

|1-Amida-Update



	Welcome to THE WORD14.  The process in completing this issue has
been  quite  an  ambitious one as it was required for completion towards
The World of Amiga Show but in total confidence we've managed to do what
we  had hoped for.  I thank Kei for the amount of input he's insert into
this  issue.   He  has  the  most  time-consuming  task  of  all.  Being
co-editorial, commenting text, understanding grammar is a task and skill
that I can and will never be able to master.  I seemed to have the least
work as coding has always been part of my life (which is no constraint)!
Anims.  are simple to construct only if the ideas are visible!

	This  is my editorial describing the latest changes made to this
issue, issues regarding the Amiga and my current update + misc.  stuff.

The contents of this editorial is split into the following categories:

1. Changes made 2 dis issue
2. Open anim.
3. Mods. for this issue
4. Changes to TWAT
5. AMIGA IS BACK
6. Currently update
7. Bits'n bobs
8. Lastly

Changes made 2 dis issue
========================

	There  hasn't  been  a major change as you would expect for this
issue  but  as intended we are trying to maintain the highest quality of
the  work which NFA has passed onto Carnage.  And we will not let anyone
down!

	The most obvious and visible changes are new openings and intro.
to  this  Diskmag, new mods., the usual stuff.  I've replaced AMIGA back
into  the  backdrop  as  something  different  was  used in issue no.13.
There's  no  other backdrop that can come as close to the standard AMIGA
logo  in  terms  of  quality.   The fading of the title pic could not be
implemented  due  to side effects of Amos handling HAM images, therefore
the fade routines in the source was removed.

Open anim.
==========

	Recently  I've  been searching/looking all over for hazard signs
from   catalogues   to  electronic  stores  to  stick  onto  my  laptop.
Fortunately  I  received plenty of catalogues which sells "only" warning
signs,  so  there was plenty to choose from (or even custom made) :).  A
roll  of  black/yellow striped Hazard warning tape costs 7 from Maplins
and  29-47  per  roll  from  Seton!  The prices depended on the type of
material;  over-laminated,  reflective  and luminous.  It was far better
for  me to create what I wanted using Dpaint and print them using colour
laser onto slides (the results appear just as high-quality like those of
normal  labels).   They're  very easy to make!  I later created a simple
CrN background to stick onto the cover of my laptop which later ended up
in that open anim.  of this issue.

	The  open  anim.   for this issue was rendered using Imagine IV.
It  didn't  take very long on an 020 A600, 2.5 mins per frame!  The A600
is  all  I currently have but it does the job well without any problems.
An idea was desperately needed for this issue to be released on time for
The  World  of  Amiga  Show.   I began rendering last Sunday but did not
realise  or  expect to have the completed anim.  done within that night!
After  the  anim.  was completed I looked back and thought to myself, "I
think  that this anim.  could have been used for Phreaking Only instead,
but  I'll  need  to  think  of something better!".  But nethertheless it
looked  preedy  cool.   Unfortunately  due  to  the demand of disk space
required  for  this  issue  -  the  Anim.   had to be reduced down to 16
colours,  but  that had very little affect on appearance compared to the
HAM  version  and I was impressed.  The anim's appearance was viewed and
tested  simultaneously  on  both my Microvitec (via VIDEO/VGA) and scart
Monitor  (via  Composite/RGB to give the TV effect).  With this set up I
could  see  how everything appears using a high quality monitor and a TV
(with  the  use of colour + aspect ratio adjustments).  Another spare RF
output  is  available  to  connect to a proper TV which I don't have....
All  of  this which you can't do on a pc!  :) and unfortunately my A4000
behaves  the same way :( - it requires the Pablo gfx card to make use of
the Composite output.

	If  anyone  wishes  to obtain a copies of the full screen HAM6/8
Version  or any of my past anims.  please get in contact with either Kei
or myself.

Mods. for this issue
====================

	Music  modules  is  probably  the most difficult task in working
with  THE  WORD  and/or  Amos.  The key is finding two music mods.  that
will  play  100%  in  Amos!   For  this  issue  I  chose  a working mod.
(mod.deluxe-galaga)  -  the  2nd  working  mod.  was also picked but was
dropped.   Deciding  which  mods.  sounded good was simple as Wookie has
his  reputation  of writing excellent mods.  Apart from how it sounded -
they also needed to sound Diskmaggy (suitable) enough for TW.

