AGA Guide in PDF or similar format

h0ffman · 25 June 2011, 00:53

Hey Guys

Is there a PDF or similar format version of the AGA Guide? I have one in Amiga Guide format, however I do the majority of my coding on WinUAE, so would be much handier if I could have the docs on the other screen?

The one I'm talking about is the one by TFA from 1993, if there is better documentation for this, I'd also like that.

Cheers in advance!

Steve · 25 June 2011, 10:41

There is a HTML guide if that helps?

http://www.mways.co.uk/amiga/howtocode/text/aga.php

zenox98 · 25 June 2011, 11:54

What about the windows AmigaGuide viewer? Site is HERE.

Jherek Carnelia · 25 June 2011, 12:25

I've put a pdf of the AGA registers in the zone. It may be useful; I also have a pdf of How To Code 7, if you would like that.

h0ffman · 25 June 2011, 16:52

@steve - I did see that, however I didn't notice that it gives some good explaination on how it works

@xenon98 - yep, got that but the amiga guide version is a right bitch to navigate.

@jherek - cheers fella, if you could that would be awesome.

The close sounds like it could really help with freeing up that all important CPU time!

Jherek Carnelia · 25 June 2011, 18:36

HTC 7 in the zone...

Photon · 25 July 2011, 03:12

IIRC there was never an AGA-updated revision of HRM or similar from official sources? Or am I mistaken?

MaximumRD · 25 July 2011, 03:16

If you have a link in URL form you can use THIS : http://pdfmyurl.com/

and transform it into a PDF FREE.

StingRay · 25 July 2011, 09:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photon

IIRC there was never an AGA-updated revision of HRM or similar from official sources? Or am I mistaken?

That's correct. Reasons for that were rather silly IMHO, they didn't give out updated HRM's because they wanted "hardware hacking to die".

Lonewolf10 · 25 July 2011, 18:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by StingRay

That's correct. Reasons for that were rather silly IMHO, they didn't give out updated HRM's because they wanted "hardware hacking to die".

So how did professional developers make games for the AGA hardware? Just by additional appendices sent out by Commodore? (I have one such appendix, but for OCS hardware)

Regards,
Lonewolf10

Photon · 25 July 2011, 18:51

To answer Lonewolf, it would be nice to know how many commercial games were developed for AGA (as in new games or remakes with AGA graphics, ie. requiring non-trivial AGA docs). HOL can't be used for that since most games listed as AGA are in fact not AGA. Is there a listing somewhere perhaps?

Because you see, I don't think there were that many. Perhaps C= also considered game programming hardware hacking and wanted to shed the Amiga's game image

I don't know for sure though, since I didn't experience that time. So it still would be nice to know.

TCD · 25 July 2011, 18:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photon

HOL can't be used for that since most games listed as AGA are in fact not AGA.

Hmm, if that means they would run on OCS hardware (with the correct CPU, KS and RAM etc), please let us know which those are

Photon · 26 July 2011, 15:32

An exaggeration, but in the context essentially correct. For example, all the titles with ECS or OCS here.

I'd need some reasonable filter to answer "how did gamedevs manage to make AGA games". Since I wasn't there when AGA came, I don't know much about the new features or how many games came for it.

If you ignore reasonable filtering and include PD, patches, versions etc, it would seem that pre-AGA almost 6000 games were made, compared to the 435 titles for Hardware is AGA, or 7.3%.

But a picture is forming, and that picture is that the only enhancements in AGA were the increased palette depth and the extra resolutions. If this is true, then you don't need much in the way of docs, of course. But Lonewolf asked a good question. Until it's answered, we won't know.

TCD · 26 July 2011, 15:40

Thanks for the pointer

I'll ask why those games are listed as both OCS and AGA. Hopefully someone can remember

TheDarkCoder · 26 July 2011, 19:11

In 1992, I was a newbe asm coder, but I remember something.
When AGA came out, C= was looking forward for AAA and/or Hombre.
They said that preserving backward compatibility, costed a lot of efforts during AGA development, so they wanted to free the future chipset from this constraint. For this reason OS 3.0 implemented new functionalities which, in C= intentions would have allowed game developers to do almost "all tricks" using OS functionalities (I distinclty remember they used the word "trick").
From what I heard, C= silently gave professional game developers (at least the most important ones) AGA documentation. Such docs, after some time appeared in the underground scene in electronic form. The first release was missing page 17, but then it was added. ASM-One 1.20 (from TFA) came bundled with an amiga guide doc named "AGA.guide" derived from the C= documentation.

