Clubbed - Issue 4 - Winter 1999 (1999)(South Essex Amiga Link)(GB)

21 Pages·1999·3.6 MB·English

Interviewed: Reviewed:
Amiga Fleecy Moss Photogenics 4.2 EZTower Mk. IV
Tutorials: ImageFX 4.1 BMon
CDROM Explained IBrowse 2.1 Wasted Dreams
Sold!
DOSDrivers Cam Control TZer0
First news Layers Olympus C1000L Ther Wanderer
on page 9
Issue 4 - Winter 1999/2000
CONTENTS CONTENTS
E
Contents The Chairman
Editorial T
A
News Speaks D
P
SEAL Update...............................3
U
News Items..................................4
Games Update.............................8 As you’ve undoubtedly noticed Well what a weird three Photogenics 4 People
we’re very late with this issue, months since our last maga- available and
News Flash..................................9
to be honest the main reason zine, there have certainly on demonstra- In the last month or two several SEALs
Amiga Update..............................10
for this was the bout of doom and gloom been some ups and downs. The World tion (cool), have been getting into Mac emulation
which hit the Amiga after WoA and of Amiga was a major high point from ImageFX 4 (with help from Tony Johnson who’s
Features
sapped our motivation. We recovered SEAL’s point of view, and on the down available (nice), Wipeout on display been using a pseudo Mac for ages)
with the release of OS 3.5 but then we side of the Amiga world, it has to be the (great) and of course many innovative which is an excellent way to get industry
Fleecy Moss Interview.................11
were being called on by SEAL members “plug” being pulled on the MCC hardware items. standard applications from the likes of
Amiga: The Future?.....................10
for help installing the new OS and promised by Amiga (or should that be Microsoft and Adobe to run on your
CDROM Explained......................14 Strange that a platform that is supposed
ROMs. Finally a dose of ‘flu scuppered a “Amintelsoft”) Amiga if you absolutely must have them.
to be dead and buried, has so many en-
per-Christmas release. Anyway we’re
Reviews Let me tell you about WoA, without thusiastic people that are talented doing Raffle
back now with a great issue (we hope)
doubt one of the greatest I have everything in their power to keep it all
and plenty of plans for the future...
Photogenics 4.2...........................18 attended, mainly because for the first hanging together, what other type of At the SEAL meetings on the 29th of
ImageFX 4...................................22 Incredibly it’s over a year since the first time we (SEAL) were involved in the or- computer platform has that kind of October and the 12th of November we
CamControl..................................24 issue of Clubbed rolled off the presses ganising, and had our own user group loyalty? Maybe that’s what an Amiga sold tickets for SEAL’s first raffle. The
Olympus C1000L Digicam...........25 (well my printer to be more accurate!) so display table as did many other user (the computer not the company) is all major prizes of ImageFX 4 and an
IBrowse 2.1..................................26 I’d like to take this opportunity to thank groups this year. It was great to meet so about, a combination of the hardware, Amiga Format subscription were
everyone who’s helped to make many people in the flesh, such as Kermit OS and just as important the people with donated by Nova Design and Future
Eyetech EZTower MkIV...............28
Clubbed a success. That includes Woodall, Andrew Korn, Urban Müller, ideas and enthusiasm that keep the Publishing respectively with several
BMon............................................29 of activity in the software and hardware
people who’ve contributed their time and Paul Nolan, Jim Collas (whoops), Ben momentum going (without the aid of other smaller prizes being donated by
Wasted Dreams...........................30 markets as you can see from the an-
work, SEAL members and also of Vost, and the QNX team (whoops again) Amiga, the company). members. Over 100 tickets were sold
The Wanderer (Music CD)...........31 nouncements in our news pages. It’s
course all our subscribers. to name a few. SEAL were certainly very and the prize winners were drawn at the
Tzer0............................................32 also great to be able to review not one busy at the show, from sorting out soft- But we cannot survive forever on en- meeting on the 12th of November. Tony
Mini Review: VisionFX...............36 This fourth issue also means that if but two recently upgraded Image ware/hardware problems, people making thusiasm alone, we need new hardware Johnson, one of SEAL’s founder
you’re one of our initial subscribers who processors. ImageFX 4.0 builds on the and software to take us into the
enquiries about SEAL or CLUBBED, or members, won ImageFX and Steve Hirst
started with issue 1 you’ll find a sub- success of version 3 (reviewed in noughty`s (geddit 80`s, 90`s, 00`s), be-
Support just general chit chat about anything got the subscription to Amiga Format.
scription renewal letter with your maga- Clubbed issue 1) with powerful anima- cause although we have tried to keep up
Amiga related, it was great. We also Thanks to everyone who took part!
Back to Basics (DOSDrivers)......37 zine. We hope everyone of you enjoys tion features and new effects (review on with technology with the many add-ons
sold many issues of CLUBBED, and
Layers Tutorial.............................33 Clubbed and will want to re-subscribe. If page 22) while Photogenics 4 (page 18) we all have attached to our machines, at WoA
Seal printed the posters and signs on
Next Issue, Helpline etc...............39 fkonro awn yw hreya..s. owne y coaun d’t omna’t kpele tahsee m leatg uas- sbtraarntsd wneitwh ap acclekaang ec awnivtha so ntoly p ar ofedwuc ceo an - site, which were dotted around the tmhaec ehninde o af nthde l odnagy oitv iesr ad u8e0 `tos dbees ign Several SEAL members were involved
Back Issues.................................39 zine better for you without your input. cepts related to earlier versions. floors, (luckily Robert brought his HP A3 upgraded, so it`s a real shame that with the organisation of this year’s World
Gallery..........................................40 printer with him). The best part of all was Amiga (Gateway) pulled the plug. But of Amiga show held at the Kensington
e Since issue 3 some pretty big changes At WoA we spoke to several dealers and meeting you Amiga loving loonies, there may be some light at the end of Town Hall Conference Centre on the
Do The t have happened at Amiga which you’ll they all told the same story... Amiga couldn’t get enough of ya. The show the tunnel in the form of the Phoenix 24th and 25th of July. Mick, Gary and
i find reported in our news section and hardware is still selling reasonably well may have not been the biggest, but it project that is being considered by the Robert headed down to the venue on
W r our Amiga: the future? feature. It seems but the same cannot be said for soft- was certainly interesting with the real Amigans, lets hope so. the Friday to help setup. For the first
like we won’t be seeing a new computer ware. There are some great packages proposed MCC mock up on display time usergroups were able to have their
bearing the Amiga name from Amiga. out there now at relatively low cost and (whoops), IBrowse 2 on release (yeah), own table at the show, of course we
Thing However despite the antics of the parent a new wave of fantastic games appear- jumped at the opportunity to advertise
company the Amiga world keeps turn- ing starting with Wipeout 2097. What’s Blurb SEAL as well as add to the show. We
ing. Haage and Partner have released the point of a kick-ass powerful system if took various banners, posters and
We’d like to make Clubbed more “in- OS3.5 (by all accounts early sales have you don’t have the software to run on it? Clubbed is published quarterly by South Essex Amiga SS7 5AH, plenty of copies of Clubbed with us
been good too) and Phase 5 should be So please people buy the software you Link. For subscription details see the back page. ENGLAND. along with Rob’s A3000 and printer, I
teractive” so we need your input! releasing their accelerator cards based will use and keep Amiga companies in EDdeistiogrn:: RRoobbeerrtt WWiilllliiaammss Telephone: +(1494: 0(00 )- 12226:080 5 G69M9T3 7only please). think I can safely say that ours was the
Got a question you’d like answered on Motorola’s latest PowerPC 7400 (G4) business developing new versions. Contributors: The views expressed in this magazine are those of the best looking user group table.
Jeff Martin author of each piece, they do not necessarily reflect the
or an opinion you’d like to share? processor with the QNX Neutrino OS To finish on a brighter note you’ll hope- Martin Miller views of the editor, other contributors or SEAL.
Wletrtieters t op augse a.nd we’ll include it in a sAomoinjo. eM Ge3t@ cbaordx fhoar vteh ea lAs1o2 s0h0o awtn t hthee ir ftuhlilsy inssoutiec ew whiec’hv ew deo tnhein ak smliagkhet sre -design Proof ReadinGMgai:crky SSutottromn Ptmhlaeegiara sszepi naNeroe o ttenim: t iCem,l uewb ahbnieledd wiinsec p lwurdoiledl aualcwlle atdhy ebs y as SdtrviEveAer tLtiso me pder mocdobunectreesn titnhs e Oanu re txacbellele innt tfhloew u soef rpgeroopulpe akreeeap ainngd ugso t
Cologne show. There are also several Sharon Sutton this is not always possible due to other commitments. The very busy especially on the Saturday.
Got a tip for other readers or even an plans afoot to bring a successor to the Clubbed look fresher and more profes- Cover Art: GRoabrye rSt tWorimlliams using ImageFX 4.1 and pmroicree ,y woue pdaoyn ’fto mr aCklueb ab epdro cfiot vfreorms oitu.r costs and nothing We sold about 100 copies of Clubbed
ayortuic cleo uulpd yvoeuryr swleeellv see?e S yeonudr nita inm aen ind Ccularrsesnict AAmmiiggaa utos emrsa raknedt fdroemve lgorpoeurpss.. .o f sthioen dael.s Aignny acnodm cmoenntetsn to or fs tuhgeg mesatgio anrse o n Iffo ry oaun yh arevaes aonnPy hp qoleutoaegsreeien sui cssseu 4go.gn2ees otifo tnhse o fro lwloawnitn tgo: contact us Imitf oeyonssu.a wgies hto t oo nceo notfa tchte a a cdodnrterisbsuetso ra pbloevaes ea nsde nwde y wouillr pass awnads teoxocke 2lle0n nt.e Ww es uwbe-r sec aribplteio tnos h wehlpic ohu t
print. of course only time will tell if these come very welcome. EMail: [email protected] AAmmiiggaa DisO aS r, eAgmisitgeare Kdi ctrkasdtaermt, aArkm aignad Wthoer kAbmenigcah ,l ogo, many Amigans who visited the SEAL
WWW: http://seal.amiga.tm/
Got a suggestion or comment on the to fruition. Robert Williams Post: Clubbed, Atraudtoecmoanrfikgs, oBfr iAdMgeIGboAa rIndt,e arnnda tPioonwale, rIendc .b /y G Aamteigwaa ya,r eIn c. table and Mick had a long chat with
magazine? Let us know and we’ll try Editor 26 Wincoat Drive, All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their Urban Muller of Aminet fame about digi-
and make Clubbed better for you. Even in these rather uncertain times for BEEssNeFxL,EET, respective owners. tal cameras. Several SEALs were able
Amiga there’s still a reasonable amount
2 CLUBBED - Issue 4 Winter 1999 3
NEWS NEWS
SEAL Update Continued... Amiga Amiga OS 3.5 & Boing Bag 1
generated a huge
amount of discussion. Activated Regardless of the high jinx at Amiga OS to be a new system, not based on • Increased reliability and bug-fixes
In the future we’ll be 3.5 was released as planned on the 18th Turbo Print or Studio.
trying some other ideas of October. Several SEAL members • Internet support including the Miami One nice touch is the large selection of
The first issue of
for keeping members have the new OS installed and in most TCP/IP stack, Webbrowser (AWeb) backdrops which compliment the glow
AmigActive hit the
(especially those not on cases the installation went smoothly and and a new EMail client. The EMailer is icons and make the system look great
news stands on
the ‘net) up to date with the 30th of the OS works very well. Compatibility based on a new EMail library allowing straight out of the box.
Amiga happenings. Ideas in- September, the with existing applications and utilities is integration of EMail into applications.
clude the SEALWeb Offline disk new magazine very good and the new features are Understandably as the first Amiga OS
mentioned in the Web Pages section covers all welcome, in particular the new Smaller, less obvious additions to the upgrade for 5 years, compiled by a team
and a news sheet at each meeting. aspects of the Workbench is much more usable even OS include: who had not worked on the Amiga OS
though the changes made to it are fairly before there are a number of minor
to meet Jim Collas, Alan Havermose Web Pages Amiga with news, reviews minor. The upgrade is pretty good value • Improved icon system (backward com- problems with the initial release. To help
and Petro face to face and question and how-tos on hardware, applications for money especially for those with basic patible with original Amiga and fix these problems the first free “Boing
them about the future of the platform. Gary’s been doing a great job keeping and games. There is a strong leaning systems. Even people who have NewIcons icons) Bag” update to OS 3.5 was released on
the website up-to-date with all the most towards the creative side of Amiga use
Highlights of the show included important news in the Amiga world in with plenty of tutorials, including mini- upgraded their Amigas with software like • Workbench with more short cuts and the 24th of December, this updates most
demonstrations of AmigaOS 3.5, addition he has interviewed several tutorials with some reviews. The TurboPrint and already have Internet progress requesters (not threaded yet of the major system libraries improving
ImageFX 4 and Wildfire not forgetting of luminaries connected to these events. AmigActive cover CD is tied closely to software will find many things to help though) stability and the ROM update which
course Paul Nolan giving his brilliant The news and in particular the inter- the magazine with extra resources for them, some examples are: • Fully AREXX scriptable Workbench failed on some systems.
demo of Photogenics 4. While current • Streamlined preferences programs
views have attracted lots of visitors to most of the features, demos and the
events (see our Amiga: the future? item • Support for disks greater than 4.3Gb using new Reaction GUI So what are you waiting for? Get out
the website and have been mentioned usual collection of useful freely dis-
for full details) have put much of what including new scsi.device and fast file • Integrated PPC support (WarpOS) there and buy OS 3.5 for your own
on all the major Amiga news services. tributable software all accesed from a
happened at the show in serious doubt it By the time you read this we expect to HTML based interface. AWeb is used as system. Complimented by new ver- • New Reaction GUI system for future benefit now and to prove there is a mar-
was still a very enjoyable experience, have received our 10000th hit! the default browser because it can run sions of HDToolbox and the Format applications ket for future more radically improved
enhanced by being a part of the or- programs from HTML links, combined command. • Rewritten asl.library for faster file lis- upgrades.
ganisation. With so much useful and interesting in- with either Directory Opus Magellan or • Full 24bit printing support with drivers tings and more requester options
formation on the website Martin Miller for popular modern printers. Contrary • Improved Installer For more information and to download
Workbench 3.5 this allows directories
Meetings pointed out that many SEAL members to what we first understood this seems • Improved datatypes the Boing Bag Visit www.amiga.com.
and programs on the disc to be
who are not on the Internet are missing
At the meeting immediately after the accessed directly from the HTML pages.
out. So the SEALWeb - Offline disk was
WoA show SEAL members were treated G4 On The Horizon
born. This disk contains most of the Amiga Active is available monthly at
to a video of the show and the Saturday
SEAL website on one double density £4.99 complete with cover CD. Most
evening conference taken by Gary
disk that can be viewed on any Amiga WHSmiths have the magazine as do
Storm. This allowed members who
with a web browser installed. SEALWeb some smaller newsagents, if you can’t
weren’t able to attend and those who
- Offline disks were given out to find it your local newsagent should be Phase 5 announced their PowerPC G3 As the G4 350 but with a 400Mhz run AmigaOS and most programs.
didn’t stay for the conference to get a
members not on the Internet at the able to get it for you. Subscriptions are based accelerator cards for the A1200 Processor. Phase 5's soloution to this problem is to
feel for what went on and the announ-
SEAL meeting on Friday the 15th of available at £55 a year. and A3/4000 earlier in the year, over the supply the boards with QNX’s Nutrino
cements. The other two meetings in CyberStorm G4 400 - 799E (£665)
August were fairly quiet with many October and will be refreshed with the http://www.amigactive.com/ last few months the cards have had operating system and run AmigaOS in
latest information at each meeting. several changes of specification, specifi- For the A3/4000 FastSlot. Spec. as the emulation on top of this. It remains to be
people away on their holidays or out
Subscription Hotline: cally dropping the built-in SCSI interface Blizzard G4 400 plus 2 12Mb USB ports. seen how well integrated and transpar-
enjoying the warm evenings but even so The Clubbed website has had a major
[phone] and adding USB and Firewire support. ent this system will be as well as what
those that did attend were kept busy overhaul since the last issue. The layout Several mini PCI cards have been
SCSI, DMA IDE and a CyberVision NG performance it will deliver. The G4 cards
solving many problems and showing off has been much improved with most sec- announced and are scheduled for
Fusion PPC graphics card will be offered as options. will be shipped with a 512KB boot flash
their WoA purchases. tions now split onto different pages for release along with the accelerators.
Just when the specification seemed ROM and software to enable the user to
quicker loading and new graphics.
September saw the departure of Jim settled Phase 5 announced that they • CyberVisionNG 3D gaphics card with select between up to three operating
We’ve also added some submission Microcode Soloutions have set a date
Collas from Amiga and the subsequent were dropping the G3 in favour of 32MB of video RAM - 180E (£145) systems at boot time. This would mean
guidelines for anyone who would like to for the release of FusionPPC, their
executive updates all of which we com- Motorola’s brand new PowerPC G4 • Ultra2 Wide SCSI - 150E (£120) that if Haage and Partner port their
write something for the magazine (a PowerMac emulator for PPC Amiga
municated to members at SEAL processor used in the latest Power • Ultra SCSI - 80E (£65) 680x0 emulator you could boot into this,
printed copy is available on request). systems. Delivery was promised 60
meetings. As you can imagine this Macs. • Ultra-DMA 66 IDE/ATA - 80E (£65) a possible Linux implementation or
days after pre-payments were collected
• IEEE-1394 (Firewire) Controller with 2 Neutrino.
Time to Eat Humble Pie... which sets a date of the 20th of There are now 3 boards in their G4
ports at 400Mbps - 100E (£85)
November. range: Phase 5 are at: http://www.phase5.de/
WebVision can be registered more Over the last three issues we haven’t
cheaply than we stated in our product mentioned Sharon Sutton (Mick’s wife) Assuming everything goes to plan Blizzard G4 350 - 649E (£565) The CyberVisionNG and Wide SCSI Phase 5 products are available in the
information box. Neil Bothwick handles who’s done sterling service proof read- FusionPPC will open a library of up to controller are confirmed, the other three UK from:
• Motorola PowerPC 7400 processor
registrations in the UK and it costs just ing articles and actually getting the mag- date Mac software to PPC Amiga users. modules will only be produced if Phase
(G4) at 350Mhz White Knight Technology
£12 to get your keyfile which unlocks the azines labelled, stamped and posted Once released FusionPPC will cost 5 receive 250 orders for them.
• 1Mb Backside Cache 2 100Mhz SO- http://welcome.to/white-knight
full version. Full details are included in since the first issue. Everyone at £149.95 and requires a PCI PowerMac
DIMM Slots for up to 1GB of RAM As you will no doubt notice from the [phone]
the WebVision archive. Clubbed and I’m sure all our readers ROM and a copy of MacOS.
• 2 MiniPCI slots for future expansion specifications these accelerators do not
really appreciate her hard work espe- Blittersoft:
I forgot to credit Gary Storm for writing Fusion is distributed by Blittersoft: • 1 Full size PCI slot for a standard PCI have a 680x0 series processor as the
cially as she has two young children to http://www.blittersoft.com/
the introductory paragraphs of my “Get http://www.blittersoft.com/ card or a PCI bus board current PowerUP cards do, therefore
look after! [phone]
Netted” feature... thanks Gary. [phone] Blizzard G4 400 - 799E (£665) they have to use a software emulator to
4 CLUBBED - Issue 4 Winter 1999 5
NEWS NEWS
Browser Bonanza Photogenics BoXeR Update Candy Pro Update
The popular instant graphics program
Candy Factory Pro has been updated to
4.3
As we anticipated in issue 3 currently available cards being written. version 1.03, the new version con-
there’s been plenty of activity on However even if only a couple of centrates on improving stability and the
the web browser front in the last reasonably priced graphics cards were user interface. One SEAL member got
couple of months, here’s the cur- supported the BoXeR will look pretty an error after installing the update that
rent status of the “big three”. Since the last issue Paul Nolan has attractive compared to expanding an the tabs.gadget was missing. Copying
released two updates to Photogenics 4. A1200, particularly when you consider it the file from the MetaView distribution
IBrowse 2.0 was released at
Versions 4.1 and 4.2 have made the already has fast serial and parallel ports on the original program CD into your
the WoA show but purchasers
package much more reliable and added Blittersoft have released updated and uses cheaper RAM than an ac- classes/gadgets/ directory solves this.
were disappointed to find that
some extra effects and features. A beta specifications for their Amiga compatible celerated A1200.
the version on sale was in Download the 1.03 update from
of version 4.3 has been released for BoXeR motherboard including prices for
fact a pre-release with its fair In an IRC conference at the Cologne http://www.titancomputer.de/
public testing and should be available systems based on the board:
share of bugs. However show Mick Tinker (the BoXeR’s desig-
soon. A full review of version 4.2 can be
about a month later HiSoft • 100% Amiga compatible. ner) stated that the final prototype
found on page of this issue.
were able to release an im- • Motorola 68040 or 68060 at 25-75MHz motherboards will be finished before the
proved 2.1 version. 2.1 is Download the upgrade and public beta in a single processor socket. end of November. With time for testing Z4 Bus
now usable but far from versions from: • Integrated chip-set, AGA compatible this could mean production BoXeRs will
perfect, a further 2.2 but with performance enhancements. be ready early in the new year.
http://www.paulnolan.com
update has been promised al- • Most peripherals support high speed
Prices
though currently there is no release DMA transfers.
ICS Is Scantastic!
date. We have a review of the upgrade • No CHIP RAM limits.
Blittersoft are offering two complete Apollo have released a new bus board
on page 26. • 2 x 64-bit DIMM sockets (low cost) for
BoXeR systems the BoXeR 4 with a which gives numerous expansion
combined use as FAST/CHIP.
Voyager 3 is now available after 5 68040 40Mhz or the BoXeR 6 which has options to A1200 owners. The new Z4
Wolf Faust, the author of the Studio print conversion and postage to the UK). I’ve • Dual IDE Hard disk interface, supports
public beta test versions. The current a 68060 50Mhz processor, both share board includes 5 Zorro II slots, 2 custom
enhancement system, has recently recently received a target from Wolf and fast IDE modes, including UDMA.
release version is 3.0a which fixed a bug the following common features: slots named Zorro 4, and no less than 4
released a new product on Aminet. ICS the improvement in my scans is really • Flash ROM 2Mb. Provides Kickstart,
in the Javascript implementation. V3 clock ports. A graphics card and fast
is a scanner calibration system which fantastic and I don’t have to spend time resident modules and future enhan- • Choice of colour Tower
adds many features that were lacking in IDE interface are promised for the Zorro
automatically colour corrects your scans tweaking each scan. ICS is easy to use cements. • 64Mb RAM
previous version and seems to have the 4 slots which should give performance
without manual adjustments. ICS works (although “under the bonnet” it is very • High Density floppy drive interface. • 6.4Gb UDMA Hard drive
most active development at the moment. similar to existing Zorro III cards, al-
by analysing a scan of an accurately advanced, Wolf has spent 2 years in • Real Time Clock. • 40 Speed CD-ROM
Visit v3.vapor.com for further details. though they have little in common ex-
produced target image, and uses this development) and works with any scan- • 4 x Active PCI slots • Keyboard and Mouse (PS/2)
cept the name. Two of the Zorro II slots
Amitrix have released a minor upgrade information to correct future scans. ner software and scanner, it is directly • Amiga Video slot • Upgradable to PPC
can run at twice the normal speed
to AWeb bringing it up to version 3.3, a supported by ScanQuix 4 and ScanTrax • Expansion connector to support 2 x • KickStart 3.1
Until recently calibration targets were (about 2.5Mb/s) with specially adapted
cut down version is also included with 2.2. If you’ve got a scanner, get ICS Zorro 3 slots • OS 3.5
only available from professional photo- cards but still share the normal ZII
OS3.5 so this browser will be getting now! • Connector for full 64-bit PowerPC ex- • Multimedia Speakers
graphic and DTP suppliers at a high cost limitations (8Mb address space and
more exposure in the coming months. pansion card
(£30 - £50). Now Wolf has produced his ICS is available for free on Aminet in the 16bit wide data path).
• PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse ports. BoXeR 4: £799.95 incl. VAT
Hopefully we’ll have reviews of the latest own calibration targets which he sells for hard/misc directory. The archive in-
• Amiga Joystick and Mouse ports. The Zorro 4 bus board costs about £130
Voyager and AWeb in the next issue. DM25 (about £10 including currency cludes details of how to purchase a BoXeR 6: £899.95 incl. VAT
and is available from Eyetech, Blittersoft
The addition of PCI slots to the BoXeR For more information you can contact and Power Computing.
fxPAINT Debuts at Cologne could be a master stroke as a myriad of Blittersoft at: Active Abandon
cards are available at a fraction of the
http://www.blittersoft.com/
cost of similar Amiga cards. How useful Retail
A brand new paint and image process- • Comprehensive set of image process- the slots will be depends on drivers for or phone them on: [phone]
ing package was released on the 1st of ing operators. Active Technologies are no longer sell-
Amiga Web
November just in time for the Cologne • Wide range of loaders and savers. ing direct to the public and are now con-
show. fxPaint comes from a • Includes an image catalouger and centrating their energies on developing
German company Innovative and batch conversion utility. Directory Closed their Amiga products such as
is programmed by Felix Schwarz NetConnect and STFax. Eyetech will
who is the talent behind programs The interface looks attractive and uses I’m sad to have to report that the closure, ironically the last news item now distribute Active’s products.
like BlackIRC and UltraConv. standard windows and gadgets, full sup- Champaign-Urbana Computer Users they reported was the sale of the Amiga On a brighter note the NetConnect 3
fxPaint is loaded with features and port for graphics cards and PPC ac- Group decided to close its Amiga Web name to Amino. package is now available, highlights of
seems to draw quite heavily from celerators (PowerUP and WarpUP) is Directory on the 1st of January 2000. What makes this news doubly sad is the new version include Voyager 3 with
other Amiga packages: included.The feature list is certainly very AWD has been the premier Amiga links that CUCUG will not be passing their Javascript and Shockwave Flash sup-
impressive and at a price of only 70Euro website for many years and has always database of links and descriptions or the port, a brand new FTP client, mFTP and
• Bumpmapping for 3D effects. (about £45) we can imagine it catching provided a sterling service with over code for Agnes to another maintainer so the WebVision web cam viewer. We’ll
• Glows and Shadows. on fast. 2000 indexed links with full descriptions have a review next issue.
it will be down to other sites like the
• Photo retouching functions. for all types of Amiga organisations and
• Scan optimising functions. For a complete list of features (there are the useful Agnes search engine to help recently re-vamped www.amiga.org to Active Technologies:
• Standard painting tools plus pan- loads more) and some example pictures find them. CUCUG point to the decline pick up where AWD left off. http://www.active-net.co.uk/
tograpgh (cloner), gradients, smear, and screenshots visit Innovative’s in the Amiga marketplace and Read the full announcement at Eyetech:
blur and pyrotechnic effects. website at http://www.innovative-web.de/ Gateway’s inaction as reason for the http://www.cucug.org/aminew.html http://www.eyetech.co.uk/
6 CLUBBED - Issue 4 Winter 1999 7
NEWS FEATURES
Games Update Quick Amino Buys Amiga!
BLASTS
Although things aren’t going the way we’d like at Amiga, there are a plethora of great T-Zer0 In a shock announcement on the eve 7.The Amiga operation as it exists There are good reasons to release the
games to use on your favourite machine... of the new millennium Amino today. ‘Classic’ Amiga OS source, as it would
Clickboom have just released a demo acquired the rights to the Amiga allow anyone to develop and improve
Wipeout 2097 hit the Amiga in December and is the first game to make full use of the
for this fine shoot-em-up (reviewed else- from Gateway. Details are still Specific details of the developer the OS, and therefore the development
PPC and 3D acceleration offered by Phase 5’s PPC and graphics cards. Developed where in this issue) for download, at sketchy but here’s what we r s t system, the OS partners and cycle would be much quicker. To prevent
by Digital Images (www.di-games.com) the Amiga version of Psygnosis’ classic looks (http://clickboom.com/t0/demo.shtml), know so far. F i how one can begin developing it becoming a behemoth though (exactly
fantastic and plays just as well (if you can wait we’ll have a review in issue 5). s
but it weighs in at a hefty 26MB, luckily w will be released in the next what Amiga stands against),
What a way to start 2000! e
To run Wipeout you must have a PPC card and 3D it’s also on the cover disc of Amiga N couple of weeks. Amino/Amiga must take a central role in
Amino (formed by Fleecy Moss
graphics card and at least 32Mb of FastRAM. Wipeout Format and AmigActive. directing ‘official’ development and
and Bill McEwan) have finalised We will be making an announce-
is available from most Amiga retailers or directly from releases. Failure to do this would result
Napalm Add-on a deal which brings the Amiga name ment on January 8th, 2000 with one
the publisher, Blittersoft (www.blittersoft.co.uk). in the OS losing cohesion and splinter-
back home to people who care about it, of our partners at CES in Las Vegas,
ing into many unwieldy versions. For a
Heretic II is another PC port. The original is based on Following on from the excellent (if and can see the potential of having a and more details will follow that release.
deeper perspective, visit The Campaign
the Quake II engine, and is the sequel to (funnily slightly hard) Napalm, Clickboom are modern computer with an Amiga badge.
Fleecy, Myself, Petro, and the rest of the For Open Source Amiga
enough) - Heretic. It’s a third-person shooter (a-la about to unleash something “more than We’ve reprinted the first official state-
team are not going to make promises (http://www.savetheamiga.org.uk/)
Tomb Raider). Hyperion software (www.hyperion- a missions disk” in ‘Napalm - Euro ment from Amino here, this comes
and create presentations and demos. website.
software.de) are the people responsible for bringing Burn’. Hmmm. We didn’t piss them off or directly from the http://www.amiga.com/
We are going to deliver products, ser-
us this magical blood-fest. Not only do you get that, anything, did we? website. We know that Amino have been working
vices, and the rest of the world will know
but they’ve wangled it so that the add-on “Heretic with an OS partner (as yet unnamed, not
Virtual GP Official Announcement what you have already known.
Fortress” (by Wankeroo, I kid you not) will be ported QNX), Rebol (Carl Sassenrath - big
with the package too. Heretic II is also blessed with an If grandprix racing is your thang, then January 3, 2000 We will be officially changing the name respeck), and others to provide the foun-
active on-line battle. Hyperion recommend a minimum you’ll be pleased to know that Virtual of Amino Development Corporation to dation, direction and development of a
of an ‘060 and 3D accelerated graphics card. PPC is Grand Prix has been released (much to YeeHaw and welcome to the year 2000; the Amiga Corporation this week, and successor to the Amiga experience,
preferred, and you’d also be advised to have 64mb of Mick’s delight). We’ll have a review / I want to make something very clear we will let everyone know of this change while still keeping true to its values and
RAM. But just look at these Amiga screenshots :) update from Mick, on the website from the beginning we have been told, shortly once it is officially completed. karma... yet expanding on it to compete
Apart from Heretic II, Hyperion are also going to be porting the lovely ‘Shogo’ for us shortly. that Amiga was purchased by Gateway I want to thank all of you for your con- in the modern and future computing en-
vironments. This new ‘Son of Amiga OS’
as well... more details on that when we can. because of the Patents, and that there tinued support we will make Amiga what
Foundation DC would most likely be small and efficient
were not even aware of the Amiga in- it should have been, and more impor-
A new real-time strategy game from Polish developers is available in demo form. It’s in the Amiga tradition (especially impor-
Paul Burkey’s ‘Foundation’ has had a stalled base, or the people. tantly what it will be.
called Exodus - The Last War and, according to Robert Elson on the Amiga-Flame tant in the future to be a leader in digital
website (www.amigaflame.co.uk - where you can get all the latest Amiga games new lease of life in ‘Foundation, the Gateway purchased Amiga because of Keeping the faith, convergence which needs the smal-
news), it already looks better and faster than Napalm. WoW! Download the 6MB Director’s Cut’. It features all the good Patents, we purchased Amiga because lest/fastest system for communication
demo from Aminet (game/demo/ExodusTLW_Demo.lha). stuff of the original, plus all the patches of the People. Bill McEwen between the various elements of a wire-
and updates that make it (somehow) an President/CEO Amino Dev. Corp.
less and Internet network), and com-
Payback is a gangster warfare game from the virginal “Apex Designs” (www.apex- even better game than it was. So, if you Without the people standing behind,
Initial Reactions prise of a modern OS with features such
designs.net). From what I’ve seen and heard about it seems like a Grand Theft Auto have any interest in Populous/strategy developing, creating, purchasing and
as multi-threaded multi-tasking, memory
...but with attitude. Running on even vanilla type games at all, then Foundation DC continuing to believe in the Amiga there Gary Storm and Robert Williams air their protection, virtual memory, POSIX com-
flavoured Amiga 1200's (an ‘040 is recommended should be top of your list... go get it. never would have been anything for initial thoughts on the Amino buy-out pliancy etc. etc. It may even be a Dr.
though), it features: Gateway to purchase. We recognize
and raise some questions not answered Doolittle of the computer age, with a
Super Frog this, and it is because of you, and what
• Perspective correct texture mapping. by the short press release. near-effortless ability to interact and
you have continued to accomplish with
• Environment mapped cars. Also on the re-release trail is control alien computer systems (i.e.
Amiga that we have purchased the com- Very good news and a late Christmas
• Realistic physics model. ‘Superfrog’. Surely you’ve heard of it? If communicate with the Microsoft
pany. present. At least something’s happening,
• 100 square kilometres of land and 4 different cities not, then where the hell have you been? animals)... possibly via TPFKNAO (The
and the Amiga name isn’t stagnating in
to explore. Superfrog is probably the finest platfor- I want to make sure that everyone Project Formerly Known As Amiga
the putrid pools of Gateway’s infighting,
• Dozens of vehicles to drive, each with their own mer the Amiga has ever known. It was knows and understands what this all Objects) from Gateway.
political remonstrations and lies. It’s
unique handling characteristics. released by Team 17 way, way back, but means to you the true Amigans.
back home at long last with people who Whatever their final product, we’re
• Realistic real-time shadows. is so good it has stood the test of time.
Here is what was acquired from actually care and understand what it’s all hoping (as we have many times before)
• Non-linear mission structure. Get your vanilla miggy a X’mas present
Gateway: about. Fleecy, Bill and friends know that this piddly little world may finally
and have some great fun.
we’re not crazy... well, maybe just a little have a decent computer system coming,
Payback will even have graphic card support (via CyberGraphX), an advanced 3D 1.All trademarks logo’s etc.
crazy. which has learnt from the mistakes and
audio system, and there’s also a possibility of PPC support. Expected to be released For all the games currently available, 2.All existing inventory of Amiga
triumphs of all those that came before it:
at X’mas, this gorgeous baby will set you back £30. Well worth it if it lives up to what and to find out more (and maybe even International As Amino now own the OS, will they be
Apple/ IBM/ Acorn/ Commodore/
is seen in these screenshots. pre-order) about the ones that aren’t 3.All existing licenses. releasing it as open source to proliferate
Microsoft/ 3DO/ Sony/ WebTV/ Xerox/
quite with us yet, give John at ForeMatt 4.License to All Amiga patents (possibly even migrate to other plat-
Finally, you’ll also read about the brilliant ‘Wasted Dreams’ elsewhere in Clubbed. HAL ( :) ) etc. etc., in the design, im-
Home Computing or your preferred sup- (Gateway still owns the patents, but forms) while they continue to develop
The even better news is that Digital Dreams will also be producing a game called plementation, marketing and support of
plier a ring. we are able to use them). and release a ‘new beginning’ OS?
Hell Squad. This arcade-adventure will even work on OS1.3 Amiga’s (with a CD- the Multi-media Millennium Amiga.
5.All web sites, and registered domain Since Fleecy Moss has previously
ROM). WoW! Why? Whichever, it’s expected to be with us in November, but if you Happy gaming, and I’ll see your ass on-
names. declared his support for COSA we
can’t wait for a taste, download the 2.15mb demo from their website (www.dd- line where I can frag it in Quake :)
6.The Amiga OS and all that is associ- believe Amino are likely to open-source
ent.com)
Gary Storm ated with the OS. the Amiga OS.
8 CLUBBED - Issue 4 Winter 1999 9
FEATURES FEATURES
Amiga Update Amiga: the future, continued...
Fleecy Moss
COSA have compiled a report called
“AmigaOS: the Case for Open Source”
which sets out why they feel the
Robert Williams summarises the changes at Amiga since issue 3. AmigaOS source code should be
With Bill McEwan Fleecy has set out to create a new
released in this way and what benefits
Immediately after the World of Amiga ing and less formally with Amiga staff job as Vice President of operations. this would bring Amiga Inc. and the platform with the user experince that makes Amiga
show in July it looked as if things answering EMails and taking part in dis- Amiga community. The report was com-
This news was reported on Internet special but based on a modern OS and hardware.
were finally looking up for Amiga. cussions on Usenet this came as a piled in consultation with Eric Raymond
news sites and it was several days until
Although the announcement that the surprise. Many people speculated that an open source advocate who acted as
MCC’s OS would be Linux had shaken Amiga’s plans and partners were being it was confirmed on the Amiga website a consultant to Netscape when they Hi Fleecy, thanks again :) ing dude when you're about to launch
(http://www.amiga.com), after the con- new product(s).
the community many users had begun put in jepoardy by the press coverage recently released their Mozilla browser No problem - we are all partners in this -
firmation rumour was rife on the Internet
to understand and accept the decision generated by their announcements, as open source. The report highlights we aren’t the silent types either - when Bill got a bad dissing by a “senior
as to what the change would mean to
(even if they didn’t really agree with it). others suspected darker motives. that popular open source projects we hold a party, we party!!! employee” out to save his own skin
current Amiga projects but in particular
Jim Collas’ personal commitment to the benefit from large number of enthusiast when Collas took over. As a result, they
At the begining of September rumours the MCC and OS3.5. Later in September Name: Fleecy Moss
project was show by his evangelical programmers and often progress very never really understood just how much
speech at the show and the models and circulated the Amiga’s PR man, Bill Tom Schmidt published two executive quickly. Just releasing the source code Age: 32 talent, leadership, and plain downright
McEwen had not had his contract re- announcements on the Amiga website, goodness there is in Bill. As a result they
specs for the MCC were proof that would probably give the AmigaOS a new Family:
newed and hence was leaving the com- the first tried to calm the community by failed to utilise him. He never told me
Amiga weren’t solely interested in the lease of life especially as the Amiga has
pany. Bill had been heavily involved in stating that Amiga was not closing but 1 red headed Scottish warrior woman, what transpired, because we both
set top box market. always attracted large numbers of hob-
community relations particularly in the said little else. The second confirmed Elspeth, 2 boys, Seth (9) and Yerran (7) agreed when I was dropped that we
byist programmers. The report was sub-
In late August an announcement US and had talked at several shows, his what many had feared, the MCC and its and little Evie (Evangeline) - 1 wouldn’t talk about AInc stuff, but his
mitted to Tom Schmidt of Amiga Inc. and mood started pretty black and just got
appeared on the Amiga website stating departure was seen as a bad sign. This modified Linux OS were being dropped So, whatcha been up to since we
Ted Waitt of Gateway on October the darker. Release was actually a relief for
that they would be concentrating on proved to be true as two days later it although development of Amiga Objects spoke last (just after you 'left'
18th. him, and now we can get on and do
their projects and not to expect any fur- was announced that Jim Collas had also is to continue. Tom Shmidt stated that Amiga)?
what should have been done 2 years
ther announcements. As regular public left the company to “pursue other inter- Amiga Objects will be developed for COSA has many influential Amigans
Getting to know Evie, buying a house, ago.
statements had been started by Jim ests and opportunities”. Tom Schmidt “Linux (and other operating systems that among its supporters including Fleecy
getting into a horrendous ERP im-
Collas with his monthly executive brief- replaced Jim as CEO moving from his support Java)”. Moss and even Petro Tyschtschenko plementation at work. Trying to work on I know you're a Bill McEwan fan, even
seems to be interested in the idea and KOSH when I can. I spent a lot of time though he hadn't had any Amiga con-
tact or experience before joining
Gary Storm and Robert passed COSA’s report along to Tom chatting with Bill about Amiga possibili-
Amiga: Schmidt. ties, especially how we would do it if Amiga (after you left?). Why is that?
Williams look at some of there was an opportunity. Just spend ten minutes with him. For an
Not everyone is convinced that an open
American, he has a rare sense of
the organisations source AmigaOS would be a good idea From what we've read and heard
humour, cuts through the bullshit, and
the future? hoping to revive the however, it has been pointed out that apblaonuatt,i othnes mfoarn Jyi mpl aCuoslliabsle ‘ leexa-ving’ enjoys wacky stunts. Schindler got really
many key parts of the OS including bent out of shape because I went out to
Amiga, We definitely know that he
Amiga spirit. AREXX and the compugraphic font South Dakota one time, and we were all
didn't leave because of any immature
engine are licenced products whose meeting up. I bumped into Bill at
dickhead's threats (he’s a bigger,
With the Gateway situation so had signed up to their charter. The list pass their ideas to Phoenix through owners may not agree to them becom- Minneapolis airport, and by the time we
stronger man than that), and didn't
unsure a number of com- included famous names in the Amiga developers who belong to the group and ing open source with the OS. Another leave of his own volition. got off the plane in Sioux City, we were
panies and groups have community such as Holger Kruse through a “Team Amiga Central” website worry is that the OS might loose it’s Comments? best friends - and Schindler had been
his friend for years. He just “gets it”. The
emerged with plans to revive the Amiga (Miami) and Olaf Barthel (Term and OS which is currently being developed. cohesive efficient design if it were
Jim left because Gateway got best compliment I can pay him is I would
market in some way. As you’ll have read 3.5). Also included are representatives worked on by a large number of inde-
In the PhAQ section of their website threatened by MS when they caught spend time with him outside of work. In
on the previous page Amino have pulled from major current Amiga developers pendent programmers with little central
Phoenix say they are trying to achieve wind of the last round of publicity, and fact, that’s the whole point - even work
off something of a coup by purchasing like Phase 5 and GPSoftware and co-ordination.
“A computer that people will enjoy using the comments that GW was going to isn’t work with him. We do it because it
the Amiga rights from Gateway but even members of the original Amiga team like and a marketplace that has a future”. Haage and Partner who organised the take on Amiga. There were also a lot of makes us feel alive.
so the companies discussed here are RJ Mical, Dave Haynie and Carl internal disagreement over direction,
More information on Phoenix is available development of OS3.5 and Olaf Barthel At the moment, until some proof
sure to have some influence on the fu- Sassenrath. and the role of the community, and he
at http://www.owlnet.net/phoenix/. who was one of the main programmers comes from Amiga, it seems the only
ture direction of the platform. was set up, to an extent (at least in my
Phoenix say they aim to define open on the project have stated that they are good thing that's come out of the last
COSA opinion) by those who have now benefit-
QNX standards for a new computing platform not in favour of a completely open ted. With his revenue stream and plan in couple of years, is QNX, who seem
with each of their members contributing The Campaign to Open Source source AmigaOS although in an IRC tatters, what self respecting guy would intent on keeping their word and co-
QNX are still working on their own par- in their area of expertise. When the stan- conference at the recent Cologne show stay? operating with hardware vendors to
AmigaOS is a group of individuals and produce a new computer platform.
ticular partnerships (with Phase 5) to dards are defined new machines could Markus from Haage and Partner did
organisations which lobby to have the There was a suggestion of you trying It's funny how things turn out, as you
bring their Neutrino OS to us in a PPC be built by any of the Phoenix manufac- state that “It might make sense to make
source code of the AmigaOS released. to get Jim Collas involved in AQUA. suggested QNX while at Amiga, and
computer. QNX have also recently turers. some parts open source... so this can
Open Source means that the source Any luck, or do you at least know now there may be a chance that you
signed partnerships with Motorola and be discussed” he also pointed out that
Phoenix has a pretty broad definition of code of the operating system is made what he's doing now? (and others) will be working with QNX
IsBhMou ilnd ssoeme es onmone-trheinlagt efrdo vme nQtNurXe sin. Wthee what qualifies a developer and asks for freely available and can be modified at nGoa tceowdaey c’so upledr mbeis rseiolena.sed without It is always a possibility. I think Jim will tAoQ dUoA t h(we adse e'Adm, aignad QpNroXd uUcneif othrem
anyone who is involved in bringing soft- will. If a programmer wishes to distribute surface pretty soon but he is resting
next few months. Architecture'). How are things moving
ware or hardware to market to get in- modifications they must make them The latest updates on COSA’s progress now. The GW2K rape left him drained.
on that front, and what is the vision?
Phoenix volved. This includes not only program- freely available in source code form. and an on-line survey where you cab
Bill McEwan was let go as well, which Do you have enough financial back-
mers and hardware engineers but also This model has been successfully express your support are on their
seems to indicate that they aren't in- ing yet?
In September the previously unheard of beta testers, translators, marketing applied to many projects, the most pop- website at: terested in producing anything, as it's
Phoenix Platform Consortium published people and many others. Users can ular of which is probably the well known http://www.savetheamiga.org.uk a numb decision to lose your market- QNX is a great product, and we have
a very impressive list of developers who Linux Unix like operating system. been trying to get Dan and the crew in-
10 CLUBBED - Issue 4 Winter 1999 11
FEATURES FEATURES
volved for well over a year. With Amiga them to gain from economies of scale. a computer - the initial revulsion by the know a part of the Rebol story and we would be safer to acronymise it as out if it can be done better. There aren’t
Inc finally revealing their true colours, This SW architecture will be called community towards Digital Convergence will be delighted to be a part of telling 'Ami Qnx United Architecture', unless any competitors that I know of who take
the time is now right to break the com- AQUA (Amino Qnx United Architecture). was a sign of this, but it is also a misun- the whole. Rebol will be one of the key Gateway were willing to sell the that approach or who target ppl who
munity from its dependency habit. We derstanding - it is about the solution and pillars of AQUA. We only left the R out Amiga name (very doubtful). think like that. We win the loyalty of the
Our hope is for a co-operating ocean of
have coalesced a business, technical not the tool. We will fully support, devel- because it messed our nice water im- community because we provide a better
companies, all doing their bit. With no Maybe you now see why we chose the
and strategy document that we have op and work in partnership with others to agery up ;-) product, a better experience.
single authority, we gain the flexibility name Amino - and its the building block
been working on really for over 18 push this pathfinder community forwards
and protection that has been missing in We all know that any new computer of life as well. Who could want more? Finally, common sense meets tech-
months, even if informally. One of Bill’s - our techo-adventurers, and then follow
the past. Of course, we want to further platform would have to have some AmIRC doesn’t even have to change its nological prowess, and the will to make
“gifts” is that he seems to know ab- up 12 months later with products for the
safeguard our own part of this, Amino. level of PC software compatibility. name ;-) it real.
solutely anybody who is anybody, and mainstream. We see it as a wonderful
We want to take the company public, but You believe that Java is the answer. If
the job offers, and investment offers we opportunity for co-operation and just Are there any Amiga patents/traits Are you going to produce a website
in such a way that the controlling Gateway have dumped Sun in favour
have had in this little venture of ours plain fun.ainstream. We see it as a that are essential in the building of now, or only when the plans are
shareholding is distributed widely of Microsoft, then perhaps Sun would
sometimes blow me away. Money will wonderful opportunity for co-operation this new platform? finalised and backing has been
amongst the community, users, be willing to join the AQUA project?
not be a problem. and just plain fun. procured?
developers, and the like, further protect- just the desire to do the best, and have
QNX already runs Java. WINE already
For us, the Amiga is a philosophy. ing our dream in case anyone ever You mentioned patching up the cur- fun, irrespective of the sneers of others. Once the money is in the account ;-) We
runs PC apps to an acceptable level. We
Elegance through simplicity is it’s motto. comes looking to buy it out. We have rent Amiga market. The only way you don’t want to do another iWin, or AInc,
are always willing to talk though. I think we've all had years of practice at
I spent the last year telling ppl that this already sent the preliminary proposal out can stop the rot, is to sell a mouthing off only to disappoint a few
that.
was the case, that it wasn’t the company to our partners in the community, and reasonably priced computer, that What about Transmeta? If Gateway months later. We will be in constant con-
but the ideals. However, dependency is are talking to many outside of it. marries the Amiga ethos to pc hard- have become bosom buddies with M$ How much do you estimate the cost tact with many ppl, and we hope they
a hard thing to kick, and Collas, to his ware. Can you go into more detail on again, then they may be out of the to design, produce and market will spread the word, or at least the
We have received nothing but good
credit, did offer something appealing. this? And if that's the first stage, Amiga equation too. AQUA? news.
news up until now. We hope to have
The collapse of that though is really the what is the 2nd stage?
Amino up and running in 4 weeks, and Transmeta are a chip supplier, so are We have a very specific set of plans Will it be possible for people (like me)
best thing that could have happened for
our partnership plan is to get a set of Going along with AQUA, we see waves Motorola, AMD, Sun and others. I leave both for the common market, and for to buy shares in AQUA, and put a
the Amiga - the ultimate slap in the face
products, the second wave (we want to of development. In honour of Jay and that to the HW reference group. dynamic extra-market activity. The inno- little money into something we
wake up call. We want the philosophy to
reserve the first wave for the classic crew, the first wave will be reserved for vative nature of both our plans, and the believe in?
continue. We made and are still making Any new computer also needs killer
Amiga) out within 6 months - no dilithium the classic Amiga. The second wave is unique nature of the community itself
strenuous efforts to get the name, but apps and games at launch. Where in That is one of the key points of our com-
powered warp capable products, but a what we are working on with our makes it difficult to honestly answer that
AInc has now made it clear they will try the world are you going to get these pany, Amino - I can’t speak for the
good, solid basis that can come to mar- partners now. It will be a very powerful question. The standard answer is that it
to wring as much as they can from it, from? An original game to show off others, but it is a great way to raise capi-
ket quickly, and get the community system, even at the low end, but don’t costs $20 million to establish a brand-
and we need our money for the future. the AQUA would take at least six tal, show your commitment to the com-
moving again. In addition, there are look for miracles or warp drive. We are name. We intend to let our products
So we will proceed anyway. However, months to program (and a port just munity and protect the future. AQUA is
other efforts afoot to energise the com- calling the HW reference group together, establish that brand-name, and the $20
for the community to survive and wouldn't be any incentive to change the architecture, remember and it
munity, developers and users. As we hopefully within the Phoenix organisa- million would be better spent research-
prosper, we must break out of the cycle computers for). belongs to no single entity.
have already said, we are wanting to tion to spec out a single sourced com- ing and developing those products. Still,
of the past. No more single owners,
see a new model, not just us selling to mon design - single CPU, single high Games companies want to show off, expect some fun - Bill already wants to As you said on the Team AMIGA mail-
power focuses, or single points for
them, but a dynamic habitat where we end graphics card, sound card etc - this and they also want to sell a lot. Play fair bungie jump off the Space Needle ing list, AQUA is a great marketing
failure. We see all as working together
all meet, work, play, and have a good minimises development time and effort, with them, give them the tools and sup- dressed as a mermaid (although stran- name. I can envisage a whole range
for the benefit of all, working at their
time. This cannot be done alone. We will support and incompatibilities, and port, and show them a hungry market, gely enough, that was before we coined of different AQUA's ....AQUA
core competencies to produce a variety
do it together, but this time it will be means we can hopefully get something and you would be surprised what turns the term AQUA?) Barracuda; AQUA Shark; AQUA
of wonderful products and ideas based
done by Amigans first. out within 6 months from startup. It will up. Multi-modal markets also helps a lot, Dolphin (also friendly and intelligent)
around a common core. Bill. Seek help immediatly... it has to be
give us the powerful foundation we and although the community is our love, etc etc, possibly even AQUA Storm?
Hopefully AQUA will be multi-media a naked bungee jump a-la 'Man From
We see QNX as producing the core OS need, to prove the market, to secure and it will be our pathfinder for technol- :) The designs could afford to be a bit
centric, with DVD, audio and video Atlantis' :)
and services. We see Rebol as provid- revenue streams, and to be able to start ogy and product, we are also going to wild and colourful too :)
in/out ports, timecode generating
ing the scripting and messaging designing the third wave, where hope- take our speedboat around the bigger The big question: Timeline to market?
software etc etc for producing We are going to insist on it - we dare to
paradigm. Bill and I see our new com- fully we can really go to town.ly we can ponds a la Caddyshack style. I also still When could we buy it, and what com-
animations, music, and video's. What be different because we can be, and
pany as providing the Amiga ex- really go to town. need to get someone to develop petition do you envision?
are your visions for the AQUA range because it is demanded.
perience, from the moment you ap- Cannon Fodder 3D.
(if there is to be more than one)? I How much moolah will the AQUA(s) The existing community and market
proach an new machine to the moment ...need an Australian in your team? I
assume the internet will also play a set us back? Whatever the final solution, it seems needs to be stabilised and quickly. The
you leave it. It is much more than an promise I won't shag your sheep
big part in the user interface design, likely that (due to the nature of the second wave product line will be a good
interface though, although that will be Again, Aqua is just the SW component, (much) :)
to make it easier/friendlier. current industry) AQUA will have a solid foundation for our future. By
one of the items we work on. It will be so I don’t know what the actual products
much larger OS than the current simplifing, concentrating on maybe a We want to be part of a much bigger
an attitude, an empowerment, a model, No, we intend to concentrate only the will be called. We are looking at 3
Amiga OS. Does this mean sacrificing single graphics and sound solution, and team, the community itself... but we
a habitiat. Included in this is not just how soybean manufacturing computer device products for the second wave, at least
some of the small size, cleanness, going for the base functionality, we have to be honest and you have already
you relate to the machine but how it market. We see it as having a huge on paper, 1 single CPU workstation
and efficiency of the code in an effort believe we can get product out within 6 failed that... an Australian who won’t
relates to you, your finances, your home potential to keep our company in tofu for (<$1299), a multi-CPU workstation
for semi cross-platform compatibil- months. It will easily be performance shag sheep much... pah, next you’ll be
or office, your philosophy. Marketing a years to come ;-) AQUA is just the ar- (<$1799), and an integrated mother-
ity? competitive with the competition (we do telling me the Welsh wear wellies be-
reality that is far and away above what chitecture. We personally are going for 2 board, that takes a DreamCast type ap-
have QNX after all), and point the way to cause it rains a lot ;-) stay in touch.
exists today. markets, the pathfinder market (power proach - squash the single CPU With Carl and Dan on board??? Do you
where we want to go once we have
user, geek, academic, and technophile), workstation down onto a small board, think I have iron underpants on? They’d Well, gotta leave some sheep for you to
Of course this is all talk and plans at the stopped the rot and began the climb
and then the digippl market - technology with PCI/AGP headers and allow com- spank the hell out of me. shag on the edge of cliffs (they push
moment, but that’s how it starts. I back to the top. Most important is to stop
haters who just want technology panies to produce an A1200 like device back harder) :) I'm more 'into' rubber
haven’t stopped though. QNX, Rebol, We intend to develop the best platform the great developers and users from
solutions in their life but we will run at with a lot of expansion potential - I would chickens, myself. Easy to turn inside out
and our company, which has a working out there, and if we have to be off the slipping away. There are as much our
the first sound of the word computer. hope to see this sell for <$499.<$499. for cleaning, too :)
name of Amino at the moment (for many mainstream, then so be it. We can’t ex- partners as are the investors and the
The future is moving on, away from
reasons ;-)) are just a small part of it - Where does Arexx sit in the AQUA pect ppl to come to us unless we companies. Competition wise, I don’t Thanks Fleecy. Good luck BTW.
workstations, clients, servers etc - it is
the core SW part. We also have invited equation? Would it be possible to present a compelling reason for them to see any. Sounds cheesy, but you have
all about digital content, whether you are Interview by Gary Storm.
hardware companies to come together adapt Rebol to be an Arexx replace- do so. We may not be able to get the to ask yourself, what are we building.
building applications, sculpting 3D im-
to form a hardware reference platform ment? name Amiga, but elegance through We are building a community and a plat-
ages, listening to music, searching the
group - core product specs that will simplicity will always be our motto. form that follows a philosophy. We won’t
web or whatever. Many ppl are still We see Rebol as fulfilling the potential of
enable our SW to run on it, and to allow take the cheap, easy or profitable way
caught up with something that looks like Arexx, and so much more. Most ppl only Excellent name btw :) Perhaps it
12 CLUBBED - Issue 4 Winter 1999 13
FEATURES FEATURES
d CD drive internally where they usually need to terminate the last device. Most drown something out. Most CD-ROMs
CDROM e connect via a 50 way IDC connector on Zorro SCSI cards designed for big box have a headphone output on the front
n
a ribbon cable. External models are also Amigas have an internal and external that you can use to listen to CDs but of
i
a
available although these are usually SCSI connector. If you connect devices course that won’t be mixed with the
l
p simply an internal drive in a powered internally and externally this means the Amiga audio and is a bit untidy. Usually
x case. External drives can be connected controller is in the middle of the chain there is also a connection on the back of
E
with a variety of different cabling and thus should not be terminated. the CD-ROM which is designed to con-
depending on the external connectors Some cards have a jumper to disable nect to a mixer inside the computer, un-
supplied on both the device and your termination but with others the only al- fortunately the A3000T and the
SCSI interface. However as long as you ternative is to physically remove the ter- A4000(T) are the only Amigas ever to
A wealth of useful programs and buy a cable intended for SCSI with the minating resistors. have a mixer on the motherboard. If you
Access to a huge range
files are available on CDROMs like correct connectors on each end every- have another machine several options
So to put it simply when adding your
of software and these! thing should work with no problems. Any CD-ROM (or any device) to the SCSI are open to you. A small external mixer
type of SCSI CD-ROM should work. can be used with the Amiga and CD-
bus:
resources has never ROM output, this works well and means
Setting up the SCSI Bus
Ensure it has a unique unit number the level of each output is adjustable but
been eaiser or cheaper!
(remember that the unit number DOES can be a bit untidy. Another option is to
Up to seven devices can be connected
Robert Williams shows NOT have anything to do with physical build your own mixer and mount it inter-
to a SCSI controller with each device
position in the chain or termination). nally, there was an excellent feature by
you how to add a daisy chained to the next. Each device
You can connect two IDE devices to Simon Goodwin in issue 126 of Amiga
has a unique device number from 0 to 7 Ensure that both PHYSICAL ends of
CDROM to your Amiga. the A1200 or A4000's built in IDE Format on various types of DIY mixer.
(the controller is usually unit 7) the unit your chain are terminated and nothing
port using an IDE cable with suit- CD-ROM audio leads often come with
number is usually set by jumpers or a else.
able connectors. because the CD-ROM drives and if not are available
Why Add A CD-ROM selector on the back of the device. The
A1200s and A4000s come with an IDE A1200 was designed with a 2.5" IDE Audio from most PC retailers.
chain must go directly from one device
Drive? interface built in however the drivers for hard drive in mind you will need a to the next, therefore it will only have CD File Systems
this interface which reside in the special cable which converts from the If you want to use your CD-ROM to play
two ends. Both physical ends of the
It’s hard to get away from the CDROM Kickstart ROM were designed so long 44way connector to the 40way con- standard audio CDs or use games which
chain must be terminated, this uses a Once you have your CD-ROM attached
these days, they’re stuck on the front of ago they do not support ATAPI devices. nector on the CD-ROM and has the cor- play their music from CD-ROM (most
resistor pack to stop signals being to your Amiga you then need the soft-
virtually every computer magazine and This means you cannot use a CD-ROM rect connector for your hard disk. These CD releases do this) then you will need
reflected back along the chain. ware that lets the Amiga understand the
being stuffed through our doors with with the built-in interface with simply a cables have to be hand made so they to connect the audio output of your CD-
Termination can be accomplished in two data stored on the CD-ROM. This soft-
junk mail. Why are CD-ROMs so popu- CD file system (as you can with SCSI). tend to be quite expensive (£10 - £15). ROM to some speakers. Most people
ways, the last device in the chain can ware is called a file system. There are
lar, well simply they provide an inex- Several patch programs are available For a little more you can buy a four way will also want to be able to hear their
have it’s built-in termination switched on several CD file systems available for the
pensive way of distributing a large which add ATAPI support to the Amiga’s IDE interface which makes connecting Amiga audio at the same time, which
(if it has it) or a separate terminator can Amiga. One of the most popular is
amount of data. Even though we were a IDE drivers these include IDE Fix and the devices easier, allows you to use up causes a problem. To further add to the
be plugged into the last connector. AmiCDFS, which is available on Aminet,
bit slow off the mark taking up CD-ROM EIDE99. to four IDE devices and often includes problem the output from the CD-ROM
this works with almost all CD-ROMs and
in the Amiga world now most modern IDEFix or EIDE’99 which you’d have to Most SCSI controllers have termination and that from the Amiga are at different
Another solution to the ATAPI support is unrestricted shareware. AsimCDFS is
software is distributed on the silver disc buy separately otherwise. built in so as long as you make the con- levels so you need a proper mixer,
problem is to buy OS 3.5 which comes a commercial package that comes with
and huge collections of software are troller one end of the chain you only simply combining the signals is bound to
with a new version of the IDE driver soft- Whichever way you choose to go you loads of extras and a preferences pro-
available in the form of magazine cover
ware which does support ATAPI, it also need to set up the CD-ROM and hard
discs and collections like Aminet.
includes a good CD filesystem. disk correctly. If you have them both More Haste Less Speed?
