AmigaOS 3.9 Boing Bag #3

[amigadave]

Thank you Gulliver!

I hope Nlandas does create a site for this information, I am surprised that no one has done so in the past.  It will be great to have such a resource and hopefully support for this effort will grow.

Any chance you will begin work on an automated install script for all these updates and patches?

[amigadave]

We are not trying to sent people from this site, but protect it. If there are original copyrighted (even patched version of the originals) in the file linked and the owner finds out, then they can have this site shut down. It's happened before. We were down for three or four days a few years ago over someone posting another person's (owner of Amiga Web Directory) event pictures.
If the Boing Bag just has the patch files and installs by patching the original files, then that would be fine.
Sucks, but this is what keeps us running. One DCMA violations letter to our ISP and we go offline.

If BoingBag3 had a simple check that required the OS3.9 CD to be in an attached CDROM drive, it would prove that the installer of BoingBag3 has a license to use the files being patched, that are from the OS3.9 CD anyway.

As for containing other copyrighted files that are obtained elsewhere, that is another matter that would have to be resolved.

[amigadave]

That would be redundant since BB2 already does such a check before installing itself, and BB3 checks that BB2 is already installed before installing itself.

Good point!  I did not know that since I have not used your BoingBag3 installer yet (but hope to in a few minutes).

Edit:  Well, the install script for BoingBag3 went smoothly and looked good too. Everything seemed to be okay until I altered the Startup-Sequence as directed in the install process.  Now I get an error message during the boot process which tell me that RAM-Handler version 40 (I think this is the version it is reporting) is already resident and LoadModule reports a failure to load object, or something like that.  These are the exact lines I added to my Startup-Sequence immediately above the existing SetPatch line.

;BEGIN BoingBag3
SYS:C/LoadModule L:RAM-Handler L:Shell-Seg, Devs:scsi.device NOREBOOT
SYS:C/SetPatch SKIPROMMODULES filesystem,RAM-Handler,scsi,shell QUIET
;END BoingBag3

I then commented out the existing C:SetPatch QUIET line just below what I added by adding a semi-colon in front of it.  There is no mention of what to do with the existing SetPatch line in your original Startup-Sequence file in the BoingBag3 install instructions, or the install script, so you might want to add something about that.  

After it gave me the error message and would not complete booting again, I then booted from my other original boot partition and also commented out the IDE-Fix IF-THEN statement lines as I do not have IDE-Fix, but that should not make any difference, should it?  Do I need the IDE-Fix IF-THEN lines for the A1200's internal IDE controller?  If I do I will remove the semi-colons from those lines to activate them again.  Commenting out the IDE-Fix lines had no effect on the problem, but I saw no reason to have those lines working if I don't have IDE-Fix installed on my A1200 (unless it is going to get installed in the process of BoingBag3).

I will work on it more tomorrow (actually later today as it is after 3am).  Let me know what you think about the error I am getting from the startup-sequence after adding the lines above that were in the BoingBag3 Installation script.

[amigadave]

@Gulliver

First of all, many thanks for your effort!

You simply cannot re-distribute original or patched AmigaOS files, no matter what you write into your readme. Sorry, that's a fact. In addition I doubt you can use the name "Boing Bag" and pretend it's official one. It's not. (Btw. the previous official Boing Bags contain full patched system files just because they were created and distributed by the original Amiga OS license owner - which you are not.)

The only legal solution for this unofficial Boing Bag, besides renaming the package, is to include patch data (.pch files) instead of full and patched AmigaOS files. The full files can be created on user's computer - by an installer. It should be easy to write one.

@AmiKit,  You know how much I appreciate your work, have supported it in the past and idolize what you have been able to create and the fact that you still give it away free, but I would have to disagree with you on the use of the words "Boing Bag", unless the previous or current Amiga IP owners have also copyrighted those words (which maybe they did and I just was too lazy to go look before writing this message).  The other parts of your message must be considered by everyone working on the project.

It really would be a shame if ANYONE were to object to this effort and try to stop it.  If Hyperion has the rights to AmigaOS, all versions of it, then I think it would be terribly wrong and stupid of them to try to stop the community from putting together an effort like this one as it really does not hurt anyone.  To my knowledge, the authors of this effort are not promoting any kind of piracy, they have put checks in place so it cannot be installed without BoingBag2 being installed first, which requires the installer to have a (hopefully legal) copy of the OS3.9 CD.

I think every effort to keep this work on the "Unofficial Boing Bag 3" legal and out of trouble with any of the authors of the separate files needed is being made.

My question is why has something like this not been done before now?  It was greatly needed and certainly very appreciated.  There are far too many returning Amiga users that do not know this information, and some Amiga users that never left, but did not keep up with updating their Amigas for one reason or another that can now update them to a more modern state with the help of this initiative.  I hope this work expands even further with many people helping their fellow Amiga users to fine tune their Amigas to their fullest potential.  This has always been one of the strengths of the Amiga community.

Edit:  My problem with the RAM-Handler error did disappear after a cold boot, so if you haven't already added a note to include a cold boot after using the Unofficial Boing Bag 3 install script, you might want to add such a note.  Now I am off to the other thread that describes which files to add/alter/or patch to create the fastest and most stable of  AGA OS3.9 Amigas.  Thanks again for this thread and all the work done to create the "Unofficial Boing Bag 3" project.

[amigadave]

Well, I don't know how many other users/members here are trying to use this "Unofficial Boing Bag 3" lha file/installer script and if they are having no problems getting it to work, but I am about to start my 4th attempt from a clean OS3.9 plus BoingBag1 & 2 on an empty partition as the first three attempts have failed.

I am back to having an error message which prevents Workbench from loading that states that RAM-Handler version 44 is already loaded and gives a LoadModule error.

On this last attempt, I also got the error that Devs/scsi.device could not be found, or did not exist, which when I booted from another partition, or my backup ZIP100: drive and checked, I confirmed that there is no scsi.device to be found in the Devs directory, or anywhere else on my CF card (which is attached to the internal IDE controller via a IDE to CF card adapter.

I am getting lost now, as I don't fully understand how the internal controller is working with the OS3.9 install process without any scsi.device present for the internal IDE controller on the A1200.

Also, my monitor appears to become more and more unstable after I install the Unofficial BoingBag3 script.  It might be the age of the CRT, or a less than perfect connection of my IndivisionAGA to the Lisa chip, I cannot tell what is causing the tearing and artifacts on my 19" monitor, but I was using a 16" CRT earlier in this process and it exhibited the same tearing and artifacts, so I am not too fast to blame the monitors.  I guess it could be a faulty IndivisionAGA, but until I get a stable OS running on it again, I can't say for sure what the problem is, as the display was not 100% prior to my attempts to install BoingBag3, but I thought that I might have had a loose connection to the Lisa chip then, and/or heat problem from the hard drive sitting on top of the IndivisionAGA.  Now with the CF card adapter, heat above the IndivisionAGA should not be an issue.

I am going to download the latest version of the Unofficial BoingBag3 file again, as I think one or two adjustments have been made since the version I have been trying.

I am not sure what else to try differently, except to not use the installer script at all and do all of the file installations and patches manually myself.

Any ideas for me?  I would also like to hear from others that have used the installer script successfully to know if there was anything they had to do to get it to work properly.

[amigadave]

>Devs/scsi.device could not be found

That's strange, could you please send me your install_log_file?

>Also, my monitor appears to become more and more unstable after I install the Unofficial BoingBag3 script. It might be the age of the CRT, or a less than perfect connection of my IndivisionAGA to the Lisa

It doesn't upgrade any monitor drivers (although it does add some new ones).

Still working on it, but I am saving logfiles this time.  I think the scsi.device is in the A1200 KickstartROM, that is why it does not show up in Devs: