The Status Register


CHAMPAIGN-URBANA COMMODORE USERS GROUP INC. ____________ August, 1995


This newsletter will never appear on Prairienet BEFORE the monthly CUCUG meeting it is intended to announce. This is in deference to actual CUCUG members. It is, after all, THEIR newsletter. For advance notification of CUCUG's meeting, look in the "Information About CUCUG" section.

August 1995


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

August News:

The August Meeting

The next CUCUG meeting will be held on our regular third Thursday of the month: Thursday, August 17th, at 7:00 pm, at the IBEW Union Hall. Direction to the Hall are on the back of this newsletter.

The August 17th meeting will be one of our split SIG meetings. The Amiga SIG will view some of Ed serbe's latest graphic creations. The C64/128 SIG will explore Novaterm 9.5. And, our Macintosh SIG will have a discussion lead by Richard Rollins on MacTCP, PPP, and Netscape. An interesting mix of topics.

ToC

Welcome New Members

We would like to welcome back returning member Chris Huson (Amiga 2000) and extend a welcome to our newest members Mark Bee (Amiga 3000) and Aaron Anderson. We hope you take an active part in our merry band, Gentlemen. ToC

The Starship is now just a little faster!

From: Kevin Hisel, Starship CUCUG Sysop

(07-20-95) (23:32) - Okay, kids, we're now at 28,800bps. Since this is just a low-life PC box which may require additional hardware to handle the higher speeds, you might not be getting double the speed for your downloads. But it's doing better than I thought it would, so we're okay for now.

Thanks to Mark and Motorola for making it happen!

ToC

Starship's Mac Section

From: Mark Bellon, CUCUG Macintosh Librarian

(07-17-95) - Just a note to all that the Mac file area just passed half full (65MB). I'd estimate that I'll need 15-20 MB more to finish out my basic uploading and then we'll covert the area over to the standard policy of new files not moving to their proper destinations for 30 days so that member will have preferencial access to them.

ToC

Amiga Internet in a Box for $5.00?

From Kevin Hisel, CUCUG Chief Librarian

We are thinking about creating a CUCUG disk that would get would-be Amiga Internetters on the net lickety-split with no muss and no fuss. The disk would contain a pre-configured dialer and TCP/IP support as well as a collection of the most useful net tools available for the Amiga (FTP, Telnet, Mosaic, Lynx, etc.) It would most-likely be set up to work with CU-Online, a local Internet provider which has offered to support Amiga access of their service. Interested?

ToC

Nada Gateway

from GAC's Web Page

There will not be a Gateway Computer Show in 1995. This is due to ESCOM not being able to get ramped up soon enough. Perhaps we will have our third show in 1996 if enough interest is generated. We need a 14 month lead time to do a good show.

ToC

Borrowed Time

by Jason Compton, Editor of Amiga Report

And then there's Amiga Technologies. What was originally cause for great rejoicing is now sending some Amiga users packing. Not everyone is pleased with the strategic decisions and marketing plans the company has laid out.

Still, all hope is not lost. Amiga Technologies has shown they will listen to a mass user revolt. The force of negative energy that responded to the projected US$3500 price of the 4000T brought the company to hold a distribution conference, and the new price, reported in a dealer letter sent out by CEI, is roughly $2700.

Certainly, nothing to write home about. Still uncompetitive in the home computer market. But it's an improvement. And if Amiga users can continue to join together to make good things happen - then the fight is never over. Take AmiJAM '95 and the upcoming Amiga Convention '95. Two grassroots organizations putting on shows. Of course, it would be great to have a parent company willing to organize such events, but for now, we'll live.

Make no mistake, though. The clock on Amiga Technologies' borrowed time is ticking, and that time is running out rapidly. We need a bonanza. We need an event. Amiga Technologies MUST show the Amiga community, and the world, that they will be a serious player in the world of computing for the rest of this century and beyond. Everyone else is vying to make this statement. It's do or die time.

[Source: AR 3.14]

ToC

Results of the Escom/U.S. Distributor Meeting

Held in Philadelphia, PA. U.S.A. on Friday July 21, 1995

Reported by Shane R. Monroe (sonroe@awod.com)

Representing Dark Unicorn Productions and Better Concepts, Inc.

Note: A non-disclosure agreement was established at this meeting and therefore certain items cannot be discussed here.

This is Shane Monroe reporting on the conference held in Philly regarding the distribution and pricing of the Amiga computer platform in the United States.

I will organize this in several parts, so if there is a part that you are not interested in you may skip over it by looking for the next header flanked by asterisks.

** WHO WAS THERE **

Those attending the conference are listed below. The number of representatives present is indicated by parenthesis.

Petro Tyschtschenko (1) - Senior Vice President Escom and General Manager of Amiga Technologies.
Ed Goff (1) - Attorney, more or less leading the U.S. side of Amiga Technologies. The man we have all grown to love over the last several months! ;)
Jeff (1; missed his last name) [Frank] - Amiga Technologies' Engineer and the only one missing a tie.
Better Concepts, Inc. (3) - Hardware/Software dealer
Software Hut (3) - Hardware/Software dealer
Lively Computers (2) - Hardware/Software dealer
Micropace (1) - Hardware/Software dealer
Metropolitan Computers (1) - Hardware/Software dealer
CEI (2) - Hardware/Software/Misc. Amiga dealer/distributor
Centaur Development (2) - Makers of the Opalvision and the most verbose people at the table.
Several companies that were invited didn't make it, according to Mr. Goff. Most of the presentation was given by Petro with commentary by Ed and Jeff. Lively & Software Hut were very quiet for the most part, while Alex Amor of CEI seemed to be the meeting referee to keep us on topic as the day went on. Micropace had quite a bit to say, as did Metropolitan. The most input came from Centaur Development who spoke a great deal of the time. Better Concepts Inc (BCI) also had a lot to say and generated a lot of comment (as well as I think a bit of hate and discontent! ;)

** WHAT WAS SAID (OVERVIEW) **

The meeting was really quite open ended, especially after lunch. The better part of the morning was taken with a very interesting overview of ESCOM as well as a round-the-table introduction of everyone present. A few jokes passed, like some of my previous comments about him when Ed introduced himself.

We then discussed configuration of the new Amiga 4000T and started talking about everyone's favorite topic: price. Petro solicited a price from the attendees and we talked a little about other Amiga 4000T related topics, as well as other machine distribution.

We broke for lunch and returned to have Petro get to the meat of the meeting and give the distributors a "how do you say it? Bottom of the line?" price of the machines.

We then discusses numbers of units the attendees believed could be sold and gave input in that general topic.

CEI made it VERY plain to this attendee that he was solely there for the distribution information of the A4000T and really didn't care a lot about the other topics and didn't want anyone not having some volume buying power to be involved in the remainder of the meeting. At that point, distributors interested (and capable) in signing a distributor contract made appointments to speak with Petro alone later.

This is where BCI's involvement ended at the meeting. I doubt that any of the distributors that stayed after this would be even SLIGHTLY interested in discussing their end of the meeting, so this is more or less where the meeting ended.

** THE AMIGA 4000T'S FUTURE IN THE U.S. **

I will bring this topic up first, since this seems to be the question on everyone's lips. Here are the common questions and the answers that *I AM ALLOWED TO GIVE*. None of these are falsehoods, but on the other hand are as vague as I have to be to keep from breaking the NDA.

  1. Will Amiga 4000T be available in the U.S. for sure?

    A. At this point, yes they will. I think that the major point of this meeting was to determine the very future of the machine in the U.S. Based on the response from the attendees, I believe production will continue and machines will indeed be available.

  2. When will they be available?

    A. The first week of September is what was said.

  3. How many will be made?

    A. Unknown at this time. I imagine that has a lot to do with how many the distributors told Petro they could move. Petro mentioned the number 20,000. I believe that there will be a good deal ready to go by September. Pre-sales will have a lot to do with it also, I bet.

  4. Will they be available to everyone or just video gurus and big companies?

    A. The distributors seemed to have plans to sell them to any dealer who wanted them, so companies like BCI, Software Hut, etc. should be carrying them.

  5. How much!!!!?????

    A. The question on everyone's lips, isn't it? It is also one of the very few bits of information I cannot divulge. The bottom of the truth is this. Distributors and dealers will be determining the final costs. Everyone at the table was revealed the 'distributors price' for the A4000T (that is NOT negotiable and volume will have no impact on). Without disclosure, I can tell you that every person at the table could *very easily* live with the quoted price (and they were ALL really pissed at the $3500 tag too). That should help you a bit. The street price, in my humble opinion, will be under $3000 but I cannot be quoted. It is out of everyone but the distributor's hands.

