster works off one central computer
and can therefore be more easily blocked.
This portion of the advertised features was copied from the site by
Slashdot users before it was taken down:
Distributed nature of servant makes it pretty damned tough for college
administrators to block access to the gnutella service. Ability to change
the port you listen on makes it even harder for those college
administrators to block access. Ability to define your own internal network
with a single exit point to the rest of the Internet makes it almost
(expletive) impossible for college sysadmins to block the free uninhibited
transfer of information. Am I making myself painfully clear? I thought so.
Nullsoft may not be able to bring this product to market, but look for a
remarkably Gnutella-like device in the future. Now that it has been
downloaded, it's bound to be redesigned and enhanced by enterprising
programmers. There are also other open-source projects under way, including
Gnap, a Napster client program for Linux.
Hidden features included in a DVD player released in January have the
Motion Picture Association of America contemplating legal action. Thanks to
Nerdout.com, both users and the MPAA are aware that the Apex AD-600A
player's DVD copyright protection scheme and regional encoding features can
be overridden.
Developed in China by Visual Disc and Digital Video Corp. (VDDV) and sold
in the United States by Apex Digital Inc, the Apex player is attracting
attention for reasons besides its low price of US$169.95.
Unlike other DVD players, the Apex can play DVD movies created anywhere in
the world. Regions are assigned specific numbers so, for example, DVDs
created in Region 1 š- the United States -š can only be played in that
area. But by accessing a hidden menu in the Apex player, users can turn off
regional encoding.
One of the "features" of the player is a hidden menu option to remove the
Macrovision protection which prevents copying DVDs to VHS.
This ability to copy movies has piqued the interest of the MPAA.
"We are currently looking at the player to determine whether any action is
warranted," said Emily Cutner, a spokeswoman for the MPAA.
The DVD player is also the first in the United States to support the
controversial MP3 secure music format. Users can insert a CD-ROM full of
MP3 files and the player brings up a menu on the television to play back
the songs.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) -- which has sued
MP3.com over its service for converting CDs into MP3 files -- was unaware
of the Apex player and its capabilities and declined to comment.
Apex's maker said the ability to remove regional encoding and CSS
protection were included but were intended only for developers. End users
were not supposed to be able to access that menu or those features.
"Twenty-four manufacturers use the same menu chip as in ours, so they all
have the same capability," said Colton Manley, a spokesman for Apex, in
Ontario, California. "Certainly our intention is not to sell anything that
will cause any problems."
But users are reacting positively.
"I have no complaints! It's been running like a charm. It really is worth
the purchase, you get a lot of bang for your buck," said one person on the
alt.video.dvd newsgroup.
"So far I'm impressed with it. It produces a great picture, and combined
with the ability to turn off region locks and macrovision, it's a real
winner!" said another newsgroup posting.
Still, Apex officials said the next version of the Apex DVD player will
have the hidden menu disabled.
The company is also planning to release three new DVD players as well as a
car player with the same features as the AD-600A. The MD-100 will fit in a
car radio slot and feature DVD, CD, and MP3 playback plus standard AM and
FM playback.
Apex expects its biggest potential market will be people who drive SUVs,
where manufacturers have been installing television sets in the back seat.
The MD-100 will be available next month for $499. The company is still
working on getting it into retail outlets.
The one essential tool for these tasks is a disk drive that can write CD-R
disks. The recording process involves heating a dye layer with a laser beam
that changes the disk permanently. This is called "burning" a disk.
In recent years, however, a new technology has arrived that will also let
you record and erase data from special disks, called CD-RW. This uses
phase-change technology so the changes are reversible.
The best news is that it costs little more to make a CD-R drive design
compatible with CD-RW. As a result, it is difficult to even find a new
drive that is CD-R only. CD-RW media is more expensive than CD-R blanks,
however -- $3 compared with as little as $1 each -- so the one-time recording
CD-R disks are the most popular.
These drives are good for much more than making music CDs. If you have your
computer working smoothly, consider making a backup of your hard drive so
you can restore it easily if something should go wrong. Or if you need to
archive lots of data-- such as old downloads or email files-- a CD-RW disk
can hold hundreds of megabytes, freeing up space on your hard drive.
Choose the Right CD-RW
Choosing a CD-RW drive requires making a few decisions. Do you want an
internal or external drive? An external drive can be easier to move from
one computer to the next and requires less effort to install, but you need
to have an external connection such as a USB or SCSI port.
This is closely connected to the next decision. What type of interface?
EIDE is possibly the easiest option for internal drives, but you can be
limited in terms of the number of devices you can install. SCSI may offer
some performance advantages and supports more devices-- including external
drives. USB is only for external drives and can provide acceptable
performance, but there are limits to how many devices can use the USB bus
at the same time.
The final choice to make is the drive's speed. Drives are rated for their
CD-ROM read speed, their CD-R record speed, and their CD-RW write speed.
The ratings are made in terms of multiples of the single-speed drives,
which is based on the 150 bytes/second transfer rate of audio CD drives.
Most drives now read CD-ROMs at a maximum of 24x(a variable rate) but 32x
drives are becoming more common.
CD-RW rates tend to be 2x or 4x, and CD-R rates can be 4x, 6x, or 8x. The
newest CD-RW drives-- such as the CD Rocket Mach 12 from Smart & Friendly --
can now write CD-Rs at a blazing 12x speed.
Writing speed is not the most critical factor in choosing a CD-RW drive,
however. If you have a CD with 40 minutes of music, it will take at least
10 minutes to burn on a 4x drive, five minutes on an 8x, and three and a
half minutes at 12x.
The actual times will be longer because there are overhead tasks involved.
But the minute and a half difference for the 12x drive compared with the 8x
drive doesn't save much time unless you're making a lot of disks.
So pick a drive, hook it up, and start burning!
Close the ports! Ports are virtual pathways into your computer from the
Internet, or any network. First you'll need to find out what port numbers
mean. Then figure out if you've got any open ports. If you do, sometimes
you can close them in Windows, or you may need a port blocker.
If you connect via DSL or cable modem, your high-speed connection makes a
tempting target for packet monkeys. Try Zone Alarm 2.0 from ZoneLabs.com,
to seal up your gaping bandwidth.
So now you're all locked up nice and secure, but it's got you wondering?
How do hackers do it? We've got a great article telling you where to go to
find out about the hacker world and arm yourself with information. You'll
want to read our review of hacker magazine 2600 especially.
Of course, if you get sucked into the world of hackers and crackers you'll
want to be careful. We've got a hacker ethic for you to examine, to make
sure you don't fall prey to the dark side of the Net.
Remember folks, while there are nefarious hackers and crackers out there,
it's mostly safe on the Net. So don't get spooked. A little wise caution
and information should be all you need.
Another company switches focus to the Web. S3 will focus on Internet-music
players and information appliances.
