02.Feb.2023
Alfred Faust (ANF)
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MIDI sequencer: BarsnPipes 1.3 for MorphOS
In January, Alfred Faust made available a MorphOS port of the MIDI sequencer BarsnPipes, which he maintains. A now released update was created with the support of Frank Mariak and Antoine Dubourg from the MorphOS team, it eliminates some critical bugs and optimises the MIDI transmission. In addition, the user interface has been better adapted to MorphOS, for example, all screen modes of MorphOS can now be used.
Furthermore, new MIDI tools have been created to manage up to 16 USB MIDI interfaces of BarsnPipes - i.e. each MIDI interface transmits 16 MIDI channels (instruments). Thus, theoretically, up to 256 independent MIDI channels (instruments) could be used in BarsnPipes.
According to the author, the programme now runs much more stable on the various MorphOS systems and has become more user-friendly. In addition, the latest version now starts even if no MIDI interfaces are connected. (cg)
[News message: 02. Feb. 2023, 23:09] [Comments: 0]
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31.Jan.2023
GitHub
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WHDLoad: Graphical user-interface iGame 2.2.1
iGame is a MUI-based frontend for starting WHDLoad games (amiga-news.de reported). Recently George 'walkero' Sokianos (editor 'Lite XL' or MediaVault) has released version 2.2.1 for AmigaOS 2.04 and higher, AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS, providing the following changes:
- Added
- Turkish catalog contributed by Serkan Dursun
- Fixed
- Now the 68K cpu specific versions are included in the archive. In v2.2.0 all versions where the same 68000 binary because of a missing flag in compilation
- Willem Drijver contributed with a fix on Execute tooltype, which was not working well.
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30.Jan.2023
Seiya (ANF)
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PDF magazine: REV'n'GE 142 (Italian/English) / Interview with the publisher
Besides the Italian original issue, the PDF magazine REV'n'GE ("Retro Emulator Vision and Game") is also available in English. The magazine's reviews compare, if available, the different ports of classic games to the various platforms of their time.
The latest issue includes articles about the Amiga games "Encounter" and "NEONnoir". 'Seiya', the editor of REV'n'GE, was available for a short interview. Many thanks!
Amiga-News (AN): Hello 'Seiya'. Thank you for taking the time and of course for your magazine. How did you come to publish this fanzine/magazine?
Seiya: I always liked writing game reviews, but I didn't know how to write them, I didn't even know what software to use. I originally wrote the reviews for a forum (text and pictures) with some videos I had made specifically for the Amiga. In 2012 or 2013 I was contacted by a group that did online reviews only in Italian with a professional layout system and I was enchanted. There was a team with a chief editor and other people writing reviews. Not quite what I was looking for, but better than nothing.
AN: What happened after that?
Seiya: After not being very happy with a second, similar attempt either, I decided to start my own fanzine: the first issue will be published in February 2014, and I will bring out three more issues in the same month. The goal was to publish at least four issues every month, 48 issues per year.
After the first month I realised that it was not feasible because there was no time to correct, check for errors and then review something interesting. The first issues were written in a hurry, without checking for mistakes, with a lot of hardware articles. And it was all about Amiga and PC because those were the systems I knew best, so I knew which games I wanted to try.
AN: How many issues per month were there then?
Seiya: There was a problem with the name, because it was REVenGE! and, as written, had a meaning that hardly suited a retro games publication.
The name casually suggested to me "Retro Emulation Video and Game", but the "and" was not in the name because it was spelled "en". Then I had the idea to say that "en" is the Italian pronunciation of "and". A group of users on an Italian hardware and retro gaming forum suggested I call it REV'n'GE! because "Retro Emulation Video & Game" was more credible, and so REV'n'GE! was born, as it is today.
From this issue 17 onwards, the magazine/fanzine changed its mentality and finally became what it should have been since its first issue, and issue after issue I try to improve it both in text and in spelling and grammar mistakes.
AN: Why also in English?
