June 1993 MAGazine Volume 9 Number 6

President's Ponderings - June 1993

WHERE'S BOB?

All I have been doing with my spare moments lately is work on my BBS. The only reason I have loaded a different program was to see what version it was, what it did, so I could add it to my U/D section. With my efforts so sharply focused it is difficult for me to think about what's coming up for the June meeting. I hope to get a vacation in as well. I have a long ways to go yet. I hope that you will spend a minute or two on the BBS I will continue to list the information in the newsletter.

AT THE MAY MEETING....

Brian did an excellent job showing off Video Director. This hardware/software combo will soon be added to my library. Anyone with a Video Camera and a VCR needs one. Bill Bowers did his usual excellent job with the disk of the month. I am now using Super Dark as my screen saver of choice. This one is an elegant little program. I really enjoy the 5 Minute News and if you really want to stay up to date you need to be reading these. They are weeks if not months ahead of the magazines, and really tell you more about what you need to know to stay abreast of the Amiga World.

I was really impressed with the AVS program dem. If you didn't stay for the last half of the meeting your really missed something special. While I am not much of a Bible reader, I really appreciated the interface that the clubs own Mike Wallace had put together. It was small in size considering the content and very fast and flexible. I hope that many of your will participate in this shareware program, especially considering it is one of our own club members.

ANIMATION CONTEST?

One of the first meetings I came to was one where the results were viewed and voted on. I really enjoyed it but think we should pre-judge and limit it to the top animations for each category. We haven't got all the details ironed out yet but we will by the next meeting.

VIDEO BACKUP SYSTEM

I just purchased VBS and plan to the use it as a backup mechanism for my BBS. I will in the next few weeks have 600 megabyte online and running without a safety net has me nervous. You know there are only two kinds of hard drive users, ones that have had their hard dirve(s) crash and those who are going to have their hard drive(s) crash. VBS is under $100 and allows you to backup your hard disk to your VCR. I will be doing a demo this next meeting.

MAX TAHITI OPTICAL DRIVE

Need storage for a several gigabyte of information? Scott Pitts will be showing us his tape drive.

VIDEOSPEAK MOVED?

Most of you are aware by now that David Spence has moved his business to Mid Town. His new address is 250 S. Cooper and his business phone is 276-2319. The Videospeak BBS numbers are 276-2915. David may soon the joining us at the meetings, as he will be changing his hours and closing on Saturdays.

MAG .info

The Memphis Amiga Group (M.A.G.)
P.O. Box 752683
Memphis, TN 38175-2683

GENERAL INFORMATION

The Memphis Amiga Group (M.A.G.) is a non profit organization whose purpose is promoting and encouraging the use and understanding of the Commodore Amiga Computer Systems. Membership are open to all who share a common interest in the Amiga computer and its many wonderful and unique features. Monthly meetings are open to the public and visitors are very welcome.

MEMBERSHIP

Annual membership dues for new members is $25.00 with an annual renewal rate of $20.00. All memberships are family memberships and dues are nonrefundable.

NEWSLETTER

This newsletter is published monthly for the distribution to members of the Memphis Amiga Group. MAGazine contains meeting announcements, hardware and software reviews, video and book reviews and other information of interest to Amiga and computer users in general. Contributions are welcome and may be submitted in hardcopy or via disk in ascii format at any meeting or you can upload to Videospeak BBS 853-4804. Be sure to leave a note to the sysop. The editor reserves the right to reject material related to illegal service, products or unethical practices.

CLUBS DISKS & MISC.

ADVERTISING RATES

MEETINGS

General Membership Meetings: 2nd Saturday of each month 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm in the Farris Auditorium at State Tech.

Board of Directors Meeting: 2nd Saturday of each month at 11:30 am at Gridley's on Macon Road.

All special events will be announced via the newsletters.

