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*---== AM REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---* """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "The Online Magazine of Choice!" from STR Publishing Inc. """""""""""""""""" July 20, 1991 Volume 1.03 ========================================================================== AMReport International Online Magazine Post Office Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32205-6672 R.F. Mariano Publisher ----------------------------------------- Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EST BBS: 904-786-4176 USR/HST DUAL STANDARD FAX: 904-783-3319 12 AM - 6 AM EST ----------------------------------------- ** Fnet 350 * Fido Node 1:112/35 * NeST Node 90:3000/350.0 ** privately owned & operated STReport support BBS ALL issues of AMReport International Online Magazine are available along with A worldwide list of private bbs systems carrying AMReport __________________________________________________________________ > 07/20/91: AMReport #1.03 The Online Magazine of Choice! ------------------------- -The Editor's Desk -APPLE DOWN $53.1 MIL -POWER UP 500 -MACROMIND/PARACOMP -NOVELL/DRI -ASHTON TATE SUED -EPSON CUTS SCANNER $ -LOTUS EARNINGS DROP -Stock Watch -The Non-Comm Club -COMPAQ JAPAN? -ERIC SCHWARTZ ANIMS -EA WANTS YOU! -ORIGIN IS IBM/VGA ONLY -New in the Libs -* AmigaUtil II Review *- -* The Boston Computer Exchange *- -* Device Independent Graphics (part 1) *- ========================================================================== AMREPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE The _Number One_ Online Magazine -* FEATURING *- "UP-TO-DATE News and Information" Current Events, Original Articles, Hot Tips, and Information Hardware - Software - Corporate - R & D - Imports ========================================================================== AMReport's support BBS, NODE 350, encourages BBS systems, worldwide, to participate in the Fido/F-Net Mail Network. Or, call Node 350 direct at 904-786-4176, and enjoy the excitement of exchanging information relative to the AM arena through an excellent International AM Mail Network. All AM and related systems are welcome and invited to actively participate. ========================================================================== AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON: GENIE ~ CIS ~ DELPHI ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ F-NET ========================================================================== TODAY'S NEWS ..TODAY! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > AMReport's Staff The regulars and this week's contributors! ================ Publisher - Editor ------------------ Ralph F. Mariano PC DIVISION AMIGA DIVISION MAC DIVISION ----------- -------------- ------------ Robert Retelle Charles Hill R. ALBRITTON Contributing Correspondants: ---------------------------- IMPORTANT NOTICE ================ Please, submit letters to the editor, articles, reviews, etc... via E-Mail to: Compuserve.................... 76370,3045 GEnie......................... ST.REPORT Delphi........................ RMARIANO BIX........................... RMARIANO FIDONET....................... 1:363/18 or 1:363/9 FNET.......................... NODE 350 *********************************************************************** COMPUSERVE WILL PRESENT $15.00 WORTH OF COMPLIMENTARY ONLINE TIME to the Readers of; AM REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "The AM Online Magazine of Choice!" NEW USERS; SIGN UP TODAY! CALL: 1-800-848-8199 .. Ask for operator 198 You will receive your complimentary time and be online in no time at all! *********************************************************************** EDITORIAL --------- Well, friday evening is again upon me and another issue of AM-Report is ready for the modem. This issue is the biggest yet, weighing in at right around 50,000 bytes uncompressed. This is the limit I have put on the magazine, since bigger doesn't necessarily mean better, but it most certainly means more expensive. Judging from the download counts on the various services, AM-Report seems to be a smashing success. Of course, it could just be a big novelty value, but who cares? This past week has brought more news of mergers (I think the 90's are going to go down in history for corporate mergers & buyouts!), big downturns for the computer giants (IBM profits down 91%, Apple posts a $53.1 million quarterly loss), and other interesting tidbits of news. Epson has cut the retail price of it's 24-bit color scanner, which should have a good effect on the overall market (from a consumer's point of view). I still only have access to CompuServe and FidoNet, but I have put the wheels in motion to get direct access to Delphi and GEnie. Soon I should be active on both those networks. This will most likely cause the magazine to increase in size, but I will strive to keep it managable. Enjoy the issue. -Chas ====================================================================== NEWS & VIEWS ------------ MORE MERGERS ------------ MacroMind, Inc. and Paracomp, Inc. have signed a letter of intent to merge. Details were not given other than the firms expect the merger to be completed by mid-August. Bill Woodward, CEO of Paracomp will serve as chairman and Timm Mott, president/CEO of MacroMind will be CEO of the new firm which will be named MacroMind/Paracomp. Both firms specialize in multimedia software development for the Apple Macintosh line of computers. MacroMind's main product is Director 3.0, an interactive multimedia creator. Paracomp publishes design and visualization software for the Macintosh. ========================================================================= EVEN MORE MERGERS ----------------- Novell, Inc. of Provo, Utah and Digital Research, Inc. of Monterey, California have signed a definitive merger agreement in which existing shares of Digital Research common stock, convertible securities and options will be exchanged for $1.5 million newly issued shares of Novell common stock. The merger is subject to approval by both Digital Research's stock- holders and the government. Novell, Inc. is most notably known for their local area networking (LAN) software, NetWare. Digital Research, Inc. is known for the operating system GEM and the MS-DOS alternative, DR-DOS. ========================================================================= BRAZIL EASES FOREIGN COMPUTER BARRIERS -------------------------------------- Recently, the government of Brazil has eased restrictions on imports of computer equipment and parts. It has approved joint ventures between Brazil's Sid Information and Elebra with the United States' IBM and DEC respectively. Brazil has long had a policy of "market reserve", not allowing any foreign companies to have an interest in Brazilian computer companies or to import any computer electronics not owned by a Brazilian company. Brazilian companies will now be allowed to import printed circuit boards. The joint partnerships will be allowed to produce medium-sized computers. Calling approval of joint ventures "historic," Brazilian Secretary of Science and Technology Jose Goldemberg said foreign firms will be allowed to control up to 30 percent of capital in the joint ventures. Brazil is targeting October 1992 to totally phase out their "market reserve" policy. At that time, multinationals will be allowed to own up to 49 percent of voting capital in a joint venture. The companies will be required to invest 5 percent of total sales in local research and development. ========================================================================= E. SCHWARTZ ANIMS ----------------- For those of you who like Eric Schwartz's animations, here is an updated list of what he has done, along with memory requirements, the year the particular anim was released, program used to create it and official sources of the anims. The list was updated on July 9, 1991 and posted to FidoNet's Amiga Nat'l by John Adams. ***************************** AEROTOONS (all require 1 megabyte and are made with Gold Disk's Moviesetter unless otherwise stated.) Stealthy Manuever 1989 The Swiss Army F-16 in Combat 1989, 1.5 meg Stealth Bomber 1989 Skydive 1989 Navy Aggressor Training 1989 Soviet Soft Landing 1989 Korean Conflict 1989 VTOL contest 1989, 1.5 meg Stealthy Manuever II 1990 Vietnam Conflict 1990 Shuttlecock 1991 ATF Agility 1990-91, Disney studio Camouflage 1991 E.S. Productions (same conditions as the Aerotoons) How to Run into a Wall 1989 Coyote 2: The Road Test 1989, 1.5 meg Juggler Demo II 1989 At the Movies 1990, 1 and 2 meg versions Pogo: Miz Ma'm'selle 1990, 2-meg Batman 1990 Juggette Demo II 1990 Terminal 1990 Late Night 1990 The History of Amy the Squirrel 1990, DeluxeVideo 3 The Anti-Lemmin Demo 1991, 2 meg(2.5 if HD) The Dating Game: A Flip the Frog Cartoon. 1991, 3 meg ANIMS (short looping things, made with Dpaint 3 and/or sculpt 4Djr.) (all of them run in one meg, some less) Amy Walks 1989 Juggette Anim 1989 E.S. Anim 1989 Stealth Flyby 1990 Juggler jr. 1990 City Jumper 1990 Amy Jogs 1990 Amy vs. Walker 1990 The Big Sneeze 1990 E.S. Tor Anim 1990 Amy Does Schwab 1991 Filenames or archive names may differ from the ones I've given here. These animations are freeware or shareware, NOT public domain. These anims are available all over but there are only FIVE officially ordained distributors (ones I fully approve of). These are: Myself, (see end) the Fred Fish Amiga Library 1835 E. Belmont Dr. Tempe, AZ 85284 The AFIT Amiga users group. BBS No. (513) 252-7681 Dayton, OH The Merical Starchaser BBS. BBS No. (513) 254-9112 Centerville, OH Integral Computers "Public D" Collection 414 Barclay Rd. Rosemont, PA 19010 As Always, Eric Schwartz All Animations are Copyright 1989, 1990, 1991 Eric W. Schwartz This list version (1.2) was finalized on July 9, 1991 Eric Schwartz P.O. Box 292684 Kettering, OH 45429-0684 ====================================================================== ASHTON-TATE SUED BY STOCKHOLDER ------------------------------- Ashton-Tate's plan to sell the firm to Borland International has met with some resistance from stockholder Edward Michael. Michael has filed a court complaint over the proposed sale alleging that A-T directors failed to perform their fiduciary duties by enacting a merger agreement and stock option agreement; and that the consideration provided for by the merger was not adequate. The complaint contends that Borland aided the breach and is a class action suit which ask for, among other things, damages, attorny's fees and an order preventing the transaction. Borland and A-T have said they consider the suit to be without merit and that they intend to fight it. ====================================================================== POWER UP 500 ------------ Okay, so it is old news, but it is still news that should be spread around! Commodore offers a version of the Power Up program to non-Amiga Commodore computer owners who want an A500. Owners of the C-16, C-64, SX-64, C-128, Pet, Plus/4 or Vic-20 can save up to $300 on an Amiga 500P and up to $200 on an Amiga 500S. (Regularly priced at $799 and $599 respectively.) The program is similar to the Power Up program for the A3000. Write the serial number of the machine on the cover of the original owner's manual and take it to an authorized Commodore-Amiga dealer. Students and educators can also take advantage of the special prices by showing a high school diploma, college id, or college acceptance letter. Educators show a school ID or busniess card and the deals are available. The A500S has 512K RAM, hooks up to a home television and comes with a word processor, geography program and three games. The A500P has 1 Mb RAM, a word processor, clock/calendar, paint and music programs as well as a challenging graphics-oriented game. The offer is available until October 31, 1991. ====================================================================== EPSON CUTS PRICES ----------------- Epson America has reduced prices on its color scanner and one type of printer. The suggested retail price for its laser EPL-7500 printer from $3,299 to $2,999 and for the ES-300C scanner from $1,999 to $1,699. NOTE: Creative Computers had a mail-order price of $1,449 on the ES-300C scanner before the Epson price reduction. This price was listed in the August 1991 issue of AmigaWorld and included ASDG driver software. ====================================================================== LOTUS EARNINGS DROP ------------------- For its second quarter net income, Lotus Development Corp. has posted a drop of 61%. For the first six months of 1991, Lotus' net incom dropped 66% on a rised in sales of only 5%. This is in comparison to last years figures. ====================================================================== COMPAQ ENTERS JAPAN ------------------- Compaq has created a new subsidary in Japan to market it's line of DOS based computers beginning in the first half of 1992. Currently, the Japanese PC market is dominated by NEC which controls about half the market -- with non IBM-compatible PCs. ====================================================================== APPLE LOSES $53.1 MILLION ------------------------- Apple Computer of Cupertino, California reported on Wednsday that in its third fiscal quarter unit shipments of its popular Macintosh personal computers grew by more than 60 percent, and that net revenues increased by 12 percent, compared to the third quarter last year. Apple also reported that it has taken a one time charge of $224 million ($139 million after tax) cost reduction for restructuring. This has resulted in a $53.1 million loss for the third quarter 91. 3Q91 3Q90 NET REVENUE $1.529 billion $1.365 billion INTERNATIONAL REVENUE 44% 42% GROSS MARGIN 45.8% 54% NET PROFIT (LOSS)/SHARE ($.44) $.96 ====================================================================== ELECTRONIC ARTS WANTS YOU! -------------------------- If you or anybody that you know is qualified and interested in this position please send in a resume. Electronic Arts is located in San Mateo, CA, about 20 minutes south of San Francisco. Product Testing Job - Electronic Arts ------------------------------------ Primary Responsibilities: - Discover, investigate, and report code and design errors in software in all stages of development. Analyze product, design test and test suites that exercise products through multiple option and feature levels. - Design and execute multilevel test plans and test matrices, review and comment on documentation, coordinate and lead the test effort and interact with the Quality Assurance department. - Configuration test software on different cpu's, memory configurations, peripherals, video cards, and I/O devices. - Actively participate in design and development of multimedia products with the programming team and production group. Qualifications: - Expertise and interest in multimedia products and technology. - Excellent analytical, written, oral, team, and interpersonal skills. - Required: One year software testing experience. - Product development experience desirable - Hardware and Operating systems expertise with IBM, Mac, Amiga, and Windows for the IBM PC. - Self starter that can work with limited supervision. Only those that have a strong commitment to perfection need apply. Please send resumes and a cover letter to: Electronic Arts Product Test Position P.O. Box 7577 Mailstop JF San Mateo, CA 94403-7577 ====================================================================== ORIGIN IS IBM/VGA ONLY! ----------------------- The following message was posted by Neil Bradley [CIS 72337,146] in the AtariArts forum of CompuServe. I attened a seminar at Dragon Con last weekend with Richard "Lord British" Garriot, and a couple of interesting things were mentioned: 1) Henceforth, Origin is writing programs ONLY for the IBM computer. 2) The MINIMUM graphic mode supported will be VGA. 3) The game Wing Commander has already outsold ALL versions ever made of Ultima! 4) The "scenario disks" for Wing Commander have been purchased by over 75% of the original purchasers of Wing Commander. Compare this to "Flight Simulator" which had, at best, a 20-25% purchase of scenario disks. 5) Origin has *IMMEDIATE* openings for "Computer Graphic Artists". In fact, Richard said if you are an artist and want to LEARN computer graphics, he is willing to train you! Contact Origin IMMEDIATELY if you are interested. ====================================================================== THE BOSTON COMPUTER EXCHANGE ---------------------------- The Boston Computer Exchange (BoCoEx) is a computer brokerage dealing in just about anything related to computers including micros, minis, mainframes, peripherals and software. They are located in Boston, Mass (surprise!) but are thoroughly computerized and can be reached by modem through either CompuServe or Delphi as well as by U.S. Mail, telephone, facsimile or MCI-Mail. According to their brochure, the BoCoEx was founded over ten years ago and is the largest world-wide computer brokerage of its kind. DOWN TO BUSINESS ---------------- Okay, I learned about the BoCoEx from seeing their abbreviated index listed in Computerworld, a weekly trade journal. Calling information for Boston, I located their telephone number and asked for a brochure. Three days later, I received a tri-fold brochure via U.S. Mail and saw the network access points would be my easiest way of checking things out. BoCoEx can be accessed on CompuServe by typing "GO BCE" at any ! prompt. It can be accessed through Delphi by typing "ME BO" from the main menu. Electronic mail can be sent through CompuServe at the GO BCE menu; using the address BOCOEX through MCI-Mail; or by using the address BOCOEXCO on Delphi. Access on CompuServe is free of connect-time charges (though access network surcharges like Tymenet and Telenet are in effect) and I assume that is the case on Delphi, also. I checked out BoCoEx through CompuServe, as my Delphi account has not yet been activated. The BCE is menu driven, and you can get general information on the BoCoEx itself; peruse listings; read the BoCoEx Index or send email from the main prompt. When checking the listings, you choose the type of equipment you are looking for, then go to a submenu. The equipment menu looks like this: ** ONLINE USED COMPUTER EQUIPMENT ** 1 Inquire About a Listing 2 Personal Computers 3 Laptops 4 Printers / Plotters 5 Accessories / Peripheral's 6 Modems / FAX / Drives 7 Miscellaneous The first option is to get details about a listing, and can be used only if you know the listing number. The PERSONAL COMPUTERS selection brings up the following menu: 1 Inquire About a Listing 2 IBM And Compatibles 3 Compaq 4 Macintosh 5 Apple 6 Commodore 7 Atari 8 Amiga 9 All Other Makes Selecting one will then present you with a list of what the BoCoEx is brokering in that category. When I checked, there were no Amigas listed, and only one Commodore listing. A typical listing looks as follows: 1 Type of Equipment: MICRO Maker: COMMODORE Model: 128 Price: $1150.00 Very simple to read. Here we have a C-128 for sale, and the asking price is $1150. Details are available by taking the listing number (in this case, 1) and inquiring further. Inquiring further involves selecting the appropriate menu choice and filling in the form. Details are not available online but rather you are then called by a representative of the BoCoEx with the information. This service in not provided free. The BoCoEx takes a 15% commission on any sale made ($25 minimum) and any sales made by parties originally introduced the BoCoEx. This is standard practice (at least with dealers I've dealt with, it is). The seller pays this fee, as well as a $25 appraisal fee which is sometimes waived for volume clients. While the BoCoEx does not actually, physically check every machine out that is listed, they provide the following paragraph in explanation of their policy: BCE listings are provided in good faith and deemed reliable, but are offered without warranty with regard to errors, omissions, changes in price or withdrawal without notice. Incomplete listings will be refused, and we reserve the right to reject any listing request. The seller is responsible for delivering working equipment, and for accepting return or repair of damaged or defective goods. Individuals can list their systems with the BoCoEx electronically. The details are available from BoCoEx on their electronic addresses or by the mails. The BoCoEx has four grades of computer equipment, for clarity, the verbatum definitions follow: In this area, you can search the BCE listings database for bargains, offer equipment for sale, review the latest "closing prices" on selected models of used computer equipment and analysis of market trends in our our "BoCoEx Index," which is updated weekly. Values are calculated based on final sale prices of equipment traded on the BoCoEx during the preceding week. "New" equipment means: equipment is sealed in original boxes, with a manufacturer's warranty. "Used" equipment means: units are guaranteed to be fully operational by the seller. "As-is" equipment means: Equipment is in the condition stated by the seller at the time of the sale, FOB the equipment's location. "Refurbished" equipment means: units have been cleaned, are certified as fully operational, in clean boxes with manuals. Refurbished machines are often sold with depot warranties. Warranty and equipment condition are the responsibility of the seller and vary according to the terms of each transaction. At minimum, all equipment is guaranteed by the seller to be fully operational on arrival, unless otherwise stated. The BoCoEx provides an escrow service, for a fee, to ensure that sellers don't get taken by people who take delivery of good, but don't pay. THE INDEX --------- The BoCoEx Index is an index of machines and prices for the previous week. Something like the Stock Echange listings found in the newspaper, the BoCoEx Index gives the approximate value of the computer in question. The Index is copyrighted, so I can't reproduce it here, but it is available in a number of places including Computerworld, the Boston Globe, NewsBytes, PC Week and online through CompuServe and Delphi. Check it out for a brief glimpse of the prices of used equipment. There is no Index listing (that I could find) for the Amiga. Here's a taste: According to the latest Index (the week ending June 28, 1991) the closing prices on some key machines were: IBM PC/XT (mono w/20 Mb hard drive)..............$ 450 IBM PS/2-30 (mono w/30 Mb hard drive)............$1150 Compaq Deskpro 386/33 (320 Mb hard drive)........$6000 Macintosh Plus (20 Mb hard drive)................$ 750 Macintosh IIfx (80 Mb hard drive)................$5400 HP Laserjet II...................................$ 800 BoCoEx Index prices are based on complete systems with keyboard, monochrome monitor and adapter, less the value of any software or peripherals. BoCoEx Index appears in PC Week, ComputerWorld, UPI and IDG Wire Service, PC Satellite Network, Computer Currents, NewsBytes, Canadian ComputerWeek, CompuServe, Delphi, Boston Globe, and is heard weekly on Business Radio Network. Call BCE: 617-542-4414, Buyer's Hot Line: 1-800-262-6399, In Alaska and Canada 1-800-437-2470, FAX: 617-542-8849. BoCoEx Database is on CompuServe: GO BCE, on Delphi: ME BO. What the heck does this have to do with the Amiga? Well, it is a large network for those who are looking at upgrading and wish to sell their current machine, or are looking for a better machine and don't mind used material. Finally, it plays a key part in a proposal I have (arrogantly enough) for Commodore which I like to call POWER OVER. This will be described in a detailed article next issue. ===================================================================== The Non-Comm Club ----------------- Non-Commercial Software Reviews by Charles Hill AmigaUtil II ~~~~~~~~~~~~ AmigaUtil II is another one of them disk utility programs that allow you to manipulate files and directories with a mouse. It is listed as shareware, but there was no documentation in the archive, so I haven't the faintest idea where to send shareware fees or even how much to send. The author is Marc Lafontaine and the ABOUT says support is by a Maurice Lapierre. The ABOUT lists the version number as 2.0 but the title bar says it is version 1.84. I think the former is corrent. AmigaUtil was in an LZH archives with three files: AmigaUtil, the corresponding .info file and a .def configuration file. The archive is small so download time is quick. STATISTICS ~~~~~~~~~~ AmigaUtil II is only 83028 bytes long and is pure code, so there is no problem making it a resident process. The configuration file goes in the S: directory, but is not necessary unless you want some custom functions. There are six configurable device gadgets and 76 configurable custom gadgets. APPEARANCE ~~~~~~~~~~ The Workbench 2 look is in. AmigaUtil II (AU2) opens a four-color screen with default colors being light grey (10, 10, 11), white (14, 14, 15), black (0, 0, 0) and medium blue (0, 3, 13). The text is black on a grey background turning to white on a blue background when selected. Gadgets and display windows are highlighted for that 3-D look that is ever so popular with Commodore. The display is the norm for this type of program: two side-by-side windows with a small, vertical strip of gadgets inbetween; a group of control gadgets below each window and a strip (or three) of user definable gadgets on the bottom. The color palette is user definable through the standard palette requester accessable from the menu strip or an Amiga-key combo. The screen type can be set to lores (640 x 200), hires (640 x 400) or half-height. Lores and hires open full screens while half-height opens a hires screen that pulls up from below to cover 1/2 of your Workbench screen. Grabbing the title bar lets you adjust just where the half-height screen goes, just like a normal screen. To the left of each display window, there is a slider bar for those cases where the file/directory list is bigger than the window. Directly below is a string gadget for inputting the device name manually and directly above is another one for the subdirectories. Grouped below each window are the action gadgets. A small cluster of six list the devices selectable. I have them