06.Dec.2022
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Module player: NostalgicPlayer 1.9.0 for Windows
NostalgicPlayer is a program for playing Amiga music modules under Windows, based on APlayer. The development of the player had been started by the author Thomas Neumann in 1993 on the Amiga, later continued on BeOS and now on Windows (amiga-news.de reported).
Today, version 1.9.0 has been released, providing the following changes:
- Several players show 0 as volume in the Sample Information window instead of 256.
- The sub-song detection change in last version contained several bugs. The module could stop too early if you changed the position. When looping is on and the module loops, if you then stop the loop, the module ended the next time it changed its position. Also some modules timed out when the duration was calculated. All this should be fixed now.
- The Unreal Music File loader was broken by a change a couple of versions ago, so the modules could not be loaded.
- The piano visual did not show anything when opened while a module is playing. It only worked if already opened when a module starts.
- Fixed a critical bug in the Spinning Square visualizer. When stopping or switching modules, there was a potentical risk for memory leaks or even a crash.
- Added tooltips to the sample information window, so it is now possible to see what the different icons means.
- Updated Krypton.Toolkit and Krypton.Navigator to version 70.22.11.312.
- Updated libsidplayfp to version 2.4.0.
- Added these new module formats: Game Music Creator, Quadra Composer, Delta Music 1.0, Delta Music 2.0.
An installation package can be found on Microsoft Store. (dr)
[News message: 06. Dec. 2022, 20:54] [Comments: 0]
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06.Dec.2022
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AmigaOS 4.1: SDL 2.26.1 Release Candidate 1
At the end of October, Juha 'capehill' Niemimaki had published version 2.24.0 of the multimedia library SDL for AmigaOS 4.1 (amiga-news.de reported). The library is intended to make it easier for programmers to develop portable applications and is used by numerous open source games. SDL requires AmigaOS 4.1 Final Edition and optionally OpenGL ES 2.0. Today he has published the first release candidate for version 2.26.1 inclusing the following Amiga specific changes:
- Compile with GCC 11.2
- Fix shaped window alpha bitmap creation
- Enable virtual joysticks
- Add a workaround for game controller detection (AmigaOS 4 GUIDs are unfortunately broken)
- Add 2in1 game controller
- Update installer: delete old libSDL2.so soft links
(dr)
[News message: 06. Dec. 2022, 20:40] [Comments: 0]
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06.Dec.2022
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Programming language: Amiga C/C++ Visual Studio Code Extension 1.6.8
Bartman', member of the demo group 'Abyss', provides with 'amiga-debug' a 'Visual Studio Code' extension for "compiling, debugging and profiling Amiga C/C++ programs compiled by the bundled gcc 11.2 with the bundled WinUAE" (YouTube video). Today version 1.6.8 has been released. Changes:
- NEW: update gcc to 12.2.0, binutils, GNU gdb (GDB) 13.0.50.20221127-git
- FIX: WinUAE/FS-UAE: don't enable "Full stack frame tracking" (caused WinUAE to crash due to stack overflow in certain situations)
- NEW: assembly: View memory for symbols in assembly
- NEW: assembly: Support other Motorola assembly language providers
- FIX: assembly: Cycle count was missing on last line of source
- NEW: assembly: Cycle decoration improvements
- FIX: assembly: Async parsing
- CHG: disassembly: New CPU cycle count implementation with improved accuracy
- NEW: disassembly: Tooltip improvements
- NEW: debugger: Disassembled memory view
- NEW: debugger: Add symbol offset labels to registers
(dr)
[News message: 06. Dec. 2022, 20:31] [Comments: 0]
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06.Dec.2022
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Advent Calendar: Door 6 - Matthias Böcker
For St. Nicholas Day and the sixth door, Matthias 'UltraGelb' Böcker has something special for all MorphOS users: especially for our Advent calendar, he has written a wintry Screenblanker module.
Already in the early days of amiga-news.de Matthias was also in the headlines with his ingenious FTP client AmiTradeCenter (ATC): On March 27th 2000 we reported about his first prerelease of ATC. He continued to develop the client until version 1.4 from 2010. As an industrious developer especially for MorphOS he has published over the years for example the fun program ShapeShow, the digital clock ClockToy or from more recent times and also for AmigaOS 3 and 4 the utility for automatic updating of version, revision and build numbers RevFlex or the magnifier tool Lupe.
We say thank you for his commitment and of course for the nice surprise and hand over to Matthias:
"This is my contribution to the amiga-news.de advent calendar. In keeping with the festive theme, it is a screenblanker module for MorphOS that sprinkles the active screen with snowflakes that accumulate on windows and at the bottom of the screen.
