FBlit hates me

[TheGoose]

NovaCoder started a great thread here on WB performance here:

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=50414


I was trying to take a few baby steps, installing FBlit. I added it to the startup-sequence like the guide says. When I re-boot a requester pops up and informs me that "FBlit is not an executable file."

Unbelievable said I! Any clues / ideas? I downloaded it from the links in the that thread, and the files all seems fine, .guide, icon and so forth. Does not appear to be a corruption thing.

[lauri.lotvonen]

The same thing here, also insipired by Novacoders post. :madashell:
I just don't get it, "file is not executable" ? I has to be ?!

[SamuraiCrow]

What format was the archive?  I think Unzip doesn't recognize the protection bits of Amiga file formats.

From Workbench highlight FBlit and then select Infomation from the Icons menu.  It will allow you to activate the Execute bit of the file and try again.

[Skippy]

NovaCoder started a great thread here on WB performance here:

http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=50414


I was trying to take a few baby steps, installing FBlit. I added it to the startup-sequence like the guide says. When I re-boot a requester pops up and informs me that "FBlit is not an executable file."

Unbelievable said I! Any clues / ideas? I downloaded it from the links in the that thread, and the files all seems fine, .guide, icon and so forth. Does not appear to be a corruption thing.

Also check the file integrity.

From that archive:

http://aminet.net/util/boot/fblit.lha  [TOOL]

Fblit = 86 Blocks 43580 Bytes Readable | Writeable | Executable | Deleteable

Tested ok Virus Checker II.

Just incase the hunk header is being corrupted either by a virus or any cross-platform/unarchiving etc.

SkippyCat.

[TheGoose]

Um, it is in .lha - I downloaded it to PC-card (CF adapter) from a PeeCee and then moved it over to the miggy. I don't normally have any problems this way.


EDIT

"Workbench highlight FBlit and then select Infomation from the Icons menu. It will allow you to activate the Execute bit of the file and try again"


@ SamuraiCrow: Oh hell - that did it - and now I'm in love with FBlit goodness!

Thank you guys

[Skippy]

Um, it is in .lha - I downloaded it to PC-card (CF adapter) from a PeeCee and then moved it over to the miggy. I don't normally have an problems this way.

Well if you're extracting the archive sourced from PC then the PC side is ok, otherwise the archive would be corrupted when opening on the Amiga Side.

If you've un lha'd successfully on the Amiga side then firstly check the above file attributes listed. If they are ok and match then GOSUB "further analysis", IF NOT then something on the Amiga side is corrupting the unarch'd contents.

RTS

Further Analysis:
Giggles
RTS

[Skippy]

Um, it is in .lha - I downloaded it to PC-card (CF adapter) from a PeeCee and then moved it over to the miggy. I don't normally have an problems this way.


EDIT

"Workbench highlight FBlit and then select Infomation from the Icons menu. It will allow you to activate the Execute bit of the file and try again"


@ SamuraiCrow: Oh hell - that did it - and now I'm in love with FBlit goodness!

Thank you guys

Excellent.

[TheGoose]

One other note to those with AGA Indivision; I ended up needing to set WB to use Chip Mem for the icons. When it was set to use 'Other' memory, I was seeing some garbage lines on the screen when I would click on an icon.

This cleared it up and still seems to be quick.

[Damion]

One other note to those with AGA Indivision; I ended up needing to set WB to use Chip Mem for the icons. When it was set to use 'Other' memory, I was seeing some garbage lines on the screen when I would click on an icon.

This cleared it up and still seems to be quick.

I also get the garbage lines, but only if I switch it between "graphics" and "other" after WB is loaded... if you set it to "other" and reboot, hopefully you won't get those. Indivision won't have anything to do with the lines btw, it's just some kind of software bug.

[NovaCoder]

I also get the garbage lines, but only if I switch it between "graphics" and "other" after WB is loaded... if you set it to "other" and reboot, hopefully you won't get those. Indivision won't have anything to do with the lines btw, it's just some kind of software bug.

Yep I covered this in my original post, I've found it's best to choose 'graphics memory' when using FBlit to prevent a conflict and let FBlit do it's thing.

[Damion]

Yep I covered this in my original post, I've found it's best to choose 'graphics memory' when using FBlit to prevent a conflict and let FBlit do it's thing.

There's zero conflict if you take the extra steps as outlined in the FBlit docs, then icons are rendered in fastram instead. (This was a very common thing to do back when lots of people still used AGA.)

Anyhow, obviously don't do it if it causes problems, though it's always worked great for me.

*edit* Just to quote myself from the other day:

You need to download WBCtrl, add it to your startup-sequence directly before LoadWB:

WBCtrl IMT=ICONFAST
LoadWB SIMPLEGELS

If you don't do the above, and choose "other memory" in WB prefs, you will get the nasty lines when opening drawers. Otherwise it should work fine - there will be a little speedup when opening drawers (icons are displayed faster), and icons will use very little chipram.

[NovaCoder]

There's zero conflict if you take the extra steps as outlined in the FBlit docs, then icons are rendered in fastram instead. (This was a very common thing to do back when lots of people still used AGA.)

Anyhow, obviously don't do it if it causes problems, though it's always worked great for me.

*edit* Just to quote myself from the other day:



If you don't do the above, and choose "other memory" in WB prefs, you will get the nasty lines when opening drawers. Otherwise it should work fine - there will be a little speedup when opening drawers (icons are displayed faster), and icons will use very little chipram.

Hiya,

But doesn't Fblit work by copying everything that needs to be rendered to FASTRAM and then blitting to CHIPRAM only what needs to be redrawn each time?  If that is the case, it would make no-sense (eg no performance increase) to make another copy of your icons in FASTRAM.

[TheGoose]

@NovaCoder

"But doesn't Fblit work by copying everything that needs to be rendered to FASTRAM"

That's the impression I was getting, so these two would be kinda doing the same thing. And so having both switched on may be causing the junk on the screen

Note that the garbage lines only appear when an icon is clicked on, as I said above. That's a clue.

Oh, and sorry I don't read everything I read these days you know, ADD.

[Damion]

Hiya,

But doesn't Fblit work by copying everything that needs to be rendered to FASTRAM and then blitting to CHIPRAM only what needs to be redrawn each time?

No, everything is not automatically rendered in fastram. In fact, by default FBlit runs in "include" mode, which means only tasks added to the include list are promoted. :rtfm:

 

If that is the case, it would make no-sense (eg no performance increase) to make another copy of your icons in FASTRAM.

Yeah that would be silly, but again there's a section in the FBlit docs pertaining to this issue as icons are NOT rendered in fastram by default.

It's simple: Open a bunch of windows, and watch your chipram disappear as the icons are displayed. Now make the changes as noted in the docs, set the WB prefs setting to "other memory", and voila - totally different story.

[Damion]

BTW, my earlier comment in the thread still applies - if you switch back and forth between "graphics" and "other" in the WB prefs, you may still get some corruption until you reboot.

But this was assuming y'all had RTFM'ed and made the necessary changes before trying it. :p