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	Events : AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
	posted by ssolie on 26-Oct-2007 2:55:10 (7894 reads)

I held off on booking my trip to AmiWest and saved thanks to the Canadian dollar reaching parity with the American dollar for the first time in over 30 years. I arrived late Friday night which is usually the day before the show date but not this year. Due to a scheduling mishap the show organizers had lost the Saturday to another, even stranger, group of people from some empowerment training company that enjoyed chanting in the hallways. Some quick thinking moved the show to Sunday with the banquet on Saturday evening after all the newly empowered people had left.

click read more

A big thanks should go out to Jens Schoenfeld from Individual Computers for sponsoring the AmiWest 2007 show. His generosity enabled the show organizers to waive the admission fee. Unfortunately, Jens himself could not make the show this year but I'm pretty sure he will be back with new goodies next year.

Before the banquet got underway each of us spent the Saturday doing whatever we wanted. I managed to grab a ride with the AmigaKit boys on a search for lunch and a Wal Mart believe it or not. After driving around Sacramento's lovely highway system for a while we had given up on finding the elusive Wal Mart on the tourist map and were heading back to the hotel when we spotted one in a nearby mall. Matthew and I perused the electronics while David shopped away. After getting back to the hotel I met up with Brian Deneen, President of SACC, and went to work on his AmigaOne-SE box. A couple of hours of fighting with his machine later I had given up on the idea of using his machine in my demo. The SE has troubles with USB and had trouble reading with the DVD drive. I still had Ken Wilde's Amiga handy which is a MicroA1-C he has been tweaking. Ken (aka sundown aka Mr. VCORE) happened to bring along an extra battery so at least the old SE board has a fresh battery now. Brian managed to get the latest version of Amiga OS 4.0 installed on it later on by some small miracle.

The banquet was a lovely roast beef buffet with plenty of yummy vegetables just like mom used to make. After dinner the SACC awards were handed out and we held our breath for the big show announcements. Hyperion decided to take the opportunity to tell the Amiga community about their release date for the classic PPC version of Amiga OS 4.0 which is now due on November 30, 2007. Bill Panagouleas from DiscreetFX announced he had purchased the Aladdin 4D source code and planned to ship updated versions for AROS, MorphOS, Mac OS and Amiga OS 4.0 with a free Windows version thrown in for each copy purchased. That was a clever way to say there is a Windows version but you'll have to buy one of the other versions to get it. Bill was to surprise us all yet again during the show on Sunday.

Saturday night was spent partying in a vacant hotel suite. After being stopped by some nervous looking fellow after leaving the room I had a feeling something weird was going on. Being used to not divulging information, the guy quickly gave up and left rather confused. While in the room many watched in awe as Bill Borsari installed the very latest beta ISO of the Amiga OS onto his A4000 PPC box. What a bunch of Amiga beta testers, developers and Mr. Panagouleas discussed over refreshments was pretty fascinating but what happens at the show stays at the show.

Sunday morning was hectic since the show officially opened at 09:00. We were not really ready when the first visitors arrived but it was a rather informal atmosphere and nobody seemed to mind. At the front we had Bill Borsari of UGN fame doing his famous streaming audio and video techno-dance with the extra challenge of wireless-only access this year. Clockwise from him was Douglas McLaughlin (aka STRICQ) selling all sorts of Amiga gear including a near mint A4000T. The DiscreetFX table was manned by Bill Panagoulas and son selling his video wonders. The Amiga Users of Calgary (AMUC) was manned by myself and frequented by Ken who was worried I just might wander off with his Amiga at any moment. A big thanks to Ken for the loaner by the way! The Amiga Round Table (ART) with Rich Lawrence (aka MobbyG) was there producing pod casts and selling an uncensored version of some of his shows on disc. Amiga Future magazine was next followed by PageStream and SACC in the corner. AmigaKit was next with a great free shipping deal for stuff purchased at the show that was not in stock at the show. They had a selection of goods on sale at their table and ended up taking a lot more home when Matt picked up the A4000T in the end.

