| According to Bob Tolly at Syndesis, FAL and a Mail program will be included
in the next release. Due to time contraints, the V1.0 does not contain
those utilities. I don't know what the time frame is, but it should be
fairly soon. I'm looking forward to it also.
As is, the DECnet software is most useful for using multiple terminals,
or as a transport for Dale Luck's X-Windows software. File transfer is
definitely needed.
Steve
|
| Writing a NFT is a non trivial exercise due to the DAP protocol,
VMS wildcarding, and RMS file attributes. I am surprised to see a
shipping DECnet product that doesn't include file transfer.
Unless they wanted you to use a terminal emulator file transfer
protocol over CTERM instead for this release. You might want to try
that approach first.
regards,
dennis
|
| RE:.5
> Unless they wanted you to use a terminal emulator file transfer
> protocol over CTERM instead for this release. You might want to try
> that approach first.
Ahem, ummm I think that is what was expected. It *is* remarkably
slow, but seems to work OK. sigh.
-SES
|
| I went out and bought my first game in a long while, "The Perfect General"
by White Wolf Productions, marketed by Quantum Quality Productions. I'd
thought about it before, but hesitated because of my dissapointment over
other wargames on the Amiga. Two reviews on USENet convinced me; I've
still got one if anyone is interested in a long review.
In brief, TPG is pretty much what I think a wargame on the Amiga should
be like. The heritage from the table-top board games I enjoy is very
much in evidence: hex grids, square pieces with movement/firepower/range,
etc. However, the computer is there to do all the grunt work; it makes sure
you don't violate stacking restrictions, keeps track of which units have
fired, keeps track of damages to units, calculates the odds and rolls
the dice, keeps score, etc. In addition, all the information that you
*should* have is available from the keyboard or mouse (I've seen games
that *didn't* have that; you couldn't play them without constantly
hunting for things in the manual). Finally, having the computer lets you
do things you can't on a tabletop. It keeps track of line of sight, and
pieces you can't see aren't visible to you. They appear and dissapear
as they move into and out of view, giving you a brief moment for opportunity
fire (the only feature that depends on your reflexes).
More realistic graphics (i.e. - holograms of real objects :-) would be nice,
but I believe they've used the Amiga capabilities to good effect. The only
other problem is that winning (so far) is too easy. I won the scenario
they set up as a "short intro" (A Simple Little War) the second time I played
it, even though I hadn't really read the manual yet; and am currently
running about 9-3. Oh yeah - I've spent far to many hours playing it.
Recommended to wargame buffs. It's billed as a strategic game, but feels
more tactical (artillery takes a turn to arrive; units have ranges),
at somewhere around the company level.
Now, anyone else have a copy? Strategy discussions, etc? Anyone in the
bay area wanna try the play by modem hooks? Anyone want the long, detailed
review from USENet?
<mike
|