22.Jul.2023
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Chat software: AmigaGPT V1.1
Cameron Armstrong has written AmigaGPT, a chat program for AmigaOS 3.2 that uses the power of the chatbot ChatGPT (amiga-news.de reported). Changes:
- Now supports characters from Western languages other than English
- Blank responses from OpenAI no longer cause a crash
Direct download: AmigaGPT.lha (213 KB)
(dr)
[News message: 22. Jul. 2023, 14:34] [Comments: 0]
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21.Jul.2023
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Developer diary: "Settle the World" 07/23
Christian 'TheoTheoderich' Wiegel continus working on his turn-based building and trading game "Settle the World" (amiga-news.de reported). In his latest developer diary entry he reports about changes on the graphics system und of pathfinding. Christian would be happy about users who try out his current development version for a few hours and then report to him where there are problems, ambiguities or crashes.
"In the last few weeks, I was forced to rewrite the entire graphics and unit system of the game from scratch.
Over the course of a year, I have repeatedly added new functionalities and graphics. The original design, however, was not designed for this, as the game was supposed to be playable within six months as an entry for a competition.
So the programme code became more and more chaotic and confusing.
Due to other restrictions, it was also no longer possible to add new buildings or units.
So I was faced with the choice of letting Settle the World "die" or investing a lot of work and completely rewriting the game.
The graphics system is now much simpler. I'm not quite finished yet, there are a few graphic errors, but my development version is at least playable again.
The number of bitmaps needed in the memory could be reduced, so that more valuable Chip RAM is free during the game. This can be used later, for example, for in-game music tracks.
I am also working on the citizen happiness system.
I noticed that it was not understandable for the players why some citizens of a city are unhappy and some are not.
Now, in my development version, you can click on the smiley icon at the bottom right of a city and when you move the mouse cursor over a house, information about what makes the residents happy or what they are missing is displayed on the right side of the screen.
It's not quite finished yet, but it's already very helpful.
In my current development version of Settle the World, pathfinding has been also reworked.
Since I couldn't find any BlitzBasic 2 example code for pathfinding last year, I converted a code example from the PC to the Amiga without understanding exactly what happens there.
Unfortunately, this resulted in units that moved diagonally from bottom left to top right, or from top right to bottom left, only moving "stair-stepped", or taking huge detours.
Now that I have read up on the subject properly, I also understand what happens during pathfinding.
The error has now been corrected and the units now also move diagonally correctly in all directions.
It cost me many hours of time, but it's worth it.
Land units will always try to avoid rough terrain like mountains, swamps and forests.
In doing so, units will always prefer roads, even if it means taking long detours.
This does not matter, however, as the movement of units on roads is three times as fast as on flat terrain." (dr)
[News message: 21. Jul. 2023, 08:52] [Comments: 0]
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20.Jul.2023
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Video tutorial: Blitz Basic
Rob Cranley has streamed on Twitch another part of his Blitz Basic tutorial (amiga-news.de reported), "looking at some general Blitz stuff, 3rd-party libraries, AmiBlitz includes and more". (dr)
[News message: 20. Jul. 2023, 12:05] [Comments: 0]
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20.Jul.2023
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Retrohax blog: Amiga 500 upgrade #1
As Retrohax.net writes, he had restored hundreds of retro machines to their original state over the past years (sometimes with minor modifications) and he was kind of tired of it, so the time had come to try something different.
