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No 68k on PPC ?

Latest rumour doing the rounds is that Phase 5 are going to be releasing ppc boards in a couple of months, without a native 68k processor on board. They will be using Haage & Partner 68k emulation instead. This may not be a good thing, if the ppc slows down too much. Although the boards will be much cheaper, We prefer the real 68k on board, to free up the ppc to get on with it's own thing. Time will tell.....

Tornado 3d PPC

Rhino has been informed that Tornado 3d (v1.75) is available and ppc happy, with speeds of 6 to 9 times faster than an 060. A free upgrade is available to existing users, and he says it looks really cool. Expect some 3d gfx from rhino as he plays :) Check out the Eyelight website.

Hi-ho, hi-ho, its off to WoA we go...

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This page seems to be ok in A-Web and Voyager, but IBrowse completely messes it up. I can't find anything wrong in the code. If you have any ideas please Email me.

Some of Our Views on the Announcement

By now you've probably seen/heard/psychically linked to the WoA announcement (If not visit Amiga Inc's web site for the official press release and www.ourskool.demon.co.uk for an excellent report of the actual announcement speech.) and are probably either ecstatic, depressed, confused, or dazed....but most probably all of the above. But don't grab your razors and make a mess just yet....read this first :)

We were at the announcement on friday 15th May '98. Here are our views.....

Firstly, the "intel" thang....
On friday night, Jeff Schindler was saying the x86 system (with "inside out" type Amiga card"), was just going to be a developer only system. When we asked if the system would be available for the users. Jeff said possibly, if enough interest was shown, but it seemed to us that they were not keen for this to be the case. Then, we read on the A-Inc site, that they ARE planning to release this to the public for $999. Say what ???

All we can say is that they categorically stated, in the announcement and privately afterwards, that the x86 was just for development purposes, and would NOT be the basis for the next-generation amiga, to be released in late 1999. So put that fear out of your minds, Intel will NOT be a part of the new miggy chipset (let's call it "Mitchie", after Jay Miners dog, whose paw-print graces the inside case of the first A1000's (Joe Torre suggested this)). Some of us believe that they have decided to release the x86 dev. system to the public, aimed toward the current pc users, to point them in the amiga direction. We don't believe this system would be of much use to us, as amiga users. In this scenario, the sale of the x86/amiga would be a "good thing" (tm).

It seems using pentiums as part of the dev. for the next "true" amiga, is a clever move, as they need the best price ratio, with the closest performance to the new chipset, and have the best developer tools. Remember, the dev. system is not the final system. Intel is not a part of Mitchie. The miggy we all know and love was developed on Sun systems. The Playstation is developed on the pc.Pentium: use it, abuse it, lose it.....

The operating system thang......
OS 4.0 will be released, along with the x86 dev. system, in November. OS 4.0 will be primarily for developers, but will also be available to us as well. Don't expect any major enhancements to whatever custom "hacked up to the eyeballs" os you have atm, though. OS 5.0 will be the basis for the "Mitchie" chip. A-Inc still have to decide on the os kernal.... they're talking to Be-os, Linux, and others to choose the best for the "Mitchie's" needs. This should be resolved by mid-June.

The "Mitchie" thang.......
Right, "Mitchie" is apparently a new, revolutionary chipset/cpu, which will be the basis of the next miggy. As already said, Intel have nothing whatsoever to do with it (but they wish they had, and would just lurve to know where it's coming from, so that they could get their sticky custard-pie mitts on it). Joe Torre said you would never guess who is developing the chip :) "Mitchie" will be capable of....

• 400 million 3d pixels per second (the latest pc Voodoo2 can chuck around about 100 million p.s.).
• Stream 3 to 4 Mpeg video's concurrently.
• 5 to 10 times faster than the most powerful pentiums available now.
• DVD as standard.
• Available in computers/laptops/consoles/set-top boxes/embedded devices eg telephones/maybe even Coke machines & vibrators 8-)
• "Mitchie" will be backward-compatible, and (very interestingly) the way the chipset works makes it very malleable to hardware-emulate all other systems as well :) One interesting speculation is that Edinburgh Uni have something on their website about "open gate array" chips...picture a "Borg" chip, (or "Odo" chip if you're a DS9 fan), that can assimilate/replicate other chips within it's own chip. "Fascinating", as Spock would say.
• Base model (sans monitor etc) - $500 US.
• It's been recently confirmed that Mitchie will be "classic" Amiga software compatible. Fantastic !

It's not vapor-ware, as Joe Torre said "Me, Carl Sassenrath, and RJ Mical have seen an early demo of "Mitchie", and it blew us away."

We have a feeling that "Mitchie" has been on the Gateway back-burner for a while, and that Amiga and it's operating system ethos etc is the perfect partner for it. Developers are now coming on board to do software and hardware for "Mitchie". Don't think it's only Amiga developers either. Many pc developers are interested in breaking away from the Wintel duopoly.

This means that our beloved miggy's of today will be superceded.
We think this is a fantastic thing.

