What am I doing wrong here?

[Amiga1992]

No Amiga can impress a kid exposed to today's technology, unless they know of the background and limitations behind what is going on and the situation at the time of their release, if they cared at all.

Would you have been impressed at a typewritter when you were a kid? I hardly doubt it.

Also a computer user interface, in this day and age, is something you take for granted. There's no "wow" factor in any of it. Back in 1984 a 1-bit color depth Mac interface wowed many crowds.

[Retro1234]

add a menu like AGS.

[TroyWilkins]

Originally Posted by Akira

But "old and ugly" is what it was, you said you wanted to show them "what it was like" and that it is. It was slow, not necessarily very pretty and very bare bones.

Personally, I think when you start adding stuff to an Amiga to make it "look better" on the interface, you might as well use a PC or Mac. but whatever floats your boat.

My A1200 that I had back in the day, that was my first computer that was mine and mine alone, not shared with my brother, wasn't ugly. I spent a great deal of time and effort editing the icons to make them look good, I used MagicWB and edited the icons for anything that didn't have a MagicWB style icon to suit. Sure, I was only using it in 640x256 8 colours while Macs and PCs were using 640x480 16 colours or even 256 colours, but my personal Workbench I would never say looked ugly compared to Windows 3.1 or Mac System 6/7.

Originally Posted by Michael Sykes

Get a KS3.1 the Vampire and AmiKit Real...
That MAY impress the kids.

I do plan on getting a KS3.1 and a Vampire, AmiKit Real seems more like something to use with WinUAE, and I don't want to go anywhere near that far.

Originally Posted by Akira

No Amiga can impress a kid exposed to today's technology, unless they know of the background and limitations behind what is going on and the situation at the time of their release, if they cared at all.

Would you have been impressed at a typewritter when you were a kid? I hardly doubt it.

Also a computer user interface, in this day and age, is something you take for granted. There's no "wow" factor in any of it. Back in 1984 a 1-bit color depth Mac interface wowed many crowds.

I get what you mean, which is why I've shown the kids what the original Macintosh was like, what MS-DOS was like, and what Windows 2 and 3 were like. They agreed that the Amiga Workbench was miles ahead of the Mac (compared Workbench 1.3 to Mac System 6.0.8, and while they thought that WB 1.3 was "ugly", they liked that you could change the colours, but on a b&w mac you couldn't), and they found MS-DOS and Windows 2 and 3 to be very amusing and were surprised many people used it.

Originally Posted by Retro1234

add a menu like AGS.

I plan to

[Michael Sykes]

Don't mix up AK real from Retro with the original AmiKit.
I think he did a good job, optimizing it's look and speed for classic hardware.
If you really get a Vampire you should try it. I mean that card is even faster than the 060.

[Zetr0]

@TroyWilkins

On a humble KS2.x with 2MB of RAM, simply put the GAAE build is for you =)

in regards to "KS3.1" and "Vampire 2" this Kickstart is licensed to the Vampire 2 as it is part of the firmware of the device so you wont have a physical ROM as it were and it will bypass what ever is "on-board".

It is a delight to see such enthusiasm for sharing what the Amiga means to you and how you are making it yours, to that end if you wanted a physical upgrade - all is not lost -

You could snip one leg of the soldered 2.x ROM and solder another Kick Start ROM on top - in a piggy back type fashion - run a wire from the 2.x ROM cut leg to a switch, a wire from the new 3.x ROM to a switch and a wire from the switch to the motherboard (where the leg has been cut from the 2.x ROM) and would then have a 2.x / 3.x kick start switcher =D

If your not afraid of soldering, I will have look to see if I have spare 3.1 floating about - draw up a simple guide for you and your would be welcome to this for gratis (free) if you promise to take pictures of the hack

You will have to have - A soldering iron, solder flux, solder, 16cm's or wire, 1x 4k7 Resistor, small wire cutter and a splattering of bravery but it is easily done =)

[TroyWilkins]

Originally Posted by Michael Sykes

Don't mix up AK real from Retro with the original AmiKit.
I think he did a good job, optimizing it's look and speed for classic hardware.
If you really get a Vampire you should try it. I mean that card is even faster than the 060.

