Workbench V1.3 missing

[TurboG16]

I got my A-500 today and well when i opend the box everything was there except Workbench Version 1.3. Soo is there anyway i can use my downloaded Kickstart1.3 file by putting it on a floppy then see if the amiga would read it that way?

[red_orion]

No. You need a workbench disk. kickstart is already loaded from the rom.

[Oliver]

The workbench disk would normally come with the Amiga.  Ask the person you bought it from if he/she has neglected to pass it on to you.  Most Amiga users collect hundreds of floppies, and they do tend to get mixed up somewhat.  O/w, you may still be able to pick one up second hand.

I only know of 3 ways to transfer floppies from PC to Amiga, each of which is probably not readily available to you.  In this case, transfering the .rom file wouldn't help you anyway, so this is more for future reference.

1.  Use a program called CrossDos on your Amiga, for which I believe you must have workbench running already.  I believe it was available in Amiga OS, versions 2.? and higher.  Haven't actually seen this working on a 500, but I guess it would be OK.  It allows the Amiga to read PC floppy disks (usually 720kB type).  I believe you can get this as a standalone program, but I don't know if it would work with rom v1.3, or how much RAM is needed etc.  As CrossDos runs under workbench, you can't use it to load games or other programs which actually boot the Amiga.

2.  Use a hardware hack/adapter to put a PC floppy drive onto an Amiga.  Haven't tried this, and don't know if there are any issues with using such a drive to load programs without workbench already running.

3.  Using special hardware called a Catweasel, installed on one's PC to allow the connection of an Amiga floppy drive to the PC.  This is a bit costly, if I recall.  This way, one can actually make Amiga floppy disks using your PC.

You may be best asking for someone else's help, who has an Amiga online, or workbench settup if you need to transfer files.

Don't forget, you can still use WinUAE to play games.

Have fun.

[TurboG16]

Hmmm is it possible that i can just split the file to 720K and then merge it on the amiga?

[KThunder]

if you have any old games they might have workbench files on them. thats how i got my amiga 1000 running years ago on a game called ports of call. if you copy the disk, and erase the game files and rewrite the startup-sequence file you have a workbench disk. except ports of call was os 1.2. there are crossdos like utilities that run on os 1.3. and some stuff on aminet that can split and merge lha files and write dms or adf files back to disk

[Tomas]

TurboG16 wrote:
Hmmm is it possible that i can just split the file to 720K and then merge it on the amiga?

You can easily use a ace/rar archive which you can split in parts if it does not compress it enough for fitting on a 720k. But this wont help you much, as you cannot read a pc floppy without already having access to WB. You can neither transfer files over using serial, since that also requires you to have some sort of workbench. But if you ask around, then i bet someone nearby are willing to make a copy or something for you. If you already have an amiga with kickstart 1.3, then there is no legal issue there..