Amiga questions you've always been too embarrassed to ask

[Flimbo]

This is a great thread. I aim to pad my questions out over a few weeks so that the board don't find out I am an idiot

When I boot games in WHDLOAD on my 1200 the PRINTSCREEN button doesn't exit me from the game. Is this a common issue? I worry that my keyboard is defective because I I also can't do a soft reset.

[Nightshft]

Originally Posted by Flimbo

When I boot games in WHDLOAD on my 1200 the PRINTSCREEN button doesn't exit me from the game. Is this a common issue? I worry that my keyboard is defective because I I also can't do a soft reset.

- It should work. Having an 68020+ cpu the quitkey works quite well and reliable (AFAIK)

- Test your keyboard. Keir Fraser's Testkit (system test program) is very good and nice for this task.

- You can change the quitkey in the program icons tooltype. For example: "quitkey = $59" would set it to F10 as this is the rawkey code for this key.

- You can change the quitkey also globally by editing WHDLoad.prefs in the S: directory. Put the same quitkey command in there. Note that tooltypes override global settings.

- I had a few malfunctioning keys on my A600 keyboard and also couldn't do a reset by keyboard. The keyboard membrane connector was damaged (happens quite often). Repair attempts only helped temporarily. I bought a new membrane (from the UK) and it's not cheap but the keyboard is like new. Heavily recommend it if that's the cause.

Originally Posted by Flimbo

I aim to pad my questions out over a few weeks so that the board don't find out I am an idiot

We all do

[-Acid-]

When setting up P96 screens in P96mode there are a couple of tick boxes that are labelled Sync Polarity. I think I read these are something to do with sending old Crt's a signal to ignore default resolutions, but what I want to know is does this setting have any effect on modern LCD/LED displays? It doesn't seem to but thought I would ask anyway.

[Thomas Richter]

The boxes do exactly what they say: They change the polarity of the sync signal. That is it. What the monitor does about it is the job of the monitor. Some old fix-frequency monitors completely out of fashion nowadays may require a particular choice of the polarity. Modern monitors don't.

A modern multisync monitor will have multiple "slots" for storing resolutions and adjustments, such as the phase adjustment to ensure a clear picture. A monitor may distinguish various input modes it gets by the timing of the signal, but also by the polarity of the sync pulses. Thus, if there are two modes whose timing is otherwise identical (such as a 800x600 and 800x300 mode plus double-scan generation), and you need two different settings at the monitor to apply, it may help the monitor to distinguish the modes if the sync polarity is different. Thus, the polarity *can help* the monitor to tell modes apart.

Whether you want that, and whether it works this way... well. Up to you, and up to the monitor.

[demolition]

Originally Posted by -Acid-

When setting up P96 screens in P96mode there are a couple of tick boxes that are labelled Sync Polarity. I think I read these are something to do with sending old Crt's a signal to ignore default resolutions, but what I want to know is does this setting have any effect on modern LCD/LED displays?

It shouldn't matter on modern displays as they can detect which sync polarity is used and adapt accordingly. Analog displays had simpler circuits which were either hardwired to a specific sync polarity or on advanced monitors it could be set with buttons. Whether a system used positive or negative sync signals were basically random but sometimes there were political reasons for the choice, i.e. to force incompatibility with existing monitors from competing systems so the customer needed to buy a special one, despite the frequencies being perfectly compatible.

[-Acid-]

thanks for clearing that up for me lads

[Ami]

Lame question:

Can I upgrade A500 rev6 with an true fast memory and how?

[rabidgerry]

@Daedalus
@-Acid-

Thanks for the setpatch answer.

I hear people talking about it on various thread etc. Can you make it do stuff you want/need/require?

[Lektroid]

If I want a driver or program to load when the amiga starts up, how do I go about this? I presume I put the file in a system folder, which one?

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by rabidgerry

I hear people talking about it on various thread etc. Can you make it do stuff you want/need/require?

It depends on what you're thinking of and what version of Setpatch it is. Most of thefunctions are automated, but there are some switches that can be used to modify its behaviour. In particular, the OS 3.9 Setpatch has a large number of options. Best bet is to read up on the particular version you're using. Additionally, as with most AmigaDOS commands, you can also get a list of the acceptable switches by running it in a Shell followed by the ? character. It won't describe what the options do, but often they're reasonably well named.

Originally Posted by Lektroid

If I want a driver or program to load when the amiga starts up, how do I go about this? I presume I put the file in a system folder, which one?

