The Champaign-Urbana Commodore Users Group

The Status Register - March, 1996


This newsletter will never appear on cucug.org BEFORE the monthly CUCUG meeting it is intended to announce. This is in deference to actual CUCUG members. They get the edition hot off the presses. If you'd like to join, you can get advance notification of CUCUG's meeting by looking in the "Information About CUCUG" section.

March 1996


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

March News:

The March Meeting

The next CUCUG meeting will be held on our regular third Thursday of the month: Thursday, March 21st, at 7:00 pm, at the IBEW Union Hall. Direction to the Hall are on the back of this newsletter.

The March 21st meeting will be one of CUCUG's split SIG meetings. The Amiga SIG will be examining Quentin Barnes' infrared control devices. The Macintosh SIG will be testing out the new software packages OpenDock and Cyberdog. The C64/128 SIG will be discussing organizational issues. All are encouraged to bring their curiosities and their expertise.

ToC

Welcome New Members

We would like to welcome our newest members: Mike Anderson (Mac Performa 578), Mark Nissen (Amiga), Mark Peterson (Amiga), and Jeremy Turner (Amiga).

We would also like to welcome back our renewing members: Don Berg (C64) and Paul Froberg (Amiga 2000HD).

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Email Addresses

If you are a member of CUCUG and you have an email address, let us know. The CUCUG Web site at http://www.cucug.org/ now has a directory of "CUCUG Members on the Net." Check it out. See if you are listed. If not, email Kevin Hopkins (kh2@uiuc.edu) and he'll see that you get added. Initially started as an academic exercise, the directory has quickly become the fastest way to contact your fellow club members. Don't know their address? Pop into the "Members on the Net" list and with one click you're on message is on its way. You gotta love that!

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Apple unifies Macs with System 7.5.3 update

By Clair Whitmer, March 12, 1996, 12 p.m. PT

Mac users this week can start downloading an update of Apple Computer's Mac OS that will unify all Mac systems and revise several core technologies, creating what the company promises will be a more stable and slightly faster OS.

Mac users have been forced to maintain different versions of the OS for different models, depending on the bus architecture of the system. System 7.5 Update 2.0, which is now available for free downloading, runs on all Macintoshes from the Mac Plus to the new Power Macs built around the PCI bus. The update is also known as System 7.5.3.

This release also lets users of all NuBus-based machines run Open Transport 1.1, a networking management feature that lets users change protocols without rebooting. OpenTransport was previously only available for PCI-based Macs.

The company has updated several of its core technologies for this release, including QuickTime, QuickDraw GX, QuickDraw 3D, Apple Guide, PlainTalk, Desktop Printing, and PowerTalk.

The system will ship with all new Macs released this spring but is available now for downloading from AppleLink, America Online, CompuServe, the Apple Computer Higher Education gopher server, and several online Apple sites.

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Mac clone vendor cuts prices

By Rose Aguilar, c|net inc - March 11, 1996, 12 p.m. PT

Power Computing, the first licensed manufacturer of Apple Macintosh OS clones, has slashed prices up to $700 on its PowerWave and PowerCurve lines.

The price tag for Power's high-end PowerWave 604/150 system has dropped from $4,499 to $3,799. The system includes 16MB of RAM; a 1GB hard drive; 512K of Level 2 cache; a quad-speed CD-ROM; and a 64-bit PCI video card with 2MB of VRAM.

The company also lowered the price on its mid-range PowerWave 604/132 system from $3,699 to $3,499. The system is configured identically as the 604/150 but with 256K of Level 2 cache. The company also cut the price for the desktop version of the PowerWave from $3,649 to $3,449.

The entry-level PowerCurve 601/120 system, designed for home users, has been reduced from $1,849 to $1,799. The system comes with 8MB of RAM and a 840MB hard drive.

The price cuts follow weeks of speculation by industry observers that Apple, under new chief Gil Amelio, will leave the consumer market - and the associated periodic price-slashing - to the clone manufacturers while it concentrates on specialized market niches, such as high-end graphics and education.

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Motorola Licenses Mac OS

(and can Sub-License to Others too)

from an article by Jai Singh, c|net inc and one from PowerPC News

Motorola today (2/19/96) became the first big-name licensee for Apple Computer's vaunted Mac operating software with the announcement that Motorola Computer Group will build machines based on the Mac OS.

The announcement was made more dramatic because Motorola is also granted the right to sub-license the operating system to other manufacturers, meaning other computer manufacturers who buy motherboards or computers from Motorola will not have to talk directly with Apple to make Mac clones. It's a brave move for Apple: Motorola can supply logic boards, systems and the OS to any other manufacturer it see's fit - without prior approval from Apple itself. Apple will, however, continue to "certify all systems sold with Mac OS to ensure compatibility."

Motorola gets access to System 7.5.x and Copland. It can build hardware based on the current Power Macintosh designs, as well as the forthcoming PowerPC Platform (CHRP) machines. There are no geographical limitations; Motorola gets all of the language-localised versions of the operating system. Indeed Motorola's first statement included the news that its recently-announced joint venture with Panda Electronics Group in China - Nanjing Power Computing LTD will distribute Mac OS-compatible systems to consumer and education markets in the People's Republic.

The Motorola machines will target high-end corporate customers, an area in which the Macintosh - strong in the home, education, and desktop publishing - has made few inroads.

Gil Amelio told reporters that the deal represents the beginning of a second, more aggressive phase of its licensing program. He also made it clear, however, that the deal had already been well advanced when he took the company over from Michael Spindler earlier this month.

"We believe that Motorola has the resources and technical strengths to help enrich the Mac platform and to expand its benefits to new markets and new customers," said Gil Amelio, the newly installed Apple chairman and CEO. "This agreement is a major milestone in our licensing program and is a clear demonstration of our commitment to open licensing."

Some in the industry believe one reason Apple replaced former CEO Michael Spindler with Amelio earlier this month was Spindler's inability or reluctance to expand the licensing strategy to include big companies like Motorola. The first two companies that Apple signed as licensees, Power Computing and Radius, were relatively small in comparison.

One of the heavyweight companies long rumored to have been interested in the Mac OS is IBM. But despite reports of frequent talks between the two, nothing has come of those negotiations as yet.

With 20:20 hindsight, Motorola Computer Group is a good match for Apple. The Computer Group's new chief, Joseph Gugliemi is obviously determined to make something of a hitherto sluggish performer; Motorola has clout, but it has little or no expertise in the home, multimedia or 'edutainment' market. It is unlikely, therefore, that it will pose an immediate threat to Apple's core market. Of course Gugliemi may immediately decide to license Mac OS to the Gateway 2000s, or the Dell's of this world - but that is presumably a chance Apple is willing to take. Gugliemi himself said Motorola was already in active talks with several prospective licensees, but declined to name names.

The rest of Motorola can't lose either - the better Mac OS does, the better the sales of PowerPC processors. A Q&A issued by Motorola made this almost explicit: "Motorola has been supporting Apple and the Mac OS for a number of years in the markets as a key supplier of chips and motherboards. And Motorola is now directly stepping up to help Apple grow market share".

One question that the duo didn't answer, is whether Apple itself may end up buying its motherboards from Motorola. Gil Amelio has made it clear that very little is sacred at Apple - certainly the hardware manufacturing plants won't be. An Apple spokesperson commented: "the company permanently evaluates sourcing options, but we cannot at this point state what is likely or unlikely to happen with Motorola".

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Bandai Pippin in Japan next month at $600 with Internet access

from PowerPC News, February 20th 1996

Toymaker Bandai Co Ltd of Tokyo has put its BANDAI Digital Entertainment Inc subsidiary in La Mirada, California in full charge of the Pippin cut-down Macintosh games machine and the US company will start marketing the Pippin Atmark multimedia terminal in Japan on March 22, Bandai president Makoto Yamashina told a Tokyo conference.

The machine will be sold in Japan for the equivalent of a pricey $600 with a modem and four software titles. Japanese prices don't travel well, but Sony Corp launched the PlayStation at the equivalent of $400 there, and Sega Enterprises Ltd priced its Saturn at $450. Bandai hopes to sell 200,000 Pippins in Japan and 300,000 overseas in the first year of sales. US marketing will start in May. The machine will inter alia be offered as an Internet access terminal, and Bandai Digital will also set up as an Internet access provider in Japan next month.

