Newsgroups: bit.listserv.i-amiga
Date:         Mon, 7 Sep 1992 08:48:36 UT
From:         "Terry Jeffery International Product Support Group"
              <TGJ@UKHOUO.PRIME.COM>
Subject:      Amiga Startup Pt1 REPOST

       Hi there, welcome to the Amiga Startup File

       This file has been sent to you for one of two reasons:-

       You asked for it - thanks, enjoy!!

       You are asking questions on the net that are answered here. If that is
       the case you will probabably have other questions that may well be
       already answered within this document. Have fun.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

           Amiga Startup File  (Bi-Monthly'ish posting)       v 3.1
                                                               20th June 92

This is directed to all new members of the I-Amiga list. Although I suggest
everyone have a glance through. Apart from new features, there are many
updates, you may even find the odd 'hidden treasure'.

The 'Startup File' contains much information that has been asked frequently
mainly regarding downloading of files. Also there is some information about
some of the other facilities within the 'net'. Running parallel to this is a
set of utility disks that have been put together by William McKeehan, this
package is referred to many times within the text. Please read Section 8 for
more information on the package.

Most of this information I have gathered from postings over the year(s).
Thanks to the individuals who who sent the postings, sorry, but due to space I
am not keeping a 'role call', I have, where possible, added credits. There
are, however, a few people who have continually helped with this document both
in content and ideas, here is the role call:-

Dave Howell            - Compression, DOS transfer &  BITFTP demo
Gelson Santos          - Other Amiga mailing lists and his VAX Mail Sorter
Jeff Hyche             - Amiga FAQ information
William McKeehan       - Utilities Package
Jim Pierce             - Graphic files and lots of misc stuff.
Paul Cardwell          - Direct FTP tutorial
Jean-Pierre Moreau,    - A1000 Pinouts

If you are aware of any newcomer to the I-Amiga list, please give them a copy
of this document. Hopefully this will help save them some time and effort in
getting started and finding their way around the Amiga network and also reduce
some of the repetitive mailings that tend to arise.

This is certainly not the Bible for Amiga Users. There is still much info as
yet not covered that hopefully within time will come about.

If you have any info or ideas you think would be worth adding, or even if
there are glaring errors or updates please mail me direct. I would appreciate
any comments from "new starters" especially, as they are the people this
document is aimed at. I would appreciate anyone seeing a suitable topic for
inclusion arising on the net to also contact me direct, hopefully presented in
a format that can be added to this with the minimum of finger power on my
part.

==============================================================================
Terry Jeffery           This has been compiled in my own time. None of the
tgj@ukhouo.Prime.Com    following bares any resemblance to views of my
Computervision UK       Company. Any errors encountered are your own
                        responsibility.
==============================================================================

                       Contents

               1. How to download a file (FTP)
               2. How to find a file on the Net
               3. Where are the FTP machines
               4. Downloading to Amiga
               5. Compression programs
               6. Other Net Groups - Netiquette
               7. Who or what is Fred Fish
               8. Common Utilities Package
               9. Graphic Files
              10. Languages
              11. Sound on the Amiga
              12. Virus Information

                       Appendix

               A. Some of the popular FTP machines and bulletin boards
               B. Mail-server information
               C. Graphic file sites (GIF)
               D. A1000 Pin Outs
               E. Guru Messages
               F. NETFIX.COM
               G. UUDECODE Source(s)
               H. AGNUS Chip Numbers
               I. XT Bridgeboard Formatting Tip
               J. FAST A C64-Amiga Transfer program
               K. Some Amiga BBS's
               L. 1 Meg Agnus Modification
               M. A Collection of Hardware Hacks
               N. FastGIF.lha
==============================================================================
               1. HOW TO DOWNLOAD A FILE FTP - File Transfer Protocol
                                               The Usage of Anonymous FTP'ing.
==============================================================================

Downloading Amiga files from the 'net' is commonly carried out in two ways
depending on which network you have access to. For Internet users, FTP is
available. FTP uses TCP/IP protocol which allows different types of machines
to communicate directly with each other. With FTP you have limited access,
mainly for getting and sending files. Pure remote login capability is achieved
using TELNET but file transfer is not available this way. Also not many
organisations will allow the public full access to their machines. Those of
you with Bitnet access will need to use an FTP server, this is a machine that
will do an automatic FTP connection and use commands that you build into a
piece of mail. As these are the two most common networks used by Amiga fans we
will leave the other networks out (most other networks have some form of
gateway to Internet or the FTP server so if you can read this document in
electronic form you will be able to use one method or another). Note that the
FTP server is available to Internet users, so even if you do not have FTP
software you can still download files.

You may hear the phrase "anonymous FTP Sites" These are the Public Domain
machines dotted around the world. They store a variety of data, obviously here
we are interested in Amiga files.

The following is a brief description on how to use FTP to obtain Amiga files.

You will find various 'flavours' of FTP depending on the machine you are
using, also some of the command modifiers will be different depending on the
OS you are logging into. Check your own system for syntax, try FTP HELP as a
starter.

--- How do I log onto a site (computer) and get some software?

There are several methods you can use:

       1. ftp <site_name>                      (from your user prompt)

eg: ftp mathsun17.utk.edu

       2. ftp <Internet address(number)>         (from your user prompt)

eg: ftp 128.169.200.117

You will, from time to time see machines reference thus:-

mathsun17.utk.edu (128.169.200.117 - referred to as the Internet address) this
allows both methods of access. If you use a machine name and get an error of
"unknown host" or similar, use the numbers (there is a lookup file on each
system that matches names to numbers, FTP needs the number to operate, so it
just means there is no match in your machine's file). Every machine on
Internet has a unique number and is registered thus.

       3. While in ftp type: open/connect site_name   (or number)

Once you are "Connected." you will be prompted to enter a name, you must use
"anonymous" and a password of "your Email ID."

Here are some of the FTP commands and what they do for you:-

ls             List directory you are in.
ls (dir)       List directory below you.
ls -R          List recursively
ls a*          The * is a usual wildcard
dir            Same as ls
cd             Change directory
cwd            Change directory
set def        Change directory for logging into VAX machines
cd /           Return to top level
cd ..          Move up one directory
hash           Put hash sign up when each 1024 bytes are transferred (useful
               for large files to show you it's still working)

OK, so now you have found the file you want, how do you transfer it.

First, you must decide if it is a text file or a binary (anything except text
file). The FTP session must be set to the correct transfer mode otherwise you
could end up with a corrupted file


       BEWARE IT IS A VERY COMMON MISTAKE NOT TO SET BINARY MODE BEFORE
       TRANSFERRING. YOU WILL END UP WITH WHAT LOOKS LIKE A CORRUPT FILE


binary         Prepare for binary file transfer
set type i     same as binary

Once you set your file type, then proceed with the 'get' command. 'get' has a
syntax of :   get file nfile
                     file = the actual file you want
                     nfile = alternate filename (incase you want to call it
                             something else when 'get'ting it, useful on long
                             names or naming clash between systems - not
                             mandatory).

On some systems you could use

               mget A*

This would retrieve all files starting with a capital A.

--- How do I know if it's finished transferring the file?

Basically it will tell you it's opening the connection and what type of file
it is sending (file type is what you set it as being).  You can however watch
the progress of the file coming.  Just type hash - this will toggle the
printing of hash marks ('#', 1 hash equals 1024k = 1k). This is not available
on all flavours of FTP , check your documentation.

--- How do I get out of ftp?

    At the 'ftp>' prompt type:

    UNIX,IBM     bye (or exit, ^D or quit)
    Vax/Vms      exit (or ^Z)

--- How do I get the file to my Amiga?

If your Amiga is connected to a modem (That's a device that links your
computer to the telephone line) get ZModem or maybe kermit and transfer via
the phone. Zmodem is available on IBM/UNIX/VAX/AMIGA/etc.. machines. You will
need the same software running at both ends (both Zmodem and kermit for the
Amiga will be on the Utility Disk) If you have an IBM PC, clone or emulator(eg
OPENPC on SPARCstations that is connected to internet, you can download to ibm
formatted disks (720k format).  After you download to an ibm formatted disk,
you can use MSH (PD) or CrossDOS, to transfer them to your Amiga.(See section
4).

Many of the more popular and larger ftp sites (like wuarchive or uunet) run a
more advanced ftpd. This ftpd will automatically create files which have been
requested from it via get by following some simple rules i.e. if you request
foobar.Z, but there is no foobar.Z file in the directory but there is a
foobar, it will compress foobar on the fly and transfer the resulting file as
foobar.Z instead of failing. This ftpd includes a rule to generate tar.Z files
i.e. if you request foobar.tar.Z and there is just a directory foobar, this
directory will automatically be tarzed'ed for you. Add to this the ability to
specify a filter with get and you have the ability to transfer complete
directory trees while preserving file attributes, access times, soft links and
(possibly) ownerships. If you want to create a copy of the directory foobar
and all its subdirectories on your local machine you type:

       get foobar.tar.Z |Untarz

where Untarz is a simple shell script e.g. like this:

#!/bin/sh
zcat | tar xf -


If you are on BITNET you will not be able to use any TCP/IP protocol, in this
case you will need to use the services of an FTP server. To receive files from
an FTP server you will need to send mail with your FTP commands built into the
message. For an explanation send mail with a subject line of help to:-

               BITFTP@PUCC

For those on Internet the FTP Server to use has the following address:-

               ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com

A typical request to BITFTP would look something like this:-

ftp name.of.machine (or Internet number) uuencoded
        user anonymous
        cd incoming/amiga
        BINARY
        get SoundZAPv2.1.lha SoundZAP.lha
        get amos1.34_upgrade.zom amos1.34.zom
        quit

Notice the "uuencoded" on the first line. This tells bitftp to send all files
uuencoded. This way, you need only to uudecode the file. They will probably be
sent in fixed blocks of 512 bytes. Most compression programs ignore extra
bytes at the end. DMS does not. It gives an error - something like "Header
identification error" or some such thing. Dispite the error message, dms'ed
files seem to work fine. Executables are a problem. The extra bytes at the end
make it impossible to run. This is where ChopIt comes to play. You can use it
to chop off those extra trailing bytes so that the file is back to its
original length. You may also do this with dms files to get rid of the error
message (but it's not necessary).

You would send this as a piece of mail to BITFTP@PUCC with no subject. The
results may take a couple of days to be returned to you. (The HELP file did
tell you this - you have got the help file before trying anything haven't you)

If you work on a VAX, the file may arrive as a NETDATA file. this type of file
may well have problems. If this is the case use the NETFIX.COM program as
listed in appendix F.

All other receipts from BITFTP will arrive as mail, UUEncoded. UUEncoding is a
method of turning a binary file into text so that it can be sent as mail. If
you've ordered a large file it may well arrive in pieces. These pieces have to
be concatenated (remember to remove mail headers) and then run through a
UUDecoder. (Utility Disk)

A UUEncoded file can be recognised by the first line, it will start with
"begin 0060 file.name", the numbers may vary but the 'begin' is the important
keyword.

Here is a procedure for all you Amiga people using BITFTP to get ZOO files
into a VAX/VMS system. The basic problem is that RECEIVE/BINARY puts the wrong
carriage control attribute on the file.  If you then try to use ZOO on it ZOO
will complain.

To fix the carriage control attribute:

  1)  analyze/rms/fdl  xyz.zoo

  2)  ed/fdl  xyz.fdl

        You are now in the full-screen file definition languge editor.
        You want to MODIFY the RECORD attribute CARRIAGE-CONTROL
        by setting it to NONE (the menus are fairly strightforward).
        Exit from the FDL editor - a new version of xyz.fdl will be written.

  3)  convert/fdl=xyz.fdl  xyz.zoo  xyz2.zoo

  4)  kermit/zmodem/whatever  xyz2.zoo to your Amiga (binary mode)
      or use VAX/VMS ZOO.

VAX VMS uses a (file) record management system called RMS. RMS has many
different file file formats. This seems to cause people problems when moving
files to machines of different architectures (Amiga,Unix boxes,...). Binary
files can have various "layouts" but one common one (as show by DIR/FULL)
looks like:

File organization:  Sequential
File attributes:    Allocation: 105, Extend: 0, Global buffer count: 0
Record format:      Fixed length 512 byte records   <---TAKE NOTE

To transfer files such as this under KERMIT you --MUST-- use
SET FILE TYPE FIXED  not  SET FILE TYPE BINARY
for the VAX end (use the standard BINARY mode on the Amiga end).

VMS has problems handling Zoo files. They need to be in stream-LF format and
when put onto a different machine, the record format is altered. This actually
happens to other compression formats also.

There is a program at ab20 in /incoming/vms that will help solve file format
conversion problems. It is called bilf. Get the executable file into your
account. You'll need to set it up to work, so type:

               bilf :== ${directory}bilf

Where {directory} is the full path to the location of bilf.exe. To find this
out, simply get into the directory bilf is in and type DIR. The first line of
output gives the name. For example:-

               bilf :== $user_disk2:[ct_oreg.files.progs]bilf

Once done, type bilf, and you will receive instructions on how to convert
record formats. You should note that the "corrupt" zoo file will probably
decompress on your personal computer.

==============================================================================

               2. HOW DO I FIND WHICH MACHINE HAS A PROGRAM I REQUIRE

There is a facility within the networks to access an ftp site
archive/database. It's name is ARCHIE. This machine polls all the known public
machines around the world on around a monthly basis and stores recursive
listings. You can then access the whole database to find where a particular
program (or directory) exists.

Please do not send messages to the I-amiga list asking where a program is,
instead use ARCHIE. If you have INTERNET access you may be able to TELNET
(remote login) to the machine, give the user id of archie. If not you can send
ARCHIE some mail requesting it to do the search for you. I have included some
of the help info given by archie. To use the mail facility of ARCHIE send the
message prog xxxx ( where xxxx is the program you are after), this can either
be as the subject or in the body of message with no subject, obviously you
will send the message 'help' first. If you find archie does not work for you,
you may need to put in a 'path'. I have to do this, all I do is put my Email
address using the syntax:-

path id@email.address

To TELNET you will need to connect to:-

       quiche.cs.mcgill.ca (132.206.2.3)

Here is the extract from the ARCHIE help file:-

                       The ARCHIE Mail Server

HELP for the archie mail server, as of 31 Oct, 1991

For your information anonymous FTP may be performed through the mail by
an ftp-mail server. Send a message with the word 'help' in it to:

               ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com

for an explanations on how to use it. NOTE: The BITFTP server at Princeton no
longer accepts requests from non-BITNET sites. If you *are* at a BITNET site
you may use:

               bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu

Send 'help' in a message to it.

NOTE: The Subject: line is processed as if it were part of the main message
body: no special keywords are required.

Note that the "help" command is exclusive. All other commands in the same
message are ignored.

Command lines begin in the first column. All lines that do not match a valid
command are ignored.

The email interface now supports the 'whatis' and 'list' commands. For more
info send the word 'help' as the subject or in the body of a message to

        archie@cs.mcgill.ca

We encourage the use of archie during off-peak hours for better response
times. This would be between the hours of 21:00 and 9:00 EDT (GMT -04)


         ****************** New archies available ********************

The archie service which has been provided by archie.mcgill.ca is now
available on:-

archie@archie.funet.fi      Europe       FUNET, Finland
archie@archie.doc.ic.ac.uk  UK/Europe    Imperial College, London, UK
archie@archie.au            Australia    Deakin University, Geelong, Australia
archie@archie.sura.net      US           SURANET, Maryland, US
archie@archie.rutgers.edu   US           Rutgers University, New Jersey, US
archie@archie.unl.edu       US           Lincoln, Nebraska, US
archie@archie.ans.net       US           ANS, New York, US

Now that AB20 seems to have dissappeared one of the other archive machines has
taken over the servicing of Amiga users. WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU seems to be a
very big one. Note only that but they also have acouple of lists you can
subscribe to:-

There's one devoted to telling Amiga users when new software is uploaded, etc.
to sign up to this list send mail to LISTSERV@WUGATE.WUSTL.EDU and in the body
of the message:-
                   add new-amiga your name

There is also anothe list serviced by this listserv. It deals with requests as
to where a particular file is (sort of a manual archie!) send a message to
same above address with this as the message:-
                   add amiga

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Remember FTP access is a *privilege*, please don't abuse it. Try not
       to use it during local 'Prime' time (sorry couldn't help that).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

               3. WHERE DO I FIND PUBLIC DOMAIN MACHINES

If you have nothing specific to download and just want to 'browse' you will
need to know some of the archive PD machines that are available.

There are a few ftp-sites index files that may be of use to you. One has
virtually every FTP site available (ftp-sites by Jon Granrose), and the other
is aimed at Amigas only (use ARCHIE to find a copy of these ftp-sites! ) I
have included a list of some of the more 'popular' FTP sites that archive
Amiga programs to start you off. (See appendix). These were obtained by asking
ARCHIE to search for the 'prog amiga'.
==============================================================================

               4. BUT I CANNOT DOWNLOAD DIRECT TO MY AMIGA

Some mainframes and most workstations can emulate IBM DOS. If you are lucky
enough to have this facility you can download your files to a DOS 720K format
disk and use an emulator on the Amiga to copy onto an Amigados disk (or direct
into memory). The most common public domain emulator in use seems to be MSH.
You will, of course, have to obtain a copy of this in Amiga format to begin
with! For further detailed information please read the FAQ list. MSH is also
available within the Utility Disk.

=============================================================================

               5. SO NOW YOU HAVE THE FILE WHAT DOES THE EXTENSION MEAN

Most files that are stored on FTP machines have some sort of extension. These
normally relate to either the compression program used or the type of data
stored in the file. Here are the more common compression programs you will
come across in the Amiga world ( there are many others in other worlds):-

       .lzh    = lharc,lz
       .zoo    = zoo
       .lhw    = lhwarp
       .arc    = arc (hardly used)
       .dms    = dms (Diskmasher)
       .wrp    = Warp files
       .zip    = Zipped, use "zippy" program
       .Z      = Compress      (found on unix systems)
       .tar    = tape archive  (found on unix systems, example: tele.tar.Z)
                 An Amiga version is available look for Tar-Compress.lzh
                 which should handle both .Z and .tar compressions.
       .zom    = zoom!
       .pp     = powerpacker
       .zap    ="Disk Zapper"?
       .uu     = uuencode (Amiga version of unix thing...)
       .zuu    = UUencoded ZOO file
       .auu    = UUencoded ARC file
       .luu    = UUencoded LHARC file
       .hqx    = BinHqx
       .sit    = Stuffit
       .pak    = Pak files unpack themselves. Just put them on a floppy.
                 change directory to that floppy and type the entire filename,
                 including the .pak ending. The file will then unpack itself.
       .sfx    = Self extracting, same as .pak.


Of these, probably .zoo and .lzh seem to be the most popular, maybe that's
because they can (un)compress an entire disk including directories that many
of the others can't. Also they can work disk-to-disk. The syntax for them both
for uncompressing is very similar (and both have help available). For a
straight uncompress try the following:-

zoo  x /o archive.file

The 'x' switch is to extract, the '/' is to retain original path names (It is
advised to use this as problems can occur when downloaded programs are trying
to access others with full path names) and the 'o' is to overwrite files that
already exist. For full description of available modifiers type 'zoo h'.

lharc -x x archive.file destination.path

Again 'x' is to extract, and the -x is to retain the original path names

In both the above the extension (.zoo, or .lzh) is optional.

If you meet a file.tar.Z file on a Unix system, the uncompress MUST be carried
out prior to issuing 'tar' command, ie. the last level was the last function
carried out. You must work in reverse order. There is a 'compress-4.0.lzh on
some of the FTP machines around that works on Amigas, to uncompress using this
command use:-

       compress -d filename

Beware of .dms files. Dms allows a boot block to be compressed and hence
downloaded. This is one method of spreading viruses! Other
compressor/archivers may do also.


There are a couple of utilites that are very useful regarding compression and
archive files:-

Lister
       Lister is a program that will list the contents of Arc, Arj, Lharc,
       Lha, Cpio, Tar, Zoo, Zip, and stuffit archives.

Gtar
       gtar10.lha will untar unix files. It does not seem to work on
       compressed files so well.
=============================================================================

               6. SO ARE THERE ANY MORE GROUPS BESIDES I-AMIGA

Please note that I am leaving in all the references to UCBVAX in this section.
It seems however, that the feed is not working. You can send mail to the lists
using this machine you just won't receive anything back.


