28.Jul.2021
AmigaLove
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Iconverter: Old icons with a new look / Basics about AmigaOS icons
With 'Iconverter' (currently version 0.95) you can convert old icons as if they were created for today's more recent versions of AmigaOS. Iconverter converts AmigaOS 1.x and MagicWB icons into the format of NewIcons, using the color scale for which these icons were created. Theoretically this would also work for icons created under AmigaOS 2.0 to 3.1, but they are usually displayed correctly without conversion.
To get the converted icons displayed correctly, the NewIcons extension is needed under AmigaOS 3.0 and 3.1 or the new IconLib_46 created by Peter Keunecke. AmigaOS 3.1.4 and 3.2 do not need these extensions.
Iconverter is a shell or command line program written in Standard-C. Thus it should compile for all other systems that have a C compiler. About the background of the program the author Iljitsch van Beijnum writes:
"Workbench 1.0 to Workbench 1.3 used a four-color screen with the colors blue / white / black / orange. With the introduction of Workbench 2.0 this was changed to gray / black / white / blue-gray. This means that the WB 1.x icons look like a negative version of themselves. Also, the WB 1.x icons were designed for "640x200" or "640x256" screen resolutions. WB 2.0 and later icons were designed for higher screen resolutions (640x400 or 640x512), which means that WB 1.x icons look stretched on most newer systems."
In addition to adapting the icons to high-resolution screens, WB 2.0 also adds a 3D effect frame around each icon. From WB 2.0 it is also possible to change the number of colors on the Workbench screen, especially on AGA Amigas. There are about six generations of icons on the Amiga:
- 1. workbench 1.x icons created for medium resolutions (640x200 or 640x256) with a four-color blue/white/black/orange palette.
- Workbench 2.0 - 3.1 Icons created for higher resolutions (640x400 or 640x512) with a four-color gray/black/white/blue-gray palette. The system now draws a 3D frame around the icons.
- MagicWB icons. These can use eight colors and require a specific eight-color palette.
- NewIcons icons. NewIcons is an extension of the original icon file format and allows icons with up to 256 colors. The palette used by the icon is included and the system adjusts the colors of the icon to best display on any Workbench screen. NewIcons are limited to 93x93 pixels.
- 5. workbench 3.5 ColorIcons. These icons are encoded in an IFF format and are an extension of the original icon format. Like NewIcons, they can use up to 256 colors, but can be larger, 256x256 pixels maximum. (Sometimes they are also called "GlowIcons", since the GlowIcon style became popular with Workbench 3.5).
- 6. PNG-Icons.
NewIcons are supported by the NewIcons system, AmigaOS 3.1.4 and IconLib_46. AmigaOS 3.1.4 and IconLib_46 also support Workbench 3.5.
ColorIcons and IconLib_46 supports PNG icons.
Workbench 1.x icons look completely different on newer systems because a different palette is used and because they were designed for a different screen resolution. MagicWB icons only look correct if the MagicWB palette is used consistently. On an AmigaOS system version 3.0 or later with a workbench with more than eight colors, MagicWB symbols will tend to look strange and inconsistent because the system reassigns colors 4 - 7 as needed.
It is of course possible to use a tool (or under 3.1.4 a setting) to fix the colors 0 - 7 in the MagicWB palette. However, MagicWB colors 0 and 3 are somewhat darker than WB 2.0+ colors. Long story short, even with additional effort, it is not possible to get the three early generations of icons to look right on the same system at the same time. Iconverter solves this problem by converting these three types of icons into a NewIcon with the correct palette. The resulting icon files retain the original icon, so they look the same on systems that do not support the NewIcon extension.
There are two different versions of the iconverter: The version iconverter.ixemul requires the ixemul.library (version 48 or higher) and has the advantage that you can use the icon files with placeholders like #?.info. The regular version does not require the ixemul.library but does not recognize placeholders." (dr) (Translation: bb)
[News message: 28. Jul. 2021, 07:09] [Comments: 0]
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27.Jul.2021
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mouSTer: USB input devices for retro computers / Review
In the middle of last year, the Polish store retrohax.net announced "mouSTer", an adapter that allows connecting any USB mice and joypads to classic computers. In the meantime, "mouSTer" is available from the provider for just under 26 euros (plus shipping). The current firmware version is 3.12.2019.
