Amiga formatted CF card on WinUAE AmigaForever?

[KarlM]

I purchased the excellent Amiga Forever emulation package (the Plus Edition).

Can anyone kindly advise on how I go about making my CF card (internal) accessible to my PC AF emulator? Or am I hoping for too much with that line of thought (that they can work cross platform)?

[Arnie]

AmigaForever only uses .hdf or .hdz files. You would need to attach the card to the PC and run WinUAE. Navigate to CD & HardDrives panel and choose Add Hard drive....
Next add your CF card from the drop down menu and then click on Create hard disk image file.

Run AmigaForever and create a new RP9, attach your .hdf to the RP9 file as external or embedded and save as..

[KarlM]

Originally Posted by Arnie

AmigaForever only uses .hdf or .hdz files. You would need to attach the card to the PC and run WinUAE. Navigate to CD & HardDrives panel and choose Add Hard drive....
Next add your CF card from the drop down menu and then click on Create hard disk image file.

Run AmigaForever and create a new RP9, attach your .hdf to the RP9 file as external or embedded and save as..

Thanks for the response.. Now I'm no luddite and consider myself more than adequately capable for most tasks, will this process alter the information on my current 8GB setup?

When I put it in my card-reader neither Windoze nor Linux recognise it at all - but you're saying WinUAE will see it and work with it?

I'll have to reinstall it on my main PC as it's currently running on my laptop with no card-reader.

Is .hdf the 8gb CF card/virtual hard-drive?

[Arnie]

Yes .hdf is the Amiga format for Virtual HD's. You can also use .vhd, but Amiga Forever doesn't use that format. (WinUAE does though)

It's perfectly safe to make an Image of the card, in fact, it's best to do it sooner that later so that you have a backup. It's also handy to make a backup of the backup for testing software in WinUAE too.

WinImage can write back the .hdf to the CF card.

[KarlM]

OK, so I reinstalled the AF2016 on my tower upstairs and had a looky through..

I made a copy of the A1200 and went to the "Edit" button.. A popup appears offering a variety of tabs, I clicked the "Media" tab and attempted to add a HD. I was unable to find the "CD & HD" tab but presume it's this (media).

Am I on the right track here, I feel a little lost...

[Arnie]

You're on the right track. Click on the 3 dots button on the empty file slot. Navigate to your hdf and add it. Notice underneath it says 'embedded'. This copies the hdf to the RP9 file, it may make the RP9 slow to load. You can change it to 'external', then the hdf will be used from the HardDrive instead.

[KarlM]

Originally Posted by Arnie

You're on the right track. Click on the 3 dots button on the empty file slot. Navigate to your hdf and add it. Notice underneath it says 'embedded'. This copies the hdf to the RP9 file, it may make the RP9 slow to load. You can change it to 'external', then the hdf will be used from the HardDrive instead.

The only problem is, when I do that it keeps telling it can't find anything.

[Arnie]

I don't know what to suggest....

[KarlM]

W..w..wait a moment!

I thought I was adding the CF card that's already been created (and installed in the Amiga)?

What I've been doing is;

1) I take the physical card out of the amiga and put it into my card reader (compact flash).

2) Using the above image you posted, direct the 'open prompt' to that CF card (J: as it appears in 'my computer').

3) error states it cannot read card.

If I manually use explorer to view the contents, Windows offers to format it (obviously I don't). Linux does similar.

Where are you pointed at? And how does it relate to my CF card when Windows seem incapable of reading the physical CF card?

You seem to directing the 'open prompt' to somewhere completely different to what I thought I was meant to be doing... Perhaps I should have gave mention that I meant the CF card was already partitioned & installed with WB3.1 for my physical Amiga 1200.

I was hoping to be able to drop files on my CF card from the PC (using AF if necessary) and then put the CF card back into my physical A1200 and use the files I'd just put on the card.

[Arnie]

O.K. Make a backup of your card as suggested in post #2.

If you want to mount the card use WinUAE.
You will need to use a default config, such as A1200, and alter it to suit you, then attach your CF card as a harddrive.

If you want to use Amiga Forever then make a copy of your CF .hdf backup and attach it or embed it into a RP9, (Copy the existing A1200 System, alter it to suit you and add the .hdf image.

[KarlM]

I thought AmigaForever & WinUAE were one and the same, or rather that AF was built on top of WinUAE. So, surely, if I'm running AF - for all intents & purposes - I'm running WinUAE?

[thomas]

The AF player is built on top of the WinUAE core but has a completely different user interface and does not offer the full configuration capabilities of WinUAE. If you want all features of WinUAE then you have to use WinUAE.exe.

[Diz_57]

Actually there is an option in the AF configuration menu to turn on WinUAE configuration and then you can press F12 during emulation to get the full WinUAE configuration menu.

[KarlM]

Nice.. I think some of the confusion has arisen because the 2nd image in this thread also seems to be Amiga Forever rather than WinUAE as a standalone.

[DamienD]

Moral of the story... forget Amiga Forever

...learn how to use the main program behind it i.e. WinUAE (which isn't difficult I might add, especially when compared with what I've seen of AF). You will never be restricted by options / extra meaningless extra windows again

Plus, you'll get a lot better support as way more people use it (not to forget the man himself always here to assist; author & Amiga God "Master Toni Wilen").

[KarlM]

Yeah, I had downloaded WinUAE a few years back but didn't have any s/ware to use with it. Anyway, the AF seems a nice bit of kit but I'm gathering it's just a collection of free stuff sold as a bundle.

[headkase]

Well, the Kickstart ROMs and the Workbench disks aren't free stuff, Cloanto owns the copyright to them and they are sold commercially. Buying Amiga Forever though is a good base, for the aforementioned parts that are commercial, which you then use in WinUAE or other emulators.

[Arnie]

Originally Posted by KarlM

Yeah, I had downloaded WinUAE a few years back but didn't have any s/ware to use with it. Anyway, the AF seems a nice bit of kit but I'm gathering it's just a collection of free stuff sold as a bundle.

The thing is as with any software, you have to spend time and understand what it does. It's not all about free stuff, there are pre-installed Workbench systems to get you started plus demos & a few games.

I have added loads of games with the manuals, boxart, screenshots etc.
I also have installed all the CWB, CDTV HD, Amiga Longplays & HDF installed Games.

The only bad thing about AF is that it's configurations are locked in to the GUI.

As you have found out, you can't add a real HD, no big deal really, just use WinUAE, you have the roms and workbench to get you going, a lot more than most people start out with when using WinUAE.

AF is like Marmite, you either love it or hate it. I just wish that the haters would at least try it before dissing it.