• USA - Software Hut Inc.
• Canada - Wonder Computers International Inc
• UK - Eyetech Group Ltd.
• Europe - KDH Datentechnik
• Australia - Unitech Electronics

From: John Zacharias jzachar@calweb.com
To: "Press Release List"
Subject: AmiWest 2000 Press Release #8
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 16:11:45 -0700 (PDT)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Developer's Meeting at AmiWest 2000!

Kermit Woodall of Nova Design will be conducting an informal developers
meeting at AmiWest 2000 to discuss future development trends on the Amiga.
The meeting will be held during the vendor setup period between 8 pm and 9
pm on Friday evening, July 28, 2000 on the Terrace in front of the main
AmiWest exhibit hall.  Questions concerning the new Amiga SDK will be
entertained and hopefully answered during this meeting.

A special reception for vendors and developers with food and drink and 
sponsored by AmiWest will also be held during the vendor setup on Friday
evening.

Remember, AmiWest 2000 is being held on Saturday through Sunday, July
29-30, 2000 at the Holiday Inn, Sacramento NorthEast, in Sacramento, CA.
Classes and seminars will be held throughout the day on both Saturday and
Sunday with the exhibit hall being open on Saturday, July 29th from 10 A.M.
- 5 P.M and Sunday, July 30th 10 A.M.  - 4 P.M.

Specially priced tickets for AmiWest 2000 are available in advance by mail.
Prices are:  two day admission tickets, $12 and one day admission ticket,
$8.  If you elect to purchase tickets at the door, the prices are:  two day
ticket at the door, $15 and One day ticket at the door, $10.  If you are
ordering a one day ticket by mail, please specify which day (Saturday or
Sunday) you are attending.

There will be a buffet banquet on Saturday evening, July 29th, with Bill
McEwen, President of Amiga Inc., as the guest speaker discussing the
progress made to date on the new Amigas.  Price is $35 per plate.  Banquet
tickets must be purchased in advance.  They will NOT be sold on Friday nor
Saturday due to the hotel needing attendance figures for planning the
banquet.

You can mail your requests for advanced admission and banquet tickets to:

      AmiWest 2000
      c/o John Zacharias
      10004 Vanguard Drive
      Sacramento, CA 95827

Make checks payable to "AmiWest".

A form for ordering tickets can be found on the AmiWest web page at

    http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/

where you can learn more about AmiWest 2000.

You will also be able to purchase the recently announced Software
Development Kit (SDK) for the new Amigas at AmiWest 2000.  The SDK is being
sold by several of the exhibitors at the show.  Eyetech Group Ltd.  will
also be present at the show demonstrating the their Next Generation Amiga
Development Machine coupled with a Classic A1200

This weekend event will again showcase the progress that IS the Amiga
Community.

Hope to see you at AmiWest 2000 on July 29-30, 2000.

John Zacharias, chairperson
AmiWest 2000
jzachar@calweb.com
http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/

• AmigaOS [m68k] v2.8010.463 2000-07-16
• AmigaOS [PPC/PowerUp] v2.8010.463 2000-07-16
• AmigaOS [PPC/WarpOS] v2.8010.463 2000-07-16

• BevelWB V1.10.0
• 0       ; = linke "Kante" (der Begrenzungslinie)
• 0       ; = obere Kante
• 799    ; = Breite
• 599    ; = Höhe
• 2       ; = Farbe oben und links
• 2       ; = Farbe unten und rechts

mlrx.lha             comm/mail   10K+Two german RexxScripts for YAM 2.1
AmiComSys.lha        comm/net   325K+V1.33 Personal Communicator like ICQ (MU
NetLink3.lha         comm/tcp    94K+Controls Miami/ISP and Calculates Call V
dft-sd2k.lha         demo/aga   1.1M+Summer Dream 2000 by Drifters - requires
SDSTCPLib.lha        dev/basic   34K+SDS TCP/IP Library
amiprodt.txt         docs/anno    2K+Datatype for Ami Pro Documents
firstworddt.txt      docs/anno    2K+Datatype for First Word Documents
msworddt.txt         docs/anno    2K+Datatype for MS-Word Documents
palmdocdt.txt        docs/anno    2K+Datatype for Palm Doc Documents
quilldt.txt          docs/anno    2K+Datatype for Quill Documents
rtfdt.txt            docs/anno    2K+Datatype for Rich Text File Documents
wordperfectdt.txt    docs/anno    2K+Datatype for Word Perfect Documents
wordstardt.txt       docs/anno    2K+Datatype for Word Star Documents
xywritedt.txt        docs/anno    2K+Datatype for XyWrite Documents
TV-Logo.lha          gfx/misc    66K+Small but capable logotype display
appe_v32.lha         hard/hack   37K+PSX pad adaptor (bug FREE)
PcF2AmF.lha          hard/hack   32K+Use 1.44 PC drive as 880k amiga drive.
DarcNES.lha          misc/emu   130K+NES/SMS/GG/PCE/SG1000/CV emulator v9a071
mamegui.lha          misc/emu    67K+MAME GUI
NeoMAMEGUI.lha       misc/emu    41K+NeoMAME GUI
LottoV2.01_BF.lha    misc/misc  434K+Play Lotto! (V2.01, req. 2.0) -Update-
forever.mpg          mods/mpg   4.6M+A dark, quasi-classical piano piece.
bO-024.lha           mods/techn 184K+#024 bOhema rec. release (Teo)
tek_dcell.lha        mods/techn  48K+Duracell - experimental elektro move
tek_ptype.lha        mods/techn  78K+Prototype - progress move (upd 2nd)
tek_sxmat.lha        mods/techn  40K+Sexomat 2000 - sexomatic bump move
amplifier.lha        mus/play   312K+Powerful multiformat audio player (V2.12
sdk-takeoff.jpg      pix/art     18K+Jpg picture with fxPaint
ArtistIcons.lha      pix/icon   112K+64 Colour icon set
SIL51_Wb2000-1.jpg   pix/wb     269K+Workbench Screen grab 3 on my PicassoIV.
Change.lha           text/misc   37K+V2.39 change text/data in all files
DirScanner.lha       util/wb     85K+V2.11: Small but powerful filefinder. (M
SNDMon2.lha          util/wb     35K+Monitor Sound Channels & Switch PIV

