UAE Features?

[lifeschool]

Hi Toni


1. I made a RAD disk the other day but when I reset the emulator with a software reset command, the RAD disappeared. Is this meant to happen or is there a way to preserve it? Do TSRs work?


2. When I boot the emulator without ROMs, it says "unable to find commodore 1.2/1.3 roms." Lotus 2 and other games work fine using the AROS ROM, so is there a way to switch that annoying warning message off?


3. The FDD floppy drive sound is rather generic and I wondered if its possible to add a slide for pitch or tone? Many second drives dont sound the same as internal drives, and it would be a way to tell the difference during loading of multidisk games. Also disks which play a tune using the disk drive read head noise can be pitched to the right notes.


4. Simulated Dot Matrix printer. Yes I know this would only be the sake of the sounds of the printing process, but maybe it could be fun. Of course all we would see on screen would be 'printing' and hear the sounds.


5. Simulated Modem hook-up. We all remember how it used to sound during the dial-in process, which is now almost a distant memory, but I used to hear this every day.


6. Disk slide and clunk. Yes we have the sound of the disk drive as it clicks, but we dont have the sound of someone sliding a floppy into the disk drive during insert and eject. This would slow down the loading of games and disk swapping, as we hear the sound, but I do miss the sounds of disks being inserted into drives.


7. Software NTSC toggle? There are a few packed in commands which work in Amiga DOS, but there is no soft reset command, or NTSC toggle. When I run a normal NTSC toggle program in the emulator, it stays in the mode the emu was running in. So if its Pal, I cant toggle to NTSC unless I open the options and select NTSC and reboot.


8. Web Resources. It would be great if there was a button in the Roms section saying Buy Now, with a link to the Cloanto site. Then nobody can say they dont understand how to get the emu running.

[Minuous]

There is already a Cloanto link in the About box. I don't see how inserting more ads for Cloanto's ROMs of dubious legality and compatibility would help people understand how to configure the emulator.

[malko]

Originally Posted by lifeschool

[...] 8. Web Resources. It would be great if there was a button in the Roms section saying Buy Now, with a link to the Cloanto site. Then nobody can say they dont understand how to get the emu running.

Most requests could be funny to have but honestly I don't get the point with this n°8. Advertisement for commercial product in the ROM section ?¿ Why not then also a link to Hyperion for KS 3.1.4 (or maybe upcoming 3.2). Should FS-UAE, UAE4All, etc. also have such link ? No, definitively think it's a bad idea. My two cents...

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by lifeschool

8. Web Resources. It would be great if there was a button in the Roms section saying Buy Now, with a link to the Cloanto site. Then nobody can say they dont understand how to get the emu running.

...no thank you.

[BippyM]

Google search isn't difficult. Asking on here where to buy roms isn't hard.

[Anubis]

Originally Posted by lifeschool

8. Web Resources. It would be great if there was a button in the Roms section saying Buy Now, with a link to the Cloanto site. Then nobody can say they dont understand how to get the emu running.

Really??

Cloanto is parasite in amiga world...

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by lifeschool

1. I made a RAD disk the other day but when I reset the emulator with a software reset command, the RAD disappeared. Is this meant to happen or is there a way to preserve it? Do TSRs work?

This is purely software side feature. Yes, it does work (or OS3.9BB2+ wouldn't work at all). My crystal ball says you used KS 1.3 with >512k chip RAM without setpatch.

2. When I boot the emulator without ROMs, it says "unable to find commodore 1.2/1.3 roms." Lotus 2 and other games work fine using the AROS ROM, so is there a way to switch that annoying warning message off?

Switch off Quickstart mode. (Untick checkbox)

3. The FDD floppy drive sound is rather generic and I wondered if its possible to add a slide for pitch or tone? Many second drives dont sound the same as internal drives, and it would be a way to tell the difference during loading of multidisk games. Also disks which play a tune using the disk drive read head noise can be pitched to the right notes.

I am not interested. Someone else's problem to record better ones.

4. Simulated Dot Matrix printer. Yes I know this would only be the sake of the sounds of the printing process, but maybe it could be fun. Of course all we would see on screen would be 'printing' and hear the sounds.

