• 30.08.06 improved: Quik & Silva (New Bits on the Ram) supports another version, trainer added (Info)
• 26.08.06 improved: Shinobi (Sega) joystick handling changed, trainer added (Info)
• 26.08.06 new: Extrial (Computer Verlag) done by Bored Seal (Info)
• 23.08.06 improved: Apano Sin (Level One) faster loading, more compatible on faster machines, manual added (Info)
• 23.08.06 new: Dinosaur Detective Agency (Alternative Software) done by DJ Mike (Info)
• 22.08.06 updated: Deluxe Galaga (Edgar M. Vigdal) fixed for WHDLoad v16.6 (Info,Image)

• AmiKit now supports Live Update feature that ensures your AmiKit is always up to date!
• WinUAE emulation software updated to version 1.3.2
• ADDED:    AmiKit - Live Update 1.0 by Daniel 'Deniil' Westerberg  (right-mouse -> AmiKit -> Live Update)
• ADDED:    AmiKit - Locale AmiKit 1.0  (AmiKit:Prefs/Locale AmiKit). Program helps you to set locale, input and font settings easily.
• ADDED:    BlueMars boot picture (full AmiKit archive only)
• ADDED:    Czech translation of AmiKit documentation by Prober
• ADDED:    Czech and Slovak fonts and locale files (LocaleCS). Use "AmiKit:Prefs/Locale AmiKit" to enable it.
• ADDED:    DOpus5 compare.module 1.2 by Leo 'Nudel' Davidson
• ADDED:    DOpus5 Ogg Vorbis and FLAC support (doubleclick and right-mouse menu)
• ADDED:    DOpus5 SlctComp by Brian Scott (right-mouse -> Buttons -> Load -> YourLanguage/Compare_ButtonBank)
• ADDED:    French translation of AmiKit documentation by Eric Luczyszyn
• ADDED:    FroGGui 0.3 by Breed  (AmiKit:Utilities/FroggerNG/FroGGui/)
• ADDED:    German, French, Spanish, Polish and Czech translation of DOpus User&Lister Menu. Use "AmiKit:Prefs/Locale AmiKit" to enable it.
• ADDED:    GfxCon 1.8c by Dirk Farin  (AmiKit:Tools/GfxCon)
• ADDED:    New AmiKit screen bar by Ken Lester. Use MorpheuZ, select the theme and then the screen bar.
• ADDED:    MemOptimizer 1.0 (AmiKit version) by RhoSigma, R.Heyder, DaNi. (AmiKit:C/)
• ADDED:    PBM DataType 44.5 by Gunther Nikl (required by PerfectPaint to save transparent images)
• ADDED:    playOGG 4.7 by Lorence Lombardo  (AmiKit:Utilities/playOGG/)
• ADDED:    Polish ISO-AmigaPL and TrueType fonts, keymap and catalogs. Use "AmiKit:Prefs/Locale AmiKit" to enable it.
• ADDED:    Support for 1280x800 widescreen notebooks. Use "AmiKit:Prefs/ScreenMode AmiKit" to enable it.
• ADDED:    VICE 1.20 - Amiga Work In Progress version by Mathias "AmiDog" Roslund and Marco van den Heuvel.  (AmiKit:Utilities/VICE/)
• ADDED:    VorbisTools 1.1.1 - 68k compilation by DMX (AmiKit:Utilities/playOGG/)
• UPDATED:  AfA_OS 3.93.2
• UPDATED:  akPNG.datatype 45.50
• UPDATED:  Amiga Image Storage System 3 (AISS)
• UPDATED:  AmiKit - Install Patches 1.5
• UPDATED:  AmiKit - MorpheuZ 1.1
• UPDATED:  AmiKit - ScreenMode AmiKit 1.1
• UPDATED:  AmiKit - AmiKit.exe 1.2
• UPDATED:  AmiKit - RomFind.exe 1.1
• UPDATED:  AmiStart 0.66c
• UPDATED:  FryingPan 0.41 (plus new skin by Ken Lester)
• UPDATED:  LimpidClock 1.17 beta
• UPDATED:  MathLibsUAE 45.881 r10
• UPDATED:  MCC_BetterString 11.8
• UPDATED:  MCC_TextEditor 15.18
• UPDATED:  microgolded 8 SP 3
• UPDATED:  MMKeyboard 3.22
• UPDATED:  R 2.21
• UPDATED:  tsgui 2.2
• UPDATED:  UnRAR 3.60
• UPDATED:  WHDLoad 16.6
• UPDATED:  WinUAEHelp file 2.04
• UPDATED:  WookieChat 2.3.1
• REVERTED: ixemul.library 48.2 (seems the newer v49.17 library is bugged)
• FIXED:    ROM incompatibility with Amiga Forever 2006

• Pagestream
• Software Hut
• AMUC
• Troika
• Hyperion
• SACC
• Individual Computers

