I am an A1200 newbie :D

[Akira]

Ok, I want to do lots of things with this beast. So I call upon all you A1200 experts for your advice. here's some of the stuff I'd like to know:

- Are there any games which I can use in a Productivity screen?
- What patches/upgrades/etc. do you recommend me to install? I have downloaded MUI, MCP and Scalos.
- Should I fix my 1084 or buy a scandoubler?

Hmm.. all I can think of right now... there will be more questions :)

[oldpx]

What are the specifications? You probably posted it already but I missed it. Sorry. With a 020/2Chip A1200 I could not use much extra tools. The ones I had installed were Magic Workbench, MUI and Directory Opus 4.xx

I attempted to play avi and mov files with CyberAVI and CyberQT. The result was not good but it used to work :p

As for the 1084, these monitors are made to make you blind. Seriously, a VGA monitor would be much better.

[Puzzle]

Games that use productivity screenmodes

Only "system-friendly" games lets you use those screenmodes. Things like Foundation and HBMonopoly, mostly. Certainly not action-games, as those screenmodes are really too slow for that kind of thing, especially with 256 colours. :)

Fixing the 1084-monitor vs. buying a scandoubler

I don't know, as I've never got a scandoubler. However, I have heard that it's not so nice with interlaced screenmodes, as it draws every other line at a time.

Besides, there's nothing like a real 1084-monitor. At least, that's my opinion. :)

[RetroMan]

Originally posted by Puzzle
Besides, there's nothing like a real 1084-monitor. At least, that's my opinion. :)
And that opinion roxxxxx :D right awayyyyy ..... :)

[ptrchiappe]

Originally posted by Akira
What patches/upgrades/etc. do you recommend me to install? I have downloaded MUI, MCP and Scalos.


I suggest you install BlitzKick (if it has a Blizzard board), BlazeWCP and FBlit.

Also you can use FastView (from Aminet) to display various image formats (if you need it).

Talking of formats, don't forget all the datatypes you can find on aminet, they're very useful :D .

[utri007]

Fblit is interesting patch...............

I've 040 40mhz A1200, FBlit makes workbench so much faster.

It's fully possible to play Heretic in a window on dbpal screen.

Word of warning read the guides!

And wellcome to OS tuning scene ;-)

Get the Nec 3d monitor or similar can show PAL, NTSC, dbpal, dbntsc,,,,

Or if you don't find one buy scandoubler.

[kriz]

Originally posted by s4murai




No. These monitors kill your eyes. I now wear glasses because of that.

yeah, those monitors are way too old and flickery :(

My advice is to get an external scandoubler and a nice 17" or something
like that... so much better :)

[Akira]

I think 1084 monitors are great, been using mine for 12+ years and I have no sight problems because of that.

I have to score one of those Nec monitors, I always liked them :)

BTW, more questions... email clients? recommended browsers? I only have Voyager.

My setup is A1200, 030@50, 32MB Fast, 1GB HD. Thew board is not Blizzard, it's Microbotics. Can I still use Bluitzwhatever ?

[RetroMan]

AFAIK you can use BlitzKick only with Blizzard Boards and that btw. is a softkicker for Kickstart :)

EMail Client : Yam
Browser : IBrowse

:D

[Akira]

Talking about softkickers, which one should I use?? I tried TUDE but it severely locks up the 1200... perhaps there's a new 030-friendly version or something?

[RetroMan]

Me personally uses SKick (Aminet) :)

[Akira]

I have Skick but I forgot to copy the reallocation tables :P

Anyway, now about Icons... can I use NewICons or GlowIcons on my setup? Would it be overkill?

[RetroMan]

Sure you can use New/Glow-Icons ! I never recognized any speed difference to my old WB setup :)

[Akira]

Very interesting.. I want a WB like that of Frog! it kicks mucho arse :)

Let's see what I come up with next.. I've got to install Miami so I surely will have net questions afterwards :) I installed it before on my 600 anyway (made a ppp serial connex with my linux), so i wont have any probs.

[ptrchiappe]

Originally posted by RetroMan
Sure you can use New/Glow-Icons ! I never recognized any speed difference to my old WB setup :)

You can use GlowIcons too on KS 3.0/3.1?

How do you obtain it (i always get the black spot) ?

[CodyJarrett]

The black spot! An old seafaring summons, if I'm not mistaken. You'll be seeing Long John before long, I fear...

[utri007]

Yes there was Glow icons for 3.0/3.1 on Aminet. Seems that archive is deleted to aminet lately.

Author released them orginaly to "old wb's"

Probaply something to do with Amiga inc.

[Akira]

Argh! FUCK Amiga Inc.. see what they do??? ARGHH I'll have to go with NewIcons...

[Miggy2TheMax]

Akira: Go for the scandoubler and get yourself an excellent quality 17inch monitor and you will _never_ look back. I've had a 1084s and a scandoubler .. and the scandoubler wins hands down.. hope that helps.


