# N E W S

By The Beast
and QueST

CODING PARTIES

After the traditional CP of the summer, particularly numerous, the CP now make themselves a little rarer. For all knowledge on the CP that wait for you, only one site,: Orange Juice (http://www.citeweb.net/ojuice/). You will find all the infos that you search for on this center of the scene international demo.

* The Central Party was once besides reported. Foreseen to the origin for the All Saints' Day, them new dates were not again communicated. More of information are available on the site but, alas, I don't have it in head :(

* Speedy, one of the old promoters of the Gigafun, wants to organize his/her/its own CP to Epinal. Wanting itself/themselves above all convivial and good mind, rooms will be limited voluntarily to 50. The CP was foreseen initially for January 2000, history to mock of the bug of the year 2000 (that key only them PC), but being given that he was impossible to book a room at that moment, the CP has been advanced to the month of December 1999. He/it would be worth to contact promoters better for more of details. This CP only concerns machines endowed of a processor of the family of the 68000. Therefore if you have this funny of babyish in innards of your microphone, be going to throw a squint on this site: "http://www.chez.com/m68k/".

* The Volcanic 6 will probably take place, although I didn't receive any official information in this sense. Alas, you should procure yourselves yourself of information on the site of this CP ("http://www.volcanicparty.com") or on the 3614 RTEL2 in category Demos. Or then, write me.

* And, in short, don't miss all CP of the summer 2000: of her VIP 2 to the RTS 3 while passing by the LTP 4, choose the CP that corresponds best to your tastes: oldschool, copy party, thick gigantic party, private party, etc.

MP3 FOR MY ATARI!

ST Ghost and Splash, two coders of the group Sector One, allied to put end to an injustice that touches the Falcon since too long: to program a player of MP3! Named FalcAmp subtly, ST Ghost assures that a Falcon of basis will be able to decode the MP3 in real time! So ST Ghost only took care of the part 68030 (Huffman decompression, among others), it is Splash, big specialist of the DSP, who works on the DSP part. According to Splash, FalcAmp should leave for the end of the year 1999. Voilà that would make a superb Christmas gift!

While waiting for FalcAmp, know that another project is in progress. Didier Mequignon, the author of Aniplayer, distribute currently on the Web a silly-version of his/her/its software. Although they are capable to replay the MP1/MP2/MP3, Aniplayer is even slower than MP2 0.995, a famous player of MP2 for Falcon. But the difference is that Aniplayer 2.08 will not only function on Falcon, but also on TT, Milan and Hadès. On a Falcon of basis, the present version (2.08 silly 4) oar greatly too much to listen to a MP2 in direct-from-disk (I don't tell you what that gives for the MP3... the horror). Didier confesses to have quite a lot of bread on the board, let's wish then him good luck!

OXO SYSTEMS ON THE FRONT OF THE SCENE

...Et it is not too early! As continuing to refine his/her/its built-in Internet, WenSuite, OXO produced a tableur (XXL) and attack now a new HTML publisher entirely WYSIWYG. His/her/its name: Expresso. I hope to speak of it to you more in detail in a next number. Let's wish a radiant future therefore to this society that finally takes of the hair of her beast.

The team of development of Systems OXO is composed of Pascal Barlier (the HTML gentleman of fire ST-Mag), Fabrice Bamas, Eric Da Cunha, Frédéric Bayle, with the involvement of Bruno Bellamy (superb drawing for WenSuite, besides).

ATARI.ORG HAS CRASHED

To defect of the Mir station, it is the Atari.Org site that is himself crashé to the month of August. The main hard drive is damaged and it can happen that his/her/its owner can throw it to the trash can. If data would have can be recovered, that would make a small tip of time that one would have seen a resurrection of the site. In vain.

Funniest (ahem...) it is that all abridgments of the http://machin.atari.org " kind " didn't function anymore. But all it went in henceforth from all over the world in the order for the biggest pleasure of atarists!

PLANET-D FOR FANS OF DEMOS

Especially reserved to demomakerses, the www.planet-d.net site has for goal to welcome sites of groups of demos as well as their members. If you are interested, I encourage you to rejoin them. Come to rejoin the legendary PC groups thus as Bomb or Ribbon. Every user arranges a whole of 50 MB, to only use to them legal, very sensible ends. Turning on a server Apache under Linux, you can have an address e-mail pop3 free by account, of an access by FTP, of the PHP3 (system of script trains ASP), the CGI (Perl) is allowed and, last drank not least, you can have a page of figures by the way of the company of your site.