• Based on e-uae 0.8.29 WIP3
• Ditched harddrive support to gain speed as I still can't get it to work with WIP3
• Removed support for serial ports to gain speed
• Several optimizations to the e-uae code primarily removing stuff that doesn't make a lot of sense on the PSP
• Added cpu speed option - thanks to FOL
• Added profiling support
• Fixed memory issues - now allows 6MB for PSP V1.50 and 5.5MB for PSP V2.00+
• Should run using kxploit and the eloader (So V1.50 release works with all)
• Switched middle and right mouse button
• Fixed screenshot
• only displays leds for 2 drives as only 2 are enabled (will not accept 4 drives as I have disabled the last 2 for performance reasons)
• disabled debugging support (can be enabled again it doesnt really make a performance hit)
• only possible to select valid memory configurations (up to 2 Mb chip, 1.5 Mb bogo and 2.5Mb fast)
• Fixed keyboard mappings
• when mapping keyboard keys to psp buttons the behaviour is to keep the key down until the psp button is released.
• removed 2 drives from the disk menu
• added msg box for when no kickstart rom is present and also for when changing kickstart roms while using PSPUAE
• added msg box for when PSPUAE runs out of memory instead of crashing (makes it very hard to crash PSPUAE now)
• added KickStart 2.04 & 2.05 to the Rom selection menu

• Support for more GeForce FX models (ie, 5700, 5100, etc)
• Support for GeForce PCX PCI-Express cards
• General bugfixes to the GeForce and Radeon drivers
• SATA support (yay!) for VIA 8237 and NVidia NForce 3/4 chipsets
• Gigabit ethernet via the VIA 6120 & 6122 Velocity chips
• Ethernet driver for NForce 3/4 chipsets
• Support for more AC97 audio codecs

• the Stack-size will be automaticly increased by 200KB
• the 68k-Version works faster then the pre-version
• the protective bit will be set correctly
• the entered password is not longer visibly

• Debug window won't open automatically anymore
• HRTMon keyboard layout and WHDLoad commands fixed

• Mouse Up/Down and Left/Right input destinations supported simultaneously
• CD32 state save support (work in progress)
• A1000 Kickstart disk images can be used as a ROM image

• dev/lib (static libraries)
• game/edit (game editors)
• game/strat (strategy games)
• misc/os (Operating systems and updates)
• pix/icon (PNG icons)

• Amiga and MorphOS news of July/August 2006
• Report: Alchimie 5
• Interview with Ilkka Lehtoranta (MorphOS developer)
• Interview with Martyn Brown (Team 17 member)
• Point of view: We are waiting for MorphOS 1.5...
• Review of Nicky Boum Engine
• Review of RAW
• Review of REminescence
• Review of AmigaOS 3.5 (update)
• Review of AmigaOS 3.9 (update)
• Hardware: Protect your computer from low-quality batteries
• Tutorial: Défrag a SFS partition under MorphOS
• Tutorial: Installation of Ubuntu Linux on Pegasos II
• Tutorial: Installation of Suse Linux on Pegasos II (update)
• Tutorial: TVPaint - reflection of a title on a transparent plan
• Tutorial: MEncoder - basic use
• Tutorial: Tricks and tips for Quake 1 et 2
• The Amiga quizz

======================================================================
                               ________
         _________ ____      _|__ __ __|_______      _________
       __\ _____ \\\\  \_  _/  //___//  _____//______\ _____ \\
      // \\\\  /. \\\\__ \/ __//    \\  \\____.  /// \\\\  /. \\
      \\___\  /___///___\  /___\     \\_________//\\___\  /___//
            \/           \/.  |        |z!o             \/    
               A M I G A      | 060831 |      U P D A T E
                              |________|
  "SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW"                                   (Eject -2)
======================================================================
        AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.      
----------------------------------------------------------------------

   B I L L   M C E W E N   T O   A N S W E R   Q U E S T I O N S    

                 A M I G A   B I G   B A S H   4    

        A M I W E S T   I N F O R M A T I O N   U P D A T E 

           S A D L Y ,   A   D E A T H   T O   R E P O R T 

    U P G R A D E   T O   A M I P O D D E R   A V A I L A B L E

 F R E E   P A S C A L !   ( N O ,   N O T   F R O M   P R I S O N )

   E P I S T U L A   M E S S A G I N G   S Y S T E M   U P D A T E  

       A N D   W H I L E   W E ' R E   C H A T T I N G   . . . 

             W I N U A E   M A R C H E S   F O R W A R D

                   A N D   S O   D O E S   E U A E 

 I G N I T I O N   S P R E A D S H E E T   ( * B E T A   O N L Y * ) 

        O P E N   O F F I C E   T E A M   N E E D S   H E L P

              A I S S   S Y S T E M   V E R S I O N   3

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
 The re-emergence of Bill McEwen? When Gary Hare left Amiga Inc. 
behind, I at least was not certain who was in charge or what the 
management team looked like. I still don't feel as if I know. However, 
it is apparent Bill McEwen is still there, Amiga Inc. is still 
functional and you and everyone else will have a chance to read 
answers to 25 questions by Bill in the near future. Story is below. 
This could well be one of the more important events of the year in the 
Amiga community, depending on the quality of the questions and the 
frankness of the answers. Should be revealing however it goes.
 Beyond that interesting development, there were many other 
interesting things happening in the Amiga community this month. We 
have covered a number of them for you in this issue. Amiga activity 
seems to come in spurts these days, with some months having little 
happening and others a great deal. The good news is, there is always 
something going on in the Amiga community and most of the activity is 
good for the Amiga's future. While we would really like to hear some 
definitive news on the hardware front, at least we have good news in 
the software arena this month, and a fair amount of it.
 We hope you enjoy this issue.
 Brad Webb,
 Editor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail to the E-ditor:

