@database ANB1.04 ## USE AMIGAGUIDE TO VIEW THIS FILE @width 78 @wordwrap @font topaz.font 8 ## @node Main "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" þþþþþ þþþþþ @{b}A M i G A@{ub} þþþþþ þþþþþ @{b}N E W S B i T S@{ub} þþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþ 01-06-94 þþþþþ þþþþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþþþþ #1.05 þþþþþþþþþþþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþþþþ þþþþþþþþþþþþþþ þþþþþþþþþþþþþþþ @{" News " link News} þþþþþþ þþþþþþþ þþþþþþþþþþþþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþþ @{" Products " link Anno} þþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþþþþþþþþþþ @{" Credits " link Cred} þþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþþþþþþþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþþþþ @{" Distribution " link Dist} þþþþþ þþþþþþ þþþþþ þþþþþþ @endnode ## @node Cred "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}CREDITS@{ub} EDITOR oo Vince Yallop + vyallop@cix.compulink.co.uk -\\/- Fido 2:251/41.1 + AmigaNet 39:134/14.1 + CNet 76:80/10.1 INSTALLER SCRIPT David Tiberio - dtiberio@libserv1.ic.sunysb.edu USENET MODERATORS: ANNOUNCEMENTS & REVIEWS Mailing list: announce-request@cs.ucdavis.edu. Comments to CSAA@megalith.miami.fl.us. Mail all comp.sys.amiga.announce Announcements to announce@cs.ucdavis.edu. Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu Anonymous ftp site: math.uh.edu, in /pub/Amiga/comp.sys.amiga.reviews @{b}DISCLAIMER@{ub} Opinions in issues of Amiga Newsbits are not necessarily those of the Editor, and comments should be directed towards credited authors of texts. Amiga Newsbits cannot be held responsible incorrect information. Trusted sources have been used whenever possible. The rest is either unconfirmed fact, rumour or fantasy, so take information supplied "AS IS". Amiga Newsbits is an independent publication. @endnode ## @node Dist "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}DISTRIBUTION@{ub} This file may be freely distributed as long as all credits remain intact, no alterations take place and no charge is made. (c)1994 Amiga Newsbits is published on the @{b}1st@{ub} and @{b}15th@{ub} of each month in the UK and is spread worldwide. @{b}LATEST ISSUE@{ub} @{" Aminet " link DistANet} Worldwide FTP @{" Mostly Harmless " link DistMH} Havant, UK @{" Communication " link DistCO} Berlin, Germany Next issue's file name will be: anb106.lha @endnode @node DistANet "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}AMINET@{ub} On days of publication, Amiga Newsbits will be uploaded to central Aminet site wuarchive.wustl.edu and should quickly appear in the pub/aminet/docs/mags directory, ready for FTP. Sites acting as mirrors are: ftp.wustl.edu ftp.cdrom.com ftp.luth.se src.doc.ic.ac.uk ftp.etsu.edu ftp.eunet.ch ftp.th-darmstadt.de ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de ftp.uni-oldenburg.de ftp.uni-kl.de litamiga.epfl.ch ftp.uni-paderborn.de If you do not have FTP access, but do have an internet e-mail address, then you are able to make use of an FTP mail server which will UUEncode files from FTP sites. For example, send the following message to ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk: open src.doc.ic.ac.uk anonymous YOUR_E-MAIL_ADDRESS_HERE get pub/aminet/docs/mags/FILE_NAME quit Remember to put in your e-mail address, and use the issue name of the Amiga Newsbits you're after. @endnode @node DistMH "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}MOSTLY HARMLESS@{ub} o Official AMiGA NEWSBiTS Archive & Primary Distribution Site o From the UK: 0705 614824 - From Abroad: +44 705 614824 - 2 Nodes o USR DS 21K6 HST V32ter - Amiga 3000 - 300MB - CD-ROM - Xenolink - 24hrs o FidoNet 2:251/41 - AmigaNet 39:134/14 - CNet 76:80/10 - 175+ Echos o Sysop: Lee Sanders [sis1717@osiris.sis.port.ac.uk] - Co: Vince Yallop o For All Your Amiga Needs - PD + Friendly Help, Advice & Chat o Official Mostly Harmless Spider! =O= @endnode @node DistCO "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}COMMUNICATION @{ub} o Berlin, Germany - since April 1992 o Independent Multi-User Mailbox and Chatbox - DM 5 per month o Betreiber: Stephan Sprang + Sysops: several o 1GB + 2 CD-ROMs - Amiga, Atari, PC o AMiGA NEWSBiTS - A FREE DOWNLOAD Importer: Holger Behrens [behrens_h@fhi-berlin.mpg.de] o Twelve Lines - 24 Hours, 7 Days! 16K8/V42bis: +49-30-862-1486 - MNP5/V42bis: +49 30 861 3161, +49 30 861 5817, +49 30 861 7698, +49 30 861 6271, +49 30 861 4871, +49 30 861 4567, +49 30 861 336 - MNP5: +49 30 87 6693, +49 30 87 4007, +49 30 87 4756, +49 30 861 5679 @endnode ## @node NewsDiary "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}DIARY DATES@{ub} - JUNE 94 Multimedia 94 London, Tues 7-Thurs 9, +44/0 81 742 2828 Computer Solutions Exhibition Glasgow, +44/0 822 614671 Consumer Electronics Show Chicago, Thurs 23-Sat 25, +1 202 457 8700 - JULY 94 Computer Deals 94 London, Fri 22-Sun 24, +44/0 61 474 7378 - SEPTEMBER 94 VR User Show London, Tues 13-Thurs 15, +44/0 81 996 3632 Live 94 London, Tues 20-Sun 25 - OCTOBER 94 BBC Big Bash Birmingham, Thurs 6-Sun 9, +44/0 943 5000 Future Computing Show London, Wed 26-Sun 30 - NOVEMBER 94 Supergames Paris, Wed 30-Sun 4, +331 42 00 33 05 @endnode ## @node News "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}NEWS@{ub} @{" Amiga Update " link NewsAmi} First & Foremost @{" Industry Developments " link NewsInd} Hardware & Company @{" Retail Window " link NewsRet} Consumer @{" Game Play " link NewsGam} Entertainment @{b}EVENTS@{ub} @{" Diary Dates " link NewsDiary} When & Where @endnode @node NewsAmi "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}AMIGA UPDATE@{ub} A PERIOD OF WAIT - No announcement has yet been made of an Amiga or Commodore take-over. Samsung is expected to be holding the reigns, and a Usenet-posted message in the past couple of days says that one distributor has alread been told of a deal and that Commodore is now a division of Samsung. DEVELOPMENT HALTED - SAS has brought development of their Amiga C compiler to a halt as uncertainity continues. Other platforms still have backing. @endnode @node NewsInd "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS@{ub} SMALLER SPEND SUCCESS - As major console pushers lower their advertising budgets in Europe, it seems that there will be less television campaigning and more muscle for press and poster promotion. Nintendo's Warioland for the Game Boy leapt straight to the console number one position in its first days with this 'minimalist' approach. PIRATES ON THE HIGH CDs - ELSPA has warned multimediarists about the threat of CD piracy, telling retailers to be on their guard for bootleg discs. Seven police raids have been held in recent weeks and six arrests have been made. Pirates are using CDs' storage advantage to compile software with a retail value of £20,000. GAMETEK GOES MOVIELAND - Gametek has formed Gametek Cinema and Kidstuff Cinema labels to publish thirty Video CD titles this year. Included in signings are Charlie Chaplin material and Fritz Lang's Metropolis. MICROSOFT ON DEMAND - Microsoft has announced its Tiger software for PCs which will offer access to video-on-demand services at a claimed fraction of the cost of technology developed by companies such as IBM and HP. CD STORAGE TIMES TEN - IBM scientists claim to have developed a CD which can hold ten times as much as current discs - taking it to one million pages of text, 12 hours of music and several movies; all with a seek time of 10 seconds maximum. The product is thicker, using layer techniques to store more. T17 KEEPS CONSOLE CLEAR - Team 17, small-time big-time developers, have said that they plan to continue to avoid 16-bit consoles. Offers have been made to convert best-selling Amiga games, but they have turned them down for the sake of quality control, saying 16-bit console world "is past its sell by sale". GOOD NEWS - Amiga and PC sales rose in April while cartridges fell. Sega dropped 2.8% to 23%, while Amiga increased from 19.6% to 21%. PC format sales have passed the SNES - 12.5% against 12.2% for third place. The CD32 took 49.5% of CD game sales, followed by the PC on 28.7% and Mega CD at 19.2% - down 22.6% in just three months! @endnode @node NewsRet "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}RETAIL WINDOW@{ub} JAGUAR RUMBLINGS - Rumbelows is expected to stock the Jaguar in the UK. The first batch of around 1,700 will continue to go to independent retailers, but these numbers are still low for an official launch. Distributor SDL has suggested an RRP of £249 - £20 more than earlier planned - because of import by air. Atari have blamed production problems for low numbers - the US only had a tenth of the promised half million last year. @endnode @node NewsGam "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}GAME PLAY@{ub} FUNNY OLD GAME - Infogrames are making a late-announced addition to a number now nearing 20 games appearing around the time of the World Cup. Real World Football will appear on Amiga 1200, CD32 and PC to offer a first-person perspective simulation of pitch action. It has been developed by Condor Software of France. @endnode ## @node Anno "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}ANNOUNCEMENTS@{ub} from Usenet comp.sys.amiga.announce @{" Beginner's Guide to Amiga E 1.0 " link UEEE} @{" DeepSpace 1.2 " link UDEE} @{" DFA 2.0 " link UDFA} @{" DirWork 2 " link UDIR} @{" EAGUI library 2.2 " link UEAG} @{" Editor.Gadget 1.0 " link UEDG} @{" FGP 2.02 " link UFGP} @{" ImageDx 2.1 " link UIMG} @{" InfraRexx 1.0 " link UINF} @{" MidiPlay 2.11 " link UMID} @{" Part and Particle 1.0 " link UPAR} @{" QuickTools 1.1 " link UQUI} @{" Simple Stat Graph 1.0 " link USIM} @{" SprioDraw04 " link USPI} @{" Thor 1.22 " link UTHO} @{" Window Daemon 1.9 " link UWIN} @{" WinkBug " link UWNK} @{" Yak 1.58 " link UYAK} @{b}REVIEWS@{ub} from Usenet comp.sys.amiga.reviews @{" A64 3.0 " link UASF} @{" Another World " link UANO} @{" DaggeX 1.0 " link UDAG} @{" DSS8+ 2.01 " link UDSS} @{" Fury of the Furries CD32 " link UFUR} @{" GigaMem 3.0 " link UGIG} @{" Klondike AGA 1.1 " link UKLO} @{" Microbotics MBX1230 " link UMIC} @{" Rush 2 " link URUS} @{" TypeSmith 2.02 " link UTYP} @{b}PREVIWS@{ub} @{" Coming to a drive near you.. " link AnnoComing} @endnode @node UDEE "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Darrell Neumiller Subject: DeepSpace V1.2 TITLE DeepSpace VERSION V1.2 AUTHOR Todd & Darrell Neumiller (Darrell Neumiller - neumille@hpspkla.spk.hp.com) DESCRIPTION DeepSpace is a Shell/CLI multi-player, multi-node BBS, space roll playing game. Real time fighting, chat and etc. You can have up to 20 players playing the game at the same time. Only 10 players are allowed to play a game in the unregisted version, and up to 100 users after DeepSpace has been registered. If your BBS can't run a Shell/CLI door, we have a Paragon door version too. You can also play DeepSpace locally from a SHELL while other players are playing the game at the same time. FEATURES - Documentation is in Amigaguide format. - Easy to use installation program. - On-line Editor for players, aliens and planets. - Up to 50 definable names for Alien races can be used in a game. FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS We haven't finished everything we originally set out to accomplish with DeepSpace. Here is a few of our version 2 enhancement ideas. - If you go through the BlackHole when it's un-stable (and make it through) you will see the planet 'Praxis'. The players will be able beam to/from the planet. Hostile Mutants, Aliens and on-line players could be on the planet. Different objects could be obtained there, Weapons, Crystals, and Better Scanners? ect.. An example that's being considered: A weapon that can be left at the DeepSpace port, which could be programmed, via DNA scan, to detonate when a certain Explorer arrives at the port. - Gambling at the DeepSpace port. Possibly against other on-line players as well. - The Shap Shifter could be anywhere! Could be selling illegal items from planet Praxis? Could end up in jail with no way out, or will there be a way out? DISTRIBUTION DeepSpace is shareware. It is freely distributable, as long as you distribute all files. Feel free to include it in any public domain collections (i.e. fish disks). REQUIREMENTS Workbench 2.0 or higher. You install DeepSpace with its own installation program. RELEASE DATE May 10, 1994. HOST NAME Any Aminet server... i.e. wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) DIRECTORY comm/bbs FILE NAME DeepSpaceV1_2.lha (SHELL/CLI Version) DeepSpacePV1_2.lha (PARAGON Version) PRICE Shareware fee of $20 US. @endnode @node UDFA "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Dirk Federlein Subject: DFA V2.0 TITLE DFA(ddress) VERSION V2.0 AUTHOR Dirk Federlein UUCP: dirkf@alcmy.franken.de (prefered!) (dirk@alcmy.adsp.sub.org) Fido: 2:244/6302.12 DESCRIPTION DFA is the ultimate address utility for every AMIGA computer that runs at least Workbench 2.0. Native languages are supported as soon as one has installed Workbench 2.1 and above; Workbench 3.0 will be supported, if is available. DFA is not like any other address tool. It is an ideal combination of a lot of features and an easy to use program. Inspite of this combination it tries to use even less RAM than former versions of DFA. Registered users will get a keyfile that enables saving of the DFA-Preferences, which is disabled in the public release. DFA should be installed using the provided install script. The installer program ((c) Commodore) is included! FEATURES - Arexx port that understand more than 30 commands - Arexx scripts can be bound to function keys - Support of up to three email addresses - Can dial the stored telephone numbers - Prints your addresses in several different formats - All windows are fully font sensitive - Locale support (german and english) - Supports OS3.x if available - Context sensitive online help - AMIGAGUIDE and TEX documentation; both english and german NEW FEATURES - Extended client server mechanism. - Address grouping - Complete rewrite of the DFA Arexx port - Toolbox - Address listview can be configured - Added a configurable panel listview - c/O and state field added - Support of "external" files - Search function improved - The dial function was rewritten from scratch. - The load and the save routine were sped up a lot. - Optimized memory usage (Memory pools etc.) - Simple network support - Seperate preferences program - 8-color MagicWB icons by Martin 'XEN' Huttenloher. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS DFA needs at least Kickstart/Workbench 2.04 to run. It takes advantage of the new features included in version 2.1 (Locale support) and uses even some features coming with OS 3.0 if available. DFA is made to run on all all systems, starting with the A500+ and ending up with the A4000(T). More than 512KB of RAM and a harddisk is recommended. HOST NAME wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) PRICE Shareware fee: DM US$ Program itself........................30.00 20.00 Printed manual (optional): English TeX manual....................20.00 15.00 German TeX manual.....................20.00 15.00 Additional fee for postage (airmail): Outside of Europe, NO MANUAL...........5.00 5.00 Outside of Europe, AND MANUAL.........15.00 10.00 See documentation for additional information. DISTRIBUTABILITY DFA is NOT PD. It is shareware. The author keeps the copyright over the whole package. The public version of DFA (without the keyfile!) is freely (re)distributable, but noone is allowed to sell the program for more money than to cover just the costs of copying. In any case noone may charge more than Fred Fish claims for one of his "Library Disks"! @endnode @node UDIR "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" Reply-To: Eddy Coopmans Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.announce Message-Id: Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 02:17:26 -0400 (EDT) Subject: DirWorks 2 U.S. distribution TITLE DirWork 2 AUTHOR Chris Hames PUBLISHER Quasar distribution Australia U.S. DISTRIBUTION Spectronics International U.S.A., Inc. Champaign, IL 61820 DESCRIPTION DirWork 2 is a fully configurable directory utility. Because of the configuraration possibilities, DirWork 2 can also be used to create docking programs, software and hardware control panels, etc. DirWork 2 allows for the editing of virtually every aspect of the program. FEATURES - Unlimited number of buttons - Buttons can be any size, font, position or color - Key qualifiers allow hundreds of actions for each button - Unlimited number of menus in any font or color - Instant file type recognition and action - Fully programmable HotKeys - Keyboard shortcuts for any buttons/menus/etc. - Full support for three button mouse - Any Amiga screen mode can be used for DirWork - DirWork can be used as a window on the Workbench - Display time, date and even global variables - Add AppIcons to your Workbench - Tools can be added to the Tools meny (2.0x onwards) - ARexx port - Virus Checker - Automatic bootblock checking - Full diskcopy functions -format, install, format quick, copy -HD drives supported - Full system information -show tasks, memory, cards, devices, etc. -watch system for tasks, ToolTypes, etc. - Display pictures -palette can be changed -screenmode and resolution can be changed -can be printed to a preferences printer -Datatype support (3.0 onwards) - Text viewer -view ASCII, ANSI and HEX -can be printed to a preferences printer -search text for strings - Play sound samples and ProTracker Mods - Fully featured Configuration editor - And more.............. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Runs on Amigas with Kickstart 1.2 upwards. Operates easily with only 512K RAM. U.S. DISTRIBUTION AND PRICING Spectronics International USA, Inc. has just been granted the North American distribution rights for DirWorks 2 by Chris Hames. For a review of this program refer to comp.sys.amiga.review, msg. 516. A copy of this review is also available on our BBS. DirWorks 2 will be available in the US for $99.95 SRP As an incentive, we are offering following special introductory offers : 1 - $89.95 for a limited time only when purchased directly from Spectronics. 