At the centre of the room was the big screen where the various demos and presentations could take place. I remember seeing a bit of the Amiga OS 4.0 on the A4000 PPC demo. The Synergy client source code walkthrough was a hit with the programmers at the show. I showed off a little bit of my Ranger tool along with a distcc demo and some of my WW2 game being controlled by Lua for good measure. DiscreetFX had something to present but there was a technical glitch from what I understand so he didn't get to show off this time. Bill certainly made up for the lack of a presentation by buying 10 copies of Amiga OS for the PPC equipped Amigas and giving them away in a random draw. Bravo!

The day ended and the show visitor count was something around 50 from what I heard. I know I had about 20 or so chats myself at my table. I was disappointed with the attendance this year as compared to years before but you have to roll with the punches when you are stuck in next gen. Amiga limbo as I am. The other systems didn't show again like AROS and MorphOS. AmigaKit did bring along their resident Pegasos guy (David) but he didn't get any questions. We all voted as to whether to have a show next year or give up and the overwhelming majority was a yes vote. I managed to make a few new Amiga developer contacts and seeing my old Amiga friends in person is always a real treat.

When I heard AmigaKit really wanted some of those American ribs I made sure to steer (pun intended) the dinner party in that direction. We ended up at a very nice restaurant nearby and ribs where served to our English friends. There was a small dispute about the true size of a pint (an American pint is much smaller) so a couple of pints were ordered to make up the difference. After closing the restaurant we pretty much said our good-byes.

As for next year, we all believe we can fix up the show and get some higher attendance numbers again. It isn't the fact the show is not being run properly. Chuck Washburn and the SACC team always organize a professional show. It didn't help that Chuck's ISP went flaky just weeks before the event and his contact at the hotel left employment without notice. It is also true that the ongoing litigation between Amiga Inc. and Hyperion scared away many vendors this year. SACC did their very best but they just can't win against a small army of lawyers and a seemingly endless supply of Amiga user apathy.

I don't want to end on a sour note so I'd just like to say I had a great time at the show and I look forward to attending again next year at AmiWest 2008!

--Steven Solie

STORYID: 4024

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tekmage

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 6:16:27

[ #1 ]

Regular Member

Joined: 23-Mar-2005
Posts: 443
From: San Francisco

Thanks Steve for putting this together. I want to add a big thank you to everyone who attended remotely and offer my apologies for the poor performance of the Hotel network. In the past we've been able to tab directly in to the hotel network however, this year they've upgraded their network to be wireless only. With out having wireless cards in my Amiga's or main broadcasting PC we tried a bunch of different things to get the networking up. Doug (STRICQ) did a great job getting the PC setup to share the network connection and for the Banquet we could stream with no internet problems (just audio issues). After the banquet we solved the audio problems and packed up all the gear for security.

The next day we got everything setup but the audio problems returned and the Windows XP systems would not share the internet no matter what we tried. Eventually we figured out that I plugged in a different monitor to the powerstrip with the audio gear and it was generating the unwanted noise. Once that was fixed we still had the internet problems. At about 1:30 I decided just to run out and get a wireless USB device for my broadcast system. So at around two PM Sunday I was able to get a stable video feed off the show floor. Little late but better then never.

So in closing I wanted to say again thank you to everyone who took their time to join us online. I hope you were able to enjoy the show despite the connection and audio problems. As always I will strive to make next years show that much better.

Take care and keep the faith,
Bill "tekmage" Borsari

Status: Offline

pavlor

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 6:17:24

[ #2 ]

Elite Member

Joined: 10-Jul-2005
Posts: 9636
From: Unknown

Thanks for info.

Status: Offline

fairlanefastback

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 13:52:50

[ #3 ]

Team Member

Joined: 22-Jun-2005
Posts: 4886
From: MA, USA

Quote:
We all voted as to whether to have a show next year or give up and the overwhelming majority was a yes vote.

How many people were involved with the vote?

_________________
Pegasos2 G3 running AOS 4.1 and MorphOS 2.0
Amikit user, tinkering with Icaros VM (AROS)
EFIKA owner
Amiga 1200

Status: Offline

ssolie

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 14:09:47

[ #4 ]

Elite Member

Joined: 10-Mar-2003
Posts: 2755
From: Alberta, Canada

Quote:
How many people were involved with the vote?

Exactly the correct amount needed for SACC to put on another show next year. No more and no less.

_________________
ExecSG Team Lead

Status: Offline

fairlanefastback

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 14:39:34

[ #5 ]

Team Member

Joined: 22-Jun-2005
Posts: 4886
From: MA, USA

@ssolie

So an "overwhelming majority" was the exact "correct amount needed", "no more and no less"? lol

Well god bless the 40 to 50 of you who went in total. I was just curious how big the voting pool was of those 45 or so people. Is it a state secret? LOL!

Thanks for the report BTW, if this were an East Coast thing I probably would have gone.

Last edited by fairlanefastback on 26-Oct-2007 at 02:45 PM.

_________________
Pegasos2 G3 running AOS 4.1 and MorphOS 2.0
Amikit user, tinkering with Icaros VM (AROS)
EFIKA owner
Amiga 1200

Status: Offline

Hans

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 14:52:07

[ #6 ]

Elite Member

Joined: 27-Dec-2003
Posts: 5098
From: New Zealand

Any more info on PageStream? How's that program progressing?

Hans

_________________
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Status: Offline

AmigaClyde

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 15:44:08

[ #7 ]

Elite Member

Joined: 8-Mar-2003
Posts: 2007
From: Noranda Canada

Thanks for the info Steven. As I can see, you've really had a great time.

_________________
---------
AmigaClyde

µA1-C 750GX@800 using OS4.1

Status: Offline

DiscreetFX

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 15:55:26

[ #8 ]

Elite Member

Joined: 12-Feb-2003
Posts: 2543
From: Chicago, IL

Thanks for the show report Steve, it was great to meet you and see everyone else. I hope everyone enjoyed the free beer @ the Saturday night party courtesy of DiscreetFX.

Last edited by DiscreetFX on 26-Oct-2007 at 03:56 PM.

_________________
Sent from my Quantum Computer.

Status: Offline

OldAmigan

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 18:13:29

[ #9 ]

Cult Member

Joined: 25-Dec-2003
Posts: 683
From: Dumfries, Scotland

@ssolie

Thanks for the show report, I managed to miss the event "on air" as I was working, so this was just I needed.

@all those who organised/demonstrated/ attended

Thanks for keeping this important show going. Maybe one year I might get to take it in (better sooner than later, maybe?)

_________________
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========================================
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Status: Offline

JKD

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 20:43:37

[ #10 ]

Regular Member

Joined: 17-Aug-2003
Posts: 210
From: South of Heaven

Excellent show report, many thanks as I was not able to be there again this year due to work and personal travel commitments.

Every year I say this though, hopefully there will be something new to show by next year...

New Amiga Hardware?

MOS 2.0?

....hopefully. If the new v. of MOS is available then I'll be there with my Peg 2 at least.....but really this never gets turned on unless there's new software around these days....sad but I'm sure I'm not the only one who uses OS X or Linux or Windows majority of the time now.

Status: Offline

MobbyG

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 20:54:36

[ #11 ]

Regular Member

Joined: 7-May-2003
Posts: 203
From: In the Hizzzeeww!

@fairlanefastback
Quote:
Thanks for the report BTW, if this were an East Coast thing I probably would have gone.

Are you close enough upstate to maybe come to the U.N.YA.U.G. meeting we're planning?

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Status: Offline

sundown

Re: AmiWest 2007 Trip Report
Posted on 26-Oct-2007 21:14:04

[ #12 ]

Elite Member

Joined: 30-Aug-2003
Posts: 5120
From: Right here...

@DiscreetFX

Quote:
I hope everyone enjoyed the free beer @ the Saturday night party courtesy of DiscreetFX.

Let me be the first to thank you for the "refreshments" referred to by ssolie in his show report.