From: Brad Webb amigaupdate@globaldialog.com ====================================================================== _ __ _ _ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors- / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional e-mail WELCOME TO TOMORROW || News Source) ====================================================================== AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 000213 T H E W O R D F R O M T H E T O P B I L L M C E W E N L I V E ! P R O G R E S S R E P O R T - N E W U S M A G A M I G A Z O N E C H A T S W I T H F L E E C Y A M I G A W E S T C O A S T S H O W ( U S ) A M I G A 2 K B A N Q U E T S P E A K E R - M C E W E N P H A S E 5 I S D E A D . . . . . . B U T S O M E P R O D U C T S C O N T I N U E D A N G E R O U S F A K E P A T C H F O R Y A M A M I G A L I N K D I R E C T O R Y ( A L D ) A M I G A W A T C H N U M B E R 5 A V A I L A B L E A M I G A A T C A B L E T V S H O W I N I N D I A D I R E C T O R Y O P U S 4 N O W F R E E E R I O L U S B S T A T U S R E P O R T S T O R M M P 3 / E M P E G D E C O D E R A M I N E T H U N T E R F R O M A M I G A S O C D E M O V E R S I O N O F F X P A I N T A V A I L A B L E P H O T O F O L I O F R O M S T E E P L E S O F T W A R E Editor's Thoughts and Introduction: The year continues to be interesting, in both good and not so good ways. We have more information from Bill McEwen, President of the new Amiga. What he has to say is positive and well worth reading. On the other side of the coin, another long-time Amiga company dies. Phase 5 has been often controversial and sometimes disliked by many Amigans. Despite that, they will be missed as any lessening of the community hurts. We've already seen too many losses. But even while one company goes away, another may be coming back. There is a new web site for one of my old favorites, Cinemaware. Efforts are being made to revive this maker of most interesting games. Cinemaware was not just an Amiga company, so it will be worth keeping an eye on them to see how the new company develops. You can find them at www.cinemaware.com. Speaking of renewal, we have a report below from Bill Griffin, the person trying to establish a paper Amiga magazine for the US. Bill hopes to fill the void left when "Amazing Computing" died recently. We wish him luck, and will keep an eye on his efforts for our US readers. There's another interesting magazine effort making progress. We understand the "UGN Times" disk magazine has begun to show up at some Amiga dealers' locations. We don't have an official list of who has them and when others may get them. If interested, I guess you'll just have to keep your eyes open. There are many other things for you to read about in this issue. We hope you enjoy it! Brad Webb, Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail to the E-ditor: 3 Feb 2000 1 Hello. You don`t have any news of the rumored 8MB Alice chip? Does it even exist? /Tony, Sweden ~~~~~~ Tony, I'm afraid I've not heard of it. Readers, can you answer Tony's question? Thanks, Brad ====== 5 Feb 2000 Dear Brad The Amigaupdate is really the best way I can think of to get new information about our beloved Amiga. A shame that I didn't find you sooner. My questions in all this talk about new platforms is: Which computer should we actually buy. If I f. ex. buy the Amirage from Phase5 will it be possible for me to use the virtual processor made by Amino? And when they suddenly make a new platform too, the Amiga community is in a way split in two? Or how do you see it all? Or is a word like Amiga compatible the same as falling into the PC-trap too? Best regards, Andreas ~~~~~~ Andreas, Wow, what questions! In all honesty, I don't think anyone can answer these questions yet. We need to see what the new Amiga produces, and the new Amiga (correctly, I think) won't say anything unless there's a real product to talk about. If you need something now, buy whatever product looks best to you at this time. The future is unclear enough right now, I have no idea how all these pieces will fit together. I'd like to ensure you that the virtual processor will work on the Amirage, but I can't. My expectation is that it will, but there are no quarantees. I'm hoping we can avoid a split, but the possibility exists. I think it's unlikely, as we're too small for any group that doesn't follow the lead of Amiga to survive for long, and I think most people realize that at some level. For me, I'm planning on sticking with Amiga the company as long as it produces something close to what I as want as an Amigan. That's just my approach, but I think it's the most sensible one for those who can wait. Wish I had some real answers for your questions, Brad ====== 6 Feb 2000 Brad, Thanks for being one of the keepers of the flame, so to speak. I have three things this message is about, two questions and one soapbox sort of thing: 1. Question #1 Can you tell me about, point me to, give me advice on how to set up my Linux machine to deal with Amiga-formatted floppies? I can find info that indicates it can be done, but no instructions. I downloaded a tarred file called amifdformat.tar.gz, but after unzipping and tarring I get four files that I don't know what to do with, and I suspect I need more files than this. 2. Part of the reason question #1 comes up is that even though I got Amiga Forever and successfully hooked up to the Win98 part of my laptop, I never could find out how to get files copied from the Amiga to the laptop, or vice versa. Can you? I can access all the drives without any problem. <... intersting "soapbox thing" not included due to length ...