Seiya: The fanzine/magazine is read more abroad than in Italy and although it was translated into English by Google and manually corrected by me, it was and is very understandable and therefore very popular in the countries where the language is not English.
AN: And what is the situation today?
Seiya: Today, one issue is published per month, on the 25th of each month, including summer and Christmas. Each issue is written in the previous month in order to be able to write both the Italian and English editions.
AN: How do you choose the games you present?
Seiya: The games I review are actually chosen quite randomly. Sometimes I look at screenshots, other times when reading the forums I see that some users have problems with a game or are talking about it for various reasons and I decide to review it.
As the name of the fanzine has de facto become "Retro Emulator Vision and Game", the various systems are all emulated and I try to review games whose emulation is closest to the original hardware.
For the Amiga, for example, I choose games for the Amiga 500, which the emulator emulates perfectly, or in any case the basic A1200, which can be emulated well. For Atari ST games, those that run well on the basic model. For DOS games, I usually use PCeM, which emulates their chosen hardware well, and I also choose titles that run on an 8086 between 4 and 10 Mhz. 8-bit computers are emulated just as well as the current systems and so the reviews are comparable even on real hardware.
AN: How exactly is an issue created?
Seiya: I do one test a day and in total it takes about 15 days. Then I create the videos, put them online and copy the links to the videos into the fanzine. Then I read through everything again to prepare the translation into English. I read the Italian version and the English translation again to make the last corrections. Then about 18 days have passed. I usually start on the 5th of each month and try to finish around the 23rd or 24th of each month.
AN: When do you take time for the tests and reviews?
Seiya: I write the fanzine in the morning, and spend about an hour or two on the reviews. Sometimes the emulator doesn't work or the game doesn't start. Then I have to look for another game. I look for information if I don't have the manuals or discover something on the net that gives me the idea to write something. Then I play on one computer in real time and write reviews on another computer at the same time.
The reviews are not as detailed as in commercial magazines because I decided to talk about it a bit and then leave the reader with the desire to play it for themselves and see if what I wrote is correct and shares my opinion. (dr)
[News message: 30. Jan. 2023, 06:16] [Comments: 1 - 30. Jan. 2023, 13:37]
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29.Jan.2023
Kofi
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Editor: Lite XL 2.1.1r1 for AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS
George 'walkero' Sokianos has just released version 2.1.0r1 of the editor Lite XL for AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS (amiga-news.de reported) and explained:
"Today I released a new version of LiteXL for both AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS 3. This includes the latest code from the upstream repository, with all the changes up to the 8th of January 2023. This brings our port in sync with the latest available versions in other systems.
In this release, a bug reported by one user is fixed, which had to do with the OS4 version and the system locale. This was pretty much the same reason as with the MorphOS version which was fixed a couple of releases back.
Other than that, a few more plugins were added in the add-ons folder adding extra features to the editor. My beloved is the one that makes LiteXL utilise the .editorconfig files. This way the editor keeps on having a consistent coding style per project. Especially useful if you work on projects with different programming languages. You can find more information about the .editorconfig files at editorconfig.org.
Also, the binary now is named lite-xl, to be aligned with the naming of other system releases. Not a big difference, but you might need to update your system to use this new name in docks etc.
I'd like to thank all of my supporters for the donations and for keeping me motivated, to continue working on my Amiga projects. That's a great community to be part of."
(dr)
[News message: 29. Jan. 2023, 15:08] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jan.2023
Amigans-Forum
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AmigaOS 4: Version 6.11 of audio driver for Intel HD Audio
The AHI driver for AmigaOS 4 written by Harald Kanning supports PCIe cards with sound chips that meet the HD Audio specification (amiga-news.de reported). The archive also contains a simple "mixer" which can be used to control the volume. With the update to version 6.11, the driver also supports the AmigaOne X1000 for the first time. The other changes:
- Added autoswitch between 16bit and 24bit recording buffer
- Removed Mixer option to limit Recording resolution to 16bit.
- Created User Manual
- Small optimizations
For use on the X1000, the developer explained: "The IDT 92HD700 codec on X1000 works completely different compared to other CODECs. Most noticeable is the missing monitor hardware.
Instead there's a karaoke mode which will mix the input of the ADC to out Line output. Therefore the Monitor volume slider has been replaced with a mute checkbox. The monitor/karaoke volume is equal to the ADC volume and therefore controlled with the input volume slider.
If you want to use this driver on your X1000 than make sure that the original ahi driver (HDAUDIO) is removed and the X1000 mixer program and docky is not running/started (be aware that the Enhancer updater utility likes to reinstall this driver)."
AmigaOS 4.1 FE Update 2 (the author has not tested it under previous versions) and AHI 6.6 are required. (dr)
[News message: 29. Jan. 2023, 14:28] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jan.2023
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Blog: Benchmarks for "Lightwave 3D 5" for several hardware configurations
The developer George 'walkereo' Sokianos reports in his latest blog entry on Ko-fi about benchmarks and findings to be drawn from them for the 3D graphics software LightWave 3D, which is also available for AmigaOS 3 until the release. The following hardware and operating systems were tested:
- A4000 with 68060
- Vampire V4 standalone (AmigaOS 3.2)
- Pi400 with Amiberry 5.5.1
- Powermac with PowerPC 7451 (G4) CPU at 1.6 GHz (MorphOS)
- X5000/40 at 2.2 GHz with AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS
- Powerbook A1052 with PowerPC 7447 (G4) at 1.33 GHz (MorphOS)
- microA1 with PowerPC G3 at 800 MHz (AmigaOS 4)
(dr)
[News message: 29. Jan. 2023, 08:09] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jan.2023
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The Amiga as a musical instrument: Paulimba
Linus 'lft' Åkesson has been an active part of the demoscene for a good 25 years, composing music for numerous demos and music discs for Amiga and C64 as 'Lairfight' or 'lft'. Last year he built "The Commodordion": an 8-bit accordion consisting mainly of two C64 keyboards, floppy disks and gaffer tape. As he says himself, he has started programming for the Amiga again after more than 20 years and has now written "Paulimba", a program to play live music on the keyboard of an Amiga (600).
"Paulimba" is a portmanteau of "Paula", the sound chip of the Amiga, and "Kalimba", a musical instrument from Africa that belongs to the lamellophones: the music produced on the keyboard sounds like a kalimba. In his blog entry under the title link as well as in the accompanying YouTube video, he explains in detail how he achieved this. (dr)
[News message: 29. Jan. 2023, 06:57] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jan.2023
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Aminet uploads until 28.01.2023
The following files have been added until 28.01.2023 to Aminet:
apccomm.lha comm/misc 205K 68k transfers files between Amiga...
Forest.lha demo/ecs 120K 68k Forest demo for GERP2023/Sweden
bin2iso_mos.lha disk/misc 29K MOS bin2iso - Convert BIN files t...
Cadius.lha disk/misc 148K MOS BD's ProDOS disk imaging utility
smb2fs.i386-aros.lha disk/misc 79K x86 SMB2 file system client
smb2fs.m68k-amigaos.lha disk/misc 148K 68k SMB2 file system client
PcmciaCD.lha driver/med 10K 68k ATAPI PCMCIA CD driver Sony Vaio
anaiis_lowlevel.lha driver/oth 25K 68k Anaiis lowlevel release 0.02
jfduke3d.lha game/shoot 1.3M 68k JFDuke3D Amiga Port
Inform6.lha game/text 845K 68k Compiler of Infocom-format st...
webptools130_a68k.lha gfx/conv 2.4M 68k encode/decode images in WebP ...
webptools130_aros.lha gfx/conv 3.7M x86 encode/decode images in WebP ...
FrodoItaCat.lha misc/emu 12K Italian catalog for Frodo v2.4
Tipografia_AROS.lha text/dtp 2.3M x86 Create printable signs using ...
avalanche_de.lha util/arc 7K German catalog for Avalanche ...
