The November 16th meeting will be on of our split SIG meetings. The C64/128 SIG will be reviewing Loadstar disk #128 with Craig Kummerow. The Amiga SIG will be holding a general Question and Answer Session. And, the Macintosh SIG will be exploring Plain Talk 1.4.1, a text to speech and speech recognition program. Should be an interesting night. Come and enjoy!
During his key note address held in Los Angeles at the Video Toaster Expo, Petro Tyschtschenko, CEO and President of Amiga Technologies, officially announced the Power PC to be the processor used in the future generation of Amiga computers.
The first POWER AMIGA will be available 1st quarter 1997 and will feature the Power PC 604 RISC CPU. Further models will be available later in the entry-level, as well as in the mid-range.
The Power Amigas will be backwards compatible with current models and will also feature a new and more powerful chipset.
"Our pre-emptive multitasking Operating System AmigaOS will be ported to the Power PC platform first. Our goal is to make our OS hardware independent to allow further ports on other platforms", said Petro Tyschtschenko.
He also added: "We have a clear business plan: We do things consequently, step by step. First, we ramped up the production and set up an organization to handle the Amiga market and satisfy the demand. Now that we have achieved this successfully, we focus on research & development to bring new and better products on the market. One of the mistakes the former Commodore made, was to do too many things at a time, too many promises and therefore losing focus on important aspects of its business. We have learned from these mistakes and won't repeat them. Commitments and promises are nice but facts are better."
The developments will also focus on including more features in the AmigaOS, especially regarding network abilities and memory management.
The development of the native RISC AmigaOS will be made internally at Amiga Technologies. An R&D department is currently being set up in Bensheim with sufficient engineers to meet the announced schedules. Former well known Commodore engineers as well as new competencies will join the team in Bensheim this year.
This development project will also be involving a dozen companies in close partnership with Amiga Technologies GmbH.
More good news for all Amiga users: The Power PC technology will not only be available for new Power Amigas. Thanks to a close co-operation between Amiga Technologies and Phase V, a German turbo board manufacturer, a full range of Power PC boards will also be available for the A1200, A3000 and A4000 series.
This will allow a general migration of the Amiga platform towards Power PC in a short time, also for current models.
First Power PC boards for current Amigas will be available before end of 1996.
Amiga Technologies will be flexible in licensing the RISC Operating System as before so that a global solution will be available for all above mentioned Amiga computers. This is especially important for the foreseeable partnerships.
The 68060 board for the Amiga 4000 T will be available during the first quarter of 1996 and will provide the power needed by applications like 3D rendering software, compilers and high-end graphics software.
During 1996, new 68K based entry-level models will be available. These Amigas will be based on the A1200 platform, with faster processors, more memory expansion capacity and CD ROM expansion.
Amiga Technologies is a 100% subsidiary of the ESCOM AG and is based in Bensheim, Germany.
You are welcome on our WEB page for more information at
http://www.amiga.de.
CONTACT: Gilles Bourdin eMail: gbo@amiga.de AMIGA Technologies Berliner Ring 89 Tel +49 6252 709 195 D-64625 Bensheim Fax +49 6252 709 520 Germany Amiga is a registered trademark of ESCOM AG POWER PC is a registered trademark of IBM corporation Copyright 1995 by AMIGA Technologies GmbH Editor: Dr. Peter Kittel Send comments to (webmaster@amiga.de)ToC
Spartacus will boast an integrated TV tuner, digital video support, and stereo speakers, according to the MacWeek report.
Also on the Apple front, Dataquest analysts are claiming that despite the company's dismal third-quarter results, the Cupertino, California, firm is on its way back. Dataquest analysts say the company's 21-percent increase in unit shipments is proof of Apple's chances for a fourth-quarter rebound.
Sun Microsystems has attracted two more top-flight licensees for its Internet-based Java programming language. Borland International and Spyglass Corporation have agreed to license Java, bringing Sun another step closer to its goal of making Java the standard language for distributed interactivity on the Net.
Through its agreement with Sun, Spyglass will be able to provide Java to the nearly 50 companies who license the browser and server technology. Borland plans to create software tools for Java programmers and has already linked its home page to Java World, a special Web site for Java developers.
In a further effort to get programmers on board the Java train, Sun is sponsoring The Java Cup International, a contest with prizes totalling $1 million in Sun equipment. Categories include Productivity Tools, Internet/Web Agents, Educational, Developer Tools, Entertainment and Games, and Unlimited. The contest runs December 1, 1995, to March 31, 1996.
Netscape Communications' Navigator 2.0 browser is now available for downloading. The new release features a code cleanup, scripting language, and the first multimedia plug-in.
The new version also provides the first support for Netscape's LiveScript, a scripting language that developers can embed directly into HTML pages. LiveScript can be used to put together Java applets, HTML, and multimedia plug-ins.
WebFX, the first multimedia plug-in for Navigator is also available. WebFX is a Windows-based 3D VRML viewer used to navigate virtual reality environments. It provides standalone HTTP communications independent of any Web browser and is available for downloading at The Paper Software Company Web site.
November 1, Sunnyvale, California - @Home, together with cable giant Tele-Communications Incorporated (TCI) and backing from high-tech venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caulfield, Byers, today unveiled plans to offer high-speed Net access via cable links to PC users starting early next year.
Sold through TCI for about $50 a month, the @Home interactive online service will incorporate a custom browser from Netscape Communications Corporation. PC users will need an ethernet network card to have the service delivered at speeds of up to 10 MB/sec. That's 80 times faster than an ISDN link, officials said, and up to 700 times faster than a typical modem connection.
"We believe the @Home network will always be on. We envision it will be a utility," said William Hearst, CEO. Hearst stressed that the service will infiltrate the home in much the same manner as television. "The social impact will allow people to communicate more easily," he added.
The lure of creating such a hybrid TV/online system is obvious, according to Neil McManus, an analyst with Digital Media, a San Francisco market research firm. "TV providers are getting into this market mainly to control eyeballs. @Home is very TV-centric, but most people will buy it for speed," said McManus.