The Pippin Atmark will use a television set as the display; software will include video games, educational and business applications. A Macintosh keyboard and mouse can be used with it, and applications written for it will run on the Mac. Bandai says that 71 software titles will be ready at launch; this should reach 157 by June, with 200 the target for the end of the year.

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Amiga Technologies with Escom at the Cebit

For the first time in over two years, Amiga computers will be presented again officially by the manufacturer at the largest computer fair in the world: The Cebit. From the 14th to the 20th of March, Amiga Technologies GmbH will be represented at the ESCOM booth in Hall 11 with new products. Amiga computers will also be seen at the Microvitec and Motorola booths.

Amiga Surfer

The Amiga-Surfer, a complete Internet computer with software, modem, connection and free hours is now available at a price of 1199 DM. The Surfer can be connected to a TV-set or to a standard VGA monitor. The solution is based on the Amiga 1200 with a 260 MB harddrive, 2 MB of RAM and a 14,400 bps modem. Thanks to its resource-saving features, the highly optimized Amiga-OS makes cost-effective solutions like the Surfer possible. Also the excellent multitasking abilities of its OS makes the Amiga the ideal multimedia and Internet machine.

New Amiga Prototype

A prototype of the new Amiga will be shown for the first time worldwide at the CEBIT fair in Hannover, Germany. Amiga Technologies GmbH will hereby expand the Amiga product line for the advanced home user and the semi-professional market. Modularity, futuristic design and expansion capability are the main edges of the new product.

The motherboard features two SIMM sockets, in which the memory can be increased up to 128 MB. The main processor used will be the 680EC30 / 40 MHz. This combination allows a product at a tight price with a good computing power. With the available flexible expansion bus, turbo cards with processors like the 68060 or the PowerPC will be easily installable.

This expansion bus can also be used with graphic-cards, multi-serial cards, MPEG cards etc. The modular concept makes the addition of further slots possible, so that the user can define how many expansion slots he will have in his machine. This way, the basic machine can be turned into a tower. This design concept will be the base of the coming Amiga-Generation.

The new Amiga will be shipped with a revisited version 3.2 of the Amiga-OS. New features and many enhancements will give the system more power and flexibility.

Information about the Power-PC Project

The Power-PC project is also moving forward. Thanks to the close cooperation with Motorola and Phase 5, the porting of the Amiga-OS will be achieved within the announced schedule. The first Power Amiga will be available early in 1997, as planned. Until then, it is also foreseeable that Phase 5 will release the first Power PC cards for existing Amigas. The development of the OS is led by former top-AMIGA-engineers.

Info:

   Gilles Bourdin, Public Relations     Tel +49 6252 709 195
   Amiga Technologies GmbH              Fax +49 6252 709 520
   Berliner Ring 89                     Email: gbo@amiga.de
   D-64625 Bensheim, Germany            URL: http://www.amiga.de/
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PageStream3 for Macintosh

from Soft-Logik January 96 Newsletter
(received March 15, go figure)

PageStream3 for Macintosh is almost ready! The Pre-Release version will be available this month for Just $25. This will be functionally equivalent to 3.0i for Amiga but will lack AppleScript support and a few Mac specific filters. When these features are completed, and the printed manual is ready, you will be able to upgrade to the full version. As you can see from the prices below, you can save money by buying the Pre-Release version first.

For PageStream3 Amiga owners:
 Buy the Pre-Release Mac Version: $25;
   Upgrade to Full Mac Version: $40
 Skip the Pre-Release Mac Version;
   Upgrade to Full Mac Version: $90

For PageStream2 Amiga owners:
 Buy the Pre-Release Mac Version: $25;
   Upgrade to Full Mac Version: $75
 Skip the Pre-Release Mac Version;
   Upgrade to Full Mac Version: $125

For non-PageStream Amiga owners:
 Buy the Pre-Release Mac Version: $25;
   Upgrade to Full Mac Version: $150
 Skip the Pre-Release Mac Version;
   Upgrade to Full Mac Version: $225
PageStream for Macintosh requires at least a 68030 processor with MacOS7.1 or better, or any PowerMacintosh. It also requires 8MB of memory (4MB available to PageStream) and at least a 640 x 480 display. PageStream3 for Macintosh can load and save PageStream3 Amiga documents, and can load PageStream2 Amiga documents.

Call 1-800-829-8608 (or 314-256-9595) to order now, or mail to:

Soft-Logik Publishing Corp.
315 Consort Drive
St. Louis, MO
63011
or FAX to 314-256-7773.

What is the future of PageStream Amiga?

We will support the Amiga into the future with new versions of PageStream and our other programs. We will keep PageStream Amiga in synch with the Macintosh and Windows versions to protect your software investment.

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Motorola, Sun team for fast Net access

By Rose Aguilar and Nick Wingfield, c|net inc - February 26, 1996, 5 p.m. PT

Hardware vendors Motorola and Sun Microsystems are announcing an alliance today to help cable operators build high-speed Internet-access systems for the home.

Teaming Motorola's cable modem technologies with Sun's networking expertise, the two companies will jointly market to telephone and cable television companies a turnkey package of Motorola's CyberSURFR cable modems, network and Internet servers, and networking software including Sun's Solstice Enterprise Manager and Java programming language.

Financial terms of the Motorola/Sun agreement were not disclosed.

With the Motorola/Sun Cyberspace Alliance solution in place, the two companies claim that phone companies and cable operators will be able to provide an access rate of 10 mbps, about 700 times faster than is currently available from most Internet service providers.

But the Motorola/Sun team will compete with both AT&T and Hewlett-Packard, companies that are also currently focusing on comparable high-speed home Internet-access packages. And several high-speed Internet-access trials using cable modems are already underway, including one in Sunnyvale, California, being conducted by @Home.

Although cable modems have been at the heart of most of these trials, the cable-based technology will soon have to compete for the attention of cable operators and telephone companies with another high-bandwidth technology that uses regular phone lines, asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL).

Bell Atlantic will launch in April an ADSL trial in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., that will offer residents 1.5MB Internet access, company officials confirmed today. The trial will initially encompass about 100 homes.

ADSL uses sophisticated modulation techniques to significantly boost data rates over standard copper telephone lines. For ADSL to work, telephone companies must support the technology at local exchanges, and consumers must outfit their computers with special ADSL modems.

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Memory chip prices take a dive

By Brooke Crothers, c|net inc - March 12, 1996, 7:30 a.m. PT

Prices of 4MB Dynamic RAM (DRAM) memory chips to large customers dipped into the 900-to-1,000-yen range Monday in Tokyo, according to the leading Japanese economic newspaper Nihon Keizai Shimbun, highlighting a steady drop in memory chip prices since January.

Tokyo prices reflect the supply of memory chips worldwide since Japanese chip companies together compose the largest block of memory chip manufacturing capacity in the world. A thousand yen equals about $9.50 in U.S. currency.

The yen prices reflect the cost of 4MB DRAMs for major purchasers of these chips, or so-called "large-lot" customers such as PC vendors.

The new price drop and Intel's strategy of aggressively cutting the cost of Pentium processors in the last few months are major factors in recent price cuts by large American PC vendors, said Jim Beedle, an analyst at the Scottsdale, Arizona-based marketing research firm Instat. Prices of 16MB DRAMs - which are to eventually replace 4MB DRAMs - are also declining and are down about 18% since early January, to 3,500 yen to 4,000 yen per unit, the newspaper reported.

The fall is blamed on a memory chip inventory build-up by PC vendors as major U.S. manufacturers cut back on purchases of 4MB and 16MB DRAMs from Japanese suppliers, the paper reported.

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Web Pioneer proposes censorship alternative

BOSTON (AP) - 2/12/96 - The researcher credited with starting the World Wide Web says he'll offer a free screening program to people who want to keep objectionable material from entering their computers from the Internet.

Tim Berners-Lee, director of the World Wide Web Consortium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says he would rather see parents control what their children access, instead of relying on broad censorship.

He said his free filtering software, which any computer user could install on a PC, would be available in three months.