S3 Inc. is selling graphics chip business and shifting into the Internet
appliance business, the company said Tuesday. S3 is selling its unit which
makes graphics chips for personal computers to a newly formed joint venture
with Taiwan's VIA Technologies Inc. for about $323 million in cash and
securities. The company's focus had been making multimedia acceleration
hardware and software for the PC market.
But S3 will retain ownership of the add-in card business, which features
the Viper and Stealth product lines used by gamers to soup up graphics on
their PCs.
As part of the agreement S3 will sell 3 million shares of its stock to VIA
Technologies at a price coinciding with the signing of the definitive
agreement.
"With this announcement, we've effectively completed the first phase of our
long-term growth plan, transforming S3 from a graphics focused
semiconductor supplier to a well-positioned Internet appliance company,''
CEO and chairman Ken Potshner said in a statement.
Net appliances over chips The company said its potential growth as an
Internet appliance company far outweighs that offered by PC graphics chip
products. Its Internet-related businesses showed rapid growth in the most
recently announced fourth quarter of 1999, up 46 percent over the previous
quarter, led by a 76 percent quarter to quarter growth in revenue for its
flagship Rio products. S3 acquired Rio and its Net appliance focus when it
bought Diamond Multimedia last year.
S3's technology assets include its Rio family of digital audio players and
HomeFree series of home networking solutions, as well as its forthcoming
DSL Residential Gateway and Transmeta-powered Internet appliances.
S3 also has holdings in United Microelectronics Corporation valued at about
$1 billion, and a 41 percent equity stake in RioPort.com, Inc.
S3 also said its transformation will involve exploring alternative
strategies, including partnerships and joint ventures, relative to its
ongoing multimedia board business.
S3 said the VIA transaction is expected to be completed prior to its third
quarter and customers should not expect disruptions of any kind.
Here's a super-handy web site from Windows Magazine with more
Windows tips than you can shake a stick at. There are hundreds of
handy tips concerning operating system, user interface and
application issues. Point your browser at:
I recently received "The Matrix" DVD for a birthday gift. I have a DVD in my G3
and no regular DVD player. I was expecting a great time with a great movie. I
had read a review saying neat things about the disc's "extras" available via
computers. Things came to a screeching halt shortly after I dropped the disc in
my G3. The Apple DVD player informed me that this disc was not formatted
properly. I checked the box for info as to what "format" the disc was and what
software was needed. I didn't see the usual Windows or Direct X logos or
mentions of Pentium II's or III's. As a matter of fact, I didn't see anything
about formats or computers anywhere. That is until I got out my 10x magnifier
glasses to examine the "super" fine print under the list of actors and other
production people for the movie. And there it was, in bold type mind you, a
disclaimer. This disc is not compatible with Macintosh computers (or something
very similar).
Well, my estimate of the disc and it's producer's (Warner Home Video)
intelligence went right into the trash basket. "These guys suck!" were my first
thoughts. "But wait! The club's meeting is this next week and I can bounce this
question off some of them!" were my next thoughts. So the meeting came and I
asked. "There's a patch." was all Rich said. So the next day I looked on the web
and, sure enough, there is a "work around".
I copied this from a review of "The Matrix" at The DVD Resource Page (
http://www.dvdresource.com/reviews/matrix.shtml).
It takes a little effort to gain access to the DVD-ROM content in The Matrix but
it is well worth it. There are two main issues that have to be overcome: one,
getting the disc to mount properly; and two, gaining access to the majority of
the DVD-ROM content.
Getting the disc to mount is not a given, and when it does mount it defaults to
the wrong format. If you get an error message on inserting the DVD, and it gets
ejected, try again by inserting the disc while holding down the key sequence
command-option-i (the "command" key is also known as the "Apple" key). A generic
disc icon should appear, and you should then be able to double-click the disc
and see its contents.
If the disc does mount, but has the "DVD" emblem on the icon, then the disc has
mounted as the wrong format. You need to control-click the icon and from the
contextual menu that pops up, select "Mount as ISO9660" at which point the disc
will remount and the icon will become generic. Double-clicking the disc will now
yield the contents. If you get an error message, restart your computer and mount
using the command-option-i trick.
Once the disc is mounted properly, you can play it via Apple DVD Player. To gain
access to the DVD-ROM content, you have to use Netscape (I used Communicator
version 4.6). Internet Explorer can not handle the translation of upper-case
file names to lower-case.
The multimedia content uses Macromedia Flash, which you should download and
install (if you don't have it already).
Here are some links to key areas (this should go without saying, but you have to
have the DVD mounted in your DVD-ROM drive to access them):
The blue pill/red pill splash screen with Laurence Fishburne's narration
You can play the trailers in-browser if you have the QuickTime plug-in
installed. Otherwise, you will need QuickTime Player.
From the main index, you can explore the majority of the content of the DVD-ROM.
Going to the "Programmed Realities" area will take you to the screenplay with
the storyboards and still photos. Although you can not currently get embedded
playback of the video while reading the screenplay, you can play the movie
concurrently using Apple DVD Player.
While this is a roundabout and somewhat convoluted process, it will have to do
until the PCFriendly software becomes MacFriendly (which apparently will be when
QuickTime becomes DVD-savvy).
The review's last little comment is needless needle and a bunch of "hoo-haa".
The problem is not that Quicktime is not DVD savvy, but that the producers of
the DVD were not Mac and Quicktime savvy. And definitely not Mac friendly, which
may mean that I will be less friendly towards Warner Home Video, the makers of
The Matrix DVD.
This "problem", or rather programming choice, is a problem with other DVD discs
as well, I hear. So anyone buying DVD discs for play in your Macintosh computers
had best bring a magnifying glass with them so they can read the fine print.
(Who the hell can read 4 point type anyway!?! Bold or not!)
But, the movie is great. And the 26 minute HBO "Making of..." is a real nice
feature to have included on the disc, as well. Too bad Warner Home Video didn't
think of Macintosh users when they made their disc.
Thanks for hearing me out.
Mac OS X, Apple's next-generation operating system, won't hit store shelves
until this summer. But recently, the company gave CNET a special preview of
the OS's major new features. From what we saw, the future looks rosy for
Mac heads. While OS X won't run on pre-G3 boxes, the final release promises
to be faster and more stable than OS 9, and to offer more sophisticated
graphics capabilities and an even friendlier interface. OS X might be just
what the Mac needs to make Linux and Windows users cross over.
Up to Code
OS X aims to achieve a difficult task: to simultaneously maintain the Mac's
supereasy interface design while making the OS's internal code more
powerful. For instance, OS X's kernel, dubbed Darwin, is based on BSD Unix,
an operating system known for its reliability. Plus, OS X's kernel is open
source, which means any developer can write code to improve upon the OS.
