AmigaShopper44-Dec94.pdf

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The magazine for hardcore Amiga enthusiasts!
Make a
better link
Is your Hard Disk
being held back?
Could a new
interface
speed
your
Amiga?
Is ProGRAB 24 the last word
in video digitising? Read our
comprehensive review, plus we’ve
got five copies to give away!
We review
and rate Hard
Disk interfaces
Commodore -
the latest news
See page 4
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___
Telephone0532 319444
24 HOUR MAIL ORDER SERVICE FAX: 0532 319191
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SHOWROOM ADDRESS:
DEPT. AS, UNIT3, ARMLEY
PARKCOURT, STANNINGLEY
RD, LEEDS, LS122AE.
DELIVERY TARIFFS
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LEEDS 1 5 GYRATORY
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. CENTRE
[OLNIIILI
KIRKSTArn5rT^*H
From the M1 follow signs for the M621. Take A643 Elland Rd turnoff from
M621. Follow signs for A58. This merges with Armley gyratory.
From the A1 take the turnoff for the A64. This merges with the A58 (by­
passing Leeds town centre) which meets the Armley gyratory.
COMPUTER CENTRE
2% surcharge on Amex
COMPUTERS
PRICES!
I M o d e m v.32bis
PRINTERS
All our printers come with ribbon/toner, I
printerdrivers(ifavailable),paper&cables//1
Canon lWi
Canon BJ1 Osx..............£184.991
Laser quality output. Large buffer
Canon BJ200.................£239.991;
SUPRA MODEMS Supram •
Graphics Table!
...........from £279.99
Amiga 4000........... ...........from £999.99
Amiga500Plustrade in available
Please call for details
This modem has full 14400 baud, includes V.32bis, V.32,
V.22bis, V22, V21, MNP2-5, V.42, V42bis, Class 1 & 2 com­
mands, 9600/14400 Group 3 Fax. Includes free modem comms
(not Fax)s/w & cable
only £178.99
SupraPMXi Plus.. £112.99
Even faster than the standard 2400 from Supra with auto
dial & auto receive. 9600 bps Hayes comp. V22Bis, V42 Bis,
MNP 2-5 & auto adjust to maximise transmission speeds.
Includes free modem comms (not Fax) s/w & cable.
Supra 2400. ..........£58.99 |
Get on line using this great value fast modem with auto dial
& receive. 2400 baud Hayes comp, V22 BIS. Includes free
modem comms s/w & cable//
.Modem 288
fSuper fast! 28,800 bps+1 4,400 Fax
I Phone for more details only £243.99
| Suprar ^ j i Modem 144LC
V.32 bis (14400 baud i)
irsion of the classic V32Bis Fax modem,
ass 1 fax only and LED display
only £141.99
Supra modems are not BABT approved, however they perform as well &
bften out perform BABT approved modems. Supra Modems have a 5 year
limited warranty
(ULUobotics
Sportster 2496 +Fax...£104.99
Sportster 14400 Fax....£139.99
WorldPort 2496+Fax....£181.99
WorldPort 14400 +Fax...£205.99
Courier Dual Std V34 Fax..£428.99
Courier Dual Std Terbo Fax,.£369.99
Courier V32 Terbo Fax...£363.99
Modem cable for Sportster and Courier £9.99
If you thought V32bis was fast try V 34
(28,800 bps). They come with a 5 year
warranty & are BABTApproved
'V ® *
The amazing new graphics tablet for the Amig
developed with the help of First Computers. 94c
rated in Amiga Shopper August issue! Require
2.04 WB or above Q n |y £ 59.99
CD ROM Drives
| A1200 OVERDRIVE CD-ROM
Runs CD32 software, Plays Audio CD's,
show s photo CD's. Plugs into PCMCIA slot
only £199.99
Internal SCSI CD-ROM drives forthe A1500/2000/4000 (with suitable I
SCSI interface). All drives include driver s/w & will read CDTV/CD32 H
& PC ISO 9600 standard disks. External kits for A3000 also available |
NEC Multispin 2XI internal £167.991
•265Ms Access time«355KBtransfer rate
TEAC CD-50 Internal £339.99 |
(Amiga 1500/2000 compatible only)
•320Ms Access time •300KB transfer rate I
TOSHIBAXM3401 Internal £286.99|
•200Ms Access time *330KB transfer rate
TOSHIBA XM4101 Internal. £189.99
®385Ms Access time«300KBtransferrate
External version.£259.99
Mitsumi FX0011D Dual speed £129.99
Tandon IDE CD ROM Controller
forusewithMitsumionly£64.99
G VP A4008SCSI controller £122.99
Canon BJC600 Colour....£459.991
new bubble jet from Canon
B J10 Autosheetfeeder....£49.991
01
ROMBO PRODUCTS
VIDI 1 2 R T . . . . E 1 3 9 . 9J
I Real time colour digitising from any video sourci
I Full AGA support. Requires 12 Volt PSU.......£12.99
VIDI 2 4 R T . . . . £ 2 1 4 . 9 S
I 24 bit quality real time colour digitising from an
I video source. Full AGA support. Reqires 12 Vo
I PSU......£12.99
VIDI 1 2 A G A . . . . E 5 9 . 9 J
I Full support for AGA chipset. Colour images captured i
I less than a second, mono images in real time with ar
I video source. Multitasking s/w, cut & paste.
SPECIAL OFFERS/
Deluxe Paint4AGA.......................£39.9
Directory Opus 4............................£51.99 I
Distant Suns 5................................£35.99 I
Personal Paint V4...........................£29.99 I
TechnosoundTurbo......................£20.99 I
Technosound Turbo 2...................£28.99 I
Wordworth 2 AGA with Print Mgr & Day I
To Day Planner...............................£39.99 |
XCopy Pro plus hardware............. £21.99
Workbench 2.1 software and ROM
upgrade (complete with manuals)
only £74.99
Robosh ift automatic mouse/joystick switch
only £13.99 or £16.99 with mouse emulation
and rapid fire push on modules
Citizen printers have a 2year guarantee
ABC Colour printer..£154.99
simple (as easy as ABC) to use 24 pin printer. Comes as
standard with 50 sheet Auto sheet feeder. Tractor feed
optional at £27.99
on ly £134.99 if bought without the colour option
Swift 200 Colour...........£181.99
Same out put as the 240 but with lessfacilities
Swift 240 Colour...........£218.99
24 pin, 240cps draft, 10 fonts, quiet mode, 240cps.
Projet II...........................£214.99
new inkjet printer with built in auto sheet feeder
Swift Auto Sheet feeder..£79.99
EPSON Inkjets
Stylus 800 +....................£249.99
48 Nozzle inkjet 360 x 360 dpi (max) 100 sheetfeeder
Stylus Colour..................£469.99
Oniour Inkjet, 360 x 360 dpi, 720 x 720 (on special paper)
“
MICE & TRACKERBALLS
Alpha Data Mega Mouse£12.9!
90% rating. 400 Dpi
Zydec Trackball....£29.9!
Alfa Data Crystal
Trackball only £34.99
DISK DRIVES
AMITEC
1 mb 3.5"
drive
£58.99
1hpl HEWLETT
E a g n n ffliE g
| VIPER 68030TURBOonly£159.99 I
68030 accelerator running at 28Mhz
expandible to 8 Mb 32 Bit RAM (see RAM
prices) Optional SCSI adaptor.
ADDITIONAL 32 BIT RAM
Just add the price of 32 RAM in this
advert to the Viper board to get
your configuration price
SUPRA 28 ACCELERATOR |
for the A500/A500+& A1500/2000
28 Mhz, uses A500 side port so
there is no internal fitting
only £144.99!
TM PACKARD
HP 310 portable............£229.99
HP520mono................. £259.99
HP 500 Colour...............£304.99
HP 560 Colour...............£449.99
4 times faster than the HP500C// All HP printers come with a
3yearwarranty th e jj_
>ie
Star LC100 colour.......£124.99
9 pin colour, 8fonts, 180 cpsdraft, 45 cps NLQ
Star LC24-100 mono....£129.99
Star LC24-30 Col.....99.99
Stereo/Speaker Systems
Aerospace Deluxe.........£47.9!
ZyFi Stereo System.......£33.9!
ZyFi Pro Stereo System.£57.9!
2.5" Hard Drives for 600/
1200 with installation kit
inc. software, cables and instructions
60Mb....*£134.99 120Mb...*£199.99
80Mb....*£159.99 240Mb...*£259.99
3.5" Hard Drives
with installation kit
inc. software, cables and instructions
250Mb....*£184.99 350Mb...*£219.99
420Mb....*£239.99 540Mb...*£279.99
3.5" H/drive upgrade kit no HD only £22.99
* Just Add £10.00 for fitting 2.5" drives
or £35.00 for fitting 3.5" drives
Cumana3.5"...................£56.99
1 meg external drive. The best name in
disc drives
A600/1200intemal drive.....£39.99
A500intemaldrive..............£39.99
A4000internal HDdrive......£99.99
M IS C E L L A N E O U S
Distant Su ns 5................................£35.9
M U S IC /S O U N D
Deluxe Music Construction Set v2...£59.9
Pro Midi Interface by Microdeal......£24.9
Techno Sound Turbo 2..................£28.9
TecnoSoundTurbo........................£20.9
P R O G R A M M IN G
Amos Professional.........................£47.9
Amos Professional Compiler.........£24.9
Bliz Basic 2.....................................£53.9
Devpac3.........................................£50.9
P U B L IC D O M A IN T op 21
Amiga CD-ROM drivesutils(PDACD1)2disk£3.;
Clipart 10 Pack...................(PDAC25) 1 disk.£12.:
Clipart Disk 1 (MacArt).........(PDAC01) 1 disk £1.
Clipart Disk 9 (Garfield).......(PDAC09)1 disk-£1 -
Clipart Disk4 (Food)............(PDAC04) 1 disk £1
Ami Base Pro v 1.8............(PDAC01) 1 disk.£1
9Fingers Demo..................(PD A033) 2 disk £2.
Edword Pro V4.................(PDA005) 1 disk £1
Easy Calc Plus....................(PDA006) 1 diskXI -
Klondyke AGA.................(PDA013)3disk £2
Mindwarp AGA Demo......(PDA015) 1 disk £1
Motorola invaders AGA.....(PDA016)2disk.£2.
Magic Workbench Utils.....(PDA017)1 disk.£1.
PC Task Emulator............(PDA019)1 disk.£1.
Spectrum Emulator version 1.7..(PDA027)1 disk-£1.
Spectrum Games Disk......(PDA028) 1 disk.£1.
Fit Chicks AGA...................(PDA030) 2 disk.£2.
Mega Ball AGA...................(PDA050) 1 disk.£1.
Relokick1.3.......................(PDA011)1disk.£1.
Andys WB3 Utils................(PDA031)1 disk.£1.
First Fonts Disk2................(PDAF02) 1 disk.£2.
First Fonts Disk 1................(PDAF01) 1 disk-£2.
U T IL IT IE S
Directory Opus 4............................£51.9
GP FAX 2.3 software.......................£49.9
Xcopy Pro inc. hardware.................£21.9
V ID E O A N D G R A P H IC S
Deluxe Paint4AGA........................£39.9
Make Path for Vista...........................£8.9
Vista Pro3 (4Mb required)..............£29.9
W ORD PROCESSING/DTP
Final Writer DTP NEW!. ..................£72.9
Final Copy V2 UK.. NewLowPrice
Pagestream 3 U.K. version...........£249.9
Pro Page V4..................................£109.9
Protext 4.3 W/P...............................£39.9
Wordworth 2 AGA inc Print Mgr..........£34.9
Wordworth 3 limited offer!. .....£64.9
GENLOCKS
H i H I H I tSBEil lvideo8 IFlil
hama on demo now.
The Professional answer
hama 292.........£279.99
S-Video, and composite compatible
hama 290..........£688.99
S-Video, and composite m ixing, plusfar more
hama A-CUT Video
Editor..........£185.99
GVP Genlock.....£289.99
features professional SVHS output
RocgenPlus........... £1 64.99
Includes dual control for overlay and keyhole effects, extra
RGB pass thru. Checkfor compatibility
Rendale 8802 FMC..E164.99
Rocgen Rockey......£164.99
For creating special effects in video production with
genlocks.
QTY DS/DD DISKS Branded DS/DD
10
All our monitors are UK spec. All monitors I
come complete with a free Amiga lead*
Microvitec Autoscan 1438
RAM EXPANSION
PRIMA A500512kRAM (noclock)....£19.99
PRIMA A500 Plus 1 Mb RAM......£34.99
PRIMA A6001 Mb RAM (withclock) ..£39.99
£4.49
£5.49
30
£12.99
£14.99
£20.99
£22.99
50
£37.99
£42.99
100
.28 dpi. 15 38 KHz. all Amiga
modes, AGA compatible. No
audio, tilt & swiveli stand.
only £289.99
£79.99
200
£69.99
£190.99
500
£168.99
1000
£324.99
£365.99
IP
Disk labels 500...C6.99 1000......£9.99
Ribbons
Citizen Swift mono ribbon...............£4.99
Citizen Swift Colour ribbon...........£13.99
Star LC100 mono............................. £3.69
Star LC200 mono............................. £4.99
Star LC100 colour.............................£7.99
Star LC200 colour..........................£12.99
Star LC24-30 mono..........................£8.99
Star LC24-30/200 Colour...............£11.99
Re-Ink Spray for mono ribbons......£11.99
COVERS
Star LC10-20 cover...........................£4.99
Citizen Swift1ABC............................£5.99
HP 500/550/510................................£5.99
Star LC24-300/30/100/200................£5.99
PREMIER Ink Refills
ve a fortune in running costs with your ink.bubble jet.
Compatible with HP, Canon, Star.Citizen & many others.
Single refills............(22m l)...£6.99
Tw in re fills..............(44ml)-£12.99
Three c o lo u r kit--(66m l).£19.99
Full colour kit........(88ml).£27.99
Bulk re fills.............(125ml)-£24.99
C artridges
Canon BJIOcartridge....................£18.99
Double life 500 cartridges..............£24.99
HP550/500 Colour cartridge..........£24.99
Star S J48 cartridge.........................£18.99
Star SJ144 mono orcolour(3pack).£21.99
M iscellaneous
Printer Switch Box 2 way...............£12.99
Printer Switch Box 3 way...............£17.99
PrinterStands(Universal)saveon space.£4.99
3 Metre printer cable........................£6.99
5 Metre printer cable........................£8.99
10 Metre printer cable....................£12.99
1 Mb SIMM..................................£39.99
2 Mb SIMM..................................£95.99
4 Mb SIMM .NEW LOW PRICE!..£1 45.99
8 Mb SIMM .NEW LOW PRICE!.. £279.99
CHIPS
Co pro’s for use with A4000 & accelerators
/VEIWPhilips8833MK11
This famous Stereo, colour monitor is back.
Complete with 12 month on site maintenance
only £234.99
tilt and swiveli stand only £9.99 when
purchased with monitor
SPEED
PLC
PGA
MISCELLANEOUS
Amiga 500/600/1200 PSU.........................£39.$
Amiga 500 500 Plus keyboards........£45.$
Amiga 500 Plus Motherboard....................£29.99 I
Amiga 500 Plus cases..............................£12.99 |
QUALITY MOUSE MATS...............£3.5
10 CAPACITY DISK BOX............£0.99 I
20 CAPACITY DISK BOX.............£2.99
40 CAP LOCKABLE DISK BOX......£3.99
100 CAP LOCKABLE DISK BOX....£5.49
‘90 CAP STACKABLE BANX BOX..E9.99
*150 CAP STACKABLE POSSOBOX..........£17.99 |
•add £3.00delivery if purchasing just one Posso or Banx box
Normal delivery when purchased with other product or I
when buying 2 or more.