THE MILAN 060 USB

To the month of June, MCS (Milan Computer System) allied with AXRO that is a society providing facilities of desktop. It is Motorola England (it is besides the only place where a factory manufactures the 68060 again) that will manufacture fleas and turntables. As for MCS, he/it will collect the different pieces in a new case. The merchandising of this new Milan is foreseen for the end 1999 in Germany.

Side hardware, this Milan will contain a 68060, certainly, but rhythmic to 100 MHzes! Is this a joke or is MCS played it him to the TDM while doubling frequencies on the paper? Because to our knowledge, Motorola never produced 68060 passing the speed of 75 MHzes... In short, to see. Her beast will be equipped of 4 SDRAMS slotses (miam!), of 4 PCI ports, of ISA ports, but also of 2 USBS ports (Die-hard Serial Bus - the peripheral USBS explode at the moment on the market), not less than 3 ports set, 1 parallel port, a port keyboard and a port PS/2. But then, there won't be MIDI port, of port cartridge, of DSP port, of port LAN, of ports for joysticks (of all ways, such a machine is not made for gamerzes) or of SCSI port. Will the Milan be delivered with a reader of disks 1.44 MB, a hard drive IDE Maxtor of 6.4 GB, 32 MB of SDRAM, a card graphic ATI Rage Pro- 4 or 8 MB, a reader of CD-ROM 40x (and why not DVD???), a sound card SoundBlaster AWE64 been Worth and of 120 watt surrounding walls. The keyboard Atari and the mouse Atari will have an adapter (great, one will be able to plug a keyboard Atari on a PeuCeu!).

Software side, it is a little whatever. MCS abandons the operating system of the Milan 040 and propose MagicMilan 6 instead, accompanied by NVDI 5 and the excellent desktop Jinnee 2. Errr Internet side, there will only be Iconnect with STinG-Overlay and the pain-beloved Draconis in version Pro. The bestiole will rather be very well stocked side bureautique, with them software in Home version: Papyrus, Tempus-Word, Texel and Smurf. Only PixArts and PhotoLines will be in complete version. Side pilots, it is HD Driver that is going to take care of disks and readers. Finally, let's note the presence of development software: GNU C++ version ACS Pro, OLGA (an administrative of ties, as the OLE of Windows), Bubble GEM, Object GEM, UDO and UDO-Shell, Omikron BASIC (Errr... and the GFA?) and FaceValue (that doesn't serve to big thing without the GFA).

In the French newsgroups (I thank Remi Villatel - maxilys@normandnet.fr - for his/her/its translation), we learned by Ali Goukassian of MCS, that the portage of Windows applications would be in progress... Aaargh! Office on Atari???

The Milan 060 USBS risk therefore to surprise more of one of them in the two senses of the term (go, I help you: that starts with a C and that ends up with a K). His/her/its merchandising is foreseen for very soon: October 1999 (in theory) and his/her/its price should be 1599 DMS, either 5600 FFS. I hope to be mistaken but I don't think that all sold software with this machine, as well as the OS, will be translated in French...

CENTEK NEWS

To the spring of this year, Centek allied with a society named Class4. You know it maybe, the Phoenix 040 won't leave, there will only be one machine: the Phoenix 060. Them features not stopping changing, we will only give them to you when the machine will begin to be produced in series (Errr... appointment in the Toxic Mag 50: -)). Of the software side, we can note the apparition of Fashion, the new publisher of resources (.RSC files) of Dolmen. Novelties himself accroîssent of month in month: for example, Centek foresees the management of objects of the AES of Magic for a much better compatibility. Level hardware, Centek assures us that the PCI bus has been tested intensively.

Strongly that one puts the hand on the bestiole so that one voye what she/it has in the stomach! Do I give you coordinates of Class4-Centek (hey, is necessary to call them how now?) :

CLASS 4 / CENTEK
42, rue Delegorgue
F-62970 COURCELLES-LES-LENS
FRANCE

Telephone : +33 (0)-3-2-1-409-400
Fax : +33 (0)-3-2-1-746-449
HotLine : +33 (0)-3-2-1-746-039
WEB : www.centek.fr

AND AT CORE DESIGN'S ?

