Amiga goes HDMI - D520 video to HDMI converter

At Revision 2017 in Saarbruecken (Germany), Thorsten Schubert presents his "D520" device, an external Amiga video to HDMI converter. Amazing! It's alpha/beta stage, and there's no decision regarding distribution yet, but it has some great features: connects to Amiga video port, HDMI output, 3.5mm TRS audio in for Amiga Paula audio, firmware upgradeable (via Amiga video port).  (Video by VisioRetron, in german.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNg9Muscg_w

Here's a forum thread (german) where you can reach the developer of the "D520":

http://www.a1k.org/forum/showthread.php?p=1064005

"BlackBOX 1200" Amiga 1200 tower conversion kit from Elbox

Elbox offers a new tower system for Amiga 1200 computers. It's prepared for installation of the Mediator PCI 1200TX, Mediator PCI 1200SX, Mediator PCI 1200LT4, Mediator PCI 1200, Mediator PCI 1200LT2 and G-REX 1200 busboards. It black, made of steel, comes with 350W power supply, PC/Amiga keyboard interface, USB connectors, two cooling fans, and has space for a total of eight internal drives.


http://eu-shop.elbox.com/en_GB/p/BlackBOX-1200/734

Amiga on TV: zdf.info "Die Amiga Story"

German TV station "zdf.info" has broadcast a special edition of Anthony and Nicola Caulfield's Amiga documentary "From Bedrooms To Billions". You can still watch it via their "Mediathek" video archive.

https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/zdfinfo-doku/die-amiga-story-100.html

(Note that access might be restricted, and video available for a limited time only.)

RedPill Amiga game creator

RedPill is a new game creator and engine for the Amiga, written in BlitzBasic (AmiBlitz2). It's currently at version 0.5.0, and features smooth scrolling, AGA support, physics (bouncing, friction, ...), collision detection, and many more details.

Here's a demo video showing part of the creation of a platform-type game:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyvvP8Ch-0c

You can reach RedPill on the net via it's facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/redpillgamecreator/

AMIGA alive 01: Amiga 500 keyboard membrane repair (Video)

"AMIGA alive 01 - Amiga 500 keyboard membrane repair" is out. We're doing a little repair job to the A500's keyboard membrane, and show you some of the individual parts the keyboard is made of. Hope you enjoy it - comments welcome!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48B2bSaZPpI

 

Rick Dangerous Enhanced - RTG!

Classic Amiga game "Rick Dangerous" gets an enhanced remake. Probably the most important enhancement: retargetable graphics.
That means you can choose a screenmode suitable for your modern monitor, and it also means that you can run "Rick Dangerous" via the Vampire accelerator's HDMI output!
There are more enhancements, and it's still under development, so watch the news about when it's out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faog7H5qgyA

Source:
http://www.indieretronews.com/2017/04/rick-dangerous-enhanced-enhanced-wip.html

The first next-gen Amiga game: CannonBall - for Vampire boards only!

"CannonBall" is the enhanced OutRun engine. As we all know, the original OutRun arcade game port to the Amiga wasn't a great one at all. Now ModernVintageGamer has ported the CannonBall engine to the Amiga. But it needs a lot of horsepower. We're talking A LOT OF horsepower. In fact it requires such a huge lot of horsepower that we're talking Vampire-boards only, and even these may have performance issues with certain tracks in the game...!

Here you can see it in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yVqB13EtZg

If you want to try it yourself, just head over to AmiNet:

http://aminet.net/search?query=cannonball

The source code to the port can be found at:

https://github.com/lantus/cannonball

Visit ModernVintageGamer's pages on the net:

https://www.facebook.com/ModernVintageGamer

https://twitter.com/ModernVintageG

Accelerators galore

In recent times, a lot of new hardware developments for retro computers are popping up. Among these are a remarkable number of different accelerators for the Amiga 500, 600, and 1200 - here's an overview of what's currently available and/or in development.

Please note that information provided here may not be 100% complete. Read about the boards' details on the websites provided, or get in contact with the developers, if in doubt.

Have fun choosing your next-gen Amiga accelerator!

ACA500plus

Individual Computers brings us this accelerator board for the Amiga 500, with some interesting features - like e.g. built in Kickstart ROMs, AmigaOS 3.1 installer software, and a connector for A1200 accelerators.

CPU: MC68EC000 at 14 to 42MHz
8MByte RAM
8MByte FlashROM
two CF-card slots
Action Replay-compatible freezer
7-segment display "DisMo"
Kickstart V1.2, V1.3 and V3.1, and AmigaOS 3.1 installer in FlashROM
Extension connectors: A1200-compatible Clockport, local 16-Bit extension port, connector for A1200 accelerators

Website(s):
https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/de/shop/product/ACA500plus.html

ACA1221ec

Individual Computers' low-budget accelerator for the Amiga 1200, sells for only about 120 Euros.

CPU: 68EC020
17 to 42 MHz
16MB RAM, 9MB of which are usable FastRAM
1MB-MapROM option
2 clockports, one of which is hi-speed (for RapidRoad USB host controller use)

Website(s):
https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/de/shop/product/aca1221ec.html

ACA1233n-40 and ACA1233-55

Individual Computers' 68030 accelerators are still available.

CPU: 68030 at 40 or 55 MHz
128MB RAM
MapROM option
Clock port

Website(s):
https://icomp.de/shop-icomp/en/produkt-details/product/ACA12xx.html

Furia EC020 for Amiga 600

On sale for quite some time now are the Furia accelerators for the Amiga 600, available via online stores (e.g. http://vesalia.de or http://lotharek.pl )

CPU: 68EC020 at 33MHz
FPU: 68882 (if present) 
9.5MB FastRAM 
Maprom function

Website(s):
http://www.kuchinka.cz/furia/

TerribleFire TF520, TF530, and TF540

Stephen Leary's open-source DIY accelerators for the Amiga 500. Documentation on how to build the 68020 and 68030 CPU versions (TF520, TF530) are already available via GitHub and YouTube (see links below), and just recently Stephen has begun developing the 68040 version (TF540).

CPU: 68020, 68030, or 68040
FPU: 68881
IDE controller

Here's a demo of the TF530 in action, comparing a stock A500's performance to that of a TF530-equipped one, using "Frontier - Elite II":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRO9j2G9owc

Website(s):
https://www.youtube.com/c/TerribleFire
https://twitter.com/terriblefire

https://github.com/terriblefire/tf520
https://github.com/terriblefire/tf530

Wicher 500i

Accelerator board for the Amiga 500, from Poland.

CPU: MC68000/68010
Max. clock: 50MHz
RAM: 1-8 MB SIMM 72 (FPM,EDO)
IDE Controller
SPI Controller

Here you can see it in action:
https://youtu.be/WWG1BVmYEXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6-r4OQP9Sc

There's also a Wicher 2000 accelerator board for the Amiga 2000 planned.

Website(s):
http://retro.7-bit.pl

HC508

Homebrew accelerator for the Amiga 500 by blogspot/YouTube user "m68k". Not much is known about this one, especially if it'll be sold to the public or made open-source one day.

68HC000 CPU at 50 MHz, 100% MC68000 compatible
IDE-controller (40-pin) for HD and CD-ROM
integrated CF-Card slot
8 MB FastRAM (1 wait state)
512k FlashROM for Kickstart (1 wait state)
Utility to individually (de)activate any module (CPU, RAM, ROM, IDE)

Here you can see it in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK1h65u8UIU

Website(s):
http://amigaprj.blogspot.de

Vampire 500 V2 and Vampire 600 V2

FPGA-based accelerators - and much more - for the Amiga 500 and 600. Amiga 1200 version is in development. CPU performance far beyond that of a 68060, SAGA graphics with Full-HD resolution, HDMI output, 128MB RAM, MicroSD card slot, IDE controller (Vampire 500 only). The ultimate boost in performance!

Website(s):
http://apollo-accelerators.com

"Making Music On The Amiga + Full Amiga Album"

Shot97 posted this article about making music on the Amiga, using Music-X and a MIDI keyboard. He liked the setup so much, he created an album of Amiga music called "Riding with the Amiga".

"Making Music On The Amiga + Full Amiga Album"
https://amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=222

"Riding With The Amiga - An Amiga Music Album By Shot97"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBDCS_xNmpI

iBrowse 2.5 - do you browse?

Amiga-native webbrowser iBrowse proves to be alive!
A long awaited version 2.5 now seems to materialize - the history page has been updated with changes since version 2.4

http://www.ibrowse-dev.net/history.php

Amitopia gaming articles

Amitopia has published some up-to-date articles about Amiga gaming.

This one is for Amiga newbies, providing information about hardware requirements, different Amiga chipsets, and the right mindset to get going with vintage Amiga games:

http://amitopia.com/what-does-it-require-to-play-games-on-amiga/


And here's another one giving an overview of 2016's Amiga game releases - proving that the Amiga game development scene is... alive!

http://amitopia.com/so-many-new-games-came-out-for-amiga-in-2016/

Vampire accelerators - alive!

If you haven't seen it yet, you should definitely watch this highly interesting video of Igor "Majsta" Majstorovic talking about and demonstrating the brand new Vampire 500 V2 accelerator board for the Amiga 500. In the video, there is a huge load of detailed information about the board itself, and an equally huge load of information about the development process. The presentation is dense, and at no point boring. Switch on YouTube's subtitles for an english translation.

Personally, I think this video might be the most important piece of information the Amiga community has produced within probably the last 20 years.

Vampire 500 v2 Amiga FPGA Accelerator - World premiere!