AMIGA A500 DUST COVER..........£3.99
AMIGA 600 COVER.......................£2.99
14" MONITOR DUSTCOVER.......£6.99
Keyboard Membrane Covers......£14.95 I
AMIGA TO SCART CABLES..........£9.99
STD 1.8 MTR PRINTER LEAD.....£4.99
MODEM/NULL MODEM CABLES..£9-99 |
AMIGA CONTROL STATIONS
A500 or 1200 VERSION................£36.99 I
A600 VERSION..............................£29.99
£49.99
£89.99
£137.99
1 mb by 8/9 SIMMS (1 Mb).........£34.99
4 Mb by 9 SIMMS (4 Mb)............£144.99
1 Mb by 4 DRAMS(1 Mb)................£39.99
1 Mbby4ZIPS(1/2Mb)..................£32.99
256 by4ZIPS..........................(each)£5.99
256 by 4 DRAM (DILs)............(each) £5.99
Kickstart 1.3...................................£23.99
Kickstart2.04.................................£28.99
Kickstart 2.05 (for use in A600).....£28.99
Fatter Agnes 8372A.......................£26.99
Super Denise.................................£18.99
6571 -0326 Keyboard controller....£13.99
CIA 8520A I/O controller.................£8.99
PRIMA CO-PRO & RAM
II Realise the full potential of your A1200 with t
H trapdoor expansion, inc real time clock
25 Mhz
33 Mhz
50 Mhz
£45.99
£53.99
N/A
SCANNERS
Alfa Scan only £114.99
| hand held scanner with 256 greyscalesand up to 800 Dpi
add £25.00 for OCR software
I Alfa Data Alfa Colour Scan
|| 18 bit scanner with 256K colours inc colour correction
only £329.99
Power Scanner V4 £119.99
With the latest version 4s/w forbright & sharp grey scale performance.
Flexible scanned image display manipulation options, plus Clean up,
embolden, resize & flip.
Colour version only £239.99
EPSON GT6500 Colour Flatbed
only £589.50 phone for details
Art Department Pro
Scanner software £99.99
i
1 MB RAM....................................£91.99
2 MB RAM.................................£129.99
|| 4 MB RAM.................................£194.99
)MB RAM.................................£339.99
:|2 MB & 33 MHz CO PRO........£184.99
4 MB & 33 MHz CO PRO........£244.99
8 MB & 33 MHz CO PRO........£389.99
828004709.003.png
CONTENTS
3
IN TH IS ISSUE
FIATURES REGULARS
HARD DISK
INTERFACES
NEWS
4
12
Has Commodore been sold to Martians?
What new products are about to hit your
Amiga? Check out the latest news.
Could a new Hard Disk interface
revolutionise your machine? Should you go
for a SCSI or an IDE drive? Mark Smiddy
investigates the alternatives for all the
models of Amiga.
A M I G A S H O P P E R D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 4 N o 4 4
G ood evening and welcome to the
world’s most fabulous Amiga
magazine! Every month we bring you,
the serious Amiga user, the stuff you
need to know. Want to know which
Hard Disk interface is for you? Turn
to page 12. Do you feel a need to
learn how to program in Assembler?
Turn to page 56. Want to find out the
meaning of life and the purpose of
existence? Turn to page...
Oh dear, we seem to have run out
of space. Never mind - maybe next
month...
INDUSTRY COMMENT 8
Industry figures speak about commitment
and metal bashing.
PAGESTREAM 3 2 0
After a wait of over a year, it's finally here.
But it’s not finished! Richard Baguley takes
a first look at one of the most eagerly
awaited programs ever.
NEXT MONTH 10
Get ready for what’s coming up next month!
It's a stonker!.
W IN D O W SHOPPER34
Graeme Sandiford looks at all the things we
had no space to review elsewhere.
REVIEW S
INTERVIEW
3 8
ANIM WORKSHOP 19
Can this program change the way you
produce your animations? Graeme
Sandiford investigates the latest version.
Tim Jennison (the founder of NewTek)
speaks! Find out about the Pal Toaster!
Richard Baguley
Editor
MARKETPLACE 4 4
Amiga Shopper’s own classified section.
Check out the bargains!
^ M a k e a
> b e tte r
PliOGltAR 24RT 2 4
Will this new video digitiser.clean up your
video grabs? Graeme Sandiford
investigates the very latest word in real­
time digitising
A M IG A ANSWERS 4 6
Our expert panel provides solutions to more
of your real-life Amiga problems.
TURK© CALC 2 8
Is it time to change your sheets? Graeme
Sandiford investigates the latest version of
one of the Amiga's best spreadsheets.
BACK ISSUES 6 4
Catch up on all those exciting articles you
missed before.
v
5
l i n
k
SUBSCRIPTIONS 6 6
Don’t miss your monthly dose of Amiga
facts or your subscribers’ disk - subscribe!
VIDEO BACK-UP
$¥$¥! M 31
With completely rewritten software and a
whole bundle of new features, can this
innovative Hard Disk back-up system
keep up with the times? Richard Baguley
gets secure.
TUTORIALS
M A IL ORDER 8 2
Find out what bargains we have in store
for you.
Is your Hard Disk
being held back?
Could a new interface
speed up your Amiga?
LETTERS 8 5
What do you think about the future of the
Amiga? Express yourself and win £25!
Programming genius Toby Simpson starts
stacking things up in our ongoing assembly
language tutorial.
USER GROUPS 8 8
Get in touch with Amiga users in your area
and around the globe.
PUBLIC D O M A IN 91
Graeme Sandiford checks out the latest
low-cost and no-cost serious software.
CHESS 5 8
Things finally get moving in our Chess
tutorial as Cliff Ramshaw shows you how to
determine how pieces move.
COMMS
i;
i J - , ______________
IVeVe all been waiting
for years for this
program. Now it’s finally
here, but it’s still not
finished! What on earth
is going on? Turn to
page 20 to find out what
the situation is with
Pagestream 3.
BUYING ADVICE 9 6
You’d be mad to make an Amiga purchase
before reading this vital advice.
6 2
Dave Winder examines the tea and
cheesecake at Cyberia - the UK's first
Internet cafe.
Tim Tucker (ex-bass player of Cactus Rain)
looks at how you can get a full orchestra
into your Amiga.
COMPETITION
9 7
We've got five ProGRAB 24RTs to give
away! All you need to do is answer a few
simple questions...
C PROGRAMMING 7 2
Toby Simpson adds a graphical front end to
our file finder utility.
Could the Animation
Workshop revolutionise
the way you create your
animations? Turn to
page 19 to find out.
All you'll need to
get the best out
of your Amiga
AMOS 7 8
Simon Green reveals a few more secrets of
the AMOS professionals. This month it’s
scrolling and fun with mice. Eek!
AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 44 • DECEMBER 1994
828004709.004.png
4 NEWS
No sale yet for
Commodore
Final decision expected soon. Commodore UK bid still in the lead, but
a surprise German bidder enters the fray.
O nce again, there was no news at the
for the remains of Commodore.
Filipino government in lieu of back rent, and you
begin to understand why the process has taken
so long.
It now appears extremely unlikely that any new
Amigas will be available for Christmas, although
there are possibilities that some existing stocks
will be released once the final details of the sale
have been settled.
Meanwhile, limited stocks of Amigas are still
continuing to emerge, although they are not in the
sort of numbers that dealers are requesting.
time of going to press on the
Commodore sale. One of the bidders
(Alex Amor of Florida-based CEI) said in an on­
line conference that a decision was expected
towards the end of October, and David Pleasance
said that “we are now just a short time from a
successful completion date”.
At present, there are three bidders involved in
the process, and the late bid of a third party (the
German distributors Escom) has stretched out an
already lengthy process. See below for details of
the various bidders involved in the process.
The Commodore liquidation has been an
extremely long and convoluted process. It has not
been helped by the extremely complex structure of
Commodore, with a variety of partly and wholly
owned subsidiaries, and a large number of loans
and similar deals with other companies.
The liquidation left a number of very angry
creditors, several of whom tried to get the
liquidation proceedings moved from the Bahamas
(where Commodore International were based) to
the United States, where they would have more
influence over the proceedings. Under Bahamian
law, creditors only have an advisory role, but
American law allows them much more influence
over the outcome of the winding-up procedure.
