====================================================================== ________ _________ ____ _|__ __ __|_______ _________ __\ _____ \\\\ \_ _/ //___// _____//______\ _____ \\ // \\\\ /. \\\\__ \/ __// \\ \\____. /// \\\\ /. \\ \\___\¯ /___///___\ /___\ \\_________//\\___\¯ /___// ¯ \/ ¯ ¯ \/. |¯ ¯|z!o ¯ ¯ \/ ¯ A M I G A | 021130 | U P D A T E |________| "SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW" ====================================================================== AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E X E C U T I V E U P D A T E F R O M B I L L M C E W E N A M I G A , M S W I N D O W S A N D S M A R T P H O N E " L E T T I N G T H E W O R L D K N O W ! " A M I G A O N E E A R L Y B I R D S Y S T E M S A M I G A O N E P R E B U I L T F R O M E Y E T E C H A M I G A A W A R D 2 0 0 2 A M I G A + R E T R O S H O W E L B O X O N P I R A C Y M E R L A N C I A O F F I C E S A R E M O V I N G " N E W A M I G A N S " H A S N E W P R I C E S T H E N D I C / G E N E S I A T A A C H E N S U B W A Y U S B / C L O C K P O R T A V A I L A B L E F X P A I N T 2 . 0 I S A N N O U N C E D E L B O X M E D I A T O R F O R A M I G A 4 0 0 0 D O C T A M E D I S N O M O R E . . . H O L L Y W O O D I N G E R M A N Y ? T H I S O N E I S S T A H G , A G I F T F R O M A M I G A Z O N E S C A N Q U I X N O W S U P P O R T S U S B N E W S F R O M A P C & T C P Editor's Thoughts and Introduction: This is our largest issue in some time, and one which has a great deal of good news to report. It looks as though the AmigaOne hardware is really available, and OS4 is right around the corner. While you still can't order a complete, ready to go system, you can get very close. You can order the hardware, ready to run in a case, from several dealers. Some of them at least are including a coupon for OS 4.0 when it does become available. Amiga itself is turning its thoughts from those of a developer to those of a deliverer. All this is good news. But of course, there are always some clouds on the horizon. The news site ExtremeTech ran an interview with Bill McEwen during the month that proved controversial. The interview is no longer available on their site (http://www.extremetech.com/) but seemed to contain contradictions and made reference to a native X86 Amiga OS within about a year's time. To me, it looked like a bad job of interviewing and editing, but to many it indicated confusion at the top in Amiga. I can see how readers could come to that conclusion. They may even be right, though we certainly hope not. There is also an understandable fear that talk of an X86 version at the very time the new AmigaOne is finally here could affect sales. While I've long been a proponent of a native X86 version of the OS, I can understand those fears as well. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait to see how this all turns out. Let's not lose sight of the fact that Amiga Inc. has delivered on the new hardware specification, has gotten third parties to build real machines you can use (even if only with Linux for now) and does look to be moving ahead. Once OS 4.0 really starts shipping, congratulations and gratitude are very much due to them. There is one more piece of this situation to talk about, one that affects only readers of "Amiga Update". Is it almost time for us to fold our tents and move on? We have stated all along AU would be around for as long as it's needed. We've chronicled the Amiga since the weekend Commodore died, but now the gap in Amiga production seems to be closing (who'd have thought it would take so long!). If things go as they must for the new Amiga to survive and thrive, there will be new users, new software, and new or upgraded publications for you to read. We'll have met our goal of filling the void. There may be no further need for an e-mail text only journal. Our experiment of sending information to the user via the Net, rather than making you go somewhere to get it, has proven itself too. We've been very happy with the results, and feel that we've answered the questions we had when we started. It's been over eight years of publication. We're about to start on our tenth calendar year. That's a long time. We've not made up our minds yet, but we are considering that it may soon be time to pass the torch along to others. We hope you enjoy this issue. Brad Webb, Editor =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- E X E C U T I V E U P D A T E F R O M B I L L M C E W E N {See previous issues for some items about the World of Amiga show, which took place at the start of November. Brad} Executive Update Bill McEwen - November 2, 2002 Greetings One and All: What a great weekend is in store for Amiga and those attending the World of Amiga, and for those of you not attending I am sure that you will be pleased with the progress that we have made as a company towards shipping new products. As you may remember from our last update we have broken up the company into two separate units. We have the desktop team focusing their attention on the AmigaOne and OS 4.0, and we have the Mobile Team who is focusing their attention on Amiga Anywhere and the content creation and distribution on the various products and platforms that we support. These changes and the amazing hard work is now ready to be shown and announced to all of you. Not only are you going to see new products, but we have been able to sign up some pretty heavy hitters with regards to new distribution and new retail availability of these new products. The Desktop team is focused on new products and services for the Amiga community, and the Mobile team is focused on products and services that are for the extended Amiga community, with our initial offerings targeted at the Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and the SmartPhone. Our first customer for the SmartPhone was announced with Sendo as our partner for their Z100 phone, and now you will read about our next offering for PocketPC and PocketPC phone edition below. Now we can begin the transformation from a development company to a company shipping products that you are able to go out and purchase for yourselves. With the above mentioned, here we go: 1. The office is moving and we will have the new address, and contact information up in the next week. So there is no need to worry about what is happening with the office, the change has been good for us. We needed to move into an area that is closer to the services and to the companies that we are working with. 2. AmigaOne is ready to fly, and I have attached the news from Eyetech here with this update. {See below for stories on AmigaOne. Brad} So congratulations to all and the community for your new Amiga hardware. 3. OS 4.0 is almost complete, and the Hyperion team is working very hard to get everything ready. They were delayed by having to complete some low-level work on the AmigaOne, and with their work completed they are ready to crank out the last remaining bit of work to provide a stellar achievement and package. 4. There will be some announcements coming in the next couple of weeks from third parties who are now creating versions of their software for OS 4.0 and I have agreed not to steal their thunder but will have them make their own announcements first and then we will carry them on our site after they have made them. 5. Amiga Games Pocket Paks will be available around the Thanksgiving holidays through several resellers in the US and in England, including CompUSA and mmO2 in England. Yes, what you are reading is correct. Amiga Games Pocket Paks volumes one and two will be shipping and ready this year at 29.95 each from several authorized retailers in the US and through mmO2 retail locations in England. These Pocket Paks include 4 game titles each, and we have two more packs following. This is great news as thousands of new customers here and in England are going to be able to experience Amiga Content on their Pocket PC, and Pocket PC Phone Edition devices. 