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Telegram Amiga alpha 0.0.5 brings avatars, mentions and optional own-screen mode

Telegram Amiga alpha 0.0.5 brings avatars, mentions and optional own-screen mode

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Telegram Amiga alpha 0.0.5 is now available for AmigaOS 3.x, AmigaOS 4.x, MorphOS, AROS i386 and AROS x86_64. After 0.0.4 brought message editing, deletion, live read receipts and corrected timestamps, this release focuses on a different layer: making the client more comfortable, cleaner and more stable in daily use.

The project remains a native MTProto client written in C, not a web wrapper and not a bot. The GUI is still drawn directly through Intuition/GadTools, with the same engine shared by the text client. Alpha 0.0.5 adds features that change how the program feels in practice: real avatars in the chat list, @-mention autocomplete, remembered window placement, an optional own screen and a much tidier program drawer.

Real avatars in the chat list

The most visible change is support for real avatars in the sidebar. Telegram Amiga now captures userProfilePhoto and chatPhoto data, downloads stripped previews and sharper photos where possible, decodes them through the bundled TJpgDec library and displays them next to conversations.

The behavior is designed for very different Amiga-like systems. A blurred preview or centered-initials fallback can appear first, then the client can load a sharper image. Photos are stored in avatars/, so later repaints do not have to redo unnecessary I/O and cached avatars survive across client runs.

This looks cosmetic, but in a messaging client it is also ergonomics. A chat list with faces, group pictures and readable initials is easier to scan than a pure text column, especially once the client stops being a test window and starts being used for real conversations.

@-mention autocomplete in groups

Alpha 0.0.5 also adds @-mention autocomplete in the composer. In group chats, while typing, the client can suggest usernames and complete a mention without forcing the user to remember every handle by heart.

Again, the value is practical rather than theatrical. Telegram Amiga is adding pieces of behavior that modern clients have made almost invisible. They do not exist to look impressive; they exist to remove friction. On a native Amiga-like GUI, without a modern messaging framework underneath, each of these small conveniences has to be built deliberately.

Remembered window and optional own screen

The GUI now remembers not only its size, but also its window position. For users with carefully arranged Workbench or Ambient layouts, this is a small but welcome improvement: the client returns where it was left instead of reopening as if it had lost its memory at boot.

There is also an optional own-screen mode. Users who prefer to isolate Telegram Amiga on a dedicated screen can do so; users who want it inside the normal desktop can keep using it that way. It is a very Amiga-flavoured choice: the program does not force a single way of living on screen.

A cleaner drawer: data/ and avatars/

Another important change is less flashy but very healthy: the program drawer is now cleaner. Auxiliary files such as seeds, configuration and session-related data move into data/; avatar images live in avatars/. The client also migrates older files that were previously left in the root drawer.

For an application that stores credentials, seeds and local cache data, order is not decoration. It reduces mistakes, makes it clearer what must be protected and prepares the ground for future releases with less fragility. This is the kind of work that rarely wins a demo, but prevents pain after weeks of real use.

Stability and text rendering fixes

The release also closes two concrete issues. The first is the context-menu freeze: in some conditions a right-click could freeze the whole system, and 0.0.5 removes the problematic MENUVERIFY path.

The second is text rendering. Newlines, paragraphs and bullet lists are now preserved through the Latin-1 copy path and into the visible transcript. Long messages, instructions and small lists no longer collapse into a flat wall of text. For a graphical/text client born on classic-style systems, respecting line breaks is basic hygiene.

Timer.device and first-login randomness

Under the surface, Telegram Amiga now uses a timer.device heartbeat so reception does not stop simply because the window is inactive. It is one of those details that brings the client closer to how a live chat window is expected to behave without turning it into a heavy modern application.

Alpha 0.0.5 also feeds GUI input events into the entropy ring. On targets without a modern system CSPRNG, first login is the most delicate moment: every local source helps make secret generation less weak. This is not cryptographic theatre; it is systems common sense applied to machines with real constraints.

Downloads: GitHub and Aminet

The 0.0.5 packages were published as GitHub pre-releases on July 7, 2026 and are also available on Aminet. Each archive includes TelegramGUI, TelegramTUI, icons, the public telegram-api.txt file and platform-specific IT/EN manuals.

Project status

The word alpha still matters. Telegram Amiga is not a complete Telegram Desktop replacement: general media upload/download, reactions, full contact management and very long-session polish remain outside the main scope. The priority is still to build a dependable text and graphical client before adding weight.

Still, 0.0.5 is significant because it is not only a feature-list release. It improves how the client presents itself, how it keeps its files organized, how it survives repaints, how it manages its window and how it avoids real system-level stalls. This is the point where the experiment starts caring about the user’s everyday life too.

To follow the full path, start from the Telegram Amiga development diary, updated alongside this release.

Quick summary

  • Telegram Amiga alpha 0.0.5 is available for AmigaOS 3.x, AmigaOS 4.x, MorphOS, AROS i386 and AROS x86_64.
  • The chat list shows real avatars, with previews and local cache in avatars/.
  • The composer supports @-mention autocomplete in groups.
  • The GUI remembers window position and size; optional own-screen mode is available.
  • Auxiliary files move into data/, leaving the program drawer cleaner.
  • The release fixes the right-click freeze path and preserves newlines and bullet lists.
  • The release is published on both GitHub and Aminet.

Sources

AUTHOR

IT specialist, developer and systems engineer with a long history across code, Linux servers, retrocomputers and e-learning platforms. On AndroidLab he brings a technical, pragmatic eye: less brochure smoke, more attention to infrastructure, usability, privacy, updates and the real consequences of manufacturers' choices.

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