-=========================================================================- _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || Amiga Update -News and Rumors /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || (An Occasional Newsletter) / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ || BACK FOR THE FUTURE || -=========================================================================- AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga Technologies, GmbH --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 960912 D I R E C T O R Y O P U S 5 . 5 A N N O U N C E D M O N S T E R S O F T W A R E C L O S E O U T P I O S G O E S I T A L O N E About this issue's stories: One of the most popular and long running products for the Amiga is Directory Opus. We have a product announcement from them for the latest version to lead off this issue. A company named Frankenstein Software is having a closeout due to their distributor ending U.S. operations. Take a look and see if there might be something there you'd enjoy. We combined several items on PIOS for our last story. We've not paid all that much attention to the recently formed PIOS as we've been unsure whether they're really a player in the new Amiga market or not. So far, the only product they've actually shown is a Macintosh clone. The company includes several former Amiga people, including Dave Haynie. For many years Haynie was one of Commodore/Amiga's top engineers. From the start, there seemed to be strained relationships between the new Amiga Technologies and its owner (first Escom and then VIScorp). Recently PIOS has decided to several relations with VIScorp - or was it the other way around? In any event, we bring you a copy of their recent announcement and also some background information. We have copies of a statement from Mr. Haynie and a PIOS birth announcement. What does this PIOS situation mean for the Amiga community? We honestly don't know but we'll keep an eye on it. Some time ago we promised a review of Termite TCP to compliment our review of the other new Amiga networking "stack", Miami. We hope to have that review in the next issue. There was a recent upgrade to TTCP which we have just gotten and begun using, and we wanted some experience with that first. Hope you enjoy this issue, Brad --------------------------------------------------------------------------- L A T E S T D I R E C T O R Y O P U S A V A I L A B L E Product Information: Thank you for your continuing support of Directory Opus and the Amiga! After more than 12 months of extra development, GPSoftware is pleased to announce the release of the new version the Amiga world's most popular directory and file management utility. Directory Opus 5.5 is more of a new version than just a simple update and contains many changes and enhancements over the original product. After receiving many comments and suggestions from loyal users of Opus, almost every facet of the new program has been examined and subjected to user scrutiny, backed up by extensive field testing from very persistent Beta testers. This release extends the original Opus 5 concepts and provides many significant improvements in both operational power and usability. From the feedback we have received so far we are confident that you will enjoy this new product more than ever! Take a look at the following enhancements to see why an upgrade is a must! . A new Icon Action Mode gives all the power of name mode Listers but with icons. . Button banks and Listers need no longer be activated first in order to see right and middle mouse button clicks. . WorkBench Replacement Mode has been enhanced. Use Opus 5.5 with complete confidence to replace the standard Workbench. . An integrated OpusFTP capability lets you access remote Internet sites directly from standard Opus Listers. . Button banks can now be borderless with a sleek minimal dragbar instead of a full window border. . New Filetype-specific pop-up menus allow special menus for icons and files. Use Filetypes to add custom menus for different types of files and icons. . Custom buttons have a pop-up menu giving access to an extended selection of commands. . New independent HotKeys are now supported. . New Scripts system allows functions to be executed upon most system events. . Custom menus have been improved with multiple user menus with sub items. . New Automatic Filetype Creator allows you to create and test Filetypes with ease. . A font viewer is now included. Just double-click on a font to view it. . Listers now have field titles, single-click re-sorting by fields, plus a new version field which reads the internal version information from each file. . New colour remapping of button and icon images with support for 'Magic Workbench' and similar systems. . Cybergraphics RTG now supported. . You can now selectively hide unwanted drive icons from the Opus main window. . Enhanced clipboard support provides full cut, copy and paste in gadgets and file Listers. . Listers are no longer blocked while busy - you can now resize, iconify, and scroll busy Listers. . Icon and Lister snapshots are now stored separately from Workbench. . Listers can now display