MEGABITES   ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| COMMODORE STUFF WORKBENCHES WB2: (official) 2.04 is the current release (obvious) with 2.05 as the current release in Europe in the Amiga 600, and Workbench 2.1 is in Beta testing. WORLD OF COMMODORE COMPUTER ART COMPETITION This will be part of the WoC Exhibition, for any Amiga artist, pro or amateur. Send in at least 2 pieces of original artwork, including at least 2 in printed form. Note that all work becomes the property of Commodore. If your work is chosen for display at the WoC, you'll get a Version 2 Enhancer pack for your troubles, so you'd better be intending to upgrade. The winnder will receive a display enhancer board to suit an A2000. Send artwork before June 15 to: Art Co-ordinator, World of Commodore C/- 2/65 Nicholson St, St Leonards, NSW 2065. COMMODORE'S A600 The main features of this little number are as follows: 1. No numeric keyboard 2. KickStart 2 (faster booting) 3. ECS Denise (Productivity mode, Super Hires) 4. So called "Global Effect" stretches NTSC games to PAL size 5. Built-in TV modulator 6. Mouse Joystick Ports available from side 7. No Expansion Port anymore 8. Internal expansion only possible if no ICs have to be pulled because all internal ICs incl. CPU soldered except KICKSTART ROM 9. The A600HD Version comes with 20MB hard disk 10. Pluggable ROM Modules for loading games etc. 4MB max. These are compatible with teh PCMCIA/JEIDA 68-pin standard for memory card devices, and is intended mainly for ROM cards, SRAM cards and Flash ROM cards. Games programmers (and others) can design applications which run from PCMCIA standard ROM cards which can be mastered and produced by a number of firms. 11. There's a 512K version using a single 256Kx16 (4 Megabit, 512K) DRAM, and a 1MB version which uses 2 of these chips. 12. 2 MB of chip RAM available, and a battery-backed RTC (real-time clock) through a small add-in card, the A601. An additional 4 MB of memory can be had through the PCMCIA card interface. 13. Contains a new version of the GARY chip (system interface and glue) known as GAYLE - still does basic function such as chip selects and miscellaneous control signals, but also includes a complete hardware implementation for the PCMCIA/JEIDA for the Amiga and includes a series of special purpose registers for this interface. Seems that while this is a neatly designed machine, its price in Oz will be approx. $700 (this is not certain, however). This is pretty likely to remove it from the market for which it was designed. It should be a very good portable presentation machine, since it'll take a hard drive, flash cards, etc in a small package. Note however that Nintendo will be bringing out their Super Nintendo Entertainment system, which will go head to head with the A600, as will the Sega Genesis - each of these will cost a sight cheaper than the A600's projected price. Note that Workbench 2.05 comes with the A600, with slight bug fixes and the FlashPrep program, which preps and formats Flash Cards (if you can get them). AAA CHIP SET This enhanced enhanced chip set which is on the way will give 4 meg of chip ram. However, currently there are no plans to enable the current A3000 to access this. The new chips will fit the A3000, but there will only be partial access to their capabilities. NEW BRIDGEBOARD CBM are developing a 386 Bridgeboard utilizing the Amiga drives. CDTV I just received a fax from Commodore with pages of listings for CDTV titles. The total number of titles currently available is 88, but there are (wild, in my opinion) projections to the end of the year of 255 titles. The tendency seems to be towards reference works like the Guinness Book of Records, as well as entertainment stuff. Check the review of the A570 CD-ROM player for the A500 this issue.  ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| GOSSIP .INFO MAGAZINE FOLDS "The official line from .info management is this: We have suspended operations pending seeking refinancing.' What this means, of course, is that .info will be gone if we don't manage to line up financing or a buyer for the magazine. Needless to say, in an economy like this, it'll be tough to do so. It has, however, happened before - we went on a six-week hiatus in early 1990, arranged financing, and scrambled to get back on the newsstands. So there is still hope. I'd like to express the official .info appreciation for all the kind words said here. If a non-cancellable finality comes about, or a saviour comes along, I'll try to get back and post an update for you. Thanks for your concern." -Mark R. Brown, Managing Editor, .info publications. Ed: See the Editorial for a short discussion of this minor disaster. CDTV IN FLIGHT D. Foale While on a domestic flight with Ansett Australia back in December '91, I was casually flicking through the inflight magazine "Panorama" where, there on page 26 was a Commodore CDTV! Now that it had my attention I proceeded to read the article which was in the 'Technology' section and entitled "The Power of One". The sub-heading read "The computer, the television and the CD player form a new alliance which has unlimited home education and entertainment potential". The three page story read like an ad straight from Commodore themselves with mention of the Groliers package and the World Vista Atlas as well as a sprinkle of selected screenshots. Commodore didn't have it all their own way though and the last few paragraphs discussed the opposition's product in the form of "The Imagination Machine" from Phillips, a US$1000 machine which uses CD-I technology and "...has a faster response time than the Commodore unit". The article goes on to say that unfortunately the discs are not interchangable with the following quote.. "Some say this will produce a standards marketing battle similar to the one that raged between Sony's Beta video format and everybody else's VHS format during the '80s." Apparently there is to be a business/training and education model as well as the less expensive "Imagination Machine" for the domestic market. Phillips have the marketing might of Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic) behind them while Commodore have licensed CDTV manufacturing rights to Mitsui and Dai-Nippon, the world's largest printer, will publish Japanese-language CDTV titles. The Phillips units were expected to be released in Australia in 1992. All in all an interesting article with the obvious message that Commodore isn't alone in the race anymore... I will leave you with the final few lines from the article of which the first sums up the fate of CDTV. "The future of CDTV and CD-I hangs on mass-market acceptance. If the public goes for the product then the industry may see its dream of a computer (albeit stuck to a CD) in every home come true." Ed: Nice sentiments, but CDTV seems to have done its dash, primarily due to insufficient marketing/advertising, etc. Check out the review of the A570 unit for the A500 (not A600, by the way) this issue. RENDERMAN FOR AMIGA? According to the manager of Third Party Support of PIXAR, the computer graphics giant: "With the advent of machines like the 2500 and 3000 and new third party video cards that supported true-color displays, porting RenderMan might finally be feasible. We have Amiga computers in house, and will be doing some testing in the coming months." Renderman is now a de facto standard in the world of computer graphics and animation.  ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| PRESS RELEASES PEGASUS' TRAINING COURSES PEGASUS is a global communications network based in Byron Bay which is the shape of communications to come - through it you can get access to people and information otherwise inaccessible, and in very specific interest groups and on specific topics, particularly of the green variety, but of many types. All you need is a modem and a computer and some knowledge of getting on-line - this last bit can be confusing so Pegasus has set up some training courses in Sydney, and more info can be obtained by phoning Michael Ney on (02) 6928168.  ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| INTERESTING LOCAL PRODUCTS OPAL VISION Will be having a world launch at the World of Commodore in Sydney, July 3-5. First release will be of the OpalVision Motherboard, first unit in a series of video-related tools, bundled with OpalPaint, said to be friendly paint-box software. RRP will be A$999. Also on display will be the second Opal module, the Genlock and FrameGrabber, which will grapb 24-bit true colour images from any live video source for importation into OpalVision. Eventually coming from the same group will be the Video Roaster Chip for real-time morphing and manipulation of live video and a quad-input video switcher and mixer to integrate with the Video Roaster chip and Framegrabber to create a complete video production tool. Will be shipping with a bunch of Oz-made 24-bit images, and should be good when it arrives. More info: Opal Technology, P O Box 117, Castle Hill, 2154. Tel: (02) 8994322. IBM EMULATOR On Fish Disk 643 you'll