Welcome to the ____ / ___) *StarShip* 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast / (_ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / ___) / (__ very weekend the *StarShip* on GEnie presents a new 5-MINUTE Weekend (_____) Newscast in Communications Room 10 in the Real-Time Conference Area. Featuring late-breaking stories from the Amiga community, these dynamic, scrolling newscasts cycle every 5 minutes, so you can stop by between 6PM and 3AM Eastern time on Friday, or 3PM and 3AM Eastern time on Saturday or Sunday and learn everything that happened during the preceding week. Industry news, product announcements, upgrades, rumors, special *StarShip* activities, trade show reports, GEnie usage tips, humor, recommended files to download... ... the works -- and it ONLY takes 5 minutes! Each 5-MINUTE Weekend Newscast is available on *StarShip* Menu #10 during the following week. Periodically, newscasts are combined and made available for downloading from the *StarShip* Library. ____________________________________________________________ // \ || -*- IMPORTANT! -*- | || | || As long as individual stories are kept intact and credit | || is given, this material may be reproduced in ALL or PART | || on a privately owned BBS or in a user group newsletter. | || See wording for proper credit at the end of this Newscast. | \\____________________________________________________________/ || | || | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Denny Atkin, Editor, COMPUTE's Amiga Resource, for his generous input. Here we go!... DateLine: April 9, 1993 This 5-MINUTE Newscast presents the following stories: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Migraph ColorBurst Color Hand Scanner 2. ToasterFX Framestore Operators for GVP's ImageFX Software 3. Soft-Logik's PageStream V3.0 Features 4. Next Week's *StarShip* Amiga Conferences 5. RSCARDS Club Spring/Summer Sale 6. Children's Television Workshop Inks Deal with Electronic Arts 7. R.A.W. Entertainment Goes Direct! 8. VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! For our Eggciting Coloring Contest Entries! *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 1st of 8 Stories Migraph ColorBurst Color Hand Scanner ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Worth its weight in gold and 262,143 other colors! _ / \ Federal Way, WA -- March 1993 / - \ / ___ \ (_/ \_)t last, a color hand scanner for Amiga Systems that's fast and accurate and affordable. With the Migraph ColorBurst(tm) you can now produce crisp, clear, vivid color images for all your video and multimedia projects, on-screen presentations, and desktop publications. And have a lot of fun doing it. Speedy scanning. Great detail. The ColorBurst's large scanning window -- more than fourinches wide -- provides fast, single-pass scanning. Six scannng resolutions from 50 to 400 dots per inch (dpi) let you scan images at the resolution best suited to your chosen output device. And five scanning modes give you the flexibility to work with color, grayscale and black-&-white images, all with one scanner. So you can produce exactly the image you need for the output option of your choice: on-screen display, laser and Linotronic printouts, or slides. Non-nonsense software. The Migraph ColorBurst comes with easy-to-use imaging software for accurate, efficient scanning. It picks up 262,144 brilliant colors in a single pass (or 4,096 colors if you're working on a lower-memory system). The same software lets you quickly and easily save your image in a variety of standard file formats, ready for direct export to video, graphics, and desktop publishing applications. So you can export images for use with the Toaster, for enhancement in a program like Deluxe Paint, or for printing in publishing programs like PageStream and Professional Page. ______________________________________________________________________ / \ | Migraph ColorBurst: A Scanning Mode for Every Need | |------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Super Color Color Gray-scale Monochrome | | | | Output options 262,144 4,096 64 levels Black and | | colors colors of grey White | | | | Bits per pixel 18-bit 12-bit 6-bit 1-bit | | | | Resolution settings 50, 100, 50, 100, 100, 200 100, 200, | | (dpi) 150, 200 150, 200 300, 400 300, 400 | \______________________________________________________________________/ A Three-in-One Scanning Solution Versatility is the ColorBurst's specialty. If the image you're after is smaller than a full page -- whether it's a photo, ilustration, drawing, or cartoon (or business card, postcard, Christmas card, or photo identity card) -- you can scan it with the Migraph ColorBurst. It's a color scanner when you need eye-catching color graphics. A grayscale scanner when you need full-size, true-64-level grayscale images for hassle-free, high-resolution printouts. And it's a monochrome scanner when you need crisp, clear scans of line art or text for OCR processing. With the Migraph ColorBurst, capturing high-resolution color (and grayscale and monochrome) images has never been easier. Or more fun. Features Speed: Fast, single-pass scanning Size: Half-page scanning window - 4.13 inches wide Adjustable Resolution: Six settings from 50 to 400 dpi Five Scanning Modes: Super color, color, grayscale, dithered halftone (color), and line art (monochrome) Sensitive Color Scanning: Scan and save 262,144 vibrant colors (or 4,096 colors on low-memory systems) Grayscale Scanning: True 64-level grayscale scans at 40 dpi Monochrome Scanning: Scan line art for graphics projects or text for OCR processing Scan-and-Save Utility: Quick, accurate scanning and easy saving for direct export Versatile File Formats: Save scans in a variety of standard file formats Compact Design: Comes comlete with parallel interface and cable for easy installation System Requirements: For Amiga systems (except the 1000 model) with 2MB of memory. Note that 4MB of memory and a hard disk are recommended. For more information about the Migraph ColorBurst scanner, contact Migraph, Inc., 32700 Pacific Highway South, #14, Federal Way, WA 98003, telephone 206/838-4677 or toll free 800/223-3729 (10 to 4 Pacific time). [*StarShip* News Note: Migraph has released an upgrade to their Scanner Touch-Up Software (V3.1). Registered owners should contact the company.] -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 2nd of 8 Stories ToasterFX Framestore Operators for GVP's ImageFX Software ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ToasterFX for your Video Toaster ______ (__ __) Austin, TX -- March, 1993 / / / / (_/ he ToasterFX framestore load, saver and render modules, and GVP's ImageFX software are a complete paint and image processing package for NewTek's Video Toaster. Replacing ToasterPaint, GVP's ImageFX offers complete 24 bit painting tools with an 8 bit alpha channel, airbrush tools, color balancing, composition controls, special effects filters (oil paint, ripple, disperse, distort...), morphing and more. The ToasterFX LOAD module allows DIRECT loading of framestore files into ImageFX as 24 bit images. View the ENTIRE image on screen while painting, or choose any zoom level for detail work. The ToasterFX SAVE module saves any image loader or created in ImageFX directly to NewTek's framestore format. Convert Video Toaster framestores DIRECTLY to and from Amiga IFF24, JPEG, Targa, TIFF, GIF, Alias formats and more. The RENDER module can directly display to the Video Toaster's framebuffers without leaving the ImageFX interface. (choose between DV1 or DV2). ToasterFX competely integrates the operation of ImageFX with the Video Toaster, allowing direct access from the Toaster's switcher screen. ToasterFX also includes stand-alone utilities for: o Converting Framestores to IFF24 images o Converting IFF24 images to Framestores o Displaying any Amiga screen directly to a Toaster framebuffer ToasterFX requires GVP's ImageFX for painting and image processing functions. Painting and image processing can be acomplished on any Amiga computer. NewTek's Video Toaster is required only for direct displaying of framestores to the Toaster's framebuffers. ToasterFX is available at your Video Toaster and Amiga Dealer, or directly from: Byrd's Eye Software, 9001 Northgate Blvd, #135, Austin, TX 78758 (512) 835-4811 Video Toaster and ToasterPaint are registered trademarks of NewTek, Inc., ImageFX is a trademark of Great Valley Products, Inc. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 3rd of 8 Stories Soft-Logik's PageStream V3.0 Features _ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / ) World of Commodore Show -- April 2, 1993 / / / (_ (____)ast week, the *StarShip* 5-MINUTE News ran Soft-Logik's announcement about PageStream V3.0 which was released at the World of Commodore Show in New York City. Due to space considerations, we saved this impressive Features List for this week. According to several journalists who attended the show and saw a functional demonstration, this upcoming version of PageStream V3.0 promises to be the most powerful and full-featured, easiest to use desktop pulbishing software ever developed. Interface Maximum number of open documents unlimited Max number of document views unlimited Reveal/Hide document views Yes Moveable document view windows Yes Save program defaults Yes Load program defaults Yes Pasteboard/bleed area Yes User-specified pasteboard dimensions Yes Toolbox (move and change orientation) Yes Edit Toolbox Yes Number of operation/selection panels 6 Measurement system options 11 Set ruler zero point and offset Yes User-specified view magnification Yes Number of view magnifications 13 View magnification zoom Yes Show/Hide invisible characters Yes Undo levels unlimited Online context sensitive help Yes Document Construction Number of pre-defined page sizes 9 Maximum page size (in inches) 2330"x2330" Different page sizes in a document Yes Change page size at any time Yes Maximum document size (in pages) unlimited Single and double sided documents Yes Page spreads Yes Maximum number of master pages unlimited Hide master page objects Yes Visual page arrangement Yes Divide documents into sections Yes Divide sections into chapters Yes Automatic page numbering Yes Link and unlink columns Yes Word Processing Cut, copy and paste text Yes standard keyboard shortcuts Yes Multiple Style sheets for text formatting Yes Load and save style sheets Yes Find and replace text and text attributes Yes Find and replace style sheets Yes Spelling checker Yes Import/Export formats 7/7 auto conversion of quotes, commas and dashes Yes Maximum number of tabs unlimited number of alignment options 4 place numerically or manually Yes right indent tab Yes User-definable tab leaders Yes List all articles used in a document Yes Typography Number of outline font systems 3 Font sizes 1 to 50,000 increments 0.01 points horizontally scale text Yes Align text vertically Yes Indents and outdents Yes Auto/Manual hyphenation Yes hyphenation controls Yes Auto/Manual kerning Yes edit kerning pairs Yes Auto/Manual tracking Yes Absolute and relative leading (line spacing) Yes increments 0.01 points Frameless text Yes Convert shapes to text columns Yes Apply color and fill styles to text Yes Automatic drop caps Yes Automatic bulleted paragraphs Yes Graphics Import Bitmapped Pictures Yes number of formats 6 set line frequency, angle and pattern Yes contrast and posting control Yes bitmap fencing for text runaround Yes display bitmaps in color Yes externally linked bitmaps Yes Import Structured Drawings Yes number of formats 5 dissolve drawings into paths and shapes Yes Import Encapsulated PostScript Illustrations Yes number of formats which can be interpreted 2 show bitmapped headers (TIFF and PICT) Yes Save/Export/Print pages as EPS files Yes List all imported graphics in a document Yes Color Number of color modes 5 24 bit color support Yes Create process and spot colors Yes Shade increments 0.01% Automatic and user-definable trapping Yes specifications (choke, spread, knockout, overprint) Yes specify trapping values for each process plate Yes Specify angles, frequencies for individual spot colors Yes Drawing and Object Editing Features Drawing tools (shape and path) Yes Select multiple objects Yes add/remove from selection Yes select behind Yes Bring/Send to Front, Back, Forward, Backward Yes Cut, copy and paste objects between documents Yes Move and nudge objects Yes Step and repeat duplication Yes Rotate and skew objects Yes rotation increments 0.001 deg Group/Ungroup objects Yes Lock/Unlock objects Yes Distribute objects