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*---== AM REPORT INTERNATIONAL ONLINE MAGAZINE ==---* """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" "The Online Magazine of Choice!" from STR Publishing Inc. """""""""""""""""" August 3, 1991 Volume 1.05 ========================================================================== 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 __________________________________________________________________ > 08/03/91: AMReport #1.05 The Online Magazine of Choice! ------------------------- -The Editor's Desk -Stock Watch -Media Watch -The NonComm Club -MAC EMLUATION FOR PC -NEW MAC GRAPHICS -RUSSIAN APPLES -ADIOS CINEMAWARE? -CBM LAY OFFS -WINDOWS 3.1 & NT -AMIGA 3D EARTHQUAKES! -DELPHI LOSES MONEY! -* HP DeskJet 500 & the Amiga *- -* Corporate Commodore Notes (U.K. & Germany) *- ========================================================================== 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 --------------------------- Mike Todd (CIX) Jim Schaffer, Jr. (UseNet) 70117,634 on CompuServe amix.commodore.com!vanth!jms 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, another week is over and August is upon us. AmiExpo Orlando was nice, and there were some REAL nice gizmos on display. Alas, the much anticipated 2.04 ROMs were NOT there. DPaint IV (Beta), the GVP PVA 3000, Colorburst, Pagestream 2.2, ChromaKey and many others did make an appearance, and you can read all about it in the special Expo issue of AM-Report that was sent out this past Monday (day after the show). AM-Report distribution is growing. A network called Compulink Info- rmation Exchange (CIX) in the U.K. will now have direct access to AM-Report issues through a member by the name of Mike Todd. Mike will be reuploading AM-Report to CIX through his account (the U.K. is a pretty long call for me). Jim Shaffer, Jr. will be posting AM-Report issues (modified to be pure ASCII) to UseNet's comp.sys.amiga.misc. To answer some questions I have gotten: yes, you may upload copies of AM-Report to non-pay BBSes and private systems. I'd prefer it if copies were not sent to other pay systems without consulting both me and a SysOp of the Amiga area of any pay system as the advertising might be prohibited. Copies may also be distributed to user groups and individuals as long as the charges incurred do not exceed $2 per copy for printed (paper) copies or for disk copies where the user provides the disk, and $5 per copy where the user group provides the disk. Copies may be included in disk collections (ala Fred Fish, AMICUS, etc.) as long as I am given credit somewhere (a free copy of the disk containing the AM-Report issue would be nice, too! ;-) The advertising for the online service accounts (CIS, GEnie & Delhpi) and the one for ABCO _may be stripped ONLY if the network policy prohibits commercial advertising_. Otherwise, please do not edit the contents of the file. This week we have more news from the computing world in general, including a Mac emulator board for the PC; Russian Macs (now the Mac can be called a "Commie" too!); more lawsuit news; costly McGraphics; and of course, a slew of Amiga news. The promised article on DIG has been put on hold indefinately as we have had some unavoidable difficulties in getting everything all in one place. Reviews are in season and this issue has a short review on using the HP Desk Jet 500 with the Amiga. The review on the AmigaDOS manual from Commodore and Bantam has been pushed back to next week. Yes, I have read the book and actually written the review, it is just that this issue is already 50,000 bytes uncompressed and that is my limit. Next week one with using the Northgate OmniKey Ultra with the Amiga 2000 will also appear. (Yes, I got some new toys. <grin>) The corporate information on Commodore Germany & Commodore U.K. is the sort of thing I do for a living. I was testing out services that give international business information and used Commodore as a test subject. I thought that everyone might be interested in some info on CBM, so I included some of the information I retrieved. Commodore's fiscal year ended on June 30th, and I am waiting for their year-end financial report. Soon as I get it, I'll post some of the more interesting information. (P.S. - This sort of information would have run you between $250 and $500 depending on how extensive a report you wanted!) __ __/// \XX/ AM-Report International -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= News From All Over ------------------ PC APPLESAUCE ------------- A company called Hydra Systems, Inc. has announced the delivery of a product called ANDOR ONE, a PC add-in board with software that allows IBM PCs and compatibles to run Apple Macintosh software. ANDOR ONE works with any PC ranging from a lowly XT to an i486. The