News
8.8.2026 AGA is coming to vAmiga
In recent years, I’ve often been asked whether vAmiga will gain AGA support someday. My answer has always been no, because its architecture was designed closely around the OCS/ECS architecture, which made me believe that adding AGA support would require major changes throughout the codebase. Since I never owned an AGA Amiga myself, my motivation to make such a deep cut into the architecture was low.
However, the AI-driven AGA implementation in Mithrendal’s web port of vAmiga has now proved that decent AGA compatibility can be added without having to change every aspect of the emulator’s architecture. Over the years, I’ve invested a lot of time in keeping vAmiga’s software architecture clean and well organized. This seems to have finally paid off as the AI was able to keep most of the changes local. Seeing that my refactoring efforts over the years have made such a significant extension possible without disrupting the existing architecture makes me very happy.
Encouraged by the initial success achieved with vAmigaWeb, I’ve decided to bring AGA support back to vAmiga. However, I won’t merge any AI-generated code directly. I want to remain in full control of the emulator and understand every change that goes into the codebase. My plan for the next week is therefore to thoroughly review what the AI has generated, step by step, and implement the changes manually in my own style. This way, vAmiga should remain just as maintainable in the future as it is today.
I hope this is good news for everyone who has asked for AGA support in the past. However, since I’ll need to dig deeply into the AGA hardware architecture while implementing and validating the changes, I don’t want to make any promises about when an AGA-enabled version of vAmiga will arrive.
In addition to developing the new core, I’m also currently writing new test cases for vAmigaTS to verify that the emulation matches the behavior of a real machine. A few years ago, I bought an A1200 on eBay, which I can now use to generate the test images. Since I never really planned to develop AGA support in the first place, the machine had been gathering dust on my shelf until now.
7.8.2026 vAmiga 4.5 released
vAmiga 4.5 is now available. The new version brings several improvements to the emulator core, including support for floppy disk images stored directly in memory buffers and proper gamma correction in the palette builders. The palette lookup mechanism has also been redesigned, replacing the previous 4096-entry table with a much smaller table based on an affine transformation. Besides reducing the memory footprint, this change lays the groundwork for upcoming AGA support.
The release also fixes several bugs, including issues with preference loading, the nil values, and a problematic pull request has been reverted.
5.8.2026 VirtualC64 and vAmiga are becoming Silicium
Development of my new Qt-based emulator suite, Silicium, is progressing well. Although there is still a considerable amount of work ahead, the project has reached a stage where its overall architecture is largely in place. A preview release is still some time away, but I would like to share an overview of the current design.
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Three Applications.
Silicium is organized as three separate applications, two of which normally run in the background. The main application serves as a virtual machine library that manages both Commodore 64 and Amiga virtual machines. -
Decoupled Emulation.
Starting a virtual machine launches a dedicated emulator process for the selected platform. Communication between the library application and the emulator is based on the RPC architecture already used internally by VirtualC64 and vAmiga, providing a clean separation between the user interface and the emulation core. -
Cross-Platform Foundation.
All Cocoa-specific code is being removed in favor of a platform-independent architecture. The user interface is implemented with Qt, while SDL3 provides game controller support. Although macOS remains the primary development platform for the time being, the codebase is designed to compile on Linux and Windows with minimal platform-specific adjustments. -
Unified Virtual Machine Format.
The standalone macOS versions of VirtualC64 and vAmiga will eventually adopt the Silicium virtual machine format as their primary document format, replacing workspaces. This will allow virtual machines to be exchanged seamlessly between the standalone emulators and the Silicium environment. -
Phased Rollout.
Development begins with the Commodore 64 backend, whose smaller codebase allows for much shorter build times. The first preview release will therefore support C64 virtual machines only. Support for the vAmiga core will be added after the initial alpha testing phase.
25.4.2026 Time for Change
Due to my growing disappointment with the direction Apple has taken with macOS in recent years, I have finally decided to stop developing native macOS applications. With RetroVault, I have already implemented my first app based on Qt. My positive experience with the framework has convinced me that moving away from macOS-specific development is the right choice. In the future, I will focus on cross-platform applications, with Linux as my eventual target platform.
This does not mean I am leaving the Mac platform entirely. I still consider the MacBook Pro as the best currently available laptop on the market, and I will continue to develop on this machine for the time being. My upcoming cross-platform applications will therefore still support macOS and only be "cross-platform ready" at the beginning. However, as they won't rely on macOS-specific features, future ports to other platforms will be doable with low effort.