Many thanks to the team of amiga-news.de for the good work! I wish all users a wonderful Advent season and a Merry Christmas! :-)"
Download: Snow.lha (55KB) (dr)
[News message: 06. Dec. 2022, 18:52] [Comments: 2 - 06. Dec. 2022, 20:12]
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06.Dec.2022
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SCSI-SD adapter: ZuluSCSI firmware 1.1.5
ZuluSCSI is a new generation of file-based SCSI hard disk and CD-ROM drive emulators. ZuluSCSI emulates a SCSI-I or SCSI-2 hard disk using an SD memory card (amiga-news.de reported). Version 1.1.3 of the firmware was released today. Changes since 1.1.3:
- Report proper termination on ZuluSCSI mini v1.0
- Fix reporting time of firmware version
- Dont show ROM drive log messages when platform has none - for ZuluSCSI V1.x boards
- Add compressed file suffixes to exclusion list
(dr)
[News message: 06. Dec. 2022, 06:15] [Comments: 0]
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06.Dec.2022
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Floppy emulator: GoFloppy
Andrew 'LinuxJedi' Hutchings had already reported about his new floppy emulator project "GoFloppy" on Twitter some time ago (Tweet 1, Tweet 2) and now also found the time to report about it in more detail on his blog: the "GoFloppy" drive is a floppy drive emulator, similar to "Gotek", in the form of a 3.5 inch floppy (short YouTube video), which uses the same FlashFloppy firmware.
However, when reverse-engineering the Gotek drive, the developer made some changes:
- An SD card is used instead of a USB stick
- A jog dial to control the device
- A 1.3" OLED display
- Much simpler hardware configuration (slide switch for drive ID selector for example)
There are many other internal differences too, but these do not affect users so much.
On his website Retro Supplies, he offers the GoFloppys for around 70 Euros plus shipping, but they usually sell out quickly, as they do currently. If they are no longer in stock, you can sign up for the list on the product page so that you will be notified as soon as new ones are available. (dr)
[News message: 06. Dec. 2022, 06:12] [Comments: 0]
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05.Dec.2022
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Sokoban clone: LazSokoban for AROS, MorphOS and AmigaOS 4
During his work on the Pascal-based Lazarus Component Library (LCL) for AROS, in April 2016, Marcus 'ALB42' Sackrow had also tested some third-party LCL applications to compile for AROS. One of these was the Sokoban clone LazSokoban, written by Ukrainian programmer Vadim Vitomsky. Sackrow released an AROS version of this (amiga-news.de reported).
Now he has revised this version, backported the recent Halloween update of the game and compiled it with the latest LCL. Since this now also offers the possibility to compile programs for MorphOS and AmigaOS 4, the developer has provided versions for all three systems on his website. As he writes, it seems to work well except for a few missing button images. An implementation for AmigaOS 3 is also possible, but according to his tests it is much too slow.
(dr)
[News message: 05. Dec. 2022, 20:37] [Comments: 0]
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05.Dec.2022
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Advent Calendar: Door 5 - David Brunet
Our new Advent calendar week begins with the fifth door and David Brunet.
David Brunet is inextricably linked to his French AmigaOS and MorphOS magazine Obligement. The long history of this magazine starts in the mid-1990s: inspired by Christian, a friend at high school who owned an Amiga 1200, David switched from his Amiga 500 to this Amiga with hard disk and 68030 card.
Both were interested in word processing, graphics, etc. and exchanged documents created with Wordworth every week for fun. These documents were called "Obligement", a made-up word that came from one of their friends. This term, which basically means "obligatory", basically marked the birth of the magazine.
This gave rise to the idea of producing a printed Amiga magazine: the first issue left the "editorial office" on 1 January 1997. It was written with Wordworth 6 and the graphics were done with Personal Paint. It had 15 A4 pages, stapled by hand and all in colour, coming straight from Christian's printer.
As the circulation never exceeded 15 printed copies, David suggested that they discontinue the paper version (after six issues) and start a digital version produced with Scala. In the following years they then switched to Blitz Basic 2 or Blitz Basic 2 RTG and the AmigaGuide format. Obligement 37 (January/February 2003) was then the first issue in HTML.
From issue 51 onwards, the magazine exists as a direct online version. Due to time constraints, the magazine's articles were henceforth published directly on the Obligement page. The bimonthly issues were no longer produced, the magazine was from then on a purely online magazine. Instead of the traditional issues there is - and this is how we have known and reported on amiga-news.de for a very long time - a newsletter every two months to summarise new articles and updates.
Equipped with this rich history and wealth of experience, David shares a few tips on how to "successfully" run an Amiga project for such a long time. His contribution for the fifth door:
"There have been many Amiga volunteer projects in the past and some of them are still present, stronger than ever, like Obligement and Amiga-News.de.
In this cold weather and with Christmas approaching, it is always comforting to see websites like these that do not let their readership down.
I have witnessed the end of almost all Amiga fanzines/magazines. Their demise has allowed me to increase my experience so that I don't do the same
thing. There is no miracle formula to perpetuate a magazine in a voluntary activity. I can simply state these few points:
- You should neither do too much (overwork is harmful)...
