17.Jan.2023
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Website launch: retro.directory
Robert Smith, previously known for his DrawBridge or FloppyBridge project and various video releases, has put online "retro.directory", a first version of his website for searching and finding museums, magazines, clubs and groups, events, podcasts, Youtubers, arcades, shops or cafés, all of which have a connection to Retro (YouTube video).
Reporting your own entry is free of charge. There is also the option of advertising or sponsoring the initiative. As the developer reports, he wants to offer an easy way to find retro-related places and websites with the directory. The website should also work with older (retro) browsers, but then you won't have access to the map.
(dr)
[News message: 17. Jan. 2023, 21:21] [Comments: 0]
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17.Jan.2023
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Adventure interpreter: ScummVM 2.2.0
The developer 'NovaCoder' has been porting the adventure interpreter ScummVM to AmigaOS 3 for a long time: while there are current implementations of version 1.9 for RTG Amigas and AGA Amigas with 68060 processor, the version for AGA Amigas with 68030 processor (and up) is based on version 1.5 and dates from 2015.
Now there is another approach: the English developer Robin 'betajaen' Southern has created a fork based on the build of 'mheyer32' and released versions of ScummVM 2.2.0 for AmigaOS 3 (030, 040 and 060 processor). As he writes, he does not want to hinder 'NovaCoders' work. He added support for arrow keys, GAME tooltypes and EGA palette changes to the 'mheyer32' build and reduced the start-up time. Furthermore, he said, he is focusing on Sierra's game engine SCI, as he plays Police Quest 2 on Twitch, which requires arrow keys for gameplay. Joysticks are also supported.
In separate executables he has also included support for AGI and SCUMM. The developer has more or less tested the following games with an Amiga 1200 (Vampire) under AmigaOS 3.2.1:
- SCI - Police Quest 2
- SCI - Colonel's Bequest
- SCI - Codename: Iceman
- SCI - Kings' Quest IV
- AGI - Police Quest 1
- AGI - King's Quest III
- SCUMM - Maniac Mansion
- SCUMM - Zak McKracken
- SCUMM - Monkey Island 1
- SCUMM - Monkey Island 2
- SCUMM - Fate of Atlantis
(dr)
[News message: 17. Jan. 2023, 06:21] [Comments: 1 - 17. Jan. 2023, 18:37]
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16.Jan.2023
CS-Lab (ANF)
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CS-Lab: Warp firmware pack 1.400
CS-Lab released a firmware update for their 68060-based Warp accelerator boards. Changes in version 1.400 include:
- Hardware sprite in RTG modes
- Additional RTG hardware acceleration:
- BliltTemplate
- BlitPattern
- BlitRectNoMaskComplete
- P96 monitor file tooltypes support:
- NOBLITTER=Yes (disable hw acceleration)
- SOFTSPRITE=Yes (disable hw sprite)
(note that these options are mainly for debug/troubleshooting, so should be inactive by default)
- Fixed displaying screens larger than surrent resolution. Correct panning and autoscroll
- P96 driver partially rewritten in machine code
- P96 driver compiled and tested using recent SDK from icomp.de
- WiFi password hidden by default in WarpDiag and WarpTool
- MC68060 internal temperature sensor auto offset calibration
- Other minor improvements and bug fixes
(snx)
[News message: 16. Jan. 2023, 19:40] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jan.2023
Sven Scheele (ANF)
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Event: Interface XXXIII in Kiel (Germany) on 28.01.2023
Sven Scheele writes: "On Saturday, January 28, 2023, the retro computer event "Interface" will take place again in Schwentinental near Kiel, Germany. As usual, organizers are the Vintage Computer Club (VCC), the Amiga Club Schleswig-Holstein (ACSH) and the Computer Club Klausdorf (CCK).
Registration by e-mail at the address interface@jugendhaus-klausdorf.de is recommended. Without registration there is no guarantee for a free place.
Even if there are no more Corona restrictions this time, we ask to participate only if you have no corresponding symptoms! But this should be self-evident.
Once again, two large rooms (over two floors) are available. The multi-purpose room on the 1st floor is not available this time, but as an alternative we can share the café on the first floor (as a "workshop" for hardware projects, repairs and the like). The top floor offers enough space for talking shop and playing games on the computers and consoles we have brought along. Power strips and network cables must be brought by the participants.