Add to this the seizure of the main Amiga
manufacturing plant in the Philippines by the
COMMODORE UK
This bid (headed by Commodore UK directors
David Pleasance and Colin Proudfoot) is widely
perceived to be the favourite. Although no specific
details of the bid have emerged, it seems likely
that the Amiga range would continue in its current
form, although it is likely that the marketing would
concentrate on the value of the Amiga as a
general purpose, family computer.
Manufacturing of Amigas would probably be
moved to the UK and the new company (probably
called Amiga International) would be based in the
UK, at Commodore UK’s Maidenhead offices. This
bid has popular backing, and recent rumours have
been that the money behind the bid has come
from a Taiwanese source, possibly a PC clone
manufacturer. We were unable to confirm this at
the time of going to press, and several other
sources hinted that the source of the finance was
a large American Merchant Bank.
THE CONTENDERS
The Commodore liquidation and sale is a rather
confusing business. The following are the
people bidding
CREATIVE EQUIPMENT
INTERNATIONAL (CEI)
This prominent Amiga dealer mounted a surprise
bid shortly after Commodore International went
into liquidation. Although many favour the UK bid,
this one does stand a good chance of being
accepted. The chairman of CEI (Alex Amor) has
W ordw orth 3 .1
Editorial
opportunities
Would you like to work at Future Publishing on one ofBritain’s top
com puter magazines? We ’re looking for talented - but not necessarily
experienced - production and writing staff, and maybe you ’ rej ust the
sort ofperson we need.
on th e w a y
Digits have announced that they will soon be releasing Wordworth 3.1. They
claim that this version will be faster, friendlier and generally easier to use.
It’s also been re-designed to make it easier to
use from floppy disk. This major upgrade will
also fix all of the bugs which bedevilled
release 3.0, or so claim the programmers.
We’ll be doing a full review as soon as
we can get hold of a copy. Digita are on
a 01395 270273.
In an unrelated move, Softwood have
announced that Version 3.0 of Final
Writer will be released shortly.
This upgrade to the top-rated
program in our round-up in issue 39
contains a range of new features,
including Drag and Drop editing and real­
time spell checking. Once again, we will be
doing a full review as soon as we get hold of a
finished copy. Softwood are on w 0773 836 781.
To become a Production Editor atFuture you’ll need to be literate,
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have extensive games knowledge of at least one (though preferably
more) com puter format.
Ifyou reckon that sounds like you, then write 500words on the subject
W hat Magazines Are For, and send it, with a CV and anything else you
think m ight help your cause, to Ann Dillow at the address below,
m arked Editorial O pportunities (AP10).
Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW
AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 44 • DECEMBER 1994
828004709.005.png
NEWS
5
many good contacts within the industry, and has
been talking recently about how several prominent
Amiga based companies are behind his bid. CEI
have been heavily involved with Amigas in the past
as one of the biggest distributors of both Amiga
computers and peripherals in the USA.
"The group of investors who are backing our
venture for the acquisition of Commodore have
committed significant
companies such as NewTek (the manufacturers of
the Video Toaster and the excellent 3D program
Lightwave) and Scala are involved in the bid. Alex
Amor himself was not willing to comment on who
is behind his bid.
C O M M O D O R E
M A N U FA C T U R IN G ‘
ESCOM
A late bidder for the remains of Commodore
International is Escom, a German distributor and
manufacturer of PC clones and peripherals with
242 stores across Europe, including 24 within the
UK. They have no connection with the Amiga as
they mainly specialise in PC compatibles and
peripherals. Although we were unable to confirm
the details at the time of going to press, it
seems possible that some employees of the now
defunct Commodore Germany are involved in
the bid, including the ex-Chief Executive Officer
Alwin Stumpf.
The ex-General Manager of Commodore
Germany Helmut Jost also joined Escom in 1992,
so there will definitely be some inside knowledge
of the Amiga market within Escom. No details of
their bid or their marketing strategy were available,
but it seems likely that they would want to
concentrate on the European market, and would
probably manufacture the Amiga in Europe.
Commodore Germany were the first
Commodore subsidiary to reveal the existence of
the CD1200 CD add-on for the Amiga 1200, and it
would appear likely that they would want to follow
a similar marketing strategy to that proposed by
Commodore UK.