Sorry retroman .. I know how much you like the real deal.. dont get mad ;)

[utri007]

I just need to find it, I'll put it to zone. Tomorrow? means friday

[Akira]

Thanks heaps, utri!@@

@Miggy: but I like the scanlines effects, i dont want to see blocky lowress gfx :)

I wish I had an XRGB2!

[Korodny]

Hi Akira!

First of all, both NewIcons and the OS 3.9+ icon system consist of two parts:
A new icon.library (responsible for the new colourful icons) and a DefIcons system
(responsible for recognising filetypes of files that don't have an icon and display
the appropriate default icon instead).

NewIcon.library should work fine (i.e. fast enough) on your unexpanded A1200. But if
the system feels slow, you may just remove "DefIcons" from your Startup-Sequence again.
You'll loose all the fancy default icons when browsing dirs in "show all files" mode
and just see "Tool" "Disk" or "Project" icons for files without an icon - but it should
give you a significant speedup.

The original GlowIcons archive *is* still available from Aminet, and it's called (surprise,
surprise) "Glowicons.lha" (you'll find it in pix/gicon/).

Edit:

A list of all (well, probably most) games than support other screenmodes than PAL/NTSC (or
can be forced - i.e. promoted - to use them) can be found at http://www.gfxbase.de.vu

[Akira]

Hey, it's not unexpanded, I said I have an 030@50 and 32MB of Fast RAM!


Thanks for the tips, I will download glowicons NOW!

[Korodny]

@Akira:

> Hey, it's not unexpanded, I said I have an 030@50 and 32MB of Fast RAM!

Uh, sorry. Didn't want to step on your feet :D

> Thanks for the tips, I will download glowicons NOW!

This may be a stupid hint, but nevertheless: Of course this is just an icon set, not
a new icon system. You'll need to install NewIcons v4 first, then you can install
the GlowIcons set (which is actually in NewIcons format).

There are a lot more Icon packages on Aminet featuring icons in "GlowIcons style" but
"NewIcons format". I could have a look around my backups if you're interested.

[Akira]

I said I'm a newbie, no hint is stupid...

I thought GlowIcons was a new icons system, like NewIcons,.. what did I miss?

[Korodny]

@Akira:

> I said I'm a newbie, no hint is stupid...

Hehe, yes you're a newbie - what's the proper name for a newbie that can identify
90% of the commercial Amiga games by smelling their disks ;)

> I thought GlowIcons was a new icons system, like NewIcons,.. what did I miss?

OS 3.5+ features a new icon system, called "icon.library v44" (the Workbench
preferences program refers to it as "colour icons"). They signed Matt Chaput as an icon
designer, he had invented a new style of designing icons (realistic, antialiased
icons that "glow" when selected) and called it "Glowicons". Most people refer to OS 3.5's
icon system as "Glowicons", though strictly spoken this term just describes a certain
way of designing icons (you could do Glowicons for Windows, KDE or whatever).

Matt Chaput's original Glowicon set was available as freeware long before OS 3.5 hit the
shelves. As the new icon system was not available yet, he simply released them in Newicons
format. Soon his icons were very popular (they look *damn* nice), so other designers
tried to do Glowicons themselves, often in Newicons format (as OS 3.5 was not available
yet/they didn't buy it/they wanted to support people who didn't buy it).

As an OS 3.0/3.1 user, you can install Newicons (the icons delivered with it are ugly imho)
and search Aminet for Glowicons packages that are saved in Newicons format (I'll check my
backups later on - but I need to get some sleep now ;-). You can *not* display OS 3.5 icons,
as the format differs due to copyright/licensing issues (but an OS 3.5 user can display
Newicons).

You can *not* use OS 3.5's icon library with OS 3.1 or earlier. To make *that* work, you'd
have to install nearly the whole OS update.

[Akira]

Believe it or not Im a newbiew when it comes down to all this new shiznit.. I left the 'scene' in 1997 man! :D

I now understood, I thank you for your advice. I will install NewIcons and download many many many newicons in Glowicons style :D

[Korodny]

@Akira:

>> Believe it or not Im a newbiew when it comes down to all this new shiznit..

:D

>> I left the 'scene' in 1997 man!

Hm, I guess the 'scene' as you know left the Amiga in 1997 :(

> I now understood, I thank you for your advice. I will install NewIcons and
> download many many many newicons in Glowicons style

Have fun ;)

I had a look at my backups, not that much NewIcons stuff, but here are some archives
to get you started (with varying quality though):

pix/gicon/gicd_update_e.lha
pix/gicon/glowcd_bugfix.lha
pix/nicon/JUE-icons.lha
pix/nicon/PSGlowIconsPre.lha

[Akira]

I tried to install newicons and just as i ran the script, it said it had an error???? wtf happened? is Newicons46.lha bugged?

[Korodny]

@Akira:

>> I tried to install newicons and just as i ran the script, it said it had
>> an error???? wtf happened? is Newicons46.lha bugged?

Okay, Newbie ;) :

The installation process uses the program "Installer". This is either located
in C: or in SYS:Utilities (or maybe SYS:System). The version of installer on
your system is probably too old (which version of the OS is installed on your
machine ?) and can't handle the NewIcons install script.