Official start is at 14 o'clock, from approx. 12 o'clock the organization team begins with setting up the tables etc. The venue is the Jugendhaus Klausdorf, Dorfstraße 101 in 24222 Schwentinental (Klausdorf district)." (snx)
[News message: 16. Jan. 2023, 19:27] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jan.2023
ANF
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Event: Retro meeting at indoor swimming pool Wolfsburg (Germany) on 04.03.2023
Not an Amiga event, but theoretically the favorite computer of our younger days could also be represented: The city of Wolfsburg, Germany, wants to further expand the topic of gaming and is therefore organizing a gaming event in a disused indoor swimming pool on March 4, 2023.
For a retro-meeting as a part of that event, 30 seats of 1.2 by 0.7 meters each will be provided free of charge, the setup will start at 9 am, the event at 10 am. If you want to participate with retro hardware, please register exclusively via the e-mail address bloekchen@gmx.de. (snx)
[News message: 16. Jan. 2023, 19:23] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jan.2023
David Plesance (Twitter)
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Book: Message to subscribers of German version of "Commodore - The Inside Story"
David Pleasance, author of the book "Commodore - The Inside Story" addresses via Twitter the subscribers of the German edition of his work, especially those of the printed edition.
Due to e-mail losses, he asks for the current delivery address for sending the printed version to amiga@lookbehindyou.de with the subject: "INSIDE STORY GERMAN VERSION". Subscribers of the e-book version, on the other hand, should send their current e-mail address to info@cbmamiga.com with the subject: "COMMODORE INSIDE STORY GERMAN VERSION EBOOK".
Translated back into English, his message reads as follows:
A REQUEST TO ALL GERMAN SPEAKING COMMODORE/AMIGA FANS WHO ORDERED THE GERMAN VERSION OF MY BOOK "COMMODORE THE INSIDE STORY" AS PRINTED VERSION:
As some of you know, I had a health impairment in July and August last year, which even led to a hospital stay and a (minor) surgery.
As a result, I was not productive for almost three months and therefore unfortunately missed the Christmas printing deadline. As you might guess, this is the time of year when all authors and publishers want to get their books out there - the season of giving.
In the next few days, I will receive three estimates for printing the German edition of Commodore - The Inside Story, giving not only the current printing costs, but also an approximate date for receiving the finished product.
At this point, I expect the books to be available by the end of March.
In addition to this "challenge", I unfortunately also experienced an administrative nightmare when my email provider, Godaddy, in its inexhaustible wisdom (and a certain greed), decided to stop providing its customers with the "free" email that was included with the registration of our domain name.
Instead, they insisted on forcing everyone to use Microsoft Outlook - which, of course, entails a monthly fee.
Unfortunately, in my case, when Godaddy made the transfer from their system to Microsoft, much of my data disappeared - hundreds of emails dissolved into the ether, never to be seen again, and what's worse, neither company wants to take responsibility for this disaster.
Why am I telling you all this? The reason is that I want to make sure I know your current shipping address so that I can properly deliver your copy of Commodore - The Inside Story in German translation.
I am aware that due to the delay in printing this edition, some of you may have changed your address in the meantime anyway.
Since all German copies of this book will be shipped from Germany to avoid customs problems, I ask each of you to send an email with your complete mailing address for delivery to amiga@lookbehindyou.de. Please mark your email with the subject INSIDE STORY GERMAN VERSION.
However, for those of you who ordered the E-BOOK version, we will send it to you from the UK - so please send an email with the subject COMMODORE INSIDE STORY GERMAN VERSION EBOOK to info@cbmamiga.com. (snx)
[News message: 16. Jan. 2023, 19:11] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jan.2023
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AmigaOS 4: Audio editor Rave 1.5
Daniel 'trixie' Jedlicka has released version 1.5 of the audio editor "Rave" (amiga-news.de reported). Changes:
- New function in the Process menu: "Reverse".
- New function in the Edit menu: "Paste at".
- New function in the Edit menu: "Insert Silence".
- A user-defined amount of silence can also be inserted when creating a new project.
- Updated documentation.