> Greg ~~~~~~ Greg, First, I apologize for cutting so much interesting material from your letter. I had to shorten it to include it. I read your thoughts about Amiga and its need to have a customer orientation. Both Bill McEwen and Fleecy Moss come from Gateway, and have had a good chance to learn how not to treat customers, as well as how to do it right. I'm expecting a much more customer oriented company from the new Amiga than we were ever likely to get from Gateway. While I'm a UNIX user in my other life, I'm not a Linux user so I'll do as I often do and defer to the wisdom of our readers. I'm pretty certain someone will have answers to both questions. As for keeping the flame, we intend to stay at it as long as there's even a flicker. Thanks, Brad ====== 24 Jan 2000 G'Day Brad Brad Webb wrote: > ... snip ... > Well, I hope you'll let "Amiga Update" help you keep up with the > news. As for alternative sites to the old Amige Web Directory, I'd > recommend two: > > http://www.amiga.org/ > http://www.realdreams.cz/AMIGA/ > > ... snip ... I guess you already know about:- http://www.ann.lu/ I find it as good as the above two that you mention. Frank ~~~~~~ Frank, Yes, I'd agree that ANN is a good news site. It's a great place to keep up with newsgroup postings. For general news, the other sites might be more useful to more people. Brad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- T H E W O R D F R O M T H E T O P February 4, 2000 Greetings to one and all: A great deal has occurred over the last couple of weeks, and it is only going to get more interesting as we move forward. It has been some time since I spoke with you, and I wanted to share some of the fun. In the last two weeks we have announced our new foundation partner, started technical training with our new development team, and had many meetings with future technology partners The responses have been overwhelmingly positive and, to quote an old song "they ain't seen nothing yet". On January 8, 2000 at CES in Las Vegas we announced our partnership with the Tao-Group as our foundation OS partner. This is not just a technical but a strategic relationship and brings with it great rewards. I have asked Fleecy to write a short document highlighting the Amiga/Tao relationship from a more technical perspective, to save you from having to put up with my telling everyone how incredibly great and fantastic it is. We want you to make your own minds up. In the next two weeks we will make another strategic partnership announcement with regards to the new path for Amiga. As with all our announcements, look at it against the whole picture and not in isolation. After a week long trip to Germany and the UK I have come back with a much better understanding of what we can and cannot do. As mentioned before we are not going to make promises or product announcements. We will announce to you, the community, only after the deal is signed or the product is sitting before us. This won't put a stop to rumours, but it will make them all the more obvious. Change brings uncertainty, and in an information vacuum, mischief makers like to take the spotlight. If it isn't officially sanctioned by Amiga, don't believe it. Our job as a company is to create exciting market opportunities for Amiga developers to take advantage of, and to give Amiga users a platform they can enjoy. This requires more than just an upgrade to the existing OS. This requires, indeed demands a complete strategy reaching into all areas of the present and the future. The time has come for all of us to move forwards, owner, developer, and user. Many of you have sent us business proposals, and product marketing ideas, and for this we thank you, and ask for your patience as we look over them. Some are providing us with valuable insight into the desires of the Amiga community as a whole, others are providing us with a good chuckle. This is the Amiga advantage that other platforms just do not share. Over the next few months there may be some companies that come out with their own plans, or state that we do not have the community at heart as we move forwards. The reality is, they do not know what we have planned. In order to stay focused and to keep up our incredible pace, we are not sharing our plans outside of our signed partnerships. We have to prioritise and act singlemindedly if we are to reach our first plateau in our given timescales. Once there we will be able to pause for breath. Some are not happy about this, but they do not know the full plan. Our mission is not just about restoring the Amiga, but about pushing it forwards as THE technology for tomorrow. This means that if you hear something annoying, or frustrating, or downright nasty, and the source is not Amiga Inc, then disregard it. Plain and simple. If you did not hear it from us, or read it here on this web site it is not true. We are not asking for your trust or your undying belief. We only ask that you take us on OUR words