No. It also depends on printer model. Also no one wants to wait forever for matrix printer to finish printing bitmaps..

5. Simulated Modem hook-up. We all remember how it used to sound during the dial-in process, which is now almost a distant memory, but I used to hear this every day.

This is at least not modem specific (directly) but you would need to emulate different speeds and protocol encodings to get correct sound. Again someone else's problem to find required algorithm(s).

6. Disk slide and clunk. Yes we have the sound of the disk drive as it clicks, but we dont have the sound of someone sliding a floppy into the disk drive during insert and eject. This would slow down the loading of games and disk swapping, as we hear the sound, but I do miss the sounds of disks being inserted into drives.

Not really..

7. Software NTSC toggle? There are a few packed in commands which work in Amiga DOS, but there is no soft reset command, or NTSC toggle. When I run a normal NTSC toggle program in the emulator, it stays in the mode the emu was running in. So if its Pal, I cant toggle to NTSC unless I open the options and select NTSC and reboot.

Use Agnus model that supports software PAL/NTSC toggle. OCS does not.

Last question: not going to bother. I already see pointless replies.

[lifeschool]

Thanks for your time and consideration. I guess its up to the Term/software to provide dial-up noises, and certainly if dialing into a real BBS it might still work? Or maybe you'd still need to simulate a modems speaker to hear anything?

I tried No Quickstart and it worked.

No idea what was going on with the RAD, it was WB3.1 with lots of ram and setpatch as far as I know. I was trying to get Celtic Heart to boot as a RAD, as someone was complaining they cant read ADFs on their real Amiga (and dont have a working disk drive), but they can copy files and install stuff. As its a non-dos disk, Im not sure if RAD would boot it anyway. So that was perhaps the issue.

No worries about a soundscape, as a real Amiga has fans, hums, hard drives, and all kinds of noises, which would be difficult to emulate without sampling a whole bunch of stuff. When it gets down to the sound of controllers being swapped or the CD-32 lid being closed, it gets a bit silly.

Point 8, it would be great if there was more love for Hyperion and their roms. Funny, I never go to the About page because that is often just about the author, or about their software or studio, or its full of updates and hotfix info. But yours is neither of those. Its a list of credits. I guess there is no other place to put them, and its good you shared those links.

[amiwolf]

Is the Reset button on the WinUAE Properties window meant to be a soft reset?

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by amiwolf

Is the Reset button on the WinUAE Properties window meant to be a soft reset?

AFAIK, yes.

[amiwolf]

Originally Posted by DamienD

AFAIK, yes.

Thanks DamienD, good to know. So after messin' about with boots, provided RAD: is mounted AND activated under 2.1 or just mounted under 3.1 (auto-activates), then it survives a 3-key reboot in WinUAE.
However, the Reset button in Properties will totally wipeout RAD.

Toni? Not Gnarly, Dude!

[malko]

Originally Posted by lifeschool

[...]
1. I made a RAD disk the other day but when I reset the emulator with a software reset command, the RAD disappeared. Is this meant to happen or is there a way to preserve it? Do TSRs work? [...]

Here is what are saying some books from BitD :

From AmigaDOS Inside and Out (1991 - Abacus - Kerkloh, Tornsdorf & Zoller)

[...] Workbench 1.3 implementation:
[...] RAD: A recoverable RAM disk. Unlike the device ram:, data remains in
memory even after the computer is reset. Not even a Guru Meditation
can reset the RAD: device. Unfortunately, memory management is not
dynamic, so RAD: takes up all of its allotted memory even when it is
empty. The capacity of RAD: is included in the MountList.
[...] 3.9 The RAD device (RAD: )
Workbench 1.3 implementation:
The abbreviation RAD stands for Recoverable RAm Disk. This is a
reset-resistant RAM disk for the Amiga. The RAM disk device named
ram: loses all of its information after a reset A normal reset does not
affect the rad: device. In most cases the data can even survive a Guru
Meditation. The ramdrive. device is located in the Devs :
directory.
The rad: device has at least one disadvantage. RAD doesn't have a
dynamic memory system. RAD uses the same amount of memory
whether it contains any data in it or not. A typical entry for the RAD:
device in the Mount List looks like the following:
..... RAD: Device = ramdrive.device
..... Unit = 0
..... Flags = 0
..... Surfaces = 2
..... BlocksPerTrack = 11
..... Reserved = 2
..... Interleave = 0
..... LowCyl = 0
..... HighCyl =21
..... Buffers = 5
..... BufMemType = 1
..... #
You must specify RAD's capacity in the HighCyl parameter before
you can mount RAD with mount rad:. Each cylinder has a capacity
of 1 IK. RAD would have a capacity of (21+1) * 1 IK = 242K if it were
mounted using the above entry. In 1.3 RAD must be formatted before
it can be used with the FastFileSystem.
After a reset, all you have to do is enter mount rad: and the contents
of RAD are restored. If you discover that some data is lost, use the
diskdoctor to restore RAD.
When RAD is no longer needed, the largest section of its memory can
be freed by using the remrad command. It can be removed by using
the ASSIGN command:
ASSIGN RAD: REMOVE
The entire memory area that was occupied by RAD is then free after the
next boot operation. [...]

From Amiga best tricks tips (1989 - Abacus - Bleek, Weltner & Maelger)

[...] 13.4.2 FFS and recoverable RAM disk
The RAM disk RAD: can also work with the FastFileSystem.
However, rad : becomes non-resistant to resets when used with FFS
(data on this disk disappears following a reset). The memory
conservation and speed factor alone are reasons enough to use RAD: for
many applications. But the possibility always exists that the RAM
disk could be wiped out. You'll need to change the name and Unit
arguments of the RAD: Mount list. Use the next highest number to
avoid any overlap. The corresponding Mount list entry may look like
the following:
..... FRAD: Device = ramdrive.device
..... FileSystem = L:FastFileSystem
..... Unit = 1 /* Number of the RAM-Disk */
..... Flags = 0
..... Surfaces = 2
..... BlocksPerTrack = 11
..... Reserved = 2
..... Interleave = 0
..... Mount = 1
..... LowCyl = 0
..... DosType = 0x444F5301
..... HighCyl = 79 /* Available RAM <512K->5)*/
..... Buffers = 22 /* ditto */
..... BufMemType = 1 /* Same as where it lies */
..... #
You must insert the following in the startup sequence:
MOUNT FRAD:
FORMAT >NIL: <NIL: DRIVE FRAD: NAME "FSS in RAM"
The nil device supports both redirection commands. The first
suppresses any output, while the second suppresses any requesters
asking you to insert a disk in RAM. If you work with programs which
allow you to choose between DFO to DF3, we recommend that the
original name be given in the Mount list. The drive must be placed in
the startup sequence in place of frad if the original device is desired.
[...]

From Amiga disk and drives insider guide (1994 - BSB - Overaa)

[...] The RAD Disk
Since release 1 .3 AmigaDOS has also
provided something called a recoverable
Ram Disk - the RAD: device. Unlike the
conventional Amiga Ram Disk, RAD: is not automatically created by
the system and, with recent releases of the operating system, to acti
vate it you must either double click on the RAD icon in the
Storage/DOSDrivers drawer or, if you always want one, drag the RAD
icon to the DEVS/DOSDrivers drawer. The default instance of this
device nowadays appears as the icon RAM_O.
The primary advantage of a RAD Disk is that the device and its con
tents are able to recover from various system mishaps. It can survive a
reboot and, in many cases, will survive a software failure as well.
Unlike the Ram Disk, however, RAD: does not automatically adjust its
memory use according to the files being stored in it. Instead its size is
pre-set by the Mountlist entry nowadays stored in the DOSDrivers
RAD file. The default High Cyl (high cylinder) value of 79 produces a
RAD Disk with the same capacity as a conventional Amiga floppy,
880k. To change the size of the RAD unit it is only necessary to change
the HighCyl value in the Mountlist. Any number of RAD: devices, all
with different names and sizes, can be set up by creating new
Mountlist entries.
As with the conventional Ram Disk, RAD: can be used to hold copies
of frequently used commands and so on. Many programmers find a
RAD Disk invaluable for safeguarding important files during those
precarious first stages of program development. It is even possible to
duplicate the Workbench S directory and Startup-Sequence in order to
be able to reboot from the RAD Disk in the event of a software failure.
This again is useful for coders working with machines that do not
have a hard disk since it greatly speeds up the reboot procedure. Users
with hard disk machines do not have to worry as far as reboot times
are concern ed because rebooting from hard disk is relatively fast any
way. [...]

