AmigaOS 4 News – April 2024

Hi everyone,

Thanks for visiting my blog and the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup. 🙂

Another month has soon passed and May will be upon us. As I write this it is April 30th and I’ve just finished writing the monthly roundup. There was a lot to report this time and it has taken a good amount of time to compile the report. I enjoy it a lot and it is fun to discover and learn about all that is happening in our community. Big thanks to all the developers, users, and enthusiasts who keep the flame burning! 🙂

I’m sure you are eager to check out the news, so without further ado, here is the roundup for April 2024. 😉

Software News

On April 1st, DRIDI released version 2.9z7Final of the Arabic Console Device. According to the author, this version contains better vowel and hamza support inference. More information is available on OS4Depot.

The always-active Kjetil Hvalstrand (LiveForIt) is back with a new release. This time it is a utility called Stackdump. It is a security demonstration tool. It will show you a security risk in a hex dump.

In previous monthly roundups, we’ve read a lot about the FlashMandelNG tool. Dino Papararo and Edgar Schwan are once again back with an update. Version 5 is a bugfix release with added support for benchmark mode in ToolTypes and CLI.

Following the release of Heretic II from Hyperion Entertainment comes a massive pack of multiplayer maps compiled by and uploaded to OS4Depot by TheMagicSN. This pack will be needed to play on PC Heretic II servers to avoid maps are downloaded while playing, which is slow. An installer is included.

He also made an archive called H2_Big_Data which is important for playing Heretic II multiplayer games. This one is about 1.6 GB and is available on Aminet. TheMagicSN writes as follows:

“This archive contains an installer to the custom material (maps, models, etc.) which I was given by Paul Gagnon of H2 Vault. To be able to use the PC multiplayer sites with the Amiga port of Heretic 2 he recommends installing this material.

It comes with an Amiga-friendly installer. It also optionally offers to install a new config.cfg for the Amiga version of Heretic II which adds the multiplayer servers of H2 Vault to the address book of the game. Note that when overwriting your config.cfg you overwrite your Video, Sound, and Controls Options.

This archive has some broken models that could crash Heretic II removed.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you already downloaded 1.0.0 you do not need to download this huge archive again. H2_Big_Data_Fix.lha which is only a few Kilobytes in Size contains a script that will delete the faulty models.”

You can download the fix from Aminet:

https://aminet.net/package/game/shoot/H2_Big_Data_Fix

I tried the multiplayer mode in Heretic II during the weekend and it worked fine. 🙂

Open Fodder

Now for news concerning a port of well-known classic that has been ported to AmigaOS 4. Which classic game is that? It is Cannon Fodder and Cannon Fodder 2, and the various specials and demos from cover disks!

Cannon Fodder was one of the most popular games on the Amiga. It was also popular on the PC and probably many other platforms. I remember playing it on my Amiga 500 and later 1200 in the 90’s. I still have the original disks in my collection, but it has been a long time since I checked if they worked.

More information about Cannon Fodder can be found at Hall of Light:

https://amiga.abime.net/games/view/cannon-fodder

In short, it is an action strategy game developed by Sensible Software and published by Virgin Interactive. You are in control of a group of soldiers and the goal is to complete the missions you get assigned for. You control the soldiers with your mouse, controlling their movement by clicking around on the map and using the buttons to shoot and customize formation, etc.

Open Fodder is an open-source version of the Cannon Fodder engine for modern operating systems. It supports not only the Amiga version of the games but also the PC ones.

• Cannon Fodder (Amiga, Amiga CD32, DOS CD)
• Cannon Fodder 2 (Amiga, DOS CD)
• Demos (various cover disks from magazines like Amiga Power, The One, Amiga Format, Amiga Action, PC Format, etc.)

Thanks to the porting done by Smarkusg, we can now enjoy Cannon Fodder natively on our AmigaOS 4 systems. 🙂 Here is a link to his Open Fodder GitHub page.

To start playing, you can download the archive from OS4Depot:

http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=game/action/openfodder.lha

The archive comes bundled with demos you can try, but you’ll need to provide the full version yourself. The files from these must be copied to their appropriate directories in the “OpenFodder/Data/” drawer. You will find one called “Dos_CD”. Here you can copy over the files from the DOS version. The game will then pop up in the menu when you launch Open Fodder.

Cannon Fodder is available for purchase from GOG:

https://www.gog.com/en/game/cannon_fodder

I have tried Open Fodder on my Sam460 and also in emulation and it performed very well.

Quake II

Not long ago, Hyperion Entertainment released a new port of Heretic II for AmigaOS 4 by Steffen Häuser a.k.a. TheMagicSN. Häuser has since then been working hard on making various mods available, as well as multiplayer support for the game. Not only that, he’s been working on a new updated port of Quake 2 for AmigaOS 4 as well!

It is available for purchase at Alinea Computer in Germany. Since it is a download, you’ll get access to it very quickly.

The price is 14.95 EUR.

https://www.amiga-shop.net/en/Amiga-Software/Amiga-Games/Quake-2-for-AmigaOS-4-Download-Version::1361.html

Here’s the information from Alinea Computer:

Quake 2 is without doubt one of the most famous 3D shooters. Quake 2 was released on the PC by id Software in 1997. In 2002, Hyperion Entertainment released a version for AmigaOS 3.x, based on the GPL source code of the game. Steffen Häuser has now created a new version for AmigaOS 4, which also offers numerous improvements compared to the 4.1 Quake 2 update released a few years ago. In particular, the Quake 2 Mission CDs, which offer countless new levels, are supported for the first time in a native OS4.1 version. Warp3DNova (and MiniGL and software renderers) are also supported natively.

This game, based on the GPL source code, also requires the data files of the PC version, either as a CD or the data of the Steam or Gog Classic version (for the latter two, simply copy them to a directory on your hard drive and select this directory during installation).

Features

• AmigaOS 4 native version
• GL4ES, MiniGL and Software Renderer
• full support for mission CDs “The Reckoning” and “Ground Zero”
• Ports to the unofficial mission CD “Zaero” and to about 50 multiplayer mods will be published on os4depot/Aminet soon, these downloads require the new version of Quake 2
• AmigaInput support
• CD Audio works again (in the old version it only worked with older CD drives)
• As an alternative to CD Audio, Ogg Vorbis files can be played as soundtrack, the music files from this version are already pre-installed during a Steam/Gog install
• Installer now works with PC CD of Quake 2 as well as with the Steam and Gog Classic version, when using the Steam/Gog Classic installer the two mission CDs are installed at the same time. We recommend using the Steam version for easy installation.
• As an alternative to the .cin intros, the game now also supports .avi and .mpeg files (a script to convert the .ogv files of the Steam version is included on the ISO if you want the higher resolution video files)

System requirements

• Software: AmigaOS 4.1 and the data files from Steam, Gog or CD version.
• Hardware: At least 150 MHz PowerPC, 32 MB RAM, graphics card, at least
• 1 GB free hard disc space, A1222 is currently not supported, game can also be played on QEmu and UAE PPC

In connection with the new Quake 2 release, TheMagicSN has ported the unofficial mod Zaero by Team Evolution. Team Evolution gave the full game away some years after the initial release in 1998. Note that you will need the new port of Quake 2 released in 2024 to be installed to play it.

TheMagicSN has uploaded several modpacks for the Quake 2 port to Aminet. As the author states, these packs “(…) contains game modifications for the new AmigaOS 4 version of Quake 2 released in 2024. It does not work with other versions of Quake 2, as they either do not support mods or not AmigaOS 4 native compiled mods.”

Q2_Modpack1

Basketball Quake 2, King of the Server, and Weapons Foundry.

Available on Aminet.

Q2_Modpack2

This pack includes the following Quake 2 Multiplayer Mods:

– Action Quake 2

– Annihilation

– Blastchamber

– Catch the Chicken

– Devastation Quake 2

– Headhunters

– Holy Quake 2

– Jailbreak

– Quake Racing

– Tfx (Team Fortress like Gameplay for Q2)

– Total Wars

– UrbanCTF

– UrbanDM

– WarMod

– Wyrm

Available on Aminet.

Q2_Modpack3

This pack includes the following Quake 2 Multiplayer Mods:

– Assault Quake 2

– ChaosDM

– Domination Quake 2

– Faith/FaithDM/FaithTag

– Fireteam

– FreezeTag

– Terror

– Titanic

Available on Aminet.