BOARD MEMBERS

Libraran's Coner

by Bill Bowers

If you can read this, I made the deadline for the newsletter. I obviously have missed the last couple of issues but, I'll try to do better. It's been a real interesting month since the last meeting. I am proud to announce the birth of my son, Nicholas Frank Bowers all 7 pounds 7 ounces. Momma and baby are fine, thank you. However the day before, I was part of a "reduction in work force" at Dow Corning Wright. It will be probably turn out for the better, I had not been happy there for about two years and I ended up with almost six months severance. I'll be able to spend sometime with the baby and rebuild my backyard fence. I am looking for a change into a video production job using my five and half years volunteer experience at Cablevision. Any job referrals would be appreciated. Enough about me, let's attend to business.

Last month's MAG Disk contained SuperDark, a collection of screenblankers that you can select one of about ten different types or you can let it cycle through each one. StarTrek_Fonts, a collection of six CGFonts usable with any word processing or graphics program capable of using Compugraphic fonts. Makeanim, a long time favourite program capable of making animations with different palettes! This program operates from the Shell or CLI and requires the use of a text editor to create a file list. See the attached docs file. And the monthly StuffToRead from Genie featuring product announcements from Migraph and their new color hand scanner, PageStream 3.0 new features, the Video Toaster 4000 from NewTek, a video tape hard drive backup and news from the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas.

Video Toaster Users magazine is featuring the new Video Toaster 4000 in its newest issue. The interface now sports a 3D buttons with three more baits of DVE effects and of course, faster rendering times, improvements to the CG, and too many more improvements to mention. I look forward reading more about it.

Now that I have some free time at home, I caught a recent Joan River's show with the topic of computer graphics. First up was IBM and OS/2 with their product specialist trying to retouch a picture of Robert Redford when the program locked up. It took him about 10 seconds to realize what happened, reset the machine and move on to another machine. I laughed so hard, I had to watch it again an hour later. The Mac had a nice looking morph of Joan to Mel Gibson and a second morph of Joan to Elizabeth Taylor. NewTek's Kiki Stockhammer told the Video Toaster story and showed some of the DVE effects for the four minutes or so she was on. Joan knew nothing about computers and seemed more interested in drawing post cards to give away some computer equipment.

Look for the new station identification on WLMT Channel 30 created on a 4000 with Imagine and Opalvision. It starts as a ball with bridge and pyramid overlay over a river tearing open to reveal the WLMT logo with the tears flowing to a border around the logo. It looked very nice but, the logo should have been a little bigger. I have only seen it once but, I will look for the next time I watch Star Trek: Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

EXTRA! EXTRA! EXTRA!

A newsflash from Associated Press on May 21 claims that NewTek will receive a Special Emmy award for contributions to the industry. Wow! I wonder that kind of press will be generated from it. If I get more information I will include it on the next MAG Disk.

That's about it, I'll see you at the next meeting.

Bill Bowers
Librarian

Merit Software to Introduce "Deluxe" Landry Football

Dallas, TX -- June 3, 1993 (predated)

Merit Software is pleased to announce the late August release of a second Tom Landry Strategy Football game. Merit becomes the first company to offer football game players two different price points and feature sets in the DOS & Amiga environments. The original TLSF game, currently at version 1.3, will be priced at SRP of $29.95. The new game, dubbed Tom Landry Strategy Football -- Deluxe Edition will be set at $49.95 suggested retail and will include a bevy of major enhancements suggested by users and reviewers.

According to Roddy McGinnis, director of product developement, the Deluxe Edition will offer important enrichments to game play, while maintaining the popular user interface thousands of buyers loved. "We've made hundreds of new and hard-hitting improvements that are necessary for the serious football enthusiast, especially in the area of game play. These include new formations where players can specify a man-in-motion on offense and specific 'blitzers' on defense.

Also, Landry-Deluxe will now offer football freaks complete editing control over all players, including name and attributes, depending on position. This new feature was repeatedly requested by TLSF users. Additionally, new offensive formations added include Power I (left & right), "Blue", "Trips", and Shotgun with 4 wide receivers.

McGinnis also related several other improvements that should prove to be instrumental in the ascent of TLSF-Deluxe to the top of the preferred list for computer strategy football games. After adding stunts, safety blitzes, and new offensive formations, Merit designers and programmers really went to town. "We also added a separate program for a complete league editor. Players will now be able to create leagues for use with Landry-Deluxe."

