====================================================================== ________ _________ ____ _|__ __ __|_______ _________ __\ _____ \\\\ \_ _/ //___// _____//______\ _____ \\ // \\\\ /. \\\\__ \/ __// \\ \\____. /// \\\\ /. \\ \\___\¯ /___///___\ /___\ \\_________//\\___\¯ /___// ¯ \/ ¯ ¯ \/. |¯ ¯|z!o ¯ ¯ \/ ¯ A M I G A | 050630 | U P D A T E |________| "SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW" ====================================================================== AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- L A S T N O N - C O M M E R C I A L R E L E A S E 4 . 0 ! A M I G A , R I V E R D E E P A G R E E M E N T A M I G A A N Y W H E R E R U N S O N U 3 D R I V E S N A F B A R B E Q U E P A R T Y I S S C H E D U L E D A M I W E S T L A T E S T N E W S A M I G B G F O R F U N I N S W E D E N N E W B O O K O N R E X X I S O U T A M I G A S Y S P A R T 2 F O R W I N U A E P A P Y R U S P R E - O R D E R S N O W T A K E N A M I P O D D E R V E R S I O N 1 I S F R E E W A R E W I N U A E I S A T 1 . 0 ! We have significant numbers to celebrate this month. The numbers are 4.0 and 1.0. Well, almost 4.0. What's significant about that number is that this month sees the last release of Amiga OS 4.0 before the full commercial release! That's a great step in the history of Amiga OS. Your patience will still be tested, however, as the story below mentions "a few months" before the commercial release will be ready. The 1.0 number relates to Win UAE. After more version releases than I can count, the program has finally hit the magic 1.0 designation. Congratulations are in order. While all this is going on, the Amiga community stays as active as ever. We have several stories this issue on upcoming Amiga events. We were disappointed to learn the budget for AmiWest will only allow that venerable show to run for one day, but it looks as though it will be a very interesting day. Meanwhile, our Nordic Amigan groups have their own events to talk about. They sound to be just as much fun. Norway is the land of my ancestors, so I'd love to get to both of those northern shows. There are many positive items to read in this issue. We hope you enjoy them all. Brad Webb, Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail to the E-ditor: I am a former Amiga user who still tries to follow the happening in the Amiga World. Thanks ( And congratulations on your twelfth anniversary) for your efforts in keeping this alive. I am at least aware that the Amiga still exists. But.. I am now confused as to what the Amiga is and what it can do for the average user. Can you possibly, in very layman's terms, produce an article that explains what Amiga has to offer? I understand there have been numerous ownership changes and false promises but somehow an Amiga product still exists. I would look forward to a in-depth breakdown of what Amiga offers and possibly where one may purchase these products. Thanks Bill ~~~~~~ Bill, Wow. You ask some very pertinent and difficult questions. In truth, I'm not sure how to answer fully. What I usually do in cases like this is ask for comments from the readers, who have much more collective wisdom than I do. How about it readers? What can the Amiga do for the average user at this time in its life? Please send your thoughts to amigaupdate@globaldialog.com and we'll share them in future issues. My personal take is that the Amiga's role is now much reduced from what it had been. Linux has taken on the mantle of the main alternative to Windows, even more so than Apple. However, the Amiga still offers what I've long considered to be the best operating system available. It's compact, consistent code, with commands and features that are not available in any other operating systems. As just one simple example, I've long wished for something like filenotes in every other operating system I've used. Amiga OS is also proprietary without being overpriced or suffering from monopolistic practices by the company that owns it. If a user is concerned about the liabilities often talked about for Linux and other open source code, Amiga OS offers a good alternative. Keep in mind that the core of Apple OS is now a version of BSD UNIX, so there are potential liabilities even there. Personally, I think that issue is considerably overblown, but the fact remains there are no such issues with Amiga OS. Here's a web page where you can find some Amiga dealers: http://www.eyetech.co.uk/dealers.php Regards, Brad -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= L A S T N O N - C O M M E R C I A L R E L E A S E 4 . 