6. Amiga is also making available for release before Christmas Amiga SmartPhone Packs. These will be similar to the Pocket Paks, but targeted for the new SmartPhones coming out this year. As you know they will run on the new Sendo Z100, and they will be available for the new phones being offered by Orange also. There are several more product announcements and partnerships coming in the next few weeks, but as mentioned before until it is real and ready, we will wait. So some very big news with the readiness of the AmigaOne and OS 4.0 within the last 10% of completion, and the availability of Amiga content being sold through National retailers in the US and England, I would have to say that we have been very busy indeed. So again I thank you for your patience and support, and now the next steps in our development begins. The transformation from development of products to shipment of products, has begun. I am really looking forward to the next grouping of announcements, and product shipments. Keeping the faith, and keeping it moving forward, Bill McEwen and the rest of the Amiga Team http://www.amiga.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A , M S W I N D O W S A N D S M A R T P H O N E Snoqualmie, WA, Nov 6, 2002 - Amiga, a leader in games and entertainment software, today announced the release of games targeting Windows Powered Smartphones. Using the Amiga Anywhere Content Engine and their new "App Pak" technology, applications written for Windows Powered Pocket PC handheld computers will now be available for Smartphones as well. In addition, Amiga intends to build specific games and productivity applications that take advantage of the unique characteristics of devices running Microsoft Windows for Smartphone. "Amiga has partnered with Microsoft to create the best experience for games and entertainment on Smartphone devices", said Bill McEwen, CEO of Amiga. "We have been an early adopter of Microsoft Windows for Smartphone because of our belief that it can revolutionize the mobile experience. With our new App Pak technology, users can access applications on their PDA or Smartphone without having to install them from their personal computer." App Pak applications are distributed on memory cards. Users will be able to purchase the cards from their retail store and immediately use them. In less than 60 seconds, users can enjoy games and other applications with just by inserting their card. Just insert the card in the appropriate slot, click, and play. App Pak applications use little storage space on local systems making them more functional for PDA and Smartphone devices with limited resources. "The Windows Powered Smartphone enables users to do what they want, when they want, from business productivity to entertainment," said Mary Rose Becker, group marketing manager for Mobile Devices at Microsoft Corp. "We're thrilled that Amiga is releasing it's games for the Smartphone platform, providing our mutual customers with compelling entertainment options." Amiga will begin shipping games and other applications for Smartphone in time for the holiday season this year. To learn more about Amiga visit www.amiga.com or www.shopamiga.com. Developers who want to receive more information regarding developing content for Amiga Anywhere can sign up at www.amigadev.net From www.amiga.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- " L E T T I N G T H E W O R L D K N O W ! " November 19, 2002 - With the AmigaOne now shipping and AmigaOS4.0 in its final stages of development and testing, the time has come to begin letting the rest of the world know the good news, that the Amiga is alive, well and ready to let the World have fun with computing again. We all know that the current hard core of Amiga users is not enough to build a sustainable and thriving community. We have to appeal to those who, for whatever reason left the Amiga months and years ago but who still retain a fondness for their old platform. Whether disillusioned with their existing offering, looking for a new way or simply wanting to return, the marketing for the reborn Amiga must concentrate itself on these people, the five million or so who once owned an Amiga and who could do so once more. The last six months has seen us experimenting with presence at various multi-format shows and nurturing relationships with TV, web and paper publications in order to test the waters and to set out our stall for the big push forwards. Even in this informal process, the response has been fantastic, whether in the US, the UK, Europe or Australia. People remember the Amiga and want it back. We have taken all this research and, in conjunction with Amiga developers, retailers, user groups, publications, Amiga Inc, Eyetech and Hyperion have decided that we will concentrate on four official large scale multi-format shows around the globe, in order to maximize our presence, message and exposure. This will compromise a show roughly every quarter, one for Europe, one for the US and Canada, one for the UK and one for the Antipodes (Australia, New Zealand and Asia). The first of these shows will be the official launch of the AmigaOne and AmigaOS4.0, to occur at the CeBit show in Germany in March (and before anyone asks, this does not mean this is the release date for AmigaOS4.0, it means that CeBit will be the public launch of it). With the huge exposure and attendance that CeBit brings in, and being in Germany, one of the spiritual homes of the Amiga, we think this an appropriate and exciting venue. In addition we will support several other important national shows on a cooperative basis with the dealers, user groups and organizations in those countries. Commitments have already been given to attend the SINTEP show in Toulouse, France in April 2003, and at least one of the Micromart shows in Birmingham, UK. We will also support local dealers and organizers of the main Amiga user group shows worldwide (subject to fitting in with the schedule of the larger shows above) such as the Alt-WoA and WoA-SE shows in the UK, as well as the main shows in France, Germany, the USA and Canada. If you currently - or would like to - organize such a show during 2003 and would like Amiga Inc, and/or Hyperion and/or Eyetech to attend please contact us as soon as early as possible during the planning stage. Given the limited resources we all have, and the cost and complexity of planning for the quarterly shows, we cannot guarantee attendance but we will do our best to support the community wherever it gets together to enjoy the Amiga platform. So much for 2003 - what about the remainder of 2002, and in particular the Aachen show? We have all, both as individual companies and together, thought long and hard about this show. It has been decided that the timing could not be worse from our respective points of view. Eyetech is committed to delivering the Earlybird systems for Christmas that week and Amiga Inc is fully occupied fulfilling an AmigaAnywhere contract, and product launch. Whilst visiting with all of you is important, we believe that it is more important to ship products right now, and we simply can not work the show into our schedules. We wanted to share this with you because many in the community have asked the same questions that we have asked ourselves. How will the community grow and thrive? It can only do so through increased sales, and that means increased awareness. As we move from survival mode to growth mode, the small, local shows, however much fun cannot provide this level of exposure