associate disk image(s) to configuration file

[Marcuz]

well then, imho, autodetecting is interesting. the best option would be to ask the TOSEC team exactly which flags would fit for this use.

as the same tosec name is both on the adf file and on the zip archive containing it, then, could it be possible to exploit this idea by dragging/dropping the zip archive on a Winuae shortcut? or something like this?

this way you should not be required to unarchive the whole tosec collection

[TCD]

Originally Posted by marco pedrana

this way you should not be required to unarchive the whole tosec collection

Huh? Didn't we had this one before? Only the name would be required for this feature. Like Toni said if you want to associate your zips with WinUAE, then it would also work. I still think you don't get the point of this being totally optional and only for those who use it already this way (or would change once it's done).

[Dunny]

Interesting :-)

If this were up to me, I'd have partial configs associated with disk images - you can specify chipset/drives setup, say, and take the rest (display, control config etc) from a default configuration.

I'd like to be able to surf to a french site which hosts game disk images and have a configuration that matches that game image to get it working - and let me set up my own preferences for output/user input.

I'd imagine we could also maintain an archive of tested and working partial configuration files which could be automatically used when I launch a game. This is, of course, completely dependent on TOSEC files being all alike.

D.

[Toni Wilen]

"Best" solution would be public database that contains at least checksum of disk image, "machine id" + other metadata like name and disk number (if multidisk) + perhaps even HOL id

Obviously problem isn't technical -> it isn't my problem to solve

Technically I can even embed it in winuae, fetch data via http whatever if needed (perhaps HOL can include extra metadata?)

Seriously, I will support this kind of "automatic configuration detection" but I don't think this is the first time..

(yes, this is what frontends do but one global database would still be better than each frontend having their own)

[Marcuz]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

( one global database would still be better than each frontend having their own)

i agree wholeheartedly

[Photon]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

"Best" solution would be public database that contains at least checksum of disk image, "machine id" + other metadata like name and disk number (if multidisk) + perhaps even HOL id

Won't happen in the time it takes you to add the feature I think

Bitworld does have checksums for many disk images tho. Still not standardized on either dms or adf (or ipf)--adf is supported by a lot of stuff, I trust dms+verify when writing disks tho (for some reason).

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Obviously problem isn't technical -> it isn't my problem to solve

You can still support "Open With", tho - but unlike .pdf etc it won't have to open in the browser ofc.

If you could register the extensions .adf, .exe, and .lha (all to some disk image that perhaps could support the new 50MB demos etc) to the right-click menu (like some apps already do), with the alternatives "Open With WinUAEConfig called Config1..4", then the user could get or make configs for a few common platforms that demos usually work for, and WinUAE would pop up, autoloading that disk image.

Alternative two: A bunch of WinUAE installs supporting an autostarting default config.

You could (in most browsers) set the browser up to "always open" those filetypes (instead of the Open or Save? dialog). So you could have the program "WinUAEOCS-noslowmem", "WinUAEmaxedOutA4000", etc.

But alt. 2 would cause problems cos .exe or .lha files on the web could be an AGA or and OCS demo, no way of knowing.

Alt. 3: Firefox plugin. Not attractive, it will not work with some WinUAE versions or stop working when Firefox is upgraded again. It will also need some way of the user telling which config to use.


I vote for the right-click menu options, that way you can press "Ctrl+J" to bring up the downloads, right-click and select WinUAE. In Firefox you can right-click on the DownloadStatusBar, if you have that plugin.


The checksum linked to perfect config stuff won't happen until some firesouls spend LOADS of time testing 20000+ demos. Nothing to do with the checksum, it's about entering correct config data. And if it's wrong, the demo won't start. Better to inform yourself and select the correct one, and if that fails, try another.

[Toni Wilen]

I already forgot about this..

I now have plans to add simple "test" checksum support (you can call it "phase 1" in autoassociation support or something like that, this may or may not be supported in future!)

One file per configuration "set", first comes optional configuration file name and optional configuration entries (just like in normal configuration file), also includes optional "use quickstart setting xyz", the rest of file contains only disk image checksums (crc32 or sha1), one per line. (checksum must be from uncompressed plain disk image)

At startup winuae loads all "configuration set files", configuration checksums will be tested against disk image in DF0: when emulator starts (or is reset) and if checksum is found from "set file", current configuration will be replaced with configuration in "configuration set file" configuration.

[Supamax]

Perhaps someone pointed out what I'm going to ask, and I didn't notice it in this thread, but... :

When you boot WB in Amiga/WinUAE, and then you load a program, the disk FAT will be slightly changed, automatically.
So it may/will happen that, if you don't always keep your ADFs write-protected, their checksums will change.
In these cases, how can they be recognized by an automatic config-association algorythm?

[Photon]

Just a stupid question... for extensionless/.exe .dms, .adf, - is it already possible to bodge some SendTo or right-click menu Open With solution?

That would do it for me, and possibly archived adfs could be started with a double-click (to open the archiver) and then a right-click?

As long as I save having to select file save destination, then open a file browser, go to the right dir, rightclick... or (as I do now) download to some folder in a harddisk folder I use with a certain WinUAE config, start WinUAE, select configuration, cd to folder, start... phew

Generic Firefox plugin to D/L something to a temp folder if it has a (configurable) extension and auto-open it with a selected DOS commandline for each extension is also an option I guess... if you could add some commandline options to WinUAE to select a certain config automatically and load the file with the extension it could be a generic solution that works for a lot of things.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Photon

Just a stupid question... for extensionless/.exe .dms, .adf, - is it already possible to bodge some SendTo or right-click menu Open With solution?

You can make it yourself In Windows XP, it's at 'Documents and Settings\username\SendTo' and in Vista it's at 'Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo'. Put a shortcut to WinUAE in there and now you have it in 'Send To'.

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by Supamax

Perhaps someone pointed out what I'm going to ask, and I didn't notice it in this thread, but... :

When you boot WB in Amiga/WinUAE, and then you load a program, the disk FAT will be slightly changed, automatically.
So it may/will happen that, if you don't always keep your ADFs write-protected, their checksums will change.
In these cases, how can they be recognized by an automatic config-association algorythm?

Just keep disk images inside archives. Multi-disk games should be inside single zip anyway instead of in separate single file archives

It is also possible to write new checksum to some "user-specific" checksum file but this is something I don't really want to care about yet.

[Photon]

Originally Posted by TheCyberDruid

You can make it yourself In Windows XP, it's at 'Documents and Settings\username\SendTo' and in Vista it's at 'Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo'. Put a shortcut to WinUAE in there and now you have it in 'Send To'.

How do I put the name of the config and image in the icon and make WinUAE autoload the image with that config, tho?

Also, I wouldn't want the image downloaded with the browser to end up "wherever I saved the last file from the net to", nor end up with a lot of files mixed with non-Amiga downloads in a shared download folder (not Toni's problem I know, but I'm dreaming of the optimum now)

I see the need for "something to try out a demo to see what it's like". It would be a dream to just click on one of the demos on BitWorld and have WinUAE running it So at least I don't need to automount multidisk demos/games, and many multidisk games say "insert disk 2 in df0" even if you have 4 drives so... I will just download all disks if the checked out demo (simple adf file) is good

On BitWorld we use no adz or zip, just adf dms mod and "no extension"<-- for exes, and for some demos, .exe and .lha. I think we just passed 23333 demos in database!

[TCD]

Originally Posted by Photon

How do I put the name of the config and image in the icon and make WinUAE autoload the image with that config, tho?

I had the same problem yesterday. It seems that you can't use the -f and -0 parameter at the same time (or at least I didn't manage to ). With a default.uae and 'Show GUI on startup' unticked you can at least start any file (regardless of the extension) right away with 'Send To'.