romfixes

[matthey]

Hi I've been playing around with creating my own custom 3.9 rom and it works well but looking at adding updated stuff ect an was looking at romfixes from blizkick but don't seem to be able to find out what it "fixes" does anyone know?

I don't use any of the Blizkick patches for an AmigaOS 3.9 kickstart which includes many fixes already. I do use the Remus patches called Patchmath020_All and NoClick in the BK_Mods directory of Remus but they are not necessary. These modules can be added at the bottom of the ROM contents in Remus.

For a 512kB kickstart, split the AmigaOS 3.9 BB2 update (no more double reboot is necessary with these) which will give:

bootmenu 44.7
console.device 44.8
exec 45.20
FileSystem.resource 45.10
(Fast)FileSystem 45.13
scsi.device 43.43
ram-handler 44.23
shell 45.7

Then replace with newer versions from the unofficial AmigaOS 3.9 Boing Bag updates:

console.device 44.10
FastFileSystem 45.16
layers.library 45.24
mathieeesingbas.library 40.4 (or hsmathlibs)
ram-handler 44.24
scsi.device 43.45 (or higher as there are several patched versions)
shell 45.27
icon.library 46.4.411 (Peter K)

Optional if using USB and requiring splitting the input.device from the gameport.device and keyboard.device:

input.device 50.26 (Ralph S from the Poseiden package)

This input.device allows USB devices from the boot menu. It will be slow on some hardware as it uses address 4 to get the exec base rather than caching it and it suffers from optimization issues. I have an incomplete input.device which fixes most of these problems but needs more work and testing.

Some hardware specific drivers can also go in the kickstart. The new workbench.library will no longer fit and should be left out (like with the 4000T).

I was thinking of doing the same thing, which is why I ordered one of the 'ROMY' (which allows 1MB kickstart roms) chips, though I need to get an EEPROM burner to put it into the real Amiga after I test it in WinUAE.

Most accelerators only support a 512kB kickstart for MAPROM. Hardware which supports a 1MB kickstart includes some ACA accelerators, Deneb, eFlash, and maybe some new FPGA accelerators and Amigas.

I was thinking of trying to put in the 68060.library or something, I do know probably the easiest way to see what needs to be put in a custom rom is to see what startup-sequence has in the patches file, also probably to include the rom update from 3.9 BB2.  That would at least save the reset.

ThoR's 68060.library will not work in kickstart which has further requirements than a normal library. Another 68060.library may work from kickstart but would not be activated until SetPatch so there isn't much advantage. It would be possible to activate a 68060.library earlier in kickstart but it would require modification of the 68060.library or adding another program in kickstart to activate it.

[matthey]

Forgive my ignorance on this topic.    How tough would it be to make a ROM that would allow an Amiga boot from an attached CDrom drive (like all the other platforms can do).  Only CDTV, A570, and CD32? can do this currently.

1) A CD-ROM file system is needed which is ROMable. This likely already exists.

2) A ROMTag started program would need to be created and go in kickstart to detect and mount the CD-ROM. This would be difficult supporting all SCSI, IDE and USB CD-ROM drives while supporting a specific known drive at a specific location like the CDTV, A570 or CD32 would still be tricky but much easier. Scanning for drives at different locations would likely substantially slow booting. It may be possible to update the bootmenu or other components in the kickstart to do the mounting.

It should be possible on most Amigas to configure a CD-ROM file system after the cold bootup so that it will survive a reset and boot off the CD-ROM on warm resets without modifying the kickstart. There is a mechanism in AmigaOS for this which has existed for a long time. A smart CD-ROM file system could have this option to survive resets for booting purposes (maybe it already exists). AmigaOS 3.9 installs a smarter warm reset bootmenu than what is in the AmigaOS 3.1 ROM cold reset boot menu which has a better chance of handling a CD-ROM or USB file system. It might be worth experimenting if AmigaOS 3.9 was still being developed or there was a good open source CD-ROM file system which supported all CD formats.

The 68060.library support code would need to be installed before the CD-ROM boots in order to use most CD32 CDs. The 68060 is missing integer 68020 instructions and will crash without the support code installed (usually happens with SetPatch). The 68040 has all integer instructions but needs 68040.library support code if the FPU is used. CD32 and CDTV CDs may need other kickstart modules as well which would likely require a 1MB kickstart.

AmigaOS 68k and CD-ROM file systems are no longer being developed. ThoR doesn't seem interested in making his 68060.library ROMable and it is the last to get updates. Without a combination of changes in these components, it is unlikely we will ever see proper USB, media card or CD-ROM booting support. New specific 68k Amiga hardware wouldn't have to support as many hardware options so an update to support them is possible if they turn out to be popular. AROS has the necessary components for booting off a wide variety of media and may be another option for the 68k.

[matthey]

There is no better scsi.device than 43.45 By Hodges, Wilen and Sauer. I tried 43.46 but soon found that version number of it, is just a number.

Info picture taken from EAB

Do you have a link to where the pic on EAB came from?

[matthey]

Sorry picture is useless here http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=783309&postcount=1

Thanks. Yes, the link is more useful .

[matthey]

Rommable cd filesystem could be handy, it would allow mounting cd-rom with any boot disk which has normal 2.0-3.1 c: drawer. Could be time saving and make OS installation much easier, even if boot from cdrom wouldn't be possible.

I don't see much advantage to putting the CD file system in kickstart if it is not mounted early enough to boot off of. Most modern media has room to put the CD file system on the disk. Floppies would benefit as they have limited room but who is trying to use a CD with only floppies?

An AmigaDOS script can simulate booting off CD. Let's call the script BootCD.

Code: [Select]


SetPatch quiet
failat 31
assign T: RAM:
makedir RAM:ENV
madedir ENV:SYS
echo "WB3:S" >ENV:SYS/nv_location
mount CD0:
assign SYS: CD0:
assign DEVS: SYS: DEVS
assign ENVARC: SYS:PREFS/ENV-ARCHIVE
assign FONTS: SYS:FONTS
assign KEYMAPS: SYS:DEVS/KEYMAPS
assign L: SYS:L
assign LOCALE: SYS:LOCALE
assign LIBS: SYS:LIBS
assign PRINTERS: SYS:DEVS/PRINTERS
assign S: SYS:S
assign C: SYS:C
CD SYS:
execute S:Startup-Sequence
EndCli >NIL:


Boot off your normal bootable media and execute the script. The 68060 or 68040 support code is loaded first. For CD32 compatibility, nv_location is set to the HD for saves since most Amigas have no NV memory and the CD can't be saved to (change "WB3:S" to the desired save destination). The script may need some refinement but this should work for some CDs.

About CD Filesystems :

I have tried without luck

CacheCDFC
AmiCDFS
ASIMCDFS
BabelCDFS
CD32/CDTV cd filesystems

Only one which I haven't tried is that Elbox cd filesystem.

A file system may fit in kickstart and even work sometimes when it is not ROMable. It doesn't appear you have even been that lucky.

The CD32/CDTV CD filesystems are obviously ROMable but the drives are not IDE/ATAPI. They may lack the interface to specify a different device. The CSMK3/CSPPC has a CD file system in the flash which allows booting but it is limited in what formats it supports and may also be specific to the accelerators SCSI device.

I am not the expert on ROMTags and ROMable modules. I can disassemble the modules but I don't know what to look for. There are guys who could look at the ROMTags and hunk sections and tell you in a few minutes what is ROMable and what the module will do if placed in kickstart.