
               _      ____       ___   ______       _______          _
              d#      ####b     g#00   `N##0"    _agN#0P0N#         d#
             d##       jN##    j##F     J##    _dN0"      "        d##
           .#]##      _P ##L  jN##F     ###   g#0"               .#]##
          dE_j##      #  0## jF ##F    j##F  j##'    ______     dE_j##
        .0"""N##     d"   ##L0  ##F    0##   0##     "9##F"   .0"""5##
      .dF'   ]##    jF    ##0   ##F    ##F   `##k     d##   .dF'   j##
    .g#_    _j##___g#__   ]N  _j##L_ _d##L_   `#Nh___g#N' .g#_    _j##__
   """""    """""""""""    "  """""" """"""      """"""" """""    """"""

           ######    ######   ######    ######    ######   ########
          ##    ##  ##       ##    ##  ##    ##  ##    ##     ##
          ##    ##  ##       ##    ##  ##    ##  ##    ##     ##
          ## ####   ## ##    ## ####   ##    ##  ## ####      ##
          ##  ##    ##       ##        ##    ##  ##  ##       ##
          ##   ###   ######  ##         ######   ##   ###     ##

                        International Online Magazine

                
June 18, 1993                                                        No. 1.13
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


                            From STR Publishing

                        [S]ilicon [T]imes [R]eport

   
                 -----------------------------------------
                               * NOVA BBS *
                         Amiga Report Headquarters
                          * Running Starnet BBS *
                         Wayne Stonecipher, Sysop
                            FidoNet  1:362/508
                 An Amiga Software Distribution Site (ADS)
                615-472-9748  Supra V.32bis  24hrs - 7 days
                           Cleveland, Tennessee
                 ------------------------------------------
                          * IN THE MEANTIME BBS *
                  Official Amiga Report Distribution Site
                          * Running Starnet BBS *
                            Robert Niles, Sysop
                            FidoNet  1:3407/104
                509-966-3828  Supra V.32bis  24hrs - 7 days
                            Yakima, Washington

             NOTE:  New phone number in effect as of July 18th!

                 ------------------------------------------

              Amiga Report can be FREQ'd from these two boards
              each week.  Use the filename AR.LHA and you will
                       always get the latest issue.
  
_____________________________________________________________________________


/// 06/18/93 Amiga Report 1.13   "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information"
    --------------------------
    - The Editor's Desk       - CPU Report          - New Products
    - Dealer Directory        - AR Online           - AR Confidential
    - Warez Out There         - A.M.I.G.A.          - Lemmings II
    - TurboText               - CBM's Survival?     - Amiga Tip of the Week

                            -* Awful New Virus! *-
                       -* New JPEG Utility Announced *-
                        -* A Sysop's Point of View *-


=============================================================================
                  Amiga Report International Online Magazine
                  "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information"
                            -* FEATURING WEEKLY *-
                   Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information
       Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information
               Hardware ~ Software ~ Corporate ~ R & D ~ Imports
=============================================================================
            GENIE ~ PORTAL ~ DELPHI ~ BIX ~ FIDO ~ INTERNET ~ NVN
=============================================================================


                   -=> HOW TO GET YOUR OWN GENIE ACCOUNT <=-
                       ---------------------------------

        Set your communications software to Half Duplex (or Local Echo)
                       Call: (with modem) 800-638-8369.
                 Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that).
                           Wait for the U#= prompt.
                   Type: XTX99587,CPUREPT then, hit RETURN.


                         Rates Effective July 1, 1993

 GEnie costs only $8.95 a month, and includes four hours of free online time,
 good for almost anywhere on  the system.  Additional hours are only $3 each.
 Choose from more than 100 services, including electronic mail (with optional
 Internet  mail at no  extra charge), online  encyclopedia,  shopping,  news,
 entertainment, online games, and bulletin boards on leisure and professional
 subjects.

 The Amiga RoundTable has over 1 GIGABYTE of Amiga files online and ready for
 downloading.  The  Amiga RT  staff is very  knowledgeable  and is  more than
 willing  to help with  problems.  Help  Desks are  held every night  at 9 pm
 Eastern Time.

 9600 BPS access is available ($6 surcharge) through many local nodes, or via
 GEnie's own 800 Watts line.


           GEnie Information copyright (C) 1993 by General Electric
             Information Services/GEnie, reprinted with permission



*****************************************************************************

 
/// From the Editor's Desk                         "Saying it like it is!"
    ----------------------


Call us wishy-washy if you want, but we're going to return to a weekly format
immediately.  The week off was a much-needed break, but we all enjoy producing
a weekly format so much that we've all decided to go weekly, again.  We figure
that we should just take a week off every now and then, rather than every
other week.  This should please a lot of people, since I've had quite a few
requests to stay weekly.

With that out of the way, I'd like to say:

                  WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH SOME PEOPLE!????

Most everyone has no doubt heard of the F_CK virus (well, you know what I
mean.  Why would somebody invent and distribute such a thing?  Is this person
just a malicous type, or does he have a beef with somebody?  Somebody asked
me, "why would somebody write a virus for their OWN platform?  Why not write
one for ANOTHER platform (e.g. the PC)?"  While I must say that writing a
virus for the intention of destroying data on ANY computer is extremely
uncool, I do see his point. <g>

Virus writers, like phreakers and game crackers, are the dark side of the
classic Hacker.  Anybody who has read the book, "Hackers" knows that the term
used to mean someone that loved computers and wanted to know every aspect of
its operation; somebody that would share his findings with others, and would
help them learn as well.  But the classic hacker is all but extinct.  Instead
we have renegades that take all shapes -- misguided teens, disgruntled
employees, demo writers with an attitude, etc.  Please people, find another
way to vent your anger and frustrations!

Father's Day is this weekend.  Everybody be good to your dad.  But don't get
him another tie!

                              Rob @ Amiga Report


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The Amiga Report Staff                           Dedicated to serving you!
======================


                                 Editor in Chief
                                 ===============

                                  Robert Glover

 GEnie:                               ROB-G
 Portal:                           Coming Soon!
 Delphi:                              ROB_G
 FidoNet:                          1:362/508.6
 Internet:                       ROB_G@Delphi.COM


                                Associate Editors
                                =================


                               Technical Department
                               --------------------

                Micah Thompson                     Robert Niles

 GEnie:           BOOMER.T
 Delphi:                                              RNILES
 FidoNet:                                           1:3407/104
 Internet:     BOOMER.T@GEnie.geis.com           RNILES@Delphi.COM


                               Graphics Department
                               -------------------

                                  Mike Troxell

 GEnie:                            M.TROXELL1
 FidoNet:                          1:362/508
 Internet:                  M.TROXELL1@GEnie.geis.com


                             Contributing Department
                             -----------------------

                                  Tom Mulcahy

 Delphi:                           16BITTER
 BIX:                               HELMET
 FidoNet:                         1:260/322
 Internet:                    16BITTER@Delphi.COM


                    ________________________________________



                           Contributing Correspondents
                           ===========================
                                 Micheal Arends
                                  John Deegan
                                  Chad Freeman
                                 Barry McConnell
                                 Stephan Mueller
  



          PC DIVISION           ATARI DIVISION           MAC DIVISION
          ===========           ==============           ============
          Roger D. Stevens      Ralph F. Mariano         R. Albritton



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


/// CPU Status Report                     Late Breaking Industry-Wide News
    -----------------


  
                   Computer Products Update - CPU Report
                   ------------------------   ----------
                  Weekly Happenings in the Computer World
 
                              
                              By John Deegan



   ATARI LAUNCHES THE JAGUAR, A 64-BIT MULTI-MEDIA GAME SYSTEM - SUNNY-
VALE, CA (JUNE 3) PR NEWSWIRE - Atari Corp. (AMEX: ATC), the founder of 
the video game industry and the creative force behind some of the 
world's best-known titles, has announced the launch of a revolutionary 
new multi-media entertainment system, the Atari Jaguar. The launch will 
be supported by aggressive advertising, promotion and marketing efforts 
to be centered in the New York market in the fall, with a national roll-
out of the product within one year.

   The Atari Jaguar, housed in a futuristic casing, is an interactive 
multi-media system based on an Atari-designed proprietary 64-bit RISC 
processor. The 64-bit system is four times the technology currently seen 
in the market today. The Atari Jaguar features over 16 million colors in 
24-bit true-color graphics and produces shaded 3-D polygons to be 
manipulated in a "real" world in real time. The Atari Jaguar also has 
real-time texture mapping and creates spectacular video effects.
 
   The sound system is based on Atari's proprietary, high-speed, Digital 
Signal Processor dedicated to audio. The audio is 16-bit stereo CD qual-
ity and processes simultaneous sources of audio data, allowing for very 
realistic sounds, as well as human voices, which are essential for 
future multi-media applications.
 
   The Atari Jaguar is truly expandable and will include a 32-bit ex-
pansion port which allows for future connection into cable and telephone 
networks, as well as a digital signal processing port for modem use and 
connection to digital audio peripherals such as DAT players.
 
   The unit will also have a compact disc peripheral, which will be 
double-speed and will play regular CD audio, CD + G (Karaoke) and 
Kodak's new Photo-CD(R).

   Currently, there are multiple software titles in development, which 
will be available on MegaCart(TM). Atari, known for such groundbreaking 
3-D titles as "Battlezone 2000(R)" and "Tempest 2000(R)," will issue 
spectacular new versions for the Atari Jaguar. New 3-D game titles will 
include "Cybermorph(R)," "Alien vs. Predator(R)," "Jaguar Formula One 
Racing(TM)" and many more. Atari will license third-party publishers to 
join the Jaguar family.
 
   "The Atari Jaguar system will revolutionize the state of home enter-
tainment as we see it today," said Sam Tramiel, president of Atari. "The 
idea of a 64-bit system is earth shattering and kids and adults will be 
amazed at both the imagery and manipulative capabilities. And we are 
proud that our entry into the multi-media entertainment category will be 
fully made in America."
 
   The Atari Jaguar will retail for approximately $200 and will be avai-
lable nationwide next year. The Atari Jaguar packaged unit will include 
one software experience and a Power Pad(R) Controller with a ten-key pad 
and other special features.

   Atari Corp. manufactures and markets personal computers and video 
games for the home, office and educational marketplaces throughout the 
world. Atari headquarters are located at 1196 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale, 
CA 94089.
 
   CONTACT: August J. Liguori of Atari Corp., 408-745-2069 


   SILICON GRAPHICS, TIME WARNER TEAM ON INTERACTIVE TV HARDWARE -
Silicon Graphics Inc. and Time Warner Inc., teaming up on interactive TV 
hardware to replace the standard cable TV box, say they will install 
prototypes of a "full service interactive digital cable television 
network" in Orlando, Fla., by year's end.

   The plan, announced at the National Cable Television Association 
meeting in San Francisco, is another the recent slew of interactive TV 
projects that will let customers shop at home using a remote control, 
call up statistics while watching baseball games or play video games 
with other viewers.

   According to sources, Silicon Graphics will develop the servers to 
deliver programming and the digital multimedia set-top device.

   HP, MICROSOFT UNVEIL OMNIBOOK - The HP OmniBook 300, a mobile, hand-
held personal computer, has been unveiled by Hewlett-Packard Co. and 
Microsoft Corp.  The OmniBook uses Microsoft's Windows 3.1 software and 
comes with a built-in-mouse. The unit measures a 11.1 by 6.4 by 1.4 
inches and weighs 2.9 pounds.  The companies say the device is priced at 
$1,950 with a 40MB hard disk and $2,275 with 10MB flash disk.


   NINTENDO EXEC MOVES TO SEGA - Nintendo of America's director of mar-
keting and corporate communications, William White Jr., will be moving 
to competing game-maker Sega of America Inc and will take the position 
of president of marketing.
 
 
   INTRUDERS GETS PROBATION - In Seattle, two computerists convicted of 
illegally infiltrating systems at Boeing Co and the U.S. District Court 
have been sentenced to five years probation and 250 hours of community 
service.  The two, Charles Anderson and Costa George Katsaniotis, also 
were ordered to pay a combined $30,000 in restitution.

   U.S. Magistrate David Wilson said that Boeing, which said at the time 
that none of its systems or data had been damaged by the unauthorized 
entry, will be paid $28,000 of the amount and the federal court will get 
$2,000.


   FORMER NEXT PRESIDENT JOINS XEROX - Peter van Cuylenburg, former NeXT 
Computer Inc. president and chief operating officer, has been appointed 
executive vice president for operations at Xerox Corp., filling the 
position left vacant a year ago following the sudden death of Vittorio 
Cassoni.

 
   HAYES SUES SUPRA, TANDY AND 9 OTHERS - Modem maker Hayes Micro-
computer Products Inc. has sued Supra Corp., Tandy Corp. and 9 other 
companies, contending they manufacture and sell "Hayes-compatible" 
modems without a license from Hayes.

   Computergram International reports that Hayes seeks unspecified dama-
ges and a court order forcing the companies to stop infringing on the 
patent.

   The newsletters says the others named in the suit are AMT 
International Industries Inc., Huntington Beach, Calif.; Angia Corp., 
Provo, Utah; Best Data Products Inc., Chatsworth, Calif.; Cermetek 
Microelectronics Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif..; Computer Peripherals Inc., 
Newbury Park, Calif.; General Datacomm Industries Inc., Middlebury, 
Conn.; Global Village Communication Inc., Mountain View, Calif.; Penril 
Datacommunications Networks Inc., Gaithersburg, Md.; Shiva Corp., 
Burlington, Mass., and Supra Corp, of Albany, Ore.


   COMPAQ SAYS IT IS ONLY ONE TO INCREASE SHARE OF NOTEBOOK MARKET -
Houston's Compaq Computer Corp. says it is the only PC maker to increase 
its share of the U.S. notebook computer market during the quarter ending 
March 30.

   A Compaq spokeswoman said the firm estimates the market for its 
Contura and LTE Lite laptops stands at 17.6% for all sales channels. Its 
share of the traditional PC reseller market was put at 21%.


   SCULLEY ADMITS APPLE'S EARNINGS WILL FALL - Apple Computer chief John 
Sculley admitted this week that Apple will post earnings in the second 
half of the fiscal year that are lower than last year's levels.

   Sculley, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Cupertino, 
California-based firm, blamed the earnings drop on "an extremely 
aggressive pricing environment" despite strong unit shipments of the 
Macintosh personal computer.


            __________________________________________________



ANNOUNCING CONFUSION XX SCI-FI CONVENTION


***************************************************************************
*            A N N O U N C I N G   C o n F u s i o n   X X                *
***************************************************************************

ConFusion XX is celebrating 20 years, and will be held January 21-
23 at the Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, 8000 Merriman Road, Romulus, MI
(off I-94 and Merriman near Detroit Metro Airport).  Membership to
the convention is $18 until 10/1/93, $22 until 12/31/93 and $25
thereafter, but this membership fee is waived if you pledge equipment
and/or your efforts to help out.

This year's Con features an Amiga Room and Seminars, Computer Room,
Seminars and Work Shops, Art Show and Auction, Masquerade Ball, Banquet,
Gaming and much more.

ConFusion has had an Amiga Room for 4 years now, and in the past has
conducted seminars on such topics as the Video Toaster, Freely-Dist-
ributable Software, Digging Into DOS (AmigaDOS), and many others.  If
you are willing to set up your equipment in the Amiga Room, please be
assured that security is good, and we have a perfect record of no lost
or damaged merchandise.  If you just want to help out, we need gophers
to help with various logistical aspects of organizing the Con.

Please contact the below people, or E-Mail me direct:

Jay Imerman            Jeff or Gail Westbrooks    Barb Daoust
Amiga Room Chair       ConChairs                  ConChair
5458 Claridge Ln.      3014 Chelsea Circle        910 W. Washington #1
W. Bloomfield, MI      Ann Arbor, MI  48108       Ann Arbor, MI  48103
48322                  (313)973-6025              (313)769-0136
(313)855-5659
E-Mail:  anh@tiamat.umd.umich.edu



                      ------------------------------



DFA V1.23 AVAILABLE FOR FTP


TITLE

     DFA(ddress)

VERSION

     V1.23

AUTHOR

     Dirk Federlein

     UUCP:   dirkf@alcmy.franken.de (preferred!)
             (dirk@alcmy.adsp.sub.org)

     Fido:   2:249/40.12,
             AKA 2:242/14.26


DESCRIPTION

     DFA(ddress) is NOT just another address utility.

