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|    AMIGA    |    Amiga International Echo    |    2,243 messages    |
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|    Message 38 of 2,243    |
|    Stephen Walsh to All    |
|    Commodore Free - Part 2    |
|    05 Jul 11 20:04:36    |
      The delivery of a diploma for "Best Project MorphOS 2011" will be officially       presented at the Alchemy 2011 that will take place from 11 November to 13       November 2011 at Tainl'Hermitage (26 - France).              The development machine is composed of:              * A EFIKA 5200B motherboard,              * a housing epoxy polished,              * a Radeon graphic card,              * a PSU,              * MorphOS 2.7 or higher with its license,              * the latest pack Ultimate,              * MorphOS SDK pre-installed,              * carrying case.                     *************************************        AMIGA IMMORTAL AUDIO CD       *************************************              The fourth part of Amiga Immortal audio CD series has been released. Like the       previous version, this is also a double CD. First month exclusively from       maz-sound.              Most of the tracks have been created by their original authors - trademark of       the Immortal series. Sometimes even playing live-instruments, you'll become       earwitness when Al Lowe himself (Leisure Suit Larry) playing the saxophone,       Jon Hare (Cannon Fodder) back at the microphone and Dave Govett (Wing       Commander) hitting the drums.              The latest edition contains music from the following games:              Atomino, Benefactor, Big Run, Cannon Fodder, Capital Punishment, Dangerous       Streets, F17 Challenge, Fascination, Final Fight, First Samurai, Flashback,       Flink, Fury of the Furries, Future Wars, Gauntlet 3: The Final Quest, Jaguar       XJ220, LED Storm, Leisure Suit Larry, Lemmings, Liberation: Captive 2,       Paradroid 90, Puggsy, T-Zero, Tales from Heaven, TFX, Turrican 2, Ultimate       Body Blows, Walker, Wing Commander, Wolfchild, Zarathrusta, Zeewolf,       Zeewolf 2: Wild Justice.              There are also short previews (although only through flash player) for all       the tracks.              http://www.maz-sound.com/Immortal/                     *************************************        ICEFILESYSTEM 2.4 RELEASED       *************************************              http://blubbedev.net/icefs/              2.4 (2011-APRIL-11)              * Deleting file larger than "Max recycle bytes" no longer empties recycle       dir. Max file size in recycledir is now "Max recycle bytes" / 16. (if set).              * New (optional) environment variable: ICE_AUTORETRYIO. Set it to 1..n for       number of automatic retries of failed IO requests.              * Smaller bug in automatic renaming of recycledir files fixed.              * action_seek() allowed seeking beyond file with internal error requester as       result, fixed.              * IceSalv did not preserve file dates, fixed.              * IceCheck fixes/improvements.              * FSConfig got renamed to IceConfig.              * VInfo got renamed to IceInfo.              * No changes from the rc2 version.              * 64bit file/partition/extent sizes (actually very close to 2^63 bytes).       No self imposed fragmentation of large files unless there is not enough       contiguous space available.              * All metadata on disk is checksummed. This means any errors on disk will be       detected a lot quicker.              * Meta level journaling. Journaling makes operations to disk atomic.              * Hardlinks (directory and file), softlinks, notification, examine all,       record locking, file comments. Fully supported.              * Supports sector sizes from 2^9 to 2^31, at least in theory. File system       layout on disk is not dependant on a specific underlying sector size. File       system may however place data on disk so that it is optimal for the sector       size used.              * Supports block sizes from 512 bytes to 32 KB. Still works very well with       small block sizes though.              * File system does not get slower for larger partitions (scales very well),       or when heavily fragmented.              * No limit in # of files/dirs in partition/dirs.              * Handles removable media.              * Supports optional recycle dir.              * Supports automatically truncated log files and file change log.              * Wastes only 128k (and pre-allocates another 128k for meta space) for file       system administration data, regardless of partition size.              * Dynamic handling of cache memory. Memory is given back (progressively) to       system when not used.                     *************************************        1541U-II UPDATE 2.1       *************************************              WHAT IS IT?              The '1541 Ultimate' is a storage solution for your Commodore home computer,       such as the C64, C128, C plus4, C16, etc. This piece of hardware implements a       'real' 1541 disk drive for Commodore computers. There are two versions of this       board; the 1541 Ultimate-I and the 1541 Ultimate-II. The 1541 Ultimate-I uses       an SD-card or MMC-card to store the floppy disks, while the 1541 Ultimate-II       uses MicroSD and USB pen-drives. Both the 1541 Ultimate-I and the 1541       Ultimate-II contain a replica of all the necessary hardware to be fully       compatible with a real drive.              NEW UPDATE OF THE 1541 ULTIMATE II FIRMWARE!              * Ready for testing V2.1. If no unacceptable new bugs are found, this could       be the release ;)              * Config menu is now 'hot', meaning that all settings that can be applied       when exiting the menu will be applied immediately without reboot.              * Audio options added              * Stereo SID emulation added              * Initial support for Domark cartridges added; not yet tested (and no support       from the menu in this release).              * Improvements made in file system handling.. (It's not 'clean' yet, but       delete and rename now work)              * Issue solved that caused errors when more than one cluster was used for a       directory. (ouch)              * Bug fixed that caused a crash when partition list was skipped.              * Some additional testing with SID support..              * Created module for selecting audio options in the Ultimate configuration       menu. Address for second SID now configurable.              * Some experiments done with EM1010 USB to Ethernet module. The module       doesn't comply with the USB philosophy of interrupts.. it *always* gives an       interrupt every poll.. (wrong!) But nevertheless, managed to send a DHCP       discover and receive a reply from the router. :) (not yet functional in       this release)              * Command Interface created and handler set up for testing VHDL. (not yet       functional in this release)              * Cartridge Logic restructured to make it a little more plug and go..              * Reading of ISO9660 added (both as .ISO file, as well as from external USB       CD-ROM..)              * Partition list skipped when there is just one...              For more information look at the website http://www.1541ultimate.net/                     *************************************        NEW MASONICONS       *************************************              Two new icon sets in the AmigaOS 4.1 Update 1 design are available on the       Masonicons website.              MASONICONS COLLECTION APRIL 2011              Icons for Apps, Tools and Utilities like a completed RDesktop and Newscoaster       set, several generic icons for backup, default icons for audio files,       Hyperbench, QT and many more              DISK ICONS COLLECTION              Additional Device Icons for AmigaOS 4.1              www.masonicons.info                     *************************************        AUTOMATIC MONITOR SWITCH FOR AMIGA       *************************************              André Pfeiffer (Ratte) developed a automatic monitor switch for the Amiga       computer. The switch is a "Do It Yourself" project, but there is a very       good tutorial on how to assemble the monitor switch. The monitor switch can       be used with the Amiga 1200, 3000 and 4000 computers with a IndivisionAGA       with CybervisionPPC or BVision. For all the details you can visit the a1k.org       web page              http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?p=417467                     *************************************        TOSEC UPDATED       *************************************              The Old School Emulation Center (TOSEC) is a website and retro computing       initiative dedicated to the cataloguing and preservation of software,       firmware and resources for microcomputers, minicomputers and video game       consoles. The main goal of the project is to catalogue and audit all       possible kinds of software and firmware images for these systems.              As of release 2011-01-19, TOSEC catalogues over 200 unique computing       platforms and continues to grow. As of this time the project had identified       and catalogued 389,228 different software images/sets, consisting of over       2.95TB of software, firmware and resources.              http://www.tosecdev.org/                     *************************************        C&A GAMES 3 RELEASED       *************************************              The 3rd release of C&A Games has been released, This is a polish magazine,       here is a translation of the release information from the website              Written by TOUDIdel              Finally, after long wait, we are pleased to present you a new issue of C & A       Games (TOC). In this third instalment of 52 pages you will find reviews of       games and a comprehensive description of the "TFX "and" Flimbo 's Quest,       history's about the game , "Boulder Dash " and an interview with Thomas       Lewandowski, known as Levi.              We also request to you, dear readers. If anyone feels up to and want to       assist the editors in the form of articles, e.g. for games, we invite you       to help shape the magazine. It depends on your contribution to the frequency       with which will show new issues of the magazine.              http://ca-fan.pl/                     *************************************        SPELLCHECKER.LIBRARY V1.0       *************************************              Antoine Dubourg a.k.a. Tcheko released its latest production :       spellchecker.library 1.0              This new library offers spellchecking feature based on a dictionary of words.       It uses common and efficient spellchecking algorithms : double metaphone and       Levenshtein distance (used in major Office package like OpenOffice,       AbiWord...). This first release is aimed mainly at developer as no       application currently uses spellchecker.library.              Currently, this library offers '(s)low' performances : spellchecking is done       with a simple lookup table. Further version will include faster       spellchecking with the help of btree.library to the price of 'huge'       memory consumption. Tested with a French dictionary of more than 330.000       words, spellchecker.library took more than 80MB of memory excluding its       usage on low end hardware like Efika. Some benchmarking were done to       evaluate the spellchecking speed : up to 1 000 words per second was       achieved on a Mac Mini@1.42 with the btree version of the library.              Still, further version of the library will be designed to handle low memory       case to accommodate every kind of hardware. This library also has been       wrapped and tested with OWB which offers internal API for spellchecking.              Download : SpellChecker-1.0.lha       http://czeko.free.fr/public/spellchecker-1.0.lha (14KB)                     *************************************       STROKE WORLD REVIEW By Commodore Free       *************************************              Free download from Protovision              OVERVIEW              Mr. Universum was the hero of the galaxy until a bad alien ensured that he       decreased some kilos.              The world and the whole universe were in sweet harmony. Mr. Universum, the       uncrowned king and hero of the universe provided for security and the peace       for all the peoples in the galaxy. He already struck many glorious battles,       triumphed in many fights. Only with one nature our hero got along       never completely: with the little green muscle eater. Now and then, always       exactly then, if Mr. Universum counted to few on it, this small poison dwarf       emerged - in order to make for the hero hell hot, so far however without       success. Until someday...              Minimum system requirements: C64 or C128 in C64 mode, 1541/1571 Floppy,       Joystick.              Also compatible with: 1541 Ultimate, SD2IEC, uIEC/SD, CMD SuperCPU with       SuperRAM card.              This game is available as PAL or NTSC version!              COMMODORE FREE              Stroke World consists of five worlds; each one is divided into five sections.       In each world a new graphic set awaits you. To leave a section, you have to       kill all creatures on the screen and run to a little signpost to enter the       next screen. At the end of each world you will get a password, so you can       re-enter that world at every time by typing in this password in the main       menu. After you have fought through all the levels there is a really big end       boss waiting for you. Can you destroy him?              You will want to download this file as it's a free game from PROTOVISON and       is available from the following url              http://www.protovision-online.de/games/strokeworld.htm              Main PROTOVISION website is located here, and after this magazine you will       remember it off hand!              http://www.protovision-online.de/              If you enter the shop and look at the games PROTOVISION have 3 categories to       choose from they are              * Full price       * Mid price and       * Freeware              In the freeware section are the 2 games              Starting Stroke World we are greeted in German this is however easily changed       by              With a joystick in port 1 press fire and you will be given a screen with       options              Here you can select amongst other things the language              Select English or Deutsch and then save option              Of course it will be in German first so its this option              Ok with that set we can then start the game, the change happens instantly       although you will have lost the intro in the correct language, I couldn't       find a way to restart from the intro so it seems you have to reload the       game to get the intro in the correct language.              The intro sets the scene but if you don't want to read it hit the fire button       to start the game              Now I don't know about the games history but on loading the game we are       presented with our hero lost in a cavern              The basic idea is you can climb and jump and punch (to kill) you have to kill       all the enemies and then go to the anvil to exit to the next level              Here labelled in the picture from screen 1 just to be sure you know how to       exit              Of course you are up against the clock and you only have a limited number of       shields              On later levels it's important to plan a route as you could get stuck by       jumping down and not being able to get back up.              The main character is a stick man! don't be put off though the animation       on the character is very good indeed, jumping climbing, very smooth, the       other items are basically animated and the background scenery looks very       nice.              Here our hero skilfully walks across a rope bridge or is it a pipe of some       sorts              Of course when our here looses energy he dies (ahhh shame) and does so by       "unzipping himself from head to foot and opening himself into 2 pieces,       very amusing.              To kill a creature you thump it by pressing the fire button in the direction       you want to thump and moving in that direction              If I could find a way to kill these stupid bat things then I would actually       be quite good at the game              At the moment I am climbing ladders and pointing towards it hitting like       mad in the hope I splat it into oblivion, trouble is its not working to well       in this game, these sometimes are quite hard to kill off.              Left on his own our here becomes board and stats to stretch and then dance       about Here is a scene directly after I received a password              Watch out for the killer snowball throwing snowmen              Remember on the later levels you can use the joystick diagonally, this is       very useful for when on the ropes/pipes to swing and jump off.              Drop from a height and our hero will complain shaking his fist violently at       you, fall from a great height and its all over, you will splat on the ground.              Sonically the music is excellent nice bobby music on the intro then down to       some hard hitting techno on the first 3 screens the snow man levels start to       chill out with lots of white noise and a more relaxed pace of music, sadly       my game playing hasn't progressed me onto further levels.              The game would benefit from a text doc to set the scene and help with the       control system but as you play it will be obvious how to control your man,       it's a very solid release and for the price FREE you would be mad not to       download a copy and at least give it a test drive. If this is the sort of       game PROTOVISION deem as free just think what the paid for versions are like              Review Commodore Free              Graphics: 7/10       Music: 8/10       Gameplay: 8/10              OVERALL SCORE: 8/10                     *************************************       CASCADE REVIEW By Commodore Free       *************************************              OVERVIEW              Your task is to pop as many bubbles as you can. In order to do this, two       neighbouring bubbles must have the same colour. The more bubbles you can       destroy at once, the more points you will get and if all the bubbles are       destroyed you will get 500 extra points!              This game was first released at the Vision 2002 but unfortunately that       version had a bug: after a while, the music was corrupted. This is the new       100% version.              