and awareness. By marching proudly and strongly into the mainstream shows, and taking the community with us, we are announcing that we are back, once and for all. Have no doubt that after 8 years of darkness, 2003 will be the year that the Amiga once again makes the World remember that there is a better way. Thank you, as ever, for your continued support and commitment. Bill McEwen and the team at Amiga Ben Hermans, Hyperion Alan Redhouse, Eyetech ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A O N E E A R L Y B I R D S Y S T E M S {Since this story appeared, we have seen annoucements from several Amiga dealers who are selling completely built up systems. Hardware only, of course, as OS 4.0 isn't available yet. Check with dealers in your area of the world for details. Brad} AmigaOneG3-SE and AmigaOne-XE Earlybird Systems now on sale! November 2, 2002 - Eyetech We're there at last. Since the last update to the AmigaOne section of the Eyetech website last March we have had AmigaOne boards out with developers, and as a result of their feedback, the original firmware which we were to have shipped with the board (by Softex) has been replaced by specially adopted PPCBoot code. That, and identifying and fixing a minor problem with the Articia southbridge chip have resulted in us holding back shipments of the consumer version of the AmigaOneG3-SE until now. Meanwhile work has continued on the AmigaOne-XE - with the replaceable cpu modules - and the price of G4 cpu's has fallen a bit, as we had all hoped. That means the we are now able to take orders for both the 600MHz G3-based AmigaOneG3-SE, and the 800MHz G4-based AmigaOne-XE, starting now, and for delivery before Christmas. A 700MHz G3 (750FX cpu) version of the AmigaOne-XE will be made available - at reduced cost - early in 2003. But what about OS4 I hear you say - is that now ready? OS4 is now highly advanced, but no, is not currently ready for shipping, largely because Hyperion have had to divert a considerable amount of their time and effort in sorting out the AmigaOne's PPCBoot firmware. In my view, OS4 for the AmigaOne will ship early in 2003. So - and in response to much user and dealer demand - we are going to ship the AmigaOneG3-SE and -XL (both boards and pre-built systems) with a LinuxPPC and UAE installation. And - the best of all - those of you ordering an AmigaOne up to December 31st will be sent a free copy of OS4 as soon as it becomes available. That alone represents a saving of around 10% on an AmigaOneG3-SE system This of course will not suit everybody, and if you want a switch-on-and-go AmigaOne system then this Earlybird offer is not for you. In this case I'm afraid that you have a few more weeks to wait. However if it does suit you then don't delay - the offer closes on 31st December 2003 or when OS4 becomes available, whichever comes first. As for prices, these have been revised to reflect currency movements since last March, particularly the weakness of the US dollar. Your local dealer will have the local currency prices for the AmigaOne outside the UK and Eurozone. However the suggested prices in Europe - in UKP and Euro's - are as follows: Board UKP Euro AmigaOneG3-SE G3 750CXe @ 600MHz 360.00 580.00 AmigaOne-XL G4 7451@700MHz 450.00 725.00 AmigaOne-XL G4 7451@800MHz 500.00 800.00 *These prices exclude local taxes, shipping and (apart from the Earlybird offer) OS4. As far as complete systems are concerned, your local dealer will be able to provide quotations for standard and custom built configurations. Sample prices and configurations for systems which we ourselves offer in the UK are on the Eyetch Website {See next story. Brad}. Below is a table listing the comparative features of the AmigaOneG3-SE and the two versions of the AmigaOne-XE Item AmigaOneG3-SE AmigaOne-XL (G3) AmigaOne-XL (G4) CPU 750CXe 750FX 7,451 CPU speed 600MHz 700MHz 800MHz CPU upgradable No yes Yes CPU socket No Yes Yes Max memory 2GB 2GB 2GB Memory Type DIMM Registered DIMM Registered 233 DIMM Registered 233 233 Northbridge Articia 'S' Articia 'S' with fix Articia 'S' with with fix fix Southbridge VIA 82C686B VIA 82C686B VIA 82C686B PCI 33 MHz 4 Slots 4 Slots 4 Slots PCI 66MHz 1 Slot 1 Slot 1 Slot AGP Speed 2x 2x 2x Ethernet chip 3COM 820C 3COM 820C 3COM 820C USB Ports 2 back plate 2 back plate+2headers 2 back plate +2headers +2headers +2headers PS2 ports Keyboard + mouse Keyboard + mouse Keyboard + mouse Serial ports 2 x 16650 2 x 16650 equiv. 2 x 16650 equiv equiv. Parallel port 1 x EPP/ECP 1 x EPP/ECP 1 x EPP/ECP IRDA port On header On header On header Firmware PPCBoot + OS4 PPCBoot + OS4 enabler PPCBoot + OS4 enabler enabler O/S capability LinuxPPC LinuxPPC + OS4 LinuxPPC + OS4 + OS4 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A O N E P R E B U I L T F R O M E Y E T E C H 6 November Initially we will be offering two prebuilt configurations, each available with either the AmigaOneG3-SE or the AmigaOne-XE G4 motherboards. Both systems will be shipped with Linux PPC and the UAE emulator installed, the full SuSE Linux PPC distribution (8 CD's and manual) and motherboard documentation on CD. The earlybird systems (ie systems ordered/paid for before 31 December 2002) will also include the rights to receive a free user-release copy of OS4-OEM for the AmigaOne when it is released. This OS4 CD will be shipped free of charge. Which system is for me? The Starter system is aimed at people who either have a limited budget or those who want to customise their system by adding their own selection of PC components - eg graphics cards, hard drives etc. For this latter group, the Starter systems give a fully working AmigaOne system 'out of the box' whilst minimising the investment in those elements of hardware which are likely to be replaced by the end user. The Power system is a high end AmigaOne configuration which we believe is likely to meet the requirements of the most demanding AmigaOne purchaser who wants to buy a switch-on-and go system. The specifications of these prebuilt systems are as follows: The Eyetech AmigaOne Starter system o Available with AmigaOneG3-SE (750CXe G3 cpu @600MHz) or AmigaOne-XE (7451 G4 cpu @800MHz) motherboards o 30GB HD o 56x CDRom o 128MB memory o CPU Cooler o Floppy Drive o Soundblaster Live sound card o ATI or similar Low end, AGP, Linux and OS4-compatible graphics card o PS/2 keyboard and mouse o 7-bay Midi ATX tower o SuSE Linux PPC Distribution inc manuals o LinuxPPC & UAE preinstalled o OS4-enabled BIOS (& OS4 license with Earlybird systems ordered and paid for before 31 December 2002) o Onboard ethernet and USB o Assembled, tested and burnt-in Power system o Available with AmigaOneG3-SE (750CXe G3 cpu @600MHz) or AmigaOne-XE (7451 G4 cpu @800MHz) motherboards o 80GB HD o DVD-Rom o CDRewriter drive o 512MB memory o CPU Cooler o Floppy Drive o Soundblaster Live sound card o ATI Radeon 8500 graphics card o PS/2 multimedia keyboard o Optical, RF wireless, rechargeable mouse o 7-bay Midi ATX tower o SuSE Linux PPC Distribution inc manuals o LinuxPPC & UAE preinstalled o OS4-enabled BIOS (& OS4 license with Earlybird systems ordered and paid for before 31 December 2002) o Onboard ethernet and USB o Assembled, tested and burnt-in These configurations can be supplied with other memory and hard drive sizes for the difference in retail prices of the specified and desired components as shown on the ordering section of our website. Please note: The prices for both AmigaOne boards and systems quoted on our website are before 'Party Pack' and 'Amiga Club' rebates which are being handled directly by Amiga Inc. Please ensure you retain your original invoice, which will be required if you wish to make a warranty claim in the future. If you have purchased the Amiga Inc Party