====================================================================== _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors- / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional Newsletter) KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING || ====================================================================== AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Gateway, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 981031 T H E A M I G A I N F O R M E R A N N E X ! M A C T H E K N I F E - O R M A C T H E N A F F ? A M I G A L A W S U I T R E S O L V E D ! N E W T E K S I D E S T E P S A 4 0 0 0 S H O R T A G E L A Z A R U S S H U T D O W N ? C U C U G T H R E A T E N E D F L E E C Y M O S S A T N O V . N C A U G M E E T I N G A M I G A S U R V I V O R D O I N G W E L L N E W F R O M N O V A D E S I G N A T C O L O G N E I N F O R M E R # 1 6 I S O U T S T O P T H E M A D N E S S ! S H I R T S A V A I L A B L E M U I B A S E 1 . 0 A N N O U N C E D P A X T R O N O F F E R S B A T T E R Y I N S U R A N C E S C A R Y F X F O R H A L L O W E E N A N D B E Y O N D W I L D F I R E 7 T O S H O W A T C O L O G N E A M I G A R E T A R G E T A B L E A U D I O - S Y S T E M N E W S F R O M H & P " T H E L A S T P A T R I O T " F O R N G A M I G A T H E L A T E S T F R O M C L I C K B O O M C O R R E C T P R I C E S F O R R A N D O M I Z E I T E M S A M I N E T 2 7 D E S C R I B E D Editor's Thoughts and Introduction: We expected to write an editorial this time about the lawsuit involving QuikPak. Instead, to our surprise, we find the legal lunacy is finally over! This is an important event for the Amiga community as it should clear the way for the production of A4000s to begin again. Now it's up to the Amiga companies to make that happen, and to make them available everywhere, including the Americas. We'll be keeping a close eye on that for you. For now, our thanks to anyone and everyone who had a hand in ending this crippling situation. Legal matters abound this month. The good folks at CUCUG find themselves involved in a controversy with the Lazarus web site. Legal action is threatened there also. We suppose that's not too surprising as suing has replaced baseball as the American National Sport. Sue first, think later is all the rage. (That's NOT intended as a comment on the merits of the case, either way. We don't have enough information to make a judgment. It IS a comment on US society and its approach to the law in general.) Fortunately not everyone resorts to calling lawyers when wrong information appears in print or on the net. Sometimes laughter is much more appropriate. Read the article on Mac the Knife (or Naff) below to see what we mean. As if all that isn't enough controversy for one issue, there was some information in the most recent issue of "Amiga Informer" that disturbed Holger Kruse. We begin this time with a special edition of "The Amiga Informer Annex" in order to help put everything to right as quickly and as well as possible. There's lots more to read in this issue also. You'll notice we have positive, growth oriented stories about Amiga publications this time, in contrast to some stories carried not all that long ago. Things go in cycles, and there should be some assurance here that the world isn't ready to end just yet. Finally, Brad Webb, Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- _ __ _ __ _ ____ _ _ The AMIGA /\\ |\ || |\ || || \\ / I N F O R M E R /__\\ | \ || | \ || ||-- \\ / \\__| \||_ | \||_ ||___ _/\\_ Section ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CORRECTIONS! As is the policy of The Informer, we print any corrections to our articles if these corrections are brought to our attention. In issue 16 we printed a news brief which discussed Miami software by Holger Kruse. Mr. Kruse contacted us and pointed out incorrect or misleading information in our article. The following is a letter direct from Mr. Kruse. We apologize for our incorrect information and want to provide our readers with the correct information as detailed by Mr. Kruse personally. Fletcher Haug Editor in chief ________________________________________________ Article in question as it appeared in issue 16. "It was recently reported on Usenet that Holger Kruse, author of the brilliant Miami TCP software, included a "back door" in his program to catch pirates. This back door detects fake keyfiles and sends the pirate's information to Holger without their knowledge. Mr. Kruse defended this action, stating it does not affect legitimate registered users and is only aimed at curbing piracy, which according to Kruse is rampant. Kruse already stated that due to piracy he has "indefinitely" put off expanding his efforts after the release of Miami 3.2 and Miami Deluxe 1.0. This puts his future support for the Amiga in question. We at The Informer applaud the efforts of Mr. Kruse to curb piracy and would like to see more software incorporate piracy traps." ------ End of Quote----------------------------- The above article contains two grave errors: > It was recently reported on Usenet that Holger Kruse, author of the brilliant > Miami TCP software, included a "back door" in his program to catch pirates. This is incorrect. First of all, it was not "reported on Usenet" that Miami contains a back door. What really happened is that a software pirate made an incorrect and slanderous accusation on Usenet, sent from an anonymous account, alleging the existence of a "back door" in Miami. He did not give any conclusive evidence, but