12.Jul.2025
Mr Cool
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New Commodore owners with new website and first products (update)
Two weeks ago, Youtuber Christian 'Perifractic' Simpson announced that an unnamed group of investors had taken over Commodore and that he would be the new CEO. Today, the "new" Commdore is advertising its first product in a short video: The "C64 Ultimate", available in three different editions, combines a breadbox case - presumably from RetroFuzion - with the FPGA-based C64 replica Ultimate 64 Elite-II and an unknown USB keyboard with a C64 look. The devices should be available from October or November, but interested parties can already order and pay for the devices now - which are limited to 10,000 or 6400 units, depending on the version.
A FAQ on the new website is intended to clarify some open questions, while the team section gives an overview over the people involved or working as consultants.
Update: (13.07.2025, 9:45, cg)
In the Free Edition of the new "Compute's Gazette", a very euphoric summary of the Commodore takeover, obviously written in close co-operation with Simpson, mentions a purchase price of USD 2.16 million. (cg)
[News message: 12. Jul. 2025, 23:58] [Comments: 0]
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12.Jul.2025
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Preview video: M.I.L.V. - Danmaku #9 (bullet hell shooter)
"M.I.L.V." ("Missile Intercepting Lethal Vehicle") is the current name of the bullet hell shooter, which originally had the working titles "Hyperborea" and "Danmaku" and is being developed by Daniel 'Daytona675x' Müßener (code), Holger Crome (graphics) and Roland 'Triace' Voss (music). The ninth preview video is intended to illustrate the current status; according to Müßener, the following changes have been made since the last version:
- as promised, an improved hitbox indicator.
- new self-made sound effects.
- power-ups (weapon+, bomb+, life+ and the typical MP item).
- continues.
- 6 highscore tables, one for each difficulty level and 1p/2p.
- more bullet- and pattern-types.
- in-game messages. Currently used for the typical WARNING before the boss, but also for the level-end bonus score adding as the system allows for placeholders and procedural text adjustments on the fly.
- pixel perfect occlusion. Every background tile can have a mask to be used for occlusion effects on enemies. E.g. ground enemies can appear from behind rocks or move below bridges or hide below trees, stuff like that. This works with all types of enemies.
- of course background changes like explosion craters take such occlusion masks into account too.
- also note that fully occluded enemies cannot be shot and won't shoot. Finally some good usage for the blitter's zero flag :)
- background brightness can be adjusted in the main-menu. Well, we all get older and this may certainly help some people to easier distinguish bullets and enemies from the background.
- in the rare case of a frame-drop, the game will now lock to 25Hz for about a second to avoid micro-stuttering.
- replaced some enemy placeholders (no pumpkins from the Halloween video anymore). Especially sliced and added a mod of the famous Dodonpachi tank boss,
mostly to give Crome some hints on how to partition his own bosses.
- satellite mode. For now this is just available through the hidden cheat menu, I don't know if I'm going to make this an official game mode. Anyway, if activated the 2nd player ship will follow the 1st player ship and shoot with the other gun. I added this for nice video recording if my daughter is not available for a 2P session :)
- lots of other stuff (e.g. many fixes / optimizations, fresh scoring system, improved tool-chain, ship movement speeds adjusted to be more DDP-alike, particles on player death, etc. etc.)
- Crome prepared backgrounds for three levels so far. Enemies come last because I first prepare enemy patterns and swarms so that he knows the max dimensions before drawing...
- a new name: "Missile Intercepting Lethal Vehicle" - or M.I.L.V. SWIV is my favorite Amiga shmup and this is another nod to those guys.
(cg)
[News message: 12. Jul. 2025, 23:42] [Comments: 1 - 14. Jul. 2025, 14:08]
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12.Jul.2025
Andreas Magerl (ANF)
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Print magazine: Issue 149 of Amiga Future available online
The English and German issue 149 (March/April 2021) of the print magazine ‘Amiga Future’ can now be read on the magazine's website in the form of image files of the individual pages. Remaining copies of the magazine and a higher-resolution PDF version can be purchased from the publisher. (cg)
[News message: 12. Jul. 2025, 23:28] [Comments: 0]
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12.Jul.2025
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Do it yourself: Programmable ROM module KickSmash32, Version 1.8
KickSmash32 is a Kickstart ROM replacement module that can be programmed directly under AmigaOS as well as via USB-C from Linux and provides eight flash banks for different ROM files. Since version 1.6, the Amiga 1200, Amiga 3000 and 4000 models, as well as the Amiga 4000CR and Amiga 3000T, are supported.
The newly released Version 1.8 offers the following changes:
hostsmash
- Now replays Kicksmash output to user when flash programming failure occurs. This will allow one to see an error that the Kicksmash FW emitted..
- Improved auto byte order swapping to detect more ROM types
ROM switcher
- Fixed bug where clicking + or - for Long Reset settings was broken.