Q2_Modpack4

This pack includes the following Quake 2 Multiplayer Mods:

– Generations

– Napalm2

– Nighthunters

– Quake&Conquer

– Sniper

– Sog (Both Multi- and Singleplayer)

– StVitus

– TopRung

Available on Aminet.

Q2_Modpack5

This pack includes the following Quake 2 Multiplayer Mods:

– Gloom (do not confuse with the Amiga game of the same name, this is the Q2

Addon Gloom)

– Ltk

– Pig2k

– ProCTF

– ProRocket

Available on Aminet.

Q2_Modpack6

This pack includes the following Quake 2 Multiplayer Mods:

– AirQuake2

– Awaken2

– Battle of the Sexes

– Gangsters

– Gameleader

– Jabot

– Multigrenade

– Q2Comp

– Weapons of Destruction

Available on Aminet.

Q2_Modpack7

This pack includes the following Quake 2 Multiplayer Mods:

– Brazen

– OpenFFA

– OpenTDM

Available on Aminet.

DGen v1.33 is a Sega Genesis / MegaDrive emulator for AmigaOS 4. The AmigaOS 4 port was done by Marek “smarkusg” Glogowski. The GUI was created by Javier de las Rivas.

As mentioned in the roundup for March, DGen allows you to enjoy the amazing library of games released for the platform, including well-known classics such as Golden Axe and the Sonic the Hedgehog games.

Bermuda Syndrome is a game developed by Century Interactive for PC and published by BMG Interactive in 1995. According to Wikipedia, it is similar in gameplay and appearance to the 1992 game Flashback. The player controls the main character from a third-person sidescrolling perspective. This re-upload for AmigaOS 4 has been recompiled by Raziel with the latest SDL2, and a gl4es binary has been added. The launcher has been reworked as well. Version 0.1.7 is now available on OS4Depot.

Liba52 is a free library for decoding ATSC A/52 streams. It is released under the terms of the GPL license. The A/52 standard is used in a variety of applications, including digital television and DVD. It is also known as AC-3. Version 0.8.0 was uploaded to OS4Depot on April 14th by Raziel. More information is available here.

AmigaGPT is a text generation program that runs on the classic AmigaOS and AmigaOS 4. Utilizing the power of OpenAI’s GPT-3 and GPT-4 architectures, this program provides state-of-the-art language modeling.

Features:

– Generates text based on input prompts

– UI customization

– Full conversation history

– Text-to-speech

Changes for April are as follows:

– Fixes the stack size calculation so it will no longer warn you that the stack size is too small if it really isn’t #12

– Send button no longer appears in the top left corner after closing a generated image for Amiga 3.x

Version 1.4.6 is now available from OS4Depot. 

Libcurl has been updated to 8.7.1. “Libcurl is a free and easy-to-use client-side URL transfer library, supporting DICT, FILE, FTP, FTPS, GOPHER, GOPHERS, HTTP, HTTPS, IMAP, IMAPS, LDAP, LDAPS, MQTT, POP3, POP3S, RTMP, RTMPS, RTSP, SCP, SFTP, SMB, SMBS, SMTP, SMTPS, TELNET and TFTP. libcurl supports SSL certificates, HTTP POST, HTTP PUT, FTP uploading, HTTP form-based upload, proxies, HTTP/2, HTTP/3, cookies, user+password authentication (Basic, Digest, NTLM, Negotiate, Kerberos), file transfer resume, http proxy tunneling and more!”.

The same goes for Curl which has been updated to 8.7.1. Curl is a command line tool for transferring data specified with URL syntax.

Version 3.3.0 of libOpenSSL is out. The readme explains: “OpenSSL is a robust, commercial-grade, full-featured Open Source Toolkit for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol formerly known as the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol. The protocol implementation is based on a full-strength general-purpose cryptographic library, which can also be used stand-alone. OpenSSL is descended from the SSLeay library developed by Eric A. Young and Tim J. Hudson.” The official Home Page of the OpenSSL Project is http://www.openssl.org/.

WildMIDI is a software MIDI player by Mindwerks. It was brought to AmigaOS 4 by Raziel. It has a core softsynth library that can be used with other applications. It uses Gravis Ultrasound patch files to convert MIDI files into audio, which is then passed back to the calling application. The library API is designed so that it is easy to include WildMIDI into applications wishing to include MIDI-file playback. Version 0.4.6 has now been released.

