07.Apr.2015
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Platform classic: Jay the Miner
"Jay the Miner" is a clone of the 8-Bit classic game Manic Miner. The game was developed with the editor Backbone and offers 15 levels and two levels of difficulty.
(cg) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 07. Apr. 2015, 19:09] [Comments: 0]
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07.Apr.2015
Amiga.org (Webseite)
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History: The 68000 Wars (English)
In his blog "The Digital Antiquarian", Jimmy Maher has started writing an article about the history of the Amiga as well as of the Atari named "The 68000 Wars" (part 2).
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 07. Apr. 2015, 10:33] [Comments: 0]
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07.Apr.2015
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Benchmarks: Warp 3D SI on the dem Sam460 and the X1000
During the last few days, AmigaOS 4 users started to collect benchmark results for the recently released commercial Warp 3D drivers for Radeon HD graphic cards. The results are collected and presented on amigans.net, an older result using a Sam440 and the onboard Radeon Mobility chip was provided by Alain Thellier (Wazp 3D) back in 2013.
Two benchmarks are performed, with the exception of Thelliers older test the results were all recorded using the Final Edition of AmigaOS 4.1.
- Quake 3 Timedemo 1: using Hugues 'HunoPPC' Nouvels ioquake3-Portierung (Ioquake3.lha), a resolution of 1280x1024, these Settings and MiniGL 2.20
- Cow 3D (a Warp 3D benchmark from Alain Thellier): When running this, the Buffers should be enabled using the 'b' key, to make sure the Frames don't have to be recalculated by the CPU constantly and you're only benchmarking the graphics performance.
Below you can see the benchmark results published so far, benchmarks with older Radeon graphic cards are not available currently. The listed values mean 'frames displayed per second' (FPS), so the higher the value, the better the result:
Editor's note: In some cases, the users didn't list average values, but FPS ranges. For the sake of simplicity, we used the higher value of the two - the difference is neglegible anyway. The listed values were all provided by AmigaOS 4 users, Amiga-News staff has no means of verifying them. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 07. Apr. 2015, 00:15] [Comments: 0]
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06.Apr.2015
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Web-finding: The contract between Amiga Corp. and Atari, 1983
At atarimuseum.com, a copy as well as scans of the contract are available which concluded Amiga Corp. and Atari. The startup Amiga urgently required additional financial resources to finish its development of the prototype named "Lorraine". Atari would secure its rights to the chips developed by Amiga to use them in its next computer generation.
The published excerpts concentrates on the planned features of Amigas' computer. Some interesting details are hidden in the contract: That the computer should be able to read Apple-disks and their texts. Additionally the programming languages "Lorraine BASIC" and FORTH should be included in the delivery of the computer equipped with 128 KB.
(cg) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 06. Apr. 2015, 20:13] [Comments: 0]
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06.Apr.2015
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Self-made project: Wifi Joystick Adapter 1.0
A Croatian Amiga user has made an adapter which wireless transfers the input of any joystick to the computer (Youtube video, photographs: 1, 2). The receiver is powered by the computer, the transmitter has to be powered via an USB-cable (e.g. a recharger cable for a mobile phone).
For the wireless communication a microcontroller ATMega8 as well as a NRF24L01+ and as development environment Arduino were used. According to the developer there is no delay while playing. He estimates the loss of time is less than 2 milliseconds.
Vurrently the adapter does not work with mice. The author supposes that the reason is the higher amount of data transferred. He will try to solve the problem but so far does not have any approach to a solutions.
Download (source codes and circuit diagram): WiFi Joystick adapter v1.0.rar (537 KB)
(cg) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 06. Apr. 2015, 17:15] [Comments: 0]
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06.Apr.2015
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Trademark recycling: Android smartphones from 'Commodore Business Machines'
According to the Italian Wikipedia (automated translation) the "Commodore" trademark has been acquired by a Massimo Canigiani in 2014. If this is true or what "acquired" actually means is currently unknown to us. According to the EU trademark database, the relevant "Commodore" marks are still owned by Dutch Commodore Holdings B.V. There is a Commodore mark registered in Italy, but it's still assigned to ESCOM.
As Commodore Holdings is still defending the mark aggressively - the organisator of a Crowdfunding effort to reproduce the C64 II cases got a written warning recently - it's safe to assume the situation will become more clear soon.
