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3]AMIEXPO MIDWEST
3]Great New Products, Smaller Attendance
3]By Brad and Royan Webb
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     Exhibitors chose the AmiEXPO in Chicago to introduce a good number of
interesting new products June 29-July 1. However, there were fewer eyes to
see them. Attendance and the number of exhibitors were both down rather
sharply from the previous year.
     Only 40 exhibitors were listed in the program. Just 19 of these were
actually software houses or developers, the remainder magazines, retail
outlets and computer clubs. Perhaps the timing of this expo hurt it. The
Amiga Developers' conference was taking place at the same time in Atlanta.
(See related story this issue.)
     Despite the small number of exhibitors, there were quite a few new
products introduced at the show or shortly before. Many represented
important new thrusts in the Amiga market.
     Black Belt introduced its much discussed about HAM-E graphic mode
enhancer. HAM-E adds two new graphics modes to the Amiga. The first provides
262,144 colors on screen at any one time. The second gives 256 simultaneous
colors from a palette of 16 million. This is "24 bit graphics," the lack of
which has been a major concern to many Amiga graphics professionals. HAM-E
manages this using a standard Amiga monitor. Since it is contained in an
external box, it will work on any Amiga model.
     HAM-E compatible graphics can be created by DigiView, (18 bit graphics
in this case). ASDG's "Art Department" software will also convert output
from many other programs to HAM-E format (including GIF, TIF, 24 bit IFF,
Turbo Silver and Sculpt-Animate). HAM-E retails for $299.95 and will ship
"starting when we return from AmiEXPO," an official at the booth said.
     Black Belt also displayed the new auto-router for its Board Master
printed circuit board program. The apparent first auto-router for the Amiga,
it is included in the program's $99.95 price, making it by far the least
expensive auto-routing board design package we have seen anywhere.
     Other products of note in Black Belt's booth were its 16-channel
analog-to-digital converter board featuring 8 bit resolution at 10Khz
($199.95), "Electron," which is probably the first schematic capture program
for the Amiga (It unfortunately does not yet integrate with Board Master),
and two products for developers. The "C Tool Shed" provides easily
incorporated C language code, including an ARexx host routine, for only
$19.95. The "Soft Panel" is a clever Light Emitting Diode display for the
front of your computer for use in developing software ($119.95).
     A hardware innovation of a different sort was shown by Interactive
Video Systems. Its Trumpcard professional, billed as the fastest Amiga SCSI
disk controller, was being used to display an amazing animation: a complete
cartoon with audio. Frames were pulled off the hard drive and displayed in
real time -- at 30 frames a second! The effect was exactly like watching a
video tape. Transfer rates in excess of 1.9 Mbytes of data per second are
claimed. AmiExpo Chicago marked the Trumpcard Professional's first American
appearance. We were told the product was shipping at the show. (Trumpcard
Professional $279.95, Trumpcard/500 Professional $349.95)
     Along with the new board comes a price cut on the existing Trumpcard
and Trumpcard 500. Current owners of the existing products can upgrade for
$100 and the old board. It is not necessary to send the old board in first.
     The third major hardware innovation was NewTek's Video Toaster, being
demonstrated with what looked like finished units this time. Formally
introduced in April at the National Association of Broadcasters convention
in Atlanta, it stole the show there. It has the capabilities of video
control equipment selling for many thousands of dollars. The Video Toaster
is "in final beta testing" and will be shipping this summer. It retails for
$1,595.
     Also starring at the NewTek booths (they had two large ones) was the
Light Wave ray tracing program by noted Amiga animator Alan Hastings. Light
Wave is scheduled for fall availability.
     Making its first appearance at an Amiga show was Applied Engineering,
long an Apple developer. The company had its entire line of products,
featuring the first high density (1.52 megabyte) floppy for the Amiga. This
drive will also read standard 880 Kbyte disks. ($239 list).
     Digifex emphasized its newest, the Interact networking product which
provides AppleTalk compatibility and an extra serial and parallel port on
the A2000 version ($300, A500 and $329, A2000 versions). Also on display
were the V.I.P (Video Interface Professional), which provides composite and
SVHS video for any Amiga ($130). Both products were in their first formal
showing. Finally, new software for Digifex's MultiPORT Board was announced.
     Digital Creations sported spectacular color presentations created by
its DCTV. Housed in an external box that plugs into both the RGB port and
the parallel ports of all Amiga models, DCTV allows you to digitize video
from various sources and display it in true 24 bit high resolution images.
Comparisons with Black Belt's HAM-E are inevitable, but there are
differences. DCTV uses composite video, while HAM-E works with RGB signals
like the standard Amiga video modes. DCTV includes a digitizing program and
can capture images from any color camera. Both produce excellent images.
     DCTV was used to create some very impressive animations, playing in
real time from a hard disk using the TrumpCard professional mentioned
above. DCTV will sell for "under $500" and is scheduled for fall shipment.
