• relink against older SDL, music and sound problems fixed
• increased sound buffer size to 4096 as recomended by toaks
• found a few more instances of $ENV{HOME} replaced them with /bubbles
• added a timidity config to stop SDL from looking for it in /usr/local/lib. I suspect though that it's not actually used.

• AHI device is released on exit now, so apps such as Audio Evolution and HD-REC can start after quitting RockBEAT.
• "Scroll while playing" is now optional. Sometimes its useful to turn off scrolling, so you can edit a portion of a pattern while it loops This setting is remembered on quitting.

• MP3 detection improved (for use with the OGG Vorbis plugin!!!).
• Double click on Plugin List added to get a description of the plugin.
• Docky D&D Send Message improved to fix problems with other dockies such as YAM.
• Playlist detection from WB / CLI / D&D (.m3u extension recognised).
• m3u files with comments are now handled.
• m3u relative paths now supported (great for files produced by CD Rippers).
• Playlist loading now silently checks for the playlist files existence before (checking &) adding them to the list.
• New OS4 style Requester boxes added.
• Help "bubbles" can be toggled on or off from the settings menu and at startup from the preferences.
• Fixed a bug in the Find routine which could give some false positives.
• MP3 Icecast support added (wasn't too difficult)
• http streams within m3u files now allowed.
• Improvements to stream recovery and forced restarts on buffer empty.
• Single streams specified from the cli "-stream" option or from m3u files can now be saved along with the playlist.
• DNS timeout added to finally halt any long term network related lockups (6 second time out by default).
• Blank URLS in PLS files are now handled without crashing the task.
• Spaces in URL's are now converted to %20

======================================================================
                               ________
         _________ ____      _|__ __ __|_______      _________
       __\ _____ \\\\  \_  _/  //___//  _____//______\ _____ \\
      // \\\\  /. \\\\__ \/ __//    \\  \\____.  /// \\\\  /. \\
      \\___\¯ /___///___\  /___\     \\_________//\\___\¯ /___//
       ¯    \/    ¯ ¯    \/.  |¯      ¯|z!o     ¯  ¯    \/    ¯
               A M I G A      | 051231 |      U P D A T E
                              |________|
  "SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW"
======================================================================
        AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.      
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 E 3 B ,   I N D I V I D U A L   C O M P U T E R S   C A N   S E L L

               B E T A   T E S T E R S   W A N T E D ! 

       M E D I A T O R   P C I   B U S B O A R D   U P D A T E

       T U N E N E T   A U D I O   P L A Y E R   F O R   O S 4

            W H D L O A D   H A S   N E W   V E R S I O N

       D E S E R T   R A C I N G   G A M E   A N N O U N C E D

             A M I K I T   1 . 0 . 3   A V A I L A B L E

           A M I P O D D E R   N O W   D O E S   V I D E O

     O N Y X S O F T   R E L E A S E S   F I V E   U P D A T E S

         A M I G A S Y S 3   F O R   W I N U A E   U S E R S

               F R E E P O P S   F O R   M A I L E R S

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
 Congratulations to the Amiga community - we have survived another 
year! While it has been a busy and fulfilling year in many ways, we 
still have no final release of Amiga OS 4.0 to celebrate. However, 
there has been some interesting information regarding that topic which 
came to light recently. 
 On December 28, an IRC session was conducted with representatives of 
Hyperion by the good folks at AmigaWorld.net. This information 
provided by Hyperion and taken from one of the session transcripts 
should be of interest to all Amigans eager for a full release version 
of OS4:

"Rogue: As you have probably already guessed, there will be no OS 4 
release this year. There are reasons for that which I would like to 
explain. The main reason is the unavailability of hardware. As you all 
know, AmigaOne's [sic] are not available right now, so we are not in a 
position to offer an OS 4 with a matching hardware. We DO think that 
once we release AmigaOS4.0, there will be a general interest in the 
news, in media, etc. We will get a lot of interest from people outside 
the amiga market, and they will ask where they can buy it. If we tell 
them they cannot buy it right now and need to wait until the hardware 
is available, then this will take away a lot of momentum that the 
release will generate. Hence we decided to postpone the release until 
such time as a hardware platform IS available."

 You can read the entire set of transcripts at www.amigaworld.net.
 Let's hope the situation with hardware availability can be set right 
soon. What a great event for the new year it would be if we could see 
the release, finally, of OS4!
 Happy New Year to all our readers where ever you are, and good Amiga 
computing to you as well!
 Brad Webb,
 Editor
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 E 3 B ,   I N D I V I D U A L   C O M P U T E R S   C A N   S E L L 

 20 December, 2005

The best news at the beginning: E3B and individual Computers continue 
selling hardware in the EU. We want to thank everyone who sent us 
eMails with suggestions, mostly trying to circumvent the new law, but 
also with information on how to start a company in another country. 
Unfortunately, all this doesn't help, because the law also applies to 
companies outside Germany who want to sell their products in Germany.

To fully comply with the law, E3B and individual Computers founded the 
label "ConBridge" which is now registered with the Stiftung EAR, 
despite legal problems that are not fully resolved. Read more on the 
common webseite www.conbridge.de (German language only).

New advertising partner

We have supported the "Amiga plus" magazine for a long time with our 
adverts. Since the Amiga plus is not available any more, we have been 
looking for a new magazine with the same high quality of articles. 
What we found is the Austrian magazine Lotek 64: It's made by 
enthusiastic hobbyists, and stands any comparison with high-standard 
professional journals. You can either read the magazine online for 
free, or you can make a donation and have the mag sent to you in 
printed form. The magazine is in German language only.

For the current december-issue we want to point out an article by 
Dr. Rainer Buchty, which deals with the technology of the C64-DTV2. 
The Commodore 64 in a joystick is also known as "PAL-DTV", and is 
derived from the C-One. However, individual Computers was not involved 
in the DTV project, so our high production standards were not applied. 
The article describes how you can correct the low (nearly unreadable) 
colour contrast with a little skill and a soldering iron.

http://ami.ga/indexe.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------

              B E T A   T E S T E R S   W A N T E D ! 

31 December, 2005 

Screenshots of the current version:
http://tamar.4players.de/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6717

The first step towards the new 3D map has been made! Tales of Tamar
can now run at a higher resolution and give the project a whole new
look, thanks to a new GUI and handling.
Instead of the old 640x480, the program can now run in 1024x768 in 16,
24 or 32 bit.

Rewriting took over three months and we hit the boundaries of the
different Amiga models several times. Bugs in the graphics drivers,
lacking performance and missing features like actual double-buffering,
just to mention a few.

But now it is done, and we are proud to present this pearl to a wider
audience. As always, we release these new features on the Amiga first.

The whole ToT team wishes you a Happy New Year. May the Amiga stay
with us for years to come, in one form or another.

About the project:

We are looking for 30 active beta testers to test the new features on
different Amiga systems. Testers play for free and only need to bring
enough time and motivation to find and report bugs.

In order to continue to the next step, the actual 3D map, the new and
updated client needs to be thoroughly tested to find and fix as many 
bugs as possible. We depend on the help of the community for this. 
Let's build a solid foundation for the ongoing development of the 
client for the Amiga!

The features:

- 640*480/8bit and 1024*768/16/24/32 bit support
- OS4 support
- MOS support
- Amithlon support
- UAE support
- PPC support
- CD, Paula & AHI support
- animated weapons, armor, goods and buildings in 8/16/24/32 bit
- figure animation in 8/16/24/32 bit
- more than 30 screens
- massively multiplayer strategy via email or TCP/IP
- multiple language support
- multi platform (Amiga, PC, Mac, Linux, Browser, Java)
- online chat
- 8 minute animated intro

Here are the new screenshots:
http://tamar.4players.de/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6717

Greetings,
Your ToT team

Tales of Tamar is a turn based, massively multiplayer strategy game
similar to Kaiser or Civilization and is being developed by Eternity.