Pack and/or The Amiga club membership scheme then you will also need to send a copy of your invoice to Amiga Inc - as a proof of purchase of your AmigaOne - in order to receive your rebate. Further details of how to go about this will be posted on the Amiga Inc website. http://www.eyetech.co.uk/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A A W A R D 2 0 0 2 30 November, 2002 Large acts must be celebrated on a grand scale. As of December 2002 the German print magazine AMIGAplus and varyingly partners are assigning the annual Amiga Award. With this prize elected representatives of the Amiga-community are awarded for special achievements during the last 12 months at a time. The laureates of the Amiga Award 2002 will be honored at the AMIGA + Retro Computing in Aachen, Germany, on 7 December 2002. Take part in the elections! Express your Thanks with us to all Amiga developers out there once in a year! The elections will be put together by one third of these parties: Firstly you as an active or inactive Amiga user, secondly selected representatives of the community and thirdly the editorial staff of AMIGAplus. So you have the opportunity to take part in the appointment of the Amiga Award 2002 laureates! Among all participants of the election we draw prizes in the value of over 800 Euro, among them one Amiga 1200/060 sponsored by eXpreSystems as well as various games and applications. The winners among the users will be announced on December 20th, 2002. Participation conclusion is December 6th, 2002, at 15:00 CET. The course of law is excluded as always. Send your votes to http://www.amiga-award.org ! Amiga Award 2002 - Nominees Please specify a candidate, who (from your point of view) distinguished himself by an innovative product or another special achievement in the year 2002 and who pushed the Amiga one step forward by this action. The award in this category is sponsored by falkemedia, publisher of AMIGAplus. - AudioLabs (ProStationAudio) - bplan GmbH (Pegasos) - Bernd Meyer & Harald Frank (Amithlon) - E3B - Michael Böhmer (Highway) - Eternity Computer (Tales of Tamar) - Eyetech (AmigaOne) - Grasshopper LLC (PageStream) - Hyperion Entertainment (Freespace u.a.) - IOSPIRIT (fxSCAN u.a.) - ZeoNeo (Planet Zed) Amiga Award 2002 Extra - Nominees Additionally to the main category Amiga Award we are assigning the alternative Amiga Award Extra. This year a person or group representing the software developer community (shareware/freeware) shall be honored. The award in this category is endowed with 250 Euro and realized in this year by the financial support of Genesi, a fusion of Thendic-France S.A.R.L. and bPlan GmbH. - AmiATLAS-Team (AmiATLAS) - AWeb-Team (AWeb) - Chris Hodges (Poseidon) - Gabriele Greco (SDL) - ScummVM-Team (ScummVM) - SixK (diverse Portierungen) - VHT-DK-Team (Anti-Viren-Software) - WHDLoad-Team (WHDLoad) - WinUAE-Team (WinUAE) - YAM-Team (YAM) Amiga Award 2002 - Free elections Moreover we are organising free elections in these categories: - Best Amiga hardware 2002 - Best Amiga software 2002 - Best Amiga game 2002 Amiga Award 2002 Organized by AMIGAplus. Supported by Genesi, falkemedia and eXpreSystems. http://www.amiga-award.org Nico Barbat (editor-in-chief AMIGAplus) AMIGAplus - http://www.amigaplus.de ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A + R E T R O S H O W 30 Novebmer,2002 The show will be held in Aachen, Germany on the 7th and 8th of December. Amiga One will be shown! After it was clear that neither Amiga Inc., nor Eyetech and Hyperion Entertainment will present the new AmigaOne at the AMIGA + RETRO COMPUTING 2002, we started thinking about how to get an AmigaOne to the show anyway. The solution is an offer from Computer City. Owner Ron van Herk provides his own AmigaOne, and the members of the Amiga-Club im BTX & Internet will do the presentation. The computer on display is an AmigaOneSE-G3 with 750CXe 600 MHz CPU, equipped with 128 MB SDRAM PC133 and an ATI Radeion 7000 64 MB SDR VGA graphics card with TV-Out, and of course the Cherry Cybo@rd-keyboard that's being sold by Computer City. The operating system installed is only a Suse LinuxPPC 7.3, but it'll give an impression of the hardware. 21 November, 2002 Deathbed Vigil DVD available at the show Dave Haynie, one of the most popular developers of Commodore, has made a special edition of his film "Deathbed Vigil" for the 8th anniversary of the Commodore bankruptcy. Individual Computers will import the DVD, and offer it for 39,- EUR at the fare. Please pre-order your copy via eMail, so we'll have enough DVDs for the show. There is no country code on the DVD, and it can be played back on all players. Audio is English only. Video and Audio haven been digitally re-mastered, and new scenes have been added that have not been published before on the VHS tape. The Bonus material contains the music video "Chicken-Lips Blues", a new short film called "Amiga Impact", and a photo album that Dave has compiled. http://messe.think42.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E L B O X O N P I R A C Y {Elbox's piracy prevention methods have become controversial during November. We are aware of at least one Amiga products dealer who has stated on their website they will stop dealing in Elbox products unless this method is changes. Here are Elbox's own words on the situtaion. Brad} 18 November 2002 Dear Users of Elbox products for Amiga computers, We have seen a number of statements posted in recent days, whose authors devote their precious time and energy to spreading twisted and untrue information on Elbox and our products. We are presenting here our official position in reference to their falsification of the truth. Elbox is a fully-fledged business entity. We design, develop, produce and sell hardware and software for Amiga computers. We follow a very fundamental rule in our business: if we decide to publicise any information, it is already certain, tested and true. Not always can we write directly what the reader would like to know (due to trade and marketing secrets, IP confidentiality and the signed NDA documents), but you always can rely on our information. To give you a clear picture of the current situation, we have decided to publish this statement. SPIDER USB DRIVER CRACKED The whole affair was initiated by a person who publicly confessed committing a computer misuse offence. That person admitted that he had cracked one of our drivers. After illegal obtaining, decrypting, disassembling and modifying of our driver, the cracker discovered code in the driver, which was part of the anti-piracy safeguard. Yes, we use anti-piracy safeguard measures. They are well thought, thoroughly tested and carefully included in our software and hardware. Obviously enough, they are completely safe for legal users of our software. Our anti-piracy safeguards are aimed solely against crackers and people who want to use cracked software. The disclaimers enclosed with our software openly state that any modification of our drivers is forbidden. Whoever breaks the law and steals our intellectual property must be aware of committing an act of illegal nature. We consider cracking activities as highly condemnable and punishable, yet the anti-piracy safeguards we use never go beyond the limits of the law in force. The effects of activating our anti-piracy safeguard measures will NEVER result in unrecoverable losses: either in hardware or in the data. RDB FACTS How does it relate to the cracked USB driver in question? The only result of activation of the anti-piracy safeguard in the cracked code is overwriting the first RDB sector of the booting hard disk. This first RDB sector, named RDSK, does not contain ANY user data. This sector does not contain ANY information about disk