The January 16th meeting will be one of CUCUG's split SIG meetings. None of our new SIG leaders have revealed their plans, so I guess you could call this the Mystery Meeting. Come and see what'll happen. It's sure to be a surprise.
We'd also like to welcome to the group the 29 new members who've just joined us: Charles F. Cavanaugh (A1200), John M. Collier (A4000, PowerMac), Vince LaMonica (A2000), Stephen Alley (Performa 6100), Charles and Diane Anderson (Performa 630cd), Patsy Pratt (Mac LCII), Denise Pelafas (PowerMac), Wayne Kumingo (A3000), John C. Sirb (A4000), William L. Steel, Sr. (A2000), Thomas Koerner (A4000), Norman A. Caetano (A500), Jim Carter (A3000), Alexander W. Dorn (A4000), Donald E. Jackson (A4000), Dave Leeds (A4000), Hank Schafer (A2000), Adrian Demarais (A4000), Robert Lemon (A2500), Brian W. Perez (A4000, Mac 680xx), Rick Schnicker (A600, 1200, 3000), Lance Clor (A500, 1200, 3000, 4000), Barney Evans (A1200), Scott Blodgett (A500, 1200, 2000), David Ferguson (A1000, 2000, 2500, 3000), Dennis Jann (A3000, PowerMac), John Millington (A3000), John Ricketts (A500, 2000), and Janice Shipley (Quadra 660AV).
We also had two folks join for the last part of 1996: Marilyn Cimino (Mac LCII) and Jim Crowder (Performa 575). We'd love to encourage Marilyn and Jim to renew for 1997.
All in all, we've had a tremendous month.
I've greatly enjoyed being a member of CUCUG and have been honored to be both president one year and the Macintosh librarian. Although I will continue to be a Macintosh advocate and will be happy to send people I come across towards CUCUG, I've decided to find other things to do with my time.
One is pointedly reminded that this is a voluntary organization. We can only wish Mark the best of luck in his pursuits and thank him for all his service in the past.
In a stunning move, Apple Computer (AAPL) said tonight that it will purchase Next Software in a $400 million deal that will bring former Apple CEO Steve Jobs back to the company he cofounded.
Apple will pay about $350 million in cash and stock for the privately held Next to purchase that company's shares and an additional $50 million to cover its debts.
Under the merger, which is still subject to regulatory approval, Apple will take control of all of Next's products and services. Jobs, who has become something of a historic figure in Silicon Valley, will leave his post as Next's chief executive to become an "adviser," reporting directly to Apple chairman and CEO Gilbert Amelio.
The return of Jobs, a bold move that has been speculated for years, appears to be aimed at radically changing the public perception of Apple, which has suffered steady losses since losing market share over the last decade.
"It's perfect," said Bob Metcalfe, cofounder of 3Com and vice president of technology of the International Data Group. "The new team at Apple has Dr. Amelio and Ellen Hancock. They are extremely competent, but they lack one thing: charisma. Steve adds that to the mix."
The surprise merger also answers the long-awaited question of what Apple's next-generation operating system will hold. The company has been shopping for an operating system since abandoning its own Copland system earlier this year and had been negotiating with Be and other companies to fill that void.
Apple hopes that Next's object-oriented, Java-enabled open development platform will significantly improve its Internet and intranet position because its technology is agile. It also hopes to capture strength with Next's enterprise position.
Next's cross-platform development environments in the enterprise and Internet and intranet space allow developers to write once and deploy across a range of Internet and client-server platforms. Amelio said Apple expects to ship products with the Next operating system in 1997.
"This is a complementary arrangement, and the pieces fit together better than any other alternative we looked at, and it will launch a new round of technology," Amelio said in a press conference tonight.
That arrangement also will benefit Next, according to Jobs. Merging with Apple provided a better opportunity for the company than moving forward with an initial public offering that it had planned earlier.
Jobs said the deal will provide Next with a method to generate the high volume that developers had been seeking. "On our own, we would have been limited in achieving that high volume," he said.
Next will be married with Apple's very high-volume hardware platforms and marketing channels to create another breakthrough, he said.
Some analysts were cautious in their assessment of Apple's wisdom in choosing Next. "I am a little bit surprised by this move, and I still have to digest this," said Daniel Kunstler, who follows the computer systems industry for the investment banking firm J.P. Morgan. "There are no real details as to how they are going to use the Next technology and platform to jump-start their own operating system or how long it's going to take."
However, he added: "I really don't see any downside to Steve Jobs returning to Apple."
Creating new leadership is nothing new to Apple. Amelio himself was lured away from his job as chief executive of National Semiconductor to resuscitate the flagging company in February. But while he is widely respected for his business skills, Amelio's reputation is more that of a corporate expert and tactician, than an executive who leads by force of personality.
After being credited for turning around National Semiconductor, Amelio has begun to strengthen Apple's financial state. But a turnaround is far from complete. Although the company announced in October that it would post a profit for the fourth quarter, many analysts remained apprehensive.
The company earned a $25 million profit, or 20 cents a share, on revenue of $2.3 billion for the quarter that ended September 27, its first profitable quarter of the year. That exceeded Wall Street's estimates of a loss of 30 cents a share, but the results still fell short of the 48-cent mark that Apple earned for the same quarter last year.
Market reaction to Apple's prospects has been mixed. Its stock closed today at 23-1/2, up 1-1/4. Shares have traded as high as 35-1/2 and as low as 16 over the past year.
Next's financial history also has been erratic throughout its 11 years. Some say that has kept it from achieving its long-standing goal: going public.
In the early 1990s, Next turned to its Japanese partner Canon for cash. On top of an original $100 million investment in 1989, Canon provided another $10 to $20 million in 1991 and extended a $55 million credit line in 1992.
In February 1993, Next said it would stop making the Nextcube and Nextstation, choosing instead to focus on industry standard object-oriented software for mainstream platforms.
The strategic shift has paid off. For fiscal 1994, the company posted a $1 million profit on $50 million in sales. As of this month, Next has licensed its WebObjects to more than 275 customers, including Chrysler, Nike, and Walt Disney. The software will be used to help Disney launch an online service in January to compete with the likes of Microsoft and America Online.
But all are not optimistic about the Apple-Next merger. "In the enterprise space, we believe [Apple] technology is not state-of-the-art," said Zack Rinat, president and CEO of NetDynamics, which produces a competing Web application development tool.
"Customers need a total solution, including system integration, consulting, and support services. This is not a core competency of Apple's," he added. "As long as Next and Apple focus on integrating Next technology into the Mac OS, I think this will be a successful venture."
At the Macworld Expo tomorrow, Apple will finally unveil its new Mac OS strategy based on the December 20 acquisition of Next and the NextStep/OpenStep OS. Macworld has learned the details of that strategy.
Parallel OSs
Apple will develop and ship both the current Mac OS (System 7) and the new Mac OS 8 in parallel. Apple will deliver four more releases of System 7:
Apple expects to support both System 7 and the new Mac OS for several years, even after Rhapsody ships to the public.
