AmigaOS 3.9 BoingBag #4
 

AmigaOS 3.9 BoingBag #4 version 0.2b
=======================

NO WARRANTIES: USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

The unofficial BoingBag 4 project is a community effort that is pursuing the considerable
task of upgrading, enhancing and bugfixing AmigaOS 3.9.

This is a preliminary release. It is anticipated that further updates
will be developed and incorporated before the final release. Please
report any bugs immediately.

To get the latest updates and information, visit http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/bbag4.htm

You will need to install Boing Bags #1, #2 and #3 before installing BoingBag 4.

BoingBag 1 and 2 are available from http://os.amigaworld.de/index.php?lang=en&page=12
BoingBag 3 is available from http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/bbag3isdone.htm
BoingBag 4 is available from http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/bbag4.htm

__________________________________________________________________________________________

These components are updated:

BB3 BB4
graphics.library 40.24 -> 40.25b8
icon.ibrary 46.4.129 -> 46.4.159
SetPatch 44.38 -> 44.39
version.library 45.4 -> 45.5
wizard.library 42.100 -> 45.1

These components are new:

Canon BJC6000 printer driver 44.7
Epson Stylus Colour printer driver 45.0
SuperPlus monitor driver 40.2

Also, various components are replaced with their 68020-optimized
equivalents (generated with the PatchFor020 utility).

Thanks to all the developers who made this upgrade possible by their
continued support for OS3.9, and to all the beta testers of this package.


Changelog
---------

Canon BJC6000
Includes limited support for photo printhead, and text mode printing.

Epson Stylus Colour
It should work with the Stylus S20, D120 or Cx0 series which also
support 1440 dpi.

icon.library 46.4.154
The ProcessIcon bug and an enforcer zeropage read hit are fixed now.
The following functions in the icon.library were broken:
OptimizeImageSpace(), DropChunkyIconImage(), DropNewIconToolTypes(),
OnlyUpdatePosition(), PreserveOldIconImages(). In some cases the
planar images of non-V44 icons couldn't be displayed. This version
works without conflicts under AfA_OS if the version of the
AFA_OS_LIBS:Icon_Lib.exe is from 2010 or newer. More fixes and tweaks.

graphics.library 40.25b8
Lots of fixes, optimizations and enhancements. You are now able to
remove forever these patches:
* AmyWarp
* BlazeWCP
* CPUBlit
* FBlit
* FText
* IconBeFast
* SetPatch 44.38 (R_WriteChunkyPixel and R_WritePixelLine8
patches).
They are now built in.

SetPatch 44.39
Disabled R_WriteChunkyPixel and R_WritePixelLine8.

SuperPlus monitor driver 40.2
An ECS/AGA driver with 800x600 70ns mode, about 70% faster than
Super72 in 256 colours. It can provide support for ECS at 800x600 in
16 colors out of 4096, and is also interesting for the AGA chipset,
because it uses the "HiRes" mode with 70ns instead "SuperHiRes" with
35ns pixel clock. The display DMA is not as heavily loaded as it is
with Super72 and display operations are faster.

wizard.library 45.1
Provides a nicer MUI/Zune look and is optimized for 68020 and up.

This is a great effort :)

I am replacing my current 3.9 setup with this in near future, as i installed BB3 for a friend and worked like charm!

I just upgraded my OS 3.9 ClassicWB to BB3. Looking forward to going to BB4 in the future. Thanks for your hard work Gulliver!

Thanks, but please remember I only do very little work, the guys that do really diserve your gratitude are (many of them are EAB regulars):

Cosmos
Doobrey
Peter Keunecke
Nostromo
kolla
Chris Hodges
Thomas Richter
Ralph Babel
AWeb APL Development Team
Thorsten Hansen
Dirk Stoecker
Mikolaj Calusinski
Oliver Roberts
Arnljot Arntsen
Trevor Scroggins
Christian Sauer
Thomas Bickel
RedSkull
Luca Longone
James Jacobs
Ratte
The AHI Team
Toni Wilen
MM
Bernd Roesch
Dannyp1
Peter Hutchison
Darren Stevens
Francesco Devitt
Mbarlow
P. Kaltstein
Matt Hey
William H. M. Parker

Take care!

Hiya,

How 'stable' is the update? How much testing has it undergone or is it just basically a beta (or maybe even Alpha) release?

Just wanted to know before I apply it to my nice stable BB3 AGA machine ;)

Seemed pretty stable in my A600 (with 030) and BB3 installed. I have 2 observations though and these have to do with Cosmos Graphics.Library that I had installed for some time now...
- I saw you included LoadModule11 (I guess because some users - including me - had issues with LoadModule). Should I use the LoadModule11 with all the parameters followed or the classic LoadResident from RemApollo that worked also? (It could be the same but had to ask)
- I get some discoloring (that I realized) inside DOpus4. Some red buttons turned orange along with their fonts. I had that discoloring in the past on my A1200 when I was playing with some patches so I guess it's something it doesn't like. Dunno I might be wrong though and could be a Palette issue. Have other users had that issue?
(I'm running a pretty stock OS3.9 BB4 atm, with registered HSMathLibs/WarpDT in 640x512/8)

@NovaCoder

Well, your mileage may vary always applies. I mean many coders/hackers, had to find the way to bugfix and enhance the OS, without any peak at the sources. So the task is not easy at all, and requires a lot of talented and dedicated people.

