15.Oct.2004
amigaworld.net (website)
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Glowicon collection: Workbench drawers with 256 colors
Ken Lester has released a complete set of Workbench drawer icons with 256 colors (screenshots: 1, 2). They require AmigaOS 4 or the "Powericons" patch from Elena Novaretti.
Direct Download: Ken's_Icons.lha (346 KB) (cg)
[News message: 15. Oct. 2004, 22:43] [Comments: 0]
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15.Oct.2004
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AmigaOS 4: New uploads at os4depot.net
New uploads which have been added to os4depot.net recently:
faad_library.lha aud/mis 2Mb OS4 port of libfaad. (AAC Decoder)
tunenet.lha aud/pla 86kb Basic Shoutcast and MP3 Player
powericonsos4.lha uti/mis 713kb 32-bit PNG icons on your Amiga
png2ico.lha gra/con 198kb png2ico converts .PNG files to Windows .ICO icon
rsambaprefs.lha net/sam 46kb SambaPrefs
(cg)
[News message: 15. Oct. 2004, 22:32] [Comments: 0]
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15.Oct.2004
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IBM publishes Object Rexx under Open Source licence
Today the sources of "Object Rexx" which is the successor of the script language "Rexx" (on Amiga
known as "ARexx") have been released under the Open Source licence
CPL
(Common Public License).
The further development of Object Rexx is organized by the
Rexx Language Association.
(cg) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 15. Oct. 2004, 19:09] [Comments: 0]
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15.Oct.2004
Amigaworld.net (website)
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AmigaOS4: LMarbles and Abe's Amazing Adventure ported/Shell command Eject
With LMarbles and Abe's Amazing Adventure Richard Drummond has ported another two
games for AmigaOS4. Additionally he offers a native Eject command for opening
CD drives.
LMarbles
is a SDL based mental game which was inspired by the Amiga classic Atomix.
Abe's Amazing Adventure which is also SDL
based is a platform game of the old school.
Download:
LMarbles-1.0.7-A1.lha (1.3 MB)
Abe-1_0-A1.lha (3.5 MB)
Eject_51.1.lha (3 KB) (snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 15. Oct. 2004, 10:28] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
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Software News Summary
Online CD Databank: FreeDB (Beta)
"FreeDB" is a graphic overlay for the Internet-based CD databank freedb.org.
Link: FreeDB Homepage
Direct download: freedb.lha (551 KB)
Report+ 6.12b
Die Freeware Report+ version 6.12b has been released. The tool is based on ReAction/GadTools, requires AmigaOS 3.9 and offers many different functions. For example you can make Aminet "readme" files with Report+, the Commodore bug reporting tool may be replaced with it, and the byte-count for any designation may be revealed. In the newest version a few mistakes have been taken care of.
Direct download: ReportPlus.lha (300 KB)
Worm Wars 8.21
"Worm Wars" is a Tron clone by James "Amigan" Jacobs (screenshot). Version 8.21 brings several optimizations and bugfixes.
Direct download: WormWars.lha (697 KB)
Hollywood game: SuperSoccer
"SuperSoccer" is a mini-game created with Hollywood.
Direct download: SuperSoccer.lha (970 KB) (cg) (Translation: dm)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 23:11] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
Christian Geier (e-mail)
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Guide: Installation of Yellow Dog Linux 4.0 on the Pegasos I
The Image_Installer team has published on their website under the title link a detailed guide on how to install the current version 4.0 of Yellow Dog Linux from the official Board Support Package for the Pegasos II (amiga-news.de reported) also onto the Pegasos I. (snx)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 21:14] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
Kultpower.de (ANF)
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Kultpower.de: New Game Review Scans from the Year 1990
21 new game reviews from the June 1990 Powerplay have been released, at Kultpower.de:
- Afterburner (Mega Drive)
- Antheads (Amiga)
- Assault City (Master System)
- Castle Master (Amiga)
- City Hunter (PC-Engine)
- Code-Name: Iceman (MS-DOS)
- Conquests of Camelot (MS-DOS)
- Cybercore (PC-Engine)
- Dragon's Lair 2: Escape from Singe's Castle (Amiga)
- F29 Retaliator (Amiga)
- Gunboat (MS-DOS)
- Jumping Jack Son (Amiga)
- Manchester United (Amiga)
- Midwinter (Atari ST)
- Nemesis (Gameboy)
- Player Manager (Atari ST)
- Section Z (NES)
- Skidz (Amiga)
- Space Invaders (PC-Engine)
- Tangled Tales (MS-DOS)
- Tank (MS-DOS)
(snx) (Translation: dm)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 12:00] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
ANN (website)
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Convention: Amiga East Show in May 2004 in New York
Celebrating 20 years supporting Amiga, Mr. Hardware Computers in New York, USA, is going to host the "Amiga East" show on 28 and 29 May, 2005. The newest hardware and software will be shown, with a heavy emphasis on AmigaOS4. Guest speakers and Amiga veterans as well as Amiga, AmigaDE and Linux experts have been announced, seminars and product demos will take place. (snx) (Translation: dm)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 11:57] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
ANN (Webseite)
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WookieChat 1.3 Beta Released
The IRC program WookieChat has now reached version 1.3, this one is also functional under the OS4 update. WookieChat is a 68k program that also runs under AmigaOS4 and MorphOS.
The new version is not as stable as its predecessor, but since the author is going to spend some time out of the country, he wanted to get this out to the users so they could get an idea of the current development. Users of the current AmigaOS4-Version are advised to click "ignore error" when the Grim Reaper window appears.
A few of the changes:
- Bug elimination: After a /kick the nickname is stricken from the list of those present
- Use of dos.library for data concepts
- A server may be contacted with a double click on its name
- New pop-up menus for the name list
- Keyboard shortcuts implemented
- When a nickname changes in the channel it is also changed in private conversation windows
- The /away command now works right
- "Assign wookiechat:" is not needed anymore
Download: WookieChat13beta.lha (218 KB) (snx) (Translation: dm)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 09:45] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
SF-Radio.net (ANF)
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SF-Radio: Report about Amiga and C64
In the 23rd offering of the program "Gameboys" on the On-Demand-Internet-Radio station SF-Radio.net, there's a short report on the current developments of Amiga and C64. Among other things you'll hear about AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS. (cg) (Translation: dm)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 02:05] [Comments: 0]
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13.Oct.2004
OSNews.com (website)
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OSNews: Article about Freescales coming 8641 PowerPC family
At the title link Nicholas Blachford takes a view to Freescales coming PowerPC processor family 8641.
The new processor will be produced in a 90 nm SoI process (Silicon on Insulator) and not only offer two processor cores, a bigger cache (1 MB per core) and two integrated 667 MHz DDR-II memory controllers, but also two PCI Express interfaces, a RapidIO bus (similar to HyperTransport) and 4 Gigabit ethernet MACs with hardware TCP/IP accelaration and some other interfaces. (snx) (Translation: ub)
[News message: 13. Oct. 2004, 20:08] [Comments: 0]
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13.Oct.2004
GazSP
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G5 Amiga: Project 'Amiga5' website online
'Amiga5' is a project which intends to bring a G5 Amiga motherboard to the Amiga community.
Apparantly, they are planning to modify the design of the G5 Evaluation Platform from Momentum Computers. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 13. Oct. 2004, 19:25] [Comments: 0]
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13.Oct.2004
MorphOS-News.de (website)
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Pegasos based ODW offered by Freescale directly now
Genesis Open Desktop Workstation may now be ordered through Freescale directly (item number: PPCG40001). It will be delivered with Debian, Yellow Dog Linux and MorphOS as well as additional software. (snx) (Translation: ub)
[News message: 13. Oct. 2004, 12:31] [Comments: 0]
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12.Oct.2004
Genesi (e-mail)
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Yellow Dog Linux: Official Board Support Package for Pegasos II
Launched by Motorola, Freescale Semiconductor has embraced the ATX PowerPC Genesi Pegasos II motherboard as an OEM CPU evaluation board. At Freescale's request, Terra Soft completed in October of 2004 the official Board Support Package, offering a simple means of installing Yellow Dog Linux for a variety of code development, desktop, and server functions.
The Yellow Dog Linux Board Support Package is available for free from Terra Soft Solutions and includes:
- Bootable ISO (CD):
- Image-based installer
- Independent rescue disk
- Guide to Installation
- 2.6.8 kernel source tree
- parted w/Amiga fs support source tree
- Tested Sound, usb, firewire
(snx)
[News message: 12. Oct. 2004, 19:10] [Comments: 0]
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12.Oct.2004
Elbox Computer (ANF)
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Elbox: New servers
Elbox Computer has changed its servers' location. Till DNS update, you can reach the Elbox websites through their IPs:
The main Elbox Website: 212.85.126.16
The Online Store for customers from the European Union: 62.129.194.250
The Online Store for customers from other countries: 212.85.119.127
Sorry for any inconveniences. (snx)
[News message: 12. Oct. 2004, 16:16] [Comments: 0]
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11.Oct.2004
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Hardware hack: CD-ROM, HD and disk drive in an A1200 case
Update (26.10.2012, cg): Integrated article into the news item during database migration)
After seeing what Egon Kohlschütter had done to his Amiga 1200, Bob Wicksall decided that there
was a way to make an internal CD-ROM blend better with the original A1200 case. Egon goes into better detail on some of the
technical aspects of the hack so make sure you have a look at his report aswell. Here's what Bob's
version looks like:
The following is a detailed report from Bob, describing how he managed to fit everything (including the disk drive) into the A1200 desktop case.
Feel free to email any questions about this hack to rwicksall@rochester.rr.com.
First things first
I was able to find a spare TEAC CD-224E in an old Gateway desktop PC. I've also seen several of them on ebay. Just search for
Teac and slimline and you probably find a hit. The next step was to open the case and remove the top half of the RF Shield. After this was done I took my CD-ROM and started to eyeball the new location. I found that I could move the harddrive and place the CD-Rom in the back left corner of the case. All I would have to do is build a mount and cut a hole in the case.
The next thing you need to acquire is an adapter to connect the Mini-IDE connector on the
CD-Rom to a standard IDE cable. Again, you can find these on Ebay most of the time. Here is a picture:
Cutting and Mounting
Cutting the hole was a little tricky. Basically I put the top of the case on a table upside down and then placed the CD-ROM snug in the corner
so that I could trace the outline. This told me exactly where I wanted the hole to go. I then measured the location and transferred the outline to the outside of the case. I'm never too sure of my measuring ability so I drilled a fine pilot hole in each of the corners. Once I was sure
I had the outline as accurate as possible I started cutting the hole with a Dremel. The hole was finished with a nice wide file to straighten out the lines.
Mounting the CD-ROM drive was next. The mount was made up of three pieces that I cut out an old plastic hard drive case. The first piece is Z shaped, about 5 inches long and supports the weight of the drive. This piece runs down the middle of the drive, is attached to the back of the case and the other end rests on the motherboard. The second piece is a leg glued to the upper left of the case to support and level the drive. The third piece is simply a stop on the right of the drive to prevent it from moving when ejecting the disk. When the case is open the drive just floats loose but as soon as you close the case it is held in firmly. Here is what it looks like from behind:
Note: The mounts are supporting the case of the drive. They are not touching the door.
Note2: The Z mount is removable. It is held into place by three scraps of plactic glued to the 1200 case.
Moving the harddrive to its new position
I didn't want to lose the internal floppy and I was lucky enough to recover an old 4GB 2.5" harddrive from an old laptop. The Hardrive mount is made up of two pieces of sheet steel. The first is simple an L bracket bolted to the back of the case with two screw holes for the drive. The second piece is basically a hook with a screw hole. This uses the keyboard tray to support the other side of the drive. This of course means you have to unscrew the drive to remove the keyboard.
Note: The harddrive is just resting on it's mount. I had to remove the screws to remove the keyboard.
And from behind:
IDE Cables and Power
I attacked the power harness first. I had already built a replacement power supply from an ATX power supply so I didn't have to worry about the load. I hacked some connectors from an old PC and built a power harness to fit the location of the drives. The power is pulled from the floppy connector on the motherboard and split off to the floppy and the CD-ROM.
I could have folded the IDE cables but I found they were too bulky and I was already afraid of having heat problems in the case. I ended up splitting the cables by hand. It was actually easier than I could have imagined. I used a sharp knife to cut a small hole between each wire and then I carefully pulled each wire free.
I used an Elbox Fast ATA 1200 IDE adapter to get the extra IDE connections. I bought it new from Software Hut for the project and I couldn't be happier. Just stay away from the IDE splitters that stand virtically from the IDE connector on the motherboard. They don't fit under the drive.
As you can see from the picture the CD-ROM comes very close to resting on the IDE adapter. I had to actually bend the pins on the circuit board to make room and then insulate the bottom of the drive with electrical tape.
Closing it all Up
The first thing is to place the keyboard. It slides in without a problem. The harddrive can then be screwed into place:
The case is actually very easy to close. You simply hinge it down from the back:
The finished product:
Further notes
I'm a little concerned about heat but so far I haven't had a problem. I've left it running for several hours with no issues. I don't really like the idea of installing a noisy fan so I'll probably leave things alone for now.
Make sure you give the drive opening plenty of room. If the hole is too small the drive will bind up when you are trying to eject the disk.
I would like to add some additional things like a flicker fixer but my choice of IDE adapters has limited my space. I think with a smaller IDE adapter you could probably fit a PPC card and a Bvision video card. Since I will probably never be able to get my hands on one it's not an issue for me. This IDE connector does give access to the clock port so a future USB adapter is a possibility. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 11. Oct. 2004, 22:38] [Comments: 0]
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11.Oct.2004
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AmigaOS 4: New uploads at os4depot.net
New uploads which have been added to os4depot.net recently:
expat-ppc.lha dev/lib 380kb Expat C library for parsing XML
stlport.lha dev/lib 737kb STLport C++ standard library
scummvmos4.lha gam/adv 2Mb Point-and-Click adventure interpreter
savvy.lha net/sam 72kb smbfs Helper GUI
bibvision.lha uti/tex 150kb Bible text viewer for 68k/WOS/OS4 V1.6
nallepuh_os4.lha aud 316kb NallePUH (Paula emulation) for OS4 / AmigaOne
lha.lha uti/arc 123kb lha 2.8 os4-native
reporttool.lha uti/mis 55kb A tool to help problem solving in OS4
micollection.lha gra/ico 5Mb masonicons collection 2000-2003
(cg)
[News message: 11. Oct. 2004, 17:17] [Comments: 0]
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10.Oct.2004
Michael Böhmer (ANF)
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Michael Böhmer and Chris Hodges attend the Amiga meeting in Bad Bramstedt
The developer team of E3B and PCP will attend
the Amiga meeting in Bad Bramstedt. Chris Hodges will present a first version of the upcoming USB stack Poseidon V3, both on an Amiga Classic
and a Pegasos II.
With some luck, E3B will be able to offer the first freshly produced SUBWAY modules. In any case, the current top product in the USB and flashrom market, the ALGOR PRO and ALGOR will be available.
People interested in USB on Amiga can get a first feeling of the power of Poseidon and E3B hardware on our demonstration Amiga. Both developers will answer questions on their products.
Aside from the current hardware products several prototypes from the development of USB for Amiga Classic will be presented. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 10. Oct. 2004, 20:15] [Comments: 0]
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10.Oct.2004
Chris Hodges (ANF)
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Luciferin flashrom software update to version 1.7
Dear customers of the flashrom solutions of E3B,
E3B and Chris Hodges are pleased to announce the availability of a new
version of the Luciferin software for the Highway+Romulus, Algor and Algor
Pro flashrom equipped hardware. This new release can be downloaded following the link in the title.
It includes the following changes (V1.5 -> V1.7):
- Luciferin will not ask, if the reset vectors should be cleared after the
contents of the flashrom have been updated. This is to avoid having to
turn the machine off and on again when using the Permanent boot loader.
- There is also a menu item for clearing the reset vectors now.
- The AlgorKick program now also supports uncompressed Kickstart images
for users of the 1MB flashrom version Algor PRO.
- The boot loaders have been updated to detect the AlgorKick module and
call it directly, saving one reboot cycle.
The update has been made public, not only for the users that forgot to
register their hardware, but also for other potential customers to try the
software.
All users are invited to try out Luciferin (which was rated as superior to
all other flashrom solutions on the market), even if they do not own the
required hardware. Luciferin will operate in Demo mode then -- only the
actual flashing operation is blocked for obvious reasons.
Also, the comprehensive manual will give much insight on the flashrom
topic, and how it can make your life easier.
