Issue 10, Spring 2002 £3.50

Also in this issue: News: WoASE Show Report AmigaOS 4 Update Features: AmiMPC Reviews: Mediator 4000 EZKey XS and Multimedia Keyboard Support: B2B: Mode Promotion Tutorial Contents Contents The Chairman Speaks the show in November, to announced we intended to put Issue 10 Editorial n these frugal times it is hopefully coincide with the on an show I was as with the old one I expect it Idifficult to gauge just how estimated release of OS4 and quietly concerned after elcome to the first issue will be refined over time, many active Amiga users there AmigaOne (about October). witnessing the K4 are, while on a daily basis I show. But we (SEAL, ANT, Spring 2002 Wof Total Amiga! If you’re please let us know if you have The more we thought about view on Amibench whole Kickstart and ASA) decided to an existing Clubbed subscriber any comments or suggestions. putting on a show the more you may just not have heard systems being sold complete go ahead with it and hope for If you’ve read our enthusiasm we built up, and that Total Amiga is the new with high quality original the best. announcements about Total after a meeting between the Contents name for the magazine. We . That of course Amiga you will know that we two user groups it was decided The main issue was to put on a think it better reflects the range means they are leaving the are aiming to move from we were going to put on a show that was commercially of Amiga subjects we cover behind the scenes section, Amiga for good, not keeping News quarterly to bi-monthly show. As we intended to put a attractive to the dealers, Oh well once again lets make and at least now you have a here you can read about how their software means they don’t WoASE Show Report..... 4 publication soon, to do this we show on in the South East of interesting (new products the best of it was our attitude chance of guessing what the the magazine is made and we even intend to use a PC AmigaOS 4 Update...... 10 need to find more contributors England it would be best if all maybe) and affordable to the and I must say that I’m glad we magazine’s about from the title! will post sneak previews of running Amiga OS XL or to spread the work of writing the active user groups in the community and had a large did. Although the AmigaOne Fleecy Moss...... 11 For new readers the fact that future issues. Amithlon which saddens me. the magazine. Anyone can South East were involved. So user group influence. Well the and OS 4 wasn’t available to Finding a Printer ...... 12 Total Amiga the new name for Based on these indications it write for the magazine and we Kickstart and ASA were invited last bit was easy enough as either see running or purchase an existing magazine explains There are lots of exciting things made the decision even more are interested in any article to join forces but as Kickstart’s there were four user groups there was plenty to see such Features why this is issue 10, we had 9 going on in the at difficult as to whether or not to which involves the Amiga, it K4 was imminent, we were not organising and managing it, to as the excellent Mediator team AmiMPC...... 14 previous issues of Clubbed the moment, the news on the put on a show in 2001. could be a tutorial, review, too sure if they would be make it commercially attractive showing various hardware and wanted to make it clear OS 4 front is looking sounding opinion or even just a letter. If After the fairly successful interested (but I was sure I to the dealers all we had to do configurations, the Reviews that we have a track record good now Hyperion have taken you’d like to try your hand SEAL-O-RAMA in 2000, it was would be able to twist their was get large numbers to demonstration of Amiga OS Mediator 4000...... 16 and are committed to the helm and it sounds like we please contact me at one of the could have something concrete hard to know how to approach arm). attend (gulp!) and make the XL/Amithlon and Cloanto’s ImageFX 4.5 ...... 20 publishing the magazine. putting on a show for 2001 tables affordable, and last but addresses below or visit the to report in the next issue. SEAL attended K4 show in 5. EZKeyXS ...... 22 (way back in April when I not least for the community, the Regular readers will notice that contribution section of our Prototypes of both the bplan May helping out in the games EZTower Z4...... 24 started to consider it). There show had to be well priced I will not go into lots of detail along with the new name and website. and the arena (we ran the Shogo seemed to be less active (less than the cost of a packet about the show as that is Perfect Paint 2.8 ...... 26 logo we’ve completely Elbox Shark PPC accelerator tournament), and had a user Speaking of the website we Amigans about and little of fags) and something new covered in our show report, but Olympus Camedia 3000Z redesigned the magazine. were shown at the Koln show group table where we sold have completely redesigned it prospect of being able to have (OS 4 and AmigaOne) to drool I think that the vast majority ...... 29 There’s a new four column last November (although only subscriptions to this very for Total Amiga and added lot’s two shows in the South East over and purchase. who attended the show were Descent: Freespace...... 30 layout which gives us much the Pegasos was actually magazine (at the time called more information. You can (Kickstart and SEAL-O-RAMA). happy, there was a great AMP 2 ...... 34 more flexibility in how we running) so along with the “Clubbed”) and enjoyed Just before the show it was quickly find out what the A few weeks later I was atmosphere about the place organise pages and a new font AmigaOne it looks like we’ll chatting to the community. announced that OS 4 and the PD Paradise...... 36 current issue is, which back approached by a good friend of and I can tell you it was busy, used for headings. This also have a choice of hardware There was one concept of the AmigaOne wouldn’t be issues we have available and mine Mike Carrillo who so busy that myself and a few change is far from skin deep, when OS4 arrives. You can find show that shocked us, this released until early next year Support how to order single issues and founded and helps run ANT others running the show didn’t as we’ve tried to incorporate more detail on OS 4 in out was the poor attendance after (2002), just our luck I thought, Top Tips...... 35 subscriptions. You can’t yet (Amiga North Thames) about get to look round! I will make more information into the new update on page 10. We’re also three shows that had been but it was too late to cancel or Back to Basics: Mode download download back the prospect of joining forces to sure I have a good nose layout. The biggest change are lucky enough to have a column packed to the rafters, but we re-schedule the show for Promotion...... 38 issues in PDF format as I put on a show in the South around at Alt WoA 2002 that’s the new “.Info” boxes which go from Amiga’s own Fleecy Moss put this down to the fact that it another date as the venue had mentioned in the last issue, East of England. It was for sure! Will there be a World Directory Opus Tutorial .. 40 with each review and give you in this issue so you can get the was a very hot sunny bank been paid for now and it wasn’t this is due to an incompatibility intended to be a marginally of Amiga South East 2002, Mailing List ...... 43 much more information on the news straight from the horse’s holiday, and thought that many cheap (try finding a venue with between Ghostscript and larger show than SEAL-O- answers on a postcard to Total Next Issue ...... 43 reviewed product including its mouth (so to say), don’t miss people had probably headed to excellent rail links to London, APDF, but we hope to make RAMA and therefore attract a Amiga! Gallery and colour screen system requirements and the that on page 11. the beaches for sun, sea and close to the M25, with a bar this option available soon. A larger audience. We thought it shots ...... 44 Amiga(s) we used to test it. I sex (well sun and sea for sure)! and capable of holding 400 Mick Sutton new feature of the site is the Robert Williams would be a good idea to hold hope you like the new look but I must say that when we finally people to see what it costs)! Write On! About Total Amiga Legalese We’d like to make Total Amiga Total Amiga is published quarterly Contact Us Only Amiga Made it Ghostscript 6.50 from Aladdin The views expressed in this If you wish to contact a contributor more “interactive” so we need by South Essex Amiga Link. For Enterprises magazine are those of the author please send your message to one If you have any queries Possible your input! subscription details please contact of each piece, they do not of the addresses above and we will suggestions or want to contact us There are also some essential us at the address below or visit our Total Amiga is designed and laid necessarily reflect the views of the pass it on. Got a question you’d like for any reason please use one of utilities we couldn’t live without: website. out using: editor, other contributors or SEAL. answered or an opinion you’d like the following: Directory Opus 5, SGrab, MCP, Amiga is a registered trademark Hardware: to share? Write to us and we’ll Editor: Robert Williams Turbo Print 7, MakeCD. Please Note: Total Amiga is and the Amiga logo, AmigaDOS, EMail: [email protected] include it in a letters page. Design: Robert Williams Our thanks to the creators of this produced by SEAL members in Amiga Kickstart, Amiga WWW: http://www.totalamiga.org/ CyberStorm PPC/060 Contributors: Elliott Bird and all the other great Amiga their spare time, while we will Workbench, Autoconfig, Got a tip for other readers or CyberVision PPC Sam Byford Post: Total Amiga, 26 Wincoat software out there. always strive to produce the Bridgeboard, and Powered by even an article up your sleeve? Fleecy Moss Drive, 128Mb RAM, about 13Gb HDD magazine on time and include all Amiga are trademarks of AMIGA Total Amiga is entirely created on Send it in and you could very Mick Sutton BENFLEET, Essex, SS7 space. the advertised contents this is not Inc. the Amiga, no other machines are well see your name in print. Alf Whitfield 5AH, Software: always possible due to other used at any stage of the design or All other trademarks mentioned ENGLAND. commitments. The price you pay Got a suggestion or comment Proof Reading: Sharon Sutton Amiga OS 3.9 by Amiga layout process. are the property of their respective for Clubbed covers our costs and on the magazine? Let us know Cover Art: Robert Williams Telephone: +44 (0) 1268 569937 PageStream 4 by Softlogik owners. and we’ll try and make Clubbed (19:00 - 22:00 UK time only ImageFX 4 by Nova Design nothing more, we don’t make a better for you. please) Photogenics 5 by Paul Nolan profit from it. Final Writer 5 by Softwood 2 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 3 News News Show Report: World of Amiga South East Mike Woods of ANT organised who showed a glimmer of box of Amiga Forever CD’s had special offers on owned by Nick Darley-Jones of goodies for sale. surprise) did a roaring trade EAL members arrived just the PA system in the interest, and in most cases he which he sold for a knock down subscriptions. They were also GAG, Sam Thomas of serving the thirsty Amigans. The Kickstart table was very before nine in the morning presentation hall and the ASA got a sale! KickSoft sell a wide price (£14). Later in the day he demonstrating the recently www.amiga-mediator.co.uk and There was also a cafe area S quiet which was very unusual to start preparing for the show guys got the Sensible soccer and growing range of gave a presentation of the new released Myst style game Sam Byford (who didn’t receive with a range of hot and cold as it has always been packed (which opened at twelve). tournament ready. Michael applications and utilities, at the version 5 that was released Aqua. his logic board in time for his food and drinks being served at previous shows. Soon after some of the ANT Carrillo (Mikey C) brought show he was heavily promoting shortly after the show. mediator A4000 to be active), throughout the show, this was The Virtual Programming stand guys arrived and we started along a laptop and printer and Pagestream 4, a recent graphics cards, soundcards, ASA who organised the games also a place where visitors Stellar Dreams had a wide attracted a great deal of with the first job, getting out all was hard at work producing addition to his range. TV cards and were all areas at the show had yet could collapse and look at their range of older games and even attention because they had the (incredibly heavy) tables badges for the exhibitors and a demonstrated. A DVD player more on their own table in the purchases. On the next stand we had some A500’s to play them on! both Bill Hoggett and setting them out in the hall, few last minute signs. Last but displaying through the TV card form of a Dynamite Pagan Games who A CD32 on their stand was demonstrating the new During the show Robert this went smoothly because we not least the hard working into a window on Workbench tournament. Like ANT and demonstrated the excellent showing Star Trek video CD’s Amithlon emulator and James Williams and Mick Sutton had had done a dry run a few Lesley was busy in the kitchen really wowed the crowds! SEAL, ASA members took the Earth 2140 for the classic via the FMV cartridge. Daniels of Apex Designs with a meeting with Alan Redhouse weeks before. Mick Sutton making sandwiches to feed the opportunity to sell previously Amiga and Blobula for Amiga the fantastic Payback On the SEAL front sales of () and Fleecy Moss (who is a power engineer in crowds. Weird Science had their usual abused gear :) DE. They were also promoting PPC/ (once he had Clubbed went exceptionally (Amiga) where they agreed to “real life”) then laid out the huge collection of CD’s and As the doors opened we were Quingle a new DE game. rushed home to get the CDs!). well with loads of new During the show you could take endorse Total Amiga power cables (assisted by Sam other software at special show still making the final Also on the VP stand was Mark subscribers and it was great to part in the ever popular magazine. At the end of the Byford) from the sockets at the The Huddersfield and prices. preparations, with Alf Whitfield Hinton of Amiga Active selling meet many readers in person Sensible Soccer tournament show Robert made the official side of the hall to the central Blackpool user groups shared and Robert Williams still The biggest stand, in the their back issues and (however briefly). We had a which took place in the announcement of the new corals and protected them with the next stand and were busy putting skirting (which had only centre of the hall was Eyetech explaining the change to variety of hardware and presentation hall on the big name for Clubbed and also safety strip. Robert Williams promoting HAUG’s been found at the last minute) who were showing AmigaXL “digital”. software to sell for club funds screen (thanks to HAUG for the said that SEAL will aim to put up the various posters he forthcoming Alt.WoA 2002 around the dealer’s tables. (which runs on QNX) on a very including a rare A3000T which loan of the projector). In the produce the magazine bi- had prepared around the show which is it be held on Behind Virtual Programming Then the crowds arrived and neat PC system in a tiny case. was snapped up. main hall punters could try their monthly in the near future. venue. During the time before XXFebruary. the Mediator Support Team put suddenly the hall was too Two AmigaOne mother boards hand at Hyperion’s excellent Fleecy and Alan then spoke the show the other user groups on an excellent demonstration ANT had a very nice SCALA packed to do anything more! Fleecy Moss could often be were on display, one fully Shogo on Mick and Robert’s about the Amiga One and (coming from further afield) despite the fact that Elbox presentation advertising their Throughout the day (as you found on the Amiga stand populated and the other PPC machines. signed an agreement for the and vendors started to arrive. pulled out at the last minute group running on an even nicer can see in some of the photos) talking to exhibitors and mounted in an EZ tower Z4 future development of Nick Darley-Jones of GAG (coitus interruptus). Three flat screen LCD monitor, they In the centre of the venue was there was very little room to punters alike about Amiga OS4 showing how it connects to an AmigaOS 4 and beyond. (Glos Amiga Group) deserves machines were on show, also had some second hand a licenced bar which (surprise, move, which gave the show a and Amiga DE. With Amiga A1200. Eyetech also had a a special mention as he arrived great atmosphere. were ZeoNeo demonstrating range of their Amiga products very early with his young family Planet Zed their Xenon and did a roaring trade in tow and worked hard Working our way around the inspired shoot em up for the throughout the show. through out the show as well hall from left to right we come DE. as putting on an excellent to the KickSoft stand where Forematt Home Computing show on the Mediator support Ray McCarthy was in his Michael Battallina of Cloanto were showing the latest issue stand. element demonstrating his had flown in all the way from of their interactive CD based range of software to anyone Florence with a laptop and a magazine, 100% Amiga and

Sam Thomas giving one of the many popular demonstrations on the Mediator stand.

Everyone was eager to hear the announcements Virtual Programming drew the crowds with Amithlon and Payback. Fleecy (Dennis the Menace) shows Andrew Korn (Tintin) AmigaDE. made at the end of the show.

Kicksoft persuasion tactics. Fore-Matt. Eyetech were busy all day. ANT 4 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 5 News News Grab TV! AmigaOS MediaPoint Goes RTG Radeon Gets The Euro Computer City, a Netherlands Computer City intend to The OS3.9 team have released based Amiga dealer and enhance MediaPoint to work an update to the OS which developer have re-released the on graphics card and sound allows Amiga users to more multimedia authoring package cards via AHI, in my opinion Drivers Alt.WoAHuddersfield Amiga User 2! easily use the Euro symbol, MediaPoint and have this would fill a gaping hole in Drivers for ATI’s range of Group are holding their second particularly important for those announced that they intend to the Amiga market because powerful 2D/3D Radeon Alt.WoA show on Saturday the living in the Euro zone. The resume development. Using stalwarts like SCALA are not graphics cards are coming for 23rd of February from 11:30 ‘till update consists of new system Mediapoint you can create compatible with modern both OS4 and OS3.x and a 5:30. The venue is the same fonts which contain the Euro presentations and interactive hardware. suitable PCI board. Bill multimedia displays some of its as last year, The Old Cornmill, symbol, updated keymaps The current version of Media Toner of Forefront key features are: Clifton, Brighouse, which map the symbol to Alt-E Point is available from Technologies is working on Huddersfield but this time the Elbox have released drivers for easy access and updated • Over 150 smooth transitions. Schatztruhe/GTI at 34.95Euro Picasso 96 and Warp3D show will be filling all three that allow owners of their locale files changing the • Spools audio and animations (about £22), for more details drivers that will initially support floors of the venue. Everyone Mediator PCI busboard, currency symbol for the from hard disk. visit: the orignal Radeon RV100 had a great time at last years Multimedia CD and a affected countries. The • Interactive scripts controlled www.compcity.nl/mediapoint chipset with support for the show but this year promises to compatible TV card to grab copyright symbol that used to by mouse, keyboard and newer RV200 coming later. be even better with more images and animation be mapped to Alt-E has been touch screen. Matay’s Prometheus will be the exhibitors and attractions sequences from live TV and moved to Alt-Y. • Scripttalk language to control first PCI bus board supported including: video signals. The drivers work complex displays with as it is being used as a Download the update from: development system, the • The Amiga Arena where with Innovative’s VHI Studio variables, conditional jumps. http://www.haage-partner.com Amiga One will be supported Amiga Inc. and their partners program which already • AREXX support. when it is released and the will be demonstrating the supports grabbing images from • Antialiasing. CyberCafe run by Wirenet, and the other with developers are keen to support latest hardware and software. a range of video digitisers and • Free runtime player. for those who can’t make the Descent:Freespace and other other PCI buses if the relevant • A dedicated games area with digital cameras. VHI Studio show there will be live IRC cool software. developer information is the classic Sensible Soccer includes a live preview mode sessions throughout the day. The most exciting part of this available. The drivers are likely competition and the latest Last year’s show had a great so you can decide which announcement is that to be a commercial product, titles for you to try. atmosphere as well as images to grab then it can grab Bill advises users not to buy a • Presentations from Fleecy As usual SEAL will be at the interesting exhibitors and a single frame or a sequence Radeon card in advance as the Moss of Amiga and Alan show with Total Amiga, we are content and this one promises which can be saved in a drivers may only be sold in a Redhouse of Eyetech on the having two tables this year and even more of the same, don’t variety of formats. Automatic bundle with a card in order to latest developments followed plan to have two miss it! MPEG encoding is supported running one to demonstrate so you can save movie clips pay the development costs and by questions and answers. http://www.alt-woa.org Play SCUMM! how we produce the magazine and view them later. avoid piracy. • Access to the Internet from a In days of Yore many of us • The games currently For more details on VHI Studio loved the fantastic graphic supported by SCUMM to visit: adventure games made by some degree are: http://www.vhistudio.com/ PhotoFolio Lucas Arts, including the • Monkey Island 2 For Mediator information see Steeple Software have famous Monkey Island series. • Indiana Jones and the Fate PageStream 4.1 http://www.elbox.com released an update to their These games used an engine of Atlantis After several minor upgrades a importantly for us, lets you print • Speed improvements. and take a look at Sam commercial picture cataloguing known as SCUMM (Script • Day of the Tentacle new version of the Amiga’s sheets of mailing labels. Plus Byford’s Mediator 4000 review utility PhotoFolio. Version 2.2 Compiler Utility for Manic • Monkey Island ( CD version ) SimpleMail premier desktop publishing there are these other new on page 16. features a handy recent Mansion) after the first game it • Sam&Max ( Floppy version ) As I write the Amiga upgrade program has been announced. features: projects list for quicker loading, was written for. Recently an • Full Throttle ( very buggy ) has just been released and Grasshopper have rolled the an abort button during open source project has been • Apply text attributes using the buyers can download it from: 0.14 working on a portable engine planned table editor add-on up directory scanning and many Rather like Quake 2 you will object or reshape tool . http://www.grasshopperllc.com/ Updated that will run games using this Since Mick’s review in Issue with a selection of other new user interface improvements. need a copy of the original • Improved PDF export with engine, this is called the 9’s PD Paradise section two features to make PageStream You can order PageStream The program now supports the game as SCUMMVM only control over compression and SCUMM virtual machine or new versions of Simple Mail 4.1. Tables are placed as an from Kicksoft in the UK, the full PPM file format and support for provides the engine, not the encoding. TurboPrint SCUMMVM. While it is still in have been released and the object on the page, then you version costs £199 an upgrade CMYK JPEG files has been • Custom column and gutter It’s great to see that Isreesoft game data files. latest, 0.14 is the first to be can add and delete rows or is £39 from version 4 or £79 improved. They have also an alpha state SCUMMVM widths inside text frames. are continuing with the declared a beta release. The columns and join cells together from version 3.x. To order on- squashed a number of bugs. already runs several of the Sebastian Beloch has set up • Text inset from column development of TurboPrint and key new features in 0.14 are: to form a complex tables. Cell line visit: Lucas Arts games including an excellent website which edges. trying to keep up with the PhotoFolio is available borders and fills can be http://www.kicksoft.co.uk/ some that never made it to the aims to support all the ports of • Lots of new AREXX • Improved duplicate and avalanche of new printers that distributed by Schatztruhe and customised including all the Amiga such as Day of the SCUMMVM for the Amiga and commands. transform. keep being released! Version costs 34.95Euro (about £22), usual PageStream fill options Tentacle, it also supports the also has demo version of some • Automatic deletion of 7.21 beta has been released for more details and to like gradients and patterns. 256 colour VGA style games of the games for download so signatures when replying. for users of 7.20, this includes download a demo version visit: that were degraded to run on you can give it a try even if you • Folders containing new mail A new feature that will be a drivers for: http://www.scouts.org.au/ OCS and ECS Amigas. Two don’t have the originals: are highlighted in bold. great boon for us here at Total • Canon S500/630/6300 steeplesoftware/en/index.html Amiga ports of SCUMM have • YAM address book import. Amiga and anyone who does http://www.sebelinteractive.de/ • Epson Stylus C60,C70,C80, been made one by “nogfx” • CC: support in the compose mass mailings is the built-in scummvm/ Photo 810 which works on AGA and window. mail merge facility this allows • HP DeskJet 92x, 94x, 96x graphics cards and another by Download the latest version you to print personalised letters Download it from: Rudiger Hanke which is for from: and envelopes based on a http://www.irseesoft.de/ MorphOS. http://simplemail.sourceforge.net of information and, 6 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 7 News News Pegasos Update Hit the Highway bplan showed a working MorphOS, some of the most version of their Pegasos PPC interesting points were: motherboard running Amiga • Developer or take the Subway? programs on MorphOS at the should be shipping as you Amiga 2001 show held in read this and consumer supports hot plug so devices with more to follow. E3B Cologne, Germany last boards should be ready by can be connected and recently ran a survey asking November. The board shown the end of March. disconnected while they are potential users what drivers had 3 PCI slots, 1 AGP slot, • A bare board will cost switched on and it is simple they would like to see and room for 2 133Mhz SD- 650Euro (about £400) with a and cheap to manufacture. developed, digital camera and RAM DIMMs giving up to 2Gb 400Mhz G3 CPU and a German company E3B have E3B plan to offer two models of scanner drivers topped the of RAM, it also features audio, complete system with DVD support for announced two hardware their interface the Subway The Highway Zorro II Card. chart of requests but E3B warn USB, Firewire and network drive, hard disk, memory and MorphOS is under products that will bring the which connects to the A1200 The Zorro card also has a that different manufacturers ports built-in minimising the case but no monitor should development and will ship Universal Serial Bus (USB) to clock port or compatible ports header for future expansion don’t use a common need for add-on PCI cards. be about 1000Euro (£625). with the consumer release. most Amiga systems. USB is a on many other devices and the modules and upgradeable communication protocol so it • All systems will be supplied very popular way of connecting Highway which is a Zorro II won’t be possible to write a • In a recent IRC chat session • They hope to sell 1500 to firmware. with MorphOS, a compatible low speed peripherals such as card for big box Amigas and “one size fits all” driver for Salvador Fernandez Gomez 2000 boards to the Amiga, PPC distribution will be Linux and industrial in the scanners, mice, keyboards, expanded A1200s. As we have mentioned before these products. of bplan answered questions updated with all the new available for download. first year. printers and digital cameras to getting USB hardware support about the Pegasos and information so take a look at: Both interfaces will feature: E3B have done extensive • The board has on-board computers and is widely is only part of the battle, E3B • Drivers developed for the G- testing of both Subway and sound with analogue and SP- supported on both the PC and • USB 1.1 and 2.0 compatibility have teamed up with VMC (the Rex will run on the Pegasos http://www.bplan-gmbh.de/ Highway on different DIF digital output. the Mac. USB has many but no 2.0 highspeed mode. people behind Hypercom I/O without recompilation. for hardware information and: busboards and working along • Open GL (a popular 3D advantages over parallel and • Integrated 4 port hub. cards amongst other things) to http://www.morphos.de/ side other Zorro cards. They graphics API used in many serial ports, multiple devices • Software compatible with develop software for their for software details. plan to publish compatibility games and applications) Salvador also said that the can be connected either by AmigaOS 2.04 to 3.9. boards, drivers for keyboard, lists with USB peripherals as bplan website will soon be daisy chaining or using hubs, it • Two year warranty. mouse and printers (we assume they will provide a soon as possible, you can MUI Internet Programs “USB.device” so existing check out their results and get printer drivers can work over more information at: Quake Again! More Ins and Outs! USB) are planned for launch http://www.e3b.de/usb Security Problem Individual Computers have This means it can be An important security hole has vulnerable MUI program and As they did with Doom and the released a new I/O board with connected to an unexpanded been reported in some MUI one of these pipe devices original Quake, two serial ports and one 1200 or other device with a based Internet programs which mounted it is possible for an have released the source code . The serial ports clock port, to the expansion 100% Amiga could allow an attacker to run attacker to construct a string to Quake 2 under the GPL are equivalent to the highly header on one of Innovative’s programs on your Amiga by that, when displayed in the (GNU Public License), in praised SilverSurfer and can other products such as the sending an EMail or ICQ application, will run any simple terms this means that run at up to 460800bps with a Buddha or X-Surf and it can OS3.9 Update message or embedding program on the user’s system. anyone may download the 16byte FIFO buffer to reduce run in any Zorro II compatible 100% Amiga, the CD based malicious code in a web page. The attacker would need to code, compile it to run on load on the Amiga. The parallel slot. But that’s not all, when the Amiga magazine from different systems and make The problem stems from MUI’s know where the command file Quake 2 running in a port has been improved over VarIO is used in a Zorro slot Forematt Home Computing changes providing they make Individuals previous Hypercom the clock port and expansion powerful text formatting was located but of course it Workbench window. and Epic is now on its commands which allow images could be a standard command their changed code available. boards, it also has a 16byte port can be used to connect NDK twentieth monthly issue. The Unlike the original Quake were released for the game, to be embedded in a string of like delete or format! FIFO buffer to reduce CPU expansions using those ports The AmigaOS Native magazine includes news, text in an interface, this is done release there hasn’t been a some of which change the load and supports ECP mode to the Amiga! reviews and tutorials all Since this issue was publicised Developer Kit that was using non-printable escape flurry of quick ports of Quake 2 game play completely, however which Individual claim speeds presented in a multimedia many MUI based Internet The VarIO costs 49.00Euro released on the Amiga sequences. If a MUI program to the Amiga but Steffen unlike Quake 1, Quake 2 mods up modern printers. format, many with spoken programs have been updated which is about £32, there is a Developer CD 2.1 has been displays strings of text from the Haeuser has announced he is will have to be recompiled to voice over. The original to close the loophole, this However the really clever thing 10Euro (£6.50) surcharge for updated for OS 3.9. Internet (for example in an working on a port along with play on the Amiga. To play interface to the magazine was includes popular programs like about the VarIO is that it is the A1200 version. Further EMail title, ICQ message or Hans Jeorg and Thomas Quake 2 you will need a copy The ‘C’ and assembly designed with CanDo which YAM, Simple Mail, STRICQ designed to work in as many details including a detailed webpage) without stripping Frieden. All three of these guys of the PC version because the language header files have caused problems on some and NewsCoaster. Vaporware Amiga configurations as installation manual can be escape sequences then it is work for Hyperion and have game data files (PAK files) been updated as have the Amigas, particularly those have reported that all their possible, the board has a clock found at: possible for an attacker to been responsible for porting have not been freely released, linker libraries, Autodocs and running 3rd party utilities like Internet programs are already port, a Zorro edge connector embed escape codes in the many excellent games to the it is also likely to require a PPC http://www.jschoenfeld.com/ Workbench AREXX MCP and Directory Opus 5. designed to avoid the problem. and a 26pin expansion port. string and cause MUI to try and Amiga. In a recent Interview accelerator and we usual we’re documentation. The ‘C’ header The publishers are now If you use any MUI based open a file. with German on-line magazine sure a 3D graphics board will files were cleaned up and introducing a new interface Internet programs it would be Amiga.topcool Steffen said make the world of difference. syntax checked so they based on Scala which should Normally this would not cause wise to check with the author their port is nearly complete Some early screenshots of compile cleanly with both be more compatible, we tried it a problem however several or publisher to see if updated but he is working hard with Quake 2, including 18 showing SAS/C and GCC compilers. on a heavily expanded A1200 third party pipe utilities versions have been released some beta testers to make mods that have been The work on the NDK was system and it worked well including APIPE: (supplied with and if so upgrade. sure the end result is of recompiled for the Amiga have largely carried out by Olaf (although it doesn’t work on a AmiTCP and Genesis) and You can read the full detailed commercial quality, including a been released on Amiga Barthel. graphics card so you’ll need AWNPipe: (supplied with AWeb report at: proper installation utility and Extreme: access to your AGA output). and used by some utilities) Download the updated kit from: http://www.abraxis.co.uk/ setup GUI familiar from allow a program to be run by http://www.amigaextreme.com/ www.amiga.com/3.9 www.100percentamiga.org SA-2001-11-08.html Hyperion’s commercial games. accessing a “virtual” file. One interesting aspect of Therefore if a user has a Quake 2 is that many mods 8 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 9 News News AmigaOS 4 Update Fleecy Speaks hardware. First up the original under Emulation initially and be filenames up to 108 characters Overall this seems like great Fleecy Moss, Amiga Inc’s Chief Technical Officer, starts a regular column in Total Amiga. t last things seem to be CyberStorm PPC accelerators ported in future releases. in length. Complementing the news to me, the Amiga OS is This time he focuses on Amiga’s broad strategy for fulfilling specific requirements happening on the OS 4 and almost certainly their new file system will be a set of in the hands of a company who A OS 4 will be based on a and updates us on recent developments. front! As you can read in our Blizzard PPC cousins will be disk salvage and optimisation have proved themselves to be World of Amiga South East supported (Ben Hermans of second generation varsion of (which were lacking in OS3.5 professional and to produce Cellphones, Intelligent TVs, report, Alan Redhouse and Hyperion said they are 99% the Amiga’s kernel , called and 3.9) and a replacement for quality products. The new umour has it that when Games Consoles, PCs but just Fleecy Moss of Amiga signed a sure the BlizzardPPCs will ExecSG. The kernel is the HDToolbox. Another important features proposed are exciting Commodore finally got digital devices, in which there contract at the show on the work) this means many existing heart of the piece of new software included but also seem realistic and R hold of the Amiga, they were aren’t various esoteric file future development of the users will be able to try OS4 which controls multitasking and with the OS is a new TCP/IP achievable, not just a pipe so amazed by what it could do formats with arcane extensions AmigaOS. The other party to without investing in additional memory allocation, new stack developed by Olaf dream. We’ll have a choice of that some bright spark in but just pictures, films, that contract was Hyperion hardware. Elbox have already features of the ExecSG include Barthel. The stack will be hardware depending which marketing hit on the idea that documents, games; digital who will be co-ordinating the expressed an interest in OS 4 the HAL mentioned earlier, compatible with existing should suit most tastes (and they could sell it as the content. It doesn’t mean software development, initially support for their Shark add-on virtual memory, new library network applications, network hopefully pockets too)! machine that could do abandoning what you want do for AmigaOS 4. Unfortunately it PPC processor card for the interface, resource tracking, address translation (NAT) will anything. Unfortunately people do, or having it dumbed down seems that before this contract Mediator PCI bus and from optional memory protection be supported allowing users to So, When’s all This Due? didn’t want machines that do so that it can be shoehorned had been signed little or no previous agreements and WarpOS backwards share a network connection anything, they wanted into the convenient package of work had taken place on the announced with Amiga it compatibility. Before you jump and it will include DHCP and When their development of machines that did very specific mass marketing. It means a core of the updated OS, mainly seems likely that the proposed up and down at the dreaded OS4 was first announced PPP over Ethernet which is things. As a result total solution, finally to all the due to the very hard economic PPC solution for Matay’s words virtual memory Hyperion stated that they Commodore let the markets computing requirements of the conditions in the technology Prometheus PCI card will also remember that this doesn’t important for cable hoped for a release this come to them when third individual, the family, the sector. be supported. Then we have necessarily imply swapping support. February however that has parties saw solutions (Newtek institution. the dedicated motherboards, of memory to disk or the poor now slipped a little mainly Fleecy gets Clubbed at Since the show Hyperion with the toaster/flyer, Game course OS4 will work on implementation that is found in because more features are This total solution covers all Alt.WoA last year. reports that OS development is Hardware Support companies etc) rather than Eyetech’s AmigaOne and there windows. On the other hand as going to be incorporated into the products offered by Amiga. now well underway with 4 full going out to the market and and users. In that regard, is also good news on the I understand it, it should mean The OS will include a new the first release. As I write this The AmigaDE is moved time developers and a further showing it solutions. Amiga Pegasos front, Ben Hermans an end to memory system at the end of January the latest forwards at great pace, with this magazine that you have 20 or so part timers working on thus triumphed in the niche has said that Hyperion have fragmentation! Some features developed by the Picasso 96 news from is that they still over 50 applications, purchased is not just a telling it, including most of the markets where it was the best ordered the developer kit and like memory protection will only team and a new version of hope to make a developer thousands of developers and testament to the total solution OS3.5/3.9 team. One solution, in the hearts and plan to support bplan’s new be available to new programs Warp3D, drivers for Permedia release in February and users attracting the attention of many of Amiga but also to the belief, interesting announcement that minds of those who understood PPC motherboard. but as they are developed it 2/3, Voodoo 3, Matrox should get the new OS a few of the biggest companies as it dedication and passion really ties this new version technology, and in the fickle should make AmigaOS more G450/G550 and ATI Radeon weeks later. So I would looks for futureproof solutions engendered by the vision of back to the Amiga’s roots is but fun market of stable and crash proof. graphics cards are planned imagine we should start getting to their present days problems. the Amiga itself. With the last that Dave Haynie (one of the Structure of the New OS entertainment. Unfortunately, it and existing Zorro cards will be excited sometime in April! The AmigaOS, under the english magazine departed for key Amiga designers at completely missed the markets The aim of the first release of supported (in machines which project management of other pastures, only with Commodore) has taken on the New Features and As we seem to say so often in that went on to define AmigaOS 4 will be to move have Zorro slots!). The popular Hyperion Interactive, is also Amiga could a group of normal, role of technical consultant in the Amiga world, we’ll just computer usage, business and existing Amiga users and Improvements OpenGL 3D API will also be moving forwards, making that everyday guys and gals part to share his knowledge of have to wait and see but this education. decided to move their already hopefully some ex-users on to , the Amiga’s basic supported. Basic USB support long awaiting move from 68K the PPC processor. Quite a time the signs look good. excellent user magazine up a the PowerPC processor which display system which handles will be implemented but it is Now the world has moved on to PPC, not just as a mere large amount of information on notch and take its place. I am offers much higher screens, windows and the like, expected to be limited to again. The two stage emulation of the past, but as a OS 4 has been made public in delighted to be writing in the performance than the 68000 is being upgraded and made keyboards and mice in the first Where Can I Find Out technology cycle is shifting vibrant, hungry, radical new the form of announcements first issue of Total Amiga, and if series processors used in most PPC native, the upgrade will release. Retargetable audio from innovation to maturation. member of the most uptodate and interviews, in this report I More? I had a bottle of Champagne I current Amigas. Unlike running include enhanced window will be supported by a new The computer as a hard to use, technology circle. In parallel, have tried to summarise that would smack it over the heads a PPC card under the current borders with user-selectable PPC version of AHI which will At this time there isn’t a rudely exposed piece of Eyetech Ltd are building the information and the current of the whole team whilst OS version 4 will only use the gadgets and support for be support sound cards dedicated OS4 website so the engineering is sinking into AmigaOne, a brand new, ultra state of affairs as far as we speaking in a nasal voice and PowerPC, existing 68k external plug-ins. In addition including all current Amiga best bet is to surf around the invisibility as it becomes a modern PPC motherboard know them. wearing a silly hat. This launch programs will be supported by both the basic gad-tools and soundcards and the news sites and see what is mere commodity for consumer using only the latest of is a wonderful triumph not just an emulator. The emulator will the new Reaction GUI building Soundblaster 128 and Live. A being reported. For this article needs. The true story, the true technologies. After so many for the SEAL group but for all Hardware Support use just in time (JIT) systems will be upgraded and driver will be provided to my main sources were purpose of this revolution is years waiting, after so many compilation to run existing Amigans everywhere and I For many Amigans the best made PPC native which should support SCRIPTS based SCSI Hyperion’s OS4 developement becoming apparent – human false starts, 2002, will be the programs at high speed which urge you to support it piece of news about OS4 make the whole interface more controllers, I believe these are update posted on activity moved from the year that Amiga reintroduces should exceed existing 68k wholeheartedly. (apart from the fact that it’s snappy and reduce the amount the NCR/Symbios/LSI Logic http://www.ann.lu on the 21st physical realm to the digital the world to elegance through processors in many cases actually being developed) is of load put on the 68k SCSI chips already used on of January and Ben Hermans’ realm with the task, not the simplicity. (although it will depend on the that it will now support a wider emulator. many Amiga controllers interview with Boing Attitude at implementation being the most speed of the PPC used). The My theme through this letter variety of PPC hardware. The including the Blizzard PPC and http://glames.free.fr/ important part of the process. OS will be ported gradually to A new version of the fast file has been ‘total’, and for the OS will be based on a CyberStorm PPC. You can also PPC with the important aspects system (FFS) has already been Amiga has coined a phrase for Amiga this has also meant not layer buy PCI SCSI cards based on mentioned here being made developed for OS4 again PPC this – ‘Digital Living’ , an arena just technology but community, (HAL) which means that only a these chips for systems which PPC native in this first release. native and supporting hard in which there are not PDAs, the trinity of owner, developers relatively small part has to be don’t have a SCSI controller. Other parts of the OS will run drives bigger than 4Gb and altered to make it work on new 10 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 11 Features Getting into Print The magazine faced a crisis last year when our usual printer was unable to continue production, Sharon Sutton stepped in to find a replacement. Here is her take on the trials and tribulations of getting an Amiga produced magazine printed at a reasonable price, hopefully the result you see here was worth her efforts!

the magazine, he looked quite for years. He looked at the above which we were paying aking on the task of finding impressed with the quality, then magazine then promptly our previous Printers. a new Printer for our came the dreaded word! “Is it erupted into technical jargon T I thought to myself that there magazine, and thinking it was done on a PC then” “no” I said that I had never even heard of, was room for improvement. I going to be easy, was a bit smiling inside. “Mac?” “No on should I bluff my way through started to haggle (this is presumptuous of me, an Amiga” I replied quite matter or disclose to him that I didn’t Sharon territory). After especially when I didn’t really of fact. “Is that a PC then” he have a clue what he was haggling and conjoling for know a lot about the printing said. Now how would you reply talking about, I decided on the about ten minutes, he business, well if I’m honest my to that statement? No don’t tell latter. After unmasking my lack eventually brought his price knowledge was non-existent! me... In a split second all these of technical knowledge he very down, (I’ve cracked it hooray scenarios were whizzing kindly explained to me the I didn’t tell anyone that I was hooray!) but I was brought around in my head, should I printing process. Unfortunately taking on the task, it just sort of back down to earth when he explain to him what an Amiga the job was too small for him happened! I was walking past said “which platform is the mag is? Should I go into all the and he quoted some ridiculous a well known printing shop done on” “an Amiga” I said in a capabilities of the Amiga, as I price. After thanking him for his when I thought I would give it a meek voice. He then went on looked at this man in his time I left. go. My first mistake was that I to say that he needed the twenties all I could see was a had my two young children in This was proving more output on the cd rom to be in blank expression on his face so tow, not a good idea when you daunting than I first thought, I PDF or EPS format, I told him I replied with “er no” short and are trying to explain about the started to look through the that this was not a problem, he sweet I know, but what I really magazine and sounding Yellow Pages, there were lots wasn’t convinced, it took me wanted to say is not printable! knowledgeable at the same of Printers but they were based quite a lot of persuading but After taking into account what time! out of town, I wanted a printer eventually he was assured. I we required, the final quote that was in walking distance, left the magazine with him over As I entered the shop I was then tripled, I looked in dismay, could do the job at a the weekend to mull things greeted my a man in his then I thought I would try on competitive price and didn’t go over and he would give me a twenties, I explained to him the charm by asking for a white with shock when I definite answer on the Monday. about our magazine, then went discount as it would be a mentioned the Amiga. I’m not on to tell him the amount of regular printing job, but I was As I walked out of the shop I that demanding, well maybe copies that we needed, inside turned down, was I losing my was walking on air! I had sometimes, but that’s another black and white, front and back charm, or was he telepathic on actually found a printer for the story! cover to be in colour etc etc. the Amiga front! magazine, and within a week. He gave me a rough quote but As I was flicking through, I After breaking the news to I was feeling abit dejected as I said that he needed to see the noticed a Printers that I had Mick and Robert they both left the shop, but I was not magazine before he could give used years ago when I wanted seemed pleased. going to give up, I was quite me a final quote. Second to start up a secretarial enjoying my challenge, I felt When Monday arrived I was mistake, it is a good idea to business, I had my letterheads like a Watchdog journalist feeling a bit apprehensive take all the material to show and business cards printed whose mission was to find the would the deal fall through, the printers! (Well I did say I there, was this too much to best Printer to do the job at a would I have to start my search was just passing the shop) I hope for. competitive price! all over again. I felt like I had a told him that I would return the After the usual rigamarole I lot to lose (well my pride next day with the magazine. My next port of call was a local found myself standing in a anyway!) I asked Mick to go The quote he gave me was Printing Company, I phoned printing environment once back to the Printer for me as I lower than our previous first to explain about the more. After the last two printers wasn’t sure I had ironed out printers, could it be this easy! magazine and made an I found myself much more the problem about the Amiga. appointment (I was getting Before returning to the shop, I confident almost to the point of After having a boys tete-a-tete more professional!) Once again got a technical low-down on being brusque. (like only men can) The deal I picked a time when the kids the magazine from Robert. The was sealed. were at playschool (I’m Following my carefully next day I dropped the kids off learning!) As I entered the rehearsed lines, the printer The moral of this story is... do at playschool (yipee!) and printing shop, it was like looked disinterested but your research, never take armed with the magazine and embarking into a time warp, it interested at the same time! children with you and haggle all the technical jargon I was was really old fashioned and Was he playing me at my own like mad! off to the printers. This time I dingy, an older man greeted game? I took the game further was a lot more confident and me, someone who had clearly and asked him for a quote, he told the assistant exactly what been in the printing business quoted me about £150.00 we wanted, he flicked through 12 TOTAL AMIGA Features Features but skipping might become a problem unless it was a special laptop drive. I was fed up with Review CDs anyway, so in the end decided to use a 2.5” hard drive. Since these drives are designed to be used in laptop Scoring computers, they are fairly immune to vibrations and or Total Amiga we’ve taken AmiMPC bumps. The drive I chose a look at our review would need to be, to survive F scoring policy but decided to Amiga MPEG Car being driven around stick with five simple ratings Paul Quershi: “People said I was mad. An Amiga in a car. Okay, so maybe I was.” Portsmouth roads! I initially rather than going for a used a 2GB Hitachi drive, but I percentage or out of ten now have an 8GB IBM. That boot space I could get. system. Because the gives me over 136 hours of he idea originated back in usefulness of a product very So, I started to look into what I music! 2000 when Napster was much depends on you, the T would need. Firstly, I decided I still all the rage. Having The final problem was the user, we would far rather you should use an A600 (because The main unit containing the A1200 with converted all my own CDs to power supply unit, or PSU. removable hard disk and power supply attached. read the review and used the of it’s small size) and MAS MP3 format, and having Cars use a 12V battery supply, information provided to see if it Player as the heart of the downloaded gigabytes more, I which is supplemented by the necessary to organise them (so I can copy MP3s on to the satisfies your needs. system. The MAS Player is a was convinced. MP3 let me engine via an alternator. some way for selection, so I drive) via 44pin d-type device invented by my great You might logically now ask have all my music in one place, However, it’s not that simple, decided to have two grouping connectors. That alone was a friend and respected hardware “Why have a rating system at on tap instantly. Unfortunately, because cars can not only put systems. Firstly, the software total of 132 small solder joints engineer Dirk Conrad. It all then?”. We think it is still I only had a radio in my car, out up to 14.5V with the engine can select tracks by directory in a very confined space, and connects to the parallel port useful to have an overview of and Portsmouth is sadly devoid on, but also tend to produce a on the HD. This is mainly used was probably the most work to and uses a MAS3507 DSP to the product, for example often of any good stations. There lot of electrical noise in the for selecting either a band or a construct. decode MP3s. This takes the genera of music. Secondly, you it is necessary to explain a was only one thing for it, I had supply. For a computer, this is I spent days installing it, wiring load off the computers CPU can create play lists of tracks, product’s shortcomings and in to have MP3 in my car. a real problem since any major my car with serial and data and gives a nice 18bit stereo just like you can in AmigaAMP a review, with limited space fluctuations can crash it, or cables, power relays and Looking around, there were no output. I had been working on or WinAMP (in fact, they are all these can seem to overwhelm even do damage. switches, and then many more good solutions. MP3 players of an MHI driver for the MAS compatible), which are the good points. The rating weeks tuning the audio side the day were expensive, and Player at the time, so it was the The head unit that will be mounted on the dash with After much research and a designed for setting up allows the author to say, I still up. I fitted a 400W amplifier to limited to 32 or 64MB natural choice. The only prototype, I eventually came up complete albums and favourite think it’s a good product my car, and with some help SmartMedia cards. Amiga downsides are that the LCD display and volume control. with a working design. It was tracks lists. To round it all off, I despite its flaws. So here are accessing Bulletin Board than the end of your finger) to from Paul Harding and Mike compatibility was non-existent. control doesn’t work very well, based around a switch mode wrote a preferences section our new ratings: systems, many years ago, so is read and decode IR signals for O’Hara, friends from the Amiga Even now, CD MP3 players and that it uses the parallel supply circuit, similar to the with options to set bass, treble, very easy to handle. The fact standard remote controls, and Support Association, added always seem to lack a good port, and due to the way the sort of thing you might find in panning, display contrast, and that it uses the also send them via RS232 serial to some extra speakers. Finally, I Top Notch! display (accessing 1000 tracks interface works you need at any number of consumer some other misc parameters. sequentially is not a good idea) least an 030 to run it meant that I could keep the the computer. The advantage electronics devices, battery, installed the A1200 itself and This is an excellent product and the cheapest in car players comfortably. Still, that’s better parallel port free for the MAS of this over a device like the DC or mains AC operated. This I went through two versions of the head unit I had made with which we feel is nearly perfect. are even now £450. However, than needing an 060 and a Player. AirLink/EZLink is that the PIC supplies the core 5V to the the software before I had it the display, and it was finished! At must have product if you’re does all the work, taking all the perfect, and spent about a interested in the genre. one thing I did notice was that sound card. Inputs for the system were a Amiga. For the 12V line, which Now I drive around everywhere load away from the computer. month tracking down an a few brave soles had little bit harder. I was thinking is not nearly as critical, I used with my favourite bands I would need a dash mounted Also, since the display was obscure but regular guru converted their computers to of using a CD32 game pad, but a simple 12V fixed regulator pumping out, and all from an Pretty Good head unit to control the system, output only and the UIR input inducing bug (for which many use as in car players. Mostly this wouldn’t have been very chip, and a voltage inverter to ! Needless to say, and to display information. I only, I could run both from one thanks must go to Przemyslaw A good product that works well they used PCs, and the odd easy to use while driving. Then get -12V from that. All in all, the feeling of achievement and was considering using a small serial port! I liberated a credit ‘Sensei’ Gruchala for being the but has room improvement. Mac. Most were hacks to say I came across a little project on the PSU can supply around pride is amazing, and I portable TV screen for the card sized remote control from first to figure it out). I had to Definitely worth buying. the least, requiring you to the internet called the 45W of power, more than twice encourage anyone interested latter, but settled on an LCD an old Soundblaster Live, drop the A600 in favour of an carefully shut down Windows Universal Infrared Receiver, or the original A1200 unit. Many to give it a go. I put all the character display. The unit I which had plenty of buttons A1200 too, because the 030 when you stop and taking up UIR. This handy little device thanks must go to Ian details of the project on my Okay chose is produced by and suited my purpose nicely. card I had for it simply could large amounts of boot space. uses a PIC 2C508 Greenway for help here, I web site, including software Crystalfontz in the US, and can not provide the throughput I A product that works but has The second issue was a major (2K ROM, 64 The Amiga was going to need really appreciated his help. and schematics. display 20x4 characters (of needed to the custom chips areas that could be improved. one for me, having only a small bytes of RAM and a 4MHz some kind of mass storage which 8 were programmable Well, having figured it all out I and parallel port to run the I still have some plans for the Could be worth purchasing if Suzuki Alto, I needed all the RISC CPU all on a chip smaller unit. A CDROM was an option, and the rest were standard only had to build the thing and MAS Player. Some more future, as I’d like to do a better you can accept the limitations. ASCII characters, plus some write the software. This turned optimisation of the MHI driver head unit (the one I made is a Japanese script). The device out to be quite a bit of work, may help here. To house the little larger than a normal radio) Could do Better also features adjustable and I suffered many set backs. A1200, I built an aluminium and I have a few ideas for A product with major flaws that contrast, an LED back-light and The software was designed to case from and brushed it to software upgrades. MOD and has potential to be improved. some built in utility functions be simple and easy to use, as look nice. While I was at it, I Octamed playing capability is a Only worth purchasing in this like automatic bar graphs and you don’t want to have to also soldered on the A1200 possibility to. But for now, I just state if it’s your only option. horizontal scrolling. All this can negotiate complex menus or PCMCIA reset fix, removed the enjoy the look on peoples be controlled via an RS232 key presses while driving. floppy drive and used hot melt faces when I show them my in serial interface, of the kind Really, a basic stop, play, next glue to hold down any loose car Amiga MP3 player! Forget It! used for connecting a modem and previous track system is all connections. I also made a What can we say, steer clear, to your computer. The display you need most of the time. Of caddy for the hard drive, which this is a product that should works a little like one of the old course, with around 2300 allowed me to connect it to MASPlayer does the hard work never have been released. text terminals used for The LCD display in use. tracks on the system, it is either the A1200 or my A4000 of MP3 decoding. 14 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 15 Reviews Reviews Advanced Use... So with the Voodoo up and Getting Help running and your screenmode When (not If!) you run into Mediator changed to a nice big troubles there is a wealth of 1024x768 x32bit or bigger (a helpful people and .info size I have not been able to resources available on the Developer Elbox has made Sam Byford a use since I sold the 1200 with Internet or at User-Groups. Elbox Ateo+Pixel64) you can move happy chappie... at last on and play with the other PCI There is an (unofficial) Distributor cards that you have installed! I Amiga-Mediator list on to release it (they told me it with the PCI cards is another Power Computing First a bit of History... 4000 have got two Sound cards - a YahooGroups that most would be released back in matter entirely. I may have just www.powerc.com Soundblaster 128 (SB128) and Mediator users are signed When the Mediator PCI October), which in my opinion been unlucky but another 4k 01234 851500 a Soundblaster Live!; a 10 up with. If your even expansion system was first is a bit naughty, the 4k does Mediator user I spoke with has m/bit Ethernet card and a TV thinking of owning a PCI announced by Elbox, I was as not have as many users but the the same problem as me but Price card. solution you should join this Logic and MMCD....£169.95 excited as everyone else by best way to guarantee extra on a lesser scale and he can (and possibly even the Busboard, logic and MMCD what it would mean for us sales is to release things for it get away without changing A quick warning - this is where Prometheus list!) list in ...... £269.95 Amiga Die-hards. At last - Fast, so that they can be reviewed anything. MooVID playing a movie playing in PIP mode. Notice how other windows can move in front of the MooVID you will possibly start to pull order to get a rough idea of Tower, busboard, logic and easy-to-find, and above all - and the other users know it is your hair out! the sorts of things you will The problem is that the PCI window border but movie stays at the front of the screen. MMCD ...... £379.95 Cheap PCI cards that could be worth buying! I expect this have to solve to get cards will not push fully into used in our 10 year old review (and the others that will A quick tip - Get hold of the everything running. Compatibility machines! doubtless appear) to boost their slots because the Fixing able to re-sell those cards but when the installer could very program by Richard Brooklyn A4000 Desktop Elbox’s sales three fold! plate hits the Towers Back- as I’m unlikely to want to do well do this itself without the (Ribs) called Medication. Its Send an e-mail to: At the time I had two plane slots. This is shown in that its not a factor in this. user ever having needed to Test Systems available from one of several Amiga-Mediator-subscribe machines: an A1200 (Towered) the picture below: know that it did it! I also found sources: ; the Amiga- A4000D Initial Impressions... The software for the Mediator @yahoogroups.com and a Basic A4000 in a that the Voodoo card had to be Mediator website or via the PowerTower MkII 4k comes either on a Disk or (if desktop case. I was still at So what was in the package? in one of the lower slots for it to Medication website. (Address to subscribe to this group. CyberStorm MkII 060 you purchased the MMCD - university and did not have the Well, let me first say that I be recognised! I initially had it at end of the review) This which everyone with a sort of money needed to buy a ordered the logic off of PowerC in the top slot (to give it air program will make the setting Mediator should do!) on CD. doesn’t appear in Medication 1200 Mediator so instead, along with the update MM CD flow) but it was not recognised. up and use of all your PCI The initial installation is straight and AHI doesn’t recognise it. when my Friend Sam Thomas that allows the latest Sound Moving it to the 2nd slot meant cards a breeze and simplifies forward enough - one icon And as AHI is going to be your (The author of www.amiga- and TV cards to be used. This it was recognised. the entire process. does the lot and all the option main interaction program with mediator.co.uk ) bought himself CD comes with some new are easy enough to follow. It You will then need to spend the the Soundcard that proves to an 1200 Mediator, I bought his “” chips which you have Basically, if the screw hole The SB128 is a great little card does insist on installing the next half hour or so editing the be a bit of a problem! old AteoBus system off him to swap with certain ones on lines up then the right hand and comes in so many types sound and TV drivers together Screenmode settings in which was a good half-way the Logic Board. However, end of the card pops out of the that most versions will work though which is unusual Picasso96 mode to suit your If you want to hear your Paula compromise! A short time after thanks to Power the Logic slot (with the left end barely with the Mediator. Check out because if you don’t have both individual monitor. Most people sound though the Soundcard the 4k version on the Mediator came with the new chips locating), and if you push the the Mediator website for a list cards then half of that part of with a graphics card will know you will need to run a cable was announced I made a already installed so I did not card fully in then you can’t of chips that work with the the install is pointless! how to do this so I won’t go from the Motherboard outputs decision to start getting the 4k have to touch a thing on the screw it in secure and the left Mediator. The SB Live! into the Soundcard either up-to-spec and promptly paid into detail - except to say that however isn’t truly supported at board itself. Everything came in side is still not fully located. Once this installer has finished through the Jack plug or via out the money for a Power the Cybervision settings have the moment and my computer a plain white box (no fancy The only option for me was to reboot and, if like me you left a one of the internal Pin-ports Tower mkII from Power most of the modes set to just refuses to work with it. It’s cover that would make it look remove each fixing plate from Zorro card in the machine (Aux_In). You can also plug the Computing that came complete “Interlaced” but you will need to recognised by PCIinfo (the nice but would also add to the the card, use a hammer to without changing the jumper I CD players audio into the with a totally new untick this box in most of the program that shows cost) with the Logic wrapped in flatten the right angle out then mentioned earlier you will boot CD_In port. Once AHI has daughterboard with six Zorro cases. The other thing to note information about all the cards a Bubble-wrap envelope. bend it back into a right-angle into AGA. From there you been set up to use the II/III slots, a Graphics slot and is that on my (and several you have installed) but it There’s a six page leaflet but 1 mm further towards the should read the Voodoo 4&5 Soundcard’s modes (Make five PCI slots - one more than other Mediator users) systems included guiding you through end. This of course meant that Guide file in the “Graphics & our cousins the 1200 had! (the if you try to edit the 256 colour the installation, even though the hole for the screw to fit Fast Ethernet” drawer (read sixth PCI slot would be taken modes the screen blanks out it’s pretty straight forward! through was out of alignment this whichever GFX card you up by the Mediator Logic Board and you cant do anything to it! The tower with the so I had to file that back so that have installed as you still need when released). There are three jumpers on the There doesn’t appear to be a everything fitted again. The five to follow its instructions.) You Mediator Logic Card board, one of which is obsolete fix for this yet and I don’t know cards I have only took about will need to do a re-install of installed in the bottom Almost a year later and the 4k until such time as the what causes it. half an hour to alter as the Picasso96 from one source or slot. To the right Logic has Finally been SharkPPC(+) comes out. The fixing plates are only soft another (OS3.5/9 CD for You should also register the of it are the released. To be honest - this is 2nd is in case you have a aluminium. I now have perfect example) choosing a mediator board And the MM PCI slots. the biggest fault with Voodoo4/5 card and the third in The important bit, this is the PCI cards that sit in the slots Cybervision 64 3D as the CD via e-mail. I did this and Elbox/Mediators - everything case you want to leave a Zorro logic card which activates the 100% and are secured nicely. “Graphics Card” type. The received the latest two updates takes much longer to appear II/III gfx card installed. If you PCI slots in the Mediator 4000 The only downfall is that I Cybervision Monitor Driver that almost immediately. Install the than they predict. I have heard leave this open (no ZIII card) probably would not now be is in Devs:Monitors/ will then MediatorUP. files first, rumours that the logic had with a Zorro GFX card installed busboard. need to be renamed to followed by the MM_CD_UP.lha been ready for a long while but then when you boot you will go “Voodoo” and its tooltype files and these will install all the that Elbox did not have into AGA mode rather than the changed from latest drivers and updates. You sufficient pre-orders to want ZIII gfx mode. “Boardtype=Cybervision” to will also be sent the new Both the Daughter Board and Boardtype=”Voodoo”. archives as and when they Logic are well built, however, appear. Now this all seems to be an the Power Tower’s interaction awkward thing to have to do 16 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 17 Reviews If you don’t see what you want, just ask! sure you set Unit 0-3 as well as output from the soundcard: now Elbox have released option and all users can use Our range is always growing! Music Unit) - preferably a Mixer comes with the Elbox drivers for 10/100 m/bit cards. I Prometheus or Mediator. The 16bit++ mode (++ is required software but there is also only have a 10 m/bit one problem with the GRex is that if Kicksoft by some programs such as TsiMixer and AHIRecord which however. your CPU ever goes belly up Graphics Players Amplifier) you can hear all your will record from the Line_In or your entire system is up the mp3’s and other sound in full, Microphone inputs on the card. At the SEAL meeting where I creak until you can either Drawstudio glorious 16bit! And you will Address for these programs installed the Mediator/PCI repair the card or get a new This excellent Graphics package avaliable one again!! Comes on CD and Moovid PPC includes Texture Studio & Image Studio. PPC version with both WARPUP and POWERUP versions. Comes on CD Never go back to Paula again!! are at the end of the review. cards and Software, I tried a one. The Prometheus on the £35.00 £18.00 Trust me - I had my Mum and basic ethernet link with Robs’ other is a lovely card, and one The TV Card is a bit of a machine but for whatever Photogenics 5 Moovid Dad listen to the difference ideally suited to those without a Play AVI, Mov and QT files on your Amiga© Comes on CD and includes demo luxury. It basically means you reason it failed to This excellent Graphics package by Paul Nolan. On CD. between normal and 16bit Tower but it kind of throws the £70.00 files. can watch TV/Video/DVD on communicate. As a note sound and even they were “look and feel” of the system Image Engineer £12.00 your without any though - we only had five impressed!! out of kilter (In my opinion). Great Image manipulation program. Add effects to images such as Jigsaw, Frogger PPC slowdown of the system at all. minutes to test the card out The thing is that because it still Wave and Frame! Comes on CD. PPC MPEG player. Comes on CDwith example MPEGs. Elbox are currently working on If it works. Elbox’s TV driver and the Mediator has a thing uses the normal Daughter £25.00 £18.00 drivers for more soundcards, isn’t the best in the world at the about having its PCI cards in Board to hold the Prometheus Candy Factory Pro Frogger including the Live ones and moment and has been causing the correct order in its slots so the PCI cards then sits in an Create 3D Text from any standard font and use them on web pages etc. 68k MPEG player. Comes on CD with example MPEGs. £12.00 naturally I am eagerly awaiting a lot of headaches with it could just be that I need to upright position and thus don’t Comes on CD. Riva these new drivers!! There are Mediator users. I kept getting move the ethernet card into sit with their ports through the £35.00 Art Effect 4 LOWER PRICE The fastest 68k MPEG player on the Amiga! Comes on CD with example several programs that can help an error popping up when I another position for it to work. Backplane housing. You also MPEGs. Billed as “Photoshop® on the Amiga”. Excellent graphic package. Comes on you to manage your input and tried to run the TV program Unfortunately I have no way of have to leave the Case off of £18.00 (p96PIP_OpenTagList() failed). re-testing the card until the CD. the construction. Which leaves £39.99 SoftCinema The reason for this is that there next meeting as I don’t have a the Mediator 4k but that’s only FxPaint PPC AVI, QT and Mov player. On CD with example Movies. are not enough free pens second machine. But I know Useful Links viable if you don’t mind paying With over 70 effects this is a superb addition to any software collection. £18.00 available. To solve this go into that other people have it all out for a new tower (but once £60.00 AMP 2 your Prefs dir and load the working fine so this is probably Elbox Website you Have a tower you wont VHI Studio NEW PPC Mpeg, CD-i and DVD player. The only way to play DVDs on the AMIGA. Workbench program. Now set just a quirk of my setup! £18.00 www.elbox.com regret it - there’s just so much Image capture utility for video digitisers, TV cards and digital cameras. £18.00 the Icon Quality to Good (and if more room to put things! £30.00 With a Voodoo card installed Amiga Mediator Site this doesn’t work, to Poor) and MediaPoint NEW into your computer you will also (Sam Thomas) save. You should now have a So really your PCI solution is a Powerful multimedia presentation system. TV window open when you run now be able to use Warp3D in matter of taste. Each has pros £39.99 Internet www.amiga-mediator.co.uk Hardware Render mode TV with a bar of static in it! and cons. In my mind the Inet Dial instead of (the very slow) Medication Site Mediator was the best solution Home server on your Amiga©. Comes on CD, includes Apache and Geek Also, once you have the TV Software Render mode. The (Richard Brooklyn) for me and really it has been a Gadgets. driver working and opening a speed increase this will give Lot less hassle setting the DTP £40.00 PageStream 4 www.geocities.com window you have a Very hard you will make such games as AWeb GFX/Sound/TV/Ethernet up The Premier DTP program on the Amiga©, enough said!! /richardbrooklyn/ slog ahead of you to tune it into Payback, Heretic II, Excellent web browser Full Version. Comes on Floppy. (even though I’m not yet £160.00 your local channels. The CD FreeSpace, ADescent and £35.00 VGR Mediator Links Site finished doing this!) than some PageStream Upgrade actually has a lot of pre-tuned GLQuake so much nicer to AWeb Upgrade http://www.vgr.com/mediator other things are with the The Premier DTP program on the Amiga©. Upgrade from version 3, you will Excellent web Browser. Upgrade from OS 3.5 or OS 3.9. Comes on Floppy. channels but none of them play that you truly will wonder Amiga. I’ll give IDE as a rival need to provide your serial number. ChannelEd Site showed anything but static how you ever managed with 7 example - A friend needed me £65.00 £29.99 (TVcard GUI) when I used them. fps! Its not Bug-free though to add a Hard Drive into my and even getting all of the chain to copy some things over www.channeled.de.vu/ Good news is on its way Warp3D demos to run can be a for burning to CD, but getting though in the form of the new Misc Utilities MediTV Site (TVcard GUI) task in itself, but once it’s the computer to boot with one version of Medication that is GoldEd http://einund80.virtualave.net working you won’t look back! of my Hard Drives and his at Professional 3 due out as we go to print. It will The best Editor, Program Editor, HTML Generator on the Amiga. Comes on CD. The fastest and safest file system avaliable, upto 300 times faster than FFS. No the same time was neigh-on Other help you set the channels up £30.00 longer get Validation errors! impossible! (take out my IDE I co-own a IRC channel with and will include a TV GUI To sum up... TaskiSMS £35.00 HDs and the SCSI boot Sam Thomas called called “Remote” that will make Whatever set up your 4000 is it Send Text Messages to mobile phones from your Amiga! Comes on CD. Metaview partition wouldn’t show up for £12.00 The best Clipart viewer on the Amiga©. Comes on CD with 30,000 clip art im- #StomsHouse which is life Much easier for everyone. can only benefit from having a some reason!). Spitfire 2 ages. hosted on the Arcnet server Medication is not the only PCI solution in it. You currently If you have a 3com Palm© or compatible then you need this program! Comes £18.00 (uk1.arcnet.vapor.com or program designed to help with have either two or three on CD. Diavolo de1.arcnet.vapor.com) and the TV channels though, there choices depending on your £25.00 The best backup program on the Amiga©. Comes on . in here you can find a fair are several programs available hardware: with Cyberstorms Directory Opus 5 £50.00 few Mediator users who will for this: ChannelEd and (like mine) you have a GREX The best Workbench replacement program avaliable. Fully multitasking, PhotoFolio V2 no doubt be happy to help MediTV. Links for both of these Filetype recognition and much more... The professional way to view, catolouge and manipulate your images. you with any problems you are at the end of the review £55.00 £30.00 might have. As well as Sam along with links for other useful FxScan Amiga Forever 5 NEW “Stom” Thomas (the author programs and sites. Pros The only Scanner software that offers OCR on the Amiga today!! New version of the offically licensed emulator for Windows. of the Mediator site) you can + Access to a wide £30.00 Full Version: £40.00 also find Richard “Ribs” The other PCI cards available range of inexpensive OS 3.9 Upgrade: £25.00 Brooklyn (Medication) and at the moment are Ethernet PCI cards. Latest operating system for the Amiga. Comes on CD. cards. These are extremely Top £30.00 myself on there. Please + Plus compatibility note - this is NOT a useful if you have more than with Zorro cards. one computer or if you want to Mediator channel! Add £1.00 UK postage per item. Make cheques payable to Kicksoft Ltd. Kicksoft Ltd., link to the Internet via ADSL. Cons Generally the Yahoogroups 30 Whitegate Way, Until recently only 10 m/bit - Poor fit in tower. Notch! list is the best place to go Tadworth, for Medical help! cards were able to be used but Buy Online at Surrey, KT20 5NS Results Tel/Fax (01737) 29280 18 TOTAL AMIGA www.kicksoft.co.uk Reviews Review by Robert ImageFX 4.5 Williams colours in one way or another, animation mageFX is one of the few they are AbsoluteAdd, within an IAmiga programs that is still Subtract, AbsoluteSubtract, animation. As with us from the glory days of Multiply and Divide. the keyframe the late 80’s and early 90’s, manager is so and all that time it has been in Keyframe Animation much more constant development. The 4.5 intuitive than upgrade was supplied on CD Part of the new animation the old brush and installed over my existing system introduced with animation 4.1 installation with no fuss ImageFX version 4 was the feature and using the standard installer, ability to animate brushes supports anim even my third party shareware across a sequence of frames. brushes it seems odd that its VisionFX PPC modules Version 4.5 has another new rotation feature hasn’t been continued to work without animation feature that adds incorporated into the new problems. Opening the even more power and flexibility window making an all singing, upgraded program reveals the to this concept, called the all dancing brush animation familiar interface which was KeyFrame manager. This new system. While rotation can be Conclusion overhauled at version 3.0 but window is accessed via an item achieved with the keyframe still retains many signs of its in the layer manager pop-up manager by manually setting Much as I like ImageFX (it is by pre-graphics card heritage, menu when it is in animation the distortion controls it’s very far the most used graphics particularly in the monolithic mode. The keyframe manager fiddly to do. program on my Amiga) I can’t tool box. But as I’ve already lets you set key frames in your find much to get excited about reviewed ImageFX twice in animation, and at each one you To help you get the most from in this upgrade. While the new Clubbed I won’t dwell on the can set size and position at this feature, Nova have animation feature and drawing fundamentals of the program, which the current brush will be included a large number of modes work well and the bug let’s dive into the new features. rendered. When you choose to animated sequences on the fixes are welcome they can’t generate the animation CD-ROM which can be loaded be called a major change or ImageFX will calculate the as animations or brushes. improvement. Nothing has Drawing Modes intermediate frames to create a There are about sixty been done to improve on A variety of new drawing smooth transition between sequences in total and most ImageFX’s problem areas, in modes have been added, each keyframe. Using these have a pyrotechnic theme with particular the old fashioned many mimicking the blend tools you can make a brush fly plasma, explosions fireworks interface and steep learning modes already available in the across your animation in a and even a light sabre making curve for beginners, and this layer manager window. In fairly complex path while it an appearance. All the upgrade has even less new ImageFX the drawing mode changes size. In addition to animations are in 24bit INGF documentation than the controls how the colour or this basic movement you can format and the largest is about previous ones which were brush you are painting with is add motion blur or smoothing 160 frames at roughly 300 already poorly described. So I mixed with the background to the brush and also change pixels square. find myself thinking, as I did at image. Some of the new its transparency so it can fade the end of my ImageFX 4 modes are Screen, Illuminate, in and out. I’m pleased to see Bug Fixes review, that if you’re buying Softlight and Hardlight, these that in the keyframe manager ImageFX for the first time it’s all brighten the image in allows you to position the brush Reading through the change still a fine program with lots of different ways, coloured by the at each key frame by dragging log between version 4.1a (the features if you’re prepared to selected colour or brush. The a wireframe outline in the main last free upgrade) and 4.5 it’s learn them, however for rest of the modes all combine window, you can also adjust clear that many bug fixes have upgraders the new features the corners of the outline to been made and indeed don’t really justify the price. distort the brush during the ImageFX generally seems animation. The wireframe more stable, although to be Results preview is selectable and when honest I never had any great it is switched on you can play problems with 4.1a. One very For new users: back the animation and see a useful function mentioned in realtime preview of how your the log is the option to change .info brush will move, very handy. the height of the layer manager Pretty Good! Developer window which is frustratingly Nova Design Another new feature of the small by default. This is keyframe system is its support achieved by setting the Distributor for animated brushes, you can LAYERMANAGERHEIGHT Eyetech load IFF, GIF and INGF tooltype in the ImageFX icon to For upgraders: www.eyetech.co.uk animation files and use them a number of pixels. A resizable +44 (0) 1642 713185 as a brush. As the keyframe window would have been nicer Could do Price manager animates them over but as the programmer Better! Upgrade from .4 .....£39.95 an existing animation the mentions “Not pretty, but it Full...... £79.95 frames are incremented, an works”. 20 TOTAL AMIGA Reviews Reviews off, the switch on the front of FreeKey lets you make use of the case is a signal that can be the “multimedia” keys found on intercepted in software. In real many PC keyboards. These terms this means that the are commonly marked for computer can be turned off functions such as launching a through software and the OS web browsers, EMail program .info EZKey XS can respond appropriately and other applications or Developer when you press the power transport controls such as play, Eyetech button on the case. While the pause, fast forward etc. for and Multimedia Keyboard EZKey doesn’t allow software music playback programs. Distributor control of the power supply it FreeKey is a commodity which This is the BTC Eyetech Robert Williams finds that there’s much more to does let you switch your Amiga can be run from the WBStartup 9000Z keyboard www.eyetech.co.uk Eyetech’s latest keyboard adaptor than meets on and off using a keyboard drawer or your s:user-startup supplied by Eyetech. +44 (0) 1642 713185 combination or using the front script. Although it is not the eye. power button if you have an supplied with an installer Price ATX power supply. FreeKey only needs to be EZKey XS and keyboard will depend on how copied to your hard drive. bundle...... £49.95 ith the growing many of the features you For this to work two respectively. If FreeKey is run the combination of the EZKey Infrared head and CDTV popularity of tower will be using. The full list of connections have to be made When you first run FreeKey it W from Workbench (including the XS (and also the cheaper EX remote ...... £19.95 solutions for the A1200 in the control lines that can be to the interface. The first is a opens its interface so you can WbStartup drawer) it does not and IL models) and FreeKey ATX-AT PSU adaptor last few years, there are many connected are, the power feed connector from the ATX power configure the functions of the The Basics pick up the full shell path which should allow access to the ...... £5.00 keyboard adaptors available from an ATX PSU, ATX power adaptor supplied by Eyetech additional keys on your could cause a problem to some extra keys on most which allow an external Amiga switch, reset button, keyboard Before we start looking at the connects to the EZKey, this keyboard. You have to tell programs and particularly “multimedia” keyboards, we Compatibility or PC keyboard to be attached. socket, xMON monitor switcher special features, let’s see how supplies power to the interface FreeKey about all the scripts, fortunately a work tried two other PS/2 keyboards AGA Amigas While some models have had and CDTV infrared receiver. the EZKeyXS performs as a even when the power supply is additional keys available on around for this, mentioned in with extra keys and they Tested on A1200 and problems, particularly with There is also a jumper that simple keyboard adaptor. For a “off” so the keyboard can be your particular keyboard, you the documentation, is to run worked fine, FreeKey is A4000D multiple key presses, they must be set to select power start multiple key presses are kept active to receive a power do this by adding a new key to FreeKey from the user-startup supplied with settings files for have generally been basic from the motherboard or an supported with both Amiga and on key press and also the list with the “New” button, Test Systems script. the Logitech iTouch and products with a simple ATX PSU. Once the lines are PC keyboards so you won’t connects the line which tells then entering the name of the A1200 Genius Comfy keyboards so function. With the EZKeyXS connected the EZKey must be have the problems with the PSU to turn itself on or off. key (for example Web Browser Eyetech EZTower Z4 For testing Eyetech supplied us we assume these have also Eyetech have added a whole pushed very firmly down over keyboard controlled games The second connection is from or Play), then to find the key Apollo Z4 Bus Board with a BTC multimedia been tested. Apollo 1260 range of features and options the keyboard chip until it sits that plagued many earlier the power switch on the front of you click on a button called keyboard, this has a total of 16 to their “top of the range” flush with the motherboard. adaptors. When using a PC the tower, pressing this causes Grab and then press the key additional keys arranged along A4000D keyboard adaptor. Once installed like this it feels keyboard the key mapping the EZKey to generate a rest you want to assign, FreeKey the top of the keyboard. I spent Monitor Switcher firmly connected. However, it is seems logical, the Windows warning sequence before then picks up the code that Micronik Tower some time playing with The EZKeyXS provides control easy not to push down firmly keys are used as Amiga keys signalling the PSU to switch identifies that key. You can Micronik Bus Board Installation FreeKey, launching different over Eyetech’s xMon range of CyberStorm Mk I 060 enough, if this is the case the and the menu key is mapped off. Because the ATX control then add a qualifier such as programs and even wrote The EZKey XS is installed by video switchers from the interface won’t make a good to Left Amiga M so it cycles has to be active when no Shift or Alt, allowing you to some AREXX scripts to control plugging a PLCC socket over keyboard. Pressing LAmiga, Supplied by connection and can even pop screens. Pressing the Scroll software is loaded (otherwise assign several actions to each the freeware CD player the keyboard controller chip RAmiga (or the PC keyboard Eyetech off the chip. Lock key cycles through a total you couldn’t use it to switch on) key. Finally you can set the ACDPlay from the transport found on the motherboard of equivalents) and the Up cursor of four key mappings, map 2 the key combination of program or script that will be keys on the BTC keyboard. A1200 and A4000 computers, The 5pin DIN keyboard key switches between the two exchanges the \ and # keys LAmiga, RAmiga and Delete to run when this key combination Everything I tried worked well this means installation can be connector is attached to the inputs. To set this up the making the layout closer to a switch on or off the PSU is is pressed, currently FreeKey (once I had overcome the path quite involved, a desktop EZKey by a cable about 20cm xMon’s two pin connector that real Amiga keyboard, the other hard coded into the EZKey XS, only supports running shell problem mentioned above) and A1200 must be disassembled long and is designed to be would normally go to the flick two are designed with this is slightly annoying when programs, however we found having the extra keys to hand and in tower system you will bolted to the back plate of a switch is simply connected to particular types of keyboard in you have a keyboard with a that all the programs we tried did prove useful. The BTC almost certainly have to tower. The EZKey XS supports the keyboard adaptor. Like the mind, compact keyboards with special “Power Off” key but I (including those usually run keyboard is quite nice with a remove any PCI or Zorro bus both standard Amiga power up/down key press the only one Windows key and can’t see a way they could from Workbench) worked fine reasonable feel but I have to board if you have one. On the keyboards such as those monitor switch combination is older style AT keyboards have avoided it. and that AREXX and shell admit to still preferring the A1200 the keyboard chip is just supplied with the A2000, 3000 hard coded into the adaptor. without any at all. scripts could be run using the A2000 keyboard I use to the right of the white and IBM PC compatible Keys, Keys and more rx and execute commands regularly. Eyetech state that keyboard ribbon connector keyboards with the AT style I’ve got the Power! Remote Control (looking from the front) and on 5pin DIN plug. Keys As an option Eyetech can A4000 it is to the right of the desktop and IBM PS/2 type The ATX power supplies used The EZKey XS is supplied with supply an infrared receiver Zorro riser underneath the hard keyboard which use a 6pin mini in most modern PC cases have a small freeware utility called which connects to the drive cradle. Before installing DIN can be used with an a soft power switch (older AT FreeKey which was developed EZKeyXS and gives you the interface on the chip, adaptor widely available from supplies with P8 and P9 plugs with the support of Eyetech by keyboard and mouse control Eyetech recommend PC suppliers and I’m sure have a hard switch), this The EZKeyXS lets you use Alistair Robinson who also from a CDTV remote controller connecting up the various Eyetech themselves. means the motherboard can wrote FreeWheel, supplied which they also supply. Two the extra keys found on control lines, what you connect signal the supply to turn on and designs of receiver are many PC keyboards. with many mouse adaptors. If you already have an EZKeyXS available, a small external box you can download FreeKey which is connected to the to from Eyetech’s website the EZKey XS via a mini-jack however your adaptor must be socket which can be mounted the current MkII version. If it is on the back of your Amiga or not Eyetech can perform the an internal unit which could be necessary firmware upgrade placed behind a blanking plate for £15. Assigning a command to a “multimedia” key is easy (with a suitable window) in a 22 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 with the FreeKey utility. 23 Reviews Reviews tower case or anywhere else Full keyboard control is available you fancy. For those not via a CDTV infrared At last! An Eyetech tower that’s familiar with the CDTV remote it has a four way direction pad remote. compatible with Zorro and PCI and two “fire” buttons at either bus boards and ready for A1! end (similar to a games console controller) plus 21 EZTo werto many modern PC towers lessZ4 successful in the looks connected to the motherboard smaller rubberised keys in the yetech have been in the and the common A1200 Power department because the cover floppy power supply and a centre section. There is also a EA1200 tower business for Tower. The inside of the case is runs across the whole width of single wire supplying -12V sliding switch which, on the several years now, but the accessed via removable side the tower, however we can which goes out the back of the CDTV switched the D pad EZTower differs markedly from panels which are each held in think of little need for two 3.5” tower and back into the centre between and mouse manual their original tower design place by two screws at the devices these days and many pin of the A1200 power mode. Eyetech have mapped which has a which has developed into the back of the tower. Once the come with a 5.25” adaptor connector. If you have a Z4 the buttons on the controller so useful table EZTower MkV and is still screws have been removed, anyway. board the power supply is you can access most common showing all the available. The Z4 is designed, they slide off quite easily with a connected to the P8 and P9 keyboard functions and use the possible characters and as the name implies, to house pull at the hand hold Installation connectors on the busboard, a mouse remotely. how to get them. I’m sure with an A1200 fitted with Apollo’s thoughtfully pressed into the much neater solution. As the practice you could get quite Z4 bus board. This requires back edge. These removable Before installation in the tower Z4 board has AT style PSU connector as found on the Because the CDTV controller good but anyone wanting to that the A1200 motherboard is panels are far nicer than the all the A1200 motherboard must connectors you will need an Squirrel and two round cut outs doesn’t have a full QWERTY mounted on the right hand side in one top cover used on many be removed from the plastic adaptor if you opt for an ATX enter more than a few words is only implemented on Amigas for audio output from a mixer keyboard Eyetech have of the tower (looking from the other towers. casing, the top metal shielding power supply (Eyetech can would probably want to get a with external keyboards. (which Eyetech can supply as employed quite a complex full cordless keyboard (any front) with the accelerator is also discarded. Next three supply either type of PSU and an extra if you don’t feel like Finally the EZKey supports hot The case is what is commonly mapping to get full keyboard PS/2 model should be towards. Other Eyetech towers hex head screws need to be a suitable adaptor), the building one). It has always plugging of the keyboard while known as a tower with functionality. The Mouse/Joy compatible with the EZKeyXS). have the A1200 motherboard removed from the connectors advantage of an ATX supply is annoyed me (I even mention it it is running (although you three 5.25” drive bays for CD switch is employed to switch On the other hand for more on the left side with the at each end of the A1200 that it can be switched on and in my Ateo A4000 tower cannot change keyboard types, drives and other similarly sized between pointer mode where simple tasks with minimal text accelerator slot pointing board, leaving five still in place. off from the keyboard using review) that when designing a PC to Amiga or vice versa devices and four 3.5” bays. Of the D pad moves the mouse entry like presentations and downwards. The advantage of The motherboard can then be Eyetech’s EZKeyXS adaptor, custom back plate for Amiga without a reset) ideal if you use the 3.5” bays one is behind a pointer and keypad mode demonstrations the remote this configuration is that you placed inside the tower. The also reviewed in this issue. If towers no companies had the a keyboard switcher to share floppy drive face plate moulded where the D pad is used to would be very handy. can fit a PC motherboard into connectors at the back of the you buy a Z4 busboard forethought to allow for one keyboard among several into the tower’s front panel, the select different character sets the same tower which is not motherboard are then lined up Eyetech supply a set of additional connectors, so it’s computers. The EZKeyXS second can be accessed by on the remaining keys. 13 of possible with this Z4 case. with the cutouts in the back of spacers so it is firmly mounted great to see them here. Each Excellent Design includes flash memory so the removing a snap-out panel on the 21 keys in the centre of the tower (the joystick, floppy, in the tower, as PCI busboards unused cutout is covered by a firmware can be upgraded by First impressions of the tower the case’s front and the other controller are mapped to the The EZKey XS is obviously the serial and parallel connectors such as the Mediator 1200 and small metal plate held in place Eyetech without replacing any are very good, it looks two are internal only for hard letter keys on the keyboard, product of many years of have a single long cutout) and GRex 1200 both use the same by screws so you can easily components, this is the attractive and is slim compared drives. The A1200 floppy drive pressing left on the D Pad experience in keyboard the six hex screws loosely mounting points as the Z4 remove or replace them if you function of the edge connector is fitted behind the moulded maps these to A-M and adaptors at Eyetech, it has replaced. Two screws hold the board they should also be change your Amiga’s at one end of the board. face plate complete with its pressing right maps N-Z. up many neat features that will go A1200 motherboard to the compatible. configuration. and down on the D pad is used unnoticed most of the time but button intact, a captive eject tower’s back plate, one these to lock shift on or off will occasionally be invaluable. Conclusion button in the tower’s front are in place the hex screws The installation process is well respectively. With the D pad panel then pushes against the can be tightened. Now you can documented in a nine page A5 Conclusion For example when used with a The EZKey XS is fairly pricey released the numeric keys on original button to eject the disk. add any additional drives, booklet, although this is PC keyboard it has been for what is a simple piece of I really like this tower, it has the controller allow you to enter Apart from placing the floppy connect everything up and refit photocopied, it is clear, the designed to allow keys to be hardware, however a great .info most of the good features of numbers and their related drive rather far behind the face the power supply. The tower is instructions are detailed and held down at startup, for deal of thought has obviously Developer & Distributor the Power Tower, quality fit and symbols with shift lock on. The plate which makes inserting supplied with a long floppy photos are used where example to disable an been put into its design, it is Eyetech finish, easy assembly and other keys are mapped to floppies slightly more awkward drive cable and an adaptor to required. The step by step accelerator or bring up an early hard to think how it could be www.eyetech.co.uk compatibility with bus boards commonly used symbols, than normal this arrangement allow the connection of the instructions take care to configuration menu, which is more flexible or compatible. In +44 (0) 1642 713185 and adds a more compact and punctuation and functions works very will and looks much power floppy drive and hard mention a what point only usually supported by true all the time we used it we had stylish look (in my opinion of depending on the alpha Price better than the “home made” disk lights. expansions and add-ons such Amiga keyboards. Another no difficulties and the PC course), convenient side mapping and shift mode unusual feature is the EZTower Z4...... £89.95 face plates supplied with many as a PCMCIA adaptor should panels and all those handy keyboard did everything a real If you are not using a Z4 selected. The “fire” buttons are implementation of the reset W/keyboard adaptor£109.95 tower kits. Removing the snap- be installed. connector cutouts. The only Amiga keyboard would do. The busboard, the Amiga is used as either left and right signal convention which gives out panel to add a second feature it lacks, that I can see, facility to make use of Compatibility powered from a standard mouse buttons in pointer mode running programs a moment of accessible 3.5” device is rather is a removable motherboard “multimedia” keys and the Amiga 1200 floppy driver power connector Cutouts or return and backspace in warning when you perform a tray but that only really helps optional remote are the icing Zorro 4 Bus Boards One very nice feature of this keypad mode. Finally there are keyboard reset, some use this during initial assembly anyway. on the cake, this really is the Mediator and GRex A1200 tower is the number of two special buttons on the to complete hard disk An excellent package and best keyboard adaptor money PCI Busboards additional cut outs supplied on remote which don’t change operations before the reset. good value for money too! can buy! The EZTowerZ4 the back of the case for regardless of mode, the CD/TV Normally this reset convention Test System with one side panel additional connectors. Of button toggles the xMon A1200 By Robert Williams open. The 3.5” course there are seven monitor switcher if one is fitted Pros Apollo Z4 Bus Board and the Power button resets drive cage has also standard slots for card (Zorro Well thought out Apollo 1260 Result the Amiga if it is pushed three been removed for or PCI) back panels and one design. times whin one second. Supplied by easier access. You for the keyboard socket but here we also have four cut outs Multimedia key Top Eyetech may just be able to for 9/15pin D connectors (ideal With this fairly complex support. see the ATX power Top mapping and no new markings connector in the for monitor switcher or on the CDTV controller using Wide range of features. middle of the tower.additional serial port connections), two for 25pin Ds the keyboard remotely takes Cons Notch! Notch! quite a bit of learning. I found I (parallel ports perhaps), one had to constantly refer to the A little expensive. for a 50pin centronics SCSI Results 24 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 25 Reviews Reviews with the left or right mouse scaling options and a variable buttons, this is much quicker amount of smoothing can be than changing effects all the applied to the edges when a time. The next button in this brush is composed onto the section of the control bar is for background. One annoying special effects, these include aspect is that operations applied warping an area of the image, to a brush can’t be undone. .info Perfect Paint applying one of several pre- Developer Has Robert Williams found the defined effects which are Cutting brushes from another Georges Haljadvian combinations of Perfect Paint’s image and painting them on to a HTTP://gothic.fr.free.fr/amiga Mary Poppins of paint effects, a simple ray tracer which background is the main method /index.html programs... is this practically allows you to insert many pre- of composing images in Perfect defined 3D objects and rotation Paint as it doesn’t have the License perfect in every way? correction which can layers and rub-through options Freeware automatically rotate an image found in many other image processing programs. While the window’s title bar or by keyboard types, three levels of antialaising based on a line which should be Compatibility 2.8 brush tools are very powerful, I fter mentioning a new short cuts. Many other functions are available which make the straight. Finally here we have the 68030+ and FPU did find the lack of layers limiting, version in the news pages of are accessed by right clicking on text look very smooth. There are antialiasing control, this is used AmigaOS 3.0+ A to smooth the edges of hard it’s hard to go without the several issues of Clubbed, I icons to pop-up menus. The also options to produce an Graphics card flexibility they give for thought it was about time we had main tool bar holds almost all of outline of the text and to apply lines like those drawn with the experimenting and making minor a proper look at Perfect Paint. the program controls, it is split up various really nice effects such standard painting tools to avoid Test System The standard image window with zoom and adjustments after you are used This application started as a into seven sections, as these are as drop shadow, glow and bevel. jaggies. This feature alone A3000 instantly puts the quality of to a package with layers. simple freeware paint program so important I will mention them This image shows the liquid effect applied with a stencil CyberStorm PPC/060 Controls - These buttons give Perfect Paint’s output streets tiling controls at the top. 128Mb Fast RAM and has been growing complex in detail now. image processing and animation access to some of Perfect ahead of traditional paint Stencil CyberVision PPC Brushes - Much like traditional Paint’s more advanced features, programs such as and an overlayed text effect. features, more with each update. Also in the right click menu is a also have a preview thumbnail AmigaOS 3.9 Amiga paint programs you can when clicked with the left button and Personal Paint. Stencils, or masks as they are So after downloading and user definable section so you that shows the effect on a small CyberGraphX 4 choose several sizes of square, they toggle on and off indicating commonly called in other installing the latest version, a can add your own scripts to the portion of the image, the round or oblique brush, you can whether a feature is in use. Palette - The next area of the packages, are an important simple matter of dragging the menu for quick access, previews can be repositioned by also pick one of 9 brushes cut Clicking with the right button control bar is the colour palette, feature of any image editing drawer on to my hard disk and submenus are supported. dragging the mouse but not from an image or predefined produces a menu of options to this shows 256 colours which program, their function is to copying a font, I got stuck in. zoomed. Unlike Photogenics the round soft edge brushes of control the feature. The buttons can be picked by clicking on protect areas of the image from Progress - Right at the bottom effects are not painted in real Perfect Paint opens on its own various sizes. in this section are for: Brush, them. There is also an icon alteration, either by painting or of the control bar are two time, when you draw you see a screen and initially two windows enabling you to cut brushes from which produces a spread of image processing effects. This is progress gauges, the top one rubber band line or solid colour are displayed, on the left is the Tools - All the standard painting the image, the menu has load colours when clicked so you can useful, for example to change shows the progress of longer and the effect is processed and main tool bar and along the tools are provided such as circle, and save options and allows quickly choose any colour. Like the colour of a particular part of effects and the lower one can be drawn when you complete the bottom of the screen is a bar box, line, curve and polygon. For effects such as rotation to be many packages Perfect Paint the image or to apply an effect to used by an AREXX script to drawing operation. All except the containing thumbnails for each of most tools clicking and holding applied to the current brush. has a draw colour and a a particular object. In Perfect show overall progress if it runs colour effects have adjustable the images that are currently down the left button on their icon Anim, switches between background colour, these are Paint the stencil features are all several effects. transparency, so you can have loaded, up to a maximum of 10 allows you to choose from animation and single image shown in an icon, right clicking accessed from the Stencil button some of the original images images at once. The current various options, such as a filled mode. Spare, allows you to here produces a menu of palette and its associated Menu. showing through, this can either image is displayed in a standard version, once you have chosen switch to a spare “scratch pad” options. These include a window Effects Clicking on the button activates Amiga window, the image bar at an option it becomes the new where you can define individual be set before hand or you can the current stencil and you can area for the current image. A selection of image processing the bottom of the screen can be default for that button. Some colours by their RGB values and opt for a requester to pop-up click again to temporarily Effects, various image effects are available and these used to swap between the buttons have a “folded over” also create spreads and colour after you finish painting but deactivate it at any time. To processing effects which can be are applied using the standard loaded images but only one corner, this indicates that right ranges for gradient fills. Up to before the effect is applied. define the areas protected by the applied with the painting tools. painting tools when the effects image window can be displayed clicking on the icon will open an ten gradients can be defined, stencil you use the Edit Stencil Stencil, allows areas of the icon is toggled on. The effect to at a time. In a tool bar at the top additional settings requester, for each one can use up to 20 window which is accessed from image to be masked so painting be applied an be picked from the Brushes and of the image window are various example the line tool has a different colours, a opacity can the pop-up menu. In edit stencil and effects do not apply to them. effect button’s pop-up menu or icons, three allow you to zoom in settings requester where you can be set for each colour so you Compositing mode the areas of the image I’ll discuss some of these from a useful list window that and out and to 100%. Other define a dash pattern. In addition can make partially transparent protected by the stencil are features in more detail later in stays open on the screen without A brush is a portion cut from the icons are used to tile the window to the standard tools there are gradients. The palette menu also shown as a checker board this review. blocking other operations. The current image, once the cut neatly over a portion of the several that stand out as offering includes various colour effects pattern, which makes the active available effects and split into six brush icon is selected clicking on screen or to size it to the image. some interesting options. The fill Misc - brush modes, with this such as colour and gamma area of the image very clear. The categories: Colour, Wrap, Distort, a filled shape tool allows you to If you prefer a display similar to tool has a useful tolerance option button you can select various correction. edit stencil window has various Pixelate, Other and Blur and cut circles, freehand shapes etc. Deluxe Paint Perfect Paint can which controls how close a painting modes such as rubber tools that can be used to select most have a preferences as well as the usual rectangles. be set via a tool type to show the colour has to be to the area you stamp (called clone in many Control - The buttons in this the stencil area by clicking on requester where you can adjust More complex shapes can be cut image in a window fixed at 100% click for the fill to flood over it. other programs), smear and section will be instantly familiar their options. The range of as a brush using the stencil and a separate Zoom window. The text tool lets you make a text water colour. All these modes to anyone who has used DPaint. effects is good with all the functions described below. There brush out of any system font have a fade option which is We have buttons for symmetry standards like blurs, colour are ten brush buffers so you can including bitmap and scalable accessed by right clicking on the (who hasn’t made a few snow Toolbar correction and ripples well hold several brushes in memory icon, this causes the colour to flake patterns in DPaint?) and catered for. Some of the more at once and a thumbnail of each Perfect Paint’s user interface is fade as you paint as it would do grid, both adjustable with a right unusual ones include an is displayed in the Select Brush rather unusual, none of its with a real paint brush. There are click. Below them are clear excellent liquid effect that window. Unfortunately the Select windows and gadgets except the two other modes to this function image which clears the current produces beautiful interference Brush window is modal, so it image window follow the normal which are unusual in an Amiga image to the background colour patterns and two useful image can’t open all the time. Brushes Amiga pattern, and it does not package, Burn/Dodge and and Undo which Redoes if you generators: clouds and starfield can be loaded and saved as and use standard menus at the top of Saturate/Desaturate. These right click. The only unusual icon which make good backdrops. when required and there is also the screen. The basic functions options are designed for here is for AREXX, right clicking Most effects have a preferences the option to save an ‘Album’ of such as loading and saving are correcting photographs and allows you to select an AREXX requester with parameters to up to ten brushes and load the Almost all Perfect Paint’s accessed by a pop-up menu Many tool bar buttons have allow you to lighten and darken script which can then be run at tweak the end result to your whole lot in one go. The brush features are accessed from which appears when you left popup menus like these or saturate and desaturate areas the click of the button. A number Whew, no sign of of sample scripts are supplied. liking. Many of these requesters pop-up menu offers rotation and Lawerence Lewellen-Bowen! this packed toolbar. click on an icon in the tool bar from the Effects button. of the photo by painting over it 26 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 27 Reviews Reviews the image. First is the magic Three methods of animation wand which flood selects areas creation are supported: Cell of similar colour, the flood animation is the most basic, for Olympus Alf Whitfield is on a mission to find the ideal tolerance for each colour this you draw on each frame digital camera for business and pleasure. channel (R, G and B) can be individually, ideal for making adjusted. The eye dropper tool animated GIFs for websites selects all areas of a similar which tend to change each Camedia C3000Z colour, again using the frame. I couldn’t find any support also offer a pair of Lithium cells on a memory tolerances. The other tools are for a light table or onion skin tool The animation system, y first digital camera was which last much longer but cost card. The lower standard drawing tools to select which allows you to see previous showing the control Man Olympus Camedia C- about £10 each and are hard to resolutions freehand, polygon, square and frames below the current one, and preview 830L which was good at 1.3 get hold of. If you don’t use the available are circular areas. Any combination this feature would have made windows. million Pixels. Then in March Lithiums rechargeable AA cells 640x480, of these tools can be used to Perfect Paint more suited to 2001, I purchased a Camedia are recommended as Alkalines 1024x768, selected stencilled areas so, for traditional hand drawn animation. C-3000 Zoom which is 3.3 don’t last long at all. It’s also 1280x960, and example you could select using Next up is animation using mega pixel from Dixons. My worth considering the AC 1600x1200, the magic want and then clean brushes, although there is no main reason for this purchase adaptor if you do indoor work. most of these up any stray pixels by drawing a support of brushes with multiple was that I was not getting the are offered in free hand shape over them. You frames (anim brushes, ala On one side of the camera is a additional options too which AmigaGuide file which is largely results I needed, in particular two levels of can also use to the tools to DPaint and Brilliance) Perfect flap covering the SmartMedia gives an element of a reference guide to the more life like colour. I mainly JPEG compression. All the fluorescent light. You can remove areas from the mask by Paint does have a move memory card slot, an 8Mb card customisation. There is a range functions available and while use my Digital cameras for my resolutions are also available choose between “film speeds” toggling an Add/Subtract cycle requester that allows a static of predefined effects called everything is listed the functions is supplied which on the lowest work at a bakery, this involves in un-compressed TIFF format equivalent to 100, 200 or 400 gadget. One excellent feature is brush to be automatically moved Alchemy which automatically of many commands aren’t resolution will hold over 100 taking close-up photos of our but this takes up much more ASA and there is also an auto that if you use the magic wand or along preset paths across an apply several of Perfect Paint’s described in detail. Most of the pictures, switching up to the products for quality control memory, at the maximum option. When you just want to eye dropper to select areas animation. A brush can move in image processing operators to time it’s easier just to play highest reduces this to just 2, changing the tolerance updates to or out of the animation from purposes so an accurate result resolution a 16Mb card is take a quick picture setting all achieve a certain look. Some around with a function to fathom so you may want to invest in a the selection instantly, making it the top, bottom, left or right and is essential. For these tasks I needed for one image! I the options to auto turns the emulate painting styles like oil out how it works. It would be nice bigger card. Larger cards are very quick to get just the area the program generates the have found the C3000 a great normally use 1024 x 768 for C3000 into a great point and paint or pointilism. There are to have some tutorials to help widely available and rapidly you want. intermediate frames. During the improvement over the C830 average enlargements as I find shoot camera but all the several different mosaic options new users get used to Perfect reducing in price (currently a animation the brush can be and more unusual ones like Paint’s way of working which is and it also takes very good this is adequate and quicker to options are there when you Once you have defined the 64Mb SmartMedia card is sheared and rotated and the plastic wrap that makes your something we will consider for photos out doors, in fact it’s a download and process. If I need them. If I have one stencil you want there is an about £40). On the opposite transparency can change. The image look like it’s covered in future issues of Total Amiga. One good all round camera. need a bigger print I increase criticism of the camera it is that option to smooth the edges side of the camera are various final type of animation uses cling film! The alchemy window nice aspect of the documentation it doesn’t retain the settings eliminating jaggies on the join the resolution to avoid a some of the image processing has a useful preview but it only is that unlike most AmigaGuides The front of the camera has a connectors for the AC adaptor, that you make, it always between edited and projected blotchy pixelated result. operators to create transitions uses a predefined image rather it links to some useful images, brushed metal finish and is gun USB and serial ports. The returns to the defaults when areas. Another neat option is to between animation frames, there than a portion of the current for example one shows all the metal grey in colour, the back camera is supplied with a USB The built-in zoom lens gives up turned on. draw a shadow (with definable are a selection of preset effects buffer. Probably the most pop-up menus that are available is black plastic with a crinkle lead but the AC adaptor and to 3x optical magnification offset and tansparency) below Other features include including fades, pixelisation and impressive of these aids is the and which buttons they are finish. On the back is the serial cable are extras. which is equivalent to a 35- the stencil protected area. With a really nice ripple. built in ray tracer this comes with linked to. colour LCD viewfinder which is Fortunately I already had both 105mm zoom on a 35mm recording sound clips to go the stencil switched on cutting a selection of simple objects also used to view the photos as they were supplied with my camera. One of the reasons I with each photo and you can out a brush will pick-up just the Finished animations can be such as arrows, cones and and to access options via a set C-830 camera so I didn’t need chose this camera is that it also record short movie unprotected area, this is a good saved as a GIF or IFF ANIM file Conclusion cubes plus several designed to sequences although these do way to remove objects from their and there is automatic colour of menus. There is also a to buy anything else. For data also offers the option to fit be used as buttons in web pages While Perfect Paint’s interface is take up a lot of space on the background for compositing. The reduction with three dithering standard optical viewfinder with transfer to the Amiga you will additional fixed lenses, and presentations, it is also quirky and nonstandard its memory card, I don’t know current stencil can be saved and options. While the program does diopter adjustment for glasses need to buy the serial cable, compatible wide angle and possible to create 3D text feature set puts many whether either of these files new ones loaded, a feature offer the option to set the frame wearers. Using the optical maybe in the future the USB telephoto are easily available objects. The objects can be commercial packages to shame. can be downloaded to the which could be used to work on rate for each frame I found this viewfinder helps to prolong port will be supported. If you from good camera shops. You coloured or textured with a It’s hard to believe that a several areas on an image only worked for IFF animations, I battery life because the LCD are thinking of buying an don’t need to buy specific Amiga. To download photos the bitmap, a number of which are program of such depth and separately by loading different needed to use an external utility uses plenty of power. The Olympus camera now be Olympus lenses, compatible camera connects to the Amiga supplied. The position of the complexity is freeware and stencils. like WhirlGIF to set up my GIF camera can run on four careful to check that it has a alternatives are available. The via the serial port, this model object and lights can be changed developed by one person. It is anims. None the less Perfect standard AA cells, Olympus serial port as I believe the set I bought came with an seems to be compatible with all to get just the effect you want, a well worth spending the time Paint is an excellent tool for the Olympus supporting digital Animation preview gives you an idea of the necessary to understand the C3000 is one of the last to adaptor which screws into creating web animations, with its camera software on the Amiga result before you commit to the interface, and if you’re anything have both types of connection. existing lens at the front of the In addition to painting and image high quality antialaising working I tried including CamControl, final render. Once you’re happy like me you’ll enjoy the fact that camera. A flash is built into the processing Perfect Paint has particularly well at low The C3000Z’s 3.3 mega pixel Digicam and AmiCamedia. the finished render can then fill the more you use Perfect Paint camera body that has three another trick up it’s sleeve, resolutions. If you wish to save sensor gives it a maximum the image or be used as a brush. the more cool features you find! modes, auto, red-eye reduction powerful animation support. An resolution of 2048 by 1536 Overall I have been very your animation in full 24bit and fill-in. An external flash is animation can be quickly created quality Personal Paint offers its pixels, below this the camera pleased with the C3000, it available but it uses a special by adding frames to the current own file format which uses the Documentation .info offers over 10 lower quality handles very well, is robust, connector so you have to buy a image. An animation control XPK compression package to Developer settings which reduce the has loads of features and Perfect Paint’s documentation specific model from Olympus window with VCR style buttons minimise file size. Olympus resolution and increase the above all it takes great comes in the form of an this is rather expensive at and a frame slider is available so www.olympus.co.uk compression to fit more images photographs! you can easily browse through Special Effects £300, about half the price of the animation. All the frames Pros Distributor the camera! Most camera and Result except the one currently Perfect Paint has several + Powerful features There are plenty of options for displayed are stored on disk features designed to help those electronics dealers. + Wide range of effects more serious photographers. In minimising the memory of us who are less artistically + Reliable and bug free Price addition to a full automatic requirement, for fast playback a inclined to achieve good results. + Supports modern Pretty £600 approxXX program the camera can work Top small thumbnail display of the As I mentioned briefly earlier the hardware whole animation is kept in built in text effects are really in Aperture priority, Shutter + Freeware! Compatibility priority and manual modes. memory or you can opt to stunning. There are 18 in total, Any Amiga (Olympus or playback from disk which is many of them have translucent There are five white balance Notch! Cons Good! compatible serial cable slower. elements and use the current options: auto, bright sunlight, - Quirky interface. required).

drawing colour, some have Results cloudy, tungsten light and 28 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 29 Reviews Reviews commander standing nearby secondary weapons to destroy looks at you, clicking on it it and from the ones I have takes you to the in game seen they look pretty cool. Now options screen. for some real eye candy, when Descent: your targets are on the verge of It is from here that you can go total destruction blue flashes of to set various in game options lightning emit all over the .info such as graphics detail, level of vessels body just prior to a Developer difficulty and multi-player FREESPACE massive colourful explosion. Mick Sutton gets spaced out on Hyperion’s latest release. options. Also from this screen During the explosion you see www.hyperion- you can access your controls entertainment.com the structure of the craft chose the intermediate level set up and oh boy there are breaking up and scattering Availability ell those Hyperion and after choosing where to plenty of controls that can be debris outward with some Most Amiga games dealers. chaps have done it install it to the only other audio, joystick, set from basic stuff like what pieces ablaze... ultra cool! W speed, network button puts the brakes on or again haven’t they, yet another options were what language to Price top class game hits the Amiga. use (English, French and and memory. Most of these fires a weapon to the very Watch Your Six Approx £40 We have all admired the two German are supported) and options can be left at defaults complex number of commands previous releases from whether to copy the movie files but there are a few you will that you can communicate to The realism doesn’t end there, Compatibility probably want to alter. On the your wingmen via a touch of the sound aspect of the game Hyperion, but truth be told the onto the hard drive. With the In-game shot showing the HUD which gives you loads 68k version: games are in some ways movie files the installation uses video tab you can choose the keyboard, you can even of information, you can hide items so they pop up when required. is spot on. For example when 060, Permedia 2 or Voodoo similar or maybe more to be 675 Mb compared to 427 Mb software rendering or hardware configure your HUD (head up an enemy or dare I say it a 3 graphics card, 32Mb RAM accurate the same genre. Most without, but having the movie rendering for those lucky display) the way you like it to Freespace are what I would HUD that is totally configurable friendly ship explodes it is (64Mb without VMM). people who know me will know files installed should speed up enough to own a 3D card. If look, I have to say this game is call pretty accurate looking, to your own liking, this gives silent. In space there is no air that I am into flight sims in a loading. To run the game you you have a sound card you can big. The screen looks futuristic although not having been in you all the information you will to make sound waves (space PPC version: big way, when Hyperion stated will need WarpUp if you have a select to use AHI on the audio and like the hanger screen has space myself it looks pretty need during battle against the is a vacuum) and therefore Any PPC card, graphics that they were going to release PPC card and Warp 3D if you tab. For those of you who don’t a very atmospheric space convincingly real to me. The Vasudan forces such as target explosions make no noise as card, 64Mb RAM. Freespace I thought to myself have a 3D accelerated like using the mouse and theme style music playing in vast vacuum of space isn’t just locking, enemy ship they would on earth, but you Test Systems “oh well not a flight sim but at graphics card and want to play keyboard controls there is an the background, I must say it black with a few stars thrown in information, where the enemy can hear your engines running option to use CD32 controller, gets you into the mood of the for good measure, you can see are in respect to your position and weapons being launched. A1200 least something different”. it in it’s full glory. Playstation controller via a game right away. So lets hit the distant galaxies, a shimmering (very useful I can tell you), how when your ship takes a hit it BlizzardPPC Freespace is a space combat PSX port or a PC analogue commit key and get on with it! haze of blue in the background much damage you have shudders which makes me 060 50/603e 240Mhz simulator in the mould of Wing Warp Speed? joystick. If you choose the PC and when you ship moves sustained and all manor of think a Playstation game pad 128Mb RAM Commander which was The really good news is that joystick you will need a suitable asteroids and debris (space navigation and weaponry with vibration would be BVisionPPC released on both the PC and Lift Off Amiga many years ago, but of Freespace has much lower adapter (instructions to build junk) passes you by, never information. excellent with this game. hardware requirements than one are included in the docs), You can either plunge yourself knew space looked so busy. Another aspect that really A3000 course Freespace far exceeds either Heretic II or Shogo, this a calibration utility is included into a campaign or opt for The ships themselves are So lets take a further look and engrosses you in the game is CyberStormPPC it in regards of graphics, sound means that it will run on a although we had problems training missions, and if you usually made up from subtle get into battle, you can target a constant radio communications 060 50/604e 233Mhz and game play by a long way. wider range of machines and is getting the readings to save want to survive more than five shades of grey as most ship with a simple keystroke (T that you receive in the heat of 128Mb RAM beautifully smooth on high end and we were forced into minutes I suggest the latter of spacecraft in the real world for any target or H for any battle, such as requests for CVisionPPC Prepare for Launch PPC systems. The minimum manually editing the config file. the two. The training missions seem to be, but are very hostile target) and once this is assistance or a wingman Freespace comes packaged in requirements are an 060 Once you have set all your give you hands on experience detailed. You can see lots of done you have indicators warning you that you have an a DVD case (wish all games processor and a graphics card, options it is time to click on the at flying and dogfighting, they detail on the surface of the letting you know where and unsighted enemy attacking were packaged like this) with a but if you don’t have a PPC play Freespace button! also provide a good way to ships including identification how far it is from you. Once you. When you receive a radio professionally printed cover board, a 3D graphics card is learn all the keyboard functions letters or numbers, booster targeted you can even match communication from your that depicts some of the in recommended to get a decent Mission Control and controls (there are many). rockets light up brightly when your targets speed (by wingmen a video window game graphics. Inside the case performance from the game. A Your mission briefing is very cranked up to full power and pressing M) so he finds it hard appears in your HUD so you is the CD and a registration minimum of 48 Mb free RAM is After an intro movie and a thorough and relayed to you look too hot to touch! Your view to shake you off, then you can can see him talking to you and card, all the documentation is required to run Freespace on a couple of nice loading screens via both text and spoken from from the spaceship is via a try out various primary and react to their situation, this on disc. PPC machine which means it’s a create pilot screen appears your commander, take it from makes you feel even worse where you can create a new me listen to all he has to tell Like all the previous Hyperion happy on a 64 Mb system. On when you not only hear him pilot or load an existing one, you as in this game orders are releases, the Freespace a 68k machine you can get scream in agony but see it too which allows you to continue a to be followed to the letter or installer uses the graphical away with as little as 24 Mb when his ship is destroyed saved game. When you face the consequences. Forget features of the OS 3.9 installer free RAM if you use the VMM (gulp!). As you can see in this commit your choice of pilot the intro screens, forget menus for utility which in this case is a virtual memory utility. game you are not a sole main menu screen appears, settings, forget orders (oops nice backdrop of a spaceship. individual fighting the enemy and oh boy this is starting to better not!) this is where the The installation was simple, I Count Down single handed like in Heretic II look a bit special. The menu is action starts. On selection of or Shogo, no sir, you are part When you run the game a GUI a rendered image of your your mission you are plunged of a team and you depend on appears that has buttons to ship’s hanger complete with into deep space with your each other to get through the launch the game or to set animated sequences and wingmen (buddies) or trainer missions alive. options required before the sound effects. You can choose close by, these guys are in game loads. Before you run what you want to do by clicking constant communication with Freespace for the first time it is on various items within the you and are there to help you Star Wars advisable to go into the setup hanger which animate as you get through your tough Freespace has bundles of window and check the options move your pointer over them... missions, more on this later. game-play, you feel part of the One of the huge capital ships it to suit your hardware neat! For example moving your team from the very beginning will be your mission to defend configuration. In the setup pointer over the computer Space The Final Frontier and have full motivation to do during your career as a pilot. window there are tabs with the screen to the right of the image One of the rendered mother ship hangers used as main menus well, there is a system of makes the screen glow and the The in game graphics of options for video, Warp 3D, to access features such as settings, pilots, missions etc. medals to be won for 30 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 31 Reviews Even using the 68K executable systems to varying degrees. in hardware rendering mode gives reasonable frame rates Mission Accomplished as long as you set detail level to medium. What if you don’t In conclusion Freespace is one have a 3D graphics card I hear of those games that you will you say? I have tried it with the want to play to the bitter end PPC in software render mode and then be wanting extra and it runs fine, a little slower mission updates (I know I will), and a bit harsher looking but it is just so damn good. It has still quite impressive. I even superbly realistic graphics that gave it a go with the 68K make you feel you are in space, the excellent sound and courageous pilots. The battles what is going on in the game. executable using software music add to the atmosphere are very fraught and realistic, There is a thorough pre- rendering at low detail and it and excitement of the game. If with action taking place all the mission briefing with specific ran but I felt it was too slow to this wasn’t enough Freespace time, one minute you are orders to be followed and a be playable. I should imagine has the best game-play that I guarding a friendly vessel and detailed post mission de- the maximum performance on have experienced since the next embroiled in a briefing that details how well or currently available hardware playing the first port of Quake massive spaceship dog-fight, not you did. There is even a would be from a high speed to the Amiga. In case you not of course forgetting to keep suggestions button to click on PPC (603 or 604) with a haven’t guessed by now this is an eye on the ship you have to give you advice on how you Voodoo 3 graphics card, but it a must have game! been ordered to protect! Your may have performed better if will run adequately on lesser performance in battle is you followed orders to the important because it influences letter... oops! Pros future events within the game, + Runs on a range of if you don’t manage to destroy So far I haven’t mentioned how systems. those fighters they will be back fast Freespace runs on my + Involving and varied Top with reinforcements! system (PPC 240 Mhz/060 50 game play. Throughout the battle Mhz & Bvision graphics card), I + Stunning graphics sequences atmosphere setting have to report that it runs very and sound. music (can be switched off) is fast indeed with hardware Cons Notch! playing in the background that rendering (CVision, BVision or - No manual. Voodoo 3) at maximum detail. changes tone according to Results Results

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Heretic 2 £40Shogo £35 Napalm £28 Freespace £35 Amiga Forever 5 £40 CyberGraphX £25

Simon Sorcerer 2 £30 Hell Squad £30 Feeble Files £35 Earth 2140 £30NcodeR £25 PFS 3 £35

CDROM GAMES CDROM GAMES CDROM GAMES UTILITIES UTILITIES UTILITIES Adventurers Lair ...... £20 Gremlin Classix ...... £10 Super Methane Bros...... £10 17 Bit Level 6 ...... £10 CybergraphX ...... £25 Learning Curve ...... £20 Amiga Classix ...... £10 Imperator CD...... £15 Testament CD ...... £10 100%AMIGA Magazine ...... £5 Cross Dos 7 Gold...... £40 Lightrom 8 or 9 ea...... £30 Amiga Classix 2...... £10 Islona Collection...... £20 Theme Park CD...... £10 100%AMIGA Annual UK Sub .....£48 Darkage Developer ...... £10 LSD 1 or 2 ea...... £15 Amiga Classix 3...... £20 Labyrinth Of Time...... £10 The Games Room ...... £15 A-Z of Amiga Games ...... £20 Diavolo 2000 ...... £50 Make CD DAO ...... £50 Aminet Games ...... £15 Mad About Mahjong...... £10 The Prophet...... £10 Amiga Desktop Video2 ...... £10 Digibooster Pro...... £20 MediaPoint...... £30 Aqua...... £15 Megaball Deluxe ...... £15 T-Zero...... £25 Amiga Developer 2.1 ...... £20 Digital Almanac 2 ...... £25 Midi Files...... £10 Arcade Classix +...... £10 Moonbases...... £10 Ultimate Gloom...... £10 Amiga Forever upg >5 ...... £25 Digital Makeup...... £15 Moovid Pro 2...... £20 Arcade Classix Mk 2...... £10 Myst ...... £25 Ult. Super Skidmarks ...... £10 Amiga Repair Kit ...... £35 Dopus 5 Magellon 2 ...... £50 Multimedia Backdrop...... £15 Blade ...... £10 Nightlong/Quake ...... £45 Uropa 2 ...... £10 Amiga Web Offline ...... £5 EASys! Enhancer ...... £20 Net News Offline v1...... £5 Bubba n Stix CD32 ...... £10 Pacman Attack ...... £10 Virtual Ball Fighters ...... £15 Aminet Set 4,5,7 - 11 ea ...... £25 Emulators Unlimited...... £10 Network CD ...... £10 Bubble Heroes ...... £15 Payback...... £35 Virtual Karting 2...... £10 Aminet Set Subscription ...... £20 Extreme CD ...... £7 Network CD 2 ...... £15 CDS Collection ...... £15 Phoenix Fighters ...... £10 Vital Light...... £10 Aminet Singles ...... £12 Extreme Visual FX2 ...... £10 OS 3.9...... £30 Cedric...... £15 Pure Doom ...... £10 Wasted Dreams ...... £20 Aminet Subscription...... £10 Faces of Mars 2001 ...... £15 Photo CD Manager...... £15 Chess 2k ...... £15 Red Mars ...... £10 Whales Voyage 2...... £15 Amos PDCD2...... £20 fxPaint v1.5...... £60 Photofolio v2...... £25 Civilization AGA/ECS ...... £10 Retro Gold ...... £10 Wipeout 2097 PPC...... £30 Animatic...... £5 fxScan v3.0...... £25 Photogenics 5...... £70 D-1000 doom data...... £10 Seaside...... £20 Word Games...... £10 Art Studio Pro...... £35 Gateway v1 (netBSD) ...... £10 Red Hat Linux...... £20 E2140 Mission Pack...... £15 Shadow of 3rd Moon...... £20 Zombie Massacre{18} ...... £10 Asim CDFS v3.x...... £30 Giga Graphics ...... £10 Screen Savers 2 ...... £10 Eat The Whistle ...... £10 Simon the Sorcerer ...... £10 Aweb II v3.3...... £40 Giga PD v3 (3Cdset)...... £5 Sounds Terrific 2...... £10 European Superleague ...... £10 Sixth Sense Investigations ...... £15 EPSON COMPATIBLE INK Aweb II v3.3 OS3.5/3.9 upg...... £30 GlowIcons...... £15 System Booster ...... £10 Exodus ...... £35 Skeleton Krew CD32...... £10 Black 440/460/640/660 ...... £7 Beauty of Chaos ...... £5 Graphic Sensations...... £10 Texture Heaven 1&2...... £10 Fields of Glory...... £15 Spherical Worlds ...... £10 Col 440/460/640/660...... £10 Best of Airsoft...... £10 Guinness Records v2...... £10 Turbo Calc 5...... £60 Final Odyssey ...... £10 Sports Mad ...... £20 Black 670/720/750/1200 ...... £7 Best of Mecomp v1 ...... £5 HD Patchez ...... £10 Turbo Print 7.x...... £40 Foundation Gold ...... £25 Star Fighter...... £15 Col 740/760/860/1160 ...... £10 Blitz Basic 2.1 (ult.)...... £10 Hidden Truth ...... £10 VHI Studio 5.2 ...... £30 Foundation Undicovered Land...£15 Street Racer CD...... £10 Black 400/500/600/700 ...... £7 Candy Factory Pro...... £35 Ibrowse 2.x ...... £35 Workbench 3.0 Set ...... £10 Genetic Species...... £10 Superfrog...... £10 Col 400/600/800/850/1520...... £10 CD32 Network Kit ...... £25 In To The Net (2CD) ...... £3 Workbench Addon CD...... £10

“The Amiga Online Superstore” - Visit our new 128 bit secure online shop at www.forematt.co.uk Amiga Retro Classics Site: www.forematt.free-online.co.uk EMail: [email protected] 32 TOTAL AMIGA Reviews Reviews publishers and some TV titles. crashes and lockups, these All my discs are region 2, as don’t happen that often and are the authors so I can’t tend to be when I quit it after a confirm that other regions long session, for example after would work. trying several DVD’s. I’m not Amidog’s Movie Player totally certain this isn’t down to On the DVD front I think it is PPC overheating which could pretty amazing that AMP be caused by running my 3000 Could this oddly named utility be the first to bring DVD manages to play DVDs at all, with the cover off to attach the playback to the Amiga? Robert Williams finds out. that it works reliably on a range DVD-ROM. However it seems of discs and is watchable on odd that the locks don’t tend to such relatively old hardware is happen during play, when the fantastic and a great sign that CPU is under most load. available this makes it far the processor power needed to you need a DVD drive attached we’ll have good DVD support AMP2PEG video and audio easier to handle than a decode movies with audio. to your Amiga to do this, for when faster hardware comes files have for some time complex command line. On the this review I was able to Conclusion M along... way to go Mathias! now been one of the most other hand the shell mode borrow a Pioneer SCSI DVD- Play it Again... It works! A DVD movie in full screen mode. AMP2 is an excellent MPEG common ways of providing means AMP can be called from ROM drive. Any drive should According to the player, it played faultlessly all video and audio on the your own scripts or file Using the GUI an MPEG file work including one of the many documentation Video CDs (an the files I threw at it and the Internet, and fitting it on CDs manager buttons. can be selected using a file IDE DVD units available but a earlier standard which put an DVD playback if great, and lately DVDs. AMP2 requester, clicking on Play File SCSI drive on a DMA controller MPEG 1 encoded movie on a although being honest it is a bit (Amidog’s Movie Player, not to opens the display you have should give better performance Sights normal CD) in both standard of a toy, albeit an impressive be confused with AmigaAMP selected. If you choose window due to lower CPU usage. After and CDi formats are supported one, until we have faster the MPEG audio player) is the AMP is designed to work well mode a standard Amiga setting your options and allows you to view all the video decompressed on the fly. I in the same way as DVDs, processors which allow full latest version of Mathias on both AGA and graphic window opens with a scroll bar specifying the device name material. You are then offered found that on my CyberStorm using the same requesters to resolution and sound quality. ‘amidog’ Roslund’s player for cards. Under AGA greyscale, along the bottom that is used to and unit number of your DVD choice of the available audio PPC, the fastest currently pick tracks etc. I was unable to Combine this with a GUI that these files. AMP requires an colour and HAM screens are show the current position in the drive AMP starts and presents and subtitle options, this available PPC card (but not test this as I don’t have any makes setting all the options Amiga with a PowerPC supported and you can also opt file, you can drag the scroll bar you with a list of the titles means you can choose over clocked), I needed to use Video CD discs. child’s play and we have a accelerator and uses Haage for a window on the Workbench to skip forward or back. available on the DVD. The alternative language and the lores option and reduce the winner, well worth the low and Partner’s WarpUp system. screen. If you have graphics Although the scroll bar isn’t menus offered by most DVD commentary tracks. With that audio sample rate to 24kHz to During the time I’ve been shareware fee! card running Picasso 96 or available in full screen mode, titles are not supported but on choice made play begins, once play back movies without the testing AMP2 I have had a few AMP can be run either from the CyberGraphX AMP can open whatever display you choose most discs the choice of titles the movie is going you are sound skipping, with these shell or using a separate MUI in a window or it’s own screen you can use the number keys limited to the standard play settings the video was slightly utility, either way all the options Pros in greyscale or colour using to skip through in ten percent controls, there are no jerky, running at around 15 + File, VCD and DVD are available. Using the GUI 8bit, 16bit and 24bit colour chunks, this works fine on additional options for DVD use. frames per second, but is very you can save your preferred DVD Drives playback. depth. If your graphics card shorter movies but is a bit watchable. Even then I got the + Plenty of options. settings and given the range supports it (the Picasso IV and annoying on longer ones where When I first tried to use the DVD playback is a very odd skip in the sound when Pretty + Full GUI. C/BVisionPPC are three that each chunk can be several Pioneer DVD drive I processor intensive process, there was lots of action on the do) you can select the overlay minutes long. The other attached it to the A3000 for a start DVD video is of high screen. One piece of very good Cons option, this renders the movie options available are pause, SCSI bus along with my quality and relatively high news is that all the DVD titles I - Limited controls. into a special graphics card resume and exit which are other external devices. resolution and then there is the tried worked, this included a - Current hardware not Good! buffer which is resized by the mapped to space bar, return However I could not get better than CD quality sound, variety of movies from different really up to DVDs. Results graphics card hardware, this and escape respectively. AMP to read any DVD’s and both of which need to be Results .info means you can expand the Hopefully one day some more when I mounted it as a CD Developer window without the playback controls will be added and reader it was erratic at slowing down, a smoothing perhaps a control GUI for reading ordinary data CDs. Following our Introductory feature on IRC last issue, Elliott Bird has a couple of Mathias Roslund effect is also applied reducing window mode however the On checking with Mounter I top tips for those who chose to use AmIRC. pixelisation. Switching to current controls work give you found that it often failed to Top Tips License greyscale mode speeds up the basics. I have tried AMP2 even show up on the SCSI menu: Settings -> Setup). In the “CTCP Shareware Setting up sounds in AmIRC Using the F Key feature of AmIRC playback and AMP has a lores with MPEG files from a variety bus. All this pointed to a Sound Handling” section, you need to Price option to halve the horizontal of sources on the Internet and SCSI problem but the drive With IRC, you can have the ability to play select where your Sounds directory is Once you get to know IRC a little more, £10 and vertical resolution, this can various CDs, as yet I have not was attached to the same sounds or music during your IRC located. (If not, create one first!) There’s a you will notice that there are a number of help achieve an acceptable found one it won’t play. This is bus as my CD-ROM, writer sessions! Others in the same IRC volume slider below which you can adjust commands to remember, and you may Also Available from frame rate with high resolution probably mostly down to the and an additional hard disk channel will see your sound request, and if to suit your needs. Then there’s the well get to the point where there’s just too Kicksoft on CD at £18 movies. MPEG standard which doesn’t all of which continued to they have the sound, they will hear it too! Sound player section, the “use external many to remember. That’s where the F www.kicksoft.co.uk have different codecs as found work normally. I had almost Setting this up is a relatively simple player” check box should be ticked, then key feature in AmIRC comes in handy. It Sounds in AVI and Quicktime files but given up hope when I procedure. You can find the Sound below that you need to select a suitable can be found in the main AmIRC menu; Compatibility never the less AMP2 seems decided to try the DVD on settings in the “Misc” section of the AmIRC player, such as Play16 (recommended) or Settings -> Setup, and in the F key PowerPC accelerator Sound can be played either via pretty compatible. the CyberStorm SCSI setup (which can be found in the main SongPlayer. The command line should be section. There you will see various text running WarpUP, works the Amiga’s built-in hardware controller, which meant something like “C:Play16 %n” if you are boxes where you can enter your under MorphOS WarpUP or a sound card using AHI. running with the A3000 using play16, and the “%n” is for the file commands for each F Key. It is split into emulation. DVD Options are available to halve cover off as I don’t have an name of the sound. And that’s that set up! three sections, one where you can just Test Systems or quarter the sample rate and One unique feature of AMP2 is external connection. On this In order to play your sounds during your press an F Key on it’s own, another to switch to mono, both of that it can play DVD movies, A3000 controller the drive IRC session, type something like: “/sound section for commands where you can which significantly reduce the and it really works! Of course CyberStormPPC performed flawlessly so the soundname.wav”, where you would put press Shift and an F Key, and another for 060 50/604e 233Mhz only conclusion I can draw the name of the sound you wanted to play Control (Ctrl) and an F Key. But if you 128Mb RAM is that the A3000’s built-in in place of “soundname.wav”. Make sure can’t be bothered to keep pressing the CVisionPPC SCSI has an incompatibility you have the right file extension too (i.e. return key after each time you press an F with the Pioneer drive. .wav, .iff, or .mp3). Key (as it goes straight into where you Pioneer DVD305S (SCSI) When playing DVDs you can select the audio track and subtitles. 34 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 35 Support Support type your messages), then you can just Key! Don’t for get to save them, by going do with the Amiga’s system clock? Well enter “\n” after the command with no to the main AmIRC settings menu and as a matter of fact, Genesis has the ability spaces. One thing to remember is that clicking “save as defaults”. to query a time server, and set that time your command may contain a password, on your Amiga! How do I do it? In the PrintManager so do be slightly careful there. Now Setting the system clock with Genesis settings, in the services section. doesn’t all that make things a bit easier? You first need to tick the two check boxes, prints. If you’re worried about than the usual method of All your commands at the press of an F Genesis Sync clock (matches the time on your Author Stephan Rupprecht losing the additional speed to cancelling printing, turning off Are you one of those people (like me) who Amiga with the time server), and Save TurboPar don’t fear registered the printer and waiting for the don’t have a working battery in there time (obviously keeps the time). Then you License users of PrintManager get TurboPrint error to appear so I Amiga? Don’t you find it annoying when will need a time server to put in, I Shareware access to its own fast parallel can cancel the print! In the recommend: ntp2a.mcc.ac.uk. Save the you keep having to set the time for the Price option which works even if you print list there is a special job tasks you do on your Amiga? Then look settings, and the next time you go online don’t have TurboPrint. called «Next Job», you can 8 Euros (about £5.00) no further than Genesis! But Genesis is a Genesis should automatically set the time PrintManager also supports move this in the list to indicate TCP/IP stack isn’t it? So what’s that got to on your Amiga! Available From parallel ports on 3rd party where a new job should appear www.stephan-rupprecht.de expansion cards, you can even and set it to paused or active to capture data from one device give any new jobs that status. (say parallel.device) and print it rintManager is a utility by As the print data is stored in a to another (in my case the the prolific Stephan spool file, PrintManager can P hyperPAR.device of my Rupprect that gives you offer some other handy HyperCom 3Z). PrintManager increased control over the options. You can schedule a captures the print data from the printing process. It does this by print job for a later time, this specified port using a patch, if PDSome utilities are glamarousParadise and sexy, others sit quietly in the background and just do their intercepting data intended for might be useful to queue up you would prefer not to patch the parallel port (or any other jobs to print when you’re out the system you can set your job. Robert Williams has found two fine examples of the second type. port you configure) and storing and the printer won’t disturb printer software to send print it in a temporary file, with the anyone. Even if the application data to a special spool.device data stored PrintManager can doesn’t offer the option Just a few tooltypes... instead of one of the normal then offer additional control PrintManager can print multiple PrintManager is FAT95 ports, spool.device supports up over when and how it is sent to copies of a job, this is very configurable. which use a different format for partition. You specify which and need to transfer large files to 10 units so it can be used Author the printer. especially handy with programs their hard disks, NTFS, I partition you want to mount by occasionally this is an excellent with the multiple printer feature can set it so the window is Torsten Jager that are slow to print or if you believe NTFS is also an option altering the last two characters way to do so and on most An installation script is of OS3.5 and above. opened, or appears iconified License on Windows XP. of the DOSTYPE parameter in systems will be faster than any provided in the archive, but all want to get on with one on Workbench whenever a Freeware the DOSDriver, for example other method. you really need to do is to drag When you print from an document while printing print job arrives. As I hinted above, FAT95 isn’t 0x46415401 would mount the the PrintManager program onto application PrintManager starts another. In this case you would just limited to mounting PC You can use Fat95 to format As it is shareware the demo Available From first primary partition and your hard disk, most people capturing the data and shows print one copy from the floppy disks, you can also use floppies on the Amiga but other version of PrintManager has a Aminet, disk/misc/fat95.lha 0x46415403 would mount the will probably put it in the the print job in its list, you can application and then set the job it to access FAT format types of disk need to be couple of features disabled, the third. Extended partitions are WbStartup drawer so it is set in tool types whether it in PrintManager to the number removable disks (ZIPs etc.) formatted on a PC first fast parallel and save job ’ve recently seen several also supported and they are running at all times. Because should wait until the job is of copies required, once one lot and hard disks attached to your because the two systems use options, there is also a nag Ipeople ask where they could mapped to “05” and above. PrintManager works at device completely spooled or start of data had been sent from the Amiga. If you’re at all familiar different methods of requester that appears buy CrossDOS 7, the last level it will capture any data printing immediately. If there is application you could return to with file systems on the Amiga For disks over 4Gb Fat95 partitioning hard disks, MBR on occasionally. commercial version of the PC sent to the device you specify more than one print job in the work and let PrintManager the installation of FAT95 will supports both TD64 (Track Disk the PC and Rigid Disk Block disk compatibility software (parallel.device by default), this list you can use up and down produce the copies. Jobs can PrintManager is a mature utility come as no surprise, the file 64) and NSD (New Style (RDB) on the Amiga. The provided with AmigaOS since means it works with enhanced buttons in the window to be saved and then loaded and with a good range of features system itself is copied into the Device) standards and also author does point out that it version 2.1. The reason most printing systems such as reorder the jobs so the most re-printed as often as you wish and an effective interface. L: directory and then you can has a direct SCSI option so would be possible to make a want to upgrade is for long Studio and Turbo Print as they important one gets printed first which is great for jobs like While it doesn’t make the configure DOSDrivers to mount almost whatever your controller disk that was instantly readable filename support so they can work at the driver or (if the gtdrag.library is installed flyers where you often need overall print time much faster the drives you require. Several you should be able to access on the Amiga by adding an more easily use disks from printer.device level respectively you can perform these many copies exactly the same. (although I don’t have the and later example DOSDrivers are large PC disks. As a test for RDB using HDToolBox (or a operations with drag and drop). and still send their data Many options are available so registered version to try out the machines. As far as I know supplied that can be used to this review I hooked up a 40Gb similar utility) to a disk that had Once a job starts printing you through the parallel.device if you can customise fast parallel option) in most Consultron, the publishers of mount floppy disks and ZIP IDE hard drive from a PC with already been partitioned on a can’t change its order but you printing to a parallel printer. If PrintManager to work how you cases it does free up the CrossDOS are no longer disks, in the latter case you will Windows 98SE to one of the PC. can pause printing, stop the job you use TurboPrint you will like and to make sure it is application much faster so you around, so it is fortunate that just need to adjust the DEVICE IDE ports on my Catweasel Z2 part way through and print it FAT95 works well and handled need to turn off the TurboPar compatible with your hardware. can carry on working while the there are several alternatives and UNIT parameters to point and it worked flawlessly, I could later or remove it from the print all the PC disks I threw at it option on the Printer page of The manual mentions several printer prints. I would freely available on Aminet, to the drive. see all the files and transfer queue altogether. These with ease. The documentation, the preferences program for work-arounds that need to be recommend it to anyone who FAT95 is one of them. The FAT back and forth, file names were options are much more elegant Mounting a hard drive is also which consists of two text files, PrintManager to capture your used to overcome bugs in the does a reasonable amount of part of the name comes from retained both ways. There are very simple although an is comprehensive, containing driver software of 3rd party I/O printing, especially at it’s low this a few limitations due to example DOS Driver is not all the reference information cards. One of these options is shareware fee. abbreviation identifies the disk differences between FAT and supplied, I just used one of the you need and plenty of to make PrintManager ignore format used by MSDOS and the Amiga’s native file systems, ZIP drive examples and background too. Although to certain tasks, the manual later Windows, there are for example Amiga file changed the device and unit as use it you need to setup your mentions that this could be several versions of FAT, 12, 16 comments are lost when required. FAT95 is clever own DOSDrivers there are no used to make it ignore software and 32bit which support copying to the PC. When enough to read the partition arcane calculations or for other devices such as progressively larger disks. viewing a PC disk FAT95 uses table in the master boot record hexadecimal numbers to scanners which use the parallel FAT95 supports all these the unused comment field to (MBR) at the start of the drive juggle. If you need to read PC port. As PrintManager is a versions so you should be able display an extended date and work out where the disks this works well and it’s commodity it will normally run to use it to read most disks stamp (creation date and last partitions are on the drive so freeware too! quietly in the background until from PC’s using a Microsoft accessed date) that the Amiga you don’t need to specify the you press its hotkey (Shift, Alt OS. The only exceptions to this file system doesn’t support. If In the PrintManager window you have full control low and high cylinders of the and P by default) however you is are WindowsNT and 2000 you have an Amiga and a PC over all the jobs waiting to be printed. 36 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 37 Support Support Promoting a screen with but perhaps less essential the advantage that you can ModePro is a two options can be used to give the use a combination of these, for stage process but screen a backdrop colour or example promote a program there are loads of image and to assign a hot key called this only when it opens options available. that will pop that screen to the in a particular screenmode. front. When NewMode notices an Back to Basics In addition to it’s promotion unknown screen being opened options ModePro can also be it opens its Promote Screen Screenmodes and Mode Promotion used to open public screens for window which contains a list of PCI solutions mean many Amiga users are getting a graphics card for the first time. Robert Williams looks at you. As you may know a public the available screenmodes that screen is one where several the program could be how to solve some tricky screenmode problems using Mode Promotion utilities. Mode Promotion Utilities you cannot display in one go programs can open their promoted to, the number of but you have to be careful as it is the process, of forcing a program to open in a windows, much like several colours and the screen size to Available may try to promote programs programs can have their allow autoscroll and ne of the unusual aspects program to run in a different screenmode you can see. You that are not compatible. In this ModeID A simple mode promotion windows open on the overscanned screens. You can of AmigaOS is the system screenmode even if it doesn’t can then use the program’s case you can define that O scheme is available in the Workbench screen. In also choose not to promote this of screens that allows you to offer a screenmode option or is preferences options to select It is very rare that you need program by either program or ModePro you can define a program. With the choices run programs on separate set to run in a particular mode. the screenmode you really to know the modeid which IControl Preferences editor screen name and switch public screen that does not made you simply click Save or virtual screens, which can be want. One problem that can identifies a particular supplied with the OS, here you promote to none. currently exist, specifying its Use to add this to NewMode’s at a different resolution and occur with this approach is that screenmode however some can check the Mode Promotion When Promotion is screenmode, colour depth, list of known programs colour depth to the main the mode promoter keeps programs do ask you to option which forces lores You can opt to have a fonts and other options. Then permanently or for this session Workbench screen. There are Useful promoting the program even identify a screenmode in modes into their double requester pop-up whenever a set the programs you would respectively. As I mentioned many advantages to this when you have set it to the this way. To find out a scanned alternatives and Avoid program tries to open an like to open on that screen to before the “This time” button system, such as being able to Programs which don’t have right screenmode. To avoid this modeid you need a utility Flicker which does the same unknown screen, here you can use the correct public screen lets you promote a program choose a suitable and efficient a screenmode requester. make sure you don’t save the such as getmodeinfo20u.lha for interlaced modes. However select to ignore the program name, this is often configured only once and is handy for screenmode for the task at setting when you promote the which is in the util/misc if you want more control, for and let it continue as normal or using a tooltype. Now when sorting out newly installed hand and also organising the Many older Amiga programs program the first time. directory of Aminet. This example to promote to a add it to the screen, program or you first run one of the programs which open on an working area so you don’t have are programmed following NewMode has a “This time” simple shell command pops graphics card screenmode screenmodes list. Any of the programs you have configured invisible screen. Unlike to juggle windows while Commodore’s guidelines and button in its promotion up a screenmode requester then you will need a third party latter options opens the ModePro will automatically ModePro NewMode cannot be working with several programs. therefore work perfectly well on requester for just this reason. and then reports the id of utility. Fortunately since the preferences window so you open the new public screen. used to promote a particular a graphics card screen but the screenmode selected. release of AmigaOS 2 a can define how the program With the advent of ECS This could be used, for screen mode or to open public don’t have a screenmode When you change your This is usually in the form of number have appeared. Two will be promoted, this includes (Enhanced Chipset), AGA and example, to have all your screens. requester. This means they are a hexadecimal number, for freely distributable utilities the None option so that graphics cards Amiga users screenmodes or install a Internet programs open on the hard coded to work in a example the current seem to have become the ModePro ignores it in the gradually got more resolutions same screen no matter which Running NewMode a second particular screenmode, often new graphics card screenmode I am using is most popular and certainly future. and colours to play with. In OS one you start first. time or opening its interface you can’t even choose one of have a wide range of features. 2 Commodore introduced the 0x40C20045. from the Exchange utility the ECS/AGA screenmodes Using the Amiga’s standard If you do decide to promote the display database which holds chipset the selection of screen there are lots of options produces a new window which such as Multiscan or Super72. will find that many older ModePro New Mode all the screenmodes available screenmodes you are usually available to get the best lists all the programs you have In this case a mode promotion programs and some newer on an Amiga. A screenmode is limited to the selection of by Michael Rivers - compatibility and add some by Andreas Linnemann - defined for promotion, so you utility can be used to force a ones particularly in the games the definition of display using a screenmodes provided by the util/cdity/ModePro.lha useful features. You can set the util/cdity/NewMode_V39.lha can edit and delete items. You program to open in the and video areas just will not particular resolution, number of monitor drivers supplied with screenmode that the screen can also control when screenmode of your choice. If work when promoted, NewMode is an older and colours and video standard. the OS (although it is possible ModePro consists of two will be promoted to in several NewMode will ask you about a you leave the utility running in especially if the new screen is simpler program than The available screenmodes to tweak these with a utility like programs, the utility that does ways including an option which screen, you can get it to ask for the back ground every time you on a graphics card. This is ModePro, it was last updated in are limited by the monitor MonEd). With graphics cards the promoting which would opens a screenmode requester all screens, only new ones that run the errant program it will be usually because they use 1995 and consists of a single drivers installed in the the selection of screenmodes normally be installed into the each time the program is run. don’t appear in the program list silently promoted into the special features of the Amiga’s program file which serves as Devs:Monitors drawer. With the that can be produced is much WbStartup to be run at all You can create an auto scroll or to automatically add screens correct screenmode just as if it chipset which are not emulated both the promoter and the greater number of modes a greater, with both times and a preferences screen and set the font to be without blocking the program had a setting. by the graphics card and its preferences interface. Like number of problems emerged, CyberGraphX and Picasso 96 program which is used to setup used. Another very useful requesting them (apparently drivers. Another problem that ModePro it can recognise these included what to do a utility is supplied (CgXMode new promotions. option for older programs is to this can be used to get around Programs that can occur is that you don’t screens being opened by their about older programs which and P96Mode respectively) make the screen a public some badly coded programs have a suitably sized screen There are three methods by program name, screen name don’t offer a choice of automatically open in a which allows you to create your screen so it can be shared by which lockup when the defined to promote a program which ModePro can identify a or screenmode however it has screenmode and how to view a own screenmodes. Any new other programs. Other handy Promote Screen window particular screenmode to, this can lead to windows screen to promote, program program set to run in a screenmodes that you allocate appears). and buttons not fitting on the name, screen name and screenmode which could not will get a new modeid, the When many programs are first screen or excessive amounts screenmode. The name While NewMode clearly has be displayed on a particular outcome of this is that any installed instead of asking of empty space. For example a options both try to identify the many less options than Amiga. programs set to use the old nicely which screenmode they program that expects a PAL program running in different ModePro it does everything screenmode won’t find it and The answer to these problems should open in or opening on Hires Laced screenmode may ways, program is the name of most people will need for basic may not be able to open their is screenmode promotion, this the Workbench screen they just well need more space than a the program trying to open a promotion and its interface is screen. In these cases a mode open in a default screenmode. 