25.Mar.2024
tuxcam@yahoo.it (ANF)
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PDF-Magazin: REV'n'GE 156 (italienisch/englisch)
The PDF magazine REV'n'GE ("Retro Emulator Vision and Game") is available in both an English translation and as the original Italian version. The REV'n'GE game reviews compare, where available, the conversions of classics between different platforms of the time. An attempt is also made to pick out lesser-known retro games.
The latest issue, focusing on naval simulations, now links directly to YouTube videos with recordings of the game being reviewed: If a corresponding video is available, it can be accessed by clicking on the "Trailer" icon at the top of the page. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 25. Mar. 2024, 22:07] [Comments: 0]
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24.Mar.2024
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Easter game: Bunny's "Boing Ball" Bounty
After "Hop to the Top!" last year, Robert Smith has also released a game for this year's Easter: in Bunny's "Boing Ball" Bounty, you (as a bunny) have to collect as many eggs as possible in the shortest possible time (YouTube-Video). The game requires 1MB of memory. (dr)
[News message: 24. Mar. 2024, 17:07] [Comments: 0]
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24.Mar.2024
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Aminet uploads until 23.03.2024
The following files have been added until 23.03.2024 to Aminet:
amospro_darkula.lha dev/amos 19K Dark theme for AMOS Professional
BSDSocket-Extension.lha dev/amos 32K 68k Use bsdsocket.library in AMOS...
HWP_Pangomonium.lha dev/hwood 13M 68k The ultimate text engine for ...
P96Tests.lha dev/src 99K P96 Test programs
AST_Catweasel.lha docs/help 348K Spanish info about Catweasel ...
Dice_Masters_Demo.lha game/demo 47M Dice Masters demo
puzzleballsadf.zip game/misc 301K 68k PuzzleBalls game
ScummVM_AGA_060.lha game/misc 55M 68k Amiga AGA port of ScummVM 2.3...
ScummVM_RTG_060.lha game/misc 55M 68k Amiga RTG port of ScummVM 2.5...
skyballsadf.zip game/misc 301K 68k SkyBalls game
AmiWordle.lha game/think 156K 68k Wordle clone - English/German...
puzzleballs.lha game/wb 205K 68k PuzzleBalls game
skyballs.lha game/wb 200K 68k SkyBalls game
ham_convert.zip gfx/conv 7.0M HAM graphic converter
LN3Earth24.lha mods/misc 213K 16bit 4ch LN3 Earth Temple 24...
neatvi.lha text/edit 132K MOS Neat vi clone
listercompare.module.lha util/dopus 18K 68k DOpus Magellan II: Compare li...
IconLib_46.4.lha util/libs 1.8M 68k free icon.library in optimize...
VATestprogram.zip util/misc 19M 68k Versatile Amiga Testprogram
isomount.lha util/rexx 24K Mounting img,iso,adf... on do...
(snx)
[News message: 24. Mar. 2024, 07:39] [Comments: 0]
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24.Mar.2024
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OS4Depot uploads until 23.03.2024
The following files have been added until 23.03.2024 to OS4Depot:
pt2_clone.lha aud/tra 24Mb 4.1 Ported clone of Protracker II
liba52.lha dev/lib 722kb 4.1 low-level interface to decode AC...
libsdl2_mixer.lha dev/lib 3Mb 4.1 Mixer library for Simple DirectM...
libsdl2_gfx.lha dev/lib 2Mb 4.1 Drawing and graphical effects ex...
libsdl2_image.lha dev/lib 2Mb 4.1 SDL2 image file loading library
libsmpeg2.lha dev/lib 2Mb 4.1 SDL2 MPEG Player Library (SMPEG2)
libtiff.lha dev/lib 8Mb 4.1 Lib for handling Tag Image File ...
libsdl2_net.lha dev/lib 88kb 4.1 SDL2_net portable network library
sdlpop.lha gam/adv 2Mb 4.1 Open-source port of Prince of Pe...
h2_locale_pol.lha gam/fps 18kb 4.0 Unofficial Polish localization f...
h2_locale_rus.lha gam/fps 189Mb 4.0 Unofficial Russian localization ...
thf.lha gam/fps 77Mb 4.0 THF for Heretic II Multiplayer Mod
letter-worm.lha gam/puz 7kb 4.0 Collect letters and fly away as ...
hwp_pangomonium.lha lib/hol 13Mb 4.0 Hollywood plugin for advanced te...
amiupdate_fin.lha uti/wor 38kb 4.1 Finnish catalogs for AmiUpdate
amiupdate_pol.lha uti/wor 39kb 4.0 Polish catalog files for AmiUpdate
mplayer.lha vid/pla 28Mb 4.1 A powerful multimedia video and ...
(snx)
[News message: 24. Mar. 2024, 07:39] [Comments: 0]
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24.Mar.2024
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AROS Archives uploads until 23.03.2024
The following files have been added until 23.03.2024 to AROS Archives:
void-fb14-aros.i386-aros.zip dem/mus 4Mb Music-disk by Void
raylib5.i386-aros.zip dev/lib 22Mb A simple and easy-to-use library...
icarosfix.zip uti/mis 100Mb Little fix for icaros v2.3
(snx)
[News message: 24. Mar. 2024, 07:39] [Comments: 0]
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24.Mar.2024
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 23.03.2024
The following files have been added until 23.03.2024 to MorphOS-Storage:
Pangomonium_1.0.lha Dependencies/Hollywood a plugin for Hollywood ...
butterfly.lha Development/C Archive with C source c...
fheroes2_1.0.13.lha Games/Strategy fheroes2 is a recreatio...
Wayfarer_7.8.lha MorphOS-update Wayfarer is the latest ...
Easy2Install_1.0b51.lha Network/PackageManager A package manager to do...
(snx)
[News message: 24. Mar. 2024, 07:39] [Comments: 0]
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24.Mar.2024
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WHDLoad: New installers until 23.03.2024
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 23.03.2024:
(snx)
[News message: 24. Mar. 2024, 07:39] [Comments: 0]
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23.Mar.2024
Mastodon
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Creating and reading disk images: Disk Jockey 3 for macOS
Disk Jockey makes it easy to create and analyse disk images for retro computers and emulators. With the now released version 3 you can now also create empty DD and HD disc images (ADF images) as well as Hard Disk Files (HDF), as used by WinUAE. In addition to the Macintosh images, the contents of existing images in the above formats can now also be displayed.
Finally, Disk Jockey also offers the option of converting an existing image for Basilisk II into an image for BlueSCSI. (dr)
[News message: 23. Mar. 2024, 21:42] [Comments: 0]
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23.Mar.2024
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Chat software: AmigaGPT V1.4.4 for AmigaOS 3 and 4
Cameron Armstrong has written AmigaGPT, a chat program for AmigaOS 3.2 that uses the power of the chatbot ChatGPT (amiga-news.de reported). Originally written for AmigaOS 3.2, the programme meanwhile also supports AmigaOS 3.9, Cloanto's Workbench 3.X and AmigaOS 4.1. Changes of version 1.4.4:
- Fixes a bug in chat mode in AmigaOS 3.X where the send button stays disabled after an error occurs
- Change the stack size in the program .info file to the recommended 32768 bytes
- Fix bug where accents were not loaded properly resulting in the speech to fail. If you get an error when generating speech, go to the menu and set the accent again
Download: AmigaGPT.lha (910 KB) (dr)
[News message: 23. Mar. 2024, 17:01] [Comments: 0]
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22.Mar.2024
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Video: 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast #169 - Amiga iBrowse 3.0a Review and Tutorial
In the 169th edition of his videocast 10MARC, Douglas Compton focuses on the iBrowse 3.0a web browser. (snx)
[News message: 22. Mar. 2024, 08:30] [Comments: 0]
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22.Mar.2024
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Atari ST: EmuTOS 1.3 released
The Atari ST and TT compatible operating system EmuTOS is now available in version 1.3. EmuTOS can also be run on Amiga computers, Vampire turboboards or the THEA500Mini using ROM files based on it. (snx)
[News message: 22. Mar. 2024, 08:24] [Comments: 0]
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22.Mar.2024
ANF
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Der Standard: Bobby Kotick, who wants to buy Tiktok, once interested in Amiga
The Austrian daily newspaper "Der Standard" reports on Robert 'Bobby' Kotick at the title link. The former Activision boss had put himself forward as a possible buyer should the US business of TikTok be sold.
