-=========================================================================- _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || Amiga Update -News and Rumors /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || (An Occasional Newsletter) / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ || BACK FOR THE FUTURE || -=========================================================================- AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga Technologies, GmbH --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 961007 T H E N E V E R E N D I N G ( B U Y O U T ) S T O R Y C A N A D I A N A M I G A S H O W I N T E L L I G E N T L I F E F O U N D I N P C M A G This issue's stories: We present below a recent posting by VIScor's Jason Compton. It represents the most recent information we've obtained on the seemingly endless buyout of Amiga Technologies - and the New Star Amiga clone. On a more cheerful topic, we present a press release from the folks launching "Amiga Fest" in Ontario. It sounds like a fun time in the works. Finally, we grabbed a posting from the "Amiga Web Directory" and reproduce it here. It seems "PC Magazine" has at least one columnist who actually understands - and even owns - an Amiga. Our suggestion is that everyone reading this newsletter picks up a copy of the issue. Follow that with a e-note saying you did so and thanking them for the report, mentioning that you might buy other issues in the future if they cover the Amiga. It can't hurt, and you'll be able to satisfy yourself that the magazine really does contain these amazing words. Have fun with this issue of AU! Brad --------------------------------------------------------------------------- M O S T R E C E N T U P D A T E O N T H E A . T . B U Y O U T Date: 6 Oct 1996 02:38:35 GMT To start: No, I don't have any resolution news for you. When there is some, it'll certainly come with more bells and whistles than these do. As has been the case for over a month, Bill Buck is in Germany, continuing discussions with Escom's trustees over the sale of the entire Amiga assets and holdings. Amiga Technologies continues to operate with a reduced staff (I, personally, was very sad to see my friend Christoph Guelicher depart) and they are shipping and selling Amigas on a -daily- basis. There are a couple of issues, not just the buyout, that are bothering people on the net so I thought I'd try to clear them up. New Star's Amiga: New Star is a company, licensed by Escom, that has developed and is selling an Amiga clone. Before joining VIScorp last May, I called New Star when I learned about their computer. I was told it was an ECS machine with CD-ROM drive, probably with a 68000. In effect, it's a beefed-up CDTV-style machine running 3.1. Command: VIScorp is aware of New Star and, pending the sale, will respect their rights for the Amiga in the Sino-China region. New Star's license, insofar as I personally understand it, does not allow them to sell outside of this region. The "A6000T": Video Toaster Expo materials are beginning to emerge promising the unveiling of the "Amiga 6000T". This is meeting with a lot of deserved confusion. The "A6000T" is QuikPak's internal name for an Amiga 4000T with 060 card (dubbed the 4060) installed. It may or may not be the final sales designation for this configuration. They've committed to sending a set of such machines to the expo. This is a QuikPak bundle so they're not able to use the "Amiga" name. They may sell under the "A6000T" name instead, much as the CEI "A1962" monitor does. In short--The "6000T" does not represent any sort of secret, mystical near-finished machine, or short-term plan for the Amiga from VIScorp. It's just the name applied to the 4000T/060 from QuikPak. It's not the Video Toaster Expo organizers or QuikPak's fault for the confusion, it's just something that wasn't explained well enough. -- Jason Compton jcompton@xnet.com Communications Manager - Amiga, VIScorp http://www.vistv.com/ Editor-in-Chief, Amiga Report Magazine (847) 741-0689 FAX I know what I like. And I like what I know. AR on Aminet - docs/mags/ar???.lha AR Mailing list - Mail me WWW - http://www.omnipresence.com/Amiga/News/AR, www.cucug.org/ar/ar.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A F E S T I N C A N A D A Amiga Fest '96 HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT Amiga Fest is a Go! Amazing Software and Accessories in co-operation with RCD and Robinson Consulting are pleased to announce Amiga Fest, the first show of it's kind in Canada. Amiga Fest will be held in conjunction with Computer Fest. With attendance expected to be over 30,000 consumers, it will be the largest audience to ever attend a Canadian Amiga related show. Admission is $10 or less. This will be an opportunity for many non-Amiga users to get exposure to the Amiga platform. It will also attract Amiga users who are not aware of the advancements in peripherals and add-ons that are available today. There is also an opportunity for resellers to widen their product base, with new products being shown for the first time in Canada. Amiga Fest will be held Nov. 29 - Dec. 1 at the International Centre, 6900 Airport Rd., in Mississauga, Ontario. For more information contact