AmigaOS 3.9 Boing Bag #3

[matthey]

There is newer...

narrator.device 37.8
reqtools.library 39.3

http://www.heywheel.com/matthey/Amiga/BB3libsnew.lha

and a better workbench.guide here...

http://www.heywheel.com/matthey/Amiga/WBguide.lha

It would be nice to include these newer P96 libs also...

http://www.heywheel.com/matthey/Amiga/P96new.lha

Looking good though .

[matthey]

 Where did you find this version of narrator.device?

It was the Mu/Thor/Thomas Richter's patch. It just bumps the stack a little. Nothing major.

Thanks for the ReqTools link.

[matthey]

@Matthey
I have seen your workbench.guide, which is certainly very good. In fact it has a lot of information on how to handle workbench using Arexx. But i must say that i disagree that it suits better for BB3, as it lacks all the general help information regarding for example: Workbench drawers, a general help FAQ with usual problems and their solutions, a brief description of what each command and tool does, etc. Anyway, i invite you to rip the information fom both, and attempt to merge them. That could be really usefull!

My workbench.guide has very specific info on the operation of Workbench, is formatted better with more buttons/links, and supports requester specific and menu help. Your workbench.guide has a lot of additional info, much of it useful but some not so much related to Workbench. I think it would be best to make separate guides for BB3, Workbench, Arexx and AmigaDOS and link between them. Ernest Unrau has an excellent ARexx guide already that could probably be used (update recently added to Aminet). My Workbench guide could be used with your additional Workbench related info added. I couldn't find an AmigaDOS guide as good as Ernest's Arexx guide but parts could be borrowed from other places including the work you have done already. English isn't my strong point and I am currently developing a better disassembler to modify programs so my time is limited. It would be better if someone else made the simple tedious modifications if possible. Otherwise, I may eventually get to it .

The Picasso96 stuff, in my humble point of view, should be added to a BoingBag3 Contribution software list, as such was the way Picasso96 was intended to be on AmigaOS3.9. As soon as i have a little more time i will attempt to generate that list and put it online including your Picasso96 findings.

That's fine with me. I'm happy that someone is taking the time to finally put this all together. Thanks.

[matthey]

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.

I got this error message after a reboot too. The solution is to turn the Amiga off. The problem is gone after turning the Amiga back on.

Other installation problems...

Libs:xadmaster.library is improperly named Libs:xadmaster.device for the 68020 version at least.

I had the same problem with the incorrect (cycling) text colors on Workbench with the newest workbench.library on my stock 3000. I couldn't get it to go away by saving the pallet prefs like last time. The 2 configurations that have exhibited this problem...

3000T CSMK3 68060 with Mediator Voodoo4 Picasso96
3000 68030 with CyberVision64 Picasso96

Problem happens on both RTG and non-RTG screens and with latest P96 software as well as P96 v1.43b.

[matthey]

I think I got it to go away by saving the fonts in prefs.

That fixed it. Thanks. I guess I remembered wrong. It would be good to update the BB3 web site that saving SYS:Prefs/Font settings will fix strange colored Workbench text from workbench.library. Maybe put the info in the readme with installer too.

[matthey]

@Gulliver
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.)

Well, they did the impossible then . Oh, Did you mean legally? Yea, It would probably be better to use the .pch method for OS modules. An early disassembled exec is on Aminet and Piru's exec.library contains the actual exec.librarys but that's all grey area. There is actually little chance of pirating here as the updates in BB3 are not very useful without AmigaOS 3.9. I would think that would be good enough but it would be better to get permission from Hyperion or Amiga Inc to distribute this way. Maybe permission could be obtained to release other semi-official updates as well. Thomas Richter has some updates ready to go if he had permission...

http://www.natami.net/knowledge.php?b=6¬e=13805&x=1

Maybe we could start an e-mail petition. People who want to see an update would send Gulliver an e-mail with their name and e-mail address and those would be collected and sent to Hyperion and Amiga Inc. with a request.

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.

One advantage to the .pch method is a much smaller BB3. The installation would become slower with more problems though.

[matthey]

Has anyone got Thomas Richter email?

Thomas Righter's e-mail is the same as it's always been. Look in the Mu/mmu.library package on Aminet. The problem is that he has seen the source code and would not be able to release his updates without "official" permission. It's a little different when someone signs a NDA. Getting official permission would open doors.

Another product I would like to see included to complement MooVid is Riva. It's a MPEG player written entirely in assembler so it's very fast. Stephen (Cobra on AmigaWorld.net) went on to write DvPlayer for AmigaOS 4. Maybe you could get him to release the full version of Riva on Aminet with source code too, preferably?

[matthey]

@Gulliver

Great news! Why didn't you do all this a long time ago .

[matthey]

@mike-
I'm the author of CopyMem and UtilPatch. You no longer need to use UtilPatch if you are using Thomas Richter's 68060.library. It's now incorporated with small changes into the 68060.library as a patch for the utility.library. One less patch is needed . I should update the aminet readme to reflect this though.

CopyMem is still quite useful. I plan on trying to make a new exec.library which incorporates this, TLSFmem and some optimizations. That would be a better BB inclusion than a patch I think.