The card Eclipses (PCI adapter for Falcon) entered now in production. Core Design is testing of the graphic cards of type ATI 4MB in order to offer the 1600x1200 in 16 bits with a high rate of cooling. The version with tuner TV is also under test. The VDI will be replaced by fVDI (Fenix VDI). If you want to be silly-testeur of fVDI, be going to see therefore on the "ftp://rand.thn.htu.se/pub/fVDI/". To note that he/it is impossible to plug a Eclipse on a Centurbo 2 since this last doesn't have the adequate extension port.

As for the card Tempest accélératrice, she/it is always under test and will include a PowerPC processor can go up until 266 MHzes. Core Design would want to also add some USB ports.

It is ACS Production that will take care of the sale of the eclipse and the Tempest for France and Belgium. You can join them by e-mail (alainc@imaginet.fr). The price of the card Eclipses should be 1990 francs.

An all new project concerning the TT saw the day: it is about the DesTTiny card. She/it will allow all user of TT to benefit cards for Falcon. Core Design thinks to touch more world thus with his/her/its Eclipes cards and Tempest.

For more of precision, you can surf on the site of Core Design ("http://titan-bss.co.uk") or to write them by e-mail to "sales@titan-bss.co.uk" or "tech@titan-bss.co.uk".

CREATION OF A NEW STORE OF VPC

A new dealer software got settled on the Web. His/her/its address: "http://www.logiciel.ch". Although it was about to the origin of a store essentially turned toward the PC and the Mac, you will be able soon there to buy by correspondence of them software for Atari or Amiga. One of them person responsible made us notice that the delivery for France is not financially again very profitable, but they work over.

FOREVER EMULATORS

Fans of emulation that have access to the network of networks are going to be filled because he/it now exists a mailing list in French language on emulators. If you want to write down you, he/it is sufficient to send an empty e-mail to the following address rightly: emulateursfr-subscribe@onelist.com.

THE HACKERS HAVE FUN WITH HOTMAIL

The service of Hotmail carrying trades of MSN, first world service of Promenade on the Web, underwent two attacks of pirates [August 30, 1999]. He/it was possible to reach the 40 millions of open accounts merely at MSN while writing down an user's login without requiring his/her/its password. Accounts were therefore legible by them intruders that could also send promenades to the name of possessors of the account.

The first attack came from a page sheltered in Sweden that has been closed six hours later. The second attack has two origins: the first is a failing of one of servers of Microsoft that has not been repaired at the same time as them others. The second comes from different sites in the world that copied the first Swedish site. The piracy would have passed by a secret entrance (Backdoor ") that would use Microsoft to repair to either modify some various parameters in the system. But Microsoft denies this possibility. The faille (whose Computer Newspaper gives the technical details) obliged Microsoft to close his/her/its site during the first six hours of the attack in order to remedy this weakness.

It is the Swedish hackers that claimed the piracy. Their goal: to demonstrate the permeability of the system of security of Microsoft. Last week already, one discovered that a bug permitted the hold of control of PC managed by Windows by the simple consignment of an e-mail. Before, a bug of MSN Messenger had distributed passwords of users on all the network.

(Source: Jérôme Botiba, Le Journal du Net)

THE G4 TOO POWERFUL?

Last-been born it of Apple, the PowerPC G4, has the pain to export itself/themselves. This is not because people of Apple don't manage to sell it, but because they don't have the right of it! Indeed, the American government, in his/her/its big wisdom, decided to forbid the export of the G4 for the simple reason that these computers are too powerful and could fall between of bad hands.

Know nevertheless that, from what announced Steve Jobs, the PowerPC G4, that is rhythmic to 500 MHzes, would be thereabouts faster 3 times that a Pentium III to 600 MHzes. Tests of speed have been made by... Intel!

THE U.S. ARMY PREFERS MACOS TO WINDOWS NT

Do you know why some sites of the American army have been transferred on a server MacOS? Because the station NT windows that sheltered them until there was the target of break-ins on behalf of hackers.

Represent yourselves that June 28, 1999, a hacker managed to modify the content of the portal of the army of the United States. According to information distributed on another governmental site, the pirate would also have reached an internal network and would have crushed some files in the goal to erase traces of his/her/its intrusion. It will have needed to two months to investigators of the investigating service criminal of the army to identify the author of these acts, a young man of original 19 years of the Wisconsin, member of a hackers group called Global Hell. He/it has been stopped August 30.

Other pages web of the Defense ministry would have been attacked in June, another site in July and again two in August, reveal the newspaper Wired News, without bringing precisions further.

