13.Jun.1999
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Amiga Update Newsletter von Brad Webb #990611
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_ __ _ <>_ __ _ ||
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors-
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional e-mail
KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING || Newsmagazine)
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AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.
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990611
O P E N L E T T E R F R O M J I M C O L L A S
N O M I N A T I O N S F O R A D V I S O R Y C O U N C I L
A N T S Y F O R A M E E T I N G ?
A M I G A E X T R A V A G A N Z A I N I N D Y
A M I G A A C T I V E O N L I N E
3 D F X F O R P I V
P E T S O F F ' S D E L F I N A P L U S
P C B D E S I G N E R N E E D E D
S O F T W A R E H E L P N E E D E D
M I L L E N N I U M - N E W T E K A N D N O V A D E S I G N
S H A R E W A R E A U T H O R S W A N T E D
P C X A N D F U S I O N F R E E - M A Y B E
F A C T S 2 . 7 F O R T I M E
" F O R M A T " F O R L A R G E D I S K S
U P D A T E O N U P C O M I N G I - B R O W S E
P P C F U S I O N , P C X - M A Y B E N E V E R
R E B O L 2 . 0 A N N O U N C E D
H T T P R E S U M E F A K E V E R S I O N
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
One of the most interesting things we bring your way in this issue is
the announcement by Amiga of nominations for their Advisory Committee.
You can pick up a nomination form from one of several web sites, print
it out, fill it out and fax it back. Give the matter some thought if
you decide to nominate someone, but don't hesitate if you can come up
with a good candidate.
The letter below from Jim Collas clears up some interesting comments
made by Gateway's top person Ted Waitt. We were surprised there wasn't
more talk in the Amiga community about Mr. Waitt's statements, but
apparently there was sufficient to cause the writing of this letter.
We really appreciate the attempts at communication being made by Amiga
lately, and hope the community appreciates these efforts as well (even
if, as has been pointed out on the net, the folks at Amiga seem to do
all their writing in Micro$oft Word! On a Windows based net site!
Hmmmm.)
Despite the choice of word processor and web server, despite the fact
that the photo of him on the website makes Jim Collas look
suspiciously like "The Master", we're beginning to think we have
someone more like "The Doctor" this time. We hope so. We also hope he
occasionally uses an Amiga for some of his work ...
Brad Webb,
Editor
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E-mail to the E-ditor:
30 May 1999
Just been reading the Amiga Update which arrived a couple of days
ago.
My primary comment concerns the new Gateway computer, "for sale in
Japan".
That new machine, with the motherboard built into the back of the LCD
display has been available at some of the Country Stores in the USA
since early March.
It is just a Windows box with one out of the ordinary feature ... In
the CMOS setup, there is a choice of operating system to start up at
boot time. The choices are Windows and Other.
======
Robert,
Interesting observations - I was unaware of the "Other" designation.
Presumably that would be something like Linux.
What interested me was the juxtaposition of the story about the
Japanese Gateway computers with the Amiga concept drawings, which were
being made available to the press. One of those drawings clearly shows
a very portable Amiga with an attached LCD display - very reminiscent
of the description of the Japanese computers. Time will tell if
there's anything in common.
Brad
~~~~~~
28 May 1999
re: mikdom's letter in your 19-May-99 issue:
What's all this about a ZIP drive "click of death"?
Thanks
Allan
======
Allan,
I'm no expert on this, but I've heard something of a failing that
happens with some Zip drives, where the death of the drive is
preceded by a clicking sound. Could one of our readers send more
details?
Brad
~~~~~~
29 May 1999
Dear Brad,
Regards the gentleman who can't find an Amiga to buy...
Tell him to check Ebay. Find a seller with lots of positive feedback
and little or no negative feedback; those folks are as good as gold,
because they protect their feedback status fervently, feverishly, and
fretfully.
Seriously, I've noticed A4000, 1200, 600, 500, 2000 and 3000s (not
sure what the gent is looking for).
Keep up the good work, and there is NO excuse for not owning an
Amiga, if you want one.
Regards,
Mike
======
Mike,
That's a very good suggestion. Another possibility is
comp.sys.amiga.marketplace if you have access to newsgroups. There's
less protection from unscrupulous sellers, but there are sometimes
notes posted about who's regarded as good and who's not.
Brad
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O P E N L E T T E R F R O M J I M C O L L A S
June 8, 1999
Dear Amigans,
Ted Waitt was recently interviewed by Guardian Online about Gateway's
plans in general. There was also a question specifically about
Gateway's plans for Amiga that Ted answered as follows: "we've had a
group of people working on leveraging the Amiga assets into an
appliance strategy for us. How well that works out, I don't know: it
will be interesting to see. There are some great assets there. It's
definitely not a computer business.'' This comment has obviously
spurred many responses from the Amiga community. I want to assure
people that this doesn't reflect a shift in our Amiga plans. We have
not changed our plans to release a next generation Amiga multimedia
computer. I have described the new multimedia computer and how it
integrates into a full "information appliance" environment in my May
letter to the community posted on our web site. Please read the May
letter, as it will help you understand Amiga's product strategy.
Ted's comments refer to Gateway's product plans for using the Amiga
technology. Gateway's main interest in the next generation Amiga
technology is for the emerging information appliance market. Gateway's
focus on Internet connected information appliances is justifiable
given the extremely high potential of this market and it's threat to
the PC industry. Prominent Industry analysts have called information
appliances "the next Internet wave'' and "one of the most exciting
opportunities of the new millennium.'' By the year 2002, it is
forecasted that information appliance shipments will surpass PC
shipments and there will be more information appliances connected to
the Internet than PCs. If I were CEO of Gateway, this would also be
one of my primary areas of focus. But I am not CEO of Gateway. I am
CEO of Amiga and I don't want to confuse Gateway's plans with Amiga's.
There is a significant overlap in our plans but there is a difference
in focus. I have been empowered by Ted to drive Amiga as an
independent company with it's own strategy and plans. This will
eliminate a major challenge that has held Amiga back for many years.
The challenge of getting the proper attention and priority from large
corporate parent companies which are focusing on their core business.
Regarding Amiga's strategy, I have mentioned many times that Amiga
will use the immense emerging information appliance market to build
momentum for our next generation architecture. This is why we have
come up with an architecture that integrates the power of multimedia
computing into a full home computing environment that includes
information appliances. This is a revolutionary architecture and
computing environment for the future that combines power and
simplicity. It is a powerful plan that gives Amiga a great chance of
rising again as a significant force in the industry. On my trip to
Germany and the U.K. last month, I presented details of the
architecture and plans to a small group of prominent people in the
Amiga community. I did this confidentially to get some feedback and
validation on our plans. Once people understood exactly what we were
doing, the feedback was very positive and people were excited about
the revolutionary new architecture. Personally, I am extremely excited
about sharing details of the new Amiga architecture with the community
as a whole but we are still in a very sensitive stage relative to
competition and technology partners. I know this is frustrating to the
community since you have waited so long for a next generation product.
We will continue to share as much information as possible when it is
appropriate.
I hope this letter clarifies Ted's statements on Gateway's use of
Amiga technology. I will continue communicating as much as possible.
You can expect to see my June letter to the community in a few weeks.
I promise you that 1999 is going to be a great year for Amiga and the
Amiga community. Keep the momentum going as we come back for the
future.
Sincerely,
Jim Collas
President and CEO, Amiga
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N O M I N A T I O N S F O R A D V I S O R Y C O U N C I L
For Immediate Release
San Diego, CA - June 10th 1999 - Amiga announces availability of
Nomination Forms for the Amiga Advisory Council.
As the company moves forward, the advisory council will be
influential in helping to set the future direction of Amiga, with a
special focus on the needs and desires of the existing Amiga
community.
The Council will be made up of representatives from the Amiga
community. Once the Nomination forms have been faxed in, then Amiga
management will select representatives from the developer, press,
dealer/distributor, user group, and general user communities.
Amiga will be evaluating and selecting the candidates based on the
following criteria.
* Experience with the classic Amiga products
* Experience with the various Amiga user groups or similar Amiga
community organization (such as ICOA, Brainiac, UGN, Team Amiga, Jay
Miner Society, AmigaSOC, D.A.U.G.)
* Amiga Dealers and Distributors
* Amiga Developers
* Communication with the Advisory council will be in English and will
primarily be done via the Internet.
Amiga has already begun receiving numerous Nomination forms, and we
are closing the nominations on June 19th, 1999.
The council will be selected and announced the first week of July.
Nomination forms can be found at the Amiga Web Site at
http://www.amiga.com/e-fr.html . It is also available at several other
web sites throughout the Amiga Community, here are two other locations
where the form can be found:
http://www.amiga.org/articles/1999/NominationForm.jpg or
http://www.realdreams.cz/amiga/
"In order to make Amiga a great company, delivering the type of
innovative products that users desire, it is imperative that the
Spirit of Amiga flow throughout our products, and that Spirit is the
community." Said Jim Collas - President of Amiga
Please visit one of the web sites listed above, and nominate your
Amiga Advisory Council member.