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China cracks down on Net users

By Jai Singh, c|net inc - February 15, 1996, 12:30 p.m. PT

As free speech advocates battled the "decency law" in the United States, China took its own draconian measures to control the flow of information on the information highway. China's solution: every Net user will have to register with the police within 30 days.

While the U.S. government is putting the clamps on transmission of sexually explicit material to minors, China's move is geared to punish those who could pose a threat to the very existence of the Communist Party. According to wire service reports, the Chinese government hasn't issued detailed rules regarding this measure, but previous decrees have warned network users not to harm national security, reveal state secrets, or disseminate pornography.

Jim Clark, chairman of Netscape, had said in an interview with a trade publication recently that although it would be difficult to enforce, the Chinese government could use technology to restrict flow of information on the Net. "A corporation has a so-called firewall - a single point of entry into the corporate network. You can have a country that has a single point of entry into its 'country Net.' You could set up a proxy server that operates at the firewall so that it doesn't allow certain URLs to come in."

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Industry leaders pile on Decency Act

By Rose Aguilar, c|net inc - February 26, 1996, 1 p.m. PT

As reported last week by c|net, industry leaders including Microsoft, Apple, America Online, CompuServe, and Prodigy, have joined together to file a lawsuit today in a Philadelphia Federal Court to overturn the Communications Decency Act.

The group of vendors, which is calling itself the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC - pronounced "seek"), is headed by the Center for Democracy and Technology, America Online, and the American Library Association. Its 35 members include software vendors, online service providers, libraries, book publishers, newspaper publishers, editors, advertisers, nonprofit groups, and civil liberties advocates.

The new lawsuit takes a different approach from the lawsuit already filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Electronic Privacy Information Center, and others.

"The ACLU got the ball rolling. They are arguing an important element of the case, which is to say, how the hell am I supposed to know what's indecent?" said Jonah Seiger, a policy analyst with the CDT. "We will argue that, too, but beyond that, we will emphasize specifically how the Internet works."

The new 55-page complaint details the history of the Internet and outlines how the network operates. The CIEC intends to educate the court on how the Internet functions. The complaint argues that:

"We all share the goal of protecting children. Unfortunately, Congress passed this law without a full understanding of the many technological tools available and under development that empower parents, rather than the government, to determine what their children receive on the Internet," said Steve Case, CEO of America Online, in a written statement submitted with the complaint.

The lawsuit will also focus on how the Net is different from telephones, print, and television, Seiger said. "Broad content regulations are unconstitutional because the Internet is a different medium. Under this legislation, the same material that's legal today in books, magazines, and record stores would be illegal if made available in a public forum on the Internet. That's about as clear a violation of the First Amendment as possible."

The ACLU succeeded last week in persuading the government to extend the temporary restraining order on the CDA until the ACLU starts its court case next month.

"We have made a tentative agreement with the government to go to court on March 21 if they don't prosecute anyone until then," said Ann Beeson, legal counsel with the ACLU. "They have indicated that they will abide by this agreement."

The ACLU expects the judge to formalize the deal in writing today (2/21) or tomorrow; until then the law remains officially in effect. Last week Judge Ronald Buckwalter blocked the "indecent" provision of the Act, but ruled that the "patently offensive" provision stay in effect. The new agreement between the ACLU and the judges means that no one will be prosecuted under any aspect of the law until at least March 21, when the trial may open. The ACLU and its allies are opposed to the decency law since anyone found guilty could face up to two years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Although the lawsuits have been filed separately, Seiger expects them to be combined at some point into one case.

"These cases will determine the future of both the Internet itself as a viable means of free expression as well as the future of the First Amendment and whether or not it can survive in this information age," said Seiger.

The trial set for March 21 may be only the first act for a much longer work of legal theater. "Either way it will go the Supreme Court," said Beeson. "If we lose, we will file the appeal with the Supreme Court, and they would decide whether or not to take on the case. It would probably get set next term, but it could get there as soon as the fall."

In addition to the suit, the CIEC is encouraging individual Internet users to join online protests intended to help overturn the act.

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Deep Blue Falls to Human

By Jai Singh, c|net inc - February 18, 1996, 8 a.m. PT

In the end, brain cells triumphed over silicon chips. In the first six-game, regulation chess match pitting man against machine, world chess champion Garry Kasparov overcame early setbacks to easily trounce Deep Blue in the final match, winning the series four games to two.

Few had expected the IBM computer to put up such a valiant fight. In fact, Kasparov seemed worried after the series was tied two games apiece. But the champion was able to exploit the chinks in Deep Blue's armor.

"It is weakest in a position where it doesn't have a plan," Kasparov told the news media on Saturday. "You have to limit its unlimited potential, you have to be careful not to create weaknesses in your own position, not to leave hanging pieces, not to leave a king threat. You have to play solid, positional chess because any mistake will be punished by the machine more severely than by a human player."

The match also revived interest - and controversy - over artificial intelligence (AI). Kasparov himself changed his views about a machine's ability to "outthink" and beat a human. "For the first time, I saw something approaching artificial intellect," he said.

Proponents of AI said Deep Blue simply relies on brute power - it uses sophisticated parallel processing, with 256 specially configured chips analyzing 200 million possible chess positions per second. They said it's this emphasis on power that has dominated the computer world for 50 years.

"There's been so much progress in speeding up computers, but the machines are not getting smarter," artificial intelligence specialist Marvin Minsky, an MIT professor and author of Society of the Mind told the Boston Globe. "It's all brute force...As long as machines are faster, they'll use old methods to solve new problems," he said.

Thanks to the Internet, more than 6 million people worldwide were able to follow the game live on the Web, the Associated Press reported. This was a major accomplishment as IBM initially fumbled by not anticipating the heavy traffic, leaving thousands fuming at their inability to access the site during and after the first game.

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ENIAC's fetes 50 year birthday

By Clair Whitmer, c|net inc - February 15, 1996, 12:30 p.m. PT

On Valentine's Day 50 years ago, a U.S. Army general pushed a button, and the western world began its love affair with computers.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the first computer, a 30-ton monster called the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer or ENIAC. When General Gladeon Barnes flipped its switch at the University of Pennsylvania, the machine revved up its 17,468 vacuum tubes and performed the wondrous feat of counting to 5,000 in a second.

ENIAC has been mothballed for 40 years at the Smithsonian but was turned on this week by Vice President Al Gore in a ceremony at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Engineering, where ENIAC was developed. No one was sure that the machine would still run, but sure enough two rows of blinking lights counted up to 46, and then to 96.

Although Gore was greeted by protesters of the recently passed Telecom Bill who carried signs criticizing the government's alleged interference in the online industry, during his speech, Gore attributed the birth of the computer industry to the government's first investment in ENIAC.

"Government has supplied the initial flicker-and individuals and companies have provided the creativity and innovation that kindled that spark into a blaze of progress and productivity that's the envy of the world," said Gore as part of his prepared address at Penn.

Herman Goldstine, one of the last surviving members of the team who built ENIAC, said he was happy to see his invention live again this week but was even more amazed by the new world that it gave life to.

"It's absolutely incredible. Nothing is believable when you look inside a computer today. It's like I was in a different world," Goldstine told a Reuters reporter.

ENIAC was designed during World War II by the U.S. Army-led team that included Goldstine, his wife programmer Adele Goldstine, physicist John Mauchly, and engineer J. Prosper Echkert. It was designed to automate the process of making fast and accurate artillery calculations, a job that was done on paper until ENIAC.

ENIAC's significance was obvious to many as early as its calculation. Even though World War II was over by the time ENIAC was finished, observers at the University of Pennsylvania event 50 years ago recognized its significance for science, industry, and business.

"Leaders who saw the device in action for the first time heralded it as a tool with which to begin to rebuild scientific affairs on new foundations," reported the New York Times after the Valentine's Day event in 1946.

The machine filled a 30-by-50-foot room and used 174 kilowatts per second - enough power for a typical home for more than a week - and its vacuum tubes needed constant replacement. It could store 20 10-digit numbers in its memory, and it cost roughly $450,000. In contrast, a modern PC costs less than $3,000 and can calculate 70 million numbers in a second. The average handheld calculator now offers more computing power than ENIAC.

