PCX the excellent PC emulator by Jim Drew of Emplant fame is set to be ported to PPC/PowerUP. A version of PCx is already available for the PowerMac so according to the source almost all of the code has been done. There is no firm release date but it should appear not long after the first PowerUp cards leave the production lines. Considering an 060 can emulate a slow 486 a PowerUp equipped Amiga would easily reach Pentium performance. In other PCX news, version 2.0 (Amiga 68k) will have full Windows95 support and is expected shortly.
Finale buy Voodoo
Finale Development new to the Amiga scene have bought the rights to the popular Amiga EMail client, Voodoo. The current author (up to v1.280) Osma Ahvenlampi is ceasing development on the Amiga platform. It appears Finale are going to bundle Voodoo with their yet to be released Web Cruiser WWW browser. Voodoo 2.0 will include many new features including the long awaited built in support for SMTP/POP3. Finale are also known for their development of a Java implementation for the Amiga. They appear to be a company worth watching....... For the full press release go to the Amiga Web Directory.
JP Media News
JP Media have announced they are the exclusive Australian distributors for the Netherlands based Computer City. They intend on distributing the Cd "Mikes Power Tools" which is a compilation of video tools by Michael den Outer including Navigator Titler, Navigator Wiper, Fast Morpher and LightWalker. Estimated price is expected to be ~$AUS100. For more informatoon and news please visit JP Media News Page.
Australian Amiga Show to proceed
Despite the sale of Amiga Technologies to Gateway 2000, Megatron the Australian distributor of Amiga Technologies have indicated they are still keen to proceed with the planned Amiga show and have said that since the Amigas future has been assured they are hoping for a rejuvenated interest in the Amiga from dealers. A date and venue will be announced very soon. Other Australian Amiga dealers have spoken of the Gateway buyout positively, for more info, news and opinions visit the JP Media Australian Buyout News.
Amiga Quake OK'd by ID Software
ID Software have replied to the illegit port of Quake to the Amiga by saying they will not oppose it, but they definetly aren't supporting. The Amiga to ID is smallfry and they appear to think it would be a waste of resources challenging the port. Because of this Quake is now available on Aminet. This is definetly great news for Amiga gamers, which other platform can lay claim to having Quake freely available?.
New 3D Rendering program, Tornado
An exciting new Amiga 3D rendering program has appeared promising features unseen on any Amiga rendering program including Lightwave. For more information please visit the official page at http://www.tornado3D.com
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Almathera a great supporter of the Amiga has closed it's doors citing financial reasons as the main cause. Most of the problems stemmed from months of unpaid work completed for VIScorp and their on and off set top box using Amiga technology. All is not lost though, it is rumoured Grandslam have picked up the Almathera product line and both Joylon and Paul Ralph ex proprieters of Almathera. The situation regarding Photogenics is still unclear though, see other story for more details.
The Photogenics Saga
Photogenics has had a short but very eventful life. It turned up on the Amiga not so long ago sporting features unheard of on the Amiga and having a very easy but powerful interface. Unfortunately it has been the subject of many legal wrangles. The latest of these is between Paul Nolan it's creator and Almathera who have incidentally just closed their doors. From the little information publicly available at the moment and a conversation I had with Mr Nolan not so long ago in IRC it appears Almathera haven't yet paid Paul Nolan, won't release sales figures and have generally been very uncoopoerative. I stress though this is all rumour and heresay, this is not fact!. In no way do I mean to incriminate either Almathera or Paul Nolan. The future of Photogenics appears to be up in the sky at the moment, Mr Nolan told me it is unlikely he'll do a future version because of the legal dispute but said to watch out for a similar type program
in the future.
Miami 2.1/3.0 to support multicasting
Holger Kruse has stated his intentions of adding support for multicasting into the next major release of Miami, either 2.1 or 3.0. For more information about both Multicasting and Miami check out the Miami Homepage.
More Java for Amiga!
A newly founded company called Finale Development is planning on porting Java to the Amiga. For more information and an interview click here
Sydney Amiga Show Announced!
Motherboard Computers has recently announced it's intentions of staging an Amiga show in Sydney Australia in mid June. They are very interested in hearing from possible exhibitors both local and overseas. Please support it!. For more information and a mailing list visit MotherBoard Computers.
General Page News
With an increasing amount of visitors to Amiga Central I'm ramping up development. First in line is a massive redesign of the news page (what your reading now :)). The Network News mirror has currently been suspended due to difficulties in mirroring the site. If anyone knows of a decent Amiga FTP program that has an ARexx port I would be very happy to hear from you. I'm seriously considering adding frames support to the pages but ATM I'm unsure of everyones opinion. Most Amiga users still appear to be using non frames capable browsers but this is rapidly changing. I'm also aware a lot of people that are viewing these pages are using PC/Mac with Netscape/MSIE but keeping these pages totally Amiga viewable is the main priority at the moment. If you would like to comment on anything or send me suggestions please dont hesitate to email me. All mails get a reply.
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Phase5 have indicated that they definetly won't be using an Amiga OS in there upcoming A/Box (which has BTW been delayed till '98). They are definetly not interested in pOS for the A/Box and won't officially support the project. The only info regarding the A/Box OS is that it will be based around a UNIX kernel. A Phase5 spokesman said that AmigaOS "died many years ago" and was very non commital when asked if the future OS would be Amiga like with Appicons, datatypes etc. The only thing the spokesman would gesticulate is that it will be "AmigaOS 3.1 binary compatible". Have Phase5 lost confidence in the Amiga?, it appears the Amiga is becoming less and less of a priority as the A/Box slowly moves away from being the Amiga heir apparent.
