@4 When It Rains, It Pours@1 ======================= ]5@1 by Rick Rudge ]1@5 That's the way the weather is up here in the Northwest, especially in Snoqualmie, Washington, where Amiga, Inc. is located. For the longest time, things were kind of quiet. Now it's raining news releases; a virtual flood of announcements. First there was the news of the AmigaOne hardware. Amiga computers should be coming out in early 2001. Then there was news that Eyeteck, Ltd. is coming out with PowerPC accelerator boards which will bring the power of the Amiga Digital Environment (DE) to A-1200s and A-4000s (there might even be something for the A- 3000). These will be coming out in the first quarter of 2001. There's also news that the Amiga Software Developers Kit (SDK) version 1.1 will be out for Linux users this month. This version still doesn't have support for sound and 3-D graphics (hopefully that will be out with version 1.2), however, they have an SDK that supports Microsoft Windows users now. Instead of just using Linux development tools, you can now choose to use your standard Windows tools to hack code for the virtual processor. This is great news as the Windows development community is huge compared to the Linux community. For the latest info check out the Amiga, Inc. web site: @1 http://www.amiga.com/ @5 Now we are hearing of an Amiga OS upgrade 3.9 that should be out in time for the Christmas holidays and selling for as cheap as 40 US Dollars. This has been produced by Haage & Partner. So far, there hasn't been a full list of features that OS 3.9 offers, but there is a QuickTime and AVI viewer, a search/find function, an improved icon information window and Zip/Jaz tools. That's enough to get me excited about it. Pre-orders are already being taken. For more information, check out Haage & Partner's web site: @1 http://www.haage-partner.com/products/aos39/aos39-e.htm @5 Some other news from Amiga, Inc.- company president, Bill McEwen announced that he was contemplating selling investment options to the Amiga community (a minimum of $250/each). He has since changed his mind on this. In my humble opinion, that was a wise choice. Amigans are sitting on the fence patiently waiting for Amiga hardware and software to show up. It's best that Amiga, Inc. concentrate on coming out with product first and we'll invest in the company that way. There was also some bad news this month. There was an announcement of the passing of Robert "the cos" Cosby. Bob Cosby was one of the original A-1000 developers back in1985 in Los Gatos, California and was a good friend to Jay "the padre" Miner, as well as many in the Amiga community. Bob Cosby was recently hired up in Washington, doing some work with Amiga, Inc. with their hardware group at the time of his untimely death. The whole Amiga community morns his passing. He will be missed. There has been a memorial fund set aside for his widow, Marsha.@3 the Robert Cosby Memorial Fund @ Washington Mutual 1390 South Main Street Walnut Creek, CA 94596 ACCOUNT NO. 388-087-1146 @1 (the account number must be included to insure proper deposit) @5 If you want to read more about "the coz" go to: @1 http://www.amiga.com/press/102700-coz.shtml http://news.amiga.org/articles/2000/20001026bobcosby.shtml @5 There was also an announcement of the retirement of Petro Tschtschenko. Petro was a long-time worker behind the Amiga platform. He worked for Commodore, Europe, he sold the idea of the Amiga to Gateway and was instrumental in its longevity. Petro also persuaded H&P to take up development of the OS 3.5 upgrade after Gateway changed their minds on it. He was president of Amiga, Inc. in Germany. There was some rumors about a conflict with his side job which was with an Information Technologies employment agency, but he insists that his retirement is to step aside and let some new energy take over. His many years of dedicated service to the Amiga community will be missed and will not go unnoticed. @4 Please don't hesitate to drop me a line.@1rudge@jps.net @7  November 2000