Amiga questions you've always been too embarrassed to ask

[slaapliedje]

I have been meaning to get System V on my Atari TT030 for some time now. Just need to find the time, mostly been playing with my A4000 though.

[Viceroy]

It's probably been asked before but what is the best way to play a CD32 game on WinUAE when you have for example, a folder with the Iso, cue and the Cd audio tracks in, I want to try out Lotus Trilogy CD32, but want to hear the Cd audio tracks?

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Viceroy

It's probably been asked before but what is the best way to play a CD32 game on WinUAE when you have for example, a folder with the Iso, cue and the Cd audio tracks in, I want to try out Lotus Trilogy CD32, but want to hear the Cd audio tracks?

cue. Always choose cue if available. cue describes CD layout (which track is which file etc). iso = single data track.

[Viceroy]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

cue. Always choose cue if available. cue describes CD layout (which track is which file etc). iso = single data track.

Cheers toni I'll give that a try tonight ;-)

[Viceroy]

That worked perfect Toni, it played the CD audio perfect, many thanks ;-)

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by slaapliedje

Edit: is it me or do does double spacing basically triple space on the forum software now?

It's not just you. To avoid this, click on the switch editor mode button to disable wysiwyg mode.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by slaapliedje

Edit: is it me or do does double spacing basically triple space on the forum software now?

New Posts Notifications & Double Lines Issue

[slaapliedje]

Originally Posted by meynaf

It's not just you. To avoid this, click on the switch editor mode button to disable wysiwyg mode.

Test

Maybe this works for not doing double-double line spacing?
Edit: Thanks!! There was another forum that must have added that same thing (I think it was Atari Age?).

[lifeschool]

This has probably been asked before, but is it possible to swap the Chip Ram chips inside the Amiga, or the ram chips in a trapdoor, and get more ram. For example, can I install a 2MB agnus into an A500 and desolder/replace the RAM chips, for an uprated spec? Maybe a bit faster? Or does the speed of the chip ram have to be a set Ns.

With the trapdoor, I was wondering the same, or if I replace 1MB Simms with 4MB, will it work?

[demolition]

You cannot swap the chip mem chips in the Amiga to increase the memory size or speed. Higher capacity chips have more pins since they need more address pins, so they can obviously not be compatible. The same goes for the trapdoor expansion (maybe unless it is a very special one that was designed for it, but I haven't seen that).

If you have one of the later A500 that has an A500+ board (Rev. 8) then you will see that only half of the chip mem is populated on the MB. Here you can install those missing chips along with couple of logic chips and upgrade your board from 512 kB to 1 MB and with 1 MB in the trapdoor get to 2MB. But those boards already have the 2MB Agnus.

The 2MB 8375 Agnus is also not pin compatible with the 1MB Agnus, so if you have a rev. 6 A500 that you want to take to 2MB chip, then you need something like this, this or this.

[mik3d3nch]

I downloaded a tracker but it has no instruments! How can I find and load them? I'm using Amiga Forever so any downloads will be in the Windows folder and I need to know how to move them into SoundFX or Multi-media Sound as its now called. I tried to drag and drop the original SoundFX file to the Amiga window and it wouldnt do it.

[daxb]

What tracker? Usually there is a "load sample" button or similar. To load a sample into SoundFX use menu "Project -> Load" or the disk like button on the main GUI or keyboard "Amiga + L".

[mik3d3nch]

Thanks daxb. I've been so long away from Ami software that I forgot how to access the menus on the top bar! Found it by the usual method of trying every thing I could think of and finally remembered about using the mouse buttons.

Okay. BUT how can I import songs to get more instruments? Theres only one demo song supplied and its mostly percussion. If I knew what to look for (MOD's?) and download them how do I get them into the program or where the program can find them?

I'm very rusty so please excuse what is probably a dumb question.

[studio460]

Hopefully this thread gets read! Here's my dumb question since I just bought an A1200 from the EU and it didn't even occur to me that there were in fact NTSC and PAL Amigas. So, what's the difference? As far as I could tell:

• There's an NTSC Agnus and a PAL Agnus (looking for an NTSC Agnus).
• I assume the composite video circuit is different.
• I assume the RF-modulator is different.

So, since composite video and an RF-modulator isn't needed on my ScanJuggler-equipped A1200, am I able to simply swap Agnus chips and then I would instantly have an "NTSC Amiga?"

[daxb]

Originally Posted by mik3d3nch

Okay. BUT how can I import songs to get more instruments? Theres only one demo song supplied and its mostly percussion. If I knew what to look for (MOD's?) and download them how do I get them into the program or where the program can find them?

Please tell what program do you refer to. SoundFX is just an sample editor/processor. It cannot handle songs/modules. For tracker programs like Protracker (mod., .mod), Octamed (.med, .mmd, ...), Digibooster (.dbm), aso. you can load such songs with "Load Module". Instruments (samples) are loaded with "Load Sample" or "Load Instrument". The internet is full of modules and samples. Aminet for example.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by studio460

I just bought an A1200 from the EU and it didn't even occur to me that there were in fact NTSC and PAL Amigas. So, what's the difference? As far as I could tell:

• There's an NTSC Agnus and a PAL Agnus (looking for an NTSC Agnus).

Yes, on the early Amigas. The A1200 doesn't have an Agnus though (it has Alice instead), and the later Agnus chips and Alice chips support both PAL and NTSC.

• I assume the composite video circuit is different.
• I assume the RF-modulator is different.

Indeed, aside from the fundamental differences (PAL=50Hz with 256 lines, NTSC=60Hz with 200 lines), composite colour is encoded differently, so using PAL composite on an NTSC display or vice versa will give a black & white image. The modulator uses the composite signal so the same applies.

So, since composite video and an RF-modulator isn't needed on my ScanJuggler-equipped A1200, am I able to simply swap Agnus chips and then I would instantly have an "NTSC Amiga?"

Not quite. The main clock frequency of the Amiga determines the pixel clock, and so to properly convert the Amiga and get the exact timing, you also need to swap the oscillator.

However, on Amigas where the Agnus or Alice supports both PAL and NTSC, it's possible to switch between them in software, and it will be more or less correct. This won't change the colour encoding of the composite signal, but it changes 50/60Hz and the vertical resolution, which is enough for most purposes. On the A1200 you can simply select a PAL or NTSC screenmode in the Workbench preferences, or use the early startup menu (hold down both mouse buttons on boot) to select PAL or NTSC operation.

Kickstart 1.3 I'm less certain about. It doesn't have an early startup menu so I think the only way to switch modes is with a hardware mod.

[slaapliedje]

To add to this, but less relevant since he has an A1200, but the A4000 has a PAL/NTSC jumper. I just leave it on PAL since most games were written for it.

[studio460]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Not quite . . .

Wow! Another terrific post! Thank you! So . . .

• A1000: Both hardware and firmware differences exist between NTSC/PAL Amiga A1000s (i.e., Agnus).
• Later Amigas' Agnus/Alice chips and Kickstarts are soft-switchable, but native oscillator determines NTSC- or PAL-clock (only relevant for video-hardware integration; e.g., genlock).
• A4000: Jumper-switchable (is oscillator still native NTSC/PAL, or is it also switched?).

[studio460]

Originally Posted by slaapliedje

To add to this, but less relevant since he has an A1200 . . . I just leave it on PAL since most games were written for it.

Thanks for your post! Yes, less relevant for my A1200, but still has some minor downsides? (i.e., PAL systems are less likely to display on run-of-the-mill multisync monitors due to their lower 50Hz-refresh?)

[NLS]

Not true. Multi-sync monitors are usually fine with 25/50Hz.

PAL is better as you see more lines. So software for PAL works properly only on PAL.
Software for NTSC, still works for PAL, although a tiny bit slower (if programmed based on screen refresh) AND has a big empty bar on the bottom of the screen (the missing lines).
Unfortunately all Europeans suffered this discrepancy, because even programs for PAL many times didn't utilize the extra pixels (even in Europe) so that USA can see the game properly and the companies don't have to resize the graphics (that are bitmaps).

Even shell, for us Europeans when booting starts with a window up to 200 lines (I think 3.0 fixed this although I am not sure right now and bored to check). So the most common view for us in Europe, is that shell window when booting, that has a huge empty space (like 1/5 of the screen) below it.
My OCD self, mechanically resized it when booting, even though it was open just for a few seconds.
There were utilities later, to auto-resize it to full screen in startup-sequence.