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11.-14.09.25 • Classic Computing 2025 • Hof (Germany)
17.-19.10.25 • Amiga40 • Mönchengladbach (Germany)
14.-16.11.25 • Flashback-Symposium #02 • Jößnitz (Germany)

20.Aug.2021



RTG driver: P96 v3.1.1
In July Individual Computers updated its graphics cards driver P96 to version 3.1.0. Version 3.1.1 now fixes some bugs introduced with this version:
  • the mouse pointer might have been "lost" in certain cases - fixed.
  • RTG card's memory organization improved for higher blitter usage rate, increasing overall speed experience if enough memory is available.
  • P96Mode now ghosts disabled modes and resolutions, which makes them easier to spot.
  • If new settings are created, P96Mode now populates the available modes with VESA default values. It is no longer necessary to create them all manually. As soon as the modes are attached to a board, P96 checks the validity of them.
  • Memory requirements of the planar boards are now checked against the planar memory size, which may be different from the chunky size.
  • For the S3 Virge in 8-bit stream-processor enabled modes, the leftmost pixel column was missing; fixed.
(dr)

[News message: 20. Aug. 2021, 19:14] [Comments: 0]
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20.Aug.2021
Hyperion Forum


Linux: Running Void Linux on an AmigaOne X5000
In an entry in the Hyperion forum, Christian 'xeno74' Zigotzky explained how he installed the Linux distribution Void Linux on an AmigaOne X5000. (dr)

[News message: 20. Aug. 2021, 18:42] [Comments: 0]
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17.Aug.2021



MorphOS: Web browser Wayfarer 2.4
Jacek 'jacadcaps' Piszczeks has released version 2.4 of his web browser Wayfarer which introduces WebAudio playback support. Changes:
  • Implemented Download As...
  • WebAudio support for sample playback (while Google Translate text to speech works just fine, most online MOD players will be too slow)
  • Implemented a Media flags popup
  • Improved SSL certificate verification to avoid cases where a website wouldn't load due to cert not matching the hostname, but cert viewer window would assume the cert is fine and would not present buttons allowing to ignore/save cert
  • Worked around an issue that prevented further popups from showing up if the main window was resized while a popup was up
  • Reload button state wasn't properly refreshed when switching between tabs
  • Fixed a crash and status bar issues when browsing page history for cached pages
  • Certificate viewer may now be localized
(dr)

[News message: 17. Aug. 2021, 19:00] [Comments: 0]
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17.Aug.2021



AmigaOS 4: Status update on audio editor 'Rave', part 2
In April the developer Daniel 'trixie' Jedlicka reported in his blog Rear Window about the latest level of development of his audio editor "Rave".

Now he has published part 2 telling among others about improved sample editing functions and clipboard support. (dr)

[News message: 17. Aug. 2021, 09:04] [Comments: 0]
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17.Aug.2021



Developer log: This Week in PiStorm 2021-08-15
In his weekly column 'This week in PiStorm' the developer Andrew Hutchings summarizes the latest progresses on the 'PiStorm' project.

In his latest entry among others he has reported, that Claude Schwarz has started developing an Amiga 1200 version of PiStorm. It is supposed to be based on a Pi Compute Module 4.

Furthermore the support of the Emu68 emulator for PiStorm was continued. It "boots DiagROM and is mostly all the way to booting kickstart." (dr)

[News message: 17. Aug. 2021, 08:28] [Comments: 0]
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17.Aug.2021
Michael Rupp via Mail


AmigaOS 4/MorphOS: SonosController 1.0
At the beginning of August we reported on Michael Rupp's first Amiga programm 'SonosController', written with Hollywood. After finishing the beta status, he has now released version 1.0 for AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS. MUI 5.0 and AmiSSL 4 are required. (dr)

[News message: 17. Aug. 2021, 08:21] [Comments: 0]
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17.Aug.2021



Accelerator board: Returning the Buffees for rework
In the middle of June the developers reported that a second batch of 60 beta Buffees was ordered which now arrived. They "managed to power them up."

However, new problems were found, as the developers further report:

"While we did manage to boot them up and verify that some of the issues we had with the alpha were fixed, we also managed to introduce a couple of more. And a third issue that doesn’t really hurt us too much, but it is a pain:
  • 1. the GreenPAK was mounted wrong; in their infintie wisdom, Dialog chose to reverse the pinout between packages. Same number of pins. Completely different order. One is clockwise. One is counter clockwise. Oh my god. This is on me, I should have checked had I thought to, but I’ve never had a part where the pin outs reversed, so this is a new one for me. Oh well.
  • 2. There are three power rails on the PMIC; AC, USB and BAT. The USB and AC can both take really high voltages, but have a minimum of 4.5V which worried me as these old 68000 machines aren’t getting any younger and neither are their power supplies. Getting a solid 5V is rare, so I chose to use the BAT rail instead which operated nicely down to about 2.7V. Except TI didn’t make this rail “default on” and needs a push button. What the hell? Anyway, easier fix than #1, just need to short PB_IN to PGOOD.
  • 3. Parts are disappearing and one of them was the 16MB Flash. We had to go with an 8MB one or “not at all”. So … this will be interesting.
So, they’re off for some rework and hopefully we get them back by the end of next week. I have to say these shipping delays and parts shortages all on top of dealing with COVID and a new fourth wave is so stressful. But I digress. At least we’re still under-budget.

We’ve made excelent progress on Buffee despite all these set backs and have developed a new method of handing the weird world of the variable length 68000 instruction and it’s dasterdly sidekick, the extended addressing mode. This has been the one last issue with PJIT that I had yet to solve.

The current method was to bake in the complex decode logic into every instruction that uses it – and for an addressing mode that’s not nearly as often used as say register direct or simple load/store operations, it was eating up a huge amount of the code base, since the “inline” nature of PJIT meant copying the same 20-30 ARM instructions for each opcode. Not efficient! And not fast either, the instruction routinely had to dig back into 68K memory and to do that, it would need to compute the 68K program code since we don’t always track it and … well, it was a mess.

So of course the answer was staring me in the face all the time. Our old model shows all these NOP’s filling the operand-gaps between opcodes – so why not simply shuffle them around and have all the literals and extended addressing modes get handled BEFORE we execute the actual instruction. Most 68000 opcodes are a single word and PJIT must either compile these to a single, inline ARM instruction or branch to a subroutine to handle more complex operations. But there are many 68000 opcodes that take considerably more than one word and PJIT can handle these by having special operators for each word within the whole instruction." (dr)

[News message: 17. Aug. 2021, 08:07] [Comments: 0]
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16.Aug.2021



Games announcements: Morci, Kung Fu Master, Green Beret, Project Quest
Jump'n run 'Morci' (video) has been teased for a while, now it has also got a name. The title, realized with the Scorpion Engine, requires AGA and some Fast RAM.

Kung Fu Master (Videos: 1, 2) comes from the creators of Turbo Sprint and is supposed to be a conversion of the arcade classic of the same name.

'Green Beret' aka 'Rush'n Attack' is another arcade classic. The Amiga conversion is developed with the Scorpion Engine.

Project Quest comes from the makers of the announced tactical shooter Project Horizon and uses its engine, but offers a fantasy setting. A demo version of the game is already available for download. The developers are asking for feedback on whether this side project should also be developed further. (cg) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 16. Aug. 2021, 23:52] [Comments: 0]
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15.Aug.2021



Web browser: IBrowse 2.5.5
Press release: IBrowse 2.5.5 is now available for download (OS4 users may use AmiUpdate instead). This is a maintenance release with an important fix for a crash bug introduced in 2.5.4, along with performance improvements, the addition of third-party cookie blocking and a few other fixes. The full list of changes follows:
  • Updated Danish, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Spanish and Swedish catalog translations, by Niels Bache, Samir Hawamdeh, Kolbjørn Barmen, Mariusz Danilewicz, Javier de las Rivas and Pär Boberg respectively
  • Tweaked the installer to work around the broken Version command in A-EON's Enhancer Software
  • OS4: Fixed truncated multipart form submission, when any file upload elements were left blank (e.g. Gmail)
  • Fixed problems with the accept/reject from this server buttons not always working correctly in cookie action requesters
  • Added third-party and first-party cookie types to the information shown in cookie action requesters
  • Added AmigaOS 3.2 detection
  • Third-party cookies now detected and can be blocked using the security and/or URL prefs settings
  • Resumed downloads in the download manager didn't show the size, but now show the total expected complete size
  • Fixed corruption of auto resumed incomplete HTTP gzip encoded downloaded files
  • Fixed objects causing crashes, due to the previous changes in the 'iframe' code
  • Improved parsing speed of huge inline JavaScript sections
  • Don't bother to copy inline JavaScript into a buffer, if JavaScript is disabled, improving performance
  • Tweaked puddle size of one of the main memory pools, to improve performance
This is the fifth free update for registered users of IBrowse 2.5. IBrowse 2.1-2.4 and 1.x users may upgrade to IBrowse 2.5.5 via our store at discounted rates. (dr)

[News message: 15. Aug. 2021, 09:08] [Comments: 0]
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15.Aug.2021



Aminet uploads until 14.08.2021
The following files have been added until 14.08.2021 to Aminet:
AmiGemini.lha            comm/net   60K   68k Gemini protocol browser
RawIO2Parallel.lha       dev/debug  5K    68k Redirect debug output to para...
Parallel2Serial.lha      docs/hard  6K        Make the parallel port a seri...
Jake_and_Peppy_0.80B.lha game/demo  31M   68k Playable demo of new Apollo V...
labyrinth64.lha          game/misc  135K  68k Remake of Commodore 64 game L...
gimine.lha               game/wb    110K  68k classic game of mines 
AmiArcadia.lha           misc/emu   4.3M  68k Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadiaMOS.lha        misc/emu   4.7M  MOS Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadia-OS4.lha       misc/emu   4.8M  OS4 Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiVms.lha               misc/emu   3.2M  68k Simulates OpenVMS commands
ToolsMenu.lha            util/cdity 75K   68k Add tools to the Workbench To...
Iconverter.lha           util/conv  115K  68k Convert WB 1/MagicWB icons to...
Iconverter_mos.lha       util/conv  97K   MOS Convert WB 1/MagicWB icons to...
(snx)

[News message: 15. Aug. 2021, 07:22] [Comments: 0]
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15.Aug.2021



OS4Depot uploads until 14.08.2021
The following files have been added until 14.08.2021 to OS4Depot:
arabic_console_device... dri/inp 3Mb   4.1 An arabic console device, line &...
amiarcadia.lha           emu/gam 5Mb   4.0 Signetics-based machines emulator
nmtm-demo.lha            gam/adv 8Mb   4.0 Point and click adventure game
cookiemaster.lha         net/bro 2Mb   4.1 Web browser (currently Odyssey) ...
witchcleaner.lha         net/mis 2Mb   4.0 Clean temp data from OWB and IBr...
bibvision.lha            uti/tex 388kb 4.1 Bible text viewer for OS4
(snx)

[News message: 15. Aug. 2021, 07:22] [Comments: 0]
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15.Aug.2021



MorphOS-Storage uploads until 14.08.2021
The following files have been added until 14.08.2021 to MorphOS-Storage:
AmiArcadia_27.81.lha      Emulation                 A Signetics-based machi...
Deark_1.5.9.lha           Files/Archive             Extracting data from va...
UnRAR_6.02.lha            Files/Archive             UnRAR port for MorphOS,...
Iconverter_1.0.lha        Files/Convert             Convert WB 1/MagicWB ic...
ScummVM_2.3.0git.lha      Games/Adventure           2D Point-and-Click adve...
NMTM_demo.lha             Games/Demo                A game concept demo of ...
FResample_2.0.lha         System/Library/Audio      Fast altivec-capable re...
(snx)

[News message: 15. Aug. 2021, 07:22] [Comments: 0]
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14.Aug.2021
Thorsten Schölzel (ANF)


Developer package: DevPack 1.11
The free "DevPack" by Dimitris Panokostas and Philipp Lonke is intended for Amiga users who want to develop their own software under AmigaOS. The new version 1.11 contains updated versions of RedPill and vasm/vlink, also a link to the AmigaOS 3.2-NDK has been added. AmiPython 2.3.3 has been removed from the distribution because the author apparently did not agree with the distribution as part of DevPack. (cg) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 14. Aug. 2021, 22:39] [Comments: 0]
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14.Aug.2021
(ANF)


Jetbrain IDEs: Plugin upgrades support for MC68000 syntax
Chris 'platon42' Hodges (USB stack Poseidon, among others) has released a plugin on Github for Jetbrains' integrated development environments (CLion and IntelliJ for Windows, Mac OS and Linux, among others) that retrofits support for m68k assembler. It equips the IDEs with syntax highlighting and refactoring capability for Motorola's instruction set. (cg) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 14. Aug. 2021, 22:34] [Comments: 0]
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14.Aug.2021
Andreas Magerl (ANF)


Magazine archive: Amiga Future Archive DVD #5
Press release: The Amiga Future Archive DVD #5 has been released. It is a pressed DVD9 with over 6 GByte of data. Even if it should be no problem in principle, make sure that your drive can read a DVD9. Of course you also need a PDF viewer.

On the Amiga Future Archive DVD #5 you can find the following issues of Amiga Future as PDF:
  • Deutsch: Amiga Future Issue 11-142
  • Englisch: Amiga Future Issue 67-142
Issues 11 to 26 have been scanned. Unfortunately, the quality here is not exactly perfect. All other issues are PDFs in very high quality. Issue 11 was the first German Amiga Future issue that was published. Issue 67 was the first English issue of Amiga Future. So there are over 20 years of Amiga Future history on the DVD.

There is no update possibility from previous version of the Amiga Future Archive DVD. Please have understanding for this. (cg) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 14. Aug. 2021, 22:23] [Comments: 0]
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14.Aug.2021
Pretty Old Pixel (ANF)


Interview: Damon Slye (Dynamix)
The Pretty Old Pixel YouTube channel has conducted an interview with Damon Slye, one of the founders of Dynamix, who is responsible for countless classics, such as Mechwarrior, A-10 Tank Killer, Aces of the Pacific and Aces of the Deep. In the interview, Damon talks about how he got into computer game programming and goes into detail about individual games. (cg) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 14. Aug. 2021, 22:17] [Comments: 0]
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10.Aug.2021
(ANF)


New edition of the Amiga 500: THEA500 Mini
In October 2020 Retro Games Ltd. had hinted at the replica of an Amiga 500 with a picture. Today, concrete details were announced: In early 2022, the replica of the Amiga 500, named THEA500 Mini and distributed by Koch Media, will be available for a recommended retail price of EUR¤129.99 (product video).

Not only the OSC and ECS chipset, but also the Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) are to be emulated. 25 games are to be included, of which the following have been listed so far: Alien Breed 3D, Another World, ATR: All Terrain Racing, Battle Chess, Cadaver, Kick Off 2, Pinball Dreams, Simon The Sorcerer, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, The Chaos Engine, Worms: The Director's Cut, Zool: Ninja Of The "Nth" Dimension. All other titles will be announced at a later date. However, it is also possible to load your own games using a USB stick and WHDLoad support. The games can be saved and continued at any time.