Minimum system requirements: C64 or C128 in C64 mode, 1541/1571 Floppy,       Joystick.              Also compatible with: 1541 Ultimate, SD2IEC, uIEC/SD, IEC-ATA, MMC Replay,       MMC64, 1581, CMD FD, CMD HD, CMD RAMLink, IDE64.              This game is PAL only!              This is another Freeware game from Protovision              Available from here http://www.protovision-online.de/games/cascade.htm              This game has appeared on a number of systems from Mobile phones to full       blown commercial releases Lets take a look at what PROTOVISION had to offer              First you need a joystick plugged into port two and after a brief intro and       how to play the game; we are on the main screen, it's a puzzler as you may       have guessed and its another of my favourite games. The Protovision       implementation is very good indeed, cool music from the start sets a nice       relaxing pace for the game              As the bubbles are popped they move over to the left (assuming a space is       created on the line) and join onto other bubbles              Of course the idea is to clear all the bubbles from the screen and gain as       many points as possible so I didn't do to well here. Only the same coloured       bubbles connected together will pop. The main idea is to get as many as       possible of the same colour together, and pop them all at once to gain       extra points              The game works out when this cant be done here we see 3 dissimilar colours       and so the game ends and allows you to enter a score              Functional graphics and excellent SID sounds again for FREE you cant go wrong       with this one. To pop the bubbles move the pointer (using the joystick) over       the bubbles you want to pop and press fire. Easy controls to master but the       game due to its Random starts of bubble locations can become very       frustrating, played with others watching it can soon turn to violence as       different people try to tell you there strategy is the best system.              Review Commodore Free              Graphics: 5/10       Sound: 8/10       Gameplay: 8/10              OVERALL: 7/10                     *************************************       IT'S MAGIC 1 REVIEW By Commodore Free       *************************************              OVERVIEW              It's Magic by Protovision is a jump'n run with extremely cute graphics. The       main character of the game is a little tomcat named Tommy - he is very       curious and so he wants to be the first one who leaves his home world, the       Dream Islands. To make this plan come true, he signs on at a wizard. One       day, the wizard is out for some time, Tommy uses the opportunity: He takes       the magic book and the crystal sphere and with the right spell, he catapults       himself through time and space. Everything goes well it seems and he finds       himself in the so called "Outside World". Fascinating - but soon Tommy wants       to return home and realizes that this is impossible! He needs the crystal       sphere for that, and some magic potions... Unfortunately, the sphere broke       down into thousand little pieces, and the potions are guarded by some       monsters... And so, Tommy's first adventure begins, and you can experience       it with him. Meanwhile, the successor is available, too: It's Magic 2.              It's Magic consists of three worlds, each one is divided into 8 sections.       In each world a new graphic set expects you. To leave a section, you have       to collect all diamonds and find a magic potion. This potion is carried       around by one of the little monsters which run and fly around everywhere.       And when you reach the level's end and cannot leave - no problem: It's       Magic scrolls to the left and the right, so you can run back any time. This       is also useful in other cases: For example you can run after a monster until       you get it. To do away with these creatures, you got an - of course magical       - shot. Depending on the kind of the beastie more or less hits are       sufficient to let it blow up in pink dust.              Minimum system requirements: C64 or C128 in C64 mode, 1541/1571 Floppy,       Joystick.              Also compatible with: 1541 Ultimate, SD2IEC, uIEC/SD.              This game is PAL only!              Free download from here              http://www.protovision-online.de/games/itsmagic.htm              On starting the game we are asked if we want to use the fast loader, the       choice I suppose is down to your hardware, and if it causes problems. Here       on a stock machine for the review I selected yes (however for the record it       took 1 minute with the speed loader and about 2 minutes 5seconds without       selecting the speed loader)              Ok either way the splash screen loads and the music comes in              WOW this is Freeware!              The music is great boppy and bubbly with sort of clashing squeals I love it,       after about 10 minutes of listening I decided to play the game.              Look at the screen shot              Our hero a yellow cat? Starts his journey, and I love the clouds in the top       border floating around very nice, there isn't any in game music just the       spot sound effects however this doesn't really detract anything from the       game. The controls are using the joystick with the fire button causing our       hero to jump, to finish each level you must collect all the diamond segments       and then find the potion, this could be carried by any creature so you are I       suppose best to shoot everything on sight and ask questions later. Similar       scenarios have been used on other Commodore games so the game play in that       respect isn't unique.              A sequel exists and as you can guess is called its "Dave the fish! Sorry ok       its called magic 2, however this version for the review is FREE and so you       have little to loose by downloading and playing the game. Very polished       excellent control system and the physics (you can read this as the gravity       --- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5        * Origin: Dragon's Lair: telnet: bbs.vk3heg.net Port: 2323 (3:633/280)    |
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