WORLD OF AMIGA SHOW
+ By Amida/Crn +
The show was staged at Hammersmith, London from Saturday 17th of May
towards the 18th. A very big day for any Amiga user would have dreamed
of!
The Word 14 was also complete and works 100% from the day of release
at The World of Amiga Show. Several copies of The Word 13+14 were put
onto floppy and backup copies on to my laptop. They were distributed to
CUAmiga, Weird Science, Sadeness PD and to be forwarded to Amiga Format
by email.
To Novotel Hotel
================
To travel from Turnpike Lane to Hammersmith required 19 stops through
the underground tube system, Kei and myself sat comfortably whilst I was
reading text articles from my laptop.
Once stopped at Hammersmith station we made our way towards subways and
bits'n bobs. On the way we noticed passerbys carrying bags with boxes
of software inside them. We were also given directions to the Novotel
exhibition centre as there were no visible signposts or any indication
to aid our path towards the hotel. Whether there were signs or not -
they were un helpful (like the one I saw after leaving the show).
But soon we arrived at a tall building and beneath were coaches which
passes through a tunnel. There were multiple entrances to the building,
unfortunately the correct one wasn't so easy to find!
We made our way through the entrances where friendly security guards
stamped our tickets and people walking in, out and about the area.
My presence over the other side of the barriers almost felt like being
in Heaven (through the gates of Heaven)! We both had access to a map
which shows in detail the locations of every stand.
The area was completely crowded with people everywhere! We entered
through the barriers and I looked took my first glance, feeling
astonished that there was an Amiga sitting on a table! I had the
surprise because I've been to so many shows, exhibitions and
conferences, even through TV, everything you see is made up of pcs and
business people in suit'n tie boring you to death! Most exhibitors
attend these shows mainly for their own businesses but also for
freebees. But this Amiga show is far different to all that I've
experienced. People whos been 100% dedicated to Amigas for a long time
and continue using their Amiga. An Amiga community that has this
special link. There's no other platform that gains more trust than the
Amiga. You would need to own an Amiga to understand the feeling.
Anyway... Kei and myself have visited the stands: Sadeness, AF, CU
AMIGA to deliver The Word 14. We've been through talks with the guys
incharge of their depot. Telling them exactly who we are, what we do
and so on.
Interesting sites
Genlock display
===============
We saw fasinating displays of a Genlock (video mixer) running
concurrently with a standard normal WB. TV and Amiga video signals were
fed into the Genlock which to be diaplayed on a large TV screen. The
effect was like using normal WB but as if a TV was playing as a part of
the backdrop. They said it was only a prototype and no price was
announced.
Another portable workstation?
=============================
At the far corner of CU Amiga stood portable A600 made completely
different to the PAWS (U.S.). A self assembled unit by different
manufacturers. Its the first time I've ever come across this system.
The appearance looked OK in its shape and the black case but it was
almost 5 inches deep which seemed big! It came equipped with glidepoint
and mono LCD display. There was little detail that I could find about
the machine depsite being over crowded.
TFX was displayed towards my right. It didn't seem as good as expected.
It could at least be run on a super charged A1200 now it has that
ability!
The EX-CBM Chair
================
At the PowerComputing stand we came across David Pleasance who used to
run CBM UK. Although David has nothing to do with PowerComputing he was
only using their space to sell used Amigas. On the counter was a
discoloured look alike A4000/040 with 16bit sound card, CD32, an A3500T
on the floor and on the shelf was a golden A500 with a certificate to
certify that it was the one millionth Amiga ever made and is for sale.
Hisoft
======
Hisoft was displaying one of its many products. One of them was the
Squirrel Mpeg which played back a Video CD onto a screen. The device
was much smaller than I expected (even through past brochures). The
device works which any SCSI CDROM drive - speed is not a factor as VCDs
can only play up to a maximum and default FPS. I questioned especially
about the leads & cables to connect to a VGA monitor. Yes there is a
Scart adaptor output to VGA monitor. For Playstation owners who wishes
to connect their Playstation to a VGA monitor, that is only half the
answer. Theres three items you need: A cable to connect from the PS's
AV/Video output to Male Scart (easy to find). That Scart (Male) to
15Pin VGA-D cable (used in the Squirrel Mpeg) - contact Hisoft for
details. Now you're left with a problem! You would need a
Double-Female Scart to Scart adaptor (gender changer) to connect both
the Male - Male Scart. I can't see why this won't work! And whether
your monitor can handle PAL/NTSC its another question. Abt. the
adaptor you can try Maplin Electronics... (A supplier that could not
supply me with any cables I want! They've not even come across a 23pin
cable!)
Amiga Format
============
The Amiga Format stand, not surprisingly was busy as ever. The main
editor of the mag. was present managing with people.....
Phase V
=======
The Phase V stand was small but big in attracting people's attention.
On the hardware side we saw an A4000T with an empty case just so people
can see the interior designs of the new RISC. This Amiga was connected
to a 17" AMIGA cool looking monitor. The WB display was in 1024x768 in
possibly 24bit colour. The WB set up as you can tell was using some
sort of Hi-spec WB interfacing. A Mandlebrot window is visible. I
questioned the guy who was giving the demonstration, asking him of the
full details of the machine. It was an A4000T using RISC 604e@200Mhz,
MC-060 CPU situated on board and 128MB RAM! A Cybervision 64/3D video
card was also in use which helps with the display resolution and
colours. I then asked him for a run through of a demonstration. A
requestor was opened giving a list of Mpegs <filename.mpg>. I saw the
requestor listing Mpegs which I thought seems quite reasonable for
conducting a speed test. He then opened another window and clicked on
some gadgets. And the way it goes... I stood still in silence and was
totally stunned on what I saw! I couldn't believe what I saw was true!