Ilyich van Beijnum recently described in a detailed review how he got his favorite wireless mouse to work on his Amiga 1200 with the help of "mouSTer". (dr) (Translation: bb)
[News message: 27. Jul. 2021, 08:40] [Comments: 0]
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27.Jul.2021
Amiga.org (Forum)
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Adventure: Furtum Sacrum (Spanish/English)
Furtum Sacrum ("holy theft") is a point'n'click adventure by the Spanish group AmigaWave (amiga-news.de reported). Besides its original language, also English is supported. The game features characters of the film adaptation of the novel "The name of the rose", but a storyline of its own. Your task as a monk sent to the monastery San Martiño de Xuvia is to clear a series of robberies.
After being designed years ago already and endorsed by several programmers, in the end graphic artist José A. González decided to develop it on his own, thus he studied the program and its language, AMOS-based Graphic Adventure Creator, and finalised it himself.
The adventure runs on all Amigas with 1 MB of Chip RAM and is available both as a physical edition on 3.5" floppy disk in a box with manual as well as, free of charge, an ADF floppy image. Orders can be sent to José's e-mail address jojocreativo@gmail.com. Screenshots can be found at the corresponding thread at the forum of Amiga.org. (snx)
[News message: 27. Jul. 2021, 08:25] [Comments: 0]
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27.Jul.2021
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Video tutorial on how to install the Amiga emulator 'Amiberry' on a Pi400
Amiberry is an Amiga emulator for ARM-based single-chip systems like the Raspberry Pi, the Odroid XU4 or the Tinkerboard from ASUS, which brings some newly developed features like a "WHDLoad-Booter" or support for controller configuration using RetroArch.
The video podcast '10 Minute Amiga Retro Cast' shows in its latest edition how to install the current version 4.14 of the Amiga emulator on a Pi400.
(dr) (Translation: bb)
[News message: 27. Jul. 2021, 08:12] [Comments: 0]
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27.Jul.2021
Greg Donner
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CS-Lab: New firmware 1.20 for Warp560/1260 available
As reported by Greg Donner on his unofficial Warp 3060/4060 page, CS-Lab has released a new version 1.20 for the Warp 560 and Warp 1260 along with an updated Quick Start Guide, which includes the following changes:
- SD card support in AmigaOS (warpSD.device)
- USB disk support in AmigaOS (warpUSBDisk.device)
- Autoconfig / AutoBoot support for SD and USB storage media
- DMA transfers for SD and USB storage media
- Change of FastRAM / RTG memory allocation to 224 / 32MB
As the developers write, "unfortunately this version does not support HW mp3 playback via WarpTool, as currently only AmigaOS has access to SD and USB disk. A special version of the mpega.library will be available with future updates."
One user was able to test the new firmware in advance and has published a YouTube video. (dr) (Translation: bb)
[News message: 27. Jul. 2021, 07:55] [Comments: 0]
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26.Jul.2021
English Amiga Board (Website)
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MIDI utilities: amiditools 1.0.0
Christian Vogelsang provides with the 'amiditools' some tools for musicians who control MIDI hardware with an Amiga. The package contains the following programs:
- udp - A network MIDI driver with custom protocol
- echo - A simple (test) driver that echoes all MIDI data
- midi-info - Show CAMD drivers and more
- midi-send - Send MIDI data via command line
- midi-recv - Receive MIDI data on command line
- midi-echo - Echo incoming MIDI traffic
- midi-perf - MIDI performance measurement
- BarsnPipes Tools - BarsnPipes Tools to access the new CAMD MIDI drivers
- midi-udp-bridge - Endpoint for udp MIDI driver
- midi-udp-echo - Test endpoint for udp MIDI driver
- midi-perf - MIDI performance measurement
(cg) (Translation: bb)
[News message: 26. Jul. 2021, 22:44] [Comments: 0]
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26.Jul.2021
Generation Amiga (Webseite)
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Emulator: WinUAE 4.9 Beta 25
The next release of the well-known Amiga emulator WinUAE will be version number 5.0 due to a new chipset emulation as well as the emulation of a Voodoo3 graphics card. Beta versions have been provided by the developer Toni Wilen for some time already under the version name WinUAE 4.9 Beta [n], currently Beta 25. (cg) (Translation: bb)
[News message: 26. Jul. 2021, 22:39] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021
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Game Construction Kit: Scorpion Engine V2021.5.2
The "Scorpion Engine" developed by Erik 'earok' Hogan allows you to develop games. The engine itself is closed source, all demos and example games are open source. The editor runs under Windows. Graphics are imported as PNG files, levels created by using the editor Tiled eingesetzt. For importing and creating sounds, music and animations the Amiga formats (mod, 8svx, anim5) are used.
