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Issue 17 Jan/Feb 1 999 PagEs 6 & 8 PagE 9 Towers To The Rescue PagE 9 - News BYTES .. Announcements 'Y Reviews & Summaries" Gfx & Audio 'Y l16.-""- Published by Eldritch Enterprises Editor'S Desk: ship. they conclude there is little worth waiting for. and leave. Without user support. retailers Editor-in-Chief: The announcement from the Computer 98 close. magazines fold and developers pull out. Fletcher Haug [email protected] Managing Editor & Design: show in Germany that Amiga Inc. partnered Most that remain with the Amiga do so because Betty Haug [email protected] with QNX was the best bit of news about the they have a profound loyalty and understanding Assistant Editor: Amiga I've heard in months. From what I of the Amiga. But even the most optimistic and Robert Pigford [email protected] can tell of QNX, they seem to share ardent Amigans have lost faith and trust in News Correspondents: many of the beliefs and altitudes of Amiga Inc .. and all that remains is a conviction Brad Webb [email protected] Paul Morabito [email protected] the original Amiga founders. in the platform and its community. not the com Columnists: Even more importantly. QNX is pany that controls it. Jerimy Campbell [email protected] a software company and doesn't I would like to see someone else besides Fabian Jimenez [email protected] carry the baggage that came with Gateway. Gateway gain control over the development of Oleg Moskalensky [email protected] Equally as moving-in the wrong direction-was the next generation Amiga OS. Happily, the deal Aaron Ruscetta [email protected] Davis Sprague [email protected] the nOll-announcement of the departure of Fleecy with QNX may just allow this to happen. Dbomas Trenn [email protected] Moss from Amiga Inc. Fleecy was the last vocal Gateway, as a hardware company, likely only Support Staff: Julie Chemij proponent for the Amiga community at Amiga Inc. cares about making money from their Amiga This Issue's Contributors: Steve Folberg, Mel Without Fleecy, there is no one speaking for the purchase. By partnering with. or in essence, seil Strait, Bill Panagouleas, Hal Greenlee, community at Amiga Inc. It was also not an ing the rights to use the Amiga technologies to a Robert Bryant, Ted Wallingford, Bolton nounced that Marilyn Flint no longer works for software company like QNX, Gateway could Peck & Nigel Kent Amiga Inc. That leaves only Jeff Schindler. position themselves to make a lot of money. If Mission: To provide an accurate and reliable Darreck Lisle and some office help. Bill McEwen QNX works its magic and creates a new, distinc resource of information pertaining to all things and Alan Havemose are only under contact and are tive OS, Gateway would potentially gain im Amiga®, and to connect readers with developers, their products and the Amiga not permanent employees. mense profits by designing and selling hardware community at large. Fleecy's sacking caused me to reevaluate my around it. There is still a huge shroud of mystery thoughts about Amiga Inc. Throughout Amiga surrounding the recent Amiga Inc.lQNX deal, Inc. 's ownership of the Amiga they have claimed and we don't know the legalities of what tran The mention or reference to other companies or products in these pages is not a that the community was the Amigas most impor spired. I hope QNX gains control over the deign challenge to the trademarks or copyrights tant asset. However. to this day Amiga Inc. has of OS 5.0 and Gateway sits back and lets them concerned. Material published in The done nothing to advance or help this community. create something we can all look forward to. Informer does not necessarily reHect the Initiatives like the ICOA have largely been However. one thing is for sure. No matter how opinion of Eldritch Enterprises. Eldritch ignored, retailers or developers have folded with exciting any future Amiga OS is. there is a great Enterprises will not be held accountable for such opinions or misinformation. Amiga is a out a word from Amiga Inc .. few channels of com deal of work needed to repair the loss of faith registered trademark of Amiga Inc. munication have been opened with the press, and and trust that Amiga Inc. inflicted on the com ©Copyright 1998 by Eldritch Enterprises. perhaps worse of aiL they have given the commu munity. It is unlikely that there will be many ISSN 1089-4616. Nothing may be reproduced nity no clear vision of the future. commercial Amiga companies left if things con in wbole or in part without the expressed written permision of the publisber. Amiga Inc. has also not carried through on their tinue as they are now, but those of us that are statements. At WoA 98 in London, the assembled still here when the new OS arrives will need press was told that there was a fully approved much convincing before we again put our faith The Informer is produced entirely on Amiga computers. The equipment used: budget under the control of Amiga Inc., that a and hope into anyone or anything claiming to Classic 3.5 upgrade would happen. that a new care for the Amiga community. Until then. the A2000, Blizzard 2040/40 Mhz, 16Mb RAM super chip would be revealed, and that there would Amiga community must rally around the people A1200. Blizzard 1260/50 Mhz, 32 Mb RAM be a Classic Amiga card in the upcoming develop that keep this platform breathing. and stop put 'PageStream 3.3a + Extensions ment box. Now we know that Amiga Inc. has little ting faith in Amiga Inc. to save the day. DrawStudio 2.0 if any budget under their own control. the 3.5 Image FX 3.2 upgrade will likely be scaled back if it ever appears Final Writer 97 Plus many other commercial and at all. the Classic card is now only being con freely distributed programs. sidered, and the mystery chip is no longer impor- In This tant. The Post Office will not Sadly. Amiga Inc. 's inaction has in many ways Issue · · forward this publication. caused the current dismal Amiga market. Frankly. Please send your address changes, or this is a market that is spiraling downwards and we direct any inquiries or delivery should no longer expect Amiga Inc. to change that. problems to: They missed many opportunities to prevent this News condition. In May they should have acted on a 3.S The Amiga Informer PO Box 21 upgrade. when its launch would have been effec BYTES 13 Newburgh, NY 12551-0021 tive in maintaining the market. They missed their (914) 566-4665 chance to produce a truly community-centered Announcements 16 [email protected] website that promoted the market and generated a http://www.amigainformer.com clear, exciting vision for the future. Many more Site Seeing 22 things should have been done. but Instead Amiga Rate for six issues is (in US dollars) $15 USA, Evaluations Inc. was indecisive. and their indolence has caused $18 Canada, and $28 all others. Personal checks from USA only, all other Money Orders or many businesses to fail. Now. most remaining Reviews 26 Bank Checks payable in US dollars. Checks and commercial developers are working on or looking Money Orders must be made payable to at other development platforms. users are buying Game Zone 38 Eldritch Enterprises. A limited number non-Amiga computers. and retailers are finding it Eye On Graphics 44 of back issues are available. Call for ordering next to impossible to stay in business. and availability. It is hard to see how anyone can survive until the Marketplace 46 5.0 system arrives a year from now. When users Printed by Maar Printing Service lose faith. they stop supporting the platform. When Advertisers Index 46 Poughkeepsie, NY 914-454-6860 all they see is silence and disorder without leader- 3 By Paul Morabito Computer 98 saw the first tangible signs incorporates strong memory protection as scalability means the OS can be used in of the Amiga's resurrection with the well as excellent networking support and everything from tiny-kernel-only systems to announcement that Amiga Inc. has chosen to transparent networking. Networking and mul powerful SMP (multiprocessor) boxes. use QNX Software System's Neutrino tiprocessing support is so advanced that ap This is achieved through the kernel's microkernel as the kernel of choice in plications can be switched live from one design. The actual kernel includes only a few AmigaOS S and beyond. system to another at the press of a bulton. You core services while all other services are QNX Software Systems, a Canadian based can even control any system on the network. provided through add-on modules, such as the company founded by Gordon Bell and Dan Other features of Neutrino include a built ill GUI, hardware dependent boot modules, Dodge in 1980, has enjoyed considerable web browser, TCP stack, real-time services, device drivers, filesystems and process success in licensing their real-time operating message passing, POSIX thread services, manager. Compatibility at a source level is system technology. Their products reflect mutexes, condition variables, semaphores, 100% as the core kernel and API many of the Amiga's special qualities, and as Java, and scheduling. (Applications Programming Interface) remain such, the strategic alliance between QNX and Strong memory protection is something the identical. This scalability is highlighted by a Amiga Inc. is seen as a marriage made in Amiga sorely lacks. Every component of the demonstration disk on QNX's website. The heaven. Neutrino has its own MMU-protected address demo includes the OS, a web browser, and According to Dr. Alan Havemose, the man space. With Neutrino's advanced debugging network support which fits on a 1.44 Mb PC in charge of development at Amiga Inc., part tools, the memory protection scheme deter floppy disk. Compare that to Windows! of the reason QNX was chosen was because mines which module performs an illegal task, So what exactly does this mean for the of their understanding of the Amiga concept, and at which instruction it happens. Amiga and OSS? The QNX Neutrino kernel what it represents, its potential, and where it Neutrino also offers unprecedented will be used as the foundation for the upcom is heading. The founders of QNX understand scalability and modularity. It can be scaled ing OS which includes providing low-level the Amiga because they are both Amiga users. down to a mere 100 Kb making it perfect for services such as device drivers, GUI engine In fact, an informal survey of QNX embedded applications, but it is also equally and filesystem. Amiga Inc. will provide things employees revealed that over 60% own or capable of running in a distributed network of such as the user interface, graphics engine, have owned an Amiga. This is something symmetric mUltiprocessing systems. Neutrino video, and other multimedia and high-level Amiga Inc. saw as especially important in takes a novel approach in creating a "software support. OSS is expected to include as stand their partnership. bus" and scalability that allow a user to plug ard full networking support, Java support, a QNX is a well respected player in the indus in needed modules without rebooting. This web browser and OpenGL for high level try and has an impressive track record both III. finallcially and technologically. They have over forty distribution partners and service :.