You may not be aware that there are hundreds (if not thousands) of other
'special interest groups' around the nets where lots of good info and
experience can be found.

For Amiga specific newsgroups, the following are relayed from many machines.
Two of the most popular are udel.edu and ucbvax.berkeley.edu. The way you
address the newsgroups will differ on each machine. To be included for
distribution on the Berkeley machine add '-request' to the newsgroup name,
swap the '.'s for '-'s and send a message to subscribe, ie to join
comp.sys.amiga.reviews at Berkeley send a subscribe message to:-

       comp-sys-amiga-reviews-request@ucbvax.berkeley.edu

Udel is rather different. The *ONLY* address to subscribe is:-

amiga-relay-request@udel.edu

This is used to handle all requests. If you do not specify which groups you
wish to join, you wil be enrolled into all of them (you will be swamped with
mail). It has been mentioned that the new administrator does not look too
often at this mailbox and that some people have had a quicker response by
mailing him direct. You should, of course, use the official mailbox first, but
his Email ID is:-

geyer@udel.edu (Steve Geyer)

Please ensure when joining any group you keep the information sent to you by a
particular mailer regarding unsubscribing. There's nothing worse than people
on the net receiving 'unsubscribe' messages in their mail where people have
not taken the time to find out what they are doing. Some of the newsgroups
have 20,000+ recipients!!

NEWSGROUP
(all comp.sys.amiga) UDEL.EDU                  UCBVAX.BERKELEY.EDU
.misc          amiga-relay                     comp-sys-amiga-misc
.games         amiga-games-relay               comp-sys-amiga-games
.hardware      amiga-hardware-relay            comp-sys-amiga-hardware
.programmer    amiga-programmer-relay          comp-sys-amiga-programmer
.announce      amiga-announce-relay            comp-sys-amiga-announce
.reviews       amiga-reviews-relay             comp-sys-amiga-reviews
.introduction  amiga-introduction-relay        comp-sys-amiga-introduction
.audio         amiga-audio-relay               comp-sys-amiga-audio
.graphics      amiga-graphics-relay            comp-sys-amiga-graphics
.marketplace   amiga-marketplace-relay         comp-sys-amiga-marketplace
.multimedia    amiga-multimedia-relay          comp-sys-amiga-multimedia
.applications  amiga-applications-relay        comp-sys-amiga-applications
.emulations    amiga-emulations-relay          comp-sys-amiga-emulations
.advocacy      amiga-advocacy-relay            comp-sys-amiga-advocacy
.datacomm      amiga-datacomm-relay            comp-sys-amiga-datacomm

There seem to have been some problems recently regarding subscribing to these
groups, below is listed some of the other methods used on the net.

Below are listed other gateway machines that (are supposed to) redistribute
the above lists.

ames   (ames.arc.nasa.gov)     mcnc      (mcnc.org)
clyde  (clyde.att.com)         mit-eddie (eddie.mit.edu)
codas  (codas.att.com)         rutgers   (rutgers.edu)
decuac (decuac.dec.com)        sdcsvax   (sdcsvax.ucsd.edu)
decwrl (decwrl.dec.com)        tektronix (tektronix.tek.com)
gatech (gatech.edu)            ucbvax    (ucbvax.berkeley.edu)
hao    (hao.ucar.edu)          uunet     (uunet.uu.net)
husc6  (husc6.harvard.edu)     uw-beaver (beaver.cs.washington.edu)
kddlab (kddlab.kddlabs.jp)     watmath   (math.waterloo.edu)

This list came bundled with the ANU-NEWS software, beaver.cs.washington.edu
seems to work, at least for comp.binaries.amiga.

Also there are three other groups at umainecs.bitnet. They are CSYS-AMIGA,
AMI-TECH and AMI-HARD. But that service is terrible! You get all 16 usenet
newsgroups mixed in three big mails. The reading is almost impossible, you
can't reply, there is lots of duplicated messages, and so on. Those list are
unidirectional.
-----------------------
Anyone interested in the Video Toaster there is a dedicated list:-

The server's  email address is LISTSERV@KARAZM.MATH.EDU

Just send some mail with the following line in the message:-

SUB TOASTER-LIST Your Name
----------------------

       Lancaster University

They have an archive of programs and also a newsletter.

To subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter, send a request to our mail server
at "archive-server@lancs.pdsoft". The message should contain one of the lines

     subscribe amiga-dos "your real name"
or   unsubscribe amiga-dos

If using the unsubscribe command please make sure you send the request from
the same host as you subscribed from.

For ordinary communication our mail address is "pdsoft@lancs.pdsoft"
-------------------------
For those interested in X11 windows, there is amiga-x11@nic.funet.fi to
subscribe send to:-

mailserver@nic.funet.fi

sub amiga-x11 your name
---------------------------
For those interested in Amiga M2 discussions there is the following list:-

amiga-m2@virginia.EDU  on Internet.
amiga-m2@virginia.uucp  from UUCP   or  ...!mcnc!virginia!amiga-m2

If you are interested in joining, please send e-mail with your name and
address to amiga-m2-request@virginia.EDU
------------------------
Anyone interested in REXX on the Amiga, you should try the following group:-

AREXX-L%UCF1VM.BITNET@VM1.NODAK.EDU

To join the AREXX-L list, send the following command to LISTSERV at UCF1VM:
      SUB AREXX-L firstname lastname
 Non-BitNet users can subscribe by sending the command in the text body of a
message to

LISTSERV%UCF1VM.BITNET@VM1.NODAK.EDU.
-------------------------
For anyone interested in general small computer discussions there is SOFTREVU,
this is how to subscribe:-

Send the command, SUBSCRIBE SOFTREVU <yourname> to LISTSERV@BROWNVM
(LISTSERV@BrownVM.Brown.EDU).  DO NOT SEND LIST COMMANDS TO THE LIST.  Send
them to the LISTSERV account.
--------------------------
For those on VAX/VMS machines, Gelson Santos has written a mail sorter to
organise the mail he receives from these groups. Gelson is quite happy to
distribute this utility. If you would like a copy please contact Gelson
direct. (gelson@vortex.ufrgs.br)
---------------------------
Here is a list of some of the non-Amiga newsgroups that may be of use to you.
The method of subscription is fairly standard. If the list has a -request
address just send that address some mail asking to be added to that particular
list. The format is not important. A 'listserv' address will handle many
different mailing lists and is automatic, so you have to be careful of the
syntax. To enrol using a listserv machine send mail with no subject but with
the body of the message thus:-

sub listname my name (This is your real name not your Email ID)

eg, to subscribe to frac-l send a line of text as thus (putting in your real
name)

sub frac-l Fred Bloggs

unix-info      unix-info-request@sem.brl.mil (General Unix)
gif-l          listserv@vmtecmex.bitnet (GIF Graphic file info)
graphics       listserv@utfsm.bitnet Formats, documents (mainly PC types)
digital-games  digital-games-request@digital-games.intuitive.com
frac-l         listserv@gitvm1.bitnet (fractal patterns)
emusic-d       listserv@auvm.bitnet
infonets       listserv@bitnic.bitnet and info-nets-request@think.com
               (Network information)
netscout       listserv@vmtecmex.bitnet
help-net       listserv@templevm.bitnet (Note the hyphen!  This is not the
                                        helpnet list).

