Completely abandoned bidirectional SSL shutdowns due to some servers being broken and not replying properly, which caused HTTPS connections to hang and never complete
Updated Polish and Italian language catalogs
OS4: Fixed AmiUpdate not updating the Norwegian catalog
Updated PNG decoder using libpng 1.6.37
Fixed possible reference to freed memory for secure pages when updating the status bar
Detect incomplete gzip encoded downloads, flagging them as an error and allowing the auto resume feature to handle them too
Added handling of marginwidth, marginheight, border and scrolling attributes for <iframe> elements
Fixed broken JavaScript in iframes, due to wrong (parent) context being used
Skip alternative content for iframes when iframes enabled
Fixed crash when freeing pages with nested iframes
Image links and maps now default to showing no border
Border now rendered for non-linked image elements when specified
68k: Downgraded locale.library requirement from V39 to V38, for Workbench 3.0 compatibility
Fixed crash that would happen should locale.library fail to open
Fixed case where HTTPS connections did not finish loading due to some servers not responding to an SSL shutdown, when the disk cache was disabled
The developers also explained: "Some development work has also been done on HTML <iframe> support (which Stefan started during IBrowse 2.4 development), but this remains disabled in public releases until it is deemed stable."
(cg) (Translation: dr)
Encryption protocol: AmiSSL 4.9
Version 4.9 of the encryption protocol AmiSSL provides an update to the latest version of OpenSSL as well as some Amiga specific improvements:
Updated OpenSSL backend to full compatibility to latest
OpenSSL 1.1.1k (25.03.2021) version, which brings security and bug fixes
Simplified and improved logic in amisslmaster.library for choosing which
libraries to open
Installer will now delete redundant AmiSSLv4 libraries where possible
Added Swedish installer translation
Updated icons with more modern GlowIcons
Added sample openssl.cnf file and CA.pl helper script to the installation
Self-made project: Mouse-Joystick-switcher 'Amiga Mouse Switch'
The 'Amiga Mouse Switch' can simultaneously connect a mouse and a second joystick to the Amiga. You can switch between both input devices by a push of a button. All required documents the developer provides on Github under a free licence.
(cg) (Translation: dr)
AmigaOS 4: New audio driver for Intel HD Audio
A new AHI driver for AmigaOS 4 supports PCIe cards with sound chips meeting the HD Audio specifications. The archive also includes a simple "mixer" for controlling the volume.
Which cards do work (verified):
Creative Labs Soundblaster Audigy FX (24bit/192kHz 5.1)
Startech PEXSOUND7CH (24bit/192kHz 7.1) -> Available under many different brands
Fransande 411944 (24bit/192kHz 7.1) -> Available under many different brands
Cards that should work:
Terratec AUREON 7.1 PCIe (will arive shortly for verfication)
Basically every combination of HDaudio controllers and HD audio multichannel codecs (eg. CA0113, CM8828, CM8888, CM9882A ALC898 etc)
Older cards that might work (no guarantees):
Asus Xonar Phoebus solo (CM8888 in combination with high quality discrete DACs)
Powercolor Devil HDX (CM8888 in combination with discrete DACs)
Cards that do not work (yet):
Core3d (CA0132) based Sound Blasters (Eg Z, AE-5, AE-7, AE-9 etc). These cards have a DSP (ca0132) instead of an audio codec. Support is planned but don't hold your breath because extensive and undocumented configuration is required.
Cards that will never work:
PCIe Asus soundcards that are on sale now. These cards are either AV100 ( rebadged CMI8788), CM8786 or C-media 6632AX (USB chip) based. Neither of these chips comply with the Intel HDaudio standard
Sound blaster Audigy RX and all other EMU based or X-FI based sound blasters. (do not comply with the Intel HD audio standard)
Non-PCIe soundcards in general like external USB cards
Preview videos: Puzzle game 'Follix' for AGA computers
Simone 'saimo' Bevilacqua is working on another puzzle game for AGA computer, this time called 'Follix'. The name of the game is inspired by Atomix. His version will offer 24-Bit graphics effects and 8-Bit transparency. Two videos the author published (1, 2) demonstrates the latest level of devlopment.
(cg) (Translation: dr)
Playable preview: Unfinished shooter 'Blork'
'Blork' was a horizontally-scrolling shoot'em-up game developed in the mid-nineties which was never finished. The project 'Games That Weren't' succeeded in finding a playable demo version of the game. You can watch a video there as well.
(cg) (Translation: dr)
End user help wanted: VirusZ and xvs.library to become open source
Georg Wittmann (formerly Hörmann) plans to release the source codes of his projects VirusZ and xvs.library after 15 years of inactivity. Before that he wants to make sure that his anti-virus software runs on AmigaOS 4, MorphOS and AROS (m68k): Since he himself does not have most of the systems mentioned, he has written a short program that collects and outputs information about the current computer. He asks that as many users as possible with one of the mentioned operating systems run the program and send him the output by e-mail. (cg) (Translation: bb)
Interview: ASCII artist Yop (Shrimps Design)
At the title link, Lars Sobiraj did an interview with the german ASCII artist 'Yop' of Shrimps Design. The 45 y.o. had been active since 1993 in the Amiga ASCII scene and recollects how much he did like to work with the text editor CygnusED back then. Today, however, he doesn't own an Amiga anymore and is rarely using an emulator even. (snx)
AmigaOS 4: Enhancer Software 2
Today, version 2 of the AmigaOS 4.1 extension package "Enhancer Software" by A-EON Technology has been released. Customers who have purchased the "Enhancer Software Graphics Update" before can download it for free using the "Updater" utility. According to customers, the full version is available in Amistore for about 120 USD.