     DFA has an Arexx port that understands many commands.  They
     give you full access to DFA from every program with
     an Arexx port.  Arexx scripts may be called directly from
     DFA.  You can assign an Arexx script to every function key.

     DFA supports up to three email addresses - you can even call
     an external mail editor and DFA gives it the desired email
     address (using Arexx).

     DFA can dial the stored telephone numbers - more than one
     number per entry is possible.

     DFA can print the addresses in different formats:  Long list,
     short list, telephone list, address labels and address cards.

     DFA has full commodity support, application icon and an
     application window.  DFA can be used as a default tool as well.

     DFAs windows are all fully font sensitive and the main window
     is adjustable via the sizing gadget!  All functions can not
     only be invoked by mouse but also by keyboard.

     DFA supports the locale library that is included in Workbench
     2.1 and above.  All gadget shortcuts are localized as well!

     DFA comes along with comprehensive English and German
     documentation in ASCII, AMIGAGUIDE and TeX format.

     Registered users get a keyfile that enables the user-
     adjustable DFA-preferences that are disabled in the public
     release.

NEW FEATURES (c.t. V1.11)

     - Locale support
     - Improved Arexx support
     - AppWindow
     - Better AppIcon support
     - Main window is sizable
     - DFA can be used as a default tool
     - Some improvements on the GUI

NEW FEATURES (c.t. V1.22)

     - Finnish locale support
     - TeX (DVI) files available in the public release
     - Many errors within different locale files removed
     - Installer ((c) by Commodore) included
     - Improved installer script

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

     DFA needs at least Kickstart/Workbench 2.04 to run.

     It takes advantage of the new features included in version 2.1
     (Locale support) and uses even some features coming with OS
     3.0 if available.

     DFA is made to run on all all systems, starting with the A500+
     and ending up with the A4000(T).

     More than 512KB of RAM and a harddisk are recommended.

HOST NAME

     Available on AmiNet FTP sites.

PRICE

     Shareware fee:                              DM        US$

     Program itself.............................20.00     15.00

     Printed manual (optional):

          English TeX manual....................10.00     10.00
          German TeX manual.....................10.00     10.00

     Additional fee for postage (airmail):

          Outside of Europe, NO MANUAL...........5.00      5.00

          Outside of Europe, AND MANUAL.........15.00     10.00


     See documentation for additional information.

DISTRIBUTABILITY

     DFA is NOT PD.  It is shareware.  The author keeps the
     copyright over the whole package.

     The public version of DFA is freely (re)distributable, but
     nobody is allowed to sell the program for more money than to
     cover just the costs of copying.

     In any case, nobody may charge more than Fred Fish does for
     one of his "Library Disks"!



                      ------------------------------



                            A N N O U N C I N G

                            ---  InterFAX  ---

                An automated FAX Service for Internet Users


Users of the Internet can now send FAX messages just as easily as they send
Email --- right from their terminals, and without any additional equipment.
InterFAX is a FAX service bureau for Internet users, and allows the user to send

Email to any FAX machine, anywhere in the world, anytime of the day or night,
from any location.

In addition, letterheads, logo's, and signatures can be stored for use in FAX
messages.

FAX "broadcasting" is fully supported as well.  There is virtually no limit to
the number of "carbon copies" that can be sent by simply attaching a list of
formatted phone numbers to the original text.

InterFAX is a totally digital service, and completely automated. There is no
operator intervention at any point along the way, so that complete privacy and
security is assured.

InterFAX service costs only $5 per month, which includes the first five (5) FAX
pages, and 50 cents (US) for every FAX page thereafter. These rates are among
the lowest (if not THE lowest) in the world.

For further information, or to establish an account, email to faxmaster@pan.com,

or contact InterFAX at PO Box 162, Skippack, PA 19474 USA.  Tel: 215-584-0300
(FAX: 215-584-1038).


                      ------------------------------



KCOMMODITY V2.5 AVAILABLE FOR FTP


TITLE

     KCommodity

VERSION

     2.5

AUTHOR

     Kai Iske
     Brucknerstrasse 18
     6450 Hanau 1
     (from the 1. July it`s 63452 Hanau 1)
     Germany
     Tel.: +49-(0)6181-850181

     email: kai@iske.adsp.sub.org

DESCRIPTION

     KCommodity is a multifunctional commodity like Mach IV or
     AutoCli and so forth. It comes with several new features
     not seen in other programs of that kind. Furthermore
     the "standard" features of such an utility are included like
     Mouse acceleration, Window activation, Closing windows
     via HotKey and many, many more. It incorporates the features
     of several smaller tools in one whole with a UISG type
     GUI in order to let the user have a simple control panel
     for all the functions.

NEW FEATURES

     New since version 2.0 :

     - Split up into three parts. Main program, Prefs editor,
       and Printer module (which may dump to files now)

     - Fully localized for almost every language supported by
       the OS. Furthermore suomi was included.

     - TagScreens v1.8. Full TagScreens v1.8 included with
       the possibility of ScreenPromotion for different tasks
       and the whole system.

     - Comes with Installer for easy installation

     - Several new functions and bugfixes.

     Actually too much to mention.


SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

     Only OS 2.x and up

HOST NAME

     amiga.physik.unizh.ch (130.60.80.80)

DIRECTORY

     /pub/aminet/os20/cdity/

FILE NAMES

     kcx25.lha      ; The program and docs
     kcx25src.lha   ; The complete source for KCommodity

PRICE

     ShareWare fee of $15 (without printed manual)
                      $25 (with printed manual)

DISTRIBUTABILITY

     ShareWare



                      ------------------------------



MAKEINFO V1.55 AVAILABLE FOR FTP


TITLE

     Makeinfo

VERSION

     1.55

AUTHOR

     Free Software Foundation,

     Amiga Variations by Reinhard Spisser and Sebastiano Vigna

DESCRIPTION

     Makeinfo converts files from Texinfo to GNU-Info, ASCII
     and AmigaGuide formats.

     Makeinfo 1.55 supports AmigaGuide(R) V34 and V39, adds ANSI
     escape sequences when --amiga-39 --no-headers is used, and supports
     localization for hard-coded strings.

     Texinfotimes.tex prints Texinfo documents with PostScript fonts.

     A Texinfo document is written in a very simple dialect
     of TeX that is easy to learn and use, and it's specifically
     tailored for the creation of technical manuals. Texinfo focuses
     on logical aspects---so the @t{} command, which typesets in
     fixed width font whatever is in the braces, should never be 
     used, and rather replaced with @code{}, @file{} or key{}, depending
     on the semantics of the text involved. This also ensures that
     each user can customize his Texinfo macros in such a way to spot
     out specific parts of a Texinfo file, or to set a different page
     size, text formatting etc (an example is texinfotimes.tex that prints
     .texinfo with PostScript fonts).

     Of course, the format has to be rich enough to express all the
     needs of a technical manual, and small enough to allow a decent
     translation of all the available constructs to plain ASCII (for
     an hypotetical hypertext viewer).  In this respect Texinfo
     is excellently balanced.

     Full documentation is available on how to write a Texinfo
     document. It is written, of course, in Texinfo, and is very clear.
     You should be able to start authoring a Texinfo document in an hour
     or so. If you're used to TeX, ten minutes will suffice. This
     documentation can be found on most ftp sites which have GNU stuff.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

     Requires 2.04 or higher.
     In order to print it you need TeX (AmigaTeX or PasTeX).
     In order to print with texinfotimes.tex you need the PostScript
     fonts Times and Courier.

HOST NAME

     amiga.physik.unizh.ch and other AMINET sites

DIRECTORY

     /pub/aminet/text/hyper


FILE NAMES

     mkguide155.lha

PRICE

     None

DISTRIBUTABILITY

     Free Software, distributed under the GNU COPYING License



                      ------------------------------


MIDI PERFORMANCE MANAGER V1.19 AVAILABLE FOR FTP


TITLE
        Demonstration version of
        Midi Performance Manager (MPM)

VERSION

        1.19


AUTHOR

        Andreas Jung
        Klosterstrasse 21
        D-6602 Dudweiler
        Federal Republic of Germany
        EMail: ajung@rz.uni-sb.de

DESCRIPTION

        MPM is a MIDI program to manage a hetergeneous 
        combination of synthesizers and other MIDI devices. It offers
        several editors and tools to handle both MIDI common messages
        and synthesizer-specific data. 
   
        Currently three MIDI tools are available:
            * realtime controller mixer
            * MIDI montitor for analyzing incoming MIDI data
            * patch bay to redirect MIDI data
            
        MPM includes an ARexx port, online help with the amigaguide.library
        and support of the locale.library.
       

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

        Kickstart 2.04 or higher
        at least 1 MB Ram
        Not required but supported: locale.library 

HOST NAME

        amiga.physik.unizh.ch (130.60.80.80)
        and irror sites of Aminet

DIRECTORY

        /pub/aminet/mus/midi 

FILE NAMES
    
        MidiPerformance.lha        

PRICE
        35 US Dollars outside Germany
        50 DM (Deutsche Mark) inside Germany
        

DISTRIBUTABILITY

        MPM is shareware. The demonstration version is freely
        distributable for noncommercial use.
           


                      ------------------------------



             PEGGER, Automated JPEG Image Compression Software

(Columbia, MO -- June 7, 1993)

   Heifner Communications and Express-Way Software are announcing a new
software utility for the Amiga line of personal computers and Video Toaster
workstations.  PEGGER is a fully integrated JPEG utility based on the
compression algorithm from the Joint Photographers Experts Group.  PEGGER
allows programs that don't support JPEG images to work automatically with
them.  Everything from 3D animation systems to graphic and multi-media
programs greatly benefit from the enormous savings in hard drive space PEGGERS
JPEG compression provides.

   PEGGERs Snoop capability automates the JPEG processing for programs that
don't support JPEG, such as Electronic Arts Deluxe Paint AGA or the NewTek
Video Toaster, so they can load or save JPEG files. PEGGER runs seamlessly in
the background, compressing and decompressing files as needed. Your 100 MB 24
bit or HAM8 library can be compressed to under 10 MB and your applications
won't even know it. A 50 MB hard drive can now hold more than 1000 frames of
high resolution 24 bit files instead of just 60 or 70 frames.

   PEGGER does it's job in just seconds, we have optimized the JPEG code for
the Amiga. The JPEG compress, decompress, and selection of files to process
run completely independent of each other.  This allows both compression and
decompression of files at the same time, with the ability to adjust the
priority of each.  A cue list of files awaiting processing is maintained so
that you can select additional files to process while PEGGER is busy in the
background processing your previous selections. In addition to selecting
individual files to process, entire directories of files can be set up to be
batch processed.

   You can have PEGGER execute an ARexx script prior to and after JPEG
processing of a file.  This allows the integration of PEGGERs powerful batch
processing capabilities with other applications which support ARexx.  For
example, using an ARexx script to load a frame buffer and activate a single
frame recorder after JPEG decompression of an image.

   The JPEG processing is performed on a small portion of the file at a time,
so PEGGER doesn't need megabytes of RAM to hold the entire image before
processing can begin. A 2000 by 3000 pixel 24 bit image takes almost 30 MB of
system RAM to JPEG compress or decompress with current Amiga programs. With
PEGGER, less than 1 MB of system RAM is needed.

   Designed to run in the background, and when idle, uses few system
resources.  Even if your computer were to crash while PEGGER was processing
files, when restarted, PEGGER will continue processing the files where it was
interrupted.

   Features:

      ARexx support.

      Support for 24 bit IFF, DCTV, and HAM8 images.

      PEGGER can process images up to 32000 pixels wide using less than 4 MB
      of system RAM.

      AmigaDOS 2.0 & 3.0 compatible.

      Follows all AmigaDOS programming guidelines.

      Adjustable priority for JPEG compression and decompression.

      Pegger is designed to multi task in the background using minimal system
      resources so a 3D rendering or graphics program can also run at the same
      time.

      Snoop feature allows PEGGER to compress the output of your 3D rendering
      or graphics program into a JPEG file automatically.

      JPEG code has been optimized for speed.

      PEGGER can be used with the appropriate ARexx script to single frame
      record images directly from JPEGed sequential files.

      Library support for DSP technology when available.


   PEGGER is a low cost alternative to a new expensive large capacity hard
drive for animation or color graphic workstations.

   Ship Date: Late July
   List Price: $95.00

Deluxe Paint IV AGA is a trademark of Electronic Arts Video Toaster is a
trademark of NewTek, Inc. Amiga is a trademark of Commodore Business Machines,
Inc.

   For More Information Contact:

   Heifner Communications, Inc.
   4451 I-70 Drive NW
   Columbia, MO  65202
   (800) 445-6164  (voice)
   (314) 445-0757   (fax)


                      ------------------------------



                           THE "SYNDESIS 3D-ROM"
                    A CDROM COLLECTION OF MORE THAN 500
                       FREELY DISTRIBUTABLE 3D MODELS


     Announcing  a  spectacular  demonstration  of  a  new  3D  translation
technology called InterChange Plus...

     The "Syndesis 3D-ROM" is  a CDROM collection of  more than 500  freely
distributable 3D models, all  present in AutoCAD DXF, 3D  Studio, Wavefront
.obj, Video Toaster LightWave and Impulse's Imagine PC/Amiga formats.  It's
also got  more than 400  tileable, wrappable texture  maps.  It  includes a
fully indexed, cross-referenced catalog of the objects.

     The  disc  includes  demonstration   models  from  companies  such  as
Viewpoint Animation Engineering.  All 28 Viewpoint demo models are present,
including  the  yet-unreleased Siggraph  93 set.    More demo  objects were
contributed  by Noumenon Labs, VRS Media, Mira Imaging and other commercial
modeling companies.

     The  3D-ROM  is  a  demonstration  of  the  translation  abilities  of
InterChange Plus, Syndesis's system for converting between 3D file formats.
InterChange Plus translates between  AutoCAD DXF, 3D Studio,  Digital Arts,
Wavefront,   Swivel,  Sculpt,   VideoScape,  LightWave,   Imagine,  CAD-3D,
PAGErender  and  Vista  DEM  formats.     Soon  to  come  is  support   for
StereoLithography,  Macromedia  3DGF,  Super 3D,  Alias  StyleGuide, Topas,
Softimage,  Inventor  and Vertigo  formats.    All material  and  hierarchy
information is preserved as best as possible.

     This ISO-9660  disc is fully accessible from Atari, MS-DOS, Macintosh,
Amiga and Unix workstations.

     If you'd like to find out about this CDROM, we'd be glad to add you to
our mailing list.  See us at Siggraph 93!

                            Syndesis Corporation
                                P.O. Box 65
                           235 South Main Street
                            Jefferson, WI 53549
                               (414) 674-5200
                             (414) 674-6363 FAX

                     Internet 76004.1763@compuserve.com


                      ------------------------------



INSPIRE V1.4 DEMO AVAILABLE FOR FTP


TITLE
 
       Inspire!
 
VERSION
 
       1.40
 
AUTHOR
 
       Josh Van Abrahams
       Internet: jvanabra@nyx.cs.du.edu
 
DESCRIPTION

    Inspire! V1.4 is the second release of JoshWorks Software's text 
    editor.


    Key features:
     * Uses new features of AmigaDOS Release 2 extensively
        Inspire! uses the ASL requester for font and file selection and
        uses the gadtools.library for standardized gadgets.  Also, the
        display database is used so that you may open any type of screen
        that your computer is capable of.  AmigaDos Release 3 style menus
        and gadgets are also supported without sacrificing compatibility
        with AmigaDos Release 2 machines.

     * Flexible multiple window handling
        You can select the previous and next windows via menu selections.
         Windows are added to the list according to which window is selected
         when you open that window.  That list may be displayed for quick
         selection.

     * AppIcon
        Drag'n'Drop icons from the workbench to load files into Inspire!

     * Iconify
        Inspire! can be iconified to get it out of your way when you're
        busy doing something else.

     * Fast text handling using true tabs
        The screen updates speedily as you edit.

     * True Amiga clipboards
        Local and true Amiga clipboards are both supported.

     * Right mouse button editing
        The right mouse button can be used to quickly cut, copy, and
        paste.

     * Word wrap
        Word wrapping may be set at any character position.

     * Turbo Loading and Saving of Files
        Files will load and save very fast using a speed up buffer,
         however, if you're low on memory, this function can be disabled.

     * Removing and adding of CR+LF line endings
        CR+LF end of line sequences are converted upon loading to a
        single LF sequence.  Optionally, they may be resaved in that
        format.

     * Printing task works in the background while you edit
        You no longer have to wait for your printer to finish in order for
         you to get back to editing your file.  A storage buffer is used
         to print from, which can also be disabled if you are low on
         memory.

     * Loading, saving and printing of clips
        Clips may be loaded, saved, and printed.  This also allows for a
         standardized way to insert files within another file.

     * Undo
        Errors may be corrected by selecting the Undo function.

     * Find and replace
        Text may be searched for and replaced.  Case sensitivity can be
        toggled on and off.

     * Bookmarks and jump to line
        You may store up to five locations in your document that may be
         quickly restored.  Also, you may jump to any given line.

     * Text centering
        Any selected area of text may be centered.

     * Case conversions
        Any selected area can be converted to three different case
         formats.

     * ARexx implementation
        ARexx macros may be assigned to any function key for quick access.


    Programming specific features:
     * C procedure listing for quick jumps to procedures
        All valid C procedures can be listed in a single window.  You may
        instantly jump to any one by clicking on it in the window.

     * Tab Blocks Left or Right
        Any selected blocks of text can be tabbed to the left or to the
        right.  This is a real time-saver for C programmers.

     * Auto indenting
        An auto indenting function may be turned on as needed.

     * Find matched bracket
        Inspire! will find the bracket that matches the one currently
        under the cursor.

     * Auto match bracket
        Inspire! can automatically show you the start bracket which
        matches the end bracket just typed for instant feedback of
        blocked off areas.
 
REQUIREMENTS

        AmigaDos 2.04 or later.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
 
        None
 
FTP LOCATIONS
 
        File name: InspireDemo14.lha

        wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4)
            current temporary location:
              /systems/amiga/incoming/utils
            permanent location:
              /systems/amiga/utilities/text/editors

        Aminet Sites (such as amiga.physik.unizh.ch)
              /pub/aminet/biz/demo

PRICE

        Registration is US $27 Delivered
        V1.2 to V1.4 Upgrade is US $6 Delivered

DISTRIBUTION
 
        Demo is Freely Distributable



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


/// ONLINE WEEKLY Amiga Report Online                The lines are buzzing!
    ---------------------------------



From GEnie:
----------

From STUPID about the AGA chipset...

 
YELLOWFELLOW:

Your friend has his facts right, but his conclusions wrong.

AGA -does- run at 7.14MHz.  The internal operations of the blitter and the
copper -are- no faster than they were in the ECS chipset.

The bandwidth, however, has increased fourfold.  It was doubled once by the
bus width doubling, and once again by being able to fetch two longwords from
ram at once.

Since AGA can access the system memory four times faster that ECS, it realizes
a modest boost in performance.  Consider a typical operation requires:
   1) get data
   2) do something with it
   3) put data back

The "do something with it" step is completed at EXACTLY the same speed in AGA
and ECS.  The "get data" and "put data back" functions are typically FOUR
TIMES as fast under AGA as they are under ECS.  So, all things being equal,
AGA performs operations in about a third of the time tha ECS would require.

Note that there are situations which this is not the case and the real-world
performance of AGA will only be about double that of ECS.  Examples of this
would be blitter operations that involve memory that is not an even number of
longwords (nullifying the advantage of a double-longword fetch) or that
involves a large amount of internal operations (which gives the "do something"
step more significance).

As is my habit, I make analogies to PClone hardware.  An AGA Amiga is very
much like a '486 clone.  Both are hampered by internal limitations, yet the
overall performance is greatly improved.


                      ------------------------------


From Jim Meyer (JIM.MEYER) in a debate of PC vs. Amiga...


Ferric -

 Let me inject some opinion into this, particularly since I didn't have room
in my Film at Eleven editorial to include all of my thoughts.

 The Amiga OS is cool.  Way cool.  The more time I spend with Finder, with
DOS, with Windows, with OS/2, and with Unix - specifically, HP's implemention
and the VUE interface - the more I like my Amiga.  While each of the other
OSes has -something- that I'd like to see in the Amiga OS (note that I'm hard
pressed to figure out what DOS has that I'd want), the Amiga's OS is by far
the most complete, the most modern, and the fastest.

 I don't really care what's under the hood, as long as it's fast and as long
as it lets me do what I need to do.  To that end, it's not all that important
to me that the Amiga OS runs on the Amiga.  I'd happily use it on a clone, if
it worked.  Unfortunately, the OS is tightly coupled to the chips.

 Being the best in the computer industry doesn't count for a thing. The only
thing that counts is being the most popular, and that rarely has anything to
do with being the best.  As far as I know, this has always been the case.  IBM
mainframes, for example, were never the fastest nor the cheapest, but they
were - in the day of the mainframe - the most popular.

 Back to the processor.  The primary drawback of the Amiga is the fact that
it's an Amiga.  It won't run AmiPro without help, and it won't run PageMaker
without a lot of help.  By decoupling the "Amiga" from the machine, it becomes
possible for more things to become Amigas.  And some of them may well be able
to run Windows NT and/or Unix right off the shelf.

 If such a thing happens, it might become possible for you to plug AmigaDOS
into your PowerPC machine.  Or, by the same token, you might be able to run
all your Windows applications on your favorite machine. The best possible
Amiga would still be an Amiga, of course, but a more flexible approach would
result in a broader base, which would mean more software, which would then
mean more demand.

 One approach that intrigues me is turning the Bridgeboard upside-down.  An
Amiga-on-a-card that plugs into your otherwise mundane Intel-based machine. 
Really, this is probably as close as any PC will ever get to true multitasking
and multimedia.  ;-)  Such a card could be sold at a premium, since the likely
buyers would be those folks who want a Toaster but don't want another box on
their desk.  I'd like to see a situation where Commodore makes as much from
the hardware base as NewTek does for the card...

 (Supporting note - The company I work for, System Integrators, wormed their
way into the newspaper publishing platform business by creating a product that
sold for MORE than the competition.  And we almost never engaged in price-
cutting.)

 I won't talk to Lew until Pasadena, Ferric, unless I decide to pester him at
work.  Which I might do.  In any event, your question is also my question, so
it'll remain on my queue.


                      ------------------------------



Jim Drew (J.DREW2) of Emplant fame keeps us posted...

 
A little update...

Well folks, Joe and I have been digging through mounds of MAC code trying to
basically rewrite a lot of the ROM routines to be faster than the real MAC
(pretty damn easy to do, I might add)...and we discovered something that I
would like to share with all of you.

The Amiga uses what is known as 'preemptive'  multitasking.  That is where
a time table is kept based on program priority levels and when a program's
time is up, another program is switched in and ran.  This is done on a
interrupt level and is quite effective.  The MAC uses what we like to call a
'needs time' (co-operative) setup.  EACH program that is running on the MAC
must TELL the OS that it is not doing anything, at which point the MAC can
then attempt to run another program.  There is no priority of programs, and if
a program is not multitasking friendly (never tells the OS it is not busy)
then the MAC stops multitasking completely.

"Who cares?" you say?  Well, the Amiga's code is obviously better because a
program does not have to do anything but just run like normal.  The OS handles
the multitasking completely.  This not only makes it more efficient, but also
makes the code smaller.  The MAC maintains a 11K header for EACH program that
is multitasking, the Amiga maintains only a 188 byte header for EACH program. 
Also, the MAC program has to have subroutines to tell the OS that it is not
busy...wasting even more space. Now the real shocker....

The entire multitasking handling code used by the Amiga is a little over 1K. 
With RsrvMem program (we wrote our own multitasking code that is a bit faster
than Commodore's and added the ability to multitask while in SuperVisor mode)
the multitasking code is 1280 bytes.  We took a look at the MAC's multitasking
code...over 63K worth of code!!  Now, it wouldn't be so bad if only a few
routines were called out of this huge chunk of code, but the ENTIRE thing is
gone through at least once, and possibly for as many times as you have
programs running!  You can clearly see why 'multitasking' on the MAC *really*
crawls!!

We don't plan to upgrade the MAC to the Amiga's style of multitasking, that
would result in serious compatibility problems, but we do plan to throw away
about 1/2 of the code in our "let's streamline the code" binge that we are on.


                      ------------------------------



From Andy Finkel (AFINKEL) about the history of floppy drive clicking...


The story actually is as follows:

When the A1000 came out, we wanted to be able to automatically detect disk
insertion.  So Neil Katin came up with the bright idea which solves the usual
problem of disk detection by stepping the drive head, which resets the disk
inserted latch.  This, allows us to automatically detect the insertion of a
disk, or the removal of a disk, because the latch is reset.

He decided to make it step from track 0 to track 1 and back. This produced a
clicking noise.  OK, that was 1.0.  For 1.2, we discovered that we could reset
the latch by stepping from track 0 to track -1.  Because all drives have a
'track limit' sensor, no actual head movement would occur.  Thus, no click. 
Sounds good, right ?  Well, unfortunately, it seems the drive mechanism
vendors noticed that the track limit sensor was unused on the Amiga.  So, they
removed it.  You'll find that many 3rd party external drives (and some A1010s)
don't have this sensor.  You know what happens when you seek from track 0 to
track -1 on a drive without the limit sensor ?  Right.  The drive head bangs
against the stop, which not only is louder than the original click, but is
actually damaging the alignment of the drive itself.

And that's the story.  If your drive clicks louder when you use a 'Noclick'
program, stop using it.  You are hurting your drive. (BTW, the early A1000
driver had the track limit sensor.  Those were premium drives, in fact. 
Possibly your A1000 had its drive replaced at some later time).  

(And the drives don't click if you have a disk in the drive, whether or not
you run a NoClick program)


                      ------------------------------


Brent Gray gives some advice on viewing RDS images...

[Editor's Note:  RDS is Random Dot Stereogram]

 
  Wow!  Lots of replies to this topic!  I'm glad to see that several of you
have been successful in "seeing" the images.  (Imagine if I had been the only
one... you guys would have had me committed!)

OK, I've been playing around with RDS's for about 3 years now and here's
(hopefully) some helpful advice for those having trouble:

1st, there are actually many ways to see these images.  The easiest (and most
common) is to cross your eyes.  What you are really doing is focusing your
eyes on an imaginary point in space somewhere BETWEEN your eyes and the actual
picture.  Depending how the image was created, the actual focal point WILL
vary, but with the RDS program we are using the image which is created uses a
common algorithm that forces you to focus at a point almost exactly HALFWAY
between your eyes and the image.  That's the easiest distance.

The easiest way to view the image this way is to hold your finger up in front
of you HALFWAY between your eyes and the picture.  Now focus on the TIP OF
YOUR FINGER _NOT_ ON THE PICTURE.  Stay focused on your finger and after a few
seconds (or minutes for some people) the image in the background will sharpen
and you'll see the RDS!  It will blow you away the first time you see it!!

The second common way to view an RDS is to "diverge" your eyes, or move them
APART by focusing BEYOND the actual image.  This is more difficult for most
people but can actually be easier once you get the hang of it.  I can focus
this way on any RDS in about 1 second. Unfortunately, since you must now
actually focus on a point in space which is TWICE AS FAR AWAY FROM YOUR EYES
AS THE ACTUAL IMAGE (that is, BEYOND the picture itself) you don't have a neat
focal point like your finger.  The best focal point (if you can see it) is
your own reflection in the glass of your monitor.  It's even harder on paper
since there's no reflection.  (The RDS's you see in the shopping malls are
framed in glass so your reflection is easier to see.)  This method is more
difficult but is often more rewarding because the RDS's 3-D perspective is
TWICE as "deep" as when viewed with crossed eyes, and they are also REVERSED
from what you see when cross-eyed.  (What poked out before now goes in, etc.) 
Most high quality RDS like the commercial ones are intended to be viewed this
way.

When RDS's are created, the author (designer?) usually INTENDS the image to be
viewed one way or the other.  This is not a big deal for geometric images like
pyramids, hearts, or cones, etc, since you don't really care if the image is
convex or concave, but if you're looking at the Statue of Liberty or Discovery
(or any other non-geometric object), viewing it wrong will give a strange,
distorted, "reversed" sort of cut-out image that is totally incorrect.  Thus,
there often is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to view an RDS.  Because of
this you need to learn to view them both ways.  Also, it is true that ALL
images CAN be viewed both ways, but one way is usually better than the other.

Finally, for a real challenge, you can also cross or diverge your eyes TWICE
again as far as normal!!  This is very difficult for most people and most
cannot do it.  The result is an image that is THREE TIMES AS DEEP as before!! 
If it looked like it stuck out 3 inches before, it will look 9 inches tall
this time!!!!  That kind of depth is eerie to look at and difficult to stay
focused on.  You have to hold very still.

Well that's enough for today!  Keep up all the feedback, and if you haven't
seen the light yet, DON'T GIVE UP!!


                      ------------------------------



From FidoNet's Amiga International Echo
---------------------------------------

Area: AMIGA                            (MAIL:Fido/AMIGA/)
From: Don Lester                       To: All                           
Subj: Latest on LhA Development                                             
Date: 14 Jun 93  15:30:13


Re-Posted from Internet, just FYI:

I have received a lot of email lately regarding the release of
LhA V2.0. I post a response here in the hope that it will reduce
the mail flow to my site (my mailbox is already flooded to the
brim).

Anyway, development of LhA V2.0 has been a bit slow during the last
few months, since I am currently doing my compulsory military service,
which leaves little free time. It is now in Alpha stage, with most
new features implemented, and will soon enter Beta testing stage (July),
and I hope to have a thoroughly tested version available by the end of
August or at the beginning of September, when I "quit" the army and
continue my studies at the university.

For those interested, here is an outline of the major features of
LhA V2.0.

  o Better and faster compression and decompression. Compresses better
    than all currently available compression programs for any platform.
    (Including [but not limited to] PKZip V2, ARJ V2, SQZ V1, and
    Shrink V1).

  o Very effective I/O. Asynchronous mode reads the next chunk of data
    while the current is being processed. Direct disk I/O permits
    archiving of disk images like with DMS, but is not limited to
    80-cylinder devices.

  o Direct archive I/O and on-the-fly formatting permits very speedy
    creation of archives on floppy by bypassing the filesystem (like
    Quarterback and AmiBack does, but with the bonus of being able
    to use the disk just like any ordinary FFS formatted disk!). This
    yields up to a threefold increase in archiving speed, and also
    eliminates the formatting step, since you can create an archive
    on an unformatted disk!

  o Archives and restores filesystem links.

  o Very advanced multiple-volume archiving support (supports
    incremental backups, direct I/O, multiple drives, file generations,
    archive catalogs, and more). This coupled with the powerful backup
    GUI means that LhA can be used as a very efficient and fast
    backup-program.

    [In a quick test with AmiBack V2 with compression on the full set
    of LhA sources and revision control files and binaries (more than
    8MB of data) the AmiBack backup used 9 disks, and the LhA backup
    5 disks - and yet LhA was faster!].

  o Dozens of new switches and options to simplify common operations.

  o New and more easy-to-use command line syntax (verbose options,
    very powerful pattern-matching and more)

  o Network support (with OS3.1)

  o Handles all old .lha and .lzh archives

  o Can be run from Workbench, and every aspect of operation can be
    controlled via ToolTypes and project/tool icons.

  o AppIcon and AppWindow modes.

  o New modes of interactivity; Console mode (normal mode, LhA V1.x
    works in this mode), Console+GUI mode (queries / filerequests
    done through requesters, arguments and options supplied from
    command line), WB mode (limited GUI), and full GUI mode (like
    Stuffit/Compressor Pro on Macintosh). Also, a special backup
    GUI that is designed to be used for HD backups is planned.

  o GUI and main program upgradable and customizable by means of
    modifying the "Perspective" [private OOP project] resource
    file. This means LhA can be expanded to accept other archive
    formats such as ZIP or ARJ transparently.

  o Completely localized even when running OS2.04

  o Compatible with all KickStart revisions from 1.2 and up (but many
    special features are only available when running OS2.04 or later).

  o Compatible with all 680x0 processors, with special 68020/030 and
    68040 versions.

  o Encryption

  o Icon support.

  o ... And much, much more

All these features may or may not be in the initial release, but
all of them are more or less implemented in the current alpha. However,
I may choose to leave some features out in favor of an earlier release
date (in the above list, Encryption is the only that may not be in
the initial release).

The program will be released as shareware (preliminary US$20), with
a freely distributable evaluation version to go with it. Just like
previous releases of LhA. I may choose to charge some small additional
fee for some special expansion modules - I'll decide later.