{No URL was provided with this information other than the ones shown 
in the story. You can perhaps contact the company at www.tamar.net. 
Brad}
----------------------------------------------------------------------

     M E D I A T O R   P C I   B U S B O A R D   U P D A T E 

28 December, 2005 

*The Mediator UP 3.10 update for Mediator PCI busboards
<http://eu-shop.elbox.com/cgibin/shop?show=2BB> has been released. The
update is free of charge for all registered Mediator users.*

The update includes new versions of:
* pci.library
* Voodoo.card
* Virge.card
* MedConfig

Changes:

pci.library ver. 6.5
- many internal changes

Voodoo.card ver. 4.26
- the first common Voodoo.card version for MM CD and no-MM CD users
- support for hardware de-interlacing in overlay added
- VodooGuide Italian translation by Arturo Franzin

Virge.card ver. 1.8
- support for Mediator PCI 1200LT and LT4 added

MedConfig ver. 1.4
- bug fixes
- French localisation by Philippe Bovier

Info on current versions is available in the DOWNLOADS Mediator
<http://elbox.com/downloads_mediator.html> section.
The current list of supported PCI cards is available in the *Mediator
Driver Guide* <http://elbox.com/mdg.html>.
The info about Mediator-related sources you will find in the 
COMMUNITY
<http://elbox.com/community.html> section.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

      T U N E N E T   A U D I O   P L A Y E R   F O R   O S 4 

24 December, 2005 

*TuneNet V0.70a (Audio Player) has been released for OS4, highlights
include:

* Playlist editing / sorting and searching.
* Seekable Song Position.
* Full Skinable Docky Interface.*

Special thanks goes to Russell Glover for the docky graphics, fonts,
animations, testing and feedback!

Enjoy this release - 
Available at http://os4depot.net/
or the TuneNet site
http://www.tunenet.co.uk 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

           W H D L O A D   H A S   N E W   V E R S I O N  

20 December, 2005 

 WHDLoad is the AmigaOS Harddisk-Install package. WHDLoad makes it 
possible to install many demos and games, which were originally 
designed to run only from floppy disks, to your harddisk.

*The new version is available at this URL:
<http://www.whdload.de/>

Registered users should have no problems with the new updates.


The release notes are as follows....

*** 16.5 (15.12.2005)

- new: check for CyberGraphX/56KHZAUDIO added (David Roeskamm)

- new: commands PL_ORB/W/L added for patch lists (Psygore)

- chg: if XPK decompression fails during preload WHDLoad shows the
missing sublib name too

- fix: kickemu correctly updates IO_ACTUAL on trackdisk accesses 
  (JOTD)

- chg: russian translation reworked (Manbiker)

- new: display promotion added to kick31emu, with that WHDLoad options
DblPAL and DblNTSC become working in conjunction with installed
games using kick31 emulation and supporting it

- fix: stackcheck modified to avoid complaining if first long word of
stack is trashed (e.g. when using WarpOS-XPK-Sublib and running
from Workbench)

- chg: bubble help for bplcon* registers added to WHDLoadGCI

- fix: improved startup code for kickemu and _bootdos in kick13.asm

- fix: disassembler for negative absolut word addressing fixed 
(Psygore)

- chg: improved error messages on resload_Patch(Seg)

- new: slovak translation added, thanks to Jan Zahurancik and Martin 
Durik

- new: ukrain translation added, thanks to Andrey Molchanov

- chg: improvement on resload_ProtectSMC, instructions modifying the 
sr no longer break the SMC check, autodocs fixed, disabling trace is
no longer required with SMC check (JOTD)

- chg: text explanation added to register dump for attnflags and 
setcpu

- chg: Snoop on 68060 now allows change of bit #6/7 of ciaa.ddra which
is used on accessing/detecting joypad

- new: if WHDLoad is started without an slave argument from the CLI it
shows a short help for all options and some raw key codes

- chg: improved speed on preload for resload_Examine, now uses 
dos.ExAll and memory pools (when running on v39+)

- chg: kick31emu got a new option called JOYPADEMU, formerly included 
in INIT_LOWLEVEL now separated to support GetLanguage without joypad
emulation, also the joypademu has been improved, now the keys
used are user configurable using the Custom option

- chg: options ExecuteStartup and ExecuteCleanup are now local and
- chg: file PreLoad improved, uses now dos.ExAll, memory pools (if
running under v39+ and more than 4MB free fast available),
asynchronous decrunching of XPK files

- new: supports also the kickstart images supplied with Cloantos Amiga
Forever CDs, kick130.rom or amiga-os-130.rom must be renamed to
kick34005.A500, kick310.rom or amiga-os-310.rom renamed to
kick40068.A4000, images together with the rom.key must be
installed under DEVS:Kickstarts, some older installs require a
kick40068.A1200 image these installs wont run with Cloantos roms

- new: norwegian translation added which is not complete but better 
than none, thanks to Herman Andresen
----------------------------------------------------------------------

      D E S E R T   R A C I N G   G A M E   A N N O U N C E D 

20 December, 2005 

*Today we release the new APC&TCP-Game Desert Racing.

A Demo version (over 200 MB) from the game found you on the next 
CoverCD (58) from the Amiga Future and on the Info/Update/Demo CD from 
APC&TCP.

With Desert Racing of Bardos we'll show you a racing game that you 
have never seen on the Amiga before. Use different components for your 
car depending on your money, drive through amazing animated landscapes 
and bring your AGA Amiga to boil. In the single or multiplayer modes 
you'll not only have the possibilty of tuning the performance but also 
other things...

We take the meaning of tuning very strict because the you will need 
the different weapon systems to succeed in the dirty desert races.

To get into the pleasure of Desert Racing of Bardos your Amiga has to 
be equipped with an AGA chipset or a graphicsboard. A 68030/25 is 
minimum. 1,5MB ChipRAM and 28MB FastRAM are the requirements but more 
is always better.

Get Desert Racing of Bardos and experience an exiting arcade racing 
game without getting envious of the PC world....

System requirements:

Minimum: Amiga with AGA or graphicsboard, 68030 CPU, 2MB of ChipRAM 
and 32MB of FastRAM, harddrive, CD-ROM drive A better CPU is 
recommended.

http://www.apc-tcp.de/support/0020e.html

http://www.apc-tcp.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------

            A M I K I T   1 . 0 . 3   A V A I L A B L E 

24 December, 2005 

AmiKit is the compilation of the best Amiga (free/shareware) programs 
around. To be brief, AmiKit is all you need if you want to experience 
a high-end Classic Amiga system. It contains many expansions and 
add-ons (more than 20.000 files are included in AmiKit!) that turn the 
default AmigaOS installation into a completely renewed and fresh 
environment. This pre-configured package is designed for immediate 
use. Moreover, it contains an exciting surprise for the whole Amiga 
community, see the features!        


  Features

The most exciting feature of AmiKit is:

* Directory Opus Magellan II v5.82*

used as a Workbench replacement!!! This commercial software has never
been freely released to the public before. If you do not know anything
about this excellent piece of software, you should check it out NOW!
You're going to love it. Here are few words from Andreas Loong
(GuruMeditation <http://www.gurumeditation.se>), who has kindly given
permission to use DOpus Magellan II in the AmiKit project: "We 
acquired the full rights to Dopus Magellan late 2004. We've agreed to 
include the trial version on this distribution to let people have a go 
and tinker with it as much as they like. We're closing in on a new 
release, updated with various features that will come towards the end 
of 2005. If you find the version here worth your time, I hope you will 
check out the version we're making for AmigaOS 4!"

Next exclusive features of AmiKit:

* AmiStart* (v0.66)  Darius Brewka has created a special version for 
AmiKit

* GlobalTrash* (v1.5a1)  Oliver Blumert has created an exclusive 
AmiKit preview version

* ReqChange* (v3.15)  Magnus Holmgren has created a free keyfile for 
AmiKit

* ShowAmiga96* (v2.3d)  Heiko Mueller has created a special version 
for AmiKit

* FullPalette* (v40.23)  Massimo Tantignone has sent me his updated 
version

Even more features:

* KensIcons*  complete set of icons, some painted exclusively for
AmiKit by Ken Lester!

* KensOS4*  two visual themes exclusively created for AmiKit by Ken 
Lester!

* microgolded*  the best text Amiga editor around has been licensed
<microgolded.htm> for AmiKit!

* MorpheuZ*  tool that allows you to easily change the design of 
system windows in AmiKit!