NETSCOUT - A forum for the general user of the BitNet and/or the Internet to
           discuss and exchange information about Servers, FTP sites,
           Filelists, lists, tools and any related aspects:

HELP-NET - Help-Net is a discussion list for the purposes of solving user
           problems with utilities and software related to the Internet and
           Bitnet networks.  In addition, LISTSERV at TEMPLEVM maintains a set
           of low-level help files intended to help the beginning user
           acclimatize himself to the network systems.

Getting a file from the list. Send the following command to LISTSERV at
TEMPLEVM:  GET HELP-NET FILELIST

A common question asked is that when a message is sent to some newsgroups, the
originator does not get a copy. The listservers are quite clever! They think
that as you sent the original you won't need a copy. This does not give much
confidence in knowing that your mail has actually got through. It is possible
to obtain your copy by sending the following message to the listserv in
question:-

SET listname REPRO
------------------------
And to round this section off, here is some information about other groups
within the Network that may be of interest to Amiga users. It would be
advisable to ask your System Admnistrator if there are local copies of these
files as some of them are *VERY* large. Actual syntax will depend on which
system you are on, mainly the instructions below are for Bitnet users.
Internet users will have to put request into a message. If you've managed to
subscribe to any of the above groups successfully the rest of this will be
easy. If any new groups are created that are of interest to Amiga users I will
post its announcement to the I-AMIGA group.

    The "Interest Groups List of Lists" available from ftp.nisc.sri.com
       (also known as Interest-Groups or SIGLIST or Interest lists)

    The LISTSERV global list database (on BITNET/EARN/et al)

    The Usenet News news.lists "Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists"

    A combined edited list available from Dartmouth College.

   Other sources like NEW-LIST@VM1.NoDak.EDU (NEW-LIST@NDSUVM1.Bitnet) and
NETMONTH (from BITLIB@YALEVM) publish announcements of new lists. To subscribe
to NEW-LIST send mail to LISTSERV@vm1.nodak.edu (or LISTSERV@NDSUVM1.BITNET)
with the body of the mail containing the command:

SUB NEW-LIST yourfirstname yourlastname

To subscribe to NETMONTH send mail to LISTSERV@MARIST.BITNET with the body of
the mail containing the command:

SUB NETMONTH yourfirstname yourlastname

SRI NIC Maintained Interest-Groups  List of Lists

   If you have access to the Internet via TCP/IP the Interest Groups List of
lists is available via anonymous FTP from ftp.nisc.sri.com (192.33.33.22).
FTP as user anonymous and CD to "netinfo" then GET interest-groups . The file
is available as one large file at this time (over 500,000 characters).

   The SRI NIC list-of-lists is now available via electronic mail. Send a
message to mail-server@nisc.sri.com with the following line in the message
body:

Send netinfo/interest-groups

...and you should be returned the file in moderate sized pieces. Further
information on the server itself is available with the command

Send help

BITNET LISTSERV Servers Global List of Public LISTSERV Lists

   On BITNET the LISTSERV servers keep a composite list of their lists online.
To get a simple "one line per list" list of all lists (about 1600 lines at the
moment) you can send LISTSERV@VM1.NoDak.EDU mail with the command

LIST GLOBAL

in the TEXT or BODY of the mail.  NOTE: LISTSERV wants the commands in the
text of the mail and you can supply more than one - one per line. The Subject:
field is NOT used for commands (you can put anything there).

   The global list can also be searched online.  For details send LISTSERV the
command INFO DATABASE . The global lists is called the "LISTS" database and is
available at some of the major backbone LISTSERVs.

Network Accessible Database Server

   We have also added the Internet Interest-Groups list in a format that can
be searched (called the INTGROUP database).  This is only available on the
LISTSERV at NDSUVM1 (or VM1.NoDak.EDU).

   For example, to search of both these databases for lists on "bicycles"
you would send the statements

//DBlook   JOB   Echo=No
Database Search DD=Rules
//Rules DD *
Select bicycle in lists
index
Select bicycle in intgroup
index
Select bicycle in new-list
index

in the text/body of the mail to LISTSERV@VM1.NoDak.EDU or on BITNET just
LISTSERV@NDSUVM1 . These statements would search the global LISTSERV list of
lists ("in lists"), and the local copy of the SRI-NIC Interest Groups ("in
intgroup"), and the archives of the "new-list" list ("in new-list").  Send
LISTSERV the command INFO DATABASE for more information.

Usenet NEWS Lists of Groups and Mailing Lists

   The Usenet News list of groups and mailing lists is available on hosts
which run Usenet News or NETNEWS servers and/or clients in newsgroups
news.announce.newusers and news.lists.

   The following files are also available via anonymous FTP from VM1.NoDak.EDU
in the "BITINFO" directory.  Once connected enter CD BITINFO .  These may not
be the most current versions of these files but may be more accessible to
folks on NSFNET.

   Name on vm1.nodak.edu    Source
   INTEREST.GROUPS          Recent Interest-Groups from ftp.nisc.sri.com
   NETNEWS.MAILLIST         Usenet News Mailing Lists from news.lists
   NETNEWS.GRPLIST          Usenet Groups from news.lists
   NETNEWS.ALTERNAT         Usenet Alternate Groups from news.lists


Dartmouth Merged List

   Dartmouth maintains a merged list of the LISTSERV lists on Bitnet and the
Interest Group lists on the Internet. It is a single file with one line for
each mailing list. They provide a Macintosh Hypercard application that
presents the list in a nice format. Other applications could easily be
developed to provide a user interface to these data that is appropriate for a
site's local situation.

   The files can be obtained by anonymous FTP from DARTCMS1.DARTMOUTH.EDU
<129.170.16.19> in directory SIGLISTS. They can also be obtained (except the
large data stack) via Bitnet from LISTSERV@DARTCMS1 using the command SEND fn
ft.  To obtain a list of the files via LISTSERV send mail to LISTSERV@DARTCMS1
(LISTSERV@DARTCMS1.DARTMOUTH.EDU) with the command:
   INDEX SIGLISTS
in the body of the mail.

Note, this is just a *small* fraction of what is out there.

Also, most groups have some form or equivalent to the Frequently Asked
Questions file. If there is no information in the 'welcome' message normally
sent out, make it your first question to that particular group.
======================================================
               NETWORK ETIQUETTE ( NETIQUETTE )

The following guide is taken from many of the groups around the network,
please take note!!