set to DF0, DF1, DH0, DH1, RAM and DEV. Changing them is easy, just CTRL-click on the one to change and fill in the blanks! The word DEV is special, bringing up a list of all AmigaDOS devices. The next three are ALL, CLR and COPY. ALL selects all FILES in the window and CLR unselects all files. COPY is special because it can do more than just that. If no file is selected, clicking on the COPY gadget cycles it through its functions: COPY, COPY AS, MOVE and DUPLICATE. Select a file (file group/directory) and click on the modified gadget to perform that function. COPY performs a standard file copy; COPY AS allows you to rename the file first; MOVE deletes the original file after copying and DUPLICATE copies not only the file, but also the protection bits, comment and date stamp depending on the setting in the menu. The final three are PARENT, MD and DELETE, which all act normal. Between the SOURCE and TARGET windows is a strip of 12/13 gadgets. The first is a double-headed arrow for swapping the source and target window contents. The second and third are left and right arrows for moving the source to the target and vice-versa. The next five tell the directory what attributes to show for the files. The options are: size, time, protection bits, nothing and something starting with the letter "c". The "c" option doesn't do anything apparant, and since there is no documentation....I'm stuck. The last four gadgets (one a ppears when the final one is clicked on) are for cycling through the user-definable functions. AU2 has provisions for automatically listing, extracting and adding files to and from arc, LHarc and Zoo archives. Directory listings can be sorted by name, size, extension, date or time. The program even has an ICONIFY option in the menus. Most menu options have keyboard alternatives. FUNCTIONS ~~~~~~~~~ AU2 has the ability to put in 76 user-definable functions and comes with four built in. The four built in are excellent and quite useful. The first is TYPE, which can be changed to a HEX output by clicking on it without a file selected. It can also be shifted to an ASCII setting, which breaks the lines into 40 columns and adds a hex character count. The second built in function is ATTRIBUTE which is similar to ZIP in the requestor it brings up. You can review and alter the key protection bits of any file. The third function is my favorite -- PICTURE. Picture will display any IFF file (though I've not tested IFF-24). The neat part is that by hitting the "I" key you toggle the interlace. Interlaced pictures are mapped to non-interlace and you scroll around with the mouse. Non-interlaced pictures are mapped to interlace. You can also hit the "H" key for hires to lores mapping. Hires pictures are mapped to lores and you can scroll around them with the mouse. This function DOES NOT work in HAM (for obvious reasons). You can use both toggles at once to zoom in on pictures, etc. Some hires b&w pictures I have are really excellent when mapped to a lores, noninterlaced screen -- it is like a zoom function. The final function is RENAME. It works like it should. It will not rename files to different directories -- use the MOVE option for that. Loading and saving config files is very easy -- just use the menu options or the Amiga-key equivalents. FINALLY ~~~~~~~ I don't normally use these types of programs, as I am pretty handy with the CLI and most of them I've run across are too obtrusive. AU2's half-height option combined with the iconify is a real plus. AU2 is a program that I will keep around and use when performing operations on large groups of files. Too bad there is no address included for the author. ====================================================================== STOCK WATCH ----------- Stock Watch is a weekly feature of AM-Report that lists the previous weeks securities activities for the four "name" computer companies: Apple, Atari, Commodore & IBM. The two numbers listed are the CLOSE and CHANGE values for the stock. Commodore & IBM are traded on the NYSE; Apple on the NASDAQ and Atari on the AMEX. MON TUE WED THUR ------------------------------------------------------------ Apple 45½ -1¼ 43¾ +1¾ 42½ -1¼ 44 7/8 +2 3/8 Atari 2 3/8 +¼ 2 3/8 Unch 2¼ -1/8 2¼ Unch CBM 13¼ -1/8 13¼ Unch 12 3/8 -7/8 12 7/8 +½ IBM 99¼ -3/8 96 5/8 -2 5/8 96¼ -3/8 98¼ +2 FRI SYMBOL START FINISH CHANGE ---------------------------------------------------------- Apple 46 +1 1/8 (AAPL) 46 3/4 46 -¾ Atari 2¼ Unch (ATC) 2 1/8 2¼ +1/8 CBM 12¾ -1/8 (CBU) 13 3/8 12¾ -5/8 IBM 100½ +2¼ (IBM) 99 5/8 100½ +7/8 ====================================================================== DEVICE INDEPENDENT GRAPHICS --------------------------- (part.1) In 1985, when the Amiga was released, it had some of the best graphics available on a personal computer. Three dedicated custom chips handled the multicolored images and animations that were the hallmark of the Amiga. Then, a 4096 color palette, double-buffered displays, ray-traced animations all coupled with four-channel stereo sound in an industry where EGA 640 x 480 x 16 was the standard graphics display was enough to make people sit up and notice. Now, with VGA/SVGA graphics and add-in boards to bring 12-bit, 11 channel stereo sound to the PC world it is de rigèur. Since then, two of the Amiga custom chips have gone through some minor updates which have inched the graphics capabilities of the machine forward. Modifications to the Agnus chip have seen the increase in custom-chip accessable RAM go from 512K to 1M to the 2M found on the A3000 and the "MegaChip" product from DKB. Changes in the Denise display chip have brought forth such items as half-brite, cyclable and changable transparent genlock colors, and a couple of new, but almost useless screen resolutions. Good ole Paula, the sound chip, has pretty much gone her merry way, although rumors about an upgrade have been around for years. Many people feel the Amiga is due for a major update in its graphics system. Release 2 of the operating system has resulted in outline font support at the system level and a uniform guideline towards application appearance. Now, stronger video and audio hardware is necessary to bring the Amiga back to the forefront of the personal computer pack. The audio discussion we will save for a later date. The most commonly discussed upgrade for the Amiga video system is called Device Independent Graphics (DIG). What it is, who has it, why the Amiga wants it, the implementation problems and all the ramifications will be discussed in AM-Report over the next couple of issues. WHAT IS DIG? ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Device Independent Graphics are just what the name implies. A graphics system independent of the device used to display them. DIG takes advantage of each particular system's capabilities to display images at the highest resoultion and most color available on that particular system, regardless of the program. On an Amiga with DIG, a CAD program would operate in hires 640 x 400 on a standard Amiga. But, on an Amiga with an expansion display card it would utilize the highest display the card was capable of generating. An owner of a Rambrandt/Amiga card could have "IdiotCAD" running on a 1280 x 1024 screen if that is what they desired. The Amiga has device independent keyboards and printers -- just point Preferences to the right driver and forget about it -- why not graphics? WHO HAS IT? ~~~~~~~~~~~ Well, looking at the IBM world, where you plug in a video card and run a program and voìla! Is this DIG? Well, sort of. True, most any properly written program for MS-DOS can handle any video display mode the user has, it still isn't _true_ DIG. With MS-DOS, you are safe with VGA on down (EGA, MCGA, CGA, Herculese, MDA) except in the remote case of some esoteric display mode (EGA+ and Tandy come to mind). Higher standards such as SVGA require drivers for each program they are used with. Most SVGA cards come with drivers for such popular programs as Lotus 1-2-3, Word Perfect, AutoCAD and dBase. For program without a driver, the card operates in VGA mode. Since the cards are all a little different, each SVGA card needs its own driver. One set of SVGA drivers would be nice, but it didn't happen that way. Why isn't SVGA and MS-DOS considered _true_ DIG? Because _true_ DIG would not need a driver for each program. A driver for each video card type, yes; but not each program. Thanks to AUTOCONFIG on the Amiga, this part would be transparent. There would be no "Preferences" setting for video drivers and no "videomap" to place in the startup-sequence. The driver would be located on the card itself and each program could be set internally to take advantage of the expanded resolution (sort of like when DPaint starts out). The Macintosh has a version of DIG with Quickdraw and 32-bit Quickdraw. Since Quickdraw is implemented on the system level, it is more complete than the MS-DOS variation. Unfortunatly, not all Macs have 32-bit QD and there are some inconsistancies with the previous version. That is the price you pay for upgrading the system in general, though. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Next week AM-Report will have a guest professor telling us about the problems of implementing DIG on the Amiga and possible options for the future. ===================================================================== WHAT'S NEW IN THE AMIGA FORUMS ------------------------------ CIS/Amiga User -------------- BADGER.LZH/B 27K 18-Jul-91 Reminder pgm for startup-sequence, v2.05a MI-M2I.LZH/B 41K 17-Jul-91 NEW PD Mac to IBM Type 1 Conv Utility! MIOTLN.LZH/B 186K 15-Jul-91 MIoutline Demo, Type 1 to PDraw Font Conv PSNAME.LZH/B 4K 15-Jul-91 PostScript Names Found on a PostScript HD. MFACE2.LZH/B 2K 13-Jul-91 Parallel/Serial expansion board info AMR102.LZH/B 19K 12-Jul-91 AM Report International, a weekly news mag CIS/Amiga Tech -------------- PHONE.LZH/B 12K 17-Jul-91 Basic Source for Phone Dialer CIS/Amiga Arts -------------- ECLIPS.LZH/B 95K 15-Jul-91 July 11, 1991 Total SUN Eclipse, Animation HARM5.LZH/B 11K 14-Jul-91 HARM5 - Audio Harmonizer upgraded for PS 3.x WWTRS.LZH/B 24K 13-Jul-91 Selected Woodwind Trios for DMCS *********************************************************************** :HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT: _________________________________ To sign up for GEnie service: Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN. **** SIGN UP FEE WAIVED **** The system will now prompt you for your information. -> NOW! GENIE BASIC STAR SERVICE IS IN EFFECT!! <- GEnie