Installing WB3.9 over WB3.1

[antoniosk]

So, both of my Amigas (2000/060, 3000 stock) are running kick3.1 and wb3.1. When I acquired the 3000 it came with OS3.9 on a cdrom (!)... what's involved in installing 3.9?

I'm so used to the bubblewrap deals_with_every_combination world of Windows and Mac OS now that I'm tempted to try and install 3.9 over the top of 3.1.

Both machines have a Picasso2 card and cybergraphx drivers circa 1998, and one has an Emplant board (running Mac OS8.1)

[QuikSanz]

I found that not all was there on the first install on my A2000/060. I made 1 more pass on the install and all looked good. Installed all other goodies after that and was fine.
I've heard that some just copied some files but I'm not that patient.

Chris

[SACC-guy]

If the 3000 and cd rom are working well under 3.1 , it should be fine to go to 3.9.
The install of 3.9 asks you to create a Emergency floppy. Then it asks you to boot from the ER disk and then install 3.9 on top of 3.1.

Even if you have the improved "pink" cd version of 3.9, you should be ready to install Boing bag 1 and 2 for 3.9. These improvements fix some of the issues from the "red" cd and "pink" cd 3.9 install.
Then be ready to tweak the system to your resouces and likes. i.e. I removed the dock and setup the "other memory" from prefs/workbench.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Personally I prefer a clean install in those situations.  Boot off the 3.9 "emergency floppy" and it's pretty straight-forward after that.  Mine had no problem finding the CD-ROM and installing the rest of the OS from there, after that I immediately installed BB 1-4 and various other library updates (Peter K icon library, Cosmos's and THoR's updated libraries, etc.).  Now on this board you'll get some mixed reviews of BB 3-4, but IMHO I like to have the most updated system possible, and didn't have any issues with them.  Your mileage may vary.  

[scuzzb494]

Well as long as you have a CD drive and appreciate that the computer may be slower after the install then go ahead. Personally I never bothered with 3.9 but then I'm an old fuddy duddy. Also my Amigas never had the grunt to cope with the OS and just ground to a halt. I give you a link to my page showing you the day I installed OS3.9. I have machines with OS3.9 on, like the A4000T and a towered 1200. However I still use OS3.0 to be honest.

Anyway have fun and make a backup. I simply copy my Workbench to a folder on my Work partition. That way if it goes belly up you can always just copy the whole thing back.

http://www.commodore-amiga-retro.com/amiga/amiga_scuzz102.htm

The links to the updates are on the page, but I note that one of the links to a Workbench page no longer works. Happens.

[som99]

If you do not have CD-Drive you can install 3.9 via a ISO using this http://thomas-rapp.homepage.t-online.de/Start.zip (Credits to Thomas) you need to put the files and the ISO in the same drawer. Also you need to edit the start file with ISO name.

[Tenacious]

Have you moved anything around in your current 3.1 install?  I think Mike has a good point about a fresh install.  If you reformat the HD, you could always create several small partitions (less than 100MB) that are bootable.  Keep your 3.1 install on one so you can go back at will.

As I recall, many of the features of OS3.9 were aimed at Amigas with retargetable graphics.  The slow downs will probably be less objectionable with your Picasso IIs.

[antoniosk]

Turns out i have OS3.5, not 3.9... will keep researching.

[SACC-guy]

3.5 and 3.9 are very similar processes, even 3.5 has boing bag just for it (3.5).
Don't confuse the two versions.
The newer 3.9 had improvements and also had fixes i.e the boing bag for 3.9.

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Probably a dumb question, but why would anyone want to use 3.5 instead of 3.9?  Not that I ever used it (skipped right from 3.1 to 3.9), but from what I recall it looked kinda just like 3.1 with NewIcons slapped on.  All the real benefits came with 3.9.  

Also just a quick Google search, it looks like Versalia and other shops still sell 3.9 for quite a reasonable price, IMHO.  

[Amiwest]

Yes 3.9 is a lot better upgrade but 3.5 w/bb1 & bb2 has greater >4 gb built in plus tools to get on the internet. W3.1 you can do the same things but with a lot of patches. For me even with already having 3.5 the 3.9 W/bb upgrade was worth it.
http://www.gregdonner.org/workbench/wb_35.html
http://www.gregdonner.org/workbench/wb_39chg.txt