Recently version 2021.5.2 has been released providing bug fixes as well as the new feature translucency which is demonstrated by an included demo:
For a first overview about the options and possibilites of the engine, Hogan recommends this YouTube video. How to import existing Backbone projects and create animation loops and slopes are also demonstrated by vidoes.
The Scorpion Engine is an ongoing work-in-progress version of the Scorpion Editor for Windows. According to the author a "documentation is almost certainly likely to come when the engine is stable, but the engine is constantly under development. Documents and tutorials would quickly go out of date, all of my time on the project goes into much needed bug fixes and features." Nevertheless many projects and games have been announced or released during the last time. The author has confirmed to us that his Game Construction Kit is not only aimed at professional developers, on the contrary:
"It's really designed for anyone who wants to make an Amiga game. I am a professional game developer so I've designed Scorpion to be fast and flexible enough to make the games I want to make. But at the same time, I've also tried to make it as straight forward as possible for non-developers. Mixel, for example, is making the largest and most complex Scorpion game to date entirely by himself with no background in programming: Creeping Me Out: Hex Night."
Taking up the question of one of our readers, if ports to any other platforms are planned he replied:
"A port for AmigaOS4 is not planned yet. I have started work towards porting Scorpion to other platforms, but I can't guarantee AmigaOS4 compatibility at this point." (dr)
[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 07:35] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021
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Aminet uploads until 24.07.2021
The following files have been added until 24.07.2021 to Aminet:
HWP_RapaGUI.lha dev/hwood 7.2M MOS Cross-platform GUI toolkit fo...
REDPILLGameCreator.lha dev/misc 2.1M 68k Game Creator with AGA support
dsp3210.lha driver/oth 301K 68k DSP 3210 drivers and tools
MCE.lha game/edit 3.2M 68k Multi-game Character Editor
MCE-MOS.lha game/edit 3.5M MOS Multi-game Character Editor
MCE-OS4.lha game/edit 3.7M OS4 Multi-game Character Editor
AmiArcadia.lha misc/emu 4.3M 68k Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiArcadia-OS4.lha misc/emu 4.8M OS4 Signetics-based machines emul...
AmiVms.lha misc/emu 3.2M 68k Simulates OpenVMS commands
Ewy.lha mods/8voic 1.2M EWY 16bit 5ch Amiga Piano Ballad
ASE2019_1.50.lha text/edit 133K 68k Text editor
Vim_8.2-i386-aros.lha text/edit 12M x86 The ubiquitous text editor
Vim_8.2-ppc-amigaos.lha text/edit 14M OS4 The ubiquitous text editor
Vim_8.2-ppc-morphos.lha text/edit 13M MOS The ubiquitous text editor
ToolsMenu.lha util/cdity 73K 68k Add tools to the Workbench To...
