AMD system with Amiga Forever 6

[Holley]

With WinUAE you can replace 'Explorer' as the system shell, and boot straight into UAE, bypassing the frontend menu (after getting it all configured that is!).

Windows XP is the choice for supporting the most WinUAE features - with it set right you wouldn't need to interact with Windows at all, other than seeing a boot screen (which can be replaced ;-)).

Of course you can also patch all heck outta Windows, and end with something like this ;-)

[Holley]

Sorry, but WindowsXP does offer the most features to support WinUAE.  My having XP is locked by my job so I make the most I can from it, and at the mo I only have space to do everything on my lap anyway (trusty A3000 is currently buried and I'm deskless!).

I'm also working on being in a position to get a Pegasos too (selling a car to do it!), which in due time will replace the work laptop ...

[Holley]

Thanks Ty,

Making Windows XP look (and to an extent behave) like Workbench takes lots of patches & tweaking, but I'm happy with it (the gadgets at the tops of the Windows work in an Amiga way, apart from the cycling one).  It's kinda funny administering an Active Directory network in this way ;-)

If you have Win98 then WinUAE will work fine, it only misses a couple of the features.  I have it configured so it runs OS 3.9 with most of my old serious programs (pic editing, word processing, internet stuff) and a couple of HD installable games.

To be honest I find it indespensable as I can run games whithout having to drag my A1200 or A500+ out, but it's not a replacement for the A3000. On my P3 1200MHz it feels like a 40MHz '040 with super graphics speed, so yours will fly!

Let us know how you get on, and we'll do our best to help with any config trouble (Thomas is 'the man' for this! he's sorted 3 things for me, and I thought I was an expert ;-)).

ps. Like I said you can also set it to WinUAE replaces the Windows shell, however this isn't something to be taken lightly so see how you go with AF6 first ;-) If this is done with care it has the potential to be 90% like a Classic Amiga I recon (stuff like getting a Catweasel for using an Amiga keyboard and reading floppies, and careful case choice - you could fool many experts) and it's certainly closer than an A1 or Peg which I like

... sorry to waffle ... :lol:

[Holley]

If you're connecting to the internet then yes, get all the updates!  While Windows networking would only act as a pass-through it can still get one of the myriad of viruses I'm afraid, so a virus scanner that can auto-update is also a wise move :-( (AVG is free and can be set to auto-update, check out www.grisoft.com).

As for speed, with your setup it should fly along! In general use it'll certainly outstrip a 40MHz WarpEngine ;-)

[Holley]

Sorry, short of rendering lightwave images most everything counts as 'general use' in my book ;-)

BTW Thomas - have you got a way for AmiSSL to redirect to Windows instead of looking for AmiTCP?

[Holley]

I think the 'cracked' version works ok, but it was just the first thing that came to mind :-D  I've only seen it used on an Amiga by one person, but did have the first release for Windows (which was excellent, it even had the Amiga 'A's on the menus for the key combinations) ... IIRC it was labelled version 5, in about '96 or '97 ...

[Holley]

What he meant was you run OS 3.9 on top of another operating system (Windows), on an Amiga that only exists in software (UAE) ;-)

Edit: OS 3.9 comes with AF6 (it just misses a couple of things that arn't required under emulation), and AF6 is a collection that pulls Amiga emulation stuff together in an easy to use (and legal) package.

[Holley]

Yeah, what Thomas said :-D

If you find yourself missing something in the OS3.9 from AF6 (once you've got it running), then there's nothing to stop you getting the full os 3.9 and using that.  If you're used to running Workbench 3.0 or 3.1 it'll do everything that could ;-)

Best thing to do now is get your hands on the PC and start using it, once you get stuck in it'll all make more sense!

[Holley]

Yeah, it's well developed (so more will probably follow in time), like I said before it's worth getting the latest release, as it's had at least one major update since AF6 went on sale (just install over the current version).

I have to say it feels like a high end '040 or low end '060 (I know, big difference! It depends what you're doing though) on my 1200MHz P3 laptop.

[Holley]

@Thomas - This is WinUAE under XP, when I do stuff like convert a large-ish JPG under PPaint.  About 4 years back you could guarantee WinUAE on a 200MHz Pentium would be almost dead on A500 speed, but the JIT (and AGA/040 emulation) have come a long way sonce then :-)

As for AF6 being enough on it's own, thats good to hear - how easy is it to sort networking, display etc?

[Holley]

One thing included in AF6 is 'Amiga Explorer' which is dead handy for transfers from a real amiga ...

BTW the LHA archive on Aminet is a self-extracting one, so no need for WinRAR.  Also OS3.9 includes 'unpacker' which does LHA LZX and so on (and is nice and easy to use).

Wibbly - remember that AF6 includes all the ROM files (including the CD32 one), so you get peace of mind that you're working legally, and it gives a head start on configs :-)

[Holley]

lol, sounds like the learning curve is starting :-)

Might be a good idea to start a new thread should you get stuck again ... most problems that people new to Amiga emulation have are down to knowledge of Workbench, as you've already had an amiga you should find it much easier!

Anyway, hope you're enjoying yourself :-D

BTW Make sure you set Windows to auto-update BTW, there's always something new trying to get in (had about 70 PCs get Agobot at work here).  If you do web browsing in Windows (under any browser) get yourself a copy of Spybot (http://safer-networking.org) as it saves the smaller bugs from coming in.

[Holley]

Mozilla isn't available for Amiga (yet), so it can only be used under Linux or Windows.  

As for AWeb, download the latest PL (public license) version (sorry, can't remember the site) - it's on 3.5.01 Beta IIRC, and works much better than the trial 3.4 version that comes with OS 3.9.  It's not ideal, but works fine for me here (or at least it will when I've got time to sort my SSL woes, can't get into my email!).

[Holley]

@Trinity
If it 'flashes' in black it's probably due to AWeb3.4, the beta of the public license AWeb 3.5 is downloadable (sorry, can't remember where from) and that works much better.

As for speed problems, on Laptops check the windows priority and CPU throttling settings, I'm using WinUAE .8.27 on a 1.2GHz P3 and it flies along :-)

[Holley]

You'll get there in the end I'm sure.  AF updates would be designed to be saved and run under Windows BTW.

It's alot of learning, I'm afraid many Amiga users forget just how much stuff there is to it!  (BTW it's no easier trying to emulate a PC without any prior knowledge of them ;-))