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Archive 12/2022

`10.Dec.2022`	Advent Calendar: Door 10 - Edgar Schwan We start the weekend with the tenth door and Edgar Schwan. Edgar has been developing his Unix environment for AmigaOS 4, called AmiCygnix (current version 1.6), tirelessly and with great dedication for many years: it is not an emulation, but all programs are compiled natively for AmigaOS 4. He started with this in 2006 with a pre-release version of X-Window, before the environment still called Cygnix followed a little later. With version 1.0 he renamed it AmiCygnix, as it was no longer compatible with its predecessors. For his environment, he has not only ported numerous games, but also applications such as the mail client Sylpheed with very good IMAP4 support, the spreadsheet Gnumeric but above all the word processor AbiWord. Besides, he has released native versions of Apache, MySQL and PHP. In today's Advent calendar door, the developer describes his chequered history of hardware conquests and why and how he started programming: "Actually, it was simply the fascination of being able to do something on the computer with a few commands or to create a usable programme. My programming career began with the C64. I still have my first book on it: "Programmieren in Maschinensprache mit dem Commodore-64" (publisher "Hofacker"). It was in the shop where I bought my C64. And yes - it had to be directly assembler! The whole thing was like cracking a puzzle. ;). Even then, I was more concerned with user software. Among other things, I wrote a font editor and a programme for translating machine code into an executable programme. The highlight was a game called "Pailgame", which was voted programme of the month in the magazine "64er". I got 3000 DM for it - those were the days :) But Pailgame is the only programme I published. The idea for the game probably came to me at a meeting with like-minded people. I don't remember exactly what I did with the money. I think I saved it and then invested it in my first Amiga, an Amiga 1000. It must have been around 1989. I bought it second-hand from a priest and it replaced my C64. I wasn't happy with it for long. There was simply too little you could do with it. After the A1000, there was an A2000 (bought second-hand again), which I could then really upgrade: A2630 Turbo, A2320 Flickerfixer, A2286 BridgeBoard, Multiface IO and whatnot. The A1000 then went to a friend. After Commodore went bankrupt, I got one of the last A4000Ds. Directly with a WarpEngine 040/33 with full memory expansion. For that, the Amiga 2000 was given away. Later I bought a CyberstormPPC 604e/233. At some point, I bought an A4000T (Escom) screwed together from leftover stock and bought it. That was real high-end :). Unfortunately, I was still not happy with the performance. When the first AmigaOne-XE boards became available, I bought them straight away. That was a really fine thing. With this computer, I really started programming. The SDK for OS4 with gcc compiler was a bit different from the StormC I had used last time. Unfortunately the board did not last 2 years (not repairable) and thanks to Vesalia I got a SAM-440-Flex. With this computer I started using AmiCygnix. You can always use performance when compiling, so at some point it had to be a SAM-460ex and for a few years now an AmigaOne X5000. The A4000T and the CyberStormPPC were sold at some point. Everything has to be paid for... I still have the A4000D today and it was also recapped. I hardly use it any more, but I still have my heart set on it. I also still have the SAM-440-Flex and the SAM-460ex as reserve systems. As you can see: I'm very attached to the Amiga :)" If you would like to try out Edgar's C64 game "Pailgame", the developer has kindly made the game available to us. If you do not have the original hardware, you can use a C64 emulator such as "Vice" or "Frodo". Download: PAILGAME.D64.zip (7 KB). (dr) [News message: 10. Dec. 2022, 06:17] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`10.Dec.2022`	Dock: QDock V1.39 At the end of October, Sami Vehmaa published the first version of his start bar "QDock" (amiga-news.de reported), which he continues to develop (YouTube video). In the update that has now been released, he has implemented various improvements: for example, the three rows of icons are now preloaded, which means that it can now be used better even at lower CPU/HDD speeds. The bar can be aligned on the left or in the centre and the last icon row used is saved. Likewise, you can now move icons between rows. The tool is currently available for 2 euros or more. The originally high CPU requirements have been lowered so that the dock can also be used with a 68030 processor when the