04.May.2025
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Aminet uploads until 03.05.2025
The following files have been added until 03.05.2025 to Aminet:
nscanz10.lha comm/bbs 11K OS3 Scans FTN nodellist, di...
amigaget.lha comm/net 264K OS3 get https files for the...
AmiBlitz3_Cheat_Sheet.lha dev/blitz 127K GEN AmiBlitz3 Cheat Sheet
fd2pragma-mos.lha dev/misc 347K VAR V2.198 create pragma, i...
rkrm-dos.pdf docs/misc 1.6M GEN RKRM AmigaDOS
Xiangqi_AROS.lha game/board 4.4M ARO Chinese chess program U...
Xiangqi_MorphOS.lha game/board 4.1M MOS Chinese chess program U...
Xiangqi_OS4.lha game/board 4.7M OS4 Chinese chess program U...
tad.lha game/role 206K OS3 point'n click adv. ...
Paint_All.adf game/think 880K OS3 Fun addicting puzzle ga...
TMSColor.lha gfx/conv 98K VAR Converter from BMP to T...
WhatIFF4.16.lha mags/misc 12M GEN What IFF? #4.16-April-2025
AmiArcadia-OS4.lha misc/emu 11M OS4 Signetics-based machine...
AmiArcadia.lha misc/emu 10M OS3 Signetics-based machine...
AmiArcadiaMOS.lha misc/emu 10M MOS Signetics-based machine...
AmiVms.lha misc/emu 3.8M OS3 Simulates OpenVMS comma...
Fugledansenbrass.lha mods/32bit 1.0M GEN 16bit 4ch Amiga Brass E...
qoatoaiff.lha mus/misc 7K OS3 Decodes Quite OK Audio ...
containers.lha util/libs 24K OS3 Provides containers + r...
ReportPlus-OS4.lha util/misc 917K OS4 Multipurpose utility
ReportPlus.lha util/misc 735K OS3 Multipurpose utility
ReportPlusMOS.lha util/misc 826K MOS Multipurpose utility
yt_mos.lha util/rexx 2.0M VAR yt.rexx with MorphOS ad...
(snx)
[News message: 04. May. 2025, 09:18] [Comments: 0]
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04.May.2025
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OS4Depot uploads until 03.05.2025
The following files have been added until 03.05.2025 to OS4Depot:
arabic_console_device... dri/inp 3Mb 4.1 An arabic console device, line&a...
amiarcadia.lha emu/gam 11Mb 4.0 Signetics-based machines emulator
xiangqi.lha gam/boa 5Mb 4.0 Chinese chess program UCI compat...
blackjuan.lha gam/car 4Mb 4.0 Blackjack clone
openmedalofhonor.lha gam/fps 23Mb 4.1 Port of Open Medal of Honor Alli...
reportplus.lha uti/mis 917kb 4.0 Multipurpose utility
(snx)
[News message: 04. May. 2025, 09:18] [Comments: 0]
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04.May.2025
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AROS Archives uploads until 03.05.2025
The following files have been added until 03.05.2025 to AROS Archives:
xiangqi.i386-aros.lha gam/boa 4Mb Chinese chess program UCI compat...
blackjuan.lha gam/car 4Mb Blackjack clone
(snx)
[News message: 04. May. 2025, 09:18] [Comments: 0]
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04.May.2025
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 03.05.2025
The following files have been added until 03.05.2025 to MorphOS-Storage:
Blackjuan_2.00.lha Games/Card Blackjuan Poker Card
Xiangqi_1.0.lha Games/Think Chinese chess program U...
Fairy-Stockfish-14.lha Games/Think Port of Fairy-Stockfish
BlockOutII_2.5.lha Games/Think Port of BlockOut II
AmigaGPT_2.5.0.lha Misc App for chatting to Cha...
SDL2Rect_1.0.lha System/Benchmark Test of SDL2 to check p...
