====================================================================== _ __ _ <>_ __ _ || /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ || A M I G A U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ || -News and Rumors- / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_|| (An Occasional e-mail KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING || Newsmagazine) ====================================================================== AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 990221 A N O T E F R O M D R . H A V E M O S E J A V A ( K A F F E ) F O R T H E A M I G A A M I G A S H O W ' 9 9 I N B E L G I U M V U L C A N E N D S A M I G A N E W S S E R V I C E K I C K S T A R T S H O W I N U . K . : U P D A T E R E N D E R F A R M W I L L B E S O L D E N T E R P R I S E S W F R O M C L A S S Y D E S I G N S C L I C K B O O M P O R T A L O P E N S I B M W I L L O F F E R L I N U X X - A R C 1 . 3 A V A I L A B L E N E T A X 1 2 0 0 F R O M H & P S T A R G A T E F O R Y O U R E - M A I L A M O Z I L L A R E S P O N D S T O A C C U S A T I O N S F R E E A M I G A A N D A M O Z I L L A X N E W T C P / I P S T A C K A N N O U N C E D W A T E R V A P O U R B R O W S E R N E W S I D E W I N D E R C D I S E N G A R D N O T G O N E A F T E R A L L Editor's Thoughts and Introduction: Insane times in the Amiga community! If you prowl the net, you may have seen a long diatribe against the clickBOOM staff from several programmers in Eastern Europe alleging a large variety of unethical and illegal actions. In return, it appears clickBOOM may be considering legal action. We know we can't do justice to both sides in this argument in "Amiga Update", so we're not going to try. We just can't check out the sources. We're simply going to say that, if true, clickBOOM has much to be ashamed of. If not true, the accusations made are libelous at best and damaging to the Amiga community at worst. If anything makes it to court, we'll report on that. A second diatribe was recently made against the people at aMozilla. We carry aMozilla's response below, as that's a formal news release. We do wonder how much infighting our small and endangered community can tolerate. For that matter, it can't tolerate a lot of bad or malevolent operations by any companies, either. Maybe we're still operating on the Commodore principle and are trying to put ourselves in the grave. There's an old American saying about "shooting yourself in the foot". Seems to us some of our community should be wearing shoes with targets painted on them. Enough of this. We would much rather mention clickBOOM's name in regards to something very creative and welcome they've come up with. This is the new clickBOOM portal. We have a story on it below. We also have an "Amiga Update" section in their news area, and are quite pleased with the chance to participate. Lots to read in this issue, including all sorts of activity in the web browser world. We just mentioned aMozilla, but it seems that browser has gotten a new name - aMozillaX - and joined the Free Amiga site. Details are below. Then there's the new browser Water Vapour. We have no idea where that name came from, but we do have information on the browser below. How about real Java for the Amiga, though we're not sure what you can do with it yet? Check out the Kaffe story below. This could be the start of something very significant. There's also a new tcp/ip stack announced, a mailer, show news and other goodies. We hope you enjoy this issue. Brad Webb, Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E-mail to the E-ditor: 7 Feb 1999 Brad, Newsletter problem! ** I was not able to read the last half of your wonderful(!) newsletter just delivered (Feb7) from YAM. Thanks for an otherwise VERY fine publication!! Keep up the good work - we need you! Kind regards Peter ~~~~~~ Peter, You weren't the only one unfortunately. One batch of the newsletter went off with the problem you described. The problem wasn't with YAM, and a reboot cured it. Whenever we detect a mailing problem, we will immediately send out another set of copies. We hope this doesn't cause anyone problems. Over the years, we've had only a few of these but, being human, we suspect we'll have a few more. If anyone ever receives a bad copy which is not followed by a complete one, let us know please. Thanks for the pat on the back, we really appreciate it. Brad ====== 9 Feb 1999 Just a short note from a long-time Amigan. Re your latest newsletter (2/7/99), I very much agree with Thomas: NO ONE with any sense should be using "NG" when describing new Amigas. People do NOT associate "NG" with "Next Generation". This is an abbreviation for "No Good". The only time people think of "Next Generation" it is with reference to Star Trek and then it is always "TNG" ("The Next Generation"). Considering how much time has passed since the introduction of the last Amiga, how about "Amiga II" for the new machine(s)? Christopher ~~~~~~ Christopher, You seem to be in the majority on this. Amiga Inc., if you're reading this you may want to rethink your designation. Even if the Amiga community understands and likes the name, the competition will have a field day with it. I suppose it's like Chevrolet naming a car the "Nova" which means "no go" in Spanish, or Toyota naming one Cresida (you'll have to know your Shakespeare for that one). Thanks for the comments, Brad ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A N O T E F R O M D R . H A V E M O S E {We found this on the net, and thought everyone would should be aware of it. Our thanks to Ed Dana for posting this. Brad} 15 Feb 1999 Always concerned about confidence in the Amiga scene, I contacted Allan Havemose about the current state of things. Below is his response: ==== Hi Ed, Good to hear from you! The only reason I stopped was that I typically received 100's of angry emails after each posting. I simply got tired of the large number of people who only wanted to vent and not listen. I know this doesn't help the larger group who is truly interested in seeing the Amiga move forward, but I ultimate had to prioritize my time. We are making good progress, btw. I should be able to make a number of exciting announcements within a few weeks. Allan ==== I find it interesting his comments about 100s of angry EMails. It's probably frustrating for him that no matter what he or AI does/says, too many people think they are screwing up. Now, for those of you who are dissapointed that there weren't any details in his response, please consider the fact that he didn't have to respond at all. And finally, concerning those announcements, please remember that he said: "I *should* be able to...". Life, being what it is, could change that. -- Sincerely, Ed Dana ---------------------------------------------------------------------- J A V A ( K A F F E ) F O R T H E A M I G A {Interested in real Java for the Amiga? The Kaffe project, among others, has been moving us forward for some time. Now, you can get Kaffe in running order, not just source code. The recently posted file http://www.black-sun.co.uk/Kaffe1.0b3.lha, is a pre-compiled Java Virtual Engine for the Amiga 1200 with '030 processor, as we understand it. Below is a post to the net providing some information on getting Kaffe running. Our thanks to Nicholai Benalal for making this post available, and to all the folks behind Kaffe for the Amiga. NOTE; we've not tried this file, nor do we know for sure it really works as a JVE. Sounds good though, so if you're interested in trying it out, maybe you can tell us? Brad} Download the following archive: http://www.black-sun.co.uk/Kaffe1.0b3.lha This archive should be enough to test that Kaffe works but you should download the source archive from http://www.transvirtual.com/ That archive includes tests that you can run. Please report by email if you find anything abnormal. I know that there's work to be done to make everything in the .../test/regression/ directory work as expected. *1) Please set your stack HIGH!* Kaffe will crash if you don't. 2) unpack Kaffe1.0b3.lha to some directory 3) assign Kaffe: to that directory 4) setenv CLASSPATH ".;Kaffe:.;kaffe:Klasses.jar;kaffe:pizza.jar" 5) start your X server 6) use "Kaffe XYZ" to start XYZ or "Kaffe -jar XYZ.jar" if it's a *.jar And please don't ask me how to use the X server. I've got too much mail to answer already :-) -- Nicholai Benalal ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M I G A S H O W ' 9 9 I N B E L G I U M 10 Feb 99 Amiga Fans! !!!!! AMIGA SHOW '99 !!!!! 8 and 9 May 1999 Grand Rue, 4 7070 Le Roeulx Belgium Easy access - Motorway Paris-Brussels / Exit 21 FREE parking ! (+ 200 Places) This year, for the first time, and the closest to France yet! (20 Min. from Maubeuge / 30 Min. from Valencienne / 5 Min. Mons) VILLAGE TRONIC - PHASE 5 - POWER COMPUTING - HISOFT - MOTIONSTUDIOS /************ Come and snap up SPECIAL AMIGA OFFERS ****************\ * Presentation of new AMIGA / Hardware & Software * * from the Amiga 500 to the Power-Up/Warp-OS via the DRACO * * New stuff, as well as SUPER second-hand bargains * * * * !!!!! CRAZY Prices !!!!! * * * * (Questionnaire with prizes - Past, Present & Future of the AMIGA)* \******************************************************************/ MACRO SYSTEM-CLICKBOOM-VULCAN SOFTWARE-HAAGE & PARTNERS-MICRONIK *************************** !!!!! BILL GATES FREE !!!!! *************************** Entry price: 250 BF - 40 FF - 6 Eur. !!! Reductions for CLUBS & Fanzines !!! Booths for hire (Special prices for non-commercial use) RESERVE NOW !!!!! "Accommodation available, see site" Maps, reservations and other information available at AmigaCentre@skynet.be http://users.skynet.be/sheeva http2//www.amigashow.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- V U L C A N E N D S A M I G A N E W S S E R V I C E 10 Feb 1999 {Looks like the hadwriting is on the wall for Vulcan's participation in the Amiga market. We received the following note recently from their UK news service. Brad} Hello Amiga Press, Vulcan is closing this Amiga news service and deleting the subscriber list due to non Vulcan activity in the Amiga market. If any of you also write for the PC then please visit our website and re-register your publication. {Not likely. Brad} Live long & Prosper Paul Carrington (Director) Vulcan Software Limited Vulcan House, 72 Queens Road, Buckland, Portsmouth, Hants PO27NA U.K. {For those who may not have seen this, here are some quotes from Vulcan's web site. Brad} 30th January 1999 Vulcans Transition Complete Since January 1998, Vulcan Software has been implementing a 'massive overhaul' and refinement of its operating procedures. The beginning of 1999 sees Vulcan abandon it's previous role as a publishing company (after 5 years) and become a fully fledged commercial development company, exclusively for the PC CDRom platform. Paul Carrington states, The transition was hard but also very exciting, only now can I start to see the rewards of everyone's efforts in making this change a reality. We are all aware of the overwhelming development competition that exists in this market and we are keen to raise the technology stakes with our innovative approach and quash competition with every release." Live Long & Prosper! Paul Carrington BA(Hons) Director Vulcan Software Limited ---------------------------------------------------------------------- K I C K S T A R T S H O W I N U . K . : U P D A T E 11 Feb 99 Just a short while before the Kickstart User Group opens the doors on the 1999 Kickstart Show, and what a fantastic show it's going to be! In case you missed the details, here?s where to find the Kickstart Show 99: The Place: Brook Hall, Brox Road, Ottershaw in Surrey The Date: Saturday February 27th 1999 The Time: 1pm-5pm Admission fee: Just £1 Parking: 2 car parks