     ICD used AmiExpo to announce its new AdRAM540 and AdRAM560D memory
add-ons for the Amiga 500. The AdRAM540 adds up to 4 Megabytes of RAM in the
A501 expansion port. The AdRAM560D is a piggyback board that adds up to an
additional 2 megabytes to the 500. (AdRAM 540, 0K is $159.95 - AdRAM 560D
with 2 Megabytes is $279.95)
     Kupke Computertechnik, billed as the No. 1 hardware manufacturer in
Europe, introduced its Golem line of products. Star of the booth was the
Golem Video System, a video digitizing package similar in some ways to
DigiView. This package includes a copy stand with lights and a color
splitter in the camera, so no color wheel is needed. The unit we saw had
been damaged in shipping and was having trouble working with an NTSC
monitor. Pricing is intended to be under $1,000 and US distribution should
be available shortly.
     Lake Forest Logic featured its new Macropaint program, which is capable
of working with NewTek's Dynamic High Res format though its own format is
different ($139.95, shipping in July). For programmers, the firm has Wesley
Howe' new ADAPT assembler for the 030/68882 chip combination.
     Memory and Storage Technology (MAST) had a booth with its line of
floppy and hard drives. It demonstrated Blitz Basic, a complete compiled
Basic language developed in New Zealand. Animations were quite fast, as was
the compiler itself. Pricing will be under $149 with shipping as soon as the
dongle protection devices are finished, sometime in July.
     Michtron/Microdeal, maker of HiSoft Basic, had the FastFax external fax
board. Retailing for about $400, the board both sends and receives fax data
at 9600 baud.
     Microway, makers of the popular flickerFixer deinterlacer board,
released a new product called DEB, (Denise Extender Board). It's an add-on
video socket for the flickerFixer, allowing use of the Amiga's graphics slot
for other purposes. DEB will retail for $75. Microway also announced a price
reduction for the flickerFixer to $495.
     Sharing the Microway booth was Computeall Services, maker of
AutoScript, a Postscript to 3D translation software package. AutoScript will
bring Postscript drawing files into Sculpt Animate 4D or Turbo Silver. The
product retails for $130.
     Migraph exhibited the latest version of its hand scanner and Touch-Up
graphics editing package. New software announced at AmiEXPO will support 400
dpi grayscale IFF files, intended for use in video applications. Owners of
version .99 will automatically be upgraded to 1.0, shipping July 12.
     New Horizons' booth featured the latest Prowrite 3.0. Owners of
previous versions can take advantage of the upgrade policy. Contact New
Horizons or your dealer for details. Announced just prior to the show was a
series of foreign language dictionaries for use with ProWrite. At $35 each,
these include German, French and Swedish.
     The most unusual booth belonged to Lattice, developers of a widely used
C language compiler for the Amiga. Though not listed in the program, it did
have a booth, but there was no one there. Instead of booth personnel there
was a sign noting the conflict with the developers' conference left no one
to staff the booth.
     Pulsar International is a new company started by "Dr. Oxide" of
Comp-U-Save. Pulsar had its Power PC Board for the Amiga 500, an IBM clone
on a card for the 500's expansion slot.
     MS/DOS stalwart Sierra On-Line, maker of a wide range of game and
entertainment products, featured Volume 2 of "Hoyle's Book of Games."
     The new PageStream 2.0 was the star at the Soft-Logic Publishing Corp.
booth. The new AGFA Compugraphic Outline fonts and Adobe Type 1 outline
fonts make for a much nicer screen presentation. Price will be $300 and
there will be an upgrade policy.
     Spirit Technology Corp. was present with its 4 Megabyte memory
expansion for the Amiga 500. The "Fat Trapper" fits in the 500's trap door
expansion port. It also supports the Fat Agnus chip without requiring
modifications to the 500's mother board. ($120, with 0K)
     Sitting quietly in the display case at Supra's booth was a 68040
accelerator card for the Amiga 3000. The board is an advanced prototype,
featuring 25Mhz clock speed. Price target is $1,295 with shipping scheduled
for early 1991. Supra also announced the SupraRam 508, which can add up to 8
Megabytes internally to the Amiga 500, and the SupraDrive 500XP which has a
hard drive and up to 8 Megabytes of memory in single case. Both products
should be shipping within a month.
     Startup TTR offered "Time Waste Management System", a Workbench utility
that adds icons to the right side of the screen. The icons can be programmed
to launch user programs. The package also includes eight utility programs.
     Xetec, Inc. had its line of hard drive and backup systems, including
the FastTrak line of hard drives.
     Elan Design used part of a NewTek's booth to demonstrate version 2.0 of
Performer, its popular presentation manager. The 2.0 version includes
support for sound and ARexx. Upgrades are $39 until Sept. 1 and $49 after.
Schools may check with Elan for site licensing.
     In one corner of the Gateway Amiga Club booth we found "Enchanted
Realms." This is a new adventure game magazine for the Amiga, making its
premier at this Expo. It's is a combination disk and paper publication. It
will be bi-monthly in 1990 with the goal of monthly publication in 1991.
Issues are $10.95 for one or $50 for a six-issue subscription.