Alltests.zip util/misc 14K 68k Automated Amiga Test Program
ReportPlus.lha util/misc 621K 68k Multipurpose utility
ReportPlusMOS.lha util/misc 735K MOS Multipurpose utility
ReportPlus-OS4.lha util/misc 786K OS4 Multipurpose utility
TestProgram.zip util/misc 27K 68k Versatile Amiga Test Program
InstallerLG.i386-aros... util/sys 121K x86 Commodore Installer replacement
InstallerLG.ppc-morph... util/sys 155K MOS Commodore Installer replacement
(snx)
[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021
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OS4Depot uploads until 24.07.2021
The following files have been added until 24.07.2021 to OS4Depot:
picasm.lha dev/cro 142kb 4.0 PIC16F84 Assembler for the Amiga
crash.lha dev/uti 3kb 4.0 C source included
amiarcadia.lha emu/gam 5Mb 4.0 Signetics-based machines emulator
iconverter.lha gra/ico 99kb 4.0 Convert WB 1.x/MagicWB icons to ...
reportplus.lha uti/mis 786kb 4.0 Multipurpose utility
showfiles.lha uti/she 43kb 4.1 sorted & text-formatted file...
(snx)
[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021
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AROS Archives uploads until 24.07.2021
The following files have been added until 24.07.2021 to AROS Archives:
vim_8.2-i386-aros.lha dev/edi 12Mb Vim
iconverter.i386-aros.lha gra/con 98kb Convert WB 1.x/MagicWB icons to ...
installerlg.i386-aros.lha uti/wor 121kb Commodore Installer replacement
(snx)
[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021
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MorphOS-Storage uploads until 24.07.2021
The following files have been added until 24.07.2021 to MorphOS-Storage:
HWP_RapaGUI_2.0.lha Development/Hollywood/... A cross-platform GUI to...
Iris_0.125.lha Email New email client suppor...
MCE_13.0.lha Games/Editor Multi-game Character Ed...
InstallerLG_1.0.0b2.lha System/Shell Commodore Installer rep...
Vim_8.2.2993.lha Text/Edit A highly configurable t...
(snx)
[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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25.Jul.2021
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WHDLoad: New installers until 24.07.2021
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 24.07.2021:
- 2021-07-18 new: Worthy (Pixelglass) done by JOTD (Info)
- 2021-07-18 new: Scuba Diver (Surreal) done by JOTD (Info)
- 2021-07-18 improved: First Samurai (Vivid Image) uses less chip memory, 3-button support added (Info)
- 2021-07-16 fixed: Incredible Shrinking Sphere (Electric Dreams) interrupt fixed (access to dmacon removed), gaame copyright info corrected into the slave (Info)
(snx)
[News message: 25. Jul. 2021, 06:43] [Comments: 0]
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24.Jul.2021
Aminet
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Game Construction Kit: RedPill 0.8.13
RedPill, developed by Carlos Peris, is a game construction kit written in Amiblitz 3.8, which allows the development of games from various genres (see short tests of two Redpill games). RedPill is compatible with AGA and ECS, the "player" for playing the finished creations requires a total of 1.5 MB RAM.
Changes of version 0.8.13:
- Number of Animations increased from 64 to 128. When updating project to this version there is no going back.
- When saving a project, if using the same previous name a backup of the project file is created.
- FIX: In tile properties of tileset 1 being used in all tilesets while in runtime.
- FIX: In tile properties screen solid tiles being displayed in incorrect positions.
- FIX: In ground collisions where the Objects are bigger than tile size.
- FIX: Fixed glitch happening when using Camera Shake in large maps.
(dr)
[News message: 24. Jul. 2021, 07:35] [Comments: 0]
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24.Jul.2021
Amiga Future (Webseite)
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Developer tool: vasm 1.8l
Earlier this week Frank Wille released an update of the modular assembler vasm. A list of changes in version 1.8l can be found at the title link. (snx)
[News message: 24. Jul. 2021, 05:59] [Comments: 0]
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23.Jul.2021
MorphZone (website)
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MorphOS 3.15: Bugfix for RAM handler
RAM handler of MorphOS 3.15 comprises a bug lasting for some years already that may result in the RAM: root directory to appear to contain many duplicate entries. With help by user 'AngryTom', MorphOS team member Harry 'Piru' Sintonen could fix this bug and release a patch for it now. To install it, extract the archive and drag & drop "ramrootfix" to SYS:WBStartup.