There will also be local registration sites in USA, Australia, Germany
and Sweden, in order to get the administration load off myself, in favor
of programming (and my university studies).

  Regards,
           Stefan


                      ------------------------------



From Usenet:
------------


From Dan Barrett, the moderaor of the Comp.Sys.Amiga.Reviews newsgroup...


        As moderator of comp.sys.amiga.reviews, I receive many requests for
reviews of particular products.  Unfortunately, some of them have never
been reviewed in the newsgroup.  So, I am looking for volunteers to write
reviews or mini-reviews for any of the following products:

Amiga-HP48 Kermit protocol program
AmigaVision Professional
ASDG software for Hewlett Packard ScanJet IIc
AsmOne assembler
Caligari24, Caligari2
Comparison of AdPro/MorphPlus, Imagemaster, ImageFX
CSA Rocket Launcher
databases (Superbase Personal 2, Superbase Professional 4)
Disk copier hardware and software (XCopy Pro, Project D, Action Replay)
DPS Personal V-Scope
GNU gcc and g++ (as an Amiga development system)
Gods
GVP G-Lock genlock
Home Office Kit 2
Insite floptical drive
KCS Powerboard
Maple V
MIDICycLuphonics (cycluphonics.lzh on Aminet)
PPI Zeus 68040 board
Proper Grammar II
Recent word processors
Shadow of the Beast I
Shadow of the Beast III
Shadow Sorceror
Sim Earth
SLIP-capable software for dial-ins
spreadsheets (MaxiPlan 4.0, ProCalc)
Street Fighter II
Supra Turbo28
Sybil
TurboText
Vikings: Field of Conquest
Vivid24 graphics board by DMI
Wordsworth 2
X-COMM

        I hope you can help!  Many people will be very grateful if you write
a review.  (Even if some of these reviews have already appeared, I always
want multiple reviews about a product -- different people have different
opinions.)

        NOTE:  This list is NOT comprehensive!  I would like to receive
ANY reviews, not just the ones above!  These are just the ones that have
been requested in my e-mail.

        If you need information about writing a review, read the introductory
articles posted in comp.sys.amiga.reviews on the first day of every month
(they have a long expiration date, so they should always be available on your
site) or send mail to amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu asking for
guidelines.

        Thanks!!


------------------------------


From the Comp.Sys.Amiga.Misc newsgroup...


[Editor's Note:  This one is LOOOONG!]


Article #35155 (35160 is last):
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: RUMOUR COMPILATION (LONG)
From: et@mangal.cs.huji.ac.il (EYAL TELER)
Date: Fri Jun 18 06:41:45 1993

  Here it is - the first Amiga rumours compilation.
  These rumours were gathered over the past week or two, and I post them here
with some of my own remarks, and perhaps some other reply which I though was
to the point.
  The rumours are put here with the header of the original post, so that you'll
know who to blame. Har har... I did remove some irrelevant parts.
  So what did we?


  First there was the 65% rumour. This caused a lot of commotion, but what
it's really all about few people know (or perhaps even they don't know).
My initial guess was that C= decided to give Marc Barrett 65% of its assets
so he'll do some advertising for them (beats their normal advertising :),
but it might be something completely different.


  On to other rumours:

****************************************
  The 68060+2x68EC040 rumour has been with us for some time, and now it has
reared its head again. There were two versions of it, and the second one is
a bit more reasonable.
****************************************

Article: 53266 of comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: A5000 specs
Message-ID: <1993Jun16.145843.7716@datcon.co.uk>
From: rg@datcon.co.uk (Richard Gledhill)
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1993 14:58:43 GMT
Organization: Data Connection Ltd
Keywords: A5000, Amiga
Summary: A5000 specs
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL0]
Lines: 74


Many of you have expressed an interest in the soon-to-be-announced
A5000, so I'm describing it here.  First, though, some important info:

Firstly, I'm an experienced Amiga enthusiast.  Secondly, and most
importantly, I am NOT the source of this information.  Therefore, please
don't flame me for saying "Oh, but that's impossible" because I'm only
passing on what I've found out.  However, that doesn't mean I don't agree
with some of the mail's I've got ;-) !

OK, here is what I've found out.

Processors: 68060, 2x68EC040.  68060 in separate upgradeable (!) daughterboard.

Kickstart:  Version 4, 1Mb in size.  Provides full compatibility
            with earlier Amigas from KS1.2 onwards.  Will have a Kickstart
            selector screen like the Drive selector screen on WB2.0+.

Multitasking: full pre-emptive; tasks can be assigned to any processor (e.g.
              designate one 68EC040 as a display controller, for example).

Graphics:   512 colours in all modes.  Max screen resolution: 4096x4096 with
            over 32 million colours. (See my note below.)  Full emulation
            of all previous chipsets (original to AGA and new), again, fully
            selectable at bootup.

Memory:     16Mb Chip RAM (max 64Mb), 16Mb Fast RAM (theoretical max 1024Mb).
            Fast RAM tested to 256Mb.

Storage:    HD floppy.  Hard disk interface: SCSI-2; comes with 210Mb drive.

Sound:      16-bit (CD-Quality).

Expansion:  Internal: 8 Zorro III, with 3 PC AT slots in parallel.
            External: Disk drive, serial, parallel, video, audio, keyboard,
                      2x(mouse/joystick).

Price: $3499.

Extras:     With Amax v3.0 (100% Apple Mac compatibility) and IBM emulator
            (100% PC compatibility).  Total price: $3999.

Note prices are approximate; no UK prices are fixed yet.


Some comments (by me)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I got a mail explaining why it was impossible to have 4096x4096x32M.  I
utterly agree, but I suggest the following: I reckon that is *virtual*
screen size, and that the maximum viewable on screen would be, say,
1024x768 or 1200x1024 or similar.  Similarly, it seems strange that they
should say 32 million colours, when, as Osma Ahvenlampi pointed out,
16M colours is 2^24.  I suspect he's right, but remember, I'm not the
source of this material.

So know we just wait until Commodore (hopefully) announce it in Julyish.
I.e. probably September. Or Xmas.

And then there's the CD-Amiga console coming out soon for #199 uk pounds.
But that's another story...

BTW: I won't be around for a few days, so, if you have something constructive
to say, PLEASE mail me at rg@datcon.co.uk as some of the mail will have expired
by the time I return on Monday.

Bye.....

-Richard (An Amiga addict forced to use a PC at work!)

--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Richard Gledhill                         Reach me at rg@datcon.co.uk
                            - or RICHARD.GLEDHILL@odg.dcl.dcnet.tmailuk.gb
or /c=GB;/a=TMAILUK;/p=DCNET;/o=DCL;/ou=ODG;/s=GLEDHILL;/g=RICHARD (X.400)


==================================


Article: 31628 of comp.sys.amiga.misc
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: ==A5000 still in running==
Message-ID: <1993Jun17.111326.2799@syma.sussex.ac.uk>
From: kcci1@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Alan Buxey)
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1993 11:13:26 GMT
Organization: University of Sussex
Keywords: a5000 amiga 060
Lines: 94

Dont you just love unsubtantiated rumours! ;)

The A5000
---------
I cannot be assed to type out all specs. So just the bare bones.

1) It has motherboard + processor board (modular like the A4000)

2) On the motherboard are 2 `040's!
   They do the graphics and i/o's

3) On the processor card is an 060. This does the horse power
   The fact that it is an 060 gives the release date of this baby
        --end of 94.
4) the new advanced AGA will be present.
        24 bit graphics in any screen mode from a 32-bit palette.
        Also 16 bit sound ( ala A1400)
        ChipRAM = up to 16MB!!!
5) fast RAM = up to 2048 MB

Yep!!!   PARALLEL PROCESSING FOR THE MASSES!!!
(well, those that can afford it!)

price = 2 configurations
1) alone with 240MB scsi harddisk and 12MB RAM = $3999

2) 240MB scsi 12 MB RAM + 486 bridgeboard + AMAX V3.0 = $4999

I personally think that they should get the EMPLANT board for it.....


********************************
  Of course, there was the answer...
********************************

Article: 53394 of comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: A5000 specs
Message-ID: <Jun.17.02.13.57.1993.15267@trident.usacs.rutgers.edu>
From: mohos@trident.usacs.rutgers.edu (Quentin Mohos)
Date: 17 Jun 93 06:14:01 GMT
References: <1993Jun16.145843.7716@datcon.co.uk>
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Keywords: A5000, Amiga
Lines: 28

rg@datcon.co.uk (Richard Gledhill) writes:


>Many of you have expressed an interest in the soon-to-be-announced
>A5000, so I'm describing it here.  First, though, some important info:

[Lot's of cool, but nonexistant stuff deleted]

I'm afraid you have been the belated victim of an April Fool's day joke
That spec sheet first appeard on... ah, Genie? might have been Compuserve, I
forget, on April 1, 1993.  It caused a bit of commotion then as well, but I
thought all the vestiges of misinformation had been stamped out. Guess not.

Of course, I notice that the 'DMA Drops Amiga' rumor has also resufaced
recently for a second round, so why not this one as well ;-)

There is an actual, realistic, and *authorised* spec sheet floating around
for the AAA machines, but that wasn't it. (incidentally I don't have it
anymore, could somebody with the *real* spec sheet please repost it?)


>-Richard (An Amiga addict forced to use a PC at work!)

Quentin Mohos (An Amiga addict forced to use *Macs* at school *ugh*!

mohos@trident.usacs.rutgers.edu   (and they're not even the good ones;
                                   they're the 0.002 mhz black and
                                   white ones! :-) )


************************************
  But then, it may after all be true, because...
************************************

Article: 53325 of comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: A5000 announcement. Was it a joke after all???
Message-ID: <1vmu1kINN8lb@signal.dra.hmg.gb>
From: bilsby@hermes.mod.uk (David Bilsby)
Date: 16 Jun 1993 10:52:36 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: Defence Research Agency
NNTP-Posting-Host: liszt.dra.hmg.gb
Lines: 15


        An Amiga friend phoned me last night to say he had seen a spec for the
new Commadore A5000 in the Amiga Mart (?) magazine. He said it covered a
considerable area and so did not seem like a practical joke. Fron what he told me
it sounds exactly like the spec posted here some time back which was slated and
flamed as being rubbish, ie. 2 ec040's, 68060, etc.
        It seems that the 040's do I/O, like one is a graphics processor, etc.
The resolution is supposed to be 4096x4096 pixels (not sure if this is true
colour). The pixel depth is supposed to give 32 million colours (I think so 24bit
accuracy can be maintained in calculations ie. store partial acnswers in 25bit).

        Does anyone know more about this. Does anyone have Amiga Mart (or Market
I'm not sure).

        David.

******************************
  I do expect that something of this sort will be released by the end of 94.
Maybe not multiprocessing, maybe not with a 68060 (a RISC processor?), but
it seems reasonable for a computer a year and a half from now. Maybe it
won't be an Amiga...

  Ok, that's it for now about the A5000. There are the console and the A1400
too, so we'll not leave them alone.
******************************

Article: 31360 of comp.sys.amiga.misc
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc,comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: Re: Amiga Console unveilled!
Message-ID: <C8Gn49.L1v@qdpii.ind.dpi.qld.gov.au>
From: davidme@qdpii.ind.dpi.qld.gov.au (David Meiklejohn)
Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1993 14:04:56 GMT
References: <C84L04.Jxu@brigite.ci.ua.pt> <etxansk.739641641@garbod26>
<C8E8B4.Jsw@qdpii.ind.dpi.qld.gov.au> <amuser.739787518@marsh>
Organization: Queensland Dept of Primary Industries
Lines: 40
Xref: bagel.cs.huji.ac.il comp.sys.amiga.misc:31360
comp.sys.amiga.advocacy:52534 comp.sys.amiga.games:31150

amuser@cs.curtin.edu.au (Bill Sharp-Smith) writes:

>davidme@qdpii.ind.dpi.qld.gov.au (David Meiklejohn) writes:

 [ AGA CD console ]

>>It will be shown (and hopefully available for sale) at the WOC in Sydney on
>>the 2-4th July.  That's only three weeks off, now.  Hopefully I'll be there
>>to check it out.

>Are you just speculating, or do you know for sure - I'm thinking it will
>either be the 4000T (with C= assuming Oz people don't know about it) or
>the rumoured 1400.  What do you say??

A friend of mine (who sells Amigas) heard from a Commodore Australia tech
support guy.  He even described it to me - a small box with the CDROM drive
actually being an option which sits on top.  A keyboard and disk drive will
be available from the start.

As for the 1400, I hope that's a real rumour, but I think it's a bit soon
to expect to see it.  I have no info, other than speculation, but I'd be
suprised to see something like the A1400 much before xmas.  Then I'd guess
a AAA A5000 mid next year, followed by A1200/A1400 replacements for xmas 94
(AA+ should be finished by then, but remember that it's behind AAA).  This
schedule intersperses high end and low end releases, and places the A1200,
A1400 and AA+ releases a year apart each.

--
David Meiklejohn (davidme@dpi.qld.gov.au)
 - PC's, Unix, and networks by day, Amigas by night...    //  Amiga users do it
  Trust me - I work for the government!  ;-)            \X/   with Intuition!


===================================

Article: 31343 of comp.sys.amiga.misc
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: ============AMIGA A1400============
Message-ID: <1993Jun10.182834.12969@syma.sussex.ac.uk>
From: kcci1@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Alan Buxey)
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1993 18:28:34 GMT
Organization: University of Sussex
Keywords: amiga a1400 rumour cd-console 020
Lines: 66


Hello there,
some points of view and a few rumours.

I've read that the a new baby is due out this autumn - called the A1400.
Sounds good!
yet another knife in the back for A600 and A1200 users? no, not really.

Everyone was expecting a mid-range Amiga anyway...thats the A4000/030
job.<and a very nice job it is too :) >

This A1400 is supposedly to run on a 28MHz `020 CPU .
This is believable because Commodore did mention to me that they would
probably upgrade it to a highr CPU one day.

So now the interesting thoughts.
Release date of A1400   = Autumn `93
Release date of AMCD    = Autumn `93

could this mean that the cd console would also be operating with a 28
MHz 020 ?? --It would REALLY be able to wipe the ground with the mega_CD
then wouldn't it!!? :P

There is a follow up to all this of course.....
C= have been designing there MPEG board and DSP board for a little while
now.
I believe that it is possible that we see the following in the A1400
(reasonable)

CPU = 28MHz 020
DSP = AT&T3210  - replacable with AT&T3070 in V.near future
SOUND = 16-bit 8 channel new ASA chip (named Julia possibly)
GRAPHICS = same old AGA chipset but with 4MEG CHIP addressable
                (old? :) )
SHAPE = This is the pizza box one!!!
PORTS = SCSI MIDI FLOPPY MODEM(due to DSP) SERIAL PARALLEL VIDEO TV COMP etc
        + bonus of standard PCMCIA slot (the proper version)



***************************************************************************

  That's the end of the rumours compilation. There is only a little part left,
which is dedicated to the rumoured release schedule of new machines.
  Last week we had a rumour that the A5000 (not with the spec mentioned above,
but with AAA) is being shipped to some testers and so is the Amiga portable.
  So the current rumoured schedule is (and some entries may conflict with
others):

        July 93         Console, A5000, Portable, WB3.1
        August 93       A1300, A1400, A4100, A4200, A4300
        Mid 94          AAA chipset, WB4.0
        End of 94       A5000




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


/// Destructive New Virus!  AR Emergency Press Release
    --------------------------------------------------

   Information provided by Michael Arends, SHI Regional Virus Center/West 


THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN RATED 'R' BY THE NATIONAL MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION
                    because it contains foul language.


Editor's Note:  We released this the day after Amiga Report #1.12 was
released, and are reprinting it here to make sure everybody has been made
aware of this new virus.  Also note that there are two programs now
circulating on GEnie, Delphi (probably all online services by now) and many
BBS's to help protect against this virus.  One is called NoF_ck and the
other is F_ckCheck.  Both perform identical functions, so get whichever
one you can.


            *** POST THIS MESSAGE EVERYWHERE THAT YOU CAN! ***

 
            THE MESSAGE THAT FOLLOWS contains some profanity,
   However, Due to the contents of the message, and the Very Important
nature of this Subject for ALL amiga users, it (the profanity) has been
left intact. Please read it and I am gravely sorry if it(the profanity)
offends anyone. BUT, being a Regional center for SHI, I felt it was my
duty to pass this info along to everyone in this matter. The message was
originally posted by Luca Spada comming from Europe..