So he decided to create a new series of posts in which he will try to describe upgrades and visual modifications of the 20 remaining unrestored Amiga 500s. Each of these Amiga 500s will be unique and described in a separate blog post. As soon as such an Amiga is completed and tested, he will start an eBay auction with it. This is post number 1 of 20. (dr)
[News message: 20. Jul. 2023, 06:44] [Comments: 0]
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20.Jul.2023
GitHub
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WHDLoad: Graphical user-interface iGame 2.4.1
iGame is a MUI-based frontend for starting WHDLoad games (amiga-news.de reported). George 'walkero' Sokianos has released version 2.4.1 for AmigaOS 2.04 and higher, AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS. Changes:
Added
- Now the Genre list is populated from the igame.data files and the genre file, if it exists, although it is not necessary. The genre filtering is working with these new values
- Added a new cycle box that lets the user filter the results based on the chipset. This requires in settings the "Prefer igame.data files" to be enabled
Fixed
- Fixed a hit when the entry properties are requested without having a selected entry.
Changed
- When real-time filtering is enabled at least 3 characters are required so as to be initiated. Less than 3 characters are ignored, unless the filtering by pressing the enter button is enabled.
- Removed the filtering options from the Genre list and moved them to their own select box above the entries list
- Now, even if the list entries list is populated a new repository scan will update the Chipset and Genre information based on the data found in igame.data files.
- If the "Prefer igame.data files" is not enabled those files are not used during the scan of repositories
Direct download: iGame-v2.4.1-20230719.lha (434 Kb) (dr)
[News message: 20. Jul. 2023, 06:28] [Comments: 0]
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19.Jul.2023
Apollo-Forum
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FPGA: Apollo-Core-Update GOLD 2.17 "Bronto"
The Apollo-Core is a FPGA reimplementation of the m68k series produced by Motorola which also provides a separate graphics driver called SAGA. The core is used in the Vampire accelerator boards 600 V2, 500 V2+ and 1200 V2. Changes:
- Card supports now to run in one of 4 different speed mode. This allows for run old games e.g. in speed of A500 or A1200, to improve running old games that have problems running on faster CPUs.
- Support for new instruction EXTUB.L
This instruction is very useful for type conversion.
It is used by some GCC versions.
Supporting it does improve code density and improves performance.
- Support for new instruction EXTUW.L
This instruction is very useful for type conversion.
It is used by some GCC versions.
Supporting it does improve code density and improves performance.
- Support for enhanced instructions
BRA.s+ BSR.s+ BCC.s+
This instruction is supported by some compilers and assemblers.
This instruction improves code density and improves performance.
- Hardware optimized version of FPU instruction FDBcc.w
- Hardware optimized version of FPU instruction FDBcc.l
- several FPU Performance optimizations ported from V4-FPU to V2
(dr)
[News message: 19. Jul. 2023, 12:13] [Comments: 0]
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19.Jul.2023
Yawning Angel (E-Mail)
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Video tutorial: Writing a simple game in AMOS
Retro and Amiga fan 'Yawning Angel' had published a series of short tutorials about AMOS Pro over the past twelve months (amiga-news.de reported). Based on this, in the latest video he shows how to program a small, functional game and thus finishes his series for the time being. (dr)
[News message: 19. Jul. 2023, 09:04] [Comments: 0]
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19.Jul.2023
Mastodon
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Platform game: Rastan demo v0.31
Rastan was released in 1987 by Taito for arcade machines. Now an Amiga port is in development and after a first preview video (amiga-news.de reported) there are now also demo versions, which the developer still calls alpha versions. Changes in version 0.31:
- 2nd fire button to jump properly implemented.
- Fixed Rastan's castrato death howl.
- Fixed horizontal movement for downward plunges to make them behave the same way regular jumps do.
- Fixed AI ledge bug for level 1-B warriors.
- Added hard-drive version.
(dr)
[News message: 19. Jul. 2023, 08:29] [Comments: 0]
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19.Jul.2023
Andreas Magerl (ANF)
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Print magazine: Special issue of ASM (German)
German magazine ASM ("Aktueller Software-Markt", current software market) was published from March 1986 to February 1995. Now a special issue is available, which contains more than 30 reviews of current games for 8- and 16-bitters as well as numerous interviews:
On the one hand with a number of people involved at that time - Manfred Kleimann, Frank Brall, Martina Strack, Bendrik Muhs, Stefan Swiergiel, Klaus Segel, Stefan Bayer, Torsten Oppermann and Dirk Fuchser - and on the other hand also with Thomas Meiertoberens (Magic Bytes) and Steve Wilcox (Elite Systems), Roman Werner (Super Marble Boy), The Mojon Twins (Ramiro el Vampiro), Juan Manchon (Amigastore. eu), Andreas Magerl (APC&TCP) and Sebastian Bach (Polyplay).