Download: ramrootfix.lha (21 KB) (snx)
[News message: 23. Jul. 2021, 21:16] [Comments: 0]
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23.Jul.2021
MorphZone (forum)
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MorphOS: E-mail client Iris 0.125
Today MorphOS team member Jacek 'jacadcaps' Piszczek released an update for his e-mail client Iris. Changes in version 0.125 include improvements of spellchecking, context menus and HTML markup code of e-mails.
For feedback to the author the corresponding thread at MorphZone can be used. (snx)
[News message: 23. Jul. 2021, 21:16] [Comments: 0]
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23.Jul.2021
Amigans
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Developer package: DevPack 1.1
The free "DevPack" provided by Dimitris Panokostas and Philipp Lonke is meant for Amiga users who under AmigaOS are going to develop software. The first version was released at the end of October 2020. The package is hosted on the Amikit website but does not have any dependencies on the commercial Workbench environment and can be installed on harddrive by extracting the lzx archive. Diverse compilers, text editors and other tools are included as listed in the Readme.
Changes of version 1.1:
- Released as an LZX archive as well as a dynamic (auto-expandable up to 3.9GB) SFS hardfile (HDF) for WinUAE and Amiberry
- ADDED: AmiLua 0.2 by Lua team, Matthias Rustler, http://aminet.net/package/dev/lang/amilua_src
- ADDED: AmiPython 2.3.3 by Tim Ocock, conversion and Amiga specific code by Irmen de Jong, http://www.monkeyhouse.eclipse.co.uk/amiga/python/
- ADDED: AMOS Pro Compiler by François Lionet, including PDF manual
- ADDED: ASM-One 1.48 & 1.49-RC2 by Boushh of TFA, https://www.amigacoding.com/index.php/680x0:AsmOne
- ADDED: Blitz Basic Demos by Erik Hogan, https://github.com/earok/BlitzBasicDemos
- UPDATED: FreePascal 3.2.2 by ALB42, https://blog.alb42.de/fpc-amigaaros-m68k/
- UPDATED: REDPILL 0.8.12 by Zener - Game Creator with AGA support, http://aminet.net/package/dev/misc/REDPILLGameCreator
(dr)
[News message: 23. Jul. 2021, 06:10] [Comments: 0]
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22.Jul.2021
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A2000-Motherboard using the EATX standard: Revision 1.2 is production candidate
After the developer 'jasonsbeer' has tested the prototpye of his rebuild of the A2000 motherboard called 'Amiga-2000-ATX', he has set revision 1.2 as production candidate. He wrote:
"I am currently running a Supra Wordsync SCSI card, a Commodore A2630 accelerator, and a Pi HDMI video card on the Amiga 2000 EATX. AIBB can be seen on the screen. I allowed the Amiga 2000 EATX to run for several hours playing games and running memory tests without issue. All the external ports are working as expected."
Changes of Revision 1.2:
- Fixed traces on the keyboard connector (error on the C= schematic)
- Added missing _COPCFG trace
- Deleted some extra traces that were not needed
- Added HSYNC/COMPSYNC selection jumper
- Cleaned up parts of the schematics
- Widened U801 footprint (RTC62423 is wider than the standard SOIC package)
- Added support for 1 and 2 MB Kickstart ROMs (512k still supported)
- Added some space around the external ports...they were crowded
(dr)
[News message: 22. Jul. 2021, 06:57] [Comments: 0]
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22.Jul.2021
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Game announcement: 'Jump!'
Polish developer Markus Duda is in the process of converting Yoomph, originally written for the Atari, for the Amiga. You have to move in a three-dimensional tunnel by means of a bouncing Amigaball and hit various (bonus) areas. This YouTube video shows the gameplay on the target platform: An Amiga 1200 with 4 MB Fast RAM.
As the developer told us, the game has reached alpha status. About 80% of the game is finished, which currently has 16 levels, in the final version should have about 30 levels. On the to-do list are still the creation of the intro and outro, as well as various improvements to the gameplay. A commercial release of the game is planned for the fall in the form of a download version and a boxed edition.
(dr) (Translation: bb)
[News message: 22. Jul. 2021, 06:05] [Comments: 0]
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