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Text File | 1992-09-01 | 48KB | 1,023 lines

* . . * . . *StarShip* . . . ____________________________________________________ /____________________________________________________\ * // \\ // _ _ _ _____ _ \\ // ( \ / )(_) / _ ) __/ ) \\ . || \ \ / /_ ____ _ __ _ / /_) /_____ ___(_ __) || . || \ \_/ // )/ __ )( \/ \/ )/ ____// _ )/ __)/ / || \\ \ // // ___/ \ // / / /_) // / / / // \\ \_/(_/(____) \_/\_/(_/ (_____/(_/ (_/ tm // * \\ // * \\__________________________________________________// \__________________________________________________/ . . * . . . * ______________________________________________________________________ September 1992 Editor: Jim Meyer Volume 1 Number Six (V1.6) Publisher: Peggy Herrington Producer: deb Christensen ______________________________________________________________________ Film at Eleven .......................... Jim Meyer and Bob Eller 1 ViewPoint ...................................... Peggy Herrington 2 Small Wonder: An Amiga Retrospective ........ James W. Greenidge 4 WordWorth ............................................. Bob Eller 6 Boppin' ............................................. Zach Meston 7 SimEarth .............................................. Jim Meyer 9 Amiga Music Formats .................................. Syl Lutnes 11 AmigaVision: Flow Control .......................... Kevin Rahe 12 Using Public Screens ....................... Chris Papademetrious 13 Library Picks .................................. *StarShip* Staff 14 No Matter Where You Go, There We Are............ News from GEnie 15 ______________________________________________________________________ ViewPort is a *StarShip*(tm) Production available on GEnie(R). For details and information about contributing, send GE Mail to JIM.MEYER. Copyright (C) 1992 *StarShip*. Freely distributable when kept intact. To join GEnie, dial 1-800-638-8369 with your modem. Upon CONNECTion, enter hhh. At the U#= prompt enter SIGNUP. Have a major credit card or your checking account number handy. ______________________________________________________________________ ViewPort September, 1992 ----------------------------------------- Page 1 Film At Eleven by Jim Meyer, with Bob Eller ____ (_ _)t's been a tough month. Here in California, it seemed as if / / most of the state was on fire. Meanwhile, on the other side of / / the continent, Florida and Louisiana got too much of what we _/ / Californians crave: water, along with a veangeful wallop of wind. (____) I was pleased to see an offer from MYSTIQUE, on GEnie, to distribute messages from GEnie members to friends and loved ones in the stricken areas. (Send GEnie Mail to MYSTIQUE containing the message, not more than 5 lines, and the name and address of the person to whom it should be delivered.) It's fair to assume that similar efforts are being made on other networks, and it provides one more example of how electronic networking is helping to make the world into a more close-knit community. Our hearts and prayers go out to those who suffered Andrew's wrath. As we inch closer to the biggest Amiga events of the year - World of Commodore and COMDEX - speculation has been running rampant as to what Commodore will be displaying. Readers of the 5-Minute News were told to expect the unveiling of the A4000, but that has done little to diminish everyone's appetite for details. Our Ace Reporter, Bob Eller, recently had a chat with Amanda Griffies, from Commodore Media Relations, and has this to report: Many of you may have seen a file roaming around the country regarding AmigaDOS 3.0. Commodore is aware that one of their developers has released proprietary information concerning workbench 3.0. While they won't confirm that they will release 3.0 at World of Commodore, they do indicate that a product requiring 3.0 will be released. They cautioned, however, that the specifications in the pirate version include references to features that will not be available in the first release. Commodore is unhappy that this information was release and would like to caution all sysops that this material is proprietary and should be removed immediately. As a journalist, this is something of a painful - yet exciting - time. There are new goodies from Commodore, and a number of new programs that will take advantage of some new features. All of this, alas, is information that can't officially be released yet. Thankfully, the wait is almost over. To be sure, some will be disappointed at what is to come. Cray Computers is safe from the onslaught of Amigas for another year, and the promise of 64-bit color with 8-channel, quadraphonic, 16-bit sound (with an input for digital recording) for under $500 remains as yet unfulfilled. But if you aim your sights slightly lower, you will probably be pleased. Both ViewPort and the 5-Minute News will be roaming the halls of WoC, and we'll be bringing you the news as it happens. Before it happens, if our Tachyonic Link works as advertised! It's only fitting that we arm ourselves with the latest in technology to cover this event. Thanks to our own Gadget Guru, Bob Eller, we'll be able to bring you all the sights, both in words and in digitized images, at the speed of light. Stay tuned! It promises to be an exciting event! ViewPort September, 1992 ----------------------------------------- Page 2 ViewPoint by Peggy Herrington _ _ ( \ / )ou don't often see an article in the computer press focusing on \ \/ / people, but that's what you're reading now. It's people, of course, \ / -- not programs or hardware -- who constitute a community, and I've / / been in this business long enough to know many people whom I