Rave requires AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition Update 2 as well as A-EON's Enhancer Core classes. You can support the developer on his Ko-fi page. (dr)
[News message: 16. Jan. 2023, 06:44] [Comments: 0]
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16.Jan.2023
Mixel
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Jump'n Run: new demo version V1.4 of "Creeping Me Out Hex Night"
Michael 'Mixel' Dawes provides another demo version of his jump'n run 'Creeping Me Out: Hex Night', created with the game construction kit Scorpion Engine. According to the developer, this new playable demo version provides "a few little changes here and there". The biggest change: Game performance is much better now, and it also works on A1200s with no fast RAM (which he doesn't recommend, it is just a preparation for future CD32 version). Basically the game requires 2 MB Chip and 1 MB Fast RAM as well as a 68020-processor.
As the developer explained to us, the game is about 70% finished, and he will continue to expand and improve the game after its release. You can support the developer via his Patreon website. (dr)
[News message: 16. Jan. 2023, 06:28] [Comments: 0]
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15.Jan.2023
Glames (Boing Attitude)
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Quiz for AmigaOS 4/MorphOS: "2022 FIFA World Cup" add-on for AskMeUp XXL
Press release: The "2022 FIFA World Cup" add-on, which includes 96 new questions about the lastest World Cup of soccer, is now freely downloadable from our website. Intended for Ask Me Up XXL buyers, the game offers you more than 2300 questions of general knowledge for your AmigaOS 4, MorphOS and Windows computers!
"What was the FIFA® ranking of the Qatar team before the start of the competition ?", "Who was the youngest player in the competition ?", ... are some of the questions to which you will now have the answers!
Features:
- Theme / 2022 FIFA® World Cup
- Game modes / Quiz - Survival - Cup
- Forms / Text: 88%, text/image: 11%, image: 1%
- Languages / English and French
An installer is included. AskMeUp XXL 3.5.0 or newer required. Here is a list of the available add-ons. (dr)
[News message: 15. Jan. 2023, 21:05] [Comments: 0]
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15.Jan.2023
Amigans
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AmigaOS 4: Shader player Shaderjoy 1.24
Shaderjoy allows displaying and creating Shadertoy compatible fragment shaders. Fragment shaders, also called pixel shaders, are programs that are executed per fragment (pixel) on the GPU.The ogles2.library 3.2 and Warp3D Nova 54.16 are required. Now Juha "Capehill" Niemimaki has released version 1.24. Changes:
- Add GLSL Help button: a URL (khronos.org) will be opened.
- Add PUBSCREEN tooltype.
- Add editor toggle menu option in window mode.
- Disable blanker using application.library.
- Fix some CppCheck findings.
- Fix "GetAttr fail" issue which happened when user dropped a file without editor view.
- Compile with GCC 11 - thanks to all people working on the SDK!
(dr)
[News message: 15. Jan. 2023, 08:43] [Comments: 0]
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15.Jan.2023
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Aminet uploads until 14.01.2023
The following files have been added until 14.01.2023 to Aminet:
ASMPro1.19.lha dev/asm 109K 68k ASM-Pro v1.19c (minor update)
filex-2.6-morphos.lha disk/moni 598K MOS binary file editor (8 catalogs)
RescueLander.lha game/actio 45K 68k Land on Earth or Moon or Mars...
StefACS.lha game/demo 64K 68k Adventures creator, working i...
ScummVM_AGA_060.lha game/misc 7.9M 68k Amiga AGA port of ScummVM 1.9...
ScummVM_RTG.lha game/misc 7.9M 68k Amiga port of ScummVM
GQ2Demo.lha game/role 990K 68k Demo of a Point & Click Adven...
FlashMandelNG_OS4.lha gfx/fract 34M OS4 Mandelbrot & Julia fractals AOS4
luett-font.lha text/bfont 4K 68k Small HiRes font (8x8, all co...
