How to make your WB pretty

[irishmike]

Greetings:

I see a lot of screenshots with pretty background pictures and other enhancements on Miggie Screens and of course I have just a base intall going on with a pretty grey/blue screen on my WB 3.0 box.  My UAE has WB 3.1 installed and I wanted to know how you set the "eye candy" up.   If there is a good site for explaination or whatnot, be interested.  Otherwise please provide a clue for us clueless ones :-)

Thanks,

[Chain]

you can first try MagicWB

http://aminet.net/package.php?package=util/wb/MagicWB21p.lha

[irishmike]

I am not sure that is required.  The following screenshot shows WB 3.1 with a background image.  I am assuming this is a stock WB without enhancements.  This is kind of what I want to know how to do.

Thanks,

Though MWB may be a way to go in the future for me.  As I have said in other posts, I do plan to go to WB 3.9 in the near future.

[uncharted]

You can add backdrops yourself in wb prefs.  If you don't have a GFX card then you have to think about adapting images to suit your screenmode.  I'd recommend using PPaint which is available off of Aminet, and has a good set of image manipulation tools, particularly for colour reduction.

Using the newicons patch will give you access to hundreds of different sets of colourful icons, similar to the 3.5/3.9 icons (although you can't use 3.5+ icons).  Again this is available from Aminet.

If you want to change the way Windows and gadgets look then a program called VisualPrefs is what you're after.  It doesn't have the most intuitive GUI, but with experimentation you can get good results. (also on Aminet)

Lastly, a program called fullpalette gives you control over the exact colours on workbench and is useful to use along-side visualprefs.

Hopefully that is a start.  One word of warning though, beauty comes at a price and in this case, use this software *can* affect stability and performance.  I never experienced any, but your milage may vary.

[irishmike]

thanks uncharted.

Also wondered about the clock display in the corner.  Since I run an A1200 which supposedly does not have a battery backed clock inside, can I get that display?

Thanks,

Reference the screenshot in my previous post above!

[uncharted]

irishmike wrote:
I am not sure that is required.  The following screenshot shows WB 3.1 with a background image.  I am assuming this is a stock WB without enhancements.  This is kind of what I want to know how to do.

Thanks,

Though MWB may be a way to go in the future for me.  As I have said in other posts, I do plan to go to WB 3.9 in the near future.

That screenshot is using MagicWB for the drawer icons.

[irishmike]

so MWB is a good thing :-)

[tonyvdb]

If you do use graphics and more colourful icons remember that on a standard Amiga there is only 2 mig of chip (grapics) ram so other programs may not work properly if you spiffy up your workbench too much.

[uncharted]

@irishmike

What are the specs of you system?  That would make giving advice much easier.

[leofoe]

If you do not have a graphics card, you cannot get a picture as in the example depicted here.here.. The resolution will be much less.
By chosing a vga resolution (like dblPAL) you can get close, but it will be slow.

[marcfrick2112]

@irishmike:
 Well, for starters, you can have pretty cool backdrop pics, but as mentioned, you will need to use a graphics program to reduce the colors, and possibly dither the image to make it look OK. PPaint is good, (v. 7.1 was given away on an Amiga Format cover disk) I use ImageFX. NewIcons V. 4 is a must for pre-OS 3.5 systems. You might want to consider Copper-Demon, a prog. for doing smoothly fading colored backdrops, but even better, the affected pen can be changed, so you can have say, active windows display in a smooth multi-color fade, instead of just one color....Oh, Jeez, I can't explain it, just DL from Aminet!!
 Other Ideas: Birdie, lets you use pictures/patterns for active/inactive windows, nice idea....but not too stable on my A1200T. Using programs like Iconian to make your own custom icons. (I have an icon for my Seagate 2.1GB SCSI drive which was DL'd from Seagate's website....'cover off' photo of a SCSI HD, which was shrunk, color-reduced, cleaned up in ImageFX, then loaded into WB3.9's IconEdit to add the glow. Looks nice!)
There are probably more ideas that I am too tired (or drunk) to tell you now. Good Luck!!!
 :lol:

[uncharted]

just to add in this site covers a lot of enhancements:-

http://www.amigau.com/amigarealm/thisoldworkbench/html/contents.html

However it's al dependent upon the specs of you system how much of this will be of use to you.

[irishmike]

@uncharted

My graphics card is only the one built in to the A1200.  I am running a Commodore 1084S monitor off of the regular port.

It is nice that you guys have explained that Chip RAM is the video ram, I was still wondering about that so you have educated me a bit :-)

I am actually working on a trade for an A2000 box for my A1200... the main motivation being easier expansion.  I may seek a accelerator board for it as well, but SCSI won't be a problem any more :-D

Also if I can find it, I will obtain a nice Picasso board... the problem with that idea so far, has been price.

@everyone

Anyhow, I do appreciate the help on this topic and please continue to advise if you like.

[tonyvdb]

Going from a A1200 to an A2000 is a step backward in more then one way. You would be loosing the AGA graphics capabilities of the 1200 and the 1200 also has far more exspantion capabilities then the 2000 has.
Your best option is to get yourslf an empty mid sized tower case and carfuly transfer the a1200 into that. Then you will have lots of room.

[irishmike]

@tonyvdb

I have not yet fully agreed to the trade, however, it sounds like a lot of work to transfer the 1200 to a tower... the kits look a bit on the expensive side and the case is in fine shape that I have.  The main issue for me is for example, adding SCSI to my box requires a $117 card (Amigakit).  I actually do not like the ATX external power supply I have though it has plenty of watts to run the A1200. (this came with the system)... I am a bit on the fence, but since I did advertise that I would trade and have an interested party, I need to see whether or not the deal will be done or not.  IMHO, it is a step in the direction I wanted to go in the first place, not a step backward... The A2000 can be upgraded via acelerator board to the A1200 level, unless I am mistaken.

Thanks for the input however :-)  I do like to hear people's opinions and experiences because it does really help my learning.