So I think the answer to Lonewolf is yes.

jman · 26 July 2011, 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDarkCoder

From what I heard, C= silently gave professional game developers (at least the most important ones) AGA documentation.

What I wonder is: if they thoroughly documented OCS/ECS with the AHRM book series, at the time of AGA release did they release anything at all?

What did they exactly give to developers paying the subscription?
Let's say I wanted to start developing Amiga software in 1992 and I knew nothing about the platform, what did C= provide in order to show me the machine's feature?

Lonewolf10 · 26 July 2011, 21:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDarkCoder

When AGA came out, C= was looking forward for AAA and/or Hombre.
They said that preserving backward compatibility, costed a lot of efforts during AGA development, so they wanted to free the future chipset from this constraint. For this reason OS 3.0 implemented new functionalities which, in C= intentions would have allowed game developers to do almost "all tricks" using OS functionalities (I distinclty remember they used the word "trick").

errr... how could they be looking forward? They had little or no cash, and although Dave Haynie (and others?) developed new hardware (AAA and Hombre) once done they could do nothing with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDarkCoder

So I think the answer to Lonewolf is yes.

Ok, I think

Regards,
Lonewolf10

Leffmann · 26 July 2011, 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by jman

What did they exactly give to developers paying the subscription?
Let's say I wanted to start developing Amiga software in 1992 and I knew nothing about the platform, what did C= provided in order to show me the machine's feature?

The 3.0 and 3.1 Amiga NDK, the Lisa AA spec (the AGA.guide document), the Hardware Reference Manual and the series of ROM Kernel Manuals.

There are no mysteries, secret HW features or secret manuals and documents. Everything there is has been available to anyone since 15+ years.

EDIT: well not the 3.1 NDK as it appeared later.

Photon · 26 July 2011, 23:54

TheDarkCoder, they said a lot of things. I think in the end they lost someone to be captain, someone with focus and vision, and lost the competence elsewhere to really continue on the leading path. I'm also pretty sure they didn't have a close enough co-operation with the guys making their computers sell millions: software developers. Certainly not in Europe, at any rate.

AGA.guide seems to be here.

3.0 and 3.1 "N"DK, are they linked somewhere Leffman?

If it is like I suspected then, there's only FMODE, palette switcher reg, and the new screenmode (and scroll/sprite mode...) bits. Huh.

Leffman, I think a combination of no new HRM released, first appearance of a homegrown HW doc, few new features could breed suspicions of mysteries. Can you personally guarantee no other features were added than those described in the AGA.guide?

I prefer to make sure. Nothing's stopping us from poking unused HW reg bits, swapping Paulas with an ECS machine should prove the nonexistence of extra channels or different behavior, etc.

It wasn't that long ago that Toni added support for '7th bitplane mask' trick, and C64 coders have used reserved instruction codes as instructions etc.

Guide to HTML converter anyone?

jman · 27 July 2011, 00:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photon

3.0 and 3.1 "N"DK, are they linked somewhere Leffman?

Have a look here, a quick google search should pop up the stuff:
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=4809

If not, let me know.

25 June 2011, 00:53	#1
h0ffman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Salisbury Posts: 744	AGA Guide in PDF or similar format Hey Guys Is there a PDF or similar format version of the AGA Guide? I have one in Amiga Guide format, however I do the majority of my coding on WinUAE, so would be much handier if I could have the docs on the other screen? The one I'm talking about is the one by TFA from 1993, if there is better documentation for this, I'd also like that. Cheers in advance!

25 July 2011, 18:51	#11
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	To answer Lonewolf, it would be nice to know how many commercial games were developed for AGA (as in new games or remakes with AGA graphics, ie. requiring non-trivial AGA docs). HOL can't be used for that since most games listed as AGA are in fact not AGA. Is there a listing somewhere perhaps? Because you see, I don't think there were that many. Perhaps C= also considered game programming hardware hacking and wanted to shed the Amiga's game image I don't know for sure though, since I didn't experience that time. So it still would be nice to know. Last edited by Photon; 25 July 2011 at 18:57.

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25 June 2011, 10:41	#2
Steve I Identify as an Ewok Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: North Lincolnshire Age: 45 Posts: 2,356	There is a HTML guide if that helps? http://www.mways.co.uk/amiga/howtocode/text/aga.php

25 June 2011, 11:54	#3
zenox98 Joy Division Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: East Yorkshire Age: 60 Posts: 239	What about the windows AmigaGuide viewer? Site is HERE.

25 June 2011, 12:25	#4
Jherek Carnelia Dazed and Confused Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: portsmouth/uk Posts: 242	I've put a pdf of the AGA registers in the zone. It may be useful; I also have a pdf of How To Code 7, if you would like that.

25 June 2011, 16:52	#5
h0ffman Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Salisbury Posts: 744	@steve - I did see that, however I didn't notice that it gives some good explaination on how it works @xenon98 - yep, got that but the amiga guide version is a right bitch to navigate. @jherek - cheers fella, if you could that would be awesome. The close sounds like it could really help with freeing up that all important CPU time!

25 June 2011, 18:36	#6
Jherek Carnelia Dazed and Confused Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: portsmouth/uk Posts: 242	HTC 7 in the zone...

25 July 2011, 03:12	#7
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	IIRC there was never an AGA-updated revision of HRM or similar from official sources? Or am I mistaken?

25 July 2011, 03:16	#8
MaximumRD Canadian Amiga Fan Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Kelowna/Canada Posts: 12	If you have a link in URL form you can use THIS : http://pdfmyurl.com/ and transform it into a PDF FREE.

26 July 2011, 15:32	#13
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	An exaggeration, but in the context essentially correct. For example, all the titles with ECS or OCS here. I'd need some reasonable filter to answer "how did gamedevs manage to make AGA games". Since I wasn't there when AGA came, I don't know much about the new features or how many games came for it. If you ignore reasonable filtering and include PD, patches, versions etc, it would seem that pre-AGA almost 6000 games were made, compared to the 435 titles for Hardware is AGA, or 7.3%. But a picture is forming, and that picture is that the only enhancements in AGA were the increased palette depth and the extra resolutions. If this is true, then you don't need much in the way of docs, of course. But Lonewolf asked a good question. Until it's answered, we won't know.

26 July 2011, 15:40	#14
TCD HOL/FTP busy bee Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Germany Age: 46 Posts: 31,519	Thanks for the pointer I'll ask why those games are listed as both OCS and AGA. Hopefully someone can remember

26 July 2011, 19:11	#15
TheDarkCoder Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Dark Kingdom Posts: 213	In 1992, I was a newbe asm coder, but I remember something. When AGA came out, C= was looking forward for AAA and/or Hombre. They said that preserving backward compatibility, costed a lot of efforts during AGA development, so they wanted to free the future chipset from this constraint. For this reason OS 3.0 implemented new functionalities which, in C= intentions would have allowed game developers to do almost "all tricks" using OS functionalities (I distinclty remember they used the word "trick"). From what I heard, C= silently gave professional game developers (at least the most important ones) AGA documentation. Such docs, after some time appeared in the underground scene in electronic form. The first release was missing page 17, but then it was added. ASM-One 1.20 (from TFA) came bundled with an amiga guide doc named "AGA.guide" derived from the C= documentation. So I think the answer to Lonewolf is yes.

26 July 2011, 23:54	#19
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,602	TheDarkCoder, they said a lot of things. I think in the end they lost someone to be captain, someone with focus and vision, and lost the competence elsewhere to really continue on the leading path. I'm also pretty sure they didn't have a close enough co-operation with the guys making their computers sell millions: software developers. Certainly not in Europe, at any rate. AGA.guide seems to be here. 3.0 and 3.1 "N"DK, are they linked somewhere Leffman? If it is like I suspected then, there's only FMODE, palette switcher reg, and the new screenmode (and scroll/sprite mode...) bits. Huh. Leffman, I think a combination of no new HRM released, first appearance of a homegrown HW doc, few new features could breed suspicions of mysteries. Can you personally guarantee no other features were added than those described in the AGA.guide? I prefer to make sure. Nothing's stopping us from poking unused HW reg bits, swapping Paulas with an ECS machine should prove the nonexistence of extra channels or different behavior, etc. It wasn't that long ago that Toni added support for '7th bitplane mask' trick, and C64 coders have used reserved instruction codes as instructions etc. Guide to HTML converter anyone?

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