• Für die Rufabwicklung an Cityruf-Empfänger wird jetzt ein verbessertes Protokoll verwendet.
• Auch beim Zugang zum Rufdienst TeLMI ist jetzt eine ISDN-Rufnummer anwählbar.
• Die Sensibilität der Erkennung von fehlerhaften Verbindungen wurde etwas herabgesetzt, um die Gefahr von ungewollten Verbindungsabbrüchen während des Logins zu verringern.

• Programmierer (Linux)
• Pixler
• Raytracer (für kleinere Waffen und sonstiges Zubehör)
• Geschichtsschreiber (Schreiber von Fantasy-Kurzgeschichten für Tales of Tamar, Anlegen einer Chronik zu den aktuellen Entwicklungen auf Tamar. Muss gleichzeitig Tester werden.)

IrisUpdate.lha       comm/mail   53K+Update Iris V2.0 to V2.1
YAM2AmIRC.lha        comm/mail   24K+V2.3. The interface between YAM and AmIR
Spitfire2.lha        comm/misc  674K+Palm Desktop for the Amiga!
dkg-wfnl.lha         demo/aga   628K+Welcome To Our World FINAL
SASC_Y2k_patch.lha   dev/c        0K+Year 2000 patch for SAS/C 6.58
ReCatItPro_SI.lha    dev/misc     3K+Slovenian catalog for ReCatIt Pro v1.0
fat95.lha            disk/misc   49K+Win95/98 compatible file system
STSCCHQ_Turbo.lha    game/actio 705K+Big name Hollywood avoid 'em up!
Orbit_68k.lha        game/shoot 141K+Space Combat Simulator [060]
dropoutkill_up.lha   gfx/board   64K+Update for Dropout-Killer V2.01 [Fianl 0
anescgfx.lha         misc/emu    91K+A/NES CGFX v1.19 - Nintendo emulator
mamegui.lha          misc/emu    75K+MAME GUI
twig_brea.lha        mods/med   175K+Bread and Butter, a tune by DJTwiglet
twig_card.lha        mods/med   278K+[We Live In] Cardboard, a tune by DJTwig
DelfSF.lha           mus/misc    27K+Sndfile player for Delfina DSP
MontecarloF1.lha     pix/illu   1.8M+Photos of  Montecarlo 2000 F1 race - Fer
QuickNote.lha        text/edit   31K+Notepad for scrap-notes (very handy)
eNote-SI.lha         text/misc   19K+ENote - Slovenian translation
CPointer_v2.2a.lha   util/boot   15K+Puts Mouse Pointer anywhere on screen
dev-handler.lha      util/sys     8K+Un*x like raw device access handler
PoolMem.lha          util/sys    70K+Memory defragmentizer/AllocP superset

• MEDIATOR PCI 1200, für A1200 im Tower ohne Busboards
  (MEDIATOR PCI 1200, for A1200 in a tower case without bus boards)
  Lieferbar ab Mitte Juli
• MEDIATOR PCI ZIV, für ZIV Slot in A1200 Tower mit ZORRO IV Busboard
  (MEDIATOR PCI ZIV, for ZIV slot in Al200 in a tower case with ZORRO IV busboard)
  Lieferbar ab August (ps)

