How to make my A3000..... more like a A3000!

[Sandman]

Hi All,

The title says it all.  My A3000 has a A3640 with 16mb of ZIPs on the MB and a CV64 RTG card, cdrom, etc.

I also have a ACARD scsi-ide adapter with a CF card and a 72GB SCSI HD.

I installed OS3.9 and various known WB frontends mainly to take advantage of the large HD support.

I really want to return to the 'original' look of the A3000, ie. OS3.1, since really don't get the point of trying to make it look like a 'modern' desktop, etc.  I've heard before, maybe in the wrong context, that no matter how much you patch OS3.1 you will always have issues with large gb hard-drives. Is this true?

I guess that I could strip down 3.9 to become more like 3.1 but that seems as though it might be a little beyond my skill set right now.

Any advice?  Thanks

[AmigaClassicRule]

Hi All,
 
The title says it all. My A3000 has a A3640 with 16mb of ZIPs on the MB and a CV64 RTG card, cdrom, etc.
 
I also have a ACARD scsi-ide adapter with a CF card and a 72GB SCSI HD.
 
I installed OS3.9 and various known WB frontends mainly to take advantage of the large HD support.
 
I really want to return to the 'original' look of the A3000, ie. OS3.1, since really don't get the point of trying to make it look like a 'modern' desktop, etc. I've heard before, maybe in the wrong context, that no matter how much you patch OS3.1 you will always have issues with large gb hard-drives. Is this true?
 
I guess that I could strip down 3.9 to become more like 3.1 but that seems as though it might be a little beyond my skill set right now.
 
Any advice? Thanks

My recommendation 1st is to backup EVERYTHING just in case you wish to revert back to the original setting.
 
The easiest way is simply insert your WB 3.1 into the disk drive, boot from it, format your HD, move all the contents from WB 3.1 into the HD..and pristo you are done.
 
But you are right, OS 3.1 have issue with huge HD only because the file system itself is not very cooperative.
 
I do not know why you would want to go back to OS 3.1 where as lots of people are WORKING VERY hard to pretty up their OS...like me for example
 
I can hardly wait to install AmigaSYSAGA for example

[Sandman]

Well, OS3.9 seems a little sluggish compared with OS3.1.  

I dunno, I just was really impressed when I first saw the A3000 with the 'new' OS3.0 at the local shop back in the early 1990's and always wanted to have that exact look but with a RTG card (Both of which I could NEVER afford back then.)  It just seemed so crisp and clean and very professional without un-necessary glitz.


I know that I shouldn't worry about my A3000 too much.... I've been restoring this machine for about a year trying to get it physically perfect while leaving a A-4000T, CS-PPC 604e, PIV and Deneb sitting in their boxes waiting for another day.  I know, I have a serious lack of priorities!

[Thorham]

I've heard before, maybe in the wrong context, that no matter how much you patch OS3.1 you will always have issues with large gb hard-drives. Is this true?

Not if you use IdeFix (Aminet) or a proper patch. Setup the first four GB as if it's the entire HD. The rest of the drive can be setup in any way you want (this prevents problems when you deactivate the patch for whatever reason). In other words: Don't let a partition cross over from the first four GB into the rest of the HD.

Also, make sure to get rid of Fast File System, and use PFS or SFS instead. Those file systems are much better than FFS, and don't have that annoying 2 GB partition size limit.

[ChaosLord]

I was told that FFS has no partition size limit at all.

FFS has a 2GB file size limit.

[danbeaver]

The original A3000 came with KS 2.04.  KS 3.1 came later and is not original.

[Thorham]

The original A3000 came with KS 2.04.  KS 3.1 came later and is not original.

The OP is talking about the look of the OS, and 3.1 looks the same as 2.04.

[danbeaver]

The original look was due to KS 2.04.  One can make OS X.X look like OS Y.Y if one wants to. Otherwise only the original posting person knows what he wants; that is unless someone who "looks like" the OP wants a different look

[Sandman]

I stand corrected..... you're absolutely right Workbench 2 was what came with the machine, my how time fades memories.  

Like I said in my op, I found myself trying to make a 'pretty' workbench on the A3000 when it came to me that I have other more powerful machines or even emulators to do that on.  What I want to do is have that original look and feel to the 3000 combined with the ability to safely use a large multi-GB harddrives.  

If other goodies are running and available behind the scenes thats fine I guess (fancy game icons in there place in a stock looking A3000 drawer) but 3.9 just feels to sluggish compared with a stock 3.1 install.  I just don't want a desktop with start bars, docks, etc. like a modern os.... I just want a real retro experience.

Thanks for your replies all.

[paul1981]

OS2.x uses a black menu bar at the top of the Workbench and other system friendly screens or programs, but Workbench 3.x uses a white menu.
If you want to make 3.1 look like 2.x (the original 3000 OS) then you can easily turn the menu to black by using VisualPrefs (http://aminet.net/package/util/wb/VisualPrefs).

There are some other minor differences in the window gadgets as well, but nothing major. If I was you, I'd make two bootable partitions. The first one OS3.9 with all the trimmings, and the 2nd one OS2.1 (last and best 2.x release) for when you want that original A3000 look and feel. You would need Kickstart 2 though to get the black menu bar and old style gadgets.

Edit: PFS3 supports OS2.x, so you can also have large drive support if needed on your 2.1 installation.

[AmigaClassicRule]

I wonder,  is kickstart 2 a good ROM? Can you do a lot with it and is it still useful?

[paul1981]

I wonder,  is kickstart 2 a good ROM? Can you do a lot with it and is it still useful?

I like Kickstart 2. Both my A600 WHDLoad machines are Kickstart/Workbench 2. Have no complaints about it, and I like to keep my A600's original.
The few programs that don't work with 2.x, with a little digging on aminet one can usually find an equivalent program that's 2.x compatible.
Not sure about decent RTG support under 2.x, as I have no experience or hardware even. So can't advise there unfortunately.

[AmigaClassicRule]

I like Kickstart 2. Both my A600 WHDLoad machines are Kickstart/Workbench 2. Have no complaints about it, and I like to keep my A600's original.
The few programs that don't work with 2.x, with a little digging on aminet one can usually find an equivalent program that's 2.x compatible.
Not sure about decent RTG support under 2.x, as I have no experience or hardware even. So can't advise there unfortunately.

So you can do pretty much everything on 2.0 with 3.1 then except for a view exception?

[paul1981]

So you can do pretty much everything on 2.0 with 3.1 then except for a view exception?

2.x doesn't support datatypes. Boo hoo! (no detriment really).

[Rodomoc]

You have a similar machine to mine. A3000 16/2MB. A3640 68040/25. GVP spectrum RTG card. Subway USB. Elbox Fast ATA controller. X-Surf network card w/ clock ports. I too run 3.9 and it is an OK experience for the most part. I remember the first time I installed each piece of the extra-curricular hardware and saying 'wow, who would have thought an Amiga could do all of this?' Now I am thinking of reconfiguring the machine to just perform a small set of tasks, thus a lot of the modern stuff can all blow away in my opinion.

As far as going to an operating system from the Commodore days, WB3.1 would be a good choice in my opinion. I have become very intrigued by the BetterWB software package. It contains many very good things that will give WB3.1 excellent functionality and it should not instill heavy system demands.

This is the route I plan on taking with my machine. I am tinkering with OS/software configurations in UAE at the moment so I can be best organized when I do it on real hardware.

Best of luck!