Avalanche_FR.lha util/arc 7K French catalog for Avalanche ...
avalanche_guide_de.lha util/arc 7K German translation of Avalanc...
LHArchiver.lha util/arc 4.8M 68k create lha archives intuitively
filesysbox.i386-aros.lha util/libs 52K x86 A FUSE compatible file system...
filesysbox.m68k-amiga... util/libs 72K 68k A FUSE compatible file system...
SoftIEEE.lha util/libs 59K 68k math lib&881/882 FPU emulator...
CurrencyConverter.lha util/misc 12K 68k convert one currency type to ...
VATestprogram.zip util/misc 3.9M 68k Versatile Amiga Testprogram
AnalogClock.lha util/time 39K 68k Resizeable analog transparent...
(snx)
[News message: 29. Jan. 2023, 06:26] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jan.2023
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OS4Depot uploads until 28.01.2023
The following files have been added until 28.01.2023 to OS4Depot:
hdaudio_ahi.lha dri/aud 972kb 4.1 Generic HD audio driver for Amig...
loschinos.lha gam/chi 5Mb 4.0 This is the classic spanish game...
sdl2.lha lib/mis 7Mb 4.1 Simple DirectMedia Layer 2
lharchiver.lha uti/arc 5Mb 4.0 Create LhA archives intuitively
(snx)
[News message: 29. Jan. 2023, 06:26] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jan.2023
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AROS Archives uploads until 28.01.2023
The following files have been added until 28.01.2023 to AROS Archives:
loschinos.lha gam/chi 5Mb This is the classic spanish game...
webptools130_aros.lha gra/mis 4Mb encode/decode images in WebP format
tipografia.i386-aros.lha off/dtp 2Mb Generator of printable signs usi...
(snx)
[News message: 29. Jan. 2023, 06:26] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jan.2023
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 28.01.2023
The following files have been added until 28.01.2023 to MorphOS-Storage:
LHArchiver_1.8.lha Files/Archive Create lha archives int...
bin2iso_1.1.lha Files/Convert bin2iso - Convert BIN f...
Bugdom_1.3.3.lha Games/Action 3D Pangea Software's Bugdo...
Inform_6.41.lha Games/Text Compiler of Infocom-for...
LosChinos_Finalversion... Games/Think This is the classic Spa...
Cadius_1.4.5.lha Misc BD's ProDOS disk imagin...
PageStream5-Tips_FR_1.... Translations French translation of P...
PageStream5_FR_1.4.lha Translations French translation of P...
(snx)
[News message: 29. Jan. 2023, 06:26] [Comments: 0]
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29.Jan.2023
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WHDLoad: New installers until 28.01.2023
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 28.01.2023:
(snx)
[News message: 29. Jan. 2023, 06:26] [Comments: 0]
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28.Jan.2023
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3D action adventure: Bugdom for Linux and MorphOS
After, among others, "Cro-Mag Rally" and "Otto Matic" and "Billy Frontier", another game originally published by Pangea Software has made it to Amiga platforms: Bugdom is described as "an incredibly diverse 3D action/adventure for the entire family".
Three days ago, the developer 'jorio' published version 1.3.3 on GitHub for Windows, Mac and Linux, as well as the corresponding source code. BeWorld' has now compiled this for MorphOS. The current SDL archive as well as the latest TinyGL beta version are required.
Christian 'xeno74' Zigotzky has compiled the source code for LinuxPPC-32Bit (screenshot), the game runs on the Linux PowerPC distributions Void PPC, MintPPC, Fienix.
