From abend@cis.ohio-state.edu Thu Sep 17 07:14:23 1992 Received: from python.cis.ohio-state.edu by toadflax.cs.ucdavis.edu (4.1/UCD.CS.2.0) id AA03975; Thu, 17 Sep 92 07:14:17 PDT Received: by python.cis.ohio-state.edu (5.61-kk/5.911008) id AA12374; Thu, 17 Sep 92 10:14:09 -0400 From: dan edward abend Message-Id: <9209171414.AA12374@python.cis.ohio-state.edu> Subject: no subject (file transmission) To: zerkle@cs.ucdavis.edu Date: Thu, 17 Sep 92 10:14:08 EDT X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11] Status: R A M I G A p h i l e For Amiga Users by Amiga Users SEPTEMBER 1992 Volume 1/Number 3 CONTENTS ========== Editor's Desk AMIGAphilosophy What's New: A3000T-040 A3640 Fighter Duel Pro Fighter Duel Pro Flight Recorder Fighter Duel Pro Parallel Adapter Smart Port SAS C 6.0 Traders Lotus 3 - The Final Challenge Nigel Mansell's Formula One Grand Prix Atari Falcon ADPro support for Abekas Digital Disk Recorders Supra - Status and enhancements to V32bis ROM (1.2G) ProWrite 3.3 Ask the Experts Articles: What My Amiga Means To Me Amiga Assembly - An Introduction: 'Hello World' AMIGAphile Survey - part III: The Final Chapter Reviews: Monkey Island II: LeChuck's Revenge Building a World - SimEarth vs. Global Effect Fred Fish Forum Bulletin Board Systems User's Groups Classified Ads Back Page Rumors AMIGAphile 4851 Kingshill Drive #215 Columbus, Ohio 43229 USA (614) 846-8658 EDITOR and PUBLISHER: Dan Abend ASSISTANT EDITOES: Dave Cole Sean Conner Jim Fang CONTRIBUTOR: Sean Conner Chuck Kenney Paul Miller Mike Neylon ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS: Send article submissions in manuscript or disk format to the above address. Submissions may also be sent via Internet in ASCII format to abend@cis.ohio-state.edu. All submissions must be accompanied by a request for submission including name, address, and phone number. MATERIALS FOR REVIEW: Send all materials for review to the above address along with a letter requesting review. If you wish the material returned, include a self addressed, stamped mailer with your submission. PRESS RELEASES: Press releases should be sent to "New Products" at the above address. COMPLAINTS ABOUT ADVERTISERS: Every effort is made to prevent fraudulent advertising in AMIGAphile. However, if you purchased the product advertised in the magazine, are dissatisfied, and can't resolve the problem, write to "Customer Service" at the above address. Written complaints should be as specific as possible, and should include copies of all relevant correspondence. NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS: All advertising is subject to the approval of the Publisher and AMIGAphile reserves the right to refuse advertisement without notice. Advertisers and/or their agencies assume the responsibility for the condition of the contents of the advertising printed herein and agree to indemnify the Publisher of AMIGAphile for any and all claims and/or expenses incurred therefrom. AMIGAphile is not responsible for mistakes, misprints, or typographical errors, and will not issue credit of any kind for such errors. AMIGAphile advises advertisers that statements regarding shipping and handling charges, warranties and money/or no money back guarantees should be stated in all forms of advertising within AMIGAphile. The opinions expressed in the articles, columns, and advertising appearing herein are those of the authors and/or advertisers and are not necessarily those of AMIGAphile. The editor reserves the right to refuse any submissions which are deemed unsuitable and no guarantee of publication is made. Letters may be edited for clarity and length. Permission is given to the addressee of this newsletter to make photocopies and printouts for personal use. This newsletter was created using PageStream by Soft-Logik Publishing and Excellence! by Micro-Systems Software. Special Thanks to Paul Miller, Sean 'too much spare time' Conner, Chuck Kenney, Mike 'is it troffed yet?' Neylon, and all the new Assistant Editors. AMIGAphile is a registered tradename of Dan Abend. The contents of this newsletter are Copyright (C) 1992 by Dan Abend, All Rights Reserved, unless otherwise noted. Amiga is a registered trademark of Commodore- Amiga, Inc. =========================================================================== =============================== EDITOR'S DESK ============================= =========================================================================== This issue fell together in record time. I do believe I'm getting better at this. Actually, I'm just getting more organized. I also had a good number of submission right off the bat. All the letters I have gotten from readers so far, tell me how much you like AMIGAphile and think it's a good idea. This is great and the encouragement keeps me trying to improve each issue. I just wish the letters were more specific. What do you want to read about? What columns should I keep and which ones are slug feed? After all, the newsletter is for you and you have 100% say in its future. This month brings us to the final article covering the AMIGAphile survey. This brings me great relief because it means I don't have to right any more of them. It does leave me with the question "What will I do next?" New in this issue is the Amiga Assembly programming series. If you know little to nothing about assembly programming this column won't be much help. It focuses on how to program the Amiga and make use of its many unique capabilities. You know, the ones we wish more companies would use to improve the programs made for the Amiga. I sent some copies of issue #2 to advertisers hoping that they will decide AMIGAphile it is worth their advertising dollars. This will greatly improve the issues to come. I will continue producing the version distributed in ASCII over the networks and BBSs of the world as long as someone will read them but if I can't get some advertisers, I will have to either drop the hardcopy version or start charging for it. If you want to advertise your Amiga product, please contact me, we have reasonable rates and a very large distribution. If I understood a little more about the legal aspects of running a magazine, I'd like to offer AMIGAphile's hardcopy version on a subscription basis. Each issue would only cost about $1.00 US. I think that is a real bargain. Those with access to a BBS or Internet could still read it for free but then those who are not as privileged could pick it up at the newsstand or receive it in the mail. All good things take time. If you have any experience in this area, please give me a hand. Lately, there are a lot of rumors flying about Commodore's new products. The A3000T-040 and the A3640 card have been officially announced. More new items will be announced at the World of Commodore show in Pasadena September 11-13. The A4000 will be announced along with the long anticipated AA chipset. The line between fact and rumor is very thin right now so take all these new tidings with a grain of salt. AMIGAphile will try to keep you informed as best it can. =========================================================================== ============================= AMIGAphilosophy ============================= =========================================================================== I didn't get much response on the ideas I mentioned in the last issue of AMIGAphile. I hope more readers take the time to get in touch with me. I enjoy speaking with each of you and trading ideas. WHY IS AMIGAphile A 'NEWSLETTER' AND NOT A MAGAZINE? This has to do with filing taxes and gets into areas I don't understand. Maybe a reader who is more legally inclined can help me here. If it were a magazine, I'd have to go about getting an ISSN number and deal with a bunch of stuff I have no idea about. I'm not a publisher and most of them seem to shy away from Amiga related magazines. This is all created on my home Amiga. That's the only way to keep the costs down and the bureaucratic red tape at bay. AMIGAphile is a non-profit organization. Usually this involves a lot of forms for taxes and inventory. According to the people I talked with at the Department of Taxation, I don't need to get a business license because I don't sell anything (this is true but could change). I wouldn't have to pay tax on materials used to make the newsletter but that doesn't save me but about $.02 (which I'd just add to some other conversation). But, then I'd have to fill a bunch of zeros into a bunch of forms for the rest of my life (that's the bad news). I was told to register the name (where do you register a trademark?) so nobody else could use it without permission. Then, claim any money I happen to make on my personal taxes. For a non- profit organization, this profit has to be under a certain amount which I have never made in a year anyway. In short, remember, it's a 'newsletter' not a magazine. I hope somebody can give me a better idea about what forms to fill out and who to file with in order to make this all on the up and up. I'd even consider hiring somebody to do it (if I had any money). I'd like to take this newsletter into the magazine frontier but not this month. THE MAKING OF AMIGAphile You though it was some type of organic substance which regenerates and mutates each month but I'm here to dispel this rumor. I work very hard putting together each issue. There are many other involved including those who submit articles and reviews and the assistant editors who check everything I write to eliminate any errors and make this a quality newsletter. I begin by collecting any submission articles. I insert all of them into a word processor (Excellence! by Micro-Systems Software) and create the ASCII version of the newsletter. I then send it to my assistant editors (via Internet) and they correct all my slip-ups. I send a copy to Mike Neylon who creates the troff version. My edited copy gets imported into PageStream (by Soft-Logik Publishing) and I create the PostScript version from here. I print a master copy of each page and take them to the printer where they get photocopied to create the hardcopy version of the newsletter. I take the pages and collate, fold, staple, label, and stamp before mailing them to their final destination. Sounds easy doesn't it? If you have some better suggestion which won't cost me an arm, a leg, and a vital organ, pass them along. The method described above works. I hope all the effort is appreciated. Does anyone have any ideas how to add some color? How about pictures for the postscript/hardcopy edition? I was thinking about color laser copies for the hardcopy edition. Maybe some digitizing for the postscript version. Just tossing around some ideas. (as the editor drifts into a hazy dream) EMAILING LIST Does anyone know how to setup an automated emailing list? I have been doing it by hand but I know there is a better way. I don't mind sending out AMIGAphile issues through email, especially since some people don't have ftp capabilities at their site, but I'd rather have it be automated. That would leave me more time to devote to creating each issue. TITLE PAGES Everyone doesn't get to see the lovely title page but those who print (or view) the postscript version or get the hardcopy version seem to enjoy them. If you have a piece of original artwork to display on the cover of AMIGAphile, send it to me. Remember, it will only be black and white. Pictures in electronic form can be pasted into the postscript version easily. Photos could only appear in the hardcopy version unless I can get someone to digitize them for me. CLASSIFIED ADS Does everyone think these are too expensive or am I just being impatient. I tried to make them comparatively low. Maybe you just don't have any Amiga related items to get rid of. NEXT MONTH Next month I want to include articles on upgrading from WB 1.3 to WB 2.0. Any volunteers? That's all the news about AMIGAphile that's fit to print. I hope to hear from everyone this month. =========================================================================== ============================== CORRECTIONS ================================ =========================================================================== Last month's review of the KCS Power Board was initially released with the wrong version number. The latest version of the software is 3.5. =========================================================================== =============================== WHAT'S NEW ================================ =========================================================================== COMMODORE'S NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENTS Product Model Number: A3000T-040 Product Description: Amiga 3000 Tower with a Motorola 68040 processor. The MC68040 is running at 25 MHz and includes an on-chip FPU. The A3000T-040 includes a 200 megabyte hard drive and 5 megabytes of memory. The MC68040 provides approximately 20 CISC MIPS, and 3.5 DP Megaflops. The A3000T-040 does not have either a MC68030 or a MC68882 installed. Note: The A3000T-040 is an addition to the product family and does not replace the A3000T-25/200 which remains a current product. Product Applications: The A3000T-040 is the perfect product for demanding applications like complex animations, ray tracing, and intensive graphics. Most applications that require intensive computing will benefit when run on this Powerhouse processor. Compatibility: AmigaDOS 2.0 Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price: $5998.00 US includes 1950/1960 Monitor through Sept. 30, 1992 Availability: First Reseller shipments are projected for mid-September 1992 Promotion: Advertisement in September AmigaWorld, Byte, and Amazing Computing Magazines. Commodore Press Release. Note: Due to a typographical error the Advertisement in the September issue of Amiga World incorrectly indicated that the MC68882 would be included in the A3000T-040. This error has been corrected in future advertisement. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Product Model Number: A3640 Product Description: Motorola 68040 upgrade card for the Amiga 3000T-25/200. The processor speed is 25MHz, and includes an on-chip FPU. The MC68040 provides approximately 20 CISC MIPS, and 3.5 DP Megaflops. This product is intended for use in the A3000T ONLY. Installation of the A3640 in any other Amiga product may cause system failure. Product Applications: (same as A3000T-040) Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price: $1998.00 US Availability: Initially all units will be shipped as part of an A3000T-040 configuration. First reseller shipments of A3640 boards is projected for early Q2, FY93. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FIGHTER DUEL PRO (FDPro) is the successor to Fighter Duel, Corsair vs. Zero. FDPro retains all of the breakthrough features of its predecessor and combines a full selection of aircraft and performance enhancements to deliver a professional package for the serious aviator. Included among the 16 Allied and Axis aircraft are the Mustang, Spitfire and Me109. Some interesting lesser types, like the Japanese J7W Shinden are also included. An exciting and exclusive new feature of FDPro is the ability to connect a second computer through the main flight computer's parallel port (special adapter available from Jaeger Software for $15.00) that continually displays the view to the rear of the aircraft. Now you can duel an opponent through the serial port while watching your six on the slave, all at 28 frames per second on a high resolution, interlaced display. New features include: Rear view mode (with a second 'slave' computer), 16 Airplanes, Unrestricted view panorama, Rudder pedal support, Integrated tournament mode, Ground dots (switchable from dim, bright, and off), Multiple computer controlled enemy bogeys (2), Enemy skill level is user selectable, Catapult launches, New ground scenery, Review the last minute of flight, and 'Turbo' mode to get to places at 16 times normal speed. FDPro will run on any 1 meg Amiga, from the 500 up through the 3000T. All processors are supported. Kickstart 1.2 or higher is required. A faster processor and more RAM is recommended for some of the extra features (multiple bogeys and ground dots). Authors: Jaeger Software, William F Manders, and Matt Shaw Release date for FDPro is September 1992. The list price is $59.95. Owners of Fighter Duel, Corsair vs Zero may upgrade to FDPro by sending a certified check or money order (sorry, no credit card orders) for $25.00, and disk #1 of Fighter Duel, Corsair vs Zero, to: Jaeger Software, Inc. Direct Sales Department 7800 White Cliff Terrace Rockville, MD 20855 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FIGHTER DUEL PRO FLIGHT RECORDER is the first interactive motion path generator. Flight Recorder retains all the breakthrough features of the Fighter Duel World War II flight simulator series, while adding the ability to create realistic and complex object motion paths for use in NewTek's Lightwave 3D software. One of the most difficult and time consuming aspects of 3D animation is motion. FDPro Flight Recorder replaces the tedious method of hand plotting flying motion paths with a flight simulator you control. Flight Recorder records the flight path of up to three (3) aircraft engaged in maneuvers or dogfighting. Positional information has a resolution of 30 frames per second. Motion paths may then be imported into Lightwave 3D to accurately animate flying objects, the camera viewpoint, aircraft, spacecraft, flying logos, etc....... You may fly solo against computer controlled opponents or interactively with another person via modem or null modem cable. FDPro Flight Recorder also has the ability to simultaneously generate Fighter Duel Pro Demo Reels that can be used to review your solo flights FDPro Flight Recorder will run on any Amiga with 3 megs of RAM and Kickstart 1.2 or higher. A hard drive is recommended. Release date for FDPro Flight Recorder is November 1992. The list price is US $79.95. Owners of Fighter Duel Pro may upgrade to FDPro Flight Recorder by sending a certified check or money order (sorry, no credit card orders) for US $25.00 (including shipping), and disk #1 of FDPro, to Jaeger Software [listed in the FDPro section above] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FIGHTER DUEL PRO PARALLEL ADAPTER Fighter Duel Pro for the Amiga has the capability to connect a second computer through the main flight computer's parallel port and continually display the view to the rear of the aircraft. This special parallel adapter allows the connection of the two computers. Two Centronics-type parallel cables and the FDPro Parallel Adapter are required. Release date for the FDPro Parallel Adapter is September 1992. The list price is US $15.00. To order, send a certified check or money order (sorry, no credit card orders) for US $15.00 (shipping included) to Jaeger Software [listed above under FDPro] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - InterACTIVE Digital Devices To Begin Sales of the Amiga Smart Port (tm) Inter ACTIVE Digital Devices, Inc. (IDD) will release the Amiga Smart Port for sale beginning September 1, 1992. The Amiga Smart Port is an auto switching game port interface for the Amiga. No plugging or unplugging of cables required to switch from mouse to joystick modes! Three ports are available for a mouse, digital joystick, and a fully compatible dual joystick PC style game port. Simply press the button on the device to be used and the automatic electronic switching does the rest. This port allows rudder pedals to be attached to the Amiga. The following items are included in the Amiga Smart Port package: The Amiga Smart Port Two 9 pin interconnect cables (either 3 or 6 foot) Four self adhesive Velcro patches for mounting Installation and operation instructions 3.5" diskette with the "SmartPortCal" program Common Questions and Answers section, "If you have a problem..." - A special mouse mode switch is incorporated to allow several peripherals to be used simultaneously with the mouse. - Two sets of X and Y axes trim adjustments are provided to set the analog ports for maximum performance. - The Amiga Smart Port isolates the power supply from the potentiometer output with a solid state current limiting circuit. - The Amiga Smart Port is compatible with all Amiga software currently supporting the analog joystick(s); that is those using the reversed IBM X/Y axis configuration. Part # Description $/Each ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ASP Amiga Smart Port (tm) $42.95 ASP-RPA Rudder Pedals Adapter $ 6.95 JYA Dual IBM Y Joystick Adapter $ 7.95 IBMJEC Joystick extension cable $ 6.95 C090MF-6 6' 9 MALE/FEMALE cable $ 3.15 C0909MF-3 3' 9 pin MALE/FEMALE cable $ 2.85 InterACTIVE Digital Devices, Inc. 2238 Nantuckett Court Marietta, GA 30066 (404) 516-0248 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SAS C 6.0 will be shipping September 14th. Prices will be: $395 new, $197.50 new with academic discount, $109 for 5.xx upgrade, $82.70 with coupon included with ANSI compliant library purchase. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - TRADERS (a game similar to M.U.L.E.) by Merritt Software will be released the end of August - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LOTUS 3 - THE FINAL CHALLENGE will be released in the U.K. at the end of September. It will include a track editor. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NIGEL MANSELL'S FORMULA ONE GRAD PRIX by Gremlin Graphics - no release date known. [Ed. -- I'd like to see the fit that title on the disk label] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Atari, Commodore's long time competitor is at it again. This machine looks like an awful lot for a little money. ATARI FALCON 030 Specifications ------------------------------- CPU: Motorola 68030 32-bit microprocessor @ 16MHz w/ 32-bit bus FPU: Motorola 68881/68882 @ 16MHz (optional) DSP: Motorola 56001 Digital Signal Processor running in parallel @ 32MHz w/ 32kWords (24-bit) of local zero wait state static RAM ROM: 512kB RAM: 1, 4 or 16MB(14MB usable) on daughterboard (RAM is 32-bit wide) Expansion bus: Internal 'Processor-Direct' slot for 386SX emulation (third party 386SX emulator nearly completed) or other co-processors/etc. Video: (See below for specific video modes/resolutions.); 16-bit BLITTER @ 16MHz (also handles hard drive access); Accepts external video sync to allow high quality genlocking; Overlay mode for easy video titling and special effects; Overscan support; Hardware-assisted horizontal fine scrolling; VIDEL (video controller) sits on 32-bit bus Audio: Stereo 16-bit Analog-to-Digital DMA input; Stereo 16-bit Digital- to-Analog DMA output; Eight 16-bit audio DMA record/playback channels; SDMA sound/DMA co-processor Ports: 128kB cartridge port; 2 9-pin mouse/joystick ports; 2 15-pin STe enhanced analog/digital controller ports (Atari also has new analog controllers w/ a joystick, 3 fire buttons, and a 12-key keypad); MIDI IN, OUT/THRU; Bi-directional parallel port; RS232C serial port; SCSI II w/ DMA; Analog RGB/VGA/composite video connector; Stereo headphone out (1/8" mini-jack); Stereo microphone in (1/8" mini-jack); DSP port (up to 1MHz data transfer rate); RF modulator for TV hookup; Localtalk compatible LAN (up to 250kbaud transfer rate) Misc: Internal 1.44MB 3.5" HD floppy; Internal IDE 2.5" hard drive (optional); Pre-emptive multitasking OS (MultiTOS) w/ memory protection and inter-process communication (also 68040 compatible); Realtime clock and battery backed up RAM; 1040ST-style case w/ internal fan; North American availability in mid-October Price: 1MB/no HD - $799 list 4MB/65MB - $1399 list - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Resolutions available on the Atari Falcon030 (c) 1992 Atari Corp. Written by John Townsend A couple of notes: Unlike previous machines, there are just too many resolutions to give each resolution a name. Therefore, I will do my best to describe what the resolution is and which monitor it is on. - NOTE: TV and a Color Monitor are the same.. by Color Monitor, I am talking about the standard SC1224. By VGA, I mean a standard VGA Monitor. 40 column modes ( "column" means the number of x pixels divided by 8) --------------- 4 color, normal, TV: 320x200, 4 colors, 2 planes 16 color, normal, TV: 320x200, 16 colors, 4 planes 256 color, normal, TV: 320x200, 256 colors, 8 planes True color, normal, TV: 320x200, true color 4 color, interlace, TV: 320x400, 4 colors, 2 planes 16 color, interlace, TV: 320x400, 16 colors, 4 planes 256 color, interlace, TV: 320x400, 256 colors, 8 planes True color, interlace, TV: 320x400, true color 4 color, normal, VGA: 320x480, 4 colors, 2 planes 16 color, normal, VGA: 320x480, 16 colors, 4 planes 256 color, normal, VGA: 320x480, 256 colors, 8 planes True color, normal, VGA: 320x480, true color 4 color, line-doubling, VGA: 320x240, 4 colors, 2 planes 16 color, line-doubling, VGA: 320x240, 16 colors, 4 planes 256 color, line-doubling, VGA: 320x240, 256 colors, 8 planes True color, line-doubling, VGA: 320x240, true color 80 column modes --------------- 2 color, normal, TV: 640x200, 2 colors, 1 plane 4 color, normal, TV: 640x200, 4 colors, 2 planes 16 color, normal, TV: 640x200, 16 colors, 4 planes 256 color, normal, TV: 640x200, 256 colors, 8 planes True color, normal, TV: 640x200, true color 4 color, interlace, TV: 640x400, 4 colors, 2 planes 16 color, interlace, TV: 640x400, 16 colors, 4 planes 256 color, interlace, TV: 640x400, 256 colors, 8 planes True color, interlace, TV: 640x400, true color 2 color, normal, VGA: 640x480, 2 colors, 1 plane 4 color, normal, VGA: 640x480, 4 colors, 2 planes 16 color, normal, VGA: 640x480, 16 colors, 4 planes 256 color, normal, VGA: 640x480, 256 colors, 8 planes 4 color, line-doubling, VGA: 640x240, 4 colors, 2 planes 16 color, line-doubling, VGA: 640x240, 16 colors, 4 planes 256 color, line-doubling, VGA: 640x240, 256 colors, 8 planes and lastly.. there are compatibility modes for ST Low, ST Medium, and ST High on both VGA monitors and SC1224 monitors. (On a color monitor, ST High is achieved by using the interlace mode). Also, the ST Monochrome monitor (the SM124) will work with Falcon030 as well. However, it only supports one resolution: ST High Resolution. All modes on a TV can be overscanned. This means multiplying the X and Y resolution by 1.2. For example, modes with 320 pixels of horizontal resolution (X res) will become 384 pixels across, and modes with 640 pixels will become 768 across. Overscanning is done in the X and Y resolution. You can't do them independently. Special Note: On a VGA monitor, overscan is "faked".. since the video hardware doesn't have the capability to do overscan on a VGA monitor, we made it so that if a overscan mode is set on a VGA monitor, you still see the normal size screen, but the screen is a window onto the bigger overscanned image. Make sense? We did this for compatibility. This way if a game that has an overscanned startup picture can use the same pic on both the VGA monitor and the TV monitor. Pretty cool, eh? BTW... Overscan can NOT be set from the desktop. The AES and Desktop will work just fine with it, but because you can't see the parts of the screen, we thought that option shouldn't be available from the desktop. We don't want to confuse people. However, Overscan can be set using a new XBIOS call (Vsetmode())... so it is still available. I hope I haven't made any mistakes. I triple-checked this document in search of errors and I couldn't find any. If you do find some, send me Email on GEnie (to TOWNS) or CIS (70007,1135) and let me know. -- John Townsend, Atari Corp. After looking at this one more time... one point to clear up: By saying SC1224 Color Monitor, I mean any Color Monitor that Atari have manufactured for the ST/Mega/STE/MegaSTE computers. Clear as mud? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ASDG Incorporated announces the development of Art Department Professional support for the industry standard digital video scheme used by Abekas Digital Disk Recorders. Using this support, digital video images stored on 8mm cartridge tapes can be directly exchanged between the Amiga and Abekas A60, A65 and A66 systems. As a result, it is now more likely that professional videographers will use Amigas for high-end video work. ADPro support for the Abekas carries a list price of $200 and requires a Commodore SCSI disk controller and an Exabyte tape drive to function. For information as to how to acquire ADPro's Abekas support or where to purchase Exabyte tape drives, contact Gina Cerniglia at ASDG Incorporated, 925 Stewart Street, Madison, WI 53713 or call (608) 273-6585. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SUPRA TECHNICAL SUPPORT BULLETIN STATUS AND ENHANCEMENTS TO V32BIS ROM (1.2G) 8/29/92 (taken from their bulletin board) Supra Corporation 7101 Supra Drive SW, Albany, OR 97321 General (503) 967-2400 / Sales (503) 967-2410 / Fax (503) 967-2401 Supra Tech Support (503) 967-2440 8:00am - 5:00pm PST, M-F Supra BBS........(503) 967-2444 24 Hours CompuServe.......76004,565 BIX..............SupraCorp America Online...SupraCorp2 GEnie............SupraTech AppleLink........D2456 UseNet EMail.....supra@supra.uucp Supra is doing the final beta testing on its latest rom for the SupraFaxModem V32 and V32bis. Provided that this testing is completed with no problems, Supra will be ready to ship this rom to its current customers in a few weeks. Many of the enhancements are unique to the Supra V32/V32bis modem and are not available from other manufactures who are using Rockwell's v32/v32bis chipset or other v32/v32bis modems/fax modems that are on the market. The new rom is currently reved as 1.2G and will include the following features: Enhances Busy Detection Fixes several Lock Display/Modem problems Improved Speed Renegotiation (Fall Back) upon bad line conditions Implements Fall Forward upon better line conditions Fixes Adaptive Answering (allows data/fax determination) Implements ECM (Error Correction Mode) Note: Must be supported by fax software Implements BFT mode (Binary File Transfer) Note: Must be supported by fax/terminal software Fixes problem with DCD line turning off if modem configured with &C &Dx and &Cx settings are respected when in fax mode Fixes problem connecting with some fax machines Added S-Register S109 Added S-Register S110=3 Implements Silent Answer (allows voice/fax determination) Note: Must be supported by fax software Implements Caller ID Supra will be sending an upgrade offer to all registered owners. This offer will be for either a free ROM which has all of the above features, except silent answer and caller ID, or for a charge of less than $30, a rom which has all of the above features, including silent answer and caller ID. Oversees customers will be able to get the roms from the overseas dealer that sold it to them. If they purchased the modem from a US dealer or Supra, they will need to order the rom from Supra, but there will be a shipping and handling charge. You will be able to order either rom from Supra via its BBS. We are currently working on the software to allow this, plus to allow you to enter your warranty card or change your warranty card online. Once this is working, it will be activated and you can immediately enter your order. The quickest way to order the rom will be via the BBS. Until then, please do not contact Supra to order either rom. The above information is subject to change or modification. At this time, this is all that is known. As soon as costs and other information is known, we will let you know via the Supra BBS. UPCOMMING FEATURES AND NEW PRODUCTS: The following features and new products are being worked on. We do not have any information on dates, technical information, upgrade costs, or product cost. As soon as we have the information, we will post it on our BBS. Internal version Certifiable International version MNP10 V23 Voice digitization in modem Voice software DTMF encoding/decoding - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - New Horizons is pleased to announce a new upgrade to ProWrite, the best selling Amiga word processor. ProWrite version 3.3 adds a number of enhancements over version 3.2; these enhancements include: * HotLinks ProWrite 3.3 supports the HotLinks dynamic data exchange system developed by Soft-Logik Publishing. This gives you a very close integration between ProWrite and other HotLinks-capable programs; you can edit text in ProWrite and have it automatically incorporated into your desktop publishing system, or change graphics in a drawing or painting program and have the changes automatically brought into ProWrite! * Automatic Text Wrap Around Pictures You can now have text automatically wrap around pictures, either block- style or following the picture's curves, and with an adjustable offset. * Picture Enhancements There are a great many enhancements to picture handling in ProWrite 3.3, including the ability to name pictures and search for them in your documents, and precise control over a picture's location and size. * Print Preview Now you can get a reduced view of the each page of your document, to see on the screen how your final layout looks. * Improved Font Handling You can specify any font size for your text, not just those that are installed on your system. This gives you complete creative control over your text's appearance, and is especially useful if you are using outline fonts or printing on PostScript printers. * System Clipboard Support ProWrite 3.3 can exchange text and pictures with other Amiga programs through the Amiga's system clipboard. * Macro and AREXX Enhancements ProWrite 3.3 adds a very large number of new macro commands, giving you virtually complete control over ProWriteUs operation through AREXX. * Kickstart 3.0 and New Amiga Graphics Chips Support ProWrite 3.3 includes support for new features in Kickstart 3.0, as well as allowing you to open up to 256 color screens on machines with the new Amiga graphics chips. * And Much More! There are many more improvements throughout the program; things like document password protection, an optional vertical ruler, and much faster PostScript picture printing. ProWrite 3.3 will be shipping in September 1992, with a new suggested retail price of $99.95 US. Registered owners will be sent upgrade information in the mail. Upgrade information is as follows: Upgrading from version 3.0 or later: $20.00 from version 2.5 or earlier: $60.00 Shipping and handling in US: $5.00 other countries: $10.00 (Texas residents must add 8% sales tax.) James Bayless New Horizons Software, Inc. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CANONSTUDIO CanonStudio is a new program which is intended for all Amiga Canon printer drivers. It does print 24/8Bit IFF graphics with up to 24 bit accuracy in any size (Want a 100*100m poster?). CanonStudio is not limited to the max. 4096 colors of the Amiga printer device, though it does work with nearly all Amiga printer drivers. The pictures are printed FROM DISK ie. you don't need much memory for printing a 10MByte 24 Bit graphic in high quality. CanonStudio is specially written for the Amiga operation system and is not just a simple portation from an IBM or Apple computer. Because of this, CanonStudio makes heavily use of multitasking and Kickstart 2.04. CanonStudio includes a spooler which allows you to specify multiple print jobs while the program is already printing in background. The program does provide a nice "click-and-drag" user interface. Now, here are some of the CanonStudio features: - prints IFF pictures from disk - does support nearly every IFF format including IFF24, HAM6, HAM8 and EHB. - does not require $&%$ MBytes memory! - poster function allows printing of any sized pictures - number of copies can be defined - 24/8 Bit accuracy - multiple jobs can be defined and printed in background (estimated print time and more will be displayed) - ink compensation does correct ink impurities - color adjustment (gamma, contrast, brightness, weights,...) - Free definable ordered dither routines. Following ordered dither matrices are already included: Haltone-A, Halftone-B, Ordered-A, Ordered-B, Spiral, Horizontal, Vertical, Bck-Diagonal, Fwd-Diagonal - Three error diffusion dither routines: Floyd Steinberg, Jarvis, Stucki - Two serpentine blue noise dither routines are included: 30% random weight, 50% random weight - ARexx interface - font independent user interface What does CanonStudio requires: - an Amiga with at least Kickstart/Workbench 2.04 - ~300KB memory (yep, that's all!) - a Canon printer driver: - CanonBJ130 V11.1 (Fish 696 and Canon) - CanonBJ10 V4 (Fish 696 and Canon) - CanonBJ300 V4.1 (Fish 696 and Canon) - CanonLBP V3 (Canon, Version 1 on Fish 4xx) - CanonBJC V.99d (new, see message that follows) (supports Epson 24 and 48 pin emulation! Epson24Plus and Star24Plus user should switch!!!) This program is shareware and limited. In case you want the full version you can order CanonStudio from: Wolf Faust Am Dorfgarten 10 W-6000 Frankfurt 50 Germany Tel: ++49-69-5486556 (GMT) Fido: 2:249/3.5 (Wild Cat: ++49-6173-2544 HST,V.32bis) Email: wfaust@aurea.hotb.sub.org Or in England JAM 75 Greatfields Drive Uxbridge, UB8 3QN Tel: 08952-74449 (GMT) The price for registering is: INTERNATIONAL US$25 includes shipping + $5 if payed by cheque. No COD! GERMANY DM 35 includes shipping. No COD (Nachnahme)! ENGLAND #15 includes shipping PS. Special Studio versions for Deskjet/Laserjet/24 pin Printers/9 pin Printers will soon appear, but more expensive... CanonStudio is an exclusive offer to Canon users and because of this, limited to Canon drivers. =========================================================================== ============================= ASK THE EXPERTS ============================= =========================================================================== I recruited a few experts but we have no questions to answer. I was hoping the hardcopy edition would pick up (before the financial problems anyway). Most of the questions would be from people without access to Internet. The net makes life easier for the majority of us who encounter problems but not everyone is lucky enough to have access. To prove that there are experts out there who don't know they have expertise, I would like to point out that if you upgraded to WB 2.0 (and it works) then you are an expert at this. Send me you experiences and opinions for next months column. =========================================================================== ================================ ARTICLES ================================= =========================================================================== What My Amiga Means To Me by Chuck Kenney Radio controlled cars and airplanes, CB radios, police scanners, calculators, remote-controlled consumer electronics of all kinds, etc... I've bought them all - usually within days of their first appearances on the market! OKay-Okay, I admit it. I'm a hard-core neo-techno-phile. Or is it techno-neo-phile? It was all the rage in the late seventies. Many of my fellow computer technicians were buying 'home computers' for themselves. "Home computer?", I thought. "I can have my own computer at home?". "I've gotta check this out!". So I drove down to my local RADIO SHACK. I took one look at this big grey thing that was called a 'home computer'. "It has a TV screen?", I asked. "Oh, it's called a 'C-R-T'. Sorry." "What does C-R-T mean?", I wondered. "And you can save programs on a cassette tape?". "Nice." "It costs HOW MUCH ???". For THAT kind of money, it wasn't quite nice enough! I mean, a home computer should be like a color TV with a keyboard - you know, it should do COLOR and draw PICTURES and make MUSIC! I decided to 'pass' on this T-R-S... whatever it was called. So I bought the latest and greatest printing calculator. "Never walk out of a technology store empty-handed." Oops! Batteries, extra printing paper... and oh....a pair of mini-book-shelf speakers while I'm here. ...And speaker wire. Not more than a month later, I saw THE AD in a magazine... It looks like a keyboard with a computer built-in! It does color! It hooks up to your color TV!! It has special graphics and sound!!! And look at the key-caps on the keyboard!!! LOOK!! There's little graphics pictures right there on the fronts of the key-caps!!!! WOW!!!!! My next income tax return was plowed into my new Commodore VIC-20. Three hundred and ninety-nine dollars... plus tax. I think that's what I paid. I was so excited the day I bought it, I can't remember now what store I bought my VIC-20 from. I only remember this colorful box under my arm and driving home to get started with my new 'home computer' hobby! How long ago was that? 10...15 years? It was exactly 4 apartments, 1 job, 1 wife, 1 home and 1 baby ago, all of which are still 'in service', even the apartments (presumably). During that time, and mostly before I got married, I had acquired a Commodore 64, Amiga-1000 and Amiga-2000, and let's not forget ALL the requisite accessories and peripherals; disk drives, hard drives, video, music, monitors, MIDI, memory, modems, aaannnnd multitudes of software. These are all still 'in service'. OKay- Okay, the VIC-20 is in a closet. So, as I have grown/aged/matured/withered (choose one) from a 'typical' American bachelor (who used to blow his entire paycheck) to a 'typical' home-owner/husband/father (who is saving for a hair-cut), I will now (finally) tell you what my Amiga (specifically) and Commodore computing (in general) has come to mean to me... or maybe you can guess... I like to compose music - DMCS, SoundScape, Music-X, Dr. T's. Photography is another hobby - Digi-View, ECA PhotoLab, TV*Text, DeluxePaint IV. Videos for friends and family - Deluxe Paint IV, Deluxe Video III, The Director, Animation station, etc. Pocket Billiards is another hobby - Animate the trick shots I know (BIG unfinished project!) Golf! I'll never break ninety - maybe if I digitize a pro's swing and genlock it over my own swing... I probably SHOULD keep my resume updated - Final Copy and my wife's, and sisters', and in-laws'... - Final Copy again Mailing lists for a couple of local music groups - SuperBase Games - Too many to mention, but the C-64 "JUMPMAN" is a CLASSIC. (I wrote a program to pick the start level!) What if I opened a Billiard Parlor? - VIP_Professional personal inventory - SuperBase Interactive video for my daughter, Faith - AmigaVision and on and on and on... As my life habits and routines have changed over the years, so have my computing habits changed, from weekend-long cold-pizza-programming to intermittent tinkering. When I first purchased my Commodore 64, the first thing I did was to convert all my VIC-20 cartridge games to C-64 disks. This was a fun project for learning machine language, disk drives, memory maps, memory expanders, etc. My first Amiga project was to convert a C-64 "Simons's Basic" program I had written to AmigaBasic - the program simulates a Spiro-Graph (remember that set of plastic rings and wheels that you could draw neat little designs with?). Shortly before getting married, I purchased my first 'C compiler' and a couple 3-D ray-tracers. I managed to get the famous "Hello, world" C-program to compile, and to generate a glass sphere in TurboSilver, but since then I have become a devout home-owner/husband/father and the 'C' programming and ray-tracing doors will likely not ever be opened any wider by me. Well, maybe when I retire - it's only about 30 years away. Only 30 years away? You may laugh...I'm serious! I met a retired 'home-computer nut' at an 'in-law' family reunion. He's a great-uncle of my wife. He was thrillfully telling me about his COCO (Radio Shack COlor COmputer) computing hobby. He had just hooked-up his brand new "5-1/2 inch disk drive". "5-1/4, Uncle COCO, not 5-1/2", I thought. He was amazed at how much faster it was than his data-cassette drive! So, I just MAY be sitting down in front of my old Amiga in the year two-thousand-and- twenty-something to try some ray-tracing as a retiree. I am quite sure I won't have the money to buy an Amiga 9000 or whatever Amiga model will (hopefully) be available by then. It WILL be fun though to bore a great- nephew-in-law computer hobbyist at a family reunion with a story of my recent upgrade to 8 Megs of memory! And he will probably be thinking something like, "God! Doesn't he know that RAM went out with the 1990's? NAM modules are the ONLY way to go these days.". (writer's note: NAM - Neural Access Memory module, infinite capacity, uses turn-of-the-21st- century neuralectronics technology.) ... But, I am getting off the subject... So, at the risk of sounding ridiculously romantic, the Amiga has become a sort of "friend" - one I intend to keep for a long, long time. The Amiga has depths I will never explore. It has POWERFUL programs that can be intuitively learned (and revisited after long periods of time). "Ami" is both EASY to use AND to be PRODUCTIVE with - a rare combination. I get the feeling that the Amiga has the power to enable the prodigy, REGARDLESS of his field of interest. EVERY other computer I have EVER sat down to seems like only a box, a tube, and a keyboard - no personality, no excitement, no pizzazz. Just... well, not fun. Maybe this is why the other computers are making it in the business arena. After all, work IS supposed to be "work", you know... not "fun". Without the Amiga, I would have quite an un-interesting, un-fun, and difficult time getting various things accomplished. Bravo, Amiga! Kudos, Commodore (not you, Marketing)! ... and you, dear reader, thanks for your time. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Amiga Assembly An Introduction - 'Hello World' by Sean Conner Welcome to the first of a (hopefully) ongoing series of articles on Assembly Language for the Amiga. Anyway, after some thought, I decided to stay away from the traditional course of things, where I spend an article describing binary, octal, decimal and hexadecimal notation, then spend several articles describing the instruction set of the MC68000 (shorthand version: 68k), and THEN spend an article on how to use an Assembler and linker and then ... I've had enough of that type of teaching method in class. Besides, there are many, many books out there that can teach you that stuff. Like I said, I'm not going the tradition route here. "Well," you say, "if I can just buy a book and learn Assembly Language that way, why waste my time reading this?" Glad you asked (pretend you asked). Most books on the subject (about 99%) on Assembly go into excruciating detail about the instruction set, giving trivial examples on how to use most of the instructions available, and maybe an overview of the computer system (just enough to run some not-quite-as-trivial-but- still-useless-in-the-real-world examples (not all books are like this, but many are). Also, some books assume you've never programmed a computer before. Other's assume some programming experience (BASIC, C, Fortran, Pascal, stuff like that) and try to use that knowledge to teach you. I've found that that usually is a hindrance to learning something so radically different (and no, C is not quite the 'portable Assembly' some say it is). What I'm planning on doing is to present some (hopefully) realistic situations that face the Assembly Language programmer, offer several solutions, and explain why I did what I did. I also hope to teach something about the art of optimization (or, in the old days of hacking, what was called bumming code [1]). I also hope to teach you about what's available on the Amiga, both software wise (Exec, AmigaDOS, Intuition, etc) and hardware wise (DMA, Blitter, Copper, etc). I've found that the best way to learn Assembly Language is to have a good book (or some book if you can't find a good book), look at as much Assembly code as you can get (the good, the bad and the ugly) and then program as much as possible (typing in examples by hand, if you have to). So grab that 68k reference, the RKMs [6] and come on ... * * * * * But first! A word about the software I use (simply because Dan Abend (the almighty Editor-in-Chief) mentioned that I should mention it) and the hardware I have. So here goes ... The Assembler I use is A68k [3] by Charlie Gibbs (well, the Amiga port anyway). The reason I use A68k is that one, it's free. Two, is that you get the source code. Also, it does support separate compilation of source code for later linking. It may not be as fast as ASMOne, but ASMOne doesn't really allow you to have separate modules (at least the versions I've seen). The linker is Blink [3], from the Software Distillery. It too, is freely available and (from what I've heard) a bit better than Alink (the default linker for the Amiga). Besides, A68k works in conjunction with Blink anyway, so ... And the editor I use is Dme [3], by Matt Dillion. If you've never heard of Matt Dillion, that's surprising, because Matt is a code factory (Dme, Dmake, DICE (an integrated C environment including front end, pre- processor, compiler and assembler (not sure about the linker though)), Csh (a replacement for the CLI) and various other miscellaneous utilities). The editor is, again, free, comes with source code and is customizable (remap the entire keyboard if you want to). About the only thing that isn't quite freely available are the include files from Commodore. You basically get them from Commodore, or from a development environment like Lattice C (that's where I got mine from), or type them in from the RMK books (not something I recommend 8-). I use them because they're there, but if many of you don't have them, I guess I can supply the values (mostly offsets inside of structures really) needed. As for hardware, I have an Amiga 500 with a lowly 68000 running 1.3, 3 meg RAM (512K of that is chip) and a GVP Impack Series II A500-HD+ 50M hard drive (at least, that's what it says), and two 3.5 disk drives. Nothing that spectacular (well, except for the hard drive), although for development work, a harddrive is recommended, but you may get by without one (which I've done on a old IBM PC. Not for the faint of heart). But enough of formalities, on with the show ... * * * * * Seeing how this is the first article (of a series) and all, I've decided that a frivolous program wouldn't be all that bad. Besides, the following program is one that is done in each programming language (at least, every time I learned a new language, I've done this program in it), and if you can get this one to run, you're on your way. Besides, even K&R [4] did this program in their book, _The_C_Programing_Language_. All the program does is print 'hello world' to the screen (well, in this case, to the CLI window you run the program from), but it does illustrate some points about the structure of an Assembly language program, and some of what is needed to start a program on the Amiga. The first few lines include the Amiga specific include files. I've found that this order of includes works (at least for the Assembly .i files from SAS/Lattice and A68k). I've included them because (1) they're there, and (2) I don't feel like tracking down the offsets manually through the RKMs (although, like I said, I can probably find out the offsets they provide if enough people ask me ... ). The next section is the actual code, as you can see from the line that starts 'section mycode,code'. I include the section directive because (1) I come from the MS-DOS world where it's MANDATORY to have sections for code, data and stack (old habits die hard) and (2) because I tend to write large programs that span several files, and this way, the linker (Blink) will string together all the code sections that have the same name, and all the data sections with the same name. It keeps things more manageable with small files than one large monolithic piece of code that's about 70K in size! Sections are optional under A68k, and you can forego them, but I feel that the benefits of using this method outweigh any other reason you may have for not doing it. Anyway ... on to the actual code. The first thing you'll notice is that I open up dos.library. Since this is a complete stand alone program (not linked with anything else), I have to do this step. The next thing I have to do is get the file handle for output to the CLI window (usually, unless you re-direct output to a file, in which case, the file handle I get references that file). Only then can I actually output any message. After the message is written, I then can close the dos.library and then simply return to the system. Wow! Quite a bit of code just to print out a 13 byte message. Well, welcome to the wonderful world of Assembly. One thing you'll notice is that the source code for programs written in Assembly tend to be a bit larger than their counterparts written in higher level languages (HLLs) like C or Pascal, but the resulting executable is usually smaller (unless you link in a large static library like c.lib). Because with Assembly, you're more or less telling the CPU exactly what you want done, as opposed to, say C, which has to take a more general route to get something done. So, track down an Assembler and linker (maybe even an editor), read your 68k reference manual, peruse the RKMs (if you have them) and play around with the code some, and next month, we'll see about getting rid of those nasty gurus that seem to keep popping up on the system, if you're like me and still running under 1.3. Even if you have 2.0 (which, if I understand, has done away with gurus), you will still find next month's topic interesting. Also, some code to output more than just static text. See you later ... * * * * * [1]: This, and much more about the origins of hacking systems can be found in _Hacker's__Heroes_of_the_Computer_Revolution_ by Steven Levy (ISBN: 0-440-13405-6 [2]). Good book, and I recommend it. [2]: ISBN stands for (I think) International Standard Book Number. Each book has one, and is all you need to order a book from a book store. The salesperson may say they need the title and the author for ordering information, but they're lying. [3]: The following programs are available from the Fred Fish Collection. Program Fish Disk Program Version (listed most recent first) A68k FF521 (2.71) FF314 (2.61) FF186 (2.4) FF110 (1.0?) (version not listed) Blink FF040 (6.5) FF034 (5.7) Dme FF530 (1.45) FF441 (1.42) FF284 (1.38) FF153 (1.30) FF134 (1.29) FF113 (1.28f) FF093 (1.27) FF087 (1.27) FF074 (1.25) FF059 (1.22) [4]: K&R Stand for Brian Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie, creators of the C programing language and that operating system known as UN*X [5]. [5]: The _New_Hacker's_Dictionary_ (ISBN: 0-262-18145-2 (hc) or ISBN: 0- 262-68069-6 (pbk) also available in an on-line version) says about UN*X: UN*X: n. Used to refer to the UNIX operating system (a trademark of AT&T) in writing, but avoiding the need for the ugly {(TM)} typography. Also used to refer to any or all varieties of Unixoid operating systems. Ironically, lawyers now say (1990) that the requirement for the TM-postfix has no legal force, but the asterisk usage is entrenched anyhow. It has been suggested that there may be a psychological connection to practice in certain religions (especially Judaism) in which the name of the deity is never written out in full, e.g., `YHWH' or `G--d' is used. See also {glob}. [6]: RKM stands for Rom Kernel Manual and is a three (four for 2.0) volume set of reference manuals for the Amiga. For AmigaDOS Version 1.3, they include: Libraries & Devices (ISBN: 0-201-18187-8, Commodore Item Number (CIM) 363099-01) This volume is more or less a tutorial on programming in the Amiga environment, and includes using libraries, devices, graphics and Intuition. Includes & Autodocs (ISBN: 0-201-18177-0 CIM: 327271-06) This volume contains a description of all system calls available in the various libraries and devices. It also contains information about the IFF format (which I'm not going into), the source code for the C header files and Assembly include files as well as some sample code. Hardware Reference (ISBN: 0-201-18157-6 CIM: 327272-04) This contains the hardware specification of the Amiga. No serious Amiga programer should be without it. All are published by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Inc. I'm not affiliated with them, this is just for your information 8-) * * * * * About the author: Sean Conner is a 23 year old student at Florida Atlantic University well on his way to becoming a tenured undergraduate. When not pretending to work, consulting on programing under MS-DOS, reading news, hanging out with friends, sleeping or eating, he programs the Amiga. He may be reached via Internet at 'spc@pineal.sci.fau.edu'. ;-------------------------------------------------------------------- include "exec/types.i" include "exec/funcdef.i" include "exec/exec_lib.i" include "libraries/dos_lib.i" include "libraries/dos.i" ;-------------------------------------------------------------------- ;******************************************************************** section mycode,code start move.l #doslibrary,a1 ;open DOS library moveq #0,d0 ;any version is fine move.l 4,a6 jsr _LVOOpenLibrary(a6) move.l d0,dosbase ;save DOSBase beq.w clean_exit ;if NULL, exit program move.l dosbase,a6 ;Now get handle to stdout jsr _LVOOutput(a6) move.l d0,stdout move.l stdout,d1 ;output 'Hello world!' move.l #hello_text,d2 move.l #_s_hello_text,d3 move.l dosbase,a6 jsr _LVOWrite(a6) clean_exit move.l dosbase,d0 beq.s clean_exit99 move.l d0,a1 move.l 4,a6 jsr _LVOCloseLibrary(a6) clean_exit99 rts ;-------------------------------------------------------------------- ;******************************************************************** section mydata,data dosbase dc.l 0 stdout dc.l 0 doslibrary dc.b 'dos.library',0 hello_text dc.b 'Hello World!',10 _s_hello_text equ *-hello_text ;******************************************************************** end start - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - AMIGAphile Survey part III: The Final Chapter Overall, the AMIGAphile survey was fun and enlightening. I hope to do this again next year but until then, here are a few final figures to think about. SHAREWARE Eighty three percent of those surveyed (chose Trident for their patients who chew gum) use shareware programs. The Amiga has the largest number of shareware programs available. This makes 83% no surprising. Most users would never consider using software without paying for it. This would ensure that developers keep developing and a good software market would exist. The problem is that only 56% register the shareware they use. At least 20% register some of the shareware programs they use. They are honest about this fact. Some authors don't support their products and I think users should demand good support before registering. The bad news is, this leaves 24% who don't register the shareware they use. Bad user! Bad user! The above figures are alarming. Everyone complains about the software quality, the product support, the lack of upgrades, blame it piracy. Software companies are dropping the porting of their software to the Amiga. This is good news for those who have ugly, slow, IBM ports but this is bad news for the software market. The IBM market is more lucrative. If you use the software, register it. If there is a reason you won't register it, let the author know. Without software all our fabulous hardware is scrap metal. I know that piracy exists but all the problems can't be blamed on that alone. Among pirates there is a saying, "If it's good enough to take up disk space, it's good enough to buy". I do wish companies would do away with their stupid protection schemes. Pirates will always get around them and they annoy the helpless user who owns a legitimate copy. That's enough preaching. Think about supporting the software developers. They will be the ones to say when the Amiga is through in the market. Even if Commodore stops making them, there will still be those who have one. HARDWARE HACKERS The Amiga was originally 'the' hacking machine. Many users do their own hardware upgrades. A1000 owners are particularly prone do solder things inside their system. 22% of those surveyed do, or have done, their own hardware hack. The number of successful hacks was not tabulated by this survey. Many of them are simple and most are the only way to upgrade an old system. I'd be more willing to take a soldering iron to my machine if I knew I could upgrade (read A1000 owner). AVERAGE USE How often do you use your Amiga? Now that I do this newsletter, my Amiga only gets turned off long enough for me to sleep. I do everything on my Amiga (except fry eggs - even though the SCSI drive does run hot enough). 24 hours a day 19 ******************* More like 12 hours a day 23 *********************** Once a day 31 ******************************* Five time a week 9 ********* Three time a week 9 ********* Once a month 2 ** I know it's here... 1 * [I think he said it was broken] WHAT I DO WITH MY AMIGA I tried to include a selection of the most common things done with a home computer (especially the Amiga). Two people threw me a curve and said they use it to teach. Now that's refreshing news. Since most of the surveys came from people on InterNet, the large number of people doing telecommunications is expected. This gives AMIGAphile the large reader base. Everybody is a game player. The Amiga has the talents and is often necessary to blow of some steam. The rest of the figures, I leave for you the decipher. I wonder what the software market is geared towards... Telecommunications 74 ************************************* Game playing 66 ********************************* Word processing 64 ******************************** Programming 64 ******************************** Graphics 49 ************************ Audio 35 ***************** Animation 25 ************ Desktop Publishing 19 ********* Video work 15 ******* Spreadsheet 9 **** POPULAR PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES It seems that C is envogue on every platform but Amiga users are entrenched in that camp as well. The Amiga always seemed very suitable for programming in C and Commodore seems to encourage this buy looking at their Programmers Reference manuals. The ever classic BASIC holds second place but I think this is because of the efforts to make it more structured. When I was growing up, everyone knew BASIC. I guess, learning new languages is never fun and with the improved environments so BASIC packages offer, there is little incentive to change. I expected assembly to rank high on the list since many things are done better using assembly language; even if it is in-line code in a C program. The rest of the contenders are languages which cater to a specific programming task. Being at a university gives one the opportunity to be exposed to many different languages but I don't imagine too many companies have accepted some of the newer languages. Maybe, it's because many of these languages aren't support by the big names in language packages. C 64 ******************************** BASIC 22 *********** Assembly 18 ********* ARexx 12 ****** Modula-2 9 **** LISP 8 **** Fortran 7 *** WHAT OTHER MACHINES DO AMIGA USERS OWN? Sixty one percent of Amiga owners have another system (two timers, hmpfh). Forty three percent own an IBM or a compatible. This doesn't surprise me for some reason (I own one too). Windows is a face-lift for a poor excuse of an operating system. Excuse me, Bill Gates, you need how much RAM to multi-task? 4 meg minimum? I think I can name that tune in 512K. Most IBM users are zombies who do what they're told without know why. They say you need a 386 or better, then that's what you buy. I must admit that the prices are low and the graphics are superior (for now). Macintosh owners make up 14% of those who own another system. They are easy for novices to use. They don't have any of that Guru nonsense the early Amigas seemed to proliferate. The other 40% own something different. These systems range from Commodore 64's to Apple ]['s and Atari's. Most of these systems just collect dust. I know, I have one of each. I just like to have the latest and greatest. I guess that's why I didn't buy a Nintendo (needed more computing power). HOW'S OUR DRIVING - COMMODORE Oh boy did I receive a ton of comments on this question. Everybody has an opinion about Commodore. At least we are entitled to this one. The categories to rate were marketing, sales, support, reputation, and overall opinion. These are all opinions and reflect the feelings of Amiga owners everywhere. Commodore (tap tap tap) are you listening? This could save you company... (trailing off into the hot air). Commodore has exhibited very little marketing. Take some initiative. I just got a packet in the mail about the Amiga as a multimedia machine. It's great literature. Now, put it in some magazines (I got this by filling out a reader service card in Byte). The figures indicate that people feel sales have been going well but not great. Mediocre... the computer isn't and the users aren't ... who does that leave? Support was rated at Good. This is encouraging. I find support to be very important and would like to take the time to thank everyone from Commodore who participates in discussions on the InterNet. Commodore's reputation ranks at average. Is this how the owners see Commodore or how other see Commodore? I don't know (best Pee Wee Herman impression). Overall, they rate better than hangnails but worse than pepperoni pizza. Now if we could just get some really good press... Great Good Average Yuck Seriously? Marketing 1 1 9 29 48 Sales 3 16 56 10 1 Support 1 37 28 3 5 Reputation 1 12 33 31 11 Overall 0 25 31 19 12 RIDING INTO THE SUNSET Most of all, this survey was fun. I got to introduce myself to many different people and find out if AMIGAphile would be worth the effort. The numbers never lie and I think the questions where pertinent. I hope you learned something. Y'all come back now, ya hear! =========================================================================== ================================= REVIEWS ================================= =========================================================================== GAME REVIEW Monkey Island II: LeChuck's Revenge by Paul Miller Lucasfilm Games has done it again. I'll just skip any corny introduction I might have spent more effort cooking up -- This game is simply amazing! Guybrush Threepwood is back, a little older, a little less naive, and with an entirely new adventure ahead. Monkey Island II has four islands, an evil pirate's fortress, some new friends, very