====================================================================== ________ _________ ____ _|__ __ __|_______ _________ __\ _____ \\\\ \_ _/ //___// _____//______\ _____ \\ // \\\\ /. \\\\__ \/ __// \\ \\____. /// \\\\ /. \\ \\___\¯ /___///___\ /___\ \\_________//\\___\¯ /___// ¯ \/ ¯ ¯ \/. |¯ ¯|z!o ¯ ¯ \/ ¯ A M I G A | 041130 | U P D A T E |________| "SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW" ====================================================================== AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I T ' S P I A N E T A A M I G A T I M E A G A I N ! S A F I R C O N F E D E R A T I O N I N S W E D E N A M I G A D E V B O X F O R P R O G R A M M E R S W I F I F O R A M I G A 1 2 0 0 F A S T A T A F R O M E L B O X B A R S N P I P E S N E W R E L E A S E A U D I O E V O L U T I O N 4 . 0 I S O U T N E W R E L E A S E - T V R T U N E R C O N T R O L F R O M T H E N O S T A L G I A D E P T . Editor's Thoughts and Introduction: It seems like November has just started, and here we are at the end of it. Some months are like that. We haven't seen a great deal of earth-shaking news in the Amiga community, but we sense a growing feeling of confidence in the future even so. It probably has something to do with the availability of the developers' version of OS4 and the efforts that seems to have triggered in Amiga developers, and the pleasure it's given to users. This is great. We hope the feeling continues and grows. For our own part, we had a surprise or two during the month. In the process of negotiating some new arrangements with our ISP, the Amiga Update archive site vanished. This was quickly pointed out by some readers who wondered if we'd gone out of business. Not exactly, we're still here - but we aren't a business and that was part of the problem. We pay for that site, but AU is not self supporting, so we made some changes to lower costs. We had no idea that the site would vanish, along with all data on-line. What we've done is re-establish the site, with the same ISP (it was mis-communication, not really their fault). We've put the site back up on a URL we used some time ago. You can find it here: http://www.globaldialog.com/~bandr/AU/index.html Since the site has been a restore from archived files, we know there may be some problems. Please drop us a note if you notice anything unusual. We have eliminated the links page, as it was out of date and didn't seem to get much use even when it was up to date. All else should be the same as it was. We hope we've not caused any inconvenience for anyone, and we hope you enjoy this issue. Brad Webb, Editor -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I T ' S P I A N E T A A M I G A T I M E A G A I N ! 10 November, 2004 Rome - December 12th, 2004, Pianeta Amiga, the most important Amiga event in Italy, will take place. This time, Pianeta Amiga, unusually as pre-Christmas event, will be held in a new and important place: Rome, few steps away from the railway station. More details will be given in the next days. Like former editions, there will be important news, many exhibitors and several international and national VIPs. With contributions by all Italian resellers and organized by the JASA team in joint-work with Virtual Works and Bitplane, this eight edition will be an important meeting for the community to discuss about the future of our platform while getting hand on the latest things in a growing market in this unique corner-stone-moment of Amiga history. During the next few days all detail will be published through mailing lists and the event's own website {URL not available as we write this. Brad} . We are waiting for you all, December 12th 2004, for the Amiga event of the year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S A F I R C O N F E D E R A T I O N I N S W E D E N 14 November, 2004 The SAFIR confederation has gathered all the Amiga clubs of Sweden in one place. A portal has emerged with news, meetings, discussions and projects that concern the Amiga. With modern hardware like the AmigaOne and a modern PowerPC native operating sytem like AmigaOS4, we have once again a bright future ahead. The portal is in Swedish only. Visit safir.amigaos.se http://safir.amigaos.se now! United we stand, divided we fall. It has been a turbulent time these last few years for the Amiga. Our dear platform has been ripped and torn to pieces, even dragged to court, all for nothing. Now that the fog of war has settled, there is a huge need to gather our forces for something much more important than winning or losing. Some of the areas of interest for SAFIR: o Azine - To help the best Amiga magazine in Sweden evolve. o AmiGBG - To make certain the success with the Swedish Amiga fair continues. o Bringing resources and assets together for development. o Software rebates - Through coordinated orders of software we can get group discounts. o AAA - Perhaps we'll resurrect the "Trippel A - awards". o Meetings IRL, at computer parties, minihacks, and why not a Christmas gathering! :) The Portal contains among other things: o News o Forums o "My page" o Private Messages o Blog (web-log) o Project pages (*) o Hardware database (*) o Gallery (*) o File area (*) (* Features currently beeing developed) If You look at the Amiga related efforts in Sweden the past two years, You will realize the marvelous development! New Amiga clubs, the annual fair AmiGBG that creates envy among Amigans worldwide, OS4 on Tour, OS4 pre-release parties, minihacks and computer parties in abundance, just to mention a few. The Amiga is on it's way back, no doubt about that. Are You ready? Note: SAFIR will also work closely with other platforms. There is already an ongoing cooperation with a few Linux associations and this list will grow considerably in the future. For the Amiga(R) to grow as an alternative platform we need to attract new developers. SAFIR is a part of that effort. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A D E V B O X F O R P R O G R A M M E R S 20 November,2004 There are many talented coders out there, many of whom would like to write software for OS4 but are unable to afford the necessary hardware. As a result, OS4 is loosing these talented coders, and loosing possible software development which would help further the platform. This problem was discussed at Amigaworld.net in the following Topic: amigaworld.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=8340&forum=15&31 Amiga Dev Box intends to address this problem. Amiga Dev Box is a community initiative designed to partner the developer without OS 4 with a tester who has an Amiga One/OS 4 box. The tester can either lend them the box or allow the developer remote access to build at an agreed time (or run commands to build themselves). The tester provides the SDK autodocs on CD to the developer and between them they get a product to release. This is a private agreement between the Developer and the Tester, Amiga Dev Box simply provides a way of posting your details so both parties can meet and come to an agreement. Status reports on apps being ported will be added to the site as things progress. Many Thanks The Amiga Dev Box Team. http://amigadevbox.happybiscuit.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- W I F I F O R A M I G A 1 2 0 0 9 November, 2004 The PC and Mac have had wireless networking for a while now. Now the Amiga 1200 can join in! AmigaKit.com's latest networking product is NETPCM010- the PCMCIA wireless network card. If you have a wireless broadband modem in your home, you can pick up the internet with this card without running miles of cable around the house. This card is "WiFi" 802.11b compliant and can allow you to connect wirelessly to other wirelessly enabled computers such as PCs, laptops and Airport-enabled Macs and Powerbooks. Now you can exchange data with them easier. To learn more about this card visit AmigaKit.com website at http://www.amigakit.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=121 They are in stock now. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- F A S T A T A F R O M E L B O X 17 November, 2004 Elbox Computer is now shipping the new Fast ATA 1200 MK-III controller, the latest addition to the Fast ATA line of ATA drive controller products for Amiga Classic computers. The Fast ATA 1200 MK-III controller provides high performance support for up to four ATA/IDE storage devices running up to five times faster than the standard Amiga 1200 IDE controller. Fast ATA 1200 MK-III has a new redesigned printed circuit board and new firmware, which results in enhanced performance with lower processor load when compared against earlier FastATA 1200 versions. Click here http://elbox.com/products/extra_prod/fa_1200pack.html Requirements: * Amiga 1200 in a standard desktop case or in a tower case The package contents: * Fast ATA 1200 MK-III controller * Floppy disk with: - AllegroCDFS and - FastATA'99 software * One 60cm 80-wire ATA-133 cable * User's Manual For more information about the Fast ATA 1200 MK-III controller, please visit the Elbox website at www.elbox.com/products/fast_ata_1200_mk3.html For photo of the Fast ATA 1200 MK-III controller, please refer to the Elbox website http://elbox.com/products/extra_prod/fastata_mk3.html. Pricing and availability: The FAST ATA 1200 MK-III controller is now shipping at the suggested retail price of EUR 69.95 (VAT excl.) To locate an authorized distributor in your area visit the Elbox Computer website at www.elbox.com/buy.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- B A R S N P I P E S N E W R E L E A S E 15 November, 2004 Alfred Faust has released v1.24 of the Midi Sequencing program Bars N Pipes for the Amiga. Changes include: Ver. 1.23 (16.01.2004) * bugs removed: 1. reason for the crash when loading some original Accessories removed. For this completely recompiled. Ver. 1.24 (10.11.2004) * added: 1. Choosing the backgroundcolor of a trackname, which is saved within the song * New: Screenmoderequester, gadtools-GUI, most requesters may be used by keyboard-shortcuts, CAMD-Library, new 32 colors design, Localisation - a german catalog is included, and much more. Download Bars'N'Pipes 1.24 http://www.alfred-j-faust.de/download/BnP1_24.lha (801KB LHA) Visit http://www.alfred-j-faust.de/indexeng.html homepage for more information. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A U D I O E V O L U T I O N 4 . 0 I S O U T 19 November, 2004 We are proud to announce that today, the audio harddisk recording and editing software Audio Evolution 4.0 has been released. Since the last update about 3 years ago, Audio Evolution has undergone a significant amount of enhancements, besides the port to AmigaOS4 native. The most prominent are non-linear non-destructive editing, effect automation, automation recording, unlimited undo, MIDI remote control and updates to the GUI. Also smaller enhancements like a metronome, many grid options, track height adjustment, improved automation editing on the timeline and new effect plug-ins etc. are included. Audio Evolution 4.0 now also comes with a brand new manual in PDF format which is also used as online help. For people who haven't seen Audio Evolution 4 yet, there is a demo on the OS4 pre CD, an updated demo (with bugfixes) on our website and you can find some screenshots here: http://www.audio-evolution.com/AE4/Screenshots.html You can order directly from the distributor Computer City (http://www.compcity.nl, mail to info@compcity.nl) or ask your local dealer. Registered users of Audio Evolution 3 will get a discount. Prices are 149 euro for new users and 70 euro for upgrades. A printed manual can be purchased separately for a small additional cost. Please ask your dealer for more information. For more information please visit http://www.audio-evolution.com or contact us at info@audio-evolution.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W R E L E A S E - T V R T U N E R C O N T R O L 27 November, 2004 A new version of the TvR program by Robert Krajcarz is now available. This program enables control of any TV tuner PCI card working in the Elbox Mediator. Hardware requirements: * Amiga with a Mediator PCI busboard * Any TV tuner PCI card working in Mediator * (Optional) SoundBlaster PCI128 sound card * (Optional) TV tuner remote control unit TvR allows seeking radio/TV stations, composing a TV program list, tuning TV screen parameters (brightness, contrast, saturation), switching channels, changing TV window size (from 10% of the standard TV size to fullscreen), selecting video source (TV/CINCH/SVHS), switching between sound modes (mono, stereo) and controlling volume. In the fullscreen mode, TvR provides OSD (On Screen Display) for the performed functions. Stopping (freezing) TV frames and saving TV screenshots to the hard drive is also supported. You can operate the program from the GUI, from the keyboard, or from the remote control unit, which is also supported. http://ext.neostrada.pl/tvr/tvr_medium.jpg Changes in ver. 2.5 and 2.6 of TvR: * minimising sound cracks when TV programs are switched * closing the TV window automatically switches on the radio mode * hiding the mouse pointer in FULLSCREEN * saving the TV window position * saving single frames * correcting the SVHS input operation * the F4 key used for changing colour coding systems * expansion of skin management procedures * adding keyboard control for frame stopping TvR 2.6 is available for downlod at www.ppa.pl/software/download/tvr_26.lha Skins for TvR are available at www.ppa.pl/software/download/tvr_skins.lha The program page (in Polish only) is located on PPA news sevice at www.ppa.pl/software/software-tvr.html. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- F R O M T H E N O S T A L G I A D E P T . LONDON, United Kingdom - 19th November 2004 - The Toy:Lobster Company today announced the appointment of Just Distribution as distributor to the Video Game Sector for the upcoming Commodore 64(tm) Plug-in-and-play Games System. Just Distribution will handle the independent sector and selected key retail accounts within the Video Game sector for the UK Toy company and will bring with them a wealth of experience in this category. The product line, which commences shipping from February 2005, is being hailed as a breakthrough in the new market of Plug-in-and-play Direct to Television handheld Video Game Systems. The unit, packing 30 full games, is fully Commodore branded and utilises the actual operating system used on the original C64. The games are not replicas of the originals - they actually are the originals. The controller is an exact replica of the instantly recognisable Competition Pro 5000 Joystick. "There is a massive Commodore fan base still active in the market" commented Toy:Lobster Marketing Director, Simon Jones, "These days they own a PlayStation 2 or X-Box and are often still active software purchasers. We needed a partner with great penetration into the retailers serving this sector and we believe that JUST truly understand what we're doing here." Andrew Blumson, Director, Just Distribution added, "We've begun to make a real name for ourselves in this category and see the Commodore 64 as a real leap forward in the technology used. We're very excited about the opportunity here and are looking forward to working with Toy:Lobster on this project" For more information, please contact: Simon Jones; The Toy:Lobster Company Tel: + 44 (0) 208 757 5770, Fax: + 44 (0) 208 757 5775, Email: simon.jones@toylobster.com Andrew Blumson; Just Distribution Ltd Tel: + 44 (0) 1992 703816, Fax: + 44 (0) 1992 703811 Email: ablumson@justdistribution.co.uk About The Toy:Lobster Company The Toy:Lobster company is an independent toy company that manufactures, licenses and distributes a large range of leisure products, predominantly created and marketed for young adults. The company is exclusive distributor for lines from companies such as; Colorific Australia, Cutting Edge Toys, Best Pals Inc. ---- C64 Direct-to-TV available November 26th in the US. Commodore officially announces the launch of the C64 Direct-to-TV in the US. This "C64DTV" was on air all day through QVC on November 26th. Mammoth Toys has been appointed by Commodore for this product as the official distributor for the US, Canada and Latin America. The first shipped order quantity is over 200.000 pieces. ---- In December there will be a limited quantity of the NTSC version available on Commodore's website. Commodore will keep you informed at the news section of http://www.commodoreworld.com/ when more information is available. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 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 11th year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 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 ======================================================================