The most recent version for OS 3.0/3.1 can be found on Aminet:

ftp://de.aminet.net/pub/aminet/util/misc/Installer-43_3.lha

This archive contains the file "installer", that's all you need. Replace your
existing installer with the one from the archive and try again.

If this doesn't work (it should), give a more detailed description of the
error. Welcome to the wonderful world of "SnoopDOS" ;)

[Akira]

Ok, Im not that much of a NEWBIE, because I figured it out meself before reading this :) I remembered the same happened to me on my A600, so I copied the Installer program from my 600 to the 1200 (would you believe it, my A600 is more up-to-date than the 1200! I love that little beast :D)

Anyway, it's installed, and now, I HATE Glowicons :P I thought it would come with a script to install them,... I have to do it all by hand, and MANY icons are left unchanged (I dont have a lot of the def_ files NewICons have)

So now I have an ugly mixture of Glowicons + Newicons. AND, RTG mode doesnt seem to be working, so it's eating up all my Chip RAM! (any way to force Newicons to work with Fast RAM only?)

I think I'll deinstall this poop :(

[oldpx]

With, os3.9 there is an option in the "workbench prefs" to store graphic data in the fast ram. As you know, I'm already looking for methods to use 3.9 on a kick 3.0 system.

[Akira]

Well, with 3.0, all the data seems to get loaded in FAST (I start up with ALL the 2MB of Chip free, and 3% of Fast used), but NewIcons seems to munch the Chip RAM unless you turn on RTG mode, which is, methinks, only for CGX cards...

[Korodny]

@Akira:

I'm using GFX cards for several years now, so I don't remember how I solved all these
problems. But you should download FBlit. Then read both the NewIcons and the FBlit
docs *thoroughly*. I'm pretty sure you can use this combination to make NewIcons use
FastRAM (I'm sure *my* NewIcons did).

Granted, you'll have to intall the NewIcons manually, but imho it's worth it :)

@Burseg:

>> With, os3.9 there is an option in the "workbench prefs" to store graphic data in
>> the fast ram. As you know, I'm already looking for methods to use 3.9 on a kick 3.0
>> system.

Prove me that you paid for it and I'll tell you how to do it :D
Requires a bit of Workbench knowledge though...

[Akira]

Fblit... hmmm nice...

but I already installed NewIcons... cant I setup that Fblit patch with the installed stuff? I dont mind reinstalling, but you know... :)

Thanks for the tip!

[ptrchiappe]

Yes, you just have to put the FBlit line in the proper point of the startup-sequence.

If i remember well it has to be before the IPrefs command and before the NewIcons command, but anyway reading the docs will help immensely :D .

[oldpx]

Fblit should be execued after ENV: is assigned. just before binddrivers is said to be a good location. After that, select RTG mode in newicons preferences. Works like a charm here.

[utri007]

FBlit needs some configuration to get maximum performance.

The guide tells two ways in that part where they talk about how to get wb 3.5/3.9 icons to fast ram. Use last one (alternative)

You should do it even without WB 3.5/3.9

Now you can put allmoust everything to fast ram. With my 040 performance increased about 200 - 300% It's fully possible play heretic or gloom in a window on AGA/dbpal

Be carefull if you try to use exclude list ;)

[Akira]

This sounds like great fun.... thanks a lot for the tips, I'll be trying this out NOW. I just installed BlazeWCP, thsi patch will also help :)

[Akira]

My Amiga 1200 is now MCPized, MUIzed, Newiconized, BlazeWCPized and FBlitized :D

It's working great, now I can run decently at Productivity @ 64 colors, unlike before (it crawled)

And all newicons are eating up fastram instead of chipram... brill!!!

Now, let's see if I ever get Visualprefs to work... that bastard.. and then, the (final?) step, ToolManager Dockicons

[utri007]

hmmm

I've had visualprefs problems too, if I remember right it was futile line feed on startup-sequence

[Paul]

I would love to see a screen capture of your workbench when you finished tweaking.:D

[Akira]

Will do, Paul. Right now Im making some icons of my own :)

[Codetapper]

Hey Akira, if you start to become an icon fanatic you can make some nice icons for games if you like! The WHDLoad guys always have a backlog of games needing icons so if you want to, gimme a yell and I'll give you a list of games needing icons! :)

One thing, for games we generally recommend you stick to 120x96 for the dimensions (which is 320x256 scaled down) and if you make the glowicon/coloricon with 32 colours or less in each frame then it can be converted to a 120x96 newicon using a program on Aminet! The limit of 93x93 which the programmer mentions is lies :)

PS: I want to see your workbench too Akira! :)

[Akira]

Send me that list CodeT, I always loved making icons! On my A600 , most of the icons were either done by me or retouched for 8 colors... I made/retouched them ALL!

[Akira]

Alright, my reworked WB has been posted. Click here to view it! (http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3013&pagenumber=2) (it's at the end of the page)

It needs lots of work yet (VisualPrefs + Toolmanager + more icon customizing)