find a demo of Chris Hames' IBM Emulator, which by all accounts is an excellent piece of work. You don't even need a bridgeboard now to run IBM programs. Support your local programmers. Chris can be found at: 6 Pamela Court Blackburn South Vic 3130 Tel: 03 8021458 (H) PCTask PC-Task is a software IBM-PC emulator. It allows you to run the majority of IBM-PC software on your amiga with no additional hardware. Runs just like a normal application allowing multitasking to continue. The program has a graphical user interface and no additional filesystem/device mounting is required. A few clicks with the mouse and it is operational. CGA, MDA, Serial, Parallel, Mouse, 2 Floppy drives and 2 Hard drives are emulated. The hard drives can be partitions or hard drive files like the bridgeboard can use. This is demonstration version 1.04. Full version is available from the author. Binary only. Author: Chris Hames AMIGA IN THE GAMBLING DEN One of our contributors/dealers, Randall Reynoldson, sent in some info about a local product used in TAB branches for the Daily Form service. The system includes: Amiga 500 with HD & RF modulator Laser Printer V32 modem and an IBM compatible with extra Ram, hard drive, etc. The Amiga is used to display info for the punters, on a TV set. However, this seems to be about the most wasteful setup I've ever seen: the Amiga is used only for displaying to TV screens, and presumably the IBM is used to download the info. Talk about doubling up on hardware unnecessarily! Here's an opportunity for an Amiga entrepreneur. More info from: SuccessAbility, P O Box 95, Jamison, Canberra, ACT 2614. Tel: 06 2516538 BLITZ BASIC II Yes, it's finally here, and according to Bob Fields of Bright Electronics in NZ (who can be trusted about these things) it's terrific. He says: "I had a quick look at it in action last Saturday and I believe it could revolutionize Amiga programming. It is extremely user friendly to program Basic and compiles and runs at machine code speed. The price will be about NZ$200 here but I will confirm that later. I'm not normally impressed by software but this is outstanding, locally written and very professionally produced." You'll see a review of it in next issue (and in fact you can get the package from Megadisc), but some of the features include: * fully integrated editor/compiler environment * For games programmers, there is a unique environment known as Blitz Mode, which closes down the system and replaces it with: - a kernal of super fast graphics - specialised sound commands - dedicated IO library - precise display control * Amiga mode: for applications developers, you get full control of WB1.3/2, and an Intuition planner for easy creation of complex interfaces. * Programming features: - all numeric types - string handling - NewTypes allow Basic programmers to dramatically simplify their code, and programmers get lower level access to the operating system. The list goes on.... See the full deal next issue, and support quasi-local (!) programmers, ie in this case, Simon Armstrong who has really stuck his neck out, financially and otherwise, on this one. RRP is A$195. HELLZONE and COMPLEX Four programming gents sent in this shareware game, and asked for a mention, which we do with pleasure. I quote from their letter: " We are intending to produce full commercial quality games...we now have the time to fully develop quality software. 'Hellzone' proved to be a learning experience.. we wish to be a part of the growing Australian game development scene. We appreciate that you support the local Amiga industry. As a programming team we are willing to contribute articles to Megadisc..." The letter is signed: Interscan, with the names Cullhane Gibbs, Alex Shaw, Brad Welch and Thomas Ip. Check the game in our "PD_Since_MD27" file this issue. Thanks, gentlemen, and keep the flow going. I'll take you up on that offer of contributions to Megadisc, too. Another game of an educational nature worth looking at is COMPLEX, by Steve Wright - it's listed in the same file this issue, and is an interesting approach to educational software, with a series of data modules available for a small fee to expand the power and reach of the program. Please check out these disks and support our local programmers.  ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| INTERESTING SOFTWARE DR T'S COMPOSER QUEST A CD for US$99, this is a kind of multi-media game whihc has you exploring music history from the year 1600 onwards. You can listen to recorded performances of famouse composers, look at paintings by the masters, and generally get a cultural snapshot of the background when the pieces were composed. CALIGARI 2 Octree Software have been around fo ra long time, and has now brought out its low cost version of its 3-D modeling produce at US$399. It includes single-point editing, mirror, slice and sweep functions, and you also get an interactive spline-based animation module with a real-time preview feature. There is also support for single-frame controllers for recording to videotape. See elsewhere this issue for info on a locally produced single-frame controller. SIGNENGINE - PROFESSIONAL SIGN MAKING Designed by Parallel Motion Graphics, this program takes a sign you've designed in a paint program, and lets you enhance it with the graphics editor, then output your work to a vinyl cutter. There are drivers included for many vinyl-cutting machines. [See also Amazing Computing Feb 92 for a long and practical article on using the Amiga to create signs in this and other ways.] AUDIOLAB 16-BIT MUSIC SAMPLING Features of this package inlcude a built-in sampling interface, MIDI in and out, a true harmonic graphic equalizer, an envelope generator, full stereo mixing, and a waveform generator. You can also do Fourier analysis on your mixes. You can have up to 16 editable samples on the screen at once for simultaneous or individual editing. Works with most digitising and MIDI systems. RRP is US$69.95, from: TTR Developments, 6701 Seybold Rd, Suite 220, Madison, WI 53719. Tel: 608 277 8071, AEGIS VISIONARY - AUTHORING SYSTEM GAME CREATOR Aegis is a venerable company in Amiga terms, having been here from the beginning - I remember creating simple animations with Aegis Animator in '86.... Visionary is their latest creation and is touted as a games creator, with compiler and debugger, and many graphics and sound commands, as well as a full set of text-manipulation routines. You can end up with games like Dungeon Master (mouse-driven), Zork (text-only) or ShadowGate (text and graphics). It handles all the standard formats and supports both NTSC and PAL displays. Sounds good - more info from: Oxxi, Inc, P O Box 90309, Long Beach, CA 90809-030. TEL: 213 427 1227. ANTI A This is a font enhancement utility which performs an anti-aliasing process on normal Amiga fonts (Anti-aliasing is that process which cuts down the "jaggies" on the edges of graphic objects). From a single font size, you can produce up to 9 scaled-down versions from 1/2 to 1/12 size. The new fonts are stored in ColorFont format and can be used by any program which handles ColorFonts. RRP unknown, but info from: Zen Computer Services, 2 Silver Birch Grove, Swinton, Manchester, M27 1FS UK. DLG PROGESSIONAL COMMUNICATIONS This is described as a unique telecommunications program for the high-end hobbyist. The idea is a group of interrelated modules and commands that form the nucleus of a bulletin-board operating system that is built aroun da standard Amiga shell. Features include: multi-line capability; conferencing, Usenet, FidoNet electronic mail and echo-mail compatibility; message broadcasting, messge tagging, bundling anddownloading, off-line reading, and more. RRP is US$199. More info from: TelePro Technologies, 20-1524 Rayner Ave, Saskatoon, SAS, Canada, S7N 1Y1. Tel: 306 6653811. LABELDEX ... FOR ALL LABELING NEEDS This is claimed to be a full-featured mailing-label and disk-labeling database, which manages name/address lists, disk libraries, CD collections, etc., and gives you labels in many formats, or in custom-designed formats. Hard disk installable, and with a clear interface, the RRP is US$75. More info from: EasySCript, 10006 Covington Dr, Huntsville, AL 35803 USA TEL: 205 881 6297. HOTLINKS Hotlinks from SoftLogic is a data exchange program, allowing you to pudate your text in a text editor, while at the same time updating the same text in a DTP without any loss of formatting. The same goes for any data, like pictures, graphs, musical notes, videa clips etc. There is a developer's kit being made available. See a review of this package next issue. IMAGE MASTER This is the 24-bit commercial version of the image processing program which was shipping with HAM-E. Said to be terrific - more details next issue. Should cost about $250. Even better than Art Dept Pro for special effects.  ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| INTERESTING HARDWARE AIRLINK 2 This connects to the joystick port (see Hints&Tips for how to get an extra plug on this) and contains an infrared receiver and transmiter. Output for remote-wired infrared LEDs is also included. You can make pop-up window duplicates of your favourite infrared remote controllers. A library of LD, CD and VCR, AmigaVision, Bars&Pipes, HyperBook, and ARexx examples are included. Trigger IR commands from the mouse, hotkeys, timer, ARexx, MIDI, serial or parallel port. RRP is US$50, from: Geodesic Publications, P O Box 956068, Duluth, GA 30136, USA. Tel: 404 8220566. INFRARED REMOTE CONTROLLER This plugs into the parallel port and allows a VCR or any other infrared remoted controlled device to be operated by your program. The Controller can learn the IR pulse codes from the remotes of most devices, and can also detect when the VCR is actually sending a video signal and it can, with suitable monitors, switch the screen from computer output to video output. Touch tones can be placed onte videotape and the controller can detect them so that your program can do such things as mix the Amiga's sound of voice with the video sound, or overlay computer output on the video output if a separate genlock is used, etc. RRP is US$200, from: Edu-Vid Research, P O Box 149, Pembina, ND 58271 USA. TEL: 204 6682062. EMPLANT An open-ended emulation platform designed ot allow the emulation of virtually any computer at hardware-related speeds. Consists of a Zorro 2/3 Emplant board and software driver for MacIIX emulation. This is a full MacIIX emulation and will even work on a 68000-based Amiga and compatibility is said to be100%. RRP is US$199, $299 for Sybil system, the only difference being that Sybil allows you to read and write Mac disks on an Amiga drive. The emulator completely multi-tasks with the Amiga. To be released in mid-July. Note that by simply changing the ROM-SIMM module (MAC IIX USES A 256K rom-simm) and the software driver (emulator software) we can change what computer is being emulated. All the custom chips of the Mac are emulated through hardware. More info: Utilities Unlimited of Arizona Inc. Tel: 602 6809004  FROM GVP A530 TURBO This is an accelerated version of their Series II A500-HD8+ system - it has a 40MHz 68EC030 CPU, and you can add up to 8 MB of 32-bit wide 60ns DRAM, and optional FPU. There's a switch for 68000 mode, and to disable drive and memory. VIDEO INTERFACE UNIT (VIU) FOR THE IV24 The IV24 is the 24-bit multifunctional graphics board with built-in genlock, framegrabber, frame buffer, de-interlacer with picture-in- picture capability. The VIU-S gives the unit composite video to RGB conversion, S-video (Y/C) to RGB conversion, RGB plus sync input, software selectable video source, sync detection and automatic signal equalization. There is also a professional version, the VIU-CT, with numerous more refined features. IO EXTENDER This is a unit containing 2 high-speed multifunctional serial ports and a bidirectional parallel port that can be configured as Amiga or PC compatible, and is made for the A2000/3000. There is an optional MIDI expansion box allowing up to 2 complete 16 channel MIDI busses. The serial ports are software switchable. GVP'S PHONE PAK FAX-MAIL SYSTEM GVP is surely the one to watch when it comes to commercially viable Amiga hardware. This one is an internal board for the A2000/3000 and gives: multiple phone-line support; sending and receiving of faxes; options to create telephone mailboxes for fax and voice messages. You can also record and play voice messages or view faxes on screen while listening to corresponding voice messages. The software is all point-and-click and lets you create a database of phone numbers and names, and a standard fax machine connected to your Amiga can double as a scanner. And if you connect up several Amigas equipped with these boards, you can set up a multilevel, low-cost phone-mail system. One to watch. See an exhaustive review of the GPFax package in the next Megadisc - this is a local product of very high quality. GVP'S DIGITAL SOUND STUDIO This in an 8-bit, MIDI-compatible sound system that can raise the roof with decibels. It is a small cartridge that plugs into the parallel port, making the computer a four-track MIDI sequencer with MIDI keyboard support. There is also software to let you record at high sample rates and edit, manipulate and play sound files.  ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| INTERESTING PUBLICATIONS For BridgeBoard Users There is a newsletter for you published in the US, called CROSSINGS. It comes out monthly and deals with all aspects of PC emulation. Cost is US$50 (incl. o/s air mail) and you can get it from: Dealand Editorial Services, Suite 26e 345 East 93rd St New York, NY 10128, USA Tel: 212 3698131. They also sell an on-disk book all about the Bridgeboard called "Bridge Access", costing US$21.95 (incl.), but AmigaVision is required to read it. (Sounds like a silly requirement to me.) AUSTRALIAN AMIGA NEWS I received a disk in the post, which booted up into yet another disk-magazine (why am I letting you all know?), with a couple of articles, reviews, some news, etc. It's public domain and has a nice interface which replaces Workbench, and is in the tradition of hacker disk-mags. You can get it from our PD library - check the listing this issue. You can also get it from Kevin below, to whom thanks for sending it in. Kevin Williams P O Box 499 Ashgrove, QLD 4060  ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| DESKTOP PUBLISHING MORE ON FONTS MIOUTLINE OUTLINE FONT UTILITIES (I finally found out what this product was and who produces it but a question remains... what is their "popular MIFont Postscript conversion software for use with Professional Page"? Does anyone know?) MIoutline will convert any Postscript Type 1 printer font from the IBM or Mac into a fully compatible Professional Draw outline font. Then you can use Pro Draw's font editing capabilities to manipulate them at will. Since ProDraw came with but 2 outline fonts, this enlarges the capabilities of that structured drawing program seriously. MIoutline will also generate printed Postscript charts showing any font's complete character set and the key combinations to call them up. More info from (on Fridays only): Mirror Image Productions, 30 Aurora Court, Suite 1209, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, M1W2M3. Tel: 416 495 7469. BBS: 416 492 4030 AGFA'S SCALABLE FONT IN AMIGA FORMAT Agfa has announced its entire library will be converted to Amiga format - the "Intellifont scaling rasteriser and Intellifont scalable typefaces" are embedded into WB2, so users will have access to more than 260 Intellifont typefaces for the first time. You can now scale outline fonts on the fly and not rely on bitmaps which have been pre-generated and stored on hard disk - this means less memory required and access to many fonts. Intellifont works with any application that supports WB2 and eliminates the need for many different font formats that can be dependent on particular software applications. PAGESTREAM FONT LIBRARY [See MegaDisc27 for lots of info on fonts, Postscript and desktop publishing in general.] Soft-Logik of PageStream fame has licensed fonts from the Mac developer Image Club to compile the Soft-Logik Typeface Library, which contains about 600 Type 1 fonts, along with a few Postscript Type 3 fonts which use gradient fills for metallic sheens. These are being broken up and sold as families of fonts with a particular weight/size at about US$100 each. So, there is some confusion here - Type 1 fonts are available on the Public domain (See our Font Pack of 12 disks), and can be used already in Pagestream; and there exists a utility which comes with Pro Page 3 which converts these to Outline fonts... Here's how Soft-Logik describe it in the most recent upgrade release: "Don't forget about the exciting Soft-Logik Typeface Library. This collection of over 600 PostScript Type 1 fonts can be used with any printer with PageStream 2.2 HL. They will also work with the upcoming Art Expression illustration program. Attention Saxon Publisher and Professional Page users: you can now use these fonts with Professional Page 3.0 (Gold Disk reportedly supplies a font conversion program which will accept these fonts for use with ProPage 3.0), and with Saxon Publisher 1.2 (SaxonScript is used to create Saxon format fonts.) Contact Gold Disk or Saxon Industries for more information on font compatibility with their software. And don't forget the Soft-Logik Graphic Library. This collection of 21 volumes of high quality Encapsulated PostScript clip art is the ideal source for all your illustration needs, and is now available from your dealer or Soft-Logik Publishing. Virtually all of these graphics are in Illustrator EPS format so they can be imported into PageStream as editable objects. EPS clip art can also be used with Art Expression, Professional Page and Saxon Publisher." Note that there are about 10000 Type 1 Postscript fonts in existence as of now around the world, many or most of which are public domain. TYPE 1 FONTS AND COMPUGRAPHIC OUTLINE FONTS IN PRO PAGE 3 There is a utility to convert Postscript Type 1 fonts to