partitioning, either. What is stored in this sector is only information about the model and parameters of the hard disk and technical information available in another part of the RDB. When the RDSK sector content is overwritten, recovering is quite simple. No backup copies of this RDB sector are necessary. All the information to be included in the RDSK sector can be read from the hard disk with HDToolBox software, even if this sector is completely overwritten. The five minutes of work needed to restore the RDSK sector does not seem to be a heavy punishment for stealing and/or cracking software... RDSK STRING REMOVED Our fully legal anti-piracy safeguard lost its purpose when information about it was spread among crackers. Therefore, its code has been removed from all our drivers to Mediator and Spider, and all registered users have received appropriate updates. LEGAL USERS ARE ALWAYS SAFE Our anti-piracy safeguards are COMPLETELY safe for legal users of our software. They may affect only those, who attempt to crack our drivers for the purpose of using them for hardware (other USB PCI cards and other PCI solutions) not supported by us, and persons who would use such cracked software. COOPERATION--YES, COMPETITION CHEATS--NO Under such circumstances, only users of hardware other than supported by Elbox may not feel safe using cracked Elbox drivers. We do protect our intellectual property and anti-piracy policy employed by Elbox is part of the process. The loud misinformation campaign started recently in some news lists was inspired mostly by people related to producers of other hardware and persons who do not own Elbox hardware. The question remains: Why would we leave our hard-worked software open for other developers? Why would we provide them with efforts of long hours of our work and testing without them spending even a fraction of our expenditures on development? In the long run, legal users of our products would have to pay for it, but we do not want to increase our prices only because other developers would want to lay their hands on results of our work for free. We are always ready for fair-play cooperation, but we will not agree to and we will fight back-door and illegal activities. WE SUPPORT ALL OF YOU We hope that our explanations will clear away all doubts resulting from this wide campaign against us. Still, we are really amazed how strongly people sympathise with crackers... A cracker may only harm your data, as he is not aware of the complete development and programming process, which takes weeks or months and includes thorough testing and verification procedures. Remember please, that a cracker will never take any responsibility for his 'creation.' Those of you who have purchased our products have trusted us. Your decision was 100% good. We do expand our work for you. We will never let you down when you have new ideas or just want to solve your problems. We always give you a competitive edge over other products available in the Amiga market. Those of you who have tried our hardware and software know the feeling of peace and certainty. Those who only jump around in the lists will never have this feeling. Laugh at them, be happy that at the time when they are so uneasy you may quietly go ahead and work out your own way with Elbox products. DO NOT WASTE YOUR ENERGY Do not talk or listen to people who are not interested in acquiring Amiga hardware or software. These are not real users, they are puppets of other producers who cannot make their own decisions and who subdue to persuasion of their 'upperdogs.' They are not interested in you or in helping you, because they have no knowledge or willingness to be part of the Amiga community benefiting from using Elbox hardware and software. BE POSITIVE AND SUPPORTIVE Instead, whenever you can, talk to Amiga USERS, who do not have Elbox products, and communicate your first-hand experience with our designs and software. They are underprivileged due to their clinging to other solutions and we all want to be the best performers. When we all unite, this small world of Amiga may again be flourishing and then we all will share the advantages. Please notify us about piracy (including owning or sharing Elbox software without the bundled hardware) at anti-piracy@elbox.com http://www.elbox.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- M E R L A N C I A O F F I C E S A R E M O V I N G 5th November 2002 Merlancia Industries Open Letter to the Amiga, Merlancia, and MorphOS Community Greetings Community members, It has come to my attention that there has been talk of our offices closing and/or vanishing and several people were wondering what has happened. Please be advised that we are NOT going out of business. Our offices are simply being located to a different location. We have notified any clients that have systems in for service, as well as anyone that might need our new address for billing/payment reasons (e.g AmigaZone members and web customers) of this about a week ago. We will shortly have a photo walkthrough, (and possibly a QuicktimeVR walkthrough) of the new offices for everyone to look at. Our new location is larger, as well as being a newer buliding and better location. Merlancia clients will be receiving an invitation to an office party coming up shortly, as well as a conference on our new systems with demonstrations and other promotions. A press release will follow in the next few days on all of this. The new address of our Phoenix offices is: Merlancia Industries 9034 N 23rd Ave, Ste 2 Phoenix, AZ 85021 United States of America Our telephones will be switched over by 9th November 2002 (per Qwest estimates..) and our toll free number should be online at the same time, or if not, then by the week following (per AT&T). (Please note that the toll free line is for ordering products only, not for technical questions. Technical questions will no longer be handled on the toll free number.) The newer location is located right across from the Phoenix DeVry Technical Institite, two doors down from TriTek Electronics. The building is about 15 years newer than our prior location, and is much better suited for our present and future needs. This is part of an ongoing expansion process, as outlined last year, we plan to add locations in the UK as well, when they prove to be needed (e.g. once we have retail products shipping). We are also currently leasing part of the former Commodore building in Germany, and we may be adding offices elsewhere in the next year or two. As the expression goes "Movin' on up..". The official launch date of our new offices is 13th November 2002. Until that date, they are open to staff only. Please feel free to stop by after the 13th, if you are interested in any of our products, or any Amiga products, and look for photo and QT-VR walkthroughs coming soon. Thank you for your intrest in Merlancia Industries. Ryan E A Czerwinski - CEO Merlancia Industries, Inc. Merlancia Industries 9034 N 23rd Avenue, Ste 2 Phoenix, AZ 85021 USA 1-877-53-AMIGA | ++1 602-789-0956 http://www.merlancia.com/ | merlancia@merlancia.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- " N E W A M I G A N S " H A S N E W P R I C E S 17 Nov 2002 "the NEW AMIGANS" magazine (the only Amiga-centric magazine still printed in the US), has lowered its prices. From now until December 31, G&G Publishing Enterprises is offering a one-year subscription to their magazine at a $5.00 savings. For more details, check out our website at: http://users.beanstalk.net/wd8izh/index.