Especially for "text processing" the Amiga is not up-to-date, any more. The Amiga Arena talked to Volker Grabbe, who established the "OpenOffice" project and set himself the target to put an end to this nuisance with the open source variant of Sun's "StarOffice 6".

This interview is available in English, too.

Because Volker Grabbe cannot implement such project on his own, he raised a little team and still relies on help from the Amiga community. Everybody wanting to participate in this project, please contact Volker Grabbe for more information.

If MusicCity will allow other Gnutella clients, there would be a better chance again for the Amiga to get MP3s and video files, than it is currently possible with Amster (with the navigator).

First there will be little but useful tools released. The DynDNS client ´AmiDynDNS´ was the first one and is available in version 0.9 at the download section. More sophisticated applications are scheduled.

DynDNS Client AmiDynDNS v0.9
AmiDynDNS is a command line based client or the DynDNS.org service. The new version fixes some bugs and implements many new functions.

• Complete DynDNS support (DynDNS, StatDNS, CustomDNS, and all options).
• SMC barricade router support (IP directly from DSL router).
• New config file format (optional), to take all the new options.
• Local IP addresses are scanned now.
• Current hosts will not be updated again (prevents hosts from being locked by DynDNS).

1. New beta version driver for scanner Primax Colorado Direct 9600 - PrimaxCD9600 v1.2 beta1. PrimaxCD9600 is driver for ImageFX, and use support for devices paralizer_epp.device (PARalizer card) and amth_epp.device (Amithlon)
2. Public beta version driver for Amithlon - amth_epp.device v0.5 beta 1. amth_epp working in EPP mode parallel port.

What sets AuroraRadio apart from ordinary radio station is that its aimed at a musical perspective, this means that infantile commercial efforts such as Britney Spears, Limp Bizkit and Eminem will not be broadcasted. Music with more or less modest attitude and at creativity's beauty. Not aimed at 1 genre but for those who agree each genre whether it's classical music, rock, jazz or house or whatever other can be beautiful when well done. Think in the direction of Ken Ishii, Massive Attack, Studio K7 Dj's, Bjork, Future Sound Of London, Beanfield, The Beatles, Richie Hawtin, Tricky, Tori Amos, The Doors, Vangelis, Sade, The Orb, Sneaker Pimps, Oasis, Sun Electric, Everything But The Girl, Squarepusher and Amiga/c64 artists such as Muffler, CNCD, Matt Gray, Martin Walker etc.

The offer is very varied and covers every timeframe in musical history and mat not suit the genre aimed taste of the mainstreamer. The website will be online in 3 weeks, but before that it's best to search for "auroraradio" on the shoutcast website.

The whole ID3 informations are displayed in a HTML list. "MP3-2-HTML" has many more features, it is a very useful program.

Amiga Arena has talked with the young developer Gareth Griffiths, who is also working on a PD game "ShootOut". How important feedback is and which influence it has on further development of software is shown in this interview.

You can get it from the Aminet or from the title link under "other stuff".

• 25.02.02 new: Venom Wing (Thalamus/SoftEyes) done by CFOU!
• 25.02.02 improved: Times Of Lore (Origin) install package fixed
• 25.02.02 improved: Test Drive (Accolade) better compatibility
• 25.02.02 improved: Lotus 3 (Magnetic Fields/Gremlin) access fault removed, decruncher speed up
• 25.02.02 improved: Little Computer People (Activision) supports another version
• 25.02.02 new: Fireblaster (Paradox Software) done by Psygore
• 25.02.02 updated: Defender Of The Crown (Cinemaware) reworked, access fault removed
• 22.02.02 improved: Thunder Blade (Sega) supports another version
• 22.02.02 new: P.O.W. (Actionware) done by CFOU!
• 22.02.02 new: Mad TV (Rainbow Arts) done by CFOU!
• 22.02.02 new: Excalibur (King Soft) done by CFOU!
• 22.02.02 new: Emmanuelle (TomaHawk) done by CFOU!
• 21.02.02 new: Times Of Lore (Origin) done by CFOU!
• 21.02.02 new: Test Drive 2 - The Duel (Accolade) done by JOTD
• 21.02.02 improved: Last Action Hero (Psygnosis) misc improvements
• 21.02.02 new: Joe & Mac (Caveman Ninja) (Data East) done by CFOU!

Some features:

• capable of changing Delfina Lite's internal clock speed
• displays external and internal clock frequences and DSP frequency ratio
• supports any external clock (crystal) frequence in addition to standard 4 MHz external clock
• available frequency range with standard Delfina Lite: 4 MHz - 16.4 GHz!

These are the main points:

• There will be detailed information published at the homepage of Amiga Inc. as well as off Eyetech this week.
• The AmigaOne was developed in Asia on behalf of Eyetech.
• The motherboard contains a Openfirmware compatible BIOS. TurboLinux is currently running on it.
• The production will be started as soon as the betatests of OS4 are successfull. The board will then be available six weeks later.
• The price for the entry-model will be: 350 UKP / 600 Euro (without tax and shipping.)

Message-ID: <012d01c1be23$5d895a60$2501a8c0@cix>
An: 
Von: "Eyetech Group Ltd" 
Datum: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 17:37:58 -0000
Betreff: Re: [amigaone] Re: Finally the A1

>
> As far as I know, there won't be any on the Show site as none us knew  
about
> the new arrival until Alan arrived at the venue and, following that, none  
of us
> had any time to take any pictures!
>
> I would imagine these will appear on Eyetech's site once Alan has  
recovered
> from snow blindness / tiredness!
>  

First of all thanks to everyone on this list for their patience. We have
been working very hard to get something demonstrably working rather than
just announcing more promises. Ideally on Friday we would have announced
that the A1 was going to be at the show, but at that point the board was
locked up in British customs. We didnt pick it up from UPS's Durham depot
(120 miles from the show) until 7:30 saturday morning and had no idea
whether it had survived the journey from the other side of the world until
we configured it at the show and switched it on.

Secondly, Fleecy and I were plannning to sit down and make sure that we
issued a jointly acceptable, coordinated, news release on the A1. But he got
snowed in in Cumbria, so we cant now do that until later in the week. Expect
a major web site update on both our and Amiga's sites next Monday.

But in the meantime I'm going to repeat here some of the things I said at
Alt-Woa as some of the 'authoritative' postings on this list (& ann) have
been off in the realms of fantasy and bear little if any relationship to
what I actually said.

But first a bit of of background.

Yes I do read this list and try to filter out and take note of what is said
(apart of course from the rude postings). The main feedback that has come
out over the last year can, I think, be summarised as follows:

CPU speed concerns
Memory speed concerns
Provision of legacy peripherals (FDD/Serial/Parallel/kb/mouse)
Provision of integrated peripherals
AGP speed
Will it run Linux?
But I dont have/want/will never buy an A1200
Will it fit in in an EZTower mk1-5/RBM/xyz tower?
It costs too much (interesting this one as the price has never been
announced)
and, of course
Where is it?

In October 2000 when we laid out the design for the A1, there was no
commercially available 'northbridge' chip (the interface between the CPU,
memory and PCI bus) at the relatively small quantities that we needed at an
economic price. 'Southbridge' chips were available (these handle the system
timing, interrupts etc and, traditionally also embed the lower speed
peripheral functions such as IDE, USB etc), but clearly these do not come
with a built in A1200-PCI bridge - which would have to be built in custom
logic. It therefore made economic sense to build a custom southbridge chip -
but without the integrated peripherals (these were available on separate
chips at low cost anyway) which incorporated the A1200-PCI bridge. Things
were going nicely until May/June . . . . and you know the rest, or most of
it anyway.

By the time OS4 development had been signed off in early November the world
had moved on. Commercially available PPC northbridge chips were available,
and coupled with off-the-shelf southbridge chips, were able to deliver
better price performance than the original A1 custom chip design, and (since
the big boys had already been using them successfully) without the risk of
bugs intrinsically present in any custom logic implementation. This meant
that the only custom logic function needed was the PCI to A1200 bridge.

Alongside this many people had expressed a wish only to have a stand-alone
A1 board, without the need (or ability) to run hardware-hitting
applications. In addition Hyperion have been making better than expected
progress in decoupling the chipset dependancies in the OS with a result that
it will cease to be reliant on the Amiga chipset quite soon now. (Of course
hardware hitting applications will still to a greater or lesser degree need
access to a genuine Amiga chipset). Given this, we thought it would be
sensible to try to provide Amiga chipset availability as an a option, so
that the main A1 board would not have to carry the cost of providing this
connection - in terms of PCB and component real-estate and in requiring a
custom tower to mount it in. The upshot is that Escena has come up with a
solution which allows the bridge to the A1200 chipset to be made from a PCI
card, via ribbon cable, to the A1200 edge connector. The use of a ribbon
cable also solves the 'will it work in an xyz tower' problem, as there is
(within limits) quite a wide range of A1 & A1200 relative board positioning
that can be used. Theis A1200 bridge will be an additional cost item for
those who need it.

So with Escena concentrating their efforts on the bridge card, and us
deciding to use off-the-shelf north and south bridge parts for the main
board it made sense to subcontract the design and manufacture to experts in
this field, who, surprise, surprise, are far east based (hence the problem
with customs on Friday). The board (currently) runs an open
firmware-compatible bios and runs PPC linux (which is how we know that the
hardware works properly before OS4.0 is released).