IrisUpdate.lha       comm/mail   53K+Update Iris V2.0 to V2.1
YAM2AmIRC.lha        comm/mail   24K+V2.3. The interface between YAM and AmIR
Spitfire2.lha        comm/misc  674K+Palm Desktop for the Amiga!
dkg-wfnl.lha         demo/aga   628K+Welcome To Our World FINAL
SASC_Y2k_patch.lha   dev/c        0K+Year 2000 patch for SAS/C 6.58
ReCatItPro_SI.lha    dev/misc     3K+Slovenian catalog for ReCatIt Pro v1.0
fat95.lha            disk/misc   49K+Win95/98 compatible file system
STSCCHQ_Turbo.lha    game/actio 705K+Big name Hollywood avoid 'em up!
Orbit_68k.lha        game/shoot 141K+Space Combat Simulator [060]
dropoutkill_up.lha   gfx/board   64K+Update for Dropout-Killer V2.01 [Fianl 0
anescgfx.lha         misc/emu    91K+A/NES CGFX v1.19 - Nintendo emulator
mamegui.lha          misc/emu    75K+MAME GUI
twig_brea.lha        mods/med   175K+Bread and Butter, a tune by DJTwiglet
twig_card.lha        mods/med   278K+[We Live In] Cardboard, a tune by DJTwig
DelfSF.lha           mus/misc    27K+Sndfile player for Delfina DSP
MontecarloF1.lha     pix/illu   1.8M+Photos of  Montecarlo 2000 F1 race - Fer
QuickNote.lha        text/edit   31K+Notepad for scrap-notes (very handy)
eNote-SI.lha         text/misc   19K+ENote - Slovenian translation
CPointer_v2.2a.lha   util/boot   15K+Puts Mouse Pointer anywhere on screen
dev-handler.lha      util/sys     8K+Un*x like raw device access handler
PoolMem.lha          util/sys    70K+Memory defragmentizer/AllocP superset

• MEDIATOR PCI 1200, für A1200 im Tower ohne Busboards
  (MEDIATOR PCI 1200, for A1200 in a tower case without bus boards)
  Lieferbar ab Mitte Juli
• MEDIATOR PCI ZIV, für ZIV Slot in A1200 Tower mit ZORRO IV Busboard
  (MEDIATOR PCI ZIV, for ZIV slot in Al200 in a tower case with ZORRO IV busboard)
  Lieferbar ab August (ps)

• Neue Play16 Einstellungen:
• Besseres Infowindow
• Animierte Lautstärkenanzeige
• Besseres Display (mit Play und Stop Graphik)
• Fortschrittsanzeige beim Theme Creator
• Verbessertes GUI
• Help für Miniplay und Quickinfo in der Titelleiste
• Einige Bugfixe (ps)

• Format: A5
• ca. 40-50 seitige Ausgabe
• komplett in Farbe
• aufwendiges Design
• Preis: ca. 5,- DM (inklusive Versandkosten)

• Messereport
• Testberichte zu HereticII, Joyride, EAsys, Amiga Arena CD, Digital MakeUp, Faces from Mars, fxPaint Version 1.5
• Workshop Teil 2 rund ums Netzwerk mit Miami Deluxe
• und vieles mehr.

TCom2DEMO.lha        biz/demo    88K+V2.7.2 Amiga order program,(COMMESSE ITA
TFat2DEMO.lha        biz/demo   121K+V2.16.0 Amiga Invoice program,(FATTURE I
TGestDEMO.lha        biz/demo   407K+V1.1 TurboGest (PACHETTO GESTIONALE ITAL
TMagDEMO.lha         biz/demo   144K+V1.0.2 Amiga storage program,(MAGAZZINO 
TProspEd.lha         biz/demo    76K+V1.2.0 Form Editor For TurboFat (ITALIAN
AmiComSys.lha        comm/net   325K+V1.33 Personal Communicator like ICQ (MU
nah-speed53.lha      demo/mag   1.5M+Speed #53 by Nah-Kolor (remedy2k+otha)
ctags.lha            dev/c      229K+Generate tag files for source code
BetterString_E.lha   dev/e        2K+Module to use BetterString.mcc in AmigaE
dech.lha             dev/e       42K+Deniil's E-Compiler Handler v1.37
BackUp.lha           disk/bakup  27K+A simple backup tool.. v1.1
pfssalv.lha          disk/salv   16K+Save files from damaged PFS2/PFS3 partit
RDBrecov.lha         disk/salv   16K+Search lost PFS/SFS partitions on a hard
VWorksJuly2000.lha   docs/hyper  12K+Virtual Works pricelist July 2000
ACNews_23.lha        docs/mags   32K+E-zine focused on Amiga News: #23-July 2
jaapr.lha            docs/misc  210K+JUST-AMiGA mailing list msgs for all of 
jaapr00.lha          docs/misc  108K+JUST-AMiGA mailing list msgs for all of 
jaaug.lha            docs/misc  127K+JUST-AMiGA mailing list msgs for all of 
jafeb.lha            docs/misc  243K+JUST-AMiGA mailing list msgs for all of 
jajun.lha            docs/misc  275K+JUST-AMiGA mailing list msgs for all of 
jajun00.lha          docs/misc  122K+JUST-AMiGA mailing list msgs for all of 
jamay00.lha          docs/misc  131K+JUST-AMiGA mailing list msgs for all of 
jaoct.lha            docs/misc  181K+JUST-AMiGA mailing list msgs for all of 
dropout-killer.lha   gfx/board  156K+Update for Dropout-Killer V2.01 [Final 0
mamegui.lha          misc/emu    66K+MAME GUI
A-tiktok.mpg         mods/techn 3.5M+A nice minimal techno song with a twist
TheMPegEncGUI.lha    mus/misc    75K+GUI 4 Ncode, MusicIn, Lame, BladeEnc, Pe
DelfMPEG.lha         mus/play   149K+MPEG audio player for Delfina DSP
Tie.jpg              pix/mark   472K+A Tie-Fighter from Star Wars Episode IV
neerv_mwb.lha        pix/mwb    233K+Neervoort s MWB Game - Icons !!!
List2HTML.lha        util/conv   68K+Convert List to html Table V1.0
MultiRen.lha         util/misc  169K+Powerful multi-file renaming tool (with 
DRemind.lha          util/time  191K+Reminds you whenever you want.. v1.54b!
LSClock11.lha        util/time   22K+SHAREWARE clock utility - DEBUGGED!
ScreenSwitch.lha     util/wb     12K+Switch between screens quickly and easil
SNDMon.lha           util/wb     31K+Monitor Sound Channels & Switch PIV