(snx)
[News message: 04. May. 2025, 09:18] [Comments: 0]
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04.May.2025
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WHDLoad: New installers until 03.05.2025
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 03.05.2025:
- 2025-05-01 new: Future Sport (Actual Screenshots) done by DJ Mike (Info)
- 2025-04-27 improved: Quadralien (Logotron/Astral Software) startup crash fixed, 68000 quit key, keyboard improved, OSEmu removed, manual added (Info)
(snx)
[News message: 04. May. 2025, 09:18] [Comments: 0]
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04.May.2025
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AmigaRemix: Further files added
AmigaRemix collects remixes of well-known soundtracks of Amiga games. Since our last news item, the following mp3 files have been added:
- Stardust, Title Screen Music (Extended Remix)
- Lotus III, Miami Ice (Special Remix)
- Galoonia
(snx)
[News message: 04. May. 2025, 09:18] [Comments: 0]
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04.May.2025
Amigaworld.net (forum)
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FPGA-based retro console: MiSTer Multisystem²
A new retro console based on the MiSTer is available from Tuesday, emulating a variety of systems using its Cyclone-V FPGA chip - including a TG68/020 with AGA or RTG, a Toccata and plenty of Fast RAM using the Minimig core.
The MiSTer Multisystem² (video) in a 3D-printed housing costs 198 or 245 euros plus VAT, depending on the version; the latter has an additional analog video output. (snx)
[News message: 04. May. 2025, 09:18] [Comments: 0]
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03.May.2025
Puni (ANF)
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AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup - April 2025
The blog “Gaming on AmigaOS 4” has again published a monthly summary of all events and releases around AmigaOS 4. (cg)
[News message: 03. May. 2025, 22:43] [Comments: 0]
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03.May.2025
(ANF)
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Java program: ham_convert 1.11.1
Sebastian Sieczko's Java-based programme ham_convert converts modern graphic formats into the Amiga's HAM format. Changes in version 1.11.1:
- Higher quality Lanczos image resizing. Older Bicubic was too blurry
- Support for additional input formats: webp, psd, pict, pcx, tga
- Command line input image resizing is now also supported. Enable using the resize_Width_Height parameter, for example resize_320_240
- Updated command line parameter descriptions, missing or incorrect mode/parameter messages
- MSX2+ screen 10 conversion can now use palette colors to reduce jagged blocky artefacts characteristic of YJK (4×1 attribute clash)
- Bug fixes
(cg)
[News message: 03. May. 2025, 22:42] [Comments: 0]
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02.May.2025
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Developer log: Amiga Isometric #10
Nivrig Games is working on porting an isometric arcade adventure game to the Amiga and is publishing developer diaries (amiga-news.de berichtete). In the tenth issue (video), he reports on the remaining creation of Zone 2 and a bonus zone. (dr)
[News message: 02. May. 2025, 06:39] [Comments: 0]
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02.May.2025
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SCALA-MM game conversion: The Angel of Death 1.0
At the end of November, 'Quantum Code Monk' released a first pre-release version of its Scala MM game conversion "The Angel of Death" for AmiGameJam 2024, which is based on Police Quest: In Pursuit Of The Death Angel, a game released by Sierra in 1987. As Jessie Bains, you try to take control of the drug trade in the town of Lytton.
The graphics have been reworked and are heavily inspired by the original game. A few side quests, a points management system and a very simple luck mini-game have also been added.
AmigaOS 3.x as well as Scala or the Scala Player are required. Also 4 MB RAM and a minimum resolution of 640x512. (dr)
[News message: 02. May. 2025, 06:24] [Comments: 0]
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02.May.2025
AmigaKit
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Emulator hardware: CPU Boost Kit available for "A1200 NG"
As announced a good week ago, AmigaKit is now offering a CPU Boost Kit for the "A1200 NG" emulator solution for around 24 euros, which increases the performance of the board by up to 20 per cent by boosting the CPU from 1.5 GHz to 1.7 GHz. After activating the CPU boost option in the main menu, SysInfo reports around 300 MIPs (previously 250 MIPs) according to AmigaKit. (dr)
[News message: 02. May. 2025, 06:06] [Comments: 1 - 03. May. 2025, 00:50]
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01.May.2025
David Brunet (ANF)
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New articles on Obligement website
The articles below have been added to the website of the French Amiga/MorphOS magazine Obligement in the last two months. Readers willing to help out with translating articles into other languages are asked to contact David 'Daff' Brunet.
- News from March/April 2025
- News: AROS in 2024
- News: What's new for ANAIIS?
- Old articles from Génération 4 36 to 41:
- News: Behind the scenes of Drakkhen 2 development, Behind the scenes of BAT 2 development, Gremlin - a greater ambition
- Reviews: Hare Raising Havoc, Vengeance of Excalibur, No Buddies Land, Advantage Tennis, World Class Rugby, Shadow Sorcerer, etc
- Interview with Hal Barwood
- Interview with Roland Florac (Amiga developer)
- Interview with Mev Din (game designer)
- Hardware: Sew Ready case for Amiga 500
- DIY: AmigaOne XE
- part 1, "quickly and easily" upgrades
- Articles from ZINE diskmag #°1 (October 1989)
- File: The game tuning process during development
- Tutorial: Using Smart SMBFS on MorphOS
- Tutorial: Installing Odyssey 64 bits on AxRT Linux
- Tutorial: Tips for the AmigaOS 3.9 Shell/ViNCEd
- Programming: Music and drawing in C and SDL2 on MorphOS
- Programming: Programming a cracktro on the Amiga 500 (three parts)
- Programming: Creating a demo
- chapter 4, part 1, the Blitter
- Amiga quiz specially generated by Gemini artificial intelligence
(cg)
[News message: 01. May. 2025, 17:40] [Comments: 0]
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01.May.2025
Youtube: Paddys Retro Kanal (ANF)
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Video: Amiga Talk - Die Reise geht weiter! (German)
A (German) video discussion was published on Paddy's retro channel, in which Chris Hülsbeck, Michael Spindler, Dennis Pauler, MIGs Yesterchips and Matthias Heinrichs were guests. Michael Spindler, for example, developed his own Akiko32 board and his own Amiga laptop. Chris Hülsbeck answered questions that were put to him. (snx)
[News message: 01. May. 2025, 05:31] [Comments: 0]
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01.May.2025
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Emulator: Mame106Minimix 1.3
The Multi Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME) emulates numerous arcade machines. After conversions for MorphOS and AmigaOS 4 as well as various, mostly older 68k ports, there has been another project for AmigaOS 3.1 since last year with Mame106Minimix, which however requires a very fast computer (68060 processor with 64 MB or actually designed for PiStorm extensions).
The port of MAME version 0.106, which dates back to 2006, is now available in version 1.3 and offers further corrections regarding the AGA and OCS native modes and the emulation of various games. (snx)
[News message: 01. May. 2025, 05:31] [Comments: 0]
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01.May.2025
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Video: A-Z Of Amiga Music
The approximately one-hour video "A-Z Of Amiga Music" presents the music of various Amiga titles in alphabetical order of the game names, from Alien Breed to Zone Warrior. (snx)
[News message: 01. May. 2025, 05:31] [Comments: 0]
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01.May.2025
Mastodon (ANF)
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Event: Canberra Vintage Computer Exhibition 2025
On July 19/20, with the support of the Australian Computer Museum Society and the Vintage Computer Federation, the Canberra Vintage Computer Exhibition will take place for the fourth time - this time in the McCowage Hall of the Daramalan College in Dickson. (snx)
[News message: 01. May. 2025, 05:30] [Comments: 0]
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30.Apr.2025
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New PPC hardware announced: "Mirari" featuring USB3, NVME, FPGA (Update 3)
Dave "Skateman" Koelman presented a new PPC motherboard developed by Harald 'Geennaam' Kanning in the "Hardware" channel of the Amigans Discord server. Some time later, Kanning himself started posting in our comments section and supplied
a pretty extensive overview over the project:
The full specifications of the current design look like this:
- Form Factor: micro-ATX compatible, 244x170mm (L x W)
- T10x2 (2-4 e5500 cores) up to 1.5GHz / T2081 (4 dual-threaded e6500 cores with Altivec 2.0) up to 1.8GHz
- DDR3L (1.35V) SODIMM with rank interleaving (T10x2 up to DDR1600; T2081 up to DDR2133)
- PCIe x16 slot with 4 lanes occupied (PCIe 2.0)
- PCIe x4 slot with one lane occupied (T10x2 PCIe 2.0; T2081 PCIe 3.0)
- PCIe x1 slot with one lane occupied (PCIe 2.0)
- 2x SATA 2.0 (T10x2 only, at 300Mbit/s)
- 2x NVMe slots (second slot mutually exclusive with second SATA port)
- 8 USB 2.0 ports (4 connected to the rear I/O; 4 connected to internal USB 2.0 headers)
- 4 USB 3.2 Gen1 ports (2 connected to the rear I/O; 2 connected to an internal USB 3.0 header)
- 10/100/1000 Mbit Ethernet
- 192kHz/24bit analog audio (mic, line-in, line-out to the rear I/O; mic, headphone to the HD audio connector)
- S/PDIF / Toslink digital audio out
- 9-pin RS232 to the rear I/O
- Micro SD card (push-in push-out) as boot source
- 24-pin ATX power connector
- 4-pin ATX CPU power connector
- CPU fan header with PWM
- Case fan header
- TRION FPGA
Background and Mission
The Mirari board is designed with the intention to provide the Amiga
community with low-cost PowerPC hardware. Therefore, the design is based on a
bare minimum with nice-to-haves based on what makes sense, but always with
the mission in mind. Due to the minor cost difference between a dual-core
T1022 and the quad-core T1042, we've decided on the T1042, resulting in a
low-cost board with mid-range specifications.