In terms of timeframes the board is now ready to go into production, with a
lead time of 4-6 weeks. However we will not press the button until we can be
sure that OS4 will be ready to run on the board in the same timeframe. OS4
is scheduled to go into beta during March, and we will make A1 boards
available to help with this process. When we get the thumbs up from Hyperion
we will start production and they will be with your local dealer around 6
weeks later.

In terms of specification the entry level board will run a 600MHz G3 CPU and
will come with this soldered in place, thereby keeping the costs as low as
possible. After the first production run we will be producing boards -
obviously at a higher cost - with a cpu carrier so that cpu's can easily be
interchanged to suit your speed and pocket requirements. As G4's fall in
price we may also offer a soldered in place G4 cpu option as well. What
happens if you buy an entry level board and want to upgrade it in a  year or
so's time? Well exactly the same as when you bought a similarly priced
accelerator a couple of years back and want to upgrade to a faster one. You
either sell it privately or trade it in to the dealer where you purchased
it. In fact in the PC market, depite all processors being socketed, hardly
anyone ever changes the cpu to improve the computer - they nearly always
have to buy a (at least) a new motherboard as well. We're just being upfront
about it!

So lets revisit that feedback list again:


CPU speed concerns   -- G3/G4 to their current clocking limits

Memory speed concerns  --  133MHz FSB (DDR doesn't help PPC's I am told)

Provision of legacy peripherals (FDD/Serial/Parallel/kb/mouse)  - On board

Provision of integrated peripherals - 2xUSB (motherboard) + 2 more on
headers; LAN; AC97; MC97; UDMA100

AGP speed - 2x (although this is still a red herring in my view)

Will it run Linux? - Yes

But I dont have/want/will never buy an A1200 - Fine by me

Will it fit in in an EZTower mk1-5/RBM/xyz tower? - Yes (subject to xyz
definition - not sure about wooden towers)

It costs too much (interesting this one as the price has never been
announced) - A1 including 600MHz G3 cpu at current component prices and
exchange rates GBP 350/USD500/Euro 600 excluding local taxes and shipping.
And before anyone (who probably has no notion of real manufacturing and
development costs) pipes up that they can buy a xzzz PC motherboard for
$2.49 from Walmart remember this is for a board being manufactured in the
(very?) low thousands, not by the million. (And don't forget that a 240MHz
603 ppc blizzard with 060 cost around ukp550 ex tax when they were last
available - those were the days ;-) )

Where is it? - In my office running Turbo Linux at the moment. In your
dealer as soon as OS4 is ready.

More on the website next week



Thanks for your patience

Alan

The registration fee will be 5 UKP.

Further information is available in the archive.

2.5RC2 (02-02-24) 72852 Bytes

• New arguments for 'Font': DIRWIN, MENU, REQTEXT, REQBUTTONS and DIRGAD
• Added font args ("F" & "FS") to NewScreen.
• Replaced arrow-gadget's vector drawings with BOOPSI images.
• Special thanks to Mario Roberto Gruber for providing some example code that made things a bit clearer!
• Added simple but speed-adaptive copy-progress display.
• Various smaller improvements and fixes

Compared to the last version a random play function has been added.

1. Payback
2. Earth 2140
3. Shogo
4. Descent : Freespace The Great War
5. Dynamite
6. Puzzle Bobs
7. Land Of Genesis
8. Aqua
9. Lego Blast
10. Toadies

• Dynamic fullscreen dissolution.
• DATs are now dynamically fed in.
• ISO support.
• Improved NVRAM emulation.
• Joypad emulation can now be completely configured.
• New DATs for:
  • Gulp!
  • Roadkill (revised, has now "full collision")
  • Simon the Sorcerer
  • SubWar 2050
  • The Big 6
  • The Lost Vikings
  • Total Carnage

• A lot of bugfixes. Most of them concern P96 support, GUI and parsing of AVI data files.
• Optimization of AC3-, divx;)- and OpenDivx decoders.
• Support of the ISO-MPEG-4-Codec.
• Subtitles.

• up to 4 channels, maximum file size 2 MB unpacked
• between 4 and 16 channels, maximum file size 3 MB unpacked
• between 16 and 32 channels, maximum file size 4 MB unpacked

• Permedia 2, Voodoo 3/4/5 and Matrox G450/G550 drivers;
• cooperation in good faith with other OS 4 developers to produce a PPC native version of P96;
• development of the OS 4 version to be kept in line with other versions for other licensees.

Last night Toni Wilen released his first version, WinUAE 0.8.21R1.

The WinUAE homepage is available under http://www.winuae.net/ and it is hosted by back2roots.org.

The driver includes a new pci.library:
- pci.library ver.5.1

From version 5.1 on, the pci.library enables simultaneous functioning of the THOR's MMULib package in both modes of pci.library operation (NO_MMU and MMU).

The update includes a new version of the S3 ViRGE driver:
- Virge.card ver.1.5

The new driver accelerates all the main blitter functions. Overlay support has been added.

The update includes the latest versions of the driver for Voodoo card family:
- Voodoo.card ver. 2.12

The update includes the a new version of the following drivers:
- tv.library ver. 1.8

Support for S3 ViRGE DX has been added. The list (http://www.elbox.com/mediator_driver_guide.html#TV_TUNER) of cards supported by the tv.library has been expanded. Now tv.library supports 93 TV card models.

Some time ago I read an article about IDE for SCSI bridge adapters and I bought a couple of them instantly. It's the top model of 'ACARD Technology', the AEC-7720UW (title link) which transforms UDMA 33/66/100 drives in UW-SCSI models (40 MB/s). To make it worthwhile, I bought a 100 GB discdrive for each of my Amigas from Western Digital (Caviar WD1000BB).

The installation wasn't really difficult if you're good at English and if you know a little about Jumper and IDs. As to the drives you have to be careful not to overheat them. Therefore harddisc coolers are necessary in any case.

When everything has been connected properly, you can use the harddiscs for AmigaOS without any problems. They are recognised as if they were UW discs. Since Westen Digital calculates 1 KB with 1000 instead of 1024 bytes, it's no surprise that only 93,1 GB are available. This is to be expected. Formatted with PFS-3 V18.5, only 88,4 GB remain.

As to the speed: SysSpeed V2.6 calculated for CreateFile 25.93, WriteFile 32.74, ReadFile 20.91 and RawRead 25.40 MB/s. Compared to my Quantum Atlas 10K and Atlas V this is 2-3 times faster and the discs make hardly any noise.

Conclusion: I can recommend the adapter to anybody who wants capacity and speed. And it's hardly possible to find a SCSI disc for a better price. As to the price: The discs are available at 236,-EUR each, the adapters for 92,- EUR and the disc cooler for 15,-EUR. That comes to 343,- EUR for a 100 GB disc. In comparison: A 73,4 GB U160-SCSI disc costs 1089,- EUR and isn't much faster.

"I've just returned from Alt WOA in Huddersfield.

It might interest you that Alan Redhouse received a fully functional AmigaOne motherboard this morning, which he presented at the fair.

It seems that Escena had Linux run on this board (until OS4 is ready). The motherboard seems to be working fine although Alan only managed to get the booting process up-and-running up to the BIOS in the short period of time that was available to him.

The specifications have really been improved compared to earlier versions.

The production of the motherboard begins in six weeks.

The announced (estimated) price was really reasonable. I think that Alan will let you know the details very soon."

Further news from AmigaOne
Further statements of fair visitors include the following details: (the statements have not been confirmed officially)

• Ethernet, Parallel, Seriell, USB and Sound all on-board
• Vier PCI-Slots
• AGP2, 133MHz RAM Interface
• The connection to A1200 is now on an optional PCI card

But I have changed two issues about the MorphOS part:

• The "original" mouse pointer reappears when mouse is moved outside the window, so you don't have to click blindly somewhere to know where your mouse is ;-)
• Timing has been fixed a bit, so CPU load should decrease and the mouse pointer movements will be less abrupt. It's not perfect, but next version (see below) will have much improved timing handling.

Functions are the recognising and colored highlighting of: program blocks, brackets, special characters, HTML, PHP, JavaScript, JSP, ASP and HSC. The colors can each be set up in the GoldED preferences.

In addition have many bugs of the orginal version and the last version been fixed. The Aminet upload can take some days. On my homepage there's of course always the latest archive available for download.

The port folio contains the PC illustration program XaraX and the PC webgraphics programs Xara Webstyle and Xara3D.

• Moved a few login routines to a new order, may work better for the Search service being started at login. (No idea, really)

This version fixes some issues in WarpSCUMM. Chances in detail:

• Reworked some bits and split up the code into more functions.
• Fixed two OS related issues reported by PatchWorks.
• Fixed a tiny memory leak.
• Subtask signaling tweaked and modified to work better.
• Priorities are now set correctly for WarpOS mirror-subtasks also.

Additional information about ScummVM is available here.