There are a few ways of doing this. You can add the program to the WBStartup drawer in your system partition. This will get executed by Workbench as if you double-clicked it when it first starts. You might need to adjust some tooltypes to get it to start silently. The next most common method is to add an entry to the S:Startup-sequence file. This will get executed before Workbench starts, and execution takes place as if it was run manually from the Shell. Other programs might have more specific requirements - some drivers or patches will only work properly if they're added at a specific position in the S:Startup-sequence file, but this will be detailed in their documentation.

[TroyWilkins]

Originally Posted by Lektroid

If I want a driver or program to load when the amiga starts up, how do I go about this? I presume I put the file in a system folder, which one?

Originally Posted by Daedalus

There are a few ways of doing this. You can add the program to the WBStartup drawer in your system partition. This will get executed by Workbench as if you double-clicked it when it first starts. You might need to adjust some tooltypes to get it to start silently. The next most common method is to add an entry to the S:Startup-sequence file. This will get executed before Workbench starts, and execution takes place as if it was run manually from the Shell. Other programs might have more specific requirements - some drivers or patches will only work properly if they're added at a specific position in the S:Startup-sequence file, but this will be detailed in their documentation.

Just to expand a little on the response from Daedalus, who has given a great response:
It depends on what it is and how it's started, as well as what it needs. Easiest way to determine the appropriate place to put it I think is this, does it have an icon, or is it started from a CLI?
If it has an icon, pop it in WBStartup and make sure it has the DONOTWAIT tooltype.
If it doesn't have an icon, it's probably best added to the end of the S:User-Startup text file.

But of course, if at all possible, best to read the documentation for the program you're trying to add. Some may need to be in run early in the S:Startup-sequence text file, before SetPatch, some may need to have > NIL: after the command, but if any of this applies, it should state so in the installation section of the documentation.

It also depends, are we talking about 1.x Kickstart/Workbench, or a later version, as 1.x is very different in this regard.

[rabidgerry]

Here is a question,

Are Amiga 1200 and Amiga 500 keys interchangeable?

As in could you harvest keys from and A500 keyboard and put them on and A1200 keyboard with missing keys?

[Daedalus]

There are two types of A500 keyboard. The newer types has compatible keycaps with the A1200 keyboard (and most Amiga keyboards except the early ones). The colours probably won't match, and if you have an ANSI keyboard (with the larger Enter key), that key might not fit.

My main classic machine has an A2000 keyboard fitted with the stems and keycaps of an A1200 keyboard. Works fine, has a slightly lower profile as a results of swapping the stems, and the near-white on beige look is actually kinda nice.

[Lektroid]

Here's another... Are the blank A600/1200 keys ever used?

[ajk]

The blank keys have symbols on them in most layouts, e.g. French, German, Swedish/Finnish etc. The US layout doesn't have them at all, instead the shift and enter keys are larger and take up that space. You can still assign functions to them in the UK layout, too.

[Jope]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

There are two types of A500 keyboard.

Actually three keyboard styles were available. NMB, Samsung, Mitsumi. The Mitsumi style A500 keyboard is the most common and is mechanically compatible with the A1200 keyboard.

The A1200 only came with Mitsumi keyboards.

[matburton]

Dumb question...

Are the actual drives in Amiga external drive enclosures also always Shugart drives in the same way as the drives used for DF0?
i.e. the same except for having a face plate attached?

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Jope

Actually three keyboard styles were available. NMB, Samsung, Mitsumi.

Ah yes, that rings a bell now. I don't think I've ever seen an NMB keyboard in the wild, but I presume they were also early in the A500 life cycle?

Originally Posted by matburton

Are the actual drives in Amiga external drive enclosures also always Shugart drives in the same way as the drives used for DF0?
i.e. the same except for having a face plate attached?

Yep, external drives are generally internal drives with faceplates and a small additional adaptor board that latches the motor signal. When I first put my A1200 in a tower case, I simply used the mechanism from an external floppy drive as DF0: so that it would have a faceplate.

[rabidgerry]

Do I have an MMU?

Is it something built into the CPU? So it will be in my A1200 020 or my 030 on my accelerator card?

[Jope]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Ah yes, that rings a bell now. I don't think I've ever seen an NMB keyboard in the wild, but I presume they were also early in the A500 life cycle?

Yeps, basically in 1987 for the first months of production. I'm not sure if I've ever seen one in a 1988 machine.