The official press release:
"ASM returns - The ASM (Aktueller Software Markt), a popular German computer magazine in the late 1980s, is still revered in retro circles today. It has recently made a comeback after a 28-year hiatus.
In 1986, the ASM magazine covered almost every important computer system, including the C-64, Spectrum, Schneider CPC, MSX, Dragon, and Enterprise. The 16-bit Atari ST and Amiga were also included, starting in 1987 and finding their way into households. However, by 1995, the PC had become dominant, and there was no longer a market for multi-platform magazines. Nowadays, there has been a significant change, as old computers that were once abandoned or thrown away in the 1990s are finding new admirers. Every year, more games are being released that surpass expectations and bring out the best in these systems.
A German magazine that used to accompany home computers during their success in German living rooms is making a comeback. The new issue, 3/23, aims to provide an overview of the current 8-bit and 16-bit software market, just like it did in the past. However, the new ASM is more than just a software magazine. It also pays tribute to the old ASM editions from the 1980s. There are plenty of interviews with former editors, which offer interesting insights into the daily work of software journalists at that time.
The old guard was pleased with the project. 'I am thrilled that the previous format has been reintroduced and executed so well,' states Manfred Kleimann, the former editor-in-chief who created the magazine's concept in 1985 and provided input for the new edition.
The latest print edition can be found at the title link, where also other Amiga magazines like 'Amiga Future' and 'Amiga Joker' as well as the computer magazine 'LOAD.' are available. This 100-page special edition costs 8 euros and requires an additional fee for shipping."
From the content:
- Over 30 test reports on current games for 8 and 16 bits
- Interviews with Manfred Kleimann, Frank Brall, Martina Strack, Bendrik Muhs, Stefan Swiergiel, Klaus Segel, Stefan Bayer, Torsten Oppermann, Dirk Fuchser
- Interviews with Thomas Meiertoberens (Magic Bytes) and Steve Wilcox (Elite Systems), Roman Werner (Super Marble Boy), The Mojon Twins (Ramiro el Vampiro), Juan Manchon (Amigastore.eu), Andreas Magerl (APC&TCP), Sebastian Bach ( poly play)
- Reader survey on the ASM
- Competition resolution: Finally here - the ASM computer game
- In the spotlight: 40 years of Vectrex
- Flashback: what became of the St. Brides Girls?
(snx)
[News message: 19. Jul. 2023, 07:21] [Comments: 0]
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18.Jul.2023
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AmigaOS 4.1: Finance management LüttjeBookholler 1.86
"Lüttje Bookholler" is a German dialect and means "little accountant". The program is capable to import account data via csv-import. Changes since our last news item:
- Recognises a transaction as existing if there are many spaces in a row in the reason for payment. (Duplicate entries may occur after the update if the next import overlaps in date with existing data. Then simply delete them)
- No crash when printing if no printer is set up.
- Italian catalog by Samir Hawamdeh
- Under certain circumstances charts were not saved during evaluation.