Download: WarpSDL_0.3usr.lha

1. Our STB partner - Nokia, and their new Media Terminal. Yes, the same Nokia that you all know and love. Amiga will be pre-loaded on these products and we will begin shipping on them before summer this year. More information will be made available soon.
2. I often get messages asking when we are going to let the rest of the world know what is happening. Well for all of you who have asked - Amiga will be at the Embedded Systems Show in San Francisco, CA, March 12 through the 15th. We will be in booth #1602, located in the South Hall of Moscone Center. We will be showing the new Amiga technology, and some exciting new features never before seen in any other product. We will also be making at least one announcement there at the show.
3. We have two more new members added to the team and there are many more that will be announced soon. The first two are part of our sales team. Both are dynamic and excited to be part of the Amiga family. Liz Barnick and David Brott joined us in January, and are establishing themselves quickly with regards to new business, and great ideas. I have included information about them both in a separate document that is attached to this update.
4. AmigaOS 4.0 is moving ahead very nicely and I could not be more pleased with Hyperion and their ability to get things done. We will all be very proud of their efforts, and I know that many of you will be rewarded with what they have already accomplished, and with the product that they are building.

• 21.02.02 new: Times Of Lore (Origin) done by CFOU!
• 21.02.02 new: Test Drive 2 - The Duel (Accolade) done by JOTD
• 21.02.02 improved: Last Action Hero (Psygnosis) misc improvements
• 21.02.02 new: Joe & Mac (Caveman Ninja) (Data East) done by CFOU!
• 21.02.02 improved: Into the Eagle's Nest (Pandora) supports another version
• 21.02.02 improved: Elvira - The Arcade Game (Flair Software) supports another version
• 20.02.02 new: Turrican 2 Demo (Rainbow Arts) done by Psygore
• 20.02.02 new: Misery Dentro 2 (TRSI) done by Psygore
• 20.02.02 new: Darius+ (The Edge/Taito) done by CFOU!
• 20.02.02 improved: Blastar (Core Design) misc changes

Warp3D Voodoo are being released today for the following Mediator models: Mediator PCI 3000D, Mediator PCI 4000, Mediator PCI 4000D, Mediator PCI 3/4000T and Mediator PCI ZIII.

Warp3D drivers prepared by Hyperion Entertainment for Mediator PCI busboards work flawlessly on PPC & 68k processors with:

• Voodoo3 2000/3000,
• Voodoo4 4500, and
• Voodoo5 5500 graphic cards.

MediaPoint RTG
There is a special offer for visitors of tomorrow's Alt-WoA show in Huddersfield, UK. Buyers of MediaPoint at the show will receive a full free upgrade to the upcoming MediaPoint RTG, which will feature RTG support through Picasso96, RTA support through AHI, support for Matrox' Dual-Head capabilities, and much more!

Audio Evolution 4
AE4 will be demonstrated at the Alt-WoA show. More information is also available on the newly opened (but still partly under construction) support website for Sultan Systems & Software, Computer City's software-brand. Of course, more information on Audio Evolution can also be found on the official site. Audio Evolution 4's planned release-date is April 2002.

These changes were necessary as I need scripts and programs in future which my current web hosting service does not offer in a normal hosting package.

• analogue modem
• ISDN
• xDSL
• a different way
• I don't have Internet at home

• GeoWorld, a geography program
• PhotoAlbum/CyberShow, picture management
• DocDatatypes (for MSWord, Wordperfect..)
• Siteway, site and content management
• AMPlifier, hardware based decoder

Two minutes after 8 pm we will have the following date:

20:02 20.02.2002

This is a register with a perfect symmetry and is called "Palindrom".

This has been happened at

10:01 10.01.1001

more than thousand years ago. This will not happen any more because the maximal digital marking of a day is 23:59. On 30.03 3003 this will not be possible because we do not have 30 hours!

See you!

Scenery is a scene-guide which contains data about scene-groups, events and publishments of the demo-scene.

• 19.02.02 new: Holiday Maker (PM Entertainment/Software 2000) done by Wepl
• 19.02.02 new: Elvira - Mistress of the Dark (Horrorsoft/Accolade) done by Wepl
• 19.02.02 fixed: Stunt Car Racer (Microstyle) install script corrected
• 19.02.02 improved: Power Drift (Activision) supports another version and other enhancements
• 19.02.02 improved: Fire And Forget 2 (Titus) supports another version
• 18.02.02 new: Test Drive (Accolade) done by JOTD
• 18.02.02 new: Armageddon Man (Electronic Pencil/Martech) done by Codetapper
• 18.02.02 new: Taekwondo (Anco) done by CFOU!
• 18.02.02 new: Stunt Car Racer (Microstyle) done by Codetapper
• 18.02.02 new: Scrolling Walls (KingSoft) done by CFOU!
• 18.02.02 new: Savage (Probe Software) done by Psygore
• 18.02.02 improved: Rampage (Activision) hiscore saving support added
• 18.02.02 fixed: Kwasimodo (Courbois Software) access fault removed
• 18.02.02 new: Impossible Mission 2 (Epyx) done by CFOU!
• 18.02.02 new: Hägar (KingSoft) done by CFOU!

Whats new:

• English menu updated
• Update-Function added
  (thus you can update from an older version)
• Output of a protocol file
• Minor bugs fixed

Owned and operated by Terry Fike out of Midland, Texas, USA, Turtle Lightning Amiga Software has finally decided to go out of the Amiga business.

Until now you have seen the last update of the news there.

> -- email start --
I already received lots of those bug reports, and I have already found the bug. Dirk increased the window size and didn't test it on plain 640 pixel screens, so VZ 0.96 refuses to work on that resolution. I didn't notice that because I use a 800x600 screen :-
The bugfix is on the way, but I maybe add some other features to VZ first..
- Georg....
> --- email end ---

• Canon S500/630/6300
• Epson Stylus C60,C70,C80, Photo 810
• HP DeskJet 92x, 94x, 96x

"Vollgas - Fullthrottle" and "The Dig" are already planned for the Amiga-version and will probably be included as beta in one of the upcoming versions. There will be a special 256 color version of "Zak Mc Kraken" available, too.

WarpSCUMM is amiga port of ScummVM. With ScumVM you can play LucasArts-adventures like Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island.

Additional information about ScumVM is available here.

Download: WarpSCUMM_0.1.0r2.lha

• capability to select multiple source files
• an equalizer
• a player

• added checking of some BCPL stuff (which is totally harmless since os37+ anyways).
  • CallGVptr - ROM check
  • EndGVptr - ROM check
  • GlobVecTable - checksumming, that should detect patches of any GV based viri including imaginary ones like GlobVec144 ;) Thanks to Thomas Richter and Holger Hippenstiel for information about GV that helped me a lot...
• added new tooltype 'NoGlobVec' to skip tests described above - it is already set in the icon as nobody beside me needs these checks!
• added notification of LIBS:xvs.library
• added some additional stuff to tc_launch/tc_switch checker
• changed timing routine
• ToolTypes: NoSwitch and NoLaunch are no longer debug only :P
• kicked bonus stuff due to lack of users' interest

Amiga Arena - interview with Nicholas Blachford
Recently Amiga Arena has drawn attention to the sources of the sampler software Aural Illusion. Its further development has been authorized by the author Nicholas Blachford. Amiga Arena's interview with the ex-Amiga developer is by far the most comprehensive interview in the history of Amiga Arena and full of really interesting statements. At the moment the interview is available online in English.

Amiga Arena - interview with Daniel Westerberg
Apart from Stefan Blixth also Daniel Westerberg belongs to OnyxSoft. Programs such as MultiRen, Detris or DRemind are very popular. The interview with Daniel Westerberg is available under German and English.

• PGNTool for converting every picture format to PNG is now available in version 1.1. The program needs from this version on the asyncio.library v40 improving the speed by 3%.
  Download: PNGTool.lha
  
  
• The CopyNewIcon clone for OS 3.5 has been released in version 44.4a. New is here the Spanish documentation by D. Dominguez.
  Download: CopyIcon44.lha
  
  
• The screen grabber SGrab is available in version 1.19a. A module problem in the PPC version has been fixed.
  Download: sgrab.lha
  
  

As already reported are friends of Boris just building up a website named Tronland. Documents, media reports and memories of Tron will be published on this website. In the view of the friends shall the documents proof that the public prosecutor's office is wrong in closing the file.

»Après quelques longues semaines d'absence, votre site Amiga Impact est (enfin) de retour.

Diverses raisons et divers problèmes (la plupart d'ordre privé), ont été à l'origine de cette suspension de la maintenance du site. La situation s'étant aujourd'hui arrangée, il ne devrait donc plus y avoir de gros problèmes à l'avenir.

Amiga Impact va donc pleinement retrouver son allure de croisière dans les jours à venir, avec l'arrivée de nouvelles rubriques.

After the creditor congregation last week in unison agreed to accept the recovery plan of the insolvent old company the newly founded Ascaron Entertainment GmbH can touch-and-go. It has taken over all the rights including the Ascaron brand and also is employer of the present staffers.

