• Commodore Free Magazine, Issue 73 - Part 9

    From Stephen Walsh@39:901/280 to All on Sat Dec 14 22:28:40 2013
    dio) - "Boost Bass and Treble by plus 10.ffmp"
    * (Dir=Video) - "Rotate 90 degrees clickwise.ffmp"
    * (Dir=Video) - "Rotate 90 degrees counter clockwise.ffmp"
    * (Dir-Video) - "Rotate 180 degrees.ffmp"
    * (Dir-Graphic) - "Add_25_pixel_fra me-->png_picture.ffmp"


    *************************************
    BOUNTY TO PORT DTP SOFTWARE
    SCRIBUS TO AMIGAOS 4
    *************************************

    An on-going issue with the mass acceptance of AmigaOS 4 is the lack of high
    end modern professional software applications. The Amiga's software library is impressively large but most of the applications have not been updated or modernized. Some end users have paid for updates to software that have never come or have incomplete versions. A wealth of software exists in the open source world that uses the Qt framework. Qt is a cross-platform complete development framework with tools designed to streamline the creation of stunning native applications and amazing user interfaces for desktop, embedded and mobile platforms. Industry-Leading Application Development with One Framework Qt's cross-platform full framework and tools enables developers to target various desktop, embedded, mobile and real-time operating systems with one code base. Qt brings freedom to the developer saving development time, adding efficiency and ultimately shortening time to market.

    One such powerful software package that uses the Qt Framework is Scribus. DiscreetFX has setup a bounty to get Scribus ported to AmigaOS 4.

    discreetfx.com/Scribus.html

    This modern powerful and easy to use Desktop Publishing software will help
    fill a needed gap in AmigaOS 4 software suite. DiscreetFX has placed $1000 in the bounty to get it started and will add $100 per month for the next 12
    months to keep development interest going. This is a pay for performance
    bounty meaning bounty payouts can be given before bounty is complete in four instalments. If you can prove you have completed 25% of the work then 25% of the bounty will be paid to you. Completed 50% of the work get 50% of the
    bounty and so on. After 12 months if no coder has contributed code to the Scribus Bounty it will self-destruct.

    We are impressed with Qt and invision it bringing many modern powerful productivity titles to AmigaOS 4. Scribus can be one of the first but
    certainly not the last. This bounty is also available to MorphOS coders but more work would be required since MorphOS does not have a port of the QT framework.

    Qt Framework for AmigaOS 4: sourceforge.net/projects/qtamigaosnative/

    Qt applications already ported to AmigaOS 4: os4depot.net/index.php?fun ction=search&tool=simple

    Qt Product Information: qt.digia.com/Product/

    Scribus Product Information: www.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus


    *************************************
    CLASSIC AMIGA GAMES COMING TO
    ANDROID VIA GOOGLE PLAY
    *************************************

    www.polygon.com/2013/7/23/4548626/classic-amiga-games-coming-to-android-vi a-google-play

    Amiga Games, Inc. will publish its classic games for Android devices beginning this holiday, the parent company "Writers' Group Film Corp" announced today.

    Amiga Games, which has released ports of many 16-bit Amiga computer titles to modern consoles and mobile devices, has been approved by Google to launch its games through the Google Play online marketplace.

    "Android is the fastest growing platform on the planet and we're excited to be in Google's marketplace," said CEO of Writers' Group Film Corp Eric Mitchell. "These developments will further strengthen our competitive advantage in the gaming marketplace. AGI's classic titles focus on delivering a quality retro-gaming experience for the consumer, so I am very optimistic about our
    new distribution arrangements."


    *************************************
    HYPERION ENTERTAINMENT BLOG
    *************************************

    This is a copy of the Development News posted on the Hyperion website
    HDAUDIO DRIVER IS COMPLETE!

    Posted by Lyle Hazelwood on July 15, 2013

    I am happy to announce the release of the finished HDAudio driver for the AmigaOne X1000! The driver now supports recording as well as playback. It also now supports S/PDIF optical output. There have been questions about whether full "32 bit" audio really makes a difference. I'd like to dig a little deeper to better understand the technical specifications.

    There are two primary factors that contribute to the quality of a digital
    sound recording. One is resolution, or how many bits per sample, and the other is sample rate, commonly 44100 or 48000 samples per second. As you look at the waveform of a sound recording, these two numbers determine the vertical and horizontal resolution of the wave.

    I'll begin with the "bit width" or vertical resolution. The original Amiga's sound output supported four channels at eight bits of resolution. Eight bits means there are two hundred and fifty six possible vertical "steps" that can be
    used as the wave is generated. Now we spread those steps across a -2 volt to
    +2 volt span and we get 0.015625 volts per step.

    At the time of the Amiga's introduction, that was a pretty fair sound
    playback. But only 256 steps is not as "high fidelity" as we might like. As a comparison, Compact Disk Audio is reproduced at 16 bits per sample. This makes for a big improvement in resolution. 16 bits offers us 65536 possible "steps" to spread across the -2 volt to +2 volt range. Now the step size is 0.0000610351562 volts per "step" of vertical resolution. So 16 bit audio is a HUGE increase in accuracy.

    Getting back to our driver, AHIPrefs offers both 16 Bit HiFi and 32 bit HiFi modes. But I'll bet that neither of those modes gives exactly what you might expect. As AHI mixes lots of different sounds together, possibly each sound with its own volume and pan settings, it can be useful to have more resolution available to work with. Here's the clue: ALL AHI modes that say "HiFi" are sending 32 bit data out to the sound device! The "16? and "32? only describe what goes IN to the AHI mix routines. if it says HiFi, you WILL get 32 bit output to your card!

    Or will you? In truth, while AHI is making its calculations using 32 bit registers and 32 bit math, it only promises 24 bits of accuracy. Is this anything to be concerned about? Not at all. I'll tell you why. 24 bit samples will resolve to a "step size" of 0.0000002384185 volts per step. Wow! That is about one quarter of a microvolt. Those with an electronics background can probably tell you, that attempts to accurately work at those levels are just ridiculous. We have reached an accuracy that is beyond the ability of our amplifiers and speakers to reproduce. Put simply, 24 bits is the reasonable limit of current technology, or at least affordable technology.

    So our 32 bit samples are flying out of AHI and in to the HDAudio codec. While the "container" is 32 bits wide, even the "high definition audio codec" that
    we have in the AmigaOne X1000 only resolves the top 24 bits. So it seems that in the end, both AHI and HDaudio agree that 24 bits is the reasonable limit
    for now. And how about sample rate or the "horizontal" resolution?

    How rapidly a sound is sampled and played back can also have a BIG impact on sound quality. It all starts with the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem or more commonly the Nyquist theorem. It's pretty simple. As you record an audio signal, you must sample at at least twice the frequency of the highest pitch being recorded. Any sound that is higher than half the sampling frequency will be converted to noise and nasty noise at that.

    So how high do we need? It is generally held that human hearing range is from 20 Hz (cycles per second) up to 20000 Hz. So any frequency above 40000 should be great right? Well Yes and No. One simple problem is that we still must filter out all sound above half the sample frequency, and most frequency dependent volume controls (graphic equalizers) work with gradual slopes. There is no "hard cutoff" at a certain frequency, so we need a bit of headroom.

    But there is another reason. As a h

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    * Origin: Dragon's Lair (39:901/280)