	Once  selected  the  mods.  the next task was converting them to
mod.   form  (90%  of  Wookie's modules are originally in MED form) then
later  making  sure they played properly in Amospro in comparison to the
original.   I  use  Octamed 5 or earlier version for conversion from med
-->  mod.   The results from this point could either be successful or it
suxx.   Conversion  problems often occur due to limitation of ST modules
compared  to  med.  For instance trying to convert a med.  consisting of
more  than  64 lines (in the song data) to mod.  is simply not possible.
If  some  of  the  meds  are  successfully  converted  the final test is
performed  using  Amospro.   There's  often  a  50/50  chance  that  the
converted mod.  will play properly using Amos.  If it doesn't work I ask
myself  why,  then  check  that  mod.   using  Protracker V3.15 (as I've
discovered  its  far  easier  to  edit mods.  compared to V3.51 and V4.0
Beta).  I'm also more familiar with Med V4.00 than any other med editors
(and  Octamed V6 is pretty darn good but certain important features have
been  cut!).   When  playing a mod through Protracker I can see straight
away  in  the  song  data,  line 0/Position 1 if this will play in Amos.
Amos  will  only play mods.  at a reasonable speed if the song data does
not  use what I call variable speed params./tempos.  A way of looking at
how  Amos  behave  with mods.  is like a program that only accepts whole
numbers  1,2,3...10  etc.   but  not  real numbers 1.1,1.2,3.3 etc.  Any
variable  speed  like  the  2nd  example  causes  Amos to play mods.  at
incorrect  speed,  usually  sloooowww!  To solve this problem I normally
edit    the   mod.    myself   in   PT   and   make   modifications   by
increasing/decreasing  tempo,  use  pattern  break,  position jump, fine
tuning  and  filter  where  necessary.  If all fails I give up and try a
different  mod.   but  if  I  find  available  time  I  would attempt in
re-writing  the mod.  in PT from scratch making it so Amos will play it,
but  the  original  author of the module with still gain full credit, my
job is only to make it work.

	In  the  last  position of the 2nd mod., I've entered inserted a
command  for position jump to 1 otherwise it would have got stuck inside
an  endless  loop  playing pattern no.4 endlessly!  Also when Amos loops
back  a  mod.   it tends to play the first position 2x before continuing
which  is  ....   strange!  Filters can also be a problem, its nothing I
can   do  to  solve  this.   Playing  mods.   through  Amospro  is  very
unpredictable...

Changes to TWAT
===============

	The  only visible changes are to the background that was made to
correlate  with  the  main WORD executable.  In issue no.13 I've removed
the  Amos  lockout  enabling  you to bring the Workbench screen to front
using  <LAMIGA A>.  Whilst doing so you can make changes in editing your
textfile.  This speeds up the process of editing text, and flipping back
to  TWAT (again using <LAMIGA A>) and check for results.  This stops you
having  to  quit  TWAT,  edit your textfile in Workbench and reload TWAT
again  which  goes  through  a  tedious process of reloading everything.
You'll notice a slow down of your system if you bring WB to front whilst
using  TWAT, this is b'coz Amos programs demand high-priorities, you can
solve  this  simply  by  leaving Amos's file requestor open before using
<LAMIGA A>, this will balance the system's performance.

AMIGA IS BACK
=============

	This  WORD  Issue  14  reaches  out  once again to AMIGA, now it
returns to say that AMIGA IS BACK and continuing to RULE!  Amiga now has
made it back to the top of the priority list.  Theres been uncertainties
in the past about the machine we all loved and now theres answers to all
of these uncertainties.  Biggest impact includes:

1.  World of Amiga Show appearing in Hammersmith London.

2.  Gateway 2000 buys Amiga.

3.  PowerPC RISC boards are almost ready for shipping.

4.  Very top specced hardware productions inc.  A\BOX.

5.  New developments from various companies continuing to support the
    Amiga.

6.  And many others...

	I  felt its been a waste of three years since C= gone broke!  It
took  almost  a  year  before  Escom  took  over, and since then they've
produced  nothing  but  trouble  and  failure.  Wasted all their and our
time.    Their   deliverables  were  unproductive,  serious  complaints,
marketing,  they've  just  vanished  from the face of the earth.  What a
bunch of prats!  Since bankruptcy its been another wasted year of debate
+  uncertainty  when  Viscorp  stepped  in.  I say WE ALL as a community
could've  done  the job a million times better by chipping in buying CBM
for  ourselves at the initial phase.  Now what surprised me most was the
name Gateway 2000 which appeared from no where has control of the Amiga!

	My  own  personal  feel  and opinion for Gateway2000.  Will they
travel  along  the  same path as Escom did?  Aren't they just another pc
company  that  wants  to destroy Amiga?  Why do they want Amiga?  Can we
trust  another  pc  company  that  we've done in the past in hoping that
Escom  will  successfully  do  what  the  Amiga community wanted?  Could
Gateway  prove  themselves trust worthy that they're aren't just another
Escom?   Actions speak louder than words, anything they say will be used
as  evidence  -  we will listen carefully to what they'll have to say at
the AMIGA SHOW...

	I  ask  myself.   Why is it that Amiga has been put into so much
trouble  and  chaos, why pcs have dominated?  Its never been the Amiga's
fault.   The  hardware  is  far  superior than anything.  It just didn't
quite  get  what  it deserved!  Is it just life again?  We can only hope
now  that  G2000  will  show more respect to Amiga and its community.  I
have  a 85% certainty that they'll do well in succeeding with the AMIGA.
I  only know for from knowledge that G2000 makes billions in profits and
continuing  rising.   They also make "good" pcs, one of the best quality
around.   But  I've  read  nothing in their most updated WWW pages about
Amiga,  but  only  brief  news  are  found if searched through Amiga WWW
links.   Still  can't  find  anything  in  Computer  weekly or any other
Computing publishing mag.  about updates of G2000 + Amiga.  I just think
they can't be arsed simply because its to do with the Amiga.  We'll need
to wait and see what will happen next....

Currently update
================

	On  to  some  updates and what I'm currently doing.  Well I'm my
room  and  I've  got  the air-conditioner beside me which acts like some
snow generator and a fan on full wack!  This room has four P200s and two
servers  + three quality printer!  Well I'm currently at work (in my own
office)  using  Wordpad  on the pc (PPro200) to create this textfile.  I
have  Word97 working in background to access the Thesaurus in helping to
choose certain words to insert for this editorial.  My boss doesn't mind
me doing so, hes one cool guy that understands my priorities.

	At  this  moment  now  I've  pasted a word "Thesaurus" into this
editor  in  the  last  paragraph,  after  checking  the spelling through
Word97.   To  perform  this  most  difficult  and  CPU demanding task it
requires  my  pentium  pro200  (32M)  5-10 seconds of hard disk activity
before completing the process!  It must've been tough for the Pentium!!

	Kenco rendered a smart looking title screen for dis issue.  I've
also  rendered a title pic in case of emergency (if we failed to get the
pic  on  time from Kenco).  Anyway having saying about my own version of
the  TW14  title  pic,  its just basically a title screen, nothing more.
Rendered using my P200pro at work, it took an impressive 1 minute and 22
seconds  to  render  a  1024 x 768 screen using COREL DREAM 7.  I've not
tested  the  system using any reflective or glassy objects and rendering
mode  so I cannot give any rating.  Well I guess it finds rendering much
easier  to  do  than pasting words into a document and makes up for that
last stupidity.  As I've mentioned before, I use COREL DREAM on the P200
only  in  case  of  desperate  emergency  that creates me a scene within
minutes.

	Okay  -  Today is actually my birthday (14th) and we only have a
couple  more  days  left  before the Amiga show.  Unfortunately today is
like  every  other,  still  at work dealing with consultants, setting up
modems  +  network  connections etc., This birthday had to happen in the
wrong moment, time and place!

I'm just gonna go out to escort this consultant....

	An  hour  later....   Well  I've  just got back after small tour
around the City Of Westminister along with a consultant from which I was
supposed  to  escort - in fact ended up touring across Westminister with
the  man.   The  good  side  of him is he knows virtually everything you
wanting  to  know  about  politics!   He even knew every event that took
place today, basically offered me a good long lecture!  It was the Queen
opening some Parliament thing.  In fact it bores me to death when topics
such  as  politics are brought about, but despite the fact that I work 4
da  government  I  was  keen and interested in finding out more on these
issues.   Most  of  the  area  today was sealed off by Police due to the
Queen's opening of Parliament.  And we've checked out the events, all we
saw  was many tourists and Police scattered around and leaving the scene
as  if  the party was over (which it was).  I saw some ambassadors which
travelled  far from all over the World and came to attend this ceremony,
all  they  had  in common was a flag representing their country stuck to
their  cars  which  was  either  a  black Merc, Rolls, BM or Jag.  Video
cameras  were visible as it was the live news interviewing Ex-Chancellor
Kenneth Clark and I was only metres close by whilst passing by trying to
duck  pass  the  cameras but too late!  I've also been to Downing street
for  the  first  time  but  was  restricted from entering the territory.
Later  the  consultant  bought  me  a  pint  of er...  Coke, spent hours
chattering,  that  consultant tells me he gets paid 800+ a day!  Owns a
Merc  +  BM, his next car is a Porsche!  We later returned to work and I
got  stuck  in  that same lift (AGAIN!#@%) - which later escaped without
harm and that was it for the day!  But all I had in mind for the rest of
the  day  was  THE  WORD and getting back to complete this editorial and
hoped  that  Kei has received all of my compiled Word executables, mods.
and contents....