The winners:

• 1st prize: Roman Sudlitz (Prizes: Extreme, PuzzleBobs, Mousepad donated by AmigaPage)
• 2nd prize: Jean Yves Auger (Prizes: Extreme, Mousepad donated by AmigaPage)
• 3rd prize: Peter Balogh (Prizes: Extreme, Poster)
• 4th prize: Michael Goken (Prizes: Extreme)

• 10.02.02 new: The Punisher (Digital) done by Psygore
• 10.02.02 new: Wacky Darts (Code Masters) done by Bored Seal & Codetapper
• 10.02.02 new: Spy Vs Spy 3: Arctic Antics (Wicked Software/First Star Software) done by Codetapper
• 10.02.02 new: Spy Vs Spy 2: The Island Caper (Wicked Software/First Star Software) done by Codetapper
• 10.02.02 improved: Great Courts 2 (Blue Byte) supports two more versions
• 10.02.02 new: Galactic Conqueror (Titus) done by CFOU!
• 10.02.02 updated: The Final Battle (Mirrorsoft) misc changes
• 10.02.02 new: Escape from Colditz (Digital Magic Software) done by Bored Seal
• 10.02.02 fixed: Disposable Hero (Euphoria/Gremlin Graphics) keyboard access in highscores corrected
• 10.02.02 new: Magnetic Dreams (Digital) done by Psygore
• 10.02.02 new: Battle Valley (Hewson) done by Bored Seal
• 08.02.02 improved: Geisha (Cocktel Vision) supports German version too, misc other changes
• 08.02.02 new: Carcharodon - White Sharks (Demonware) done by Galahad
• 06.02.02 improved: Rotor (Arcane) blitter waits added, snoop mode fix
• 06.02.02 new: The Final Battle (Mirrorsoft) done by Bored Seal
• 06.02.02 improved: Elvira - The Arcade Game (Flair Software) music/sound fixed, blitter waits added and more

About the image converter ArtPRO
ArtPRO supports a variety of file formats like ILBM, GIF, TIFF, BMP, and PCX. It can even load more using datatypes. ArtPRO also supports some raw formats like chunky. Images can be saved as bitplane, chunky or truecolor, as binary or source.
ArtPRO's source generator is capable of creating copper lists and sprites. The program offers very fast down calculation of images of very good quality, has a palette optimizer and real time colour bias also working with true colour pictures.

Development to be continued?
ArtPRO was written in 100% assembler. Who seriously would like to continue development might contact Frank Pagels. It really would be a pleasure if someone would do so.

Because all text informations about countries, cities and organizations are saved with special index numbers as filename it was nearly impossible for the user (without knowledge of the program interna) to change/extend the informations by himself.

I've just uploaded the second Amiga release, and the first platform release for 4.1.3. Some minor 4.1 problems may crop up, but I expect this to be a pretty solid release.

4.1.3 for the other 2 platforms will occur over the next few days, bringing everyone up to speed.

The informations stated in an earlier update are still valid. No big breakthroughs in the last week (but none are planned, though ;) ).
The Exec Kernel is running in a Simulator (parallel to the normal system). In this time it is ported to the hardware platform.
The rest of the components is in different states of finishing. Some are finished but are waiting for the final converting onto the new kernel (this means just only a recompilation of it).

This is a hint for those who want to start with developing for OS4: Develop for 68k. The sources will be fixed with minor changes to OS4 (it means only one or two lines are added to the sourcecode). You can use the normal Exec API. We will release a beta version for developers that will document the new functions (about 20). It should be a change to PPC at least.

• PNGTool.lha (109K), Readme
• CopyIcon44.lha (9K), Readme

• BrainTeaser (March/April)
• Kaliko Minigolf (March/April)
• Pirate's Puzzle (April/June)

• warpscumm_0.1.0b.lha
• warpsdl_0.1usr.lha

Other new additions to the games section are: Merchant Colony, Virocop, Impossamole, Darkmere, Fire and Ice, Katakis, Jaguar XJ220, R-Type II and many more.

I've finally got around to finishing off all of my Amiga compiles, and they've all been uploaded. Details below.

News first!

68000 Support
I've decided to drop 68000 support - I'm going by the assumption that if a user has enough memory to play some of these variants, then they will have a better processor than the bog standard one. All variants will now be targetted for the 68020. Demands from some of the Zangband-based variants are increasing, and with the addition of Lua into Angband and Zangband, and inveitably into their offspring, then a basic unexpanded 68000 system just wouldn't be able to cope.

It's been a while since I've had any feedback from a 68000 user - if what I'm doing is such a bad move, please do not hesitate to contact me, and I can put together 68000-targetted executables.

New code
Well, not exactly new code, but all of the variants now use the same Amiga-specific code. Previously, Zangband and it's variants used the most up-to-date code, and Angband was still stuck with some old code that was several years old. Not any more - Angband now benefits from the new code too. I've altered some bits and pieces, but you probably won't notice much of a difference. The main difference is that Angband graphics now work the way they should do, along with masking. Also, if you use the Adam Bolt tiles, these will now work with all versions, not just the Zangband-based ones.

Lua
The Lua-based variants all compile and run successfully for the Amiga. I have compiled all of the Angband alpha releases (2.9.4, 2.9.5, 2.9.6, 2.9.6.alpha2 and 2.9.6alpha3) and all of the Zangband dev releases (2.7.0 Pre-release 1, 2.7.0 Pre-release 2, 2.7.0 Pre-release 3 and 2.7.0 final). If you're eager to take a look, the Zangband dev releases are available below, along with the versions with Shayne Steele's option and branding patches. Angband alphas remain unreleased.

Uploads
These have no long been done, so you'll have to wait for Robert to move them all to their respective locations.

Conglomoband 0.0.1 - conglomoband-001-ami.lha (1437K)

CyAngband 0.3.2 - cyangband-032-ami.lha (506K)

D11-Angband 1.1.0 - d11angband-110-ami.lha (580K)

EyAngband 0.4.0d - eyangband-040d-ami.lha (658K)

Gumband 2.2.0a - gumband-220a-ami.lha (784K)

Hengband 1.0.9r1
There's a little bit of a problem on the graphics for this variant - light doesn't seem to bahave the way you'd expect it to. You won't see the yellow glow around the player, and floors won't light up as you'd expect. Apart from this, it's OK. All lighting behaves properly in ASCII mode.

hengband-109r1-ami.lha (1414K)

NTAngband 0.2 - ntangband-02-ami.lha (1286K)

PernAngband 5.1.1 - pernangband-511-ami.lha (1612K)

UnAngband 0.4.8g - unangband-048g-ami.lha (830K)

Zangband 2.6.2 & Option Patch 1.6 & Branding Patch 1.3
Shayne Steele's patches have been included here - for further details of the patches, check out his site.

zangband-262o16b13-ami.lha (961K)

Zangband 2.7.0 Dev Release
Chance to check out the current stable dev release with Lua scripting.

zangband-270-ami.lha (1184K)

Zangband 2.7.0 Dev Release & Option Patch 1.7 & Branding Patch 1.4
Zangband with the latest versions of Shayne Steele's patches - again, check out the details of the patches at his site.

zangband-270o17b14-ami.lha (1189K)

CD32 (other than English)
Disk version (other than German)

The Amiga Arena talked to Stefan Blixth about his new programs and a very comprehensive comment by Stefan completes the interview. The interview is available in German and English.

PuzzelBOBS news
On the PuzzelBobs support site of the Amiga Arena is the module "Rockers Galore" by "Up Rough System" available for download! Matching the puzzle game this module offers a relaxed dub sound! Just copy it into the directory "Module" of PuzzelBOBS!

Aural illusion V. 3.0 source released
The until now unreleased source code of the unfortunately never published sound sampler Aural illusion V 3.0 by "Blachford Technology" is now available for download and for free continuation of development. According to Nicolas Blachford can this code used without restrictions.

• Improve text Requester:
  More easy to select vectorial font
  Font Path can be changed.
• Bug Fix:
  Control anim requester
  Movie Factory
  pp_CheckBox
  Processing tool: Linked Freehand
• Increase to 50 the number of gadgets usable in arexx dialog
• New Arexx Command:
  pp_ScreenToFront
  pp_PlaceGui
  pp_Convert2RGB
  pp_ScalePicture
  pp_GetLocale.
• AdjustLevels and AutoLevels work well now with Stencil
• Improve AppIcon (add the possibilities to load Icon)
• Jpeg size detection is much faster.
• Add a menu to the undo/redo button:
  Free Current Undo/Redo
  Free All Undo/Redo
• Improve RAW saving, with a requester.
• When PfPaint can't load a picture, it tries to load it as a RAW picture.

This is a 'last resort' plugin, there will be files it will not work on due to formatting differences, but it can be used for files for some files which no plugins exist yet (I tested it on an Outlook 2000 email, worked with no glitches, works with a few glitches on some Mac text files).

Here you will find News, Forums, Downloads, a Web Directory and more.

This site is dependent on you contributing with Amiga News, Downloads, Web Links and your wisdom(!) in the Forums.

This month we take a look at the graphically stunning Descent game Freespace: The Great War and an interactive guide to the upcoming ALT-WOA Amiga show on the 23rd February.

• 08.02.02 improved: Geisha (Cocktel Vision) supports German version too, misc other changes
• 08.02.02 new: Carcharodon - White Sharks (Demonware) done by Galahad
• 06.02.02 improved: Rotor (Arcane) blitter waits added, snoop mode fix
• 06.02.02 new: The Final Battle (Mirrorsoft) done by Bored Seal
• 06.02.02 improved: Elvira - The Arcade Game (Flair Software) music/sound fixed, blitter waits added and more
• 06.02.02 improved: Cliffhanger (Psygnosis/Spidersoft) Fast-Mem support
• 06.02.02 improved: Alien Breed Story (Team 17) Fast-Mem support, delay added

The latest version finally enables players to annex enemy towns, thus exterminating enemy players. It also allows them to maintain several towns in a country.