The Game Plan for the Next OS
Apple plans on developing a compatibility box for the Next-based OS that will let it run most System 7 programs. The so-called Blue Box is not hardware but a window within the OS in which any System 7 program that doesn't communicate directly with the hardware should run. The programs would include system extensions and control panels, but not drivers and some utilities that work directly with the hardware. This level of compatibility is more than was planned for Apple's original Mac OS 8 effort, known as Copland. That OS would not have run extensions and control panels.
According to Macworld's sources, Blue Box will be bug-compatible with System 7, so programs patched to work around bugs in the current OS will not need to be modified to run in the Blue Box compatibility window. That also means technologies such as QuickDraw 3D, QuickTime, OpenDoc, QuickDraw GX, and the DayStar multiprocessing API will be supported in the Blue Box environment. Blue Box will not be a Mac emulator but the actual System 7 OS running on the new Mac OS microkernel, the part of the OS that manages the hardware and basic system operations.
But the new Mac OS is Yellow Box -- in other words, the Mac OS 8 to be based on the recently acquired NextStep OS's OpenStep version. Unlike Copland, Yellow Box will be fully preemptive and multithreaded, and will have full memory protection. This means programs can work in parallel without causing each other to crash if something goes wrong. It also means that users should be able to run several tasks in parallel, such as faxing while printing, or doing a database sort while reading e-mail. Under the Copland plan that Apple killed in August, only some parts of Mac OS 8 would have had these capabilities. Rhapsody's Yellow Box will also support fully symmetrical multiprocessing, in which any available CPU can run any program or program thread. System 7's multiprocessing architecture reserves one CPU as the traffic cop, which divides the tasks of programs specifically written for multiprocessing among the available CPUs. The primary CPU is less available for task sharing because of its role as traffic cop.
Apple plans to rework the NextStep OS's interface so it is Mac-like. While Apple will adopt some NextStep conventions, the company is convinced that the Mac OS's human interface is the best available and wants to ensure this approach is maintained. Within the Next-based OS, Apple will hide the remnants of its Unix command-line interface.
Like the abortive Copland effort, the Next-based Mac OS in the Yellow Box window will support multiple looks. Thus, you will be able to customize the interface's visual appearance and how some of its features operate - for example, preventing network access for some users.
Programs running in Blue Box will be able to share some data with programs running in Yellow Box, and vice versa. According to Macworld's sources, programs in the two environments can share data via Apple events (Apple's OS-based messaging technology) and via copy and paste. However, direct interapplication communications probably won't be allowed, so the two environments can't cause each other to crash if something goes wrong in one of the boxes. Not yet clear is how users and programs will be able to deal with files created by programs running in the two environments. While the hope is to let both Yellow Box and Blue Box programs access each other's drives and folders, it is too early in the Rhapsody development effort for Apple to know whether or how it can accomplish that goal, at least in the 1998 releases.
System Hardware Compatibility
Under Apple's new OS plan, Rhapsody will work on all currently shipping PowerPC-based Macs from Apple and the licensed Apple clone makers (DayStar Digital, Motorola Computer Group, Power Computing, Umax Computer, and -- in Japan -- Pioneer Electronics) and their sublicensees. Apple has also committed to supporting all future Macs, including systems based on the Common Hardware Reference Platform architecture developed by Apple, IBM, and Motorola. Apple says the CHRP design should become available to licensees later this year and will spur the interest of even more Mac clone makers.
Apple is exploring support for previous Power Macs, such as those using the NuBus peripheral bus, but is making no commitments, Macworld's sources say.
Apple will continue to support and sell the Intel X86 and Sun Sparc versions of the NextStep OS, but its main focus will be on the Macintosh development.
Once again, Macworld's editors have made their picks for the Best of Show Awards, recognizing the hottest new products to be introduced at the January Macworld Expo in San Francisco. We examined dozens of new products slated for Expo introductions and hand-tested the top contenders to make our final decisions. We rated them on innovation, usefulness, and that hard-to-define quality known as the Wow Factor.
To be considered, a product had to be brand-new and announced for the first time at or shortly before the Macworld Expo. We also had to see the product in action, although software evaluations were often based on beta versions. Many vendors submitted hardware and software for consideration, but the honors went to these six products.
PowerTower Pro 250MP
From Power Computing (512/388-6868, http://www.powercc.com) comes yet another Macintosh system that sets a new level of performance. The PowerTower Pro 250MP is the company's first dual-processor Mac, and with a pair of 250MHz PowerPC 604e processors, it is the Mac market's fastest multiprocessor system. The $5995 system also includes an upgradable 1MB cache, 32MB of RAM, a 2GB hard drive, six PCI slots, and nine drive bays. For $4995, you can get the PowerTower Pro 225MP, which uses dual PowerPC 225MHz CPUs.
CodeWarrior Gold 11
This latest version of the application development tool from Metrowerks (512/873-4700, http://www.metrowerks.com) provides a single environment from which Macintosh programmers can create software for Mac OS, Windows 95, Windows NT, Magic Cap, and PowerTV. It also features the final release of Metrowerks' PowerPC Just In Time compiler, which converts Java into native machine code. Whether you write in C, C++, Object Pascal, or Java, for Windows or for the Macintosh, you can now call CodeWarrior your home.
VirtualMac
Sure, the Apple-Be deal never happened, but the Be OS will still be available for many Mac systems. Users of these systems will find themselves thanking a company called Fredlabs (415/788-8512, http://www.fredlabs.com) for its VirtualMac software, which lets you run Macintosh applications from within the Be OS. You can even copy data from one OS to the other. The alternative? Rebooting your Mac whenever you want to switch operating systems.
Eye Candy
New Photoshop plug-ins abounded at Expo, but this set of filters from Alien Skin Software (919/832-4124, http://www.alienskin.com) stood out for its cool effects and elegant interface. Essentially an upgrade to Alien Skin's Black Box, Eye Candy includes revisions of Drop Shadow, Inner Bevel, and other old favorites, along with several new filters that will have digital artists scurrying to their Macs. We especially liked Fire, which makes it look as if a selection is burning, and Fur, which makes an image look like an animal's coat.
VectorTools
This new package of vector plug-ins from Extensis (503/274-2020, http://www.extensis.com) replaces DrawTools. Available in separate versions for Illustrator and FreeHand, it adds several useful functions missing from both. You get a Magic Wand -- click on one object, and it selects all other objects with similar characteristics. A Navigator tool makes it easy to get around your document when working in a magnified view. Vector Library lets you store frequently used objects for quick retrieval. Illustrator users also get object styles and other goodies.
Conflict Catcher 4
This upgrade to the popular system utility from Casady & Greene (408/484-9228, http://www.casadyg.com) now manages plug-ins along with system extensions and other Mac software components. Plus, it can set up your Mac to download software updates to popular programs via the Web. Version 4, which sells for $99.95, also provides hyperlinks to the Web sites of extension vendors, letting you get the latest information on system resources that may be causing problems.