Best of all, it sports protected memory (one application crash will not
bring down the whole system) and preemptive multitasking, so it can execute
many commands simultaneously. You'll find these same features in other
modern OSs such as Windows 2000 and Linux.
Lovely Interface
But OS X's similarity to server OSs such as Linux and NT ends there. OS X's
interface, called Aqua, is much more user-friendly and graphics-heavy than
any other OS we've seen. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs says OS X's main
design goal was for users to want to lick the screen, and while we didn't
feel compelled to do that, Aqua's brightly colored, translucent buttons and
icons do look a bit like hard candy--eye pleasing.
More importantly, OS X's candylike icons are also useful. Buttons shaped
like traffic lights at the top left of each window let you perform file
commands. Click the red light to close, the yellow light to minimize, and
the green light to maximize windows. Minimizing a window sends it to the
Dock, a new feature that stores your open files as pictures along the
bottom of the screen. It's much like the Windows Minimize feature, except
this one is graphical. We love the Dock because it creates more screen real
estate and allows you to minimize any single file or document. OS 9, on the
other hand, lets you minimize only open windows.
Display Innovations
But OS X's new look isn't all flash and dash. A sophisticated new
2D-display technology, called Quartz, handles graphics for OS X. As a
result, the interface is highly visual but doesn't slow you down. For
instance, OS X's scroll bars and drop-down menus are semitransparent,
letting you see colors, shapes, and even some details of the window
underneath. And because Quartz is based on Adobe PDF, an industry standard
format, it renders complex images quickly and in real time. In our preview,
for example, dragging and resizing windows yielded immediate results; we
didn't have to wait for images or screens to redraw.
Find It Fast
OS X's most striking improvement is its new Finder. In previous Mac OSs,
you had to open multiple folders on the desktop to get to a specific file.
The totally revamped file manager now shows a hierarchical directory tree
of all your drives, including Network drives. Now, you can get a quick
overview of your files the way you can in both Windows and Unix OSs. Plus,
Finder offers a built-in search box to locate files by name, a Preview pane
so that you can peek into your files without having to open them, and the
ability to search the Web. Ahhhh.
Upgrade-O-Rama
Apple will gradually introduce OS X on new Macs throughout the fall, but it
won't be available on all new Macs until January 2001. If you have an
Apple-built G3 or a later Mac, you'll be able to upgrade to the new OS this
summer (you also may need to upgrade some applications to take full
advantage of OS X). And from what we've seen, you'll want to. Though we
haven't tested the final version, we like this preview's stunningly
graphical interface, its improved graphics handling, and its powerful new
Finder. Check back for our final word this summer.
On Saturday, April 1, 2000, in conjunction with the Amiga 2K show in Saint
Louis, Bill McEwen, the new leader of Amiga, met with a group of officers
from Amiga users' groups. The meeting was arranged by the Users Group
Network (UGN). McEwen was open, honest, and optimistic. He gave us every
reason to believe that there are bright days ahead for the Amiga, and he
gave us every indication that he understood how important the users groups
were to the past and future successes of this machine.
Before McEwen arrived, there was a brief discussion of the UGN Times needing
writers and articles. There was also some discussion about the continuing
need for users group newsletter editors to share articles between them.
One of the things which McEwen discussed was the fact that Fletcher Haug,
formally of the Amiga Informer and Amazing Amiga is now the editor of Amiga
World. This is not the Amiga World that we all remember, from IDG
Communications. Instead, this Amiga World will be the official publication
of the Amiga company. It will focus on real news, not rumors. In particular,
it will serve as a vehicle for Amiga to make official announcements about
products and plans. This will be it's central function, and it will not, for
example, offer tutorials. In time, if this function becomes less pressing,
the publication will focus on the needs of third party developers.
Plans for Amiga World include distribution through the users groups and with
each new Amiga sold. Amiga World will be available online in both an HTML
format, and a downloadable printable format. Amiga World will also contain a
listing of all other Amiga magazines, allowing new users to find other
resources. Amiga World will not be directly in competition with the present
Amiga magazines, as it will avoid certain types of stories, and will also
allow other magazines to fill in more complete details after official
announcements.
There are currently two micro breweries bidding on the rights to produce
Boing Beer.
McEwen was asked about the possibility of the Amiga company providing
financial support to help the users groups stay afloat. He offered one
avenue, which is that Amiga will be willing on occasion to take out
advertising space in club newsletters. He advised interested newsletter
editors to send e-mail to kari@amiga.com, with the subject line "Advertising Request".
Kari will be the main contact at Amiga for users groups. In time, all
communications between the users groups and Amiga should be directed through
her.
McEwen stated that within a quarter, there would be 76 people working at
Amiga. There will be a big marketing effort focused on the user's groups.
Before McEwen was dismissed at Gateway, he was in charge of, among other
things, relations with the user's community. Right before he was let go, he
had received approval for a 1.5 million dollar budget to work with the
user's community. Clearly, McEwen does appreciate the genuine value of the
Amiga user's groups.
McEwen received approval for his budget on a Friday, and was let go the
following Monday. This was just a couple of days before Collas and Gateway
parted ways.
McEwen said that as of this meeting, he believed the developers systems were
a week away. They would sell for $750 (not including a monitor), which is
below Amiga's cost to produce them.
McEwen talked briefly about the fact that Amiga would also be willing to
provide sponsorship for youth sports teams in conjunction with local users
groups, just to get the Amiga name back into the public eye.
In the June/July time frame, McEwen promised there would be a "user's group
tour". A high ranking representative from Amiga--possibly McEwen, Fleecy, or
Randy Hughes--will visit each of the local user's groups.
In talking about the rebirth of the Amiga, McEwen made an analogy to the VW
Beetle. He believes that once a credible product is released, many people
who had Amigas at some point will return to the market, just because it was
such a positive experience for them the first time.
Amiga is working together with their dealers to make the Amiga 1200 retail
for less than $200. Unfortunately, there is no design database left for the
Amiga 1200. This was known for some time, but now the last silicon
fabrication line which would produce technology with this large a feature
size is shut down. This means that it is no longer possible to produce the
AGA chip set. When the current stock of A1200s is depleted, there can be no
more. There are 17 thousand A1200s left in Amiga's inventory, but only 1,000
of those are NTSC.
At the $200 price point, Amiga is loosing money on the A1200s, but they
want to keep the community as strong as possible for the launch of the new
product. An A1200 with a PPC accelerator will be able to run the new Amiga
OS.
The dearth of PPC accelerators for the Amiga was also discussed.
McEwen stated that Amiga is working very closely with MetaBox to
produce the new AmiJoe PPC accelerator for the A1200, and that this
accelerator was assured of being able to run the new OS. McEwen also stated
that Amiga was working with MetaBox to bring the price of this accelerator
in at under $200. Where possible, Amiga is now working with third party
developers to help drive the cost of third party products down.