Microsoft and Amiga?
It appears Microsoft were indeed interested in the Amiga patents but either withdrew or were kicked out by the liquidator when they stated there intentions.
Super Amiga A7000 accelerator cards?
Reported in Amiga Computing this week is confirmation of the existence of a set of Amiga accelerator cards designed for ALL Amigas with an 020+. The cards will have a clockspeed of 200mhz (!!!) and retail for approximately 120UKP. Supposedly a RISC card will be available that will allow future Amigas to exceed the speed of PPC's. The cards are being produced by IAT International who are apparently the "internal Amiga market advisory body". Apparently they are also in cohorts with Direct Software UK and plan to open 10 more stores. The cards are set to debut at the World Of Amiga UK show in July. The big question is exactly what are IAT doing to get clockspeeds up to 200mhz? presumably there using 68k technology, and how can they sell it for only 120UKP?.
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PIOS has recently been copping more than a mention in the Mac newsgroups. Rumour has it that PIOS will soon after the release of their PIOS ONE machine (which is 100% CHRP compatible through the Hydra chip which will allow it to theoretically run MacOS) release a PCI card that will give it full speed AGA Amiga emulation. Check out the Mac newsgroups for more info!
A/Box OS (no)News?
Which OS will Phase5 be using for the A/Box?. Rumours floating into Amiga Central indicate they are being less than cooperative to ProDAD's attempts at porting pOS and other unconfirmed reports indicate they dont yet have an OS at all (at least not near the working stage). The nearest they have is the kludge they will be using for their PowerUp PPC cards. Or are they going behind everyones back and banking on buying/licensing the rights to AmigaOS and porting Exec themselves?.
NEO Dropping Amiga?
NEO famous for their recent Fighting Spirit beat em up on Amiga are rumoured to have halted Amiga development. NEO are(were) an avid Amiga supporter from way back and are prominent in the German games market. Unfortunately most of their games never got an English release. Reports indicate that Cedric the just released CD ROM platform game will be their last Amiga release.
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Probably the worst kept secret in the Amiga world has now finally been put to rest. Cyan have agreed to an Amiga port of there highly successful game Myst. ClickBOOM makers of the brilliant Capital Punishment have picked up the development rights. Click here for the official press release.
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February 28 came and went, it was an anti climax if there ever was one. The future Amiga Technologies owner hasn't been announced and theres been no official word from Hembach, so I guess it's off to play the waiting game again. The question is though how long can th Amiga market hold out?.
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Recently posted to the Pure Amiga mailing list (and I believe c.s.a.games) was the fact that BlueByte and Westwood have agreed in principal to the porting of their games to the Amiga platform - but they will provide no financial support. They are keen to hear from interested parties. The profits from sales will be split fairly according to the posting. Does this mean we'll finally see the likes of Settlers 2, Battle Isle 2 and Command and Conquer on Amiga?.
Unfortunately I have no contact info, but emailing Westwood, BlueByte and your favorite Amiga developers should do the trick.
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Phase5 recently announced more information concerning there PowerUp cards for the A1200 and the A4000. The A1200 version will ship with a PPC603e and a socket for a 68030 while the A3000T/4000T version will ship with a 604e and a socket for a 68040 or 68060. Software including developer material (GNU C port) will come with the cards. They are due to ship in late May, price for the A1200 version is 279UKP (!!!) while the A3000T/A4000T version will cost between 529UKP and 769UKP depending on configuration.
For more information go to the Phase5 News page.
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Quake is now available for the Amiga!. It is not an official port by ID Software but instead by Amiga cracking group Digital Corruption. It's still in early beta but is playable. It is currently unknown if ID Software know about the unofficial Amiga port and their reaction. System requirements include:
Amiga computer with OS3.0 or up
68020/30/40/60 processor with FPU
8-10 megs of free RAM
Shareware or registered Quake (PC Version, needed for datafiles)
CyberGraphics card recommended.
For the latest version and more info visit Amiga Quake Page
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Reported in Amiga User International online news is that there is in actual fact 15 bidders for the bankrupt Amiga Technologies from Escom AG. Not all the bidders were listed but those mentioned include Bill Buck, QuikPak and Eagle Computers.
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Recently posted from to the PureAmiga mailing list was a reply to an enquiry sent to QuikPak re the A1630. No further specs are available though it seems the future of the A1630 and possibly other QuikPak Amiga models "depends on when and if the acquisition is completed". They went on further to say "we hope for a speedy and positive decision".
The original mail was sent by Peter Johnson, this is being printed without his or QuikPak's permission.
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QuikPak recently announced they have submitted there final bid to purchase Amiga Technologies from the bankrupt Escom AG. It is rumoured that there are 6 separate bidders involved including an unnamed Amiga startup company, Sony, QuikPak, VIScorp, Microsoft (!?) and CEI. This page will be updated the minute I find out who has been successful in there bid to acquire AT.
For more information check out Amiga Web Directory
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Along with there announced A5050 and luggable A4060 Amiga variants QuikPak recently announced another new Amiga model, The A1630XL. From the scant info available it appears to be an A1200 like machine, probably 030 or 040 with a foldout LCD screen.Go to QuikPak for more information.
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In the recently launched net zine The Lair there was an interview with the head honcho of HiQ. Apparently QuikPak will be licensing the Siamese technology to use it in there future A5050. There is also talk of future DEC Alpha powered Amigas even if QuikPak fail in there bid to acquire Amiga Technologies. Check out The Lair
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