20.Mar.2022
AmigaLove
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Self-made project: MP3 player for parallel port
The "Amiga MAS Player Pro2+" by Marcel Jähne is based on the MAS player developed by Dirk Conrad and is an MP3 player hardware for the parallel port of the Amiga. It plays any kind of MP3 files and MP3 radio streams without loading the processor. The MAS-Player is a small module that does the job of decoding music compressed in MPEG and providing the data as an analog signal. It has an audio output for connection to the stereo system, a DB25 connector for connection to the parallel port and a USB port for 5V power supply. This short video shows the function test on the Amiga 1000. (dr)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2022, 19:16] [Comments: 0]
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20.Mar.2022
Commodore-News
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Minimig: Revision 1.8 (update)
In 2005 we reported on the start of the Minimig project by Dutch electrical engineer Dennis van Weeren: the reimplementation of the one Amiga 500 in an FPGA. Based on this approach there were other projects like the Mist, which uses its own hardware but for the Amiga core (with AGA support) an adaptation of the Minimig, the MiSTer, an adaptation of MiST to a more powerful FPGA or even the Apollo core.
But the Minimig project itself also continues: After publishing the project's source code and schematics on July 25, 2007, the MiniMig.ca site has been taking care of the project since mid-2021. So with the Revision 1.3 every board got 4 MB RAM by default. Likewise, the SD connector and the 3.5 mm audio jack were replaced and termination resistors for FPGA RAM and FPGA CPU were added.
In mid-February the site released Revision 1.8: The board has 4MB of SRAM divided into 2MB of CHIP, 512KB of ROM and 1.5MB of Slow. In addition, for the first time a real MC68000 CPU (CMOS and NMOS) could be run and PiStorm could deliver over 800MIPS performance to this board.
Update: (22.03.2022, 05:08, dr)
Inspired by the comments of our readers, we have asked the developer Ranko Rodic again:
Since he is still in the process of changing the hardware, he postpones the release of the Gerber files until version 2. Likewise, he gives an outlook on future development:
- At the moment I am working with Renee Cousins (Buffee project) on Minimig FPGA core. At this time Renee successfully integrated stock Gary chip into the core. This will make a significant difference for the bus control. The goal is to make sure Minimig is 100% real Amiga. Soon we will be able to run accelerator cards like TerribleFire 530 with additional RAM and HDD controllers on the board. At the moment only accelerator card that works well is PiStorm.
- Replace outdated Spartan 3 with something modern and cost effective. With the larger FPGA chip we will be able to support AGA and 32-bit architecture.
- Replace old SRAM with DDR. 128MB IC will do
- Make sure the board is mini ITX compliant
- Add floppy disk support and 34pin header. Make sure Minimig can drive real Amiga FDD
- Move from PS/2 to USB
- Add real HDD header to the board
- Add ethernet/wireless
- Before moving forward we will use REV 8 to make sure FPGA core is up to date and 100% compatible with A600 class Amiga. After I will replace old ICs and make sure hardware improvements are in place. As a spinoff I am hoping to move forward with chipset ICs. It would be awesome if we can recreate every custom chip as a FPGA/CPLD. We are making some progress.
(dr)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2022, 14:39] [Comments: 1 - 22. Mar. 2022, 05:36]
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20.Mar.2022
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Aminet uploads until 19.03.2022
The following files have been added until 19.03.2022 to Aminet:
ZitaFTPServer.lha comm/tcp 19M OS4 A fast and secure FTP(S) server.
just-for-fun.lha demo/misc 4.6M MOS Oldschool Demo in SDL2 by PuR...
void-planetr.lha demo/misc 126K 68k Invitation to Revision 2022
StarDriveSCSI.lha driver/med 51K 68k Microbotics StarDrive SCSI dr...
prism2v2.lha driver/net 404K OS4 Driver for 11Mbps wireless ne...
bsaog.lha game/shoot 810K 68k Blake Stone Aliens of Gold
bsps.lha game/shoot 217K 68k Blake Stone Planet Strike
Chocolate_DOOM.lha game/shoot 2.5M 68k Amiga port of Chocolate DOOM
ODAMEX_RTG.lha game/shoot 19M 68k Amiga port of Odamex (DOOM)
MegaSaperPL.lha game/think 669K 68k Minesweeper game clone
webptools122_a68k.lha gfx/conv 2.4M 68k encode/decode images in WebP ...
webptools122_aros.lha gfx/conv 3.0M x86 encode/decode images in WebP ...
GF4RSIDB.zip pix/misc 82K Gradient Fonts f. RSI Demo Ma...