There haven't been any user requests in the last months, so we suppose that
the software can be assumed to be in a final state. Anyway, we hope that
you will enjoy this update as much as you did before. Thanks have to go to
the users for their support! (snx)
[News message: 10. Oct. 2004, 17:14] [Comments: 0]
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09.Oct.2004
Amigaworld.net (website)
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OS4Depot: New versions of SB128 driver and OS4 mixer
The OS4Depot has made available new versions of the SB128 driver by Ross Vumbaca as well as a new version of the OS4 mixer by Davy Wentzler.
The new functions of the SB128 driver v5.21 compared with the version that's part of the OS4 prerelease:
- Support for the ES1370, so that now all SB128 cards are supported
- Bugfixing in the cache routines
- The hardware is now reset during a warm reboot
- Further small bug fixings
All users of the SB128 driver are recommended to update to this version.
New functions of the mixer v1.11 compared with the driver delivered with the OS4 prerelease:
- Support for the ES1370
- The mixer can now be used as a commodity
- Further small bug fixings
In addition, it is said that the OS4-CMI8738 driver has been successfully tested with the Terratec Aureon Fun sound card.
Download:
sb128ahi.lha (15 KB)
mixer.lha (91 KB)
(snx) (Translation: wk)
[News message: 09. Oct. 2004, 19:28] [Comments: 0]
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09.Oct.2004
Elbox Computer (ANF)
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Elbox: New software for PS/2 mouse interface/promotional bundle (Update)
Elbox Computer is pleased to announce availability of the new software support for the COCOLINO PS/2 mouse interface. The package includes a new version of the FreeWheel software by Alastair M. Robinson and a new version of cocolino.driver.
The new software allows using all features of 5-button, 2-wheel PS/2 mice connected to Amiga through the COCOLINO adapter. Each of the additional mouse buttons may now have any of the following functions assigned:
- Simulation of clicking the Left Button + Shift held down,
- Toggle Left Button function
- Mouse Movement to Scroll conversion
- Toggle Move/Scroll function
- Cycle Screens function
- Depth Arrange Windows
- Vertical to Horizontal Scroll conversion
- Swap Axis - Horizontal and Vertical scrolling events exchanging
cocolino.driver ver. 1.1
- added the possibility of adjusting speed of digital-encoded wheels and additional mouse buttons signals transmission to the Amiga Mouse port.
FreeWheel ver. 2.2
- added full support for the 5th mouse button.
FreeWheel 2.2 is available for download at the official FreeWheel page.
About Cocolino:
The COCOLINO PS/2 Mouse Interface is a microprocessor-based adapter for attaching PS/2 mice, trackballs, glidepoints and radio-controlled mice from the world of PC computers. COCOLINO can work with all models of Amiga computers. It simply plugs into the Amiga's mouse port. The COCOLINO PS/2 Mouse Interface is a full 'plug and play' device. No software is required for standard use. The enclosed software allows using two wheels and 3rd, 4th and 5th buttons available in many PS/2 mice and trackballs. The COCOLINO interface starts working simultaneous with the computer's start so mice can be used in the early-startup-menu (unlike the mice connected through the serial port). COCOLINO uses linear movement interpolation, which makes mouse movements perfectly smooth with any screen frame rates.
Info on the current versions is available in the DOWNLOADS | Cocolino section.
Update: (09.10.2004, 17:15, cg)
Until October 24, a special promotion bundle is available, containing the following items:
- 2 wheel & 5 button 4D Optical Mouse
- Cocolino PS/2 Mouse Interface
- Software supporting wheels and additional buttons
- Original Amiga Boingball mousepad
This special offer can be found in Elbox' online shop. (snx)
[News message: 09. Oct. 2004, 15:18] [Comments: 0]
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09.Oct.2004
Amigaworld.net (website)
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OS4Depot: New functions/SourceDepot introduced
With the SourceDepot offers the OS4Depot now a central place for source codes that have already been ported to AmigaOS4 or that can be ported to OS4 in the future.
Further enhancements at the OS4Depot:
- Statistic pages added, showing the monthly download tries (example)
- Simplier replacing of the older version of an uploaded archive; just click on the according readme page 'Replace' (example)
- New info page with useful information about the OS4Depot as well as for banners that can be used with own links
Furthermore it is told that since some time it is not possible to do uploads from the OS4Depot to the Aminet or AmigaShare. All files will remain in the upload queue, though, until this works again.
The providers thank all the contributors. Recently the number of 100 files was reached.
(snx) (Translation: wk)
[News message: 09. Oct. 2004, 13:24] [Comments: 0]
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