instead gave potentially dangerous "advice" how to "circumvent" the alleged "back door", which Nordic Global Inc. immediately denied. The accusation in the original, anonymous article can hardly be considered a "report". Miami does not contain any "back doors". It never has and never will. A "back door" is, by definition, an intended and concealed mechanism in hardware or software, unknown to system administrators, that allows people outside of an organization to access or otherwise affect hardware or software inside of an organization, bypassing intended security mechanisms, authentication checks and authorization checks, without the system administrators' knowledge. Such mechanisms are usually illegal, and accusing software of having a "back door" is a very serious allegation. Miami does not contain any such mechanism, neither for piracy detection nor for other purposes. There is no intended mechanism in Miami by which Nordic Global Inc. or anyone else can in any way affect a computer running Miami (crash it, break into it, steal files from it, spy on the user etc.), regardless of whether the user is unregistered, registered, or using a pirated copy of Miami. Neither does Miami contain any mechanism by which the program sends unsolicited personal information on unregistered or registered users anywhere, or by which anyone can obtain such information from a running copy of Miami. > Kruse already stated that due to piracy he has "indefinitely" put off > expanding his efforts after the release of Miami 3.2 and Miami Deluxe > 1.0. This puts his future support for the Amiga in question. This is incorrect. Holger Kruse stated that after Miami 3.2 and Miami Deluxe 1.0 the development of future versions will depend on the state of the Amiga market, which, at the current time, is in a rather bad shape, so it would take some improvement of the Amiga market before we would consider starting to work on any major new versions (Miami 4.0 or Miami Deluxe 2.0). No decision not to develop such versions has been made yet though. One of the factors determining the amount of work spent on future versions will be the amount and extent of piracy. This in no way affects software support for existing software and their customers though. We never stated that we have "indefinitely put off expanding [our] efforts [to develop Amiga software] after the release of Miami 3.2 and Miami Deluxe 1.0". We are still fully committed to the Amiga platform, and users can continue to expect technical support, updates and bug fixes through the usual channels. We never stated "This puts [our] future support for the Amiga in question." either. The amount of time spent on future Amiga software and the scope of future software releases will obviously depend on the state of the market though, as explained above. At this time "Miami" and "Miami Deluxe" are fully supported Amiga software products, and we have no intention to change this in the foreseeable future. -- Holger Kruse kruse@nordicglobal.com http://www.nordicglobal.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M A C T H E K N I F E - O R M A C T H E N A F F ? It seems there's been some "Macintrash" distributed to the world at large recently concerning the future Amiga models now being developed. We bring you what individuals at Amiga Incorporated have had to say on the subject. First, this from Amiga's Fleecy Moss, posted to an Amiga newsgroup on the net ... --- Amiga Inc. Debunks Mac The Knife Article 29 Oct 1998 Mac the knife? Mac the Naff more like... For those concerned about the recent Mac the Naff article describing LazyRus, the new snoozy walrus rumoured to be breeding up in the flat, flat lands of South Dakota, please rest assured that this story is about as factual as a Milosevic peace accord. We would never present the Amiga community with something so ordinary. Whilst Apple and all their little pips may be happy with an average machine stored in a translucent blue potty, we are set to rewrite the manifesto for the digital information revolution. ...unfortunately, as with most good things, it takes time. --- ... and this from Amiga Incorporated's Bill McEwen, posted on the Amiga Inc. website ... --- An Open Letter to the Amiga Community - October 29, 1998 The recent article in MacWeek concerning the Gateway/Amiga computer is completely false. While entertaining reading there is no truth to the story. I am sure that we will all look forward to the next story from another non-Amiga publication, as they try to get it right. Thank you again for your support. Bill McEwen Head of Marketing, Amiga Inc. billm@amiga.com 425-413-2620 Fax 425-413-2640 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A L A W S U I T R E S O L V E D ! FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 28 October, 1998 The Amiga 4000 lawsuit between Dr. Bernhard Hembach and QuikPak has been resolved. The two parties reached an agreement on Monday that will force QuikPak to send all of its inventory to Germany where manufacturing of Amiga 4000 computers, based on the remaining parts and inventory, will once again begin. About 2,000 Amiga 4000 computers could be back in the market by Christmas. NewTekniques magazine was the first to report a special investigative report on the lawsuit (click here) on July 3 and is working on obtaining the official court records of the settlement. Stay tuned to the [http://www.newtekniques.com/TekTicker/] NewTekniques Daily TekTicker for more information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W T E K S I D E S T E P S A 4 0 0 0 S H O R T A G E FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 28 October, 1998 The special Toaster/Flyer systems at fantastic prices, announced by Newtek a while ago and then made not available because of the Amiga non-availability, are back!!! Newtek has made arrangements for Amiga Towers, suitable for Toaster/Flyer application to be manufactured from existing A1200 boards with expansion and modification for card slots and system add-ons. The tower system included will run on a 68060 running at 50MHz and will include a 4GB hard drive, a 32X CDRom, HighDensity floppy, and a 300 watt power supply all in an eight bay tower. Best of all the one year warrantee is from and will be honored by Newtek. Infotronics Prices and available systems: * Video Toaster and Flyer in the new Amiga Tower: $4795 * A Complete Flyer System, The system described above with two 18GB Video Drives and a 2GB Audio drive: $7795 * A Complete Toaster System, The Toaster 4000 installed in one of the new Amiga Tower Systems: $3395 These can be ordered at any time but Newteks first order, for mid-November delivery had to be submitted on the 28th. The success of this approach may depend on how many people respond to the initial offering. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- L A Z A R U S S H U T D O W N ? C U C U G T H R E A T E N E D CUCUG, operators of "The Amiga Web Directory", arguably the best Amiga web site of them all, has become involved in a dispute with web site Lazarus over a news story posted to "The Amiga Web Directory". Below is the original story, the Lazarus response and the note CUCUG added to the response when posting it to "The Amiga Web Directory". ---- Gateway Cracks the Whip? A popular web site famous for its distribution of Amiga ROMS, cracked games and utilities has been forced to close its doors, according to a message posted on the main page of the site. The following message now adorns the site where lists of pirate downloads once occupied: "Gateway 2000, Inc. acting for Amiga Development LLC. demanded that this site be taken down immediately for posting and distributing illegally copyrighted software" "The site will remain suspended for the remaining of the investigation." The site, known as "Lazarus", appears to no longer offer offending, pirated software. According to some users who claim to have visited the site in the past, the operators had once actually sold a collection of select, Amiga-oriented, illegal software on CD. The Lazarus site has never been listed in the Amiga Web Directory as it is against the policy of CUCUG to list such links. {Following is the Lazarus site response:} Lazarus Responds to CUCUG News Item, Threatens to Sue CUCUG We {CUCUG} received the following email just hours after posting news that "Lazarus", a widely known pirate software site had been forced off the Internet by Gateway for posting and distributing illegal, copyrighted software. In it, Lazarus denys that Amiga ROMs were available for download and discounts the notion that what it was engaged in was "piracy" since many of the programs on its site were no longer commercially available. They also threatened to sue CUCUG for libel. While CUCUG stands by its original story, we offer this note here in the interest of fairness. Kevin Hisel, Webmaster Champaign-Urbana Computer Users Group --- Date sent: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 Dear Sirs, In the interest of fairness and accuracy, we must insist that the news item currently carried by the CUCUG within its Amiga Web Directory, concerning the Lazarus organisation, be amended to reflect the following details: Lazarus famously does not distribute Amiga ROMs, either by means of download via its US-located server, or by linkage to any other Internet site. To suggest otherwise is scandalous. Lazarus does not, and has never, condoned piracy of Amiga software. The "pirate downloads" referred to within the news item portrays Lazarus as a source for commercially availalabe Amiga software. This is absolutely not the case. Whilst Lazarus has indeed erroneously included certain items of software which are available for commercial purchase (Disk Salv IV by Dave Haynie and Nib by Jim Drew), such matters have been dealt with by swift action, in order to minimise the effects of such an oversight. These are isolated incidents and do not constitute "lists of pirate downloads". Conversely, Lazarus has the permission of vast amounts of ex-Amiga programmers, publishers and developers whose programs appear with their blessing. We have exercised our right not to highlight specific items in an effort to centralise their availability, instead, we offer a universal and generic disclaimer. Your news item, therefore, is misleading, innacurate and defamatory. Unless it is edited to acknowledge the above, or is replaced by an apology, or is removed in the next 48 hours, Lazarus will seek to proceed with libel action against the CUCUG and the Amiga Web Directory. Quite how an entire website might be removed permanently on the say-so of one particular group of individuals is inconceivable. Additionally, claiming that a website has sold "a collection of... illegal software on CD" is highly unwise. Frankly, I'd have expected better editorial from such a highly-regarded and well-respected source of Amiga news. --- Mark Wright on behalf of Lazarus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- F L E E C Y M O S S A T N O V . N C A U G M E E T I N G 26 Oct 1998 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The National Capital Amiga Users Group invites all interested Amigans to attend its November Main Meeting featuring Amiga Inc.'s Fleecy Moss. Fleecy plans to speak and hold a Q&A session one week before the big Computer'98 Show in Cologne, Germany. The Main Meeting will be held on Saturday, the 7th of November at 1 PM in the Dolly Madison Library. For directions, please consult the NCAUG Web Page at http://www.ncaug.org. The National Capital Amiga Users Group has been serving the Washington, DC Metro user since 1985! SIGs for Internet, Music, Programming, and Video help provide a wide range of services for NCAUG members. For information please go to the NCAUG Web Page (http://www.ncaug.org), or email Chairman Fabian Jimenez (fabian@cais.com), or Vice-Chairman Bill Borsari (tekmage@amiga.org). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A S U R V I V O R D O I N G W E L L Amiga Survivor Magazine Reports Early Success, New Look Hello Amiga fanatics! Well, Amiga Survivor is proving more of a success than any of us could imagine. Our print-run increases every month and new subscribers are added to our database daily. Even after a mere three issues! And now everyone around the world can have a taste of it. Amiga Survivor has recently had a complete overhaul, both the magazine, and it's official homepage (http://www.crystal-software.com/AmigaSurvivor/survindex.html). Go see for yourself the new-look covers, new logos, and get information about distributors and contents of the magazine. Since the new look and new promotions, many stores around the planet are now stocking issues, in the US, Canada, The UK and the rest of Europe. Have a look at the website to see if there's a store near you! Or you can order online and have each issue delivered to your door! At one point in it's life, Amiga Survivor was just a games magazine, but due to it's popularity, it has grown to covering more 'serious' items, with the help of some ex-CU Amiga staff members. And in the coming months, AS is set to gain more pages, and the possibility of swelling to an A4 format! Amiga Survivor has also recently gained the rights to distribute the incredibly popular U.S publicaton, Amiga Informer in the UK! Be one of the first European residents to own this fine magazine by ordering it from the Amiga Survivor website. (http://www.crystal-software.com/AmigaSurvivor/survindex.html) Of course, Amiga Survivor could always benefit from being even more popular, so if you're an Amiga stockist anywhere in the world, then you could be one of the many distributors to stock this new, popular publication. Please note that Amiga Survivor is available via mail-order only, and not on news-stands! Amiga Survivor is the ONLY place to read the Work-In-Progress of Gilbert Goodmate and the Mushroom of Phungoria (the excellent Monkey Island 3 / Disney inspired adventure game) courtesy of Prelusion and Crystal Software. Read the latest games reviews, previews, special features, regular articles, and the latest Amiga news, all sandwiched between a glorious full colour cover! If you require any further information, then visit the website, or e-mail the editor, Robert Iveson at: robert@survivor.enterprise-plc.com You can subscribe online for a bulk amount of issues, or merely just the one to give it a try. You never know, it might be just what you're looking for in a magazine..... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W F R O M N O V A D E S I G N A T C O L O G N E FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nova Design, Inc. to show Newest ImageFX and Aladdin 4D at Cologne 23 October, 1998 Come see Nova Design, Inc. and their German distributor Oberland at the upcoming Computer '98 show in Cologne, Germany on November 13th through the 15th, 1998. Nova Design, Inc. will be exhibiting the latest releases of ImageFX and Aladdin 4D. See all the new features of these exciting software packages. Plus a few surprizes! ImageFX 3.2 is the all new version of the Amiga's top-rated image editing and special effects package. ImageFX now offers more special effects, Photoshop PSD file format and Filter Factory compatibility, multiple image buffers and views, as well as the most advanced image layers/compositing system anywhere! Aladdin 4D is a 3D modeling, rendering and animation package. Nova Design, Inc. has improved Aladdin 4D with new features and a completely Amiga Style Guide compliant interface. Aladdin 4D is the perfect package for the beginning 3D artist - while offering features for the professional that aren't available in any other Amiga 3D package. Show Specials Oberland will be selling ImageFX and Aladdin 4D for Nova Design, Inc.during the show at fantastic show specials. If you have been thinking about purchasing ImageFX and Aladdin 4D, Computer '98 will be the place to be. See Oberland's booth at the show for a list of all the show specials! Upgrades Upgrades from the older ImageFX 2.0 through 2.6 releases are only $79.95 plus shipping. Versions of ImageFX prior to 2.0 can be upgraded for only $124.95 plus shipping. Prices in Britain and Germany may vary. You can order via 1-800-IMAGE-69 in the US and Canada or call (804) 282-1157 elsewhere. Orders can also be faxed to (804) 282-3768 or mailed to the Nova Design, Inc , 1910 Byrd Avenue, Suite 204, Richmond, VA 23230 USA, Attention: Upgrades To order your upgrade in Germany from Oberland just call them at 06173-608-0, or mail them at: Oberland Computer, In der Schneithohl 5, D-61476 