Did You buy Cloanto Amiga Forever?

[Seiya]

Originally Posted by cloverskull

I'm of the opinion that if anyone is doing anything for the Amiga community and is making a product I think is cool (whether or not I actually intend to use it) I'll pay for it.

there is a similar product totally free: Gamebase Amiga that include most Amiga games in ADF and WHDLoad. It is totally free apart Kickstart rom file. in Amiga Forever you pay kickstarts.

They should free the kickstart to allow people to release better products, free for all.

[pixie]

Originally Posted by Seiya

They should free the kickstart to allow people to release better products, free for all.

Being that valuable et all I guess I guess the community should buy the ownership from them then

[kriz]

Never

[Geordie-Jedi]

Yes, I've bought it a few times in-fact.

1. I have an old (but premium) CD & DVD edition, with the extra features
and the Death bed vigil video.

2. I also bought it via the Google Play store, as it was cheap (£1.79 IIRC)

3. I have the newest version, so that I could get a copy of all of the old Workbench disks,
as I wanted to create some hard disk installations for Workbench, some games and apps.

All in all, it's worth it (to me).

[lyzanxia]

I bought it, since I wanted official roms to use with winuae.

[Photon]

I'm for a free and libre release of the rights to AmigaOS and developer documentation to its community.

I'm against encrypted or inexact Kickstart images, because there will be no way to make part replacements in modern components, emulators must be changed to support them, and since image writers are not changed, it will be impossible to verify the image. This doesn't help those who collect, restore, and maintain working Amigas.

I'm against the fact that a fee is charged for included software that was released for free and for non-commercial use. CloanTo also doesn't pass on part of the fee to those authors.

I have nothing against the custodianship of the Amiga etc brands and trademarks. Though it won't stop anyone, it can help keeping the brand strong. Obviously this is paid for by those who wants them and can't be charged a fee for.

I've paid twice. First, a long time ago in the hope that new Amiga software would come out. The second time because an emulator on my Android phone that I was trying out wouldn't let me set it up without the Android version of it. I'm assuming that if I change e-mail address I will have to pay again.

[bluewizard]

I bought the lifetime upgrade version several years ago. Pretty inexpensive for something that I use quite a bit.

[grafpatrick]

May I kindly ask if the lifetime-license is still available? When I try to buy one (Clicking "buy now" in the "Add Lifetime License"-window) I am only forwarded to a FAQ-page.

I am a registered user (Plus Edition).

And that also answers the initial question. Over the years I've bought maybe 3 or 4 licenses...

[Seiya]

free not only kickstart, but also old workbench (1.3, 2.x and 3.0/3.1/3.9). I can only imagine what kind of possibility people can do with kickstart and workbench free to use.
Unfortunately will never happen ...

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

More detail, it is the only way to get the roms legally if you don’t want to pull them off your machines manually. It is very nice to have all of them in one place personally. So WinUAE is not enough, you need the roms.

I don’t understand this »legally« thing. It’s a 30+ years old ROM for a 40 years old computer. Why is it important that you »legally« obtain something that you likely will use to »illegaly« play equally old games?

[fxgogo]

Age is no defence for taking something that is still actively owned and sold commercially, but you are right when it comes some of the software we all use.

I think the most of the games out there live in this legally grey abandonware state. I like to think that most people would buy a game if it was available on a site like GOG.

Of course in this day and age of digital access to anything you want, it is up to you how you want to do things.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

I think the most of the games out there live in this legally grey abandonware state.

There is nothing 'grey' about it. 'Abandonware' is a concept that isn't recognized by law. Wiki sums it up pretty well:

In most cases, software classed as abandonware is not in the public domain, as it has never had its original copyright officially revoked and some company or individual may still own rights. While sharing of such software is usually considered copyright infringement, in practice copyright holders rarely enforce their abandonware copyrights for a number of reasons – chiefly among which the software is technologically obsolete and therefore has no commercial value, therefore rendering copyright enforcement a pointless enterprise. By default, this may allow the product to de facto lapse into the public domain to such an extent that enforcement becomes impractical.

There are multiple cases of rights holders 'reactivating' an IP and starting to sue 'Abandonware' sites.

[Seiya]

@TCD
It seems that the rules are appliable only on Amiga and not for the rest of the universe. Little strange.
When you download WinVice, you are ready to run full emulation of C64 that use rom/bios. And like C64 many others platforms.
When you download Atari emulator, they include TOS or you have link to download it for free or for other open license.

[rsn8887]

To get official licensed Kick ROMs, you can also consider buying the Amiga Forever Essentials collection on the Android Play Store. It is very cheap and includes several kickstart roms. It is an official product by Cloanto.

However, I can’t remember if you need root on your Android device to copy the kick rom files off your device and into Windows or MacOs.

Purchase Link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...sentials&pli=1

(Some Android Amiga emulators support these files directly )

I don’t understand how WinVice can get away with including C64 BIOS/Kernal files, but somehow they do?!?

[Subzero]

i have a cracked version, workng very well, both downloaded and working [Link removed]

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

Age is no defence for taking something that is still actively owned and sold commercially, but you are right when it comes some of the software we all use.

Why not? Did Cloanto develop WinUAE? Did they develop the AmigaOS you are buying »legally«? Why does legality matter so much in this case? Will paying Cloanto money help the Amiga or will it help Cloanto in pointless legal battles over who will earn money from people prepared to part with their money to whomever is the »legal owner« of what is, by now, abandonware?

If you have money to spend, spend it on something that is actually being developed, be it a new game, a new program or WinUAE.

[Nonefornow]

Originally Posted by idrougge

Why not? Did Cloanto develop WinUAE?

Cloanto is listed as one of the contributors.

[Akiko]

Originally Posted by Nonefornow

Cloanto is listed as one of the contributors.

A small mention out of 35 or so individuals, listed in the 'hardware support' section after DiscreetFX's Bill Panagouleas.

[Minuous]

Originally Posted by idrougge

If you have money to spend, spend it on something that is actually being developed, be it a new game, a new program or WinUAE.

Exactly, it seems hardly anyone has noticed that Cloanto haven't actually written any Amiga programs for a quarter of a century, and sold all their rights to those programs (PPaint etc.) to other companies a long time ago...but somehow buying Amiga Forever half a dozen times will help the platform, instead of donating to the PD coders actually writing software?!

[AC/DC HACKER!]

I bought it once, some time ago, and was really hoping the PPC (CyberStormPPC) support is different and actually works better than the plugin on WinUAE page. Nope..it's the same. I like AmigaForever, but since I'm into "complex" Workbench installations as Toni calls them, ha, ha..I much prefer WinUAE and supporting WinUAE.
I'm hoping some of the 3D emulated boards will become complete and the 3D games will work..it'll then complement my A4000 CSPPC + Picasso 4 and CVisionPPC..and more.. I love, love, love native (AGA) Amiga and RTG stuff.

I'm not a big fan of the interface and containers they use, but I understand why they do. I was missing some previous Install disks due to some disks being damaged by kids, so...I went for it. I have a directory structure that I've made for WinUAE for Hard Files and floppies and WinUAE is pretty easy to use. I have my 'older' bought AF installed and I do mess with it from time to time, but WinUAE alone works very, very well from it's GUI. I'll support Toni through donations from now on since he's the backbone and...he's highly dedicated to getting it running as good as possible. Real Amiga spirit.

If you think WinUAE is too hard too use, and...some do, then go for AF.