AmiKit Launcher - easy to use graphical user interface created by 
Rex Schilasky

Other major features:

    *
      *User-friendly interface* that helps you to manage all your 
      files in an easy way!
    *
      *Internet browsing, mailing, chatting and downloading* using
      various programs like AWeb, IBrowse, YAM, SimpleMail, AmIRC,
      AmiTradeCenter, AmiGift
    *
      *Reading PDF, M$, RTF* and other document formats with the help 
      of APDF, EvenMore, Antiword
    *
      *Manage your time and account* with the help of Daywatch and
      HomeBank.
    *
      *Music software, net streaming, MP3 creating and sample editing
      software* like AmigaAMP, AmiNetRadio, EaglePlayer,
      SymphoniePlayer, LAME, TheMPegEncGUI, SampleEditor
    *
      *Displaying (even in thumbnails) and editing pictures* with the
      help of PicShow, Thumb, MysticView, FroggerNG, PerfectPaint Or
      enjoy the fractal world through ZoneXplorer!
    *
      *Easy handling of archives.* They are opened like every other
      drawer. Or some external programs could be used instead 
      (VooDoo-X, MUIUnArc, XPKatana)
    *
      *Massive FTP support* through OpusFTP module. It has a full GUI
      for the Address Book and operational parameters.
    *
      *Software for burning and copying the CDs* (MakeCD), for 
      mounting       virtual CDs (VirtualCD).
    *
      You can make your AmiKit password protected. Just don't forget
      your password ;-)
    *
      *Pre-configured recognition and processing of many file formats*
      (through the DOpus filetypes)
    *
      *Various system tools* like SysInspector, SnoopDos, Q-Device,
      ShowPatches
    *
      *Antivirus software* effectively checks the system files, memory
      and archives for viruses.
    *
      *Emulation software* like ASp for retro ZX gaming
    *
      *Great taskbar software:* AmiStart (for those who do not like 
      the taskbars on Amiga, simply remove AmiStart from WBStartup. 
      Easy!)
    *
      Most advanced Amiga recycle bin software: GlobalTrash
    *
      *Visual enchancers and system enchancers* like VisualPrefs,
      Birdie, TitleShadow, BoingBall, MagicMenu, MCP
    *
      *Warp3D compatibility* thanks to QuarkTex software
    *
      Adjust PC keyboard to your Amiga needs with the help of 
      MMKeyboard software solution!
    *
      Yes, some games are included as well ;-)

Hardware:

    *
      A PC computer, a rather fast one. At least 256MB of RAM is 
recommended (otherwise decrease the RAM size in WinUAE config). AmiKit 
was created on AthlonXP 2500+ where the boot process of AmiKit takes 
about 12 seconds (or 10 seconds more with unregistered Directory Opus 
Magellan II, see limitations). I've also tried an AthlonXP 1800 and 
the speed of AmiKit was still acceptable.
    *
      Gfx card capable of displaying 32bit screenmodes.

PC software:

    *
      WinUAE, the Windows port of the UAE Amiga Emulator. Version 
1.1.1 is already included in AmiKit package, however if a newer 
version is found in your system, AmiKit will automatically use it.

Amiga software:

    *
      The source of AmigaOS3.x system files. AmiKit installation 
archive DOES NOT contain any copyrighted Amiga system files because 
AmigaOS3.x is still available (fortunately!). These system files will 
be copied from the original CD to AmiKit during the installation 
procedure. Come on, support the Amiga and buy the CD, if you haven't 
done so yet!
    *
      AmigaOS ROM file (v3.1). You can obtain this from your real 
Amiga with the help of ROM ripper/grabber software (see Aminet). 
Another possibility is to buy the Amiga Forever package which includes 
the ROM file.

http://www.amikit.amiga.sk/
----------------------------------------------------------------------

          A M I P O D D E R   N O W   D O E S   V I D E O 

10-Dec-2005 15:31:43

Video podcasts come to the Amiga with AmiPodder 1.4! With the release 
of iTunes 6 and the new iPod video many podcasters are including video 
clips in their podcast feeds. AmiPodder now recognises video episodes 
and can play them back in the video player of your choice (MPlayer and 
Frogger have been tested, not all video podcasts will play on Amiga 
players due to the codecs used). If you have a portable device capable 
of playing video, AmiPodder can sync the movies to it too.



Also in version 1.4 are a number of improvements and bug fixes 
including:

* Option to prompt for the sync directory making it easier to use 
AmiPodder with multiple portable players or players using removeable 
media cards.

* New status of "Played", so if you use AmiPodder as a "jukebox" you 
can see what podcasts you've already listened to.

* File name length limitation, handy if your Amiga filesystem or music 
player only accepts short filenames.

* Many more changes.

AmiPodder 1.4 is freeware and runs on OS 3.x, OS 4 and MorphOS.

Download the new version from:
http://www.amipodder.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------

     O N Y X S O F T   R E L E A S E S   F I V E   U P D A T E S

17 December, 2005 

OnyxSoft is releasing five software updates so you have something to 
play with over Christmas! {Or thereafter. Brad}

(Our homepage will be updated in a few days. All files are current 
though even if the download page says otherwise.)

Updated programs
Annotate v2.3 - (OS4) A very comprehensive text editor with a lot of 
functions. These are the major updates: ReAction, UTF-8, Tab chars, a 
lot of new config options, new and fixed hotkeys.

8SVXtoXXX v1.4 - (68k) Converter for IFF-8SVX samples to various audio 
formats. Fixed reading of some files which could have crashes 
8SVXtoXXX. Added CLI support.

BackUp v1.44 - (68k) Backup program that mirrors a directory 
structure. BackUp no longer creates empty directories for dirs in the 
skiplist. Better CLI support. Fixed a possible crash when pausing a 
backup process.

MPlayer-GUI v1.32 - (OS4) GUI for MPlayer. Added p96_vmem and 
cgx_vmem_scale video modes and the new SIL devices to VCD/DVD 
choosers.

DigiConverter v1.2 - (68k) Developer tool to convert between decimal, 
bex, binary, float and ASCII. Added buttons for copy and paste and 
made a few fixes.

http://www.onyxsoft.se/
----------------------------------------------------------------------

        A M I G A S Y S 3   F O R   W I N U A E   U S E R S 

28-Dec-2005 22:04:22 (360 reads)

*Few days late, but AmigaSYS3 has been released on 28th December, 
aftersome hard months of work!*

- Amiga OS 3.0/3.1 support.
- Amiga OS 3.9 ( Amiga Forever 5/6/2005/OE , AmigaOs 3.9 , Amiga OSXL)
support.
- A lot of new fix, programs , features , scripts, ideas.
- 5 fantastic Themes.
- New AmigaSYS Additional pack!
- Beneath A Steel Sky AmigaSYS pack!
- And more... and more...and more info , see AmigaSYS page!

http://amigasys.fw.hu
AmigaSYS is a pre-installed full Amiga OS for WinUAE, like AIAB.
For install, you need a valid KickstartROM 3.0/3.1, and the image file 
of Workbench and Extras Disk 3.0/3.1.

The new AmigaSYS 2.0 needs KickROM 3.1 and optional a valid OS 3.9 CD 
for full features. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             F R E E P O P S   F O R   M A I L E R S    

{From the excellent site www.amigaworld.net. Brad}

*Description: * FreePOPs
<http://os4depot.net/share/network/email/freepops_lha.readme>
*Download: *    freepops.lha
<http://os4depot.net/share/network/email/freepops.lha>    
*Version: * 0.0.96
*Date: *    28 Dec 05
*Author: *  Various - AmigaOS4 port by Andrea Palmatè
*Submitter: *   Andrea Palmatè
*Email: *   andrea/amigasoft net
*Homepage: *    http://www.freepops.org/en/
*Category: *    network/email
<http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=browse&cat=network/email>
*License: * GPL
*Distribute: *  yes
*FileID: *  1469


FreePOPs is an easily extensible program, which allows access to the 
most varied resources through the POP3 protocol.
Mainly, it can be used to download mail from the most famous webmails, 
but it could also be used as an aggregator for RSS feeds and much 
more. This way it is possible to get all your messages in your 
favorite email client.

----
Look at site's manual. The program is simple to configure.

just run it (or add it to user-startup). It will bind on port 2000.
On the email client configure your account to use port 2000 and as 
server localhost (or 127.0.0.1).