TECO-64.lha text/edit 610K MOS TECO (Text Editor and COrrector)
avalanche.lha util/arc 85K OS4 Simple ReAction GUI for xadma...
UnRAR-6.11.lha util/arc 2.5M UnRAR 6.11
GoShell.lha util/shell 20K 68k tool for open Shell in full s...
(snx)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2022, 07:12] [Comments: 0]
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20.Mar.2022
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OS4Depot uploads until 19.03.2022
The following files have been added until 19.03.2022 to OS4Depot:
analog-cheap-disk.lha dem/mus 685kb 4.1 AmigaOS4.x version of Analog Che...
hieronymus.lha dev/deb 151kb 4.1 Statistical profiler
arabic_console_device... dri/inp 3Mb 4.1 An arabic console device, line &...
prism2.lha dri/net 404kb 4.0 Driver for 11Mbps wireless netwo...
avalanche.lha uti/arc 85kb 4.1 Simple ReAction GUI for xadmaster
unrar_ml.lha uti/arc 3Mb 4.1 Unpak RAR files
checkas.lha uti/scr 8kb 4.0 Checks for assigns.
(snx)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2022, 07:12] [Comments: 0]
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20.Mar.2022
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AROS Archives uploads until 19.03.2022
The following files have been added until 19.03.2022 to AROS Archives:
whatiff1.03.lha doc/mis 259kb Magazine in format amigaguide &q...
webptools122_aros.lha lib/mis 3Mb encode/decode images in WebP format
unrar-6.11.lha uti/arc 3Mb UnRAR for AmigaOS, MorphOS and AROS
(snx)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2022, 07:12] [Comments: 0]
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20.Mar.2022
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 19.03.2022
The following files have been added until 19.03.2022 to MorphOS-Storage:
bePlayer_1.3.lha Audio/Players A simple music player u...
GG.module_1.4.lha Communication/KwaKwa A plugin for KwaKwa ins...
Kwakwa_1.9.lha Communication Multiprotocol, plugin b...
just-for-fun.lha Demoscene A small demo to discove...
SDL_2.0.20_Libraries.lha Development/Library All Libraries SDL 2.0.2...
UnRAR_6.11.lha Files/Archive UnRAR port for MorphOS,...
PrBoom-plus_2.6.2_upda... Games/Shoot3D PrBoom+ is a version of...
freegemas.lha Games/Think Freegemas is an open so...
SuDokuL_1.12.lha Games/Think Sudoku game for Switch/...
MineSweeperGui.lha Games/Think The Minesweeper game wi...
AmiTube_1.0.lha Multimedia The first YouTube Clien...
Wayfarer_3.1.lha Network/Web Wayfarer is the latest ...
Odyssey_1.26-standalon... Network/Web Odyssey Web Browser is ...
TECO-64_200.24.1.lha Text/Edit TECO (Text Editor and C...
(snx)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2022, 07:12] [Comments: 0]
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20.Mar.2022
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WHDLoad: New installers until 19.03.2022
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 19.03.2022:
- 2022-03-18 updated: Flower Power (Anarchy) patch redone, real files used to avoid OS swaps, line drawing routines fixed, memory requiremens changed to 512k chip and 512k fast, 68000 quitkey support, source code included (Info, Image)
- 2022-03-13 improved: Airball (Microdeal) trainer options added, demo can be skipped with space or fire, game can be started with space or fire (Info)
(snx)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2022, 07:12] [Comments: 0]
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20.Mar.2022
Amiga Future (website)
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Emulator: vAmigaWeb 2.0 Beta 1
The Amiga emulator vAmigaWeb for web-browsers is based on vAmiga for Mac OS (amiga-news.de reported). Besides being updated to the current vAmiga core released a couple of days ago, it also contains a new GPU shader renderer. Furthermore there is automatic mapping of used Amiga screen space to host display now. (snx)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2022, 07:12] [Comments: 0]
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20.Mar.2022
ANF
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PDF magazine: 20th anniversary of kultboy.com (german)
Michael Schmitzer's retro website about game reviews by past german computer magazines, kultboy.com, celebrates its 20th anniversary this weekend. For this reason, a PDF magazine of 42 pages has been created, designed like ASM magazine. It contains interviews with former ASM editors and a retro-podcaster, letters to the editor and, of course, game reviews.
Download: kbm_3_2022.pdf (82 MB) (snx)
[News message: 20. Mar. 2022, 07:12] [Comments: 0]
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19.Mar.2022
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ACube Systems: Production of Sam460LE boards started
Press release: Dears customers,
we would like to tell you some important news about the production of the Sam460LE boards. Well, to be honest, just one BIG news.
The production has begun!!!