Kronberg im Taunus To order your upgrade from Compute! in Britain call them at: 0181-303-1800, or mail them at: Compute!, 5 Blackfen Parade, Sidcup, Kent, Da15 9LU ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I N F O R M E R # 1 6 I S O U T 19 Oct 1998 Greetings all, Issue 16 of The Amiga Informer is now available at all our retail dealers. To get an issue, you can either contact one of the dealers listed in every issue of The Informer and on our website, or call us to subscribe. You don't want to miss issue 16. We bring you inside information on the recently announced OS 3.5 upgrade and what you can expect from it. We also take a critical look at the work that needs to be done by Amiga Inc. to get the ball rolling again. In addition to other recent news and our usual columns like Workbench Enhancements, Caught in the AmiNet, and Audio Adventures, issue 16 brings you a truck load of product reviews. This issue evaluates 13 products, including; Wildfire, EZ-VGA scandoubler/flicker-fixer, WebFTP, Picasso 4 review in progress, Pablo II video encoder, Digital Quill, Soundprobe II, Games Master System, Quake, Big Red Adventure, Virtual Karting 2, A-Z of Amiga games, and Shadow of the Third Moon. Phew! The Informer magazine is also happy to announce that it is now being distributed in the UK and other European countries. Amiga Survivor distribution is dispersing The Informer to shops throughout The UK, Sweden and other countries. You can visit them at www.crystal-software.com/AmigaSurvivor/survindex.html. Inquires can be emailed to robert@survivor.enterprise-plc.com. One of the first big retailers of The Informer in England is Epic Marketing and they can be reached at www.epicmarketing.ltd.net Our website (www.amigainformer.com) was recently updated with articles that appeared in recently past issues of The Informer. Browse through these to get an idea of what we are all about and to learn a few things in the process. So, if you want to get a fresh view of what's going on in the world of the Amiga, get a copy of issue 16. The best way of doing that is to call our toll free number (800-882-6442) and subscribe. You'll be glad you did. Cheers, Fletcher Haug Fletcher Haug, Editor The Amiga Informer Magazine eldritch@idsi.net ++ www.amigainformer.com ------------------------------------------- Eldritch Enterprises: Mailing: PO Box 21, Newburgh NY 12551-0021 Shipping: 52 Mt. View Ave., Newburgh NY 12550 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S T O P T H E M A D N E S S ! S H I R T S A V A I L A B L E FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - The Amiga Central Ohio Network October 22nd, 1998 Stop the Madness! Buy Amiga! The Amiga Central Ohio Network is pleased to announce the availability to the general public of the "Stop the Madness!" T-shirts. These are the same high quality shirts that we sold at the Midwest Amiga Exposition on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. All remaining shirts will be sold off through our on-line ordering form at http://www.amicon.org/t-shirts.html. These shirts are made of durable 50/50 cotton and feature screen printing for lasting quality. If you haven't seen these these shirts, pay a visit to our website and get yours today! These collectors items feature the famous "World Domination Logo" on the front and the "Amiga '98 World Tour - Alive and Kicking" on the back. All major Amiga events from 1998 are listed. Limited quantities means when they're gone, they're gone! Show your support for the Amiga and give your Microsoft-loving friends something to think about. Visit our website today and find out how you can "Stop the Madness!" Sincerely, David Pearce, dpearce@amicon.org Greg Finzer - rom310@infinet.com The Amiga Central Ohio Network http://www.amicon.org/ P.O. Box 18311 Columbus Ohio 43218 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M U I B A S E 1 . 0 A N N O U N C E D FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MUIbase V1.0 26 October, 1998 Freiburg (Germany) Dear Amiga-Community, I am very pleased to announce the availability of MUIbase V1.0, a new, relational, flexible and very powerful database for the Amiga system. MUIbase uses - as you might already have guessed - the Magic User Interface for a powerful and highly customize-able user interface. This together with its internal programming language, which uses a lisp-oriented paradigm, gives you the maximum control and power for organizing and maintaining your personal data, ranging from storing your CD-collections to fully-automated finance management systems.MUIbase also offers SELECT-FROM-WHERE queries, a must-have feature for relational databases! As of today no similar database package has been shown up that offers similar capabilities than MUIbase! Check it out, a demo version is available on aminet or from: http://www.amigaworld.com/support/muibase Steffen Gutmann Features MUIbase is a fast and very flexible database for the Amiga. It is for users who want to manage data in a comfortable and easy way.MUIbase is able to manage any kind of data, e.g. addresses, CD series, movies, or your income and expense. The power of MUIbase lies in its clear and powerful graphical user interface and its programming capabilities. The latter makes it possible to automatically calculate and maintain nearly everything, starting from automatically summing up values, e.g. for calculating the total amount of income or the total amount of recorded time of a CD, up to automatically creating and printing letters for any purpose. MUIbase is the successor of AmigaBase, a hierarchical programmable database which is still available but considered obsolete with the appearance of MUIbase. All registered users of AmigaBase can get a free upgrade to MUIbase. MUIbase offers the following features: * Handling of multiple projects at the same time. * Attributes can be of type string, memo (multi line text), integer, real, date, time, bool, choice (one item out of many items), reference (easy way to reference a record of another table), button (for starting MUIbase programs), and virtual (compute value on the fly). * The string type can also manage lists of strings, files, and fonts. An OS 3.x datatype gadget allows displaying external images. * Unlimited number of records. * Dynamic loading of records. Records which are not needed may be flushed from memory (e.g. when memory is low). * Programmability. With the easy and powerful MUIbase programming language complex tasks can be implemented. The language also includes a SELECT-FROM-WHERE query for easy and fast data retrieval. * Ordering of records by any combinations of attributes. * Flexible and powerful search and filter facility. * Query editor which allows entering and managing of SELECT-FROM-WHERE queries. The queries can be saved and the results can be printed. * Import and export facility. * Uses MUI as user interface. The interface is highly customizable. External images can be included in the user interface. * Portability. MUIbase development has been done under the idea of easy portability. The system/gui part has been separated from the ANSI/C part such that porting MUIbase will result in only porting the system/gui part. This is no promise that MUIbase will ever get ported to another system, only the porting task has been made easier but may still be complicated depending on the target system/gui. But, indeed, I am thinking of a Java port. The unregistered version of MUIbase is crippled in several ways. See the MUIbase documentation for a list of limitations in the unregistered version. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P A X T R O N O F F E R S B A T T E R Y I N S U R A N C E WARNING - LEAKING BATTERIES LITHIUM TYPE Almost 20% of the repairs that our service center performs are due to aging batteries, which leak acid on Amiga boards. Once the acid leaks the tracers become corroded and dissolve. It is very expensive to bring the boards back to life. If your Amiga computer is approaching 4 years old we suggest you replace the original Ni/Cd battery with a new lithium battery. The new lithium batteries will last longer, have twice the amperage (150 mA as opposed to 60mA) and will give you years of trouble free service. The cost of the new exact replacement lithium battery is $14.95 each plus shipping. It is worth the investment of $14.95 to save a $900.00 motherboard? NI/CD TYPE For those of you who want to stay with the rechargeable Ni/Cd batteries. We have just received a shipment of fresh batteries from Germany. The Ni/Cd like the lithium above must be soldered to the board. The Ni/Cd 3.6 volt battery is the exact Ni/Cd Amiga replacement and is made by Varta. The price of the Ni/Cd is $9.95 plus shipping. Paxtron Corporation Web Page: http://www.paxtron.com/ E-mail: paxtron@cyburban.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S C A R Y F X F O R H A L L O W E E N A N D B E Y O N D Bill Panagouleas of DiscreetFX & Safe Harbor are proud to present a new product for the Amiga & Video Toaster market just in time for that spooky time of year. Have you ever wanted to create your own B movie Horror film or put that extra scare in your Halloween home video's? Have you ever wanted real-time ghosts or animated pumkins in your video's? Now you can with ScaryFX for the Video Toaster & Amiga. ScaryFX gives you over 40 different real-time color Video Toaster 4000 effects. Don't have a Video Toaster? No problem real-time color full screen animation brushes are also included that you can genlock over your videos or layer them into your Amiga animations with Lightwave 3D or ImageFX. Mary of Safe Habor said this CD-ROM is just in time for that ghasty time of year and will compliment their new Halloween website. ScaryFX Includes: Over 40 Real-time color Toaster Effects. Over 40 color Real-time Amiga Anim Brushes. Video Toaster Effects are speed adjustable. Matte, Overlay & Wipe effects are included. Toaster Effects have more colors than most NewTek effects. Amiga animation effects can be used with any Amiga program that supports anim5 animations. Ghosts, skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, graves, witches & more all included. Over 40 unique effects! Special versions for Amiga & Video Toaster included on the same CD-ROM AGA or Graphics card based Amiga required. Video Toaster 4000 is required for Real-time Toaster effects, Amiga effects are color real-time anim brushes that can be genlocked over your videos or composited into your Amiga animations. To order or for more information please visit http://www.sharbor.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- W I L D F I R E 7 T O S H O W A T C O L O G N E New Wildfire7\PPC Graphics/Effects Package Debuts at Cologne German text below / Deutscher Text weiter unten. 