PLEASE READ MANUAL TO CONFIGURE YOUR MAIL ACCOUNT (and if it is 
available)

Look at this page: http://www.freepops.org/it/viewplugins.php to see 
if your domain is supported.

http://www.amigasoft.net
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Amiga Update on the net:
 All back issues available at:
    http://www.globaldialog.com/~bandr/AU/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive! Now in our 12th publication year. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 by Brad Webb.    Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
                 _    __      _     <>_   __      _      
   A M I G A    /\\    |\    /||    ||   /  `    /\\      A M I G A   
  U P D A T E  /__\\   | \  / ||    ||  || ___  /__\\    U P D A T E 
              /    \\_ |  \/  ||_  _||_  \__// /    \\_  
                    amigaupdate@globaldialog.com      
======================================================================

• Amiga and MorphOS news of november/december 2005
• Interview with Andrea Palmaté (AmigaOS 4 developer)
• Review of AmiKit
• Tutorial: installation of Linux/Debian on Pegasos 1 and 2
• Tutorial: installation of Linux/Yellow Dog on Pegasos 2
• Tutorial: installation of Linux/Crux on Pegasos 2
• Tutorial: installation of Linux/Suse on Pegasos 2
• Tutorial: installation of PegXMac on Pegasos 2 (update)
• Tutorial: installation of MorphOS on Classic Amiga
• Tutorial: TVPaint - creation of gems
• Article about spams (update)
• The Amiga quizz

• 50.56: Huge changes in the class' structure. Adapted large parts of the terminal emulation to work on Mac OS X. Tweaked to use libmosutil (os-independant tags/pools support lib)
• 50.57: Added ESC[Z, ESC[I, fixed the table stops generator, reworked vt_nexttabstop to move the cursor and handle forward wrap, implemented vt_prevtabstop. More work on the ATSUI rendering engine for OSX. Implemented vta_renderline, vta_renderlinepart, vta_refresh, vta_render
• 50.58: Fixed tabs (tab forward should not wrap!), impelemented scroll left/right escape sequences (ESC[ P, ESC[ @), fixed vt_getesccode not to get confused by the @ code
• 50.59: Added an OSX PowerTermScroll class, the OSX port can handle a NSScroller object now. A lot of work in the ATSUI renderer, enabled font matching to allow all possible unicode characters, write method, some work on delayed refreshing. More rendering code - added marking display, finished most of the render sections
• 50.60: OSX vt_scrollto, vt_postwrite and companions, Cocoa PTerm begins to get functional

• 640*480/8 Bit and 1024*768/16/24/32 bit support
• AmigaOS 4 support
• MorphOS support
• Amithlon support
• UAE support
• PowerPC support
• CD, Paula & AHI support
• Animated weapons, armours, goods a buildings in 8/16/24/32 bit
• Figure animationen in 8/16/24/32 bit
• More than 30 different screens
• Massively multiplayer strategy game via email or TCP/IP
• Support for different languages
• Cross platform gaming possible (Amiga, PC, Mac, Linux, Browser, Java)
• Online chat
• 8 minutes intro

• Can read track names from the CD (CDText) or FreeDB (CDDB)
• Random play
• Play via AHI
• ARexx-Port
• Waveform analyser (when playing via AHI)
• Visual plugins of AmigaAMP are supported (only for AHI)
• DSP-plugins of AmiNetRadio are supported (only for AHI)
• Simple, clear User-Interface
• Different GUI-elements can be chosen

• Extracts audio-data from a CD
• Can read track names from the CD (CDText)

• Deletes CDRWs, just like the "Blank CD" function of MakeCD

• Opens and closes the CD-/DVD-drive

• Sets the speed of the CD-/DVD-drive

• Amiga OS 3.0/3.1 support.
• Amiga OS 3.9 ( Amiga Forever 5/6/2005/OE , AmigaOs 3.9 , Amiga OSXL) support
• A lot of new fix, programs , features , scripts, ideas
• 5 fantastic Themes
• New AmigaSYS Additional pack
• Beneath A Steel Sky AmigaSYS pack
• And more... and more...and more info , see AmigaSYS page

• 29.12.05 improved: The Enforcer (Trojan) support for light guns added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: Space Gun (Ocean) support for light guns added, calibration rewritten, access faults fixed, manual and icons added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: Skeet Shoot (Trojan) support for light guns added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: Side Show (Actionware) support for light guns added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: P.O.W. (Actionware) support for light guns added, manual added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: Orbital Destroyer (Trojan) support for light guns added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: Fire Star (Trojan) support for light guns added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: Die Hard 2 (Grandslam) support for light guns added, manual and icons added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: Cyber Assault (Trojan) support for light guns added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: Creature (Actionware) support for light guns added, manual added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: Capone (Actionware) support for light guns added, highscore saving added (Info)
• 29.12.05 improved: Aliex (Trojan) support for light guns added (Info)
• 25.12.05 improved: West Phaser (Loriciel) support for light guns added (Info)
• 25.12.05 improved: Crazy Shot (Hitech/Loriciel) support for light guns added (Info)
• 23.12.05 new: P47 Thunderbolt (Firebird) done by DJ Mike (Info)
• 21.12.05 improved: Burntime (Max Design) supports another version (Info)
• 19.12.05 improved: Quest For Glory / Hero's Quest (Sierra) supports another version (Info)

• The production of the PowerVixxen-cards has already started, the owners manuals are currently being finished.
• The shipment is planned for the end of January.
• The price per card is 299 USD (wo. vat).
• The cards are shipped in a bundle with AmigaOS 4.

• pci.library
• Voodoo.card
• Virge.card
• MedConfig

• pci.library ver. 6.5
  
  • many internal changes
• Voodoo.card ver. 4.26
  
  • the first common Voodoo.card version for MM CD and no-MM CD users
  • support for hardware de-interlacing in overlay added
  • VodooGuide Italian translation by Arturo Franzin
• Virge.card ver. 1.8
  
  • support for Mediator PCI 1200LT and LT4 added
• MedConfig ver. 1.4
  
  • bug fixes
  • French localisation by Philippe Bovier

• Final version of direct rendering callback for BGRA32 screenmode
• Added handling of fonts with MS Symbol names encoding (Marlett)
• Fixed possible hits in the database parser

• Problems with printing solved (bgol)
• The time remaining until the next (automatic) mails download is displayed in the window title (bgol)
• Some options for the behaviour of the read window added (bgol)
• Mails can be forwarded as attachments (optional)
• Externally saved mails can be displayed via the menu item "Project/open mail..."; the same function is available via the command line and the ARexx command "OPENMESSAGE"
• Bugs removed

• optional skinable Docky interface
• playlist editing facilities
• sorting/find abilities
• volume and tune seeking controls
• and more...

• ADDED: AmiKit Polish documentation, translated by Tomek!
• ADDED: AmigaAMP-External68k engine, set as default engine now.
• UPDATED: AmigaAMP 2.16
• UPDATED: IBrowse Preferences 23.3
• UPDATED: Jabberwocky 1.6
• UPDATED: MakeCD 3.2d beta 11
• UPDATED: WHDLoad 16.5 build 4021
• UPDATED: WookieChat 1.9.2
• UPDATED: YAM 2.4p1 + locale files

• The major changes concern a new set of options activated with right mouse button.
• fixed bug in the procedure of hiding mouse pointer
• fixed bugs in ADD and DEL functions
• added PPM P6 and JPEG savers
• displayed TV images can be used as Workbench background
• selection of favourite channels
• minimizing the main window can be obtain from the GUI level
• minor change in the method of saving configuration files

• FIXED: When changing to/from fullscreen with other windows opened they are moved to front.
• FIXED: Various small bugs and invalid memory acceses.
• FIXED: Crashes when switching images with asynchronous refresh enabled.
• FIXED: Sometimes rightmost column on thumbnail had wrong color.
• FIXED: Memory leak when checking saved JPEG quality.
• NEW: Loading of CMYK JPEGs.
• NEW: Possibility to disable color subsampling in JPEG saver. Results in better color quality (not 'washed out') in some cases.
• NEW: Selective gaussian filter. Usefull for noise removal.
• NEW: Glow filter.
• NEW: Straighten tool. Helps to correct rotated scans or pictures.
• NEW: Manual marking of cropped area.
• NEW: Thumbnails view uses directory icons if possible.
• NEW: File management functions can be executed on multiple files at once (multiselection).
• NEW: More keyboard shortcuts added to menu items.
• NEW: Image rotation also possible using numeric keyboard (keys 7 and 9).
• NEW: When changing browser mode currently selected file is remembered.
• NEW: In thumbnails view, selected thumbs are highlighted.
• NEW: 'Delayed scanning' option. Starts thumbnails generation only after browser is enabled.
• NEW: Display of EXIF tags from JPEG images.
• NEW: Automatic rotation of pictures with vertical orientation (if camera supports it and writes needed info).
• NEW: 3D View (3DVIEW tooltype or command param). Just useless eyecandy for now :) (Screenshot)
• NEW: Background/Shadow color adjustment for display area.
• NEW: Save function (in addition to Save As).
• NEW: In thumbnailer module size of resulting thumbnail can be specified.
• NEW: Undo. For now just simple one level one. Was that or no release for xmess.
• NEW: ARexx interface
• Updated libz and libpng to current versions.
• Faster text inserting routine.
• Rotation routines much faster (up to 300%) for bigger images.
• String gadget with numeric values can be controlled using mouse wheel (MUI4).
• Speedup to various parts of the code.