Yes Apply color and line/fill styles to objects Yes Bitmap fills Yes Gradient fills Yes Object fills Yes Text runaround objects Yes Extend objects across page spreads Yes Page Layout Margin and column guides Yes Object guides Yes snap-to-guides, snap-to distance Yes Grid Yes snap-to-grid Yes Printing Current page, page range, even/odd, printer spreads Yes Print CMYK and mechanical separations Yes Plate control Yes Tiling, thumbnails, crop and registration Yes Print to disk, to IFF ILBM picture Yes Custom PostScript, HP and Epson drivers Yes Interface Open program architecture (for adding extensions) Yes Text (article) editor Yes Picture (bitmap) editor Yes HotLinks compatible Yes ARexx compatible Yes ARexx record Yes AGA compatible Yes Workbench 2.x/3.0 compliant Yes -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 4th of 8 Stories __________________________________________________________________________ | | | *StarShip* Amiga Conferences | | _ _ _ | | / \ (_) / ) | | / - \ _____ ___ _ / / | | / ___ \ / _ )/ __)/ ) / / | | / / \ \ / /_) // / / / / / | | (_/ \_)/ ____/(_/ (_/ (_/ | | (_/ | | | | Except where noted, Conferences begin at 10PM Eastern Time in the Amiga | | Conference Rooms at Page 555;2. Amiga Programmers meet Wednesday nights | | at Pro/Am on Page 670. Amiga/GEnie HelpDesk EVERY Night at 9PM Eastern. | |__________________________________________________________________________| | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Humpday |Thursday | Friday | Saturday | | Help@9EST| Help@9EST|Help@9EST| Help@9EST|Help@9EST| Help@9EST| Help@9EST| |__________|__________|_________|__________|_________|__________|__________| | 11 | 12 | 13 |\ | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | |5-MIN News| | _| | | | New |5-MIN News| | 3PM-3AM | DeskTop | (_) | AmiGames |vv-Video!|*StarShip*| 3PM-3AM | | -*- |Publishing| Mad | ------ | with | 5-MINUTE |9:Hardware| |10PM: | Night | Music |Programing| Yury & | Newscast | Clinic | | Graphics | | Night |at Pro/Am | Guests | 6PM-3AM |10: Party!| |__________|__________|_________|__________|_________|__________|__________| HelpDesk *EVERY* NIGHT @ 9PM Eastern Time! Got a problem? If you have questions about learning to use your Amiga, the *StarShip* or GEnie, we have answers! Stop by Conference Room 4 ANY EVENING from 9 to 10 EST for live, on-the-spot help. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 5th of 8 Stories Announcing... ______ RSCARDS Club Spring/Summer Sale (__ __) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / / / / (_/hat's right, SALE! For the next five months (April through August), membership fees for the RSCARDS Club will be SLASHED an amazing 60%! As before, membership in the RSCARDS Club entitles you to play all six RSCARDS Multiplayer Games (Blackjack, Backgammon, Checkers, Poker, Reversi, and Chess) at HALF of the normal connect rates. But, for the next FIVE months, we're hacking that monthly membership fee for the Club down to only $12! ($16/month in Canada). That means that a player who plays as little as FOUR HOURS A MONTH in RSCARDS can now save money every single month, simply by joining the Club! For complete rates, rules & info, type "M875;5" from any menu prompt To join the RSCARDS Club and start your savings today, type "M875;6" (Note to existing Club members: your current Club membership will be billed at the Sale price for the duration of the sale - you do not need to quit & rejoin, or take any other action to get the savings.) RSCARDS is a point and click interface to some of the most classic and fun games of all time. Use the Amiga interface in File #18115 in the *StarShip* Library to face down other opponents from all over the country in this GEnie multiplayer game. The first Monday of each month is our special *StarShip* Poker night. And now do it for lots less than you could before! -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 6th of 8 Stories Children's Television Workshop Inks Deal with Electronic Arts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Electronic Arts to publish multi-platform ____ interactive media featuring Sesame Street characters / ___) / (_ San Mateo, CA -- April 1, 1993 / ___) / (_ (____)lectronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Children's Television Workshop, renowned leaders in their respective industries, today announced a long-term exclusive agreement to produce interactive media on a number of platforms including computers, video game machines, CD-ROM and the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer(tm). Under the agreement with CTW, Electronic Arts' new EA*KIDS(tm) division will publish interactive media products for children featuring the Sesame Street(R) characters. "This is a powerful partnership," said Stewart Bonn, senior vice president of the CD Group at Electronic Arts. "CTW practically invented the idea of educating children through entertainment -- Sesame Street is the classic example everyone would like to emulate," Bonn added. "Electronic Arts has a successful track record in taking the 'high road' in technology and is clearly a market leader for innovative media," said Rob Madell, vice president for Interactive Technologies at CTW. "EA*KIDS shares CTW's vision of creating interactive learning experiences for children all over the world," added Madell. "Electronic Arts and CTW have 35 years combined experience in producing media and understanding kids," said Madell. "CTW and Electronic Arts share a similar philosophy -- kids learn when they're engaged, and engagement stems from open-ended discovery and creative explorations. All of the products in this new Seasame Street line will reflect this philosophy," added Bonn. EA*KIDS is a division of Electronic Arts charged with creating enriching software for kids ages 3 to 14 that captures the magic of childhood. Electronic Arts has been a worldwide leader in developing and distributing entertainment software for video game systems and computers for the past 10 years. Children's Television Workshop was founded in 1968 to explore the use of television to educate children. CTW has been producing entertaining, educational software for the past 10 years. Today, CTW's mission extends over television, print, outreach and software, and reaches children in over 80 countries. CTW is a not-for-profit organization with 501(c)3 tax exempt status. -*- *StarShip* Amiga *Flash* 7th of 8 Stories ___ ___ R.A.W. Entertainment Goes Direct! (_ )( _) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / /_/ / Houston, TX -- March 26, 1993 / __ / _/ / / / (___)(__)aving spent two years listening to thousands of customers asking, "Why can't I find RAW titles?" RAW Entertainment are going direct. They are lowering their current $59.95 title SPOILS OF WAR to $34.95. All current $49.95 titles will be lowered to $29.95. The ACTION STATIONS! SCENARIO/ UTILITY DISK will be lowered from $21.95 to $14.95. Both SPOILS OF WAR (PC and Amiga) and FIRETEAM 2200 (PC only) will continue to be shipped with free add-on disks. RAW Entertainment, Inc., are in negotiation with other publishers, worldwide, who may also join in on this new concept. Products will only be available directly from RAW, credit card orders will be accepted for the first time on their new 800 order-line: 1-800-323-7878. RAW Entertainment will be the only publisher to stand by their titles by offering a 30 day refund policy, which will include refunding their shipping & handling charges! Given the quality of their current product range, they do not worry greatly about massive returns! RAW Entertainment believes their titles were good value for money before these price reductions, but have lowered their prices in order to pass on their cost savings to the customer, given these recessionary times (plus energy taxes, sin taxes, increased corporation and income taxes!). RAW Entertainment will now stand or fall on the quality of their products and their customer service, both before and after the sale, rather than continuing to wait for the retail/mail order sectors to provide the level of service RAW Entertainment would like to. It is believed that RAW Entertainment, Inc., are the only software house to have STARTED by looking for retail distribution and ENDED UP going direct. Most publishers seem to have operated the other way around. No one can say RAW Entertainment are conventional! WATCH THIS SPACE..! RAW "DIRECT" will go "LIVE" on May 1st 1993 with advertising commencing in May/June. For more information contact R.A.W. Entertainmnet, Inc., 957 NASA Road One, Suite 146, Houston, TX 77058-3098, telephone 713/386-2386. -*- *StarShip* NEWS *Flash* 8th of 8 Stories _ VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! / \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ / - \ *StarShip* News Network / ___ \ (_/ \_) cute pink bunny came hopping by last night, beating on a drum, and singing the catchiest rap I've heard in a while. I'll just call it... The Eggster Rap _ _ //^\\. .//^\\ All the entries are in and ready to go, / // \ ' / \\ \ The lil' hidden eggs are out for show. | || / o o \ || | There's twenty pictures for you to see, | '| |(= ^ =)| |' | All done with an Amiga, pretty as can be! \/ \ _v_ / \/ Now all you gotta do is vote for the best, An' let your Amiga buddies do all the rest. Pretty lil' eggs are waitin' for you To pick the winning pictures like you wanna do! Look for the choices in library thirty-nine You've only got a week before you lose the time. Then cast your ballot at the *StarShip* menu, Pickin' the winners is somethin' only you can do! -*StarShip*'s Eggciting Voting Booth ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amiga artists are some of the finest in all of computer graphics work, and we salute them in our Eggciting Coloring Contest! Use your vote to select your favorite pictures from the art in the Egg Coloring Contest entries in Library 39. There are two categories, animations and pictures. You may cast your vote twice in each category by selecting Menu Option 13 on the *StarShip* Main Menu, Page 555. The polls will close on Sunday, April 18th, at 8 PM Eastern Time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The winners will be announced at the Graphics conference that same night! What beautiful, creative and fun entries were received! Support your Amiga artists by looking at them and voting for your favorites. Pictures File Number Artist A. 1-DozenGlassEggs #19004 P.GARCIA4 B. basket'0'eggs HAM / IFF24 #19020-21 W.FRANKS1 C. fancy-eggs HAM / IFF24 #19018-19 W.FRANKS1 D. CaitiesEggs #19029 M.DESILVA E. D.Callis2 Egg.ham #18950 D.CALLIS2 F. DO-ZEN_EGGS.pix #18916 D.HUMPHREY10 G. EasterEggs1.hamin #18986 P.WEISER H. EasterEggs2.hamin #18987 P.WEISER I. Egg #19003 M.POTTS3 J. Egg-BL.iff #19017 J.JAVERY K. Eggfinity #19015 J.COX45 L. eggtree2 #19006 R.KAHN1 M. Indian&LeafEggs #19029 M.DESILVA N. Kaleidoscopeggs #19029 M.DESILVA O. ScrambledEgg #19031 J.JOHNSON75 P. JVM_Eggs.HAM / IFF24 #19050-51 J.MINTALAR Animations A. Bubble_Bunny #19011 R.MCNEILL B. EggHunt.anim #19026 G.MUNROE1 C. EGGjuggler.anim #19028 A.YAP3 D. JewelEgg #18952 W.DIMACULANG VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! -*- Over a GIGABYTE of Amiga files in our Library! Catch your limit of Fred FISH Disks from the *StarFish* Library. If you are after a SINGLE PROGRAM on a Fish Disk, SEARCH for it before downloading the disk. Most are available separately! _______________________________________________________________ | | | | | Permission is hereby granted to quote ALL or PART of this | | Newscast on a privately owned BBS or in a user group news- | | letter provided you include the following credit: | | | | Reprinted by permission from the *StarShip* 5-MINUTE News. | | Joining GEnie is easy! Use half duplex at 300/1200/2400 | | baud. Dial 1-800-638-8369 (Canada 1-800-387-8330). Type | | HHH at CONNECT. At the U#= prompt, * | | type AMIGA and press Return. \ * * / | |________________________________________________ * * ________| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * * ~~~~~~~ * * * * * * * * * * * * We'd like to know if you reprint * The * the *StarShip* 5-MINUTES News. * *StarShip* * Tell us by leaving *free* Feeback * on GEnie * to the SysOps on GEnie page 555. * * _ / * * * * * * * * * * * * * / * * * \ * ViewPort for April -- the *StarShip*'s Monthly Magazine! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Is NOW available FREE on GEnie*Basic Menu Option #9, Page 555 Special 8-Page In-Depth World of Commodore Show Report! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~