Although ENIAC has been preceded by a variety of counting machines, going to back to Charles Babbage's "difference engine" in the early 1800s, ENIAC was the first all-electronic machine that could be programmed to perform a variety of tasks. And it introduced two key concepts: the "if statement" and the idea of storing programs in a computer's memory.

Other events scheduled this week to celebrate ENIAC's birthday this week include the release of a stamp called "The Birth of Computing" and the Garry Kasparov vs. Deep Blue chess tournament.

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Plans under way for Cyberfest '97 - a 'Woodstock for the wired'

By Andrea Lynn

In fitting time-warp fashion, the birth of one of the world's most memorable astronauts will be celebrated about a year from now - and on the spot where, some 29 years before, he was said to have been created.

In March 1997, the UI will hail the arrival of HAL, the smooth-talking but ultimately unplugged computer who, in the 1968 novel and film "2001: A Space Odyssey," was said to originate in 1997, at the "HAL Plant" in Urbana. But HAL's earth-birth is merely the launch pad for "Cyberfest '97," seen as a kind of "Woodstock" for the "wired," and a real and virtual, festive and reflective consideration of the role of computers past, present and future.

Cyberfest '97 events are being scheduled for the week of March 10, 1997. Activities will include film festivals, music concerts, talks - even a satellite uplink with HAL's creator, writer Arthur C. Clarke, in Sri Lanka. Planners hope to attract a wide range of people, in addition to students, faculty and staff members, including people from the computer, film, literary and performing arts communities.

Celebrities of the computer and the motion picture industries are being invited to participate in Cyberfest '97, believed to be the first event of its kind. Roger Ebert, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, television show host, and UI alumnus, has agreed to co-host the event.

A panel discussion featuring celebrities and scholars of the cyber and celluloid worlds - the festival "anchor event"- is set for March 12, 1997, in the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Also scheduled for that day are a "new music" concert by the UI music faculty and a technology fair.

Other events include:

News and other information about Cyberfest '97, as well as links to hundreds of other sites, will be posted, beginning March 15, 1996, on the Cyberfest '97 homepage at: http://www.cyberfest.uiuc.edu

During his untimely unplugging, HAL - short for Heuristically Programmed AL-gorithmic computer - said (in the book): "I am a HAL nine thousand computer Production Number 3. I became operational at the HAL Plant in Urbana, Illinois, on January 12, 1997." (In the movie, the date was incorrectly read as 1992.)

Clarke said he chose Urbana as HAL's birthplace because his mathematics professor at King's College in London, George McVittie, moved from London to Urbana. McVittie was a professor and chairman of the UI astronomy department from 1952 to his retirement in 1972. It also was during that time that the UI became a birthplace of the world's first electronic digital computers.

ILLIAC I, the first general purpose high-speed computing machine built and owned entirely by an educational institution, became operational at the UI in 1952. It and its successors formed the basis for the HAL 9000. More recently, NCSA Mosaic, the first popular Web browser, was created at the UI National Center for Supercomputing Applications.

Cyberfest '97 sponsors are the UI colleges of Communications, Engineering, Fine and Applied Arts, and Liberal Arts and Sciences.

[Source: "Inside Illinois" newspaper, March 7, 1996. Address to Inside Illinois, 807 S. Wright St., Suite 520 East, Champaign, Illinois 61801.]

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The Humor Section:

Psychiatric Hotline

(A little humor from the Internet)

from FUNHUG

Hello, and welcome to the Psychiatric Hotline. If you are obsessive-compulsive, please press 1 repeatedly. If you ar co-dependent, please ask someone to press 2. If you have multiple personalities, please press 3, 4, 5, & 6. If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line so we can answer the call. If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press. If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter much which number you press. No on will answer.

[Source: Commodore Users Group of St. Louis journal, "Keywords" March, 1996. CUGSL's address P.O. Box 837, Bridgeton, MO 63044.]

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Top Ten Worst Things About Being Bill Gates

After many consecutive long days working on c|net's latest top-secret project, our "top ten" author was ready to crack. Late one night, his mind began to wander. "What if I was worth $12 billion...boy, wouldn't life be swell then?" Fortunately, reality set in before he had a chance to quit c|net and design a new operating system. After all, even Bill Gates has his share of problems. Consider the following:

Top ten worst things about being Bill Gates:

10. The Redmond convenience store stopped taking Microsoft stock in exchange for six-packs of Mountain Dew.

9. His barber just upped his rate to $6 a cut.

8. A sneaking suspicion that he'll never be Emperor of the Internet.

7. Boyish good looks worked wonders on the SEC, but the Justice Department isn't going along.

6. Robin Leach never returns his calls.

5. The Pulitzer committee rejected all nominations for "The Road Ahead."

4. Mick Jagger keeps offering old Rolling Stones songs for "the usual rate."

3. Always getting upstaged by Larry Ellison at Billionaires' Anonymous support groups.

2. Windows 95.

1. Still can't grow a beard like Paul Allen's.

(comments and sympathy notes to mattl@cnet.com)

ToC

Common Ground:

Collaboration yields 'Fountain of Youth' for silicon chips

New coating means extending chip life as much as 50 times

By Jim Barlow

Researchers believe they have found a "fountain of youth" that dramatically strengthens and prolongs the life of silicon microchips - the lifeblood of modern computers and many other electronic devices.

Their discovery involves a simple change in processing the chips. Instead of treating the chips conventionally, with hydrogen, UI researchers used deuterium during the annealing step in processing - extending chip life as much as 50 times.

The new treatment allows the chips to withstand the damage generated by electrons passing through them. The added durability means devices such as computers should be able to perform better, be driven faster and last longer, the researchers said.

Deuterium-treated chips also should stand up better in harsh environments, such as space. And the treatment should improve the reliability of other chip-carrying devices in everything from kitchen appliances and automobiles to military weapons systems.

The UI has applied for a patent for the processing technique, which was discovered by Joe Lyding and Karl Hess, professors of electrical and computer engineering, who are conducting nanotechnology research at the Beckman Institute. Nanotechnology is the science of making ever-smaller electronic devices.

An article about the process has been accepted for publication in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

"I consider this a breakthrough," said Isik Kizilyalli, a research engineer at the AT&T Bell Laboratories in Orlando, Fla., who collaborated on the chip-processing experiments. "The principle has been demonstrated very well. This offers the opportunity for someone to operate smaller electronic devices with higher supply voltages, which means faster circuits."

In experiments using chips at the AT&T labs, deuterium extended lifetimes from 10 to 50 times longer than the conventionally treated chips, Kizilyalli said.

Kizilyalli calls the treatment "a fountain of youth for silicon technology," a reference to the fact that deuterium is found in heavy water, which is more difficult to freeze and boil. It can be found in about one of every 6,000 drops of drinking water.

Deuterium is a stable, non-radioactive isotope of hydrogen. An isotope is any of two or more forms of an element having the same atomic number but with different weights, or mass. Deuterium has about twice the mass of ordinary hydrogen.

The use of hydrogen for annealing as a protective agent in microchips has been adequate for computer technology. But as the move toward nanotechnology takes over, devices will be built smaller and driven harder, and they will be expected to have longer lifetimes. Heated electrons being driven through today's microchips literally knock off the hydrogen - breaking hydrogen-silicon bonds during normal operation and decreasing performance.

With deuterium, the bonding points along the interface of chips remain intact.

"For manufacturers, there is nothing fancy required," Lyding said. "One simply replaces hydrogen gas with deuterium gas to do this process the new way, and it's very possible that, at this stage, we haven't optimized the process."

The process is inexpensive, as well, Kizilyalli said. "Using deuterium would add to the wafer cost a little more than using hydrogen, but the added costs wouldn't be measured in percentages - they would be something like one one-thousandth of a wafer's cost."

Additional data are being analyzed on experiments involving other silicon-chip technologies and how well silicon chips used for memory respond to the deuterium treatment, but the technique appears to be 100 percent compatible with existing silicon chip-processing technology, the researchers said.

"The positive tests we report cover a very broad cross-section," Hess said. "Many remedies to the damages caused by voltage damage have been tried. No single one has provided a cure.