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------- T H E N D I C / G E N E S I A T A A C H E N 25-Nov-2002: Thendic France biggest exhibitor at the Aachen show Thendic France has increased their exhibition area, making themselves the biggest exhibitor of AMIGA + RETRO COMPUTING 2002. The reason for this extension is the amount of computers that they are presenting. Visitors of the show have the opportunity to persuade themselves of the combination of the new PPC board and MorphOS. The same amount of computers will be provided for the betatester-cxonference that will take place on the same weekend in room "Berlin 1" of the Dorint-Hotel "Quellenhof", which is located right next to the Eurogress. Thendic France has finalized the booking of this room during a meeting that took place in Aachen on november 21st. The new company Genesi that unites Thendic France and bplan Germany will be present with all personnel at the show. More than 20 developers of hard- and software will answer your questions. Read more about the technical data of Pegasos, that has been provided by Thendic France. In addition to the new machines, Thendic will also bring part of their museum to Aachen. Rare machines like the Walker (Amiga successor that has never been produced) and 8-bit commodore machines will be on display at a separate booth. All the machines are still intact, so you can experience them in action! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S U B W A Y U S B / C L O C K P O R T A V A I L A B L E Garching, 19 November, 2002 SUBWAY USB controller for Amiga (clockport version) available! E3B is pleased to announce the availability of the USB controller SUBWAY, which has been presented the public at the Amiga trade show in Cologne 2001. Unfortunately we were very busy since this trade show with the Zorro USB card HIGHWAY and its networking module NORWAY, but nevertheless we have not forgotten the "small" module SUBWAY. Despite the not very good situation on the Amiga Classic market we haven't stopped further development. We at E3B believe that Amiga Classic should not drop of the edge of technology, even with the long forecast new hardware platforms rising finally at the horizon. As many Zorro card owners asked for compatibility of SUBWAY with common clockport featured card like the Xsurf, isdn surfer or the Buddha Flash, we consequently improvemented the SUBWAY design to fulfill these wishes. Due to the different timings and signals on these non-Commodore clockports only one version of the SUBWAY exists now, which works with these faster operated clock ports. We would like to thank Jens Schönfeld for supplying us with test cards. Therefore SUBWAY can also be used in already fully equipped Zorro systems, which have no Zorro slot free anymore for a HIGHWAY. Also Amiga 1200 users which use PCI as bus solution, but having no PCI slot free any more or want to spare it for high volume data applications can use the SUBWAY as USB solution out of the box. By introducing the world's smallest USB controller SUBWAY E3B is able to offer a complete range of solutions for USB and ethernet. Together with the USB stack Poseidon (by Chris Hodges, http://www.platon42.de) and its GUI Trident (which both have been proven its feasability in every day work) it is possible to use up to four modern USB devices from the PC market without any further additional hardware (like hubs) directly on the Amiga 1200. Distribution of SUBWAY will be handled by our distributor KDH Datentechnik http://www.kdh-datentechnik.com. We at E3B would like to thank all people who have helped us to develop and improve our USB products according to your wishes. Don't stop asking us. Anyhow, we want to apologize for the long delay which has been made by us with the introduction of the SUBWAY. E3B will be present on the Aachen Amiga trade show at KDH Datentechnik. You're invited to visit us there and test our USB controllers HIGHWAY / SUBWAY live. We also are looking forward to meet you there for discussion. If you are interested in an USB controller for Amiga Classic, feel free to test your USB devices on compliance there! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- F X P A I N T 2 . 0 I S A N N O U N C E D fxPAINT 2.0 in December We are proud to announce the long awaited version 2.0 of fxPAINT today. fxPAINT 2.0 includes many new features, that will open up new graphical horizons to you. Besides the generally improved working speed and many new effects, a lot has been done at the modules, too. The fxALBUM- and fxCONV(batch processing)-modules have been heavily extended, new modules like e.g. the "Navigation Builder" and the "Color variations"-wizard have been added. One of the most important new features is the support for gradients that may consist of a theoretically unlimited number of colors and transparency-values. Together with the also brand-new gradient tool you can easily add gradients to pictures or use them as background. Furthermore direct support for Truetype®-fonts, PNG-files (loading and saving, incl. all options like alpha-channel, etc.), the system clipboard and Turboprint has been added. The ARexx-port and its nearly 90 new commands as well as the numerous scripts contained offer additional functionality. fxPAINT 2.0 will, besides the support for 68K-systems, also offer native support for MorphOS, Amithlon, PowerUP and WarpUP and thus, independant of which platform it runs on, allow you to work at full speed. An adaption for AmigaOS 4.0 is already being worked on and will be made available as a free download upon the time of completion. An overview over all, including many more, new features as well as the possibility to purchase fxPAINT 2.0 at a time-limited special price can be found on the all-new fxPAINT 2.0 subpages. Delivery is scheduled for the first half of December 2002. IOSPIRIT Felix Schwarz Am Gründla 3 D-91074 Herzogenaurach Germany EMail: info@iospirit.de WWW: http://www.iospirit.de Phone: +(0)049 (0)9132/732844 Fax: +(0)049 (0)9132/732843 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E L B O X M E D I A T O R F O R A M I G A 4 0 0 0 D 06 November 2002 Elbox Computer, the real & creative manufacturer of hardware for Amiga computers, the pathfinder for the PCI standard in Amiga computers, is proud to announce expansion of the MEDIATOR busboard product line with the new Mediator model for Amiga 4000D computers: the Mediator PCI 4000Di. With this product, every Amiga 4000D user gains the chance to use up to 4 PCI cards in the standard A4000 desktop case, thus significantly improving his/her computer's performance. Features: · 4 PCI slots (PCI 2.1 compatible) and 3 Zorro III/II slots · 66/33MHz PCI clock (transfer rate up to 264MB/s) · 32-bit PCI datapatch · 4GB PCI memory space · Busmastering/DMA in all PCI slots and DMA to A4000 motherboard space · Compatible with all 68030/040/060 and PPC processor cards · Ready for SharkPPC(+) G3/G4 cards · Fits in a standard A4000 desktop case (replace the Commodore daughter board) Included with the Mediator PCI 4000Di is the Mediator Multimedia CD with drivers for Sound, TV tuner, Ethernet 10Mbps, Fast Ethernet 100Mbps and Graphic PCI cards. For the list of currently supported PCI cards see Mediator Driver Guide. For more info, see the Mediator PCI 4000Di website. Pricing and availability The Mediator PCI 4000Di will be on sale beginning with 1st December 2002 at the suggested retail price of EUR239.95 (VAT excl.) To locate an authorized distributor in your area or to purchase the product online visit the Elbox Computer website at http://www.elbox.com/buy.html. Why Mediator? Do you need your Amiga to display crystal-clear image up to 2048x1536x32@75? Do you want your favourite games to run in accelerated graphics? Take a Voodoo-family PCI graphic card and enjoy its 2D and 3D performance! Do you want to use a variety of devices connected via the USB port? Simply install the Spider USB 2.0 High-Speed PCI card into the Mediator slot and explore the world of the newest USB devices such as mice, keyboards, tablets, joysticks, printers, scanners, webcams, digicams, flash card readers, zip drives, floppy disk drives, harddisks, memory sticks, ethernet adapters and audio adapters, GPS location devices or finger print readers! Care for superb high-quality music? Just install the inexpensive, quality Sound Blaster sound PCI card into the Mediator slot and play your MP3 files at 16 bit resolution! Want fast network connections to surf the net? Put a low-cost RTL8139 Fast Ethernet 100Mbps PCI card into the Mediator slot and connect your computer to the network! Do you want to watch and capture your favourite TV programmes? With a TV tuner PCI card you can watch TV, but also connect a TV-SAT tuner, a camcorder or a digital camera. Although the full TV image resolution runs at 30 fps in the PIP window on your Workbench screen, it does not use the Amiga processor's time at all! MEDIATOR - An Easy and Inexpensive Way to Power-up of Your Amiga. http://www.elbox.com/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- O C T A M E D I S N O M O R E . . . 9 November OctaMED SoundStudio V2 DEAD ?? We are sorry to say that we have heard nothing from the katodev team for a very, very long time and having made many, many attempts to get a reply, we have been forced to face the fact that, even with all their failed deadlines and promises, they have let us, and you, down badly. Sadly, following instructions from our solicitor, we have today, been forced to e-mail Katodev with instructions to destroy all OctaMED source in their possession, this includes original and any new source they have. Unfortunately no one wants to work on a new version here and although we have been approached several times with regards to making the Amiga source freeware, due to certain important sections of the code having to remain copyrighted, we cannot allow this. If you still want to see OctaMED arise again on the new Amiga, the only way forward is if the manufacturers of the new Amiga are willing to hold talks regarding a possible new version. So, it's up to you to contact/bombard the new owners/manufacturers with your request, asking them to help resurrect your old favourite by contacting us at: AmigaV2@med.uk.com we will then be more than happy to discuss the possibility of a new version with them. RBF Software {As we were finishing this issue, we heard of efforts that just might keep Octamed alive after all. If we hear something official, we'll pass it on. Brad} ---------------------------------------------------------------------- H O L L Y W O O D I N G E R M A N Y ? T H I S O N E I S Name: Hollywood Version: 1.0 (04-Nov-02) Platform: AmigaOS Licence: Shareware Price: 49 USD / 49 EUR Download: See URL below Hollywood is the Multimedia Application Layer for Amiga(tm) and compatible operating systems. This means that it offers you a script language together with advanced functions that allow you to create your own multimedia applications which range from a simple slideshow to a complex game. The big advantage of Hollywood is, that it does all the framework for you. You do not have to care for example, if your application is going to run on a ECS, OCS, AGA or RTG system. You do not have to care if the Workbench screen your application runs on has 16 or 16.7 million colors. You can concentrate yourself on the important thing which is your application and not its enviroment. Hollywood is fully 24 bit enhanced which means that you do not have to mess around with palettes, remapping and so on. Additionally it is fully integrated into AmigaOS(tm) and does not rely on a specific custom hardware. Therefore Hollywood does also run on emulations like Amithlon or WinUAE with amazing speed. Using the Hollywood script language, the possibilities are almost unlimited. The basic version of Hollywood comes with over 150 functions that range from disk operating system (DOS) functions to functions that allow you to smoothly scroll animations and graphics on your display. There are also many functions that allow you to display objects, pictures and texts with over 50 cool transition effects or scale graphics and animations. You can also fade objects, texts and pictures smoothly. Hollywood uses the datatypes system to load all graphics, animations and sounds which allows you to use all formats you have datatypes for. Additionally it supports unique things like transparent windows which enhance the look-and-feel of your Workbench screen amazingly. You can use true type fonts (with anti-aliasing), standard bitmap fonts and even the cool Amiga color fonts with Hollywood. The integrated sound system allows you to play various types of music modules (including Protracker and OctaMED) but also sound samples. You have full control over this system because you can specify which channels to use for play back. Hollywood is a high-end application that needs some memory to work best. It uses a special preload system so that all data is immediately accessible and the play back is incredibly fast. Therefore it is advised that you have lots of memory (16 megabytes+) and also run a RTG system like Picasso96 or CyberGraphX. Hollywood is the absolutely number one choice in Amiga(tm) Multimedia nowadays and brings the Amiga back to its roots...Multimedia! It comes with a compiler which can save your applications as stand alone Amiga executables which may be freely distributed. Hollywood is delivered on CD-ROM with many examples on it as well as over 250 kilobyte of documentation in AmigaGuide format. It is only available directly from the author. Although all this may sound a bit complicated to you, it is very easy. Programming skills are not necessary. They are only of use if you want to create complex applications but for the normal Hollywood usage, you do not need them because Hollywood is really easy to handle. Graphics: Fully 24bit enhanced! Transparent windows are possible Over 50 transition effects for objects, pictures and texts Graphics can be scrolled smoothly Smooth and fast animation play back Support for transparent graphics and animations Functions for using textures Support for datatypes Support for true type, bitmap and color fonts Scaling of graphics is possible Application can open on Workbench or own screen Integrated easy Undo system Fully independent from the enviroment e.g. does not matter if user runs Picasso96 or CyberGraphX or AGA or ECS/OCS Sound: Support for audio samples Full control over the audio channel playback Support for various music module formats Volume and pitch of samples can be modified during playback Sample size is not limited to 128 kilobyte Full Stereo playback Script language: Variables, arrays and different data types (long, float, string) Conditions and loops can be used Easy handling of variables (no initialization, declaration) Functions for manipulating strings and doing math operations Compiler and linker to convert your script to an executable Inbuilt error handler that does all the error handling work for you Functions for debugging your script Labels that are fully integrated into the user interaction mode Plugins can be used to enhance Hollywood's functionality User interaction: Buttons can be defined Hollywood buttons support mouse click and mouse over events Keyboard input can be monitored System keys can be monitored Window events (window is moved, sized, closed etc.) can be monitored with ease System functions: Read from and write to files Easily read whole directories into an array Various file operations Many functions to handle files and work with them Query the Amiga system for information (e.g. CPU, Kickstart etc.) Retrieve information about hard disks, memory... Enhance your program to use different