11.Mar.2022
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History: Commodore's hardware plans
The Commodore International Historical Society is dedicated to preserving the history of Commodore International. Recently, they published photos provided by Robert Miranda on their Twitter channel, which once again show the planned further development of the hardware:
According to these documents, an updated version of the Amiga 1200 was to be shipped with a 68030 processor in 1994, while the Amiga 4000 was to be replaced by a machine equipped with a PA-RISC microprocessor architecture from Hewlett-Packard. The joint venture project with HP, planned under the name Hombre, was apparently planned in two versions: As a "single chip" with 57 MHz and 32 bit and with 2 chips and 3D support with 135 MHZ and 64 bit. (dr)
[News message: 11. Mar. 2022, 06:41] [Comments: 0]
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10.Mar.2022
Reddit
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YouTube playlist: 300 Amiga demos
'rtiainen' has published a playlist on his YouTube channel that contains Amiga demo scene productions especially from groups that were not so famous or well known in the community. Most of these demos were released between 1988 and 1992, but there are also some earlier and also later releases included. Most of these demos use a standard Amiga 500 with ECS chipset, but some later ones were recorded with an Amiga 1200 and AGA chipset. (dr)
[News message: 10. Mar. 2022, 06:15] [Comments: 0]
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09.Mar.2022
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Kickstarter campaign: 'Tank Mouse' officially licensed by Amiga Corporation
Polish designer Lukas Remis had started a Kickstarter campaign with the goal of a wireless re-release of the Commodore Mouse 1352 (amiga-news.de reported). Although there are still 18 days left to reach the funding goal of 78,000 Euros, almost 74,000 Euros have already been paid in.
The initiator also announced that the Tank Mouse is now officially licensed by the Amiga Corporation. He had signed a contract that grants the project the rights to use all Amiga trademarks. (dr)
[News message: 09. Mar. 2022, 18:33] [Comments: 0]
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09.Mar.2022
Hyperion (ANF)
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Developer Kit: AmigaOS 3.2 NDK R4 released
Press release: Brussels, March 8 2022. Hyperion Entertainment is pleased to announce the immediate availability of another update to the Native Developer Kit (NDK) for AmigaOS 3.2. This R4 update of the AmigOS 3.2 NDK is a testament to our continued dedication to support the AmigaOS 3.2 ecosystem.
The R4 update of the Native Developer Kit for AmigaOS 3.2 includes:
- Better integration with VBCC, Manx, Aztec and GCC compilers
- Updated include files for AmigaOS 3.2.1 changes
- General improvements
- More example code
- Newly researched documentation for operating system functions never covered in the past 35+ years
- New developer documentation detailing the operating system interfaces and header files as well as documentation on how to make the best use of memory pools (with full source code)
AmigaOS NDK 3.2 R4 is available for free from our download area.
AmigaOS NDK 3.2 R4 will also be made accessible in other venues to pursue greater adoption and wider availability by the AmigaOS development community.
Hyperion Entertainment wishes to thank the AmigaOS 3.2 development team and the AmigaOS 3.2 userbase for their continued efforts and support in these difficult times. If you want to support our efforts further, please head over to our AmigaOS merchandise store! (snx)
[News message: 09. Mar. 2022, 14:49] [Comments: 0]
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09.Mar.2022
ANF
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Operating system: MorphOS 3.16 and MorphOS SDK 3.16 (March 2022)
The MorphOS team today released new versions of their operating system and its development kit. Latter includes for example GCC 11 as well as link libraries for usage of the new openssl3.library, while support for GCC 4 and GCC 7 has been dropped. Below you can read the official announcement of the new OS version.
Press release: The MorphOS development team is proud to announce the immediate availability of MorphOS 3.16. This release includes numerous important performance, stability and security improvements. A new version of Wayfarer comes included with the OS and replaces the now obsolete Odyssey Web Browser. We've also included the Iris email client, Magic Beacon notifications system and a Command-Tab application switcher. The Synergy Client and Server applications are now compatible with the free Barrier alternative. OpenSSL3 is now available as a shared library.
For a more extensive overview of the changes included in MorphOS 3.16, please read our release notes.
We strongly urge new users to carefully read our installation and troubleshooting guides before they attempt to install MorphOS for the first time. Existing users can upgrade via the familiar procedure but are encouraged to read the guides as well. MorphOS 3.16 is available for download in our files section. (snx)
[News message: 09. Mar. 2022, 14:29] [Comments: 0]
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09.Mar.2022
Discord
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Music album: 'ReFourmation' by Matt Gray
6581 Records is the home of Matt Gray's 'Reformation' album project, which releases remakes of classic C64 and Amiga game soundtracks in full production. The original 'Reformation' and 'Reformation Last Ninja 2' projects were realized in 2014 via the crowdfunding website Kickstarter. After the successful release of these albums, Reformation 2 went into production and was released in September 2018. Reformation 3 was released in June 2020 and includes even more C64 soundtrack remakes and also Amiga titles.
ReFourmation (Reformation 4) was released the day before yesterday in digital form, with physical formats to follow. The ReFourmation Download Only Edition contains 25 full versions of themes from classic C64 and Amiga games. Full quality FLAC and MP3 downloads are included and can be downloaded at the time of purchase for about 30 Euros. Tracklisting:
- Ocean Loader 5 Loader
- Auf Wiedersehen Monty
- Physical Presence
- Hawkeye (Main Theme)
- Yie Ar Kung Fu II
- Operation Wolf (Title Theme)
- The Wildernesse Loading Theme (From The Last Ninja)
- Duotris
- Who Knows
- Turrican 2 (Final Fight Theme)
- Delta (Title Theme)
- The Human Race (Chapter 4 Theme)
- Palace Gardens Loading Theme (From The Last Ninja)
- Mother (Dum Ikea CML Theme)
- Turbo Outrun
- Shockway Rider
- Grand Monster Slam
- Uridium 2 (Loading Theme)
- Madness (In Game Theme)
- Defcom
- Blood Money (In Game Theme)
- Test Drive 2 (Amiga Intro Theme)
- Delta (Mission Complete Theme)
- Times Of Lore (Title Theme)
(dr)
[News message: 09. Mar. 2022, 07:58] [Comments: 0]
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08.Mar.2022
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Minesweeper clone: MegaSaperPL 1.28
Rafal Zabdyr has released version 1.28 of his Minesweeper clone 'MegaSaperPL' on Aminet as well as on itch.io.
The game requires at least AmigaOS 3.0, AGA/CGX/P96 (320x240 in 8 bit) and the reqtools.library (V38+). Both mouse buttons can be used: left for uncover field, right to mark. The implementation offers additional bombs to explode mines as well detectors to uncover the field without losing life. The changes in version 1.28:
- Localisation (English/Polish)
- Restructuring of the game's directory structure
- rewrite and restructuring of most of the game code and settings
- Many bug fixes and many improvements
(dr)
[News message: 08. Mar. 2022, 09:42] [Comments: 0]
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08.Mar.2022
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Shadow puppet conversion: 'Bad Apple'
The group 'ELECTRIC BLACK SHEEP', known for the in-development fantasy shooter Project Quest among others, has released an update to their 'Bad Apple' AMOS conversion. 'Bad Apple!!' is originally a nearly one and a half minute music track by Japanese game developer ZUN, which gained notoriety through the remix version (video) by Japanese musicians Masayoshi Minoshima and Nomico, as it was backed by a shadow puppet video. In the now released version of 'ELECTRIC BLACK SHEEP' music by J.M.D was added. On YouTube you can watch the result. (dr)
[News message: 08. Mar. 2022, 04:55] [Comments: 0]
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08.Mar.2022
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Music album: Zaman
YouTuber 'Madija' aka 'Ms Mad Lemon' is passionate about old computers and vintage audios and has been writing music on the Amiga since the 1990s. Now she has released her third album Zaman on bandcamp, which contains tracks from the 1990s to 2022. All but one (Polyend Tracker) of the tracks were created using an Amiga. The album is available for 8.50 Euros (or more), an English review can be read on RetroRGB. (dr)
[News message: 08. Mar. 2022, 04:06] [Comments: 0]
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06.Mar.2022
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Aminet uploads until 05.03.2022
The following files have been added until 05.03.2022 to Aminet:
AmigaTText-m68k-amiga... comm/misc 1.9M 68k Shows GER Teletext Sites from...
AmigaTText-ppc-amigao... comm/misc 2.6M OS4 Shows GER Teletext Sites from...
AmigaTText-ppc-morpho... comm/misc 2.2M MOS Shows GER Teletext Sites from...
AmigaTText-ppc-warpup... comm/misc 2.3M WOS Shows GER Teletext Sites from...
OS4WeltWeihnachtsdemo... demo/misc 3.6M OS4 little demo for Christmas (We...
HWP_hURL.lha dev/hwood 3.4M The multi-protocol data trans...
MCE.lha game/edit 3.3M 68k Multi-game Character Editor
MCE-MOS.lha game/edit 3.6M MOS Multi-game Character Editor
MCE-OS4.lha game/edit 3.8M OS4 Multi-game Character Editor
d3GNOPOS4.lha game/misc 193K OS4 D3GNOP - THE Pong clone in Mi...
ScummVM_RTG.lha game/misc 6.4M 68k Amiga port of ScummVM 1.7.0
LOG_upd.lha game/patch 259K 68k update patch for 'Land of Gen...
EXULT_RTG.lha game/role 49M 68k Amiga port of Ultima 7 (Exult)
AmiDuke_RTG.lha game/shoot 542K 68k Amiga port of Duke Nukem 3D
AmiSpear_ECS.lha game/shoot 1.4M 68k Amiga port of Spear of Destiny
AmiWolf_ECS.lha game/shoot 1.4M 68k Amiga port of Wolfenstein 3D
Chocolate_DOOM.lha game/shoot 2.4M 68k Amiga port of Chocolate DOOM
D1X_Rebirth_RTG.lha game/shoot 2.5M 68k Amiga port of Descent (D1X-Re...
ODAMEX_RTG.lha game/shoot 19M 68k Amiga port of Odamex
PrBoom.lha game/shoot 848K 68k Amiga port of PrBoom
spear4amiga.lha game/shoot 144K 68k Spear of Destiny for Amiga
wolf4amiga.lha game/shoot 845K 68k Wolfenstein 3D for Amiga
FreeSynd_RTG.lha game/strat 2.9M 68k Amiga port of Syndicate (Free...
OpenDUNE_RTG.lha game/strat 394K 68k Amiga port of Dune 2 (OpenDUNE)
rebel_gw24_solar_syst... game/strat 3.9M 68k realtime strategy written in ...
MegaSaperPL.lha game/think 651K 68k Minesweeper game clone
SopoBlockOS4.lha game/think 83K OS4 SopoBlock - Cute tiny MiniGL ...
FlashMandelNG_OS4.lha gfx/fract 32M OS4 Mandelbrot & Julia fractals AOS4
WhatIFF1.03.lha mags/misc 259K What IFF? #1.02-February-2022
DOSBox_RTG.lha misc/emu 931K 68k Amiga port of DOSBox
YearEndChills2021.lha mods/techn 411K MED.YearEndChills2021
vorbistools142_68k.lha mus/edit 682K 68k Tools to manipulate Vorbis fi...
Flac134_a68k.lha mus/misc 445K 68k Free Lossless Audio Codec
TECO-64.lha text/edit 607K MOS TECO (Text Editor and Corrector)
ViNCEd.lha util/shell 844K 68k ViNCEd, the CON: with ^Z & TA...