Some of the more important features of this new module include league rules (college or pro), and mixing of years (the '59 Colts can play the '65 Packers). Also, complete team editing including name, year, colors, jersey preference, home climate, coaching style and team penalty percentage.

On offense, players can pick normal and passing default formations, run or pass blocking, and play calling tendencies. Defensive coaches can pick up a run or pass defense with a powerful pass rush (watch out -- you may give up the big play if you get too aggressive), a 4-3 or 3-4 defensive wall or a tendency to blitz. For those who fancy special teams play, you'll be able to choose the names and specific abilities of particular players.

BABYLON 5 Announces 22 Episodes!

Hollywood, CA -- May 28, 1993

In a move that will expand its programming base by fifty percent, the Prime Time Entertainment Network has finalized plans to add a new series, BABYLON 5, to its schedule.

The series BABYLON 5, based on the highly-rated telefilm of the same name, has been given an order for 22 episodes set to debut on the PTEN schedule in January, 1994. The series follows on the success of the original telefilm, which aired on PTEN in March 1993 and achieved a 10.3 GAA national rating, out-rating the strong two-hour premiers of KUNG FU: THE LEGEND CONTINUES (10.2), THE UNTOUCHABLES (10.2), and TIME TRAX (8.4).

BABYLON 5 will fill the Wednesday, 8:00 (PT) time period previously held by TIME TRAX, which will now be scheduled in prime time on a second night.

Soft-Logik Announces the New Soft-Logik Graphic Library

St. Louis, Missouri -- April 20, 1993

Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation, the developers of PageStream, the premier desktop publishing system for Amiga computers, is pround to announce the first two volumes of the Soft-Logik Graphic Library.

The first volume, 3D Flags of the World, contains 190 full-color flags of countries and international organizations. The flags have beveled edges which give them a unique 3D appearance. The bevels can be removed in a compatible illustration program to create normal flags. The flags are stored in Adobe Illustrator 88 EPS format. With PageStream 2 or Art Expression they can be printed to any type of printer. 3D Flags of the World is available for Amiga, Macintosh, PC and Atari computers on double-density 3.5" disks.

The second volume, Amiga Computer Art, contains over 70 full-color illustrations of Amiga computers and related equipment. The realism of these drawings is stunning. The subjects range from the Amiga 1000 to the Toaster WorkStation and include a hard drive card, genlock, HP printers, Shown 60%, PCM card, handheld and flatbed scanners, and much more. The illustrations are stored in Adobe Illustrator 3 EPS format. Amiga Computer Art is available for Amiga computers on double-density 3.5" disks.

The suggested retail price of each volume is $125, but they are available at an introductory price of only $67 each. The next volume to be released will be a collection of PC and Macintosh computers and related equipment.

Soft-Logik Announces Licensing of Serials Typecollection

St. Louis, Missouri -- May 4, 1993

Soft-Logik Publishing Corporation today announced that it had licensed the Serials Typecollection from B&P Graphics for sale on the Amiga and Atari platforms, B&P Graphics is one of Europe's leading type houses.

The Serials Typecollection is made up of 1000 professional fonts in PostScript Type 1 and TrueType format on an ISO9660 compact disk. This CD-ROM can be used on Amiga, Atari, Macintosh, and PC compatible computers. It is accompanied by a small Type Specimen guide which shows all the fonts in the collection. A full-size Type Specimen book is also available separately.

The fonts in the Serials Typecollection are compatible with Amiga and Atari applications, including PageStream, Art Expression, TypeSmith and Lightwave. A sample floppy disk with 12 fonts is available to those who would like to test the fonts with their applications first.