To the following of these attacks, them different in line services of the American army, that were sheltered on a server NT windows, have been transferred on a server MacOS equipped of the software Webstar. According to a document of the World Wide Web Consortium, servers Webstar represent less 1% of the market and are currently most difficult to pirate.

(source: Laurent Barbotin, www.zdnet.fr)

NINTENDO MAKES ITSELF FRIENDS! (By QueST)

Nintendo announced an alliance with IBM and Matsushita for his/her/its new generation of console, the one that will follow at Nintendo64 therefore. The future competitor of the Playstations 2 and Dreamcast will have strong to make to compete with these two dangerous consoles. Nintendo knows it and decided to find allies of weight therefore.

Her new console will make call to the DVD technology (a first at Nintendo until now solely focalisé on cartridges). Matsushita will provide this reader of DVD. IBM will deliver a special processor displaying 400 Mhzes. He/it will rest on the PowerPC architecture and his/her/its circuits will be in copper. The graphic unit will pedal to 200 Mhzes. The bus will be capable to treat 3.2 gigabitses of information per second.

Therefore, one sees it, Nintendo understood that his/her/its next console will be crucial for the future of the business; the Nintendo64 not being these days very " vivacious ": the Playstation having swept everything on his/her/its passage, exits of games on Nintendo64 fight in duel. And the Dreamcast of Sega begins to rally suffrages. Therefore Nintendo had to react and to make a " effect of announcement " (specialty marketing! ;). The machine is announced for the year 2000: one will see well!

One notes that IBM wants again and still to invest the world of consoles: one will remember of the agreement between Atari and IBM for the manufacture of her Jaguar, and of the agreement between Atari and Phillips for the creation of the CDROM of her Jaguar. History and strategies seem to repeat itself/themselves.

(info from the Web)

A TELEFILM TO THE GLORY OF BILL GATE$ AND STEVE JOB$ (by Quest)

" Pirates of the Silicon Valley " are the title of the telefilm that will be distributed June 20 on the chain American TNT. This telefilm puts in scene the two emblematic faces of the boom of him data processing, to know Steve Jobs and our Billou friend!

According to the first infos, the telefilm presents Steve Jobs like an inspired and brilliant man but fairly megalomaniac, and Bill Gates just as intelligent but completely destitute of entregent and mined by his/her/its rivalry with Jobs.

For the anecdote, the site official Internet of the telefilm permits to see in direct to fluctuate the fortune of the two men on portraits of the two interpreters (besides, to this subject, Jobs is alike but Spoil is to die to laugh! ;)). It is " funny " but it gives the dizziness! (especially of Bill Gates side).

Surely a classic " American " movie besides with the myth of the self made man in plot of bottom. The power and money, it recalls " Dallas " and " his/her/its pitiless " universe! :)

(info from the Web)

SONIC TOOK HIMSELF A KIT! (by QueST)

Sega, that has just taken out his/her/its new console 128 bit carrying the soft name of Dreamcast, has just announced also some important losses. Reasons? They are numerous! First of all, the Dreamcast didn't reach objectives of sales hoped (she sold herself/itself to 900.000 copies whereas Sega counted on 1.000.000): it is necessary to say that she/it is not for the sold hour that to Japan and that Sony, sentient wind to turn, is himself eager to make an effect of announcement, announcing of now and already them technical features of the Playstation2.

These features are particularly hallucinantes! Also, the Playstation being the commercial success that one knows (30 millions of sold copies in the world) and having the notoriety that one knows him, it had the effect of to cause a waiting at consumers who were going to turn logically toward the Dreamcast. Those prefer here to wait therefore to see the new bomb of Sony rather than to buy the Dreamcast! Hard hard for Sega, that endeavors to explain that he/it is the concrete better that of the virtual.

Outrage it, the failure of her Saturn weighs again on accounts of Sega. One must also add the cost of the R&D for the Dreamcast and the countryside marketing of this last. And, in addition, forecastings of Sega for the next fiscal exercise don't seem really better.

(info from the Web)

JAGUAR IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN (by QueST)

You know all that Hasbro purchased licenses of games, consoles and computers to Atari. Games, everybody knows why: the success of the foul remake of Frogger to the USA watch that he/it exists a big number of idiotic American consumers, therefore why not to give them them big success remake?

