11.Oct.2024
Amigaworld.net (forum)
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APEO - AMOS Professional Executable Optimizer
Simone 'saimo' Bevilacqua's APEO, which he originally developed for his game "Ring around the World", patches the executable files generated by the AMOS Professional Compiler 2.0 to make them faster. The technical details are included in the manual. (snx)
[News message: 11. Oct. 2024, 09:34] [Comments: 0]
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11.Oct.2024
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Installing floppy disks on hard disk: JST 7.4
JST can be used to install disk-based games on hard disk using WHDLoad slaves. After a long break - our last news-item dates back to 2002 - the further development of this program, which was first released in 1996, has been resumed in 2017. Today's focus is on WHDLoad compatibility, non-upgraded Amigas (or weak emulations) and those without a keyboard, i.e. a substitution by the CD³² control pad.
This year's update 7.4, released three days ago, supports the ReadJoyPort API of WHDLoad 19 (to some extent) and fixes a potential memory cleanup bug when using the Kickstart ROM 1.3. (snx)
[News message: 11. Oct. 2024, 09:34] [Comments: 0]
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11.Oct.2024
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Text editor extension: Motorola 68k assembler environment for Emacs
For those who want to program with current versions of the text editor Emacs (Wikipedia) in assembler for the Amiga, there is an open source extension for it at the title link. (snx)
[News message: 11. Oct. 2024, 09:34] [Comments: 0]
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11.Oct.2024
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Interview: Matthew Leaman (Amiga Kit, A-EON) about the A600GS
About a year ago, the first photos of the ARM-based "Games System and Classic 68K compatible computer" A600GS were shown at AmiWest 2023. Since August 2024, the console is officially available (amiga-news.de reported) and we regularly report on updates and new games or software that is provided for the A600GS. Time to talk to Matthew Leaman, Managing Director of A-EON and Amiga Kit, about this project and possible effects on AmigaOS 4 software such as the Enhancer Software.
Amiga-News (AN):Matthew, we've been reporting a lot lately about the latest project from you and Amiga Kit: the A600GS. How satisfied are you with the sales launch?
Matthew Leaman (ML): Sales have had a encouraging start. We hope to recuperate our two years of development costs as we sell more units. We are continuing to develop new software for the A600GS every few weeks so we are hoping this will encourage more sales.
AN: Perhaps you should introduce our readers to the computer a little more. GS stands for Game Station. So is it primarily intended for gamers? What can a buyer expect?
ML: "GS" stands for two things: primarily it stands for Games System. However you may know that the The B-52s had a song called "Good Stuff". To keep in tradition with motherboards having B52 song titles printed on them, the A600GS board has "Good Stuff" on the silkscreen.
AN: Reading the forums, there seems to be some confusion about what the system is based on: many think it's AmigaOS 3 or WinUAE, but it's actually AROS, right? Why did you choose it?
ML: For the last 6 years we have been working on projects called System Release V46 and System Release V54. They share the same code base, V46 is compiled for 68K and V54 is compiled for PPC. System Release V54 components have been released as part of the Enhancer Software for PPC machines such as the X1000, X5000 and A1222 Plus.
System Release V46 is installed on the A600GS and has a high degree of OS3 compatiblity. It features a new DOS command set written from scratch, a brand new datatype library, picture datatype and AK-Datatypes added. Quite a few system classes are added to enhance the programs. Our developers have also recreated a few System, Utilities and Prefs tools from the ground upwards. On top of SystemV46 sits AmiBench desktop running in 32bit 1080P screen resolution with it's AB-Dock, Clock and Calendar. Your readers can find out more by visiting the Wiki.
As you can expect to develop all of this software has taken many years. To make it a completely bootable system we used AROS 68K components to supplement the original software we have made.
AN: Now I'm not an AROS expert, but when I want to test games via the Amiga emulator vAmigaWeb and then use the AROS ROMs, many of them don't run. Did you have to test all the games and then adapt them?
