amiga-news.de - Archive

Archiv 'Updates for hardware and software products'

16.Apr.2024 Emulation: BBoot bootloader v0.7 for QEMU
BBoot is a simple, minimal bootloader for loading AmigaOS on QEMU-emulated AmigaOne and Pegasos2 machines, written by Amiga QEMU developer Balaton Zoltan (amiga-news.de reported). It replaces amigaboot.of on Pegasos2 and slb_v2 on AmigaOne and simplifies the booting of AmigaOS 4 under QEMU. A firmware ROM is no longer required.
The current Version 0.7 adds file name to error message to help finding wrong path and fixes a kernel bug in the Pegasos2 emulation, which should improve stability.

The developer has also provided a tutorial Booting AmigaOS 4.1 on QEMU with BBoot. (dr)

[News message: 16. Apr. 2024, 18:16] [Comments: 0]
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15.Apr.2024
AmiKit (ANF) Workbench distribution: AmiKit for PiStorm using a Wi-Fi driver (alpha version)
Since October 2023, the AmiKit workbench distribution has also been available for the PiStorm and PiStorm-liteaccelerator boards (amiga-news.de reported), which use a Raspberry Pi minicomputer as a processor replacement. Emu68, the Motorola68K emulation developed by Michal Schulz, is also part of the AmiKit package.

Following the recent presentation of the alpha version of the Wi-Fi driver for Emu68k (amiga-news.de reported), there is now also a package with the Wi-Fi driver for AmiKit for PiStorm. Once the content of the package is copied to AmiKit: and the system restarted, a Network Wizard will appear. By selecting the WiFiPi, the Amiga will use the Wi-Fi module on Raspberry Pi itself to connect to the internet.

The alpha version of the driver package can be downloaded from the AmiKit website under the title link. (nba)

[News message: 15. Apr. 2024, 11:15] [Comments: 0]
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15.Apr.2024

CLI command: sysvars V0.12
The sysvars command creates environment variables with system information in order to make it dependent on these, for example, in the startup sequence, which patches are included. So far there is information on the CPU and FPU, the chipset, the vertical frame rate (PAL/NTSC), Kickstart version and revision, version and revision of bsdsocket.library as well as whether the emulator UAE is used - and if so, in which version.

Version 0.12 provides the following changes:

Added proiper Vampire support following Detect 080 Code
minor code cleanup

(dr)

[News message: 15. Apr. 2024, 07:21] [Comments: 0]
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14.Apr.2024
Andreas Falkenhahn (ANF)

Hollywood Designer 7.0 released

Press release:20 years ago, on April 14th 2004, Airsoft Softwair, the hardest working men in code business, released the very first version of Hollywood Designer, the ultimate multimedia authoring system for Hollywood. In the following years Hollywood Designer quickly became the must-have software for all users seriously interested in creating state-of-the-art multimedia applications, be it presentations, slide shows, games, or applications. Now, 20 years later, Airsoft Softwair is proud to present Hollywood Designer 7.0, an epic update with lots and lots of new features to properly celebrate the 20th birthday of this marvellous piece of software.

As already said, Designer 7.0 is a massive update that boasts lots of new features and improvements over the previous version. We do not want to bore you, so here are just some of them:

Use the full power of Hollywood 10 which was specifically designed for Designer 7!
Color emojis, CJK text and complex scripts are now supported (using the Pangomonium plugin)
Multi-selection support for pages and objects in all listviews and the thumbnail viewer
Operations can be applied to multiple objects and pages at the same time
Now uses the Hollywood 10 graphics engine for maximum power!
Objects can be combined into groups
Many new action events to work with object groups
Unlimited undo and redo levels
Executables can also be exported for macOS and Linux/arm64
Support for different font engines
Graphics can be exported as palette images
Radically reduced memory footprint, often reduced to just 25 % of Designer 6.0!
Configurable dynamic memory modes
Custom character spacing support
Several new example projects are included
Full support for Hollywood 10's plugin interface
Lots of other new features, optimizations and bug fixes