Amazing Software and Accessories at 1-800-847-3315 or Email amazing@cyg.net Resellers backing Amiga Fest! The response from Resellers to Amiga Fest has been fantastic. Retailers including National Amiga, Videolink, Visual Vision, The Computer And You, Valley Soft, ARCH Computer Technology, and APC are just some of the dealers that will have booths at the show. One of the contributing factors to this high reseller attendance, is the low cost of booth space for such a high visibility show. With Computer Fest being the largest show of it's kind in Canada, media coverage will be extensive. Magazines such as Amazing Computing, Toronto Computes and VPM will all be covering the show. NewTek makes only Canadian appearance at Amiga Fest! What Amiga Show is complete without presentations and demonstrations by Don Ballance of NewTek. Don will be making his only last Canadian appearance this year at Amiga Fest. The Video Toaster, Video Flyer, LightWave 3D will be demonstrated each day. Don will share the latest exciting new product developments. Manufacturers rally to Amiga Fest! Confirmations from manufacturers are streaming in to Amiga Fest Headquarters. Some of the hottest Amiga companies are adding their support. Newtek, Applied Magic, QuikPak, DKB, Visual Insperations, Click BOOM, Ocean, Replica Technolgies have all given Amiga Fest the nod. This number is growing daily. A4000t to be given away at Amiga Fest! QuikPak has provided an Amiga 4000t system that will be given away at Amiga Fest. A free draw will be held to determine the winner. For More Info Call Toll Free1-800-847-3315Voice: 519.393.6270Fax: 519.393.6233 Send E-Mail To:Amiga Fest '96 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- T H I S R E A L L Y I S I N A P C M A G A Z I N E ? ? {The good folks of the Amiga Web Directory ran the following article at their on line site recently. They used the quotes without permission from "PC Magazine" and we cribbed their article in turn without permission - so we'll give them a plug. If you're using a web browser and you're not checking their site regularly, you're missing the best Amiga site in the world in our opinion. No hype, that's truly our opinion. Brad} Amiga Mentioned in PC Magazine We're hoping the big wigs at http://www.pcmag.com/ PC Magazine don't get upset if they find us quoting noted columnist and sometimes acerbic pundit, John C. Dvorak from their latest issue here. It's just that we were so taken by an actual, positive mention of the Amiga in an otherwise Wintel-centric publication that we were compelled to purloin a line or two for the Amiga Web Directory. From PC Magazine, October 22, 1996 Inside Track By John C. Dvorak Used Without Permission The Jinxed Machine Rises Once Again, Maybe, Dept.: The hapless Amiga, a machine a decade ahead of its time (there's a lesson in there somewhere) was sold by a bankrupt Commodore to Germany's Escom AG two years back. Users hoped the sale would signal a revival, but Escom AG couldn't do anything with it and went bankrupt in July1995, leaving the Amiga in shambles. Now the machine's design has been sold to VIScorp, a Chicago-based set~top-box maker. Meanwhile, as a result of the bankruptcy, numerous companies are claiming rights to the machine. No matter. VIScorp plans to revive the machine. There is some talk about porting the Amiga's OS code to the PowerPC, which would probably be a great idea, since the Amiga OS remains one of the great operating systems of the past 20 years, incorporating a small kernel and tremendous multitasking capability the likes of which have only recently been developed in OS/2 and Windows NT. The biggest difference is that the Amiga OS could operate fully and multitask in as little as 256K of address space. Even today, the OS is only about 1MB in size. And to this day, there is very little a memory-hogging, CD-ROM loading OS can do that the Amiga can't.Tight code--there's nothing like it. I've had an Amiga for maybe a decade. It's the single most reliable piece of equipment I've ever owned. It's amazing! You can easily understand why so many fanatics are out there wondering why they are alone in their love of the thing. The Amiga continues to inspire a vibrant--albeit cultlike--community, not unlike that which you have with Linux, the Unix clone.Expect to see VIScorp release a 68060 upgrade board for the machine. Amazing how high-quality machinery never dies an easy death. Champaign-Urbana Commodore Users Group / cucug@cucug.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amiga Update on the net: recent issues available in html format at: http://www.sharbor.com All back issues available (ASCII text only) at: http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1996 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified. -=========================================================================- _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || Brad Webb/AmigaUpdate /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || webb@malamute.med.ge.com /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || bandr@globaldialog.com / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ || -=========================================================================-