@database "ar132.guide"
@Node MAIN "Amiga Report Online Magazine #1.32 -- November 5, 1993"

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

          ######    ######   ######    ######    ######   ########  TM
         ##    ##  ##       ##    ##  ##    ##  ##    ##     ##
         ##    ##  ##       ##    ##  ##    ##  ##    ##     ##
         ## ####   ## ##    ## ####   ##    ##  ## ####      ##
         ##  ##    ##       ##        ##    ##  ##  ##       ##
         ##   ###   ######  ##         ######   ##   ###     ##

                       International Online Magazine

                "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information."
                
November 5, 1993                                                   No. 1.32
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/                         Winners Don't Use Drugs                         /
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

                   Copyright © 1993 SkyNet Publications
                            All Rights Reserved


@endnode

@node P2-1 "Where to find Amiga Report"
@toc "menu"
/// WHERE TO FIND AMIGA REPORT                         Distribution Sites!
    --------------------------

  Click on the button of the BBS nearest you for information on that system.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/                             FidoNet Systems                              /
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
  FREQ the filename "AR.LHA" for the most current issue of Amiga Report!

@{"     OMAHA AMIGANET      " link P2-1-9} ..................................Omaha, Nebraska
@{"        NOVA BBS         " link P2-1-1} .............................Cleveland, Tennessee
@{"   CLOUD'S CORNER BBS    " link P2-1-3} ............................Bremerton, Washington
@{"     BIOSMATICA BBS      " link P2-1-4} .........................................Portugal
@{"    AMIGA JUNCTION 9     " link P2-1-5} ...................................United Kingdom
@{"     BITSTREAM BBS       " link P2-1-6} ..............................Nelson, New Zealand
@{"   REALM OF TWILIGHT     " link P2-1-7} ..................................Ontario, Canada
@{"    METNET TRIANGLE      " link P2-1-8} ......................Kingston Upon Hull, England
@{"   AMIGA-NIGHT-SYSTEM    " link P2-1-10}.................................Helsinki, Finland
@{" RAMSES THE AMIGA FLYING " link P2-1-11}............................................France
@{"      GATEWAY BBS        " link P2-1-12}...............................Biloxi, Mississippi

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/                           Non-FidoNet Systems                            /
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

@{"    IN THE  MEANTIME     " link P2-1-2} ...............................Yakima, Washington
@{"   FREELAND MAINFRAME    " link P2-1-50} ..............................Olympia, Washington
@{"        LAHO BBS         " link P2-1-51} ...............................Seinajoki, Finland
@{"      FALLING  BBS       " link P2-1-52} ...........................................Norway
@{"    COMMAND LINE BBS     " link P2-1-53} ..................................Toronto, Canada
@{"     RENDEZVOUS BBS      " link P2-1-54} ......................................New Zealand
@{"  LEGUANS BYTE CHANNEL   " link P2-1-55} ..........................................Germany
@{"   STINGRAY DATABASE     " link P2-1-56} ...........................Muelheim/Ruhr, Germany

@endnode

Non-AmigaGuide Users:  See the end of this document for numbers to each BBS.
___________________________________________________________________________


/// 11/05/93 Amiga Report 1.32   "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information"
    --------------------------
    · The Editor's Desk      · CPU Status Report   · New Products
    · FTP Announcements      · Dealer Directory    · AR Confidential
    · Usenet Reviews         · AR Online           · The Humor Department
    · Emulation Rambler      · A.M.I.G.A.          · SOTB3
    · Real 3D Features List  · 3DO Club Started    · Picasso II Board
    
                         » Taking the PC Plunge «
                 » Commodore Shareholder Movement Update «
                   » New AmigaDOS 3 Shareware Library «

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
                 Amiga Report International Online Magazine
                 "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information"
                            » FEATURING WEEKLY «
                  Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information
      Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information
              Hardware · Software · Corporate · R & D · Imports
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/           PORTAL · FIDO · INTERNET · BIX · AMIGANET · DELPHI            /
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P1-1 "From the Editor's Desk"
@toc "menu"

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


Before you read this editorial, go take a look at AR Online.  Check out
the last message in the Amiga International section from FidoNet.  There's
a message about a recent article in InfoWorld.  Go read it and then come
back here.

Okay, you've read it?  Good.  Are you as infuriated as I am?  Why a well-
known BUSINESS computer magazine would take such a cheap shot at the Amiga
is beyond me.  I mean, this magazine carries a lot of credibility and weight
in the business world.  I have to wonder who is responsible for letting a
remark like that slip... "We got letters of outrage from every business user 
with an Amiga on the face of the earth, and both of them were really nasty."

That is really low.  I guess these guys seem to think that the only thing
a business user uses a computer for is running spreadsheets and databases.
WRONG!  How many of you out there use your Amiga in a video production
business, with or without a Toaster?  How many of you use it for MIDI system
in a professional environment?  If those aren't legitimate business uses,
then the world is more screwed up than I thought.

And why do people use their Amigas for those purposes?  Because the PC can't
do it.  Sure, there are MIDI interfaces for the PC, but I can't think of
any professional musicians that use a PC as their MIDI system.  Everyone
uses either a Mac, Amiga or Atari ST.

The 3D rendering wave is just starting to hit the PC platform.  Imagine 2.0
is out for the PC, but the version I used is extremely flakey, due to con-
flicts with EMS or XMS extended memory managers.  And the Amiga still has
the best 3D rendering software on the planet -- LightWave.  Every time we
watch seaQuest or Babylon 5, we can feel good at the fact that the PC just
isn't going to have software that good for a long time!

BTW, I saw a commercial on FOX last night.  Babylon 5 (the movie) will be
rerun sometime this Saturday.  If I remember correctly, it's supposed to be
at 3 pm Eastern time.  So if you didn't tape it the first time, now's your
chance.

And since we're off-topic anyway, I might as well say that the Sci-Fi
channel is running a 24-hour Battlestar Galactica-Thon starting at 7 am
Eastern time on Saturday morning, until 7 am again on Sunday morning.
Twenty-four episodes!  Wow, I wonder how many were actually made...

On another subject, I was looking at the calendar, and noticed that there
will be only seven or eight issues of Amiga Report issues left in 1993.
I'm not sure if we'll be taking another week off or not, that's why I said
seven or eight.

If all goes well, I hope to release an index of articles after the first of
the year, covering all of 1993.  And we're planning a Year In Review for
sometime in March, marking our first anniversary.

That's it for now.

                                 Rob @ AR


@endnode
***************************************************************************
@node P4-1 "Delphi"
@toc "menu"


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


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


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

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

  DELPHI's best plan is the 20/20 plan.  It gives you 20 hours each month
  for the low price of only $19.95!  Additional hours are only $1.50 each!
             This covers 1200, 2400 and even 9600 connections!

          For more information, and details on other plans, call
                 DELPHI Member Services at 1-800-544-4005


                             SPECIAL FEATURES
                             ----------------

 · Complete Internet connection -- Telnet, FTP, IRC, Gopher, E-Mail and more!
   (Internet option is $3/month extra)

 · SIGs for all types of computers  -- Amiga, IBM, Macintosh, Atari, etc.

 · Large file databases!
 
 · SIGs for hobbies, video games, graphics, and more!

 · Business and world news, stock reports, etc.

 · Grolier's Electronic Encyclopedia!


                  DELPHI - It's getting better all the time!



@endnode
***************************************************************************
@node P2-2 "AR Staff"
@toc "menu"

/// The Amiga Report Staff                       Dedicated to serving you!
    ----------------------

  
                                  Editor
                                  ======

                               Robert Glover

 Portal:                          Rob-G
 Delphi:                          ROB_G
 FidoNet:                        1:285/11
 AmigaNet:                      40:200/10
 Internet:   General Mail:   ROB_G@Delphi.com     
             Submissions:    Rob-G@cup.portal.com
 


                      Assistant and Technical Editor
                      ==============================

                               Robert Niles

 Portal:                         RNiles
 Delphi:                         RNILES
 FidoNet:                  1:3407/104 (Private)
 Internet:                rniles@imtired.itm.com



                        Contributing Correspondents
                        ===========================
                              Daniel Barrett
                               Jason Compton
                               Chad Freeman
                               David Hopper
                                Rob Morton



@endnode
***************************************************************************
@node P1-2 "CPU Status Report"
@toc "menu"

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



         » NASA Loans Russia Hardware To Complete Internet Link «


WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 2 (NB) -- The National Aeronautics and 
Space Administration, NASA, has announced that after several year's work 
the agency is now proceeding with the  loan of hardware and software to 
the Russian Space Agency that  will allow a direct high-speed link between 
Moscow scientists and the Internet.

Charles Redmond of NASA told Newsbytes on Tuesday that the system now in 
the process of being installed is basically an upgrade to computer 
facilities at the Soviet Space Agency offices. The deal began with an 
agreement between President Bush and Premier Gorbachev which is only now 
being implemented with the current Russian Space Agency because of delays 
having to do with obtaining permits to ship high-tech equipment to the 
former Soviet Union.

This constitutes the first direct hard-wired link between the Russian 
scientific community and the worldwide Internet scientific, and academic 
communications network. Mr. Redmond told Newsbytes that an indirect link 
has existed for years but that it was made through a gateway located in 
West Germany and therefore only operated at a relatively slow 9600 bits per 
second rate.

The new linkage between the Space Agency facilities just north of Moscow, 
Russia, NASA, and everyone else on the Internet is a high-speed 56-kilobit 
link using a combination of land lines and a satellite linkage.

According to NASA, the new network link will provide a means for the two 
major space agencies to carry on much more intensive liaison activities 
which just wasn't possible using the much slower gateway.

To provide a high-speed Internet link, NASA had to receive Department of 
Commerce permission to ship about $480 thousand worth of routers and front-
end computers, including a MiniVAX, to the Russians on loan from NASA.

The equipment will be in operation by the beginning of 1994 and should 
eventually link a number of Moscow-based and outlying scientific stations' 
networked computers with the Internet although those outlying locations 
will still be linked only through relatively slow dial-up modem lines to 
the high-speed Moscow center.

Shipment of the hardware and necessary software has already begun, but not 
everything is yet in place, according to the NASA spokesperson in 
Washington, DC.



                   » 3DO Int'l Assn, 3DO Club Started «


REDWOOD CITY, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1993 NOV 2 (NB) -- 3DO has started two 
support groups, one for people in businesses related to 3DO technology, the 
3DO International Association (3DOIA), and the 3DO Club for consumers.  The 
compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM)-based 3DO hardware was shipped into 
retail outlets by Panasonic in September.

Panasonic, the only hardware manufacturer currently offering the 3DO player, 
says sales of the Real 3DO are going very well, despite the fact that there 
are only three software titles for the player to date. The 3DO boasts a 
reduced instruction set computing (RISC) chip, is specially designed to offer 
fast graphics rendering, and connects to a television set. The unit will also 
play audio CDs and Kodak Photo CDs.

Twenty more entertainment titles are expected by Christmas and in excess of 
300 developers have signed up to either move existing software titles or 
create new ones for the 3DO market.

The 3DOIA is $95 per year and is aimed at developers, publishers, producers, 
dealers, distributors, and manufacturers of 3DO products. The group has been 
formed to offer a forum and information about 3DO as well as information 
exchange between members and will offer a newsletter, special interest groups
(SIGS), and conferences.

The 3DO Club is the source for fun information aimed at consumers or would-be 
consumers who are willing to spend $19.95 per year to learn more about 3DO. 
Members can expect a quarterly newsletter with information about new 3DO 
products, behind-the-scenes previews, and profiles of those who have licensed 
3DO's technology. Contests, special events, and sweepstakes will also be a 
part of the club, 3DO added.

To entice membership, those purchasing Panasonic 3DO systems now will receive 
free one-year memberships and a sweepstakes with a grand price of an all-
expense-paid trip to Universal Studios is also being offered. Ten first prizes 
of 3DO software titles will be awarded as well, the company said.

Those interested in joining 3DOIA are encouraged to call 3DO for more 
information. Information on the 3DO Club may be obtained by mail. Janet 
Strauss, director of marketing for 3DO said the company has already received 
thousands of letters from people who want to joint the 3DO Club.

3DO has as its largest competitor Philips with the Compact Disc Interactive 
(CD-I) player. Philips has announced a deal with Paramount to introduce 
72-minute movies for the CD-I player that will play with the addition of 
special Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) hardware module for decompression 
of the video. The company recently cut the price of the CD-I player so
with the MPEG module it is comparable to the 3DO price of about $700. Philips 
is also doing "infomercials" on national television and has more game titles 
available as it has been marketing the CD-I player for over a year. However, 
3DO claims other game systems are no match for the graphics capability of
its system.

One other player in this market could be the Atari Jaguar system. While Atari 
officials hope the Jaguar will be as popular as the now ancient Commodore 64 
home computer, the company has lost nearly all its momentum in the US market 
and is struggling to manufacture the Jaguar systems in large enough quantities 
to meet demand. However, Atari does have backing from C-Cube, a maker of video 
compression hardware chips.



                The preceding stories are © 1993 NewsBytes.
                        Reprinted with permission.

@endnode
             _________________________________________________

@node P1-3 "PR on Sun Systems"
@toc "menu"


              » Edited Press Release on the new Sun Systems «
                     Provided by Pipestrello on Delphi


New systems feature revolutionary imaging capabilities and the industry's
lowest-cost real-time video capture/compression technology, both developed by
SUN.

   --SPARCstation 10SX -- providing industry-leading image processing
performance, full 24-bit color, 3-D graphics and hardware-accelerated  video
playback.

   --SPARCstation 10M -- offering all of the capabilities of the SPARCstation
10SX, plus real-time video capture/compression and a video  camera.

   --SPARCclassic M -- at $4,995, the industry's most inexpensive, fully
configured multimedia workstation. It includes a camera, real-time video
capture/compression card -- enabling multimedia conferencing over standard
networks -- and a storage disk.

   In the area of imaging, the SPARCstation 10SX delivers unmatched per-
formance and capabilites among workstation platforms. "Imaging" means the 
ability to manipulate and process such images as digitized photographs, X-Rays
and satellite data.

   The SPARCstation 10SX is the first system in its class with a graphics and
imaging ASIC integrated right into its memory subsystem that can manipulate
images as large as 300 megabytes in almost real time.  Common imaging 
fuctions -- panning, zooming and rotating -- as well as advanced special 
effects -- sharpening, blurring and edge detection -- are carried out 
extremely quickly due to the speed of the SX chip.

   In addition, SX is the only imaging accelerator that doesn't force data to
pass over a relatively low-speed bus.

   The 10SX has superior imaging, provides full 24-bit, Gouraud-shaded, Z-
buffered graphics for interactive 3-D. It also provides fast decompressed 
video playback in hardware.  All of these capabilities are carried out by the
revolutionary ASIC.

   The SPARCstation 10SX, which is available immediately, has introductory
pricing beginning at $15,495. The price includes a 535 megabyte hard disk, 32
megabytes of memory and a 16-inch color monitor.

   SMCC also introduced two workstations providing new levels of video
conferencing and multimedia authoring . They feature video capture and
compresion at 30 frames per second. These systems are the SPARCstation 10M and
the SPARCclassic M computers.

   SMCC's video conferencing workstations come equipped with the new SunVideo
capture/compression SBus card, that supports multiple video compression
standards such as MPEG, JPEG and CELL, SMCC's internally developed algorithm.

   The multimedia workstations also include a video camera and a CD-ROM disc
containing licensable video and multimedia programs.

   In addition, users can take advantage of Solaris LIVE!, an extensive array
of multimedia technologies that support workgroup collaboration, video con-
ferencing and more. Solaris LIVE! is part of the Solaris 2.3 operating en-
vironment.

   The SPARCstation 10M has introductory prices starting at $17,095, available
beginning Dec. 15.