Amiga is also working closely with DCE, who acquired the rights to produce
Phase 5's old designs. McEwen said that among steps they would take would be
to guarantee runs for third parties like DCE. The DCE accelerators are also
certain to run the new OS when it arrives.
Because of the situation with the Amiga custom chip sets and the impending
arrival of the new machine, Amiga will pursue no new development on the
current platform. But, a properly accelerated classic Amiga can be used in
conjunction with the new OS.
The main reason that the new OS will not run on a 68K is that Motorola is an
investor in Tao, Amiga's OS partner. Motorola is attempting to move all of
their customers away from the 68K family of processors, and has told Tao not
to develop their OS for the 68K.
Unofficially, the new Amiga may arrive by the end of summer 2000. When it is
released, the goal is to have more applications available concurrent with
system release than for the release of any other new platform in history. By
the end of the year, there are 127 applications projected to be released for
the new machine.
McEwen said that the announcement of Sun's partnership with Amiga this
weekend almost included a video with McNealy (Sun's CEO). That is how
excited Sun is about working with Amiga.
Sun's interest can also be seen in their cooperation in helping to make
important documentation available for the new platform. As pointed out
elsewhere, Java will be a cornerstone of the new Amiga architecture. There
will be books made available at cost to people interested in Java
development on the new Amiga, in conjunction with Sun and IDG.
In addition, Sun has donated two tickets to Java1, a developer's conference
to be held this summer. These tickets will be raffled off to the user's
community, probably through the user's groups. The tickets are valued at
$3500 each.
Sun is also attempting to establish contact between local Sun reps and Amiga
user's groups.
In addition to Sun, Red Hat and Corel were about to be announced as Amiga
partners.
McEwen pointed out that although the perspective of the Amiga user's
community is that the well has been dry for years (in terms of support from
the parent company). But, from the perspective of the new owners of the
Amiga, they have been doing this for 90 days. Naturally, there will be some
difference in expectations between these groups for a while.
Scala will be available for the new Amiga. So will Real Audio, video, and
jukebox. Also expect to see Quicktime and other standard multimedia formats
available on the new machine at time of release.
If you are wondering what happened to Jim Collas, he has a technology
incubator on the west coast that is not associated with Amiga. His partners
in this venture include some people he worked with while at Gateway Amiga.
Collas is *NOT* involved in any way with Amiga at this point.
McEwen said that he would never make a word processor, or any other
application. He stated that Amiga would never be in the business of
competing with either third party Amiga developer's or with the user's base.
McEwen stated that the user's groups and the community represented the true
value of Amiga. It's why he and his partners bought the rights.
McEwen confided that he spent $4.5 million to buy Amiga. This money was
provided by venture capitalists, who now own 30% of the company. McEwen and
his two partners--Fleecy Moss and Randy Hughes--own the other 70%. The VC
analysts have placed the value of the company at $250 million.
McEwen was asked if we should be careful about keeping these plans within
the community, which we had heard from someone else who recently stood at
the helm of Amiga. The real question was do we have to worry about
Microsoft.
His response was "I'm not worried about Microsoft. Microsoft represents no
competition to us. We will have one OS that can run on everything from a
cell phone to a server. No one else has that."
McEwen pointed out that Cisco, whose only product is Internet routers, is
now worth more than Microsoft, according to the value of outstanding stock.
McEwen stated this indicates that the investment community believes that the
PC is on it's way out, and that the future is in connecting devices
together.
McEwen said that those who have been with the Amiga for a long time
understood what it could have been. That is why they are still valuable as
the Amiga moves forward.
McEwen pointed out that he and his partners are the first owners of the
Amiga who don't do anything else but Amiga.
McEwen made an analogy for the original Amiga users, stating that "the
earliest pioneers are the ones who got the arrows in the back".
Anyone who has really been paying attention to the Amiga saga understands
one thing: The strength of the Amiga is it's community. The community of
users who have kept the machine alive when it's ownership was bungled by
one corporate entity after another. The community of developers who
produced great products for a machine that others ignored, and who kept
producing products long after it became clear they could make more money in
a different market. The community of users groups who provided support to
the Amiga users when there was no support forthcoming from local stores or
the various owners of Amiga. And the community represented by the small
handful of honest, determined dealers who did stick with us through times
of a declining market.
Somehow, something about this machine--something that was just better than
the other platforms--made us all stick it out even when times were awfully
dark.
McEwen made it clear that he understands the strength of the Amiga is the
community. On Saturday afternoon, he attended a meeting sponsored by the
UGN with representatives from the Amiga user's groups. But, even beyond
that he speaks of uniting three communities and building a community with
even greater strength than before.
He talks about uniting the current Amiga community, and at the banquet
announced agreements with long term developers Haage And Partner, and with
Anti Gravity Products, who recently acquired the rights to the Boxer. They
now represent the talents of Mick Tinker and some of the former talents of
BlitterSoft. In addition, Amiga is working closely with Metabox and DCE
(who acquired the rights to manufacture Phase 5's old designs) to produce
inexpensive yet powerful PPC accelerators for classic Amigas. McEwen has
made it clear that he would like to bring as many of the previous Amiga
developers forward with the new machine as possible. He said "you guys are
the best in the world at producing multi-media content."
He talks about bringing about an alliance with the Linux community. At the
banquet, he announced partnerships with both Red Hat and Corel. He stated
that there were 18 different versions of Linux now, and by the end of the
year there would be 40 different versions available. He talked about how
this plethora of vendors could eventually lead to a fragmentation of the
market, and to incompatibilities between the various Linux versions. There
comes the risk that a program written for one Linux distribution will not
run on another. What the Amiga offers is an abstraction layer. This
provides a common interface to which all Linux developers can write, which
will guarantee that a program written once will run on any Linux box (or
any other box, for that matter). All Amiga needs to run on a Linux box is
the Linux kernel.
He also talks about bringing about an alliance with the Java developer's
community. With the incredibly fast JVM offered by Tao, Amiga addresses
Java's biggest problem--that of execution speed. And, there is also that
pool of great Amiga multimedia content developers. He announced an alliance
with Sun at the banquet, reading a brief statement from Sun which talked
about how excited Sun was to be working with Amiga. McEwen also said during
the UGN meeting that Sun would soon be encouraging all of their Java
developers to be using the Amiga interface as the interface for developing
multimedia content.
For the first time in the history of the Amiga, the owners of the name and
technology understand that the real secret to the Amiga is the community.
And they are taking steps not only to strengthen that community, but to
swell it's ranks and to provide new alliances.
