Totalamiga-15.pdf
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Pobierz
Summer 2003
Issue 15
£4.00
8.00Euro
Contents
News
Editorial
Exploring the Zone
It’s been a while since we’ve
seen any new fractal generation
software. In reports from recent
Amiga shows you may have
noticed a stand covered with
stunning fractal images. This
stand belongs to Elena Novaretti
and the fractals are produced
using her own custom software.
The great news is that Elena has
just released her fractal
generator to the public as Zone
Explorer. If you know what you
are doing you can create your
own formulae as external
modules in C or assembler.
However for those of us without
the necessary mathematical
knowledge a large number of
examples are supplied and you
can easily tweak parameters to
get different effects. The quality
of the rendered fractal images is
fantastic because Zone Explorer
has true 24bit colour handling;
gradients are smooth, without
stepping.
Here are some other key
features:
• Easy to use interface – explore
any formula with a few clicks.
• Switch between Julia,
Mandelbrot and “Generalised”
Mandelbrot mapping for the
same formula.
• Multitasking – open multiple
windows and alter parameters
while images are being
calculated.
• Optional antialiasing – for even
higher quality output and more
apparent detail.
• Independent render to create
high resolution output (useful
for prints etc.)
Issue 15
Summer 2003
W
elcome to another issue
Andrew and Richard have been
able to give us lots of tips on
enhancing the magazine and
have cast their eyes over some
of the copy. We hope you’ll
notice some changes for the
better in this issue, and there are
more to come in the future.
I should also mention that
equally important to Total Amiga
are contributions from readers. In
this issue Jonathan Haddock has
submitted a review of his
Subway USB card, and I know
he has several more reviews up
his sleeve for issue 16. So if you
too have something you would
like to share with other readers
please get in touch with me.
If you’ve read the last few issues
of Total Amiga or keep up with
the news web sites you will have
heard a great deal about
MorphOS and the Pegasos PPC
computer. Until now, apart from a
brief look at WoASE last year,
none of the Total Amiga team
had actually used a Pegasos in
anger. Now SEAL member and
Total Amiga contributor Sam
Byford has taken the plunge, and
you can read his detailed review
on page 22.
After a few fairly quiet months
the wraps seem to be coming off
AmigaOS 4. While it has not
been released yet, we at least
know Workbench and legacy
applications are running on the
new kernel. Some new screen-
shots have been released giving
an idea of the look if the new
GUI (although it’s still work in
progress) and showing the anti-
aliased font display. John
Chandler has written a round up
of the latest news on page 10,
and you can see some of the
screen-shots in colour on the
back cover.
If you bought Hollywood after our
review in the last issue or are
just interested in this powerful
multimedia application be sure to
have a go at my tutorial on page
46. I designed it to get you
started with a simple
presentation (which you can
customise with your own
graphics and text) and as a
launch pad for more complex
multimedia applications.
For this issue we have a
particularly large number of
supporting files on the web site.
There are additional links for the
Mac emulation feature, links for
the MorphOS review and the
files needed for the Hollywood
tutorial. Also for the Hollywood
tutorial we have a compiled
executable of the presentation
you can download and play even
if you don’t own Hollywood
yourself. All that and more is on
the issue 15 page at:
http://www.totalamiga.org
/issue15.html
Well that’s all I have space for.
Enjoy the magazine, and I look
forward to hearing your
comments and suggestions.
Robert Williams
editor@totalamiga.org
of Total Amiga. I can’t
help but start by saying that, I
think this is one of the best
issues we have ever produced
both in content and quality. You’ll
find the reasons why I feel this
way below. I usually wonder
what I’m going to say in the
editorial but this time I’m
struggling to know where to
begin, there’s so much good
stuff in the magazine.
The best place to start has to be
introducing you to our three new
writers (I expect all of them will
be familiar to you). First we have
John Chandler who wrote for
Amiga Active and more recently
has published a regular Amiga
column on suite101.com.
Richard Drummond who worked
for both CU Amiga and Amiga
Format and now contributes to
Linux Format and other
publications. Last but by no
means least we have Andrew
Korn, who worked on CU Amiga
and was editor of Amiga Active.
There are many reasons why it’s
great to have these professional
writers on board, and it’s not just
that each one of them has
written a fine piece for this issue.
Firstly, with their broader
knowledge of the computing
world, both Andrew and John
have been able to comment on
where Amiga fits in and what
opportunities present themselves
- a topic we’ve not really been
able to cover before. Another
important benefit is that John,
Contents
News
Editorial ..............................2
News Items ........................3
Fleecy Moss Column .........8
Buzz Word..........................8
Alan Redhouse Column.....9
AmigaOS 4 Update ......... 10
AmiZilla
Want to help bring Mozilla, the
well-known open-source web
browser suite, to the Amiga?
Well now you can contribute to a
new effort to get the browser
ported. Bill Panagouleas of
DiscreetFX has started the
AmiZilla effort which aims to
collect a prize fund that will be
donated to the first programmer
or team to demonstrate a
working Mozilla port. Bill started
the fund with 2000 US Dollars
and has asked users and
organisations to make donations
as an encouragement to those
considering a port. Some simple
rules have been published which
include that the ported browser
must work on AmigaOS 3.x,
AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS. The
winning team just has to port the
browser portion of the Mozilla
suite to get the prize; the effort
doesn’t cover the EMail program
or other parts of the suite.
