What is in OS3.5 or 3.9 that isn't in 3.1?

[DamageX]

editpad comes with 3.9

[Thomas]

Unfortunately OS 3.1 does not support 64-bit addressing in ROM so even with third party patches, you still cannot do a full format with Workbench - also the Workbench will fail to correctly report the capacities of the larger hard disks.

Only 3.5/3.9 does this correctly as it patches the Kickstart ROM.

Sorry, but this is deadly wrong. You cannot patch a ROM. It's read *only* memory, you cannot write to it. There is no software whatsoever which allows you to boot from a partition bigger than 4GB from the internal IDE bus without replacing the physical ROM chip.

There is no difference if you add the required patches to WB3.1 or if you use OS3.9 which has the patches included. The boot partition always has to be inside the first 4GB.

All patches concerning big HDD support which are included in OS3.9 are also available for WB3.1, at least in beta versions. The only difference is that with OS3.9 you get everything installed automatically while with WB3.1 you have to install it manually.

The main benefits of OS3.9 which I remember are:

- new Workbench menus, e.g. sort icons by name
- Workbench ARexx port, i.e. most Workbench functions can now be controlled by ARexx scripts
- asynchronous Workbench operations, e.g. if you copy folders with drag & drop, the copy operation is now done in the background and you can continue your work
- ability to read OS3.9 icons. Unfortunately OS3.9 icons are not compatible to NewIcons, so there is no way to display OS3.9 icons on WB3.1.
- scalable backdrops: WBPattern now allows to automatically adjust a picture to the screen size
- the datatypes system now supports picture files with multiple images (e.g. TIFF FAX)
- the AmiDock bar. There are others, e.g. Toolmanager or AmiStart, but AmiDock has its own charm.
- ClassAct has been included into the OS and has been heavily improved and bug fixed
- CD-ROM support
- Internet (you get a free copy of Genesis with OS3.9)
- There are more improvements under the surface which are quite impressive for programmers

Bye,
Thomas

[amigakit]

I was referring to OS3.5/3.9's ROMUpdate file that Softkicks a 3.9 ROM from Setpatch to update the scsi.device etc

When large hard disks are used - Workbench 3.1 always reports incorrect geometry in 3.1 (Window Title bars etc) regardless of third party patches.  The ROMUpdate in 3.5/3.9 resolves this issue.  Likewise the latest HDToolbox and Format tools has fixed support for the geometry problems.

[Jupp3]

OS3.9 you get everything installed automatically while with WB3.1 you have to install it manually.

And that's where the biggest problem is. Assuming you already had 3.1 installed before, you likely already have patched many things (big HD support, various WB patches, for example) and with the installation you might end up "patching something twice" and finding the problem... That might not be too easy. For example handling big HD's can be implemented in seweral different ways, some of which are specific to some hardware (Power Flyer, which I have, for example)

You might get bored hearing about big HD support, but that's where I had most of my problems :-)

3.5 was supposed to come with full TCP/IP (it was supplied with MiamiDX demo, and the full version was to be made available later, which never happened)
I was rather disappointed (just becouse it was one of the most hyped features) to find out that 3.9 still didn't have a unrestricted&legal TCP/IP, but I already had one from Netconnect 3, so it didn't bother me too much :-)

[Thomas]

I was referring to OS3.5/3.9's ROMUpdate file that Softkicks a 3.9 ROM from Setpatch to update the scsi.device etc

Yes, it *soft*kicks the ROM. The same can be done with LoadModule and the patches for WB3.1. It's the same method.

Workbench 3.1 always reports incorrect geometry in 3.1 (Window Title bars etc) regardless of third party patches. The ROMUpdate in 3.5/3.9 resolves this issue.

No, the ROM update does not resolve it. It is Workbench who calculates and displays the sizes, not scsi.device or anything from the ROM update.

But you are right, Workbench has been updated in OS3.9 to support disk sizes bigger than 2GB, as well as some shell commands like List and Info.

Bye,
Thomas

[DonP1]

InTheSand wrote:
@DonP1: IMHO, it's only really worth upgrading beyond 3.1 if you have a graphics card and >= 68060 CPU. The benefits of the "eye candy" will be pretty much lost on AGA or ECS, and the added stuff with the OS requires a reasonable processor to be of any use...

 - Ali

Thanks to everyone who replied.

I guess this is the key reason for not upgrading. I have an A1000, 2MB chip + 2MB fast ram, and hard drive is only 540MB (not upgrading). No issues with the CD-ROM either, so I guess I shouldn't mess with anything if it isn't broken.

[PPC]

Thomas has a good point, os 3.5/3.9 solves the problem but not totally, the first partion on a hard drive cannot be bigger then 4GB.

[Ratte]

There are solutions for this problem.
Build your own 3.9 Rom with Remus.
http://www.doobreynet.co.uk/beta/index.html