reflections are deactivated or with a 68060 when activated. In addition, AmigaOS 3.2 (the author could not test under AmigaOS 3.1), graphics card and 22 MB RAM are required. (dr) [News message: 10. Dec. 2022, 05:30] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`10.Dec.2022`	Puzzle game: Update for "Wood Block Puzzle" The Polish developer 'Tukinem' has written a conversion of the game Wood Block Puzzle (online variant) for Amiga in BlitzBasic 2 (amiga-news.de reported). In the small update that has now been released, he has fixed a bug that occurred when eliminating a horizontal and vertical line at the same time. (dr) [News message: 10. Dec. 2022, 05:16] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`10.Dec.2022`	Jump'n Run: Minky V1.41 Minky (video) is a Jump'n Run in the style of Super Mario or Giana Sisters, which requires an Amiga 500 with one megabyte RAM (amiga-news.de reported). With the now released update to version 1.41, the selection "Joy Up" or "Joypad 2nd Fire" is available in the menu for jumping. In addition, there is now a WHDLoad installer and a separate Minky version for it. (dr) [News message: 10. Dec. 2022, 05:12] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`09.Dec.2022`	ReAction-GUI for XAD: Avalanche 1.8 for AmigaOS 3 and 4 Chris Young has released version 1.8 of his ReAction-based graphical user interface Avalanche for the unarchiving system XAD, which also supports the xfdmaster.library and can search for viruses using the xvs.library. The developer has written his tool explicitly for AmigaOS 3.2, but has also been tested under AmigaOS 4. Since it uses a new window.class, it might not work with older OS3 versions. Changes: Some very hefty internal changes! Multiple windows supported internally. Limitations: Commodities events only operate on the main (first) window Does not spawn new process, so cannot use other windows whilst one is busy Simple ARexx port added. Config options moved to separate prefs window Note the options to snapshot the current window and change the default destination are currently not available. They can still be manually set through tooltypes. Config window (dr) [News message: 09. Dec. 2022, 20:32] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`09.Dec.2022`	Advent Calendar: Door 9 - Jérôme Senay Jérôme 'Glames' Senay is the patron of our ninth advent calendar door. He is the manager of and programmer for Boing Attitude and a few days ago could celebrate the tenth anniversary of the quiz game AskMeUp at the beginning of December, which was first available for Android, Windows and Linux, and shortly afterwards also for AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS and has been constantly expanded. To mark the occasion, the game is currently available at half price. The story of Boing Attiutude and Glames - the nickname is borrowed from the hero of the game "Operation Stealth" and was the first video game he was able to finish - starts much earlier though: so he published an interview with Ben Hermans about AmigaOS 4.0 at the beginning of 2002 (still available and certainly interesting to read). In early 2008 he published the game "Word Me Up XXL" for AmigaOS 4 (and a little later also MorphOS), which combines arcade and puzzle elements. Since 2021 he publishes the French print magazine BOING, of which the fifth issue was recently announced. By the way, with the publication of the magazine a friendly cooperation between him and Amiga-News began: so we are allowed to provide our German-speaking readers with translations of interesting interviews, for example with Mike Parent (Metro Siege) or the Apollo team. For this, as well as for your many years of commitment, a heartfelt thank you, Glames! His thoughts on the Advent season: "(Christmas)Time is running out ! Ahh Christmas! Family, friends, gifts... A good time in perspective! Well, unless you're a coder. Because yes, this event can quickly become a nightmare for us Amiga developers. How indeed not to offer on this occasion a gift to all the players and users of our games and applications? Remember, some game publishers even made Christmas editions of their games! For example, Psygnosis and its "Christmas Lemmings" with its little creatures dressed as Santa Claus for the occasion but also its Christmas decorations with fireplaces, garlands, ... More recently, the most striking example is the game "Turbo Tomato" and its "Turbo Santa" which is even more than a special edition, a real new game that uses the engine of its model. In short, you will understand, the pressure weighs heavily on the shoulders of developers, including those of operating systems. We have indeed become accustomed to having a new version of AmigaOS (3 or 4) or MorphOS every winter. Some