consider (_/ to be among the finest in the world, all of them joined in spirit solely through their interest in a unique personal computer. I think the bonds of the Amiga community are stronger than those forged in most special interest groups, although I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's because we share a vision, maybe we're more creative or we enjoy challenges more than most, or we're path finders. Whatever the reason, I'm convinced our bonds are more than simple vested interest. I guess I'm trying to say that I've never known a finer group of people. I'm going to tell you about several special people here, not because they are computer professionals, but because they're special and you've probably heard of them. Take Gail Wellington, for example -- and somebody apparently did take her because she's no longer working for Commodore. Gail was director of Commodore Amiga Technical Support (CATS) prior to moving to CDTV a couple of years ago. Although she worked at Commodore U.S., her bonds with Commodore International (usually a lifetime professional relationship) were severed quietly last month, and I don't know why. I do know, however, that Gail's dedication, enthusiasm, knowledge and forthrightness will be sorely missed by this community. Also missed will be Rick Stiles, talented author of the commercial Amiga program UEdit which I understand is now headed for public domain or shareware distribution. Like Rob Peck and Wayne Pace, Rick was tragically taken from us early in life by cancer. On a brighter note, did you hear that Doug Barney, the thankfully inimitable Editor in Chief of AmigaWorld has been replaced? Nothing personal, but Doug was about as qualified on an Amiga as several of Commodore's past presidents have been. Doug moved on to better things as they say, and I couldn't be happier about AmigaWorld's new Editor in Chief, Dennis Brisson. I know Dennis well from my C64/128 days, and a nicer, more experienced Commodore computer USER you've never met. Dennis was a staff member of RUN, IDG's C64/128 magazine, which he inherited editorially when Guy Wright became AmigaWorld's founding Editor in 1985. Thinking of Dennis and Guy reminds me of the Summer COMDEX show in Chicago that year. A secret glimpse of the Lorraine (the Amiga's code name during development) at an earlier trade show had convinced me that it HAD to be in my future, and I spent most of that COMDEX nervously camped at the small IDG exhibit trying to convince Guy (who was busy flashing the cover of the first issue of AmigaWorld to everyone who happened by) to give me an assignment. I didn't have an Amiga, but then neither did AmigaWorld (although they were just a hop from Commodore) or anybody else. I had used the one at the Commodore dealer in my home town but Guy wasn't buying it. And then, quite by accident, I discovered I had something to bargain with. ViewPort September, 1992 ----------------------------------------- Page 3 I had a pre-production C128 at home on press loan from Commodore in which the CP/M chip was flaky. (They all were.) But that wouldn't do for me because I had a CP/M series in the works for another magazine. Commodore was exhibiting at that show, too, and prior to going there I had finagled to get a scarce, much sought-after replacement CP/M chip from a generous Commodore tech who made me swear I'd never reveal where I got it. That chip was safely buried at the bottom of my purse as I sat in the IDG booth (with Dennis Brisson chuckling in the "audience") trying to think up some brilliant way to convince Guy to give me an assignment. A minor complication was that there was NO Amiga software available anywhere. Guy was still in the process of turning RUN over to Dennis then, and they grew so accustomed to me sitting there that they started talking shop. Did my ears ever perk up when I heard them complaining that the lack of functional CP/M on their C128 was holding up a series of articles. I let them go on and on about who they'd contacted at Commodore, and at just the right moment I dug into my purse and -- Voila! -- produced the replacement CP/Mchip, looking expectantly at Guy as Dennis convulsed with laughter. The rest is history. I cheerfully bargained that chip into my first AmigaWorld article on the wonders of MIDI (very little of which, by necessity, was specific to the Amiga) and waltzed away from the C64/128 TOWARD the Amiga without a backwards glance. So take heart. My experiences with Dennis Brisson (yes, there were others) have always been delightful, and I have confidence in his ability to turn AmigaWorld into the kind of magazine we've always thought it could be. Other people in the Amiga limelight recently include Lou Wallace who, while apparently juggling his staff responsibilities at AmigaWorld, is heading up the editorial end of IDG's new "Desktop Video World" magazine set to debut in January. Like Dennis, Lou is a heckuva guy, and although he'll cover Mac and PC video too, I can't think of anyone better equipped to do the Amiga right. ______________________________________________________________________ / \ | Get Amiga News While it's HOT! | | | | Each Weekend the *StarShip* presents a brand new 5-MINUTE Newscast | | about things of interest to Amiga owners. Drop by and capture it LIVE | | in the Conference area for republishing on privately owned bulletin | | board systems and in user group newsletters. | | | | Compilations of previous Newscasts in the Software Library include: | | | | 16075 5MIN_NEWS_WKS1-13.LHA Desc: 13 Week Compilation of 5-MIN News | | 16399 5MIN_NEWS_WKS14-19.LHA Desc: 6 Wk Compilation of 5-MIN Newscasts | | 16699 STARSHIP_NEWS_JULY.LZH Desc: 4 Wk