board requires that Mac Plus ROMs, the Mac System and Finder be installed. The board runs at approximately twice the speed of a Mac Classic and uses the PC's mouse, monitor, keyboard, hard and floppy drives. ANDOR ONE has an external RS-422 AppleTalk connector. ANDOR ONE has a suggested retail price of $995 without ROMs or Mac System/Finder. The AP article states that ROMs and the Mac software are readily available. ====================================================================== DELPHI LOSES MONEY ------------------ Delphi Information Systems, Inc. has reported a first quarter loss of $660,000 compared with a net profit of $1.131 million in the same period a year ago. Delphi revenues were up 25 percent to $8.4 million compared with $6.7 million in the first quarter of 1990. Delphi's acquisition of former competitor McCracken Computer, Inc. accounted for the increased revenue. Delphi has announced that significant cost saving steps have been implemented to improve sales and profits for the fiscal year. ====================================================================== APPLE GETS RULING ----------------- In a pre-trial ruling in San Francisco a federa l judge has forbidden Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard from arguing that the Macintosh pictorial displays lack the originality necessary for protection under U.S. copyright laws. The suit filed by Apple in 1988 accused Microsoft and H-P of violating copyrights owned by Apple in their Windows 2 and New Wave products. Apple had licensed certain items to Microsoft for use in it's Windows program but Apple contends that MS went beyond the agreement and used way too much. Microsoft had in turn licensed the information to HP for their New Wave interface. Apple's suit has extended to cover Windows 3.0 as well as newer versions of New Wave. Microsoft contends that everything they used was in the licensing agreement and what was not is uncopyrightable. HP contends that Apple's suit is to prevent third-party development of New Wave compatible applications. ====================================================================== WINDOWS 3.1 & NT ---------------- Microsoft Corp. is planning on releasing a new version of it's popular GUI interface, Windows, especially designed for workstations and high- end personal computers. Software development kits for "Windows NT" (New Technology) are to be shipped later this year. The actual product is scheduled for release later next year. Microsoft plans to introduce Windows 3.1 for desktop and laptop PCs before the end of 1991. ====================================================================== CIS CBMSERV EMPLOYEE LAID OFF ----------------------------- The following message was posted in CompuServe's CBMSERV forum by Dave Minnich, formerly an official Commodore representative. Fm: Dave Minnich 76702,1056 To: All Everyone, As of 3:15, July 9th, I am no longer connected with Commodore. I do not know if they plan to continue monitoring this forum or, if they do who will be doing it. I must say that, the 20 months that I handled this area were, for the most part, very enjoyable. It gave me a great sense of accomplishment to be able to help so many people so easily. I am very sorry to be so uninformative as to the future, but I really don't know what CBM will be doing concerning this area. For myself, I will take the next few weeks to await the arrival of my daughter (due August 20th), get a few things done around the house, then look for another job. Until CBM decides what they are going to do with CBMSER, I would suggest calling CommodoreExpress at 1-800-448-9987 or calling CBM direct at 215-431-9100 and ask for Customer Relations. If neither of these numbers are helpful to you, as far as I know, all dealers still have access to technical support. They should be able to call in and get a solution to any problems you might have. Farewell, All! Dave Minnich formerly Commodore Online Relations On a similar note, rumor has it that CBM has laid off engineering and R&D people as well. Other rumors state that Amiga Unix division was closed down as of 7/31/91. These rumors have yet to be confirmed by a definite source. ====================================================================== JWP SWEETENS POT ---------------- JWP, Inc. has sweetened the offer to Businessland in its attempt to gain control of the troubled retailer. Businessland executives had refused a previous offer last week. The prior offer was for up to 17 million shares of Businessland common stock at $1 per share and for all of Businessland's 5.5 percent convertible subordinated debenture bonds at $350 per $1,000 principal amount. JWP has waived its requirement for a minimum of 75 percent of the debenture-type bonds and has extended the offer from the original deadline of July 