Amiga questions you've always been too embarrassed to ask

[nogginthenog]

My local library had a Sinclair QL assembler book. The QL used a 68008 CPU which from the programmers point of view it's identical to the 68000.

The 68k is definitely one of the easiest assembler dialects to learn. I've written code for 68k, 6809, Z80 and a little SH4, MIPS & ARM. Never touched x86, that's nasty!

[Leffmann]

Originally Posted by Jackoland

How on earth did teenagers in their bedrooms learn to code assembly. I find it impossible to learn this language. It looks like gobbledygook. I get to a point and I think I'm understanding and then something else crops up to confuse me. How did they do it!

I learned the first steps on the C64 and Amiga from an Atari scener, Mega/Sync, and picked up a lot from coding tutorials in magazines, and looking and experimenting with other people's code.

[E-Penguin]

How can I find out the version of Workbench (not Kickstart)? I don't know whether the OS installed on my latest purchase is OS 2.04 or OS 2.1.

[Amiga1992]

typing "version" on the CLI will give you Kickstart and Workbench version.

[Daedalus]

Yep, and the release versions are 37.x for 2.04/2.05 and 38.x for 2.1.

Also, locale support was introduced first with 2.1, so if you have a Locale: assign it would be an indication that 2.1 or higher is installed.

[s2325]

Is it finger inside Putty? http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ToFzNIn8Cw...(Amiga)_02.jpg Title screen have different pose.

[Locutus]

Originally Posted by s2325

Is it finger inside Putty? http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ToFzNIn8Cw...(Amiga)_02.jpg Title screen have different pose.

Why do you think it pulls that expression?

[Supamax]

Originally Posted by Locutus

Why do you think it pulls that expression?

[s2325]

Is there a story behind this big creepy museum keeper from Waxworks?

[lordofchaos]

Q. Can bitmaps and sound data be stored in the Amiga's fast RAM?

[idrougge]

Stored, yes, but not played back or displayed. With sound data, you can possibly stream it piece by piece from fast into chip.

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by lordofchaos

Q. Can bitmaps and sound data be stored in the Amiga's fast RAM?

Yes and no.

If you don't use the custom chips, sure, no Chip RAM needed. Like, if you are using RTG.

If you use the custom chips, yes and no. I think what you would have to do for them to be played/displayed is stream them to Chip RAM. But if you want a better , technical response, someone else will have to reply.
In any case, you still need Chip RAM to output them. And if you are streaming from Fast RAM, probably an accelerated CPU.

[edit] idrougge beat me to it.

[lordofchaos]

@idrougge, @Akira. Thanks, I think I get it. Usually with Amiga, a small caveat can be found.

[BippyM]

Although the trade off would probably not be worth storing chip specific data in fast ram.

Maybe a game would work if it spools the data and is well written like SWIV

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by BippyM

Although the trade off would probably not be worth storing chip specific data in fast ram.

If the system is fast enough to do the streaming, there are huge advantages to do it. You could store a lot of graphic data that is accessible almost/basically instantaneously, like an arcade machine/console.

We discussed it here: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=87502
I don't think it's been done in that way yet.

Eagleplayer or Protracker can load sample data in Fast RAM, and there must be other examples.

[BippyM]

I have been away for too long. Lots of catch up to be done.. I'm on it 😎

Originally Posted by Akira

If the system is fast enough to do the streaming, there are huge advantages to do it. You could store a lot of graphic data that is accessible almost/basically instantaneously, like an arcade machine/console.

We discussed it here: http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=87502
I don't think it's been done in that way yet.

Eagleplayer or Protracker can load sample data in Fast RAM, and there must be other examples.

Are plipboxes the best/cheapest option for internet usage on an Amiga?

[Predseda]

Originally Posted by Raion-Fox

Are plipboxes the best/cheapest option for internet usage on an Amiga?

It depends which Amiga you are talking about. If A500, I would suppose plipbox is a good solution. If A600 or A1200, PCMCIA LAN card is MUCH faster. Not talking about big amigas.

[Supamax]

This is not exclusively Amiga-related but:
does it exist a SSD with EIDE/PATA interface?
Perhaps some old model?

Or are they all SATA?

[Daedalus]

Yep, there were some with PATA interfaces, though most are SATA these days. Still, you can get some specialist SSDs with PATA, described as Disks On Modules (DOMs), which should work fine in Amigas.