Unfortunately, we have no stability or regression tests. The answer is simple: This is not a commercial funded effort. So basically, a coder develops his own version of xxx.library, tests it a bit and fixes it, then shares it with a small group of testers, which send feedback, and if everything goes okay, then it is released. But then, bugs will and can always surface in any part of the process.
Let me put it this way: This project is based on the good will, passion, work and interest to push forward AmigaOS 3.9, which is as you all know the last 68k AmigaOS made available for our beloved platform.

So really, I dont know in which category you should put BoingBag 4, it is upto you to decide.
I wrote that it is a work in progress, because there are still some new components to be added, that are being tested as we speak (datatypes.library and diskfont.library for example).

I hope this helps you to decide

PS: If you install it and report any issues, or even good performance, you are actually helping all of us.


@mfilos

Loadmodule11 is there because many people had problems with some modules. I never used loadresident, but it sounds it does pretty much the same. Just beware with the syntax and parameters, they will probably be slightly different. Read its docs.

I didnt have that issue with discoloring. You should probably check that there isnt any non standart patch doing funny things, and then if you still happen to suffer the same issue, I recommend to contact Cosmos, who may be able to help you narrow down the offending bug, if any.

:great

Hi, I installed BB4 in my WinUAE, and works perfectly here. One thing I would like to know is what features of FBlit, this graphics.library has. It can accelerate the blitter and draw bitmaps in fast-ram? Works wonderfully, thanks! :)

Hi Leandro, if you are curious about this new graphics library and its features, I recommend you take a look at this thread http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...aphics+library

And if in doubt, just ask Cosmos over there, he is the actual coder&hacker of that library.

I am glad BB4 is working fine for you.:great

Hello all, sorry I missed this thread until now, I am the writer of the installer scripts and releaser of the BB3+4 packages. As implied by the 0.2b version number this is only alpha and more components will be added as they are developed.
LoadModule11 is used because the other LoadModule doesn't work with graphics.library. Unfortunately there seems to be a bug in LoadModule11 (else graphics.library) that it reports an out of memory error when patching graphics.library on a 68040, is anyone else having this issue?

LoadModule11 and LoadModule, both can be replaced with BlizKick. Well, at least it appears to work with it on my system (you know...) :)

We can give suggestions to the authors of the patches? As I said before, their work is wonderful, but sometimes we have some ideas of what it should look or feel to us.

The cpu blitter integrated into the OS is a feature Windows users know since Windows 3.1 which helped much there and without doubt is a great idea. Is unfortunate that Commodore never put something like this this into the Kickstart.

I would suggest the creation of a monitor driver, to be used with the new graphics.library, to enable the new cpu blitter in any computer, regardless of cpu type or ram size.

BoingBag 4 got updated (version 0.2c):

-Updated icon.library to 46.4.163 (New optimized DrawIconStateA() function and some small tweaks)
-Filenames are now in proper lowercase

If you already have another BB4 version installed, simply install this one over the old one.

For downloads and information visit: http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net

OK, V0.2d is out:

1. icon.library is updated to 46.4.166.
2. LoadResident is used instead of LoadModule11 for graphics.library (fixes problems on eg. 68040).

Please grab it from http://amigan.1emu.net/releases/BoingBag4.lha
Filesize of this version is 1,246,137 bytes and its release date is 6/6/10.

Note that the version currently on gulliver's site is also entitled V0.2d but only has improvement #1 and not improvement #2 incorporated. (In hindsight I should have entitled this V0.2e or similar but I did not realize that gulliver had already uploaded his version to his site.)

Enjoy.

Just for those of you who may have problems with using LoadResident instead of LoadModule. You can avoid a failure of LoadResident during the second boot with a version check like this (as an example):

Version >NIL: graphics.library 40 REVISION 25
If WARN
LoadResident >NIL: Libs:graphics.library
EndIf

No problem James, I will replace my archive with yours in a couple of minutes. So there should not be any differences. :)

I will modify the script as suggested for the next release. Thanks.

I threw this updated graphics.library into my roms and it gave me a 1 MIP increase. My A1200 is quite nippy now, :).
Will have to test some more, to confirm it was this that gave me speed increase.

@FOL
That sounds really great, please give us some confirmation. :)

BoingBag site seems to be parked by GoDaddy.com.

What up? :confused

@Bamiga2002; I get the same result as you, no BoingBag site, but you can try this link; http://amigan.1emu.net/releases/ , click on Other Releases there and you will find both BB#3 and BB#4