@database "ar404.guide"
@Node MAIN "Amiga Report Online Magazine #4.04 -- March 14, 1996"
===========================================================================
  March 14, 1996              @{" Turn the Page " link MENU}             Issue No. 4.04
===========================================================================
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                 "THE Online Source for Amiga Information!"

                      Copyright 1996 FS Publications
                            All Rights Reserved
@endnode
@node MENU "Amiga Report Main Menu"
@toc MAIN

===========================================================================
==                               Main Menu                               ==
===========================================================================

    @{"  Editorial and Opinion   " link OPINION}             @{"    Featured Articles    " link FEATURE}

    @{"         Reviews          " link  REVIEW}             @{"  News & Press Releases  " link NEWS}

    @{"      Aminet Charts       " link     FTP}             @{"       Reader Mail       " link MAIL}

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

    @{"    About AMIGA REPORT    " link ABOUT}             @{"    Dealer Directory     " link DEALER}
 Contact Information and Copyrights     Amiga Dealer Addresses and Numbers

    @{"     Where to Get AR      " link WHERE}             @{"     Advertisements      " link COMMERCIAL}
 Mailing List &  Distribution Sites     Online Services, Dealers, Ordering
               ______________________________________________
         //   |                                              |       //
========//====|  Amiga Report International Online Magazine  |======//=====
==   \\//     |  Issue No. 4.04              March 14, 1996  |   \\//    ==
==============|  "THE Online Source for Amiga Information!"  |=============
              |______________________________________________|
@endnode
@node JASON "Editor"
@toc STAFF

===========================================================================
                                  EDITOR
===========================================================================

                               Jason Compton
                               =============
             Internet                                  Address
             --------                                  -------
     jcompton@shell.portal.com                1203 Alexander Ave
     jcompton@xnet.com                        Streamwood, IL 60107-3003
                                              USA

               Fax                                      Phone
               ---                                      -----
           847-741-0689                             847-332-6243
@endnode
@node KATIE "Assistant Editor"
@toc STAFF

===========================================================================
==                           ASSISTANT EDITOR                            ==
===========================================================================

                             Katherine Nelson
                             ================

                                 Internet
                                 --------
                            Kati@cup.portal.com
@endnode
@node ROBERT "Senior Editor"
@toc STAFF

===========================================================================
                               SENIOR EDITOR
===========================================================================

                               Robert Niles
                               ============
            Internet                                   Address
            --------                                   -------
        rniles@Wolfe.NET                           506 W. Orchard
                                                   Selah, WA 98942

            FidoNet                                      Fax
            -------                                      ---
           1:3407/103                                509/697-5064
@endnode
@node WILLIAM "Contributing Editor"
@toc STAFF

===========================================================================
                            CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
===========================================================================

                               William Near
                               ============

                                 Internet
                                 --------
                              wnear@epix.net
@endnode
@node ADDISON "Contributing Editor"
@toc STAFF

===========================================================================
                            CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
===========================================================================

                              Addison Laurent
                              ===============

                                 Internet
                                 --------
                       addison@jobe.shell.portal.com
@endnode
@node EDITORIAL "compt.sys.editor.desk"
@toc OPINION

===========================================================================
    compt.sys.editor.desk                          By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================

                     The Osbourne Syndrome in the 90's

The word "Osbourne" means a lot of things in the computer industry, all of
them bad.  Around the story of the Osbourne computer company, an illness
known as "The Osbourne Syndrome" has been diagnosed, and its mention sends
executives and users alike into panicked states.

The story, briefly, which spawned this fearful syndrome goes something like
this: Many years ago, the Osbourne Computer Company put out a machine,
known creatively as the Osbourne.  People bought it, the company was ready
for expansion and new products, so they devised a new machine and told
everyone what a wonderful creation it would be.

Suddenly, nobody wanted to buy the Osbourne computer anymore.  They were
just waiting around for the NEXT thing, the computer they'd been promised
that would be far superior to the original Osbourne.  Osbourne's revenues
dried up and the company went out of business without even having the
chance to release this new machine.

Since that day, conventional wisdom says it's almost always bad to tell the
buying public about any new machines that may or may not be coming, or
they'll stop buying your current product (which of course is financing your
future development) and you'll be out of business.  It is this sort of
thinking which people attribute to the poor sales of Commodore's Amiga 600,
a machine released when it was reasonably clear that superior AGA machines
were shortly around the corner.

Along these same lines, many of the very vocal calls for insight as to
Amiga Technologies' engineering direction have been countered with stern
warnings against the Osbourne Syndrome.  These arguments say that by
tipping their hand now, Amiga Technologies will Osbourne themselves,
halting sales of the Amiga and bankrupting the company, terminating all
Amiga development for good.

There may be some validity to this argument.  After all, what red-blooded
Amiga user wants to pay US$2700 for an Amiga 4000T, AGA, and 040/25 when
the promise of something BETTER looms on the horizon?

The problem here is the rest of the real world.  No longer are
announcements of upcoming products and enhancements and speed increases
taboo or devastating to a company's future.  On the contrary, they're
common practice.  Today's computer industry does their business relying on
these announcements.

More to the point, today's computer buyer makes their choices because the
technology will continue.  Everyone knows that in two months, the top clock
rate on the Pentium will go up and new machines will go on the market.
Everyone knows that in labs in Asia, hardware hackers are plying away on
newer, better graphical chipsets.  Everyone knows software will improve and
be upgraded--for a fee--over time.  Corel sells four different versions of
CorelDraw simultaneously!

Here we have our quandry.  The rest of the computer industry, which dwarfs
the Amiga industry by a staggering amount, is no longer subject to the
limitations of Osbourne's folly.  The flow of information on
"bigger-faster-better" is what keeps the PC industry running.  It builds
the confidence which keeps the virtual monopoly going.

Is the Amiga confined to the Osbourne Syndrome while the rest of the
industry announces its plans with impunity in order to survive?  I
personally find that the A600 suffered not from the knowledge of AGA, but
from its excessive price for outdated technology--outdated EVEN IF AGA was
still a secret.  Amiga Technologies has had sales far under its 1995
projections, and the Syndrome has again been blamed.  But again, it seems
to be a case of too much money for too little innovation, holding A1200 and
A4000T sales down to upsetting levels.

If the Amiga market is to maintain its loyal flock, and is to have a chance
of expanding into new groups of consumers, and most importantly recapturing
the very significant portion of the computer buying public who is
Amiga-literate but have written the machine off as an also-ran, things MUST
change.  Amiga Technologies has to realize that it is with open policy,
communication, and the ability to write copious press releases with the
best of them that they will have a chance of survival in this very
difficult computer market.

Osbourne's days are over.  It is time for something new.

Jason

PS.  Sorry this issue is so late, but non-AR concerns have kept us very
busy recently.  Escom went through a very rough period, as the news attests
to, but the worst of the storm may be over as they have reached a financing
solution.

@endnode
@node COMMERCIAL "Commercial Products"
@toc MENU

===========================================================================
                            Commercial Products
===========================================================================

@{"        Editor's Choice        " link EDITORCHOICE}  Jason's picks

@{"   Portal Information Systems  " link PORTAL}  A great place for Amiga users.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
@node MAIL "Reader Mail"
@toc MENU

===========================================================================
                               Reader Mail
===========================================================================

Write Us Some!
@endnode
@node OPINION1 "Notes From the Frontier"
@toc OPINION

===========================================================================
                          Notes From the Frontier
  Frank Salvatini                                    franksal@xnet.com
===========================================================================

Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm no one with wealth or fame...My
name is Frank Salvatini and I'm the president of The Amiga Connection - a
Chicagoland area Amiga Users group.  I'm an Amiga enthusiast, but work with
Mac's and Wintel clones in my capacity as a Teacher at the College of
DuPage.  I've owned an Amiga for 9 years and will continue to do so until
they can stick an RCA jack into my cerebral cortex enabling me to write the
dolphin-english, english-dolphin dictionary...inbetween my VR wrestling
matches with Michelle Pfeiffer.

What I'd like to do is occasionally share with you my monthly newsletter
column I write for our user group.  I call it _Notes From the Frontier_.
In it, I try to stimulate some thought on a variety of computer-related
topics and I'd really welcome your feedback via e-mail.  Here is this
months offering:

February is traditionally a slow month for computing which means that out
here on the Amigaland frontier, things are so slow that scientists from the
Fermi lab have been spotted stalking Amiga users as part of their ongoing
research into stasis fields.  It appears that some of them who own Amigas
have been trapped inside an Amiga- generated bubble of highly accelerated
time deceleration, screaming something about Velociraptors...

Petey Tyschenko was reported to have experienced an overwhelming urge to
challenge Gilles Bourdin to a game of marbles.  (Gilles declined claiming
to have lost them all...or at least some of the larger balls)...

Irving Gould and Mehdi Ali, having lost the Amiga, experienced a rapid
onset of oldness, each suddenly catapulting to ages 307 and 299 years
respectively.  The little piles of dust they became were swept away on the
breeze created by thousands of Commodore Shareholders Group members waving
legal documents in their direction...

One Amiga Club member stated that when he went to buy a new hard drive for
his A1000, he discovered that he had completely forgotten how to buy
computer equiptment...

There were, of course, no perceptable changes in America Online's response
times, although it was noted that the Mac wait pointer began rotating
counter-clockwise...

I, too, have been noticing strange phenomenon surrounding this slow
Amiga-time.  First, my Visa bill is shrinking, which rivals that old
"stopping-the-sun-for-a-day" trick in the Miracle department.  It floored
me to realize how much money I used to spend per month just feeding the
hole in my desk I call Amiga.

And now that there is no new stuff to buy, I'm forced to actually USE the
stuff I bought before.

Which is leading me to discover all kinds of new stuff...

Like style-sheets in FinalWriter, and a radial gradient tint in
Photogenics, and the best adjustments in EnPrint for getting near- photo
print quality from my Epson Stylus Color printer.  And back in the
pre-christmas money-flush fast-time I used to envy Mac and PC users having
Photoshop (MSP=3D$699) when we didn't and I wished Adobe would port it to
the Amiga; but now, after really digging into ImageFX, combining it with
Imagemaster and OpalPaint, I realize that I could do the same things with
my humble Amiga for half the software cost.  So, Adobe, don't call us,
we'll call you...

Yep. Actually using the software I own...what a concept!

Another phenomenon I noticed was how scintillating, stimulating, and
facinating it is to be with my wife conversing intelligently about life,
the universe and everything (including Doug Adams).  About working with my
hands to rebuild and redecorate the house (I forgot how much fun it was),
to custom-frame forgotten pictures I bought countless Windycons ago, to
refinish those antique lawyer's bookcases we bought last year.

Yup.  Regaining and improving the Balance in my life.  Well that's up there
with the "Go-ahead-and-pinch-yourself, Lazarus" trick in the Miracle
department...

And for those of you who don't know what the hell I'm talking about... 
...get a life...
@endnode
@node OPINION2 "Support Your Local Amiga Magazine"
@toc OPINION

===========================================================================
                     Support Your Local Amiga Magazine
  By Robert Davis                                          rdavis@nyx.net
===========================================================================

   The purpose of this article is to persuade you to support the last
remaining Amiga magazine published in North America.

   Look at this list:
     AmigaWorld
     AmigaWorld Tech Journal
     Avid
     Compute's Amiga Resource
     Amiga Transactor
     AC's Tech/Amiga
     The Sentry
     Ahoy! Amiga
     AmigoTimes
     .info

   And probably I have missed a few.  Those were all Amiga specific slick
magazines which were published in North America and which are now gone. 

   There is only Amazing Computing left, and I urge you to subscribe to
that magazine.  In Usenet news groups, questions appear every day about
where to purchase Amiga hardware, software, and accessories.   Most of the
replies come from people who look up the answers in Amazing Computing.  AC
is the only paper magazine left where one can find advertising aimed at the
Amiga community.

   If the retailers don't have a market, or don't think they have a market,
they will vanish from the Amiga scene.  Advertising and sales to customers
are completely dependant upon one and the other.  Without a place to
advertise to the whole Amiga community, the retailers will not sell their
products, and the products will follow the retailers to invisibility. 

   But you say, you read Amiga Report to get the news.  Of course, but AR
is different.  AR is distributed electronically, and is sent out as an
AmigaGuide or HyperText Markup Language file.  Just how many people other
than those who already have an Amiga can read AmigaGuide files?  How many
people without a computer can read files in HTML?  Amazing Computing
appears on news stands, and keeps the Amiga name before the public.

   One part of the strategy to keep Amiga computers available is to get
people who don't own Amigas to buy new ones.  If the computer buying public
does not even know that the machine exists, they will not even consider
purchasing an Amiga.  So simply keeping the name before the public is most
important, and if you subscribe to AC, you will help that effort.

   If your favorite news stand does not carry AC, then ask them to do so. 
They just might take a few copies, and someone who does not know about our
favorite computer might see it and be impressed.

   What about the British magazines?  There are still several, and one
supposedly publishes a North American edition.  But I have only seen one
copy of that magazine, and it belonged to a subscriber.   So far, I have
never seen that magazine on a news rack, and therefore I must conclude that
Amazing, which has been published since the middle 1980s, is more important
to the North American success of the Amiga.

   The British editions of those magazines look good, and are actually
available in many bookstores.  But the advertising does not cater to the
market in the United States or Canada. 

   I certainly don't work for Amazing Computing, and the only time they
ever published an article of mine was nearly two years ago in their now
discontinued AC's Tech.  But I have a stake in the success of the Amiga,
and therefore I have a stake in the success of Amazing Computing.  You do
too, whether you realize it or not.

   Oh, yes.  Their address and telephone number:

   Amazine Computing/Amiga
   PIM Publications
   PO Box 2140
   Fall River MA 02722
   ($27/year US, $34/year Canada)
   508-678-4200  800-345-3360

[In all fairness to Mr. Davis, and in no way to demean Amazing Computing,
but there is also the Amiga Computing US version as well, intended to
replace Amiga World.  True, it's not quite the same.  They can be reached
as edit@acomp.demon.co.uk.  -Jason]

@endnode
@node NEWS1 "Amiga Technologies at CEBIT"
@toc NEWS

AMIGA Technologies GmbH
with ESCOM at the CEBIT.

Amiga Surfer, new AMIGA Prototype,
Informations about the Power-PC Project

For the first time in over two years, AMIGA computers will be presented
again officially by the manufacturer at the largest computer fair in the
world: The Cebit.  From 14th to 20th of March, AMIGA Technologies GmbH will
be represented on the ESCOM booth in hall 11 with new products.  AMIGA
computers will also be seen on the Microvitec and Motorola booths.

The AMIGA-Surfer, a complete Internet computer with software, modem,
connection and free hours is now available at a price of 1199 DM.  The
Surfer can be connected to a TV-set or to a standard VGA monitor.  The
solution is based on the AMIGA 1200 with a 260 MB harddrive, 2 MB of RAM
and a 14.400 bps modem.  Thanks to its resource-saving features, the highly
optimized AMIGA-OS makes cost-effective solutions like the Surfer possible.
Also the excellent multitasking abilities of its OS makes the AMIGA the
ideal multimedia and Internet machine.

A prototype of the new AMIGA will be shown for the first time worldwide at
the CEBIT fair in Hannover, Germany.  AMIGA Technologies GmbH will hereby
expand the AMIGA product line for the advanced home user and the
semi-professional market.  Modularity, futuristic design and expansion
capability are the main edges of the new product.

The motherboard features two SIMM sockets, on which the memory can be

increased up to 128 MB.  The main processor used will be the 680EC30 / 40
MHz.  This combination allows a product at a tight price with a good
computing power.  With the available flexible expansion bus, turbo cards
with processors like the 68060 or the PowerPC will be easily installable.

This expansion bus can also be used with graphic-cards, multi-serial cards,
MPEG cards etc.  The modular concept makes the addition of further slots
possible, so that the user can define how many expansion slots he will have
in his machine.  This way, the basic machine can be turned into a tower.
This design concept will be the base of the coming AMIGA-Generation.

The new AMIGA will be shipped with a revisited version 3.2 of the AMIGA-OS.
New features and many enhancements will give the system more power and
flexibility.

The Power-PC project is also moving forward.  Thanks to the close
cooperation with Motorola and Phase 5, the porting of the AMIGA-OS will be
achieved within the announced schedule.  The first Power AMIGA will be
available early in 1997, as planned.  Until then, it is also foreseeable
that Phase 5 will release the first Power PC cards for existing AMIGAs.
The development of the OS is led by former top-AMIGA-engineers.

Info: Gilles Bourdin - AMIGA Technologies - Berliner Ring 89 - D-64625
BENSHEIM Tel +49 6252 709 195 - Fax +49 6252 709 520 email gbo@amiga.de
-HTTP://www.amiga.de

@endnode
@node NEWS2 "European Software Creators"
@toc NEWS

ESC (European Software Creators)
Information Folder v5.01
==========================================

What is ESC?
-------------

 ESC is a usergroup whose members pool their resources to develop
interesting applications under various different platforms for many
different computers.  ESC is free to join, but is not a non-profit making
organisation.  While nobody owns ESC, it is organised by a commitee of six
people.  The commitee's main objective is to efficently organise the
group's resources to release as many shareware/freeware programs under ESC
and to market them efficently on the WWW.

Can I Join ESC?
---------------

 While ESC is free to join there are some membership requirements.  In
order to join the usergroup you must first have some sort of email
connection to the internet (this can be a proper internet email address, a
compuserve address or some kind of BBS fido->internet gateway).  Another
requirement is you must own your own computer or have regular access to one
(daily basis).  You must also have some knowledge of application
development, whether its a good idea for a program, the ability to program
under a specific language(s), interested in computer graphics (you also
need software and hardware to produce logos, images etc), or have some kind
of midi system (ie.  computer musicians). 

 ESC has three types of members, of course members aren't necessarily tied
to one type.  (1) Existing Shareware Authors, (2) ESC Developers, (3) ESC
Group Developers.

(1) If you are an existing shareware author and wish to continue to develop
applications on your own and in private, then this type of membership is
for you.  As an existing shareware author you simply release your
shareware/freeware programs through ESC.  ESC will create a webpage for
your new application and add it to our site.  We will also distribute it
across our existing distribution channels.  Of course the other will have
to add the suitable ESC End-User-License Agreement (which they my modify
with our approval), and place the ESC name and/or logo in the opening
screen or about-box (if its a windows application).

(2) ESC Developers are the main bulk of our members.  As an ESC developer
you'll receive weekly project updates on available projects.  You'll be
able to work with other ESC members on new applications.  You'll also be
asked to beta-test applications from time to time.  ESC Developers will
also benefit from everyone working on various standardisations within ESC,
whether this is writing standard code-engines or developing new APIs.  ESC
developers will be asked to work on R&D projects from time to time.  As ESC
developers you will also benefit from commercial programs.  As ESC grows,
companies will hopefully ask us to develop applications for them.
Therefore professional programmers will also benifit from become members
even if they have no interest in developing shareware or freeware
applications.

(3) Existing programming groups such as other usergroups, small companies
etc are also welcome to join ESC provided that they only develop shareware
or freeware applications.  In this case, the group would maintain their
existing name, and develop applications with ESC Presents...  a <whatever>
production...  While the program will essentially be released by the group,
it will be released as an ESC product.

Who Can't Join ESC?
---------------------

    People who can't join ESC include :-

1) Companies which develop commerical software (ie.  Microsoft, IBM,
   QuarterDeck, Netscape etc).

2) Current employees of those companies.

3) People without email addresses

4) People who aren't computer musicians, artists, programmers or other
   types of developers.  So if YOU CAN'T develop you CAN'T join.

How To Join ESC
----------------

To Join ESC you will need to fill out the form which will accompany this
file in another message.  Membership is FREE.  Existing Shareware authors
are asked to add the ESC logo and/or name, plus an End-User-License
agreement to their application.  Once an archived copy of their application
is received and tested, a web page will be created and their application
will be available for download via ftp.

Once You've Joined ESC
-----------------------

Once you've joined ESC you'll get this file, a form which will ask you for
additional details, and a project creation form.  The project creation for
is fairly important so keep a copy handy.  It is basically what you need to
fill out and email to one of the co-ordinators if you want to start a new
project.  A newsgroup will be setup shortly to allow interaction between
members, and a mailing list will also be constructed.

If you have further ideas or any suggestions email :->

9517316@ul.ie

ESC will have a webserver and mail server setup shortly.

(C) 1996 European Software Creators
@endnode
@node NEWS3 "Aminet CD 10"
@toc NEWS

TITLE

  Aminet CD 10

AUTHOR

  Urban D. Mueller  (umueller@aminet.org)

CONTENTS

  Aminet CD 10 contains, once more, over 1 gig of freely distributable
  software. The newest archive included is from January 3rd. Apart from
  the new software, the CD concentrates on fonts collected from
  various sources. The space is used as follows (after decompression):

    520M of software newer than Aminet CD 9
    330M of fonts, each font in several formats
    170M of top downloads

  ... plus two special highlights:

    PageStream 2.2, unrestricted, with manual+upgrade deal
    TypeSmith 2.5 (latest), slightly restricted, with similar deal

  These two excellent programs give you an absolutely top of the
  range DTP combination. They are licensed to the buyer of the CD
  only, and not freely distributable.

  The freely distributable part is composed as follows:

   650 mods, most of them new
   300 utilities
   300 communications programs
   700 programs of other categories

  plus 2000 fonts in Postscript, Intellifont and bitmap format, stored
  in large archives but easy to preview and extract. All fonts are 
  hinted for better appearance, and most fonts are available in all 
  formats.

ACCESS SOFTWARE

  Still the well known Amigaguide based user interface with extensive
  search facilities. Some bugs fixed.


PRICES

  The CD can be ordered from the following addresses: (credit cards OK)

  Germany: Stefan Ossowski          (English spoken)
           Tel:   +49-201-788778
           Fax:   +49-201-798447
           Email: stefano@tchest.e.eunet.de

           Price: DM 25

  USA:     Fred Fish
           Tel:   +1-602-491-0442
           Email: orders@amigalib.com

           Price: $19.95

  Prices exclude shipping. Subscriptions are available. A complete index
  is found in docs/lists/Aminet-CD-10.lha

  Authors of software on the CD are entitled to one free CD. Send
  HELP FREEBIES to aminet-server@wuarchive.wustl.edu for more info.

  Aminet Set 1 and Aminet Set 2 are still available and give you,
  together with this CD and CD 9, a complete snapshot of Aminet.
@endnode
@node NEWS4 "Oberon System V4"
@toc NEWS

TITLE

  Oberon System V4 for Amiga

VERSION

  1.1

AUTHOR

  Stefan Ludwig, Claudio Nieder, Ralf Degner

  E-Mail: ludwig@inf.ethz.ch, degner@pallas.amp.uni-hannover.de

  S-Mail: Stefan Ludwig
          Institut fuer Computersysteme
          ETH-Zentrum
          CH-8092 Zuerich

DESCRIPTION

  Oberon System V4 for Amiga (O4A) is a full implementation of
  ETH Zurich's Oberon System V4.

  Oberon is both a programming language and an operating system
  developed by Prof. N. Wirth and Prof. J. Gutknecht.

  The Oberon System in key words:
   - Single-process multitasking
   - Garbage collector - memory will be released automatically if
     not needed anymore
   - Commandos: procedures that can be called like programs
   - Dynamic loading: modules are loaded and linked to the system
     during run-time (if necessary)
   - Text as a built-in abstract data type (for example a
     Minesweeper game as a letter (like OLE and OpenDOC))
   - Graphical user interface

  A special advantage is the very high compatibility of the systems
  between implementations on different computers. System V4
  implementations exist for Amiga, Mac, Power Mac, Windows (NT),
  Linux, IBM-RS6000, Sun-Sparc, HP-Workstations, NeXt, ...
  You can use a program written on one implementation on any other
  without change.

  O4A is a full implementation of the Oberon System V4 with all
  usual programs. The system runs in its own task and therefore you
  can use O4A and the Amiga OS at the same time. Specific features
  of the Amiga implementation are its incremental heap allocation,
  support of the Amiga clipboard and the capability of accessing
  IFF files.

  The O4A package contains:
   - A full Oberon-2 compiler
   - Development tools (Browser, Analyzer, Disassembler)
   - XE, a comfortable 'editor' with layout functions
   - Kepler, an object-oriented 2D vector drawing program
   - Paint, a simple pixel-oriented paint program
   - A lot of additional tools (Draw, RX, AsciiCoder, ...)
   - Various text elements
   - VT100 terminal emulation
   - Games: Tetris and Minesweeper (with source)
   - Example sources and online documentation

  To get more information about the programming language and
  operating system Oberon have a look at the "Oberon and Amiga"
  WWW page: http://sun1.rrzn.uni-hannover.de/~nhbidegn/oa-e.html
  There you will find links to other Oberon information resources.

NEW FEATURES

  - VT100 terminal emulation
  - Compiler improved
  - Many new Modules
  - Several bug fixes

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

  - Amiga with OS2.0 or higher
  - at least an MC68020
  - a minimum of 1.5 MB free memory (2.5 MB recommended)
  - about 3 MB disk space
  - FPU for floating point calculations
    (without FPU Oberon-NonFPU.lha is required)

AVAILABILITY

  The Home of Oberon is the ETH Zurich. There you can find many
  Oberon System implementations, especially the Amiga version:

  ftp://ftp.inf.ethz.ch/pub/Oberon/Amiga/V1.1/

  Oberon.lha (1.0 MB)        - main archive
  Oberon-NonFPU.lha (100 KB) - to use O4A without FPU
  Oberon-Src.lha (600 KB)    - the full source of O4A
  Oberon-Fonts.lha (340 KB)  - additional fonts

  It is available in the Aminet directory dev/obero, too.

PRICE

  It's free, but not PD.

DISTRIBUTABILITY

  Oberon System V4 for Amiga is (C)opyright 1990-96 by
  Claudio Nieder, Stefan Ludwig, Ralf Degner and
  the Institute for Computer Systems ETH Zurich.

  All files in the archives are freeware. You can use it in any
  way you like but you must not include part of it in a
  commercial product.
--
Ralf Degner
Mail: degner@pallas.amp.uni-hannover.de
WWW : http://sun1.rrzn.uni-hannover.de/~nhbidegn
@endnode
@node NEWS5 "JAM Merges with Em"
@toc NEWS

PRESS RELEASE: 29/2/1996

JUST AMIGA MONTHLY MERGES WITH EM MAGAZINE

To All:

Just Amiga Monthly, known as JAM, has been taken over by LH Publishing,
publishers of the Amiga DTP magazine Em.  The details of this takeover are
as follows:

Approx 3 to 4 weeks ago, Jeff Walker, founder publisher of the subscription
magazine Just Amiga Monthly, (JAM), asked LH Publishing (publishers of Em
magazine and run by Larry Hickmott) to take over ownership of the magazine
JAM.  LH Publishing have agreed.

The deal made was simple.  The ownership of JAM, formerly with Bookmark
Publishing was to be transfered to LH Publishing in return for LH
Publishing agreeing to honour the current outstanding subscriptions. 

It is LH Publishing`s view that the Amiga needs a subscription based
magazine to publish the type of information currently ignored by the glossy
magazines.  Since November of 1994, LH Publishing has already been
successful in building up a large customer base for its own magazine Em.
By taking on Jam, that user base has doubled. 

The cost of the deal is simply the amount of money it will cost LH
Publishing to continue honouring the outstanding subscriptions from JAM
subscribers.  This is expected to to fall over the long term, providing
support for the magazine continues.  NO money has been exchanged between
Bookmark publishing and LH Publishing.

The format of both the magazines Em and JAM will therefore change to cut
costs while still providing a worthwhile service to the Amiga community.
The magazine Em will now carry the JAM logo on the cover in respect for the
subscribers of JAM.  The content of the magazine will, it is expected,
evolve over the next few months to reflect a balance between desktop
publishing (from Em) to other more wide ranging Amiga subjects that are
normally covered by JAM.

The next issue of Em (number 9) (carrying the JAM logo), is due out in the
next week or so and is going to press on Monday.  With the taking on of
JAM, LH Publishing is hoping that it can now concentrate on publishing the
magazine and therefore produce the magazine on a monthly basis.

All the JAM subscribers on the database given to LH Publishing (as well as
Em subscribers), will be sent a copy of the next issue of EM, and in which
the situation will be explained more fully. 

LH Publishing can only provide answers to questions about the future of JAM
and Em together.  It cannot answer questions about JAM previous to February
of this year.  The last issue of JAM was 58.

Head publisher at LH Publishing, Larry Hickmott, is a former editor of JAM,
prior to issue 41, and is open to suggestions and contributions from
current subscribers as well as interested parties.

Anyone wanting further information on JAM or Em, can email LH Publishing
at: larry@em.powernet.co.uk
@endnode
@node NEWS6 "SoftWood Web Services"
@toc NEWS

Softwood, Inc.  would like to announce SoftWood Web Services.  

As an introduction to our new service.  During the month of March you can
get your personal web page for as little as $5.00 per month*.  This will
include a number of graphics, links and information about yourself that you
would like to share with all of the other web surfers out there in
CYBERSPACE.  If you would like to make your jump onto the Information
Superhighway call SoftWood, Inc.  at (602) 431-0949 or email
webmaster@softwood.com. 

* Includes $25.00 setup fee.  One year minimum.
@endnode
@node NEWS7 "ShapeShifter v3.4"
@toc NEWS

TITLE

  ShapeShifter

VERSION

  3.4

AUTHOR

  Christian Bauer

  EMail: bauec002@goofy.zdv.uni-mainz.de
  SMail: Christian Bauer, Max-Planck-Str.60, 55124 Mainz, Germany

DESCRIPTION

  ShapeShifter is a multitasking shareware Macintosh-II emulator for
  the Amiga and DraCo computers. It allows to run Macintosh software
  concurrently to Amiga applications without hardware add-ons or
  modifications.

  Some of the emulation's features:

   - Color display up to 256 colors on AGA Amigas (16 colors on ECS)
     and up to 16.7 million colors on graphics cards
   - Support for one or two monitors
   - No MMU required, even runs on A1200
   - Macintosh hard disks can be simulated in Amiga files or Amiga
     hard disk partitions
     [unregistered version has no hard disk partition support]
   - Can use Amiga floppy drives, serial, parallel and SCSI ports
     from the Mac
     [use of SCSI not possible in unregistered version]
   - Mac HD disks can be read directly with an HD floppy drive,
     Mac 720K disks can be used with any Amiga floppy drive. To use
     Mac 800K disks, you have to own CrossMAC and an original Mac
     drive
   - Multichannel sound output and parallel-port sound digitizers
     supported
   - Access to Ethernet networks
   - Text clipboard sharing between Mac and Amiga
   - File handler to access Macintosh volumes from the Workbench
   - Speed comparable to a real Mac with equivalent hardware

  The most important changes in V3.4:

   - The Ethernet driver has been improved and now also allows the
     use of MacIPX
   - Together with an Emplant card, using LocalTalk is possible
   - Forced quitting of Mac programs with Command-Shift-Escape works
   - Better co-operation with SCSI cards from phase 5
   - ShapeShifter runs again on the DraCo

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

  OS2.1, 68020 processor, 4MB of RAM, HD floppy drive recommended.
  A copy of a Macintosh 512K or 1MB ROM and the Macintosh system
  software are not included, but required. The ROM can be read off
  of a real Mac by using a supplied program, the system software
  can be bought from Apple. Note, however, that reading the ROM is
  only legal if you have bought the ROMs or own a real Macintosh.

AVAILABILITY

  Aminet sites: /misc/emu/ShapeShifter.lha
  ftp://ftp.biologie.uni-erlangen.de/pub/shapeshifter/ShapeShifter3_4.lha
  Next Generation BBS, Germany (ShapeShifter support BBS)
    Port 1: +49-261-805012  (Zyx19.2/ISDN)
    Port 2: +49-261-84280   (V.FC)

PRICING

  The requested shareware fee is DM 50,- or US$ 40.
  Upon registration you will receive a keyfile that enables the
  disabled features (SCSI and hard disk partition support).

DISTRIBUTABILITY

  Shareware (DM 50,- or US$ 40 requested)
@endnode
@node NEWS8 "Escom Shares Lower on Loss Announcement"
@toc NEWS

[From the Bloomberg Newswire, sent in by Lamar Morgan of Amiga Atlanta]

Bochem, Germany, March 1st -- Escom AG shares dropped almost 18 percent after
the company said its banks and shareholders will inject 100 million deutsche
marks ($86 million) to help it overcome a higher-than-expected 1995 loss.

The Germany computer maker and retailer said it expects a 1995 loss of 125
million marks instead of the previously forecast loss of 45 million marks.  It
blamed weaker prices and declining sales.

Its shares, which were suspended Wednesday pending the announcement, opened
today at 13.50 marks, down 2.90 marks from 16.40 marks per share when trading
was suspended.

"The company is operating in a weak consumer market with eroding margins and
it overstretched itself in its expansion," said Patrick Shield, an analyst at
Natwest Securities in London.

Escom attributed the higher-than-expected losses to a fall in prices, weak
sales in the fourth quarter in markets including Germany and Australia, and
higher startup costs and lower sales than expected in the U.K.

Escom said that of the 100 million marks of new capital, 60 million marks will
come from an increase in Escom's credit line by major bank lenders.

"The main shareholders have guaranteed to come up with the funds," said Bernd
Wirsing, a spokesman for Escom.

Escom's main shareholders are founder Manfred Schmitt, who owns 48.5 percent
of the equity in advance of the capital increase; Quelle-Schickedanz AG & Co.,
which has 25 percent; and Seimens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG, which holds
10 percent.  Some 16.5 percent is owned by other investors.

"The small investors will be able to buy new shares too," said Wirsing.  He
said it was "too early" to say how much the main shareholders would increase
their stakes.  Wirsing said the capital will be available "within the next few
More [Y/n/=]:days."

Escom's sales in 1995 were 2.35 billion marks.  The company has not yet broken
them down by region.
@endnode
@node NEWS9 "Schmitt Asks for Vote of Confidence"
@toc NEWS

Escom CEO Schmitt Asks for Vote of Confidence

After announcing higher-than-expected losses, Escom AG CEO Manfred Schmitt
submitted a resignation offer to Escom's board of directors, asking for a
direct vote to retain him as chief executive officer of the company.

However, as related to Amiga Report by Amiga Technologies Press Officer
Gilles Bourdin, the board did indeed vote to keep Schmitt on.
@endnode
@node NEWS10 "New Magazine -- AmigaInfo"
@toc NEWS

New Magazine, AmigaInfo--Details

Magazine information

    Name:          AmigaInfo
    Pages:         52 pages, A4 100 4-color
    Editor:        Thomas Svenson

    Subscription:  Provpren  3 issues    SEK  85
                   Halvår    6 issues    SEK 165
                   Helår    12 issues    SEK 315

    Address:       AmigaInfo
                   Box 63
                   340 36 MOHEDA
                   Sweden

    Phone:  +46  472-708 45  ·  Fax:  +46  472-716 80  ·  BBS:  +46  472-712 70
    E-mail:  amigainfo@dcn.se  ·  HomePage:  http://www.dcn.se/amigainfo

Short info: AmigaInfo is a new printed Amiga-magazine in Sweden.  It will
cover most of what the Amiga can be used for, have articles about where the
Amiga is used, who uses it, and so on.  There will be a lot of reviews of
new Amiga-products.  AmigaInfo will be a useful source for the users to
learn how to use the Amiga better, how to connect it to internet, exchange
information with other computers and a lot more.
@endnode
@node NEWS11 "Cloanto Press Releases"
@toc NEWS

Amiga Software Announcement

Udine, March 4, 1996

Personal Paint for Internet Publishing

As more and more organizations and individuals publish their work on the
World Wide Web, it is becoming more important to stand out with carefully
thought out Web pages. Graphics play an important part in this. Poorly
implemented pages annoy the users with images having wrong or missing
transparency information, lack of progressive display, and huge files
containing 256-color images where 16 colors could have achieved the same
results.

Cloanto's Personal Paint is an excellent tool for Internet publishing:
professional color reduction, quantization, dithering and antialiasing
algorithms yield excellent quality at resolutions, numbers of colors and
file sizes which yield optimal results on the Web.

Transparency and progressive display are fully supported by Personal Paint,
and so are new Web formats such as PNG. Cloanto and the Amiga have years of
experience where PC and Mac companies are just beginning to introduce
products.

Personal Paint 6.4 is included with the Amiga in the Internet Surfer pack.
The GIF module for Personal Paint is available from public domain sources.
Current Internet-related projects at Cloanto include new versions of
Personal Paint and a Cloanto Web site. More details on these will be
announced soon.

Public Domain GIF Module for Personal Paint

Cloanto has just released a new GIF I/O module ("personal_gif_io.library"
version 5.0) for Personal Paint, with includes support and documentation
for Internet features such as transparency and progressive display. The
archive has been placed in the public domain, and is available through
sources such as CompuServe and the Aminet. This material should be
especially useful for Internet developers (as it puts Personal Paint in
control of specific options of GIF89a), and users of the Amiga bundle packs
(in which Personal Paint is supplied without the GIF module).

On CompuServe: GO AMIGAUSER, Library 8, GIF_IO.LHA
On the Aminet: gfx/conv/gif_io.lha

DataTypes for the Amiga Surfer Pack

Cloanto has completed development of a set of high-quality Amiga DataTypes
for the GIF, JPEG, PNG and XBM formats, which are fast, system compliant,
and support unusual format variants. These DataTypes incorporate years of
experience acquired with Personal Paint. The DataTypes allow the Amiga
Surfer pack to process more than 99.5% of the pictures on the Web. This is
a higher average than comparable Mac and PC systems.

The new DataTypes are included with the Amiga in the Surfer pack.

Cloanto and CD-ROMs

With the Personal Suite CD-ROM, Cloanto was the first company launching an
Amiga CD-ROM product containing quality commercial (not freely available)
software at a popular price. Initially, this was felt as a particularly
risky task, given that in the Amiga community CD-ROMs are often perceived
as low-quality collections of existing, free distribution software. While
the Personal Suite in its metal box full of commercial software is now
becoming a collector's item, Cloanto is proud to release The Kara
Collection CD-ROM.

With the help of the Amiga community, new CD-ROM titles are being
developed. Products to be announced soon include Photo CD software.

New from Cloanto: The Kara Collection CD-ROM

This CD-ROM includes for the first time the complete collection of
ColorFonts, AnimFonts, Starfields and Plaquegrounds, plus a full set of
support tools by Kara Computer Graphics and Cloanto.

This is not a compilation of public domain material. Kara fonts are used by
the finest professionals on different computing platforms. They are great
for pictures, animations, titling effects and presentations. The CD-ROM
contains 80 Amiga ColorFonts (with effects like Brick, Glass, Chrome,
Chisel, etc.), plus hundreds of alternate color palettes. All ColorFonts
are also supplied in different formats used by video titling packages. The
CD-ROM includes the new Cloanto ColorType software, which allows the user
to apply changes to the ColorFonts (also automatically via ARexx). The
Cloanto Personal Fonts Maker package and additional printer-downloadable
fonts in black & white are also included.

AnimFonts use animated brushes to render effects like handwriting, rotating
characters, fuse-like sparkles, etc. The fonts can be used to create
animations with any Amiga package supporting Anim-Brushes. The CD-ROM
contains a software upgrade with Anim-Brush extensions for users of
Personal Paint, plus ARexx scripts to automate the rendering process. As
Kara says, "So long to the laborious task of placing individual letters...
This is the way AnimFonts were meant to be!!!"

The set of Starfields animations includes moving stars seen from different
perspectives, plus animated space objects. The collection of Plaquegrounds
contains textures and backgrounds (e.g. granite, marble, sand-stone, wood,
etc.) stored in different syles and sizes (as 24-bit images and in other
popular formats). Starfields and Plaquegrounds can be used alone, or as a
background for the ColorFonts and AnimFonts.

Cloanto has a tradition of quality packages at an affordable price.  This
CD-ROM contains ten years of artwork by Kara Computer Graphics, at a
fraction of the price of the original, separate packages.  Most of the
material in The Kara Collection is being brought to the public for the
first time, exclusively on this CD-ROM.

For more information send E-mail to <info@cloanto.it>.
.................................................................
.                                                               .
.    Cloanto Italia srl               Tel +39 432 545902        .
.    Via G. B. Bison 24               Fax +39 432 609051        .
.    33100 Udine                      E-mail info@cloanto.it    .
.    Italy                            CompuServe 100145.15      .
.................................................................
@endnode
@node NEWS12 "Escom Announces Loss"
@toc NEWS

Escom Announced 125 Mio. DEM Loss

Escom will consolidate with a 125 Mio.  DEM loss for 1995 (about 86 Mio
USD).

This was announced by the company on last friday (3/1/96).  Reasons given
were the bad christmas season 1995, a weaker demand for PCs, a general fall
in prices and initial losses for several acquisitions.

High inventories of unsold products have been build up, which have to be
depreciated now.  This adds heavily to the losses.

After some years of heavy growth, 1996 will become the year of
consilidation, said the company.

Some shareholders and banks will support Escom with 100 Mio DEM, 60 Mio. 
will be raised by issuing extra shares, 40 Mio.  will consist of bank
credits.
@endnode
@node NEWS13 "Amiga Dinner in Atlanta"
@toc NEWS

Remember the Amiga Dinner in Atlanta?

  Well I do...I was there!  If you missed it, now you can have a taste of
  what you missed!

  Saturday March 16th at noon (eastern standard USA time), we will be
  showing the whole thing on the net!  See and hear Dave Haynie, Jason
  Compton, Fred Fish, and MANY others!!

So what do you need to do?
--------------------------
 login to any slip or slip emulation account.  Get CuSeeMe.  (availible on
 most platforms) Tune in the CU-SeeMe reflector "noel.pd.org" IP:
 128.140.1.88 then sit back and enjoy!

If you need help with this, send email to banquet@ttlchaos.randomc.com

Cu-SeeMe client software can also be had by anonymous FTP to
ttlchaos.randomc.com in the /banquet/cuseeme directory.

---

The video can be purchased on VHS in NTSC or PAL formats by sending check
or money order to the address below.  Note that conversion to PAL and
shipping to foreign countries will add a little to the price.  Look at our
web page for more information at http://www.mindspring.com/~amigaatl

[The tape reportedly retails for $24.00]

Color photographs of the Amiga celebrities can also be purchased for
$2.50/ea or downloaded from the FTP site above in grayscale preview format.
See the lists for more information about purchasing photographs.

Amiga Atlanta, Inc.
PO Box 49103
Atlanta, GA  30359-1103     

Please address all email questions to banquet@ttlchaos.randomc.com

Tune in and experiance part of amiga history!

-  Robert Hamilton  ( cyber1@noel.pd.org )
-  Eric Webb        ( EricWebb@ttlchaos.randomc.com )
@endnode
@node NEWS14 "Amiga CDROM Guide"
@toc NEWS

TITLE

  Amiga CDROM Guide

VERSION

  1.5

AUTHOR

  Anders Bakkevold. (andersb@intercom.no)

DESCRIPTION

  Amiga CDROM Guide (ACDG) was made to help Amiga-owners
  to pick the right CDROM for their needs. It doesn't
  include commecial games or photoCD-discs, but all Amiga
  PD/clipart/fonts/modules collections.

  - It is in the Amigaguide-format.

  - You will find all the vital information on a CDROM, like
    price, contents, publisher etc.

  - Covers 314 CDROMs!

  - 145+ of the CDROMs have a review

  - If you're interrested in for instance raytracing, click
    on the keyword "Raytracing" to get a list of all CDROMs
    that can be assosiated with ratracing.

  - Other keywords: Clipart, fonts, pictures, utilities,
    GNU, text-files, fish etc

  - It's up-to-date with the latest CDROM releases.

  - It is completely independent

  All in all:   680kB of pure information!

NEW FEATURES

v1.5   Sixth release. Contains information about 314 CD-ROMs.
   - 30 CD-ROMs Added:
     Advanced Military Systems
     All Dogs Go To Heaven
     Aminer 10
     AMUC CD 4
     Animatic
     CD-ROM World Atlas
     CD32 Gamer Issue 10
     CD32 Gamer Issue 6
     CD32 Gamer Issue 8
     CD32 Gamer Issue 9
     Clipart & Fonts CD
     Demos & Tools 1
     Desktop Publisher's Dream 2
     Digital Orchestra
     EMC Index CD
     EMC Phase 4
     Encounters
     FractalPro Image Library 1
     Gamers' Delight 2
     Glamour Girls
     Lightwave 3D Enhancer
     Netnews Offline 1
     Nothing But GIFs AGA
     Octamed 6 CD
     Publisher's Companion
     Sexy Sensations
     Syndenis 3D-ROM
     Texture Heaven 2
     The New Basics Electronic Cookbook
     XiPaint v3.2

   - the ISBN field has been removed because it took too much space, and
   not many CDs used it. The ISBN number will now appear in the "comments"
   field. (Saved ~35kB!)
   - a lot of info added, for instance many reviews from Amiga Format
   - 145+ of the CDs have a review

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

  You will need a program able to display Amigaguide
  files, like Multiview or xkpGuide.

AVAILABILITY

  Amiga CDROM Guide is available from any Aminet site,
  for instance:

  ftp://ftp.amigalib.com/pub/aminet/docs/hyper/ACDGv15.lha

  You can also email me (andersb@intercom.no) and I will
  send you the latest version uuencoded.

  There is also a WWW version available here:
  http://www.intercom.no/~andersb/acdg/MAIN.html

PRICE

  Amiga CDROM Guide is freeware.

DISTRIBUTABILITY

  Amiga CDROM Guide v1.5 is copyright 1995 Anders Bakkevold.
  All rights reserved. You may copy it as you like, as
  long as no changes are made to the archive, and you
  don't charge more than #2.00 for the media and
  copying fees.
@endnode
@node NEWS15 "Workshop 96"
@toc NEWS

                                WORKSHOP 96
                    THIS IS A SECRET! DON'T TELL ANYONE!
                        4-7 April (Easter hollidays!)

WHY BOTHER?

   * No sponsors, no commercializing. Unlike the some (no names mentioned)
     parties here in dk we're sponsorless :-) This can however be seen when
     looking at our grandprize. But we truly believe that the main reason to
     come to a party shouldn't be monetary.

   * Featuring the Danish internet group: AMIGOS! 
     This group has got it own mailingserver and local sub-clubs across the 
     country which often meet weekly.

   * A nice kitchen. We can make really cheap food this way! The taste is up
     to you.. so is the dishing. ;-)

   * Seperate sleeping chambers (without raves). Yep it's true. 2 wooden
     doors between these rooms and the partyscene.

   * Small, cosy, cheap, keeeewl.

   * 500 dkr (approx. 75 $) to win in the BEST PRODUCT Amiga Competition!
     GO FOR IT! This is not an impossible competition!

HOW MUCH?

   * Entrance all 4 days : 59 kr!

WHERE?

   * SindalBorgen
     Parallelvej 8
     9870 Sindal, Northern Jutland.
     Denmark

   * Party-phone: 98936430.

WORKSHOP '96 MERCHANDISE!

   * The Workshop '96 hoopy party-on T-shirt is now available. It has
     colorprinting on the back.
   * Special offer prize: 61 dkr. Remarkable quality. Guaranteed to soak
     sweat for a week.

HOW DO I SIGN UP????

Simple. Use the form below or the phonenumber. If you want more information
concerning the party you are welcome to use the phonenumber below, or email
dapp@iesd.auc.dk.

   * Checkout : http://www.iesd.auc.dk/~dapp/workshop96

   * Call (+45) 98145327, and leave your telephone #, and how many chummers
     you're bringing. An answering machine will serve you 24h a day.

   * Fill out the form!

       Name          :
       E-Mail        :
       Telephone     :
       Address       :
       City, Country :
       Computer      :
       Comment       :
       Order T-Shirt : (YES/NO)

HOW DO I GET THERE?

   * Train/bus all the way from Copenhagen -> Aarhus -> Aalborg -> Sindal.

   * Train/bus from Frederikshavn -> Sindal.

   * The partyplace is approx 1 km from the trainstation - "pickups" will be
     available you might wanna phone : 98-936430 to get in touch with
     organizers. Observe! This number is only available from the 4 April - 7
     April.

See ya on Workshop'96.
@endnode
@node NEWS16 "DblScan 4000"
@toc NEWS

DBLSCAN 4000

DblScan 4000 upgrades the Amiga's PAL/NTSC screenmodes, unsuitable for 
regular VGA/SVGA/Multisync monitors, in a way that any PC's monitor is 
able to show them. The resulting effect is completely compatible with 
all Amiga programs.

DblScan 4000's output is full 24 bit, so not a single bit of picture 
information is lost. Only the screenmodes which need upgrading are 
affected by the device, all other modes are fed right through with 
absolutely no changes. 

DblScan 4000 is a terrific way to get even realistic interlaced pictures 
and animations viewable at a large computer monitor. It shows interlaced 
screens exactly in the same order as a video monitor would, while reducing 
the flicker by preventing line drawings over the previous lines. With the 
aid of a graphics card with pass-through for Amiga graphics, the same 
monitor can be used for a very high resolution Workbench.


Technical info:
- Connects to Amiga 4000 video card slot
- 24 bit input/output resolution
- 28 MHz pixel generation
- All screenmodes under 18kHz are doubled
- Support for interlace (blank lines between scanlines)
- Support for NTSC variable length scanlines
- 14 MHz pixel input for doubled screenmodes
- 28 MHz pixel input and full pass-through for undoubled screenmodes
- 15pin standard VGA connector

Method of operation:
PLP DblScan 4000 feeds the Amiga's scanlines at doubled frequency, adding 
an empty line after each scanline. This results as a 15kHz-able monitor 
look at any monitor capable of 31kHz. Unlike a flicker fixer, which 
combines the two buffered interlace fields, PLP DblScan 4000 shows 
interlaced pictures correctly with full 50/60 Hz field update. 

Manufacturer:
Petsoff Limited Partnership   (in Finland: Petsoff Ky)
P.O. Box 1009
FIN-53301  LAPPEENRANTA
FINLAND
Jyrki.Petsalo@lut.fi
@endnode
@node NEWS17 "Argel Pointers 6.0"
@toc NEWS

----<<<{{{[[[ ARGEL POINTERS 6.0 ]]]}}}>>>-----

>>> AVAILABLITY <<<

This is available for ftp at
    musie.phlab.missouri.edu
in      pub/amiga/ArgelPtrs/ArgelPtrs.lha

After much contemplation, these will show up on Aminet as well (in pix/icons
I think).

You can also take a look at them on the WWW at
http://www.missouri.edu/~c621412 (go to the amiga page there).
The ftp site is accesible from the WWW (and there's a link on my web page)

PLUG: Check out my Kathy Troccoli page while you're there!!!

>>> LEGAL STUFF <<<

These pointers are copyright 1995, 1996 by Russ "Argel" LeBar. The original
paladin pointer is copyright 1994. All rights are reserved. These are
eyesoreware - if you hate all of them, send me $10! :-) If any of these
appear on a coverdisk, I MUST get a free copy! These may go on the Fred Fish
CD-ROMs, but I still retain all my rights regarding the mouse pointers.
THESE MAY NOT BE USED FOR ANY OS EXCEPT AMIGADOS!!!

>>> INTRODUCTION / NOTES <<<

These are hires mouse pointers (that means OS3+) with a focus on fantasy
related stuff (e.g.  AD&D character classes; AD&D is a TM of TSR Inc.) plus
some other stuff thrown in like sci-fi (influenced somewhat by Star Wars
and moderatly by the new Buck Rodgers TSR did a few years back [my
experience with it was SSI's Countdown to Doomsday]) and believe it or not
even some Christian related stuff!  [Note that this is sort of a work of
art in that some of these won't make the best pointers...  :-]

OS3.0 users will have to manually load these into the pointer prefs since it
has a bug in it (how annoying!). Don't know if it's fixed in OS3.1 or not.

ECS users must be using the new OS3 monitors (e.g. DBLNTSC) to use these
pointers (I think)!!!

The pointers in my new style all have the same busy pointer - an hour glass
- since I couldn't come up with anything for the fighter and I wanted to
work on the others. (And I'm too lazy to change this now! :-)

>>> A LOT HAS CHANGED!!! <<<

Well, the names have, and there's five new ones this time around. The biggest
change is that the old Paladin is now an Anti-Paladin and I have a new and MUCH
BETTER one now. There are also some females this time around! :-)

(* = new)
(* after a name means it's name was changed)
(a letter after a number (e.g. 00a) means there are two color schemes)

>>> FANTASY HERO POINTERS <<<

o   PRIEST
    o   CLERIC - hotspot is top left diagonal part of hood.
o   ROGUE
    o   BARD - hotspot is top left diagonal part of hood.
    o   HANDLER* (Kender) - hotspot is top left part of hoopak(sp?)
    *   THIEF - hotspot is upper dagger. Watch your back! :-)
o   WARRIOR
    *   AMAZON
        *   00a - (red vixen :)
        *   00b - (blonde)
    o   FIGHTER
        o   00 - (generic)
        o   01 - (generic)
    o   NINJA*
    *   PALADIN - hotspot is the top left of the cross.
    o   RANGER
o   WIZARD
    o   MAGE
        o   00 - hotspot is near the top left of the magic missile.
        *   01 - hotspot is top-left of the staff

>>> FANTASY MONSTER POINTERS <<<
o   Anti-Paladin* - was the original paladin which I never liked
o   Giant Centipede - hotspot is top right tail
*   Hag
    *   00a - hotspot is top of staff
    *   00b - "undead" color scheme

>>> SCI-FI POINTERS <<<
o   SWAT (lightly armed assualt warriors)
o   Shock (moderate armor & armed with plasma cannons)

>>> CHRISTIAN POINTERS <<<
o   CROSS   (Jesus on the cross with Mother Mary and lightning in BG)
    o   00  - Original colors, hotspot left part of horizontal beam
    o   01  - same as 00 except better(?) color scheme

>>> OTHER POINTERS <<<

o   Hourglass (busy) - hotspot is the absolute top left.
o   Paladin 00a - the original one.
o   Paladin 00b - the original using the Paladin (New) color scheme
o   Paladin 01  - Better color scheme. Taken from a picture
    I painted (on my web page in the gallery).

>>> THE FUTURE <<<

YES!! I *finally* got a thief and paladin I like!!! Up next -- maybe some more
DL classes (e.g. cavalier, barbarian). Any suggestions? I'd like to do some good
Christian ones, but I can't think of anything, though the new (TRUE) paladin
could fit the bil for the moment.

>>> THANKS <<<

Thanks go to James R. Godbeer for suggesting I do an AD&D character class
series! Thanks also go to EA for DeluxePaint (though the bugs in DP5 kind
of cancels this out) and Andy and Graham Dean for ImageStudio (WOW!!!).

>>> HISTORY <<<

1.0 Aug. 1995   Ranger & Paladin (plus Others)
2.0 Aug. 1995   Added Mage and Paladin
2.1 Aug. 1995   Whoops! Fixed the "Others/" icons.
3.0 Aug. 1995
            o   Added a Cleric and Thief (Kender).
            o   Colors redone to conform to the default
                OS scheme (transparent, medium, dark, bright).
            o   Got rid of the icons (I use a 16 color
                palette so I had to redo all of them
                everytime I did a new distribution)
                and added an iff picture instead.
4.0 Sep. 1995
            o   Added another fighter, a ninja fighter,
                and a bard.
            o   Demo picture on the WWW (see .signature)

5.0 Oct. 1995   SWAT & Shock warriors, Centipede, and
                The Cross (00 & 01)

6.0 Feb. 1996   Name changes, colors updated (no more black -- now it's
                a dark red or purple), paladin became anti-paladin
                and it got a new color scheme. Five new pointers!

>>> THE AUTHOR <<<

/---Russ-LeBar-------+------ c621412@missouri.edu ---------S()---------\
|   // Dare to Dream | Creator of Argel Ptrs & Term toolstrip imagery  |
| \X/    A M I G A   | A1200-6MB-14Mhz881-426HD  --  Term beta tester  |
|WWW: http://www.missouri.edu/~c621412/ - Kathy Troccoli, artwork, etc.|
|FTP: musie.phlab.missouri.edu in pub/amiga - (Term betas, ArgelPtrs..)|
\------S()--Argel----------- Opinions are mine & thus CORRECT =) ------/
@endnode
@node NEWS18 "Escom Increases Share Capital"
@toc NEWS

ESCOM increases share capital

Bochum/Heppenheim, 7 March 1996.  ESCOM AG today increased its capital with
a cash outlay by DM 59,994,000.  The nominal amount of the capital increase
is DM 30,300,000.  The new shares have been taken over by Commerzbank AG
for the issue consortium and will be offered to shareholders at the
earliest possible date after presentation of the 1995 annual report.  the
increase in capital is part of an agreement between the company, its
associates and bankers by which the company acquires new ressources
amounting approximatively DM 100 million.

Manfred Schmitt, principal shareholder in ESCOM AG, has simultaneously
transferred 16 per cent of the base capital to the BV
Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, a subsidiary of the Bayerische Vereinsbank
AG, and a further 2.5 per cent of the base capital to Siemens Nixdorf
Informationssysteme AG in Paderborn and Munich, whose shareholding is
hereby increased to 12.5%. In so doing, Manfred Schmitt's share has been
cut by nearly 30 per cent. A further major shareholder is Quelle
Schickedanz AG & Co in F=FCrth, whose share at 25 per cent remains unchange=
d.

By this action shareholders and banks have created the right conditions to
give ESCOM AG a more solid financial base and an extension of its circle of
shareholders enabling it to develop its business successfully.

Regards,
Gilles Bourdin
--
Gilles Bourdin / Amiga Technologies GmbH
Public Relations
Email to: gbo@amiga.de  URL: HTTP://www.amiga.de
@endnode

@node NEWS19 "Bandits on the Information Superhighway"
@toc NEWS

SEBASTOPOL, CA (14 March 1996): O'Reilly & Associates, one of the leading
publishers in the computer field, has just released a new book, "Bandits on
the Information Superhighway," by Daniel J.  Barrett.  Known in the Amiga
community for his BLAZEMONGER humor series, Dan has now turned his
attention to a more serious topic: Internet risks.

"The online risks you hear about on the evening news, like pornography,
bomb-making, and child abductions, are extremely over-hyped," said Barrett,
"and most users will never be harmed by them.  'Bandits' is a practical
book: a guide to street smarts on the Net.  It describes how to identify
and avoid common risks that any Internet user is likely to encounter, like
privacy issues, 'make Money Fast' schemes, deceptive advertising, safe
buying and selling in the misc.forsale newsgroups, and online trust."

Other topics covered include pranks, hoaxes, electronic junk mail,
spamming, the "Net pornography" scare, and Internet romance.  "Bandits"
also explains what to do if you get ripped off on the Net: how to locate
and contact postmasters and domain administrators, and what organizations
exist to help victims.  The final chapter speculates on the future of
Internet risks, tapping the expertise of six long-time Internet
participants (including fellow Amigan Mike Meyer).

"Bandits" is written for a general audience and is the third book in
O'Reilly's new "What You Need To Know" series.  All books in the series are
designed for browsability -- just open anywhere and start reading.  In
addition, tips and anecdotes from experienced users are sprinkled
throughout the text.  (There's even a subtle BLAZEMONGER reference or two.)


Bandits (246 pages, ISBN 1-56592-156-9) is priced at $17.95 (US) and
available at many bookstores, or direct at 800-998-9938 or 707-829-0515. 
To read a free, sample chapter, visit the Bandits web site at

      http://www.ora.com/info/bandits/

Book reviews can be found at

      http://www.ora.com/item/bandits.html

Questions?  Email nuts@ora.com, or Dan Barrett at dbarrett@ora.com.

@endnode
@node FEATURE1 "AWeb Conference"
@toc FEATURE

===========================================================================
                              AWeb Conference
===========================================================================

[AWeb, a non-MUI HTML browser, has caused quite a stir even though it has
not officially been released yet.  A couple of months back, the author held
an independently scheduled IRC conference to discuss the program. -Jason]

Formatted Log of Conference on #AWebBrowser on the 21st January 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------
<< Formatted by Stone-D of #Amiga EFNET                             >>
<< Original Log from Steiner of #Amiga EFNET                        >>
<< Further formatted by Katherine Nelson of Amiga Report            >>

<--             Begin Log             -->

rozijn: Yvon Rozijn, author of AWeb.

<< #AWebBrowser >>

lammy       :where can we get e demo of aweb ?
rozijn      :lammy: in feb or march the real version from aminet

DrWho       :rozijn: multiple sockets in the plans somewhere
rozijn      :lammy: I have several betatesters already

LowLigh     :Thanks Dr_P: I was wondering what GFX cards will be supported
for Aweb.  I have an Opalvision and its does not support WB
rozijn      :LowLight: no GFX cards yet. Only OS compatible

DR_pHuQt    :rozijn: will aweb work with cybergfx?
rozijn      :DR_pHuQt:: if it supports OS functions
DR_pHuQt    :rozijn: Fionn just told me that it seems to like cybergfx already...

ChrisDi     :rozijn: Whats about multi-Port connect to a WWW-Site to get
Images simultan?
rozijn      :ChrisDi: On my list.

Mutaboul    :Rozijn: If Aweb will get Asynchronous operation in the future
(Ouff..  I really ask FUTURE question!)
rozijn      :Mutaboul: in the future, yes.

SoldierX    :what's your opinion on AmiTCP...  is it too hard to setup for
people who are new to comms...  do you think it will ultimatly destroy the
internet viability of the amiga ?
rozijn      :SoldierX: a simpler installer tool would be very nice, but
with some decent explanation most beginners can install amitcp well

Tau         :rozijn, I can port AWeb to Inet225. Will you accept help?
yrozijn     :Tau: if there is enough demand for a Inet225 version
Tau         :yrozijn, I demand it ;)
yrozijn     :Tau: ok, maybe you can help me :-)

ChrisDi     :Will there be an intelligent Cachesystem for AWEb?
yrozijn     :ChrisDi: again, in the future. It's on my list

lammy       :I heard AT plans to pu Inet into there Internet paket, so it
would be importent to support INET
yrozijn     :lammy: If that is true, then it is important, yes.

Tau         :yrozijn, I recommend lauching a mail reader in "send mode" for
mailto: "Voodoo MAIL TO <address> SUBJECT <url>" would work nicely.
DR_pHuQt    :tau: i bet you do :)
Tau         :dr, heheh. ;)
DR_pHuQt    :tau: a damned fine mailer, from what little I have seen, btw
Tau         :rozijn, any time you feel like sending the HTTP module source
here, feel free ;)
yrozijn     :Tau: ok, the amitcp part is about 50lines

lammy       :when will other protocolls than http: and file be supportet ?
yrozijn     :lammy: I try to get ftp: and gopher: working in the first vsn
lammy       :and what about mailto: ?
yrozijn     :lammy: not in this version

Tau         :yr, why not use external handlers? For example, there is a
HTTP: dos handler already.
yrozijn     :Tau: I don't know of it. Where can I find it?
Tau         :I don't think it is released. I don't know if the author wants
everyone asking him about it, but I'll ask him to contact your, yr

JamesBart   :Why does AWeb have incompatabilities with Magicmenu?
yrozijn     :JamesBart: it did in version 0.2 fixed in later versions

PhalanxJr   :yrozijn: it is very simple to make a programautosense which
stack is in place, look at AmIRC, AmFTP, and Voyager for example of this
yrozijn     :PhalanxJr: any source code available?
Tau         :yr, I can easily make the TCP/IP code autosense the stack. No
problem.

yrozijn     :Tau: for *serious* questions, suggestions, only:
yrozijn@xs4all.nl
Tau         :I'm dead serious about all of this. I want a decent IW225
web browser, and I'm ready to work for it
yrozijn     :Tau: ok, I'll send you the source part

qnzqn       :yroz: will aweb need an external proggie to play sounds like
amisox, or will it use datatypes, or will there be some kind of built in
sounds player?
yrozijn     :qn: external player, mayby datatypes in future

moster      :yr: How come did you decide to write a webbrowser?
yrozijn     :moster: I wasn't happy with amosaic/mui and the ever delayed
ibrowse

Scuba       :I think loadable modules for VRLM, Java etc. would be great,
especially for 3rd party developers.
yrozijn     :scuba: I think so too. Maybe in some future version I'll add
support for 3rd party modules

Arma        :yrozijn: do you have any plans to make it a commercial
product ?
yrozijn     :arma: first release freeware, later releases shareware.

Arma        :yrozijn: roughly how much will the shareware fee be please ?
yrozijn     :Arma: I don't know yet

ThrustMe    :yrozijn: Is there any chance of internal PNG support (same
reason as for GIFs)?
yrozijn     :thrustme: what is PNG?
DR_pHuQt    :yroz: png is a royalty free compressed picture format, similar
to gif
Tau         :Portable Network Graphics
Tau         :1-48 bit, 8 bit alpha channel, better interlacing, better
compression, public domain
ThrustMe    :yrozijn: An image format with better compression than GIF + 24
bit + better interlacing
ThrustMe    :yrozijn: and no copyright/patent problems
yrozijn     :If there is a datatype for PNG, it's easy.
Tau         :there is a datatype for PNG, but you lose the interlacing/show
while loading
DR_pHuQt    :there is a png datatype
Tau         :dr, the fact that it is a datatype means that it isn't possible.
all of the data must be available before a datatype can start doing its work
DR_pHuQt    :tau: so write a better one :-)
Tau         :dr, maybe you misunderstood me. Because it is a datatype, it
can not do show while loading. Datatypes don't do it.
DR_pHuQt    :tau: ah- it can only do full decodes, and not streams?
Tau         :dr, right
ThrustMe    :yrozijn: I just wanted to see it while loading
yrozijn     :thrustme: I don't want to rewrite gif, jpeg, png datatypes

Arma        :yrozijn: the speed is very good but do u have any more plans
or ideas to make it any faster ?
yrozijn     :arma: parallel image loading, multiple windows

Riffer      :Does AWeb support DataTypes?
yrozijn     :riffer: yes
Tau         :riffer, makes you wonder why we would be talking about
datatypes otherwise, doesn't it?

DR_pHuQt    :yroz: do you plan to support progressive jpeg?
yrozijn     :dr: what's that
DR_pHuQt    :yroz: netscape, and a few others show you a progressively
inproving picture, as it downloads, it's a wierd kind of jpeg, in the v6
standardm afaik
yrozijn     :dr: not with datatypes
DR_pHuQt    :yroz: as tau pointed out, it can't work with datatypes.. you
have to decode the stream yourself..  but I think src is easily
available...  it would have to be threaded, I suppose

yrozijn     :I leave the channel now, I'll be back later
yrozijn     :Tau: we speak later

<            yrozijn PARTS the channel            >

<< End of Log as given to Stone-D >>

[ The following were some answers to private questions: ]

rozijn      :Teletran: it uses datatypes

rozijn      :DrWho: I hate mui, that's why I started AWeb

rozijn      :steiner: because I want to spend my time on further developing,
not on bookkeeping sw fees and sending out keyfiles and because it's just
not finished

rozijn      :DarkMagi: in feb or march

yrozijn     :steiner: mailto/news not in the first version. It will be in a
future version.
@endnode
@node FEATURE2 "Scala Conference"
@toc FEATURE

===========================================================================
                             Scala Conference
===========================================================================

[ Recently, an independent conference was held with John Chang of Scala US.
From the various fragmentary logs we received, this is what we were able to
flesh out. We join this conference already in progress... ]

     IcePic | JohnnyC: But one could export the complete scala-scripts from
            | a pc to an Amiga, and it would run?
    JohnnyC | This means that we can take 80% of the "PC" code and transfer
            | it back to the Amiga.
   «Action» | HeadQuake note: General Instrument is a HUGE cableTV decoder
            | maker/seller.  We have them in Sweden, at least I do.  :)
    JohnnyC | Since many of the RTG/EGS boards are VGA chipset based, there
            | would be little to convert.  Well, if we transfer BB back to
            | the Amiga, then yes.  As it is now, no.  BB and the current
            | Amiga code is too different.
     IcePic | JohnnyC: Since lots of cfxcards move towards cybergraphX, it
            | just might be an idea to go for that...
    JohnnyC | Correct.  The wipes that we make for the PC, should work well
            | with Cybergraphx and other RTG/EGS cards.
   MrDaniel | Speaking of RTG, is there any plans of supporting CyberGraphX
            | in ScalaMM ### or BackBone?
    JohnnyC | If we get the go-ahead from ESCOM/AT, then yes, BB will be
            | ported back to the Amiga.  More than likely, it will be for
            | the new PowerAmiga line and not the existing ECS or AGA machines.
      XT600 | icepic: Why ? then ypu must have a conversation to PAL again ?
     IcePic | XT600: AGA has it's speed limits, it isnt up to 1996
            | standards...
     IcePic | JohnnyC: Is there a big difference in the wipes available for
            | PC/Am, since the graphics differ so much?
    JohnnyC | Yes, there are some things that the PC graphic system can do
            | that the Amiga can't and vice versa.
   MrDaniel | jhonnyc: Good idea.  I dont think its worth spending much
            | more developent money/time on the old Amigas.  The Amiga wont
            | be back for real until the PowerAmigas appear...  IMHO.
    JohnnyC | Most importantly, moving in the Z axis.  We can now do a
            | "real" zoom wipe and fly-ons etc.  In other words, real
            | "scaleable" based stuff.
      Perty | JohnnyC: The tiles thing... How About it?
    JohnnyC | Oh yeah!  Sorry about that Perty.  Yes, the tiling thing will
            | be added to MM110, a maintenance version after the initial
            | release.
    JohnnyC | It will be in the authoring program for General Instrument
            | but not for the initial PC release.
    JohnnyC | Well, while we are waiting for questions, I'll tell you more
            | about the new wipes.  We now have "Picture" wipes.  That is,
            | you can use a 256 color image to create your own wipe!  We
            | also have "Script" wipes, that are based on Scala's new
            | ScalaScript scripting language.  Operations like grow, copy,
            | move, etc are now available to create your own cool wipes!
     IcePic | JohnnyC: How compatible are the PC/Am versions now?  Can one
            | use the remote feature to control different platforms?
    JohnnyC | Unfortunately, there is very little compatibility between the
            | current Amiga code and the BackBone code used in the...  PC
            | version.  If we do port BackBone(BB) back to the Amiga
            | (Power), then there will be cross-platform...  compatibility.
     IcePic | JohnnyC: Will there bo more platforms later.  or is it just
            | x86-pc and Poweramiga?
    JohnnyC | Well, the good think is that BB can be used on just about any
            | platform.  So we are looking at others to port to.  As some
            | of you may know, some of the Scala engineers, on their own
            | volation, no company funds involved, have purchased BeBoxes
            | from Be, Inc.  including Dave Haynie.  Right now, they are
            | tinkering with them, but, who knows.  :) Of course, the Mac
            | is another platform to port to, but its difficult to program
            | for.  I suppose we'll have to wait until Apple allows direct
            | control of video hardware, in order to achieve the same
            | performance as the Amiga and PC version.
   MrDaniel | Will/does BackBone support 3D hardware?  (like, for example,
            | gfx chips with builtin 3D, thats is getting more popular by
            | the day...) This could make some really nice wipes.
    JohnnyC | Ho!  Very perceptive Daniel!  Very perceptive!  Indeed, we
            | have been exploring some of the capabilities of the 3D
            | chipsets on the market.  All have some very promising
            | capabilities.  But there is no standard API.  If the industry
            | agrees to a standard (i.e.  Microsoft's new 3D Primitives
            | API), then we can really start development in earnest.  Yeah,
            | boy do we have some f*cking great ideas for 3D chipsets!!!
      Jacob | Q: Any plans for cybergraphx support?  since that is pretty
            | much the going standard in RTG for amiga now (would be nice
            | for something faster than aga)
    JohnnyC | Jacob.  Its hard to say what we will support on the current
            | AGA or ECS chipset.  For one thing, to even begin RTG/EGS
            | support, AT needs to choose a standard.  But as I've said
            | before, more than likely it will be on the PowerAmiga, since
            | they will probably have RTG/EGS native.
     IcePic | JohnnyC: Is the development of Am/680x0-Scala down now,
            | waiting for the Poweramiga/PPC-cards to arrive?  If so, have
            | you contacted Phase5 to get PPC-cards?
    JohnnyC | Yes, for now we are at the end of the development cycle for
            | the Amiga products.  Can't do much more, as the code is
            | highly optimized and difficult to...  add more to.  The
            | BackBone technology makes it much easier to add really cool
            | new stuff.  Yes, the current Amiga code is "spaghetti code".
            | Any new...  features would probably make it way to unstable
            | to function reliably.
      Perty | Q: Have you seen ImageVision, What did you think of it?  (I
            | haven't seen it yet)
    JohnnyC | No, I haven't had the opportunity to se ImageVision.  I
            | understand that its quiet nice.  We need more multimedia
            | programs for the Amiga.  Yes, they may be competitors, but
            | that is good in a way.  It shows the industry that there is
            | still unique uses for the beloved Amiga, despite its age.
            | Oh, forgot to answer IcePics second question about Phase 5
            | peripherals.  The answer is, I don't know if we've picked up
            | the cards or not for development.  Can't do any development
            | until we have development tools anyway.
  HeadQuake | ImageVision (I have betatested it) is delived with 1 CD full
            | of backgrounds, cliparts etc..  Any plans for Scala to go CD?
    JohnnyC | For the PC version, yes.  Lots and lots of animations,
            | sounds, pictures, backgrounds, etc.  Have nearly 400 MB of
            | it.  All designed by Scala Studios!  This includes new stuff
            | by Bjorn Rybakken!
    Babbage | What do you think of the new ppc amigas/have you seen
            | anything of them/what can you tell us about them, know about
            | future AT ppc machine gfx capabilities?  and whats this about
            | taking over beee'a big apple mac'box?  not amiga cd as well?
    JohnnyC | I haven't seen the specs on the PowerAmigas, so I can only
            | conjecture as to what the specs will be like.  First, I
            | believe they will be CHRP/PREP compliant, so that means in
            | addition to the PowerAmiga OS, it will run Power WindowsNT,
            | Copland, Linux, etc.  There has been some talk of a "legacy"
            | peripheral, that has the AGA chipset on a PCI card.  It would
            | be great to run 3 or 4 of these cards on one backplane.  This
            | would result in 4 or 5 player systems in one chassis.  A very
            | InfoChannel platform indeed!
      Perty | Q: Why aren't there any usage of the sprites (specially in
            | AGA version), like a little clock, brushes, tripple
            | playfields or something?
   MrDaniel | Will/does BackBone support MPEG/JPEG hardware?  I know that
            | ScalaMM supports a few MPEG cards, but what about
            | VLab-Motion, PAR, DB-Elite etc.  ?  And speaking of
            | ImageVision.  There is a demo on Amiga Computings February
            | issue cover disks.  I'll check if its freely distributable.
    JohnnyC | We've been asked that question many times Perty.  :^/ All I
            | know is that it was a flaw in the design of the original
            | Amiga code.  I can say that BackBone does support sprites and
            | brush anim type stuff.  Because chunky graphics can "push
            | through" 8-bit palettes than the Amiga ECS/AGA chipset, its a
            | safe bet that we'll have to wait until PowerAmiga.
    JohnnyC | While we're wating for the question, I want to thank everyone
            | for coming.  This is great!  We have an EX that uses any OM-1
            | (Open MPEG Consortium) compatible MPEG hardware decoder.  So,
            | yes, it will be supported in BackBone.  If there is an API
            | for V-Lab or PAR or whatever, when we have the BackBone Amiga
            | version, it would be easy to support these types of products.
            | Right now, its hell to make an EX for the current Amiga code.
            | Getting busy HQ.  :) There are other EXes that we are looking
            | into, but as you know, they are PC products, that have the
            | potential for use on the PowerAmiga.
      Jacob | Q: any plans to make a scala -> shockwave converter?  (or an
            | equivalent of shockwave for scala).  Also, why wait for AT to
            | do anything?  so far they're pushing very little, it's phase5
            | that's actually been showing PPC and did CybergraphX.  AT
            | can't even get a new developer kit out the door and their
            | inet package (which was supposed to impress us all) is a joke
            | (my point being if you wait for AT to do anything it'll be
            | too late :)
    JohnnyC | Very perceptive Jacob.  Indeed, we've been looking at making
            | EXes for ShockWave, Java, etc, that run from OUR software.
    JohnnyC | Of course, there will be the superior ScalaScript stuff.  Now
            | couple that with the 3D chipsets and now you're talking real
            | multimedia!
    Babbage | headquake Do you think AT are doing to little to late, and by
            | the time they DO get some new machines released, everyone
            | else will have moved on to more powerfull pastures (as its
            | looking like AT are trying to develop what other people are
            | alreaady using now)
    JohnnyC | This is very hard to predict.  Perhaps it is Phase 5 doing
            | all the R&D for AT.  Don't have any hard evidence to support
            | this statement.  If they are, I'm sure our European office is
            | in touch with them.
   wavegirl | First, can you elaborate more on your plan in regards to HTML
            | support; and is there any chance of making a freely
            | distributable "player" so non-scala owners can view scripts?
            | (Sort of like PowerPoint has?)
    JohnnyC | It would be easy to add a an HTML EX to the software,
            | implementation would be similar to Java, but other details I
            | can't divuldge at the moment.  Sorry.
    JohnnyC | Yes, of course the ScalaScript engine would be freely
            | distributable.  Authoring is where one would have to pay
            | their dues.  :)
   MrDaniel | Any plans of supporting advanced multimedia hardware, like
            | for example the 2GO board from Phase5?  (I usually start
            | drooling when I'm thinking of what Scala would be able to do
            | with such hardware.  :) )
    JohnnyC | If its supported by the OS or if the is a standard API that
            | is available, sure I think it would be easy to implement with
            | the BackBone technology.
      Perty | Q: Is Scala PC multitasking? ;-)
    JohnnyC | Well, yes and no.  Since it runs from MS-DOS, not Windows,
            | there are some limitations.  One of the elements of
            | BackBone...  MMOS (MultiMedia Multitasking Operating System)
            | does do multitasking and limited memory management when in
            | the 32-bit protected mode.  This includes message handling
            | and priority/operation handling of the EXes, etc.  However,
            | as soon as we have to do I/O (i.e.  read or write to DOS)
            | multitasking is halted for that cycle, but then quickly
            | returns to the 32-bit, multitasking mode.  Not quiet a real
            | OS, but close enough.
     ScottE | Do you plan to continue with the use of the Dongle?  I've
            | recieved numerous comments about the unprofessionalism of the
            | dongle for both the Pc and Amiga versions of MM and IC.
   «Action» | HeadQuake comment: AT A1200/4000 Scala bundle use no dongle.
    JohnnyC | There will be different products tailored for different
            | markets, based on the same software technology.  MM100 will
            | not, I repeat NOT have a dongle.  :) However, we will have
            | versions that will have dongles, but only on the authoring
            | modules.  Not the Player.  In addition, these variants...
            | will include the ability to "encrypt" the scripts, Preventing
            | tampering and allowing the ability to author for CD-ROM,
            | product for profit, etc.  InfoChannel, will have dongles,
            | however.  Good thing is that there will be a multitude of
            | different products based on the same technology.  This
            | tailoring is much more flexible and highly desirable.  Price
            | point is there for every budget and every need.
   MrDaniel | Do you have a dog? :) (Just had to ask. I love dogs... :) )
    JohnnyC | LOL!  No, I don't have a dog, but my housemate does.  Two
            | very loud dogs.  But they are nice.  Have a cat though.
            | Names Atilla.  Big, BIG cat!
    Babbage | pc multitask?  hee hee hee;) Any future to a WB interface
            | instead of a stand alone screen one?
    JohnnyC | Well, I don't know Babbage.  I think that the unique Scala
            | GUI (which we call HumanTouch) is one of our products
            | greatest assets.  Certrainly, we can make it more WB function
            | centric, but I doubt if we will utilize the WB intuition
            | gadgets or interface.
    Babbage | could always patch WB to all look like scalas (award winning)
            | interface of course =:)
    JohnnyC | Well, think about this, what makes Scala , Scala and makes it
            | different from any Amiga or PC based multimedia product?  I
            | think the interface is a great asset.
    JohnnyC | Well, that's about it for tonight.  HQ and I have agreed to
            | hold this again this Thursday at 5pm EST.  Hope to see you there!
    JohnnyC | Thanks to everone for coming by!
  HeadQuake | Last question is from me: Johnny, do you use an Amiga?  And
            | if so which one?  ;-)
    JohnnyC | HQ, of course I use the Amiga!  Have an A4000 on the right of
            | my PC!
@endnode
@node FEATURE3 "Another Trip to Be..."
@toc FEATURE


===========================================================================
                     I went, I Be'ed, I was conquered!
  By Ed Musgrove                        emusgrov@linknet.kitsap.lib.wa.us
===========================================================================

[Yes, I know, this isn't BReport, it's Amiga Report.  But there are some
neat thing happening in the third floor Be offices, and they're worth
keeping in mind--if for no other reason than to keep Amiga Tech on their
toes. -Jason]

Yesterday I attended the Be users' group meeting in Bellingham, Washington.
Two members of the Be corporate staff were on hand to give a 6 hour
seminar!  After the usual hassles of getting everything running and
displaying on the auditorium's projector we were given a very informative
set of talks about various subjects of interest to compu-holics hearts.

Mark Gonzales (Marketing dude at Be) and Peter Potrebic (Software support)
were both ready with a slide show (overhead projections) and demos running
on the BeBox itself.  First, a note about non-disclosure; I asked about
this in regard to the info we get from the web sight and from the employees
who attended the users' group.  I was told we were expected to disclose all
and everything--in fact, the more folks who want in on the ground floor the
better, "so spread the word, nothing is secret!" is the current watchword.

Julie Petersen is an Amigan of great renown.  It was she who brought all
the pieces together to solve the "A3000 screen sparkle" problem.  She has
become a very major enthusiast in the Be world.  It was she who formed this
users' group and was instrumental in launching this meeting with Be
professionals.  She gave the welcoming speech and entertained us with a few
choice tidbits from here past and from her recent Be experiences.

Mark gave us some interesting statistics about the computer industry in
general, then tied them together to explain Be's marketing and design
philosophy.  One interesting factoid was that there is an installed base of
250+ million personal computers worldwide, an additional 68 million will be
sold this year alone!  He showed some of the "new rules" which Be is trying
to operate under, the first and formost is to break the old rule which said
"CPUs are expensive, no one needs more than one", Be's rule is "one is not
enough!" Another (which might not seem too clear from this) is "learn from
the past--the mistakes and the successes", but don't necessarily
(willy-nilly) just go with the past successful solutions.

There was one interesting rule, "assume the future, and build it in".
Combined with "ride the industry cost curve", these might seem a bit at
loggerheads, Mark was able to synthesize the two into a seemingly
reasonable business and technical plan.

Peter gave us a guided tour of the more interesting apps and abilities of
the machine.  Remember, this is a machine in it's infancy, the software was
startling, considering that real software development was only just begun
last year.  Peter was subjected to a wide range of technical questions
(some of which ended up answered by Mark who is quite capable of explaining
system level hardware and software issues in complex detail--not common in
a Marketing person!)

Let me give you a quick overview of the hardware and software from a naive
users' point of view (that's me--naive.) Some may have seen a posting which
mentions that the developer's machine currently ships with no front panel
(bezel), this appears to be accurate for the first few hundred machines
shipped, as the case (a medium dark blue very close to the Zip drive color)
seems to be an industry standard box, but the folks at Be have been working
to design an attractive, functional front panel.  This has resulted in the
folks there trying their hand at modeling in various mediums.  The result
which they displayed yesterday was interesting, slightly different (though
not obnoxious), and only a trial run, first attempt.  The final unit will
have twin LED arrays which will display each CPU's current load rate--kind
of a Starwars wannabe.

The software (the OS, a complete CLI-driven development system and a few
home grown apps) was impressive.  The OS takes all the good stuff from
AmigaDOS, Windows95, and MacOS; all the bad stuff from them seems to have
disappeared.  As this is not only a true multi-tasking machine (like the
Amiga), it is also an n-expandable multi-processor system (hardware limits
not inherent in the machine seem to limit cost/price/return to about 8 PPC
processors.) The current board supports only 2 603e's, but they seem to
handle everything with ease.  The CLI is a "bash" which I think stands for
"Bourne Again SHell", but don't quote me!  It looked exactly like an Amiga
shell with the exception that it was a full blown app window (menus,
scrollers, gadgets like iconify, help.)

Help--ah yes.  They have a totally rad concept on context sensitive help,
the exact details of which escape me, but basically you select a "help"
icon then select something on the screen (an icon, a running app, a gadget,
a blank area of a window--whatever tickles your fancy).  The machine then
checks if it is a system resource for which help is required and if so does
it's really nice thing.  If not it passes the help request on to the app
which has a built-in OS standard way of responding which may be used,
modified or ignored.

Back to the "workbench" (as we Amigans know it), I can only wax ecstatic
over the desk top environment.  It has only one drawback for Amiga-aware
folks--it has no way of displaying multi-resolution screens simultaneously
(like if you pull down the Amiga's Workbench screen to display something
running behind it.) As I understand it, this is possible by using a
graphics card which will do this--and at least one is available at a very
high cost.  So it is not so much a system problem but a cost thing--but
don't quote me on this either!

When you drag a window somewhere the entire window display moves and
uncovered screen area is redrawn (as opposed to the Amigas drag a simulated
rectangle method.) The 2 processor system is so fast it is doing all this
in *software* doing constant *total* screen redraws, not just clip region
fix-ups.  It is so fast that even with an insane work load the process was
not in the least affected.  Remember, this machine has no custom ASICs
(custom graphics or sound chips like our blitter/Agnus/Paula stuff.)

The desk top supports the standard Amiga functions like drag and drop,
clipboard, multi-select (uses the shift key or select draw boxes just like
the Amiga.) The OS is completely "hot linked", any change of anything in
the file structure immediately updates all references to that thing.  For
instance, you have your favorite paint program running and open the file
requester displaying a list of file, one of which is the infamous "foo".
Now, just for fun, you go to the desk top, find foo's icon, and change
foo's name to the much more reasonable "bar".  As this is a single screen
design, the paint program's file requester was left visible off to one
side, and you notice that as you change the files name it's entry in the
file requester changes instantly and automatically from foo to bar.  For
the programmers this can even be set up so that code which opens a file
will get the file even if the name has been changed!

The file system is just one part of the built-in database tool.  You can
search the entire database of all volumes (or just one or more volume(s) or
directory(s)) using very sophisticated search criteria on one or multiple
fields.  Any user may extend the definition of what a file is on their
system.  If they want file comments, they simply add a new field to the
database's file record, If they want user protection they can add a field
like rating, and rate the files (x rated files would not be available
without a password or something.)

Menus are handled about like on the Amiga--pull or drop down (did not see
which) uses Amiga-key keyboard shortcuts.  I did not know clone keyboards
had Amiga keys, but the keyboard shortcuts were all shown as a stylized "A"
+ <key> and menu entries looked just like on the Amiga.  Menus stay
attached to the active window, as opposed to the Amiga's way of always
sticking them at the top of the screen.  There was a user preference to
configure everything it seemed, but they did not go into details (we only
had 6 hours and could have used twice that!)

Mice, gadgets, windows, icons, directories and files all will be totally
comfortable to the Amiga user.  The user interface is very similar to that
of the Amiga (and Mac and Windows95 as well.) Currently scroll bars are not
proportional, but the release being shipped with new machines has
proportional scroll bars, just like we do.  What they have done with system
standard gadgets makes GadTools and even MUI look pale by comparison.

If you don't develop software you can stop reading here and skip to the
conclusion at the end.

Be claims to have about 1000 registered developers in North America and
about another 300 in Europe.  From the traffic on comp.sys.be I would guess
this to be true.  They offer an astonishing deal to developers.  If you
have any track record at all in the electronics industry (even a tiny PD
utility on an obscure platform) you may become a registered developer with
all rights and privileges pertaining.  The price is right--nothing!
Developer support is in place and functioning well.  Support is INet based
by preference, though they might answer a letter.

The system is almost completely POSIX compliant (some multi-processor
issues need to be worked out, but they claim 99% compatibility.) They will
be CHRP (or whatever it is called today) compliant when the standard is
"set"--they maintain very close compatibility now, but the standard is
still being changed so they will not buy in until it has a firm base.

The developer's text-based material is all available for free on their web
sight (www.be.com) in multiple formats (HTML, Postscript, Acrobat) and
includes the "Be Book" which is like the RKMs with the exception of the
Style Guide (for which they are seeking a tech writer to design and write a
"style" by which we may be guided.)

The functions all have very similar names to the functions in AmigaDOS
which do similar things.  Porting most Amiga programs will be a simple
matter of running it through a spell checker with a "dictionary" composed
of the function call names.  (Well, it might be a tiny bit more
complicated!)

Executable files on the BeBox are very small.  An app which opens a screen
and window then prints "Hello, World!" in a program specified font compiled
to 7k.  On the Amiga it takes 3k.

At the present, the only real support for software development is via
MetroWerks CodeWarrior running on a Mac.  The GUI is being ported to run
natively on the BeBox, or so we were lead to believe, though some question
remains about MetroWerks devotion to the cause in the eyes of a few users
posting regularly.

The box ships with an interesting suite of apps (but absolutely NO printer
or formatted parallel output) most of which come with source.  They are
considering the question of library source code for developers, but
currently do not supply this.  All the most critical apps are in place in
at least rough form (web browser, terminal, paint, programmer's text
editor, etc.).  Apps may be coder defined as "take over the machine, single
task, no OS desk top", "multi-copy of the same code", or "fully re-entrant,
and re-executable" just as with the Amiga.

In conclusion, I would like to describe what they did in order to
demonstrate multitasking.  All the following were going at the same time,
all were running at full speed, no degradation of the screen update
occurred (and they claimed that if we had had an INet connection they would
have had 4 sessions going at once as well.) All windows could be moved, or
sized at will, doing realtime screen refreshment.

Sound:
Running a panel which looked like a 16 channel sound mixer, but was a midi
controller, they played a long 16 instrument midi file (using a midi
synthesizer, not software emulation for now.)

Using the built-in CD-ROM drive they played a stock (Blues Brothers was
obtained from an audience member) title via a very familiar looking CD
interface.

Using the built-in sound generator they played a long sound file directly
off the hard drive.

Video:
Running the included paint/animation program they opened two examples of
the same anim file (King Tut is out--Nephertiti is in) and had each rotate
the image (one clockwise, one widershins.)

Using a demo program which takes a bit of text then displays it in a window
in various sizes and styles, while cycling through the entire directory of
fonts, one font at a time, they exhibited the font rendering engine.  It
does all sizing and style (bold, italics, rotate, shear) change in real
time, using the CPU.

Two versions of a program which calculates and displays Mandlebrots were
going, but they went so fast that even with major window sizes and and tiny
magnification areas to re-compute they had a hard time keeping them both
working as opposed to waiting for input.

OS functions:
Pulse (SnoopDos for the Be) was showing 300+ processes running
concurrently.

A CPU monitor program was running.

Windows were dragged, iconified, and sized as quickly as they could go from
one app to another.

The file system was queried using very extensive search criteria with
multiple queries going at once (again it was hard to keep this going to
load the system, as these calls get a high priority, adjustable just like
on the Amiga.)

Even more was going on, but I could not get it all down to give any more
details.  No real OS intensive things like formatting or disk copying were
going on, but at least one app was streaming data from HD to the sound
sub-system.

All this took place with only a barely perceptible slow down.
@endnode
@node FEATURE4 "SCSI Bus Termination"
@toc FEATURE

===========================================================================
                           SCSI Bus Termination
  Robert Davis -- Amateur Radio K0FPC                      rdavis@nyx.net
===========================================================================

In the Usenet newsgroup, comp.sys.amiga.hardware, there seems to be a
continuing discussion about "termination of the SCSI bus" especially
concerning the Amiga 3000.

This article will attempt to explain SCSI bus termination.   The discussion
in csa.hardware will continue, no matter what.

And this article will be about the type of SCSI found in Amiga computers. 
Newer implementations, especially differential SCSI, have not been used in
host adaptors on the Amiga, so there is no reason (yet) to cover them.