  6. Specifications???

    A. Another big question. Here is the layout. A4000T with an 040 or 060 processor, 512 MB or gig drive (this changed throughout the day, so I never got it quite right - assume it is a half gig), with 6 megs of RAM. Basically, what we already knew.

  7. Is the bottle-necked memory handling of the original A4000 still there?

    A. Unfortunately so. However, it was my impression that the 060 board would rectify that problem.

  8. Who is making the 060 card? Is it a Cyberstorm?

    A. This was not disclosed to the group and no one asked.

  9. Is it the machine we are seeing on the Internet and in the latest Amazing Computing?

    A. No sir. The machine that is going around in picture is what I would call an Artist's Rendition and it is NOT what the machine actually looks like. Apparently the real machine is in a converted PC tower case. The interesting thing I heard was that the turbo button normally used for the PC is now an audio cutout switch.

  10. Why the hell is this machine costing more now than an A4000 did at the end of the Commodore reign?

    A. This is the answer we got over and over again. This is also the answer to the 'why are the CD32s sitting in Philly being sold for $400?' question. The parts being put together just cost that much. This is what Jeff and Ed continued to tell us (mainly BCI who just can't believe it still) about the price tag. Apparently they are going into the old Philippine factory and pulling certain parts off the motherboards for the newer model. Price, I suspect, will go down after the first 6-12 months or so, when the ramp up costs are paid, etc.

  11. Where are they being made?

    A. They are all being made and assembled here in the U.S. As of now, the European market is not interested in the machine and Petro says that there are no orders placed there for the A4000T. If the machine IS brought in to Europe, they will be made in U.S.A. and assembled in Europe.

General Info

The feeling I got was that the entire party was mainly interested in getting A4000Ts to the people who already own Amigas and want more power or for existing Amiga 4000s who need the space. The primary reason for this feeling is that there are to be ZERO dollars spent on advertising in the U.S. by ESCOM/AT. Absolutely none. This was said by Petro himself. If this doesn't scare you, it should. However, NONE of the rest of the attendees other than BCI seemed to give a single care to this lack of marketing. Jeff even said that there was no way we could possibly take on the PC market. Pretty bad when your own engineer says there is no chance. This leads me to believe that the Amiga platform in the U.S. will remain a very isolated and unrespected niche market and once the demand is filled for immediate needs, that the market here will simply die. I could be wrong but that is how I see it.

All attempts by myself and BCI to improve the machine's configuration to bring it to the 90s failed. The addition of even a cheap 2x speed CD-ROM STANDARDIZED into the Amiga 4000T failed miserably. I don't understand why these guys aren't interested in entering the 90's generation. Adding the equipment as an addition later won't demonstrate a commitment to the machine's future. Again, my humble opinion.

** THE A1200 **

This meeting was directed mainly at the A4000T in U.S.A. but at the same time, we have a lot of info here for you on the A1200 as well. Again, we will put it in Q&A form.

  1. Is the U.S. going to get A1200s?

    A. This was the most infuriating part of the conference. Ed said "There is no market in the U.S. for A1200s". Jeff and seemingly Petro seemed to agree. To this, BCI told all of them they needed to come to our offices and answer the phone for about a week and then tell us again that there is no market. This wasn't well received. In any event, there are no plans to bring this machine to the U.S. Ed assured us that if we needed machines we could get them, but the overall impression was that there is not going to be anything done with it here. Sad.

  2. Are there any new specs for the A1200?

    A. Well, we all got to look at the new tech sheets (which was neat), but alas, there were all in German. My poor German seemed to tell me that the machine was the same configuration as before.

  3. How many are to be made?

    A. The number of 100,000 was put out. 40,000 of which have ALREADY been sold (to whom was not revealed). Basically, it is assumed that 30,000 or so are for Germany, 30-40,000 for U.K., and 10,000 for Italy.

  4. Where are they being built?

    A. This will likely be new news for most of you. They are being made in a factory near Bordeaux, France. The company who owns it, SELECTRON (if I understood his pronunciation) is a U.S. based company that has factories all over the world. Interesting note is that this factory also makes Silicon Graphics workstations too, as well as lots of other things from dental parts to automobile parts. The factory is handling every aspect of the A1200s including assembly, boxing, etc. etc. ESCOM has a sweet deal there, and IMHO, will not be changing anytime soon.

  5. The cost?

    A. Not mentioned at the meeting.

  6. Where will they be available and when?

    A. September, as the A4000T. They are planned to be in over 1200 stores throughout Europe (a breakdown was shown, but that isn't really important here). They will also be available in very popular catalogs that have everything from frying pans to electronics in them. The European market will be SATURATED with A1200s. I love it. At least the U.K. developers (you listening OCEAN and TEAM 17???) will have a good reason to stay/come back.

  7. What is the word on the A1200CD unit that C= U.K. halted production on before it was released?

    A. Not a priority (take that however you want to; I know how *I* am taking it). There was a mostly working prototype at the end, but the lack of FMV adaptability (and other things, I suspect) stopped it from hitting the market. Don't expect to ever see it, so stop waiting and get a Squirrel and drive 3rd party.

  8. What about the A1300, and 030 based A1200s, etc.?

    A. Not divulged at the meeting. I really doubt that they exist at this time.

General Info

The A1200, IMHO, will be a landmark success with the ESCOM chain and marketing power there in Europe (they send out almost 40 MILLION what they call high-flyers to the public every year for advertising). They owned over 50% of the Pentium market for their PC based side. These guys are rocking over there and what they tell the market to buy, the market will buy. Damn shame it isn't happening over here.

As for the end of the A1200 in U.S.A., get your comments and letters ready and send them to me and I will forward them to Mr. Goff. Perhaps then they will see. The attractive price tag and performance of the A1200 (especially with some RAM and a nice drive) is exceptional. This is the market I think they should break open the U.S.A. with and I told them all so. Negative.

** CD32 **

God, this is the worst part of all. Q&A time.

  1. How many CD32s are we looking at getting this year?

    A. Absolutely none. Zilch. "No market for the CD32" either. This is both U.S. and Europe. I really like the CD32 and I will miss the development for it dearly. Even with the 70,000+ units that have been sold, I doubt that there will be much more use for it. Ed said that it isn't dead, but 'not a priority'. Figure it out.

  2. So I should just throw my machine out the door?

    A. No, there is still the SX-1 avenue to get a basic A1200 and you can always network it to your existing Amiga (or even the new A4000T since they won't make a CD-ROM in it). I would suspect support for another 6 months at best (Dark Unicorn Productions has several projects on the way so there will be at least one developer - blatant advertising plug). I just hope more developers will take the CD-ROM route and force Amiga people to get CD-ROM drives to be competitive. You guys like Softwood and Digita need to take note.

  3. What about the 'new' CD32 we were told about in 1st Quarter 1996?

    A. As Norman Bates' mother would say "Its ALL LIES!". According to Jeff, there is no new CD32 on the shelf, nor was there ever. The Amiga console days are PROBABLY over (read on).

  4. What is all this talk about CD32s for kiosk use?

    A. This seems to be the only thing ESCOM is willing to admit the CD32 is good for. I believe that they will continue to make the boards for the CD32 if nothing else for this purpose.

  5. Who is Visacorp and what do they have to do with the CD32?

    A. You can read about this company and their plans in detail in Amiga Report Issue 313. The only thing wrong with this article (sorry Jason), is that there is NO OFFICIAL licence yet. There are discussions only at this point. The basic thing is that Visacorp will be making a set top box with some very exciting features out of the CD32 box. Apparently a prototype is completed. Every developer should contact them and see what we can do to support them in this endeavor. They are likely to be the only ones successful in the U.S. with Amiga technology.

General Info

For those of you who know me well, you realize that this was the most depressing part of the meeting. The CD32 while CURRENTLY isn't up to snuff with the latest consoles had a lot of selling points. In its early days, it could have owned the market. Now...Sigh. After all, CD-I is still selling.

** INTERESTING POINTS **

Here are some very interesting tidbits I picked up from the conference. Take a peek.

  1. Alex Amor told us that NewTek is no longer going to be making the Video Toaster for the Amiga once the current 140 or so are sold. This is due to lack of certain parts (you buy that crap?) and Alex said that they are working with NewTek to reverse this game plan. Until then, if you ever wanted one, you better get it now.

  2. Centaur Development stated that the Video Processor/Roaster chip is DONE and ready to go, pending the results of the conference and the outlook for the future of the Amiga. Although they didn't say it, I believe that it will indeed ship now that there is a commitment to the A4000T's future. This should healthily assume the position of the Video Toaster in U.S. and Europe.

  3. FMV seems to be a dead issue. Unless the third party developers such as CEI and the unknown U.K. company I mentioned in my previous periodicals continue development on FMV cards (looking unlikely now, eh?), FMV is an entirely dead issue. The rumored FMV Zorro compatible card of C= is also 'low priority' although a working prototype exists/existed, I doubt it will ever see the light of day.

  4. Petro had the best hotel room of all with no windows...

  5. Service Management Group, the people responsible for some of the excellent service we received with the Amiga's past warranty service, will once again be handling warranty and repair service for ALL Amigas, including the new A4000T. Parts for the older machines should be available soon.

That is about it. If you all have any other questions, feel free to send them to my EMail address at the top of this document.

[Source: comp.sys.amiga.misc - Date: 26 Jul 1995 09:22:36 -0700 - forwarded from the Aminet file escom_usa.txt in docs/anno.]

ToC

Motorola Modem Update - Possible Problem

from Motorola Information Systems Group - JULY 27, 1995

Motorola's Information Systems Group, Transmission Products Division recently learned of a potential problem connected with its U.S. Lifestyle and U.S. Power 28.8 external desktop data/fax modems.* The problem is not widespread. In fact, to date, it has surfaced in less than one-tenth of one percent of all Lifestyle 28.8 external and Power 28.8 external modems shipped. However, we are making some changes to prevent any recurrence. Motorola is known for providing products of the highest quality, and we intend to keep our good name and our customers' faith in us intact.

In order for this problem to occur, a number of factors must exist. There must be a combination of a certain type of cable and certain power-up sequence. Shielded cable must connect the modem to the PC, and the PC must be turned on before the modem is. Under this scenario a low-voltage power surge can result when the modem is powered up. This low-voltage power surge can damage the PC's serial card, halting communications to the modem. Occurrences are sporadic and only take place under this physical configuration.

The problem surfaced during the month of July through several customer reports. To deal with it, we are taking the following steps:

We've already revised the design of the Power and Lifestyle 28.8 external desktop modems to prevent the problem.

We've asked retailers to remove previously shipped units from store shelves and sent out replacement units. This has already happened in the U.S., so anyone buying the modems now will get one with the new design.

If a problem exists with an already purchased Power or Lifestyle 28.8 external desktop modem, we'll immediately provide a replacement unit free of charge.

In all cases with the Power and Lifestyle modems, there are at least three ways to prevent the problem from ever occurring.

  1. You can connect your computer and modem to one power switch and power all equipment on and off at the same time.

  2. You can turn on your modem before your PC; or

  3. You can leave your modem on all the time.

Again, this problem is very limited. But we felt it was important both to alert the public and take action ourselves. For additional customer information in the U.S. call technical assistance: 1-800-221-4380, or email lme004@email.mot.com.

* The international versions of the Lifestyle and Power 28.8 external modems are the Online 28.8 Internet Solution and Pro 28.8 external desktop modem, respectively.

Comments and Questions Button Motorola Home Page Information Systems Group

- Copyright 1995, Motorola, Inc. All rights reserved. Last updated: July 27, 1995

ToC

Common Ground:

The PowerMac's Emulator for the Mac and Amiga

by Jim Huls, Kevin Hopkins, and Mark Bellon - CUCUG

From: Jim Huls

Me - still being the Mac newby - I'm a little confused on the Mac emulation dealing with the PowerMac line and MacOS. Are you or are you not able to run older Mac programs designed for the 680x0 line of Macs on PowerMacs? If so, was this done away with with the release of the PowerMac 9500? My boss, being the Mac fanatic that he is, was telling me that they had dropped the emulation. I've not seen anything else really about this. Can you share any info on this?

From: Mark Bellon

Your boss may be a Mac fanatic, but he sure is confused about PowerMacs.

All PowerMac configurations offer nearly transparent 68xxx emulation that supports virtually all programs written for system 7.0 or later. In fact, it's so transparent that I've seen Mac users who upgraded to a PowerMac from a really old machine, like a Plus or Classic, that they thought their programs must have been native they ran so fast. Never having run their programs on a 68040, they were quite satisfied, however once they saw a really native program they were "dazed". Honest. I've seen this a few times. Most of the older PowerMac owners standing around were trying to keep a straight face when this happens.

Anyway, the 9500/120 and 9500/132 are no exception to the rule. Neither will the upcoming (August 7th) 7200, 7500, or 8500 configurations. There is a twist however, the 7200, 7500, 8500, and 9500 all come with an improved emulator in ROM. It uses a slightly larger amount of memory, but runs the average program about 15% faster than the emulator in the 6100, 7100, or 8100 configurations.

Why in the ROM? This is so someone with a really old disk that has a 68xxx device driver on it (disk device drivers are written to the front of a Mac disk so that they can be moved anywhere without having to have software to support the device already loaded) can still connect the device to their PowerMac. Should they upgrade? Of course!

For comparison purposes, the 6100, 7100, or 8100 emulator runs the average program at about the speed of a Centris 610, which is a 20 Mhz 68040 machine.

At the same time, Apple has begun to keep it's promise to release a significant amount of native code for the existing OS (7.5.x) before system 8 (Copland) comes out. I've already uploaded the first piece, Sound Manager 3.1. Several release are expected before the end of the summer (September).

Even Copland will rely on an emulator, since it will not be and will never be 100% native. The older programs must still keep running and it doesn't make sense to rewrite the vital 68xxx code in PPC when you already have a perfectly good emulator. Also silly things like control panels and status programs are better left alone for a while, since not much is gained, and the resources can be used elsewhere (were PPC makes a much bigger difference).

Finally, keep in mind that Apple's emulators are rock solid and quite safe. One of the big Mac companies, Connectix, has promised a true 2x emulator, and early beta results say that you really get something like a 1.8 to 2.1 times improvement. The downside is it uses quite a bit more memory than even Apple's newest emulator, and, since it is tuned for speed and less for safety than Apple's, it isn't quite as stable. Overall everyone loves it, though.

It remains unclear, and Apple hasn't stated, that the new emulator will be offered to the existing PowerMac owners, since this would require a ROM trade-up program of massive proportions. We shall have to wait and see. Certainly the newer emulator could be loaded into RAM and replace the ROM image after some point in the boot sequence. My hunch is Apple won't do this, so that Connectix get's a good shot.

From: Kevin Hopkins

Mark, this question might better be placed in the Amiga section, but it occurred to me that, should Escom's Amiga Technologies (AT) pursue the PowerPC chip and port AmigaDOS to the PowerPC based platform, they might want to take advantage of the PowerMac's built in emulation for 680x0 code. From your knowledge of both AmigaDOS and the Mac's emulator, how difficult do you think something like this would be, or is it feasible at all?

From: Mark Bellon

The PowerMac's emulator is not for sale from what I understand, but in today's market things could change. Apple actually has two emulators, the original, which is an instruction for instruction emulator, and a newer caching, block of code converter. The latter is a good deal faster than the former, although it uses more memory than the former and is only available in the newer PowerMacs (e.g. 7200, 7500, 8500, 9500).

The original emulator ran programs at about the speed of a 20 Mhz '040. The newer emulator is a minimum of 10-15% faster and for some program can be significantly faster still.

Either emulator is a major piece of work, but wouldn't take too long to duplicate, as Apple has published quite a bit about the original emulator. It is important to understand that the emulator isn't even close to the complete solution for running older m68k binaries.

The OS was also modified to run "fat" binaries (e.g. a single binary file that contains the code for both processors) and such a concept doesn't fit in with the current Amiga loader format, whereas it was trivial for the Mac, due to the resource manager. All in all, it wouldn't be too hard to come up with something to deal with this issue.

The OS was modified to accept trap (system calls) from any type of program, but still be able to execute these services using either the emulator or native code. Important or frequently used traps were modified to be biased to expect a trap to occur one way or the other and to convert over if the assumption was wrong. This is a key element to getting emulation to work at good speed.

Finally, many of the OS services were recoded using native (e.g. PPC) code. Only those things that initially gave a significant speed up were done first, such as copying, blitting, and many of the graphics services. Follow-on work is adding native sound, SCSI, networking and resource managers, as well as device drivers.

Overall, I have to say, it's quite a bit of work and some of it was very easy, compared to other platforms, due to object oriented design of the Mac OS. Is there enough information available publicly to duplicate it? Sure! Could it be done in a few months? Probably not, but if not, not too much longer.

