68k cool workbench - these days?

[SamuraiCrow]

TheGoose wrote:
What is the best way / route to a cool workbench these days? Is MUI still in charge or are there other ways?

Related - what was the point of Reaction? A GUI enhancment? I dunno about that, is there more to it than I can see?

Seen a lot of cool PNG icon sets, will those work on OS3.9?

  :idea:

You can make PNG icons work on 3.9 through the use of a patch but I think the most powerful way to support PNG under 3.9 is to install AfA to get the updated datatypes.  I'm not sure if AfA (which, incidently, is short for AROS for Amigas) patches or replaces the libraries but follow the instructions that come with it.

The point of Reaction was that it allowed more types of gadgets than standard WB 3.1 but followed the proper OS-friendly way of installing new BOOPSI classes.  MUI also used BOOPSI classes but replaced the library functions related to them and added a new file format called an MUI Custom Class.

The advantage of ClassAct and its later version Reaction was that it was faster than MUI 3.3 which came out at the same time and was used by AWeb.  MUI was used for other browsers and utilities but was shareware for the user.  ClassAct only required a fee to the developer thus making it easier for Amiga, Inc. and Haage and Partner to license the rights to.  Also, Reaction used less memory than MUI and provided a consistent, non-skinnable, user-interface for embedded controller usage.

Furthermore, it was possible to patch MUIMaster.library to make it look like the new Reaction GUIs as happened in the version of MUI that is available for AmigaOS 4.0 .  In retaliation against Amiga, Inc. (now known as Amino, Inc.), MUI was made available for free to any MorphOS user.  A similar retaliation was made by the CyberGraphics developers when Picasso96 was chosen as the default API for graphics cards.

Now that MUI 3.9 is optimised to the point that it is as fast as Reaction and most systems have more than 4 megs of fast RAM, there isn't much reason to choose one version over the other except for not wanting to pay the license fee for MUI.

[SamuraiCrow]

AmiGR wrote:

In retaliation against Amiga, Inc. (now known as Amino, Inc.), MUI was made available for free to any MorphOS user. A similar retaliation was made by the CyberGraphics developers when Picasso96 was chosen as the default API for graphics cards.

Where did you get that little gem from? CGX was part of MorphOS before Amino/Amiga Inc. even got founded and MUI was part of it since its earliest days, has nothing to do with any retalliation or any other conspiracy theory.

Also, MUI is not "free for MorphOS users", it is a core part of MorphOS, paying for MorphOS pays for MUI.

Technically the P96 and MUI weren't part of MorphOS before the decision was made by Amiga, Inc. executives back when it was owned by Gateway.  And as for the conspiracy theory... I was at the '98 DevCon where it was decided and it was entirely a slip of the tongue.  I just hope any NDAs I signed don't hold water.

[SamuraiCrow]

AmiGR wrote:

Technically the P96 and MUI weren't part of MorphOS before the decision was made by Amiga, Inc. executives back when it was owned by Gateway.

P96 is not part of MorphOS. CGX always was and would have always been, Frank Mariak (CGX author) is one of the lead developers that started the MorphOS project.

And as for the conspiracy theory... I was at the '98 DevCon where it was decided and it was entirely a slip of the tongue. I just hope any NDAs I signed don't hold water.

When what was decided? That P96 would be in AmigaOS? So what? MorphOS was created by Ralph Schmidt (PowerUP author) and Frank Mariak (CGX) author. MUI was first ported to it then it got licenced and became an integral part of the system. None of these had absolutely anything to do with any Amiga Inc. and that is an actual fact.

The P96 mention where CGX should have been was a typo.  And also ClassAct was chosen as the GUI of AmigaOS 3.5 at the same conference under the condition that it be optimized to take less memory than MUI (which, in turn, was originally written to work on Kickstart 2.x unlike ClassAct).