home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Amiga Collections: MegaDisc
/
MegaDisc 07 (1988)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)[WB].zip
/
MegaDisc 07 (1988)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)[WB].adf
/
Editorial
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1988-05-25
|
10KB
|
186 lines
EDITORIAL
There's more good news on the Amiga/Commodore front - according to
"Micro Store Board" (market analysis people), for the first time Commodore
has out-sold Apple Computers across the range, and is now in No. 2 spot
after IBM. These are Australian figures, but the trend seems to be
international - Amiga has finally broken it in the US and the Europeans,
especially the Germans, have taken it to their bosom. Figures such as
650,000 machines world-wide are mentioned, along with 35,000 in the
"Pacific Rim" (that's us), and people shake their heads about poor old
Atari. Half of Amiga's sales happen outside the US.
Amiga is the go! And oddly enough it started slowly, because it was
so new, and associated with a company which had always been considered a
maker of "toy computers" (though the most successful with the C-64). But
the Amiga has a quality of its own, and makes enthusiasts of people - all
they have to do is see a few graphics/sound demos and they're often sold. I
know I was, and that was just a couple of days before I was to take
delivery of an IBM clone! Cancel that order! Along with this deserved
success comes the deluge of programs - there are so many of them,
particularly games, that it is impossible to keep up with the flood. But
there is a steady stream of applications software coming along, the quality
improving all the time, as the programmers really get to grips with the
techniques required for programming the Amiga. A good example is the new
word-processor from the makers of "Scribble!" - called "Excellence!", it's
a pretty close description, since this is a program that is totally
designed for the Amiga, concentrating on ease of use, good use of graphics,
speed, power and versatility (check the review this issue).
Now we, the users, should support the software industry, while
making a few demands of our own. Software houses could make it easier on
the retailers to return unsold products, thus encouraging retailers to keep
more stock. They could also release titles simultaneously worldwide, so that
buyers can find the program they've read about on the shelves of their
local retailer as soon as they're released. It happens with albums and
cassettes, so why not software? Things are moving that way, and it is a
rapidly evolving industry, so there are sure to be improvements. Along with
strong support for software, these measures would go a long way in
countering the piracy that occurs, often due simply to lack of availability
through what should be the standard channels.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
STOP PRESS: I'm told by Nic Wilson (who with Andy Clay wrote a few useful
utilities for MD7 - see the Utilities drawer), that a new Virus has
surfaced. Once again, it lives and replicates on the boot blocks of
bootable disks, and according to Nic, and tends to write randomly to
files, thus trashing them. So it is also capable of wreaking havoc with a
hard disk - NIc tells me that this happened to him. So it is important to
follow the advice in this and recent Megadiscs (see "MegaBites").
Apparently, you can detect its presence (while antidotes are being
written) by using a disk editor such as DUTILS2 on this disk to check out
whether there is a string written DASA on the first block of your
bootable disks. Will it ever end? See the next Megadisc for an antidote
program. The reason for MD being a bit late this issue was the hope for
getting an antidote program for this issue, not possible unfortunately,
but call us in a couple of weeks for updates on the situation.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Having got my $2-worth in (looks like 2 cents?), customary and
heartfelt thanks go to our subscribers, buyers and contributors. Many
thanks go to all of you for supporting Megadisc in your various ways, we
couldn't do it without you, and we need your continuing support. Another
gratifying aspect of doing this job is noticing all the repeat
subscriptions occurring - lots of you have re-subscribed, and that's about
the best compliment.
There's a lot of meaty stuff this issue, with an emphasis on
programming - George Vokalek's deep article on programming the 68881 chip
- Michael Warner for some rare insights into programming
graphics
- The beginning of Jonathan Potter's series on AmigaBasic
Then there are the actual programs themselves:
- Mike Simpson's Spreadsheet program in AmigaBasic, which can
be used and studied with Jonathan's tutorial; this is a full-featured
spreadsheet which is currently being used in small businesses.
- Mike Hansell's updated, Amiga-ised DUTILS2 progam, with more
features, greater speed, and offering features that you won't find
elsewhere.