Anno.lha util/time 316K 68k Reminder and calendar utility
(snx)
[News message: 06. Mar. 2022, 12:40] [Comments: 0]
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06.Mar.2022
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OS4Depot uploads until 05.03.2022
The following files have been added until 05.03.2022 to OS4Depot:
hwp_hurl.lha lib/hol 3Mb 4.0 The multi-protocol data transfer...
amigattext.lha uti/mis 3Mb 4.1 Shows German ARD/ZDF Teletext fr...
checkas.lha uti/scr 10kb 4.0 Checks for assigns.
(snx)
[News message: 06. Mar. 2022, 12:40] [Comments: 0]
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06.Mar.2022
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AROS Archives uploads until 05.03.2022
The following files have been added until 05.03.2022 to AROS Archives:
run_dosbox_taskpriority_s... emu/com 223b script for run dosbox correctly
(snx)
[News message: 06. Mar. 2022, 12:40] [Comments: 0]
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06.Mar.2022
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 05.03.2022
The following files have been added until 05.03.2022 to MorphOS-Storage:
AmiArcadia_28.34.lha Emulation A Signetics-based machi...
TECO-64_200.23.2.lha Text/Edit TECO (Text Editor and C...
(snx)
[News message: 06. Mar. 2022, 12:40] [Comments: 0]
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06.Mar.2022
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WHDLoad: New installers until 05.03.2022
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 05.03.2022:
(snx)
[News message: 06. Mar. 2022, 12:40] [Comments: 0]
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06.Mar.2022
Amiga Future (Webseite)
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AmigaRemix: Further files added
AmigaRemix collects remixes of well-known soundtracks of Amiga games. Since our last news-item, the following mp3 files have been added:
- Troddlers Main theme - Live performance
- Obliterator - Live Performance
- Wrath of the Demon Title
(snx)
[News message: 06. Mar. 2022, 12:40] [Comments: 0]
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06.Mar.2022
Andreas Magerl (ANF)
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Print magazine: Amiga Future, issue 155
The English and German issue 155 (March/April 2022) of the print magazine Amiga Future has been distributed. It can be ordered directly from its editorial office and from Amiga dealers that stock the magazine.
Content of the current issue includes a Putter review, an article about special custom chips replacement and a workshop about UTF-8 on the Amiga. (snx)
[News message: 06. Mar. 2022, 12:40] [Comments: 0]
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06.Mar.2022
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Event: Retrocomputer-Treff Niedersachsen (Germany)
The next Retro-Computer-Treff Niedersachsen (RCT#26) will take place on Saturday, 02.04.2022, from 10 to 7 o'clock at Haus Kassel (next to the Wandelhalle), Hauptstraße 4, in 31542 Bad Nenndorf.
The Retro-Treff is a workshop for all friends of old computers. Welcome are Amiga, Atari, C64, Apple, NeoGeo, Schneider CPC, Sinclair, Acorn and other old systems. The meeting is organised by Hannöverscher Classic-Computing-Stammtisch. For the time being, tables (120×70 cm) for 16 participants are available for the computers, with this number a sufficient distance between the participants can be realised.
Which Covid-19 conditions will apply to the meeting is not yet finally known. The next opening step is planned for 20.03.2022, then there will probably be no more restrictions. (dr) (Translation: snx)
[News message: 06. Mar. 2022, 07:22] [Comments: 0]
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06.Mar.2022
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Demo party: Revision 2022
Revision " is the world’s biggest pure Demoscene event", according to the organizers. This year's edition will take place from April 15 to 18, 2022. A dedicated website has now been launched online. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the event will be streamed live, but the organizers are in the process of organizing smaller 'satellite events' that will allow people to experience the event live on a smaller scale in community. Currently, events are planned in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal and the UK. As always, there will be lectures and competitions, the related organization is underway. Those who want to participate in the Amiga demo contest must meet the following conditions:
- Amiga AGA: Amiga 1200, 68060/66Mhz with 64MB RAM and OS 3.1 (original C= version), latest AHI and phase5/DCE 68060.library, SetPatch v43.6. PPC Amigas and Vampire/Apollo or other FPGA accelerators may take part in 'Wild Compo'.
- Amiga ECS/OCS: Standard Amiga 500, 512K chip and 512K slow RAM, Kickstart 1.3.
For the productions the following rules apply:
- Demo: Maximum size is 20MB (20971520 Bytes), as zip, lha, or lzh file. Maximum running time: 8 minutes including loading/precalc.
- Intro: Maximum size is 65536 Bytes für die ausführbare Datei. Maximum running time: 8 minutes including loading/precalc.
The detailed description can be found on the Amiga Competitions page.
(dr)
[News message: 06. Mar. 2022, 06:29] [Comments: 0]
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05.Mar.2022
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AmigaOS 4: Status update on audio editor 'Rave', part 3
In mid-April 2021, developer Daniel 'trixie' Jedlicka first reported on the current development status of his audio editor "Rave" in his blog Rear Window. In the second part of his developer diary he told about further progress in the sample editing features and the improvement of the clipboard support.
The third part now reports about the integration of MP3 support, other new audio formats and what remains to be done until a first release. (dr)
[News message: 05. Mar. 2022, 17:07] [Comments: 0]
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05.Mar.2022
Apollo-Forum
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Apollo-Team: Icedrake accelerator board for A1200 available
As Gunnar von Boehn announced in the Apollo forum earlier this week, the Icedrake turbo card for A1200 can be ordered now for 570 Euros (incl. VAT). The specifications:
- Apollo 68080 CPU
- Performance is application dependent up to ~ 1000MHz 68030 / 500MHz 68040 / 250MHz 68060
- 512 MB DDR3 Memory
- FastKick
- Super-AGA GFX Core : Truecolor DIGITAL VIDEO OUT
- 3D Acceleration Unit
- 2 FastIDE/DVD/CompactFlash Controllers
- SDcard for data exchange
- 2 USB-Ports (mouse/joypad with CD32 emulation)
- RJ45 100BaseTX Ethernet 100MBit with DMA
- plug for RTC modul
Current Limitations and state of the card:
- PCMCIA devices are supported.
- the A1200 mainboard IDEcontroller is currently not support, please connect your boot drive to the faster ICEDRAKE connector.
- Amiga display promotion to DIGITAL-VIDEO. This is a new feature which works automatically - in some cases there can still be some glitches. The video promotion defaults to PAL, if you have an NTSC A1200 this can cause some artifacts. A software update to fix this is in the works.
(dr)
[News message: 05. Mar. 2022, 15:04] [Comments: 0]
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05.Mar.2022
Reddit
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THEA500 Mini: Mini Joypad and Mini Mouse separately available
Besides the possibility to get a new Commodore Maus 1352 by participating in the 'Tank Mouse' Kickstarter campaign (wireless), which was announced a few days ago, you can now also pre-order the 2-button USB mouse and 8-button USB gamepad (each with cable) included in the THEA500 Mini bundle separately: Both the Australian store JB Hi-Fi for about 26 Euros each, as well as Amazon (Mini Mouse, Mini Joypad for 25 Euro each) have them on sale (plus shipping). The articles will be available on April 8.
As this short scene from the YouTube video Unboxing THEA500 Mini® Prototype Serial #01 shows, the Mini Mouse seems to turn out a bit smaller than the original. (dr)
[News message: 05. Mar. 2022, 10:12] [Comments: 0]
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05.Mar.2022
Reddit
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Book pre-order: The Little Book of Sound Chips - Volume 2
Fusionretrobooks is currently accepting pre-orders for a printed edition of The Little Book of Sound Chips - Volume 2: The book costs about 18 Euros and will only be printed if about 7250 Euros in pre-orders have been collected. Currently about 4750 Euros have been received. Alternatively, the book is already available as a PDF or ePub edition for around 12 Euros.
The book presents not only facts and screenshots of games (all with QR codes and hyperlinks to YouTube), but reports among other things about the SID chip of the C64/C128, the Paula custom chip, in the Amiga responsible for the sound output, or APU of the NES and Famicom extensions like the VRC and Sunsoft chipset. (dr)
[News message: 05. Mar. 2022, 07:55] [Comments: 0]
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05.Mar.2022
Prince (Mail)
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Video tutorial: Episode 26 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. Now the episode 26 was published. (dr)
[News message: 05. Mar. 2022, 06:52] [Comments: 0]
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05.Mar.2022
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PDF Book: Mark R. Jones on his time at Ocean Software Ltd.
Mark R. Jones worked at Ocean Software Ltd in the 80's as a graphic designer for ZX Spectrum, Amstrad, Atari ST and Commodore Amiga computer games, including the Amiga game Rambo III. After 5 years, he has completed his book "LOAD DIJ DIJ" about growing up in the 70's and 80's, witnessing the home computer explosion first hand, and talking about his time at Ocean Software Ltd.
(dr)
[News message: 05. Mar. 2022, 06:20] [Comments: 0]
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04.Mar.2022
Seiya (ANF)
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PDF magazine: REV'n'GE 131 (English/Italian)
The PDF magazine REV'n'GE ("Retro Emulator Vision and Game") is available in English and Italian editions. The game reviews of REV'n'GE compare the releases of classic games on different computer systems with each other. In the latest edition, the magazine is celebrating its 8th birthday, it also features its first two reviews of contemporary games: 'Knightmare' (Amiga) and the 3D shooter 'Final Assault' released for Atari 8 bit computers. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 04. Mar. 2022, 17:30] [Comments: 0]
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04.Mar.2022
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Video: 10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast #119 - Upgrading an Amiga 500 to ECS
In the 119th issue of his videocast 10MARC, Douglas Compton is upgrading his Amiga 500 to a full ECS machine with 1 MB of CHIP RAM. (dr)
[News message: 04. Mar. 2022, 06:56] [Comments: 0]
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04.Mar.2022
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Motorola68k emulation: First beta version of Emu68 released (update)
Developer Michal Schulz regularly provides background information and status updates on his Motorola68K emulation Emu68 for the ARM architecture on his Patreon page. Last week he has announced a first beta version of Emu68.
Update: (04.03.2022, 17:05, dr)
After this beta version was already available within the nightly builds, but hardly obviously identifiable, the developer has just released a separate archive with a corresponding tag for the beta version at our suggestion. (dr)
[News message: 04. Mar. 2022, 06:30] [Comments: 1 - 04. Mar. 2022, 17:18]
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04.Mar.2022
Twitter (ANF)
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FPGA accelerator board: "Multiport Modul" for Icedrake
Matthias 'DJBase' Münch has designed a Multiport Modul for the FPGA-based A1200 turbo card Icedrake - successor of the well-known Vampire series - which relocates HDMI and network ports as well as the microSD slot to the rear expansion slot of the A1200 and thus makes them more easily accessible. The module has a modular design, and a USB port can be added via a small add-on board, for example. The ports required by the user are connected to the original ports on the accelerator board via short cables.
If you want to rebuild the hardware, you can order the boards from Münch's customer accounts at OSHPark or PCBWay. The boards were published under a Creative Commons license. (cg)
[News message: 04. Mar. 2022, 01:06] [Comments: 0]
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04.Mar.2022
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Cologne exhibition videos: Computer 95, 96 and 97
An Amiga fan has digitized his private videos from the Cologne computer exhibitions ('Computer') 95, 96 and 97 and published the result on Youtube. The 35 minute clip contains uncommented impressions from all three shows. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 04. Mar. 2022, 00:50] [Comments: 0]
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