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AMReport International Online Magazine Volume 2.09
____ ____
/ / / \ \ \ Your Online Amiga News Source!
/ / / \ \ \
____ / / / AMIGA REPORT \ \ \ ____ EDITOR: Charles E. Hill
\ \ X / / \ \ X / /
\_\_X_/ INTERNATIONAL \_X_/_/ Volume 2, Issue 9 (9/16/92)
---------------------------
| PRINT ASSOCIATES |
---------------------------
UNITED KINGDOM AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND
Amiga Mart Professional Amiga User
Aceville Publications Australian Commodore & Amiga Review
89 East Hill
Colchester, Essex
England, CO1 2QN
ATTN: Paul Rigby ATTN: Andrew Farrell
CIS: CIS: 100033,1406
--------------------
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EDITOR'S COLUMN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This issue is hot on the heels of the Special Expo Issue on the World of
Commodore show that was held in Pasadena, CA the weekend of September 11 to
the 13. There is a lot of news in this issue that covers the show as well as
the general interest articles normall a part of AM-Report.
First things first...a correction. Special Expo Issue #3 was really only #2.
I remembered doing a second Special Expo Issue a while back, but it seems
that I didn't have enough information for a separate issue, so I incorporated
it into the regular edition. So, there was no Special Expo Issue #2, unless
you consider that Special Expo Issue #3 was really #2, but since it was
numbered #3 the next one is going to be #4...uh, you get the idea.
Another correction, in issue 2.08 I mistakenly stated that Portal Online
Service was a subsidiary of U.S. Sprint. This is incorrect. Portal Online
Service is a service mark of Portal Communications, Inc. of Cuppertino, CA.
They are just very easy to access through SprintNet and Sprint's PC Pursuit.
Speaking of Portal, Steve Tibbett of VirusX (and anythingelseX) fame has
written PortalX (interesting name choice :-) an comm program aimed at
automating and navigating sessions on Portal. It sounds like the same
concept as GEnie's Aladdin and CompuServe's Whap! (and now AutoPilot). More
on PortalX and AutoPilot in another issue.
Thanks to the wonderful people of GEnie and their online new magazine:
Viewport, I was able to confirm the CDTV/A3000 giveaway deal (buy an A3000,
get a CDTV free!) as well as Commodore's "I use an Amiga because..."
promotion.
Commodore's new machines dominated the recent show, but that doesn't mean
that no one else was there. Over 50 different Amiga vendors showed up to
display their latest and greatest products. This includes new versions of
popular software that was made compatible with the A4000/AGA machine: New
Horizon's ProWrite 3.3; Softwood's Final Copy 2; and Black Belt's Imagemaster
just to name a few. ProWrite and Imagemaster have also announced that they
now support SoftLogick's Dynamic Data Exchange system -- Hotlinks.
SoftLogick announced an update to Hotlinks (v1.1) as well as their Bit Map
Editor (BME) software.
I still can't believe Commodore's 180 degree turn on giving information out.
They must've been holding back for some time now to have that many products
to announce. With Commodore's new announcements (networking APIs; multi-
parallel device support; CrossDOS; ARexx; retargetable graphics; modular
processors; DSP; SCSI-2; PostScript support) coupled with Hotlinks and
GigaMem's new Virtual Memory system for Amigas wih MMUs (distributed by
Innovatronics -- see the Special Expo Issue) the Amiga has damn near
everything available for personal computers/workstations. Add distributed
processing/multiprocessor support and my wish list is fulfilled!
What's all this going to mean? Well, with the new graphics, it is now
possible to do proper VGA and extended VGA (800 x 600) in software for PC
emulators like the Bridgecards and ATonce. With the 040, I wouldn't be
surprised to see a '286 based emulator with VGA all in software running at a
respectable speed!
I'm not sure what this is going to do to the 24-bit market -- those who need
true 24-bit (16.7 million) are still going to need to upgrade hardware, but
I can tell you right now that 640x480, 800x600 and 1200x400 with 256 straight
or 256,000+ HAM8 colors will suit me just fine! If I can find a cheap
framegrabber (24-bit), I'll be *real* happy. [Anyone want to buy an Impact
Vision board? :-]
The only thing I've heard people complain about is IDE. Well, they just
wouldn't be Commodore if *everything* was perfect. The DSP is going to take
care of the sound problem and Commodore's SCSI-2 board will handle the IDE
one.