and deeds, not on the misinterpretations of others. We will soon be starting official meetings in Europe, the UK, and the US for developers and dealers. This will include introductory training seminars for the new OS, and introductions to the retail pricing and schedules. We will also begin the process of introducing the new web site, and putting the Amiga Advisory Council to work. I want to thank each and every one of you for your hospitality during our meetings and for your continued support as we move forwards. We have had the chance to meet with many end users, developers, dealers, and new partners, and look forwards to meeting even more of you as time goes on. There is a great deal of activity, with a lot of first footsteps on some truly amazing paths. New partners excited, old faces returning, familiar faces reminding us of our heritage. Indeed we are already having to move into bigger facilities, such is our rate of growth. I know it can be frustrating but after years wandering lost in a dark place, the sun is finally starting to crack a smile on the horizon. Together, we will march into tomorrow. Keeping the faith, Bill McEwen and the rest of the Amiga Team. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- B I L L M C E W E N L I V E ! February 4, 2000 Fellow Amigans, We are happy to assist the Gateway Amiga Club, Inc. in bringing you Mr. Bill McEwen in... "Live" from the Gateway Amgia Club" GAC's meeting will be Wednesday March 1, at the Ladue Horton Watkins High School Videio Lab. It is located at 1201 South Warson Rd, in Ladue, MO. The meeting starts at 7:30 PM, with the conference starting at 8 PM CST. Mr McEwen will discuss the "OS for the 21st Century" and demonstrate some "new stuff". This is a meeting you won't want to miss. The interactive nature of this conference, will allow the speaker to view his audience as they view him. Viewers can even ask questions when their site is selected for viewing. Amiga Clubs interested in viewing this live interactive video conference" should go to GAC's web page at: http://www.icon-stl.net/~amiga and click on the "Amiga News" link. There you will find the details of how to apply for the conferences link. We suggest that clubs attempt to find video conferencing equipment at their local high schools, colleges, or businesses to keep their costs down. It is possible to rent Kinko equipment, but costs can be higher than most clubs can afford. Due to the video sites needing possible on-site approval, we will need to have your request no later than February 14. Please remember to fill out the form on the GAC website. See you on the Big Screen, Bob Scharp ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P R O G R E S S R E P O R T - N E W U S M A G 31 Jan 2000 23:11:56 +0500 Our project is progressing at quite a clip. Less than 24 hours after my initial request for writers, I had 24 Emails of people wanting to submit articles, 2 who wanted to help edit, 5 people who want subscription info and 1 who simply want to know where to "send the check". I have since received Email from 2 more folks wanting to submit articles. received 2 reviews and have heard from multiple potential subscribers. I have had contact with 1 former "Amazing..." advertiser who is helping me in setting up advertising contacts. And I am about to send out advertising info to all the former "Amazing..." advertisers (at least those who advertised in the last issue of Amazing). Now, we are going to be holding a "Name Our Magazine" contest with the sample issue. In this contest, new subscribers will be able to cast their votes for the name of the magazine. We will be including 3 possible names and a space for the subscriber to make their own choice (in case they don't like ours). The planned end date for the contest will be at the start of the second day of the St Louis Amiga Show (April 1-2, 2000). We have received several requests for info on the mag, so here it is. We plan on a 30 - 40 page (plus covers) magazine. If there are any REALLY important items that come up, we are prepared to push the magazine out to about 50 pages (again plus covers). For the time being, the magazine will be all black and white (or greyscale, if you will) and will be printed on plain (non-slick) paper. This will include the cover as well (at least for the first few issues). Future plans include glossy paper and color. We've had a few suggestions about adding cover disks or CDs. We're not really certain if this is the way to go, so you will probably see a survey asking the subscribers about this in the future. The magazine ( again, at least, at the start) will be by subscription only. I will be releasing, on the net (via the newsgroups and amiga update) when the sample issues are ready to send out. At that point, people can Email me with their "snail-,ail" addresses and I will mail out the sample copies (no charge). Each sample issue will include a subscription form, a vote card for the "Name Our Magazine" contest and a shopper's survey (to help us know who to contact for possible future advertising). A "sneek peak" of the sample issue shows that we will have a review of Digital Dreams action adventure game "Wasted Dreams". We will also have the first of a 2-part review on the Albrecht Computer Technik "Prelude" sound