It is 'network etiquette' not to join a group and ask questions straight away.
You would not break into someone's conversation without first hearing what is
being said. To save you the embarrassment of being flamed please wait until
you have been receiving mail for a couple of weeks before asking a question.
You could be asking a question that is already, or has just been under
discussion. Many groups would flame you down before your fingers left the
keyboard!

It's a good idea to post unrelated questions in separate articles, so that
people can keep different discussions separate.  It's also a *very* good idea
to include a line or two like this:

    "Please mail your answers to me and I'll summarize what I get
     and post the results to.....AND MAKE SURE YOU DO!!

This prevents many identical responses from different users to the same
question from clogging up the newsgroup. And make sure you really summarize
what you get - don't just concatenate all the mail you've received.

It's also a good idea to read the group for at least a couple of weeks after
you post your article to see what followup articles are posted.

                Should I Post an Answer to a Question?

It's very tempting to post an answer to a question you read on the net,
especially when you think "Aha, finally - a question I can answer!" Consider
though that when a simple question is asked, such as 'wher can I find so-and-
so program' many other people around the world already know the answer and may
be posting their own reply. In order to avoid dozens of replies to simple
questions, please wait a day or so and see if anyone else has already answered
the question. If you have something special to contribute, please do so, but
make sure you're not duplicating something someone else has already done.

As I monitor the I-AMIGA list, it is not worth sending an answer to a question
that is dealt with in this document. When such a question is posted, I (and
others) will send the individual a copy of this document (this may be how
you're reading it now)

You should feel free to reply to any question >direct by email<. Even if the
user gets 200 responses to his question, at least the load on the rest of the
net and list is minimized.

Please don't send 'I'd like a copy too' type of messages to the list, your
message will aimed at one person not the entire list, so send it direct to
him.

Please also be aware of the rules of the net regarding signatures. It is good
manners to keep your signature to a maximum of 4 lines. Don't forget people
have to pay for all incoming mail. They don't really want to pay for unwanted
cartoons and the like. Some mailers will actually cut a signature file that
carries over 4 lines


                    What About Posting Source Code?

Posting small amounts of example code is fine but please make sure that your
code runs (or at least compiles) properly. Don't just type it in while editing
your posting and hope it will work, no matter how sure you are that it will.
We all make mistakes.

                        What About Those People
       Who Continue to Ask Stupid or Frequently Asked Questions
         In Spite of The FAQ and Startup Documents?

Just send them a polite mail message, possibly referring them to this
document. Or even send them a copy of this document. There is no need to flame
them on the net - it's busy enough as it is.
*********************************************************************

               7. WHO OR WHAT IS FRED FISH

Fred Fish actually exists!. He collects and writes PD/Shareware programs.
These he organizes into 'disks' which are all numbered. There are hundreds of
disks, they are all well documented (the disks that is,  not necessarily the
actual software on them). Fred Fish is not the only collection, here are some
others that are worth looking through:-

       cucug (Canadian User Group)
       Amicus
       Tampa Bay Amiga Group (TBAG - Not on Network
)
Some of the FTP sites listed in the appendix have Fred Fish disks (denoted
ff100 etc). You could try ARCHIE to find others. A search of "fish" or (say)
"ff580" will give you good results.

The latest copies seem to be on:-

       ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
and
       ftp.uni-kl.de

The disks are issued in batches of 10. You will find the latest release
information sent out on I-AMIGA as and when it is issued. It is worth either
storing this or using the 'aquarium' for searching descriptions of what is
available. Many postings and time could be saved if you get into the habit of
saving these descriptions.

Fred also sells the disks themselves, at $6 per disk, $5 per disk for 10 or
more, $4 per disk for 50 or more, $3 per disk for 100 or more, and $2 per disk
if you order the whole set. Fred will keep money in escrow, so you could send
him money 'on account', he sends us disks in lots of ten as they are produced.
Fred does prefer that people get disks from their local users' group, dealer,
or ftp site if at all possible, to reduce the load on him.

        Fred Fish
        Catalog Disk Requests
        1835 East Belmont Drive
        Tempe, Arizona  85284
        USA"
>From: fishpond!fnf@uunet.uu.net (Fred Fish)

For those wishing to submit material for possible inclusion in the library,
here are a few simple guidelines that will make my job of organizing the
material MUCH easier and GREATLY increase your chances of having the material
accepted for inclusion:

1.      Don't submit bootable disks or disks with any other
        sort of proprietary material included, since I then
        have to go examine each file to decide if it is
        distributable or not, and if not, what effect removing
        it might have.

2.      Organize the distribution in a manner similar to my
        disks.  I.E, place all files related to a particular
        submission under a single directory on the disk.  If
        there is more than one submission per disk, it's ok to
        to place each submission in it's own directory.

3.      Try to write a simple entry for my "Contents" listing
        that summarizes your submission.  It should be about
        3-10 lines, and include the current version number,
        the version and disk number of the most recent version
        (if any) that was last included in the library, whether
        or not source is included, and an "Author" list.

4.      Ensure that your submission will run correctly from
        it's subdirectory and if necessary, supply a script
        runnable from workbench (via :c/xicon) that makes all
        necessary assigns, copies fonts and libraries, etc.

5.      Send your submission in a sturdy envelope with sufficient
        padding.

Thanks!!!

======================================================================


--
Please see monthly postings for the disclaimer, the introduction, the charter,
and submission instructions.  Comments to zerkle@cs.ucdavis.edu.
MAIL ALL SUBMISSIONS TO announce@cs.ucdavis.edu (don't auto-post).
*******************************************************************

               8. IS THERE A PACKAGE OF COMMON UTILITIES FOR NEWCOMERS

Yes there is. Although Fred Fish and the like have some very good utilities,
they can take some time to locate and mistakes can be made. By chance, when
this startup file was being planned, William Keehan was asking about the best
common utilities he could then package into one disk. This has now been
developed.

The packages are available via FTP from mathsun17.utk.edu (128.169.200.117) in
the directory pub/amiga/starter. Please watch William's postings in I-Amiga
for latest update.

The "Basic Kit" for everyone contains:

       DME             (Text Editor)
       MOSTRA          (Picture Viewer)
       LZ              (Basic Compression Utility)
       NCOMM           (Terminal Program)
       DMOUSE          (Screen Blanker/Mouse Acc.)
       VIRUS_CHECKER   (Virus killer)
       MSH             (Cross-Dos Type)
       AGMSPlaySound   (Sound Player)

"Advanced Kits" will be added later on which will contain specialized
utilities. For example, the "Advanced Text Processing Kit" will have:

       A WORD PROCESSOR
       A SPELL CHECKER
       A THESAURUS
       A GRAMMER CHECKER

Some future kits that I have in mind are {in the form: TITLE (example)}:

       Advanced Graphics (paint program, converters, etc),
       Advanced Sound (MED),
       Advanced Communications (VT emulations),
       Advanced File Manipulateion (sector editor),
       Advanced Management (database, spreadsheet),
       Advanced Multi-Platform (IBeM), and
       Advanced Networking (DNET)

============================================================================

               9. GRAPHIC FILES

One of the popular uses of Amigas is to view Graphic files. You will find the
normal Amiga related pictures in some of the graphic directories of the Amiga
anon sites but there are more.