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A N T S Y F O R A M E E T I N G ?
9 Jun 1999
Amiga North Thames are pleased to announce Crystal Software will be
giving away demo copies of their forthcoming title Dark Millennia at a
specially re-arranged ANT usergroup meeting.
The original meeting was cancelled, but has now been re-scheduled.
Attendees will be the first in the world to see the demo of this
tremendous game. Screenshots available from the AmigaFlame website at:
http://www.amigaflame.co.uk/aminews.htm
As before the head programmer and Graphics Artist will be at hand to
chat and answer your questions about Dark Millennia. Andrew Reed,
Crystal Software's Owner, will be also be at hand to answer your
questions.
Details...
Date: Sunday 20th of June 1999
Time: 1:00pm until 5:00pm
Venue:
Friends Meeting House,
61 Church Hill
Winchmore Hill
London
N21 1LE
Everyone is welcome.
Tea, Coffee and will be available and maybe, just maybe biscuits.
More details and a map to the venue will be posted on the ANT website
on Friday 11th of June. http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ant.london
Michael Carrillo (aka Mikey C)
ant.london@ukonline.co.uk
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A M I G A E X T R A V A G A N Z A I N I N D Y
Amiga Extravaganza Show to Take Place in Indianapolis
There will be an Amiga computer show in the Midwest this October to
replace the one normally held at Columbus, Ohio. This in no way
precludes anyone from attending the Dayton Computerfest Amiga show
within a show. Both should be well supported.
There will be a new Amiga show October 8-10 called Amiga Extravaganza
at Indianapolis, Indiana. It is being put on by ARCUG, the Indy Amiga
user group. It is also being supported by FWD Computing of Mexico,
Indiana.
Further info and link to info on this can be found at either of the
following:
http://www.amiga.de/diary/events-e.html Amiga Inc web site
or at
http://midlink.com/amiga/AEShows.html
Frank Davis
FWD Computing
P.O. Box 17
Mexico, IN 46958
765-473-8031
fdavis@iquest.net
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A M I G A A C T I V E O N L I N E
28 May 1999.
Pinprint Publishing are delighted to announce the launch of
Amigactive Online, the official website of the forthcoming UK based,
glossy newsstand Amiga magazine, Amigactive.
Amigactive Online will form an integral part of the Amigactive
experience, and will be updated frequently with the latest news about
the magazine as well as news from the rest of the Amiga world.
We will make Amigactive the best Amiga magazine money can buy, and
you can help us to do this by filling in our first online survey - and
stand a chance of winning yourself a pair of tickets to this year's
World Of Amiga show in London in the process!
Lasty, we would like to take this opportunity to thank all those
people who have contacted us with messages of support since we
announced our decision to produce a brand new UK Amiga magazine.
Without you, we would not be here today. Thank you.
So, for all the latest information about Amigactive Magazine, visit
Amigactive Online:
www.amigactive.com
Best Regards,
The Amigactive Team.
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3 D F X F O R P I V
3Dfx Add On for PicassoIV - Name The Baby
Press-Release:
Scheduled for the 3rd to 4th quarter 1999 is Village Tronic's new add
on board for the PicassoIV modular graphics-board:
The board will bring 3Dfx technology to ZorroIII Amigas like A3k,
A4k, A1200 with z3 board in conjunction with an additional PicassoIV.
It will give you never seen 3d functionality to the amiga-classic
range of computer systems.
With the optional PabloIV module you will be able to bring your
3D-applications to your 25" Television and/or tape your 3D-Scenes to
your videorecorder.
From the technical side of view the board will be able to bring up to
960x720 pixels in resolution with 8 MB of texture/pixel ram.
Programmers will get a native GLIDE® API and later an additional
Warp3D driver for the
Haage&Partner 3d API-system.
CHIPSET: Voodoo, 3Dfx
BUS: internal PicassoIV PCI connector
RAM: 8 MB
RESOLUTION 960x720 in 16 bit
MODULE SUPPORT PabloIV
DRIVER SYSTEM: Glide®, Warp3D
REQUIREMENTS ZorroIII, (A3k, A4k, A1200+ZIII board)
8 MB usual ram, 1 MB chip, CPU 040/25 minimum
But now we need your help: WE DON`T HAVE A NAME FOR THIS FANTASTIC
BABY! If you have a good idea for our 3D-product and/or painted a LOGO
for it you can drop us a mail and you can win one of the first
3d-add-on board when we use your idea! This contest will close 19th of
july.
Contribute now and send your suggestion to:
amigasupport@village.de
Ekkehard Brüggemann
Village Tronic Support Team
Village Tronic Marketing GmbH
Mühlenstr.2 - D-31157 Sarstedt
http://www.villagetronic.com
amigasupport@village.de
Tel.: +49(0)5066-7013-20
Fax.:+49(0)5066-7013-49
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P E T S O F F ' S D E L F I N A P L U S
2 June, 1999
DELFINA PLUS - A GREATLY IMPROVED DELFINA LITE
As companies need to always improve their products based on customer
input, complaints and suggestions, we have taken into consideration
what are the biggest flaws on Delfina Lite and how they could be
remedied without making the board much more expensive. The new Delfina
sound board design fixes the biggest problems and enhances performance
about 100 percent on some areas and over 200 percent on others. We
feel that the improvement definitely deserves a new name - Delfina
Plus.
Delfina Lite, the popular DSP sound board for Amiga, does not have a
very high speed bus interface. Therefore the overall system may feel
slow responding, especially when running many sound outputting
programs at the same time. Slow bus speed is a result from only 8 bit
Zorro bus interface and inefficient bus handling on Delfina side. On
new design, the greatest priority object was to improve bus interface,
and we have really achieved that. New interface is real 16 bit and
much more efficient, taking less Amiga's CPU time and also less
Delfina's DSP time, while delivering minimum of 3 times the transfer
speeds of Delfina Lite. What this means is, that user can now use many
more simultaneous audio programs (AHI programs or native Delfina audio
programs) without slowing much down system's responsiveness.
Also DSP clock rate has been risen from 40MHz to 74MHz. Faster clock
rate means that even multiple DelFX effects programs will not use up
all DSP power, and Delfina Kernel will not need to bring down the
sound codec clock rate from 48kHz, as it often does on Delfina Lite.
Delfina Plus is capable of 220 million operations per second, which of
course means nothing in simple use, but sure comes handy with multiple
sound processing with effects piped in. A graphical interface used for
sound piping will be introduced.
In our tests the effective performance improvement has been much more
than the clock rate increase, because faster clock also makes the
codec and memory transfer tasks use up smaller portion of total DSP
load. User can view the current DSP load with the DelfLoad program.
Some advantages of Delfina Plus against other sound cards:
o the best AHI support
o a free PPC AHI driver licence for Delfina owners coming
o the only soundcard supporting infinite number of virtual AHI
devices with only one sound card
o interpolating mix of virtual AHI devices is made with Delfina's DSP
o AHI brings a wide range of applications to Delfina
o transparent complex audio effects
o DelFX effects applicable to any audio producing program's output or
external input
o sound piping from program to another
o piping with CLI utilities or DelFX software
o graphical sound module piping (not available for Delfina Lite yet)
o low system load
o efficient Zorro bus transfer, large audio buffers on board and the
Delfina's digital signal processor take load off Amiga's CPU
o programmable DSP
o Motorola 56002 programming environment included with sample
programs
o DelfExp expansion
o DelfSer serial expansion now finally available!
Delfina Plus is targetted initially at the price range of 220 Euros
(about 230 US dollars, VAT excluded). Owners of older Delfina models
will have an offer for inexpensive upgrade.
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P C B D E S I G N E R N E E D E D
3 June 1999
IAT Manufacturing is currently experiencing an extreem stretch on our
existing design staff, especially in PCB design. We are thus looking
for PCB (Printed Circuit Board) artworkers to join our hardware
development team. We are not looking for full time employment, more
contract work in areas such as schematic capture, netlist generation
&c.. If you are already employed or self supporting andwould like to
work from home using your own software and would like to take on PCB
design to reduce strain on our resources we would like to hear from
you. Good rates of set pay negociated per product or on royalty basis.
Regards,
IAT Manufacturing
Contact: L Short
email: IATalpha@netcomuk.co.uk
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S O F T W A R E H E L P N E E D E D
3 June 1999
You may know Trogladyte Software is embarking on our own Office
package which will feature Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Database,
possibly a Publisher type thing and various other things. Of course,
this whole project depends on any talented Amiga programmers out there
helping! And by help, I mean large interaction and working with the
other project members. Join
http://www.trogsoft.freeserve.co.uk/product/office
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M I L L E N N I U M - N E W T E K A N D N O V A D E S I G N
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NewTek and Nova Design Announce New Product!
8th June 1999
NewTek and Nova Design, Inc., producers of the award winning ImageFX
and Aladdin 4D packages for the Amiga, announce Millennium - a
comprehensive upgrade package for the Amiga Video Toaster - The
Broadcast Studio in a Box.
