Getting OS 3.9 onto my 1200 without a CD-ROM

[XDelusion]

You can get away with it yet, but thus far in my experience the Amiga seems a lot happier if you just install it on the actual hardware.

[fishy_fiz]

Why dont just make an image of os3.9 cd and then transfer the image across to your harddrive and then install VirtualCD (can be found on aminet) and just mount the image that way? Then you can just install os3.9 as normal from "cd" on the a1200. Alternatively you could just make a mountlist for a cd drive and not worry about VirtualCD (but the 1st way is easier and less cumbersome and can also be used to easily swap any "cds" you like (has a nice gui).

[XDelusion]

That would be done too I imagine. Didn't realize there was an ISO image mounter for Amiga. Awesome!

So there you have it, three methods.:

1. Install via PCMCIA Card with CF by renaming the CF card to "AmigaOS3.9" and copy the contents of the CD to it.

http://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/cfd

2. Boot UAE with CF mounted as Amiga formatted HD, copy contents to of OS 3.9 CD to a directory on that hard drive (preferably a partition), mount that on real Amiga, assign "AmigaOS.39" to that directory and install.

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51999&highlight=Setup+card+Winuae

3. Mount the CD Image (with Virtual CD) on the Amiga and install.

http://aminet.net/package/disk/cdrom/virtualcd

[kvasir]

Another thing I was thinking about, I noticed UAE when using the host filesystem as its own writes .UAERC files, containing the attribute information. If I can dig up my OS3.9 CD, I could probably do a recursive directory, and Lharc all the .uaerc files preserving the directory structure. All you would need to do is is unarchive this over a directory that has the OS3.9 CD copied, and UAE will set the file attributes accordingly when loading the "CD". I could even dump it on Aminet, though I'm worried about © problems. Don't think it would be an issue because the physical data isn't archived, just the attribute information.

[XDelusion]

I forgot to mention, when copying the OS 3.9 files to a hard drive directory to install from. You'll need to add a line at the very top of the Emergency Disks Startup-Sequence.

I.E.

Assign AmigaOS3.9: Storage:AmigaOS3.9

If you do not use the Emergency disk to install, problems WILL arise, such as Libraries being detected event though they are in place, etc.