¥KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK~ well over one hundred countries worldwide. The Next Step They have strategic alliances with many big name companies, including Cisco and IBM, Amiga Inc.'s immediate plans are to complete development of the OSS Developer and QNX is seen as an emerging power. system. Due to the prolonged legal negotiations in obtaining an OS partner, Amiga Inc. is Systems based on QNX technology have running between 90 and 120 days behind schedule. As an.nounced in May 1998 at the found themselves in many diverse areas World of Amiga show, the OSS Developer system will be x86 based and probably incor where stability and power are a must, and are porate a classic Amiga 011 a PCI card for legacy applications. Emulation is under con being impressively used by international con sideration, but at present it appears most likely that Amiga Inc. will implement backward glomerates such as Sony, Honda, Phillips and compatibility through a PCI card. VISA International. QNX handles tasks from While Amiga Inc. is aiming for a price point somewhere below US $1,300 for such a set top boxes to medical imaging and robotic system, it now appears likely to cost more due to the performance requirements for the manufacturing to transaction processing. graphics and audio subsystem. A compiler and other developer tools have yet to be an The QNX Neutr.ino kernel offers all the nounced. After the initial release of the Developer system. additional modules will likely features a modern real-time operating system be released as dribble ware, meaning they will become available a~ they are completed. is expected to have plus more. Designed It seems that Amiga Inc. is not yet able to provide a time schedule for the release of next around a similar manifesto as the Amiga, the generation Amiga. Currently, the focus is on the architecture and technology and not on two systems clearly share many philosophical specific products. Specific products will largely be the domain of licensees and not simihuities. The kernel fully supports multi directly manufactured by Amiga Inc. tasking, multithreading, virtual memory and 4 Ooo(')@, OIl graphics. All these are immediately brought on Another great advantage of the QNX Neutrino this will grow to around twenty people not in board by partnering with QNX. is that Amiga Inc. is not tied down to any cluding the development team already on board A lot of emphasis is currently on the GUT. specific processor. The QNX Neutrino is avail at QNX. There is also a possibility that many Amiga Inc. hopes to keep it as "Amiga" as pos able for the x86, PPC and MIPS as well as familiar Arniga names formerly employed by sible, but also wants to improve on it enor numerous other RISC based processors. Amiga Commodore may be hired by Amiga Inc. mOllsly. The GUI will utilize technology from Inc. talk of an MMC (Magical Mystery Chip), This partnership represents the first visible Photon, QNX's GUI system, but will be totally but a final decision on the processor has yet to steps Amiga Inc. has taken toward securing the designed by Amiga Inc. No decisions have been be made. It is quite likely that there will be future and it should help to instill some con made on the filesystem structure at this stage, many new chips available by the time OS5 is fidence in their long term goals. Now we need but it is expected to be a mix between the logi complete, so doggedly committing to one chip to see that Amiga Inc. can carry through with cal layout of QNX and Ihe traditional Amiga now is unwise. Ideally, OS5 will run on many continued actions and a renewed commitment structure. The aim is to keep the spirit and hardware architectures. to the community and not fumble the ball now elegance of the Classic Amiga, but reinvent and Amiga Inc. is in the process of hiring a devel that things finally seem to be moving in the reinvigorate it with the help of QNX. opment team. According to Dr. Alan Havemose, right direction. is always risky no matter how well done. In a very similarly way, RTA or ReTargetable Audio will allow advanced audio boards to work seamlessly with your computer. By Brad WEbb We suspect much of the confusion stems The new operating system will include from the lack of signed contracts with soft everything you need to connect to the Internet ware contributors, something that should have and explore it. A web browser, email client happened well before now, and that is one Some days it seems like the Amiga is be- and FIP (file transfer protocol) software are reason few details are available from Amiga coming a "good news, bad news" joke. all scheduled for inclusion. Inc. If there is a real commitment to Arniga The good news came from the Computer '98 Perhaps more practical is the change to the OS 3.5 within Amiga Inc., additional informa show in Cologne, Germany where it was an file system which will finally allow for hard tion will become available over the next few nounced the Amiga Operating System version drives greater than 4 Gigabytes in size, and weeks. 5.0 will use the QNX Kernel as its core soft provide built in support for CDROM drives. In the meantime, what do we know about ware-universally regarded as an excellent Also very practical is the plan to enhance the plans for Amiga OS 3.5'1 As it turns out, choice. At almost the same time, the bad news ARexx support. This key element of the there is quite a bit we can say. carne. Amiga Inc.'s Fleecy Moss left the com operating system has been unchanged for far First, it's going to be larger than earlier ver pany, his contract unrenewed. That surely too many years. The practical improvements sions of the Classic Amiga Operating System. meant the death of Amiga OS 3.5, did it not? continue with plans for upgraded printer sup You're going to need a CDROM drive to in After all, the 3.5 page on Amiga Inc. 's port, both for newer printers and im stall it due to the number of enhancements website vanished at almost the moment we provements when using older printers. and added features. This really shouldn't be a learned of Fleecy's departure (See Editorial). The Amiga shell is due for updates, with hindrance. If your Amiga doesn't have a It seemed to many as if the last, greatest new features added to the shell itself and to CDROM drive, now's the time to get one. For update of Amiga OS for the classic machines the AmigaDOS commands which run in it. any Amiga, Classic or Amiga II, to continue was doomed. Our hope i that scroll bars will finally be as a viable computer system, it needs to be up Well, apparently not. The 3.5 link has reap added to the shell, but we have no confirmat to date in the disk arena and that means peared. The official word from Amiga Inc. is ion of this as yet. CDROM capable. You will also need to have that the project continues. That's more good Of particular value to those who've needed 3.1 ROMs installed in your machine. Again, news, but there are still clouds on the horizon. increased power in their classic computers, this should come as no surprise since these At this point, no one involved with the pro will be the built in support for PowerPC ROMs are already needed to take full advan ject will discllss who's actually working on it, boards. This will provide one official standard tage of the most recent Arniga software. or what specific pieces will go into the final at long last. Amiga OS 3.5 is a transitional release, not a projects. Usually reliable sources indicate no Finally, there will be a general cleanup and complete rewrite. As a result, it does not offer contracts have been signed with companies aesthetic improvements. "Glow Icons" by as much completely new functionality as the widely regarded as likely contributors. In fact, Matt Chaput had been in the plan, but Mr. 5.0 product will for Amiga II. However, what it seems as though no OS 3.5 contracts have Chaput has announced his withdrawal from is planned should make it very worthwhile for even been sent out by Amiga Inc. That could the 3.5 project due to the departure of Fleecy owners of Classic Amigas. Many of the be a very bad sign. In at least one case, an Moss. We have seen no information on what features have been requested by Amigans for acknowledged contributor has publicly will be the replacement icon set. Sources do years. withdrawn from the 3.5 efforts over the loss indicate that 3.5 will be leaner then originally At the top of the list is RTG or ReTargetable of Fleecy from the project team. Our sources offered and if anything in the above features Graphics. This will provide built in support do insist the work continues, and name list is lost, we'd expect it to be either RTG or for Amiga graphics cards. Until now, all Germany's Haage & Partner as being in RTA. or both. One thing that has become clear graphics cards have depended on some sort of charge of the effort. Interestingly, they were is that Amiga Inc. will nol include features unofficial modi fication to the operating closely linked to the project by these same system in order to function, an approach that cOlltinued 011 page 6 sources early on. 5 3.5 Not Dead con't from page 5 that would require changes to the Operating some shrewd guesses. We would expect either When it comes to CDROM software, there's System ROMs, as RTG and RTA Just might. For Miami or AmiTCP to be used to make a con none finer than AsimCDFS. It has become the now, there's no official indication that these nection to the Internet. Either is a fine product. defacto standard among Amigans who already features wi II be dropped. We hope this is the Miami is the easier to use, but AmiTCP is con own CDROM drives. There are other choices, case and that our fears are proven incorrect. structed along marc traditional UNIX lines. including developing something entirely new as because RTG and RTA support are perhaps the Recent improvements in AmiTCP mean either part of the file system upgrade, but the smart two most critically needed OS upgrades. would provide up to date networking. thing to do would be to included AsimCDFS, Many of these features \Viii be implemented There are several good browsers available, The last few paragraphs have indulged in by incorporating existing quality third party including !Browse, A-Web and Voyager. Both speculation, primarily because Amiga Inc. is software. This is actually a traditional Amiga AWeb and the soon to be released IBrowse just not saying anything specific. nor allowing approach, going at least back to the days of upgrade include JavaScript, so those would anyone else to. Only time will tell if our Amiga OS 1.3. It's a smart way to benefit from likely be the leading contenders. speculations have any merit. The good news is one of the most innovative developer com Among the Amiga's mail programs, the freely that the 3.5 project is still alive (if long over munities in any computer market. distributed YAM provides an amazing set of due) and moving forward, even if behind a There is no official word on what programs features for free software. It would be a good massive shroud of secrecy and apparent con- will be included. The lack of signed contracts choice, though there are good commercial fusion and disarray. means little can be said. However. we can make mailers as well such as AEMail. ,~ Computer 98 From Cologne, Germany By Hal Greenlee With Phase 5 seeming to fade, this board, if successful, will offer a somewhat different approach to PPC Computer 98 held in Cologne, Germany is • Micronik was offering a replacement for the the biggest Amiga event on the planet. AMIGA plastic A1200 Infinitiv tower called the As such, all eyes turn to this show to learn the Infinitiv II, and it is all metal. They had com latest developments in the Amiga market. plaints that the plastic box was too wobbly. Most developers aim to release new informa They are also waiting for the loan of a Toaster tion and updates at this show and this year card so they can test their video slot kit. was no different. This report covers just a few RBM has a new version of the TowerHawk of the many exciting items shown or an which their Canadian distributer has dubbed nounced at Computer 98. the ToasterHawk. Based on an A 1200 mother Dr. Allen Havemose, the head of develop board, it was being demonstrated running a ment at Amiga Inc., presented Dan Dodge, complete NewTek Flyer system. Chief Technology Officer of QNX Software Polish company E/Box was showing a tower Systems Ltd. Mr. Dodge discussed at length system based on the A 1200, called the Power the important features of microkernel ar Tower. They also were showing the Power chitecture. While he may have left some lis Flyer, an ATA-2 module for the 1200 that teners behind in parts of his discussion, his squeezes full performance from the latest demonstration wowed everyone. With two EIDE hard drives, and offers up to 8.5 Mb per machines networked, he demonstrated that second transfer speeds. resources could be shared in ways Amigas Haage & Partner was showing Tornado 3D have never before seen. For example, a net Petro Tsychtschenko had a lot to smile about. 2.0, their 3D modeling and rendering program work need only have a TCP/IP stack on one Computer 98 drew tells of thousands of Amigans for the 68K or PPC Amiga. It is arguably the machine and it can be shared with all. He alld was a success by all accoullts, most important application thus far for the opened an application window on one PPC The new features include: PPC support machine's screen, and casually slid it over to for all previews and renderers; hair and fur the other machine's sCreen. He did a few could not be done for some months yet. generator; particle system for smoke, fire, and operations on that screen, and slid it back. He Village Tronic was trying to gauge interest in explosions; character animation: postscript demonstrated how a machine can be operated a 3Dfx Voodoo 8 Mb add-on for the Picasso font support; mesh-painting: and, 3D text with the keyboard and mouse of either IV graphics card by getting at least 500 pre generation. Haage & Partner's new Art machine. Not resting there, he started Doom, orders for it. Effects 3.0 features more layers, more filters, and slid it over to another' screen while it was DCE-Escena announced their c1ual G3 and GIF and JPEG saver. The new VideoFX 2 going fu]] tilt I processor board for Zorro 3 Amigas, but did provides real-time graphic effects, audio New hardware at the show included the not have a working prototype to show. It effects support for up to four-channel stereo, Ariadne II ethernet card from Village Tronic. plugs into a Zorro 3 slot. and uses Haage synchronized video/audio effects, more than Supplied with drivers, it features a lower price &Partner's WarpUp software. The system 500 alpha channel wipes with ready-made (US $120) than any previous ethernet card for control can reside with the 68K processor that animations, and many other features. the Amiga. When asked about a US/Canada already exists on the motherboard, or can be There were many other companies present version of the Paloma TV card, Village Tronic said that a needed software re-write done with the G3 running 68K emulation. continued Oil page 37 6 By Fabian JimEnEZ MOving on the momentum established illegal Amiga software sites, including the Newsletter Article Exchange, User Group after the MidWest miga Exposition infamous Lazarus: The Real Amiga. For this, Database. FAQs. Amiga News, and User in October, the three major Amiga support Gary has received many threatening and hate Group information kits. To this end. the UGN groups of tbe ICOA (Industry Council Open ful emails, but he has also won the praise and has announced a partnership with Pantheon Amiga), along with Team All1iga, and UGN respect of many Amiga developers and fans. Systems to provide relevant Amiga content. (User Group Network) have been busy trans For more information on Team Amiga or to Also, the UGN has been very busy keeping forming their organizations into useful resour help Gary shut down these pirate sites, please the Amiga community informed by providing ces for the Amiga developer and end-user. see their website at http://web.wl.net/ live web cam and IRe conferences from the With revamped websites and announced gpeake/teamam ig a.htllli. variou5 Amiga trade shows worldwide. UGN projects, these organizations are readying Lastly, the UGN has been busy revamping partners and representatives cover the entire themselves to help Amigans understand what their webpage to provide Ailliga user groups world. For more information about the UGN's the future holds for them based on develop with the resources necessary to keep them projects, or to contact your local representa ments from Computer 98 in Cologne, going. or to get started. With expansion of the tive. see the UGN webpage. Germany. UGN website at http://ugn.amiga.org, the '::b The ICOA's Kermit Woodall announced GN is attempti ng to provide resources like a that they are refocusing their efforts to be come a "professional society." As a profes sional society, Kermit envisions the ICOA functioning much like a user group for developers by focusing on communications, resources, and relevant developer issues. The initial step in refocusing the [COA is the es tablishment of a new website to provide developers with these resources. The new website will be located at www.amiga.net. Kermit also announced tbe desire for the ICOA to release a developer newsletter com plete with CDROM. Successful completion of this project is dependent on Amiga Inc.'s con tribution. Another project involves the establishment of an anonymous piracy reporting mechanism with the help of Team Amiga's Gary Peake. Gary is requesting that if anyone knows of web or FTP sites that are illegally distributing Amiga software or ROM images to please contact him at [email protected]. Gary was in strumental in the removal of many allegedly Amiga Events Amiga 99 Gateway Computer Show Santa's right! The Gateway Computer Shows have been the leading March 12-14, 1999, Henry VIII Hotel, S1. Louis, Missouri. Growing every year, this Amiga Computer Shows year after year. In fact, this will be the fifth well organized event promises all the best with larger venues, more dealers, exciting year that a Gateway Computer Show has been held in St. Louis. They classes, a banquet and door prizes. Get all have lead the way in size, quality, value and fun every year. This year the latest at www.amiga-stl.com. we' J J be even bigger and better than last years, World Of Amiga Show 1999 Check out our web site for the latest information at: WOA is confirmed and will take place in the UK. Work is well underway, although http://www.amiga-stl.com the date and venue has yet to be confirmed. This event will playa major role in the or watch this magazine and others for more updates' rejuvenation of the Amiga. For more in formation on the show, contact Peter Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Brameld at [email protected]. A the staff of Amigan-St. LouiSil website is already in place at C"pyrighleJ 1998-99 www.infinitefrontiers.mcmail.coill. Al1lig~n-S\. Loui~ 7 Midwest QuilfPalf A4000 Shortage Over Amiga Expo By Brad Webb By Fletcher Haug RecentlY, a troubling situation hurting the professional video industry. Many slIlall video Amiga Classic's chance for survival businesses rely on the Video Toaster board and Sponsored by The Amiga Central Ohio finally came to a resolution of sorts. With the Video Toaster Flyer, made by NewTek. Inc. of Network usergroup, this years Midwest settlement of the lawsuit between QuikPak and San Antonio. Texas, and the A4000 as key Amiga Expo (MAE) was held at the Hyatt Dr. Bernhard Hembach, the liquidator for the tools. The situation had become so desperate Regency Concourse Hotel and Convention former Amiga Technologies GmbH, the way is that NewTek announced in October it had made Center in downtown Columbus Ohio. Always cleared for resumption of production of Amiga arrangements to create Amiga clones in towers. a popular event. the organization of this show 4000 computers. Amiga Technologies has since using existing A1200 motherboards. These seems to get better each year. resurfaced as an American corporation, Amiga systems were modi fied to accept the Video There was strong vendor turnout at MAE International, Incorporated, a wholly owned Toaster/Flyer products. and were enhanced (see sidebar) and the show featured an array subsidiary of Gateway, Incorporated. The with SO MHz 68060 processors. of seminars and events throughout its 3 days problems began back in April of '96 when Early reports after the settlement indicated as of operation. These seminars included a wide Germany's Escom, then parent corporation of many as two thousand A4000s could be in the range of topics. including: Beginning ARexx, Amiga Technologies, announced the sale of marketplace before Christmas, '98. However. Webcams and Internet Gadgets; Linux on the their Amiga subsidiary. Instead, Escom went before any can be built. Dr. Hembach will need 68K; ImageFX tip and tricks; CDROM bankrupt shortly thereafter due to overexpan to sell the inventory to cover outstanding debts mastering; TCP/IP programming: Amiga to sion. owed due to the liquidation. It remains to be PC Network.ing and much more. The lawsuit revolved around Dr. Hembach's seen exactly how all this will play out over There seemed to be a lower then expected attempts to obtain the inventory of parts main time. but the earliest new A4000s could be turnout at this show. While unfortunate. it was tained by QuikPak for building A4000 com come available is probably early next year. not totally unexpected. In these times of little puters under contract to Amiga Technologies. Even this depends on there being a number of communication from Amiga Inc. confidence As a result of the settlement, QuikPak was usable motherboards in the inventory. in the Amiga is at an all time low. This lack of forced to deliver this inventory to Europe, Reliable sources indicate that if new A4000s confidence resulted in low turnouts and where it's possible Amiga International will be are manufactured, at least some will be headed restrained purchases. Unlike Computer'98 in using them to once again build computers. to North America, presumably for both the US Koln. Germany, MAE didn't get the strong The lack of A4000s due to the long running and Canadian markets. promotional talents of Amiga International. lawsuit has had serious repercussions in the Perhaps the biggest event of MAE was the release of details on the OS 3.5 upgrade. This announcement was a much needed shot in the Ooops - Correction About Miami arm for the community and it was well accepted by attendees. However. during the follow-up Q&A hosted by Bill McEwen, a By Fletcher Haug pointed out incorrect or misleading informa somewhat hostile crowd had many pointed tion in this article. The following corrections questions to ask. It was made clear by those in A were taken directly from a letter sent by Mr. the audience that Amiga Inc. must follow Kruse that clarifies the disputed parts of that through with the long overdue work on 3.5 or S is the policy of The Informer, we pub- article. they risk loosing the support they still havc. lish corrections to any unclear or Sadly. it seems that Amiga Inc. is back incorrect information we print. In Issue 16 we The news BYTE about Miami from Issue l6 peddling on 3.5 already. This will only serve printed a news BYTE which discussed Miami contained two errors: to further erode support from an already jaded software by Nordic Global. The software's and dwindling community. author. Holger Kruse. contacted us and Amiga Informer (AI): "It was recently a. reponed on Usenet that Holger Kruse. author .. ~. i •••••••••• iii i ••••••• iiii •••••• i i •••••••• ill ••••••• i iI i i •••• i •••••• i. i ••• i •••••• Ii •••••••• iii • ~~. .~ of [he brilliant Miami TCP software, included Those Present at MAE a 'back door' in his program to catch pirates." Vendors: FWD Computing User Groups: Holger Kruse (HK): This is incorrect. First Image Architects of all. it was not "reported on Usenet" that AEMail Legacy Maker Amiga Dayton User Group Miami contains a back door. What really Amazing Mushroom PD Amiga Central Ohio Network happened is that a software pirate made an Computing/ Amiga National Amiga AmiTech User Group incorrect and slanderous accusation on • Amiga Informer magazine Nova Design Cecil Amiga User Group Use net, sent from an anonymous account. Amigan-St. Louis OZWare Champaign-Urbana alleging the existence of a "back door" in Asimware Pantheon Systems Computer User Group Miami. He did not give any conclusive Compuquick Prowave Cle.veland Area Amiga User evidence, but instead gave potentially dan Dans Deals Randomize Group gerous "advice" how to "circumvent" the Digital Arts Software Results National Capital ser Group alleged "back door." which Nordic Global Digital Quill Graphics Systems For Tomorrow North Coast User Group Inc. immediately denied. The accusation in DVS User Group Network Tulsa Amiga User Group thc original. anonymous article can hardly be Eric Shwartz Graphics Weems Ware considered a "report." Miami does not contain cOll/illlled Oil page .12 8 Inspecting The G3-PowerPC Card ~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII/%::. ~ ~ By Fabian JimEnEz have the performance and power rivaling After installing MCP do other platforms on their Classic Amiga ~ you get the error message § I I systems. Mr. Haynie stales that if done right ~~:~::rG a~Z:~g~:~ 'tGr~: ~ wo weeks before Computer 98 began a with decent emulation and using the original ., little known German company called CPU as an 110 processor of sorts, a G3 based I§ move patch?" Just reboot I§ board like Escena's could run Amiga code Escena announced that they were going to ~~~ ;'::c~ew faster than "most 68K-based Amigas." change will prototype a G3-PowerPC based acceleralOr for the Amiga (see Bytes in this issue for more details). Two things will make this card different from any other existing Amiga ac \/11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 celerator. First, it will not have a Motorola 680xO CPU onboard. Second, it will fit into any Amiga that supports Zorro 3 expansion A1200 Tower Options slots. Most Amiga accelerators today use the By dhomas trEnn CPU slot, not a Zorro slot. Both these facts raise technical concerns that could affect per formance. ~ hough it appears that First, Zorro cards can generate system inter ., legal disputes with the rupts which are needed by the OS. However, manufacturing of A4000 Zorro cards can't service these interrupts. computers may finally have This problem can be circumvented by using been resolved, for a while it the old CPU on the motherboard to track and has been very difficult to pur manage these interrupts. Escena's webpage chase new Amiga computer states that Haage & Partner's WarpUp PPC systems. In an attempt to emulation would be used to execute the keep on track, several com AmigaOS instructions, but it did not indicate panies have designed custom whether the original CPU would be used to assembled tower versions of handle this task for the PowerPC CPU. the A1200. For some people, In an email from Dave Haynie, he states that this may be just what is you could program the original CPU to handle needed. the system interrupts and communicate their Randomize Inc. is one of status using a "higher level protocol." The several companies providing A 1200 tower 104 key Windows95 keyboard; high density only interrupt that the PowerPC CPU will solutions. On tap from Randomize is their floppy disk drive; 250 watt PSU; AmigaOS need to support is the one being sent from the Genesis line which includes the Alpha and 3.1 (hardware/manuals); standard A I 200 in original CPU saying, "I have a message for Towerhawk A 1200 towers. These systems are terfaces ports (Ix Rs-232c serial,lx parallel, you." based on the A 1200 motherboard and hard I x external floppy drive, 2x mouse/joystick, Second, Zorro cards can only access the 32- ware manufactured by RBM Ix 23-pin RGB video, Ix composite video, Ix bit resources on the motherboard. Zorro cards Computertechnique and Ateo Concepts. The RF modulator, 2x stereo audio); Personal cannot access the custom chips, CIAs, and Alpha and Towerhawk base systems are Paint 7.1 CD; standard PC multisync monitor other 1I0s. Mr. Haynie again indicated that priced the same at US $1,899.95. Neither compatibility; and video and genlock this could be handled by the original CPU. It system includes a monitor. capability. could communicate the results of its actions to Common features of both systems include: In addition to the common features listed the PowerPC chips using a "non-cachable A 1200 motherboard (AGA graphics); PhaseS above, the Alpha adds: Ateo Concepts mailbox" between the two processors, Dave Blizzard 1260 060/50 MHz; 32 Mb RAM AteoBus expansion bus; Ateo Pixel64 24-bit adds that 110 processes are never cached and (expandable to 128 Mb); 32x IDE CDROM; graphics card; 4.3 Gb IDE hard drive; that using uncached memory for the mailbox medium tower case; 3x is not a problem. 5.25" drive bays: and 5x Third, fears have been expressed concerning 3.5" drive bays. memory access as performance hits. The Pixel64 with 2 Mb Concerning memory access, Dave stated that of onboard graphics Zorro 3 slots can access the local bus memory memory provides 24-bit at 10 Mb per second, versus 25 Mb per graphics up to a resolution second from a 68030 CPU on the mother of 800x600 (60/85 MHz), board. However, the hit is not as bad as it may 16-bit up to 1024x768 (75 appear. Dave Haynie stated, "Few of the MHz), or 8-bit up to 68040/60 or PPC interfaces get close to that .. 1280xl024 (75 MHz) . . they all lose something in Ihe translation to Picasso96 retargeting soft the '030 bus." ware is included, provid Depending on how Escena plans 10 handle ing compatibility with the technical issues raised by designing a Zorro 3 based accelerator, Amigans could continued on page 37 9 Software Installation: Doing It Yourself Enforcing The Law If you really want to be on top of things. you After installing a new application, have you Things To Know could ignore supplied installers and do the noticed that other programs seem to be crash installation yourself. For this approach, ing while performing functions that used to By dhomas trEnn Snoop Dos (Ami net: uti limon i/S noop work okay? [f this is a problem, it is likely D0530.lha) may be a valuable tool. With that the new application is trashing memory M SnoopDos on the watch, you will be told what or causing other havoc with system resources. an application is looking for and where it ex The best watchdog for these problems is a ow many times have you installed a new application, only to discover that pects to find it. For the most part though, it is program called Enforcer (Aminet: other programs no longer work? How much obvious what goes where. dev/debug/enforcer.lha). It is generally con of your hard disk is occupied by unused ap If you like to be really organized, keep in sidered a programmer's tool, but anyone can plications and support files') Ideally. every mind that .Iibrary files do not have to go in benefit from its use. Before testing a new ap computer software application should come SYS:libs/. You can just as easily add a direc plication, start Enforcer like this: with safe install and unins(all functionality. tory to the L1BS: assignment and put them in but the sad reality is that this docs not happen an application's directory. Something like this Enforcer STACKLlNES=O FILE=CON: very often. in your user-startup will work: 010/640/1S O/Enforcerl Auto/Close There is a lot to be said for having a good C:Assign LlBS: WORK:Applicationsl Now, if Enforcer detects a problem. it will understanding of what is going on within your Example/libs ADD open a window on Workbench and give you Amiga. There is no reason for most Amigans The ADD option adds the new path without some information like this: not to have a basic comprehension of the removing the existing path. You can do the LONG-WRITE to 00000102 PC: workings of their system. This is particularly same for any assignment, so if a program uses 08SFF746 USP: 088847C8 SR 0014 FLSW: important when using freely distributable its own fonts, put them in a fontsl directory 00810200 TCB: 088836FO Data: 00000000 programs (Aminet): but, this can be a problem within the program'5 directory and add this to DODD /111 00002222 00003333 with commercial releases, too. Programs (hat your user-startup: C:Assign FONTS: 08SFF6E2 ... Addr: AAAAOOOO AAAA III I include an installer can often be poorly writ WORK:Applications/Example/fonts ADD AAAA2222 AAAA3333 AAAA4444 ... ----> ten and blindly spew files throughout your "WORK:Applications/Examplel" is just being 08SFF746 -"lawBreaker" Hunk 0000 Offset system. llsed as an example here, the path could be to 00000086 ----> $08Sff746: MOVE.L any directory on any volume. DO, 0102.W Name: "LawBreaker" Hunk Getting Ready 0000 Offset 00000086 Before installation, you should always make collliJllled all page 42 it a point to browse through the files included with a new application. A good flle managcr like Directory Opus. can make this task much Something to Thinlf About By NigEl KEnt easier, but it can also be done through the Workbench or from a shell using the C:Dir or l . C:list commands. sk yourself. "What does the Amiga community have gone unchecked as Amiga C"\ By familiarizing yourself in this way. you mean to me?" [nc. plans a consumer-oriented personal will be much better equipped to deal with any The word "Amiga" has several definitions, device operating system (whose non-existant problems that might arise later. If you decide depending on who you ask. For one person, capabilities have already been labeled as the Amiga is a computer that disappeared "highly scaleable" and "ready for everything not to use the new application. you will know along with the rest of the computing marvels from the popcorn-popper to a high-end what files to delete afterwards. of the late eighties and early nineties-just workstation"). Sure. it's an admirable goal to another long-disparaged brand like NeXT or want to Cl'eate something scaleable, but where Updating Existing Files Atari. Others consider the Amiga an operating will Amiga Tnc.·s focus be? Video entertain A good installation procedure should always system that even now has the potential to ment consoles? Hand-held organizers') confirm that support files (such as libraries. virulently grow the way linux has done in the Digitally controlled fingernail airbrushes") gadgets. etc.) being copied to your system are last three years. Still others consider the Amiga This is hardly the Amiga I remember, and the newer than any existing ones. to be a 'great machine' whose life was laid to idea of these things doesn't bring back "the waste by Commodore and, later Amiga [nco feeling," at least for me. Perhaps you have just unarchived a new What keeps Amiga users clinging to our It's no wonder why once-great Amiga application into RAM: and you see that it beloved platform is the bold promise of bandwagoneers are talking down on Arniga includes the reqtools.library, which you al achieving a distant, amazing level of viability [nco Jason Compton, one of the most serious ready have installed in SYS:libsl for use with in the marketplace. This viability would be and vocal Amiga users I've ever met has said other programs. You can compare the versions driven by the incredible feeling we are pre in Usenet postings that Gateway rates an Fin of each, by using the C:Version command: disposed toward: it's the feeling [ got when their management of the Amiga. Phase 5, C:Version RAM:reqtools.library FUll F[LE playing Shadow of lhe Beast II for the first whose mere presence has kept the Arniga C:Version SYS:Libs/reqtools.library FULL time on an Amiga 500, or the feeling [ got the afloat for the last three years, has had less first time [ watched NewTek's free video toas publicized but equally negative commentary FilE ter VHS promo tape. We all know the feeling. about Amiga Inc. The FILE option is important because That's what keeps us running on Amigas-we It is my belief that the Amiga OS needs to Version will return information about an al want the feeling to come back. go Open Source, meaning that the source code ready in use resource if you do not tell it The desire to see the Amiga succeed burns of the operating system. while (perhaps) otherwise. The FULL option is not necessary. no greater in anyone that it does in the minds centrally controlled and copyrighted, needs to but it may tell you more about the file. of people like Fleecy Moss and Olaf Barthel. become freely available to anybody who Make it a habit to back up any files that will Hard-core Amiga developers, these guys have wants to enhance it. Considering Ailliga Inc.'s be overwritten, just in case a newer version is poured every ounce of tangible thinking into move to QNX/Neutrino for the basis of the the Amiga for many years-to no avai I. The next-generation Amiga operating kernel, what not compatible with other programs. multitudes of excellent ideas from the Amiga 10

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Issue 17 Jan/Feb 1 999 PagEs 6 & 8 PagE 9 Towers To The Rescue PagE 9 - News BYTES .. Announcements 'Y Reviews & Summaries" Gfx & Audio 'Y l16.-""- Published by Eldritch Enterprises Editor'S Desk: ship. they conclude there is little worth waiting for. and leave. Without user support. retailers Editor-in-Chief: The announcement from the Computer 98 close. magazines fold and developers pull out. Fletcher Haug [email protected] Managing Editor & Design: show in Germany that Amiga Inc. partnered Most that remain with the Amiga do so because Betty Haug [email protected] with QNX was the best bit of news about the they have a profound loyalty and understanding Assistant Editor: Amiga I've heard in months. From what I of the Amiga. But even the most optimistic and Robert Pigford [email protected] can tell of QNX, they seem to share ardent Amigans have lost faith and trust in News Correspondents: many of the beliefs and altitudes of Amiga Inc .. and all that remains is a conviction Brad Webb [email protected] Paul Morabito [email protected] the original Amiga founders. in the platform and its community. not the com Columnists: Even more importantly. QNX is pany that controls it. Jerimy Campbell [email protected] a software company and doesn't I would like to see someone else besides Fabian Jimenez [email protected] carry the baggage that came with Gateway. Gateway gain control over the development of Oleg Moskalensky [email protected] Equally as moving-in the wrong direction-was the next generation Amiga OS. Happily, the deal Aaron Ruscetta [email protected] Davis Sprague [email protected] the nOll-announcement of the departure of Fleecy with QNX may just allow this to happen. Dbomas Trenn [email protected] Moss from Amiga Inc. Fleecy was the last vocal Gateway, as a hardware company, likely only Support Staff: Julie Chemij proponent for the Amiga community at Amiga Inc. cares about making money from their Amiga This Issue's Contributors: Steve Folberg, Mel Without Fleecy, there is no one speaking for the purchase. By partnering with. or in essence, seil Strait, Bill Panagouleas, Hal Greenlee, community at Amiga Inc. It was also not an ing the rights to use the Amiga technologies to a Robert Bryant, Ted Wallingford, Bolton nounced that Marilyn Flint no longer works for software company like QNX, Gateway could Peck & Nigel Kent Amiga Inc. That leaves only Jeff Schindler. position themselves to make a lot of money. If Mission: To provide an accurate and reliable Darreck Lisle and some office help. Bill McEwen QNX works its magic and creates a new, distinc resource of information pertaining to all things and Alan Havemose are only under contact and are tive OS, Gateway would potentially gain im Amiga®, and to connect readers with developers, their products and the Amiga not permanent employees. mense profits by designing and selling hardware community at large. Fleecy's sacking caused me to reevaluate my around it. There is still a huge shroud of mystery thoughts about Amiga Inc. Throughout Amiga surrounding the recent Amiga Inc.lQNX deal, Inc. 's ownership of the Amiga they have claimed and we don't know the legalities of what tran The mention or reference to other companies or products in these pages is not a that the community was the Amigas most impor spired. I hope QNX gains control over the deign challenge to the trademarks or copyrights tant asset. However. to this day Amiga Inc. has of OS 5.0 and Gateway sits back and lets them concerned. Material published in The done nothing to advance or help this community. create something we can all look forward to. Informer does not necessarily reHect the Initiatives like the ICOA have largely been However. one thing is for sure. No matter how opinion of Eldritch Enterprises. Eldritch ignored, retailers or developers have folded with exciting any future Amiga OS is. there is a great Enterprises will not be held accountable for such opinions or misinformation. Amiga is a out a word from Amiga Inc .. few channels of com deal of work needed to repair the loss of faith registered trademark of Amiga Inc. munication have been opened with the press, and and trust that Amiga Inc. inflicted on the com ©Copyright 1998 by Eldritch Enterprises. perhaps worse of aiL they have given the commu munity. It is unlikely that there will be many ISSN 1089-4616. Nothing may be reproduced nity no clear vision of the future. commercial Amiga companies left if things con in wbole or in part without the expressed written permision of the publisber. Amiga Inc. has also not carried through on their tinue as they are now, but those of us that are statements. At WoA 98 in London, the assembled still here when the new OS arrives will need press was told that there was a fully approved much convincing before we again put our faith The Informer is produced entirely on Amiga computers. The equipment used: budget under the control of Amiga Inc., that a and hope into anyone or anything claiming to Classic 3.5 upgrade would happen. that a new care for the Amiga community. Until then. the A2000, Blizzard 2040/40 Mhz, 16Mb RAM super chip would be revealed, and that there would Amiga community must rally around the people A1200. Blizzard 1260/50 Mhz, 32 Mb RAM be a Classic Amiga card in the upcoming develop that keep this platform breathing. and stop put 'PageStream 3.3a + Extensions ment box. Now we know that Amiga Inc. has little ting faith in Amiga Inc. to save the day. DrawStudio 2.0 if any budget under their own control. the 3.5 Image FX 3.2 upgrade will likely be scaled back if it ever appears Final Writer 97 Plus many other commercial and at all. the Classic card is now only being con freely distributed programs. sidered, and the mystery chip is no longer impor- In This tant. The Post Office will not Sadly. Amiga Inc. 's inaction has in many ways Issue · · forward this publication. caused the current dismal Amiga market. Frankly. Please send your address changes, or this is a market that is spiraling downwards and we direct any inquiries or delivery should no longer expect Amiga Inc. to change that. problems to: They missed many opportunities to prevent this News condition. In May they should have acted on a 3.S The Amiga Informer PO Box 21 upgrade. when its launch would have been effec BYTES 13 Newburgh, NY 12551-0021 tive in maintaining the market. They missed their (914) 566-4665 chance to produce a truly community-centered Announcements 16 [email protected] website that promoted the market and generated a http://www.amigainformer.com clear, exciting vision for the future. Many more Site Seeing 22 things should have been done. but Instead Amiga Rate for six issues is (in US dollars) $15 USA, Evaluations Inc. was indecisive. and their indolence has caused $18 Canada, and $28 all others. Personal checks from USA only, all other Money Orders or many businesses to fail. Now. most remaining Reviews 26 Bank Checks payable in US dollars. Checks and commercial developers are working on or looking Money Orders must be made payable to at other development platforms. users are buying Game Zone 38 Eldritch Enterprises. A limited number non-Amiga computers. and retailers are finding it Eye On Graphics 44 of back issues are available. Call for ordering next to impossible to stay in business. and availability. It is hard to see how anyone can survive until the Marketplace 46 5.0 system arrives a year from now. When users Printed by Maar Printing Service lose faith. they stop supporting the platform. When Advertisers Index 46 Poughkeepsie, NY 914-454-6860 all they see is silence and disorder without leader- 3 By Paul Morabito Computer 98 saw the first tangible signs incorporates strong memory protection as scalability means the OS can be used in of the Amiga's resurrection with the well as excellent networking support and everything from tiny-kernel-only systems to announcement that Amiga Inc. has chosen to transparent networking. Networking and mul powerful SMP (multiprocessor) boxes. use QNX Software System's Neutrino tiprocessing support is so advanced that ap This is achieved through the kernel's microkernel as the kernel of choice in plications can be switched live from one design. The actual kernel includes only a few AmigaOS S and beyond. system to another at the press of a bulton. You core services while all other services are QNX Software Systems, a Canadian based can even control any system on the network. provided through add-on modules, such as the company founded by Gordon Bell and Dan Other features of Neutrino include a built ill GUI, hardware dependent boot modules, Dodge in 1980, has enjoyed considerable web browser, TCP stack, real-time services, device drivers, filesystems and process success in licensing their real-time operating message passing, POSIX thread services, manager. Compatibility at a source level is system technology. Their products reflect mutexes, condition variables, semaphores, 100% as the core kernel and API many of the Amiga's special qualities, and as Java, and scheduling. (Applications Programming Interface) remain such, the strategic alliance between QNX and Strong memory protection is something the identical. This scalability is highlighted by a Amiga Inc. is seen as a marriage made in Amiga sorely lacks. Every component of the demonstration disk on QNX's website. The heaven. Neutrino has its own MMU-protected address demo includes the OS, a web browser, and According to Dr. Alan Havemose, the man space. With Neutrino's advanced debugging network support which fits on a 1.44 Mb PC in charge of development at Amiga Inc., part tools, the memory protection scheme deter floppy disk. Compare that to Windows! of the reason QNX was chosen was because mines which module performs an illegal task, So what exactly does this mean for the of their understanding of the Amiga concept, and at which instruction it happens. Amiga and OSS? The QNX Neutrino kernel what it represents, its potential, and where it Neutrino also offers unprecedented will be used as the foundation for the upcom is heading. The founders of QNX understand scalability and modularity. It can be scaled ing OS which includes providing low-level the Amiga because they are both Amiga users. down to a mere 100 Kb making it perfect for services such as device drivers, GUI engine In fact, an informal survey of QNX embedded applications, but it is also equally and filesystem. Amiga Inc. will provide things employees revealed that over 60% own or capable of running in a distributed network of such as the user interface, graphics engine, have owned an Amiga. This is something symmetric mUltiprocessing systems. Neutrino video, and other multimedia and high-level Amiga Inc. saw as especially important in takes a novel approach in creating a "software support. OSS is expected to include as stand their partnership. bus" and scalability that allow a user to plug ard full networking support, Java support, a QNX is a well respected player in the indus in needed modules without rebooting. This web browser and OpenGL for high level try and has an impressive track record both III. finallcially and technologically. They have over forty distribution partners and service :.¥KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK~ well over one hundred countries worldwide. The Next Step They have strategic alliances with many big name companies, including Cisco and IBM, Amiga Inc.'s immediate plans are to complete development of the OSS Developer and QNX is seen as an emerging power. system. Due to the prolonged legal negotiations in obtaining an OS partner, Amiga Inc. is Systems based on QNX technology have running between 90 and 120 days behind schedule. As an.nounced in May 1998 at the found themselves in many diverse areas World of Amiga show, the OSS Developer system will be x86 based and probably incor where stability and power are a must, and are porate a classic Amiga 011 a PCI card for legacy applications. Emulation is under con being impressively used by international con sideration, but at present it appears most likely that Amiga Inc. will implement backward glomerates such as Sony, Honda, Phillips and compatibility through a PCI card. VISA International. QNX handles tasks from While Amiga Inc. is aiming for a price point somewhere below US $1,300 for such a set top boxes to medical imaging and robotic system, it now appears likely to cost more due to the performance requirements for the manufacturing to transaction processing. graphics and audio subsystem. A compiler and other developer tools have yet to be an The QNX Neutr.ino kernel offers all the nounced. After the initial release of the Developer system. additional modules will likely features a modern real-time operating system be released as dribble ware, meaning they will become available a~ they are completed. is expected to have plus more. Designed It seems that Amiga Inc. is not yet able to provide a time schedule for the release of next around a similar manifesto as the Amiga, the generation Amiga. Currently, the focus is on the architecture and technology and not on two systems clearly share many philosophical specific products. Specific products will largely be the domain of licensees and not simihuities. The kernel fully supports multi directly manufactured by Amiga Inc. tasking, multithreading, virtual memory and 4 Ooo(')@, OIl graphics. All these are immediately brought on Another great advantage of the QNX Neutrino this will grow to around twenty people not in board by partnering with QNX. is that Amiga Inc. is not tied down to any cluding the development team already on board A lot of emphasis is currently on the GUT. specific processor. The QNX Neutrino is avail at QNX. There is also a possibility that many Amiga Inc. hopes to keep it as "Amiga" as pos able for the x86, PPC and MIPS as well as familiar Arniga names formerly employed by sible, but also wants to improve on it enor numerous other RISC based processors. Amiga Commodore may be hired by Amiga Inc. mOllsly. The GUI will utilize technology from Inc. talk of an MMC (Magical Mystery Chip), This partnership represents the first visible Photon, QNX's GUI system, but will be totally but a final decision on the processor has yet to steps Amiga Inc. has taken toward securing the designed by Amiga Inc. No decisions have been be made. It is quite likely that there will be future and it should help to instill some con made on the filesystem structure at this stage, many new chips available by the time OS5 is fidence in their long term goals. Now we need but it is expected to be a mix between the logi complete, so doggedly committing to one chip to see that Amiga Inc. can carry through with cal layout of QNX and Ihe traditional Amiga now is unwise. Ideally, OS5 will run on many continued actions and a renewed commitment structure. The aim is to keep the spirit and hardware architectures. to the community and not fumble the ball now elegance of the Classic Amiga, but reinvent and Amiga Inc. is in the process of hiring a devel that things finally seem to be moving in the reinvigorate it with the help of QNX. opment team. According to Dr. Alan Havemose, right direction. is always risky no matter how well done. In a very similarly way, RTA or ReTargetable Audio will allow advanced audio boards to work seamlessly with your computer. By Brad WEbb We suspect much of the confusion stems The new operating system will include from the lack of signed contracts with soft everything you need to connect to the Internet ware contributors, something that should have and explore it. A web browser, email client happened well before now, and that is one Some days it seems like the Amiga is be- and FIP (file transfer protocol) software are reason few details are available from Amiga coming a "good news, bad news" joke. all scheduled for inclusion. Inc. If there is a real commitment to Arniga The good news came from the Computer '98 Perhaps more practical is the change to the OS 3.5 within Amiga Inc., additional informa show in Cologne, Germany where it was an file system which will finally allow for hard tion will become available over the next few nounced the Amiga Operating System version drives greater than 4 Gigabytes in size, and weeks. 5.0 will use the QNX Kernel as its core soft provide built in support for CDROM drives. In the meantime, what do we know about ware-universally regarded as an excellent Also very practical is the plan to enhance the plans for Amiga OS 3.5'1 As it turns out, choice. At almost the same time, the bad news ARexx support. This key element of the there is quite a bit we can say. carne. Amiga Inc.'s Fleecy Moss left the com operating system has been unchanged for far First, it's going to be larger than earlier ver pany, his contract unrenewed. That surely too many years. The practical improvements sions of the Classic Amiga Operating System. meant the death of Amiga OS 3.5, did it not? continue with plans for upgraded printer sup You're going to need a CDROM drive to in After all, the 3.5 page on Amiga Inc. 's port, both for newer printers and im stall it due to the number of enhancements website vanished at almost the moment we provements when using older printers. and added features. This really shouldn't be a learned of Fleecy's departure (See Editorial). The Amiga shell is due for updates, with hindrance. If your Amiga doesn't have a It seemed to many as if the last, greatest new features added to the shell itself and to CDROM drive, now's the time to get one. For update of Amiga OS for the classic machines the AmigaDOS commands which run in it. any Amiga, Classic or Amiga II, to continue was doomed. Our hope i that scroll bars will finally be as a viable computer system, it needs to be up Well, apparently not. The 3.5 link has reap added to the shell, but we have no confirmat to date in the disk arena and that means peared. The official word from Amiga Inc. is ion of this as yet. CDROM capable. You will also need to have that the project continues. That's more good Of particular value to those who've needed 3.1 ROMs installed in your machine. Again, news, but there are still clouds on the horizon. increased power in their classic computers, this should come as no surprise since these At this point, no one involved with the pro will be the built in support for PowerPC ROMs are already needed to take full advan ject will discllss who's actually working on it, boards. This will provide one official standard tage of the most recent Arniga software. or what specific pieces will go into the final at long last. Amiga OS 3.5 is a transitional release, not a projects. Usually reliable sources indicate no Finally, there will be a general cleanup and complete rewrite. As a result, it does not offer contracts have been signed with companies aesthetic improvements. "Glow Icons" by as much completely new functionality as the widely regarded as likely contributors. In fact, Matt Chaput had been in the plan, but Mr. 5.0 product will for Amiga II. However, what it seems as though no OS 3.5 contracts have Chaput has announced his withdrawal from is planned should make it very worthwhile for even been sent out by Amiga Inc. That could the 3.5 project due to the departure of Fleecy owners of Classic Amigas. Many of the be a very bad sign. In at least one case, an Moss. We have seen no information on what features have been requested by Amigans for acknowledged contributor has publicly will be the replacement icon set. Sources do years. withdrawn from the 3.5 efforts over the loss indicate that 3.5 will be leaner then originally At the top of the list is RTG or ReTargetable of Fleecy from the project team. Our sources offered and if anything in the above features Graphics. This will provide built in support do insist the work continues, and name list is lost, we'd expect it to be either RTG or for Amiga graphics cards. Until now, all Germany's Haage & Partner as being in RTA. or both. One thing that has become clear graphics cards have depended on some sort of charge of the effort. Interestingly, they were is that Amiga Inc. will nol include features unofficial modi fication to the operating closely linked to the project by these same system in order to function, an approach that cOlltinued 011 page 6 sources early on. 5 3.5 Not Dead con't from page 5 that would require changes to the Operating some shrewd guesses. We would expect either When it comes to CDROM software, there's System ROMs, as RTG and RTA Just might. For Miami or AmiTCP to be used to make a con none finer than AsimCDFS. It has become the now, there's no official indication that these nection to the Internet. Either is a fine product. defacto standard among Amigans who already features wi II be dropped. We hope this is the Miami is the easier to use, but AmiTCP is con own CDROM drives. There are other choices, case and that our fears are proven incorrect. structed along marc traditional UNIX lines. including developing something entirely new as because RTG and RTA support are perhaps the Recent improvements in AmiTCP mean either part of the file system upgrade, but the smart two most critically needed OS upgrades. would provide up to date networking. thing to do would be to included AsimCDFS, Many of these features \Viii be implemented There are several good browsers available, The last few paragraphs have indulged in by incorporating existing quality third party including !Browse, A-Web and Voyager. Both speculation, primarily because Amiga Inc. is software. This is actually a traditional Amiga AWeb and the soon to be released IBrowse just not saying anything specific. nor allowing approach, going at least back to the days of upgrade include JavaScript, so those would anyone else to. Only time will tell if our Amiga OS 1.3. It's a smart way to benefit from likely be the leading contenders. speculations have any merit. The good news is one of the most innovative developer com Among the Amiga's mail programs, the freely that the 3.5 project is still alive (if long over munities in any computer market. distributed YAM provides an amazing set of due) and moving forward, even if behind a There is no official word on what programs features for free software. It would be a good massive shroud of secrecy and apparent con- will be included. The lack of signed contracts choice, though there are good commercial fusion and disarray. means little can be said. However. we can make mailers as well such as AEMail. ,~ Computer 98 From Cologne, Germany By Hal Greenlee With Phase 5 seeming to fade, this board, if successful, will offer a somewhat different approach to PPC Computer 98 held in Cologne, Germany is • Micronik was offering a replacement for the the biggest Amiga event on the planet. AMIGA plastic A1200 Infinitiv tower called the As such, all eyes turn to this show to learn the Infinitiv II, and it is all metal. They had com latest developments in the Amiga market. plaints that the plastic box was too wobbly. Most developers aim to release new informa They are also waiting for the loan of a Toaster tion and updates at this show and this year card so they can test their video slot kit. was no different. This report covers just a few RBM has a new version of the TowerHawk of the many exciting items shown or an which their Canadian distributer has dubbed nounced at Computer 98. the ToasterHawk. Based on an A 1200 mother Dr. Allen Havemose, the head of develop board, it was being demonstrated running a ment at Amiga Inc., presented Dan Dodge, complete NewTek Flyer system. Chief Technology Officer of QNX Software Polish company E/Box was showing a tower Systems Ltd. Mr. Dodge discussed at length system based on the A 1200, called the Power the important features of microkernel ar Tower. They also were showing the Power chitecture. While he may have left some lis Flyer, an ATA-2 module for the 1200 that teners behind in parts of his discussion, his squeezes full performance from the latest demonstration wowed everyone. With two EIDE hard drives, and offers up to 8.5 Mb per machines networked, he demonstrated that second transfer speeds. resources could be shared in ways Amigas Haage & Partner was showing Tornado 3D have never before seen. For example, a net Petro Tsychtschenko had a lot to smile about. 2.0, their 3D modeling and rendering program work need only have a TCP/IP stack on one Computer 98 drew tells of thousands of Amigans for the 68K or PPC Amiga. It is arguably the machine and it can be shared with all. He alld was a success by all accoullts, most important application thus far for the opened an application window on one PPC The new features include: PPC support machine's screen, and casually slid it over to for all previews and renderers; hair and fur the other machine's sCreen. He did a few could not be done for some months yet. generator; particle system for smoke, fire, and operations on that screen, and slid it back. He Village Tronic was trying to gauge interest in explosions; character animation: postscript demonstrated how a machine can be operated a 3Dfx Voodoo 8 Mb add-on for the Picasso font support; mesh-painting: and, 3D text with the keyboard and mouse of either IV graphics card by getting at least 500 pre generation. Haage & Partner's new Art machine. Not resting there, he started Doom, orders for it. Effects 3.0 features more layers, more filters, and slid it over to another' screen while it was DCE-Escena announced their c1ual G3 and GIF and JPEG saver. The new VideoFX 2 going fu]] tilt I processor board for Zorro 3 Amigas, but did provides real-time graphic effects, audio New hardware at the show included the not have a working prototype to show. It effects support for up to four-channel stereo, Ariadne II ethernet card from Village Tronic. plugs into a Zorro 3 slot. and uses Haage synchronized video/audio effects, more than Supplied with drivers, it features a lower price &Partner's WarpUp software. The system 500 alpha channel wipes with ready-made (US $120) than any previous ethernet card for control can reside with the 68K processor that animations, and many other features. the Amiga. When asked about a US/Canada already exists on the motherboard, or can be There were many other companies present version of the Paloma TV card, Village Tronic said that a needed software re-write done with the G3 running 68K emulation. continued Oil page 37 6 By Fabian JimEnEZ MOving on the momentum established illegal Amiga software sites, including the Newsletter Article Exchange, User Group after the MidWest miga Exposition infamous Lazarus: The Real Amiga. For this, Database. FAQs. Amiga News, and User in October, the three major Amiga support Gary has received many threatening and hate Group information kits. To this end. the UGN groups of tbe ICOA (Industry Council Open ful emails, but he has also won the praise and has announced a partnership with Pantheon Amiga), along with Team All1iga, and UGN respect of many Amiga developers and fans. Systems to provide relevant Amiga content. (User Group Network) have been busy trans For more information on Team Amiga or to Also, the UGN has been very busy keeping forming their organizations into useful resour help Gary shut down these pirate sites, please the Amiga community informed by providing ces for the Amiga developer and end-user. see their website at http://web.wl.net/ live web cam and IRe conferences from the With revamped websites and announced gpeake/teamam ig a.htllli. variou5 Amiga trade shows worldwide. UGN projects, these organizations are readying Lastly, the UGN has been busy revamping partners and representatives cover the entire themselves to help Amigans understand what their webpage to provide Ailliga user groups world. For more information about the UGN's the future holds for them based on develop with the resources necessary to keep them projects, or to contact your local representa ments from Computer 98 in Cologne, going. or to get started. With expansion of the tive. see the UGN webpage. Germany. UGN website at http://ugn.amiga.org, the '::b The ICOA's Kermit Woodall announced GN is attempti ng to provide resources like a that they are refocusing their efforts to be come a "professional society." As a profes sional society, Kermit envisions the ICOA functioning much like a user group for developers by focusing on communications, resources, and relevant developer issues. The initial step in refocusing the [COA is the es tablishment of a new website to provide developers with these resources. The new website will be located at www.amiga.net. Kermit also announced tbe desire for the ICOA to release a developer newsletter com plete with CDROM. Successful completion of this project is dependent on Amiga Inc.'s con tribution. Another project involves the establishment of an anonymous piracy reporting mechanism with the help of Team Amiga's Gary Peake. Gary is requesting that if anyone knows of web or FTP sites that are illegally distributing Amiga software or ROM images to please contact him at [email protected]. Gary was in strumental in the removal of many allegedly Amiga Events Amiga 99 Gateway Computer Show Santa's right! The Gateway Computer Shows have been the leading March 12-14, 1999, Henry VIII Hotel, S1. Louis, Missouri. Growing every year, this Amiga Computer Shows year after year. In fact, this will be the fifth well organized event promises all the best with larger venues, more dealers, exciting year that a Gateway Computer Show has been held in St. Louis. They classes, a banquet and door prizes. Get all have lead the way in size, quality, value and fun every year. This year the latest at www.amiga-stl.com. we' J J be even bigger and better than last years, World Of Amiga Show 1999 Check out our web site for the latest information at: WOA is confirmed and will take place in the UK. Work is well underway, although http://www.amiga-stl.com the date and venue has yet to be confirmed. This event will playa major role in the or watch this magazine and others for more updates' rejuvenation of the Amiga. For more in formation on the show, contact Peter Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Brameld at [email protected]. A the staff of Amigan-St. LouiSil website is already in place at C"pyrighleJ 1998-99 www.infinitefrontiers.mcmail.coill. Al1lig~n-S\. Loui~ 7 Midwest QuilfPalf A4000 Shortage Over Amiga Expo By Brad Webb By Fletcher Haug RecentlY, a troubling situation hurting the professional video industry. Many slIlall video Amiga Classic's chance for survival businesses rely on the Video Toaster board and Sponsored by The Amiga Central Ohio finally came to a resolution of sorts. With the Video Toaster Flyer, made by NewTek. Inc. of Network usergroup, this years Midwest settlement of the lawsuit between QuikPak and San Antonio. Texas, and the A4000 as key Amiga Expo (MAE) was held at the Hyatt Dr. Bernhard Hembach, the liquidator for the tools. The situation had become so desperate Regency Concourse Hotel and Convention former Amiga Technologies GmbH, the way is that NewTek announced in October it had made Center in downtown Columbus Ohio. Always cleared for resumption of production of Amiga arrangements to create Amiga clones in towers. a popular event. the organization of this show 4000 computers. Amiga Technologies has since using existing A1200 motherboards. These seems to get better each year. resurfaced as an American corporation, Amiga systems were modi fied to accept the Video There was strong vendor turnout at MAE International, Incorporated, a wholly owned Toaster/Flyer products. and were enhanced (see sidebar) and the show featured an array subsidiary of Gateway, Incorporated. The with SO MHz 68060 processors. of seminars and events throughout its 3 days problems began back in April of '96 when Early reports after the settlement indicated as of operation. These seminars included a wide Germany's Escom, then parent corporation of many as two thousand A4000s could be in the range of topics. including: Beginning ARexx, Amiga Technologies, announced the sale of marketplace before Christmas, '98. However. Webcams and Internet Gadgets; Linux on the their Amiga subsidiary. Instead, Escom went before any can be built. Dr. Hembach will need 68K; ImageFX tip and tricks; CDROM bankrupt shortly thereafter due to overexpan to sell the inventory to cover outstanding debts mastering; TCP/IP programming: Amiga to sion. owed due to the liquidation. It remains to be PC Network.ing and much more. The lawsuit revolved around Dr. Hembach's seen exactly how all this will play out over There seemed to be a lower then expected attempts to obtain the inventory of parts main time. but the earliest new A4000s could be turnout at this show. While unfortunate. it was tained by QuikPak for building A4000 com come available is probably early next year. not totally unexpected. In these times of little puters under contract to Amiga Technologies. Even this depends on there being a number of communication from Amiga Inc. confidence As a result of the settlement, QuikPak was usable motherboards in the inventory. in the Amiga is at an all time low. This lack of forced to deliver this inventory to Europe, Reliable sources indicate that if new A4000s confidence resulted in low turnouts and where it's possible Amiga International will be are manufactured, at least some will be headed restrained purchases. Unlike Computer'98 in using them to once again build computers. to North America, presumably for both the US Koln. Germany, MAE didn't get the strong The lack of A4000s due to the long running and Canadian markets. promotional talents of Amiga International. lawsuit has had serious repercussions in the Perhaps the biggest event of MAE was the release of details on the OS 3.5 upgrade. This announcement was a much needed shot in the Ooops - Correction About Miami arm for the community and it was well accepted by attendees. However. during the follow-up Q&A hosted by Bill McEwen, a By Fletcher Haug pointed out incorrect or misleading informa somewhat hostile crowd had many pointed tion in this article. The following corrections questions to ask. It was made clear by those in A were taken directly from a letter sent by Mr. the audience that Amiga Inc. must follow Kruse that clarifies the disputed parts of that through with the long overdue work on 3.5 or S is the policy of The Informer, we pub- article. they risk loosing the support they still havc. lish corrections to any unclear or Sadly. it seems that Amiga Inc. is back incorrect information we print. In Issue 16 we The news BYTE about Miami from Issue l6 peddling on 3.5 already. This will only serve printed a news BYTE which discussed Miami contained two errors: to further erode support from an already jaded software by Nordic Global. The software's and dwindling community. author. Holger Kruse. contacted us and Amiga Informer (AI): "It was recently a. reponed on Usenet that Holger Kruse. author .. ~. i •••••••••• iii i ••••••• iiii •••••• i i •••••••• ill ••••••• i iI i i •••• i •••••• i. i ••• i •••••• Ii •••••••• iii • ~~. .