====================================================================== _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors- / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional Newsletter) KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING || ====================================================================== AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Gateway, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 980630 M I D W E S T A M I G A E X P O S I T I O N U P D A T E . . . . . . A N D A M I W E S T U P D A T E L A S E R L I G H T S U P I C O A S O F T W O R X S U P P O R T M A I L I N G L I S T A G I F T F R O M C L O A N T O ! M U I B A S E D A T A B A S E M A N A G E R T H E N E W S F R O M V A P O R W A R E A M I G A S M A K E I N R O A D S I N B A N G L A D E S H A M I N E T 2 5 A V A I L A B L E A M I G A I N F O R M E R 1 4 A T D E A L E R S A M I G A S I N A U S T R I A N S L O T M A C H I N E S P O L I S H A M I G A S H O W A S U C C E S S T S C T H A N K S M A N Y ! Editor's Thoughts and Introduction: One great thing about being Editor is I can change my mind. After the last issue, I had decided to not run further notes about Amiga's plan for the future as announced at the London show. Well, there are two letters in this issue on that subject. Both of them seemed compelling enough to include for the discussion they may cause. Note that we will almost never run a letter longer than 200 to 300 words because of severe space restrictions. We did so in this case only because we solicited such mail earlier. On June 20, a copyrighted story appeared documenting a fine levied against Gateway Inc., parent corporation of the Amiga, for selling computers to Iran, Syria and 14 other countries in violation of U.S. export law. We can't run the copyrighted story, but here are some quotes: "The Commerce Department said Gateway made the sales in 1992 and 1993 even though the North Sioux City, S.D., company knew they required export licenses and in many cases falsified shipment declarations. "Gateway's sales involved more than 80 computers worth $260,000 at the time, the department said. "The department started looking into Gateway's exports as a result of a criminal investigation of a U.S. resident who was shipping computers to family members in Iran, according to a department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The criminal case was settled with a probated sentence. "Gateway agreed to pay the $402,000 penalty to settle the charges. Gateway officials had no immediate comment on the case." While it's disappointing to see "our" computer company involved in such a case, we hope they've learned their lesson and we expect no permanent damage to the company. It's been a relatively quiet month in the Amiga community, but there is still much to report. The biggest news is probably the gift from Cloanto, details below. We have other stories of interest also, including quite a bit of information on upcoming shows in the U.S. We hope you enjoy this issue. Brad Webb, Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail to the E-ditor ===================== Dear Brad, I presently have a Win95 machine, I formerly had an Amiga 1200 but due to a business problem at the time I had to sell my Amiga. I have a P166 and there are lots of times I believe it is slower than my stock 1200 ever was. I am in process of selling my WIN95 machine to get an Amiga. About the new machines, I personally can not believe that Amiga Intl isn't using the Power PC chip Macintosh did it and maintained backwards compatibility, I think that is better than a Classic Amiga card, if that is their idea of a fix I might as well keep my WINDOZE machine because it would only be an Amiga by name. I have always been a minimalist (not that I wouldn't upgrade) I try to get the most out of my computer with the least available. The "Classic Amiga" knew how to do this if you look at what it takes to run the Amiga Software resource-wise as compared to the 10 Billion lines of Windoze code and what it takes to run their applications you could see that the Amiga already has quite an advantage now add to that a faster processor and I believe you could smoke some PC's. I am also thinking of all the companies that have readied themselves to jump on the Power PC wave and then oops Amiga Intl wants to jump tracks. Look at the Power of the machine in the Toaster/Flyer field the PCs are just now starting to catch up for a lot more money!! I think the Amiga community needs to be heard before this is all lost. Patrick ----- A lot of people are disappointed the PPC chip isn't being used. However, it seems proper to me to see what Amiga comes up with. The original machine was a huge leap forward, and that's clearly the goal for now. In light of IBM pulling out of the PPC venture with Motorola, the decision looks even better, though the PPC is bound to be around for quite a while. Keep in mind the next generation