• A lot of player cleanup and refactoring, thanks to initial work by Azamat H. Hackimov, with the addition of several safeguards and minor fixes.

• Ability to choose which audio output backends to include in the build system: see the cmake script for the relevant `WANT_???` options. Player’s `–help` command line switch lists the available backends. Thanks to initial work by Azamat H. Hackimov.

• New native audio output backends for player: coreaudio for macOS, sndio for OpenBSD, netbsd (sunaudio) for NetBSD.

• Improved pkg-config file generation in cmake script (bug #236).

• Workaround a link failure on AmigaOS4 with newer SDKs (bug #241).

• Other minor source clean-ups.

• CMake project clean-ups. Cmake v3.4 or newer is now required.

AmiELFDisas by Alexander O. Benedictov disassembles standard Amiga ELF files producing an assembler source. Version 1.052 was uploaded to OS4Depot on April 16th and can be downloaded here.

Hollywood Designer 7.0

I’ve been a user of Hollywood and Hollywood Designer for quite a few years now. For those unaware, Hollywood is a programming language that supports many different platforms, such as AmigaOS 4, MorphOS, AROS, Windows, Linux, etc. It was created by Airsoft Softwair.

One of many excellent features is that you can compile your source code easily for any of the supported platforms. If you’re on MorphOS, you can compile the source for AmigaOS 4 for example, no problem. 🙂

Hollywood Designer is a great addition to Hollywood since it is a point-and-click tool to create everything from presentations to applications without the need to write a single line of code! There are native versions of the program for AmigaOS 3 (m68k), WarpOS (hybrid m68k/ppc), MorphOS (ppc), AmigaOS 4 (ppc), and AROS (x86).

On April 14th this year, version 7 of Hollywood Designer was released. Please read on for the full news release from Airsoft Softwair:

20 years ago, on April 14th 2004, Airsoft Softwair, the hardest working men in code business, released the very first version of Hollywood Designer, the ultimate multimedia authoring system for Hollywood. In the following years Hollywood Designer quickly became the must-have software for all users seriously interested in creating state-of-the-art multimedia applications, be it presentations, slide shows, games, or applications. Now, 20 years later, Airsoft Softwair is proud to present Hollywood Designer 7.0, an epic update with lots and lots of new features to properly celebrate the 20th birthday of this marvellous piece of software.

As already said, Designer 7.0 is a massive update that boasts lots of new features and improvements over the previous version. We do not want to bore you, so here are just some of them:

* Use the full power of Hollywood 10 which was specifically designed for Designer 7!
* Color emojis, CJK text and complex scripts are now supported (using the Pangomonium plugin)
* Multi-selection support for pages and objects in all listviews and the thumbnail viewer
* Operations can be applied to multiple objects and pages at the same time
* Now uses the Hollywood 10 graphics engine for maximum power!
* Objects can be combined into groups
* Many new action events to work with object groups
* Unlimited undo and redo levels
* Executables can also be exported for macOS and Linux arm64
* Support for different font engines
* Graphics can be exported as palette images
* Radically reduced memory footprint, often reduced to just 25% of Designer 6.0!
* Configurable dynamic memory modes
* Custom character spacing support
* Several new example projects are included
* Full support for Hollywood 10’s plugin interface
* Lots of other new features, optimizations and bug fixes

Thanks to Hollywood, all multimedia applications created using Hollywood Designer can be exported as stand-alone executables for the following systems: AmigaOS 3, AmigaOS 4, WarpOS, MorphOS, AROS, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. This is a feature that is totally unique in the Amiga world! We would like to emphasize that it is not only suited for personal use, but also for professional commercial customers. Ferrule Media, for instance, have created an info channel containing over 2000 unique slides in a single project with Hollywood Designer. Hollywood Designer was designed to handle these huge projects efficiently so that they can run 24 hours a day and 7 days a week without any visible memory fragmentation! Ferrule Media’s info channel, created with Hollywood Designer, is running in dental clinics all over Norway.

Note that Hollywood Designer is no longer limited to “just” being an authoring software, it can now also be used as a flexible graphics editor because it supports many features of modern graphics editors like multiple layers with over 30 filter effects, vector graphics, image import/export in many formats, and text including support complex scripts such as CJK or right-to-left text and color emojis.

Hollywood Designer 7.0 is available as a CD and a download version. There are native versions of the program for AmigaOS 3 (m68k), WarpOS (hybrid m68k/ppc), MorphOS (ppc), AmigaOS 4 (ppc), and AROS (x86). If you already own a previous version of Hollywood Designer, you can buy a discounted upgrade version. People who bought Hollywood Designer 6.0 in 2024 can request a free upgrade. Also note that Hollywood Designer 7.0 has been specially crafted for Hollywood 10, so Hollywood 10 is absolutely required by Designer 7.0.

Please consider buying Hollywood Designer 7.0 to show your support for our massive Amiga development efforts. Power up your Amiga system with Hollywood 10 & Hollywood Designer 7 and order now!

Libpng is the official PNG reference library. It supports almost all PNG features, is extensible, and has been extensively tested for over 28 years. Version 1.6.43 is now available on OS4Depot. For more information and source code, check http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html.

Version 32.3 of AmiArcadia for AmigaOS 4, a Signetics-based machines emulator, has been released by James Jacobs.

According to the documentation, AmiArcadia supports the following systems:

• Emerson Arcadia 2001 console family (Bandai, Emerson, Grandstand, Intervision, Leisure-Vision, Leonardo, MPT-03, Ormatu, Palladium, Poppy, Robdajet, Tele-Fever, Tempest, Tryom, Tunix, etc.) (c. 1982);
• Interton VC 4000 console family (Acetronic, Cabel, Fountain, Hanimex, Interton, Prinztronic, Radofin, Rowtron, Soundic, Voltmace, Waddingtons, etc.) (c. 1978);
• Elektor TV Games Computer (1979);
• PIPBUG- and BINBUG-based machines (EA 77up2, EA 78up5, Signetics Adaptable Board Computer, Eurocard 2650, etc.) (1977-1978);
• Signetics Instructor 50 trainer (1978);
• Central Data 2650 computer (1977);
• PHUNSY computer (c. 1980);
• Ravensburger Selbstbaucomputer aka 2650 Minimal Computer trainer (1984);
•  Hofacker MIKIT 2650 trainer (1978);
• Astro Wars, Galaxia, Laser Battle and Lazarian coin-ops by Zaccaria (1979-1981);
• Malzak 1 and 2 coin-ops by Kitronix (c. 1981);
• AY-3-8500/8550/8600-based Pong systems (Coleco Telstar Galaxy, Sheen TVG-201, etc.) (1976-1977);
• VTech Type-right machine (1985)

It is packed with features, far too many to list here. Examples are ReAction GUI, load/save snapshots, windowed and fullscreen modes, CPU tracing, trainer, drag and drop support, graphics scaling, PAL/NTSC modes, frame skipping, and much more!

Changes since V32.2:

 Summary:

• Debugger: added IC, IL, IP commands (for I/O port watchpoints).
• REXX: added OPENDISKDRIVE and CLOSEDISKDRIVE commands.
• Miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

 Details:

• fixed a compiler warning.
• twin: fixed: disk loading was broken.
• twin: now emulates 32K of slave RAM (up from 16K).
• changed default for watching of writes to all.
• debugger: fixed: WP with range and condition did not refresh memory subwin.
• debugger: removed L P command.
• debugger: added IC, IL, IP commands.
• debugger: fixed: > and >= breakpoint/watchpoint conditions were swapped around.
• debugger: all commands now understand extended instructions when in extended mode.
• floppy disk subwin: fixed: clicking on “update disk…” and then cancelling was setting the filename.
• fixed: quickload/quicksave didn’t work after inserting a disk.
• incorporated Mikhail’s latest Russian translation.
• aa: fixed icon positions for directory opus.
• aa: fixed: game info subwin was destabilizing the system.
• aa: now uses arexx.class.
• aa: split arexx.c from amiga.c.
• rexx: added OPENDISKDRIVE and CLOSEDISKDRIVE commands.
• arexx: removed WAITFRAME and WAITFRAMES commands.
• localized some more strings.
• incorporated Anthony’s latest Greek translation.
• twin: guest controls subwin: replaced imagery.

