Those who pre-ordered can now complete their purchase:

https://shop.acube-systems.biz/sam-motherboards/125-sam460.html

Great to see ACube getting the boards out to customers before X-mas!

Anyone here ordered one?

I've had problems using Amistore several times, unfortunately.
Now I use other services if possible.

When I ordered an Enchancer package a few months ago, I bought it
via AmigaKit's own website in physical form instead, since I
could not get Amistore working properly. No reply from customer
support to help me. I've also contacted A-EON on several other
occasions without reply as well, which is sad.

This is bad for motivation, and I assume people newer to AmigaOS
4 would perhaps give up on both Amistore and the platform when it is
so hard just to make a purchase, get answers to questions, etc.
Especially if you have forked out a lot of cash.

In this respect I'd like to mention the webpage of A1222 pre order, which
was updated 7 December 2020. Have asked questions
about the A1222 to A-EON, but not received an answer, which I
could for example put on my blog to help promote the platform.
I know I'm not the only one not receiving an answer to questions
in this case. Changing the date of last updated to 2022 would make
things look more up to date.

When I was going to buy Swamp Defense (an excellent and fun game
btw!) to review for my blog. I then decided to go to Alinea
instead of Amistore, since I know that Alinea delivers the goods
without any problems. There I bought my first Sam (Sam440ep) over
10 years ago. I bought the game as a download from their webshop
and it was available shortly after. I could pay safely with card
without worries.

Like others have mentioned, I think the best, safest, and easiest
ways to offer paid downloads, is to host them in a webshop.

Is it vital that we can buy software through an appstore? My
opinion is no. Best to make it as easy as possible to purchase.

Offer a good selection of AmigaOS 4 commercial software in a
secure webshop, and I'm sure sales will increase too. A lot of
people like shopping from their mobile phone for example, comfy
in the sofa, and suddenly gets an impulse to buy - then it is
good to have some quality titles available for quick purchase.
The user can then download the titles later when in front of
their computer.

Sorry for the wall of text here, but I had a lot on my heart
about this. I do appreciate A-EON and all they do for the
platform, but there are things which could be improved.

To A-EON if you are reading this: If anyone has dropped out of
the pre-order queue, I'd be VERY interested in getting that
place. Have asked through e-mail, but no answer.

News from ACube Systems:

Quote:

Source: ACube on Facebook

@328gts

Thanks for the score, 328gts! You are now in 1st place!

@kas1e

Hi,

I don't know if this is of help, but Amiga on the Lake (and probably other vendors) has a Sam460 CPU Cooler:

https://amigaonthelake.com/sam460-cpu-cooler/#description

In this thread on Amigans, IamSONIC provides directions for installing the fan:

https://www.amigans.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=119949

Cheers!

@trixie

Quote:

That is definitely true! You hit the nail on the head there! Great comment! The quote would fit very well as a meme of some sort.

Thanks for the scores! Have now updated the high score table.

@all

ACube Systems made a short announcement on their Facebook-page concerning the delivery of the Sam460LE:

"We expected the Sam460LE production to be faster but it is still running. We'll start shipping the boards the second week of December. Thanks."

Source: https://www.facebook.com/ACubeSystems

Hi MamePPCA1,

You wrote:

"The situation now is that EUAE_1.0.0 still doesn't load the rom named "Kick3.1.rom" (...)"

Then you wrote:

"(...) it cannot load kick.rom"

Have you tried renaming the Kick3.1.rom to kick.rom? Looks like the emulator is looking for a file called "kick.rom". Worth a shot!

Thanks for the helpful tips and information, guys!

I've tried implementing the new tips. The Sam still struggles with the MP4, unfortunately.

The good news is, however, that using the MPEG 4 video codec made it run properly! The video plays smoothly in Emotion, both in a window and in fullscreen. I think playback is a bit better in Emotion than the different MPlayers, although I can not back this up with anything other than a "feeling".

So far, a combination of Levellord's settings + Ktadd's suggestions did the trick with the Jurassic Park trailer. This is definitely helpful knowledge for those out there still enjoying their Sam 440's.

I will continue testing. Possibly I can provide some FPS etc., but must learn a bit more about how to do this properly first.

Thanks again guys! You rock!

@levellord

Hi mate,

Thanks for the instructions! Much appreciated!

I downloaded Handbrake and gave it a try.

Converted the video and transferred it to the Sam.

Unfortunately, it still does not play well, although it feels like the new version works better in the Emotion videoplayer than before. If I put frameskip on auto, it nearly plays like it should. It might be my eyes playing tricks on me, but definitely an improvement here.

On the diffent MPlayers the sound is out of sync and the video does not play like it should. It is worth mentioning that the program tells me that my computer is too slow to play the video, hehe.

I have not tried adjusting the parameters at the end of your post yet, but hopefully this will make an improvement. It will be interesting to see!

Thanks again for your help.

Btw.. which video formats would you deem the best for Sam 440? I have read about people watching Xvid on it, but have not tried that myself. AVI also works fine, as well as regular DVD.

@levellord

Hi mate,

Thanks for the instructions! Much appreciated!

I downloaded Handbrake and gave it a try.

Converted the video and transferred it to the Sam.

Unfortunately, it still does not play well, although it feels like the new version works better in the Emotion videoplayer than before. If I put frameskip on auto, it nearly plays like it should. It might be my eyes playing tricks on me, but definitely an improvement here.

On the diffent MPlayers the sound is out of sync and the video does not play like it should. It is worth mentioning that the program tells me that my computer is too slow to play the video, hehe.

I have not tried adjusting the parameters at the end of your post yet, but hopefully this will make an improvement. It will be interesting to see!

Thanks again for your help.

Btw.. which video formats would you deem the best for Sam 440? I have read about people watching Xvid on it, but have not tried that myself. AVI also works fine, as well as regular DVD.

@Chris

Sorry about that. Will correct it soon. Thanks for letting me know.

@noXLar @VooDoo @Cageman

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed the report!

Hi everyone,

Yesterday I downloaded a few movie trailers via the brilliant AmiTube utility.

To test the playback on the Sam Flex (800 MHz), I downloaded three versions of the Jurassic Park trailer:

1) 3gp - 176x144
2) mp4 - 640x360
3) mp4 - 1280x720

Number 1 plays fine with both video and audio in sync on the different MPlayer versions and in the Emotion demo.

Number 2 works, but the audio is out of sync and the framerate is ok

Number 3 does not work, very slow video and audio is out of sync.

My Sam has a Radeon 9250 PCI 128 MB card. The CPU is clocked at 800 MHz.

Shouldn't it be able to play 2 (640x360) at a proper rate, or is the mp4 format more demanding than others?

If yes, which format do you recommend converting MP4 to?

Thanks in advance for your help.

@VooDoo

Thanks, VooDoo! Scoreboard has been updated!

Here is my score:

20,860 points

I also lost when the big spaceships arrived.

]

@mbrantley

Thanks for sharing! That was a very nice collection of photos from the events.

@levellord

Thanks for the score, Levellord!

Thanks so much @sailor, @328gts, and @tekmage! I'm very happy that you like reading the monthly reports.

Hello,

I have a suggestion for Amigans.net.

What do you think about adding small badges/achivements underneath a persons name?

Right now it is like this:

LiveForIt
Home away from home
*****

or

AmigaOldskooler
Just popping in
*****

The reason I'm suggesting this is because of the games competitions. I think it would be fun if a competition winner could get a badge, for example an icon of a trophy or a crown, placed underneath or next to the persons name, so all could see the achievement.

The badge could also be visible on the user profile with a short explanation.

Best if the badge did not expire, so that some could get a small collection of victories in the compos.

I have no idea how hard this is to implement or if people are interested, but thought I'd share it anyhow.

Thanks for considering and keep up the good work with Amigans.net!