SOFTWARE HUT - had its second annual cookout and product show on Saturday, July 29th - at their store & warehouse in West Chester PA. Amiga SIG leader, John Deker, and members, Bill Bacon and Charles Curran, got to the event.
It was a good opportunity to get updated on the Amiga marketplace, pick up
hardware and software, enjoy the (free) food and mingle with more than 4-5
Amigans at one time!! John et al reported that Software Hut seems to be OK
financially; so this singular, major, supplier to the Amiga community is
apparently going to be able to do so at least for the near future. Some good
news - for a change!
******************************
There are those times when we all get visited by nostalgia. So it is I believe
the reason why the moderator of an internet list serv for newsletter editors
passed on this history. While it does not do justice to the early (read that
PET) days of the Commodore phenomenon, when some of us got our start, it should
still bring back more than a few memories! Hope you will enjoy the story as it
unfolds (and maybe check your recollections to see if the history got it
right!!!):
I cannot take credit for the following. I found this at the
www.oldsoftware.com website. It compresses the entire history of Commodore
into a digest form, and though it's slightly outdated (CMD does not publish
Commodore World anymore, and Gateway is not going to bring out a new Amiga),
the article is still very useful and enlightening.
Enjoy, Robert Bernardo
Fresno Commodore User Group
----
"A Look at the Incredible History and
Legacy of the Commodore Home Computers"
Copyright 1999
(May be used without modification for non-commercial purposes)
Reid C. Swenson, M.S.
There are many individuals who have probably never heard of the Commodore
home computers and are unaware of their incredible legacy and the tremendous
impact which they have had upon the evolution of computers. Some of the
younger generation who are too young to remember the 1980's may still not have
seen or heard much -- if anything -- about Commodore computers and likely have
very little sense of their significance. Likewise, many of the middle aged and
older generation who did not develop an interest in computers until recently
may be equally uninformed. However, most individuals who were involved in the
home computer and electronics fields during the 1980's are probably somewhat
familiar or quite familiar with the Commodore products and their history.
The Commodore 64
Commodore's most popular model, the Commodore 64, was the Model T Ford of the
home computer movement. As you may recall, the Model T Ford was the first
automobile that the average person on an average income was able to afford or
justify buying because of its low price, extensive consumer-oriented marketing,
and usability.
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit computer that uses Commodore DOS instead of MS-DOS
or Windows. In fact, for the most part, it cannot run IBM or Macintosh
computer programs. The Commodore 64 has BASIC 2.0 and 64k of memory, although
when you turn the computer on it indicates only 38,911 bytes available, because
nearly half of its memory is used for internal functions. The Commodore 64 was
actually part of the evolution of computers marketed by CBM (Commodore Business
Machines), which had previously proliferated the CBM and PET business computers
into business and academic settings and who had then subsequently developed the
VIC-20 computer which was the predecessor to the Commodore 64.
The Commodore VIC-20
The Vic-20 (named after its revolutionary Video Interface Chip) had captured
the imagination of many enthusiasts around 1981 because of its very user-
friendly BASIC language, nice color graphics, programmable sound, comfortable
keyboard, and the fact that it could directly connect to compatible disk drives
and printers without expensive expansion modules and interfaces. The Vic-20
had been affordably marketed for around $400 when it first came out and it
quickly caught the imagination of many consumers
[Part II - next time]
########################################
WELCOME! - to our newest member, Roy Stahlman of Bryn Mawr. Roy is a PC user,
in the learning stage. We hope his joining will be mutually beneficial!
LOADSTAR - the folks down in Shreveport have decided that they can continue to
produce Loadstar 64 thru the end of 2001 - adding another year of life to the
longest running disk magazine supporting ANY computer platform. They will now
take subscription orders for issues 200-211, previously they would not take
orders past issue #199 - December 2000. Another bit of good news from the
fading Commodore front!!
They are also offering a two-tiered price structure. If you can accept your
issues via email, the price is lower ($48 vs. $84 for 12 issues).
And, they have their colleague, Dave Moorman, who will continue to produce the
special edition for PC emulators - eLOADSTAR. I reckon we'll have some future
meeting demos of this beasty. Any members who get eLoadstar are urged to flag
especially interesting items for show at future meetings. If interested, you
can get more info at: www.loadstar.com.
BTW, have any MLCUG members been getting the eLoadstar issues? If you have,
let us HEAR from YOU!
LOADSTAR - PART 2 - at the last meeting, we mentioned that the Loadstar folks -
actually their formal side - J&F Publishing - has started another venture which
they call "Short Order Press". SOP is, and will, publish short run books at
very low cost. They are starting with old and out-of-print titles that
interest them specially (and which are in the public domain; so they are free
to reprint them). Also, contemporary titles that they have the rights to are
on the docket. We hope to have a sample of each of these types at the next
meeting.
If you are a budding author - and want to get published quickly and at low
cost, this may just be what you are looking for! You can get much more detail
at their website: www.shortorderpress.com.
******************************
Article I: You do not have the right to a new car, big-screen TV, the biggest
and fastest new computer, or any other form of wealth. This government is not
in the business of guaranteeing these luxuries.
******************************
One-Minute Life Saver
Prepare for possible PC catastrophes by regularly copying the following files
to a second hard drive, removable hard disk or diskette - especially if you
frequently install and uninstall applications. From your root directory (you
may find only some of these), back up AUTOEXEC.BAT, AUTOEXEC.DOS, CONFIG.SYS,
CONFIG.DOS and MSDOS.SYS. From your Windows folder, back up CONTROL.INI,
SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI, as well as the SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT Registry files
(SYSTEM.DAT probably won't fit on a floppy disk).
[Anyone willing to do a batch file to make this an easy job, folks???]
******************************
At several recent meetings, we have mentioned the (PC) Power Tools column, by
Karen Kenworthy, published by Winmag.com. These weekly columns - which are
available by free email subscription - or from the webpage:
www.winmag.com/columns/powertools/ - provide useful utilities for the average
computer user. But, they also provide some nice training for budding
programmers!
For each of the "tools", you can download the final working version - AS WELL
AS the source code! The source code is in Microsoft Visual Basic 6 (and you
have to have the Visual Basic runtime module - vbrun600.dll - installed for the
tools to work) for you to study and "improve"!
Last month, we took a quicky look at her "Cookie Viewer" program - which makes
for a handy desktop icon. Having it handy - and therefore used often - gives
you a much better picture of the ebb and flow of cookies on your web contacting
machine...
Oh yes, Karen is open to suggestions for improving the tools (and probably for
creating new ones - check the website and/or email her).
We can look at another tool next meeting. If any of you have tried them and
like something - how about showing us at a future meeting? HINT??
FOR SALE: the club has an increasingly large inventory of Commodore stuff -
software, computers, disk drives, monitors, printers, etc. We have recently
been getting a number of sales via the info posted on the MLCUG web page. But,
those sales have just scratched the surface of ouinventory!
So, if you are in need of replacements or augmentation, please contact Charles
Curran (610-446-5239 or ccurran@icdc.com) - he has most of the stuff and the
prices are VERY reasonable!!!
******************************
Again we started the July meeting with our hour+ of round-the-table
announcements, followed by Q&A (i.e. problems being solved???)! As in recent
meetings, folks got very much involved in the discussions - we hope all
attendees will feel more comfortable about passing on tips and info, or seeking
help with their problems.
Then we began our trek down hardware lane with a PC brought in by member, Al
Kase. Al and a couple of other members began their acquaintance of the clone
world with the first $499 computer - the Powerspec 1660-type PC purchased from
MicroCenter a couple of years ago. One way of keeping that cost low was to
reduce expandability and flexibility of the hardware. So, Al is interested in
learning what he still might be able to do - beyond adding memory chips, which
he has already done.
For the rest of us, it was a chance to look inside one of the machines that got
the el cheapo PC off to a running start. Once opened, we learned that things
were pretty crowded (so, what's new?) inside. We also noted the 2-part
motherboard arrangement that made things compact, but harder to get at and work
with. Al will be mulling over what he might like to do - with a new hard drive
being at the top of the list. It may be an opportunity for a meeting demo.
See the August meeting notice - for more on the hardware front.
We have available for meeting demos, the newest version of the WinVICE
emulator, v1.4. No demos were done at the July meeting. Hopefully, tho we'll
see more in future.
REMEMBER, attendees are asked to nominate their favorite Commodore app(s) for a
look-see emulation at those meetings. Yawl let us know - right???
******************************
Here's help in deciphering those cryptic messages:
WinErr: 003 Dynamic linking error - Your mistake is now in every file.
WinErr: 004 Erroneous error - Nothing is wrong.
========================================
The following short exchange came off the MLMUG listserv and was aimed at Mac
users, but there are some cogent comments from an expert that you may find
useful:
Begin quote
<< I want to buy a CD writer in the very near future. So, the question is,
should I buy a SCSI or USB CD writer? My sense is that SCSI is preferable.
In addition, what are the recommended machines at the moment? I recall reading
recommendations for a Yamaha machine in an APS shell. Is this still the
recommendation?
Finally, I get the sense that rewritable is not particularly valuable, since my
use will be to make CDs out of vinyl and so forth. I am not sure I see a need
to rewrite much.
Thanks for the help, as usual. Michael B. Luskin >>
Bill Achuff replies:
I didn't snip your message but I will address the CD burner issue. For the
sake of newcomers to the technology I will expand my answer somewhat.
CD burner: Given your stated interests and equipment I suggest that you go with
a SCSI Yahama CD burner. I think Yahama makes the best burners and APS makes
great cases, but there ARE other alternatives and other considerations, e.g.,
bundled software, warranty, price, etc. You may not need RW (rewrite)
capability, now; but you might want it in the future. I think you'd be better
served with a 8x32x, vs. a 4x2x24x. [The first number is the unit's R (write
once) speed, the second is the RW speed, and the last number is the read
speed].
There are 12X CD-R burners on the market, but they're not USB. There's NOT much
12X R certified media available, however. But the USB burners are not
sufficiently reliable at 4X, I've found; 1X or 2X they can handle. I do NOT
recommend ANY USB burner by ANY manufacturer for burning at speeds above 4X. If
you are burning, mostly, audio CDs ('peers you are), then you want to burn at
1X or 2X REGARDLESS of how fast you COULD burn. That's what works but I can't
tell you WHY; I've heard too many opinions as to why. You don't want or need RW
for audio either, unless you plan to play the RW audio CDs in an RW unit; they
WON'T play in a CD Walkman, your car CD player, or your home stereo.
I hope I am not confusing you--just remember the basics. (1) SCSI and FireWire
(which is expensive right now) are faster and more reliable than USB at speeds
over 2X. FACT! (2) Audio CDs should be burned at 1X or 2X on R CDs. MORE
VERSATILE USE. (3) A burner ties up your computer until the burn is completed;
you cannot burn a CD in the background. FASTER BURNS OF DATA ARE DESIRABLE. If
you burn "one offs" (one copy only), you'll want to verify the burn, so the
faster the read speed (the last number) the better. [The burner will read back
the burned CD against the original data. (4) The burner MECHANISM has nothing
to do with which BUS you use, USB, SCSI, or FireWire. (5) Buy a NEW CD burner,
not used. I find, despite what the manufacturers say, burners tend to fail
after 300 burns.
End quote
If any member has done a lot of burning and would like to comment on Bill's
advice, please feedback to us.
July's meeting was held in picture perfect weather. Morning
temperatures started in the low 60's under sunny skies. I think
because of this, a couple of our normally attending members decided
to skip the monthly meeting and take the day off.
Our July agenda was totally re-arranged when Bill Bacon's new hard
drive showed signs of an early demise. Instead of the installation
of Linux for his A3000 PPC, we took a look at various implementations
and a couple permutations of the ICQ concept. Details can be found
in the meeting summary below.
So, for August we will attempt to re-schedule the Linux PPC
installation on Bill's A3000. This will be our second installation
of Linux in about 4 months. It will be interesting to observe if
there are any significant differences between the PPC installation
and the M68K installation process.
As you probably know by now, the Amiga SIG will no longer meet
regularly at Villanova University. Instead we will continue to meet
at 2210 Lantern Lane in Lafayette Hill. We will also be trying to
start our meetings a half hour earlier at 9:00AM instead of 9:30AM.
So, please note the change of starting time.
During our May meeting we discussed our summer schedule. Since the
SIG is so small it is important that members keep each other informed
of their vacation schedules. As it is right now, non of the
attendees at the last meeting have a vacation conflict with the
summer schedule. I ask that members keep the SIG leader informed if
there is a change which would cause a personal conflict. Thank you.
Members wishing to stay in contact with Ted by email can reach him at:
BOUNCE BACK VIDEO
Though presented at the end of the meeting, I thought I'd mention up
front that we viewed a very small portion of the Bounce Back Video
from the April gathering in St. Louis. We watched just enough to see
the Dick Van Dyke cameo which starts about 5 minutes into the video.
Mr. Van Dyke's brief cameo provides the only graphic spark in what is
an otherwise graphically dull video. It is best just to listen to
the Bounce Back Video and treat it as an audio tape. As such the
tape is a brief history of the newly formed Amiga Inc., and it
provides some insight to the future direction of Amiga Inc.