The @Home service will feature live news and local traffic conditions, along with interactive TV content from c|net central and The Discovery Channel. Initially, the service will be available in Sunnyvale only. The company will target homes, schools, and businesses.
Bell Atlantic officials have decided to give their customers high-speed Net access via existing phone lines instead of using cable modem technology. The company will use AT&T's GlobeSpan Digital Subscriber Line technology and has already bought millions of dollars' worth of equipment from the telco unit to implement the plan.
The GlobeSpan technology will provide customers with speedy Net access ranging from 1.5 MB/sec to 6 MB/sec. Officials declined to provide details on pricing or delivery schedules. Analysts say Bell Atlantic will most likely offer the service on a trial basis initially.
High-speed Net access services are becoming a hot commodity. Earlier this week, @Home, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California, announced plans to provide Net access at speeds 80 times faster than ISDN by using coaxial cable links owned by Tele-Communications Incorporated. The hybrid system will offer customers interactive TV content along with Net access.
Oh no, just when you thought we had the best disk drive money could buy, an end is near for the FD-4000 disk drive, produced Creative Micro Designs. Don't worry, we will still be able to get all the FD-2000s we want for many years to come.
So what's the deal with the 4000, then? First a little info on the differences between the two drives. The FD series disk drives are meant to be almost fully compatible with the Commodore 1581 disk drive. CMD has achieved that feat remarkably well, while at the same time giving the FD drives considerably more capabilities. You can take a disk that was formatted on your 1581 and use it in the FD in exactly the same manner. You can also format disks for your 1581 in the FD drive. Compatibility with the 1581 is a big selling point for the FD. But, in addition to this, you can format the same disks in the native FD format. This allows you to partition the disks and to also use true subdirectories, much like you will find on other computer systems.
In addition to being able to use the double-density 800K disks, you can also use high-density disks in the FD-2000 and the FD-4000 drives. These are commonly known as 1.44 meg disks in the IBM world and have turned out to be the most popular format for those machines. With the high-density disks, you can format them to handle 1.6 megs of data in the FD drives. These can be partitioned in many different ways and can even hold partitions that can emulate a 1581 disk or even a 1541 or 1571 disk. You can put two 1581 partitions on a high density disk.
Now, the advantage the FD-4000 has over the FD-2000 is that it can handle the Enhanced-density, or ED disks. These disks will format out to 3.2 megs on the FD-4000. Just think, about 12 years or so ago, Commodore produced a hard drive that only held 5 megs. With an FD-4000 drive and a box of ED disks, you have 32 megs of storage available. If you run out, just get some more disks!
Now for the kicker ... The actual mechanism that is installed in the FD-4000 is no longer being produced by any manufacturer. This part of the drive is something that CMD is not geared up to produce. Only a few companies actually build the mechanisms for floppy drives. In most cases, such as with CMD, a floppy drive producer only builds the cases and the circuit boards, purchasing the mechanism from an outside source.
So, why is nobody manufacturing the ED mechanism? The answer is simple ... The IBM market is just too big and powerful. Everything is geared around that market and it effects even the Commodore market. Nobody seems to want, or need, a 2.88 meg disk drive with their IBM computer. Why not? Because it just isn't big enough! They are sticking with their high-density drives. Most of them only have one single little high-density drive on their system. Why bother buying a drive that is only twice the size of an existing drive that is about ten times smaller than what is actually needed? The hot thing is CD-ROM drives. And even a CD-ROM drive from a couple of years ago is not good enough anymore ... they aren't fast enough. They want bigger hard drives also.
Much of the big software supplied for IBM machines now comes on CD. Some of it is then installed on the hard drive. With a floppy drive, software, in most cases, has to be supplied on several disks and usually it is also in compressed format. This can be confusing for many people when it comes time to install the software. And they certainly are not going to release software that can run straight from a floppy drive. No Way! That is one of the main reasons that IBM machines look faster nowadays. Most of the software is run either from a fast hard drive or is loaded completely into memory, which requires a considerable amount of RAM. Most IBM people only use their high-density floppy drive for storing backups of their data files, such as those created with a word processor. They don't like the thought of installing another floppy drive either. Maybe their system needs to be updated with a new card or system software in order to work with a 2.88 drive.
So the big market that was anticipated for these bigger drives never materialized. And it never will. But for us Commodore users ... a 3.2 meg floppy drive is a much wanted commodity. To us, this is a high-speed mass storage device. Most of our software is 20K or less. Imagine how many files you can put on a 3.2 meg disk. When they are formatted with native partitions, you can have as many files in a directory or sub-directory as you wish, or until you run out of disk space.
About a month ago, CMD only had enough ED mechanisms to build about 40 more FD-4000s. This supply would have only lasted several weeks. But the good news is that CMD has since discovered a batch of new mechanisms and will be able to keep supplying us with FD-4000s for a while. But they might not last long once people realize the situation. Get 'em while they last.
FD-4000 $249.95 FD-4000 with real-time clock $269.95 FD-2000 $179.95 FD-2000 with real-time clock $199.95 Creative Micro Designs P.O. Box 646 E. Longmeadow, MA 01028 Orders: 1-800-638-3263 Info: 1-413-525-0023 Fax: 1-413-525-0147[Source: Commodore Users Group of St. Louis journal, "Keywords" October, 1995. CUGSL's address P.O. Box, Bridgeton, MO 63044.]
I love these things, both the 2000 and the 4000. The CMD FD-2000 and 4000 are 3.5 inch disk drives sold by CREATIVE MICRO DESIGNS. Currently they are the only floppy drives still being manufactured new for the Commodore 8-bit line. Both these drives are incredibly compatible with existing software, including 1581 software and fastloaders, and they're downwardly compatible with the 1581 format. In partitions, you can even create REAL, 100% compatible 1541/71 partitions. More importantly, the drives both support DOUBLE SIDED HIGH DENSITY disks (DS,HD), which yield up to 1.6 megabytes of storage (twice that of the 1581!). These are those disks your 1581 couldn't format so you had to return them.
The FD-4000 goes one step further and supports a newer format called DOUBLE SIDED EXTENDED DENSITY disks (DS,ED) which gives you 3.2 megabytes per disk (that's four 1581 disks)!
These drives are pretty fast with JiffyDOS or in the 128 mode. Just like the HD and RAMLink before them, these drives were well thought out. They work exactly as advertised. I haven't had a software problem yet. It's like a slower version of RAMLink. As I said before about the CMD hard drive and RAMLink, "These guys are serious!" I have an FD-4000 at work and a review copy of an FD-2000 at home. I've found myself programming more and more at home now because the FD-2000 raises my home system a little closer to the power-user level of my system at work.
The best thing is that when I'm at home I can MCOPY (mirror or whole-disk copy) my RAMDrive native mode partitions to floppies now. Then I can just format the partition and set up the 1-meg RAMdisk for some other project(s). Too bad the guys at CMD can't see my watery and soulful eyes. I'm going to hate sending back that review FD-2000. I'll have to get one later.
Not surprisingly, I find the drives reliable. The FDs are essentially a CMD hard drive based on floppies. Formatting the disks with FDTOOLS may seem a bit complicated, but it's only because you're doing a low level format on a DOS that's sophisticated enough for a hard drive. In other words, you have intelligent decisions to make (OPTIONS!). But if you just want a 1581 disk, you can plop in a blank disk and type @n0:diskname,id as if you had a 1581. If the disk is already formatted (with the default partition as a 1541), it'll format in the default partition as a 1541, not the whole physical disk.
I use my FD-4000 and HD-40 primarily to backup projects that are actually worked on in RAMLink, which is my main drive. This frees up the hard drive for more important things. Of course you can quite merrily use the FDs as primary drives if you don't have HDs or RAMLinks.
The drives have DIP switches for device number. Mine is set up as device 11 but I can press the SWAP button to make it 8 or 9. It feels like using a super-1581 -- except my main partition has about 2000 blocks free. In that partition I have many EASILY creatable and accessible subdirectories. I'm in one now. The other directories are simply directories for all of my other LOADSTAR-related work (MCOPIED from my RAMLink). Each subdirectory is kind of like a separate disk, except they share a common blocks-free count for the partition they are in. They will all be wiped out if I format the partition they're in.
My second partition emulates a 1541 disk, right down to the directory, BAM, and 664 blocks free. Cool. I can MCOPY a whole 1541 floppy to the second partition if I want to. As far as I know, no other computer format offers emulation partitions. I think of it as a little hard drive. Everything works EXACTLY as I expect it to -- except it happens faster than a 1581, and slower than a hard drive.
The designers of the FDs and its operating system obviously thought it all out and beforehand. The manual is as thorough as the CMD HD manual, coming in a three-ring binder with well over 100 pages, complete with diagrams. The manual puts most any CBM manual to shame.
How fast is it in use? It took me a several minutes to file copy an issue of LOADSTAR #105 to a native FD partition. The issue then booted in 10 seconds on the FD-4000. At first that seemed slow, but it takes some 17 seconds with a 1571 and JiffyDOS. That's nothing to sneeze at for a floppy. I'm just spoiled by RAMLink, which boots LOADSTAR in about two seconds. Even the hard drive, which boots LOADSTAR in a staggering four seconds, seems slow compared to RAMLink.
As with the CMD hard drives, all access will be faster. You really should get JiffyDOS, RAMLink or RAMDrive (which both have JiffyDOS built in).
Speaking of SUPER SNAPSHOT, I have V5 at home. It's plugged in when RAMDrive isn't. Its 1581 fastload works fine with the FD-2000, but the turbo SAVE should be disabled.
If you're anything like me, you'll love the SWAP button. What it does is send a command for your current device #8 to swap device numbers with the FD. Press it again and it restores 8 and swaps with 9. Press it again and you're back to normal.
The FD comes with great utilities that you WILL USE IN THE FUTURE, unlike the 1541/71/81 demo disks which were loaded with near-useless utilities. You get a file copier, disk copier and the new BCOPY, which is used to back up partitions to any number of other disks, allowing you to back up those huge partitions on your HD to floppies. No compression is used. MCOPY is used to backup one partition to another or to physically copy a real floppy disk to an emulation partition (and vice versa). MCOPY is also a pretty good disk copier in general. You don't have to limit it to your CMD devices.
You can also copy an emulation partition to a 1541/71 floppy disk, but I don't recommend it for this reason: the FD uses a sector interleave of 1 since its high performance doesn't demand skew schemes at all. Even with JiffyDOS or another fast loader your 1541/71 can't handle an interleave of 1 without a significant slowdown. If you regularly copy a disk from the FD to a 5.25 inch floppy, you should file copy the files to the 5.25 inch disk then MCOPY the disk back to the FD to make your master. This gives you a master with the proper skew. Don't worry -- the FD will find the 6-10 skew sectors just as fast. Note: There's no problem with 1581s since 1581s have a skew of 1 also.
The DOS? NICE! Just like Commodore DOS, only more powerful and functional. Creating a new subdirectory is simple, especially with any type of wedge enabled.
@md:subdir name
To change subdirectories you simply use the CD command:
@cd:subdir name (cd means change directory)
CMD triumphed in an area where Commodore turned high-tail and ran. The 1581 has the ability to create and use subdirectories -- but who on earth feels like creating one when you've got to send low/high chr$() bytes and cryptic commands? A simple command like MD and CD are a logical alternative. I've never bothered to create a partition or subdirectory on a 1581 because it's such a hassle. On the HD, RAMLink, RAMDrive and the new FDs, I make, use and delete subdirectories at my leisure.
The only programs that have problems handling a native partition or a subdirectory are those which directly search the BAM and directory blocks, expecting them to start at 18,0. Why anyone would want to do this in order to get a simple directory is beyond me. Your ML and BASIC directory routines that open $ will work anywhere on the FD. This is the way it should be done, anyway.
There's only one drawback to subdirectories on the FD. It'll take the FD about a quarter second per eight files deep to find your file. This is because the directory is read in a sequential file instead of from RAM. It's no big deal in a small subdirectory, but if you're going to copy a whole issue of LOADSTAR to an FD, put it in a ROOT (parent) directory.
