ALBs Blog - Freepascal, and online compiler!

If you like coding in Pascal on the Amiga, or if you want to start doing so, you should visit ALB's blog.

ALB's blog hosts the Freepascal compilers for AmigaOS, MorphOS and AROS, some other applications like Mapparium, GPSTool, and EdiSyn, and now he has even added an online Pascal compiler for AmigaOS, MorphOS and AROS.

Via a web interface, you can enter your Pascal code, choose the destination platform, click "Compile", and download your executable file.

There are two versions of the online Freepascal compiler: one for current browsers with full JavaScript, and one for older browsers (IBrowse, etc.) using HTML only.

Here's a video showing the online compiler in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3xSsq51syE

Head over to ALBs blog and check out some Pascal:
https://blog.alb42.de

Or go directly to the "FPC Online Editor/Compiler":
http://home.alb42.de/fpamiga/

Project Paula - a synthwave/cyberpunk tribute to the Amiga years

Oh yeah, those glory days, and those glory tunes! Speedball 2, Apidya, Flashback, Jim Power, Shadow of the beast, ... you name it, you sing it.

Now you can re-live the music originally composed by Chris Huelsbeck, David Whittaker, Paul van der Valk, Ron Klaren, Stéphane Picq and others, for games including Dune, Turrican 3, Battle squadron, Unreal, One step beyond, and Lotus III, in full instrumentation and high production quality.

"Project Paula" has been released for download and streaming, a collection of remakes of famous Amiga game tunes by artists Volkor X, Fixions, Wrencan, Master Boot Record, Hypercan, and others.

It's a "name your price" purchase - you decide how much you want to pay.

Head over to projectpaula.bandcamp.com, listen to the music, and make your donation: https://projectpaula.bandcamp.com/album/project-paula-amiga

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3214928880_16.jpg

Writing Amiga floppy discs from a PC

So you've pulled your beloved old yellowish-brownish Amiga 500 out from the attic - ah, those memories...

You've connected the TV cable, your trustworthy black-red Competition Pro joysticks, and the power supply, and switched it on. With your eyes wet, you've stared at the kickstart disk on the TV display. On your PC, you've googled for those old games, have downloaded plenty of them, you're trembling with excitement, your hands sweaty, humming the title melody of SWIV, thinking "Icecream! Icecream!"... no, you were never one of those heretics that upgraded to an Amiga 1200, having fancy things like IDE or PCMCIA, no, you're OCS, you're 512kB+512kB, you're DF0:, maybe DF1: at best ...

...and now you're stuck.

You need some way of transferring those ADF-files to your Amiga 500. You can't just go "online", you don't have a nullmodem cable at hand, and if you even had: How to transfer some transfer software over to the Amiga in the first place...?

Enter ADTWin.

ADTWin for Windows PCs is a combination of software and a special floppy disk drive cable. This could be the solution to your problems, and a very helpful addition even for those who already have figured out ways of transferring files to the Amiga. ADTWin allows you to connect a PC floppy drive to your Windows PC's parallel port, and write ADF files directly to floppy disc, ready for your Amiga's floppy drive!

You need to build the cable yourself, have a spare PC floppy drive, and download the software. There might be compatibility issues with some drives, but PC floppy drives are cheap, just get a bunch of them on eBay or the likes.

Wanna know more, and give it a try? Just click the link below:

http://m1web.de/ADTWin/

http://m1web.de/ADTWin/pics/special_cable.jpg

Sources:
http://m1web.de/ADTWin/
http://www.amigaforever.com/kb/13-118

Glenn Keller, Commodore Amiga Paula chip designer

"The Guru Mediation" did an interview with Glenn Keller, former engineer at Commodore, designer of the Paula chip, which is responsible for the Amiga's sound capabilities, serial port, and floppy disc drive interface.

Mr. Keller is a very nice guy, it's a pleasure listening to his ancedotes and information. He talks about the early days of Amiga development, the unreleased AAA chipset, and the longevity and revival of the Amiga system, among other topics.

Thanks to "The Guru Mediation" for the interview, and Mr. Keller for taking the time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuXH2csMR8Y

May 31st - International Amiga Day

Happy International Amiga Day everyone!

What's your today's Amiga activity?

Make sure you have at least one! :-)

 .

Happy Birthday, Mr. Jay Miner!

(1932 - 1994, "Father of the Amiga")

 .
Thank you Mr. Dragon “Gyu” Gyorgy
(1966 - 2015, initiator of the "International Amiga Day")


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Building the TerribleFire TF530 accelerator board, part 1: Introduction

Stephen Leary's TF530 accelerator board for the Amiga 500 is a nice piece of hardware for several reasons. It's low-cost, open-source, fast, has an IDE controller, and a great name.

Why not build one youself?

Disclaimer: This is not an instruction. Use at your own risk. No responsibility taken for whatever you do. Safety first. Kids, dont try this at home. 

You need some proper tools, and should have some good soldering experience - SMD parts are really small... And you need some patience and knowledge to find the components.

For starters, check the video below, where Stephen shows the first steps in building it "from scratch".

"TFV#45 - Building Your Own 68030 Amiga 500 Accelerator - SMD Components"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG_5oDeLdGE

Find basic information, PCB layout, bill-of-material and software on Stephen's github account:
https://github.com/terriblefire/tf530

(Note: Stephen is still working the board, releasing updated revisions. Make sure you check board revisions, bill-of-material, and information accordingly.)

Also keep an eye on his YouTube channel, he releases new videos quite often, giving updates on his developments, explaining details of his boards, or even reviewing user boards:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu4uiUtALy1ILAxNh7TGsmQ

If you need more information, you should watch Stephen's videos, and get in contact with other users via the "Terrible Fire Accelerators" thread on EAB / "English Amiga Board":
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=85380

Now let's see if we can build the TF530 - watch out for part 2 of our series "Building the TerribleFire TF530 accelerator board"!

Overview and back catalogue of the series:
http://amigaalive.blogspot.de/p/hardware-building-terribefire-tf530.html 

 

Amiga Kit (GB) and Relec (CH) to retail Apollo / Vampire accelerators

The next step in Apollo / Vampire accelerators development: After the boards have been put into mass production, they're now available from Amiga retailers AmigaKit in Great Britian and Relec in Switzerland!


http://www.amigakit.com

http://www.relec.ch

http://apollo-accelerators.com/images/v500v2.gif

AmigaKit reports that the first batch of Vampire 500 V2's has sold out in just hours - be quick to place your order!

http://apollo-accelerators.com/images/V2-128.png

You can read AmigaKit's news release here:
http://www.amigakit.com/news/News_Release_Apollo_Accelerators.pdf

Your can read Relec's news release here:
http://relec.ch/frch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=141:vampire-qon-the-roadq&catid=1:relec&Itemid=8&lang=en


Home of the Apollo accelerator boards:
http://apollo-accelerators.com

Sources:
http://relec.ch/frch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=141:vampire-qon-the-roadq&catid=1:relec&Itemid=8&lang=en
http://www.amigakit.com/news/News_Release_Apollo_Accelerators.pdf