0 ! Leuven, Belgium. 13 June, 2005. Hyperion Entertainment announces the immediate availability of the final intermediate update of Amiga OS 4.0 prior to its full commercial release later this year. An overview of the added functionality: * New Kernel * New IDE devices * New Picasso96/Graphics and monitor drivers * Warp3D V51 (Including support for Voodoo 3, Voodoo 4/5, and Radeon 7x00) * WarpUp support * New Shell and updated shell commands * Update reaction classes and new intuition * New Roadshow TCP/IP stack and updated eth3com.device * All new version of the Sirion USB stack and usbprinter.device * Updated datatypes * Updated Preferences programs * Updated Locale * And much more Registered users of Amiga OS 4.0 can download update 3 from Hyperion Entertainment's website. Hyperion Entertainment and the Amiga OS 4.0 development team wish to thank you for your continued patience and support which we hope will be rewarded in a few months time. http://www.hyperion-entertainment.biz/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A , R I V E R D E E P A G R E E M E N T June 15, 2005 - San Francisco, CA Riverdeep and Amiga, Inc. have announced a development and marketing distribution agreement making it possible for several of the award winning Educational Edmark(R) titles to be created for the mobile market using AmigaAnywhere? technology. The Riverdeep Edmark titles offer the very best in interactive education and adventure. These award winning titles will offer exciting animations, compelling stories, and hours of fun. Amiga, Inc. developed one of the first computing platforms used in the education and entertainment markets, and is looking forward to continuing this role by introducing these titles to a new market and audience. "Amiga is a world recognized brand and a leading technology company," said Damian Dale, Riverdeep's Director of Licensing and Business Development. "By using their AmigaAnywhere? platform, they will be able to create and offer these Riverdeep Edmark titles to a whole new audience and introduce children to a new way of learning." "When Amiga began looking for an education partner to create new offerings in the mobile space, we immediately thought of Riverdeep and Edmark," said Bill McEwen, Amiga's Vice President, Product and Market Development. "Now parents will be able to offer new choices in mobile entertainment, ensuring that their children not only enjoy what they are playing, but learn something as well" Amiga will be bringing the following titles to the AmigaAnywhere? platform: Mighty Math Astro Algebra, Mighty Math® Cosmic Geometry?, Mighty Math Calculating Crew, Mighty Math Number Heroes, MindTwister Math, Strategy Challenge Collection 2 In the Wild, Strategy Challenge Collection 1 Around the World, Thinkin' Things Collection 1 Toony the Loons Lagoon, Thinkin' Things Collection 2, Thinkin' Things Collection 3 and Thinkin' Things Sky Island Mysteries. These titles are expected to ship this year and pricing has not yet been established. In addition to mobile devices, AmigaAnywhere technology will allow the applications to be run on Set-top boxes, Personal Media Players, and other digital devices. About Riverdeep: Riverdeep Inc., A Limited Liability Company, with offices in San Francisco, California, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Dublin (Ireland) and Manchester (United Kingdom) is a leading publisher of interactive products focusing on education and personal productivity for the consumer and school markets. For more information, call toll free 888-242-6747 or visit www.riverdeep.net http://www.riverdeep.net. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A A N Y W H E R E R U N S O N U 3 D R I V E S June 7, 2005 - U3 Global Developer Summit, San Jose, CA Amiga Inc. today announced that AmigaAnywhere is compatible with the U3 smart drive computing platform. Consumers will be able to play graphically rich, high-performance Amiga content on U3 powered USB smart drives. AmigaAnywhere is the digital environment that enables and simplifies access to the same applications from a variety of devices. Amiga lets consumers enjoy rich-media content featuring extraordinary audio-visual quality, high-speed interactive gaming, education and entertainment, all playing on a diverse universe of devices. For the last four years, Amiga?s proprietary technology has transformed removable memory cards into virtual drives, seamlessly launching, running and removing the memory footprint of applications