You can move between partitions easily:
@cp2 (cp means change partition)
The partitions are numbered and considered logically separate disks. So, formatting only affects the current partition unless a pathname dictates differently. You can't format all of a multi-partitioned FD disk accidentally.
The FD has an option for a real time clock which lets you know when you created your files.
I give the FDs two thumbs up. Don't be surprised when you begin seeing the format supported in more and more commercial software.
And no, I'm not on the payroll of CMD. I'm also not on their beta tester list. If I were, this review would have gotten out a lot sooner (hint, hint, wink, wink).
[Source: LOADSTAR #106. For more information on CMD's FD series floppy drives refer to CUCUG's November 1992 issue of the Status Register.]
Eager fans await blockbuster upgrade
by Kathy Yakal
Despite the fact that Netscape Navigator has lacked some basic Net-surfing features, such as support for ftp (file transfer protocol) uploading and the ability to receive email, its many fans have remained loyal and have refused to switch to feature-rich competitors such as Wollongong's Emissary Desktop. And if you have any doubt as to how eagerly denizens of the Internet look forward to a new version of Netscape Navigator, just try to log on to Netscape Communications' Web site when a prerelease version becomes available.
Well, we have good news for Netscape fans: c|net recently previewed an alpha version of Netscape Navigator 2.0, scheduled for release by the end of the year, and believe the program's enhancements will please both end users and Internet developers. The most significant enhancements for end users are a much-needed overhaul of Netscape's mail and newsgroup features, tighter security options, and faster performance. Developers will benefit from simpler, more flexible Internet-site design tools and support for Sun Microsystems' Java programming language.
Familiar Face
Netscape Navigator's core design and functionality, though, remain the same. The familiar screen, with its sleek, recognizable icons and clear, logical menu system, is still in place. You can rearrange your list of bookmarks (favorite Web pages) by dragging and dropping URLs from one spot to another. Got a favorite site that you visit daily? First create a Shortcut icon on your Windows 95 desktop, then double-click the icon to launch Netscape, which takes you directly to the site. (Netscape 1.2 also has this feature.)
But there's much more to version 2.0, including faster performance. If you surf the Web via a 28.8-kbps modem, you may think you're living in the fast lane. But once you've tried a high-speed digital connection such as ISDN, your modem will seem as slow as molasses. Unfortunately, many of us are still modem-bound, and Navigator 2.0 is designed to make our cybercruising a tad speedier. New performance-enhancing features including support for Progressive's JPEG file format, which loads images up to three times faster than the popular GIF format, according to Netscape. And since version 2.0 also supports streamed data, you can, for instance, start to hear an audio clip before the file's fully downloaded to your PC.
Improved Email
Navigator 2.0 provides a key new feature: the ability to send and receive email. (Earlier versions were send-only.) You can view, compose, edit, and store email directly from the Netscape interface. You can also embed live hyperlinks in mail messages, allowing you to click on a URL in a message and go directly to a Web site. Similarly, you can embed URLs, images, and HTML pages in your Internet newsgroup postings. There's even an address book for storing email names.
Look for improvements to Navigator's ftp feature, too. You can now use ftp to upload files to Net sites (in addition to the standard ftp downloading).
Tighter Security
Security has been beefed up. If you're concerned about devious crackers hijacking your email, Navigator 2.0 uses the Secure MIME (S/MIME) protocol to encrypt your messages.
Thanks to a recent agreement between Netscape Communications and VeriSign, you'll be able to set up a Digital ID, which Netscape officials describe as an "Internet driver's license." A Digital ID will allow Navigator 2.0 users to communicate via secure email, conduct financial transactions, positively identify other Net dwellers (yup, that email from Al Gore is really from Al), and easily receive authorization to access sensitive online info. Pricing for the Digital ID service wasn't available at posting time.
Developer's Tools
If you're building a site on the Internet, you'll appreciate Navigator 2.0's new developer tools. The new Frames feature lets you divide Web pages into separate regions, each capable of displaying unique content such as text, images, video, and audio. New inline plug-ins let you incorporate multimedia content into Web pages, including Apple QuickTime movies or Adobe Acrobat PDF documents. Navigator 2.0 will also support Java applets, objects that enable animation, two-way interaction, and instantaneous updates of Web pages. Version 2.0 will also incorporate Sun's HotJava browser technology that lets end users experience Java-enhanced Web sites.
Netscape Navigator 2.0 is an ambitious upgrade. If its vast collection of new features proves to be as impressive as it sounds, this is one browser you won't want to pass by.
Netscape Navigator 2.0 (alpha version)
Price: unavailable, free download available on Netscape's site
Netscape Communications, 415/528-2555
I spent the day today at the Universal City Hilton hotel for the second annual Video Toaster User expo, which continues thru 04 Nov. 95
Here's a tiny recap - I'll have more to post later along with photos after I get the film developed and scan them.
In a half-hour speech to a packed ballroom of about 500 people, Petro Tyschtschenko (say "ta-SHEN-ko"), a very gung-ho and good English-speaking guy, pulled up a black cloth and revealed a brand new production Amiga 4000 Tower, and also showed, cased in lucite, no less, an actual A1200 motherboard produced by AmigaTech along with a German sales packed-A1200 full of bundled software.
Tyschtschenko is the President of Amiga Technologies, GmbH, the wholly owned subsidiary of Escom, AG, and it's the new 40 person (so far) company formed to make Amiga personal computers. (Does anyone not know this yet? :) after Escom bought out Commodore.
He then, with much suspense, announced the next generation Amigas will use Motorola's PowerPC CPU and will be dubbed the Power Amiga.
Petro, along with his young Press Relations Guy, Gilles Bourdin, explained that Escom has already spent many times its initial $12 million investment in the intellectual properties of Commodore, whom they bought out earlier this year. That They know what the Amiga is, unlike Commodore's former top management, and that "We didn't just buy the Amiga for Christmas." He insisted that the Amiga is back and that development will carry on through the last of the 68xxx processors, the 68060, and then onto the PowerPC. He did not name any ship dates for Power Amigas of course, although scuttlebutt says expect them in early '97.