From: Jim Huls

Kevin, just in case you haven't come across this information before. The biggest holdup to bringing the OS to any other processor is rewriting the graphics.library. An ex-C= engineer started work on an Amiga emulator that worked under NeXTStep. He gave up once he realized that the headache wouldn't be worth it. Apparently trying to go through graphics.library is a nightmare because of the tight integration with the Amiga graphics chips, as well as being full of undocumented code. He said that if whoever dug through this and got true OS compliant RTG going, that porting or emulating Amiga OS would be *much* easier. As far as RTG on the current systems, he quoted me a time that, with about 3-4 programmers, they should be able to get RTG done in about 6 months and to market in 9. As to doing any complete porting of the Amiga OS to another processor, I've heard anything from 18-24 months. Put this together and I'd be wondering if they could do the emulation thing and have something out in close to 18 months.

Just remember that these are all figures that pertain to engineers who know the Amiga system and understand how it works. As of yet, I only know of one guy from the old C= team that is involved in any way with engineering and that is Jeff Frank. Guess what? He never used an Amiga. Everyone's prayers on the net are that AT are working closely with Phase5. Phase5 has some *good* people working for them that know the Amiga *very* well. The former C= engineers have all expressed that they are AT's only true hope of advancing the Amiga.

From: Kevin Hopkins

Mark, I must have misunderstood something about the PowerMac's implementation of their 680x0 code emulator. From your response, you make it sound as though it is pretty much a software implementation. I was under the impression that Apple had strayed away from CHRP and had some additional hardware to handle the older code in emulation. Is this not the case?

I am quite vague on how I thought Amiga Technologies could use this emulator, should they be successful in porting the Amiga OS over to the PowerPC chip, but now I see that it would be a fault/trap/software solution for the older 68K code. (I was suspicious as to whether the Apple emulator had the Toolbox in ROM or some such thing that outsiders would find useless for their OS emulations.) I guess AmigaOS on a PowerPC will have to be for a CHRP platform only, rather than loading it up on a present day PowerMac (or any of those in the near future.)

From: Jim Huls

I'd like to hear the poop on this myself. The majority of people out there seem to think that the emulation is hardware based in the processor. I've heard a few mention that this is not the case. It's just that, because of the design of the processor, it's a little easier to implement the emulation. Mark?

Kevin, I'd imagine that where there's a will, there's a way, but it might be the hack of the decade. ;) Even if someone hacks it though to make it work on a PowerMac, CHRP will have already been in production and that's what AT will be aiming to use if they *do* advance the Amiga OS. They'll be pulling another C= if they don't get in on PPC and CHRP. That's the place to be!

From: Mark Bellon

Pretty much software? TOTALLY! Always has been, always will, and it has always been clearly described in Apple's documentation and every source I've seen. There is absolutely no "hardware assist" in Apple's emulator and none is planned.

Apple formally released papers describing how the emulator worked over a year ago and has just released how the new one works. Pure software. Adding hardware (outside the CPU and not including a CPU of the real thing) would make it go slower! The added coordination with the extra hardware would defeat the caching and the advantages of the PPC. This lesson has been known for over 30+ years and Apple heeded its message.

The only way to get any kind of hardware assist for emulation is to build it into the CPU, as IBM and others have done in their mainframes for decades. Since Apple (and everyone else) is quickly writing off the m68k instruction set, it would be ludicrous for the industry to build this kind of hardware. It would make more sense to do this for the x86 instruction set and this is indeed rumored (e.g PPC 615) and some things about the 604e, although I'm dubious about the later. Certainly a few specialty instructions to make a software emulator work quickly make sense, but I don't know what else without resorting to the 615 route.

No current Apple platform is anywhere near CHRP compliant. The specification isn't anywhere near done. CHRP is not what most people think it is, a layout to make "perfect" Apple clones. It's not. CHRP is nothing like the way they make PC clones. It is a set of basic hardware guidelines for base compatibility, but that's about it. It's much more dynamic than the ridiculously static PC crap, but this leads to interesting differences that have to be made up in operating system software. For instance, you can be CHRP compliant with an IDE or SCSI in your box, or both.

CHRP is way overblown and misunderstood, especially if all you want is Mac OS.

The earliest CHRP platforms will appear sometime next year. I doubt they will be stable until Q2 or Q3 of '96.

I think it quite safe to say that Amiga OS, if it every runs on a PPC, will never run on existing PowerMac hardware. CHRP is coming too fast to bother with anything else. Of course, being the Commodore of the future, I bet they choose the HP processor.

If ESCOM chooses anything other than PPC/CHRP, kiss the AMIGA goodbye for real.

ToC

The C64/128 Section:

Novaterm 9.5

Novaterm 9.5 and Zmodem:
From: Aaron Wrasman (wrasman@duncan.cs.utk.edu)

Well I tried to use the Zmodem receive. It worked okay but it doesn't have recovery option in it. So It's little better than Y-modem. Well it does have the auto-detect but that's not hard to do.

Novaterm 9.5 Zmodem update:
From: Nick Rossi (voyager@eskimo.com)

Some incompatibilities in Novaterm's Zmodem protocol have been fixed. Please download the file "prt.Zmodem recv" from Novaterm's FTP site:

eskimo.com, directory /voyager

Also, be sure to try lowering the protocol block size if problems persist on certain Unix or VAX systems.

Novaterm Annoyances:
From: Aaron (aschnut@uoft02.utoledo.edu)

Don't get me wrong, I love Novaterm. I really don't know where I would be without it. But what I hate is if I accidentlly push CLR HOME instead of INST DEL. It locks the whole screen up. Is there anyway to get out of that when it happens?

From: William R. Ward (hermit@cats.UCSC.EDU)

Well, I don't use Novaterm, but I do know that the HOME key generates a ^S (XOFF) character, and on most systems (esp. Unix) that locks up the output until you press the XON character, which is... ^Q.

It just happens that ^Q is produced by the CRSR DN key, or you can just hold down CTRL and hit Q.

From: Nick Rossi (voyager@eskimo.com)

Which terminal mode are you using? I redefined the CLR-HOME key to send a delete, rather than a ^S, for this very reason...but only in the ANSI/VT table (so it works if you're using ANSI or VT102). The "standard" and "ANSI/40col" tables don't have this change. (Why not? Hmmm...) But you can do it yourself by loading the ASCII table editor and editing the two tables I mentioned. Just change character number 19 on the Transmit table so its corresponding value is 8. (Don't forget to save the table afterward!)

So what happens when you want to press Ctrl-S? Whenever you type a control character by actually using the CTRL key (rather than one of the C= keyboard's definitions, like pressing CRSR-DOWN to get a ctrl-Q), it overrides the ASCII translation table and just sends the actual control key...so all control keys are available.

From: Jon Mines (grizzly@eskimo.com)

I use Novaterm v9.5 wih 80 columns and vt102 emulation. It IS readable with characters 4x8...

I set my monitor (1084S) to monochrome when I call my site, and my color setup is dark gray with black characters, works great.

I DO NOT advise using a TV as a monitor and trying to use anything that emulates 80 columns, I did that for a few months and my eyes were killling me!

From: Lincard 1000 (lincard@plcbcs.kiwi.gen.nz)

Hiya. Not a complaint, but a congrats. This is DEFINITELY one piece of shareware that I'm gonna get registered! 9.5 FINALLY is the one comms prog I have, INCLUDING 128 comms progs, that works at 2400 properly without screwing up!!!!!

Keep up the good work... its an awesome program.

Novaterm 9.5 Availability:
From: Kirk (mcmillan_a@kosmos.wcc.govt.nz)

Is Novaterm 9.5 available via ftp? If so, from which site/directory.

From: Michael Parson (mparson@nyx10.cs.du.edu)

Yes, Novaterm is available from Nick Rossi's own ftp site:

eskimo.com /voyager

[Source: comp.sys.cbm]

ToC

A Tip For GEOS 128 Users

by Mark Murphy

One of my favorite features of GEOS 128 is the Text Grabber utility that allows me to import other word processor documents and convert them into GeoWrite 128 format. Text Grabber 128 has conversions for PaperClip II, Fleet System 4, and WordWriter 128. Conversions for other word processor documents are handled by Generic I and Generic II.

When Tom Cobb wrote an article about his 2-meg REU, he simply gave me a copy of his data disk, which I believe was from either PaperClip or the Write Stuff. Text Grabber 128 converted it into GeoWrite 128 format and I was able to add Tom's article to the newsletter without retyping it. (Whew!) However, I have encountered some text files that Text Grabber 128 cannot convert. These are from Loadstar and some files I downloaded from BBSes.

