os3.1 - Facelift to look/work like 3.9?

[haywirepc]

I have an amiga 1200 with 50mhz 68030 and 32 megs ram. Originally I wanted to install os3.9 but I hear 3.1 is better for my setup.
 
I got a compact flash card and adapter with os3.1 pre-installed. While it works, it looks a little more retro than I'd like, and stuck in 4 colors as far as icons and so on even if you turn up the colors. In 3.9 its easy to change icons but that apparently does not work in 3.1
 
How can I change the icons to more colorful ones and what add ons/upgrades would you suggest for os3.1?
 
Also, if anyone has any screenshots of os3.1 after being customized, I'd really like to see them. Obviously because of this systems limited resources I'd prefer speed and function over bloat and eye candy, but a bit more colors, nicer icons and such I'm all for that.
 
Also, is there something I need to install so networking/internet will work?
I have no way to transfer files yet but I have a pcmcia cf adapter card and a windows/pc printer port networking kit on the way.
A scandoubler from amiga maniac is also on the way, but might take a few weeks to arrive...
 
I'll be so happy when I can transfer files to the amiga and get her going..
Any help or advice on getting os3.1 pimped out would be greatly appreciated.
 
Thanks,

Steven

[Karlos]

When I used OS3.1, I used to use NewIcons - there were many sets of icons available. However, the MagicWB icons are also nice and don't require hacks, just a 8-colour display set to the right colours.

[Gulliver]

If you really try, and add lots of software packages, you may achieve similar functionality than 3.9 but much faster. You will need to do plenty of tweaking, but in the end it will work.
I have done it a couple of years ago, if you want i can make a long post with the stuff that will work nicely with your setup

[Hell Labs]

Start off from classicWB and you're already most of the way there. Actually All you'd really need to do is change the font.

[Gulliver]

Yes, really ClassicWB Advance will be easier in every way.

Get it at http://classicwb.abime.net/classicweb/advsp.htm

[haywirepc]

I don't have a cf card reader on my windows pc, so I'm not sure that using this classic wb is an option for me now...
 
I will check it out I have seen this site before, very nice...
 
Steven

[Tension]

AmigaOS 3.9 is essentially just a prettier version of 3.1 with a couple of handy features added, so there is no reason not to upgrade.  Its not like you need to upgrade any chips or anything.  

3.9 is a lot more stable than a heavily-modified 3.1

[haywirepc]

Yes I've heard its more stable, but I have also heard its much much slower with workbench screen displays and things like that, something about that part of the os being rewritten from assembly to c between 3.1 and 3.9?
 
I'm getting a usb cf card reader for pc, and a couple of extra compact flash cards. Then I can test both out and go with whatever works best for me I suppose...
 
Steven

[Tension]

I have also heard its much much slower with workbench screen displays and things like that, something about that part of the os being rewritten from assembly to c between 3.1 and 3.9?

Can any techs confirm this?

Never heard it before but it sounds plausable.

[Jope]

picture.datatype is probably the biggest offender, replace that with something else (like the picasso96 picture.datatype?) and you should be good.

[Cammy]

Jope, is there an AGA compatible picture.datatype in Picasso96? Do you know if it works for sure? 3.9 is just too blasted slow to use on a 030 because of the bloated picture.datatype that it comes with. If you have a lot of images in your Workbench, like all the buttons in YAM, all the icons in a dock/start bar, wallpapers, window patterns, other bitmap GUI elements, they all take twice as long to load (doubling my boot time) with 3.9 compared to 3.1. Can AGA 030 users simply install 3.9, and replace the picture.datatype with the one from Picasso96, and everything will work and load speedily again?

[Hell Labs]

can't they copy the 3.1 library back? Would something go bang?

[NovaCoder]

Yes I've heard its more stable, but I have also heard its much much slower with workbench screen displays and things like that, something about that part of the os being rewritten from assembly to c between 3.1 and 3.9?
 
Steven

Hiya Steven,

Don't listen to the people who tell you that you can't run OS3.9 well on an AGA 030 like yours.  Why wouldn't you want to run the latest version of the classic OS on your machine?


Check out my AGA OS3.9 thread which shows what you can do with a humble 030 1200

[NovaCoder]

Jope, is there an AGA compatible picture.datatype in Picasso96? Do you know if it works for sure? 3.9 is just too blasted slow to use on a 030 because of the bloated picture.datatype that it comes with....

ICONBEFAST made a BIG difference to the speed of my setup, have you tried that yet?

[Cammy]

IconBeFast is a good patch, but it only helps icons load faster. The speed problem with picture.datatype is obvious when you use applications that load in lots of bitmap images, like YAM for example, or dock/start bar programs that need to load several small bitmap images. This isn't something I made up, I've experimented with 3.1, 3.9 and a hybrid 3.1/3.9 system, and in the end the main culprit for the speed problem is picture.datatype. The more images a 3.9 system has to load, the slower it will look compared to a 3.1 system. If your system is pretty default, and you don't use VisualPrefs (with bitmaps), Birdie, MUI with patterns or modern applications that use datatypes to load skins and GUI elements, you probably wouldn't notice the difference. But when you use an A1200 as your main system every day, waiting twice as long for things to load when you know it's capable of loading them much faster with an older datatype can get annoying. It's the reason I switched back to 3.1 from 3.9, 3.1 was just much snappier for the kind of usage I wanted to get from my Amiga.