AIAB vs Classic workbench - what's different?

[Bamiga2002]

Is this comparable to AIAB-packages?

[Bamiga2002]

Oh these are for REAL Amigas if im not mistaken. AIAB is for WinUAE (can be made working with real amigas too )

[fisken uno]

Originally Posted by Bamiga2002

Oh these are for REAL Amigas if im not mistaken. AIAB is for WinUAE (can be made working with real amigas too )

Hmm? Bloodwych's ClassicWB works absolutely great with WinUAE... Yes, you could say it's comparable to AIAB, but better AFAIK AIAB doesn't work too well with real Amigas though. Bloodwych's thing, on the other hand, works well on both. Or rather I assume it does, I've never tried it on the real thing but I've understood that the real thing is the primary target for it. It's great and we all love Bloodwych for putting love and affection into this

[Bloodwych]

Thanks Fisk, nice of you to jump in and offer some support.

All the info to your questions Bamiga is already in the first post and linked readme files. If you do a search on EAB for “ClassicWB” you’ll see even more comments. Since this thread is meant to bring all details together I’ll have another rant.

AIAB exploits the power available in Amiga emulators that have the benefit of lightening fast JIT CPU’s and P96 graphics card support allowing it to offer an eye candy workbench upgraded to the max. AIAB is an excellent example of just how far a Workbench 3 setup can be upgraded, all other concerns put aside. It won’t run on real Amiga’s unless you’ve got some serious high end hardware (Towered 040/060 with extra Graphics card) or willing to do some major degrading of it’s features. It also has very little extra software installed and a definite no if you decide to run on a TV set or similar low res monitor.

ClassicWB is an all-in-one solution for a range of real standard Amiga setups using TV sets or monitors. Performance on 68020 14MHz processors and native Amiga video hardware (ECS/AGA chipset) was primary concern, as was a method of allowing it to be installed (ZIP File). Also it tries to remain very close to the original workbench in terms of feel. It has all the software I’d consider an Amiga user to require set-up for maximum ease of use, which is why the packages are so large. Just add games, mods and demos!

As fisk said, there is of course nothing stopping you from using ClassicWB in an emulator – I do and it feels more “authentic” to me and no constant automatic screen mode swapping. Paradox of the situation is that due to the way emulators work, AIAB will feel faster on an emulator than the ClassicWB for anything that doesn’t use the Amiga’s native graphics chips. This is due to AIAB accessing your PC graphics card (using P96 software) in order to draw the display rather than relying on the emulated Amiga’s graphics hardware, which takes extra power.

That’s why there is a P96 version of the ClassicWB available, link and further info in the opening post, adapted for emulators and running in a similar environment to AIAB. I still prefer using the Classic WB ADV in WinUAE however as it’s what I’ve got on my real Amiga.

[Marcuz]

James, the author of AIAB did a great work on it, but the installation is now almost 2 years old now and it lacks of updating and bug-tuning (apart of the help on its forum). On the other hand here is a package that even if it is (was) intended to work on the real machine, or maybe for this reason, runs almost perfectly on winuae and it helps to play quite flawlessly whdload stuff.
for this reason, Classic WB has become the base i use for all the hd installed games and program ii use on winuae, taking the place of AIAB, that, i repeat it, it's still a great piece of software

[Bloodwych]

Thanks for those comments Marco. Agree completely, as I've already said AIAB is an excellent setup. Of course the beauty of emulation is that you can run both and keep your games & demos in separate HDF's or mounted PC directories.