AmiWest 2009, the Amiga show for the West Coast of the USA, is history. We held steady with a slight improvement in attendance and had some new exhibitors this year.

As always, breaking news was a part of our show. Steven Solie announced at 2 PM on Saturday afternoon, October 17 that the lawsuit(s) between Amiga Inc. and Hyperion Entertainment is (are) OVER! Binding arbitration was accepted by all parties, with Hyperion Entertainment emerging with the rights to continue with Amiga OS4 and beyond as well as other trademark and intellectual property rights. Here is the text of the official announcement, taken from the hyperion-entertainment.biz website:

“Hyperion Entertainment CVBA and Amiga Inc. reach settlement”

Brussels, Belgium: October 17, 2009

Hyperion Entertainment CVBA is pleased to announce that on September 30, 2009, it has reached a comprehensive settlement agreement with Amiga, Inc., Itec LLC and Amino Development Corporation, Inc., to bring all ongoing litigation and worldwide pending procedures between the parties to an end.

As part of the settlement agreement, the Amiga Parties acknowledge that Hyperion is the sole owner of AmigaOS 4 without prejudice to any third party rights.

Within the framework of the settlement agreement Hyperion is granted an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide right to AmigaOS 3.1 in order to use, develop, modify, commercialize, distribute and market AmigaOS 4.x (and subsequent versions of AmigaOS including without limitation AmigaOS 5) in any form, on any medium and for any current or future hardware platform under the exclusive trademark “AmigaOS” (Amiga operating system) and using other associated trademarks (such as the “BoingBall” logo).

Hyperion will continue development and distribution of AmigaOS 4.x (and beyond) as it has done since November of 2001.

We wish to thank our loyal customers who have supported us throughout the judicial procedures and especially the AmigaOS 4.x development team for their continued efforts and at the request of whom this official announcement was made.

As Hyperion Entertainment’s most ambitious project to date is drawing to a close in collaboration with our partners, we invite our current and prospective customers to watch this space for further updates on Hyperion’s continued efforts to revive the Amiga platform.”

We hope that this signals the end of hostilities and the “green light” for software development that is needed so much for Amiga to bring all of the Amiga advantages to the marketplace as a serious competitor. Many thanks to everyone at Hyperion for persisting through these trying times.

We would also like to thank all of our exhibitors and volunteers for their efforts in making AmiWest the community event that it is. We are both a legacy platform and the future of computing. That community spirit was totally in evidence at AmiWest, with 99% in attendance at the Saturday night banquet pledging to return for AmiWest 2010! (The sole dissenter, a faithful SACC volunteer, will be unable to return due to a change in residence.)

We wish to thank everyone for their cooperation, positive attitude and willingness to support our exhibitors. Please help them continue their activities throughout the year so that all of us can return to AmiWest in 2010 with reports of a great year.

We have had many requests for the seminar schedule for the show. Here is the AMIWEST SEMINAR SCHEDULE FOR 2009

Saturday. October 17th

10:00 AM – Using Amiga OS 4 – a discussion of software and hardware
available for Amiga OS 4

11:00 AM – All about Aros – Learn about the status of the AROS project
and how to get started

2 PM – Hyperion presentation by Steve Solie

Sunday, October 18th

9:00 AM – Introduction to Amiga OS 4 development

10:00 AM – Using Python and Arexx on OS 4 – Steve Solie

2 PM: Networking for OS4 using Road Show

As always, in Bill Borsari’s phrase, “all times are subject to reality.” We get as close as we can to the published times, dependent, as always, on the presenters and equipment “issues,” if any.

We want to thank our presenters in advance for their efforts. Their presentations help make the show more of a learning experience for everyone.

As we have said before, you make the show. Your attendance, participation and purchases from our vendors make AmiWest what it is. Thanks to all of you who will be there.

See you there!

We have just received word from Jens Schoenfeld that the latest Indivision display card will be available for sale at AmiWest 2009!

Here is the preliminary announcement (somewhat [edited]) from the Individual Computers website:

Indivision ECS under development
The next version of our popular flickerfixer will be made for Amiga models with OCS- and ECS-chipset. .. It is meant to work with the Amiga models A500, A600(**), A1000, A2000 and A3000. All known technical data will presumably be in Indivision ECS: All screenmodes will be output with more than 60Hz, and the S-Hires modes of the ECS chipset will be displayed in full resolution. Indivision ECS will be installed on the socket of the Denise chip of the target computer. . .
[**memory expansion A603 required]

We have, in fact, already received the parcels containing the new Indivision cards. So if you’re looking for a great new display card for your classic Amiga hardware, look no further than AmiWest. And many thanks to Jens Schoelfeld for his continuing developments for Amiga!

See you at AmiWest this weekend!

As in years past, we will have a donation box available this year for those who wish to help us with next year’s show. Although we have had a great response from sponsors, more financial support is always helpful in a volunteer, not-for-profit effort such as our AmiWest computer show.

So look for the donation box to make your contribution. One hundred percent of every contribution goes toward the show expenses to help defray the costs associated with the show.

Thanks to each and every one who decides to donate.

Here are our latest confirmed exhibitors as of 13 October 2009:

Pagestream
Amigakit
AMUC
Amigdave
UGN
Computer Connection
Hyperion

. . . and a surprise!

It wouldn’t be AmiWest without a surprise exhibitor so you will have to come to the show to see who that is!

