Amiberry is an optimized Amiga emulator, primarily targeted for ARM-based boards (like the Raspberry Pi) but also ported on x86 (macOS, Linux).
The core emulation comes from WinUAE, and the main GUI is designed to look similar to that. However, not all WinUAE features are implemented, as Amiberry tries to achieve a balance between good performance on low-powered hardware and emulation accuracy. It includes JIT support, to get high-performance results on CPU-intensive emulated environments, like desktop applications. On top of that, there are some unique features developed specifically for Amiberry, such as the WHDLoad booter, support for RetroArch controller mapping, and several more.
Amiberry has been tested on Debian/Raspbian Buster and Bullseye (32-bit and 64-bit), Ubuntu (ARM and x86), Manjaro 64-bit, DietPi and several other distros. Some even include it in their app ecosystem (e.g. DietPi and RetroPie), so you can install and upgrade it directly from their menu system.
Amiberry requires the SDL2 framework for graphics display, input handling and audio output. Additionally, a few extra libraries are used for CD32 MPEG and mp3 decoding.
If you just want to run the Amiberry binary, you can install the required libraries on Debian/Raspbian/Ubuntu derived distros like this:
sudo apt install libsdl2-2.0-0 libsdl2-ttf-2.0-0 libsdl2-image-2.0-0 flac mpg123 libmpeg2-4
If you want to compile Amiberry from source, you'll need the -dev version of the same packages instead:
sudo apt install libsdl2-dev libsdl2-ttf-dev libsdl2-image-dev libflac-dev libmpg123-dev libpng-dev libmpeg2-4-dev
Or if you're using an Arch-based distro (e.g. Manjaro), the relevant package names are these (these include the dev versions by default):
sudo pacman -S base-devel sdl2 sdl2_ttf sdl2_image flac mpg123 libmpeg2
Several popular distros (like RetroPie, DietPi, Amibian, Pimiga and others) already include Amiberry either pre-installed, or through their package management systems. Please follow the methods provided in those distros for a smoother experience, and refer to their owners for support during this process.
If you want to get the standalone binaries instead, you have the following options:
-
The latest
stablereleases come with binaries for several different platforms, that you can download from the Releases area. If your platform is not included, then you will have to compile it yourself (or perhaps donate a board to me so I can include it!) -
If you want the cutting edge version, you can also find binaries from automated builds which are triggered on each and every change made HERE. Just keep in mind these versions are not tested as thoroughly, so there may be bugs!
Alternatively, you can of course compile the latest version of Amiberry from source yourself. To do that, follow these steps:
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/midwan/amiberry
cd amiberry
Amiberry's Makefile includes several targets, to cover various platforms. For the Raspberry Pi platform specifically, we also offer a special Dispmanx version, but that requires the fkms driver to be used. Dispmanx is disabled when using the newer kms driver (now the default from Bullseye onwards):
- SDL2 with DispmanX back-end for graphics - RPI platforms only. Needs the
fkmsdriver enabled. - SDL2 with whatever back-end it was configured with (e.g. KMS, OpenGL, X11, etc.) - all platforms.
On the latest versions of the KMS Driver, and latest versions of the SDL2 library, there is no more performance benefit in using the Dispmanx version. If you are running an Arch-based distro (like Manjaro Linux), then you should probably stick with the KMS driver and use the pure SDL2 versions of Amiberry.
You must specify the Platform you want to build as a parameter to the make command. The process will abort if you use an incorrect platform or no platform at all.
Please consult the relevant Wiki page for the full list of available platforms. You can also check the Makefile for a full list of supported platforms.
For more documentation subjects, please check the Wiki page
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