AmigaOS 3.2 and beyond

[Minuous]

Originally Posted by Bruce Abbott

No they didn't. OS3.5 was a boondoggle - the Amiga equivalent of Windows ME. Which is why to forward we had to go 'back' to 3.1.4.

The only reason development had to start from 3.1 again is because the 3.9 sources were not available. And much of the work has involved redoing what H&P already did for the 3.5 and 3.9 versions.

[digitalMedic]

Disappointed that the CyberGfx developer has not been willing to assist in this. I know that Thomas said he could not make a P96 driver for the CybervisionPPC card because he does not have one to work with, so I am willing to lend my card to one of the developers if it would help make a P96 driver for the AmigaOS. This would allow us to move on from CyberGfx.

[loonsta]

I’ve also offered loan of my Blizzard PPC and BVision to Thomas so he can develop P96 driver for it. I’ll need to ship it from Australia though. So I think he’s waiting for covid situation to dissipate more..

Originally Posted by digitalMedic

Disappointed that the CyberGfx developer has not been willing to assist in this. I know that Thomas said he could not make a P96 driver for the CybervisionPPC card because he does not have one to work with, so I am willing to lend my card to one of the developers if it would help make a P96 driver for the AmigaOS. This would allow us to move on from CyberGfx.

[PurpleMelbourne]

Originally Posted by loonsta

I’ve also offered loan of my Blizzard PPC and BVision to Thomas so he can develop P96 driver for it. I’ll need to ship it from Australia though. So I think he’s waiting for covid situation to dissipate more..

You can ship it from here to Germany without problems except post is very slow right now due to reduced shipping, so probably best use FedEx or some other courier company to make sure it goes by cargo plane and not a row boat.

[duga]

Originally Posted by coder76

Bruce is right here. But I'm not sure if it makes sense to target a 7 MHz 68000 here, as OS 3.x was designed for AGA chipset. And that means 68020 is the minimum here. Does AmigaOS 3.0-3.1 even run on an A500 with 1 MB of memory? In any case no AGA features can be used on OCS/ECS machines.

2 MB is the general recommendation for 3.1.4. But if you have 3.1.4 in EPROM you can boot with as little as 1 MB, even though 1.5 MB is recommended.

[gulliver]

BTW if you are interested:

AmigaOS 3.1.4(.1) Release Notes are out + polish, greek and russian locales too.
They are on Hyperion's web site.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by coder76

But I'm not sure if it makes sense to target a 7 MHz 68000 here, as OS 3.x was designed for AGA chipset. And that means 68020 is the minimum here.

OS 3.0/3.1 doesn't use a 68020. It was only for OS 3.5 and 3.9 that that requirement came in, and that was loaded from hard drive. The Kickstart still contained only 68000 code. The reason for the additional requirements was that these versions of the OS were specifically aimed at higher spec Amigas. It was still the tail end of people using Amigas in a non-retro sense - many users at that stage had either moved on to other platforms or had upgraded their machines. There were very few stock machines still in use.

Does AmigaOS 3.0-3.1 even run on an A500 with 1 MB of memory? In any case no AGA features can be used on OCS/ECS machines.

Yes, they very much do. 3.1 was, and still is, sold as an upgrade for OCS and ECS machines.

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

The Kickstart still contained only 68000 code.

Nope. Some 3.1 components in 3.1 were 68020 only code for the A1200. If I recall correctly, the utility.library was such a corner case, and the scsi.device, too. Not consistently, though.

[duga]

From the bootmenu 3.1.4(.1) release notes:
"- As ECS cannot display a 640x200/640x256 screen in 31kHz, removed the Dbl modes now for ECS."


How about using custom screenmode instead, or perhaps Euro 72 Productivity (VGAOnly) 640x400 - 31.43 KHz?

Sure, 400 lines instead of 200/256, but better the wrong resolution than no picture at all. Now I'm assuming that ECS can do the same as AGA regarding 31.43 KHz for Euro 72 Productivity as mentioned here: https://wiki.amigaos.net/wiki/AmigaO...bench_Monitors

Wanted to test this on my A500 but was reminded it has only a OCS Denise.

[malko]

Originally Posted by gulliver

BTW if you are interested:
AmigaOS 3.1.4(.1) Release Notes are out + polish, greek and russian locales too.
They are on Hyperion's web site.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

Nope. Some 3.1 components in 3.1 were 68020 only code for the A1200. If I recall correctly, the utility.library was such a corner case, and the scsi.device, too. Not consistently, though.

Ah, fair enough, but there were still 68000 versions included in the ROMs for 68000 machines, so 3.1 Kickstart still runs fine on 68000s.

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

Ah, fair enough, but there were still 68000 versions included in the ROMs for 68000 machines, so 3.1 Kickstart still runs fine on 68000s.

Again, this statement is wrong in this generality. A 3.1 A1200 Kickstart will not run on an 68000. It requires a 68020 (or 68EC020).

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

Again, this statement is wrong in this generality. A 3.1 A1200 Kickstart will not run on an 68000. It requires a 68020 (or 68EC020).

The intended meaning was clear enough unless you didn't want it to be. If I change it to "so a 3.1 Kickstart still runs fine on 68000s", does that satisfy your desire for specificity?

[daxb]

Maybe I had already requested this. RexxMast includes hard coded console window settings. Used by TCO for example. Would be nice to have a better solution like tooltype, env variable, argument or whatever fits to set CON: settings. Usually we have to hack RexxMast to set a proper CON:.

ARexx TRACE output to CON: is truncated after a limited line length. It is not so good for analysing code and/or data. Some more chars would be nice or a word wrap at the end of window border.

[falken]

With the new version 3.2 will Kickstart be new, or will 3.1.4 be maintained?

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by Daedalus

The intended meaning was clear enough unless you didn't want it to be. If I change it to "so a 3.1 Kickstart still runs fine on 68000s", does that satisfy your desire for specificity?

No, because its wrong. A A1200 3.1 Kickstart does not run on an 68000. As stated. Some 3.1 Kickstarts do, but not all.

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

No, because its wrong. A A1200 3.1 Kickstart does not run on an 68000. As stated. Some 3.1 Kickstarts do, but not all.

So there is a 3.1 Kickstart that still runs fine on 68000s? Thank you for confirming.

[amigo1]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

No, because its wrong. A A1200 3.1 Kickstart does not run on an 68000. As stated. Some 3.1 Kickstarts do, but not all.

What Daedalus is saying here is: (in general) a 3.1 Kickstart (for a A500, A2000, A600) still works fine on a 68000.

i.e.

Kickstart 3.1 works fine on 68000, there is no need for a 68020 to use Kickstart 3.1. Of course you need the ROM-chip for your specific machine, e.g. you can not install a Kickstart 3.1 Amiga 1200 ROM in an Amiga 2000 and expect it to work.

edit: @Daedalus it took me 4 minutes to write this post!

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by amigo1

What Daedalus is saying here is: (in general) a 3.1 Kickstart (for a A500, A2000, A600) still works fine on a 68000.

i.e.

Kickstart 3.1 works fine on 68000, there is no need for a 68020 to use Kickstart 3.1. Of course you need the ROM-chip for your specific machine, e.g. you can not install a Kickstart 3.1 Amiga 1200 ROM in an Amiga 2000 and expect it to work.

How hard is it to get this: NO!



Once again, for the sake of avoidance of any doubt: If you would burn a 3.1 A1200 kickstart, in a physical ROM that would fit into an A2000, it would not work there. There are ROM components in an A1200 Kickstart that require a 68020 or 68EC020.

[amigo1]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

Once again, for the sake of avoidance of any doubt: If you would burn a 3.1 A1200 kickstart, in a physical ROM that would fit into an A2000, it would not work there. There are ROM components in an A1200 Kickstart that require a 68020 or 68EC020.

Oh dear!

If you care, please re-read what I wrote. If you really think the statement differs from what you wrote, I really have even more respect for your achievements as you must have read the ROM Kernel Manuals and understood them.

How hard is it to get this: NO!

If I was trying to be stubborn now, I could misunderstand you in such a way as to assert you are telling us Kickstart 3.1 does not work on A500, A2000, A600.
Which means:
How comes the nicely packaged "Commodore (Village Tronic) AmigaOS 3.1" for Amiga 2000 I have in my possession works on said machine?