- ...nor do not do enough (you get used to doing nothing and in the end, you don't move forward).
- You have to know how to surround yourself with a few reliable people.
- You should not always do the same thing and vary the subjects/activities.
- You have to be open to criticism while rejecting unconstructive negative judgments.
- Don't forget that this is only a hobby.
- Projects motivated only by money do not last in time, especially on the Amiga.
Believe in yourself and have a wonderful Advent and Christmas season!" (dr)
[News message: 05. Dec. 2022, 06:38] [Comments: 1 - 05. Dec. 2022, 09:37]
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05.Dec.2022
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Aiostreams V1.7.6: Scripts for Streaming Twitch.tv and Mixer.com videos
George 'walkero' Sokianos has created Python scripts and bundled them in aiostreams ("All In One Streams") for viewers of the Amiga and other retro streams on Twitch.tv and Mixer.com, so that they can also watch the videos under AmigaOS 4, AmigaOS 3, MorphOS and AROS instead of on the PC.
Yesterday, version 1.7.6 was released. Changes:
Added
- Added some extra info in the amigaguide file for the youtube script
- Added pagination to youtube script with the new argument -p/--page
Changed
- Updated the scripts to work with python3
- Now the -x argument in youtube and twitch script prints out the extra info but doesn't start the video playback
Removed
- Removed the skaitv, lbry and dlive scripts as they are not working and they need a rewrite
Download: aiostreams-v1.7.6.lha (228 KB) (dr)
[News message: 05. Dec. 2022, 05:27] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
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Text editor: Amiga Source Editor 2.0
At the end of 2020, author Alain Fontanin resumed the development that had originally started in 1989 by releasing Version 1.2 (2019) of his text editor "Amiga Source Editor" (ASE). The author continues to work on his editor and has now released version 2.0 (2019) with the following changes:
- Integration of BOOPSI 'scrollbar' gadgets;
- Possibility to number the lines
- Possibility to define the default size and position of the document window
- Possibility to define the scrolling speed with the wheel
- Possibility to move one page with the wheel (CTRL key)
- Optimization of 'Copy/Cut/Paste' functions
- Integration of the 'Redo' functionality
- Improved compatibility of ASE2019 with AROS
- Added 'Count occurrences' function
- Ability to repeat the last used menu item
- Improved documentation
(dr)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 20:09] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
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Floppy disk images on PC and Mac: Greaseweazle Tools 1.4
Keir Fraser's "Greaseweazle" does - similar to Kryoflux - read the magnetic information on a floppy disk independently from the format used and saves as much information as possible to generate a so-called "Flux Level Image" in Supercard format (SCP), which enables reading and back-writing of copy-protected disks (amiga-news.de reported)
The adapter gets connected between a floppy disk drive - e.g. a standard 3.5" PC one - and a USB port of the PC or Mac. A few moments ago version 1.4 of the Greaseweazle Tools was released providing the following changes:
- Read support for DIM, FDI, HDM, XDF, and D88 image formats: primarily used with Japanese computers
- Renamed pc98.hd and pc98.dd formats to pc98.2hd and pc98.2dd
- Fixed head count on pc98.2hd and pc98.2dd formats
- Support pc98.2d format (used e.g. by PC-88 and X1)
- Support pc98.2hs format (used primarily by late PC-98)
(dr)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 19:25] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
Andreas Falkenhahn (ANF)
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Hollywood: XML-Plugin 2.0 and APK Compiler 4.3 released
Pressemitteilung: Airsoft Softwair, the hardest working men in code business, are proud to announce the immediate availability of version 2.0 of the XML plugin for Hollywood. This plugin, previously known as XML Parser, was one of the first Hollywood plugins and has now received a major update with many new features.
The biggest new feature in version 2.0 of the Hollywood XML plugin is that you can now serialize Hollywood tables to XML documents with just a single function call. In the same way you can also deserialize XML documents to Hollywood tables with just a single function call. This is made possible by Hollywood 9's new serialization plugin interface which is why the XML plugin now requires at least Hollywood 9.0. Further new features include lots of new callbacks to handle advanced XML features like namespaces, entities, attlists, and more. Finally, the XML plugin now includes a comprehensive documentation that describes all features and contains many examples.
The plugin is now available for free download from the official Hollywood portal. Thanks to Hollywood's cross-platform plugin systemversions for AmigaOS3, AmigaOS4, MorphOS, WarpOS, AROS (x86), Linux (arm, ppc, x86, x64), macOS (ppc, x86, x64), Windows (x86, x64), Android and iOS are provided. Note that Hollywood 9 is strictly required by the XML plugin 2.0.
Besides, Hollywood APK Compiler 4.3 has just been released. This fixes a major bug that was introduced in version 4.2 so everybody using version 4.2 should definitely update. The update is provided free of charge for all existing APK Compiler customers and can be downloaded in the restricted download section. (dr)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 14:13] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
Christian 'TheoTheoderich' Wiegel
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Turn-based strategy: River update for "Settle the World"
Christian 'TheoTheoderich' Wiegel has released a river update for his turn-based building and trading game "Settle the World" - see detailed introduction on amiga-news.de (YouTube developer video).