languages by using Hollywood's locale.library support Many time and date functions Kickstart 3.0 or better 68020 CPU Graphics board recommended 16 megabyte memory recommended Order with your credit card Order by sending cash Unfortunately there is no demo version available for download. The reason for this is that all the demo versions of my other Shareware programs were cracked and I do not want that this to happen with Hollywood too. So there will be only screenshots available to demonstrate how powerful Hollywood is. http://www.softwarefailure.de/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S T A H G , A G I F T F R O M A M I G A Z O N E 14th November. Meet StAHG, the (St)andard (A)miga (H)elp (G)uide. AmigaZone's FREE GIFT to the world-wide Amiga Community.. (c)2002 David Crawford & The AmigaZone division of Merlancia Industries StAHG is a simple ReAction based tool created for the purpose of making an Amiga's collection of help files easier to access. Naturally, the first question to come up is, "What help files?" The answer is, "Exactly!" Or, if you prefer, all those Help Files all over your hard drive ... Many of us have had the same Amiga for years now, following through with upgrade after upgrade, pushing our Amigas to the limits of common sense. The longer you use the same computer, the more software you install, the more stuff gets splattered around your hard drive. Through the years, many of us have installed many software packages on our systems, from applications to patches. A large portion of the Amiga's software installs their documentation files somewhere in the "Help:" assign, never to be seen again. Then you have to go huntng for it, if you even remember where it is. With the advent of AmigaOS 3.5, an overlooked "undocumented feature" is a system hook that tries to use the MultiView program to open "Workbench.guide." Naturally, this file wasn't included with either AmigaOS3.5, 3.9, or any of the Boing Bags. So, when you press the help-key--you don't get help, you get squat. StAHG fixes both problems in one whack. StAHG builds a list of all of the documents found in the "Help:" assign and its subdirectories (.doc, .dok, .txt, .guide), then creates "Workbench.guide" in the propor location to satisfy the requirements for the "undocumented feature." Once run, "Workbench.guide" is available to the OS, and StAHG does not need to be run again (unless you want to update your "Workbench.guide") StAHG is a free program. This is AmigaZone's gift back to the community. Of course we would like you to join AmigaZone as a full fledged member.. We do not, however, require that, in order for you to have StAHG. There are no pop-up advertising windows, as this was just a fun way to remind everyone of the wonderful service we offer.¹ and have been offering since the Amiga was born in 1985. StAHG's Requirements:² AmigaOS 3.5 or higher AWNPipe RexxTricks.library ReqTools RexxReqtools http://www.amigazone.com/pages/stahg.html ------ ¹AmigaZone provides a plethora of online services to Amiga enthusiests, users, and the Amiga community at large. The following is a sample of the services offered: email, single-point messaging (all of those mailing-lists collected in an easy to browse repository), custom file library (including hard to find files), chat, BBS services, VIP chats, and much much more! ²we aren't perfect, so we may have missed listing a library. Tested on an A1200 040, and an Amithlon system with the menu-key mapped to "help". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S C A N Q U I X N O W S U P P O R T S U S B 10 November, 2002 ScanQuix is a scanner driver system for the Amiga and has become a well known standard solution for scanning on this platform during the last years. Different scanner models can be used uniformly by all programs, similarly to the use of printers with printer drivers. Of course, you can scan, display and save pictures with ScanQuix. But the outstanding characteristic is the ability of many graphic programs to use the scanner drivers directly. That is, you can scan the images without detour into your favourite graphic software. So there is no need for a software to supply its own drivers for each scanner any more, but only an interface to the ScanQuix system. New: ScanQuix USB ScanQuix is manufactured and distributed by the company Vesalia Computer. Please contact Vesalia Computer or your local Amiga dealer for any inquiries. http://www.scanquix.de/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W S F R O M A P C & T C P 21 Nov 2002 At the Amiga and Retro Computing 2002 on 7 and 8 December, APC&TCP publishes the CD edition of DigiBoosterPro. The CD edition contains the version 2.21 of DigiBoosterPro as well as a completely new documentation. Since now a very good programmer for the program was found, it will give also soon updates for the program. An update from the APC&TCP disk version to the CD edition costs 5,- Euro within Germany and 10,- Euro outside of Germany (inclusive postage and packing). For improvement suggestions, opinions and desires to the program, we ask to write these directly us or into our support forum. Us it is no possible to search all Forums or News side for your wishes. Support-Forum APC&TCP: http://www.amigafuture.de/forum/index.php?c=3 Forum DBP Community: http://www.amigafuture.de/forum/index.php?c=4 APC&TCP: http://www.apc-tcp.de eMail: info@apc-tcp.de ----- 09 Nov 2002 APC&TCP acquired the rights at DigiBooster Professional. APC&TCP locked recently with the programmers of DBPro a contract. Thus all rights at the Program, Source and the name Digiboostepro were acquired. Digibooster Professional is a Music-Tracker Program, which works with Samples. You can use over * 60 Commandos * up to 128 Channels * up to 255 Samples * DSP Echo * and many more to create your own Music. Who thus already worked with programs like e.g. the Protracker, will love DBPro. DBPro runs completely over AHI, thus also each Sound-Card, whose driver on AHI constructs, is suporrted. Also known Modulformats will be supported. At the moment DBPro can * MOD (Protracker/Noisetracker) * DIGI (Digibooster 1.x) * XM (FastTracker) * S3M (ScreamTracker) * MED (Octamed & OctamedSoundStudio) read and process. As soon as a capable programmer is found, planned the advancement of the program in large steps is to be driven ahead. Furthermore is planned for future versions to publish the program instead of Disks on CDs. Detailed informations about the program can you find on the APC&TCP Homepage. The Homepage was updated this week. In the future APC&TCP will work together very closely with the DigiBoosterPro Community. Thus Dennis Lohr (Psyria) takes over the support for this extensive program for example. So that the support for the program runs off as uncomplicatedly as possible, also specially a forum was furnished, which is attainable over the Community, APC&TCP as well as the Amiga Future Homepage. We would be pleased, if you would write your suggestions for improvements and new features for DigiBoosterPro into the support forum. Thus you can reach us : Vertrieb : http://www.apc-tcp.de Community : http://www.digiboosterpro.de Support-Forum APC&TCP : http://www.amigafuture.de/forum/index.php?c=3 Support-Forum DigiBoosterPro : http://www.amigafuture.de/forum/index.php?c=4 Vertrieb (Email) : info@apc-tcp.de Support (Email) : Psyria@apc-tcp.de =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Amiga Update on the net: All back issues available at: http://www.globaldialog.com/~amigaupdate/index.html Stop by and check out our archive! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2002 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 ======================================================================