with space for over 200 cars The best place to buy for your Amiga Already the sale floor has nearly 30 exhibitors signed-up, selling a range of new and second-user Amiga hardware, software and consumables at rock-bottom prices. So if you want game, serious software, upgrades for any Amiga model, monitors, CD drives, hard drives, whole systems or just a ribbon for your printer - the Kickstart Show has everything you could possibly need. Win a brand new A1200 & Magic Pack - JUST FOR TURNING UP! Yes that?s right, every show-goer will be automatically entered into a Grand Prize Draw to win a fantastic Amiga A1200 & Magic Pack, worth over £200. This great prize, along with other runner-up prizes have been provided by the Kickstart Show?s generous sponsor for 1999 - Amiga International. Kickstart would like to thank Petro Tyschtschenko of Amiga Int. who has kindly donated the A1200 Magic Pack along with an assortment of Amiga gear, all of which will be given away to show goers throughout the day. What's on at the show The second Kickstart Show will be bursting with even more Amiga activities than last year, showing both Amiga owners and their friends exactly what Amiga can REALLY do: We've already mentioned the Grand Prize Draw and the sales area, but that's just a small part of this exciting day out. Games competitions will throughout the day: A multiplayer Doom tournament (with as many as five simultaneous players in each game), Quake death matches running on the latest Phase5 PowerPC-based hardware, A Sensible Soccer tournament and a Skidmarks contest (with as many as eight simultaneous players in each game). Each games contest will be offering prizes for the winner and runner-up, courtesy of Amiga International and ANALOGIC LTD Demonstrations of Amiga applications: Kickstart members will be on hand to demonstrate various applications, such as Mac emulation under Fusion, PC Emulation under PCX and Amiga emulation using Amiga Forever. Also on show will be new hardware innovations including the AteoBus busboard, Pixel64 graphics card & Ateo I/O card, A1200 and A4000 PowerPC accelerators and applications, the new I/O Blix serial card, the Power Flyer, the Catweasel and various A1200, A4000 & A600 tower & portable conversions. Advice from people who know: The Kickstart membership stand will also be on hand to answer questions and handle membership enquiries from show-goers. The Kickstart User Group boasts some of the most creative minds in the UK Amiga community, with some of the foremost experts in hardware projects, DTP, Graphics & Animation, Mac emulation, Comms, PowerPC software and AmigaOS to name but a few topics. Refreshments: We know that all this Amiga action can be thirsty work, which is why a fully stocked refreshments area will be on hand to handle your edible cravings! Magazine launch: Officially launched at the Kickstart Show will be the first issue of the monthly Kickstart magazine Amiga Insight. This magazine, produced totally by club members on Amiga hardware, will have a monthly mix of news, product reviews, tutorials and informed debate about the latest Amiga topics. The magazine is available to all Amiga users, nit just Kickstart members. For show enquiries and stand bookings, please contact Ray McCarthy (Show Promoter) on ray@tadworth.demon.co.uk or call (01737) 215432. --------------------- Directions: Directions to Brook Hall: From the M25, J11 take the Woking exit, at the next roundabout take the first left onto the A320 to Woking, at the next roundabout take a left again into Murray Rd, about 20yds on the left is a car park, park here and Brook Hall is straight in front of you, on the corner of Murray Rd and Brox Rd. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- R E N D E R F A R M W I L L B E S O L D 18 Feb 1999 Tsunami Graphics Selling A2000 Render Farm at Amiga99 Attention Amiga Fans, Tsunami Graphics is Selling the Farm at Amiga 99. No, we're not getting rid of the old homestead; we're selling our former A2000 rendering farm! Yes, all our Amiga 2000s, SCSI controllers and RAM expansion cards. Assorted other hardware and software, too! Don't miss this chance to acquire a "Classic Amiga 2000" and or that piece of expansion gear you need. All in good shape, all needing a good home. All A2000s are stock machines with 30-day replacement or repair warranty. Prices vary, depending on ROM revision. All systems are revision 6.x motherboards with 1MB Agnus. See us at the Gateway Computer Show - Amiga 99, March 12 - 14, Henry VIII hotel, St. Louis, MO. Rodney Schulze Tsunami Graphics Amiga 99 Exhibitor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- E N T E R P R I S E S W F R O M C L A S S Y D E S I G N S 18 Feb 1999 Classy Designs is set to delelop Enterprise level software for the Amiga. The first product 'Net Message Enterprise' is currently being developed. More details can be found at the corporate home page John Stock, President, Classy Designs http://www.classy-designs.com jstock@classy-designs.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- C L I C K B O O M P O R T A L O P E N S FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Toronto, February 11, 1999: clickBOOM proudly introduces "The clickBOOM Amiga Portal" The Portal is a new way for clickBOOM users to access online information, be it their record at clickBOOM, or Amiga-related content -- it's a dynamic online database allowing for much closer interaction with the Web. "clickBOOM and clickboom.com are undisputedly at the top of the Amiga games market.", says Sofia Tsiotsikas, PR at clickBOOM. "It is our intention to use this leverage and extensive web-creation knowledge to provide Amiga users with the next-generation web experience -- The Portal. Our target is now beyond the games scope, and we are confident The Portal will provide all Amiga users, not just players, a great service. We strive to push technology forward, hence The Portal -- the first and only on Amiga." Although this is clickBOOM's first step into a non-gaming area, The Portal is created with the same high-quality standard you'd expect to receive from clickBOOM. The Portal consists of the following sections: 1. AUCTIONS 2. NEWS CENTER 3. COMMUNICATION CENTER 4. STATUS INFORMATION 5. PREFERENCES AUCTIONS The Portal's main attraction is the fully automatic real-time online Auction section. This is where all the action is -- you can bid on or sell Amiga-related items at the one and only place of its kind on Amiga. Finally there is a place for Amiga users to be able to trade their hardware in a simple and absolutely private manner. 