PLAN T SO LD
ommodore's US manufacturing plant has
been sold by the liquidator to GMT
Microelectronics, run by George Giansanti.
This plant was where most of the Amiga's
custom chips were designed and built, and the
building still contains many of the machines
designed for manufacturing these chips.
Giansanti used to be employed by
Commodore as Director of Operations in the
semi conductor group several years ago, but
left to start his own company.
Although this company is not connected
with any of the bids for Commodore. Alex Amor
of CEI confirmed that they were having,
discussions with GMT about manufacturing
chips for new Amigas.
resources to
make our plans
happen", he said in an online
conference on the American E-Mail service BIX on
the 5th of October. In fact, Amor is so confident he
will win that CEI recently put a series of ads in
newspapers in the Pennsylvania area for
engineering, accountancy and general staff for the
new company. The new company would probably
be called Amiga Technology International, and the
marketing of the Amiga would be based around its
creative potential.
“I do not expect the Amiga to become a
replacement for PCs, but to fulfil a specific niche
in multimedia, video editing courses, arts and
music.” said Amor. Manufacturing would be moved
from the Philippines to the USA and Europe, and
there would be regional offices for the new
company in the UK, Germany and Italy.
Their initial plans include getting the A4000T
out into the market, and producing a new version
of the A1200 based on a 68030 chip. “By getting
the Amiga name recognised as the ultimate
graphics machine, the machine will blossom into
new vertical markets”, Amor said on BIX. The
investors behind this bid have not been revealed,
but there has been much speculation over whether
SORRY, NO READER
ADS THIS MONTH
Due to circumstances beyond our control,
we have had to drop the reader ads section
this month.
This “the-one-and-only” place to sell and buy
your Amiga kit will return next month, and we
will carry over all of the ads which were
scheduled to run this month. Apologies for any
inconvenience this may cause, and please keep
sending in your advertisements ■
Normal service will be resumed as of next
month. Please do not re-tune your magazine.
A WHOLE WORLD OF AMIGA
I f the Future Entertainment Show wasn’t
If you didn’t manage to get down to the Future
Entertainment Show, this could be your chance to
meet the people who put together this magazine
and ask them awkward questions as Future
publishing will also be exhibiting.
There will also be plenty of stuff to spend your
money on in the retail park area, and many dealers
will be offering vouchers to get back your entrance
fee if you buy something from them.
Of course, the question on everybody’s lips is
“will the new owners of the Amiga be there”?
There is no certain answer to this one as of yet,
but it seems likely that a decision will have been
made by then, so this could be your chance to
meet the new owners of the Amiga.
The show is at the Wembley exhibition Centre
from the 9th to the 11th of December. The doors
open at 10am and close at 5:30pm. Tickets cost
£6 for adults and £4 for children. The ticket hotline
is ® 01 369 7711.
enough for you, then you’ll be pleased to
hear th a t plans are proceeding nicely for the
World of Amiga Show, which w ill be held at the
Wembley Exhibition centre on the 9th, 10th and
11th of December.
The show, which is being organised by
Commodore UK, will concentrate exclusively on the
Amiga, with a number of special areas such as the
A.C.E. Village, where the Amiga Centres of
Excellence (such as Ramiga and Premier Vision)
will be showing the state-of-the-art equipment they
sell and offering advice on any form of Amiga use.
The Software City games arcade will also
feature all of the new Christmas games from the
big software companies. There will also be an area
dedicated to user groups - you can come along
and find out which user groups could help you with
your Amiga. And if all that wasn’t enough, Kiss FM
will also be broadcasting live from the show.
If you are planning to buy any of the overseas
products we review this issue, please consult
the buying advice section on page 97.
Buying programs or equipment from
abroad is easy, but there are a few simple
guidelines you should follow. The best way to
pay is by credit card, as any currency
exchange will be handled by the credit card
company.
Alternatively, you can have money
transferred directly from your account to the
companies, although some banks will charge
for this service.
If you are buying from a European country,
most banks will be able to supply you with a
Eurocheque, which can be paid into any
European bank.
You should also make sure tha t you check
that delivery charges are included in the price.
AMIGA SHOPPER • ISSUE 44 • DECEMBER 1994
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