teams even choose to only release one version per year, just before this family celebration day. For me, the challenge gets harder every year! In 2008, I only had one game that could possibly receive an update, Word Me Up XXL on AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS. But since then I've added a few new games and apps and... Android and Windows as platforms. I chose not to make a Christmas version but rather to deliver a new update just before Santa's visit. The first choice to be made is therefore to select the application or the game for which an update will be delivered at Christmas and this should not be done at the last moment to allow time to do this update. Real Cornelian choice! Sometimes in good years, I even managed to update several productions. But I have to admit that in recent years, I'm already happy when I manage to deliver one. Last year (2021) almost saw no updates delivered by Boing Attitude. As you may know, I launched a magazine (in French) dedicated to the Amiga in the summer of 2021, BOING. And when I released issue #2 in October, I thought it would be great to have a number #3 just before Christmas. But what an idea! As a reminder, I am independent in IT, so I had my 8 hours to do with my main client at the moment, a smaller simultaneous project to manage for another client and... the writing and design of the magazine ! I worked more than 50 hours for 6 weeks, sometimes more than 60 hours or even 70 hours the week of wrapping up! But the hard work paid off and BOING #3 was released on December 16, just before Christmas. The bad news is that I couldn't update my apps or games... Alright, I need to leave you! I have a Christmas update to prepare! ;)" (dr) [News message: 09. Dec. 2022, 06:38] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`08.Dec.2022`	Blog: Review of the UltimatePPC Expansion Card The blog "Amiga alive" not only presents own, partly older projects, but also reports about other software and hardware products. In the latest blog entry, the developer once again traces the development and the missed opportunities of the UltimatePPC board for Amiga 3000/4000 that was announced but never went into production. (dr) [News message: 08. Dec. 2022, 20:17] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`08.Dec.2022`	AmigaOS 4.1: Update of Excel addon for spreadsheet ignition With the release of the spreadsheet ignition 1.21, Achim Pankalla had also provided the xlsx-AddOn for reading MS-Excel files for the first time (amiga-news.de reported). For this he has released a small update to version 0.11 today: now it handle "empty" marker corrects two errors in shared formulas-handle now changes %-values, that ignition handles they correct (dr) [News message: 08. Dec. 2022, 14:55] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`08.Dec.2022`	Video: Building a new Amiga 2000 - part 2 The YouTube channel "Casual Retro Gamer" (CRG) is dedicated to repairing and building retro hardware (amiga-news.de reported). The recently launched video series (part 1) 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). In the second part, the slots are installed and the bluster chip. It also deals with the keyboard and the case. (dr) [News message: 08. Dec. 2022, 05:38] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`08.Dec.2022`	Advent Calendar: Door 8 - Daniel Müßener For the 8th door of our Advent calendar, we were able to win Daniel 'Daytona675x' Müßener. Who would like to play "Battle Squadron" again? :) Originally developed by Cope-com in 1989, the game was re-released for AmigaOS 4 (and iOS, Android, Windows, OS X) by the makers together with Daniel at the end of 2013. At the end of 2015, a port of the game "Wings! Remastered Edition" for AmigaOS 4, AROS and MorphOS was announced and a first preview was published. A new demo version was then available at the beginning of 2020. In addition, Daniel released the AmigaOS 4 version of the arcade shooter Tower 57, which was crowdfunded in the summer of 2015, in early 2018. Likewise for AmigaOS 4 on behalf of A-EON, he is developing the OpenGL ES 2 wrapper, first announced in 2016, which is part of the Enhancer software. The developer is currently working on two projects: Atomic Bomberman Fan Rewrite is a revision of the eponymous Bomberman variant for Windows from 1997. The improvements include that it runs again on current Windows versions in addition to Amiga systems, USB input devices can be used, up to ten players can be active on one device and the game modes have been revised. There is also network support for online competitions. Version 2.15 is currently available on his website. Finally, Daniel regularly informs about the development status of his football game in 3D optics, "Souverän