Consider this: Jeff could have come out and said, "right, we've checked into it, and the best way for us to go is to dump the miggy. We'll use the bits we like in our GW pc's. So thank-you, f*ck you, and please buy a GW pc :)". But he didn't (although they could have). They've checked into it. They realise it's no good trying to doggy-paddle in the pc wake anymore. The only choice is to fly ahead, like the A1000 did way back when. And "Mitchie" will fly.

At the end of the day, we've had our miggy's for at least 5 years, most of us, and it's been left behind in most areas. It's to it's credit that it's still ahead in a couple of areas as well. It's time to upgrade. That doesn't mean that we have to dump our A1200's or whatever (I will definitely still be using mine well into the new millenium), even after upgrading.

"Mitchie" will be a new computing standard, designed for everyone, to bring all computer platforms under one roof. It isn't just for us amigans, it's being planned especially to entice the pc users away from their wintels (which is going to be very easy, seeing most of then dislike M$ as much as we do). "Mitchie" will be called an Amiga. It will be as close to being an Amiga in spirit as well. We have Joe Torre's personal guarantee that he will do his best to keep the Amiga ethos intact, but in a new generation. We trust Joe & the other Amigans working on this new vision.

Gateway don't seem too keen to keep paying licensing fees for a decrepit operating system like Windoze anymore, and have recently made the first steps away from M$ by allowing new purchasers of their pc's to choose between using Microsoft Internet Explorer, or Netscape as their browser. Choice ? pc's ? It does not compute in a Microsoft world. Microsoft recently made a failed offer to buy British Telecom by the way, in another attempt to secure a stranglehold in controlling the internet.

The Phase 5/ppc thang.......
Phase 5 are pissed....really pissed. We don't blame them in some ways. They invest loads of money in developing ppc. They do the most to keep the Amiga alive. A few months ago Amiga Int say that "ppc/68k is the official way forward for the Amiga". Now they say that it isn't, "Mitchie" is......well, "you could at least kiss me first before you f*ck me" (phase 5 must be saying). or even "Don't piss down MY neck and tell me it's raining" could be another (suitably translated into German) phrase. Will the developers still do anything much for the ppc ? Guess we'll all find out in the next month. As much as it sucks in some ways, it probably couldn't be helped. It would either have to be "Mitchie" or ppc. "Mitchie" is revolutionary in architecture. 'Nuff said. It's been reported that P5 and Haage & Partner have patched up their differences on the day after the show (funny that) :), and are talking with A-Inc about ppc compatibility within Mitchie. So it's still safe to buy that ppc (many of us are).

It's possible that Petro was just as much in the dark as we were at that time regarding "Mitchie". A-Inc are still hoping to work with P5 in the development of stuff for "Mitchie". We should have a decision by mid-June. Hopefully A-Inc/A-Int will promote the other developers to still develop for the current ppc range. The future of ppc over the next 18 months rests in the hands of the developers. Many of us would still like to ppc our amiga's, if there are the the apps for it.

So. my brains fried, how about yours?

"Mitchie" is coming (cue silly joke about it's going to screw the pc up the ass). heheh. Our current Amiga's are still hanging in there. The pc world will be enlightened by the bastard son of a "games machine" in November, when they get to experience a little of we have always had, when they buy their (originally for development purposes only) amiga/pc. The developer support is the only concern, and the developers we talked to at WoA (after they'd been to the devs. meeting), were enthusiastic about the future. The current Amiga market has been hit by this news, and we'll see who can stick it out with us for the next 18 months, while we wait for the "messiah" (tm - all world religions :) ). This really is the only way forward (key word....forward). I'm sick of getting pc scraps 2 years late (quake, anyone ? (buy it, btw....it's brilliant). It's time to kick some serious ass again.

/drumroll.......

Ta-daaaaa !

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Our psychedelic drug-induced squishy squashy WoA (WHOA !!) experience....

We left for WoA in a 4wd and a car from Wickford, Essex, at 7:30 am. After breaking practically all the road rules, and being diverted at some bridge in London (which forced us south of the Thames, into the fantastically interesting, colourful sites (not!) of some south London suburb), before arriving at Hammersmith.

There was a queue, and I (rusty) met Scorgie, a scottish dude from irc (Arcnet uk...#amiga), who was also hanging out (not literally...he wasn't wearing a kilt) to get in.

Our illustrious chairman (sicky), had realised he'd forgotten his ticket, so he had to pay to get in again, while the rest of us waltzed in. Sicky had brought his camera though, and took some good pictures (well, we assume they would have been good, except the next day he told us he hadn't had any film in.. :) heheh :))

We all immediately started to go around some like some wild group of animals, checking out the stands. I met DrJekyll, Walrus, Melin, Magicman, SimD, and Jester (from irc)...check out their sites, Jester has a similarly wonderful sick sense of humour :)

Many seals were found to be perving at the female dancers of the "Back for the Future" theme song, and Spencer got a good shot of one young lady's "assets" (Sandra, btw....gorgeous beast). A few seals bought signed copies of the song, if you're into Dance music take a look at the Annex web site.