AmiArcadia is free to download. You can get it from OS4Depot via the link below:

http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=emulation/gamesystem/amiarcadia.lha

Here are the links to the websites of the author:

http://amigan.1emu.net/releases/

http://amigan.yatho.com/

HarfBuzz is a text-shaping library. Using the HarfBuzz library allows programs to convert a sequence of Unicode input into properly formatted and positioned glyph output for any writing system and language. Version 8.4.0 can now be found on OS4Depot.

Version 2.22.0 of Libsdl2_ttf is out. This library is a wrapper around the FreeType and Harfbuzz libraries, allowing you to use TrueType fonts to render text in SDL applications.

Also updated is Libz, the Zlib data compression library. zlib 1.3.1 is a general-purpose data compression library. All the code is thread-safe. The data format used by the zlib library is described by RFCs (Request for Comments) 1950 to 1952 in the files http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1950 (zlib format), rfc1951 (deflate format) and rfc1952 (gzip format).

It is a game called Doom RPG-RE created for mobile phones in 2005. It was developed by Fountainhead Entertainment and published by JAMDAT Mobile. According to Wikipedia, it combines the Doom first-person shooter franchise with role-playing video game elements. The story includes similar events of Doom 3 but involves different characters.

The reverse engineering was done by Erick Vásquez García. You can find more information about this on the official GitHub page.

Doom RPG-RE was ported to AmigaOS 4 by BSzili and Smarkusg. The current version is 0.2.2. The GitHub page of Smarkusg can be found here.

The game is freely available for download on OS4Depot:

http://os4depot.net/?function=showfile&file=game/board/doomrpg.lha

I downloaded it this evening and playing it was a matter of unpacking the archive and double-clicking the icon of the game. 🙂 The game worked under emulation.

Bernd Assenmacher has released version 2.6 of the Image2PDF utility. With this tool, you can convert PNG- or JPG files to PDF. The author labels it as “EmailWare”, so please send him an e-mail if you use the program. 🙂 Changes and improvements are as follows:

• Updated guide file
• On MorphOS and AROS the guide file is now copied to the installation drawer
• On MorphOS the “Path” command in s:user-startup is now deactivated. If wanted active, one needs to uncomment it manually, save it and then reboot the computer.
• Added possibility to scale images with all chosen formats
• Added possibility to compress PDF docs when Ghostscript is installed
• The orientation of PDF docs can now be changed (not with ImageSize format)
• A print margin can be set now
• Using commandline will now adapt the orientation automatically (not with ImageSize format)
• Compiled single versions for the supported platforms
• Removed applet from archive

The program can be downloaded from here.

Michael Trebilcock has uploaded several new versions of audio decoders:

• Faad2 – FAAD2 AAC decoder
• Faac – Freeware Advanced Audio Coder
• Libfaac – Freeware Advanced Audio Coder library
• Libfaad – Freeware Advanced Audio (AAC) Decoder library

In previous reports, I’ve written about Seq, a MIDI sequencer, by Tuomas Hokka. A new update is out with the following changes:

– 2.11 (22nd April 2024):

• FIXED long standing bug: Reading MIDI device name from a project file was not always copied to the name field
• FIXED bug: Cancelling “Save as” menu selection should not save anything
• FIXED bug: Stopping song play should unlit Play
• FIXED bug: Selecting menu New will clear instruments setup as well
• FIXED bug: Fixed one error message
• FIXED: Bring already opened windows to front
• FIXED bug: Wrong Midi Thru setup window shift value
• FIXED: Separated Fill and Part trigger settings to avoid buggy behaviour
• FIXED bugs: Note length handling in various places (should improve stability)
• Refactored the source code for better maintainability and to avoid bugs
• Added option to extend note length to amount of two full bars

Sandro Barbagelata has released version 1.0 of Theme List. This utility lists any AmigaOS 4, AROS, or MorphOS themes in a directory. According to the information on OS4Depot, “The program requires a directory to scan for any theme, indifferently it is for OS4 or AROS or MOS. Themes can be mixed, they will recognized and treated consequently. The graphic output can be reviewed on the screen and saved on a file. Rename the executable for your system to “ThemeList” to match it with the info file. Default path can be set via tooltypes.”

