AIAB r10.5 released - celebrating WinUAE v1.0

[jmbattle]

Hello,

>yes i have read this. its just one update.

Well, then I must apologise...

>how we can use aiab and amigasys together?

I wouldn't recommend it - it's probably preferably to have them installed side by side. I guess you could try adding the AmigaSYS hardfile to the AIAB setup and accessing the software this way, however I cannot guarantee any degree of success.

Cheers,
James

[Exoskeletor]

side by side? what do you mean? can i create a configuration for amigasys and one for aiab?

[jmbattle]

Yes, of course you can!

Indeed, you can have as many WinUAE folders floating around on your system as you wish, although I recommend giving them different names to avoid confusion...

AIAB's WinUAE configuration is intended to be portable, using relative pathnames; you should effectively be able to move the folder to any location - simply ensure you have a a WinUAE.exe executable in the same folder and a KS3.1 kick.rom in the 'Roms' directory, and start the emulator - it's as simple as that.

For example, I have a customised copy of AIAB on my keyring flash drive which uses this method, and as long as I have access to a USB equipped Windows PC, I can boot into my Amiga within a matter of seconds. Recent changes to WinUAE's registry settings may occasionally cause it to refer back to fixed, absolute paths, however simply clicking the 'Reset registry' button should restore everything.

Whilst integrating the numerous new features in this 'hisashiburi' AIAB update, I had numerous folders littering my desktop, each with different WinUAE betas and configuration files; some with PNG icons, some with GlowIcons, some without any icons at all (!) - if I was limited to one Amiga emulation installation, life would have been very difficult!

Take it easy,
James

[Methanoid]

Originally Posted by jmbattle

Methanoid, glad everything worked for you, and that Kickstart 3.0 is still compatible - I had visions of having to ask users for their Workbench 3.9 CDs (readily available, and undoubtedly obtained legally...)!

I'm also pleased that you managed to get over the fact that AIAB uses folders for harddrives, rather than .hdf files - by the way, what was with the 'I unarchived the LHA file or whatever and it makes dirs all over the PC' comment? Surely you realise that compression clients extract archives to the location you specify; this shouldn't be a problem unless you choose C:\ as the destination, and even then, all AIAB archives utilise the same 'WinUAE\..' folder path!

Err Yes, this was me beingh gobsmacked that it DIDNT use a HDF and before I managed to use it and see that it STILL worked!!!

I have no probs with the package size. Still a gazillion times smaller than even W95!!!! I think I need to have a play because although gorgeous these new Amiga desktops look almost like PCs. I kinda hanker for the clunky older and classic look, you know, WB3 with MagicWB.

I'd have been pleased with an online installer too. I'm also wondering if something with WB3.9 is also possible?

In any case I suspect once I have had good play and tried to get a BBS back up I will not care too much about the WB look but I did enjoy the look of horror on my daughters face when I said to her:

ME "At last, now I have junked Windows and we are running Amiga only"

HER "But what about the Net and MS Word and .... and.... [croak] ??"

ME "Amiga can do it all. I wiped Windows. Welcome to my world"

HER (shouting) "MUM...... MUM.... Dad's gone and wiped the PC... it's all weird"

Oh the fun of it....

[Exoskeletor]

how you have configure amistart? i have install amistart in amigasys and when i click the right mouse button the workbench crashes.

[jmbattle]

Methanoid, thanks for that little story about your daughter, how sweet

>I'm also wondering if something with WB3.9 is also possible?

Can you be more specific? What are you suggesting?

Exoskeletor, obviously AmiStart should not crash when clicking the right mouse button; might I suggest you contact the AmigaSys developers; they're more likely to be able to help you

Bloodwych, thanks for all of your positive words - I'm glad you appreciate my efforts to construct a consistent Amiga 'look'; any monkey can download software from Aminet, have a pop at installing it on an Amiga, and release their efforts as a distribution, however I like to think my package offers an extra level of polish with software blending together rather than appearing 'bolted on'.

Scalos is really improving in recent releases, and it's no secret that without Scalos the package wouldn't look half as pretty.

>And have you found any issues with this newer Scalos? Any older issues fixed? I’d love to know!

There are some rather frustrating issues with PNG icons that I desperately hope are addressed at some point, because my workarounds (which incidentally weren't terribly easy to come up with cleanly...) can only offer so much functionality. Tooltypes in some programs do not even get interpreted; this broke a considerable amount of software initially. Unfortunately, I expect Jurgen Lachman is more than a little sick of my persistent emails, asking for features to be added etc. - he's been worrying quiet of late...

> The install procedure – it says “in a moment you will be prompted for your workbench
>ADF”, but when you hit “return to begin…” it expects the disk to be present without
>asking for it!

Yes, this is just one of the cheap and nasty idiosyncracies of my 'copy files' installation script. If you take a look, you'll see that I need a method of executing script files, however due to the legal restrictions, we do not have access to the c:execute command, so I simply tell the Amiga to read it from the disk in DF0: I cannot think of a better way to achieve this; what were you expecting?

>Virus Checker – I really think you should include VirusZ III and the latest definition
>file, or update your page and have it as an application addon.

Is a Virus Checker really necessary? Would virus programmers really feel so motivate to write a virus that execues code both on the emulated Amiga side and on the host platform? Is this even possible?

>AmiStart – I don’t think it’s compatible with Workbench 3.0 ROM/disk.

Thanks, I need to confirm this, however without access to v3.0 a Kickstart/Workbench, this may rely on someone elses testing efforts.

Regarding my modified s:startup-sequence, yes, this has always been quite heavily customised compared to the original Workbench version; the latest update tweaks things slightly, but the changes are hardly dramatic. In terms of ensuring compatibility, a heavily modified startup-seqeuence perhaps isn't a good idea, however everything seems to work well together, and software I grab from Aminet usually works first time, 'out of the box', provided library dependancies are fulfilled.

Again, thanks for your positive feedback and suggestions - take it easy,
James

[Dary]

Originally Posted by Exoskeletor

how you have configure amistart? i have install amistart in amigasys and when i click the right mouse button the workbench crashes.

EXO , AmigaSYS Team not supported windows like start menu, your read to Amistart read me
Amistart need popupmenu lib 10 and wbstart.library and now great work in AmigaSYS 1.x or 2!

[Calo Nord]

Dary has right! We dont support any windows like startbar, because AmigaSYS still an Amiga OS, not WindowsXP! In my Opinion a startbar doesnt needed in AmigaSYS we are using MagicMenu and the right mouse button supports any orders and programs are needed!
AIAB was great 4 years ago! And the new release is quiet the same only some libraries where updated and the OS4like icons!
AmigaSYS will be never AIAB, and AIAB will never be AmigaSYS. they are completly different projects. AmigaSYS includes a full operating system with any needfull tools and programs, beautyful themes, OS3.9 support just for WinUAE.

[Methanoid]

Can we NOT degenerate an ANNOUNCEMENT about a new AIAB into a debate about the relative merits of AIAB, ClassicWB and AmigaSYS. All great things but different in their own ways!

[Calo Nord]

Yes! AIAB and ClassicWB are great stuffs, and can be used also on real Amiga! AmigaSYS is more komplex, and the Stuffs are included need more performance than any 68060+GraphicCard Amiga has

[jmbattle]

Well, as tempting as it might be to query these comments, please let's return to the subject in hand.

Bulldog, can you confirm that you are using both a Kickstart 3.1 ROM and Workbench 3.1? ADF? Without wishing to sound condescending, the two items are quite different.

Thanks,
James

[Bloodwych]

James, thanks for the detailed responses, much appreciated. I’ve just seen your post about bugs on the official AIAB forum which also helped answer my question.

The prompting for the disk remark, I just thought you could perhaps word the initial request differently so the user knows they have to insert the disk at that moment before hitting return. Something like "Please insert your Workbench 3.0/3.1 disk now" followed by the normal "Press Return to Begin".

As for the virus checker, I see your point. It is useful however to scan WHDload packs, software, lzx archives and ADF collections. It’ll also detect any contained in software that comes from unknown sources that may be download and installed in AIAB. Viruses are still quite prevalent in retro software collections - I’ve found several myself whilst scanning my Workbench setup.

The definition file was last updated late 2004 so even now people are discovering new (or should I say old) threats when running in Amiga software in UAE.

Just trying to offer some suggestions and feedback.

[jmbattle]

Bloodwych, I'll change the startup text right now - thanks for your suggestions.

Actually, folks often ask why I 'stopped' updating AIAB, and believe it or not, one reason was simply a lack of ideas; it got to the point where I would sit down and think 'Okay, what can I do to improve things for the next release?' At that time, I seldom received bugreports or suggestions for new features - I guess AIAB reached perfection, lol!

Then weeks and months passed, and folks began to query when a new update would be released - I always replied with a promise to upload something 'within the month'; despite not having anything new to upload! Such apathy remained for years (!), leading the community to pronounce AIAB as 'dead'. Another project called AmigaSYS came along, and everyone jumped on the 'new package' bandwagon; lauding the completeness of the installation, yet even this wasn't enough to bring me out of 'retirement' (so to speak).

Finally, Toni announced plans to push towards a v1.0 release of WinUAE; after a lenthy beta testing period a date was set, giving me a month or so to dust off the AIAB archives providing the motivation to work on an update. I hope folks appreciate the considerable improvements - even if their ignorance leads them to believe the contents of changelog.txt is just 'some libraries where updated and the OS4like icons!' (sic.).

Anyway, I'm rambling...
Cheers,
James

[fisken uno]

I've tried the update now and it's very very nice. Although I tend to feel at times that it looks like my old setup for win98 Even the CLI shell looks like a dos prompt, but I guess that's a matter of taste The menu bar is soooo nice though

All in all Great job! I wouldn't want to say any of these pre-installed packages are better than the others. ClassicWB, AmigaSYS and AIAB are all good in their own ways. I keep em all side by side.

[jmbattle]

>...Although I tend to feel at times that it looks like my old setup for win98...

Gosh, please don't say that! Seriously though, which elements of the UI (other than the black shell) remind you of Win98?

James

[jmbattle]

Just a quick post to confirm that AmiStart is not working with kickstart 3.0. This may be intention from the developer, however there is little reason why it should not work.

I'll ask Darius if support for KS3.0 can be added.

Cheers,
James

ps. Bug list in AIAB forum updated...

[Oryp]

All I can say is, Well done James. I love it!
I have been following AIAB for the past few releases, and they only get better and better!
I wish I could get my hands on OS 3.9. I can't find a reliable source here in the states, and I refuse to buy anything off Ebay.

[jmbattle]

Thanks for your kind words, I'm glad you find my little package useful

Regarding OS3.9 however, are you using a 'real' Amiga or UAE? In my opinion, unless you require the kickstart updates for newer hardware, there aren't that many reasons to upgrade to OS3.5/3.9, other than the Reaction GUI functionality (please correct me if I'm wrong...). As you may notice, OS3.1 can still look rather impressive, provided some thought goes into creating a modern UI appearance etc.

Cheers,
James

[BullDuck]

yes I've used kick and wb 3.1 and I still can't get the startmenu, I don't know what's wrong? In the old aiab there was no problem for me to get the start menu. Do I have to use some of the old files?

[mr_0rga5m]

"AIAB is the f*cking tits! ;}"

er? ... Strange thing to see on a screenshot .. heh