- FullHD tables for Ignition evaluation
(dr)
[News message: 18. Jul. 2023, 06:32] [Comments: 0]
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18.Jul.2023
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AmigaOS 4.1: ignition-OpenDocument plugin v0.38
The ods-addon of the spreadsheet ignition (amiga-news.de reported) was updated to version 0.38. The addon allows loading and saving tables in OpenDocument format, which is used in LibreOffice/OpenOffice Calc among others. Some improvements were made to prevent endless reading and the debug outputs were removed to speedup performance. (dr)
[News message: 18. Jul. 2023, 06:16] [Comments: 0]
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18.Jul.2023
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Event: "ZZAP! Live" in Kenilworth (England)
On 12 August 2023 at The Holiday Inn in Kenilwort (England) the first "ZZAP! Live" event, organised by the South West Amiga Group and Retro Computer Museum, among others. All Commodore computer systems including the Amiga will be represented.
Guests include Andrew Braybrook, Steve Turner and Jason Page (Uridium, Paradroid, Rainbow Islands, Fire and Ice), Jon Hare and Stoo Cambridge (Wizball, Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder) and Gary Bracey, Simon Butler, Paul Hughes and Stephen Thompson (Ocean Software titles). (dr)
[News message: 18. Jul. 2023, 05:59] [Comments: 0]
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17.Jul.2023
Rafał Zabdyr (E-Mail)
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MorphOS: Version management "Git Desktop" v0.9.19
Rafał Zabdyr has released a first beta version of his graphical user interface for the version management Git for MorphOS. "Git Desktop" (Aminet link) is written in C++ and based on MUI through his C++ wrapper. MorphOS 3.x and the Git component of the SDK are required. (dr)
[News message: 17. Jul. 2023, 09:29] [Comments: 0]
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17.Jul.2023
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Arcade port: Pengo released
After the beta version (amiga-news.de reported) the developer Jean-Francois 'jotd' Fabre has released the full version of the game "Pengo", originally published for Sega's arcade machines (video). As a red penguin, you have to fight off so-called Sno-Bees in a labyrinth of ice blocks. (dr)
[News message: 17. Jul. 2023, 06:25] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jul.2023
Eldee Stephens (E-Mail)
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AmigaOS 4: Guide for new A1222 users
In the course of the press release about the start of production of the A1222+ motherboards (amiga-news.de reported), A-EON also gave Eldee Stephens permission to make his guide for potential A1222 users public.
As he tells us, a lot of work went into the creation of this guide. Stephens has been a tester of the A1222 since the beginning and has regularly tested it with dozens of apps and games since 2015 to find out what works and what doesn't, what needs to be adjusted, etc. The compatibility lists for applications or games in this guide are the result of extensive testing.
In addition, he has done extensive benchmarking tests with file systems and various HW components over time. The guide is a simple HTML-based collection of pages that guides new and potential users through the A1222 experience - from setting up the system to finding tools and games that work well. He further explains, "Hopefully it will help people avoid pitfalls and determine if the A1222 is a good machine for them or not. I wanted to level-set expectations so people know the reality of the system."
Asked if he had come across anything remarkable in his numerous tests, Stephens said: "The only surprising thing to me was just how fast SPE-native software was. Games built to support the P1022 absolutely blow away the SAM460, although there are very few of them at the moment."
Due to software changes, the guide is constantly being updated, but is mostly complete. (dr)
[News message: 16. Jul. 2023, 20:16] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jul.2023
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Start bar: WBDock2 V2.896
Today Thomas Rapp has updated his Toolmanager or AmiDock style start bar, WBDock2, to version 2.896. Changes:
- the background config of the AmiDock style changed:
- if you specify a non-existant file, the background will be filled with the workbench background color
- only if you leave both drawer and file name empty, the background will be pseudo-transparent
- you can now enter #rrggbb as a file name to choose a specific background color as hexadecimal red/green/blue value
Download: wbdock2.lha (377 KB) (dr)
[News message: 16. Jul. 2023, 16:56] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jul.2023
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Aminet uploads until 15.07.2023
The following files have been added until 15.07.2023 to Aminet:
z80dasm.lha dev/cross 275K MOS Z80 assembly generating disas...
