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Date of release: October 12 1997, 7:14 pm

Contents for this Email:

    INTRODUCTION - General information and comments to all readers
    ANNOUNCEMENT - Mushroom PD now sells the AMOSPro Compiler!!!!!
      AGA REPORT - Reporting the status of the AGA situation with AMOS.
                   We've all heard stories, lets hear some answers!!
         PREVIEW - First preview of a worldwide effort to make a new AMOS game!
  FREE FTP SPACE - Free FTP space available to AMOS programmers
          RECENT - List of Recent uploads, and some reccomended programs!
        FAREWELL - Well, tatty byes for this issue!

INTRODUCTION
-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    Welcome, to the October issue of the Mushroom PD report. This issue
see's the introduction of several new features, including the methods in
which this mail is sent to you. Previously in the past, if the list
contained any bad email address' the entire message would be returned to
some of the list members, which also meant the receiving of a large BCC:
list which was not only inconvinient, but took some time to download.
Having written and released a program called "MPDMailpost" which I uploaded
to my own library, as well as Aminet in comm/mail, which will send the same
email to everyone in a large list of mailing address' and uses a fully
customizable GUI interface (Thanks to the GUI Extension). This Mushroom PD
list now boasts almost 300 individual members.

    I would also like to apologize for the extreme delay since the last of
these messages. I was experiencing extreme hard drive problems, in which I
lost all of my partitions, and subsequently, the whole PD library. After
using lots of different methods, I was able to recover everything except my
Workbench partition, and I am still trying to put bits and pieces back into
it to make it work like it used to.

ANNOUNCEMENT
-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    If you had read the last report which was released, you will know that
I had placed an order in to start selling the AMOSPro Compiler from my
homepages. That order has now arrived, in the form of 10 copies (5 of which
have already been reserved) which are now on sale.

    The package comes with a printed manual, the Compiler disk itself, an
updater disk (to make your version 2.00 if it already isnt) and an extra's
disk with examples etc. I also have included an extra disk with more
goodies on it. The package costs 12 UK pounds *before* the postage has been
added on to it, as with the various costs for international postage, this
will be added onto the overall cost.

    If you are interested in getting hold of the compiler, then drop me a
line at mushypd@redrose.net and reserve your copy now. You should also let
me know what currency you use, and what country you are in so I can work
out an exact price for you. Any compiler orders placed on hold will remain
so for 2 weeks, unless otherwise notified.

    In the next few weeks, I have been told there is a slim chance that I
can get hold of AMOSPro itself, so please keep in tune for these developing
news as they arrive!!

AGA REPORT
-=-=-=-=-=-

    Everyone knows that AGA in AMOS is currently not available directly.
This section will hopefully tell and show you how you can acheive it, and
the various extensions which you can use to get there. Lets start with a
small piece of info on the history of AGA AMOS.

    The first AGA graphics to be incorporated into any AMOS listings, were
simple hacks which altered values in the copper, to give the impression of
an AGA screen. The only back-draw to this method, was you couldnt really
display any AGA graphics, but you could display an AGA copper in the
background only.

    There were a couple of attempts at an AGA extension, and the ones which
were released were not very good at all, as all they really could do, was
display AGA pictures by reducing their palettes etc. There wasnt a single
extension at this time, which could claim to be a true AGA extension.

    Then came along the GUI extension. It is written by Pietro Ghizzoni and
is the first, easily manipulable extension that not only offers the best OS
application programming for AMOSPro - but will also let you program AGA
graphics for the very first time in the history of AMOS. Here is a note
from Pietro himself on the subject of AGA and the GUI extension:
On 29-Set-97, Mush wrote: GUI Extension

"Well... what i acheived with the GUI Extension is the first real AGA
support, no Copper hacks and so on. Due to its total OS respect the GUI
Extension can obtain the best from the system.. this mean it supports
AGA, Graphics Card, Advanced Screen Mode like the HighGfx modes. Now a
CyberGFX 24bit screen with 16M of colours can be easly handled in Amos.

Most of the GUI gfx commands are faster than the Amos equivalent, so you
can create cool and fast WB application. 