of Amiga is NOT a PC with an Amiga card in it. It seems to be very hard to get this message out, but that's the truth as it exists right now. Hang in there with us! Brad ====== The following is a synopsis of a letter sent to the management of Amiga Inc. dated 6 June 1998. COMMENTS TO THE AMIGA, INC. MANAGEMENT ON THE NEXT AMIGA OS WHATEVER THE VERSION No one since the first appearance of Windows has really tried to give MS a run for their money in dominating the OS products market, well, except for the fragmented open systems market. Just think about how far the penetration of the likes of Linux, NetBSD, FreeBSD, etc. have gotten in the last few years into the market, and these will not go away anytime soon, because they cannot be stomped out by MS from running on the same cheap hardware that MS windows does. It seems to me that it is time for a creditable consumer OS offering to the world, system configuration managed, nonpropriety and open like the GNU, Linux, etc. software, and having a core set of key applications would be able to compete with MS windows today. Such an OS should be portable across many platforms with as small a kernel as possible. And just as the Multiuser (preemptive multitasking, etc.) market is between the WinNT and Unixes, with a few left over such as OS/2, Rhaposdy (eventually), etc., so such a new OS should have all of these same attributes, but lacking a few I believe to make it truly unique, compact, and extremely fast when compared to all others. What are the mininum attributes that such a system should have? And shouldn't these OS attributes allow the system to be elegantly simple, compact, and extremely fast and easy add on to, when compared to other OSes. This means an OS that is flexible, compact and quick! Sounds like AmigaOS already doesn't it. The minimal attributes I think Pre-emptive multitasking with an elegant scheduler Single user only, and user protective (*) Protected memory (*) Multithreading Symmetric multiprocessing Allow two user interfaces (i.e. a GUI, user's choice and CLI capability) OPEN, of course. That's about it! I believe that this is where the PRESENT AmigaOS already shows itself commendably except for the (*)ed items without the need for someone else's kernel. The Amiga I believe does not need to have: Virtual memory (or swap space). I know that this is where I am going to get a lot of flak and resistance, particularly from the Unix community, but I believe that for the AmigaOS to be unique and still very fast, that this is one area (just like RISC undercut CISC) where the system actually benefits rather than looses. I submit that this OS should not be intended for a server OS! Give the server market to the likes of WinNT and Unix. Just let'em have it. Why leave out virtual memory? I can think of many reasons but to be brief I will only provide a few. If the system can be made to be ONLY single user capable, and able to handle any address space (64bit or larger), keeping extremely compact code with the only addition being memory protection, then why not just load everything needed (and shareable) as needed like AmigaOS already does? FORGET SWAP MEMORY! Memory is going to continue to become cheaper and cheaper, and need less and less board space. By Moore's law, we can all take this for granted! So, I propose a modified open architecture AmigaOS, detached from the special chips, but with single user protection and protected memory features added. Why single user multitasking? Well, if the system were modified to honor ONLY a single user (logged in) at a time and only his files as designated by him, then a greater protection can be inherently built into the OS. And, if the system were to be modified to handle the ufs, bfs, ms, NT, etc. storage file formats (as AmigaOS can do already) and honor these other OS user protection settings, then only those files world readable and directory listable would be accessable and available. This means that only ONE user can be logged in at a time (strict login capability with password protection). Maybe this sounds very much like a single user bootable version of Unix, and so it is except, the OS in this case has NO overhead multiuser or virtual memory code builtin. What I am proposing here is an OPEN OS that is compact enough and extremely quick, easily put onto your multimedia internetted wristwatch, and NOBODY on the INTERNET can get into your files. When I have a machine working, I want it to be MINE and working for ME as fast as it can, not somebody else. I also do not want the OS to use a lot of MY application memory doing it. I do want it to protect ME and MY files as securely as possible unless I intentionally wish some things to be shareable, and here I want to have as complete control over that as possible. I believe this is an inherent concept to us all and that deep down we all share it! I hope that this will provide a lively debate, but the main concern is to have Gateway, and Amiga, Inc. realize that what the AmigaOS provides is already a good start, and with a very small investment, can be just the ticket for a next (backward compatible?) generation AmigaOS. So let us have this debate quickly! And let us reach an accord just as quickly, because we all want something that we can buy with confidence and that will provide a clear choice, and that is at heart an Amiga. Allen B. Reeves ------ We couldn't begin to address all the thought in this note, but we're pleased to help Allen get his ideas in front of the Amiga community. Brad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M I D W E S T A M I G A E X P O S I T I O N U P D A T E . . . June 17th, 1998. The Amiga Central Ohio Network is pleased to announce the recent update to the exhibitor listings for the Midwest Amiga Exposition along with the new face-lift our web site has recently received. Our show this year is taking place at the Hyatt Regency Columbus, which offers us almost 7,000 square feet of exhibitor space, making this show THE largest show in North America this year and doubling our show from last year! The Hyatt Regency is a perfect location for our event and features dozens of downstairs restaurants and shops as well as being close by many activities, restaurants, and micro breweries of downtown Columbus. We are also proud to announce that IRC, Web cam, and WWW access will be available from the show floor this year. We will be setting up a dedicated lines for each of these allowing for total participation from the Amiga community from around the world with no interruptions! You can check out who is going to be present at our show by visiting http://www.amicon.org/mae.html and following the "Who will be there" link. Right now, we've only listed a few companies and user groups who have committed at this time. Many more will be appearing soon as the show dates draw closer, so please watch for updates in the coming weeks. At this time the seminars are being lined up with the gracious help of the ICOA (http://www.amiganet.org/icoa/) who have done an outstanding job of coordination and scheduling past seminars at other major Amiga events around the world. Our seminars page will be updated soon with a list of times, costs, and descriptions of the seminars that will be offered. Vendors are encouraged to sign up soon and get your requests for prime floor space in early. All vendors will receive detailed instructions and floor specs as the show dates draw closer. Pipe and drape is available for that "professional" look as well as dedicated phone lines. Please visit http://www.amicon.org/mae.html and follow the "Exhibitor Information" link to find out prices, selections and other details. For room reservations, please contact the HYATT REGENCY COLUMBUS at (800)233-1234 or (614)463-1234 and tell them you will be attending the Midwest Amiga Exposition on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th to receive a special show attendee discount. Also, please make sure you call the Hyatt Regency Columbus and not the Hyatt of downtown Columbus. These are two different places and we're not big enough to occupy both at the same time (yet!). Tickets are $12.00 for two days and $8.00 for one day, available at the door of the show. Some seminars may be extra. Grand prizes, games, new products, official press statements, educational seminars, great people, great deals, and everything great about the Amiga will be at the Midwest Amiga Exposition! So shouldn't you be? Visit our web pages at http://www.amicon.org, check out the show details, send us mail about our typos ;) and if you don't see your favorite Amiga vendor on the list, email us and we'll make sure they know you want to see them at the 1998 Midwest Amiga Exposition! If you have any questions about attending the show, seminars, or about exhibiting for our show, please email David Pearce, dpearce@amicon.org or Ronn Black, rblack@amicon.org. A phone number will be available shortly to take inquires. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- . . . A N D A M I W E S T U P D A T E 26 Jun 1998 Banquet Tickets SOLD OUT! ------------------------- The AmiWest Banquet on Saturday night has been sold out! There was only a limited number of banquet tickets available as seating in the banquet area is limited. 100 people will be attending the banquet. New Seminars have been added ---------------------------- New seminars have been added and are shown on our web page. This can be accessed directly at http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/seminar.html We have seminars by Holger Kruse (author of Miami), Chris Aldi (author of Class Act), and Carl Sassenrath (on his new language ROBOL) Paul Nolan will be here all the way from England for a PhotogenicsNG presentation. Tickets ------- If you have not already done so, you should get your requests in for passes to the show. Remember that show passes are available at a reduced rate if your check and mailed request is received by July 1. The advance ticket prices are: Full show pass (admission to show floor both days).....