Apple (AAPL) isn't the only company interested in the Be operating system.
Be is working on porting its operating system to the x86 chip platform, with active encouragement from Intel (INTC). A port would mean that the major PC vendors who use Intel processors could license the BeOS for loading onto their computers.
Currently, the BeOS only ships on the BeBox, a system that uses dual 603e PowerPC processors. Be recently announced that their OS would ship with Macintosh clones from Power Computing starting in January.
A portion of the work on porting the kernel of the BeOS has in fact already been completed, according to an industry source close to the company. The kernel of the operating system is the innermost layer of the operating system, and it's where most of the work is required in order to run on a different chip. Most of the rest of the BeOS, including the interface, can be modified pretty easily to run on Intel-based systems, the source said.
Intel has a keen interest in seeing the BeOS run on its chips, according to the source. Intel wouldn't comment directly on its interest in the operating system but said it certainly wouldn't be displeased if Be made the effort.
"Every other major OS is on the Intel platform, so to the extent that someone wants to port to our architecture, great. We'll sell more chips," said a spokesperson for Intel. "We won't comment if there are any discussions going on. No announcements have been made," the spokesperson added.
The BeOS is a multithreaded system based on an object-oriented design. It offers preemptive multitasking and protected memory, which means fewer crashes of applications and the OS itself. It was built from scratch as a symmetric multiprocessing operating system, meaning that it take advantage of systems that use more than one processor to get higher performance.
Its modern design is less tied to a specific set of microprocessors than older operating systems.
"It is our intention to eventually look at other architectures. We'll have to see about timing," said a Be spokesperson.
But that doesn't mean that Be isn't still very much focused on the PowerPC platform, particularly now that Be is expecting 603e PowerPC processors running as fast as 300 MHz to show up at the upcoming MacWorld trade show in January.
Macworld Lab has tested two MMX Pentium systems and found that an MMX Pentium-based PC is as fast as the same-megahertz Mac using a PowerPC 604e CPU -- but only for calculations designed specifically to use the MMX technology. For non-MMX calculations, PowerPC 604e-based Macs are faster than same-megahertz Pentium PCs. Also, the Pentium now tops out at 240MHz, while the fastest 604e runs at 250MHz.
While Power Computing has trumpeted its technology for a 300-MHz PowerPC system at Macworld this week, Motorola (MOT) has been quietly exhibiting its own 300-MHz system for the Macintosh.
The significance of Motorola's system, called Viper, is rooted not only in the 300-MHz processor speed but the fact that the new systems will work with the PowerPC Platform and run a version of the Macintosh operating system that complies with this standard.
The platform "is absolutely crucial to getting innovation in the Mac market," said Dennis Schneider, vice president of marketing for Motorola Computer Group.
PowerPC Platform, formerly known as the Common Hardware Reference Design, is intended to provide an open standard for PowerPC-system designs that use industry-standard components and run multiple operating systems, including Apple Computer's Mac OS, AIX, and Microsoft's Windows NT.
Although the specification has faltered badly over the last few years and has been chronically behind schedule, the specification now appears to be near completion. The first systems are expected to appear this summer.
By no later than September, Schneider says Motorola expects to ship systems based on Viper with enhancements such as bus speeds of up to 100 MHz and high-performance graphics subsystems that will dramatically speed overall performance.
The bus speed is the rate at which the processor sends data to the rest of the system. Increasing the bus speed from today's relatively paltry 50- and 60-MHz range is becoming critically important as super-fast chips--such as Exponential's 500-MHz processor and the 300-MHz PowerPC chip--will be shipping this year and can take devastating performance hits when they must slow down to talk to the system at only 50 MHz.
But with the specification in place, users can expect to see performance gains in systems using fast bus speeds and motherboards.
The Viper system could eventually become part of the Motorola's current StarMax line of Macintosh-compatible systems, though Motorola hasn't made this clear yet.
Motorola also has plans to increase processor speeds and should be able to do so more quickly than in the past. Currently, the 300-MHz 603e in the Viper system would have to be certified first by Apple, after it certifies that a software suite would work on its own designs as well as those of clone vendors. Schneider says PPCP will free Motorola from having to get Apple's approval every time there is a hardware change.
In addition to systems based on the 300-MHz 603e, in September Motorola expects to see initial iterations of the next generation of PowerPC processors referred to as G3. Motorola has stated previously that the G3 chips will have speeds starting at around 300 MHz and will eventually reach 400 MHz and above.
12/24/96 - The past few years have not been kind to the Amiga Community. Since the demise of Commodore, the ownership and future of the Amiga has been continually uncertain. The only thing that has remained constant is the loyalty of Amiga users. It is with respect to this loyalty that we feel it necessary to let YOU know the current state of affairs and what QuikPak is doing to see that the Amiga has the successful future it so deserves.
Back when Amiga Technologies was owned by Escom, QuikPak was selected to manufacture the complete A4000T and components for the A1200. During the collapse of Escom and the subsequent negotiations with VisCorp, QuikPak continued manufacturing and servicing Amiga Computers. Throughout this time of uncertainty, QuikPak continued to support the platform, placing ads in the North American publication Amazing Computing, forging alliances with Amiga developers and supporters, and developing new products of our own. Recently, at AmigaFest in Toronto, we unveiled two new computers and we have been shipping the Accelerator for the A4000T. We believe this product development clearly demonstrates our commitment to the Amiga.
It now appears evident that negotiations between VisCorp and Amiga Technologies have reached a standstill. As a creditor of Amiga Technologies, QuikPak has a vested interest in seeing the future of the Amiga handled properly. To this end, QuikPak has placed an offer in front of the German liquidator for Amiga Technologies, and we are awaiting further information regarding this.
What does this mean to you, the end user? QuikPak believes that there is more to the Amiga than a simple set top box. We believe that the A4000 and its successors have a place in the market. We believe that a model along the lines of the A1200 also can play an important role in the future of the Amiga. We further believe that products currently under development at QuikPak can bring the Amiga back to the forefront in innovation. We believe that working closely with developers, other manufacturers, distributors, and dealers is necessary to make the Amiga a success. And, perhaps most importantly of all, we believe in listening to you, the person who has kept this platform alive.
We hope that the new year will allow us to bring you good news, that QuikPak will be successful in our negotiations with the German liquidator. We trust that the liquidator will move quickly, and justly, to see these events through. We encourage any and all input from the Amiga Community - let us know what you want to see. And, finally, we encourage those responsible for handling the Amiga Technologies' assets to be as open as we at QuikPak are striving to be.
Sincerely,
Dave Ziembicki
C.E.O, QuikPak Corporation
Contact: Dan Robinson
Director of Business Development of Amiga Computers
QuikPak Corporation
[Source: http://www.amigasupport.com/quikpak/ ]
A4040L - model 1 - MSRP: $4495.00 U.S.