Enough jabber...on to the news!
------------------------------------------
MORE NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF COMMODORE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[The following is a summary of information originally posted in the
comp.sys.amiga.advocacy and c.s.a.hardware newsgroups of Usenet.]
1) Commodore is aiming at two types of machine categories: low end and high
end.
A) The low end will consist of (eventually) 2 VLSI custom chips with a total
of about 100,000 transistors. In comparison, the ECS set has a total of
about 60,000 and the new AGA set has about 80,000 transistors. Chips will be
surface mount, CMOS for low power consumption, smaller space requirements and
cheaper manufacturing. The low end set would be able to address 32-bit DRAM
and have a 57 MHz programmable pixel clock. The low end machine will have a
4 Mb floppy drive; FIFO, high-speed serial port; 16-bit displays (65,536
colors onscreen) ; 24-bit palette (16.7 million to choose from); highspeed
blitter capable of handling 800 x 600 x 8 (256 color) screens in a 72 Hz
refresh mode that is twice as fast as what can be handled now at lower
resolutions. Backwards compatibility with the ECS and AGA is their main
priority.
B) The high end stuff looks even better: a total of four custom VLSI chips
with a total of between 750,000 and 1,000,000 transistors. Again, surface
mount and CMOS for the same reasons as above. 32-bit or 64-bit VRAM for very
fast performance; a programable pixel clock with rates between 57 MHz and 114
MHz (current AGA is 28 MHz); built-in frame grabbing; screen promotion;
super-fast serial ports; chunky-pixel mode graphics (in addition to straight
bitplane); on-demand DMA; 24-bit true-color displays; capability of 1 blitter
per bitplane [yowza!]; 32-bit blitter with over 8x current performance; 12x
to 20x the current bandwidth; 8-channel, 100 KHz, 16-bit audio; as backward
compatible as possible; 32-bit processor-independent processor slot (RISC was
mentioned a couple times!); built-in graphics compression;
2) Commodore is no longer going to sit on the sidelines and play catch-up
once every seven years. They plan on keeping in touch with the market and
the industry and being one of the industry leaders in innovation. This means
that when Motorola has a 100 MHz cpu, Commodore will have right there after.
3) A 32-bit, SCSI-2 board is coming from Commodore before Christmas; a
Digital Signal Processor in early 1993; retargetable graphics; full
PostScript support; system-level network support; full-motion MPEG video;
RISC processors; CDTV will be cost-reduced, enhanced and merged into the
Amiga line.
4) With network integration, many people believe that Commodore's TCP/IP
software will have the upgrade (v2.0) merged into the OS instead of releasing
it separately.
5) Design facilities have been improved; Commodore is outsourcing much of the
actual manufacturing to companies like HP and VLSI. Apparently the Commodore
Semiconductor Group (CSG) is only being used for making 6-micron parts for C-
64s (selling like hotcakes in Europe and the far east).
====================
IMPRESSIONS OF THE SHOW
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[The following is an edited version of a file written by Matt Davidian an
uploaded to GEnie.]
Jim Dionne answered some questions at the Keynote Address. When asked why
PrintShop wasn't available for the Amiga, he said this type of question
comes up a lot. He would like to see all software run on the Amiga,
except Windows, which drew a round of applause from the audience.
One way to get software ported is to pay the developer a lot of money to
do it, which Commodore isn't in the position to do. Also said the
software that's available is a reflection of what the installed user
base wants...On the C64, it's still selling around 700,000 in Europe,
so Commodore is still making them. Will the A500 be phased out with
the new A600? Sales figures will tell them what to do, Dionne said.
Why did Commodore let the education market get away from them and
let Apple and IBM get it? Commodore wasn't in the position to give
millions of dollars in hardware and discounts away like the others did.
Now with price wars, and margins getting smaller, the three companies
are more on an equal footing, Apple and IBM can't do that any longer.
(Although Apple and IBM do have the installed base, and C= doesn't)
Dionne said that he would love to have the 65% education market share
in the US that he saw when he worked in Canadian Commodore...Trade Up
programs to new AA computers? Dionne says they have had success with
these programs in the past, so given Commodore's "whatever sells"
philosophy...
