Hello everyone, Ján here, author of AmiKit. Fair warning: long text ahead! But since I have been building AmiKit for over 20 years now, I believe that knowing the details behind what you use makes the whole experience more meaningful. Development on this upgrade began almost over a year ago. What started as a routine update - "let me just add a few things" - slowly grew into the biggest AmiKit upgrade in years. And honestly, I am really proud of how it turned out. I have a small but dedicated team of volunteers who handle beta testing across all platforms, and some take care of Linux / Raspberry Pi optimization (while I focus on the core AmiKit development and the Windows and Mac editions). But nobody is pushing us to meet deadlines - because there are none. We simply work based on inspiration, almost like playing improvised music together - sometimes at 2 AM, sometimes not for weeks. But when we do play, the resulting song is always worth the wait. That creative freedom is what I love about this project, but honestly, it is also why it took so long. I think many of you know how that works with hobbies. A WHOLE NEW LOOK AND FEEL The thing you will probably notice first is the desktop. I could not look at the old start menu anymore - it had stayed essentially the same for the last 20 years. So AmiKit X13 brings a completely new start menu experience - actually six of them at once! It finally gives AmiKit its own distinctive visual identity, along with a small but effective Mini Launcher. We also updated the main AmiKit Launcher with a brand new theme. Meet KIT - Powered by Brand New AmigaGPT 3 What I am most excited about is KIT - a helpful AI buddy living inside AmiKit, if you allow him. You remember Knight Rider, right? KIT acts as a hands-on agent, capable of performing various system operations, searching for files, creating archives, managing backups, and more. If you can describe it, KIT can do it - or not, because he has his own personality and will not just blindly follow orders ;) KIT is powered by the latest AmigaGPT 3 by Cameron Armstrong, currently only available in AmiKit - this release actually marks its world premiere! Please note that NONE of this is installed by default - you have to confirm the installation in the AmiKit Setup app (see below). MY OWN NATIVE APP I have always wanted to create my own native Amiga application - to move beyond the various AmigaDOS scripts I have written over the years. This dream finally came true with the new AmiKit Setup app. It runs right after the first boot following the update and gives you a proper, centralized place to tweak your system instead of digging through drawers. Since it uses MUI, it looks great too. Building this one felt very personal to me. MASSIVE BOOST ON MAC The emulation engines have been heavily updated. The biggest breakthrough happened on macOS. Previously, you had to choose between a WinUAE version running through Wine or a native Amiberry version that lacked JIT and was quite slow. That changes today. AmiKit X13 features brand new Amiberry 8 with JIT support by Dimitris Panokostas - 2500% faster than before! This makes the old WinUAE/Wine edition on Mac obsolete overnight. TONS OF NEW SOFTWARE We have added over 25 new apps and updated dozens more. Highlights include Alien Breed 3D II with a brand new engine by Karlos, NetSurf with JavaScript support by Artur Jarosik, and an experimental feature for moving windows out of screen. To improve emulator compatibility, we replaced many FPU versions of binaries and libraries with non-FPU versions where possible. We also removed multiple obsolete, buggy, or broken apps to keep the system clean. On top of that, there are dozens of smaller tweaks across the system. You might not notice every one of them right away, but you will feel the difference over time. Check the changelog for full details. IMPORTANT RELEASE NOTES The X13 update is immediately available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Raspberry Pi and AmiKit Bootable USB users. The update for PiStorm will come a bit later, as it needs more fine-tuning. The Intel Mac update will follow once Amiberry adds support for it, which should be very soon. X13 is delivered as a free upgrade for all active subscribers. To get this to you without further delays, it is currently available via Live Update only - so you need to update your existing AmiKit 12.x installation. A fresh X13 installer will come a bit later. Please note that if you installed AmigaOS 3.2 into your AmiKit, it will refuse to upgrade to X13. There are simply too many subtle differences in that OS version, and we did not have the time to test them all without severely delaying this release. But you can always use non-OS3.2 AmiKit to upgrade to X13, and then install AmigaOS 3.2 on top of it if you want to. CREDITS A huge, heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported the X13 development and testing - especially wiisoldier, Cameron Armstrong, Philipp Lonke, Jamie Honnaker, BluPhenix, Dimitris Panokostas, Falcon_11, and many others! This project would not be what it is without these people. Oh, and there are even more things in the pipeline for version 13.1, but for now - I hope you enjoy AmiKit X13 as much as I enjoyed building it. After 20 years, this one feels really special. Have fun! Ján