MEETING STARTS - 09:30 - OCT 14 th
http://astro4.ast.vill.edu/mlcug
Following the pattern from last month, we'll plan to intersperse portions of the program/demo with Q & A round the table. The better to help pass over slow demo items!!
Last time, we had an eminently successful program - with nary a single problem (see the account elsewhere). That put us in the position of having an installed and working, new primary boot drive on the club PC. The demo will continue with the next step - namely the installation of Windows 98 SE and the Boot Magic utility. When finished, we will be able to boot up either Win95B or Win98SE - as needed for demos or info gathering. It is our fond hope that it will go as well as last month's program did!
MAIN LINE AMIGA USERS - John's Place
At our September meeting I presented OS enhancing software as suggested by Bill Bacon last month. The presentation included software like OS3.5, Directory Opus, PFS3, artser.device, ClockDaemon, KingCON, and MUI. Information about this and other software can be found in the included meeting review section.
Our October meeting should bring a brief review of the d'Amiga as well as a general Q&A session.
REMINDER: since the beginning of the year the Amiga SIG no longer meets regularly at Villanova University. Instead we continue to meet at 2210 Lantern Lane in Lafayette Hill. We are trying to start our meetings at 9:00 AM instead of 9:30.
The following posting documents the departure of one of the stalwarts of the Commodore era:
"Hi all, I just wanted everyone to know that I'm no longer developing or supporting Novaterm. This is probably not a surprise as I've been out of touch for a while! I've made Novaterm 9.6, the last beta version of Novaterm 10, and all source code freely available on my FTP site: ftp://ftp.exitlight.com/Novaterm/ [cont'd]
***************************
carrying Vic-20 merchandise) began to carry Commodore 64 items. Regional
electronic superstores got involved as did a significant number of smaller
computer dealerships. Eventually, Commodore 64 and Vic-20 software and hardware
were carried by such national department stores as Sears, Montgomery Ward, Fred
Meyer, LaBelles, K-Mart, and many others. Also, many toy stores such as Lionel
Play World and Toys'R'Us began to sell these computers. The price dropped by
another $50, and dealers were buying the Commodore for just over $100. Commodore
became so popular that Commodore even offered shares of stock on the stock
market for several years.
As the competition among retailers heated up, it was not uncommon to see
retailers willing to sell the Commodore 64 systems at cost or even at a slight
loss in order to lure people into their stores. The strategy (which usually paid
off) was that customers would see the computer selling at an incredibly low
price of near $100 and come to buy the computer and end up buying the 1541 disk
drive, a Commodore printer, Commodore modem, a 1702 Commodore monitor, and a
bunch of educational software, games, supplies, and accessories to go along with
it. By the time the customer walked out the door, the purchase usually resulted
in significant profit to the retailer.
Many after-market and 3rd party manufacturers subsequently began to create and
market Commodore-compatible software, hardware, books, and accessories in an
effort to get in on the blossoming industry. Many Commodore magazines also
became established -- some of which even included monthly disks with many free
programs on them. Many of our present software and hardware giants got their
humble start during this period. Microsoft's Multiplan became a very popular
spreadsheet for Commodore. Other companies such as Electronic Arts, Accolade,
Activision, Cinemaware, Cosmi, Batteries Included, Sublogic, Epyx, Access,
Infocom, Mastertronic, etc. soon became household words.
Commodore service and repair centers became quite common. Training centers
taught computer fundamentals and programming using Commodores. Many schools,
universities, research centers, and educational enterprises began using
Commodore computers. A significant number of small and medium size businesses
used Commodore computers as well.
Unique marketing approaches continued to develop as smaller companies and
private individuals began developing the concept of shareware or freeware. This
new concept was based on the idea that a programmer could write and copyright a
useful or fun program and then freely distribute copies of it to the public on
the condition that end users would pay a registration fee to become an official
user of the program. Usually a relatively small fee was supposed to be sent
directly to the program's author. Often times the author would provide an
updated or more complete version or accompanying manual or program add-on or
other benefit as an incentive to pay the registration fee. This kept overhead,
production, and marketing costs down by relying on grass roots distribution and
the "honor system" of marketing. Several shareware and freeware programs became
fairly famous during this time, but undoubtedly a great many programmers' dreams
never quite lived up to expectations. The idea of try-before-you-buy software
has continued to evolve up to this day, becoming more and more sophisticated and
creative.
Also, during this same time period a great number of public domain programs
began to emerge. There were many programmers who had written and not copyrighted
their programs for various reasons whose program began to be freely distributed
without any registration fee being required. This greatly added to the
availability of affordable software.
Another interesting phenomenon-- Commodore User's Groups-- began to unfold
during this time. This phenomena was a result of the need and desire of people
to share information regarding their computers and uses.
[Part IV - next time]
########################################
THE TIME HAS A-COME ! - our annual renewal "campaign" has begun - which
determines the fate of the club for another year. At the end of the 1999
recruiting year, our membership stood at 42. With the passage of a year, we
were able to get back only to 38 - or about a 10% loss.
If we are able to get to at least the 35 level in renewals (and hopefully, add a
few new members, too), we should be able to get comfortably thru Y2001. At that
level, the member dues will cover the cost of publishing the monthly newsletter,
which is the goal for setting the dues level.
As of this writing, we have 3-4 renewals in hand - 10% of what we need. So, how
about filling out that form on the last page of each issue and send it off to
the treasurer? Anyone joining in October thru December gets the rest of 2000,
plus all of 2001!
DOWNLOADING - from the MLCUG BBS. Our BBS is a handy, local source of (we hope)
useful files that is available to the members for up or downloading. The BBS
software has a particularly good implemenatation of a range of transfer
protocols that are used for this operation. However, many of you report that
you have problems getting or giving files.
So, at the last meeting, a procedure for doing so was distributed. It was
generated by going thru an actual downloading process and capturing everything
that happened on the screen. Then, in the resulting file, each step was
annotated with comments to explain what was happening and suggesting good
options, selections or procedures to get best results.
All copies were snapped up - but more will be available at the next meeting; so
come grab one, if you are interested.
LUNCH - some of us regularly adjourn after the meeting for lunch at the
Villanova diner. Attendees are invited to join the fest - for more
conversation, with food!
***************************
Article IV: You do NOT have the right to free food and lodging. Americans are
the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need; but
we are growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional
couch potatoes, who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation
of couch potatoes.
***************************
[by Emil Volcheck]
Well, this "tip" is more in the form of a sermon! Whether using a PC, a Mac, an
Amiga or a Commodore computer - backing up and being prepared for emergencies
has been our theme. We're not perfect, but we try. So, here's a recent example
lesson:
One of our members got infected with a "virus" and was told that he was sending
out infected email. Based on some info he had got from a recipient, I was able
to identify that he had the "Happy99 worm" (actually not a virus, but nasty
nevertheless).
He acquired Norton Anti-virus which confirmed that Happy99 was the culprit. NAV
provided assistance in removing said worm. However, in the process - for some
reason - a critical system file was deleted. As a result, he could no longer
startup Windows.....
I was able to supply him with the deleted file, but had to provide a boot disk
along with it as he did not have a boot disk and could not startup his computer
to do any troubleshooting, etc.
An excellent, tho troublesome, example of why one should be prepared with some
rudimentary tools!
With the proper boot disk, he probably could have extracted the file directly
from his windows CD.
Maybe we have a need to republish the Emergency/boot/rescue/startup disk
series????
***************************
[continued from p.1]
All software and source code can be freely copied and distributed.
I want to thank everyone for their support over the years. I've appreciated all
the positive feedback and suggestions. It's always a pleasure to work on a
product that people find useful - especially when you've worked for companies
whose products were never used by anyone!
Currently my day job is as a software development lead for Loudeye Technologies
[NASDAQ:LOUD] (http://www.loudeye.com/), a company that does high-volume
encoding of video and audio for Internet streaming. The development work is all
Java server-side enterprise applications. I also have a video production
business, where we've done everything from TV and radio commercials to comedy
and extreme sports video. A lot of our work is up on our site at
http://www.exitlight.com/ (video is best viewed over a broadband connection of
course). As you can imagine, both of these things keep me very busy, which is
why I have not been supporting Novaterm.
Here is how I last left development of Novaterm 10: It has a fully functional
TCP/IP stack using SLIP (though not without bugs), a Telnet application, and the
beginnings of an FTP module. I completely rewrote everything in 100% assembly.
Most of the original features from version 9.6 are ported (phone book, buffer,
multiple devices, etc.) Every module (except for the bootstrapper) is written
as dynamically relocatable code, assembled with a special assembler that I wrote
for the purpose of generating relocation data along with the code itself. The
special assembler is written in C++ and also supports 6502 extended opcodes and
the 65816 instruction set (i.e. it can assemble native code for the SuperCPU).
All of the source code for version 10, version 9.6, and the assembler is in one
big tgz (tar-gzip) file. It's meant to be unpacked on a Linux system, which is
where I did all the development.
The source is freely available for any use; copy it, plagiarize it, study it,
learn from it. I won't have time to answer detailed questions about it (in fact
I remember very little about it), but I believe it will still have value
nonetheless.
Soon I'll be offering my Commodore equipment for sale. I've accumulated a few
goodies over time that I used in development which should be nice additions to a
collection.
Nick Rossi, Exit Light Productions
***************************
As mentioned elsewhere, we ran the Sept. meeting in the mode of - start a demo,
while it runs, do Q&A, then repeat. It worked well and we not only learned
something, but had a lot of good exchanges. We succeeeded in doing quite a lot.
So, here is a summary of just what we did and how each step went!!
The primary activity involved the addition of a new 10 GB hard drive to
supplement the existing 5 GB hard drive. Then to make the new drive the
bootable master drive and divide up both drives to allow the installation and
use of multiple OSes. Quite a number of discreet steps are involved. The first
was to physically install the second drive in the computer and hook in the power
and IDE cables. That failed in Aug. due to a very slight misalignment of the
screw slots in the drive bay where the new drive was to be installed. So,
attendees got to see the new drive and where it would go and then we folded....
Between meetings, Emil did a very, very light filing of the screw slots; so the
drive slid in and lined up the screw holes. As it turned out the IDE and power
cable spare connectors were very nicely positioned to fit the new drive. So,
the system was ready for September.
We began by setting the jumper on the new drive to make it a slave - with the
old drive still remaining the master that booted. Then, we connected the IDE
and power cables and powered up the system. However, we did not boot from the
old hard drive, but from a Partition Magic v4.01 boot disk.
This brought the computer up with PM4.01 - ready to start the process. Since the
various steps would take real times to complete, the meeting strategy was to
start the demo right at the beginning of the meeting. Then when the PC was
performing a lengthy process, we could discuss what was going on to be sure all
understood what we were doing - and allow for other discussion or Q&A, if the
step was fairly lengthy.
Here are the steps that we were actually able to do today - over the course of
approx. two hours:
After I got the PC home, I did one very slight bit of fine tuning - namely, to
expand the old D: data partition from 1.8+ GB to a more or less even 2 GB,
leaving a little under 3 GB for the re-install of Linux (which will be the
subject of a meeting demo in either October or November).
Finally, I ran scandisk and defrag on both the C: and D: partitions - all came
up clean - no errors were reported.
A very pleasantly successful meeting demo!!!
Good luck to all who try something like this, Emil ...
***************************
Here's help in deciphering those cryptic messages:
At our September meeting I presented OS enhancing software as
suggested by Bill Bacon last month. The presentation included
software like OS3.5, Directory Opus, PFS3, artser.device,
ClockDaemon, KingCON, and MUI. Information about this and other
software can be found in the included meeting review section.
Our October meeting should bring a brief review of the d'Amiga as
well as a general Q&A session.
AMIGA SIG MEETING LOCATION
Since the beginning of the year the Amiga SIG no longer meets
regularly at Villanova University. Instead we continue to meet at
2210 Lantern Lane in Lafayette Hill. We are trying to start our
meetings at 9:00AM instead of 9:30AM. So, please note the change of
starting time.
One of the first things we did at our September meeting was to
collect email addresses. Our current membership form doesn't request
this information, and I thought it might be a good idea to have this
information to provide another way other than our BBS to maintain
contact between meetings. I plan to distribute this information to
all the September meeting attendees before our October meeting.
HACK, HACK, WHO'S THERE?
Enhancement. Enhancement, who? Enhance your Amiga's operating
system with ease.
Operating System enhancements were the focus of our September
meeting. The presented list of software included OS3.5, DOpus 5.x,
PFS3, artser.device, ClockDaemon, SetNoClick, TrueMultiAssigns,
HyperText Datatype, ECIconDOS, KingCON, Ed-Startup, and MUI.
Forgotten and overlooked were TurboPrint and "ixemul.library", but
I've given both coverage here.
OS3.5
The greatest amount of time was spent on the newest Amiga operating
system upgrade. Within the Amiga community there are some mixed
feelings and thoughts about this product as it has created some
notable bugs. One can argue that this latest version of the OS did
not have enough incubation time before being offered to the public.
A significantly sized patch package called Boing Bag 1 was released
only a few months after the CDROM release of OS3.5.