 Brad,  You have done an excellent job with this newsletter.
I already get most of the news items at http://www.amigaworld.net
so what I enjoy most are your general thoughts and comments at
the beginning.
  I will be sad to see the departure of that part of the
 newsletter in October.  Perhaps after October you could
change the format to something easier for you, or make a
regular online posting to the Amigaworld website instead?
  Anyway, good luck with whatever you do.  I'm a happy
AmigaOneXE / OS4 owner.  I'll be using it for years and
purchasing a second one as soon as the next motherboard
solution is available.
    Thanks.   - Lars
~~~~~~
Lars,
 Thank you, I appreciate the kind words. It's encouraging to hear 
about your commitment and confidence in the Amiga and its use into 
the future. I suppose some readers might take the end of "AU" as a 
vote of no-confidence on my part for the future of the Amiga. I want 
to make it very clear to the readers that such is NOT the case. It is 
a recognition that, after 20 years in Amiga journalism, it really is 
time to move on. And that being the case, it's unlikely a format 
change will happen though I appreciate the interesting suggestion.
 As you point out, there are other ways to get the information we 
carry. The Amiga community is very fortunate to have good websites 
supporting it. I couldn't list all the websites I prowl monthly for 
news, but amigaworld.net and amiga.org are good places to start for an 
overall coverage of the community.
 I do have an Amiga project or two in mind going forward, mostly 
involving preservation of items from the Amiga's history. We'll see 
what develops as time goes on.
 Regards,
 Brad
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

   B I L L   M C E W E N   T O   A N S W E R   Q U E S T I O N S    

{Taken from the Amiga.org website. Pay them a visit - URL at end of 
this article. Brad}

With all the questions of whether "Is Amiga Inc alive?" or not, I 
thought to write to Bill McEwen himself to see whether the lights were 
still on. Within an hour, I got a long, well-written reply and an 
offer to directly answer 25 questions from the Amiga community...

In short, Bill wants everyone to know that they are still, very much 
alive despite the many popular rumors to the contrary. His standing 
offer is to take questions from Amiga.org users and they will answer 
the top 25 (as determined by the Amiga.org staff) as completely as 
possible.

That being said, a few words of caution.

What this is...

This is a chance for the Amiga community to ask questions and have 
them directly answered by Bill McEwen in an open exchange. You can ask 
anything you want, as long as it's a legitimate question regarding 
Amiga Incorporated, it's products, plans, and future.

What this is NOT

- This is not a chance for politics and agendas
- This is not an excuse to act like children and hurl insults
- This is not an excuse for personal attacks and delving into the 
  personal lives of Amiga Inc staff members.

Post your questions in comment form [see URL] below.

On the 8th of September, I will collect the questions and the 
moderators and I will correlate them and select the top 25 questions. 
Once selected, all of the questions will be passed directly to Amiga 
Inc.

Mr. McEwen has stated that he will answer 25 questions.

If there are more legitimate questions than that, we will select the 
best 25 and put them at the top of the list. It's up to them if they 
want to answer more. If there are fewer than 25 legitimate questions, 
all will be passed to Amiga Inc for their response.

Amiga.org Disclaimer :

Because of the potential for abuse, this thread and comments contained 
therein will, by necessity, be moderated to the fullest extent of our 
posting guidelines (see link on left)

Out of necessity, we (the Amiga.org staff) reserve the right to edit 
the questions presented if they appear incomplete, unintelligible, or 
have a language barrier issue).

Sincerely,

Wayne Hunt
Amiga.org

http://www.amiga.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6929
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                 A M I G A   B I G   B A S H   4    

Announcing Amiga Big Bash 4: Amiga Big Bash and Retro, Saturday 16th 
September, Stafford Hall, Peterborough.

Welcome to the home of the UK's biggest Amiga show - The Big Bash. 
This September is going to be the best Big Bash to-date! We have more 
exhibitors and friends coming along than the previous 3 events, which 
were enjoyed by all.

This year we have also added a retro element to the show, and extended 
our invitation to those in the GP2X community and Retro Scene.

There will be demonstrations and talks, great music, stalls and 
exhibitions and lots to eat and drink. If you go to no other Amiga and 
Retro show this year, go to this one.

The show's address is:

Stafford Hall
Hampton Court
Westwood
Peterborough
PE3 7LD

Doors Open Saturday 16th September, 1pm until 7.00pm, then aftershow 
party.

Admission: 3.50 Payable on door.
What is Amiga Big Bash & Retro?

Amiga Big Bash & Retro is simply an excuse for a party. It's a 
computer show with a difference in that it's not really about 
computers - it's about the people and the communities that use them.

Big Bash started in 2004 as a way of bringing Amiga users together. 
The first event was such a success that a later one was held that very 
same year. Each year the event has gained in popularity and attracts 
more and more people - this is in part to the shows firm emphasis on 
fun.

Initally devised on the Amiga World IRC channel, the event spawned the 
3 Counties Amiga Group, who are responsible for organising the event.

The show is also truely multinational, attracting visitors from as far 
afield as Poland, Greece and Sweden - and indeed even further away - 
Mikey C, our very own MC is from another planet.. 


30 August, 2006

Godfreys-Online, in partnership with Troika and sponsors of Big Bash 4 
are donating the following to BB4 to complement the other prizes 
vailable:

1x HP Photosmart 2710 All-in one Printer.
See: http://audiovisual.kelkoo.co.uk/b/a/ps_12363773/100052213.html

1x Maxtor 200GB IDE HDD (7,200RPM/8MB Cache)
See: http://www.techstore.co.uk/browse.php?a=p&prodLineID=41954

1x Aopen 52x32x52x16 CDRW/DVD Combo Drives
See: http://solaristech.co.uk/store/product_info.php?products_id=221&
solaris_id=c27dc972a0046d5e943baf9f3a618f5d

I would like to thank my fellow organisers for spending time and money 
organising BB4 and hope people will come and see the culmination of 
our efforts.

Godfreys IT Ltd. is an IT consultants and software house see: 
www.godfreys-it.com and also has an online retail shop, based on our 
own e-commerce product, LRG Ecommerce server see: 
www.godfreys-online.co.uk Big Bash 4 is organised by 3 Counties Amiga 
Group. See: www.3cag.net

http://www.amigabigbash.net/
----------------------------------------------------------------------

        A M I W E S T   I N F O R M A T I O N   U P D A T E 

21 August, 2006 

Here is the third information release for AmiWest 2006, October 21,
2006 in Sacramento, California.  Our webpage at www.sacc.org/amiwest 
is being updated with all the current show information.  We encourage 
you to visit our site to see the rest of the current information.

Amiga Forever,

Sacramento Amiga Computer Club
AmiWest 2006 Committee

===================================
AMIWEST 2006 - TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
===================================

A ONE-DAY EVENT CONTINUES TO MEAN LOWER PRICES!  Lower prices (same as 
last year!) on admission tickets (see below) means that more of our 
great Amiga community can come at a reduced rate!  Our hotel room 
prices REMAIN THE SAME AS LAST YEAR, including a full hot breakfast 
for up to two people per room.  SO AMIWEST, YOUR BEST AMIGA SHOW DEAL, 
IS EVEN BETTER NOW!

Don't wait!  Ticket sales are already increasing!  The fire department
will only permit us to admit so many people.  And you'll want to be 
one of them!

=========================================
TIME TO BUY YOUR TICKETS FOR AMIWEST 2006
=========================================

We have a great facility (now completed) and we want YOU to come see
AmiWest 2006.  So print this ticket form out and mail it to the SACC
address (given below)!  ASAP!

           AmiWest 2006, October 21, 2006 Ticket Reservation Form

                          Clarion Hotel Cal-Expo
                             2600 Auburn Blvd
                            Sacramento, CA 95821        

  Your Name:______________________________________________________

Affiliation:______________________________________________________

    Address:______________________________________________________

            ______________________________________________________

       City:______________________________________________________

State/Province:_________________________ Postal(Zip) Code: __________

    Country:_________________________

 Email Address:______________________________________________________

   Ticket wanted ONE DAY PASS: SATURDAY, October 21, 2006

   Do you want Banquet tickets (Circle One)    YES      NO

   Admission to AmiWest 2006 is:
    $ 8 (One Day Pass - paid in advance by July 12, 2006)
    $10 (One day Pass at the door)
    
   One day passes will allow admittance to any FREE seminars on that 
day only.
   Seminar topics will be announced later.

   Banquet tickets are $28 per plate and MUST be paid in advance.   
   Seating is limited and tickets are available on a first come, first
served.
   
   Please fill out this form and remit with proper payment  (US Funds 
Only) to:
   
        AmiWest 2006
        c/o Chuck Washburn
        7051 Dolan Way
        Citrus Heights CA 95621
        USA
   
   Make checks payable to "AmiWest".  A form must be filled out for 
each person attending the show although one check can be used.

   For more information you can contact AmiWest by email to: 
   chela@calweb.com 
   Phone: (916) 723-9846 Evenings (Pacific Daylight time)

   Our WWW web page is: http://www.sacc.org/amiwest/ 


!!!!!!!!!!!!  

So remember,

AmiWest 2006 is rolling!  The facility is reserved and the vendors
are notified!  Keep watching for these releases and tell everyone
that you know - the Amiga and the Amiga community is alive and
well!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HOTEL CONTACT

AmiWest 2006 will be October 21, 2006 at the

Clarion Hotel Cal Expo
2600 Auburn Blvd.
Sacramento California 95821

Reservations Phone 1-877-424-6423 toll-free (local 1-916-487-7600),
choicehotels.com (click the Clarion icon) and by snail-mail at the 
above address.

Please watch our website at www.sacc.org/amiwest for continuing news 
and information regarding AmiWest 2006.  We are on target for another 
improved show!  See you there!
----------------------------------------------------------------------


           S A D L Y ,   A   D E A T H   T O   R E P O R T 

28 August, 2006

>From Amiga-news.de:

According to the MorphOS-Team yesterday Michal Rybinski was killed in 
a motorcycle accident. The MorphOS-Team offer its sincere condolences 
to his family and friends.

Michal 'RybciaDcaps' Rybinski was a MorphOS developer and a big help 
at developing the past versions of the operating system.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

    U P G R A D E   T O   A M I P O D D E R   A V A I L A B L E

19 August, 2006

A new version of AmiPodder, the Amiga's only podcast receiving utility 
is now available.

www.amipodder.com

Version 1.5 has several new features, many of them added in response 
to user requests. You can now organise your podcasts in to groups. The 
user interface has been enhanced with the ability to change the status 
of multiple podcasts and progress bars have been added to slow 
operations. Compatibility with podcast feeds has also been improved 
with support for redirected downloads and various types of character 
encoding in URLs. In addition, AmiPodder can now work behind an HTTP 
proxy and several bugs have been fixed.

AmiPodder 1.5 is written in AREXX using rxMUI and therefore works on 
OS 3.x, OS 4 and MorphOS. It's released as freeware. 

www.amipodder.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 F R E E   P A S C A L !   ( N O ,   N O T   F R O M   P R I S O N )

Description:    Free Pascal Compiler - AmigaOS4 port
Download:   fpc.lha  
Version:    2.1.1SVN
Date:           20 Aug 06