- Nic Wilson's and Andy Clay's collection of utilities, from
SYS, for auto-configuring non-auto-config RAM (such as the original Proton
Ram Boards), NOTSYS (for making disks ignore auto-configured RAM), WBENCH8
(for providing an 8-colour Workbench without any deep Kickstart hacks, ie
software only), and a couple of others.
Other contributors have come up with some fine reviews and insights
for your delectation:
* Eric Holroyd with a number of fine reviews, and general help.
* Phil Campbell with his usual quality games reviews.
* Scott Castledine with his user's view of the Sidecar and a number
of fine icons.
* Andrew Draper with his Kickstart and other hacks and for
information about the Queensland scene.
* Jonathan Potter with his in-depth Basic tutorial and MD icon
* Greg Ford with his overview of useful Amiga products
* Peter MacKellar with his review of GPTerm and general help.
* Mark Anning for a professional's look at commercial databases.
* Keith Simpson's fine aerodynamic graphic
* Doug Myers and Steve Shergis for their joint overview of MIDI on
the Amiga - these gentlemen are going to keep us up-to-date about
computer music.
* Robert Lang with another couple of entertaining reviews.
* Ainal Jamal from NZ (our first sub there) with a Gizmoz review.
* Bernie den Hertog for tips and general input
* Graeme Whittle for his review of the Audio digitiser and general
help.
* John Varcoe for keeping us up-to-date about WA and providing
3 fine reviews.
* Danny Bielik for providing us with a review of the Supra Modem.
* Dave Waters for his cartoon graphic and help with icons.
* Ed Hamacek for providing some thoughtful information about using
the ARP commands from the public domain.
* Ross Kellaway for constant support and advice about many things.
* Ken White for deep programming advice (and a number of
contributions next issue as well).
* Tim Hogan-Doran for a regular supply of contributions
* Opher Kahane for kind permission to use PRINTEXT
* Pete Goodeve for support of all kinds from the beginning -
Megadisc owes a lot to Pete, in particular, as someone who was
and is quite unselfish in his support, and we'll be doing our
best to repay him over time.
* Steven Hudson for his lively book reviews
* Brett Culloden for his "Australia" icon
As usual, a number of other people have given freely of their
expertise to help us bring you a better product. Among these paragons of
the Amiga digi-press are Paul Chatfield, who is always available for
excellent advice about hardware, and has solved many a problem; Richard
Wynn, programmer of note (not high C), who has been generous with his time
and efforts; Gunther Frick, the irrepressible Teutonic programmer; Andrew
Farrell for insights about publishing; Amanda Seldon, often helpful with
her talents in desktop publishing, and Simon Tek with his help in the
musical spheres.
Many thanks to these people for their enthusiasm and expertise. It
couldn't be done without you.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Megadisc was produced on an Amiga 1000 (version 1.3), using a
2-Megabyte Ram expansion board from Proton Microelectronics, Expansion
Systems' X-1000 and 20-Meg hard drive, 3.5" and 5.25" disk drives by
Paul Chatfield, and Bit Blitzer from Mike Boorne Electronics. Software
used included "Professional Text Engine" by Zirkonics, TxED by
MicroSmiths, SuperBase Professional by Precision Software, Deluxe Paint
of course, and a great many excellent public domain utilities by
numerous talented authors.
DISCLAIMER: All Megadiscs are produced with as much care as
possible and with the aim of spreading useful information through the
Amiga community. All contents of Megadisc are checked thoroughly, but
we hold no responsibility for use of programs or implementation of
advice or modifications contained in Megadisc, which are the
responsibility of the user. (This legalese can be countered by the fact
that to date there has been no report of any mishap from use of
Megadisc - on the contrary, all the feedback has been very supportive
and positive, and thanks to all users for that.)
Should anyone receive a disk which does not perform as it should,
please send it straight back and it will be immediately replaced -
there are always a few dud disks in every bunch, which you'll recognise
by "Read/Write Errors" or the disk icon showing as "DFx:BAD".
Having said all that, we hope you enjoy Megadisc - if you do, why
not write in and tell us, along with any suggestions you might for
improving it? Megadisc can only keep going with your support. I've
written an AMIGADOS MANUAL, which I'd like to put out on disk - would
users like to see such a thing? I'd like to hear from you whether it's
worth doing or not.
Tim Strachan
Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ END OF EDITORIAL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~