The following products are to be included in the scope of delivery:
  • THEA500 Mini Computer
  • 25 Games
  • 2-Button-USB-Mouse in original design
  • 8-Button-USB-Gamepad
  • HDMI Cable
  • USB-C power cable
  • Quick Start Guide
THEA500 Mini will have the following specifications:
  • Emulates A500, A600 & A1200 (ECS/OCS/AGA)
  • Games can be saved and resumed at any time
  • Own games can be added
  • 720p HD resolution at 50 Hz (Europe) or 60 Hz (USA)
  • Various scaling options and CRT filters
  • Virtual keyboard and USB keyboard support
  • upgradeable firmware
So far, there is no information about which hardware or software this replica is based on. (dr)

[News message: 10. Aug. 2021, 18:42] [Comments: 0]
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10.Aug.2021
Amigablogs


Game announcement: 'Menace' remake for Vampire
Kevin Saunders, graphic designer, artist and game designer for Amiga projects (among others Boss Machine and RESHOOT PROXIMA 3), has announced a remake of the game Menace for Vampire Amigas by presenting an animated end level boss. He also encourages Amiga users to support his work by becoming a Patreon. (dr)

[News message: 10. Aug. 2021, 07:11] [Comments: 0]
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09.Aug.2021



Platformer: Radical Moves
'ScattergoodStudios' has rereleased its game "Radical Rob" originally written in 1992 as Radical Moves. In this platform game, offering 99 levels, the player Rob "has to rid the world of evil fluffies, collect drink cans and work your way through each level." (YouTube-Video).

Rob has an unlimited supply of plasma bombs to clobber baddies with. Once hit, a meanie will remain stunned for a few seconds. This gives Rob enough time to run over them and finish them off.

The game can be purchased for at least about 2,50 Euro as adf file. (dr)

[News message: 09. Aug. 2021, 11:29] [Comments: 0]
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08.Aug.2021



AmiWest 2021: Registration of presentations
As already reported, this years's AmiWest will take place on 16. and 17. October 2021 in Holiday Inn Express in Sacramento, California. In its latest blog entry the organizers call all companies, users and developers to register planned presentations - online or on site - via eMail. (dr)

[News message: 08. Aug. 2021, 14:54] [Comments: 0]
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08.Aug.2021



Amiga disks on PC: Update to copy program A-Copy
A-Copy is a program for reading and writing ADF disk images under Windows. It requires the ADF drive hardware, which uses a Teensy USB Development Board as an adapter between PC and floppy drive

In the latest version additional to minor bug fixes, Arne Urbaniak has updated the controller detections as well as finished the Bamcopy of ADFImage2Disk. As he reported, there are many suggestions and ideas he have received which he now examines. (dr)

[News message: 08. Aug. 2021, 12:04] [Comments: 0]
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08.Aug.2021



Update of Shoot'em Up 'Inviyya'
'Tigerskunk' has released an update for the digital version of his shoot'em up 'Inviyya' providing an additional level. For users who have already purchased the game the update is available after logging in. (dr)

[News message: 08. Aug. 2021, 09:16] [Comments: 0]
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08.Aug.2021



Preview video: Jump'n Run 'Boxx 4'
The developer 'Lemming880' is working on the fourth part of his 'Boxx' series developed with the Scorpion Engine. You can get some impressions of the third part on amigafrance.com. There you will also find download links for all previously released parts. In a YouTube preview video, 'Lemming880' shows a short walk through the first level of the fourth part of the series. (dr)

[News message: 08. Aug. 2021, 08:25] [Comments: 0]
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08.Aug.2021



Aminet uploads until 07.08.2021
The following files have been added until 07.08.2021 to Aminet:
dsp3210.lha              driver/oth 297K  68k DSP 3210 drivers and tools
AxelPong.lha             game/misc  264K  68k classic pong game revisited b...
AmiArcadia.lha           misc/emu   4.3M  68k Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadiaMOS.lha        misc/emu   4.7M  MOS Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadia-OS4.lha       misc/emu   4.8M  OS4 Signetics-based machines emul...
ASE2019_1.52.lha         text/edit  134K  68k Text editor
Deark.lha                util/arc   3.6M  MOS Extract data from various fil...
UnRAR-6.02.lha           util/arc   2.3M  MOS UnRAR 6.02
JFIFdt44.lha             util/dtype 877K  68k fast JFIF (JPEG) picture data...
FResample.lha            util/libs  88K   MOS Fast altivec-capable resample...
Alltests.zip             util/misc  14K   68k Automated Amiga Test Program
Testprogram.zip          util/misc  385K  68k Versatile Amiga Test Program
(snx)

[News message: 08. Aug. 2021, 06:12] [Comments: 0]
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08.Aug.2021



OS4Depot uploads until 07.08.2021
The following files have been added until 07.08.2021 to OS4Depot:
amiarcadia.lha           emu/gam 5Mb   4.0 Signetics-based machines emulator
astralgame.lha           gam/mis 3Mb   4.0 A little tool to know your zodia...
(snx)

[News message: 08. Aug. 2021, 06:12] [Comments: 0]
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08.Aug.2021



MorphOS-Storage uploads until 07.08.2021
The following files have been added until 07.08.2021 to MorphOS-Storage:
SDL_2.0.14_Libraries.lha  Development/Library       All Libraries SDL 2.0.1...
SDLPoP_1.22.lha           Games/Adventure           SDLPoP is an open-sourc...
MCE_13.1.lha              Games/Editor              Multi-game Character Ed...
AstralGame_3.0.lha        Games/Misc                This esoteric app you c...
(snx)

[News message: 08. Aug. 2021, 06:12] [Comments: 0]
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08.Aug.2021



WHDLoad: New installers until 07.08.2021
Using WHDLoad, games, scene demos and intros by cracking groups, which were originally designed to run only from floppy disks, can be installed on harddisk. The following installers have been added until 07.08.2021: (snx)

[News message: 08. Aug. 2021, 06:12] [Comments: 0]
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07.Aug.2021



Raspberry Pi: Dev Diary on Emu68
Michal Schulz is working on his Motorola-68000 emulation for the Raspberry Pi (amiga-news.de reported). In two Dev Diary entries Emu68 meets PiStorm and A little bit more of PiStorming he has now reported on his latest efforts of get his emulation running on an A500 and a Raspberry Pi3. Furthermore he provides Nightly Builds on the corresponding GitHub website. (dr)

[News message: 07. Aug. 2021, 12:15] [Comments: 0]
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07.Aug.2021
Amitopia


UnRAR 6.02 for all Amiga systems
Marcin Labenski has ported the source code of UnRAR 6.0.7 to all Amiga systems and provides the following features:
  • support all the basic unrar commands and switches, including listing, unpacking (all or selected items), printing and testing archive files
  • support national characters in archive name, names of files and directories in the archive, passwords, comments and list files
  • support restoring information about file modification date, owner and group
  • support unpacking symbolic links and hard links stored in archives
  • support unpacking multi-volume and SFX archives
  • can read switches from configuration file s:rar.conf or RAR environment variable
  • large files support (>4GiB) on MorphOS and AmigsOS4
  • support AmigaOS localization via locale.library
As the author wrote, "there are no special requirements for MorphOS and AmigaOS4. It should work on any system provided that it has a relatively fresh version of the operating system (I test on MorphOS 3.12 and AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 1). AROS version requires i386 and ABI-v0. Classic AmigaOS version requires a system with:
  • CPU Motorola 68000 - FPU is not required
  • Kickstart 2.04 or higher
  • ixemul V48 (http://aminet.net/package/util/libs/ixemul-48.0)
  • 4MB RAM (UnRAR requires 2.6MB on its own)
Exact memory utilization depends on the size of compressed files. For instance my test archive with one 2.0GB file in it needs 32MB of RAM to unpack."