Vim_9.0-ppc-amigaos.lha text/edit 15M OS4 The ubiquitous text editor
Vim_9.0-ppc-morphos.lha text/edit 14M MOS The ubiquitous text editor
NAFCYI1991S1-01.zip text/pfont 1.8M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-02.zip text/pfont 1.8M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-03.zip text/pfont 2.4M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-04.zip text/pfont 1.9M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-05.zip text/pfont 1.9M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-06.zip text/pfont 2.1M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-07.zip text/pfont 2.0M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-08.zip text/pfont 2.1M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-09.zip text/pfont 2.0M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-10.zip text/pfont 1.9M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-11.zip text/pfont 2.0M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-12.zip text/pfont 2.1M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-13.zip text/pfont 1.7M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-14.zip text/pfont 1.7M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-15.zip text/pfont 2.1M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-16.zip text/pfont 1.8M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-17.zip text/pfont 1.8M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-18.zip text/pfont 1.7M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-19.zip text/pfont 1.7M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-20.zip text/pfont 2.1M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-21.zip text/pfont 2.0M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-22.zip text/pfont 2.2M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-23.zip text/pfont 2.1M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-24.zip text/pfont 1.9M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-25.zip text/pfont 2.0M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-26.zip text/pfont 1.9M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-27.zip text/pfont 1.7M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
NAFCYI1991S1-28.zip text/pfont 1.8M NAFCYI Spring 1991 (PS Fonts)
avalanche.lha util/arc 81K AOS ReAction unarchive GUI for xf...
Albatros.lha util/boot 34K 68k Lock your AMIGA by a keyword
MuRedox.lha util/boot 140K 68k MuLib based math speedup patc...
MMULib.lha util/libs 773K 68k Library to ctrl the MC68K MMUs
SoftIEEE.lha util/libs 77K 68k math lib&881/882 FPU emulator...
AmiKick.lha util/misc 49K Check Kickstart images under ...
VATestprogram.zip util/misc 2.8M 68k Versatile Amiga Testprogram
AnalogClock.lha util/time 39K 68k Resizeable analog transparent...
(snx)
[News message: 15. Jan. 2023, 07:05] [Comments: 0]
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15.Jan.2023
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OS4Depot uploads until 14.01.2023
The following files have been added until 14.01.2023 to OS4Depot:
hdaudio_ahi.lha dri/aud 245kb 4.1 Generic HD audio driver for Amig...
flashmandelng.lha gra/mis 34Mb 4.1 Mandelbrot & Julia fractals ...
zip_lib.lha lib/mis 185kb 4.1 Library for reading/writing zip ...
smb2fs.lha net/sam 126kb 4.1 Filesystem for accessing files u...
beebase.lha off/dat 8Mb 4.0 Programmable relational database...
avalanche.lha uti/arc 81kb 4.1 Simple ReAction GUI for xadmaster
vim_mui.lha uti/tex 15Mb 4.1 The ubiquitous text editor
(snx)
[News message: 15. Jan. 2023, 07:05] [Comments: 0]
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15.Jan.2023
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 14.01.2023
The following files have been added until 14.01.2023 to MorphOS-Storage:
Chrysalis_3.17r4.iso Chrysalis This pack allows you to...
DescentII_1.2.lha Games/Shoot3D MorphOS port of Descent...
BeeBase_1.0.7.lha Office/Database Programmable relational...
Lucy_2.33.lha System/Ambient/Commodi... A small commodity that ...
tdcc_0.3.lha System/Ambient/Utilities tdcc_0.3.lha
Vim_9.0.1158.lha Text/Edit A highly configurable t...
PageStream5-Tips_FR.lha Translations French translation of P...
(snx)
[News message: 15. Jan. 2023, 07:05] [Comments: 0]
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15.Jan.2023
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WHDLoad: New installers until 14.01.2023
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 14.01.2023:
- 2023-01-14 improved: Atomix (Thalion) trainer options added, WHDLoad v17+ features used, typo in end-sequence text fixed (Info)
- 2023-01-14 fixed: Elvira 2 - The Jaws of Cerberus (Horrorsoft/Accolade) soundtracker replay music fixed (dma wait value, audio volume), game can run with ntsc option now (Info)
- 2023-01-09 improved: Universe (Core Design) supports another version, ecs slave uses 512kb chip/512kb fast now, solution included (Info)
- 2023-01-08 new: Chariots Of Wrath (Impressions) done by DJ Mike (Info)
(snx)
[News message: 15. Jan. 2023, 07:05] [Comments: 0]
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15.Jan.2023
David Brunet (ANF)
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Obligement: Update of Amiga Games List
The Amiga Games List, a document created and maintained by David Brunet since April 1991, has been updated on January 13th 2023 with the publication of its 53rd edition. Among other new features and corrections, games published or updated in 2022 have been added, and games created with CONK, AmiGen Engine and in Objective-C are now counted. In addition, the "The 2-Clause BSD License" (BSD2) licence have been added. The total now reaches 13,869 entries, be it games, level editors, data disks, extensions and interpreters, which are distributed as follows:
- 13.206 games
- 370 extensions and data disks
- 152 game or level editors
- 141 interpreters
(snx)
[News message: 15. Jan. 2023, 07:05] [Comments: 0]
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15.Jan.2023
Andreas Magerl (ANF)
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Amiga Future: Old Amiga Joker issues online as PDF files
At the title link Amiga Future provides all issues of the German games magazine "Amiga Joker" as PDF files - with the exception of the two own revivals from 2017 and 2019 which are still available for purchase. The scanning of the issues was started in 2009 in the A1k forum, its members Amipeguser, echo, evil, Lomaxx and Tracer participated.