One of the most common formats for general graphic files is GIF. This is
actually a format set out by Compuserve, it seems to be about the most popular
method used to store pictures. Use the ftp-list file to find some of the
machines or get ARCHIE to do a search on "gif". If you are into space
exploration there are a number of NASA released pictures in this format.

Depending on your viewer, you may need to convert these files into other
formats. There are some gif viewers around at the moment, have a search for
the follwoing:-

Giffy          No info known
VirtGIF        No info known
GIF_view       Mentioned by a few, efficient use of memory.0k avail).
View_gif       No info known
ShowGif        Mentioned by some, all on one screen
Turbo-Gif      If you want a quick view (no colors in the try-ware version)
Digiview 4.0   If you've got the $$$ use GIF2RGB for conversions. Good quality
FastGIF110     256 colours, scrolling, overscan, hires and corruption,
               This program is so small I have included it in the Appendix.


I have added Appendix C to this document as being a list of some of the GIF
sites available. To make things easier (for me) I have removed the directory
information so that I can quickly put the list together using ARCHIE in order
that the list is as up to date as possible. Due to the nature of contents on
some of these machines, it is not unusual for a particular machine to
discontinue it's service. If you find one 'out of service' please advise
tgj@ukhouo.Prime.com in order that it can be deleted from this list.

With GIF sites you will quite often find anon FTP disabled during local
working hours.

You can send an Email message to odin%pilot.njin.net (Jon Granrose) and ask
him to add you to the Anonymous GIF mailing list. This is a list of sites
known to support anonymous FTP access, along with a short description of what
each features.

Format documents for GIF, TIFF, IFF, BIFF, NFF, OFF, etc.

Many such files are available by anonymous ftp from titan.cs.rice.edu
(128.42.1.30) in directory public/graphics.formats. These files were collected
off the net and are believed to be correct. This archive includes pixel
formats, and two- and three-dimensional object formats. Other file format
descriptions are welcome, send to Mark Hall <foo@cs.rice.edu>.

============================================================================

                       10. LANGUAGES

For those of you interested in programming, here are a few of the languages in
use within the Amiga community. Don't forget to try 'archie' for sites storing
the PD ones. If you use any other language, compiler etc that is not listedd
below, please pass on the details to me for later inclusion.

Lang     I Program I Compiler  I  Public     I  disk space or
         I         I or interp.I  commercial I  requirements
================================================================
Assembly I A68K    I assembler I   Public    I disk: 30-250 kb
   C     I  PDC    I compiler  I   Public    I ????
   C     I  GCC    I compiler  I   Public    I needs 3 meg of ram + disk
   C     I Sozobon I compiler  I   Public    I disk: a few 100 kb's
   C     I Dice    I compiler  I Commercial  I needs 3 meg of ram + disk
Modula-2 I M2Amiga I compiler  I Commercial  I ????

As C is the most popular, here are a few books that may be worth looking at.
Note these are not a recommendation:-

"The C Programming Language", Kernighan & Ritchie - get the ANSI edition.
"Amiga C for Beginners", Abacus

"Amiga C for Advanced Programmers", Abacus

The ROM Kernal Reference Manuals (RKM's) - Addison Wesley all of the C
examples from the 1.3 RKM's are available on Fred Fish Disk #344.  Saves you a
lot of typing when trying to play with the examples!

CManual - Fred Fish Disks #456-457 - A very nice C programming manual that
includes sources and examples.  Decompresses onto 4 disks.
============================================================================

                       11 Sounds With Amiga's

Here are a few of the many programs and utilities for sampling, making and
playing sounds (mainly from Fred Fish). There are also large numbers of
samples sitting around. Here is another excercise in the use of ARCHIE to find
their locations:-

SmusPlayers
Two SMUS players, to play SMUS IFF music formatted files. Executables only.

DissiDemos
Demo of Midi Sample Wrench, which provides pro sample editing features for
owners of musical samplers. Version 1.1, binary only.

CZEd
A complete midi package for use with all Casio CZ synthesizers.  Contains a
full fledged sound editor, a split simulator for CZ-101/1000/230S, a bank
loader and a memory dump for CZ-1. This is a formerly commercial package now
released as shareware. Binary only.

LinkSound
Two examples of functions that you can link with your own code to produce a
short musical "beep" or a sound that is similar to striking a drum. Includes
source.

SAMP
An IFF sampled sound format designed for professional music use.  It can be
used for 16-bit samples, multiple waveforms, etc.  Includes a SAMP
reader/writer shared library, interface routines, and programming examples.
Also includes a program to convert 8SVX to SAMP.

AlgoRhythms
An algorithmic composition program that improvises music over a MIDI interface
connected to the serial port. A MIDI interface and synthesizer are needed. The
music does not have a strong pulse, and does not repeat motifs or melodies,
but can be very pretty.  Version 1.0 with source in C, and sample data files.

KawaiEditor
A Kawai K4 editor (apparently some kind of midi based music synthesizer).
Version 1.0, shareware, binary only.

MED
A music editor much like SoundTracker. A song consists of up to 50 blocks of
music, which can be played in any order.  Editing features include
cut/paste/copy tracks or blocks, changing the vibrato, tempo, crescendo, and
note volume. Other features include switching of the low-pass-filter on or off
on a per song basis, and a cute little animated pointer of a guy doing
"jumping jacks" in time to the music!

MP
A small, useful utility for sending any MIDI data back and forth between an
Amiga and a MIDI instrument. Helpful for learning about MIDI,
writing/debugging MIDI software, figuring out your instrument's system-
exclusive implementation, and more. Version 1.0, includes source.
============================================================================

                       12. Viruses On The Amiga

It's no fun being hit by a virus. I have collected various pieces of
information from many Amiga owners as to how they 'caught' the virus and what
the symptoms and damage turned out to be. At the end of this article are a
number of pointers that should help you to keep them at bay. Hopefully, you
can learn from other's mistakes.

Here are the main types of viruses

1. boot block viruses
   These are the most common and the oldest one. They hide in sector 0 and 1
   on a bootable floppy disk. The computer will be infected if the Amiga is
   booted with a disk containing a boot block virus.

2. Link viruses
   These are viruses infecting files, they hide in files or they replace
   files. These are often hard to find, they also hide on hard drives.