26th to August 2nd. ====================================================================== CINEMAWARE GONE? ---------------- Rumors on the networks are saying that Cinemaware has been bought out by an unnamed company, though the buyer plans to retain the CW developers. TV Sports Baseball is still planned for the Amiga and should be finished soon. ====================================================================== SOVIET APPLES? -------------- Apple Computer has starting selling Macintosh systems in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Macs use a Russian-language based operating system. Apple has signed a one-year contract with Moscow-based firm Inter- micro to set up dealerships. Apple says the first Mac using Apple's own OS in Russian will be on sale in October. Intermicro (a Sovie-Austrian venture) has offices in Moscow, Kiev and other Soviet cities and is one of the nations largest seller of PCs. The Russian Mac Classic will be $951 with a $92 price tag for a Russian-language keyboard. The Mac SE will retail around $3,700. ====================================================================== NEW SUPERMAC GRAPHICS BOARDS ---------------------------- SuperMac Technology has introduced the Thunder/8 and Thunder/24 workstation-class graphics cards. The two cards are designed for the high-end Mac IIci and Mac IIfx systems with 19" or 21" monitors. The boards support upto 8 MB of onboard RAM for image manipulation. The Thunder/8 will retail for $1,899 and the Thunder/24 for $4,999. Both are scheduled to be available in September and support Apple's new System 7.0. ====================================================================== SONY MOVES IN ------------- Sony Corporation of America has purchased a 38-acre site in San Jose that had belonged to Ford Motor Company. Sony has announced plans to turn the site into an office and operations center with a maximum capacity of 1 million square feet. The facility is scheduled for completion in mid-1993 and will contain a 500 thousand square foot facility (to be later expanded) which will house sales and marketing activities for Sony's Business & Professional Group and Component & Computer Products Group. The facility will also house engineering, training and customer services functions for those two operations. ====================================================================== FOUNDATION BY IMPULSE --------------------- Contact: Steve Gillmor, Impulse, Inc. For Immediate Release (803) 556-3459 (803) 769-0322 FAX Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 1st -- Impulse, Inc., maker of Imagine 3D animation software and the FireCracker 24-bit Real-Time Graphics Display Card for the powerful Amiga computer, announces Foundation, the Personal Software Authoring System. Foundation is the ultimate expert system for end-users to gain complete control over their Amiga computer system, enabling them to create applications and interactive presentations without prior programming knowledge. Foundation comes packed with advanced features to automate every computing task: * Records any action with the Macro Recorder. * Plays back tutorial programs that teach how to use the program. * Gives on-line Help with built-in HyperView stack system. Business professionals can use stacks that come with Foundation, like the FoundDex phone/address stack, the Calendar, the MediaBase animation, sound, and picture database, and more. It's easy to modify these stacks, adding buttons that print reports, log on to tele- services, and simultaneously launch and communicate with other programs. Not only can the entire desktop be automated with Foundation, but the program itself can be completely controlled, and directed to simplify daily tasks, freeing the multi-tasking Amiga for other uses. Create automated business presentations, stand-alone marketable stackware, personalized home/office organizers, and front-end screens to control laser disks, video recorders, and CD-ROM devices. Foundation is THE authoring system for prototyping and creating CDTV applications. Foundation goes a step beyond HyperCard and ToolBook with True HyperText, where any word or phrase clicked on can navigate to text, pictures, video and external programs. Easy-to-use programs can be created by simply adapting example stacks and objects that come with Foundation, or by using the English-like FAST-Talk scripting language. There's a built-in debugger and compiler, so that favorite routines can be fine-tuned and stored in libraries and tools accessible by any stack in memory. Advanced features include: * Multiple stacks in all Amiga resolutions. * Full and partial-screen visual effects. * Complete modification of any object, property, or script under automatic control from inside or outside the program. Foundation come with two