Mozilla is a suite of Internet
tools, its main component being
a fully-featured browser, which
was initially based on the source
code released by Netscape in
1998. Mozilla is an open-source
effort contributed to by a large
number of programmers. The
suite has been ported to
numerous operating systems
including Windows, MacOS X
and Linux. From an Amiga user’s
point of view it has the
advantage of support for more
modern standards such as
Cascading Style Sheets and
DHTML. Although Mozilla lags
behind Internet Explorer in user
base, it is still a popular browser
and many sites are tested with it
to ensure correct operation. For
more information on Mozilla itself
visit http://www.mozilla.org.
At the time of writing (mid-June)
the total fund had risen to over
4000 USD with donations from a
number of Amiga companies,
user groups and individual users.
You can donate to the prize fund
on the AmiZilla web site using
PayPal, and there is a mailing
list for potential developers to
discuss ideas and form a team.
For further details go to:
http://www.discreetfx.com/
AmiZilla.html
Features
Selling the New Amiga.... 12
“it’s not about the desktop!”
........................................ 14
Introduction to AROS...... 16
Mac: Reloaded................ 18
Quake II Competition ...... 21
Tales of Tamar Update .... 42
Reviews
Pegasos and MorphOS .. 22
IBrowse 2.3 ..................... 28
fxPaint 2.0 ....................... 32
Aqua................................ 35
Subway USB................... 36
PD Paradise.................... 38
Support
Top Tips........................... 44
Hollywood Tutorial........... 46
Zone Explorer is supplied with
executables for classic 68K
Amigas and emulators such as
Amithlon and PPC native for
MorphOS. The program is
freeware and can be
downloaded from:
http://www.elena-fractals.it
Mailing Lists .................... 51
Next Issue ....................... 51
Colour Screeshots etc. ... 52
About Total Amiga
Legalese
Total Amiga is published quarterly
by South Essex Amiga Link. For
subscription details contact us at
the address below or our website.
Editor:
Robert Williams
Design:
Robert Williams
Contributors:
Sam Byford
Michael Carrillo
John Chandler
Richard Drummond
Jonathan Haddock
Andrew Korn
Fleecy Moss
Mick Sutton
Proofreading:
Sean Courtney
Mick Sutton
and the contributors
Contact Us
If you have any queries
suggestions or want to contact us
for any reason please use one of
the following:
EMail:
editor@totalamiga.org
WWW:
http://www.totalamiga.org/
Post:
Total Amiga,
26 Wincoat Drive,
BENFLEET,
Essex, SS7 5AH,
UK.
Telephone:
+44 (0) 1268 569937
(19:00 - 22:00
UK time only please)
Only Amiga Software
Made it Possible
Total Amiga is designed and laid
out using:
Hardware:
Home built x86 PC
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
nVidia gForce 2 MX400
256Mb RAM, 40Gb HDD.
Software:
Amithlon by Bernie Meyer et. al.
Amiga OS 3.9 by Amiga
PageStream 4.1 by Softlogik
TypeSmith 2.5 by Softlogik
ImageFX 4.5 by Nova Design
Photogenics 5 by Paul Nolan
Final Writer 5 by Softwood
Ghostscript 6.50 from Aladdin
Enterprises
There are also some essential
utilities we couldn’t live without:
Directory Opus 5, SGrab, MCP,
Turbo Print 7, MakeCD.
Our thanks to the creators of this
and all the other great Amiga
software out there.
Total Amiga is entirely created
using Amiga software, no other
platforms are used at any stage of
the design or layout process.
Fonts
The body text of Total Amiga is set
in Triumvirate Normal as supplied
with PageStream, the heading
typeface is Forgotten Futurist by
Ray Larabie. Take a look at Ray’s
huge range of freeware fonts at
http://www.larabiefonts.com and
his commercial foundry at
http://www.typodermic.com.
The views expressed in this
magazine are those of the author
of each piece, they do not
necessarily reflect the views of
the editor, other contributors or
SEAL.
Please Note: Total Amiga is
produced by the editor and
contributors in their spare time.
While we always strive to produce
the magazine on time and include
all the advertised contents this is
not always possible due to other
commitments. The price you pay
for Total Amiga covers our costs
and nothing more, we don’t make
a profit from it.
If you wish to contact a contributor
please send your message to one
of the addresses in this section
and we will pass it on.
Amiga is a registered trademark
and the Amiga logo, the “Boing
Ball” device, AmigaDOS, Amiga
Kickstart, Amiga Workbench,
Autoconfig, Bridgeboard, and
Powered by Amiga are
trademarks of AMIGA Inc.
All other trademarks mentioned
are the property of their
respective owners.
Advertisers
Amiga Inc. ....................... 20
AmigaWorld.net............... 15
Eyetech ............... 26 and 27
Fore-matt Home Computing
........................................ 43
Kicksoft ............... 31 and 41
Livewire ........................... 37
TOTAL
AMIGA
Summer 2003
2
3
News
News
Bytes...
Will Algor be a Winner?
OS4 in a
Here Comes a Spider
A new version of the Spider USB
PCI card has been released by
Elbox for use in their Mediator
PCI bus boards. The card is
similar to the original Spider in
that it has five USB ports (four
external and one internal) and
supports USB 1.1 and USB 2.0
including high-speed mode. USB
2.0 high-speed can transfer data
at a theoretical maximum of
480MB/s (megabits per second)
with a compatible device
compared to the 12MB/s of USB
1.1 full speed. The Spider II is
based on an updated NEC USB
chipset that is said to improve
data transmission by up to 20
percent. Most interestingly
though is the fact that Elbox
have added support for Amithlon
to their Spider hardware driver.
This means you can plug a
Spider II into your an x86 PC
and utilise the USB ports within
the Amithlon emulation –
bringing USB support to
Amithlon for the first time. The
PCI card can also be used under
other operating systems running
on the PCI but you will have to
locate suitable drivers yourself.
Expect a short review of the
Spider under Amithlon in the
next issue of Total Amiga.
The Spider II is available direct
from Elbox
(http://www.elbox.com) for 49.95
Euro plus shipping. Power
Computing is the UK distributor
for Elbox and they sell the Spider
II for £49.95, contact Power at:
http://www.powerc.com
+44 (0)1234 851 500
To use the card you also need to
purchase a keyfile for the
Poseidon USB stack (used by
the Elbox driver), this is available
on-line from IOSpirit
(http://www.iospirit.com) and
costs 19.99 Euro (£15 approx.)
Flash
Amiga
German hardware manufacturer
E3B has been hard at work
again to bring out yet another
new product. Lame jokes about
presidential hopefuls aside, the
Algor Zorro USB card builds on
the success of the Highway (the
first Zorro USB card, reviewed in
Total Amiga issue 13) with
enhanced performance and new
features.
Algor uses a new USB controller
chip that incorporates more of
the USB protocol in hardware
reducing the amount of work that
has to be done by the software
drivers. While the Algor is still a
USB 1.1 host (USB 2.0 devices
are supported but not in their
high-speed mode) it can
achieve significantly higher
transfer rates across the USB
bus than the Highway while the
drivers use less CPU time. For
example, in
benchmarks on an
A4000 with an 060
accelerator carried out
by E3B, a Lacie media
card reader achieved
491Kb per second on
the Highway and
926Kb/s on the Algor.
The card has three
USB ports that are mounted on
two back plates; the plate
containing a single USB port also
has a cut out for the Ethernet
connection of E3B’s Norway
10BaseT Ethernet card. The
Algor retains the expansion
connector of the Highway, hence
the Norway is compatible, but it
does not have a clock port.
The other new feature of the
Algor is 512Kb of Flash ROM;
this allows the storage of system
modules which are then
available during boot up. The
main use for this ROM is to
enable the Poseidon USB stack
and class drivers to be available
as soon as the computer is
switched on. This feature
enables the system to boot from
a USB mass storage device and,
with AmigaOS 3.9, USB mice
and keyboards to be used in the
early start-up menu. E3B and
Hyperion have also announced
that the Flash ROM on the Algor
and ROMulus will be supported
by AmigaOS 4 to speed boot-up
on classic Amiga systems with
PPC accelerators (see our
KickFlash OS4 news item for
more information). Highway
owners will be pleased to hear
that they don’t have to replace
their card to get the ROM
functionality. The ROMulus add
on we mentioned last issue is
now in production at E3B. If you
don’t require USB note that
Elbox and Individual computers
have also announced Flash
ROM cards for OS 4.
The Algor is available now and
costs 114.95 Euro (about £85).
Detailed specifications and other
information can be found on the
E3B web site:
http://www.e3b.de
The main distributor of E3B
products is KDH Datentechnik:
http://www.kdh-shop24.de
is the
Favourite
With the announcement of
several Flash ROM solutions in
recent weeks, Amiga users can
look forward to a return to quick-
booting Kickstarts. Since the
release of OS 3.5 we have
become used to one or more
reboots when starting our
machines, and although OS 4.0
has a new Kickstart it won’t be
supplied on ROM as standard.
Elbox, E3B and Individual
computers are all planning add-
ons with a Flash ROM to hold
Kickstart 4.0 when OS 4 is
installed on a classic Amiga with
a PowerPC accelerator.
The Individual Computers
product is a new Zorro card,
called the KickFlash OS4. It is
fitted with a minimum of 1Mb of
Flash ROM to hold the updated
Kickstart for OS 4. An image of
the new Kickstart will be loaded
from the ROM removing the
need for a reboot and
significantly reducing boot time.
The KickFlash OS4 is also
upgradble and can handle up to
1Gb of Flash ROM; potentially
allowing the entire operating
system to be located in ROM.
Elbox and E3B are also
producing cards with Flash
ROMs; we cover these in other
news items this issue.
