Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!amdahl!kim From: kim@amdahl.UUCP (Kim DeVaughn) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Amiga news (genlock & lots more, *long* but juicy) Message-ID: <4584@amdahl.UUCP> Date: Fri, 12-Dec-86 20:59:50 EST Article-I.D.: amdahl.4584 Posted: Fri Dec 12 20:59:50 1986 Date-Received: Mon, 15-Dec-86 19:36:33 EST References: <1272@zen.BERKELEY.EDU> Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Lines: 204 Nice summary, Doug! Let me add to it a little bit ... > Genlock is being shipped. This was announced at the First Amiga User's > Group tonight (Dec 9) in Palo Alto (California). Retailers aren't > supposed to sell it until Dec 15, but if they've got 'em I bet some will > slip out. In the San Francisco Bay Area you'll be able to get them at > Federated Electronics. > > Price: $280 (or less [$217] to F.A.U.G. members--join!). This was announced > by FAUG, not by C/A, but it was certainly said very authoritatively. > Only a few thousand will be available nationwide in December. Hmmmm ... I *thought* Paul said $250 ... maybe I mis-heard him. Anyway, Federated does indeed have them, and the FAUG discount price is $219 (Paul got his number wrong, but only by $2). > Deluxe Music Construction Set was demo'd and it looks fabulous and > well worth the wait. Agreed! A few of the features I recall: up to 8 staffs, with 2 tracks/ staff; MIDI support (16 channels); automatic transposition; reald slurs and crescndos/decrescndos; guitar fret fonts; "real" music score notation; works with SoundScape; can read Instant Music files; 20 new instruments (over Instant Music), including a Moosehead sound :-) and a Sitar; ability to import DMCS-Mac files; price $99.95. EA also announced a quarterly newsletter called DeluxeNews. Supposed to contain info/tips/etc. for all their Deluxe series of programs. (This is where you will find info like how to import Mac files.) Watch for it [you *did* send in your registration cards, didn't you?] > They also showed a *** 3-D ray-traced smooth-motion animation *** showing > a clown juggling 3 reflecting balls!!!!!! Extraordinary. Surely was! I *thought* the clown was reflected in the balls ... maybe not, though. The rest of the scene certainly was. Oh, and the ray-trace *generation* was done on the Amiga also ... 2 hours/frame, I believe. > Intuitive Technologies (formerly MaxiSoft) talked about V1.5 of their > MaxiPlan spreadsheet and gave a live demo. I may have to change my opinion of MaxiSoft's products (now Intuitive Technologies). This new version *is* impressive. I think there are two products here, though ... the version that was demo'd was refered to as "Macros", and the v1.5 (without macro capability, but with many, MANY bugs fixed). They said they would provide free upgrades to 1.5 if you are running an older version, and they also have an upgrade plan to "Macros" if you want the additional capabilities. Best to check with them (availability was said to be "now"). Couple of interesting features I remember: macros can be "written" with the mouse as well as the keyboard (very nifty!); supports password protected fields; can run commands from within MaxiPlan and suck their output into the spreadsheet; NO COPY PROTECTION; another upgrade due end of 1Q87 (sideways printing support; creation of 1-2-3 compatible files; more). > They also have Encore, > which runs in the background and can be told to record mouse/keyboard > keystrokes as a macro no matter what else you're doing. Another really nice tool ... seems to provide macro capabilities to any application (keyboard and/or mouse)! Also mentioned (but not demo'd due to time) were "Shortcut" and "Wow". "Shortcut" was described as an "abbreviation processor" ... use it with your favorite word processor/editor/spreadsheet, or what have you [can you say programming "templates"? ... I thought you could!] "Wow" is a DISK CACHING PROGRAM of some kind (wish he hadn't spent so much time showing off MaxiPlan). The only capability that was mentioned was that it uses "a variable amount of memory, depending on how much is free", and that this size varies dynamically. If it only is what I'm hoping it is ... Availability of all three of these is "shortly after the 1st of the year". > Dale Luck and R.J. starred in a series of silly videos they made, mostly > commercials that should have been done for the Amiga ... I guess CBM got the message ... they have a NEW advertising agency that even *wants* to show what the machine can actually *do* in commercials! (BTW, how many wine coolers did you guys start with, anyway :-) ?) > Aegis showed Draw Plus for the first time ("I shouldn't" and didn't > really show many features, did announce cheap upgrade policy). Upgrade to Draw Plus is $30; to a new release of Draw it's $10 (Draw Plus will retail for ~$250, so the upgrade is a *substantial* savings ... thanks Aegis!) In addition to alot of new capabilities and bug fixes, Draw Plus comes with several "parts libraries" ... logic design (all the 74xx TTL stuff), electrical, furniture, plumbing, etc. > Also > showed Diga, yet another terminal emulator. But has many unusual features, > including "doubletalk" which allows simultaneous download/upload while > still browsing the remote system...presumably only if they, too, are > running Diga. Sounds like a feature to add to Vt100! I hope they will release their protocol to the public! Diga also supports Kermit, Xmodem, Compuserve-B, and something called "remote" that Bill Volk wouldn't talk about. Of course it has a "phonebook" with "address cards", script support, macro keys, and USER DEFINABLE EMULATIONS. The one that was demo'd made the Amiga look like a Tektronix 4010. This last feature (along with the DoubleTalk protocol) really make Diga unique! Price was said to be "under $100", and availability "before the next model in the Amiga line comes out". Take that for what it's worth ... > Mindscape > Also demo'd the existing Balance of Power and Deja Vu. BofP was described as a "geopolitical simulation" and a "test of the intellect" (as opposed to arcade and adventure style games) ... seems something like an enhanced and Amigaized version of Empire. DV is a mystery/adventure, and you start off in the men's room of a bar (wonder what the ladies will think of that :-)). > They sent a > marketing rep who was cute Alas, she was wearing a wedding ring ... her name is Shannon, BTW. She had one kinda funny problem with Mindscape's "Execution Protection" scheme ... the page of the manual that the on screen question directed her to for the answer was ... blank! (That guy Murphy sure does get around :-)). Seems like this is a pretty good way to go (as opposed to Copy Protection) for game type s/w. I'd hate to see it catch on for "real" s/w though. I mean can you imagine having to look up the answer to some obscure question about C every time you went to compile something? Come to think of it, that might not be such a bad idea ... might reduce some of the braindamaged code that gets released ... just a thought :-). > There was much other interesting stuff at the meeting; in ten > minutes I'll doubtless remember the other people, companies, and > products that I should also have mentioned. Let's see, Infinity Software was there and demo'd their Tennis simulation game (simulation in the same sense that Mean 18 is a golf simulation). You can choose different courts, opponents, conditions (like the weather, crowd noise, speed, break, etc). They will be releasing an "Opponents Disk" in 1987 to keep the game "fresh". Execution protection like Mindscape's. Available now for v1.1 Kick/WB. Cost was $49.95, but they were selling them at $30 at the meeting. Looked like it might be fun to play if you like tennis. Also Scott Peterson and Jude (formerly of CBM-Los Gatos, I believe) demo'd a plug-into-the-mouse-port clock module. I *think* this was the Byte-by-Byte product, but I didn't pay much attention, since I have the A-Time module. Their clock s/w *was* pretty nice though. A much wider range of sizes and styles of clock faces (analog, digital, or both). You can set the damn thing just by moving the hands on the clock with the mouse ... what a novel idea!!! Now *that's* what I call "user friendly"! Lastly, a couple of tidbits from FAUG's newsletter (Robo-City News) ... DPaint II's upgrade policy is $30 (plus $7 shipping and handling, plus sales tax inside CA) and the original cover from the manual if you have the copy protected version. If you have the unprotected version, they want the original disk back. And if you have the protected version, but want the unprotected version of DPaint II, it's another $20. Their newsletter (DeluxeNews) spells all this out, and should be in the mail "within two weeks". Representitives from Ashton-Tate attended the 2nd Annual Developers Conference in Monterey last month. Hmmmmm ... Can anyone confirm (or deny) the story about how there were *almost* Amiga's in "Star Trek IV"? Supposedly, CBM wouldn't ship ILM (or whomever) the Developer machines that they had ordered (and even had to *pay* for) because they hadn't included enough for shipping! Apple got wind of this and *gave* them some Mac's and II-GS's, which is why you see Scotty talking to a Mac-mouse instead of an Amiga-mouse. Did the letter from CBM to ILM really say, "The sooner we receive your check for [something like] $9.00, the sooner we will be able to ship your machines"? Incredible, if true! /kim -- UUCP: {sun,decwrl,hplabs,pyramid,ihnp4,seismo,oliveb}!amdahl!kim DDD: 408-746-8462 USPS: Amdahl Corp. M/S 249, 1250 E. Arques Av, Sunnyvale, CA 94086 CIS: 76535,25 [ Any thoughts or opinions which may or may not have been expressed ] [ herein are my own. They are not necessarily those of my employer. ]