BlizKick & Exec 44.1 Question

[dannyp1]

I decided to struggle some more with the BlizKick / Exec 44.1 programs.  I think I have made some progress.  It appears as if I have finally made a patched Exec 44.1 file.  As I was making it everything appeared as it should have.

Next was working with Blizkick.  I think I got it working.  I get a screen when booting saying it is loading.  I think this is good.  Everything finishes loading and my desktop looks as it should.  My question is how can I tell if Exec 44.1 is really installed?  I get this fear that maybe it is overwritten by something from OS 3.9 as that also softkicks a rom update.  How do I know what update is being used.  When I look at rom bersion under the pulldown info tab it says  the rom is 45.7 I think.  What happened to 44.1?  Have I made any sense?

Dan

[Damion]

Open a shell and enter "version exec.library" (minus the quotes), that should let you know.

 

[dannyp1]

OK, I opened the shell and got version 45.20.  What is this trying to tell me?

[Piru]

@dannyp1

OK, I opened the shell and got version 45.20. What is this trying to tell me?

That if you want to use exec 44 you must adjust your SetPatch line to look something like:

Code: [Select]

SetPatch QUIET SKIPROMUPDATES "exec.library"

[dannyp1]

Thank you!!  It now reads version 44.1  !!!  This is about the 10th time over the last 2 years I have tried to get this working and I am finally getting somewhere!  Now I've got to figure out about these modules.  Right now the only change I have made is to substitute the Exec 44.1.  Any ideas for a quick universal sequence for my SS?  Dan

[Piru]

Well "romfixes" is a safe bet, it is a good idea for pretty much any setup.

Other modules that are good to have (TM): FixMath404, PatchMath020 and ramlibstack.

060 users might want to add FixGetMsg.

If you're using the A1200 IDE, then add SpeedyIDE.

Note that there are more modules but these are IMO the most important ones.


*EDIT*

Once you have these going you might want to look into splitting the "AmigaOS ROM Update" file to modules (romupdatesplit) and preloading them with BlizKick instead. Saves single reboot at system poweron. You'll need to look into EXTRESBUF argument for these, since they can't fit inside the ROM itself.

And yes, I know... it's not very end user friendly app. :-)

[dannyp1]

Piru said:

"Other modules that are good to have (TM): FixMath404, PatchMath020"

Will these modules be useful or necessary if I am going to use the HSMathLibs?

Dan

[Piru]

Yes

[AmigaMance]

 Why is FixMath404 useful when the HSMathLibs libraries are installed? This modules fixes a bug in the original mathieeesingbas.library which is replaced by the newer and probably bug-fixed HS version.
 Also, isn't the FixGetMsg module obsolete if someone uses Exec 44.1?

[dannyp1]

I will try the two math modules later tonight!

Dan

[Piru]

@AmigaMance

Why is FixMath404 useful when the HSMathLibs libraries are installed? This modules fixes a bug in the original mathieeesingbas.library which is replaced by the newer and probably bug-fixed HS version.

FixMath404 doesn't take any additional resources. It just makes sure the original library is fixed already. Thus if for some reason something uses the library before the patch, or if you remove the patch, you won't get a crash. If you use HSMathLib mathieesingbas as a BK module then you can drop it. But it still doesn't cause any harm other than taking couple of msec at initial system startup.

Also, isn't the FixGetMsg module obsolete if someone uses Exec 44.1?

Sure, but it doesn't hurt either. If you at some point drop exec44 you'll still have the fix from FixGetMsg then. Again, it doesn't take any additional resources.

But in normal situation you don't get any extra benefit from these two modules when using HSMath and exec44. So: Useful? In some specific rare cases. Necessary? no.

[StevenJGore]

(Long time, no post!)

This seems like the best place to ask, rather than starting a new thread.

I'm trying to do the same thing as dannyp1, but with RemApollo instead of BlizKick. How do I create a separate Exec44.1 module that I can use with LoadModule, prior to the "SKIPROMMODULE exec.library" line of my startup-sequence?

Thanks!
Steve.

 

[Damion]

Hey, Steve! Nice to see you here again :pint:

Out of curiosity, any reason why you want to use LoadModule, instead of patching your ROM and softkicking with RemAPollo?

[StevenJGore]

Because I didn't RTFM properly! :-D

I didn't realise that I could softkick the kick44100.A1200 ROM and use LoadModule in the same command line. I've got it working now, cheers! :-)

Steve.