New features include for example hardware-accelerated video decoding on Radeon Polaris graphic cards, an extension of the OpenGLES 2 library, preferences for the power settings of Radeon Southern Islands/Oland and Polaris cards, an archiver tool for the major kinds of compressed archives and additional datatypes.
New features:
Video Acceleration Library has been added to support hardware video decoding on Radeon Polaris cards
Warp3D Nova has been updated to support the new Video Acceleration library as well as many important improvements and bug fixes
OpenGLES 2 library has been expanded with more functionality and bug fixes
SensorMaster library: a new hardware Sensor API for the first time on next generation systems
Power Prefs has been added to control the Power settings on Radeon Southern Islands/Oland and Polaris cards
Archiver tool has been added offering compression and unarchiving on major compressed archives
InfoWB commodity has been added providing volume information using PieChart Gadget and CRC32 information
MultiViewer: now supports new Toolbar gadget class with many updates and fixes implemented
MultiEdit: now supports new Toolbar gadget class with many updates and fixes implemented
Notifications (Ringhio): now supports modern slide in notification animations with a new library of alert sounds added. Many bug fixes implemented
Format: now displays volume capacity information using PieChart Gadget. Supports ListViewer, InfoData and ProgressBar gadget
Updater and AmiSphereServer: overhaul/rewrite of many functions with many bug fixes
WHDLoad: New installers until 27.03.2021
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 27.03.2021:
2021-03-27 improved: R-Type 2 (Activision) SSP relocated, 68000 quitkey, trainer added, manual and icon added, new install script (Info)
OnyxSoft: ZapperNG 1.2
ZapperNG by Stefan Blixth is an extended re-implementation of the MorphOS commodity Zapper by his former team fellow Adam Waldenberg. Unlike the original program, ZapperNG is also available for AmigaOS 3.x, AmigaOS 4 and AROS (the latter being a port by Eugene Sobolev). Now version 1.2 has been released.
The commodity modifies the ZipWindow() function of intuition.library, i.e. the behaviour of the "zoom" symbol in the upper right corner of a window. Instead of switching between two sizes of a window, it becomes extended to the full screen. Depending of the chosen parameter, the screen's title bar is either omitted or not. Further options enable a balanced scaling to all directions, avoiding the active window to put into front, defining a hotkey as alternative to clicking the zoom symbol, and cycling between windows by pressing Alt-Tab. (snx)
Diskmag: Jurassic Pack #18 article online
After a 12-year break, the 18th issue of the disk mag 'Jurassic Pack', first published in 1995, was released in January. Editor Lars 'Ghandy' Sobiraj has now also published all articles on his tech news service tarnkappe.info. (cg)
Preview-Video: Shoot'em Up 'Boss Machine' (AGA)
Kevin Saunders' 'Boss Machine' is supposed to be a horizontally scrolling shooter for AGA computers. A new preview video shows various weapon systems. (cg) (Translation: bb)
Assembler: "Light Speed Player", very fast MOD player routine
The "Light Speed Player" is, according to its own description, the "fastest MOD player ever". The routine written in Assembler is aimed at demo and game programmers who want to include background music in their works without losing significant CPU cycles. The efficiency of the player is achieved by a special file format into which the music pieces must be converted before playing. (cg) (Translation: bb)
AmigaOS 4: Tabellenkalkulation ignitionOS4 1.10, Update des OpenDocument-Plugins
Achim Pankalla releases ignition 1.10: the eighth update of the spreadsheet. He is responsible since he took over the maintenance of the package in 2014. In this version, some "small issues" have been fixed or added, among other things. All cell attributes are now properly saved and it is possible to print directly to a PDF file.
The changes in detail:
Error when saving attributes fixed
English and German Catalog now contains many keyboard shortcuts
Requester can now also handle keyboard shortcuts
Error in print routine corrected
PDF printing now possible via special print unit
Possible grimreaper at splash-screen fixed
British English no longer leads to language configuration hint
New function mode
Other small adjustments/corrections
Also the ods-addon was reworked to support the new functions. The addon allows loading and saving tables in OpenDocument format, which is used in LibreOffice/OpenOffice Calc among others.
Changes in ign-ods-addon 0.34:
mode and pi() are now supported
Problem with some table names fixed
Achim Pankalla thanks all testers, bug reporters, translators and supporters. He welcomes any feedback via email, and also refers to the official ignition support forum at os4welt.de for further information and discussion. (cg) (Translation: bb)
AmigaOS 4: Image viewer Videntium Picta 2.4
Juan Carlos 'Templario' Herran Martin has released version 2.4 of his Hollywood application "Videntium Picta". Additional to diverse standard image formats like jpg, png, gif, lbm, bmp, tiff and pcx, the programm also can play animations like anim, ham6, ham8, movisetter, yafam, gif and apng.
Furthermore Videntium Picta offers simple image editing functions like mirroring, rotating or changing the size and can take screenshots.
In view of the fact that recently version 9 of Hollywood has been released, Juan Carlos asks his users to donate some money for purchasing the coresponding upgrade. Mainly he wants to find out if there is suffcient demand and desire for a further development of his applications. If those 49 Euro will be succesfully financed he hold out the propect of further updates and games.
(dr) (Translation: dr)