25-Oct-98 Welcome to the the world of Wildfire7\PPC! At the Computer`98 in Cologne (13.11. - 15.11.) Wildfire7\PPC will be released. It is the successor of the award winning Wildfire5\PPC. Visit us at the Amiga booth and the Oberland Computer booth and ask for Andreas Küssner who will show some Wildfire demonstrations. Wildfire is the special effect system for animations, image sequences and images.There are lots of new features - some of them are unique - but the important thing to mention here is that Wildfire7\PPC is totally easy to understand to anyone and user-friendly ! But it's not just an old program with a new GUI - we have completely rewritten almost any part of it. Some of the features are: * easy to use MUI-Interface with lots of previews and extensive drag&drop operations * powerful Converter (MPEG/QT/AVI/YAFA/IFF/Image-Sequences) * linear and nonlinear effects system * real 3D-effects (including lightsourcing, phong-shading, transparency, alpha-rendering) * more than 120 PlugIns * direct support for PPC and CyberGraphX It is even more powerfull then Wildfire5 was. Have a look at the demoversion (Aminet): Wildfire\7 Demo files: ---------------------- biz/demo/Wildfire7_Demo.lha ... Main files of the Demoversion biz/demo/Wildfire7_PPC.lha ... additional PPC files for PPC+68K, main files needed! biz/demo/Wildfire7_3D.lha ... additional 3D operators, main files needed! biz/demo/Wildfire7_3DF.lha ... additional 3D Text Operator, main files needed! Wildfire-Support : eksec@eure.de (Andreas Kuessner) Wildfire-Homepage : [http://www.oberland.com/amiga/wildfire/] http://www.oberland.com/amiga/wildfire/ Wildfire distribution : Oberland Computer In der Schneithohl 5 61476 Kronberg Germany Tel. ++49-(0)6173-6080 email: info@oberland.com We hope you enjoy working with Wildfire7\PPC! Kind regards, Andreas Küssner, Wildfire Project Manager. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A R E T A R G E T A B L E A U D I O - S Y S T E M ARTAS Amiga ReTargetable Audio-System Too often repeated questions (TORQ) What is ARTAS? What is supported by ARTAS - Who is supporting ARTAS? Although the name might implicate that ARTAS is capable of handling audio only it is in fact an administration system for all kinds of streaming data such as MIDI, MPEG audio, music but video as well. ARTAS offers an easy to use API to control multiple buffer data streams.Playing back a sample is as easy as filling a buffer with data, opening "artas.library" and telling the system about where the data is, what format is has and how fast it shall be played back. Recording is just as simple. Where developers on non-AMIGA platforms have to do magic tricks in order to syncroniye several components to each other ARTAS comes with a built-in sync mechanism which can be triggered through drivers (hard- or software based), making simultaneous MIDI and Audio along with video playback an easy job. Plug-Ins can be attached to all kinds of streams, ARTAS handles needed conversion internally without making the user or developer handling all kinds of data formats individually. Codecs are called whenever necessary to convert from one type to another, like converting MPEG Audio to standard Audio internally. ARTAS allows the user to controll all drivers through simple Tags. Applications that are aware of ARTAS are no longer limited to starting and stopping data handling. ARTAS is an integrated component of OS3.5 and will therefor be available to all Amiga users world wide through established distribution channels. It also means it does not cost anything (besides the price for the OS upgrade itself). There are drivers for most Amiga soundcards available on the market as well as for well established ceased products. There will be drivers for hardware extensions like PPC cards and DSP boards. Developers of well known Audio applications and related software have already stated that they will support ARTAS when it becomes available for development purposes. AHI is neither obsolete nor is it a competiting product. ARTAS will allow using AHI drivers to access components that do not have native drivers already. Since AHI is limited in its controlling mechanisms ARTAS adds these features to AHI applications through asyncronous editors. Of course ARTAS will be fully OS3.5 conformous, which also means it supports the use of additional CPUs like PPCright from the start. The amount of CPU usage trhough ARTAS solely depends on the application using it (and the addressed drivers), not on the system itself. Contact: ARTAS@amiga-software.com- please note that you might have to wait until Computer98 in Cologne is over until EMail is handled. This page will be updated as soon as possible and will link to projects, development information and everything else interesting about ARTAS. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W S F R O M H & P 22 Oct 1998 Dear Amiga User, this is the current issue of the HAAGE&PARNTER NEWS. 20-Oct-98: NetConnect v2.1 Service Pack At last, the first service pack for NetConnect v2 is released. This contains a number of upgrades to the modules within NetConnect v2: Genesis, Microdot-II, X-Arc, AmIRC and Contact Manager. Support 19-Oct-98: AmigaWriter 1.1 Version 1.1 is a service release. Many customer requests were fulfilled and problems that customers experienced were addressed and fixed. The new features of 1.1 include: improved printing; font substitution table; multi-assigns for font directories; Bubble-Help control; complete localization; better interaction with StormScreenManager. Update 12-Oct-98: Updated Support Pages This weekend we updated nearly all support pages to give you a better access. Support. We hope you like it. If you have any suggestions or comments, please mail me: Webmaster 12-Oct-98: STFax Professional v3.5 Update New v3.5 offers fast mem support for viewing faxes, fixes a few small general bugs and adds a few minor features. Download Please visit our homepage for more news and information: http://www.haage-partner.com/e.htm If you want to send us comments or suggestions on that list: supportteam@haage-partner.com If you want to recommend that list to someone please link him to: http://www.haage-partner.com/news_mlist.