new os3.x software ?

[Cammy]

I'm a heavy OS3 user! I'm addicted and need my fix for several hours a day. :p

[Cammy]

Just for the hell of it, I thought I'd post the latest screenshot of my A1200's Workbench. It's running in 16 colours so it's nice and responsive, and you can see both GlowIcons and NewIcons, the drawers for the Christmas game competition games, icons for SabreMSN and AmiMSN (two up-to-date OS3 MSN clients), and Tiny Invaders.



I'm running in PAL High Res Interlace with as much Overscan as my LCD TV will display, running through an RGB-S-Video adapter from AmigaManiac, so there's no flicker, just a nice solid display (with noise-reduction which helps soften the dithering).

[Cammy]

The window theme I'm using is kind of based on the SilverGreen theme from OS4.1.1, I'm using the Blue version at the moment. It's one of Rebel's Workbench theme packs for VisualPrefs/Birdie/MUI. I'm running OS3.1, but these themes work in OS3.0-3.9 as well.

Also, I think a bounty to maybe get IBrowse open-sourced might be nice. While CSS support is unlikely, it's still a great browser for viewing the websites that do still work. Also, if you open IBrowse on a Super High Res Interlace or HighGFX screen, most websites fit fine. Since netbooks are so popular these days, the average screenwidth has dropped to 1024 again so website developers are being encouraged to design their sites to scale or fit.

I've never really been interested in towerising my A1200 or adding a graphics card. I figure if I want a 24bit RTG Workbench I can just use Aros and Amithlon on my PC. I like sqeazing everything I can out of the original chipset anyway. Besides, we'll have the Natami soon!

And speaking of the Natami, and also the MiniMig and FPGArcade, they all will run OS3 so the market isn't disappearing, it's growing! And of couse there's WinUAE/AmigaForever.

[Cammy]

How much Chip ram do you have left over when using that set-up?

1,771,808 graphics mem left! I run FBlit

Credit should go to Rebel, though. He created this universal, OCS-compatible palette. It's compatible with MagicWorkbench, NewIcon, Iconographics and GlowIcon sets, MUI, a whole bunch of Workbench apps and games, and remaps images pretty well considering it's only 16 colours. The palette is designed to avoid DBLPal/NTSC flashing, it works with MagicTV, and doesn't interfere with mouse pointer colours (you can use any colour cursor you want). He designed all the bitmaps and GUI gadgets, and made a bunch of icons too. We're working together on a theme pack, and we'd love to make something like ClassicWB, except it would be more like ModernWB, since the focus would be on all the newer OS3 software and internet applications rather than classic gaming.

Anyone with an Amiga with enough RAM (and preferably a 020+) can run a Workbench like this, and it's very responsive!

[Cammy]

I'll pressure Rebel to at least upload the palette and first few theme packs on Aminet over the next few days. Here's an older screenshot of his Workbench running an Ubuntu-style theme in the same 16 colour palette http://www.amiga.org/gallery/images/2061/1_SabreOS3Screenshot.png

[Cammy]

We would need better CDXL playing software first! The current ones are buggy and none of them work on 68000. The ability to use .srt/.sub files would be perfect too, subtitles could be shown on a separate black screen in front of and below the movie.

[Cammy]

Would anyone like to help set up a new IBrowse/AWeb-compatible Amiga games development forum? I think if we're going to get any work done at all, we need a new forum where we can all get to work. Underground Arcade used to have a forum, but the host deleted it and we were left stranded. I wouldn't intend the forum to be a competitor to Amiga.org or any other Amiga forums, the sole focus will be on Amiga games development. We can use UtilityBase for application development, and Amiga.org and other general Amiga forums for discussion, but we still need one central forum for games development, with a companion website for Amiga games news and downloads.

My head is about to explode from all the ideas I have for new Amiga games, programs and hardware peripherals, and I really need a place to vent some of this so we can make it happen.

Can anyone help? Does anyone know PHP and remember how to code sites without CSS? Are there any graphic designers who'd like to help us?

Please, I know if we can get Underground Arcade up, running, and open for anyone interested in developing Amiga games, or wanting to learn how, we'll have a much better chance of seeing some great new software for the Amiga this year and in coming years.

[Cammy]

Thanks, you've been a great help!