17.Oct.2004
David Brunet (ANF)
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Magazine: Obligement #47 out now
Issue 47 of the French magazine Obligement is now available. You can read in this issue:
- Latest Amiga news
- Report of the Alchimie 4 show
- Interview with David Cadenas (coder of the coming game "Destinéa Wars")
- Interview with Michael Boehmer (maker of USB Cards)
- Review of the Cocolino interface
- Article about the customization of the Elbox 1200 Tower
- Amiga E, Blitz Basic, Karate, and lot more
(cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 17. Oct. 2004, 18:32] [Comments: 0]
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16.Oct.2004
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AmigaOS4: Uploads at os4depot.net
Here are the new uploads at os4depot.net since our last posting:
proplayeros4.lha aud/pla 81kb AHI Protracker player
duke3d.lha gam/fps 497kb Duke Nukem 3D
duke3dsetup.lha gam/fps 78kb Duke Nukem 3D - Setup Utility
duke3dsrc.lha gam/fps 1Mb Duke Nukem 3D - source code
exult.lha gam/rol 2Mb Exult - Ultima 7 rebuilt
agg2demos.lha gra/mis 5Mb Anti-Grain Geometry Demos/Examples
limpidclock.lha uti/mis 46kb transparent clock/calendar
(cg) (Translation: wk)
[News message: 16. Oct. 2004, 22:55] [Comments: 0]
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16.Oct.2004
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Software news
Instant messaging: AmigAIM 0.9453 (Beta)
A new beta version of the "AOL Instant Messaging" client AmigaAIM was released today. Changes since the last update:
- Messages transmitted from AIM clients using UniCode would not display or log on AmigAIM. Handling modified so that messages using UniCode will be displayed, but any UniCode characters will be shown as '·' (This problem was originally found when someone was attempting to use the Euro character transmitted from a PC client)
- Added ">" to the Message parsing routine.
Link: Homepage
Download: Complete distribution (240 KB)
Download: New executable & manual (184 KB)
68060 "turbo" patch: SystemPatch 2.4
SystemPatch changes several OS routines to increase the performance on newer 68k CPUs. New in version 2.4:
- Added SetRGB32() patch.
- AllocRaster() allocs to MEMF_ANY instead of MEMF_FAST.
- Finally done a better task exclusion system for AllocRaster().
Link: homepage
Download: SystemPatch2.lha (31 KB)
Online CD data base: FreeDB update
"FreeDB" is a graphical user interface for the Internet based CD data base freedb.org.
Link: homepage
Download: freedb.lha (417 KB)
MUI class: new version of TheBar.mcc
"TheBar" is a MUI class for button banks by Alfonso Ranieri (screenshot).
Link: homepage
Download: MCC_TheBar.lha (320 KB) (cg) (Translation: wk)
[News message: 16. Oct. 2004, 20:48] [Comments: 0]
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16.Oct.2004
DJBase (ANF)
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MorphOS: software news
Matthias Münch has again ported some tools to MorphOS:
Surfboard 1.1.10
A simple web server by Meredydd Luff.
Link: download page
xlhtml 0.5
Converts Excel and PowerPoint files to HTML.
Link: download page
pdftohtml 0.36
converts PDF to HTML.
Link: download page
geekcode 1.7.3
A Geek code generator that generates your personal Geek code block.
Link: download page
png2ico
Converts PNG files to the Windows icon format.
Link: download page
Splint 3.1.1
Searches for errors and security related susceptibility in C program code.
Link: download page
(cg) (Translation: wk)
[News message: 16. Oct. 2004, 19:33] [Comments: 0]
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16.Oct.2004
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AmigaOS 4: Integration of JIT emulators finished
As Almos Rajnai, author of the JIT emulator "Petunia", indicates on his homepage with a huge "dancing banana" was the integration of the JIT emulator into the AmigaOS 4 kernel finished today.
(cg) (Translation: wk)
[News message: 16. Oct. 2004, 01:37] [Comments: 0]
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15.Oct.2004
amigaworld.net (website)
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Glowicon collection: Workbench drawers with 256 colors
Ken Lester has released a complete set of Workbench drawer icons with 256 colors (screenshots: 1, 2). They require AmigaOS 4 or the "Powericons" patch from Elena Novaretti.