a background picture or pattern. . A new internal Opus CLI allows you quickly test commands and ARexx scripts. . Several new internal commands and many new ARexx commands have been added or extended with new features. You can now even add you own internal commands with ARexx. Special Upgrade Offer for Registered Users! If you are an Opus user who has registered direct with Schatztruhe, look out for a special upgrade offer in your letter box over the next two weeks. Otherwise you are required to send in your original Opus disk or a similar proof of ownership when placing an upgrade order at Schatztruhe. ******************************************* Ordering information: Full version (English) DM 119,00 Update (English) DM 79,00 Just send an E-Mail to stefano@tchest.e.eunet.de including your address and the products you want to order. Please do not forget to include your credit cards details. ******************************************* Stefan Ossowski -- Stefan Ossowskis Schatztruhe Gesellschaft FCr Software mbH Veronikastr. 33 - 45131 Essen - Germany Phone: ++49-201-788778 Fax ++49-201-798447 EMail: stefano@tchest.e.eunet.de WWW: http://www.schatztruhe.de/ Visit our Web site, join our mailing-list and obtain a FREE CD. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- S O F T W A R E C L O S E O U T D E A L S Frankenstein Software Closeout P.O. Box 138; New York, NY 10116-0138, USA Email: 71175.1676@CompuServe.com Tel: (516)538-6420 (7pm-11pm EST) 24HR FAX SERVER (612)397-9675 (ORDERS) (Licensed in Nassau County, NY) As our distributor, RAW Entertainment has discontinued operations in the U.S., for a limited time (until March 30, 1997), Frankenstein Software is now offering the following titles directly for VisCorp Amigas* (all orders require $5.00 shipping and handling and 8% tax for New York State residents): PowerFootball ******************NEW***************************************** A strategy/arcade solitaire football simulation in which the user can design plays and then attempt to execute them on the field. PowerFootball is a compact, mouse-controlled game with arcade-style graphics and 8-way scrolling. This simulation also features advanced artificial intelligence for the computer coach and for each player position. System requirements: ALL Amigas (A500-A4000) with AmigaDOS 1.3 or higher and at least 512K RAM and 512K free disk space. Can run from floppy (via autoboot or Workbench) or hard disk (installer included). PowerFootball is now available at $19.99 American Express, Visa, MasterCard, check, or money order (international customers can use Eurochecks drawn from a U.S. bank). Mongol Commander ****************Version 2.0*********************** At 12MB disk space and 4MB RAM, Mongol Commander is a high-end simulation of the campaigns of Genghis Khan and the Mongols (1206-1405) in Eurasia. It features an operational level game that uses a zoom-down mode with scaling bitmap animation on a fractal landscape for combat resolution. Mongol Commander also features a real-world logistical system based on animal physiology and 13th century ecological conditions. Mongol Commander now features enhanced graphic routines from the 1995 edition, hotkeys, and a 47-page historical reference manual. System requirements: A 68030 (or faster) CPU, AmigaDOS 1.3 or higher, 4MB RAM, and 12MB of hard disk space (installer included). Mongol Commander is now available at $49.99 American Express, Visa, MasterCard, check, or money order (international customers can use Eurochecks drawn from a U.S. bank). Bravo Romeo Delta ***************Version 3.0********************************* Bravo Romeo Delta is a real-time, global scale, menu-driven simulatioin of a hypothetical limited nuclear war in 1992. Users can sieze command of either the strategic nuclear forces of the United States or Soviet Union. This is the most advanced openly-available simulation of modern warfare, modeling strategic command/control/communications, early warning networks, air defenses, and every strategic weapon, ballistic missile sub, warhead, and bomber in the 1992 arsenals. Version 3.0 features optimized simulators, allowing realtime (no more pauses) simulation of attacks with as much as 2,000 warheads, as well as background stereo sound effects. System requirements: ALL Amigas (A500-A4000) with AmigaDOS 1.3 or higher and at least 512K RAM and 800K free disk space. Can run from floppy (via autoboot or Workbench) or hard disk (installer included). Bravo Romeo Delta is now available at $39.99 American Express, Visa, MasterCard, check, or money order (international customers can use Eurochecks drawn from a U.S. bank). Thank you for your patronage! * Prices and specifications subject to change. Email: 71175.1676@CompuServe.com Tel: (516)538-6420 (7pm-11pm EST) 24HR FAX SERVER (612)397-9675 (ORDERS) (Licensed in Nassau County, NY) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- P I O S A N D V I S C O R P D I S A G R E E M E N T - P I O S S T A T E M E N T PIOS Computer AG, Hildesheim, Germany, 24th August 1996. New Product announcements from PIOS Computer AG has been eagerly awaited by both the visitors to our Web-Page (over 46000 