The T10x2 is based on the e5500 core, the same core found in the X5000.
Initial benchmarks confirm that the single-core performance difference is
just the clock difference, with a 1.4 GHz T1042 performing at 70% of the 2GHz
X5020. The design also accommodates the pin and footprint-compatible T2081,
allowing for a mid-cost board with high-end specifications. To ensure
compatibility, we had to make some compromises to the T10x2 design.
Memory Support
The T10x2 memory controller supports both 64-bit DDR3L and DDR4 at 800 MHz (DDR1600).
The T2081 memory controller supports both 64-bit DDR3L at 933MHz (DDR1866) and DDR3 at 1066MHz (DDR2133).
The common denominator is DDR3L, hence the choice for a 1.35V SODIMM slot.
If we had focused solely on the T1042, DDR4 would have been the better choice from an availability standpoint. However, since the clock speed is the same but latencies are larger for DDR4, the overall memory performance would have been lower.
For the T2081 we can increase the memory controller voltage to 1.5V which would enable the DDR2133 interface speed.
Although we have only one memory controller, initial Linux benchmarks show that the single and SMT memory performance is at least on par with the X5020.
Audio
For longevity reasons, we've decided to use an industrial-grade audio codec from TI (TLV320AIC3204). This codec is routed to three audio jacks at the rear (mic, line-in, line-out) and to an onboard HD audio connector. Additionally, there's a digital optical output (Toslink). The T1042 features an I2S interface for direct connection to external audio codecs, while the T208x does not. Therefore, we've implemented the I2S and S/PDIF controllers in the FPGA. This means there's no audio driver readily available for Linux. For OS4 and MorphOS, I have experience writing AHI drivers, so consider this covered.
Storage
The mainboard features two SATA ports and two NVMe slots. However, we had to make some tough choices again:
For the T1042 variant, there's always one SATA port and one NVMe slot available. The second SATA/NVMe is mutually exclusive, currently jumper-based but eventually u-boot configurable.
The T2081 does not have SATA interfaces. If you need SATA, it must be added with a PCIe card. However, keep in mind that SATA is being phased out, with modern PCs and laptops often using NVMe over SATA SSDs.
Tested Linux distributions are all booting and running from NVMe. I also have experience with NVMe drivers, so consider this covered for OS4 and MorphOS as well.
USB3: We based u-boot on the latest stable version available earlier this year, 2024.10. This has many benefits over using the 2014-2018 versions available in other PowerPC hardware. However, the developers behind u-boot changed the driver model around 2018, with a transition period ending in 2020. This means u-boot is a mixture of old drivers and drivers compliant with the new model. For USB on NXP SoC, there's a catch: NXP didn't rewrite their OHCI and EHCI drivers for the new model. Activating the XHCI driver for USB3 support causes conflicts. Fortunately, this is not an issue under Linux, so USB3 works correctly, but we have work to do for u-boot.