2MB Chip Ram
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Motorola 68040 25MHz CPU
A4040L- model 2 - MSRP: $9495.00 U.S.
2MB Chip Ram
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High resolution LCD display
2GIG Hard Drive
6x CD-ROM drive w/ AsimCDFS pre-installed
Motorola 68040 25MHz CPU
NewTek Video Toaster & Video Toaster Flyer
- Non-linear video editing suite
A4060L - model 1 - MSRP: $4995.00 U.S.
2MB Chip Ram
16MB Fast Ram
High resolution LCD display
2GIG hard drive
6x CD-ROM drive w/ AsimCDFS pre-installed
Motorola 68060 50MHz CPU
A4060L - model 2 - MSRP: $9995.00 U.S.
2MB Chip Ram
16MB Fast Ram
High resolution LCD display
2GIG Hard Drive
6x CD-ROM drive w/ AsimCDFS pre-installed
Motorola 68060 50MHz CPU
NewTek Video Toaster & Video Toaster Flyer
- Non-linear video editing suite
ToC
While supplies last, all direct orders for Amiga products from IAM will include free metallic Boing logos described by the Amiga Web Directory as "the quintessential Amiga collector items."
NEW RETAIL PRICE LIST:
Connect Your Amiga! A Guide to the Internet, LANs, BBSs, and
Online Services (book, 1996) $19
DiskSalv4 $30
MRBackup 2.5 $45
SYA (Save Your Behind), bundle of DS4 and MRB $49
MegaBall4 (with free XL t-shirt) $29
Amiga Envoy 2.0b $39
DICE 3.2 $100
for students/owners of other packages $75
Torn Shapes of Desire: Internet Erotica (book, 1996) $14.95
IAM products can be ordered direct from IAM via the web, mail, fax or
phone. We don't accept COD orders, but do accept checks in US dollars, as
well as Visa and MC (no Amex or Discover). Our shipping and handling charges
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charge. We ship via USPS or UPS at our option. In the US: $6 for ground, or
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info@iam.com -- bot mails you current info on our products
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voice: +1 610 853 4406 (orders only, M-F 9-5 US Eastern time)
fax: +1 610 853 3733
ToC
There are three engineers in a car: an electrical engineer, a chemical engineer, and a Microsoft engineer. Suddenly the car stops by the side of the road, and the three engineers look at each other wondering what could be wrong.
The electrical engineer suggests stripping down the electronics of the car and trying to trace where a fault might have occurred.
The chemical engineer, not knowing much about cars, suggests that maybe the fuel is becoming emulsified and getting blocked somewhere.
Then the Microsoft engineer, not knowing much about anything, comes up with a suggestion: "Why don't we close all the windows, get out, get back in, open the windows again, and maybe it'll work!?"
[Source: From Springfield's Premier User Group newsletter, "The Gazette", January, 1997. SPUG's address is P.O. Box 9035, Springfield, Illinois 62791-9035.]
10. Take advantage of employee discount on a new Mac.
9. Do something about Guy Kawasaki.
8. New product lines: Bananas and Pears
7. Just Be. No, wait...take the Next step. Darn, that's not it either.
6. Increase sales by offering a free Buzz Lightyear with every Mac sold.
5. Make sure everyone knows that he's not the Jobs going south because of NAFTA.
4. Repackage leftover Next boxes as end tables.
3. Get out of that pesky education market.
2. Bring back the Apple III!
1. Tell Sculley to go back to pushing sugar water!
For more breaking news on Steve Jobs' old-is-new job at Apple, check out NEWS.COM's recent coverage:
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0%2c4%2c6527%2c00.html
[Source: CNET Digital Dispatch Vol. 3, No. 1. To subscribe, just send an email to dispatch@cnet.com with the following in the body: subscribe [your email address] - For example: subscribe me@somewhere.com - To unsubscribe or find out more about our member services, point your browser at: http://www.cnet.com/Community/Mservice/faq.html?dd]
Thought you might like this one. A student enters my office nearly hysterical because she can't get her assignments off a disk created with Win95/Works on our Pentiums. She hadn't made more than a single set of copies. None of the Win95 system items or other applications will let her access her stuff through any program. Attempts all end with something like the file is corrupted and can't find the path etc. or this is a bad disk etc.. It is basically fried. One of my colleagues ( a pc guy who knows his stuff) tries various methods using various pc rescue software (Norton Disc Doctor etc.). No luck whatsoever, he spends quite a while on it (all afternoon), but finally gives up. The student is really numb by this time. Entering the grief process I think.
I tell my student not to worry. It just seems like something a Mac can handle. I take the disk, slap it in an old IICX we have using 7.5.3, the pc disk is accessible, so I access the file , its too big for SimpleText so I use Word and MacLink Plus. Presto, I have her document and print it out. I save all her docs. and attempt to initialize her disk in PC format. No dice, it is indeed fried. So I create a new disk, slap her stuff on it. Time for all this, about 5-7 minutes. Next day, I give her all the stuff, smile at her and tell her to do her writing on our old Macs and save herself some trouble. My colleague just shook his head and kept saying, "That's impressive, geez that's impressive. Geez, geez! Wow" I just had to emphasize I was solving Win95 problems with a Mac system on the equivalent (well not really) of a 386 machine.
I think he is getting close to buying a PowerMac.
I'm a Mac Network Specialist who's watched just one too many clients go PC because of some program or another that they NEEEED right now, and waiting for the phantom Mac version just won't do. Sarns 3M is one of these companies. They are disposing of their Macs Just to have one Network.
To this I say bunk. Make it an Appletalk Network! Here's how.
If you must have a few PC's around (they do have their uses), get a copy of PCMacLan Connect (version 6.0). Previous versions allowed Windows 3.1 users to completely emulate Mac Workstation software. They can see servers, and can even file share. The latest version works on W95. [Sacrelidge, I know, but we can be bigger than that...]
This package is so slick that when a co-worker (total 95 nut) installed it on his 95 machine (flawless and smooth) he was stunned. He was so impressed with what we could do, he said the first nice thing about Macs I've ever heard him say, then he kept saying nice things! We put the Service Source CD in the external 6x CDRom on my IIsi, shared the whole machine, and mounted the CD on his 95 machine (the CD appeared blank when just put into the machine). Then we pulled up his Acrobat Reader and ran the CD in his machine over the network.
So, if your Macs are in danger because of network simplification, tell 'em about PC Mac Lan Connect. This is an un-endorsed expose. And send your good wishes and prayers to the guys at Sarns who are keeping up the fight despite corporate policy. And send some E-mail to Sarns 3M brass if you can find 'em.
I was just going through some old mail and found this. It's an offer from MicroFrontier for their Color-It! 3.2 image editing program for $29.95. I've used this thing (version 3.0) and it's a good one. I just ordered it. The reviews I read on it when I used it about a year ago compared it to PhotoShop 3.x and considered it the "poor man's Photoshop". It received high marks but the cost was a fraction of Adobe's PhotoShop. I think at $29.95 it's a no-brainer unless there were radical changes made. All anyone has to do is call them up and tell them they want to take advantage of the evangelist offer for Color-It!. When I ordered it, they said that an ending date was not set as of yet.
Color It! Special Offer Extended
from Wayne Davis (wayne.davis@microfrontier.com)
Due to the staggering response to our earlier posting, we are extending the special $29.95 Evangelist price on Color It! 3.2 (save $120 off the $149.95 list price!).
Color It! 3.2 is the latest version of MicroFrontier's award-winning MAC-ONLY image editing program, available on a CD-ROM packed with hundreds of photos, a free image browser/slide show program, free plug-ins and pattern sets and demos from other Mac software developers.
If you've ever wanted to try your hand at retouching and combining images but didn't have deep pockets or a fistful of RAM, Color It! is the program for you. Work with existing images and photographs, scan in new ones, or create original works of art from scratch. With Color It! you can easily manipulate and blend images in ways limited only by your imagination!
Features new to version 3.2 include opening and saving TIFF LZW, JPEG, and GIF file formats (including transparent and interlaced modes). The new version also opens Kodak PhotoCD Image Pac (multiple-resolution) files and permits Bezier pen paths to be stroked with the Brush, Eraser, Pencil, Airbrush, Blur, Sharpen or Stamp tools--even between different documents!
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NewIcons3
WorkBench enhancers are just not my bag. I've tried Magic Workbench and a few others, but I find the palette won't stay the same from minute to minute, and they eat my precious CHIP RAM at a prodigious rate, so I stay away from them.
However, I have an open mind, so I'm always looking for a little gem of a program that actually makes my WB WorkBetter. For the last month I've been giving NewIcons3 a chance to grow on me. So far I like it. I've swapped out many of the little isometric icons with the good ones from the AES collections. I don't profess to be knowledgeable in the field of palettes, but I've somehow coerced NI into accepting a palette I like, and it stays!
If you haven't tried the latest NI3 package, you might be missing out on a good thing. I found it to be less complicated to install than earlier versions. It peacefully coexists with your old icons. You can give them to others without NI3 and they can see them fine (No little dots anymore), and it's freeware.
I found a zillion NewIcons in the AESIcons packages on AmiCDROM #15 or in pix/icon. You can easily exchange the icon imagery from a NewIcon to a MWB icon with a little drag'n'drop utility included in the NI3 package.
Download it at util/wb/NewIconsV3.lha.
OutLineFont
The best WB enhancer I've seen in years is a little gem called OutLineFont. The program draws an outline around each character of the font you use for icons on the WB. You can, for instance use a black color for your icon fonts, and then have a white border put around each letter, automatically. This solved the nasty problem of not being able to see the icon font against a backdrop.
It's very easy to install, and you can get it from the Club disk or /util/wb/OutlineFont.lha.
GIF-Toolkit
Since I've started publishing web pages, I have been looking for a program that assembles, edits and plays GIF Anims. Until now I've used WhirlGIF, a CLI only program which works OK, but does not play the anims.
My search is over. I found the perfect GIF Anim tool. It is a $20 shareware program called GIF-Toolkit, written by Stephan Schupfer. The program has full drag'n'drop frame editing and playback from a good MUI GUI.
You can download a version 1.5.2 demo from this site http://www.sbox.tu-graz.ac.at/home/schupfer/GIF-Toolkit/ . The demo Version 1.51 was uploaded to Aminet on December 17. You can download it from AmiNet as /gfx/edit/GIFToolkit152.lha.
Stephan now includes a CLI only GIF Anim viewer for registered users. It requires OS 3.1. I tried it out and it works great. GIF Anims are a new artform, and it's about time we Amiga users get our hands on the tools to make them. I also hear that Cloanto's Personal Paint 7 can generate them.
Do you like to work with GIF Anims? There is another program on AmiNet that converts IFF Anims to Gif anims. It's a time limited demo by Felix Schwartz. I tried it out and it works fine, although there are some limitations. The fully featured program is part of his UCONV package. Try the demo at /gfx/conv/anim2gifanim.lha.
DrawStudio
I've been using a graphics manipulation program called Image Studio for a long time. The authors, Andy and Graham Dean, have just released a new Illustration program called DrawStudio. I downloaded the demo from their new web site at http://www.ajdean.demon.co.uk/studio/ This is definitely worth checking out. Here's how they describe DrawStudio:
QuickCam
I've been waiting for a long time to be able to plug a ConnecTix QuickCam into my Amiga. Now I have. Tony Philipsson has released a software/hardware package that lets anyone put one of those spiffy little cameras on top of their monitor.
He has uploaded a demo of the package to AmiNet so you can see what the GUI interface and sample grabs look like. Get it at /biz/demo/QuickCam.lha The package costs $30, less the QuickCam. It generates 64 grayshade IFFs in a large number of frame sizes. It also can save a series of IFFs you can assemble as an anim. I was impressed with the capture rate. It seems to be able to grab images at 30 FPS. The resultant anims are very smooth.
You can Email Tony at a036888t@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us to get the complete story. He also makes those hard to find IDE cables that connect 3.5" drives to a 1200 or 600.
Since installing the camera, I have taken dozens of pictures. This lets me flood my friends' mailboxes with lots of current pictures of me, my cats, and my new 1200 tower case. I found the lighting is a little tricky to get a well lit shot. The GUI provides a lot of control over the camera. I highly recommend this package.
I now have the luxury of being able to chat on the IRC to my friends, and send them an "instant picture" while we talk.
I got my QuickCam at Creative Computers on Kearny Mesa for $100. It came with a with a $20 rebate.
QuickCam II
Ha, just when you thought it was safe to sit in front of your computer, free of the intrusive eye of a TV camera, bang - along comes another QuickCam package. Yes there are two of them, made by different companies.
Joe Sera, project manager at Omnilink informs me that their AQCVid QuickCam hardware/software package is ready to ship at the end of December. Initially, the Grayscale PC camera will be supported. It will be able to generate IFF, Anim5 and Anim7 file formats for ECS/AGA/CyberGraphx.
Future upgrades will include a scanner driver for ImagineFX, and a new port of Cornell CUSeeMe. They also plan on supporting the color camera. There is a lot more information in their Home Page. http://www.olnk.com
The list price it $59.95, less the QuickCam camera. You can order now. (718) 805-2601.
For more information on the Camera itself, try Connectix's home page. http://www.connectix.com
Ptolemy
My web pages have been spiffed up with the addition of some client-side maps. My first map was pretty crude, but so am I... After I got the hang of it, I added maps to all my pages quickly.
To generate the maps, I'm using a new $10 shareware program called Ptolemy.lha. The program is a stand-alone module, part of a larger suite of web builder programs called Arachne. For the complete story go to http://www.ids.net/~nightspd/ . You can download Ptolemy from there.
The program is not available on AmiNet.
I have tested Ptolemy and it works exactly like a Map Maker should:
Do you like MPEGs? There is a new datatype that lets Multiview play them. It plays the MPEGs in a window with slider controls. It's an ALPHA release (.015), but it works on my 1200. Download it as /util/dtype/Mpvdtc015.lha. Requires OS 3.1. I find it works best when the MPEGs are shown on a custom screen. The program adds a GUI with buttons to play and control the MPEG.
Don't have 3.1? Actually I don't either. My 1200 only has 3.0, but my 600 has 3.1. Of course the docs didn't mention this requirement, so I tried it and found it wouldn't work. When I tried again with SnoopDos running, I found what it was missing. A couple of libs, and the TapeDeck gadget. Not knowing any better, I copied the needed files from my 600's WB and tried it again. Success. I'm always leery of mixing and matching OS versions, but this didn't cause any harm.
The Power of the Internet
As you might know, I maintain a huge Amiga-specific web site called Amiga Alley. I usually get about 500 hits per day on the site. It's fun to do, and I have met many new net-friends through it. A recent addition to the site is a ShapeShifter page.
On December 12th, both the Amiga Alley page and the SS page were added to the Amiga Web Directory's "New Sites". The following day my site got a total of 8,551 hits. I was overwhelmed with email for several days. What a rush!
Now, two weeks later, the site is still getting 1200 hits a day. And the mail is very positive. I feel like I've actually accomplished something.
The Wave of the Future
I got a notice in the mail from my cable company, Southwestern Cable, announcing the availability of their new fiber optic, high speed cable modem service called Road Runner. This is really exciting. I've been waiting for my Cable Modem for a long time. This spring the new Internet Service will become available to those in the "Upgrade" area (North County).
San Diego is the second city in the US to be selected for this service. Somehow Cleveland got to be the first. How did the "Mistake on the Lake" ever get chosen ahead of our high tech mecca? Go figure.
I happen to live in the right spot. That's the good news. Now for the bad news. They offer the service to owners of PeeCees and Macs. Once again, the Amiga has been snubbed. Why am I not surprised?
However, and I don't know this for sure, we MIGHT be able to use our Amigas. Since the basic hardware requirement is a 040 Mac, ShapeShifter might work. You will need to buy a 10base Ethernet card. The price of these cards for an Amiga is $300-400, or about ten times what a comparable card costs for a PC.
Assuming you get SS running with MacTCP, and you get a "suitable" Ethernet card, you might have a chance to get it all working. I really don't know. What I do know is that if you do get it running, you will be connected to the Road Runner server 24 hours a day. You can have Email, but not web space for your own web site. Transfer speeds will vary, depending on local net traffic, but expect it to at least ten times faster than a 28.8 modem. That is a conservative estimate. Remember the Ethernet card can transfer 10MB/second.
So how much does it cost? The monthly charge is $39.95. You must pay a $100 setup fee. This fee includes the software (a special version of Internet Explorer), an ethernet card if you don';t already have on, and the first month's fee. The free card applies to PC users only.
The service will feature a large local content, access to AOL, and the internet. Road Runner seems to be a "local AOL", with chat rooms, news, and local color.
You can get all the details on Road Runner by checking into their web site at www.rdrun.com. If you want to put your name on their waiting list, call them at (619) 695-3220.
You can get all the details on Road Runner by checking into their web site at www.rdrun.com. If you want to put your name on their waiting list, call them at (619) 695-3220.
Year End Roundup
The latest depressing bit of news to trickle out of VIScorp is the announcement that Jason Compton has left the company.
As you may know, Jason is the father of Amiga Reports, the premier Amiga online magazine. For the last several months he served as the Community Relations Officer for VISCorp. In other words, Jason took the flak from the Amiga Community.
That is not a job I want. It seems VIScorp's original $40M bid for AT was not realistic. After investigating AT's assets, it seems the company was actually worth less than $20M. This single fact is the root of the delay in purchasing AT.
Negotiations continue, but as long as ESCOM's attorney demands $40M for AT, it looks bad for the Amiga. I really don't know where this is going. It makes me want to drag a VIC20 out of the closet and have some fun with a computer again.
VIScorp is completely silent. Since Jason has left, they have no one to speak to us. I wish Jason well. He and Carl Sassenrath were the only Good Guys associated with the whole debacle, and now they are gone.
QuikPak has made a formal bid for AT's assets. That makes two companies in the running. I wouldn't care if K-Mart bought AT. Let's get the ball bouncing again.
Phase5 has announced two different NEW Amigas. The A\BOX is a true RISC Amiga, but remains dream-ware. Their 060/PPC add on card has been shipped to developers. This might be the first real new Amiga to hit the market this year.
PIOS has announced something but I could not understand what it was. The word "Amiga" was mentioned in their press release, but I don't know if they are planning an Amiga OS or what. My advice to them is "Hire someone to write your press releases in real English. Learn the value of a clearly written synopsis". What the heck is ProDad and why would I want it in my computer?
PAWS seems to have a luggable Amiga 1200, with an active matrix LCD screen. The price is astronomical, and doesn't include the Amiga, BUT you can actually buy one.
There is word that a licensed A1200 has been made in Hong Kong, or mainland China.
Eagle Computer has announced a ZORRO 3 bus extender for the 1200.
I wish the news could be better. Let's hope 1997 is the Year of the Amiga.
Colin Thompson
1 January 1996
San Diego, CA
colin@znet.com
http://www.znet.com/~colin/
It's the end of 1996 - a year that held a great deal of promise for Amiga users. The Walker wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but it was a real sign that some work was being done on the Amiga and that we would see some improvements over time. Amiga Technologies seemed to have its act together, more or less, and Amigas were available worldwide. Escom was in financial trouble, though, and we all started getting a bit nervous.
Then I woke up one April morning and got probably the biggest shock I could have received. A press release from Gilles Bourdin (a rare enough occurrence in and of itself) announcing VIScorp's intention to buy Amiga Technologies from Escom. I had spoken with VIScorp's CEO, Bill Buck, in the summer of '95, when it was well known that VIScorp was licensing the Amiga technology. Bill summed up VIScorp's set-top technology and I filed the information away under "Not particularly interesting to me." Why bother with a cable box that did internet stuff when you can get much better capabilities from a computer?
But the AT/VIScorp press release suddenly made VIScorp important to everyone. I contacted VIScorp and established a relationship with their Director of Communications, met with Bill Buck, and walked away confused. But a couple of weeks after that meeting, he offered me a job. It was a dream job description, and the sort of thing I'd made a few preliminary inquiries about to AT when they first got started. Be VIScorp's liaison to the Amiga community? Sure, where do I sign up? Actually, to be totally honest, I turned down Bill's initial offer, but after thinking about it for an hour, I decided that I'd never be able to live with myself unless I actually gave it a shot. So I did.
Anyway, time went by. Most people had shifted into a VIScorp gear, watching them for news and information. VIScorp held a meeting in Toulouse, which didn't go off much better than Bill's appearance at the WOA UK. People were getting nervous about VIScorp.
Things weren't helped when July rolled around and Escom went bankrupt. This derailed VIScorp's "in-place" acquisition of AT's assets, and instead made it a dreaded bankruptcy proceeding. But VIScorp opened a dialogue with the trustee, and life went on.
Rumors began to circulate about VIScorp, and about other companies that might be interested in the Amiga. But nobody was willing to step forward and announce it outright, so VIScorp remained the most talked about name.
August, then September came and went, and by now VIScorp had not acquired the Amiga despite giving some explicit dates. The Amiga public grew rancorous. The public flaming of VIScorp by PIOS, a sort of AT successor company founded by former AT president Stefan Domeyer didn't help matters much, either. My job was losing its dream status and quickly becoming a nightmare, as I was powerless to push the deal along and not very well equipped or supported by the company to make some serious reassurances.
Meanwhile, it seemed clear the Walker was to be scrapped. What PowerPC work there was for AT was being directed by PIOS. And Phase5 was soon to announce its own "Amiga successor" computer, with a high-spec custom chip and PowerPC engine.
November rolls around. Right before I leave to attend the Cologne Computer '96, at the invitation of Schatztruhe, Carl Sassenrath, who had been VIScorp's legitimizing name, flamed the company. VIScorp loses its rock star, and the public gets downright ornery. Soon after, I submit my own resignation, and on December 16, my 7-month stint as Communications Manager for VIScorp comes to a close.
So, where are we now? A second company, QuikPak, has stepped to the plate and formally announced that it, too, is seeking to have a bid for the Amiga technology accepted. QuikPak has been manufacturing 4000Ts for some time now, and has been doing work on a 4000-level portable and a "5050" Amiga/Pentium hybrid monster. Meanwhile, Phase5 seems to be moving ahead with their "A/Box" computer, looking to lure Amiga users to a new, "Amiga-like" if not explicitly Amiga-compatible platform. PIOS seeks the same result, but their solution is a more or less generic PowerPC box running the BeOS as well as the offering-in-development from ProDAD known as p-OS, which claims to offer a very Amiga-ish environment. Rumors of high levels of Amiga compatibility on the Phase5 and PIOS boxes abound, but to date nobody has seen these things in the flesh. p-OS was on display at Cologne, but is not a finished product yet.
At the end of 1996, the Amiga is the property of Escom AG, a company in bankruptcy. Its trustee, Bernard Hembach, has told potential purchasers that he will not entertain discussion unless they bring at least US$20 million to the table. VIScorp claims that its research indicates the assets are not worth that much, and as a result nobody will back the purchase for such an amount.
I was fortunate enough to have a discussion recently with Dave Ziambicki, CEO of QuikPak, about their decision to publicly enter the fray. When I expressed concern about their ability to raise the sort of money Hembach was asking, he agreed that Hembach would likely need to come down in price to make any purchase reasonable.
1997 will open with the Amiga in bankruptcy and its ownership future up in the air, marking the 4th straight calendar year a bankruptcy has touched the Amiga. We all hope that the situation will be sorted out expediently, but I've learned that it's a lot more complicated that just walking down to a Citibank branch and telling a banker that you'd like US$20 million to buy a computer you can make profitable. Don't be fooled by Usenet denizens who would have you believe otherwise.
But when the acquisition takes place, what then? Is the future of the Amiga in the AmigaOS and a more modern approach to the hardware, with a RISC AmigaOS 4 supporting industry-standard hardware to achieve its goals? Does it lie in a replacement OS as p-OS presents itself to be, which could run on both existing machines as well as PowerPC boxes, offering AmigaOS capabilities in a more modern structure? Does it lie in a jump to a platform embodying the original Amiga design spirit, as the A/Box seems to be? These questions are not easy to answer, and the answer will not be the same for every Amiga user. When the acquisition is completed, we will be facing some very difficult choices. The Amiga genie is out of the bottle, and it has become clear that no single company is likely to have the power to control the fate of the technology. Companies have been waiting far too long to allow that to happen.
Amiga Report will rededicate itself in 1997 to covering all of the possible avenues for the continuation of the Amiga legacy. I'm looking forward to seeing where the path leads, and am excited by all of the possibilities. We are at the front and center of a growing movement towards the establishment of a legitimate "alternative computing" market, unashamed to stand outside the Wintel spotlight and strong enough to make our own destinies without the endorsement of Bill Gates. Good luck to us all.
[Source: Amiga Report Online Magazine #4.15 - Dec. 31, 1996 ]
The December 19th meeting began without the traditional introduction of club officers, moving directly into the Question and Answer Session.
Jim said the Amiga SIG chairmanship was still open. (Later in the meeting, Ed Hartman and John Lynn volunteered to co-chair the SIG.) President Rollins personally thanked Jim for doing the Amiga SIG this last year. Jim received a round of applause for this service.
CUCUGMAC #42: [dubbed "The Practical Joke Pack"]
Belch (random noises emanate from the afflicted machine), Deep Thought (witticisms randomly pop up in a window then disappear), Earthquake (the screen vibrates, slowly at first, then more and more violently), Gravity (The pixels that make up the picture on the screen begin falling and ultimately they all wind up as a pile at the bottom of the screen), I'm Batman (the computer will spout out this phase every now and then), MacBork (The Swedish Chef invades any document you target), Mac Puke (beware, this sound file can make some people very ill), and Sirtet (a Tetris clone).
CUCUGMAC #43:
Beam Wars (a game based on the light cycles from Tron), Convert (a unit conversion program), Knot (a program that delves into the mathematics of knot tying), Set Clock (a programs that dials up the National Bureau of Standards and sets your computer's clock to the most accurate available), and SpiroGraph (an electronic version of the perennial favorite. You can save your pictures once they're done.).
After the Library demonstration, Richard Rollins spoke about the club's equipment storage problem. Our old facility will soon no longer be available and we need someone to volunteer to give the club's equipment a home between meetings.
The floor was then turned over to Kevin Hisel to conduct the Election of Club Officers. Kevin began by explaining the offices and the duties entailed. He then opened the floor to nominations beyond the slate nominated last month. There were no more nominations. Jim Lewis moved and Mark Bellon seconded that the nominations be closed. This was approved. Since there was only one candidate per available office, Rachel Cooper moved and Michael Cole seconded that these uncontested offices be filled by the nominated candidates, accepting them by acclamation. The voice vote was unanimous.
Treasure Mark Landman gave the Annual Treasurers Report. CUCUG is very solvent. It was reported that our membership has surpassed 200 for the first time ever.
The business portion of the meeting closed with the notification that the Board meeting would be moved to Monday, the 23rd, rather than the expected Tuesday, the 24th, due to the impending holiday.
