Amiga workbench

[PanterHZ]

I was just thinking to myself how silly it is that  people who create patched Workbench installs or even Emergency Install  disks cannot actually include the Workbench files and you have to run a  program to copy files from your own Workbench disks.

I seem to remember that one of the patched Workbench packages actually  did include all WB files at one point, but that the author had to remove  them after being told to do so.
But it is my impression that it's OK to include some WB files as long as  the main system files are not included, and this is the reason why  ClassicWB only requires the Workbench disk for example.

When creating my program Amiga911 Maker, I just simply decided to follow  the trend and do what others have done in the past regarding the  Workbench files. One might say that I went a step further since the  Extras & Install disks might be required for making a boot disk as  well, but this was my attempt to make the Amiga911 Maker distribution  somewhat Aminet friendly. But since the current version of my program  still includes some WB files (icons, keymaps, PAL & NTSC drivers and  the topaz font), it still meant that it couldn't be hosted on Aminet  (who are VERY strict when it comes to WB files in the uploads).

That being said, my program will look for Workbench3.0: or  Workbench3.1:, and if neither of them exists, the user will be  instructed to insert one of them. The thing is that this doesn't  necessarily have to be a Workbench floppy in DF0:, it can  actually be any drive with a volume bearing that name, and it can also  be an assign. As a matter of fact, in the process of creating A911  Maker, I had to do a lot of test copying from my WB disks to ensure  everything was working like it should. But to make things easier, I  simply copied all disks to my harddisk (by using drag & drop), and  created a small script with the following lines that I use for copy  testing:

Assign Workbench3.1: Work:WB3.1/Workbench3.1
Assign Extras3.1: Work:WB3.1/Extras3.1
Assign Install3.1: Work:WB3.1/Install3.1


For those who are using my program, there is even an easier way to do things that might work. Assuming your boot partition is called Workbench, just open a Shell and enter the following:

Assign Workbench3.1: Workbench:
 Assign Extras3.1: Workbench:
 Assign Install3.1: Workbench:

This way, you shouldn't have to insert any WB disks at all

(OK, I'll admit it, this last bit is probably a bit off-topic).

[PanterHZ]

Workbench was/is in kickstart. The only thing that's absolutely needed to start Workbench from a floppy is C:loadwb + a very basic startup sequence to call it.

And then you will have a Workbench that will allow you to open folders and click on icons + you can copy files by using drag & drop. And that's basically it really. When ever you try to run third-party software, you will most likely get complaints about missing libraries and stuff. For using the Shell, just type resident to get a list over the few internal commands that are at your disposal.

To get back on topic, yes, you can load Workbench straight off a floppy, using nothing but an AmigaDOS prompt as long as you're using 3.1 (can't remember how it was in the old days, but that's irrelevant) or higher. The problem is that you will lack quite a few basic utilities, but I assume that can be solved with third-party software.

It would be interesting to see how far one can get using nothing but open-source and freeware/PD. I might actually give it a try, just for the challenge.

I don't think there exists a freeware alternative to the LoadWB command, so that rules out Workbench. But there is a free command line alternative called ZShell which has the most basic CLI commands built in, it isn't 100% AmigaDOS compatible though. I seem to remember that somebody already have created a boot disk that is based on ZShell.
Anyway, you can find it here: http://aminet.net/package/util/shell/ZShell

I'm pretty sure some magazines even included "Relokick" (I think that is what is was called) which means they were effectively giving away Kickstart 1.3 too.  

Not entirely true. Relokick will only patch those parts of the kickstart that causes problems with old games (this actually means that a hybrid kickstart is used). Relokick is useless without there being a real 2.0 (or higher) kickstart present, and it can't be used directly as a kickstart ROM in (win)uae for example. But you are right, Relokick was given away for free on various magazine cover disks, and this was with the blessings from Commodore.

[PanterHZ]

You are wrong
This is a freeware loadwb command, you even have the sourcecode of it and it works great. http://aminet.net/util/sys/MSys-1.2.lha

BTW, I already built sometime ago a kind of "FreeWBench" with free alternatives. If interested, I will search for it in my stack of backup floppies and upload it.

Wow! I didn't know that, but thanks for letting me know
And yes I would be really interested in that floppy of yours.

Hmm... odd I use ReloKick1.3 quite often but not with the ROM image that came with it on the CUAmiga coverdisk CD but with a real 1.3 ROM image captured using GrabKick...

Perhaps your talking about ReloKick1.4 which came with a modified 1.3 ROM Image file... :confused:

I do belive there is a misunderstanding here, what I meant with "hybrid" was not the actual ROM image on disk, but what you will be running after using Relokick. And yes I'm pretty sure that only parts of the kickstart gets patched, so in other words you will be running a ks 1.3/2.x hybrid
It makes sense really, because using the entire kickstart image might lead to 256 KB less RAM available which is no good on Amigas with only 1 MB RAM.

I belived this meant the ROM image supplied with Relokick was a reduced one, but after taking a quick peek at it with a hex viewer, it appears to be the full version. It won't work with winuae though (and yes I have tried this).

Oh, I thought the LoadWB command was ROM'ed in the later versions. Ah well, my bad!

Yes but I was wrong in thinking there wasn't a free version of the LoadWB command as well

[PanterHZ]

Filling in:

The easiest way to do this is:  Have someone do this for you.

You'll need:  A friend who knows how to do it for you.

Things to watch for are: Make sure your friend isn't a copyright police type..

Let's get started, step 1:  Ask your friend to do it and buy him a beer..

Step 2:  WINNING!!

desiv

Yes this is good tutorial which can be used for a lot of things, and in case Step 2 is FAILING, you will always have someone else to blame :laughing: