Workbench December 2002 Issue 187 December 2002 Workbench 1 Editorial Happy Christmas everyone, This month we have articles covering the Elbox Trojan Horse code fiasco. Editor Tony Mulvihill Thankfully Elbox have fixed their little indiscretion. We have a rather long 0415 161 271 article covering MorphOS. If you’ve been confused about MorphOS then this [email protected] article should clear the air on Amiga OS 4’s closest competitor. We also have Contributions the final in my Future Tech series, meeting pics from October/November and Contributions can be soft copy (on floppy½ disk) or all the current Ami news. hard copy. It will be returned if requested and Don’t forget this months meeting is December the 8th, one week earlier than accompanied with a self- addressed envelope. usual. So until next year, have a happy Christmas and a great start to the new The editor of the Amiga Users Group Inc. newsletter year from all the AUG committee. Cheers :-) Workbench retains the right Tony Mulvihill to edit contributions for clarity and length. over 30 units were sold by Anything Send contributions to: Amiga Users Group Amiga, most of which were the G4 P.O. Box 2389 Seaford Victoria 3198 version. [email protected] Advertising This Months Meeting Advertising space is free for members to sell private December 8th 2002 items or services. Version 2 of Amiga Quake has been For information on commercial rates, contact: released. This version supports 68k, Tony Mulvihill PPC and MorphOS. 0415 161 2721 [email protected] Last Months Meeting November 17th 2002 I’ll be demonstrating the 68k version Deadlines Workbench is published Latest news and info. on my machine at Decembers each month. The deadline A demonstration of DFX, the inline meeting and if you’ve got a fast, for each issue is the 1st Tuesday of the month of floppy adaptor made to allow std network capable Amiga (that is publication. floppies to work with Amigas you’ve got an ethernet card in your Reprints Amithlon and WinUAE. Ami with an RJ45 connector) bring it All articles in Workbench are Copyright 2002 the along and well get a game of network Amiga Users Group Inc. A demonstration of networking Quake happening. I can connect up to unless otherwise indicated. Articles may be reproduced between an Amiga and a Win98 box 8 machines with my switch. for noncommercial using TCP/IP and Samba File purposes if accompanied by Latest news and info from our a credit line including the shifting and VNC was demo’ed. original authors name and VNC is a remote control program bringer of Ami news, David Myers. the words. Reprinted from Workbench along the lines of Nortons’ the newsletter of the Amiga PCanywhere, only VNC is free and Next Years Meeting Users Group. http://www.aug.org.au an Amiga server and client is Sounds like a long way from available. It was most strange to see a happening but it’s only around a Disclaimer month and a half away. The views expressed in the fully functioning Win98 desktop and Amiga Users Group Inc. just a screen flip away, an Amiga newsletter Workbench are We’ll have the Sun room booked for those of the authors and do Workbench. not necessarily represent next year but the dates are not the views of the editor or confirmed yet. Look for more info in the AUG committee. News that in the week or so that the AmigaONE had become available next years first issue of Workbench. December 2002 Workbench 2 In This Issue Bytes & Pieces Christmas Card 1 Editorial 2 Letting the World Know Fake OS 4 beta Group News 2 November 19, 2002 - We have been Bytes & Pieces 3 With the AmigaOne now informed that there shipping and AmigaOS is a fake OS 4 beta Elbox 4 4.0 in its final stages of circulating supposedly produced MorphOS 6 development and testing, the by HYPErion (!) which contains Humour 11 time has come to begin letting “amusing” commentary such as the rest of the world know the “x megabytes leaked but OS 4 Future Tech 12 good news, that the Amiga is will have virtual memory Meeting Pics 13 alive, well and ready to let the anyway”. It is possible that this Boing.Net 14 World have fun with computing archive contains malicious code again. and we therefore urge users not Anything Amiga 14 http://www.amiga.com/ to download and run it. Dealer Directory 15 corporate/111902- exposure.shtml Ben Hermans/Hyperion About The Group 16 fxPAINT 2.0 in December modules have been heavily and WarpUP and extended, new modules like e.g. thus, independant the “Navigation Builder” and the of which platform “Color variations”-wizard have it runs on, allow been added. you to work at full fxPAINT is an award-winning speed. An adaption for AmigaOS graphics program for AmigaOS, One of the most important new 4.0 is already being worked on MorphOS, Amithlon, PowerUP features is the support for and will be made available as a and WarpUP covering many gradients that may consist of a free download upon the time of different fields of graphical theoretically unlimited number of completion. applications. Besides others, colors and transparency-values. more than 90 high quality effects Together with the also brand-new On the fxPAINT-page you can for image processing, natural gradient tool you can easily add now find benchmark results that painting tools, image- gradients to pictures or use them document the speed gains through managment, batchprocessing- as background. native support of x86 and PPC. and numerous internet tools are The routines, already very fast on available to you. More Furthermore direct support for 68K, run - depending on the information on fxPAINT can be Truetype®-fonts, PNG-files effect/operation - more than 7 found on the fxPAINT- (loading and saving, incl. all times faster on an 180 MhZ homepage. options like alpha-channel, etc.), PowerPC and more than 40 times the system clipboard and faster on Amithlon running on a We are proud to announce the Turboprint has been added. The 850 MhZ Athlon. long awaited version 2.0 of ARexx-port and its nearly 90 fxPAINT today. fxPAINT 2.0 new commands as well as the An overview over all, including includes many new features, that numerous scripts contained offer many more, new features as well will open up new graphical additional functionality. as the possibility to purchase horizons to you. Besides the fxPAINT 2.0 at a time-limited generally improved working fxPAINT 2.0 will, besides the special price can be found on the speed and many new effects, a lot support for 68K-systems, also all-new fxPAINT 2.0 subpages. has been done at the modules, offer native support for Delivery is scheduled for the first too. The fxALBUM- and MorphOS, Amithlon, PowerUP half of December 2002.” fxCONV(batch processing)- http://www.iospirit.de/fxpaint/ December 2002 Workbench 3 Elbox Crash Code obvious in their public Trojan Horse statements. Maybe it’s because of the Polish culture By Tony Mulvihill or language differences or maybe it’s just the way they Elbox are the well known are but anyway they made a Polish Amiga hardware major blunder recently when the Amiga is well known for manufacturers known for their an individual discovered rogue programs that overwrite innovative quality hardware, secret code in their software memory at random locations. such as the Mediator PCI drivers, that if activated, Plus once knowledge of the busboard expansion cards and destroys the RDB (Rigid Disk code got out, virus writers PCI card drivers CD, the Block) of an Amiga harddrive. could exploit the code by MrooCheck serial mouse purposefully activating it and adaptor, their range of This so called (by Elbox) anti- thus destroying your data. excellent flicker-fixers and piracy protection in the Elbox Never mind the fact the Elbox scandoublers, harddrive software doesn’t actually Trojan Horse code is actually adaptors and their Power prevent piracy but rather is a against the law in most Tower kit range. revenge mechanism that will wipe the RDB of the boot countries of the world. As great as their hardware and harddrive. The Rigid Disk First Elbox denied the software is (I myself have 4 Block of an Amiga contains existence of the code. Then pieces of Elbox hardware and the boot and partition table when more and more well I’ll vouch for it anyday), they and as well can contain all the known Amiga programmers lack good PR relations. This file systems used by the checked for, found and has been harddrive. Wiping the verified the code existed, they painfully RDB effectively means you can no longer finally came clean and said the access your data on the code existed in ALL their harddrive. The data is software. However the still there but you’ll statement Elbox released is have a major job to get confusing and ambiguous and it all back and usable. It pretty much blames everyone will require specialised else but themselves. You can software tools and an read the Elbox statement by experts knowledge. One following the links at the end wrong mistake and poof.... of the article. your data is gone for good. Consider the Elbox code like a The main problem was the fact car company releasing a car that the code could be with an anti-theft device activated by accident. It only which is a big bomb. Now the took a random memory write car company doesn’t tell you to activate the RDB code and your car comes with a bomb December 2002 Workbench 4 Elbox Crash Code that will blow up if your car best and innovative Amiga gets stolen and when you hardware and finally discover that bomb, the provide the best company first denies it exists, support of any then acknowledges it does Amiga company I exist and say it won’t go off in have ever encountered.