3. There is a virus which is both a link virus and boot block virus.

4. Trojan horses:
      Program that really is a virus. Watch out for PD games.

5. Disk validator virus
   Infects the disk validator, (will not run under kickstart 2.0) :-)

How to keep infection down to a minimum

 1. Never assume your disks are virus free. Always be suspicious of any newly
    acquired software (especially PD, pirates or dubious origin).

 2. Where possible ONLY boot with a safe disk for example the wb-disk rom CBM
    and keep it write-protected.

 3. Keep ALL disks in a write protected state and only unprotect when you are
    actually writing to that drive.

 4. Envoke a virus checker within your startup-sequence file.

 5. Check all newly acquired disks with a virus killer BEFORE BOOTING from
    that disk.

 6. Ensure ALL your programs are backed up onto clean disks

 7. Watch out for unnecessary disk activity, this could show a virus at work
    (could be bad coding as well!!).

 8. If you own a Hard Disk, place downloaded files onto a floppy first and
    keep programs there until you are happy with them.

 9. If you find a virus that does not seem to be doing any damage BEWARE, some
    of the viruses will lie dormant, clocking up how many times they have been
    copied until they reach a predetermined number THEN THEY STRIKE.

10. Don't lend working disks to ANYONE. If you must 'lend' someone a program,
    put it onto another disk if possible. When the disk is returned check it
    with a virus checker or reformat it.

=======================
       There are well over 75 known viruses within the Amiga world, below I
       have listed the symptoms and other information from various sources of
       the most 'popular' ones:-

BYTE BANDIT(S)
Seem to affect those machines with memory expansions, writes to boot block
with various messages. Only found on floppy disks. Once infected will spread
to other disks.
DAG
system virus (bootblock).Typical text: "Something wonderful has happened Your
AMIGA is alive !!! and, even better... Some of your disks are infected by a
VIRUS !!! virus feature: pressing left mouse/fire button of port 1 during
system reboot causes screen to become green and the virus to shutdown Storage
media affected: only floppy disks (3.5" and 5.25")
DISASTER MASTER V2
Link virus, resident Length of Virus on storage medium: 1740 bytes Easy
Identification.: typical text: ?? identification by examining, using disk
manager, the startup-sequence: if its first entry is "cls" and a file named
"cls" exists in "c" or root directory with a length of 1740 byte
$A0,$A0,$A0,$20,$9B,$41 (invisible in ASCII editors) Type of infection...:
self-identification method: virus searches for the following entry in startup-
sequence: "cls" AND a file "cls" in the c or root directory with length of
1740 byte; system infection: RAM resident. Storage media affected: all
bootable and disk-like devices
HCS
Seems harmless, I still have an infected disk which I have used for a long
time with no ill effects. *see note #9 above*
ICE
System virus (bootblock), resident. Length of Virus on storage medium 1024
bytes, length in RAM 1024 bytes. Typical text: "Greets from The Iceman & The
IRQ  The REAL Amiga hackers! hi to Red Sector Club  Creole, Sendarian, & SCA!!
for the best  cracks/imports contact THE ICE BREAKERS", and  INC!INC!INC!INC!"
virus feature: pressing left mouse/fire button of  port 1 during system reboot
causes screen to become green and virus to shutdown. Storage media affected:
only floppy disks (3.5" and 5.25")
JEFF BUTONIC
Link virus (directory type). Length on storage medium 2916 byte, in RAM  2876
byte. Identification by the following entry (invisible in ASCII editors) in
startup-sequence as 1st entry: "$A0,$A0,$A0,$20,$9B,$41". identification using
a disk manager: a file  $A0,$A0,$A0 (invisible) exists in root directory, with
length=2916 byte. Text in memory: "Hi. Jeff's speaking here... (w) by the
genious BUTONIC... V3.00/9.2.89 - Gen.0026 Greetings to
*Hackmack*,*Atlantic*, & Alex,Frank,Wolfram, Gerlach,Miguel,Klaus,Snoopy-
Data!"; this text is displayed as alert message after destruction of a disk
structure. Storage media affected: all bootable and disk-like devices
JITR
system virus (bootblock), residentLength of Virus on storage medium and RAM
1024 byte. Typical text  "JITR" at 3rd bootblock longword, and "Copy count :",
"I'm a safe virus! Dont kill me! I want to travel! And now a joke ATARI ST
This virus is a product of JITR" at the end of bootblock. Storage media
affected: only floppy disks (3.5" and 5.25")
LAMER EXTERMINATOR(s)
bootblock virus. Hides in the background and periodically writes data to
random locations on the disk. It was detected by Zero Virus III.
LAMMERII virus.
Bootblock virus. I had a floppy-only system at the time; found on a third of
write-enabled disks. Apparently copies itself from boot block to boot block,
and at random writes the word "Lammer!" all over one unlucky sector.
PENTAGON CIRCLE
Caught from copied Jr-comm software, disk not bootable
REVENGE OF LAMER EXTERMINATOR
Link virus (directory type), length on storage medium 4448 byte in RAM 4412
byte identification by the following entry (invisible in ASCII) in startup-
sequence as first entry: "$A0,$A0,$A0,$A0,$A0,$00" (hex). Identification by
using a disk manager. Existing file entry in the root directory "no name"
(invisible) with length=4448 byte. Identification by an alert message (3
pages) after destroying a disk. RED ALERT - It has come to my attention that
the person using this computer is a LAMER. (*)(rest omitted).
SADDAM virus
caught from a pirated game
SCA
simply displays a message after a number of warm boots something like.  Your
amiga is alive, another virus from the mega mighty SCA. Caught from a local
bbs uploaded by a quickly deleted user.
SMILY CANCER
Slows the computer down, pointer changes to smiley face caught from unwarp1.4
SYSTEM Z(s) 3.0 Antivirus-Virus
TERRORISTS
Link virus (renaming) Identification "TTV1" at end of virus (length=2608 byte)
identification on disk: a file in ROOT- and/or DEVS-directory is named with
following unprintable string:  $A0,$20,$20,$20,$A0,$20,$20,$A0,$20,$A0,$A0;
length of first command in startup-sequence seems to be altered to 2608 byte
(because file is not original anymore). Storage media affected: bootable
floppy disks (3.5" and 5.25"), bootable RAM disks, bootable hard disks. Screen
becomes black, a graphic with following text is displayed: "a computer virus
is a disease terrorism is a transgression  software piracy is a crime this is
the cure..."
TURK
system virus (bootblock). Identification "TURK", "Amiga Failure... Cause TURK
VIRUS Version 1.3!" Infection Trigger reset operation. Permanent Damage: virus
overwrites bootblock and destroys 880 blocks by overwriting them with
unformated sequence of data from RAM thus causing read/write error on affected
storage media.
VKILL 1.0 Antivirus-Virus
======================== END OF PART ONE ===========================
 dormant, clocking up how many times they have been OEcopied until they reach a
 predetermined number THEN THEY STRIKE.E  W10. Don't lend working disks to
 ANYONE. If you must 'lend' someone a program, WMput it onto another disk if
 possible. W
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