DENNY ATKIN'S BEST AMIGA TIPS AND SECRETS

Lets not beat around the bush, books on the Amiga are sometimes hard to come by. Just walk into any store that once upon a time sold heap big piles of Amiga merchandise. By the time you've waded through the endless seas of cartridge games, scaled the highest mountains of ms-dos/windows books, and crossed vast deserts of Macintosh stuff, you're probably too pooped to peruse. Not that you would find anything anyway. Don't bother with most bookstores either, it's the same old nowhere scene, man.

Fortunately, I happened to stumble across a neat little book for Amiga users one day. I looked it over for all of a millisecond and plunked down my $19.95 for it. DENNY ATKIN'S BEST AMIGA TIPS AND TRICKS (1993 Compute Books) was now part of my library. In 1985, Denny Atkin formed one of the first Amiga users groups and claims to be the second person to own an Amiga in the state of Mississippi. He has compiled a nifty little book that contains a mound of information between its covers. Without getting too long-winded, here is a rundown of the book's contents.

The first part of the book is essential to anyone who is considering purchasing an Amiga (and let's face it, if you've seen one, Ya probably want one). It runs down the entire technical specs for EVERY Amiga model from the 1000 to the new AGA 1200s and 4000s, with even (GASP) pictures! It also includes the A500+ and the A3000T. Then a quick little section on disks, including a run down of each type (floppy, hard, CD-ROMS etc), how to speed up floppy use, and how to read and write disks from the lowliest of other computer formats.

Chapter 3 (workbench tips), and chapter 4 (CLI tips) seem to be the real "MEAT" of the book. Sink your teeth into these chapters, there's alot to chew. Both chapters are broken down into 3 sections, workbench 1.x tips, 2.x tips and 3.x tips. So regardless of your Version, dive right in. The CLI section gives many practical uses of AmigaDos commands (something Commodore hates to do) and there are even little tricks for viewing "Secret Programmers Messages" hidden in each operating system. Every kid young or old loves secret stuff so these were fun to check out.

Scanning the next chapter quickly we find lots of helpful hints on printers and printing, which bring us to the next sections, "Hardware, Upgrades, and CD-ROM". Once again, lots of info here kids. How to expand the Amiga with accelerators, RAM expansion, etc. Thinking of upgrading from AmigaDos 1.3 to 2.1? It's just an index fingers distance away. I myself just upgraded to 2.1 and it was quick and painless (although I do tend to sweat and tremble a bit every time I see my Amiga opened up like a cadaver). This section even has a bit or two about expanding the 1000, so you 1000 owners out there -Keep the faith! The CD-ROM section tells you step by step the process for turning a CDTV unit into a fully functioning Amiga...and vice versa.

Just past the midway point of the book comes Chapter 8- Multiple personalities. This is where to find all kinds of bits about computer emulators and transferring files between different computer formats. Whether you want to emulate a C64 (Cool!), or a Macintosh (Huh?), or even an MS-DOS (What?), the book contains valuable info on how to go about selecting the right emulator. In this section is also suggestions on what emulator is the best for running (No, Don't say it!!!)...Windows, on the Amiga. On a personal note I'd just like to add that I am forced to use Windows everyday at work and I would much rather chew tinfoil than see "Unrecoverable Application Error" 37 times a day, but hey, we all have our problems. After a quick look at Chapter 9 which covers selecting the proper monitor for your particular Amiga needs, we have AGA: THE NEXT GENERATION AMIGAS. This chapter is entirely devoted to the lucky dogs who own 1200s and 4000s. AGA compatibility and upgrading are made easy. The chapter is kinda short because the AGAs are so new, but it's better than a slap on the belly with a wet trout.

If you are sitting there holding this article in your sweaty paws and wondering, "I wonder what chapter really helped out the reviewer the most?" (and if you are you DEFINITELY need to get out more), the answer would be Chapter 11- TELECOMMUNICATIONS. Lots of answers here about everything from selecting modems to learning telecommunication lingo. Wanna know what :-) means? Read the book. This chapter answered all the questions I've been pestering people with about decompressing files. Yes, it seems that I've had some kind of mental block (dim-witted) when it comes to decompression and for the life of me I just couldn't grasp it. But hey, the book sent me skipping back down the fun-filled path of .arc and .zoo in no time at all.

The very last chapter in the book is MISCELLANY. It covers (Wow, What a guess!!!) a little bit of everything. Add beefy mega-speakers to your Amiga and annoy the neighbors! Use an analog joystick and watch you flight sims really take off! Improve audio clarity and watch MS-DOS users drool! Make better KRAFT macaroni and cheese (Not a joke, this is actually covered in the book). Add 2 appendixes (Recommended Amiga software and hardware) and you've got a lot of information at your sweaty little fingertips.

And so this brings us to the end (I know, About time) of this review. I must conclude by saying that this book scratches just about every category when it comes to what we all love best, computing on the Amiga. Although I recommend the book to any Amiga owner, I must say that it is best for those who are about to purchase an Amiga or those of you who are new to the Amiga. I had my Amiga for 3 years before I joined a users group and many of the questions the group has answered for me can be found in this excellent book. The difference in this book seems to be that it was obviously written by someone who shares the same passion for the Amiga as I do. And so I say to Denny Atkin and the Amiga, "Live Long And Prosper".

Dr. Torgo