As a consequence, both VirtualC64 and vAmiga will enter maintenance mode. I will continue to fix bugs, but I will no longer spend time on implementing any macOS-specific features.
25.4.2026 VirtualC64 6.0 and vAmiga 4.4 Released
Both of my emulators have been in beta for an extended period of time. Since I have not received any serious bug reports for quite a while, I have decided it is time to remove the beta status.
Functionally, both releases are largely identical to their latest beta versions. The main change is that both applications are now built as release binaries. Previously, this applied only to the latest vAmiga beta, but not to the corresponding VirtualC64 beta.
25.10.2025 VirtualC64 6.0 Beta 1 released
Originally, I had planned to release VirtualC64 versions 5.4, 5.5, and so on, gradually migrating the latest code changes from vAmiga step by step. However, I’ve changed plans and recently ported nearly all of vAmiga’s new features at once. Given the scale of these changes, I decided to bump the version number to 6.0, especially because this release introduces workspaces as the new document format for the emulator. Main Changes:
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Workspaces
A workspace is a bundle containing ROMs, media files, and configuration scripts. When a workspace is loaded, the ROMs are automatically installed, disks and cartridges are mounted, and the configuration script is executed before the emulator reboots. Essentially, it represents a complete working environment that restores itself automatically.
Since the configuration script syntax is relatively stable, workspaces avoid the compatibility issues of snapshots, whose format often changes between releases, making older snapshots unusable after updates. Snapshots remain available, though, and can still be saved and loaded from the File menu. -
Unified Settings
Until now, settings were split into Preferences (shared among emulator instances) and Virtual Machine Configurations (unique to each instance). In version 6.0, all settings are unified into a single settings dialog, simplifying configuration management. -
Enhanced RetroShell
The RetroShell parser has been replaced by vAmiga’s latest version, offering more flexible command parsing and support for more complex syntax variants. Note that some command syntaxes have changed, so older configuration scripts may no longer be fully compatible. -
Adaptive Sample Rate (ASR)
VirtualC64 6.0 features improved sample rate adjustment, significantly reducing buffer underflows and overflows. This allowed for a smaller audio buffer, which in turn decreases the delay between video and audio output. -
GamePad Database
Version 6.0 now uses the SDL GamePad database to recognize connected controllers. This feature, borrowed from vAmiga, improves overall gamepad compatibility and support. -
Redesigned Toolbars
All window toolbars are now created manually to improve compatibility with macOS Tahoe. However, Tahoe is still not officially supported, as I prefer not to invest time fixing issues on what I still consider one of Apple’s biggest missteps.
21.9.2025 macOS Tahoe
I had been looking forward to the release of macOS Tahoe, hoping it would bring back some of the visual Apple magic from the Steve Jobs era. Unfortunately, my expectations were not met — in fact, quite the opposite: Tahoe’s design feels cluttered, its usability has regressed, and the system is plagued by bugs. To me, it comes across as an epic product failure.
Because of this, I have decided to revert to Sequoia and stick with it for as long as possible. For the vAmiga project, this means that support for Tahoe will be limited, and possibly non-existent, at least from my side. For the time being, Sequoia remains the officially supported OS for vAmiga.
Thanks for your understanding.
9.9.2025 🎉 Announcing RetroVisor v1.0b1
As of September 9, 2025, the first public beta of Version 1.0 is officially available!
Version 1.0 beta 1 is a huge update and a major leap forward from the last version. Until now, RetroVisor relied on the simple CRT Easy shader. With this release, the brand-new Sankara shader takes center stage as the new default, bringing a whole new level of authenticity to retro visuals.
The Sankara shader emulates a wide range of composite and CRT effects, including chroma smear, various scanline and dot mask options, as well as blooming effects for that classic glow.
In addition, Beta 1 also adds the ability to view the effect texture side-by-side with the original texture in a split view, making shader tuning and analysis more intuitive than ever. On top of that, zooming and panning have been improved, offering smoother navigation and a more flexible experience.
23.2.2025 vAmiga 4.0 released
The latest vAmiga update introduces LZ4 snapshot compression, making snapshot saving faster and more efficient. Gamepad detection has also been improved, ensuring better support for controllers. Several bugs have been fixed in this release. ExtendedADF support, which was previously broken, is now working correctly. An issue with folder import has been resolved, and vAmiga no longer attempts to boot from unbootable hard drives. Enjoy the update, and happy emulating!