                          Michael Arends
                          SHI RVC/West
                          P.O. Box 1531
                          LynnWood, WA  98046-1531
 
       ************************************************************ 
Date: 30 May 93  10:25:15 
From: Luca Spada 
  To: All 
Subj: VIRUS VIRUS VIRUS VIRUS !!!!!!!!!! 
 
                 ***** PLEASE READ * VERY IMPORTANT *****  
  
A  new  blasted virus is spreading around in the Amiga comunity...  you can  
call it the "FUCK virus"...  SkyLink has been almost DESTROYED by it...  
  
WHAT IS??  
  
There  is  around  a  program called ModemChecker (contained in MCHECK.LHA)  
that  should  test  the  modem  connected to an Amiga, but it's a fake.  It  
always  says "OK OK" even if you don't have a modem attached.  This program  
installs in memory the virus that keeps under control the keyboard.  If you
don't  touch the keyboard for 5-10 mins  (so you have gone away) it  starts
WRITING  ON  ALL  YOUR HD  PARTITIONS "FUCKFUCKFUCK" ALL  OVER  THE  TRACKS  
RANDOMLY!!   Destroying  everything  on  ALL your hard disks in 30 seconds.  
It's  VERY VERY FAST.  It reduces all your partition to "Not a DOS Disk" in  
almost 4 seconds.  
  
You  can restore some files (50% in my case) with QuarterBack Tools, but of  
these  files,  90%  contained  "FUCKFUCKFUCK...   etc"...  executable files  
gurued, and data/text files was so corrupted that I had to deleted them...  
and  like that for ALL the partition...  it pratically writes 20 sectors of  
FUCK,  leave  3  OK,  20  sectors of FUCK, etc... but sometimes writes more 
sectors  of  FUCK...   it  seems  random...   but  you  can  stay SURE that  
everything   you   had   on   your   HardDisks  in  TOTALLY  AND  COMPLETLY  
LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
But  I have not taken the virus from MCHECK.LHA...  I think I have taken it  
from some other files...  I was testing some new programs for hatching them  
in  SAN...   after that I left the Amiga alone for having dinner and when I  
was  back  the  "FUCK  virus" already destroyed everything.  So it can be a  
link virus, but I'm not sure...  
  
SkyLink is now half-destroyed...  almost all files has been lost, but I can  
restore them thanks to SAN.  
It's  now  MAIL-ONLY,  if you are a my downlink, please use SkyAF to see if  
you are connected to all the areas.  
  
I  have rescued some *.cfg (stripping off the FUCKs) but something has been  
lost.  
         Folks, WATCH OUT FOR THIS VIRUS!!  IT'S A REAL CURSE!  
  
A  lot  of  people  are  already  analyzing  the  virus...  I will keep you  
informed...  the virus seems native from Europe (should have max 10 days of  
life),
    PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD EVERYWHERE or this virus will destroy everyone!  
  
Ciao!  
                                                   Sky Luke  



                      ------------------------------



  From : Michael Arends   SHI Regional Virus center, Washington state
   ------------------------------------------------------------------
    HERE IS MORE INFO on the new F..k Virus, mentioned in the last
  text I submitted to AR...


Quoting Luca Spada (2:331/106.0) to All: From a message on Fidonet
 
 LS> But  I have not taken the virus from MCHECK.LHA...  I think I have 
 LS> taken it from some other files...  I was testing some new programs 
 LS> for hatching them in  SAN...   after that I left the Amiga alone for 
 LS> having dinner and when I was  back  the  "FUCK  virus"already destroyed
 LS> everything.  So it can be a link virus, but I'm not sure... 
 
This info was taken from a local BBS here: 
 
 "Modemcheck.doc"    2227 Bytes 
 "Modemchecker"     15516 Bytes 
  
 This is another lame Trojan Horse!!!! I just examined the "ModemChecker",
 after depacking it, I recognized the word  "SnoopDos" in the Code. Hmm ??
 Yep! If you're running SnoopDos in the Backround to check if this is a
 Virus, it kicks it out! Ha! So I just took my own SnoopDos (not released
 due to some bugs,but even more effective, hehe) and watched what will
 happen ... Hmm ? A -NEW- "c/loadwb" will be created, with 3604 Bytes!
 If you now start this new 'LoadWB' the System will act like normally,
 but after some minutes you'll recognize that something starts to erase
 your HD/Floppy. Pah! So stop spreading this kind of Crap-Tool, and beware
 of starting it!  



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



/// Amiga Tip of the Week
    ---------------------
    By Robert Niles


Have you ever wanted to get a quick listing of what you have on a disk
and send it out to the printer?  Here's a quick way to do it.

Lets say you have a disk in DF0: and you want a hardcopy of what is on
it.

Simply type:

LIST >>PRT: DF0: ALL

...and there you go! You can get a listing of any disk, hardrive, or
directory by just changing "DF0:" to whatever path you want printed.

The "ALL" at the end of the line will make sure that the contents of
the subdirectories are printed as well. If you don't want the
subdirectories printed just leave it off.

It's quick and convenient!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



/// A Sysop's Point of View
    -----------------------
    By Robert Niles, Sysop of "In the Meantime BBS"


What is on the other side of those BBSs in which you call each day, 
week, or month?  What is it like to spend the time, money, and effort 
to run a BBS? Why do it in the first place?!?

All SysOps (System Operators) have different reasons for running a 
BBS, from wanting to give support to the community to the spread of 
information. Or for many a reason that I could never dream about.

I started a BBS on the idea of getting Amiga users together in one 
place and talk about that wonderful computer. To distribute files, and 
remove the limitations in which *REAL* life places upon us.

I never had an idea of what it would be like on the other side. I just 
thought the concept to be practically amazing. I didn't know I'd be 
plugging around, answering messages, helping others, spending so much 
time making sure my users had the latest files available, etc. I never 
knew my phone bills were going to jump to jaw breaking amounts, or 
that I would have to learn so much about the details of the Amiga 
operating system as I do now.

Even with all the headaches, I love it even more than I would ever 
have thought imaginable! Running a BBS *DOES* bring the world to you. 
On various degrees of course, and depending on the systems purpose, a 
BBS increases the information flow, increasing your knowledge and 
making life, in one way or another easier to deal with. By getting 
information on how to add a 1MB Agnus to a text file on the 
Declaration of Independence.

In the next few issues I'm going to "show" you what it is like behind 
the BBS scene, the headaches and the parts that make one glad he/she 
is a SysOp. Of course these are will be just my experiences, but 
hopefully it will give you an understanding of who that guy is on the 
other side of the wire...and why he/she is there.

Any of you who wish to tell me a story of your experiences, either 
good or bad, as a user or a SysOp, or if you have any questions send 
me some mail and we'll "talk" about it in a future article.

Until then, see you next week!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


/// Usenet Review:  TurboText
    -------------------------
    By Barry McConnell
    (bmccnnll@unix1.tcd.ie)


PRODUCT NAME

        TurboText, version 1.03 (08 June 1991)


BRIEF DESCRIPTION

        Text editor.


COMPANY INFORMATION

        Name:           Oxxi, Inc.
        Address:        P.O. Box 90309
                        Long Beach, CA  90809-0309
                        USA

        Telephone:      (213) 427-1227
        FAX:            (213) 427-0971


PRICE

        I picked it up for 35 UK pounds at the Amiga Shopper show in London
last year, but I don't know what the current price is.  [MODERATOR'S NOTE:
US list price is $99.95, with mailorder prices around $60. - Dan]


SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

        HARDWARE

                Runs on all Amigas.
                512K RAM and 1 floppy drive required.

        SOFTWARE

                Requires at least Kickstart 1.2 and Workbench 1.3.


COPY PROTECTION

        None.  Installs on a hard drive.


MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

        I tested the program on an A2000 with a GVP 120MB HD, in both 68000
mode (3MB RAM in total), and with a 68030 (11MB RAM in total).  I tried it
under AmigaDOS 2.04, 2.1, and also 3.0 on an A4000/040.


REVIEW

        About one year ago, I tried out a demo version of this product.  I
was so impressed by it, I knew I just had to buy it.  It complies fully with
the Commodore Style Guide, and it's very professional-looking.  It also
contains a huge number of features and is very stable.

        Initially, TurboText opens its own custom screen (or public screen
under AmigaDOS 2.0 and higher).  You can choose whether you want a low,
medium, or high-resolution display, and in 2 or 4 colours.  You can run
TurboText on the Workbench screen.  It uses simulated GadTools gadgets under
all AmigaDOS versions, which is OK for 1.3 users (who don't have GadTools),
but not for anyone who has upgraded.  For example, TurboText doesn't use
"real" cycle gadgets, so PD programs like CycleToMenu can't affect them.  It
uses the Topaz 8 font for all requestors (except the file requestor) and a
user-selectable (non-proportional) font in the text edit window.

        The file requestor is not the standard ASL one, although it is
similar and reasonably fast.  You can have as many windows open under
TurboText as you wish, and you can also split one window into two "views"
to edit two parts of the same file at once.

        Also included in the package is a programmer's calculator (with hex,
binary, and octal options, along with rotate and shift operations), but this
is severely crippled in that it is integer only.  It can be called from a
menu and run on the TurboText screen, or used as a stand-alone calculator
from the Workbench.

        You can open a window that shows the hexadecimal values of the
characters around the cursor (and of course edit your file this way), and
there is also the ability to open a console window (Shell) on TurboText's
screen.

        All the standard editing facilities you would expect are present,
including clipboard support, load/save/print clipboard, mark/paste vertical
blocks (neat!), find-and-replace (with limited pattern-matching), and
bookmarks.

        Extensive ARexx support is included, along with the ability to record
keystroke/menu macros on the fly and save them in files as ARexx macros.
The editor also supports "folds", whereby you can collapse the
currently-selected block of text (e.g., a procedure in a large C program) to
a single line so you can effectively see more of your file at once.  This is
similar to the collapse/expand feature found in outline processors.  You can
also convert blocks of text to upper or lower-case, as well as center and
justify lines of text (or whole paragraphs).

        There are three Preference windows.  "Display Prefs" allows you to
choose your screen mode, screen size, font and colours.  "Edit Prefs" handles
the way text is entered: word-wrapping, right margin, TAB width, overstrike,
etc.  And finally, "File Prefs" allows automatic creation of backup files
(name "template", how many, and auto-save delay) and other file-related
features.

        TurboText may also be customized using definition files.  These
allow you to specify what every keypress does.  For example, you might want
ALT-RightArrow to move the cursor to the end of the line, or CONTROL-Delete
to delete a single word.  You can also create or modify the menus using the
definition files.  Some vendors supply definition files to interface
TurboText with their applications.  For example, I know SAS/C V6 comes with a
new definition file to allow you to compile a program from within TurboText,
then cycle through all the errors at the touch of a key (interfaced through
ARexx to the SAS/C package itself).  Needless to say, this is an invaluable
tool.

        An additional (tiny) program is included with TurboText, called
TTX.  This program allows fast startup of the editor by checking to see if
TurboText is already resident in memory, and if so, passing it the name of
the file(s) you selected, saving the time that you would normally spend
waiting for the main program to load.  If TurboText is not already running,
TTX launches it.

        TTX also accepts the same ToolTypes as TurboText. This means you can,
for example, place it in your WBStartup drawer with "NOWINDOW" and
"BACKGROUND" ToolTypes.  Now, every time you reboot your Amiga, TurboText
will be silently loaded into memory (if TTX can't find it in the search
path, it checks the assignment "TurboText:"), and when you double-click on a
text file (with its Default Tool set to "TurboText:TTX"), it will load
pretty much instantly.

        TurboText also installs some hotkeys in the system.  Control-Alt-W
by default will open up a new window, ready for editing.  Even if your Amiga
is tied up doing something else (e.g., Workbench is copying files from
floppy, and you don't have a Shell handy), you can still instantly get a new
TurboText window, even if there are none currently open!  (This is what the
"BACKGROUND" ToolType is for - it doesn't unload the program when you close
the last window.)  Control-Alt-U will unload the program once the last window
has closed, and of course there are more hotkeys.  These hotkeys are
user-definable in the definition file.


DISLIKES

        In an effort - presumably - to combat fragmented memory situations,
when TurboText loads a file, it is read in in small chunks. (I think it
reads approximately 100 lines at a time.)  For small files, this is not a
problem; but if you are a sysop who regularly edits 1.5 MB nodelists, it is a
real pain.  A rival text editor, ASDG's CygnusEd, reads the entire file in
one go, which is basically instant if you have a fast hard drive; but of
course this won't work if you don't have one continuous block of memory free
for the file.  I would like the option to increase the size of TurboText's
loading buffer.

        Contrary to the operation of most word-processors, TurboText uses a
double-click to mark the start of a block of text, and a single-click to
select the end. This is fine if the block stretches across many pages (since
you can then use the scroll bar to move to the end), or if you need to use a
"Find" requestor to find the end; but it is a bit confusing initially when
you just want to select a single word or line.  I would like the option of
drag-selecting text.

        I recently used the ARexx macro facility of TurboText, and it needs
a bit of improvement. For example, I wanted to convert a line of text in the
following form:

        comp.sys.amiga.reviews 394

        ...to:

        Assign comp.sys.amiga.reviews: UUNEWS:comp/sys/amiga/reviews DEFER

        Now, this is possible using a (complicated) ARexx macro, but it is
not exactly terribly fast. I think it took about two seconds per line on a
68000-based Amiga, and certainly processing a 2000-line file in this manner
took something like 15 minutes on a 25MHz A3000. (In case you're interested,
I copied the newsgroup name, pasted it (inserting "Assign", "UUNEWS:", and
"DEFER" where necessary), jumped back to the previous ":" using a Find
request, then searched forward for "." characters, replacing them with "/",
until I found myself on the next line.)

        A more serious problem is the handling of aborting ARexx scripts.
This is done by clicking on the close gadget of the window (which gives you
the standard "Close without saving changes?" requestor).  Now, I _have_
gotten this to work on occasion (e.g., with the sample "Towers of Hanoi"
script that comes with TurboText).  But for the application I described
above, for some reason clicking "OK" halted the script but left the window
on-screen, chewing up CPU time!  (As if it was executing an infinite loop.)
Now, the multithreaded nature of TurboText allowed me to work on other
files despite the "crashed" window, but it did slow down the whole machine.
I haven't investigated this too much, but it seems like a bug.

        Another problem I have is when I switch from TurboText to another
application:  say, the communications package Term.  After a while, Term
appears to have stopped accepting my keypresses (it can take some time to
detect that it is a local problem, since you initially think it's the remote
modem at fault).  In actual fact, the problem is TurboText has opened an
"Autosave?" requestor back on its own screen, made that the current window,
but failed to move its screen to the front. Since Term - when opened on a
public screen - does not have a window which will visibly deselect, this all
happens without alerting the user.

        The find-and-replace algorithms - while still blazingly fast - are
not quite as nippy as CygnusEd.  There is also no "multiple undo" feature,
which is - I think - the major reason many CygnusEd users are reluctant to
switch over to what is really a more modern and professional-looking text
editor.  (Ooh, I know I am going to get flamed for this one...)  You can
"undelete" and "undo" a line, but these features are not terribly powerful.


VENDOR SUPPORT

        Despite sending in my registration card, Oxxi has never contacted me
about upgrades.  There is no later version of TurboText than 1.03 (dated June
1991!), as far as I know.  However, the author - Martin Taillefer - is on the
net (he works for Commodore) and has promised an upgrade Real Soon Now.  I
hope it fixes most of the problems I described above and includes enhanced
support for 2.0 and AGA machines.  (I know it will use the ASL library for its
file requestor, and I think it will also include a standard ScreenMode
requestor.)  The one time I e-mailed Martin, I got a prompt and helpful
response.


CONCLUSIONS

        This is a superb text editor.  Despite the few problems I have with
it, I still give it 9 out of 10.  It is Style Guide-compliant, friendly,
reasonably fast for most tasks, comes with a comprehensive manual, and has
never caused my Amiga to crash.  I just hope an update is released soon!


COPYRIGHT

              This review is Copyright 1993 Barry McConnell.
                        Reprinted with permission.



*****************************************************************************
  

/// Delphi:  It's Getting Better All The Time!
    ------------------------------------------


 Amiga Report International Online Magazine is available every  week  in the
 Amiga Forum on DELPHI.  Amiga Report readers are invited to join DELPHI and
 become a part of the friendly community of computer enthusiasts there.


