Recapping a Samsung 204B monitor

In September 2006, I purchased a Samsung 204B SyncMaster monitor for $320+tax. It was a 4:3 monitor, and for certain tasks like my Logic Analyzer Cart, it’s perfect.

It failed in July 2024, and would no longer power on. There was a VERY faint blue flashing happening on the blue power led on the right-hand side of the unit. I figured it was a power-related problem.

Amiga QB Extract recently updated

There was a HDD backup utility for the Commodore Amiga called Quarterback, part of a suite of tools called Quarterback Tools. This utility allowed you to backup existing files on your HDD, compress and/or encrypt them, and split them across multiple floppy disks.

This backup tool stores a catalog, which contains a number of directory entries at the beginning of the backup file, and then contains file markers for either compressed (CFM + 0x90) or uncompressed (FMRK) files.

Retro PC builds in 2024 - Part 1

Where time allows this year, I have been doing PC build projects for Compaq LTE Elite laptop (486), IBM Aptiva (AMD-K6 500), Compaq DeskPro (P3-1Ghz), Core i7 PC I built back in 2011, and Pentium 200MMX setup on IBM PC300GL with OS/2, plus adding a parallel ZIP, HP iPAQ, Sony Clie Palm into the mix.

Whew.

California Games – From Top 2 Bottom

California Games was simply outstanding, making it all the more astonishing how the sequel, California Games II, managed to mess everything up.

There isn't a single likable aspect in the sequel, which perfectly exemplifies how the developer completely missed what made the original so great.

Source

An Amiga plus a lot of good will equals... Crysis!

Can an Amiga computer run milestone first person shooter "Crysis"?

Well. "Yes it can." But you need some - just a little! - suspension of disbelief. Here's a prototype created by author lifeschool, that uses a slightly different approach to bringing the amazing graphics engine of "Crysis" to the Amiga. System requirements are comparably moderate:

  • PAL Amiga 
  • Kickstart 3.0 or higher
  • 1MB Chip and 4MB fast memory
  • 500MB free disk space

68030 or better CPU is recommended, though.

Grind - multiplayer!

Spectacular Amiga 500 OCS 7Mhz first person shooter "Grind" is boldly going serial-link multiplayer.

"Grind" has come a long way from the early "Dread" demos. It's becoming a super polished game, with tons of atmosphere, thanks to the fine tuned visuals, and sounds, and of course the stunningly fast Doom-like 3D graphics engine. And it's got what way too few Amiga games, and especially first-person-shooter games have: it's multiplayer!

Audio Players on the A1222 Plus

OK, enough about setting up the A1222 Plus, let's get into running applications. The first thing I did was download AmigaAmp3, my favorite music player, and load up some of my favorite songs in mp3 format. AmigaAmp3 on the A1222 Plus can play music file fine but it uses a lot of CPU time and, with default settings, causes the GUI response to be very slow and almost unusable. My first thought was what can I change in the settings to improve the performance.

AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup – June 2024

AmigaOS 4 News – June 2024 Hello, Thank you for visiting the Old School Game Blog and for being interested in checking out this month’s AmigaOS 4 Monthly Roundup. Both May and June proved to be a bit hectic for me, so I have not been as active as I normally am. Still, a new […]

Using a Logitech K400 Plus Keyboard with the A1222 Plus

Using a PC oriented keyboard, and especially, one with a touchpad, can present challenges when used on an Amiga. In this blog, I'll outline the challenges, and present my solutions to make this keyboard very usable with the A1222 Plus. Many of these tips apply to other keyboards with other models of computers running AmigaOS4.

A1222Plus up and running. What now?

Partitioning the SSD Drive

So, the hardware is installed, and I've successfully booted from the Emergency USB recovery stick.  What now?  Partitioning the SSD drive of course. Now this may sound like a simple task and, in general, it is. The most difficult part is deciding how many partitions, what they will be used for, and how big each one should be. 

Pages