Birdie was made by Trond Werner Hansen, a norwegian Amiga user. Not by Commodore. It's an unofficial hack to make the WB nicer. It does a lot of things that it shouldn't... :-)
I know It wasn't made by Commodore. I'm just saying C's Design choices here have made it harder than it needs to be.
The reason for Startup-Sequence, User-Startup and WBStartup is that some programs are supposed to run before LoadWB. Programs like Birdie which hacks the way windows are drawn.
I'm really not used to this. My mac always knows it has to load up every patch/hack/whatever in the extensions folder. To stop it loading a certain one you just take it out that folder. Nice, clean, simple, all loads before Finder opens. Want a program to open after the Finder desktop? there's a folder for that too. It's nice, no effort required, universal on the classic os.
Going back to ms dos-style config files feels like I've had my bed taken off me by a strange man, who then hands over a stone knife, points in the direction of a bear, and says "It's simple, isn't it!"
User-Startup is pretty safe to toy around with, Startup-Sequence is lower level, still pretty safe if you take the appropriate precautions, but still - warranty void if you toy with it :-)
Now, take a deep breathe, read up on the manual to birdie and other patches you might have running. Birdie is a strange bird which isn't too happy if you crowd it.
I did everything the manual said... Unless I missed something because I was tired.
Round 2:
Do you have it added to your startup-sequence/user-startup ? It needs to be there (and placed correctly) with correct arguements following, otherwise you'll need to manually launch it everytime. By the way if you're an rtg system with '060 (or higher speed(ie. emulated)) I recommend using AFA_OS instead. It's skinning system is more flexible and it also adds other functionality too (anti aliased fonts, 32bit png icons, faster icons, zune, etc.).
Yeah it's in my user-startup. I'm going to have a look at AFA_OS then, good idea.
p.s. Startup sequence and user startup rock. You just need to understand amigaos a little to use it properly. Also, WBStartup is handy, but not half as flexible. Birdie is a command line program, thats why you need to add arguements and why you cant just place it in WBStartup.
I suppose they might be useful If you're used to them. I don't see the need when there could just be a folder called "put stuff in there if you want to load it before the workbench" And Birdie being a command line program seems a very strange choice.
Startup-sequence and user-startup are very simple and easy to use, no other system lets you so easily customise your system. And for the record, yes even Mac OS, etc need to be told where everything is, it just hide it from the user unless they care to look for it.
Easy to use if you've been using it for a long time. And the only time I know of where MACOS is like you described is when you move a system folder, unless you're talking about X is which case that doesn't count.
Personally I like having complete control over my computer and not have it assume Im stupid.
Personally I like having my computer do things that are common sense, and not need spoon feeding the simplest of things. I HAVE to assume the amiga is stupid, unless I want it to destroy all of my things and set fire to the carpet in the style of the chuckle brothers.
As for birdie if you want your arguements for birdie, just check open up the birdie file in env and it'll give them to you. Basically though its a 3rd party system hack, if you want to use things like that then you need to learn AmigaOS a little. Whinging because of your lack of knowledge isnt the best way to get help.
Oh i'm not whinging because of a lack of knowledge. I'm whinging because a system as advanced as the amiga was definitely has some outdated ideas.
I'm goinna have a look at AFA_OS then.