Why no Amiga laptops? Basically, the old chips use too much power to
make a laptop feasable. Newer chips will use NMOS technology and
consume less power. Also these new chips will not be made by
Commodore (but they are designed by Commodore) The Lisa and Alice
chips are being made by three different companies. Three sources
should prevent supply problems. That about wraps up the keynote
address.
I talked a bit with Ed Green, who teaches a high school algebra,
geometry and chemistry class using CDTVs networked into an A3000. He
had a demo setup in the Commodore area. The system is amazing, and
could revolutionize teaching. His enthusiam for this system is very
catching. He goes on about his "five dollar network" (the cost of
the MIDI cable used to network the machines) and fifty cent textbook
(since such a large part of the instruction is on computer, the
"textbook" is photocopied) and he complains of sometimes not being
able to spend all of the $750,000 in grant money from Nabisco that is
funding this three year project because the hardware is so cheap.
Commodore had a press release in June on him, but this is the first
I've heard of this program. This is exactly the kind of PR stuff
that Commodore needs to improve its image.
I didn't get a chance to take a good look at AmigaVision Professional,
but from the spec sheet here are two highlights: Several CDTV
support features and a freely distributable runtime.
Final Copy II on the AA chipset looks fantastic. According to one
of the guys who wrote it, an upgrade mailing should be going out
next week. It seems to be working its way towards the type of high
end word processor the Amiga needs. From my experience with the
original Final Copy and Softwood's support of their products, I
highly recommend FC II.
ICD was showing their new Trifecta hard drive. It was running 4.5
minutes of Star Wars (where they escape from the Death Star) Full
screen lores nolace HAM at 30 fps & audio on a stock Amiga 500 w/1Mb
of chip RAM. The drive was transferring data at 1.9Mb/sec, total
size of video was 350K. I honestly though they had a VCR plugged
into the monitor when I first saw it. I had to walk around behind to
check if there was a composite connection. I'd heard about these
kinds of demos before, but I don't think it really sinks in until you
see it in person.
SAS was there, and although most Amiga owners probably don't have
their C compiler, in the end everyone will benefit from their
continued enhancements--better tools make program development faster
and easier. For those who don't know, Commodore has a new hypertext
system that SAS C 6.0 uses. I've heard this will become a standard
part of the operating system, but I don't know which revision.
There was a lot of other stuff there, but other people will probably
cover it. I've just tried to go over some of the stuff that
impressed me the most. If the next World of Commodore is near where
you live (or even if it isn't) go to it!
Matt Davidian
GEnie: M.DAVIDIAN1
Internet: matthewd@csufres.csufresno.edu
====================
COMPUTER BITS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
VIRTUAL REALITY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Virtual Reality '92 conference and exposition has been set for September
23 - 25, and will focus on three major themes: applications, hardware, and
software. The show, described by organizer Meckler Corp., as "North
America's largest virtual reality, artificial reality, and cyberspace
conference and exposition," will be held at the San Jose Fairmont Hotel.
If you register by September 9, the entrance price is $200 per day; $250 per
day if you register after September 9. Before September 9 all three days
cost $500.
According to the company, the first day will be mainly an introduction and
tutorial that will "examine the technological, economic, and
social/psychological aspects of virtual reality." The second day will cover
virtual reality applications in entertainment, simulation in education and
training, telepresence, medical, the military, and manufacturing. Day three
will cover a range of hardware and software technologies, with topics ranging
from system architecture issues, tracking environments, and navigating in
cyberspace.
In a related note, the California State University, Northridge's (CSUN)
Office of Disabled Student Services, had announced the schedule for its
second annual Virtual Reality and Disabilities Conference, set for March
17-20, 1993. The first (1992) session drew 2,200 participants.
----------
MULTIMEDIA
~~~~~~~~~~
Sunnyvale, CA based Videomail Corp. has released it's new television
processor board for IBM PC and compatible computers. Named the Digitiv, this
8-bit internal expansion card has a built-in 122-channel TV tuner and hi-fi,
4-watt stereo amp allowing for full-motion audio/video on any PC equipped
with an 80286, 386 or 486 microprocessor and VGA graphics.