• Amiga - Eine Legende: Teil 1
• Amiga - Eine Legende: Teil 2
• Amiga - Eine Legende: Teil 3

• Eine Routine, die aufeinanderfolgende Listeneinträge verhindert, wurde hinzugefügt.
• Die Routine zum Laden von Projektdateien wurde überarbeitet. Ab sofort wird bei einer fehlerhaften Projektdatei nicht mehr das Programm abgebrochen, es erscheint eine entsprechende Fehlermeldung.
• Der Sourcecode wurde nochmals überarbeitet und optimiert.
• Die GUI-Datei wurde geändert.

• MakeCD32c-internet.lha
• MakeCD32d_public_beta.lha
• FlashROM.lha

• Eine Funktion, die die aktuelle Position der Movieshop-Szenenkontrolle dem Listenfenster hinzufügt.
• In den Preferences ist die Funktion ´Auto-Scroll´ hinzugekommen.
• Es wurden zusätzliche interne Fehlerabfragen eingebaut.
• Die Online-Hilfe wurde entsprechend aktualisiert.

HomeCINEMA.lha       biz/dbase  127K+German Video Database - now Cardware
StarBase_CLI.lha     biz/dbase  104K+Star Trek Episodes Database (v3.7)
TBol2DEMO.lha        biz/demo    85K+V2.2.0 Material receipt program,(BOLLE M
TCom2DEMO.lha        biz/demo    87K+V2.7.1 Amiga order program,(COMMESSE ITA
TFat2DEMO.lha        biz/demo   104K+V2.15.0 Amiga Invoice program,(FATTURE I
TGestDEMO.lha        biz/demo   405K+TurboGest (PACHETTO GESTIONALE ITALIAN O
TMagDEMO.lha         biz/demo   143K+V1.0.1 Amiga storage program,(MAGAZZINO 
TProspEd.lha         biz/demo    76K+V1.1.0 Form Editor For TurboFat (ITALIAN
AmIRC35-ITA.lha      comm/irc    15K+Italian catalog for AmIRC v3.5
AtoZ.lha             comm/misc   77K+Easy Amiga/Z88 file transfer. v2.0
phonewizard16.lha    comm/misc  265K+Phone answer machine for voice modems
MassDL.lha           comm/www    38K+Less work on WWW pages file leching. (AW
wpz-frozen33.lha     demo/aga   1.8M+Frozen#33 - Remedy Party Edition
Amiga-C-Jun00.lha    dev/c      177K+Postings to Amiga-C mailing list in June
fda-upd.lha          disk/cache  41K+Uses whole free memory to speedup 1.8-2.
fda.lha              disk/cache 326K+Faster than PFS also installed V2.6
fda_DviPS.lha        disk/cache 407K+English documentation in DVI, PS & texin
fda_d_DviPS.lha      disk/cache 444K+German documentation in DVI, PS & texinf
fda_d_GuidHTML.lha   disk/cache 102K+German documentation in Guide & HTML
Euro2000_guide.lha   docs/hyper  15K+Guide about Euro2000
WarpUp-Jun00.lha     docs/misc   84K+Postings to the WarpUp mailing list in J
CoolInstaller.lha    game/patch 193K+Installs nearly every game to harddisk
appe_v31.lha         hard/hack   41K+Use any PlayStation Pad in your Amiga
Memo-Tec.lha         misc/edu   128K+MemoTec - simple mind trainer
Denise4D.lha         misc/sci    87K+Denise-MYTH 4.0 Artificial Intelligence 
fom2001.jpg          pix/trace  245K+Space Pod from the movie 2001
fomst10.jpg          pix/trace  470K+USS Independence (Star Trek - TOS)
fomst11.jpg          pix/trace  465K+USS Independence (Star Trek - TOS)
fomst12.jpg          pix/trace  480K+USS Independence (Star Trek - TOS)
fomst13.jpg          pix/trace  290K+Jefferies Shuttle (Star Trek - TOS)
lucyplay.lha         util/libs    9K+AHI Audio Player + Joystick Functions
FreeWheel.lha        util/mouse  72K+Tool for WheelMice + trackballs/3-button

From:    Bill McEwen bill@amiga.com
Subject: VP "Omissions" and problems re SDK...
Date:    Fri, 7 Jul 2000 10:08:01 -0700

Answer to this posting from John Wiederhirn on comp.sys.amiga.misc

Regarding message from J.F. Wiederhirn,

There are some valid points, but you overemphasise the points significantly.
The extent to which you dismiss the platform is at odds with the reality of
the graphics and Java performance [for example].

> >> >1.  Efficient register usage...or the lack thereof.
> >> >
> >> >VP code allows (hell, suggests) you to registers whenever possible.
> >> >They scope registers at subroutine limits (among others, the details
> >> >aren't really relevent to the problem).
> >> >
> >> >The problem is that you cannot direct register usage, or even
> >> >prioritize it.  You can scope it slightly, by indicating when a
> >> >register is last-used.  Every register usage is in the end evaluated
> >> >by the translator and handled based on it's algorithms. Since (and
> >> >I'll avoid the extensive mathematical proofs involved) their optimizer
> >> >cannot understand more than basic algorithms, that means it is very
> >> >difficult to do tight register-based optimization on code.

You cannot direct register usage, just as you can't in C. So really you are
saying that you cannot write as efficient code in VP as you can by
hand-crafting native assembler. This is undeniably true and nobody pretended
otherwise. VP does give you, however, a means of writing low-level code,
sacrificing the minimum of efficiency possible with a portable solution. For
ultimate performance, certain operations would need to be written in native
but when you don't do this, you still get near-optimal performance in a
portable manner.

> >> >2.  MMX, SSE, maybe someday?
> >> >
> >> >The reason for the vague answers regarding how MMX and SSE were to be
> >> >supported is now very clear to me.  They aren't supported from a
> >> >programmer standpoint as far as I can discern.  Even the documentation
> >> >for the PII interfaces leaves it unclear whether platform-specific
> >> >code (more on that in a bit) can safely use those instructions, since
> >> >there's no documentation as to whether those registers are state-saved
> >> >in the current SDK.

As it happens, they are saved.

The CPU documentation details which native registers are used by the VP
environment. Development of PII tools such as the first level interrupt
handler is directly based on that information. For example,
sys/cii/arm6/cpu.html gives the information about native register usage for
anyone wishing to write an ARM PII.

> >> >The VP in the SDK does not appear to support any mechanism for issuing
> >> >MMX or SSE instructions.

To get ultimate performance you would need to abstract at a library level
and develop native MMX-based implementations. So MMX type instructions can
be used now. They have not been abstracted into VP as there is no
sufficiently common model across all processors with MMX-type operations to
get any degree of efficiency. However, as noted in this paragraph already,
an application that can make good use of these instructions on a particular
processor can contain some native tools containing the MMX type instructions
for that particular processor. These tools can be macro-ised and embedded to
get code that looks and behaves like the MMX instructions were fully
supported.

Would you suggest an abstraction that could be used? You obviously have some
good ideas in mind for you to have made such comments.

> >> >3.  Cache?  Hello?
> >> >
> >> >This omission appears to be the second-most glaring to me, from a
> >> >low-level perspective.  VP code has neither any concept of cache, nor
> >> >any way to actually control it.  While that makes some sense from a
> >> >software interpreter/compiler standpoint, it totally ignores that
> >> >under the VP there is a real CPU with real cache.  The idea that
> >> >meaningful driver code can be written is VP code is laughable given
> >> >that the VP has no way to actually handle cacheable vs non-cacheable
> >> >contents.

Cache? Hi!

This is not a VP issue at all. Do any processors have native instruction
modifiers that allow cache usage to be modified on a per instruction basis?
I do not know of any. I would have thought that most of this work will be by
programming a CPU register(s) to control the cache usage (i.e. coarse: turn
off at start - turn on at end for all memory operations on a memory bank.
fine: declare a pointer type to be uncached so that any use of that pointer
is not cached.). Note that in your question 4 there is a reference to
declaring a memory area as cached or not cached, so that is the level of
cache management expected. So, that is clearly not a VP issue. In fact,
intent is uniquely placed to take advantage of an architecture where cache
lines are controlled by individual flags within the pointer. The trouble is,
again, there is no good abstraction for this concept. It is up to individual
platforms and drivers to have these concepts defined and used if required.
And this is all perfectly possible on intent. An example might be that two
memory objects are declared, one returns cached memory, one not cached.
These can even allocate from the same underlying pool, although you are
likely to find that the cache is turned off and on at larger boundaries than
the byte.

The kernel and tool loaders are cache aware in that they call
sys/cii/flushicache during tool loading and code relocation to allow a
platform to clean/flush caches if required. Although this is a CII tool, it
is actually implemented in the PII since cache details may differ on
platforms with apparently similar cores. The tool is directly accessible to
device drivers if developers wish to use it. Where DMA and cache interaction
is an issue, the PII implementer would write tools for the device driver
writer to use to e.g. clean/writeback a DCache.

The whole point of the PII is that there is a fixed set of tools required by
the OS on all platforms plus a "platform specific" optional set that need to
be written to address specific issues on the target platform. This maintains
the portability and encapsulates the "dirty stuff" in one layer. PIIs have
successfully been implemented on many platforms with caches and "take
advantage" of the cache just like any software.


> >> >4.  Memory-space attributes.
> >> >
> >> >I don't even know where to start with this.  The PII mechanisms
> >> >offered, as far as I could discern (and the documentation on this is
> >> >far from centralized) appeared to support the following ops:  You can
> >> >map physical memory to Amiga memory, and unmap it.  You can obtain the
> >> >physical address of mapped memory.  You can do a couple other usual
> >> >mapping tricks with that memory.
> >> >
> >> >You CANNOT set any attributes for the memory range in question, such
> >> >as cached/non-cached, write-combined/non-write-combined, etc.  Who the
> >> >hell's brain-fart was responsible for that?  Jeez, Tao's been tooling
> >> >on this thing for years and years, and they never once thought being
> >> >able to set stuff as non-cached was valuable?

The cacheing issue has already been covered. Any other attributes fall into
the same category. Have you come across write-combined/non-write-combined?
Even if these exist, it wouldn't really change anything. If a need is
identified, functions can easily be added to the PII. It has been
constructed to be extensible.

The primary focus for intent has been on embedded systems where the MMU is
used to set up a fairly simple memory space with mostly 1:1 translation from
physical to virtual space. These mappings are set up at boot time. The
mapping tools you refer to were developed several years ago for the DOS
platform and are not used on any other platform.

> >> >5.  Cross-platform.  Well, kinda.
> >> >
> >> >The docs themselves suggest that tools (think of em as DLLs, they work
> >> >almost exactly the same as Windows DLLs) can hold multiple versions of
> >> >the same code for different environments.  In fact, they specifically
> >> >mention that optimized versions of code for a given environment can be
> >> >included in a tool, as well as a generalized VP version.
> >> >
> >> >So much for platform neutrality and cross-platform compatibility.
> >> >Their solution is no different than JNI, and suffers precisely the
> >> >same issues.

This isn't true. JNI is not portably defined across platforms.
I don't see really what the complaint is here.

> >> >6.  Interrupts
> >> >
> >> >I saved this for last because, well, "the horror, the horror...".  As
> >> >I've already mentioned under VP your cache control is non-existent.
> >> >To the issue of interrupt handling, well, I can only pass along the
> >> >trauma and suggest anyone really interested buy the SDK.  You'll be
> >> >impressed to see the mechanism documented on paper, if ya don't tear
> >> >out your own eyeballs.

I expect here you are commenting on the efficiency of the interrupt handing
model. Not altogether a surprise, if someone's obsessed by these issues.

There is nothing wrong with the interrupt model for 'normal' usage
platforms. Those who are obsessed are at liberty to fit in their own
architecture here. Platforms with little hardware support for devices may
also need to do the same thing to be able to service interrupts at a very
low patency. The intent model does not precluse this at all.

> >> >On a personal note, I just got stuck in a wheelchair after a spinal
> >> >injury.  I _really_ wanted this to turn out as a review of cool
> >> >technology because my mood was already dour.  I'm left after viewing
> >> >the technology wondering what the hell Tao's been doing for the last
> >> >few years, and why Amiga thought this technology was
> >> >desktop-appropriate.  The VP, while totally appropriate for embedded
> >> >and handheld concerns, isn't remotely appropriate for high-bandwidth
> >> >desktop concerns.

Some things are undeniably true, nonetheless. The 2D graphics functionality
and performance is unparalleled. This is all done in VP. It shows that using
this technology it is possible to develop highly performing portable
software (near optimal, not completely optimal on all architectures). The
JVM and libraries are still be best available. It is true that the
superiority of the technology is greatest in embedded space but to suggest
that it is worthless is not realistic.

Finally, it is worth pointing out that it is impossible to refute bland
allegations that do not give any substance.

• DECH (Version 1.37) - dech.lha
• DRemind (Version 1.54b) - dremind.lha
• MultiRen (Version 1.4) - multiren.lha
• QuickNote (Version 1.3) - quicknote.lha
• TheMPegEncGUI (Version 2.03) - thempegencgui.lha