card. We are currently working out the details for an interview with Amiga Inc's Fleecy Moss. And an article by A former Amiga who is finding his way back to Amigas. The planned kick-of date to send out samples is about March 15 (possibly sooner with a little luck). SO STAY TUNED. ------ Its gonna be a heck of a century! Bill Griffin, G&G Enterprises ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A Z O N E C H A T S W I T H F L E E C Y 1 February 2000 AMIGAZONE TO HOLD MONTHLY LIVE CHATS WITH VICE PRESIDENT OF AMIGA CORP. AmigaZone, the online service for Amiga owners founded in 1985 by Harv Laser, is pleased to announce that it has scheduled a monthly live chat with Fleecy Moss, Vice President of Product Development for the new Amiga Corp. All AmigaZone members are invited to attend these chats, an toss those burning questions at Fleecy. Find out what's going on long before the news hits the magazines (what magazines are left!). In a surprise to the world, Amiga Corp., spearheaded by Bill McEwen, purchased "All that is Amiga" from Gateway during the final days of 1999. (See their "Executive Update" and news pages at http://www.amiga.com). The first live chat with Fleecy took place in AmigaZone's own chat area on Wednesday, 26 January 2000. AmigaZone will shortly add a new page to its web site (http://www.amigazone.com) which will hold text transcripts of the Fleecy chats after each one is held. The next live chat with Fleecy will be on the evening of February 23, 2000, and thereafter, on the last Wednesday of every month. These chats are a premium for AmigaZone members. If you want to participate in them, and avail yourself of everything else AmigaZone has to offer, visit http://www.amigazone.com and sign up. You can join with your credit card and SSL-enable web browser, or a 1-800 phone call. AmigaZone is connected to the internet and members log into it with a local phone call to your local ISP account. Cost of membership is only US$12.95/month (about 40 cents a day!) for unlimited usage. AmigaZone has no hidden or extra-cost areas.. never has and never will. The monthly membership fee is billed to your credit card, and there is no signup fee or long-term contract. Join now, and upon verification of your signup, you'll receive a FREE AmigaZone logo baseball cap in the mail, as our thank you gift! Remember, only paid AmigaZone members can attend these monthly live chats with Fleecy. AmigaZone is hosted by CalWeb Internet Services. AmigaZone is a Trademark of Harv Laser. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A W E S T C O A S T S H O W ( U S ) 7 Feb 2000 The Amiga West Coast show, AmiWest 2000 is shaping up! That's right! The AmiWest committee is proud to announce we are again hosting this year's show in Sacramento, California, at the popular Holiday Inn, Sacramento NorthEast, 5321 Date Avenue Sacramento, CA 95841, on Saturday, July 29th and Sunday, July 30th, 2000. The Holiday Inn venue proved to be such a hit for last year's show that we are again holding it there. Show times are Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 10am-4pm. AmiWest is in it's third year and is the only all Amiga show produced on the West Coast. The show has proved very popular for Amiga enthusiasts in the Western United States. With the recent purchase of the Amiga by Amino (renamed Amiga Corporation) from Gateway, the Amiga appears to be on an upswing. The new Amiga Corporation is headed by Bill McEwen who can be remembered by participants at both AmiWest'98 and AmiWest'99 as a very enthusiastic supporter of the Amiga. Also part of the Amiga team are long time Amigans Fleecy Moss and Petro Tyschtschenko. You can learn more about AmiWest 2000 by accessing our web page at: http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/ If you are interested in exhibiting at AmiWest 2000, please submit the form that is provided on our web page. We need to know early who will be exhibiting. Booth sizes and pricing is yet to be determined; however, by submitting the form on our web page you will receive an exhibitor packet with all necessary forms and information when the packet becomes available. Special booth pricing will be available for user groups. This weekend event will again showcase the progress that IS the Amiga Community. John Zacharias, charperson AmiWest 2000 jzachar@calweb.com http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A 2 K B A N Q U E T S P E A K E R - M C E W E N December 18, 1999 It is with great pleasure that we announce that Mr. Bill McEwen, President and CEO of Amiga Inc., will be our guest speaker at the Amiga 2K banquet Saturday April 1, 2000. Bill is well know to most Amiga fans as the former "Marketing Man" of Gateway's Amiga division. Not to be one to be left out of the best computer in town, he arranged to buy the company from his former bosses. That has to be a feather in his cap. To be able to tell people that you so believe in a product, that after you leave a company, you arrange to buy it, is just admirable. I don't think they saw it coming, or they never would have left Bill leave. So are we in for an interesting tale, undoubtedly. Will we hear about his ideas, I'm sure. Will we enjoy listening to the man who loves and owns our beloved Amiga... You Betcha! Ticketing arrangements are as follows: Tickets to the Amiga 2K banquet are $35. They will only be sold in advance, until March 18, 2000. Admission tickets are $17 for two days - in advance. or $12 for one day - in advance. At the door, Admission tickets are $20 for two days. or $15 for one day. Class tickets are only available at the ticket table, during show hours. A schedule of classes will be posted later. Remember... Orders for tickets must be received no later than March 18, 2000. Please mail your requests to: Amigan-St. Louis PO Box 672 Bridgeton, MO 63044 Banquet tickets are sold on a first come basis. The last two years we sold out, so don't wait too long. Sincerely, Bob Scharp Amigan-St. Louis bscharp@icon-stl.