tricky puzzles, really cool music, and that great Lucasfilm humor. All on a whopping ELEVEN disks! You don't need a harddrive, but if you don't have one here's your excuse. You don't need to have played the first Monkey Island, but it helps, since you'll meet up with people from the first game. Ever wonder what happened to 'ol Stan, or how Guybrush fared with Elaine? Now Guybrush is after the legendary treasure of Big Whoop, which could also be his ticket to finally destroying his arch-nemesis and really creepy dead dude, the Ghost-Pirate LeChuck! That's right, LeChuck is back too and revenge is on his decomposing mind. Better brush up on your voodoo and roulette, because this one's a toughy. Fortunately, there are two versions of the game: the normal version and the "whimpy" one, which doesn't have all of the puzzles. Some of these brain-teasers aren't very obvious at first (or even last), but once you figure them out (or get some nice person on the Internet to give you some hints) you'll likely laugh your head off! The frustration and anxiety are well worth the effort! If you're not familiar with this type of game, it's what's commonly termed an "interactive graphics adventure." Most of the screen is the view of what's going on in the game and the lower portion of the screen has a bunch of words describing what you can do, along with little icons representing your inventory. To look at an object, you would click on "look" and then on the object (either on the viewscreen or in your inventory). There are keyboard shortcuts for most of the commands, so you can press 'L' and then point the mouse at the object. A two-handed operation like this works a bit faster than just using the mouse. When you need to talk to another person, the control area turns into a list of phrases you can say. Click on a phrase and it appears above Guybrush's head while his mouth moves (as do all characters when they speak). He even gestures with his hands convincingly where appropriate! At any rate, the interface is very intuitive and easy to learn. The graphics were converted very well from 256-color VGA. The animation is fluid, and most of the sequences are quite humorous. Sound effects are limited but the music is great, changing styles depending on the location, and setting a distinct mood for each. It's especially nice running through a sound system with a bit of hall reverb if you have a digital signal processor. The game will run in 1 megabyte of RAM, and the copy protection is a cute code-wheel affair with some very interesting cures for some common pirate diseases. There's only one problem: it won't run under AmigaDOS 2.0. You have to switch to 1.3 to get it to work correctly. This may be a problem for A3000 owners with 2.0 in ROM. Perhaps some tweaking with cache and RAM options will allow it to work. Retail: $59.00 I can't rave enough about Monkey Island II. What an experience! I spent a whole week on it and hated when it was over -- and what a surprise! I can only hope there's more to come from LucasFilm Games. On a scale of one to ten, this is a definite TEN! - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - GAME REVIEW Building a World SimEarth vs. Global Effect by Mike Neylon Remember the good old days of Populous and SimCity? Two relatively simple games to learn, but required strategy and planning to conquer? Well, with the release of SimEarth and Global Effect (as well as Civilization), you can now prepare yourself for hours of strategy and planning as you construct your own world. SimEarth, by Maxis, uses the same premise as SimCity and SimAnt: the development and manipulation of 'sims', computer-controlled creatures that follow basic instinct. Your goal in SimEarth is to create a suitable environment for your sims to evolve from singled-cell life-forms to space- age civilizations. You are allocated a 'energy budget' which grows based on the number and type of life-forms present. Your energy is reduced as you perform actions on your planet: adjusting the water cycle, increasing seismic activity, decreasing the reproduction rate, and several other features. You can also add life-forms and terrains to the planet. And for fun, you can send that random meteor or tidal wave and see how the sims react. The full game is played in 4 stages. Each stage represents an evolutionary cycle, and requires a fulfillment of a goal to proceed to the next stage. For example, in the first stage, you must create a planet suitable for life, cause life to begin, and to get land-roaming creatures. In the final stage, you must take the sentient race from the start of the Industrial Age to the beginning of space travel. The time scale in each stage varies, from billions of years in the beginning, to hundreds of year at the end. The sims, as well as the planet, are controlled by a theory known as the Gaia effect. The theory states that the planet and life are connected in complex ways, and the actions of one will affect the other. This is very well implemented in SimEarth. Once cities start appearing on your planet, you will notice an increase in temperature, carbon dioxide levels, and the planet will react, with severe weather and changes in the environment. A special interface can be used to 'talk' to your planet, but this merely consists of a few sentences of advice. Global Effect, from Millennium, also uses the concept of creating your own world, but from a different starting point. In Global Effect, you must colonize a world, using its resources wisely and carefully, but without upsetting the environment of the world. Again, you have an 'energy budget' which grows with the production of fuel from the planet. Building production sites, cities, forests and park lands, and farms all cost money. However, you are less directly in control of the planet. If the planet starts to freeze, you just can't increase the greenhouse effect - you must build services to fix that, or destroy the existing services that create the cold temperatures. Power can come from several resources including oil, coal, nuclear, solar, and wind. If necessary, the resources must be processed before use, and storage devices must be created. Power must be supplied to the city, and distribution is very important. You also must provide fresh water, sewage treatment, recycling programs, and hospitals for the people. However, an eye must be kept on resources and the planet. Once mines are mined out, they are shut down, and are unusable. Several one player situations are available, including creating a colony on several different types of planets and repairing damage done to a planet. However, there are also features to play with a second player over a modem, or to play against the computer, either to create a world, or to win control over a world. Several services are added for that goal, including missile silos, airfields, and harbors. Global Effect is filled with information, as is SimEarth. Ozone layer levels, pollution, and contamination are just some of the data one can inquire about. Both games are HD-installable, and work under both 1.3 and 2.0. Neither require a lot of memory (can be run on a 1 meg machine), and both are multi-tasking. I must admit, Global Effect has one of the best-looking interfaces I've seen for a game. The 32-color presentation is magnificent, and can be played in NTSC or PAL. SimEarth is only 16 colors, but some of the creature icons are done quite well. The worlds in Global Effect are much larger than those in SimEarth, and seem to have a much better resolution in the end. The SimEarth interface also seems to have a few bugs (a button doesn't activate once in a while). However, control in SimEarth is much easier. You can select an object using a menu-like technique, while in Global Effect, you must scan through a list of icons to choose an object (you can define the function keys to select an object). Moving in SimEarth involves moving the mouse to the edges of the screen causing it to scroll, while in Global Effect, you must constantly click on a directional pad, which costs you energy points. Also, you seem to have a more direct control on your planet in SimEarth; the results of your actions seem to come much faster. Although the concepts are basically alike, strategy is vastly different. In SimEarth, I found that I could make several mistakes without a major change happening on the planet. Therefore, I had a bit more room to experiment. In Global Effect, moves are very costly, so one must be cautious and plan well in advance. Spacial arrangement of the buildings in Global Effect is also a prime consideration, unlike SimEarth. For example, start building too far away from a water source, and you will start to lose people due to dehydration. As for complexity, both games must have a very large algorithm to handle the simulation. The reproduction and mutation of species in SimEarth, and the environmental effects of habitations in Global Effect are modelled very well. Both games also have a definite bad point. In SimEarth, a noticeable lag time occurs quite often, and play is sometimes very slow. In Global Effect, the computer opponent is very fast, and I have yet to be able to keep up with it before being destroyed. Besides other minor points, both games are very enjoyable, and will provide hours of fun as you become a god once again... RATINGS: SimEarth originality: 9 graphics: 7 (could have used 32 colors, I think) sound: 3 (only merit is the introduction of the tone monitor) playability: 8 OVERALL: 8 Global Effect originality: 8 (I think this one followed in the other's shadows) graphics: 10 sound: 8 (good intro music, sound accompanies mouse clicks) playability: 7 OVERALL: 9 =========================================================================== ============================= FRED FISH FORUM ============================= =========================================================================== The Fred Fish Forum is a listing of the contents of disk from the Fred Fish collection as has been omitted from this posting. Fred Fish has this list posted on this newsgroup and its omittance is to prevent redundancy. =========================================================================== ========================= BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS ========================== =========================================================================== AUSTRALIA Bad News BBS +61 2 587-8441 Sydney, NSW, Australia baud rates: 1200 - 9600 2.4 Gig on line File transfers and message bases. Memberships available. Sysop: Wayne Steele QUEENSLAND Boing Amiga Archive +61 7 344 4536 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 24 a day / 7 days a week Baud rates: up to V42 bis 2.46 Gig on line File transfers: Zmodem Only Message bases: Internet Mail Only Sysop: David Tucker CANADA ONTARIO The Land of the Darkside BBS (519) 888-9869 Waterloo, Ontario, Canada baud rates: 2 lines - both 1200-2400 baud (24hrs/7 days a week) 155 megs on line File transfers and message bases. Also USENET message and mail support. Sysop: Ken Rastin USA CALIFORNIA Triple-A BBS (510) 528-2867 (Kat-Buns) Berkeley, CA 