Direct Download: Ken's_Icons.lha (346 KB) (cg)
[News message: 15. Oct. 2004, 22:43] [Comments: 0]
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15.Oct.2004
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AmigaOS 4: New uploads at os4depot.net
New uploads which have been added to os4depot.net recently:
faad_library.lha aud/mis 2Mb OS4 port of libfaad. (AAC Decoder)
tunenet.lha aud/pla 86kb Basic Shoutcast and MP3 Player
powericonsos4.lha uti/mis 713kb 32-bit PNG icons on your Amiga
png2ico.lha gra/con 198kb png2ico converts .PNG files to Windows .ICO icon
rsambaprefs.lha net/sam 46kb SambaPrefs
(cg)
[News message: 15. Oct. 2004, 22:32] [Comments: 0]
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15.Oct.2004
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IBM publishes Object Rexx under Open Source licence
Today the sources of "Object Rexx" which is the successor of the script language "Rexx" (on Amiga
known as "ARexx") have been released under the Open Source licence
CPL
(Common Public License).
The further development of Object Rexx is organized by the
Rexx Language Association.
(cg) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 15. Oct. 2004, 19:09] [Comments: 0]
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15.Oct.2004
Amigaworld.net (website)
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AmigaOS4: LMarbles and Abe's Amazing Adventure ported/Shell command Eject
With LMarbles and Abe's Amazing Adventure Richard Drummond has ported another two
games for AmigaOS4. Additionally he offers a native Eject command for opening
CD drives.
LMarbles
is a SDL based mental game which was inspired by the Amiga classic Atomix.
Abe's Amazing Adventure which is also SDL
based is a platform game of the old school.
Download:
LMarbles-1.0.7-A1.lha (1.3 MB)
Abe-1_0-A1.lha (3.5 MB)
Eject_51.1.lha (3 KB) (snx) (Translation: dr)
[News message: 15. Oct. 2004, 10:28] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
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Software News Summary
Online CD Databank: FreeDB (Beta)
"FreeDB" is a graphic overlay for the Internet-based CD databank freedb.org.
Link: FreeDB Homepage
Direct download: freedb.lha (551 KB)
Report+ 6.12b
Die Freeware Report+ version 6.12b has been released. The tool is based on ReAction/GadTools, requires AmigaOS 3.9 and offers many different functions. For example you can make Aminet "readme" files with Report+, the Commodore bug reporting tool may be replaced with it, and the byte-count for any designation may be revealed. In the newest version a few mistakes have been taken care of.
Direct download: ReportPlus.lha (300 KB)
Worm Wars 8.21
"Worm Wars" is a Tron clone by James "Amigan" Jacobs (screenshot). Version 8.21 brings several optimizations and bugfixes.
Direct download: WormWars.lha (697 KB)
Hollywood game: SuperSoccer
"SuperSoccer" is a mini-game created with Hollywood.
Direct download: SuperSoccer.lha (970 KB) (cg) (Translation: dm)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 23:11] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
Christian Geier (e-mail)
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Guide: Installation of Yellow Dog Linux 4.0 on the Pegasos I
The Image_Installer team has published on their website under the title link a detailed guide on how to install the current version 4.0 of Yellow Dog Linux from the official Board Support Package for the Pegasos II (amiga-news.de reported) also onto the Pegasos I. (snx)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 21:14] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
Kultpower.de (ANF)
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Kultpower.de: New Game Review Scans from the Year 1990
21 new game reviews from the June 1990 Powerplay have been released, at Kultpower.de:
- Afterburner (Mega Drive)
- Antheads (Amiga)
- Assault City (Master System)
- Castle Master (Amiga)
- City Hunter (PC-Engine)
- Code-Name: Iceman (MS-DOS)
- Conquests of Camelot (MS-DOS)
- Cybercore (PC-Engine)
- Dragon's Lair 2: Escape from Singe's Castle (Amiga)
- F29 Retaliator (Amiga)
- Gunboat (MS-DOS)
- Jumping Jack Son (Amiga)
- Manchester United (Amiga)
- Midwinter (Atari ST)
- Nemesis (Gameboy)
- Player Manager (Atari ST)
- Section Z (NES)
- Skidz (Amiga)
- Space Invaders (PC-Engine)
- Tangled Tales (MS-DOS)
- Tank (MS-DOS)
(snx) (Translation: dm)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 12:00] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
ANN (website)
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Convention: Amiga East Show in May 2004 in New York
Celebrating 20 years supporting Amiga, Mr. Hardware Computers in New York, USA, is going to host the "Amiga East" show on 28 and 29 May, 2005. The newest hardware and software will be shown, with a heavy emphasis on AmigaOS4. Guest speakers and Amiga veterans as well as Amiga, AmigaDE and Linux experts have been announced, seminars and product demos will take place. (snx) (Translation: dm)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 11:57] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
ANN (Webseite)
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WookieChat 1.3 Beta Released
The IRC program WookieChat has now reached version 1.3, this one is also functional under the OS4 update. WookieChat is a 68k program that also runs under AmigaOS4 and MorphOS.
The new version is not as stable as its predecessor, but since the author is going to spend some time out of the country, he wanted to get this out to the users so they could get an idea of the current development. Users of the current AmigaOS4-Version are advised to click "ignore error" when the Grim Reaper window appears.