At the banquet at Amiga 2K, we saw a demonstration of the Tao operating
system running on top of a Linux box. We watched as Fleecy Moss first
popped up one window after another which held various small applications,
and the machine responded with out a moment's hesitation. But, then the
real awe inspiring demo commenced. He opened three windows, two of which
had instantiations of Quake running, and the third of which held an
instantiation of Doom. All three games ran flawlessly. It was very
impressive.
But, what made it really impressive was what was being demonstrated. As
Fleecy ran the demo, Bill McEwen made the point from the podium that there
was no hardware acceleration on this machine. It had a nice processor--a
500 MHz Pentium III--but no graphics card. Everything that we were seeing
was going through the main processor.
But, there was more here than that. The machine was running a Linux OS, but
it had an abstraction layer on top of it. The abstraction layer masks the
Linux OS, such that the applications which were running are not
specifically targeted for Linux, but are instead targeted for this
abstraction layer. That is, these applications are written for a different
OS--and that OS is what will become the Amiga OS.
This is really just an extension of Sun's Java concept. Indeed, Tao's
operating system really is based upon a Java Virtual Machine. Sun's slogan
for Java is "write once, run anywhere". The whole point of writing a
program in Java is that you will be able to turn around and run that same
program, without porting or even a new compile, on any machine.
Which is an exciting theory. But, everyone knows what's wrong with Java.
It's slow.
But it isn't anymore.
The thing that made this a slack-jaw demonstration for anyone who
understood what they were seeing--the thing that made some of us wonder if
what we were seeing was even real--is that it was running at mind blurring
speed, flawlessly, through an abstraction layer.
To understand the point, imagine that you are a games developer. You write
the latest, hottest, 3D fantasy masterpiece, and you want to sell it to as
many people as possible. In today's world, that means that you pick one of
many competing game platforms--Play Station, Nintendo, PC, Mac, Amiga, etc.
for which to write your game. You make your choice based upon which market
you think you can sell the most games into. You write the game for that
machine, getting all of the bugs out of the code, and putting together your
story and graphics. Then, if the first release is a success, you *MIGHT*
port the game to a different platform. But, this could take another six
months to a year, and keeps you from working on the sequel, or on another
brilliant idea. And, if your first release does not sell, you probably
won't bother with a port at all. So, if you picked wrong, a game that may
have been a success on another platform could flop on the one you picked.
Plus, to get to the widest possible market requires a lot of work, as you
do two or three ports.
Now, here's how Amiga is proposing to change that. Imagine that you write
the game for the new Amiga. In every conceivable environment--PC, Mac, game
console, or even server--there exists an Amiga abstraction layer. So, your
game will run on every machine out there, as long as the end user has the
Amiga abstraction layer. So, on the day you release the game for the Amiga,
you also release it for the PC, the Mac, the Play Station, the Nintendo--in
principal, even for workstations and servers. The basic Amiga release
assumes that the end user already has the Amiga abstraction layer running
on his machine. But, it wouldn't be that hard to make a "PC bundle" that
included the game and the Amiga abstraction layer for the PC (which you
would charge more for, and pay a license to Amiga for).
I use games as an example for several reasons. One is that there are
several clearly visible competing games platforms out there, and this makes
the advantages very clear. A second is that there are a lot of games
released every year, and there is a lot of financial incentive for this
type of approach. The third is that games really do tend to push the
hardware and software performance of a system. If you can do this for
games, which Amiga has demonstrated that you can (three copies of Doom, and
one of Quake on a system without 3D graphics acceleration), then you can do
if for anything.
And that's the other point. You can do it for anything. Write a really cool
paint program once, and sell it to everyone in the graphics arts community,
no matter what machine they are on. Write a good word processor, and sell
it to everyone. Write a powerful financial package or database, and your
end customer can run it on every machine in his office, from the PC to the
mainframe.
During the UGN meeting, McEwen was asked if we should be careful about
keeping these plans within the community, which we had heard from someone
else who recently stood at the helm of Amiga. The real question was do we
have to worry about Microsoft.
His response was "I'm not worried about Microsoft. Microsoft represents no
competition to us. We will have one OS that can run on everything from a
cell phone to a server. No one else has that."
One OS from a cell phone to a server. Write your application once, and run
it on every box and information appliance made. That is the new Amiga
vision, and it is a powerful vision indeed.
The March 16, 2000 General meeting began with President Jim
Lewis introducing of club officers, your contact people for help
if you need any. During the introductions, Jim made noted of a
very special guest, Wayne Hamilton, the founder of the original
Champaign Amiga User Group. It was great to have Wayne drop by.
President Lewis then asked Kevin Hopkins for the monthly Amiga
news. Kevin began by bringing up several issues raised by the
March Executive Update from Amiga Inc. Kevin said he had waited
as long as he could to include the Update in the newsletter, but
he finally had to send our newsletter out. Not 12 hours later the
Update was posted to the Amiga website, so he sent it along as an
Extra to our March newsletter. The Update was posted to Amiga.de
on the 13th, but back-dated to the 10th.
Kevin reported on the reconstitution of the Amiga Advisory
Council. Kevin said most of the original 30 members were back
with the exception of two former members. Four new people were
added, of which Bill McEwen (President and CEO of Amiga Inc.) was
one. Kevin also stated that Gary Peake, coordinator of Team Amiga
and an AAC member, had been hired by Amiga Inc.
Kevin noted that the Update specifically stated that the new
Amiga OS would run on PowerPC cards, so those who upgraded their
Amigas with PPC cards have finally had their wager covered by the
parent company. Granted this is three to six years too late, but
at least the path everyone had desired back when Apple was
deciding to go with the PowerPC has finally been given a
corporate blessing. Kevin was asked if this might mean the new
AmigaOS would run on Apple PPC hardware. Kevin could not confirm
this, but he said most of the interest seems to be directed
toward the POP (PowerPC Open Platform) boards being developed by
IBM. The mention of POP brought up a cherry round of recalling
all the acronyms attached to this concept: first PREP, then CHRP,
now POP. Hopefully one of them will finally hit the streets.
The discussion of the PowerPC lead to the topic of Motorola
being unable to provide reliable, high MHz PPC chips in
quantities to meet Apple's requirements. This had prompted Apple
to go to IBM as another supplier of PPC chips. The latest rumor
surrounding this supply situation is that IBM has produced faster
PPCs than 500 MHz and is getting a more successful yield in their
manufacturing process, which has made them a better and cheaper
source than Motorola, a situation Motorola has responded to by
tieing up IBM legally through their licensing agreement so that
they won't be undercut. Motorola has denied they are doing such a
thing, but the rumors persist and seem pretty well founded.
Kevin's final item of Amiga news is the Amiga 2000 show in St.
Louis being held April 1 and 2. There will be a developer meeting
on the evening of March 31. Kevin said Amiga Inc. has promised
major announcements at the show. Jim asked Kevin if he was going
to attend the show and Kevin said he'd like to but personal
commitments might preclude that. However, Kevin said there is a
lot of rumbling out there in the Amiga community and Amiga 2000
seems to be shaping up as "a gathering of the tribes".