Petro further said that so far, 15,000 new AT-made A1200s have been sold in Europe. Not just shipped, sold. To customers. And that over 80,000 more are back ordered at dealers and are being made as fast as the factory can crank them out.
Amiga Tech GmbH is forming a strategic alliance with Apple Computer, since they have already been before where Amiga is going, from the 68k family of CPUs to the PPC.
After Petro spoke, Tim Jenison, Pres. of Newtek took the stage and gave a very moving, tearful speech in tribute to Jay Miner, father of the Amiga. This was a speech unlike anything I have ever heard Jenison give before. He was on the verge of tears many times as he recounted his early meetings in Los Gatos with Jay and the early Amiga engineering crew, showing them the first Digiview pictures, how Jay was constantly amazed and thrilled at the things developers were making his little creation do.
I took pictures at the press conference and also in the exhibits hall of various people and products and will scan and upload them in the next couple days, putting them on Portal in the Amiga Zone library and on Aminet, so look for them soon.
That's enough for now. I'm pooped.
harv@cup.portal.com
Later, Harv posted...
http://www.portal.com/~harv
I also wanted to add that during his speech, Petro also mentioned that the PowerAmiga will feature memory protection and virtual memory as OS features. I cannot stress enough that his speech was very upbeat and optimistic, and there many breaks for loud applause as he made certain points.
He also gave profuse thanks to both George Robbins and Jeff Frank, ex-of-Commodore who are now working with Amiga Tech, and he gave them much praise for helping get the new 4000s and 1200s out on the market as soon as they did, which required the cooperation of companies in six different countries to accomplish. Robbins was also working at the AT/SMG booth on the exhibits floor.
There was no printed copy of the speech available. I asked for one. Perhaps someone else who was there will transcribe and repost the whole thing from a recording. Shrug.
I have just uploaded to Aminet and to Portal, two JPEG images which are composites of photos I took at the VTU expo and then scanned and tossed together using ImageFX 2.1. Look for the files "vtu951.jpeg" and "vtu952.jpeg" whenever they become available on Aminet or get them now on Portal if you're a customer there.
It's hard to believe that of the 500 people in the room where Petro gave his speech, I'm the only one who has so far come home to post about this.. but apparently so :)
Finally, I should invite you to visit the spanking newly redesigned Web
pages of AMG,Inc. the publishers of Video Toaster User magazine and
LIGHTWAVEPRO which I just installed. you'll find them at
http://www.portal.com/~amg.
The graphic you'll see at the top of the main page was created by Mike Crossmire. If you have ever seen or used AmigaVision, it was Mike who was the artist at Imsatt Corp., who created all of those pretty little glyphs/icons that are used in AmigaVision's interface. A very talented guy.
I am very glad to be here in Los Angeles at our first conference and Video-Toaster Show in the United States.
But let me introduce myself, my name is Petro Tyschtschenko, I'm President at Amiga Technologies. I used to work 12 years at Commodore and I was responsible for the world-wide logistics.
I will now say a few words about our organization and how we set it up.
Amiga Technologies GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of ESCOM AG. ESCOM AG is a public company. 25 % of the shares belong to Quelle, the first retail chain in Germany, 12.5 % to RWE, one of the biggest German cable and wire providers, 10 % to Siemens-Nixdorf and 38.5 % to Manfred Schmitt, founder and chairman of the board. 14 % are split among other shareholders.
In August 1994, almost one year before the 21st of April, when ESCOM AG took over the rights of Commodore, Manfred Schmitt, Chairman at ESCOM AG, told me "Petro, I want the Amiga". From this day on, I was in charge of setting up the deal that the Amiga Community was waiting for: Taking over the rights and patents of Commodore International and give the Amiga a new home.
It was a very difficult task, the situation with Commodore was complicated and many companies were also interested in getting the baby. But our strategy to keep silent about what we did helped us to be faster and more efficient. Nobody knew about ESCOM before the deal was completed.
The next goal was to build up the company. This was announced officially during our press launch in Frankfurt, 30th of May, 1995. Amiga Technologies is now located in Bensheim, 60 km southward of Frankfurt and a few miles away from Heppenheim where ESCOM has its headquarters. We currently employ about 40 people and are growing on a daily basis.
During our last press conferences, we made lots of promises and commitments. Today, I will rather show you something more concrete: Here is an Amiga 1200 and here is the first Amiga 4000 Tower.
These two products you can see here today represent the tremendous work done by our team in Germany, together with our strategic partners in only three months.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have sold our first 20,000 Amigas 1200 in Europe. These were not only sold to our distributors and dealers, all of them went over the shelves to the end-users. Our Backlog is still 60,000.
The demand is more than satisfying. We are happy to see that the Amiga didn't lose its appeal towards the customer.
The success is like in earlier Commodore times. The difference is that now a new management of competence is installed. Motivated people who love and know the Amiga are taking care of the business.
Our strength is that we are a dynamic team. We react quickly to new situations. And we also learned from the mistakes Commodore made.
Some people over here think that ESCOM AG acquired the intellectual property of Commodore just to build a few computers for the Christmas season and leave the market afterwards. Ladies and Gentlemen, that is neither my style, nor the kind of business I like to do. Amiga is a long term project, we want to re-establish a market and give the Amiga the position it deserves because we believe that our product is a good alternative to PC's and Macs.
Escom invested several times the amount of money that was spent for the takeover of Commodore. We want this investment to fructify in the future.
The US market is very important for us. Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to make a commitment here: We do not intend to concentrate our efforts only on Europe. Our location is in Bensheim. But our market is world-wide. The A4000T is the product that is wanted most in the USA. We are currently thinking of the possibilities that we could have to market the A1200 here too.
The American market is not only important to us for selling hardware. There also is a great potential of development intelligence here. Newtek for instance is an important strategic partner for us. We want to support the Video Toaster and are currently negotiating with Newtek to build up a strong partnership and set up license agreements to get new products basing on the Video Toaster technology.