A few of the changes:
- Bug elimination: After a /kick the nickname is stricken from the list of those present
- Use of dos.library for data concepts
- A server may be contacted with a double click on its name
- New pop-up menus for the name list
- Keyboard shortcuts implemented
- When a nickname changes in the channel it is also changed in private conversation windows
- The /away command now works right
- "Assign wookiechat:" is not needed anymore
Download: WookieChat13beta.lha (218 KB) (snx) (Translation: dm)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 09:45] [Comments: 0]
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14.Oct.2004
SF-Radio.net (ANF)
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SF-Radio: Report about Amiga and C64
In the 23rd offering of the program "Gameboys" on the On-Demand-Internet-Radio station SF-Radio.net, there's a short report on the current developments of Amiga and C64. Among other things you'll hear about AmigaOS 4 and MorphOS. (cg) (Translation: dm)
[News message: 14. Oct. 2004, 02:05] [Comments: 0]
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13.Oct.2004
OSNews.com (website)
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OSNews: Article about Freescales coming 8641 PowerPC family
At the title link Nicholas Blachford takes a view to Freescales coming PowerPC processor family 8641.
The new processor will be produced in a 90 nm SoI process (Silicon on Insulator) and not only offer two processor cores, a bigger cache (1 MB per core) and two integrated 667 MHz DDR-II memory controllers, but also two PCI Express interfaces, a RapidIO bus (similar to HyperTransport) and 4 Gigabit ethernet MACs with hardware TCP/IP accelaration and some other interfaces. (snx) (Translation: ub)
[News message: 13. Oct. 2004, 20:08] [Comments: 0]
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13.Oct.2004
GazSP
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G5 Amiga: Project 'Amiga5' website online
'Amiga5' is a project which intends to bring a G5 Amiga motherboard to the Amiga community.
Apparantly, they are planning to modify the design of the G5 Evaluation Platform from Momentum Computers. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 13. Oct. 2004, 19:25] [Comments: 0]
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13.Oct.2004
MorphOS-News.de (website)
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Pegasos based ODW offered by Freescale directly now
Genesis Open Desktop Workstation may now be ordered through Freescale directly (item number: PPCG40001). It will be delivered with Debian, Yellow Dog Linux and MorphOS as well as additional software. (snx) (Translation: ub)
[News message: 13. Oct. 2004, 12:31] [Comments: 0]
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12.Oct.2004
Genesi (e-mail)
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Yellow Dog Linux: Official Board Support Package for Pegasos II
Launched by Motorola, Freescale Semiconductor has embraced the ATX PowerPC Genesi Pegasos II motherboard as an OEM CPU evaluation board. At Freescale's request, Terra Soft completed in October of 2004 the official Board Support Package, offering a simple means of installing Yellow Dog Linux for a variety of code development, desktop, and server functions.
The Yellow Dog Linux Board Support Package is available for free from Terra Soft Solutions and includes:
- Bootable ISO (CD):
- Image-based installer
- Independent rescue disk
- Guide to Installation
- 2.6.8 kernel source tree
- parted w/Amiga fs support source tree
- Tested Sound, usb, firewire
(snx)
[News message: 12. Oct. 2004, 19:10] [Comments: 0]
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12.Oct.2004
Elbox Computer (ANF)
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Elbox: New servers
Elbox Computer has changed its servers' location. Till DNS update, you can reach the Elbox websites through their IPs:
The main Elbox Website: 212.85.126.16
The Online Store for customers from the European Union: 62.129.194.250
The Online Store for customers from other countries: 212.85.119.127
Sorry for any inconveniences. (snx)
[News message: 12. Oct. 2004, 16:16] [Comments: 0]
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11.Oct.2004
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Hardware hack: CD-ROM, HD and disk drive in an A1200 case
Update (26.10.2012, cg): Integrated article into the news item during database migration)
After seeing what Egon Kohlschütter had done to his Amiga 1200, Bob Wicksall decided that there
was a way to make an internal CD-ROM blend better with the original A1200 case. Egon goes into better detail on some of the
technical aspects of the hack so make sure you have a look at his report aswell. Here's what Bob's
version looks like:
The following is a detailed report from Bob, describing how he managed to fit everything (including the disk drive) into the A1200 desktop case.
Feel free to email any questions about this hack to rwicksall@rochester.rr.com.
First things first
I was able to find a spare TEAC CD-224E in an old Gateway desktop PC. I've also seen several of them on ebay. Just search for
Teac and slimline and you probably find a hit. The next step was to open the case and remove the top half of the RF Shield. After this was done I took my CD-ROM and started to eyeball the new location. I found that I could move the harddrive and place the CD-Rom in the back left corner of the case. All I would have to do is build a mount and cut a hole in the case.
The next thing you need to acquire is an adapter to connect the Mini-IDE connector on the
CD-Rom to a standard IDE cable. Again, you can find these on Ebay most of the time. Here is a picture:
Cutting and Mounting
Cutting the hole was a little tricky. Basically I put the top of the case on a table upside down and then placed the CD-ROM snug in the corner
so that I could trace the outline. This told me exactly where I wanted the hole to go. I then measured the location and transferred the outline to the outside of the case. I'm never too sure of my measuring ability so I drilled a fine pilot hole in each of the corners. Once I was sure
I had the outline as accurate as possible I started cutting the hole with a Dremel. The hole was finished with a nice wide file to straighten out the lines.
Mounting the CD-ROM drive was next. The mount was made up of three pieces that I cut out an old plastic hard drive case. The first piece is Z shaped, about 5 inches long and supports the weight of the drive. This piece runs down the middle of the drive, is attached to the back of the case and the other end rests on the motherboard. The second piece is a leg glued to the upper left of the case to support and level the drive. The third piece is simply a stop on the right of the drive to prevent it from moving when ejecting the disk. When the case is open the drive just floats loose but as soon as you close the case it is held in firmly. Here is what it looks like from behind:
Note: The mounts are supporting the case of the drive. They are not touching the door.
Note2: The Z mount is removable. It is held into place by three scraps of plactic glued to the 1200 case.
Moving the harddrive to its new position
I didn't want to lose the internal floppy and I was lucky enough to recover an old 4GB 2.5" harddrive from an old laptop. The Hardrive mount is made up of two pieces of sheet steel. The first is simple an L bracket bolted to the back of the case with two screw holes for the drive. The second piece is basically a hook with a screw hole. This uses the keyboard tray to support the other side of the drive. This of course means you have to unscrew the drive to remove the keyboard.
Note: The harddrive is just resting on it's mount. I had to remove the screws to remove the keyboard.
And from behind:
IDE Cables and Power
I attacked the power harness first. I had already built a replacement power supply from an ATX power supply so I didn't have to worry about the load. I hacked some connectors from an old PC and built a power harness to fit the location of the drives. The power is pulled from the floppy connector on the motherboard and split off to the floppy and the CD-ROM.
I could have folded the IDE cables but I found they were too bulky and I was already afraid of having heat problems in the case. I ended up splitting the cables by hand. It was actually easier than I could have imagined. I used a sharp knife to cut a small hole between each wire and then I carefully pulled each wire free.
I used an Elbox Fast ATA 1200 IDE adapter to get the extra IDE connections. I bought it new from Software Hut for the project and I couldn't be happier. Just stay away from the IDE splitters that stand virtically from the IDE connector on the motherboard. They don't fit under the drive.
As you can see from the picture the CD-ROM comes very close to resting on the IDE adapter. I had to actually bend the pins on the circuit board to make room and then insulate the bottom of the drive with electrical tape.
Closing it all Up
The first thing is to place the keyboard. It slides in without a problem. The harddrive can then be screwed into place:
The case is actually very easy to close. You simply hinge it down from the back:
The finished product:
Further notes
I'm a little concerned about heat but so far I haven't had a problem. I've left it running for several hours with no issues. I don't really like the idea of installing a noisy fan so I'll probably leave things alone for now.
Make sure you give the drive opening plenty of room. If the hole is too small the drive will bind up when you are trying to eject the disk.
I would like to add some additional things like a flicker fixer but my choice of IDE adapters has limited my space. I think with a smaller IDE adapter you could probably fit a PPC card and a Bvision video card. Since I will probably never be able to get my hands on one it's not an issue for me. This IDE connector does give access to the clock port so a future USB adapter is a possibility. (cg) (Translation: cg)
[News message: 11. Oct. 2004, 22:38] [Comments: 0]
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11.Oct.2004
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AmigaOS 4: New uploads at os4depot.net
New uploads which have been added to os4depot.net recently:
expat-ppc.lha dev/lib 380kb Expat C library for parsing XML
stlport.lha dev/lib 737kb STLport C++ standard library
scummvmos4.lha gam/adv 2Mb Point-and-Click adventure interpreter
savvy.lha net/sam 72kb smbfs Helper GUI
bibvision.lha uti/tex 150kb Bible text viewer for 68k/WOS/OS4 V1.6
nallepuh_os4.lha aud 316kb NallePUH (Paula emulation) for OS4 / AmigaOne
lha.lha uti/arc 123kb lha 2.8 os4-native
reporttool.lha uti/mis 55kb A tool to help problem solving in OS4
micollection.lha gra/ico 5Mb masonicons collection 2000-2003
(cg)
[News message: 11. Oct. 2004, 17:17] [Comments: 0]
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