AmigaOS 4 News – May 2024

Hi everyone,

Thanks for visiting my blog and the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup. 🙂 Since last time, I’ve been busy working on articles for the upcoming issue of Versus from Nukleus and Void. The release is getting nearer. 😉

OK, let’s jump straight into the news for May.

First up is the new UBoot update from ACube Systems. Please read on for the full press release:

Bassano del Grappa, Italy –  18 May 2024

ACube Systems is pleased to announce a new release of the U-Boot firmware for its Sam460 line of motherboards.

New in this version:

• added support for Radeon RX cards
• updated x86 emulator
• fixed USB handling especially for keyboard support
• new boot logo and menu graphics
• added FAT support
• fixed several typos and small graphic mistakes

The updated installation guide describes in detail the usual installation method (ISO image) and alternative methods (TFTP and USB).

You can buy the update from our online shop https://shop.acube-systems.biz/ with the following options:

For customers who bought version 2015.b, the downloadable version is free of charge. Please contact us if you are eligible for the free update.

To celebrate the new UBoot update we also lowered the price of Radeon RX550 in our shop, both the bundle version and the stand-alone version.

Additional information:

Please note: UBoot and UBoot updater make use of GPL code and thus are both published under GPL.

Sources can be downloaded from:

https://www.acube-systems.biz/download/u-boot-2015.c_prod.tar.gz

In relation to this, Kas1e has published a video on his YouTube channel:

An update to Report+, a ReAction-based utility with nine functions, has been released by James Jacobs. It was made available on OS4Depot on May 4th. This tool can help you with generating Aminet- and OS4Depot-style readme files, performing batch processing on icons, and much more. Here are the recent changes:

Summary:

• Miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

Details:

• main menu: adjusted gadget layout slightly.
• incorporated Stefan’s latest MOS changes.
• removed redundant keyboard shortcut handling code.
• f7: fixed: U key did not work correctly.
• f4: added cursory knowledge about IFF STrk FORM.
• f4: added detailed knowledge about IFF EMOD FORM.
• f4: added cursory knowledge about IFF MODL FORM (both versions) and their component chunks.
• about window now recognizes OS3.2.3.
• f8: changed factory default view to folded.
• main menu: function keys are now usable as shortcuts.
• various code-level improvements.
• f8: added “used on volume” field.

If you would like a new utility to change the background on your Workbench, then please consider having a look at ChangeWP by McFly. With ChangeWP, you can change your favorite patterns without having to constantly check the preferences to choose a different one for the Workbench. The current pattern is automatically saved.

AmiSSL received an update to version 5.15. As mentioned in earlier editions of the AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup, the AmiSSL project is a collaborative effort to develop a port of OpenSSL in a shared library for Amiga-based systems. The download is available here. If you are interested in the SDK, it can be found here. It is a must-have if you use AmigaOS 4 to browse the web!

Deark is an application that can extract data from a wide range of file formats. Developed by Jason Summers, this tool can help you get data from everything from AMOS ABK files to Doom WADs. You can read more about supported formats, as well as download the utility from OS4Depot. Version 1.6.7 became available on OS4Depot on May 12th.

EnvClock by Chris Young is a small commodity that sits in the background and updates an environmental variable, which can then be displayed on the title bar of the Workbench. It is entirely configured by tooltypes.

MCE, Multi-game Character Editor, is a user-friendly open-source editor of character files, saved games, high score tables, levels, and graphics for 120 games. James Jacobs, the author, has now released version 15.1. An Insanity Fight graphics editor has been added, along with a “View/Custom mouse pointer?” toggle, as well as miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

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

Version 1.5.0 is now out on OS4Depot:

• Support for OpenAI text-to-speech voices. Fast internet connection recommended
• Updated to latest OpenAI chat models (including GPT-4o which will only work for ChatGPT Plus subscribers for now)
• Removed debug symbols for faster and smaller executable

Version 32.51 of AmiArcadia for AmigaOS 4, a Signetics-based machines emulator, has been released by James Jacobs. 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 version 32.5 are miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes.

George Sokianos, a.k.a. Walkero, is back with an update to the Lite XL port for AmigaOS 4. This time it is version 2.1.4r1. Lite XL is a lightweight text editor written in Lua and SDL2. It is being developed by the Lite XL team. Here is the link to the official page on GitHub. Changelog:

Added:

• Added the ability to open files and folders by drag ‘n drop them on the LiteXL icon when this is on the AmiDock (AmigaOS4) / Panel (MorphOS)

Updated:

• Updated the code to the upstream 2.1.4 release

Fixed:

• Fix opening files from the root of a device

Witch Cleaner by Juan Carlos Herrán Martin is a program to clean the trashcan of obsolete and old files. If you are concerned with your privacy, you can use this one to clean OWB or IBrowse for example. More information is available over at OS4Depot. He also released version 1 of L.M. Calendar&Clock, a utility featuring characters from the game Los Malditos del Valle del Cerro. This clock can be used to control how much time you spend in front of the computer with an alarm.

Version 2.13r1 of Cppcheck was released on May 27th. This is a static analysis tool for C/C++ code. It provides unique code analysis to detect bugs and focuses on detecting undefined behavior and dangerous coding constructs. The goal is to have very few false positives. Cppcheck is designed to be able to analyze your C/C++ code even if it has non-standard syntax (common in embedded projects). It was developed by the Cppcheck team and ported to AmigaOS 4 by George Sokianos.

On May 30th DRIDI released version 2.9z8Final of the Arabic Console Device. A problem when quitting the program on the A1222+ has been fixed. For information on the other changes, please click here.

Other News

Issue 168 of Amiga Future was published in May.

It contains a big review of the A1222+ running AmigaOS 4.1. The magazine is available for purchase here.

Ktadd has updated his AmigaNG blog with a new post about partitioning an SSD.

Boing Attitude has published an interview with George Sokianos. This one was previously printed in the paper version of Boing issue 7, October 2023.

Cageman, a user on Amigans.net, has created a benchmark video of the new port of Quake II from Alinea Computer.

Maurizio Casolari has tested the new version of Heretic II from Hyperion Entertainment on his AmigaOne XE. The video is in Italian and can be watched here:

Helge Kvalheim has released three new music videos on YouTube since the last month. These are available on his YouTube channel, which you can visit via the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/@HKvalhe/videos

Rene Engel, a.k.a. Maijestro, also published three videos on his YouTube channel in May. One is about mGBA, one shows Tower57 on QEMU, and the last is about Mediathek.

https://www.youtube.com/@reneengel2258

George Sokianos, a.k.a. Walkero, has been streaming on Twitch in May. Here he has focused on gaming on AmigaOS 4.1 with the games Heretic II and Doom 3.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2157611780

Until next time

You’ve reached the end of this month’s AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup. Not as much news as we usually have, but that is how May can be sometimes. 🙂

Thanks to all of you for supporting this initiative, it is much appreciated!

Have a great day, and see you in the next roundup! 🙂

Best regards,

Puni/Void a.k.a AmigaOldSkooler