Want to change to ClassicWB

vimfuego · 20 August 2009, 14:57

Hi All,

I recently got an A1200 with a 1GB CF, std RAM but I'm not really up to speed on the A1200, I've been away from the Amiga for too long so please cut me some slack.
It has WB3.1 installed but I really want to put the ClassicWB Lite set up on instead. As I did not set the CF up I'm not really sure what I need to do without ending up with a stuffed CF setup.

I'm 'ok' with WinUAE and have a CF reader in the PC, my couple of questions are:

1- Should I reformat the CF in WinUAE /WB and start again fresh?
2- If yes, how do I transfer the CBLite hdf file to the CF so it will boot in the Amiga? (I do have WB floppies).

Thanks,
Ross

prowler · 20 August 2009, 20:24

Hi Ross,

If your CF card already has WB3.1 installed, then it must be booting the A1200 from the IDE controller via a CF-IDE adapter, and there will be no need to reformat it under WinUAE.

Connect the CF card to your PC's CF reader and mount it as an Amiga drive under WinUAE.

Then all you need to do is delete all the files and directories from the card without reformatting it and then copy all the files and directories from the CBLite.hdf file mounted as a separate drive in WinUAE.

Make sure you can boot WinUAE from the card when you have the CBLite copied to it, and then replace it in your Amiga, which should then boot to Classic Workbench Lite!

vimfuego · 21 August 2009, 03:18

Thanks. Just one more question showing my Amiga noobness!
On a PC if you were to just copy folders from one HD to another the programs would not run, is this not the case on the Amiga?
If that is the situation then I suppose I could just copy all the folders within WinUAE with both the CF and Classic WB HDF file mounted?

Cheers,
Ross

fitzsteve · 21 August 2009, 08:54

I think you can get errors because of the way windows handles files, you are best do do all the copying within winuae. Just use dopus in classic workbench under the emulator to manage your files.

vimfuego · 21 August 2009, 10:58

Yeah, sorry what I meant was copying 'draws' within WinUAE from one Amiga HD to another using dopus, in other words no such thing as an Installer like you have on Windows to make programs run, just copy the directory and everything works?

Bloodwych · 21 August 2009, 11:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by vimfuego

On a PC if you were to just copy folders from one HD to another the programs would not run, is this not the case on the Amiga?
If that is the situation then I suppose I could just copy all the folders within WinUAE with both the CF and Classic WB HDF file mounted?

Cheers,
Ross

Workbench has no complications like Windows to get in the way.

You can select all the files in dopus and copy them over directly in WinUAE.

fitzsteve · 21 August 2009, 12:31

Along the same lines as the OP...

I had a go at this myself, I copied the contents of DH0 to my CF Card that was mounted as a directory in Winuae/ClassicWB this CF card is not partitioned or formatted on a real Amiga or even under emulation, its a standard fat formatted CF card.

Winuae boots to ClassicWb ok if I select this as a drive in winuae, so will it boot on a real Amiga with a IDE-CF converter bearing in mind its a fat formatted CF?

Thanks,

Steve.

Bloodwych · 21 August 2009, 12:59

No Steve, the card needs to be formatted as FFS or SFS - you can't use FAT on an Amiga directly with a CF->IDE converter.

The CF acts just like a Hard Drive - so like a hard drive, you can't have it formatted as FAT and expect the Amiga to read it.

Not sure if you can use a FAT formatted CF card on the Amiga and get decent performance? There is a FAT95 driver available for the Amiga on Aminet:

http://aminet.net/search?query=fat95

I'd imagine you'd still need a FFS boot device to load the driver first. I'm not an expert in its use, a search on EAB might be useful:

http://eab.abime.net/search.php?searchid=3656374

The best solution is formatting the CF drive as FFS or SFS.

fitzsteve · 21 August 2009, 13:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bloodwych

No Steve, the card needs to be formatted as FFS or SFS - you can't use FAT on an Amiga directly with a CF->IDE converter.

The CF acts just like a Hard Drive - so like a hard drive, you can't have it formatted as FAT and expect the Amiga to read it.