NewTek and Nova Design are bringing together some of the most popular
programs of the past decade as well as introducing all new material
for the Amiga Video Toaster/Flyer. Millennium is being produced in
cooperation with Nova Design, Inc., who is managing and coordinating
with other developers. Users of the Amiga Video Toaster/Flyer will see
more power and greater flexibility in the Flyer's tools. Millennium
builds on the existing set of tools in the Flyer's interface. Hundreds
of new effects and wipes have been added. All new wipes are
professionally designed. Many wipes use live-action to produce the
exciting matte wipes the Amiga VideoToaster has been famous for. You
can create your own wipes with Wipe Studio - a new addition to the
Amiga Toaster/Flyer user's toolkit. Wipe Studio allows you to create
your own effects and wipes for the Amiga Toaster/Flyer. This
easy-to-use, yet powerful standalone utility leads you through
creating your own transitions.
There is enough new content to fill several CD-ROMs! There are new
fonts, and full color backgrounds for use in Amiga ToasterCG or Amiga
ToasterPaint.
There are also FlyerClips of video sequences of captured or animated
scenes to use as well. A powerful suite of tools is added to the Flyer
interface, including compositing tools, rendering tools and audio
tools! Hundreds of additional ARexx commands and more content for both
Amiga Toaster and Flyer owners! The package comes with several CD-ROMs
and a full printed manual designed to be inserted into your Amiga
Toaster/Flyer manual for ease-of-use. There will also be a VHS-NTSC
videotape introduction to the Millennium package as well.
You will need to have at least version 3.1 of the Amiga Toaster
software, but 4.2 will be required to use all of the effects, and new
software. Availability of the new package has not yet been announced,
but it is expected by later this summer. The upgrade price also has
not yet been determined.
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S H A R E W A R E A U T H O R S W A N T E D
10 Jun 1999
AmigaSoc the UK usergroup UGN representative body will be hosting a
Shareware stall at World of Amiga 1999
Basically there are a number of reason why we are running the
shareware scheme, and none of them is to make money!
We have been involved with the Amiga for a long time now, and we
recognise that a large part of the software available for the Amiga
is, or has been at some time, shareware.
Software is what keeps a computer alive and with the decreasing
commercial market we realise that shareware is becoming more and more
important on the Amiga.
Here is a list of Shareware authors who have confirmed their
participation so far and have agreed for us to sell their products for
them.
Vapourware Products
Virus checker II Alex van Niel
F1GP-ED Oliver Roberts
PhotoAlbum
CyberShow Helmut Hoffmann
Webplug
Mapplug Esteve Box
MagiC64 Michael Kramer
ManiacBall
Diamond Caves I
Diamond Caves II Peter Elzner
Star Trek: A Call To Arms
Frank Mathieson
MysticView Timm S Mueller
We are also in negotiation with:-
Jean-Francois Fabre and his famous Amiga games patches/hard drive
installers.
A large number of Amigans use shareware programs but have never
registered them. Many want to, but to be honest, find it is too much
hassle with conversion rates to change money into foreign currencies,
etc.
We want to support the Amiga and you in any way we can. We would like
to see shareware authors being rewarded for the hard work they have
done, and we hope our scheme will encourage you to keep supporting the
Amiga.
We don't hope to gain anything out of this free service A small fee
of maybe 50 pence extra will be charged to customers, to cover our
costs of duplicating disks, stand hire, etc),
As an organisation we hope to keep the Amiga going, with your help we
can.
The World of Amiga attracts thousands of Amigans annually. Don't miss
out.
If you would like to help us to help you, then please contact Chris
Livermore of AmigaSoc at chrisl@uk.amigasoc.org for further details.
Other resources:- World of Amiga Website: http://www.worldofamiga.com
AmigaSoc http://uk.amigasoc.org
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P C X A N D F U S I O N F R E E - M A Y B E
June 10th, 1999 - Blittersoft have announced today that as a special
offer we will be giving Fusion and PCx 68K emulation packages away
free to all customers who do not own this software and are willing to
prepay for the PPC modules.
Fusion and PCx PPC modules will be released *IF* it can be assured
that 500 pre-orders for each module are received.
In order to make this viable, Microcode Solutions need to receive a
minimum of 500 pre-orders.
So, if you are interested in Macintosh or PC emulation, but only wish
to own PPC versions, you can now do so without having to purchase the
68K programs as well. This will amount to an additional saving to
those supporting the PPC pre-order offer.
This offer is strictly limited to those pledging to pre-order until
the 500 minimum quantity is reached and *only* to those who do not
already own the programs.