In this context, the newspaper recalls that the entrepreneur had unsuccessfully tried to take over Commodore International in 1987 and modify the successful Amiga 500 model - namely by removing the drive and keyboard and turn it into a games console. His plans were thwarted by Commodore boss Irving Gould. (snx)
[News message: 22. Mar. 2024, 08:11] [Comments: 0]
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21.Mar.2024
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Emulator: WinFellow 0.5.11
Release candiate 1 of version 0.5.11 of the Amiga emulator WinFellow has been released. The default display driver has been changed from DirectDraw to Direct3D 11, where supported. In addition, keyboard-initiated reset in Amiga Forever has been implemented. Besides, there are numerous bug fixes and code improvements.
Update: (30.03.2024, 06:56, dr)
The release originally named as RC1 is now listed as version 0.5.11 (official news). (dr)
[News message: 21. Mar. 2024, 18:04] [Comments: 0]
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21.Mar.2024
MorphZone (Forum)
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MorphOS: Web browser Wayfarer 7.8 (update)
Jacek 'jacadcaps' Piszczek has released version 7.7 of his web browser Wayfarer for MorphOS. Changes:
- fixed WebAnimations support
- fixed several issues with the internal refresh loop
- fixed taking screenshots of scrolled-down pages
- file:// handling fixes
- updated libxml2
Update: (23.03.2024, 08:02, dr)
Meanwhile version 7.8 (changelog) is available which fixes a regression in OpenURL support and improves handling of Open File and OpenURL to allow loading of files with non-ascii characters. (dr)
[News message: 21. Mar. 2024, 11:25] [Comments: 1 - 23. Mar. 2024, 08:08]
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21.Mar.2024
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Article series: The history of software soundtrackers (parts 1-3)
30 years ago, Xavier Borderie had fun making music on his Amiga with the help of Protracker. This was the reason for him to take a look behind the scenes in a series of articles and write about those who made soundtracking possible:
Soundtracker origins, part 1: Where in the World is Karsten Obarski?
Here the author wants to find out when the way music is composed made the leap from a physical hardware product to a software product. Who was the first person to come up with the programming of this interface? Is it really Karsten Obarski, the father of The Ultimate Soundtracker?
Soundtracker origins, part 2: Welcome to Turrican, aah hahahaha
Karsten Obarski apparently got the inspiration for "The Ultimate Soundtracker" from a tool called SoundMonitor, which the developer and musician Chris Hülsbeck released for the Commodore 64 in 1986 - a year before Obarski's own Ultimate Soundtracker. Hülsbeck was 18 years old at the time. Was this the beginning of software trackers?
Soundtracker origins, part 3: Facing a stone mountain
The history of software sound trackers seems to go back even further: in the second of the series, Chris Hülsbeck told the author that he remembers using Steinberg's MIDI Multitrack Sequencer tool on the Commodore 64 computer, around the time he was writing his own tool, Soundmonitor.
Soundtracker Origins, interlude: The coders behind the Cambrian explosion
In this somewhat off-topic article, Xavier Borderie spoke to the developers of the various Soundtracker clones, including the developers of Protracker and NoiseTracker.
(dr)
[News message: 21. Mar. 2024, 10:45] [Comments: 0]
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21.Mar.2024
demoparty.net
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Demoparty: Posadas Party 2024 (Posadas/ES, 28.6.-30.6.)
In the very south of Europe, the demoscene has been celebrating occasionally for many years, since 1995, at the Posadas party in the town of the same name north-east of Seville.
The Posadas has its origins in the Amiga demoscene, and this is also reflected in the current competitions: entries in the demo, intro and cracktro competitions are only permitted for Amiga OCS or Amiga AGA. The best-known release on the Posadas to date is most likely the 1995 demo Batman Vuelve by the Batman Group.
In addition to the competitions, there will also be two concerts this year by electro music artists KHROME and Narcisound.
According to the organisers, pre-sales for the party will begin in a few days. (nba)
[News message: 21. Mar. 2024, 10:24] [Comments: 0]
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21.Mar.2024
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Adventure interpreter: ScummVM 2.3.0 for Amigas with 68060 processor
The developer 'NovaCoder' has been porting the adventure interpreter ScummVM to AmigaOS 3: the latest version 2.0.1.01 is available for RTG-Amigas and AGA-Amigas with 68060 processor and is based on ScummVM 2.3.0 for the first time. (dr)
[News message: 21. Mar. 2024, 09:26] [Comments: 0]
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21.Mar.2024
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Motorola68k emulation: Emu68 V1.0
Developer Michal Schulz has released the first stable version 1.0 of his Motorola68K emulation Emu68 for the ARM architecture, focusing on the PiStorm and PiStorm32lite (amiga-news.de reported). Emu68 1.0 contains all the changes from 1.0 RC1, RC2 and RC3 plus some additional fixes and improvements. Starting with Emu68 1.0 all users are encouraged to use official releases only and do not use nightly builds unless really necessary.
About this release and the changes, Michal Schulz has written in detail on his Patreon website and also recommends this YouTube-Video by Tomaz. (dr)
[News message: 21. Mar. 2024, 06:22] [Comments: 0]
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20.Mar.2024
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Shoot 'em up: R-Squadron
Developer Monster's Legs has made a name for himself in the scene with games for the ZX Spectrum. Recently, he has released a previously unpublished shoot 'em up for the Amiga, which he designed as a 16-year-old in the 1990s: "R-Squadron" was created using the legendary SEUCK ("Shoot 'em up Construction Kit") and deals in a humorous style with resurrected arcade games from the 70s and 80s that attack the earth - and, of course, only the player can stop them!
R-Squadron can be downloaded free of charge in ADF format from the website at the title link. (nba)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2024, 11:29] [Comments: 0]
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20.Mar.2024
Bitfellas
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Demoparty: Outline 2024 (Ommen/NL, 9.5.-12.5.)
Since 2004, Outline has been an important part of the demo scene, attracting creatives from Benelux, Germany and other European countries. This year, the demoparty will take place during the extended weekend around Ascension Day, from 9 to 12 May 2024, in Ommen, Netherlands - tickets are still available.
Although the Outline is an Atari party at heart, all platforms are welcome, as the open competitions show: the demo, intro, graphics and music competitions are open to so-called oldskool and newskool systems, but with a focus on 8-bit computers and PCs. (nba)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2024, 10:52] [Comments: 0]
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20.Mar.2024
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Handheld console: "Amigo Tracker" 1.15 for PlayDate
PlayDate is a handheld games console released in 2022 by the US software developer and computer games publisher Panic Inc (Wikipedia). As the operating system is kept open, external developers can also write software for the console using Lua and C (and a simulator). At the end of January, Outgunned Games released a first version of his "Amigo Tracker": a retro player that can play 4-channel ProTracker modules.