Author:     Free Pascal Development Team, Karoly Balogh
Submitter:  Karoly Balogh
Homepage:   http://www.freepascal.org
Requirements:   any PowerPC computer running AmigaOS4
Category:   development/language
License:    GPL
Distribute:     yes
FileID:     2028
    
                           W E L C O M E !
                           ===============

This is an alpha quality public binary release of the Free Pascal 
Compiler for AmigaOS 4 platform. It's based on the current SVN version 
2.1.1. To read more about the compiler, be sure to check out the /doc 
directory, and if possible, http://www.freepascal.org.

About AmigaOS 4 support, it's still in an early stage, but progressing 
well. This release is intended for people who want to try out this new 
toy, and write some simple stuff in it, but

                 NOT YET USEFUL FOR SERIOUS DEVELOPMENT.

It only has a limited number of AmigaOS 4 specific features. You can 
fully use this release though to generate interface headers and such 
stuff to support as many AmigaOS 4 features as you want.

With the contents of this package, you should be able build new FPC 
for AmigaOS 4 binaries by yourself from the FPC SVN. You will also 
need: AmigaOS 4 SDK, recent GNU Make (gmake) and recent abc-shell.


REQUIREMENTS:
====

A PowerPC CPU equipped computer, with Amiga OS 4 pre-release installed 
(only Update #4 was tested).


INSTALLATION:
====

Currently, only manual installation is possible. After uncompressing 
the archive, add the following lines into your S:user-startup file:

Assign FPC: <the_path_where_you_uncompressed_the_archive>
Path FPC:bin/powerpc-amiga ADD

Also, you should set PPC_CONFIG_PATH environment variable, to let
the compiler easiliy find its configuration file. This step is 
optional but recommended.

SetEnv SAVE PPC_CONFIG_PATH FPC:bin/powerpc-amiga/

Then you should reboot, to make the new settings work. It's also 
recommended to fine-tune your settings in 
FPC:bin/powerpc-amiga/fpc.cfg then, to fit your needs. You can run the 
compiler without arguments to have access to the help pages about the 
avaiable parameters.

THANKS:
=======

I'd like to send thanks to the followings for making this port 
possible:

- Colin_Camper, for the uA1 with 750GX, i used for the AmigaOS4 port
- Florian Klaempfl, and the rest of the FPC Development Team for 
  creating my favourite compiler
- Carl Eric Codere and Nils Sjoholm, authors of the original Amiga/68k 
  port Without their work i couldn't be able to come this far
- All people who helped me with the MorphOS port, which paved the way 
  for AmigaOS4 port, among others
- #amigadev people, for a lot of very useful hints and tips

- #amigahu guys on IRCNet, for not believing i'm able to do this, and 
  some Hungarian OS4 users/developers for the negative attitude which 
  motivated me :)


Nuff said.

Signed:
2006.08.20
Budapest, Hungary

Karoly 'Chain-Q' Balogh <charlie()scenergy.dfmk.hu>

(ps: And sorry for my bad english.)

http://www.os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=development/language/
fpc.lha

{From the Free Pascal website. Brad}

Advantages of Free Pascal
Advantages of programming in Pascal and Free Pascal
Maybe you think, why should I choose Pascal instead of, for example C. 
Or maybe you are comparing Free Pascal to another Pascal compiler. 
Well, in that case, be sure to read this page before making your 
decision. Well, for what is Free Pascal so good?

    * Very clean language Pascal is a very nice language, your 
      programs will be more readable and maintainable than for example 
      in C, and let's even forget about C++. And you don't need to 
      give up the power, the Pascal language is as powerful as you 
      want it.
    * No Makefiles Unlike most programming languages, Pascal does not 
      need Makefiles. You can save huge amounts of time, the compiler 
      just figures out itself which files need to be recompiled.
    * Pascal compilers are Fast with a big F and Free Pascal is no 
      exception. Yes, you no longer need to grow roots while compiling 
      your programs, just hit the compile key and it's done, even for 
      large programs.
    * Each unit has it's own identifiers In Pascal you never need to 
      worry about polluting the namespace, like in C where an 
      identifier needs to be unique accross the entire program. No, 
      in Pascal each unit gets it's own namespace and that's very 
      relaxed.
    * Integrated development environment Free Pascal comes with an IDE 
      which work on several platforms, in which you can write, compile 
      and debug your programs. You will save huge amounts of time 
      using the IDE, the best programming friend you have.
    * Great integration with assembler Do you think pascal is for 
      wimps who need to learn programming? WRONG! It's excellent for 
      high tech programming and for the supreme nerds among you we 
      have the integrated assemblers. You can easily mix assembler 
      code and Pascal code, in the language you wish? Prefer Intel 
      styled assembler? No problem, if it's needed Free Pascal will 
      convert it to ATT for you. Do you want to convert your program 
      into a source file for Nasm? No problem, and all ATT assembler 
      in your source files is automatically converted.
    * Object oriented programming And if you do the serious 
      programming, you are of course very interested in object 
      oriented programming. Use the Turbo Pascal and Object Pascal 
      ways of OOP according to your taste. The FCL and Free Vision and 
      provide you with the powerful object libraries you need. For 
      your database needs we support PostgreSQL, MySQL, Interbase and 
      ODBC.
    * Smartlinking Free Pascal's smart linker leaves out any variable 
      or code that you do not use. That makes small programs small 
      with a big S, while they are still statically linked, avoiding 
      DLL hell!
    * Distribution independence (Linux) As a result of this, software 
      compiled by the Linux version of Free Pascal runs on any Linux 
      distribution, making it much, much, easier to make your software 
      support multiple Linux distributions.
    * Available for a lot of platforms on several architectures Free 