Compugraphic (ie AGFA outline) that comes with ProPage 3 - this means you can get dozens of new Outline fonts for Pro Page from the public domain, for example, from Megadisc's Font 12-Pack. It also means that Type 1 fonts can now be converted and used with Workbench 2.04. Has anybody done this? Let us know how it goes. AGFA'S INTELLIFONT Agfa's Intellifont scaling technolgy and Intellifont Scalable Typefaces are integrated into WB2, giving the Amiga scalable fonts (ie load in such a font, and scale it up or down to a new size on the fly, rather than rely on bitmaps that have been pre-generated and stored on disk). Agfa also has a library of over 250 additional typefaces - these Intellifont scalable typefaces are sold in MS-DOS format and require a conversion utility, but what that utility is is not mentioned... For more info: Agfa Corporation, 90 Industrial Way, Wilmington, MA 01887, USA. TEL: 508 6585600. PAGESTREAM V. PROPAGE Where PageStream has it over ProPage - you can edit ProDraw, ProVector, or AegisDraw art objects within PageStream as well as view EPS (Encapsulated Postscript) TIFF rpeview files, not possible in ProPage. FONT DESIGNER V.2 This can edit any Postscript, Compugraphic or Pagestream font, just the thing for DTP. It will load Adobe Type 1, Type 3, Pagestream DMF, Compugraphic Intellifont, IFF ILBM, IFF DR2D, Adobe ASM, Pagestream FM; and export Adobe Type 1, Pagestream DMF, Compugraphic, etc. Price is US$220 approx., and it should have been released in April. VIDEO VISIONS CLIP ART - STRUCTURED AND 24-BIT It's worth noting simply that CV Designs are concentrating on this area and continuing to output useful stuff in this area, useful for touching up your video or your desktop publishing. There are so far 12 volumes available and more on the way. RRP is US$25 per volume. More info from: CV Designs, 61 Clewley Rd, Medford, MA 02155 USA. TEL: 617 3919224.  ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| INTERESTING PUBLIC DOMAIN STUFF Fish 649: ParM Parameterable Menu. ParM allows you to build menus to run whatever program you have on a disk. ParM can run programs either in WorkBench or CLI mode. This is an alternative to MyMenu which can run only when WorkBench is loaded. ParM can have it's own little window, can attach menus to the CLI window you are running it from, or to the WB menus, just like MyMenu. This is version 3.6, an update to version 3.00 on disk 540. Includes source in C. Author: Sylvain Rougier, Pierre Carrette Fish 648: Vertex A 3D object editor with many features. Has an easy to use interface with many user selectable options. The main view can be easily rotated, positioned or scaled with the mouse, which makes the editor fast and responsive. Special features include fractals, multiply command, point and click editing, an Arexx interface and much more. This is version 1.36.3, an update to version 1.28 on disk 608. Shareware, binary only. Author: Alexander D. Deburie Fish 647: PowerPlayer A very powerful, user friendly and system friendly module player. It can handle nearly all useful module-formats (Noisetracker, MED, Oktalyzer, etc.), can read powerpacked modules and comes along with its own cruncher that uses the powerful lh.library written by Krekel/Barthel. Needs the powerpacker.library and the reqtools.library to run, both included in the package. Also includes some sample modules. Version 2.1, freeware, binary only. Author: Stephan Fuhrmann Fish 646: AppliGen An Application Generator for Superbase III. Create the SBpro DML program's menus without having to do the same work over and over. Creates Superbase DML sources with menus, labels, opening of files, queries, etc. Many user-selectable options (inluding all SBpro SET commands). Menus can be previewed as Intuition menus or text-menus. Sources and included sub- routines can be syntax checked, and exported as ASCII or ".sbp"-file. Version 1.0 interpeted language source and executable. Author: Ivo Kroone SoundZAP A sound conversion utility that will convert almost any of the sampled sound file formats available on different platforms to the Amiga's IFF 8SVX format or into RAW data. It recognizes .VOC, .au (ulaw, 16, 24, or 32 bit samples), .WAV, and Macin- tosh headered samples, and converts them appropriately. It can also identify ulaw, signed, and unsigned RAW data, converting it properly. It treats unidentifiable headered files as RAW, so they are treated properly also. Version 2.3, includes source. Author: Michael Cramer Fish 645 HDFixer Some of the newer A3000's have high density