The GUI Extension v1.63 is the first approach to AGA. Now the phase 1 is
completed... i've a full working AGA enviroment for the GUI Ext... the next
phase is the 'Power Up'... a lots of new gfx commands and facilities for a
advanced AGA use.

What i hope to acheive with the GUI Ext in the future:

- Amos Screen promotion.... display a Amos screen in the WB

- a new fast animation system. Since the AGA introduce some High definition
screenmode, we need a powerfull animation system for creating a fast and
smooth animation... this mean XFA (eXtra Fast Animation) support. Actually
only some commercial softwares supports this standard... but in the near
future the Amos users will can use it too!

- extended TCP/IP commands set for a faster access

- other cool GUI stuff: drag'n'drop, iconify (MUI like), and other 100.000
ideas in my head ;) "


    At this time, there are 2 other extensions underway which will try and
bring AGA into AMOS. The longest in the works has been the JADE extension,
which has been subject to many rumours saying that it will not be released.
The original programmers claimed several months ago that they were writing
an AGA extension, before a long long period of silence. All we have seen of
their extension so far, is a list of commands which they wish to include,
and more recently an advert to the AMOS mailing list requesting beta
testers when a test version is released. Noone has submitted to me any kind
of demo, even though they claim the extension is just being debugged, and
the main part is completed.

    The other AGA extension being written, will be called the Game
extension, written by Peter Cahill. I have seen one example of this
extension, and from what I have seen, it will look very nice when it is
completed. Peter did send me a small file of what he hopes to include in
the extension, but I have misplaced it at this time  =(

    The GUI Extension is available both from Aminet in dev/amos and from my
PD library, and whats more, it is freeware, which means there are
absolutely no restrictions whatsoever.

PREVIEW
-=-=-=-=

    There is a new AMOS game in the works, called Captain Bubba and the
Nasty alien Menace. Its a world-wide effort being the first international
game to really come out from AMOS. There will be several different kind of
games merged into the one large game, with levels such as a tekken-type
fight, a raycaster, an excellent blood money-type level, plus a few others
which I wont spoil for you just yet!

    There are approximately 12-15 programmers (including myself) working on
the project, and we are hoping to have it finished in time for christmas.
The joint effort will be available to purchase exclusively from my
homepages at www.mushy-pd.demon.co.uk" and as the release date gets nearer,
I will let you know.

FREE FTP SPACE
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    Are you an AMOS programmer who would like a small amount of FTP space
for storing your games, and information on other AMOS projects etc. but
dont have the space that you'd like? If you would like some space, then
contact me at mushypd@redrose.net where I will be happy to send you
information on how you can get some on my site for free. This only applies
to AMOS programmers.

RECENT UPLOADS
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

As per usual, this is the list of files most recently uploaded to the
library. If you go to the homepages at www.mushy-pd.demon.co.ukM and follow
through the links to the PD Library listings, you can see all of the titles
currently in the library.