First of all, here is the standard way to install SCSI termination on the
bus:

  -----   -----   -----   -----   -----   -----   -----   -----
  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |  
 T| D |===| D |===| D |===| D |===| D |===| D |===| D |===| D |T
  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
  -----   -----   -----   -----   -----   -----   -----   -----

In the diagram, D is any SCSI device, and T is a resistor termination pack.
=== is the connecting cable between the SCSI devices.  One of D must be
"hard drive controller" or more properly, a SCSI host adapter.  Other D
could be a SCSI hard drive, a SCSI CDROM drive, a SCSI document scanner, or
other SCSI device for which driver software is available.

In the vast majority of Amiga applications, there will be two or more (but
no more than eight) of D, and there will be two and exactly two T. 

Attaching the various SCSI devices together are ten control lines and eight
data lines.  I'll use the Amiga 3000 SCSI system as an example, mostly
because the A3000 is the topic of discussion most of the time in
csa.hardware.

Nine of the control lines and all of the data lines are tied to the Western
Digital SCSI IC.  The tenth control line comes from the RESET circuitry and
is not controlled by or routed through the host adaptor.

Each of those control and data lines is terminated at each end of the SCSI
bus like this:

        o --> +5 volts (termination power)
        |
        \
        / 220 ohm resistor
        \
        /       
        |
        o ------> one SCSI control or data line (eighteen total)
        |
        \
        / 330 ohm resistor
        \
        /
        |
      -----  --> connection to ground (or common)
      / / / 

This is not the only way to properly terminate the SCSI bus, and it is not
even the best way, but it is the termination nearly always found in Amiga
implementations.

Now it gets exciting.  The SCSI bus is more than just a bunch of wires
connecting stuff together.  Because of the speed at which it operates, we
have to consider the bus to be a set of "transmission lines" and we must
consider the "characteristic impedance" of the lines to under- stand why
termination is needed.

Signals are sent out onto the bus by the host adapter and by the other SCSI
devices millions of times per second.  The system acts more like a
collection of small radio transmitters connected to receivers which are
very picky about the quality of the signals they receive.

Once we recognize that situation, we can move to transmission line theory,
which has been well understood for many years.  Amateur Radio operators
should be familiar with the American Radio Relay League's Antenna Book,
which devotes several pages to matched and mismatched transmission lines.

When signals are sent by one of the devices onto the SCSI bus, those
signals must not be interfered with by other signals on the bus.  The
potential interference comes from a property of transmission lines.  A
signal sent onto an infinitely long transmission line wlll never come back
to interfere with other signals on that line.  But real transmission lines
are never infinitely long.  Each wire has two ends. 

And there is the reason for terminating the SCSI bus.  At each physical end
of the cable, we want the cable to appear to the devices attached on the
SCSI bus to be infinitely long.  On a real transmission line, not
infinitely long, signals sent by those devices onto the cable will be
"reflected" back onto the bus, and will conflict with the signals sent out
anew by the devices.

You may see evidence of this problem on your television screen.  One result
of a mismatched cable between your TV and your antenna or between your TV
and your cable system is "ghosting" on the TV screen.  In that situation,
the reflections are visible as less strong images offset from the primary
images on your TV.

The way to make a short transmission line appear to be infinitely long is
to terminate that line with a resistance equal to the line's characteristic
impedance.  That is called a "matched" transmission line.  A perfectly
matched line has no reflections.  But perfection is hard to achieve.

Not all SCSI cables are alike.  The differences are slight, but they
matter.  Sometimes we use cables not really suited for SCSI.  Any use of a
25-conductor cable disturbs the characteristic impedance of the 18 signal
lines on the bus, because each line is supposed to be in a twisted pair
arrangement with its own individual ground line.

Sometimes the cables are not properly affixed to the connectors which plug
into the various devices on the bus.  Sometimes a good cable is used in
conjunction with a bad cable.

In almost every installation, the characteristic impedance of the SCSI bus
is different from the impedance presented by the termination resistors.
Another type of termination, called active termination, does much to fix
this problem.  But few devices with active termination are used in Amiga
systems. 

So here are ways to cause trouble on your Amiga SCSI bus.
A. Don't have termination at the physical ends of the bus.
   (Termination resistors must be installed and TERM POWER applied
    to those resistors).
B. Have termination somewhere other than at the ends of the bus,
   (If your SCSI host adapter is not at one end of the bus,
    remove those termination resistors from the host adapter).
C. Use cables which are not appropriate for SCSI.
   (Cheap RS-232 cables may have all 25 lines, but may not be physically
    twisted so that the line impedance is something near correct).
D. Install your termination resistors the wrong way 'round.
   (Pin one of the resistor socket is usually marked by a square
    pad around the trace.  Pin one of the resistor pack itself
    is marked by a dot or line at one end of the pack).
E. Don't apply power to the termination resistors.
   (The IOmega ZIP drive seems not to be able to supply term power
    to its built in termination.  Term power must come through the
    SCSI cable).

Some Amiga owners report that their systems violate one or more of the
above precepts, and everything still works OK.

I say, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." If your SCSI system works, don't
change anything.

But if you are having trouble, getting the termination set correctly may
solve your problems.

======================================================================
Much more information about the SCSI bus is available on the Internet.  
The SCSI-FAQ can be grabbed by anonymous FTP from ...
   ftp.wang.com:
     garyf/scsi/scsi-faq.part*
   OR
   rtfm.mit.edu:
     pub/usenet-by-group/comp.periphs.scsi/comp.periphs.scsi_FAQ_part*

where the asterisk indicates the part number of the FAQ. (1 or 2).

   OR
   on the World Wide Web at:
   http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/scsi-faq/
   OR
   http://www.paranoia.com/~filipq/HTML/LINK/F_SCSI.html
======================================================================
@endnode
@node REVIEW1 "WBStartup+: Further Notes"
@toc REVIEW

===========================================================================
                         WBStartup+: Further Notes
===========================================================================

[ A few words in response to the review of WBStartup+ by Katherine Nelson
from the author of the program, John Hughes.  ]

From: John Hughes <jhughes@cs1.bradley.edu>

Thanks for the wonderful review on WBStartup+.

I'd like to mention that the article states that it would be nice 
to have a boot menu type interface.  

   There are 3 hotkeys when booting:
       Ctrl:         Bring up the prefs before running any programs (boot 
                     menu - you could call it)
       Left-Alt:     Interactive mode. Press Y or N for each program.
       Left-Shift:   No programs are loaded.

   Ctrl and left-Alt were included in version 2.5.

You made a few valid points, being: There is no way to edit the tootypes in
WBStartup+ from the prefs program, and it is annoying to have to move
things intothe enabled directory when installing.  Both of these will be
taken care of in future versions.  Many other people have brought up both
points, but I lack the time to really dig into it now.

The latest version is 2.6 which includes a bug fix and there will be a
newer version out soon which uses a library which replaces the
wbstart-handler.
@endnode
@node REVIEW2 "Review:  Files to Help You Connect Your Amiga"
@toc REVIEW

===========================================================================
             Review: Freely Redistributable Files To Help You
                     Connect Your Amiga - 8 Disk Set
  Jeremy Nixon                                       jeremyn@injersey.com
===========================================================================

For a long time, I was bumming Internet access from friends.  Every so
often I'd get someone to let me use their computer and their account,
mostly to download stuff like Amiga Report.  Of course, they mostly use
PC's, so I'd have to do the CrossDos thing (with all the errors) and deal
with the size limits of a floppy disk.  Things like hanging out and
exploring were limited, and email was out.

So I decided it was time to get my own connection.  I faced the classic
problem: no Internet service providers (at least in my area) even know what
an Amiga is, let alone offer software for it, and though it's all
available, you have to have Internet access to get at it.

So rather than sit at someone's house seeking out what I'd need, and
downloading all those huge files to floppies, I decided to try the disk set
offered by Intangible Assets Manufacturing.  IAM claimed to have collected
everything you need to get online--and they pretty much succeeded.

It should be noted that none of this software actually belongs to IAM.  All
they've done is collected it and packaged it onto disks, and it's all
either shareware or freeware.  They're charging you for the disks, their
time and trouble, and the expense of getting them to you.  At US$27, that's
$3.375 per disk.  Not unreasonable.

The eight-disk set is actually nine disks, the ninth containing AMosaic 2.
They probably didn't include this in the eight because of the provision on
AMosaic that the disk may not be sold, only given away for free.

The first problem I found with the set was the documentation--or lack
thereof.  IAM made no effort to prepare instructions to tie all this
software together, instead relying upon the documentation provided with
each individual program.  Beginners, beware: it could take you some time to
figure it all out.

WHAT'S IN THERE

This collection really does include everything you need to get started.  
There are several terminal emulators, a demo version of AmiTCP/IP, SLIP and
PPP drivers, email and news software, MultiLink, virus checkers, web
browsers (AMosaic and Lynx) and all the archiving programs you're ever
likely to need.  Let's run down the list.

AMITCP/IP 4.0

If you want to set up a direct connection to the Internet, rather than just
a shell account, you'll need this.  Yes, there are other options, and yes,
some people prefer AS225, but AmiTCP/IP is supported by a lot of software.
Verison 4.0 is actually a demo of the commercial version, 4.1, which is
rather expensive at around US$95.  The demo is perfectly usable, of course,
but again, beginners beware: if you want any documentation, you'll have to
spring for the full commercial version, because the demo doesn't have it. 
(You do get a FAQ and simple instructions.)

An Installer script is provided, but you have to gather all your
information before you use it.  During the installation, you will be asked
for your domain name, the IP addresses of your ISP's domain name servers,
and some other information which you don't need if your provider assigns
you IP addresses dynamically, which most do.

AmiTCP/IP also comes packaged with quite a few internet programs, many of
which are versions ported from BSD Unix code.  Most notably, you get NcFTP
(a better version of FTP) and telnet.

However, the documentation for these programs is sparse.  Most of it
consists of Unix man pages, which tend to assume a high level of knowledge
on the part of the user.  Beginners need not apply.

PPP 1.30

If you've got a PPP connection, which is the hot thing these days, this is
the other half of the equation.  A shareware demo by Holger Kruse, the full
registered version costs US$15, and promises better performance and more
features.

No Installer script is provided; you're going to have to do this one by
hand.  The instructions, in AmigaGuide format, lead you step-by-step
through the installation process, which you perform after installing
AmiTCP/IP.  The driver supports earlier versions of AmiTCP/IP as well as
4.0 and the commercial 4.1.  A dialer is built in: give it a script and it
will call your ISP, give your login ID and password, and off you go.

iNTERiNSTALL

In case you can't figure out the complicated installation and setup of
AmiTCP/IP and PPP, or just don't feel like it, iNTERiNSTALL is supposed to
do it all for you.  I say "supposed to" because the thing flat-out didn't
work for me.

It asked me the questions, I answered them.  It installed everything, and
created the necessary scripts to make it all work.  But the scripts didn't
work (with the exception of the PPP dialer script, which is the simplest
part).  The PPP documentation instructs you to make some changes to the
standard AmiTCP/IP scripts for version 4.0 of AmiTCP/IP, and those changes
were nowhere to be found in the scrips generated by iNTERiNSTALL--I thought
that could be part of the problem.  The author states in his documentation
that he uses and older version of AmiTCP/IP, and that he doesn't see the
point in version 4.0.  I thought perhaps he didn't test it with 4.0.

Things can't be that simple, though.  Rob Hays, who wrote a how-to article
about some of this software for the February issue of Amazing Computing,
tells me he installed AmiTCP/IP and PPP with iNTERiNSTALL on his A1200, and
it worked for him.  Hrrumph.  I was all set to trash the program, too.

I ended up deleting everything and using the standard AmiTCP/IP Installer
script, and installing PPP by hand.  The only part of the iNTERiNSTALL
installation I kept was the dial script.  But the fact remains that it
worked for Rob Hays, with no previous AmiTCP/IP or PPP installations on his
machine.  Your mileage may vary. (Thanks, Rob.)

TERM 4.4

Terminal emulation.  What can I say about Term?  Lots of people use it,
lots of people like it, it works great.  Fairly decent documentation, too,
unlike much of what's in this collection.

VIRUS CHECKER 6.57

You probably already have at least an older version of this popular virus
checker.  If you don't, here it is.  Having never had a virus (knock on
wood) I can't say how well it works, but it's widely used and trusted.

INETUTILS 1.4

A collection of email and news posting and receiving software, for those of
you with direct connections.  Personally, I'm more comfortable using my
shell account for this stuff, but I tried them anyway in the interest of
completeness.

I have one word to describe the documentation: ABYSMAL.  I mean, it really
sucks.  If you don't already know how to set up SMTP, NNTP, or POP
software, don't even try it here.  You'll just get frustrated.  I just hope
that someday, someone will put out an easy-to-use and easy-to-set-up
Internet package.  (A1200 Surfer?)

MULTILINK 1.32

This nifty little program (actually two programs) lets you simulate a
direct connection to the internet from a shell account.  One half of it
installs in your Unix shell, the other half on your Amiga, and hey presto,
you're online.  Use AMosaic, or whatever else you want.

Of course, Unix shell accounts are getting harder to find these days,
unfortunately, since everyone wants that PPP or SLIP so they can browse the
web on their PC's without having to think too much.  But a Unix shell lets
you work faster and easier--no pre-downloading of Usenet news, no setup of
mail software, lightning-fast web access with Lynx when you don't need all
the fancy pictures, you name it.  My ISP gives me both shell and PPP
access, so I don't really need MultiLink, but if you have to choose one or
the other, this program lets you choose the ease of a shell and still get
the flexibility of a direct connection when you need one.

AMOSAIC 2

Ahh, yes.  It's version 2 of the most known web browser for the Amiga.  I
found the old version a bit prone to crashes, and hoped that the problems
had been ironed out with this one.  Apparently they weren't.  This thing
locks up on me almost as soon as I run it.  Once, I got it to load two
whole pages before it died.  Not good.

In case it's just me, here are some things you'll need to know: in order to
run AMosaic 2, you'll need MUI (which is included in this set), and
although it will run under OS 2.x, you'll need 3.x to get the pictures,
since it uses datatypes.

In case it's not just me, and the thing really doesn't work, you can
probably still find the older version somewhere.  That one did crash a lot,
but not right away like this one.  You could also wait for IBrowse to come
out in some usable form, or one of the other web browsers that are due Real
Soon Now.

Part of the problem may lie in the fact that absolutely no documentation is
supplied--not even a "how to get it to work" text file.  All the docs exist
on the web, meaning you have to get the program to work in order to read
them.  This is just plain stupid.  Why, oh, why can't programmers take the
time to write decent documentation?

Another alternative I found is Chimera, which isn't actually finished, but
it works.  It runs under AmiWin, an Amiga X-Windows server, and I was able
to install both AmiWin and Chimera and make them work without any tinkering
whatsoever.  Chimera doesn't support stuff like external viewers, but at
least it runs.  You'll find both at aminet/gfx/x11.

AMIGA CUSEEME 2.02

Real-time video over the Internet--cool, eh?  Well, maybe on a PC, or an
SGI.  Here's an Amiga port of CUSeeME, but like AMosaic 2, I couldn't get
it to work.  It crashes for me every time, before I can even try to connect
to a reflector site.  I have a feeling this one might expect you to have
AGA, though it will load up in 32-color low-resolution.

Unfortunately, this program comes with no documentation.

ALYNX

This is a port of Lynx, the text-based web browser that started it all. 
Sure, it's just text.  Sure, it doesn't do much to impress the friends and
neighbors.  But it moves at the speed of light.  When you need to find
something on the web, and you don't need to waste time with glitzy
pictures, Netscape backgrounds, or image maps, this is the way to go.  Lynx
can also connect to FTP servers, in case you don't like the command-line
interface of ftp or NcFTP.

RHSLIP

A SLIP driver, in both 68000 and 030+ versions, in case you have a SLIP
account.  I don't.

AS225-SLIP

In case you have AS225 and a SLIP account.  I don't.

MULTIUSER 1.8

In case you need several users to live together in peace and harmony on
your Amiga.  I don't.

Quite a few extra tools are included with this.

NCOMM 3.0 & TERMINUS 2.0E

Two alternate terminal programs, in case you hate Term. I don't.

MUI 2.3

You know all about MUI already.  Either you love it or you hate it.  Me,
I'm neutral.  I have it because some programs I like need it.  It's here
because some programs here need it: AMosaic and ACUSeeMe.

Version 3.2 of MUI is out and available, of course, so you might just want
to get that one instead.  But what's this I've been hearing about 3.2
crashing...?

...AND THE REST

There are some other utilities included in the collection, most of which
are either unusable by me because they're for SLIP or Envoy or AS225, none
of which I have, or are simply of no use or interest to me and (in my
opinion) to most people.  I mean, come on: a program that dials up an
atomic clock and sets your system clock to it?  Are we being a little
obsessive here?

CONCLUSIONS

This collection is not a one-stop easy-Internet solution.  It is not
Internet In A Box.  It is not Netscape Navigator Personal Edition.  It is
not one-click-and-you're-online.  It does not come with an easy-to-follow
instruction manual.  If you're a beginner to networking or to the Amiga, or
both, it's going to take you some time to figure it all out.  You might
want to have a more knowledgable friend set it up for you.

What it is, though, is the only source (at least for now) of everything you
need in one easy-to-obtain set.  It got me hooked up without having to buy
anything else, except a modem.

And that's really what matters, right?

Intangible Assets Manufacturing       
828 Ormond Avenue                     
Drexel Hill, PA 19026-2604
USA 
voice: +1 610 853 4406
  fax: +1 610 853 3733
info@iam.com
http://www.iam.com

TEST SYSTEM

Amiga 500 (rev. 8a PCB)
OS 3.1 & ECS
CSA Derringer 030/882
2 megs chip + 16 megs fast RAM
AdIDE controller w/100 meg HD
Zoom 28.8k V.34 modem

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This article is Copyright 1996 by Jeremy Nixon, All Rights Reserved.
It may not be published anywhere except Amiga Report without specific prior
permission from the author.
@endnode
@node REVIEW3 "Review: Creative Magic of Ron Thornton"
@toc REVIEW

===========================================================================
    Review: The Creative Magic of Ron Thornton: Spacecraft Model Design
                        A LightWave tutorial video
  By Bohus Blahut - Modern Filmmaker                       Bohus@xnet.com
===========================================================================

Since this video tape tutorial is in two parts, this review will also be in
two installments.  These videos allow us to sit alongside Ron Thornton,
President of Foundation Imaging.  This is the Emmy award winning company
that brings us sohpisticated LightWave rendered animations on TV's Babylon
5 and Hypernauts.

"The Creative Magic of Ron Thornton" is a pair of two hour videos.  The
first deals with the LightWave construction of the spacecraft depicted on
the video's cover.  The second video stays almost entirely in Adobe
PhotoShop and LightWave's Layout.  Though Thornton is creating this
spaceship using LightWave for PC and PhotoShop, his techniques apply to
Amiga LightWave 3.5 and above, and I was able to emulate the PhotoShop
surfacing techniques by using ImageFX 2.1a.

The first video is a look into the techniques that Thornton uses to create
a spaceship that is both well-detailed, and will render in a reasonable
amount of time.  Desktop Images' advertising calls this tape series "a
video apprenticeship", which is no small claim.  These tapes deliver.  We
follow the spaceship from a rough pencil sketch, all the way up to its
finished construction.  Peppered throughout his presentation is some design
philosophy as to what it takes to make a ship "look right".   This is one
area that these tapes could improve upon.  Though at the end of watching
these cassettes, the average LightWave modeler will have a good looking
spaceship, I'd find these tapes even more useful if there were more
segments of this design philosophy for future spaceship designs.

"Spacecraft Model Design" follows in the fine tradition of other Desktop
Images training videos.  Many Lightwave got over their 3D jitters
(polygonal displacement tool purely unintentional) through DI's excellent
series of Lee Stranahan training videos.  The goal of that series is to
take the user from zero 3D knowledge up through intermediate modeling. 
This series would be a good primer for the spacecraft tapes.  These videos
are definitely not intended for the beginner, but the intermediate modeler
and experienced veteran alike will walk away with new techniques that can
be applied in all aspects of 3D, be it modeling another spaceship, a logo,
or any number of typical LightWave tasks.

The viewer of the video is treated first to a montage of new Foundation
Imaging 3D animations (not Babylon 5 material).  The final segments of this
animation montage are shots of the tutorial's spaceship on the move.  This
broad range of 3D reminds us of Thornton's professional credentials.  In
America, Thornton did model work on the feature films Terminator 2 and the
Addams Family Movie.  He bought an Amiga and Toaster, and produced a rough
version of the Babylon 5 station in his bedroom in two weeks.  (You can see
this animation in NewTek's "Revolution" video that heralded in Video
Toaster version 2.0)

To the auspcious ranks of British Sci-Fi otaku, we recognize Thornton's
name from the closing credits of such B.B."Aunty Beeb"C.  programs such as
Doctor Who, Tripods, and an Amiga Report Favorite, Blake's 7.  The
intriguing thing of watching this 20 year old television, is that one can
spot stylistic commonalities between Thornton's work then and now.  Though,
when I spoke to someone at Foundation, they told me, "er...  we were hoping
that no one in America would remember those shows."

Ron Thornton is a perfect example of the Amiga's power.  An already
substantially successful artist bought into the Amiga mystique, and was
able to form his own significant company.  A company that has changed
television forever.  While his studio has changed over from Amigas to PC's
as speed dictates, I certainly hope that there is a warm spot in
Foundation's heart for the little computer that could.

After the montage, the video opens onto the Desktop Images standard
"teacher at desk with computer".  An interesting new angle in these tapes
over others in the series is that instead of littering the background with
assorted hi-tech looking scenery (i.e.  TVs, lava lamps, etc.) they compose
Thornton onto a rendered background.  This serves to put us in constant
touch with the artist's work, and serves to remind us just how good Ron
Thornton and associates are.

Except for occasional visits with the face of the artist, we spend most of
our time looking into LightWave's modeler interface.  Through the next two
hours, we spend our time building a model that will look good through a
number of different camera shots, while not having an unreasonable polygon
count.  Once done, the ship only took a few minutes per frame on my '060
DraCo with 32 megs of RAM.  You could expect reasonable results from an
'040 Amiga.  Also, if you plan on doing a lot of 3D, the '040 is a
functional minimum along with 16 megs of RAM.  (We will also be trying some
of these techniques using HiSoft's Cinema 4D in a future issue)

The ship is built out of uncomplicated structural primitives; mostly tubes,
cubes, and a metaformed shape or two.  The artistry is in knowing what
details are necessary to the good looks of the model and must be done in
the modeling stage, and what can be left to the surfacing mode of creation.


Your reviewer found the best way to get the most out of this tape is to
watch it through once without being in front of the computer, much the way
one will often skim a technical manual before reading it in great detail. 
Later, it would be advantageous to the user to move a TV/VCR to a location
near the computer.  Though the video is two hours in length, you shouldn't
expect your construction work to take that little time.  I found myself
starting and stopping the VCR often so that I could take notes, or try
different techniques for a certain look.  I found that by treating the
video like a class, and taking good notes into my 3D modeling notebook
helped.  (oh yes...  I keep a notebook of tricks and tips, and things that
I've done that are sucessful).

The video has lots of good quality screen shots, but because a high
resolution interface can show up rather poorly on a conventional
television, you'll need to pay attention to what Thornton is saying.  On a
few occasions, Thornton proceeds with an operation without telling you the
exact settings that he enters into numeric requesters.

Due to my production schedule, I had to spread out the project over a
couple of days.  This didn't pose a problem, and I was able to use
techniques that I'd learned along the way on other projects.  (A note to
Mr.  Thornton: I've almost worn out the Bevel button on my computer, and my
objects love you for it!)

One problem I have with Thornton's technique is that he doesn't seem to
build to scale.  With the model exisiting in virtual (shudder) space, it's
possible to build it to real man-scale.  I build all of my objects to scale
so that in future projects, I can use objects together in the same scene. 
In the tape it would be nice if Thornton mentioned why he makes the door a
certain size, etc.  Since his measurements are given in millimeters, I
could conjecture that he is working with the units that he is most familiar
with in model building.

One of the best elements of this tape is its practical, yet artful approach
to building this ship.  Not all of us have the resources of Foundation
Imaging, nor the staff of artists at our disposal.  Yet with a modicum of
skill, we can all create this ship.  All of his detailing does have
excellent reasoning behind it i.e.  adding a cooling tank toward the end of
the craft, adding support struts throughout the ship to give it "strength",
and so on.

Many of the spaceship models that I've seen created by various artists and
put out in the public domain try to emulate the Thornton "mech" look, but
to little avail.  Often the surfacing on these objects is so poor, it looks
like sheer nonsense up close.  Thornton's modeling and surfacing strive to
make sense and answer both to art and the practical needs of a real
production studio.

In the future, we'll look at the follow up video cassette: "Spacecraft
Surfacing Techniques".  You'll learn Thornton's techniques using the model
to determine efective surfacing.  He adds paneling to spaceships in places
where it makes sense.  While these models often look better in motion than
they do in a still shot, they hold up rather well.  I will be posting my
completed model to the Aminet once this review is finished.  Hopefully
owners of these tapes will use these techniques to create a myriad of
better looking objects, and not just dozens of thinly veiled variants of
this ship.

I heartily recommend that you purchase these tapes.  The price is a
bargain when compared to the cost of taking a class in 3D modeling.  Yet
you get much more than what's available from a class, you get a true
apprenticeship with a working master of the CGI world, and that's cheap at
any price.

  published by:
  Desktop Images
  P.O. Box 10908
  Burbank CA. 91505

  e-mail:   comments@DesktopImages.com
  Web site: http://www.desktopimages.com/desktop/

  order:    1.800.377.1039
            $49.95 each volume (2 volumes available)

@endnode
@node REVIEW4 "Review: Aminet 10 CD-ROM"
@toc REVIEW

===========================================================================
                         Review: Aminet 10 CD-ROM
                            By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================

The day WILL come when I will no longer be able to come up with a clever
way to introduce Aminet CD-ROM reviews.  Until that day, I'm going to keep
trying...

Aminet.  You know it, you love it, you can own it on CD-ROM.  Well, the
update installments every two months, plus the yearly 4-CD compilations.
By my math, there are 18 different Aminet CDs out there (10 installments
plus two annual 4-packs) these days.

And they've got that AmigaGuide browsing interface that has pretty much
become a standard.  Search, configure tools for un-LHA, view, etc.  Have a
good time.

Aminet 10's "theme" is fonts, and there are some 330 megs of font data in
various (bitmap, Adobe, CG) formats.  A bit disturbing is the fact that
230 megs on the CD are mods.  This is considerably more than the last CD
and, while mods are always nice, seeing them fill considerable bulk on an
Aminet CD-ROM (when not all are new) is a little upsetting.

As of late, Aminet CDs have begun including older versions of commercial
sofware--in effect, "coverdisking" programs.  This time around, the goodies
are PageStream 2.2SE and Typesmith 2.5SE.  In PageStream 2.2's case, "SE"
means "no manual but you can buy that for $40 and get some fonts, too."  In
Typesmith's case, "SE" means "No AREXX, help, or professional-grade output
but you can buy the full version for $50."  Let's face it, if you're going
to do some serious work with either, you'll want the manuals.  But they
make for interesting inclusions.

By percent content, games are next in line.  They're sorted into "best",
"compatible", and "other", being those games which require some effort to
get running.  And there you have it.

The other usual categories of fun stuff round out the rest of the CD, a
grand total of 636 compressed megs of data.  What can I say?  There are
other CD compilations of random and categorized files, but why not just get
it from the source?  If you're looking to dabble in print media, or
considering taking the plunge for PageStream 3.0, you may well appreciate
the added bonus.  Of course, if you have an IV to Aminet, you know
perfectly well you can just FTP to your heart's content.

Aminet CDs are running 25 DM/ US$20 these days.

Published by Stefan Ossowski's Schatztruhe GmbH
Veronikastr. 33
D-45131 Essen
Germany
++49 201 788778 phone
++49 201 798447 fax
stefano@tchest.e.eunet.de
@endnode
@node REVIEW5 "Review: Aminet Set 2"
@toc REVIEW

===========================================================================
                           Review: Aminet Set 2
                            By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================

Geeze, if you miss one Aminet CD in the series you may as well just wait it
out and pick up the Aminet Set.

Aminet Set 1 last year took on the mammoth task of actually putting all of
the Aminet on CD-ROM.  It took four of them.

A year passed, and it took another four CDs just to get up to date.  That's
Aminet Set 2.  The snapshot was taken on October 21, 1995, which means it's
getting a bit old and gives you some idea just how long it took me to sit
down and get this review written.

Each disk is labeled (a bit confusingly) in lower-case letters, to avoid
conflicting mentally with the first set, and perhaps future sets.  They are
broken down into roughly logical divisions of Aminet subdirectories
(although the "Fun" category of demo, game, dev, disk, and hard certainly
covers a lot of definitions of the word).

How can I even begin to pretend it's possible to look through 2 gigs of
programs and offer a verdict?  The set is configured with the tried and
true, more or less, AmigaGuide interface which I like a great deal for
being fast and functional.  Searches do go on for a while, but what would
you expect?  Disk a is the launch point, as it has the master index.  You
can copy the search utility to a hard drive for convenience, because the
first disc is the only one with the global search.

It also has something that sets Aminet Set 2 a bit apart from being an
overwhelming compository of Amiga-only information, and that's the Project
Gutenburg book texts.  Nothing says we can't have a little culture.

In addition to this and the new files, each disk has some Aminet Set 1
Top-10 chart material to fill out the CDs.

What more can be said?  Amiga Report is on the first disc since the docs
directory is, so I'm relatively pleased.

If you missed a couple of discs last year, or are a big believer in
preserving collective wisdom, Aminet Set 2 is a very good investment at the
price (roughly US$45).  If you're looking for near-instantaneous access to
a whole lot of Amiga software it is equally suitable.  Picking up a set
such as this gives you a very broad collection of Amiga files, enough to
stave off mod-and-game cravings for quite some time, as well as providing a
nice collection of utilities and other software.  It is, after all, a
year's worth of Aminet.

Published by Stefan Ossowski's Schatztruhe
Veronikastr. 33
D-45131 Essen
Germany
++49 201 788778 phone
++49 201 798447 fax
stefano@tchest.e.eunet.de
@endnode
@node REVIEW6 "Review: Digital Universe and Distant Suns"
@toc REVIEW

===========================================================================
                 Review: Digital Universe and Distant Suns
                            By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================

Distant Suns was the standard for "home observatory" software on the Amiga
for many years.  Unfortunately, it has faded into disuse and relative
obscurity as of late--the biggest event since the 1994 release of V5 was
the abandonment of the program by its developer (Mike Smithwick) and his
publisher (VRLI) when DS5 failed to sell a single copy in the span of a
month.

Another publisher, Chaocity, picked up VRLI's Amiga software line and
released DS5.01 (the .01 apparently accounted for the labeling change) and
has promised upgrades, but none have surfaced yet.

Around the time that happened, Syzygy Research and Technology of Canada
released The Digital Universe.  A monumental undertaking, DU ships in one
(or optionally, two) lay-flat 3 ring binders on 14 (!) floppy disks.  (A
logical candidate for CD-ROM, but so far none has been made).

On the very surface, both programs roughly do the same thing--give a "sky"
or "planetarium" (configur able) view of the cosmos.  You can orient
yourself at a given position (Select from a list of cities, give
coordinate information, or in Distant Suns, put yourself somewhere else in
our solar system) and see what the view would be like.  Of course, this is
a 2-d representation, so you can change the direction of view as well.
Both programs will identify bodies for you, and you can set the date to
virtually anything you please.  Check out the configuration of the heavens
on your birthday or any other date in history you feel might be important
to you.  Identify constellations...you get the basic idea.

Distant Suns, from start to finish, takes an approach very forgiving to
amateurs and astronomical ignoramuses.  The 128-page manual is filled with
instructions on how to set up various events of note, such as observing the
exchange of Plato and Neptune as most-distant planets, showing that in 4145
AD, Polaris will no longer be the "North star", and so on.  The program
even comes with a few preconfigured "projects" of events, just click on the
"time forward" button and go.

Digital Universe takes a much more comprehensive approach.  The base user
manual is written and printed in what appears to be TeX, with the standard
TeX font that can't help but seem solemn and serious.  (The XiPaint manual
is the exact same way.)  Copious amounts of stellar objects have been
cataloged in the program, and new modules are coming monthly.

At the risk of sounding superficial, I'd also like to take this opportunity
to point out one very significant difference between the two
programs--their interface.  Distant Suns is showing its age.  It was
clearly designed with an ECS machine in mind, is relatively uncooperative
to being mode-promoted, and has menus which, while functional, aren't very
attractive.

Digital Universe, straight from its opening animation, shows that things
are going to be different from now on.  The program's interface is based on
MUI.  There are those who harp, whine, and moan about MUI, but this program
has done an excellent job of turning it into a serious dash of class
without going overboard and making the program a pig to use.

Digital Universe is also the much more illuminating and informative
program.  It seems that virtually every object in the sky has at least two
pages worth of vital data, and quite a few have extended encyclopedic
entries, complete with pictures. (Viewed through AmigaGuide, which DOES
have some problems with MUI, which are supposed to get sorted out.)   All
this data and information, in print form, takes up over 700 pages--Syzygy
knows, because for US$65 they'll sell it to you.  Personally, it's a take
it or leave it affair for me, because I love the hypertext integration and
am so used to reading important information off a screen that I'm not set
off by it.  (Avid Amiga Report readers presumably feel the same way.)  Even
clicking on something trivial like the Sun gets very interesting very
quickly.

DU seems to pay a lot more attention to detail, right down to asking you
the temperature in your area for better calculating refraction if you
choose to view your sky with refraction accounted for.

It's almost embarrasing how much time I've spent with Digital Universe,
magnifying and identifying to my heart's content various objects out of the
NGC, or turning every possible object on and marvelling at just how much
STUFF there is out in space...

Both programs will allow you to generate animations of events over time.
Digital Universe supports some printing--Distant Suns lets you save the
view to an IFF for later printout.

There's a great big galaxy out there, so if you're going to be inside
screwing around on your Amiga the least you can do is stick your head out
the window, note what you see, and fire up a program to help you learn more
about it.  Both Digital Universe and Distant Suns can get you there--DU is
a much more comprehensive program, with upgrades and updates (two upgrades
are available on Syzygy's Web site, along with several new modules for new
stellar objects and updates to the on-line encyclopedia), not to mention
the Web site's information on new events and discoveries in the
astronomical world.  Distant Suns is a cheaper, more introductory setup,
and may be frustrating to those who know they could be getting more from
their exploration.

Both programs will take advantage of an FPU (highly recommended.  It's a
big universe out there, and there's a lot to keep track of.), and you'll
need a hard drive.

Digital Universe: Demo on
ftp://ftp.aminet.org/aminet/dirs/aminet/biz/demo/Dig_Universe.lha.

Syzygy Research and Technology
Box 75
Legal, AB
T0G 1LO
Canada
403-961-2213 phone
sales@syz.com
http://www.syz.com
US$ 129.95 for Digital Universe software and manual
US$ 64.95  for Digital Universe hardcopy Encyclopedia

Chaocity
221 Town Center West #259
Santa Maria, CA  93454
USA
805-925-7732 voice
805-928-3128 fax
@endnode
@node REVIEW7 "Review: Online Library CD-ROM Volume 1"
@toc REVIEW

===========================================================================
                  Review: Online Library CD-ROM Volume 1
                            By: @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}
===========================================================================

Danny Amor has gotten pretty good at whipping CD-ROMs out.  He's been
behind da capo, World Info, the upcoming da capo 2 and co-compiled the
Workbench Add On CD.  Inbetween, he put together the Online Library CD-ROM.

Entirely based in HTML, OL is similar in concept to World Info, which
similarly only required an HTML browser to operate.  The CD is broken up
into a number of different categories, ranging from humor to science to
Star Trek, with news, political documents, and hundreds of Project
Gutenberg books in various languages thrown in.

Online Library is multilingual, supporting the four "standard Amiga
languages" for navigation (English, French, German, Italian) with the
occasional text in a different language.  The bulk of the texts are
English, but some books (The Divine Comedy, for example) are only in their
native language.

Some may be drawn to the drinks recipe list.  While I'm no legendary
drinker, it's nice to know that I can check on the drink Dale Larson
promises to get into me the next time we see each other.

The HTML is sound without being flashy--any browser should have no trouble
dealing with the output as it's all very straightforward.  It would have
been nice to have a browser on the CD itself ready to go, but these are
relatively easy to come by.

Amiga Report fans may be pleased to note that there is a licensed
collection of AR on the disc, from the first issue through AR 3.05, with an
inexplicable gap to 3.13 (the last issue included on the disc.)

Just about any CD is going to be an eclectic collection of information, but
Online Library seems to revel in it.  Never before did I think I would see
five translations of the Bible in the same place as a collection of RFCs.
Nor did I anticipate that Amiga Report would rate the same category as The
Federalist Papers or the articles of Fredrick Douglass.

There are a few animations and MIDI files tossed somewhat randomly on the
disc, as there is no direct way to access them through the Web browser.
Configuring CDs for this sort of thing is difficult, but not impossible.

Will you enjoy using Online Library?  I think the best way to answer that
question is this:  How much do you enjoy reading Amiga Report, relative to
printed publications?  If you find it a hassle to read things on a computer
screen, you'll still be happier with hard copy (although buying just the
19th century classics on the CD will get pretty expensive.)  On the other
hand, if you don't mind a bit, Online Library will be second nature to
use.

Approximately US$30.

Published by Amiga Library Services
610 N. Alma School Rd. Suite 18
Chandler, AZ  85224-3687
USA
602-491-0442 voice
602-491-0048 fax
info@amigalib.com
@endnode
@node CHARTS1 "Aminet Charts: 12-Feb-96"
@toc FTP

| The most downloaded files from Aminet during the week until 12-Feb-96
| Updated weekly. Most popular file on top.
|
|File              Dir        Size Age Description
|----------------- ---        ---- --- -----------
mui32fix.lha       dev/gui     83K   1+Muimaster.library V13.687, little bu
ar402.lha          docs/mags   75K   0+Amiga Report 4.02, January 31, 1996
mui32usr.lha       dev/gui    796K   1+MagicUserInterface V3.2, user files
MCP110.lha         util/cdity 395K   1+MAJOR UPDATE! The mother of the WB-U
Play16_1.6.lha     mus/play    91K   0+Plays WAV, IFF, MAUD, etc, 14 bit ou
NewIconsV2.lha     util/wb    400K   0+Revolutionary GUI Enhancement System
Voodoo-1.209.lha   comm/mail  485K   0+Premiere GUI MIME E-Mail reader for
ClassPatch10b.lha  util/wb     19K   0+Replaces standard GUI with other GUI
lowfrag12.lha      util/boot    6K   0+Prevent Memory Fragmentation!
AmigaSurf.lha      pix/illu   397K   0+Snapshots of Amiga Surfer
HotNews.txt        docs/misc    1K   1+Amiga-Scene *HOT* News (Read'n'Sprea
VZ_II128.lha       util/virus 166K   0+VirusZ v1.28 by Georg Hoermann
SayMore.lha        util/wb     12K   1+Say replacement with more options v0
xpkDMCB.lha        util/pack    7K   0+Powerful data packer. 68020+, FPU, >
aMiPEG05.lha       gfx/show   116K   1+MPEG player with support for CyberGr
SSpeed13.lha       util/moni  361K   0+SysSpeed V 1.3 - THE Speedtester ..g
BlocNotes36.lha    util/cdity  48K   0+The unique Post-It commodity for AMI
WBStartupPlus.lha  util/boot   52K   1+V2.6 Expands WBStartup capabilities.
Amiscape.lha       pix/illu     9K   1+Preview Picture of Amiscape
pckeybhack.lha     hard/hack   45K   0+Plug a PC keyboard to your Amiga.

| The highest rated programs during the week until 12-Feb-96
| Updated weekly. Best program on top. Please rate all the programs you
| download. To do so, send to aminet-server@wuarchive.wustl.edu :
| RATE <path> <num>
| where <path> is the file you want to judge and <num> is a mark from 0..10
| with 10 being the best. You can rate several programs in one mail, but
| don't rate your own programs. Example: RATE dev/gui/mui23usr.lha 8
|
|File              Dir        Size Age Description
|----------------- ---        ---- --- -----------
upcat13.lha        biz/dbase   64K  94+A disk catalog program.
AmiSlate1.4.lha    comm/tcp   197K   2+Net paint & games v1.4 for AmiTCP an
E-MailMosaic.lha   comm/tcp    23K   9+To get & put E-Mail with Mosaic
mftp1_33.lha       comm/tcp    79K   2+Update for mftp1_31.lha (MUI ftp cli
CNCD-Closer.lha    demo/tp95  2.3M   2+Closer 1/1 *AGA* (1st Place At The D
ar323.lha          docs/mags   80K   5+Amiga Report 3.23, December 31, 1995
ar401.lha          docs/mags   66K   3+Amiga Report 4.01, January 16, 1996
ParrotIsland.lha   game/demo  761K   6+Very great adventure like Monkey Isl
tritus_demo.lha    game/demo  213K   9+Superb 3-player Tetris Clone
JTEWorms.lha       game/misc   54K   8+4 Custom Maps for Worms
WhizzHD.lha        game/patch  12K   1+Whizz (Amiga Tech) HD-Inst 1.2 local
argus.lha          game/shoot 356K   1+Vertical scrolling. Fast with great
xanimwin003.lha    gfx/show    34K   5+MUI based GUI for XAnim
MagiC64.lha        misc/emu   286K   3+The fastest C64 emulator for Amiga V
sfx-bin_30.lha     mus/edit   299K   2+V 3.3 Binary for 68030
sfx-bin_40m.lha    mus/edit   285K   2+V 3.3 Binary for 68040+FPU
SoundBox22.lha     mus/misc   122K  14+Converts soundfiles and plays 14 bit
viva-amiga.lha     pix/imagi  300K  10+Pro-Amiga Imagine raytrace - VIVA AM
Repack3_4.lha      util/arc    27K   5+Update of the best ->LZX repacker, G
uuxt31.lha         util/arc   109K  29+The Best UUcoder with full WB suppor
ToolManager21a.lha util/boot   24K  27+Small update for ToolManager 2.1
ToolManager21b.lha util/boot  490K 143+ToolManager 2.1 (Binaries and Docume
ToolManager21g.lha util/boot  175K 143+ToolManager 2.1 (Anims, Brushes and
ToolManager21s.lha util/boot  280K 143+ToolManager 2.1 (Source code and Pro
ToolsDaemon21a.lha util/boot   87K 105+Add menus/submenus to WB menu strip
BExchange12.lha    util/cdity 142K   2+An exchange clone, using bgui.librar
mcxp214.lha        util/cdity  54K   2+MUI Preferences for MultiCX
scrwiz11.lha       util/cdity  68K  44+Small,configurable public screen man
@endnode
@node MAILLIST "Amiga Report Mailing List"
@toc WHERE

===========================================================================
                        Amiga Report Mailing List
===========================================================================

If you have an internet mailing address, you can receive Amiga Report in
@{"UUENCODED" link UUENCODE} form each week as soon as the issue is released.  To be put on
the list, send Email to majordomo@amigalib.com

Your subject header will be ignored.  In the body of the message, enter

subscribe areport

The system will automatically pull your e-mail address from the message
header.

Your account must be able to handle mail of any size to ensure an intact
copy.  For example, many systems have a 100K limit on incoming messages.

** IMPORTANT NOTICE:  PLEASE be certain your host can accept mail over   **
** 100K!  We have had a lot of bouncebacks recently from systems with a  **
** 100K size limit for incoming mail.  If we get a bounceback with your  **
** address in it, it will be removed from the list.  Thanks!             **
@endnode
@node UUENCODE
@toc MAILLIST

===========================================================================
                          UUDecoding Amiga Report
===========================================================================

If you receive Amiga Report from the direct mailing list, it will arrive in
UUEncoded format.  This format allows programs and archive files to be sent
through mail by converting the binary into combinations of ASCII
characters.  In the message, it will basically look like a lot of trash
surrounded by begin <filename> and end, followed by the size of the file.


To UUDecode Amiga Report, you first need to get a UUDecoding program, such
as UUxT by Asher Feldman.  This program is available on Aminet in

     pub/aminet/arc/

Then you must download the message that it is contained in.  Don't worry
about message headers, the UUDecoding program will ignore them.

There is a GUI interface for UUxT, which should be explained in the docs.
However, the quickest method for UUDecoding the magazine is to type

     uuxt x ar.uu

at the command prompt.  You will then have to decompress the archive with
lha, and you will then have Amiga Report in all of its AmigaGuide glory.

If you have any questions, you can write to @{"Jason Compton" link JASON}

@endnode
@node AMINET "Aminet"
@toc WHERE

                                  Aminet
                                  ======

To get Amiga Report from Aminet, simply FTP to any Aminet site, CD to
docs/mags.  All the back issues are located there as well.

Sites: ftp.netnet.net, ftp.wustl.edu, ftp.luth.se, ftp.doc.ic.ac.uk

@endnode
@node WWW "World Wide Web"
@toc WHERE

                              World Wide Web
                              ==============

AR can also be read with Mosaic (in either AmigaGuide or html form). 
Reading AmigaReport with Mosaic removes the necessity to download it.  It
can also be read using programs found in UNIX sites such as LYNX.

Simply tell Mosaic to open one of the following URLs:
     http://www.omnipresence.com/Amiga/News/AR/
     http://www.pwr.wroc.pl/AMIGA/AR/
     http://mm.iit.uni-miskolc.hu/Data/AR
     http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/amiga/ar/
     http://ramiga.rnet.cgi.com/~AR
     http://www.sci.muni.cz/ar/
     http://metro.turnpike.net/P/panther/main.html
     http://www.lysator.liu.se/amiga/ar/
     http://ArtWorks.apana.org.au/AmigaReport.html
     http://www.vol.it/mirror/amiga/
     http://www.cucug.org/ar/ar.html
     http://www.acropolis.net/clubs/amiga/amigareport/
     http://www.bengala.saccii.net.au/ar/main.html

The following AR sites also have a mailto form, allowing you to mail to
Amiga Report from the web site.  <Make sure your reader has forms
capability).
     http://www.pwr.wroc.pl/AMIGA/AR/
     http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/kcci1

Amiga information can also be accessed at this URL:
     http://www.cucug.org/amiga.html

Mosaic for the Amiga can be found on Aminet in directory comm/net, or
(using anonymous ftp) on max.physics.sunysb.edu
@endnode
@node COPYRIGHT "Copyright Information"
@toc ABOUT

===========================================================================
                Amiga Report International Online Magazine
                  March 14, 1996          Issue No. 4.04
                       Copyright 1996 FS Publications
                             All Rights Reserved
===========================================================================

Views, Opinions and Articles presented herein are not necessarily those of
the editors and staff of Amiga Report International Online Magazine or of
FS Publications.  Permission to reprint articles is hereby denied, unless
otherwise noted.  All reprint requests should be directed to the editor. 
Amiga Report and/or portions therein may not be edited in any way without
prior written permission.  However, translation into a language other than
English is acceptible, provided the editor is notified beforehand and the
original meaning is not altered.  Amiga Report may be distributed on
privately owned not-for-profit bulletin board systems (fees to cover cost
of operation are acceptable), and major online services such as (but not
limited to) Delphi and Portal.  Distribution on public domain disks is
acceptable provided proceeds are only to cover the cost of the disk (e.g. 
no more than $5 US).  CD-ROM compilers should contact the editor. 
Distribution on for-profit magazine cover disks requires written permission
from the editor.  Amiga Report is a not-for-profit publication.  Amiga
Report, at the time of publication, is believed reasonably accurate.  Amiga
Report, its staff and contributors are not and cannot be held responsible
for the use or misuse of information contained herein or the results
obtained there from.  Amiga Report is not affiliated with Escom AG.  All
items quoted in whole or in part are done so under the Fair Use Provision
of the Copyright Laws of the United States Penal Code.  Any Electronic Mail
sent to the editors may be reprinted, in whole or in part, without any
previous permission of the author, unless said electronic mail is
specifically requested not to be reprinted.

===========================================================================
@endnode
@node GUIDELINE "Amiga Report Writing Guidelines"
@toc ABOUT

===========================================================================
                      Amiga Report Writing Guidelines
===========================================================================

The three most important requirements for submissions to Amiga Report are:

     1.  Please use English.

     2.  Please use paragraphs.  It's hard on the eyes to have solid
     screens of text.  If you don't know where to make a paragraph break,
     guess.

     3.  Please put a blank line in between paragraphs.  It makes
     formatting the magazine much much easier.

     4.  Please send us your article in ASCII format.

Note:  If you want to check ahead of time to make sure we'll print your
article, please write to the @{"Editor" link JASON}.

Please stipulate as well if you wish to retain copyright or hand it over to
the editor.
@endnode
@node EDITORCHOICE "Editor's Choice"
@toc COMMERCIAL

===========================================================================
                              Editor's Choice
===========================================================================

These are selected products, reviewed by myself, that I've liked.  So, I've
landed them and decided to sell them.

All prices are in $US.

John McDonough's The Music Maker, a Contemporary New Age CD composed on the
Amiga, is available through Amiga Report.

The crisp, clean sounds and calm melodies present a welcome alternative to
many pounding alternatives.

Available for US$12.00 plus $3 shipping in the US.  Non-US orders, please
contact before ordering.  Check or money order accepted addressed to
@{" Jason Compton " link JASON}, shipments made by the artist.

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

|                                | Issue    | Approximate  | Amiga Report |
|           Product              | Reviewed | Retail Price | Reader Price |
---------------------------------|----------|--------------|--------------|
|                                |          |              |              |
|GPFax Amiga Fax Software        |   2.30   |   $100.00    |    $60.00    |
|    (Class 1 and 2)             |          |              |              |
|                                |          |              |              |
|Micro R+D CD-ROM Volume 1       |   2.25   |    $69.00    |    $30.00    |
|    (Includes early Transition  |          |              |              |
|    graphics converter and loads|          |              |              |
|    of artwork)                 |          |              |              |
|                                |          |              |              |
|Micro R+D CD-ROM Volume 2       |   2.26   |    $99.95    |    $46.75    |
|    (Includes entire Nature's   |          |              |              |
|    Backdrop series)            |          |              |              |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Orders may be placed via check, money order, or postal cheque, made out to
Jason Compton.  Visa/Mastercard accepted via post or E-Mail.  No CODs.

Mail all orders to @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}.  Orders will be processed by
Amiga Report and drop-shipped from Micro R+D.

In the US, add $5/$10/$20 for UPS shipping, ground/blue/red label,
respectively.  Overseas: It is recommended that you consider $20 to be the
minimum cost for shipping.  If you plan to order more than one item, E-mail
for shipping cost.

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

Sidewinder's Future Shock II CD is now available through Amiga Report.
Featuring 15 Amiga-generated tunes totalling 71 minutes, Eric Gieseke's
work is captured on an Amiga-independent media.

Available for US$12.00.  Please add $5 for shipping.

Make check or money order payable to @{" Jason Compton " link JASON}.  Orders will be
drop-shipped from Sidewinder Productions.

For overseas orders, please contact through E-Mail before ordering.
@endnode
@node PORTAL "Portal"
@toc ONLINE

===========================================================================
                  Portal:  A Great Place For Amiga Users
===========================================================================

                The Portal Information Network's Amiga Zone

          The AFFORDABLE alternative for online Amiga information
                  "Not just another UNIX Shell account!"

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

Portal is the home of acclaimed Amiga Zone, a full-service online SIG
(Special Interest Group) for Amiga owners and users.  We promise, and WE
DELIVER ongoing & aggressive Amiga support!  Now, more than ever, with so
many Amiga magazines gone or shrunken, you need a viable,
professionally-maintained resource for information, software, and a link to
the world-wide Amiga community.

You can dial into Portal to access the Amiga Zone in many ways: direct
dial to our San Jose, CA high-speed modems (you pay for the phone call
if it's not local), or though any SprintNet or Compuserve indial anywhere
(with a small hourly fee) or via the World-wide Internet "telnet"
program to portal.com (no hourly fee).

Even Delphi and BIX users can Telnet into Portal for a flat $19.95 a month,
with *unlimited* use.

Portal is NOT just another shell service!  Its Online system is fully
menu-driven with on-screen commands and help, and you can easily customize
it for your favorite terminal program and screen size.

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

 * 2.5 GIGabytes of Amiga-specific file space - we have so much Amiga Stuff
      online, we've lost count!
 * The *entire* Fred Fish collection of freely distributable software,
       online.  ALL 1100 disks!
 * Fast, Batch Zmodem file transfer protocol. Download up to 100 files or
      100 email letters at once, of any size, with one command.
 * Amiga vendor areas with many companies participating.
 * So many incoming lines you'll probably NEVER get a busy signal
 * 40 "regular" Amiga libraries with over 12,000 files.  Hot new stuff
       arrives daily.
 * No upload/download "ratios" EVER. Download as much as you want, as
      often as you want, and never feel pressured doing it.
 * Live, interactive nightly chats with Amiga folks whose names you will
      recognize.  Special conferences.  Random chance prize contests.  We
      have given away thousands of bucks worth of Amiga prizes - more than
      any other online service.
 * Message bases where you can ask questions about *anything* Amiga
      related and get quick replies from the experts.
 * Amiga Internet mailing lists for Imagine, AMosaic, LightWave, ImageFX,
      Picasso II & others feed right into the Zone message bases.  Read
      months worth of postings.  No need to clutter your mailbox with them.
 * FREE unlimited Internet Email with 5 meg of free storage.
      Your email is private, secure, and never censored or monitored.
 * A FREE UNIX Shell account with another 5 meg of free storage.
      You can run AMosaic and other Browses via your shell and explore the
      vast World Wide Web!  Intermediate to advanced users can use
      any standard UNIX mail and news utilities, compilers, and other
      tools.  Ask for your free UNIX book when you sign up.
 * A home for your own Web page!  Your UNIX Shell on Portal is linked
      to Portal's Web Server. Create your own WWW pages for the whole
      world to access. No extra charges!
 * Portal has the Usenet.  Thousands of "newsgroups" in which you can read
      and post articles about virtually any subject you can possibly
      imagine. Newsgroups are not censored!
 * Other Portal SIGs (Special Interest Groups) online for Mac, IBM, Sun,
      UNIX, Science Fiction, Disney, and dozens more.  ALL Portal SIGs are
      accessible to ALL Portal customers with NO surcharges ever. You
      never worry "Ooops... Am I paying more for this area?" again!
 * Portal was THE FIRST online service to offer a full package of Internet
      features: IRC, FTP, TELNET, MUDS, LIBS wrapped into user-friendly
      menus.  And you get FREE unlimited usage of all of them.
 * 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)
 * 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.

To join Portal or for more information call:

   1-800-433-6444 (voice) 9a.m.-5p.m. Mon-Fri, Pacific Time
   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
   1-408-725-0560 (modem 96/14400) 24 hours every day

   or enter "C PORTAL" from any Sprintnet dial-in, or "portal" at any
   CI$ network dialin, or telnet to "portal.com" from anywhere,
   and then enter "online" and then "info"

   or send email to "sales@portal.com"

Visit the Amiga Zone Web page at http://www.portal.com/~harv

Call and join today.  Tell the friendly Portal Customer Service
representative, "The Amiga Zone sent me."  Ask for the "Interactive"
account to get the Amiga Zone, the Online System and a UNIX Shell for
only $19.95 a month.

The Portal Information Network accepts MasterCard, Visa, or you can pre-pay
any amount by personal check or money order.  The Portal Online System is a
trademark of The Portal Information Network.  SLIP, UUCP, custom domain
and corporate accounts are also available.
@endnode
@node BBS_ASIA "Distribution BBSes - Asia"
@toc BBS

===========================================================================
                         Distribution BBSes - Asia
===========================================================================

                                 -=JAPAN=-

                           * GIGA SONIC FACTOR *
                     Email: kfr01002@niftyserve.or.jp
                            +81-(0)564-55-4864
@endnode
@node BBS_AUSTRALIA "Distribution BBSes - Australia"
@toc BBS

===========================================================================
                      Distribution BBSes - Australia
===========================================================================

                              -=NEW ZEALAND=-

                             * BITSTREAM BBS *
               FidoNET 3:771/850.0   AmigaNET 41:644/850.0
                             +64-(0)3-548-5321


                               -=VICTORIA=-

                         * NORTH WEST AMIGA BBS *
          EMail: mozza@nwamiga.apana.org.au     Fido: 3:633/265.0
         BBS Phone/Fax: +61 3 9331 2831   USR Courier V.Everything
@endnode
@node BBS_EUROPE "Distribution BBSes - Europe"
@toc BBS

===========================================================================
                        Distribution BBSes - Europe
===========================================================================

                                -=FINLAND=-

                               * LAHO BBS *
                    +358-64-414 1516   +358-64-414 0400
                    +358-64-414 6800   +358-64-423 1300

                             * KINDERGARTEN *
                      Email: matthias.bartosik@hut.fi
                             +358-0-881 32 36


                                -=FRANCE=-

                              * DYNAMIX BBS *
                        Email: erlsoft@mcom.mcom.fr
                    +33.1.48.89.96.66 Minitel to Modem

                        * RAMSES THE AMIGA FLYING *
     Internet: user.name@ramses.fdn.org     Fidonet: 2/320/104-105-106
                      +33-1-45845623   +33-1-53791200


                                -=GERMANY=-

                           * DOOM OF DARKNESS *
                      Email: marc_doerre@doom.ping.de
                          +49 (0)4223 8355 19200
           AR-Infoservice, contact Kai Szymanski kai@doom.gun.de

                              * IMAGINE BBS *
                    Email: Sysop@imagine.commo.mcnet.de
                              +49-69-4304948
              Login: GAST (Download area:  "Amiga-Report")

                         * LEGUANS BYTE CHANNEL *
                    Usenet: andreas@lbcmbx.in-berlin.de
                       49-30-8110060   49-30-8122442
                 Login as User: "amiga", Passwd: "report"

                              * REDEYE BBS *
                        Internet: sysop@coolsurf.de
         Modem/ISDN: +49-89.54662690   Modem only:+49.89.54662680

                          * STINGRAY  DATABASE *
                 EMail: sysop@sting-db.zer.sub.org.dbp.de
                              +49 208 496807

                            * VISION THING BBS *
                             ++49(0)345 663914
                          System Password: Amiga


                                -=GREECE=-

                            * HELLAS ON LINE *
          EMail: cocos@prometheus.hol.gr    Telnet: hellas.hol.gr
                    ++301/ 620-6001, 620-6604, 620-9500

                              * ODYSSEY BBS *
            email: odyssey@acropolis.gr   Amiganet: 39:258/1.0
                  ++301-4123502   23.00-09.00 Local Time


                                -=IRELAND=-

                               * CUGI BBS *
                            Fidonet: 2:263/155
                              +353 1 837 0204

                               * FWIBBLE! *
               Fidonet: 2:263/900.0   E-Mail: 9517693@ul.ie
              Phone: +353-902-36124    Midnight to 8am (GMT)
                       Freq "Readme.txt" for details


                                 -=ITALY=-

                        * AMIGA PROFESSIONAL BBS *
                 Amy Professional Club, Italian Amos Club
                              +(39)-49-604488

                               * FRANZ BBS *
                          EMsil: mc3510@mclink.it
                               +39/6/6627667

                                 * IDCMP *
                             Fidonet 2:322/405
                               +39-542-25903

                             * SPEED OF LIFE *
                  FidoNet 2:335/533   AmigaNet 39:102/12
                The AMIGA Alchemists' BBS   +39-931-833773


                              -=NETHERLANDS=-D

                       * AMIGA ONLINE BS HEEMSTEDE *
   Fidonet: 2:280/464.0, 2:280/412.0   Internet: michiel@aobh.xs4all.nl
                       +31-23-282002   +31-23-470739

                             * THE HELL BBS *
           Fido-Net : 2:281/418.0   e-mail : root@hell.xs4all.nl
                             +31-(0)70-3468783

                          * TRACE BBS GRONINGEN *
            FidoNET 2:282/529.0   Internet Martin@trace.idn.nl
                             +31-(0)-50-410143

                              * X-TREME BBS *
                      Internet: u055231@vm.uci.kun.nl
                               +31-167064414


                                -=NORWAY=-

                              * FALLING BBS *
                       EMail:  christon@powertech.no
                               +47 69 256117


                                -=POLAND=-

                          * SILVER DREAM!'S BBS *
                            SysOp: Silver Dream
                               +48 91 540431


                               -=PORTUGAL=-

                               * CIUA BBS *
                FidoNet 2:361/9   Internet: denise.ci.ua.pt
                           +351-34-382080/382081


                                -=RUSSIA=-

                             * NEW ORDER BBS *
           E-Mail: norder@norder.spb.su   FidoNet: 2:5030/221.0
                              +7-812-2909561


                                 -=SPAIN=-

                            * GURU MEDITATION *
                              +34-1-383-1317

                            * LA MITAD OSCURA *
             E-Mail: jovergon@offcampus.es   Fido: 2:341/35.19
                               +34-1-3524613

                        * MAZAGON - BBS - SYSTEMS *
       E-mail: jgomez@maze.mazanet.es   FTP: ftp-mail@ftp.mazanet.es
                               +34 59 536267
                              Login: a-report


                                -=SWEDEN=-

                                * CICERON *
                           E-mail: a1009@itv.se
                               +46 612 22011


                              -=SWITZERLAND=-

                          * LINKSYSTEM LINK-CH1 *
                   contact: rleemann@link-ch1.aworld.de
                   +41 61 3215643   ISDN: +41 61 3832007
                 Local newsgroup link-ch1.ml.amiga-report


                                -=UKRAINE=-

                            * AMIGA HOME BBZ *
      E-Mail: Oleg.Khimich@bbs.tenet.odessa.ua   FidoNet: 2:467/88.0
                              +380-482-325043

                            -=UNITED KINGDOM=-

                           * AMIGA JUNCTION 9 *
        Internet: sysadmin@junct9.demon.co.uk     FidoNet: 2:440/20
                             +44 (0)372 271000

                             * CREATIONS BBS *
           E-Mail: mat@darkside.demon.co.uk   2:254/524@Fidonet
                             +44-0181-665-9887

                              * METNET CCS *
     Email: metnet@demon.co.uk    FidoNet: 2:2502/129.0  2:2502/130.0
                     +44-1482-442251   +44-1482-444910

                           * OCTAMED USER BBS *
                    EMail: rbfsoft@cix.compulink.co.uk
                            +44 (01703) 703446

                              * SCRATCH BBS *
      EMail: kcci1@solx1.susx.ac.uk     Official Super Skidmarks site
                              +44-1273-389267
@endnode
@node BBS_NAMERICA "Distribution BBSes - North America"
@toc BBS

===========================================================================
                    Distribution BBSes - North America
===========================================================================

                                -=ARIZONA=-

                       * MESSENGER OF THE GODS BBS *
                           mercury@primenet.com
                               602-326-1095


                           -=BRITISH COLUMBIA=-

                             * COMM-LINK BBS *
       EMail: steve_hooper@comm.tfbbs.wimsey.com   Fido: 1:153/210.0
                               604-945-6192


                              -=CALIFORNIA=-

                            * TIERRA-MIGA BBS *
             FidoNet: 1:202/638.0   Internet: torment.cts.com
                               619.292.0754

                          * VIRTUAL PALACE BBS *
                   Sysop Email: tibor@ecst.csuchico.edu
                                916-343-7420

                        * AMIGA AND IBM ONLY BBS *
            EMail: vonmolk@crash.cts.com   AmigaNET: 40:406/7.0
                               (619)428-4887


                                -=FLORIDA=-

                            * LAST! AMIGA BBS *
                              (305) 456-0126


                               -=ILLINOIS=-

                           * EMERALD KEEP BBS *
                 FidoNet: 1:2250/2     AmigaNet: 40:206/1
                               618-394-0065

                            * PHANTOM'S LAIR *
  FidoNet: 1:115/469.0   Phantom Net Coordinator: 11:1115/0.0-11:1115/1.0
                         708-469-9510 708-469-9520

                            * STARSHIP CUCUG *
                       Email: khisel@prairienet.org
                               (217)356-8056

                         * THE STYGIAN ABYSS BBS *
                            FIDONet-1:115/384.0
                  312-384-0616   312-384-6250 (FREQ line)


                               -=LOUISIANA=-

                             * The Catacomb *
                        E-mail: Geoff148@delphi.com
                               504-882-6576


                                 -=MAINE=-

                     * THE KOBAYASHI ALTERNATIVE BBS *
                           FidoNet: 1:326/404.0
                      (207)/784-2130   (207)/946-5665
                     ftp.tka.com for back issues of AR


                                -=MEXICO=-

                               * AMIGA BBS *
                             FidoNet  4:975/7
                               (5) 887-3080

                           * AMIGA SERVER BBS *
                                  5158736

                          * TERCER PLANETA BBS *
                           FX Network 800:525/1
                              [525]-606-2162


                              -=MISSISSIPPI=-

                            * THE GATEWAY BBS *
        InterNet: stace@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil   FidoNet: 1:3604/60.0
                               601-374-2697


                               -=MICHIGAN=-

                            * DC Productions *
                    Email: dcpro!chetw@heifetz.msen.com
                               616-373-0287


                                -=NEVADA=-

                              * PUP-TEK BBS *
                       EMail: darkwolf@accessnv.com
                               702-553-2403

                              -=NEW JERSEY=-

                          * T.B.P.  VIDEO SLATE *
                               201-586-3623

                           * DLTACOM AMIGA BBS *
       Internet: dltacom.camphq.fidonet.org   Fidonet: 1:2606/216.0
                              (201) 398-8559


                               -=NEW YORK=-

                             * THE BELFRY(!) *
                         stiggy@dorsai.dorsai.org
                        718.793.4796   718.793.4905


                                -=ONTARIO=-

                           * COMMAND LINE BBS *
                               416-533-8321

                              * CYBERSPACE *
                       joehick@ophielia.waterloo.net
                      (519) 579-0072   (519) 579-0173

                          * EDGE OF REALITY BBS *
            EMail: murray.smith@er.gryn.org   Fido: 1:244/320.0
                               (905)578-5048


                                -=QUEBEC=-

                         * CLUB AMIGA DE QUEBEC *
          Internet: snaclaq@megatoon.com   Voice: (418) 666-5969
                      (418) 666-4146   (418) 666-6960
               Nom d'usager: AMREPORT   Mot de passe: AMIGA

                              * GfxBase BBS*
        E-mail: ai257@freenet.hsc.colorado.edu   Fidonet: 1:167/192
                               514-769-0565


                               -=TENNESSEE=-

                            * AMIGA CENTRAL! *
                      Email: root@amicent.raider.net
                               615-383-9679

                               * NOVA BBS *
                            FidoNet 1:362/508.0
                               615-472-9748


                               -=VIRGINIA=-

                       * NETWORK XXIII DATA SYSTEM *
                       EMail: gottfrie@acca.nmsu.edu
                               804-266-1763
                      Login: anon   Password: nopass


                              -=WASHINGTON=-

                          * FREELAND MAINFRAME *
                         Internet - freemf.wa.com
                               (360)412-0228

                              * PIONEERS BBS *
                            FidoNet: 1:343/54.0
                               206-775-7983
      Login: Long Distance   Password: longdistance   Or FREQ: AR.lha
@endnode
@node BBS_SAMERICA "Distribution BBSes - South America"
@toc BBS

===========================================================================
                    Distribution BBSes - South America
===========================================================================

                                -=BRAZIL=-

                            * AMIGA DO PC BBS *
           Fidonet: 4:801/44   Internet: fimoraes@dcc.unicamp.br
      +55-192-33-2260   Weekdays: 19-07 (-3 GMT)   Weekends: 24 hours

@endnode
@node DEAL_ASIA "Dealers - Asia"
@toc DEALER

===========================================================================
                              Dealers - Asia
===========================================================================

                                 -=JAPAN=-
                             Grey Matter Ltd.
                           1-22-3,Minami Magome
                        HillTop House 2F suite 201
                             Ota-ku,Tokyo 143
              Tel:+81 (0)3 5709-5549   Fax:+81 (0)3 5709-1907
    BBS: +81 (0)3 5709-1907   Email: nighty@gmatter.japan-online.or.jp

@endnode
@node DEAL_AUSTRALIA "Dealers - Australia"
@toc DEALER

===========================================================================
                            Dealers - Australia
===========================================================================

                              -=QUEENSLAND=-

                               Image Domain
                               92 Bridge St
                        Fortitude Valley, Brisbane
                     E-mail: s322698@student.uq.edu.au
                 Voice: 617-3216-1240   Fax: 617-3852-2720


                             -= NEW ZEALAND =-

                                CompKarori
                         LG/F Karori Shopping Mall
                            Karori, Wellington
                          Tel/Fax: +64 4 476-0212
                       Email: sales@compkarori.co.nz

@endnode
@node DEAL_EUROPE "Dealers - Europe"
@toc DEALER

===========================================================================
                             Dealers - Europe
===========================================================================

                                -=AUSTRIA=-

                   A.R.T.  Computeranimation Ges.m.b.H.
                              Feldstrasse 13
                              3300 Amstetten
                Tel: +43 7472/63566-0 Fax: +43 7472/63566-6

                                -=BELGIUM=-

                               CLICK!  N.V.
                            Boomsesteenweg 468
                        B-2610 Wilrijk - Antwerpen
           VOICE: +32 (0)3 828.18.15     FAX: +32 (0)3 828.67.36
           INTERNET: vanhoutv@nbre.nfe.be      FIDO: 2:292/603.9


                               -=BULGARIA=-

                           KlubVerband ITA Gmbh
                                1309 Sofia
                          P.F.13, KukushStr.  1-2
                  Tel: +359-2-221471   Fax: +359-2-230062
          Email: KVITA@VIRBUS.BG     Contact: Dr.  ING B.  Pavlov


                                -=DENMARK=-

                               Data Service
                           Att.  Soren Petersen
                              Kaerhaven2a 2th
                              6400 Sonderborg
          Phone/Fax: +45 74 43 17 36   EMail: sorpe-95@sdbg.ih.dk

                              Nemesis Amy BBS
               EMail: boersting@hoa.ping.dk   Fido: 2:238/43
                       USR 33k6 V.E.  +45 75-353726


                                -=FINLAND=-

             Lincware Computers Oy / Lincoln Technologies Ltd
                              Lovkullankuja 3
                               10300 KARJAA
            Voice: +358-(9)50-5583720   Fax: +358-(9)11-205415
                      EMail: linctech@freenet.hut.fi


                                -=FRANCE=-

                            ASCII Informatique
                             10 Rue de Lepante
                                06000 NICE
               Tel: (33) 93 13 08 66   Fax: (33) 93 13 90 95

                            Quartz Infomatique
                          2 bis, avenue de Brogny
                              F-74000 ANNECY
                  Tel./Fax (automatique): +33 50.52.83.31
                          E-Mail: tcp@imaginet.fr


                                -=GERMANY=-

                           AMItech Systems GmbH
                              Ludwigstrasse 4
                             D-95028 Hof/Saale
               VOICE: +49 9281 142812   FAX: +49 9281 142712
                       EMail: bsd@blacky.netz.sub.de

                    dcp, desing+commercial partner GmbH
                               Alfredstr.  1
                              D-22087 Hamburg
                 Tel.: + 49 40 251176 Fax: +49 40 2518567
                 EMail: info@dcp.de WWW: http://www.dcp.de

                          Hartmann & Riedel GdbR
                               Hertzstr.  33
                           D-76287 Rheinstetten
            EMail: rh@fs.schiele-ct.de     Fido: 2:2476/405.12
              Voice: +49 (7242) 2021     Fax: +49 (7242) 5909
     Please call first before visiting us, otherwise we may be closed.

                             Hirsch & Wolf OHG
                              Mittelstra_e 33
                              D-56564 Neuwied
            Voice: +49 (2631) 8399-0   Fax: +49 (2631) 8399-31

                           Pro Video Elektronik
                                Roßmarkt 38
                           D-63739 Aschaffenburg
                 Tel: (49) 6021 15713 Fax: (49) 6021 15713


                                 -=ITALY=-

                              C.A.T.M.U.  snc
                            Casella Postale 63
                             10023 Chieri (TO)
                          Tel/Fax: +39 11 9415237
       EMail: fer@inrete.it (Ferruccio Zamuner)   Fido: 2:334/21.19

                            Cloanto Italia srl
                           Via G.  B.  Bison 24
                                33100 Udine
                 Tel: +39 432 545902   Fax: +39 432 609051
              E-Mail: info@cloanto.it   CompuServe: 100145.15


                                 -=SPAIN=-

                               Amiga Center
                               Argullós, 127
                              08016 Barcelona
                Tel: (93) 276 38 06     Fax: (93) 276 30 80

                           Amiga Center Alicante
                                Segura, 27
                              03004 Alicante
                            Tel: (96) 514 37 34

                               Audio Vision
                               San Jose, 53
                             Gijon (Asturias)
                           Tel.  (98) 535 24 79

                        Centro Informático Boadilla
                                Convento, 6
                     28660 Boadilla del Monte (Madrid)
                Tel: (91) 632 27 65     Fax: (91) 632 10 99

                                Centro Mail
                            Tel: (91) 380 28 92

                                  C.R.E.
                             San Francisco, 85
                          48003 Bilbao (Vizcaya)
                Tel: (94) 444 98 84     Fax: (94) 444 98 84

                               Donosti Frame
                           Avda.  de Madrid, 15
                      20011 San Sebastián (Guipuzcoa)
                Tel: (943) 42 07 45     Fax: (943) 42 45 88

                            Eurobit Informatica
                    C/.  Gral.  Garcia de la Herran, 4
                           11100 - San Fernando
                                   Cadiz
                           Tel/Fax: (956) 896375

                                 GaliFrame
                           Galerías Príncipe, 22
                             Vigo (Pontevedra)
                Tel: (986) 22 89 94     Fax: (986) 22 89 94

                                 Invision
                             San Isidro, 12-18
                     28850 Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid)
              Tel: (91) 676 20 56/59     Fax: (91) 656 10 04

                                 Invision
                               Salamanca, 53
                              46005 Valencia
              Tel: (96) 395 02 43/44     Fax: (96) 395 02 44

                                  Norsoft
                                Bedoya, 4-6
                               32003 Orense
                Tel: (988) 24 90 46     Fax: (988) 23 42 07

                                 PiXeLSOFT
                              Felipe II, 3bis
                              34004 Palencia
                Tel: (979) 71 27 00     Fax: (979) 71 28 28

                                 Tu Amiga
                             Plaza Pedro IV, 3
                       08120 La LLagosta (Barcelona)
                Tel: (93) 560 76 12     Fax: (93) 560 76 12

                                  vb soft
                               Provenza, 436
                              08025 Barcelona
                Tel: (93) 456 15 45     Fax: (93) 456 15 45


                                -=NORWAY=-

                             DataKompaniet ANS
                        Trondheim Innovation Centre
                           Prof.  Brochs gt.  6
                             N-7030 Trondheim
                  Tel: +47 7354 0375   Fax: +47 7394 3861
EMail:datakompaniet@interlink.no  WWW:http://www.interlink.no/datakompaniet

                              Sezam Software
                              Ulsmågveien 11a
                              N-5o5o Nesttun
                       Tel/Fax: +47 55100070 (9-20)
           ABBS: +47 55101730 (24t)   Email: oleksy@telepost.no


                                -=SWEDEN=-

                                DataVision
                                 Box 1305
                              753 11 Uppsala
                     Street Address: Sysslomansgatan 9
 Orders: +46 (0)18-123400   Shop: +46 (0)18-124009   Fax: +46 (0)18-100650


                            -=UNITED KINGDOM=-

                           Almathera Systems Ltd
                Southerton House / Boundary Business Court
                             92-94 Church Road
                         Mitcham, Surrey / CR4 3TD
            VOICE: (UK) 081 687 0040     FAX: (UK) 081 687 0490
 Sales: almathera@cix.compulink.co.uk     Tech: jralph@cix.compulink.co.uk

                        Brian Fowler Computers Ltd
                           90 South Street / Exeter
                              Devon / EX1 1EN
               Voice: (01392) 499 755   Fax: (01392) 493 393
                Internet: brian_fowler@cix.compulink.co.uk

                             Visage Computers
                              27 Watnall Road
                           Hucknall / Nottingham
           Tel: +44 (0)115 9642828   Tel/Fax: +44 (0)115 9642898
                        EMail: visage@innotts.co.uk

@endnode
@node DEAL_NAMERICA "Dealers - North America"
@toc DEALER

===========================================================================
                          Dealers - North America
===========================================================================

                                -=CANADA=-

                          Animax Multimedia, Inc.
                         196 Joseph Zatzman Drive
                          Dartmouth, NS / B3B 1N4
                 Ph: (902)468-AMAX     Fax: (902)468-4341
                       EMail: animax@ra.isisnet.com

                           APC Computer Services
                            402-5 Tangreen Crt
                         Willowdale, Ont.  M2M 3Z1
                         Voice/Fax: (416) 733-1434
  EMail: shadow@interlog.com   WWW: www.interlog.com/~shadow/apccomp.html

                           Atlantis Kobetek Inc.
                           1496 Lower Water St.
                           Halifax, NS / B3J 1R9
               Phone: (902)-422-6556     Fax: (902)-423-9339
                     E-mail: atkobetek@ra.isisnet.com

                Atlas Computers & Consulting - Derek Davlut
                       400 Telstar Avenue Suite 701
                           Sudbury, ON / P3E 5V7
                Phone: (705) 522-1923   Fax: (705) 522-1923
                   EMail: s2200147@nickel.laurentian.ca

                      Computer Shop of Calgary, Ltd.
                          3515 - 18th Street S.W.
                         Calgary, Alberta T2T 4T9
                 Ph.  1-403-243-4358   Fx: 1-403-243-2684
        Email: austin@canuck.com   WWW: http://www.canuck.com/cshop

                           Computerology Direct
                             Powell River, BC
                                  V8A-4Z3
               Call 24 hrs.  orders/inquiries: 604/483-3679
          Amiga users ask for HEAD SALES REP for quicker response!

                        Comspec Communications Inc
                              74 Wingold Ave
                         Toronto, Ontario M6B 1P5
 Computer Centre: (416) 785-8348  Sales: (416) 785-3553  Fax: 416-785-3668
      Internet: bryanf@comcorp.comspec.com, bryanf@accesspt.north.net

                             ElectroMike Inc.
                         1375 Boul.  Charest Ouest
                           Quebec, Quebec G1N2E7
         Tel: (418) 681-4138, (800) 463-1501   Fax: (418) 681-5880

                         GfxBase Electronique, Inc
                              1727 Shevchenko
                             Montreal, Quebec
                  Voice: 514-367-2575   Fax: 514-367-5265
                             BBS: 514-769-0565

                              National Amiga
                             Oakville, Ontario
              Fax: 905-845-3295   EMail: gscott@interlog.com
          WWW: http://www.interlog.com/~gscott/NationalAmiga.html

                        Oby's Amigo Computing Shop
                             765 Barrydowne Rd
                         Sudbury, Ontario P3A-3T6
                         VOICE/FAX: (705)524-5826
                    All Amiga Computer Store Since 1990

                            Randomize Computers
                                 R.R.  #2
                         Tottenham, Ont.  L0G 1W0
                   vox: 905-939-8371   fax: 905-939-8745
       email: randomize@nrzone.com   www: www.nrzone.com/~randomize/

                            Software Supermart
                            11010 - 101 Street
                         Edmonton, Alberta T5H-2T1
                Voice: (403) 425-0691   Fax: (403) 426-1701
                       EMail: ssmart@planet.eon.net

                         SpectrumTech Electronics
                       412-1205 Fennell Avenue East
                           Hamilton, ON L8T 1T1
                Voice: (905) 388-9575   BBS: (905) 388-2542
           E-Mail: ste@spectrum.gryn.org   Contact: Derek Clarke

                             -=UNITED STATES=-

                               A&D Computer
                               211 South St.
                          Milford, NH 03055-3743
                Voice/Fax: 603-672-4700   BBS: 603-673-2788
                         Internet: amiga@mv.mv.com

                             Alex Electronics
                            597 Circlewood Dr.
                            Paradise, CA 95969
                  Voice: 916-872-0896  BBS: 915-872-3711
     EMail: alex@ecst.csuchico.edu   WWW: http://www.km-cd.com/~alex/

                           Amigability Computers
                               P.O.  Box 572
                           Plantsville, CT 06479
                            VOICE: 203-276-8175
                         Internet: caldi@pcnet.com

                              Amiga-Crossing
                                PO Box 12A
                        Cumberland Center, ME 04021
        VOICE: (800) 498-3959 (Maine only)   VOICE: (207) 829-3959
              FAX: (207) 829-3522   Internet: amiga-x@tka.com

                          Amiga Library Services
                          610 Alma School Rd, #18
                          Chandler, Az 85224-3687
                Voice: (800) 804-0833   Fax: (602) 491-0048
                        E-Mail: orders@amigalib.com

                           Amiga Video Solutions
                           1568 Randolph Avenue
                            St.  Paul, MN 55105
                 Voice: 612-698-1175     Fax: 612-224-3823
           BBS: 612-698-1918     Net: wohno001@maroon.tc.umn.edu

                          Applied Multimedia Inc.
                              89 Northill St.
                            Stamford, CT 06907
                           VOICE: (203) 348-0108

                            Apogee Technologies
                          1851 University Parkway
                            Sarasota, FL 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     Internet: B.GRAY@genie.geis.com

                            Computer Advantage
                             7370 Hickman Road
                           Des Moines, IA 50322
                          Voice/Fax: 515-252-6167
                       Internet: Number1@netins.net

                             Computer Concepts
                   18001 Bothell-Everett Hwy, Suite "0"
                             Bothell, WA 98012
                           VOICE: (206) 481-3666

                               Computer Link
                              6573 middlebelt
                           Garden City MI 48135
                 Voice: 313-522-6005     Fax: 313-522-3119
                         clink@m-net.arbornet.org

                            The Computer Source
                          515 Kings Highway East
                            Fairfield, CT 06432
                Voice: (203) 336-3100   Fax: (203) 335-3259

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

                          Computerwise Computers
                              3006 North Main
                              Logan, UT 84322

                              CyberTech Labs
                               PO Box 56941
                         North Pole, Alaska  99705
 Vox: (907) 451-3285   BBS1 : (907) 488-2547   BBS2 & Fax: (907) 488-2647
            EMail: 71516.600@CompuServe.com   Fido: 1:355/17.0

                              DC Productions
                          218 Stockbridge Avenue
                            Kalamazoo, MI 49001
                       (616)373-1985   (800)9DC-PROD
                    Email: dcpro!chetw@heifetz.msen.com

                               Digital Arts
                             1321 North Walnut
                              P.O.  Box 5206
                        Bloomington, IN 47807-5206
          VOICE: (812)330-0124   FAX: (812)330-0126   BIX: msears

                              Digital Castle
                       4046 Hubbell Ave.  Suite 155
                         Des Moines, IA 50317-4434
                           Voice: (515) 266-5098
                          EMail: Sheep@netins.net


                              HT Electronics
           E-Mail: HT Electronics@cup.portal.com     BIX: msears

           422 S. Hillview Dr.          211 Lathrop Way, Ste. A.
           Milipitas, CA 95035          Sacramento, CA 95815
           V: (408) 934-7700            V: (916) 925-0900
           F: (408) 934-7717            F: (916) 925-2829


                           Industrial Video, Inc.
                           1601 North Ridge Rd.
                             Lorain, OH  44055
         VOICE: 800-362-6150, 216-233-4000     Contact: John Gray
                  Internet:  af741@cleveland.freenet.edu

                            Kipp Visual Systems
                          360-C Christopher Ave.
                          Gaithersburg Md, 20878
                               301-670-7906
                           kipp@rasputin.umd.edu

                     The Lively Computer - Tom Lively
                             8314 Parkway Dr.
                             La Mesa, CA 91942
                   Voice: 619-589-9455 Fax: 619-589-5230
                        Net: tlively@connectnet.com

                                Magic Page
                            3043 Luther Street
                          Winston-Salem, NC 27127
          Voice/Fax: 910-785-3695   E-mail: Spiff@cup.portal.com
                          Contact: Patrick Smith

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

                         MicroTech Solutions, Inc.
                         1885 N.  Farnsworth Ave.
                               Suites 6-7-8
                           Aurora, IL 60505-1162
        Voice: 708-851-3033   Fax: 708-851-3825   BBS: 708-851-3929
           Email: info@mt-inc.com   WWW: http://www.mt-inc.com/

                          Mr. Hardware Computers
                      P.O.  Box 148 / 59 Storey Ave.
                          Central Islip, NY 11722
                 VOICE: 516-234-8110     FAX: 516-234-8110
                         A.M.U.G. BBS:  516-234-6046

                         OverByte Industries, Inc.
                       661 Blanding Blvd.  Suite 391
                        Orange Park, FL 32073-5048
            Voice: 904-858-3348   E-mail: overbyte@jax.gttw.com
          URL: http://www.jkcg.com/Webmaster/Overbyte/index.html

                            Paxtron Corporation
                              28 Grove Street
                          Spring Valley, NY 10977
     Voice: 914-576-6522    Orders: 800-815-3241    Fax: 914-624-3239

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

                          Raymond Commodore Amiga
                            795 Raymond Avenue
                         St. Paul, MN   55114-1521
                 VOICE: 612.642.9890     FAX: 612.642.9891

                           Safe Harbor Computers
                          W226 N900 Eastmound Dr
                            Waukesha, WI 53186
                 Orders: 800-544-6599   Fax: 414-548-8130
                       WWW Catalog: www.sharbor.com

                               Slipped Disk
                               31044 John R
                      Madison Heights, Michigan 48071
                           Voice: (810) 546-3475
                  BBS: (810) 399-1292   Fido: 1:120/321.0

                           Software Plus Chicago
                         2945 W Peterson Suite 209
                             Chicago, Illinois
                           VOICE:  312-878-7800

                        System Eyes Computer Store
                          730M Milford Rd Ste 345
                         Merrimack, NH 03054-4642
               Voice: (603) 4244-1188   Fax: (603) 424-3939
                  EMail: j_sauter@systemeye.ultranet.com

                              TJ's Unlimited
                              P.O.  Box #354
                        North Greece, NY 14515-0354
                  VOICE: 716-225-5810   BBS: 716-225-8631
           FIDO: 1:2613/323   INTERNET: neil@rochgte.fidonet.org

                                Zipperware
                             76 South Main St.
                           Seattle, WA  98104
                 VOICE: 206-223-1107     FAX: 206-223-9395
   E-Mail: zipware@nwlink.com   WWW: http://www.speakeasy.org/zipperware

@endnode
@node OPINION "Editorial and Opinion"
@toc MENU

===========================================================================
                           Editorial and Opinion
===========================================================================

@{"   compt.sys.editor.desk   " link EDITORIAL} The Osbourne Syndrome in the 90's

@{"  Notes From the Frontier  " link OPINION1}  Musings from the Midwest...

@{"  Support Local Amiga Mag  " link OPINION2}  A plea for Amazing Computing

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
@node NEWS "News & Press Releases"
@toc MENU
===========================================================================
                           News & Press Releases
===========================================================================

@{"  Amiga Technologies at CEBIT  " link NEWS1}  Displaying a new prototype!

@{"  Escom Shares Lower on Loss   " link NEWS8}  The kind of news we don't like...

@{"     Escom Announces Loss      " link NEWS12}  ...said a little differently.

@{" Escom Increases Share Capital " link NEWS18}  And this was the solution.

@{"  Schmitt Vote of Confidence   " link NEWS9}  And he almost left.

@{"  Bandits on the InfoHighway   " link NEWS19}  Dan Barrett's net scamguide

@{"   New Magazine -- AmigaInfo   " link NEWS10}  Sweden has a print mag again

@{"      JAM Merges with Em       " link NEWS5}  Two sub-only UK mags become one

@{"    Cloanto Press Releases     " link NEWS11}  Personal Paint re-invented

@{"    Amiga Dinner in Atlanta    " link NEWS13}  Watch the broadcast, buy the tape

@{"         DblScan 4000          " link NEWS16}  Flicker-fixing for AGA

@{"         Aminet CD 10          " link NEWS3}  ...and still going...

@{"       Oberon System V4        " link NEWS4}  The Oberon System on Amiga

@{"     Softwood Web Services     " link NEWS6}  Get online with Softwood

@{"       ShapeShifter v3.4       " link NEWS7}  SS gets Draco Friendly

@{"       Amiga CDROM Guide       " link NEWS14}  The comprehensive listing

@{"          Workshop 96          " link NEWS15}  The Danish party

@{"      Argel Pointers 6.0       " link NEWS17}  The hi-res pointer pack

@{"  European Software Creators   " link NEWS2}  Non-profit developer group

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
@node FEATURE "Featured Articles"
@toc MENU

===========================================================================
                             Featured Articles
===========================================================================

@{"     AWeb Conference     " link FEATURE1}  The author speaks on IRC

@{"    Scala Conference     " link FEATURE2}  The present and the future...

@{"   Another Trip to Be    " link FEATURE3}  What THOSE people are up to

@{"  SCSI Bus Termination   " link FEATURE4}  A primer to solve headaches

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
@node REVIEW "Reviews"
@toc MENU

===========================================================================
                                  Reviews
===========================================================================

@{"          WBStartup+ Notes          " link REVIEW1}  Remarks from the author

@{"  Disks to Help Connect Your Amiga  " link REVIEW2}  8 Disk Set from IAM

@{"   Creative Magic of Ron Thornton   " link REVIEW3}  A LightWave tutorial

@{"          Aminet 10 CD-ROM          " link REVIEW4}  They keep coming!

@{"            Aminet Set 2            " link REVIEW5}  Archived for easy access

@{" Digital Universe and Distant Suns  " link REVIEW6}  The new and the old of stargazing

@{"   Online Library CD-ROM Volume 1   " link REVIEW7}  Drinks, books, and more

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
@node FTP "Aminet Charts"
@toc MENU

===========================================================================
                               Aminet Charts
===========================================================================

                            @{"    12-Feb-96    " link CHARTS1}

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
@node ABOUT "About AMIGA REPORT"
@toc MENU

===========================================================================
                            About AMIGA REPORT
===========================================================================

@{"        AR Staff         " link STAFF} The Editors and writers

@{"   Writing Guidelines    " link GUIDELINE} What you need to do to write for us

@{"  Copyright Information  " link COPYRIGHT} The legal stuff

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
@node STAFF "The Staff"
@toc ABOUT

===========================================================================
                                 The Staff
===========================================================================

               Editor:               @{" Jason Compton    " link JASON}

               Assistant Editor:     @{" Katherine Nelson " link KATIE}

               Senior Editor:        @{" Robert Niles     " link ROBERT}

               Contributing Editor:  @{" William Near     " link WILLIAM}

               Contributing Editor:  @{" Addison Laurent  " link ADDISON}

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
@node WHERE "Where to Get AR"
@toc MENU

===========================================================================
                              Where to Get AR
===========================================================================

                         @{"   The AR Mailing List   " link MAILLIST}

                         @{"         Aminet          " link AMINET}

                         @{"     World Wide Web      " link WWW}

                         @{"   Distribution Sites    " link BBS}

                         @{"   Commercial Services   " link PORTAL}

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
@node BBS "Distribution Sites"
@toc WHERE

===========================================================================
                            Distribution BBSes
===========================================================================

                          Arranged by Continent:

                          @{"      Asia       " link BBS_ASIA}

                          @{"    Australia    " link BBS_AUSTRALIA}

                          @{"     Europe      " link BBS_EUROPE}

                          @{"  North America  " link BBS_NAMERICA}

                          @{"  South America  " link BBS_SAMERICA}

Sysops: To have your name added, please send @{"Email", link JASON} with the BBS name,
its location (Country, province/state) your name, any internet/fidonet
addresses, and the phone number of your BBS

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
@node DEALER "Dealer Directory"
@toc MENU

===========================================================================
                             Dealer Directory
===========================================================================

                          Arranged by Continent:

                          @{"      Asia       " link DEAL_ASIA}

                          @{"    Australia    " link DEAL_AUSTRALIA}

                          @{"     Europe      " link DEAL_EUROPE}

                          @{"  North America  " link DEAL_NAMERICA}

Dealers: To have your name added, please send @{"Email", link JASON} with the name,
address, phone, and net address (if available) of your establishment.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@{"   News   " link NEWS} @{"  Opinion  " link OPINION} @{" Articles " link FEATURE} @{"  Reviews  " link REVIEW} @{"  Charts  " link FTP} @{"  Adverts  " link COMMERCIAL}
@endnode
