AmigaOne A1222 in 2025

 It has certainly been a while since I played around with my AmigaOne A1222 system, so this weekend was the time to put things right!

As an aside I was curious if the system is still for sale in 2025, following it's launch in 2024 - it seems so! I note that the AmigaOne A1222+ is available still from the AmigaKit France website, shipping as a complete system from Europe rather than from the UK. Not sure why that is, but it is still available there if you want one of these systems.

You can review some of of many previous blog posts about the AmigaOne A1222 to find out more about it. Try starting with my two part post in 2024 here and here. The first part has links to many more posts I wrote about this system, as I was one of the official beta testers for the A1222.

First order of business was getting up to speed with some of the new software released for AmigaOS 4.1 recently, and especially any SPE specific versions that allow the A1222 to run 3D games at their normal performance.

So off to OS4Depot.net I go!

There are a number of updates like SDL2 and SDL3 framework updates, enabling SDL2 and SDL3 functionality to be extended and open up some new titles to explore on the A1222.

I really want to take this opportunity to thank the developers out there that keep pushing the boundaries of what AmigaOS can do and giving me new software to use on the A1222 in 2025!

I set to work updating to the latest AmiSSL, which installs the latest web certificates to enable our web browsers to continue to work with the websites out there. This software is regularly updated, and should be updated on your AmigaOS3/4 machines when it is.

I paid for the iBrowse 3.0a web browser a number of years ago to use on my classic Amiga systems, but there is an AmigaOS4 version too. For some reason I didn't install it on the A1222 yet, so now is time to fix that!

I have a QNAP storage device on my segregated isolated VLAN network that I use to share Amiga files from my Mac Studio, PC, Linux PC's and my Amiga systems. It saves having to use a usb stick and walking between rooms to transfer data every time...

If you are wondering, I use Simple SMBFS GUI software to mount the drive, together with the latest SMBFS 2 drivers for AmigaOS4, both of which are on OS4Depot.

From the QNAP network share, I copied iBrowse 3.0 and my issued registration key file, and got to work installing it:

Given I paid for it, makes sense to use iBrowse on my A1222!

iBrowse is very snappy and runs very quickly on the A1222. It is limited in what websites work well with it given its functional limitations (no support for recent web standards for example), but within those limits, it works well. The latest version is 3.0a, released in December 2023. 

I first used the first version of iBrowse back in the mid-1990's on my 030 accelerated Amiga 1200 system, back when it was released as a boxed retail product by Omnipresence Intl!

These days, Oliver Roberts maintains and updates iBrowse. Oliver also created and sells the WarpDT datatypes for AmigaOS 3/4 . 

These datatypes enable modern graphics file formats to be viewable with Multiview under AmigaOS 3/4/MorphOS on the Amiga. I also bought the WarpDT package, as they are very handy on AmigaOS3 systems especially.

Next I wanted to update my A1222 with the latest system updates. I read that there has been issues with the AmiUpdate software, requiring manually installing the latest version from the AmiUpdate website. So next, I did that using iBrowse to download it:

A-EON has their own update tool called Updater, which updates the components of the A1222 that are owned by them, rather than Hyperion (which are updated using AmiUpdate).

To use this Updater on AmigaOS4 systems you need to register and use an AmiSphere account to login to get the updates. This process should be done as part of the purchasing process - the same AmiSphere account is used for A600GS FPGA system owners.

I could see quite a few updates needed to be installed, including an update to the Radeon RX graphics drivers, so I got to work:

Note that AMIPDF does not update via Updater as they don't appear to host it, as per the error message below. You can download it manually from os4depot anyway, but just so you know!

I also noticed there is a new (unofficial) DeepL AmigaOS 4 application! Previously we have seen AmigaGPT as a way to use ChatGPT on our Amiga systems, but now in 2025 we have DeepL also.

I think this is particularly useful addition to my A1222, since it means I can translate Amiga support and forum websites from other countries into English :-)

Note that you need to update a MUI add-on called texteditor.mcc to the latest version - for some reason the version on the A1222 is not the latest version released back in 2021. If you don't update it first, you'll get this error - like I did:

So I went to os4depot again in iBrowse, downloaded mcc_texteditor.lha, extracted to ram disk and installed it - problem solved.

 

DeepL is a very popular AI tool for translating text from one language to another. 

It should be noted that the text supported is limited to text that AmigaOS4 itself supports. You also need the latest AmiSSL installed to use it.

Sadly this means Japanese, Chinese, Korean and other UTF-8 character sets can't be used at this time.

For other languages I tried though, DeepL works great on the A1222. I grabbed some Czech text from the Czech Wikipedia website (using Odyssey web browser on the A1222) to try it out.

I copied and pasted the text from Odyssey into the Source window in DeepL, changed the Destination language to English (GB) and hit the Translate button:

Next I tried some German:

The responses are quick, same as for DeepL on Windows or Mac platforms:

Incredibly useful tool!

It works the other way too of course. I copied some text in English about my home city of Adelaide, South Australia.

I translated it into German and French using DeepL. I don't know if the text generated is right or not, but I am guessing native language readers from Germany or France can tell me!

Next I downloaded and installed the latest Ignition spreadsheet software, also from OS4Depot.

I wanted to try out the xlsx add-on, which is supposed to allow you to import Microsoft Excel spreadsheets into Ignition.

Installing the add-on needs additional files from os4depot, namely zip and unzip to be in the dh0:c/ drawer - as I quickly got told!

So I set to work to remedy that.

I manually copied the zip and unzip files from the archives to the dh0:c drawer using the Amiga Shell:

After that was done, the install completed successfully.

I also installed the Open Office ODS file importer, although I don't regularly use Open Office.

Ignition is an impressive Spreadsheet program - it amazes me that it is offered for free.

Ignition uses it's own igs format project files, and some sample ones are included to see what functionality is possible within the Spreadsheet software:

Sadly though, I couldn't get the xlsx add-in to work. It is not listed as an import menu option in the software, and there is no other way to load the xlsx files into Ignition.

I confirmed the xlsx add-in did install correctly, and is located in the Ignition drawer with the other import options. the ODS import option shows correctly and it is located in the same drawer as the xlsx one, so I am at a loss about what else I can try!

Perhaps the authors (if they are reading this) can help me to understand what I am doing wrong. I'll have to keep trying to find a solution.

While downloading some more files, I enjoyed some 1080p videos using DVPlayer on the A1222 using the Radeon RX graphics card I installed in my previous blog post on the A1222. I also had IMP3 running on the A3000 next to it for some module streaming goodness :-)

Moving on, I noted that there is a new graphics program for AmigaOS 4 released recently called GrafX2, now at Version 2.9 apparently. It has been in development from the mid-1990's, and yet this is the first time I have ever heard of it!

I can imagine that if I was more graphically inclined, I would have  a lot of use for a program like this on the A1222. 

BTW there is also Sketchblock for A1222 available to purchase from AmiStore, and the latest version of Personal Paint from A-Eon. I bought both of them and showed Personal paint in a previous blog entry.

But this GrafX2 product is free, and available on os4depot:

By default it opens in a tiny 640x480 window, but you can open it full screen if you want to make it easier to work on:

I loaded up some Anime graphic files I commonly use as backgrounds on my AmigaOne systems:

Not sure why but the colour depth is limited, much like Personal Paint too.

The export options are very impressive, with so many formats available:

As mentioned I am not a graphics artist at all, but I can appreciate the functionality on offer here, with layers and lots of graphical effects that can be done:

So now I want to move onto trying out some recent games released for AmigaOS4 on my A1222.

HunoPPC does so much great work on porting games to the AmigaOS4 platform, and two of his new projects I wanted to mention here - WipeOut ReWrite, and Tomb Raider (OpenLara).

HunoPPC provides all the software and installation instructions on his website and in the game archives, so I don't add too much to it!

The exciting part of these two games is the creation of a special SPE build, which is specially for the A1222 system.

From the game launcher you can run the WipeOut game full screen or in a window on the AmigaOS 4 Workbench screen:

You can run it full screen:

Personally I am happy to run in a window, since it preserves the original resolution without scaling out to fit the larger 1920x1080 screen - YMMV:

HunoPPC advised to run the A1222+ mixer application first before launching WipeOut, so that is why it is seen running next to the WipeOut window on the AmigaOS4 Workbench screen:

The SPE version build allows WipeOut to run well on the A1222.

I know you can run a Playstation emulator and run it that way, but it is lower resolution, and isn't a native version for AmigaOS 4 a million times more preferable! :-)

Also, this version uses different music to the Playstation version, and surprisingly (given I love the original Tim Wright and Chemical Brothers music) I quite liked the new music choices. 

HunoPPC - you are a legend mate.

As mentioned, HunoPPC also released OpenLara (Tomb Raider) for AmigaOS4 recently, with a special A1222 SPE build:

The game runs very well on the A1222, and quite nostalgic as I remember playing this on my 586PC back in the mid-1990's under MS-DOS.

Having a native AmigaOS 4 version of Tomb Raider in 2025 is very welcome indeed. Nice way to celebrate it's 30th anniversary!

I hope we can see SPE builds of recent AmigaOS 4 games like Heretic II which I bought from Alinea's online shop here recently, so it is possible to play them on the A1222 also:

For now I can only play it on the X5000 and X1000 systems.

Entwickler-X is a prolific developer of AmigaOS 4 software, and over the years I have featured a lot of their software on this blog.

Today though I am looking at their latest AmigaOS 4 release on the A1222, called Super Star Blast:

It is available to buy as a download version from Alinea computer's online shop here. This game is quite different to their previous shoot-em ups.

Rather than the usual top down vertical scrolling or horizontal scrolling shooter, Super Star Blast is a 360 degree shooter!

Essentially it is like Asteroids or Super Stardust in gameplay, and it is very easy to get into it.

I like the radar system to assist you to find the enemies to clear out each level, and the shop between levels that allows you to upgrade your ship and gain extra lives.

I have to admit I really enjoyed playing this:

Beyond Super star Blast, Entwickler-X has other recent releases like M.A.C.E Tower Defense and Spencer, both of which work on the A1222.

Spencer was originally released for AmigaOS 4 first, then later released for the Nintendo Switch:

M.A.C.E Tower Defense is a variation of the Swamp Defense game series they did a number of years earlier, now integrating their later MACE game into a tower defence genre game rather than a shoot-em up:

I enjoy this type of game, and well worth trying out some of their previous offerings too - which you can get from their itch.io page, Alinea computer's online shop and also the A-EON AmigaOS 4 AmiStore app store directly from your AmigaOS 4 system.

Receiving some Amiga Future magazines in the post with Roguecraft on the cover prompted me to fire up Roguecraft on the A1222.

This is possible using the seamless integration with RunInUAE - just double click on the Roguecraft flop disk adf file to launch directly in UAE. You can opt to run it full screen or window.

I chose window because I think it looks cool running on the AmigaOS 4 Workbench screen, and means I could switch to other tasks while leaving the game running in the background. This is something I could never do on a classic Amiga system.

If you haven't tried Roguecraft yet, I highly recommend it!

I also tried out a few AmigaOS 4 favourites that are not so new, but work fine on the A1222 nonetheless - like Starcraft (also known as Stargus on AmigaOS4):

It runs perfectly with no slowdown.

Another HunoPPC conversion is Candy Crisis, which is a Puyo Puyo clone match the colours tetris game, and I definitely enjoyed playing this again on the A1222:

A few years ago I supported on Kickstarter a game called Tower 57, which also saw a AmigaOS 4 release.

 

The author of the AmigaOS 4.1 version also updated it with a A1222 SPE build version, meaning the game now runs perfectly on the A1222:

 

This sort of game would not have been possible on Classic Amiga systems, and it is glad to see it running well under AmigaOS 4.1 on my A1222.

I also tried out the 3D racing game CroMag Rally, which was ported to AmigaOS 4.1 by Kase1e (thanks mate!), available for free on os4depot.net and it also runs well on the A1222:

Pick your character and kart to race:

I was impressed how well it runs on the A1222:

I am glad to have some racing games to enjoy on the A1222 in 2025!

There is a lot more still to explore and try out on the AmigaOne A1222. 

If you have one, I wanted to give you a taste of what is around to enjoy on the system, and some of the new games and applications released for it to enjoy in 2025!

If you don't have one yet, perhaps this might help to sway you to buy an A1222. I want to make clear I get no kickbacks or any money to promote the A1222 - I do it because I love AmigaOS 4.1 and Amiga in general, and I want to see it continue to develop into the future. To do that we need more people to buy and use it :-)