"Ours is a remedy, a very simple one, with a very huge effect. With deuterium substituted in the processing equation, we think that you will be able to drive devices harder and make them go faster."

The devices also should be able to stand up under harsher conditions, such as radiation exposure in space, temperature extremes and other environmental exposures, Hess said.

Although Lyding and Hess are in the same academic department and are linked by their involvement in the UI Center for Compound Semiconductor Microelectronics, they pursue research in different areas. Their collaboration resulted from their affiliation in a molecular and electronic nanostructure research theme in the Beckman Institute, a facility designed to stimulate cooperation among disciplines.

Lyding is in the Beckman's Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Group and pursues the modification of surfaces on the atomic-sized scale. He is known for his nanofabrication experiments on silicon surfaces and atomic-level examinations of semiconductor interfaces.

Hess is a member of the Beckman's Computational Electronics Group, where he pursues computational electronics and supercomputing applications. He is internationally known for his contribution to high field transport in semiconductors.

Kizilyalli is a leading expert on transistor physics and reliability. He is recognized for his work on the design and development of transistors for AT&T. He earned his doctorate in electrical engineering at the U. of I. in 1988, studying with Hess, and then joined AT&T Bell Laboratories.

The collaborative research was funded by the Office of Naval Research University Research Initiative Program for Scanning Tunneling Microscope-Based Nanolithography and by the Beckman Institute.

[Source: "Inside Illinois" - Feb. 15, 1996. Address to Inside Illinois, 807 S. Wright St., Suite 520 East, Champaign, Illinois 61801.]

ToC

The C64/128 Section:

The Wave Demo

from Double-Click

There is a demo version of Maurice Randall's new telecom- munications application known as "The Wave." In its present form, it is aimed at the GEOS 128 market. Plans are in the works for an eventual release for the GEOS 64 market as well.

The Wave demo contains a functional, yet limited, ASCII terminal that you can actually use. If you want to stay in GEOS and merely need to log onto a BBS to read messages or participate on a major online service in a conference chat room, then the demo will work just fine for you. But if you need to download any files, that capability does not exist in this version.

The ASCII terminal that is incorporated into the demo is called "The Beachcomber." The Wave will actually consist of several different terminal programs all wrapped up in one whole package. This should prove to be a unique feature that currently is not found in any terminal package on any computer. Anything that you need to do online you will be able to do with The Wave.

The Beachcomber also recognizes a limited set of ANSI/VT-100 command codes which allow you to navigate certain systems that support those commands. There are many online services that will handle the interpretation of communicating on the Internet and translate everything into a form that The Beachcomber will let you deal with. But for raw Internet Web surfing, you will have to wait for the commercial release of The Wave, for in it will be a full fledged Web Browser called the "Wild Surf." The Wave demo requires that you have GEOS 128, along with a SwiftLink cartridge and an external modem. You will also need to make sure your 128 is equipped with 64K of VDC RAM for your 80 column screen.

The Wave demo can be found on several BBS's around the country by now. It is also available on two online networks, Genie and Delphi. You can also find it on Maurice's own BBS, The Speed Zone, at 517-322-2386. Look for a file called WAVEDEMO.SFX. First time callers now have downloading access.

[Source: Lansing Area Commodore Club's "Double Click." LACC's address is P.O. Box 1065, East Lansing, MI 48826. Via the Commodore Users Group of St. Louis journal, "Keywords" March, 1996. CUGSL's address P.O. Box 837, Bridgeton, MO 63044.]

ToC

CMD News:

SuperCPU 64/10 Model Cancelled

Advanced orders for the SuperCPU have been instrumental in helping us track the demand for this product. Due to the extremely low percentage of orders we have received for the 10 MHz version of this product, however, we cannot justify the extra costs involved in stocking parts for this version. We have therefore decided to eliminate the 64/10, and from this point forward we will only accept orders for the 64/20 model.

ToC

SuperCPU 128 Announced

The most significant announcement is that we have determined that a C-128 version of the accelerator will be released. This decision has been based on the overwhelming number of requests we have received from C-128 users. Due to this response, we are confident that sufficient demand for a 128 version exists, and that we can justify the expense associated with its development.

The specifications of the C-128 version will be virtually identical to its C-64 counterpart, and will support both C-64 and C-128 modes. Naturally, the SuperCPU 128 will have additional RAM, ROM and custom logic to support these capabilities.

Co-Development

In order to accommodate the development of the C-128 version, our engineers have had to alter their initial development schedule to allow additional time to co-develop portions of the C-128 version. Due to this we estimate that an additional six to eight weeks will be required, which will push initial deliveries for the C-64 version into April (the C-128 version should be available approximately 90 days later).

The main thrust of this co-development is to attempt to utilize the same PC board for both the C-64 and C-128 versions. If we are successful with this approach, we can reduce the overall development cost of the C-128 version by amortizing many of the fixed costs associated with the design and production over both versions.

While we may be able to use the same circuit board for both units, the chip sets for the two versions will be substantially different, and this may prohibit our ability to upgrade a 64 version to a 128 version. In addition, the extra circuitry required to produce the C-128 version may effect the retail price of this unit by as much as $100.00. Our goal is to keep the cost of the C-128 version below $300.00, but a firm estimate will not be available until later in the development cycle. Until then, we will not be taking advanced orders on the C-128 version.

A Better Product Overall

With the additional development time we believe that both the C-64 and C-128 versions will benefit. This time allows us to explore the possibility of additional features and capabilities which had previously been scrapped due to the tight development schedule. Additional information will be released as we are able to confirm the feasibility of these additional features.

Although we're disappointed that our initial production schedule for the C-64 version cannot be met, we're excited about the potential this decision brings to the Commodore market. By supporting the C-128 platform, we believe that we will see more third party development as a whole, which will benefit both C-64 and C-128 users by further strengthening our market.

Any questions concerning the SuperCPU series products should be channelled to CMD via mail or E-mail using the addresses listed below. We will not be fielding questions about these products by phone until such time as the designs have been finalized.

Mail Inquiries:

   SuperCPU Inquiries
   c/o Creative Micro Designs, Inc.
   P.O. Box 646
   East Longmeadow, MA 01028-0646
   
E-Mail (Internet):
   cmd.support@the-spa.com (Technical Info)
   cmd.sales@the-spa.com (General Info)
   
Web Site (Internet):
   http://www.the-spa.com/cmd/
   
ToC

The Macintosh Section:

PBs to get PCI, CD-ROM in '96

Reliability fixes due in Epic, Hooper models

by Joanna Pearlstein

After seeing its PowerBooks go from award-winning CPUs to poor-selling laptops, Apple hopes to re-energize the line by adding PCI and CD-ROM in 1996, sources said.

This summer's PowerBook release, code-named Epic (see 10.09.95, Page 1), will add a CD-ROM drive and mark the return of innovative design and reliability to PowerBooks, sources said. Then, late this year, the PCI bus will appear in a PowerBook line code-named Hooper.

Apple originally planned to release a revised PowerBook 5300 this spring, code-named Mustang; the revision would have included a 133-MHz PowerPC 603e and 256 Kbytes of Level 2 cache. But Apple has reportedly killed the project and is instead expanding plans for Epic.

First slated as a low-end notebook targeted primarily at education buyers, Epic is now expected to be available in several configurations for different markets and will include a Level 2 cache.

Sources said a CD-ROM-equipped, 133-MHz Epic model will cost about $2000, while a high-end machine with a 256-Kbyte Level 2 cache and 166 MHz 603e could cost less than $3000. The low-end configuration is due this summer; the higher-end model is expected to ship this fall. Sources said the 5300 line will be discontinued when Epic is released.

Further off is Hooper, which will be the first PowerBook to include the PCI bus. The new laptop will reportedly use either a PowerPC 603e or 603ev with speeds between 166 and 200 MHz. Hooper was originally scheduled for an October release, but sources said the laptop will likely arrive closer to January 1997.

Hooper will employ a PCI bus technology code-named Power-Star, which reportedly requires a revised form factor for PCI cards. Users will be able to plug PCI cards into a connector on the side of the machine, similar to the processor direct slot used by Duo docks. However, Hooper's PCI connector won't be compatible with current Duo dock products. Another PCI slot will be accessible by flipping up the removable keyboard.

Sources were optimistic about the Epic and Hooper projects. "Apple has finally hit the nail on the head with Epic," said a source familiar with the project. Another source noted that PCI might allow PowerBooks to serve as both desktop and mobile computers, an original goal of the Duo line.

The PowerBook 5300 series has been plagued with hardware and software bugs, and the portables have not been selling as well as Apple had projected. Sources said the Mustang project was killed partly because the company feared that, like the much-maligned 5300 machines, it would not sell well.

However, sources close to Apple said that, thus far, Epic's performance in reliability tests is proving to be very good. In fact, one source commented that while the 5300 series' pre-production failure rate was the worst of any recent Apple CPU, early Epic test units are logging some of the best reliability scores in the company's history.

Apple declined to comment.

[Source: MacWeek, 2.12.96. Andrew Gore contributed to the report.]

ToC

Installing System 7.5.3

by Mike Anderson, CUCUG

Apple System 7.5.3 is now available from ftp://ftp.netscape.com/US_apple_sw_updates/. The Netscape site may be very busy, but keep trying. However, there are many other sites available. You can just do a search to find them. I used Alta Vista - http://altavista.digital.com/ - and did a search for "Apple System 7.5.3". It's official name is System 7.5 Update 2.0. It requires 14 high density disks for the entire release. You probably won't need all 14 disks for your installation, but you won't know which ones you'll need until you set about doing the installation, so get them all. I installed the update on my Performa 578, which has a DayStar PowerCard 601 upgrade and 20 megs of RAM. It took about 45 minutes to do a Custom Install, including working out the kinks on my particular set-up (more on that in a little bit).

The System 7.5 Update 2.0 files come distributed in 14 separate folders, on the site I used (and others I've looked at). These files had to be removed from each folder, placed on a floppy and the disk has to be named exactly what the distribution folder had been named. Each folder holds the equivalent of a disk's worth of material. For some reason, they used this method of distribution rather than disk images. It is imperative that the disks be named with the folder name since the installer looks for those names. If you leave the files in the folder on each disk, the installer will not recognize the disk.

After my installation, I found my machine would not start up. I rebooted with my extensions turned off and all went OK. I then turned off all extensions and custom selected System 7.5.3 with only the extension manager and rebooted. All went OK again. When I started turning extensions back on again with the extensions manager, I got to Connectix's Ram Doubler and the system would not boot. Turning off Ram Doubler seemed to fix my problem. For now, I have removed this extension completely. I have version 1.5.2 of Ram Doubler and I will upgrade it to 1.6.1 when I can and see if that will work. If not, then, I would assume it is not compatible.

I did notice that System 7.5.3 uses about one megabyte more of RAM now just to run the System software (about 6.2 MB, up from 5.2 MB on my system). It also takes up 14 to 16 megabytes more hard disk space. As for how necessary all this is, the benefits of the upgrade are yet to be fully explored, but so far I'm happy.

ToC

The Amiga Section:

The Amiga 600 From Hell

A review of the A620 accelerator

by Colin Thompson

There are few pleasures in life that can exceed seeing an old, slow computer come to life with an accelerator. After getting the accelerator installed, you can spend hours gleefully observing how fast things happen. Eventually the thrill is gone, but those first few days are something to treasure.

Yes, I got an A620 accelerator for my A600. I think I'm about to write a review of this piece of hardware, but I may end up writing a love story. You be the judge. Objectivity is hereby thrown out the window. I'm in love and can't be held responsible for my actions, or opinions.

If you own an A600, you already know why I upgraded to the 68020 processor. I wanted to run programs that only work with an 020 or better. It seems that ALL the programs I use on my 1200 meet this requirement.

Just upgrading to an 020 would be nice, but the A620 also comes with a 68882 math co-processor. Both of these processors run at an astounding 25 MegaHertz. I know that 25mhz sounds slow, but when you contrast it with the original speed of 7mhz, the results are spectacular. It's like trading in your Nash for a Chevy Blazer. The Blazer is not only a better vehicle, it can do things you old Nash could only dream of.

I must caution you that the mere addition of an 020 processor, running at 25mhz will not speed up your 600 very much. The key to speed is adding some of that Fast Ram you've heard so much about.

The A620 has a single SIMM slot that let's you plug in some Fast (32 bit) Ram. Up to 8 MegaBytes, to be precise. This SIMM module is what makes the whole thing go fast. Fast, of course, is a relative measure.

How fast is fast? I have two common Amiga tools that measure the performance of a system. AIBB measures your computer against others, and SysInfo reports on your system alone. After I installed the A620, but before I put in a SIMM Chip, both tools reported my 600 to be about the same speed as before.

After the addition of Fast Ram, my 600 compares to an A3000/030. And the speed shows up where it counts. Windows flash open in a heartbeat. Directory listings appear in a blur of scrolling lines. Lha archiving is no longer a painful experience. ParNet runs Faaaaast. I can go on line at 28800BPS and not lose a single byte. AmiTCP actually runs. Animations run faster, and for the first time, I can see MPEGs on my 600. The list of improvements goes on and on. I'm still grinning.

How fast is fast? If you like performance numbers, SysInfo reports my little old 600 can perform 4.32 million instructions per second. (MIPS) By adding the A620 I have turned my "Closet Queen" into a "Fast 1200 without AGA".

I've had my 600 for two years. I bought it from an ad in the newspaper for $350. It had a 4MB PCMCIA memory card (16 bit memory), and an extra 1.5 MB of Chip Ram, along with a monster 40MB hard drive. I gave the drive to a friend, and plugged in a much bigger one.

In the intervening years, the 600 has usually performed the job of backup to my primary A1200. I've added a SCSI bus to it, and a 540MB SCSI hard drive, along with a CDROM drive. The main IDE drive is a 540MB Maxtor. I installed a 3.1 ROM chip to get things up to the present.

All this stuff has been crammed into a mid sized tower. Since the 600 doesn't have a removable keyboard, I added one from an A2000. All in all, this is the Real A600 From Hell. The A620 is the icing on the cake. I really enjoyed changing the LED readout on the tower case to show "25". Now I am constantly reminded that a useful computer hides inside.

The good, the bad, and the ugly. Here comes the traditional review. Since I've written hundreds of reviews since 1981, I'll let my cat "God" write this one. He was bored:

ToC

A Review of My Owner's New Computer
by Godzilla "PoopieHead" Doe Thompson

I like the new keyboard. It feels good.
I sleep on it when Colin isn't around.

ToC

OK, I can see that God writes a tight review, so I'll expand a bit for the sake of appearances. The A620 can only be ordered from DataKompaniet in Trondheim, Norway. It costs about $240 without extra Ram. There is a separate review/announcement listed at the end, so I'll only address the things that bit me, and the things I liked.

A normal person, devoid of mechanical skills can install the card. You'll need some small hand tools, or oddly shaped fingernails. The installation instructions that accompany the card are good. Just remove the case and the metal cover. The actual installation of the card (plugging it in) did not go well for me. What you are supposed to do is place the card on top of the 68000 chip and press down for a minute. This "pressing down business" is supposed to adhere the card to the 68K chip with some foam double sided sticky tape.

The instructions said I was going to hear a "snap" when the card was seated. Well, I heard a snap, but as soon as I released pressure, I heard an "unsnap". The card would not stay stuck. I finally had to remove the tape. It was just too thick. Without the tape, I got a snap, and no unsnap. Some double sided Scotch tape, carefully placed in the socket worked perfectly.

Also, before you attempt this, check to see where the "Feet" fit. The card must be suspended about 3/8th inch about the motherboard. Therefore the wizard engineers that designed this card included some common "feet", stuck to the underside of the A620 card to insure that it stays level when installed. Unfortunately, the feet were stuck to the wrong places. You will have to check the placement of the feet and rearrange them before seating the card. It's not a big deal. I let God do it for me. He was bored.

Once I got it installed (with a 4MB SIMM Chip in place), I fired it up, expecting miracles. I can safely say that the card came up fine. Unfortunately, the system could not see the newly installed fast ram. It saw the 4MB PCMCIA ram OK. So where did my Fast Ram go?

This is where a two-day story gets compressed to one sentence: The NEC fast ram SIMM was not compatible with the A620. I exchanged the SIMM for another one of a different manufacturer (Fugitsu). That fixed it. The NEC chip worked in my other computers, so it wasn't "bad", just incompatible. There is no reason to buy expensive 60ns SIMMs. 80ns chips are just fine. My used 4MB chip cost $65 from the Chip Merchant. (Thank you, Windows95, for dropping the prices of Ram chips). Be sure to buy the SIMM without parity. It's cheaper. If you use an 8MB SIMM, you will not be able to access anything plugged into the PCMCIA slot.

I got great Email support from DK. They answered all my questions pronto. Thanks Tor.

There is another compatibility issue here. I have a SCSI Plus card plugged into the IDE header on the motherboard. This completely blocks the A620 card. You cannot use the two together without resorting to some very clever IDE cable modifications. If you want to know what I did to get the two to work together, email me. It was tough, but it works now.

There may be another physical compatibility problem. When installed, the SIMM chip might get in the way of the floppy drive power plug. SIMM chips vary in size, so before you try to snap the A620 down, carefully check for interference. Don't force it in place! Measure twice, cut once. A stitch in time. Death and Taxes.

OK, this is the place where I'm supposed to tell you everything works perfectly. Well, it doesn't. Remember that cable modification I had to make? It's a kludge. It doesn't always make a good connection. This is entirely my fault. Expansion Systems and DK cannot be held accountable for this mess. What I really needed to make the two cards work together is a one half inch extension to the IDE header. Then it would work without resorting to a hard/hack. Such an extension does not exist in nature. If I had said extension, I could install the A620, then plug the SCSI Plus card onto the extension. This would place the SCSI plus card above and to the left of the A620. No such luck.

I have noticed one other problem that cannot be laid off on my shoddy cable: The external keyboard no longer resets the system. It used to, but not now. I use a couple of different programs to give me a reset from the external keyboard.

One is PCRESET (press Control Alt Del), and the other is REBOOT. Both of them initiate a warm boot, but the machine does not complete the startup. I have to press the RESET button on the tower. Even this only works once in three or four times. Did I mention I am cursed by a Norwegian Troll? This may have something to do with it. Of course, The problem might be that darned cable, after all. I'm still working on it.

If you have a Plain Jane, normal A600, you should expect the A620 card to go in easily and work a long time. If you are like me, you have some severe problems. Get counselling.

The A620 has been in place for three weeks now. I am still feeling that rosy glow of satisfaction. If you'd like to share that feeling, why don't you download some pictures of the installation from my website. Take the GIFs with the prefix "600.". You won't be sorry, and the price is right.

Was it worth it? You Betchum, Red Ryder! I'm in heaven. It's great to see manufacturers take a chance on the Amiga again. Bravo. I hope this means I can buy new hardware in the future. Things are looking up for 5,000,000 Amigans everywhere.

You can contact me at:

   colin@sd.znet.com
   http://www.crl.com/~wbow/colin/colin.html
ToC

This is from DK:

Apollo 620

World's First Accelerator For The Amiga 600!

ACT Electronics, Europe's leading manufacturer of accelerators for Amiga, is proud to present a new accelerator card for Amiga 600 which makes this machine 10 times as fast! This makes it possible to use A600 for professional applications like word processing, databases, spreadsheets, multimedia presentations (e.g. Scala) and so on.

Specifications for the Apollo 620:

Retail price per 23/11 1995: NOK 1380,-
(Norwegian Krones. USD 1 ~= NOK 6.2)

DataKompaniet ans
Trondheim Innovation Centre
Prof. Brochs gt. 6
N-7030 Trondheim, Norway

Phone: +47 7354 0375   Fax: +47 7394 3861

World Wide Web: http://www.interlink.no/datakompaniet
E-mail: datakompaniet@interlink.no

Tor Rune Skoglund                    DataKompaniet ans
Tech. Manager/Partner                Trondheim Innovation Centre
ToC

The CUCUG Section:

February General Meeting

reported by Kevin Hopkins

The February 15th meeting began with the traditional introduction of officers. (The purpose of which is to point out the people you can ask questions of and make suggestions to.)

Assuring us that Apple is not dead, President Rollins opened the floor for the Question and Answer Session.

After the Question and Answer period, the floor was turned over to Chief Librarian Kevin Hisel who had three new Amiga disks for this month.

CUCUGAMI #153: This disk contains four games: Greeblies, Grid Attack, Thinkamania (a cartoonish Concentration styled game), and Twinz (another earthy Concentration like game).

Amiga ZIP #2: The second disk was the introduction of the Amiga Disk Library on a ZIP disk. Titled Amiga ZIP #2, this disk contains CUCUGAMI #75-#164. It also contains 4 special issue disk sets that have appeared in our disk library since January of 1992. It has nine megabytes of MOD music files, along with bonus material, such as the great Amiga telecommunications package "Terminus." Of course, the disk name begs the question, "Where is Amiga ZIP #1?" Kevin stated that if there was interest he'd construct a disk with all the pre-January 1992 material, but he really doubted all that Workbench 1.3 and earlier material would be that desireable.

The price of Amiga ZIP #2 is $69.95. Kevin said that even if you include the cost of buying a ZIP drive to be able to use this disk, the price per CUCUG disk works out to $2.75 a disk. This price is even better that our specials at Christmas. Just for the curious, that works out to 70 cents a disk, if you already have a ZIP drive.

CUCUGAMI #154: AMonopoly (in this version of the venerable game, the computer can act as a player (unlike past versions which were little more than glorified bookkeepers. Kevin demonstrated the game by having the computer play all four positions.), PegIt, WordPlay (a CLI program that creates anagrams. Kevin read the top ten anagrams created from the words Amiga Technologies. Number One was "Hail Giant Egos Come"!

Turning to the Macintosh, Mac Librarian Mark Bellon demonstrated two Mac disks this evening: #21 and #22.

CUCUGMAC #21: This disk is a collection of utilities. ExAminer 1.4 (a replacement for Apple's Extensions Manager; Mark recommended it highly), Other Menu (hierarchical Apple Menu Items), Tattle Tech (a very powerful utility that can figure out everything about your machine - its hardware and software - and report back to you), and Abalone (a Chinese checkers style game).

CUCUGMAC #22: Bolo (a tank battle game that will work with multiple Macs hooked together and allow up to 16 combatants), Sound Sculptor II 2.0.1 (a heavy duty sound editor), and The Tilery (a NeXT styled docking program ala the Control Strip).

Mark reminded everyone about the Mac ZIP disk offer which is "as much of the CUCUG Mac disk collection that will fit on a ZIP disk" (all of it will at this point), including all the newest versions of the programs that have been released on floppies. Get it all. Stay current. Get a ZIP.

Mark also reminded everyone of the refresh service he has for the floppy collection. Bring them in and for $20 he'll update your disks with the newest versions of the programs they contain.

Just before the break, President Rollins welcomed the three new guest we had this evening: Robert Burgess, George Krumins, and Dale Rahn.

ToC

The Amiga SIG:

reported by Kevin Hopkins

SIG Chairman Jim Lewis began the group meeting by attempting to recruit presenters for future meetings. Jim was fairly successful as he was able to line up the following members for presentations: Quentin Barnes for the March meeting showing his infrared controller projects, Mark Landman for the April meeting doing a graphics program, John Lynn for June exploring video production, Ed Serbe in July presenting CD-ROM material, and Fred Cline for October showing how to make a video tape with the Amiga.

Jim then launched into his demonstration of the "real world" use of his Amiga and scanner in constructing advertising for his optical business. The scanner he uses is an Epson ES300C. It's hooked up to the parallel port on his Amiga. He doesn't ever use color in his newspaper ads so he focused on the use of gray scales.

Jim says he looks for high contrast in his target photos (taken from trade advertising of the products he sells). He scans in 8-bit 256 color gray scale. the software he uses is AdPro.

Jim spent some time discussing the "resolution versus memory requirement" issue. While his scanner is capable of scanning at 600 x 600 in 256 gray scale the resulting graphic would require over 41 megabytes of RAM for that single picture. So, Jim scanned his picture at 240 x 240 dot resolution. Jim's rule is scan as big as you can and as fine as you can within reason.