Prototypes
We have ordered 5 prototypes and managed to make them all work (100% yield). This was a great concern to me personally, as the layout requirements for the 780 balls FPGA stretched our supplier's capabilities to its limits. The boards run stably and have undergone hours of burn-in testing with Linux stress testing tools. One observation is that the CPUs run around 30°C idle and around 40°C under full load, which is good for overclocking potential. The core power supply has quite some headroom to support this. You can check out the Hyperion Entertainment X5000 Linux-only forum for posts from Skateman. Whenever he talks about his 4-core e5500, he is actually talking about this board.
Update: (30.04.2025, 23:20, cg)
The hardware designer made some additional statements in a Discord channel only accessible to registered users (Official Commodore Amiga, #next-gen):
- "Board is fully functional. So runs all available PPC Linux distro's (including the latest Chimera). This one is T1042 based for cost reasons.
So 4x e5500 cores. But the board is fully compatible with the 8 threaded e6500 based T2081. Other things to highlight are 2x NVMe (Linux boots
and runs from NVMe) and USB3.2 Gen1".
- "Target for the T1042 based version is to be the lowest cost mainboard PPC board on sale."
- "Target is to run both OS4 and MorphOS. But this is not up to us of course. We can do so much what we can control. And that is the hardware
including u-boot. If those in control of OS4 ultimately do not want to cooperate than at least we had the fun. And proved that low cost PPC
hardware is possible."
- "The T1042 supports either 1.35V DDR3L or DDR4. The T2081 supports either 1.5V DDR3 or 1.35V DDR3L. Hence the choice for a 1.35V sodimm.
For the T2081 I could opt for 1.5V DDR3. Then it can be clocked up to DDR-2133"
Update 2: (01.05.2025, 13:15, cg):
Board designer Harald 'Geennaam' Kanning has posted an extensive description of the project in our comments section.
Update 3: (01.05.2025, 15:39, cg):
Restructured the entire news item, to present all information available so far in an easier to digest format.
(cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 30. Apr. 2025, 19:52] [Comments: 8 - 02. May. 2025, 14:10]
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29.Apr.2025
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Worth a read: Thomas Rattigan, short-lived Commodore CEO
American journalist and author David L. Farquhar regularly writes about computer and IT history on his website "The Silicon Underground". In a recent article, he outlines the short but eventful tenure of Thomas Rattigan as CEO of Commodore. Rattigan was lured away from Pepsi to Commodore in 1985 and initially took on the role of COO. He is credited with initiating the successful A500 and A2000 models and returning the company to profitability.
On 23 April 1987, just over a year after being appointed CEO of Commodore (on 1 April 1986), Thomas Rattigan had his abrupt end at Commodore – he was dismissed by Irving Gould and escorted out of the building by security guards without being given the opportunity to take any personal belongings with him.
Farquhar recounts the background to this spectacular episode in Commodore's company history and shows how Rattigan ended up having the last laugh. (nba)
[News message: 29. Apr. 2025, 19:00] [Comments: 0]
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29.Apr.2025
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Podcast: The Retro Hour celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Amiga
The latest episode (476) of the English-language podcast The Retro Hour is all about the 40th birthday of the Commodore Amiga. Recorded live at VCF East in New Jersey, host Dan Wood presents stories about Amiga developers and computer pioneers Dale Luck, Jeff Porter, Andy Finkel and others. They share exclusive insights and anecdotes from the early days of the legendary home computer.
This episode also features news for retro nerds, including information about a new homebrew racing game for the Sega Saturn, the return of Compute's Gazette, the limited edition of the Doom I & II collection, the new update 3.2.3 for AmigaOS, and the game "Mechanoids 2 – The Final Conflict". (nba)
[News message: 29. Apr. 2025, 18:28] [Comments: 0]
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29.Apr.2025
Games That Weren't
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Amiga Games That Weren't: Alien Olympics
Alien Olympics was a sports game planned by Mindscape for 1994 for the Amiga (OCS, 1 MB) and the CD32. Although it was never released, the website "Games That Weren't" has now discovered an early version of the game that is about 30% complete and made it runnable. The game, which was converted to Amiga by Mark Greenshields, is reminiscent of Track & Field, but with eight unique alien characters and humorous disciplines. (nba)
[News message: 29. Apr. 2025, 18:18] [Comments: 0]
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