Licensing Kickstart ROMs for Raspberry Pi

[dammy]

have there been any single instance of a ROM site being shut down for hosting amiga ROM's?

The late Gary Peake use to love shutting down Amiga IP pirate sites.

[dammy]

The USPTO has a nice searchable patent database (use "quick search" then search for "Assignee name" = Commodore). The list of results is sorted chronologically. start at the bottom and then go up the list.

For somewhat complicated reasons, the patents in question expire either 17 years after the issue date or 20 years after the filing date - whatever is the longer term. I count 6 patents which are still active, all of which will expire in the next year.

But the copyrights last nearly forever: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-duration.html

[SpeedGeek]

I contacted Petro T. Tyschtschenko the other day and he just got back to me with the following about Amiga IP.


My understanding is that Gateway is the owner.
 
 best regards  Petro T. Tyschtschenko

Is this the same Petro T. Tyschtschenko who was supposed to deliver 1500 new A1200s from a warehouse in India? :laugh1:

[danwood]

The USPTO has a nice searchable patent database (use "quick search" then search for "Assignee name" = Commodore). The list of results is sorted chronologically. start at the bottom and then go up the list.

The Query ( "Assignee name" = Commodore ) was unparseable (Missing boolean operator between expressions ).

Searching US Patents Text Collection...

Results of Search in US Patents Text Collection db for:
"Assignee name = Commodore": 0 patents.

No patents have matched your query

Hmmn...

[som99]

have there been any single instance of a ROM site being shut down for hosting amiga ROM's?

Getting the TOSEC of the roms is easier then stealing candy from a baby.
I don't see why Eben even should waste time on it, since everyone who would want the roms for the PI would get them easy.

Also: Eben great work with the PI, I got a few and I love them, have been sharing them to friends so we all can work together

I'm still trying to get an Amiga Emulator to build on my Pi, GLES is cause the most headaches right now. More interesting is a direct compile of AROS for the RasPi, which makes a lot more sense than an OS as heavy as Debian

Add PND support and you can use this UAE4ALL 2.0 on the PI, maintained by EvilDragon from OpenPandora. Just reconfigure the input and it should work on the PI.
http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/8770-uae4all-20/page__hl__amiga

Edit: Without much work you can rebuild the Pandora rootfs with ångström for the PI if your not up for hacking in PND support on your OS build.

[cgutjahr]

No patents have matched your query

go to the patent database, click on "quick search", enter "commodore" (without the quotes) in the first search field (labeled "Term 1"), switch the associated drop down gadget (labeled "in Field 1") to "Assignee Name", then click on search - voila, 64 hits.

Note that there are more hits than fit on one page. Use the "next list"/"previous list" buttons to go next/previous page.

[Duce]

Baffles me why people just don't grab them off a torrent site like the rest of the free world does.

I've paid for them a dozen times over, and I'm not ashamed to admit I've nicked them off TPB rather than dick around with old floppies and such.

I'd rather be labelled a pirate of tech that the rest of the free world forgot about 20 years ago than feed the *******ed vultures that are copyright sitting.

[djos]

I figure if you have an original ROM, you can format shift it to your hearts content! :cool:

[Duce]

I figure if you have an original ROM, you can format shift it to your hearts content! :cool:

Heh, sort of how I see it myself.  I figure I've paid for it, hmm (A1200, A3000, A2000 x2, A4000, OS4, and Amiga Forever) 6 or 7 times already, I've got no qualms leeching it off TPB, which I am completely unashamed to say I did recently when building a new UAE machine, solely because couldn't find my AF disc with the ROM's/Images.

Fact is, the situation with Kickstart/WB is muddied at best.  If I wanted original disks for an old legacy Amiga that is missing disks, I *can* buy them retail.  Of course, God only knows who actually gets the money in such transactions, for all I know the rightful rights holders may not see a dime and "real" versions of WB/KS are often nothing more than copies of copies.

Should I want to be a legal beagle and download WinUAE and then purchase the ROM images and the disk images, what are my options?  Limited, as this thread shows :/

I'm well aware of Amiga Forever, and it's a hell of a product that I do highly recommend, but...  If a guy could simply buy digital copies of ROM's and the disk images, we'd be in a far better state.  Some people simply have no need for the pre-rolled Amiga Forever experience, such as these Pi dudes - being able to buy the bare essentials in a digital form would be so nice.

Just part of the unmitigated legal trainwreck that is everything Amiga for the past nearly 20 years, I suppose.  I'm still quite pleased that Hyperion included them in a past recent OS4 update for my SAM 440.

One hysterical point I often think of is how some fervent anti-piracy people here will scream bloody murder if you even suggest downloading something like ROM's/disk images *if* you have already paid for them, all the while they wouldn't blink twice if someone suggested torrenting a copy of Windows if a person was unable to find their OEM Windows disc or keyfile

[gaula92]

I once bought an Amiga500 (well, my parents did) and later an Amiga 1200. Period.
Since then, I have downloaded the kickstart ROMS hundreds of times, literally.

every time I want to run an UAE version on Linux or other OSEs, and everytime I want to softboot my Amiga1200 or my Minimig, I don't even look for the kickstart ROMS I downloaded time ago: I just go to TBP or other sharing site and download EVERY version of it in a TOSEC pack with includes even betas.
I have NEVER paid for something like the kickstart ROMS dumps and never will: they are mine to do whatever I want with them.

And this is for the idiots defending the vultures gettnig paid for selling dumps of kickstarts ROMS: f**K you The dumps are EVERYWHERE and they can be dowloaded on a click for free. Fight that, you retarded.

[inoel]

Do you believe they own the copyright, or do they just have a license? Their website implies the latter, but some of their efforts to actually enforce the copyright imply the former.



Thanks. It's been a real labor of love, and it's great to see it paying off.

hi they have a license from gatway   i remeber they did an interview with retrogamingradio years ago !
http://www.retrogamingradio.com/ they talked  a lot
about this! email the shows host Shane R. Monroe
and see what he thinks about this

[Forcie]

Heh, sort of how I see it myself.  I figure I've paid for it, hmm (A1200, A3000, A2000 x2, A4000, OS4, and Amiga Forever) 6 or 7 times already, I've got no qualms leeching it off TPB, which I am completely unashamed to say I did recently when building a new UAE machine, solely because couldn't find my AF disc with the ROM's/Images.

I dumped the kickstart images of my A500 and A1200 back in.. the late 90's I think, when emulators like Fellow for MS-DOS started being pretty useable.

Pretty much all Amiga emulators back then contained Amiga software and instructions how to dump your kickstarts in the "how to get started" readme sections. (Don't they still? I think at least WinUAE has transrom distributed with each release). A PD disk with a terminal program, null modem, and then that little hurdle is solved forever. I still have my dumps, and I have not worried about that issue for about.. 15 years? If I should lose them, I would not hesitate a minute to download them though. After all, it is software that I have paid for and am in my full right to use, and that goes for all other Classic owners too.

[Art]

Hi Guys, First post!!

Baffles me why people just don't grab them  off a torrent site like the rest of the free world does.

That's all  good until you want to include it in a free legitimate distribution.

It's  discouraging to see this wasn't resolved
I have approached Colanto via  email regarding a license for Kickstart v1.3
for an App Store (iOS)  distribution of UAE bound to a single licensed game disk.

There is an app  in there now called "Defender Of The Crown",
which initially got me excited,  but further investigation reveals
that it's bundled Kickstart image has been  modified to remove some
Commodore copyright information, suggesting there is  no agreement in place to use it.

Unfortunately, I put too much work into  the project before looking into this.
An App Store distribution is really the  only way any contribution from me can
be demonstrated to the wider Amiga  community, since iOS is my weapon of choice.
It looks like it will be a long time, if ever AROS can run a 68000 Amiga,
and today's mobile platforms are still limited in the type of Amiga they can emulate at speed.

I still have my original  Kickstart chip too Pity about the rest of the Amiga it came from !
Cheers, Art.

[bloodline]

Hi Guys, First post!!


That's all  good until you want to include it in a free legitimate distribution.

It's  discouraging to see this wasn't resolved
I have approached Colanto via  email regarding a license for Kickstart v1.3
for an App Store (iOS)  distribution of UAE bound to a single licensed game disk.

There is an app  in there now called "Defender Of The Crown",
which initially got me excited,  but further investigation reveals
that it's bundled Kickstart image has been  modified to remove some
Commodore copyright information, suggesting there is  no agreement in place to use it.

Unfortunately, I put too much work into  the project before looking into this.
An App Store distribution is really the  only way any contribution from me can
be demonstrated to the wider Amiga  community, since iOS is my weapon of choice.
It looks like it will be a long time, if ever AROS can run a 68000 Amiga,
and today's mobile platforms are still limited in the type of Amiga they can emulate at speed.

I still have my original  Kickstart chip too Pity about the rest of the Amiga it came from !
Cheers, Art.

If you just need the kickstart to boot the emulator, as I assume your game will take over the "hardware" once everything is up... An AROS build should be usable!

[Ezrec]

AROS m68k *does* support 68000 Amigas.

Who led you to believe it doesn't?

And with the new CDROM filesystem (AROS licensed), there is no longer any legal reason not to include the AROS m68k ROM with your for-pay game bundle.

Please contact me: jason dot mcmullan at google's mail service, for specific issues if you can't get AROS m68k to work with your emulator.

[Art]

That is good news, and thanks for the replies.

as I assume your game will take over the "hardware" once everything is up.

Do you mean the difference between a filesystem and track loading disk?
Forgive me, but it's been a while.
The game I had in mind runs from a filesystem disk, but if that's a problem
there are plenty of other games out there. I don't think aquiring license to use
one of them is going to be a problem.

there is no longer any legal reason not to include the AROS m68k ROM with your for-pay game bundle

It's a free distribution if it happens, and any contribution from me is open source.
A paid app would (ethically for me) would have to be largely my own work.

AROS m68k *does* support 68000 Amigas.
Who led you to believe it doesn't?

Well I've read a bit, and also tried a few AROS boot images,
but none so far have worked. I got the last one directly from the AROS site.
(AROS Vision) I think it was the latest package. How much chip RAM does it want from the Amiga?
Maybe it's problem that the UAE for mobile devices floating about doesn't have a CD-ROM op system,
but I suspect the emulated Amiga is too old looking at the specs on the AROS site.
I have no fast RAM, and There's no way I'll have 8Mb chip RAM.

It's the same UAE that has been ported to Sony PSP, Dreamcast, GP2x, etc.
and has all of the source for those platforms still present.

I'll have another dig around for an appropriate boot image.