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MegaDisc 39 (1994-04)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 2 of 2).zip
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MegaDisc 39 (1994-04)(MegaDisc Digital Publishing)(AU)(Disk 2 of 2).adf
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Readers_Letters
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1994-05-01
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469 lines
READERS' LETTERS, VIEWS, OPINIONS, MOANS, SUGGESTIONS
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Shareware, Compression & Printer Ink!
Dear Tim,
Firstly I would like to put in part of a letter that I
received in response to a shareware registration I sent away recently.
Michael Berg has written numerous very good programs for the Amiga and
I registered for PowerData and PowerCache. Both programs have enhanced
the use of my computer greatly and I paid very little to register.
Upon reading your letter I did a quick scan of my
indexfile over PowerData registrations, and it turns out
that Australians and New Zealanders are among the most
frequent to register. I have more registrees from Australia
alone than from Belgium, Austria, Spain, Italy or in
fact most European nations except Germany and England.
Considering the distance between our two countries, I
find this rather remarkable.
The letter goes on further beyond what would be required of
just a reply to a registration. I think that we can be proud of a good
reputation overseas for upholding an honour system that many take for
granted. There is however always more that can be done. Recently more
excellent shareware programs have gone truly commercial (ie DirWork)
because of a lack of support for the original product. Powerpacker
is a truly unique program on the amiga which went this way and if we
are not careful we will have to pay dearly for programs that would
otherwise have cost very little to show our appreciation.
That's the rave over so now for the ad. You wrote part of
the Hints & Tips article last issue on data compression, mainly the XPK
program. Powerdata is another compression program that works invisibly
on the fly. If you use Powerpacker then PowerData is very handy as it
uses the same libraries and compresses data files as you work.
It is supposed to ignore certain important files such as the
startup-sequence for obvious reasons (the computer won't boot up if the
script is compressed) but if you use certain text editors that save files
in Ram: under temporary file names this can be bypassed. I took ages to
figure that one out late one night. Otherwise the program can be
disabled easily using configurable hot keys and runs nicely in the
background as a commodity. There are filter paths so that you can exclude
or include specific file patterns (ie icons), crunch or decrunch only
plus heaps of other features that are found on Powerpacker.
I paid Michael $15 US to register both PowerData and PowerCache
and received the registered versions in under two weeks over Easter.
Value for money and good service! PowerData can be found on FF906 and
PowerCache is on FF910.
Last bit I have is a question of all those people who have
HP DeskJet printers. I have been looking around trying to find good deals
on replacement ink cartridges. The original high capacity cartridge that
came with the machine is quite expensive but gives very good print
quality whereas Pelican products sell a cartridge plus 3 refills for $76.
After the initial purchase of the refill holder the refills cost about $26
for 2. I realise that a single refill won't last as long as the original
but it is a lot cheaper. Has anybody used these products and are they
any good? The prices I quoted are approximate from a quick look in
Big W. If anybody has any comments I would welcome a call on 047 39 1004
or look forward to seeing it in the next Megadisc.
Thanks for the space Tim and for all of the terrific info over
the years.
Steve Ruttley.
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Hi Tim, Steve and MegaDisc Readers
Try the Latest
When I was compiling the MD.Digest93 disk (the latest MegaDisc compilation
disk), I decided to write a Product Guide for the disk. The idea evolved
into thumbnail descriptions of nearly 600 Amiga products, from ultra-cheap
PD to SuperProducts at stupendous prices. What surprised me was the vast
number of new and exciting products that have recently been released for
the Amiga market. I suggest all MegaDisc readers check out what's available
now in their fields of interest; I find that I keep my Amiga interest alive
and well by trying out new products or investigating new areas. There are
tons of new Amiga products to whet the appetite.
Programs Listed
Congrats to MD for putting the Fish-like Contents file in the Programs
drawer. This file gives a neat overview of all the programs in the drawer.
Regards and best wishes
Leigh Murray
Queanbeyan NSW
Ed: Thanks for that product guide, Leigh which will appear on the next
issue. And many thanks also for all the customary input from you in the
mag, it must make you a sub-editor by now.
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Dear Tim & staff at MegaDisc,
Thank you for your prompt service with my last order and in
supplying the MD Extras disk.
Regarding my enquiry about a hard drive I should be in a position to
order it at the end of April, provided I have moved to Dubbo to my new
position. As my A600 is still under (for what it is worth!!!!) warranty
would fitting the hard drive have an effect on that warranty? I am very
aware of the problems Commodore are having, a mate of mine has an A1200
which decided to start playing up one month before his warranty expired
and he was told by Commodore to ring back in a month's time! The
explanation was that they were undergoing a management shakeup and were
not in a position to help him at the time. Real inspiring stuff.
In my last phone conversation with Tim I said that I would send
down a hint about printing preferences with the Epson printer driver.
BUT (BLUSH, 8-(, and all those other types of things) I was WRONG! My
workbench uses the Generic preference not the Epson as I had thought.
So I thought that I would do an article on my tailor made
Workbench 2.1 instead. This came about as a result of Joe Hanna Rivera's
excellent article on MD38. This article fills in some of the gap for
floppy drive users.
I would like to say that in comparison to some of your other
contributors I am very much a small L learner having had less than a
years experience on Amigas, but I am sure that everything in this article
is workable and achievable. I haven't had any problems with the changes
I have made to my backup copy of Workbench 2.1.
I'm not familiar with the embedding of escape codes in Protext (if it
can be done at all) so I haven't flashed it up at all.
Paul Webster
Kelso NSW
Ed: Yes, Paul, Commodore is a worry to us all at times, particularly
now. But warranties are being honoured, by a company called Compu-Aid,
so that is working ok. But if you open your A600's innards by yourself,
you void the warranty, so get a CommCare centre to do it for you. Thanks
for the article, and don't worry about the codes.
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An Amigan's story
Dear Tim,
A lot has been written lately on the future of the Amiga computer. I
was shocked when the February addition of Australian Commodore and Amiga
Review had a front page headline "Is the Amiga dead?". This was
especially weird as there was no reference to the headline inside the
magazine! Add to this Gareth Powell and David Frith's premature epitaphs
in the Sydney Morning Herald, and you could say I was somewhat concerned.
I bought an A500 in 1987. When compared to the MacIIGS, then retailing
at $12000 and a 80286 (around $8000), the decision was easy. It cost me
$1750, with a copy of Flight Simulator II thrown in (ever the bargain
hunter). I must humbly confess to all dedicated chipheads out there that
for the next four years the A500 was my form of stress relief, and to that
end I accumulated a staggering array of games software.
It wasn't until 1991 that I bought a memory upgrade, and partially as a
result of heading back to University, started to look more seriously at
the Amiga as a productivity machine. The endless variety of PD software
beckoned, and soon I was lost in a new and exciting world. It was at this
point that I began to see that the decision to buy Amiga had been a good
one. Some of my haughty mates with their 286 and Macs were now shaking
their heads at the continued use of the A500 in our house, whilst their
"real" computers gathered dust, or they spent another small fortune
upgrading to the next marketing miracle.
The A500 I had began to show signs of obsolescence around 1992/3, as
more PD software was WB2.0 compatible only. The A500 was still running
1.2! I had customised my workbench using PD software, and was salivating
at descriptions of all these goodies I could not access on the A500
(salivating seems like a strong response to digital stimulation but then
again there is much historical precedence - see Pavlov, Freud and Hite).
So with cap in hand I begged my wife to let loose the holy purse strings,
and in September 1993 I bought, sight unseen, an A1200 and PC1204 (ta to
Sigmacom, a very efficient and supportive mob).
The learning curve hit me again, so comfortable had I become with my 1.2
workbench, and the lack of a DOS manual with the A1200 made things awkward
at times (enter Megadisc!). I've read quite a bit about lack of
compatibility with software, but my experience has been mostly pleasant,
as PD utilities such as killaga (Joylon Ralph) and embedder (Bigmama)
providing backward compatibility for the majority of my software library.
I've now started learning to program (gulp), a mere 15 years too late to
be of any use (except to satisfy the "Edmund Hillary Syndrome"). I find
endless fascination with programs such as CSH by A.M.Kirchwitz, (O.K., I
don't get out much), and genuinely feel that I made the right decision
when I stuck to the Amiga label.
For anyone who's trod a similar path, here are my thoughts on the great
Amiga/IBM/Mac debate.
Some say that comparing computers is like comparing brand name cars,
it's just a matter of what you like. I think it's more like comparing a
car to a truck or to a caravan. It's all transport, but exactly what do
you want to achieve?
There seems to be a genuine movement towards cross compatibility. I
think that the Amiga OS, being fairly open, is well placed for this
scenario.
You can use an Amiga with a WIMPS only interface, or a DOS based
interface (CLI), or both concurrently. I think this allows more freedom
than a Mac, where "tinkering" is strictly taboo. The PC has made some
inroads into a WIMP interface, however the lack of multi-tasking has meant
that you must use one or the other, and besides which Windows, for all the
song and dance, is no substitute for WB (>1.3, that is).
Compatibility is a MAJOR problem in the clone world. It seems that one
386 is not like the other. Some people I know have up to 24 config.sys
files to try and deal with these problems, however they still are unable
to run certain software (e.g. some games with sound).
Many a PC owner will return to the old chestnut that there is more
software available for the PC world than for the Amiga. Quite true,
however, just how many word processors do you need? I am somewhat
concerned at the dwindling games market for the Amiga, but this will
eventually swing back to an equilibrium once the software houses realise
that the PC world is as plagued with virii and pirates as the Amiga
fraternity.
Software size and speed is a concern for PC owners. Just to run Windows
and a few applications means huge hard disk overheads and clunking
processors. An American computer academic claims that 80% of software
produced for PC's is poorly written, hence the size and bugs. I'm
currently using QED (D M Greenwald) as a text editor, weighing in at just
over 50K, blindingly fast and very stable. Even such mammoth programs
like Ppage still come in under 1mb, their counterparts in the PC world
taking around 10-20Mb of disk space!
The current financial problems of Commodore are not new in the business
world. The sad fact is that many large corporations "need" to go through
the purging that is receivership, in order to become leaner and meaner.
IBM itself has posted tremendous losses during past years. I think that
Commodore Australia should come out of the current "crisis" with a totally
changed approach.
A friend of mine recently wrote to Commodore Australia with pages of
carefully researched information, criticisms and suggestions regarding the
Amiga computer. The reply? "Thank-you for your letter. We look forward
to seeing you at the World of Commodore Show..." Some customer support!
Dealers and retailers have also been woefully supported in the past.
Many times I have wandered through department stores seeing customers
agog at the sad demos running on the PC's, whilst a perfectly good A600 or
A1200 sits idle in the background, with monitor turned off, or screen
showing WB. It would be like trying to sell a PC with just DOS running!
Impossible. The salespeople I have spoken too have repeatedly steered me
away from Amiga with such comments "It's a dead machine", "It's only a
games machine" or "You'll be wanting a serious computer like this one over
here". Yike! Who trains these people? Commodore? Why not give them a
bunch of you-beaut demos (there a huge number of quality demos), send them
back to Amiga school, and sit back and watch the sales pick up.
Also, any business needs to grease a few palms along the way. Look how
far Compaq have come by taking a few well placed journos out to lunch!
The SMH computer pages reads like one long Compaq advertisement. It's a
matter of good solid business sense. Apple took a few public servants out
to lunch, gave away a few freebies, and now have a vice-like grip on the
education market. Their brilliant Coles Apples for schools campaign has
been a huge marketing coup. Come on Commodore, Coles isn't the only
supermarket chain in Australia!
With such a lack of attention it is no wonder that Commodore is
experiencing some pain. Good luck to them, no pain, no gain.
In conclusion, we are looking at a computer which, by brand, has sold in
excess of 4 million units worldwide. Amiga is not going to go away. It's
too good a machine for that, and with the activity in the UK and Europe,
we're going to see some quality PD software for many years to come.