Next, Richard Rollins related the Macintosh news. Richard
announced that the iBook had been named the best selling portable
for last month. He said Apple would have done even better if it
hadn't been hampered by the chip shortage caused by Motorola.
Richard said there is talk of Apple having a stock split, the
first since the early 80s. Lastly, he made passing note of Steve
Job's keynote address at the Mac show recently in Japan.
Jim Lewis then gave the PC news. Jim stated that Intel is
producing too many varieties of processors and muddling the
market. He said it's "a bloody nightmare for retailers and
integrators". He said each processor has two versions: the OEM
version, which has no case or fan and only a 90 day warranty, and
the "box" version, which is sold by Intel itself with a nice case
and the *best* CPU fan you can get and carrying a three year
warranty. At his work, they only use "box" processors in the
machines they made and they have been in short supply.
There was a rather lengthy discussion of AMD processors, their
speed, their quality, their market acceptance, their history and
how close a clone of the Intel chips are they. Jim said they
require their own motherboard and support chips, since they
aren't a pin compatible replacement for Intel units. Past
problems associated with AMD processors hasn't really been their
fault, but that of their support partners. Jim said now that ASUS
has staked the reputation of their motherboards on the Athlon, he
feels very confident AMD technical superiority over Intel will
begin to pay off for AMD. ASUS is widely regarded as *the*
premiere board maker. Even HP is now using ASUS for their OEM
efforts, Jim said.
Jim concluded his segment by saying that the presentation for
this evening would be on the Apex AD600A DVD/CD/MP3 player and a
"CD creation clinic" on both the Mac and the PC.
We then launched into the Question and Answer Session:
Norris Hansel asked if anyone has gone to Mac OS 9 and what
kinds of problems have they had. Selena Douglass said her office
was now using OS9 and weren't having any problems. Photoshop,
Illustrator and several other application that Norris had
specifically asked about were performing well.
In answer to another Norris question, several members
confirmed that Adaptec is very good at hardware, but their
software can be a problem. Norris said his current version of
Toast wouldn't work with OS9. Richard Rollins advised him to drop
back one version of Toast, which does work with OS9. It seems
Toast was "improved" right into a problem.
Kevin Hisel reported that AT&T is beginning to hook up cable
modems in town. The charge will be $50 a month. This launched an
entire discussion of cable modem versus DSL (Digital Subscriber
Line) service.
The bottom line is bandwidth. With cable modem service, your
bandwidth (the speed at which your connection works) is impacted
greatly by the number of other subscribers that are on with you.
It's just like the old party line. The bandwidth is shared with
your neighbors - the more users, the slower you connection gets.
You also have the security problems associated with others on a
LAN. You never know who else on your system might be "listening
in". Another major negative, Kevin said, is you are dealing with
the cable company and these people are generally clueless when it
comes to computers and data transmission.
With a DSL, you get a fixed fast bandwidth and it is more
secure. Kevin said Ameritech and McLeod are both working to
provide DSL by late May or early June. Soltech will be offering the
service for $45 to $50 a month, $70 if you have a LAN in your
house. Kevin said the bandwidth will be 768K/sec downloading and
128K uploading. DSL maxes out at 1.5 MB/sec. The only downside to
DSL locally is that Ameritech has just been purchased
Southwestern Bell, the company from Hell.
The focus of the presentation for this evening was on the new
Apex AD600A player. Both Richard Rollins and Dave Witt brought in
their Apex players. Richard said he had been watching "Screen
Savers on ZDTV and they had done a segment on the Apex AD600A.
The next day he ran out and bought one. Why? Because the machine
plays DVDs, CDs, VCDs, MP3s on CD-ROM and all for $160. Richard
said so far Circuit City is the only one selling the Apex player.
He said their first order of 5000 sold out almost immediately.
Their second order of 30,000 - gone. Dave Witt purchased a floor
model for $130. (A couple of days after the meeting, yours truly
went out to get one and they were sold out again and they
wouldn't sell me the demonstrator.)
Richard put in a copy of "The Matrix" to show what the Apex
could do. The first thing Richard commented on was the freeze
frame. Richard said that unlike even his best VCR, DVD provides a
dead solid still frame, which can be downloaded to your computer
for use or manipulation.
Richard then talked about the jacks on the Apex. He noted
there were two microphone jacks on the front of the machine,
which puzzled him for a while, until he discovered the Apex could
be used as a Kareoke machine. On the back there are composite
out, S-Video out, separate R-G-B outs, two audio outs, and a
digital audio out for surround sound systems. For those with
older TV sets, which don't have any of these inputs, Dave Witt
said he has purchased a couple of different adapters from Radio
Shack that allowed him to go from RCA to Coax. That's just
for the Video. For audio, he said you need a stereo receiver or
boom box that allows for auxiliary input. Or, you can just use a
standard VCR that has the Aux input.
Richard said his box plays CD-RWs as well as DVDs. It has a
hand control like most VCRs, which he noted is a problem since
now he has yet another remote. There was a little discussion
about whether the Apex could be run off a universal remote. Dave
Witt seemed to think the basic functions could be handled by a
universal remote. It was just unclear how many functions might
be lost by doing so.
Richard played a bit of a VCD. Granted, the quality was
nowhere near as good as a DVD, but that's a function of the
format, not the player.
Next, there was a discussion of DVD "region" codes and the
Apex's ability to circumvent them. Dave Witt explained that the
DVD Region is almost like a form of copy protection. Each DVD has
a region identifier burned into it. Its purpose is to keep
people from bringing imported DVDs into the US, and playing
them. The biggest reason the manufacturers want this feature is
because of the rampant piracy of copyrighted material in Asian
countries. What the "Region Code" option in the Apex does is
allow you to disable the Region code (which is set for the
United States) and play any DVD you want. You can either disable
it all together, or, set the Region Code to different countries.
A spokesman for Apex has said that this feature is a function of
the chipset they use and was meant for developer use, not aiding
and abetting piracy. They say as many as twenty other
manufacturers of DVD players use the same chipset they do.
On the downside, the Apex only displays an 8 character file
name on MP3s. (That's not 8 plus 3; that's 8 only.) The first
character signifies the directory the file is in. The next five
are from the song title. The last two are standard characters
used in a similar way to the tilde and numeric are used by DOS to
truncate long filenames. Dave Witt said there is a firmware
upgrade that will allow recognition of long filenames, which
means that there's a Flash ROM inside the Apex that will allow
substantial improvements in its abilities. Dave said the firmware
upgrade is not available to the public yet. From what he hears,
it is available in the new units. The way you will get it for
your older machine is when you send in your registration card,
they will send you a firmware upgrade on CD. You will insert the
CD, and the machine will read and write the firmware. From what
Dave understands, it will also be available as a download from
some web sites that will allow you to burn it to a CD yourself,
and run it.
