This is a step-by-step description of how to install the latest OS4 SDK (53.15) for use with Cubic IDE. Please note that Cubic must be installed prior to installing the SDK, together with the compiler suite (the C/C++ Add-On package) including GCC 4.0.4 for OS4 (we will update this with the new GCC from the SDK).

1. Download SDK 53.15 from Hyperion's website.

2. Create drawer "devkits:sdk/amigaos4/53.15". (If there is no devkits: assign in your system, then you haven't installed the C/C++ Add-On package - you MUST do it before installing the SDK).

3. Unpack the SDK archive and run "Install SDK". As your install path choose "devkits:sdk/amigaos4/53.15". Unselect the option "Create drawer "SDK" in destination drawer" located below the install path selection gadget. Make sure the GNU files are among the files selected for installation. Install the SDK.

4. Open a text editor, load "s:user-startup", comment out the entire SDK-related section the installer has added at the end of the file, and save it.

5. Load the file "devkits:sdk/amigaos4/53.15/S/sdk-startup" and comment out the GCC startup section, as follows:

;if exists SDK:s/gcc-startup
; execute SDK:s/gcc-startup
;endif

Save the file.

6. Load the file "devkits:scripts/user-startup". If you have installed SDK 51.22 previously (the last SDK version officially supported by Cubic IDE), modify the respective lines to look as follows:

if exists devkits:sdk/amigaos4/53.15
assign SDK: devkits:sdk/amigaos4/53.15
execute >nil: SDK:s/sdk-startup
endif

If the 53.15 is the first OS4 SDK you install with Cubic, just add the four lines above. Save the file.

7. Create drawer "devkits:compilers/gcc/amigaos4/4.2.4".

8. Go to the "devkits:sdk/amigaos4/53.15/gcc" drawer and move or copy its entire contents to "devkits:compilers/gcc/amigaos4/4.2.4".

9. Load the file "devkits:devkits.config" and locate the compiler section "gcc for amigaos4/ppc". Modify the compiler home directory line to read

(home "devkits:compilers/gcc/amigaos4/4.2.4")

Then modify the includes section, to look as follows:

(includes
"devkits:sdk/amigaos4/53.15/include/include_h"
"devkits:sdk/amigaos4/53.15/local/common/include"
"devkits:sdk/amigaos4/53.15/local/clib2/include"
)
Save the file.

10. Reboot your Amiga. The SDK and the latest GCC compiler (4.2.4) should now be ready for use with Cubic IDE.

You'll notice that when Cubic is in the C/C++ mode, the "Change Compiler" menu still shows "Target: amigaos4 (gcc 4.0.4)" for the GCC compiler. You may want to edit this menu item in Cubic's settings (Extras/Customize...) for file type "gcc".

This article is a brief walkthrough of a simple way to watch youtube videos while browsing with OWB under OS4.x (or any other browser, under any other OS that meets the requirements)

Requirements
1. python (version >= 2.4)
2. youtube-dl python script by Ricardo Garcia Gonzalez, at the time of writing this available here
3. mplayer (os4.x port is availabe at OS4Depot)

Usage
1. Navigate to the pag e of video of your choice
2. Copy the url
3. In shell run:
Quote:

where URL is the previously copied video address including the double quotes
Useful parameter to youtube-dl: "-o filename.flv" will explicitly specify the output file.
4. Watch the progress, if download gets stuck: signal the python with ctrl-c, "c:break" , Steven Solies "Ranger" utility or other mean of your choice, and then repeat the download. People with sharp eyesight will notice the url of the video and might try download the files that stuck frequently using successive "wget -c" with proper argument specifying the output file ("-O" with capital O)
5. In shell or using mplayer or mplayer's GUI by Daniel Westerberg play the result of the download
6. Useful mplayer options:
. a. esperiment with "-mc 0" or "-mc 10" in cases of out-of-sync audio/video
. b. "-vf expand=::::::n" where n is 4 or 8 or 16 or 32 in case of distorted image (this will expand the dimensions of the video to mutiples of "n" in each direction). Other fix to the problem is to use "-vo sdl" option to specify SDL-based video rendering (which will in turn automatically "expand" the dimension of the video when choosing the best suitale screen-mode for the full-screen playback)
7. Delete th downloaded video file if not needed anymore.

Enjoy,
Jack

A quick review of the 1st Mag Bash show, held in Coventry, UK.

Arrived at the Venue in time to see the dentist (2:30 - geddit?). It was a chilly wet miserable day, but inside it was dry and warm with a very positive atmosphere.

Having paid the entrance money of ?3 ukp, and got a sticker to tell everyone who I am. (not much point really since everyone knows me) - I entered the hall, to be greeted by groans, followed by "Oh god, what you doing here?" - And that was just Rigo!

But I digress, the main hall itself, was a bit titchy, in comparison to the size of the Big Bash venue, which in turn was titchy compared to the WOA-SE venue, which in turn was titchy compared to the Novotel in Hammersmith.
- but such is the size of the Amiga community nowadays, if we don't start getting people back, we'll soon be holding a show in a phone booth! Not that in anyway thats is MAG's fault.

However, those that had made it, were doing their bit to try and revive our favourite computer platform, in attendance was the UK's premiere Amiga retailer, Amigakit. (of course they are also the only UK Amiga retailer, but shush!) As you can see, they were a bit stumped by a customer asking them if they had any add ons for a commodore vic-20! Bet they did a bit of trade though!

Next to Amigakit, and heading towards the centre stage, was the Hyperion table, which consisted mainly of Rigo and his SAM440EP, Plus Hyperion's Everett Carlton, who was doing his best to blend into the background in a desperate bid not to be deluged with court case questions!
Seriously though, it was nice of Hyperion's top brass to come over to the UK and say hi, its been a long time since the UK has had any official representation from the leading player on the Amiga scene.

I have never met Everett in person before, but I found him to be a very friendly and easily accessible person. He was happy to talk to anyone and everyone, he mingled with the crowd and generally was very amiable.

At this point I should add that I did take a photo of him and Swoop, but alas, when I got it home it came out blurry! (I am crap at photography) Sorry guys!

Generally though, there were a good 30 people in the main hall at any one time, I believe the final total of people through the door was about 50 at the end of the day, but it is always nice to attend this type of venue and say hi to a lot of old faces that one hasn't seen in a long time and yet, even to this day there were some people in there who I had never met before, so it was nice to see a couple of fresh faces.

Luke Stowe (blurred person in photo) and his crew did a superb job given that it was their first time at hosting an Amiga show. As with all Amiga shows there was a raffle with the winner getting a nice new SAM board with OS4. It went to a new Amiga user with who turned up at 4pm and who I only know as "Mouse" on IRC. Congrats to him!

It was also nice to see fellow ANT member, Chris Handley finally getting his hands on Amiga hardware after using emulation for so many years.




Finally, before I left, I was able to watch Rigo, do a very polished presentation of the new SAM board running OS4.1 on the main stage, it really was very polished, the place was very quiet as everyone listened intently.


All in all, a nicely done show, I just wish more people had turned up, over the years the Amiga community has shrunk in the UK, but it isn't that small. Well done to all involved on putting Amiga UK shows back on the map.

SAM @ ANT - 12th October 2008

I arrived at the Amiga North Thames venue at around five past one, to find four strangers waiting to go in already, now as any ANT member knows, I am never there first, second, third...... oh heck, its lucky if I manage to get there before 2pm!

So, apologising for my fellow ANT members being late (oh the irony) I set about unloading my car, getting the key, to open the Vestry, and letting the poor waiting souls into the venue.

Within 30 minutes most of the ANT crew had arrived and I must say, never in my entire life of hosting Amiga related events have I seen so much chaos! There were cables, boxes, Amigas, Monitors, tables network cables, people making tea, coffee, eating cake, chatting all at the same time!


Eventually the place was organised into some semblance of order and Rigo arrived with his SAM.
Initially we had decided to use a large projector, but we couldn't get both devices to talk to each other, so in the end we decided to use a large monitor (well as large as we had anyhow)


By 2:00pm, we had a good crowd of people turn up, of which (apart from ANT regulars) I only knew one, metaljoe, (John Chandler esq) The rest of the people I can't ever recal meeting previously. (Thats the thing about turning 40, the first thing that goes is the...................)


2:30 pm came and within a few minutes afterwards, the presentation got started, it was pretty much elbow room only by that time as you can see by the picture.

Everyone listened intently as Rigo, presented the SAM, showing it running OS4.1. -- Admittedly, he didn't show its full capabilities, because it was pretty much (and you could see it was) a virgin install and to be honest, he was only just gonna bring it along, plonk it on the desk and let people look for themselves, however I don't think we were at all prepared for the 30 or so people in total who were still arriving by 4:00pm.
- having said all that, and despite him not being prepared for a full product demonstration, he managed to wring out nearly 30 minutes, taking questions here and there. Mainly though the room was so quiet you could have heard a church mouse squeak, as a matter of fact, I think I did!





Later, Rigo kindly helped me to re-house my MicroA1 into a new case, as the old case I initially got, had a failing power supply - in which was a custom PSU (company long gone bust). So, if you are reading this Rigo, thank you very much for returning me back to the land of Amiga usage once more
Having my ?A1 up and running allowed me to show the people who had turned up, OS4.1 running Games, Movies, Wookiechat, SabreMSN etc, whilst it didn't all run smoothly, (I think the ?A1 was still settling in to its new home) I think they all got a fair appraisal of whats OS4.1 is all about.


I would like to thank the people who turned up, many of whom were ex-amiga users curious to see what the fuss was about, whether they came, saw and decided to buy one, I don't know, But at least it does go to show that there is still some interest in the platform from former Amiga users.

Do you know, just between you and me, if Hyperion get a just settlement in the forthcoming court case, this Amiga thing might just catch on.

Here's hoping to a large turn out at the MAG bash event in Coventry on November 1st and to many SAMS being sold on the day.

Cheers!

Pictures of Rigo's SAM440EP
.

History of featured donations:

December 2008
evilrich,
orgin,

November 2008
afxgroup, Andrea Palmat?. Thanks to his efforts we have an indispensable port of MPlayer, plus numerous libs, a plug in for DVPlayer, some games, cairo 2D gfx library as well as contributing to OWB.
hnl_dk, Henning Nielsen Lund. Rarely seen on Amigans.net nowadays. HNL is very much the programmers, programmer, having written ABC-Shell and a whole host of differing SDKs and programmers utilities.

October 2008
Hans, Hans de Ruiter has contributed vastly to the Amiga OS4 effort, his most recent efforts include a RadeonHD Driver and MINI GL which for one man is a fantastic achievement. Please Donate to Hans if you can!
Rogue/tfrieden, The Frieden Boys, Nuff Said. Go Donate.

September 2008
Ken Lester Jr, A very talented man who, alongside Mason, has Given Amiga OS the visual identity we have come to recognise. Whether you need an icon for AmigaOS4, or UAE, or even for a web portal, Ken has been here for the community providing us with eye candy for absolutely nothing.
The man behind, Unsatisfactory Software, which has brought us Wet Weather for the Amiga and other utilities, but now, much more important, he brings us NETSURF the new, lightweight, compact Web Browser for the Amiga.

August 2008
Xeron is the equivelant of Rolls Royce, he doesn't churn out much that often, but when he does, its pure quality.
His pftp program and Hively tracker have received acclaim from many quarters. but unlike a Rolls Royce, it doesn't cost much, as a matter of fact it doesn't cost anything!
What can you say about Salass00? Well, if Spot up is China then Salass00 is close behind, shall we say, Taiwan?
Fredrik is the second most prolific author on OS4 Depot. Lets, put it this way, if Xeron is the rolls royce of the amiga scene, then Salass00 is to the man who supplies the tyres, the fuel, wipers, switches etc.
Without him and his myriad of Libraries and utilities, the Amiga would be so far back in terms of usage, you'd need a time machine to visit the 80's

July 2008
Spot Up is the amiga equivelant of "Made in China" the amount of ports this guy churns out for AmigaOS4 is almost on an industrial scale. He isn't human! Check out the number of uploads to OS4 Depot. Which includes Magazeux, Spot's Porting for Dummies Guide, MoleInvasion and many, many more.
Surely you've heard of him by now??? No? what planet are you on? Thanks to Jahc we have, Wookiechat, SabreMSN, Rockbeat, SimplePlay and alas; the FartButton! Please donate what you can, but mind the photo on the front page, its not for the faint hearted!

June 2008
Edgar Schwan (CygnusEd)
Works include:
Cygnix X11 Port, FontForge, OWB Libraries and more! Over 40 bits of software on OS4 Depot and counting!
Very much a developer at the forefront of AmigaOS4 development.

Joerg Strohmayer
Again, needs very little introduction, responsible for OWB a free, fully featured AmigaOS4 Web browser with full CSS capability etc. plus, SFS, AmiDVD, CPU TempDocky and many more too!