OS 3.9 and ECS Amigas concerns

[kolla]

As I have tried to point out numerous times, just because OS3.9 gives you coloured icons and backdrops in ReAction/ClassAct apps you dont _have_ to use those, there's nothing in OS3.9 that really makes it so much slower than 3.1. Install 3.9 and replace the icons with those of 3.1 and voila, you have your speed back. If picture,datatype that comes with 3.9 is a problem, then just use the one from 3.5, or 3.1 instead, or a third party one.

My minimig is currently running OS-3.9 with MagicWB icons, and use less than 20 secs to boot, but then I have made a custom 3.9 kickstart so it doesnt waste time rebooting (or RAM on updated exec, scsi.device, fastfilesystem, shell, ram-handler etc). I've also been using OS-3.9 on my A600/030 for years and it's certainly not slow.

[kolla]

I don't think it would be very simple to replace the 3.9 picture.datatype with the 3.1 one, too many other components depend on it.

Really? What components would that be?
On the Minimig (again) I use PictDT42, and it seems to work just fine (v44.x in OS3.5+ needs 020+).

I guess what we really need is a brand new, super fast picture.datatype written in Assembly that does everything the 3.9 one does, but maybe optimised for palette-mapped screens. That's the only thing I can think of that could help speed up 3.9, and I don't see it happening any time soon.

OK, time to pick up the FAQ from ... boingbag1:

Q: Where are the PowerPC datatypes on the OS 3.9 CD?

A: Due to the extremely tight deadline required to ship OS 3.9 by December 4th, only the picture.datatype is currently
available for the PowerPC (and none of it's sub-classes are PPC-enabled):

AmigaOS3.9:OS-Version3.9/Workbench3.9/Classes/Datatypes/picture.datatype (82,264 bytes).

This is a 'fat' binary, meaning it contains both 68k and PPC code, and will automatically use the fastest processor available. For other PPC
datatypes, simply search any Aminet mirror for "warpjpeg", "warppng", and "warpgif". [David Rey/Remco Komduur]

The OS 3.9 picture.datatype offers a new scaling feature, and far better dithering (not really a concern unless you use 8-bit screens), and uses the PPC only for dithering or scaling, so you need to consider whether you're likely to use those features--if not, then it would be preferable to stick with the CyberGraphX one, simply because it's faster. [Oliver Roberts]

See?

I ?think the 3.1 picture.datatype was written in ASM. I think the 3.5/3.9 ones were written in C, like many other components of the OS that were replaced.

Have you actually tried using the OS 3.1 one in OS3.9? And if so, did you actually get errors messages? Also it would be interesting to know about PictDT42 or PictDT43. Many sub datatypes of picture.datatype need v43+, for example the ones from Andreas Kleinert.

[kolla]

@kolla

What's with the attitude? I hate to tell you, but Cammy is exactly right and you are wrong. I swapped the picture.datatype years ago and ran into many problems.

I suppose you have details? You swapped which picture.datatype incarnations and ended up with what kinds of problems?

Please don't recommend things that you've never tested personally.

Think what you like, but I know what I have running and that works just fine. But hey, I guess I should just ignore what works for me and recommend "pure" old OS3.1 like everyone else