Subject: Bleeding Edge: Journal of (definitely) Alternative Computing

From: [email-masked] (Thomas Leavitt)
Date: 25 Mar 1994 01:39:03 GMT

"/BBBBBB     /L   /EEEEE   /EEEEE   /DDDDD  
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/BBBBBB     /L   /EEEEE   /EEEEE   /DDDDDDD I N G

     /EEEEE   /DDDDD         /GGGGGGGG    /EEEEE"
    /E       /D     D       /G       G   /E
    /E       /D      D      /G           /E
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/EEEEE   /DDDDDDD      /GGGGGGGG     /EEEEE 

Taking you where no one has gone before... to the obscure depths of truly
alternative computing, where desperate users ponder the future, and
stretch the capabilities of their machines to the utmost.

EDITORIAL

Hi folks, this is the first edition... send me any comments, criticisms,
etc... [email-masked]. Users of platforms not covered in this 
edition (older workstations, Acorns, 8 bit platforms, antiques etc.
are encouraged to mail me tidbits for inclusion... only qualification
is, it can't be a "mainstream" machine).

Basically, this is just a compendium of news and views picked up off
the net, along with a little commentary interspersed on my part...
I try and pick up new and exciting things, as well as keeping my ears
to the ground for rumors... plus, I'd like to thank David Higgens
for his excellent article on the Supra28, an inexpensive accelerator
that gives new life to old 68000 based Amigas. And Hans Luyten for the
A2000 to A1200 keyboard hack. Send those articles in folks, and get the
ego gratification of being PUBLISHED. :)

Someone trashed my Unix account :( so I don't have the most exciting
stuff of all... the full "banner file" on the WARP System... a 
scalable, multi-processor transputer for the Amiga that sits on the
Zorro III bus and goes ZOOM. It functions transparently to the OS, so
porting applications is relatively easy... VistaPro, among others, has
already committed to supporting it. All it takes is recompiling the
application using the WARP libraries.

Lotsa buzz going around about HP and C= collaborating... sort of a net
consensus that when the Amiga goes RISC, it'll be with the HP PA-RISC
chip. Other news, widely known, is that HP is going to use the AGA (and
maybe AAA) chipsets in their desktop boxes. No one's mentioned what OS
they're going to be running, or what the CPU will be... late rumor has
from one net source has it that CBM is going to be eaten by Sony and HP,
and the AAA chipset will never see the light of day. Someone posted a note
to the effect that Sony's bought 30% of CBM stock... who knows what's
really happening. Other info is more positive, as you'll be able to see
in the stuff I picked up. Looks like the AAA chipset is pretty rad, 20x
the speed of AGA, with built in 3D rendering, and 16 bit sound support 
(though the method on the last, is uncertain... in the on-line CIS
interview, Dave Haynie says that they're debating whether or not to go with
sound through the chipset, or a DSP, though he also indicates CBM isn't
doing much with the DSP. Puzzling... ). On the other hand, Dave Pleasance's
comment that NT will be able to run on the nextgen Amiga doesn't thrill
me at all... what role does AmigaDOS have in that case?

CD^32 selling like hotcakes accross Europe, even being advertised on TV
in Canada... what kind of impact it'll make here in the US of A is unknown,
as of yet. Rumor has it that near half a million units have been shipped...
someone mentioned they got it with a game pack for 250 pounds British,
which translates to $400 U.S.  But considering that UK prices are much 
higher than U.S. prices, that bodes well for a quick drop to $299, The
various expansions turning it into a real computer are already on their
way... the SX-1 is mentioned herein.

The Emplant seems to have attained a reasonable level of stability, though
Jim Drew seems to be churning out revisions on a daily basis, almost.
4.x already! An ftp site has been established for various revisions and
patches... check out comp.sys.amiga.emulations for more.

On other fronts, Atari finally got a clue, and licensed the Atari platform
to a third party, which produced what looks like a pretty exciting computer
in the Pandora/Medusa. The Falcon seems to be like by it's users, though
Atari's interest in it seems minimal... people are apparently doing some
rad things with the DSP.

And finally, my old standby, the TI, has some news of it's own... 
apparently, a company has finally produced a reliable hard drive 
controller for the last serious orphan platform without one. And, even
more interesting, several working emulators have emerged in recent weeks...
commercial, and publicly available.

Contents: (I've designed this so that users with GREP can pop right to the
juicy bits.)

1. SUPRA28 (search pattern in ALL CAPS) article. And yes, it does work in
   your A1000. :) (might buy my dad one, eventually)
2. KEYBOARD hack.
3. AGAFIX for banding problem on A1200s.
4. A4000 new models, and fate of '030 version.
5. ADVANTAGE AMIGA the "official" list! Help this guy out...
6. AMIGAVISION LIVES ... official word from CBM. :)
7. APPLEEMU looks like it's fairly workable... might use it to convince
   the school/PTA people that it's finally time to put those Apple IIes
   out to pasture. Over half the computers in US schoolrooms are 8 bit
   Apple IIs... is this sad, or what? :(
8. PROGRAMMING is a popular hobby among Amiga enthusiasts... some spirited
   debate between an Atarian and Amigan about who assembles faster, and
   a fairly comprehensive list of programming languages available for the
   Amiga. Most of 'em free, even!
9. AUSTRALIA (why can't I spell that right? :) Newspaper transcription,
   fairly definitive word on the aftermath of CBM Australia going broke.

10. X-CALIBER hmm... seems like there's a bug in this baby.
11. CD32 EXPANSION specs for the SX-1 and other stuff.
12. BBKING uses the Amiga!
13. FRACTINT fun with fractals for the big boys...
14. GOLDENGATE the full spec sheet for the product that allows you to use
    IBM cards in your Amiga, with your Amiga under AmigaDOS.
15. CIS CONFERENCE with Dave Haynie (Amiga God) and Randall Jessup (lesser
    diety :) ). If you haven't read it for some reason already... stick it
    in your files.
16. AMIGAFUTURE a series of posting discussing AAA chipset, news about the
    next generation systems, CPUs, etc.
17. HDDRIVE a high density drive for your Amiga... pulled off comp.sys.amiga
    .reviews...
18. STUDIO full specs on the ultimate Amiga printer driver software...
19. SCREAMER where the Toaster Screamer, (4 R4400s running in paralell to
    make Lightwave [you guess it] SCREAM. 
20. FANTASY one Amiga users hearts desire.
21. SPREADSHEET not many of these for the Amiga, this might do the trick.
22. TRANSPUTER some stuff, not what I had hoped for... :(
23. ATARILYNX fix for button problems.
24. MACEMU software Mac emulator without ROMs?
25. TI-INFO a SCSI board, C compiler, the 99/5B (and where you can get
    photos of the rarest microcomputer ever produced. :)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thomas Leavitt, author of Thom's Little Guide to Purchasing a COMPUTER,
publisher of the e-zine "Bleeding Edge", and confirmed net.addict. Also,
iniator of alt.religion.gnostic... check it out.

Finger [email-masked] for more info on the above!

---

From: [email-masked] (Thomas Leavitt)
Date: 26 Mar 1994 03:46:04 GMT

Thomas Leavitt ([email-masked]) wrote:

:     "/BBBBBB     /L   /EEEEE   /EEEEE   /DDDDD  
:     /B      B   /L   /E       /E       /D     D 
:     /B      B   /L   /E       /E       /D      D
:    /B      B   /L   /E       /E       /D       D
:    /B     B    /L   /E       /E       /D       D
:    /BBBBB      /L   /EEE     /EEE     /D       D
:   /B     B    /L   /E       /E       /D       D
:   /B     B    /L   /E       /E       /D      D 
:  /B     B    /L   /E       /E       /D      D
:  /B    B     /L   /E       /E       /D     D
: /BBBBBB     /L   /EEEEE   /EEEEE   /DDDDDDD I N G

:      /EEEEE   /DDDDD         /GGGGGGGG    /EEEEE"
:     /E       /D     D       /G       G   /E
:     /E       /D      D      /G           /E
:    /E       /D       D     /G           /E 
:    /E       /D       D    /G            /E 
:    /EEE     /D       D    /G            /EEE
:   /E       /D       D    /G      GGG   /E
:   /E       /D      D     /G       G    /E
:  /E       /D      D     /G       G    /E
:  /E       /D     D      /G      G     /E
: /EEEEE   /DDDDDDD      /GGGGGGGG     /EEEEE 

A duh folkses... I forgot to tell y'all where it is:

FTP to ftp.netcom.com pub/css/leavitt

bleeding_edge_TOC is table of contents/editorial
bleeding_edge_is main file...

Use the search function in your editor/pager to skip to the sections
described next to the CAPITALIZED search keys at the end of the TOC file.

Comments appreciated.

Thomas
(bloody hell my new keyboard kills my computer so I'm using this junky one that
 has a dead comma... bleeding edge computing indeed... sniff!) :)

: -------------------------------------------------------------------------
: Thomas Leavitt, author of Thom's Little Guide to Purchasing a COMPUTER,
: publisher of the e-zine "Bleeding Edge", and confirmed net.addict. Also,
: iniator of alt.religion.gnostic... check it out.

: Finger [email-masked] for more info on the above!

--