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Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: Rodomoc on January 17, 2011, 08:29:39 PM

Title: WinUAE questions
Post by: Rodomoc on January 17, 2011, 08:29:39 PM
I have used WinUAE by itself or within AmigaForever. Mainly for use in pre-configured OS environments like AmigaSys or Amikit. I am in-process on a new computer and thought I might try a different flavor of Windows this time. As in small footprint WindowsXP installation.
 
Has anyone had experience with Windows XP - Embedded before?
What are the bare Windows XP requirements for WinUAE?
 
Note...I could care less about running Windows itself, I just want it for UAE. Therefore things like Windows GUI do not matter to me. I want to be able to quiet boot a small version of XP, no GUI, no login, and simply autostart a WinUAE configuration.
 
Additional note...I am not Windows hacker person, so I would need a fairly easy route in regards to the Windows base OS aspects.
 
I am open to ideas or tips from users who may have already travelled these paths before. Thanks in advance.
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: Ral-Clan on January 17, 2011, 09:27:03 PM
Quote from: Rodomoc;607327
I have used WinUAE by itself or within AmigaForever. Mainly for use in pre-configured OS environments like AmigaSys or Amikit. I am in-process on a new computer and thought I might try a different flavor of Windows this time. As in small footprint WindowsXP installation.

I am open to ideas or tips from users who may have already travelled these paths before. Thanks in advance.


I'm not running a stripped down version of XP, but I like the idea and found this article which might help:

http://lifehacker.com/374376/trim-down-windows-to-the-bare-essentials
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: Digiman on January 17, 2011, 09:47:58 PM
To run OCS UAE you need 650mhz Pentium 3 min, this is enough and then some for XP.

Stick to service pack 1, more relaxed with memory requirements :)
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: fishy_fiz on January 18, 2011, 02:34:55 AM
Ive actually done this before so might be able to offer some help if you need it.
In regards to stripping down Windows XP, download Nlite, a nifty little program designed for making custom WIndowsXP/Win2k isos. It has a gui which lets you select/deselct pretty much anything and everything from a Windows install. Additionally it will let you merge in service packs, or new drivers and so on, so that you can just install the iso, ready to go (without the need to add/remove any extras). You can even ad a serial key directly into the iso so you dont need to type it in while installing.
Look for MicroXP as well, which is a pre-shrunk, fully functioning xp pro + sp3 installed that is a whisker under 100 meg, and can be stripped back a little more again with Nlite.

After that is done it's also possible to remove all traces of Windows being visible from the system and have it launch directly into winuae/amiga os. Most of the details can be found in this guide:
http://wowohl.de/Amiga_XP_x86.pdf

There's a few bits and pieces that arent covered (if youre pedantic anyway, the effect is already pretty good by this point), but rather than confusing things for now, 1st just try the above, and feel free to get back to me when/if any of the little details which you'll encounter start to bother you.  :)
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: Rodomoc on January 18, 2011, 05:53:32 PM
Thank you for the very good postings. I think I have a pretty good understanding on how to contain Windows XP now.
 
I want to come up with my own custom Amiga side of the equation. I have Amiga Forever 2010 and my thoughts were to rob as many little pieces out of it that look good or are sensible to do. I say this because I am of the understanding that AF did many little optimizations. Any expert opinions here would be appreciated! Further borrowing will be done from Amikit, AmigaSYS, and maybe ClassicWB packages.
 
I'll post back here when I have made some progress. The hardware build is 1st; I'll be using a spare Asus MB I have that has 3Ghz Xenon DuoCore CPU. This should be more than enough to push things along. I think I will simply stay with MB audio and video because I do not know what real benefit there would be by using aftermarket PCI stuff. I am very tempted to try a Catweasel card though. Having floppy ability and real Amiga keyboard ability looks good to me. I have a spare A3000 keyboard, I wonder if this would work? I am assuming that these are WinUAE supported. The whole mess is going into an A2000 case I picked up just for this occasion.
 
Thanks again.
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: fishy_fiz on January 19, 2011, 12:24:44 PM
The only real advantage to using a dedicated gfx solution for something like what you're mentioning is when 3d comes into the equation. That said however the heaviest 3d games available for 68k amiga are things like quake, quake2, descent:freespace, payback, Cube, tux racer, etc. so requirements arent huge anyway. You will get higher framerates with a dedicated card, but even a cheap nasty 2nd hand $10 geforce, radeon, etc card will suffice (Quarktex will let amiga os access hardware acceleration of the hardware its running on via warp3d).
As for setting up amiga os from scratch rather than using one of the prepackaged "distros", in my opinion it's the way to go and how Ive always done things. This of course is all down to personal tastes and there's no harm in using amikit/amigasys/etc., but personally I like to know the system inside out, and it's much easier to do that when you've installed everthing yourself. As for which Amiga OS to use, I guess that's up to the user, but os3.5/3.9 being a little slower than earlier versions of os3.x doesnt matter too much when the resources available to an emulator are on offer.
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: woof on January 19, 2011, 02:49:15 PM
Hello
>Quarktex will let amiga os access hardware acceleration
Now Wazp3D can use hardware too so can let you play Quake/payback/etc... inside WinUAE with a good framerate and hardware filtering
http://thellier.free.fr/Wazp3D.htm
http://aminet.net/package/driver/video/Wazp3D

Dont know if QuarkTex is faster than Wazp3D... but Wazp3D got more options

Alain Thellier
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: jj on January 19, 2011, 02:54:20 PM
Quote from: Rodomoc;607327
Note...I could care less about running Windows itself, I

Sorry this won't help wour problem but this drives me crazy.
 
"I could care less", does not make sense in the context you are using.
 
You mean " I couldn't care less".
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: KThunder on January 19, 2011, 03:14:32 PM
Quote from: JJ;607631
Sorry this won't help wour problem but this drives me crazy.
 
"I could care less", does not make sense in the context you are using.
 
You mean " I couldn't care less".


I could care less is the more sarcastic equivalent of I coudn't care less. Both mean he doesn't really care.

This is fairly common in the US and it does make sense. "I could care less(but it doesn't really matter since I care so little)
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: jj on January 19, 2011, 03:29:56 PM
Listen here now its about time that you yanks remember where most of you  originated :) :) :)
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: Rodomoc on January 19, 2011, 03:37:45 PM
Let me completely rephrase 'I could care less about running Windows itself...'
I intend on operating AmigaOS exclusively with this setup and will not operate the Windows side of the equation.
 
-----
 
Wazp3D: I have looked at this before. I was not aware of good performance within WinUAE/Amiga environment. Are there users out there who have used it in place of Warp3D? And...what is their experience in doing so?
 
Quarktex: Until now, I never knew it even existed. I'm not sure how I missed out on this one. I will obviously get educated with this.
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: KThunder on January 19, 2011, 03:40:38 PM
Quote from: JJ;607643
Listen here now its about time that you yanks remember where most of you  originated :) :) :)


our moms?

sorry... mums?
Title: Re: WinUAE questions
Post by: jj on January 19, 2011, 03:43:28 PM
Your momma :roflmao:    :roflmao:    :roflmao: