Download Amiga Forever 2012.2.8.0 (R2)

Regular visitors to the Meuktracker are probably familiar with WinUAE, an Amiga emulator for Windows. However, this is delivered without kickstart, say the bios/firmware of an Amiga, and without software, simply because this is still copyrighted. However, Amiga Forever has been available since 1997, a collection of emulators for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, among others, kickstarts, Amiga software and additional drivers. Also part of Amiga Forever is Amiga Explorer, which makes it possible to communicate with an Amiga on a Windows PC via a serial connection or a network connection.

Amiga Forever is available in three different versions. The Value Edition costs only 9.95 euros, but you only get version 1.3 of the kickstart and Workbench plus forty games. The Plus version has kickstart and Workbench versions 1.0 to 3.1 on board for 29.95 euros, a wider range of software and emulators for platforms other than just the Windows platform. For another 20 euros extra there is also the Premium Editionthose two DVD videos with a total of five hours of nostalgia video contains. Cloanto has released Release 2 of Amiga Forever 2012 and the release notes are as follows:

Cloanto Releases Amiga Forever and C64 Forever 2012 “R2”

The new “R2” versions include hundreds of refinements that took more than eight months to develop, also taking into account user feedback received since the initial 2012 release last August. The new versions feature social and sharing functionality, improved content authoring, pervasive Unicode support and faster loading times.

On the social side, the software allows for manual posts and automatic status updates on Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Messenger. Facebook and Twitter further support screenshot sharing. The “now playing” functionality for Facebook uses the latest Open Graph features to aggregate posts without “spamming” a user’s wall. Amiga Forever and C64 Forever were among the very first Facebook clients for Windows approved to use the latest Open Graph and Timeline functionality.

RP9 files can now not only be played back, but also be edited directly from the Windows desktop. This brings more freedom to organize and access content without going through the player interface, and new possibilities like comparing configurations side by side.

New Amiga platform features for content curators include better support for floppy and hard disk images, with media editor options to quickly embed blank disks and system disks into an RP9 package. Features include recognition of RDB disk images and automatic conversion of ADZ, DMS and HDZ images to the more popular and faster ADF and HDF formats (while the RP9 layer takes care of compression).

C64-specific improvements include better keyboard translation, mouse support and the addition of GEOS, the amazing graphical 8-bit desktop suite, to the list of preconfigured systems. Special thanks to Brian Dougherty and his team for this contribution.

By including officially licensed system ROM and OS content, Amiga Forever 2012 and C64 Forever 2012 embody a form of continuity with the original machines sold by Commodore, whose founder Jack Tramiel passed away earlier this month. As it has been doing since 1997, Cloanto keeps working full time on its RetroPlatform family of preservation software, also thanks to its generous supporters and contributor friends. Because of their ease of use, packages like Amiga Forever and C64 Forever have the potential to go beyond preservation and access continuity, by providing inspiration and a well-documented learning environment for future generations.

Amiga Forever screenshot; Click on the image for a larger version.