on wired and wireless devices. Consumers can now enjoy this same mobility, ease-of-use and security by running AmigaAnywhere on U3 powered USB smart drives when they ship this fall. "By supporting the U3 smart drive computing platform, we take yet another step forward in making it easy for consumers to instantly and safely run all types of content on their favorite devices," said Garry Hare, Amiga president and chief executive officer. "And by supporting the U3 smart drive computing platform we have instant access to leading USB smart drive manufacturers and tens of millions of USB smart drive users." "Amiga is a natural fit for the U3 smart drive computing platform since many consumers have the desire to mobilize their rich, graphical, high-performance, premium sound applications" said U3 Chief Technology Officer Gideon Shaanan. "Amiga adds unique value to the whole U3 community, by quickly enabling a tremendous catalog of multimedia titles." U3 is a trademark of U3 LLC. All other brand and product names are or may be trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their respective owners. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N A F B A R B E Q U E P A R T Y I S S C H E D U L E D 25 June, 2005 NAF - Norsk amigaforening (English: Norwegian Amiga Association) - a Norwegian Amiga user group acknowledged by Amiga Inc. founded in 1992 by me (Tommy R. Strand), is holding its annual NAF Barbeque Party (since 2003). Mainly for all members of NAF, but others, especially from the Amiga platform community are most welcome. For the first time this year, we have people travelling almost 1000 km to the venue, and at the moment we have 11 people that have registered. From past experiences, we are expecting this number to rise to about 20. Please visit NAF web site at http://naf.as/ for more information (sorry, Norwegian only). We DO welcome foreigners, especially for instance those who we are in contact with on the EFnet and AmigaworldNET IRC networks. Remember: This is a party with a high level of decency and respect in the usual manners and is already known to be a positive part of the existing Amiga IRC community. Don't forget: Time: Saturday, 2nd of July, 2005. Place: The city of Mo i Rana, Nordland, Norway (The city beneath the Arctic Circle!) If you wish, on Sunday we will have a drive by car around in the community to collect you. Rana is afaik Norway's 4th largest community in area, and can give you lots of positive experiences of both nature and friendly people. YOU are MOST WELCOME! Read more (sorry, Norwegian only) here: http://naf.as/index.php?side=pressemeldinger&vis=516 Kind regards Tommy R. Strand Marketing Director Norsk amigaforening http://naf.as http://amigaguiden.info SPECIAL IMMEDIATE INFORMATION RELEASE for AmiWest 2005, July 23rd, 2005 in Sacramento, California! Our webpage at www.sacc.org/amiwest is being updated with all the current show information. We encourage you to visit our site to see the rest of the current information. Amiga Forever, Sacramento Amiga Computer Club AmiWest 2005 Committee ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I W E S T L A T E S T N E W S 29 June, 2005 ++++ RICHARD DRUMMOND TO SPEAK AT AMIWEST 2005 BANQUET! ++++ By special arrangement, Amiga OS4 developer Richard Drummond will present the banquet address at the AmiWest 2005 Saturday evening banquet! He is our **surprise** speaker this year! Here is a bio of Richard (courtesy of AmiWest committee member Charles Pickrell) to help you get better acquainted! Richard, our guest speaker, is playing a dual role at AmiWest this year. He is representing himself and the excellent work that he has contributed to E-UAE (the Amiga emulation system for Unix/Linux/Mac/Amiga) and to the AmigaOS4 port of SDL (the popular cross-platform game-programming toolkit), as well as representing Hyperion Entertainment and the OS4 project. But first we would like to share a little bit about Richard's background. The son of a police officer Richard grew up in Scotland and due to his father's line of work moved often, having lived in many parts of the country including Dingwall, Ullapool, Orkney and Glasgow (where he studied Electronics and Software Engineering at the University of Glasgow). In 1984 at the age of ten Richard got his first "real" computer, a Commodore64 and began teaching himself to program in BASIC, and later in assembly language. He claims he never wrote any C64 software of significance, but rather used the platform to cut his teeth on computing in general. Later in 1988 Richard moved up to the Amiga 500 and began programming in earnest on the Amiga OS platform. Richard's Amiga interest grew so much that at one point he began writing for popular Amiga magazines CU Amiga and Amiga Format. When Amiga Format stopped publishing their magazine Richard fell away from the Amiga scene having lost interest in a "dying platform." He then turned to Unix and Linux platforms to fill the computing void left by Amiga. During this time, Richard met his future wife, an American, in the UK and they settled down together in England." Sorry, but that's all we have time for today. However, more details about Richard and his OS 4 involvement will be forthcoming. Have you ordered your AmiWest tickets yet? Just go to sacc.org/amiwest/press05-3.html, print it out, fill in the form and send it in. You'll want to be there! !!!! So remember, AmiWest 2005 is rolling! The facility is reserved and the vendors are notified! Keep watching for these releases and tell everyone that you know - the Amiga and the Amiga community is alive and well! !!!! AmiWest 2005 will be at the Clarion Hotel Cal Expo 2600 Auburn Blvd. Sacramento California 95821 Reservations Phone 1-800-424-6423 toll-free (local 1-916-487-7600) and by snail-mail at the above address. Please watch our website at www.sacc.org/amiwest for continuing news and information regarding AmiWest 2005. We are on target for another improved show! See you there! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G B G F O R F U N I N S W E D E N 24 Jun, 2005 The Swedish Amiga fair AmiGBG is so full it's about to pop! Still we keep'em comin'. Announcing the popular Showcase http://web.kicker.nu/amigbg/showcase/showcase.asp?lang=uk with applications for Amigans demonstrated by Amigans. And the brand new Community Section http://web.kicker.nu/amigbg/community/community.asp?lang=uk where the true heroes present thir work. Among the new exhibitors is the author of Tales of Tamar. And Cloanto is now a proud sponsor of AmiGBG 2005. www.amigbg.com In the Community Section of AmiGBG 2005 you will meet the people who's sweat, blood and tears have kept the Amiga Community together during rough times. Represented here are sites like the UK based AmigaWorld, Swedens oldest community site Amigarulez.com, newcomers like safir.amigaos.se and Many more! We have red sites, blue sites, clean sites, sweet sites and above all, Amiga sites! Check out the growing list on our website NOW! AmiGBG Showcase http://web.kicker.nu/amigbg/showcase/showcase.asp?lang=uk is our attempt of putting the missing pieces together. Here we will give developers who do not have the opportunity to attend the fair the chance to show off their products. How about PageStream 5.0, AudioEvolution4, Frying Pan, Horny, pegXmac and Many more! Some products will be avalible at special *Fair prices! *Don't miss this great opportunity to save lots of $$ on great Amiga software! Among the new exhibitors is the creator of Tales of Tamar http://www.tamar.net/ - Martin Wolf. We would also like to welcome Cloanto as an official sponsor of AmiGBG 2005! At the fair you have the chance to win the BRAND NEW Amiga Forever 2005! http://www.amigaforever.com/ which comes bundeled with TWO DVDs! AmiGBG - Can You say "Yiiiiippieeee!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W B O O K O N R E X X I S O U T Rexx Programmer's Reference by Howard Fosdick ISBN: 0-7645-7996-7 February 2005 720 pages US $39.99 * Originally developed for mainframes but highly portable across platforms-from servers to desktops to handhelds-Rexx is an easy yet powerful scripting language that's widely used for rapid application development * Covers Rexx interpreters for specialized functions-object-oriented, mainframe, and handheld * There are 8 different free Rexx interpreters optimized for different platforms and uses. This book shows how to use them all. * Shows how to script for GUIs, databases, web servers, XML, and other interfaces. * Details how to make the best use of Rexx tools and interfaces, with examples for both Linux and Windows * Includes a tutorial with lots of examples to help people get up and running http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/productCd-0764579967.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A S Y S P A R T 2 F O R W I N U A E 4 June, 2005 After 4 months of working we released now the second part of AmigaSYS , with many new features and a lot of bugfixes , and this is the first and only pre installed OS for WinUAE which is based on AmigaOS 3.9!!! AmigaSYS is a pre-installed full Amiga OS for WinUAE, like AIAB. For install, you need a valid KickstartROM 3.0/3.1, and the image file of Workbench and Extras Disk 3.0/3.1. The new AmigaSYS 2.0 needs KickROM 3.1 and optional a valid OS 3.9 CD for full features http://amigasys.fw.hu/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- P A P Y R U S P R E - O R D E R S N O W T A K E N 16 June, 2005 AmigaOS4 Preorder has started. A minimum of 60 orders and the promised developer system are necessary to make this port happen. The porting work starts when these terms are fulfilled, after this customer will receive Papyrus 68k version which will be replaced (download) with the native OS4 Version later. https://ssl.kundenserver.de/order.titan-computer.com/mosshop.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I P O D D E R V E R S I O N 1 I S F R E E W A R E 11 June, 2005 AmiPodder version 1.0 has just been released. AmiPodder is a utility for subscribing to podcasts (a regularly published radio programme, usually in MP3 format) on your Amiga. AmiPodder will download each podcast as it is published and then you can listen to the programme on your Amiga or transfer it to a portable music player. Podcasting is a new Internet service that is just starting to take off. Currently most podcasts are produced by amateurs but large media organisations including the BBC are beginning to offer some of their programmes as podcasts too. Recently podcasting got a big credibility boost when Apple announced that podcast support will be included in the next version of iTunes. With AmiPodder, Amiga users are able to take advantage of this new technology right from the start! AmiPodder is freeware and version 1.0 can be downloaded from: http://www.seal-amiga.co.uk/robert/amipodder/index.html I'm continuing to develop AmiPodder to improve the user interface and to support podcasting standards as they evolve, if you'd like to be part of making this software better, please join the AmiPodder mailing list linked on the site. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- W I N U A E I S A T 1 . 0 ! 5 June, 2005 Tony Wilen has released the latest version of his continuing efforts with the Classic Amiga emulator - WinUAE (1.0). Fixes for this release include: * Fullscreen resolution reset if selected display mode's height was larger than width * Sprite emulation improvements (Battle Squadron missing high score character and Bubba'n'Stix background mountains) * Directory filesystem file/directory datestamp modification if file/directory's protection flags or comment was modified (broke in 0.9.92) * Picasso96 RAM autoconfig area memory size error (16M or larger was always marked as 8M) * proper AmigaForever ROM path autodetection * AMOS filesystem freeze (workaround only, proper fix unknown) * Kickstart 1.2 was not autodetected (wrong CRC32) * improved JIT direct access memory area allocation (fixes JIT direct mode problems with some Pentium 4 or NForce 3/4 boards) * In some cases all priority-levels were changed to "Above Normal" * bsdsocket crash fix * Fixed swapped audio channels * Picasso96 compatibility problem with Directory Opus 4.12 * Random crash fixed while using external drive sounds or while loading new configuration on the fly * Emulation fixes (Shinobi, Double Dragon 2.., broke in 0.9.91) New Features include: * Catweasel Windows driver support, MK1/MK3/MK4 supported (MK4 direct floppy support and Amiga mouse support coming later) * Nero Burning ROM ASPI is automatically used if Nero is installed (better compatibility than Adaptec ASPI) * Arcadia (Amiga 500 based Arcade system) game support * Disk swapper-panel improved (path edit box and history added) * bsdsocket emulation does not ask for internet connection if requested address is localhost * Emulation improvements (some Digital's demos, demo Tenebra partially fixed, 3v Demo by Cave, New Year Demo by Phoenix, game Sci-fi graphics corruption, Battle Squadron highscores, Bubba'n'Stix background etc...) * Sound sample ripper * Improved debugger You can find this version on the Official WinUAE homepage. http://www.winuae.net/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Amiga Update on the net: All back issues available at: http://www.globaldialog.com/~bandr/AU/index.html Stop by and check out our archive! Now in our 12th publication year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2005 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 ======================================================================