The source code of his port is available on GitHub. (dr)

[News message: 07. Aug. 2021, 08:33] [Comments: 0]
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07.Aug.2021
amigaportal.cz


Final Amiga port of 'Metal Gear' (MSX)
In February 2021 announced by a videos, musician, DJ and coder 'Hoffman' has released his final version of his Amiga port of 'Metal Gear', originally developed for MSX home computers. Version 1.1 fixes some bugs and compatibility issues and has the following features:
  • Code ported from Z80 to 68000 assembly by Hoffman
  • Gameplay adjusted to work at full 50hz/60hz
  • No slow-downs or sprite flicker
  • Multiple game modes
    • English Remix Fan Translation
    • Original European Version
    • Original Japanese Version
    • New Spanish Translation by Akira
  • Enhanced Amiga Soundtrack and SFX by Hoffman
  • Optional emulated MSX / PSG Music and SFX
  • Full support for CD32 gamepad for keyboard-less gameplay
  • Additional character graphics by Toni Galvez
  • All new ending / credits section
  • For any Amiga with 512kb Chip Ram + 512k Other Ram
  • Bootable disk image for low spec Amigas
  • WHDLoad installer by Psygore
The original ProTracker modules can be also downloaded from his website. About the history of his project he wrote:

"This project started out as a curiosity which got WAY out of hand. Back in November 2020, after 8 months of coronavirus lock-down, I found myself looking at a GitHub repo by Manual Pazos and wondering really just how hard would it be to port this to the Amiga. As a test, I looked at converting some of the tile graphics and within a couple of days built some tools in C# to deal with that. Next I moved onto the map / room data and quickly built a renderer on the Amiga which could draw every room from the game. By now I was done for, I couldn't stop, I had to see just how far I could take the project. Each completed step kept pushing me to do the next and now here we are, a complete and full port of Metal Gear running on all Amigas!

There is more to be said about the development process (like spending weeks building a fully dynamic Amiga sprite multiplexer only to throw it all away) but I think I'll save that for a series of blog posts. For now, I hope you enjoy this game as much as I've enjoyed, and endured, putting it together."

Download: MetalGear-v1.1.zip (914 KB)
Download: MetalGear-mods.zip (914 KB) (dr)

[News message: 07. Aug. 2021, 07:39] [Comments: 0]
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07.Aug.2021



Accelerator board for A1200: Tsunami 1230
Additional to his 'A1100' project, Miguel Fides has built a new accelerator board for the A1200 called Tsunami 1230. According to the his own statement "most compatible acelerator for the A1200 since the Blizzard serie" can be plugged in without any modification of the A1200 case and has the following specifications:
  • 68EC030 QFP CPU at 42MHZ.
  • 64MByte FastRAM.
  • 68882 FPU footprint ready and also selectable clock for overclocking the FPU.
  • External expansion port for future upgrades (secret stuff, can’t tell)
  • Clockport port (RTC only).
  • Compatible with any A1200 motherboard revision.
  • A1100 friendly of course.
A recently published YouTube video compares the Tsuanami 1230 with the Blizzard 1230 by means of benchmarks and games. This is a non-commercial project and you can express your interest for a first batch. (dr)

[News message: 07. Aug. 2021, 06:51] [Comments: 0]
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06.Aug.2021
Amigans


Memory game: MeMO 3.14
Simone 'saimo' Bevilacqua has released an update of his memory game MeMO. His game is based on the classic memory card game but in his port two payers can simultaneously play for getting the best highscore. MeMO requires a 68020 processor and the ECS graphic chip. Changes of this release:
  • Adapted to Amiga CD³²: added saving through nonvolatile.library when writing to disk fails; allowed pausing, aborting and name entering by means of the joypad; added CD ISO image to distro packages.
  • Reworked controls (see manual).
  • Added controls information to pause screen.
  • Added cards numbers to the back of face down cards (which helps with matching cards).
  • Straightened cards corners, to match better the overall sharp look of graphics.
  • Fixed bug that caused the EXTRA JOYSTICK option to be highlighted shortly after returning from the "about" screen.
  • Made several optimizations.
  • Adapted to and built against latest custom framework (which makes startup and cleanup more robust and has a couple of bugfixes).
  • Fixed/improved/added outer antialiasing of graphics on all cards (trying to stay faithful to the original design).
  • Touched up a few cards.
  • Reduced and partly eliminated bass notes clicking.
  • Made various other minor changes.
  • Improved manual.
(dr)

[News message: 06. Aug. 2021, 06:31] [Comments: 0]
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04.Aug.2021



Jump'n Run for Vampire V4: SonicVamped 1 and 2
'SonicVamped' is a port of the 2013 Android version of SEGA's Sonic The Hedgehog 1 & 2 to AmigaOS optimised for Vampire V4 computer. The games ported by Artur "Arti" Jarosik and "Quetzal" also run under Vampire V2 accelerator boards but not at full speed.

According to the developers the Amiga port features "many speed improvements including AMMX, direct SAGA draw with triple buffer and direct SAGA audio implementation. All of that made it possible to run at stable 60 fps gameplay on The Vampire V4.". A Vampire V4 Release 6 at least is required but a Release 7 - which still is not publicly available - for getting all the features is recommended.

For installation the Sonic 1 or 2 Unpack.bat must be executed on Windows 8 or 10 and then the SonicVamped folder copied to the SD/CF card. (dr)

[News message: 04. Aug. 2021, 06:42] [Comments: 0]
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03.Aug.2021



AmigaOS 4/MorphOS: Controlling Sonos speakers (update)
Michael Rupp, well-known by his Workbench simulation TAWS now has started a new project: Learning the programming language Hollywood.

Specifically, he is currently developing an application for AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS for controlling Sonos speaker.


The programm is called 'SonosController' and will have the following features:
  • listing your speakers with the info of the currently playing song, with an icon that is downloaded from the speaker itself
  • subscription of the speaker's UPnP events (that was probably the hardest one to crack, man-o-man), it means that the controller gets a notification if the Sonos system receives a command from some other controller (f.e. from your mobile or on some other computer) or directly from the speaker's buttons
  • sending control commands:
    • Play
    • Pause
    • Next
    • Back
    • Jump to time index
    • Volume
    • Mute
    • Shuffle
    • Repeat (everything, current song)
    • Crossfade
  • display of the current song's title, artist, and album on the selected speaker
  • download and display of the album cover if possible (f.e. if embedded into the playing MP3 file)
  • local cache for album covers for better performance
  • local cache can be emptied in the Preferences dialog
  • listing the selected speaker's current queue
  • playing a song by clicking an entry in the queue
  • listing the Sonos favourites incl. starting one
  • listing the Sonos playlists incl. starting one (normal oder shuffled)
  • listing TuneIn's saved radio stations incl. starting one
  • listing TuneIn's saved radio shows incl. starting one
  • browsing your music library incl. starting songs, albums, etc. (normal or shuffled)
  • searching your music library by search string and search type (artist, album, composer, genre, song or imported playlist)
  • the last x search strings are save, whereas x can be configured in the Preferences (0 - max. 50)
  • saved search strings can be emptied in the Preferences dialog
According to the author, he "absolutely wanted to have an Amiga exclusive feature in it, something that the original Sonos app doesn't feature:
  • Exporting playlists in M3U format. These can be put into your music library's "playlists" folder to be re-imported into Sonos, thus enabling you to kind of backup and restore your playlists.
All these features already have been implemented and currently are bug fixed. In future versions the following features will be added:
  • grouping / ungrouping of speakers
  • integration of music services such as Spotify, etc.
  • modifying the current queue, adding songs (or whole playlists), remove songs, change song order
  • save a queue as a new playlist
  • modifying playlists (change, rename, delete, etc.)
  • sleep timer functionality
  • alarms functionality
  • Ringho notifications
Regarding his experience with Hollywood, Rupp told us:

"I got into the new syntax very quickly, especially because the documentation is simply exemplary and full of sample code. Also, you can find an example for practically every programming aspect in the provided sample projects. And if I had any questions, I was always helped promptly in the Hollywood forum, be it by Andreas himself or other Hollywood programmers.

Hollywood is a programming language and so programming knowledge is necessary. Using the Hollywood Designer, however, you can do one or the other without, but this is more comparable to Scala or PowerPoint and is not a programming toolbox in the sense.

However, if you want to learn programming, I can recommend Hollywood as a starting point, especially because of the excellent documentation. Or you can click together something simple in the designer (a small slideshow or so) and then look at the generated script and try to understand what is going on."

Update: (05:53, 10.08.21, dr)
Michael Rupp emphazies that he is looking for beta testers. If you have a MorphOS or AmigaOS4 system and a Sonos speaker, then please contact him via mail. (dr)

[News message: 03. Aug. 2021, 20:24] [Comments: 0]
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03.Aug.2021



Dev Diary: 'This week in PiStorm'
In his weekly column 'This week in PiStorm', the developer Andrew Hutchings gathers progresses and insights on the 'PiStorm' project.

In his latest entry among others he reported that the PiStorm-Wiki was updated and now includes a FAQ as well as a detailed software installation guide. (dr)

[News message: 03. Aug. 2021, 07:11] [Comments: 0]
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02.Aug.2021
Amigaworld.net (forum)


From Vultures to Vampires: Shipping of book by Pleasance and Dickinson (vol. 1)
The first volume of "From Vultures to Vampires", a book by the former Commodore UK manager David Pleasance and the A-EON Technology co-founder Trevor Dickinson, is currently shipping to those crowdfunders who pledged for the e-book version. Printing of the real book is expected to be finished August 20.

For the Kindle variant, its manufacturer currently states September 6 as date of availability. Regarding prices, on his website David Pleasance mentions 15 (e-book, same amount as previously for crowdfunders) and 35 British Pounds, respectively (printed book, for crowdfunders it had been 30 Pounds; for volume two, the latter get a discount of 50 % on both variants). (snx)

[News message: 02. Aug. 2021, 08:34] [Comments: 0]
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01.Aug.2021
Alain Fontanin


Text editor: Amiga Source Editor 1.52 (update)
By releasing version 1.2 (2019), at the end of the last year Alain Fontanin has resumed the development of his "Amiga Source Editor" (ASE) which originally started in 1989.

The author constantly develops his text editor further and now has released version 1.51 with the following changes:
  • Compiled with SAS/C 6.58
  • Use of the locale library for language-specific and country-specific properties (date and time) and catalogs for the localized version (english in the code, french and german as catalogs). The source file to generate the catalogs (ASE2019.cs with SimpleCat) is in the release
  • Use of the gadtools library for menus and gadgets
  • Reentrance mechanism, based on Arexx script to avoid having multiple instances of ASE2019 in memory
  • Replacement of obsolete functions
  • Ability to handle differents 'EOL' characters
  • Significant improvement in the reading speed of a document
  • Ability to create and manage document backups
  • Improve configuration of ASE2019
  • Improve tabs management : tab size from 1 to 10 and hard tabs
  • Improve speed cancellation changes
  • Integration of the Amiga clipboard
  • First version (limited) of document comparison function
  • Correction of the 'Delete content of the current line' function
  • Correction of the 'Delete characters after cursor' function
  • Correction of the 'Delete characters before cursor' function
  • New functions 'Delete word before/after cursor'
  • New configuration of the 'DEL' & 'BACKSPACE' keys;refer to 'Shortcuts' section, of the documentation for more information
  • Removal of the 'Lorem Ipsum' function
  • Correct version of the 'ASE2019.cs' localization file
Meanwhile version 1.52 is available which fixes a bug in the English menu.
Download: ASE2019_1.52.lha (134 KB) (dr)

[News message: 01. Aug. 2021, 07:33] [Comments: 1 - 03. Aug. 2021, 07:39]
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01.Aug.2021



Aminet uploads until 31.07.2021
The following files have been added until 31.07.2021 to Aminet:
Healthcare_1.0.lha       biz/misc   240K  MOS Displays data from Garmin dev...
dsp3210.lha              driver/oth 305K  68k DSP 3210 drivers and tools
F1GP2021Carset.lha       game/data  13K       2021 Carset for F1GP
MCE.lha                  game/edit  3.2M  68k Multi-game Character Editor
MCE-MOS.lha              game/edit  3.5M  MOS Multi-game Character Editor
MCE-OS4.lha              game/edit  3.8M  OS4 Multi-game Character Editor
BOOM_AGA.lha             game/shoot 2.8M  68k Amiga port of BOOM (DOOM)
BOOM_RTG.lha             game/shoot 2.8M  68k Amiga port of BOOM (DOOM)
giocodel15.lha           game/wb    158K  68k classic, some 50 year old puz...
AmiArcadia.lha           misc/emu   4.3M  68k Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadiaMOS.lha        misc/emu   4.7M  MOS Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadia-OS4.lha       misc/emu   4.8M  OS4 Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiVms.lha               misc/emu   3.2M  68k Simulates OpenVMS commands
BetterPerson.lha         mods/8voic 3.8M      Better Person 7ch Slow Latin ...
amiditools.lha           mus/midi   82K   68k Tools for MIDI processing
ToolsMenu_FR.lha         util/cdity 6K        French catalog for ToolsMenu ...
Iconverter_mos.lha       util/conv  52K   MOS Convert WB 1.x/MagicWB icons ...
ADiffView.lha            util/misc  160K  68k graphical ASCII file compare/...
(snx)

[News message: 01. Aug. 2021, 06:35] [Comments: 0]
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01.Aug.2021



OS4Depot uploads until 31.07.2021
The following files have been added until 31.07.2021 to OS4Depot:
arabic_console_device... dri/inp 3Mb   4.1 An arabic console device, line &...
mce.lha                  gam/uti 4Mb   4.0 Multi-game Character Editor
cookiemaster.lha         net/bro 2Mb   4.1 Web browser (currently Odyssey) ...
(snx)

[News message: 01. Aug. 2021, 06:35] [Comments: 0]
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01.Aug.2021



AROS Archives uploads until 31.07.2021
The following files have been added until 31.07.2021 to AROS Archives:
68k_datatypes.zip            aud     24kb  new datatype for aros m68k
arlan.lha                    net/mis 223kb Simple "self-made" Gop...
(snx)

[News message: 01. Aug. 2021, 06:35] [Comments: 0]
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01.Aug.2021



MorphOS-Storage uploads until 31.07.2021
The following files have been added until 31.07.2021 to MorphOS-Storage:
AmiArcadia_27.72.lha      Emulation                 A Signetics-based machi...
ReportPlus_8.22.lha       Misc                      A Multipurpose utility ...
Healthcare_1.0.lha        Misc                      Displays data from Garm...
ADiffView_2.0.lha         Text/Compare              A graphical file compar...
(snx)

[News message: 01. Aug. 2021, 06:35] [Comments: 0]
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01.Aug.2021



WHDLoad: New installers until 31.07.2021
Using WHDLoad, games, scene demos and intros by cracking groups, which were originally designed to run only from floppy disks, can be installed on harddisk. The following installers have been added until 31.07.2021:
  • 2021-07-31 improved: Ports Of Call (International Software Development) protection removed, reduced memory usage (Info)
  • 2021-07-31 new: Mutant League Hockey (Ocean) done by JOTD (Info)
  • 2021-07-31 improved: Center Court 2 (G. Fritsch) run with any diskfont.library, fixed typos (Info)
  • 2021-07-29 improved: Superfrog (Team 17) added 3-button joystick support (Info)
  • 2021-07-26 updated: Crystal Kingdom Dizzy (Code Masters) install script corrected (Info)
  • 2021-07-25 improved: Ports Of Call (International Software Development) german version supported (Info)
  • 2021-07-25 improved: Crystal Kingdom Dizzy (Code Masters) 2nd version supported, reduced chip mem to 512k, 68000 quitkey, 2nd button jump, faster loading, trainers added, sound effects and blitwaits fixed, RawDIC imager (Info)
  • 2021-07-25 new: Center Court 2 (G. Fritsch) done by JOTD (Info)
(snx)

[News message: 01. Aug. 2021, 06:35] [Comments: 0]
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31.Jul.2021



Commercial action game: Turbo Tomato Deluxe Collectors Edition
Today Bitmap Soft has released the commercial action game 'Turbo Tomato – Deluxe Collectors Edition' in which you have to try to remove mutated vegetables from the playground using bombs.