NTSC video is displayed either full-screen or in a window. Television
functions are controlled by software and include, for audio: treble, bass,
balance, volume and mute; for video: window/full-screen, channel memory,
channel search and video/audio off (audio only or video only).
The board can take input from a video cassette recorder (VCR), a video
camera, a camcorder, a laserdisc, and a compact disc read-only memory (CD-
ROM) unit. The video from its TV tuner can also be output to a VCR for
recording.
All software runs in the background and does not interfere with running
applications.
For developers, the company is offering the Digitv Software Development Kit
(SDK). Videomail says the SDK allows custom application development, such as
a video controlled security system, for use with the Digitv board. Dynamic
Link Libraries (DLLs) for Microsoft Windows and sample code is included in
the $195 SDK. Both the Digitv board and the SDK are available now.
Retail price is $495.
-------------------
EA BUYS ORIGIN
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In a stock-swap for $35 million, software publisher Electronic Arts has
agreed to buy interactive video game producer Origin Systems Inc., publisher
of Richard Garriott's Ultima series of fantasy role-playing games.
EA says Origin will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary and Origin
President/CEO Robert Garriott will continue in this role and become a vice
president of Electronic Arts. Richard Garriott, senior vice
president/creative director of Origin, will continue in this role and become
an executive producer of Electronic Arts.
----------
PRESS RELEASE -- GVP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CINEMORPH DEBUTS AT PASEDENA WOC
KING OF PRUSSIA, PA - September, 1992. In a surprise move, GVP is
releasing a previously unannounced morphing package. Called CineMorph, this
impressive software system brings the features of a high-end commercial
morphing system to the Amiga, giving any user the ability to warp single
images, morph between two or more images, and even create sequences of full
motion morphs.
CineMorph features include exceptionally fast rendering that can be fully
automated to save you time. You can preview results within CineMorph or
render directly to Amiga formats, HAM-E, DCTV and 24-bit IFF with controls
provided directly in CineMorph. The system also supports full 24-bit output
for professional needs on framebuffers such as the IV24.
Using the industry standard dual window interface, CineMorph takes this
one step further by making these windows fully intuition based to allow
images to be shown and morphed in their correct aspect ratio.
These same windows can also be enlarged for precise editing. CineMorph
follows Amiga style conventions in all areas and uses logical and easy to
understand controls for it's entire operation.
Computer and video artists will appreciate the many professional
capabilities of CineMorph. Some of these features include the ability to
warp images for comic effect, merge similar scenes for film or video to
eliminate bad edits, and create full motion morph sequences for cinematic or
video effects using CineMorph's unmatched controls for automating the
creation of full motion sequences. Abilities not found in any other
Amiga-based morphing software!
"CineMorph is boon to anyone who uses the Amiga for video applications,"
says Lawrence Ough, Product Manager for the new product. "And it's suggested
retail price of $149.00 will put sophisticated morphing capabilities within
everyone's reach."
CineMorph represents the state of the art in morphing software on the
Amiga. It's currently being used by high profile companies in several
productions in Hollywood, New York and Florida, as well as many other
companies for their advertising, multimedia, and commercial works. See some
of their testimonials below:
Jennifer McKnew of The Post Group in Hollywood, CA says, "CineMorph's
interface is extremely professional and it's speed of rendering is
exponentially faster. It's great to see someone writing software with the
professional in mind."
"As a production house, we have pretty stringent standards for our work
and the programs that we use to produce it. I am continually amazed at the
quality of programming that shows up for the Amiga. A good example is the
CineMorph program. The capabilities of this program are mind-boggling,
especially when you consider that as recently as a year ago, true morphing
was beyond the budgetary reach of a number of my clients. Now we can offer
the service in house, on an Amiga. The program has been well-designed,
well-tested, and obviously well thought out. It's nice to run across
something so well put together from the start, and I foresee a lot of use for
CineMorph in our productions and presentations.", says Stephen M. Finn,
President of Solstice in Jensen Beach, FL.
AmigaWorld, in their October 1992 issue says, "Morphing in [CineMorph]
closely resembles the techniques used by high-end special-effects systems."