ML: The A600GS user is free to install any ROMs they have legal licence to in the ROM section. You can achieve the maximum compatibility by doing this. Remember how games did not run on your Amiga 500 and you had to use a Kickstart ROM switcher to play the older games? This is the same principle but instead using software.
The A600GS also allows users to alter the individual game settings for Chip, Fast and Slow Memory. Some old games did not like memory expansions. I remember in my Amiga 500 having a trapdoor expansion with a switch to disable it. A600GS users can do this easily in the software.
AN: We recently reported not only that there is a new Final Writer version for AROS, but also that a special edition of the word processor is installed on the A600GS: did this also contribute to your decision in favour of AROS?
ML: We were very grateful to Timothy Deters for contributing Final Writer for pre-installation on our product. All of the credit goes to him and his team of developers. We have not had any hand in the development of that application. He has invested a lot of time and resources in modernising the application. It is looking great for fans of Final Writer to get a new 2024 edition. Using AROS ROMs enabled us to use his software without a lot of development work.
AN: And what about support for current printers? Is it possible to print directly from A600GS?
ML: You can print directly using Postscript printers or alternatively print to PDF.
AN: In addition to Final Writer, an updated version of OctaMED is also installed and a new version of PPaint has been announced: were these applications planned from the outset? Or did you decide during the project that the A600GS should become more than just a gaming computer after all...?
ML: From the outset we planned to bundle these A-EON software applications. It gave us an excuse to invest more development into them. The expanded user base from the A600GS will hopefully make development of OctaMED and PPaint financially sustainable.
AN: How did the idea of the new computer come about in the first place?
ML: As you know our beloved computers are getting older and sometimes they need recapping and maintenance. The cost of retro computers on auction sites such as Ebay has gone to very high levels. There is not a low cost way of introducing our community to new users. We hope that the A600GS will be the low priced computer system that shows that our community likes gaming but also being creative with applications such as OctaMED and Personal Paint. AmiBench also lets A600GS users install their own applications. We recently added the famous YAM application to AmiBench (amiga-news.de reported) so now you can send and receive your emails on the A600GS.
AN: Did you realise that there was a gap in the market or was this an idea that had been in the drawer for a while?
ML: We first pitched this idea a couple of times since 2012 to see if we could obtain ROM licences. We emailed the concept pictures and description of the project to parties who we thought could help us. Unfortunately we had no feedback. Presumably the lack of response was due to the ongoing legal problems. The original hardware idea was slightly different: we were going to put the new system in one of our Arcade Evolution Joystick cases and call it A1200GS. It would have a joystick built in and plug directly into the television. The software idea would be exactly the same as the A600GS with an integrated AmiStore App Store. Of course since 2012, ARM hardware has improved substantially so the A600GS is now a far more rounded computer system with features such as WiFi and Bluetooth. The delayed release has let us develop our own system software so we did not to partner with other third parties to launch the A600GS.
AN: Matthew, you are not only the managing director of Amiga Kit, but also of A-EON: the new Enhancer version should have been released some time ago, right? Has further development there suffered from the A600GS project? Or was it worth the wait and the Enhancer software benefits from the A600GS project? What is the status?
ML: We had a software contribution given to us for the Enhancer Software 2.3 which would have represented a key element of it. Unfortunately the contribution was withdrawn so we have had to remove it. This held the Enhancer Software 2.3 update back for a short time. There are lots of nice fixes and small updates in the current development version of ES 2.3, some of which are developed concurrently for the A600GS. We are polishing it for release in the near future.
AN: Are AmigaOS 4 and its users still on the priority list?
ML: A-EON always has it's hardware and software customers as a priority. We are not responsible for OS4 development of course, this is the domain of Hyperion Entertainment.
AN: Is the "LibreOffice" project still being pursued in principle?
ML: This is still an active project and has not been cancelled.