As mentioned in the introduction, the meeting focus was on ICQ-like
software for the Amiga. ICQ-like software enables online users to
seek out and find other users who are currently online for the
purpose of "chatting", gaming, and the exchange of software if
desired. What follows is a description of the various ICQ-like
software packages available for the Amiga, including the Mac 68k
software which runs on the ShapeShifter Mac emulator.
AMICOMSYS
The software can be found at:
http://us.aminet.net/pub/aminet/comm/net/AmiComSys.lha
The supporting Web site can be found at:
AmiComSys is an AMarquee client program which you use to communicate
with other Amigans on the Internet. It makes it easier to find
people's IP-addresses, for use with Internet gaming and homepages,
etc. With AmiComSys you can say "Hi!" to your Amiga buddies on the
net, or just see if they are connected, or even find new friends?
With it you can:
The software can be found at:
http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/comm/tcp/micq-0.4.0.lha
This is a simple port of micq 0.4.0 for Amiga. This program was
designed as a text mode unix ICQ since the only ICQ client that will
run on a unix box is the java version which is slow and resource
intensive. Micq is an ICQ client for text mode unix that is not in
any way supported by Mirabilis. Mirabilis has been slow (at best) in
releasing a unix port. The code is designed to be portable and has
been ported to various flavors of Un*x, Amiga, OS/2, MiNT, Win32,
Acron and probably others.
STRICQ
The main program, support files, and update can be found at:
http://www.owlnet.net/amiga/stricq/STRICQ_1371.lha
The supporting Web site can be found at:
http://www.owlnet.net/amiga/stricq/
Feature Highlights:
Features, instructions, and software for the Mac 68k ICQ can be found
at:
http://www.icq.com/download/step-by-step-mac68.html
This Web page indicates that the Mac 68k version is time-limited beta
software.
The software mentioned below is either required by the software above
or enhances the use of the above software.
KCON -- an MICQ and general Amiga shell enhancement. This software
can be found on most if not all Aminet sites including:
http://us.aminet.net/pub/aminet/util/shell/KingCON_1.3.lha
KingCON is a console-handler that optionally replaces the standard
'CON:' and 'RAW:' devices. It is 100% compatible and adds some VERY
useful features such as..
http://www.aminet.net/pub/aminet/util/libs/mui38usr.lha
MUI is an object oriented system to create and maintain graphical
user interfaces. From a programmers point of view, using MUI saves a
lot of time and makes life much easier. Programming complicated
concepts like window resizing or font sensitivity is simply not
necessary.
On the other hand, users of MUI based applications have the ability
to customize nearly every pixel of a programs interface according to
their personal taste.
OPENURL -- enhances AmiComSys and many other Internet related
programs. OpenURL can be found on most if not all Aminet sites
including:
http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/comm/www/OpenURL30.lha
OpenURL requires MUI to run the preference program.
The OpenURL library was created to make it easier for application
programmers to include clickable URLs in their applications, about
windows, etc. Current solutions to this problem typically are to
launch an ARexx script or just support a few Web browsers, with no
room for configuration. This leads to countless reinventions of the
wheel.
This library solves the problem by giving application programmers a
very simple API to handle (one function) and the user gets
configurability with the included preference program.
SCREENSHELL -- enhances MICQ with ANSI color support. ScreenShell
can be found on most if not all Aminet sites including:
http://www.aminet.net/pub/aminet/util/shell/screenshell_ur.lha
Screen Shell v1.20 opens on a custom screen with customized palettes
for 2, 4, and 8 colors and with no window borders. It scrolls very
fast, and supports any type of screen in the system database
including graphic cards. It adapts to any fixed type font size.
As a pure executable it can be made resident. ScreenShell is fully
compatible with KingCon 1.2.
SHAPESHIFTER -- this emulator for the Amiga enables the use of Mac
68k ICQ software from Mirabilis. Obviously it requires a Mac 68k OS
with Internet capability. ShapeShifter can be found at:
http://www.uni-mainz.de/~bauec002/ShapeShifter3_10.lha
Last month I listed files from OS3.5 that the OS3.5 wary Amigan can
install in OS3.1. I again provide that list of software plus one
more file, and that is the MOUNT command. NOTE: A fair number of the
files come from the free 3.6MB Boing Bag 1 download at:
http://www.amiga.com/3.5/download/boingbag1.lzx
If you have either software or hardware for your Amiga that has taken
your fancy, please bring it to our attention. I'm sure your specific
interests will be of interest to others. Let me know if this is the
case at the next meeting, or leave me email on our BBS. Remember, a
user group is only as rewarding as the sum of the efforts of its
individual members.