$12. One day pass............................................$8. A form in text format that can saved and/or printed has been provided on the web page at http://sacc.org/amiwest/TICKETFORM.TXT for ordering tickets for the show. Since we are using a badge type of admission, you will not receive actual tickets by return mail. Instead you will receive an acknowledgement that you have purchased the type of pass you requested. You will present this at the admissions desk and will be given a show information packet which will include your admittance badge and banquet tickets that you have ordered. The first 300 people ordering tickets will get a free issue of the latest "The Informer" magazine. Persons with advance tickets will have a special line to reduce waiting. Your check(s) should be mailed no later than July 1st or there is a chance that they will not arrive here in time for the show. Please fill out a form for each person that wants tickets. This will allow us to print the name and affiliation for each person receiving a badge. Send your check for admission passes: AmiWest '98 c/o Sacramento Amiga Computer Club P.O. Box 19784 Sacramento, CA 95819-0784 Make checks payable to "AmiWest". And as always, check out our web page at http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/ for the latest information. And see our ads in the current issues of "Amazing/Amiga" and "The Informer" magazines. Thanks, John Zacharias jzachar@calweb.com Alan Crandall alanwall@sonic.net "1998 is going to be a fun ride!" AmiWest98, get in, strap in, hang on! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- L A S E R L I G H T S U P I C O A FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 22nd June 1998 Harv Laser elected as ICOA User Representative The organisers of the 1998 ICOA User Rep election at the Jay Miner Society today announced its results. These were as follows: Bill Borsari 58 Craig Delahoy 42 Harv Laser 174 No evidence of voting fraud was detected, and no complaints have been received by the election arbiters. Therefore Harv Laser is duly elected to the position of User Representative on the ICOA Steering Committee for a term of one year. As User Rep, Harv Laser will have a full voting seat on the Steering Committee, alongside four ICOA members chosen in the current internal elections and a non-voting representative of Amiga Inc. His position is intended to combine the roles of consumer advocate, opinion- gatherer, strategist and community liaison. The whole Committee will attend selected Amiga shows and will meet face-to-face roughly every 3 months. For further information about the election, see the official web site at or contact Ben Hutchings of the Jay Miner Society. --- The ICOA is a non-profit organization which develops and promotes standards, and provides support for Amiga developers. It has been chosen by Amiga Inc to provide the official developer support program for the Amiga in future. The JMS is a non-profit international user group devoted to empowering Amiga users and fostering the spirit of the Amiga. It created the ICOA initiative and launched it in May 1997. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S O F T W O R X S U P P O R T M A I L I N G L I S T 23 June1998 PerSuaSiVe SoftWorX Announces Support Mailing List PerSuaSiVe SoftWorX, so far mainly known for their SuperView and SuperView- Library related line of products, today announced a new support mailing list for users of their freely distributable as well as shareware software products, including - but not limited to - the latter. Two lists are made available to address different groups of recipients: ARK-DISCUSSION for discussing PerSuaSiVe SoftWorX programs and related bugs and problems and for general support ARK-ANNOUNCE for receiving the latest information and press releases from PerSuaSiVe SoftWorX [read only] To subscribe to one of the mailing lists, simply write an email to LISTSERV@ML.amigos.line.org with "ADD ark-discussion" or "ADD ark-announce" in the subject line (leave the mailbody empty). To again unsubscribe, replace "ADD" with "DEL". Once you have successfully subscribed, you'll receive a confirmation message from the server and may start writing your own mails. Mails to ARK-DISC then have to be addressed to ark-discussion@ml.amigos.line.org For a nearly complete list of PerSuaSiVe SoftWorX software products, visit http://home.t-online.de/home/Andreas_Kleinert/support.htm or the homepage URL listed below - it soon will allow to subscribe/unsubscribe the mailing lists online from the WWW. -------------------------------------------- Information on SuperView, SuperView-Library and ImageEngineer registration: PerSuaSiVe SoftWorX Andreas R. Kleinert Sandstrasse 1 Fax: +49-271-22869 D-57072 Siegen eMail: Andreas_Kleinert@t-online.de Germany WWW: http://home.t-online.de/home/Andreas_Kleinert/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A G I F T F R O M C L O A N T O ! 20 June 98 CLOANTO RELEASES PERSONAL PAINT 6.4 AS A FREE GIFT TO THE AMIGA COMMUNITY, ANNOUNCES DEVELOPMENT OF VERSION 8 In the evolution of Personal Paint, which has become the leading title for editing palette-based graphics, version 6.4 represents a milestone in new features, reliability, diffusion and new code written. In hindsight, it might have deserved a version number of "7" (just as the features introduced in the latest version might have justified an "8" release, instead of the more humble 7.1). The particular release of Personal Paint 6.4 now on Aminet (biz/cloan directory, PPaint64.lha archive, easy access from http://www.cloanto.com/amiga/download.html) is little more than 18 months old, and includes support for anim-brushes and ARexx, which were not supported by the first 6.4 release (also bundled with some Amiga computers). With few exceptions, such as the lack of full documentation and no support for file formats such as GIF (which is included only with the commercial package, under license of Unisys Corporation), this is the full retail version of Personal Paint 6.4, including 20 different user interface languages. Additional information on the distribution is contained in the archive, as is a special upgrade offer to the latest version 7.1. The version of Personal Paint 6.4 now released for free download is not a demonstration version, but is fully functional, and may be used without limitations for productive applications. Personal Paint 7.1 remains the latest version, while we are working on version 8, which however is not expected to be ready at least until the second half of 1999. Personal Paint 8 requires a major re-write to support features such as true color, layers, and advanced animation functionality. At the same time, it is now very important that the new code be written in a portable style, because it is still unknown what the new Amiga OS will look like, other than it will not be the Amiga that we are used to. Suggestions regarding the features of Personal Paint 8 are very welcome, and can be addressed to suggestions@cloanto.com (preferably containing "Personal Paint 8" in the message title). For additional information, please refer to the Amiga section of the Cloanto web site at http://www.cloanto.com/amiga/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M U I B A S E D A T A B A S E M A N A G E R 18 June 1998 MUIbase is a fast and very flexible database for the Amiga. It is for users who want to manage data in a comfortable and easy way. MUIbase is able to manage any kind of data, e.g. addresses, CD series, movies, or your income and expense. The power of MUIbase lies in its clear and powerful graphical user interface and its programming capabilities. The latter makes it possible to automatically calculate and maintain nearly everything, starting from automatically summing up values, e.g. for calculating the total amount of income or the total amount of recorded time of a CD, up to automatically creating and printing letters for any purpose. MUIbase is the successor of AmigaBase, a hierarchical programmable database which is still available but considered obsolete with the appearance of MUIbase. All registered users of AmigaBase can get a free upgrade to MUIbase. MUIbase offers the following features: Handling of multiple projects at the same time. Attributes can be of type string, memo (multi line text), integer, real, date, time, bool, choice (one item out of many items), reference (easy way to reference a record of another table), button (for starting MUIbase programs), and virtual (compute value on the fly). The string type can also manage lists of strings, files, and fonts. An OS 3.x datatype gadget allows displaying external images. Unlimited number of records. Dynamic loading of records. Records which are not needed may be flushed from memory (e.g. when memory is low). Programmability. With the easy and powerful MUIbase programming language complex tasks can be implemented. The language also includes a SELECT FROM WHERE query for easy and fast data retrieval. Ordering of records by any combinations of attributes. Flexible and powerful search and filter facility. Query editor which allows entering and managing of SELECT FROM WHERE queries. The queries can be saved and the results can be printed. Import and export facility. Uses MUI as user interface. The interface is highly customizable. External images can be included in the user interface. Portability. MUIbase development has been done under the idea of easy portability. The system/gui part has been separated from the ANSI/C part such that porting MUIbase will result in only porting the system/gui part. Hey, this is no promise that MUIbase will ever get ported to another system, only the porting task has been made easier but may still be complicated depending on the target system/gui. The unregistered version of MUIbase is crippled in several ways. For more information, contact the author: Steffen Gutmann email: gutmann@informatik.uni-freiburg.de Zasiusstr. 75 79102 Freiburg GERMANY WWW: http://www.amigaworld.com/support/muibase ---------------------------------------------------------------------- T H E N E W S F R O M V A P O R W A R E 16 Jun 1998 Hi folks, a few personal words: I've received about 5 million inquiries recently about what's up with Vaporware. The following statements are NOT true: a) I did NOT break my head by hitting it on the table too hard after the AI WOA "announcement" b) I did NOT buy my own carribean island from '97 reg fees to drop out of everything c) neither did my HD crash and take all sources with it (I've got a backup anyway :-) [*] Point is that I'm currently 150% busy working together with Active Technologies UK to prepare the release of NetConnect 2 (I'm not allowed to say this, but the gold premaster is being cut tomorrow). Refer to http://www.active-net.co.uk/ for more information on NC2. This also involved work on all the Vaporware products, including furnishing of MD-2 1.0 (yeah!) and Contact Manager support in all the current apps. Another 150% of my time (besides my job, which takes 200% as usual) is currently eaten up by work on a apartment me and Claudi are building in my parent's house. This involves a nice few deadlines, including being forced to leave the current apartment within the next 6 weeks due to canceled lease. Eeek. So, my apologies for being totally unresponsive in the last weeks. I currently really have no spare time left to answer "When will XYZ be out?" messages, or to follow the mailing lists. The first thing being done after NetConnect 2 will be the long-awaited AmIRC 2.1 release (be happy, you will be getting both a fixed lag gauge AND a single window mode) and, yeah!, MD-2 1.0 proper. Olli BTW, the online ordering web page is up again, too. I screwed the config when updating the apache web server to a HTTP/1.1 compliant version . More stuff not to be done at 04:00 AM. Sorry, once more. [*] Incidentally, I just had a HD crash last week, which took my linux firewall box apart. I had no backup of this, and I severly hated to be forced to put a 4.3GB UW-SCSI drive into a machine which is sorely forwarding IP packets. I also had a fun time teaching a RedHat 5.0 installation to do ISDN dialup. May the force preserve you from going through this. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A S M A K E I N R O A D S I N B A N G L A D E S H June 25, 1998 First order of AMIGA 1200's to Bangladesh Amiga International is very proud to report today that the first shipment of A1200's directly to Bangladesh has been completed. Our goal is to expand our distribution network worldwide. We would like to be prepared for our new product range, which, according to our R&D company Amiga, Inc., will be available by the end of next year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I N E T 2 5 A V A I L A B L E 19 Jun 1998 Aminet 25 CD-ROM is available! Suggested Retail Price DM 25.00 Subscription price DM 19.80 US$1 = DM 1.79 given current exchange rates. Ordering information: The most convenient method of placing an order is to use our electronic order form located at http://www.schatztruhe.de/order.html. You can also send an E-Mail to stefano@schatztruhe.de including your address and the products you wish to order. *************************************** Aminet CD 25, dated June 1998, contains 1 gigabyte (uncompressed) of software in thousands of archives. Since the release of Aminet CD 24 more than 500 MB new software has appeared. The current edition features a classic games collection: Balls, PowerRoller, Taxi, PipeMaster II and Missile are included. Contents of Aminet 25 Directory Size Files Contents biz 55 MB 51 Business software comm 23 MB 151 Communications demo 138 MB 92 Graphics & sound demo dev 23 MB 75 Development software disk 1 MB 23 Disk & HD tools docs 57 MB 84 Documents game 135 MB 213 Games gfx 37 MB 70 Graphics software hard 1 MB 11 Hardware related misc 52 MB 101 Miscellaneous mods 129 MB 317 Music modules mus 10 MB 61 Music software pix 235 MB 247 Pictures text 32 MB 55 Text software util 37 MB 261 Utilities -- Stefan Ossowskis Schatztruhe Gesellschaft für Software mbH Veronikastr. 33 - 45131 Essen - Germany Phone: ++49-201-788778 Fax ++49-201-798447 mailto:stefano@schatztruhe.de http://www.schatztruhe.de/ Visit our Web site and join our mailing-list. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A I N F O R M E R 1 4 A T D E A L E R S 26 Jun 1998 Greetings all, Issue 14 of The Amiga Informer is now available at all our retail dealers. To get an issue, you can either contact one of the dealers listed in every issue of The Informer and on our website (www.amigainformer.com), or call us toll free at 888-882-6442 and subscribe. You don't want to miss issue 14. We were at the World of Amiga show in London and have a full report of all the exciting news coming from Amiga Inc., including details on Classic OS 3.5, the 4.0 Developer box and the 5.0 "Super System". Don't get your information from half-true and premature internet reports. Instead, get it from The Informer. We talked to all the staff at Amiga Inc., listened to all the public announcements and spent many hours in personal conversations with the people who are creating the future for the Amiga. Read what we learned first hand in issue 14. You will be excited! We also give you the latest details on the Access BoXeR and the SiamesePCI project. Learn what these two exciting products have to offer you. Issue 14 also contains an ICOA Update, information on the Amiga News Feed effort and a feature on the Power and utility of ARexx. You'll also find our regular columns, announcements and news bytes and a new column, Audio Adventures. Also in issue 14 are seven product reviews, including ImageFX 3.0, PageStream 3.3a, Control Tower, AirMail Pro and Master ISO. So, if you want to get a fresh view of what's going on in the world of the Amiga, give us a call and subscribe. You'll be glad you did. And if you are at the AmiWest in Sacramento, be sure to stop by our booth. Cheers, Fletcher Haug, Editor The Amiga Informer Magazine eldritch@mhv.net ++ www.amigainformer.com ------------------------------------------- Eldritch Enterprises: Mailing: PO Box 21, Newburgh NY 12551-0021 Shipping: 52 Mt. View Ave., Newburgh NY 12550 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A S I N A U S T R I A N S L O T M A C H I N E S June 22, 1998 Steinhaus/Wels, Austria, June 22, 1998 - Impera GmbH, a leading manufacturer of slotmachines in Austria, will be using A1200 boards in its machines. Impera has used AMIGA technology in the past and has now reactivated its business relationship with AMIGA. As a result, the first order has already been placed. In the near future there will be a special gambling software competition involving Impera in cooperation with AMIGA International, Inc. and the AMIGA press. Impera's "Powered by AMIGA" slotmachines will be demonstrated at "Computer '98", the biggest AMIGA exhibition in the world (November 13 - 15 in Koeln, Germany). Mr. Burgstaller, Manager of Impera GmbH, and Petro Tyschtschenko, President of AMIGA International, Inc., have additional plans for the future. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P O L I S H A M I G A S H O W A S U C C E S S On June 20 and 21, the first AMIGA Show in Warsaw, Poland, took place. It was organized by Marek Pampuch, Editor-in-Chief of MAGAZYN AMIGA and Polish AMIGA distributor Andrew Lipiewski, of EUREKA. About 1,500 AMIGA fans from all over Poland visited the show. Although there was a railroad strike preventing more from attending, the Show was still quite successful. Companies EUREKA, ELBOX, AMIGO and Amiga groups including AIRI, APG and W.F.M.H. attended the show. AMIGA International, Inc., represented by Petro Tyschtschenko, donated three A1200 for a raffle. During his opening speech, Petro explained the new Amiga product strategy. Tyschtschenko also presented the AMIGA Theme CD "Back for the Future" and the new "Keep the momentum going" poster. At the show Petro was asked to sign CDs and posters by hundreds of enthusiastic users. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- T S C T H A N K S M A N Y ! 29 June 98 The Transitional Steering Committee of the Industry Council Open Amiga wishes to thank the following companies and people for their hard work, dedication and services during the startup process of the ICOA. We wish to thank Finale Development (Alain Penders) for production of and maintenance of the ICOA Web Pages and the ICOA Database. We would like to think Ultima Thule (Petter Nilsen) for maintaining the many ICOA mailing lists and for his assistance with the programming of the needed ICOA database tools. And we would also like to thank ZenMetal Software (Ray Akey) for the use of their IRC network for ICOA Working Groups. The cooperation, dedication, and hard work by these companies and others have contributed to the success of the ICOA thus far and for this we are most greatful. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Amiga Update on the net: some issues available at: http://www.sharbor.com/amiga/news/ (in html format) Australian Mirror Site: http://www.comcen.com.au/~paulm/index.html All back issues available (in ASCII text) at: http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/index.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1998 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified. ====================================================================== _ __ _ <>_ __ _ A M I G A /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ A M I G A U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ amigaupdate@globaldialog.com ======================================================================