• Added subtitle support (.srt and .sub files) with automatic subtitle loading
• Added subtitle command line options and tooltypes (font name/size, position, colour) and a new subtitle menu to allow loading/closing of subtitles
• Added animated dithering algorithm to 16-bit modes to improve quality (apparent colour depth) and added NODITHER tooltype and command line option
• Volume slider could be updated by audioboost in fullscreen mode where it does not get put into the window leading to a crash
• Added possibility to use system fonts in DvPlayer Skins; updated the skin documentation to include information about this new feature
• Fixed a memory leak bug in the avi code
• AudioBoost now doubles the volume too, instead of just extending the volume range
• Fixed a bug causing wrong window size when skin was changed while a movie was stopped

• Title: Fkrent Story
• Artist: Lcr feat. Kuadziw
• Style: Tribal
• Play time: 7:50
• Format: mp3 (160 kbps)

• Fixed a bug which caused crashes when trying to step between images at the same time as when the info line or mouse was blanked
• Selecting only a directory in the file requester didn't work
• Fixed problem with buffered events, which made the image zoom/rotation slower and less responsive

• Incoming file transfers with spaces in the filename is accepted now
• Pause while selecting text fixed
• Tab switching works properly under OS3 now
• Outgoing /notice and /msg appear in the currently viewed tab again
• Split up the Incoming and Outgoing DCC File Transfers Window into two separate windows, to take up less space when not needed.
• No longer creates empty logs (0 bytes) when logging is disabled
• If you start a line with "//" it sends that text normally. It wont try to use it as a command anymore.
• /join no longer requires a '#' preceeding the channel name
• Added basic command alias support. e.g. /j can replace /join
• Added a /say command to speak in the current tab. Could be useful in conjunction with an alias
• Tabs now have a black square in them to show theres been no activity, and have been made more compact
• Tabs sit in a virtual group now, so that the window isnt forced to be as large as the amount of tabs you have open

• The AROS Live-CD loads the PowerPC version of the homonymous operating system, an open-source reimplementation of AmigaOS 3.1
• The Freevo Live-CD loads a Home Theatre system on your Pegasos
• The Mac-On-Linux archive provides a bootable Mac-On-Linux system with support for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), CD/DVD-RW-RO, USB and AC97

• The cycletmenu-problem is fixed with a new exec.library.
• The right default metric mode is now used by the fontmanager
• More fixed Errors, usable for to AROS ported software:
  • The AROS-picture-datatype shows now pictures inside of MUI toolbar buttons, if this is activated inside of MUI-prefs.
  • The diskfont.library set the font-flag "FSF_ANTIALIASING 0x10" by TrueType-Fonts - the MUI-textclass (used also by YAM) do not draw thick, if the cursor moved righthand, a version >15.16 of texteditor.mcc is recommended.
  • AllocMem works now with the MEMF_LARGEST-Flag
  • The AROS diskfont-library set the TF_XSize-Flag now for wide characters; through this proportional fonts are working in graphical user interfaces, which are calculating the this with this value. (e.g. GoldED, some DirOpus-Magellan-wondows or DevsMan)

• Support for Online Registration, Update and Bug reporting.
• Wacom Tablet HID Support.
• HID Output Control Window: Automatically generated GUI for HID devices.
• New Classes for MIDI, Touchscreen, Palm PDAs, IrDA (stack not included) and Bluetooth (stack not included).
• Mass storage class reworked and extended (e.g. better fall back modes, improved partition detecting for automounting, and unmounting of partitions, better boot time adapting removable task).
• HID class can now be made boot time resident, no more need for bootmouse or bootkeyboard class.
• HID lowlevel.library extension for analogue pad information.
• PoPo: Annoying Poseidon Popups for events, such as connection, removal, low power and death events. With sound support.
• Power Management added. Warns if power drain is higher than supply.
• Dead device detection.
• Severe internal changes to class scan and enumeration procedure: Less (no?) potential deadlocks.
• Automatic configuration change notification and updating.
• Support for PipeStreams.
• Full support for USB 2.0.
• Updated list of vendors.
• Devices can now be renamed by user.
• Added additional visual feedback in Trident (traffic signs).
• Configuration management added to Trident.
• Lots of fixes and optimizations.

• 15.12.05 new: Indigo (Psygnosis/Stephane BELIN) done by CFOU! (Info,Image)
• 14.12.05 fixed: Flink CD³² (Psygnosis) blue button with joypad is working now (Info)
• 14.12.05 improved: Dragon's Lair: Escape from Singe's Castle (Visionary Design) can be installed together with base game (Info)
• 12.12.05 improved: Quest For Glory 2 - Trial By Fire (Sierra) supports another version (Info,Image)
• 12.12.05 updated: Yolanda (Vectordean) imager improved (Info)
• 12.12.05 improved: Red Baron (Dynamix) supports another version, swaps fixed (Info,Image)
• 12.12.05 new: Eskadra (LK Avalon/SUN Production) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 05.12.05 new: Yolanda (Vectordean) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 04.12.05 new: Renegades (Infernal Byte Systems) done by Necronomfive (Info)
• 04.12.05 new: OsWALD Of The Ice Floes (Centaur) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 03.12.05 new: Hyperion (Black Lengend/Offence software) done by CFOU! (Info)

• Better recognition of WAV files
• Decoding engines recompiled from a common codebase

• ADDED: excellent DirOpus4 configuration created for AmiKit by Pavel Pok
• ADDED: GMPlay 1.3 + GMPlayMUI 1.2 + gmtones + MidiFiles
• ADDED: XPK packing options to DirOpus5 User Menu
• UPDATED: FlashPlayer 1.2
• UPDATED: MCC_TextEditor 15.17
• UPDATED: MMKeyboard enabled by default. Adjust your PC keyboard to your needs by AmiKit:Utilities/EXPANSION/MMKeyboard/MMKeyboard
• UPDATED: AmiKit.exe warns you if the name of your Win partition is in conflict with AmiKit
• UPDATED: handling of DirOpus5 XPK and XFD filetypes
• FIXED: bad recognizing of DirOpus5 Sound Module filetype

• for C64: 44-pin, raster 2,54mm
• for VIC-20: 44-pin, raster 3,96mm
• for C16/C116/plus-4: 50-pin, raster 2,0mm
• for Apple II: 50-pin, raster 2,54mm

• Deathbed Vigil DVD, signed by Dave Haynie
• 5,25 inch disks double-sided, single-density
• cartridge cases for C64-cartridges
• double-CD Commodore Billboard and Funet archive

• MakeCD 3.78 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• makecdromfs.module 45.10 (12.05.2003)
• ReadWrite.module 16.1 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• SCSISupport.module 16.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CDR_JVC_Teac.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CDR_Panasonic.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CDR_Philips_2000.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CDR_Philips_2600.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CDR_Plextor_Ricoh.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CDR_Ricoh_6200.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CDR_SCSI3_ATAPI.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CDR_Sony.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CDR_Yamaha_10x.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CD_ATAPI.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CD_NEC.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CD_ROM.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CD_Sony_Plextor.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)
• CD_Toshiba.driver 15.0 public beta 11 (Nov 21 2005)

• added recognition of Yamaha CRW8824S/CRW8824E, Teac CD-W512SB, Plextor PX-W4012S, PX-320A, PX-W4824E, PX-716A
• removed restrictions in ISO image creation for all registered users
• fixed invalid memory access when importing .cue file (caused crash under OS4.0)
• allow setting and writing of indices in data tracks:
  • needed for some VideoCDs
  • only supported by CDR_SCSI_ATAPI.driver
• added scanning of data tracks for indices:
  • needed to copy some VideoCDs correctly
  • only supported by CD_ATAPI.driver and CDR_SCSI_ATAPI.driver and if the drive itself supports reading sub channel data

• Added datatypes.library support
• Added OpenGL/TinyGL support. It's not finished yet, but already allows to do things like this, this or this
• Debug mode in the runtime libraries. It sends messages to MorphOS logserver about file and memory management when you want it to do so (release RTL is built w/o this, you need to rebuild RTL to use it)
• Added new eyecandy truecolor icons for directory and documentation. Thanks to Andre 'JoBBo' Siegel for the icons. You can happily browse FPC directory from Ambient now

• File handling code had some big overhaul, cleanups, and overall it's a lot more stable and robust now
• Hopefully fixed FPU initialization of RTL
• Unix & Amiga path conversion was broken is some cases for linker script generation; fixed
• Lots of other minor fixes

• ADDED: new Magic bootpicture for 1024x768. Use AmiKit:Prefs/ShowAmiga96_Prefs to enable it
• UPDATED: asyncio.library 40.6
• FIXED: bad replaying of sound modules due to incorrect frequency settings
• FIXED: ASp audio problems with AHI6
• FIXED: AF2005 Online Edition not recognized if Win C: partition has no additional name

• miami.library:
  • Rewritten MiamiIsOnline() to recognize local interfaces by IFF_LOOPBACK flag instead of "lo" in the beginning of the name
  • Added new functions: link_aton() and link_ntoa(), ezTCPResetNetDB()
  • Rewritten resolver control functions due to changed internal data interchange
• kernel:
  • Changed default mbuf configuration
  • Fixed potential crash in Dup2Socket() if destination socket is in use
  • Tag (if present) is now printed properly in the syslog
  • Now accepts netmasks smaller than default one
  • Added support for AF_LINK addresses
  • rtm_pid field in route messages is now filled in properly
  • Added private tag exposing resolver state structure - for future miami.library functions
  • Added support for SIOCGIFMTU and SIOCGIFINDEX ioctl's
  • Added private EZTCP_FindKernelVar() function providing support for libkvm used by netstat utility
  • Fixed RESET ARexx command
  • Added private EZTCP_ResetNetDB() function (provides support for miami.library/ezTCPResetNetDB())
• Syslog viewer:
  • Removed redundant "Save as..." operation from the menu
• CLI environment:
  • "ifconfig" utility upgraded
• DHCP support:
  • First introduced; it doesn't set up DNS servers yet, though, therefore you have to ask IPs from your sysadmin/provider and write them to resolv.conf manually.