Another partner for the American market is our new distributor SMG. SMG will take care of distribution and spare parts for the North-American market. SMG is well known and appreciated as a service provider for a long time.
The Set-Top-Box is an important topic at Amiga Technologies. We have now finalized several agreements in the USA. I will mention our agreement with Viscorp that has just been finalized a few weeks ago. Omnibox in Connecticut is another company we are currently dealing with. Through Set-Top-Box systems, we are confident that the Amiga platform will enter into millions of households. No other computer manufacturer is able to provide a system that multitasks with 2 megabytes of memory.
Our partnership with SCALA brings MM300 to the user out of the box. All Amiga models fitted with hard drives include that popular multimedia package. More than a partner, SCALA is also an important customer for Amiga Technologies. SCALA purchased 1000 Amiga 4000 Towers to provide their customers with high-end multimedia systems. My understanding is that Newtek will be following with another 1000 units for the Video Toaster market.
The demand for the Amiga 4000 T is also very high in Europe. We know that the price tag has been set quite high. This is due to the fact that the Amiga 4000 T is actually a new product for us. Setting up its production was an expensive task that needed the competencies and know-how of many people. My special thanks to Jeff Frank and Georges Robbins. The production costs are currently about 40 % higher than in Commodore times.
Actually, we planned to bring out the Amiga 4000 T before the Amiga 1200, but the complexity of this product made it impossible to respect the schedules. But finally it is available, the first models came out of the lines this week.
It was a great moment for us when the first Amiga board was finished in our A1200 production facility in France. It happened on the 13th of September 1995. Here it is, just for your eyes.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please be aware, the Amiga is the only computer which has a multitasking operating system that is not in alpha or beta stage. Of course, we look at our competitors. I recently went to a fair where a computer manufacturer proudly presented its new machines. I asked one of the guys at the booth to demonstrate me the multitasking abilities of his system and he replied "Please wait a few minutes sir, as soon as this disk formatting is completed, I will show you real multitasking......." I said: "No further questions."
It is really encouraging to have a strong feature and to find out that some competitors don't even know what it is.
Ladies and Gentlemen, our strength, more than the hardware platform, is our Operating System. AmigaOS is excellent and will become even better. We have decided to port it to other platforms as soon as possible. Of course, we are also aware of the features that our system lacks. Long awaited features like memory protection, virtual memory and strong network abilities are on top of our todo list. The next version of Amiga OS will hopefully include all these important things.
We also need software for the Amiga. It is absolutely necessary to continue development on existing products as well as getting new applications developed or ported to AmigaOS. We are setting up the support for Amiga developers. This will be working through BBS systems and Internet. The German node cbmehq is already up and running in Bensheim. We now also have an Amiga Technologies Web page. We will be very active on the Internet in the future.
Ladies and Gentlemen, it is more and more evident every day that the combination of Intel and Windows 95 is not satisfying for many people. It is also a threat for the computer market that a monopoly like this tends to establish itself.
Therefore, it is important that systems like Amiga improve their market position, so that the user can still find an alternative way. To improve our market position, we know that we need to improve the product. This improvement has to be done on the hardware and the software side. The 68000 processor family from Motorola which is still powering our models will end its evolution after the 68060.
We knew from the beginning that we had to look for a new processor. There were many options possible. Motorola proposed the Power PC, there was also the HP PA, the Minisparc or DEC Alpha processors. All of them had advantages and disadvantages, the choice was very hard indeed.
Ladies and Gentleman, we made our choice. The next Amiga will be called Power-Amiga. We removed PC for aesthetical purposes.
Let me now explain this choice.
The Power PC processor is fast... Especially when it runs a decent Operating System. We believe that with an Operating System like AmigaOS, the Power PC processor will show all the power that it has, it will be faster than with other operating systems.
Another important reason for our choice is the strategic partnerships that this processor brings to us. Apple already did the experience of a migration from 68000 processors to Power PC and we can take advantage of this experience.
Motorola and IBM will also be precious partners for the Power Amiga project, on the software side as well as on the hardware side. Of course we are also in talk with IBM and Apple.
Ladies and Gentlemen, all in all the Power Amiga project will be involving more than a dozen companies. We are confident and think that such a synergy will make things happen very fast. Our team is ready to go.
Thank you for your attention.
Copyright 1995 by AMIGA Technologies GmbH Editor: Dr. Peter Kittel Send comments to (webmaster@amiga.de) Date: 06.11.95ToC
The October 19th meeting began with President Jim Huls giving the traditional introduction of officers. The floor was then open for the Question and Answer Session.
Macintosh Librarian Mark Bellon brought in the new CUCUG Macintosh brochure. He printed 500, so if anyone would like to post a few, see Mark. Mark reported that he has added disks number 34, 35 and 36 to the Macintosh Library collection. Tonight he will be showing disk #13 and 14.
CUCUGMAC #13: Stuffit Expander (The decompression/dearchiving tool for the Mac), CC3.0.1 Demo.sit (an excellent INIT conflict catcher), DropStuff w/EE 3.5.2.sit (an excellent step up from Stuffit Expander), and Stuffit Lite 3.5 Installer.sit, another excellent space saving compressor/achiver).
CUCUGMAC #14: Minez FAT.sit (Mines clone game), GNU Shogi 1.10E.sit (an interesting variation on chess), Dragon 2.11.sit (the Chinese version of Go), Peter's Player 1.1.sea (an excellent Quicktime movie player with some very nice features), ZipIt 1.3.2.sit (Zip (PC) archive manipulation utility), UltraFind 1.5.2.fat folder.sit (an excellent replacement for the find command), JSokoban 1.0.sit (an interesting Japanese game of pushing money bags), Poker 3.0.sit (a nice poker game), and Focus VoiceCalendar v2.4.sea (Excellent calendar program using voice messaging. Talk to your calendar and have it talk back).
Just before the break President Jim Huls introduced our speaker for the evening, Carlos Ramirez of CU Online.