     Not present on the floor but previewing product prototypes in a suite
was California Access. Upcoming products included the Malibu board SCSI
controller and piggyback Catalina card, which can hold up to 8 megabytes of
RAM. Their Bodega Bay expansion cabinet for the Amiga 500 is a stylish
cabinet with room for 2000-type expansion cards, hard and floppy disk
drives, a replacement power supply with fan, and memory expansion up to 8
megabytes using the Catalina card. Shipping is planned for the fourth
quarter. Pricing isn't firm, but look to the $400 range.
     Also not in a booth due to conflicts with Devcon was ReadySoft, makers
of the A-Max Macintosh emulator. It has released A-Max II, with full support
for both Amiga and Mac hard drives. It announced the upcoming A-Max II Plus,
which will add AppleTalk and MIDI compatibility. Availability is planned for
the fall. No prices were mentioned.
     There were a number of expected vendors who did not make the trip.
Listed in the program but not attending were Free Spirit Software, makers of
Doctor Ami and Kids Computers News. Conspicuous by his absence was Perry
Kivilowitz of ASDG, maker of the Art Department graphics manipulation
software recommended by Black Box for use with HAM-E.
     AmiExpo has always been a grassroots users' show. This was evident from
the number of user groups and clubs with booths on the floor, many selling
disks from their club libraries. Among those represented were Ace, the Amiga
Computer Enthusiasts (Chicago); Amuse New York Amiga Users, founding sponsor
of AmiExpo; Fox Valley Amuse of Aurora, IL; and the Gateway Amiga Club, Inc.
of Bridgeton, MO.
     Some publications exhibited. Booths were staffed by Amazing Computing;
AmigaWorld; Amiga Video Magazine, producer of a satellite Amiga television
show also distributed on video cassettes; and Hahn-Wallace Publishing Group,
publishers of A.X. Magazine, GRAfix and The Insider.
     Chicago is home to the American People Link online network services. It
featured software giveaways at its booth. The voice of Jim Hill, without
benefit of amplification, boomed out over the noise of the crowd announcing
the drawings. On Saturday, Plink had a terminal available for attendees to
participate in an online conference with science fiction and fantasy author
Anne McCaffrey in Ireland.
     As usual there were many software and hardware retailers. On hand were
Briwall, California Freeware, the ever interesting Comp-U-Save, Creative
Computers, Memory World (the chip people), Micro Ed Enterprises (not
affiliated with the software house of similar name), Microtech Solutions,
Ring Software and Safe Harbor (its first show).
     On Saturday afternoon members of the press were invited to a
demonstration of a new gaming system called BattleTech. Developed by ESP
Interactive Entertainment, BattleTech is a simulation of futuristic warfare
in which huge mechanized warrior/robots/tanks are used. Players sit in
complete cockpits with firing and driving controls, radio communications
with other players on their team, and two graphics screens. One displays the
scene outside the BattleTech warrior and the other serves as radar, map and
damage display. This second screen is controlled by an Amiga 500 and the
entire complex is linked by Amiga networking products. Two teams of four
players engage each other in simulated warfare. The on-screen animation is
impressive and features a large section of the imaginary world. You see your
partners and opponents in full motion and perspective, are inside the sounds
and flashes of battle and watch the landscape and weather as you engage the
enemy. The company plans to open gaming centers with 16 cockpits and
training areas. The first center will open within two weeks of AmiExpo in
Chicago.
     While the units we used were prototypes, everything worked and members
of the press had a wonderful time inflicting mayhem on each other. ESP is
associated with FASA Corporation, which publishes an extensive line of
BattleTech gaming products of a more traditional type.
     As at all AmiEXPOs, there was a full slate of master classes on topics
such as graphics, animation and publishing. Keynote addresses were delivered
by several very good speakers. Included was an extemporaneous speech by
AmigaWorld editor Doug Barney, who had perhaps five minutes to prepare when
the scheduled speaker was unable to attend. Robert Ryan of "Byte" gave a
talk on positioning the Amiga in the computer mainstream and why it's
important. Michael Halvorson of Impulse, chairman of the Amiga Developers'
Association, challenged the audience to become "soldiers for the Amiga."
     There were the usual free seminars providing instruction on many topics
including "Networking Solutions" and "Introduction to AmigaVision and Amiga
Multimedia" this time around.
     It is difficult to summarize this year's AmiExpo Chicago. It had fewer
vendors but as much or more floor space as in the past. Attendance was down,
with estimates of 9,000 to 10,000 seeming optimistic to us.
     Speakers were somber about market size and the fate of developers in
the small market, yet pointed to hopeful signs and areas of improvement.
Sales on the floor were reported as "slow" everywhere we went but people
were looking and buying. Finally, there were many new products either
recently announced or on the horizon and no sign of slowdown on the part of
developers. The conflict in schedule with Devcon, the upcoming schedule
conflict between AmiExpo Anaheim and World of Amiga Rosemount and the
general slowdown in the industry at this time of the year probably accounted
for the negativism. The Amiga's basic health and new directions from the
3000, AmigaVision and other new products provided a healthy balance.

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