Welcome to the ____ / ___) *StarShip* 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast / (_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / ___) / (__ very weekend the *StarShip* on GEnie presents a new 5-MINUTE Weekend (_____) Newscast in Communications Room 10 in the Real-Time Conference Area. Featuring late-breaking stories from the Amiga community, these dynamic, scrolling newscasts cycle every 5 minutes, so you can stop by between 6PM and 3AM Eastern time on Friday, or 3PM and 3AM Eastern time on Saturday or Sunday and learn everything that happened during the preceding week. Industry news, product announcements, upgrades, rumors, special *StarShip* activities, trade show reports, GEnie usage tips, humor, recommended files to download... ... the works -- and it ONLY takes 5 minutes! Each 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast is available on *StarShip* Menu #10 during the following week. Periodically, newscasts are combined and made available for downloading from the *StarShip* Library. ____________________________________________________________ // \ || -*- IMPORTANT! -*- | || | || As long as individual stories are kept intact and credit | || is given, this material may be reproduced in ALL or PART | || on a privately owned BBS or in a user group newsletter. | || See wording for proper credit at the end of this Newscast. | \\____________________________________________________________/ || | || | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Denny Atkin, Editor, COMPUTE's Amiga Resource, for his generous input. Here we go!... DateLine: April 23, 1993 This 5-MINUTE Newscast presents the following stories: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BULLETIN! Late-Breaking News! ** Commodore US Lays Off Design Engineers, CATS & Other Personnel 1. Commodore & NewTek Market Amiga 4000 & New Video Toaster 4000 2. CSA Twelve Gauge Specifications Sheet "Expanded Version" 3. WordPerfect Discontinues Amiga, Apple and Atari Versions 4. Next Week's *StarShip* Amiga Conferences 5. Collection of Friendly User-Tested Tips! A4000 Toaster Upgrade A4000 HD Floppy Drive Tip SoftWood Final Copy II V2 Boot Guru Fix Commodore Gold Service Warranty Change 6. Announcing the AMIJAM'93 Workshop Schedule! 7. From Manta: Video Backup System Amiga 8. Special Offer: Creative Focus SuperDJ 500-C Printer Driver --> *StarShip* Egciting Coloring Contest Winners! BULLETIN! BULLETIN! Commodore US Lays Off Design Engineers, CATS & Other Personnel _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ *StarShip* News Network -- April 23, 1993 / - \ / ___ \ (_/ \_) dozen or more jobs were terminated at Commodore International's US Subsidiary at West Chester, PA, today, according to a reliable source who requested anonymity. This wide-sweeping cut went through the heart of the operation, touching hardware and software engineering, CATS (Commodore Amiga Technical Support) and product assurance personnel. It is not known at this writing if other positions were affected as well, but the reported layoff toll now stands as follows: 1 Amiga Software Engineer 1 PC Software Engineer 1 or 2 Hardware Engineers 3 or 4 Product Assurance (PA) 1 VLSI Engineer (chip designer) 1 CATS Employee (the last Unix person) 1 Spec Writer in Engineering Services Also laid off was Rick Sterling, whose job title is unknown. It is not known if further layoffs will be forthcoming or how these actions will affect production of the Amiga or the software and peripherals manufactured by Commodore -- including newly announced products at the World of Commodore Show held earlier this month in New York City. The *StarShip* News Network has also received unconfirmed reports that Commodore is seeking outside financial backing. What _is_ known, however, is that the value of Commodore International Ltd.'s stock is falling, and may be at an all-time low as reported by Closing Stock Quotes today on GEnie*Basic Page 8008: Tick Description TP C Date High Low Close Vol 100s CBU COMMODORE INTL LTD 04/22 4.500 4.250 4.375 1327 04/21 4.500 4.375 4.375 356 Stay tuned to the *StarShip* 5-MINUTE Weekend News for immediate coverage as the situation develops. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 1st of 8 Stories Commodore & NewTek Market Amiga 4000 & New Video Toaster 4000 ____~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / ___) West Chester, PA -- April 18, 1993 / / / (__ (_____)ommodore Business Machines, Inc. is pleased to announce it is participating in a joint marketing effort with NewTek, Inc., built on bringing powerful, cost effective technology to the video marketplace. The vast acceptance of Commodore's Amiga (R) computer and NewTek's Video Toaster (TM) as quality video products is unprecedented. The newly formed alliance coupled with NewTek's announcement of the Video Toaster 4000 will encourage further widespread acceptance of the Amiga and Toaster within the rapidly growing personal video production industry. "Commodore and NewTek share a mutual commitment to offering video producers state-of-the-art video products. Given our shared interests in providing advanced technology and product support at a reasonable cost, our marketing partnership was inevitable," commented James Dionne, Commodore President and General Manager. "Commodore is pleased to join NewTek as they announce the Video Toaster 4000 and we look forward to working with them to put the power of personal video production in the hands of video users across the U.S." Since its introduction in 1985 the Amiga has been recognized as the most video oriented microcomputer. Every Amiga is equipped with an array of video features such as NTSC horizontal scan rate compatibility, interlaced and non-interlaced video modes, RGB analog signal and overscan capabilities. A dedicated video slot provides easy access to the Amiga's video bus for integrating performance enhancing devices like NewTek's Video Toaster. In September of 1992 Commodore introduced the Amiga 4000 featuring the Advanced Graphics Architecture(TM) (AGA) chip set. AGA greatly enhances the computer's videographics capabilities by enabling users to display and animate graphics in selectable resolutions at up to 256,000 colors from a palette of 16.8 million. "With new Video Toaster 4000 features such as real-time playback of LightWave 3D animations, we're taking full advantage of the AGA chip set," said NewTek President Tim Jenison. "Some of the Toaster 4000's new video effects have never before been possible on any system at any price. Technological breakthroughs at Commodore and NewTek have made them possible on a complete system that costs less than $5000." The Video Toaster 4000 hardware includes a real-time effects engine and two 16.8 million color broadcast-quality frame buffers. Also included is an advanced character generator, four input switchers, a broadcast-quality paint program, color effects, a 3D modeling and animation program, and a luminance keyer. "The idea behind the Toaster is to give ordinary people all of the tools they need to produce television at an affordable price," said NewTek Vice President Paul Montgomery. "Toaster 4000, with its hundreds of new features, is the next stage in the personal video production revolution." For more information contact your authorized Amiga reseller or NewTek, Inc., 215 SE 8th Street, Topeka, KS 66603, telephone 1-800-843-8934, fax 913/354-1584. _____________________________________________________________ / \ | More information is available in File 19170 TOASTERCON.LHA | | in the *StarShip* Library -- the transcript of our live, | | Thursday night v-v-Video Conference on this very subject | | with details straight from NewTek! | \_____________________________________________________________/ Commodore Business Machines, Inc., based in West Chester, PA, is the U.S. subsidiary of Commodore International Limited. The company manufactures and markets a complete line of Amiga computers and peripherals for the business, consumer, education and government markets. The company's worldwide installed user base of Amiga computers is presently almost four million. Amiga and Advanced Graphics Architecture are trademarks of Commodore-Amiga, Inc. Video Toaster is a trademark of NewTek, Inc. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 2nd of 8 Stories CSA Twelve Gauge Specifications Sheet "Expanded Version" ____ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / ___) San Diego, CA -- April 20, 1993 / / / (__ (_____)hoose an accelerator company you can trust to provide proven acceleration! Only CSA has been producing accelerators since 1986! Design Goal: To produce a single board computer for the Amiga 1200 offering a highspeed CPU, FPU, 32-Bit RAM, SCSI controller and networking solution that resides in the CPU expansion slot of the Amiga 1200. CPU Specifications: A 50MHz 68030 or 40MHz 68EC030 Motorola processor can be used on the Twelve Gauge. Most customers will prefer the 50MHz MMU version because it is at least 15% faster than the 40MHz "EC" version and will allow programs that require the MMU to be used like GigaMem, A-MAX, Enforcer and future products that require the MMU function. Both versions will support the BURST mode feature, but the 50 MHz version is at least 15% faster and has the needed MMU function included. FPU Specifications: The Twelve Gauge uses a PGA (Pin Grid Array) socket for the use of a Motorola 68882 math coprocessor. This is significant because this