• lirst time a GUI added
• usage of memory banks...
• optimized scrolling (in my opinion to fast... )
• reload of tiles and leveldata...if dismissed the right ones...
• different tileformats..
• realtime byte MOD (first byte will be modified realtime while pressing a key)

• Freescale Keynote Best of Show Announcement, MP4 Stream (High Quality and Mobile Quality)
• Award Presentation, MP4 Stream (High Quality and Mobile Quality)

• EFIKA 5K2 Product Presentation, MP4 Stream (High Quality and Mobile Quality)

• 02.12.05 new: Burntime (Max Design) done by Psygore (Info)
• 29.11.05 improved: Son Shu-Shi (Expose Software) trainer added, new install script, other fixes (Info,Image)
• 28.11.05 improved: The Humans (Imagitec Design) supports another 2 versions (Info)
• 28.11.05 improved: Premiere (Core Design) reworked install, new icons, uses rawdic (Info)
• 23.11.05 improved: Quest For Glory 2 - Trial By Fire (Sierra) increased chip mem requirement to 1 meg for better music (Info,Image)
• 23.11.05 fixed: Nigel Mansell's World Championship (Gremlin) fixed guru in aga version, adapted for whdload 16 (Info)
• 23.11.05 new: Gem Stone Legend (Loriciel) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 19.11.05 new: The Island Of Lost Hope (Digital Concepts) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 19.11.05 improved: Space Quest Enhanced (Sierra) supports another version, access faults fixed (Info,Image)
• 19.11.05 new: Shadow Sorcerer (TSR/SSI/US Gold) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 19.11.05 fixed: King's Quest 5 (Sierra) access faults fixed (Info,Image)
• 14.11.05 fixed: Kid Chaos (Ocean/Magnetic Fields) fixed the illegal slave error on startup (Info)
• 14.11.05 new: Fury Of The Furries (Kalisto/Atreid software) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 13.11.05 new: Kid Chaos (Ocean/Magnetic Fields) ecs version by DJ Mike (Info)
• 13.11.05 improved: Pinball Fantasies (21st Century) better fonts in aga menu, install script fixed (Info,Image)
• 12.11.05 new: Liquid Kids (Ocean) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 12.11.05 new: Dragon's Kingdom Demo (GENIAS/GOLDEN TEAM) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 06.11.05 new: Tube Warriors (Dynabyte) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 06.11.05 improved: Heart Of The Dragon (Avatar Consulting) supports another version (Info)
• 06.11.05 new: Blue Berry (Infogrames) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 04.11.05 improved: Vroom Multiplayer (Lankhor) supports another version, better speed (Info)
• 04.11.05 improved: Dr. Doom's Revenge (Empire) various changes (Info)
• 31.10.05 new: Superman: The Man Of Steel (TyneSoft/Subway/First star software) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 31.10.05 updated: Wacus The Detective (LK Avalon/Lazy Artists) manual and cheats added (Info)
• 31.10.05 new: Son Shu-Shi (Expose Software) done by Codetapper (Info,Image)
• 31.10.05 new: Sensible World of Moon Soccer Demo (Sensible Software) done by Psygore (Info,Image)
• 31.10.05 new: Awesome Demo (Psygnosis) done by Psygore (Info)
• 24.10.05 new: Smash TV (Ocean) done by Codetapper (Info)
• 24.10.05 new: Magic Lines (Thalion) done by Codetapper (Info)
• 24.10.05 new: Sensible Soccer 92/93 Meets Bulldog Blighty (Sensible Software) done by Codetapper (Info)
• 24.10.05 new: Unsensible Soccer (Sensible Software) done by Codetapper (Info)
• 24.10.05 new: T-Racer (Virtual Dreams) done by CFOU! (Info)
• 24.10.05 new: Donald's Alphabet Chase (Westwood Associates) done by CFOU! (Info)

======================================================================
                               ________
         _________ ____      _|__ __ __|_______      _________
       __\ _____ \\\\  \_  _/  //___//  _____//______\ _____ \\
      // \\\\  /. \\\\__ \/ __//    \\  \\____.  /// \\\\  /. \\
      \\___\¯ /___///___\  /___\     \\_________//\\___\¯ /___//
       ¯    \/    ¯ ¯    \/.  |¯      ¯|z!o     ¯  ¯    \/    ¯
               A M I G A      | 051130 |      U P D A T E
                              |________|
  "SO THE WORLD MAY KNOW"
======================================================================
        AMIGA and the Amiga logo are trademarks of Amiga, Inc.      
----------------------------------------------------------------------

            A M I G A   G A M E S   T H A T   W E R E N ' T

          T H R E E   C O U N T I E S   G R O U P   I N   U K

     C O M P A N I E S   S T O P   S E L L I N G   H A R D W A R E

               D I G I T A L   U N I V E R S E   N E W S

 A L I N E A   C O M P U T E R   L A U N C H E D   I N   G E R M A N Y

                 A M I K I T   F O R   P C   U S E R S

               U P D A T E S   F R O M   J A H C S O F T

         C R O S S F I R E   I I   P A T C H   A N D   D E M O 

            W A R P V I E W   A T   O S 4 D E P O T . N E T

      N E W   W E T   -   F O R   W E A T H E R   C H E C K E R S

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's Thoughts and Introduction:
 Unusual things this month. A new website dedicated to games that 
weren't, the launch of a new Amiga software company (when's the last 
time that happened?) and companies in Germany stopping the selling of 
product due to new laws. Strange things, all those.
 I'd like to say a few words about the last item, the laws that are 
stopping the shipping of some hardware. This is related to the tough, 
new European rules regarding toxic waste. Many people don't know it, 
but the huge increase in electronic devices, especially computers, has 
led to a very serious pollution problem. That is because many 
electronic components contain toxic materials, especially lead, which 
is a very serious health risk if allowed to get into the environment. 
The disposal of these systems is poisoning people when not done 
correctly. This has become a huge problem in many countries around the 
world. Lead poisoning is especially hard on the young, who may suffer 
for their entire lives. Tough new European legislation to track and 
manage electronic devices from manufacturing to disposal is intended 
to tackle this issue. Because the economy is global, this initiative 
is forcing better products world wide.
 In our opinion, this is an excellent thing to do and should probably 
have been done long ago. Computing is fun but poisoning the 
environment and the creatures - including us - who live in it should 
not be part of the cost. "Kudos" to EU for having the courage to do 
something about this before the problem becomes even worse.
 We also strongly hope this is a temporary absence from the hardware 
scene. We trust everyone will understand or at least tolerate the 
situation (not that we could do much about it anyway) and we certainly 
look for the return of these products to the market as soon as the 
companies can comply with the new laws.
 We hope you enjoy this issue.
 Brad Webb,
 Editor
 Brad Webb,
 Editor
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

          A M I G A   G A M E S   T H A T   W E R E N ' T

30 October, 2005

aGTW is launched (with a simple site). There is only one game so far 
but it's a complete and previously unreleased Amiga game that was due 
to be a commercial title!

Case 1 - Son Shu Shi

Legend tells of a breed of Amiga games that never crawled out of the
primordial development swamp of their early existence. Games that 
never stood blinking in the sunlight of the gaming world. Games that 
were never devoured by predators of the Amiga jungle. They are the... 
Amiga Games That Weren't.

Some 5,000 Amiga games were released commercially. However, there are 
a significant number that were never released. The aim of this site is 
to find out what happened to them and (if possible) allow them to be
released. Expect many to be lost forever. It'll be an interesting
journey nonetheless.