- Spacebar now switches between PAL and NTSC.
Kicksmash FW
- Worked around flash chip bug (0x90 to address 0x55) again.
- Fixed flash programming bug which caused missed data from the USB host. This bug was introduced at the workaround for the M29F160 flash chip bug.
- Added "set sw_timeout" command to set the ROM Switcher timeout
- Added "set sw_bank" command to set the ROM Switcher bank
smash
- Added "set sw_timeout" command to set the ROM Switcher timeout
- Added "set sw_bank" command to set the ROM Switcher bank
Documentation
- Updated FAQ to give better reason why to use Kicksmash.
- Updated FAQ with specific example of upgrading Kickstart to 3.2.3.
- Miscellaneous updates to the FAQ.
- Improved grammar in HW build and programming instructions.
- Updated SW hostsmash, smash, and smashftp documentation.
(dr)
[News message: 12. Jul. 2025, 08:18] [Comments: 0]
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11.Jul.2025
Reddit
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macOS: Picture Viewer PixDeluxe and QuickLook plugin for iff files
The developer of Send2adf and ADF.inder (amiga-news.de reported) offers another two tools for macOS:
PixDeluxe makes it possible to browse through large collections of Amiga iff image files and convert them to PNG format if required. It also offers a new plugin for QuickLook, with which iff files can now be viewed again without having to open them. (dr)
[News message: 11. Jul. 2025, 21:42] [Comments: 0]
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11.Jul.2025
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Amiga emulator for macOS: vAmiga 4.3b1
Version 4.3b1 of Dirk Hoffmann's Amiga emulator vAmiga for macOS offers the following changes:
- RetroShell has a new navigator console for inspecting the file system of floppy disks and hard drives. To enter the console, open Retro shell and type "navigator" or use Shift-TAB to cycle through consoles
- The Shift Lock key now works as a warp-mode override switch
- Fixed a A1000 related WOM bug
(dr)
[News message: 11. Jul. 2025, 20:51] [Comments: 0]
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11.Jul.2025
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Tetris variant: A100, version 1.02
In the Tetris variant "A100" (Video), new bricks are placed by the player on a square playing field, eliminating the "pieces falling down" mechanism of the original game. Once all positions in a column or row are occupied, the column/row is emptied. (amiga-news.de reported). Now a WHDLoad version is offered as well. Besides, version 1.02 fixes a bug in the ADF version when quitting the game. (dr)
[News message: 11. Jul. 2025, 20:41] [Comments: 0]
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11.Jul.2025
Reddit
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Video: TheMiniCD32 as hobby project
In a video, 'Toolzzi Games' presents the current status of its self-developed "TheMiniCD32" project, a miniaturised version of the CD32. It is based on a Raspberry Pi 4 with a self-written start interface. PUAE is used as the emulator because, as the developer explains, it processes games with CDDA audio much better. Once all the development work has been completed, it is planned to offer the project as a self-assembly kit. (dr)
[News message: 11. Jul. 2025, 06:40] [Comments: 0]
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10.Jul.2025
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Emu68: Imager Tool 1.0.5.2 for Windows
The "Imager Tool" enables PiStorm users to prepare an SD card with the Motorola68K emulation Emu68 and a preconfigured AmigaOS 3 installation. Changes since our last news item:
- 1.0.5.2: Improved the Online script to better handle where connections do not work. Where connections have failed but WirelessManager remains connected, WirelessManager is closed so the log can be accessed on the Amiga (previously the log was inaccessible as WirelessManager locks the file). The logs for WirelessManager, AddInterface from Roadshow and sntp are all concatenated and written to RAM:WirelessLogs.Txt so the user can see all the information in one place for troubleshooting
- 1.0.5.1: Added check for encrypted Cloanto Kickstart ROMs so the user is alerted if they have chosen this ROM since it will not work on PiStorm without being decrypted
(cg)
[News message: 10. Jul. 2025, 23:05] [Comments: 0]
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10.Jul.2025
Amiga Kit (E-Mail)
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Emulator hardware: Update 46.1.1151 for A1200NG and A600GS
Another software update has been released for AmigaKit's A600GS emulator platform and the ARM-based A1200NG motherboard. It is available for download to registered AmiSphere customers and includes the following changes:
- Upgrade PlayVideo to 46.7 Avoids using NewMinList() as this is version 50 or above only. Now put up information requester if start without avcodec backend present.
- Integrate latest builds of PeterKs icon.library for enhanced PNG datatype loading and other bugs fixes.
- Zune: fix up behaviour of MUIV_Window_Width_MinMax()
- Zune: Fix incorrect parsing of underscores in escape sequences resulting in the incorrect shortcut key in SimpleButtons and else where.
- Zune: Fix duplicate GoActive methods sent to already active objects
- Upgrade to Assign 46.11
- Update to UnArchiver 46.4 29/06/2025
- Update filesysbox.library to 54.7
- Update smbfs handler to 53.10
- Checking of license keys for add-on functionality like the CPU Boost product now takes place immediately after the first login after registration, so no longer requires autologin to be enabled.
Amigakit reccomends to disable the auto install of avcodec on startup: most users seem to upgrade with ease, but a few are having issues resulting in an update loop. To install avcodec suite manually, go to the advanced update section and choose it from the list. (cg)
[News message: 10. Jul. 2025, 23:02] [Comments: 0]
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10.Jul.2025
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Emulator: Mame106Minimix 1.5
Mame106Minimix is a port of the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator to AmigaOS 3, which requires a very fast 68k computer - the author primarily has PiStorm cards in mind. Changes in version 1.5:
- Vector graphics games are implemented (starwars,asteroid,startrek, cosmic chasm,... more or less 20 games.)
- Vector screens have specific configuration to tune resolution, remanence, and a special glow effect for vector screens
- StarWars, Gauntlet, 720 degree, and all games using the "POKEY" sound chip (Atari) got 30% or 40% accelerated
- "Turbo OutRun" and "F1GP Star 1&2" gets the same treatment as outrun and chasehq: input menu panel with more explicit controls, wheel and gear optionnaly displayed
- MUI supports dedicated appicon (skin/appicon.info) , and amigaguide can be opened from help key
- driver list can now be correctly sorted by screen mode, it's useful to sort vector games
- In-game menu "Game Information" now tells the actual Intuition Screen Mode found
- Amigaguide Documentation updated
- corrections for some screen rotation cases
- the little bitmaps in menu does not crash on big resolution anymore
- some colors trashed in 8bit screens corrected
- Numerous little corrections here and there
(cg)
[News message: 10. Jul. 2025, 22:46] [Comments: 0]
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10.Jul.2025
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Amiga emulator: Amiberry 7.1.0 and Amiberry-lite 5.8.10
Amiberry is an Amiga emulator based on the current WinUAE version, while its little brother Amiberry-lite is based on WinUAE 4.4 and is intended for slower hardware - up to the Raspberry Pi 4. Version 7.1.0 of Amiberry is now available, Amiberry-lite has arrived at Version 5.8.10. (cg)
[News message: 10. Jul. 2025, 22:43] [Comments: 0]
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09.Jul.2025
Amiga Future (website)
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AROS: Progress in May/June 2025
At the title link Nick Andrews has summarized the progress of the open source, AmigaOS 3.1 API compatible operating system AROS in the last two months.
For example, a TIFF datatype has been implemented, the gfx.hidd has been extended by SSE/AVX-optimized conversion routines and the GCC patches have been updated to GCC 15. (snx)
[News message: 09. Jul. 2025, 05:37] [Comments: 0]
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08.Jul.2025
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Print/PDF magazine: Amiga Addict, issue 38
The new issue 38 of the British magazine Amiga Addict (June 2025) is dedicated to the long-established company HiSoft Systems. HiSoft was not only known for legendary developer tools such as Devpac and HiSoft BASIC, but also brought hardware such as the Squirrel SCSI interface and various media drives to market. In the magazine, Phil South talks to co-founder Andy Pennell (now Principal Software Engineer at Xbox) about the exciting early days of the company and its significance for the Amiga community.
In addition, this issue features a big "Amiga Shopper" retrospective with many former editors, a free cover disc download with Top Hat Willy, a special on influential role-playing games on the Amiga, and reviews of the new games Aminer, Pjusk, and LightTheLEDs. Classics such as Exile and Bump 'n' Burn are also covered in detail. In addition, the editorial team takes a look at the AMIGApril livestream event, Frank Gasking launches a new series on Games That Weren't with a feature on Dennis and Gnasher, and the Creative Revolution section focuses on vector art with Fantavision. Ravi Abbott also presents the possibilities of virtual desktops on the Amiga.