                            SIGNING UP WITH DELPHI
                            ======================
       Using a personal computer and modem, members worldwide access
                  DELPHI services via a local phone call

                               JOIN -- DELPHI
                               --------------
  
                  Via modem, dial up DELPHI at 1-800-695-4002
                                    then...
                  When connected, press RETURN once or twice
                                    and....
                 At Password: type STREPORT and press RETURN.

  DELPHI's Basic Plan offers  access for  only $6.00  per hour,  for any
    baud rate.  The $5.95 monthly fee includes your first hour online.

   For more information, call: DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005

   DELPHI is a service of General Videotex Corporation of Cambridge, MA.

                          Try DELPHI for $1 an hour!

    For  a  limited  time,  you  can  become a trial member of DELPHI, and
receive 5 hours of evening and weekend access  during this  month for only
$5.  If you're not satisfied, simply cancel your account before the end of
the calendar month with no further obligation.   If you  keep your account
active, you  will automatically  be enrolled  in DELPHI's 10/4 Basic Plan,
where you can use up to 4 weekend and evening hours a month for  a minimum
$10 monthly  charge, with additional hours available at $3.96.  But hurry,
this special  trial offer  will expire  soon!   To take  advantage of this
limited offer,  use your  modem to  dial 1-800-365-4636.  Press <RET> once
or twice.  When you get the Password:  prompt, type  IP26 and  press <RET>
again.   Then, just  answer the  questions and within a day or two, you'll
officially be a member of DELPHI!

                  DELPHI - It's getting better all the time!



*****************************************************************************



/// Another Moronic, Inane and Gratuitous Article
    ---------------------------------------------
    by Chad Freeman
    (cjfst4+@pitt.edu or cjfst4@cislabs.pitt.edu -- Internet)
    (cfreeman -- BIX)


    In an effort to slack off on a good amount of work this week, I've decided
to do a letters column, in the style of most major magazines which need to
fill up a few extra pages in the layout.  Namely, I print your letters, and
then get to print my own knee-jerk response without giving you any sort of
chance for follow-up, sometimes addressing the tiniest little tangent in your
article while ignoring the main point, and sometimes addressing another letter
entirely (possibly one that appeared in another magazine).  And since I get
literally thousands of letters a day to pick from, I basically get to set my
own agenda, no matter what you say.  Isn't the media wonderful?  Anyhow,
without further ado, to the mailbag!


Letter number 1 comes from Lester Ogleschwartz, of Acne, N. J.  Les writes:

    Dude,

        I think your article is cooler than Sonic the Hedgehog man!  You talk
about the latest warez n stuff & youre freakin funny man and you always pick
on that microsoft guy n stuff.  What a lozer!  Ive had my amiga for a couple a
years and it is the coolest machine out there, man!  Zool kicks!  and like
ibms stink anyway man!  youre rite, i dont want a computer bill gates uses
man!  how lame!  Amiga and AMIGA forever, man!

                    Lester


    Dear Lester,
        Thank you for all of your kind words.  I am glad you think my article
is comparable to a genuinely well-crafted game like Sonic, and I dare say
there are some analogies between the rebel rodent and this column; the
free-spirited, rough-edged but so 'cool' character pervades both.  I'm glad to
keep everyone up to date on the latest products, as well, and my unique status
as Official Blue Clearance Commodore Beta-Tester allows me that privilege (and
in a future article I'll talk about that position, and the interesting story
of how I, poor Amiga user from Pittsburgh, achieved it).  I do try to inject a
bit of humor into my column, because after all, no-one should take their
hobbies, or anything, too seriously.  And Bill Gates, as one of the 10
wealthiest people in the country, deserves the scrutiny I and others in my
trade give him.  Its his fault for ignoring the best computer architecture in
its price class; thankfully, you and I and 4 million other people know its
merits.  Certainly its better than the outdated architecture of the relic
IBMs. I have no doubts both Amiga and AMIGA will continue for a LONG time to
come.  Thank you for your most astute and perceptive letter, Les!


Our second, shall I call it a letter?...anyway, it comes from Paul Durbino of
Winneo, Wisconson

    Dear Mr. Freeman,

    I have been involved in the Amiga community since the inception of the
Amiga 1000 in 1987.  I have been involved in various capacities, from end user
to beta tester to product developer and founder of my own company,
AmigAdd-Ons.  Today I feel the need to speak out in my colleagues behalf
against your travesty of a so-called column.  Your writing is the most
damaging piece of fluff ever to enter the ranks of Amiga journalism.  Your
continual trashing of the Amiga and its associated supportive business is
degrading and hurtful to the industry.  Your humor is thin-skinned and
personally offensive to many, aside from being spectacularly unfunny and, as
your very title (meant to be ironic but truthful to the last) states, moronic,
inane and gratuitous.  I must also warn you that you have brought yourself to
the attention of many important people, and your status as Blue Level
Beta-Tester is in grave danger.  Furthermore, many people are unhappy with
your treatment of the respectable Mr. Gates, on of the top ten most wealthy
people in the country, who we are trying to befriend, not alienate.  Please 
refrain from ever publishing your hurtful slanders again in an otherwise 
respectable magazine, and do me a personal favor, sell your Amiga and go away.

        Respectfully,
            Mr. Durbino


    Mr. Durbino,

    Repeat this phrase five times, real quick:

    OWAH   TAHGOO  SIAM.

    (wot a jerk!)


Our third letter comes from someone concerned about the future of the Amiga
computer:


    Mr. Freeman,

    I wish to address your readers on a very important subject, the demise of
the Amiga.  I have actual factual proof that Commodore will cease to exist on
November 23, 1993.  Commodore will not just shut down, it will actually be
obliterated from reality and all knowledge of its existence as a company will
disappear from the minds of the entire planet!
    There is a branch of mathematics called pychohistory, originally described
by Asimov as fiction, but we here at the University of Iglo, Mass. have
uncovered its truthful existence!  I have discoverd through this science that
Atari employees will, on the date mentioned above, travel through time and
destroy Commodore at its inception by turning the company into a Chinchilla
coat factory!  To ensure you and your readers do not take this lightly,
following is a brief background of pyschohistory and the detailed proof of my
theorum.

[ 105 pages of text deleted ]

I have brought this to the attention of Commodore, but as usual they
have ignored my warnings completely.  It is too bad that Commodore will
disappear from existence, because it is a wonderful machine even though
the bumbling dunderheads at Commodore continue to bury it with
ineffectual marketing (see my previous letter on Commodore marketing as
compared to marketing for other machines).  I know some may say this is
my typical doomsaying, which I admit I spew forth quite regularly in
various places, but this time I' 100% sure the facts I've presented are
legit and not distorted.  Maybe this time someone will take me
seriously.

        Sincerely,
            Mark Ballett

Dear Mr. Ballett,

    Whilst your proof looks most convincing (I have to admit the example
showing the exact timeline for the rise and fall of the Roman empire was most
convincing), I have found the 'fatal flaw,' if you will, after many minutes of
study.  On page 64, part III, subsection J, line 25, 2 + 2 should equal 4.  As
you will notice, this greatly skews your proof, and based on some calculation
of my own, I have found that it is in fact Dan Quayle that will disappear from
the planet, not Commodore, and no-one will really care about THAT, now will
they?


    Well, I'm afraid that's all the letters we have time for. But before I go, 
the infamous Joke of the Week:

    Guy 1: I hear Atari's coming out with a 64-bit machine for under $200!

    Guy 2: Yeah, but _I_ heard its just 6 Atari 800s glued together!

    Stay tuned next biweek for another exciting installment of A.M.I.G.A., the
only article that dares to sniff Jay Miner's underarms!




*****************************************************************************


/// Portal:  A Great Place For Amiga Users
    --------------------------------------



                   Portal Communications' Amiga Zone

         The AFFORDABLE alternative for online Amiga information
         -------------------------------------------------------

The Portal Online System is the home of acclaimed Amiga Zone, which was
formerly on the People/Link System.  Plink went out of business in May,
1991 and The Amiga Zone's staff moved to Portal the next day. The Zone has
just celebrated its second anniversary on Portal. The Amiga press raves
about The Amiga Zone, when compared to its competition.

If you live in the San Jose, CA area, then you can dial Portal directly. If
you live elsewhere, you can reach Portal through any SprintNet (formerly
Telenet) indial anywhere in the USA or through Tymnet from anywhere in
North America.  If you have an account on another Internet-connected system, 
you can connect to Portal using the UNIX Telnet programs, from anywhere 
in the industrialized world.  Delphi and BIX users can now Telnet into
Portal for a flat $19.95 a month, with *unlimited* use.

Some of Portal/Amiga Zone's amazing features include:

 - Over 1.5 GIGabytes of Amiga-specific files, online, 24 hours a day.
   Portal has dedicated a 2.5 GIGabyte disk drive to the Amiga Zone.
   We have virtually unlimited space for files and new uploads. 

 - The *entire* Fred Fish collection of freely distributable
   software, online.  All of it.  Every disk.  Well-organized so
   it's easy to find exactly what you're after.

 - Fast, Batch Zmodem file transfer protocol. Download up to 100 files at
   once, of any size, with one command. 

 - Twenty Amiga vendor areas with participants like AmigaWorld, ASDG,
   Soft-Logik, Black Belt, Apex Publishing, Stylus, Prolific, NES,
   and many others including Compute's Amiga Resource with over
   4 Megabytes of exclusive Compute magazine disk stuff you won't find
   elsewhere.

 - 35 "regular" Amiga libraries with thousands of files.  Hot new
   stuff arrives daily.  Since Portal has FTP connections we can get
   new freely-distributable software online within MINUTES of its 
   being announced on Usenet.

 - No upload/download "ratios" EVER. Download as much as you want, as
   often as you want, and never feel pressued doing it.  Start downloading
   files with your first session on Portal. 

 - Live, interactive nightly chats with Amiga folks whose names you
   will recognize.  Special conferences.  Random chance prize contests.
   Famous Amiga folks aren't the exception on Portal, they're the norm.
   Instead of stumbling around in frustration you can talk to the
   people who design your hardware, who write your software.

 - Vast Message bases where you can ask questions about *anything*
   Amiga related and get quick replies from the experts.

 - Amiga Internet mailing lists for Imagine, DCTV, LightWave, HyperAmi,
   Director and Landscapes are fed right into the Zone message bases.
   Read months worth of postings.  They don't scroll off, ever!
   No need to clutter your mailbox with them.

 - FREE unlimited Internet Email.  Your Portal account gets you a
   mailbox that's connected to the world.  Send letters of any length to 
   computer users in the entire industrialized world.  No limits. 
   No extra charges. No kidding!
   
 - Portal has the Usenet.  Tthousands of "newsgroups" in which
   you can read and post articles about virtually any subject you can
   possibly imagine.  Usenet feeds into Portal many times each hour.
   There are 14 Amiga-specific Usenet newsgroups with hundreds of
   articles posted every day, including postings by Commodore 
   personnel.  Since Usenet is distributed worldwide, your questions
   and answers can be seen by literally hundreds of thousands of
   people the same day you post them.  

 - Other Portal SIGs (Special Interest Groups) online for Mac, IBM, Sun,
   NeXT, UNIX, Science Fiction, Writers, amateur radio, and a graphics
   SIG with thousands of GIF files to name just a few.  ALL Portal SIGs
   are accessible to ALL Portal customers with NO surcharges ever.

 - The entire UPI/Clarinet/Newsbytes news hierarchy ($4/month extra)
   An entire general interest newspaper and computer news magazine.
 
 - Portal featues an exciting package of Internet features: IRC, FTP,
   TELNET, MUDS, LIBS.  Free to all Portal customers with your account.
   Internet Services is a menu driven version of the same kinds of 
   utilities you can also use from your Portal UNIX shell account.
 
 - All the files you can FTP. All the chatting you can stand on the IRC.  
   And on IRC (Internet Relay Chat) you can talk live, in real time 
   with Amiga users in the U.K., Europe, Australia, the Far East, 
   24 hours a day. 

 - Our exclusive PortalX by Steve Tibbett, the graphical "front end"
   for Portal which will let you automatically click'n'download your
   waiting email, messages, Usenet groups and binary files!  Reply to mail
   and messages offline using your favorite editor and your replies are sent
   automatically the next time you log into Portal.
   (PortalX requires Workbench 2.04 or higher)

 - And Portal does NOT stick it to high speed modem users. Whether
   you log in at 1200 or 2400 or 9600 or 14.4K you pay the same low 
   price.

How does all that sound?  Probably too good to be true. Well.. it's true.

Portal Signup or for more information:

1-408-973-9111 (voice) 9a.m.-5p.m. Mon-Fri, Pacific Time
1-408-725-0561 (modem 3/12/2400) 24 hours every day
1-408-973-8091 (modem 9600/14400) 24 hours every day
or enter "C PORTAL" from any Sprintnet dial-in in the USA,
or enter "portal" from any Tymnet "please log in:" prompt, USA & Canada
or telnet to "portal.com" from anywhere.

PORTAL'S CURRENT RATES:

All prices shown are in U.S. Dollars
                                                Total Total  Total  Total
                                                Cost  Cost   Cost   Cost
                                          Fee   1 hr. 5 hrs. 10 hrs.30 hrs.
                          Startup Monthly Per   Per   per    per    per
                          Fee     Fee     Hour  month month  month  month
                          $       $       $     $     $      $      $

Portal                    19.95   19.95         
 2400/9600/14.4Kbps, *direct 24 hrs        0.00 19.95  19.95  19.95  19.95
 2400/9600bps nonprime Sprint or Tymnet    2.50 22.95  32.45  44.95  94.95
 2400/9600bps prime Sprint +% or Tymnet 5.50-10 29.95  69.95 119.95  varies
 2400/9600bps non prime # PCPursuit        1.00 20.95  24.95  29.95  49.95

* plus cost of phone call if out of Portal's local dialing area
  Direct rates also apply to connections made to Portal using the
  UNIX "telnet" program from an account you may already
  have on an Internet-connected system. 
% 9600 bps Sprintnet and Tymnet available in over 300 cities areas
+ $10 rate prevails at smaller US Cities
# PCPursuit is a service of US Sprint. Portal is a PCPursuit
 "Direct Access Facility" thus connection to Portal with a PCP account
 is simply a matter of entering C PORTAL,PCP-ID,PCP-PASSWORD  at the
 SprintNet login prompt instead of C PORTAL. 

Note: 

   Portal Direct 9600/14400 bps service is availble for both USR HST
   modems, and any V32/V32.bis modems. There are dozens of direct-dial
   high speed lines into Portal.  No busy signals!

   SprintNet 9600bps service is V.32 modem protocol only.
   Tymnet 9600bps services is V.32 modem protocol only.
   Again, Portal does NOT surcharge high speed modem users!

   Portal subscribers who already have an account on an Internet-capable
   system elsewhere, can use that system's "telnet" program
   to connect to Portal for $0.00 an hour. That's right ZERO. From anywhere
   in the world.  If you're in this category, be sure to ask the Portal 
   reps, when you signup, how to login to Portal from your existing
   Internet account.  

Call and join today.  Tell the friendly Portal Customer Service
representative, "The Amiga Zone sent me!"

That number again:  408-973-9111.

Portal Communications accepts MasterCard, Visa, or you can pre-pay any
amount by personal check or money order.  The Portal Online System is
a trademark of Portal Communications. 



*****************************************************************************



/// Commodore's Future
    ------------------
    A Commentary by Robert Niles


With Commodore-Amiga's loss announced a while ago, here comes the doomsayers
again citing the fall of the Amiga computer. Again the Amiga is going to
fall, again Commodore is digging itself a grave in which to dump all the R&D
of the past into.

When I first purchased my Amiga, way back in the 80's and connected myself
to the FidoNet echos, the main topic was the Amiga's survivability. As if
the Amiga itself was on its way to oblivion.  The doomsayers thought that
the Amiga was the most brilliant piece of junk around....stereo sound, a
whoppin' 4096 colors, multiple visual modes, and not to mention the best
multitasking system that ever entered the home of the layman was all just
going to go by the wayside.

Funny... I still have my Amiga -- two in fact!  True, the concept of ad-
vertising the Amiga to the general public has completely slipped past the
minds of those in marketing, but this is one of the few computer platforms
that can REALLY sell itself (and with the help of those Amiga loyalists).
The amount of Amigas out there on the market has increased, not decreased.
New innovative hardware and software on the market continues to grow.
Furthermore CBM-Amiga is still making newer computers, and committing itself
to R&D on even more powerful computers.

Enough of the babble!  All I'm trying to say is keep banging away on the
keyboard, keep churning out those wonderful morphs and pictures, and keep
supporting those authors who produce the programs that make you glad you own
one of the most powerful and affordable computers around.

This puppy is going to be here for quite a while!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



/// Warez Out There
    ---------------
    By Tom Mulcahy


File:           mostra2.lha
Version:        2.0
Author:         Unknown
Where to find:  Bix, Aminet
                GEnie:  Amiga RT, file #19572

- Supports 2.0/3.0 features

Mostra 2.0 is a shareware IFF ILBM viewer featuring real-time unpacking
scroll, dozens of options, "smart" analysis of any IFF file (FORMs, LISTs,...
also nested ILBM!), total control over display modes, simple slideshow
processing, pattern matching, multipalette, double buffering, fast
decompression, color cycling, TeXdocs, startup files for easy custom
configurations and complete WB support.



                      ------------------------------



File:           enforcer.lzh
Version:        37.42
Author:         Michael Sinz
Where to find:  Bix, Aminet
                GEnie:  Pro/Am RT, file #1122


All new Enforcer V37.42 - For 68020/68851, 68030, and 68040 CPUs

This is a completely new Enforcer for the Amiga.  It has many
new and wonderful features and many new and wonderful options.

Changes from V37.39:

        Added string length limits for the name strings found
        in tasks and CLIs.  This is such that a bad string
        pointer will not cause too much damage.  Enforcer will
        only print up to 128 characters of any string.  This
        is done at the low level of the output routines such
        that every string is checked correctly.  (This does,
        however, mean that the intro string is limited to
        the 128 characters...)

        Added LED/K/N option to select the number of flashes
        the LED will do for each Enforcer hit.  This option
        was mainly added such that the LED flash can be turned
        off.  (LED=0)  It also can be used to make the LED
        flash take a bit longer by setting it to a large
        value (LED=12345) such that local Enforcer I/O will
        not make the LED flash look too fast.  Default is
        still 1 for compatibility with before.

        If CDSTRAP is in the system, Enforcer now will also
        add the special CD hardware address ranges (it used
        to just add most of the hardware addresses, now it
        does all of them)  This is for CDTV-type machines.

        Archive does not contain a copy of itself...
        (Silly scripts :-)

        Some other slight documentation cleanup...



                      ------------------------------



File:           cx1_1.lha
Version:        1.1
Author:         Unknown
Where to find:  Bix, Aminet
  

- CLI command to ENABLE/DISABLE/KILL any commodity
CX enables the user to enable, disable, or kill a commodity from
the Shell or from a script file.


 
                      ------------------------------



File:           adev11_2_0.lha
Version:        2.0
Author:         Unknown
Where to find:  Bix
                

-68HC11 Dev System. C compiler, Asm, Linker, DAsm. v2.0
Complete development system for the HC11 processor.  Separately
compiled/assembled source files are linked to produce an S-record file.
Includes ANSI C compiler, assembler (a highly modified version of DAsm),
linker, librarian, disassembler, serial downloader.  Additionally, the
assembler, linker and librarian handle source for 6800,6803,68HC16.  For those
that dislike S-records there is a converter which converts to memory dump.
Source for the converter is included.



                      ------------------------------



File:           toolmgr21b.lha - 501,284k 
Version:        2.1b
Author:         Unknown
Where to find:  Bix, Aminet
                GEnie:  Amiga RT, file #19440


- Adds Tools to WB 2.x Tools menu. Binaries. v2.1

Binary executable and documentation (ASCII, AmigaGuide, TeX) files.
ToolManager is a full featured program for either Workbench or CLI tool
management.  Includes the ability to add menu items to the 2.x "Tools" menu,
add Workbench icons or dock windows.

The configuration is based on a object-oriented concept and handled by a
preferences program.

   ToolManager supports ARexx, localization, networking and sound.

   Changes since version 2.0:

   - New Exec object types: Dock, Hot Key, Network
   - New Dock object flags: Backdrop, Sticky
   - New object type: Access
   - Network support
   - Editor main window is now an AppWindow
   - Gadget keyboard shortcuts in the preferences editor
   - New tooltypes for the preferences editor
   - Several bug fixes
   - Enhanced documentation

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

   Needs OS 2.04 or higher.
   Localization requires OS 2.1 or higher.
   Harddisk is recommended for unpacking the complete distribution.

   ToolMgr21b.lha - Binaries and Documentation (ASCII, AmigaGuide, TeX)
   ToolMgr21g.lha - Anims, Brushes and Icons
   ToolMgr21s.lha - Source code and Programmer support files


 
                      ------------------------------



File:           vprotool.lha
Version:        Unknown
Author:         Bill McCarter
Where to find:  Bix, Aminet


DEMMER DESCRIPTION

-This program is CRIPPLEWARE. Copy it and distribute it to your
friends, as long as you include all the files that are in the
archive file DEMMER.lha. I will not allow anyone to make a
profit from this program, except a modest charge for copying and
media, such as the Fred Fish collection.

The program is fully operational except this public version
will not load compressed DEM files, so it will not edit VISTA
files that you already have. In addition the annoy screen has
been added just to remind you that you should be happy to reward
me for the work that I have done on this.
If you do register you'll receive a fully working version
without the annoy screen and includes the ability to load
compressed DEM files. You also will be on the list for any of the
other software titles that we have on the go or that have been
produced already. Included is an utility that drastically saves
time and effort when making your own maps. Another is CONQUEST
AND DOMINION a new strategy game. GAMMA DEMO an educational
program and GASLAWS another educational program.

PURPOSE:

 The purpose of this utility is to be able to take an IFF
graphic and transform it to a format readable by VISTAPRO. I
wanted to have a freeform method to produce landscapes and to
have an easy way to digitize topo maps rather than relying on
someone else to supply me with USGS data. VISTAPRO provides an
excellent engine for the development of realistic landscape
images.
There are also a few extra features that I added to provide
some image processing to smooth out transitions.

HOW IT WORKS:

 Any IFF graphic of any resolution may be used, in any
screensize as long as you have the chip ram. Even Brushes may be
used. Other numbers of colours than 64 work but I don't recommend
to use them. 64 colour halfbright ILBM's produce the best results
and HAM doesn't work. If you are serious about graphics then
you owe it to yourself to get a program like Pixmate or ADPro
anyway to do any format conversions.

 The image is automatically scaled to a 258 X 258 array and
then converted. The elevations are taken from the colours
themselves, with palette 0 being the minimum elevation and
palette 63 being the maximum. This provides 64 steps in elevation
for the image which should be enough for most applications. If
not, there are a few processing functions that I have provided to
smooth out the transitions. I did supply a colourmap palette in the
output file so when you use the landscape file in Vistapro you will
have a palette.

 ISO_ILBM Description -

ISO_ILBM (c) COPYRIGHT 1992 Bill McCarter NO Rights Reserved

PURPOSE:

 The purpose of this utility is to assist DEMMER1 digitize
contour maps into VISTAPRO DEM's. 

HOW IT WORKS:

 Any IFF graphic of any resolution may be used, in any
resolution or screensize as long as you have the chip ram. Even
Brushes may be used. Other numbers of colours than 64 work but I
don't recommend to use them. 64 colour halfbright ILBM's produce
the best results and HAM doesn't work. If you are serious about
graphics then you owe it to yourself to get a program like
Pixmate or ADPro anyway to do any format conversions.
The elevations are taken from the colours themselves, with
palette 0 being the minimum elevation and palette 63 being the
maximum. This provides 64 steps in elevation for the image which
should be enough for most applications. If not, DEMMER1 has a
few processing functions that I have provided to smooth out the
transitions.



                      ------------------------------



File:           runit12.lha
Version:        1.2
Author:         Software Solutions -- UK-based
Where to find:  Aminet


- Runit is charityware, if you use it, please give help to those in need.

If you have any questions or ideas for more utils Call
The Krypt BBS (UK) on 021 789 6845

Runit can be used in the startup-sequence as a cli command or used
from the cli/shell as a tool to run game/utility boot blocks that
refuse to work on 680x0 or newer machines such as A1200/4000
 
Tested on kickstarts 1.2 to 4.x ,and should work on all future kicks

Runit with no options will display a help screen explaining the
options available, i will describe here in what circumstances
they may need to be used.  It does not matter what order you type them in.
 

 NOCACHE   - Use this option if diskloads fail, graphics corrupt
             or if programs crash for no reason

 SCRBLANK  - Have you ever noticed how using the boot options 
             screen sometimes cause`s screens to be corrupted?
             or when software that ran from workbench on kick 1.X
             has corrupted screens on kick 2.X / 3.X.
             This option opens a 1.X screen and blanks it until
             the software in question opens its own.

 FAKEFAST  - An enhanced version of FAKEMEM , this will give you
             512k chip / rest of chip ram: classed as fast ram: on
             1meg+ chip machines.
             Use this when "no fast mem" requesters appear , or when
             games just lock , due to no fast mem.
             Remember this resets the machine the first time it is run
             so any other options on the command line will be ignored
             first time , but will function correctly next time they
             are called.

 NTSCMODE -  Ever noticed that annoying gap at the bottom of some
             softwares screens , try this option! 
             ECS chipset or above needed.

 PALMODE  -  Returns you to normal screen mode    
             ECS chipset or above needed.

 OLDKICK  -  Because of certain changes in kick 2.X , 3.X , certain
             games failed when library returns were slightly
             different to those on kick 1.x , this routine patches
             these to return old 1.x values.
             Try these on games such as Silkworm IV , Saint Dragon ETC.            

 SET???   -  This needs some explaining , what it does is to select the 
             chipset you specify , if that chipset is available , or can be
             Mimic`d then the system / hardware is told to use that chipset.
             Currently AGA can mimic the OLD & ECS chipsets, use this option
             when GFX / Sound corrupt etc.

             SETOLD  = Select/Mimic OLD chipset
             SETECS  = Select/Mimic ECS chipset
             SETAGA  = Select/Mimic AGA chipset
             SETBEST = Use the best chipset available
                        
 CLEAR    -  Resets machine if Virus or other contamination present.

 FILTER   -  Turns off the low pass filter , this will make sounds
             clearer and sharper.

 HIGHBOOT -  Runit was originally written only as a cli command , but
 LOWBOOT     its options were also usefull for NONDOS disks ie: games.
             I found the boot options screen did not help all the time.
             These 2 options were added so that a disk in df0: can be
             booted with any of the options above.


 Remember that runit can be used in a startup-sequence or used to boot
 NON DOS disks , in this respect i think it is unique.



                      ------------------------------



File:           Killaga20.lha
Version:        2.0
Author:         Jolyon Ralph - Almathera Systems Ltd.
Where to find:  Aminet
                GEnie:  Amiga RT, File #19607


- This program is *PUBLIC DOMAIN*. It may be freely distributed
in any way as long as:

a) The executable file (KillAGA) and this text file remain unaltered.
b) This file is distributed with the KillAGA program.
c) It is not used as part of a commercial product without my express
permission.

If you want to include this on a commercial product or a magazine
coverdisk, please email me at the address below to ensure you
have the latest version:

If you like this product and really insist on sending me something,
then send me your Our Price CD receipts, or WHSmiths free CD
stickers so I can get some free CDs....


What does it do?
----------------

This program allows you to run old, badly written, programs (mainly
demos and some games) from your A1200/4000 hard disk without having
to continually reboot and switch chip settings. On return from
the program the system returns to full AGA state!

While loading your program the screen goes black, so don't panic!


How does it do it?
------------------

It fixes three major problems with running old demos on new AGA
machines.

1. AGA Chipset registers - These are temporarily disabled while running
KillAGA. *FAR* more old demos and games work now..

2. Sprite resolution - Sprites are forced back to standard ECS resolution

3. Caches - All processor caches are disabled, and restored to the
original state on exiting KillAGA


How do you use it?
------------------

It's simple. Use from the CLI (or a ICONX script file):

killaga <programname>

Just type killaga followed by the program name from the CLI 
(unlike the RUN command, it does not return until after your
program has finished)

Creating an ICON is just as easy.

So, for example, to run dh0:demos/OldNaffDemo, you would create a text
file containing

killaga dh0:demos/OldNaffDemo

and save that. Edit the icon tooltype to use C:ICONX as the default tool,
and just double-click the icon.


To call a program that requires CLI parameters, just enclose the string
you would normally type in speech marks:

killaga "mydemo 1 2 3 4 5 6"

If, for some reason, you accidentally run KillAGA with an OS
friendly program the screen may stay blank. Press Amiga-M or Amiga-N
(the screen shuffle keys) to get your screens back. You should
not use KillAGA with these kind of programs.

What it *doesn't* do:
---------------------

It *doesn't* give you fake fastram. Buy real fastram, it's
the only way to get *fast* ram on an A1200. Chip ram is terribly
slow. KillAGA 3 may well be able to give you *REAL* $c00000 memory
for your A1200 or A4000 (although this will require an MMU, not
present in standard A1200 or A4000/030)

It *doesn't* yet have options to keep caches enabled. I guess
some vector games/demos would be better with this...

It doesn't do *ANY* illegal hardware access, all code is 100%
OS friendly, so this should work on AAA (!!!!!).

It *doesn't* work on any machine with Kickstart 1.x or 2.x, but
you shouldn't need this anyway!

It *doesn't* work with programs that set up their own background task
and then quit (programs that immediately return to the CLI prompt
before quitting - eg Protracker 3.01).

It doesn't work with compiled AMOS programs. They open up an
(almost) invisible Intuition screen to handle input, etc... This
annoys KillAGA. Recompile AMOS programs with Amos 1.35 Compiler and
you won't need to use KillAGA.


Email to: jralph@cix.compulink.co.uk. for bug reports, information
on new versions, etc....

If you have found anything that still doesn't work with this, please
tell me about it and I'll try and make KillAGA 3 fix the problem.

Snail mail (and your receipts :) to:

Jolyon Ralph,
81 Woodcote Grove Rd,
Coulsdon, Surrey,
CR5 2AL



*****************************************************************************
                                    


/// Holonet:  Inexpensive Internet Access
    -------------------------------------


                                *** HOLONET ***


HoloNet is an easy to use Internet Access BBS.

HoloNet is based on custom BBS software which provides an easy to use menu
driven interface.  HoloNet is ideal for those looking for an easy way to
use Internet services.  HoloNet does not currently provide UNIX shell access.

Services include:

    o  Convenient Access
       A local call in 850+ cities nationwide.

    o  Online Publications
       Include USA Today Decisionline, Newsbytes, Datanet Computer News,
       Eeeekbits, and Boardwatch Magazine.

    o  USENET
       Averages over 30MB of USENET news per day.  The following news readers
       are available: NN, TIN, and RN.

    o  Internet E-Mail
       Members have an Internet E-mail address similar to: member@holonet.net

    o  Internet Access
       Access to telnet, talk, finger, IRC, and FTP.
       (note: you must comply with the policies of any networks you use)

    o  Single and Multi-player Games
       Board, card, fantasy, and puzzle games.

    o  Support for Eudora
       Excellent off-line Macintosh e-mail reader.

    o  UUCP E-mail and USENET feeds
       Link LAN E-mail systems and BBSes to the Internet.

How to try HoloNet for FREE:
      Telnet: holonet.net
       Modem: 510-704-1058 (Berkeley, CA) at 1200, 2400, 9600, or 14400bps
              There are free demo numbers nationwide, for an automated
              response containg a list of access numbers, send e-mail
              to access@holonet.mailer.net

How to get more information:
      E-mail: info@holonet.net
       Modem: 510-704-1058 at 1200, 2400, 9600, or 14400bps
       Voice: 510-704-0160
         Fax: 510-704-8019

HoloNet is a service mark of Information Access Technologies, Inc.
Copyright (c) 1992 Information Access Techologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



*****************************************************************************



/// Usenet Review:  Lemmings 2:  The Tribes
    ---------------------------------------
    By Stephan Mueller
    (mueller@cs.ubc.ca)


PRODUCT NAME

        Lemmings 2: The Tribes


BRIEF DESCRIPTION

        An addictive action/strategy platform/climbing game, featuring cute
little animated, green-haired Lemmings.


AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

        Name:           Psygnosis Ltd.
        Address:        South Harrington Building
                        Sefton Street
                        Liverpool, L3 4BQ
                        United Kingdom

        U.S. Address:   29 St. Mary's Court
                        Brookline, MA 02146
                        USA

        U.S. Phone:     (617) 731-3553
        U.S. Fax:       (617) 731-8379

        (Various documents in the package list other addresses in
Massachusetts.)


LIST PRICE

        $65.00 (Canadian).
        I paid $56.91 (Canadian) at my local retailer.
        $40.00 (US) seems to be a typical price in the United States.


SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

        HARDWARE

                Runs on any Amiga with at least 1 MB RAM.
                Extra sound effects are available with 1 MB of Chip RAM.
                Extra RAM of any type is recognized and used to reduce disk
                accesses.

                Hard drive installation requires approximately 4 MB of hard
                disk space, at least 1 MB Chip RAM, and either 512 KB or 1
                MB of additional (Chip or Fast) RAM, depending on whether you
                believe the package or the ReadMe file.

                Lemmings 2 comes on three floppy disks, so up to three
                floppy drives are useful if you don't use a hard disk.
                However, one floppy drive is certainly adequate:  the game
                requires disk 1 only for the (optional) introduction and
                loads everything required from disk 2 at startup, so there
                is no constant disk swapping.

                Lemmings 2 runs well on a 68000.  Comments from other users 
                indicate that it runs fine on machines with 68030s and 
                68040s.  At least one user has mentioned that the copy 
                protection causes difficulty on an Amiga 3000/040 system. 

                Separate versions of the game are sold for NTSC and PAL 
                machines.  However, in (at least) the PAL version, assuming 
                your hardware is capable of it, you can toggle screen modes 
                (that is, from PAL to NTSC and back) by pressing the Tab 
                key. Any Amiga with a "Fatter Agnus" or newer should support 
                this. 

        SOFTWARE
        
                Lemmings 2 runs fine with both Kickstart 1.3 and Kickstart
                2.04.  I cannot test it with 3.0.  Since the game takes over
                the machine when run from floppies, I cannot determine which
                versions of Workbench it works with.


COPY PROTECTION

        Intrusiveness level of the copy protection: nearly invisible.

        Copy protection is disk-based:  disk 3 cannot be backed up using
DiskCopy.  However, it can be installed on a hard drive.  Once hard drive
installed, the floppies are not required at all to boot.  No data is ever
saved to a copy protected disk.

        As my Amiga doesn't have sufficient Chip RAM to test the hard drive
installation feature, I can't say for sure how well it works.  Others on the
net, however, have had no difficulty with it.  When playing from floppies,
the copy protection doesn't appear to be hard on the drives, as there is no
awful "gronking" noise.

        Apparently, the original UK release was not hard drive installable.
Recently, however, Psygnosis has released patches into the public domain to
allow owners of the original release to make their copies hard drive
installable.

        If Lemmings 2 does not install on your hard drive because of an
incompatibility with your particular SCSI host adapter, Psygnosis will send
you a software patch for $4.95 (US).


MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

        Amiga 1000
        512 KB Chip RAM, 2 MB Fast RAM
        Kickstart 1.3/2.04

REVIEW

        Lemmings 2 is (surprise!) a sequel to Lemmings.  The object in both
games is to rescue the lemmings on each level by instructing them how to
make their way to the exit.

        The lemmings fall, one at a time, from a trapdoor in the sky onto
some platform on the level.  Once a lemming touches down, he will walk left
or right until he hits an obstacle and turns around, or walks off the edge
of the platform and falls to the next platform.  Short falls are no problem,
medium falls stun the lemming for a moment, and long falls are generally
fatal.

        You assist the lemmings by giving them special skills at appropriate
moments, enabling them to construct their own way to the exit.  Skills are
assigned by choosing an on-screen button and then clicking on the lemming.
For example, if there is an obstacle on the current platform between a group
of lemmings and the exit, you might instruct one of the lemmings to bash his
way through the obstacle.  When he's finished, all the lemmings can follow
him through to the exit.  This is, of course, a very simple example; and as
you progress through the levels, the gyrations you'll need to urge the
lemmings through will get progressively more complex.

        Lemmings 2 features about 50 different skills which you can assign
to the little blue guys:  jet pack, hang glider, basher, fencer, planter,
glue pourer, bazooka, hopper, kayaker, pole vaulter, rock climber, and more.
On any particular level, you'll have some subset of the available skills to
assign, and there's always a limit to the number of times you can assign
each skill.  These limits are often what make a level tricky.  Given enough
flame throwers and ramp builders, one can probably solve any level, but
doing so with just two twisters and a platformer, there's the trick.  To add
just one more dimension, there's a time limit on each level.

        When you've completed a level, you'll get a bronze, silver or gold 
medal, depending on how many lemmings you saved. It's important to save as 
many lemmings as possible on each level, since only the survivors advance to 
the next level; and to win, you'll need at least one lemming who survives 
through all ten levels of his tribe.  On some levels, saving every lemming 
is impossible, since, for example, you may need to use an "exploder," which 
destroys the lemming. On other levels you can be a bit wasteful, losing a 
few lemmings, and still get a gold medal.  A perfect game will require you 
to get a gold medal on every level. 

        Altogether there are a dozen different tribes, each with their own
`culture,' for a total of 120 different levels.  There are space lemmings,
cave lemmings, polar lemmings, sports lemmings and lots more.  Each tribe
has a different habitat, and you will need different skills to navigate them
through their levels.  Ice skaters probably won't help much in Egyptian
World.  You can switch from tribe to tribe at will, so if you get stuck on,
say, space lemming level 3, you can play "cavelem" levels for a while and
come back to space lemming level 3 when you've perhaps discovered some new
techniques.  You can also replay any level you've completed, in the hope of
saving more lemmings than last time around.

        To hone your skills, there is a practice area.  Here, you can select
any eight skills you like, and then practice with them in one of four
different worlds.  This is a LOT of fun; not needing to worry about saving
the lemmings leaves you lots of time to use them to flatten out the
landscape and then watch them practice their pole vaulting.

        Lemmings 2 is a subtle blend of action and strategy.  On some
levels, brute force will succeed; but in general, you need to be very clever
in allocating your limited skills to rescue the little guys.  Usually,
timing is important as well.

        Technically, the game is marvelous in every respect.  Sound,
graphics, animation, controls and playability are all excellent.

        The sound effects are very cute: a lemming yells "let's go" at the
start of each level, and as lemmings leave the exit, they shout "yippee."
The music is wonderful, fitting the moods of the tribes very well.  I have
yet to grow tired of it, but it can be shut off with a single keystroke.

        The graphics and animation are detailed.  From the way the lemmings
struggle to crawl into a cannon, to the variety of different musical
instruments the attractors play, there's a wealth of amusement.  The
scrolling is very smooth.  The introduction, in which the storyteller
explains the plight of the lemmings to a youngster, is a top-notch animation.

        The controls are very well thought out.  In addition to the skill
buttons and lemmings themselves, there are four additional controls: paws
(pause), nuke (to blow up all the lemmings and try again should the
situation on a level become hopeless), fan (to assist you in blowing around
airborne lemmings) and fast-forward (to hurry everything along when you've
set things up just right and the lemmings just need to finish walking
through the maze to the exit.)  There are keyboard shortcuts for all the
controls, so you don't need to keep moving the mouse between the lemmings
and skill buttons.  At any time, pressing escape will restart the current
level, and thankfully this doesn't involve any disk access.

        Up to a dozen or so games in progress can be saved.  The save file
is a standard AmigaDOS file.  When playing from floppies, saved games are
stored on an extra floppy in drive 0.  When playing from a hard drive, saved
games are apparently stored on the hard drive.  The saved information only
contains which levels you've completed and how many lemmings you saved on
each level.  This means you can't save a level in progress, but I don't see
this as a problem.

        When playing from a hard drive, it is apparently possible to exit 
Lemmings 2 and return gracefully to Workbench.  When playing from floppies, 
the exit button is disabled.  Disabling the button when running from 
floppies is reasonable, as there is no Workbench to return to. 


DOCUMENTATION

        The documentation and packaging are very good.  The inner carton is
made of recycled, bio-degradable material.  (I know this because it says so
on the aforementioned inner carton.)

        The printed documentation fits neatly into a colourful cardboard
wallet and consists of the Lemmings 2 Storybook, the Lemmings 2 Manual, a
Visitor's Guide to LemmingLand, a Technical Notes Addendum, and a product
registration card.

        The Lemmings 2 Storybook, which apparently is only included in the
"Limited Edition" of the game, is a 72-page paperback full of nice
illustrations and bad puns.  As the back cover proclaims, it is "Undoubtedly
the best story about the 12 Tribes of Lemming Island ever written."  The
book is a nice touch, but you'll laugh much more while playing the game than
reading the story.

        The manual is more like a reference card, but it is adequate.  It
provides loading instructions (for MS-DOS, Amiga and Atari ST) and a
description of the main menu choices and game screen components.  The
reverse side contains a categorized list of the 50 available skills with
descriptions and icons.  A few of the skills are labelled with the wrong
icons.  Some of the play elements are not explained in the manual at all,
but I believe this is intentional.  Figuring out how to use the big swinging
chains with propellers on top is another little challenge for you in your
quest to save the lemmings.  The cannons and catapults need no explanation;
the lemmings themselves know exactly how to use them.

        A couple of items the manual should mention, but doesn't:

        a) Disk 1 contains only the introductory animation.  If you don't
           want to see it, you can discard disk 1 for good and boot from
           disk 2.  The animation is very nice, but it will likely get
           tedious by the third time if you have to wait for it to finish
           before you can play the game.

        b) The hard disk installation procedure.  While the procedure
           is documented in a ReadMe file, it is also a bit strange.  You
           need to drag the "Hard Disk Install" icon to your hard drive, and
           then double-click the copy on the hard drive to actually install
           Lemmings 2.  The consequences of doing the obvious (namely
           double-clicking the "Hard Disk Install" icon on the floppy disk)
           can be mildly damaging.  This is the problem:  the installation
           script tries to delete itself when it has finished its work,
           which is fine, if it's the copy on the hard disk.  If it's the
           original script on the floppy disk, and if that disk isn't write
           protected, this is bad.  You'll need to find an undelete utility
           of some sort to retrieve the script and its icon.

        The Visitor's Guide is a tutorial.  For those with previous Lemmings
experience, it explains some important differences.  The tutorial is quite
good, walking you through the practice area and one complete level.

        The technical notes addendum is, in fact, specific to the PC version
of Lemmings 2, and full of gibberish about expanded and extended memory,
Microsoft Windows and various sound and music cards, none of which,
thankfully, applies to the Amiga.


LIKES AND DISLIKES

        The practice area is tremendous fun!  The level of detail in the
animations is wonderful, and in the practice area you can take the time to
watch what's happening very carefully without being concerned about rescuing
the little numbskulls.

        I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't install Lemmings 2 on my
hard drive, but I'm not even going to suggest that fitting the game into 512
KB of Chip RAM when running from a hard drive should be a priority.

        It is a pity that when run from floppies, Lemmings 2 takes over the
machine, doesn't run under AmigaDOS, and can't be exited cleanly.


COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

        The obvious comparison is to the original Lemmings.  Here's a brief
description of how Lemmings 2 differs:

        - There are twelve distinct tribes of Lemmings, each featuring ten
          levels.  If you get stuck on a particular level, you can move to
          another tribe.

        - You start the first level of each tribe with 60 Lemmings and move
          to subsequent levels with only the survivors from the preceding
          level.

        - Play levels are larger; they now scroll in eight directions
          instead of just horizontally.

        - Each level features up to eight of the 50 available skills, as
          opposed to having the same eight skills at all times, as in
          Lemmings 1.

        - The two-player mode of Lemmings is gone.

        In short, Lemmings 2 is an extension and refinement of the original
game.

        Compared to any other platform/climbing game... well, there is no
comparison.


BUGS

        The word "shipwright" is misspelled in the introduction.

        The manual doesn't mention that you can skip the introduction by
booting from disk 2, nor the hard disk installation procedure.


VENDOR SUPPORT

        I have not yet had need to contact Psygnosis for support, but they
do have a Customer Service department.  The U.S. address information given
above is that of Customer Service.

        Psygnosis do appear to be listening to their customers.  Lemmings 2
is their first Amiga game that is hard drive installable; this is apparently
because of pressure from customers.


WARRANTY

        Psygnosis will replace, free of charge, any disks which have
manufacturing or duplication defects.  The disks are guaranteed to be
virus-free, and will be replaced for a fee, if you manage to infect them.
There doesn't appear to be any time limit on either of these policies.


CONCLUSIONS

        Lemmings 2 is likely to be responsible for a substantial delay in
the completion of my thesis. :-)  It's tremendous fun to play, watch and
hear.  I consider Lemmings 2 to be a serious candidate for Best Game Of The
Year, On Any Platform, or perhaps even bigger accolades.  Run, do not walk,
to your nearest Amiga dealer and buy this game.  Besides amusing you for
many, many, hours, this will help to demonstrate to software developers that
writing quality, hard drive installable, Amiga games is a way to make a
decent living.


COPYRIGHT NOTICE

        Copyright 1993 Stephan(); Mueller.  All rights reserved.
                        Reprinted with permission.



*****************************************************************************


/// NVN WANTS YOU!                          Another Network Supports Amiga!
    --------------



                       National Videotext Network (NVN)


National Videotext Network (NVN) has recently added an Amiga Forum to it's
growing lists of available services.  The Amiga Forum is ready and waiting
for you!

Order an extended NVN Membership of 6 or 12 months, pay for it in advance
and receive a bonus in connect time at no additional charge.  Choose from
two subscription plans:

6-Month Membership
------------------

Pay just $30 for a 6-month Membership and receive a usage credit that
entitles you to $15 of connect-time in the Premium services of your choice.
Your total savings using this plan would be over $20!*

12 Month Membership
-------------------

Pay $50 for a full year's Membership and get even more free time online.
We'll give you a $25 usage credit to use in your favorite Premium services
or try out new ones.  You could save as much as $45.*

For more information about either of these plans, give us a call at
1-800-336-9096.


                            -=* 9600 BAUD USERS *=-
                  $6/hour non-prime time - $9/hour prime time

                       You can join NVN one of two ways.
                By voice phone 1-800-336-9096 (Client Services)
                                      or
                        via modem phone 1-800-336-9092.



*****************************************************************************


/// AR Confidential                   "We heard it through the Grapvine!"
    ---------------


Fort Worth, TX -- Tandy Corporation announced a new pen-based portable
computer, which will be selling in its Radio Shack chain of electronics
stores this fall.  The Zoomer will be about the size of a manual (8 x 5
inches), and will be DOS and Windows compatible.  Price is expected to
be UNDER $300.  Look for more information soon!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


/// Dealer Directory                               Serving our readers!           
    ----------------



                            Apogee Technologies
                          1851 University Parkway
                         Sarasota, Florida  34243
                           VOICE:  813-355-6121
                              Portal:  Apogee
                     Internet:  Apogee@cup.portal.com


                            Armadillo Brothers
                            753 East 3300 South
                           Salt Lake City, Utah
                           VOICE:  801-484-2791
                              GEnie:  B.GRAY


                       Computers International, Inc.
                             5415 Hixson Pike
                          Chattanooga, TN  37343
                           VOICE:  615-843-0630


                           Finetastic Computers
                             721 Washington St
                             Norwood, MA 02062
                           VOICE:  617-762-4166
                       Portal:  FinetasticComputers
               Internet:  FinetasticComputers@cup.portal.com


                                MicroSearch
                        9000 US 59 South, Suite 330
                              Houston, Texas
                           VOICE:  713-988-2818
                            FAX:  713-995-4994


                              PSI Animations
                         17924 SW Pilkington Road
                          Lake Oswego, OR  97035
                           VOICE:  503-624-8185
                     Internet:  PSIANIM@agora.rain.com


                           Software Plus Chicago
                          3100 W Peterson Avenue
                             Chicago, Illinois
                           VOICE:  312-338-6100


          (Dealers:  To have your name added, please send Email!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


/// The Humor Department           Jokes, Quotes, Insults, Shameless Plugs
    --------------------


Q:    If Bill Clinton, Hillary, and Al Gore jumped off the Empire State
      Building at the same time, who would hit the ground first?

A:    WHO CARES?


=============================================================================
                   Amiga Report International Online Magazine
June 18, 1993           * YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE *             No. 1.13
                     Copyright (c) 1993 All Rights Reserved
=============================================================================
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the editors and staff of Amiga Report International Online Magazine or of STR
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