====================================================================== ________ _________ ____ _|__ __ __|_______ _________ __\ _____ \\\\ \_ _/ //___// _____//______\ _____ \\ // \\\\ /. \\\\__ \/ __// \\ \\____. /// \\\\ /. \\ \\___\¯ /___///___\ /___\ \\_________//\\___\¯ /___// ¯ \/ ¯ ¯ \/. |¯ ¯|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 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 section. The current list of supported PCI cards is available in the *Mediator Driver Guide* . The info about Mediator-related sources you will find in the COMMUNITY 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: 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 ), 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 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 *Download: * 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 *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 ======================================================================