Compilition of StarShip News | \______________________________________________________________________/ ViewPort September, 1992 ----------------------------------------- Page 4 Small Wonder: An Amiga Retrospective by James W. Greenidge _ __ _ ( \/ \/ )here to begin? Amiga and "Small Wonder" share kindred \ / distinctions. Both were radical departures within their realms; \_/\_/ Amiga for multitasking, dual interfaces, color, sound and video, and "Small Wonder" for being the first sci-fi sitcom and first TV series ever produced expressly for syndication by a consortium of independent station groups. This means a lot if you watch "Star Trek:TNG," "Superboy" and "Married with Children" and other first-run non-network shows. SW was the experiment, the guinea pig, the pioneer for independent studios and stations to break free the creative and distribution stranglehold of the networks and produce innovative shows at reasonable rates. Despite its whimsical format, much was riding on SW. It was an open flaunt to the networks who were ready with "we told you so's" and pricy "back into the fold" penalties for breakaway stations. SW's concept was scoffed as certain disaster, and securing ads for an over 18-year-old audience for what was seen an under-14 show was labeled suicide. All knew there'd be no real "second go" at this syndication gamble. The failure of SW would have doomed other entries, like Star Trek: The Next Generation. But the pilot clicked, and SW garnered a surprisingly large adult audience, a legion of chatty robotics and techie fans, and top ratings for a first-run syndicated sitcom. SW's lead in this lucrative concept made it it enticing enough to be snatched up as Fox Television's stepchild entry into the network arena. And a nice fraction of SW's success can be attributed to the Amiga; if you look closely enough you can see it. Early during SW's development in 1984, the consortium's production company, NPG (New Program Group), aimed for high quality on a shoestring budget. SW's players, director and writers received one-third the salaries our network counterparts received. Such frugality was echoed in all strata of the production, and most particularly video/optical effects. As a novice hack story consultant, I was staggered by their cost. It's Tinseltown's own DOD budget, and in one fashion or another you gotta have it, from mundane scrolling titles to complex blue-screen overlays. Well before I came on board late 1984, whispers about an amazing Jack-Of-All-Trades PC by a joystick company that could do smash-up video and bang-up music had been burning the studio technicians' circuit. The notion of a "color Mac" that could plug into studio gear and massage and create imagery made studio engineers drool. There was "Lorraine fever" clear to the scaffolding. Unfortunately, Amiga's 1985 debut came after network commitments and post-production requisitions for the first year had been sealed. Spendthrift "Small Wonder" had beeen in production for nearly a year (unaired), and already the money for out-sourced SFX (Special Effects) was eating us alive. So doing SFX in-house on sub-25k gear was an irresistible nugget. When the Amiga 1000 finally debuted, NPG snatched up three (Moe, Larry, Curly) of the first shipment to hit L.A. Unfortunately, there were first-edition type stumbling blocks like crashing on booting and overheating, and the things didn't exactly come spanking ready for video; they barely ran Textcraft. ViewPort September 1992 ------------------------------------------ Page 5 The early video offerings for the Amiga not only amazed, but caused fits and stops and crashes during everyone's learning curve of this novel supermachine. Fledgling Amiga user groups from Glendale and La Mirada and others, alerted via techie grapevines, pitched in. Their splice-and-solder enthusiasm made hacker meat of many problems, and their acumen in computer terminology trashed the nonsensical babble non-technie writers were slinging on the show. Many of Vicki's (the girl robot star) gags and idiosyncracies coyly suggested our Amigas, such as "multitasking" house chores and playing a Spanish femme fatale (an "amiga") to a smitten bully. We were well into season two before the first satisfactory third party soft/hardware offerings made themselves felt. The machines were genlocked and married, via tangles of cables and umbilicalized slots, to million-dollar gear for character generation and wipes and distortions. This Amiga marriage produced teaser titles and promos for the 1986-88 shows, as well as Tiffany's on-set PSAs for the Better Hearing Institute and California's Museum of Science and Industry. The engineers in the shop were fascinated by the machines enough to buy their own Amigas, and cast and crew sometimes dropped in to play hacker-written games on `Moe', our spare "toy" in the front office. Tiffany Brissette, the show's robot star, liked the hacker `piano key' music programs and the way Amigas translated popular tunes with crisp bell-like chimes and cymbals and `tinkling glass' tones that can plunge and swoop into wall-vibrating bass. All four regular juvenile players eventually purchased Amigas (or rather coaxed their dads to) and became quite familiar with them in the relative tutor-based isolation of studio life. During series conception it was seriously considered giving Vicki (Tiffany's robot character) an electronically filtered voice overlay as a character gimmick before her own honed robotic monotone laid aside the spectre of trial and error, though in the later "Company Retreat" and "Slumber Party" episodes you can hear Tiffany's Amiga-modified "crystalline echo" voice. By the third season it was evident that the greater video promises of the Amigas would be fatally tardy. It proved to be too troublesome to improvise solutions for desired advanced effects, and out-work was gradually consigned to the upstart "bargain basement" SFX house, The Post Group. The three aired Amiga-based opticals occur in "Little Green Girl" integrating blue-screened genlock overlays of "Martian" Tiffany on the coffee table; the baseball "blow-up" in "Victor-Vicki," and the animated computer virus in "Gumball Express." There were also some interesting test treatments of ruefully stillborn great effects suggesting future Toaster technology. Ironically, the Amiga best strutted its stuff outside the studio, in the disks from hopeful studio graphic artists who created everything from cartoons to very brief but incredibly professional VCR clips of Vicki doing various gags and acts, from a "X-ray" 'robo-guts' overlay of her "multitasking" house chores to composite images. The former's truly superb rendering made the "Small Wonder" booth a hit at NAPTE 1987. Fox Television still holds title to these disks and artists, which is an injustice to the Amiga community from viewing what pre-Toaster A1000 creativity could accomplish. It's impossible to distill four years of a marvelous experience in a Hollywood studio in a few paragraphs, but like an iceberg what you see on the TV screen is but a fraction of what keeps it afloat. In this respect the Amiga gave more than an ice cube's share of inspiration and wonder. ViewPort September, 1992 ----------------------------------------- Page 6 Wordworth Word Processing with a decidedly British flavour by Bob Eller _ __ _ ( \/ \/ )ordPerfect has long dominated the Amiga word processor market. \ / With their announcement last year that Amiga WordPerfect was no \_/\_/ longer supported, I began looking for a replacement. I wanted something that allowed me to load my existing documents without losing their formatting and also provided a graphical interface. I recently began using Wordworth, a British import from Digita International. Digita is also responsible for KindWords, Wordworth's junior brother. Feature-for-feature WordWorth beats out its Amiga competition. Wordworth features the "Human Interface Protocol" found in KindWords and has the WhatYouSeeIsWhatYouGet or WYSIWYG display that most Amiga users want. Wordworth's special features include a Workbench 2 look and feel even with Workbench 1.3, the ability to use 100 multiple files, context sensitive on-line help, speech, Postscript support, Compugraphic and Colorfont support, graphics import, a glossary for inserting frequently typed text and variable text flow around images. The ability to work with documents from other Amiga word processors is where Wordworth really shines. Wordworth can import and save standard ASCII text, IFF text, ProWrite, Protext, Kindwords 2, and WordPerfect format files. If you're a Superbase user you can directly import your files, as well as standard ASCII files, for mailmerging with Wordworth. Sometimes finding support for your old XYZ printer is a problem. That's not likely with Wordworth. Included with the program are printer drivers for over 400 printers, along with display fonts for those that use internal printer fonts. I found Wordworth's support of the HP DeskJet 500 to be the best I've seen in an Amiga program. The only problem I can report with using Wordworth is with its built-in Spell Check and Thesaurus. The program uses the Collins UK 116,000 word spell checker and Collins UK Thesaurus. Imagine my surprise when I wanted to find a replacement word for "flavor" and found the Thesaurus had no words available. However, when I changed the word to "flavour," the correct British spelling, I was rewarded with a list of replacement words. A similar problem occurred using the Collins UK spell check. You can, however, add words to the spell checker's vocabulary and soon you won't be beeped when you used the word "color" instead of the preferred British spelling "colour." Wordworth will work with any Amiga with 1 megabyte of memory using Workbench 1.2 or above. A second disk drive is recommended. I tested Wordworth on a one meg A500 using 1.3 and an 8 meg A2000 with a '030. While the A2000 was certainly faster, both configurations ran well. Wordworth uses the standard WB 2.0 install program for easy setup. Finding Wordworth may be a challenge. According to Digita they have imported Wordworth to the United States. However, most dealers don't advertise its availability. You may need to contact Digita directly to purchase a copy. If you're looking for a serious word processor with a graphical interface it may be worth the transatlantic call. Digita International Ltd. Black Horse House Exmouth EX8 1JL England Telephone 0395 270273 ViewPort September, 1992 ----------------------------------------- Page 7 Boppin' By Zach Meston ____ / ___)ince I'm a gameaholic, and a guy with way too much free time on my ( (__ hands, I'm always downloading the latest goodies from the \__ \ *StarShip* Libraries. Most of these files are amusing, but only a ___) ) precious few make my hair go Don King with amazement. (____/ POPWORLD.LHA is such a file. I picked this one up back in February and was completely blown away by the graphic quality of the nine (!) Populous worlds designed by Jennifer Diane Reitz. So imagine my delight when I heard about Boppin', an arcade/puzzle game designed by Jennifer and programmed by Stephen Lepisto, an ace coder responsible for the excellent conversion of Dragon Wars, an adventure game from Interplay. This dynamic duo call themselves Accursed Toys, the coolest name for a programming team since the Bitmap Brothers. How'd they come up with it? Says Jennifer: "My pal Sandi and I used to joke about where all the movie and T.V. monster toys -- the evil, living ventriloquist dummies, the killer plastic army men, the murderous animated dolls and such -- came from. We figured it would be the 'Accursed Toys Factory' -- kind of like what 'ACME' is to 'Toons." From that paragraph, it should be obvious that Jennifer has a delightfully twisted point of view, one that she put to use when coming up with Boppin's storyline. Sweety Hunnybunz, the "Singing Treacle Bear," has kidnapped all of the monsters in video games. The video game heroes can't do a thing, since it would be against their nature to rescue Evil from Good. In desperation, they turn to Yeet and Boik, two angular dudes from a world beyond Good and Evil, and ask them to save the monsters from Sweety. You control Yeet (and Boik in a two-player game) as they "bopulate" through 150 levels, divided into three groups of increasing difficulty. Each level is filled with "bopping" blocks; to complete the level, you have to eliminate the bopping blocks by hitting them with identical "throwing" blocks. It's a little bit like Tetris, a little bit like Flipull (a Game Boy puzzler from Taito), and a -lot- of fun. While clearing each level, you also want to bopulate the blocks in one of four unique patterns. When you create one of these patterns, a monster is freed, and you score big points. You don't -have- to free monsters to progress through the levels, but the more points you have when you reach the final level (and the battle against Sweety), the greater your chances of survival. The Boppin' manual includes a walkthrough of the first level, and the game has a demo sequence that explains the gameplay in detail. If you still have questions, or just want to make a few comments, you can call or write KarmaSoft, leave messages in Topic 38 of the HoloDeck (Category 6), or send E-Mail directly to S.LEPISTO1. If 150 levels aren't enough for you, Boppin' also includes a full-featured level editor. You can modify any of the existing levels or create your own from scratch. There are literally thousands of different graphic tiles available for use, and a variety of user-friendly options. And there may be more soon. KarmaSoft recently ran a level contest. The winners, who got cash prizes of as much as $300, will see their levels included on the upcoming Boppin' expansion disk. ViewPort September, 1992 ----------------------------------------- Page 8 While the gameplay is flawless, Boppin' does have three problems, two of which are easily solved. Problem #1: Some players are offended by the death sequences of Yeet and Boik. While I personally found the sequences very funny and not at all offensive, I can see where they're coming from: Yeet blows his brains out (in a cute way, if that's possible) and Boik slices his belly open with a sword. The sequences can easily be turned off by renaming a file on the Boppin' disk from "Uncensored" to "Censored." Problem #2: The HD installation program, on many early copies of Boppin', doesn't work, giving an error message about not finding "explode.library." There are three ways around the problem. Send your disk back to KarmaSoft for a replacement; install Boppin' manually via the CLI/Shell; or download the "fixed" installation program graciously uploaded by Accursed Toys to the *StarShip* Libraries. Problem #3: The passwords are too long and complex. Accursed Toys states that the passwords are made of pronounceable word parts to make them easier to enter, but I find them harder to write down, and harder to enter, than a single line of numbers and letters. And who could pronounce a password like "BIGAB AJYCA BIBAB AJAELY BEDAB IDO?" Paul Tsongas, maybe, but not I. The verdict: Boppin' is pure gaming satisfaction. But don't take my word for it (much as I'd like you to); download the five-level demo from the *StarShip* Libraries and see what I'm talking about. I guarantee that you'll be entertained to the point of exhaustion. KarmaSoft P.O. Box 1034 Golden, CO 80402-1034 (303) 490-2939 Requires 1 MB of RAM; HD installable (manual protection); 1 or 2 players (simultaneous). Accursed Toys Files in the *StarShip* Libraries: BOPINSTALL.LHA (File #16573, 9344 Bytes) Replacement for Boppin's installation program. BOPPINDEMO.LHA (File #15436, 327168 Bytes) Five-level demo of Boppin'. DOCTORWHO.LHA (File #15437, 318464 Bytes) PD game based on the wildly entertaining British sci-fi character Doctor Who. MAIYESSAE.LHA (File #14235, 131456 Bytes) PD game created with SEUCK (Shoot-'Em-Up Construction Kit). POPWORLD.LHA (File #14193, 234880 Bytes) Nine worlds for Populous (I, not II) created with the Populous World Editor. POPWORLDPIC.LHA (File #14254, 25984 Bytes) "Encyclopedia" picture with graphics from each of the nine worlds in POPWORLD.LHA. ViewPort September, 1992 ----------------------------------------- Page 9 SimEarth: The Living Planet by Jim Meyer ____ (_ _) had been playing the newly-released SimEarth for a few weeks / / when reality, which intrudes from time to time, began to / / resemble SimEarth. The Western states were on fire. Too much _/ / oxygen? Florida, and then Louisiana, were flattened by hurricane (____) Andrew. Were the oceans too warm? I couldn't resist the temptation to adjust the atmospheric model, but it didn't seem to help. It wasn't my first time with SimEarth. You'll find my name - or something close to it - in the SimEarth manual, as a beta tester. I'll have to confess, though, that the release version of SimEarth was the first playable version I had seen. My two beta versions had arrived with disk errors, so I never got the chance to test anything. SimEarth is another in a series of "software toys," as Maxis calls them. It allows you to preside over the evolution of a planet, controlling the various conditions and events which conspire to create or destroy life. SimEarth owes its existence to James Lovelock, the originator of the Gaia theory. (Simply stated, the Gaia theory holds that the Earth is a single system comprised of many components. Each of these components - plants, animals, birds and snails - works in concert with the others to maintain the Earth as a viable entity, hospitable to life.) SimEarth comes on two disks. One contains the hi-res version, the other, the low-res version. The "piracy protection" requires you to answer a question, like "What is the density of Mars?" I like this approach. The manual - 220 pages of instructions and information - is not something that you'll allow to stray far from your computer, and it has all the answers. It's also plain fun to read. Once you've gotten past the opening, you'll have the opportunity to choose your planet. This can be Earth, a random planet, Aquarium, DaisyWorld, Venus, or Mars. Venus and Mars are not exactly hospitable places. You'll have to terraform them if you want them to support life. Fortunately, with SimEarth, you have the tools. You have the technology. You can rebuild them, make them better than before... The action in SimEarth takes place in a number of different windows. The Edit window presents a portion of the planet, and contains the tools you'll need. These tools let you place lifeforms - ranging from single-cell prokaryotes to insects, reptiles, and mammals - as well as trigger events, place plant life, and alter land or sea height. Just about anything you could want is here, including CO2 generators, ice meteors (just perfect for those ugly, dry planets!) and - courtesy of Arthur C. Clarke - a Monolith, to help induce sentience. SimEarth also gives you control over several "models," such as the interaction between the sun and the planet, geologic and tectonic activity, and the biosphere - reproduction, mutation, and advancement rates of species, as well as thermal tolerance and CO2 absorption. The Civilization model lets you determine how your energy is invested and allocated. In short, you control just about everything that could happen to a planet. Piece of cake, right? ViewPort September 1991 ----------------------------------------- Page 10 Wrong. Too much heat and your oceans boil off. Too little, and everything freezes. Too much oxygen and your forests spontaneously ignite. Too little, and everything dies. Let your oceans get too warm and you'll be confronted with a plague of hurricanes. How you invest and allocate your energy can make the difference between life and death. Allocate more energy to science than philosophy and you might find your creatures creating bigger and better weapons, without the discipline to refrain from killing one another. Even the arrangement of your land masses can make a difference. In one scenario, Stag Nation, all sentient life (mammals, in this case) exists on a small island. Because they can't migrate to larger land masses, they're stuck in the stone age. SimEarth has four levels of difficulty. Normally, everything "costs" some number of energy units. In Experimental mode, everything is free. The other levels charge you for everything you do. Each higher level gives you fewer energy units to start with, and more "troublesome" model settings. Delightful touches abound in this simulation. One of the windows is the Gaia window, a planet with an animated face. Gaia will change her facial expression to tell you how your planet is doing, and will give you informative messages ("I love biomass!") from time to time. Another way to keep tabs on your progress is to use the Tone Monitor. (I wonder if authors use a Tome Monitor?) This tool plays a "song" based on the data available for sampling, or, if you choose to monitor a particular condition, will play a tone whose pitch reflects that condition. (If you're monitoring the air temperature, for example, the pitch of the tone will rise as the air temperature rises.) SimEarth is not without problems, but they are few. For one thing, SimEarth eats chip memory for breakfast. And lunch, and dinner. Multiple windows in high-res mode don't come cheap, and you will notice a performance hit with more than a few windows open. You can get around this by limiting the number of open windows or by using the low-res version. I should note that I reviewed SimEarth on a 25 MHz 030-equipped machine. Given the amount of computation that SimEarth does, it should be fair to say that a fast machine will enhance the simulation experience. I can't say that I minded the slowdowns at all. I was having much too much fun. What other simulation gives extinct species like Trichordates a second chance? What other simulation gives every species - from insects to dinosaurs - a shot at sentience? But SimEarth is more than fun. The manual is a wonderful primer on evolution, ecology, climatology, geology... anything that affects a planet. More than that, it goes beyond obtuse and abstract articles and statements and actually demonstrates the interrelationship between species and the planet. Try it. You just might learn something, and have fun, to boot! SimEarth (The Living Planet) Maxis (Distributed by Broderbund) Suite 230 Orinda, CA 94563-3346 (510) 254-9700 $59.95 Not copy-protected. Hard drive installable. Requires 1 Mb (Lo-res) or 2 Mb (Hi-res) and AmigaDOS 1.3 or higher. ViewPort September, 1992 ---------------------------------------- Page 11 Amiga Music Formats by Syl Lutnes __ / )et's have a little sound with our downloads. Let's play a neat / / tune with our latest animation. But, unh, what are the different / / Amiga music formats and what do they work with? Unlike the more / (__ standardized file formats for native graphics on the Amiga, the (______) formats for internal music come in many flavors. The three formats you will see most often are DMCS, SMUS, and MOD. To play DMCS files you simply use DMCS (Deluxe Music Construction Set from Electronic Arts). There are no separate players for these files since this is a proprietary format. DMCS (the editor) also saves in another format called SMUS. To play SMUS files you can use a freely distributable player like SMUS Play. SMUS is supposedly a "standard" format. However, the files saved out of SONIX (Aegis) are slightly different from the files saved in SMUS format out of DMCS. SONIX SMUS files are best played with SONIX itself, or with a player such as SONIX PLAYER. Some MIDI applications will convert scores to SMUS format also. These are usually compatible with the DMCS SMUS files. AmigaVision supports these SMUS files, as does The Director (Right Answers Group). Both DMCS and SMUS files contain the score, or notes. The instruments are separate. The docs or readme files that come with the players can explain how to set up the players to find the needed instruments. MOD files, on the other hand, contain both the score and the instruments in one file. MOD (for module) is a generic term rather than a specific format, since each "tracker" music editor saves in its own MOD format. There are many pd and shareware players for MOD files. Two of the most popular players that will play almost any MOD file you throw at them are MultiPlayer (2.0 only) and EdPlayer. Other available players are Module Master and IntuiTracker...tho these last two do not play MED mods. Whereas SONIX and DMCS were developed in this country, the "tracker" editors were developed in Europe. You've most likely heard of SoundTracker, NoiseTracker, and Protracker. MED is another "tracker" editor. It was developed in Finland by Teijo Kinnunen and is the only "tracker" editor that has gained popularity in this country and more and more MED MOD's are showing up on BBS's and commercial networks. Besides saving in MOD format, MED will also save files in "song" format. These "songs" are like SMUS and DMCS files, in that the instruments are separate from the score. The only player I know of that supports MED songs (not to be confused with MED MODS) is MEDPlayer. If you wish to include music with a presentation you are giving, or play a tune with an animation, the most widely supported format in commercial applications is SMUS. However, if your presentation or authoring software allows you to execute AmigaDos commands, MOD files can be played also. EdPlayer can be controlled directly through AmigaDos or Arexx to load, play, pause, repeat, etc, MOD files. Now you have no excuse for silent computing. ViewPort September, 1992 ---------------------------------------- Page 12 Flow Control: Programming with AmigaVision ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Parts II & III: Editing Flows & Debugging by Kevin Rahe ____ (_ _) apologize for missing last month's installment of this series. / / Summer finally arrived up here in the great white North / / (Michigan :-), and I couldn't resist taking some time to enjoy it. _/ / To make up for my absence, this month I present two topics: (____) Editing Flows and Debugging. Editing Flows The AmigaVision Flow Editor is at first simple and intuitive, making it easy to create, edit and rearrange flows. But once your flow grows to the point that it extends beyond the bounds of the screen, editing it may become tedious, since you must constantly scroll the flow, which can be slow, especially on an unaccelerated machine. A partial solution to this problem lies in the Flow Editor's "Telescope" command. This command will collapse all the children of an icon into the parent, and remove the children from the Flow Editor's display. The children are still active and will execute normally when the flow is Presented. If you later need to edit a collapsed icon, simply select the parent icon, then the Telescope command again to uncollapse it. Any parent icon can be telescoped, including Module, Subroutine, Loop, Select, Form, Grouped Wait and Screen icons. It is a good idea to keep all major modules, subroutines and loops in their collapsed state when you're not modifying them. This makes it easy to navigate the flow and find major sections quickly. Debugging Often, while debugging an AmigaVision flow, you will need to disable a section of it so that another portion can be more easily tested. Unlike languages like BASIC, ARexx and C, AmigaVision doesn't permit you to "comment out" sections of your program (make them appear as comments so they aren't executed.) However, there is a way to disable icons without totally removing them from the flow. To disable an icon, move it to the far-left column of the flow, below the last subroutine icon. (NOTE: You must have at least one subroutine icon in your flow for this technique to work.) When you do this, AmigaVision will warn you that icons in that position will be ignored; since this is what you want, ignore this warning. When you want to re-enable the icons, simply drag them back into the flow where they belong. Part IV will cover variables, including ways to use them not explored in the AmigaVision manual. ViewPort September, 1992 ---------------------------------------- Page 13 Using Public Screens by Chris Papademetrious ____ / _ )ublic screens are quite the rage these days in programmer-land. / ___/ Why's