Since then, he has corrected numerous errors and made improvements (dev log) and released version 1.15 yesterday. (dr)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2024, 08:51] [Comments: 0]
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19.Mar.2024
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Snake conversion: "Letter-Worm" for AmigaOS 3 and 4
For fun, 'tickBit' has released a Snake implementation with letters for the Workbench for AmigaOS 3 and 4. The game requires the respective background graphics in a "gfx" folder.
Downloads:
Letter-worm-OS4-exe.lha (7 Kb)
Background picture OS4
Letter-worm-exe.lha (11 Kb)
Background picture OS3 (dr)
[News message: 19. Mar. 2024, 06:24] [Comments: 0]
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18.Mar.2024
Andreas Falkenhahn (ANF)
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Modern text engine for Hollywood: Pangomonium 1.0 supports Emojis
Press Release: Airsoft Softwair is pleased to announce the immediate availability of a powerful new plugin for Hollywood: Pangomonium - the ultimate text engine for Hollywood. Pangomonium is a plugin of epic proportions and the first plugin to require Hollywood 10. Pangomonium contains an ultra-modern text engine that is at the cutting edge of technology and can draw text in almost any language in the world.
In addition, Pangomonium also supports fonts with colored characters, making it finally possible to write programs on Amigas that support colored emojis! Pangomonium is based on the established Pango and Cairo libraries and also allows Hollywood scripts to call all Pango/Cairo functions directly. Of course, there is also a simpler interface to draw text via Pangomonium without having to deal with Pango/Cairo in depth. Pangomonium has been two years in the making and is now finally ready for release, exclusively for Hollywood 10.
Here are just a few of Pangomonium's impressive features:
- Text can be drawn in almost any language in the world, including complex fonts and layouts such as bi-directional text, left-scrolling fonts, vertical layouts, etc.
- Support for fonts with color characters (finally emoji support on the Amiga!)
- Two high and low level interfaces for beginners and advanced users
- Hollywood scripts can use all Pango and Cairo functions (over 500 of them!)
- seamless integration into the text interface of Hollywood 10 allows very easy use
- the plugin can also replace Hollywood's vector graphics engine
- extensive documentation in AmigaGuide, HTML, CHM and PDF formats (over 300 pages!)
- over 30 ready-to-run example scripts
And best of all, Pangomonium is available to download for free from the official Hollywood portal. At least Hollywood 10 is required. Thanks to Hollywood's platform-independent plugin system, there are versions for AmigaOS 3, AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, Linux, macOS and Windows.
(cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 18. Mar. 2024, 19:40] [Comments: 0]
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18.Mar.2024
Simon Neumann (ANF)
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Alinea Computer will take over distribution of the next two Hyperion games
Press release: We are pleased to announce that we, as Alinea Computer, will take over the distribution of the next two games from Hyperion Entertainment. The cooperation so far has been excellent and we hope to continue it to realize further projects. Our first game as a distributor will be Heretic II for AmigaOS 4, which can be ordered at the title link. Dealers should contact us directly as a distributor. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 18. Mar. 2024, 19:33] [Comments: 0]
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18.Mar.2024
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Linux: Kernel 6.8 for AmigaOne X1000/X5000
Parallel to the release of the Linux kernel 6.8, Christian 'xeno74' Zigotzky has finally compiled it for the AmigaOne X1000 and X5000 after numerous tests.
Download: linux-image-6.8-X1000_X5000.tar.gz (61 MB) (dr)
[News message: 18. Mar. 2024, 17:52] [Comments: 0]
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18.Mar.2024
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Tower defense: "Dice Masters" 1.00 for Apollo Vampire V4
In Sami Vehmaa's tower defence game "Dice Masters", the player has to fend off aliens on a spaceship (amiga-news.de reported, YouTube video of version 1.00). Now all ten levels as well as an arcade mode are available. A demo version with one level offers the opportunity to try out the game free of charge. (dr)
[News message: 18. Mar. 2024, 06:37] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2024
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Shaviry: DIY Amiga RGB to VGA adapter and monitor switcher
Shaviry is a new hardware project created by hobby developer Enrique Ferrari Lorenzo. It combines an Amiga video-to-VGA adapter and a monitor switcher, featuring an integrated RGB amplifier to minimise vertical bars and improve display quality. Shaviry is explicitly not a scandoubler, so the connected monitor(s) must support 15 kHz video signals.
The mode of operation of the adapter can be controlled using jumpers: Shaviry thus functions as a pure VGA adapter on Amigas that are not equipped with a graphics card or HDMI-to-VGA adapter, and/or as an automatic input switcher controlled by Switchcontrol via CIA or parallel port or by switch, Arduino or similar via a 5-volt signal. A built-in optocoupler component prevents overvoltage in this process. The switchover with a CRT monitor is immediate, with an LCD monitor it takes a little longer, according to the developer's description.
Tests were carried out by the developer with an AGA Amiga and THS7374 and THS7376 RGB amplifiers. Using the THS7374 with 9.5 Mhz filter bandwidth, the vertical bars are slightly visible, but the image is blurred, according to the developer. The THS7376 produces a sharp image and the bars are almost invisible.
Shavira is currently not offered commercially, but is aimed at the growing do-it-yourself community, i.e. those who are not afraid to wield a soldering iron. The developer Enrique Ferrari Lorenzo provides the PCB data for KiCad and Gerber files on the project page on GitHub under the title link for free download and provides a complete overview of the required components along with extensive image and video material for support. The current revision is REV23012024 from 23 January 2024. A readme about Shaviry is also available in English. (nba)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2024, 16:48] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2024
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Aminet uploads until 16.03.2024
The following files have been added until 16.03.2024 to Aminet:
amosreg.lha dev/amos 6K 68k Edit AMOS Pro username and regno
evo.lha dev/e 673K 68k E-VO: Amiga E Evolution
c2plib.lha dev/misc 204K 68k chunky2planar as an Amiga sha...
x68k2amiga.zip dev/misc 25K 68k Convert X68000 exec/data file...
MultiJoyTest.lha driver/inp 6K 68k Test a MultiJoyAdapter (8 joy...
GIScopaAdf.zip game/board 340K 68k Italian card game
slotgameadf.zip game/board 308K 68k Slot Game
F1GP2024Carset.lha game/data 8K 2024 Carset for F1GP
ScummVM_RTG_060.lha game/misc 55M 68k Amiga RTG port of ScummVM 2.3...
battaglianavaleadf.zip game/think 328K 68k GI Battaglia Navale
slotgame.lha game/wb 240K 68k Slot Game
AmiArcadia.lha misc/emu 7.2M 68k Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadiaMOS.lha misc/emu 7.5M MOS Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadia-OS4.lha misc/emu 7.7M OS4 Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiVms.lha misc/emu 3.7M 68k Simulates OpenVMS commands
LN32024Theme.lha mods/misc 109K 4ch 16bit LN3 2024 New Theme ...
WHDArchiveExtractor.lha util/arc 14K 68k Automates extraction of WHDLo...
DOpus4Manual_de.lha util/dopus 120K German DOpus 4 manual
AmigaGPT.lha util/misc 909K AOS App for chatting to ChatGPT
WHDLoadMenu.lha util/misc 485K 68k A WHDLoad frontend
ConsumerV1.0.lha util/moni 228K 68k Memory Log Tool, to Screen & ...