You are Feeble or rather you're a down trodden Grenelon who just happens to be called Feeble... Rendered animation, stereo sound and a plot of epic proportions take this adventure into a different galaxy. Witty and humerous but with dark undertones. THE FEEBLE FILES contains acts of betrayal, intrigue, revolution and even a bit of cross dressing. Add to that around 80 locations to visit, six thousand voice lines to interact with, there should be plenty to keep everyone happy without the aid of chemical supplements.

THE FEEBLE FILES for the Amiga comes on 2 CDs and contains both full english and german speech versions. The Amiga version requires either an Amiga with 68060, 4 MByte Gfxboard and 32 MByte RAM or an Amiga with PPC, 4 MByte Gfxboard and 32 MByte RAM.

H&P first will distribute the English version and offer German speaking support via email and phone. The translation of the program is to follow, soon, and will be available for free download to H&P's customers. Translation of the detailed manual is being worked on, too.

Example of patching a save game is included in the documentation. Additionally Akiko has now a real Joypad emulation which means that the user can map every key / joystick button to the CD32's joypad buttons. Akiko also supports the emulation of the language identifier of the CD32 and CDTV now so some games appear now automatically in the language you configured in the Akiko settings. Finally there were some bug fixes and improvements in the single patches as well as an extended documentation.

Channel name: #digiboosterpro
Server: ie.altnet.org
Port: 6667

We'd be very pleased about numerous appearance of active DBPro users and interested people.

Including:

• Very detailed report of last months WIP
• Lots more games dumped, with hundreds still waiting
• Portugese translation (French, Spanish and German on the way)
• New credits section

The license will not include the keyfile-code (removal) and it won't include the right to sell a product under the same name. So the licensee will be able to work out new products based on the sources, without any further relations or obligations. Basic help for getting started with the sources and concepts will be provided.

We're awaiting your offers.

OpenSource projects may obtain FREE licences under certain circumstances. Please contact us.

This offer is limited until 31.03.2001.

• 04.02.02 improved: Pirates! (Gold) CD³² (Microprose) various changes, supports german version too
• 04.02.02 fixed: Magic Boy (Blue Turtle) protection correctly removed, minor other changes
• 04.02.02 improved: Adventures of Robin Hood (Millennium) sound replay fixed, faster
• 04.02.02 improved: No Excuses (Arcana) various changes
• 04.02.02 improved: Double Dragon 2 - The Revenge (Virgin) supports another version
• 04.02.02 improved: Rampage (Activision) keyboard fixed
• 04.02.02 improved: Indiana Jones And The Fate Of Atlantis (Lucasfilms Games) ingame bug fixed
• 04.02.02 improved: B.A.T. (UBI-Soft) supports french version too
• 31.01.02 Searching the website works again
• 31.01.02 new: Teenage Queen (Ere) done by Psygore
• 31.01.02 new: PGA European Tour (The Dome/Ocean) done by Codetapper

In issue 1 vol. 1 of the Free Software Magazine there's an article that covers among other things the history of VIM.

How to access the IRC channel #AmigaFun:

IRC server (enter WITHOUT "irc."): rollingrock.altnet.org
IRC port: 6667
IRC channel: #amigafun

Should the server fail you can access the channel via this server:

amigafun.ma.cx (please enter again without "irc.").

Further information especially for IRC beginners can be found on the #AmigaFun homepage.

HINT:
The chat can be accessed via HTML chat from the #AmigaFun homepage, Amiga Future homepage and from the amiga-news.de forum. As we can't guarantee an error free functioning of the HTML chat and programs like AMIRC or BlackIRC are anyway nicer to use we recommend to use an IRC client in any way.

Latest changes:

• SimpleMail is converted internal to Unicode
• New localisations added
• Two new columns added in mail list: "POP3 Server" and "Received"
• Little layout changes in mail writing window
• "Content-Description:" field is supported
• Some bugfixes

In order to subscribe the mailinglist please send a mail to blitz-list-subscribe@netsoc.ucd.ie. For unsubscribing please send a mail to blitz-list-unsubscribe@netsoc.ucd.ie.

Download:
amiblitz2_distro.lha

Original message:
The Blitz2000 site is dedicated to bringing you the best information and resources about the programming language AmiBlitz2 (formerly Blitz Basic 2). It has been updated and a new version of AmiBlitz2 has been released (v2.24 - both an update and a full user-distribution). Loads of other smaller updates have been made (mainly more documentation and source examples).

This concerns all P2P clients using the Morpheus protocoll. See also description of Morpheus on the ASP.

This often enables me to deactivate the respective keys, which respond to a certain pattern. So there are faithful users too - who nevertheless stumble upon such things from time to time - and help program authors to embank pirate copying.

I would like to offer the following to those users:

Who will send me keyfiles for my programs (or the respective generators), up to now not recognized as "pirate keys" by those, will receive an original keyfile at a time. In especially fiddly cases I will charge even more. For multi-transmittal applies: "The first to send in, will win".

Naturally data will be kept in confidence and anonymous if desired (the real name is only required for the keyfile).

Older hardware is, of course, still compatible,

Download: MMKeyboard.lha

• AmiMCDMI - Reworked toolbar for AmiMDC
• AminetIdxMI - New toolbar set for AminetIdx
• AudioMI - Extended toolbar for AudioMaster
• AWebMI - Reworked navigation board for Aweb
• CharonMI - Redesigned toolbar for Charon
• GiambyMI - New toolbar for GiambyNetGrabber
• IBrowseMI - A navigation board for IBrowse with additional images by Kristóph Gruber
• MiamiPhoneMI - Glow icons toolbar set for MiamiPhone
• SimplePostMI - Reworked toolbar for SimplePost
• VideoMI - New toolbar for MUI Video
• VoyagerMI - Extended navigation board set for Voyager

• some at least imaginary MGA hits removed, report if this new Safe causes any MF/MGA hits

• mus/misc/AD516-AHI.lha (12K), Readme
• dev/misc/AD516-Dev.lha (27K), Readme

Yours Olaf Köbnik

Amiga Arena - Interview campaign
It is thanks to Nicolas Ramz with his "ScummVM" Amiga68k port that it is possible to play old games by LucasArts like for example "Day of the Tentacle" on the Amiga. The Amiga Arena talked to Nicolas Ramz about his work on "ScummVM" and how he's seeing the future of Amiga. Special thanks go to Christian Busse for his tireless translations for the Amiga Arena!

Interview in German
Interview in English

Shareware news
After a long time could the Amiga Arena find the developer of the shareware software "ScanTek" and has the following information:

The burner has a buffer of 4 MB and is equipped with the proven BURN-Proof technology that almost completely excludes a burning of defective CDs.

Compared to the version 1.2 nothing important has been changed. Just the code has been revised a little bit and Bernhard Wörner has fixed one or another small bug in the requesters.

In the next version (probably next Saturday) will then the MP3 import be ready. In the current 1.4 beta (unreleased) it works already quite well. This version has just to be tested.

• Added a special mode in the prefs under "Connect" for AmigaXL users to use a timer based signal instead of the socket signal. (not fully tested yet)

• Fixed graphic bug introduced in 1.7: character erasure was one pixel too big horizontally and vertically.
• Changed default screen selection (when no modeid is given): now opens a 4 (under AGA) or 8 (under CGX) bit depth screen of the same size as the WB, or of the size given by the Width and Height tooltypes. If that fails, clone the WB screen (that was the default behaviour previously). Using a lower depth screen should improve the speed (and it is necessary for the ColourCycle option to work).
• Added Colour option to change the Matrix colour. [Rafo]
• Added ColourCycle option to cycle through all colours of the palette, like the WB blanker does...
• Changed ThreadsLength to be a percentage of the screen height (threadslength=100 means 1 thread per column in average, 50 means 2 threads, etc.). Default value 75.
• Changed commodity name from "Matrix Blanker" to "MatrixBlanker" for MagicExchange usage. [DET Nicolas]
• Minor fixes and improvements...

======================================================================
                               ________
         _________ ____      _|__ __ __|_______      _________
       __\ _____ \\\\  \_  _/  //___//  _____//______\ _____ \\
      // \\\\  /. \\\\__ \/ __//    \\  \\____.  /// \\\\  /. \\
      \\___\¯ /___///___\  /___\     \\_________//\\___\¯ /___//
       ¯    \/    ¯ ¯    \/.  |¯      ¯|z!o     ¯  ¯    \/    ¯
               A M I G A      |#020131 |      U P D A T E
                              |________|
  "SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW"
======================================================================
        AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.      
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
        B I L L ' S   S H O R T   U P D A T E   F O R   J A N 

      A M I G A   O S   4 . 0   D E V E L O P M E N T   N E W S

          A N D   A   S H O R T   U P D A T E   O N   3 . 9 

                  U P D A T E   O N   A L T - W O A

             A M I G A   E X P O   U P D A T E   N E W S 

                   A M I G B G   S H O W   N E W S  

       S I I A   S H O W   U P C O M I N G   I N   F R A N C E 

    I S S U E   O N E   O F   I T A L I A N   " B I T P L A N E " 

        E L B O X   S T A T E M E N T   O N   M E D I A T O R 

             O P E N   L E T T E R   F R O M   M A T A Y 
 
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:

 Welcome to another Amiga year! Each new year we see as a community
gives me hope for the future. And that despite having only a few
stories for you this month. We've received suggestions that we become
a bi-monthly publication because of the shrinking amount of real news
in the Amiga community. However, we will resist that for now as it
would make what stories we do have older than we'd like when you
receive them. We'd rather send smaller issues, at least once a month.
 One thing you'll notice about this issue - there are many update
stories about upcoming Amiga shows. Looks like fun. Hey, a year where
Amiga Inc. continues to survive in a "down" economy, and make progress
against their business plan, plus we have several shows to enjoy
throughout the world, could be very interesting and positive. At
least, we'll start the year hoping so.
 Brad Webb,
 Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail to the E-ditor:

31 Dec 2001 

Hello Brad

 I just read your latest Update. In it you corrected the information
about AmiWest from 2001 to read 2002.
 
