Can I install OS 3.9 without a CD drive?

[KatManDEW]

Thanks for the info. Do I need a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapter to attach my Amiga 1200 HD to my PC?

mbueler wrote:
you can install os39 with no cd (iso or file).
But the updates wont work with no os39 cd and it
also detects `virtual CD` and aborts instalation of updates(boingbags).
 
the only way is attach the HDD to yor PC
install, updated and copy/extract all your stuff through
WinUAE.
Let your PC do the hard work and save your A1200 for Fun stuff.

 

[KatManDEW]

If I was the owner of a 20 year old operating system, that poeple were still purchasing today, I would make dog gone sure there were ample copies laying around, so I could take money from people who wanted to purchase it. What does it cost to keep a meager stock of CD's? This isn't cutting edge viable technology, so there's a good chance that potential customers will pass it by if it isn't readily available. This is the PayPal it and download it age...

This same kind of business practice is what I always encountered when pruchasing Amiga items 20 years ago, so it's no wonder to me that the Amiga went down the tube. Commodore isn't the only one responsible for the Amiga demise, because the supply chain was never customer focused.

Life is short. People have better things to do that wait months for a measly CD.

[dannyp1]

mbueler said:

"But the updates wont work with no os39 cd and it
also detects `virtual CD` and aborts instalation of updates(boingbags)."

The boing Bags will work without the CD.  The trick is to get the passwords that are available elsewhere in a different thread, unzip the files, and use your file manager program to put in the updates.

I think if you search "serial.device" you will find the info you need.  The serial.device is buggy in the 2nd Boing Bag and most people use the one in Boing Bag 1.  If you don't find this out until after everything is installed, you have a buggy version.  If you use the password and dissolve Boing Bag 1 you can leech the needed file out and use it to replace the buggy one.

[Thomas]

mbueler wrote:
you can install os39 with no cd (iso or file).
But the updates wont work with no os39 cd and it
also detects `virtual CD` and aborts instalation of updates(boingbags).
 

That's complete nonsense. As long as all files from the CD (*ALL* files) are present in the (virtual) copy and the copy has the right name (or assign), everything works perfectly, even the updates. No password hacking needed.

Bye,
Thomas

[Animagic]

Thomas is right, it does ALL the updates with the mounted CD from AmiJe's virtual drive. Tested it my self.

[KatManDEW]

I really appreciete all the info!

The wagon train arrived today, with my copy of OS 3.9! But I think I'm hosed for installing it on my A1200 because I have the 3.0 ROM in my A1200. I guess I will have to see how long it takes to get 3.1 ROMS. I need to wait until I get my Apollo 1240 anyway, because right now my A1200 runs out of memory if I look at it crooked :-D

[KatManDEW]

I can't get it to boot from a floppy with the files in cf-boot-disk.lha. I format a floppy and extract that archive onto the floppy, but it won't boot from the floppy. It just goes back to the hard drive and boots from the hard drive.

I tried creating an Emergency-Disk from the OS 3.9 installation on the CF, and when it asked for the device to use I replaced scsi.device with compactflash.device, but when it boots from that floppy it says it can't find compactflash.device xx, and then it of course says it can't find volume AmigaOS3.9 which is on the CF card.

portarinos wrote:
As Tomas said, create an iso and then boot the system with an emergency disk that mounts the CF as boot disk instead of the cdrom. For that purpose you can happily use the emergency disk that amije (he's a member here and of course in amigahellas.gr forum) has created.

http://files.amigahellas.gr/data/Utilities/cf-boot-disk.lha

I had the same question to do regarding OS4. Could someone avoid cdrom usage and use a CF instead or even a USB stick? Maybe this requires more tweaking.

[nishtek]

maybe this is helpful
http://www.amigascene.nl/download/Amiga1200CF-v0_8.pdf
http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=25274
i think it should be recognized as scsi.device? have not played with this yet.  I did install os 3.9 via winuae for use on A1200.

how about setting up the card under winuae, including OS 3.9 installation?

[KatManDEW]

Thanks for the tips nishtek. I'll take a hungry look at it.

I think my CF card is setup crrectly, with all the correct files on it, and the proper name (AmigaOS3.9).

My problem is that I can't boot from a Emergency Disk and have the CF card available. I've beat my head against it all day, and all evening this evening.

I've tried creating Emergency Disks from the OS3.9 setup on the CF card, and adding the FAT95 and CF files, and editing everything under the sun (on that floppy) to try to make it see the CF card at boot. No matter what I do it comes up and says it can't find volume AmigaOS3.9.

I can't boot from a disk with the files from this archive;
http://files.amigahellas.gr/data/Utilities/cf-boot-disk.lha
I just plain can't get a bootable disk by copying those files to a floppy.

So I tried adding those files to a bootable disk created by the OS3.9 setup on the CF card. No luck. Tried editing everything I could find on that disk that might be causing the problem. No luck.

I've tried to edit a copy of the Emergency Disk from my A2000 OS 3.9 setup, and adding the FAT95 and CF files. No luck.

I'm at my wits end.

[Thomas]

I format a floppy and extract that archive onto the floppy, but it won't boot from the floppy.

You need to write a bootblock to the floppy. Open a Shell window and enter

install df0:

Bye,
Thomas

[KatManDEW]

That allowed me to boot from the floppy, but now I get the error "Cannot open filedisk.device unit 16924756" and then the "Please insert volume AmigaOS3.9 in any drive".

[KatManDEW]

I think I figured out what my problem it - I can't name the CF as "AmigaOS3.9". Windows won't allow me to use that name, and if I rename it to that with the Amiga, it ends up being "AmigaOS3_9".

I'm dead in the water if I can't name the CF properly.

Is it possible to name it as "AmigaOS3.9"?

[motorollin]

Sounds like you formatted the CF card using a Windows filesystem. You need to format it with an Amiga filesystem. Amiga filesystems support spaces and fullstops in volume names. Also, if you copy the contents of the OS3.9 CD to a Windows filesystem then you will have a lot of problems when you try to install as it will mess up all of the filenames and file attributes.

--
moto

[KatManDEW]

I got OS 3.9 to install from CF using the ISO method. I don't have a working A1200 floppy drive, and I've been esing an external floppy drive. I had to temporarily sit an old A2000 floppy drive inside the A1200 and use it as DF0 to get OS 3.9 to install.

Many thanks for all the help!

[amigagr]

format the cf with fat32 in windows and relabel the cf card as CF.
copy the 3.9 iso in the card and you are ready to go.

[sir_bacharach]

Did you ever figure this out??
 
I'm faced with the same problem.
 
I have the OS on CD, but no CD Drive.
 
I have copied the contents of AMIGAOS3.9 onto a CF Card on the PC, and have even managed to make my own boot disk with PCMCIA CF Card support.
 
So I've installed AMIGAOS3.9
 
But the problem I now have is that I put BOINGBAGs 1 and 2 on the same CF card and when I try to install those and they both look for AMIGAOS3.9
 
I can not figure out a way to format the card to rename it as AMIGAOS3.9.
 
I've tried formatting it using the Amiga, but the problem is, CF cards through PCMCIA only use the FAT95 file system.
 
I'm stuck here.
 
How on earth does the PC recognise the Amiga CD as AMIGAOS3.9 if I can't possibly rename the CF card in the same way??