But for consoles and microphone, the interest and him objective of Hasbro seemed darker, even for them seems it. So that lately, Hasbro announced that her Jaguar was henceforth a " open " system (Linux and the philosophy of " the open source " of Linus Thorvalds seem to make emulators these days): everybody could develop over, given them techniques are provided The dream etc. for coders, that can program on her beast without worrying about them rights, of copyrights and can have access to the technical data (especially for " Tom " and " Jerry "). And without forgetting, well on, a possible emulator Jaguar for PC (I saw on the clean a new emulator Jaguar in preparation).

But why Hasbro makes him it? Well, the answer that it gives is simple, but a few too philanthropic to my taste (that must hide something.) : they explain that Atari is a mythical mark, that there are pure and hard " fans " a lot, that it Jaguar is a terrific machine and that therefore, well to make pleasure to atarists, they put the jag' in the public domain and that therefore they commit to provide the technical docs. Bizarre. Bizarre. But good, for once one makes us a gift, it is not necessary to refuse it! ;)

Then, the question puts itself: to when a demo on Jaguar? Mhh?

(info from the Web)

CLIVE SINCLAIR: BACK FROM THE DEAD! (by QueST)

Do you remember of Clive Sinclair? But if, I spoke of it to you in the Toxic-Mag 16 in the file " Encircles It of them Dreamers Disappeared ": it is he that had created the mythical Spectrum; he/it is the inventor of the first personal computer to less of 1500 FF to beginnings of years 80. Hey well, to my big surprise, I saw one info concerning it on the clean.

He/it seems that Sinclair doesn't like the manner whose computer industry evolved these last ten years (period during which it had disappeared the computer scene literally).

Therefore, in an interview granted to " Personal Computer World ", Split explains how he/it is going to make his/her/its come back on the scene of the computer industry. He/it intends to launch in two years a portable that " will cost half less that his/her/its competitors and will offer performances and a suppleness of unequaled " utilization.

Clive is persuaded indeed that Intel and Microsoft slowed down progress of the computer industry (NDMM: consecrated Clive! One would say that he/it has just made a discovery! One is numerous to have had the same intuition; in what concerns me, for example, my last " flash " dates of yesterday when I reinstalled Win98 for Nth time!). From then on, he/it won't use fleas of Intel, nor Windows. The choice of processor is not stopped but the one of the operating system seems to carry itself/themselves on Linux.

Split rocks us a revelation of the death (NDMM: ah, one understands why it is a visionary nevertheless! ; -): " Them PC costs dear because of the Intels fleas. Yet it is gasworks that consume a lot of energy. The operating system of Microsoft is also he very heavy and demand a lot of random-access memory " explains it.

Sinclair thinks to be able to benefit hiatuses that he identified on his/her/its last computer, the Z88, that he put to the point in 1988. To the time, he/it had problems of display and compatibility. Split waits that the flat screens become low-priced (what should be the case in two years about). For processors, he/it peers at on the ARM processors. While finalizing an architecture completely different of the one of the PC, does he/it think (hopes?) to surprise everybody. He/it thinks that there is a real shift between what proposes the technology, and what offers the market. To finish, he/it predicts that people will be surprised to see, to the exit of the Playstation2, what a " simple " console is capable to make, and especially as it will be very more powerful than they PC, and this for a very least price!

Then, that to think it? Is this the return of them " visionaries " and the decline of them " administrators "? Only the future will tell it to us! But with the growing success of Linux, the success of the Apple iMac, the exit of powerful consoles die-hard very extensively dear than they PC and the return on the front of the mythical face scene (Steve Jobs, Split Sinclair.), one says himself that the the computer industry goes can be to know a future mutation salvatrice, and to finally come back to the real " gas " of him data processing: the dream! Power without the price " is not can be more completely forgotten. To when a return of the Tramiels on the front of the scene?

(info from the Web)

OF BLOODSUCKERS IN MICROS OF THE FUTURE! (by QueST)

One astonishing enough info! Researchers announced that, for the next generations of microprocessors, the demand in strength of calculation would be as it would be necessary to find other materials. It is for it that he/it used... of bloodsucker neurons! It would permit, according to them, to create machines capable to think on a problem, rather than to execute instructions data stupidly. The first tests are, he/it seems, conclusive! Who said that X-lines were only the movies? ; -) Then, henceforth, when you will see bloodsuckers, say yourselves that you have can be in front of eyes the future component essential of computers of the XXIth century! Ah, one lives a great time indeed!

(info from the Web)