=============================================================================  NEWSFLASH INFORMATION FILE ============================================================================= I N F O R M A T I O N In the future you will find update news (from different sources), reviews and PD news in this file. On every utility disk we will publish the infor- mation which we then have available. Feel free to send us material (ascii please) and please put your name at the end of the file so you get full credit for it. Any information/press news can be sent to: Newsflash Freeware Po Box 881 3700 AW Zeist The Netherlands N E W S Amiga Report Online Magazine #1.33 -- November 12, 1993" Copyright © 1993 SkyNet Publications All Rights Reserved ** Atari Sues Sega ** Alledging that Sega's scrolling of displays in video games has viola- ted Atari's patents, has caused Atari to file suit against Sega of Amer- ica Inc. in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Atari also claimed in the suit that Sega may have infringed two other Atari patents. Atari has been working on a Jaguar "interactive" video game system that will be produced by International Business Machines Corp. and be powered by 64-bit chip with over 16 million colors and produces three- dimensional shapes. Most current video-game players and games work on 16-bit chips. Sega, which has been challenging Nintendo for supremacy in the $5 billion U.S. video-game market, is a subsidiary of Sega Enterprises Ltd., Japan. Analysts believe Sega has taken away considerable share from Nintendo's lead due to its success with its 16- bit "Sonic the Hedgehog" games. ** New Printers from Hewlett-Packard ** Hewlett-Packard Co. has introduced the lowest-priced true 600-dots- per-inch printers that it has ever offered: the $1,229 HP LaserJet 4P and the $1,729 HP LaserJet 4MP. The LaserJet 4P and 4MP printers are designed for business and home- office users who want a low-cost laser printer that produces high- quality, professional-looking output on a wide variety of media sizes and types. The LaserJet 4P and 4MP replace the LaserJet IIIP and IIIP PostScript printers, and are compatible with other printers in the LaserJet 4 series. HP also introduced its first ink-jet printers with desktop function- ality, color support and portability: the $379 HP DeskJet 310 for notebook PCs and the $379 HP DeskWriter 310 for Macintosh PowerBooks. » Afterburner A4050/030 Accelerator card « Computer Services Eureka Attn: Frank Hoen Kapittellaan 124 NL-6229 VR Maastricht The Netherlands Phone: +31(0)43-613742 Fax : +31(0)43-619077 The Afterburner is a 50Mhz 4000/030 accelerator. Giving two times the speed of the A4000/030 and adding a high speed local bus RAM interface. It has a 60ns 'burstable' Ram interface performance that's intended to be superior to the A4000/040. The Afterburner clocks its 68030 processor as well as optional coprocessor at 50Mhz. The 'burstable' memory interface and optional local bus ram should more than double the performance from the original rams utilizing 60 ns rams. It's 32 bit local bus interface should be three times faster than the original onboard ram and can be expanded to 525MB using highspeed (60ns) 32 bit SIMM's. A Kickstart image may be mapped in this 32bit RAM The CPU, a ceramic 68030 has a fully usable MMU and the (optional) co-processor can be of the PLCC, or the cheaper PGA type. Sockets for both types are present on the board. Software included is user-friendly auto-installing configuration software, a benchmark program as well as testing software. Warranty on this board is 2 years. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS An A4000 Amiga computer. A version for the A3000(T) is also being developed And should be available shortly. PRICE The Afterburner should be on display at the coming WoC in Cologne, Germany. It's tentatively priced at US$ 599 for the entry model. OTHER A high resolution JPEG image of the product will be uploaded to AmiNet. Look for a file called ABurner.LHA. » TrapFax 1.0 « TITLE TrapFax VERSION 1.0 COMPANY Village Tronic Marketing GmbH Wellweg 95 D-31157 Sarstedt Germany Tel: +49 (5066) 7013-0 Fax: +49 (5066) 7013-49 BBS: +49 (5066) 7013-40 AUTHORS TrapDoor Development: Maximilian Hantsch Rene Hexel Martin Laubach DESCRIPTION TrapFax 1.0 is the first release of a new general-purpose fax software for the Amiga. It is designed to work with CCITT TR29.2 "Class 2"-compatible fax modems to send out and receive faxes. Faxes can be generated from any application that prints to Amiga preferences printers. Incoming faxes can be viewed in a variety of scales and resolutions. The package comes with an extensive manual in either German or English. TrapFax works on all Amiga models under