 Ah-ha! I think you still have the date wrong. You list AmiWest 2002
as being on 28 and 29 July 2002. July 28 is Sunday and July 29 is
Monday. Normally AmiWest is held on the last weekend in July, Saturday
and Sunday, not Sunday and Monday.
 
 According to my calendar the AmiWest Show should be on Saturday, 27
July and Sunday, 28 July 2002.
 
 At least the 27th and 28th are the dates I plan on attending.

Regards,

Harry 
~~~~~~
Harry,
 Sigh. I just print 'em as I get 'em sometimes. I suspect your
calendar reading skills got the right information. Maybe it's a clever
trick on AmiWest's part to keep getting a bit of information in the
E-mail to the E-ditor section. :-)
 Thnks for the correction,
 Brad
======

5-Jan-02

Mr. Webb,
     Yes, I remember your "Dos Lab" Articles in "JUMPDISK".
I would be extremely surprised if Microsoft did not engineer 
Amiga's demise.  
Walt

 You've certainly been a part of the community for some time. Thanks
for staying with us! "Jumpdisk" was quite the publication. (And I
appreciate being remembered.)
 When I look at recent Microsoft product announcements and plans, it
does look to me as if they are after the market Amiga has staked out.
Yes, it makes me nervous.

Regards,
 Brad
======

Brad,

 How do I change my email address? I can't find a way to do that in
the newsletter... someting you might want to add.

Myron
~~~~~~
 Myron,
 Sending us a note is the best way. amigaupdate@globaldialog.com is
the address to use, if there's anyone else out there wondering.
 Brd
----------------------------------------------------------------------

        B I L L ' S   S H O R T   U P D A T E   F O R   J A N 

Greetings one and all:

 I have received many e-mails reminding me of the need to announce the
STB OEM partner. We at Amiga are well aware that it was scheduled for
last week and, we were expecting the legal department of the partner
to have approved the press release. Unfortunately when one is dealing
with multi-billion dollar companies it can, more often than not, take
longer than planned.
 
 We did receive the OK to announce to our developers and this was done
last week. All NDA developers know the details of the signed OEM deal.
However, we are going to have to wait a little while longer for the
rest of the Amiga community to see the public release.
 
 I am sorry for the delay, but it will be worth the wait. In fact, we
will probably have a couple more that we can announce at the same
time.
 
 We should have the public announcement out by next week.

Stay tuned !

Bill McEwen
CEO Amiga Inc.
bill@amiga.com

{Note from Brad: STB=Set Top Box; NDA=Non Disclosure Agreement;
OEM=Original Equipment Manufacturer.}
----------------------------------------------------------------------

      A M I G A   O S   4 . 0   D E V E L O P M E N T   N E W S 

Leuven, Belgium, January 21, 2002.

 Let me start off by wishing everybody in the Amiga community all the
best in 2002!
 
 As you know, on November 1, 2001 Hyperion Entertainment entered into
a license agreement with Amiga Inc. to produce Amiga OS 4.0 for PPC
based systems.
 
 Since my presentation in Cologne at the Amiga 2001 show on November
17-18, very substantial progress was made which I am now ready to
share with you.
 
 Some of you have expressed some misgivings about the lack of progress
reports on OS 4.0 development but I hope I can count on your
understanding as all of us have been extremely busy, even through the
holiday season, to bring you what is unquestionably the most ambitious
OS upgrade since Amiga OS 3.0.
 
 Now I know that many of you are sceptical because of the scope of the
project and because similar promises were made in the past.
 
 To those people I would like to point out that Hyperion Entertainment
does not enter into contracts lightly and that we have a track-record
carrying out commercial development and contract-work for Windows,
Mac, Linux, Amiga and Amiga DE/Elate.
 
 We have brought together a truly impressive development team of some
25 people building on the OS 3.5 and 3.9 development team whilst
adding several well-known and respected Amiga developers to the mix.
 
 Im very pleased to say that Dave Haynie has agreed to serve as a
technical consultant.
 
 Youll be hard-pressed to find a more experienced team for the job!
 
 The feature-set of OS 4.0 has now been finalised to a large extent.
 
 We cant guarantee that every single feature listed here will make it
in the initial release of OS 4.0 but this the feature-set that we have
contractually committed to delivering.
 
 You will also note that for the first time in many, many years very
substantial work is being done on Intuition, one of the core elements
of the Amiga OS. Having a PPC native version of Intuition available
will make a very noticeable difference speed-wise.
 
 We intend for OS 4.0 to be disk-based or at least partly disk-based
and partly flashrom based even for current Amigas. More about that in
a later update.
 
 We also intend for OS 4.0 to be installed effortlessly from CD and
from scratch without the need for an existing OS install.
 
 As we have taken on more work (Intuition etc.) and folded some of the
functionality originally planned for OS 4.2 into OS 4.0, this
inevitably means the original February release-date might slip
somewhat but all in all we believe that the end-result will be
technologically more satisfying.
 
 Come end of January, I hope to have the biggest chunk of the legal
work for OS 4.0 behind me which will allow me to provide you with more
regular updates.
 
 I know full well that your patience has been sorely tested over the
last years so I understand your impatience and even your scepticism
but I can assure you that the Amiga OS is in good hands and that we
will deliver.
 
 In closing, I would like to invite everybody out there who (out of an
understandable frustration with the neglect of the Amiga OS by its
respective past owners) decided to take matters in his own hands, to
work with us, rather than against us.
 
 Ben Hermans, LL.M Managing partner Hyperion Entertainment VOF

Amiga OS 4.0 provisional feature list

 Exec Second Generation (Exec SG)
 
 Exec is the kernel of the AmigaOS and is currently written in 68K
assembly.
 
 Exec is being re-written in C and new functionality will be
introduced to
 
 allow the deployment of OS 4.x on any suitable PPC hardware.

The following features are planned:

   o Hardware abstraction layer
   o Virtual memory
   o New library interface
   o Resource tracking and management
   o Optional memory protection
   o WarpOS backwards compatibility

68K Just in Time emulation

PPC native TCP/IP stack

   o - implemented as a single shared library
   o - compatible with the Amiga standard "bsdsocket" API, as defined 
       by the  AmiTCP product
   o - enhanced API for more control over the inner workings and
     configuration
   o - built-in DHCP client (e.g. for cable modems)
   o - Internet Superserver (inetd)
   o - IP filtering and networking address translation
   o - drivers for asynchronous PPP (dial-up networking) and PPP over
     Ethernet (for ADSL and cable modems)
   o - AmiSSL V2.0

PPC native filesystem (FFS2)

 FFS2 is a fully backwards compatible re-implementation in C of the
Fast File System. It supports media > 4 GByte, and a new variant of
the file/directory name storage format which allows for long file
names (up to 108 characters).

Recovery and Salvage tools

 Comprehensive suite of salvage and recovery tools including Salvage,
Undelete, Unformat, Repair, RDBSalv, ReOrg/Defrag, Check Integrity
etc.

PPC native RTG system

 The PPC native RTG system (based on Picasso 96 V3) allows for the use
of modern graphics cards on the Amiga. Drivers for all current Zorro
II/III cards as well as drivers for the Permedia 2/3, Voodoo 3, Matrox
G450/G550 and ATI Radeon are planned. An arithmetically optimised PPC
native version of layers.library is also planned.

Warp3D

 New version of Warp3D, the powerful yet low-level 3D API which is
both available on the classic Amiga and intent/Amiga DE and which
allows developers to rapidly migrate 3D content between both
platforms. Drivers for Permedia 2/3, Voodoo 3, Matrox G450/G550 and
ATI Radeon are planned.

OpenGL 1.3 support (Mesa 4.0)

 OpenGL is a cross-platform (Mac, Linux, Windows, AmigaDE etc.)
high-level 3D API originally developed by Silicon Graphics. Support
for OpenGL 1.3 will be provided by porting the open source project
Mesa (which now passes all SGI compliance tests) which will sit on top
of Warp3D so that graphics-card functionality not currently offered by
the OpenGL API may be supported nonetheless.

PPC native RTA system (AHI)

 A Retargetable Audio System allows the use of plug-in soundcards (PCI
or Zorro II). AHI by Martin Blom is currently the de facto standard on
the Amiga and a PPC native version will be offered with support for a
wide variety of soundcards including but not limited to all current
Amiga soundcards and the Soundblaster 128 and Live (EMU10K1) cards.

PPC native Intuition and Reaction

 Reaction is the BOOPSI based GUI system for the Amiga, introduced in
OS 3.5 and extended in OS 3.9. Existing ROM classes will be enhanced
or even rewritten for a betterand more consistent look. The requester
handling will be improvedas well as the Intuition menus. Moreover a
new preferences system will allow the user to change more aspects of
the GUI.