Do not miss the opportunity to be among the first to receive this new board. Join us in this new project by pre-ordering your board.
While waiting for the first batch to be ready, we want to share a preview of the schematics layout of our new board (editor's note: available under the title link). Whenever a new hardware pops up we, as hardcore users, are always interested in this kind of pictures, and we bet that all our customers will be interested as well :-)
Our goal, as always, is to give the AmigaOS 4.1 and MorphOS communities new hardware to run and enjoy. And let's not forget the large Linux community too! If you want to take part in this adventure, do not hesitate and take your ticket for the trip :-) (dr)
[News message: 19. Mar. 2022, 19:08] [Comments: 0]
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19.Mar.2022
Prince (Mail)
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Video tutorial: Episode 27 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 episode 27 was published, which is about DMAs. (dr)
[News message: 19. Mar. 2022, 12:17] [Comments: 0]
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18.Mar.2022
MorphZone (Forum)
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MorphOS: Web browser Wayfarer 3.1 (update)
Just a few days ago, with the release of the new version 3.16 of MorphOS, the Wayfarer web browser not only became the default browser of the operating system, replacing the previous one Odyssey, but the author Jacek 'jacadcaps' Piszczek also contributed an updated version 2.10.
Today he has already released version 3.0, which offers the following features:
- Based on a 2022 WebKitGTK tree, supports most modern websites
- Encryption of passwords via cryptostorage.library
- Support for custom / self-signed server certificates
- Audio playback including HLS
- Video playback including MediaSource support
- Download and Bookmarks managers
- Built-in AdBlock Plus files support
- Written in ObjectiveC and C++
Wayfarer requires MorphOS 3.16 and at least 1GB of RAM. A 1.5GHz or faster CPU with Altivec highly recommended.
Update: (19.03.2022, 19:19, dr)
Meanwhile is version 3.1 is available fixing a crash on exiting fullscreen mode. (dr)
[News message: 18. Mar. 2022, 22:28] [Comments: 0]
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18.Mar.2022
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History: Commodore's unreleased C64 game machine
In December 1990 Commodore released the Commodore 64 Games System (C64GS), which became a big commercial failure. As the 'Commodore International Historical Society' reports in its latest blog entry, there were obviously concrete ideas in this direction some years before: Andy Finkel provides pictures in this blog entry that show an early prototype. According to the manufacturing date of the chips, this variant is said to date back to at least 1985 and contained a built-in two-button joystick from Sony. (dr)
[News message: 18. Mar. 2022, 09:38] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2022
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AmigaOne X5000 available from dealers again
As Alinea announces (German) in a posting on os4welt.de, the German dealer currently has A-EON's AmigaOne X5000 in stock. The product photo in the shop is said to be outdated, the machines are now shipped in a different case. According to Alinea, the higher price for the X5000 is caused by inflation and rising component prices, on top of that the computer now ships with a full version of Enhancer 2.1.
Most of the other shops A-EON lists as authorised resellers claim to have the X5000 in stock as well, although it is unclear how many of them always listed the product as available all the time and simple never bothered to update their shop listings. Amigakit is still not listing the X5000 at all.
Approached by amiga-news.de, Alinea confirms (German) that the digital AmigaOS 4 license that ships with the X5000 is supplied by A-EON as well.That would indicate that A-EON's expired AmigaOS license has been renewed in the meantime.
(cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2022, 21:46] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2022
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AmiTube 1.0: YouTube client for all Amiga systems
Marcus 'ALB42' Sackrow's AmiTube enables watching YouTube videos on an 68k Amiga. To do so, they are converted to Commodore's CDXL format and downloaded (video).
Yesterday, Version 1.0 has been released, which now includes a download queue to start multiple conversations/download jobs that are processed one after the other. Also, an AREXX interface has been implemented that provides commands to search and start a conversion job and to play a movie. Furthermore, due to the great demand, there is also a version for AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS. The changes in detail:
- History for search
- AROS64 ABIv11 bit version
- MorphOS Version
- Amiga OS4 Version
- Download more Amiga-like audio only formats: mp3 and 8svx
- dual PNG Icons by AmigaSystem
- Download Queue
- Improved AutoPlay
- AREXX interface
- Dutch Translation
The latest version always is available on the AmiTube website or via update check in the application.
Please not that conversion is executed on the developer's personal server, thus he asks to restrict oneself to few and short videos. Furthermore the program must not be shared but always be downloaded from the author's website at the title link. (dr)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2022, 09:38] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2022
Dirk Hoffmann
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Amiga emulator for MacOS: vAmiga 2.0 Beta1
Yesterday Dirk Hoffmann released the first beta version of vAmiga 2.0 of his Amiga emulator for MacOS which is currently under development. As he tells us, he had planned to skip the final version 1.1 for quite some time, because in the meantime much more features have been added than originally planned. The highlight compared to the last beta release is the harddrive support. He wrote:
"I didn't really plan to implement this, but GitHub user mras0 has programmed a great harddrive controller (boot rom) that allowed me to add harddrive support with manageable effort. With the beta version released today, vAmiga 2.0 is feature-complete. So as soon as it proves stable enough, I'll release the official version 2.0." Detailed changes:
- New features:
- Added hard drive support.
- The Sparkle updater is back.
- Added a new video mode that automatically centers the display window.
- Enhancements:
- Copper accuracy has been improved.
- vAmiga is a notarised app now.
- The path to the FFmpeg executable can be customised.
- Bugs:
- The HSYNC area has been shifted to the proper location.
The minimum system requirement is macOS 10.15. (dr)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2022, 08:02] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2022
Chris Young
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ReAction GUI for XAD: Avalanche 1.4
In the course of reporting on updates of various tools from Unsatisfactory Software, we had also mentioned Avalanche for the first time, a graphical user interface created with ReAction for the unarchiving tool XAD. Now Chris Young has released version 1.4, which among other things now includes a native OS4 version. Other changes:
- Allow abort during extraction (button or ESC)
- Now asks whether to overwrite files
- ESC can now be used to quit, and Enter to start extraction
- List of files can now be sorted by clicking on the column header
- Clicking anywhere on the line now toggles the checkbox
- Now confirms quit
- Added option to invert selection to menu
- Striped listbrowser
(dr)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2022, 07:07] [Comments: 0]
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17.Mar.2022
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Marketplace for 'Open Hardware': Lectronz
Lectronz is a new marketplace for electronics enthusiasts with a focus on the open hardware and DIY (do it yourself) electronics community. As Alain, one of the operators, tells us, the store was launched in early January with a focus on sellers in the EU. One of the reasons for launching Lectronz, he says, was to "to offer tools that address the needs of EU-based makers and small businesses, notably when comes to calculating VAT/taxes. In March we opened to sellers globally and we provided tools that help non-EU sellers import their products, again taking into account new VAT rules that were introduced in the EU in 2021." The software for the platform was written in-house to have full control over the function and also the possibility of future expansion.
A first Amiga item can already be found in the store: the Open Amiga Sampler. The simple mono 8-bit sound sampler for the Amiga is connected via the parallel port. It is based on the design of "echolevel", whose documentation is available on GitHub.
Currently the product is sold out, but as the vendor tells us when asked, he is in the process of building more samplers that should be available by the weekend. He has changed the placement of the electrolytic capacitors on the original design, and another revision to allow for a simpler construction is in the works if interest in his sampler continues. (dr)
[News message: 17. Mar. 2022, 06:23] [Comments: 0]
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16.Mar.2022
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Book: Status update and ordering option for 'From Vultures to Vampires', Volume
The first book of the two-volume "From Vultures to Vampires" by former Commodore UK manager David Pleasance and A-EON Technology co-founder Trevor Dickinson on Amiga history was delivered in the middle of last year. The Kickstarter campaign to fund the second volume, which Trevor Dickinson told us about in mid-January, failed. In the last update of the Kickstarter campaign David Pleasance admitted that the goal was a bit too ambitious (7.707 Euro out of 17.853 were reached), but at the same time he assured that "producing Volume 2 is most certainly still going ahead full steam".
Depending on the printer's workload, he estimated in the January 21 post that finished hardcovers would be delivered in bulk by mid-March. Since that time has arrived, we checked with David Pleasance to see what the current status of the project is:
They had unfortunately fallen behind schedule with Volume 2 - the task of researching and communicating with so many people and companies, all of whom are part of the book, had become an enormous project that could not have been foreseen before. All the information would have been enough for 3 volumes.
This delay also meant that the deadline originally booked at a print shop in Turkey could not be met. This was compounded by the heavy snowfall, which prevented the workers from getting to the factory. He therefore asks all readers and interested parties for their understanding. He is now waiting for information from the print shop as to the extent to which printing will be delayed.
An "agreement in principal" had been reached with a company based in Germany, he said, which would take delivery of Volume 2 directly from Turkey and individually pack, address and ship each book. This company would deliver to all countries except the United Kingdom. Since the company is based in Germany and is therefore part of the EU, there would also be no problems with EU customs as there were with Volume 1.
Finally, he told how to pre-order Volume 2 currently:
- If you have been a supporter of the Kickstarter campaign, just send him an email and he will explain how to order.
- All others can pre-order directly on his website.
He asks that orders be placed as soon as possible so that he can place the print order with a better knowledge of the quantities needed. (dr)
[News message: 16. Mar. 2022, 07:48] [Comments: 0]
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16.Mar.2022
MorphZone
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MorphOS 3.16 openssl3.library hotfix
The MorphOS development team has announced: "A vulnerability has been identified and fixed in the OpenSSL 3.0.1 included in MorphOS 3.16.
The vulnerability (CVE-2022-0778) allows malicious attackers to create TLS certificates that when connected to result in the client application hanging indefinitely.
A fixed openssl3.library (based on OpenSSL 3.0.2) will be released as the part of the future MorphOS 3.17 release. Meanwhile you can install the following replacement openssl3.library (1,6 MB) that fixes the problem for MorphOS 3.16." (dr)
[News message: 16. Mar. 2022, 05:55] [Comments: 0]
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15.Mar.2022
Reddit
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Hardware test: Building a serial/parallel loopback adapter
Adam Wilson is an electrical engineer who reworks old electronics in his spare time. In his blog he reports about his work with old computers, about the expansion of his collection and the repairs or restorations he has carried out.
In the latest blog entry, he documents building some serial/parallel loopback adapters for easy diagnostics using Keir Fraser's Amiga Test Kit Software. "Loopback testing" involves sending transmitted electrical signals back to the transmitter so that the transmitter can check its own output. In communication (e.g. parallel and serial modems) the output of the transceiver must be connected to its own input - if the device gets its own output signal back, this proves that it works. (dr)
[News message: 15. Mar. 2022, 06:21] [Comments: 0]
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15.Mar.2022
Thorsten Schölzel (ANF)
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AmigaOS Development BLOG
The AmigaOS3.2 development team has set up the AmigaOS Development BLOG, the goal of which is not to provide insights into the current development of the OS, but rather to assist in getting started with AmigaOS programming. This blog is intended to provide a series of articles that will cover installation of development tools, programming examples, debugging issues, and other helpful tips.
The first two posts will deal with installing/using the NDK with the SAS/C and VBCC compilers. Guest articles are explicitly welcome! (dr)
[News message: 15. Mar. 2022, 05:49] [Comments: 0]
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14.Mar.2022
Robert Smith
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Do-it-yourself: Adapter for connecting DB9 joysticks
Two weeks ago, we reported on Robert Smith's video showing how to 3D print your own retro-style joystick. In the new video that followed, he now shows how easy it is to build an adapter to connect vintage and retro joysticks to a modern system via USB. (dr)
[News message: 14. Mar. 2022, 07:31] [Comments: 0]
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14.Mar.2022
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Review: The UniThor Joystick (video)
Just a few days ago, YouTuber 'Madija' aka 'Ms Mad Lemon' released her new album, and now she has published a test of the UniThor joystick on YouTube. (dr)
[News message: 14. Mar. 2022, 07:05] [Comments: 0]
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14.Mar.2022
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RastPort: Mechanical keyboard replacement for Amiga 1200
Grzegorz Kraszewski's RastPort designs and manufactures accesories and expansions for Amiga computers. His current project KA 59 is a mechanical keyboard replacement for the Amiga 1200. It is a complete replacement, no parts of the original keyboard are needed. KA59 has been tested with original A1200 cases and those from the a1200.net project. Details:
- Complete replacement of original keyboard.
- Kailh KH switches rated for 50 million cycles.
- User adjustable CapsLock LED color.
- Optional "Alt"↔"Cmd" key position swap for users accustomed to PC keyboards.
- Weights less than original and takes less space.
- Robust connection with the mainboard.
Furthermore, there are options to customize the keyboard to your own needs:
- Keycap color set: There are two color sets available:
- classic gray and white, black overprints
- all keys black, white overprints
- Switches: One of three different kinds of switches may be selected. Colors indicate mechanical characteristics of switches.
- Blue switches are tactile, force versus movement characteristic is not linear. As a result, user feels the moment of switching. They are also clicky, thanks to additional element hitting the switch enclosure when pressed and making sound.
- Brown switches are tactile (nonlinear) too, but have no clicking element, so are more silent.
- Red switches are linear, moment of switching action has no tactile feedback. Noise level is a bit below brown ones.
- Language layout: Customer can select one of 11 language layouts.
- American
- British
- German
- French
- Italian
- Spanish
- Swiss
- Danish
- Swedish/Finnish
- Norwegian
- Icelandic
The keyboards are currently in production and will be available at various retailers. We will report. (dr)
[News message: 14. Mar. 2022, 06:59] [Comments: 0]
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