24 hours a day / 7 days a week Baud rates: v.32bis/HST/v.42bis 100 megs on line (no garbage!) File transfers and message bases Sysop: Randy Spencer FLORIDA Hobbit Hole (904) 243-6219 Ft. Walton Beach, FL 24 hours a day / 7 days a week Baud rates: 1200-9600 HST 330 megs on line File transfers and message bases. Home of MechForce by Ralph Reed Sysop: Cal Jones The Hobbit Hole has over 2500 registered users from all over the world. New users are allowed 15 minutes until their account is validated. Afterwards, they have 45 minutes per day. Validation is automatic for those who don't abuse the system. There is no charge, fee, or donation required, requested, or accepted. This BBS is a hobby. MICHIGAN Wolverine's Den (616) 922-0987 Traverse City, MI, USA Baud rates: 300-14400 HST (or up to 9600 V32) 80 megs online (Will be expanding to 320 very soon) File transfers and message bases. Currently no fees or restrictions. Sysop: Wolverine (real name Dave Cole) PENNSYLVANIA BerksAmiga BBS (215) 921-1016 Reading, PA 24 hours a day / 7 days a week Baud rates: 1200-2400 100 megs on line File transfers and message bases Sysop: Mike Koch BULLETIN BOARD LISTING SUBMISSIONS The Bulletin Board Listing is a regular feature of AMIGAphile. Bulletin Board System ads are accepted and printed free of charge. All listings are arranged alphabetically by country, state, then by area code. If you would like to have your BBS placed on this list, send the following information. Only systems operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (except for maintenance), supporting Amiga related topics, for which complete information has been submitted will be included in the list. BBS NAME: BBS NUMBER: BBS LOCATION: (city, state, province, country) BBS CONNECT RATES: BBS STORAGE (on line): FILE TRANSFERS: (Y/N) MESSAGE BASES: (Y/N) REQUIRED FEES AND RESTRICTIONS (if any): SYSOP NAME: Be sure to include personal contact information (for use ONLY when verifying the information provided above), and a special password so that we may log onto your system and verify your listing. To REMAIN on the list, the information given must be verified at least every three months by contacting AMIGAphile. The Bulletin Board Listing is produced exclusively for publication in AMIGAphile. All information is as complete and accurate as possible at the time of publishing. Due to the nature of bulletin board systems, some listings may no longer be valid. =========================================================================== ============================== USER'S GROUPS ============================== =========================================================================== USA CALIFORNIA Amiga Addicts Anonymous Berkley, CA Focus on new users, weekend programmers, and Video Toaster users. Regular classes on Amiga use, including AREXX, CanDo, Imagine, and the Video Toaster. Group purchases on things like DCTV, 2.0 installations, and show tickets. Monthly group meeting at the Water District building in Concord across from the Acura dealer on Concord Ave. General Meeting Third Tuesday 7 pm, Monthly class (Topic TBA) the following Sunday 10 am, Board meeting (Lafayette Round Table) 7 pm, Video SIG following Wednesday (call first). PENNSYLVANIA Berks Amiga Users Group RD#2, Box 297 Boyertown, PA 19512 President: Roger Malinowski Treasurer: Mike Koch BAUG has been in operation for almost a year and a half, and supports users of all Amiga models. The membership is primarily interested in video, graphics, 3-D modeling, animation, telecommunications, and games. Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month, in the Schuylkill Room of the Reading Area Community College (RACC). Meetings begin at 7:00 PM and typically last around 2 hours. The typical meeting begins with announcements and news, followed by a game demo, followed by the demo/discussion of the month. A yearly membership fee of $15 is collected from each member when they join, then each January thereafter. The membership fees are solely to offset the costs of producing the group's monthly newsletter, "Interface", which is mailed to each member. Subscriptions to the newsletter are available for the same $15 fee, although free copies of the newsletter are provided to any/all other Amiga user groups. Send us a copy of yours and we'll send you one of ours. ;-) USER'S GROUP SUBMISSIONS Please send me your newsletter and I'll send you mine. In this manner, we can trade information. The User's Group Listing is a regular feature of AMIGAphile. All listings are arranged alphabetically by country then by state. Send me your ad telling a little about your group and I'll print it along with these in the next issue. Please keep your ads up to date by keeping in touch with AMIGAphile at least every three months. The User's Group Listing is produced exclusively for publication in AMIGAphile. All information is as complete and accurate as possible at the time of publishing. =========================================================================== ======================= CLASSIFIED ADVERTISEMENTS ========================= =========================================================================== All advertising is payable in advance by check or money order drawn on U.S. funds. Send orders and remittance payable to Dan Abend % AMIGAphile, 4851 Kingshill Drive #215, Columbus, Ohio 43229. Advertisers using a P.O. Box must furnish complete name and street address for our records. No logos, photos, or any other illustration can be used in the classified ad section. Please type or print your ad legibly on a plain sheet of paper. If more than one ad is submitted, use a separate sheet of paper for each ad, making sure your complete name and address is on each sheet. Classified rates as of June 1, 1992 - $1.50 per word, with a minimum of 10 words per ad. 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Run ad for ______ issues Payment of $_____________ US enclosed =========================================================================== ============================ BACK PAGE RUMORS ============================= =========================================================================== OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM COMMODORE!!! Commodore Canada has officially announced a number of products. - Hard Drive for CDTV expansion slot (presumably 2.5" IDE ala A600) - DCTV upgrade card for CDTV (for CDTV video slot) - Amiga 4000 an official product!!! To be shown to the public at WOC Pasadena on September 12! It ***WILL*** have the AA ChipSet! Finally the speculation is about to end!! - AA ChipSet (as said above) officially announced. - 600HD officially announced and SHIPPING with *40* meg drive, not the 20 meg the European versions have. It will retail for $799 Suggested Canadian Retail, with street price likely to be lower in most centres (definitely so if the units start selling in quantity). - A570 officially announced. No word on whether it will have internal RAM and HD expansion like the UK final-revision does (which was added at the last minute). Officially ready to ship any time now. - A3000T/040. Tower A3000 with '040 on a card in the CPU slot, 5 megs of RAM, and a 200 meg HD. The '030 and '882 slots are empty. I couldn't find out pricing, other than to get an official comment that it would be "much better" than adding an '040 card to a normal A3000T. The A4000 and new CDTV add-ons to ship "this quarter" (read what you like into that), but I was told that it will **DEFINITELY** ship before the end of the year, come hell or high water. If you have the dosh sitting in the bank, you WILL be able to have a AA ChipSet equipped A4000 before Christmas. These announcements were made at a local show called the Multimedia Event (hosted by Commodore and a local dealer). I had the scoop on all of them a few days before the show, though I can't reveal my source. And I have the scoop on one other (only slightly less official). AmigaVision 3.0 Professional! As far as I can discern, this was not an error on my source's part though I'm trying to validate that he didn't mean to say 2.0. Possibly this means there will be an AmigaVision 2.0 'consumer' release. Your guess is as good as mine. [Ed. -- I was unable to confirm any of this so I'm leaving it as rumor except for the A3000T/040 and the A3640 card which are new products. AV 2.0 may be released with the A4000.] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - All information on the AA chipset is based on rumors. Commodore has not announced the new chipset. A lot of people believe the will make an announcement in September at the World Of Commodore Show in California, and at Fall Comdex. The rumored specs about the AA chipset are: 25 Bit Color Palette (Extra bit used as Transparency Color (Genlock Use)) 256 Color Modes in Most Resolutions 256,000 Extended Ham mode in most resolutions Double Buffering Feature to allow for faster view of graphics Larger Sprites with a larger color palette Sprites can no be Hi-res and independent of the actual screen res. Main Resolutions are, 320x200/400, 640x200/480, 800x300/600 10??x10?? Can boot with old ECS chips for 100% compatibility The only thing I believe 100% so far is that they are indeed working on the AA chipset and it should be released along with the A4000. [Ed. -- By the time you read this, the World of Commodore show will be over and all our suspicions will be confirmed] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A Wing Commander I Demo is available for the Amiga. It looks like Mindscape's popular IBM game is being ported. The opening animations are well done. They run smooth and the colors look good. The titles all look trashy with too much dithering from the converting of IBM 256 color palette to the 32 colors they appear to be using on the Amiga. Once inside the cockpit, where most of the game will be played, it becomes evident that over-dithering will play a big part in the graphics. There was no sound in the demo I watched but it is my guess that good sound effects will not make up for the annoying graphics. If they spend more time fixing up the colors, I'd say this could be a good port but that lies in the hands of Mindscape. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The rumored WorkBench 2.1 should be a disk based upgrade using the 2.04 ROMs (2.05 for the A600). WB 2.1 was officially shown (as beta) at CeBIT fair in Germany. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NewTek might not be making any more Video Toaster Workstations due to the long-time tensions between Commodore and NewTek. Evidently, NewTek no longer covers the Amiga plate on the front of the machine but that wasn't enough. Commodore informed their dealers that if they became NewTek Workstation dealers, they would be dropped. Anyway, it looks as if the last of the Video Toaster Workstations are those left in NewTek's warehouse. Remember this only rumor but it would shut up all those shoody Mac users with Video Toaster Workstations who don't know they own an Amiga. It may also have something to due with the Toaster not being compatible with the new AA chipset...