I get a lot of GEOS fonts from Loadstar. Some of them have special notes or tricks to them which are sometimes explained in a non-GEOS text file on the Loadstar disk. When I transfer these fonts from the Loadstar disk to my font disk, I like to transfer the text files with them as a Help file. I tried all of the Text Grabber 128 converters on these files, but none of them worked. I got either a screen full of gibberish, or a partial conversion.

To advanced GEOS users, the solution to this might seem obvious, but for a novice like me, it's not so easy. Before giving up entirely, I contacted our resident GEOS expert, Phil Gantz. Phil advised me to try the C64 version of GEOS and use Generic III from its Text Grabber. He was absolutely right! It worked perfectly. (I have GEOS 2.0, by the way.) It also converted the text files I downloaded from various BBS message bases. The GeoWrite files can be used by GeoWrite 128 without any further conversion effort. This is so much easier than re-typing all of the text. Now, if only Text Grabber 128 had its own Generic III that would convert the text.

Beyond the tip for GEOS 128 users, this demonstrates the value of belonging to a users group. One can almost always find a fellow member who is willing to share his/her expertise. Those who don't belong to users groups are missing out on a valuable resource.

[Source: The FUNHUG Newsletter via the Open Forum DVCUG via the Kankakee River Valley Computer Users Group newsletter, "Interface" August, 1995. KRVCUG's address is P.O. Box 931, Kankakee, Illinois 60901.]

ToC

The Macintosh Section:

Going Macintosh

by Jim Huls and Mark Bellon, CUCUG

From: Jim Huls

Ok. It's getting to that point where I need to focus on what type of software I need to think about for the Powermac I soon plan to own. Any info anyone can donate will be greatly appreciated.

Word Processor - Thus far I've had a few guys tell me to go with WordPerfect. I'm going to need WP import/export ability with the Windows/DOS world so this seems fine. Those who recommended this over Word did so mostly because of the fact that Word seems to be dog slow on even a fast PowerMac whereas WP flies right along. Are there any other word processors I might need to be aware of?

Spreadsheet - Excel looks to be the only candidate. I was shocked to learn from some guys on the internet that this is just one of _maybe_ 2 or three commercial spreadsheets being actively developed for. I was stunned because I just expected there to be more available for it than the Amiga. Even the Amiga has 2 being actively developed and has a much smaller user base. The only other difference though is that the Amiga doesn't have anything to compare to Excel although Final Calc (soon to be released) is said to be somewhat comparable.

Desktop Publishing - This isn't a necessity right away. I've always been a Pagestream user on the Amiga and will probably wait till the Mac version is released (due out this fall). Since I am registered as an Amiga version user, this makes the most sense for my needs since it'll be cheaper to buy than spending big bucks on the other powerhouses. Last I checked it'll cost $125 to move to the Mac version. Pretty nice deal on a nice program considering the alternatives.

C compiler - No clue here! If I want to use my system for any work I do at school, I need something that I can do the text based ANSI stuff with. I have no idea what is out there for the Mac so I'm in need of info here. I know the Mac is graphics based but can it be persuaded to do the text based stuff for silly stuff like I'll be doing for my C classes?

Database - I'd probably prefer to go non-commercial here unless the price is a steal for my needs. I first am going to need something just for holding names, addresses, and phone numbers along with other info on people like when they take the trash out, brush their teeth, walk the dog, you know what I mean. ;) I'll also be looking to see what is available for cataloging my comic book collection. I never got around to doing that on the Amiga because I could never find a program I liked that was stable to use.

Paint program - I don't need anything super fancy. I really have no idea what is out there in this area either. I did have a guy offer me a full version of Adobe Photoshop 3.0.1 for my Bernoulli 150 and 5 carts but I declined the offer until I could learn more about what's out there.

I can't think of anything else at the moment, as these are probably the basics I will need, although not right away. Although I expect the software to be quite costly in comparison to the Amiga market, any special discounts or cheaper alternatives will be greatly appreciated. I've gotten wind of some possible user group discounts for Mac software, so I'll be investigating this as time permits as well. Thanks!

From: Mark Bellon

This one is easy and I can point to a few tradeoffs.

Word Processor - For someone wanting serious word processing there are a few options: MS WORD, WORD PERFECT, NISSUS WRITER, and a few others. Only MS WORD and WORD PERFECT are PC/MAC cross platform. Only WORD PERFECT is a native Mac application and runs like a bat out of hell. MS WORD is actually interpreted code! It is very slow and HUGE. Many people on the net have converted to WP and are impressed. I've had several people ask me this and all are happy with WP.

Since portability is an issue it is critical that you make sure you have Macintosh Easy Open, PC Exchange, and the MacLink Translators which create and manage the automatic, transparent document exchange architecture that Apple created. In System 7.5+ only the MacLink translators are missing and may be purchased separately although some Apple machine/software packages include them. Make sure you have or get the version 8 release.

Spreadsheet - Spreadsheet is easy. Are you serious or not about spreadsheets? If you are serious EXCEL is the only way to go. If not ClarisWorks has a medium weight spreadsheet which is EXCEL compatible.

I get the impression you've never really seen EXCEL or used it in depth. It truly blows away anything else and all competition, even LOTUS, have failed against it. It is an amazing spreadsheet. I can say that it needs quite a bit of machine to run because MicroSloth is out to ruin the Mac and implemented it in such a way that it runs like a (fastish) pig.

Basically it has always done what people have wanted and more at a good price and others just haven't been serious enough for people that really care. The situation is NOT like the AMIGA at all. This is a world class product you are competing with, not a no-name, I've never heard of the company before and the company is flaky, product like all too often occurred on the AMIGA. The others tried and died and the all time great was left still standing. Wierd, but true.

Care are to write some competition for it? There is serious room for competition if you can stand the heat in the kitchen.

DTP - Unless you are very serious about Mac DTP, the Pagestream option is just about the best. You can get Pagemaker for about $239 via the educational channels. Quark is also hot.

C compiler - There is really only one choice here. Metrowerks Code Warrior. The educational price is $99 for a C, C++, and Pascal compiler that can generate PPC and m68k code and included a fully visual edit, compile, debug environment. You won't be needing any text anything as they have equivalents that are first rate for anything that typically requires a command line. If you want a command line you can have it too via MPW, the programmer workbench from Apple which is included on the CD. A purchase includes a 1 year subscription for 3 CDs (the one you buy and two more). The support cost after the first year is $199 for 3 more CDs. Any text stuff you need to do will work just fine. I use this and most Mac PPC products have been written with this. Excellent support, etc.

There are excellent shareware and commercial applications and tools to assist in developing. You will need an INSIDE MACINTOSH set (Official Apple Doc set). You can get it on CD for about $89, too. Paper can run you over $400 for a full set but you only really need about $150-250 of it to do most of everything. I own virtually a complete paper set if you want to see them.

Database - Your choice. There are several shareware ones and the commercial ones range from $99-$2999 depending on what you need. There are several at the $99 - $149 level that are most excellent and should be considered. If a simple flat file database is all you need ClarisWorks could be quite nice. FileMaker Pro is another good choice.

Paint program - Photoshop is not a paint program. It's a professional image retouching and manipulation program. You can get the same functionality from our shareware collect with NIHImage. There are several excellent paint programs in the Mac library and a most excellent one in the Mac file area on the BBS (SharePaint). Used Photoshop programs are worth about $250-400 or so. An excellent commercial paint program can be found in Fractal Design Painter for about $249. This is a professionals tool. It is PPC native and flies. Excellent.

Others - There are many freeware/shareware programs that I consider requirements or close and there are many things to discover. I'll be around to assist. Be very careful making choices based on '040 performance and appearance. The PPC is deceptively fast in comparison.

Telecommunications - You left out communications. I strongly recommend ZTerm for simple things but if you're serious, go commercial. The commercial stuff is wonderful. White Night, the big brother of Red Rider, and MicroPhone Pro (which I use) are both excellent and quite PPC native. The scripting ability is wonderful.

From: Jim Huls

Thanks Mark! There were a few things in there I was unaware of. I'll probably go the shareware type of route initially, until I get a better feel for what my needs will really require ($$$). That Code Warrior sounds exactly like what I might need/want. I've dabbled in both Pascal and C so one package covering both helps give me an option if I ever need it. I'll probably be more into C though once I finally clear my head and begin understanding it better. I know you used to be big on TurboText on the Amiga just as I am. Is there anything in the Mac world you feel is comparable or better? I use a text editor for many uses so it doesn't have to be centered on programming.