Currently Amiga Future are looking for someone who can create an index of all articles of the Amiga Joker issues. In addition, all articles are to be added to the Amiga Future article database in the course of the year. The latter currently contains about 5,000 entries. (snx)
[News message: 15. Jan. 2023, 07:05] [Comments: 1 - 18. Jan. 2023, 07:48]
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14.Jan.2023
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Puzzle game: Kulki
The developer 'Mirq' has released a conversion of the Windows game Kulki for Amiga (YouTube video). The game runs on any Amiga with Kickstart 1.3 and 512 KB Chip-RAM. (dr)
[News message: 14. Jan. 2023, 06:54] [Comments: 0]
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14.Jan.2023
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Video tutorial: Episode 34 of assembler coding course
'Prince', founder of the demo group 'Phaze101', is currently streaming the assembler programming course "Corso completo di programmazione assembler in due dischi" in English on Twitch and uploads the respective episodes time-delayed to YouTube (amiga-news.de reported). Now episode 34 was published. (dr)
[News message: 14. Jan. 2023, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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14.Jan.2023
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Video tutorial: Programming functional buttons with AMOS Pro
In another part of his series of short tutorials on AMOS Pro (amiga-news.de reported), retro and Amiga fan 'Yawning Angel' this time shows how to program functional buttons using the function "ZONE$", which creates a screen section around a text. (dr)
[News message: 14. Jan. 2023, 06:38] [Comments: 0]
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13.Jan.2023
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Kickstarter campaign: Delivery of "Tank Mouse" delayed
The Polish designer Lukas Remis had successfully finished a Kickstarter campaign for the re-release of the Commodore mouse 1352 (amiga-news.de reported).
In a recent status update, the developer writes that due to the current COVID situation in China, over 60% of the factory's employees are on sick leave. His suppliers are also affected. He hopes that the Tank Mouse can be delivered in the second half of February. For those who want to bridge the time until they receive the mouse: AmigaBill tested the new Tank Mouse a fortnight ago in a Twitch show (YouTube video).
(dr)
[News message: 13. Jan. 2023, 16:57] [Comments: 0]
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13.Jan.2023
VintageIsTheNewOld
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Competition: Results of Logiker's Vintage Computing Christmas Challenge 2022
For the second time after 2021, the Logiker website organised a Vintage Computing Christmas Challenge, in which a specific Christmas symbol is to be created using multiplication signs in a freely chosen programming language. In this year's edition, a Christmas star had to be formed. Almost 200 participants took on the task using a wide variety of retro systems. There were also two Amiga entries (1, 2), both of which used ARexx. (dr)
[News message: 13. Jan. 2023, 16:32] [Comments: 0]
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12.Jan.2023
GitHub
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ReAction GUI for XAD: Avalanche 1.10 for AmigaOS 3 and 4
Chris Young has released version 1.10 of his ReAction-based graphical user interface Avalanche for the unarchiving system XAD, which also supports the xfdmaster.library and can search for viruses using the xvs.library. The developer has written his tool explicitly for AmigaOS 3.2, but has also been tested under AmigaOS 4. Since it uses a new window.class, it might not work with older OS3 versions. Changes:
- Dragging a drawer into the window now sets the source directory, if an archive hasn't already been opened.
- Fixed some problems opening archives in certain circumstances.
- OS4 build now uses newlib.
