BetterWB - release 2.0

[Gulliver]

BetterWB release 2.0 - 20.05.2011

BetterWB is a new workbench pack, much like AIAB, Amikit, AmigaSYS, ClassicWB, etc. but applying a totally different aproach. This is a new version which brings many improvements over its ancestor.

It aims to be much like an enhancement, an updated extension to AmigaOS 3.1, without all those hardware requirement penalties tipically associated with these kind of packs. It is indeed a better 3.1 than 3.1 itself!

http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/BetterWB.htm

This is my pet project, it took me a total of 4 days to assemble. Just voice your opinion, I will be glad to hear your comments, either good or bad.

Thanks

[Gulliver]

Can you install on top of an older release Gully? Just overwrite stuff.

Yes you can, and it should work, unless you have somehow modified your startup-sequence since version 1.x.

@Zero
I am glad you are enjoying it

[Gulliver]

My suggestion would be for an OS3.9 version.

Otherwise, you should include http://aminet.net/game/patch/SetJoyPort.lha or similar, to work around known bugs in that version of lowlevel.library.

Hi James, it is a indeed a good suggestion. Thanks.

I was also thinking on a kind of BetterWB for 3.9 that could include all BoingBags + some BetterWB goodies + some other neat stuff, distributed in an .adf floppy image manner. Just imagine installing 3.9 and then using this set of floppies to automatically have everything updated with some neat added goodies without any user intervention.
 
Whenever I get a bit more time, I will play with this concept.

[Gulliver]

Should the unofficial Boing Bags 3 & 4 be used with this, or are they already included within this betterWB release?

Edit:  AFAIR, Boing Bag 3, I installed over AmigaOS3.9, so I guess this is something different just for OS3.1.

This is something different, only for 3.1.

I will start working on something related for 3.9 in the future.

[Gulliver]

download page doesn't seem to work?

@stefcep2
I am sorry but the Amiga user who hosts my website is performing a server change.
Hopefully this wont take much longer.

Meanwhile, use this
http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=757402&postcount=4

[Gulliver]

Hi - my A1200 is still WB 3.0. Will "Better--" work on 3.0?

Thanks.

Ernie

Hi, yes it should work. I havent tested it though, but I believe there is no 3.1 specific dependency, so give it a shot.

[Gulliver]

Thank you for reporting that.

Anyway the person in charge of hosting my site is performing a serve change. Hopefully, everything will be back soon.

[Gulliver]

BetterWB 2.1 - Minor update

Many cosmetic changes
Installation requires less disks swaps
The fastest Amiga filesystem, PFS3 and its associated tools are now included

http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/BetterWB.htm

[Gulliver]

Something you should include, if it's not already included, is the diskimage device that can mount ADF among other formats and use them as if they are loaded from the df0: directly. Very useful...

Diskimage.device is great, but unfortunately requires a 68020 or better, which is beyond the scope of BetterWB (which is 68000 compatible).
Anyway, thank you for your suggestion.

[Gulliver]

BetterWB 2.2 - Another small update

New Exchange commodity replacement with lots of features (CX)
ToolAlias, added as a new commodity
Replacement for the C:Version command with four digit year field
Pure bit omision corrected on the default 3.1 install

http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/BetterWB.htm

[Gulliver]

Nooo I just installed 2.0 on my A1000. Do you keep a change log at the site, with links to what was added? Maybe an update disk could be done?

Thanks again

No need to worry

If you didnt modify your startup-sequence after the 2.0 install, Just put 2.2 on top of 2.0.

If not, just backup the startup-sequence, and then re-apply it after putting 2.2 on top of 2.0.

[Gulliver]

BetterWB 2.3 - The bugfix update - 25.08.2011

Macintosh floppy format (HFS) and proper mountlist (MAC0) implementation
Highly enahnced and optimised cdrom filesystem with many new features such as: Long filename support, Macintosh HFS, multiple session, hybrid (audio+data), and iso 9660 cdrom support
Rexxsyslib.library got bugfixed (WaitDosPacket)
Mathieeedoubbas.library has now the MathIEEE comparision fixed that was broken in its earlier version
IPrefs features now an increased stack to avoid stack overflows when loading worbkench backdrop pictures
Mfm.device got a stack increase to avoid problems with some programs
New and powerfull workbench system format

http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/BetterWB.htm

[Gulliver]

BetterWB 2.4 - 20.10.2011

-Some minor components got updated
-Compact disk player with lots of great features (ACDPlay)
-SetJoyPort is a program that improves the chances of using a CD32 style joypad with all games
-ClickNot commodity prevents floppy drives from issuing those excessive clicking sounds
-Break command can now accept multiple targets, find a program by CLI number, command or task name, etc
-Copy command has increased its functionality quite a lot
-Sort command uses standard I/O channels as a default, which makes Sort quite useful in I/O pipes. It will sort as much text as fits in your RAM
-Join command has been heavily enhanced and includes lots of new options
-Avail command now has a few more options

As usual, you can grab it from http://lilliput.amiga-projects.net/BetterWB.htm

@Reptile
Sorry for the late reply.
BetterWB is not designed for eye candy, there is nothing remarkable to be "seen", as it bares a high resemblance with a default 3.1 system from a visual standpoint.
Most of the changes, and there are quite a lot, are internal and mean more stability, bugfixes and enhancements to AmigaOS.
It is just a better Workbench than 3.1. Just read its feature list on its webpage and you may have a better understanding of it.

[Gulliver]

Good, let me know your impressions once you get to play with it a bit.

[Gulliver]

@Rodomoc

I am happy you find the website usefull

About your questions:
BetterWB is not related to  the other content of the website. It is just my personal view on how to improve AmigaOS 3.1

And the reason for going this specific route was to empower unexpanded Amigas to be able to run something better than a bare AmigaOS 3.1 which is really old (18 years!), as this was the only available option until now for for lets say for example, an A500/A1000 with a harddrive and 3.1 kickstart with only 512KB of chipmem.

If you have a higher end system, you will probably have much more hardware resource power to spend on other distributions or even higher versions of AmigaOS that will probably give you some added functionality and eye candy. It is up to you to choose then to try BetterWB, if you have a better system.

This BetterWB distribution/add-on pack, is meant for all Amigas, in order to provide them with something better than a bare 3.1 whilst keeping the bloat to a minimum so that any Amiga has the potential to run it as long as they have kickstart 3.1 and some form of harddrive (Yes, 512KB of chipram will be just enough for it to run).

Then, the final goal is to provide a much better experience than 3.1 by incorporating bugfixes, updates and enhancements, somehow following what I feel should have been the path that Commodore should have chosen if they were alive just a little bit longer.