KickFlash OS4 is expected to be
available in time for the OS 4
release and will cost 34.90 Euro
(about £25), for further details
visit Individual Computers at:
http://www.ami.ga
Elbox have also announced two
Flash ROM products that will
enable booting from USB
devices connected to a Spider
card and allow AmigaOS 4 to
boot more quickly on classic
Amigas with PPC accelerators
(see our KickFlash OS4 news
item for more information). The
eFlash 4000 is a Zorro III card
and the eFlash 1200 is for the
PCMCIA slot, both contain 1Mb
of FlashROM. The eFlash 4000
is expected to be available in
July at a price of 39.95 Euro and
the A1200 version is due in
August priced at 29.95 Euro.
MicroMart is the UK’s only
weekly computer trading
magazine. In recent months the
magazine has been carrying a
regular Amiga page,
AmigaMart, written by Sven
Harvey. Amiga Mart covers
happenings in the Amiga world
and has small reviews of
Amiga software – letting casual
readers and ex-Amigans know
that a comeback is planned.
In addition to AmigaMart the
magazine has been running a
competition to find reader’s
favourite home computer. Over
three months enthusiasts for
sixteen different home
computers tried to persuade
readers of the merits of their
particular model. Despite
classic computers such as the
Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC
and BBC Micro being in the
running the Amiga and
Spectrum emerged as the top
two in the final vote. The
Spectrum had a late rally but in
the end the Amiga won through
with 55 percent of the vote.
MicroMart is available from
most UK news agents for the
princely sum of £1.60. They
also have a lively web site at:
http://www.micromart.co.uk
Pegasos II:
GoldEd
Morphed
The Price is Right
A Highway with ROMulus (L shaped)
and Norway attached.
Genesi have announced the
pricing of the forthcoming
Pegasos II and the availability of
the the final batch of Pegasos I
motherboards through selected
retailers. The Pegasos II is
Genesi’s next-generation
PowerPC motherboard and, as
yet, few details of the final
specification are available.
However we do know it is based
on a Marvell north bridge chip
providing up to three gigabit
Ethernet ports and support for
DDR (double data rate) memory.
The Pegasos II will use the same
PowerPC CPU cards as the
Pegasos I; the image
accompanying this news item is
one of the first G4 Pegasos CPU
cards, that are currently being
produced at DCE.
A Pegasos II with a G3 CPU will
cost 299 Euro (that’s about
£220, note that all prices in this
item exclude VAT) and the entry
level G4 model will be 499 Euro
(£360). Pegasos I users can buy
a G4 CPU card for their existing
system or trade in their existing
board for a G4 based Pegasos
II, both options cost 200 Euro
(£145). Information on the speed
of the G4 processors chosen will
be available soon and Genesi
are expecting the Pegasos II
boards to be available in
September.
The UK Pegasos distributor is at:
http://www.pegasos-uk.com
For the latest news on MorphOS
and Pegasos visit:
http://www.morphos-news.de
Another Hollywood
Blockbuster
It’s been a while since the
announcement of Hollywood 1.5
that we reported in issue 14,
however by the time you read
this the new version of the
multimedia application layer
(reviewed in issue 13) should be
available. The reason for the
delay is that many additional
features have been added to the
upgrade. Due to the amount of
work AirsoftSoftwair are making
a charge for this upgrade.
Hollywood’s scripting language
is now much more powerful and
the program has many
more features and effects.
Some of the key additions
include:
• Multiple graphics layers.
• Off-screen rendering.
• Control of layer position,
size and transparency.
• Over 50 new transition
effects (making over 100 in
total).
• Image processing effects
including rotation, scaling, axis
flipping, texturing, lighten,
darken, and many more.
• Retargetable via AHI for all
sound effects and music.
• Dynamic window transparency.
• Joystick support.
In his MorphOS review on page
20 Sam Byford notes that the
operating system is not currently
supplied with a text editor.
Fortunately it doesn’t sound as if
this state of affairs will last for
long. Dietmar Eilert, the author
of Gold Ed, is currently working
on a native version of his editor
for MorphOS. The product is to
be known as MorphEd and it will
be available free as part of the
MorphOS software development
kit (SDK). The editor is aimed at
developers and will include a C
programming environment for
the GCC compiler. The full Gold
Ed Studio will remain available
as a commercial product for the
Amiga and Pegasos.
For additional screenshots and
further information go to the
MorphEd web site:
http://morphed.dietmar-eilert.de/
on graphics cards. The Malibu
plug-in costs 29 Dollars alone
and is also available as a bundle
with Hollywood 1.5 (full version
or upgrade).
A plug-in (code named
Pasedena) to allow Hollywood to
display Power Point files is also
in development. Given the
popularity of Microsoft’s
presentation program in
companies and institutions this
could be a god send for Amigans
who use their Amiga for
business or academic work.
All of these products can be
ordered direct from Airsoft-
Softwair on their web site at:
http://www.airsoftsoftwair.com
Freeview
A Scala demo loaded via Malibu.
from version 1.0 is available at
22 Dollars.
At the same time as the
Hollywood 1.5 release the first
plug-in for the program is also
available. Malibu allows the
import of Scala presentations
into Hollywood. Unless you’ve
joined the Amiga scene very
recently you’ll know that Scala
was the premier multimedia
package for many years but
sadly does not support graphics
cards. Once loaded into
Hollywood, via Malibu, Scala
presentations can be displayed
on all devices supported by
Hollywood, including, of course,
Henk Jonas has released his
handy Metaview utility
(reviewed in issue 9) as
freeware. The program can be
used to view, convert and
catalogue vector graphic files
in many formats such as IFF-
DR2D, WMF, CGM and GEM. It
is an ideal companion to
DrawStudio or any other
structured drawing package.
Download the full version from:
http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/
~jonash/
The program is supplied on CD-
ROM and many example scripts
have been added to demonstrate
the new features. A full copy of
Hollywood 1.5 supplied on CD
costs 55 US Dollars. An upgrade
A demo-style text scroller.
4
TOTAL
AMIGA
Summer 2003
5
News
News
Audio Evolves
Bytes...
Get a Load of This!
USB
Web Bytes...
Updates
Pixel Art have released a new
version of their visually striking
graphical program launcher.
Picload 4 is particularly noted for
its beautiful look, reminiscent of
the Mac OS X dock. The fact
that Pixload looks so good is not
a surprise, Pixel Art have been
behind some of the most
stunning Workbench backdrops
and Amiga generated images of
recent years. Apart from looking
good Pixload has many handy
features. Program and drawer
icons can be added to the bar for
easy access, a clock can be
displayed as can the status of
the Miami Deluxe TCP/IP stack if
you use it. Pixload can also
display files of various types if
you drag and drop them on to
the bar. Interestingly Pixload is
written in AREXX using rxMUI
for its Interface.
Pixload is freeware and supports
AmigaOS 3.x+ and MorphOS
1.3+. Download it from:
http://www.pixel-art.fr.st/
OS 4 Blizzard?
More information about the
forthcoming release of Audio
Evolution 4 exclusively for
AmigaOS 4 has been made
available, including the first
screenshot and a list of features.
AE4 is an audio recording and
editing package with non-linear
and non-destructive features as
found in professional tools on
other platforms. The program
also boasts a wide variety of
real-time effects which take full
advantage of the powerful PPC
processors supported by
AmigaOS 4.
New features in version 4
include:
• Non-linear editing on the time
line, including cut, copy, paste,
move, split, trim and crossfade.
• Unlimited undo.
• Many grid options to align
regions.
• Improved automated editing on
Amiga OS 4 (take a look at
our OS 4 Update feature on
page 10 for the latest news) is
currently being developed for
classic Amigas with a
CyberStorm PPC accelerator
and, of course, AmigaOne
PPC G3 and G4 systems. A
version for Amigas with
Blizzard PPC cards has
always been anticipated, but
never 100 percent confirmed;
due to the complexity of
supporting the range of A1200
systems and add-ons which
have been released. As the
release of OS 4 for the initial
two platforms draws closer
Hyperion need to make a
decision about Blizzard PPC
support. As a significant
amount of effort will be
needed to support A1200
systems they need to know
the demand is there before
they make the investment.
Therefore if you have every
intention of purchasing OS 4
for your Blizzard PPC based
A1200 were it available then
pledge your support in an
EMail to:
timdg@
hyperion-entertainment.com
Poseidon
Chris Hodges has released
version 2.2 of his popular USB
driver package, Poseidon. As
well as fixing a bug in the
Subway driver and improving
compatibility with mass storage
devices, the new version
includes two command line tools
to drive previously unsupported
USB devices. DRadioTool can
control inexpensive USB radios
from D-Link and GemTek; these
devices are controlled by the
computer and output their sound
from a traditional jack rather than
by sending it across the USB
bus. UproarTool can be used to
upload songs to the Valencia
MPX portable mp3 player and
others based on the same
chipset.
An excellent new portal web
site is causing quite a stir in
the Amiga on-line world.
AmigaWorld.net has the usual
news reports and forums for
discussion but also has
several unique services. First
up the site has a rather
stronger moderation policy
than some other Amiga
forums, this helps keep petty
bickering down (whether you
appreciate this is probably a
matter of taste). Fleecy Moss,
Amiga Inc.’s chief technology
officer, regularly answers ten
questions posted by Amiga
World members. Initially this
was a weekly event but with
over 100 questions answered
it changed to bi-weekly
recently. New screen-shots of
AmigaOS 4 from Hyperion
have been posted at the site
too. Amiga World also has a
companion IRC channel and
a streaming radio station
playing classic Amiga tunes.
All in all it’s an engaging site
worth adding to your hot-list:
http://www.amigaworld.net
the time line
• Metronome with freely
adjustable time signature
• New plug-ins, including a new
compressor, chorus, ducking
delay and sound replacer
• Effect parameter automation
• ARexx interface
• Enhanced look using a 256
colour screen. Most imagery
can be changed by the user.
Computer City in the
Netherlands distributes audio
Evolution 4 world-wide. The full
package will cost 149 Euro (£110
approx.) and an upgrade from
version 3 will be 70 Euro (£55).
For more details visit:
http://www.audio-evolution.com
Yet Another... YAM
Version 2.4 is the second major
release of Yet Another Mailer
since the original author, Marcel
Beck, made YAM open source
and development was handed
over to the YAM Open Source
team. There is also a version
2.4p1 upgrade that corrects
some problems in the original
2.4 release.
In addition to squashing many
bugs and generally improving
existing features, version 2.4 has
several new features including:
• Hierarchical folder list – folders
can now be arranged into
groups, and nested.
• Support for SMTP & POP3
TLS1/SSL3 using the
AmiSSL.library.
• Email address cache –
remember Email addresses
used not in the address book.
• Recipient gadgets resolve
aliases, real names and
addresses on the fly.
• Automatically finds the suitable
Spray on the Magic
Download the latest version
from:
http://www.platon42.de/
Thylacine
A new version of the USB stack
supplied with the Thylacine USB
card (reviewed in issue 13) has
been released. This version
adds support for the Human
Interface Device (HID) class, the
most obvious benefit of this is
the ability to use wheel mice.
Thylacine owners will be pleased
to see this stack developing and
we understand that it will also be
used as the default USB stack
for AmigaOS 4.
Georges Halvadjian updates his
excellent freeware paint
program, Perfect Paint, so
regularly that we can ususally
count on him to help us fill the
news pages of Total Amiga. As
we go to press, version 2.925
has just been released with
many improvements and
impressive new features.
Of particular note is the
MagicSpray tool. This takes a
collection of brushes and applies
them to the canvas as you paint.
As they are applied the program
can randomly change the size,
colour, contrast and brightness
of the brushes, within user-
defined boundaries. A set of
MagicSpray brushes and
settings can be saved as a
project for later use or
distribution. A selection of
projects are included with
Perfect Paint and more can be
downloaded from the program’s
web site. MagicSpray is
excellent for making
backgrounds and is also great
fun just to play with. A good
example of MagicSpray is the
coins project. This contains
brushes of several different old
coins; as you spray the coins
appear at random and in
different sizes – you could use
this to create an instant unique
background for a presentation.
Some other features in the new
version include:
• New "Adjust RGB level", "Auto
RGB level” and "Chromatic
correction" colour correction
tools
• Improved text requester.
• Improved communication with
TurboPrint.
• Brush preview in the “album”
are shown with full
transparency.
• Improved multi-step undo with
history list window.
Web Bytes...
mailing list support settings
• Improved handling of mailto:
links in mails.
• Write window search function.
• Status for individual folders in
the app icon.
• Built-in mouse wheel support.
• Extended documentation.
If you haven’t tried Perfect Paint
download this version now... it
has many unique features and
it’s free!
http://gothic.fr.free.fr/
If our review of MorphOS this
issue (it’s on page 20) perks
your interest you might be
looking for more information.
In that case MorphZone is a
good place to start learning
about the operating system
and Pegasos hardware. The
site features news, forums in
several languages and a
database of links to other
sites with further information.
Another good feature is the
Ambience gallery. This is a
selection of user provided
screenshots which show off
the MorphOS Ambient
desktop environment (hence
Ambience) and skinable GUI.
http://www.morphzone.org
The Amiga Interactive Guide,
an invaluable web resource
for anyone interested in
Amiga history, has been
renamed and redesigned.
The site is now called the
Amiga History Guide and
looks extremely professional.
On the site you can find such
fascinating artefacts as
interviews with Amiga
developers, histories of
Amiga companies, details of
unreleased and prototype
Amigas and even a list of
Amiga magazines (which, of
course, includes Total Amiga)!
The site was useful before but
now it has a design to match
the quality of its content:
http://amiga.emugaming.com
The update can be downloaded
from:
http://thylacine.boing.net
Download the new version of
YAM from:
http://www.yam.ch
Frogger Plays Sorensen
Since mentioning it last issue
FroggerNG has gone from
strength to strength. In the latest
version, 2.06, many bugs have
been fixed making the program
much more reliable. The
synchronisation of video and
audio has been much improved
so it stays correct during normal
play and after seeking to a new
point in the movie. The most
interesting addition has to be
support for the Sorensen 3 video
codec (thanks to an anonymous
programmer on the open-source
ffmpeg team). Sorensen 3 is
often used to encode
commercially produced
Quicktime (.mov) movies such as
film trailers – it produces
excellent looking video at
reasonable file sizes. In our
screen-shot you can see the
recent Apple advertisement
playing in the 68K version of
FroggerNG running on Amithlon.
FroggerNG is shareware, costs
15USD (about £10), and can be
registered on-line via Reg.net. To
download a demo version and to
view a list of the audio and video
codecs supported go to the
Frogger web site:
http://frogger.rules.pl
A effect made in a few
seconds with the
Magic Spray tool.
TOTAL
AMIGA
Summer 2003
6
7
Features
Features
AmigaOne Update
Fresh from the IBM technology forum, Alan Redhouse (MD of Eyetech)
reveals the specs of the AmigaOne Lite.
Fleecy Speaks
Amiga Inc’s CTO briefs us on the progress of OS 4.0 and
looks forward to its first public showings.
B
y the time you read these
This change is significant
because the certainty of a
future for our platform will
mean that users can commit to
continuing to support the
Amiga, developers can see a
real and advancing product
and get hold of the necessary
tools and documentation to
create new product for it, and
dealers can begin to develop
their own strategies for
carrying and promoting the
platform within their
geographical locations. All of
this means more talk, and
more importantly more positive
talk, about the AmigaOS, and
this will spread throughout the
great communicator that is the
Internet. More communication
means more users and that
means we are back on our way
up again.
The excitement in the
AmigaOS4.0 development
group has been palpable. As
with any project, we have had
to work long and hard across
the desert where most of the
work takes place with
seemingly little real benefit. In
this quiet time, there has been
little to talk about, and thus
little public information to
release. Mischief makers have
used this silence to their own
ends but ironically the
spreading of rumours and the
attempt to develop a malign
climate in the community has
done nothing but spur the team
to greater efforts.
Now though the desert is
behind us. It started with the
announcement that we had
been able to boot into
Workbench on the PPC
processor of a CSPPC board.
Yes, the only PPC binaries
were ExecSG, the 68K
emulator and parts of the
Hardware Abstraction Layer,
but the rest of the AmigaOS, in
68K binary was running
through the 68k emulator AND
IT WAS WORKING!!!
switch to change the compiler
from a 68k target processor to
a PPC target processor).
As I write this, we have just
had our first E-Mail sent out
from YAM running MUI on a
Picasso96 screen through the
new Roadshow TCP/IP stack
over an ADSL modem. Each
one of those systems on its
own still in 68K but running via
the emulator on the PPC
processor. Given what is
required to run within the
AmigaOS to allow each of
those systems to run, you can
see how close the project is to
completion.
that can more than hold its
own with the industry leaders
in terms of performance.
The first public showing of
AmigaOS4.0 is part of a rolling
European roadshow organised
by about a dozen dealers (the
number keeps growing all the
time) and at each successive
show there will be more and
more of AmigaOS4.0 shown.
This is part of a strategy that
will slowly push AmigaOS4.0
into the public eye, all with the
eventual aim of a combined
public release and launch
show. We will still not
announce an actual release
date because we have
committed to not doing that
until the final, shippable
product is in front of us, but I
hope you can see from this
text and from the reports of the
shows that will have happened
that we, through the dedication
of a passionate community of
users, developers and owners
are very close to what we have
all longed for over the past
eight years, the rebirth of our
platform.
words, the first public
showings of AmigaOS4.0
running exclusively on a PPC
processor should be well under
way. An event that the
community has been waiting
for since 1996, that has started
and stopped on numerous
occasions, that has been
derided and refused by those
with their own hidden agendas,
that has been delayed by
mistakes and resourcing
constraints will have
happened.
The importance of this cannot
be over estimated. Finally, in
the public arena, all those
claiming that AmigaOS4.0 is a
fabrication, a lie, a ruse will
either have to slink back into
the shadows or else change
their tune, from `it will never
happen’ to `it isn’t any good’.
Whatever new tune will leap
from their lips, this public
showing marks a turning point
in the nightmare and misery
since Commodore went
bankrupt. The question is not
now `Will it ever happen?’ but
`When will it happen?’
A
s I sit in a Boston hotel lobby
shown throughout
Europe running
PPC-native on an
A4000
CyberstormPPC
accelerator. Hyperion
are now hard at work
completing the
porting to the
AmigaOne hardware.
We are still holding
the ‘Earlybird’ offer (ie
an AmigaOne
supplied now with
Debian Linux/UAE
and a free copy of
OS4 when available)
open until the official
launch date of OS4
for the AmigaOne is
announced. This gives
you the opportunity to
start using the power
of your AmigaOne
under Linux/UAE now
and hit the ground
running when OS4 is
released.
- it was the 2003 IBM
technology forum this week -
frantically pecking out this
update in a desperate attempt to
meet Robert’s deadline, I’ve just
worked out that the AmigaOne
has now the highest sales of any
available ATX form factor PPC
board in the World. That is not so
much a measure of major sales
success, but rather underlines
just what a new product family
the AmigaOne is, and how
pioneering even the Linux port to
the new hardware has been.
Debian Linux is now the officially
supported distribution on the
AmigaOne Earlybird boards and
systems and the success of this
distribution is entirely down to
those early adopters on the
A1G3dev list. In this respect I
must give special thanks to Ross
Vumbaca who did a superb job
on the Debian PPC installer for
the AmigaOne. The AmigaOne is
now regularly used by owners for
browsing and email, productivity
applications, TV/video capture,
media playback and as a web
server in its own right. The
installer disk also makes it easy
to set up and use UAE, and
installs Workbench 3.1 and the
Magic Pack software.
In terms of board types sold, the
majority of ‘Earlybird’ purchasers
have opted for the AmigaOne-
XE G4 board/systems, although
the demand for the G3 systems
with the option of a subsequent
upgrade to a single/double G4
CPU has also been higher than
we originally expected. Many
users of the G3 systems have
overclocked these to 933MHz
(thus voiding their warranties,
but apparently without any
adverse effects being
experienced). On the other hand
the current G4’s that we are
shipping are using 933MHz 7455
CPU's clocked down to 800MHz
(to meet the advertised
specifications) - surely making
this, the selling of an
underclocked CPU, unique in the
Amiga marketplace!