"I have looked at and worked with every major morphing package on every
major platform, and I can confidently say that CineMorph matches their
quality, is comparable to their speed and it blows away it's competition with
it's ease of use, level of production, and it's elegant user interface. Full
motion morphing have never been this easy and productive. Productivity is
the key word in lucrative graphics production, and CineMorph is the
definitive solution.", says Howard Schwartz, President of HJS Studios and
Creative Director and Partner with New Media Associates of New York, NY.
For more information on CineMorph contact Lawrence Ough at Great Valley
Products, Voice (215) 337-8770, Fax (215) 337-9922
----------
MOTOROLA ANNOUNCEMENT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Monday (Sept. 14), Motorola's High Performance Microprocessor Division
announced that its 68040 cpu provides the processing power in Commodore
Business Machines, Inc.'s new Amiga 4000 computers.
The Amiga 4000 is a full-scale multimedia system incorporating Commodore's
Advanced Graphics Architecture(tm) custom coprocessor chipset, enabling users
to display and animate graphics in multiple resolutions in up to 256,000
colors from a palette of 16.8 million. This array of colors and features
brings life-like images and photo- quality colors to any document or
presentation.
Motorola's family of microprocessors has been integral in the development of
the Amiga product line since its introduction in 1985.
"By utilizing the processing power of the 68040, Commodore is able to bring
high-quality multimedia capabilities to their users -- both in the consumer
and business markets," said Jim Reinhart, Motorola's manager of M68000
marketing and applications. "The power of the 68040 allows users to create
exciting video effects and fast-paced animations -- in a fraction of the time
and money it would cost on other machines relying on add-in cards for their
additional processing power."
Motorola's 68040 is an advanced single-chip processor incorporating more than
1.2 million transistors. Fabricated with Motorola's high- performance
complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (HCMOS) process, the 68040 integrates
an integer unit, a floating point unit, two memory- management units and two
4-kilobyte cache memories -- one for data and one for instructions. The two
on-chip caches provide high-speed temporary storage of information most
recently used by the processor. In data-intensive applications, such as those
used on the graphically- based Amiga 4000, this allows the processor to work
efficiently during the constant flow of information, thus making the 68040
the ideal microprocessor for such systems.
"Commodore remains dedicated to the 68000 Family because of the commitment we
see from Motorola to continue to add power and speed conducive to multimedia
applications," said James Dionne, president and general manager of Commodore
Business Machines, Inc. "We are confident that the introduction of the Amiga
4000 will keep Commodore and Motorola at the forefront of multimedia
technology."
----------
APPLE'S NEW MACS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apple recently unveiled it's new Mac Performa series of personal computers.
The Performas are targeted at the home computing market and will be sold
through major retail chaines like Sears, Bizmart and Circuit City.
The new models are actually repackaged versions of existing products. The
low-end Performa 200 is a virtal copy of the Macintosh Classis, built-in
monochrome screen and all.
The new models are based off of the Motorola 68030 cpu. One model (the 600
CD) has a built-in CD-ROM drive. Prices start at around $1,300 and run to
right around $3,000.
Apple says its research found that of the 66 million families in the United
States, only seven million own PCs. The study projects another seven million
families could afford a home computer but have not yet done so.
The Performas come with a spreadsheet, database, graphics and communications
software. Users have access to a one-year 800-service for help and, if
necessary, in-home service.
====================
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UNITED KINGDOM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apple Computer Corp. has signed an agreement with U.K. electronics retailer
Currys and Dixons to have a unique line of Macintosh computers sold in the
chain's business centers and superstores.
The agreement calls for 24 of Dixons' business centers, plus five Currys
superstores, to carry three specially configured Macs: the Classic 4/40, the
LC 4/40, and the Powerbook 100 4/40 notebook Mac, each bundled with preloaded
software.
The Classic 4/40 is being billed as an entry-level black-and-white machine.
As supplied, the machine comes with Wordperfect's Letterperfect word
processor, plus the Mac PC File Exchange package.
The Mac LC 4/40 is preloaded with Symantec's Greatworks plus Broderbund's
Kidpix package. Greatworks is an integrated package which includes word
processing, graphics, database, and spreadsheet modules.
The Powerbook 100 4/40 is being offered in its basic form, without software,
by the stores, although a full range of Mac software is also being carried by
the stores.