   Also available is a "multi-media bundle" that can be used to equip any of
the existing installed base of SPARCstation systems for multimedia.  Allows
customers to retrofit existing systems for multimedia.  Priced at $1,895, the
multimedia package includes the SunVideo capture/compression card, video camera
and multimedia CD-ROM disc. The SunVideo card can also be purchased alone for
$1,495.

@endnode

@node P5-1 "AmiTCP/IP v2.1"
@toc "menu"


                    » AmiTCP/IP 2.1 available for FTP «


TITLE

        AmiTCP/IP - TCP/IP protocol stack for Amiga

VERSION

        Release 2.1

NEW FEATURES

    * Inet-handler:
        - With Inet-Handler you can use AmigaDOS IO to access TCP protocol
    * finger:
        - New application, prints information about local and remote users
    * fingerd:
        - Calls now finger when asked for local users. (This feature requires
          Apipe-handler by Per Bojsen, Apipe-handler can be found e.g. on Fish
          disk 783)
    * ls:
        - New application, an imitation of Unix directory lister.  Supports
          multiuser filesystems. Included as an example of user and group
          database usage
    * Napsaterm:
        - Default window title is now the name of the remote host
        - A public screen can be used with -S switch (thanks trossi!)
    * SynClock:
        - A simple script which synchronize clock in Amiga with
          specified host in network
    * AmiTCP:
        - A timestamp is added to the log messages
        - Faster checksum calculation implemented in assembler
    * netlib:
        - User and group database handling routines are added to the
          net.lib. Release includes example databases for `ls' and `finger'
          utilities, which use these databases
        - A real gettimeofday() using locale is also added

AUTHORS

        The AmiTCP/IP Programming Project Group in Helsinki University of
        Technology, referred further on as AmiTCP/IP Group:

        Tomi Ollila     <Tomi.Ollila@cs.hut.fi>
        Pekka Pessi     <Pekka.Pessi@hut.fi>
        Markus Peuhkuri <Markus.Peuhkuri@hut.fi>
        Jarno Rajahalme <Jarno.Rajahalme@hut.fi>

        E-mail address for the group is <amitcp-group@hut.fi>.

DESCRIPTION

        AmiTCP/IP is the first publicly available TCP/IP protocol stack for
        the SANA-II interface. AmiTCP/IP provides an application level socket
        interface to the Internet protocols as an Amiga shared library.

        The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, consists of
        user level protocols TCP and UDP which use IP as the network level
        protocol.  There is a wide variety of different network applications
        and services using TCP/IP protocols. The BSD compatible socket
        interface to Internet protocols makes it possible to port existing
        applications with minor modifications.

        AmiTCP/IP connects to the network via SANA-II compatible device
        drivers. SANA-II is a hardware and protocol independent network
        adapter interface specification published by Commodore. Several
        network adapter manufactures have made available SANA-II device
        drivers for their hardware. Currently there are SANA-II drivers
        available at least for Ethernet, Arcnet and serial line interfaces.
        So you can connect to Internet with Ethernet LAN, or via modem line
        with Serial line IP (SLIP) optionally with compressed headers (CSLIP).

        A typical application is to use (C)SLIP to connect to the Internet and
        have multiple connections simultaneously. You can read your e-mail and
        news, transfer files and have multiple terminal sessions at the same
        time over one modem line.

FEATURES

        1. Standard SANA-II network device driver interface.
        2. BSD-compatible socket interface as a Amiga shared library.
        3. ARexx port for configuration and statistics.
        4. Over 200 pages of documentation including:
                - Installation and configuration
                - ARexx port commands
                - Programmer's manual based on the BSD IPC manual. This
                  is a fairly complete tutorial for developing powerful
                  client/server applications
                - Internal description of the implementation
                - Utility and API function reference guide in AutoDoc form.
        5. Basic applications with source included.
        6. Based on the BSD Net/2 release.
        7. Full source code included.

        While all Internet services and applications (telnet, ftp, news,
        mail) are possible with AmiTCP/IP, many applications are still under
        development by us and others. Current release of the AmiTCP/IP
        contains following applications:

        * Telnet - standard program to log on other systems **
        * Ftp - standard program to transfer files between systems **
        * Finger - prints information about local and remote users
        * ls - Directory lister with user and group information
        * Napsaterm - a VT100 terminal emulator using remote login protocol
        * NcFTP - an alternative interface to FTP protocol %%
        * NetFS - a Amiga specific network filesystem  ##
        * TCP - networking support for GNU Emacs. With TCP you can use any
          elisp-based networking applications (Gnus, Gopher, Irchat etc.)
        * FingerD - a Finger daemon which prints user information or a banner
          file
        * QWriter - an application to test and benchmark network

        Following network utilities are also available:

        * arp - tool to handle ARP hardware address translation tables
        * ifconfig - tool to control network interface parameters
        * inetd - Internet super server, which starts other services when
          needed and provides some simple services by itself
        * letnet - a simple filter for connecting to TCP based services.
          Suitable for scripts and testing
        * netstat - a ARexx script to get statistical information from
          networking
        * ping - utility to test network connectivity
        * route - tool to display and manipulate routing tables
        * online/offline - utilities to control SANA-II device drivers

        **) Telnet and FTP are ported by Mark Tomlinson and Goeff McCaughan
        %%) NcFTP is ported by Carsten Heyl
        ##) NetFS is authored by Timo Rossi

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

        AmiTCP/IP can be run from floppy and with one megabyte of memory,
        but as usual, a hard disk and more memory makes your life easier.

        Amiga OS release 2.04 or newer is required.

        SANA-II device driver is needed for your network adapter. A test
        device driver, agnet.device, is included with sources. Also the
        freely distributable Commodore A2060 (Arcnet), A2065 (Ethernet),
        SLIP and CSLIP drivers are included. The rhslip.device and
        rhcslip.device are derived from Commodore drivers but contain bug
        fixes made by Olaf Seibert.

        LHA or lx utility is required to unarchive distribution archives.

        Most of the source files has been compiled with GNU C 2.3 and SAS C
        6.3. Some utilities and libraries are compiled only with SAS C 6.3.
        However, only the executable files compiled with SAS C are tested.
        Also, the DICE C support is untested.

AVAILABILITY

        AmiTCP/IP software has been uploaded to the Aminet. It should be
        shortly available at the following Aminet hosts:

        Switzerland  litamiga.epfl.ch      (128.178.151.32)
        Scandinavia  ftp.luth.se           (130.240.16.3)
        Germany      ftp.uni-kl.de         (131.246.9.95)
        Germany      ftp.uni-erlangen.de   (131.188.1.43)
        Germany      ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de   (130.149.17.7)
        Germany      ftp.th-darmstadt.de   (130.83.55.75)
        Germany      ftp.uni-paderborn.de  (131.234.2.32)
        USA          ftp.etsu.edu          (192.43.199.20)
        USA          ftp.wustl.edu         (128.252.135.4)
        Australia    splat.aarnet.edu.au   (192.107.107.6)
        UK           src.doc.ic.ac.uk      (146.169.2.1)

        For the convenience of Finnish users, AmiTCP/IP is also uploaded to
        the ftp.funet.fi.

        The latest version of AmiTCP/IP is located in kampi.hut.fi. This
        archive is not meant for massive downloading. Major new versions
        will be announced and distributed to other archives, too.

DIRECTORY

        In Aminet: pub/aminet/comm/net
        ftp.funet.fi: pub/amiga/datacomm/tcpip
        kampi.hut.fi: AmiTCP

FILE NAMES

        AmiTCP/IP revision 2.1 is distributed in following archives:
        AmiTCP-bin-21.lha       AmiTCP/IP binaries
        AmiTCP-api-21.lha       Include files and link libraries
        AmiTCP-src-21.lha       Source for AmiTCP/IP

        If you just want to use AmiTCP/IP you need only archive
        AmiTCP-bin-21.lha containing also the basic documentation.  You can
        upgrade from AmiTCP 2.0 to AmiTCP 2.1 with archive AmiTCP-bin-21.lha.
        Unarchive it to your work directory, then click Install_AmiTCP.
        Installation script copies your old configuration to use with
        AmiTCP/IP 2.1.

        The separate documentation archives are not changed from release
        2.0. The full System manual is available in text, PostScript and
        DVI formats. PostScript and DVI documents are formatted for A4 and
        "Letter" page sizes, PostScript fonts have 300 dpi resolution.
        Normally you need only one version suitable to your printer. Full
        documentation includes Programmer's Manual and Implementation
        Notes.

        Archive name contains the release number, for instance archive
        AmiTCP-bin-21.lha contains release 2.1.

        To develop your own applications or AmiTCP/IP you need
        AmiTCP-api-21.lha. It contains include files and link libraries. Full
        source for AmiTCP/IP and most of the applications are in the archive
        AmiTCP-src-21.lha.

PRICE AND DISTRIBUTION

        AmiTCP/IP is distributed for free under GNU General Public License
        Version 2.

PLEASE NOTE

        The release 2.1 of AmiTCP contains some improvements and bug fixes
        over previous releases. It is compatible with release 2 at binary
        level. It is uncompatible with first release at binary level.

HOW TO CONTACT AUTHORS

        E-mail address for the group: <amitcp-group@hut.fi>

        Bug reports and fixes: <amitcp-bug@hut.fi>

        Developer and announce list <amitcp@hut.fi>
        Subscription: <amitcp-request@hut.fi>


@endnode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P1-4 "Online Weekly"
@toc "menu"

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



From the Amiga Tricks echo on AmigaNet
======================================


*** Area: TRICK_AMY                               Date: 28 Oct 93  0:16:00
*** From: Bruce Goodman (40:200/1.0)
*** To  : All
*** Subj: A3000T surprise

For all those who recently purchased an A3000T from Creative Computers, you
may have a nice surprise waiting for you. Try a High-density disk in your
floppy drive. You just might have a high-density drive already installed. If
this is old news to everyone, I apologize. But in going through the
documentation, I found no references to high-density drives installed.

The easiest way to check is to put the high density disk in the drive, then
format it. If it formats to 1600+ tracks, you have a high density drive. Of
course, you can get even more if you format using FFS.


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



From the Amiga International echo on FidoNet
============================================


*** Area: AMIGA                                   Date: 30 Oct 93  2:34:00
*** From: Bob Wages (1:3608/1.0)
*** To  : All
*** Subj: CD-32 in CGW

Hey everybody. Just thought I'd let you know that the November issue of
Computer Gaming World has an article on the CD32. The article speaks highly of
the CD32 in comparison to Atari's Jaguar and the 3DO. But the author of the
article said some pretty rough stuff about C= marketing tactics. (Not that I
blame him of course.) He described their plan as "of stealth-like, atrophic
advertising).  But he still gives C= a chance to capture a "lion's share of
the 32-bit and beyond console game market". Quoting him again, "It's (the
CD32) is certainly the most cost effective alternative at present, and the
most expandable console device to arrive thus far." The article even gives
C='s address and phone #. (215)431-9100 for perspective buyers to call.

Also covered in the magazine were articles on the Jaguar and 3DO. According to
the article, the basic Jaguar system will be catridge based and sell for
around $200. But I saw a mail order add for it at $257. The CD-ROM drive will
cost an additonal estimated (it wasn't out at the time of the article) $200.
The Jaguar allows up to six megabytes of code per ROM cartridge. Cartridges
will cost from $39 and $69 bucks. Since the CD unit isn't out for the Jaguar
yet, I'd say this really sucks. The article shows a picture of the basic unit
and I don't like the way it looks. (Of course I'm biased as heck.) There will
be five (yes count them five) whole games availible at launch. All cartridge
games of course.

The 3DO looks like a black box with one port for a control pad. The control
pads are supposed to be daisy chainable, but if that's true, then the control
pad that comes with the 3DO will have to be at the end of the chain because it
doesn't have a pass-thru. The 3DO has no expansion module but one is promised
for the future (with an additional cost of course) from Matsushita sometime in
the middle of '94. The 3DO is exclusively CD and no price was given for it.


To finish, the article for the CD32 stated that C='s Amiga CD32 is the first
"32-bit game console advailible to consumers, and the only one currently
employing a double-speed CD-ROM drive. Retailing for $399, the Amiga CD32 also
debuts several hundred dollars below the 3DO and the Jaguar with the CD
drive."

It's been a long time since I've heard such high praise like that is a
magazine which is dominated by I*M and clone games. Hopefully, it's a new
start for C= if they get their arses in gear and push this machine heavily.
I'm calling C= and asking for more info on this machine and recommend that
they advertise more, more, more.


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


*** Area: AMIGA                                   Date: 29 Oct 93  1:12:00
*** From: Skipper Smith (1:114/146.0)
*** To  : All
*** Subj: InfoWorld 10/18/93

In the 10/18/93 issue of InfoWorld on page 70, the column "Down to the
Wire" actually mentioned the Amiga.  However, it is one that is not
pleasant in tone and I believe that it might be a good thing for people to
be aware of it so they can be a bit active in defending the honor of Amiga
user's everywhere (though not all Amiga users, since it is quite accurate
about some).  And I quote (without permission):

"And after a couple of recent less-than-positive columns on Windows NT
(particularly the client version), we've found that if there's any group
we don't want to offend, it's the NT fan club.  We haven't seen such
sensitivity to criticism since the Amiga.  We once implied that nobody
uses the Amiga as a serious business machine.  Big mistake.  We got
letters of outrage from every business user with an Amiga on the face of
the earth, and both of them were really nasty."

I don't, at the present time, use my Amiga for business, but I know there
are a lot of people that are.  Bombard the heck out of them for this
incredibly silly statement BUT DON'T BE RUDE!!!  Let them know that, while
there are certainly zealots willing to defend any machine, most of us use
the Amiga because we are intelligent, non-cattle like individuals who
happen to be able to recognize brilliance when we see it :)

The address of the rag is:

Letters to the Editor
InforWorld
155 Bovet Road
Suite 800
San Mateo, CA 94402

or

letters@infoworld.com

Remember:  Above all else, be polite!



@endnode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P4-5 "Amiga Report Mailing List"
@toc "menu"


/// Amiga Report Mailing List
    -------------------------


Are you tired of waiting for your local BBS or online service to get
Amiga Report each week?  Have you been spending more money that you want
on long distance phone calls to download it from one of our Distribution
Sites?  If so, have we got a deal for you!

If you have an internet mailing address, you can receive Amiga Report
in UUENCODED form each week as soon as the issue is released.  To be put
on the list, send Email to Amiga-Report-Request@gnu.ai.mit.edu.  Your
account must be able to handle mail of any size to ensure an intact copy.
For example, GEnie has a limit of about 40K per message, and most of our
issues are well over that limit.

Please do not send general Email to Amiga-Report-Request, only requests
for subscription additions or deletions (or if you are not receiving an
intact copy).  All other correspondence should be directed to the editor
at ROB_G@Delphi.COM.

Many thanks to Bob Caron for setting this service up for us!

P.S.:  Please be sure to include your Email address in the text of your
request message, it makes adding it to the list much easier.  Thanks!

** 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.

@endnode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P1-5 "CBM Shareholder's Movement"
@toc "menu"


/// The Commodore Shareholder Movement, Question and Answers
    --------------------------------------------------------


November 4, 1993


Introduction

The Commodore Shareholder Movement (or CSM) receives letters, e-mail and
phone-calls on a daily basis and is responding to the demand for
information with this compilation of the most important and frequently
asked questions.  We apologize if you wrote us and have not received a
personal response.  We pay attention to every message we receive and hope
that all of your questions are answered herein.  Please share this
information with others and send us the filled-out questionnaire at the
bottom of this document.

What is the Commodore Shareholder Movement?