freely-distributable Browsers, so that anyone with an Amiga can share and examine stacks, even without owning the program. Foundation is the perfect tool to manage the Desktop Video revolution that the Amiga is leading. Use Foundation to train anybody to run a video studio, from storyboarding to scheduling, to keeping track of clients, suppliers, and new technologies. Foundation is the glue that will hold a home office together, and make small business profitable and competitive in today's fast-moving world. Foundation is available now at a suggested retail price of S250. Call Impulse at 1-800-328-0184. ====================================================================== SUPRA UPDATES HD ---------------- Annoucing Supra's Series III Software for its HardDrive Systems. As of August 1st(I know I'm late) Supra has offical released Series III. The Series III upgrade kit will include a new autoboot rom, a new set of Supra Boot/Tools disks, and a interim manual. This upgrade includes our brand new device driver, which has been rewrote from the ground up. The new autoboot rom improves our boot time considerly. Also in some cases, depending on the type of drive you have, you will see a 10-15% increase in transfer speed. The version of SupraFormat and SupraEdit have been modified to work with our new driver. Supra has not been able to finish the complete rewrite of these like we wanted, so everybody who purchases a upgrade from us will receive a free upgrade when they become available, along with a new manual. The new driver also gives us 100% compatiblity with Commodore's RDB and SCSI direct, the old driver was about 90% compatible. The new driver also supports 4 Supra controllers on machine, the old one would only support one. SupraDiskChange now supports multiple removeable HDs, the old one would only support one. SupraDiskChange is the program that allows you to use multiple Syquest cartidges with out rebooting your system when you need to change cartidges. If you were using Supra's HD in the past you know all about Supra- Mount, well that is no longer needed. The new AutoBoot rom will automatically mount all partitions that have either boot or mount flags set. We have also include some new HD tools for the advanced programmers out there. Finally we are completely WB2.0 compatible. The prices on the upgrade is $44.95, and if you have a non-autobooting interface then it is $34.95.(You don't need the autoboot rom) You can order the kits from either Technical Support or Sales. The Sales number is 800-727-8772. Kenny - Supra Tech Support ====================================================================== STOCK WATCH ----------- Stock Watch is a weekly feature of AM-Report that lists the previous weeks securities activities for the four "name" computer companies: Apple, Atari, Commodore & IBM. The two numbers listed are the CLOSE and CHANGE values for the stock. Commodore & IBM are traded on the NYSE; Apple on the NASDAQ and Atari on the AMEX. MON TUE WED THUR ------------------------------------------------------------ Apple 45 1/2 +5/8 46 1/2 +1 46 1/4 -1/4 49 1/8 +2 7/8 Atari 2 1/8 Unch 2 1/8 Unch 2 -1/8 2 1/8 +1/8 CBM 13 1/8 +1/4 13 7/8 +3/4 14 3/8 +1/2 14 3/4 +3/8 IBM 101 3/8 +7/8 101 5/8 +1/4 101 1/4 -3/8 101 1/4 Unch FRI SYMBOL START FINISH CHANGE ---------------------------------------------------------- Apple 50 +7/8 (AAPL) 44 7/8 50 +5 1/8 Atari 2 1/4 +1/8 (ATC) 2 1/8 2 1/4 + 1/8 CBM 14 1/2 -1/4 (CBU) 12 7/8 14 1/2 +1 5/8 IBM 100 1/4 -1 (IBM) 100 1/2 100 1/4 - 1/4 ====================================================================== CORPORATE INFORMATION --------------------- Commodore Bueromaschinen GmbH TELEPHONE: (069) 66 38 0 Lyoner Str 38 TELEX: 4185663 Frankfurt Germany 6000 TELETEX: 69 97 18 11 FACSIMILE: (069) 66 38 159 BTELEX: *2 0095# PRIMARY SIC: 5044 Office Equipment SECONDARY SIC: 3579 Office Machines, NEC DUNS NUMBER: 31-581-7346 HOPPENSTEDT #: 31-584-3185 GERMAN STANDARD INDUSTRY CODES ------------------------------ PRIMARY: 4140a - Electrical appliances, radio and television sets, gramophones and records (Domestic wholesaling) SECONDARY: 2507e - Automatic data processing equipment and installations OPERATIONS: Production and sales of micro computers (home computers, personal computers, small business systems) SALES (LOCAL CURRENCY): 918,000,000 DM SALES (U.S. CURRENCY): 519,000,000 US$ CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Walter Bartholomae, Geschaftsfuhrer CBG is an exporter into the European Economic Community (EEC). FOREIGN TRADE: Import & Export LEGAL STATUS: Incorporated YEAR STARTED: 1971 FISCAL YEAR: 1Jul-30Jun EMPLOYEES: 391 (1989/90); 388 (1988/89) SALES: Deutsche Mark 923.1 Million (1989/90); Deutsche Mark 918.1 Million (1988/89) AUTH. CAPITAL: Deutsche Mark 30 Million REAL ESTATE: 17,000 Sq Meters; 6,800 