----------
CANADA
~~~~~~
Bell Canada, the country's largest regional telephone company, has filed a
proposal wth federal regulators that might result in heavy users paying a per
minute charge for local calls.
Company spokeswoman Denise Sarazin stressed that the proposal is tentative
and would only affect businesses that make large volumes of local calls.
Current (unofficial) plans call for a 1.8 cent per minute charge for
telephone lines that exceed 1,300 minutes per month.
Customers with multiple lines would be able to average their calling over all
their lines for billing purposes.
The proposal was a response to a CRTC request that Canada's telephone
companies suggest ways of correcting an imbalance between the rates charged
business customers with private branch exchanges (PBXs) and those with key
telephone systems. At present PBX rates are considerably higher, even though
today's key telephone systems offer almost the same functions.
Bell representatives said that they have about six more months of collecting
data before any final proposals are passed on to the federal regulatory
committee for consideration.
----------
GERMANY
~~~~~~~
Deutsche Bundespost Telekom's (DBT's) chairman, Helmut Ricke, has announced
that he plans to privatize the state telecoms company within the next few
years, certainly by the end of 1994.
Ricke plans to reduce the government's stake in DBT to just 24 percent by the
end of the year. This compares favorably with the 65 percent stake that the
British Government has in British Telecom, by way of an example.
Ricke is in favor of the government holding more than its current 24 percent,
however. In the newspaper interview, he said that a government stake of at
least 40 percent is necessary if DBT is to remain sufficiently competitive.
The DBT reform plans have received the agreement of the German Government.
----------
====================
[The following items were taken directly from GEnie's StarShip Amiga
Roundtable and their 5 Minute Weekend News breaks.]
CONTESTS, UPGRADES, JOBS, NEW PRODUCTS & CD-ROM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DMCS Upgrade!
Another much heralded project was confirmed today at the World of Commodore
Show as well: Electronic Arts has officially announced an upgrade to DELUXE
MUSIC CONSTRUCTION SET for the Amiga! Among other things, DMCS 2.0 will take
advantage of the new hardware features of the Amiga 4000, will support ALL
screen modes, and will include a freely distributable DMCS song player! It
does NOT look the same on the screen as the original DMCS. Availability is
set for "early winter" -- hopefully by Christmas!
_____________________________________________
/ \
| SPECIAL WORLD of COMMODORE SHOW DEBRIEFING |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| Mark your calendar NOW! |
| |
| Reserve NEXT Saturday Evening |
| |
| --September 19th -- |
| |
| For a Special World of Commodore Debriefing |
| LIVE in *StarShip* Conference Room 2! |
| |
| *StarShip* *Reporters who attended the Show |
| will be there in addition to exhibitors and |
| and developers! Starts at 10PM Eastern Time! |
\_____________________________________________/
-*-
Commodore Announces Amiga CD Solution Promotion
____ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
/ ___) West Chester, PA - September 2, 1992
/ /
/ (__
(_____)ommodore Business Machines Inc. today announced that through October
31, 1992, purchasers of the Amiga (R) 3000-25/50 or the Amiga 3000-25/100
will receive a free CDTV (R) Multimedia Player and Interface Kit. The "Amiga
CD Solution" promotion offers an attractive option for Amiga users who want
expanded audio and MIDI capabilities, access to CD-ROM discs from other
platforms, and who want to run CDTV applications.
Adding the CDTV Player and Interface Kit to an Amiga enables owners' access
to hundreds of CD-ROM discs based on the ISO-9660 format. According to David
Archambault, Commodore Director of Business Marketing, "Utilizing the CDTV
Player as an intelligent peripheral opens the door for users to hundreds of
text, music and picture collections available on CDTV-readable ISO-9660
disks. Text data and picture file formats can be converted from MS-DOS (R)
and Macintosh (R) formats using existing Amiga-based software. The promotion
is ideal for any Amiga user, particularly home and educational video
enthusiasts seeking expanded, low-cost features."
The "Amiga CD Solution" also offers users expanded audio and MIDI
capabilities through the CDTV Player. The unit can play standard audio CDs,
CD+Graphics, CD+MIDI discs, and access the large library of CDTV specific
titles. Both the Amiga and the CDTV player maintain the ability to run
thousands of Amiga disk-based applications as well.
The Interface Kit includes: a specially configured parallel port cable, for
connection between an Amiga and CDTV player; the ParNET file system, allowing
two-way communication between the systems; and the Fred Fish CD-ROM
collection, containing of over 600 freely redistributable programs.
The Manufacturer's Suggested List Price for the Amiga 3000-25/50 and the
Amiga 3000-25/100 are $2729 and $3379, respectively. Current Amiga owners can
purchase the CDTV Player and Interface Kit for $599.00. This promotion is
offered through Commodore authorized reseller locations.
-*-
_ __ _ Westwood Studios Needs Amiga Talent
( \/ \/ ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\ /
\_/\_/estwood Studios, a computer game and videogame publisher in Las
Vegas, Nevada, is now hiring Amiga programmers. Some of our most recent Amiga
products include DragonStrike, Eye of the Beholder, and EOB II: The Legend of
Darkmoon. We are growing rapidly, and we need experienced Amiga programmers
capable of programming projects of this type and caliber. We are also
interested in hiring Amiga programmers who are interested in applying their
talents to programming videogames on the Sega Genesis game system. If you're
interested, and you're REALLY good, and you're willing to relocate to Las
Vegas, then we want to talk to you! Send your resume to Christopher Yates at
the address below.
If you're a great Amiga artist and can draw computer graphics competitive
with the artwork in the above-mentioned products, then we want to talk to
you, too! Please send your resume to Rick Parks at:
Westwood Studios
3355 Spring Mountain Road, #49
Las Vegas, NV 89102
-*-
___ ___
(_ )( _)
/ /_/ /
/ __ /
_/ / / /
(___)(__)ere's a sampling of a couple of the more interesting press releases
from the first day of the Pasadena World of Commodore.
4000 REASONS TO OWN AN AMIGA CONTEST
Commodore's users have many reasons for using an Amiga system for both
professional and non-professional applications. Now Commodore would like to
give all users an opportunity to share their reasons for using an Amiga
through its "4000 Reasons To Own an Amiga Contest." Commodore will award an
Amiga 4000 to the Amiga user with the best overall entry. The second prize
winner will win an Amiga 600HD and the third prize winner will receive
AmigaVision Professional, Commodore's new authoring software.
Contest entry forms, along with Amiga T-Shirts and buttons, are available at
Commodore authorized dealers while supplies last. To enter, jot down in 25
words or less your reason for owning an Amiga. Entries must be postmarked
before October 23, 1992.
CSA HITS THE MARK WITH NEW DERRINGER AMIGA ACCELERATOR
Computer Systems Associates (CSA) is readying an all new accelerator, the
Derringer, that breaks speed and price barriers at the same time. The
Derringer is a new 25 Mhz 68030-based accelerator that gives A3000-level
performance for $249.95 -- about the same price as many 68000-based
accelerators -- while still running three to five times faster. The
Derringer supports the addition of 1, 2, 4, or 8 more megabytes DRAM
together with a 50 Mhz 68881 or 68882 math co-processor. Additional 16 and
32 megabyte DRAM upgrades will be possible as future DRAM technology
develops.
The CSA Derringer is a self-contained, single-board plug-and-play unit that
replaces the 68000 CPU inside your Amiga. It will work with any A500 or
A2000 and is scheduled to ship during the fourth quarter of 1992.
Inovatronics was demonstrating CanDo 2.0. This version, finished just before
the show, features script bookmarking - allowing you to mark places in your
script for easy return; SuperDuper - a utility that allows you to insert
spreadsheet-style columns and rows of objects into your applications; Object
Layer Tool - which allows you to change the hierarchy of objects - and an
error-checking utility, Bug Basher.
Color was the name of the game at the Centaur booth - over 16 million of
them, to be precise. The OpalVision 24-bit graphics board, currently
shipping, was the centerpiece of this display. If you've missed the splash
ads, the OpalVision board offers 24-bit color now, with a bundled paint
program, and promises Toaster-like capabilities in the future through add-
on modules.
You couldn't miss the Sunrize booth; it could be heard from any point on the
floor. Sunrize was busy demonstrating their new 16-bit audio card, the
AD516. This board features 8 tracks of sound, a time code reader, and a
Digital Signal Processor on one card, and is bundled with the Studio 16
sound editing program.
Sunrize plans to release the DD524 Digital Audio I/O board within 6 months.
This board will feature direct import/export of digital audio between the
Amiga and a Digital Audio Tape or CD player.
The word from the GVP folks was that Mirage, a world-class Image Processing
program, will ship just as soon as the manual is finished. Meanwhile,
they've released CimeMorph, a polymorphing program capable of rendering to
any Amiga mode, as well as DCTV, HAM-E, and 24-bits. CineMorph will perform
static or full-motion morphing, works on single image or sequences, can
generate and automate animations, and features AmigaGuide online help.
Over in the Merit Software booth, football ruled. Tom Landry Strategy
Football, that is. In an interesting twist, this game - co-designed by Tom
Landry - was developed on the Amiga and then ported to the PC. It features a
2-player modem option (with a chat mode) as well as VCR-style instant
replays. If the game gets too tough for you, you can always consult with the
master through the "Ask Landry" option. Tom Landry Strategy Football is
expected to ship within a month.
The Digital Micronics booth featured two things: Speed and More Speed. The
Vivid 24 board offers 24-bit graphics, resolutions as high as 2048 X 2048,
and the ability to perform operations at speeds of up to 160 million
floating point operations per second. The modular design of this graphics
co-processor allows you to add various upgrade modules, ranging from math
co-processors to a video effects generator. The Digital EditMaster board
features editing speed. This board offers full-motion JPEG - in real-time -
as well as 30 fps video capture. The EditMaster board can be connected to
the Vivid 24 board for real-time 24-bit image transfer from hard disk to
screen.
There was more to see, of course, but some things had to be left for another
day. This was only the first day of the show, as well as the first day in
the life of a new family of Amigas. How to sum up the show? Perhaps with the
most frequently-heard expression on the floor: "I want one!"
====================
FINALLY
~~~~~~~
The words I've been hearing from developers and dealers are all good for
Commodore. Other than IDE, no one has complained. In fact, I've heard
nothing but praise for every aspect of the show and the new products (again,
not including IDE).
Commodore is actually advertising. They supposedly have ads in most major
computer magazines and reports are that in one, their new ad has generated
more response-card responses than any other ad, ever. No, not just any other
*Commodore* ad, but more than *ANY* other ad. Yowza!
Heck, I've also heard that the ads are funny, intelligent and quite
effective. Are we sure that this is *Commodore*?
Oh well...
Last but not least, some rumors.
Word is that Commodore and New Tek are at *war*. New Tek is displeased at
Commodore 'cause the Toaster doesn't fit in the A3000 or A4000; about the
problems they had with the ECS Denise; about Commodore's snit over covering
the Amiga name; etc. Commodore is displeased at New Tek's covering of the
Amiga name; failure to properly follow specs (so the Toaster would fit in new
machines); as well as general snootieness.
So, big deal?
Word has it that New Tek has had a version of the Toaster that fits in the
A3000 and is holding it back to annoy Commodore.
Word has it that New Tek is 6 months away from having a stand-alone version
of the Toaster (can you say "law suit" boys-n-girls).
Word has it that Commodore is going to stop production of the A2000 at the
end of the year and force New Tek to release an A3000/4000 version of the
Toaster.
Ain't life fun? If New Tek really has a stand-alone version of the Toaster,
then that means they must've reverse-engineered the custom chips. THAT means
an impending Commodore lawsuit & injunction against Toaster sales. THAT
would most likely mean that New Tek would go belly up (New Tek may be hot,
but Commodore is *big* and has the cash to wait out a law suit). Can you say
"Commodore buy out?"
On the other end, word is that Commodore and GVP are so tight, on any given
day you may see more GVP engineers at Commodore than at GVP and more CBM
engineers at GVP than Commodore. Word is Commodore's upcoming SCSI-2 board
was designed mostly by GVP.
Until next time...
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AMReport International Online Magazine
Available through more than 10,000 Private BBS systems WorldWide!
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AMReport "YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE" September 16, 1992
32bit Magazine copyright 1992 Volume 2 Issue 9
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