The Commodore Shareholder Movement (or CSM) is not a shareholder
rebellion, but is rather a group of people working to ensure a beneficial
future for Commodore computers.  The CSM exists because of the remarkable
activism among Commodore customers, and stands for the interests of all
those who rely on Commodore products.  A core group of people in
Philadelphia have served as the focal point for CSM communication since
1989, but there are active contributors around the United States and
Canada.  Every Commodore customer who cares about the goings-on of the
company is desired as a participant in the CSM.  Our size is currently over
500 and expected to soon grow into the thousands.

Who are the leaders of this movement and why are they doing it?

The CSM is led by Commodore customers Michael Levin and Marc Rifkin whose
careers are centered around the use of Commodore equipment.  Their
experiences include having been Commodore employees, user group leaders and
participants in the 1991 shareholder meeting.  They do not characterize
themselves as the fanatics once described by Commodore's top officer, but
rather as pragmatic and motivated individuals who are protecting their
investments.  Michael and Marc pay attention to every piece of mail sent to
the Shareholder Movement and have accordingly assumed the roles of
spokes-people for the movement.  They may be contacted by fax at (215)
825-3966, voice at (215) 487-0440 or Internet/Portal MarcR@cup.portal.com 
Mail may be sent to CSM, P.O. Box 8296, Philadelphia, PA  19101.  

What does the Commodore Shareholder Movement want to accomplish?

We wish to become a partner and a resource for Commodore top level
management.  After the 1991 shareholder meeting, the CSM became the outlet
for Commodore-related frustrations.  Our positions on Commodore issues are
a composite of all the views we see expressed.  Our plan is to formalize
communication with top Commodore management for the purpose of relaying
customer feedback, and for becoming managements most valuable vessel for
implementing marketing strategies.

Why will Commodore pay any attention to the Shareholder Movement?

We believe that we are the only clear voice speaking to Commodore
management.  Commodore has listened to us once and it will probably listen
again.  At the 1991 Shareholder Meeting, we described products which needed
to exist.  They have consequently been released as CD32 and the Amiga 1200. 
This year we are going to the Shareholder Meeting to speak about three very
important issues which can be acted upon much faster than new product
development.  They are as follows:

1. Happy customers will win and retain new customers; this benefits the
   company.  Unfortunately, the reverse is  also true. 

2. Licensing can establish Amiga technology as the worldwide "interactive
   standard."  This can solve any distribution problems and result in
   unprecedented success for Commodore.

3. Well considered strategies must be consistently carried out for
   improving product, promotion, placement and pricing.  Inconsistent strategy
   can only result in failure.

What would the Commodore Shareholder Movement like to see happen with
Commodore?

This is the most important question of all and requires a bit of
explanation.  Commodore's core strength is in its ability to offer high
value products at the lowest cost.  Commodore had once jeopardized its
existence by straying from this path.  So, in order to move forward,
Commodore must now realize the full potential of the CD32 product (which
we, the CSM, helped to define in 1991).  By focusing on Commodore's
strengths and employing appropriate strategies, we can experience a boost
greater even than the days of the C64.  This success can then be used to
advance the rest of the product line forward and to renew Commodore's
position as the computer industry leader.

To achieve this, Commodore must discern the future conditions of the
marketplace and position itself for the greatest advantage.  It is becoming
increasingly clear that the industry is entering a standards war where the
winner will sit on the top of almost every television set in the world. 
The market is potentially bigger than even that of the Commodore 64.  These
sales will go to somewhere, and if it is not to Commodore, then it will be
to companies such as 3D0, Nintendo or Atari.

Commodore must win the war to standardize this imminent new home computer
market (being dubbed the TV "set-top" computer market), and must therefore
succeed in the United States as well as Europe, because establishing a
worldwide standard can not be done in only one continent.  No other company
is able to offer a technology as well suited to this purpose as the
chip-set and operating system on which the Amiga computer is based, but
this will not be true for long.  Heavy-weight players (including many of
the Amiga's original developers) are busily working to shut Commodore out
of this emerging U.S. market.  Commodore's brief advantage must be
leveraged by a full-force campaign to convince major manufacturers to
licence and produce CD32-based products.  This would solve Commodore's
distribution problems.  In turn, Commodore must always ensure subtle
superiority in its own models through consistent research, development and
product differentiation.

Finally, Commodore is in the perfect position to implement a very potent
marketing strategy by transforming the shareholder movement into an
unstoppable marketing force.  Printed materials and promotional videos can
be made available through Amiga dealers and user groups.  Aided by these
resources, customers would be asked to sell five of their friends on the
Amiga or CD32.  From the CSM's experience, we believe that the only
motivational incentive would be official gratitude from Commodore.  This
strategy is akin to the MCI Calling Circle or the Ross Perot campaigning
method.  Promotional materials can be produced very cost-effectively by
utilizing the professional services of people in the Commodore community.

Can the Commodore Shareholder Movement work with Commodore's current
management?  

This is an important question because of how it affects our goals.  The CSM
will do nothing except what is good for Commodore.  Unfortunately, the
opinion throughout much of the community is that lasting improvements will
not be achieved under current management.  Therefore, the CSM had
investigated the process of replacing the Commodore Board of Directors. 
Although achievable, it would be at great expense and compromise our
essential goals.  Our activity along this vein should be viewed as a knock
at management's door.  The CSM is now prepared to work together with
Commodore management in order to achieve our common goals.

We need to continue receiving your letters of support, and although we are
not currently planning to stage an election contest, we still must receive
proxy ballots demonstrating our shareholder backing.  Backed by this
material, we are certain that we can work with Commodore's current
management, especially considering the good that was admittedly achieved in
1991.  Ultimately, we would like to see a new strategically-minded leader
at the helm of Commodore International who knows what's good for Commodore
and can work with the CSM.  The CSM knows of a willing industry veteran who
is particularly well qualified to address Commodore's difficulties.  We
would like Commodore to acquire him.

What will be the CSM's next step after the Shareholder Meeting?

We will request a special meeting with Commodore's top level management
where we can define the official role for the CSM.  We plan to establish a
formal and ongoing channel of communication with management.  We will
monitor the electronic networks and receive mail.  Our function will be to
compare and summarize the opinions we see expressed, and to deliver to
Commodore management what we learn.  

Does the Commodore Shareholder Movement have a chance of achieving its
goals?

Yes, absolutely.  We've done this before, but now we're picking up
widespread support.  We are constantly surprised by the assistance we
receive from both expert and grass-root sources.  We've talked at great
length with people ranging from the executives of large companies to
high-school students.  We represent the most active percentage of
Commodore's customers and have already been through the learning process of
being effective shareholders.  Not one person with whom we've spoken
disagrees with our goals or methods.  How can Commodore not listen to the
most vocal and organized portion of their customers--customers who care
enough to become co-owners of the company?  If top-level management sees
anything, then they must see the advantage in utilizing us rather than
leaving us to find other outlets.  

Why participate in the Commodore Shareholder Movement?

If you rely on Commodore, then you must have faith that Commodore does the
right things, but as a shareholder, you have the power to act.  Our cause
is worthwhile.  Commodore can still become the company you have always
envisioned.  It is time to rally the troops and take control of the
situation.  The CSM offers the effective route to assure Commodore's future
and to see that it reaches the potential we all know is there.  Our goals
are carefully chosen to benefit everyone concerned.  We encourage
participation by all.  Commodore management should welcome our annual
reunion.

Have the large Amiga developers contributed to the CSM?

Officially, none of the large Amiga developers have contributed to our
cause because of Commodore's possible interpretation of such action.  These
companies rely on Commodore in various ways and can not afford to
jeopardize their standing with Commodore no matter how positive the goals
and methods of the Commodore Shareholders.  On the other hand, none of the
many companies with which we have spoken have any objections to our goals,
and because we are not soliciting financing, company support is not as
important as the support of the individuals within these companies.  It is
the individuals who own stock.

Is it too late to buy Commodore Stock to vote?

This is unknown.  There is a cut-off date for the shareholder list;
everyone on the list at this time should receive a proxy statement
(including a ballot).  Due to unusual delays, the proxy statement has not
yet been distributed.  Rightfully, the cut-off date for the list should be
shortly before proxy distribution.  This would indicate that if you buy
stock now, you might still qualify for casting a proxy vote at the annual
shareholder meeting (the time and place for which has still not been
announced).  Even if you don't receive the proxy, you can still accomplish
some good by filling-out and returning our questionnaire included at the
end of this document.

What do the delays in releasing the proxies and financial reports mean?

We don't know.  You might want to call Commodore and ask.  Information from
Q4, FY 93 ending June 30 and Q1, FY 94 ending September 30 have not been
released as of this writing. 

What is involved in buying stock?

Call the telephone information number of your bank to see if they offer
stock purchasing services.  Because you know what you want, you do not need
to pay for the advice services of a regular broker.  A discount broker can
easily be found in the phone-book.  Discount brokers will usually charge a
transaction fee of about $50 to $80 in addition to the price of the stock. 
Your age does not matter.  You will probably want to ask to receive the
stock certificate--as opposed to it being held by the broker "in street
name."  Although this adds an extra step when selling the stock, it will
ensure that the reports and statements go directly to you without delays. 
It also allows you to send us your proxy ballot and still have the
certificate as proof of stock ownership in case you want to also attend the
shareholder meeting and be at our side.  The certificate will arrive a few
weeks after the purchase.  

What should be done with the proxy ballot once it arrives?

The proxy ballot represents your ability to vote.  It is important to sign
the proxy ballot and send it to us as soon as it is received, although it
is difficult to say when this will be.  There will be at least two boxes on
the ballot:  one for approving management's slate and one for withholding
management's ability to exercise your vote.  In order to put the Commodore
Shareholder Movement in the most effective position, please send us your
signed ballot without checking off any of the boxes.  

How can someone participate in the Commodore Shareholder Movement?

Fill out the included questionnaire and return it to our address (even if
you have contacted us before).  Spread our message.  Talk to other
customers about what we're doing.  Speak on it at user group meetings. 
Re-publish this article on electronic bulletin boards and user group
newsletters.  Write to the editors of magazines.  Initiate activities
demonstrating  support.  If you can afford it and are willing to take the
risk, then buy stock and send us your signed proxy ballot when it arrives. 
Attend the shareholder meeting once it is announced.

You can assist individuals who are paralleling our effort to improve
Commodore's situation.  For instance, to help foster the demand for CD32s
in the United States, you can contribute to a volunteer advertising
campaign led by Commodore customer Aaron Smith of Idaho.  He plans to place
CD32 advertisements in non-Amiga computer publications, but can only do so
with the your contributions.  Amiga distributors are welcome as sponsors. 
Contact Aaron by electronic mail at the Virtual Reality BBS (208) 467-4292
or by voice at (208) 722-6006.

The CSM has even been contacted by a film maker in Miami who has done
commercials for many large companies and is willing to produce a Commodore
spot at cost.  His proposed idea is to run the commercial during programs
which use the Amiga for special effects.  The commercial will ask the
viewer if he/she would like to have the same computer used to produce these
special effects.  We think this is a good idea and welcome such offers. 

Become a leader of the Commodore Shareholder Movement.  Be ready to back-up
the current leaders.  I recommend you do this by reading Guy Kawasaki's
book on promoting causes, called Selling the Dream, and to read The Art of
War, a remarkably short Chinese classic which summarizes everything you
need to know about strategy.  You should probably also own stock and be
willing travel and speak at the Annual Shareholder Meeting.


Finally, don't take matters on faith.  Lend us your support by filling out
and returning the following questionnaire.  Please keep your answers
concise for the purpose of database entry.  If you contact Commodore, ask
them to acknowledges your loyalty.  Express your hope that Commodore works
with the CSM.  Ask that someone be chosen to revitalize the company.  Write
to:

Commodore International Limited 
1200 Wilson Drive 
West Chester, PA  19380 
attn:  Irving Gould.

The Commodore Shareholder Movement 
Post Office Box 8296 
Philadelphia, PA 19101

Internet/Portal MarcR@cup.portal.com
Fax:  (215)  825-3966
Tel:  (215) 487-0440



The Commodore Shareholder Movement Questionnaire.  Please fill-out and
return to the CSM.

Name:
Address:
Phone number:
Fax number:
Network address or BBS:

Do you consider yourself a part of the Commodore Shareholder Movement?

What Commodore products do you own and what do you plan to purchase?

Do you own Commodore stock?  If so, how much?  Are you planning to purchase
stock?

Where do you get most of your Commodore-related information (magazines,
user groups, dealers, etc.)?  Please be detailed.

If possible, would you attend the Commodore Annual Shareholder Meeting?

What would you say to Commodore management at the Shareholder Meeting?

What incentive would you need for you to participate in a Commodore
promotional campaign?

How do you see yourself participating in the Commodore Shareholder
Movement?  What more would you like to say?  


@endnode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P1-6 "Usenet Review - Picasso II"
@toc "menu"


/// Usenet Review:  Picasso II graphics board
    -----------------------------------------
    By David Hopper
    (i-daveho@microsoft.com)



PRODUCT NAME

        Picasso II RTG Graphics Board (Hardware rev. 1.2)


DESCRIPTION

        The Picasso II is a 24-bit graphics board with a Retargetable
Graphics system.  Additional software includes TVPaint Junior and a number
of image viewing utilities.

        [MODERATOR'S NOTE:  It is important to note that the Picasso's "RTG"
        system was created by Picasso's manufacturer, and is not the rumored
        Commodore RTG system.  - Dan]


AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

   Germany:
        Name:           Village Tronic
        Address:        Braunstrasse 14
                        D-30169 Hanover
                        Germany

        Telephone:      + 49/(0)511/13841
        FAX:            + 49/(0)511/1612606

   USA:
        Name:           Expert Services
        Address:        7559 Mall Road
                        Florence, KY 40142
                        USA

        Telephone:      (606) 371-9690
        FAX:            (606) 282-5942


LIST PRICE

        $549.95 (US) for one-meg version.  An additional $72 for the two-meg
version.

        I paid $499.95 at a dealer for the one meg board, and acquired the
additional meg of DRAM direct from Expert Services for $72 (it's 45
nanosecond RAM, and RAM is expensive today anyway).  I have seen the board
as low as $465 in mail-order shops (but we should all support our local
dealer, right?).


SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

        HARDWARE

                SYSTEM:  A2000, A3000, or A4000 with any empty Zorro II or
                Zorro III slot (the card itself is Zorro II).  The included
                pass-through monitor cable is a 15 pin male to male cable;
                it will work directly with an A3000 or a 2000 with an A2230
                deinterlacer card.  If you own a 4000, you will need to use
                the 23 pin RGB adapter provided with the A4000.  If you have
                a MicroWay flickerFixer, you will need a 9 pin to 15 pin VGA
                adapter, available directly from the manufacturer, or from a
                cable dealer.

                PROCESSOR:  A CPU faster than a 68000 is not required,
                although viewing and editing 8 and 24-bit images is always
                fairly CPU intensive.  The on-board Cirrus blitter makes
                certain graphics manipulations speedy regardless of the CPU.

                MONITOR:  A multiscan monitor is required; a 1080, 1084, or
                1084S won't cut it.  14" or higher is recommended.

                MEMORY:  The system hooks take very little overhead, and
                there are no special memory requirements for the Workbench
                emulation.  Some Fast RAM might be nice for the Picasso II
                to keep screens in.  A2000 owners with a full 8 megs of
                Zorro II memory (i.e. not on an accelerator board) will need
                to run the Picasso II in segmented mode, resulting in slower
                performance.

                TVPaint Jr. will run with 4 megs of fast memory, but things
                will be tight.  Since my recent upgrade to 8 megs of fast
                memory, TVPaint Jr. has run comfortably in 640x480x24 and
                800x600x8, and barely in 1024x768x8 (no undo buffer).

        SOFTWARE

                AmigaDOS 2.04 or greater required.  To use an 8-bit
                Workbench, AmigaDOS 3.0 or greater is required.

MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

        Amiga 3000/25
        8 Megs Fast RAM, 2 Megs Chip RAM
        A-Max II+ Macintosh emulator
        Picasso II 2 meg board
        NEC MultiSync 4DS (17" monitor)
        Kickstart 2.04 (37.175), Workbench 2.1 (38.35)


INSTALLATION

        Installation is easy:  simply plug the board in, connect the short
monitor cable from your Amiga's Video Out port to the Picasso, and plug your
monitor into the Picasso's second video port.  The board fit very snugly and
took me some force to fit into the slot.  The software installation uses
Commodore's Installer program, and is very straightforward.  You will need
to know the maximum horizontal scan rate that your monitor can sync to; I
clicked on "57kHz" for my MultiSync, and I was off and running.


REVIEW

        The Workbench emulation and RTG subsystem consist of only three
files:  village.library, vilintuisup.library, and the Picasso monitor file.
Additionally, there are some useful utilities included with the Picasso II
and actively supported by Village Tronic and Expert Services:

        ChangeScreen:   A commodity to "promote" applications that do not
                        directly support the display database, so they
                        can (potentially) run on the Picasso board.
        StyxBlank:      A screen blanker commodity.
        ViewIFF:        IFF/IFF24 picture viewer.
        ViewJPEG:       JPEG picture viewer.
        ViewGIF:        GIF picture viewer.
        PlayMPEG:       MPEG animation viewer/decompressor.
        Play:           Views uncompressed MPEGs at up to 25 frames/second.
        IntuiView:      This is a GUI front-end for the utilities included
                        with the Picasso.  With it, you can launch programs,
                        view images and animations, read text files, or
                        configure your own filetypes.

The remaining files are benchmark utilities, graphics test programs,
AmigaGuide help files, and developer autodocs and examples.  Drivers are
included for Art Department Pro, ImageFX, ImageMaster, Real3D, and
Reflections.  Finally, the Picasso II is bundled with TVPaint Junior, a
fantastic 24-bit paint program, little brother to the legendary TVPaint.

        Upon plugging the board in and installing the software, a quick
reboot left me facing a 640x200 4 color screen.  Once I launched Screenmode
(just the standard preferences program), I was faced with a tough decision.
In addition to the regular Amiga modes, I was given the choice of eight new
ones: 320x240, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1120x832, 1152x900, 1280x1024, and
1600x1280.  I have fully tested them all and discovered a few things.
(NOTE:  these observations may be specific to my NEC 4DS monitor.  Your
results may differ if you have a different monitor.)  1600x1280 flickers
like an old NTSC:Hires-Interlaced screen, and is much too small.  I notice
no flicker at all on the 1280x1024 screen, but again, it was just too small
for my 17" screen.  My 4DS will not sync to 1152x900 at all (this is the
monitor's fault; the sync rates fall well within spec), and 1120x832 (NeXT
resolution) requires some manual screen adjustment.  I've found 1024x768 to
be a terrific balance between screen size, legibility, and compatibility.

        Now, I need to admit that I was expecting to see 8-bit Workbench
support with the Picasso, even though I've only a 3000 with AmigaDOS 2.1,
but this is not the case.  The Picasso programmers have decided not to play
any color depth tricks with Intuition, and have left it up to the OS.  This
is fine with me, as it seems to have boosted the Picasso's Workbench
emulation above competing boards' emulation schemes (from what I gather),
which all add hooks to Intuition to provide 256 on-screen colors with a 2.x
system.  For the sake of compatibility, I am quite content to wait for 3.1
to be released for my machine.  With MagicWB installed, I'm not as anxious
to get an 8-bit Workbench (yet!).

        I have had the board for four weeks now, and have thrown everything
I've got against it.  I was pleased and relieved to discover that A-Max II
works just fine with the board; the Picasso passes the video right through
to the monitor (as long as you use Productivity mode with A-Max, that is).
Perhaps the Picasso's strongest suit is its grace under pressure.  It has
rarely failed to pass through screens and programs which use illegal
graphics calls.  A comprehensive list of the programs I use daily will
follow, and whether the board directly supports, promotes or passes through
the video.  The Picasso directly supports those programs that use AmigaDOS'
own Display Database.  If the board promotes the program, I have listed the
maximum usable resolution that the program itself can handle (on my
monitor).  And yes, as a matter of fact, I *did* pay for all of this
software. :^)

        COMPATIBILITY LIST (for my setup):

        APPLICATIONS:

        A-Max II+, 2.56         : passed through
        AmigaVision 1.70Z       : promoted (1600x1280)
        AdPro 2.3.0             : special (24-bit saver)
        DigiPaint3              : passed through
        Directory Opus 4.11     : Display Database (1600x1280)
        Distant Suns 4.2        : promoted (640x480)
        DPaintIV                : passed through
        Digital Sound Studio    : passed through
        MandelMania             : passed through
        Mand2000 Demo           : Display Database (1600x1280)
        PageStream 2.1          : promoted (1600x1280)
        ProWrite 3.3.1          : promoted (1600x1280)
        Term 3.4                : Display Database (1600x1280)
        Terminus 2.0a           : Display Database (1600x1280)
        TVPaint Junior          : special (direct support)
        VistaPro 3.00           : passed through (saves IFF24)
        VLT Jr. 5.576           : promoted (800x600)
        WordPerfect 4.1.12      : promoted (1600x1280)

        UTILITIES:

        AIBB 6.1                : passed through(*)
        EdPlayer 2.1            : passed through (full screen)
        MegaD 2.00              : promoted (1600x1280)
        PowerPacker Pro         : promoted (640x480)
        Plotypus (SLAC Plotter) : promoted (1600x1280)
        ProTracker 3.01         : promoted (640x480)
        SysInfo 3.22            : passed through
        Xoper 2.4               : promoted (1600x1280)

        GAMES:

        SimAnt                  : promoted! (640x480)
        Act of War              : passed through
        Black Crypt             : passed through
        ChessMaster 2000        : promoted! (320x240)
        Civilization            : passed through
        Eye of Beholder II      : passed through
        F-18 Interceptor        : passed through
        Indiana Jones/Atlantis  : passed through
        MechForce 3.81          : passed through
        MegaFortress            : passed through
        Might & Magic III       : passed through
        Moria                   : passed through
        Out of this World       : locks up
        Pinball Fantasies       : locks up
        Populous II             : passed through
        Shanghai                : promoted! (320x240)
        Space Hulk (floppy)     : passed through
        Syndicate               : locks up
        Wing Commander          : passed through
        Wings                   : locks up

        (*) AIBB can be promoted, but its Intuition benchmarks
        aren't usable on screens other than the default Amiga
        screens.

        Now, I won't dig back through my archived disks to find more games
that fail, but of these that I play regularly, I'd say that 4 fails out of
20 isn't bad at all (too bad they're my 4 best games ;-).  If these were
booted from floppy, they would probably work.  You get the idea, though.
The other programs I use regularly, like AmiBack, sits happily on the
Workbench.  Compatibility has been excellent with the Picasso, and I've not
had to sacrifice a single program, save for four games.

        What's really terrific about the Picasso II is that my Chip RAM
rarely dips below 1.9 megs.  All background screens are copied only to Fast
RAM, and the frontmost screen is kept on the Picasso II's DRAM.
Screen-swapping occurs as fast as my monitor can sync up to the new screen,
or virtually immediately for two screens of the same resolution (maybe 1/10
of a second).


BUGS

        The Picasso RTG system tries very hard not to alter Intuition's
behavior in the way it handles screens.  It is, I believe, the only RTG
board (besides the Merlin) that still allows you to drag your screens,
something I don't think I could ever do without.  Such attention to detail
can't be an easy thing to program.

        In using the one-meg Picasso, certain little things would occur with
certain software.  For instance, I discovered that Terminus 2.0a would
corrupt the Picasso's display if it did three successive jump scrolls.  Or
DirOpus would sometimes leave bits and pieces of its interface lying around
the Workbench.  None of these things affected program execution, but it was
an annoyance nonetheless.  Pinpointing whether or not it's a Picasso bug, or
a bug with the application trying to deal with a screen it wasn't programmed
to work with, can be a difficult thing.

        To Village Tronic's and Expert Service's credit, updates have been
coming furiously.  Right now it looks as if a significant upgrade occurs on
a monthly basis.  Upgrades are available in the US for the cost of a
late-night call to their BBS in Kentucky (or Germany, depending on your
hemisphere).  Brick Eksten and Scott Bennett at Expert Services have been
extremely helpful, attentive, and competent both on the phone and through
the support BBS.

        Once I upgraded the Picasso II to two megs of video DRAM, all of the
graphics artifacting disappeared entirely.  TVPaint Junior, too, is much
happier with 2 megs of video memory on board.  If you are experiencing any
kind of video corruption or cosmetic glitches, you may wish to consider
upgrading your DRAM until a fix from Village Tronic is available.

        Since my upgrade, my configuration has become quite stable.  The
only crashes I experience are when I get adventuresome with individual
program settings (like trying to force Lyapunovia 1.5 or MandelMania to use
a 1280x1024 256-color screen-- whoops).


TVPAINT JUNIOR

        Perhaps the best part of the Picasso II software is the bundled
TVPaint Jr.  If you're thinking that it probably isn't that useful as a
'crippled' version of TVPaint, think again.  It deserves its own full
review, but I will run down some of the most important features here.

        TVPaint Jr. reads and writes ILBM/IFF24, JPEG, and its own DEEP
format.  It works with 32-bit data:  24 bits of color and an 8-bit alpha
channel.  All of the basic drawing functions are there, as are spline
curves, text, airbrush, magnification, and brush support.  Things missing
from classic TVPaint are full anti-aliasing on drawing functions and
freehand brush support.  This last one is a bummer, as it allows only
rectangular brushes.  Brush mapping is supported, but only horizontally.
Brushes can be inverted, rotated, and stretched.

        TVPaint's palette control is great.  Full colorwheel and RGB/CMY/HSV
color choice is supported.  Four separate color cycling ranges may be
defined, and cycle fills and color density fills are supported.  Color
masking and locking are fully supported.  The LUT, or Look-Up Table, is a
powerful feature that allows you to perform image-processing functions on
the image.  By altering an X:Y plot of source values:result values, you can
create a negative of the image, lighten or darken the image, solarize, or
create a false-color effect.  Compositing images using the Alpha channel is
fully implemented.

        Finally, the color modes.  Color and Stamp work like we're all used
to.  Smooth *is* available as a drawing mode, in spite of it not being
built-in to the drawing functions.  Smear is a mode that is very similar to
running your finger across a wet painting (duh...).  Shift is my favorite of
all.  Everything under the brush is moved along the direction of the brush
(I like what the manual says about this:  the colors are "carried by the
breath of its passage."  Ah, those French).  Different from Smear, Shift
keeps the image under the brush intact.  With it, I've been able to make
some rather disturbing images of bug-people and towering VistaPro crags.
Nice.  Transparency mode allows you to paint 'through' the spare screen
(great when you create a negative of the original image on the spare screen).
Shade and Light modes do just that; and finally, Grain mode generates
irregular 12-bit dithering to 'dirty' up impeccably clean images.

        The program is fast.  Very fast.  I've got a 25 MHz '030, but I
still have the idea that this program is written entirely in Assembler.

        That gives you an idea of what TVPaint Jr. is capable of; obviously,
classic TVPaint will give you more features.  But the engine, speed, and the
most powerful modes and features are the same.


SPEED

        There has been a great deal of debate on comp.sys.amiga.graphics as
to whether or not Zorro II versus Zorro III really makes all that much
difference when working with RTG cards like the Picasso II, Piccolo,
Spectrum, Retina, and Merlin.  All I have to add to that particular debate
is that I work with 16-bit ISA graphics cards on PC's every day:  cards like
the Video-7 VRAM II and the #9 GXE.  The Picasso's apparent speed on my
Amiga is no worse than similar 16-bit cards in the PC world.  And on my
system, it's damn fast.  Redraws, fills, blits... all are faster than the
Amiga's own blitter.  You should see Distant Suns' or SimAnt's sluggishness
disappear when run on the Picasso, and my Workbench just flies now.  The
number-mongers can debate as much as they'd like; what I have right now is a
fast system that works.


VENDOR SUPPORT

        As I mentioned earlier, support by both Village Tronic and Expert
Services has been tremendous.  The support BBS has an active message base,
as well as a file base that has the current build of the RTG drivers.
Additional utilities are available on the BBS such as an FLI animation
player for the Picasso and a demo version of Expert Services' 'Canvas', a
multi-module screen blanker for the Picasso.  The people I've dealt with at
Expert Services have been friendly and eager to help, and I've not had a
problem getting through to them at all, even on Saturdays.


WARRANTY

        One year, applies to original purchaser.


CONCLUSIONS

        The Picasso II provides Amiga users with RTG in a mature way:
provide the user with a system that works, that allows them to use
high-resolution displays, and works seamlessly with the Amiga's own
tried-and-true interface, Intuition.  I've not had to change a *thing* with
the way I work on my Amiga, right down to my draggable screens.  Once I get
OS 3, I'll have a virtual AGA machine.  As for the additional 24-bit GUI's
like the EGS system for other boards, I'll pass.  I've seen and used the
interface, and unless it becomes Intuition, I'm content that most popular
24-bit programs will be written specifically for the Picasso II until
AmigaDOS 4 and RTG hit the streets.

Dave Hopper     (i-daveho@microsoft.com)
 Corporate Events Technician, Microsoft.



@endnode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P1-7 "Features List: Read 3D upgrade"
@toc "menu"


/// Features List:  Real 3D Upgrade v2.4
    ------------------------------------



SUMMARY OF NEW FEATURES AND IMPROVEMENTS
========================================

- Highly increased rendering speed:
    - Material handling speed doubled from v.2.35
    - B-spline shading speed 2-3 times faster
    - Up to four times faster environment rendering

- Improved memory management, allowing much more complex imported
  polygonal databases to be shaded

- A built-in 3D-font loader tool

- New material features:
    - Fractal noise mapping handler
    - Fractal noise scope handler
    - Fractal noise bump handler
    - Fractal noise color handler
    - Marble color handler
    - Granite color handler
    - Alphabetical sorting
    - Auto indexing of duplicate material names

- New tool window features:
    - A wider collection of built-in icons available
    - A new dialog-based icon selection window
    - A "No gadgets" option available for tool windows

- The color wheel window available under OS. v.39

- Improved and more complete keyboard support

- Built-in conical spotlights
- Built-in cylindrical spotlights
- New light source attributes:
    - Distance intensity fading control
    - Spot-axis intensity fading control
    - Spot angle/radius control
    - Brightness control
- Automatic default light source in Shadowless and Normal rendering
modes

- Create torus function
- Skin curve to surface
- Create parallel curve/surface tool

- Freeform extrusion tool:
    - Automatic bevelling with four bevel profile options
    - Adjustable bevelling radius and extrusion depth
    - Both inwards and outwards bevelling supported
    - Fully automatic: generates holes, adjusts bevelling radius etc.
    - Uses B-splines for the best quality

- Advanced tool for creating complex skeletonal particle systems
- Volume filling particle tool

- New, improved skeletons:
    - A new special skeleton primitive for better control and
      visual appearance
    - Joint friction enables natural motion
    - Editing of any skeleton point using inverse kinematics is now
      possible. For example, it is possible to animate a skeleton
      using several inverse kinematics methods, each affecting the
      desired skeleton point.

- Easy-to-use interface for editing physical attributes of objects.
  Tag-editing is no longer necessary.

- New object attributes:
    - 'No shadows' eliminates shadows from the surface of an object,
      increasing rendering speed
    - 'Bump shadows' generates distorted shadow edges on bump mapped
      surfaces

- Freeform curves can be used as trim curves to cut objects

- Circular bending: which can, for example, be used to bend
  a straight tube into a ring.

- Twist modification which twists objects around a given axis

- Shrink wrapping functions:
   - Parallel shrink wrap
   - Cylindrical shrink wrap
   - Spherical shrink wrap
   - 'Natural' shrink wrap to surface normal direction
   - These functions can be used to generate a mesh surface from
     geometric primitives, or to simulate Boolean operations with
     freeforms.

- A function for changing the start point of closed freeform objects

- A function for automatically generating triple end points/curves
  for freeform objects

- New and improved functions for controlling a view window's
  internal camera. The most important of these are listed below:
  - A new, intuitive mouse-based camera MOTION controlling mode for
    view windows, enabling easy, interactive scene viewing
  - A new, intuitive mouse-based camera POSITION controlling mode for
    view windows, enabling accurate interactive camera positioning
  - Total and accurate control of all possible camera
    positioning/tracking  variations via the keyboard.
  - The same control-key qualifiers also work with mouse-based control.
    - Viewpoint rotations around aimpoint in camera/abs. space
    - Aimpoint rotations around viewpoint in camera/abs. space
    - Banking control
    - Aimpoint moving in camera space/abs. space
    - Viewpoint moving in camera space/abs. space
    - Panning in camera space/abs. space
    - 90 degree rotations

- A new center display function
- A new reset scale function
- Automatic aimpoint tracking feature. For example, when animating the
camera,
  a horizon plane correction is now used instead of the 'shortest route'
  correction used in v.2.35. This eliminates undesired banking.

- A new asynchronous window type for controlling views' camera
  attributes and camera object interaction:
    - Numerical and slider control of lens Scale and angle
    - Aimpoint and viewpoint coordinate control and reset
    - Control of Heading/Pitching/Banking angle by sliders and numerical
      gadgets
    - Distance control
    - Depth of field control

- A new camera object creation function, introducing a view cone
  based camera definition

- A new camera wireframe shape, showing the camera orientation
  and the lens angle

- A new input plane control system, enabling
  accurate perspective editing
    - Editing in absolute space coordinate directions
    - Editing in object space coordinate directions
    - Horizontal/vertical locking
    - Control of hot-point position and depth when editing
- A new, handy asynchronous control window for handling view windows.
  It includes the most frequently needed grid control, scale control,
  drawing setting control, camera control and input plane control
  functions as quickly accessible buttons.

- Grids are now drawn in the input plane instead of the origin.
  This is useful when using perspective modeling with the separate
  IO option.

- Visible coordinate system and view window coordinates are now
  seperate Drawing setting options
- Numerical, accurate window size control

- Animation frames can be used instead of absolute time
  references

- Easy-to-use interfaces for creating and editing
  key frame animations:
    - Ability to adjust key frame positions in the animation using
      slider controls
    - Key visibility control
    - Linear/B-spline interpolation

- New graphical interfaces for most animation methods, including
  path, rotation, direction, sweep, size, and stretch methods.
  This feature enables easy and more accurate control over method
  parameters and their evaluation.

- More versatile method parameter handling. For example, a sweep
  around a point rotates the target in all directions, but a sweep
  around an axis allows rotation only around the axis. For example,
  you can now sweep a camera in 3 dimensions without modifying the
  banking angle.

- A new fractal noise based motion/spin method for generating
  irregular forces and motions like wind

- A time line interface for animation editing

- A graphical user interface for editing tag-based information of all
  animation methods

- The animation window can now appear as a window, not only on a
  separate screen

- The file selector is now available from the animation window

- New vector stack functions:
    - Lasso deselect
    - Push all points from the selected objects to the stack
    - Pull all points from the stack

- RealConvert can now generate B-splines from PDraw Clip files. This is
  especially useful in combination with the new freeform extrude tool.

All together, about 100 new features and improvements, most of which
are intended to make the user interface easier and the features of the
software more accessible.


@endnode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P1-8 "Taking the PC Plunge"
@toc "menu"


/// Taking the PC Plunge!                 To switch, or not to switch...
    ---------------------
    By Robert Glover


Okay, you're depressed.  Depressed about how Commodore is allowing the Amiga
to die.  Or at least that's how it appears.  At any rate, you find yourself
considering more and more the possibility of moving to the PC and selling
your beloved Amiga.  Let's take a look at what you're going to need to be as
happy with your new PC as you are with your present Amiga.

First, I'm going to assume that you have at the very least a semi-powerful
Amiga system.  This means something along the lines of a souped up A500 or
A1200, or perhaps an A2000 with plenty of extra memory, and maybe a graphics
card.  An accelerator isn't necessarily required, but essentially a decent
hard drive and plenty of RAM is what I mean.

Now, in order to have as nice a machine (in essense) as your Amiga, you'll
have to run OS/2 or Windows NT.  Nobody seems to really like NT that much
right now, so I'll stick with OS/2.

OS/2's requirements are (at a minimum) a 386SX with at least 6 meg of RAM,
and about 60 meg of free hard disk space.  However, for best overall results,
plan on a 486DX/33 with at least 12 to 16 meg of RAM, and a 340 to 500 meg
hard drive.  I'm not kidding.  Everyone I've talked to says that even a big
486DX2/66 can be a bit slow with OS/2, but like with Windows, memory is the
key.  With 16 meg of RAM, you'll have enough room to keep OS/2 from having
to rely on virtual memory too often.  Remember, OS/2 is huge.  In fact, it
comes on about twenty high density disks, or an optional CD ROM disc (I
highly recommend this), to simplify things.

So let's settle on a 486DX/33 with 16 meg of RAM and a 340 meg hard drive.
Without a monitor or video card, you're looking at $1800-2000, depending
on the brand.  This is a VESA localbus system, too, BTW.  Now, there are
several good choices for video cards.  My first choice is the Diamond Viper
with 2 meg of video RAM.  This is the fastest 32-bit video card on the PC
to date, and OS/2 drivers were recently released for it.  Drivers?  Yes,
you'll have to be sure whatever video card you choose has drivers available
to run OS/2 in any mode above standard VGA's 640x480.

Basically, the cards it supports are any S3 cards (Viper, Genoa, ATI, etc.),
plus the video systems in IBM's own PS/1 and PS/2 series.  And a good video
card will set you back anywhere from $100-400, depending on what you
ultimately choose.  I have heard through the grapevine that the Genoa is the
best one for the money, being available mail order for about $95.  It ranks
in performance-wise along with the ATI Ultra Graphics Pro, yet is reasonably
priced, and can take another meg of video RAM, for a total of two.

So we'll add another $150 to our $1800 figure, to make $1950 (I added the
extra meg of video RAM, for good measure).  Now you're going to want a good
CD ROM system.  See, part of what is making the PC take off even more so in
sales are the wide array of multimedia software available.  This includes
Microsoft Bookshelf, a nice all-in-one reference library, Grolier's and
Compton's multimedia encyclopedias, fabulous games like Seventh Guest, and
so on.

So you'll need a sound card and a CD ROM.  What to get?  Well, forget about
those cheap $300 packages at Best Buy and Wal Mart.  They are the older MPC
Level 1 kits, that have 16-bit sound cards (like Sound Blaster 16 or Media
Vision), and a 150K/sec 350 ms CD ROM drive.  Too slow and limited for this
fast-paced marketplace.  Also, OS/2 will not run on anything but a pure SCSI
CD ROM.  So plan on a sound card that has a true SCSI port, and Sound Blaster
doesn't.  Two choices are the Pro Audio Spectrum 16 or the Gravis Ultra Sound.
The Gravis is a nice board, but lacks support by many games, as it is not
Sound Blaster compatible.  It is, however, the closest thing you'll find to a
16-bit version of the Amiga's Paula chip as you're going to get.  Sound
Blaster has been knocked by every PC magazine as having poor sound quality.
This is because Sound Blaster (like it's competitors) have pre-sampled sounds
in ROM, which are called by programs and games.  That's why games like X-Wing
sound so "synthesizery."  The Gravis, on the other hand, has onboard RAM and
will accept true digitized samples, much like Paula does.  You give up some
compatibility, but the sound quality makes it worthwhile.  Or, you could get
a Gravis, and then pick up a used Sound Blaster Pro (8-bit card) cheaply, and
run it on a different IRQ, and have the best of both worlds.

IRQ??  What's that, you ask?  Well, the PC doesn't have the auto-configuring
convenience that the Amiga does.  Every time you add a new board, you'll get
to set its interrupt request setting (IRQ), and a host of other things.  I
won't go into detail here, because, well, frankly, it makes me shudder just
thinking about it.

The Pro Audio Spectrum 16 or Gravis boards will run you about $150 on the
street, so our price is up to $2100.  Remember, we still don't have a monitor
selected.  We'll do that a little later.  Next we need a CD ROM drive.  A
good multispin drive (which means it can do 150K/sec or 300K/sec) plus have
a reasonable seek time of 300 ms or better will cost about $400 bare.  Now
our total is up to $2500.

Okay... now we have the computer, the memory, the sound card, video card with
2 meg, and a big hard drive.  Now we need a monitor.  There are some important
things you need to know about monitors.

I've done a lot of looking around at all of the different computer stores and
discount chains (Best Buy, Wal Mart, Sam's, Sears, etc), and found a lot of
things.  First of all, the monitors that are included with 99% of these pre-
packaged systems are garbage.  The monitor is probably the most important
part of your computer.  Without a good monitor, you won't be able to get the
most out of the system.  Either the resolution isn't high enough, or the size
of the screen isn't large enough, or worse still -- the refresh rate isn't
high enough and you're left with lots of flicker.  The "standards" for PC
resolutions are 800x600 at 72 Hz and 1024x768 non-interlaced at 74 or 76 Hz.
The Packard Bell monitors you find around town do 800x600 at 50 Hz and will
do 1024x768 at 72 Hz, but it's interlaced, so there IS flicker.  Furthermore,
these monitors have a lousy 0.39 mm dot pitch (or worse -- I've seen Tandy
monitors -- the VGM 225 -- with a 0.52 mm dot pitch!), which makes the text
fuzzy, even at 640x480.

A GOOD monitor will cost you at the least $450.  The one I have in mind is a 
new Philips 15" flatscreen at Best Buy.  Actually, they want $468 for it.  Or,
you can buy a refurbished NEC 4D directly from NEC for about $450.  Both of
these monitors are excellent -- both have a dot pitch of 0.28 mm, and have
a very crisp, clear picture.

So by the time we get a good monitor and pay tax or shipping, we're looking
at $500.  So our total is now up to $3000.  Again, this is for a 486DX2/66
machine with 16 meg of RAM, a 16-bit sound card with SCSI, a SCSI CD-ROM
drive, a 340 meg IDE hard drive, and a decent monitor.  That is what is
required to have a PC that can equal your Amiga in terms of usability and
overall pleasure.  Dealing with Windows is far too frustrating to count, and
since it can't multitask worth a darn, it doesn't really count anyway.

Now, to maintain a bit of fairness, we are talking about a pretty decked-out
PC versus a fairly baseline Amiga.  Yeah, the PC will have better overall
sound and graphics, but it takes so much money to get the machine to be as
easy to use as your Amiga.

I know what you're saying now... "What if I were to take an Amiga and max it
out, for comparison?"  Okay, let's do that.  We'll start with one of those
blowout Amiga 3000's from Creative Computers.  They're $900 with 5 meg of
RAM, a 120 meg hard drive, and one floppy drive.  Add $400 to bring memory
up to 18 meg (which includes 2 meg of Chip RAM), for $1300.  Let's add $100
for a second floppy drive (what the heck)... $1400.  Now we'll add $450 for
one of those fancy new Picasso II boards that'll do 1600x1280 in 24-bit if
you have enough RAM in the computer... $1850.  And a refurbed NEC 4D for
$500... $2350.  Oh, and in case we need to do NTSC resolutions, let's grab
a used 1084 for $150... $2500.  The only real difference now is that the
A3000 is a 25 MHz 68030 compared to a 66 MHz 486.  There is a bit of
processor power difference, but I'm not going to count it, on the basis that
you pretty much need a 66 MHz 486 to make OS/2 run well.  Oh, and the 120 meg
hard drive versus 340 is due to the size of the operating system on the PC.

Now, an alternate system to consider is an Amiga 1200... for $380 you get
a base machine.  Add an MBX1200z or equivelent RAM board with 8 meg of Fast
RAM and a 25 MHz FPU for about $400 for a total of $780.  Add a 120 meg,
2.5" IDE hard drive for about $220... $1000.  Or instead, instead of the
RAM board, add a 50 MHz 68030 on an MBX1200XA and a 25 MHz FPU for about
$600, to total about $1200.

So the bottom line is that in order to get a PC as capable as an Amiga,
you're looking at a good $3000 minimum, whereas you could have a nice Amiga
system with plenty of bells and whistles for between half and 25% less.



@endnode
***************************************************************************
@node P4-2 "Portal"
@toc "menu"

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



                   Portal Communications' Amiga Zone

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

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

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

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

 · Over 1.5 GIGabytes of Amiga-specific files

 · The *entire* Fred Fish collection of freely distributable software, online.

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

 · Twenty Amiga vendor areas with participants like AmigaWorld, ASDG,
   Soft-Logik, Black Belt, Apex Publishing, Stylus, Prolific, NES.

 · 35 "regular" Amiga libraries with thousands of 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 pressued doing it.

 · Live, interactive nightly chats with Amiga folks whose names you
   will recognize.  Special conferences.  Random chance prize contests.
   Famous Amiga folks aren't the exception on Portal, they're the norm.

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

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

 · FREE unlimited Internet Email.  Your Portal account gets you a
   mailbox that's connected to the world.  Send letters of any length to 
   computer users in the entire industrialized world.  No limits. 
   No extra charges. No kidding!
   
 · Portal has the Usenet.  Thousands of "newsgroups" in which
   you can read and post articles about virtually any subject you can
   possibly imagine.  

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

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

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

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

How does all that sound?  Probably too good to be true. Well, it IS true.

Portal Signup or for more information:

   408-973-9111 (voice) 9a.m.-5p.m. Mon-Fri, Pacific Time
   408-725-0561 (modem 3/12/2400) 24 hours every day
   408-973-8091 (modem 9600/14400) 24 hours every day

   or enter "C PORTAL" from any Sprintnet dial-in in the USA,
   or enter "portal" from any Tymnet "please log in:" prompt, USA & Canada
   or telnet to "portal.com" from anywhere.

PORTAL'S CURRENT RATES:

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

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

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

Note: 

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

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

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

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

[Editor's Note:  Be sure to tell them that you are an Amiga user, so
they can notify the AmigaZone sysops to send their Welcome Letter and
other information!]

That number again:  408-973-9111.

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



@endnode
***************************************************************************
@node P1-9 "A.M.I.G.A."
@toc "menu"


/// Another Moronic, Inane and Gratuitous Article
    ---------------------------------------------
    By Chad Freeman
    (cjfst4+@pitt.edu)


Well folks, I'm back!  That's right, after a few short weeks in
that hot vacation spot some people call "The Love Canal," your fearless
humorist has returned with yet more inanity to dull your senses.  But
first, I have something quite serious to discuss.  You see, the reason I
have been absent from these hallowed halls for so long is that I was
afflicted with the oft-times fatal disease of "RPGitis."  Yes, that's
right my bit-buddies, I had to check myself into the Gary Gygax Clinic.
I am not ashamed of my condition, and the people at the GGC were very
nice to me.  However, during my tenure in this institution (it was a
rough time with nary an Ultima game in sight) I realised that many of
_you_ suffer from this very same disease, yet can't afford the expensive
program at the GGC (thanks to my superb benefits package from Amiga
Report, I was covered).  However, since the GGC's program is covered by
strict trademark laws, I am not allowed to share their ingenious
treatment style with you.  So I just threw together a cheesy one of my
own and called it...

THE AMIGA RPGITIS TREATMENT (originality is not allowed in this program)

The AMIGA RPGitis Treatment is a 13.2 step program.

Step 1.  Want to be cured.  This means you should send every
role-playing game you own to me, Chad Freeman, Box AMIGA, Johnstown, PA
15907 (for safe keeping).  And that includes that copy of Faerie Tale
Adventure you have squirreled away with the christmas decorations
downstairs.

Step 2.  Talk about your problems with a friend (WARNING: due to the
nature of your illness, you may not have any friends.  In this case,
stay up late and call one of those 976 numbers for someone to talk to.
Then stay tuned next biweek for The AMIGA 976-ITIS TREATMENT).

Step 3.  GO OUTSIDE!  Yes, there is a real world out there!  No, you
don't need to take a sword or any healing potions.  Find something to
do.  Go to a park, a play, a movie, a concert, anything.  It is vitally
important, however, that you participate in some form of social
interaction.  You ARE a social animal!

Step 4.  Buy some new clothes.  You'll never get a date dressed like
something out of a cheesy 80's rock video.  You've been isolation for
quite a long time, and the world has _not_ waited for you.

Step 5.  Read the newspaper. You must continue to come in touch with
reality.  Also buy recent books (no sf/fantasy!).  Try and find a hobby
that doesn't involve electronics. You'll need some other interests (and
possibly the newspaper's personals) for the next step.

Step 6.  Ask someone out on a date.  That's right, it's time.  You'll be
rejected for about a year or so, but keep repeating steps 3 through 6
until you've become normal enough to warrant the attention of a member
of the opposite sex.

Step 7.  Develop a relationship.  Believe me, nothing will kill your
time more than being involved with someone.  Finally, you care about
someone other than the little cartoony-looking guy in Secret of Mana.

Step 8.  Move out of mom's house.  Sure, she'll miss you, but you're way
too old to be living there and its time you got on with it.  Besides,
part 7 is hard to do if you're both living with your parents (and anyone
interested in you probably is).

Step 9.  Get a job.  You're on your own now, possibly supporting a
live-in.  You need some cash.  Don't worry, its real easy to save money
when you're not plunking down 70 bucks a pop for the latest RPG.

Step 10. Get married.  There's no chance of you even _looking_ at an RPG
now that your spouse owns half of your assets.

Step 11. Have kids.  Remember that money you had squirreled away in case
of a relapse?  You just spent it on a "My Size Barbie!"

Step 12.  Now that you've settled down and gotten a good job, start
putting aside some savings, making smart investments, etc., in preparation 
for the next step.

Step 13. Send all of your money to me at the address in step 1 for
bringing you out of your hermit-like state, getting you a spouse,
bringing joy into your life, and generally being a nice guy. 

Step 13.2  This is the abbreviated version of The AMIGA RPGitis
Treatment.  Simply complete steps 1 and 13, and you're cured!


Well, I hope this helps all of you RPGitis sufferers out there as well
as the GGC helped me.  For most of you, I would recommend the
abbreviated version, unless you have no money, in which case follow the
whole plan.  I should mention one detail, step 13 is a lifelong
commitment, not just a few bucks once you've reached the end of the
program.  Good luck to you all, and I'll see you again in two weeks!


@endnode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P1-10 "New AmigaDOS 3.0 PD/Sharware library"
@toc "menu"


/// New AmigaDos 3.0 (system 3) Specialist PD/Shareware Library
    -----------------------------------------------------------

                       
Contact Details.

        Generation #3 Library

        PO Box 235
        Palmerston North
        New Zealand.
        PH:+ 64 6 3587653

        USENET: Generation3@eclipse.acme.gen.nz
        FIDO:   3:771/425 - "Andrew Lockhart"

      ---------------------------------------------------------
                     
            INTRODUCTION TO THE GENERATION #3 PD LIBRARY.
 
        This Library has been created to enhance the use of Amiga
        Computers running AmigaDos 3.0 or greater OS. 
        This includes, A1200, A4000, and soon A4000T. And to some
        extent the CD32 console, which has the capability to be
        expanded to a full 1200 like machine.
        
It is a machine specific library, in that we intend to include only
software for the above machines. This will of course preclude the
use of a lot of excellent software, but there are other libraries,
notably Fred-Fish, and many others, which other a more broad-range of
available software to compensate. This should be considered if you
have one of the above machines and have trouble finding software that
is compatible.


        Additionally we offer a slight bias towards software that has
        a visual side, like:

        Graphics,
        2D/3D Animation,
        Image-Processing,
        Demo-ware,
        Multimedia Domestication,
        ... And associated utilities.

        All releases will be distributed on 3.5inch DSDD format disk,
        utilizing Fast File System, and Directory Cache options.
        All disk's shall utilize English, as the native Language.
        All disk's shall be non-bootable. Boot through the WorkBench.

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

       THIS LIBRARY OFFERS ALL AMIGA USERS, THAT HAVE A 3.0 OR
                    GREATER MACHINE THE FOLLOWING:

        * VISA(TM) and MASTERCARD(TM) orders Accepted !!

        * Virus Free Tested Software.

        * A Library containing only tried and tested software. 
          (Where possible).

        * A partial emphasis on fun, demo-ware, graphics, animations,
          artwork, Sound, Music, and associated utilities.

        * Software 'optimized' for System 3.x features and
          performance.

        * A Library consisting of more 'system legal' software.

        * Non Compatible Pre System 3 software NOT included!

        * Variety of easy, low-cost mail order solutions for
          retailers, users, and user-groups etc.

        * "Advance Pay" Savings for Volume discounts.        

        * The Latest News On Amiga Hardware And Software.

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

             WHY SUBSCRIBE TO THE GENERATION #3 LIBRARY?

        * You will receive the latest releases (initially at least 5
          disk's per month) days after release. Air-Mailed for all
          possible speed.

        * I promise a, no more than,  24Hour turn-around time on all
          orders.

        * Save on costly downloads, and toll/on-line charges.

        * Not all of us have FTP available for FREE. Many charge a
          cost of up to $20+ Per MB for mail. This option is
          cheaper and more convenient.

        * Bulk order discounts mean you save on retail/user group
          volumes. 

        * Make the latest software available to your Amiga User
          Group; charge a small fee to copy each disk; The
          initial investment will pay for itself MANY times over.
          Put the excess funds BACK into your Amiga User Group/Club.

        * Be confident that you have the Software to Demonstrate the
          Amiga in the commercial environment. Great for retail
          outlets.

        * Your order will arrive on quality Branded Diskettes.

      ---------------------------------------------------------
  
     THE OBJECTIVES AND GOALS OF THE "GENERATION #3" LIBRARY ARE:

        * Increasing Performance and User-friendliness of Amiga
          software by encouraging the use of Commodore Developer
          Guidelines, and style (interface) Guidelines. (By
          accepting more system legal, and friendly software.)
          (MORE ON THIS SOON)

        * Assisting retailers demonstrate the New Amiga machines, by
          providing ready-to-run demonstrations, and demo-ware. 

        * Assisting Developers by providing more crucial information
          regarding important, and strategic OS Feature details.
          (Including new Hardware and Software NEWS.)
 
        * Provide a means to spread the hard work/achievements of
          Amiga programmers, by spreading their software, in as many
          countries as possible *worldwide*. 

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

                       SUBMISSION  GUIDELINES:

        Only Software that meets one of the following criteria:

        1. AmigaDos #3 compatible.

        Software falling outside this criteria May be considered if: 
        
        2. Partially compatible, but seen as valuable to the Amiga
           community as a whole to be included.

       Same as:

        3. System legal, and user-friendly software, implementing
           only partial Amigados #3 compatibility.

Lastly, we like to mention ALL software will be thougherly tested
(as possible) and considered for inclusion nonetheless.
But we feel, for the purpose of this library, Author's wishing to
submit will gain greater chance if they follow the above guidelines
(No pun intended!) 

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

             PLEASE NOTE! - Info on Mailing Submissions.

I do not have FREE FTP access. It is a Costly option for me. This is
on top of other on-line charges, and membership fees. 

As much as I may appreciate you posting your latest release of your
work to my Usenet account, the subsequent charges will make it
fairly prohibitive!

If you wish to submit, and want to make certain that it is
considered for inclusion, then please take the following option.

Please post it Air-Mail to my PO Box, which I check at _least_ once
daily. This is _more reliable_, and _secure_ way to submit.
Don't rely on the net being a reliable media!

Occasionally material is obtained for the Library by FTP'ing various
sites. Much potential material can be obtained from this source.
Upload your release to this source; this will ensure we have it
available (if you do not wish to mail it to me), AND it will become
available to thousands of other users worldwide.


The quickest, and most sure way for me to include software you have 
written, and wish to have included here, is to closely take not of
the following:

NOTE:   * Commodore's workbench for example includes Copyrighted
          programs that we cannot use. (I could - but wont!)
          In General - most of Fred Fish's suggestions for his 
          *wonderful* library are relevant here. To clarify:

       1. As stated above, we cannot include Commodore's files here.
          If your software requires a particular library, then say
          so in your documentation. It would hardly be ideal for me
          to get into moral and/or legal trouble for using
          copyrighted material without permission. 

       2. With your submissions include a statement along with
          instructions on any 'restrictions' on how you wish the
          information be included. (Keeping in mind this library
          hopes to implement a more user-friendly approach, to how
          the software is presented to the end-user.)
         
       3. Present multiple submissions in separate directories, or
          separate archives. Include a CONTENTS.TXT in your
          archive/disk. This will assist me in sorting out multiple
          submissions.  

       4. Please ensure your submission is in a runnable form. If it
          is a archive, then make sure its named so. Include where
          possible any freely distributable 'players' needed to run
          the software. This would include installation scripts. If
          not, state what's required, Keeping in mind #1.

       5. Include, (if applicable) software version number, size of
          archives included, and any other pertinent info you think
          necessary. In the previously mentioned CONTENTS.TXT.
          If you wish, include a short bio about yourself, your past
          and future works, state of employment etc., then feel free
          to do so. Name the file BIO.TXT and place it with your
          submission. Feel free to 'plug' for work, but not to
          advertise commercial products.

       6. Please do not include submissions on high-density disks. 
          Remembering that Commodore have not yet got high-density
          format machines standard. There are tens of thousands out
          there (users of 1200's) without high density drives. 
          The use of FFS (Fast File System), and directory-cache, is
          encouraged on disks submitted. 
          (I don't YET have a HD drive.)

       7. If possible, when making a submission, and it is an
          archive, use LHA to compact it. This will save me time.

       8. Use a quality Virus Checker to check your submission.
          Like "Virus Checker" by John Veldthuis.  


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

                         ORDERING INFORMATION

                   A Word About Method Of Payment/S

YEP! We have support for Mastercard(TM) and Visa(TM) (ONLY). This
covers most of the credit card market. It is difficult to get support
for this, but I wished to provide this to you, my customers.

Because of minimum usage charges, a minimum Credit Card order applies.
This is $50 New Zealand dollars.  (Similar to other libraries etc)

The current methods of payment, are as follows.

Please Pay In the following currencies.

(In order of preference)

        1> MASTERCARD(TM) or VISA(TM).

        2> New Zealand Dollars.

        3> US Dollars.
           Pound Sterling.
           Duechmarks.

Just a reminder:

(New Zealanders Must add GST!)

        No Personal Cheques. (Outside New Zealand Only).
        No Euro Cheques.
        Only VISA(TM)/MASTERCARD(TM) orders. 

New Zealanders can send cash or personal cheques, whilst Australians,
can forward one of the alternative methods of payment.

If you are in Europe for example, or fall outside one of these
currencies, please convert before posting your order.

These currencies do Not cost me anything to exchange to NZ Dollars,
thus allowing me to maintain this service.

I'm running on tight margins, and other methods like cashing a
personal cheque from an Amiga owner in the US would quickly become
VERY expensive and time consuming. 

Q: What about Security? How safe is it to post Cash?
  
A: Well, the cost of insuring or registering the money is generally
   Very low. Its not much for peace of mind. You should register
   the letter. Post unregistered cash at your own risk.
   If your order is fairly large, don't risk it, Register or Insure
   it.

NOTE: The currency your order is in makes no difference to the speed
      your order is processed. All orders are promptly processed.

 
       Note to PD/Shareware companies and CD-ROM Manufactures.
      ---------------------------------------------------------

If you wish to include the New Generation #3 Library in your
PD/Shareware CDROM, then contact us for a Subscription. Or assistance
if required. Please contact us first, as we would request that you
include a text file from Generation #3, stating contact details,
availability, pricing etc.


                    Note to Commercial Developers.
      ---------------------------------------------------------

We will gladly accept your 'demo' software for inclusion. Same
conditions apply. Games demos will be welcome.
(Although non-system legal games demos will be welcome).

It is our belief you will receive the following for submitting:

     * Greater recognition for your Software.

     * Appreciation from potential end-users.

     * Feedback concerning product suitability for target marget. 
          (Does your company have an EMAIL address on Usenet? This is
          another way to get useful free feedback.)

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

                     GENERATION #3 LIBRARY COSTS:

All amounts in New Zealand Dollars: 

  1 >  5 disk's @  $10 per disk. 
  6 > 30 disk's @  $09 per disk.
 31 > 50 disk's @  $08 per disk.
 51 > 75 disk's @  $07 per disk.

SAVE on Bulk order, "Advanced Pay" discounts. (Compare with above).

  1 >  5 disk's @  $09 per disk.
  6 > 30 disk's @  $08.50 per disk.  
 31 > 50 disk's @  $07 per disk.
 51 > 75 disk's @  $06 per disk.
 76 >100 disk's @  $05 per disk.


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

                          NOTES ON ORDERING:


BEFORE you order, to avoid confusion, make your you have checked the
following checklist:

1: Have you included the correct method of payment?

2: Have you included the correct renumeration to cover Post and
   Packaging?

3: Have you insured or registered your order? (in the case of posting
   cash)

IMPORTANT:

5: Get quote on Post and Packaging for your order, before completing
   an order. There can be alot of variation depending on your
   location, and quantity ordered.

PLEASE NOTE: 

*       Minimum "Advance Pay" discount order is 30 disks.

*       Single disk cost is _virtually_ the same as other libraries,
        such as Fred Fish etc. EG: 10 $NZ = approx US $5.

*       Minimum Credit Card Order is NZ$50.00

*       Your "Advanced Pay" monies, shall be held in a separate account
        to ensure refunds, for undelivered portions of your order,
        should I be unable to continue this service. (Example: If I
        get drowned tomorrow.) YOUR MONEY IS GUARANTEED.

*       As we cannot guarantee the suitability of software in the
        library for a particualar purpose, we cannot give refunds. 
        Of course, this excludes media defects.

*       For Post and Packaging costs, please EMAIL, or contact us.

*       All P&P costs are charged at cost. No more. Because it varies
        depending on location (country), we thought it easier to quote
        on application.

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

Please spread this file to your local Amiga BBS, newsgroup, club etc!



@endnode
***************************************************************************
@node P4-3 "Holonet"                                    
@toc "menu"

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


                                *** HOLONET ***


HoloNet is an easy to use Internet Access BBS.

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

Services include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

HoloNet is a service mark of Information Access Technologies, Inc.

           Copyright © 1992 Information Access Techologies, Inc.
             All Rights Reserved.  Reprinted with permission.


@endnode
***************************************************************************
@node P1-11 "The Emulation Examiner"
@toc "menu"


/// The Emulation Rambler
    ---------------------
    By Jason Compton
    (jcompton@tcity.com)



Time this week for a little emulation and a lot of rambling.


TOP PRIORITY:

A quote taken from comp.sys.amiga.emulators, from emulation's newest 
bestest buddy, Jim Drew.

"We are looking into the licensing agreement for the chipset used in the 
3DO emulation."


WHAT THIS WAS ABOUT:

The quote's context was in reference to the CD32 only.  However, I can 
easily see them trying to extend this to CD-equipped Amigas.


WHAT THIS MEANS:

This means that, depending on the cost of the 3DO Emplant module, a 
consumer could very well be able to buy both a CD32 AND a 3DO for 
around the price of 3DO itself.  Now, the challenge would be to 
communicate that to the public.


Back to your regular article:

First off, I would just like to let our intrepid readers know that both Rob 
Glover and I are trying to obtain the Emplant board for review from Jim 
Drew at Utilities Unlimited -- I'm looking for the standard version and Rob 
trying to get the PCMCIA Emplant.  The only word I've gotten back is that 
since UU is backordered, they're not releasing any copies for review, 
which sounds perfectly reasonable to me. He also added that UU is 
moving to a plant to produce 40,000 Emplants per month, in order to 
satisfy demand for the 4000/Emplant bundle package. Didn't I mention 
how good of an idea that would be a couple of months back?  So, in 
closing on this topic-keep up the good work, Jim, and let us check out your 
product.

Also: I am STILL looking for someone with a fast Amiga (030/40 and up 
preferable) to run some PC-Task benchmarks for me. I've got a whole set 
of Macintosh SoftPC benchmarks just dying for comparison. Send me mail 
if you're interested in doing me a favor.

On the subject of mail:  Thanks to the few people who so far have 
successfully gotten mail through to me.  Jcompton@tcity.com is an address
that looks like it will be consistent for me, so please direct all mail
there.

I am, of course, an avid reader and try to be an active poster on 
comp.sys.amiga.emulations, and the one thing I'm noticing (along with just 
about everyone else) is that the Emplant is occupying all of the time there.  
I don't want to get sucked into that trap, so I'm especially anxious to hear 
from a handful of Bridgeboard owners or so, just to keep the spirit 
alive...since my funds are limited, I'm still plugging along on a C= 2286 
bridgeboard, which I recently confirmed can indeed handle a SVGA card 
without freaking Janus out (some people recently have had hard times 
getting Janus libraries to load correctly when they started adding 
hardware...)

It looks like my article will be cut short there.  I'm keeping an eye out for 
the release version of the IBM C-64 emulator, and anxiously awaiting the 
chance to review an Emplant for your reading pleasure.  Until the next 
time...


@endnode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P1-12 "Usenet Review - Shadow of the Beast III"
@toc "menu"


/// Usenet Review:  Shadow of the Beast 3
    -------------------------------------
    By Rob Morton
    (morton@wam.umd.edu)


PRODUCT NAME

        Shadow of the Beast 3


BRIEF DESCRIPTION

        Shadow of the Beast 3 (known for the rest of this article as Beast 3)
is a side scrolling action game with puzzles, just to keep the mind working.


AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

        Name:           Psygnosis
        Address:        29 Saint Mary's Court
                        Brookline, MA 02146
                        USA

                        South Harrington Street
                        Sefton Street
                        Liverpool, United Kingdom L3 4BQ

        Telephone:      (617) 731-3553 (USA)
                        051-709 5755


LIST PRICE

        Probably around $50.00.


COPY PROTECTION

        Oh yeah. This game has disk based copy protection. I make backups
of all my software using hardware copiers, and compared to other Psygnosis
games this was milder.


MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

        A2000, 3 Megs of RAM, Kickstart 1.3
        A500, 1 Meg RAM, Kickstart 2.04
        A1000, 512K RAM, Kickstart 1.2


REVIEW

        Well, I hated the original Shadow Of The Beast, because it was just
an arcade game with great graphics.  Beast 2 had average graphics, with
puzzles, but without using cheats it was way too hard.  Beast 3 on the other
hand seems to have the graphics and the puzzles.  The puzzles start out easy
and progressively get more difficult.  It is the type of game that you can
get better and the movements, so the levels that are hard at first become
easier to do later.

        By getting easier with skill, it makes the game possible to
complete, but makes the game not have as much replayability.  You can see
everything there is to see pretty quickly. I am not saying that it has no
enjoyment after solving it, because I still enjoy playing it now, but I do
not play it anywhere nearly as much as before.

        Controlling your character is very easy.  It is all joystick control
except for switching between items, and that does not have to be done in the
heat of battle.  I think by the time they got to the third Beast game,
Psygnosis learned all of the tricks to programming a well controlled
character and still leaving the graphics speed and sound intact.


DOCUMENTATION

        The manual is very well organized.  It starts out with the story of
what you have done so far, and what is still left to do.  After this they
explain the controls very well.  That is about all the documentation, but it
is also all that is needed.


LIKES AND DISLIKES

        Well if it is not too obvious by now, I liked this game. It was fun.
There are not that many games that I like; actually, when my computer is on I
rarely play games.  For some reason, I just enjoyed this one.  I am not the
most skilled player for strategy, and am not that quick on shooters, and I
found this game well made for my game-playing ability.  I love graphics, and
this game has them.  Some of the backgrounds were astonishing.  I also liked
the music.  It did not get annoying like some games do.

        The main thing I did not like was that it had disk based copy
protection.  This is an outdated concept that needs to be done away with.  I
will not buy a game that has it (my roommate owns Beast 3).  It is also
completely useless (I made backups of this game fairly easily).  It should
also be hard drive installable.  The last thing that many people would
probably like is for the game to be slightly harder and maybe longer.  Longer
I would like but not really harder.

        For all future games, I hope Psygnosis either learns that people have
hard drives, or starts puttings its games on CD-ROM discs.  This would make
the games bigger, and left on one disk.  I really hate disk swapping.


COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

        This game has the graphics of Shadow of the Beast, and the puzzles
from Shadow of the Beast 2.  It is perfectly detailed.  There really are no
other games that have held my attention long enough to finish them, so I
would have to say it is one of the best games I have played.


BUGS

        None that I have found.


VENDOR SUPPORT

        I never needed to talk to Psygnosis for anything.


WARRANTY

        The warranty is that they guarantee the disks work, and are free
from any viruses.


CONCLUSIONS

        The game is great. I rate this game a 4 out of 5.  If they removed
the copy protection, then they would have had a 5.

Rob Morton



@endnode
***************************************************************************
@node P4-6 "BIX"
@toc "menu"

/// BIX - Byte Information Exchange             Lots of information!
    -------------------------------



BIX is the premier online service for computing professionals and enthusiasts.
While other online services cater to computer novices, BIX is the place for 
knowledgeable people to go for answers to tough questions.  You're likely 
to find many others in similar situations who can offer advice, give 
technical assistance, or point you in the right direction.

BIX is divided into areas called conferences, each devoted to a 
particular area of interest.  They range from algorithms to windows,
from writers to amiga.  Conferences are categorized into groups,
usually referred to as exchanges, so that you can browse through
whatever groups interest you and see a list of the conferences it 
contains.


                  These are some of the exchanges on BIX:

amiga.exchange - the place for Amiga developers and enthusiasts
byte - the full text of each issue of BYTE magazine; source code too 
e.and.l - Entertainment and Leisure; music, pets, games, more
ibm.exchange - everything from OS/2 to PC clones
mac.exchange -  Mac news, support, software, advice
professionals - consultants, engineers, financiers gather here
programmers - some of the best brains in the business!
wix - the Information Exchange for Windows; Windows Magazine online
writers.ex - the professional and amateur writer's exchange


                       *** FULL INTERNET ACCESS! ***

BIX also features access to the Internet - you can use FTP to transfer
files from sites all over the world, telnet to log on to other online 
services, schools, and research sites, and send Internet mail to millions 
of people at services like DELPHI, CompuServe, America Online, MCI Mail, 
and other sites and services.  Services like "WHOIS" and "Finger" are 
also available, with more features on the way (like USENET newsgroups; 
our newsreader is currently being tested and should be available very 
soon!)  There are no usage fees or special charges for Internet access - 
it's all part of your BIX subscription. 


                      ==============================
                      Rates and Connect Information:
                      ==============================


BIX membership costs $13 per month, plus connect time.  There are several 
different ways to connect:

SprintNet*              $3/hour evenings/weekends   $9/hour weekdays
Tymnet:**               $3/hour evenings/weekends   $9/hour weekdays
(SprintNet and Tyment rates shown are for 48 contiguous US states only.)
                                                        
Tymnet Canada:          $4/hr eves/wkends           $9/hour weekdays
Tymnet Hawaii:          $10/hr eves/wkends          $20/hour weekdays   
Telnet(via Internet):   $1/hour, round the clock
Direct dial (Boston):   $2/hour, round the clock (up to 9600 bps)
 
 * SprintNet daytime hours are from 6am to 7pm, M-F, ET.
** Tymnet daytime hours are from 7am to 6pm, M-F, ET.



To find your local SprintNet number, call SprintNet at (800) 877-5045,
ext. 5.  Internationally, call (404) 859-7700.

To find a local Tymnet number, call Tymnet at (800) 937-2862.  
Internationally, call (703) 442-0145.

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

There is no surcharge for 9600 bps access via either telecom carrier.

There is no surcharge for up to 10mb of Internet mail per month (sent
and received).  There will be a charge of $1 per 100,000 bytes 
thereafter.

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


                20/20 PLAN OPTION (for USA-48 users only):

Volume users can choose the 20/20 Advantage Plan, which is $20 per month
and includes the first 20 hours of access by any combination of methods 
from the contiguous United States.  Additional use is $1.80 per hour 
(additional use for telnet access is $1 an hour).  The 20/20 Plan's cost is 
in addition to the $13 monthly fee.  


                           INTERNATIONAL USERS:

If you wish to connect internationally through Tymnet or SprintNet, 
please contact your local PTT.  BIX accepts prepaid international calls,
direct dial, or telnet connections.  In order to make a "collect" (not 
prepaid) call to BIX, your account must be verified before the charges 
are accepted.  When you complete the registration, we'll mail you a BIX
Membership Agreement by regular US Mail.  Whe you receive it, sign it 
and return it to us by mail.  When we receive it here, we'll authorize
your account to make reverse charged calls.

If you want to access BIX right away, contact your local PTT to set up a 
prepaid account.  You'll pay your local carrier for your calls to BIX in
advance, so there's no waiting period or verfication needed. Or, connect 
at BIX via telnet to x25.bix.com.

SprintNet international calls from most locations are $24 an hour.
Tymnet international charges vary, but are generally between $20-$30 an hour.


                           ====================
                           Billing Information: 
                           ====================

You can charge your monthly BIX membership fees to your Visa, 
Mastercard, Discover, or American Express card.

You may have your company invoiced for one or more BIX memberships with 
a BIX Corporate Account.  To do so, send by US Mail or fax a Purchase Order 
including a Purchase Order number, invoice address, contact person, a 
phone number where we can reach the contact person, and the company's 
fax number.  Please direct it to the attention of Connie Lopes, who
handles corporate accounts.  Our fax number is 617-491-6642.  Your 
corporate account will generally be set up within 24 hours.


                            ===================
                            To Sign Up For BIX:
                            ===================

   Dial by modem 1-800-695-4882 or 617-491-5410 * 
   (use 8 data bits, no parity, full duplex)

   Press a few carriage returns until you see the Login:(enter "bix") 
   prompt, then type  bix

   At the Name? prompt, type bix.amrpt

* Users already on the internet can telnet to x25.bix.com instead.
  At the USERNAME: prompt enter bix, then bix.net at the Name? prompt.
  Once your account is registered, you can connect the same way, except
  at the Name? prompt you'll enter your BIXname and then your password.


Using the above procedure will allow users in the 48 contiguous United 
States to take advantage of our special "5 for $5" offer.  This offer 
lets you use up to 5 hours of evening/weekend time on BIX during the 
current calender month (whatever month you sign up in), for $5.  
Additional time is $1.80 per hour ($1 per hour for telnet).  At the end 
of the calender month, you will be placed into our standard rate plan, 
at $13 monthly plus connect charges.  You may also join the 20/20 Plan 
at this time.

If you have other questions, please contact BIX Member Services 
at (800) 695-4775; send a fax to BIX at (617) 491-6642; or send Internet
mail to info@bix.com.

BIX Member Services hours are 12pm - 11pm, Monday through Friday, ET.  


@endnode
***************************************************************************

@node P3 "Dealer Directory"
@toc "menu"

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



                           Almathera Systems Ltd
                              Challenge House
                              618 Mitcham Rd
                              Croydon, Surrey
                             CR9 3AU  England
                         VOICE: (UK) 081 683 6418
              Internet: (Sales) almathera@cix.compulink.co.uk
                  (Technical) jralph@cix.compulink.co.uk


                           Amigability Computers
                               P.O. Box 572
                          Plantsville, CT  06479
                            VOICE: 203-276-8175
                        Internet:  amiga@phantm.UUCP
                             BIX:  jbasile
              (Send E-mail to subscribe to our mailing list)


                            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
                              GEnie:  B.GRAY


                CLICK! Microcomputer Applications B.V.B.A.
                            Boomsesteenweg 468
                        B-2610 Wilrijk - Antwerpen
                             Belgium - Europe
                         VOICE:  03 / 828.18.15
                           FAX:  03 / 828.67.36
                     USENET:  vanhoutv@click.augfl.be
                             FIDO:  2:292/603.9
                         AmigaNet:  39:120/102.9


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


                             DataKompaniet ANS
                             Pb 3187  Munkvoll
                             N-7002  Trondheim
                              Norway - Europe
                          VOICE/FAX:  72 555 149
                      Internet:  torrunes@idt.unit.no


                               Digital Arts 
                           122 West 6th Street
                          Bloomington, IN  47404 
                           VOICE: (812)330-0124 
                           FAX:   (812)330-0126 
                               BIX:  msears 


                           Finetastic Computers
                           721 Washington Street
                            Norwood, MA  02062
                           VOICE:  617-762-4166
                             BBS:  617-769-3172
                            Fido:  1:101/322
                       Portal:  FinetasticComputers
               Internet:  FinetasticComputers@cup.portal.com


                               HT Electronics
                         275 North Mathilda Avenue
                           Sunnyvale, CA  94086
                           VOICE:  408-737-0900
                           FAX:    408-245-3109
                          Portal:  HT Electronics
                 Internet:  HT Electronics@cup.portal.com


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


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


                          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


                     MusicMart:  Media Sound & Vision
                            71 Wellington Road
                          London, Ontario, Canada
                           VOICE:  519-434-4162
                             FAX:  519-663-8074
                             BBS:  519-457-2986
                            FIDO:  1:221/125
                        AmigaNet:  40:550/1
                          MaxNet:  90:204/1
                        iNET: koops@gaul.csd.uwo.ca


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


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



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

@endnode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P1-13 "AR Confidential"
@toc "menu"


/// AR Confidential                    We heard it through the grapevine!
    ---------------


San Jose, Calif.

- Reports are coming in that the next major step in optical technology will
  be the addition of blue-light lasers.  The blue light laser can operate
  in half the bandwidth of the standard red-light lasers, thus allowing
  higher data density.  Reports of up to four times the current standard
  could mean CD ROM storage of up to 2.6 gigabytes, and have similar
  results in terms of optical read/write drives.


@endnode
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
@node P1-14 "Humor Department"
@toc "menu"

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


  While this isn't really a joke, it's amusing to know that Bill Gates
  has been dethroned as America's richest man by none other than Warren
  Buffett of Omaha, Nebraska.  Buffett is considered a very conservative
  investor, and has averaged a 29% return since 1965.  Bill Gates, eat
  your heart out!