As you have probably read
elsewhere, OS4 has been widely
Our first set of benchmarks
shows that even with the
interpretive emulator we are
using (it provides more
compatibility but with the trade-
off being a slower speed), we
are getting 68060 speed and
responsiveness, and that is
running on a 200 MHz PPC
processor. With more of the
AmigaOS running as PPC
native binaries and with the
slowest AmigaOne computer
debuting at 600 Mhz, we are
confident of having a product
From that point progress has
occurred on an almost daily
basis. The completion of a
GCC compiler. The conversion
of almost all 68k assembler to
portable C. The porting of all
68K C source so that it could
compile using the GCC
compiler (the importance of this
being that it requires a simple
One of the many MicroITX cases that
will suit the AmigaOne Lite.
• 133MHz UDMA RAID IDE
controller
• USB 2.0 on board
• IEEE 1394 (‘FireWire’) on
board
• 2x AGP graphics on board with
PAL/NTSC TV out
• AC97 sound on board
• 1 x PCI33MHz slot (horizontal,
via supplied riser card)
• Cardbus slot for flash card
support (diskless booting,
applications, games slot etc)
• Usual legacy PS/2, serial,
parallel ports
AmigaOne Lite
In the last edition of Total Amiga I
gave a brief overview of the
AmigaOne Lite – an entry level
AmigaOne designed to both as a
CD32/A1200 successor and for
use in embedded systems such
as kiosks, STB’s etc. However
the more observant of you will
have realised that in the last
issue I actually described the
AmigaOne-SE Lite - so why the
change of name?
Buzz Word...
Buzz Word...
It’s been an eventful couple of
months for the world’s favourite
niche computer platform, and of
course your ever-snooping
agent has been there to dig out
the information.
Rumour has it that Jim Collas is
very keen to turn Amiga back
into a hardware company as
well as a software company.
Collas has a high reputation in
computer circles and is
apparently looking forward to
finishing, and I quote, “what he
started”. Apparently Bill
McEwen and Jim Collas are
very good buddies and in
regular contact, so this
comeback is no surprise. Bill
McEwen will remain at Amiga
as president.
momentum, many ex-Amiga
users are returning to the fold
asking questions, getting thier
Amigas out of the cupboard, loft
or basement etc., and dusting
them off for one more go.
Unfortunately some of those ex-
users are asking for keyfiles to
programs such as amIRC, MUI
and IBrowse plus of course
asking where they may obtain
free downloads of OS3.1, 3.5
and 3.9. These Morons are
obviously not aware of the fact
(or don’t care) that piracy
played a major part in the
downfall of the Amiga last time
around. Sites like
www.back2roots.org are a rare
exception on the Internet, they
seek permision from the
author/copyright holder before
adding the titles to their site.
However the majority of sites
out there offering commercial
Amiga software for download
do not – they are pirates.
Eyetech “Woes”
Yup Eyetech are in trouble,
apparently. It seems to stem
from the fact that they
underestimated the high
demand for AmigaOnes.
Demand has surged
dramatically since the first
AOS4 screenshots hit the web
and Eyetech are now having to
consider ways to meet the
increase in demand. Just wait
until OS4 finally ships – they are
going to be under siege! Still I’m
sure Eyetech and Amiga
retailers selling AmigaOnes are
smiling very broadly at this
happy problem.
Amiga have made it quite clear
they are not willing to tolerate
any form of theft of their
Intallectual Proprery, such as
Amiga ROMs and AmigaOS.
In the interim period we have re-
examined the costs and decided
that it is economically feasible to
significantly increase the A1-
Lite’s specification and flexibility
within the same overall target
pricing. As one of these changes
is to use the standard A1XE
CPU modules (plus a new entry-
level 750CXe module) we
dropped the ‘SE’ from its name.
Amiga’s New CEO
Buzz Word has heard that
Amiga are about to get a new
CEO but it won’t be Garry Hare;
apparently the whole Genesi /
Garry Hare story was a setup
designed to produce confusion.
The new CEO is a man who will
bring many millions of
investment dollars back into the
company. The Man’s name?
Jim Collas. Yes, that’s right, the
former CEO when Amiga was
owned by Gateway is the man
who will bring home the bacon
for Amiga Inc.
Being a standard form factor it
will fit in a standard micro ITX
case, such as the one shown in
photograph. Please visit
www.morex.com.tw/minicase.htm
and www.mini-itx.com to see
other suitable case designs.
Buzz Word urges all his
readers not to give in to piracy,
report any websites found
containing illegal files to
gary@amiga.com and
discourage any potential pirate
asking for keyfiles, ROMs and
OSs. The Amiga market is
poised for a second chance,
don’t let the Pirates ruin it.
Amiga’s competitors and
detractors should beware,
Collas is ruthless and will not
tolerate petty tittle tattle. Expect
Lawsuits of various types to be
flying from Amiga any day soon.
We are aiming to bring the
AmigaOne Lite to market early
next year.
The full specifications for the
AmigaOne Lite are as follows:
• Micro ITX form factor
(170mmx170mm)
• Gigabit and 10/100 ethernet on
board
Pirates Ahoy!
The revival of Amiga as a
platform seems to be gathering
Well that’s all this issue - must
dash - I’ve got a plane to catch!
TOTAL
AMIGA
Summer 2003
8
9
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