StarBase_SCR.lha     biz/dbase  110K+Star Trek Episodes Database (v2.1)
TAdesivi.lha         biz/demo    42K+V1.0.3 Ticket editor for TurboGest (ITAL
TBolDEMO.lha         biz/demo    71K+V1.3.1 Material receipt program,(BOLLE M
TProspEd.lha         biz/demo    59K+V1.0.5 Form Editor For TurboFat (ITALIAN
AmIRC35-ITA.lha      comm/irc    15K+Italian catalog for AmIRC v3.5
dc240wizard14.lha    comm/misc  116K+Tool for Kodak DC240 digital camera
MiamiDxWebCP.lha     comm/net    18K+MiamiDxWebCP 2.3 - a Web Control Panel f
SimpleFTP.lha        comm/tcp   258K+SimpleFTP v2.64 - Powerful and easy to u
BlitzLstJun00.lha    dev/basic  138K+Blitz mailing list archives for June 200
BlitzLstMay00.lha    dev/basic  106K+Blitz mailing list archives for May 2000
advlite20b7.lha      dev/misc   270K+Powerfull & neat AutodocViewer v2.0 BETA
Aakt0700HTML.lha     docs/mags  277K+AMIGA aktuell - German infotainment maga
PD_Cheater_V25.lha   game/hint  447K+PD_Cheater, Cheats for PD Games (german)
pacman.lha           game/misc   98K+Pacman version 0.9B. 
Shuf2_upd.lha        game/patch 146K+Shuffle 2 - Mysted -> update to version 
Orbit_68k.lha        game/shoot 128K+Space Combat Simulator [040/060]
Orbit_ppc.lha        game/shoot 132K+Space Combat Simulator [WarpOS]
Orbit_src.lha        game/shoot 127K+Space Combat Simulator [Source]
GuessStress.lha      game/think 199K+GuessStress V1.5   
Shuffle3.lha         game/think 6.3M+Third part of a simple logical game, gre
CyberPiPView.lha     gfx/board   11K+Videolayer picture viewer (2.5)
amimdc800.lha        gfx/misc   131K+Mustek MDC800 Digital Camera Control
ChipEm.lha           misc/emu    71K+Chip 8 v0.3  Emulator by Balrog Soft
LottoV2.01.lha       misc/misc  434K+Play Lotto! (V2.01, req. 2.0) -Update-
LottoV2.lha          misc/misc  884K+Play Lotto! (V2.0, req. MUI)
NieMehrNachHs.lha    mods/smpl  4.0M+Nie mehr nach Haus! (8svx music sample) 
toccatamixer.lha     mus/misc    24K+Toccata sound card control program
AmigaAMPstart.lha    mus/play   164K+Welcome mpeg for AmigaAMP
UpRate.lha           mus/play     6K+Ensures top Paula samplerates always ava
PSI-Division.lha     pix/anim    36K+Splitting Greek
Trinity.mpg          pix/mpg     64K+This is first VHS demo created by Halluc
GED_Hexedit.lha      text/edit  235K+Hexedit Environment for GOLDED V1.40
wbstartup++.lha      util/boot   14K+Startup program launcher
WarpPNGdt.lha        util/dtype  48K+PNG image datatype (WarpOS/PPC) V44.5
asyncioppc.lha       util/libs   23K+Asyncio.library with WarpOS functions (V
lucyplay.lha         util/libs    9K+AHI Audio Player + Joystick Functions
calculator.lha       util/misc   25K+Fully functional scientific calculator
InstallerFXSou.lha   util/misc   34K+V1.10,InstallerFX Sourcecode(StormC).
ReportPlus.lha       util/misc   54K+3.2: Multi-function utility
xpkGZIP-WOS.lha      util/pack   22K+XpkGZIP module for WarpOS (V2.1)
LSClock.lha          util/time   22K+SHAREWARE clock utility
rndwbpix.lha         util/wb     11K+Random wbpattern picture selector (39.7)
yerfawt.lha          util/wb      2K+Yer Fawt! fault strings for "your Fault"

From    Pulse Publishing thepulse@pulsepublishing.co.uk
To      Amiga News team@amiga-news.de
Date    Thu, 06 Jul 2000 01:32:02 +0000
Subject Pulse Super CD

Hello,

Due to the massive response for The Pulse Magazine from retailers/distributers
and the Amiga public, we have managed to take an idea we had for later down
the line and put it into action for the very first issue!

And so, *The Pulse Super CD* has now become a reality.

When you subscribe to The Pulse Magazine for 6 or 12 months, you will gain
automatic inclusion to receive all issues of the Super CD released during
your subscription period.

The Pulse Super CD is a brand new peice of software put together by the
writers of The Pulse filled with tons of glorious goodies to entertain and
benefit all types of users.

Unlike other cover CD's which seem to be full of the same old stuff, each
SUPER CD contains 640mb of brand new, completely different goodies to the
last including:-

- All the hottest game demos, previews and screenshots
- All the latest serious software demos
- Hints, tips, cheats & solutions
- Quality workbench tools and accessories
- Workbench backgrounds, themes and screensavers
- Reams and reams of glowicons for OS 3.5
- Art Gallery
- Brand new custom made Directory Opus themes
- Full commercial games
- Full commercial serious software

The Pulse Super CD is designed to be released when we feel we can fill a
complete CD with only the best, top quality products, and ensure that each
and every issue has entirely different contents to the last.

Below are the highlights of the first release:-

- Full commercial games including: 
    Abduction                                    
    Charlie J Cool AGA & ECS Versions

- Tons of great game demos including: 
    Wolfenstein 3D
    Heretic II                                             
     Joyride                                                             
    U.V.W.                                                                
    Hell Squad
    HexenWorld

- Tons of great game updates including: 
    Quake
    Frontier Elite II
    Virtual GP
    Foundation DC
    SWOS

- Serious Software Updates:
   Wordworth Fonts
    Pagestream Fonts
                                                           
- Demo Scene featuring the best Amiga demos from around the world.

