How to Install AmigaOS3.9

[ahandyman59]

I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to install AmigaOS3.9 on my A4000. This also works on An A3000, but I think you need a RTG card (graphics card), such as a Picasso or a ZZ9000, etc... I tried installing with an AmigaOS3.9 CD and an AmigaOS3.9 Emergency disk, but was not able to get it to install correctly, when doing the install option over a blank, formatted partition. I also tried installing it over the top of a hard drive with AmigaOS 3.1 and that failed also. Of all the tricks I stumbled upon, none of them seemed to work, so I went back to a more structured approach. I "appropriated" an AmigaOS3.5 CD, made an emergency disk for it, then installed the AmigaOS3.1 that is also on the CD, then installed AmigaOS3.5 over the top of AmigaOS3.1, and after a reboot, installed AmigaOS3.9 over the top of AmigaOS3.5. THAT worked and "magically" found and installed display drivers for my ZZ9000 graphics card. Here is the procedure I used laid out in a fair amount of detail. I hope this helps someone and saves them some time...

I spent the last day testing the install and it seems to be working perfectly. In an attempt to save someone some time, here is the exact steps I used to install AmigaOS3.9 on an A4000 with an A68060 running at 60mhz and an MNT ZZ9000 RTG (graphics) card.

1. Boot amiga with hard drive that has CDROM support enabled.

2. Put in AmigaOS3.5 cd after computer is booted up.

3. Navigate to AmigaOS3.5 and go to installation menu. Select Create Emergency Disk and insert 3.5 inch floppy disk in a floppy drive (typically DF0, and let it create your AmigaOS3.5 Emergency disk.

4. When the AmigaOS3.5 Emergency Disk creation process is complete, exit the Install program.

5. When back at the main workbench screen, remove the AmigaOS3.5 CD and insert the AmigaOS3.9 CD. Repeat the Emergency Disk creation process so that you have an Emergency Disk for AmigaOS3.9. When that process is complete, exit the AmigaOS3.9 install program.

6. Remove all CDs and floppies from your computer then shut down your Amiga and install the Hard drive you intend on installing AmigaOS3.9 on. These days that typically means pulling the CF hard drive out and inserting a different one in.

7. With the appropriate hard drive in it, start the Amiga and insert the AmigaOS3.5 CD and Emergency disk. IF the computer gives errors, you likely did not install the CD quickly enough. Reboot the computer and the emergency disk should automatically find the CD and boot up correctly.

8. IF you previously partitioned the hard drive you will be ready for the install. If not, then use the hard drive tools to set up the appropriate partitions.

9. When the partitions are set up, open the AmigaOS3.5 CD in workbench and click on the AmigaOS3.1 installation. Follow the instructions and install AmigaOS3.1 on the hard drive. When that process is complete, follow the instructions to reboot your computer. LEAVE the AmigaOS3.5 CD and Emergency disk in the computer.

10. When the Amiga finishes the rebooting, you will once again be back at the workbench screen. Open up the AmigaOS3.5 CD and this time click on AmigaOS3.5 Installation. Perform the Amiga Pre-installation option which installs some key files on top of the AmigaOS3.1 install that you just installed on the Hard drive already. When it is complete, again LEAVE the AmigaOS3.5 CD and Emergency Disk in the drives and reboot the computer.

11. When back at the workbench screen, again navigate to the AmigaOS3.5 CD and start the AmigaOS3.5 Installation again. This time to the upgrade upgrade from 3.1 to 3.5. Follow the instructions and when it's finished, remove the AmigaOS3.5 CD and Emergency disk, and "Proceed" with the reboot.

12. Your computer should restart and boot without the Emergency disk in it. In many cases, the Installation process has identified your graphics card and installed the appropriate drivers already. (Mine did, which surprised me!). When it finishes booting install the AmigaOS3.9 CD and Emergency Disk and again reboot the computer.

13. When the computer reboots, open the AmigaOS3.9 CD and click on Install 3.9 over 3.5. Follow the instructions and the installation will eventually complete. Remove the disks and reboot again. AmigaOS3.9 should now be installed and working normally.

14. IF you have additional options (internet, etc...) that you want to install, leave the disks in the computer and reboot again. Install the options on the AmigaOS3.9 installation menu and when complete remove the disks and reboot.

If the "Powers that Be" are watching over you, your Amiga should now be running the basic version of AmigaOS3.9! I strongly suggest you go about upgrading the various OS3.9 updates (BoingBags).

I hope this helps someone. It took me way too many hours to figure out, but figuring things like this out is what makes Amigas such an enjoyable hobby...
Ahandyman59

[Pyromania]

How to uninstall ahandyman59?

[ahandyman59]

I'm not sure what happened here. I tried to post a new message about how I was finally able to install AmigaOS3.9 on a hard drive, but the thing kept doing some kind of loop. When I finally gave up on posting it, MANY posts were created, but none of them had any content. I don't know what happened, but please delete this these posts and I'll repost later. My guess is there may be some maintenance going on.

[DisasterIncarna]

i'm getting weird delays on the forums atm during posting, seen a fair few others with multiple posts, maybe their refreshing or F5'ing?

[ahandyman59]

I believe I did press refresh a few times, thinking it was hung...

[BippyM]

Any reason why you posted this around 8 times?

[Ian]

Forum threw a wobbler last night I got time outs when approving accounts, it did it the first time but generated an error anyway.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by DisasterIncarna

i'm getting weird delays on the forums atm during posting, seen a fair few others with multiple posts, maybe their refreshing or F5'ing?

I have the same problems since a couple of days. There was a similar problem a few weeks ago which was fixed then (I think RCK did something).

[ahandyman59]

In this specific case, I hit the refresh button after waiting for the first message to post for over a minute. Waiting a minute indicates a problem of some kind, and a common response, as I did is to hit the refresh button. I did this several times, but didn't realize the system was queueing them up until much later... That is what caused these duplicates. I couldn't even delete them afterward. When I clicked Edit, no Delete was present.

[Hedeon]

It is unclear to me what the problem is? OS3.9 installed correctly on my various systems. Isn't it better to troubleshoot instead of giving a 14 point work-around for something that maybe could be fixed?

Sorry for going on-topic :-D

[ahandyman59]

Originally Posted by Hedeon

It is unclear to me what the problem is? OS3.9 installed correctly on my various systems. Isn't it better to troubleshoot instead of giving a 14 point work-around for something that maybe could be fixed?

Sorry for going on-topic :-D

I disagree. I strongly feel it is better to come up with a complete solution using the original computers and software, as they were intended. If I spent the time and energy to figure out how to install something, sooner or later there is bound to be someone else with the same intent. If they were able to install things perfectly, the first time without any assistance, GREAT! If they, like me struggled to get it to work, then this gives them another way that will for sure, work under most circumstances.

I tried installing AmigaOS3.9 in 4 different ways and every one of them ended up not working upon the first reboot after the installation completed. Now, if there were readily available AmigaOS3.9 kickstart ROMS out there, things would be much simpler, but there isn't and never has been, and apparently the legal issues involved seem to make no one interested in making readily available AmigaOS3.9 Kickstart ROMs for the various models of Amigas....

[SpeedGeek]

Each user may have a different experience or find different solutions to a particular installation issue. That being mentioned, I'm a little surprised that no reference to the OS3.9 FAQ was made which may have been helpful.

In any case here it is now:

https://www.gregdonner.org/os39faq/os39faq.html

[Leon Besson]

The way I setup OS3.9 is to use a bootable floppy disk and use the “Mount” setup on my BPPC card to the SCSI ID of my CD drive, that way I don’t need CD drivers to load. Setup a SD card with PFs3 partitions and then install from CD. I’ve also added BB 1-4 on the CD as well so everything is together.

Works for me Mang!

[ahandyman59]

Originally Posted by Leon Besson

The way I setup OS3.9 is to use a bootable floppy disk and use the “Mount” setup on my BPPC card...

I realize some people are probably going to take offense at me saying this, but isn't this a "niche" solution involving a fairly rare and expensive piece of hardware, that most people would LOVE to own, but can't because anyone that knows what they are won't sell them?

[Leon Besson]

Originally Posted by ahandyman59

I realize some people are probably going to take offense at me saying this, but isn't this a "niche" solution involving a fairly rare and expensive piece of hardware, that most people would LOVE to own, but can't because anyone that knows what they are won't sell them?

Indeed in some aspect. But it’s still another option if you possess such a thing

You could always use WinUAE as well to do something similar if on a budget and don’t own such hardware

[ahandyman59]

Originally Posted by Leon Besson

You could always use WinUAE as well to do something similar if on a budget and don’t own such hardware

Actually I started this entire AmigaOS3.9 install using WinUAE, and tried 2 different ways. First was basically following a Youtube video about installing it on WinUAE with a Picasso ii RTG and picasso96 software. It installed perfectly in WinUAE, but most of the tools would not work and nothing in prefs worked at all. I tried many things with the Emergency disk, but was never able to solve the issue.

Then in another attempt, I tried installing via WinUAE with just the normal graphics. It installed but again none of the tools worked, including in prefs, which negated my ability to set up any kind of graphics.

My hardware is:
a good condition Amiga 4000 Rev B board

a A3660 board with a real motorola 68060 with the MMU and FPU in it,
running at 60mhz with a cooler

a MNT ZZ9000 RTG board (the ethernet, usb and 256megs of ram make
this an exceptional upgrade)

I use high end CF cards as hard drives, typically 32GB, but the first
partition is ALWAYS smaller than 4GB.

Standard Amiga A4000 Mouse and keyboard.

BenQ912 monitor and an ASUS 4K wide monitor, both connected to the
computer.



IN TOTAL, I tried at least 15 different install options to get AmigaOS3.9 to work and the only one that worked for me was following the process I outlined here. I'm not inexperienced and spent most of my working life in IT, so I'm pretty technical and methodical in my approaches.

[ahandyman59]

Originally Posted by SpeedGeek

... I'm a little surprised that no reference to the OS3.9 FAQ was made which may have been helpful.

In any case here it is now:

https://www.gregdonner.org/os39faq/os39faq.html

THANK YOU FOR THIS!

I have been looking for a GOOD AmigaOS3.9 FAQ, but the only one I found was in German, which I do not understand, and translate kept screwing up.

[Leon Besson]

Originally Posted by ahandyman59

Actually I started this entire AmigaOS3.9 install using WinUAE, and tried 2 different ways. First was basically following a Youtube video about installing it on WinUAE with a Picasso ii RTG and picasso96 software. It installed perfectly in WinUAE, but most of the tools would not work and nothing in prefs worked at all. I tried many things with the Emergency disk, but was never able to solve the issue.

Then in another attempt, I tried installing via WinUAE with just the normal graphics. It installed but again none of the tools worked, including in prefs, which negated my ability to set up any kind of graphics.

My hardware is:
a good condition Amiga 4000 Rev B board

a A3660 board with a real motorola 68060 with the MMU and FPU in it,
running at 60mhz with a cooler

a MNT ZZ9000 RTG board (the ethernet, usb and 256megs of ram make
this an exceptional upgrade)

I use high end CF cards as hard drives, typically 32GB, but the first
partition is ALWAYS smaller than 4GB.

Standard Amiga A4000 Mouse and keyboard.

BenQ912 monitor and an ASUS 4K wide monitor, both connected to the
computer.



IN TOTAL, I tried at least 15 different install options to get AmigaOS3.9 to work and the only one that worked for me was following the process I outlined here. I'm not inexperienced and spent most of my working life in IT, so I'm pretty technical and methodical in my approaches.

Soooo, did you just install a base OS39 with WinUAE with a 060 setup in WinUAE? Then transferred the card to the A4K to continue the rest of the software install including the BB 1-2 (Sometimes not applying g the ROM update will fix issues)?

Something else to note. The Filesystem is also key with the correct settings. I tend to use PFS3 and NOT FFS.

[ahandyman59]

I also prefer PFS3. I think I may have said this in the other thread where I asked for assistance during the install itself, I always prepare my partitions directly on the computer it will be used on, with the kickstart ROMs that will be used. To the best of my knowledge, every CF hard drive I have is set up with PFS3.

So far just the basic install done on the real hardware, not WINUAE, as my attempts there failed. What eventually worked was installing 3.1 from the AmigaOS3.5 cd, then installing 3.5 on top of that and finally installing 3.9 on top of that. The 3.5 install provided the correct CPU library file and correctly set up and configured my ZZ9000 card, the latter surprised me.

[Leon Besson]

Originally Posted by ahandyman59

I also prefer PFS3. I think I may have said this in the other thread where I asked for assistance during the install itself, I always prepare my partitions directly on the computer it will be used on, with the kickstart ROMs that will be used. To the best of my knowledge, every CF hard drive I have is set up with PFS3.

So far just the basic install done on the real hardware, not WINUAE, as my attempts there failed. What eventually worked was installing 3.1 from the AmigaOS3.5 cd, then installing 3.5 on top of that and finally installing 3.9 on top of that. The 3.5 install provided the correct CPU library file and correctly set up and configured my ZZ9000 card, the latter surprised me.

Fair enough Bromigo!

Have never owned 3.5 or installed 3.9 that way.

Have either done the 3.1 install, drivers for CD drive then upgraded to 3.9 (Have read this may leave some sort of issue?)
Or Bootable floppy emergency disk then CD install 3.9 on A1200
Or WinUAE setup up for 1200, 030/060, 3.1 ROMs, CD and real SD card ready to transfer to real A1200. Then do the BB-1 to 4 as well as ThorsMMU Libs, MUI etc..