Soccer", whose target platform is an Amiga 1200 in delivery condition, by means of preview videos. And quite "incidentally", his CV also includes the Amiga Future honorary offices of "translator" and "Gamescom man for everything"! Thank you, Daniel, for your commitment to the Amiga and of course for your Advent story which now follows: "It was neither during the contemplative Christmas season nor Easter, New Year's Eve or Carnival, although a corresponding overkill of red wine, eggnog or Kölsch would have been an explanation for my mental derangement, which I would like to tell you about now, my dear children. Not so long ago it happened that I was desperately tinkering with the serial-link feature of my Amiga soccer game. It was already late at night and the rain was pattering on the office window, the sound of which could hardly be distinguished from the clicks of the maltreated keyboard. Unfortunately, our Amiga's serial isn't something she can brag about. But if you stuff her slowly so that she can look at each bit three times and from all sides, then she can swallow'em just fine. The protocol for the game is very compact so as not to overwhelm the ladies. If initialized with the same random seed then the game is fully deterministic, the outcome only depends on the player-input sequence being applied over time. Therefore, it turns out that fortunately a meager 2 bytes per machine must be transmitted per frame. That's a good thing because there's not enough performance remaining for more, at least on a naked A1200 running "Souverän Soccer", where you're already at the extreme limit and absolutely must keep 50 fps with minimal latency. Anyway, all joystick and key commands, implicit synchronization and error correction information are contained in these 2x2 bytes. But it was a rocky road until I got there, and the protocol's evolution consisted out of many repeating circles of trying out, crying and throwing away again. And of course, at the beginning there was a much simpler protocol. First it was merely a proof-of-concept. For that Amiga #1 (let's call her "Santa") simply sent 1 byte with its current joystick bits to Amiga #2 ("Rudolph"). Rudolph, on the other hand, sent 2 bytes, namely his own joystick data and the last one received from Santa. Exactly this input pair was then used by both for the calculation of the next simulation step. And here we are, back in that night outlined above. Team "Santa" and team "Rudolph" were finally about to show on the pitch what they had rehearsed in theory. But apparently our two minions were conspiring against me or some Poltergeist in the machine was involved: If you moved Santa's active player, then Rudolph's focused player would also run in the same direction - and as if that wasn't wrong enough, they only did that on Rudolph's screen, on Santa's both player objects didn't move at all! And when you used the joystick attached to Rudolph, the same thing happened, only from his mirrored perspective! That cannot happen! Every programmer knows this sentence well enough, but it has rarely been more appropriate than in this case. This behavior simply could not and should not occur, completely impossible! Nevertheless, it happened. But even after two more terribly long hours, all I managed to do was to make things even worse. At one point I felt like Tom shredding up Jerry's diary. But before the poor Amigas or Competitions had to die an undeserved death, I preferred to pull the plug and leave my workbench with a shuffling gait and sagging shoulders towards bed. But even there I was not allowed to rest: in my dreams I found myself in the middle of a storm on a greasy, sodden soccer field. With each flash of lightning, the outlines of spaghetti-code-text-fragments shimmered through the clouds, forming ludicrous sigils. Tens of thousands of morbidly bloated zeros and worm-like squirming ones cavorted in the grandstand. My ears were ringing not so much from the cracking thunder as from the deafening fan chants, which most closely resembled a C64 tape played on the stereo. After a moment of dizziness and disorientation, I realized I was standing in one of the two goals. Then a very sharply shot apple hit me at the skull! The shooter used my near knockout, followed up and converted the rebound all too confidently. The fact that all players were two-dimensional pixel men was not particularly remarkable. But what caught my eye were the team shirts: while my team's jersey featured a & ampersand, the opposing team showed a simple vertical line, much like a pipe symbol. But before I could wonder any further, I got a ball in the stomach - and another - and another. When I got my hands on the last one, I saw that it wasn't a classic football, but a green, round, shriveled