Sq Meters of buildings BRANCHES: Werk Braunschweig, Ernst-Amme-Str 24-25, 3300 Braunschweig BANKS: Bethmann Bk, Deutsche Bk, Dresdner Bk, BHF-Bk, alle Frankfurt MANAGEMENT ---------- GENERAL MANAGER: Jost, Helmut AUTHORIZED MANAGER: Hanlon, Gayle AUTHORIZED MANAGER: Piro, Wolfgang MANAGER: Elsner, Guenther /Personnel MANAGER: Bossert, Rainald /Marketing, Advertising OWNERSHIP: Commodore Electronic Ltd, Nassau (Bahamas) (100 %) ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* CORPORATE INFORMATION --------------------- Commodore Business Machines (UK), Ltd. Commodore House The Switchback Gardner Road Maidenhead Berks. SL6 7XA TRADING AREA: Home counties and outer London REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 00956774 COUNTRY: England & Wales FINANCIAL DATA -------------- Date of Accounts 30Jun89 30Jun88 30Jun87 30Jun86 Consolidated N N N N Subsidiary Y Y Y Y Number of Weeks 52 52 52 52 Currency GBP(000s) GBP(000s) GBP(000s) GBP(000s) PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT ----------------------- Total Sales 45,748 21,401 16,566 87,257 Exports NA NA NA NA Pre-tax Profits 252 -3,426 -6,589 -11,326 Interest Payable 49 318 1,494 2,323 Non-Trading Income 69 32 108 100 Operating Profit 232 -3,140 -5,203 -9,103 Depreciation 74 68 243 712 Trading Profit 306 -3,072 -4,960 -8,391 Taxation NA NA NA NA Auditors Fees 32 31 33 38 Directors Remun 127 93 86 63 Highest Paid Dir Remun NA NA NA NA Number of Directors 3 NA NA NA Employees Remun. 1,207 940 1,336 2,908 Number of Employees 52 40 59 316 Value Added 1,645 -2,028 -3,477 -5,163 BALANCE SHEET ------------- Fixed Assets 167 178 198 3,784 Intangible Assets 0 0 0 0 Intermediate Assets 0 0 0 0 Stocks 6,779 4,187 2,796 5,541 Debtors 15,358 5,528 4,992 7,259 Other Curr Assets 4,884 1,797 2,966 13,252 Total Curr Assets 27,021 11,512 10,754 26,052 Total Assets 27,188 11,690 10,952 29,836 Creditors 1,302 1,153 581 1,054 Short Term Loans 20,753 8,168 7,702 18,666 Other Curr Liab. 1,270 734 2,866 3,724 Total Curr Liab. 23,325 10,055 11,149 23,444 Net Assets 3,863 1,635 -197 6,392 Shareholder Funds 3,863 1,635 -197 6,122 Long Term Loans 0 0 0 0 Other LT Liab 0 0 0 270 Capital Employed 3,863 1,635 -197 6,392 ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* MINOR COMMODORE NOTES --------------------- Commodore Sweden has 23 employees and is listed as a wholesaler of textile goods and apparel (them A1000 cufflinks, dontchaknow!) :-) 1989 year end sales figures for Sweden were $24.5 million with a profit of $129,000. 1988 year end sales figures for Germany were $509.5 million with a profit of $11 million. 1988 employee numbers were down about 100 from 1987. British statistics are given in Pounds Sterling. Convert to dollars by dividing by about 1.75. This gives a very rough estimate, as I don't know what the exchange rates were on June 30 of each year. Note that in 1986, 1987 and 1988 Commodore U.K. was losing a fortune! It wasn't until 1989 that they showed a profit. In the U.S., stockbrokers have cute nickname for companies. For instance, Philadelphia Screw and Bolt is known as "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" <GRIN>! Guess what Commodore is know as....CHICKEN LIPS! Yes, you read that right. The Commodore logo (C=) looks like a chicken with lips, so that is what they are occasionally known as. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MEDIA WATCH ----------- The July 29th issue of Computerworld (Doug Barney's out haunt) had a nice mention of the Amiga in their "Advanced Technology" section on page 17. A sidebar entitled "Viewing earthquakes on 3-D video" tells about how two seismologists working for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) office in Menlo Park, CA use their Amiga to view earthquakes. Apparently Fred Klein and Steve Walter have written a program in Fortran that reformats the seismic sensor data stored on a DEC VAX into an ASCII file. That file is transferred to an Amiga 2000 and run through Oxxi's Videoscape 3D to generate a 3D animation of the earthquake in question. They have converted USGS data into Videoscape format as far back as 1969 (Northern California only) and can watch seismic shifts in "fast forward" by doing a time-lapse animation. How good is it? The USGS has produced a video of an animation of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake aftershocks and its work has been featured on Nova, the popular PBS program. Next is an interactive touch-screen kiosk in the USGS lobby. `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` CNN's Headline News was showing spots on the Video Toaster, Thursday and Friday. The spots, one about 45 seconds and the other about 3 minutes, showed the Toaster logo; mentioned that the Toaster was an Amiga peripheral; had a short interview with a salesman from