Workshops / Background reports / Book introductions
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Workshops / Background reports / Book introductions
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This shockwave player isn't new, but it didn't become the tool of choice. I want to do something about that. Those who are interested can find more detail on my private homepage "http://www.Thorty.online.de", where you can also download this player.
The "SWFPlayer" can play MacroMedia's Flash/Shockwave files and can be used as an external plugin for common Amiga browsers. I'll show you how further below.
Since the "SWFPlayer" is only a few kBytes big, you don't need to install it. It is started by double-clicking its icon which brings up a requester. Unfortunately, the author hasn't updated his program since March 22nd 1999 and so it does not have a GUI or special routines for faster Amigas. Last year, there was a mail on the AWeb mailing list saying that the author planned to resume development. He also said that he wanted to make it an AWeb plugin.
The player, currently Version 1.1, is Public Domain and quite buggy. Here is a list of features that are not or only partially supported:
In daily usage, "SWFPlayer" is useful, but less so when opening large files or several files simultaneously - it is not optimized enough for that. Even with a 68060/50MHz processor, it is not possible to play an animation smoothly. According to the programmer, the minimum requirements are:
But if the animations are jumpy on my system, which is additionally equipped with Kickstart 3.1 and a CyberVision64/3D, I don't want to imagine what it looks like on a system with the minimum requirements.
Enuffa da complaina: as an Amiga user, you have to be glad that you have such a player at all. On other platforms it is worse, even though I can't think of any except the Amiga :-(
Let's configure it for AWeb, then:
->Settings -> Browser settings ->Viewers
| Type: | application / x-shockwave-flash |
| Extensions: | swf |
| Action: | Extl. program (E) |
| Name: | path to program e.g. ->System3.1:Internet/AWeb3/Plugins/swfplayer |
| Arguments: | %f |
Screenshot |
Now the same for IBrowse:
Preferences -> GUI ->Ext. Viewer
| MIME Type: | application / x-shockwave-flash |
| Extension: | swf |
| Action: | Ext. viewer |
| Viewer: | Path:swfplayer (e.g. C:swfplayer) |
| Arguments: | %f PUBSCREEN IBrowse MAXWIDTH 640 MAXHEIGHT 480 |
Of course you can also use the arguments as in AWeb.
After configuring the browser for "SWFPlayer", we are ready to go. You will find a collection of URLs with Flash/Shockwave files further below. Alternatively, you can choose to change some options:
| FILE: | Name of the .swf file to be played |
| PUBSCREEN: | Name of the screen to open on, e.g. AWeb |
| MONOSOUND: | Plays sounds in mono. (Attention! This option is experimental) |
| MAXWIDTH: | The maximum width of the window. But be careful, slower Amigas |
| can get very slow playing animations. Better choose a smaller | |
| size for the window. | |
| MAXHEIGHT: | The maximum height of the window. The precautions described in |
| "MAXWIDTH" apply here, too. |
ACTIVEPLAY: Only play the .swf file as long as the window is active. If the window becomes inactive, the animation is stopped and will be resumed when the window is active again.
Let's conclude the topic "Shockwave on the Amiga" with a list of homepages that contain Flash/shockwave animations. Some of them are very funny.
Thorsten Schölzel <amiga-freak@t-online.de>
