CompuServe Messages

Well, again the biggest Amiga fair worldwide is currently in Cologn. I got there today (boy, totaly crowded 5minutes for 10 feet). o MacroSystem demonstrated the upcoming "Retina BLT Z3" graphic board. The graphic board now features NCR 77C32BLT graphic chip and is Zorro III only. The graphic chip features a powerfull blitter. The board supports burst mode access to the unsegmented 4MB video ram. All the software of the current Retina board will run with the new board. The board frequency is now programable in every aspect, allowing you to adjust the graphic board to your Monitor in every aspect. The board features a pixel frequency of up to 110MHz, allowing you to view 1280*1024 with 65Hz. The board also features a Flash-ROM instead of an EPROM for the autoconfig logic. This allows users to update the board by software, wich is specialy usefull once an RTG standard is released by Commodore. The board also features an additional S-Video and CVBS output, allowing you to output to record animations to your vcr. Users of the current Retina board can upgrade to the new Retina. According to Jrg Sprave, CEA of MacroSystem, the board should meet the dealer shelfs before christmas. I allready ordered mine. o For users of the current Retina board an additional Y/C and FBAS board is now available. The board can be bought in an external version or as doughterboard for Retina. o "VLab Motion" is a realtime video digitizer- and graphic-board. Thanks to an additional JPEG chip, you can digitize video to hardware in realtime. Also, you can output to video in realtime. The board features a PAL input resolution of 768*567 with 4:2:2 and an output resolution of 768*576. It runs with PAL/NTSC/SECAM. Input and output is supported with FBAS and Y/C (S-VHS) and features a genlock input. The board surely offers an incredible price performance. It's the first video in/out board wich can do realtime animation for just 722. The board is also able to control the Toccata board. Shiping should start during the next weeks. o "Toccata" is a new 16 Bit audio I/O board with up to 48 KHz sampling frequency. Combined with VLab Motion, this board allows you to play, edit and record video from harddisk on your computer. Price of this board is 220 and is allready shiped. o Retina users are surely glad to hear that VDPaint V3 was allready demonstarted in a beta version. The program now supports a 8 bit alpha channel, multiple windows and a built in ray-tracer. And you can expect more… o After a long time of abstinence, Ralph Babel got himself back into business with a new english version of his "Guru Book". Ralph is surely one of the best Amiga experts I know of. His book has been a must have to all serious german programmers in the past. The book was now rewritten from ground up and because of the huge demand from non-german programmers, it was done in english. The book is published by Ralph himself, so you won't be able to order it from your book store. The Amiga Guru Book contains many concise examples, ready-to-use listings, and comprehensive tables, it presents fundamental knowledge of the system that all Amiga programmers – regardless of the programming language used – MUST have at their disposal and be able to apply if they wish to create reliable and compatible software. All the questions you find unanswered in Commodore Rom Kernel Manuals are answered here. Truly a bibel! Users who can't find a source may order from germany through "Hirsch and Wolf OHG" Mittelstr. 33 56564 Neuwied Germany Tel: 0049-2631-8399-0 Fax: 0049-2631-8399-1 The price is DM 79 (30) plus shiping. Because JAM got a copy, I'm sure we will see review in JAM soon. o After buying myself a CD-ROM, I searched for a good PhotoCD software for the Amiga and finaly found a solution written by Olaf Barthel, the author of the well known "Term" program. The program named "PhotoworX" is distributed by Corporate Media. The basic functions of the program are based on the freeware "hpcdtoppm" V0.5 program wich allows you to read PhotoCD images on the Amiga. "hpcdtoppm" can be found on various ftp sites and CompuServe. While "hpcdtoppm" is pretty cryptic to use, "PhotoworX" features a well done bug free user interface, allowing you to preview and edit several images simultaniously. The software supports the Retina and PicassoII graphic board for viewing images. The program itself is not worth the requested 62, as it can be programmed in several weeks and the included sample PhotoCD is of no real use. The high price is caused by the license payed to Kodak for the use of their file format. Corporate Media is actually the first Amiga based company licensing the rights for the use of Kodaks file format. While it's totaly legal to ask money from companies for the use of their file format, the price of the license ($15000) is surely not cheap, as PC developers can get a license for $500 including software for reading the PhotoCD. Anyway, this software seems to be the best and the first legal software for reading PhotoCD's on the Amiga. t — Wolf Faust, Am Dorfgarten 10, 60435 Frankfurt, Germany —