After the break President Huls notified the membership of the upcoming club elections in December. He informed everyone that the club is in need of a candidate for Treasurer and, since he has decided not to seek re-election, we will need a candidate for President. We will also need someone to fill the non-elective offices of Amiga SIG Chairman and C64 SIG Chairman.
The floor was then turned over to Carlos Ramirez of CU Online. Carlos
began his presentation with the announcement that he and CU Online are
pleased to provide CUCUG with an account for our Web Pages and that they
will help CUCUG obtain it's own Internet domain name. What this means is
that CUCUG will be an identity on the net. You will be able to contact our
web site through the address http://www.cucug.org.
Carlos also announced a special deal to CUCUG members, offering them an account for $20 a month. This account would have SLIP, PPP, MLink, and Shell abilities. This is a 20% savings along with no setup cost. Each user will have 10 megabytes of storage space at their disposal with the opportunity of obtaining addition storage at the price of $0.15 per megabyte. There will be a 1/2 hour idle kick off feature, so this not for those who wish to log in and "live" on the net. But, needless to say, this is a very good deal.
CU Online is growing and will be moving from its 505 S. Neil Royal Plaza location to the ninth floor of the Huntington Towers. Carlos said CU Online currently has 30 USR modems running at 28.8K and they would like to have 200 to 300 eventually. Their present location cannot service that kind of traffic, thus the reason for the move. CU-Online hopes to have 100 modems by the end of the year. At Huntington Towers, "we will be sitting on top of fiber" - very fast - more connections, Carlos said. CU Online wants to have ISDN dial-ins (as many as 32) and they will also have an 800 number for dialing in.
Speaking of his own experience, Carlos said he was once at Prairienet, but chaffed at the limitations of that system, so he moved on. He now works with the Livingston Terminal Server of CU Online and the Linux boxes it serves.
Speaking of his local competition, Carlos said he originally promoted Soltec, but said they do not offer a Shell account and they now seem to be plagued with busy signals every time you try to dial in. They also only provide a 66K line to the net which is "slow." Carlos says CU Online's biggest advantage is bandwidth. They are currently providing a 155 megabyte connection and once they make the move to the Huntington Towers, it will increase exponentially.
CU Online is currently is Champaign and Bloomington and they hope to expand into Peoria and Decatur soon. They have a connect presence in and Chicago.
Having spoken about CU Online's service and future plans, Carlos opened the floor up for questions from the audience.
Questioned about the possibility of mirroring the Aminet. Carlos said, if enough interest is shown, he would consider it.
Carlos summed up his philosophy as "The happier the users are the less they'll bug me."
Carlos said some of the problems he is currently having is that USR is unable to provide him with more modems and Ameritech can't give him any more phone lines in his present location.
Asked about other plans besides the PowerPak, which is the one offered to CUCUG members, Carlos explained a little about the other offerings. The Basic plan is $15 per month. The One Year plan is $15 per month if you pay the whole year in advance. When asked about family rates, Carlos said for an additional $10 charge, children could have their own file space and email address.
When questioned about security issues on the net, Carlos explained his policy as "I don't like getting into other people's business. You are responsible, not me."
When asked about the reliability of maintain data on the system, Carlos said CU Online has a 2 gigabyte backup drive. They are associated with Micro Systems here in Champaign and have access to just about any hardware they might need.
When asked how one could get in touch with CU Online, Carlos gave these numbers:
Voice: 356-4009 Data: 356-3600 Fax: 356-4501Kevin Hisel wanted to reiterate what CU Online had offered the club: a domain name and disk space ... free. This earned a grateful round of applause for Carlos and CU Online.
In general, Carlos spoke very quickly, with a slight lisp, but was obviously exceedingly knowledgeable. The discussions got pretty complex and technical at times.
Jim Huls recommended CU Online. He also offered to help any member who desired to get online. Richard Rollins offered his assistance for any of the Mac people who chose to sign up.
We would like to thank Carlos Ramirez for coming to speak to us and for his generosity and that of CU Online with respect to our club.
The October meeting of the CUCUG executive board took place on Tuesday, October 24 at the regular time, 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house (address and phone number, both in the book). Present at the meeting were Jim Huls, Mark Bellon, Mark Landman, Richard Rollins, Emil Cobb, Kevin Hopkins, Kevin Hisel, and Dave Witt and Jim Lewis.
Jim Huls: Jim open the meeting with a an attempt to schedule programs for the various SIGs. The eventual outcome of the discussions was that the November Amiga SIG will be a Question and Answer Session. The November Macintosh SIG will be a demonstration of Plain Talk 1.41, a text to speech and English speech recognition program. The C64/128 SIG will be Craig Kummerow reviewing Loadstar disk #128 (a C64 disk, despite the coincidence in name).
Mark Bellon: Mark announced that the Macintosh area on the BBS is nearing stasis and the new uploads will now be going into the New Files area. Be sure to look for them there from now on. Mark said he has completely updated the Web tools (such as Netscape) so you might want to check those out for updated versions.
As Mac Librarian, Mark said the Library is up to disk #37, he having created 4 more disks. Mark says he has material for 24 more. Mark said his costs per month (and thus the club's) for downloading software will drop now that he has made new arrangements to get files.
Mark has arrange to have 500 CUCUGMAC flyers produced very inexpensively. Anyone needing any should see him.
Mark said the bulk disk sales seem to be working well and he has instituted a "Refresh Service" for updating the disks with newer versions of their contents, for $20, which has also been well received.
Just as a bit of information, Mark reported that Speed Doubler 1.02 seems to work well, according to his initial usage of it, as long as you disable the Speed Access portion of the program.
Mark Landman: Mark reported that our financial situation is holding stable.
Richard Rollins: Richard had two items for discussion: the upcoming club elections and the need of a Macintosh machine for club demos.
Kevin Hisel made a motion that we need to inventory our club equipment, sell it off and buy a club Mac that won't be obsolete tomorrow.
There was a discussion of the CU Mac Group. Richard says he has feelers out.
There was a discussion of distribution tactics for our Mac flyers.
Richard brought up the fact that Channel 15's Community Calendar does interviews will representatives of local organizations. After some talk, it was decided that Kevin Hisel would do a spot.
Concerning the elections, we will need a President, Treasurer, and SIG Chairmen.
There is a chance that Richard would be willing to run for President again provided (and he stressed this emphatically) that he not be held responsible for the Amiga SIG and that he be allowed to retain his Mac SIG Chairmanship. The Amiga SIG Chairman seat has traditionally be filled by the club President, but since we have added the Macintosh to the group that need no longer be the case. Jim Lewis said he would explore possible candidates to pick up the Amiga SIG duties.
Mark Landman said he might also be willing to run for his Treasurer's office if he could get someone to take on the load of working the actual meetings. Since Emil already does most of the work at the door during the meetings, he said he would be willing to fill in that capacity.
Richard said he was very happy with the last meeting. He thought Carlos' attitude was great. Richard expressed pleasure at Carlos's accepting his invitation to come and speak with us.
Speaking as Mac SIG Chairman, Richard said he wanted to thank Mark Bellon for all of his hard work. "Mark has done a marvelous job on the Mac Section of the BBS." And, his work on the club disks has been great.
Emil Cobb: Emil reported an unofficial count of 30 people in attendance at the October meeting. He said he personally like Carlos Ramirez's presentation on CU Online and other seemed to, as well, since no one left.
Kevin Hopkins (KH2): Kevin had nothing to report.
Kevin Hisel (KH1): Kevin reported that BBS usage is at 11%. We are receiving 30% less calls from this time last year.
Donning his Web Master hat, Kevin said CU Online has provided a free DNS and server space. He said he won't move our Web Pages until InterNIC gives us our address.
Turning to disk sales, Kevin reported that they were "tremendous" in October. There was a nine to one ratio of Mac to Amiga disk sales.
Kevin said someone asked him what our long term plans were for the BBS. After some discussion it was stated that the BBS is a service to our members and its cost, at this point, is very low, so it will remain as it is.
Dave Witt: Dave said the meeting was good.
He said we should figure out a price for the old 14.4K modem from the BBS. Jim Lewis brought it.
Jim Lewis: Jim said he liked the meeting. He joined CU Online.
As mentioned above, Jim said he would investigate possible Amiga SIG Chairman candidates.
Jim Huls: Jim said being President has been a blast. However, his college course demands must take precedence. It's been great. He said he would still be around and will be offering his help with the Macintosh SIG.
I. Offices available
A. The President - basically, the coordinator for the entire
club. Appoints committee chairs and presides over the
general meetings.
B. The Vice President - performs the President's duties in
his absence.
C. Treasurer - in charge of the financial affairs of the club.
He/she pays the bills.
D. Secretary - in charge of keeping all of the procedural
documentation, e.g., meeting minutes, as well as
correspondence with members, non-members and other
clubs.
E. Corporation Agent - in charge of all matters dealing
with CUCUG's corporation status.
II. Candidates
A. Potential candidates should contact the chairman of the
Election Committee prior to the November meeting so
that they may coordinate the forum, etc.
Kevin Hisel 217-406-948-1999
B. Nominations will be accepted from the floor at the
November meeting.
C. Candidates will be given equal time in a forum to
express their views or present their platforms at the
November meeting.
D. The Nominating Committee will verify that anyone
nominated is a member in good standing. Otherwise,
they will not be allowed a forum.
E. Candidates' names will be published in the December
newsletter.
III. Voting
A. Who can vote
1. Every member in good standing (i.e., dues paid)
may vote.
2. Must have and present the current (1995)
membership card.
B. Voting at the general meeting in December
1. Secret ballots will be distributed to each member
that presents a valid membership card at the
December meeting.
2. The Secretary will prepare the official ballot forms.
No candidates' names will appear on the ballots
themselves. Candidates' names and the offices they
seek will be posted at the meeting place by office
and then alphabetically by candidate.
C. Proxy voting
1. If you cannot attend the December meeting, you
may request a special proxy ballot from Kevin
Hisel 217-406-948-1999 no later than
December 11, 1995.
2. Place filled-in ballot in a blank, sealed envelope.
3. Place blank envelope along with your valid
membership card in another envelope.
4. Address this envelope to: CUCUG, 912 Stratford Dr.,
Champaign, IL 61821, clearly print the word
BALLOT on the front and mail it.
5. These proxy votes will be opened and verified only
by the Tellers at the December meeting and
counted along with the general ballots.
6. All proxy ballots must be received at the CUCUG
post office box no later than December 21, 1995
(the day of the meeting).
D. Who you may vote for
1. You may vote for anyone. Write-in (non-
nominated) votes will be accepted and counted.
The candidate with the most votes for a particular
position wins that position. In the event of a tie, the
Tellers will require a recasting for that position only.
2. To assume office, a candidate must be a member in
good standing both in 1993 and in 1994. If a
winning candidate cannot be verified, the office
goes to the next verifiable candidate with the most
votes. If there are no verifiable winners, a second
balloting will take place. Proxy ballots will be
counted each time.
IV. Chronology
A. October meeting
1. Announce protocol to general membership.
2. Solicit candidates.
B. November newsletter
1. Re-cap the election protocol.
C. November meeting
1. The membership will appoint a Nominating
Commitee.
2. Accept nominations from the floor.
3. Nominations will close.
4. Candidates will be given equal time in a forum to
express their views or present their platforms.
D. December newsletter
1. Candidates' names will be published in
alphabetical order with the offices they seek.
E. December meeting
1. Nominated candidates names and the offices they
seek will be posted in alphabetical order.
2. The President will appoint 2 or more Tellers to
distribute ballots and count the votes.
3. Votes will be taken and counted by the Tellers.
Winners names will be announced by the President.
F. January newsletter
1. Winners names will be published.
G. January meeting
1. New club officers will be installed.
ToC
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 684-2815 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
Call our Starship CUCUG BBS at (217) 356-8056, always online, up to 28,800 baud, supporting all CBM and Macintosh computers. Surf our home page at
To get on the net free, call Prairienet at (217) 255-9000. Login as "visitor".