I've seen and used Excel but it was never very complex. The material I did could have most likely been done on most any spreadsheet. There are things dealing with work that I'll have to check with on what my needs will be. If I can go the cheaper route, I just might. I'll have to wait and see. My boss has different projects he's talked to me about doing for him but I'm of more value working in the store than over at his office so it's never went any further. I'm gonna sit down and talk over some things with what he's looking to do again and decide if putting up the money for that as well as my own needs (hinted at below) are worth forking the bucks out.

[As for writing some competition for Excel] It's funny you mention that. One of my original ideas was to program the killer spreadsheet on an Amiga wayyyy back when I was shopping for my first one. Well, I never got too far into learning pointers so my knowledge of C never grew enough to pursue this. I used to have both design sketches of the interface as well as a few pages of features I wanted to see implemented. Since I never disciplined myself to sit down and pursue things further those notes got thrown out years ago when I moved. Maybe I'll finally be able to get back on track with programming and make another attempt at *something* similar. Who knows? Maybe someone has already done what I originally was looking to do. I dunno why but spreadsheets have always intrigued me, yet I rarely use them, except for the occasional home finance or for whatever was needed at work.

From: Mark Bellon

Code Warrior comes with a fine editor. However, there are really two alternatives, BBEdit and Alpha, plus a few interesting side shows.

The freeware version of BBEdit is on the club's first Mac disk and the commercial version, which I use, is wonderful. You also get a great discount on BBEdit when you purchase Code Warrior. It's very good.

Alpha on the other hand is shareware and truly amazing. It's a programmable editor! It uses the TCL language which books are available in. It even gives you a command line type shell! It's very, very nice. Alpha is also in the Mac disk collection, near the middle.

An interesting twist is to use the heavyweight editor / environment found on UNIX machines on your PowerMac, GNU emacs. I uploaded this to the board but Kevin hasn't yet had time to move it to the correct location. This is an amazing programmable editor that is very large and is programmed in LISP. I use this at work, but find it a bit too big for comfort on my 24 MB PowerMac. Emacs is much more than an editor, it's an environment that you read you mail in, read your news, manipulate directories, compile and debug, etc.

Both BBEdit and Alpha have automatic hooks into the Code Warrior environment while GNU emacs doesn't.

ToC

The Amiga Section:

Visual Identities

by Eric W. Schwartz, Amiga artist

With the "rescue" of the Amiga by Escom, many people are returning to the issue of future Amigas, now more than ever, given the year hiatus from technological advancement. I will completely skip over the issue of the CPU (I vote PowerPC), and go straight to the chips that relate to video and graphics. In the past, the famed AAA chipset would've been a natural, but now, or at least by the time it could be released, it may well be behind in capability before it hits the shelves (at least according to Dave Haynie, Commodore guru). PC and Mac graphic chips will most likely have 3D ability and video/animation modes (such as MPEG) built in. AAA has some of this video ability, but possibly not enough to compete, and no inbuilt 3D at all. It can't match the PC chips in terms of pure resolution and color depth at higher resolutions. Basically, it is a vast improvement over the current AGA chipset, but not as much as many expect, and will likely seem weak compared to the PC graphic sets that will be available in the year to year and a half it will take to release an AAA based Amiga, unfortunately.

Many would suggest that the answer to this problem is to take one of the PC graphics chips (already in use in many RTG graphic boards, like the Picasso and Retina) and put them in the next Amiga, for after all, if you can't be better, you should at least match the competition until you can surpass them, right? One thing to think about in this matter is that software and supporting hardware can make for up to a 20% difference in performance for different graphics setups using the exact same chips. Given that, the nice efficient Amiga OS could well outperform the PCs that it borrowed the chips from. The downside of a PC chipset is that none of them are very innovative; most of them only handle 1, 4, 8, 16, or 24 bit graphics in 'chunky' pixel modes, and at least some won't handle the 15 kHz NTSC and PAL compatible video modes that give the Amiga its video reputation. The AAA chipset handles chunky and bitplane modes in concert for up to 24 bit graphics and special effects overlays, playfields, and whatnot, such a compressed picture modes like HAM6, HAM8, and HAM10, which a PC chip will almost certainly not support, which means a fundamental incompatibility with any previously existing Amiga software that uses those modes. It may be an overly simplistic suggestion, but I would recommend a 'modified' PC chipset that at least supports all current AGA modes, or a combo of a PC chipset and AGA or AAA chips in whole or in part. I guess I can't really give a perfect solution to the problem of the future, I can only identify the problem.

One other aspect of computer visuals new to the Amiga is the design of its outer casing, brought to our attention when pictures surfaced of the new minitower case design, supposedly for the Amiga 4000. It's not entirely certain whether this is intended to be immediately for the reappearance of the 4000, or for an Amiga to appear in the not so immediate future. One major advantage of this new charcoal grey minitower case design is that it is not white or beige, which gives a psychological impression that this is a different machine, and an eyecatching one in a display situation (If you're in Best Buy, your eyes involuntarily gravitate toward that jet black Packard Bell, just 'cause it looks kinda neat). It also gives the Amiga a "Visual Identity" known only to that brand, much like Apple once had for the Macintosh. (Though they have no machines that look like this anymore, when you think of Macintosh, you still think of that little toaster shape with the small black and white screen and the floppy slot on the front.) For a Visual Identity to work, all members of the Amiga family should have a similar look, which can be matched by the monitor, external drives, and the like. A simple way to do this is to start by molding all case parts in Charcoal grey and replacing the badging with the proper logos. With the new case design comes a new "Amiga Technologies" logo, sort of a red sliced conical thing which some of the AmiTech members and myself like to call the 'Devo hat'. While there is nothing wrong with this logo, I and many other Amiga users think there is already a fine wealth of underused logos that represent Amiga quite well, from the rainbow checkmark to the Boing ball. From a marketing standpoint, the new case design is a step in the right direction, as it says to the world, "We are different from those weenie little beige boxes". However, while there is no reason to, I wish a little bit of nostalgia could find its way into the design, like a nice little rainbow checkmark in the corner.

[Source: The AmiTech Amiga Users Group's "AmiTech Gazette", July, 1995. AAUG's address is P.O. Box 292684, Kettering, OH 45429-0684.]

ToC

The CUCUG Section:

July General Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins

The July 20th meeting began with CUCUG's traditional introduction of officers. Vic Serbe asked Jim Huls what happened to his mustache.

Kevin Hisel reported that Amiga Technologies may be in the process of recanting on the $3500 price of the A4000T in the face of near universal condemnation.

Richard Rollins spoke about CU-Online, a local Internet access provider. He is very happy with them. They charge $25/month, but CUCUG members can get their service at a discount. They are located here in town. Their parent company, Micro Systems, is also in town. One of the prime movers at CU-Online, Carlos Ramirez, has offered to come to one of our meetings and give a presentation on their service. For anyone interested in signing up, Richard brought the paperwork for them to look at. Currently, Mike Latinovich, Jim Huls, Kevin Hisel and Richard Rollins use CU-Online.

Kevin Hisel brought in a copy of the new "official" Amiga logo. Jim Huls showed it to the group. It was meet with near total ennui.

President Huls then related the modem deal he had been pursuing with USRobotics and why it basically ground to a halt. He explained that the female representative he had been dealing with said it couldn't be given until she gave a presentation before our group and she couldn't get down here before Christmas. With the changing terms of the deal and the constant delaying tactics afforded CUCUG, the group has decided to deal with Motorola instead.

Mike Latinovich reported on the newest 33.6K tweek USR has worked with their modems. Mark Bellon assured the group that once the standard was set, the Motorola modems would attain the same speed. It is pretty much a software achievement. This led into a discussion of Flash ROM upgrading and what it could and could not do.

Mark then explained that the UDS division of Motorola was desirous of entering the "pro-sumer" market with their 28.8K Data/FAX modems. Mark had two of them on hand: $230.65 for the PC version, $242.58 for the Mac version (the difference being software and a cable included with the Mac version). Mark said he would take orders any time before the 25th.

Kevin Hisel then made a motion that we make the BBS 28.8 with one of these Motorola PowerClass modems. Jim Lewis seconded the motion. The vote taken was unanimous.

Mark Bellon said he had his personal 14.4K modem for sale. It was promptly sold.

