Kickstart 3.1.4 vs 3.x

[E-Penguin]

You could always burn yourself a custom 1
MB rom and include it there

[AmigaHope]

Originally Posted by Hedeon

My regular 3.1 ROMs also don't contain workbench.library. So if people find that confusing, please send that particular Amiga to me. :-) Especially the Commodore built ones.

I wouldn't mind a C=-built A4000T myself. xD

[Jope]

Originally Posted by hooverphonique

Does the mentioned module only search for those libraries specifically, or does it work with any library?
Edit: I suppose the module just makes those two specific libs resident, so it has nothing to do with _LVOOpenLibrary() searching multiple volumes!?

Only those two..

1.4 betas had a requester with a "search every drive" button for many loadable modules, but I'm guessing it killed performance or something because it didn't make it the the released V36 of the OS.

[gulliver]

Originally Posted by Jope

Only those two..

1.4 betas had a requester with a "search every drive" button for many loadable modules, but I'm guessing it killed performance or something because it didn't make it the the released V36 of the OS.

It did not make it because it required a working MMU, which meant a more expensive system.

Also this was in an era where many Amiga systems were still floppy based (slow). And many that had hard drives, had interfaces that were as slow as a snail.

So, it did not make much sense back then.
Now things are different.

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by TjLaZer

Then why have dozens of people on Facebook Amiga groups posted screenshots and confusion of blank workbench screens when trying to boot up a workbench disk with the 3.1.4 Rom? And people telling them as a work around to insert the Modules disk in DF1: ? And they said they had the WB installed on a Hard Disk. I haven’t installed mine because of this. Using the 3.1 ROM.

Because those people are wrong. The library has to be in LIBS:, or on your harddisk on LIBS:, or any other medium in LIBS: for that matter. Yes, if you disable your harddisk, it will not find it, of course. Just keep it enabled, and boot from the floppy. It is *really* that simple.

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by hooverphonique

Does the mentioned module only search for those libraries specifically, or does it work with any library?
Edit: I suppose the module just makes those two specific libs resident, so it has nothing to do with _LVOOpenLibrary() searching multiple volumes!?

First, it has nothing to do with LoadModule or not. There is a kickstart ROM module in the 3.1.4 ROM that, once opened, attempts to locate the mentioned libraries (icon and workbench) from harddisk. Actually, any medium available to the system (so another disk in df1: with the libraries in a directory LIBS works, too). Only those libraries. That is it. There is no patch required. In particular, unlike the A4000 solution, there is no patch in OpenLibrary() which could potentially conflict with other patches going in there.

[Rotzloeffel]

Originally Posted by TjLaZer

Incorrect. You would have to copy workbench.library to every floppy disk that has it's own WB on it for it to work. It does not check your HD for the library. That is why I haven't installed it in my machine.

No! You only have to make ONE source available where the workbench.library and the Icon.library is available in a libs drawer…. when asked for the libs, insert this source in any drive will do the Job. If you have a propper install on a HD, any Floppy will boot without asking for this libs.

[Glen M]

So other than large HDD support out of the box what else does it do cause I can run a 40gb HDD on 3.0 roms with absolutely no trouble.

I was going to buy it just because why not but then with the talk of 3.2 I thought I'd just hold off but what else does 3.1.5 fix thats of any use to the likes of my who just plays games.

[Daedalus]

Games-wise, there's probably not a huge amount of difference to notice. But Workbench itself includes a lot of the quality-of-life improvements (many from OS 3.9) that I badly miss when going back to a 3.1 or before machine. Things like more keyboard shortcuts, being able to cancel a massive copy operation before it finishes, sorting icons by name, date etc., changes in selecting and dragging files, support for different icon formats, ARexx port for handy little scripts, dragging windows beyond the screen border, longer filename support, borderless icons, option to hide volumes, built-in CD-ROM support... Of course, some of that can be added to 3.0 or 3.1 with patches, but it's nice to have it built in from the ground up. Lots of bugfixes in the core too, but if you're not troubled by anything, you probably wouldn't notice the fixes either.