The prices of drinks were horrendous (�1 for a can of 7-up !!), so a few seals did a moonshine run to the local M&S and smuggled in plenty of cans and choccies.

Alot of Power Towers & ppc's were seen being bought. The upgrade craze continues :)

Chris from Active Technologies was cornered by a few annoyed people wondering why a Netconnect 2 has been advertised in the mags for a year, and still doesn't exist ?! Chris is ultra helpful when you ring him up (when they eventually answer the phone), but we feel it's very wrong to take peoples money for something that doesn't exist, then send them the first version instead, even if it is good.

Paul Burkey ("Foundation" author was busy getting writers cramp signing hundreds of copies of his game, and is a cool dude. He's working on the internet upgrade for it atm (and hopefully we'll beta test it for you, eh, Paul :). Check out his homepage..

Most of us made our Bank Managers happy (and one, who shall remain nameless, would have made his wife very unhappy (well, unhappier), if he hadn't concocted an elaborate story of buying & selling of goods) :) Here's hoping she doesn't read this :)

Among the stuff we purchased/pilfered :

• 3 Power Towers (Power Computing)
• 4 hd disk drives (Blittersoft)
• Toshiba 38x scsi cd-rom (Hi-soft)
• Blizzard 1260 scsi adaptor (Hi-soft)
• Blizzard ppc 160/040/scsi
• Apollo 1240
• Directory Opus Magellan
• Turboprint 6
• Quake(s)
• Genetic Species(')
• Foundation(s)
• Aminet Set 6
• CU Amiga & Amiga Format subscriptions
• Stickers
• Posters
• and loads more......

Seminars:
We went to a couple of seminars....

Photogenics ....Paul Nolan
Brilliant - the natural media tools are impressive, as well as many other new fx...can't wait (hey Paul, call it "PhotoStorm", ok ?).

Image FX 3.0.....Corinna Cohn
Corinna was brave in the face of bugs ("the patch for the patch will be out soon"), and handled herself very well (and I'm being serious, not kinky, you naughty ppl :). Corinna has a fantastic soh and showed us many interesting new thangs, such as the powerful layering functions, and a few new fx.

The seminars added a lot of interest to the show this year and we hope they'll be back.

Before I forget, I have to say that Joe Torre is one weird guy (which is good, we like weird :) He's very down to earth, and does this trick of balancing on his haunches, on one leg, and raising himself up using just that one leg. It's bloody hard (don't try this at home, kids). Wish we had gotten a pic of that (Joe, send us a pic of your trick). He had his Boing shoes on, and we hope he washes them regularly :)

White Knight:
White Knight were showing the development model of the cybervision ppc, and it looks brilliant, running several Mpeg streams, and rendering fractals at the same time. It should be here in 6 - 8 weeks.

Boxer:
The Boxer was there, but unfortunately it was just that (a box). It wasn't ready for show, but the box looked good :)

Directory Opus:
The new version looks fantastic. One cool feature is "themes", where you can have a different pic/font/ border for every window you open, with the themes decided by you. Workbench Psychedelia ! Sound events will also be supported, as well as multiple start-menu's (a useful program launcher similar to the windows 95 (choke!) one). An FTP function that automatically logs on etc for you. This version is playfully named "Fernando", after the Abba song, due to the Swedish guy on the GP team getting the piss taken from him :) "Money money money" and "Dancing Queen" are also jokey faves. This version should be available in mid-july. Then the team will be concentrating on finishing the pc version, which will be similar in style to Opus 4, but with Magellan features. (what did you think? that M$ would let a decent workbench replacement onto their wintels ??).

Ateo Concepts:
The Ateo tower/bus/pixel64 looks good, and should be:
Tower - �100
bus & pixel64 - �200
They should have a UK dealer in the next 3 weeks, and then that dealer has the responsibility of letting the mags do a review of it. The french mags have done/ar edoing reviews atm. An ethernet card & sound-card are under development.

WoA quotes :

"I believe, although the next few months may be unsettling for some, that Gateway are working towards a great future for the Amiga"....Nick Veitch (Amiga Format).

"My Amiga was designed 8 years ago. I love it, but it's time to advance"....Corinna Cohn (Image FX),

"Amiga -- Back for a vague future (am very optimistic, but stunned)"....Paul Burkey ("Foundation" author).

"The vision that Amiga Inc has is very exciting, and we hope that we can last long enough to see it"....Dr. Greg Perry (GP software)

"You can't kill an Amiga - no-one can. I'll do everything I can to make it an Amiga in hardware/software/spirit. I intend to keep on using the 1000's of C commands in my path. I've seen the demo's with RJ Mical & Carl Sassenrath, and was blown away"....Joe Torre (Amiga Inc).

"Phwooooooar !!"....some of us (when looking at the girly dancers) :)

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