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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga Software News => Topic started by: platon42 on June 23, 2004, 01:14:04 PM
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E3B and Chris Hodges are proud to announce the availability of a new version of the Luciferin FlashRom software for the Algor and Highway / Romulus expansion cards. It is a free update provided as service to all registered Algor/Romulus users.
Although the last update is nearly a one year old, nearly all of the
reports were positive and only a few requests have been made. The software was indeed ahead of its time. However, developers of other FlashRom solutions have planned some new features, which were missing in the old version of Luciferin. As usually, Algor and Romulus users are the first to get these features working in their machines, preserving that the Algor/Romulus continues to be to the best FlashRom solution on the market.
An absolutely new feature is the ability to now install a (possibly custom) Kickstart ROM image inside the FlashRom. It then can be enabled instantly at the first boot with the newly included AlgorKick module. AlgorKick uses the MapROM option of the various phase5 cpu cards, most of the users have in their machines. The 512KB Kickstart image easily fits into the FlashRom using compression, taking less than 300KB inside the FlashRom. There is still plenty room for lots of other modules! No need for BlizKick anymore!
The following boards are supported by AlgorKick:
- Blizzard 1230-I/II/III/IV, 1230-T/ERC, 1260, 2040-ERC, 2060, and PPC
- Cyberstorm MKI/MKII/MKIII and PPC.
- (Commodore A3640 / Blizzard A4030 -- please ask)
Also, a new tool "HatchSentinel" has been included to generate a password protection to the machine. Once installed in the FlashRom, it will present a password screen instantly after turning the machine on. The Sentinel module comes with various options, such as starting itself in the background, so that the booting process is not delayed.
The Bootloader has been improved to correctly determine the Kickstart version number with the BoingBag2 exec.library update. This was only cosmetic, but was added on user demand. The loader now also comes in a new "permanent" version, that will add RomTags only once, making it even faster than before.
Several other new RomTags have been added to the archive, such as modules to disabled the IDE controller to avoid unnecessary waiting (if you don't have any IDE devices connected). Or removing the bootmenu for secure and even faster booting. Or SpeedRamsey, a contribution by Christian Sauer.
Luciferin, the user friendly graphical tool for handling the FlashRom
contents has become even better and will now warn you, if you try to include a program that shouldn't be installed into the FlashRom.
This is the list of most improvements. The update will be emailed free of charge to registered users the next days. Users of the Highway should be reminded that they still have the offer to update their card with a Romulus module, check out the IOSpirit website for details:
http://amiga.iospirit.de/index.php? mode=products&modmode=info&product_id=15&ios_lang=en
E3B and Chris Hodges hope that you will enjoy this update.
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any upgrade is always wellcome :-)
BTW. . .please, this time avoid to play with customers.
Cheers
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BTW. . .please, this time avoid to play with customers.
You could have left that one out.
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@Piru:
No need for BlizKick anymore!
I'm suprised you didn't comment on this part. :-)
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BTW. . .please, this time avoid to play with customers.
What do you want to tell me by this?
Michael
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Well, AlgorKick is based on BlizKick and Piru knows about this. It is also started clearly in the manual, history and binary ;) I do really appreciate his work because without it, there wouldn't be AlgorKick ;) Simple as that.
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OT:
Nice avatar-pic! :)
So on the 3rd july there is the AAA-Fair in Udine - is someone of you, Michael B. and Chris H., there? :) I hope so! So there i would buy a Algor!
Nice greetings from Wörthersee
SOL-Invictus
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So on the 3rd july there is the AAA-Fair in Udine - is someone of you, Michael B. and Chris H., there? :) I hope so! So there i would buy a Algor!
Unfortunately not - I'm in Paris for one month now to get some work for my PhD thesis done, and will join my experiment soon afterwards in Darmstadt... sorry, no time for Udine.
I must excuse for delay occuring from here.
Regarding ALGORs... will be available soon again :)
Michael
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I can't wait to get home and try this out.
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Hi mboehmer_e3b,
although you already know perfectly, what i was referring to (Chris Hodges and Elbox related "problem") mine was only a little critic about Chris behaviour.
I have in HIGH consideration, the job of ALL (don't care if by a Company of another one) BUT i take care ABOVE OF ALL the customers. (in this case we, the Amigans).
That's all folks :-)
Cheers
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Hi Piru,
although the VERY HIGH respect that I have for you like programmer, what "i could say" or "couldn't" say" . . . are my business.
Free speach (with respect) isn't forbidden AFAIK
Bye ;-)
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@Framiga:
I am not aware about you being "my customer", therefore I consider this as a trolling attempt. I could start arguing about your snotty statement about me "playing with customers", but I reckon every word is wasted. Keep your morals to yourself.
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@platon42
at this point, what may a say to you? . . . better nothing . . your words speaks for you.
BTW . . i'm not your customers (no need) . . .and so?
i was speaking about "customers" in a generalized manner
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i am not aware about you being "my customer", therefore I consider this as a trolling attempt.
So you have to be a customer before you can say negative remarks? oh right, so guys and girls should go out and let a company screw them over before they can speak out.
Free speach (with respect) isn't forbidden AFAIK
No, but you must not say anything negative in Amigaland or prepare for a lynching.
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@Framiga
Free speach (with respect) isn't forbidden AFAIK
Naturally you can say whatever you like (I am no moderator, nor I have any magical way to stop you from posting), but considering the effect your remark had, I still think it would have been better you hadn't said it at all.
Considering the posts it resulted to, I think you agree?
Also, what exactly makes you think Algor/Romulus is possibly going to have same problems as Elbox products had?
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@paul:
Excellent trolling, Paul. Get a life.
No, you don't need to be a customer. But such negative remarks about customer support, without even being a customer and not having experienced the support itself, is simply hypocracy. The Algor/Romulus software is not related to Poseidon in any way, nor with Elbox and their henchmen {bleep}ting on me over one year ago (!). Hence, framiga's comment was only meant to be a provocation and trolling. framiga claims to be speaking for *all* customers, as if the actual customers couldn't think and speak for themselves. This is simply arrogance and paternalism. And this, together with proposing that I was playing with the customers, which is a lie, really makes me upset.
This is not about free speech (sic!), nor about criticism. Criticism looks different. I don't know about th intention of the unnecessary statements from framiga, but in effect, he showed me his clear disrespect of my person in the context of giving out free updates for a software which doesn't even know or use.
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Lets use this thread for something more useful: I have some questions.
I am considering to get an ethernet adapter for my 4000T, and my two alternatives are the Algor/Norway combo or the X-surf2. (And I am not even considering the mediator)
The Algor with Norway ethernet is roughly twice the price of the x-surf, but you get flash-rom and USB. USB would be very nice, especially as I then could replace my aging mitsumi mouse which has served me well for 10 years this year :-)
I read somewhere on E3B's homepage about the possibilty to use USB mice(HID) even within the early-startup menu. Does this meen I can ditch my suffering mouse for ever? Or do some games and apps read the mouse directly so I need two mice on my desktop then?
USB keyboard support would also be very cool! Is this possible or will it happen? If this could be done, the Algor's value for price factor will be very nice!
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@Morley:
> I read somewhere on E3B's homepage about the possibilty to use USB mice(HID) even within the early-startup menu.
Given you install Poseidon, the BoingBag2 bootmenu and the new input.device into the FlashRom, this will be working fine.
> Does this meen I can ditch my suffering mouse for ever? Or do some games and apps read the mouse directly so I need two mice on my desktop then?
Unfortunately, most games will disabled multitasking and use hardware hacking to read the mouse from the mouseport. These games will not work, unfortunately (except in UAE) :-\
There are also very few applications that use hardware hacking for the left mouse button, which will also have some problems. But these are very rare.
> USB keyboard support would also be very cool! Is this possible or will it happen? If this could be done, the Algor's value for price factor will be very nice!
USB keyboards are supported for over two years. Poseidon comes with a very configurable HID class that allows to setup all kinds of actions for each key, including the multimedia keys.
You might want to have a look at http://www.platon42.de/poseidon.html for the list of supported USB hardware.
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Can a USB keyboard be made resident just like the mouse? Via Flashrom?
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Can a USB keyboard be made resident just like the mouse? Via Flashrom?
Yes, just like the mouse. Keyboards can be included by the bootkeyboard.class or the hid.class.
Michael