      Pascal is available for more platforms than most other Pascal 
      compilers and allows easy cross-compiling, just change the 
      target in the IDE and compile! And there is work going on for 
      even more platforms and processors.
    * Compatible Have existing code? Free Pascal is more compatible 
      with it than any other Pascal compiler. We are almost completely 
      compatible with Turbo Pascal and quite well compatible with 
      Delphi source code. If you have code in another language, like C 
      or assembler, just use favorite compiler for it and call it from 
      Free Pascal. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

   E P I S T U L A   M E S S A G I N G   S Y S T E M   U P D A T E  

15 August, 2006

 Epistula is to AmigaOS what GAIM is to Linux and Windows. For people 
not in the know, GAIM is an instant messenger application which can 
handle a variety of IM protocols, for example Microsoft MSN, AOL AIM 
and Yahoo Messenger.

I know JabberWocky can provide a similar service, but that requires 
extra setting up with Jabber ID's etc. This way, you can log straight 
onto your favourite protocol, by-passing any need for yet another IM 
account. One of the main reasons I started to write this client was 
because I couldn't be bothered with Jabber... I can't be the only 
one... can I?

Unlike GAIM, Epistula is written in a modular fashion in that each 
'protocol' is a plugin which can be installed, and updated, seperately 
from the main application and other plugins.

Epistula is initially only in development for AmigaOS 4, but hopefully 
in not-to-distant future, will also be made available for MorphOS, 
AmigaOS 3.1 and AROS, if and when I get access to the required 
hardware. However, those of you looking for individual 68k instant 
messengers available now wouldn't be going far wrong looking at 
JabberWocky, AmiMSN, AmiGG and AmigAIM.

Due to the resonably simple plugin interface, as part of the Epistula 
package developers can download a 'Plugin Development Kit' which will 
allow them to easily build and integrate a new plugin based on their 
favourite protocol. 

Epistula v50.18

Quite a big update this time; I have been working hard on this for a 
while and have managed to complete all of the features I outlined in 
the last release.

Read more for all the details...

So, in this release the following changes have been made, and features 
implemented:

- Documentation is provided in PDF form.

- All imagery within Epistula is now user configurable. I've used PNG 
  images as IFF won't display correctly on my machine. Note a word of 
  warning though; don't try and use a PNG image with more than 256 
  colours as it will crash. I need to adapt my code to work with high 
  colour images first.

- You can now add and remove contacts to and from your contact list, 
  although this will also depend on that functionality being 
  implemented fully in the plugin.

- Contacts can be moved (dragged and dropped) to and from any groups 
  you have with your contact list. Note that I've found a nasty bug in 
  the add group functionality, so it's disabled for now. A fix will be 
  released VERY soon.

- Full logging is provided should you need it. If I'm missing anything 
  which you'd like implemented and added to the logs, drop me a line 
  and I'll see it's added for the next update.

- Docky icon implemented, although it doesn't do anything yet and 
  looks err, dark. Best leave it off until I'm finished with it.

- Updated catalogs and missing translations from last version fixed. 
  If you spot anything which isn't translated let me know so I can fix 
  it. Note that you should remove any old epistula.catalogs.

- Nicely re-written plugin removal code which uses new features of 
  dos.library to stop those awful crashes and 'Cannot quit plugin'
  messages.

- Your installed MUI Classes are checked to make sure they're the 
  correct version or above

That's all I can think of right now, I'm sure there are lots of small 
fixed I've missed from that list so it'll be up to you lot to test 
everything for me.

TOC v50.0
TOC is a new plugin from myself which will allow you to connect to 
AOL's AIM service which amongst other things, allows you to add ICQ 
contacts to your buddy list.

I have tested this plugin with both official clients (AIM and ICQ) and 
I've had no problems so far.

The plugin is pretty much complete apart from two areas; your buddy 
list order will not be saved on exit, and file transfer isn't i
mplemented.

Documentation is provided with the plugin should you need it, but 
please keep in mind that this is a first release and as such, should 
be expected to contain some teething problems. Please let me know of 
these ASAP so I can address them.

Plugin Development Kit
The plugin development kit is almost complete and will be released on 
my website by Friday 18th August, and will include the catalog 
translation files for interested parties.

As usual, all of these updates can be (or will be eventually) found on 
my homepage which is The Snakepit Projects.

Thanks for your patience, and enjoy! Although I've got that feeling 
that I've forgotten something really important

Daniel Allsopp

http://www.the-snakepit.co.uk/projects/
----------------------------------------------------------------------

       A N D   W H I L E   W E ' R E   C H A T T I N G   . . . 

17 August, 2006

WookieChat Changes 2.3.1

What does this program do?

It allows you to connect to Internet Relay Chat networks (IRC!) and 
chat with other users in a text medium in real-time. Some of the 
server groups are preconfigured to join an Amiga chat channel upon 
sucessful connection.

WookieChat requires MUI + the custom classes: betterstring.mcc, 
nlist.mcc and nlisttree.mcc.

Get it from os4depot as I'm unable to upload files to my web space 
currently. It should be ready for download soon!

Register at my homepage for $15 usd! Or if you're too poor, dont worry 
about it because WookieChat is not crippled in any way!


- I've attempted to fix the instability when using DCC SEND under 
  OS3/MOS.. please report back to me if anyones still having problems
- RESUME support added for outgoing DCC SEND (Incoming RESUME has 
  worked for quite some time, but now it works both ways)
- There used to be startup text if wookie couldnt load a catalog for 
  your default language. I've since changed this so you only see this 
  text if you run wookie with the "debug" option from shell.

WookieChat is now in French, Swedish, German, Norwegian, and Polish!

Both OS3.x and OS4 binaries are in the same archive.

http://os4depot.net/
----------------------------------------------------------------------

            W I N U A E   M A R C H E S   F O R W A R D

6 AugUST, 2006

Ubiquitous (Universal?) Amiga Emulator for Amiga, New and improved 
features:

- AVIOutput codec settings stored in registry and other small tweaks.
- HRTMon updated to 2.30, WHDLoad-commands supported.
- Some custom chipset timing tweaks.

WinUAE 1.3 bugs fixed

- Uaescsi.device freeze problem fixed.
- Boot freeze if A4000 ROM was used without AGA.
- Original extended ADF read bug.
- Larger than 1280 wide fullscreen modes work.
- Sound "led" filter configuration data was read incorrectly.
- AVIOutput does not split the AVI anymore when focus was lost.
- D3D filter fullscreen/windowed switching should not freeze anymore.
- Integrated mousehack access fault fixed.

http://www.winuae.net/
----------------------------------------------------------------------

                 A N D   S O   D O E S   E U A E 

31 July, 2006

E-UAE

This is a version of UAE, the Ubiquitous Amiga Emulator, with an 
emulation core largely based on WinUAE. It attempts to bring many of 
the great features of WinUAE to non-Windows platforms. This version 
now finally has a name, E-UAE, since that's what everybody was calling 
it anyway. The 'E' can stand for anything you fancy. Experimental, 
extreme, exciting, egalitarian, eggplant, . . .

Currently it will build and run (with a varying degree of supported 
features) on Linux and other Unices, Mac OS X, BeOS, AmigaOS itself 
(either for 68k machines or PPC machines with AmigaOS 4.0 and the 
AmigaOS clones MorphOS and AROS). OS X requires either LibSDL or an X 
server for graphics output, but native graphics are supported on 
AmigaOS and BeOS, although, at the moment, SDL is also preferred on 
BeOS since the native driver is incomplete.

E-UAE is open-source software and is made available under the terms of 
the GNU GPL. E-UAE is based on the work of dozens of contributors 
including Bernd Schmidt (the original author and maintainer of UAE), 
Bernie Meyer (the author of the x86 JIT compiler), Toni Wilen (the 
current maintainer of WinUAE), and many more.

To make full use of E-UAE you will need access to an image of some 
version of the Amiga Kickstart ROM (although UAE does include a ROM 
emulation which may work with some old games). The Amiga Kickstart 
ROMs are copyrighted material and may not be freely distributed (so 
don't ask me for a copy). If you don't have an Amiga from which you 
can legally make a ROM image, a selection of ROM images are available 
for purchase online from Cloanto - publishers of the Amiga Forever d
istribution.

http://www.rcdrummond.net/uae/
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 I G N I T I O N   S P R E A D S H E E T   ( * B E T A   O N L Y * ) 

20 August, 2006
    
ignition 1.0 beta 1 has been released!

ignition is a modern spreadsheet programme with a small but relational 
all-purpose database.

You can realize your address database and manage your apartment house 
or whatever you like. You can calculate with times and dates as if 
they were regular numbers. The whole system can be controlled via 
ARexx. 

Since the development of ignition proceeds much slower than originally 
anticipated, we decided to release an up-to-date and not restricted 
beta version.

Your support should push the further development forward. But we're 
also relying on your help to be able to complete the product. 
Particularly, we need help with the following things:

    * Revising and completing of the available documentation
    * Translation of that documentation to German and English - other 
      languages are welcome, too, of course
    * Translations of the program texts themselves
    * New and more icons that can be used in the tool bars
    * Reports of existing bugs in the whole package

At least the tree most contributing people will get a free version of 
ignition as a compensation for their help. A mailing list will be a
vailable, a bug tracker already is.

We're looking forward to your contributions! 

http://www.pinc-software.de/en_frames.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------

       O P E N   O F F I C E   T E A M   N E E D S   H E L P

29 August, 2006

The Development of the Amiga OS4 port of OpenOffice.org requires some 
assistance. We have currently completed some dependancies including 
libusb, aspell, neon and some work has been done on porting csh.

We need developers to produce a complete dependancy database plus
further the csh port.
All this needs doing prior to starting the actual OpenOffice.org code.

To join our discussions/offer help please join the list at:

https://lists.samfundet.no/mailman/listinfo/openoffice-os4
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             A I S S   S Y S T E M   V E R S I O N   3

11 August, 2006 

AISS is a system to store, access and maintain toolbar images under 
AmigaOS.

AISS 3 is available on the AISS section of Masonicons.de .

Features:
- more than 400 image sets (over 1200 single pictures).
- 24 bit PNG images with 8 bit alpha channel
- large documentation HTML format
- printable PDF preview of the images

The Powericons system is recommended for AISS3. If you still prefer 
Coloricons please use the special installation script in the 
'Glowicons' drawer of the archive (untested).

To do:

- developer documentation
- backup/restore system
- version string
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Amiga Update on the net:
 All back issues available at:
    http://www.globaldialog.com/~bandr/AU/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive! Now in our 13th publication year. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2006 by Brad Webb.    Freely distributable, if not modified.
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