If you would like full details on price and release schedules, and
the chance to make your pledge, please visit the following page on our
Web Site :
http://www.blittersoft.com/mspreorder.htm
Please register your support and make this happen!
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F A C T S 2 . 7 F O R T I M E
29th May 1999
FACTS is the only GUI-based SNTP clock syncronisation tool available
for the Amiga. It syncronises your system time and/or battery
backed-up clock to a server across the Internet that participates in
the Network Time project (http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp). NTP
attempts to keep time accurate to within 200 picoseconds. FACTS is a
client implementation of a subset of NTP called SNTP, and aims to keep
your computer clock accurate to within 20ms (previous releases - and
most other Amiga clock syncronisers - can only manage 1s accuracy!)
If there is a problem connecting to your specified server, the new
Aninc(tm) technology allows FACTS 2.7 to try an alternative server
without needing to know the address! A fully customisable AutoDST
implementation means that you only need one program to keep your clock
accurate and adjust for summertime when off-line - and it works even
if you never reboot. FACTS keeps the TZ environmental variable
up-to-date, and also emulates SummerTimeGuard's behaviour for full
compatibility with YAM2 (http://www.yam.ch)
FACTS can connect to any server on any port number. It supports the
sntp, time/udp, time/tcp and daytime services and works with any
AmiTCP4 compatible TCP/IP stack. It can be run in the background and
controlled via the GUI or ARexx, or simply executed from the CLI when
required. Date strings are localised, and the GUI uses GadTools for
proper system integration and efficiency.
The program is available for free from Aminet
ftp://sunsite.org.uk/comm/tcp/facts.lha and more information can be
found on the FACTS support page at
http://www.unsatisfactory.freeserve.co.uk/facts/
Chris Young
Unsatisfactory Software
http://www.unsatisfactory.freeserve.co.uk
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" F O R M A T " F O R L A R G E D I S K S
10 Jun 1999
{The following was posted to the web. It should be very welcome to
Amigans with large hard drives. Thanks, Ben! Brad}
From Ben Hutchings:
Back in August I bought myself a new 4.3 gigabyte hard drive to
replace the one previously used in my Amiga, which seemed to be about
to fail. It was then that I decided to do something about the poor
support for such large drives by OS 3.1. I wouldn't have started on
this if Heinz Wrobel hadn't already done the necessary work on disk
drivers and file-systems. What was missing were replacements for
Format and DiskCopy.
I quickly wrote an incomplete CLI-only replacement for Format, tested
it out, briefly announced it and then left it unfinished.
This was not the right thing to do. So over the past month or so I
completed all the CLI functionality, added a few extra neat features
by request, made sure it worked in just the same way as Format version
40, and added a font-sensitive GUI. In the last 3 days I spotted and
fixed 6 minor bugs (nothing dangerous). Nothing much seems to be wrong
with it now - except that there are a few parts missing and it isn't
localised.
If you have a large disk, or just want a nicer looking Format
program, perhaps you'd like to try it out and tell me whether it works
properly for you? The programmers here might also be able to help me
fill in the gaps. (Full source code is included.)
You can find it on Aminet as util/sys/BHFormat.lha. You may have to
wait a day or so for the current version (43.4) to appear - check the
version in the readme file.
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U P D A T E O N U P C O M I N G I - B R O W S E
2 June, 1999
Taller than the tallest building, faster than the fastest plane, it's
not just a rumour, it's...
(may the power of two be with you)
Since Easter we have been SWAMPED, not merely swamped but bigtime
SWAMPED, with enquiries about iBrowse 2. Yup, OK, it's our own fault,
some Bright Spark (who shall remain nameless but answers to the word
"boss") insisted on emailing our ever so slightly massive iBrowse
announcements list just before Easter with the news that iBrowse 2 was
imminent.
Ahem. Not to put too fine a point on it, but this wasn't entirely
true. Notwithstanding the fact that Stefan (the author) put the entire
project on hold while he stood in line for a week to see the first
midnight showing of Star Wars Episode 1, iBrowse 2 is currently still
in beta test (build version 20.22 if anyone is interested).
And there is a lot to test (take a big breath): full JavaScript 1.2
implementation, HTML 4 support, improved GUI, improved preferences,
the cache system has been rewritten (it's now even faster and even
easier to use), the table parser has been rewritten (it's now lots
faster), spoofing has been implemented, there's external news client
support, an improved URL completer, multiple browsers can be opened in
one window (controlled by a nifty tab system) plus, of course, plug-in
support. And those are just the highlights!
Testing is going well and iBrowse 2 is very, very close to being
released. We know you are going to love it and as soon as we've ironed
out the few remaining glitches we'll be mailing everyone on the
iBrowse announcements list with a special pre-release upgrade deal -
if you're not already on the list, you can sign-up to it on the FAQ
page.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
P P C F U S I O N , P C X - M A Y B E N E V E R
31 May, 1999
How bad do you want PowerPC versions of PCx and FUSION?
Microcode Solutions has had hundreds of emails over the last year
asking about PowerPC native versions of PCx and FUSION. Because the
Amiga market is getting smaller every day, we have had to look at
other markets (the PC market specifically). We are very fond of the
Amiga, and its superior operation system, but unfortunately we must
run a business.
After careful consideration, we have decided to put the decision, to
you the customer, as to whether we finish PowerPC native versions of
PCx and FUSION.
What we propose is to accept pre-payment for each product, at a
reduced rate from the normal retail price. We would need 500
pre-orders for each product before we would commit ourselves to
finishing each product. This must be a two stage process, with the
first stage a simple email stating that you would be willing to
pre-pay for the product. Once 500 people have emailed us from the 1st
stage, we would then begin accepting payments (check, VISA, and M/C).
From the time that we begin accepting payments for each product, to
the time of completion will be 60 days. If after 60 days, Microcode
Solutions is not able to begin shipping, customers may request a full
refund or wait until the product is released.
The retail price for the PowerPC upgrade modules is $199.95 for each
module (PCx and FUSION). If you pre-pay for either product, you will
be charge only $149.95.
If there are not enough pre-paid orders for either product, we will
not finish that product.
So, let's begin stage 1:
If you are willing to pre-pay $149.95 + $5.00 shipping for the PCx
PowerPC upgrade module, click here.
If you are willing to pre-pay $149.95 + $5.00 shipping for the FUSION
PowerPC upgrade module, click here.
DO NOT ALTER THE SUBJECT LINE OF THE EMAIL MESSAGE!
QUESTIONS ASKED USING THIS EMAIL WILL NOT BE ANSWERED!
We will be keeping a running total, to let you know just how close we
all are to these exciting upgrades!
Current number of people willing to pre-pay for the PCx upgrade: 145
Current number of people willing to pre-pay for the FUSION upgrade:
126
----------------------------------------------------------------------
R E B O L 2 . 0 A N N O U N C E D
UKIAH, Calif. - May 11, 1999 - REBOL (pronounced "REB-ul"), the first
in a new breed of Internet messaging languages, today revolutionized
the exchange and interpretation of network-based information by
allowing programs authored in REBOL/core 2.0 to run on more than 15
popular computing platforms without modification. The new version,
released today by REBOL Technologies, extends the language's platform
and operating system independence and is available for free download
at www.rebol.com.
Carl Sassenrath, CEO and founder of REBOL Technologies and creator of
the Amiga multitasking operating system, said, "With this release,
REBOL Technologies continues its mission to simplify computing in the
Internet age. REBOL is a messaging language built from the ground up
to enable easier global network communication between applications,
computers and people. Seasoned programmers, systems and network
professionals -- even novice developers -- can quickly put REBOL to
use on a daily basis as a powerful, flexible tool for a broad range of
practical applications."
Rebol/core 2.0 Packs a Robust Set of Features
REBOL/core 2.0 is designed to be faster, more reliable, more compact,
and more consistent than the prior version. It's less than one half
the size of version 1.0, has twice as many features, and operates 35
times faster on average. Other REBOL/core 2.0 benefits include:
o Full platform independence so that programs built once can run
without modification on most of the popular systems, including BeOS,
FreeBSD, Linux, Macintosh, Amiga, SPARC, Windows 95/98/NT, and others;
o Server-level power delivered to the hands of ordinary users thanks
to built-in network support for common Internet protocols such as CGI,
HTTP, FTP, SMTP, POP3, NNTP, daytime, and finger;
o A natural set of language features supporting domain-specific
dialecting as well as more complete integration of data and functions
easily understood by humans (such as money, dates, time, email
addresses, URLs, etc.);
o A common lexicon independent of any particular country introducing
a new, simple, international method of distributed computing.
REBOL has very little syntax to learn; meaning that novice users can
learn its fundamentals through a short 10-step introduction and become
productive within hours. REBOL stores and transfers all of its data as
text, allowing it to be sent and received over email, and viewed and
edited with a simple text editor. Understanding of networking
technology or software structure is not required, making the language
especially attractive for the new and growing market of independent
and corporate Web developers that have entered the industry from
design, publishing, and other non-computer backgrounds. For seasoned
professionals, REBOL offers a smooth learning curve for the
performance of complex, sophisticated tasks such as distributed object
management or invention of new network protocols.