feature allows standard PGA math coprocessors to be installed. Currently, the PLCC math coprocessors that some competitors use are expensive, hard to locate, only operate at 33MHz and are more troublesome to install. Most customers will prefer the 50MHz 68882 because it is at least 15% faster than the 40MHz version and the cost is about the same. DRAM Expansion: The Twelve Gauge uses industry standard 32-Bit SIMMs like the A4000 uses. Both the single and double sided SIMMs may be used. This is significant because you will be able to purchase these SIMMs from standard memory sources. Some of our competitors use custom DRAM SIMMs that are expensive and cannot be found from standard memory sources. The Twelve Gauge uses 60NS (nano second) page mode or static column mode SIMMs. The configuration is a 32-Bit, 72 Pin module. The Twelve Gauge can be configured with 1, 2, 3, 8, 16 or 32MBS of 32-Bit DRAM. CSA has designed the Twelve Gauge accelerator to utilize the 68030's "Cache Burst Fill" capability to increase throughput. This feature does not require special BURST mode SIMMs. Special circuitry allows standard page mode or static column mode DRAM SIMMs to operate in this efficient way. With instruction cache BURST enabled, a speed increase of up to 20% can be measured above non-BURST operation. The Twelve Gauge also includes hardware to remap the operating system into the highspeed BURST mode DRAM without the use of the MMU. SCSI Specifications: The Twelve Gauge SCSI controller is located right on the PCB board. This is significant because our competitors either don't offer a SCSI controller or offer this feature as an expensive external upgrade. Most customers will want to order the Twelve Gauge with the SCSI controller installed. The Twelve Gauge SCSI controller is completely RDB (Ridged Disk Block) compatible, following Commodore's standard for mounting SCSI devices. This allows the use of SCSI devices that have been previously configured on the A3000 or A2091 to be virtually plug and play compatible with the Twelve Gauge. Also, CSA will ship software for configuring SCSI devices for use with the Twelve Gauge. Further, by being RDB compatible and SCSI direct, Commodore's HDTOOLBOX can be used to configure, format and partition your SCSI devices if you choose. Why would a customer want an accelerator without a SCSI controller? The Twelve Gauge incorporates a highspeed SCSI controller integrated into a 50MHz 68030 BURST mode accelerator. The speed of this controller will push the band width of the Amiga 1200 when accessed directly by a 50MHz BURST mode accelerator and will scream when used on the Amiga 1200's double AA, 32-Bit graphics chip set. Networking: The Twelve Gauge also supports the addition of a network controller. This optional ARCNET controller will allow the Twelve Gauge to talk to other Amiga computers when CSA releases CSANET(TM), CSA's new networking solution for the Amiga series computers. The Twelve Gauge provides the physical layer hardware and low level SANA II drivers for using Commodore's or other third party network application programs. Benchmarks: The following benchmarks are from AIBB version 5.5. All benchmarks are compared to an Amiga 4000 running 68040 optimized code with the instruction BURST "ON" and data BURST "ON." 7 out of the 18 tests run faster than an Amiga 4000! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 11 out of the 18 tests run at least 75% or faster than an Amiga 4000! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AIBB Version 5.5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Compared to an Amiga 4000 Seive = 56% faster Matris = 21% faster MemTest = 12% faster TGTest = 23% faster Savage = 67% faster FTrace = 8% faster INSTTest = 12% faster The Twelve Gauge is available NOW! 50MHz Version with SCSI Controller only $699. For more information contact Computer Systems Associates (CSA), 7564 Trade Street, San Diego, CA 92121, telephone 619/566-3911, fax 619/566-0581. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 3rd of 8 Stories WordPerfect Discontinues Amiga, Apple and Atari Versions ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ _ _ Orem, Utah -- April 1993 / ) / ) / (_/ / (_____/ntil June 30, 1993, customers who own WordPerfect for Amiga, Apple or Atari, can trade up to WordPerfect for DOS, Windows, or Macintosh, or to LetterPerfect for DOS or Macintosh for $150 plus applicable sales tax and $7 shipping and handling. Customers are required to relinquish their original Amiga, Apple, or Atari license number in order to qualify for this trade-in. Customers who do not know their license number must provide proof of ownership, such as original diskettes or certificate of license. If you are interested in this offer, please call Orders at 1-800-321-4566 or write to: WordPerfect Corporation Attn: Direct Sales Amiga/Apple/Atari Trade-In 1555 North Technology Way Orem, UT 84507-2399 _______________________________________________________ / \ | Please note that on June 30, 1993, all support and | | development of WordPerfect products for Amiga, Apple, | | and Atari will be officially discontinued. | \_______________________________________________________/ If you have any questions, please feel free to call Information Services at (800) 451-5151. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 4th of 8 Stories __________________________________________________________________________ | | | *StarShip* Amiga Conferences | | _ _ _ | | / \ (_) / ) | | / - \ _____ ___ _ / / | | / ___ \ / _ )/ __)/ ) / / | | / / \ \ / /_) // / / / / / | | (_/ \_)/ ____/(_/ (_/ (_/ | | (_/ | | | | Except where noted, Conferences begin at 10PM Eastern Time in the Amiga | | Conference Rooms at Page 555;2. Amiga Programmers meet Wednesday nights | | at Pro/Am on Page 670. Amiga/GEnie HelpDesk EVERY Night at 9PM Eastern. | |__________________________________________________________________________| | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Humpday |Thursday | Friday | Saturday | | Help@9EDT| Help@9EDT|Help@9EDT| Help@9EDT|Help@9EDT| Help@9EDT| Help@9EDT| |__________|__________|_________|__________|_________|__________|__________| | 25 | 26 | 27 |\ | 28 | 29 | 30 | May 1 | |5-MIN News| | _| | | | New |5-MIN News| | 3PM-3AM | DeskTop | (_) | AmiGames |vv-Video!|*StarShip*| 3PM-3AM | | -*- |Publishing| Mad/MOD | ------ | with | 5-MINUTE |9:Hardware| |10PM: | Night | Music |Programing| Yury & | Newscast | Clinic | | Graphics | | Night |at Pro/Am | Guests | 6PM-3AM |10: Party!| |__________|__________|_________|__________|_________|__________|__________| HelpDesk *EVERY* NIGHT @ 9PM Eastern Time! Got a problem? If you have questions about learning to use your Amiga, the *StarShip* or GEnie, we have answers! Stop by Conference Room 4 ANY EVENING from 9 to 10 EDT for live, on-the-spot help. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 5th of 8 Stories ___ ___ (_ )( _) / /_/ / / __ / _/ / / / (___)(__)ere's a collection of Friendly User-Tested Tips! ______ A4000 Toaster Upgrade (__ __) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / / *StarShip* Bulletin Board -- April 23, 1993 / / (_/he owner of the store I work in just briefed us on the NewTek's upgrade policy for the new Toaster products. (I left my notes at the store and am going from memory -- I'll print this out and make sure I got it right in the morning. :-) * The Toaster 4000 will retail for $2395.00. * There will be two upgrade options for current Toaster owners: -- Upgrade for $1,000.00 by sending in your Toaster to NewTek who will then FedEx your Toaster 4000 to you. -- Keep your current Toaster and send $1,795.00 and disk eight from your current Toaster disk set. NOTE: I called NewTek and asked what the warranty status would be for someone who bought a used Toaster from someone who upgraded to Toaster 4000. I was told that they would be fully covered by NewTek BUT that the new owner could not also use that board to upgrade to Toaster 4000. The new owner COULD however upgrade to Toaster 3.0 for $795.00 just like any other Toaster owner. * Toaster 3.0 for current Toaster owners will cost $795.00 As for when all of this will be available I was told by our NewTek representative that they would =probably= be shipping demo units to Toaster Dealers during the first week of May. Actual units to sell will =probably= be available around the middle of May. Thanks to Celfara (who "CAN'T WAIT FOR HIS NEW TOASTER!!!" he said calmly ;-). For more information, see *StarShip* Bulletin Board CATegory 25, TOPic 22. -*- A4000 HD Floppy Drive Tip ______ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (__ __) *StarShip* Bulletin Board -- April 16, 1993 / / / / (_/hose of you pulling your hair out trying to get your HD floppy drive in your A4000 to work (with or without EMPLANT), I have some news for you! Commodore's people (or machine) made a serious boo-boo. There is a jumper on the motherboard (A4000 only) that is NOT documented. This jumper (labeled as J352, under the IDE drive) allows the A4000 to use an EXTERNAL floppy as DF0. Apparently, these jumpers were installed so that any drive plugged into the external disk port would be DF0... even if you have a DF0 internally! Sometimes, some floppy drives work just fine with the jumper set in this incorrect manner, however, this can still cause problems as two sets of buffer circuitry are active and *will* interfere with each other. Many people have reported problems using CrossDOS to read/write/format IBM HD disks (a few report even 720K disks have problems). We have also witnessed this with our A4000 until we moved the jumper to the correct position. Call your GOLD SERVICE representative and get them to check out/move the jumper to the correct position. We spent waaaay too many hours figuring this out (and there are lots of changes to the disk code as a result). You want the jumper to be between the middle and INT pins, not EXT DF0. Thanks to Jim Drew of EMPLANT for this tip! For more info, see *StarShip* Bulletin Board CATegory 14, TOPic 31. -*- SoftWood Final Copy II V2 Boot Guru Fix ____ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (_ _) *StarShip* Bulletin Board -- April 13, 1993 / / _/ / (____) have read of several other people having the problem of FinalCopy II Version 2 failing when booted. These problems reveal themselves as 80000003 and 80000004 guru errors, when the failure occurs. After calling for two days I was able to get hold of Softwood and talked to Ric Fischer. He was able to talk me through my problem and finally got me up and running. He explained the that my problem was caused by a wrongly placed copy of the "qfont.library" file. The "old" file is from a previously installed copy of FinalCopy and mine was found in my "Libs" directory on the "Boot sector" of my hard drive. Ric explained that this was caused by people that use the expert mode of the installation program, or moving fclibs, around after the Installer was done it's thing, and failing to delete the old copies of this file. Use a file finding utility to help you locate all copies of qfont.library on your hard disk, and delete the older versions of the qfont.library file. The old file can be checked by using a hex_read program and looking for the version number. The old qfont.library file I had was is version 36.3 with a date of 2/8/92. My new version of FinalCopy_II-2 carried a qfont.library version number of 38.2 dated 31.10.92. This file is in the Fclibs directory on the FCSYSTEM_2.0 floppy disk. Delete the old versions from your hard drive, and use the "novice" install option to reinstall the program. Thanks to Bill Bauer for this valuable tip! For more information, see *StarShip* Bulletin Board CATegory 5, Topic 12, Message 351 and forward. -*- ___ ___ Commodore Gold Service Warranty Change (_ )( _) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / /_/ / *StarShip* Bulletin Board -- April 16, 1993 / __ / _/ / / / (___)(__)ere's something else Commodore is doing right! Commodore has changed its warranty policy, and now we, the unwashed masses can open up our 1200s and put in a clock or a hard drive, without voiding the warranty! This news come from two separate conversations to gold service techs on two different days from members of our users group. One of our members got one of the bad 1200's and called Gold Service to get them to pick it up. He told them he had a 120 meg HD installed. The Gold Service tech told him to open it up and take it out! He then added that Commodore had changed it's policy, and that users could now add their own HD'S. This news was a little hard to swallow, so another member called gold service the next day to confirm this story. He was told the same thing! Although we suggest you verify this with a Gold Service Representative, thanks to FISHBONE for this valuable tip! For more info, see *StarShip* Bulletin Board CATegory 15, TOPic 46, message 71 and forward. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 6th of 8 Stories Announcing the AMIJAM'93 Workshop Schedule! _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / \ Calgary, Canada -- April 19, 1993 / - \ / ___ \ (_/ \_)ll workshops are limited to 24 people each. They will be conducted in the Amiga lab at SAIT. Since attendance is limited, workshops will be filled on a "first paid, first in" basis. The signup sheet will be available at the AMUC General meeting on Wednesday April 21, 1993. After that, people wishing to sign up for a workshop may do so through _CSBM, The Computer Studio_. Again, signing up is NOT a guarantee of attendance. Only people having paid their fee will be guaranteed a space. FRIDAY MAY 14, 1993 Intermediate ARexx Programming with Jim Butterfield 1-3pm Mr. Butterfield will conduct a 2 hour workshop on ARexx focussing on what can be accomplished using the language, how it can be used $25 to have programs communicate with each other, Exercises with ED, and how to write useful scripts for use on their own. Producing a Desktop Video with B.J. Hamilton 3-6pm Mr. Hamilton will take attendees through an intense 3 hour session covering many aspects of producing a video using a variety of $38 equipment. This workshop is intended for the beginner to