Compared to the playable preview from the beginning of November (amiga-news.de reported) there are many improvements:
- Rivers wind through the landscape and can be navigated by small sailing ships
- There is a new terrain type that is good for planting tobacco
- A button for unloading units from ships
- The F1 key shows an overlay in the map and city view with the most important shortcuts and explanations of icons
- Warnings when leaving a city, e.g. if no production has been set, or the city does not produce enough food
- Dozens of bugfixes
As the author explains, the game is far from finished and this update is just another small step on the way to the full version.
You can load "Save-Slot 1" in the game and see what a slightly advanced game state looks like. Furthermore, the developer recommends to save frequently and to use different save-slots, because the game still contains a lot of bugs. Some of these bugs - such as units that suddenly appear twice - could be solved by saving and reloading. Also the game music would sometimes run too fast and can then be turned off and on again via the game options.
"Settle the World" is primarily intended as a duel between human opponents, but can also be played alone. The game requires 1 megabyte of ChipRAM and 4 megabytes of FastRAM, a hard disk and at least a 68020 processor. (dr)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 13:56] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
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Aminet uploads until 03.12.2022
The following files have been added until 03.12.2022 to Aminet:
apccomm.lha comm/misc 196K 68k transfers files between Amiga...
brainfuck.lha dev/lang 1K "Urban, it's coming home!"
anaiis.lha driver/oth 208K 68k ANAIIS USB Stack Release 1.22
F1GP2022Carset.lha game/data 15K 2022 Carset for F1GP
AMCommand.lha game/shoot 90K 68k Arcade Missile Command
pcexhumed.lha game/shoot 674K 68k Exhumed / Powerslave Port
AmiArcadia.lha misc/emu 4.6M 68k Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadiaMOS.lha misc/emu 4.9M MOS Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadia-OS4.lha misc/emu 5.1M OS4 Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiVms.lha misc/emu 3.4M 68k Simulates OpenVMS commands
LN4Lv9.lha mods/misc 3.1M 4ch LN4 Lv9 MED track by HKvalhe
SoftIEEE.lha util/libs 57K 68k math lib&881/882 FPU emulator...
ScreenTime.lha util/time 66K 68k Screen clock, configurable wi...
(snx)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 09:33] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
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OS4Depot uploads until 03.12.2022
The following files have been added until 03.12.2022 to OS4Depot:
amiarcadia.lha emu/gam 5Mb 4.0 Signetics-based machines emulator
hode.lha gam/pla 2Mb 4.1 One of best cinematic platform v...
quickstarter.lha uti/wor 322kb 4.0 Quick program start menu
(snx)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 09:33] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
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AROS Archives uploads until 03.12.2022
The following files have been added until 03.12.2022 to AROS Archives:
portable.lha dev/lan 13Mb E Compiler
aros_one_x86.zip uti/mis 232b Aros One x86
(snx)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 09:33] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 03.12.2022
The following files have been added until 03.12.2022 to MorphOS-Storage:
Iris_1.5.lha Email New email client suppor...
AmiArcadia_29.32.lha Emulation A Signetics-based machi...
BootClock_1.30r1.lha Misc A little and easy progr...
Wayfarer_4.5.lha Network/Web Wayfarer is the latest ...
(snx)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 09:33] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
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WHDLoad: New installers until 03.12.2022
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 03.12.2022:
- 2022-12-03 fixed: Flashback (Delphine Software) chipmem size increased, color text in in holocub seq can be changed (Info)
- 2022-12-03 improved: Fate: Gates Of Dawn (reLINE) slave uses fastmem, mouse buttons delay patched, manual and solution added (Info)
- 2022-11-30 improved: Killing Cloud (Vektor Grafix) fixed a crash, added an option to speed up logo (Info)
- 2022-11-30 improved: Dogs of War (Elite Systems) supports another version (Info)
- 2022-11-29 improved: Kick Off 2: The Final Whistle (Anco) support for another version added (1.9f), minor problem in keyboard patch fixed, WHDLoad v17+ features used (Info)
- 2022-11-27 improved: Killing Cloud (Vektor Grafix) fixed keyboard fix (Info)
- 2022-11-27 new: Megademo (Brainstorm) done by StingRay (Info, Image, Image)
(snx)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 09:33] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
ANF
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Analogue Pocket: Video shows Amiga core under development
The handheld game console Analogue Pocket (Wikipedia) is FPGA-based and as such supports modules from Nintendo, Sega, the PC Engine or the Atari Lynx.
According to a video at the title link, 'Ultra FP64' is working on the adaptation of an Amiga 500 core, which is currently still in the alpha stage. According to the developer on Twitter, he wants to release it as soon as he has added keyboard and mouse to the current joystick-only support, improved the speed and tidied up his program code. (snx)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 09:33] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
ANF
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AROS distribution: AROS One 1.9 (x86)
The distribution "AROS One", based on the AROS binary interface ABI v0, is now available in version 1.9 for x86 computers. It can be downloaded as a DVD ISO file or as a USB flash image at the title link, where video recordings can also be found.
In addition to updates to the included programs and games, this version of AROS One features visual additions such as a new "white" set of drawer icons that can be switched between and the updated "blue" one, a new background image for walkers, and various design "themes".
Changes in detail:
- Update AROS One System
- AROS One English Manual in PDF, GUIDE, HTM, DOC format
- AROS One Italian Manual in PDF, GUIDE, HTM, DOC format
- New "White" Folder Icon Set (to be installed)
- Update "Blue" Folder Icon Set
- Updated Application Icons Set (better quality)
- Installer Icon Set White or Blue (Folder Extras)
- Fix "DiskInfo"
- i8042.hidd (fixes Touchpad problems on some PCs)
- Update Dopus4 Config (add Mount/Eject ADF/DMS)
- Dopus4 Preset Palette Skin (Gray,White)
- Update Wanderer (add def_Icons Mount/Eject ADF/DMS)
- Auto Mount from Icon ADF, DMS and IMG (MS-DOS Floppy) Image File
- Auto Mount from Icon ISO CD/DVD Image File
- Icon to install NTFS-Handler For Mount Disks or Partitions NTFS (Read and Write)
- New Backdrop ArosOne created by "Damir"
- Added Theme by "Damir" PixBlue (Tab resize)
- Added Theme by "Damir" Pills (Tab resize)
- Added Theme Style AfA OS
- Shell-Color (Shell-Black, Shell-White)
- CLS 1.0 (Compiled by me for AROS x86)
- libglfw.i386-aros
- libglew.i386-aros
- Added RNOTunes.catalog (Italian)
- Updated Apps
- Amitube 1.3
- PerciMan 0.7.5
- Vim 8.2.4424
- PintorWeb 3.20
- BeeBase 1.0
- uCommander
- Murks IDE 0.6.1
- WebpTools 1.2.4
- UHCTools 1.6
- HWP AVCodec 1.5
- TextMio 0.2
- AnimWebConverter 5.00
- PortablE r6b
- RNOEffects 1.4
- RNOTunes 1.0
- RNOInfoScreen 1.8
- Image2PDF 1.2
- Updated Games
- SuperMarioWar
- Beret
- Gilbert
- GianaReturn
- SuperTux
- SuperTux 2
(snx)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 09:33] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
Puni (ANF)
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AmigaOS 4: Blog summary of November
For the month of November 'Puni' has again published a news summary in the areas of hard- and software for AmigaOS 4 at the title link. (snx)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 09:33] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
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Advent Calendar: Door 4 - The Apollo team
For the fourth door and thus for the second Advent, the Apollo team contributes an anecdote. Their approach of FPGA-based turbo cards for Amigas represented a new alternative in terms of upgrading aged hardware besides the accelerator boards carrying a real 680x0 processor. The history started with a presentation of a NatAmi developer board in 2008. Announced in 2011, there was a first stable running version of the Vampire 600 for the Amiga of the same name in 2013. In 2016, Vampire variants for the Amiga 500 and 2000 followed, all of which used the V2 Apollo core.
In 2017, development work was already underway on the Apollo V4 FPGA accelerator board, including a standalone variant. The following versions are currently available:
Yesterday, Gunnar von Boehm announced an update of the Apollo core that provides 16 DMA Amiga audio channels instead of the four available on the standard Amiga. Each of the 16 channels provides stereo sound. In addition, one can position the sound from each individual channel to the left or right.
The anecdote for the fourth door written by the Apollo team:
"Back in the days of Silver core for V2, we used to put an Amiga video game character in the boot image. At that time, the war between the team TuKo "Simon the sorcerer is better than Monkey Island" and the team guibrush "Monkey Island is of course superior to Simon the sorcerer" already existed.
A discussion in the team took place to decide which character between Simon and guibrush should be used for, I believe the Silver 5 release (I'm not sure anymore if it was the 5 of the 6). In the end, as it was TuKo who was doing the releases, he decided to put Simon, against any democratic decision.
He was well punished, since this core was replaced in a few days by the next one because of a bug that made it unusable on several machines, which made it the core with the shortest lifespan in the history of the Vampire." (dr)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 08:13] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
Dimitris Panokostas
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Mastodon client: Amidon in development
After the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, one or the other Amiga and retro enthusiast is thinking about either using the microblogging service only to a limited extent or, as for example announced by Jan Beta, leaving it altogether: either to set up his own website like him or, as for example Jens Schönfeld is thinking about using the alternative service Mastodon as well.