[lesta_smsc]

BTW, I don't know if this is allowed or not, BUT, you can buy Amiga Forever Essentials for Android for only £1.79! More info here: https://www.amigaforever.com/android/

Purchase here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...ver.essentials

You can then use those ROMS since you have legally now purchased them, in your emulation environment. "com.cloanto.amigaforever.essentials" I believe, is where they are located.

For £1.79, I don't think it's too much to support the cause...

[lifeschool]

Originally Posted by amiwolf

Thanks DamienD, good to know. So after messin' about with boots, provided RAD: is mounted AND activated under 2.1 or just mounted under 3.1 (auto-activates), then it survives a 3-key reboot in WinUAE.
However, the Reset button in Properties will totally wipeout RAD.

Toni? Not Gnarly, Dude!

Ah, ha! You hit something there. When I use a software reset command to reset the machine, it hard resets the emulator and Rad is lost. When I use the emulator Reset Button, it hard resets the machine and Rad is lost. But when I went to Game Ports -> Custom 1 (port 2) -> Remap -> Add Event -> Reset Emulation -> Assigned as F6, and pressed F6 to reboot the emulator, it kept the Rad and it found it on the early startup menu every time. I clicked Rad_1 and then Boot and it booted from the Rad. I then pressed F6 a couple more times, and it survived the reset each time, and booted from the Rad automatically.

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by DamienD

AFAIK, yes.

Originally Posted by amiwolf

Thanks DamienD, good to know. So after messin' about with boots, provided RAD: is mounted AND activated under 2.1 or just mounted under 3.1 (auto-activates), then it survives a 3-key reboot in WinUAE.
However, the Reset button in Properties will totally wipeout RAD.

Toni? Not Gnarly, Dude!

Yeah, maybe I got this the wrong way around

I always use the 3-key reboot in WinUAE; which would be a soft reset.

Hard reset must be the Reset button.

[BippyM]

Originally Posted by DamienD

Yeah, maybe I got this the wrong way around

I always use the 3-key reboot in WinUAE; which would be a soft reset.

Hard reset must be the Reset button.

Maybe Toni can add the option of a hard/soft reset when the button is pressed?!

[DamienD]

Probably not necessary, easy to use the default 3-key reboot

I don't think I've actually ever used the "Reset" button.

[BippyM]

I don't use either.. I right click on the "power" part of the winuae window.. Soft reboot I think

Originally Posted by DamienD

Probably not necessary, easy to use the default 3-key reboot

I don't think I've actually ever used the "Reset" button.

[lifeschool]

Im using an A1200 keyrah combo, but I assigned my Right Amiga Key in Windows to perform some shortcuts. So I never got to use the usual Soft reset mode. If its still CTRL+LAmiga+RAmiga?

It doesnt solve the Rad disk problem. If I extract an ADF to RAD and use a software reboot command, it should soft reset workbench. If I exit the emulator and click Reset, it should hard reset the emulator. Otherwise, when I install an ADF to Rad in the emulator, and script it to reset, it wont survive and bring up the game. Of course this would work on a real Amiga, so my ADF 2 Rad idea might still work after all. I know I used to play Test Drive 2 from Rad in the day, but this was a cracked DOS copy of the game.

[Toni Wilen]

GUI Reset button is hard reset. It does hard reset because most common use case is to switch disks using GUI and then reset and in this case you don't want to keep any possible reset proof programs.

Use keyboard reset, like you would do when using real hardware. There is no reset buttons (without hardware hacks).