floppy drives. In the 37.175 version of kickstart, HD disks are not completely supported in HD mode. This program patches the system so that kickstart V37.175 owners are able to use 1.71 MB HD disks in the floppy drive. Requires Workbench 2.04. This is version 1.00, binary only. Author: Peter-Iver Edert Fish 644: SystemInfo A system configuration display program with an Intuition interface. Recognizes about 80 different product codes and about 40 manufacturer ID's. Displays information about all AutoConfig cards, all mounted drives, vectors, processor types, and other useful information. This is version 2.0a, shareware, binary only. Author: Paul Kolenbrander Fish 642: EditKeys A keymap editor. Supports editing of string, dead and modi- fiable keys, as well as control of repeatable and capsable status of each key. Runs equally well under AmigaDOS 1.3 or 2.0. If running under AmigaDOS 1.3, requires "arp.library". This is version 1.2. Includes source in assembly. Author: David Kinder Fish 640 & 639: DrawMap Release 4.0 of a program for drawing representations of the Earth's surface. New features include using the full Micro World Data Bank data files, user selection of the items to be included (e.g., coastlines, rivers, etc.) and the amount of detail in each map, and a redraw function. Corrects a problem with box and text selection encountered under AmigaDos 2.04, but AmigaDos 2.04 is not required. Requires 1.5 megabytes of memory and a hard disk with 1.6 megabytes of free space. Also includes version requiring a 68020 CPU and 68881 FPU. This is an update to version 3.1 on disk 545. Includes full source. Distributed in two parts, the other part is on disk 639. Author: Bryan Brown. Fish 636: EnvPrint EnvPrint is a handy tool for printing envelopes for letters. Just type in the addresses or load them from disk, and EnvPrint will organize the printing job for you. Includes an ARexx port. Version 1.50, an update to version 1.20 from disk 584 (WizardWorks 2). Shareware US$ 10. Binary only. Author: Stefan Zeiger Fish 633 PlansDemo Demo version of a drawing program with user definable fonts, over 32000 named lockable layers, definable screen resolution, hierarchial parts and grouping, importing of HPGL plot files, multiple simultaneously loaded drawings, many print options, fully programmable plotter support, 38 mouse drawing modes, over 22 numeric object creation modes, 53 editing modes, rulers, crosshairs, grid, bezier curves, and more. This is version 2.1, binary only. Author: Gary Hale  ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| COMPUSPEAK DECIPHERED ASAP-As soon as possible bCNU-Be seein' you BRB-Be right back BTW-By the way FUBAR-Fouled of beyond all recognition FWIW-For what it's worth GR&D-Grinning, running and ducking IMO-In my opinion NBD-No big deal OTOH-On the other hand PDQ-Pretty darn quick PITA-pain in the acronym ROFL-Rolling on floor laughing TIA-Thanks in advance WYSIWYG-What you see is what you get COMPUTER JARGON MADE EASY VDU-A dead female sheep DEBUG-De ting killed wid de pressure spray EMULATE-A tardy bird CORE-Strewth MICROFICHE-Plankton SYNTAX-Alimony or royalties paid by a madman DATA SOURCE-Makes fiche and chips taste better REMOTE VDU-A dead female sheep in the back paddock JARGON-Missing container HEXADECIMAL-Metric witchcraft ARRAY-rejoice (ip ip array) bIT-The increment by which programmers go mad COMMAND-Statement presented by a human and accepted by a computer in such a manner as to make the human feel as if he is in control HARDWARE-Typically boots, leather, chains, etc. (see software) SOFTWARE-Typically nighties, nylons, french knickers, garter belts, etc. (see hardware) BOOTING-Method used by frustrated operators to start their machine UNIX-Collective noun for harem guards TIMESHARING-A communal watch for poor people EXECUTE-Positive action required for some programmers RAM-Computer memory suffering from Alzheimers Disease A FOOTER.... Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your kids! ANOTHER FOOTER....Old folks are worth a fortune. They have silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet, and gas in their stomach. Orben's Packaging Observation One bag of groceries produces two bags of garbage. Peer's Law The solution to a problem will change the problem. Rules for Forecasting 1. He who lives by the crystal ball learns to eat ground glass. 2. It's very difficult to forecast, especially about the future. 3. If ever you're right, don't let them forget it.  ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 ||| 28 |||