something, which stared at me with two teary eyes and said with a grin: "Get up, stupid dad!". After waking up in a sweat and stopping my daughter from continuing to bounce on my stomach, three things revealed themselves to me with absolute clarity: Firstly, years of C64 and Amiga gaming definitely left some marks, secondly, children give you so much in return, and thirdly, there was something about those nasty pipe strokes and the ampersands, my subconscious had noticed something that had escaped the higher-level part. All right, cat bath, coffee, morning stool, freshly back to work! And lo and behold, it took less than a minute to discover and correct the cause of the problem. So, what had happened? Within the whole game logic there is a variable that stores various on/off states as bits. Among many other things, there's one bit indicating whether a serial link match is currently running and another one which determines if the respective Amiga acts as Santa in that case. Accordingly, there are locations where these bits are tested to decide which code path to take. In C this looks like this, where gf_Santa simply represents this specific bit: if(gameplay_flags & gf_Santa) { // Santa-stuff comes here } else { // Rudolph-stuff comes here } And right here a tiny but mean typo had crept in. Instead of this & (binary AND) there was a \| (binary OR): if(gameplay_flags \| gf_Santa) In contrast to the desired bit test, this is just crap, unfortunately syntactically completely legal crap which doesn't even trigger a compiler warning here. I could also have written if(true) here, the effect would have been the same, namely that only the Santa code was ever executed - even if running on a Rudolph :P This typo can only be explained with temporary mental derangement. To crown it all, as a programmer you are lazy by nature. Which is why this error had doubled because I had copied the wrong line to another place, so this quirk was in both the receive and the send logic. Ultimately, this is what happened if you pushed Santa's joystick to the left: Santa sends his joystick data, "to the left" Rudolph sends his joystick data, "idle" Santa wants to receive 2 bytes, but so far there is only 1, so nothing to do Rudolph wants to receive 2 bytes, but so far there is only 1, so nothing to do Santa sends his joystick data, "still to the left" Rudolph sends his joystick data, "still idle" Santa has now received 2 bytes and interprets them as "Player1: nothing, player2: nothing" Rudolph now has 2 bytes and interprets them as "player1: to the left, player2: to the left" Argh! Of course the whole serial-link construct didn't really work properly after the & correction, but the penny had dropped and a first test match was successfully held on the same day. And the story's moral? Never underestimate your own routine-blindness and goofiness, stupid dad! Well then, good night, dear little children!" (dr) [News message: 08. Dec. 2022, 04:15] [Comments: 1 - 08. Dec. 2022, 09:32] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`08.Dec.2022`	RTG Solitare: Demo version of "Solitare match" Sami Vehmaa has released a demo version of his graphics card Solitare conversion "Solitare match" (YouTube video), which is primarily intended for Amiga emulators or Apollo cards due to the high CPU requirements. The demo version contains five levels. Those who want to encourage the developer to continue working on his game can buy the game for around three Euros and currently receive ten of the intended 100 levels in return. (dr) [News message: 08. Dec. 2022, 03:17] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]
`08.Dec.2022`	Print/PDF magazine: Amiga Addict, issue 17 The seventeenth issue of the British magazine "Amiga Addict" is now available as a digital version for about 5.20 Euros. The printed version of the Christmas issue (from 15 December) including shipping costs about 11.50 euros. The current issue contains the following topics: A free Xmas game made for us by Amiga Drawbridge genius Rob Smith A pull out poster with suggestions on what you might want to play with the family when you've polished off Christmas dinner Ravi reports back from the biggest Amiga event of the year, Amiga 37 in Germany Reviews of brand new games Devil's Temple, Minky and None of Us A look back on some classic Christmas games, like Fire and Ice and Xmas Lemmings Getting animated with Cinema 4D in The Creative Revolution Demoscene at Christmas with h0ffman Special guests AmigaLove, Andrew Korn and Chris Winter tell us about their connection with the Amiga And much much more! (dr) [News message: 08. Dec. 2022, 02:36] [Comments: 0] [Send via e-mail] [Print version] [ASCII version]

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