The author of the Amiga emulator Amiberry, Dimitris 'MiDWaN' Panokostas, not only already has his account there, he is also developing a client for AmigaOS 3. Currently he is using Hollywood for this, but he is thinking about using C as an alternative. So far the biggest problem is that the HTMLview MUI class on OS3 is old and buggy and does not work with MUI versions higher than 3.9.
If you would like to support the developer, then you can do that, for example, by buying him a coffee on his Ko-fi website. (dr)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 06:49] [Comments: 0]
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04.Dec.2022
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Puzzle game: Wood Block Puzzle
The Polish developer 'Tukinem' - known among others for his platform game Ami-Tower or the farming simulation Farmiga - has written a conversion of the game Wood Block Puzzle (online variant) for Amiga in BlitzBasic:
In terms of design, the game is reminiscent of Tetris: full horizontal or vertical lines must be formed by means of the wooden blocks so that they disappear. However, the blocks do not fall from above, but are grabbed from the bottom player edge, but can not be rotated. (dr)
[News message: 04. Dec. 2022, 05:20] [Comments: 0]
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03.Dec.2022
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Advent Calendar: Door 3 - Joerg van de Loo
For the third door of our advent calendar, developer Joerg van de Loo took a lot of time. His main Amiga-side project is the text editor BareED. Unlike other editors, BareED is a RAM-based and pixel-oriented (not character-oriented) text editor for the Amiga. This means it can display proportional fonts (characters can vary in width) and use real tabs. Also it supports syntax highlighting, which requires a fast CPU (68040 CPU or better).
Furthermore he writes tools like RTF-Riddle for converting RTF files into the HTML5 format. Always worth reading and of great help for other developers are his comments to various software news on amiga-news.de. A big thank you for that at this point. His anecdote for the third door:
Police - Friday, December 23, 1988
I arrived home late in the evening (at night!) after two weeks of work and immediately ask my girlfriend if she got the necessary cables to connect the monitor, because at the moment everything is only in black and white and also silently. At first, I had operated the Amiga on the TV, but now I am the proud owner of a 1084S monitor, but the accessory pack was not included...
She denies it, and my mother agrees that they both tried everything to get these cables in a hurry, but it was impossible. Bummer. I call a friend, who I know is still sitting in front of his Amiga late at night. He has these cables, but he can't spare them. Again crap. He gives me a phone number of an Amiga hardware developer with a store in the area - I should try there.
I can't sleep in today, it's the 24th of December - but not because I'm preparing for Christmas Eve, but because I can hardly sleep, as I'm racking my brains to find a way to connect the old 1084 S monitor to my A2000(B), because the right cables weren't included. I actually want to call the hardware developer at 7:00 am, but refrain from doing so until 9:00 am. A friendly woman's voice answers and I ask if they have these cables. She refers me to her son. He answers and points out that today is 24 December. Yes, yes, yes, I know. I ask if he has the cables he needs. "Of course," is his reply. My next question is when I could pick them up. He means on the 27th, his mother calls in and says they are closed until the beginning of January. Ouch.
I'm about to hang up in frustration when he says he'll be in the shop for another hour. Hmmm, might well be a bit more than 40 kilometres - I could manage that. I agree to hurry and leave a little later.
My Opel Manta with its tuned engine and balloon tyres (but without the foxtail and wiggly wiggly!) doesn't mind this rainy weather, and neither do I, because as a frequent driver who works in southern Germany, I have to cope with completely different weather conditions. Here on the Lower Rhine, however, the drivers are apparently already overwhelmed by this rain. I'm just overtaking and set the guide speed to something above that of motorways. At a junction with a stop sign, I make it a priority eight-way road. Three kilometres further on, a lorry turns left into my subordinate road, so I ignore the stop sign and turn right. The 70 zone is quickly behind me and then it's just straight ahead - so I have to overtake all the time.
Then I am close to my destination and have to turn left. After fifty metres I stop on the right and take out the folding map (yep, there were no sat navs back then). I orientate myself - and it doesn't take long, because I've had a lot of practice at that. As I turn left, I suddenly see blue lights behind me - oh, police on duty - I'll just let them pass. So I put the indicator back and wait for the police car to pass me. 1 second, 2 seconds, 3 seconds - nothing. I look in the rear-view mirror - they are now right behind me! Do they want something from me? I am not aware of any guilt!
A policeman gets out and immediately gets wet because of the rain. He knocks on the window and says "General vehicle inspection". Man, does this have to be now - I'm in a hurry. I open the window and he asks for my papers. I hand them over. He asks me if I know why they stopped me. I answer in the negative. He lectures me: excessive speed, inappropriate driving, running a stop sign twice and if they hadn't switched on the flashing lights, they would have lost the connection. Ouch.