Other features:

   o Drag and Drop support
   o New ghosted look

Intuition will sport the following new features (more planned):

   o New DrawInfo pens
   o Enhanced window borders
   o Resolution-adaptive system gadgets
   o User-selectable styles for system glyphs and 3D frames with 
     support for
     external plug-ins
   o Configurable look for proportional gadgets
   o New-style (3D recessed) disabled look for gadgets where 
     applicable
   o Gad-Tools enhancements (pop-up capability for cycle gadgets 
     etc.)
   o Full-user control of Workbench palette

SCSI drivers for SCRIPTS based SCSI controllers

WarpInput API (working title)

 WarpInput is an API for multimedia controller devices (akin to
DirectInput on Windows) which allows a programmer to provide support
through one API for a wide variety of input-devices such as keyboard,
mouse, joysticks (analog and digital), track-ball, Playstation
controller etc.

Minimal USB stack

PPC native datatypes

New HDToolbox replacement

Support for TrueType/OpenType fonts
----------------------------------------------------------------------

         A N D   A   S H O R T   U P D A T E   O N   3 . 9 

24 Jan 2002

Euro update for AmigaOS 3.9 from Haage&partner
 
 Finally we are able to release the Euro update for AmigaOS 3.9. It
took a bit longer because there were some more things to consider.
Many thanks to the all involved people. This update especially
contains keymaps and Amiga bitmap fonts that make it possible to use
the Euro symbol on the Amiga. It also contains a German Euro keymap
for AmigaOS XL. Download

{Taken from the Czech Amiga News website, http://amiga.realdreams.cz/
 Brad}

 Haage&partner website http://www.haage-partner.com/e.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                 U P D A T E   O N   A L T - W O A

9 Jan 2002 14:40:17 +0100

Huddersfield Amiga User Group


 The North of England's Second Great Amiga Show coming up on the 23rd
February 2002
 
 3 floors of attractions including a much larger games area and a
series of Workshops throughout the day.

More details available now at:-

http://www.alt-woa.org

 HAUG officially announces the Amiga Arena, a new attraction for 2002,
Amiga Inc and partners will be demonstrating their hardware and
software at a special location at the show.
 
 Fleecy Moss of Amiga® reports that a few people have been asked to
arrange a demo on the Amiga stand - Matthew Kille of Zeoneo, and Ron
van Herk from Computer City are two that have agreed.
 
 Fleecy has also asked SSEYO who are unable to answer yet, and said
"we should have a Zaurus or two there to represent Sharp".



 Zeoneo aims to build a reputation for high standards in Amiga
software production. Their exclusive commitment to the AmigaOS and
AmigaDE systems will result in a number of products being released
over time, beginning with our first two PDA titles Convex and Planet
Zed. Zeoneo will demonstrate their products at the show running on a
desktop PC, and a couple of PDAs -- including the new Sharp SL5000D.
 
 Zeoneo might very well have something new to demonstrate, but details
of that won`t be given out until the actual release date.
 
 The Zeoneo Web Site details the two products currently on sale for
AmigaDE.



 Computer City also operate under the Sultan (systems & software)
brand and have published the EuroCD series, and more recently Audio
Evolution and MediaPoint, now developed by Sultan.
 
 Computer City plan to bring MediaPoint RTG, the first version of the
next-generation MediaPoint, which will support graphics cards,
soundcards and new filetypes. They also plan to demonstrate Audio
Evolution 4, the successor to Audio Evolution targeted directly at the
AmigaOne and other powerful PPC Amiga computers.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

           A M I G A   E X P O   U P D A T E   N E W S 

Amiga Expo Announces New Exhibitors and More


 It's an exciting new year for Amiga Expo as we've begun 2002 by
signing up a brand new bunch of exhibitors and speakers for the show
happening on March 29th-31st at the Marriott Hunt Valley Inn.
 
Exhibitors

 MAME (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator) developer Arcade-in-a-Box will
be exhibiting their all-in-one solution for creating a home arcade
experience.
 
 Video Hardware will be exhibiting and demoing Newtek's Video
Toaster[2] and the latest Lightwave.
 
 Extreme Corporation will be showing Amiga Extreme - their new AmigaOS
XL Amiga solution.
 
 Ideas2Reality will be showing the Reality Station and their line of
Amiga, PPC and x86 solutions.
 
 FWD Computing will have their line of CDROMS for Amiga, Linux and
Windows or sale at the show.

Speakers

 We'll have speakers showing MAME products, video editing solutions,
Amiga advancements, classic computer and game celebrities and much
more.
 
Banquet

 We plan to host a celebrity panel at our banquet discussing the
future of computing across many platforms. Be served wonderful food in
a festive atmosphere amongst your fellow enthusiasts and hear about
what's to come!

Free Exhibit Space

 There is also a limited amount of space available, at no charge, to
anyone interested in exhibiting their MAME or arcade game cabinets at
the show. People interested in exhibiting classic computers and
console game machines are also invited to take advantage of this free
display space. You must contact us immediately if you'd like to
participate.
 
 Visit our web site (www.amigaexpo.com) and order your tickets online
or by phone or mail. You best hurry as advance purchase discounts will
be ending soon, the discount rooms at the hotel are filling up and the
banquet has LIMITED seating that is selling out fast!

Kermit Woodall
www.amigaexpo.com 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                 A M I G B G   S H O W   N E W S  

30 Jan 2002


 AmiGBG 2002 is the name of an Amiga fair that will be held in
Gothenburg, the pearl of the westcoast, in 2002, more precisely on the
2nd of march which is a saturday.
 
 Last time an Amiga fair was organized in Sweden was back in 1998 when
the now discontinued AmiTech was organized in Wasahallarna in
Stockholm.
 
 Now we think that it´s about time for a new fresh start for the Amiga
here in Sweden. To help the amigausers that are still active to get
together and establish new connections this is an attempt to gather
the forces. If you happen to be curious or even a beginner on the
Amiga and want to know what will happen for the time ahead this is a
golden opportunity to get an answer to all your questions. We are all
facing an exciting future and the best way to take a joint step into
the new era is to get together on AmiGBG 2002 in Gothenburg!


Tickets to AmiGBG 2002 released 2002-01-17
The Ticket shop is now finished.


New exhibitor: EB 2002-01-17
Explosives, Brother! will attend the fair.


Pictures of the venue now online 2002-01-15
On the "Where" page you can now find pictures of the venue where 
AmiGBG 2002 will take place.


New exhibitor: S.U.A - Swedish Usergroup of Amiga 2002-01-11
A new exhibitor is ready for AmiGBG 2002, S.U.A - Swedish Usergroup 
of Amiga.

http://www.weemeet.net/wwwamigbgcom/omamigbg/omamigbg.asp
----------------------------------------------------------------------

      S I I A   S H O W   U P C O M I N G   I N   F R A N C E 
 
Biggest Alternative Computer Show in the world for November in France

23 Jan 2002
 
 Hello from France, The 2002 autumn will be the birth of the great
SIIA (International Alternative Computer Exposition in French) in the
little town of Sainte Marie de Redon (South of Britanny) near Nantes
and Rennes. This expo would like to be THE best expo in the world of
alternative computing ! All the formats will be represented : AmigaOS,
TOS, RiscOS, Linux, BeOS, QNX, BSD, CPC and many, many more... This
expo will be implemented on one week end in november 2002. Some hotels
services will be available near Sainte Marie with good prices. You can
go to the expo by car, train, boat (on the Vilaine river) and by plane
(tourism plane). The cost to be represented at the expo with a stand
will be very cheap (maybe free). This mail is done to invite you to
join us to the party ! You can have some information with : Mail :
webmaster@toutou-net.com frederic.boisdron@atosorigin.com Phone : +33
299 720 663 (after 5:00 PM) +33 677 358 726 (portable) Or by Paper
mail : BOISDRON Frédéric La Belle Etoile 35600 SAINTE MARIE
----------------------------------------------------------------------

     I S S U E   O N E   O F   I T A L I A N   " B I T P L A N E " 

30 Jan 2002

 Finally available is issue #1 of "Bitplane" - the only Amiga printed
magazine in italy with a bi-monthly CD-Rom. This issue also has
another free CD, Amiga.it issue 1. Bitplane is the only Amiga printed
magazine in Italy. It's bi-monthly, subscription only, 64 pages with
cover CD magazine. Issue 1 has a special report from Pianeta Amiga
2001 and the Amiga 2001 show. The review of Amiga OS XL, the italian
Amiga 3.9 book, Prostation Audio, Physics Laboratory Junior, Aminet
44, Amiga.it 8, Light Rom 8 and Brave new World. There are also
tutorials of PHP, Candy Factory and Workbench. A complete guide to
Linux, QNX and MorphOS. A preview of Freespace and the review of Shogo
and Payback. Last but not least comes the Emulazione with emulator
news and reviews. The magazine is available at 7.75 euros + postage.
For subscription please consult our website www.bitplane.it or e-mail
us at info@bitplane.it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

      E L B O X   S T A T E M E N T   O N   M E D I A T O R 

29 Jan 2002

MEDIATOR AND SHARK FULLY COMPATIBLE

 Some news services have quoted untrue statements made by Mr. Harald
Frank, VMC, in the Mediator Mailing List about products made by Elbox
Computer.