Amiga Games That Weren't is a companion site to Frank Gasking's 
Games That Weren't 64 and Timo Weirich's PC Games That Weren't 
sites. The data on unreleased games is primarily based on information 
from the Hall Of Light.

http://www.gtw64.co.uk/
Games That Weren't 64

http://pcgtw.retro-net.de/
PC Games That Weren't

http://www.softpres.org/
The Software Preservation Society

<http://www.whdload.de>
WHDLoad

http://www.winuae.net/
WinUAE

http://hol.abime.net
The Hall Of Light
     
http://agtw.abime.net/
----------------------------------------------------------------------

        T H R E E   C O U N T I E S   G R O U P   I N   U K

29 November, 2005

Three Counties Amiga Group

Our first Meeting is This Coming Sunday, 4th of December 2005:

Meeting Time: 11:30am till 3:00pm

Location:Wolloston Road, Westwood, Peterborough
Round the corner from where Big Bash Shows are held

Everyone welcome!

Please visit our website for further information: http://www.3cag.net

Fee: £3.00 Per meeting

Conveniences: WC, Tea Coffee etc, Nearby: Grocers, Cash Till, Chinese, 
Chip Shop, etc one minutes walk from Venue. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------

   C O M P A N I E S   S T O P   S E L L I N G   H A R D W A R E 

24 November, 2005 

 Germany's E3B and individual Computers, which became famous for 
innovative and powerful hardware expansions for classic Amiga 
computers, are forced to stop selling hardware until further notice 
due to changes in German law. No hardware is being shipped within the 
EU, not to resellers, nor to direct customers.

According to the national implementation of EU-directive 2002/96/EG
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2003/l_037/l_
03720030213en00240038.pdf into German law *(Bundesgesetzblatt 2005 
Teil I Nr. 17)* http://www.stiftung-ear.de/content/e47/e572/e580
e594/050316elektrog_ger.pdf, every vendor in Germany must be 
registered with the Stiftung EAR http://www.stiftung-ear.de/. For 
vendors from outside Germany, the importer must be registered, in case 
the vendor is not registered in Germany. This law applies to all 
electronic products that are mentioned in rule EAR 03-011
http://www.stiftung-ear.de/e129/e145/regeln319/Geraeteart_ger.pdf, no
matter what country they come from - within or outside the European 
union.

The new law aims at vendors and importers, who need to take
resposibility for the electronic devices if they are discarded at the
end of the product's life. Putting electronic devices into circulation
without being registered (indicated by a trashcan symbol) is against
German law as of today. Violators can be penalized with a monetary 
fine of up to 50.000 EUR.

Due to the complicated implementation by German authorities, it's not
easy to estimate the consequences and the new obligations created by
this law. In addition to that, the extremely high administration 
effort goes with high fees that must be paid to the Stiftung EAR - 
especially smaller companies' existance is endangered by the fees that 
are more than one hundred times higher than the recycling cost itself.
individual computers http://ami.ga and E3B
http://www.e3b.de/usb, who have been developing and producing in
Germany for many years, are now evaluating possibilities to comply 
with the strict rules in a close cooperation, so customers all over 
Europe can continue to buy top quality products from Germany. Both 
companies want to act responsible and sustainable in this regard.

Many issues are not yet resolved, therefore both companies cannot
continue to deliver hardware to customers and resellers within the
European union. Customers outside the EU are not affected by this 
decision.

We're hoping to proceed with the necessary steps in a timely manner.
Unfortunately, the "Stiftung EAR" cannot cope with the bureaucracy
created by their own rules, so our registration number is not yet
assigned. We are of course interested in continuing to offer 
innovative products, and will do everything to keep the shortage as 
short as possible. We're asking for your indulgence for any 
inconveniences.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             D I G I T A L   U N I V E R S E   N E W S

 The following post about Digital Universe was found this month on the 
excellent Amigaworld.net site. Brad
    
28 November, 2005

*Some more positive news for AmgaOS4.

I did ask from the Digital Universe maintainers about the "promised"
version for PPC amigas, and I got a quick reply. I will not copy the
whole questions/answers list here, but the most important part. Also I
do remind you, that the plans are not a finnished product yet.*


Quote:

news for the Amiga is actually brighter. We have made arrangements 
with a third party to continue to update the Amiga to bring it on a 
par (or better than) the current Mac release of the software. In 
addition to bringing it up to date with the current release of the 
Amiga OS, new capabilities (like the Hubble Guide Star catalogue) are 
expected to be available in the future.

I did ask the permission to share this information, if I let you also
know that: Quote:

I have no idea of an ETA at this time, but the Amiga release is 
actually the only version currently in active development at the 
moment.

And finally: Quote:

we have no estimate as to when it might be available.

Esa Haapaniemi
University of Oulu
Finland
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 A L I N E A   C O M P U T E R   L A U N C H E D   I N   G E R M A N Y 

*Wehrheim, Germany, the 14th of november 2005.
Alinea Computer is proud of presenting itself as a new company for
Amiga-Software. We are an enterprise which concentrates it's work 
mainly on the development and the distribution of AmigaOS4-
applications and -games. Besides, we offer support services like 
CD-production, webdesign and dataprint.

The following Amiga-Software is now available: *

ANotice 2 - a memo programme

ANotice 2 is a memo programme for your workbench. It will help you to
manage your notes, dates, to-do-lists or other important information.
You can easily and fast change the notice and export it into different
text-formats.

ANotice 2 can manage up to 13 notes and each note can be designed
individually with 13 different background and text- colors, 7 
textures, different fonts and 4 text attributes.

Besides the large reaction-prefs which can controll all functions,
ANotice 2 includes a network-function with client-server-programme, so
that distributing a to-do-list in an enterprise can easily be done.
ANotice 2 was programmed as a commodity and runs totaly system 
friendly. It operates on each Amiga with at least AmigaOS 4.0. You do 
not need any other libraries or additional programmes.

ANotice 2 is delivered by E-Mail and costs 5,95 Euro only.

AmiPhoto - a quick and comfortable photo-manager

AmiPhoto is a photo album for your digital photos and pictures. It's
easy handling and attractive GUI will convince you. You can manage up 
to half a million pictures in 500 albums at the most. You can show the
photos on the surface or by multiview. Because of a direct support of
the Amiga OS4.0 datatype-system, it is possible to use all
picture-formats which exist as datatype. AmiPhoto can further select 
and show the EXIF-dates of your digital photos.

For adapting perfectly on your workbench-skin, AmiPhotos uses it's own
Bitmap-skin-system. The 17 skins you find on your CD will help you to
style your AmiPhoto surface. You can certainly create your own skins. 
We would be proud to present your skin on our website.

AmiPhoto is programmed totaly system friendly. It supports the
application library and does not need any additional libraries.

AmiPhoto is delivered an CD and costs just 19,95 Euro.


Freeware

The main ambition of Alinea Computer is to support the Amiga market.
That's the reason why we will continue releasing programmes free of
charge, so that the existing lack of Amiga-Software can be repaired. 
We hope you can use our software and we would be happy to hear some
feedback concerning our products.

On our website: http://www.alinea-computer.de you'll find more
information.

You can buy all our products in our Alinea-Shop. As a dealer, please
address yourself via E-Mail.

We would be glad to welcome you as a new customer!
----------------------------------------------------------------------

               A M I K I T   F O R   P C   U S E R S

26 November, 2005 

*To be brief, AmiKit is all you need if you
want to experience a high-end Classic Amiga system on your PC.
AmiKit turns the default AmigaOS installation into a completely 
renewed and fresh environment.

More than 20.000 files are included and pre-configured for immediate 
use!

AmiKit is available at *http://amikit.amiga.sk**

Exclusive features:

- Directory Opus Magellan II used a Workbench replacement!!!

- Special versions of AmiStart, GlobalTrash, ReqChange, ShowAmiga96 
and FullPalette!

Major features:

- User-friendly interface that helps you to manage all your files in 
an easy way!

- Internet browsing, mailing, chatting and downloading using various
programs like AWeb, IBrowse, YAM, SimpleMail, AmIRC, AmiTradeCenter,
AmiGift...

- Reading PDF, M$Word, RTF and other document formats with the help of
APDF, EvenMore, Antiword...

- Manage your time and account with the help of Daywatch and HomeBank.

- Music software, net streaming, MP3 creating and sample editing
software like AmigaAMP, AmiNetRadio, EaglePlayer, SymphoniePlayer, 
LAME, TheMPegEncGUI, SampleEditor...