He asks me if I hadn't seen the blue light. I again answer in the negative. I suddenly realise that I am threatened with a driving licence suspension and a fine without the policeman having to point it out to me. I get out - and get wet too. I explain to the policeman why I am in such a hurry - workplace southern Germany, primary residence Lower Rhine, computer, monitor, no matching cables, Christmas, shops closed, black and white, no sound - and all because of the missing accessory pack - and that the shop where I bought this monitor would not be able to supply the missing accessory pack until the middle of next January.
He tells me that this is no reason to disregard the traffic regulations. I point out that I can prove that I drive more than 110.000 kilometres a year and that I don't have any points in Flensburg (at that time this institution still existed), so that my current driving style would be an exception and I would realise that I had screwed up. He just says: "Wait here". He goes to the police car with the papers and gets in.
A short time later he comes back and opens the instruction with: "I have consulted with my colleague. Since today is Christmas Eve and you are reasonable, do you agree to a warning fine of 20 DM?". I can't believe my luck! Of course, I agree! I have already mentally parted with my "rag". I pay the 20 DM and listen to his instructions - although we both get soaking wet. He hands me my papers and wishes me a good trip and a Merry Christmas - I wish him the same, and I mean it! They turn around and I continue my journey.
Soaking wet, I press the bell of the private entrance. The mother of the hardware developer opens the door - and takes good care of me, handing me a towel to dry off. Then she leads me into the actual shop, which is closed today but where her son assembles electronic things. We get acquainted and he has already picked out the cables I need and laid them on the counter. As I look around, I discover floppy disk drives, memory cards and much more. We start talking and after a while, during which his mother interrupts us and urges us to leave, I leave the shop with the necessary cables and a 2 MB loaded 8 MB memory card as well as a second drive.
I drive back, deeply relaxed and looking forward to the coming Christmas. (dr)
[News message: 03. Dec. 2022, 14:24] [Comments: 1 - 03. Dec. 2022, 16:38]
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03.Dec.2022
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Video: Building a new Amiga 2000 - part 1
The YouTube channel "Casual Retro Gamer" (CRG) is dedicated to repairing and building retro hardware (amiga-news.de reported). The recently launched video series shows how a new Amiga 2000 is assembled. The board used is the EATX form factor version reworked by developer 'jasonsbeer' (amiga-news.de reported). The chipset comes from a battery-damaged A500+. (dr)
[News message: 03. Dec. 2022, 05:58] [Comments: 0]
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02.Dec.2022
MorphZone (Forum)
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MorphOS: Web browser Wayfarer 4.5
Jacek 'jacadcaps' Piszczek has just released version 4.5 of his web browser Wayfarer for MorphOS including an updated libcURL to fix issues with HTTP/2
Download: wayfarer.lha (29 MB) (dr)
[News message: 02. Dec. 2022, 19:46] [Comments: 1 - 03. Dec. 2022, 20:13]
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02.Dec.2022
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Advent Calendar: Door 2 - Daniel Jedlicka
Behind the second door with the initials "DJ" of our advent calendar, Daniel 'trixie' Jedlicka has prepared a story for us. The AmigaOS 4 developer is best known for his recently developed audio editor Rave, but he has been involved in AmigaOS 4 for much longer: He wrote some articles for OS4 Coding (for example about programming screens), published the English dictionary WordNet (latest version 3.5) and has taken over the development of ADRipper since 2015 (latest version 1.13).
In addition, he runs his blog Rear Window, where he not only publishes status updates on the development of his audio editor, but also far-reaching and very readable articles, for example recently about the Amiga37 or the question what motivates him as a developer. And here is his Advent Calendar anecdote:
"It’s the 3rd of August, the year is 1990, I’m seventeen years old and I’m sitting on a tour bus. My father and I are going back from Nuremberg in Germany. But make no mistake, we didn’t go sightseeing; in fact, we couldn’t care less about the city’s history, landmarks and tourist attractions.
The bus is fully loaded with all sorts of electronics. Eight months after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Western goods are still quite a rare sight in Czech shops. Tour operators are thriving because shopping trips like the one we’re returning from are extremely popular in the first year of freedom. The mood on the bus is upbeat. The most excited, and the loudest, is a group of hi-fi enthusiasts occupying the front seats: they just won’t stop their bickering about Sony, Panasonic and something called the Nakamichi Dragon. I don’t understand any of it.
Our bus stops at the state border. After a few minutes, a young Czech customs officer climbs onboard and asks: "Has anybody got anything to declare?"
His words are met with an awkward silence, the kind of silence that is supposed to mean "no".
He looks at the flood of boxes protruding from luggage racks and bags half-blocking the aisle. The lie is so bold and obvious that the officer needs some time to process it. He steps off the bus, taking our tour guide with him. I can see them standing beside the vehicle and talking about something with a lot of agitation. The guide is gesticulating wildly.
After a few minutes, the officer is back on the bus and we all know we’re in trouble. Row by row he moves along the aisle inspecting the cargo, and if a particular box looks too pricey to be dismissed, he commands the unlucky owner outside the bus, where other uniformed officers take it over. After a few minutes there’s already a small crowd. Through the window I can see them fumbling with passports, customs forms and banknotes.
