By Michael Webb, Editor-in-Chief, MikeWebb@CompuServe.COM
Things have happened so quickly, it's almost difficult to understand it.
While several decades old, the Internet has only recently become highly popular among consumers everywhere. First, as the overhyped "Information Superhighway," and then as the overhyped "Internet," it began to creep into businesses, universities, libraries, schools, and even people's homes, at an alarming rate.
Being the PC and Mac, the PC and Mac certainly were not at a loss for internet software once things really started getting underway.
Amiga users, on the other hand, had cause for concern. Commodore died just in time for the Amiga to practically miss the boat. However, as always, the 3rd-party developers saved the day. AmiTCP allowed people to establish an internet connection, but it was very difficult to set up. However, some Amiga script programmers created solutions that made it a bit easier. My AmiTCP setup was very jury-rigged, but functional.
AMosaic then became the first Amiga web browser to support inlined images. Functional on Amiga OS 2.04, it required OS 3.x to display graphics. In retrospect, it was awfully primitive, but at the time, it seemed practically revolutionary.
Amiga Internet users got a big boost early in 1996. A new browser, IBrowse, had appeared on the scene, and was beginning to become quite capable. Along about the same time, Voyager became available and briefly challenged IBrowse, while the simplistic first version of AWeb gave those who wished not to use MUI an option.
The browsers were improving, but then the actual connection facilities got better as well. Playing off the difficulties involved in configuring AmiTCP, well-known Amiga programmer Holger Kruse and Oregon Research more or less simultaneously developed and introduced Miami and TermiteTCP, respectively. I've used all three of the aforementioned TCP stacks (AmiTCP, Miami, and TermiteTCP), and I can tell you that the latest two are a big improvement in user-friendliness, as well as more specific to the task of connecting to the internet via a modem and Online Service/Internet Service Provider. If there was any appreciable difference, it was that I had to contact CompuServe (my provider) for a particular piece of configuration information for TermiteTCP, which Miami, for some reason, didn't seem to need me to specify. Also, TermiteTCP does not use MUI, for those for whom that is a criterium.
Amiga web browsers get more impressive all the time. IBrowse more or less dominated the spotlight throughout the summer of 1996. I can personally attest to this; as someone who receives a lot of e-mail, I can tell you that many messages are being sent with the "IBrowse (version #) (Amiga; Always 32-bit)" line designated as the X-Mailer. And keep in mind those are only those who have purchased the software, as the demos do not support e-mail.
Very recently, however, Voyager and AWeb have returned. The new version of Voyager (NG, a.k.a. Next Generation) seems to support everything IBrowse does, as well as Frames, making it the first Amiga web browser to do so. I have briefly tried it out, and after I was able to recover from the initial shock of seeing Frames being rendered on my Amiga's screen, I was able to observe a few things. I didn't have much of a chance to explore the Frames support in great detail, as I only took a quick trip over to the only URL I know from memory of a site containing Frames (http://www.ticalc.org, which has nothing to do with Amigas whatsoever). I tried out Voyager's new Tables support on The Amiga Monitor, and the results left a bit to be desired. Plus, the color allocation was not so great on a 16 color screen. It would most likely be much better on a system with AGA or better graphics, of course. However, this is a very big improvement for Voyager, with more enhancements forthcoming.
I haven't seen the latest version of AWeb, but it seems to be gaining quite a bit of popularity.
However, I have recently been informed that IBrowse, not to be outdone, will soon support Frames via an update to version 1.10 which will be available on HiSoft's web site, http://www.hisoft.co.uk.
Next month, I will do a point-by-point comparison of the major web browsers available for the Amiga today, to give a better idea of which is most suitable for each individual person's needs.
We certainly do owe a lot to those great 3rd-party developers. It might not be so clear in this case, until one considers that networking is one of the few aspects of computing for which there is no support whatsoever, or even acknowledgment, within the Amiga OS. And yet you can browse the internet (hmm...chicken or egg?), or even the libraries of various online services, and put together a perfectly functional Amiga internet setup from scratch. Are these great programmers, or what?
And is this one great computer, or what?
Finally, I'd just like to close by saying that for those of you who have Amigas capable of running internet software, and yet continue to use PC's or Mac's to access the 'net because you fear the implications and complexities involved in getting an Amiga internet setup running, you need not worry. With Miami or TermiteTCP, connecting to an Internet Provider with an Amiga is a dream, and the software itself runs like a dream. My 68030 Amiga gets noticeably better transfer rates than my 486 PC, and the multitasking of the Amiga OS allows many internet clients to run simultaneously, very smoothly. So, in other words, go for it! The rewards are worth the efforts, but if nothing else, you've really got nothing to lose.