24.6.2024 VirtualC64 5.0 Beta 6 released
Today, the sixth beta of version 5.0 has been released. As expected, the numerous changes in the new core have introduced minor and major bugs, but most of these should have been fixed by now. In the meantime, we have also managed to compile the new core under WebAssembly, allowing the web-port maintainers to update the v5 core shortly.
8.6.2024 VirtualC64 5.0 on the home straight
Today, the second beta of VirtualC64 5.0 has been released. This update was initially planned as version 4.8, with run-ahead support as its most prominent new feature. In run-ahead mode, two emulator instances operate side-by-side: a primary instance emulating the C64 as usual and a run-ahead instance running several frames ahead. The run-ahead instance generates the image texture, requiring both instances to run in sync with a time delay. Whenever the primary instance's execution state changes, such as by a joystick event, the emulator must update the run-ahead instance accordingly. For seamless synchronization, it is crucial to recognize every externally initiated state change in the primary instance.
This necessity prompted a fundamental revision of the emulator's external API. The extensive changes to the emulator's architecture warranted skipping the version 4.8 designation and releasing it as version 5.0 instead. From a developer's perspective, the effort has been worthwhile. The internal code architecture has significantly improved, becoming more streamlined than ever. However, these numerous changes have introduced some bugs, as expected in such a substantial update.
The current version is in the beta phase, and I highly value your participation in testing. Your feedback is crucial for fine-tuning the software. Once the beta version achieves the stability level of the current version 4.7, version 5.0 will be officially released.
24.8.2023 DeepDrill 3.3 released
DeepDrill 3.2 now supports the distance estimation technique, which is the preferred method to produce crisp black and white images of the Mandelbrot set.
8.7.2023 DeepDrill 3.1 released
DeepDrill 3.1 offers a revised graphics engine that is more flexible than its predecessor. For example, various parameters such as the zoom speed or the texture opacity can be varied throughout the video by assigning the parameter a spline curve instead of a fixed value. In addition, the zoom direction can be reversed now.
27.6.2023 Moira v2.4 has been released
This release contains the core CPU code of vAmiga 2.4. It also includes some minor disassembler fixed that were spotted after vAmiga 2.4 was released.
25.6.2023 DeepDrill 3.0 released
The new version offers improvements in three main areas. First, several speed improvements have been implemented. I.e., an area checker, a period checker, and an attractor checker have been added, which can classify certain pixels as belonging to the Mandelbrot set before the maximum iteration number is reached. Secondly, new graphic effects can be applied. With the new version, it is possible to overlay color values derived from the color palette with pixels from an overlay texture. The demo video below shows the effect in action. Third, the input and output formats have been revised. Location files, profiles and project files have been replaced by configuration files with the .ini extension.
14.6.2023 DeepDrill 2.0 released
DeepDrill 2.0 is a major update. The new version offers a reworked tool chain, improved GPU filters, and the capability of creating spatial images.
27.5.2023 DeepDrill 1.2 released
DeepDrill 1.2 offers improved shader support. The new version achieves much smoother scrolling by utilizing tricubic texel interpolation.
2.5.2023 DeepDrill 1.1 released
DeepDrill 1.1 offers simplified palette management and a cleaned up code base.
25.4.2023 DeepDrill 1.0 released
DeepDrill 1.0 supports both the creation of still images and zoom videos.
27.11.2022 Saying Hello to Peddle
What is Peddle? The main goal of this project is to make the CPU of VirtualC64 available for third-party applications. Until now, two major obstacles had to be overcome. First, the CPU core was deeply embedded in VirtualC64 and closely connected to many other components of the emulator. Therefore, it required some decent effort and knowledge to extract the code. Second, VirtualC64 is released under the terms of the GPL which means that the CPU core could not be used legally in many other applications. Both problems were addressed by this project. First, the core was isolated and freed from all direct dependencies. It now communicates with the surrounding logic via a clearly defined interface. Second, the core has been re-licensed. It is now published under the terms of the MIT license, allowing much broader use.
18.11.2022 Moira v2.2b1 has been released
Today Moira v2.2b1 has been released. The new version is a big improvement over previous versions. In addition to the existing 68000 emulation, Moira is able to accurately emulate a Motorola 68010 now. Furthermore, experimental support for the Motorola 68020 has been added. Documentation has been reworked, too. The old wiki pages have been removed and their contents integrated into a more detailed documentation system generated with Sphinx. All pages have been updated to cover the latest version. The release carries version number v2.2b because it is the one used in vAmiga 2.2b1. Once vAmiga leaves the beta phase, the version number will be bumped up to 2.2.