The bus is almost half-empty and my dad is sweating profusely. We didn't account for this! We spent all of our money in Germany, so how on Earth are we now going to pay the customs fee, possibly even a hefty fine for not declaring our goods? It’s sure as eggs that we’ll return empty-handed because what we’ve bought will be retained or confiscated.
The officer approaches our seats. There’s no way we could pretend that the tall cardboard box painfully stuffed between me and dad doesn’t exist. The officer sets his eyes on me. I realize he’s practically my age, perhaps a little bit older, fresh out of school. He looks at the box and his thin lips read the word "Commodore" silently. He looks at me again.
And then he moves on. My dad starts breathing heavily as if he's just had a heart attack.
In about forty minutes the bus finally crosses the border. My Amiga story is about to begin." (dr)
[News message: 02. Dec. 2022, 06:01] [Comments: 2 - 03. Dec. 2022, 11:22]
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01.Dec.2022
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CD32 adventure game: Wrong Way Back
Richard Perrin is a former indie game developer who wrote, among other things, the science fiction adventure game The White Chamber (Wikipedia entry). In his spare time, he continues to develop adventures for retro systems. As he explains to us, he never owned an Amiga growing up and was always envious of AMOS. So when he got the chance to make something for the Amiga using AMOS, he jumped at the chance: This is how his game "Wrong Way Back" for the CD32 came about, which he wrote entirely using the Amiga emulator FS-UAE.
He goes on to say that the game is more of an experiment than anything else, which is why it is so short. He wanted to create a game in which you are trapped in a room that is constantly changing. As a result, the style of play is also constantly changing. (dr)
[News message: 01. Dec. 2022, 06:54] [Comments: 0]
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01.Dec.2022
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Advent Calendar: Door 1 - Achim Kern
Our Advent Calendar is opened by Achim Kern, who is known for various Hollywood applications with his label KeHo Software. Besides various games like Balloons or Mars Tank Attack, he mainly dedicates himself to his SmartHome project for the automation of his own four walls.
Here is his Advent story:
"It's 1981 and Achim and his buddy Martin - passionate electronics hobbyists - are competing to see who can build the best radio transmitter and the most powerful hi-fi amplifier (at that time, watts and distortion factor counted). As every year, they set out for Hobby & Elektronik on Stuttgart's Killesberg to get their hands on the latest hardware (transistors, kits, etc.). But this time, history was about to be made: Achim discovered a stand where a small black membrane keyboard was on display. This was capable of displaying numbers and letters on a small screen...! Achim and Martin had no idea what it was, what the point of it all was - but their curiosity and fascination was immediately aroused.
Problem: the part cost DM 398! And they didn't know what you could really do with it. Achim then decided to sacrifice his savings and bought the black box (ZX81 Computer). At home, the "magic box" was connected to Dad's black-and-white TV. Everyone gathered in front of the machine as he typed his first (BASIC) demo, like this:
His father asked dumbfounded: "Achim - and what is that supposed to bring?". He told him: "I don't know yet - but that is the future that is coming!
And as we can all see today: Achim had recognised the signs of the times correctly! And years later he became one of our most loyal AMIGA disciples. Achim's (KeHoSoftware) latest project, which all AMIGA fans can look forward to, is called "MERMAID AMICA" - free again - made with Hollywood - Hallelujah."
(dr)
[News message: 01. Dec. 2022, 06:34] [Comments: 1 - 01. Dec. 2022, 09:29]
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01.Dec.2022
John Girvin
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Arcade-Action: Turbo Santa Deluxe Edition 2022, Highscore competition
At the end of last year, Nivrig Games released the arcade action game "Turbo Santa" (YouTube video), which is based on Turbo Tomato he also wrote. Now he has released a Deluxe Edition 2022 of his Christmas game, which has been rebalanced and now also features an endless mode. Golden gifts bring additional points and bonuses for delivery.
Furthermore, like last year, there is a high score competition with prizes donated by Amiga Addict, Bitmap Soft, Geezer Games and Retro32. The six best Turbo Santa DX22 scores in endless mode and normal difficulty submitted between 1 and 24 December 2022 have the chance to win various prizes.
Finally, Santa Rocks by the same developer is also available again. (dr)
[News message: 01. Dec. 2022, 05:47] [Comments: 0]
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30.Nov.2022
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Platform game: Remake of "Boxx" using Scorpion Engine
The developer 'Lemming880' is currently working on the fourth part of his "Boxx" series developed with the Scorpion Engine (amiga-news.de reported). He also tried to port the first part of the series, originally written with Backbone, to the Scorpion Engine, which apparently succeeded: he uploaded a beta version under the title link (YouTube trailer). Minimum requirement is an Amiga 500 with 1MB RAM. (dr)
[News message: 30. Nov. 2022, 06:19] [Comments: 0]
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