that, you ask? Well, this is so for two reasons: not only / / does it give the user many more options on how seeting up an (_/ environment, but it also saves the programmer a good bit of work! In order to support public screens, your application must have some way of letting the user specify which public screen he desires your program to open on. This is done by passing your program a public screen name via either tooltypes or Shell arguments. According to the Amiga User Interface Style Guide, you should use the PUBSCREEN keyword for this purpose. What's convenient here is that if the user doesn't specify a name, it's just as easy for you to pass a NULL to the operating system which will then give you the default public screen! Nice. The order of operations for public screens goes like so: 1. Lock screen 2. OpenWindow 3. UnlockPubScreen 4. CloseWindow The Intuition call LockPubScreen() takes the name of the screen you wish to lock as an argument (or NULL for default), and returns you the screen pointer. Once you've obtained this lock, the operating system will make sure the screen isn't "pulled out from under you." You can then pass this screen pointer to OpenWindowTags() by using the WA_PubScreen tag. Note that we could have used the easier WA_PubScreenName approach, but this wouldn't have given us the pointer to the screen in advance. This approach allows us to do things like font-sensitive window layouts before the window is opened, since it's usually useful to know how big you need a window to be *before* you open it. :) You can obtain information about the screen before you open your window on it by referencing your screen pointer. Most notably, you can obtain the TextAttr of the font that the screen uses by looking at the ScreenPtr->Font structure. If this doesn't give you enough information, you can OpenFont() it and get even more information from the resulting Font pointer. You can also examine the screen size; this is useful when you wish to open the window centered in its screen. Once you open your window, you're free to unlock the screen with UnlockPubScreen(). Note that you'll need to pass NULL for the name, since you're passing it the actual screen pointer instead. The operating system will ensure that it keeps the screen open for as long as your window is open on that screen, same as a screen lock. Once you close your window, the screen is free to be closed by the user or another program. Simple! Of course, if you still have questions, you're welcome to join the Pro/Am gang Wednesday nights at 10:00PM EST; hope to see you there! ViewPort September, 1992 ---------------------------------------- Page 14 Library Picks by the *StarShip* Staff ____ / ___) / (_ or all you Fighter Duel fans, it is new, it is better than / ___) ever, and it will be coming soon to an Amiga near you. Don't / / miss the demo of Fighter Duel Pro! File # 16814 FDPRODEMO.LHA (_/ Bill Graham [W.GRAHAM6] sent up some of his best Amiga renderings, including those unforgettable TongueMonsters. You can scan pictures all day and never impress me, but when you put an Amiga in the hands of creative people, I am always amazed by some of the scenes they can create. For a sneak preview of his full color JPEG files, you can look at File #16807, it is a black/white IFF picture [OK, can you say Shades of Grey?] of thumbnails of the files he uploaded. I have some of my own favorites, but I think you will too. They are beautiful surreal images. For all you Niven fans out there, don't miss the TigerShip.JPG in file #16805! Do you think that is what a Kzin ship looked like? JPEG doesn't need 24 bit displays! You can look at these amazing JPEG pictures with the program called VJPEG, the utility that will let you view the JPEG pictures in HAM on your regular Amiga screens. That's file # 14372. File# 16747 KLONDIKE19.LHA will remind you all over again of what a masterful game solitaire can really be. I've always been a sucker for card games, and this one is easy to use, easy to look at and works like a charm. And if I can play it JUST ONCE MORE...I'm sure I'll win this time! If you enjoy subtle pictures and colors that give the impact of artistically drawn 3-dimensional spaces, look at D.MYERS31's fantasy landscape in file #16723, TRYLONPERISPHERE.HAM.LHA. The ever popular MEDS and MODS are ranging from new dancing music to Mozart. Keep an eye on this music format for more and more amazing things from your amiga! 16715 MOZARTVAR.LHA X S.LUTNES 920813 42624 104 7 Desc: Mozart Theme&Variations in MED 16784 MODDAWN.LZH X W.LEE18 920825 108160 54 7 Desc: A nice NoiseTracker Mod 16760 ENJOY_SILENCE.LZH X W.LEE18 920822 124928 76 7 Desc: Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode ViewPort September, 1992 ---------------------------------------- Page 15 No Matter Where You Go, There We Are News from GEnie GE's data network is one of the largest in the world. Despite that fact, there are still some places where access to GEnie is not a local call. In order to make GEnie access more convenient -- and inexpensive -- we've made arrangements with other network providers to supplement the original network. Sprintnet In the U.S., Sprintnet (formerly known as Telenet) is available in more than 500 cities. And now, you can use Sprintnet to reach GEnie. Access at up to 2400 baud is available 24 hours a day at a surcharge of $2 per hour. A list of Sprintnet numbers is on the *PHONES page online, along with instructions on how to use it with GEnie. Datapac For Canadian members the Datapac network is now available. Datapac is run by Bell Canada, and your local access number is listed in your white pages. The Datapac surcharge is $5 (Canadian) per hour.