Thumbnail Maker is an Arexx script for ArtEffect 4 from Haage & Partner. It uses ffmpeg to generate a series of frames from a selected video and paste them onto a canvas to create a sequence of thumbnails. Data about the video is printed at the top, along with a user-definable string. Version 1.04 contains the following changes:

This is version 1.04. 

*New feature*: 

You can optionally burn the timecode into each frame. Thanks to Mick JT for helping me figure out the syntax of this command. Time is in the format hh:mm:ss and will appear in the top left hand corner. You can select either white or black text. Note that the non-altivec version of ffmpeg 6.01 has a bug and won’t work with this feature. If you have this version installed you won’t see the option to apply timecode. I recommend updating to the latest version of ffmpeg.

*Bug fix*:

The default file extensions have been overhauled, so by default more video file types are displayed for selection.

*Improvement*: 

ffmpeg now does the scaling instead of Art Effect. This makes assembling the final image much faster.

*Improvement*: 

The script now looks for ffmpeg in appdir not c, so you can keep your ffmpeg executable anywhere.

*Improvement*: 

A few minor code polishes…

STREAM is a Memory + floating-pt Bandwith Tester created by John D. McCalpin. Version 5.10 was uploaded to OS4Depot by Sailor.

amiga-news.de reports that RadeonHD V5.20 for Sam460 has been released. “The RadeonHD driver software is a graphics driver for RadeonHD graphics cards for AmigaOS 4.1. Version 5 only supports “Southern Islands” cards (HD7000 series), but offers hardware-accelerated video decoding (Enhancer Software 2.2 required).”. For the full story, please visit amiga-news.de here.

Amiga-news.de also reports that version 9.0.0 of QEMU has been released. This is an open-source computer emulator that makes it possible to emulate a computer in software, such as the Pegasos 2 and Sam460 for example. The support is provided by QEMU developer Zoltan Balaton, who has set up a dedicated website with helpful information. Version 9.0.0 contains improvements to the Sam460e emulation (faster, support of short drive options like -cdrom & -drive media=…, SFS fixed) and Pegasos2 IRQ fixes. Here you can read the full story on amiga-news.de.

KT_Scripts by Kevin Taddeucci is a collection of simple Arexx and DOS Scripts to add helpful features to various AmigaOS4 programs and Workbench. v1.2 release adds the following script.

CleanDrawer:

ARexx script to perform Workbech drawer icon arrangments . Arrange the icons by desired order, resize window to fit and snapshot the window all at once. No need to use three menu selections to do it.

At the end of the month, HunoPPC returned with a new release of the Snes 9x, a Super Nintendo emulator.

Version 1.62.3r4 contains a lot of changes. Please read on for the list. 🙂

• Added new renderer : OPENGL 1.3
• Added new renderer : EGL_WRAP
• Added new renderer : SOFTWARE
• Added choice of render: Software/OpenGL/Compositing/EGL_Wrap
• Added SkinFX for renders without Overscan (just on renders: Software/OpenGL)
• Up sound buffer to 210 ms by default
• Added option -displayrenderer for show renderer
• Added option -filterhardware (OpenGL Compositing and EGL_Wrap), LINEAR is activated and by default is NEAREST
• GUI is now V1.0.8
• Added render EGL_Wrap with 5 Filters shaders CRT (effect), please do not use vsync with a low machines

  * “Shader CRT Low”

  * “Shader CRT High”

  * “Shader CRT Scanline Low”

  * “Shader CRT Scanline High”

  * “Shader CRT No Scanline” 

• Added 9 Skins created by me for this engine (internal engine)
• GUI now lock unnecessary options with differents renderers
• Rewrite 3 renderers SOFTWARE/OPENGL and EGL_WRAP
• Added on GUI : “Saved states” with 9 buttons and button “launch selected save”
• Added option QWERTY for keys on AmigaInput parameters
• Now name of Hardware is on display renderer 
• Now show fps is without show name of hardware
• Fixed keyboard wrapper on SDL1
• Fixed GUI crash without ROMS (thanks Alex)
• Added new icon tooltype GUI_FADE_EFFECT for add fade effect on GUI, disabled is (GUI_FADE_EFFECT) 

It’s great to see the development continues on this emulator! 🙂

Juan Carlos Herrán Martín is back with an update to his game called High-Low-Equal Poker. This is the final version which works inside of a window of 800×600. The bugs have been fixed. You can get the game here. 🙂

It also contains environment and graphics from the world of Los Malditos, as well as two exclusive decks with Los Malditos characters.