The Deluxe collector edition is available for about 29 Euro (plus shipping) and contains the following items:
  • Glossy Big Box
  • Turbo Tomato game on 3.5″ floppy diskette
  • Full-Colour Instruction booklet
  • Turbo Tomato Fridge Magnet
  • Selection of Stickers
  • Glossy A4 single-sided poster
  • Digital download included
Features of the game:
  • Fast one or two player co-op action
  • 35+ levels across four distinct worlds
  • 40+ enemy types and 4 bosses to battle
  • Online global high score table
  • Level code system
The game runs on any Amiga equipped with 1MB Chip RAM and Kickstart 2.0+ and supports harddrive and CD32 installation.

The game also is available for about 12 Euro as digital download. (dr)

[News message: 31. Jul. 2021, 12:52] [Comments: 0]
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31.Jul.2021



7-bit: Software update for 508i-Wicher cards
7-bit has released a software update to version 2.8b3 for its Wicher 508i cards which fixes a bug in AmigaOS3.2. (dr)

[News message: 31. Jul. 2021, 09:50] [Comments: 0]
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31.Jul.2021



Print-/PDF Magazine: Amiga Addict, Issue 7
Seventh issue of British magazine "Amiga Addict" is available for pre-ordering. The lead article is about Psygnosis, but there are also articles about the Vampire, a review of Turbo Tomato and a look at how comic books helped sell the Amiga back in the day. This issue has 60 pages and includes an exclusive demo. (dr)

[News message: 31. Jul. 2021, 08:59] [Comments: 0]
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31.Jul.2021
Dante


Top-Down-View-Shooter: New Preview video for 'AlarCity'
Already at the end of 2017 the developers of Pixelglass Games had announced the Top-Down-View-Shooter 'AlarCity'. John Tsakiris now has published a YouTube video "showcasing the transition from the original old 1.0 demo to the new design and direction." The game is being developed using the Scorpion Engine. (dr)

[News message: 31. Jul. 2021, 07:32] [Comments: 0]
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31.Jul.2021
Amitopia


MorphOS: Reading data of Garmin devices
Carsten Siegners Healthcare "reads data from Garmin devices (smart watches, portable GPS devices and bicycle computers. This data are displayed in a diagram." The first public version 1.0 can read cardiogram (data of the heart), sport, user profile and device info from the hardware. The latest MorphOS-Version 3.15 is required. (dr)

[News message: 31. Jul. 2021, 07:12] [Comments: 0]
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30.Jul.2021
Andre Ravalico (ANF)


Videos: New channel CommoGuru (german)
At the title link, Andre 'Wollny' Ravalico has started a german YouTube channel called "CommoGuru". His aim are more in-depth reports compared to other videos about Commodore.

For now there are two videos of almost 45 minutes each about the Amiga CD³² and the Amiga 1200. Depending on reception, more will follow. (snx)

[News message: 30. Jul. 2021, 15:25] [Comments: 0]
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30.Jul.2021



ACube Systems: New online shop / Sam460cr boards still not available
Press release, 29. July 2021:

"ACube Systems it’s pleased to announce the opening of its new online store.
In the new store customers will find the current lineup of ACube hardware ranging from barebones motherboards to accessories. Everything you’ll need to enjoy your AmigaOS / MorphOS experience with the usual quality and reliability you expect from several years of experience.

Please note:
 Registered users of the old shop have been automatically imported, but we highly recommend all users to check their accounts, especially the shipping address, and correct any errors they should see."

The new batch of Sam460cr boards, announced at the end of March, still are not available.
But at least all three motherboards listed in the section Sam motherboards have price labels: All price quotations are inclusive AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition. As far as there are new information regarding the availability of the boards, we of course will inform our readers. (dr)

[News message: 30. Jul. 2021, 07:35] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jul.2021
Patrick Nevian


Tales of Gorluth III: Development status and survey
In January 2019 the third part of Tales of Gorluth Saga was announced. In April of the last year the developer Patrick Nevian (AMIworx) informed that the third part is being ported to the Scorpion Engine.

Now Nevian has asked all users who have pre-ordered the game how to proceed. The developer kindly allowed us to publish this mail:

"Dear Gorluth fans!

It´s been a while since my last update email. I told you about TOGIII being converted to the Scorpion Engine. The advantages are obvious: 50 fps, better graphics, etc.

My Backbone version of TOGIII has been finished for a while now. Erik keeps improving Scorpion and the features are impressive. The implementation process will take some time, as Erik is working on more than one project.

Now my question to you: Do you still want to wait for the greatly improved Scorpion version, or do you want the unoptimized Backbone version?

I will discuss a deadline with Erik soon so that the Gorluth series can be completed one way or another. I´m looking forward to your feedback!"

He also invites all other users and potential purchasers of the game to give feedback. (dr)

[News message: 29. Jul. 2021, 11:51] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jul.2021
Amigaworld.net (forum)


Emulator: QEMU 6.1 emulates Pegasos II
Two days ago, release candidate 1 of version 6.1 of the emulator QEMU has been published, including now the possibility to also emulate bplan's PowerPC mainboard Pegasos II.

Besides the AmigaOne X5000 and the already emulated mainboard Sam460ex, Pegasos II is the only further platform running MorphOS as well as AmigaOS 4.1, barring original Amiga computers with corresponding accelerator boards, which, despite internal maintenance, are not officially supported anymore since MorphOS 1.4.5. (snx)

[News message: 29. Jul. 2021, 11:40] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jul.2021



Lawsuit: Hyperion's response to Evert Carton's testimony
On June 25, 2021 Hyperion's co-founder and sole managing director during the settlement negotiations with Amiga Inc. in 2009, Evert Carton, was deposed by both parties' lawyers in the lawsuit of the plaintiffs Cloanto and the so-called Amiga parties vs. Hyperion Entertainment as defendant. On July 14, 2021 plaintiffs submitted a motion for leave to file regarding this deposition (amiga-news.de reported).

On July 28, 2021, Hyperion Entertainment submitted their response to the court, requesting that plaintiffs’ motion should be denied (PDF file). Besides lack of diligence - because plaintiffs failed to depose Evert Carton before filing their motion for summary judgement - and increased harm for Hyperion with regard to their business relationships if the summary judgement would be delayed by admission of the deposition, the application is also substantiated by Evert Carton's minor relationship to the Amiga market.

Evert Carton's deposition confirmed the well-known fact within the Amiga community that there had been no relation of Evert Carton to the Amiga market prior to his involvement in Hyperion Entertainment and that this company was originally founded by Ben Hermans and himself as a vehicle for each of them to pursue their own goals (page 80 of the PDF file of the deposition). Lack of knowledge regarding AmigaOS 3.x due to this could be found in the testimony when Evert Carton was asked regarding specific products by Commodore underlying disputed trademarks such as "Workbench" (p. 54), while nevertheless he was aware of other details, for example the programming languages used in the source code of the original operating system which had to be adapted for creating AmigaOS 4 (p. 82).

Thus Hyperion's lawyer emphasizes that - as admitted by Evert Carton - Ben Hermans was the drving force during negotiations with Amiga Inc. in 2009 (p. 153, p. 25) and that Evert Carton could not force himself to become interested in Amiga, despite trying (p. 133). Furthermore it is pointed out that he lost faith in the new project regarding the AmigaOne X5000 (p. 91/92) and started a business of his own in November 2009, i.e. just one month after signing the settlement agreement, to avoid his revenue being continuously consumed by Hyperion's Amiga activities anymore (p. 262).

Regarding the fact that, due to Ben Hermans' main occupation, Evert Carton was the sole director and owner of 97 % of Hyperion's shares during the time frame of the negotiations with Amiga Inc. taking place, the lawyer is bringing forward the argument that by the time the settlement agreement had actually been executed, the distribution of shares would already have been changed during alteration of the legal form of the company - resulting in him owning "the minority as the only shareholder who lacked knowledge or understanding of Amiga" (49 % vs. 48 % by Ben Hermans and 3 % by Timothy de Groote), and that he would have just signed the settlement agreement in 2009 for Hyperion "because he lived within 50 meters of a notary" (p. 132). Back then Hyperion's company address was at Evert Carton's place of residence (p. 145).

Since thus Hyperion's intentions in negotiations with Amiga Inc. in 2009 would have been basically identic to Ben Hermans' intentions - which would be also visible in lacking memory on which party had added certain phrases (p. 100) or why the term "software" was defined differently compared to the original contract from 2001 (p. 112), or in the fact that Evert Carton didn't read all pages of the book "Amiga DOS Manual" (p. 118) - admission of his testimony is considered futile in a situation of his word against that one of his former managing partner, so that the application for admission should be denied, also due to lack of diligence. (snx)

[News message: 29. Jul. 2021, 10:54] [Comments: 0]
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28.Jul.2021
AmigaLove


Iconverter: Old icons with a new look / Basics about AmigaOS icons
With 'Iconverter' (currently version 0.95) you can convert old icons as if they were created for today's more recent versions of AmigaOS. Iconverter converts AmigaOS 1.x and MagicWB icons into the format of NewIcons, using the color scale for which these icons were created. Theoretically this would also work for icons created under AmigaOS 2.0 to 3.1, but they are usually displayed correctly without conversion.


To get the converted icons displayed correctly, the NewIcons extension is needed under AmigaOS 3.0 and 3.1 or the new IconLib_46 created by Peter Keunecke. AmigaOS 3.1.4 and 3.2 do not need these extensions.

Iconverter is a shell or command line program written in Standard-C. Thus it should compile for all other systems that have a C compiler. About the background of the program the author Iljitsch van Beijnum writes:

"Workbench 1.0 to Workbench 1.3 used a four-color screen with the colors blue / white / black / orange. With the introduction of Workbench 2.0 this was changed to gray / black / white / blue-gray. This means that the WB 1.x icons look like a negative version of themselves. Also, the WB 1.x icons were designed for "640x200" or "640x256" screen resolutions. WB 2.0 and later icons were designed for higher screen resolutions (640x400 or 640x512), which means that WB 1.x icons look stretched on most newer systems."

In addition to adapting the icons to high-resolution screens, WB 2.0 also adds a 3D effect frame around each icon. From WB 2.0 it is also possible to change the number of colors on the Workbench screen, especially on AGA Amigas. There are about six generations of icons on the Amiga:
  • 1. workbench 1.x icons created for medium resolutions (640x200 or 640x256) with a four-color blue/white/black/orange palette.
  • Workbench 2.0 - 3.1 Icons created for higher resolutions (640x400 or 640x512) with a four-color gray/black/white/blue-gray palette. The system now draws a 3D frame around the icons.
  • MagicWB icons. These can use eight colors and require a specific eight-color palette.
  • NewIcons icons. NewIcons is an extension of the original icon file format and allows icons with up to 256 colors. The palette used by the icon is included and the system adjusts the colors of the icon to best display on any Workbench screen. NewIcons are limited to 93x93 pixels.
  • 5. workbench 3.5 ColorIcons. These icons are encoded in an IFF format and are an extension of the original icon format. Like NewIcons, they can use up to 256 colors, but can be larger, 256x256 pixels maximum. (Sometimes they are also called "GlowIcons", since the GlowIcon style became popular with Workbench 3.5).
  • 6. PNG-Icons.
NewIcons are supported by the NewIcons system, AmigaOS 3.1.4 and IconLib_46. AmigaOS 3.1.4 and IconLib_46 also support Workbench 3.5. ColorIcons and IconLib_46 supports PNG icons.

Workbench 1.x icons look completely different on newer systems because a different palette is used and because they were designed for a different screen resolution. MagicWB icons only look correct if the MagicWB palette is used consistently. On an AmigaOS system version 3.0 or later with a workbench with more than eight colors, MagicWB symbols will tend to look strange and inconsistent because the system reassigns colors 4 - 7 as needed.

It is of course possible to use a tool (or under 3.1.4 a setting) to fix the colors 0 - 7 in the MagicWB palette. However, MagicWB colors 0 and 3 are somewhat darker than WB 2.0+ colors. Long story short, even with additional effort, it is not possible to get the three early generations of icons to look right on the same system at the same time. Iconverter solves this problem by converting these three types of icons into a NewIcon with the correct palette. The resulting icon files retain the original icon, so they look the same on systems that do not support the NewIcon extension.

There are two different versions of the iconverter: The version iconverter.ixemul requires the ixemul.library (version 48 or higher) and has the advantage that you can use the icon files with placeholders like #?.info. The regular version does not require the ixemul.library but does not recognize placeholders." (dr) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 28. Jul. 2021, 07:09] [Comments: 0]
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27.Jul.2021



mouSTer: USB input devices for retro computers / Review
In the middle of last year, the Polish store retrohax.net announced "mouSTer", an adapter that allows connecting any USB mice and joypads to classic computers. In the meantime, "mouSTer" is available from the provider for just under 26 euros (plus shipping). The current firmware version is 3.12.2019.

Ilyich van Beijnum recently described in a detailed review how he got his favorite wireless mouse to work on his Amiga 1200 with the help of "mouSTer". (dr) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 27. Jul. 2021, 08:40] [Comments: 0]
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27.Jul.2021
Amiga.org (Forum)


Adventure: Furtum Sacrum (Spanish/English)
Furtum Sacrum ("holy theft") is a point'n'click adventure by the Spanish group AmigaWave (amiga-news.de reported). Besides its original language, also English is supported. The game features characters of the film adaptation of the novel "The name of the rose", but a storyline of its own. Your task as a monk sent to the monastery San Martiño de Xuvia is to clear a series of robberies.

After being designed years ago already and endorsed by several programmers, in the end graphic artist José A. González decided to develop it on his own, thus he studied the program and its language, AMOS-based Graphic Adventure Creator, and finalised it himself.

The adventure runs on all Amigas with 1 MB of Chip RAM and is available both as a physical edition on 3.5" floppy disk in a box with manual as well as, free of charge, an ADF floppy image. Orders can be sent to José's e-mail address jojocreativo@gmail.com. Screenshots can be found at the corresponding thread at the forum of Amiga.org. (snx)

[News message: 27. Jul. 2021, 08:25] [Comments: 0]
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27.Jul.2021



Video tutorial on how to install the Amiga emulator 'Amiberry' on a Pi400
Amiberry is an Amiga emulator for ARM-based single-chip systems like the Raspberry Pi, the Odroid XU4 or the Tinkerboard from ASUS, which brings some newly developed features like a "WHDLoad-Booter" or support for controller configuration using RetroArch.

The video podcast '10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast' shows in its latest edition how to install the current version 4.14 of the Amiga emulator on a Pi400. (dr) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 27. Jul. 2021, 08:12] [Comments: 0]
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27.Jul.2021
Greg Donner


CS-Lab: New firmware 1.20 for Warp560/1260 available
As reported by Greg Donner on his unofficial Warp 3060/4060 page, CS-Lab has released a new version 1.20 for the Warp 560 and Warp 1260 along with an updated Quick Start Guide, which includes the following changes:
  • SD card support in AmigaOS (warpSD.device)
  • USB disk support in AmigaOS (warpUSBDisk.device)
  • Autoconfig / AutoBoot support for SD and USB storage media
  • DMA transfers for SD and USB storage media
  • Change of FastRAM / RTG memory allocation to 224 / 32MB
As the developers write, "unfortunately this version does not support HW mp3 playback via WarpTool, as currently only AmigaOS has access to SD and USB disk. A special version of the mpega.library will be available with future updates."

One user was able to test the new firmware in advance and has published a YouTube video. (dr) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 27. Jul. 2021, 07:55] [Comments: 0]
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26.Jul.2021
English Amiga Board (Website)


MIDI utilities: amiditools 1.0.0
Christian Vogelsang provides with the 'amiditools' some tools for musicians who control MIDI hardware with an Amiga. The package contains the following programs:
  • udp - A network MIDI driver with custom protocol
  • echo - A simple (test) driver that echoes all MIDI data
  • midi-info - Show CAMD drivers and more
  • midi-send - Send MIDI data via command line
  • midi-recv - Receive MIDI data on command line
  • midi-echo - Echo incoming MIDI traffic
  • midi-perf - MIDI performance measurement
  • BarsnPipes Tools - BarsnPipes Tools to access the new CAMD MIDI drivers
  • midi-udp-bridge - Endpoint for udp MIDI driver
  • midi-udp-echo - Test endpoint for udp MIDI driver
  • midi-perf - MIDI performance measurement
(cg) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 26. Jul. 2021, 22:44] [Comments: 0]
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26.Jul.2021
Generation Amiga (Webseite)


Emulator: WinUAE 4.9 Beta 25
The next release of the well-known Amiga emulator WinUAE will be version number 5.0 due to a new chipset emulation as well as the emulation of a Voodoo3 graphics card. Beta versions have been provided by the developer Toni Wilen for some time already under the version name WinUAE 4.9 Beta [n], currently Beta 25. (cg) (Translation: bb)

[News message: 26. Jul. 2021, 22:39] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021



Game Construction Kit: Scorpion Engine V2021.5.2
The "Scorpion Engine" developed by Erik 'earok' Hogan allows you to develop games. The engine itself is closed source, all demos and example games are open source. The editor runs under Windows. Graphics are imported as PNG files, levels created by using the editor Tiled eingesetzt. For importing and creating sounds, music and animations the Amiga formats (mod, 8svx, anim5) are used.

Recently version 2021.5.2 has been released providing bug fixes as well as the new feature translucency which is demonstrated by an included demo:


For a first overview about the options and possibilites of the engine, Hogan recommends this YouTube video. How to import existing Backbone projects and create animation loops and slopes are also demonstrated by vidoes.

The Scorpion Engine is an ongoing work-in-progress version of the Scorpion Editor for Windows. According to the author a "documentation is almost certainly likely to come when the engine is stable, but the engine is constantly under development. Documents and tutorials would quickly go out of date, all of my time on the project goes into much needed bug fixes and features." Nevertheless many projects and games have been announced or released during the last time. The author has confirmed to us that his Game Construction Kit is not only aimed at professional developers, on the contrary:

"It's really designed for anyone who wants to make an Amiga game. I am a professional game developer so I've designed Scorpion to be fast and flexible enough to make the games I want to make. But at the same time, I've also tried to make it as straight forward as possible for non-developers. Mixel, for example, is making the largest and most complex Scorpion game to date entirely by himself with no background in programming: Creeping Me Out: Hex Night."

Taking up the question of one of our readers, if ports to any other platforms are planned he replied:
"A port for AmigaOS4 is not planned yet. I have started work towards porting Scorpion to other platforms, but I can't guarantee AmigaOS4 compatibility at this point." (dr)

[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 07:35] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021



Aminet uploads until 24.07.2021
The following files have been added until 24.07.2021 to Aminet:
HWP_RapaGUI.lha          dev/hwood  7.2M  MOS Cross-platform GUI toolkit fo...
REDPILLGameCreator.lha   dev/misc   2.1M  68k Game Creator with AGA support
dsp3210.lha              driver/oth 301K  68k DSP 3210 drivers and tools
MCE.lha                  game/edit  3.2M  68k Multi-game Character Editor
MCE-MOS.lha              game/edit  3.5M  MOS Multi-game Character Editor
MCE-OS4.lha              game/edit  3.7M  OS4 Multi-game Character Editor
AmiArcadia.lha           misc/emu   4.3M  68k Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadia-OS4.lha       misc/emu   4.8M  OS4 Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiVms.lha               misc/emu   3.2M  68k Simulates OpenVMS commands
Ewy.lha                  mods/8voic 1.2M      EWY 16bit 5ch Amiga Piano Ballad
ASE2019_1.50.lha         text/edit  133K  68k Text editor
Vim_8.2-i386-aros.lha    text/edit  12M   x86 The ubiquitous text editor
Vim_8.2-ppc-amigaos.lha  text/edit  14M   OS4 The ubiquitous text editor
Vim_8.2-ppc-morphos.lha  text/edit  13M   MOS The ubiquitous text editor
ToolsMenu.lha            util/cdity 73K   68k Add tools to the Workbench To...
Alltests.zip             util/misc  14K   68k Automated Amiga Test Program
ReportPlus.lha           util/misc  621K  68k Multipurpose utility
ReportPlusMOS.lha        util/misc  735K  MOS Multipurpose utility
ReportPlus-OS4.lha       util/misc  786K  OS4 Multipurpose utility
TestProgram.zip          util/misc  27K   68k Versatile Amiga Test Program
InstallerLG.i386-aros... util/sys   121K  x86 Commodore Installer replacement
InstallerLG.ppc-morph... util/sys   155K  MOS Commodore Installer replacement
(snx)

[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021



OS4Depot uploads until 24.07.2021
The following files have been added until 24.07.2021 to OS4Depot:
picasm.lha               dev/cro 142kb 4.0 PIC16F84 Assembler for the Amiga
crash.lha                dev/uti 3kb   4.0 C source included
amiarcadia.lha           emu/gam 5Mb   4.0 Signetics-based machines emulator
iconverter.lha           gra/ico 99kb  4.0 Convert WB 1.x/MagicWB icons to ...
reportplus.lha           uti/mis 786kb 4.0 Multipurpose utility
showfiles.lha            uti/she 43kb  4.1 sorted & text-formatted file...
(snx)

[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021



AROS Archives uploads until 24.07.2021
The following files have been added until 24.07.2021 to AROS Archives:
vim_8.2-i386-aros.lha        dev/edi 12Mb  Vim
iconverter.i386-aros.lha     gra/con 98kb  Convert WB 1.x/MagicWB icons to ...
installerlg.i386-aros.lha    uti/wor 121kb Commodore Installer replacement
(snx)

[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021



MorphOS-Storage uploads until 24.07.2021
The following files have been added until 24.07.2021 to MorphOS-Storage:
HWP_RapaGUI_2.0.lha       Development/Hollywood/... A cross-platform GUI to...
Iris_0.125.lha            Email                     New email client suppor...
MCE_13.0.lha              Games/Editor              Multi-game Character Ed...
InstallerLG_1.0.0b2.lha   System/Shell              Commodore Installer rep...
Vim_8.2.2993.lha          Text/Edit                 A highly configurable t...
(snx)

[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021



WHDLoad: New installers until 24.07.2021
Using WHDLoad, games, scene demos and intros by cracking groups, which were originally designed to run only from floppy disks, can be installed on harddisk. The following installers have been added until 24.07.2021:
  • 2021-07-18 new: Worthy (Pixelglass) done by JOTD (Info)
  • 2021-07-18 new: Scuba Diver (Surreal) done by JOTD (Info)
  • 2021-07-18 improved: First Samurai (Vivid Image) uses less chip memory, 3-button support added (Info)
  • 2021-07-16 fixed: Incredible Shrinking Sphere (Electric Dreams) interrupt fixed (access to dmacon removed), gaame copyright info corrected into the slave (Info)
(snx)

[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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