what BIOS is to the Amiga??

[3246251196]

i was googling - and never thought to put those keywords in! lol - what was i thinking.

can i ask - what exactly does FAST MEM mean?

[mr_a500]

for instance, i tried to open "SAY" and it simply didnt open.

That's strange. I know for a fact that "Say" works from 1.3 all the way up to 3.9 (3.1 ROM). "Say" is an old program that hasn't been updated since 1.3.

[TjLaZer]

You might want to buy a manual man, we could be here all year answering your simple question! lol

Fast memory is RAM for the system, Chip RAM is the custom chip/video RAM.  When you load a program it gets loaded into RAM.  When you shut off the computer the memory is erased.

Go here for more info.

[3246251196]

well, i will have a manual when i get one with my A1200. but i think bringing up the question on FastMem is very valid personally... if someone could provide an answer or a link or nothing even. whatever.

324

EDIT: thanks for answering though man!

[TjLaZer]

More on Chip/Fast memory!

np glad to have another Amiga user here

[_yak_]

Amigas have two types of RAM. Chip RAM and Fast RAM. Original, unexpanded models only have Chip RAM. By expanding your Amiga with some expansion card you can add Fast RAM to it but not Chip RAM. Chip RAM can be accessed by both CPU and Chipset. Fast RAM can be accessed by the CPU only. All graphics and sounds have to be kept in Chip RAM since in order to display/play them they must be accessed by the Chipset. On the other hand, the expandable Fast RAM is much faster since only CPU will be ever accessing it so it doesn't have to wait for the others. Running programs and their (non-media) data are kept in Fast RAM. If you don't have any Fast RAM, everything is kept in Chip RAM.

[3246251196]

nicely summed up

still, i dont know way SAY is not working lol. i used to have fun on that!!

[leirbag28]

@mr-a500

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by mr_a500 on 2006/4/1 20:18:55

Quote:

    for instance, i tried to open "SAY" and it simply didnt open.



That's strange. I know for a fact that "Say" works from 1.3 all the way up to 3.9 (3.1 ROM). "Say" is an old program that hasn't been updated since 1.3.
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 I dont know what you mean by that, But SAY was updated for the A600 on WB 2.04 ................the speech sounds much different and so do the voices..........it can also speak more properly.

[3246251196]

also, Ed does not work - does that mean i am not able to created Command Files (Batch Files) which can be executed upon shell command?

[InTheSand]

This may be a result of you using Kickstart 2.x with a Workbench 3.x disk... I'll try that combination here and see if it works...

Also, the "say" command and associated "translator" device and library files were dropped from the OS from release 2.1 onwards (though the files work fine if manually copied from a 2.04 Workbench disk into a more recent installation).

 - Ali

[InTheSand]

Follow-up: just tried, and the "Ed" text editor doesn't work when used on a KS2.x Amiga that's been booted with a Workbench 3.1 disk. It gives a recoverable alert message, then an "Unable to open needed library" message.

Looks like you'll need to find a 2.x Workbench disk set...

 - Ali

[3246251196]

so then, my good man - is there any way to make a command file (batchfile) for WB to run WHEN executed?

[InTheSand]

Hmmm... Due to your "unique" combination of KS2.x and WB3.x, you can create a text file but you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way:

1. Open a new CLI window (from Workbench, select "Execute Command" from the menu, then enter "newcli" in the resulting dialogue box)
2. Type the following into the CLI window: copy * testfile   (this tells the Amiga to create a new text file called "testfile" and to accept input from the keyboard - similar to using "copy CON: " in MSDOS)
3. Enter the lines of your text file, pressing Return at the end of each one
4. Press CTRL and hash (#) to signify the end of the file

You'll then at least have a text file, into which you could place some commands...

And... I've discovered that the old line editor (called "Edit" and invoked by a command with the same name) does work, but you'll need to search for instructions on how to use this (at least "q" quits it!).

You really would be better off waiting until you get your A1200!!!

 - Ali

[Effy]

Another cool way to get what you need may sound a bit over the edge but what about softkicking with a kickstart 3.1  :-D

[InTheSand]

But that'd be waaaay too easy! And think of all the fun that's to be had by attempting to use the arcane line editor commands!  :-)

 - Ali

P.S. 324 doesn't have any other disks with his sorry pile of A500 remains! So it might be difficult to get anything else running on it!!

[Effy]

I know but that´s the point when he needs to get help from the outside of his room  :lol: