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From:    "Colin-Stewart Bridge Deady" <csbdeady@mythicz.u-net.com>
Date:    29 Mar 99 23:33:47 +0000
Subject: Summary 13
To:      kosh-general@kosh.net

This is a MIME encoded multipart message. The fact that you are reading
this means you don't have a MIME capable mail program. You might still
be able to read part of the mail's content, but some of it may require
a MIME capable mail reader to decode. Following are some URLs where
you can find MIME-capable mail programs for common platforms:

  Amiga............: MicroDot-II  http://www.vapor.com/
  Unix.............: Metamail     ftp://ftp.bellcore.com/nsb/
  Windows/Macintosh: Eudora       http://www.qualcomm.com/

General info about MIME can be found at:

  http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/mail/mime-faq/top.html

--=_=8<==MD237000DDB-2E5C69D0==8<=_=
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Hi all

Summary 13 enclosed. Many thanks to Robert Wise and John Chandler who
helped out with writing it.

It's a long one - a very long one - and I decided to keep John's
excellent contribution in a separate file to reduce the size of the
main file - although admittedly this is a larger_than_average summary.

If we get this many contributions to the general mailing list in the
future I will need help summarising the ML on a regular basis -
alternatively -please- take a lot of topics to the appropriate other
lists as I can't summarise them for lack of time.

Regards
-Bridge


--
http://www.mythicz.u-net.com | csbdeady@mythicz.u-net.com
ICQ:29145054 | DT-MUD:sunsite.auc.dk:4242
Amigan | Vegan | KOSHan Go for a swim in the object sea,
http://www.kosh.net | Storm of the Eye GUI-PBEM http://www.2bp.com/

--=_=8<==MD237000DDB-2E5C69D0==8<=_=
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name="ksum13.txt"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: plain (7/8 bit)
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="ksum13.txt"
X-MD2-FilePath: Work:mythicz/ksum13.txt

KOSH [Kommunity Orientated Software Hardware]

Weekly Summary

Week Commencing: 20th March 1999

Number: 013

Mailing List: kosh-general

In the mailing list this week, the following items were discussed. Please do
not email the scribe regarding any of these topics, it is not his job to answer
these questions but merely to report  the topics of conversation. If you have
any queries about this summary, please email ben@kosh.net, stating the Summary
Number, and Mailing List Name, and he will try to answer your queries.

The Summary this week was completed jointly by myself, Bridge Deady, Robert
Wise and John Chandler. I have incorporated Robert's sections into the main
summary but I have enclosed John's separately to allow for different
pagination.

a)

Subject: Keyboard mapping

Summary of debate: An idea posted is that it would be useful if you could swap
                   keys of the keyboard in software. For example, if you wanted
                   to replace "x" with "y" you would just run the appropriate
                   mini application, specify the keys to swap and choose OK.
                   This would allow people who would like keys to be mapped
                   slightly differently to be able to accomplish this.

                   It was further suggested that this could later be
                   implemented in hardware by allowing physical hotswapping of
                   keys on a keyboard. Does USB have the bandwidth and features
                   to enable this?

                   Each key could have the character it represents embedded in
                   it, interfacing through a quick-connect/disconnect plug. An
                   advantage of this is that if a key stopped working you could
                   just buy a new key rather than a new keyboard. If you needed
                   more space for a larger alphabet you could just clip on a
                   new section to the board and populate it with your chosen
                   keys. Perhaps this interfacing could be achieved with PIC
                   chips cut down to size?

                   It was pointed out that this is all part of a larger picture
                   about the ability to input into a computer in a native
                   language. To this end it would be nice to get involvement
                   from people in Asia in KOSH. The system should support many
                   languages as standard (presumably via language objects).

                   Keyboards could be handled via a keyboard driver object. The
                   actual keyboard can be anything the user wants to use. A
                   stream of input messages come from the keyboard which could
                   be unicode characters or special events (eg: Help key)/ If
                   its a smart keyboard (like USB) it will automatically start
                   the correct driver.

                   Suggested that a lot of what has been said could be
                   accomplished by a configurable touch screen although it
                   would lack tactile feedback. Tactile feedback could possibly
                   be handled via a gell that becomes progressively harder as
                   an electric field is applied to it - at the points where it
                   is pressed.


                   Different keyboard input objects based on Unicode could
                   handle any input required. Alternatively have an intermediate
                   object between the keyboard input object and the input
                   handler object, which may translate.

                   The Dworak keyboard that maps the most used keys closest to
                   where one has ones fingers was mentioned.

                   Could each key have a LED like the one on the Amiga Caps
                   Lock key?




b)

Subject: Cooling KOSH (was Waterproofing KOSH)

Summary of debate: Perhaps by using conductive fluid pipes in the computer one
                   could cool it.

                   Another idea would be to have slots on top of the machine
                   (not the side where they currently are), but this would take
                   us back to the first problem - coffee spills and dust.
                   Therefore the slits could be at the top edges of the case
                   facing out of either side with a slight V-shape in the
                   inside top of the case directing hot air that rises to these
                   outlets. Any foreign bodies entering these outlets could be
                   made to fall down channels in the inner side of the machine
                   and hopefully not enter the fragile innards.


c)

Subject: Chunky pixel and bit plane graphics modes

Summary of debate: When we get around to designing KOSH graphics cards can we
                   try to use the advantages of both systems mentioned above?

                   By connecting the vsync signal from the graphics card to a
                   hardware interrupt pin on the CPU we can make real-time
                   window dragging look smooth and fluid.

                   KOSH should use the inbuilt interrupt feature of many
                   graphics cards to accomplish this.

                   KOSH graphics cards could contain some form of copper, maybe
                   a more advanced version that allows 2D operation (which
                   would speed up the GUI).

                   Further questions raised: do we want a graphics card at all
                   when instead we could use a modular design, keeping the RAM,
                   DAC and custom chips as separate, scalable and optional
                   modules?

                   Do we want shared memory for graphics, data and sound like
                   the Amiga's chip RAM?



d)

Subject: Memory protection

Summary of debate: Would it be possible with today's memory management units to
                   protect private members of a single object?

                   Dave Haynie has previously suggested a system using flexible
                   context objects, which can live in at least four different
                   protection levels (app, global, object, and system).

                   Only if you wanted to devote a large chunk of memory to each
                   such object. An MMU, for good reason, works in page-sized
                   increments.

                   Could there be a standard way to lock an object in memory
                   for reading and writing to prevent another task or person
                   from changing the object that is curently being used?

                   Only if you wanted to devote a large chunk of memory to each
                   such object. An MMU works in page-sized increments.

                   However from the Amiga we can see that a system can be
                   stable without protection - it also shows where protection
                   is needed.

                   Only write-protection is needed to avoid having
                   applications trash each other's memory. However security
                   reasons would mean that you may not want someone to scan all
                   your documents and therefore read-protection is also needed.

                   What mechanism might exist to identify methods that a given
                   object understands? How would it be possible to tell that a
                   particular subclass of text object manipulator understands
                   font styles or not, or some similar thing? Not necessarily
                   determining whether it responds to a specific method, but
                   whether it has an equivalent method.

                   To physically protect objects from being altered by
                   malfunctioning classes each object could have its own memory
                   space. Knowing when to protect the object is as important as
                   actually protecting it.


e)

Subject: Book recommendations

Summary of debate: Booch's book about Object Oriented Analysis and Design,
                   (Grady Booch. 0-8053-5340-2) comes recommended.
                   Also recommended is Software Inspection by Gilb and
                   Graham (0-201-19246-2, 0-201-63181-4), which gives good
                   ideas about how to increase the quality of software.

                   Scribe's note: Books are summarised on the kosh booklist
                   website - see a previous summary for the URL.



f)

Subject: KOSH training

Summary of debate: Many people involved with KOSH may not that well versed in
                   the technology behind the proposals. Mario Saitti is willing
                   to help set up a system for KOSH to teach structured
                   programming methodology/Data Structures/SSADM/computational
                   to anyone interested.

                   Suggested that we should be thinking about teaching OO, not
                   structured programming. Structure programming doesn't really
                   go well with the object sea.

                   OO Design could also be a very valuable skill for all KOSH
                   members.

                   Could such training "courses" actually be devised?
                   Supplementing such training with books was recommended.


g)

Subject: Against hosted

Summary of debate: One scribe-e pointed out that they are against running hosted
                   versions of KOSH. Their reasoning is that there may be little
                   point in redefining computing to use modern methodology if we
                   put it atop of a base that is at least 20 years old. While
                   ensuring market compatibility is the compromise worth it?


h)

Subject: Why there should be an Object Sea

Summary of debate: One scribe-e pointed out they currently view the object sea
                   as just a set of descriptors and protocols made up of sub
                   classes which determine how the system will handle the
                   object.

                   The advantages of this approach include the fact that it
                   promotes really serious, heavy use of code reuse and
                   polymorphism. Together, these can lead to both better
                   performance and far more reliable code. It is then easy to
                   add behaviours to the system.

                   why is there a need for a frozen form?

                   A datatype still needs to open the JPEG file, close it later,
                   perhaps committing or forgetting edits at the same point.


i)

Subject: COMAL, REBOL, JIT & Basic KOSH

Summary of debate: Should KOSH come with a BASIC-like interpreted language?

                   A COMAL interpreter included with KOSH as standard was also
                   suggested. COMAL is very widely supported.

                   How about REBOL which is a messaging based interpretive
                   language currently going towards version 2.0 and developed
                   by Carl Sassenrath? See: http://www.rebol.com <=Some like
                   REBOL, others are less impressed.

                   Why bother with an interpreted language when with KOSH we
                   are thinking of the possibility of programs compiling at
                   either install or run time from a slim binary type of
                   format? How about a JIT compiled language as we would not
                   lose significantly in time that way?

                   Suggested is making a computer language that is more like
                   the equations that scientists and people in general have
                   been using all their life. Pointed out that we may not want
                   to create a new language. Mentioned that instead of a
                   compiled language one that halts and hilighted errors would
                   be good.

                   The standard compiler shipped with KOSH could be simple with
                   a more advanced highly optimised version available for
                   purchase.

                   In regard to OO rather than structured programming, see
                   Farenheit at http://www.sgi.com for some of the newest
                   declarative systems.


j)

Subject: CORBA links

Summary of debate: See:
                   http://www.corba.org ? Try searching for papers and AOOC.
                   http://www.cetus-links.org/ have some links that might be of
                   interest.

                   Also see: http://www.omg.org (or something similar) - the
                   parent organization is something like "Open Management
                   Group".




k)

Subject: Structured design methodology

Summary of debate: Suggested that we could all write a few lines on structured
                   design methodology and someone could summarize it for the
                   glossary.


l)

Subject: Accessing KOSH (continued)

Summary of debate: A completely aural interface for the system could be very
                   useful for those who are completely blind.

                   However this could have disadvantages such as if the
                   interface was left turned on next to a radio. Perhaps
                   preface commands to the computer with another word (aka Star
                   Trek).

                   Any audio control should be able to understand conceptual
                   terms - most likely via some AI.

                   A true 2-colour screen could be useful for someone who is
                   colourblind.

                   Avoiding colour clash (a form of colour blindness) when
                   certain colours are placed on other colours should be
                   paramount in KOSH.

                   Braille keyboards and a Braille screen were further
                   suggested.

                   Circular radar like pulses going to a mouse pointer when you
                   press a shortcut key could be used to help keep track of the
                   pointer.

                   The Amiga and Mac ability to flash the screen when there is
                   an error as well as provide a beep should be included.

                   We should also look at alternatives to keyboard + mouse
                   including joystick control amongst many possibilities.

                   Mario Saitti has suggested that issues like these would need
                   an entire working group of their own.



m)

Subject: DLL's

Summary of debate: Was mentioned by a number of people that we should stay away
                   from a system similar to Windows DLL files as these can
                   create severe problems when things go wrong.


n)

Subject: Garbage collection

Summary of debate: Garbage collection from LISP could be used. Object Seas
                   based on their existence are suggested as the way to go.


o)

Subject: Localised languages

Summary of debate: Locale on AmigaOS allowed easy adaptation to many languages.
                   By incorporating this in some form into KOSH the system as a
                   whole becomes even more inclusive.

                   To fully internationalise KOSH it was suggested that a
                   mixture of languages should be useable at once. An example
                   given was Swedish in a wordprocessor but something else in
                   the other applications.

                   KOSH from the ground up should be designed to be flexible
                   and powerful in respect to language implementation including
                   Kanji which appears to be very complex.


p)

Subject: Punch cards

Summary of debate: KOSH should support punch cards as there is a lot of data
                   stored on them which is currently difficult to access.

                   It was pointed out that this could be achieved by placing
                   the punch card in a scanner and then interpreting the
                   resulting picture.


q)

Subject: KOSH-OO-help ML

Summary of debate: A mailing list with the above title was suggested by John
                   Gustafsson so him, Dave and others can post a mail now and
                   then about something about OO and those interested could
                   talk about it.


r)

Subject: Get together

Summary of debate: Suggested we should all get together to celebrate the
                   release of KOSH 1.0 when it is out. Joel Newkirk wants to
                   know if we want to go to a party at his place? Such an
                   opportunity will give us all a chance to meet each other.
                   Dave Haynie then goes and invites us all to his place for a
                   Summer party in the year 2000 - what a nice gesture!. Mario
                   Saitti then makes further offers around the theme of a get
                   together.

                   Oh and ideas for the place to celebrate KOSH 2.0 are coming
                   in now as well:P


s)

Subject: Hardware Procurement WG

Summary of debate: Joel Newkirk suggests the above working group to establish
                   means of procuring hardware for testing, kommunity needs,
                   individual purposes, etc at the lowest available prices.
                   Maybe establish a specific physical/legal base in the state
                   of Delaware, which is conveniently free of sales tax, yet in
                   a convenient location at the heart of the US East Coast
                   Metro-Belt.


t)

Subject: Users as objects

Summary of debate: Suggested that we could tread users as objects or a set of
                   objects, with permissions for various things and levels
                   being objects or object-related as well.

u)

Subject: Multiuser systems

Summary of debate: Mentioned that would we need a multiuser system? With KOSH
                   being designed so that it is fast, easy and fun to use
                   rather than a mainframe OS with terminals and users perhaps
                   multiuser is unnecessary.

                   However multiuser systems may be a must for any connected
                   computer. File sharing would be hard and inefficient without
                   a multiuser system.

                   The multiuser model could be defined and then set the single
                   user model as the degenerate case.

                   By being able to boot the system into a configuration mode
                   that is free of user context software and hardware could be
                   easily added globally.

                   Data, applications and hardware could all be user-specific
                   (with the ability to add other users) or global in their
                   availability. Therefore we could have just one KOSH
                   distribution with many different levels of users. Sharing
                   like this could also be done over a network.

                   If every KOSH machine is fully multi-user it would mean that
                   identifying oneself to any machine would allow access to all
                   of that users resources and settings. Suggested that KOSH
                   should see multiuser as adding "personal" resources and
                   access privileges to the generic system.


v)

Subject: Resolving handles

Summary of debate:  Resolving handles and finding methods/interfaces is likely
                    to take at least some processor time. Suggested these
                    things could be cached.

                    Further suggested is that we could have some objects built
                    at install time and updated at runtime if applicable, to
                    handle the resolving, on the machine the application or
                    object's installed on. The OS then wouldn't have to do a
                    new complete resolve each time the object were to be
                    invoked.


w)

Subject: KOSH Vocabulary WG

Summary of debate: Ruward F. Leenstra has suggested that it is time to create
                   the above named working group. As this will help with
                   reading Dave's paper on the Object Sea by defining and
                   explaining the terms contained within it.

                   A lot of interest was shown in this idea.


x)

Subject: KOSH FAQ

Summary of debate: Suggested that for subjects covered by KOSH mailing lists we
                   could have a frequently asked questions section of the web
                   site.


y)

Subject: Object synchronization

Summary of debate: One of the concepts arising in the discussions is the ability
                   to synchronize object by transferring the events (methods)
                   from one system to another. If the objects in question are
                   identical then no problem exists. If they are different, but
                   significantly similar then the same effect could be achieved,
                   in a limited fashion. The question is how can we determine
                   what methods a given object will respond to, and if those
                   methods are globally standard or intrinsic to that object?

                   By looking at the objects class hierarchy, the class
                   definition will determine the methods an object will
                   understand.

                   Suggested that we let the object manager be responsible for
                   almost everything related to this.  Instead of calling an
                   object directly or using an object that pre-exists, we could
                   call the object manager to rebuild an appropriate object. All
                   calls to the object manager should be abstract under this.

                   Object Synchrony developed as an approach where two compatible
                   objects on different systems are synchronized by duplicating
                   the events therein or methods sent thereto between 2+ objects.

z)

Subject: Alternatives to the monitor

Summary of debate: Audio cues discussed in depth. They have advantages over
                   simply enlarging the text on screen, although having the
                   ability to work split at the OS level (not just in
                   applications) with one half at 100% magnification and the
                   other at anything you choose would be neat.

                   See http://www.cast.org - Center for Applied Special
                   Technology. Part of their purpose is to expand the
                   accessibility of computers. Their Blobby tool at
                   http://www.cast.org/blobby is very useful to check web pages
                   for accessibility.

                   Suggested KOSH could contact relevant organisations (eg:
                   Royal Society for the Blind in the UK) and tell them that we
                   are interested in getting opinions of our ideas from
                   experts in the field, and that we are eager to try to
                   incorporate capabilities they can show to be helpful.

                   It was stated by someone who is visually impaired that a
                   windowing system is useless for the blind and if you are
                   otherwise visually impaired such a system is poor.


1a)

Subject: Window shapes

Summary of debate: At the moment almost all windows are rectangular. If KOSH
                   implemented a form of masks from the outset the windows
                   could be any shape desired.


1b)

Subject: VB Problems

Summary of debate: See the following re Visual Basic and problems with it:
http://www.vb-zone.com/upload/free/features/vbpj/1999/mckinney/mckinney1.asp#1


1c)

Subject: Mouse movement

Summary of debate: The mouse pointer in KOSH must not be jerky, it must be
                   completely fluent.


1d)

Subject: More mouse control

Summary of debate: A small trackball under the finger on top of a mouse could
                   be used in addition to the mouse itself for panning and
                   zooming etc.

                   How about a horizontal wheel as well as the vertical one.

                   Mice that sense rotation were suggested.

                   Pointed out that if the drivers were written better the
                   support for the mouse could be automatic without an
                   application exactly having to support it.

                   A trackball or a trackpad in the center of a split keyboard
                   was suggested as an alternative.


1e)

Subject: Cartesian Coordinates

Summary of debate: Cartesian Coordinates were suggested to be used with the
                   Object Sea as 2D and 3D objects. However they can be
                   difficult to deal with a lot of non-rectilinear objects and
                   waveforms.


1f)

Subject: Alternative caching method

Summary of debate: Could we create a new 'protected' directory object that is
                   accessible only to the parent task and appears and
                   disapears along with it? This could be useable to get
                   around a new EU ruling that caching is against copyright
                   law.


1g)

Subject: Mutual NDA

Summary of debate: To protect KOSH work and the work of individuals involved it
                   may be necessary at some stage in the future to use mutual
                   non disclosure acts in some areas of the Kommunity - namely
                   in certain Working Groups set up for certain reasons. Anyone
                   could have access to this but they would have to sign a
                   mutual NDA with KOSH, Inc. to gain access.


1h)

Subject: High Performance Computing Users (HPCU) Group Annual Conference

Summary of debate: See: http://www.hpcu.org re the above, or the email posted
                   by Giorgio Gomelsky (gio1@interport.net) on the 26th March
                   entitled "Fwd: Computers/computation/standards" which is a
                   forwarded message calling for computer papers on an array of
                   topics.


1i)

Subject:  Using a new object model rather than an existing one.

Summary of Debate:  Several features were proposed for the KOSH object
                    model which do not exist in current object models
                    (specifically C++'s.)  One of these features is
                    method transparency/translucence.  Using this
                    feature it is possible to create a transparent/
                    translucent container class which receives methods
                    and passes those methods along to the objects the
                    class contains.  Method transparency/translucence
                    can be utilized by an object to "broadcast" a
                    method to many recieving objects.  There was some
                    concern that this would be wasteful, in that during
                    a broadcast many objects could receive methods they
                    do not implement, and be forced to ignore those
                    methods.  Used appropriately, however, the ability
                    to "broadcast" methods would be a powerful tool.
                    An example of a translucent container would be a
                    generic-disc-object-container.  This would be a
                    container class that held all the information
                    necessary to store an object that exists in memory
                    on the disc.  The advantage of this is that while
                    the object is in memory it is not burdened with the
                    information about how it is stored on disc, and the
                    information about how to store an object on disc
                    can be implemented once, rather than over and over
                    again for each class.

                    Another feature proposed for the KOSH object model
                    was bidirectional polymorphism.  Here methods can
                    be sent to a class which does not implement those
                    methods but may implement them at some point in the
                    future.


1j)

Subject:  "Model-View-Controller" GUI Implementations

Summary of Debate:  Under this common method for GUI implementation
                    each GUI component is broken into three pieces.
                    The Model consists of the logical representation of
                    the component, the View consists of the visible
                    representation of the component, and the Controller
                    consists of mechanisms to which the component
                    responds.  This model originated in Smalltalk and
                    is used in QNX and in modified form in Java
                    JFC (SWING)


1k)

Subject:  Polymorphism

Summary of Debate:  Polymorphism was described as a subclass being
                    functionally the same class as it's parent class.
                    It was noted that this would be useful when
                    attempting to synchronize heterogenous objects.  As
                    long as the objects shared a common ancestry they
                    would have a set of common methods.  C++ uses
                    "pure virtual methods" in it's handling of
                    polymorphism, which are methods that are left
                    unimplemented in a parent class and must be
                    implemented in all subclasses of the parent.


1l)

Subject:  Object Links

Summary of Debate:  Anyone wanting to read more about object
                    orientation should check out the following:
                    Very Introductory Stuff
                    http://www.soft-design.com/softinfo/objects.html
                    Smalltalk ("Squeak" is a popular free subset
                    implementation)
                    http://www2.ncsu.edu/eos/info/ece480_info/project/
                        spring96/proj63/www/index.html
                    http://squeak.cs.uiuc.edu/
                    http://www.ddj.com/articles/1999/9901/9901k/
                        9901k.htm (funny)
                    http://www.stic.org/

                    Eiffel
                    http://www.eiffel.com/doc/manuals/language/intro/
                        page.html

                    Java
                    http://128.95.4.112/homes/gjb/doc/java-lang/
                        index.htm
                    http://www.javasoft.com/docs/books/tutorial/
                    http://www.javasoft.com/beans/docs/spec.html


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Object Technology & Resources Summary

** Efficiency, Flexibility & Classes

The discussion mentioned the trade-offs required to balance efficiency and flexibility. Concerns about
making unnecessary calls to objects which may not implement a specified method was countered with the
fact that broadcasting requests can often be more efficient than implementing suitability tests.

It was also pointed out that it is better to build an object in runtime from appropriate classes using
predefined methods. An 'upgrade flag' would be present in the system: objects could be 'frozen' to assist
with performance, but re-built by the object manager during each upgrade. Classes unable to fulfil a
functional requirement are ignored - this leaves a missing function, but is highly unlikely to cause
anything to fail.

Properties of objects shouldn't be restricted in general - UI characteristics, for example, could
legitimately be inherited by 'non-UI' objects in order to, say, provide display and user-interaction
parameters. Developing hybrid weirdity (great term!) is another reason for being able to want methods
mutating, but without the object code changing. A functional flow interface with user interaction provides
an example of this: streaming data and live interaction with adaption being performed - methods adapting
to the quality and quantity of data to change the visualisation. Dynamic artwork is also mentioned, as is
being able to change colour representation or whatever. To quote Paula Lieberman:

	"let's add some purple dye up there at time N, and at time N+1 change the dye to yellow, and
	when I press the Escape key, make it violent chartreuse with an A minor chord on a organ sample
	at fff....."

In essence, you need to be able to ensure the flexibility is there to cope with the things we didn't
originally anticipate. [John's note: truly creative stuff comes from really bending things totally out of
shape - if you can't do that, creativity is limited]. The needs of users can often be different from the needs
of programmers, which suggests we must make it easy for developers to create the software the users
want, and not their own 'toy pet'.

** Selfmodifying Code

Comments on selfmodifying code spawned some interesting points. Experience of LISP has given a sour
opinion of selfmodifying code to many, and it is indeed a bad idea in most cases (selfmodifying code, that
is - not LISP!). Modern computers, with varying cache capabilities, can easily have performance
degraded by selfmodifying code. Well, if you do it wrongly it can - but if you do it right it can improve
things quite considerably. [John's note: compare to the issue of 'goto' - while a bad thing for almost all
situations, it does have its uses when handled properly].

The cache problem can be handled sufficiently by flushing the first level cache. However, as cache sizes
get bigger and more processors are added you have more caches to flush. The Intel Merced, for example,
will probably have an 8 MB cache, and be present in multiple-CPU configurations.

Furthermore, it's important not to get confused about what selfmodifying code is:  it's code directly
changed during execution. However, if this code is actually rewritten to cover different cases as multiple
sections of code accessed through conditional branching you can develop alternatives for most uses of
selfmodification without cache problems and the like which can degrade performance. Of course, you
could create versions of functions/methods for a given system and just swap a pointer to direct code to the
right method - selfmodification would then only occur at the moment code is first loaded up. It was
mentioned that selfmodification should even be physically forbidden through techniques such as write-
protection of memory.

Are some of us trying to out-optimise modern optimising compilers by any means necessary? Apart from
keeping code compact (not really much of a necessity these days and still achievable through other means)
selfmodification can be replaced by more considered, structured programming approaches.

** Structured Programming

Ah, structured programming... In particular, criticism about universities and other institutions
(particularly in the west) not placing enough emphasis on structured design and programming techniques.
[John's note: Oxford Brookes University, UK taught me structured programming and design with great
emphasis, so not all universities are bad].

Good languages mentioned for teaching structured programming included Pascal and Modula-2 (praise to
Wirth!) as well as Java, while C and C++ came under fire for being unnecessarily complex,
unstructured and unfriendly. C++ has also helped destroy some companies, apparently! [John's note:
Sounds like C++ and ISO 9000 are related...]


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AMIGA-aktuell-Special +++ AMIGA-aktuell-Special +++ AMIGA-aktuell-Special

Phase 5 mit Aenderungen, Preissenkungen und A1200-G3/G4-Boards (29.03.99)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Die Ereignisse ueberschlagen sich: Nachdem vor wenigen Tagen auch die Firma
Metabox G3-Boards angekuendigt hat, zieht nun Phase 5 mit einer Reihe von
Aenderungen nach. So soll es nun auch G3/G4-Karten fuer den A1200 geben.
Desweiteren wurden die Preise der A3000/4000-Boards gesenkt, bei
gleichzeitiger Integration neuer technischer Features.
Hier die englischsprachige Ankuendigung, die deutsche wird, wenn sie
rechtzeitig erscheint, in AMIGA aktuell 4/99 zu finden sein:

»Note for german readers / Hinweis fuer deutsche Leser: Die deutsche
Version dieser erweiterten Ankuendigung wird am 31.03.99 ins Web gesetzt.
Wir bitten um Ihr Verstaendnis, dass wir derzeit einen kurzen Vorlauf fuer
englische Ankuendigungen haben.

phase 5 digital products is excited to announce that the next step in
ground-breaking technological progress will take place soon. Since we
first announced the Cyberstorm G3/G4 project just 10 days ago, the
overwhelming response by the Amiga Community has not only convinced us to
extend the original Cyberstorm G3/G4 project to an extended Amiga G3/G4
product line. Driven by the excitement of so many Amiga users, we have
spent many hours of additional consideration meanwhile, discussing the
requests and demands by the user community, and going into technical
details and cost optimization. Today we can present some exciting news,
which also make some of the statements of the original announcement and
the update obsolete already. However, if you had not informed yourself
about this development before, please read these original announcements
which contain information about conditions and time frames for this new
product generation.

Following the history of world's most established processor upgrade
technology for Amiga computers, and implementing the experience of the
innovator who made the PowerPC technology for the Amiga a reality, we at
phase 5 digital products have also decided to make this new technology
available to a much larger user base, and doing what we always did in the
past years with our stunning products: Offer more value for less money!
And that's what we will be doing again - so go ahead and read about the
new additional features at the new lower prices!

New models: By introducing a second product, the Blizzard G3/G4, we will
also provide the stunning G3/G4 technology and performance to the users of
A1200 Tower systems. Two models - one with G3 and one with G4 processors -
can be ordered now. We are also now taking orders for the 300MHz G4
version of the Cyberstorm G3/G4.

New features: All G3/G4 boards from phase 5 digital products come with SCSI
on board - UltraSCSI on the A1200 versions, UltraWide SCSI on the
A3000/A4000 version. Our proven SCSI technology, which has been providing
unmatched performance since seven years, will provide full backwards
compatibility with existing SCSI devices. But even more than that: With
the integration of 400Mbit/s FireWire ports, all our G3/G4 boards open the
door to this future industry standard, including the world of digital video
devices

New prices: By proceeding with the related projections and calculations,
and going into the details, we have been able to determine new and
improved pricings which will make these stunning products even more
attractive. Plus, we have changed the pricing to EURO (for Europe) and US$
(for outside Europe).

New Order & Prepayment conditions: In order to proceed quickly with the
finalization and production of this new product line, we still require the
originally announced quantity of back orders with a prepayment deposit. All
customers who support our development will receive a major discount, as
announced before (please see below for the new prices and discounts for
the different models). But phase 5 digital products is also ready to take
orders now without prepayment, for the suggested retail prices listed for
the different products. These orders will not be shipped by phase 5
digital products directly, but forwarded to local dealers and
distributors.

So far the overview of the major changes in the project. Now here comes the
list of the extended and updated new G3/G4 product line for the AMIGA by
phase 5 digital products. Right now, users can choose out of the following
four models:

BLIZZARD G3/300 for A1200 Tower systems

   o 300 MHz PowerPC750 processor with 1MB fast Backside-Cache

   o Ultra SCSI on board for backwards compatibility with a large number of
     existing SCSI devices, providing a performance of up to 20MB/s

   o Three 400MBit FireWire ports (IEEE-1394), allowing the connection of
     up to 63 devices, and opening the world of digital video to the AMIGA

   o up to 1 GB SDRAM

   o PCI-Bridge-Connector: This interface, a fully PCI 2.1 compliant
     implementation, allows the connection of PCI devices or PCI
     backplanes, thus allowing the expansion of the Amiga with all kinds
     of industry standard hardware products

   o suggested retail price of EURO 669.00 (Europe) or US$ 729.00 (outside
     Europe)

   o Customers who are ready to pay a prepayment deposit of EURO 125 / US$
     140 will take advantage of the discounted prepaid price of EURO
     589.00 or US$ 639.00 including worldwide free postal delivery - and,
     of course, will be among the first to receive their Cyberstorm G4
     board!

BLIZZARD G4/300 for A1200 Tower systems

   o 300 MHz PowerPC7400 processor (G4 with Altivec) with 1MB fast
     Backside-Cache

   o The breathtaking multimedia performance of the 128-Bit Altivec vector
     processing unit will open new dimensions to all kind of applications
     which are optimized on the G4 chip

   o Ultra SCSI on board for backwards compatibility with a large number of
     existing SCSI devices, providing a performance of up to 20MB/s

   o Three 400MBit FireWire ports (IEEE-1394), allowing the connection of
     up to 63 devices, and opening the world of digital video to the AMIGA

   o up to 1 GB SDRAM

   o PCI-Bridge-Connector: This interface, a fully PCI 2.1 compliant
     implementation, allows the connection of PCI devices or PCI
     backplanes, thus allowing the expansion of the Amiga with all kinds
     of industry standard hardware products

   o suggested retail price of EURO 749.00 (Europe) or US$ 829.00 (outside
     Europe)

   o Customers who are ready to pay a prepayment deposit of EURO 125 / US$
     140 will take advantage of the discounted prepaid price of EURO
     659.00 or US$ 729.00 including worldwide free postal delivery - and,
     of course, will be among the first to receive their Cyberstorm G4
     board!

CYBERSTORM G3/400 for A3000/A4000 systems

   o 400 MHz PowerPC750 processor with 1MB fast Backside-Cache

   o UW-SCSI on board, providing a performance of up to 40MB/s and
     backwards compatibility with a large number of existing SCSI devices

   o Three 400MBit FireWire ports (IEEE-1394), allowing the connection of
     up to 63 devices, and opening the world of digital video to the AMIGA

   o up to 1 GB SDRAM

   o PCI-Bridge-Connector: This interface, a fully PCI 2.1 compliant
     implementation, allows the connection of PCI devices or PCI
     backplanes, thus allowing the expansion of the Amiga with all kinds
     of industry standard hardware products

   o suggested retail price of EURO 949.00 (Europe) or US$ 1049.00 (outside
     Europe)

   o Customers who are ready to pay a prepayment deposit of EURO 125 / US$
     140 will take advantage of the discounted prepaid price of EURO
     829.00 or US$ 919.00 including worldwide free postal delivery - and,
     of course, will be among the first to receive their Cyberstorm G3
     board!

CYBERSTORM G4/300 for A3000/A4000 systems

   o 300 MHz PowerPC7400 processor (G4 with Altivec) with 1MB fast
     Backside-Cache

   o The breathtaking multimedia performance of the 128-Bit Altivec vector
     processing unit will open new dimensions to all kind of applications
     which are optimized on the G4 chip

   o UW-SCSI on board, providing a performance of up to 40MB/s and
     backwards compatibility with a large number of existing SCSI devices

   o Three 400MBit FireWire ports (IEEE-1394), allowing the connection of
     up to 63 devices, and opening the world of digital video to the AMIGA

   o up to 1 GB SDRAM

   o PCI-Bridge-Connector: This interface, a fully PCI 2.1 compliant
     implementation, allows the connection of PCI devices or PCI
     backplanes, thus allowing the expansion of the Amiga with all kinds
     of industry standard hardware products

   o suggested retail price of EURO 899.00 (Europe) or US$ 989.00 (outside
     Europe)

   o Customers who are ready to pay a prepayment deposit of EURO 125 / US$
     140 will take advantage of the discounted prepaid price of EURO
     779.00 or US$ 859.00 and worldwide free postal delivery - and, of
     course, will be among the first to receive their Cyberstorm G4 board!

All prices do not include VAT / MwSt. or any other local taxes or duties
which may apply. Specifications and prices are subject to change.

A note about Software: For the add-on features such as the SCSI interfaces
or the FireWire ports, phase 5 digital products will provide the necessary
software tools and drivers, and also cooperate with other developers.
Additionally, we are in negotiations about licensing useful software to
ship with our G3/G4 boards, and will take care that support of the
upcoming AmigaOS developments is realized.

Another note on the prepayment & discount: Remember, the prepayment which
enables you to take advantage of the discounted price, will go on a
special notary account as announced earlier. The amounts collected there
will not become available to us before we actually ship the products; they
are a deposit which support our efforts to bring out the new products for
the Amiga which the users have been asking for, thus representing a
partnership between the Amiga community and us in realizing this stunning
new technology for the Amiga.

If this new list of stunning product offerings includes the G3/G4 model
which you want for your Amiga 1200 Tower/3000 (T)/4000(T), then do not
hesitate but go ahead and support us in supporting the future of the Amiga
by placing

Your CYBERSTORM G3/G4 or BLIZZARD G3/G4 preorder NOW!

IMPORTANT: If you have already placed an order during the last 10 days,
please DO NOT place a new order! We will email or mail you in the next
days, to verify if your order may be changed to a different model.«

(Quelle: Phase 5 digital products)

--

E-Mail-Abos von AMIGA aktuell koennen unter Angabe der gewuenschten
Version (1. AMIGAGuide oder HTML; 2. mit oder ohne Grafiken) kostenlos auf
den WWW-Sites http://www.mediaspace.net/amigaaktuell und
http://www.vmc.de/aakt bzw. per E-Mail (aakt@gmx.de) eingerichtet werden.

© 1999 Carsten Schroeder - Der Inhalt dieser Mail darf nur vollstaendig
und ohne Aenderungen weiterverbreitet werden.

AMIGA-aktuell-Special +++ AMIGA-aktuell-Special +++ AMIGA-aktuell-Special

======================================================================
   _    __      _     <>_   __      _    ||
  /\\    |\    /||    ||   /  `    /\\   ||  A M I G A   U P D A T E 
 /__\\   | \  / ||    ||  || ___  /__\\  ||     -News and Rumors-
/    \\_ |  \/  ||_  _||_  \__// /    \\_||   (An Occasional e-mail
         KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING         ||       Newsmagazine)
======================================================================
        AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.      
----------------------------------------------------------------------
990328

         A M I G A   R C 5   T E A M   N E E D S   H E L P 

       C O R R E L   R U M O R   S P O T T E D   O N   N E T 

         P U R E   P P C   F R O M   P H A S E   5   . . .

               . . .A N D   F R O M   M E T @ B O X 

              U G N   T A P S   H E N R Y   C H U N G 

               P A L M B A C K U P   R E L E A S E D 

              N E W S   F R O M   D V S   D I R E C T 

           B E T T E R W E B   F R O M   P A N T H E O N 

                 T W O   N E W   F R O M   A T E O 

         C L I C K B O O M   A U C T I O N   F O R   A L L 

                  A M I G A   R A D I O   N E W S 

            N E W I C O N S   4 . 5   A V A I L A B L E

           A N O T H E R   M O Z I L L A   P R O J E C T 

                 T H O R   2 . 6   R E L E A S E D

       W I L D F I R E   7   F R O M   N O V A   D E S I G N 

 
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
 This must be the PPC issue. Just as we were sending the last issue
off, we learned of a very interesting PPC board from Phase 5 but
weren't able to get a good story for that issue. We do have a story in
this one. Then, as we were preparing this issue, we learned that
another similar board had also been announced. This one is from
met@box, formerly known as Pios. We've information on both boards
below. We sure hope there's room in the market for both.
 News is always a bit slow after a major show such as the Amiga 99
show which just ended, but despite that we have many interesting items
for you to read. Just about all of it positive; the sort of news we
most enjoy sending your way.
 Brad Webb,
 Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail to the E-ditor:

20 Mar '99

Hello Brad,

In regards to the guy that asked about a printer
driver for a HP 690C. If that is a DeskJet 690C
TurboPrint which is the finest print package I've
seen has a driver for it.

regards,

Lee
~~~~~~
Lee,
 Several people wrote in to point that out. Thanks for being one of
them, and further thanks to all the AU readers who did so. Amigans
have always responded well to requests for help and information, and
clearly the readers of AU are on the top of the list.
 Brad
======

19 Mar 1999 

Hello Brad,

 I just recieved your newsletter, I am suprised you didn't recieve
more feed back about the show. Maybe it's because the community is
still taking it all in. I attended the show with my parents and my
brother (who is a programmer and made an announcement of his own :-) )
and we felt a sense of excitement and hope for the future. I would
have to admit some of Jim Collas' speech could be called political by
the doubters (and was) but I felt a sincere atmosphere.
 
 It always impresses me how a regular Joe can talk so freely with any
of these powerful people at the head of Amiga Inc./Amiga
International. Every one seemed to be receptive to any input and
sincerely listened. I don't think I'd be too far out on a limb to say
you wouldn't walk up to the likes of Bill Gates and get a glance and a
nod let alone listening and asking pertinent questions.
 
 My brother and I spent some time with a group of revellers in one of
the suites after the pub closed on Saturday night. Among this group
were Jim Collas, Jeff Schindler, and Joe Torre. My feeling was that
Jim Collas is much like a 'regular' guy and he really has a grasp of
what we feel as an Amiga community. He asked us in his speech to give
him a chance and I don't think we will have to wait long, but we will
have to wait. What's a little longer.
 
 Some changes can already be noted. We were told Amiga.com and
Amiga.de would be integrated and that has already happened. An
agressive time-line has been announced for the release of OS3.5 and
AmigaSoft4.0OE. BTW: the distinction between OE and OS is an operating
environment encompasses an operating system and operator experience.
Sounds like the Amiga feeling to me.
 
 My brother was talking from a developers point of view w¡th some
users at the show. These users seemed to have a common point of view I
heard expressed: "why should I pay for an OS3.5 upgrade when I already
have Miami/Ibrowse/NewIcons/etc." My brother's point was that the
enhanced functionality from a programmers point of view made the
likelyhood of greater development for Amiga Classic very real and the
users would naturally migrate to 3.5, 3.6, 3.7...
 
 Overall I came away from St. Louis w¡th some great Amiga hardware, a
feeling of greater excitement than I have felt in a long time, and a
chance to meet and greet with the new President/CEO of Amiga Inc.

We're BACK!  Can you feel it???

Jody 
~~~~~~
Jody,
 Thanks for your take on the show, and especially a programmer's
perspective on the upgrades to the Classic OS. Web users will probably
have noted that the two Amiga web sites are now unified in content as
you point out.
 We just got the official count of attendees from the show: 1,142. Not
bad for an Amiga show, especially on a weekend when Mother Nature
aimed a snowstorm at St. Louis.
 Brad
======

21 Mar 1999 

Hi.

 I've been reading your March 19th edition. I was disturbed by part of
Dr. Havemose's open letter. He said --
 
 "I know that the MMC speculation has been fun, but there
unfortunately isn't much to speculate about. We just have not had to
make a decision yet, so we haven't !"
 
 How in the name of sweet reason does Amiga Inc expect QNX to write a
version of Neutron for the MMC if they don't know which chip it is?
Look, I appreciate that ol' "Visa Bill" Gates doesn't need to know
what Amiga Inc is up to, but their partners had better!
 
 Be afraid. Be very afraid.
 
 Allan
~~~~~~
Allan,
 Your letter makes a nice counterpoint to the mostly upbeat mail we've
had since Amiga 99 ended. Unfortunately, you raise a very good
question. Even more unfortunately, I don't have any kind of an answer
for it. I hope someone somewhere does, preferably at Amiga.
 Brad
======

20 Mar 1999 

Dear Brad, 
 Do you know of any reason as to why AMIGA SHOWS are not held in
N.Y.C.? Also since Gateway is the BIG DADDY why don't they advertise
the NEW AMIGA'S on T.V. Fact is, there are still many people that have
never even heard of the AMIGA.Leastwise not here on the East coast. If
a prson walks into an appliance or computer store(RADIO SHACK) and
asks for AMIGA software, they look at you like your"re an alien.


GOOD LUCK AND GOOD HEALTH-JIM
~~~~~~
Jim,
 I've been amazed myself there are no shows in New York or Chicago.
There used to be some good ones in both cities. Anyone out there want
to organize one, especially since the good folks in Ohio won't be
having theirs this year?
 As for advertising the new Amigas, that's probably premature at this
point. It's usually a bad idea to sell "futures" so until the next
models are ready to ship, ads will have to wait. However, when we get
to that point I hope Amiga Inc. will do a better job than the former
Amiga owners did. Wouldn't take much.
 Brad
======

20 Mar 1999 

Hi Brad,
 Thanks for the great newsletter and supporting the amiga. One reason
for this E-mail is the article I read in the March 10 issue of TV
Technology on page 4. the article talks about Echostar's set-top Dish
Network and names Gateway as a partner and custom-builder of these
machines. Is this part of Amiga future?

Ron 
~~~~~~
Ron,
 Hadn't heard of that but it's most interesting. I don't know if the
Amiga plays into this or not, but we'll be keeping our eyes open for
further information. Thanks for sending this along.
 Brad
======

25 Mar 1999 

Just found your Web Site and I'm very impressed.
Had put my Amiga2000 in the closet a few years
ago and just recently dusted it off. Now I'm even
on the WWW with A L L Amiga hardware/software.
But... that's another story.

I'm writing regarding Tony's e-mail to you on
12/18/98 regarding replacement of old battery in
Amiga.

I bought a new battery at the Amiga99 show in St.
Louis recently.

Maybe you could publish the steps (exactly for be-
ginners) on how to remove old battery and install
the new one. Looks like some soldering involved.
Called local computer store. They want $65 per hr
with 1/2 hr minimum.

Thanks.

gary
~~~~~~
Gary,
 You raise a good topic. However, don't have a set of instructions for
replacing batteries. Does anyone know of a goos site on the web or a
text docment that covers this?
 Brad
----------------------------------------------------------------------

        A M I G A   R C 5   T E A M   N E E D S    H E L P 

7 Mar 99 

Hello Amigans,

 The Amiga RC5 team could sure use your help. The rc5 contest is a
worldwide experiment in distributed computing. The goal is to crack a
heavily encrypted code using the spare crunching power from computers
being used in all walks of life. Its a pretty noble cause--after all
who knows when this technology might really come in handy to quickly
solve a real world crises--but more importantly, its a cut throat down
and dirty fight to prove which platform has the user loyalty and
computing power it takes to find the winning key.
 
 Out of 5,854 registered teams, the Amiga RC5 team is currently in a
dogfight for third place daily. However, ever since the rc5 stats page
exploded early this year, the team hasn't grown as quickly. The daily
stats are back up now, so we can check progress once again...
 
http://stats.distributed.net/rc5-64/tlist.php3?low=1&
limit=100&source=y

 Please consider downloading the rc5 client from the link below, and
adding Myzar to your WBStartup drawer. Its just that simple to join
the team. The Amiga's excellent priority driven preemptive
multitasking OS will allow you to crunch keys in the background
without denting your daily performance, no matter what processor your
Amiga uses. Everything you need to be up and crunching in a few
minutes is on the Amiga RC5 homepage, in the download and misc
sections.

http://distributed.amiga.org/

Thank you for considering joining the team,

-Steve.
-http://www.amigapro.com
-The website for the Amiga performance enthusiast. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

       C O R R E L   R U M O R   S P O T T E D   O N   N E T 

23-Mar-99

 {Found the following fascinating item in the Amiga Newsgroups. For
now, best regarded as a rumor ... I think. Brad}

 Apparently Corel (the makers of CorelDRAW and WordPerfect among
others) have announced in Com-Digit Journal, that they will port their
Corel-Office package for the next generation Amiga. The magazine
comments: "If the Amiga was supplied with this software at a
competitive price, it could be a real threat to PCs."
----------------------------------------------------------------------

         P U R E   P P C   F R O M   P H A S E   5   . . .


 Oberursel, March 19, 1999: Once again phase 5 digital products is
happy to announce a groundbreaking new development, which will
represent an extract of phase 5's leading-edge technologies and the
many years of expertise in designing upgrade products for Amiga
computers. After a long time of evaluating the market, we have decided
to support the existing Amiga user base and the new developments at
Amiga Inc. with a next generation product, which will offer highest
performance, future compatibility and a bridge to industry standards.
This product will be a powerful PPC accelerator for A3000/A4000
systems (and other Amiga systems expanded with an A4000 compatible CPU
slot) and the upcoming Amiga OS 3.5, as well as future versions of the
Amiga OS.
 
 The new accelerator, the CYBERSTORM G3/G4 board, is a pure
PowerPC-based processor card. It will ship with a fast PowerPC750 or
PowerPC7400 (G4 with Altivec), which is installed in a ZIF socket.
This ZIF socket is fully compliant with the Interposer standard from
IBM and Motorola, which is also used in PowerMacs and other systems,
what will allow easy upgrading, if required by the user in the future.
In the base version with a 400MHz PowerPC750 processor and 1MB
backside Cache @ 200MHz, the CYBERSTORM G3/G4 will provide an
impressing peak performance of up to 19.2 SPECint95 and 13.1 SPECfp95
(source: IBM website 03/18/99). In real-world applications, this
allows incredible application performance, which is estimated to reach
15 -20 times the performance of a 50MHz 68060 processor (with native
PowerPC coded or PowerPC optimized applications). The CYBERSTORM G3/G4
will use standard SDRAM running at 100MHz, providing a peak memory
transfer rate of 582 MB/s, and has two DIMM sockets which will support
up to 1 GB main memory. An on-board PCI 2.1 interface will allow the
connection of all kind of industry standard devices and cards. The
on-board Flash ROM with 512kB size can be used to install software
necessary for system-startup and other functionalities. By default,
this Flash ROM will only contain a basic boot-strap functionality
(hardware write protected) which will allow to install any kind of
system software from disks; this functionality will be fully
documented and freely available to everybody.
 
 By it's design concept, the CYBERSTORM G3/G4 is the perfect solution
for running native PowerPC coded Operating Systems as well as emulated
68k OS segments. As a processor card which fits into the A4000
compatible fast slot, it allows to run 100% native PowerPC code, and
has full access to all system hardware functionalities and interrupts
which is not the case with add-ons that are not installed in the fast
slot, but e.g. in a Zorro slot. With it's ability to be the master
system CPU, the PowerPC on the CYBERSTORM G3/G4 does not need an
additional 68k processor which is the case in other designs. Beside
the technical advantages of this approach, it offers the user the
opportunity to e.g sell an existing 68060 processor card in the
second-hand market, thus lowering the cost of the upgrade to the
PowerPC G3/G4 generation.
 
 phase 5 digital products will NOT built or deliver any software or
hardware add-ons for the CYBERSTORM G3/G4. The CYBERSTORM G3/G4 will
be open to third party developers in a wide way:

 o Software support will be realized with the new developments from
Amiga Inc. and Haage&Partner, especially with the upcoming Amiga OS3.5
with PowerPC support, and upcoming 68k emulator products.
Additionally, the CYBERSTORM G3/G4 is perfectly suited for the
implementation of other Operating Systems such as Linux, which have
already been realized on earlier PowerUp boards.
 
 o For hardware add-ons, the implemented PCI 2.1 interface will allow
third-party vendors to design PCI bus backplanes, and write drivers
for any common PCI card on the market. The interface is implemented as
a single connector, to which other vendors can connects e.g. PCI cards
or PCI backplanes, or design a physical link to PCI slots on bus
expansion boards.
 
 However, due to the current market status, we can only justify the
realization of this project with a significant number of preorders. We
will therefore have to collect a total of 1,000 orders from customers
(end users, dealers, or distributors). For each of these orders, we
will also ask for a down-payment of DM 250, which will be collected on
a notary account and will only be made available to us at the time we
deliver the CYBERSTORM G3/G4 product to the customers. This gives
security to all customers who want to support this exiting new project
and get stunning G3/G4 performance for their Amiga, and will give
security to us when we make the necessary investments.
 
 What will be the cost of this product, and are there benefits for
preordering?
 
 The regular list price for the CYBERSTORM G3/G4, including
 
 o the CYBERSTORM G3/G4 mainboard with an Interposer ZIF socket for
G3/G4 processor modules, 2 SDRAM DIMM sockets for up to 1 GB memory,
512 kB Flash ROM for system software (system software not provided
with the board), a fully implemented PCI 2.1 interface with one
connector (for PCI backplanes provided by third party vendors)
 
 o one G3 CPU module, with a PowerPC750 processor with 400MHz and one
Megabyte Backside Cache with 200MHz clock rate
 
 will be DM 1,995 plus local taxes (in Germany: DM 2.299,- incl.
MwSt). This price is based on the current price projections for
components and parts for the 3rd quarter 1999, and will be updated
whenever major components such as the CPUs fall in price.
 
 A price for a CYBERSTORM G3/G4 model with the new XPC7400 (G4 with
Altivec) processor is not yet determined, and will depend on the
pricing of these new processors. As soon as we have these pricings, we
will determine a list price for this product.
 
 For those Amigans who are ready to support this major technological
step forward by placing one of the necessary preorders, we offer a
special benefit: Customers who are ready to order this board in
advance, at the conditions mentioned herein, will get this stunning
product for a special discounted preorder price of DM 1,750 plus local
taxes, including world-wide free delivery by economy postal service.
And even more: If the regular list price drops before the preordered
CYBERSTORM G3/G4 boards start to ship, the discounted preorder price
will be reduced by the same amount.

How will the whole project proceed, and be finalized?

 First of all, we will now be looking forward to the response of the
Amiga community to this project. The basic concepts of the CYBERSTORM
G3/G4, as well as major parts of the design (such as the SDRAM
controller and the PCI bridge) have been developed at phase 5 digital
products during the past year, as building blocks of other projects
that we are working on; in other words, most of the product is already
"in the drawer". From the day we can make the decision to start the
project finalization, we estimate roughly four months until the
product can be shipped to the customers. Therefore, the shipping date
will largely depend on the time which we need to collect the
preorders.

The project has four stages:

 1. Announcement and preorder phase.
 
 We now collect preorders from customers all over the world. Please
only place a preorder - which is not yet legally binding - if you are
really ready to buy the CYBERSTORM G3/G4, and if you are ready to
later pay the prepayment. If many users place preorders now, but then
cancel or refuse to prepay, this will hurt the project flow
significantly. If you are not definitely interested in this stunning
new technology, please don't place an order.
 
 2. Notification phase.
 
 Once we have received the necessary 1,000 preorders - the sooner, the
 better, of course - we will open the notary account, and send
 notifications to all customers which will include a proforma invoice
 and the terms of the contract, as well as information about the usage
 of the prepayments. At the same time, we will also release updated
 product information and updated pricing, if available. All customers
 will be asked to pay the prepayment with 3 weeks to the notary
account.
 
 Important: The prepaid amounts will not become available to phase 5
digital products before we actually ship the CYBERSTORM G3/G4 boards
to the customers who have ordered. If we fail to deliver the product
within a certain time from date of notification, the prepaid money
will be reimbursed. The prepaid money will not be reimbursed if the
customer cancels his order for any reason.
 
 3. Development phase

 Design finalization and verification, including rapid prototyping and
full in-system test will require appx. 3 months. During this time, we
will also work in close contact with other developers, and support
software development on the new boards.
 
 4. Release & Shipment
 
 Once the CYBERSTORM G3/G4 is released for production, we will go into
the assembly, and start to fullfill the preorders. The first boards
will ship appx. 4 weeks after the start of the production. We will
fullfill the preorders in the order we have received them. After the
preorders are fullfilled, we will decide if we continue to built
CYBERSTORM G3/G4 boards for the regular market, what will depend on
the market situation and the demand forecasts at this time.
 
 If you want to take part in this stunning new development for the
AMIGA, which finally will bring the latest G3/G4 technology to the
AMIGA and support the new developments by AMIGA Inc. and their
partners, then go ahead and PLACE YOUR CYBERSTORM G3/G4 PREORDER NOW!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             . . .   A N D   F R O M   M E T @ B O X 


PRESS ANNOUNCEMENT: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hildesheim/ Germany, March 26, 1999

JoeCard G 3 goes AMIGA !

 met@box AG (formerly known as PIOS Computer AG) is proud to announce
the newest member of it´s award-winning JoeCard family: the AmiJOE.
 
 The AmiJOE will be the first pure PowerPC solution for the existing
Amiga platform. AmiJOE will implement the powerful G3 PowerPC
architecture which will enable the Amiga to outperform today´s
personal computers.
 
 The met@box engineering team decided to make the AmiJOE available not
only to users of the high end Amiga Systems, but also to the many
people being committed to their A 1200. The basic specifications of
the AmiJOE products are:
 
 o PowerPC 750 (Lonestar) G3 Processor
 o 333 or 400 MHz
 o 1.024 Kbyte Backside Cache
 o 66 MHz Local Bus Speed (A 1200)
 o 100 MHz Local Bus Speed (A 2000/ A 3000/ A 4000)
 o Universal Serial Bus (USB)
 o Realtime Clock (RTC) (A 1200 only)
 o PCI compatible Connector for future expansion (A 2000/ A 3000/ A
4000 only) - Socket für SDRAM Modules - Flash ROM for easy Software
upgrade
 
 The AmiJOE for the A 1200 is clocked at 333 Mhz at a recommended
street price of 599 EUR, while the AmiJOE for the A 2000/ A 3000/ A
4000 is clocked at 400 Mhz with a recommended street price of 899 EUR.
Prices do not include VAT/MWSt.
 
 met@box AG is ready to take orders without any prepayments. First
product shipments are planned for the beginning of Q3 1999. Purchase
orders please send to sales@joecard.com

http://www.joecard.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             U G N   T A P S   H E N R Y   C H U N G 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
25th March 1999

 The User Group Network (UGN) is pleased to announce the selection of
Henry Chung as the Asia Coordinator for the UGN. Henry will help
represent user groups located from Pakistan to the Far East. Henry,
like the other Worldwide Coordintators, will collect information from
user groups in his area when needed, as well as forward on to them
information from the UGN, Amiga Inc., and developers.
 
 Henry is one of the many Coordinators who represent the UGN's
Worldwide committment to supporting Amiga User Groups everywhere. The
UGN Area Coordinators function as the Board of Directors. Their
decisions make sure that the UGN goals and plans are beneficial to
all. They will do their best to ensure that all Amiga User Groups are
supported. The UGN is not about one person, or one country. It's about
all of us!

 The User Group Network is an organization dedicated to the
advancement of the Amiga oriented User Groups worldwide. The UGN will
work cooperatively with all to establish a valuable resource to share
and dissemminate information to Amiga User Groups. See what the UGN
can offer your User Group at http://ugn.amiga.org.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             P A L M B A C K U P   R E L E A S E D 

2 Mar '99

W.F.M.H. is happy to announce that PalmBackup has been released.

 If you own an Amiga and 3Com's Palm Pilot Personal, Palm Pilot
Professional, Palm III organizer, IBM's WorkPad or derivatives, this
software is for you!.

INTRODUCTION

 During the development of our PalmSuite for Amiga software, the
PalmLink library was released. As we needed to find out if that
library gives us any gain compared to our connection stack, we quickly
adapted some tools we got here, to use PalmLink library. The
PalmBackup is the result of that.

FUNCTIONALITY

PalmBackup features:

   o backup of user preselected organiser databases
   o restore
   o configurability of almost any option it offers.
   o multi user support
   o internal cache system (once you list your unit, PalmBackup will
   o keep the list of the remote files).
   o advanced manager for installing, removing, purging etc
   o fully system compatible
   o quick, fast and efficient code
   o fully localized
   o and more...

AVAILABILITY

W.F.M.H. home site:

http://amiga.com.pl/

Aminet mirrors: comm/misc/PalmBackup.lha
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             N E W S   F R O M   D V S   D I R E C T 

5 Mar '99

 DVS Direct to Handle Assembly and Distribution of RBM Digitaltechnik
Products in the US
 
 RBM Digitaltechnik of Eschwege Germany is the maker of several
innovative products for the Amiga Computer including the TowerHawk
expansion chassis. The TowerHawk expansion chassis is design to
convert the Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000 desktop computers into a full
tower configuration. The TowerHawk 1200ex is the world's first Amiga
1200 expansion system that fully supports Newtek's Video Toaster Flyer
system. Other RBM products include IOBlix Multi - I/O - interfacecard:
4 serial ports and optional 10base/100base ethernet modules.
 
 DVS Direct will also be integrating Complete Amiga Based systems
using the TowerHawk and A1200 . This will ensure an abundant supply of
Amiga Host systems for the Video toaster Flyer as well as other Amiga
specific applications using The Amiga 1200 Motherboard and TowerHawk.
DVS Direct will be stocking TowerHawk components here in the US thus
eliminating lead time for shipping. DVS Direct is also manufacturing
an ISA adapter card to allow use of ISA power devices in the
TowerHawk. For more information the TowerHawk go to our website at
http://www.dvsdirect.com/

DVS Direct
69 Beaver Dr. Suite 110
DuBois PA 15801
PH 814 371 5640
FAX 814 371 2033
----------------------------------------------------------------------

            B E T T E R W E B   F R O M   P A N T H E O N 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - March 8, 1999

 Pantheon Systems LLC today announced its BetterWeb web publishing hub
service, which includes free home page publishing, great web
publishing hints and tips, and a unique set of commentaries and news
items for the web-savvy and web-beginner alike.
 
 Users with free web sites on BetterWeb are granted access to
BetterWeb's ultra-easy web-based site management tool, which makes
publishing and managing your web site a breeze. No clumsy FTP
programs, just view and manage your site completely within your web
browser!
 
 In addition, all BetterWeb users are automatically enrolled in the
BetterWeb search engine, and have access to a set of excellent tools,
including a hit counter and online discussion forums. Moreover,
BetterWeb's servers are connected to the fastest Internet backbones,
so you'll never have a delay calling up your free home page.
 
 Since the BetterWeb site management tool is completely CGI-driven, it
is compatible with all Amiga browsers, including A-Web II 3.2, IBrowse
1.2, and Voyager 2.9x. To get started publishing your own, free home
page, point your browser to: http://www.betterweb.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                 T W O   N E W   F R O M   A T E O 

12 Mar '99

Two product announcements from Atéo Concepts.

Pixel64 ZorroIII

 Atéo Concepts is designing a new version of the Pixel64 named Pixel64
ZIII.
 
 This new version of the Pixel64 will plug on a ZIII slot of the A3000
or A4000 (Sorry, no ZII support...)
 
 3D features for the Pixel64!!!
 
 Atéo Concepts is working on a 3D expansion for the Pixel64. This
expansion will be based on the Voodoo chip (version 2 or 3). The 3D
expansion will be available for all the Pixel64 version. The release
date is not yet available.
 
 Full information about these news on
http://www.ateo-concepts.com/amiga/eproj.html

----

AteoNet

 The cheaper Ethernet card for the Amiga are now available. Two models
exists, a simple Ethernet with RJ45 output and a full version with
RJ45, BNC and AUI output.
 
 More information and order on
http://www.ateo-concepts.com/amiga/eateocards.html

ATEO CONCEPTS
Le Plessis
44220 COUERON
FRANCE

Tel : +33 (0)2 40 85 30 85

Fax : +33 (0)2 40 38 33 21
E-mail : info@ateo-concepts.com
Web : http://www.ateo-concepts.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------

         C L I C K B O O M   A U C T I O N   F O R   A L L 

 Toronto, March 20, 1999: clickBOOM announces a fully automatic
real-time online Auction place now open to all Amiga users.
 
 After a month of successful operation at The Portal and due to a high
demand, clickBOOM has taken the next step, making Amiga Auctions
available to everyone.
 
 This is where all the action is -- you can bid on or sell
Amiga-related items at the one and only place of its kind on Amiga.
Finally there is a place for Amiga users to be able to trade their
hardware in a simple and absolutely private manner.
 
 1. Amiga Auctions is the place where you will find the best Amiga
deals, guaranteed.
 
 2. Bidding is absolutely free.
 
 3. If you have an Amiga-related item to sell, Amiga Auctions is the
place - hold an auction and have other Amiga users bid on it. It's
fully automatic - create a new auction in less than 5 minutes, and
don't worry about it until you make a sale at the highest offered
price. Best of all, it's free if your item doesn't sell!
 
 4. Advanced options such as Automatic Bidder, three types of
Auctions, notification, etc.
 
 5. English and German, with more languages coming soon.
 
 To see all of the Auctions just visit
http://clickboom.com/auctions
 
 If you wish to bid on, or sell items, fill out a simple form to
register yourself, and you will automatically receive access within
seconds.
 
 Portal users should continue accessing Auctions through The Portal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                  A M I G A   R A D I O   N E W S 

March 20, 1999

 The User Group Network (UGN) is pleased to announce the arrival of
Amiga Radio News. Amiga Radio News the first Amiga news source to
broadcast live to the Internet using streaming audio! Amiga User
Groups can download and playback this weekly Amiga news update. Every
Friday, a new update will uploaded to Amiga Radio News. Amiga Radio
News is located at http://ugn.amiga.org/arn/.
 
 In order to listen to the Amiga Radio News you will need to download
an Amiga compatible streaming audio player that supports either ADPCM
or GSM 6.10. Fortunately two such players exist and are available off
Aminet. ADPCM_Package.lha is needed for the ADPCM file, and GIR06.lha
is needed for listening to the GSM encoded file. In the future Real
Audio, MP3, and 8SVX file formats may be added.
 
 The User Group Network is an organization dedicated to the
advancement of the Amiga computing platform and the fostering of Amiga
oriented User Groups worldwide. The UGN will work co-operatively with
the owners, licensees, user groups, and the users to establish and
expand a customer support base for licensed Amiga computer products.
The UGN will endeavor to provide a single, centralized resource for
the promotion and assistance of User Groups and users world-wide. The
UGN Web Page is located at "http://ugn.amiga.org".
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             N E W I C O N S   4 . 5   A V A I L A B L E

NewIcons 4.5 is now available for download. See below for the list of
feature
changes and fixes.

Now the bad news. If you haven't heard already, Eric Sauvageau, our
programmer, has ceased further development of NewIcons. While he still has
his A1200, he is now spending most of his time on his new PC.
Unfortunately,
this is the second time I've had to annnounce the loss of our main coder to
another platform (Nicola left the project after version 2). Eric has been
kind enough to do one last version to optimize things further and fix some
minor bugs.

Fortunately, after nearly seven years of updating, the NewIcons System is
highly optimized, and as stable as ever, and there are thousands of you out
there using it every day. As was the case with Nicola, the NewIcons System
has been a labor of love, rather than a commercial enterprise. Neither
Eric,
nor Nicola asked for one dime for all their hard efforts. I'm glad I've
been
a part of this project from the start, as it really exemplifies the spirit
of the Amiga community. Eric still hangs out as an IRC operator on the
Amiganet IRC network, and you can still catch him there often.

You may be worried that this is the end of NewIcons...NOT SO! I will
continue
to pump out more icon sets and other NewIcons related graphics, and I'm
sure
many others will also. AmigaOS 3.5 is still in development (it's true), and
I have a good feeling that the NewIcons concept of dynamically remapped,
palette independent icons will, in some form, be integrated into the 3.5
operating system. When that happens, you can be assured that the images
you're using today will still be usable, NewIcons patches or not.


Overview of version 4.5:

   o 4.5 is mostly meant to be an housekeeping version. It mostly consists
of
     fixes and minor improvements. It also denotes the departure from 2.04
     support. We'll keep the low-end version of the library so that
     applications can still use it to display/remap icons, but the patch
     itself will now require V39 (Kickstart 3.0).

   o Most of the patch code was rewritten, speeding them up and making them
     smaller (some patches are now fully in ASM rather than a mixture of E
     and ASM).
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             A N O T H E R   M O Z I L L A   P R O J E C T 


9 Mar '99

 MOZZAM is a project to port the Mozilla OpenSource browser to the
Amiga platform. It used to be called AMozilla, but has recently been
renamed to avoid confusion with another ongoing project with a
similiar goal (but different approach).
 
 MOZZAM utilizes the MXlib, my own X server library which utilizes MUI
to provide a native X client API to applications. The ultimate goal
behind MOZZAM is to be in sync with the Unix source tree of Mozilla
and, on the long run, to simply do
  ./configure
  make
  make install


 with any new Mozilla source release on a gcc equipped Amiga. MXLib
will be made public later on as an OpenSource resource to ease porting
of other well known applications from the Linux world to AmigaOS.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                  T H O R   2 . 6   R E L E A S E D

28 Feb 99 

 Ultima Thule Software is happy to announce that THOR 2.6 (finally)
has been released.


                                - THOR -

                               Release 2.6

            Copyright (C) 1993-1999 Ultima Thule Software,
                         All Rights Reserved.

 THOR 2.6 is an advanced multi-format offline reader, supporting the
QWK, Fido, UUCP, SOUP, Bluewave, Omen, ABBS, MBBS and Hippo (BBBS)
message formats. It will also handle TCP-connections with NNTP, SMTP
and POP3, with extensive MIME support.

Changes from 2.5a to 2.6:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THOR:

 - New Save window added.
 
 - The main listview has complete support for proportional fonts now.
There's a slight speed penalty involved with using proportional fonts
due to some extra calculations required for the wrap code, but it
shouldn't be too bad.
 
 - Fixed so that GETCURRENTSYSTEM from an ARexx enter/leave script
will report the correct conference at all times.
 
 - SAVEMESSAGE from ARexx has several new arguments.
 
 - The conferences window now has a tree-view layout, with
configurable folder setup etc.
 
 - Trippled the minimum stack size due to reports of a possible
problem with the stack on advanced multipart messages.
 
 - You will now be allowed to Edit Data on a Forward Msg event and add
a text comment, or remove the previous text comment.
 
 - Previous search results will now be cleared in all conferences and
not just those that matches the current result.
 
 - The TAB key or the small gadget marked 'S' can now be used to
toggle selection of all enties in all requesters where multiple
entries can be selected from a list (eg. To Name/Address when sending
mail, joining groups, etc).
 
 - Added FilterThor to the external menu. FilterThor is a new MUI
based tool to configure sortmail triggers.
 
 - Added conferences field in the attachment listview in the
pack/purge window.

+ many bug fixes and improvements

 QUESTIONS?
 ~~~~~~~~~~
 There is a newsgroup for Thor with the name of alt.sys.amiga.thor. If
the group is not available at your newsserver, ask for it by sending a
mail to your system admin.
 
Mailing Lists:

 The old THOR mailing list has be resurrected. To subscribe to this
list, send a mail to majordomo@thule.no with "subscribe thor-ml <email
address>" in the body.

 There is a mailing list for developers of programs and ARexx scripts
related to THOR. To subscribe to this list, send a mail to
majordomo@thule.no with "subscribe thor-dev <email address>" in the
body. If you have no interest in making scripts or programs related to
THOR, you do not need to join this mailing list.

--
    Petter Nilsen

    EMail THOR Team: thor@thule.no
    WWW site:        http://www.thule.no/
    EMail:           pettern@thule.no
    IRC:             Mitchman
----------------------------------------------------------------------

        W I L D F I R E   7   F R O M   N O V A   D E S I G N 

17 Mar 1999 

Wildfire 7 - Animation Sequencing and 3D Effects

 Nova Design, Inc., producers of the award winning ImageFX package and
the highly received Aladdin 4D package, are proud to announce that
they have arranged to be the exclusive distributors of the Wildfire 3D
effects package for North America -- now in version 7!
 
 Wildfire is an exciting new animation sequencing, 3D effects,
transitions, and animation package by Andreas Maschke published in
Germany by Oberland Computer. It can be compared to SGI Flint or Flame
systems and it is capable of creating amazing 3D effects by mapping
video sequences into Wildfire's intuitive storyboard animation
sequencing system.
 
 Wildfire is perfect for the animation hobbyist, Toaster/Flyer
professional, Movieshop/Draco editor and all others who use their
Amigas for animation and video.
 
 Highlights of Wildfire
 
 Wildfire is a professional animation sequencer that allows you to
create and process animations in several formats, to generate
time-dependant 3D special-effects and design large projects containing
several animations and frame-synchronized sound-effects. Wildfire's
animation sequencing allows you to combine animations on a timeline
and output the results as a YAFA animation with synchronized sound.
 
 Wildfire is able to perform basic non-linear editing of animation
sequences and can import or export frame sequences, Amiga ANIMs,
YAFAs, MPEGs, Windows AVI, and Macintosh Quicktime formats!
 
 The 3D effects included in Wildfire include height-field deforms,
cubes that automatically unfold and fold again, Lightwave object
support, 3D magnet effects, 3D transitional morphing, unlimited
mathematical deformations, twists, sphere mapping, twirling, water
transitions, perspective transforms and more!
 
o Full CyberGraphX Support 
o Font Sensitive GUI
o Full PowerPC Support 
o Storyboard editor Interface 
o Convert using MPEG, AVI and Quicktime movie formats 
o Timecodes Editor 
o Envelope Controls for Effects 
o Filmstrip Interfaces 
o Real-time Feedback 
o Transition Maker
o Preview for almost any Operation 
o Animation with Sound 
o Post Processing Tools 
o Color correction Tools 
o 24-bit Animation Player with Sound

 Wildfire is an open development platform, like Nova Design, Inc.'s
own products, with a complete plug-in development system and a full
Arexx interface (with over 400 commands) is included.
 
Ordering Wildfire

 Wildfire works on your standard Amiga 68k models as well as the
PowerPC and it is only $199.95. You'll find it's available at your
favorite Amiga dealer or mail order firm.
 
 Wildfire comes on CDROM and requires an Amiga 68k series or PowerPC
system.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net:
 All back issues available at:
    http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive! 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1999 by Brad Webb.    Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
                 _    __      _     <>_   __      _      
   A M I G A    /\\    |\    /||    ||   /  `    /\\      A M I G A   
  U P D A T E  /__\\   | \  / ||    ||  || ___  /__\\    U P D A T E 
              /    \\_ |  \/  ||_  _||_  \__// /    \\_  
                    amigaupdate@globaldialog.com      
======================================================================

Date:    28 Mar 99 14:47:46 +0100
Subject: Offener Brief
To:      "Mag: Amiga News (Petra Struck)" <petra.struck@online-club.de>
From:    Andreas_Kleinert@t-online.de (Andreas R. Kleinert)

Hallo Petra,

 folgenden "offenen Brief" habe ich an phase5,
 Metabox und Escena geschickt.

 ***************************************************************

Hallo,

 nachdem man nach Einbau einer G3/G4-Karte den alten
 A3/4000 ohnehin nur noch als "Gehaeuse" weiterverwenden
 wuerde...

 Mir geht eine andere Idee durch den Kopf:

 Warum nicht eine G3/G4 PCI-Karte fuer x86-PCs entwerfen ?

 Gleiches versuchen doch auch Siamese mit ihrer 68060-Karte,
 allerdings faende ich es sinnvoller, einen Rechner einzusparen
 UND PowerPC-Support zu behalten.

 Bei einem offenen PCI-Design mit Flashrom koennte man
 dann diese Karte auch im neuen AmigaNG (von mir aus
 als 68k/PPC-Emulationsoption unter "AmigaSoft 5.0")
 weiterverwenden. Der Kompatibilitaetslevel wuerde in
 etwa dem Draco bzw. einem Amiga unter CyberGraphX
 entsprechen.

 Im Detail:

 Nachdem WinUAE/AROS und AmigaNG als Emulations-
 kombination in greifbare Naehe ruecken - warum
 nicht eine PPC-Karte als PCI-Addon fuer den
 neuen Amiga bereitstellen ? Diese koennte den
 68k emulieren UND Kompatibilitaet zu PPC-Anwendungen
 und Amiga OS 3.5 (3.6, 3.7 ?) sicherstellen und
 den neuen Amiga-Prozessor entlasten...

 Daneben waere es denkbar, WinUAE und die Karte
 zusammen in einem normalen x86-PC laufen zu
 lassen.

 Was halten Sie davon ?


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KOSH [Kommunity Orientated Software Hardware]

Weekly Summary

Week Commencing: 13th March 1999

Number: 012

Mailing List: kosh-general

In the mailing list this week, the following items were discussed. Please do
not email the scribe regarding any of these topics, it is not his job to answer
these questions but merely to report  the topics of conversation. If you have
any queries about this summary, please email ben@kosh.net, stating the Summary
Number, and Mailing List Name, and he will try to answer your queries.

a)

Subject: Alternative filesystem mechanics

Summary of debate: Part of the feature set for the filesystem "SFS" is that it
                   supports a "run-time defragmenter" that defragments the
                   drive when the user isn't accessing it. Still in development
                   but take a look at the following if interested:
                   http://www.xs4all.nl/~hjohn/SFS/features.htm

                   There is a similar tool under development for PFS2


b)

Subject: File locations

Summary of debate: If the end user wants to be able to keep their files in
                   locations not originally designed for, eg: applications in
                   the applications area then they should be able to do so.


c)

Subject: Sets

Summary of debate: A collection of files/objects could be termed a set. Sets
                   can contain subsets. Two sets can also contain common
                   objects without one being a subset of another. Folders and
                   drawers as terms lack this ability of multiplicity.

                   Soft sets would contain only references to objects. Hard
                   sets would contain the objects themselves.


d)

Subject: Moving around a GUI

Summary of debate: At the moment most GUI's are designed so that you move
                   around them vertically and then horizontally (or vice
                   versa). As a result moving windows, text, pictures etc. in a
                   fluid and accurate diagonal manner can be haphazard at best.
                   For example: resizing windows in 2 plains at once is OK, but
                   after that you are left with a vertical and a horizontal
                   scroll bar and nothing that combines both (except the new
                   track wheel mice - but these have their problems).

                   Therefore it would be nice if KOSH could have diagonal
                   movement built in as standard in an intuitive way.


e)

Subject: New keys on keyboards

Summary of debate: It would be nice if KOSHkeyboards had cut, copy and paste
                   keys in intuitive positions. However you should be able to
                   define your own clipboard keys so adding these three may not
                   be necessary. If we did add these keys they would need to be
                   placed in the main area of the keyboard and not off to one
                   side (eg: near the keypad) as accessing them becomes slower.

f)

Subject: Abstraction and Backing up data

Summary of debate: Scribe's note: this is a subject that I have summarised in
                   depth as it is central to a number of concerns that people
                   have expressed about the object sea.

                   KOSH will fully abstract physical and logical devices in a
                   comprehensive and easy-to-live-with manner. Therefore it
                   will be possible to locate all animations, text objects,
                   application objects, etc individually (eg: .jpg) or by
                   group (eg: all picture types etc) that are present on the
                   system irrespective of where they are located.

                   There is no relationship between the layout of the
                   filesystem as presented to the user and the physical
                   location of the files on a disk.

                   However there should still be a way to find all data
                   relating to a particular object or objects. This could be
                   one of the many entries in the object "database". Therefore
                   an option to display the system as per the conventional
                   currently used directory tree system should also be included
                   as this could be of use when wanting to do things like data
                   backups.

                   However the user should not need to see this. The backup
                   tool perhaps does but it can present the information to you
                   in whatever way you like.

                   Backup tools would probably take a frozen object and
                   compress it (if not already) and store it on the chosen
                   backup media, and note the pertinent information in some
                   index object it maintains of the backup.

                   Backup tools don't need to work directly with the storage
                   system on the drive, just with the objects themselves. It is
                   unlikely that people would often want to perform a
                   block-by-block backup of their files.

                   With an object sea, you throw your work into the sea. To
                   enable you to find it again, it has one or several strings
                   attached to it. When you need it you can just pull in the
                   right string until your creation comes up to the surface. A
                   natural worry that this creates is that the descriptive
                   strings could get broken and objects could therefore be
                   theoretically lost in the sea.

                   Therefore objects in the object sea will not float in an
                   arbitrary way. The objects will be ordered, even if they can
                   have links all over the place.

                   When sending an object to another KOSH machine the class
                   object and associated binding would be understood. however
                   when passing this same object (eg: a JPEG file) to a Linux
                   or Windows machine, they don't know KOSH object structures or
                   class bindings. Further, "JPEG" has a fairly precise
                   definition as a byte-stream. When sending this out to other
                   systems, just that JPEG stream would be wanted. Likewise
                   when importing: a JPEG (again as an example) from another
                   system should be inserted into a JPEG object.

                   Having the ability to add compression, cryptification or other
                   services to the objectsystem is a very good idea.

g)

Subject: Java Serialization

Summary of debate: See: http://www.javasoft.com - In Java there is something
                   called serialization which provides an easy way to implement
                   loads and saves of data in an ArrayList (from the Java API).
                   This could be the same with the Object Sea except that load
                   and save are replaced with freeze/unfreeze.


h)

Subject: Engineering Jobs at Amiga (in San Jose)

Summary of debate: See: http://www.amiga.de or the post forwarded to the ML by
                   Paul May dated 13/03/99, title as per the above subject
                   for information about positions with Amiga.


i)

Subject: Status of AROS

Summary of debate: Paul May has also forwarded a statement on AROS and where it
                   is currently at to the ML, dated 13/03/99, title: [TA] AROS
                   Statement (fwd).


j)

Subject: Icons (continued)

Summary of debate: Do we want fixed size icons which must occupy a specific
                   square or do we go for the Amiga approach which is more
                   flexible but potentially untidier and harder to handle?


k)

Subject: Force feedback input devices

Summary of debate: The idea to have force feedback devices such as a mouse was
                   suggested. This could (for example) let the user feel
                   scrollbars as channels, resizing windows as pulling elastic
                   and selecting icons becoming heavier the more you picked up.


l)

Subject: Mouse-Responsive Speech in a GUI

Summary of debate: As the mouse (or other control device) moves around the
                   desktop a voice could quietly tell the user the name
                   associated with each icon that is passed over, or some other
                   sound, word, or phrase specific to it. This then provides
                   aural confirmation of selection for those who may benefit
                   from such a feature. The same type of aural presentation
                   could equally as an option be implemented for menus and
                   controls within an application. The same applies to context
                   menus in web browsers.


m)

Subject: Heat dissipation in KOSHboxes (continuing "Waterproofing KOSH")

Summary of debate: Two links recommended regarding cooling chips are:
                   http://www.kryotech.com/ and
                   http://www.totalpc.net/hardware/renegade/
                   Kryotech manufactures cooling cases for PCs that use a
                   refrigerating base that runs through a heatsink that you can
                   then affix to your CPU in place of a standard heatsink.

                   The best solution to overheating would be to use low power
                   components and some sensible power management system that
                   can power down unused parts of the system.

                   As for radio interference as previously mentioned, the way
                   to solve this is with shielding which converts radiation
                   back into heat which can then be dissipated via some inbuilt
                   system.

                   The orientation of cards to allow for unfanned convective
                   currents to be optimised could be important. Orientating
                   cards on a vertical plane would not hinder heat
                   dissipation.

                   We must ensure that any KOSHbox that is produced can compete
                   in the general marketplace and therefore special cases and
                   heat dissipation units may increase the cost and reduce
                   sales potential when put next to an average PC. Therefore
                   apart from passive design points (eg: orientating cards
                   vertically) there may be little we can do initially to
                   improve designs.



n)

Subject: Virtual memory in newer NetBSD systems

Summary of debate: See: http://www.ccrc.wustl.edu/pub/chuck/tech/uvm/ for some
                   technical documents on the above.


o)

Subject: Compiling for the Object Sea

Summary of debate: How far would existing compilers need to be rewritten to
                   take account of the new object system when taking into
                   account the fact that programs tend to save data as
                   separate files?

                   A set of functions in the OO filesystem would allow existing
                   applications to be directed to use the new system and not
                   rely on traditional methods of saving. A method would be
                   needed to map the old style files onto the OO filespace.

                   It was stated that this would have nothing to do with
                   compilers as most languages have I/O as some kind of library
                   routine. Allowing for some functions being rewritten there
                   should be no problem.


p)

Subject: RAM disks

Summary of debate: Implementing a RAM: disk aka Amiga-style but designed to
                   work with virtual memory so that the data would be held on
                   disk but not placed in memory. This could be a better way to
                   handle things than temporary files in Windows.

                   Perhaps if everything is conceptually in RAM (including
                   contents of physical disks). Some systems use this and it
                   would building an OO system with persistent objects.

                   There could actually be a (small?) application which does
                   about the same thing as a RAM: disk.


q)

Subject: Task masking

Summary of debate: Could we set up a system where, via a quick option, certain
                   running tasks are suspended and hidden according to user
                   settings and (optionally) another one that's been frozen in
                   the background gets re-activated and set as the current
                   running application?

                   Hotkeys could accommodate this.


r)

Subject: Use of computers by those with disabilities

Summary of debate: See:
     http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/The_Paper/Weekly/Story/0,3605,30692,00.html
                   which is relevant to the above subject particularly as KOSH
                   aims to enable accessibility for all.


s)

Subject: Speed and thousands of files

Summary of debate: In a traditional filesystem organising several thousand
                   files into several directories with several subdirectories
                   allows for a relatively fast search and locate for an
                   individual file. With the Object Sea references to objects
                   will similarly allow fast access - most likely faster
                   if a directory class optimised for large numbers of files
                   was created.


t)

Subject: Printing of objects

Summary of debate: Objects could be made to include the details to be able to
                   print themselves if text (or show themselves if pictures -
                   or both if either etc). This would remove concerns about
                   having the correct viewer/whatever to be able to use the
                   object. Could Amiga-style datatypes be used for this?


u)

Subject: Computer knit-wear

Summary of debate: See: http://wearables.stanford.edu/ for (what one scribe-e
                   describes as) a "combined pocket computer and hand warmer".


v)

Subject: Userinterface Working Group

Summary of debate: Timo Suoranta wants to work on user interfaces. For this he
                   would like a mailing list and a working group set up. Timo
                   details that this would be started by making one version of
                   the user interface with a limited C++ object model. Then when
                   the KOSH object model is available this can be rewritten or
                   translated. The first version would run on top of X.

                   Timo will look at some existing user interfaces which have
                   free source code and see if this can be utilised. See:
                   http://www.fsai.fh-trier.de/~schmitzj/Xclasses/ which could
                   be relevant.

                   It turns out that Xclasses had some building trouble, but
                   another promising toolkit could be: http://fltk.easysw.com
                   which Timo built on his NetBSD system.


w)

Subject: Disadvantages of the Windows interface (again)

Summary of debate: Greg says the URL quoted last time should have been:
                   http://www.iarchitect.com/msoft.htm - that little "l" makes
                   all the difference:)