AN: Thank you very much, Matthew! We will continue to follow the various projects with interest. (dr)
[News message: 11. Oct. 2024, 07:08] [Comments: 1 - 11. Oct. 2024, 13:39]
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11.Oct.2024
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Preview video: Platformer "Robot Jet Action 2"
Tomasz 'Carrion' Mielnik is in the process of porting his platformer "Robot Jet Action", originally released for the C64, to the Amiga as "Robot Jet Action 2" (amiga-news.de reported). In a new preview video #3 under the title link as well as the corresponding developer diary (Polish), the author explains that he has now switched from the programming language Blitz Basic 2 to the game construction kit Scorpion Engine. (dr)
[News message: 11. Oct. 2024, 05:31] [Comments: 0]
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09.Oct.2024
Andreas Falkenhahn (ANF)
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Hollywood: Malibu 1.5 published
Andreas Falkenhahn writes (translated): "Version 1.5 of Malibu, the Hollywood plugin that can display Scala scripts, has now been released. This version contains some bug fixes that were necessary to make the recently released iconic Scala games Beyond a Steel Sky and Adventure 2 by Quantum Code Monk work.
With Hollywood and Malibu you can now play these games comfortably on your nextgen Amiga, Windows, Mac OS, Linux etc. In addition, Malibu now also supports the Mac OS ARM64 platform. Malibu is now available for free download from the official Hollywood portal." (snx)
[News message: 09. Oct. 2024, 10:44] [Comments: 0]
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09.Oct.2024
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AVX instructions: An Amiga fan at Intel?
Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) are an instruction set extension for x86 processors introduced by Intel. Arnaud Carré's blog article at the title link is specifically about the AVX-512 instruction set published in 2013. The vpternlogd instruction it contains immediately reminded him of the Amiga's Blitter.
A frequently used minterm value for it is 0xE2, because it is suitable for masked 2D sprites: If the middle bit of three bitmaps (here: used for the mask) is set, the output value of the first bitmap is used (here: the sprite); if the middle bit is not set, the output value of the third bitmap is used (here: the background). And - coincidentally or not - in the official Intel documentation for the vpternlogd instruction, interestingly, from the 256 possible values also 0xE2 was chosen as an example. (snx)
[News message: 09. Oct. 2024, 10:44] [Comments: 0]
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08.Oct.2024
Scene World Podcast (ANF)
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Scene World Podcast Episode #200 - Mark Cale ("The Last Ninja")
To mark the 200th episode of the Scene World podcast, the team welcomes Mark Cale, founder of System 3 and pioneer of the video game industry. Cale worked on legendary titles such as International Karate and The Last Ninja. In the interview, he talks about his impressive career and the development of these iconic games. The interview starts at 16:15. It is a special anniversary episode that delves deep into the history of video games. (nba)
[News message: 08. Oct. 2024, 13:54] [Comments: 0]
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08.Oct.2024
spillhistorie.no - Retrogamingpappa (ANF)
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Interview: Plaion Marketing Manager on licensing games for retro consoles
The Norwegian video game culture magazine spillhistorie.no has published an interview (‘Licensing is a complicated business’) with Simon Turner, Marketing Director UK and responsible for the global marketing of the retro division. He talks about the modern replica consoles such as TheA500 Mini and TheC64 and the new The Spectrum and explains the challenges of licensing old games and the process of securing the rights to these titles. He also provides insights into the inspiration behind these consoles and possible future projects, mentioning the full-size version of the THEA500, but not discussing it in detail. (nba)
[News message: 08. Oct. 2024, 13:48] [Comments: 0]
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08.Oct.2024
Lord_Santa
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Platform game: 2tinycowboys for the Amiga 500 (update)
2tinycowboys is a new game for the Amiga 500 that is designed for two players to compete against each other on a single screen in an arcade-platformer style. Compared to the PC and Android version, the Amiga version stays closer to the original vision of the developer and includes new features such as a level selection menu and visual upgrades. There are currently five levels available.
The game was developed specifically for the Amiga 500 and, in addition to the existing features, also offers plans for future expansions. The developer uses the Scorpion engine and is working on new gameplay modes that will be created exclusively for the Amiga version. The gameplay can be seen on YouTube on the developer's channel Lord_Santa.
2tinycowboys can be downloaded from the website under the title link for a voluntary donation of 2 US dollars.
Update: (08:55, 12.10.2024, dr)
A new version 15 is now available, which offers a number of improvements under the hood as well as redesigned levels with more graphics. (nba)
[News message: 08. Oct. 2024, 10:36] [Comments: 0]
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08.Oct.2024
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"Demoscene - The Amiga Renaissance, Volume 3" now available
The new book ‘Demoscene – The Amiga Renaissance’ is the third part of a series of illustrated books about the demoscene (amiga-news.de reported). Following the first two volumes, "Demoscene - The Amiga Years" (1984-1993) and "Demoscene - The AGA Years" (1994-1996), Volume 3 now sheds light on the years 1997 to 2023 and thus the amazing development of the Amiga demoscene, which continues to thrive today despite Commodore's bankruptcy in 1994.
Although the Amiga was technologically overtaken by PCs, the demoscene remained a creative niche in which developers created complex effects in real time, graphics and soundtracks on old hardware. The book is dedicated to the challenges and unwavering enthusiasm of the Amiga community, which maintained its passion despite all obstacles. Available for 35 euros, this English-language title is a must-have for fans of the demoscene. (nba)
[News message: 08. Oct. 2024, 10:15] [Comments: 0]
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08.Oct.2024
MDS
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3D polygon models: 3D Object Converter v1.0 for AmigaOS 3.x/4.x
3D Object Converter is a new tool for 3D polygon models, also often referred to as wireframe models. The software was originally developed for MS-DOS and Windows and has now been ported to AmigaOS 3.x and 4.x in version 1.0.
The application can be used to import 3D model data from external sources, display it interactively and export it in various common 3D file formats. According to the developer, the program supports 886 file formats (list of supported formats).
The system requirements stated are an Amiga with a 68020 processor or higher, AmigaOS 3.0 or higher, MUI 3.8 or higher, and 32 MB RAM. According to the developer, A600GS, AmigaOne A1222+ and PiStorm32 Lite are compatible. With an existing internet connection, the tool can be automatically updated via a web updater.
The 3D Object Converter is offered as shareware at a price of 40 euros.
More information, features, formats and screenshots can be found on the project's website under the title link. (nba)
[News message: 08. Oct. 2024, 10:00] [Comments: 0]
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07.Oct.2024
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GUI for Greaseweazle Tools: FluxMyFluffyFloppy v5.0.10 for Windows
'FrankieTheFluff' has released version 5.0.10 of his graphical user interface FluxMyFluffyFloppy for Greaseweazle Tools V1.20 (see also the video Setting up a Greaseweazle V4). Changes:
- Read/Write: Fixed save template if destination folder (options) doesn't exist
- Read/Write: Fixed save template missing arguments "Hard-sectors" and "Reverse"
(dr)
[News message: 07. Oct. 2024, 22:02] [Comments: 0]
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07.Oct.2024
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Demoparty: Results of Deadline 2024
Last weekend, this year's edition of the demo party Deadline took place in Berlin (amiga-news.de reported). Amiga productions could rank in the various competitions.
Desire won first place in the "Oldschool Demo" category with Inside the Machine. Second place went to Spreadpoint with 4FX.
Two Amiga works also made it into the top three in the "Oldschool Graphics" category: Floppy. Wanted! by Titus/Rabenauge took second place and Bio Mimics 10 by Steffest/Desire (time-lapse video of its creation).