The December meeting of the CUCUG executive board was rescheduled to Monday, December 23, 1996, at 7PM, at Kevin Hisel's house (address and phone number, both in the book). Present at the meeting were Richard Rollins, Emil Cobb, Jim Huls, Anderson Yau, Mark Bellon, Kevin Hopkins, Kevin Hisel, and Jim Lewis.
Before the formal meeting began, there was a discussion of the VIScorp/Amiga situation. The tenor and tone of this exchange was very somber. Phrases like "The death of the Amiga has been long and remarkable", "If not for the loyalty of the users of the Amiga it would have been gone long ago", "It signals the death of a very capable system," and "Although this is bad for the Amiga, as a club, we can still survive for years to come" were presented with grim resolve. There was a consensus (though by no mean unanimous) that, as was stated in CUCUG's interview in Amiga Magazine this last summer, "Time is blood, and the Amiga community is being bleed to death."
Richard Rollins: Richard began the formal meeting by personally thanking Jim Lewis for running the Amiga SIG this last year. He was happy to report that two SIG members have volunteered to co-chair the SIG for 1997: Ed Hartman and John Lynn. Neither Ed or John were at this meeting so the program for January is still to be addressed.
Richard stated that he would be sending out an email reminder to those members who joined the MacSIG through CU-Online that their memberships expired at the end of the calendar year and that they should renew if they want to remain members of CUCUG.
Richard spoke about his assisting many teachers to get on line. It seems the UI is no longer giving free online assess to Kindergarten through grade 12 teachers, as was done in the past, due to the cost. Many teachers are now moving to CU-Online to keep hooked up to the Net and Richard is becoming their principal contact (no pun intended). Word of mouth is serving CUCUG well. Thanks Richard for your selfless, hard work.
Richard reported that he had contacted the Park District about our returning the CUCUG meetings to the Bresnan Center and found that the first three months of 1997 are booked on our traditional third Thursday meeting date. However, starting in April, that day is clear to the end of the year. So, it was decided that we will stay at the Union hall through March and move to the Bresnan Center in April. There was still some reservations about the use of the phone line at the Center, but in a vote, the move was accepted unanimously.
Emil Cobb: Emil reported a head count of 31 at the last meeting.
Jim Huls: Jim said he got a barrage of questions about OpenTransport and OpenTransportPPP at the last meeting after Mark had pointed him out as having installed it successfully.
Jim stated that he was very happy with his new $99 120 MHz 604 card for the PowerMac 7500. He said they're still available from several places, such as MacSale. Mark Bellon said that Apple dumped a bunch of the boards at near cost to clear them out, but they function beautifully.
Jim said he is very intrigued by Apple's purchase of NeXT Computer, last Thursday, the 19th, on our meeting date. The purchase price has been reported at $400 million dollars. Apple will be selling NeXT Step to run on the PowerPC. Mark noted that NeXT Step is a fully mature, fully functional operating system. NeXT Step is also highly portable between platforms. It's a highly tuned OS running over a UNIX core.
Anderson Yau: Anderson passed, with nothing to say.
Mark Bellon: Mark said, "We should probably drop the Library. Sales don't warrant the effort." Mark said he has slowed down on the collection of material for new disks. He feels he's basically providing people with a road map to collecting the material themselves off the Net. Added to this is the fact that most new software is to large to fit on a single floppy.
Somehow, around this time, we launched into a bout of Gilligan's Island trivia. Go figure.
Mark stated that he is happy with his 200 MHz 604e card. When pressed for details, Mark merely smiled and said, "I'm not programmed to respond in that area."
Mark said he has a line on PowerMac 7500s for $1500. They come with a 601 processor on a daughterboard, which easily replaceable. The motherboard will handle CPU speeds up to 300 MHz.
Kevin Hopkins: Kevin distributed the mail to the appropriate officers and presented the exchange newsletters for those that desired to look at them. He reported that the updated membership list was filed in the Board section. He also outlined the other lists of the membership he is maintaining. We currently have 101 members for 1997 - an all time high, at this time of year - and we have 226 members total for 1996 as of 12/22/96, again an all time high.
Kevin reported that the cost of last month's newsletter production completely drained the petty cash fund instituted last month. The increased number of members is having its effect. There was a discussion of instituting an electronic distribution of the newsletter to those members that would prefer to receive it that way. The savings in production cost would be substantial, particularly with our international members.
Kevin Hisel: Kevin reported that the Amiga Web Directory will soon be undergoing a major visual overhaul. He talked about the test page he had run on the AWD and the feedback it generated. One of the results is that he has generated a "Lynx Enhanced" version of the Directory, just for Lynx users. There will be tables in the new pages for everyone else.
Kevin reported that there have been no new BBS messages for the last two months. The BBS will be decommissioned on January 1.
Turning to the Library, Kevin said that since he has quit that post, there is nothing to report in that area.
Kevin congratulated the Board for their hard fought and resounding victory in the last election.
On web business, Kevin provided a little information on the effects of a web site being placed on the Amiga Web Directory. The sudden increase in traffic such inclusion causes can create major headaches for the unweary webster that isn't ready for it. Jim Huls mentioned a guy who got hit that way. His Internet Service Provider charged him for the number of hits his site was generating. This was no problem when that traffic was low. But once added to the AWD, the charges racked up in a hurry and the guy asked to be removed from our listing to keep from being "sorely taxed."
Kevin informed the Board that the Gateway Computer Show negotiations are still hanging.
Jim Lewis: Jim reviewed the tax forms we received in the mail (in Mark Landman's absence). Nothing really applied to us. Jim explained the tax exempt status as a social club which we have been pursuing for so long. It boils down to the fact that we have it now as long as we doing our accounting in the prescribed manner. We need to be able to prove that no more than 15% of our income comes from outside the membership. This should not be a problem.
Jim said he ran into Chris Johns, who wish pass hellos to everyone. She is selling her A3000.
For everyone's general information, Jim reported that Apex Computers, which he now manages, has just attained its status as an Apple Authorized Sales and Service Center. So, if you need to buy or have Apple equipment repaired, Apex is available. Jim asked Richard Rollins to please pass that information on to the K-12 people he is coming in contact with.
CUCUG member Gary Bernstein is performing the Apple service work there. Member Anderson Yau is handling the PC clone side. As they are located on Green Street, a wag on the Board dubbed Apex "CUCUG on the Green."
Richard Rollins: Richard closed the meeting by mentioning RAMJet, a local memory supplier here in Champaign. They are good people to deal with and their prices are comparable to Chip Merchant. Mark Bellon said he would have no problem recommending them. Their information is as follows:
RAMJet Phone: 217-355-0755 1817 S. Neil, Suite 102 800-831-4569 Champaign, IL 61820 URL: http://www.ramjet.comAsk for Steve or Aaron.
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 Webmaster: Kevin Hisel 406-948-1999 khisel @ cucug.org Amiga SIG: John Lynn 586-3280
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". Once you're on, just type "go cucug" for a good place to start.