Another drawback in the current player, Richard said, is that its
shuffle feature only works within a directory. He said, if you've
laid out your MP3 disks with each album within its own directory,
the Apex will not do a spiral shuffle, but will shuffle within
each album until it's finished and then move to the next
directory, beginning again. However, if you've laid out your MP3
disk in a single directory, you can get nearly 12 hours of music
on one CD (sampled at 128K). But, Dave Witt said shuffle does
works as you would expect, combining all the songs on a CD. Jim
Lewis said another friend of his, who has an Apex, also said it
worked properly. So, some comparison of notes took place after
the meeting.
Richard related a story of how he was able to track down a
song he'd once heard on radio, which had not been released in the
U.S. He was able to go to the artist's official web site and
download the MP3 of the song, convert it and put it on a CD, so
he could listen to it conveniently.
Richard spoke glowingly of his Apex. He said, "I haven't
stuffed a single CD into it that it won't play." There was a
question about PhotoCDs. Dave Witt said he'd tried one in his
machine. He was able to view two pictures, then it hung. Dave
continued by saying it wouldn't play CDI, as it was a proprietary
format. However, Richard said it will play MiniCDs.
The presentation then moved into the "CD creation clinic" part
of the evening. Jim Lewis was running Adaptec's Easy CD Creator
on his PC and Richard Rollins ran Adaptec's Toast on the club's
Mac. Obviously, there were similarities between these two Adaptec
products, but the difference were quite noticeable, particular in
the user interface. Jim said this was because they were created
by two separate teams of programmers.
Both products can create many different kinds of CDs: Data
CDs, Audio CDs Mixed-Mode CDs, CD Extra and Bootable CD formats.
Jim said in Easy CD Creator there is even the ability to record
music from a turntable and clean up those nasty clicks and pops
from your vinyl records. Creator 4.0 and higher can convert MP3s
to an Audio CD on the fly. It has a drag and drop interface and
you can reorder the songs simply by dragging them around. Easy CD
Creator costs $79.
As the demo progressed, there was a question about quality of
media. Jim said he had never had a problem with any brand of
media he had purchased.
There was a little bit of friendly competition between Richard
on the Mac and Jim on the PC. Richard produced a playable CD,
while Jim produced three "coasters". However, to be fair,
Richard's CD only had three songs on it and it was burned at a
very slow speed. Jim, on the other hand, was pushing the envelop
with a full disk's worth of material at a very fast burn rate.
One of the "coasters" was due to trying to put too much material
on the disk. The second was due to a fragmented hard drive not
being able to keep up with the speed-demon burner. The third was
simply because we ran out of time and Jim had to shut down his
machine mid burn because we had to vacate the meeting room.
The final question of the night was about "coasters" (about
all a mis-burned CD is good for). What is the principal cause of
a bad CD? Jim said buffer under-run is the most common cause of a
bad burn - not keeping the burner fed as it goes about its
business. The fragmented drive was a good example of that. The
machine couldn't fill the buffer faster than it was being emptied
by the burner. Another common cause is trying to do too many
other things on your machine while burning a CD in the
background. If you bog the machine down, or, if something else
you are working on causes the machine to crash .... coaster.
This was an evening packed with information. It was also the
kind of direct exposure to new and intriguing technologies that
is the user group's forte. Thanks to everyone that contributed to
a great evening.
The March meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, March
21, 2000, 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, Dave Witt, Emil Cobb,
Richard Rollins, Jack Melby, Charles Melby -Thomas, Anderson Yau, Kevin
Hopkins, and Kevin Hisel. Due to a scheduling screw-up Kevin Hopkins didn't
arrive at the meeting until almost 8PM. (I made up for it, though.)
Jim Lewis: Jim said he thought the Apex DVD player demo was well
received. A lot of interest was show and there were a lot of questions from
those attending. The meeting ran up against the clock and people said to
the end. Jim also said he had fun participating, burning a few CDs.
Richard Hall: Rich gave his usual detailed Treasurer's report, noting
that with the exception of meeting room rent, our income for the quarter
covered our expenses. Room rent was an exceptional expense, since it was
paid for the entire year.
Emil Cobb: Emil reported an attendance of 20 people at the last meeting.
[Richard Rollins]: Having just bought a PC, Richard said he an interest
helping out people news to a platform. He suggested we create beginners CDs
for both Mac and PC users. Jack Melby will do the one for the Mac with
Richard's assistance and Dave Witt said he'd do the PC Beginner's CD.
As a program suggestion, Richard said he was also interested in faster
modem speeds and, since we can't hook up a DSL modem at the meeting site,
he'd like to see a video tape of DSL as soon as someone in the club gets
one and got record how it works.
Jack Melby: Jack said that at the next Mac SIG meeting he'd be doing a
more complete demonstration of Via Voice, a program he touched upon at the
January meeting. He marvelled at the programs ability to learn,
particularly on things like unusual name. He recounted how it had first
rendered the name of one of his students, Genaro Mendex (Pronounced
Hin-are-o), as "Hand Our Old Man Dead". He says he plans to hit it with
another weird name at the next meeting, but he can't rehearse his
demonstration because ViaVoice now learns from his voice so quickly, it's
learn this name and make the test pointless.
Charles Melby-Thomas: Charlie said he was sorry he missed the last
meeting, but his search for a college to attend is progressing.
[Dave Witt]: Dave addressed some of the latest news concerning the Apex DVD
player he helped show at the last meeting. Dave said he wouldn't be
upgrading the firmware in his machine since there has been some controversy
over some of the machines capabilities and the MPAA may force some security
measures which would block the Apex's ability to bypass some DVD
protections.
Returning to the discussion of modems and sources of increased bandwidth
coming soon to Champaign, Dave had some very negative things to say about
cable delivered Internet access. Security was his primary concern. Dave
mentioned a program called "Black Ice" which scans for attempts to enter
your system. He said it reports incidents all the time. Dave said there are
automated "bots" that are out there just looking for systems with lax
security. There are things that will stop these intruders, like firewalls
and proxy software (Kevin Hisel put in a good word for his LAN software
"Sygate"), but Dave was less than impressed with cable systems in general.
Anderson Yau: Anderson gave a personal note that he had just returned
from Florida where he had taken part in the on-road RC car race, the South
Gas Championship. He said he had a lot of fun. He was ribbed mercilessly
about his tan.
Kevin Hopkins: Kevin delivered an updated copy of the database for Kevin
Hisel's use. He had no other business.
Kevin Hisel: Kevin had no official business to discuss.
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 $10 at mid
year.