[MrClump]

OP here, I've been quietly lurking as didn't really know anything to contribute but have learned a lot. I shall definately be investing in a 3.1.4 ROM and Workbench set when I get my A1200 mainboard back from recapping.

[simonhez]

just so you know, they are working on 3.2 and depending how long it takes before you get your board back (damn human malware...) you might wanna see at that point how long before 3.2 and chose at that point

[Kin Hell]

Originally Posted by MrClump

OP here, I've been quietly lurking as didn't really know anything to contribute but have learned a lot. I shall defin"i"tely be investing in a 3.1.4 ROM and Workbench set when I get my A1200 mainboard back from recapping.

Good Man!

[fxgogo]

Would we need to get new kickstart roms with the 3.2 release?

[Jope]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

Would we need to get new kickstart roms with the 3.2 release?

Not necessarily, but it will speed up booting.

Other positive features: bugfixed shell + scsi.device from cold boot.

[ProfPlum]

I was told that upgrading the rom to 3.1.4 would prevent me from booting from floppy.
So I haven't done so.

Mind you, I believe 3.2 is near completion (or am I wrong?) so at this point in time, it may be best just to wait a bit.


This was a great thread. Thank-you.

[Jope]

Originally Posted by ProfPlum

I was told that upgrading the rom to 3.1.4 would prevent me from booting from floppy.
So I haven't done so.

You have been misled. (this was actually just discussed in this tread a few posts up)

The truth:
- icon.library and workbench.library are not in ROM.
- if you boot from an disk that loads workbench, the ROM will look for icon.library and workbench.library in the libs directory of any mounted disk
- if you have a hard disk and 3.1.4 is installed onto it, the libraries will be loaded from the hard disk totally transparently when you boot off an older floppy
- if you do not have a hard disk, you will need to insert the install 3.1.4 disk (or some other disk with these two libraries in libs) into any drive when prompted for the OS to load the libraries

Now armed with this knowledge, an educated choice can be made
- floppy only system? perhaps don't upgrade, as it will be annoying that those two libs are not in ROM.
- hard disk based system? by all means upgrade, the libs will be loaded off your hard disk when booting an old workbench disk.

Another thing to keep in mind when making the decision to upgrade, 3.1.4 requires more memory to run than 3.1 and before, so again, if you have 2MB of Fast or less, it might not be a good idea.

You also need to consider what kinds of disks are you going to be booting anyway? Games that take over the OS after the bootblock is loaded? These will never need those libs. CLI packs? Neither will these.

[ProfPlum]

Originally Posted by Jope

You have been misled. (this was actually just discussed in this tread a few posts up)

Right. This is why I said this is a great thread

[Amiga1992]

Originally Posted by Jope

Another thing to keep in mind when making the decision to upgrade, 3.1.4 requires more memory to run than 3.1 and before, so again, if you have 2MB of Fast or less, it might not be a good idea.

I never even knew that. Thanks Jope.

[daxb]

Originally Posted by Jope

Another thing to keep in mind when making the decision to upgrade, 3.1.4 requires more memory to run than 3.1 and before, so again, if you have 2MB of Fast or less, it might not be a good idea.

Do you or someone else have a figure? As far as I can remember you need at least 2MB for installation and for running a little bit less. So I guess the difference is in the kilobyte area.

[Radertified]

According to the FAQ from https://www.hyperion-entertainment.c...r-amigaos-314:

What are the hardware requirement for AmigaOS 3.1.4?
- A Kickstart 3.1.4 ROM (desirable), or an old Kickstart 3.1 ROM (not the best choice since you will have 3.1.4 loading ROM modules and this will eat extra RAM, take more time to boot, will not provide several AutoConfig fixes, and will give you an additional reboot. Furthermore, you won't be able to directly boot into partitions outside the first 4 GB of your hard disk).

- 2 MB of total RAM (total memory is calculated by adding up Chip RAM and Fast RAM altogether).

- 5 MB of free hard disk space.