	A  birthday  present  such as a gift or object is nice but would
not  fulfill  me  completely (unless its expensive and worth !).  An
event like today is different - to have the opportunity to visit Downing
St.  for the first time, the Queen actually opening the Parliament on my
birthday, seemed all very unique and special.  I was also expecting some
mail  +  letter  bombs  from  the Carnage guys as some welcome greeting.
Fortunately my mail server is very slow!!  :)

	Well  everything's appeared to have gone the way it should on my
birthday, its one of the things wanted on my b'day - a trouble free day!
I've  fixed  the  camera  at  work,  restored  the  network  between two
machines,  configured  email  for  consultants,  got the Ethernet bridge
working,  the  Queen  came for the Ceremony, I saw Downing St.  got some
cards,  got  that anim.  rendered for TW14, got the source code finished
and  sent,  fixed 2 mods.  running 100% in Amos, created stickers for my
laptop,  almost  finished this editorial, Amiga show is approaching, Kei
is  coming  down  to  visit....   what  else could I possibly ask for...
Apart  from  the  lift  and  lack of internal assistance everything went
fine!

	I'm  looking  forward  to  meet  Kei this Friday.  Unfortunately
M'bro are playing Chelsea this weekend in the FA.  Kei is taking a coach
from  there to London, How can Kei manage 6 hours without being troubled
by the mobs, I wish him good luck!  Thank god I'm not the one who has to
do all the travelling!  :)

Bits'n bobs
===========

	Many  of  the supplied Amiga articles for this issue should have
been  in  issue  13.  Those include Phase V announcing the RISC, Gateway
buying  Amiga.   I don't know why I did not include them in the previous
issue!   All  I  can say is I've been worn out at the last gathering and
all  the guys have been working nightshift to complete TW13.  Developing
textfiles  requires  enormous concentration and re-doing every so often.
It  took  me  over  three  days to write a small introduction describing
briefly  about  myself!   I'll go into more detail later, maybe in TW15.
It  must've  been the shortage of chocolate supplies.  In issue 13 I had
no  data of that no.1 girl I liked but now I know she's called "Kasumi"!
:)

	Two short hints to user owning an A600 who wishes to purchase an
Apollo  620  acc.   Before  you even consider buying one check that your
A600  motherboard is revision V1.5 (printed at the bottom next to the KS
chip  (may  need  to  remove shielding)) and not V1.0.  CBM released two
models  the A600HD (V1.0) and A600 (V1.5).  Its important b'coz the A620
board  conflicts  with  certain custom chips on the REV V1.0 board.  The
Paula  chip  (if  I'm  correct)  that  handles the floppy controller and
Sound.   You'll  find  that  ST  mods.  cannot be played anymore through
Dopus  and  PT,  Eagle  Player won't play mods.  but Hippo and Amos can!
Meds  are  fine  though  PT,  EP and Octamed.  Your Amiga drive may read
Amiga  disks  but may have problems reading QB + PC.  2nd hint; bin your
A600  and buy an A1200!  I'm talking very serious here.  Living with the
Apollo  A620  can  cost  you  your  Hard  drive, overheating the 020 CPU
(20mins  from  cold),  possibly  a  new  keyboard and a new motherboard.
They're  very  difficult  to  fit,  I don't believe anyone to say it was
easy!   The  A620 board is just a hack which enables faster acceleration
for the A600, I don't regard it being a standard upgrade, the A1200s ARE
completely  different,  how many different types of acc.  boards can you
see on the market?  So don't buy the A620, its very unreliable stuff.  I
only  own  an  A600  merely  for portability but I already have an A4000
somewhere in storage (and another A600 - but dead).

Also  whats  interesting  is...  The revision V1.0 of the A600 was CBM's
former prototype also known as the Amiga A300 - (cut down from the A500)
and the A1200 was the A800.

Lastly
======

	I  current  have  some  contacts working at Visionsoft/USA, they
often  update  me with the news of the Amiga, companies and development.
So I'll find out whats new and talk about it in the next issue.

We'll  have  more  coverage  and  update  for the next Issue of THE WORD
relating to The Amiga Show.

           Have phun, have a nise daye and N-JOI da shaw! >_^

Amida.

Amida@wwdg.com
Ako@cybergal.com
Esper_weapon@wwdg.com
Esper_Weapon@bubblegum.net