Our monthly newsletter, the Status Register, is delivered by email. All
recent editions are available on our WWW site. To initiate a user group
exchange, just send us your newsletter or contact our editor via email. As
a matter of CUCUG policy, an exchange partner will be dropped after three
months of no contact.
For further information, please attend the next meeting as our guest, or
contact one of our officers (all at area code 217):
Surf our web site at http://www.cucug.org/
800MHz to 1GHz Macs
Macintosh News Network and
Czech Amiga News
These same Moto sources had originally reported that fully functional G4es would
likely not be available to third party developers (Apple, etc.) until June.
It is much too early to draw major conclusions from this, but it does foster
hope that Motorola is going all-out to introduce this revved-up G4 that may be
the answer to many of today's clock speed and shrinking performance advantage
woes.Amiga 2K: A Synthesis
from various sources, with special thanks to Roger Wyatt, Corinna Cohn, Joe
Obrin, and Gary PeakeCollas and Crew located
Czech Amiga NewsFirst public release of Miami Deluxe
Ukiah, April 12th, 2000
MiamiDx 1.0c is available for download from www.nordicglobal.com. A demo
version (with a time limit and other limitations) is available for free.
The full registration costs US$ 60.00. An upgrade from a registered
version of Miami (any version) costs US$ 30.00.
kruse@nordicglobal.com
http://www.nordicglobal.com Metabox's AmiJoe G3
amiga-news.deCloanto For You
Czech Amiga News
ToCVoyager 3.1 Released
Amiga Network NewsWin95/98 compatible file system for the Amiga
Short: Win95/98 compatible file system
Author: t.jager@gmx.de (Torsten Jager)
Uploader: t.jager@gmx.de (Torsten Jager)
Version: 1.22
Type: disk/misc
Kurz: Win95/98-kompatibles Dateisystem
Date: 20-Mar-2000
Features
iBook, PowerBook Data Loss Problem Noted
TidBITS#521/13-Mar-00Sleep Memory Extension Blocks Laptop Bug
TidBITS#522/20-Mar-00
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05839Look Elsewhere for PowerBook (FireWire) Security
TidBITS#522/20-Mar-00
http://www.apple.com/powerbook/
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05625Connectix Ships Virtual PC with Linux
TidBITS#522/20-Mar-00
http://www.redhat.com/
http://www.linuxppc.com/
http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/FileMaker 5.0v3 Update Available
TidBITS#523/27-Mar-00
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05576
http://www.filemaker.com/support/fm5v3.htmCorel buys MetaCreations' graphic products
by Dennis Sellers (dsellers@maccentral.com)
April 10, 2000, 9:30 am ET Darwin 1.0 & VPC with Windows 2000 Available
TidBITS#526/10-Apr-00
http://www.be.com/support/faqs/mac.html
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=00831Netscape 6 Preview
TidBITS#526/10-Apr-00
ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/netscape6/english/6_PR1/mac/macos8.5/sea/
http://www.mozilla.org/
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=998+981Apple Releases Mac OS 9.0.4 Update
by Geoff Duncan (geoff@tidbits.com)
TidBITS#526/10-Apr-00
http://asu.info.apple.com/swupdates.nsf/productsearch?searchview&
query=Mac+OS+9.0.4
http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn/tn1194.html
What's Not Fixed
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05851 Common Ground:
MS admits planting secret password
from ZDNetApex AD-600A DVD Player
review by Chris Maynard of The Digital Bits
With no disc in the tray, press "setup".
Scroll down to "Preferences".
Press "step".
Press "back chapter".
Press "forward chapter".
chrismaynard@thedigitalbits.comHow to Buy a PC (And Retain Your Sanity)
by Adam C. Engst (ace@tidbits.com)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D020135389X/tidbitselectro00A/
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tlkthrd=590+654
http://www.dell.com/
http://www.gateway.com/
In the end, my advice is that if you decide to order a PC on the Web, feel
free to compare configurations and prices on several sites to make sure
you're not accidentally choosing an overly expensive option, but then just
place the order without obsessing over the options too much. I suspect that
many of these issues apply to ordering from a mail-order vendor (they're
all on the Web too) over the phone, with the only advantage being that you
can keep the sales representative on the line until you have everything
explained. The PC Section:
Intel releases latest chips amid shortages
from ZDNet - March 20, 2000Open source Napster-like product disappears after release
from Wired MagazineDVD Player at Apex of Controversy
from Wired MagazineThe Joy of CD-RW Drives
Whether it's Disco Inferno or the latest Grammy winners, music of all sorts
is being burned into recordable CDs to create individual music mixes. And
now that the MP3 revolution has taken the Web by storm, there's even more
reason to create your own compilation of music on CDs.Protect Yourself Against Hackers
Hacker attacks are all the rage in the news these days. When aren't they?
No need to cower under your covers in fear of an Information Superhighway
ambush. We've got the info you need to arm yourself against hacker attacks.S3 sells graphics chip biz to VIA
from ZDNetPC Tips
submitted by Kevin Hisel The Macintosh Section:
Mac and The Matrix
by Edwin Hadley (e-hadley@life.uiuc.edu)
Macintosh Compatibility
I tried it and it worked. I was able to enjoy the movie the next weekend and
view all of the items listed above. There is a "Making of The Matrix" HBO
special that features the work and the people behind all the "wire work" that
went on in the film. And there are websites to view. But, I don't have a modem
hooked up to my G3, so I couldn't get the websites to be completely active.
The blue pill/red pill selection screen that will take you to the main index
The main index
The trailer to The Matrix
The trailer to Demolition Man
The trailer to Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
The trailer to Outland
The trailer to The Road Warrior
The trailer to SoldierMac OS: OS X Preview
CNET Review (3/8/00)
By Becky Waring The Amiga Section:
Bill McEwen Meets With Amiga User's Groups
by Joe Obrin, RMAU
http://www.io.com/~joeobrin/A2KUGN.htmlThe New Amiga Community
by Joe Obrin, RMAU
http://www.io.com/~joeobrin/A2KComm.htmlThe New Amiga Vision
by Joe Obrin, RMAU
http://www.io.com/~joeobrin/A2KVision.html The CUCUG Section:
March General Meeting
reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)The Presentation: Richard Rollins and Jim Lewis address MP3
reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)March Board Meeting
reported by Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu)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.
President/WinSIG: 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: Richard Hall 344-8687 rjhall1@uiuc.edu
Corporate Agent: Jim Lewis 359-1342 NOSPAMlewis_j_e@yahoo.com
Board Advisor: Richard Rollins 469-2616
Webmaster: Kevin Hisel 406-948-1999 khisel @ cucug.org
Mac SIG Co-Chair: John Melby 352-3638 jbmelby@cucug.org
Mac SIG Co-Chair: Charles Melby-Thompson 352-3638 charlesm@cucug.org
912 Stratford Dr.
Champaign, IL
61821