Amigaforum News Online By John Foust [72237,135] AMICUS Technical Editor Amazing Computing -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Table of Contents Volume 1, Issue 3 July 18, 1986 o Commodore 64 emulator program rumor CONFIRMED! o New Textcraft Plus out to beta testers o Dr. Dobb's Journal and the Amiga COMMODORE 64 EMULATOR PROGRAM RUMOR CONFIRMED! On another network, I was trying to quell rumors. Since COMDEX, I have heard rumors that Macintosh, Apple ][ and C-128 emulators were in development, both by third party developers, and inside Commodore. Lots of rumors, but no confirmations. Someone said a friend-of-a-friend had talked to the developer who was making the C64 emulator. I said "Stop spreading rumors, let's track this one down. Have your friend call his friend, and have him call me." The next morning, I talked with one of the programmers on the C64 emulator project. The wonders of telecommunication never cease. They are a small company, working closely with Commodore. They will have an official press release at the end of the month. At this time, they want to remain anonymous. The C64 emulator is a hardware and software combination. The software does take over the machine, it does not multitask. The hardware is a pass-through device on the parallel port. It gives you a DIN-style plug to connect to the C64 serial bus, so you can connect your 1541 drive, or your 1526 printer. Some C64 connectors are not supported, such as the cassette tape unit. (If you are unfamiliar with the arrangement of C64 peripherals, the C64 has a serial bus. Each C64 peripheral has two serial bus connectors, so you can daisy-chain peripherals, plugging each into the next.) According to the programmer, the 6510/6502 microprocessor emulator works, and they are running C64 Basic on the emulator. They are slowly converting and hot-patching the ROM to accomodate more programs. They also said the video and sound chip emulation works, too, except for a few modes, such as multi-color text. They hope to ship by early September. Well, we've heard that before. Since the emulator uses a copy of the C64 ROM, they are working out a license agreement with Commodore. Commodore is interested in marketing the product, and the choice of marketing channels will affect the ROM licensing agreement. Migration of files is possible, at this point, but they are not sure if they will have a stand-alone AmigaDOS program to read the 1541 disk drive files. This product may be added later. Interestingly, this company is more well-known for its mainframe and minicomputer software. The programmer said an Apple ][ emulation has been discussed, claiming it would be an easier task, since they have a 6502 emulator. I'd love to see them wrest a ROM license from Apple... I can't imagine this emulator costing less than a C64. However, I am sure it will be popular among former C64 users, who have migrated to the Amiga. NEW TEXTCRAFT PLUS BACK FROM BETA TESTERS The new Textcraft Plus is in the last stages of beta testing. The new version of the word processor includes a mail merge function, and a new user interface, including improved file requesters, and clearer help examples. This version is closer to the original spec of Textcraft, according to one beta-tester. It is a sizable window, instead of a screen. You can open multiple windows, and edit and print each separately. Colors are settable with Preferences. In the original Textcraft, you first selected an action, such as Italics, then marked the area to be italicized, by dragging the mouse. This method is clumsy. If you were typing, you were in edit mode, to italicize, you had to switch to the styling mode, choose Italics, and switch back to edit mode. Now, you select the area with the mouse, and click on an action. There is a new menu option that makes selection easier, too. It is easier to mark the entire document in the new version. Other new features include the ability to turn off the ruler at the top of the page, a left margin adjustment, which sets a left margin, but doesn't waste screen space displaying the white space. Textcraft Plus will save files in the IFF standard for text files. However, this version does not have to ability to merge IFF graphics, or the ability to use different fonts. DR DOBB'S JOURNAL AND THE AMIGA The latest and greatest Amiga quote comes from the Michael Swaine, editor-in-chief of Dr Dobb's Journal of Software Tools, in the July issue. Swaine recalled the old days of computers, when computer shows were the lifeblood of the industry. He said Spring COMDEX seemed tame by comparison. Speaking of the disappearing phenomena of wild crowds at computer shows, he said "It reminded me of the Atari and Commodore booths this year in Atlanta, packed with independent third-party developers. In the otherwise stuffy COMDEX atmosphere, the air in these booths was almost giddy - almost evocative of 1976." But that's not all! The cover of the July issue was a computer graphic of a fireworks display. It was drawn by Dan Silva, the main programmer behind Electronic Arts Deluxe Paint. He used his Amiga to draw it, of course. # 30 #