Amiga Forever

Last updated

Amiga Forever
Developer(s) Cloanto IT srl
Initial releaseNovember 14, 1997;26 years ago (1997-11-14)
Stable release
December 12, 2022;15 months ago (2022-12-12) - Version 10
Operating system Windows, macOS, Linux
License Proprietary
Website www.amigaforever.com

Amiga Forever is an Amiga preservation, emulation and support package published by Cloanto, [1] [2] which allows Amiga software to run on non-Amiga hardware legally and without complex configuration.

Contents

The Windows [3] version of Amiga Forever includes a "player" software developed by Cloanto which makes use of "plugins" such as WinUAE as emulation engines, while relying on its own user interface for configuration and authoring. In addition to supporting common disk image formats, Amiga Forever can play back and author files in Cloanto's proprietary RP9 format. RP9 packages are compressed files that embed all media images, plus XML-based configuration and description data, and ancillary content like documentation, screenshots, audio tracks, etc.

Beginning from the 2012 version, Amiga Forever includes Cloanto's RP9 Editor for content authoring. Besides its own authoring and playback environment, and Cloanto's floppy disk conversion service, Amiga Forever includes WinUAE and WinFellow, and different versions of UAE and E-UAE for other platforms. All versions of Amiga Forever include different AmigaOS (m68k) environments and support to run a large range of Amiga games and demoscene productions which are available for download from different software publishers and Amiga history sites. The Windows version also includes Cloanto's Amiga Explorer networking software, which allows access to Amiga resources (including virtual floppy, hard disk and ROM image files) from the Windows Desktop.

History

Amiga International, the owner of the intellectual property rights to the AmigaOS, sought to protect its property from people distributing unauthorized copies of the ROM files required for emulating Amiga software over the Internet. [4] On October 7, 1997, it announced on its website that it had granted Cloanto, publisher of Amiga productivity applications, the rights to publish an Amiga emulator containing the AmigaOS software. The first version of Amiga Forever was released on November 14, 1997, after its debut at the Computer '97 show in Cologne, Germany. [5] It was contained on a CD-ROM which contained a front-end for Windows and different versions of UAE for Windows, DOS, macOS and Linux, plus Fellow for DOS and a selection of Amiga Kickstart ROM images and Workbench disks. [6] [ better source needed ] The new plugin-based player software was introduced in 2007.

Amiga Forever was ported to Android (operating system) and appeared as a Google Chrome extension, both in 2013 as Amiga Forever essentials. In both cases, the application provides the necessary ROM files for emulators designed for Android and Google Chrome, respectively. [7] [8]

Features

The Player in Amiga Forever 2008 Amiga Forever 2008 Player.png
The Player in Amiga Forever 2008

Amiga Forever comes bundled with all versions of the official Amiga ROM and OS files, from versions 0.7 to 3.1. [9] It is also bundled with two preconfigured free and open source emulators UAE and Fellow. [10]

The Amiga Explorer is a networking framework that facilitates data sharing between a PC and an actual Amiga computer. It readily converts files stored on Amiga disk files into the Amiga Disk File format, and also allows PC users to mount drives on an Amiga machine, both for PC use. [11]

Other features include:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UAE (emulator)</span> Computer emulator which emulates Commodore Internationals Amiga.

UAE is a computer emulator which emulates the hardware of Commodore International's Amiga range of computers. Released under the GNU General Public License, UAE is free software.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Live CD</span> Complete, bootable computer installation that runs directly from a CD-ROM

A live CD is a complete bootable computer installation including operating system which runs directly from a CD-ROM or similar storage device into a computer's memory, rather than loading from a hard disk drive. A live CD allows users to run an operating system for any purpose without installing it or making any changes to the computer's configuration. Live CDs can run on a computer without secondary storage, such as a hard disk drive, or with a corrupted hard disk drive or file system, allowing data recovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virtual file system</span> Abstract layer on top of a more concrete file system

A virtual file system (VFS) or virtual filesystem switch is an abstract layer on top of a more concrete file system. The purpose of a VFS is to allow client applications to access different types of concrete file systems in a uniform way. A VFS can, for example, be used to access local and network storage devices transparently without the client application noticing the difference. It can be used to bridge the differences in Windows, classic Mac OS/macOS and Unix filesystems, so that applications can access files on local file systems of those types without having to know what type of file system they are accessing.

vMac Open source 68k Macintosh emulator

vMac is a free and open-source Macintosh Plus emulator which is able to run versions of System 1.1 to 7.5.5. It is available for Windows, DOS, OS/2, Mac OS, NeXTSTEP, Linux, Unix, and other platforms. Although vMac has been abandoned, Mini vMac, an improved spinoff of vMac, is still actively developed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Basilisk II</span> Open-source 68k Macintosh emulator

Basilisk II is an emulator which emulates Apple Macintosh computers based on the Motorola 68000 series. The software is cross-platform and can be used on a variety of operating systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QEMU</span> Free virtualization and emulation software

QEMU is a free and open-source emulator. It emulates a computer's processor through dynamic binary translation and provides a set of different hardware and device models for the machine, enabling it to run a variety of guest operating systems. It can interoperate with Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) to run virtual machines at near-native speed. QEMU can also do emulation for user-level processes, allowing applications compiled for one architecture to run on another.

CrossDOS is a file system handler for accessing FAT formatted media on Amiga computers. It was bundled with AmigaOS 2.1 and later. Its function was to allow working with disks formatted for PCs and Atari STs. In the 1990s it became a commonly used method of file exchange between Amiga systems and other platforms.

Amiga emulation refers to the activity of emulating a Commodore Amiga computer system using another computer platform. Most emulators run on modern systems such as Microsoft Windows or Macintosh. This allows Amiga users to use their existing software, and in some cases hardware, on modern computers.

The Amiga computer can be used to emulate several other computer platforms, including legacy platforms such as the Commodore 64, and its contemporary rivals such as the IBM PC and the Macintosh.

Amiga software is computer software engineered to run on the Amiga personal computer. Amiga software covers many applications, including productivity, digital art, games, commercial, freeware and hobbyist products. The market was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s but then dwindled. Most Amiga products were originally created directly for the Amiga computer, and were not ported from other platforms.

AmigaOS is the proprietary native operating system of the Amiga personal computer. Since its introduction with the launch of the Amiga 1000 in 1985, there have been four major versions and several minor revisions of the operating system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workbench (AmigaOS)</span> Graphical user interface for the Amiga computer

Workbench is the desktop environment and graphical file manager of AmigaOS developed by Commodore International for their Amiga line of computers. Workbench provides the user with a graphical interface to work with file systems and launch applications. It uses a workbench metaphor for representing file system organisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AmigaOS 4</span> Line of Amiga operating systems

AmigaOS 4 is a line of Amiga operating systems which runs on PowerPC microprocessors. It is mainly based on AmigaOS 3.1 source code developed by Commodore, and partially on version 3.9 developed by Haage & Partner. "The Final Update" was released on 24 December 2006 after five years of development by the Belgian company Hyperion Entertainment under license from Amiga, Inc. for AmigaOne registered users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AmiKit</span> Software compilation for Amiga computers

AmiKit is a compilation of 425 pre-installed and pre-configured Amiga program running on Windows, macOS, Linux computer, and on Amiga computer with Vampire V2 card.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AROS Research Operating System</span> Operating system

AROS Research Operating System is a free and open-source multi media centric implementation of the AmigaOS 3.1 application programming interface (API). Designed to be portable and flexible. As of 2021, ports are available for personal computers (PCs) based on x86 and PowerPC, in native and hosted flavors, with other architectures in development. In a show of full circle development, AROS has been ported to the Motorola 68000 series (m68k) based Amiga 1200, and there is also an ARM port for the Raspberry Pi series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kickstart (Amiga)</span> Bootstrap firmware used by Amiga computers

Kickstart is the bootstrap firmware of the Amiga computers developed by Commodore International. Its purpose is to initialize the Amiga hardware and core components of AmigaOS and then attempt to boot from a bootable volume, such as a floppy disk. Most Amiga models were shipped with the Kickstart firmware stored on ROM chips.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AmigaOS</span> Operating system for Amiga computers

AmigaOS is a family of proprietary native operating systems of the Amiga and AmigaOne personal computers. It was developed first by Commodore International and introduced with the launch of the first Amiga, the Amiga 1000, in 1985. Early versions of AmigaOS required the Motorola 68000 series of 16-bit and 32-bit microprocessors. Later versions were developed by Haage & Partner and then Hyperion Entertainment. A PowerPC microprocessor is required for the most recent release, AmigaOS 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AmigaOS 4 version history</span>

A new version of AmigaOS was released on December 24, 2006 after five years of development by Hyperion Entertainment (Belgium) under license from Amiga, Inc. for AmigaOne registered users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classic Mac OS</span> Original operating system of Apple Mac (1984–2001)

Mac OS is the series of operating systems developed for the Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and ending with Mac OS 9. The Macintosh operating system is credited with having popularized the graphical user interface concept. It was included with every Macintosh that was sold during the era in which it was developed, and many updates to the system software were done in conjunction with the introduction of new Macintosh systems.

References

  1. ↑ "Cloanto IT srl". Cloanto IT srl. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
  2. ↑ Barton, Matt (2019). Vintage Games 2.0: An Insider Look at the Most Influential Games of All Time. United Kingdom. CRC Press.
  3. ↑ Lambert, Kole (1990). Computer Applications to Library. United Kingdom. EDTECH. p. 113.
  4. ↑ Sheriff, Alan (March 1998). "Q&A". CU Amiga . No. 97. p. 99. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  5. ↑ Webb, Brad (December 1997 – January 1998). ""Amiga Forever" ... Licensed Amiga Emulation From Cloanto". Amiga Informer. No. 11. Eldritch Enterprises. p. 10. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Amiga Forever". Amiga History Guide. August 9, 2006. Archived from the original on March 8, 2009. Retrieved March 6, 2009.
  7. ↑ Melanson, Donald (April 23, 2013). "Amiga Forever Essentials for Android promises to expand your emulation options". Engadget . Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  8. ↑ Zota, Volker (December 12, 2013). "Amiga-Emulator im Chrome-Browser" [Amiga emulator for Chrome browser]. Heise Online (in German). Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  9. ↑ van Klaveren, Bart (July 9, 2009). "Software-update: Amiga Forever 2009". Tweakers.net (in Dutch). Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  10. ↑ Speed, Richard (January 3, 2019). "Found yet another plastic nostalgia knock-off under the tree? You, sir, need an emulator". The Register . Archived from the original on May 13, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
  11. ↑ Korn, Andrew (July 1998). "Product Test: Amiga Forever". CU Amiga . No. 101. p. 61. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.