2 - $50.00 upgrade offer for Directory Opus users. To qualify, send first page of manual and original disk. Prepay required for upgrade offer. For more information, please contact : Spectronics Int'l USA, Inc. 34 East Main Street #23 Champaign, IL 61820 Tel (217) 352 0061 Fax (217) 352 0063 BBS (217) 352 7627 spectron@prairienet.org @endnode @node UEEE "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Jason Hulance Subject: Beginner's Guide to Amiga E TITLE Beginner's Guide to Amiga E VERSION Edition 1.0. Covers the latest (PD) version 2.1b of Amiga E. AUTHOR Jason R. Hulance (or ). DESCRIPTION This Guide is intended to be complementary to the existing Amiga E documentation, and it is aimed at the beginner, rather than the more experienced programmer. Amiga E is (currently) an Amiga specific programmming language, designed and implemented by Wouter van Oortmerssen. It has become quite popular due to, amongst other things, its amazingly fast compilation speed and its similarity to C and Modula-2. The Guide is divided into three main parts: the first assumes very little knowledge of programming and progresses through the second to describe all aspects of the Amiga E language. The third part is dedicated to some illustrative examples. Experienced programmers (who are new to Amiga E) may find the second part useful for learning the language, especially if read in conjunction with Wouter's documentation. The topics covered in Part One include procedures, variables and expressions. Part Two builds on this, describing the type system (including the list and string types), quoted expressions, built-in functions, modules, exceptions and recursion. The Guide may also be used as a quick reference, since it includes both a language and a concept index. The concept index is pretty exhaustive. The language index covers all the language keywords and built-in functions, constants and variables. There are two forms of the Guide included in the archive: an AmigaGuide(R), hypertext version and an ANSI text version. (The latter is the more suitable for printing, using standard Amiga printer drivers.) Other forms are available (such as a more AmigaGuide-v34 friendly version) from the author (see below). SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS To get the most from this you need the Amiga E package, obviously. The current version is v2.1b and is Public Domain. You can find it in, for instance, the dev/e directory on any Aminet site. If you don't already have a copy, try it: you might be very surprised. There is a text version of the Guide in the archive, so you don't need to use a hypertext viewer, but it is preferable. HOST NAME Aminet. For example, ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.2.1) in the UK. DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/dev/e FILE NAMES BeginnersGuide.lzh (200Kbytes) PRICE Free. A more AmigaGuide-v34 friendly version is also available, but separately from the author (to keep the archive size down). Also, a TeX dvi and a PostScript version are available for a small cost (five UK pounds). They don't contain anything more, but are much nicer for printing (the cross references and indexes, especially). DISTRIBUTABILITY The archive is freely distributable so long as it is complete and unaltered. All versions of the Guide are Copyright (c) 1994, Jason R. Hulance. OTHER Amiga E v3.0 is due out sometime soon. Wouter has been doing a grand job extending and improving the language. There are a lot of really exciting new features. This Guide will hopefully be completely revised to cover the new version. You, the reader, are strongly encouraged to help me improve it by sending me your criticisms. @endnode @node UEAG "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: "m.offermans" Subject: EAGUI.library 2.2 TITLE EAGUI.library VERSION 2.2 AUTHOR Marcel Offermans 2:281/614.1@fidonet marcel@dutw30.tudelft.nl Frank Groen < hasn't got access to e-mail at the moment > DESCRIPTION The Environment Adaptive Graphic User Interface (EAGUI) is a system which allows you to build interfaces that, as the name suggests, adapt to the environment they're run in. It uses normal GadTools and BOOPSI gadgets, and does not modify them in any way. This allows programmers to implement EAGUI in existing applications easily. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS EAGUI needs at least Release 2 of the AmigaOS, and is Release 3 aware. HOST NAME Available on AmiNet ftp.uni-paderborn.de (131.234.2.32) DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/dev/gui FILE NAMES EAGUI22.lha (42121 bytes) DISTRIBUTABILITY Copyright (C) 1993, 1994 Marcel Offermans and Frank Groen. You may distribute this package for free only if you don't make any money out of it yourself. If you do, or use it in a ShareWare or Commercial program, you must contact us first for a license. OTHER The archive can also be freq'ed from The Amiga Developers Domain (TADD) at (2:281/614@fidonet). Using the magic filename EAGUI always gets you the latest available version. You can reach TADD at +31-15-157954 or alternatively +31-15-144825. @endnode @node UEDG "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Mark Thomas Subject: Editor Gadget 1.0 TITLE Editor.Gadget VERSION 1.0 AUTHOR Mark Thomas Email: mthomas@cs.utexas.edu Smail: 1515 Royal Crest Dr. #3259 Austin, TX 78741 DESCRIPTION The editor.gadget is a BOOPSI gadget for text entry, supporting multiple lines, borders, two cursor types, an optional notepad look, font setting, style setting, and much more. A programmer who is familiar with BOOPSI can use this gadget by simply creating an instance and then adding the gadget instance to a window's gadget list. All text editing is then handled by the gadget. When the programmer needs the text in the gadget, he/she can just read the text in. When the gadget is no longer needed it can be deleted. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS The gadget requires OS 2.04 and up. From the user's standpoint, for OS 2.04 and 2.1 the gadget must be placed in a drawer where the application that uses it exists, and for OS 3.0 and up the gadget can be installed in SYS:Classes/Gadgets. HOST NAME It is available on Aminet. Aminet's main site is ftp.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4). DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/dev/gui FILE NAME editorgadget.lha PRICE I do not require a fee to be paid by end users of the gadget, but the programs that use the gadget may require paying a fee of some sort, which should be directed to the author of that software, not me. The cost for using this gadget in a program is that I get a copy of the software package it is used in, at no cost to me. The purpose of this requirement is that I will be able to evaluate future needs of the gadget. Also, there should be mention of the gadget and author in the programs and documentation of the programs that use the gadget. In programs you can drop a short line in the About requester: editor.gadget by Mark Thomas. DISTRIBUTABILITY The archive may be distributed only in its entirety to anywhere, such as ftp sites, a BBS, or a disk collection such as Fish disks. The editor.gadget file itself, and portions of the documentation pertaining to editor keyboard sequences can be distributed with software packages that use the gadget. In light of the fact that I give people the right to copy the archive and certain files, I can't actually retain a "copy" right, so therefore I am retaining the maintenance right (not recognized by law I'm sure). This right gives me the exclusive ability to make modifications to the files in the archive. OTHER Please send any bug reports or suggestions to me. There is a fully working example program that uses the gadget in the archive. @endnode @node UFGP "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Simon Austin Subject: FGP2 2.02 TITLE FGP2 VERSION 2.02 AUTHOR Simon Austin (austins@sol2.uel.ac.uk) DESCRIPTION At the start of this Formula One season Autosport magazine started running a Fantasy Grand Prix competition. FGP2 is a program which allows you to avoid working out how many places your driver gained on his grid position and shows how many points Rubens Barrichello scored by coming in third. FGP2 has a simple command line interface and takes most of its input in the form of human-readable ascii files which can be created on any text editor. FGP2 comes complete with enough data files to get you up to date (currently the Monaco Grand Prix), full instructions and rules. As of this release FGP2 2.02 can cope with up to 50 fantasy teams and contains details for all the drivers who have driven in this season. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS None. HOST NAME Any aminet site e.g. ftp.luth.se (130.240.16.3) DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/game/misc FILE NAMES fgp202.lha 18511 bytes fgp202.readme 1919 bytes PRICE free, gratis, nada, nuthin', nowt. DISTRIBUTABILITY Freely distributable. Program Copyright 1994 Simon Austin. Results Format Copyright 1994 John Simpson. @endnode @node UIMG "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Zach Williams Subject: ImageDex 2.1 TITLE ImageDex 2.1 AUTHOR Zach Williams (zachws@ids.net) Precision Imagery PO Box 20676 Cranston, RI 02920 DESCRIPTION Update and bug-fix to utility program that acts as a graphic front-end to Art Department Professional 2.2 to 2.5. Program will take a series of image files (any format) and create an image index of scaled down "thumb-nail" pictures, labelled appropriately. Useful for catalogging images, textures and anim frames, allowing them to be stored off the main system. NEW FEATURES - Several bug fixes from version 2.0 - Multiple output resolutions, including PAL screens. - New output modes (DCTV, 24-bit IFF, HAM8) - Greatly improved requesters - uses ReqTools - More choices for number of pictures per image - Full menus with hot-keys - Options for printable output (ex. gray-scale, white background) - Cleaner, sharper, more colorful output - Fuel-gauge type "% Complete" display - Many bug fixes from 1.0 SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS - AmigaDOS 2.0+ - Art Department Professional 2.2+ - ARexx HOST Aminet FTP sites (ftp.wustl.edu, ftp.luth.se, etc) DIRECTORY pub/aminet/gfx/misc FILENAME ImagDx21.lha PRICE ShareWare, $15 reg. fee. DISTRIBUTION Freely redistributable as long as archive is intact. All rights reserved. Not to be re-sold, except for duplication/disk costs ($4 max), or with express written consent from the author. @endnode @node UINF "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" Reply-To: Leon Woestenberg Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.announce Message-Id: Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 02:17:43 -0400 (EDT) Subject: InfraRexx 1.0 TITLE InfraRexx (and InfraJoy hardware design) VERSION 1.0 RELEASE DATE 11-May-94 AUTHORS Leon Woestenberg (leon@stack.urc.tue.nl) Jeroen Steenblik (jeroens@stack.urc.tue.nl) DESCRIPTION The InfraRexx software along with the InfraJoy hardware serve as an ARexx-to-infrared interface, that adds the function of an infrared remote controller to your Amiga, and more. With this software and hardware you can: o Control external audio/video devices via ARexx commands. o Control Amiga programs via a common remote control unit. o Learn and edit new remote control infrared commands. For example you can control a moduleplayer via your compact disc player remote control unit. Or, control your video tape recorder via a graphic user interface. The main features are: o Seperate editor (with learner) and ARexx host commodity. o Multitasking-friendly infrared sampling monitor, with very low system overhead during monitoring, can also be disabled. o Font-sensitive, style-compliant graphic user interface. o Localization for Workbench 2.1+ users, and newlook menus for Kickstart 3.0+ users. o Lowcost hardware for joystickport, with optional throughput. o Uses the Amiga Installer Utility to install onto (hard)disk. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS InfraRexx needs at least AmigaOS version 2.0, and the commodity needs ARexx Master to be running in order to be useful. The software is useless without the small InfraJoy hardware add-on, off which the design and full building instructions are included. The hardware can also be ordered by one of the authors. HOST NAME Aminet FTP servers, like ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk (146.169.2.1) DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/util/rexx FILE NAME InfraRexx1.0.lha (72427 bytes) PRICE Free. The required hardware costs about US$8 if self-built, but can also be ordered via one of the authors for the amount of US$16. The optional registration fee is US$10. DISTRIBUTABILITY Freeware; freely distributable software and hardware design. InfraRexx Copyrights 1994 by Leon Woestenberg. InfraJoy hardware design Copyrights 1994 by Jeroen Steenblik and Leon Woestenberg. @endnode @node UMID "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" Reply-To: Janne Syv{niemi Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.announce Message-Id: Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 02:16:49 -0400 (EDT) Subject: MidiPlay v2.11 TITLE MidiPlay VERSION Version 2.11 (24.4.1994) AUTHOR Janne Syv{niemi E-mail: csjasy@uta.fi DESCRIPTION MidiPlay is a program for playing format 0 and 1 MIDI files. The way MIDI files are played can be changed using command line options, a configuration file or tool types in the program icon. Every file can have its own tool types which override starting configuration. The most useful options include: transposing, channel muting, tempo setting and external/internal synchronization. Different MIDI events can also be printed. All major features can be controlled via GUI and MIDI files can be loaded using a file requester. The playlist feature allows you to play MIDI files from a pre-defined list. It is also possible to play GM standard MIDI files with a non-GM synth using mapping feature. Every program change message can be mapped to any other PC message. Note on/off messages on the drum channel can also be mapped to any other note on/off message. For more advanced users there are options like merge and melody. Merge option connects MIDI IN and MIDI OUT and using this feature you can combine your playing with playing of MidiPlay. Melody channel is useful for those who want to sing along with music with the possibility to mute/unmute melody. NEW FEATURES Major change since 2.0 is that the player part runs now as a separate task. Printing events and holding right mouse button down while playing won't disturb playing any more. One nasty bug which caused MidiPlay to crash when trying to print data event on some machines has been removed. Playlist idea has been slightly changed. Now all loaded files are added to the playlist. It is also possible to load many files at the same time. With the minibuffer feature you can make a selection from a long playlist and let MidiPlay play those files in the given order. New options since 2.00 include: o SOFT (only note on/off messages are ignored on muted channels) o NOMAPCHANNELS (no mapping on defined channels) o SKIP (eventless parts longer than defined with SKIP are skipped) o NODRUMPC (program change messages are ignored on the drum channel) o COUNT (MIDI file length in measures and duration are counted) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS If you want to play MIDI files and really hear them, your Amiga should be connected to a synth via MIDI interface. No special memory requirements. Fast RAM is recommended for smoother playing. MidiPlay should work on any Amiga with OS 2.04 or greater. MidiPlay requires the following disk resident libraries (both included): midi.library and reqtools.library SPEAK and NOMON options require Upd and Arexx. Upd v1.30 can be found on Aminet (directory util/rexx). A guide reader (like AmigaGuide) is needed to read the documentation and a lha archiver to unarchive the program package. HOST NAME MidiPlay can be found on Aminet, e.g. via anonymous FTP server like ftp.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) or ftp.luth.se (130.240.18.2). DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/mus/midi FILE NAMES MidiPlay2_11.lha 73837 bytes PRICE MidiPlay is free. People who use MidiPlay much should think about rewarding the author with a music related gift. DISTRIBUTABILITY MidiPlay is copyright 1993, 1994 Janne Syv{niemi. All Rights Reserved. The program is GIFTWARE. It is freely distributable as long as all files are included in their original form and no extra fee is charged. Midiplay may not be included in any commercial package without a permission of the author. @endnode @node UPAR "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Carmen Rizzolo Subject: Part And Particle 1.0 TITLE: Part And Particle VERSION: 1.0 COMPANY: Strawberry Graphix 4820 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. #5 San Diego, CA. 92117 (619) 573-0285 AUTHOR: Carmen Rizzolo DESCRIPTION: Part And Particle is a 2D Particle system for OpalPaint v2.3 or higher. A Particle system is a "system" or program for controlling goups of many objects (Sparks, rain, etc.). Part And Particle is an arexx script that controlls OpalPaint. It features: * Easy to use interface * Particles as series of brushes. Brushes can be animated to act like "anim brushes" * Lens-Flare * Particle motion can be influenced by: Gravity, Wind/Whirlwind, Aimless wandering, Wiggle, Screen Borders, Motion of particle source. * Particles can eminate from a movable coordinate in your animation, or any side of the screen. * Particles can chase a movable coordinate in your animation. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS: Part And Particle requires: * The OpalVision main board * OpalPaint v2.3 or higher [Available on OpalBBS (310)787-4541 or Aminet] * At LEASE 5 megs of RAM * Arexx * Hard Drive HOST NAME: Aminet (wuarchive.wustl.edu). DIRECTORY: pub/aminet/gfx/boards FILE NAMES: There are two demo files for Part And Particle. PAP-DEMO.LHA is a 32 colour animation. PAP-PIC.LHA is a 24-bit IFF still from the animation. PRICE: $99.00 DISTRIBUTABILITY: Part And Particle is copyright 1994 Carmen Rizzolo. Part And Particle is commercial and may not be distributed freely. The demo files, however, are free to distribute. Carmen Rizzolo - Crazed Artist CarmenR@cup.portal.com @endnode @node UQUI "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Eivind Nordseth Subject: QuickTools Release 1.1 TITLE QuickTools VERSION Release 1.1 (05 May 94) COMPANY Ultima Thule Software AUTHOR Eivind Nordseth Email: eivindno@idt.unit.no DESCRIPTION QuickTools is the tool package for the harddisk owner who is tired of writing long pathnames when changing directories and who doesn't have the time to search for files manually. QuickTools consists mainly of four small utilities and a library where the search routines are. All search routines support standard AmigaDOS wildcards. Qcd: With this you can change directory by only writing enough of the directory name to identify it. The directory can be anywhere on the harddisk. If more than one directory maches the search word a requester will pop up and you can select the directory you want to change to. If you want to change to a directory with the It's several ways to do it: You can write: 'Qcd Harddisk0:Work/SAS/SelfMade/QuickCD' (the hard way) Or just: 'Qcd qui' (the fast way) QFind: Search for files, scans through the database in just a few seconds. QPop: A commodity for file and directory searching. QMan: A documentation finding utility which uses the database to locate the documentation file for a specified program. The file found can be shown with a configurable viewer. These programs are a must for any serious hard-disk user!! NEW FEATURES Brief summary of news and fixes for Release 1.1: o Default arguments for most commands can be put in envirorment variables. o QCD opens selection requester on the active public screen if possible. o Posiblilites to disable the selection requester in QCD. o GetQInfo has got a number of new parameters: OLDERTHAN, DELAY, SAVEREQUEST, EXCLUDEDIR, EXCLUDEFILE. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS Requires an Amiga with OS compatible with Workbench 2.04. A harddisk is also nice to have :-) HOST NAME QuickTools is ftp uploaded to Aminet and can be found at: wuarchive.wustl.edu 128.252.135.4 It should also be available at all other Aminet sites. DIRECTORY Directory: /pub/aminet/util/cli FILE NAMES Filemame : QuickToolsR11.lha PRICE QuickTools Release 1.1 is FreeWare. DISTRIBUTABILITY Copyright (C) 1994 Ultima Thule Software, All Rights Reserved. QuickTools is NOT public domain, but freely distributable. @endnode @node USIM "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Douglas Stockman Subject: Simple Stat Graph (SSG) V1.0 TITLE Simple Stat Graph (SSG) VERSION 1.0 AUTHOR Douglas Stockman 38 Tryon Park Rochester, NY 14609 U.S.A. douglas_stockman@grace.bah.rochester.ny.us DESCRIPTION Simple Stat Graph is an entry level statistical and graphical data analysis tool for the Commodore Amiga. SSG uses an Intuition-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) and spreadsheet-like editor for all data analysis tasks. A large range of two-dimensional graphs and commonly used statistics are supported. Three-dimensional-like depth can also be added to most graph types for a more impressive appearance. Numerous mathematical and sorting operators are provided so the user can massage raw data into the desired format. SSG multitasks, is not copy protected, utilizes CBM's AmigaGuide on-line hypertext help file system, and comes with a 200 page manual. Simple Stat Graph is useful for any Amiga user who needs to analyze or display data. Graph Types Bar Family (4 types) Line/Area Family (4 types) Pie Family (2 types) Histogram Step Needle Text Family (3 types) Regression (Linear - 2 types) Statistical Tests Descriptive (9 tests) t-test (3 types) Nonparametric (4 types) Chi Square Frequency Distribution Cross Tabulation (Two way) ANOVA (One Way) Pearson Correlation Coefficient Regression (Linear - 3 types) Advanced Features Complete font and text control Linear, semi-log, and log-log axes Error bars - 1 or 2 data values/arms Legend - vertical, horizontal, none Box plot Grids, tics, subtics under user control User-defined palettes Multiple line, symbol, fill types Explode pie slices Sort data sets Create data subsets based on logical search parameters Merge cell values Seventeen math operators Unit conversion functions Remove outlier functions Curve smoothing functions Scrollable statistical output window Graphic zoom capability Graphics Output Formats SSG ASCII data files Preferences-supported printers IFF ILBM bitmaps Encapsulated PostScript PostScript DXF (wireframe only) HP-GL/2 Spreadsheet-like Data Editor Toolbar support for many functions Dimensions limited only by RAM Logical search/replace functions Batch Job Support Interactive creation Timed slide shows User-controlled presentations Floating Point Unit (FPU) Support Both non-FPU and FPU versions included Technical Support Limited technical support is available. Support is available by internet e-mail and U.S. mail. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS All Amiga models supported 1.5+MB RAM REQUIRED 2+MB HIGHLY recommended 1-2MB chip RAM recommended ECS or greater chip set recommended 2 floppy drives or better REQUIRED Hard drive recommended AmigaDOS 2.04 or greater REQUIRED PRICE $79.95 US plus shipping and handling ($6.00 in U.S.). Contact D. Stockman for ordering information. DISTRIBUTABILITY Simple Stat Graph is a copyrighted commercial product that CANNOT be distributed. @endnode @node USPI "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Chuck Kenney Subject: SpiroDraw04 TITLE SpiroDraw04 - Spirograph(tm?) simulator of the spiral-drawing toy. Simple, fun and addictive! VERSION This is version 04. Fixes an ugly GADGET message bug and a couple obscure bugs. Also improved usability of Random and Previous data functions in the program. COMPANY No company, just an AMINET upload by "yours truly". AUTHOR SpiroDraw04 was written by me, Chuck Kenney. My particulars (address, etc.) are included in the user document in the archive. DESCRIPTION SpiroDraw04 simulates the Wheels-and-Rings-and-Pens spirograph drawing toy. Allows the user to specify different parameters for the "Drawing Wheels, Drawing Rings", etc. The use of a computer to generate the SpiroDraw designs actually enhances some of the capabilities! SpiroDraw04 is mouse-driven (MENUs, GADGETs, etc.) and provides an easy way to create one's own 'eye-candy'. It is fun _and_ addictive! SpiroDraw04.lha also contains a very nice freely distributable "screen-to-IFF" saver utility written by Preben Nielsen (thanks, Preben) so that SpiroDraw designs can be imported into "paint" programs. SpiroDraw04 is shareware but does not nag the user in any way and all features are fully functional. NEW FEATURES The user now has the ability in SpiroDraw04 to interrupt a SpiroDraw design-in-progress with a Left Mouse Button click. Moved the "Random" and "Last" (previous) data functions from MENUs to the "Set Data..." user-input window so the user could get immediate viual feedback on the "new" parameters that are set by these two functions. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS There are no special requirements that I know of. SpiroDraw03 has been tested on an A2000HD (OS 2.1) and an A1000 (OS 1.3). HOST NAME SpiroDraw04.lha has just been uploaded to the AMINET site, ftp.etsu.edu (192.43.199.20) and should soon be available on all AMINET mirrors. DIRECTORY aminet/gfx/misc/SpiroDraw04.lha FILE NAMES SpiroDraw04.lha is 57,195 bytes long. PRICE The asking shareware price is the amount sent to me by my first sharware contributor (Thanks go to Bill from Glendale, AZ!). This requested shareware fee is $5.00 (US). DISTRIBUTABILITY This program is freely distributable but is a copyrighted (1994) shareware program by me, Chuck Kenney. OTHER SpiroDraw04, and other programs in progress are coming out of my basement as a result of the availability of a truly wonderful "BASIC-but-much-more!" compiler, "ACE" by David Benn. I would like to sincerely thank Mr. Benn for renewing my enthusiasm in programming and for making it possible for me to make my programs available to more than just my friends and immediately family! @endnode @node UTHO "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Eivind Nordseth Subject: THOR 1.22 TITLE THOR The Ultima Thule Offline Reader System VERSION Release 1.22 (update to 1.2) AUTHOR Ultima Thule Software: Main programming: Petter Nilsen - petter@pnilsen.adsp.sub.org Eivind Nordseth - eivindno@idt.unit.no Additional programming: Kjell Irgens - kjelli@stud.cs.uit.no Marius Mortensen - ammm@stud.unit.no Magne Xstlyngen - magneoe@stud.cs.uit.no DESCRIPTION THOR is an advanced offline reader system developed for saving online time while connected to BBS systems, for building and maintaining a database of the messages from the boards, for supporting a wide range of terminal programs and BBS systems (and simple implementation of new systems) and for the simple pleasure of creating possibly the best offline-reader yet to be seen on the Amiga. Some of the main features: o Support for multiple offline formats, including QWK, HIPPO, ABBS and MBBS. o Flexible message database system with true history, message marking, searching and threading. o User name database with a fast look-up table of names. o Powerful internal full screen editor with macro, ARexx and PGP support. o Extensive ARexx support with several included scripts. o Support for ISO, IBM, NO7, SF7 and DE7 international character sets. o Supports new 3.0 features (newlook menus, memory pools, interleaved screens, 24 bit palette,....) o Copyback and write-through file buffering system. o Powerful purging system with Global settings for days and/or number of messages to keep. Each conference can also have separate settings. o Everything can be controlled from the keyboard. o All events (orders) can be edited freely after having been entered. o LogReader, a powerful logfile analyzer program for NComm, Term and UUCP logs is included. LogReader is made by Torge Hjorth of Nocturnal Holiday Software. NEW FEATURES This maintainance release requires that THOR12.lha is already installed. THOR12.lha is available in the same directory on AmiNet as this release. This release replaces the THOR121u.lha file. Some of the changes from release 1.06 - 1.21:: o Full ARexx support. o AmigaGuide online help. o Fast database Search. o 3-10 times speed-up in disk access. o Support for multiple character sets. o Internal editor runs as a seperate cli prosess o Support for HIPPO o 10 new commands for marking messages SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS AmigaOS Release 2.04 (V37+) or higher, and minimum 400K of free memory. A hard drive is highly recommended. HOST NAME wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4) [AmiNet] DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/comm/misc FILE NAME THOR122u.lha PRICE Shareware fee of $40. DISTRIBUTABILITY Distributed as non-crippled shareware. Copyright (C) 1993-1994 Ultima Thule Software, All Rights Reserved. @endnode @node UWIN "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Swaz Subject: WindowDaemon 1.9 TITLE Window Daemon - Control Intuition Windows and Screens VERSION Distribution version 1.9 AUTHORS David Swasbrook E-mail address: swaz@iconz.co.nz DESCRIPTION Window Daemon gives extended control to intuition windows and screens through HotKeys and Arexx. In addition there is better workbench drawer manipulation, you can close the current drawer window when opening another drawer, and when closing a drawer can open its parent automatically. Using a hotkey you can manage the task priority owning the current window and even suspend the task. Also the active window can be brought to the front or pushed to the back by simply holding down both mouse buttons. FEATURES 1. Arexx, Commodities and Locale Support. 2. HotKey and Arexx support to manipulate the currently active window and screen. Standard window controls are avalable such as Zip, Close, Size, ToFront, ToBack, NextScreen, etc... Also can suspend tasks and modify priorities. 3. Able to close the parent window of a drawer when opened on "Workbench" if QUAALIFIER is held down. (Only available under kickstart V39 or higher) 4. Can open parent window of a "Workbench" drawer when the drawer closed if QUALIFIER is held down. 5. Closes all "Workbench" drawers when a drawer is closed if either of the ALT keys are held down. 6. Specialized options to forcefully close windows and screens, and also to remove tasks that own the active window. 7. Font sensitive interface. 8. DEL key can be used to DELETE icons on workbench. 9. HELP key can be used to get INFO on icons on wrkbench. 10. Screen/Window selection requestor SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS o OS release 2.04 or newer is required. o "matrix.library" version 23.1916 required. (included in archive) o Hypertext compatable document. (ie. MultiView/AmigaGuide) o Commodore installer. o Distribution is archived with lha so a program to un-archive them is needed. UPDATE This archive is an update of the WindowDaemon18.lha archive. New features: * Configuration is now saved in ENV: so there is no need for all the tool types now. * Minor bug in DEL/HELP code fixed. * The qualifier for workbench window manipulation for drawer open/close can be selected from Control, Shift or MiddleMouseButton. * Screen/Window selection requestor by pressing the right mouse button in the top right hand corner of a screen. HOST NAME Software has been uploaded to the Aminet Site: wuarchive.wustl.edu 128.252.135.4 and will be readily available on other Aminet sites. DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/util/misc FILE NAMES WindowDaemon19.lha - Window Daemon binaries and documentation PRICE Shareware $10US ($20NZ). Contributions are gratefully accepted. DISTRIBUTABILITY Freely distributable as long as the contents of the archive are kept in tact. Window Daemon is shareware, and may not be included in any other distribution or used for commercial use without my express permission. OTHER E-mail address for bug reports and fixes: David Swasbrook, swaz@iconz.co.nz or msd@iconz.co.nz @endnode @node UWNK "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: Douglas Sears Subject: WinkBug hardware debugging aid TITLE WinkBug DESCRIPTION "Debugging Code was Never Easier" WinkBug(tm) consists of a small 2-line by 16-character LCD display that can help you to debug programs more rapidly and to be more productive. It comes installed in a 3-position parallel port switchbox for added convenience. All 25 positions are switched. As you may be aware, certain types of programs do not lend themselves very well to the use of a debugger. The program may be automatically loaded by the operating system, and not give you any way to "attach" the debugger. Even if this is not a concern, the debugging software itself may change the environment enough so that the program no longer behaves in quite the same way as when the debugger isn't present. WinkBug will solve these problems by virtue of being almost "invisible" to both the OS and the program being tested. Your program may write debugging messages to the WinkBug display by means of software contained in the wink.library. There is even a built-in beeper that responds to the ASCII BEL character. The display speed is fast enough for all but the most time critical code: 40us/char. The code in wink.library is very tight as well. WinkBug will be useful in debugging device drivers, libraries, handlers, interrupt service routines, and many more difficult pieces of code. Utilities are provided so that you may redirect Software Alerts to WinkBug or watch task-switching in real time (only 7% overhead). Enforcer support is also provided. Although there are debugging applications where a full ANSI terminal is indispensable, you will find that for many uses, WinkBug will function just as well, with the additional benefits of taking up almost no space and drawing a negligible 10mw of power. Even if a full ANSI terminal is available where you normally work, you will find WinkBug indispensable for debugging code in the field. It is even possible to build hooks for WinkBug display routines into your code, along with special access codes. You could then send the WinkBug hardware to a customer a continent away for remote debugging. Imagine the possibilities! SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS WinkBug is plug compatible with all models of Amiga computers except the A1000. No external power needed. PRICE US$54 + shipping. Shipping is $5 in the U.S. and Canada. Others please call. COMPANY The Puzzle Factory, Inc. P.O. Box 986 Veneta, OR 97487 (800) 828-9952 - Orders only (503) 935-3709 - Questions/support Internet: jlavin@efn.org OTHER WinkBug and Wink Display are trademarks of The Puzzle Factory, Inc. Amiga is a registered trademark of Commodore-Amiga, Inc. SUBMITTER Doug Sears . I work with The Puzzle Factory, and submitted this at their request. @endnode @node UYAK "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: CSAA Reply-To: Gael_Marziou Subject: Yak 1.58 TITLE Yak -- multi-purpose commodity VERSION 1.58 AUTHORS Gael Marziou and Philippe Bastiani. E-mail address: gael@gnlab030.grenoble.hp.com DESCRIPTION Yak stands for "Yet Another Kommodity" (never was any good at spelling), and is a mouse/window manipulation program along the same lines as DMouse, KCommodity and lets you activating screens and windows, inserting localized date. It offers more than the AutoPoint Commodore standard commodity and it's only 30 Kb long! FEATURES A lot! Among them : AutoActivation of windows, extensible hotkey system (like FKey's) with a lot of different actions NEW FEATURES This is an update to Yak 1.57, it fixes 5 bugs and introduce some new features : * Now when alt key is pressed, Yak doesn't blank the mouse so that accessing menus via keyboard is easier. * Now compilable with both SAS C 6.51 and with DICE ! * Black border for screens (available only in 3.0+). * New layout of the GUI. * Palette title localized. * Screen patterns now use screens default titles instead of current screen title. It makes easier writing patterns for screens such as workbench or BrowserII ones. * New hotkey to set default public screen. * New way to automatically define a hotkey by hitting it. * Now Yak can open only one palette per screen. * Added danish catalog, installation script and doc. * Added a toggle to blank mouse or not on key pressed. SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS OS release 2.04 or newer is required; Yak has been tested with OS releases through 3.0. Distribution is archived with lha so program to un-archive them is needed. Amigaguide or Multiview is required to read documentation. HOST NAME Software has been uploaded to the Aminet Site: ftp.wustl.edu 128.252.135.4 pub/aminet/ and will be readily available on other Aminet sites. DIRECTORY /pub/aminet/util/cdity FILE NAME yak158.lha : main archive. yak158src.lha : source archive only interesting for programmers. PRICE There is no charge for use of this software. DISTRIBUTABILITY Freely distributable as long as the contents of the archive are kept intact. OTHER E-mail address for bug reports and fixes: gael@gnlab030.grenoble.hp.com @endnode @node UASF "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" Reply-To: korczyns@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Joseph Korczynski) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: The A64 Package, version 3.0 Date: 11 May 1994 19:29:31 GMT Message-ID: <2qrbmr$hv4@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME The A64 Package, version 3.0 BRIEF DESCRIPTION This software/hardware combination allows an Amiga computer to emulate the ever-popular Commodore 64 ("C64"). It allows you to access Commodore 8-bit peripherals such as the 15XX series disk drives and printers in order to transfer files to and from the Amiga. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: QuesTronix Address: PO Box 340265 Hartford CT 06134-0265 USA Telephone: (203) 666-8260 (9am-5pm EST) LIST PRICE $59.95 (US). Upgrade from version 2.0: $25.00. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS All programs in The A64 Package are compatible with all Amiga models using V1.3 - V3.0 of the operating system and with all microprocessors, from the 68000 to the 68040 HARDWARE Works with all Amiga models. Works with all Amiga CPU's from 68000 to 68040. 1MB RAM required. 2MB RAM recommended. Two floppy drives or a hard disk is recommended. A separate adapter cable is required for the Amiga 1000. AGA owners will need to enter the Early Startup Menu and select Enhanced Chip Set graphics mode. 68040 users will have disable copyback mode. SOFTWARE Works with all AmigaDOS versions from 1.3 to 3.0. COPY PROTECTION No copy protection that I am aware of. Software installs easily on your hard disk. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 4000/040, 2MB Chip RAM, 8 MB Fast RAM 1 internal High Density floppy Seagate 120 MB IDE internal hard drive Seagate 345 MB IDE internal hard drive MacroSystems VLAB video digitizer Zorro II card Utilities Unlimited EMPLANT Deluxe Mac Emulator Zorro II card SyQuest 44MB removable SCSI hard drive Chinon SCSI CD-ROM drive Maxtor 245 MB SCSI hard drive GVP EGS Spectrum Zorro III 24 bit graphics card Kickstart 3.0 (V39.106) and Workbench 3.0 (V39.48) INSTALLATION Installation is very simple. Copy the A64 Package software from the supplied disks to your hard drive. A script file is included to copy fonts to your FONTS directory and a library to your LIBS directory. REVIEW The A64 Package is a hardware and software product. The hardware consists of a small box which has a male DB25 and 8 pin DIN connectors along with some special circuitry. This box connects to your parallel port and allows you to connect Commodore 8-bit serial peripherals such as the 15XX series disk drives and printers. NEVER PLUG THE INTERFACE INTO YOUR AMIGA WHILE THE AMIGA IS TURNED ON. You could damage your Amiga and peripherals by doing so. If you have an Amiga 1000 you will require an additional cable specifically made to connect A500/2000 devices to an A1000 parallel port. The hardware interface can stay plugged in at all times without interfering with any programs on your Amiga as long as they do not use the parallel port. If you want to use your parallel port with some other pieces of hardware like a printer or digitizer, you must either remove the hardware interface and install the other device or use an A-B switch box (Centronics parallel with female connectors). The software is a collection of Amiga programs which lets you access and run C64 software. The main program, A64, is the Commodore 64 emulator. The other programs allow you to transfer files between the C64 and Amiga disks (with 15XX disk drives). After you install The A64 Package and run the A64 program, you will notice that the BASIC startup screen is different from that of a real C64. This is because the Commodore 64 ROMs (two computer chips located inside a real C64 which contain the operating system) are not present in A64. The C64 ROMs are not included because they are copyrighted by Commodore. The A64 contains a complete C64 ROM emulation which allows A64 to run most C64 programs. A64 ROM emulation is very compatible with the C64 ROMs, but there may be some C64 programs that will not run because of the lack of real C64 ROMs. The A64 Package utilities includes a C64 BASIC program which can be transferred to a real C64 via a 15XX disk drive connected to the A64 hardware interface. This program when run on the C64 will dump the C64 ROMs to a file which can then be transferred back to the Amiga and used in the A64 emulation. A64 is a complete Commodore 64 emulator. Sound, graphics, BASIC and machine language are all emulated. A64 fully integrates with the Amiga by allowing you to use Amiga disk drives, hard drives, ram drives, printers and modems. A64 operates in two modes: Pause Mode and C64 Mode. When in Pause Mode, you have access to the A64 Prefs (preferences) and A64Mon (machine language monitor). The current C64 program that A64 is running will be paused. Pause Mode gives you complete access to the Amiga system, and multitasking is completely functional. The C64 Mode runs the C64 program. In C64 mode you do not have access to the Amiga system. Multitasking is not disabled, but A64 controls a majority of the Amiga system. To enter Pause mode from C64 Mode, press the two ALT keys simultaneously. A64 emulation speed will depend on the program you are running and the type of microprocessor that your Amiga uses. On 68000 based Amigas, A64 is not capable of running all programs at usable speed. Accelerated Amigas can see emulation speeds over 300%. Most games will not run over 100% no matter how fast your Amiga is. I've done most of my evaluation of A64 with public domain software. I have been able to run everything I can throw at it. I do enjoy browsing the ABCUG user group monthly C64 public domain program disk. A great deal of effort was spent trying to make the A64 as compatible as possible. The biggest problem with compatibility is related to disk I/O and custom disk drive routines. Custom disk drive routines "Fast Loaders" are extremely time critical and must run at exactly 100% speed in order to function properly. "Fast Loaders" vary from program to program. The only way to emulate "Fast Loaders" is to write a custom loader for each program which is impossible since there are hundreds of variations. A64 V3.0 supports some "Fast Loaders" using Patch Files. There are Patch Files for ISEPICed archived programs, SID/PIC V3.4, SIDPlayer, and GEOS. (GEOS is supported only on 68000 Amigas and 1541/1571 disk drives because of the time-critical nature of the GEOS operating system.) One method of speeding up A64 emulation is to convert the C64 program from 6510 opcodes to 68000 opcodes. This has the potential to double your emulation speed. This is accomplished with a utility called "CONVERT". The CONVERT utility converts C64 machine language into Amiga machine language. This conversion process eliminates a lot of work the A64 has do while running the emulation. A64Tools is the file transfer and file conversion utility. It allows you to copy, convert and print files using any combination of Amiga and C64 disk drives and printers. Text files can easily be converted between PetASCII and ASCII. Amiga drives only support PRG and SEQ files under A64 emulation. ":" and "/" are illegal characters for Amiga filenames. When A64Tools encounters on of these characters in a filename, the character will automatically be changed to a "-". As an original A64 V2.0 registered user, I am impressed with the enhanced SID chip support, increased speed and compatibility. I also welcome the addition of Patch Files for "Fast Loader" support along with support for GEOS. It was worth the $25 upgrade fee. DOCUMENTATION Documentations consists of a professionally printed softbound manual. It has an extensive index and table of contents. The manual assumes that you are familiar with the basic operation of the Amiga and the terms used to describe it. The manual also assumes you are familiar with the basic use of the Commodore 64. LIKES AND DISLIKES I like the professionally bound manual. I like the patch file support. I like the improved SID support. I dislike the software not working in native AGA graphic mode. I would like to see 1581 emulation using native Amiga disk drives. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS This product has evolved over several years. I was first introduced to this product as the GO-64. BUGS None at this time. VENDOR SUPPORT I have not tried contacting the vendor. WARRANTY 90 day limited warranty. CONCLUSIONS I enjoy the ability to emulate other computers. As Newsletter Editor the ABCUG user group which supports the Amiga and Commodore 64/128 computer users, I find A64 a valuable tool for reviewing C64 public domain software and writing tutorials for the monthly newsletter. Understanding the limitations of software emulation, I give this product **** (4 out of 5 stars). COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1994 Joseph F. Korczynski. All rights reserved. @endnode @node UANO "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: nicholk@cs.rhbnc.ac.uk (Nicholas J. Kingsley) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: MINI-REVIEW: Another World Date: 21 May 1994 20:41:20 GMT Message-ID: <2rlrlg$ff7@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME Another World BRIEF DESCRIPTION Another World is a game set in (logically enough) another world. The idea is to get out alive and back to Earth. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Delphine Software Address: US GOLD Birmingham, England LIST PRICE 14.95 UK pounds (budget) SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE The box just says it's compatible with the Amiga 500, 500+, 600, 1500, and 2000. However, as it's compatible with the A600, it should work on an A1200. It should work with accelerators, although the game may go too fast. SOFTWARE None given. COPY PROTECTION The game comes on two disks. The disks are themselves un-protected and thus are copyable. However, every time you play the game you do have to enter in a code (from the supplied code wheel). Once slight error and you have to re-load the game. REVIEW Once you are past the protection system (see above), you are shown a very well animated introduction. Once you've seen it a few times, you may want to skip it. Unfortunately, for some reason this is not possible, and so you have to sit and watch it. However, once past the intro, the main game is only a short load and a disk swap away. The object of the game is to get to the next level intact, while solving some devilish puzzles along the way. The first level sees you materialising in some water, where you must swim to the surface before you become octopus food. On this first level, the quality of the graphics will get you and you'll decide whether you will like the game or not. Although the puzzles are not particularly hard, you may feel that dying for the umpteenth time at the hands of some killer worms is getting to be rather annoying. However, come what may, you should continue just to get the code word for the next level. As I said previously, the graphics and animation are very well done, and in the case of the animation, it is very smooth. However, it's the main sprite (your character) that lets things down - at times it appears that he's skating instead of walking, and often you find that the collision detection, is at times poor, although it does work in your favour. Overall, it's a excellent game graphically, and has very good gameplay, although it can be quite hard at times. It is well worth buying, especially at budget prices. @endnode @node UDAG "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: markus@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de (Markus Illenseer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: DaggeX 1.0 Date: 27 May 1994 15:48:08 GMT Message-ID: <2s54no$g2g@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME DaggeX 1.0 BRIEF DESCRIPTION DaggeX is a freely distributable server for the X window system. It represents X11 release 5 ("X11R5"). X may be used locally or over a network. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Kari 'Dagge' Mettinen and Leonard 'Vinsci' Norrgerd Address: Finland E-mail: kari.mettinen@helsinki.fi vinsci@nic.funet.fi DISTRIBUTION Freely distributable. DaggeX is available on the Aminet ftp sites in the directory pub/aminet/gfx/x11, and on the Aminet CD-ROM in the directory aminet/gfx/x11. LIST PRICE None -- it is freeware. SPECIAL HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, AND KNOWLEDGE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE An Amiga with a 68020, 68030 or 68040 CPU. Requires at least 4MB of Fast RAM. 8MB Fast RAM or more is recommended for fluid use. 1MB or 2MB Chip RAM is recommended. At least 1MB of free hard drive space is required More is recommended. The Picasso II graphics board is recommended for higher resolutions, more colors and faster work. Requires a network adapter if network support is desired: A2065 Ethernet-card, A2060 Arcnet-card, serial line IP (SLIP) or peer-to-peer (PPP) access A three button mouse is recommended, since most X programs use it. SOFTWARE Requires AmigaDOS 2.1 or higher. Requires a TCP/IP stack protocol such as AmiTCP or AS225R2 (for developers only) for network use. KNOWLEDGE Basic knowledge of the X window system, TCP/IP networking, and the handling of the ixemul.library are required or at least recommended. COPY PROTECTION None. DaggeX installs on a hard drive by extracting the archive. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 3000, 2MB Chip RAM, 8MB Fast RAM Picasso II graphics board with 2MB (non-segmented) RAM A2065 Ethernet-board. Several SCSI drives. AmigaDOS 2.1. Several other platforms were accessed with DaggeX: o A3000 running NetBSD Amiga, connected with Ethernet. o 80486-based machine running Linux, connected with Ethernet. o Sparc 10 running Solaris, connected with PPP via Modem. ABOUT THE REVIEW First, in the GENERAL OVERVIEW section, I explain the X window system. After that, I review the product and say how well it works on the Amiga. I will not explain how to connect the Amiga to a remote machine and how to set up the entire system, as this is beyond the scope of the review. GENERAL OVERVIEW I apologize in advance, but I have to use some vocabulary which may be unknown to the average reader but is often used in the environment where X is common. Of course, I will try to explain any unfamiliar terms. The X window system is a hardware-independent windowing system with network support. It is available for almost every computer platform. There are two main parts of the system: the server and the clients. The server is a program that runs all the time and allows clients to display their output. Users do not interact with the server directly. Clients are application programs which use the X window system as their display and tell the server what to do: open windows, draw lines and points, fill areas of the display with patterns, etc. You can think of the X server as similar to the Amiga's underlying "Intuition" software. If the Amiga already has a window system, what is the purpose of running X? The answer is that X works transparently over a network, runs on many different machines, and there are hundreds of X clients available as freeware. The X server is the only part of the entire system which is hardware dependent. That is, it must be written to support the particular hardware (Amiga, SPARCstation, 80406 machine, etc.) and graphics devices (ECS and AGA chipsets, special graphics boards, etc.) on which it is running. Once the server is written or ported, client programs can be run. The server needs to understand the X protocol which is required for the clients to tell the server what to do. This protocol is able to run over a network such as a TCP/IP driven direct network. Clients are usually application programs; for example, the terminal program "xterm", the paint program "xfig", the clock "xclock", and the editor "xedit". Clients may be run locally on the same machine, or remotely over a network. That is, on your computer screen, you may have client programs that are physically running on the same computer or multiple computers. In short, it is not important whether the clients run on a remote machine or on the local machine: the output can be displayed anywhere on the network using the X protocol. Here is a diagram illustrating what I have discussed so far: Server Connections Clients ____________ ___ _ | | | | | | | | | | |X| ______ | X Server | | N | | | | xfig | | | | e | |P| |______| | running | <--> | t | <-|r|-> ______ | | | w | |o| |xclock| | on graphics| | o | |t| |______| | | | r | |o| ______ | device | | k | |.| | Xterm| |____________| |___| |_| |______| ^ | ____________ | Keyboard | | Mouse | |____________| One very important client is the Window Manager. This client allows the user to drag windows, define and display menus, move icons, etc. There are a dozen different window managers available. Simple ones just add window borders to any window, and more complex ones even offer you virtual desktop spaces (similar to auto-scrolling on the Workbench) or 3D imagery. Hence, the X window system is a true Retargetable Graphics (RTG) System. Everything can be retargeted, even the keyboard and mouse inputs (which are part of the hardware dependent X server). So even the Amiga could be used as an X terminal once an X server is made available. DaggeX serves this purpose. DaggeX is able to connect via TCP/IP with other machines and can display the output of locally or remotely started programs. INSTALLATION DaggeX installs very easily: just extract the archive anywhere on your hard drive and copy the required ixemul.library to the LIBS: directory. The small Installation Guide covers the basic installation, nothing more. The authors obviously believe that anyone really interested into using X is also able to configure and maintain his/her system. Most X clients need fonts to display text. If you intend to start some clients on your Amiga (for local or remote use), you need to install the supplied X fonts too. After setting up the system using some ASSIGN and PATH commands, you may want to start the server with the supplied 'startx' script. This script starts the X server and also the supplied window manager, 'fvwm'. This is a modern and highly configurable window manager that enables you to have menus on your system and drag windows around. It makes sense to start the window manager on your local machine, because then dragging and dropping of windows is faster when no network is involved. This does not matter that much on a fast, Ethernet-based network, but on a modem-driven PPP connection, it makes a big difference. DaggeX opens a screen-mode requester and asks you to choose a mode for the X screen. It also offers you the choice to run in monochrome or up to 256 colors (on AGA). Now the X server runs, and the typical X mouse pointer is displayed. You are looking at an empty screen now, which is quite boring. But this is normal since you have not run any clients yet. The startx script starts the fvwm window manager, which has a fancy 3D look and offers vast configurability for starting clients and more. Now it's time to start other interesting clients. Currently available to run locally on the Amiga 'xv', the best image viewer for X; 'xfig', a very nice vector driven paint program; 'xedit', a simple text editor; 'xauth' and 'xhost', some tools for network support which give permission for remote clients to open windows on your machine. To run clients, you must switch back to your Workbench screen with left-Amiga N (or click the hidden depth-gadget on the X server screen) and then start a client in a shell. For the very first test, I tried 'xv'. It pops up and offers you a menu driven, almost Mac-like GUI and asks you for an image to load. I chose a nice image and voila, it was displayed. Really, I am astonished to see how well it works. But I am a bit disappointed about the size of the screen. At my university, I work almost every day on a 1280x1024 or 1152x900 screen with 256 colors, and here I have but an NTSC:Hires Interlace screen at 720x470 in 4 colors. So what: DaggeX supports my Picasso II graphics board! I restarted the X server using the Picasso options and opened a nice 1152x900 screen with 256 colors, too. Now this is hype, but this is simply a great feeling! xv is fun! Forget about Adpro and ImageFX: just use xv and DaggeX. :-) At this point, the only thing which is annoying is that I wasn't able to make the X server run on a Picasso screen using the normal ASL-screen mode requester - it just hung. I had to use the special option '-village' to start it on the Picasso. Now you might ask me about the performance. For a 68030 based machine, this is very fast. I won't post the 'xbench' or 'xperf' benchmark results here because they didn't run on my local machine but on the remote machine. Hence, only the X server and my network were really busy, not the entire machine - it would yield into non-competitive results. If anyone is really interested, one might want to compile the benchmark programs. I didn't have the time. Now, I was interested how well DaggeX works in a network. On an Amiga Meeting held early this year, i had the opportunity to test DaggeX against a 80486-based machine running Linux. All what was needed was to set up a telnet session, start the xauthentication on the local machine, and then start a remote client. For a start, I tried the terminal program xterm, which gives me a VT100-compatible console on the remote machine and enables me to start more clients without the basic telnet session. All worked flawlessly and was very fluid over the Ethernet connection. I was really happy. Even heavy programs such as "xspringies" or games like "xpilot" worked really well and were stable, even though they stress the server with many commands to draw lines, circles and more. Another test was to start some clients on a NetBSD driven Amiga on the same network, also using Ethernet. Even there, I had no problems, though the speed of the programs was of course slower. The only missing point was that I was unable to set up an xdm connection. Xdm offers you a login prompt over the network and enables you to run a fully qualified console on the remote machine without connecting with a telnet on the AmigaDOS side. This is the way professional X terminals do it. For this purpose, the X server needs to support the '-broadcast' or '-query' option, which was not implemented when I tested DaggeX. This is a weak spot in DaggeX, but the authors hoped to implement this function very soon. It would sure help to set up remote connections. The last test was a bit expensive for me, but I did it nonetheless. I connected DaggeX via modem and PPP to my university and started some clients on a Sparc 10 running Solaris. The modem was running at 14,400 bps and thus offers about 1 KB/sec transfer rates. It worked really nicely and without any problems once the basic network configuration was done. It is silly to view images with xv over a modem network, as the entire image needs to be transferred over the modem. Thus I started only simple clients such as a newsreader or a clock. They worked fine. During the test, I got several Enforcer hits (illegal memory accesses), especially when I killed a client via the window manager, rather than using the program's quit command. I would guess this indicates a bug somewhere in the network routines. I can't blame the authors for those Enforcer hits, as all they did was porting a typical Unix program to the Amiga. A typical Unix program almost never sets variables to a default value or almost always 'forgets' to free allocated memory, as Unix will do that for you. And reading from non-initialized variables yields Enforcer hits on AmigaDOS. I had several crashes where I could not identify the cause, but all overall I had expected by far more crashes than those I actually had. Why? Because X is a resource eater, and on small machines like the Amiga, it will run into memory limits quite fast. I found that 4MB of RAM are constantly needed and allocated while running DaggeX. With my 8MB, I was barely able to run the window manager, start xv locally, and look at some pictures without running out of memory. And still I can't blame the DaggeX authors. :-) Testing the X11R5 feature of font servers failed due to missing font servers on my test platforms (on the Sparc offered, but that was running over the modem where I didn't wanted to start a cached font server). DOCUMENTATION Supplied documentation is poor and describes only the basic installation and how to enable remote clients to display their output on your X server. Running the X server requires basic knowledge of the X window system and TCP/IP networks. LIKES Personally, I was impressed by the speed and the flawless work of DaggeX. It enables me to run X on my beloved system without any Unix environment actually needed on my Amiga. DaggeX gives you the big chance to run X on your Amiga and at the same time start local AmigaDOS applications without any problems. This makes the Amiga worth running in professional environments where Unix workstations are common and the Amiga is used only for simple renderings or simple text application use. I like the fact that you are able to run true X clients on your local Amiga, compiling them with GCC and the supplied X libraries. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS I don't like the way it currently connects with remote systems, but that's a question of style. I prefer the 'broadcast' or 'query' style for connecting. The 'xauth' way done by the authors is less complicated for the programmers, but yields into major headaches for non-experienced users. Wishes for future versions: I would like to see the above mentioned options not only made available but actually run, too. :) Another wish or idea is that the X server might be able to display AmigaDOS (Intuition) applications concurrently on the same screen - even on the high resolution and non-Intuition Picasso screen. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS The only other X server available for Amiga is the commercial product from GfxBase. Dale Luck and his crew have marketed this X server for quite a while now and offer professional support, too. Also, they support (to my knowledge) more graphics boards and offer more basic clients. Their server does support the missing features of DaggeX: query, broadcast, and xdm on the network. The GfxBase X server is very stable and is highly optimized for the Amiga in both speed and memory use. It does not offer a nice screenmode requester at the beginning and currently runs only with the AS225R1 and AS225R2 TCP/P stack, which is either no longer sold or was not made available yet. I don't know if GfxBase intends to support AmiTCP. But this does not really matter as there is a freeware socket library available which emulates the socket library of AS225R2 for AmiTCP. I may add that my experience with GfxBase X server is a bit old, so they might have changed it heavily. I think it does not make sense to compare DaggeX with X servers running on Unix machines, because the entire environment is totally different. The X servers completely fit into a Unix system due to the fact that TCP/IP comes standard with Unix. BUGS I wasn't really able to find major bugs besides some unexplained crashes and Enforcer hits. DaggeX is still under development, and most of the bugs are a heritage of the basic X server which was never intended to run outside of a Unix system. WARRANTY None. DaggeX has no warranty other than that the authors believes it might help you. CONCLUSIONS DaggeX provides a nice opportunity to run the X window system on your Amiga. It is sure helpful in a Unix environment or networks. Professional users might want to have a look at DaggeX due to the Picasso II support, but will probably consider the GfxBase X server for its better support and documentation. On a scale of 0 to 5 stars, I give DaggeX 3.75 stars. This could be increased to 4.25 stars when the missing features are added and better documentation is available. COPYRIGHT NOTICE This review is Copyright 1994 Markus Illenseer. All rights reserved. Include the standard disclaimer here. The author of this text is not responsible for anything if you get into some serious problems due to this text. If you intend to copy or print this text on any media to make it available for other readers, the author would like to get a copy of that media if possible. @{b}Markus Illenseer,@{ub} markus@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de @endnode @node UDIC "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: alien@acheron.amigans.gen.nz (Ross Smith) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: DICE C compiler, version 3.0 Date: 13 May 1994 18:29:44 GMT Message-ID: <2r0guo$da0@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME DICE 3.0 BRIEF DESCRIPTION C compiler and integrated development environment for the Amiga. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Obvious Implementations Corporation Address: PO Box 4487 Cary, NC 27519-4487 USA Telephone: (800) 761-2042 E-mail: info@oic.com LIST PRICE Standard purchase price: $150.00 (US) Student price: $95.00 (US) For SAS C owners: $95.00 (US) For registered owners of DICE shareware: $75.00 (US) Currently, DICE 3.0 is available directly from OIC only; it is not distributed through any other source. It can be ordered by mail from the address above or by calling the 800 number if you have a Visa card. (Never send your credit card number to anyone by email! There are too many people who could read it along the way.) The shareware version of DICE is no longer available. See below concerning the freeware version. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Requires 1 MB RAM. (DICE 3.0 uses 1.5 to 8 MB; see "Installation"). Hard drive recommended but not required. No CPU restrictions. SOFTWARE Requires AmigaDOS 1.3 or better. Works fine under AmigaDOS version 2 and 3. A few features require AmigaDOS 2.0 or better. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Model: Amiga 2000HD Processors: 25 MHz 68030 CPU, 68882 FPU Chipset: PAL ECS RAM: 5 MB (1 MB Chip, 4 MB Fast) Hard drive: Quantum 50 MB internal SCSI Floppy drive: One internal 880K Monitor: Commodore 1084S Operating system: 3.0 Beta (Kickstart 39.106, Workbench 39.29) INSTALLATION DICE 3.0 comes on five disks. Installation is done by the Commodore Installer program. There are three Installer scripts with icons on Disk 1 of the distribution. One installs DICE on your hard drive, a second installs it on floppy disks, and the third creates the freeware version (see below). The hard drive installation works perfectly. It offers an assortment of options -- whether to install the 1.3, 2.0, and/or 3.0 header files and link libraries; whether to include all, none, or a selected subset of the examples; which editor to install; and so on. Anything not selected in the initial installation can be added later; an option in the Installer script allows the addition of selected modules to an existing installation. Unlike some badly-written installers, DICE's installation process is very careful never to change or replace any existing files without explaining exactly what it's going to do and waiting for permission. Depending on which options you select, DICE can take up anywhere from 1.5 to 8 megabytes of hard drive space. Mine took up 4.7 megs, which is probably a fairly typical amount; few users are likely to need the full 8 megs (which assumes, for example, that you install all three complete sets of includes and libraries). Incidentally, although the installer and the manual refer to "3.0", the include files actually supplied are version 3.1. The freeware DICE is a freely distributable version of the compiler with floating point support and some Amiga-specific features disabled, but otherwise a perfectly good C compiler. Users are encouraged to distribute the freeware version, which consists of the compiler, link libraries, standard C include files, and the relevant documentation -- no editor or any other tools (though DME can be found on a Fred Fish disk). The freeware version Installer script attempts to install DICE onto a single floppy, which doesn't work -- it's about 1.3 megs and needs two (I guess they must have tested it on an Amiga 4000 with high density 1.76 MB drives and forgot that most Amigas only have 880K drives). This is easy to get around if you're running the installation on an Amiga with a hard drive: just create a drawer on your hard drive and assign "Freeware_Dice:" to it before you start. (You'll still need a spare floppy for the install script to format, though.) Afterwards, you can split the installed files between two floppies. You can't run the freeware installation on a floppy-only system. COMPILER The actual compiler is changed little from the shareware version of DICE, apart from a few enhancements (mostly related to the VMAKE interface -- see below) and bug fixes. Anyone familiar with the shareware DICE will find no surprises here. The compiler was designed with quick and reliable code generation as the primary goal, with optimisation secondary. That's not to say DICE does no optimisation; it doesn't do the kind of aggressive optimisation performed by GCC or SAS C, but it produces perfectly good code for all but the most demanding cases (where most programmers would probably switch to assembly language anyway). The DICE compiler, DCC, is almost entirely conformant to the ANSI/ISO C standard, which is only to be expected these days. There are a very few features and functions omitted, such as the atan2() function, and a large number of enhancements. Compiler features include precompiled header files, automatic generation of function prototypes, profiling (a special set of link libraries that allow you to keep track of exactly how much run time each part of your program is taking up), and a "typeof" operator. Most of the enhancements, of course, are related to writing Amiga-specific code. These include automatic opening and closing of shared libraries; the "__chip" type qualifier to force data into Chip RAM; dynamic stack checking (which automatically gives your program more stack space when it runs short); the "wbmain()" function (giving a program different entry points depending on whether it was started from the Shell or Workbench); full control over parameter passing via registers or stack; and an extensive set of functions that make giving your program an ARexx interface fairly painless. The DICE package includes the complete set of include files and link libraries for Workbench 1.3, 2.0, and 3.0/3.1. INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT The centrepiece of the whole system is VMAKE, which, as you might expect from the name, is a visual "make" tool. It's really an integrated development environment. You create a "Project" and tell VMAKE what source files belong to it. VMAKE gives you access to the editor of your choice (see below), compiler, debugger, and help system. Compiler options are selected through VOPTS, which is basically a GUI for DCC -- you use the usual Intuition tools (gadgets, list windows, and so on) to select the compiler options, link libraries, and so on. If you select a source file from VMAKE, the editor is invoked. Once you've written the source code and set the compile options, you hit the "Make" button to compile and link everything that needs it, then pick one of the "Run" options to test it (there are three options -- CLI, Workbench, or Debugger). VMAKE knows what to do with individual source files by looking at their names -- a name ending in ".c" is C code, ".a" is assembler source, and so on. It's smart enough to know not to compile a source file that hasn't changed since the last compile. If you get compile errors, the editor is automatically brought up with the cursor positioned on the line containing the first error; when you've fixed that, you hit Shift-F5 (or whatever alternative key you want to define) and the cursor is moved to the next error. The full list of errors is visible in another window. VMAKE is highly customisable. All the gadget and menu details are stored in plain text files rather than being hard-coded, and the formats are fully documented. You can rewrite, add, and subtract menus and gadgets to your heart's content. I have a couple of nitpicks with VMAKE. One concerns the "Save" options on VMAKE and VOPTS. Every time I make any changes and save them, I get a requester that warns me that I'll be overwriting my existing project, and do I really want to do that? Well of course I do, that's why I chose "Save". I'm all for safety measures in important things, but VMAKE has far too many "Are you sure?" requesters for my taste Surprisingly, given the impressive configurability of VMAKE in most respects, there doesn't seem to be any way to switch them off. My other complaint is that VOPTS causes an Enforcer hit every time it's invoked! (If you're not familiar with Enforcer, see below.) This is inexcusable in commercial software. It doesn't seem to cause any problems (it appears to be a dereferenced null pointer), but it's not exactly the most encouraging sign, especially since Enforcer is included in the DICE package. A feature I like a lot is DiceHelp. This is a program that takes the name of a C function, type, or include file, looks it up in the Autodocs, and opens a window to show you the documentation (if it finds any). DICE 3.0 comes with docs for the standard C and DICE-specific functions; if you have the Commodore Autodocs it will use them too. The installation program automatically creates the necessary ARexx scripts to integrate this with your choice of editor. You just move the cursor over the function name and hit F5; the editor opens a second window showing the relevant documentation. DEBUGGER DICE includes a source code debugger, DD. It can be used either standalone (from the command line) or through VMAKE. I'm not quite sure what to report about DD. Most of it seems to work; you can see the source code in a window, set breakpoints and so on, but it seems to be missing one of the most important features of a debugger: I can't find any way to inspect (or set) the value of a variable. (You can read the values of memory locations, but since there's no way of finding the address of a variable, that's not much help.) I say "seems to" because I can't believe OIC could have left out anything so important; but if it's there, it isn't documented, and I haven't been able to figure it out by trial and error. I'll reserve judgement on the debugger. EDITORS The DICE package includes two editors. DME is the standard editor that has been included with all versions of DICE. The new one is AME (Advanced Micro Emacs). I switched to AME immediately and haven't regretted it; it's basically all the good features of Emacs without the megabloat (less than 100K!). Many features are common to both editors: multiple windows, full ARexx support, programmable keys and menus, and all the usual features you'd expect in an editor (search and replace, clipboard support, paragraph formatting, and so on). AME has a few features not found in DME: multiple undo steps (although this still has a few bugs in it); the ability to open on its own screen or a public screen (DME opens only on the Workbench) and even jump to a different screen while running; and 16-bit character support. AME also has a "C mode" which is automatically invoked when you edit a file whose name ends in ".c". You can also switch it on manually. It provides programmer-friendly features like bracket matching (warning you if you enter a mismatched bracket). Besides its own two editors, DICE also supplies sets of ARexx macros for integrating VMAKE with Cygnus Ed and TurboText and promises to provide more editor options in the future. OTHER TOOLS Besides the compiler, editors, debugger, and VMAKE, a large number of other tools are supplied with DICE. RCS (Revision Control System) helps with the development of large projects. It keeps track of who is working on each source file, recording all changes to allow later reversion to an old version if necessary. I don't use this myself (it seems like overkill for one-person projects), but it would be extremely useful for large projects involving several programmers and many source files. (I program mainframes for a living, and we use a similar system in our work.) RCS is fully integrated with VMAKE. There is an assembler, DAS. It's designed primarily to be called by DCC as part of the compilation process, so its features are fairly minimal and somewhat specialised, but it can be used as a standalone assembler if you need one. Again, VMAKE knows about it. Mike Sinz's Enforcer is included. Enforcer is run in the background (most programmers put it in their s:User-Startup and leave it running permanently) and uses the MMU (Memory Management Unit) to watch for illegal access to certain regions of memory, such as the low page and nonexistent pages. With the help of auxiliary tools like SegTracker and FindHit (both included), you can often locate the exact line of code that produced such errors -- the classic example is a dereferenced null pointer. Enforcer works only on an Amiga with an MMU, which basically means a 68030 (not 68EC030) or 68040 CPU. Other tools include DOBJ, a disassembler; DPROF, a profiler for use with the profiling libraries; FDTOLIB, which creates link libraries from FD files; and many others. Massive quantities of source code are provided. The source for VMAKE and many of the other tools is present. There are also working examples of a shared library, an Exec device, a DOS handler, and a printer driver. DOCUMENTATION DICE 3.0 comes with a printed manual of about 450 pages. It's very tightly bound and won't lie flat; in fact, it's difficult to even hold it open with one hand. I recommend that the first thing any purchaser does is take the manual to the nearest printer and get it spiral bound (thanks to Liam Greenwood for the suggestion). It cost me NZ$4.00 (about US$2.50). I don't know why so many software publishers are unwilling to add the extra dollar or so to the price in order to have spiral binding. The manual is well-organised and fairly well written and should be equally useful to beginners and experts. The proof-reading occasionally leaves something to be desired, though. There are a few humorous comments of the "This page unintentionally left blank" variety. The manual begins with an outline of DICE's features and instructions for installing it, which amount to little more than "Put Disk 1 in the drive and hit the Install icon". This is followed by an introduction to C, which is probably a waste of space -- it's far too sketchy for a novice actually to learn C from it without a real textbook, and it is redundant if you have a real textbook. Next comes the description of VMAKE. This is thorough and easy to follow, although the section on VOPTS is missing (the relevant page just says "[TBA]", so I guess someone forgot to stick it in). This isn't a serious problem; if you read the section later in the manual that describes the compiler's command line options, it's pretty obvious how they correspond to the gadgets in VOPTS. The next sections cover the DICE compiler, the various tools and utilities, the two editors, and the online help system. Full documentation for most of these is also provided on disk. The biggest section of the manual is the function reference, which documents all of the standard C functions, as well as those specific to DICE. These are in the standard Autodocs format and are also provided on disk for use with DiceHelp. The last section will be very helpful to those new to C programming. It's a problem-solving guide that describes many of the most common errors made by C programmers and how to avoid them. There is a fairly thorough index. LIKES Installation: Painless and apparently flawless hard disk installation. Compiler: Very fast compilation; almost complete ANSI/ISO standardisation; useful extensions, especially the ARexx package. Editors: Ability to use several editors; extensive customisation capability; multi-window and multi-screen capability in AME; ARexx interface. Development environment: VMAKE gives access to everything you need for development; Style Guide compliant interface; fully customisable and extensible; excellent online help system. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS Installation: Freeware version installation doesn't work properly. Editors: Buggy "undo" in AME; AME opens on the Workbench by default when you invoke it from VMAKE, which is annoying. It has always mystified me why so many people write editors that insist on taking over the Workbench, when opening their own screen is so easy. Development environment: Major missing feature in debugger (this is my only really serious complaint); Enforcer hit in VMAKE/VOPTS; annoying "Are you sure?" requesters. Suggestions: Apart from bug fixes, I'd like to see an "off" switch for VMAKE's annoying requesters. You can edit VMAKE's options to make AME use its own screen, which I prefer, but it takes some digging in the documentation to figure out how to do this; it should be easier (or, better yet, the default). A good, standalone assembler would be very useful. The manual says at one point that A68K is included, but it isn't; I guess it got left out at the last moment. One major feature I'd like to see is some sort of interface designer. Most compilers on the PC and Mac come with GUI design toolkits; we're always saying how marvellous the Amiga's interface is, so why are there so few GUI tools for the Amiga? GUIs have been around long enough now that it's about time compiler vendors started thinking of interface toolkits as part of the necessary minimum standard rather than an optional extra. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS The other C compilers I have used are GCC on the Amiga and Borland C++ on the PC. Comparison to Borland C++ is hardly fair, given the very different markets the products are aimed at; I don't think it counts as a "similar product". GCC has the obvious advantage of being free. DICE's user interface is so much better there's no comparison. GCC is ported from UNIX and takes the standard UNIX "user friendly is for wimps" attitude. DICE is much smaller and faster; GCC produces better optimised code. Both include many additional tools and extensive online documentation; DICE's is better organised and easier to use. GCC includes C++ as well as C. DICE has many features adapted for writing Amiga-specific code; GCC has practically none. Executables produced by DICE are the property of the writer and can be distributed under whatever terms you choose, whereas those produced by GCC are subject to the General Public Virus, sorry, Licence. [MODERATOR'S NOTE: I am not sure that Ross's statement about GCC and the GNU Public Licence is correct. I am checking it out. - Dan] DICE's natural competitor is SAS C, which I've never used. SAS is far more expensive; I gather it includes counterparts to most of the tools provided with DICE. SAS's editor is reputed to be fairly minimal, whereas DICE includes two full-featured editors; but there are enough good editors available in the commercial, shareware, and PD worlds that this is probably not an important consideration. SAS includes some C++ features, although since it lacks templates and exceptions it can't be considered a serious C++ development system). DICE is plain C only. Like GCC, SAS does much better optimisation than DICE; I don't know how it compares in compilation speed, or whether it includes the equivalent of VMAKE or an interface toolkit. I assume SAS's debugger works properly. BUGS I've described the few bugs I found elsewhere in this review. I've contacted the support address about the debugger problem and the Enforcer hit but have received no reply so far. VENDOR SUPPORT Internet, Compuserve, and US Mail addresses are given for support. Although I've received no reply after a couple of weeks to my query about the debugger, I have received very helpful replies to some questions about AME. WARRANTY None. CONCLUSIONS Overall, despite a few minor niggles and one major one, I like DICE. The compiler is very fast, and produces good enough code for all but the most speed-critical applications, and the other tools are well-chosen, well-designed, easy to use, and highly customisable. I recommend DICE 3.0 highly to anyone interested in C programming on the Amiga. I give it 8 out of 10, rising to 8.5 if they fix that hole in the debugger and the Enforcer hit in VOPTS. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1994 Ross Smith. All rights reserved. This review is freely distributable. @{b}Ross Smith@{ub}, New Zealand, alien@acheron.amigans.gen.nz @endnode @node UDSS "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: mjbrown@cryo.cryogenic.com (Michel J. Brown) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: DSS8+ sound sampler, version 2.01 Date: 25 May 1994 21:25:19 GMT Message-ID: <2s0fnv$t04@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME DSS8+ sound sampler, version 2.01. BRIEF DESCRIPTION Digital Sound Sampler 8+ (DSS8+) is an audio digitizer. It consists of a sampling/digitizing hardware interface and a sampling, editing, and sequencing program that allows you to digitize, edit, combine and play back audio samples. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Great Valley Products (GVP) Address: 600 Clark Ave. King of Prussia, PA 19406 USA Telephone: (215) 354-9495 FAX: (215) 337-9922 E-mail: None given, although I suspect that they monitor the nets part time as individuals. LIST PRICE I do not know the list price of the product, but I paid $99.95 in US dollars from my local Amiga dealer in Portland, OR, USA. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Supports all current Motorola CPU's including the 68040. The card is processor independent for compatibility, but dependent inasmuch as speed is concerned. SOFTWARE None. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 2500 (rev 4.5). 2 MB Chip RAM, 4 MB Fast RAM. Kickstart version 37.300, Workbench version 38.35 (AmigaDOS 2.x). INSTALLATION Installation is easy and uses the Commodore Installer program. I selected the Expert Mode and found most of the defaults to be standard: the Novice selection wouldn't have been much different. The Installer script, however, doesn't seem to like my GigaMem partition, but the requester can be closed, so that is a moot point. I applaud GVP for having the sense to use the Commodore Installer, and besides, I like their install icon better anyway. The hardware and software installs easily, and I was up and running in about five minutes, taking my time. OVERVIEW The DSS8+ package is a clear polycarbonite casing showing the internals of the circuit board. It has a non-pass-through parallel port connector, two RCA mini phono plugs, and a standard mini DIN microphone connector between them. The included software, DSS8+ Digital Sound Studio V2.01, looks very similar to the previous version which was included in the original DSS8. Included are two double density floppy disks, the first marked Install, has the Program, utilities, and player. The second disk contains several very nice samples of high quality. REVIEW The software's interface, while reminiscent of other programs for music mods and meds, is unique in having single display. It can be changed by selecting the operating mode, like sampler, editor, or tracker. This makes for easy transition from one functional aspect of the program to another. The VCR style controls make the program intuitive to use and give instant feedback. As they claim, the screen is designed to resemble a mixing and editing console like in a sound studio. Features abound in this inexpensive digital sampler -- not a bad little unit -- with real time echo, reverb, oscilloscopes, and spectrum analysis. Just about everything is mouse editable, including sample amplitude levels, waveform functions, and supports cut and paste type work. I'm not sure if it uses the clipboard, but it would be a natural extension of the editor. There are effects (F/X) and processing for echo, mixing, filters, and resampling. Currently only the IFF, Sonix, and Raw file formats are supported; however, it is compatible with most sound tracker and noise tracker modules, so this really isn't a problem unless you use OctaMED (currently not supported). A key feature I like is the ability to create self-playing music modules for demo purposes. This allows others to hear your work without having to use a separate player program! Nice touch, in my opinion. Although I'm not a professional musician, I have found the tracker module up to par for creating some pretty impressive mods. It can create sampled instruments with 1, 3, and 5 octaves, and supports MIDI triggered note inscription. You can also add multiple effects for each note, so its a lot like OctaMED in this regard. The tutorial is excellent, and except for the glib and cryptic explanation of creating a real time sample, it is pretty straightforward. It states only that the "microphone jack is also available for input when the Mixer is selected." This is simply done by clicking on the STEREO gadget, so this is just a small complaint about semantics. When setting the gain for sampling, I recommend using the Autogain to get a feeling for where to start, then dropping back and resampling until you're at the bottom edge of clipping on the oscilloscope. This produces the best sound without added distortion from clipping. Speaking of distortion, my A1960 monitor emits a really bad whine that is picked up by the DSS8+ as a frequency modulated tone that sounds like a 1000 Hz tone riding the sample. I have to turn off my monitor every time I record, as I've not found a satisfactory manner to shield the unit from the apparent RFI. In HiFi mode the screen blanks out, yet the whine persists, so be alert to this as a possibility in your system. While some will feel that the ability to have 31 samples in memory simultaneously is insufficient, that alone takes approximately 3 MB, not including free RAM for editing nor the program itself. So, for all intents and purposes, even though it will work on one megabyte machines, it really shines with at least four, and definitely more, especially chip RAM, where samples are generated before being buffered off to fast RAM. DOCUMENTATION The documentation comes in an 82-page, spiral bound booklet that can lie flat or be propped up on the keyboard for easy reference. The layout is logical and easily followed. First is the overview, followed by the installation procedures, which are very well documented, leaving nothing to guesswork. The tutorial follows, and is basically a quick look at the different modules and their functional layout and control subsystems. After the brief basics are addressed, a very succinct reference section follows, covering in detail all aspects of the DSS8+ and giving lavish examples throughout. First rate explanations of all features, and examples of each one, make for easy reading and reference. After the splendid reference section are appendices covering keyboard shortcuts, hexidecimal notation, and basic sound and music theory. Even then, GVP includes a well-thought-out customer complaint form and configuration form for trouble shooting, should the need ever arise... which I doubt, but it is a nice touch. The index is actually cross-referenced, so it makes relating various functional aspects a lot easier. About the only complaint I have is that GVP claims to support ARexx, but there's no reference to it anywhere in the documentation. There is a drawer titled ARexx, however, which contains scripts to control right channel gain, left channel amplitude, DC offset, ARexx start, and ARexx quit. A little addendum or README file would have been better than no documentation at all. At least they are supporting ARexx and assigning ports. The documentation is very straightforward and covers every aspect of installation, use, and maintenance. All levels of expertise are covered, and beginners to experts alike won't be disappointed or confused by the nomenclature. LIKES I like the ease of use, the intuitive system that is completely Style Guide compliant, and the use of many of the advanced features found on the more recent AmigaDOS upgrades. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS About the only dislike I have is that I have to turn off my monitor in order to sample live properly. There is probably nothing that GVP can do about that, but it may be a problem for other users who use the Commodore A1960 monitor. I'd really like to know why I can save my preferences. The menu says I can, but the paths I have for different files default back to the original ones set by GVP. Perhaps this is a bug, or maybe their use of nonstandard requestors makes this happen. My suggestion: make use of the standard ASL requestors, and allow full use of the AmigaDOS system calls. Another small complaint is that even though my virtual memory shows up in the System Information requestor, according to both DSS8+ and GigaMem, none of it is utilized. With applications like these becoming more commonplace, and upping the RAM requirements, virtual memory should at least be supported on a very elementary level. Even AudioMaster III supports virtual memory allocation, and it is considerably older than DSS8+. Some commodities may not be compatible with the DSS8+. Magic Menus causes nasty, unrecoverable alerts. Power Data completely scrambles the DSS8+ screen to the point of unreadability. Needless to say, I no longer run these commodities, as I value the DSS8+ more, but I would like to see them work together harmoniously. I'd like to see support for other screen modes: at least HIRES LACE would be nice. Then again, this could have been omitted because of RAM considerations, as there are numerous warnings throughout the documentation about memory usage and the large files that sampling can create. Maybe version three will improve this. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS The only comparable product I have used is Perfect Sound by Sunrize. All I can say is that you'd have to go to either a twelve or sixteen bit unit before you'll find anything in the eight-bit group that will displace the DSS8+, the current reigning king of sound. I can think of no better value for the money in regards to Amiga sound devices. BUGS None noted, except for perhaps the conflicts mentioned above. VENDOR SUPPORT Full addresses, and phone/fax numbers are supplied, but trying to call a real representative at GVP is difficult at best. I am not associated with GVP in any way other than being a satisfied DSS8+ owner. WARRANTY Full one year warranty on parts and the installation software. Whether the warranty is transferable or not is not mentioned in the documentation. CONCLUSIONS This is an excellent product at a fair price. Considering the performance capabilities exhibited, I would hazard a guess that the faster your machine, the faster the throughput; and the more RAM (both Chip and Fast RAM) you have, the larger or more samples you can work with at a time. All in all, this is a product that every Amiga user shouldn't be without. I know I'll keep mine a long time! COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1994 by Dr. Michel J. Brown. All rights reserved. @endnode @node UFUR "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: steve_cutting@guru.apana.org.au (Steve Cutting) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Fury of the Furries, CD32 version Date: 24 May 1994 20:46:34 GMT Message-ID: <2rtp3a$39m@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME Fury of the Furries, CD32 version BRIEF DESCRIPTION A single-player platform game with puzzles. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Mindscape International Address: Priority House, Charles Avenue Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 9PQ England Telephone: +44 (0) 444 239 600 Fax: +44 (0) 444 248 996 LIST PRICE I don't know the list price, but I paid 69.99 Australian dollars for it. In the UK, you can get it for 19.99 pounds from mail order companies. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE CD32 (PAL) Television or monitor Control pad (or Amiga joystick) SOFTWARE None COPY PROTECTION None that's noticeable to the user. REVIEW The manual tells the story of a race of small furball creatures called Tinies. Tinies look like tennis balls with eyes, and according to the manual, they have a horrid sense of humour. The Tiny King has apparently been taken prisoner and been imprisoned in his own castle by a Tiny with a particularly wicked sense of humour. Yes, this is where you come in. :-) When the game boots, you're shown a glitchy animated sequence portraying all this, accompanied by some decent CD audio. Once you're at the title screen, you can start a new game or restart one of four saved games. The object of the game is simple: take control of a Tiny and find your way to the exit of each level. Your Tiny can walk, run, and jump three different heights. As if that isn't enough, your Tiny is also able to transform into any of 4 colours, each one having a special ability: Red - eats through walls Yellow - shoots fireballs to kill nasties Green - swings and climbs on rope Blue - dives underwater Green is my favourite. It's great fun swinging the little critter back and forth on the rope, then letting go and watching him fly across the screen and do a couple of somersaults before landing on the ground! Not all of the abilities are available all the time. On some levels, you may only have one ability, and on others, you might get all 4. To make it harder, there are force-field type things which enable or disable an ability when you pass through them. You view the action from the standard platform perspective (side on), and the levels scroll in all directions. The game takes place over 8 areas, with each area having 10 levels based on the same theme. The levels are full of all sorts of obstacles designed to reduce your Tiny to an ex-furball before reaching the exit. There's trees, water, spikes and loads more, and of course the usual array of NASTIES. You must make use of the various abilities of your Tiny to negotiate these obstacles. As you progress into the game, the puzzle element starts rearing its head. As well as avoiding (or shooting) all the nasties, you also have to start solving problems in order to reach the exit. These puzzles range from simple things, like finding and using keys, to more complex ones, like moving blocks and finding secret entrances. The puzzles rely on the correct choice of abilities in most cases, and also require some pretty nifty joypad skills on some of the later levels. Every 5 levels, your position is saved in Non-Volatile RAM. DOCUMENTATION The booklet in the CD sleeve has instructions in English, French, Dutch, Italian and Spanish. It covers everything you need to know (not a lot, really) and has some nice black and white drawings. LIKES Great fun. It's playable, cute, and best of all: totally silly! There's something distinctly warped about a 10-pixel high ball of fluff letting fly with a Streetfighter-style fireball. :-) The game-saving feature means you can restart where you left off instead of playing through all the levels again. This adds a lot to the longevity of any game in my opinion; if I can restart where I left off, I'll keep coming back until I finish it (or go insane). The difficulty curve is just about right. There's plenty of easy levels before the brain mangling begins. The CD tracks on the intro and title screens are really good. In-game music is only Amiga based, but the tunes are great. Although he's very small and not very colourful, your Tiny is nicely animated and moves well. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS The in-game graphics are pretty dull; they'd look perfectly at home in a 512K A500 game 5 years ago. It doesn't look like any more than about 16 colours, definitely not 32bit CDROM stuff. Static title and between-level screens are more colourful though. The game doesn't use the full PAL screen. If you force it into NTSC using the boot-menu, it runs too fast. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS If you liked The Lost Vikings, you'll like this. BUGS I've found a couple of graphic glitches here and there, but they don't affect gameplay at all. VENDOR SUPPORT An address and phone/fax number are provided for support. I haven't needed to contact them as yet. WARRANTY Unknown. CONCLUSIONS If you're looking to be blown off your seat with stunning visuals and audio, don't buy this game, because there aren't any. But do buy it if you want a game to *PLAY*, because it's got more playability and lastability than a lot of other stuff around. An enjoyable blend of platforms, puzzles and general silliness. My rating : 80% @{b}Steve Cutting@{ub}, Steve_Cutting@guru.apana.org.au @endnode @node UGIG "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: the_doctor@nesbbx.rain.com (Michel J. Brown) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: GigaMem, revision 3 Date: 29 May 1994 01:33:53 GMT Message-ID: <2s8re1$im2@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME GigaMem, revision 3 BRIEF DESCRIPTION GigaMem is a virtual memory management program. It requires an Amiga computer with hard drive, a processor with an MMU, and at least 3MB of fast RAM. [MODERATOR'S NOTE: This review assumes that the reader knows what virtual memory is. Briefly, it is a way to make a part of your hard drive act like memory (RAM). This increases the amount of RAM available on your Amiga, at the expense of some hard disk space and some speed (since hard drive access is slower than RAM access). - Dan] AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: BSC Bueroautomation AG Address: Lerchenstraae 5 80995 Mnchen 50 Germany Telephone: ++49/89/357130-0 FAX: ++49/89/357130-99 LIST PRICE I do not know the list price of the product. The software was included free with my Oktagon SCSI host adapter which I bought for $129.95 (US) from my dealer. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE 3 MB Fast RAM required. It used for buffer space and data caching. A hard drive is required. Sizes up to 1 GB are supported. A processor with a memory management unit (MMU) is required. SOFTWARE Works with all AmigaDOS versions. Some features are unavailable under older AmigaDOS versions. Full functionality is obtained with AmigaDOS 2.1 and above. Even though it is compatible with AmigaDOS 3.0, it doesn't seem to take advantage of any of the newer features present in 3.0 as far as I know. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 2500 (rev 4.5), 2 MB Chip RAM, 4 MB Fast RAM. Oktagon SCSI host adapter with Quantum 1080 Empire SCSI-2 hard drive. Kickstart version 37.300, Workbench version 38.35. INSTALLATION Installation uses the Commodore Installer and is very easy. I selected the Expert installation mode and found most of the defaults to be standard. Even Novice installation mode wouldn't have been much different. You can even choose the language in which the installation will occur: English is the default, while French and German are supported. If you have AmigaDOS 2.1 or above, locales are also supported. The Amiga Style Guide guidelines are completely supported throughout the entire installation. REVIEW The documentation is written in a "German first, English second" booklet labeled "GigaMem." It is well written and includes both "step-by-step" and "expert" installation descriptions. Throughout the book are suggestions, warnings, and helpful tips about hard drive installation, use, and maintenance. After selecting the appropriate mode, you can set the size of the virtual memory file or partition by using the intuitive editor. One caveat here, though, is that you must specify the size of the file in megabytes, so a partition swap medium would ghost out the choice for swap size. Once the size of the file or partition is set, then you have to select the amount of real RAM you wish to devote to buffers and caches. The recommended amount is that buffers should have one fourth of total RAM, and caches should be sized according to the largest file to be handled at one time. As an example, I give GigaMem 1MB of buffer RAM and 256K for caching purposes. Depending on the size and speed of your drive, you may want to adjust these accordingly, as they seem to be inversely proportional to the speed of access and use. The documentation has several warnings about using the swap file method, as there may be conflicts with data and other files in the swap file area. I use the partition method, giving 175MB to GigaMem for virtual memory purposes. This ensures that the random read/writes to the drive stay in a controlled environment, and won't affect other files in any way other than to allow for larger than normal projects to be done. GigaMem comes already set up to be used with several programs, like AdPro, Deluxe Paint (animation only), and Imagine. I have tested it only with AdPro, DPaint 4.1, Imagine 2.0, Pro Write 3.2, Scenery Animator 2.05, and UChessL. While all of these programs worked exceptionally well, with the one notable exception of DPaint 4.1, the greatest surprise came when I tried UChessL (V2.83) on my system. First of all, it requires a 68040 CPU and 8MB of free RAM, yet it booted cleanly and performed as well as the lesser versions without any speed penalties. As to what happened with DPaint 4.1, it is anybody's guess. First, I tried a simple morph across 30 frames and promptly ran out of memory. Then I tried to concatenate a 750-frame animation generated by Scenery Animator, and it wouldn't even load the first frame, even though I set the frame count to 750 and selected the base name of the file without the frame count extension. Perhaps this is a problem with DPaint 4.1, as there have been quite a few patches released for different versions. One caveat here in regards to speed of access and use. A friend of mine tested GigaMem on his machine, a stock A4000/040 with 8MB fast RAM and 2MB chip RAM. Due to his having a slower IDE drive and no burst mode, GigaMem slowed down his system to a bearable crawl, while my system went 3-5 times faster. The two controlling factors appear to be the speed of the drive and the speed of the RAM. On a fast system, this is a moot point, as my virtual memory speed tests somewhere in between Fast and Chip RAM. The A4000 showed its Fast RAM to be about half as fast as mine, and the Chip RAM about the same, while the virtual memory was dog slow (approximately one fifth the speed of Fast RAM). So for the need of working on large projects that are RAM intensive like image processing and rendering on a fast machine with a fast drive, GigaMem is a very cost-effective means to an end, without a great deal of expense in hardware. All in all, this is a fine product from a supportive and growing company, and I would highly recommend getting the program if you are in the market for a fast and inexpensive method of RAM acquisition. DOCUMENTATION The printed documentation comes in a 96-page perfect bound booklet, with the first half in German, the second in English. My congratulations to the writers for the excellent translation and low spelling error count. The documentation is very straightforward and covers every aspect of installation, use, and maintenance. All levels of expertise are covered, and beginners to experts alike won't be disappointed or confused by the nomenclature. LIKES I like the ease of use, the intuitive system that is completely Style Guide compliant, and the use of advanced features from recent AmigaDOS versions. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS About the only dislike I had was that in order to use a program, it has to be on the database, which is included. As an example, I tried to drag and drop (like an AppIcon in this respect) the icon for GVP's DSS8+ sound sampler hardware. Although it registered on the memory allocation counter in DSS, it wouldn't use any virtual memory whatsoever. What was really surprising is that there is support in the database for AudioMaster III/IV, and yet DSS is left out. I tried editing the AudioMaster and DSS files manually, but was unable to get it to work. Since sound files can be quite large, and DSS is a pretty well established product, I cannot understand why it wasn't included, or why GVP won't allow for the use of virtual memory. Maybe in future releases we'll see it. As for DPaint 4.1, I don't know why it wouldn't make even a small animation, like a morph, or even a large one of 750 frames from a Scenery Animator animation I did for a project. FRED, however came through, even though it uses Chip RAM for the thumb nails it generates to make the animation from the frames generated. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS The only comparable product is the shareware product VMM040 which requires a 68040 processor, so I was unable to test it. My friend with the A4000/040 tried to use VMM040, and couldn't get it to work at all, as the documentation leaves a lot to be desired and assumes a complete knowledge of the inner workings of an MMU-bearing 68040 processor. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Other than that, I am not aware of any other comparable products that are generally available. BUGS None noted. VENDOR SUPPORT Full addresses, and phone/fax numbers are supplied, but the hotline for technical support is sent back only after registration card is received by BSC. I am not associated with BSC/Alfa Data in any way except as a satisfied customer. WARRANTY One year warranty on software and the installation software. Warranty appears to be transferrable, as no mention is made either way as to the transfer of title. CONCLUSIONS This is an excellent product at a fair price, and considering the performance capabilities exhibited, I would hazard a guess that the faster your machine, the faster the throughput. According to SysInfo 3.14, I get a speed of my virtual memory in between the speed of my Fast and Chip RAM. It would appear that faster processors coupled with faster drives will produce the best results, naturally enough, but faster than your average comparably equipped machine. I'd give GigaMem a rating of 4+ stars out of 5 and a full five stars if they make the appropriate changes to the database, allowing use of Digital Sound Studio and DPaint 4.1. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1994 by Dr. Michel J. Brown. All rights reserved. @endnode @node UKLO "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: bruceb@vnet.ibm.com (Bruce "Yoda" Baltzer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Klondike AGA, Version 1.1 Date: 19 May 1994 17:52:14 GMT Message-ID: <2rg90e$kr1@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME Klondike AGA, Version 1.1 BRIEF DESCRIPTION The Klondike solitaire card game we all know, with music and HAM-8 graphics. The game is available by anonymous ftp from any Aminet site, in the directory /pub/aminet/game/think. Currently, the filenames are AGA-Klondike1-3.lha, AGA-Klondike2-3.lha, and AGA-Klondike3-3.lha. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: REKO Productions Address: Leerambachtstr. 10, 3312 LJ Dordrecht, The Netherlands LIST PRICE None. The author asks that you make cards. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE An Amiga with the AGA graphics chip set. The documentation implies that the program runs on a stock Amiga 1200, so it will certainly run with 2 MB of Chip RAM. 2 MB free hard disk space required. SOFTWARE Requires Workbench 3.x. (goes with the AGA at this time...) COPY PROTECTION None. Installs on a hard disk. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 4000/030, 2 MB Chip RAM, 12 MB Fast RAM. External 880K floppy, 1.76MB internal floppy. Internal 130MB Seagate and 245MB Quantum IDE hard drives. 1950 Monitor. Kickstart/Workbench 3.0. INSTALLATION The program installs using the standard Commodore installer program, and did so without errors. REVIEW Klondike is the classic "Solitaire" game played with one person (hence, "Solitaire") and a deck of cards. The player deals out 7 piles containing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 cards respectively, with the top card in each pile face up. The object of the game is to build "chains" of cards, descending from King down to Ace with alternating red and black cards, and then collect all cards into stacks by suit. If you can do this, you win. The complete rules for Klondike Solitaire can be found in just about any book of card games. After doing the installation, I read the docs. :) This is necessary so you can understand how the preferences text file works. Preferences settings are stored in a text file in the same directory as the program, and you edit it with any text editor. I am quite familiar with this kind of customizing myself, but there are other people who would prefer some sort of GUI for this purpose. The default settings work, but you might want to choose another display mode since the default is "PAL interlaced." Available display modes are PAL LACE, DBLPAL, and Super72. The docs clearly explain how to change this, and the preference file also contains comments explaining things quite clearly. My first attempt to run the program didn't work too well... actually, not at all. After tinkering with it off and on for a week, I found that the medplayer.library in my LIBS directory was smaller than the one in the first of the three archives. After extracting the library and placing it into LIBS, the program worked! It seems that the Install script checked that I had the right version, but didn't check file lengths. (Understandable....) After 'ooh'ing and 'ahh'ing over the default deck of cards and playing to try and see all the cards, I installed six other decks from the Aminet ftp site and started up again. All of them, beautiful! Inspiring! (I'm working on a deck now, myself. :)) The filenames on Aminet are animeCards.lha, ArtCards.lha, Cindy-cards.lha, faces-cards.lha, hajimecards.lha, and woman-cards.lha. Now, less about my own experiences and more comments on gameplay. During the game, you can change card sets by pressing a number between 0 and 9, making ten card sets available at any time. Card sets are assigned to these keys in the preferences file, and how to do this is clearly explained. You can change screen modes with a keystroke and toggle the music on and off with another. It's nice music, but after an hour, ANY music wears thin. The same is done for restarting the game, and pressing escape immediately exits the game. This is good and fast, but you also have to watch that nobody and nothing touches any part of your keyboard during a game, as a single keypress can cause the game to exit, restart, or change card sets (some sets you might not want some people to see... ;)). While playing, you can double-click cards to move them to the stacks at the bottom of the screen (Ace, two, three, four, etc. of a suit). You can also grab multiple cards and move them from one column to another by clicking the highest card in the column you want to move, then clicking on the destination. If you're a little shaky (caffeine, or the morning after a night of drinking... :)) and click the wrong place, the game highlights a box around the cards you are about to move so you can see exactly which cards your operation will affect. Cards may be drawn from the draw pile singly or in threes, depending on the skill level you chose in the preferences file. DOCUMENTATION The game comes with a fairly good documentation file. It isn't an AmigaGuide document, but it conveys the basics in short order such that AmigaGuide isn't really needed. Taking into account that English is not the writer's native language, the documentation is very good. It gives step-by-step instructions for installation, setting preferences, and creating your own deck of cards. Everything you need to know is conveyed succinctly and clearly. The only thing it does not describe is how much hard drive space a full installation takes up. The documentation assumes little beyond being able to use a text editor to edit the preferences file, which is a reasonable assumption, I think. The instructions for making a deck of cards assume quite a bit of knowledge and uses acronyms for software that might not be clear to someone unacquainted with the software mentioned. However, I think that if you can't understand the instructions, you probably won't have the know-how to make a deck anyway. LIKES The stunning graphics! Now THIS is a product that shows off AGA! The card sets I've downloaded from Aminet so far look GREAT (see review soon to come of the card sets on Aminet to date) and sometimes are so visually distracting that it affects my gameplay.... (It depends on the deck. ;)) The speed is great, the gameplay is great (follows my favourite variation of Klondike by default), and it has the 'niceties' expected in a solitaire card game for card stack manipulation. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS I didn't like the way that the Install script wasn't able to tell me there was a problem with the library. However, being a programmer, I can understand how it would be hard (impossible?) to detect that your program has suddenly leapt beyond the end of the library's code and started trying to execute random memory contents.... :) I am particular about Install scripts that put files into my system directories without asking me first. Klondike's Install script put a file called REKO into my C: directory without asking. This program is needed to generate a set of cards from pictures, and would have been fine in the game directory as it would rarely be used by all but the most productive artist. The means of configuring the software works for me, but could be improved. Perhaps a configuration window that opens from within the program via a menu would be nice. I can't complain about support for other display modes, which is something I think some people do by reflex. :) If you have an AGA machine, you can easily use one of the display modes available, and using NTSC would only make the cards less detailed. I think it would also be a good idea to require the user to hold down the Amiga (qualifier) key when typing commands at the keyboard. It's not any harder for a user, and it makes it easier to keep from changing something accidentally during play. The use of qualifier keys would also allow for more decks of cards to be used in one configuration file (i.e., Amiga-<0-9>, shift-<0-9>, and control-<0-9> for up to thirty decks!). A move could also be made to menus, but I don't think that's necessary and would be happy with the use of qualifying keys. I'd just like some way of having more than ten decks (hoping the number existing will soon surpass that number... :)). COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS To date, I haven't used any other solitaire card programs on the Amiga. BUGS Just a couple, and both have to do with the sound. 1) When you press 'm' to turn the music off, it completely disables any and all sound output from your Amiga! I wanted to use my mod player to play some different music, but no go.... 2) The docs say that if you try to change screenmodes to one you don't have installed, the program will exit. This it does... however, it leaves the music playing. Reloading the game didn't allow me turn the music off, and I had to reboot to turn it off. I have not yet informed the authors of these bugs, as they only gave a postal mail address in the documentation, and it's in the Netherlands. Perhaps someone who lives there reads this review? :) VENDOR SUPPORT Haven't attempted to get any. WARRANTY None. Doesn't need one... :) CONCLUSIONS This card game is a must for any AGA Amiga-owner. Even if you don't like Klondike solitaire, you'll still enjoy the eye-candy aspect of it. I give the game **** (four stars out of five). If the configuration were a little friendlier, it had support for more decks in one config file, it had an AREXX port (just kidding! :)), and those bugs were fixed, it would easily earn the fifth star. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Copyright 1994 Bruce Baltzer. All rights reserved. @endnode @node UMIC "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: corinna.cohn@intercomm.com (Corinna Cohn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Microbotics MBX1230 accelerator card for the Amiga 1200 Date: 19 May 1994 17:54:38 GMT Message-ID: <2rg94u$krq@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME Microbotics MBX1230 accelerator card for the Amiga 1200 BRIEF DESCRIPTION The MBX1230 card is an accelerator card for the Amiga 1200. It provides a 68030 CPU and room for a math co-processor and up to 128 megabytes of RAM. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Microbotics Address: Paravision, Inc. 500 E. Arapaho, Suite 104 Richardson, TX 75081 USA Telephone: (214) 644-0043 (9:00am to 5:30pm Central time) E-mail: microbotics1@bix.com LIST PRICE I purchased this card from Memory World as configured for about $700. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE Amiga 1200. SOFTWARE None. COPY PROTECTION None. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 1200. Commodore 1942 Monitor. Microbotics MBX1230 with 68030 CPU running at 33 MHz 68882 FPU running at 33 MHz 8 MB RAM REVIEW I bought this card at the World Of Commodore show in Pasadena, CA in 1993. At the time, there were two other 68030 cards for the A1200 which I was aware of. The GVP card seemed rather expensive, and the price of GVP RAM is far too expensive. The other card (which I believe to be the RCS card) had many attractive features (such as a future SCSI-II add-on); however, I didn't couldn't justify spending extra money on features which I couldn't see myself using. Therefore I ended up with the MBX1230 card. I had used a MicroBotics product before in my Amiga 500 -- a VXL*30 card with 68030 CPU and 2 MB RAM -- and I was rather displeased with it. I was a bit skeptical of my new purchase, and shortly after I had it in my hands, I thought that I was a fool for purchasing it. It turns out that these thoughts were completely unfounded. Once I got the card home, I began to install it in my A1200. I installed the software, and the installation was flawless. Then I tried to install the hardware which turned out to be quite a trial. The directions say to slide the card gently into place, but it took almost more force than I had to get it into place. Finally, just as I was about to give up, I thought to use a lever to get it in. When I used the lever, the card slid in very easily. I then rebooted the computer and... IT WORKED! YEAH!!! My computer was now a LOT faster, and it had 10 megabytes of RAM too! That was the last time that I saw the card. It has been running in my A1200 ever since. As of this date (May 18, 1994), the computer has been turned off for a total of about four days. The bottom of my A1200 is quite warm, but I have had no problems with the heat as of yet. DOCUMENTATION The documentation for this card is sparse but adequate to get up and running. LIKES + I like the SPEED! Of course you would get the speed with any other accelerator, but it's nice anyway. :) + The card was relatively easy to install. There aren't hundreds of screws to deal with (and lose). I would recommend a lever to get the card in though. DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS - The card requires a patch at the beginning of the startup-sequence in order to add the "Auto-Config" RAM. They say that AmigaDOS 3.1 should fix the problem; however, this doesn't seem to be a problem with the other boards. - The card "supports" up to 128 megabytes of RAM; however, it has only one SIMM socket. Where do you find a 128M SIMM??? I have trouble finding 16M SIMMs! If there were two sockets, then I could just pop in another 8M SIMM, but I'm kind of stuck with 8M until I can find a 16M SIMM. I'm not even going to bother looking for 32M SIMMs. COMPARISON TO OTHER PRODUCTS I can't compare this product as I have never owned another accelerator card for the Amiga 1200. Compared to the VXL*30 card though, this is a MUCH better product. BUGS I haven't run into any bugs at all! SUPPORT I have not required support for my MBX1230 card; however, I did require support for my VXL*30 card and the support people were very friendly and responsive towards my needs. I don't think this will have changed much. WARRANTY I can't seem to find my warranty information, or else I would tell you about it. CONCLUSIONS I would definitely recommend this product to any Amiga 1200 owner who doesn't have a need for SCSI support. I would also recommend that any low to midrange users who want to save a couple of dollars should omit the purchase of the 68882, as it doesn't help much with day to day use. If you are using math-intensive applications, it is important; however, that is a rare case for me (and I imagine for most people). I would also recommend that anyone purchasing an Amiga 1200 buy at least SOME kind of 32-bit RAM, at least 2M's. COPYRIGHT NOTICE I created this review, but anyone can do anything they want with it. @{b}Corinna Cohn,@{ub} corinna.cohn@intercomm.com @endnode @node URUS "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: flam@netcom.com (James "Flam" Johnson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: Rush, release 2 Date: 23 May 1994 03:42:37 GMT Message-ID: <2rp8nd$fg9@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME Rush, release 2, version 37.5370 BRIEF DESCRIPTION Rush is a shareware directory utility. A demo version is available on the Aminet ftp sites in /pub/aminet/util/dir/RushDem2.lha. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Douglas Keller Address: 3A Hudson Harbour Drive Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 USA E-mail: dkeller@bix.com LIST PRICE Shareware: $25.00 (US) for the registered version. Upgrade from Directory Opus is $15.00 (US) if you send in the first page from a Directory Opus manual. There are two differences between the demo and registered versions. In the demo, the gadget assignments cannot be saved (although the preferences can be edited tediously by hand), and a naggy little requester pops up (forcing Rush to the front of the display) every now and then. The copyrighted demo version can be distributed like any shareware product. The registered version cannot be distributed (obviously). SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE None. SOFTWARE Requires AmigaDOS 2.0 or higher. COPY PROTECTION None. Installs on a hard disk. OVERVIEW Rush is a directory utility along the lines of Directory Opus and the MANY other PD and commercial directory utilities. It has a friendly and very configurable user interface with two directory list windows separated by a row of command buttons. The interface is configurable as to its screen mode (including all 2.04 and 3.0 modes), fonts (both for the list windows and buttons), and colors (up to 256 with AmigaDOS 3.0+). The buttons can be configured to do any command imaginable, including commands loaded from disk (such as AmigaDOS commands, Viewtek, ZGIF, etc.), ARexx commands, assignments to devices, or a host of standard internal commands (such as Copy). Rush handles archives in a unique way and can be configured to recognize any archive type. Similarly, files types can be recognized (e.g., JPEG graphics files), and double-clicking on a file can be configured to execute the appropriate command associated with the file (e.g., FastJPEG for viewing JPEG images: "c:FastJPEG %s".). It is pleasantly simple to 'teach' Rush to recognize file types via a sample of that file type. These features are packed into a program that when run takes up less than 180K of your vital memory. SPECIAL FEATURES AmigaGuide support: Rush has good documentation in AmigaGuide format that can be run from the program. Hold the mouse over a portion of the screen and press the HELP key, and documentation on that portion will be displayed (nifty). Archive Handling: As mentioned, Rush uniquely handles archives and can recognize ANY format. The commands for adding to, listing, and extracting can be configured for each archive type. A double-click can also cause any of these commands to be executed. Mouse clicks: The right and left (and center) mouse buttons can be configured to execute ANY internal command. I have configured my right button to execute the 'Parent' command. Sort Lists: The ListViews (scrolling lists) can be each configured to sort their contents several different ways: by name, date, size, forward (alphabetically), backward, directories first, directories last, etc. Wildcards: The program supports wildcards throughout. For example, you could select all the #?.mod files in a directory easily by entering the wildcard, and clicking "All". Keystrokes: All button commands can be (but don't HAVE to be) duplicated with keystrokes. There are several other good and unique features. Download the demo, and see for yourself. LIKES I have used many many many many directory utilities, including Directory Opus, Directory Master, MTool, Directory Works, and so on. I have always wanted a POWERFUL, configurable program that didn't take up half a megabyte of memory. I have finally found this in Rush. After messing with it for a week, I registered right away. Rush runs fully bug free for me so far, and it is supported by a good programmer who wrote the first version over three years ago and promises updates (via e-mail even). Although Rush isn't the most configurable directory utility I have ever seen, it skips all the really useless stuff and has ALL the options I have ever wanted. Other directory utilities have either left out at least one IMPORTANT option, or have been so big and kludgy that they aren't worth it. Finally, a program that really strikes the balance. SPEED... Rush is quick. It beats both Directory Opus and Directory Master 2 in reads, copies, and deletes, hands down, and Douglas promises to speed it up even more with caching in the future. Plus it is thoroughly tested with the developer debugging tools Mungwall and Enforcer. (There are no Enforcer hits.) I have been able to configure Rush to do several complex tasks such as play MPEGS, offering me a choice between greyscale and HAM8 modes on the fly, and simple things like uuencode/uudecode files. The demo version isn't horribly crippled, so I was able to enjoy the program before I bought it. This is wise in my opinion, since I will just toss a demo that is severely crippled or bothers me with 5 minute lockups or windows that never go away. :) DISLIKES AND SUGGESTIONS 1. Not font sensitive (yet). 2. Doesn't treat archives like directories (yet). 3. Menus aren't configurable (yet). These all are promised for future releases. COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS See the "LIKES" section, above. BUGS None found so far. CONCLUSIONS Good work Mr. Keller! Download the Rush2 demo, and give it a try. @{b}James Johnson@{ub}, flam@netcom.com @endnode @node UTYP "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" From: dylan@cs.washington.edu (Dylan McNamee) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews Subject: REVIEW: TypeSMITH version 2.02 Date: 13 May 1994 02:49:06 GMT Message-ID: <2qupr2$p4l@masala.cc.uh.edu> PRODUCT NAME TypeSMITH version 2.02 BRIEF DESCRIPTION TypeSMITH is an outline font editor. It can edit and produce industry standard PostScript fonts (type 1 and type 3 format), Soft-Logik fonts, Compugraphic fonts, and Amiga bitmap fonts. AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION Name: Soft-Logik Publishing Corp. Address: 11131F S. Towne Sq. St. Louis, MO 63123 Telephone: (314)894-8608 E-mail: tech@slpc.com LIST PRICE TypeSMITH 2.0 retail price $199.95 (US). Soft-Logik customers pay $125 (for a limited time, $110). Upgrade from 2.01 to 2.02 is free. A patch has been uploaded to Aminet in the file /pub/aminet/biz/patch/ts202pch.lha. SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS HARDWARE 2 MB RAM required. 512K Chip RAM works. 1 MB or more Chip RAM recommended. Supports 68020 or greater processors, hard drives, and PostScript printers (among other things). SOFTWARE AmigaDOS 2.0 or greater. COPY PROTECTION None. Hard drive installable. MACHINE USED FOR TESTING Amiga 2500/30, 1 MB Chip RAM, 6 MB Fast RAM. AmigaDOS 2.1. INSTALLATION Installation proceeded without any problems by following the included instructions. REVIEW This is a MAJOR upgrade to TypeSMITH 2.01, almost as big as the difference between TypeSMITH 1 and TypeSMITH 2. I'll review the whole program, trying to highlight the differences between 2.01 and 2.02, while still making sense to folks that don't own any version of TypeSMITH (yet). If you need to produce a high-quality outline font on the Amiga, I believe TypeSMITH is the only choice. Fortunately, it's a very respectable program, and it keeps getting better. Much like Fontographer on the Macintosh, this program lets users create their own publication-quality fonts that will print without "jaggies" on high resolution printers. It also lets users tweak an existing font to add a character, modify a character, or whatever. Its drawing tools are sufficient to create almost any kind of figure, and TypeSMITH can export character shapes as IFF DR2D drawings for use with other Amiga programs. I've used it to create a PostScript font of my handwriting (it actually looks uncannily real...) as well as to create a more normal text font. For the handwriting font, I wrote an alphabet on paper, scanned it (on a PC), and read the file into DPAINT 4 where I saved each letter as an IFF brush. TypeSMITH was able to read each bitmap, scale it appropriately, and put it in the background (in grey) to be traced over. It has an "autotrace" feature that makes the tracing task much easier. (You still have to do significant touch-up, but it saves a lot of mouse-work.) TypeSMITH has always been able to edit PostScript fonts, but version 2.02 makes this even easier by being able to read PFA format as well as PFB format fonts. (Previously, PFA files had to be converted with the "dl2pfb" program.) Using this feature, I've been able to examine all the fonts on the new Bitstream 500 fonts CDROM (windows version, only $30) as well as the other PostScript fonts I own. Among the new features in 2.02 is the ability to edit the character widths from the edit window, which is really nice. Also, points can be moved with fine precision now by clicking on them and pressing arrow keys with the shift key. All in all, the program has a very well-tuned feel to it. DOCUMENTATION I'm not much of a documentation reader, and with TypeSMITH, I didn't have to resort to reading the documentation much, except to figure out how "composite" characters work, and how they're edited (it's a bit tricky). All my experiences with the documentation have been fine. BUGS This release fixes a number of bugs that were in version 2.01. Being a beta tester for them, if there were any bugs I experienced, I would have told them already, and they would have been fixed. :) VENDOR SUPPORT The fact that such a major update to TypeSMITH is available for free on the net (as well as the recent announcement in c.s.a.announce) is clear evidence of Soft-Logik's continuing commitment to the Amiga. I think they're good folks. I am a beta tester for them (hence the quick review of this brand new release) and have been impressed with the company from all sides. CONCLUSIONS I give it a solid 4.5 stars out of 5. Not that I can think of anything lacking, but if the program continues to improve, I'll need room in the rankings to accommodate. In light of the strong support Soft-Logik is giving the Amiga, and that this is such a strong program, I'd highly recommend buying it if you do anything with desktop publishing or even just have an interest in fonts. @{b}Dylan McNamee,@{ub} dylan@cs.washington.edu @endnode ## @node AnnoComing "A M i G A N E W S B i T S - 1.05 - June 1, 1994" @{b}COMING TO A DRIVE NEAR YOU..@{ub} Latest planned launch dates of major Amiga titles in the UK. - JUNE 94 Empire Soccer .............................. Empire CD32 Legacy of Sorasil ..................... Gremlin Championship Manager Data Disk ............. Domark Robinson's Requiem ......................... Simarils - JULY 94 Sim City 2000 .............................. Maxis Cyberspace ................................. Empire CD32 Litil Divil ........................... Gremlin - SEPTEMBER 94 The Dawn of Aerial Combat .................. Empire Sensible World of Soccer ................... Renegade/Sensible Software CD32 TFX ................................... Ocean CD32 Top Gear 2 ............................ Gremlin - OCTOBER 94 Rise of the Robots ......................... Mirage - ALSO ON THE WAY Zeewolf .................................... Binary Asylum Sensible Golf .............................. Sensible Software/Virgin CD32 Inferno ............................... Ocean CD32 Steg the Slug ......................... Codemasters CD32 Seymour Goes to Hollywood ............. Codemasters CD32 Magicland Dizzy ....................... Codemasters CD32 Captain Dynamo ........................ Codemasters CD32 CJ in the USA ......................... Codemasters @endnode