President Huls then made the announcement that he was going to purchase a Powermac and would be selling his Amiga equipment in the coming months. It was principally a work related decision, but he wanted everyone to know he would remain close to the Amiga community.

The floor was turned over to CUCUG's new C64 Librarian, Angelo Koutsos, who proceeded to demonstrate our first C64 disk in quite some time. Angelo noted that everything on this disk works with the FastLoad cartridge.

CUCUG64 - 7/95: Whirlybird (a shoot'em up helicopter game - you have to reset the computer to stop it), Lamborghini (a nice graphic of the famous car), Love (a poster maker), IRAIN (an eyeball looking out of the screen at you), Terminal City (a game that begins with a little guy pushing the C64 screen off the monitor's field of vision).

Angelo concluded his demonstration with a story of finding a C64 at NCSA where he works. Vic Serbe piped up and said, "Virtual Reality is great, but you haven't lived until you've POKEd something into memory."

Kevin Hisel reported that there were no new Amiga disks for this month.

Macintosh Librarian, Mark Bellon, stated that he had three Mac disks for this evening. Mark said everything on these 1.44 megabyte disks is compressed. To which Vic Serbe said, "Sounds like a bunch of SIT to me." After the laughter died down, Mark pointed out that each disk has a "What's on this disk" file and an "Installation assistance" file. Mark noted that the former file for every disk in the library is on the BBS for anyone who would like to examine them or search for a particular program they might need. There are currently 28 disks available from CUCUG's Macintosh Library.

CUCUGMAC #5: Greg's Browser, Greg's Buttons, Native Checker, Option CapsLockKey, Program Switcher, Tetris Max.

From this disk, Mark showed Program Switcher which works like the Amiga-M key combination for anyone who's familiar with the Amiga. He demonstrated Greg's Browser, showing how to open multiple Browser Panels and Thumb Nails and descend into archives as if they were actual directories. Mark also showed Native Checker which checks a program to see if it is Powermac native code or not.

CUCUGMAC #6: Arashi (the best implementation of the game Tempest on the Macintosh), Baker's Dozen (a Solitaire card game), and On The Edge (another challenging card game).

CUCUGMAC #7: Forty Thieve, GNU Chess, Mac Caller ID, CalcWorks, ZTerm and Fire Power.

Following the disk demonstrations, the group took a break and then divided up into its component SIGs.

ToC

The Amiga SIG: Vic Serbe Does MIDI

reported by Kevin Hopkins

This evening the Amiga SIG was treated to an introduction of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) by Victor Serbe. Vic had a very organized presentation, using his Amiga both as a slide presenter and a musical instrument.

He covered a lot of terms and factual information. Some of the things gleaned from his demonstration are that MIDI is serial in nature. You don't need the speed of parallel transmission. Similar to the way in which frames in a motion picture are able to fool the eye into "seeing" continuous motion, MIDI event fool the ear into "hearing" unbroken sound. Each MIDI event occurs one per millisecond. Most MIDI messages are three bytes long. There are several kinds of messages. Channel messages are specific to a specific sound. System messages pertain to how things are processed. Amiga is kind of unique in that it has a serial port that can be programmed to output MIDI.

Vic talked about equipment needed. The three things you need specifically are a keyboard, a sequencer, and a sound module. When shopping for a sound module, he said to look for one that is Multi-Timbral. Multi-Timbral is very important. This means it is multi channel and can play multiple instruments.

Vic showed how to lay down a rhythm track and edit the notes. He uses the Bars and Pipes software. He also spoke of the importance of Patch Editor Librarian software.

After you lay down all you track, the software uses SMPTE markings to synch everything up. SMPTE stands for Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.

To close out his presentation and to show what could be done with MIDI, Vic played some of the internal demos of his Roland sound module. He said the most important thing is to have fun.

ToC

The C64/128 SIG: Problem Solving

reported by Craig Kummerow

The C64/128 SIG met with 5 members present. We were to bring in problems to discuss and try to solve. Lou Kowalski kept us going with questions about PINE and buffers in NOVATerm 9.5. With the help of the other members present, we were able to explain how to take a file, load it to buffer, then upload it to the BBS when he wished. There were also questions about the 80 column mode, the ability to lock out call waiting, whether or not you could suspend the terminal program to accept a phone call, and several other questions. We decided that we all needed to go back home, try out some of the things discussed, and return next month with some answers. Therefore, next month will be a telecommunications SIG in which everyone can contribute some information.

ToC

The Mac SIG: Mark Bellon Covers the FINDER

reported in absentia by Kevin Hopkins

Due to a misunderstanding, it was reported in last month's newsletter that Richard Rollins would be conducting a presentation of the Finder at the July Mac SIG meeting. In actuality, it was Mark Bellon who delivered the talk. Being unable to attend the SIG myself and in the stead of a sorely needed Macintosh SIG reporter (volunteers anyone?), I asked Mark, on the BBS, to tell me a little bit about the Desktop File which I overheard him discuss. Here is what he said.

The Desktop file contains information about the location of each application known to the OS as well as it's icon. Storing the icon in the desktop file saves much space since it only needs to be in one place, not stored with each file.

Every file knows who created it and every application knows how to set the creator of each file. Since the OS tracks the location of the application, and since all of the files only know the ID of their creator, there is never a problem with moving an application around. When you click on a file the creator ID is checked against the desktop file and when the correct entry is found that application is started with the file as its argument.

Even if you delete an application, the files created by the program continue to have their specific icon. That is, until you rebuild the desktop file. Rebuilding the desktop file forces the OS to scan your disks for all applications and recreate all of the data.

All of this works like a charm as long as you install your programs using "official" (real) installation programs. If someone give you a program on a diskette and you simply copy it onto your hard disk the desktop file doesn't know about it as an application since a simple file copy just transfers data. You have to rebuild the desktop to get an entry for the application made. Even unknown to the desktop file, you can still run the program since it is still the binary for an application and then use the open menu entry to explicitly open a file.

I'd like to see the copy function check to see if an application has just been copied and to update the desktop file if an entry doesn't already exist in the future. This would make rebuilding the desktop file almost unnecessary except to occasional flush the entries of applications you no longer have.

One very useful aspect of this implementation is the ability to provide transparent translation. If a suitable entry cannot be found in the desktop file, you can have software ask what program to use when this type of file is opened and then handle it for you. Apple provides just this type of service with "Macintosh Easy Open". If you click on a Word Perfect file but you don't have Word Perfect, you will get a message saying "I can't open this but here is the list of applications on your machine. Care to tell me which one can handle this type of file?" Once you tell it, it won't ask again, unless you ask it to. If you later purchase Word Perfect, things would be just fine since the search of the Word Perfect entry will be found in the desktop file.

You can also purge the cache of "what to do with this type of file " entries at any time and start over again.

I then told Mark I'd heard him mentioned something about the icons being stored in the Desktop file. I had thought they were in the resource fork of each application. Mark responded this way:

I said the application icons are in the desktop file. You are free to override this by placing one in the file itself but this is rarely done. The resource manager handles this quite nicely.

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July Board Meeting

recorded by Kevin Hopkins

The July meeting of the CUCUG executive board was held on Tuesday, July 25th at 7PM at Kevin Hisel's house (address and phone number, both in the book). Present at the meeting were Jim Huls, Dave Witt, Mike Latinovich, Richard Rollins, Emil Cobb, Mark Bellon, Angelo Koutsos, Kevin Hopkins, Kevin Hisel, Anderson Yau, Jim Lewis, and Mark Landman.

Jim Huls: Jim began the meeting by relaying Craig Kummerow's request to sell off the club's excess 64/128 equipment. We have acquired quite a lot of stuff recently and after some discussion it was decided that this was a pretty good idea. There were suggestions on how best to go about this. One idea was to post it as available on our Web page.

Jim discussed plans for upcoming Amiga SIG programs. August will see Ed Serbe showing us some of his newest graphic creations. September will be a social and a possible "gamers night". There was some discussion of the pitfalls such an event could foster, but we choose to trust in our members' good behavior.

The C64/128 SIG will be discussing Novaterm 9.5 in August.

Jim expressed some concern that the disk presentations at the meetings may have to be limited in time. This topic was examined.

Jim publicly complimented Mr. Angelo Koutsos on his disk presentation for the 8-bit people - "you did a great job!" Jim said Craig was smiling "ear to ear."

Jim then addressed the topic of hard drive space on the BBS. With the advent of the Macintosh section and it's healthy growth, Jim just wanted to check on our available resources. Our Sysop, Kevin Hisel, said so far things are fine and he will monitor the situation. Macintosh Librarian, Mark Bellon, has been busily tending this section on the BBS and has uploaded over 68 megabytes of great Macintosh material.