AmigaOS 2.0 and higher, starting with 2.1, you can use a German localized user interface in addition to the English one. FEATURES * state of the art fax software - easy operation and handling through Workbench - requires and fully supports AmigaOS 2.04 and higher - low memory requirements, works on 512k Amigas - easy installation using the Commodore Installer utility - compatible to CCITT TR29.2 Class 2 modems (e.g. ZyXEL, Supra, Everex, CSR, ...) - localization with AmigaOS 2.1 and higher - easy configuration via Preferences programs - uses the IFF data format for data interchange with other products - logfile: detailed transaction protocol - ARexx support * printer driver - generate faxes from out of your favourite programs (ProWrite, ProPage, DPaint, PageStream, ...) - supports all fax resolutions (204x98 dpi, 204x196 dpi, 200x200 dpi) * network aware - client/server architecture allows operation across a network - locking protocols to ensure 100% reliable operation * queue manager - sophisticated phone book management - delayed transmission - automatic retransmission - automatic sending and receiving in the background * fax viewer - display faxes in various scales and resolutions - supports all amiga screen modes - print faxes to all printers capable of printing graphics - aspect adjustment -- automatic sizing to adapt to current screen mode - automatic printing of incoming faxes - drag and drop fax icons into the viewer SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Hard disk, CCITT TR29.2 "Class 2"-compatible fax modem, AmigaOS 2.0 or higher. PRICE Recommended Retail Price in Germany: DM 198,- (German Marks) Special Introductary Offer of DM 179,- during the "World of Commodore mit Amiga '93" show (see OTHER). DISTRIBUTABILITY Commercial product. Copyright (C) 1993 by Maximilian Hantsch, Rene Hexel and Martin Laubach. All rights reserved. Distributed by Village Tronic Marketing GmbH. OTHER The software will be available starting at the "World of Commodore" show in Cologne (Koeln), Germany, from 5.-7. November 1993. There is a special introductory price of DM 179,- on the show. The authors will be present at the show, and will be showing off the software. They may be bugged with questions at the show, and appreciate their fans popping in for a visit. :-) » BootMan 1.0 available for FTP « FORM BOOTMAN v1.0 AVAILABLE FOR FTP TITLE BootMan - Boot Manager RELEASE 1.0 public AUTHOR Daniel Bachmann (bachmann@bobsbox.rent.com, bachmann@rvcc.raritanval.edu) AmigaGuide documentation: Ray Kulberda (raytrace@cup.portal.com, kulberda@eden.rutgers.edu) SHORT Allows multiple startup-sequences with selection at boot-up. DESCRIPTION A boot manager program that allows you to select a startup- sequence at boot time using the mouse or keyboard. Also allows password protection and a timer to load a default startup if none is selected. Includes a preference editor for easy modification and startup. BootMan is useful for users who wish to have different machine configurations, such as a shell-only startup, a ray-trace startup, a BBS startup, a full blown startup with cache software, and a memory conserving startup. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS BootMan requires an Amiga running KickStart 2.0 or higher. FEATURES - display startup-sequences by file names or text description - default startup-sequence with optional user setable timer - no messy scripts - GUI driven - (most) everything can be controlled by mouse OR keyboard - password option - preference editor for easy configuration - documentation in AmigaGuide format HOST NAME Aminet (e.g. wuarchive.wustl.edu) DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/util/misc FILE NAME BootMan10.lha PRICE Free! Registration/updates only require a letter and/or postcard. See documentation for details. DISTRIBUTABILITY The archives are freely distributable in original and unmodified form. See documentation for details. BootMan is (c) Copyright 1993 by Daniel Bachmann. @endnode @node P5-3 "MUI v1.4" @toc "menu" » MagicUserInterface V1.4 Available for FTP « TITLE MUI - MagicUserInterface RELEASE 1.4 AUTHOR Stefan Stuntz (stuntz@informatik.tu-muenchen.de) SHORT A system to create and maintain GUIs. DESCRIPTION MUI is an object oriented system to create and maintain graphical user interfaces. From a programmers point of view, using MUI saves a lot of time and makes life much easier. Thinking about complicated terms like window resizing or font sensitivity is simply not neccesary. On the other hand, users of MUI based applications have the ability to customize nearly every pixel of a programs interface according to their personal taste. This distribution is interesting for both, users and programmers. Please have a look at the supplied demo programs and at the documentation to see what MUI has to offer. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS MUI requires AmigaDOS 2.04 or higher. For developers, MUI comes with C, Oberon, Modula, Amiga-E and Assembler interfaces. NEW FEATURES *** major changes since version 1.3 *** Rearranged preferences program. Instead of many different windows, page groups are used and should make things a lot easier. Implemented palette gadget for public screens. Implemented background pattern for screens (V39 and above). Improved text rendering speed about 20% (maybe even more if you have some data cache). Made cycle popups blazingly fast and more configurable. Implemented virtual (scrolling) groups. New color oriented classes: Colorfield, Coloradjust, Palette. HOST NAME Aminet (e.g. wuarchive.wustl.edu) DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/dev/gui FILE NAME mui14usr.lha - libraries, classes, prefs, demos, user docs mui14dev.lha - programmer interfaces and docs FIDO FILE REQUEST 2:246/46 (+49-8151-78880 ) magic name "MUI" 1:267/131 (+1-518-883-5326) magic name "MUI" PRICE Registered versions of MUI are available for $15US. See documentation for details. DISTRIBUTABILITY The archives are freely distributable in original and unmodified form. See documentation for details. MUI is (c) Copyright 1993 by Stefan Stuntz. » PicCon v1.02 Available for FTP « TITLE PicCon (which is short for Picture Converter). VERSION Latest version is 1.02. AUTHOR PicCon was written by Morten Eriksen. email address: mortene@idt.unit.no Ordinary address: Morten Eriksen Jonsborgvn. 18 7563 Malvik NORWAY DESCRIPTION PicCon is a "programmer's pictureconverter". That is, it is not in the usual 'packed format -> packed format' style, but it is a program that convert packed pictures to RAW format, ready for inclusion in programs you are writing. Parts of pictures might also be cut out and saved. Features: * uses datatypes.library (with the appropriate datatypes installed, you can load JPEGs, GIFs, or any other format) * handles AGA pictures * palettesaving in many formats (ECS/OCS, AGA, ECS/OCS/AGA copperlists, ++) * RAW saving in numerous formats (bitplane, interleaved, chunky, sprites (including AGA sprites) ++) * choice of saving as binary or source (both assembly and C) * screenmoderequester * correct handling of HAM6, HAM8, EHB and dual playfields * some nice timesaving features, like autocrop, flipping ++ Note: the 1.02 demoversion contains a bug that makes 5 Enforcer-hits, these are not dangerous. This is fixed in the registrated version (which is free for any Mungwall- or Enforcer-hits whatsoever). SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS As the datatypes.library is used for loading the pictures, you need version 3.0 (or later) of the operating system. The program do work on rekicked machines (AGA chipset is not needed). HOST NAME Available via anonymous FTP at: nic.funet.fi in /pub/amiga/graphics/applications/convert/PicCon-102.* ftp.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) in /pub/aminet/gfx/conv/PicCon-102.* ...and any aminet mirror site. FILE NAMES PicCon-1.02.lha (20034 bytes) PicCon-1.02.readme (1156 bytes) PRICE Shareware fee is $15 (or an equal amount in your own currency). DISTRIBUTABILITY The demoversion is freely distributable, the registered version is shareware and copyright Morten Eriksen. SIERRA'S BACK IN TOWN! Yes, we will see King's Quest VI on our AGA Amigas! Of course, if you get Amiga World, you probably have read that by now. That, and an AGA Wing Commander. *Maybe* an AGA Day of the Tentacle from LucasArts. KQ VI won't be another cheap Sierra port, oh no, it'll be done by Revolution Software of England. Sounds great, doesn't it? Amiga World lists 50 AGA games that are under way or out. They did have to stretch a little with some PD and a rumor, but there's still 50 games listed. The AGA games are really coming now. Even some of the "big boys" are back in the Amiga arena, so it's not all gloom 'n doom as some people are so fond of claiming. We've got some great, amazing productivity software coming soon, great Amiga games and a fair amount of ports from Clone games. CD³² is selling extremely well in Europe, which could bring even more developers into or back to the market. Commodore plans to advertise, bringing more recognition for the Amiga name. I suppose you can look at it in two ways. It's simply that markets change. You can look at the loss of the old as bad omens or the new potential. I'll look at the bright side. =============================================================================  NEWSFLASH INFORMATION FILE =============================================================================