Amiga questions you've always been too embarrassed to ask

[Gorf]

Originally Posted by idrougge

Do it to the shell icon.

And you should change the handler for the shell of course:
On your shell icon, change the tool-type from CON: to KCON:
and then you save.

[Mikerochip]

Thanks idrougge! So, does that mean, once I've installed KingCON, it replaced the shell? Or do I need to type that command the readme says every time I start the shell?

[Mikerochip]

Originally Posted by Gorf

And you should change the handler for the shell of course:
On your shell icon, change the tool-type from CON: to KCON:
and then you save.

Ah. This is what I am missing. Thanks.

[ajk]

Also remember that "leaving out" an icon isn't making a shortcut, it's leaving out the actual file. So if you no longer want it on the workbench at some point, don't delete it, use "put away".

[khph_re]

How would you go about making an actual shortcut? I have my demo's organised by group, but I'd also like other folders organised by year/chip set.

[ajk]

Workbench doesn't really have a provision for shortcuts in the sense that Windows does. You can create soft links using the command line interface and the MakeLink command, but it's not something I've used often, so you'll have to experiment or maybe someone else can chime in here regarding its usefulness.

Personally, I lean towards utilities like ToolsDaemon and extra menus rather than browsing stuff via Workbench.

[zipper]

I did buttons that launch via running an IconX script.

[Daedalus]

I used some simple ARexx scripts for making shortcuts using a menu item or keyboard shortcut. But I didn't use them all that much either to be fair...

[Jope]

I'd probably just make a bunch of iconx scripts if you want multiple icons that do the same thing.

[daxb]

Originally Posted by Mikerochip

So, does that mean, once I've installed KingCON, it replaced the shell? Or do I need to type that command the readme says every time I start the shell?

You should read the KingCON.guide. At least the whole installation part. It tells you how to install and use it. You need to decide if you want to use KCON: or as CON: replacement. The "last" thing you need to decide is, if you want to have KingCON available when you boot without startup-sequence or it is enough on WB. The installation is different depending on the use case. For example I decided to have a complete CON: replacement and therefore I just load KingCON-handler as a resident module.

[Hewitson]

Originally Posted by daxb

For example I decided to have a complete CON: replacement and therefore I just load KingCON-handler as a resident module.

Might as well take this approach. You'll never not want it.

[graffias79]

What do the programs "Lacer" and "Mode Promotion" do?

[Marle]

I really wasn't sure where to ask this so I'll ask it here.

How do OCS/ECS sprites work when on a HAM-6 screen?

As I understand it the OCS/ECS HAM mode has a fixed 16 colour palette from 0-15 and everything up from there is a shifted colour, so say I would like to display 4 16 colour sprites, is that possible, and where would they get their colours from, can would they be taken from registers 16-31 as usual?

Just curious.

Or do sprites just not work in HAM mode?

Edit: Just to give this context, what I want to do perhaps for a new video on my channel is design 4 sprites that will overlay on top of a HAM background which I will admittedly paint in Autodesk Sketchbook and then using ADPro convert it to HAM6, draw the sprites in DPaint and go from there, if that's possible of course!

Alternatively, I'll just have to plump for plain old 32 colours and sprites on top.

Thanks

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Marle

would they be taken from registers 16-31 as usual?

Yes. HAM won't have any effect on sprite behavior.

[Marle]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Yes. HAM won't have any effect on sprite behavior.

Ok that's so cool, so I can place my 16 colours onto registers 16 to 31 as normal and then do my usual stuff.

I am so excited by this as I want to create two copper lists, the top part of the screen being the ham background and sprites overlaid on top, and then a second copper list which is a standard 32 colour lores panel for showing character portraits and dialog

I feel like I am cheating a bit using Sketchbook to make what will be the HAM layer but if it makes a better proof of concept but still pushing my little A600 I'll be happy!



Thanks!

[idrougge]

Originally Posted by graffias79

What do the programs "Lacer" and "Mode Promotion" do?

Lacer forces the system to use an interlaced signal even for lowres screen modes, which are otherwise some kind of progressive mode. This is necessary for video work.

ModePro tries to "promote" 15 kHz modes into flicker-free modes, such as PAL -> DblPAL.

[jolly11]

does exist something similar to smartdrv.exe?

[demolition]

Originally Posted by jolly11

does exist something similar to smartdrv.exe?

I think that cache is standard with most (all?) Amiga filesystems for harddrives so it doesn't have to be added on top?

[Daedalus]

Originally Posted by jolly11

does exist something similar to smartdrv.exe?

Ooh, there's something I haven't heard or thought about for a long time. The answer is "sort of". The Amiga has its own disc caching system, where a certain number of buffers are assigned to each logical drive or partition. This number of buffers is the number of filesystem blocks of memory to use as a cache. So, 10 buffers with a 1KB block size means a 10KB cache. If you have any fast RAM installed, increasing this number from the default is a good idea. Setting it to 150 or 200 buffers per partition is a good amount, which is 75-100KB of RAM for a 512 byte blocksize. The number of buffers can be temporarily set using the AddBuffers AmigaDOS command:

AddBuffers DH0: 100

Will add 100 buffers to the current amount assigned to drive DH0:. To check how many buffers a drive has allocated, just omit the number:

AddBuffers DH0:

The number of buffers can be permanently set by modifying the partition's entry in HDToolbox for hard drives, and in the mountlist file in DEVSOSDrivers for other drives. DF0:-DF3: are special cases in that they're already mounted from ROM on boot, so the default amount can't be adjusted. Instead, the AddBuffers command is used in the startup-sequence to set the desired level.

Separately from this, FFS (the standard filesystem for Amiga OS 2.0+) has a "Directory Cache" option when formatting a volume. This caches the directory tables, making reading directory listings much faster on floppy disks. It's not really intended for hard drives as they can seek fast enough that it doesn't matter.

[Gorf]

Originally Posted by jolly11

does exist something similar to smartdrv.exe?

There are a whole bunch of tools on Aminet for that purpose:
I used SmartDisk.
But have a look for yourself:
http://aminet.net/disk/cache