Dave Witt: Commenting on the July General Meeting, Dave said "The meeting was good. I was really impressed with Vic's presentation. The disk demos did run a little long, but I'll watch them anyway.

Dave reported that Pages For All Ages still has Amiga magazines.

In the discussions that took place while Dave held the floor, it was decided that Jim Lewis will take over Jim Huls' chairing of the Amiga SIG, as Jim H. wishes to attend the Mac SIG, in light of his recent conversion.

Mike Latinovich: Mike felt that "The disk presentations were excruciatingly long, but I dealt with it accordingly."

Mike said he wished Vic's demo had come later in the year when more people interested in his topic could have enjoyed it.

Mike said he had trouble hearing what Vic was saying as he was sitting at the back of the room next to Jon Sago's table. Several conversations were going on back there which were distracting. It was suggested that we ask Jon to police his costumers somewhat while the presentations are going on.

Mike said it is nice to have 28.8K on the BBS. He personally doesn't need it for his upload/download needs (being a Sysop himself), but he's sure others find it very useful.

As a final observation, Mike pronounced the July meeting "good."

Richard Rollins: Richard began his segment by saying, "Angelo, you did a terrific job." However, he made the suggestion that perhaps he should just show two or three programs from the disk. Richard said the loss of color on the monitor during Angelo's demo was caused by a faulty monitor cable. This will be replaced. As an additional show of support, Chief Librarian Kevin Hisel told Angelo, "Cool stuff on that disk!"

Commenting on the Macintosh displaying on the big monitor for the first time, Richard said that he and Mark had never even had time to test the new display module. It had been plug and play; it worked the first time.

Richard said, "I love my new Motorola modem. It's more solid than any other modem I've had. Downloading text files is great now with 28.8 on the BBS."

For the August meeting, the Mac SIG will be looking at TCP and PPP and Netscape.

Richard stated that CU Online is "fantastic." The had some modem problems early on, but that has been ironed out.

The July Mac SIG was really good. Mark did a good job on the Finder and how it works. There were five members in attendance.

Richard finished by showing a copy of MacWorld, noting that they have a very interesting list of Web sites people should visit.

Emil Cobb: Emil reported that attendance was "32 or 33 people" at the July meeting. Things seemed to go pretty well. I want to sit in on the Mac side."

Mark Bellon: Mark stated that he and Kevin Hisel "really need to get the Mac BBS doc section done. We also need to get some hand outs completed."

Putting on his Librarian's hat, Mark said disk sales "weren't too bad." He said he is looking forward to the Fall.

Mark reported that the Mac area on the BBS is half full.

President Huls thanked Mark for the Motorola modem deal he arranged.

Mark related the story that one of the Mac clone makers, Power Computing, had pulled off quite a coup by having the new release of Marathon II on CD at their booth at a recent show. People were lined up to see the game and wound up seeing their clone too.

Mark reported that IBM is not going to make Mac clones but is going to release MacOS on their Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP) machines.

Angel Koutsos: When called on by President Huls, Jim told Angelo "good job on the disk." Angelo thanked everyone for their support. He stated that he needed sources for new programs. Kevin Hopkins and Kevin Hisel directed him to some FTP sites on the net that deal strictly with C64 binaries - uwaterloo, for one. KH2 also gave Angelo the names of some of the C64 Librarians in other clubs we exchange newsletters with that have a Disk-Of-The-Month exchange program, as well.

Angelo asked for some guidance on how to deal with pirated programs. Kevin Hisel laid out CUCUG's policy on this matter.

Kevin Hopkins (KH2): Kevin presented the exchange newsletters and handed out the mail.

Kevin presented some computer related drinking cups that Rich Hall had acquired for the club. Kevin said they could either be given out as door prizes of sold outright.

Kevin asked Mark Bellon if UDS at Motorola had a contact person for other clubs that might want to seek a similar modem deal as we got. He stated that this was strictly a one time deal for us as far as he knew, but he could check to see if they wanted to widen its scope.

Kevin asked if there were any other Macintosh BBSes in town. Mark Bellon stated there weren't any longer. Mac people tend to use the net, not local BBSes.

Kevin Hisel (KH1): Kevin stated that he was very pleased with the new beginning of the C64 Library.

He reported that he is on Gilles Bourdin's mailing list. Any news from Amiga Technologies and we will receive it directly. AT still has no Internet address. Some Board members found this very disconcerting. (Why should it take so long?) Kevin said he had sent his resume to AT to do a Web site for them here in the U.S., but they "kindly declined" his offer. Kevin termed it a "pro response." They supposedly have someone working on one for them and Kevin believes they want to do it right and do not want a stop-gap or less than thorough implementation. He said, "We ought to cut them some slack."

Putting on his Sysop's hat, Kevin reported that there are 270 megs free on the BBS still. He said the BBS seems to be handling the new modem fine, both hardware and software, so no further expenditures seem to be necessary.

Kevin reported that the Amiga Web Page is receiving 1080 hits a day on the main Web page.

Disk sales were respectable despite the fact of having no new Amiga disks this month. Kevin also wanted to thank William Whetzel for the donation of a large quantity of blank disks.

Mark Landman: Mark reported four new members in July. He then gave the Treasurer's Report. He said we have to rewrite the Article of Incorporation to comply with the IRS requirements. We also have to track our income according to SIGs and non-member sources.

Mark reported that we will be changing our long distance carrier to Sprint who'll only charge us if we use it instead of AT&T's continual minimum monthly charge.

Mark also brought up the club's investments for discussion.

Anderson Yau: Anderson said Angelo had given a good presentation. He liked Angelo's enthusiasm.

Anderson thanked Mark for the modem.

He stated that Vic's presentation was very good.

Jim Lewis: Jim said Vic's presentation was very enjoyable and interesting.

Mark's deal on the modems is very good.

Jim gave a brief review of the magazine Amiga Computing which IDG is using to fill out the subscription people had to Amiga World. He had received the June issue of this British magazine. It failed to have the cover disk it normally has. Jim said the magazine is OK. It's better than nothing. He said he'd give it a 2 to 3 on a scale of 5.

Jim said he is glad we seem to have gotten the IRS thing straightened out.

He said he has been suitably impressed with the Mac SIG.

Jim promised the C64 SIG that the room he is providing will be free of the chemical smell it had last time.

Jim said he thought Angelo did a good job.

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The Back Page:

The Champaign-Urbana Commodore Users Group, (CUCUG), a not-for-profit corporation and Authorized Commodore User Group #00251, was originally organized in 1983 to support and advance the knowledge of area Commodore computer users. We've grown since then.

Meetings are held the third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the IBEW Local 601 Union Hall (352-1741), located at 2901 Research Road in the Interstate Research Park in northwest Champaign. To get there, go north on Mattis over I-74 and turn right at the second stop light, onto Interstate Drive. Then take the first "real" left at Research Road. The Electrician's Hall is the third building on your left. There's a big flag pole right out front and it's directly across the street from one of Hobbico's signs. You should park and enter the building in the back.

ASCII text files of all recent Status Register newsletters are available for downloading on our BBS or our WWW site. Other user group newsletter editors may leave a comment to the BBS Sysop to request free access. To initiate a newsletter exchange, just send us your newsletter. As a matter of CUCUG policy, a newsletter exchange partner will be dropped after three months of no contact.

This newsletter was prepared with PageStream 2.22 on an Amiga 3000 25/100 and output to an HP Laserjet IIP plus. Pagestream was donated to CUCUG by Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation.

For further information, please attend the next meeting as our guest, or contact one of our officers(all at area code 217):


President:         Jim Huls         892-8730
Vice-President:    David Witt       685-2815          ntranger@msilink.com
Secretary/Editor:  Kevin Hopkins    356-5026                  kh2@uiuc.edu
Treasurer:         Mark Landman     398-2910       mlandman@prairienet.org
Corporate Agent:   Jim Lewis        359-1342         NOSPAMlewis_j_e@yahoo.com
Librarian/Sysop:   Kevin Hisel      406-948-1999         khisel @ cucug.org
C64/128 SIG:       Craig Kummerow   784-5919       cwkummer@prairienet.org
Macintosh SIG:     Richard Rollins  469-2616             RERollins@aol.com

Call our Starship CUCUG BBS at (217) 356-8056, always online, up to 14,400 baud, supporting all CBM computers. Surf our home page at

http://www.cucug.org/.

Call Prairienet free at (217) 255-9000. Login as "visitor".

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