intermediate level. Multimedia Sweatshop with Coniah Chuang 6-9pm In a 3 hour "sweatshop", former Commodore employee Coniah Chuang will cover many aspects of multimedia productions from conception $38 to completion. All people interested in multimedia should find this workshop educational. SATURDAY MAY 15, 1993 2D Animation Techniques with Eric Schwartz 10-1pm One of the best known Amiga animators will share the techniques of 2-dimensional animation with participants. Whether a beginner $38 or an experienced animator, Eric's insight into this fascinating area is sure to be a crowd pleaser. Shells & Tools, Fish & Utilities; Surviving in a Sea of Software with Stephen Jeans and Fred Fish 1-2pm This informative workshop will take beginners and experienced users through a variety of software and "de-mystify" the shell for $15 those who have not yet "pried it open." Desktop Publishing, and How to Take it off the Desk with Bob Brownscombe 2-4pm While explaining some of the hidden features of Pagestream, Mr. Brownscombe will be explaining some of the possible pitfalls $25 of taking your DTP over to print. Typography, design and printing problems are some of the topics he will cover. ARexx Programming for Beginners with Jim Butterfield 4-5pm Rounding out the workshop schedule, Jim Butterfield is back with a workshop aimed squarely at those users who have heard about $15 ARexx, seen people excited about it, but never taken the plunge and put it to work. That concludes the Workshop schedule for AMIJAM'93. There will also be a number of Seminars given in a lecture style setting. Each of these Seminars will cost $3.00, or you can attend all of them by purchasing a single $10.00 ticket. There will be approximately 9 separate seminars over the 2 days, each about 45-50 minutes in length. Also, the Orpheus theatre will be the home of the Presentation series. This series will cover everything from "The Magical Innerworkings of the Amiga" to an Animation Festival. There will be no charge for these Presentations and the series of 5 will mostly be repeated on both days. Tickets for AMIJAM'93 are as follows: $3.00 Show admittance and your name goes in for ALL door prize draws. $10.00 Show admittance, door prize draws and attendance to ALL Seminars Tickets are available at the AMUC general meeting; CSBM, The Computer Studio; Ace Tech Computers and at the door on the day of the show. For further information on AMIJAM'93 see *StarShip* Bulletin Board CATegory 15, TOPic 6, or call 948-6813. -*- *StarShip* Amiga *Flash* 7th of 8 Stories From Manta: Video Backup System Amiga ______ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (__ __) Eatontown, NJ -- April 1993 / / / / (_/he Video Backup System Amiga is an inexpensive and reliable hardware interface/backup software combination which enables you to connect any video recorder to the Amiga and use it as a backup storage device. As many as 200 Amiga floppy disks will fit on a 4-hour tape. When used for hard disk backup, there's room for 175MB of data on the same tape. Key features of the Video Backup System Amiga: - Ability to backup a complete Amiga diskette in 1 minute. Restore in the same time, even to an unformatted disk. - Hard disk backup: the software allows you to specify which files and directories are to be stored. Full or partial restore to any path. Verify function. Performance about 800K to 1 MByte per minute. - Recommended media: High grade video tapes, about $6. Low cost storage $.03 per megabyte! - The software has an intuitive menu-driven graphical user interface. Hard disk backup looks and feels similar to other backup programs. - Control monitor connection which allows you to switch 1084 display between the Amiga signal and the VCR signal. (Will also allow user to view any VCR output on 1084.) - Very high reliability on High-Grade tape. Effective error-correction scheme ensures that a video backup is even more reliable than the usual back-up on floppy disks. - Log files: The VBS software automatically maintains file log files, which contain title and counter position of every backup. - Video Connection check: VBS checks whether the hardware is hooked up correctly. This ensures fool-proof operation. - Easy to understand manual. This product is the ideal backup system for both floppy and hard disk users. Floppy users can store large games and public domain collections on one tape, and hard disk users can make their archival backups with it. At a cost of only $99.95, no Amiga owner can afford to be without one! The Video backup system for the Amiga was developed by Lyppens Software Productions. For more information contact Manta, 115 Route 35, Eatontown, NJ 07724, telephone 1-800-477-7706, 908/542-1251, fax 908/542-3654. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 8th of 8 Stories Special Offer: Creative Focus SuperDJ 500-C Printer Driver ______ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (__ __) Chenango Bridge, NY -- April 20, 1993 / / / / (_/he Creative Focus Super_DJC2 printer driver is for all Amiga computers and for all Hewett-Packard DeskJets, including the new 550C. It provides better control over printing tasks than software costing many times more. While the intuitive side of your brain is admiring the pictures [Note: great color print-outs shown on the flyer], here are some numbers for the analytic side: o 4 selectable lightness/darkness levels o 4 types of black (three composites plus true black) o 3 shingling options (to control ink bleeding) o 2 depletion choices (or reducing the amount of ink) For text output you get 14 powerful extended commands for just about everything: character set, pitch, point, typeface and softfont selection; control over lines per inch, linewrap, textscale and print direction; 8 different text color options; relative and absolute row and column cursor positioning; and tabsize determination. Want to get at those internal fonts? Super_DJC2 provides Preferences and Printer access to all the typefaces: Courier, Letter Gothic, CG Times and Univers. Choose between letter, legal, A4 and envelope paper sizes, and stack envelopes with the new 550C. For help with specific software packages, you can turn off perforation skip, suppress unwanted pagefeeds, disable the driver's color correction, or select typefaces and character sets via font numbers. Super_DJC2 works with all Amigas, and is compatible with AmigaDOS releases 1.3 through 3.0. And it's for all DeskJets: even with the Original and the new Portable your grayscale images will be exceptional and your text control unsurpassed. ______________________________________________________________ / \ | Special! Creative Focus is offering the SuperDJ 500-C driver | | for $20.00, plus $2.00 Shipping and Handling in the U.S.; | | $4.00 S&H elsewhere. | | | | This driver is good for all DeskJets up to the 500C, and can | | be upgraded to the 550C for $15, plus Shipping and Handling. | | | | Offer good ONLY while supplies last. | \______________________________________________________________/ One more number: Super_DJC2 is available from Creative Focus for $50.00. Super_DJC owners can upgrade for $15.00; owners of DJHelper, Super_DJ and Super_DJ V2.0 can upgrade for $25.00. You must enclose your original disk and include shipping handling of $2.00 within the US, elsewhere $4.00. Send cash, check or money order, and allow 2-3 weeks for delivery. For more information contact Creative Focus at Box 580, Chenango Bridge, New York 13745-0580. -*- Over a GIGABYTE of Amiga files in our Library! Catch your limit of Fred FISH Disks from the *StarFish* Library. If you are after a SINGLE PROGRAM on a Fish Disk, SEARCH for it before downloading the disk. Most are available separately! _______________________________________________________________ | | | | | Permission is hereby granted to quote ALL or PART of this | | Newscast on a privately owned BBS or in a user group news- | | letter provided you include the following credit: | | | | Reprinted by permission from the *StarShip* 5-MINUTE News. | | Joining GEnie is easy! Use half duplex at 300/1200/2400 | | baud. Dial 1-800-638-8369 (Canada 1-800-387-8330). Type | | HHH at CONNECT. At the U#= prompt, * | | type AMIGA and press Return. \ * * / | |________________________________________________ * * ________| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * * ~~~~~~~ * * * * * * * * * * * * We'd like to know if you reprint * The * the *StarShip* 5-MINUTES News. * *StarShip* * Tell us by leaving *free* Feedback * on GEnie * to the SysOps on GEnie page 555. * * _ / * * * * * * * * * * * * * / * * * \ * Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Grab these WINNING Pictures and Animations from the *StarShip* Library! Not only are they gorgeous, they're small downloads! Good bang for your Buck! _______________________________________ / \\ | *StarShip* || | Egciting Coloring Contest Winners! || | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ || | || | -* PICTURES *- || | || | W.FRANKS1 19018/19 Fancy-Eggs.HAM/IFF2 || | 3 Delicate Eggs on Holders, 116/66K || | P.WIESER 18986 EBASKET1.LZH, 89K || | Colorful & Golden Eggs with Basket || | D.CALLIS2 18950 D.CALLIS2_EGG.LZH, 42K || | Cute Pink Bunny Lounging in Blue Egg || | || | -* ANIMATIONS *- || | || | R.MCNEILL 19007 BUBBLE_BUNNY_ANIM.ZIP || | Bunny Looses Head/Blows Bubbles, 36K || | G.MUNROE1 19026 EGGHUNT.LHA, 21K || | Little Cartoon with Surprise Ending || \______________________________________//