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P H A S E 5 I S D E A D . . . Oberursel, 02/09/2000: On January 26., 2000 application for insolvency was made about the property of phase 5 digital production, and the application proceedings has been established by a decee made by the competent county court at the same day. During the regular application procedure there are negotiations about assumption, and continuation of the Amiga technology field with among others prospective buyers. By that, continuation of the current development and products shall be attained, espacially as for the new G4 acceleration boards. Every customer who did product preordering from and product prepayment to phase5 digital products will become informed about their objective rights in writing, once the insolvency proceeding will be established. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . B U T S O M E P R O D U C T S C O N T I N U E {The following information was posted to the net in relation to questions about products from the former Phase 5. Brad} 11 Feb 2000 DCE has exclusive rights to following: 1. Blizzard 1240 2. Blizzard 1260 3. Blizzard 2040 4. Blizzard 2060 5. Blizzard SCSI IV Kit 6. CV 64 3D 7. CV PPC 8. B-Vision 9. Cyberstorm MK III 10. Cyberstorm PPC 11. Blizzard PPC 1-6 is available 7-11 will be available in the next 2-7 weeks. : DCE will also take over repair services for Phase 5products. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- D A N G E R O U S F A K E P A T C H F O R Y A M 8 Feb., 2000 From: "Dirk Harlaar" D.Harlaar@ping.de All users of YAM, please note: a "patch" for YAM PPC appeared on Aminet today (or maybe yesterday). It should cure a Y2K bug in YAM 2 (even though there isn't a Y2K bug in YAM at all) as well as make YAM use the PPC. Do not download and install this "patch"! The install script contains a macro virus, and YAM doesn't get patched at all! So, to repeat, the YAM patch now on Aminet is in fact a nasty VIRUS. Don't use it! Dirk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A L I N K D I R E C T O R Y ( A L D ) Jan. 3, 2000 amiga-news.de now with Amiga Link Directory (ALD) amiga-news.de opened the new Amiga Link Directory (ALD) for the public on 23.1.2000. The new directory`s aim is to become THE directory for AMIGA-pages. Innovative (http://www.innovative-web.de), a software-company based in Herzogenaurach/Germany developed the required technology for this exciting enterprise. Entries are sorted by categories and letters or can be found easily via the available search-function. In order to guarantee an always up-to-date database, entries can be changed by the "owners" of the entry at any time via a previously defined password. For every entry, if provided by the "owner", further information is available. This can include, but is not limited to the postal adress as well as the phone-number, email-adress and homepage. The ALD will also partially (means: only entries of "owners" who want their entries to be part of a "directory" on the Aminet-CD) be available via the popular Aminet-CDs. For the first time there will be a bridge between the AMIGA-online and -offline-world - and it will be called ALD. This way communication within the AMIGA-community will improve and companies can also reach users, that don`t have an internet-connection yet. Help us building the greatest online-directory for AMIGA-websites worldwide and add your website today. The ALD can be found at: http://www.amiga-news.de/cgi-bin/anwd-db.pl - Your amiga-news.de-Team ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A W A T C H N U M B E R 5 A V A I L A B L E 1 Feb., 2000 The new Amiga Watch, Communique Number 5 is posted at http://tech-head.com/amiga.htm. The Tao CES demo is covered along with its implications. Due to a fairly massive computer crash on my Techno-altar the streaming video version of the Tao demo is delayed. Hopefully it will be posted in the next week to ten days. Regards, Roger Wyatt ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A A T C A B L E T V S H O W I N I N D I A From 27 - 29 January, Amiga International, Inc. attended one of the biggest Cable TV Shows in Calcutta, India. Just like last year, it was another full success. This time, there were four more AMIGA booths apart from the main one. Monarch Video and Agani PTY from Mumbai as well as Abishek Enterprise from Calcutta and Rajan Electronics from Delhi also had booths at this exhibition. There were lots of visitors from neighbouring Bangladesh, the coming market where the Amiga will gain shares of the