Download: Bugdom_1.3.3-linux-powerpc.tar.gz (47 MB) (dr)
[News message: 28. Jan. 2023, 16:51] [Comments: 0]
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28.Jan.2023
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Programming language: Amiga C/C++ Visual Studio Code Extension 1.6.9
Bartman', member of the demo group 'Abyss', provides with 'amiga-debug' a 'Visual Studio Code' extension for "compiling, debugging and profiling Amiga C/C++ programs compiled by the bundled gcc 11.2 with the bundled WinUAE" (YouTube video). Today version 1.6.9 has been released. Changes:
- FIX: debugger: fixed crash on launch when using encrypted Kickstart #199
- FIX: screen: don't overwrite OCS colors with AGA colors from different banks
- NEW: screen: support AGA colors, show BPLCON3 (TODO: get AGA colors from .profile file)
- FIX: Builds using MacOS 11 for better compatibility; Includes updated binaries for GCC, binutils and FS-UAE
(dr)
[News message: 28. Jan. 2023, 16:12] [Comments: 0]
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28.Jan.2023
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Floppy disk images on PC and Mac: Greaseweazle Tools 1.7 (update)
Keir Fraser's "Greaseweazle" does - similar to Kryoflux - read the magnetic information on a floppy disk independently from the format used and saves as much information as possible to generate a so-called "Flux Level Image" in Supercard format (SCP), which enables reading and back-writing of copy-protected disks (amiga-news.de reported)
The adapter gets connected between a floppy disk drive - e.g. a standard 3.5" PC one - and a USB port of the PC or Mac. A few moments ago version 1.6 of the Greaseweazle Tools was released providing the following changes:
- diskdefs: Fix atari.90 and zx.trdos.640
- DCP image read support (obscure PC98 image format)
- Fix discontinuity at index mark when writing perfect flux images
- Emit a write-splice (WRSP) block when writing SCP images
- read, convert: Fix off-by-one error when printing summary
Update: (30.01.2023, 16:05, dr)
Version 1.7 fixes reading IPF images with weak tracks. (dr)
[News message: 28. Jan. 2023, 13:15] [Comments: 0]
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28.Jan.2023
Mixel (Twitter)
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Platform game: "Boxx" remake V0.4
The developer 'Lemming880' is currently working on the fourth part of his "Boxx" series developed with the Scorpion Engine (amiga-news.de reported). At the same time he is also porting the first part of the series, originally written with Backbone, to the Scorpion Engine (amiga-news.de reported). The latest update to version 0.4 includes the following changes:
- Upgraded to Scorpion Engine v2022.8.
- Player now moves more like Mario. Down is faster than up.
- Some coin and actor positions adjusted to new player movement.
- Boss phase 3: less damage when overlapping player in easy mode.
- Boss phase 3: boss has more health.
- Boss arena: added invisible block to prevent player from entering arena too soon.
- UI top panel: replaced 5 separate coin bars by 1 universal bar for slightly better performance.
- Falling coins disappear faster for better performance.
- Added performance mode for A500 to the 'Controls' screen. This disables the falling coins. So there's no slow down when multiple coins are picked at once. Also event collision check is set lower.
- Added "loading" text in UI top panel when loading next level.
- UI top panel keeps visible while loading next level.
- Levels and music load at the same time for faster loading times.
- Main menu panel moved up for NTSC stretched.
- Level 1: a turret now only spawns in hard mode and AGA only for better performance.
- Level 4: fixed wide teleport pipe graphics at the bottom of the water pit.
Minimum requirement is an Amiga 500 with 1MB RAM. (dr)
[News message: 28. Jan. 2023, 12:25] [Comments: 0]
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28.Jan.2023
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PiStorm32-lite: Availability
Since one month the building instructions and documentation for the PiStorm32-lite are available (amiga-news.de reported). Amiga-News.de has looked around where you can currently and potentially purchase the Raspberry Pi-based accelerator card for the Amiga A1200 fully assembled.