I hope I haven't bored you too much. I know I'm probably preaching to
the converted, but what the heck. Write back with your own opinions, I'd
be interested to know what other people's experiences have been.
Cheers,
A N Peck
Waramanga ACT 2611
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A polite defector
Hi Tim,
I decided a year ago that the future was IBM PC platforms and
developments thereof and sadly and reluctantly have made the switch.
I have to say it's now a much less frustrating world than
Amiga with a huge variety of software very solid and professional
particularly under MS Windows. Office administration type work which was a
real challenge to complete on very expensive GVP boosted A2000 are a
breeze on my (much cheaper) 486 DX2 rice rocket.
Even graphics - supposedly Amigas' strength - now seem to be
better catered for, with more choice, on the PC. I can use 24bit colour
with all my Windows software and the card cost around $200. What a shame
that the great innovations that the original Amiga contained such as a
true pre-emptive multitasking OS and Plug&Play were not carried through.
I think your decision to diversify into the Windows market is
very sound - the best of luck with it. Regards,
Alan Williams.
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A lotto disappointment
Tim,
You may (or may not) remember me for my AMOS Lotto programs. I
have improved the programs again (and again and again...); however I am
somewhat disappointed with the responses I got. Mainly I got requests for
improvements and explanations. Every time (except for 1 person) without
even a return stamp which does not incline me in the way of shareware etc.
any more. I'm especially disappointed when I see non-useful lotto
programs selling quite well. Perhaps I should sell the new version as
well? Do you have any thoughts on that? Anyway, there is a disk in the
envelope with the new version for you to have a look at. Please don't put
it in your library just yet, I will await for review/response before I
make a decision. Perhaps I could ask for a fee to be paid for all
queries?
Frank Hernandez
Ed: Personally, Frank, I think the programs you've written are great,
but I guess you're addressing a niche within a niche and there aren't
too many people who get your programs from us. But don't stop trying.
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Spellcheckers and other things
Dear Tim,
Thank you for the offer re the review of the paint program. It
is pleasing to know that a person of your status has such confidence in my
abilities. I would like to think that I have the capacity to deal the
task in a professional manner.
I think it would be wasteful to spend any more money on my
A2000. I hope I will be in a better position to start negotiations for
the purchase of a model more appropriate to my real needs later in the
year.
Enclosed is a copy of the demo version of EdWordPro V4.1. At
the moment this new version is exclusive to MD; version 4.0 is on Fish
924. It may be appropriate to include it on MD_Extras at the time my
article is published. Please note that I have included some additional
material for your information only.
I am please that you agree with my idea to include references
to spell checkers, and how they might be used in conjunction with the text
editor, when I write my article. I am looking forward to receiving the
disks we discussed yesterday.
All being well, I will get the article to you in time for
MD39.
Cheers,
Ron Upton
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Disk Jockey
Hi Tim & Steve,
It seems that at least some people out there are interested in
my Disk Jockeys disks as I have been getting some original contributions
of modules for the series and they are of a high standard.
Although I am an avid supporter and user of the Amiga I am
also not ignorant of the activity in the PC field as I am building a super
PC system to coexist and "talk" to my Amiga system. So it is with great
interest that I await your possible venture into a CD PC Megadisc and I
would be very keen in contributing articles etc for it.
While I remember, if you'd like to include my name and address
in the Helpers list I would be delighted to help anyone out on the
following topics:
Amiga hardware problems
Customising AmigaDOS & Workbench
Music & Demos
Hard drive & Printer advice
Buying & Selling Amiga hardware
General queries
Joe Hanna-Rivero (08) 258 9774
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Fractured English
Herewith a few mangled English Phrases which I've collected and
relish.....
co-exist together
almost unanimous
searched every crook and nanny
drop in jobless easing
pre-planned
"Shattered the speed at twice the sound", - lady reporter
Congenial rights
interviewing situation
totality of all the circumstances
at this point in time
the people who are in a mental state of mind
"Decimate the news", - lady reporter
tug the fetlock
Pat Rogers
Beaumaris
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