cable TV market. In a TV interview, Petro Tyschtschenko explained why AMIGA is so popular in the Indian market and what solution it means for the TV market. Amiga International, Inc. plans to participate in this important event again next year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- D I R E C T O R Y O P U S 4 N O W F R E E 27 January, 2000 GP Software's Greg Perry has announced the release of Directory Opus 4 as free software under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. The notice reads, in part: "The release of Directory Opus 4 under the GPL in NO WAY affects the existing commercial status of Directory Opus 5 or subsequent products. Nor does it affect the GPSoftware trademarks of DirectoryOpus, DOpus, Opus and related terms. These names will always remain the exclusive property of GPSoftware and may not be used without specific and explicit permission, except for distribution of the original and derived versions of Directory Opus 4 as described in the GPL. All users of Directory Opus 4, including those licensed under the GPL, are entitled to upgrade to the latest version of Directory Opus 5 at a discounted price. Please see http://www.gpsoft.com.au for more information." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E R I O L U S B S T A T U S R E P O R T 5th february 2000 The design of the Eriol control logic has progressed steadily during January. Entering february the first fullscale test simulation of the control logic is about to begin. Following this a shorter period for correcting any logic errors must be expected. After having verified the logical correctness of the control logic it will be time for a fullscale timing simulation of the logic. Hopefully this will prove what I already believe - that the timing of the control logic will hold. However, the Eriol project has also run into some trouble, which may delay the project. The entire Eriol control logic is to be put into an FPGA logic chip. The size of the logic asks for an FPGA of some logical capacity. Unfortunately the development system that I have access to cannot cope with such big FPGA designs, as it is not a full development system, but rather a smaller (and cheaper) version. Three solutions exist and are under evaluation. The first is to get hold of a full development system. This will most likely be very expensive and I don't think I can convince the University that it has to pay up (unfortunately). The second solution is to break the design into two separate and smaller FPGA chips. This will give access to enough logic space to allow an implementation. However, it will give more delay in the hardware as signals has to pass in and out of the FPGAs, and be a lot more expensive due to the extra FPGA. The third solution is to find another logic device for which the University has a development system which can handle the big design. Currently the solution being worked on is the second. I'm now working on logically splitting the logic into two FPGAs. Together with this a redesign of parts of the logic will take place as to minimize the number of signals having to go from one chip to the other. Unfortunately this use of two FPGAs will put just about an extra �20 on the production price :( The final product price is still undefined... The first prototype board, first expected at the end of february, will without doubt be delayed from the afore mentioned problems. When the first prototype board will exist is now an open question, but the delay should be no more than a month. Yours sincerely Thomas Graff Th�ger, TigerTronics ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S T O R M M P 3 / E M P E G D E C O D E R High Performance Digital Audio Decoder Introduction The Storm MP3/e is an MPEG audio decoder specifically designed to allow machines that dont have the power to play MPEG files to do so. The unit incoroprates state of the art components and many features not available in a unit of this price. Storm MP3/e allows a standard Amiga 500, PC80286 or Archimedies to play MP3 files with ease. The unit is compatible with any system fitted with a parralell printer port and is supplied with drivers for PC and Amiga use. Archimedies drivers will be available shortly after release if the demand is there. Connections The Storm MP3/e provides three user connections. Two 3.5MM jacks provide Audio output and a pass-thru connector for the host machines existing audio (if fitted). The output of the storm is low level although an optional amplifier unit will be available. Internally the unit has two high speed expantion ports allowing for future modules such as radio tuners and on board storage. A third internal header and a masked lens on the top of the unit make the Storm MP3/e infra-red ready. The unit is powered by either it's internal PP3 9V battery or a mains supply (available seperately) The MP� powers up and down automatically along with the host system, the internal electronics also support a 'suspend' mode. In this mode one standard Alkaline battery should last for about a month. Drivers are provided that enable Win95 to utilise this feature as if it were part of a laptop's own system. Software Storm MP3/e is supplied with software for both PC and Amiga. The Amiga software includes a low-level library, programming information, an MP3 player and diagnostics program. PC wise both DOS and Windows 95/98 software is supplied, again drivers, diagnostics and driver software. No drivers are available for the Archimedies but development information is available to anyone who wants to write software. Software is supplied on ISO 9660 format CD and two floppies, one for PC and one for Amiga. In Action The prototype units are nearing completion and will be dispatched to various developers and testers shortly. Below are a few shots of the unit, unfortunately the quality of these pictures is rather poor and they'll be replaced as soon as possible. http://www.alogik.co.uk/storm.