Amiga Addict 38 is now available from the publisher addict.media and in British newsagents. (nba)
[News message: 08. Jul. 2025, 14:24] [Comments: 0]
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08.Jul.2025
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3D printable: Amiga 1200 External USB Keyboard Plug Mount
Dennis "0xDB" Busch has presented the 3D printing project "Amiga 1200 External USB Keyboard Plug Mount 3D printable" on itch.io, which can be used to print a mount for external USB keyboards for the Amiga 1200. The mount is designed so that it can be mounted on the top of the case without damaging it and fits into the moldings of the original case. USB adapters such as Jamie Retro's USB KBD Adapter are supported. The files are for private use only; commercial resale is prohibited. The STL data can be downloaded in exchange for a voluntary donation. (nba)
[News message: 08. Jul. 2025, 11:53] [Comments: 0]
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08.Jul.2025
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Emu68: Status update by developer Michael Schulz
About the Emu68 project, an emulation of the Motorola 68k processor, amiga-news.de first reported in March 2024. Now developer Michal Schulz has posted a status update on Patreon. Under the title "I'm not dead!", Schulz assures that development is still active, even if things have been quiet lately. He reports progress on planned features and promises version 1.1. (nba)
[News message: 08. Jul. 2025, 11:30] [Comments: 0]
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07.Jul.2025
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Demo party: Results of the Posadas game competition
At the beginning of March, the Spanish YouTube channel Amiga Wave launched a programming competition for the game construction kit RedPill (amiga-news.de reported), whose entries were presented - together with two other games (The Last Door und Apagón!) - and awarded prizes at the Posadas demo party (video tour) held north of Seville last weekend. The results:
The downloads are available on Scene.org. (dr)
[News message: 07. Jul. 2025, 22:23] [Comments: 0]
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07.Jul.2025
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Picture collection: Amiga Graphics Archive updated
This time, the Amiga Graphics Archive has been expanded to include a large collection of "Color Cycling" images: this technique changes the colours of the images in such a way that it creates the impression of animation. (dr)
[News message: 07. Jul. 2025, 06:25] [Comments: 0]
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07.Jul.2025
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Platformer: CD32 image of Krogharr available
The platformer Krogharr was released a week ago (amiga-news.de reported). Now there is also a CD32 image of this game. (dr)
[News message: 07. Jul. 2025, 06:19] [Comments: 0]
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07.Jul.2025
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Arcade shooter: Demo version of ZorkLand
Amiten Games (among others AmiSeaFox) has released a demo version of an arcade shooter that was started back in 2013 (video). Using the Extra Halfbrite mode, up to 64 colours can be displayed simultaneously. At least 1 MB of chip RAM (2 MB recommended) and a 68020 processor are required. (dr)
[News message: 07. Jul. 2025, 06:16] [Comments: 0]
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07.Jul.2025
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Do it yourself: Programmable ROM module KickSmash32, version 1.7
KickSmash32 is a Kickstart ROM replacement module that can be programmed directly under AmigaOS as well as via USB-C from Linux and provides eight flash banks for different ROM files. Since version 1.6, the Amiga 1200, Amiga 3000 and 4000 models, as well as the Amiga 4000CR and Amiga 3000T, are supported.
The newly released version 1.7 offers the following changes:
hostsmash
- Fixed bug where merging 512KB Amiga ROMs resulting in 1 MB image to write. This is not desirable because AmigaOS ROM images are doubled.
- Enhanced ROM write to no longer check if area is erased, but to just prompt user for erase approval.
- Fixed hostsmash "--clock" argument alias for "-c"
ROM switcher
- Fixed bug introduced in 1.6 ROM switcher which can cause motherboard fast memory to go missing.
- Fixed bank switch timeout to not abort unexpectedly at startup.
- Fixed potential Blitter initialization bug.
- Added polygon fill so the rendering of Kicksmash is not just line art.
Kicksmash FW
- Fixed bug where crash could happen at long reset if longreset bank is not set
- Fixed pin test bug where SOCKET_OE=1 might cause SOCKET_D31=1
- Worked around M29F160 flash chip bug which prevented AmigaOS 2.04 from being flashed. Value 0x90 was being written to address 0x55, which put the flash in "READ CFI QUERY" mode, causing programming to fail.
- Added "address" pattern to Kicksmash "patt" command.
- Added "random" pattern to Kicksmash "patt" command.
- Added Flash OEWE test of Q2 and Q3 based on speed of those parts. This test was implemented because AO34000A parts populated on the Rev 6a boards cause programming from the Amiga to fail because they are too slow.
- Fixed walking bits tests in "test" command.
- Increased Amiga UART buffer from 1024 bytes to 2048 bytes.
- Fixed potential false error at 100% when hostsmash is writing a ROM.
- Eliminated some variable latency in Kicksmash-Amiga CPU command replies.
smash
- Improved flash ID test (6) to report values on failure.
- Code to return flash to read mode now tries extra hard. This may fix crashes with "smash erase" and "smash write" commands.
- Minor help text improvements.
- Improved 'flash id' test failure recovery to be less likely to hang Amiga.
- Implemented flash command sync retry when Kicksmash is late with flash command. This will hopefully resolve "flash id" test and other flash
command failures.
Miscellaneous
- Fixed bug in wdikicksmash.bat, which was fetching the wdi-simple.exe using a bad filename.
Documentation
- Added warning about Kicksmash1200 incompatibility with TF1260.
- Minor documentation updates.
PCBs
- Rev Kicksmash1200 to version 7.1 (fix USB-C cutout)
(dr)
[News message: 07. Jul. 2025, 05:46] [Comments: 0]
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