Amiga Developer CD v2.1

[Desolator]

I was trying out the GCC.hdf file from another posting in this forum and I didn't feel it was made for people not very familiar with Amiga programming.

So I'm going to get the Developer cd, and version 2.1 is the newest right?

What comes with it? Any good text documents on various aspects of the AmigaOS? Any tutorials? A decent non-command like compiler? things like that..

[Desler]

Im taking that you are refering to the louise hdf. What kinda problems do you have, maybe I can help you. I am also walking the long path of learning C/C++, and I remeber how much a hassle it was getting the compiler to work.
Save your money right now. Let us help you  :-)  (You can always by the cd afterwards)

[Desolator]

Um, well I get the compiler to work perfectly. (if one's been using gcc in linux its easy. I'll just thought it would be nicer with a compiler that has a GUI, kind of like microsofts Visual C++ or Kdevelop for Linux, and some tutorials on how to program  graphical applications. Being a half-newbie in C/C++ I want to move from text applications to graphical ones.  :-)

[Crumb]

If you buy the Developer CD 2.1 you will get StormC 3, it has a nicer GUI, but don't fancy about creating GUIs as easily as you may do with VisualC++...
Anyway you should check out GadToolBox, MUIBuilder and Emperor.
I know that there are some IDEs for Gcc & SAS/C but I can't remember the names... search in aminet it isn't difficult to find them.
If I were you I would start opening windows, screens, ASL requesters for the screens... then hwen you are used to AmigaOS a little, check out GUI Builders like GadToolBox (I would use it firstly).

[Desolator]

"but don't fancy about creating GUIs as easily as you may do with VisualC++"

hehe, nah, I want to code my windows myself, rather than having a program doing it for me. :-)  Thanks for the tips though, will look into those programs.

[Sidewinder]

The Dev CD has many documents and references that make programming the Amiga much easier.  However, there is no GUI like MSVC++ for the Amiga.  The closest thing you will find is either Storm C++ (version 3 is on the Dev CD for free, version 4 is the latest) and HiSoft C++.  Storm C++ 4 is probably the best Amiga compiler package out at the moment.  GCC is the best free alternative, but doesn't have a GUI.  These two packages are the only truly modern C++ implementations on the Amiga.  HiSoft C++ is less expensive and has a great GUI, but the compiler is not without its problems.   In addition the Amiga has many great ANSI C compilers including SAS/C and vbcc among others.

I would suggest getting the CD if you intend on getting into serious Amiga specific programming such as graphics and system programming.  If you intend to stick to ANSI C/C++ then most of the info on the disk is not very helpful.

The best resource for Amiga programming is on the web naturally, so as others have said, ask away.

[Desolator]

Hmm, well I got a deal to get the DevCD for 10$ so I buy it just for StormC 3 and the graphics parts, because that is what I want to develop on the Amiga and hopefully that knowledge will be good to have when the OS4 gets some development tools..

Where does one get a developer CD?  Are they still being produced by someone?  And does it still apply for OS4 dev?

[xeron]

Where does one get a developer CD?

Not sure.. I bought mine ages ago (i own both the 1.2 and 2.1 revisions). Your best bet would be to try weirdscience, kicksoft, formatt etc. etc.

And does it still apply for OS4 dev?

Most of it will still be apt. The OS4 API is backward compatible, so the data on the 2.1 DevCD won't become entirely obsolete... however it has been said that an updated DevCD for OS4.0 will be released. This should explain the new library system, updated graphics libraries, etc. etc.

[CodeSmith]

I got mine this morning (from compuquick), so I could hit the ground running when my AmigaOne arrives  :-)

I've got a problem though - I never got around to buying a CD-ROM for my A1200 (and since I've ordered an AmigaOne I doubt that's ever going to happen), so I tried to install it under my copy of UAE (it's running OS 3.1).  When I try to run the HD installer, I get this error message (in German, I think):

"Kann workbench-Informationen nicht einholen"

Does anyone know how to fix this? is there some .library I need to get from aminet?

Edit: there was an English HD install icon I hadn't seen, when I run it I get the following error:  "Can't get Workbench Information"

[ne_one]

What exactly does the 2.1 CD have on it?