Not sure if you can use a FAT formatted CF card on the Amiga and get decent performance? There is a FAT95 driver available for the Amiga on Aminet:

http://aminet.net/search?query=fat95

I'd imagine you'd still need a FFS boot device to load the driver first. I'm not an expert in its use, a search on EAB might be useful:

http://eab.abime.net/search.php?searchid=3656374

The best solution is formatting the CF drive as FFS or SFS.

Cool, thanks for your answer. I was expecting that tbh. I put the files on the CF with the intention of transferring to a real amiga formatted hard drive, but thought iff it was possible to put the cf in 'as is' then I would just do that. Im still using the full Classic WB on my Amiga and still havent been able to get any memory, no one seems to have any for sale

So I might have to change to Lite for now, just cant be bothered to open up my amiga, take out the hard drive, hook it up to the PC, lol.

I guess I am just lazy, can play many of my whdload games using multiboot so its not all bad....

Bloodwych · 21 August 2009, 15:59

No problem Steve.

Since you are having problems getting a RAM expansion, have you ever thought about using a PCMCIA card to add memory?

It's not an ideal solution, as it would be 16bit rather than 32bit and therefore would come with a perfomance hit compared to expansion slot fastram, but it would allow you to run all WHDLoad games. You can also get CF->PCMCIA adaptors if an actual compatible PCMCIA ram card is hard to find.

You can also use it to transfer files without opeining up your Amiga.

Again, I'm not an expert in this field and I think the max you can add is 4MB, plus it can have conflicts with 8MB expansion memory (4MB expansion memory it works fine with) if you do find a trapdoor card in the future. That's because the PCMCIA and the expansion slot use the same address space for allocated fastram.

fitzsteve · 21 August 2009, 16:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bloodwych

No problem Steve.

Since you are having problems getting a RAM expansion, have you ever thought about using a PCMCIA card to add memory?

It's not an ideal solution, as it would be 16bit rather than 32bit and therefore would come with a perfomance hit compared to expansion slot fastram, but it would allow you to run all WHDLoad games. You can also get CF->PCMCIA adaptors if an actual compatible PCMCIA ram card is hard to find.

You can also use it to transfer files without opeining up your Amiga.

Again, I'm not an expert in this field and I think the max you can add is 4MB, plus it can have conflicts with 8MB expansion memory (4MB expansion memory it works fine with) if you do find a trapdoor card in the future. That's because the PCMCIA and the expansion slot use the same address space for allocated fastram.

I have a PCMCIA reader and have been using that to transfer files to the Amiga just fine. But to install the OS I couldnt get the system.zip accross to the newly formatted hard disk with the workbanch disk/tools. So it was easier for me to take out the hard drive and do it in winuae, just didnt want to do that all over again so soon, espescially since I have everything setup as I like. Its litterally just waiting for me to drop in that extra memory!

I did google using the CF as memory and the consensus seemed to be that the write cycles would be a problem even if possible and theyseemed to think it wasn't even possible to use a CF as memory.

I also tried to find PCMCIA memory but this seems to be even more rare...

I am sure some will come up soon.

PS, sorry OP for hijacking your thread, I hope you got it sorted ok!

Bloodwych · 21 August 2009, 16:29

You're right - the access times would be too slow on a CF. You would need real PCMCIA memory, but those are rare.

20 August 2009, 14:57	#1
vimfuego Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Melbourne / Australia Posts: 68	Want to change to ClassicWB Hi All, I recently got an A1200 with a 1GB CF, std RAM but I'm not really up to speed on the A1200, I've been away from the Amiga for too long so please cut me some slack. It has WB3.1 installed but I really want to put the ClassicWB Lite set up on instead. As I did not set the CF up I'm not really sure what I need to do without ending up with a stuffed CF setup. I'm 'ok' with WinUAE and have a CF reader in the PC, my couple of questions are: 1- Should I reformat the CF in WinUAE /WB and start again fresh? 2- If yes, how do I transfer the CBLite hdf file to the CF so it will boot in the Amiga? (I do have WB floppies). Thanks, Ross

21 August 2009, 12:59	#8
Bloodwych Moderator Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: I'm behind you! Posts: 3,763	No Steve, the card needs to be formatted as FFS or SFS - you can't use FAT on an Amiga directly with a CF->IDE converter. The CF acts just like a Hard Drive - so like a hard drive, you can't have it formatted as FAT and expect the Amiga to read it. Not sure if you can use a FAT formatted CF card on the Amiga and get decent performance? There is a FAT95 driver available for the Amiga on Aminet: http://aminet.net/search?query=fat95 I'd imagine you'd still need a FFS boot device to load the driver first. I'm not an expert in its use, a search on EAB might be useful: http://eab.abime.net/search.php?searchid=3656374 The best solution is formatting the CF drive as FFS or SFS. Last edited by Bloodwych; 21 August 2009 at 13:10.

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20 August 2009, 20:24	#2
prowler Global Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Sidcup, England Posts: 10,300	Hi Ross, If your CF card already has WB3.1 installed, then it must be booting the A1200 from the IDE controller via a CF-IDE adapter, and there will be no need to reformat it under WinUAE. Connect the CF card to your PC's CF reader and mount it as an Amiga drive under WinUAE. Then all you need to do is delete all the files and directories from the card without reformatting it and then copy all the files and directories from the CBLite.hdf file mounted as a separate drive in WinUAE. Make sure you can boot WinUAE from the card when you have the CBLite copied to it, and then replace it in your Amiga, which should then boot to Classic Workbench Lite!

21 August 2009, 03:18	#3
vimfuego Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Melbourne / Australia Posts: 68	Thanks. Just one more question showing my Amiga noobness! On a PC if you were to just copy folders from one HD to another the programs would not run, is this not the case on the Amiga? If that is the situation then I suppose I could just copy all the folders within WinUAE with both the CF and Classic WB HDF file mounted? Cheers, Ross

21 August 2009, 08:54	#4
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	I think you can get errors because of the way windows handles files, you are best do do all the copying within winuae. Just use dopus in classic workbench under the emulator to manage your files.

21 August 2009, 10:58	#5
vimfuego Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Melbourne / Australia Posts: 68	Yeah, sorry what I meant was copying 'draws' within WinUAE from one Amiga HD to another using dopus, in other words no such thing as an Installer like you have on Windows to make programs run, just copy the directory and everything works?

21 August 2009, 12:31	#7
fitzsteve Professional slacker! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Kent, UK Age: 44 Posts: 6,683	Along the same lines as the OP... I had a go at this myself, I copied the contents of DH0 to my CF Card that was mounted as a directory in Winuae/ClassicWB this CF card is not partitioned or formatted on a real Amiga or even under emulation, its a standard fat formatted CF card. Winuae boots to ClassicWb ok if I select this as a drive in winuae, so will it boot on a real Amiga with a IDE-CF converter bearing in mind its a fat formatted CF? Thanks, Steve.

21 August 2009, 15:59	#10
Bloodwych Moderator Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: I'm behind you! Posts: 3,763	No problem Steve. Since you are having problems getting a RAM expansion, have you ever thought about using a PCMCIA card to add memory? It's not an ideal solution, as it would be 16bit rather than 32bit and therefore would come with a perfomance hit compared to expansion slot fastram, but it would allow you to run all WHDLoad games. You can also get CF->PCMCIA adaptors if an actual compatible PCMCIA ram card is hard to find. You can also use it to transfer files without opeining up your Amiga. Again, I'm not an expert in this field and I think the max you can add is 4MB, plus it can have conflicts with 8MB expansion memory (4MB expansion memory it works fine with) if you do find a trapdoor card in the future. That's because the PCMCIA and the expansion slot use the same address space for allocated fastram.

21 August 2009, 16:29	#12
Bloodwych Moderator Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: I'm behind you! Posts: 3,763	You're right - the access times would be too slow on a CF. You would need real PCMCIA memory, but those are rare.

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