Pricing:

• Serials Typecollection on CD-ROM: $499
• Serials Typecollection on CD-ROM and two 44MB Syquest cartridges: $674
• Serials Typecollection on CD-ROM and one 88MB Syquest cartridges: $624
• Serials Typecollection on CD-ROM and copied to user's Syquest cartridge(s): $524
• Serials Type Specimen Book (3 ring binder with 170 pages): $45
• Sample Disk (with 12 fonts): $10

Secretary's Notes: Board Meeting, May 8, 1993

The meeting was called to order by Bob Nunn at 11:30 am at Gridley's. Present were: Bob and Cheryn Nunn, Bill Bowers, Terry Campbell, Brain Akey, Charles Williams, Keith Barnes and Scott Pitts.

Discussion was held on the configuration the club would need on an A1200 to be used mainly for demo purposes. Different options were raised regarding speed enhancements/memory configurations. The board members will continue to research the options and prices available on A1200 equipment. Local prices will be solicited and mail order companies researched.

The proposal was made to hold another animation contest. Rules and more information regarding the contest will be published in the July newsletter.

Demos for June will be Sign Engine, a software package that works with any structured drawing program and will drive a vinyl cutting plotter, a demonstration of the Max Optical Tahiti drive, a gigabyte of storage per cartridge and a demonstration of VBS, a Video Backup System that utilizes your VHS recorder to make backups of your data.

Respectfully Submitted, Cheryn Nunn, Vice President

Club Equipment List

As promised, although a little late, here is a list of the club owned and held equipment.

• A500 SN#CA1006644
• A250 SN#JA1008721
• Supra Ram SN#500RX2B
• 40meg IDE Hard drive
• Super Gen Genlock SN#BSG8074117
• Powersupply SN#4890 4Q 1990
• Monitor Amiga SN#95294528
• Monitor Amiga SN#XT1061462
• CD-1000 CDTV SN#N1061KD0216
• Commodore Disk Drive model 1011 SN#XC0014961
• Commodore Disk Drive model 1010 SN#XN0050875
• Commodore Disk Drive model 1010 SN#XN1108175 (State Tech's property)
• A1000 SN#XM1103493 (State Tech's property)

Financial Report of the Memphis Amiga Group March, 1993

EQUATION ANALYSIS TEST

This test does not measure your intelligence, your fluency with words, and certainly not your mathematical ability. It will however, give you some gauge of your mental flexibility and creativity. In the years since we developed the test, we've found few people who could solve more than half of the 24 questions on the first try. Many, however, reported getting answers long after the test had been set aside - some at unexpected moments when their minds were relaxed, and some reported solving all the questions over a period of several days. Take this as your personal challenge.

Instructions: Each question contains the initials of words that will make it correct. Finish the missing words. Bring your answers to the meeting and we will compare notes :-

For example: 2001 a S.O.
Would be: 2001 a Space Odyssey.

[A]  1 = W. on a U.               ______________________________
[B]  3 = B. M. (S.H.T.R.)         ______________________________
[C]  4 = C. in a G.               ______________________________
[D]  5 = D. in a Z. C.            ______________________________
[E]  7 = W. of the A. W.          ______________________________
[F]  8 = S. on a S. S.            ______________________________
[G]  9 = P. in the S. S.          ______________________________
[H] 11 = P. on a F. T.            ______________________________
[I] 12 = S. of the Z.             ______________________________
[J] 13 = S. on the A.             ______________________________
[K] 18 = H. on a G. C.            ______________________________
[L] 24 = H. in a D.               ______________________________
[M] 26 = L. of the A.             ______________________________
[N] 29 = D. in F. in a L.         ______________________________
[O] 32 = D. F. at which W.        ______________________________
[P] 40 = D. and N. of the G. F.   ______________________________
[Q] 54 = C. in a D. (with the J.) ______________________________
[R] 57 = H. V.                    ______________________________
[S] 64 = S. on a C.               ______________________________
[T] 88 = P. K.                    ______________________________
[U] 90 = D. in a R. A.            ______________________________
[V] 200 = D. for P. G. in M.      ______________________________
[W] 1000 = W. a P. is W.          ______________________________
[X] 1001 = A. N.                  ______________________________

MEMPHIS AMIGA GROUP MEMBERS JUNE 1993

If your name is underlined check your renewal date.

If you have a change of address or phone, please notify;
Terry Campbell (601) 393-4864