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- " T H E L A S T P A T R I O T " F O R N G A M I G A FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Upcoming Game: The Last Patriot 15 October, 1998 Delsyd Software would like to announce the development of a new game for the Amiga---The Last Patriot. After 7 months of planning and design work,we are ready to get going. The Last Patriot will be a puzzle-oriented first-person perspective shooter.Instead of just mindless running and shooting,you'll have to think before you act,and we don't mean flipping switches, either. The Last Patriot will feature the most advanced artificial intelligence EVER seen in a video game. Each enemy will have their own very basic thought processes, instincts,and personalities. We are shooting for a March 2000 release date,and it will be released for the NG Amiga. This date could get pushed back some due to development system/Amiga NG delays.We're putting all of our money into this project,and we think you'll enjoy the end product. PPC versions are being considered.We would like to hear some feedback from Amiga gamers.If you have any questions or ideas concerning The Last Patriot or Delsyd Software,we can be reached at delsydsoftware@yahoo.com We would also like to announce the October issue of Amiga Issues,our monthly forum that deals with some of the Amiga's more controversial issues.This month's topic involves Vulcan Software and their recent software cancellations. Amiga Issues also contains The Software Accelerator's Corner,where each month we review a new patch or software tweak to keep your Amiga moving. And,there is also a section dedicated to responses that our readers have sent us. We'll include any letter that you send to Amiga Issues, even if we don't agree with your opinion. All of this information can be found on our web page at www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/foothills/2705/index.html We hope to hear from you very soon.See ya! Chris Kelley Head Programmer@Delsyd Software ---------------------------------------------------------------------- T H E L A T E S T F R O M C L I C K B O O M 22 Oct 1998 Hello from clickBOOM We have good news and bad news for you this time. 1) Bad news first Napalm will be slightly late. We had hoped to have it ready for Nov. 1, but that won't be possible. We expect it not to be later than Nov. 15. Will it be on sale at Computer '98? We'll try our best. 2) Good news You wanna be the coolest dude? Going to Computer '98 and want to have the newest Amiga-related apparel? Look no further -- BOOM CAP has it all. Made out of soft flexible brushed cotton, this high quality embroidered cap is rounder and lower in style than the traditional cotton baseball caps. So, not is it only ultra-comfy, but it's also the first item with new clickBOOM logo. Visit http://clickboom.com for more information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C O R R E C T P R I C E S F O R R A N D O M I Z E I T E M S Oct 20, 1998 AmigaWares by Randomize, Inc. introduces its new Fall / Winter line up including: Amiga Turtle Neck - $25.00 US, $35.00 CDN Amiga Zip Polo Sweat - $35.00 US, $50.00 CDN Amiga Fleece Sweat - $40.00 US, $60.00 CDN Also in time for the coming Christmas Season, the Christmas Gift Bundle is now available including: Amiga Turtle Neck Amiga Zip Polo Sweat Amiga Theme CD All for $55.00 US, $85.00 CDN AmigaWares is also offering a 10% discount on purchases of $100 CDN or more. These offers are valid until December 31, 1998. Additional infomation and pictures can be found at AmigaWares own website at http://www.amigawares.com/! P.S. Some Advertisments in some Amiga Magazines may have different prices than those noted here. Unfortunely some errors were made in these maganizes. Please regard the above prices as well as those on the website as correct. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I N E T 2 7 D E S C R I B E D Aminet CD 27, dated October 1998, contains 1 gigabyte (uncompressed) of software in thousands of archives. Since the release of Aminet CD 26 more than 500 MB new software has appeared. The commercial highlight is the full AGA version of the game, KANG FU. Contents of Aminet 27 biz 45 MB 69 files - Business software comm 36 MB 143 files - Communications demo 151 MB 131 files - Graphics & sound demo dev 30 MB 105 files - Development software disk 3 MB 36 files - Disk & HD tools docs 54 MB 102 files - Documents game 81 MB 189 files - Games gfx 23 MB 67 files - Graphics software hard 3 MB 16 files - Hardware related misc 68 MB 52 files - Miscellaneous mods 142 MB 269 files - Music modules mus 36 MB 61 files - Music software pix 233 MB 276 files - Pictures text 5 MB 46 files - Text software util 41 MB 209 files - Utilities ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Amiga Update on the net: some issues available at: Australian Mirror Site: http://www.comcen.com.au/~paulm/index.html All back issues available (in ASCII text) at: http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1998 by Brad Webb. 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