(snx)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2024, 08:01] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2024
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OS4Depot uploads until 16.03.2024
The following files have been added until 16.03.2024 to OS4Depot:
amiarcadia.lha emu/gam 8Mb 4.0 Signetics-based machines emulator
dgen-sdl.lha emu/gam 4Mb 4.1 Emulator of the Sega Genesis/Meg...
sdl2.lha lib/mis 7Mb 4.1 Simple DirectMedia Layer 2
litexl.lha uti/tex 2Mb 4.1 A lightweight text editor writte...
ffmpeg.lha vid/con 51Mb 4.1 Video and audio converter
(snx)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2024, 08:01] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2024
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AROS Archives uploads until 16.03.2024
The following files have been added until 16.03.2024 to AROS Archives:
bp_dev_tools_accessories.zip aud/edi 1Mb Development B&P For Tools a...
arrakis.i386-aros.zip dem/sce 3Mb port of the Arrakis demo for Ipo...
nano.i386-aros.zip dem/sce 4Mb port of the nano demo for Ipod b...
(snx)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2024, 08:01] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2024
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 16.03.2024
The following files have been added until 16.03.2024 to MorphOS-Storage:
AmiArcadia_31.0.lha Emulation A Signetics-based machi...
Iris_1.22.lha MorphOS-update Iris, the MorphOS email...
Wayfarer_7.6.lha MorphOS-update Wayfarer is the latest ...
Lite-XL_2.1.3r1.lha Text/Edit Lite XL is a lightweigh...
(snx)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2024, 08:01] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2024
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PDF manual: DOS documentation in the works
At the title link on GitHub Thomas 'ThoR' Richter, one of the developers of AmigaOS 3.2, has started work on a PDF manual for the dos.library in the style of the Amiga ROM Kernel Reference Manuals. (snx)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2024, 08:01] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2024
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Amiga-Scoopex-C: Conversion of the Assembler tutorial into C
The GitHub project Amiga-Scoopex-C is a conversion of the examples of the Amiga assembler course "Amiga Hardware Programming", which can be found on YouTube, into the C programming language.
Now all 11 previously created instructions have been adapted to the current version of vscode-amiga-debug, so that functions such as INCBIN-CHIP have become available. Each episode now consists of a single source code file. In addition, the existing instructions for the Copperlist have been revised so that the data no longer has to be copied to Chip RAM at runtime. (snx)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2024, 08:01] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2024
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Video: Review of the PowerShark
In a detailed video report, Robert Smith tests the "PowerShark", a USB-C-based power supply for the Amiga 500, 600 and 1200 keyboard cases (amiga-news.de reported). (dr)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2024, 06:40] [Comments: 0]
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16.Mar.2024
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YouTube: Recording of the PiStorm-presentation at FOSDEM 2024
Andrew "LinuxJedi" Hutchings, full-time CCO for the MySQL alternative MariaDB Foundation, is known as a developer of hardware and software for the Amiga. At FOSDEM 2024, an open source developer conference held on March 3rd to 4th, 2024, in Brussels, Belgium, Hutchings gave a presentation on "PiStorm - The evolution of an open source Amiga accelerator", which demonstrates the modification of the Raspberry Pi mini motherboard as an Amiga turbo card and is available on YouTube.
In the presentation, Hutchings demonstrates the use of the PiStorm32-Lite on his Amiga 1200 and talks about this and other topics:
- What the PiStorm really is, both as hardware and a community
- The history of the project, including the bumps along the road
- Directions that is intended to take the project in the future
- A demonstration of what PiStorm is capable of
The recording can be accessed via the title link. (nba)
[News message: 16. Mar. 2024, 11:42] [Comments: 0]
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16.Mar.2024
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Video tutorial: Parallax scrolling in AMOS
Following on from the screens tutorials (1, 2, 3), retro and Amiga fan 'Yawning Angel' shows how to achieve parallax scrolling with the dual playfild command in the latest part of his tutorial series. (dr)
[News message: 16. Mar. 2024, 06:31] [Comments: 0]
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15.Mar.2024
Oliver Roberts (Mail)
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E-Mail client: New YAM Nightly Build uses TLS SNI now
IBrowse and AmiSSL5 developer Oliver Roberts has uploaded another change to the repository of the mail program YAM, which Jens Maus implemented yesterday in a new nightly build for AmigaOS 3, AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS: with a single line of code YAM now uses TLS SNI (Server Name Indication) for secure connections, which fixes the problem of failed certificate verification with e.g. Gmail. (dr)
[News message: 15. Mar. 2024, 06:47] [Comments: 0]
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15.Mar.2024
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Trevor's Blog: On the Plus side
Trevor Dickinson from A-EON Technology published a new article in his "Trevor's Blog" yesterday. Among other things, he explains why the delivery of the A1222 Plus motherboards, which began a week ago, has been delayed again: "The original batch of boards received over a month ago worked well but did not include the onboard USB headers and had to be sent back to the manufacturer for minor rework. Also a revision change by the MCU manufacturer meant the onboard temperature sensor was not read correctly and the CPU fan did not spin up. When designing the motherboard, Varisys, the original hardware developer, did not think a CPU fan was necessary but included one as an extra precaution." The problem was solved by modifying the MCU programming firmware.
As Trevor Dickinson further reports, other people besides AAA Technology were involved in making the release of the A1222 Plus possible: Steven Solie, for example, developed an extremely fast and simple, but very powerful recovery USB drive that ensures that all necessary OS4.1 and enhancer software files are installed correctly, and Alexandre Balaban created a fully updated AmigaOS 4.1-ISO. (dr)
[News message: 15. Mar. 2024, 06:33] [Comments: 0]
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14.Mar.2024
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Java-tool: ham_convert 1.10.0
Sebastian Sieczko's Java-based tool ham_convert converts modern graphic formats into the Amiga's HAM format and is now available in version 1.10.0. New in this version:
- ability to use ICtCp colorspace for HAM error calculation
- option to exclude first palette color from DynamicHires conversion
- larger program window and fonts
- code cleanup
Download: ham_convert 1.10.0 (7 MB) (nba)
[News message: 14. Mar. 2024, 13:06] [Comments: 0]
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13.Mar.2024
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On our own behalf: Changes to the team, Nico Barbat returns
Nico Barbat, a long-time demoscene member and well-known Amiga journalist, joined the amiga-news.de team back in 2000. Initially taking care of the job exchange Free Amiga Jobs, he intensified the cooperation between the print magazine "Amiga Plus", for which he was responsible as editor-in-chief, and our news service in the following years until he finally took over management of amiga-news.de at the end of 2003.
Anyone who knows Nico Barbat knows that even after his final retirement from the amiga-news.de team in 2011, the Amiga never really let go of him: There was always talk of projects, possibilities were explored or connections were made. The "official" return with the founding of the publishing house "Look Behind You" in 2022 now also has positive consequences for amiga-news.de: The ex-boss is back in the team. There is no longer a job exchange to look after, but there is still plenty of work for experienced editors ;)
We also welcome Markus 'IM_Petrow' Bonet, a long-time amiga-news.de reader, to the team: as server administrator, Markus will take care of the technical infrastructure on which our largely self-developed content management system runs. We would like to thank our two (more or less) "newcomers" for their support.
Editor's note: To ensure the independence of our reporting, articles on projects by Nico Barbat's publishing house Look Behind You or his LBY business partner Simon Neumann (including Alinea) will continue to be written exclusively by other editors. (cg)
[News message: 13. Mar. 2024, 20:51] [Comments: 0]
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13.Mar.2024
Arne Urbaniak (E-Mail)
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Amiga disks on PC: Copy program G-Copy 0.5
Almost two years ago (amiga-news.de reported), developer Arne Urbaniak presented his copy programme G-Copy for reading and writing Amiga ADF data on a Windows PC. G-Copy, which is visually similar to the popular X-Copy, supports the drive controllers Greaseweazle by Keir Fraser, ADF-Drive by D. Tonn or DrawBridge (Arduino) by Rob Smith.
In the new version 0.5, Greaseweazle routines have been revised and basic support for the ADF controller and DrawBridge has been added. According to the developer, the SCP routine for the ADF controller still needs to be optimised, the content of the disc is already displayed and the checkdisk function has been completed, while the basic control of the DrawBridge now works. The user can also switch between German and English layouts and switch the sound on and off.
Visitors to the ARC (Amiga Ruhrpott Convention (25 May 2024 in Duisburg, Germany) can experience G-Copy live in combination with some controllers at the developer's stand.
Download: gcopy.zip (36,9 MB) (nba)
[News message: 13. Mar. 2024, 19:53] [Comments: 0]
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13.Mar.2024
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Practical report: Using several operating systems on AmigaNG computers (Czech)
Martina Hřebcová is known for her extensive and detailed reports on PowerPC hardware. This time (automatic translation) she looks at the pitfalls of running AmigaOS 4, MorphOS and Linux on the same computer at the title link. (snx)
[News message: 13. Mar. 2024, 11:07] [Comments: 0]
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12.Mar.2024
MorphZone (Forum)
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MorphOS: Web browser Wayfarer 7.6
Jacek 'jacadcaps' Piszczek has released version 7.6 of his web browser Wayfarer for MorphOS which provides more video playback improvements and fixes. (dr)
[News message: 12. Mar. 2024, 22:41] [Comments: 0]
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12.Mar.2024
MorphZone (Forum)
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MorphOS: E-Mail client Iris 1.22, Contacts 1.2
Jacek 'jacadcaps' Piszczek has released version 1.22 of his e-mail client Iris and version 1.2 of the contact manager Contacts for MorphOS. Detailed changes:
Iris V1.22
- Search window will now show partial results while the search is pending
- Fixed search window's results to remove messages as they get deleted
- Improved timezone information sent in calendar events
- Calendar events are now attached twice to be compatible with both Outlook and Gmail
Contacts V1.2
- Improved handling of legacy VCARD formats
(dr)
[News message: 12. Mar. 2024, 22:36] [Comments: 0]
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12.Mar.2024
Wolfgang Kierdorf (E-Mail)
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Video: DIY instruction to build an Arcade Stick gamepad for the Amiga CD³²
At the title link, Wolfgang Kierdorf demonstrates how a standard arcade stick gamepad can be adapted for use with the Amiga CD³² console with a little soldering work using a purchasable circuit board. (snx)
[News message: 12. Mar. 2024, 12:51] [Comments: 0]
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12.Mar.2024
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WHDLoad: Running cracktros from the website
WHDLoad author Bert Jahn has updated the WHDLoad website so that all Cracktros can now be started directly using the Amiga emulator vAmigaWeb via the "Info" link. This works for all productions that do not require an AGA or a Kickstart image. There are also corresponding plans for demos and mags. (dr)
[News message: 12. Mar. 2024, 09:31] [Comments: 0]
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11.Mar.2024
Alfred Faust (ANF)
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MIDI sequencer: BarsnPipes for AROS
Now that AROS developer Franck Charlet has published a driver for the MIDI system 'camd.library' that closes the gap between camd.library and Poseidon's camdusbmidi.class (amiga-news.de reported), Alfred Faust made good on his promise to finish the suspended AROS port of the MIDI sequencer BarsnPipes and adapt it to this new environment. (cg)
[News message: 11. Mar. 2024, 21:03] [Comments: 0]
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11.Mar.2024
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Event: AmiWest 2024 (25.-27. October in Sacramento, USA)
The organisers have announced that the 27th AmiWest show will take place as usual at the Holiday Inn Express in Sacramento, California, from 25 to 27 October 2024. Further information will be published in near future. (dr)
[News message: 11. Mar. 2024, 15:53] [Comments: 0]
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11.Mar.2024
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Editor: Lite XL 2.1.3r1 for AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS
George 'walkero' Sokianos has released version 2.1.3r1 of the editor Lite XL for AmigaOS 4 (OS4Depot link) and MorphOS. The developer has introduced a new feature in LiteXL that allows switching between ISO and Unicode files while preserving the text. Users can also enter any text in their own language, including umlauts. All changes:
Added:
- Added AmiUpdate support
- Added the Tetris plugin
Updated:
- Updated the code to the upstream 2.1.3 release
- Compiled with SDL 2.30.0 that supports editing with ISO encodings, other
than English. Now the editor should be able to support any language
and in conjuction with the codesets plugin be able to make text
encodings conversions
- Now the codesets plugin supports MorphOS 3.18 and above
Changed:
- Changed the way the "Open in system" option executes the WBRun command
in AmigaOS 4, with a more secure way
- Did a lot of code cleanup in sync with the upstream, and parts of code
that were left over
- Compiled with pcre2 10.42 (MorphOS version only)
Fixed:
- I did a lot of changes on path manipulation and usage, fixing scanning
the root of a partition or an assign path
- Fixed an error with the codesets plugin, where an empty file could
not be opened
- Improved the folder suggestions when opening projects or changing paths.
Now even the root folders of a partition are presented
- Fixed ghmarkdown plugin, but now requires a GitHub token to be provided
If you want to follow George 'walkero' Sokiano's work on Amiga projects, you can visit his Ko-fi page. (dr)
[News message: 11. Mar. 2024, 15:27] [Comments: 0]
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11.Mar.2024
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Blog Epsilon's World: AmigaOne A1222, part 1
This time, Epsilon devotes himself to the A1222 Plus, which has been officially available since the end of last week (amiga-news.de reported), in his usual detail and with numerous pictures. As a beta tester, he has been working with the system since 2016 and introduces the programs and tools supplied with AmigaOS 4 in the first part. He also gives his personal buying advice for people who want to buy an A1222 or Sam460LE. (dr)
[News message: 11. Mar. 2024, 15:13] [Comments: 0]
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11.Mar.2024
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Video: Internet-enabled without PlipBox adapter
In his last video, Robert Smith showed how he builds his own PlipBox adapter for his Amiga 2000 in order to make the Amiga Internet-capable with its help. In the current video this adapter is removed again, but surprisingly the Amiga can still access the Internet. He then explains why. (dr)
[News message: 11. Mar. 2024, 08:30] [Comments: 0]
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11.Mar.2024
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Puzzle game: AmiWordle 1.1
Following conversions of the puzzle letter game Wordle by Robert Smith in AMOS and Marcus 'ALB42' Sackrow in Pascal, 'Macetze' has now named his version AmiWordle and written it with Blitz Basic. It can be played with German and English words. (dr)
[News message: 11. Mar. 2024, 07:46] [Comments: 0]
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11.Mar.2024
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Turn-based strategy game: Demo version of "Ecliptic"
Ecliptic is described by the author as a mixture of turn-based tactical combat and role-playing. Visually, it is reminiscent of the retro-futuristic science fiction of the 1970s and 1980s. The player's task is to regain control of a spaceship drifting in space and occupied by aliens. A first demo has now been released.
The game is currently under development and has no sound at the moment. It requires 1MB RAM, recommended is an Amiga 1200 with HD and Fast RAM. (dr)
[News message: 11. Mar. 2024, 07:37] [Comments: 0]
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11.Mar.2024
Glames (BOING)
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Boing Attitude: Interview with Ján Zahurančík (AmiKit)
Boing Attitude published the seventh issue of the French print magazine "BOING" in October 2023. Among other things, it included an interview with Ján Zahurančík, the publisher of the workbench distribution AmiKit XE, which is now publicly available at the title link. (dr)
[News message: 11. Mar. 2024, 07:28] [Comments: 0]
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11.Mar.2024
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Arcade port: Moon Patrol
Jean-Francois 'jotd' Fabre has released another arcade classic for the Amiga: in Moon Patrol, the player controls a moon car with which he has to avoid obstacles such as craters or mines (YouTube video). You are also attacked by UFOs and tanks at the same time. Moon Patrol was one of the first video games to introduce side-scrolling into the gameplay. (dr)
[News message: 11. Mar. 2024, 07:20] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
Amiga Future (website)
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AmigaRemix: Further files added
AmigaRemix collects remixes of well-known soundtracks of Amiga games. Since our last news-item, the following mp3 files have been added:
- Another World, Intro (Vandahlia Special Remix)
- Dune - Ecolove's Pauls Theme
- Dune Ecolove (Vandahlia Special Remix)
- Elvira MotD Upstairs Music (Vandahlia Special Remix)
- Rambo III Stage 2 Music (Vandahlia Special Remix)
- Stardust Memories - Nebula Falling
(snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 17:31] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
Amiga Future (website)
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Print/PDF magazine: Amiga Addict, issue 28
Issue 28 of the British magazine "Amiga Addict" will be published on March 21. The lead article is about the multimedia program Scala.
Amiga Addict is published monthly and is available as a single issue or as a subscription, either in printed form or as a PDF file. (snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 17:28] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
Amigaworld.net (website)
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Italian Print/PDF magazine: Passione Amiga, issue 18
Issue 18 of the Italian magazine "Passione Amiga", which consists of 48 colour pages and is available either in printed form or as a PDF file, contains the following topics:
- Games: Karate Champ, Super Delivery Boy: The Holiday Shift 2023, AMI H.E.R.O., BreakThru, Final Fight Enhanced, Duck Hunt, Ninjaferatu, Spheroid, Tetris1200, Santa’s Workout III - Silent Night
- Review: RNO Effects
- Preview: A600GS e A1222Plus
- Interview: ACube Systems
- Amiga GCC - Probabilità
- And also: Games news, Tech news, Readers mail, Demo Sene, Back Chat etc.
(snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 16:45] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
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Zoom meeting: Chris Hülsbeck guest at the Toronto Users Group
The next meeting of the Canadian Amiga users of the Toronto Users Group on March 21 will only take place online via Zoom - but with a prominent guest, the musician Chris Huelsbeck. The access data for participation can be found at the title link. (snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 16:38] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
Micromiga.com (ANF)
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Amiga 500 case available in stores
The licensed new Amiga 500 case from A1200.net is now also available in stores. So far only the French dealer MicroMiga is known to us (see title link), should other suppliers also stock it, this news-item will be updated.
The following advantages are mentioned:
- Made from a more UV-resistant plastic
- New hatch on the right-hand side (HDMI, USB and MicroSD)
- A single hatch for the right-hand side is also included for mounting more in line with the original)
- Additional rear hatch for RJ45 adapters
- Bottom hatch with additional cooling
- Robust metal threads for screws
- Additional threaded metal brackets for Raspberry Pi and Apollo Vampire V4 Standalone
(snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 16:33] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
Andreas Magerl (ANF)
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Amiga Future: New full versions online
Further full versions of Amiga games have been added to Amiga Future's download area: Jonathan and The Puzzle Gallery: At the Carnival.
A lot of further games, which are also marked as being new, are just re-uploads. (snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 16:01] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
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Aminet uploads until 09.03.2024
The following files have been added until 09.03.2024 to Aminet:
ellipse_algorhytms.lha dev/amos 7K ellipse algorhytms
Rebuild.lha dev/gui 160K 68k Amiga Reaction GUI Builder
HollywoodSP.lha dev/hwood 899K Hollywood 10.0 spanish catalo...
7mezzoadf.zip game/board 344K 68k Popular Italian Christmas game
gimineadf.zip game/board 312K 68k classic game of mines
GIPoker.zip game/board 307K 68k Poker game
AmiWordle.lha game/think 119K 68k Wordle clone for OCS Amiga - ...
2nd-Albireo.ACEpansio... misc/emu 23K MOS ACEpansion plugin for ACE CPC...
Albireo.ACEpansion.lha misc/emu 45K MOS ACEpansion plugin for ACE CPC...
AmiArcadia-OS4.lha misc/emu 7.0M OS4 Signetics-based machines emul...
Dandanator.ACEpansion... misc/emu 682K MOS ACEpansion plugin for ACE CPC...
MirageImager.ACEpansi... misc/emu 18K MOS ACEpansion plugin for ACE CPC...
VATestprogram.zip util/misc 19M 68k Versatile Amiga Testprogram
(snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 08:10] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
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OS4Depot uploads until 09.03.2024
The following files have been added until 09.03.2024 to OS4Depot:
amiarcadia.lha emu/gam 7Mb 4.0 Signetics-based machines emulator
amigagpt.lha net/cha 909kb 4.0 App for chatting to ChatGPT
dnetc.lha net/mis 783kb 4.0 A distributed.net client
rvncd.lha net/ser 115kb 4.1 Amiga VNC Server
amienvmon.lha uti/mis 34kb 4.0 Calls homemade Pico environment ...
(snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 08:10] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
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AROS Archives uploads until 09.03.2024
The following files have been added until 09.03.2024 to AROS-Archiven:
glfw3_4.i386-aros.zip dev/lib 635kb GLFW is an Open Source, multi-pl...
raylib5.i386-aros.zip dev/lib 21Mb A simple and easy-to-use library...
hollywoodsp.lha dev/mis 899kb Spanish Catalog for Hollywood 10
icarosfix.lha uti/mis 87Mb Little fix for icaros v2.3
(snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 08:10] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 09.03.2024
The following files have been added until 09.03.2024 to MorphOS-Storage:
Albireo_1.6.lha Emulation/ACEpansion Plugin for ACE CPC Emul...
Dandanator_1.1.lha Emulation/ACEpansion Dandanator_1.1.lha
MirageImager_1.2.lha Emulation/ACEpansion Plugin for ACE CPC Emul...
Fallout1-ce_1.1.lha Games/RPG Fallout for modern oper...
Woof_14.2.0.lha Games/Shoot3D Woof! is a continuation...
SuDokuL_1.3.lha Games/Think Sudoku game for Switch/...
Easy2Install_1.0b50.lha Network/PackageManager A package manager to do...
(snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 08:10] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
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WHDLoad: New installers until 09.03.2024
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 09.03.2024:
(snx)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 08:10] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2024
Dietmar Planitzer (Mail)
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Operating system for Amiga 3000/4000: First alpha version of "Serena OS"
At the end of 2022, we reported on the start of Dietmar Planitzer's project to write "Apollo", an experimental operating system for the Amiga 3000/4000. After another status update at the end of last year, the developer has now renamed his project "Serena OS" and released a first alpha version, about which he kindly wrote us the following:
"Let's start with the most obvious change: Apollo is now called Serena OS.
A few other things have changed over the last few months. Serena now has an API which makes it possible to write (simple) programmes. Dispatch queues, files, directories, pipes as well as clock and timer functions are currently supported. In addition, there is an advanced C standard library (libc) and the beginnings of a C maths library (libm). There is now also a simple shell and a RAM-based file system. The VT52 and VT100 terminal emulation is now also largely complete and the VT52 emulation now also supports the Atari ST extensions. Both VT100 and VT52 emulation now also support multiple colours (in VT52 emulation mode the corresponding Atari ST ESC codes must be used).
At the moment, however, the system still has a very significant limitation: neither floppy disc nor hard disc is currently supported. However, achieving this is the plan for the next stage of the project. It will then be possible to create a programme for Serena on a Windows or Linux computer and then run it on the Amiga under Serena.
I suspect that some of you are wondering what these ominous dispatch queues are?
Dispatch queues are used to run programme parts in parallel. The original Amiga OS provided tasks for this purpose and other operating systems provide threads. Apple's macOS implements dispatch queues on the basis of traditional threads.
The problem with threads and tasks is that programs allocate them, then use them intermittently, then spend most of their time just sitting passively on the thing without actually using it (threads spend a lot of time sleeping). However, a thread always uses memory and kernel resources - whether it's sleeping or actually doing work makes no difference.
Serena is instead built entirely around dispatch queues: Processes manage dispatch queues and dispatch queues do their work with the help of "virtual processors". You can think of a virtual processor as a highly dynamic thread that is not tied to a specific process. Virtual processors are moved back and forth between dispatch queues and processes as required. If a dispatch queue needs to do more work, it gets an additional virtual processor. However, if it does less work, it gives up a virtual processor, which can then be used by another queue in another process." (dr)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2024, 07:14] [Comments: 0]
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09.Mar.2024
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Amiga E Compiler: E-VO 3.7.0
E-VO Amiga E Compiler is a derivative of the original Amiga E compiler written by Wouter van Oortmerssen. It adds many new features, bug fixes and optimisations including object UNIONs, string merging, non word-aligned objects and many more (amiga-news.de reported).
Darren 'dmcoles' Coles has now released version 3.7.0. Changes:
- Compiler sometimes produced garbage error message with an error at the very
end of the file.
- Reformatted the Amigaguide document to better fit in 80 columns.
- added Arexx compile scripts
- allow creating a new object directly into an object member,
eg. self.a:=NEW self.a.method()
- method table was not correctly initialised for objects declared as
eg. DEF a:b OR DEF a[5]:ARRAY OF b
- heap in compiler is allocated with MEMF_CLEAR in compiler to ensure all
data in the exe is initialised to 0 and not contain random data from
memory
- calling a method on an array element of an object did did not calculate
the correct address for the method.
- compiler was creating 020 opcodes when accessing an array of objects
- added NIL pointer checks when calling methods on array of objects
- self variable was set incorrectly for methods declared with an exception
handler
- fix issue with wrong opcode being generated in this code
DEF a
DEF b:PTR TO LONG
a:=[0,b[0]:=5]
resulting in the value not being stored correctly
- include textfield module
- fix bug in reaction_lib with the freeClickTabs, freeChooserLabels and
freeRadioButtons functions not looping through the list correctly.
- add support for long branch 020 instruction.
- fix invalid memory access when casting the result of a procedure call
to an object
- fix inconsistencies with SIZEOF command
- fix error in branching code for the == operator
- add missing listview module
- add some extra functions in reaction_lib (openClass, openLibs,
closeLibs, libDoGadgetMethodA)
- added PSIZEOF operator
- added ARRAYSIZE operator
- added SelectFirst function
- added debug symbols for methods
- allow CONT and EXIT within SELECT statement
- updated Rnd() function to be pure
- flagged openw, opwns, boolgad, settopaz, sets, gets functions as not pure
- added WARN TRUE/FALSE to enable/disable warnings
- added Rol() and Ror() functions
- the 020 variant of Mod() was not correctly used by the compiler and
was also taking the parameters the wrong way around
- added 020 variant of ListItem function
- track line numbers for warnings
- NOREGS option was not correctly parsed on methods
- taking a reference to a method {obj.method} did not return the
correct address
- 1.3 startup code now updates stack pointers to allow stack space
functions to return the correct values.
- skip NameFromFH call on kick 1.3 meaning the compiler now works
on that OS again
- NOT operator was very broken (inconsistently applied and in some cases
not applied at all)
- Added EVO_3_7_0 define
- casting and PTR TO PTR handling is improved and should now work in all
use cases.
Direct download: evo.lha (673 KB) (dr)
[News message: 09. Mar. 2024, 21:16] [Comments: 0]
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09.Mar.2024
Amiga Kit
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Amiga Kit: ARM Graphics library for A600GS computer
Press release: AmigaKit Ltd is pleased to announce an important software development for
the forthcoming A600GS computer system (amiga-news.de reported). The new ARM Graphics Library is pre-installed accelerating the performance of AmiBench and 68K applications.
The ARMgraphics.library was created by AmigaKit's in-
house developer to bypass the bottleneck of the 68K graphics
functions. It accelerates graphics rendering performance in
applications.
AmiBench is pre-installed on the A600GS computer system. It
opens the desktop environment in high resolution 1080p with
True Colour icons. Now it can use the new ARM Graphics
Library for various purposes including faster rendering of
windows, icons and backgrounds.
Third party developers can take advantage of this library by using
it's powerful functions from their 68K application. It also offers an
opportunity for 68K games developers to enhance their games
with faster graphics rendering.
The library provides a link between 68K programs and the native
ARM processor.
Further work is underway to patch 68K system graphics functions
so older applications that are not written to use the ARM
Graphics Library can benefit.
AmigaKit has developed AK-Datatypes, Picture Datatype and Datatypes Library over the many years for
the Enhancer Software on X5000, X1000 and A1222+. These have been compiled for 68K to run on the
A600GS, In addition these system components can also be accelerated by the ARM Graphics Library for
extra performance.
The A600GS computer system is due for launch in the second quarter of 2024. (dr)
[News message: 09. Mar. 2024, 15:09] [Comments: 0]
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09.Mar.2024
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Chat software: AmigaGPT V1.4.3 for AmigaOS 3 and 4
Cameron Armstrong has written AmigaGPT, a chat program for AmigaOS 3.2 that uses the power of the chatbot ChatGPT (amiga-news.de reported). Originally written for AmigaOS 3.2, the programme meanwhile also supports AmigaOS 3.9, Cloanto's Workbench 3.X and AmigaOS 4.1. Changes of version 1.4.3:
- Updated to the latest OpenAI chat models
- Fix crash when config.json doesn't exist
- Fix crash when selecting the root menu items
- Adjust screen colours to enhance visibility
- Improved error handling for connection errors
- Use a stack cookie to set minimum stack size to 32768 bytes (AmigaOS 3.1.4 or higher required)
- Shows a warning if the stack size is smaller than 32768 bytes (AmigaOS 3 only)
- Send button no longer appears in corner of screen on image mode in 3.X after an error message is dismissed
Download: AmigaGPT.lha (909 KB) (dr)
[News message: 09. Mar. 2024, 12:13] [Comments: 0]
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08.Mar.2024
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Crowdfunding: Book "The Graftgold Story"
"Fusion Retro Books" has launched a Kickstarter campaign to finance a book about the video game company Graftgold, which is responsible for Amiga classics such as Fire and Ice or Uridium 2, among others. The campaign is still running for 13 days, and around 14,300 of the required 17,551 euros have already been raised. (dr)
[News message: 08. Mar. 2024, 21:49] [Comments: 0]
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08.Mar.2024
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Preview video: Platform game "Deathmine" (V0.05C)
In the middle of last year, we reported on an early version of the game "Deathmine" as an entry for the Amiga Blitz Basic Jam. At the end of October, the developer 'pixelplop' had converted the game into C/C++ code and has now published a new preview video, showing the following new features and changes:
- The flame on the HUD lantern gets smaller as the lantern oil depletes.
- The map graphics slowly get darker as the lantern oil depletes.
- Changed the throwable flares to dynamite.
- Added dynamite sticks to the HUD so you can see how many you are carrying.
- When the dynamite explodes it briefly lights up the screen revealing the map.
- Added an Oil can and Dynamite pickup.
- When you die you leave a grave stone behind as a permanent marker.
- Hardware sprites now clip correctly with the top of the screen.
- Hardware sprite data fixed so it ends in a blank line which prevents glitches.
- Added sfx for the toxic drip and other misc sfx.
- Improved character movement.
- Improved character collision and ladder logic.
(dr)
[News message: 08. Mar. 2024, 06:07] [Comments: 0]
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07.Mar.2024
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SCSI-SD adapter: ZuluSCSI firmware v2024.03.07
ZuluSCSI is a new generation of file-based SCSI hard disk and CD-ROM drive emulators (review of a user). ZuluSCSI emulates a SCSI-I or SCSI-2 hard disk using an SD memory card (amiga-news.de reported). Changes of version 2024.03.07:
- Added Apple CD-ROM digital audio over SCSI
- Added Xebec Support
- Added Plextor d8h vendor cmd
- Initiator improvements from BSv2 fork
- Fix SCSI-1 check in initiator mode
- Fix for ZuluSCSI v1.0 mini logging debug with default settings
(dr)
[News message: 07. Mar. 2024, 22:24] [Comments: 0]
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07.Mar.2024
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A1222 Plus: Production finished, available in shop
AAA Technology, a joint venture between Amedia France, A-Eon Technology and AmigaKit in co-operation with ACube Systems, informs us that the production and subsequent testing of the A1222-Plus boards (formerly "Tabor") has been completed and can now be ordered via the title link:
In addition to the board from ¤1,199.00, a complete system is also available for ¤1,599.00. Around 80% of all participants in A-EON's "Early Adopter" programme have already been contacted within the last three months, and the rest are now gradually following suit. Potential buyers are recommended to read Eldee Stephens The QuickStart Guide for New A1222+ Users (amiga-news.de reported), which is still being updated. (dr)
[News message: 07. Mar. 2024, 13:29] [Comments: 0]
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07.Mar.2024
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PDF magazine: Commodore Free, issue 98
After a break of more than six years, the English-language PDF magazine "Commodore Free" returned at the end of November (amiga-news.de reported). The latest issue 98 offers, among other things, a brief overview of the history of Commodore. (dr)
[News message: 07. Mar. 2024, 10:52] [Comments: 0]
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07.Mar.2024
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Tool: Consumer 1.0 shows memory consumption
lifeschool' wanted to find out how much memory its recently released game prototype Dizzy 1 consumes and has written the "Consumer" tool for this purpose. Among other things, this is intended to enable developers to estimate the system requirements for newly written software.
The results are printed on the screen and also saved in a text file on S:. Kickstart 3.0+ is required. (dr)
[News message: 07. Mar. 2024, 10:32] [Comments: 0]
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07.Mar.2024
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Cross development: amitools 0.8.0 for macOS
Christian Vogelgsang has published amitools, a collection of Python 3 tools that should make it possible to work with Amiga OS binaries and files on macOS and all other *nix-like platforms that support Python. The author has not tested it on Windows, but it should work just as well.
The developer focusses his tools on classic Amiga setups, i.e. a 680x0-based system running Amiga OS 1.x - 3.x. However, as this is an open project, other Amiga configurations can also be supported. However, as this is an open project, other Amiga configurations can also be supported. The tools are mostly developer orientated, so a background in Amiga programming will be very helpful. A documentation is available on GitHub.
Now the new version 0.8.0 is available. (dr)
[News message: 07. Mar. 2024, 09:52] [Comments: 0]
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05.Mar.2024
Andreas Magerl (ANF)
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Print magazine: Amiga Future, issue 167
The English and German issue 167 (March/April 2024) of the print magazine Amiga Future has been distributed. It can be ordered directly from its editorial office and from Amiga dealers that stock the magazine.
Content of the current issue includes, besides various reviews, a show report from Passione Amiga Day 2023, an interview with Michael Kafke (ASM game) and a preview of Jari-Matti Rally. (snx)
[News message: 05. Mar. 2024, 14:11] [Comments: 0]
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05.Mar.2024
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Developer log: Amiga Isometric Scrolling
Nivrig Games is working on porting an isometric arcade adventure game to Amiga. Under the title link a corresponding developer log was published (YouTube video). (dr)
[News message: 05. Mar. 2024, 06:27] [Comments: 0]
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05.Mar.2024
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Creating Amiga Reaction GUIs: ReBuild v1.1.0
In mid-November, we introduced Darren 'dmcoles' Cole's "ReBuild" in detail, which is intended to make it possible to create graphical user interfaces for ReAction, the evolution of ClassAct (for example EmptyADF). Changes of version 1.1.0:
- Creating a virtual gadget could cause crashes (due to a bug
in the version of E-VO used to compile 1.0.0)
- About dialog changed 'Rebuilder' To 'Rebuild'
- Loading a bitmap with no image selected reported an incorrect error
- Added option to generate code that does not use macros in the object
definitions (for better GCC compatibility).
- add GA_TabCycle property to click tab
- code generated for fuel gauge now uses GA_Text instead child label
- fuel gauge used incorrect default number of ticks
- GetScreenMode did not include child label in generated code
- Glyph did not include child label in generated code
- Glyph used incorrect default type
- Added USEMACROS tooltype
- Sketchboard was missing many of the settings in the generated code
- SizeBRight and SizeBBottom did not work correctly in preview window
Download: Rebuild1.1.0.lha (160 KB) (dr)
[News message: 05. Mar. 2024, 06:23] [Comments: 0]
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04.Mar.2024
Sven Scheele (ANF)
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Event: Interface XXXVII in Kiel (germany) on 16.03.2024
Press release: On Saturday, March 16, 2024, the first "Interface" in 2024 will take place in Schwentinental near Kiel, Germany. This will be the 37th edition of the retro computer get-together. As always, the organizers are the Vintage Computer Club (VCC), the Amiga Club Schleswig-Holstein (ACSH) and the Computer Club Klausdorf (CCK).
Registration by e-mail to interface@jugendhaus-klausdorf.de is recommended. Without registration there is no guarantee of a free place.
There are again two large rooms available. The café on the first floor (as a "workshop" for hardware projects, repairs, etc.) and the top floor offer enough space to talk and play on the computers and consoles you have brought with you. Participants must bring their own power strips and network cables.
The official start is at 2 p.m., the organization team will begin setting up the tables etc. at around 12 noon. The venue is the Jugendhaus Klausdorf, Dorfstraße 101 in Klausdorf, which is part of 24222 Schwentinental. (snx)
[News message: 04. Mar. 2024, 13:35] [Comments: 0]
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