Video Gear (a shot showed the Amiga w/the Toaster screens) who explained briefly the benefits of a Toaster; and comment to the effect that while the Toaster needed about $6,000 to $10,000 of extra equipment to work properly, it blew the competition away and did the job of $100,000 character generators and editing machines. ====================================================================== HP DESKJET 500 -------------- The HP DeskJet 500 is a wonderful printer. Being and ink jet printer, it is very quiet and pretty quick (120 cps NLQ; 240 cps draft). It comes with three fonts built in -- two monospace and one proportional. It can vary the number of lines per inch printed; bold or normal weighting; portrait or landscape orientation and handles envelopes pretty well. The manuals are great, though they deal exclusively with PCs and compatibles. The warranty (3 years) is excellent. Loading paper is simple, though there is no room for a separate sheet feeder (one is built in). Changing the ink is simple, but the cartridges are not what I call inexpensive (about $18 each) and run out about every 200 pages. Setup is painfully easy (switch 1 dip-switch for use with the Amiga.) Graphics print at 75, 100, 150 or 300 dpi resolution. Both Centronics and serial interfaces are provided. The DJ 500 seems to work well with my A2000, though there are not an overabundance of printer drivers. The only one I found seems to work fine, so I am not complaining. (See The Non-Comm Club for details.) The print quality is good and pretty quick. Since it is an ink jet, don't grab the paper as soon as it pops out or it will smear. Waiting about 5 seconds will give it time to dry (HP uses a quick-drying ink). Actually, 5 seconds isn't that long. If you stop to think about not grabbing the paper then grab it, you've probably given it enough time to dry. The only time I have smeared ink is when I have my hand at the bin, waiting to grab the sheet ASAP. Print quality is excellent, and it blow away dot-matrix printers, even the 24-pin ones with 360 dpi. Dot matrix leaves impact pin marks which can cause a smeared look. The DJ 500 leaves no such marks so the text looks cleaner. The DJ 500 has two slots for either font cartridges or RAM expansion. It has a 16K buffer built in, which is large enough for most uses, though a print spooler might also come in handy for large jobs. There is even a color kit (about $35) that give you red, green and blue ink packs. To print color (300 dpi) you color separate your image into RGB components and print the image three times, physically changing the ink pack each time. Yes, it is time consuming and I have yet to actually try it, but it looks like a neat way to get cheap color. I have no complaints (other than the one biggie noted below) and would suggest the HP Desk Jet 500 to anyone who wants good quality but can't afford a laser printer. I have successfully used a DJ 500 on clones, Macs and Amigas so there is no compatibility problems. One of the manuals is dedicated to getting the most out of your DJ 500 with certain big-name programs (for the PC, though). There is even a disk full of Windows drivers (fat lot of good it did me!) The only problem I had is printing graphics. That is a sure-fire way to get a Guru. However, the author of the printer driver makes it quite clear that he wrote it for a 68030 based v2.03 system (an A3000) and he never tested it with anything less. It works great using all the text modes, with any option (portrait, landscape, variable cpi & lpi, etc.) I guess I'll have to try and do one myself (ha!). All-in- all, the HP Desk Jet 500 is a wonderful little printer, and with the price as low as $470 mail-order [WITH the HP 3 year warranty] it is a heck of a good bye. ====================================================================== Non-Comm Club ------------- Last week I reviewed a "hack" called Wanda, which put fish on your screen. This week I was informed of a couple of bugs in Wanda. The first applies to both v1.3 and v2.03 of WorkBench, the second happens only on v2.03 (so it was reported). 1) When used with an overscan screen, Wanda messes up on of the bubbles a fish blows. Since the graphics are sprites, overscan kills the last sprite and it ends up as a vertical bar instead of a bubble. 2) Wanda crashes when closed if run from WB and not the CLI. These bugs were reported by Jim Shaffer, Jr. of Montgomery, PA to me through UseNet (though CompuServe sends mail to UseNet via Internet). (If you ever want to see something wierd, have someone on UseNet send you mail at a CIS address -- the "TO: and FROM:" was a page long!) ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' The software review for this week is a Freeware program called DJ_Print (v1.1) by Steve Anderson of Manhattan Beach, CA. DJ_Print is a utility that lets you take control of your HP Desk Jet 500 printer, allowing you to select the fonts you want (from the internal 3); pick portrait or landscape mode; select point size, lpi and pitch; draft or NLQ print; normal or bold type; all four margins and select the file to print. DJ_Print opens its own window on the Workbench screen and seems to use about 2K of chip RAM and 76K of fast RAM. This program basically does what it says and does it well. It allows you to use your Desk Jet 500 printer as it is supposed to be used. DJ_Print sends all information to the PAR: device and not the PRT: device, thereby bypassing and printer driver you have selected. DJ_Print is neat, clean and well designed. I don't know whether or not it runs under v2.x but it works on v1.3.3. The author claims not to want any cash, but you can send him Desk Jet ink refills if you like (considering they are between $17 and $19 I can see why!) The program is freely redistributable. The only suggestions I have are for an ARexx port (so I can print directly from CED Pro!) and be able to access font cartridges. If you own a Desk Jet 500, I suggest that you take the time to d/l this little program, it is well worth the effort. (Oh, I'd like to see it self-detaching, also.) The author can be reached on CIS as 74375,1514 or by U.S. Mail at his home address: Steve Anderson 1136 11th Street Manhattan Beach, CA 90266 ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Second on the PD review table is an HP_DeakJet 500 printer driver by Lance Kibblewhite of Herndon, VA. This driver is for the HP_DeskJet 500 and does not work with the DJ+ or original Desk Jet. The driver is small (about 4K) and was written in assembly under v2.03 of the operating system. The author tested it on an A3000 w/2.03 and it runs fine on my A2000 w/v1.3.3 so it should have no problem on anything v1.3 or above. The driver is version 2 and has a "shifted origin" mode for use with Professional Page. It will not allow you to mix text and graphics on the same page (in "shifted origin" mode). Heck, it's a PRINTER DRIVER! What more can I say? The author included some notes on using Excellence! and PPage but other than that, you just install it in your Devs:Printers directory, set the Preferences and forget about it. The Preferences print density controls graphics dpi and the shifted origin mode (75, 100, 150 or 300 dpi in or out of shifted origin origin mode). It works. At least, so far. I have not yet gotten anything (DPaint or a few different screen dumpers) to print a graphics screen, but I cannot yet find the cause. It works great with text. The author can be contacted on BIX as lkibblewhite and through the U.S. mails at: Lance Kibblewhite 1413 Bluemont Court Herndon, VA 22070-3524 """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" WHATS NEW IN THE AMIGA FORUMS? ------------------------------ CIS/Amiga User -------------- CDSTOR.LZH/B 128K 01-Aug-91 Compact Disk Database/Record tracker VIDSTO.LZH/B 127K 01-Aug-91 VideoStore 1.2 - a Video/Movie Database-Tracker SUPRA.LZH/B 3K 01-Aug-91 Supra Drivers for A-MaxII ALOG.LZH/B 27K 30-Jul-91 Amiga Logic - a quarterly Amiga newsletter BEDIT.ZOO/B 33K 30-Jul-91 bEdit - a binary file editor CLIP4A.LZH/B 164K 30-Jul-91 IFF clipart of people CLIP5A.LZH/B 133K 30-Jul-91 Signs and sports for your IFF clipart collection CDTVTI.LZH/B 1K 28-Jul-91 Xetec CDTV Compatibility list AMREXP.LZH/B 14K 28-Jul-91 AM-Report Special Issue - Orlando AmiExpo CIS/Amiga Tech -------------- BHELP.LZH/B 35K 01-Aug-91 AmigaBasic online help when using DME PTRSRV.LZH/B 8K 01-Aug-91 Move mouse pointer via ARexx commands POWERM.LZH/B 6K 01-Aug-91 Program to create menus BCACHE.LZH/B 6K 30-Jul-91 BootCache - disable processor caches on reboot BMAKE.LZH/B 134K 30-Jul-91 BMake 1.4 - the GNU Make utility SCROLL.LZH/B 110K 30-Jul-91 ASM source and executables for 10 Euro demos SNDPRF.LZH/B 10K 30-Jul-91 DisplayBeep Daemon and Prefs Editor for 2.0 ONEKEY.LZH/B 10K 30-Jul-91 Collects and combines qualifier keys COOKIE.LZH/B 21K 29-Jul-91 BackTalk/ARexx "cookie" script SIT.LZH/B 6K 28-Jul-91 SET ICON TYPE MNXDEM.LZH/B 213K 27-Jul-91 MINIX (unix clone) demo, unlzh to disk BOOT CIS/Amiga Arts -------------- SCIFI.LZH/B 538K 01-Aug-91 Various SciFi related sound samples COPYCO.LZH/B 21K 01-Aug-91 Announce of a DMCS to Dr T's The Copyist prog. BMWSTH.LZH/B 19K 01-Aug-91 IFF picture of three automobiles CAULKI.LZH/B 102K 01-Aug-91 IFF picture of young boy, Culkin COMICC.LZH/B 218K 01-Aug-91 Two digitized images of comic book characters FOWLER.LZH/B 38K 01-Aug-91 Shamview picture of the moon's surface HITOY.LZH/B 69K 01-Aug-91 Picture of car on enormous wheels PROJ09.LZH/B 33K 01-Aug-91 Project 0.9, a 'Tracker MOD format music score SPHERE.LZH/B 117K 31-Jul-91 HAM-E mode image of a hand holding a sphere