- Displaying (even in thumbnails) and editing pictures with the help 
of PicShow, Thumb, MysticView, FroggerNG, PerfectPaint... Or enjoy the
fractal world through ZoneXplorer!

- Easy handling of archives. They are opened like every other drawer. 
Or some external programs could be used instead (VooDoo-X, MUIUnArc,
XPKatana)...

- Massive FTP support through OpusFTP module. It has a full GUI for 
the Address Book and operational parameters.

- Software for burning and copying the CDs (MakeCD), for mounting
virtual CDs (VirtualCD).

- You can make your AmiKit password protected. Just don't forget your
password

- Pre-configured recognition and processing of many file formats
(through the DOpus filetypes)...

- Various system tools like SysInspector, SnoopDos, Q-Device, 
ShowPatches...

- Antivirus software effectively checks the system files, memory and
archives for viruses.

- Emulation software like ASp for retro ZX gaming...

- Great taskbar software: AmiStart (for those who do not like the
taskbars on Amiga, simply remove AmiStart from WBStartup. Easy!)

- Most advanced Amiga "recycle bin" software: GlobalTrash.

- Visual enchancers and system enchancers like VisualPrefs, Birdie,
TitleShadow, BoingBall, MagicMenu, MCP...

- Warp3D compatibility thanks to QuarkTex software...

- Yes, some games are included as well

...and much more!

AmiKit is available at http://amikit.amiga.sk
----------------------------------------------------------------------

             U P D A T E S   F R O M   J A H C S O F T

28 November, 2005 6:06:30

*My various pieces of OS4 software have been updated in the last week 
or so..

RockBEAT 1.3.1 - Create drumming tracks and export as WAV files!

WookieChat 1.9.1 - Chat on IRC networks! (Internet Relay Chat). 
/Now available for OS3.x again!/

SimplePlay 3.2 - Play OGG, MP3, WAV, MOD, S3M, IT, XM, and MIDI 
files!*

Rockbeat
Recent changes:

- Made less crashy on exit. My timers and AHI iorequests are cleaned 
up properly now.

- Position LED's light up while playing, and scrolls automatically

- You can now switch between drumkits, and it will remember the last
drumkit you used.


Wookiechat
Recent changes:

- When you're holding down the left mouse button highlighting text,
channel messages etc are paused until you let go.

- "Unknown nick" and "Cannot send to channel" messages are displayed 
in their proper tabs again

- Channel lists are no longer sorted alphabetically. It was causing a
huge drain on the CPU when thousands of channels were present. It
sometimes led to a crash.

- No more garbled channel part messages

- "Clear all" button added to the URL Grabber window

- Added code to prevent DCC Transfers window from popping to the front
when you get an incoming file if its already open in the background
somewhere

- 68k WookieChat development has resumed, and it no longer hangs when
recieving incoming DCC sends. A divide by zero bug in the file 
transfer stats function has been removed! (thank you wegster for 
telling me what was wrong)

- Now works with WebChat and DarkMyst networks (homes of #amiga.org 
and #amigazeux). Wookie was doing its connection detection in a 
slightly bad way previously.

- Clicking in the main chat display now activates the chat string 
gadget

- Outgoing swear word filter. use /filter to toggle on and off


SimplePlay

Recent changes:
- Shuffle and Repeat playing modes added.

- Bugfix: after a playing a song located using Jump Find, it plays the
next song in the list now.

- Song name and Elapsed time is now displayed

- Fixed a playlist bug. It was adding the termination character to 
text strings about one character too far. So playlists were able to be
corrupted after loading and saving sometimes.

- Jump find has been improved slightly. Converts _ into spaces 
internally when searching for songs. So for example the song

"Christina_Vidal_-_Take_Me_Away.mp3" can be found if you type in the
words "take me away"

- The default icon priority is now higher to help prevent playback
stuttering e.g. when accessing menus and scrolling in aweb.


Grab them from os4depot.net:

RockBEAT
http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=audio/tracker/
rockbeat.lha

WookieChat
http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=network/chat/
wookiechat.lha

SimplePlay
http://os4depot.net/index.php?function=showfile&file=audio/play/
simpleplay.lha
----------------------------------------------------------------------

       C R O S S F I R E   I I   P A T C H   A N D   D E M O 

28 November, 2005 

An AmigaOS 4 demo version and an AmigaOS 4 patch for Crossfire II have 
been released today.

You can find the patch and the demo on the support pages for Crossfire 
II on the APC&TCP homepage.

http://www.apc-tcp.de

We want to thank Steffen Haesser and Alinea Computer for the 
conversion of Crossfire II to AmigaOS 4.

http://www.alinea-computer.de
----------------------------------------------------------------------

          W A R P V I E W   A T   O S 4 D E P O T . N E T 

14 November, 2005

*A new version of WarpView is available on OS4Depot.Net

http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=graphics/viewer/
warpview.lha


Changes in this version:

- Fixed cancelling the filerequester which made WarpView exit even 
when using 'Open' from menu.

- Add .gif to requester file pattern and added tooltype + command line
option for setting the file pattern

- 90 degree rotation is now reset when stepping between files

- Fixed a bug with the Infoline timer that was not retriggered when
stepping between files

- Added drag'n'drop support (can now drag files onto WarpView icon in
AmiDock)

- Added infoline config tooltypes and commandline options (on/off and
timeout)

- Added mouse blanking (with on/off and timeout options)

- Added alphabetical file list sorting

----------------------------------------------------------------------

  N E W   W E T   -   F O R   W E A T H E R   C H E C K E R S 

*Description: * Weather conditions on Workbench 4, AppIcon, Docky
http://www.os4depot.net/share/utility/workbench/wet_lha.readme
*Download: *    wet.lha
http://www.os4depot.net/share/utility/workbench/wet.lha    
*Version: * 4.11
*Date: *    26 Nov 05
*Author: *  Chris Young
*Submitter: *   Chris Young
*Email: *   chris/unsatisfactorysoftware co uk
*Homepage: *    http://www.unsatisfactorysoftware.co.uk/wet/
*Requirements: *    OS4 pre-release Update 3
*Category: *    utility/workbench
http://www.os4depot.net/index.php?function=browse&cat=utility/
workbench
*Replaces: *    utility/workbench/wet.lha
*License: * Freeware
*Distribute: *  yes
*FileID: *  1349
    
*Comments: *    23  
*Snapshots: *   3  
*Downloads: *   112 (For current version, not accumulated)

This program retrieves local meterological data from the Internet, and 
saves it in (regulary updating) env-vars to allow you to display it in 
the WB titlebar, as an icon on Workbench, AmiDock or in the GUI.  It 
can show a forecast for up to 24 hours ahead (where available), and is 
fully localisable.

New translations for:
English (built-in)
German
Finnish
Italian
Spanish
Basque

Old or partial translations for:
Turkish
Norwegian
Swedish
Czech
Greek

Previous few version changes:

4.11 (26.11.2005)

* Added AUTORUNAREXX tooltype, ARexx commands to get the data\'s date 
and time and an example ARexx script which logs the observed 
temperatures.
* A certain connection error was causing a recoverable alert.  Fixed.
* Rewrote most of the forecast-related routines, as still having 
problems with bogus data appearing.  Is now greatly simplified and 
hopefully more reliable.
* The date of the last update could show the incorrect month in 
certain circumstances.  Fixed. 
* When cloud height not available, it was being reported as -11100ft.  
Now shows a slightly more correct 0ft.

4.1 (20.11.2005)

* Added a docky icon. (thanks to Stefan Robl for sending me the SDK)
* Will now work behind a proxy server. (even on a direct link, 
specifying a web cache proxy is recommended)
* Now retrieves data with an If-Modified-Since header, which 
significantly speeds up updates, especially if new data is not 
available.
* Can now set the poll interval in 10 minute increments.
* Warnings now automatically suppressed if another app requests 
\"game mode\".
* A saved project icon sometimes resulted in an incorrect ENVPATH 
tooltype.  Fixed.
* Forecasts generated <1hr from midnight sometimes resulted in 
uneventful duplicated times. Fixed.
* Rain and Snow Showers were showing the Showers icon rather than Rain 
or Snow.

Fixed.
* Iconified icon (AppIcon disabled) was not disappearing if the window 
was reopened using a method other than double-clicking on the icon.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Amiga Update on the net:
 All back issues available at:
    http://www.globaldialog.com/~bandr/AU/index.html
Stop by and check out our archive! Now in our 12th publication year. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 by Brad Webb.    Freely distributable, if not modified.
======================================================================
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  U P D A T E  /__\\   | \  / ||    ||  || ___  /__\\    U P D A T E 
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