So if you haven’t got a CD-ROM drive plugged on to the same IDE cable you
You can buy pretty much any ATAPI
it’s a pretty essential purchase and this need to set one as master and the other
compatible IDE CD-ROM and it will work The first CD-ROM drives transferred called Constant Linear Velocity or CLV speed before it can be accessed which
feature will guide you in buying and in- as slave this is achieved by setting
on your Amiga, even the latest 40 speed data at the same speed as audio CDs, for short. Some CDs are not stable slows response time in interactive
stalling one. If you already have a CD- jumpers on the device. If you had the
drives are commonly available for less 150kb per second. As technology im- when spun at over about 12X when operations like looking through direc-
ROM we hope you’ll find out a bit more hard disk attached before it is probably
than 40 pounds as an internal unit. proved faster drives were developed reading the inside of the disc so to tories on Workbench. Fast drives also
about how it works with the Amiga’s OS set to master so simply set the CD-ROM
When shopping for drives beware that with their speed commonly expressed enable drives to go faster a new type of often suffer from excess noise and
and there are also some suggestions of to slave and plug it in. If you have a four
many older CD-ROM drives for PCs did as how many times faster than an drive was invented. Constant Angular vibration. To avoid wear and minimise
free and shareware software that will way IDE interface you will have two IDE
not follow the ATAPI standard and audio CD they are. For example a 12X Velocity drives spin the CD at a con- noise many drives exacerbate the spin-
help you get more from your drive. connectors (often called channels) and
required a custom interface card which drive can transfer data at 1800kb per stant speed accepting that data will be up problem by stopping the CD after a
you can connect two drives to each one,
What You Need are not available for the Amiga (one ex- second. As speeds increased beyond read at different speeds on different few moments of inactivity so it has to
one master and one slave. If you have
ception to this is the tandem card which about 12X several problems caused by parts of the disc. Most modern drives be spun up again on the next access. If
one device on each channel set them
A CD-ROM drive worked with Mitsumi custom CD-ROMs). spinning the compact disc far faster are CAV and this fact is often indicated your main use for a CD-ROM is to in-
both to master.
A suitable interface Unfortunately most of these drives use than was originally intended were by the word “max” after the speed. stall programs, watch animations and
A CD File system the same 40 pin connector as genuine SCSI encountered. 32Xmax for example indicates that 32X listen to music, all activities where the
ATAPI drives and can damage your IDE is the maximum that will be achieved CD is in constant use, you’ll find a
IDE Audio CD players and slower CD-ROM
interface if you plug them in so shop If you have a SCSI (often pronounced on the very outside of the disc. Other faster drive will be a real boon as data
drives spin the CD at different speeds
with care. As a rule if you stick to drives scuzzy) interface for your Amiga then manufacturers are clearer and label will be transferred faster. If you’re more
IDE CD-ROM drives are very widely depending on what part is being read to
of 8 speed or faster you’ll find they are fitting a CD-ROM drive is quite simple. their CAV drives with the minimum and likely to be exploring magazine cover
available at low cost because they are keep the data transfer rate constant at
ATAPI compliant, if you’re unsure con- Almost all Amiga SCSI interfaces will maximum speeds possible for example CDs and Aminet discs you may well
the most popular standard in the PC all times. This means the disc has to be
firm the spec of the drive with the manu- work with CD-ROMs, you’re only likely 14/32. find a slower drive is actually much
world. IDE CD-ROMs use an extension spun faster when the laser is reading
facturer (most have excellent technical to run into problems with really old (pre easier to live with.
to the IDE standard called ATAPI, this the centre of the disc than when it is High speed drives also have a problem
references on their web site) before you 1990) ones. If your Amiga is in a case
extension is also used by other IDE reading the outside, this type of drive is in that they have to spin the disc up to
try and use it. with 5.25" drive bays you can fit a SCSI
devices such as ZIP drives. Amiga
14 CLUBBED - Issue 4 Winter 1999 15
FEATURES FEATURES
gram. Other options are CacheCDFS Setting up the File PlextorControl - disk/cdrom
which comes with IDEFix and CDROM
System This useful command line utility allows
AllegroCDFS that comes with EIDE’99.
you to set some of the advanced options
All the above are very good and work
Most CD File systems, with the available with the excellent SCSI CD-
well. As a long term user I’d happily
notable exception of AmiCDFS, ROMs made by Plextor. Options include
recommend AmiCDFS unless you get Utilities
come with an installer to help set changing the spin down delay for faster
one of the others with your IDE interface
up your CD-ROM, this is included browsing of CD-ROMs and options to
or particularly need to read Windows 95
during the installation of IDEFix slow down the drive on damaged discs.
CDs which are in the Joliett format that CDCat uses a simple MUI interface.
and EIDE’99 too. However this
AmiCDFS does not support but the section explains what’s If your Once you’ve got your CDROM crunch, copy and view them etc. SSD2 - disk/cdrom
other three do. DOSDriver
going on during the in- up and running there are a This utility stops Toshiba SCSI CD-
icon does Audio Players
CDs are not formatted with the same stallation and should whole host of utilities available ROMs spinning down so quickly when
not have any
filesystem as hard drives and floppy help you answer any Tool Types which you can use to deal with the huge All CD-ROM drives that I’m aware of they’re not in use which is very annoying
disks, in fact there are several CD awkward ques- defined you’ll probably amount of data found on the discs and allow you to play audio CDs on your when you’re browsing directories.
fpourtmerast sin ccolumdminogn tlhye u Asemdi.g Ma,o PsCt cso amn-d taiosknss ythoeu .installer DOhaSvDer itvoe er ditist ethlfe. A toon ehse lmp eyonutio cnoendtr hoel trhee a dreri vaev.a Milaobslte o f the ccoomntproult ethre h polwaey vbearc yko. uT hneeseed raa nugtileit yfr otom Audio Extraction
Unix machines use the standard CD file systems usually DOSDriver is simply a text ofrom Aminet either on the Internet or the very simple to complex programs It can often be useful to extract audio
ISO9660 format which means a CD- consist of two parts, the file file that defines some informa- from the CDROMs (of course)! with more features than your stereo! from a CD onto your hard drive, once
ROM from any of these machines system itself which resides in the L tion about the device needed by Picture Cataloguing There are absolutely loads on Aminet there you can use it as a sample in
should be readable on any of the others. directory and a DOSDriver which is the file system so it can be easily but here are a few of our favourites: music programs, encode it into an
Mthaec ssa umsee aas f othrmeira th caardll eddis HksF San wdh filcohp -is ncaonrm naalmly ec aitl laendy CthDin0g ( yifo yuo luik we aanntd y oif uy ou ecadlilteedd .C ADs0s ucmhoinogs ey oEuxre DcuOtSe DCroivmemr ias nd Mweaanlyth C oDf -iRmOagMess aorfe a allv kainiladbsl efr owmith m ao no Groovy Player - disk/cdrom McoPmEpGila atiuodni oC fDile i fo yro euv ehna vbeu arn C itD o wntroit ear .
pies but can also read 9660 discs if set had more than one CD-ROM you could from the Workbench menu and enter the clipart to 24bit photos. For this type of This neat player is now freeware, it has Most SCSI CD-ROM drives and some
up to do so. The ISO9660 format is fairly have CD1, CD2 etc.). There may also be following command: disc a picture cataloguing program an attractive front end that looks like a IDE ones are able to transfer audio data
restrictive, for example it only allows PC other support files that need to be allows you to search through a Hifi component. Supports all the normal across the bus rather than just play
style eight character filenames. For copied to the system directories. After ed sys:Storage/DOSDrivers/CD0 thumbnail index of the images on a par- options like random play, program play audio CDs. Depending on the drive you
machines which allow longer filenames the support files have been copied it’s Press enter and you should be ticular CD-ROM without even having the and intro scan. You can also name each may be able to extract the audio at
(Amigas, Unix etc.) a set of extensions safest to place the DOSDriver in the presented with the DOSDriver loaded disc in the drive. Once you’ve found the of your CDs and all the tracks then greater than the speed of a standard CD
to the ISO9660 standard were defined Storage/DOSDrivers directory so it will into an editor. Near the top of the file you image you want it can tell you exactly Groovy will recognise the CD when you but it usually does not reach the full
called the Rockridge extensions. There not be mounted at boot up until you’re should see two lines looking something where it is. insert it. speed of the drive.
is an Amiga specific portion of these ex-
tensions which allow Amiga protection happy everything is working correctly. like this: PhotoAlbum - gfx/misc Plugged - disk/cdrom MakeCD - http://makecd.core.de
Then you need to configure the CDFS to
bits and file comments to be preserved use the correct device and unit number DEVICE = scsi.device Extremely fast shareware picture My personal favourite CD player, this Can legally be used for to extract audio
on a CD, all the above Amiga CDFSs for your CD-ROM. This is done by edit- UNIT = 3 cataloguer, effortlessly handles CD- shareware program is now sadly unsup- without registering and supports a wide
support these extensions. ing the DOSDriver. Some DOSDrivers Again simply change them to suit your ROMs with thousands of images and ported. Plugged lets you define play lists range of drives, the interface is complex
have the device and unit defined as tool- set up and save the file using the saves catalogues of a reasonable size. for each of your CDs then happily play if you just want it for extraction though.
.device ?
types. To check this, click once on the Project/Save menu item. Includes functions to load images into just the tracks you want in the order you
CDDA - disk/cdrom
DOSDriver icon then choose Information image processors. Optimised for Amigas choose when you insert the CD.
Gyoout ’rae S nCoSt sI uorre I DwEh acto intst rdoellevirc beu nt ame finrofomrm thaeti oWno wrkinbdeonwch l oIcookn fso rm theen ufo. lIlno wthineg Oabnlcee t oy oduo’uvbel ed ocnlieck t hoins ythoeu DshOoSuDldr ibveer wCiltuhb bgeradp Ihsiscuse c a2r.ds. Reviewed in ACDP - disk/cdrom Aha ssm waollr kceodm wmealnl dfo lri nmee p brougt rias mdi fwfichuiclth t o
iosn?e Hs:ere’s a list of the more common lines in the tooltypes section: fNoor wyo inusr eCrDt a-R dOisMc aton dm ionu an tf ethwe m dorimvee.n ts Collector - gfx/misc TGhroiso pvyla pyelary hear sb usitm uislaers f uan scttaionndaalridty to uasbele. Aon n Aummbineert .of extra GUIs are avail-
DEVICE= an icon should appear on your This cataloguer displays better than GadTools interface if you prefer that over
A1200 and 4000 IDE scsi.device UNIT= Workbench. You can then use the CD- PhotoAlbum on AGA Amigas although it Groovy’s custom look. OptyCDPlayer - disk/cdrom
A3000 SCSI scsi.device If they are present simply click on each ROM just as you would any other disc, generates thumbnails more slowly. A MUI based Audio CD player with an
A4000T SCSI 2nd.scsi.device one and edit the tooltype to reflect your except of course standard CD-ROMs Reviewed in Clubbed Issue 1. Drive Control Utilities extraction option. I couldn’t get it to work
Most GVP gvpscsi.device are read-only... you can’t save anything
GuruROM omniscsi.device set up then click save. For example if on to them. When you’re happy the CD- Drive Cataloguing Ejectors on my drive but if it works with yours it
you had a CD-ROM set as unit 4 on a has a much easier interface than CDDA.
Blizzard 12x0 SCSI 1230scsi.device ROM is working use Workbench to move There are a number of utilities on
CyberStorm MkI and 2 SCSI Module GVP SCSI controller you might set the the DOSDriver icon from the These programs will generate an index Aminet which allow you to eject the CD- Grabator - disk/cdrom
tool types to: of every file on a CD (or indeed any
cybscsi.device Storage/DOSDrivers drawer into the disk) and allow you to quickly search for ROM from your Amiga. Two good ones A shell based utility specially designed
CyberStorm MkIII and PPC DEVICE=gvpscsi.device Devs/DOSDrivers drawer, your CDROM files without putting each disc in the are EjectCD (disk/cdrom) which opens to extract perfect audio from scratched
cybppc.device UNIT=4 will now be available every time you drive. a small window with a button to eject the or damaged CDs, it may also improve
Blizzard PPC blizzppc.device If you’re using an ATAPI CD-ROM check boot. If you want to use the CD-ROM CD and dbEject (disk/misc) which is a grabs from CD-ROMs with poor audio
bsc Oktagon 2008 oktagon.device the documents that came with your from the shell you can refer to it by the CDCat - disk/cdrom shell command that can be called from extraction quality. Optimised for quality
HiSoft Squirrel squirrelscsi.device ATAPI driver (IDEFix, EIDE’99 etc.) to name of the disc you’ve inserted or by This MUI program is very attractive and scripts, Directory Opus etc. rather than speed.
the name of the DOSDriver, for example
If your controller isn’t on this list and find the correct device name and unit straight forward to use. It creates
CD0:.
you don’t have any documentation a number to use. catalogues of even large CDs very
system information program like quickly and searching through several
If you’re not sure of the device name for
Scout or XOpa will list all the devices disks was virtually instant on my ‘060.
your controller take a look at its
on your system, with a bit of luck Once you’ve found the files you’re look-
documentation, we also have a few of
you’ll be able to see the one which ing for CDCat even has a simple file
the common controllers listed in the
relates to you controller. manager built-in where you can de-
“.device?” box. Groovy Player is well... groovy!
16 CLUBBED - Issue 4 Winter 1999 17
REVIEWS REVIEWS
Something Fishy 4 water colour or sponge. The brush style
Photogenics affects what is laid down on your paint
Reviews are very subjective, what one layer. You can alter the size and pres-
reviewer may love, another hates. Such sure of the brush to get just the effect
is life. So we decided to have a general you’re looking for and there is also a
score, which the reader can take into transparency setting which allows the
account along with the text. image to show through what you’ve
painted. Because you are not painting
After a rocky start with the buggy
So we invented the fish... it’s easy to
on the image itself but the paint layer
work out which we feel is a better
4.0 version Photogenics 4 is ready you can alter what you’ve painted to
product... the more bones that show, the
your hearts content without actually
smellier the fish :). We only award our to take on the world. Robert
changing the image. At any time you
top Caviar rating to products that are
Williams and Mick Sutton find out can “spray off” what you’ve painted by
practically perfect.
painting over it with the right mouse
Photogenics has always been un- terface on button rather than the left, correcting
C a v i a r like any other graphics package the Workbench screen with the preferen- mistakes is very easy. When you’re
happy with the effect you’ve achieved
on the Amiga (or in fact any plat- ces window open on the Screenmode
you simply fix the changes which
form that I’m aware of), with its unique page for you to choose a screenmode.
actually alters the image and clears the
paint layer enabling you to spray on and The following types of display are sup-
paint layer ready for a different paint
off a multitude of effects. Then you ex- ported:
The best so far! We can hardly pick mode or colour to be applied.
periment with the effect applied and its
anything out of it, not even boogers. 16 Grey scales on ECS machines. 256
settings all without touching the original If you’ve got the gist of how Photogenics
Rarer than Nessie. Greyscales, 256 colours (dithered), or
image until you were completely happy. HAM 8 on AGA machines. 16 or 24bit works from the above (and it’s hard to The paint-on pyrotechnic effects are stunning.
Photogenics was originally designed CyberGraphX screens for those lucky describe in words believe me) you’re In this grab you can also see the flexible palette-based interface.
and written by Paul Nolan when he was probably thinking it sounds pretty im-
enough to own a CgX or Picasso 96 mode your progress is hardly interrupted Using the rub-through paint mode you
just 16, an amazing achievement. The pressive and flexible, however there is
supported graphics card. as fixing even large images is now can use layers to compose several im-
package was then published by another trick up its sleeve. You can not
almost instant (it could take nearly a ages together. You simply make a layer
Almathera and reached version 2 when Initially the interface consists of a tool- only paint on colours but also special
minute in Photogenics 2). for each image and set the secondary
they went out of business. Paul then bar along the top of the screen and an effects too. Because they can be
image for each layer to the one you
took the package on again and started Options window down the left-hand side. painted on these effects are referred to Along with the various brush types there
This product is definitely worth buying want to compose. Then the rub through
writing a new version from scratch, after The toolbar has buttons for common a “Paint Modes”. There is a wide range are also smear and smudge functions
but, like most things, still has room for paint mode will bring the secondary
more than two years of development options such as loading and saving to choose from and all of them can be which blend the existing image together.
improvement. image onto the layer. Because layers
Photogenics 4 was born. along with drawing tools and a drop simply painted on to the areas you want Unlike the previous versions of
can be moved and their position in the
down list of the various paint modes to change using any of the tools and Photogenics these modes can now be
The two version number jump is a sign stack changed you can simply organise
(image processing effects) you can brush styles. As you can change the rubbed off with the right mouse button
that this is no ordinary upgrade, in fact your composition without committing to
apply. The Options window consists of colour of what you’ve painted you can making them far more friendly to use.
Photogenics 4 is a completely new pro- any changes until you are completely
five pages each containing some tools simply choose a different paint mode These two functions are very useful for
gram sharing only some concepts from happy.
or settings. This area of the program is and it will be applied to the areas you’ve blending changes into an existing picture
version 2. Not only is the user interface
completely configurable, you can painted over. Altering any options the and for changing even simple effects One really annoying aspect of
quite different but major new features
choose which options appear on which paint mode has will instantly show you into beautiful flowing works of art, Photogenics’ layers implementation that
Average, neither too good nor too bad have been added. In this review we are
page of the window and open new the results too. The options for the cur- anyone who has seen Paul Nolan dem- is that a layered image cannot be saved
— it works but there are areas which going to look at Pgs 4 as a completely
options windows to which you can add rent paint mode are displayed in the onstrate Photogenics will know what I with the layers intact. This means you
need major improvement or are way new program as much as possible.
the options of your choice. For example options window so you don’t have to mean. The smear tool can even be used have to finish your masterpiece in one
behind competing products.
What You Get if you prefer having the colour palette continually open and close requesters to to achieve Goo type effects by stretching session as it will be saved as a standard
available all the time you can simply experiment with the options. As all features of an image. To use the smear flat image.
The Photogenics 4 packaging is mini- drag it off the initial options window and effects are paint modes you can use the tool smoothly, especially with larger
For a hands on explanation of layers
SMELLY malist however as it is supplied on CD it will automatically make a new window brush settings and transparency options brush sizes, you’ll need a high spec
take a look at our tutorial on page 33.
with on-line documentation there really so you can place it where you like on to get subtle results. Amiga however as it is very CPU in-
is no need for more than the slim plastic screen. The only limitation I could find tensive. Undo
Users of Photogenics 1 and 2 will recog-
case in which the CD is supplied. with options windows is that they are
Crap, but hopefully getting better in Photogenics is installed by dragging its designed for vertical orientation, al- nise this description from the older ver- Layers On top of the excellent paint layer tech-
future versions (if there are any). drawer from the CD onto your hard though you can stretch the window hori- sions. In Photogenics 4 this method of nology Photogenics also has probably
working is called experiment mode and Photogenics 4 allows you to add multiple
drive, no installer is required. When zontally the contents remain in a narrow the most powerful Undo system in any
as the name implies makes experiment- layers to your image, this makes the ex-
Photogenics 4 is first run it opens its in- column. Amiga graphics program. You can undo
ing with effects extremely easy. isting paint layer much more powerful as
Product Information Painting However if you know what you want to you can now have several active paint operations even if the results have been
fixed to a limit set in the preferences.
achieve having to click Fix every time layers allowing you to experiment easily
Developer: Paul Nolan The limit is set in the number of com-
In Photogenics when you paint the effect you’re happy with a change can be a bit with combinations of effects. Each paint
Distributor: Paul Nolan plete image undos to store. If you have
is applied to a paint layer (more about annoying. In this case you can now turn layer can have its own paint mode, tool,
WWW: www.paulnolan.com the undo limit set to three you could
layers later). You can paint on the layer experiment mode off, Photogenics will brush, and transparency, not to mention
Tel: undo three complete image effects or a
Disgusting, multicolour yawn inducing USA 1 800 243 1515, extn. 400 with a variety of tools including free then fix the changes you made as soon an individual alpha channel and secon- huge number of individual brush strokes.
abomination that insults the Amiga. Orderline only, see website for fur- hand, circle, rectangle, polygon etc. as you change the colour or paint mode, dary image. Layers are stacked one On the tool bar there are Undo and
Each of these tools can be used with a this makes the painting process much above the other and there are com-
ther details. Redo buttons which allow you to go
choice of brush styles such as air brush, more natural. Even when in experiment mands to alter the order of the layers.
Price: $99.99 (approx. £63) back and forward through what is in
18 CLUBBED - Issue 4 Winter 1999 19