~ of [he brilliant Miami TCP software, included Those Present at MAE a 'back door' in his program to catch pirates." Vendors: FWD Computing User Groups: Holger Kruse (HK): This is incorrect. First Image Architects of all. it was not "reported on Usenet" that AEMail Legacy Maker Amiga Dayton User Group Miami contains a back door. What really Amazing Mushroom PD Amiga Central Ohio Network happened is that a software pirate made an Computing/ Amiga National Amiga AmiTech User Group incorrect and slanderous accusation on • Amiga Informer magazine Nova Design Cecil Amiga User Group Use net, sent from an anonymous account. Amigan-St. Louis OZWare Champaign-Urbana alleging the existence of a "back door" in Asimware Pantheon Systems Computer User Group Miami. He did not give any conclusive Compuquick Prowave Cle.veland Area Amiga User evidence, but instead gave potentially dan Dans Deals Randomize Group gerous "advice" how to "circumvent" the Digital Arts Software Results National Capital ser Group alleged "back door." which Nordic Global Digital Quill Graphics Systems For Tomorrow North Coast User Group Inc. immediately denied. The accusation in DVS User Group Network Tulsa Amiga User Group thc original. anonymous article can hardly be Eric Shwartz Graphics Weems Ware considered a "report." Miami does not contain cOll/illlled Oil page .12 8 Inspecting The G3-PowerPC Card ~IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII/%::. ~ ~ By Fabian JimEnEz have the performance and power rivaling After installing MCP do other platforms on their Classic Amiga ~ you get the error message § I I systems. Mr. Haynie stales that if done right ~~:~::rG a~Z:~g~:~ 'tGr~: ~ wo weeks before Computer 98 began a with decent emulation and using the original ., little known German company called CPU as an 110 processor of sorts, a G3 based I§ move patch?" Just reboot I§ board like Escena's could run Amiga code Escena announced that they were going to ~~~ ;'::c~ew faster than "most 68K-based Amigas." change will prototype a G3-PowerPC based acceleralOr for the Amiga (see Bytes in this issue for more details). Two things will make this card different from any other existing Amiga ac \/11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 celerator. First, it will not have a Motorola 680xO CPU onboard. Second, it will fit into any Amiga that supports Zorro 3 expansion A1200 Tower Options slots. Most Amiga accelerators today use the By dhomas trEnn CPU slot, not a Zorro slot. Both these facts raise technical concerns that could affect per formance. ~ hough it appears that First, Zorro cards can generate system inter ., legal disputes with the rupts which are needed by the OS. However, manufacturing of A4000 Zorro cards can't service these interrupts. computers may finally have This problem can be circumvented by using been resolved, for a while it the old CPU on the motherboard to track and has been very difficult to pur manage these interrupts. Escena's webpage chase new Amiga computer states that Haage & Partner's WarpUp PPC systems. In an attempt to emulation would be used to execute the keep on track, several com AmigaOS instructions, but it did not indicate panies have designed custom whether the original CPU would be used to assembled tower versions of handle this task for the PowerPC CPU. the A1200. For some people, In an email from Dave Haynie, he states that this may be just what is you could program the original CPU to handle needed. the system interrupts and communicate their Randomize Inc. is one of status using a "higher level protocol." The several companies providing A 1200 tower 104 key Windows95 keyboard; high density only interrupt that the PowerPC CPU will solutions. On tap from Randomize is their floppy disk drive; 250 watt PSU; AmigaOS need to support is the one being sent from the Genesis line which includes the Alpha and 3.1 (hardware/manuals); standard A I 200 in original CPU saying, "I have a message for Towerhawk A 1200 towers. These systems are terfaces ports (Ix Rs-232c serial,lx parallel, you." based on the A 1200 motherboard and hard I x external floppy drive, 2x mouse/joystick, Second, Zorro cards can only access the 32- ware manufactured by RBM Ix 23-pin RGB video, Ix composite video, Ix bit resources on the motherboard. Zorro cards Computertechnique and Ateo Concepts. The RF modulator, 2x stereo audio); Personal cannot access the custom chips, CIAs, and Alpha and Towerhawk base systems are Paint 7.1 CD; standard PC multisync monitor other 1I0s. Mr. Haynie again indicated that priced the same at US $1,899.95. Neither compatibility; and video and genlock this could be handled by the original CPU. It system includes a monitor. capability. could communicate the results of its actions to Common features of both systems include: In addition to the common features listed the PowerPC chips using a "non-cachable A 1200 motherboard (AGA graphics); PhaseS above, the Alpha adds: Ateo Concepts mailbox" between the two processors, Dave Blizzard 1260 060/50 MHz; 32 Mb RAM AteoBus expansion bus; Ateo Pixel64 24-bit adds that 110 processes are never cached and (expandable to 128 Mb); 32x IDE CDROM; graphics card; 4.3 Gb IDE hard drive; that using uncached memory for the mailbox medium tower case; 3x is not a problem. 5.25" drive bays: and 5x Third, fears have been expressed concerning 3.5" drive bays. memory access as performance hits. The Pixel64 with 2 Mb Concerning memory access, Dave stated that of onboard graphics Zorro 3 slots can access the local bus memory memory provides 24-bit at 10 Mb per second, versus 25 Mb per graphics up to a resolution second from a 68030 CPU on the mother of 800x600 (60/85 MHz), board. However, the hit is not as bad as it may 16-bit up to 1024x768 (75 appear. Dave Haynie stated, "Few of the MHz), or 8-bit up to 68040/60 or PPC interfaces get close to that .. 1280xl024 (75 MHz) . . they all lose something in Ihe translation to Picasso96 retargeting soft the '030 bus." ware is included, provid Depending on how Escena plans 10 handle ing compatibility with the technical issues raised by designing a Zorro 3 based accelerator, Amigans could continued on page 37 9 Software Installation: Doing It Yourself Enforcing The Law If you really want to be on top of things. you After installing a new application, have you Things To Know could ignore supplied installers and do the noticed that other programs seem to be crash installation yourself. For this approach, ing while performing functions that used to By dhomas trEnn Snoop Dos (Ami net: uti limon i/S noop work okay? [f this is a problem, it is likely D0530.lha) may be a valuable tool. With that the new application is trashing memory M SnoopDos on the watch, you will be told what or causing other havoc with system resources. an application is looking for and where it ex The best watchdog for these problems is a ow many times have you installed a new application, only to discover that pects to find it. For the most part though, it is program called Enforcer (Aminet: other programs no longer work? How much obvious what goes where. dev/debug/enforcer.lha). It is generally con of your hard disk is occupied by unused ap If you like to be really organized, keep in sidered a programmer's tool, but anyone can plications and support files') Ideally. every mind that .Iibrary files do not have to go in benefit from its use. Before testing a new ap computer software application should come SYS:libs/. You can just as easily add a direc plication, start Enforcer like this: with safe install and unins(all functionality. tory to the L1BS: assignment and put them in but the sad reality is that this docs not happen an application's directory. Something like this Enforcer STACKLlNES=O FILE=CON: very often. in your user-startup will work: 010/640/1S O/Enforcerl Auto/Close There is a lot to be said for having a good C:Assign LlBS: WORK:Applicationsl Now, if Enforcer detects a problem. it will understanding of what is going on within your Example/libs ADD open a window on Workbench and give you Amiga. There is no reason for most Amigans The ADD option adds the new path without some information like this: not to have a basic comprehension of the removing the existing path. You can do the LONG-WRITE to 00000102 PC: workings of their system. This is particularly same for any assignment, so if a program uses 08SFF746 USP: 088847C8 SR 0014 FLSW: important when using freely distributable its own fonts, put them in a fontsl directory 00810200 TCB: 088836FO Data: 00000000 programs (Aminet): but, this can be a problem within the program'5 directory and add this to DODD /111 00002222 00003333 with commercial releases, too. Programs (hat your user-startup: C:Assign FONTS: 08SFF6E2 ... Addr: AAAAOOOO AAAA III I include an installer can often be poorly writ WORK:Applications/Example/fonts ADD AAAA2222 AAAA3333 AAAA4444 ... ----> ten and blindly spew files throughout your "WORK:Applications/Examplel" is just being 08SFF746 -"lawBreaker" Hunk 0000 Offset system. llsed as an example here, the path could be to 00000086 ----> $08Sff746: MOVE.L any directory on any volume. DO, 0102.W Name: "LawBreaker" Hunk Getting Ready 0000 Offset 00000086 Before installation, you should always make collliJllled all page 42 it a point to browse through the files included with a new application. A good flle managcr like Directory Opus. can make this task much Something to Thinlf About By NigEl KEnt easier, but it can also be done through the Workbench or from a shell using the C:Dir or l . C:list commands. sk yourself. "What does the Amiga community have gone unchecked as Amiga C"\ By familiarizing yourself in this way. you mean to me?" [nc. plans a consumer-oriented personal will be much better equipped to deal with any The word "Amiga" has several definitions, device operating system (whose non-existant problems that might arise later. If you decide depending on who you ask. For one person, capabilities have already been labeled as the Amiga is a computer that disappeared "highly scaleable" and "ready for everything not to use the new application. you will know along with the rest of the computing marvels from the popcorn-popper to a high-end what files to delete afterwards. of the late eighties and early nineties-just workstation"). Sure. it's an admirable goal to another long-disparaged brand like NeXT or want to Cl'eate something scaleable, but where Updating Existing Files Atari. Others consider the Amiga an operating will Amiga Tnc.·s focus be? Video entertain A good installation procedure should always system that even now has the potential to ment consoles? Hand-held organizers') confirm that support files (such as libraries. virulently grow the way linux has done in the Digitally controlled fingernail airbrushes") gadgets. etc.) being copied to your system are last three years. Still others consider the Amiga This is hardly the Amiga I remember, and the newer than any existing ones. to be a 'great machine' whose life was laid to idea of these things doesn't bring back "the waste by Commodore and, later Amiga [nco feeling," at least for me. Perhaps you have just unarchived a new What keeps Amiga users clinging to our It's no wonder why once-great Amiga application into RAM: and you see that it beloved platform is the bold promise of bandwagoneers are talking down on Arniga includes the reqtools.library, which you al achieving a distant, amazing level of viability [nco Jason Compton, one of the most serious ready have installed in SYS:libsl for use with in the marketplace. This viability would be and vocal Amiga users I've ever met has said other programs. You can compare the versions driven by the incredible feeling we are pre in Usenet postings that Gateway rates an Fin of each, by using the C:Version command: disposed toward: it's the feeling [ got when their management of the Amiga. Phase 5, C:Version RAM:reqtools.library FUll F[LE playing Shadow of lhe Beast II for the first whose mere presence has kept the Arniga C:Version SYS:Libs/reqtools.library FULL time on an Amiga 500, or the feeling [ got the afloat for the last three years, has had less first time [ watched NewTek's free video toas publicized but equally negative commentary FilE ter VHS promo tape. We all know the feeling. about Amiga Inc. The FILE option is important because That's what keeps us running on Amigas-we It is my belief that the Amiga OS needs to Version will return information about an al want the feeling to come back. go Open Source, meaning that the source code ready in use resource if you do not tell it The desire to see the Amiga succeed burns of the operating system. while (perhaps) otherwise. The FULL option is not necessary. no greater in anyone that it does in the minds centrally controlled and copyrighted, needs to but it may tell you more about the file. of people like Fleecy Moss and Olaf Barthel. become freely available to anybody who Make it a habit to back up any files that will Hard-core Amiga developers, these guys have wants to enhance it. Considering Ailliga Inc.'s be overwritten, just in case a newer version is poured every ounce of tangible thinking into move to QNX/Neutrino for the basis of the the Amiga for many years-to no avai I. The next-generation Amiga operating kernel, what not compatible with other programs. multitudes of excellent ideas from the Amiga 10

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