ATF.LZH/B 295K 30-Jul-91 ATF-Agility, an Eric Schwartz Aerotoon CLOUD.LZH/B 22K 30-Jul-91 Cloud - a progthat generates fractal surfaces SHCOCK.LZH/B 91K 30-Jul-91 Shuttlecock - a humorours Aerotoon animation CONNEX.LZH/B 27K 30-Jul-91 New form of the Connect-4 game SOLIT.LZH/B 92K 30-Jul-91 Greatly improved version of solitaire Klondike HGLHAM.LZH/B 81K 29-Jul-91 Hi-Res HAM Rendering of HourGlass Scene CFLAGE.LZH/B 225K 29-Jul-91 Camouflage, a new Schwartz Aerotoon MED310.LZH/B 359K 28-Jul-91 MED 3.10 - A tracker style music editor/player SNDTOY.LZH/B 52K 27-Jul-91 Spectrogram V6 & Audioscope - Audio analysis tools COMB16.LZH/B 647K 27-Jul-91 16 24bit rendered images composited on one image BUBBLE.LZH/B 30K 27-Jul-91 Underwater "bubbles" in 16 colors CIS/Amiga Vendor ---------------- (Black Belt Systems) PF.LZH/B 1K 28-Jul-91 ARexx macro for ClickFAX: Print+Del all in dir. CVT.LZH/B 56K 27-Jul-91 Convert v2.7: Alien image types to 24 bit IFF HD.LZH/B 10K 27-Jul-91 lharc'd text file comparing HAME & DCTV units HLIB.LZH/B 138K 27-Jul-91 HAM-E Support libs - render and low-level. IPA.LZH/B 459K 27-Jul-91 Image Prol 5.0 - lharc includes IP & Docs JB.ZOO/B 34K 30-Jul-89 PAINTU.LZH/B 241K 27-Jul-91 REG Paint v2.25 - Docs, ARexx, Executable SCD.LZH/B 213K 27-Jul-91 DEMO of SpectraColor for HAM-E, by Oxxi Inc. ====================================================================== IMPORTANT NOTICE! ================= As a reader of AMReport International Online Magazine, you are entitled to take advantage of a special DELPHI membership offer. For only $29.95 ($20 off the standard membership price!), you will receive a lifetime subscrip- tion to DELPHI, a copy of the 500-page DELPHI: THE OFFICIAL GUIDE and over $14 worth of free time. SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI ====================== Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access DELPHI services via a local phone call JOIN -- DELPHI -------------- 1. Dial 617-576-0862 with any terminal or AM and modem (at 2400 bps, dial 576-2981). 2. At the Username prompt, type JOINDELPHI. 3. At the Password prompt enter STREPORT. For more information call: DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005 or at 617-491-3393 from within Massachusetts or from outside the U.S. DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, Mass. SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT -------------------- The 20/20 Advantage Plan IS FANTASTIC! And it features 20 hours online for just $20 a month! The $20 is a monthly fee that covers your first 20 hours online via direct dial into one of DELPHI's two direct-access lines, or via a special Tymnet 20/20 Access code. It also gets you additional hours at just $1.20 per hour. And you get free access to several services on DELPHI as part of the Advantage Perks. Other telecom services may have additional charges. Canadian Tymnet users have an additional telecom charge. Office Time access (7 a.m. to 7 p.m., weekdays) may have an additional charge. And of course, other restric- tions may apply. But this is still an amazing deal! IMPORTANT NOTICE! ================= As a reader of AMReport International Online Magazine, you are entitled to take advantage of a special DELPHI membership offer. DELPHI has waived the sign-up fee! For a limited time, you can join the World's Premier Online Service for FREE! Members can access DELPHI worldwide through hundreds of local access lines. For more information please contact: DELPHI at 1-800-544-4005 and ask for Member Services. DELPHI- It's getting better all the time! """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" > 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 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 ****** * 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) *>> NO REPACKS OR REFURBS USED! <<* - Custom Walnut WOODEN Cabinets - TOWER - AT - XT Cabinets - >> 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! *********************************************************************** :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 *********************************************************************** > A "Quotable Quote" ==================== "IF YOU CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE, YOU MIGHT AS WELL PLEASE YOURSELF! ....Pizza Hut TV ad """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" AMReport International Online Magazine Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide! """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" AMReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" August 3, 1991 16/32bit Magazine Copyright 1991 Volume 1.05 """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" 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. """"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""