Here we would like to explain:

 Since 16 January 2002, Mr. Harald Frank has been systematically
breaching the netiquette binding in the Mediator Mailing List by way
of sending messages offensive and abusive against our company,
employees of our company, our products and -- most of all -- even our
product users.
 
 Mr. Harald Frank presented himself in these messages as a person
completely devoid of elementary principles of personal humane culture.
It is evident now that his technical knowledge on hardware comes from
gossips from third persons -- and his ideas do not reflect actual and
valid technical knowledge.

To make it clear beyond any doubt on our products:

 ALL the Mediator versions (Mediator PCI 1200, Mediator PCI ZIV and
Mediator PCI 4000), starting with the very first piece sold may work
completely problem-free with SharkPPC (+) G3/G4 cards. (There is NO
need for any hardware update).
 
 Due to Mr. Harald Frank statements, which were far from cultural and
used offensive language, grossly breaching Yahoo Terms of Service, we
have applied to the Yahoo administrators to remove him from this list.

Best regards,

Mariusz Wloczysiak
ELBOX COMPUTER, Press Department
http://www.elbox.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------

            O P E N   L E T T E R   F R O M   M A T A Y 

                                             Warsaw, Poland 2002-01-08

 Some time has passed since I wrote a similar letter. As the beginning
of a new year is a good time for changes I would like to share with
you some information which will surely get your interest.
 
 Half a year has passed since we introduced in the market our main
product, the first PCI bridge for Amiga 3000/4000 computers which
could be connected to the Zorro 3 slots - "Prometheus". It was an
interesting period for us, which allowed us to gain a lot of valuable
experience. First of all I would like to thank very much all the
Prometheus users for buying our product and for the faith you have in
us. Also I would like to thank all those who appreciated our efforts
and objectively judged the company and the product. We always try to
keep our promises. I would consider it my personal failure if I had
disappointed you.
 
 For several months we have been working really hard trying to keep up
the development of our company in such difficult times for the IT
market. We entered a fruitful co-operation with many firms and people,
for example the unwavering Amiga Inc. (our first game for Amiga DE -
Boing'em is already on the market, and next are being prepared); with
a little help from us Amiga is creating AmigaOS 4.0. Irreplaceable
Hyperion provides us with its wonderful 3D drivers and the great team:
Alexander Kneer and Tobias Abt continue to give us newer and newer 2d
drivers. I would like to thank all the above mentioned as well as a
whole lot of other companies and people whose names I cannot specify
for lack of space [I'm awfully sorry!] for a possibility of
co-operation, their patience and trust they have in us; I do hope that
our acquaintance/co-operation will prove even more fruitful in future
than it has proved so far.
 
 Now I would like to present to you the results of our hard work.
First of all, "Prometheus". We have finished the work on the firmware
upgrade. What does it mean? From now on, "Prometheus" can operate more
PCI cards, and especially Fast Ethernet cards, TV tuners and
soundcards. The drivers for these cards will appear very quickly after
we do the upgrade. The first one will probably be available in this
month. I would like to remind you here that our drivers are completely
free and the firmware upgrade will be free as well. To make things
easier for you, we prepared two options for providing you with the
upgrade. Option one is for people who do not want (or are not keen on
doing so) to do anything on their own. Those of you can send your
Prometheus cards to us (or your local dealer) and the upgrade will be
done and the card returned to you. Of course, you will have to pay the
shipment costs and wait. Therefore, there is a second option: you can
order a programming device which allows to flash the Prometheus chips
just like any flashROM. The device is connected to the serial port,
flashing lasts some seconds and that is all. For people who already
own Prometheus boards, the programming device is FREE. You just have
to order it from your local dealer or directly from us.
 
 This does not, of course, apply to people who will buy our board from
now on. The chips there are upgraded with the latest firmware flash,
so you do not have to worry. The next change is connected with the
Euro coming to the EU. From now on, the suggested price of the
Prometheus board is 219 EURO. To convince you even stronger to buy our
product, we now add to each Prometheus sold some bonus software - a
great program for learning English language - English Teacher 5.
 
 And last, but not least: our webpage has changed. Many things have
been rebuilt, the files section should now be more clear, as well as
the whole page. We hope you will like it. We are launching the foreign
side of our Shop very soon, therefore people from countries without
local dealers will be able to buy our products. I hope that is good
news for you. We will inform you as things progress, according to our
slogan "No promises, just solutions". We have not forgotten about the
PPC cards. We are working together with independent developers and it
seems like we will be able to give you the solutions for the time
Amiga OS 4.0 is shipped.

Please support us!

Yours,
Filip Dab-Mirowski
CEO

http://www.matay.pl/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Amiga Update on the net:
 All back issues available at:
    http://www.globaldialog.com/~amigaupdate/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive! 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2002 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      
======================================================================

• Mediator PCI 3000D
  Mediator PCI 3000D is dedicated for Amiga 3000D computers. It allows for simultaneous use of 5 PCI cards and 6 Zorro III/II cards.
  
  
• Mediator PCI 3/4000T
  Mediator PCI 3/4000T is dedicated for Amiga 3000T and Amiga 4000T computers. It allows for simultaneous use of 5 PCI cards and 4 Zorro III/II cards.

The Mediator PCI busboard line is designed to enable expanding Amiga computers with a wide range of standard PCI cards like graphic cards, Ethernet and Fast Ethernet network cards, modem cards, ISDN cards, USB and SCSI cards, sound cards and multimedia cards: TV tuner and MPEG-2 hardware decoders.

Expanding the Amiga with the Mediator PCI busboard opens the way to employing the power of the latest PowerPC G3/G4 processors in Amiga, around which SharkPPC and SharkPPC+ cards are based.

Amiga Arena will finish its online activities until 31.01.2002. Finally there were personal as well as private reasons for taking this step.

I want to thank a lot all developers and online-magazines, print-magazines as well as the users for your support and the long time of good teamwork! Without you Amiga Arena would not have been possible! It is impossible to mention all of you by names.

To the end I present the games "Cygnus 8" and "Mobile Warfare" by Applaud Software for download. Amiga Arena will be also stayed online after the special price offer has been finished.

• 29.01.02 new: Merv the Merciless (Probe Software) done by Galahad
• 29.01.02 new: World Class Rugby '95 (Audiogenic) done by Codetapper
• 29.01.02 new: World Class Rugby - 5 Nations Edition (Audiogenic) done by Codetapper
• 29.01.02 new: World Class Rugby (Audiogenic) done by Codetapper
• 29.01.02 new: E.T.'s Rugby League (Audiogenic) done by Codetapper
• 29.01.02 improved: Rampage (Activision) minor update
• 29.01.02 new: FIFA Soccer (Electronic Arts) done by JOTD
• 29.01.02 improved: D/Generation (Mindscape) support for AGA version added, misc changes to OCS version

Download: STRICQv2.lha

Important hints for installation:

1. Unarchive to its own directory. STRICQ and STRICQ v2 are incompatible.
2. Only run STRICQ v2 from a shell prompt (I have not tested it with an icon, are you brave?)
3. There is a lot of debug output to the shell window, you may need to send me a copy of it.
4. Run the program, it will not be able to get online right away.
5. Enter your Nick (whatever), your UIN, and your Password. Click 'Save'.
6. Close the program by using the close window button on the contact list window.
7. Your prefs are now saved.
8. Restart the program and if all went well, you should now be online.

• You can not add contacts manually yet. If you have never used ICQ2001b, don't bother using STRICQ v2 at this time.
• If you have used ICQ2001b before, STRICQ v2 will import your contact list from the server.
• You can't close the prefs window, so don't try. :-)
• If you get an enforcer hit, please forward it/them to me on the mailing list.
• You will need the latest versions of NList, NListtree, and TextInput.

You'll find audio-previews of the commercials too, for you to listen to before you download the big files.

• 28.01.02 new: Time Soldiers (Smart Egg Software) done by Abaddon
• 28.01.02 new: Rise Of The Robots (Mirage/Time Warner) done by JOTD
• 28.01.02 new: Netherworld (Hewson) done by Abaddon
• 28.01.02 new: Kid Gloves (Logotron) done by Abaddon
• 27.01.02 new: Wembley Rugby League (Audiogenic) done by Codetapper
• 27.01.02 new: Nam 1965-1975 () done by JOTD
• 27.01.02 new: Frontier (GameTEK/Konami) done by JOTD
• 27.01.02 updated: Alien III (20th Century Fox) install script fixed
• 24.01.02 improved: Cosmic Relief/Terramex (Grandslam) supports another version

CIM allows to send messages through firewalls server independent and with PGP encypted, has a clear user management and useful additional information.

Neu in VirusZ III v0.96:

• Once again written by Georg Hörmann, as Dirk Stöcker doesn't have any time. No longer beta version, because all features are working well, missing ones are no reason for a beta release.
• Fixed bug in vector check that appeared with xvs.library 33.37. No longer uses private stuff from inside the library.
• Fixed bug in vector check startup code invented by Dirk's updates. No longer uses uninitialized gadget pointers.
• Added 'Show...' function for 'Data Viruses' from xvs.library.
• Rearranged 'File Check Preferences' back to just one window after Dirk replaced the old archive stuff with XAD.
• Added missing 'ROM Update' memlist entries to the brain. But: There still exists one entry that cannot be added because of missing static data.
• Added recognition for MuForce and MuGuardianAngel patches.