At least Canigiani seems to be quite confident: He already incorporated a company called "Commodore Business Machines Ltd." in England. Using the official website and a Facebook page he's already advertising his first product: an Android based smartphone sporting a Commodore 'chickenhead' logo. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 06. Apr. 2015, 16:08] [Comments: 0]
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06.Apr.2015
Amigaworld.net (website)
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Workbench distribution: AmiKit 8.4
AmiKit, a Workbench distribution intended for emulated Amigas, is available in version 8.4 now. Changes:
- MUI4 got new pointers - hover your mouse over a link or column separator to see what we are talking about. A number of custom classes have been updated to the latest versions too
- WHDLoad, the ultimate game loader, is now able to update itself! From now on, your old games will always get a fresh support
- System libraries like OpenURL, CodeSet and IconLib have been updated too
- And last, but not least, we've improved Polish and Russian language support in AmiKit. There are more catalogs and better fonts now
(snx)
[News message: 06. Apr. 2015, 09:59] [Comments: 0]
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05.Apr.2015
Amigaworld.net (Forum)
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Revision 2015: First Amiga demos released
Under the title link pouet.net as well as on scene.org the first productions of the demo party Revision 2015 are available.
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 05. Apr. 2015, 18:13] [Comments: 0]
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05.Apr.2015
AROS-Exec (Forum)
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AROS: EdiSyn 0.41 (Update)
Marcus Sackrow's text editor EdiSyn for AROS/x86 offers tabs as well as syntax highlighting for C/C++ and Pascal. A list of changes you can find under the title link.
Download: EdiSyn_0.41.lha (3 MB)
Update: (19:30, 06.04.15, snx)
Today, version 0.41 has been released, which introduces syntax highlighting for HTML. (snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 05. Apr. 2015, 18:04] [Comments: 0]
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05.Apr.2015
Pascal Papara (ANF)
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AROS: AEROS for Pi beta 10 and beta 8 (full version for Raspberry Pi 1)
Pascal Papara's Linux-based AROS-distribution AEROS for the Raspberry Pi is available for registered users as beta version 10 (changes see below , video of the previous version).
In celebration of Easter beta version 8 which was released in November is available as unlimited version for the Raspberry Pi 1 on IndieGO!-Appstore. That means, the "lx"-command for starting Linux-applications out of AROS is included.
Beta version 10 was adapted to Raspberry Pi 2. On the previous model this version only works with 512 MB RAM (but slowly). If there is less memory available, single parts of the distribution does not work.
Changelog:
- Updated UAE4all2 with AROS/68k kickstart replacement
- Added Quake 3 demo (works only on Pi with 512 MB RAM)
- Added Gimp (very very sluggish on a Pi 1)
- USB-sticks are now auto-mounted when you attach them, no need anymore to run a Linux file manager first
- Added EmulationStation (you need to boot into command line to run it)
- Changed memory split and reduced memory size for AROS (this can be modified by the user) in order to get Quake working with less swapping
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 05. Apr. 2015, 08:55] [Comments: 0]
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05.Apr.2015
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Aminet-Uploads until 04.04.2015
The following archives have been added to Aminet until April 4th, 2015:
FlexCat-2.17.lha dev/misc 1.1M MOS Flexible catalogs (C,Asm,Ober...
sgit.lha dev/misc 1.1M OS4 A simple and incomplete git c...
WormWarsMOS.lha game/actio 714K MOS Advanced snake game
Show_Vector_1.3.lha gfx/show 1.4M MOS A Vectorgraphic viewer
ACE-MorphOS.lha misc/emu 1.2M MOS Amstrad CPC/CPC+ Emulator
o2em.lha misc/emu 413K MOS Odyssey^2/Videopac emulator
Icons-for-AmigaOS.lha pix/picon 6.4M AmigaOS 4.1 Style Icons ...
MMULib.lha util/libs 637K 68k Library to ctrl the MC68K MMUs
russian45.lha util/sys 35K 68k Russian language driver v45
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 05. Apr. 2015, 07:44] [Comments: 0]
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05.Apr.2015
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OS4Depot-Uploads until 04.04.2015
The following archives have been added to OS4Depot until April 4th, 2015:
flexcat.lha dev/mis 1Mb 4.0 Flexible catalogs (C, Asm, E, AR...
sgit.lha dev/uti 1Mb 4.0 A simple and incomplete git client
minigl.lha dri/gra 3Mb 4.0 OpenGL subset 3D API
icons-for-amigaos.lha gra/ico 6Mb 4.0 AmigaOS 4.1 Style Icons ...
dopus4.lha uti/fil 3Mb 4.0 The legendary filemanager
ffmpeg.lha vid/con 19Mb 4.0 Video and audio converter
clipgrab.lha vid/mis 1Mb 4.1 Qt Download videos from YouTube
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 05. Apr. 2015, 07:44] [Comments: 0]
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05.Apr.2015
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AROS-Archives-Uploads until 04.04.2015
The following archives have been added to AROS-Archives until April 4th, 2015:
bomberman.i386-aros.zip gam 625kb Bomberman Lan
ffmpeg.i386-aros.zip gra/con 15Mb ffmpeg + players + miniPlayer ex...
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 05. Apr. 2015, 07:44] [Comments: 0]
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05.Apr.2015
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WHDLoad: New packages until 04.04.2015
Using WHDLoad, you can install games, scene demos and intros from cracking groups on your harddisk that were not compatible with anything but floppy disks. The following installers have been added until April 4th, 2015:
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 05. Apr. 2015, 07:44] [Comments: 0]
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05.Apr.2015
jb (ANF)
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Forum: Moo Bunny announces preliminary closure (Update)
After 18 years, Moo Bunny announced closure. The basically unmoderated forum had been appreciated especially by people who considered other websites to be biased in favour of only one of the different Amiga operating systems. Due to contuinued abuse of the granted freedom, John Shepard closed down Moo Bunny yesterday.
Update: (07:40, 06.04.15, snx)
In another message directed towards the Amiga section, John Shepard does not only repeat the final cause for the forum's closure, but also hints that Moo Bunny might be reactivated in the future:
"
Update: (07:40, 06.04.15, snx)
In einer weiteren Mitteilung speziell die Amiga-Sektion betreffend wiederholt John Shepard nicht nur den Anlass, der das Fass zum Überlaufen brachte - den Betrieb eines Darknets durch Ausnutzung einer Sicherheitslücke in der Foren-Software -, sondern stellt auch in Aussicht, dass Moo Bunny nicht für immer geschlossen bleibt:
"Moo Bunny Amiga Section [...] is still valuable enough that someone just tried to steal it. I think that means it's also valuable enough to not stay down forever." (snx)
[News message: 05. Apr. 2015, 07:11] [Comments: 0]
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04.Apr.2015
Amigaworld.net (Webseite)
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Edgar Vigdal died
Edgar Vigdal has died. On Wednesday the 51-year-old game developer who wrote Amiga classics like Deluxe Galaga and Deluxe Pacman succumbed to a cancer.
Under the name "Warblade" he had continued developing Deluxe Galaga for Windows, Mac OS X and iOS. Additionally he had planned to release a pixel perfect version of Deluxe Galaga named "Deluxe Galaga Reborn". Test versions for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux can be downloaded under the title link.
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 04. Apr. 2015, 07:44] [Comments: 0]
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04.Apr.2015
Amiga.org (Webseite)
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AmigaOS 4: Easter update for Workbench CANDI
On AMIstore of A-EON Technology an update of CANDI is available which is free of charge to all customers that have bought CANDI from AMIStore. The programm creates animated Workbench backdrops using the Compositing-engine. Among others the new version features an Easter theme.
Other updates:
- Automatically switch between CANDI animations by double-clicking on a CANDI icon
- Double clicking on the same CANDI icon switches the Workbench animation off
- CANDI animation goes to sleep if the Workbench goes behind another active screen
- New tooltypes to select LOWCPU option for less capable hardware (removing the need for a LOWCPU CANDI version)
- ResetWB option now works when CANDI is running
- Each CANDI can now be controlled by an external program/utility. (coming soon)
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 04. Apr. 2015, 07:24] [Comments: 0]
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03.Apr.2015
AOS4 Beta Mailing List (ANF)
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Hyperion: Declaration of inability to pay quashed
According to Ben Hermans on the internal mailing list for beta testers, the decision declaring Hyperion for insolvent was quashed yesterday. According to the company database of the Belgian government, the legal sitaution of "Hyperion Entertainment" actually is "Situation normale".
(cg) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 03. Apr. 2015, 23:18] [Comments: 0]
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03.Apr.2015
Amiga Future (Webseite)
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Amiga-Emulator: FS-UAE 2.5.30dev
Frode Solheim's FS-UAE for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and BSD is based on WinUAE and "includes an easy-to-use graphical configuration program which allows you to enjoy FS-UAE and Amiga emulation without writing configuration files." Since the last stable version released in March (2.4.1), so far only developer versions have been released - excepted a bug fix version for Linux.
Under the title link you can find a detailed list of changes of version 2.5.30dev.
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 03. Apr. 2015, 07:50] [Comments: 0]
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02.Apr.2015
Amiga.org (Forum)
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PDF-Magazine: REV'n'GE 30 (Italian/English)
Issue 30 of the Italian PDF-magazine REV'n'GE ("Retro Emulator Vision and Game") is available as well as an English translation. The game reviews of the REV'n'GE compare the releases of classic games to releases of different former platforms.
Download sites:
Italian
English
(snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 02. Apr. 2015, 07:13] [Comments: 0]
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02.Apr.2015
amigaworld.net (Webseite)
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AmigaOS 4: Commercial Warp3D driver for Radeon-HD cards
A-EON has announced the availability of Warp 3D drivers for für Radeon-HD graphic cards. They are not the drivers developed by the Frieden-brothers for Radeon-HD cards with Evergreen-chipset (just like the Radeon-HD 5450, built in the X1000 as standard) and announced for a long time, but the drivers developed by Hans de Ruiter and for Radeon cards with Southern Island-chipset.
The driver is named Warp 3D-SI and is ecklusively distributed via Amigakit's App-Store Amistore for 33 Euro. Additional to the Final Edition of AmigaOS 4.1, it requires the 2D graphic driver RadeonHD which is separately distributed as well as MiniGL 2.20.
Features of the driver:
- supports Radeon HD 7750-7970 series graphics cards (excluding the Radeon HD 7790), Radeon R7 250X/265 (excluding R7 250), Radeon R9 270/270X/280/280X
- Supports larger textures (up to 16384x16384 memory permitting)
- Performance is less dependent on resolution than previous drivers, including rendering at HD resolutions
- Submits vertices to the GPU via vertex buffers rather than directly in the command stream (one of the bottlenecks of the old Radeon drivers)
- Uses the RadeonHD_RM.resource for VRAM allocation, providing more efficient memory management than own system
- Accumulates small vertex arrays into larger buffers to provide faster performance where lots of tiny render operations are performed
- Doesn't lock the entire graphics system between 3D_LockHardware() / W3D_UnlockHardware(), so an application or game crash is less likely to freeze the entire system
Simultaneously with the new Warp3D-drivers, updates for both versions of the 2D-driver RadeonHD have been released on Amistore. The updates to version 1.4 and 2.7 are free available for registered users.
According to Amigakit, the work on "Warp3D Evergreen" driver is ongoing and making good progress.
(cg) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 02. Apr. 2015, 01:46] [Comments: 0]
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01.Apr.2015
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Amiga Games Inc. no longer distributing classic Amiga Games (Update)
Since September 2012 Amiga Inc. and later on Amiga Games Inc. have been distributing classic Amiga games in
Blackberrys App Store. At the start of the project, "more then 300 titles" were promised, plans to support various mobile platforms were announced.
By now, all Amiga titles have been removed from the App Store: just a few days ago, there were still several dozen games available - this was initially reduced to Impossamole being for sale, in the mentime this game has been removed aswell, the vendor "Amiga" is not listed anymore.
The reason for this change is currently unknown, though the timing - right at the beginning of a new month - might be an indication that Amiga has to fullfull contractual obligations. Back in February, Michael Battilana from Cloanto had revealed that Amiga Inc. do no longer own any rights to Kickstart or Workbench and that they had to obtain a license from Cloanto for their activities on the Blackberry platform.
Update: (02.04.2015, 19:45, cg)
In the meantime, the last remaining game has been removed from the shop, the vendor "Amiga" is not listed anymore. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 01. Apr. 2015, 20:50] [Comments: 0]
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