@endnode

@node P2-3 "In Closing"
@toc "menu"

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
                  Amiga Report International Online Magazine
November 5, 1993       * YOUR INDEPENDENT NEWS SOURCE *            No. 1.32
        Copyright © 1993 SkyNet 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
STR Publications.  Permission to reprint articles is hereby granted, unless
otherwise noted.  Reprints must, without exception, include the name of the
publication, date, issue number and  the author's name. Amiga Report and/or
portions therein  may not be edited in  any way  without prior written per-
mission. However, translation into a language other than English is accept-
ble, provided the original meaning is not altered. Amiga Report may be dis-
tributed 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).  Distribution  on for-profit magazine cover
disks requires  written permission  from the  editor  or  publisher.  Amiga
Report is a not-for-profit publication.  Amiga Report, at the  time of pub-
ication, is believed reasonably accurate. Amiga Report, its  staff and con-
ributors 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  Commodore-Amiga, Inc., Commodore  Business
Machines, Ltd., or any other Amiga publication in any way. All items quoted
in whole or in part are  done so under the  Fair Use Provision of the Copy-
right Laws of the United States Penal Code.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
                                    Only
                  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
                  *       _    _       __  ___    _       *
                  *      /\\  |\\   /| || //  \  /\\      *
                  *     /  \\ | \\ /|| ||(< __  /  \\     *
                  *    /--- \\|  \X || || \\_||/--- \\    *
                  *   /______________________________\\   *
                  *  /                                \\  *
                  *                                       *
                  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
                             Makes it possible!!

@endnode

@node "menu" "Amiga Report Main Menu"
@toc "menu"

@{"    Columns and Features    " link P1} News, Reviews, and More!
@{"     About AMIGA REPORT     " link P2} Staff, Copyright information
@{"      Dealer Directory      " link P3} Amiga Dealer Addresses and Numbers
@{" Commercial Online Services " link P4} Sign-Up Information
@{"     FTP Announcements      " link P5} New Files Available for FTP
@{"   AR Distribution Sites    " link P2-1} Where to get AMIGA REPORT



/// 11/05/93 Amiga Report 1.32   "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information"
    --------------------------
    · The Editor's Desk      · CPU Status Report   · New Products
    · FTP Announcements      · Dealer Directory    · AR Confidential
    · Usenet Reviews         · AR Online           · The Humor Department
    · Emulation Rambler      · A.M.I.G.A.          · SOTB3
    · Real 3D Features List  · 3DO Club Started    · Picasso II Board
    
                         » Taking the PC Plunge «
                 » Commodore Shareholder Movement Update «
                   » New AmigaDOS 3 Shareware Library «

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
                 Amiga Report International Online Magazine
                 "Your Weekly Source for Amiga Information"
                            » FEATURING WEEKLY «
                  Accurate UP-TO-DATE News and Information
      Current Events, Original Articles, Tips, Rumors, and Information
              Hardware · Software · Corporate · R & D · Imports
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/             @{" DELPHI " link P4-1} · @{" PORTAL " link P4-2} · @{" FIDO " link P2-1} · @{" INTERNET " link P4-5} · @{" BIX " link P4-6}           /
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


@endnode

@node P1 "Columns and Features"
@toc "menu"

@{"   From the Editor's Desk   " link P1-1} Saying it like it is!
@{"     CPU Status Report      " link P1-2} Computer Products Update
@{"       Press Release        " link P1-3} Information on Sun Systems
@{"       Online Weekly        " link P1-4} The lines are buzzing!
@{" CBM Shareholder's Movement " link P1-5} Questions and Answers
@{"       UseNet Review        " link P1-6} Picasso II graphics board
@{"       Features List        " link P1-7} Real 3D Upgrade v2.4
@{"    Taking the PC Plunge    " link P1-8} To switch or not to switch
@{"         A.M.I.G.A.         " link P1-9} - The CURE!!
@{"  New PD/Shareware library  " link P1-10} For AmigaDOS 3.0
@{"   The Emulation Examiner   " link P1-11} 3DO in the future??
@{"       UseNet Reivew        " link P1-12} Shadow of the Beast III
@{"      AR Confidential       " link P1-13} We heard if through the Grapevine!
@{"    The Humor Department    " link P1-14} Jokes, Quotes, and Shameless plugs!
@endnode


@node P2 "About Amiga Report"
@toc "menu"

@{" For Starters " link P2-1} Where to get AMIGA REPORT
@{"   AR Staff   " link P2-2} The Editors, and Contributers
@{"  In Closing  " link P2-3} Copyright Information

@endnode

@node P4 "Commercial Online Services"
@toc "menu"

@{"   Delphi   " link P4-1}  Getting better all the time!
@{"   Portal   " link P4-2}  A great place for Amiga users...
@{"  Holonet   " link P4-3}  Inexpensive Internet Access
@{"  InterNet  " link P4-5}  Subscribe to the AR Mailing List
@{"    BIX     " link P4-6}  For Serious Programmers and Developers
@endnode

@node P5 "Files Available for FTP"
@toc "menu"


@{" Amiga TCP/IP v2.1 " link P5-1} Upgrade to the popular TCP/IP software
@endnode



                 -----------------------------------------
@node P2-1-1 "NOVA"
@toc "menu"


                               * NOVA BBS *
                  Official Amiga Report Distribution Site
                          * Running Starnet BBS *
                         Wayne Stonecipher, Sysop
                            FidoNet  1:362/508
                 An Amiga Software Distribution Site (ADS)
                 615-472-9748  USR DS 16.8  24hrs - 7 days
                           Cleveland, Tennessee
@endnode           
                ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-2 "In The MeanTime"
@toc "menu"


        
                          * IN THE MEANTIME BBS *
                  Official Amiga Report Distribution Site
                            * Running AXShell *
                            Robert Niles, Sysop
                            rniles@imtired.itm.com
                509-966-3828  Supra V.32bis  24hrs - 7 days
                            Yakima, Washington


                          ******* Notice *******

After 13 September 1993, In The MeanTime will no longer be on FidoNet, thus
we will no longer be accepting File REQuests (FREQs). We WILL be still 
accepting calls and will have the latest edition of Amiga Report online.
Downloads to first time callers are still accepted. For the west coast 
call @{"Cloud's Corner" link P2-1-3} to FREQ the latest edition of Amiga Report.

Those who call for the latest edition of Amiga Report, and who do not with
to establish an account, log in as guest with the password of "guest".
At the prompt type "ARMAG" (without the quotes).

@endnode           
	       ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-3 "Cloud's Corner"
@toc "menu"


                          * CLOUD'S CORNER BBS *
                  Official Amiga Report Distribution Site
               Starnet/MebbsNet Support Site West Coast USA
                          * Running Starnet BBS *
                            Larry Cloud, Sysop
                            FidoNet:  1:350/30
                  Internet:  larryc@hebron.connected.com
                 206-377-4290  USR HST DS  24hrs - 7 days
                           Bremerton, Washington


New users can call and get ANY copy of Amiga Report.  These are considered
"free" downloads, they do not count against any file ratio.  The latest issue
of Amiga Reports can be Freq'ed (FileREQusted) from here as "AR.LHA", as "AR"
or as ARxxx.LHA where xxx is the issue number.
 
For users interested in reading AR, but who do not have access to AmigaGuide,
you can freq ARBUL and get the AR in bulletin form.  This service is provided
for persons who do not have Amigaguide (such as IBM users).  Please note that
any pictures distributed with the "regular" Amiga Reports archive will NOT be
sent with this freq.  This file is not available for dial-in users, but you
can read bulletin #22 with your capture buffer open and get the same file.

@endnode
                 ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-4 "Biosmatica"
@toc "menu"


         
                            * BIOSMATICA BBS *
            Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Portugal
                    * Running Excelsior/Trapdoor/UUCP *
                           Celso Martinho, Sysop
                             FidoNet  2:361/9
                  +351-34-382320  V.32bis  24hrs - 7 days
@endnode
                 ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-5 "Amiga Junction 9"
@toc "menu"


                           * AMIGA JUNCTION 9 *
         Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- United Kingdom
                       * Running DLG Professional *
                          Stephen Anderson, Sysop
                   Internet:  user_name@junct9.royle.org
      Line 1  +44 (0)372 271000  14400  V.32bis/HST   Fido 2:253/510
      Line 2  +44 (0)372 278000  14400  V.32bis only  Fido 2:253/520
      Line 3  +44 (0)372 279000  2400   V.42bis/MNP   Fido 2:253/530
                  Sysop Email:  sysadmin@junct9.royle.org
@endnode
                 ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-6 "BitStream BBS"
@toc "menu"



                             * BITSTREAM BBS *
               The BBS of the Nelson (NZ) Amiga Users Group
                  Official Amiga Report Distribution Site
                       * Running Xenolink 1.0 Z.3 *
                            Glen Roberts, Sysop
                             FidoNet 3:771/850
               +64 3 5485321  Supra V.32bis  24hrs - 7 days
                            Nelson, New Zealand

@endnode
                 -------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-7 "Realm of Twilight"
@toc "menu"


                         * REALM OF TWILIGHT BBS *
             Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Canada
                        * Running Excelsior! BBS *
                         Thorsten Schiller, Sysop
                    Usenet: realm.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
                    UUCP:   ...!uunet.ca!tdkcs!realm
                             FIDO: 1:221/202
                             Fish: 33:33/8
                              24hrs - 7 days
                         519-748-9365  (2400 baud)
                         519-748-9026  (v.32bis)
                              Ontario, Canada


     Hardware: Amiga 3000, 105 Meg Quantum, 213 Meg Maxtor, 5 megs RAM


@endnode
                 -------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-8 "Metnet Triangle"
@toc "menu"


                          METNET TRIANGLE SYSTEM
                  Official Amiga Report Distribution Site
                          UK Support for Mebbsnet
                  * Running Mebbsnet and Starnet 1.02a *
                             Jon Witty, Sysop
                            FIDO:  2:252/129.0
                              24 hrs - 7 days
                     Line  1:   44-482-473871  16.8 DS HST 
                     Lines 2-7: 44-482-442251  2400 (6 lines)
                     Line  8:   44-482-491744  2400 
                     Line  9:   44-482-449028  2400 
                Voice helpline  44-482-491752  (anytime)

                 Fully animated menus + normal menu sets. 
                  500 megs HD - Usual software/messages 
           Most doors online - Many Sigs - AMIGA AND PC SUPPORT 
                Very active userbase and busy conference  
             Precious days and MUD online. AMUL support site. 

@endnode
                 -------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-9 "Omaha Amiganet"
@toc "menu"

                            * OMAHA AMIGANET *
                  Official Amiga Report Distribution Site
                       * Running DLG Professional *
                           Andy Wasserman, Sysop
                              24 hrs - 7 days
                            FidoNet:  1:285/11
                           AmigaNet:  40:200/10
                      Line 1:  402-333-5110  V.32bis
                      Line 2:  402-691-0104  USR DS
                              Omaha, Nebraska

@endnode
                 ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-10 "Amiga-Night-System"
@toc "menu"


                          * AMIGA-NIGHT-SYSTEM *
             Official Amiga Report Distribution Site - Finland
                       * Running DLG Professional *
                            Janne Saarme, Sysop
                              24 hrs - 7 days
                       InterNet: luumu@fenix.pp.fi 
                           FidoNet:  2:220/550.0
                          +358-0-675840  V.32bis
                             Helsinki, Finland

@endnode
                 ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-11 "Ramses Amiga Flying"
@toc "menu"


                        * RAMSES THE AMIGA FLYING *
             Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- France
                       * Running DLG Professional *
                            Eric Delord, Sysop
                         Philippe Brand, Co-Sysop
                        Stephane Legrand, Co-Sysop
                    Internet: user.name@ramses.gna.org
                            Fidonet: 2:320/104
                        +33-1-60037015 USR DS 16.8
                        +33-1-60037713 V.32bis
                        +33-1-60037716 1200-2400
  

Ramses The Amiga Flying BBS is an Amiga-dedicated BBS running DLG-Pro
on a Amiga 3000, 16MB RAM, 2GB Disk space, 3 lines.

We keep a dayly Aminet site mirroring, NetBSD-Amiga complete mirror site
from ftp.eunet.ch (main site), Amiga Report, GNU Amiga, Ramses is the
SAN/ADS/Amiganet French coordinator.



@endnode
                 ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-12 "Gateway BBS"
@toc "menu"


                            * THE GATEWAY BBS *
                  Official Amiga Report Distribution Site
                        * Running Excelsior! BBS *
                          Stace Cunningham, Sysop
                            Dan Butler, CoSysop
                              24 hrs - 7 days
                   InterNet: stace@tecnet1.jcte.jcs.mil
                           FidoNet:  1:3604/60.0
                           (601)374-2697 V.32bis
                            Biloxi, Mississippi


@endnode
                 ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-50 "Freeland Mainframe"
@toc "menu"



                          * FREELAND MAINFRAME *
                   Offical Amiga Report Distribution Site
                       * Running DLG Progessional *
                           John Freeland, SysOp
                 206-438-1670  Supra 2400zi
                 206-438-2273  Telebit WorldBlazer(v.32bis)
                 206-456-6013  Supra v.32bis
                              24hrs - 7 days
                       Internet - freemf.eskimo.com
                            Olympia, Washington
@endnode
                 ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-51 "LAHO"
@toc "menu"



                               * LAHO BBS *
             Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Finland
                             * Running MBBS *
                            Lenni Uitti, SysOp
                      Tero Manninen, SysOp (PC-areas)
                     Juha Makinen, SysOp (Amiga-areas)
                        +358-64-414 1516, V.32bis/HST
                        +358-64-414 0400, V.32bis/HST
                        +358-64-414 6800, V.32/HST
                        +358-64-423 1300, V.32 MNP
                            Seinajoki, Finland

Our machine is a 386/33 with 20MB of memory, 1GB harddisk and a CD-ROM
drive. The BBS software is a Norwegian origin MBBS running in
a DesqView windows.

We have over 7000 files online (both for the Amiga and PC) + 650MB stuff
on the Aminet CD-ROM disk.

Every user has an access to download filelist (LAHOFIL.ZIP), list of
Finnish 24-hour BBS's (BBSLIST.ZIP or BBSLIST.LHA) and every issue of
the Amiga Report Magazine (AR101.LHA-AR1??.LHA) even on their first call.

The system has been running since 1989 and is sponsored by the local
telephone company, Vaasan Ladnin Puhelin Oy.



@endnode
                 ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-52 "Falling BBS"
@toc "menu"



                              * FALLING BBS *
             Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Norway
                             * Running ABBS *
                          Christopher Naas, Sysop
                  +47 69 256117  V.32bis  24hrs - 7 days
                    EMail:    naasc@cnaas.adsp.sub.org
@endnode
                 ------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-53 "Command Line BBS"
@toc "menu"



                           * COMMAND LINE BBS * 
            Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Canada 
                Canada's Amiga Graphics & Animation Source 
                        * Running AmiExpress BBS * 
                           Nick Poliwko, Sysop 
                    416-533-8321  V.32  24hrs - 7 days 
                             Toronto, Canada 
@endnode  
                 -------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-54 "Rendezvous BBS"
@toc "menu"


                             * RENDEZVOUS BBS *
           Official Amiga Report Distribution Site - New Zealand
                  New Zealand Excelsior! BBS Support Site
                  * Running Excelsior! Professional BBS *
                            David Dustin, Sysop
                  Internet: postmaster@eclipse.acme.gen.nz
                +64 6 3566375  Supra V.32bis  24hrs - 7 days
                       Palmerston North, New Zealand


@endnode
                 -------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-55 "Leguans Byte Channel"
@toc "menu"


                         * LEGUANS BYTE CHANNEL *
            Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Germany
                         * Running EazyBBS V2.11 *
                           Andreas Geist, Sysop
                    Usenet: andreas@lbcmbx.in-berlin.de
                              24 hrs - 7 days
                    Line 1:  49-30-8110060  USR DS 16.8 
                    Line 2:  49-30-8122442  USR DS 16.8

                 Login as User: "amiga", Passwd: "report" 

@endnode
                 -------------------------------------------
@node P2-1-56 "Stingray Database BBS"
@toc "menu"


                          * STINGRAY  DATABASE *
            Official Amiga Report Distribution Site -- Germany
                           * Running FastCall *
                           Bernd Mienert, Sysop
                 EMail: sysop@sting-db.zer.sub.org.dbp.de
                  +49 208 496807 HST-Dual 24hrs - 7 days
                          Muelheim/Ruhr, Germany


@endnode
                 --------------------------------------------