640x480 VGA style screen on screen and screen name is the much neater. Because all the promoter can be used to let Often this is a chipset a graphics card will provide but name of the screen that it is options are in the first Promote you view the program and let screenmode, if you have a 800x600 would be overkill. In trying to open. Screenmode Screen window it is much you change its preferences. setup like mine where these cases remember that tries to promote a particular quicker to setup a new accessing the chipset is you can always use your screenmode to another program with NewMode than awkward this can be really Potential Problems graphics card software to whatever program is trying to with ModePro. annoying. However in these define a new screenmode that open it. The screenmode There are two simple Forcing a program to run in a cases a mode promotion utility is just the right size. feature is useful because you screenmode it isn’t expecting NewMode has less options but fits them all in this neat promotion options in can be used to force the can promote all the modes that IControl Preferences. can cause some problems. You Promote screen window making it quicker to use. 38 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 39 Support Support Make sure the Workbench Opus and many more can be background or a lister is found on Aminet. Now let’s set selected then choose “Edit up what this button should do Lister Toolbar” from the “Lister” by clicking on “Edit Function”. menu, a small window with a copy of the current toolbar The Function Editor Directory Opus 5 opens along with the “Button Bank Editor”. Alternatively If This opens the Function Editor Directory Opus 5 can be intimidating for beginners but you want to edit a specific Window, I’m devoting a Lister toolbar button open a separate section to this window it’s well worth the effort to master it. Robert Williams Lister for any directory then as you will find exactly the embarks on the first leg of a voyage of diskovery! just click on the button you same window is used to define The Button Bank Editor for my button bar shown on the want to edit while holding down functions in Opus however you previous page, notice I use the Active popups feature. Tutorial the Alt key to jump straight to activate them. At the top of the next to Columns to add a new here’s no denying that its function editor. function editor window is a list Button Bars button to the toolbar. Click on Directory Opus version 5 is of all the commands that will be T To delete a button just click on carried out by this function, this the new blank button in the Floating button bars are very a very complex program. The Toolbar window to select it and similar to the lister toolbar but very reason that many people, This is the Opus 5 button bar I use to launch all my frequently used applications. it in the Toolbar window, a allows a function to be anything then on Edit in the editor. We’ll because they are not part of a myself included, like it so much flashing highlight shows you from one command to a LoadWb command (which is select the new mode, save and assign our command to the left lister they can offer many more is also a problem, Opus 5 is The Manual the button is selected then click complex script of many called at the end of the reboot for it to work. I find the mouse button so in the “Button options. If you like you can very flexible, most aspects can on Delete in the editor. To add different commands. The line The Directory Opus 5 manual s:startup-sequence to load new OS 3.9 screenmode Editor” window just enter a make button bar buttons (or be configured to your liking. a new button just click Add, below the command list lets isn’t the sort of book you would Workbench) is renamed to preferences program is Name and select an image (a indeed menu items which we This flexibility can mean that you can re-arrange the buttons you edit the command selected like to curl up in bed and read, loadwb_old and replaced by a particularly good because now suitable one is supplied with will talk about later) act on the the number of options available by dragging the button you in the list. On the left is a cycle it’s very much a reference new version that loads I can at least use the test Opus in the Images drawer files or directories you have is overwhelming for beginners want to move over to it’s new gadget where you specify the rather than a tutorial manual. Directory Opus instead. If you feature to make sure a mode which is the default for this file selected in a lister. and they never get past the position where it will be type of command it can be a However as Opus has many ever want to switch back to a will work before I save it. requester). Click the “Edit complex setup to enjoy the swapped with the existing built-in Opus command, an commands and functions it’s normal Workbench temporarily Function” button and choose To create new button bar go to flexibility. When I first got Opus button. AmigaDOS (shell) command, a well worth having the manual you can hold down a Shift key “Add”, now we can define our the “Buttons” menu and select 5 it was a couple of months Launching Commands Workbench program, a shell to hand as there’s no way I will while the Amiga boots, the When you’ve added a new command. GetSizes is an the “New” submenu, here you until I had it configured as I script or an AREXX script. The be able to mention all the Opus LoadWb command will and Programs button or want to edit an internal Opus command so can choose to create a graphic wanted and longer before I folder button brings up a list of possible options and notice this and run normal existing one just click on the leave the cycle gadget set to or text button bar, the only was able to have a bash at In this tutorial I’m going to available commands or a file commands in this feature. It’s Workbench instead of Opus. If “Edit” button in the Button Bank command, click the folder difference is whether the some of the more complex assume that you’ve got to grips requester so you can select a probably a good idea to have a you wish to permanently switch Editor, this will open the Button button and select “GetSizes” button will have a text label or setup myself. In this issue’s with some of the basics of program or script depending on browse through the manual in back to Workbench just Editor window. You can define from the list. With the an icon identifying it. Select the tutorial I aim to cover some of Opus, for example carrying out the command type selected. any case so at least you know rename the LoadWb command up to three functions for a lister command selected we can type of buttons you would like, the basics of Opus 5 then in basic file operations such as Next is a text box where the roughly what it contains. toolbar button, these are I’m going to choose text, and a and reinstate loadwb_old by copy and delete with the command itself goes, here you click on the variables button ({ future issues I will go into more accessed by a right, left or new window appears with one renaming that back to LoadWb. listers. If you aren’t at this can add any arguments }) to see if there are any specifics. Please note that I’m middle mouse button click. In button in it. Before we give this Workbench stage yet, take a look at required. Finally we have a options available, for this using the latest version of the Button Editor the buttons button an action let’s take a Screenmode Chapter 5 of the Opus manual button ({ }) which lists a command “FORCE/S” is the Directory Opus 5, known as Replacement are shown in a list at the top look at some of the options that which explains the major parts selection of possible variables only one listed. Referring to the Magellan II, other versions of 5 In Workbench replacement left, a tick shows you which are grouped on the right side of The major feature of Opus 5 of Opus 5 including the Listers. which you can insert into the manual we can see that adding are similar but you may need mode one slightly confusing mouse clicks have a function the “Button Bank” Editor was the Workbench I’m going to concentrate on command line. FORCE to the command line to allow for some differences aspect of Opus is setting the assigned. To add or edit a window. If “Full Border” is Replacement mode, this meant customising the listers to suit will tell the GetSizes command especially in the menu and screenmode it runs in, you function click on the mouse checked your buttons will be that instead of running a file your method of work and some As an example we’ll add a to recalculate a folder’s size options requester layout. Opus might think that you should set button you want to define then inside a normal Amiga window, management utility separately of the additional ways you can toolbar button which runs the even if it has been calculated 4 which is now open source is it on the Display page of the enter a name for the function in you may prefer to uncheck this Opus actually replaced the activate Opus commands and GetSizes command, this is an before this session. As this is a totally different program so I Settings/Environment the “Name” text gadget and which removes all the window standard Amiga Workbench launch programs. internal Opus command that quite a useful option select it wouldn’t expect anything here requester however choosing a select an image to use for the furniture and replaces it with a providing all of its features and calculates the file size for all from the list and click “OK” to to apply to that. screenmode here leaves you button. Opus supports Amiga slim drag bar so you can still adding many more including far the selected directories in a insert it in the command line. with an extra blank grey Editing the Lister icons (.info) and any picture move the window. Using the more advanced file lister. If you’re in the Edit For this simple command that’s Workbench screen. To solve supported by datatypes for “Drag” cycle gadget you can manipulation options Buttons Function window cancel out all we need to do, click “Use” to this set the Display Mode in these images, a number of select where the drag bar will and much more until you get back to the Button exit the function editor and Environment to By default a toolbar of action suitable ones are supplied with appear or even remove it all flexible Bank editor. Now click Add button editor and “Save” in the Workbench:Use, then Opus will buttons is displayed near the together. configuration. Button Bank editor to make use the Workbench screen and top of each lister when it is in When you select your changes permanent. not open its own. If you want to name or icon action mode. You Tip: Setting “Drag” to “None” Workbench change the screenmode with can easily edit the buttons that Now open a lister showing a means you can’t easily move replacement Opus using the Workbench appear on this toolbar, directory which contains sub- the button bar or access its mode during screen just use the normal removing ones you don’t use directories, for example your right click menu, to do so hold the Opus 5 screenmode preferences and adding new ones. Just like Workbench partition. Switch down “Ctrl” and click on the installation program supplied with the OS. the floating button bars and the lister to name mode and button bar to temporarily show the user menus that we’ll see later select some or all of the sub- the drag bar so you can move NOTE: On my system, which you can use a lister button to directories now click your new the window. Holding “Ctrl” has a graphics card and perform many types of action, button and Opus should while you right click on the bar will show the menu. Don’t forget your CyberGraphX 4, I have never these can be an internal calculate the total size and Opus manuals, they are been able to change the command, or running an display it in the size column. screenmode on the fly with Selecting Borderless Buttons a vital reference. external program or a Opus running. I always have to removes the 3D effect border combination of these. The Function Editor, used throughout Opus. 40 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 41 Support Support that Opus usually draws sub-items that have been the user menu item you want to You can use a similar around each button, whether defined. To add a new item at copy and drag it across to the procedure to copy a function you want to do this usually any level click on the Add Hotkeys window. When you from any editor to any other, for depends on the design of the button below the appropriate release the mouse button you example buttons to menus or button images you’re using. list, type a name in the string should see a new item appear hotkeys to the Lister toolbar. The No ‘Dog ears’ option gadget and press return. in the hot keys list. removes the folded over corner Conclusion usually added to buttons that TIP: If you want to make a Make sure the new item is have a middle or right click separator bar between selected in the Hotkey list then When I write tutorials I find it function, Auto Close or Iconify sections of your menu add a click on edit, the standard hard know whether I’ve pitched hides the bank in the selected new item and name it “—” Function Editor window them at the right level, I know way once you have chosen an (three dashes), when you appears and it should contain a this tutorial probably won’t be note that the keySetting press up is a defined global hotkey, in the Function Editor icon and active pop-ups lets press Return Opus will show copy of the function you much use to the many Amiga but the System-Global option is in the Hotkey Editor. you use buttons to show this as a separator line. selected. To assign a hotkey to users who have become menus which I’ll talk about a bit this function click in the “Key” experts with Opus over the Setting up complex user menus is easy, To edit an existing item or to more later. you can drag and drop items between levels too. function from the menus editor text gadget at the bottom of the years. However I have spoken assign a function to a new one Drag and Drop to the Hotkeys list. window and then press the key to many people who say they select the menu item or sub For now let’s give the button in “Add” or “Insert” options in the like in this way and they will be If you’ve created a function, combination you would like to never really got to grips with item and click on the our bank a function, this time “Button Bank Editor”, note that displayed in a menu when you however it is called, be it a First select “User Menus” from assign, for example Shift, Alt Opus 5 so I hope this will associated “Edit” button, the we’ll run a Workbench you can choose to add both left click this button. To re-order user menu item, a button, the “Settings” menu and locate and A. When you’re happy interest them. I’ve got plans for brings up the by now hopefully program. columns and/or rows enabling the functions in the menu use whatever you can easily copy it the menu item or sub-item you click “Use”, by default this another couple of Opus familiar Function Editor you to make any size of bank drag and drop. to any of the other editors want to create a hot key for. hotkey will only be active when tutorials that could follow this Click on the blank button in the window. As we’ve covered you wish. The Xform buttons using drag and drop. For Now click on the screen you have an Opus window one so I’d really appreciate new bar so it’s highlighted and adding Workbench and Opus are used to swap between When you’re happy with your example Opus has a hotkeys background so you can access selected, if you want it to apply some feedback, let me know if click “Edit” in the editor commands lets try an vertical and horizontal button bar click save in the editor that allows you to launch the main Opus menus and when you’re using other you found this tutorial helpful window, enter the name of the AmigaDOS command that orientation. If you want to editor window and enter a file a function using a key press select “Hotkeys” from the programs select it in the list (or not) and what would you program you want to run in the interacts with the files selected delete a button be careful name, by default button bars even if an Opus window is not “Settings” menu. Arrange the and click the “System-global like to see in future issues. Name text gadget (this is in the current lister. As an before you click on one of the are located in the active. So let’s try copying a windows so you can see both Hotkey” check box in the purely a description, we will “Delete” buttons, as they dopus5:buttons/ directory. example I’ll show you how to of them at once then click on Hotkeys window. choose the program file itself remove a whole column or row Position the new bar where you make a command that shows later). As I selected text which may delete more buttons would like it on the screen the currently selected file in buttons the name is than you bargained for! To using the drag bar and select Multiview (which like many automatically copied into the Amiga programs can be called Mailing List Next Issue clear the contents of a button “Save Layout” from the Label gadget which is actually “Settings” menu. If you forget from both Workbench and the use “Erase” in the lower If you’Total Amiga has its own Coming up in Total Amiga shown on the button. Now click to do this you button bar will shell). section of the window. Internet mailing list to keep About SEAL issue 11: “Edit Function” and the not reappear when you reboot connected readers (or anyone standard Function Editor In the Function editor add a Tip: There is actually a much the Amiga and you will have to with an EMail address) better Meetings News appears. Open the Utilities quicker way of adding load it using the Buttons/Load new line and set its type to ince the last issue of the informed about the magazine. • Alt.WoA Show Report drawer of your Workbench Workbench programs to a menu item. “AmigaDOS”, click the folder magazine several people SEAL meets fortnightly at our The mailing list is hosted by S • The latest on OS4, partition and find the clock button bar, just add some extra button and select Multiview have remarked that we don’t regular venue in Basildon, at YahooGroups. AmigaOne, Pegasos and icon, drag this over the function buttons then drag the icons of Tip: When you save layout from your Workbench Utilities have information about SEAL meetings we often have other developments. editor window and release it. the programs you want to run make sure you don’t have any drawer using the file requester. We post a minimum of one meetings in the magazine so tutorials and demonstrations Now we need to tell Multiview Notice how the command is directly from their drawers onto Listers open or they will also update to the list per month here is as much information as and there is always someone to show the file selected in the Reviews added and the correct type the button bar. The name or reappear when you reboot. plus any important magazine I can fit in about the club. Don’t on hand to help with those lister, this is done by inserting • PageStream 4.1 (Workbench) is set icon of the program will be announcements. Your mail box forget that you can find tricky software and hardware an Opus variable which will be problems. Many SEAL • x86 Emulators automatically. You could also used for the button label or Custom Menus will not be flooded because detailed directions and a map replaced by the name of the to the venue on the SEAL members also meet socially • StartBar Utilities Roundup set the type to “Workbench” image and the function will be this list can only be posted to Another good way of launching file. To select one click on the website at: between meetings and are using the cycle gadget and set correctly! by the editor. then click the folder icon to programs and Opus “{ }” button and a whole list http://www.seal-amiga.co.uk happy to offer help and advice Support select the program using a file If you want to run lots of commands is from user menus appears, we want {f} which will whenever the need arises. • Introduction to MIDI How To Join South Essex Amiga Link is requester if you prefer. That’s programs from a button bar that can be added to the end of insert the first selected entry in • SCALA Tutorial (surprise, surprise) an Amiga all there is to it just click “Use” you may find the Active pop- the main Opus menu bar. By the lister with path, so click to Subscribing to the list is free, We have regular meetings user group based in South to close the windows and get ups feature useful, this allows default Opus comes with one select it and then click “OK”. just send a blank EMail to: every other Friday at the hall Regulars Essex, England. SEAL was back to the button bank editor. a menu of functions to pop-up extra menu (called User Menu) That’s all we need to do here totalamiga-announce- (details below). We usually • PD Paradise formed in April 1998 by Mick when you click a button. To use defined, you can add and so click Use and then Save, [email protected] have some sort of planned • Top Tips Sutton, who has been working Try adding some other this first make sure the “Active remove items from this as well now check your menus to (all one line) activity but of course you’re • Back to Basics Tutorial very hard as the group’s programs you would like to run pop-ups” option is activated for as adding as many extra make sure the new item has free to bring your machine Or go to the list page on the chairman ever since! Even easily to the button bank. To your button bar in the “Button menus as screen width allows. appeared. along for help, advice or even Possibly Yahoo Groups website, if you though SEAL is not yet three add more buttons use the Bank Editor”. Then edit the User menus are edited using open Amiga surgery! If you’re years old we have become one • Opus Tutorial Part 2 button to which you would like the “Settings/User Menus” To try out the new menu item subscribe on the website you not a member, just turn up at of the most active and best • DTP Tutorial Part 2 to add a menu. In the “Button menu item, which opens the find a file on your hard disk may need to register: about 7pm at the hall to find known Amiga groups in the Please let us know what Editor” window instead of “User Menus” window. In this such as an image or a text file http://www.yahoogroups.com/ out what we’re all about. UK. As well as publishing this features and articles you selecting a mouse button in the window are three lists, showing that can be viewed with group/totalamiga-announce very magazine we have also Northlands Park Community would like to see in the next list click on “Add”, this adds a the menus, menu items and Multiview, select it in the lister (all one line) been involved in organising Centre, issue! new item to the function list, sub-menu items you have and then choose your new We hope the list keeps you two Amiga shows and hold Felmores, now give the function a name defined. Selecting a menu on menu command. You should better informed about Total regular meetings. Basildon, The new issue is due in: and set it to run the command the left shows all the items in find that the file is displayed Amiga and encourage all sub- Essex, SS13 1SD. May 2002 or program you want. You can that menu in the middle list and either in a Multiview window or Adding items to a button’s scribers to join. add as many functions as you selecting an item shows any on its own screen. “Active Popup” menu. 42 TOTAL AMIGA Spring 2002 43 Quake II Descent: Freespace Here’s a taste of what you’ve got to look forward to in the forthcoming port of the second in the Quake series. See the news pages for more details. The first three shots below are from the standard game:

These two are from some of the mods which have already been ported: Perfect Paint

Yee Ha Pardner!

Is he choking his chicken? Perfect Paint in action with the funky Glass effect. http://www.totalamiga.org