| Complete Recent Mushroom PD Index on Sunday 12-Oct-97 22:32:27
| The list is sorted by directory and file name
|
| This site, mushy-pd.dyn.ml.org, contains all files uploaded to
| Mushroom PD within the last 7 days. Files which didnt have a .Readme in
| them were discarded. If your upload isnt here, please look in the
| appropriate section of the library, and if you still cant find it, try
| to upload it once more.
|
| To visit the Mushroom PD homepages to get the latest version of this
| file, go to www.mushy-pd.demon.co.uk/index.html and follow
| the approriate links.
|
| You can also FTP into the library directly at mushy-pd.dyn.ml.org
| logging on as anonymous, sending your email address as your password, and
| download the first INDEX file in the /pub/amos/ drawer.
|
| If you experience any problems, please email the webmaster at
| mushypd@redrose.net and the problem will be resolved as soon as
| possible. Thank-you.
|
|File                     Dir            KBytes Description
|-----------------        ---            ------ -----------
 AMOSList-0697.lzh        docs/amoslst      300 Messages about AMOS during June 1997
 AMOSList-0797.lzh        docs/amoslst      348 Messages about AMOS during July 1997
 AMOSList-0897.lzh        docs/amoslst      404 Messages about AMOS during August 1997
 AMOSList-0997.lzh        docs/amoslst      278 Messages about AMOS during September 1997
 AMOSP61Ext.lha           extnsns/amospro    19 AMOS Pro P61 Music Extension V1.2
 APro_GadTools.lha        extnsns/amospro    29 A Include-File for AMOSPro (German Guide)
 deltaext.lha             extnsns/amospro    46 AMOSPro_Delta.Lib - some extension for AMOS
 TFT_Extension.lha        extnsns/amospro    11 Amos Pro -> TFT Extension v 0.6 <-
 THXLib06.lha             extnsns/amospro    21 AMOS Pro Extension to play THX-Modules (0.6)
 Tools.lha                extnsns/amospro     7 A small (2K) extension for AMOSPro. v1.01
 botsb.lha                games/2play       338 Like tank battle only Beetles!
 fredfrog.lha             games/jump        326 Guide a frog back home.
 FutureMiner.Lha          games/jump        541 Cool Platform game
 poing2.lha               games/jump        320 A cool pong game with powerups & more
 Proto5.lha               games/misc        239 Excellent Tamagotchi simulator, written in AMOS and GUI Extension
 Sendai064.lha            games/misc        179 Short   : anime-style RPG in development
 Sendai63.lha             games/misc        175 HI THERE!
 UFOCU.lha                games/misc         95 Savefile editor for UFO - Enemy Unknown!
 RoboBlaster.lha          games/platform    136 Simple platformer in which you must save a city
 Starboy_DF0.Lha          games/platform    207 Excellent multi-level platform game, recently on Amiga Formats coverdisks.
 Wibble_Giddy.lha         games/platform    182 Nice game with a lot of puzzles
 cavcom.lha               games/shoot       312 Scrolling Rescue Shooter.
 Psycho_Path.lha          games/think       185 Psycho path. Platform game to get the brain cells working
 CDL-Terror.Lha           gfx/demo         1053 Terror By Candle - Funny demo
 Vectors.lha              gfx/font           44 Vector letters source. Latin&Greek data set
 MapMaster.lha            gfx/misc          123 Map creator for use in AMOS games of all kinds
 tscene1.lha              gfx/misc          147 Demo of scene/map editor with TURBO Plus
 MusicMeister.lha         music/play        248 A .abk music player with some example mods
 amos-col.lha             source/comp       219 AMOS-COL - colection AMOS sources codes
 Neat_Source.lzx          source/disk        14 Unpack files crunched with Crunchmania directly from AMOS
 TSL_source.lha           source/disk        12 Source of biz/dbase/TSL-2.lha (Fast INDEX KEEPER for DJs)
 AmosAGA.lha              source/gfx         34 AmosAGA V0.09 - AGA Screens for Amos 
 clipfont_demo.lha        source/gfx         24 How to scroll fonts in AMOS
 Evaluator.lha            source/misc         3 Expression Evaluator in source code "format.class" tppabs="http://www.comcen.com.au/~paulm/News/Old/PressReleases/format.class"
 unlocker.lha             utils/amospro       5 Unlocks AMOS folded procedures
 termplay.lha             utils/internet     60 VT100 Terminal Program w/Amos source
 texter2.lha              utils/misc        169 Delta-Texter2 - COOL! program for convert ascii-files

Total of 6997602 New Bytes uploaded, with 202148352 Available upload space.

FAREWELL
-=-=-=-=-

    That just about covers everything for this issue of the report. If you
have any questions or comments at all, feel free to contact me at
mushypd@redrose.net where I will be happy to answer your questions.

Andrew "Mushroom" Kellett
--
 Email: Andy Kellett mushypd@redrose.net  Team *AMOS* + IAPA Team *AMIGA*
  alt.religion.amos - AMOS now on usenet! AMOS Mailinglist also mirrored

     World's Largest AMOS Homepages - http://www.mushy-pd.demon.co.uk

         Massive FTP site with AMOS/C64 and Mods/Samples + more at
                            mushy-pd.dyn.ml.org


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