REBOL Finds Early Acceptance in Developer Community
According to Elan Goldman of Microworks LLC and a 2.0 beta tester,
"The combination of the new parse function together with the new
built-in CGI support really flies. I was able to convert the long
string returned from an HTTP server into a simple REBOL list, which,
with two lines of code, selected and validated the credit card data.
With just a few more lines, I automatically generated either a
personalized thank you message, or one informing the customer of the
credit card entry error. Now that's a productivity boost!"
REBOL Technologies encourages the open exchange of REBOL-based
content over its web site by supporting archives, directories, and
warehouses of scripts. Technical support by email and an active
mailing list are also available for the REBOL/core user community.
Since REBOL's first general release six months ago, the messaging
language has attracted nearly 40,000 downloads at www.rebol.com. The
company not only continues to distribute REBOL/core free of charge,
but will also offer a supported version, REBOL/Alliance 2.0 later this
Spring. It will include advanced CGI, LDAP support, calling of
external applications, browser plug-in and ODBC.
About REBOL Technologies
REBOL Technologies was incorporated by AmigaOS creator Carl
Sassenrath in March 1998. Based in Ukiah, Calif., the company
develops, markets, licenses and supports the REBOL network messaging
language.
REBOL challenges the common belief that software and development
languages must be complex in order to be productive. Unlike
alternative programming and scripting languages, REBOL is
human-centric rather than computer-centric. By harnessing the powerful
capabilities of human-language expression inherent in
context-sensitive languages, REBOL breaks through the barriers of
computing complexity. The result: REBOL cuts application solution
lengths from thousands of lines of code to hundreds. It improves
productivity because it is easy-to-learn, easy-to-customize, elegant,
and robust. Typical REBOL applications might be email processing, web
page management, Internet searching, file transfer, or newsgroup
processing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
H T T P R E S U M E F A K E V E R S I O N
16 May 99
Posted to the net by Andrija Antonijevic
Here's the message I wrote to HTTPResume users whose e-mail addresses
I know:
You received this message because you expressed interest in
HTTPResume. If you don't want to receive these announce messages in
the future, please tell me.
HTTPResume v1.6a appeared on Aminet. It was *not* released by me and
it's *not* official HTTPResume release. The latest official release is
still v1.6, dated 24-Apr-99 01:22:40 and its size is 107036 bytes.
Official archive is 110318, .readme 2109 bytes long. Checking on
http://www.bigfoot.com/~TheAntony/HTTPResume/ is the only way to be
sure that the new version is out. It will always have information on
latest HTTPResume releases and latest HTTPResume archive on local
server.
I have no connection to v1.6a and can't say whether it has backdoors
or anything malicious inside it (I doubt it, though). I have uploaded
the official v1.6 archive to Aminet today. If you haven't downloaded
"v1.6a", you have no reason to download any comm/www/HTTPResume.lha
archive from Aminet for a while since next version (v1.7) won't be
released in near future. If you are unsure which version you have,
download the official archive from HTTPResume page mentioned above.
If you have installed this "new" version, please replace it with the
official one. Thank you.
----
The story goes like this: Tonight I received an e-mail message:
From: "xxx" Name and address removed to protect the guilty.
Subject: HTTP Resume
Date: 15 May 1999 10:59:59 GMT
Hello,
Just to tell you that I find it very childish of you to include
propaganda against the war in an Amiga program.
If removed the line of text and replaced it with what it should be,
and will release this on Aminet within 36 hours as version v1.6a you
can stop me by releasing your own version with the message string
REMOVED
It's your choice
That's it, l8er alligator !
[SNIP signature]
----
[The propaganda mentioned is string "Stop NATO bombs!" in title bar
of HTTPResume's main window. Any discussion about this to e-mail,
please.]
I looked at Aminet recent list and found out that HTTPResume v1.6a
was there (so much about 36 hours). The guy that uploaded it also
decided that he can speak in my name and wrote version history for
"v1.6a" making it look like I wrote (the word he likes to use,
"childish", comes to mind). The rest can be read in message above. The
scary thought is that anyone can replace anything on Aminet with no
problems, and there's nothing that can be done about that. It seems
that PGP signing is the only solution...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net:
All back issues available at:
http://www.globaldialog.com/~amigaupdate/index.html
{Note new address!}
Stop by and check out our archive!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 1999 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
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U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E
/ \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_
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