Information copyright (C) 1991 by General Electric Information Services/GEnie, reprinted by permission *********************************************************************** > Hard Disks STR InfoFile ***** ABCO PRICE CHANGES! ***** ======================= ** EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! ** ABCO COMPUTER ELECTRONICS INC. P.O. Box 6672 Jacksonville, Florida 32236-6672 Est. 1985 _________________________________________ Voice: 904-783-3319 10 AM - 4 PM EDT BBS: 904-786-4176 12-24-96 HST FAX: 904-783-3319 12 PM - 6 AM EDT _________________________________________ HARD DISK SYSTEMS TO FIT EVERY BUDGET _________________________________________ All systems are complete and ready to use, included at NO EXTRA COST are clock/calendar and cooling blower(s). *-ALL ABCO HARD DISK SYSTEMS ARE FULLY EXPANDABLE-* (you are NOT limited to two drives ONLY!) (all cables and connectors installed) * ICD HOST ADAPTERS USED EXCLUSIVELY * OMTI HIGH SPEED CONTROLLERS * * ICD ADSCSI+ HOST ADAPTERS * FULL SCSI COMMAND SET SUPPORTED * * SCSI EMBEDDED CONTROLLER MECHANISMS * WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!< Deluxe 2 bay Cabinet w/65w auto-switching PS Model Description Autopark Price ================================================== SGN4951 51Mb 28ms 3.5" Y 479.00 SGN1096 85Mb 24ms 5.25" Y 549.00 SGN2055 105mb 17ms 3.5" Y QUANTUM 699.00 SGN6277 120Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 789.00 SGN1296 168Mb 24ms 3.5" Y 1019.00 ================================================== FULLY ASSEMBLED SCSI DRIVES DEDUCT $60.00 ADD $35.00 for 4 BAY SUPER CABINET w/250w PS PLEASE NOTE: The above is partial listing only! CPU ACCELERATOR & MEMORY UPGRADES AVAILABLE & INSTALLED If you don't see what you want listed here, call us. Odds are we have it or, can get it for you! AT THE BEST POSSIBLE PRICE! "We service what we sell. (when necessary)" ****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ****** * SYQUEST 44MB (#555) >> ABCO "44" << REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE * - SYQUEST 44 MB DRIVE - ICD ST ADSCSI PLUS H/A - ICD Utility Software - 3' DMA Cable - Fan & Clock - Multi-Unit Power Supply (1) 44 MB Syquest Cart. --->> SPECIAL! NOW ONLY __$ 645.00__ <<--- **** SCSI UNITS -> ONLY $585.00 **** WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!< COMPLETELY ASSEMBLED AND READY TO RUN! Cart and Utility Software Included! EXTRA CARTS: $ 74.50 DRIVE MECH ONLY: $ 349.95 ****** SPECIAL - SPECIAL ****** * TWIN SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVES ... PROGRAMMER'S DELIGHT * SPECIALLY PRICED ** $1019.00 ** Includes TWO cartridges! * SYQUEST 44MB REMOVABLE MEDIA DRIVE AND HARD DRIVE COMBINATIONS * - Syquest 44 Model [555] and the following hard drives - 50mb SQG51 $ 819.00 85mb SQG96 $ 1019.00 LOWBOY - STANDARD - DUAL BLOWER CABINETS CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS AVAILABLE WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!< Listed above are a sampling of the systems available. Prices also reflect various cabinet/power supply configurations (over sixty configurations are available, flexibility is unlimited) ALL UNITS COMPATIBLE WITH --> SUPERCHARGER - AT/AM SPEED - GCR LARGER units are available - (Custom Configurations) *>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<* - Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets - * MOST Replacement Toner Cartridge Kits $42.95 * * Toner Starter Kits $49.95 * * Replacement Drums $183.95 * >> MANY other COMPUTER related products STOCKED << ALL POWER SUPPLIES UL APPROVED -* 12 month FULL Guarantee *- (A FULL YEAR of COVERAGE) WE PAY SHIPPING!!! >BLUE LABEL UPS!< QUANTITY & USERGROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE! _________________________________________ DEALERS and DISTRIBUTORS WANTED! please, call for details Personal and Company Checks are accepted. ORDER YOUR NEW UNIT TODAY! CALL: 1-800-562-4037 -=**=- CALL: 1-904-783-3319 Customer Orders ONLY Customer Service 9am - 8pm EDT Tues thru Sat ABCO is EXPANDING!! CALL FOR INFORMATION! ____________________________________________________________ > A "Quotable Quote" ================== "ONE MAN'S 'MAGIC' IS ANOTHER MAN'S ENGINEERING. 'SUPERNATURAL' IS A NULL WORD." ....ROBERT A. HEINLEIN """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" AMReport International Online Magazine Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" AMReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" July 20, 1991 16/32bit Magazine copyright 1991 Volume 1.03 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Views, Opinions and Articles Presented herein are not necessarily those of the editors/staff, PCReport, STReport, AMReport, MCReport. Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless otherwise noted. Each reprint must include the name of the publication, date, issue # and the author's name. The entire publication and/or portions therein may not be edited in any way without prior written permission. The entire contents, at the time of publication, are believed to be reasonably accurate. The editors, contributors and/or staff are not responsible for the use/misuse of infor- mation contained herein or the results obtained therefrom. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""