MCE, Multi-game Character Editor, is a user-friendly open-source editor of character files, saved games, high score tables, levels, and graphics for 117 games. James Jacobs, the author, has now released version 14.8. a SideWinder 1 level and graphics editor has been added.

Raziel released version 0.2 of ifarchive.org DL. Download supported games (ScummVM’s Glk engine) from http://www.ifarchive.org and put them into their respective sub-directories, depending on the engine used.

Supported engines:

adrift (up to v4), advsys, agt, alan(2,3), archetype, comprehend (see below), frotz, glulx(e), hugo, jacl, level9, magnetic, quest (early quest only), scott, zcode (up to v6)

Unsupported engines:

adrift (v5 and higher), Comprehend (see below), quest (later quest games), quill, tads, zcode (v7 or higher)

It is available for download on OS4Depot.

Miscellaneous

Ktadd has launched a new blog called Amiga NG Blog. He presents us with his brand new A1222+! Congratulations on your new computer, Ktadd! 🙂 Please visit his blog to see many pictures of his build and read about the project. Videos are available on his site.

Speaking of the A1222+, Robert Bernardo has also posted about his new computer. He has published an unboxing post on his blog, which you can read here.

We in Void and Nukleus are currently working on the upcoming issue of Versus, the Amiga demoscene charts. It will be available for Classic Amiga, AmigaOS 4, and Android.

To make the charts as representative as possible, we need your support! Please fill out the Online votesheet via the link below. You are not required to fill out all the fields. Vote for your favorites today! 🙂 Thanks in advance!

https://www.nukleus.nu/VersusVote.php

Besides that, we are also looking for article contributions. Please get in touch with me (puni at protonmail dot com) or Browallia of Nukleus (e-mail on the Nukleus website) if you would like to learn more and help make this issue of Versus the best one yet. 😉

A preview of issue 168 of Amiga Future has been released on the official website of the magazine. On the cover, we can see the new A1222+. The magazine can be ordered here.

Helge Kvalheim is back with more music created on his AmigaOne X5000! The first is the LN3 Wind Temple 24, second (which you can check out below) is the Last Ninja 3 Water Temple 24. 🙂

Pavlor, a user on Amigaworld.net, has published a review of Heretic II. Please click here to read it. He covers everything from the purchase, shipping, gameplay, etc.

George Sokianos a.k.a Walkero has been streaming on Twitch during April. In the video below he is playing Heretic II:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2127670826

The Heretic II Multiplayer Event took place on April 27th. Here Amigans were invited to participate. Maijestro and McFly PPC have released videos on YouTube of the gameplay. More events will take place in the future.

Muf has made a video about the new Heretic II and Quake 2 for AmigaOS 4. The video is in Polish, but you can turn on subtitles if you want.

Amigaone.pl uploaded a video showing Quake 2 running on an AmigaOne X5040.

AmigaBezŚciemy episode 24 was published a couple of weeks ago. It features an interview with Marek Głogowski about AmigaOS 4, Qemu, and more. The language in the video is Polish, but you can turn on subtitles.

In April, we will ventured into the world of pinball. We played the classic Space Cadet Pinball!

Space Cadet is available to download from OS4Depot:

http://os4depot.net/?function=showfil … ion/spacecadetpinball.lha

The goal was to score as many points as possible! The competition is actually not over yet, but will end tonight. Here is the link to the thread of the contest:

https://www.amigans.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=9515

Until next time

You’ve now reached the end of this month’s AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup.

Big thanks to all of you for supporting this initiative by reading, spreading, commenting, and sending me messages. It is much appreciated, and helps keep me motivated.

If you would like me to mention your project in a roundup, please feel free to contact me. You can also send me news, links to interesting videos, and so forth. Thanks in advance.

I wish you all a great day! See you in next month’s roundup! 🙂

Best regards,

Puni/Void a.k.a AmigaOldSkooler