1. The Portal is the place where you will find the best Amiga deals, guaranteed. 2. If you have an Amiga-related item to sell, The Portal is the place - hold an auction and have other Amiga users bid on it. It's fully automatic - create a new auction in less than 5 minutes, and don't worry about it until you make a sale at the highest offered price. Full details on how Auctions function, are available at The Portal. NEWS CENTER News Center takes a whole new step at addressing Amiga news flow on the Internet. We guarantee you that The News Center is the simplest, most comprehensive, one of a kind, customizable Amiga news section on the Internet! Instead of creating another news-reporting site clickBOOM worked with leading Amiga news sites behind the scenes to create a single place on the Net from which you will start your news search. The idea behind the News Center is very simple - every time one of the 50 Amiga news sites currently supported gets updated, their news will appear at the News Center! The news section is unbiased, because the actual site owners update their section at The Portal! Moreover, you can customize which news sites you want to have top priority. Never again will you have to spend time searching sites, only to find they haven't been updated. Just come to The Portal and you will immediately see the latest headlines of ALL the sites, then with just one click go to the actual site and read the news. Moreover, the Portal will remember which sites you prefer and have them waiting at the top of the section at your next visit! We would also like to take this opportunity to invite all Amiga news sites not currently featured at The Portal, to contact us. COMMUNICATION CENTER The Communication Center allows registered clickBOOM users to communicate with clickBOOM in a more direct approach and receive more efficient responses to their questions. Through a simple web interface you can leave a message for clickBOOM and your message will get the highest priority, because it will not go to the same pool of email letters that non-registered users got to. Then simply check back at any time for a response. STATUS INFORMATION clickBOOM registered users can also access their status information online. The Portal recognizes when you are visiting, so it prepares dynamic content that's tailored for you only. This makes the Portal better and friendlier than a regular web site. Get information such as how many BOOM$ you have; which games you have registered; what is the status of your last order, etc. PREFERENCES The Preferences section allows one to easily update his personal information such as change of email or mailing address. It also allows for customization of the Portal, such as which News sites you prefer to always see at the front. The Portal is located at clickboom.com/portal The Portal is not finished, nor will it ever be, it's a constantly evolving flux, just like the Web itself. So, be prepared for even more content very soon, as we get the engine running. Best Regards, clickBOOM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I B M W I L L O F F E R L I N U X 18 Feb 1999 {The following quote is from a Reuters article published mid-month and dealing with IBM's decision to offer Linux on some of its computers. Brad} "International Business Machines Corp., the world's largest technology company, and Linux distributor Red Hat Software Inc. said Thursday {18th} that IBM will begin selling computers with the Linux operating system. Linux is a free version of the Unix operating system for network computers that runs on Intel Corp.-based chips. IBM's decision to offer Linux will be closely watched by Microsoft Corp., which has cited Linux as one of its potential competitive threats." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- X - A R C 1 . 3 A V A I L A B L E VaporWare Announces X-Arc 1.3 Now Available X-Arc is an archive management program for the Amiga, designed in a similar fashion to WinZip(r) on Windows(r) systems and Stuff-It(r) for MacOS(r). X-Arc is somewhat different from previously released archive management tools: those programs provided no more than a graphical interface on top of existing archiver commands, often in a incomplete and inflexible way. X-Arc offers the user an extremely intuitive interface for the more often performed operations, whilst complimenting this with a range of advanced options suitable for the expert user. X-Arc provides the user with a brand new and sophisticated way to add files to an archive, mixing speed and power never seen in any similar program on any operating system. X-Arc is based on a modular concept, allowing any third party to develop modules to handle new archive formats without having to alter the main program. X-Arc offers the ability to perform many operations, using drag&drop, from within the main program or with standard Workbench icons (ie. drag files from your Workbench screen to X-Arc's lister window). X-Arc also supports drag&drop with Scalos based lister windows. X-Arc is supplied with an advanced file recognition engine, based on both filename and content matching, allowing the user to display any file using a suitable external viewer. X-Arc's interface is highly configurable and customisable. X-Arc allows the user to install software from within the archives, in a matter of seconds, with its installer support. Where to download it: FTP: ftp.vapor.com, pub/xarc/ ftp.us.vapor.com, pub/xarc/ ftp.au.vapor.com, pub/xarc/ ftp.pl.vapor.com, pub/vapor/xarc/ AmiNet, util/arc X-Arc.lha, 598500 Bytes (Note that ftp.us.vapor.com has generally the best connectivity of the listed mirror sites) WWW: http://www.vapor.com/ http://vapor.ukonline.co.uk/ (File mirror only) http://www.meanmachine.ch/vapor/ (File mirror only) http://www.AmyResource.it/X-Arc/ New features since X-Arc last release (1.2) include: o Installer support: you can now install software from within X-Arc, without the needs to extract the archive, by just press the install button o Several major and minor bugfixes o Speed improvement o Some GUI redesign o Some new small functions and optimized old ones o Some new settings in the preferences o Other minor ones improvements New features since X-Arc release 1.1 include: o 4 months spent to rewrite almost all program's basic routines o Several bugs fixed, some of which where severe ones o Fixed some illegal memory accesses o Loading and parsing routines totally rewritten o All secondary routine has been adapted to the new internal program design o You can now update the contents of a directory of loaded archive without having to reload the whole archive o If you perform an operation within one branch of the archive (e.g. adding a file), only this branch is updated. The whole archive is not reloaded again o New routines can handle flawlessly even archives version 1.1 had problem to manage o Version 1.2 is 1.5 times faster than the previous version, which is a good result since new routines are more sophisticated and reliable o Scalos support for drag&drop o A file-attributes column added o Other minor ones ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E T A X 1 2 0 0 F R O M H & P Ethernet Card The Netax1200 is the best solution for Amiga 1200/600 owners to network their computers in a smart and cheap way. The card plugs in the PCMCIA slot and gives a fast, powerful and reliable Ethernet connection, in a 100% compatible way with other platforms. The Netax1200 is a fast PCMCIA "credit card" who comes with a detailed printed manual, a pass-trough "T" connector for BNC cables and a disk including the Netax software for Amiga Systems. The software features a standard system device (netax.device), that makes the card compatible with almost every Amiga networking software, including Genesis, NetConnect, AmiTCP, Miami and MiamiDeLuxe. The device fully complies to SANA-II specifics, so also other software like Envoy run flawlessly and with no bottlenecks. The Netax1200 also features a full combo connector for both standard UTP and BNC cabled networks, and can also be plugged while your computer is on with no risk for the computer or the peripherals. By providing a full Ethernet connection, the Netax1200 can be used to network the Amiga with almost every other computer as PCs, MACs, UNIX like systems and so on. The card consumes no CPU time, leaving your processor free for other applications, unlike other networking devices do, and assures you unthinkable speeds also on the plain 68000 mounted on the Amiga 600. We recommend anyway at least a 68030 processor to get the best out of your Netax1200 and reach higher speed rates. Our tests indicate that in FTP mode, the Netax1200 provides speeds not lower than 500kb/sec. with peaks of 600kb/sec on a simple 030. With a 060 processor the speed goes over 800kb/sec, making the Netax1200 one of the fastest card available for any Amiga model. Technical Details: o Credit card PCMCIA type II o 10 MBit Ethernet o Combo transceiver with UTP/BNC connectors o Network and Transfer leds Price: 198 DM (120 US$) © 1999 HAAGE & PARTNER Computer - http://www.haage-partner.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- S T A R G A T E F O R Y O U R E - M A I L Toysoft Development Announces Availability of StarGate 1.0 Feb 10, 1999 Toysoft Development Inc. is pleased to announce the commercial release of StarGate 1.0 for the Amiga computers. StarGate (SG) is a new premier e-mail client using POP3 and SMTP protocols. SG is highly configurable, very easy to use, 256 color icons, multiple mailboxes and unlimited folders. StarGate supports multiple e-mail accounts and accounts can be turned off at anytime. Messages can be preview in all mailboxes and folders. A Mail Peek feature lets you look at your mail server before doing the actual message download. This will give you a visual filtering system for spam mail. An extensive address book lets you maintain user profile with multiple e-mail account. StarGate also supports a unique graphical forms with sounds, detailed error handling, file attachment is easy as drag and drop, helper for MIME messages, customized column views in all mailboxes and folders and many more features. Come experience the coming of StarGate at http://www.toysoft-dev.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A M O Z I L L A R E S P O N D S T O A C C U S A T I O N S FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 12th Febuary 1999 On Monday {8TH}, NewTekniques magazine published the URL of an Amiga Web column that was attacking the new aMozilla project. AMozilla has provided NewTekniques magazine with an official response to the column attacking its project: ------ This letter is in response to the negative article written about aMozilla by the AmiBench website. I can fully understand Mark's concern about something harming the Amiga market and software developers. The aMozilla project ( http://www.amigauni.u-net.com/aMozilla/ ) will not harm the Amiga software market it will make it grow. Netscape Communicator is already available for over 14 different computer platforms. The fact that it has not be on the Amiga all this time makes the Amiga market look very limited. Netscape Navigator is the spark that ignited the entire Internet software market. If the Amiga wants to grow and expand even more it must have the successful brands that computer customers expect. Unique powerful Amiga applications can still be developed but mainstream well known applications like Netscape Communicator must be ported to the Amiga as well. I respect the hard work that Amiga web browser programmers have done. Applications like IBrowse ( http://www.omnipresence.com/ibrowse/ ) and Voyager NG ( http://www.vapor.com/ ) have helped Amiga users browse the Web for years. The fact remains though that Amiga web browsers have not kept up with the fast paced Internet development cycle like Netscape Communicator has. IBrowse 2.0 has been promised for over 2 years but only minor updates have been released. Voyager NG updates have been more regular but still lack the rich feature set of Netscape Communicator. The Amiga developer community is full of talented programmers with new innovative ideas. They can't take credit for the Internet browser though. It would have been great if the concept and idea of a web browser came from the Amiga, but this is not the case. The employees of Netscape Communications created Mosiac then Netscape Navigator (see "Speeding the Net" a new book about Netscape). Amiga programmers looked at the source code to Mosaic and begin creating Amiga web browsers, they did not originate this software idea. Netscape's Navigator browser so changed the way we use computers in our day to day lives that even the company that has a monopoly on computer software has radically changed their entire business model. Mozilla is that one true killer app that the Amiga must have. If Amiga browser developers want to continue to sell their programs they must add value and enhanced their products with more features and power to make customers want to buy them. Maybe having the Netscape free browser available on Amiga will force IBrowse and Voyager to develop further. Competition is always good in the software market and helps the customer. The programmers of IBrowse and Voyager are still free to innovate. Maybe the next great idea in web browser software will come from them. They know what they are up against after all, the source code to Netscape Communicator is publicly available. When Doom, Decent, Hexen and Heretic were released on the Amiga for free it did not destroy commercial Amiga games sales. In fact the publicly of these games help commercial games like Amiga Quake sell even more. Ben Rothwell should be commended for his efforts in organizing and starting the aMozilla project. He has put many hours into it with no pay because he knows the importance of the Amiga getting the most popular software program of all time. Just the media attention alone is worth its weight in gold for the Amiga. Even though aMozilla is not yet available it has helped the Amiga get more coverage in the general computer press. This is due to Ben's dream of Netscape Communicator on the Amiga and the hard work of the aMozilla team. It's OK to champion the cause of cool Amiga only applications but lets not forget the importance of mainstream popular software. Netscape Communicator is not a PC-only application, it is a widely respected program for all computers. It is coming to the Amiga at last. Best Regards, Bill Panagouleas Assistant Co-ordinator aMozilla Publicity WG ---------------------------------------------------------------------- F R E E A M I G A A N D A M O Z I L L A X aMozillaX aMozillaX is a brand new Amiga Web Browser, that will be based on Netscape technology. This decision was made because certain limitations of the Amiga OS existed that meant that any port of Mozilla to the Amiga would be very difficult to achieve, without hacking basic OS functions, which would of course, reduced the stability of the project. With aMozillaX, we eliminate those problems, by building a new Amiga specific base, Front End, Networking and Image Libraries. However, the NGLayout layout code will be used, in order to keep page layout the same as Netscape, and also to provide high end HTML functions. The change to aMozillaX will be a positive move for aMozilla, and you shouldnt worry that Netscape compatibility will be reduced, it wont be, this move will only increase speed and efficiency. In fact we have confirmed that aMozillaX will come with Real Audio and Shockwave support. Obviously, a major decision like this has put back the release date of aMozilla slightly, but we do expect that the 1st Generation will be available towards the end of May. ---- {Following is the introduction to the Free Amiga web site, which now hosts the aMozilla - renamed aMozillaX - project. http://www.amozilla.force9.co.uk/ Brad} It has long been a belief of mine that Open Source projects could prove to be a salvation to the Amiga, that if a properly organised structure existed to port these projects, then the Amiga would benefit from some of the great project. The problem is, that most of these projects are too much for one man, and to be able to fully do them justice a working structure needs to be founded. On man shouldnt, and probably couldnt organise the website, publicity, and do the coding himself. With aMozilla, I tried to establish a working structure that would utilise different people's different talents to contribute to the project. I believe that the success of aMozilla is proving that other Open Source projects could, too, be run in this fashion. It is with this in mind that we establish The Free Amiga Project. This project should magnify the talents of the various members of the community, and enable us to port some of the best applications available. aMozilla worked with one Coding WG - Free Amiga will have many different Coding WG's, all working on different projects, and the publicity, the running of the websites, the eZine, will all be done globally. Anyone is free to donate their talents to the project, and suggest ideas for programs to be ported. This is a community effort. With immediate effect, aMozilla integrates with the Free Amiga structure. Instead of an individual person, for example, porting Heretic, we would like you to donate your talents to Free Amiga, where you will be able to work with other programmers, and will be able to benefit from the resources that we can provide. We need anyone who can donate time to the project to email us and tell us what you can do. It can be anything, it can be programming, it can be writing HTML, it can be writing articles for the eZine, whatever, every bit of help will be appreciated. We also need people to give us ideas to what programs you would like to see ported, and we wil work to set up working groups on those projects. We so far have aMozilla (in progress), GIMP, GLDoom, and Free Builder listed. Work will begin on these projects as soon as we get donations of help. If you currently working on a port of a program youself, why not contact us and we will welcome you into Free Amiga, where you will benefit greatly from the help of others, which will lead to programs becoming better, and more quickly, which obviously will help the Amiga. Ben Rothwell, Project Manager ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W T C P / I P S T A C H A N N O U N C E D 12 Feb 1999 Active Technologies Announce Genesis, A New TCP/IP Stack for the Amiga Genesis is a state-of-the-art TCP/IP stack for the Amiga computer. Combining ease of use with advanced features, Genesis offers built in dialup Internet connectivity and/or local area networking. Genesis requires Magic User Interface (v3.8+) in order to operate. Further information can be obtained from http://www.vapor.com/ or http://www.active-net.co.uk. A demo is also available and you can register online via the Vapor automatic registration form. Feature list includes: o Easy to setup. The software is fully configurable via a custom interface, no need to edit text files. Offers simplicity, enabling a beginner to be able to setup their stack within minutes, yet keeping the advanced features needed for the professional user. o Compatibility. Genesis is fully compatible with existing Amiga Internet software. Based on the recognised and established AmiTCP Professional kernel (v4.6), Genesis offers the highest possible compatibility with other net products, no need for AmiTCP emulation. o Built-in support. Genesis ships with modules for PPP, (C)SLIP and support for other variations such as SANA-II etc. Supports Internet access by modem, external ISDN TA, internal ISDN boards, ethernet (such as Ariadne or Hydra), serial cards (Hypercom, IOBlix, GVP-IO etc) and other local networks (parnet, null modem etc). o Advanced PPP implementation: (MS)CHAP, PAP, Callback (WinNT compatible), VJ compression, protocol field compression, MTU negotiation, magic number negotiation, async map negotiation, MSDNS1/2 IP address negotiation, WINS1/2 IP address negotiation, Compression Control Protocol (modules include - BSD compress, deflate and MPPC). Also,PPP events control allows you to create scripts to perform actions when PPP has been put on or offline. o Dial control. Teach-me dialer, multiple phone numbers, configurable dial script. o Comprehensive security. Secure kernel to prevent illegal attacks over the Internet: SYN flooding, IP fragment attacks, IP address spoofing, land and fist attacks. o Enhanced SANA-II. Powerful and improved SANA-II support allows the fastest transfer rates across an ethernet network. o Connection Wizard. Step by step Wizard interface to connect a user to the Internet. Enter basic information, Wizard obtains the IP and DNS information automatically and records your loginscript. o Arexx interface and improved API - allows external software to check status of interfaces, logged in user, active user and much more. o Socks. Socks v4/5 client supplied as standard. Socks server avaialble, free of charge, as a downloadable option. o Multiple interface support. This allows you to connect and disconnect more than one interface at one time. For instance, create two ethernet links between an Amiga and Linux machine and another between your Amiga and PC and then still connect and disconnect from your Internet (dialup) connection, without the other interfaces being affected. You can even launch Genesis on bootup so that a local area network is put online automatically when you start your Amiga. This is essential for a Siamese system, for example. You can then use Genesis for modem dialup or route your dialup connection via the remote computer. Multiple interface support is easy to setup and the interfaces are listed within the main status window (shown here). Allows routing between interfaces. o Multiple-user support. Full support and API for multiple-users. Create more than one user and then log-on via the main status window (users can be password protected to prevent unauthorised access). The multi-user API is currently supported by a range of Amiga Internet software including Microdot-II, Contact Manager and soon YAM (from r7), with more in the future. o Multiple providers. Add multiple providers or provider configurations with ease, then select these providers by point and click, from the main status window. You might be testing two providers with a 30-day trial? Setup both providers and flick between them. o Access control. Parents have full time/access control over each user. The system manager can setup time limitations (for example a user could be prevented from connecting during the working hours 09:00-18:00). Genesis will double-check the current time on connection, so that the user cannot temporarily alter the system clock to fool software into thinking it is a weekend, for instance. o Advanced time/cost logger. Shows each user access (or overall access), time