- RetroPassion (UK):
- Retro Ready (UK): 133 Euro plus shipping - currently sold out
- Archi-TECH (Poland): 130 Euro inclusive Raspberry-Pi 3A+ and 32GB SD card, plus shipping - Pre-order, will be shipped within the next 14 days
- MicroMiga (France):
- exclusive Raspberry-Pi: 130 Euro plus shipping - next batch third week of February
- inclusive Raspberry-Pi 3A+ and 32GB SD card: 174 Euro plus shipping - next batch third week of February
- Ultimate MiSTer (Portugal): currently not yet in stock, but planned
Furthermore, it's always worth keeping an eye on the tindie marketplace, especially RetroFletch's store, which has announced the PiStorm32-lite to us in the near future. (dr)
[News message: 28. Jan. 2023, 08:11] [Comments: 1 - 28. Jan. 2023, 16:23]
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27.Jan.2023
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Blog: Review of "Desert Dream" demo
Microzeit is an independent publisher focusing on digital culture and computer history publishes books about the pioneering days of the game industry in the 80s from 8 to 16 bit. In their latest blog entry they take a look back at a classic of the demoscene: Desert Dream by the Danish group Kefrens. On pouët.net, the production is currently ranked 49th on the alltime top list. (dr)
[News message: 27. Jan. 2023, 08:17] [Comments: 0]
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27.Jan.2023
AmigaSource
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Overview: Comparison of Operating Systems
Eylenburg's Tech Website is a truly amazing project in which a lot of hard work has gone into it: in several overviews and histories 'Eylenburg' offers, for example, Operating Systems: Timeline and Family Tree, Default Desktop Environments for Linux and Unix or Comparison of Instant Messengers - always presented with large-format tables and graphics. Of particular interest to Amiga users is the Comparison of Operating Systems, where AmigaOS and MorphOS have been listed for some time and now AROS has been added. But it is also worth taking a look at the above-mentioned Family Tree or History of Web Browser Engines from 1990 until today, in which IBrowse is also listed.
As 'Eylenburg' tells us when asked, this pure hobby project started a few years ago: first on Blogspot and later on Github. The first topic was comparing browsers. As he reports, he gets his data from Wikipedia, Github, the websites of developers and forums, etc., but as with the browser comparison, he also determines data himself. He has always had an interest in technology and especially in alternative operating systems and even though he himself did not experience the heyday of the Amiga, for example, he is fascinated that after all these years all three Amiga operating systems (AmigaOS, MorphOS, AROS) are still being developed.
Suggestions or corrections are always welcome! (dr)
[News message: 27. Jan. 2023, 06:08] [Comments: 0]
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27.Jan.2023
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Website: Search Engine for AmigaOS-NDK3.2 documentation
The Amiga developer Aris has set up a website for searching the autodocs of Hyperion Entertainment's AmigaOS 3.2 Native Developer Kit (NDK). He describes his motives for doing so in a recent blog entry. (dr)
[News message: 27. Jan. 2023, 03:31] [Comments: 0]
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26.Jan.2023
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Programming: Web based m68k assembler editor
Under the title link you can find a webapp to write, run and learn M68K assembly code based on the framework SvelteKit and the programming language Rust (amiga-news.de reported). As the developer told us when asked, he continues to work on the project, focusing mainly on bug fixes and updates to the interpreter at the moment.
Since our last message, he has also added the stack tracer and the visual history, which shows the last N changes to the interpreter's state. (dr)
[News message: 26. Jan. 2023, 21:06] [Comments: 0]
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26.Jan.2023
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Event: "Kickstart" in Nottingham (England)
On July 1st and 2nd, 2023, the digital culture festival "Kickstart" will be held in Nottingham, England. Currently planned are meetings of British Amiga user groups, presentations of various dealers, live music and talks with developers like Core Designs, DMA, Team 17 and Psygnosis. (dr)
[News message: 26. Jan. 2023, 20:59] [Comments: 0]
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26.Jan.2023
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MorphOS: Using GitHub (Polish)
Rafal Zabdyr - Minesweeper clone MegaSaperPL, among others - wrote an article in Polish on ppa.pl at the end of last year describing how to use GitHub as a service for managing repositories under MorphOS and with Wayfarer. (dr)
[News message: 26. Jan. 2023, 20:54] [Comments: 0]
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