since May '96) and the marketplace throughout Europe and the USA. Unfortunately this delay has been caused by the inability to secure a working agreement with Viscorp over the rights to the AMIGA patents and licenses. Despite repeated efforts by PIOS management Viscorp have discontinued discussion, without giving any reasons or otherwise. This is despite initial talks and drawing up an agreements early June of this year. In order for PIOS to meets its business goals of providing RISC products for both the AMIGA community and other computer users, we feel that the time has now come to provide an new impetus into the marketplace. We can no longer accept the Viscorp vision for AMIGA as being based on reality and will immediately announce a range of products designed to give the AMIGA and other computer user the power and performance they need for the next decade. ( watch this space for Product announcements.....) PIOS is committed to providing high performance, affordable products through the year 2000 and beyond. SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION FROM PIOS: A Statement by Dave Haynie {Formerly of Commodore/Amiga} Our general hardware philosophy at PIOS is simple: we will work to bring back Amiga compatible hardware that restores the price/performancefactors and user confidence that will allow the Amiga's successful reintroduction. Along with that, we want to bring back the excitement Amiga systems once generated. In keeping with tradition, a powerful low-end system is one initial target. We believe that a careful hardware design coupled with the economies of the AmigaOS, and its superior handling of multimedia related issues, can deliver a new class of home computer at a price that Wintel systems can't match. While price is critical here, we expect to deliver powerful, modern systems that play great games, network easily, and offer productivity and multimedia performance hereto for only available in high-end systems. Above a certain price point, we expect to build systems that follow the existing industry standards for PowerPC system compatibility. Integrating Power PC Platform conventions (PPCP) offers the user a choice of operating systems, making PIOS systems a sound investment even when the AmigaOS is the primary OS of choice. Use of standard hardware components such as JDEC memory modules, IDE and SCSI peripherals, PCI bus expansion cards, and very probably a number of new emerging standards helps keep hardware costs down, thanks to industry-wide economies of scale. This lets us provide a better initial system value and it makes such systems easier and cheaper to upgrade or customize once in user's hands. Dave Haynie --------------- Happy Birthday! Wednesday, May 15, is a remarkable date in the history of computer consumer products. After the failure of ESCOM to revitalize the AMIGA, under the lead of former AMIGA-President Stefan Domeyer a brand new company was founded: PIOS Computer AG The shareholders explained their commitment to enter that riscy market and to create a successor for the AMIGA community. Dr. Klaus F. Bröker, an international well respected business lawyer, was elected as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. After the first meeting of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Bröker stated: " This was the start of a new company, but if you add the experience and background of all founders, PIOS will show it´s will to succeed very soon. We decided to enter the North American Market already in the initial phase. Together with our partners, Mr. Dave Haynie and Mr.Andy Finkel, we will found PIOS U.S. Incorporated within the next four weeks." The President and CEO, Mr. Stefan Domeyer, explained the goals of PIOS: I know exactly the reasons we failed with AMIGA. The only chance to keep it alive is a new start, without some burdens due to the history. I think, the key to success is simply to exceed our customers expectations on performance, quality and price. We must do it as fast, but as good as possible. So, we will form some strategic alliances with companies who have shown their capabilites in design." One of the initial shareholders is Mr. John Smith, who will leave AMIGA Technologies to build the UK operation of PIOS for Great Britain and all affiliated markets. John Smith said:" I want a new generation of Power PC´s, and I want to make it successful in UK!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amiga Update on the net: recent issues available in html format at: http://www.sharbor.com All back issues available (ASCII text only) at: http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1996 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified. -=========================================================================- _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || Brad Webb/AmigaUpdate /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || webb@malamute.med.ge.com /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || bandr@globaldialog.com / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ || Portal -- XJumpdisk -=========================================================================-