Ahh, I see what you mean, my mistake and I apologise. Still, while I appreciate the level of work that has gone into it, I'm personally not a fan of re-skinning the interface like that - I much prefer the look and feel of 'stock' Workbench 2 or 3s window and menu systems.

Having said that, thank you for pointing me in that direction, looks like I've found a new use for my Netbook, as it's far too slow to use for Windows and even with it running Ubuntu it's just terrible to try to use for facebook or general internet usage, but it could very well be perfect to re-purpose as a 'portable' emulated Amiga!

Originally Posted by Zetr0

@TroyWilkins

On a humble KS2.x with 2MB of RAM, simply put the GAAE build is for you =)

Yeah, I've now got it, thank you to everyone for pointing me in the right direction. That's not sarcasm, I genuinely mean it, I appreciate it very much, and I'm saying so to make sure that nobody misconstrues it as sarcasm, as can so often happen in a text based communication method.

Originally Posted by Zetr0

in regards to "KS3.1" and "Vampire 2" this Kickstart is licensed to the Vampire 2 as it is part of the firmware of the device so you wont have a physical ROM as it were and it will bypass what ever is "on-board".

This is one of many reasons why I'm so keen on getting a Vampire 2.

Originally Posted by Zetr0

It is a delight to see such enthusiasm for sharing what the Amiga means to you and how you are making it yours, to that end if you wanted a physical upgrade - all is not lost -

Thank you my friend. I personally feel that it is sad that the Amiga is no longer a significant platform, as I feel it was and is a better platform than most other platforms. Sure, Windows 10 is a huge improvement over the first version of Windows I experienced - Windows 286 (2.1), but it still doesn't feel like it was designed with multi-tasking in mind, but had it added as an after-thought. For example, Windows 10 will STILL steal the input focus, so you can be happily typing, and a windows can pop up, and before you've read what it says - before you've even had a chance to do so - it's vanished again because it's taken the keypress that was intended for the document you were writing as a response to the dialog. Perhaps it's just me, perhaps I was just lucky, but I don't remember this being an issue on the Amiga. And yes, I know, guru, lack of memory protection. the whole thing could and did come crashing down sometimes, leaving you looking at a flashing red box on a black screen, but once again, perhaps I was just lucky, but I didn't have that happen THAT often to make me annoyed in the way that Windows continues to annoy me.

Originally Posted by Zetr0

You could snip one leg of the soldered 2.x ROM and solder another Kick Start ROM on top - in a piggy back type fashion - run a wire from the 2.x ROM cut leg to a switch, a wire from the new 3.x ROM to a switch and a wire from the switch to the motherboard (where the leg has been cut from the 2.x ROM) and would then have a 2.x / 3.x kick start switcher =D

If your not afraid of soldering, I will have look to see if I have spare 3.1 floating about - draw up a simple guide for you and your would be welcome to this for gratis (free) if you promise to take pictures of the hack

You will have to have - A soldering iron, solder flux, solder, 16cm's or wire, 1x 4k7 Resistor, small wire cutter and a splattering of bravery but it is easily done =)

That most certainly sounds like an interesting little project that I would be keen to give a go, but only if it's not too much trouble for you my friend? And of course I'd be happy to take pictures, as long as pictures taken with my Nexus 6P would be good enough?

I don't have any of those things, but we do have an electronics supply store in town where I'd have no trouble sourcing everything needed, and it sounds like it would be a fun, even if a little scary, project.

[Zetr0]

@TroyWilkins

Fear not, I have.... probably half of CPC/Farnel and Digikey in my office wire / resistors I have a plenty =D

I will have a hunt today for a 3.1 ROM see what mischief can be gotten up to =)

[TroyWilkins]

Originally Posted by Zetr0

@TroyWilkins

Fear not, I have.... probably half of CPC/Farnel and Digikey in my office wire / resistors I have a plenty =D

I will have a hunt today for a 3.1 ROM see what mischief can be gotten up to =)

The last time I did any more than glance at a resistor was when I was in high school and discovered that due to being colourblind, I couldn't read the colour-coding for them, and so ended any chance at a career in electronics.