For a week now, i have been running the very latest update for AmigaOS 4.1 - AmigaOS 4.1 Update 5 on my AmigaOne 500 system!
The update works flawlessy, as i installed this update from a clean, fresh installation by formatting the AmigaOS partition empty,
then installing the AmigaOS 4.1 Update 2 CD over again, downloaded Update 3, 4 and 5, and installed them in the mentioned order. Update 3 after a clean Update 2, Update 4 after a clean Update 3 and at last Update 5 after a clean Update 4! Everything successfull!
Latest AmiUpdate was also installed successfully into my SYS:System section. No need to add a separate drawer for that. Just install the program and its' belongings right into SYS:System and have it to appear in AmiDock automatically, as supposed to, which i did. AmiUpdate is now so nice that it actually even found an update to a SDL-based Shared Object that couldn't be automatically installed, but manually. It was unpacked in RAM: and i just copied the updated object into the SObjs, and it updated that object which had to be updated. After successfully doing that, i made a new backup of my AmigaOS partition! Really nice, isn't it? :)
As you can see on the screenshot, it took me some time to set up my newly updated AmigaOS 4.1.5 system much the same i did under Update 4. Visually, the difference is not big, but there are a couple of minor improvements in term of speed and stability.
*DMA is now enabled, and i notice this especially when copying, deleting, unpacking files on my AmigaOne 500. Everything related to these things appear faster. It also helps that my boot partition is formatted in SFS/02, and the other 3 partitions in JXFS/04, as mentioned earlier.
*A new function is a Network-Startup, which is very useful for automatically detecting the internet connection during startup, just as you see in Windows and MacOS X, but in the
well-known Amiga-way! Internet connection also feels faster and a lot more stable. Not that there has been a problem with that in Update 4, but Update 5 brings this experience to a new level not seen before! This is a great welcome!
*Also some minor improvements to graphic handling and speed, which is great. Still no 3D support, but better and faster 2D graphic support.
*RunInUAE has been updated and includes more features and is fully working. I like most people chose the Simple installation. Gave it a try and it was interesting to see it working well!
All in all, Update 5 is the greatest and the most stable, feature-packaged update for AmigaOS 4.1 released, and now not only for the X1000, but for other platforms as well!
Running this update successfully on my AmigaOne 500 (SAM460ex) is a breeze! It works flawlessy, and haven't had problems with it!
But that doesn't mean things are perfect. Better as always, but not perfect. I should mention i still have problems with getting some programs to work correctly. I will name them here, so you better see the problems:
Jack: Well, sometimes this seems to work and other times it doesn't. As usual, this is best installed manually, as the Installer script doesn't seem to do it quite correctly. Latest AISS was for me installed, as WGet and a yet another tool i don't remember exactly the name of, but it's a C command which appears important for Jack as well. Even when Jack was installed manually in the right way, and to let AmiDock startup Jack during startup, pressing the buttons on Jack many times don't seem to react. This could be a failure of the program Jack itself, no matter how right you installed the program and no matter how up-to-date the needed files and programs are.
FlipClock: This again appears far more stable and straightforward to have installed, compared to Jack, but for some reason it doesn't seem to startup during reset, despite inserted into WBStartup preference for startup. I was told this feature yet isn't well supported in FlipClock, and will most likely be addressed in a future version, hopefully. For the moment it can best be activated by double-clicking the icon in the Utilities:Commodities section. Update 5 seem to have some different but new functions compared to Update 4 in the way it works. I suppose it's only a natural, logical progress as we are just moving forward now.
SabreMSN: Well, this seem to almost work perfectly without a Grim Reaper message. I say almost, as it happens sometimes. Other than that it still has the problem to connect me up, despite that my username and password are both typed in correctly. The connection tries to log me into SabreMSN 3-4 times, then give up. I remember several mentioned SabreMSN has some unexplained bugs that are yet to be addressed, so i had no choice but to leave SabreMSN away, and only hope that a new version will address this problem.
TimberWolf: Well, i'm sure i'm not the only one here. The latest version caused a Grim Reaper and didn't work, even under Update 5. I understand it that the Friedens brothers are working hard to fix the problems with TimberWolf, so this is another program i have chosen to ignore until it's fully completed and official. As TimberWolf is still BETA, this problem speaks for itself.
Also tried to test again my HIS Radeon 6570 2GB DDR3 PCI-E graphic board, despite having the latest Radeon HD driver successfully installed, it doesn't display in AmigaOS. 2GB should not mean anything, but it seems to me that it actually has something to say. As i understand, Hans De Ruiter has never tested 2GB or more VRAM-based Radeon HD boards, but only 512MB and 1GB versions of most Radeon HD boards. I have now ordered a Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6570 1GB DDR3 PCI-E version, so this should most likely work, as the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4650 1GB DDR2 PCI-E card i am using, bought from ACube Systems.
All i all, i should not complain. Despite these minor problems, everything else is fully working! Games work great (when not mentioning the 3D-games which need hardware render modes), like Hurrican, BlobWars, even ScummVM and DOSBox (still trying to figure out how to mount the DVD drive of my AmigaOne 500 to run the PC-compatible CDs).
There has been much for me to do at work, so haven't had much time to test different things yet. For the moment, most of the time has gone into surfing, emailing, Facebook and editing some photos. The program LoView is very handy for this, but i am looking for a useful picture compressor program like ArtEffect and Photogenics, and a word processing/DTP program that support Open Office documents. I have looked into AmigaCygnix, but i don't like the look of it so much. I'm more keen to Amiga-native programs and functions.
Some of you might wonder why i haven't yet registered myself into the forums at Hyperion Entertainment Support site. I have registered my products there, yes, but not for using the forums. I suppose i could do that, but i simply don't dare, because of my bad experiences from being a member of AmigaWorld and Amigans.net in the past. They didn't work well for me. A lot of things happened, and some of them were my own fault as well, that caused me a lifetime ban. I don't want to experience these problems again, so i felt safer not registering myself into another forum. I'm sure there is a lot of help to get in the different Amiga groups on Facebook, and help appears faster and better in many ways, mostly through friends. This works for me.
During these days, i am trying to compose music again in the old program - OctaMED SoundStudio v1.03c, which surprisingly still work. A few Grim Reapers now and then, but easily ignorable without problems. Using TheMaestrix tool and an OS4-version of Reqtools.library help the program remain more cooperative easier. Handy for older softwares before OS4.
Now there will be a while until AmigaOS 4.2 will be ready. In the Amiga world, news happens as magic, so we will always be surprised! It's when AmigaOS 4.2 appears the REAL fun will start!
The most interesting thing with AmigaOS 4.2 will not only be SMP and full OpenGL 3D hardware-acceleration, but a whole new system API! Yes, the DOS/File thing, as i can see how important and useful this will be. This will change many things in how the Amiga has been handling installation, files, updates and many such things in the well-known Amiga-way. A whole new system API with a universal DOS/File system will make things a lot easier, better and more future-proof for the Amiga, and at the same time, remain more compatible with other platforms. This is extremely useful for porting and adopting new features and functions to AmigaOS!
There is one thing i forgot to mention what will likely appear in AmigaOS 4.2 as well. There was talk about both MUI and Reaction now being "obsolete", and we need a completely new GUI. Something in the QT field would be a solution, and still this new GUI could be compatible with both MUI and Reaction, but appear in the QT-look you want for the whole AmigaOS. We will see how this will appear in future AmigaOS versions. Oh boy, how exciting the future will be!
My conclusion is that i am very happy with my AmigaOS 4.1 Update 5 running flawlessy on my AmigaOne 500! I have made a backup so that i won't loose anything if something happens.
This conclude this blog for now. A shorter blog this time. More will appear later...
Written by:
Helge Kvalheim, Norway