DIRECTIONS FOR ST. AUGUSTINE CENTER MEETING ROOM
Meetings are in the St. Augustine Center at Villanova University. The 8-bit
and PC sessions will be in Room 110 (Amigans at John Deker's house).
[The map goes here]
Enter from the ITHAN AVENUE main gate, then proceed to the 2-level parking
building adjacent to St. Augustine, on the Ithan Avenue side.
NOTE: maps on our webpage - http://astro4.ast.vill.edu/mlcug/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
64/128/PC/Amiga Meetings 2000 Steering Committee Meetings
August 12 August 16
September 9 September 20
October 14 October 18
* = first Saturday ** = second Wednesday
******************************************************************
EDITOR: Emil J. Volcheck, Jr. 1046 General Allen Lane West Chester, PA
19382-8030
(Produced with C-128D/SCPU 128, RAMlink, HD-40/85, 1571, FD-4000, THE WRITE
STUFF 128, XETEC Super Grafix, Canon BJ-200ex, Swiftlink and Motorola 288
modem)
MLCUG BBS: 610-828-1359 ( 300 --> 33600 bps ), 24 hr/day
WWW: http://astro4.ast.vill.edu/mlcug/
PUBLICITY: Robyn Josephs 610-565-4058
DISK ORDERS: Charlie Curran 610-446-5239
VILLANOVA SPONSOR: Prof. Frank Maloney, Dept. of Astronomy
MLCUG STEERING COMMITTEE:
PRESIDENT: Emil Volcheck 610-388-1581 SECRETARY: Charles Curran 610-
446-5239
TREAS/MEMBERS: Dewitt Stewart 610-623-5145 SYSOP/AMIGA SIG: John Deker 610-
828-7897
INTERNET/Linux:Peter Whinnery 610-284-5234 DATABASE: Layton Fireng 610-
688-2080
AT LARGE: Tom Johnson 610-525-3440 AT LARGE: John Murphy 610-
935-4398
A COMMODORE HISTORY - I
Date: 02-Feb-00 02:43 EST
From: INTERNET:editors@mail.jbrain.com
Subj: Re: History of C=
What is a Commodore Computer?
ANNOUNCEMENTS & COMMENTS
########################################
THE BILL OF "NO RIGHTS"
WIN TIP OF THE MONTH - for Win9x
POWER TOOLS
#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@ How about an aid for your faithful @
@ editor? In the form of an article @
@ for YOUR newsletter? It can be a @
@ short or long one - in one or many @
@ parts. It can be a tip, review or @
@ harangue (polite, of course) on the @
@ software, hardware or technology of @
@ your interest and choice. @
@ @
@ You can get it to me by snail mail, @
@ on a floppy or zip - by email to @
@ emilv@ccil.org - by email on the @
@ MLCUG BBS (in the message body or @
@ as an attached file - it can take a @
@ file of ANY kind). @
@ @
@ With that much latitude, I'm sure @
@ that every MLCUG member surely has @
@ an item of value to pass on to the @
@ rest of us. How about it????? @
@ @
@ NO item this time! @
@ @
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$ TRADING POST $
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
LAST MONTH'S PC/128/64 MEETING
******************************
EMULATION
Trouble with Windows Errors?
Comments on CD Burners/ing
In a message dated 4/22/00 1:29:29 PM, Luskin@aol.com writes:
MAIN LINE AMIGA USER HAPPENINGS
by John Deker
SUMMER AMIGA SIG MEETINGS
TED DEAN EMAIL
======================================
_ __ _ <>_ __ _
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\
/ \\_| \/ ||_||_ \__//_/ \\_
======================================
MEETING REVIEW...
I SEEK YOU...
MICQ
http://stricq.owlnet.net/STRICQ.lha
MAC 68K (SHAPESHIFTER) ICQ
SUPPORTING MEETING SOFTWARE
MUI (Magical User Interface) -- required by AmiComSys and StrICQ.
This software can be found on most if not all Aminet sites including:
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN OS3.1 & 3.5
FILES WORTH A GRAB VER LOCATION
------------------ ----- --------
CPU 44.3 BB1
DiskCopy 44.5 BB1
FastFileSystem 45.1 OS3.5 CD
Info 39.18 Aminet
List 43.2 BB1
Mount 44.6 OS3.5 CD
ShowConfig 44.7 BB1
These files offer improved hardware support for newer CPU's, bigger
hard drives and partitions, better identification of expansion boards
and devices, and fix a bug or two.
FUTURE MEETINGS