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I N E T H U N T E R F R O M A M I G A S O C 11 Feb., 2000 AmigaSoc launches "Aminet Hunter" AmigaSoc UK is proud to present Aminet Hunter. Aminet Hunter is probably the most advanced Aminet search engine on the Internet. Designed with the same technology that many commercial websites employ, speed, power, efficiency, and ease of use are guaranteed. Originally scheduled for launch at World Of Amiga '99, the project has been held back due to various other commitments we've had. We firmly believe that you'll agree it's been worth the wait! Try it now! It's fast, it's free, and there's nothing else like it! http://uk.amigasoc.org/news/ahunt.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- D E M O V E R S I O N O F F X P A I N T A V A I L A B L E Feb. 6, 2000 fxPAINT-Demoversion released by Innovative* Due to the great demand, we have decided to develop a demoversion of fxPAINT. The result can now be downloaded. The demoversion has nearly all features of the full version apart from those, that allow you to save and print images. The PPC-support is untouched from these limitations. http://www.innovative-web.de ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P H O T O F O L I O F R O M S T E E P L E S O F T W A R E Steeple Software is proud to announce the first commercial release of PhotoFolio v2.0 in conjunction with Schatztruhe. PhotoFolio v2.0 is a major step forward from it's predecessor version 1.2 with many new features including: * ARexx A fully documented ARexx port for those of you who like to automate tasks using ARexx scripts. These scripts are made available through pull down menus and toolbay buttons and can be pre-configured in the settings window. * Drag 'n' Drop proofs Dragging and dropping of proofs is now supported (by popular demand!). You can drag and drop: - Between browse windows. - Onto a path in the main window's listtree. - Onto a Show window. - Onto the information window. * Workbench Icon Support Workbench icons can be dropped: - Onto a browse window - Onto the listtree in the main window. * Toolbays Both the main and browse windows now have toolbays (optionally, of course!) making navigating around PhotoFolio v2.0 faster and easier. Those of you who don't like using context menus.... this is for you! * CLI support You can launch PhotoFolio v2.0 from a shell, passing in paths. Each path passed in will automatically be added to the main window's listtree and then opened into a browse window. * Listtree Tree mode The listtree in the main window can now be operated in the current "flat mode" or as a proper directory tree structure in "tree mode". * Native IFF-ILBM loading Imageio.library has been re-written to support IFF-ILBM. This means there is a dramatic increase in speed when loading IFF-ILBM files. * Amiga DOS pattern matching Selecting proofs has never been easier. Using the in-built Amiga DOS pattern matching system, proofs can now be selected using wildcards etc. * Saving of images as JPegs Images can now be converted to jpegs directly within PhotoFolio v2.0. * Settings The setting window has been totally re-designed and re-written making sure your prefs file is completely compatabile with future versions of PhotoFolio. * Unsaved proof indication For those of you who run without any text description below the proofs, knowing which proofs are saved and which aren't is a problem. Now, a red box is (optionally) drawn in the bottom right hand corner of un-saved proofs. * Constant size proofs Proofs can now be displayed at a constant size, making the distribution of proofs in the browse window even. There has also been several minor improvements and additions, and many bug fixes from version 1.2 making it more stable and flexible. These new options coupled with the the existing features of PhotoFolio make it a formidable image cataloguing system for both the amateur and professional user alike. With continuing support, PhotoFolio promises to be one of the most powerful image cataloguing systems available on the Amiga platform. PhotoFolio v2.0 is planned to be released in early to mid February. Price has yet to be decided, however users who have paid the shareware fee will receive a discount on the retail price. Steve Quartly and Paul Huxham Steeple Software ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Amiga Update on the net: All back issues available at: http://www.globaldialog.com/~amigaupdate/index.html Stop by and check out our archive! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2000 by Brad Webb. 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