Well however I was standing directly in front of the monitor!
The compressed MPEG anim was being played back in REAL-TIME in the Amiga
backdrop, concurrently with the overlay of the WB icons! At full
1024x768 at full frame rate, smooth, unbelievable! The mandlebrot
window was set to render using in many zooms, it was rendered instantly
without you knowing! Yes whilst the Mpeg was still playing in the
backdrop. No slow down whatsoever you can't even see the mandlebrot
being redrawn. I was almost letting out in tears of total amazement!
I've not seen a machine that can match this level of capability in
real-time computing. This was like the BEST computer in the World!
Shortly after a while I looked around and a crowd of spectators were
watching in total amazment, I then slowly left the stand to give them a
chance to view the best computer in the world.
Anyone whos attended the show will have come across this Super Amiga!
Its time to show this to a pc user and make them eat their words on the
negative points they've once said about the Amiga. :)
But also it was from this moment that many PC owners have now become
converted to Amiga. :)
Amiga International
===================
The AMIGA International stand was situated at the centre of all stands!
The AMIGA logo was tiled up to the ceiling. It was basically the heart
of the show, there were companies standing aside like Micronik with
their Tower A1200/A4000 featuring Cybervison cards that can handle very
Top resolution displays! I was then spending some time familiarising
myself in using this top-spec Amiga. The usage has a more professional
feel than my current A4000 (which needs upgrading in the future). The
speed at which backdrops are interpreted by the Cybervision 64 and
transferred onto the screen is very fast (considering they were jpegs).
I checked the amount of total RAM which comes to another 128MB!!!
The opportunity to even use these TOP END Amiga for the first time feels
very special. Escpecially the massive A4000T (first time I've ever seen
in reality).
There were free mouse mats which were specially AMIGA branded, they had
AMIGA printed in red italics. Amiga stickers were also available for
grabs. Its not surprising how many of these mouse mats and sticker have
been taken from the point they've been restocked! There were also free
mice - they were coloured in black and AMIGA logo printed on them. I
presumed they were designed to be used for the Walker.
Worms
=====
Towards the back of Amiga Int. we met the guy (can`t remember his name)
who was giving away posters with his own autographs signed on them. The
posters shows the upper part of a woman with WORMS printed above the
left breast. The guy himself was infact the person who coded Worms for
the Amiga. Another special greeting or what? Nice to meet him...
EPIC
====
A stand selling loads of PD CDs had this garbage, rusted/disused and
abandoned looking pc tower in the near corner (as if ready to be thrown
out), it was tilted at an angle with one of the 5/25 bays missing and
another bay below saying "Post here". Next to it was a pile of paper
which people were filling in to ask "What do you think P.C. stands
for?", and the person with best idea wins £100. Theres entries for you
to fill in your name and address incase you do win, otherwise they'll
send a notification on who the winner(s) is/are. I put down "Pile of
Crap" as what I thought what P.C. stands for.
Press Conference
================
The press conference had already took place the day before we attened
the Show. The talks between Gateway and Amiga Int. on very important
issues of its future... The talks and speeches can be heard in this
month's CUAmiga cover CD. You might possibly find photo shots of Kei or
myself during the show.
Digita
======
We stood at Digita, Kei questioned about Personal Paint v7.1 where as I
questioned if this Black and white Digita mouse mat was for free or not,
so it wasn't (costing £1) so I left to try another location. Near the
entrance was a table full of use/diused/abandoned mice piled to a level.
I asked if they're free but they were also £1 each!
Various
=======
We came across Siemese Twin - and a small seminar was held where people
gathered and listened to talks. And apparantly the PC GFX video card
being used to power the Amiga's graphics.
There were other stands with an A3000UX (Unix based Amiga) running Unix,
theres A4000 keyboards on counters where the cases are hidden. Theres
glass windows where you can see how A1200s are slotted into the pc Tower
cases. Blittersoft was well crowded as they will be the first guys to
sell the PPC boards and they have the rept. for bringing out cool
products.
There were assistants being very busy serving customers, they go back
and forth as we saw. Girls wearing white T-shirts in red print "First
For AMIGA". Guys wearing "I LUV MY AMIGA", theres so many people
wearing Amiga T-shirts in different variety.
Finally
=======
Here is a list of companies and vendors that have attended:
Amida Internatonal
Direct Software
Gasteiner
PowerComputing
AF
CU AMIGA
PHASE 5
Micronik
Siren Soft.
Hisoft
Sadeness PD
PIOS
Blittersoft
Digita
Weird Science
Wizard Developments
Siemese Twin
Eyetech
Epic
The list were only names that I could remember. However, there were
much more but they were European companies and others which I can't
remember by name. Many companies were PD companies and others were just
selling hardware accessories (disks, labels etc.)
There are other Amiga, The Word and misc. related areas that I haven't
discussed in detail. If you haven't already done so please check out
Kei's update about the Show.
Well...
=======
Altogether its been an excellent day out! And the best day I've had
since coming down to London! Its been phun working again with Kei on
The Word and its been a completely different experience once visited the
show. No doubt that everyone will have gained this similar and valuable
experience from the show.
The show was worth every money that was spent on the ticket (well
considering that I actually live in London - transport and accessibility
is never a problem).
Thanks for reading! :)
Amida.
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