Once he had his scan, he halved it from the 920 x 909 image it began as. He saved off a 4 color version of the scan. He changed the color palette, blacked out the image, and whited out the spurious text picked up in his scan from the original ad work, in order to create a mask. He reduced the colors from 4 to 2. And then, he composited the two images - the original scan and the mask he'd just produced. He cut the resultant picture in half again (along both the X and the Y axises).

Having now attained the final product he wanted, Jim imported the picture into an ad he had already made up in Professional Page 4 to complete the advertisement. It was a deft example of how to handle software and hardware for a very practical end.

Jim then took questions. Kevin Hopkins said he had been eying scanners but was afraid of buying one without Amiga specific software to drive it. Mark Bellon said if it's SCSI and complies with that standard, just about any software will work.

Thank's, Jim, for a very interesting demonstration.

ToC

The Macintosh SIG:

reported by Tim Thomas (thomas@urbana.mcd.mot.com)

[Editor's Note: I asked Tim if he'd write up a little description of his presentation at the February Mac SIG meeting and he graciously complied. Thanks, Tim.]

I started with a slide presentation of some generated Bryce images - images distributed with Bryce and also the CD included with the Bryce book by Susan Kitchens, and a couple of images I'd made myself. The slide presentation illustrated what Bryce can do with landscapes, materials (water, snow, etc.), skies, and simple objects (spheres, cubes, pyramids and planes).

Next, I used Bryce to create an image. I selected what the ground was to look like, created a simple landscape, set up the sky, and rendered it. This demonstration showed how fast Bryce was at ray-tracing the image. I pointed out the many aspects of the Bryce interface that make it very user friendly. Of particular interest is the ability for Bryce to partially rerender selected parts of the image, thus making it easy for the user to adjust lighting and texture effects without having to wait for the entire image to be rerendered.

Throughout this discussion I also mentioned the things Bryce couldn't do. It cannot import DXF objects (objects created by CAD programs), it cannot create trees, and it does not have the ability to create movie flythroughs of the landscapes. The DXF and flythrough capabilities will be added in the next version of Bryce. (The last release date I heard for the new version was March 96 - we'll just have to wait and see if it comes out.)

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February Board Meeting

recorded by Kevin Hopkins

The February meeting of the CUCUG Executive Board took place on Tuesday, February 20, 1996, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house (address and phone number, both in the book). Present at the meeting were Richard Rollins, Mark Landman, Jim Huls, Mark Bellon, Kevin Hopkins, Kevin Hisel, Dave Witt, and Jim Lewis.

Richard Rollins: Rich began by stating that we had about 30 members attend the February meeting. Rich said he was very pleased with the Macintosh SIG presentation this month. Although our presenter, Tim Thomas from Motorola, was not a member (yet), he spoke well and was very enthusiastic about his subject: the KPT Bryce rendering package.

Richard was also pleased that the Mac SIG and the Amiga SIG were about equally divided among the members attending.

Richard expressed an interest in rearranging the set-up of the meeting room. He would like to flip the chairs around to face the other way so that people entering the meeting late won't distract everyone, nor are they stared at as they enter. He would also like to see the unused chairs removed during the break.

On a personal note, Richard mentioned he'd been having trouble with CU-Online.

Richard said he has been posting notices of our meetings to the uiuc.sys.mac newsgroup. He noted that we have been getting some responses from the flyers members have been distributing.

Turning to the agenda for the March meeting, Richard stated that the Amiga SIG will be entertained by Quentin Barnes and his infrared controller devices. The C64/128 SIG is still in dire need of volunteers to lead it. SIG members will be discussing how to forge ahead. The Mac SIG will be exploring the OpenDoc and Cyberdog software under the guidance of Richard Rollins and Mark Bellon.

Richard announced that the "So You Bought a Mac" seminar has been tabled for this year.

Mark Landman: Mark stated that there were seven membership renewals in February.

Mark reported that our meeting room rent has been paid through May. This lead to a review of club expenses and a noting of the fact that the club's CD matures in November. No action is need on that score until that date.

Mark said that he had talked to John Lynn about the formation of a Video Toaster SIG. No machine will be brought in, but video work can be discussed through the use of video tapes.

The club's non-taxable status will be nearing completion when the final form is sent in with the approved By-Laws changes passed in January.

Jim Huls: Jim said he is slowly getting in touch with every Mac user at Parkland. He said he has two prospective members showing some interest.

Jim reported that the Macintosh portion of the Web site, now under his care, is coming along slowly.

Jim reported that Andy Finkel has been hired as a consultant by Amiga Technologies. This is viewed as a very good sign, since Andy's knowledge of and career experience with the Amiga are beyond question.

Mark Bellon: Mark reported that the Macintosh Library has now released disks 50 through 54. He has completed disks 55 through 58 and he is thinking of accelerating the release of disks to three a month. Mark says he has tons of new material coming in. In short, the Library is doing well.

Mark said that member interest is very high. A lot of people are asking questions.

Mark stated that he is keeping the BBS up to date. He has not uploaded much new material, though, as traffic doesn't warrant it.

ZIP sales are doing well.

Mark also voiced some difficulties he is having with CU-Online. This prompted Kevin Hisel to speak in their defense, relating the problems to "growing pains." CU-Online received a bum terminal server and they had to replace it. Kevin said we are getting great Web service out of them. Although, it was agreed, that it is hard to recommend them at this particular juncture in time.

Kevin Hopkins (KH2): Kevin presented the exchange newsletters and handed out the mail as usual. He then fielded queries about the membership list and how we are faring compared to last year. We're doing OK, about the same.

Kevin reiterated his request for members' email addresses. He is adding them to our roster list and he has constructed an email directory of members on our Web site.

Kevin Hisel (KH1): Kevin reported disk sales were "pretty good."

The Web site is doing really well. He has added access to the Amiga Report Online Magazine. We are averaging about 2200 hits a day on our main page.

Speaking of the net, Mark Bellon reports that 5 big caching sites (Regional Caching Servers) are being added to the net and this will effect the way hits are tallied, since not everyone accessing your site will actually be coming to your server. This will be a problem for those services that are selling advertising based on the number of hits they get. Without some sort of feedback mechanism from these new caching servers, a service won't know how many people are actually referencing their material.

Returning to club matters, Kevin reported that BBS usage is way down.

Dave Witt: Dave reported that he sat in on the Macintosh SIG and it was excellent. Tim Thomas did a great job. He was really impressed.

Jim Lewis: Jim reported that his scanning demo in the Amiga SIG went well. As SIGmeister, he reported that he had filled seven of the remaining program slots with volunteer presenters. Only August, October and November are still outstanding.

Jim also reported that after polling the members he has found that they are very interested in terminal emulators and Web stuff.

Putting on his Corporate Agent hat, Jim stated that the Corporate Report will be filled out on time.

Richard Rollins: Kevin Hisel and Jim Huls have talked about compiling a vendors list for the Spring Computerfest.

Richard requested a copy of the Lost Souls letter in Word Perfect format. Kevin Hopkins had already provided him with a hard copy of the letter and labels for the mailing.

Richard reported he is checking into getting a MUG of our own. He has just about given up on any joint action with the UI based Mac User Group, since they never respond to our communications, nor do they meet with any kind of regularity. It was suggested, in jest, by another Board member, that you need a medium to communicate with the dead.

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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:         Richard Rollins  469-2616
Vice-President:    Emil Cobb        398-0149               e-cobb@uiuc.edu
Secretary/Editor:  Kevin Hopkins    356-5026                  kh2@uiuc.edu
Treasurer:         Mark Landman     398-2910       mlandman@prairienet.org
Corporate Agent:   Jim Lewis        359-1342              NOSPAMlewis_j_e@yahoo.com
Board Advisor:     Jim Huls         892-8730
Librarian/Sysop:   Kevin Hisel      406-948-1999              khisel @ cucug.org
Mac Librarian:     Mark Bellon      337-5804    mbellon@urbana.mcd.mot.com

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

http://www.cucug.org/

To get on the net free, call Prairienet at (217) 255-9000. Login as "visitor". Once you're on, just type "go cucug" for a good place to start.

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