The Classic Clinic begins on Friday at 5 PM (with hors d’œuvre included).

The show opens at 10 AM on Saturday, with seminars spaced throughout the day. The show floor closes at 5 PM to prepare for the AmiWest banquet at 7 PM.

The show opens again at 10 AM Sunday and continues until 5 PM Sunday, with more seminars on tap.

So our exhibitors will be present and available for TWO DAYS this year, thanks to an anonymous sponsor who came forward to fund Sunday. Many thanks to our anonymous donor!

But it doesn’t mean anything to you unless you attend! So make plans to be there now! And bring others with you. The more, the merrier.

See you there this weekend!

We have just received word that Hyperion Entertainment, developers of Amiga OS4, is sending none other than Steven Solie as their rep to AmiWest 2009! This has just been confirmed by personal conversation with Mr. Solie.

Steven Solie is well-known to many as an OS4 developer, beta-tester and AmiWest exhibitor for AMUC. This year, he is also the Hyperion rep.

He will be bringing “juicy news” to AmiWest regarding the current activities of Hyperion in the Amiga sphere. And you won’t want to miss it.

As usual, surprises and exclusive news happens at AmiWest. So if you haven’t already planned to be here, make your plans now!

See you next Friday!

In little more than a week, AmiWest 2009 will begin! Here’s the general schedule:

Friday, October 16, 2009

Classic Clinic: bring your classic Amiga hardware in for updating and / or maintenance. It all starts at 5 PM on Friday, October 16, 2009 and ends at 10 PM.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

The show begins at 10 AM. Watch this blog for a more specific schedule to be posted soon. The main show floor closes at 5 PM to prepare for the AmiWest banquet.

7 PM: Amiwest banquet, featuring the yearly SACC awards and a panel of speakers. Again, more specifics to come!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Another day has been added, courtesy of one of our sponsors. Again, the show floor opens at 10 AM and closes at 5 PM.

Sunday (after the show closes)

Traditionally we have gathered at a local restaurant to continue conversation.

So there is the general schedule for AmiWest 2009. If you haven’t already made plans, it isn’t too late. Remember, admission is free thanks to our sponsors, Amigakit and Individual Computers.

See you there!

These vendors have confirmed their presence at AmiWest 2009:

Pagestream
Amigakit
AMUC
Amigdave
UGN
Computer Connection

In addition, there are two others which may attend yet have not decided as of this date.

So keep watching for further details! We’ll have more soon. Make plans to attend now:

FREE ADMISSION!
Major developers attending!
Classic Clinic on Friday night, show with seminars on Saturday and Sunday!

The dates are October 16-18, 2009! Here’s the hotel data:

Capital City Hotel   – Please note the name change (was Clarion )
2600 Auburn Blvd.  
Sacramento California 95821

Hotel reservations:
gm@capitolcityhotel.com
Reservations Phone 1-916-487-7600
and online at capitolcityhotel.com

See you there!

Due to practical feedback from our attendees, the AmiWest 2009 banquet will be back on Saturday night, October 17 for 2009! This allows people who can’t get here on Friday to attend the banquet.

We will have a panel of speakers this year including some well-known Amiga people plus one new guest. Stay tuned as we confirm everyone’s participation.

The price is the same as in years past: $29.00 per ticket. You must reserve in advance as we have to tell the hotel how many people are coming. Please send your check to:

AmiWest Banquet Tickets
c/o Chuck Washburn
7051 Dolan Way
Citrus Heights, CA 95621

We hope to see all of you there!

Dave Morris, aka Amigadave, has volunteered to run an Amiga game
competition for 2009! As you might imagine, this takes lots of
coordination to select the games, assemble the machines to play, collect
enough monitors to use, get prizes donated for the winners, and run the
event at the show.

He has asked that participants register before the show so he has some idea
how many people intend to play. Please send the registrations to
amigadave@earthlink.net. Here are some of the details that Dave sent to
us:

“The Amiga Game Competition will consist of 5 different Amiga games to
be played on 5 different types of Amiga computers. The planning is not
set in stone yet, but it looks like I will have one game running on a
Classic Amiga (probably an A600 w/2mb RAM), another game running on a
SAM440ep w/AmigaOS4.1, another game running on an Efika w/MorphOS2.3,
another game running on either a MiniMig v1.1, or on a C-One computer
running a MiniMig core via it’s add-on FPGA board, and the fifth game
running on a PC using emulation such as AmigaForever, or AmiKit/WinUAE.

I am accepting suggestions for which games should be used on the above
listed hardware, but each of the games chosen must have a numerical
score given as the result of playing the game, as all scores for each
of the 5 games will be totaled to determine the winners. Prizes will
be awarded to at least the top three scorers in the competition, as
well as one prize raffled to a random person just for participating in
the contest.

The entry fee to participate is $2 and pre-registering to participate
is encouraged, so we will have some idea of how many contestants we
might have and therefore can estimate the time needed to complete, but
no money will be accepted before the AmiWest 2009 show begins. The
registration fees collected will be used solely to offset the cost of
obtaining the prizes, and if there is any excess money, it will be
given back to the first place finisher in the contest as well as the
first place prize.”

Sounds like a great new feature for our show! Please contact Dave
at the email address above to register your participation.

And many thanks to Amigadave for volunteering to do this.