Thanks to Hollywood, all multimedia applications created using Hollywood Designer can be exported as stand-alone executables for the following systems: AmigaOS 3.x, AmigaOS 4, WarpOS, MorphOS, AROS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. This is a feature that is totally unique in the Amiga world! We would like to emphasize that it is not only suited for personal use, but also for professional commercial customers. Ferrule Media, for instance, have created an info channel containing over 2000 unique slides in a single project with Hollywood Designer. Hollywood Designer was designed to handle these huge projects efficiently so that they can run 24 hours a day and 7 days a week without any visible memory fragmentation! Ferrule Media's info channel, created with Hollywood Designer, is running in dental clinics all over Norway.

Note that Hollywood Designer is no longer limited to "just" being an authoring software, it can now also be used as a flexible graphics editor because it supports many features of modern graphics editors like multiple layers with over 30 filter effects, vector graphics, image import/export in many formats, and text including support complex scripts such as CJK or right-to-left text and color emojis.

Hollywood Designer 7.0 is available as a CD and a download version. There are native versions of the program for AmigaOS 3.x (m68k), WarpOS (hybrid m68k/ppc), MorphOS (ppc), AmigaOS 4 (ppc), and AROS (x86). If you already own a previous version of Hollywood Designer, you can buy a discounted upgrade version. People who bought Hollywood Designer 6.0 in 2024 can request a free upgrade. Also note that Hollywood Designer 7.0 has been specially crafted for Hollywood 10, so Hollywood 10 is absolutely required by Designer 7.0.

(snx)

[News message: 14. Apr. 2024, 18:24] [Comments: 0]
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14.Apr.2024 Motorola68k emulation: First alpha version of WLAN driver for Emu68 (update)
Michal Schulz continues to work intensively on a WLAN driver for his Motorola68K emulation Emu68 (amiga-news.de reported) and has now released the first public alpha version.

The driver consists of two parts - the firmware files for the WiFi module itself and the SANA-II device. In the archive attached to the linked Patreon post, these can be found in the Firmware and Networks folders. The firmware files must be copied to the DEVS:Firmware folder (or simply copy the folder to DEVS) and the wifipi.device must be copied to DEVS:Networks.

Additionally, a tool is required that tells the driver which wireless network it should use. The tool is called WirelessManager and can be found, for example, in the prism2 driver from Neil Cafferkey. The manager must be copied to the C: directory. It is either started manually if required or called up in the user startup as follows:

;BEGIN WirelessManager
C:RUN <>NIL: C:WirelessManager wifipi.device
;END WirelessManager

Before the Amiga is restarted, the wireless.prefs file must be created. Use a text editor to write down the following lines and save them in ENVARC:SYS/:

network={
ssid="Your Network name"
key_mgmt=NONE
scan_ssid=1
}

The line "scan_ssid=1" is only important if the network has a hidden SSID. If not, this line can be omitted. Currently, the network is still unencrypted. As soon as Wireless Manager has established a connection, the network stack can be started.

What works: open networks. Another function that is not yet correctly recognised by WirelessManager is 5GHz networks. These already work, but the WM reports the band and frequency incorrectly.

At the moment, the driver only supports unencrypted networks. Work on supporting WPA/WPA2/WPA3 is in full swing. Currently, a mix of approx. 42 MBit download and 40 MBit upload is achieved. This can still be improved.

The Wifi driver will be part of the next nightly build of the Emu68 tools.

Update (17.04.2024, 19:40):

In another Patreon post that has just been published, the developer points out once again that the driver currently only supports open networks and warns emphatically against opening networks without security precautions. In case of doubt, he recommends waiting until encrypted networks are also supported.

Apparently, there had already been some initial misuse by third parties during a test phase. (dr)

[News message: 14. Apr. 2024, 09:57] [Comments: 1 - 17. Apr. 2024, 19:54]
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14.Apr.2024

Aminet uploads until 13.04.2024
The following files have been added until 13.04.2024 to Aminet:

amigassh.lha             comm/net   33K   68k SSH2 for the Amiga
slre.lha                 dev/lib    17K   68k Super Light Regular Expressio...
GitDesktop.lha           dev/misc   1.7M  MOS Interface for Git repository ...
F1GP2024Carset.lha       game/data  8K        2024 Carset for F1GP
Temptations_DEMO_Fina... game/misc  466K  68k Temptations DEMO v1.0 Final
H2_Big_Data.lha          game/shoot 1617M OS4 Install Multiplayer Data for ...
Q2_Modpack1.lha          game/shoot 30M   OS4 Modpack 1 for Quake 2 OS 4
Q2_Modpack2.lha          game/shoot 162M  OS4 Quake 2 Mod Pack 2
Q2_Modpack3.lha          game/shoot 155M  OS4 Quake 2 Mod Pack 3
Q2_Modpack4.lha          game/shoot 135M  OS4 Quake 2 Mod Pack 4
Q2_Modpack5.lha          game/shoot 252M  OS4 Quake 2 Mod Pack 5
Q2_Modpack6.lha          game/shoot 67M   OS4 Quake 2 Mod Pack 6
Q2_Modpack7.lha          game/shoot 229M  OS4 Quake 2 Mod Pack 7
FlashMandelNG_OS4.lha    gfx/fract  35M   OS4 Mandelbrot & Julia fractals AOS4
2D_ATcad_RTG.lha         gfx/misc   482K  68k 2D-CAD-Programm
2D_ATcad_UAE.lha         gfx/misc   481K  68k 2D-CAD-Programm
WhatIFF3.13.lha          mags/misc  24M       What IFF? #3.13-April-2024
WhatIFF3.13.NoDemo.lha   mags/misc  841K      What IFF? #3.13-April-2024
AmiArcadia.lha           misc/emu   7.6M  68k Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadiaMOS.lha        misc/emu   7.9M  MOS Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadia-OS4.lha       misc/emu   8.2M  OS4 Signetics-based machines emul...
Willy.ACEpansion.lha     misc/emu   26K   MOS ACEpansion plugin for ACE CPC...
Abyss2.zip               mods/crash 128K      Long fade in, then dramatic. ...
clandestine2.zip         mods/crash 107K      Looping demo mod, converted t...
niknakremix2.zip         mods/crash 85K       Dark lofi techno. 8-bit xm, 1...
Silo2.zip                mods/crash 42K       Slow, heavy, moody hip hop. 8...
LN3Wind24.lha            mods/misc  202K      16bit 4ch LN3 Wind Temple 24 ...
Protrekkr_AROS_i386.zip  mus/edit   23M   x86 Tracker/Synth hybrid Program
jl.lha                   util/misc  39K   68k JOST Launcher for kickstart 1.3
ViNCEd.lha               util/shell 845K  68k ViNCEd, the CON: with ^Z & TA...

(snx)

[News message: 14. Apr. 2024, 09:00] [Comments: 0]
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14.Apr.2024

OS4Depot uploads until 13.04.2024
The following files have been added until 13.04.2024 to OS4Depot:

amiarcadia.lha           emu/gam 8Mb   4.0 Signetics-based machines emulator
dgen_sdl.lha             emu/gam 4Mb   4.1 Emulator of the Sega Genesis/Meg...
openfodder.lha           gam/act 6Mb   4.1 An open source reimplementation ...
h2_extramaps.lha         gam/fps 463Mb 4.1 Multiplayer Maps for Heretic II ...
q2_modpack1.lha          gam/fps 30Mb  4.0 Modpack 1 for the 2024 released ...
zaero_installer.lha      gam/fps 568kb 4.0 Installer and Port of the Quake ...
flashmandelng.lha        gra/mis 35Mb  4.1 Mandelbrot & Julia fractals ...
amigagpt.lha             net/cha 910kb 4.0 App for chatting to ChatGPT

(snx)

[News message: 14. Apr. 2024, 09:00] [Comments: 0]
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14.Apr.2024

AROS Archives uploads until 13.04.2024
The following files have been added until 13.04.2024 to AROS Archives:

protrekkr.i386-aros.zip      aud/tra 23Mb  Tracker/Synth hybrid Program
mbx.i386-aros.zip            gam/act 8Mb   Magical Broom Extreme (MBX) is a...

(snx)

[News message: 14. Apr. 2024, 09:00] [Comments: 0]
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14.Apr.2024

MorphOS-Storage uploads until 13.04.2024
The following files have been added until 13.04.2024 to MorphOS-Storage:

Protrekkr_2.6.7.lha       Audio/Tracker             A hybrid of modern day ...
GitDesktop_0.15.18.lha    Development/Tools         A graphical git fronten...
Willy_1.3.lha             Emulation/ACEpansion      Plugin for ACE CPC Emul...
AmiArcadia_32.20.lha      Emulation                 A Signetics-based machi...
DoomRPG_0.2.2.lha         Games/RPG                 Doom RPG Reverse Engine...
YouTube-Extractor_2.5.lha Multimedia                YT.rexx is a script for...

(snx)

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14.Apr.2024

WHDLoad: New installers until 13.04.2024
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 13.04.2024:

2024-04-09 improved: Tornado (Digital Integration) new rendering code, show fps/use original rendering code/limit fps/auto start, analogue joystick fixes (Info)
2024-04-09 improved: Zener Drive (Altair) fix startup crashes on some configurations (Info, Image)

(snx)

[News message: 14. Apr. 2024, 09:00] [Comments: 0]
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14.Apr.2024

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:

Panza Kick Boxing - Interpol Crack Intro
Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 End Tune

(snx)

[News message: 14. Apr. 2024, 09:00] [Comments: 0]
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14.Apr.2024
Carlos Peris

Game Construction Kit: RedPill 0.9.37
RedPill, developed by Carlos Peris, is a game construction kit written in Amiblitz 3.99, which allows the development of games from various genres (e.g. Agonman). RedPill is compatible with AGA and ECS, the "player" for playing the finished creations requires a total of 1.5 MB RAM. Jens 'Farbfinsternis' Henschel has written a tutorial.
The new version 0.9.37 offers optimisations and a lot of bug fixes as well as improved copper effects for ECS Amigas. Here is a before and after comparison:

The platform demo (YouTube video of an early version) has been reworked with new graphics and now looks like this

Platform-Screenshot

All changes:

Big optimization in Trigonometry code, leading to a big boost in performance.
Instantiate function has been optimized with some ASM magic.
Basic_platformer example has been revamped with graphics from Surt.
When building the game, now all game data is inside the data folder, no need for the res folder anymore.
ECS copper gradients have been improved, they are more smooth now like in Turrican 2.
When using Play now the current level is saved, just like you play start.
Added new trigger Run From Editor, to check if the game is running from editor or standalone.
Distance to Target condition trigger was very unprecise, now it has been improved a lot.
Mouse input code now is only run when being used.
Small improvements when using NTSC screens.
In HUD screen when an element was partly outside the HUD was not drawn, now it is, but drawing will be slower.
Removed Topaz2 font.
Topaz font is now the default one. When using Topaz font, there is no need to have diskfont library available.
Optimization in angular logic.
Fix for a crash that occured when changing the level. -Fix in loading levels code, that sometimes could led to the level being erased. -Fix for Camera Inc not working under certain circumstances. -Fix when creating the screen that could leave glitches in the border of the screen. -Fix when scrolling down, sometimes left some line glitches. -Fix in dialogs somethings messing the screen. -Fix in copper backgrounds when using an image as the source for the palette. -Some unused code has been removed.

(dr)

[News message: 14. Apr. 2024, 07:36] [Comments: 0]
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