Download: avalanche.lha (81Kb) (dr)
[News message: 12. Jan. 2023, 20:46] [Comments: 0]
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12.Jan.2023
itch.io
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Dock: QDock V1.63
At the end of October, Sami Vehmaa published the first version of his start bar "QDock" (amiga-news.de reported), which he continues to develop (YouTube video). Since our last news item the developer has fixed several minor bugs and did some fine tuning. Furthermore now it is now possible to drop an icon on the dock. Vehmaa recommends to completely re-install this version and to delete all old files. His dock works well with a 68030 processor when the reflections are deactivated or a 68060 when activated. In addition, AmigaOS 3.1 or higher, graphics card and 22 MB RAM are required. (dr)
[News message: 12. Jan. 2023, 06:04] [Comments: 0]
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12.Jan.2023
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Tutorial: Using two graphics cards in the AmigaOne X5000
Dutch AmigaOS 4 user Dave 'Skateman' Koelman has been connected to the Amiga since the 1990s, when he bought an Amiga 500 to replace the Commodore VIC20 and later C64. When the AmigaOne X1000 was introduced many years later, he considered taking another leap onto new hardware, which he finally did in 2017 after the release of the AmigaOne X5000 by ordering it.
Since the interest and curiosity in the new PowerPC Amigas was aroused, Dave has been intensively involved with their hardware and software and has also been running his blog SkateMansWorld since that time. With so much expertise it was obvious that Amiga-News.de asked him to discuss the problem of how to run two graphics cards in the AmigaOne X5000 so that you get optimal solutions for using AmigaOS 4 as well as MorphOS and Linux. At the same time he gives one or two more tips on how to work with the X5000 in the best possible way. Many thanks, Dave!
"My X5000 came shipped with the AMD Radeon R7 250 graphics card (Radeon HD series). This card is great for AmigaOS and can also be used with the PowerPC Linux distros, but does NOT support proper hardware acceleration within Linux. This means that OpenGL based software cannot be used. As many games rely on OpenGL the lack of support was not very satisfying. As PowerPC Linux has hardware support for the older line of Radeon graphics cards, it does not for the newer Radeon HD and RX line of cards. Since I have been testing most Linux kernels over the past years which are being compiled by Christian Zygotzky (Xeno74), I wanted to have a graphics card that has Linux hardware acceleration support and was fully supported by AmigaOS. So there we are… AmigaOS fully supports the HD and RX Radeon cards but these cards don't have the proper LInux support. Alternative could be using an older Radeon card that is supported by Linux but then you will be missing out on all the new OS4 Radeon driver developments that Hans de Ruiter for A-EON is doing. And what about MorphOS that does not support the Radeon RX cards at all. It has some support for the Radeon HD cards but without hardware 3D acceleration...
Two graphics cards
As I do not want to change graphics cards each time I boot an alternative OS, I decided to see if I could fit a second graphics card in my X5000. By doing so I could upgrade my primary Radeon R7 250 to a newer Radeon RX 570 card and use a second graphics card for Linux and MorphOS.
Remember that the Radeon RX series are not supported at all by PowerPC Linux and MorphOS
When researching the possibilities for a secondary graphics card, I found that the bandwidth of a PCIe-X1 slot should be more than enough for my Linux needs. See this YouTube-Video to give you an idea of the bandwidth capabilities of the PCIe-X1 slot.
As the X5000 also has a PCIe-X4 slot, this would be preferable. The bad thing is that this PCIe-X4 slot is blocked by most graphic cards due to the big coolers on top of these cards. So my project started with a simple graphics card in a PCIe-X16 to X1 adapter. These adapters are mostly used by Crypto miners and cheap. The model I used is shown in the picture below.
To fit the above adapter in the X5000 we have several slots to choose from. Below a diagram of the X5000 mainboard. As you take a close look at the PCIe slots you see that the first slot is the PCIe-X16 slot where your graphics card is seated. The second slot is the PCIe-X4 slot, but most of the time it's unreachable due to the graphics card cooling solution. The third slot is a combined slot. PCIe-X1 / Xorro. The fourth and fifth slot are regular PCIe-X1 slots.
I decided to give it a shot with a Radeon 7450 Low profile graphics card and used the third PCIe slot (the combined PCIe-X1 / XORRO). Be creative when fitting the card in your machine. I used a simple piece of cardboard. The end result, a working 3D accelerated Linux running on my X5000 using the secondary graphics card. Yeah!
As mentioned earlier, the X5000 also has a PCIe-X4 slot with more bandwidth available but sits directly underneath the PCIe-X16 slot. This makes it very hard to be usable, until I found a PCIe-X16 to X4 cable with a 90 degree connector. See the pictures below.
By using this cable we can use the PCIe-X4 slot for use with a second graphics card.
I have been testing many graphic cards successfully using this cable and VoidLinux ever since. Some of this progress can be found on the Hyperion forum.
Some of these models are:
- Radeon HD 3870
- Radeon HD 4770
- Radeon HD 6770
- Radeon HD 5450
- Radeon HD 7450
- Radeon X1950
- Radeon X1900
- ATI FirePro V3700
Fitting another secondary graphics card in your machine might require some tinkering. I solved it by using materials like motherboard spacers and a tie-wrap.
The spacers are used to position the card above the normal screwhole in the case and still be able to tighten it with a screw. The tie-wrap is used to keep the rest of the card in place. It's not the most elegant solution, but for now it will do.
AmigaOS, Linux and .... MorphOS
It's great to have an X5000 capable of running AmigaOS and Linux each using its own graphics card. But being able to run AmigaOS, Linux and MorphOS with 3D acceleration would be best.
The MorphOS website has a hardware compatibility list and found that one of the most powerful cards with 3D hardware acceleration should be an X19xx series. As my X1950 had some hardware issues I was able to find myself a secondhand X1900 and decided to use this card. Its supported with Linux and should work with MorphOS. Let's go!
I have installed MorphOS on a secondary SSD drive attached to the second SATA port on the X5000. The first SATA port on the X5000 has an SSD drive connected with AmigaOS installed.
The second SATA port is also connected to a FlexiDOCK which makes it easy to swap drives without having to open the X5000. So now I have the ability to insert my MorphOS ssd drive when I want to run MorphOS and Linux for the moments I want to run Linux. The AmigaOS SSD is fitted inside the X5000 and always available. Installing morphos was a bit tricky but seems to be running fine. What i had to do was start the installation from USB like a normal installation but when you get to the partitioning part I used the following:
For MorphOS DH0: I used DH0.1: and for DH1: I used DH1.1:
I gave DH0.1: the name MOSSYS: and DH1.1: MOSWORK:
By using these values it did not conflict with the AmigaOS drive that is also present in the X5000.
Here is the FlexiDOCK that makes it very easy to swap drives without opening your case.
X5000 and Micro SDcard
As some might have noticed, there is some small black box hanging out of the front of my X5000. What you see here is a Micro SD card extender:
By using this I don't have to open my case and fiddle with the Micro SD card and the delicate connector on the X5000 mainboard. I can access my SD card at any moment now.
Final words
So that's the current status of my X5000. Two graphics cards - although I have currently opted for the RX550 instead of the RX570: almost half as small and less resource-hungry -, micro sd extender, FlexiDOCK, 16GB Ram for Linux and several operating systems. Time will tell what else can be done to adapt the X5000. If anyone would like more information, feel free to contact me. I am looking forward to suggestions, comments or further ideas first in the comments here (but you can also find me in the forums of Amigans, AmigaWorld and Hyperion-Support)." (dr)
[News message: 12. Jan. 2023, 05:29] [Comments: 3 - 10. Feb. 2023, 17:31]
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11.Jan.2023
Planet m68k
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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. The project has a GitHub respository which lists the following features:
- Simple code completition and full syntax highlighting
- Run the program or step through it
- Code breakpoints, settings, input/output interrupts, undo, formatter and more
- Inspect the value of each register and memory address to see which was changed with each instruction
- Create new projects and manage them all in the webapp
- Integrated IDE with semantic checks and useful errors to help you learn assembly
- Integrated documentation and IntelliSense with addressing modes, descriptions and examples
- Customisable settings and shortcuts, including theme customization
(dr)
[News message: 11. Jan. 2023, 09:10] [Comments: 0]
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11.Jan.2023
Amigans-Forum
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AmigaOS 4.1: Graphics card driver RadeonRX V2.12
The graphics card driver "RadeonRX.chip" is written especially for selected Radeon RX graphics cards with the Polaris graphics chip. These include Radeon RX 550, 560, 570, 580. Version 2.11 included in Enhancer Software 2.2 has now been updated to version 2.12 and can be installed using A-EON's Updater tool. The update fixes copy routine errors. This should fix the black screen problem in the game "Spencer" on Sam460 boards. (dr)
[News message: 11. Jan. 2023, 07:03] [Comments: 0]
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