Don't forget, all this is only available to subscribers of The Pulse Magaine,
so get your subscriptions in today!

Release date for next issue is mid July....

Kind regards
-- 
The Pulse  
No Way Out.....

Email: thepulse@pulsepublishing.co.uk
http://www.pulsepublishing.co.uk
------------------------------------
If you ever subscribe to an Amiga mag again this should be it!

From: John Zacharias jzachar@calweb.com

Subject: AmiWest 2000 Press Release 7
Date: Wed, 5 Jul 2000 06:55:36 -0700 (PDT)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Eyetech Group Ltd will be exhibiting at AmiWest 2000!

On June 6, Amiga Inc. and Eyetech Group Ltd entered into a strategic
relationship for Eyetech to manufacture the first release of the Next
Generation Amiga Development Machine.  Eyetech will be coming to
Sacramento, California for AmiWest 2000 and will be showing off the Next
Generation Amiga Development Machine coupled with a Classic A1200 at the
show.

Eyetech is the leading UK developers and Worldwide mail order retailers of
Amiga technology products for the home and for industry.  They are the
manufacturers and distributors of the EZDev-Plus and EZDev-Tower Dev Boxes
in the UK and Ireland under a partnership agreement with Amiga Inc.  and
parent company of the Eye-Play (www.eye-play.com) games publishing and
distribution for the Classic and Amiga OE platforms

Products at the show will include:  EZRack 2U x 380mm 19" rack system
containing a full EZDev and Classic A1200 platform networked in the same
case; EZBoot silicon floppy disk allowing direct booting from CDROM on all
WB3+ Amigas; the AMON low distortion automatic monitor switcher for the
Cybervision64-3D and scandoubled AGA outputs; the EZLink AREXX-controlled
infrared controller 'learning' receiver/transmitter for all WB2+ Amigas;
the EZ-Net 5-click Linux-Amiga, Win-Amiga & Amiga-Amiga networking software
and installer; the EZ-VGA range of scan doublers and flickerfixers and much
more.

A rolling presentation under SCALA MM400 will show some of the products
that we physically couldn't bring with us, but regularly send to the US by
mail order.  These include:  the full range of EZDev configuration options,
the EZTower-Z4 A1200 tower system with Z4 expansion board (3 x Z2, 2 x
hi-speed Z2, 2 x 19MB/s Z4, 4 x clock port slots) and many more products.

Special dealer and User Group pricing will be available at the show.
Eyetech can be reached on the web at http://welcome.to/amiga.world

Remember, AmiWest 2000 is being held on Friday through Sunday, July 29-30,
2000 at the Holiday Inn, Sacramento NorthEast, in Sacramento, CA.  Classes
and seminars will be held throughout the day on both Saturday and Sunday
with the exhibit hall being open on Saturday, July 29th from 10 A.M.  - 5
P.M and Sunday, July 30th 10 A.M.  - 4 P.M.

Specially priced tickets for AmiWest 2000 are available in advance by mail.
Prices are:  two day admission tickets, $12 and one day admission ticket,
$8.  If you elect to purchase tickets at the door, the prices are:  two day
ticket at the door, $15 and One day ticket at the door, $10.  If you are
ordering a one day ticket by mail, please specify which day (Saturday or
Sunday) you are attending.

There will be a buffet banquet on Saturday evening, July 29th, with Bill
McEwen, President of Amiga Inc., as the guest speaker discussing the
progress made to date on the new Amigas.  Price is $35 per plate.  Banquet
tickets must be purchased in advance.  They will NOT be sold on Friday nor
Saturday due to the hotel needing attendance figures for planning the
banquet.

You can mail your requests for advanced admission and banquet tickets to:

      AmiWest 2000
      c/o John Zacharias
      10004 Vanguard Drive
      Sacramento, CA 95827

Make checks payable to "AmiWest".

A form for ordering tickets can be found on the AmiWest web page at

    http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/

where you can learn more about AmiWest 2000.

Petro Tyschtschenko, Managing Director, Amiga Deutschland Inc., will be
joining Mr McEwen in attendance at AmiWest 2000.

Special hotel room rates are available at the Holiday Inn for those
attending AmiWest 2000.  Room rates are $ 79 (Single) and $ 89 (double) if
reservations are made by July 7.  You must mention that you are attending
AmiWest to get the special rate.  You can phone the Holiday Inn at
1-916-338-5800 or 1-800-388-9284 (Tool Free - Hotel directly) to make hotel
reservations.

You will also be able to purchase the recently announced Software
Development Kit (SDK) for the new Amigas at AmiWest 2000.  The SDK is being
sold by several of the exhibitors at the show.

This weekend event will again showcase the progress that IS the Amiga
Community.

Hope to see you at AmiWest 2000 on July 29-30, 2000.

John Zacharias, chairperson
AmiWest 2000
jzachar@calweb.com
http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/