HWP_ZIP.lha dev/hwood 297K ALL Read and write ZIP archives
F1GP2023Carset.lha game/data 10K 2023 Carset for F1GP
ScummVM_AGA_060.lha game/misc 11M 68k Amiga AGA port of ScummVM 2.0...
ScummVM_RTG_060.lha game/misc 11M 68k Amiga RTG port of ScummVM 2.0...
LN2OfficeRemix.lha mods/misc 87K 4ch LN2 Office Remix MED by H...
LN2SewerLoaderRemix.lha mods/misc 185K 4ch LN2 SewerLoader Remix by ...
LN2StreetLoaderRemix.lha mods/misc 1K 4ch LN2 StreetLoader Remix by...
LN2TFBLoaderRemix.lha mods/misc 141K 4ch LN2 Final Battle Loader R...
fxblankers.lha util/blank 83K MOS Effectful screenblankers for ...
VATestprogram.zip util/misc 12M 68k Versatile Amiga Testprogram
(snx)
[News message: 16. Jul. 2023, 08:12] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jul.2023
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OS4Depot uploads until 15.07.2023
The following files have been added until 15.07.2023 to OS4Depot:
eaqne2.lzx gam/adv 19Mb 4.0 Second chapter of EAQNE
amidream.lha gra/con 213kb 4.0 A Text to Image Application
hwp_zip.lha lib/hol 297kb 4.0 Read and write zip archives for ...
(snx)
[News message: 16. Jul. 2023, 08:12] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jul.2023
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AROS Archives uploads until 15.07.2023
The following files have been added until 15.07.2023 to AROS Archives:
eaqne2.lzx gam/adv 18Mb Second chapter of EAQNE
zip_amiga.lha lib/mis 297kb Plugin allows Hollywood scripts ...
(snx)
[News message: 16. Jul. 2023, 08:12] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jul.2023
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 15.07.2023
The following files have been added until 15.07.2023 to MorphOS-Storage:
ZIP_2.0.lha Dependencies Read and write ZIP arch...
z80dasm_1.2.0.lha Development/Cross Z80 assembly generating...
EAQNE-2_1.0.lha Games/Adventure Adventure point and cli...
AmiTranslate_0.1.lha Misc AmiTranslate_0.1.lha
Wayfarer_6.0.lha MorphOS-update Wayfarer is the latest ...
fxBlankers_1.2.lha System/Ambient/Blankers Effectful screenblanker...
(snx)
[News message: 16. Jul. 2023, 08:12] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jul.2023
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WHDLoad: New installers until 15.07.2023
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 15.07.2023:
- 2023-07-11 improved: Killing Cloud (Vektor Grafix) fixed protection, trainer improved, added level selection (Info)
- 2023-07-10 improved: Savage (Probe Software) less chipmem requirement, trainers added, use files now, QuitKey for 68000 (Info)
- 2023-07-10 updated: Aunt Arctic Adventure (Mindware/Starbyte) patch rewritten, another version supported, manual included (Info)
(snx)
[News message: 16. Jul. 2023, 08:12] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jul.2023
Epsilon's World
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Blog "Vintage is The New Old" is discontinued
The blog "Vintage is the New Old" (ViTNO) - formerly known as "CommodoreBlog" and then as "Commodore is Awesome" - will stop all activities at the end of the month. The blog used to report on all facets of retro computing. The operator Paulo justifies his step with the fact that despite the numerous readers, the engagement and feedback on articles and actions is close to zero. In contrast, news published on ViTNO is very often used and commented on in other media (podcasts, websites, etc.) without the site being named as a source.
Another reason for discontinuing the blog was his perception that websites with in-depth articles were generally losing space and importance at the expense of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok, etc. with quick-to-consume posts. In his opinion, most people no longer seemed to have the patience to read longer posts and stories that wanted to be written on.
He said he will continue to be involved, not give up his hobby. After the closure, ViTNO will be found in the Internet Archive. (dr)
[News message: 16. Jul. 2023, 07:10] [Comments: 0]
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