I'd like to take a look at the current version of the documentation... is this only available on the disc or can it be made available separately?

[CodeSmith]

I'm guessing large chunks of it are not redistributable, else it would be on someone's web site...  In any case, this is from the main .guide file:

@node Contents "Contents of this CD"
This CD contains all the material you need to start developing software for
Amiga computers. This includes:

· The CD³² developer package. In addition to the original five disk
  set distribution you will find the "BuildCD" CD writer package

· Packages contributed by 3rd parties:

  · The WBPath and ActionFSSM packages, courtesy of Ralph Babel
  · The Personal Paint, CopyIcon, MailBX and DirDiff packages,
    courtesy of Cloanto
  · The INet 225 developer kit, version 2, courtesy of Interworks, Inc.
  · The Picasso96 developer kit, courtesy of Alexander Kneer and
    Tobias Abt
  · The PatchWork tool, courtesy of Richard Körber
  · The Miami SDK, version 2.1, courtesy of Nordic Global, Inc.
  · The CyberGraphX v4 developer kit, courtesy of Frank Mariak
  · The MMUlib package, courtesy of Thomas Richter; this package
    includes the MuForce tool which is derived from the Enforcer
    package developed by Mike Sinz (see below).
  · An 68060.library which works in conjunction with mmu.library
    (as part of the MMUlib package), courtesy of Carsten Schlote.
  · The Kiskometer and MakeCD packages, courtesy of Angela Schmidt
    and Patrick Ohly
  · The Enforcer v37.64, courtesy of Mike Sinz
  · The Envoy v3.0 developer kit, courtesy of Heinz Wrobel
  · The Wipeout, Blowup and Sashimi debugging tools and the
    "CheckGuide" AmigaGuide file syntax checker written by
    Olaf Barthel

· Information in support of forthcoming operating system
  developments

· Additional developer material:

  · BOOPSI gadget and image classes
  · The AmigaOS 2.04 example code, as part of the original
    2.04 Native Developer Kit
  · The RKM 2.04 code examples
  · Tables listing which operating system modules were
    added, removed or updated in subsequent AmigaOS
    releases
  · The complete set of registered IFF forms
  · IFF example and stress test files
  · All IFF packages released by Commodore-Amiga, Inc.,
    covering 1986 through 1992
  · The camd v37.1 MIDI developer kit
  · The SANA-II standard package and developer kit
  · The Installer v43.3 package
  · The CDTV developer disks

· International support material:

  · Sample text using the full ISO-8859-1 character set
  · Translation guidelines

· Historical Native Developer Kits, covering AmigaOS 1.3-3.1.

· The new 3.5 Native Developer Kit:

  · Updated and revised `C' and assembly language header
    files and linker libraries
  · Updated and revised system documentation and
    tutorial texts
  · Example code covering the AmigaOS 3.5 features
  · Updated development tools

· Reference material:

  · The collection of Amiga Mail Volume 1 articles,
    covering Spring 1987 through January/February 1989
  · The complete Amiga Mail Volume 2 articles in AmigaGuide
    format, covering January/February 1990 through
    March/April 1993; also included are the printable
    issues in PostScript, PageStream and PDF format
  · The Includes & Autodocs in AmigaGuide format.
  · Revised Amiga ROM Kernel Reference Manuals in AmigaGuide format
  · The DevCon disk archives, covering 1988-1993
  · HTML versions of all AmigaGuide format manuals


The above does not mention stormC, but there is a "haage_&_partner" drawer that has folder containing what seems to be the full version of stormC 3.0

[Dagon]

Where does one get a developer CD?

I believe in every AmigaShop. I got mine from Virtual Works in Italy.

[ne_one]

@CodeSmith

Wow... quite a bit of stuff, although it sounds like much of it is now quite dated. I'd be interested in hearing any feedback on the API documentation... we're considering do a port from Windows.

[xeron]

I only skimmed it, but i didn't see if that list mentioned the RKMs. The CD contains the RKMs in amigaguide format. The RKMs are a MUST HAVE for ANY AmigaOS developer.

I was lucky and found some actual RKM books a few months back that someone didn't want any more :-)

Edit: Oh wait.. there it is... the most important bit right at the bottom  :-D