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Archive 07/2021


28.Jul.2021
AmigaLove


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



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)


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



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


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)


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)


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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