In the "Three Dee" category - three-dimensional demos - AttentionWhore won with New Art. Finally, there was also a winner in the "Wild" category: the music disc Tactical Transmissions by Pattern Syndicate (YouTube video). (dr)
[News message: 07. Oct. 2024, 20:56] [Comments: 0]
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07.Oct.2024
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Sprite/Icon/Map editor: Raster Master V4.5 R112 for Windows 10/11 (update)
Raster Master is a sprite/icon/map editor for Windows 10/11 which generates RayLib-, PutImagedata and Map code for gcc, AmigaBASIC, Amiga C, Amiga Pascal, QuickBasic, QB64, Quick C, Turbo Pascal, freepascal, Turbo C, Turbo Basic, Power Basic, FreeBASIC, GWBASIC, BASICA, and PC-BASIC (YouTube video).
The following changes have been added since our last news item:
- Stop/Play and FPS gauge for Sprite Animation
- thumbnail preview in Map Editor for each map
- delete added in popup menu when you right click on image thumbnail
- bug fix for delete all option from Main menu
Update: (06:13, 08.10.2024, dr)
Meanwhile version 4.5 is available. Changes:
- currently selected sprite/tile in top corner uses all the space. if the sprite/tile is smaller it is magnified to use entire space
- additional Delete All menu added Map Editor and Sprite Animation
- New and Delete added in Right click menu over Map preview icon
- Delete All menu item in main Raster Master program now deletes maps/sprite animations
- and some bug fixes
(dr)
[News message: 07. Oct. 2024, 13:10] [Comments: 0]
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07.Oct.2024
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MOD player: rePlayer for Windows
If you are looking for an MOD player for Windows (and other systems), you already have a good choice: in addition to NostalgicPlayer, there are the online players Pixeltune or Bassoontracker, for example.
Now Arnaud Neny has released another alternative for Windows 10/11 with rePlayer, which, as he writes, he originally started developing specifically to be able to play Amiga music formats.
Although, he continues, as listed above, there are already some alternatives, but as a passionate collector it would have started to become very annoying to keep up to date with newer songs by an artist, watch out for song duplicates and also have some missing playback functions.
So he started writing his own player, initially to play standard modules from the Amiga, using ImGui (for the interface), OpenMPT (to play Amiga modules) and libcurl (to handle the downloads from the web pages). He then added more playable formats, as well as a way to handle databases. In addition, rePlayer can also be used to play modern formats such as mp3, wav, ogg, etc. (dr)
[News message: 07. Oct. 2024, 12:42] [Comments: 0]
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07.Oct.2024
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Preview video: Halloween X
Sami Vehmaa's latest project is to be a game for Halloween and adapted for AGA Amigas. He has now published a first preview video on Twitch. (dr)
[News message: 07. Oct. 2024, 12:17] [Comments: 0]
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07.Oct.2024
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Arcade game: GoGoGo
After Paweł 'tukinem' Tukatsch recently published a demo version of his game "Ami Robbo 2", which is currently in development (amiga-news.de reported), the next release is already following: in "GoGoGo" (YouTube video) you drive in a car scrolling sideways and have to duck from ghosts or jump over obstacles and collect energy and points. Over the course of the second game, the car drives faster and faster. The game starts in black and white, but can be coloured by pressing the C, O and L buttons simultaneously:
The game runs on any Amiga and is available free of charge. (dr)
[News message: 07. Oct. 2024, 11:39] [Comments: 0]
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06.Oct.2024
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Aminet uploads until 05.10.2024
The following files have been added until 05.10.2024 to Aminet:
BeeBase-1.1.lha biz/dbase 8.4M MOS Programmable relational datab...
amigassh.lha comm/net 108K 68k SSH2 for the Amiga
italodi2co.zip demo/disk 773K 68k Demopack September 2024
theloop-final.zip demo/file 551K 68k The Loop by Ghostown & Haujobb
dnb.zip demo/intro 74K 68k 40k intro - September 2024
CDPlayerSDK.lha dev/c 4K Updated cdplayer.library SDK
HWP_Pangomonium.lha dev/hwood 14M MOS Powerful text & gfx engine fo...
MemLeakZ.lha dev/misc 3K 68k Watch memory usage, detect me...
anaiis.lha driver/oth 249K 68k ANAIIS USB Stack Release 1.24
anaiis_massive.lha driver/oth 46K 68k Massive release 1.24
anaiis_xmass.lha driver/oth 90K 68k xmass examine massstorage
AmiRobbo2_DEMO.adf game/demo 880K Ami Robbo 2 playable demo
TheLostPixel.lha game/jump 464K 68k The Lost Pixel
CiemnaStrona.lha game/role 3.4M 68k Graphics adventure in Polish ...
AmiVms.lha misc/emu 3.8M 68k Simulates OpenVMS commands
Bridge.lha misc/emu 27K 68k improved replacement for PCMo...
CentralPoint.zip mods/crash 79K Minimalist Hiphop/Jungle. 8 b...
Cryos.zip mods/crash 72K Title Music for XP8. 8 bit xm
FrontalLobe.zip mods/crash 167K Jungle Tech from '97. 8 bit xm
Hoverkill.zip mods/crash 195K Game soundtrack. Multiple 8 b...
NuclearWinter.zip mods/crash 193K Moody Track from '94. 8 bit xm
Paranoiassimilate.zip mods/crash 76K Melancholy Piano 8-track/8 bi...
rogue_combat_11.zip mods/crash 85K Looping Game Music. 8 bit xm
rogue_combat_13.zip mods/crash 79K Looping Game Music. 8 bit xm
rogue_combat_14.zip mods/crash 60K Looping Game Music. 8 bit xm
ServingEntrails.zip mods/crash 290K Metal Hiphop w/ Amen Break. 8...
NRGardens24.lha mods/misc 132K Ninja Remix Palace Gardens 24...
DeluxeIcons.zip pix/picon 48M 146 Dual-PNG icons for 59 games
miscfixed.lha text/bfont 2K 4x6 monospace font
CharacterMap.lha text/misc 72K 68k Browse character set and copy...
ToolsMenu.lha util/cdity 79K 68k Add tools and projects to the...
VATestprogram.zip util/misc 17M 68k Versatile Amiga Testprogram
ScreenTime.lha util/time 73K 68k Screen clock with calendar
DrawerGenie.lha util/wb 325K 68k Toolbar for Workbench Drawers
(snx)
[News message: 06. Oct. 2024, 09:34] [Comments: 0]
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06.Oct.2024
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OS4Depot uploads until 05.10.2024
The following files have been added until 05.10.2024 to OS4Depot:
hwp_pangomonium.lha lib/hol 14Mb 4.0 Hollywood plugin for advanced te...
ttengine.lha lib/mis 591kb 4.0 TrueType text rendering engine (...
ttengine-src.tar.bz2 lib/mis 342kb 4.0 TrueType text rendering engine (...
beebase.lha off/dat 8Mb 4.0 Programmable relational database...
(snx)
[News message: 06. Oct. 2024, 09:34] [Comments: 0]
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06.Oct.2024
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AROS Archives uploads until 05.10.2024
The following files have been added until 05.10.2024 to AROS Archives:
python-2.5.2.x86_64-aros-... dev/lan 23Mb x86_64-abiv11
adoom3-1.5.3.x86_64-aros-... gam/fps 10Mb Doom3 for AROS x86_64 ABIv11
gemrb-0.8.8-0.i386-aros.zip gam/rol 27Mb i386
gemrb-0.8.8-0.x86_64-aros... gam/rol 30Mb x86_64-abiv11
beebase-1.1.lha off/dat 8Mb Programmable relational database...
cabextract1.11.i386-aros.zip uti/arc 1Mb Utility to extract from CAB files
unshield.i386-aros.zip uti/arc 53Mb Utility to extract files from In...
(snx)
[News message: 06. Oct. 2024, 09:34] [Comments: 0]
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