and date and the cost of this access. Genesis shows statistical information to help you monitor Internet costs and time usage. For further information: Active Technologies 113 Victoria Road Darlington County Durham England, DL1 5JH. Tel : +44 (0)1325 460116 Fax : +44 (0)1325 460117 http://www.active-net.co.uk e-mail : sales@active-net.co.uk ---------------------------------------------------------------------- W A T E R V A P O U R B R O W S E R 18th February 1999 {Taken from the official website, http://www.scifi1.demon.co.uk/wv.html Brad} Water Vapour "Macho does not prove mucho" -Zsa Zsa Gabor {I left that in 'cause it's a great quote! Brad} 1. Introduction Water Vapour is a new WWW browser for AmigaOS. The Amiga needs a modern browser, one with HTML 4.0 support, JavaScript, and the features that users on other platforms have come to take for granted. Water Vapour is being written from the ground up, it is not a port from UNIX, nor is it based on someone elses code. Being written in object orientated C++, and compilation will probably be done on the GNU g++ compiler. Water Vapour's source code will be made available as coding continues, and as new versions of objects and files are completed. The first source code files should be up in about two or three weeks. 2. News o 18th February The first source code file has been uploaded today. It is the header file for the linked list classes, where is the lexer code? You may be wondering... well, the lexer needs list.h and list.cxx (nearly done) as its final components. So this had to be done first. o 17th February Water Vapour is listed on both Altavista and the Looksmart search engines. o 14th February Water Vapour today passed the 1500 lines of code mark!!! Yes, the lexer is 1538 lines of C++ long and about 75% complete. o 13th February Continued on the HTML 4.0 lexical analyser, it is neatly packaged together as a C++ class, it is 400 lines long already and recognises every HTML 4.0 element. Attributes are next, followed by entities. 3. Features o Full HTML 4.0 support o JavaScript 1.3 o Usual AmigaOS things (ARexx, AmigaGuide, etc..) o Object orientated o A standard for plug-ins 4. The Competition There are three Amiga browsers in main use at the moment (in no particular order): AWeb iBrowse Voyager IProbe aMozilla 5. FAQ Will Water Vapour support JAVA? I'm not sure yet. There is currently no complete official implementation of JAVA on the Amiga. I haven't heard much from Haage & Partner in a while about MERAPI, an alternative is Kaffe, but I'd have to take a close look at it. However, JAVA is not JavaScript, and Water Vapour will support JavaScript 1.3. What about RealAudio, Shockwave, etc..? Again, there is no official port and I am unsure of the legal status if a port was made available. However, I do plan on making a standard for plugins, so someone else will be able to write if they so wish. Is Water Vapour open source? No. The main reason for uploading the source as I go is to prove that Water Vapour really exists. If anyone else wishes to use the code, then they are free to do so. Cool... when will it be finished? I'm not sure. Perhaps the late summer. Why are you bothering? You can't beat aMozilla We'll see. I'm not convinced aMozilla will be as good as the hype suggests, even if it is, there is still room for more than one browser. 6. Progress First on the list will be to write a lexical analyser for HTML 4.0, hopefully that should be ready and debugged around two to three weeks, I'll upload the source code. I'm already starting to think about the GUI, programming a GUI is very long winded and will probably take longer than the program! I was considering the idea of an object orientated wrapper for parts of Intuition, the idea of setting a few variables and calling mywindow.open() is very appealing and will speed up development in the long run. Perhaps there is already such a wrapper out there, or perhaps I'll write my own. 7. Source code Archive Filename Size Date Description list.h 6kb 18/02/99 23:32 The header file for the linked list classes and related data structures 8. Contact me You can email me at andrew.markwell@hotmail.com, with any suggestions, comments about Water Vapour, this website (sorry it's very simplistic for now), or anything else. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- N E W S I D E W I N D E R C D February 3,1999 Announcing the Sidewinder CD '2BADSHEEP official release. This AMIGA made electronica album '2BADSHEEP is 19 tracks full of euro-cutting synth based music, from space age new wave 80's to mystical, low tech wild technoswingin' BASS Original mind blowing future sound. 19 tracks 62 minutes 100% Amiga 2 SHEEP CD MP3 AND INFO http://www.txdirect.net/~sidewind/ '2BADSHEEP Eric Gieseke sidewind@txdirect.net tel. 512.452.4620 JUST LOOK FOR THE 2 BAD SHEEP ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I S E N G A R D N O T G O N E A F T E R A L L 16 Feb 1999 Hallelujah! (for Amiga users) We have finally built a working development system using UAE, so all of you who were despairing that Eucalyptus and Blacks Editor were gone, fear not! Development continues. So keep your suggestions (and bug reports?) coming. Paul Schifferer Isengard Developments ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Amiga Update on the net: All back issues available at: http://www.globaldialog.com/AdventureCentral/AU/index.html Stop by and check out our archive! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1999 by Brad Webb. Freely distributable, if not modified. ====================================================================== _ __ _ <>_ __ _ A M I G A /\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\ A M I G A U P D A T E /__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\ U P D A T E / \\_ | \/ ||_ _||_ \__// / \\_ amigaupdate@globaldialog.com ======================================================================