What does OS3.5 offer as an incentive to upgrade from OS3.1? The
noteworthy features include:
PFS3 is a commercial filesystem enhancement which is well worth the
investment if you value your files and data. It provides the
following worthwhile features:
This has to be the BEST GUI DESKTOP (ah... Workbench in Amiga speak)
I've seen on any computer platform including Mac, Windows, and Linux. There
isn't any user interface more capable or more versatile than DOPUS!
Features include, but are not limited to:
TURBOPRINT
TurboPrint provides one of the best, if not the best, printer support
on the Amiga. For compatability with OS3.5 "printer.device", you
should be using at least version 6.07 of TurboPrint. This is
commercial software.
Besides all the normal printer stuff one would expect, TP
(TurboPrint) adds Postscript support and capability to non-postscript
printers, ala Linux, using Ghostscript as the translator.
Applications that support postscript are able to print in postscript
through the Ghostscript software. Many times this is quicker than
printing in straight graphics mode.
In addition, TP includes an interface to easily manipulate graphics
for easy printing.
KINGCON
This software was covered in the August newsletter. The software can
be found in the Aminet archives on the WWW.
ARTSER.DEVICE
Bottom line, "artser.device" performs better and faster than the
standard Amiga "serial.device". Use "artser.device" when you don't
have an alternative hi-speed hardware serial port such as the GVP I/O
Extender or the HiSoft Whippet. Almost all Amiga communication
software allows the user to select what serial port device to use.
Artser can be found in the Aminet archives on the WWW.
CLOCKDAEMON
This software received limited coverage in the December 1999
newsletter. Besides its capability to control the transition between
standard time and daylight saving time, ClockDaemon sets your
hardware clock to GMT while using the locale setting in Preferences
to set the software clock to local time at bootup. This is perfect
for the user wishing to also use his/her Amiga to run Linux. This
software can be found in the Aminet archives on the WWW, and requires
"ixemul.library", also found on Aminet.
IXEMUL.LIBRARY
Essentially this is a BSD Unix kernel running under the Amiga OS.
The code for handling Unix signals is taken almost verbatim from the
BSD kernel sources. Multitasking and file I/O is, of course, passed
on to the Amiga OS. Because the library resembles BSD Unix so
closely, it has made it possible to port almost all Unix programs.
Version 48.0 of "ixemul.library" can be found in the Aminet archives
on the WWW.
FUTURE MEETINGS
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).
[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 of the building.
NOTE: maps on our webpage -
http://astro4.ast.vill.edu/mlcug/
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 - III
ANNOUNCEMENTS & COMMENTS
########################################
THE BILL OF "NO RIGHTS"
WIN TIP OF THE MONTH - for Win9x
NOVATERM'S GONE!
http://www.exitlight.com/
LAST MONTH'S PC/128/64 MEETING
***************************
----------
Last month, our demo was upgrading the club PC: 1) to make it more useable for
meeting demos (and "safer") and 2) to provide some hands-on experience for the
critical steps, in real time, for our member's edification.
As a side effect of this last step - we now had all our original drive letter
assignments restored - they had moved around in the earlier steps as new
partitions appeared or got relocated. But, of course, the C: drive is now on
the new 10 GB hard drive, while the D: drive remained in its old position on the
old 5 GB hard drive. When we booted up into Windows, everything looked good.
There were a couple of shortcuts that got mixed up as Windows tried to keep them
in sync with our drive motions - but that was easily fixed. We'll obviously now
watch for any side effects of the changes, but we appear to have everything
pretty much as we wanted them. All this went without error messages, blue
screens or cryptic error boxes! I have to say that I'm really pleased with how
Partition Magic conducted itself!
Trouble with Windows Errors?
MAIN LINE AMIGA USER HAPPENINGS
by John Deker
======================================
_ __ _ <>_ __ _
/\\ |\ /|| || / ` /\\
/__\\ | \ / || || || ___ /__\\
/ \\_| \/ ||_||_ \__//_/ \\_
======================================
MEETING REVIEW...
MAINTAINING CONTACT
What follows is a brief description of some of the above software.
Though most users will install OS3.5 using the included installer
software, it is possible to install it manually. Here's a rough
outline of the manual installation process that I recently used to
get around the 20MB free hard drive space check:
PFS3
DOPUS (DIRECTORY OPUS)
DOpus is commercial software.
64/128/PC/Amiga Meetings 2000 Steering Committee Meetings
October 14 October 18
November 11 November 15
December 9 December 20
* = first Saturday ** = second Wednesday @ Tom Johnson's
**********************************************************
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