Our third software release is out. It's xiffview v0.2, an X-windows app for Linux. Xiffview displays IFF ILBM pictures as created with DeluxePaint, PersonalPaint, and many other programs on the Amiga, in a window on your Linux X desktop.
Demo group aBYSs strikes again with another arcade classic remake, Putter gets a physical release, we have an interesting point-and-click adventure from Poland, a beautiful action-adventure platformer, and an addictive arcade puzzler.
When I last said it'd become hard to keep up with Amiga gaming news, it was a little bit tongue-in-cheek. By now it has become genuinely - and enjoyably - hard, with projects and announcements popping up more frequently than the average "Games galore" hobbyist writer is able to update his articles.
This is the first in a loose series of developer logs about projects I'm working on, from little experimental or example code, to more complex ideas. On my quest to create some proper Amiga software - a game! - I have encountered, and will encounter, lots of challenges.
Whenever a LCD monitor comes around, it's worth testing if it's suitable for Amiga use. According to sources, this one partially supports Amiga screenmodes - I gave it a try, or two.
Let's quickly run down the features of the monitor. This is the "partial support" information gathered from famous website 15khz.wikidot.com: 'No practical evidence. I kindly ask author to provide more information. Support is considered "Partial" for now. "Full" can be after test.'
Awesome news from the hardware scene: After numerous FPGA Amiga implementations, re-imagined Amiga 500 and 1200 mainboards, all sorts of new accelerator designs, and so on, the Amiga 1000 gets a major overhaul with "AMIGA A1100".
Miguel "Estrayk" Fides from Spain has just published information about his "A1100" mainboard, which is designed to fit a Amiga 1000 case. Using modern components along with some original ones, this new mainboard looks quite different from the original Amiga 1000 PCB - and it has a lot of impressive new features:
or: How not to build an electronic device
Learning from this little case study might save the beginner some hours of mistakes and wasted experimentation. A Kickstart switcher for an Amiga 500/600/2000 computer is not a complex device, so for many aspiring hardware developers it's one of the first projects to try. I was one of these.
The 68010 is a fully compatible drop-in replacement for the 68000, with a few extra features and slightly better performance.
In case you always wondered how much of a speed gain the 68010 would be over the 68000 here are the hard facts as given by classic Amiga benchmarking tool SysInfo: