Hi again folks ;) Well, here we are again since the last blog a short while ago. My setup of AmigaOS 4.1 Update 5 has come along really nicely now, and i have also managed to do some cleanup of my SYS partition.
The smart thing i could do was to move all so-called "third party" Internet applications over to Work:Internett (the extra t because i'm a Norwegian, hehe). That means programs like IBrowse, OWB, MUI-OWB, WordNet and YAM. This is a very safe way to do such things, as when your SYS partition is updated with new add-ons or you run a new version of AmigaOS, little would be needed to get these Internet applications to work, and you won't have to do everything from scratch again! Great, isn't it?
I also love the way AmiUpdate is taking care of updates. I simply have AmiUpdate and its' belongings right into SYS:System (no need to make a separate drawer for AmiUpdate. Just place all AmiUpdate files into SYS:System, that's it.) and AmiUpdate takes care of everything that comes to updating files.
For more than a week ago, AmiUpdate updated itself to the latest version and i have now every files it could find updated in my system (always taking a backup, so don't worry about that). I make AmiUpdate check for updates every week instead of days, and the Notification system is very handy in these situations, as a message will appear when AmiUpdate finds something, as well in other situations like receiving new mails and such. Very nice, i have to say!
For the moment i am now using the multi-tool Jack, which now appears to be working again. At the time you read this, i should have found 2 of the missing files Jack needs for all of its' buttons to work correctly. It seems that Jack doesn't like Update 5 so well, and Update 5 is different in some ways to Update 4 in how it handles things. Update 5 has for instance a new feature, called Network-Startup script, and here you can add applications like Flipclock to be started up, because such tools rely on immerdiate internet connection during startup, so in this case, adding such a tool to the Network-Startup script will be very useful. Jack already does this. But i prefer FlipClock, as it looks better and far more straightforward. This will be installed again as soon as a new working version is released, so FlipClock is actually my favourite tool!
That is not to say that everything is perfect. It's not, but at least close as possible. You might wonder why? Well, over and over again, i tried to get 2 applications working. These are:
TimberWolf Beta: Being BETA often means there are certain bugs as the program is not yet official released, but still under work for completion. Well, i got the usual GR (Grim Reaper) message right after a blank window pops up when TimberWolf has finished loading. As i am using SFS/02 file system for my SYS and JFXS for my 3 other partitions that are Work, Diverse and Spill, it's highly possible that TimberWolf doesn't accept these file formats very well, especially on other platforms than the X1000, as i am using an AmigaOne 500 (SAM460ex) with AmigaOS 4.1 Update 5. I have been told that several (except of most X1000 owners) have experienced this problem as being familiar, and this should have been solved for the next version of TimberWolf.
SabreMSN: Well, my situation is a bit weird. The program runs nicely with no GR at all, but despite my username with right hotmail address and password being typed, SabreMSN can't manage to log me into the program. It seems to almost make it, seeing the contacts that are online, but as soon as seeing them, i appear disconnected to SabreMSN again, and it tries to re-connect 2-3 times, then give up. There must be something there, but can't figure it out. It's not a failure of the main program itself, but the way it tries to log me into its' MSN and appears to fail. I hope this problem will be looked at and perhaps a solution will be found to it. For now, i have taken SabreMSN away, until the solution is found. Instead, i use Facebook Chat talking to my friends.
Haven't used DOSBox so much, despite it's working very well, but can't figure out quite to make it mount CD-ROM and harddrive to be used for it. I want it to accept my location, that is Diverse:Emulators/DOSBox for reference, and i would add DOSGames to Spill: Something like that. A friend is helping me with these things, explaining how to set it up, so i guess by the time you read this, i should have managed to configure it the way my friend explained to me.
ScummVM in the other hand works great, and i have installed several great classic adventures to it! ScummVM seems to be expanding nicely, getting just better and bigger, with more support, which is great! An emulator with a very potensial future! The games i have installed into ScummVM are Broken Sword - Shadow Of The Templars, Flight Of The Amazon Queen (Talkie-version), Curse Of The Monkey Island, Secret Of Monkey Island 1 and 2, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade Adventure and Fate Of Atlantis, Leisure Suit Larry 1-5, Space Quest 1-4 and Zak. Trying to look for Broken Sword 2 - Smoking Mirror. I mostly run the games in Windows mode. As RadeonHD doesn't support overlay, it's not yet possible to get a fullscreen with all the texts fitted correctly to the whole screen. I'm sure there will be a solution to this. The emulator runs very nicely in a window mode, and the graphic looks very nicely, too! I'm happy!
Screenshots of other games and applications will appear shortly. I got CodeAudio with the registered key, but i don't use this program so much, but it's there for later use. SRec is also installed and handy if i want to make a direct video of my system. Might try that one day soon.
BlobWars - Metal Solid is quite an excellent action platformer, and it works flawlessy on my AmigaOne 500 using AmigaOS 4.1 Update 5, with special libraries like the AmigaOS4 version of render.library and guigfx.library. Also have Wazp3D Software Render, which is mostly used for the 3D-applicaton Blender (Yes, i have it installed as well) and the OpenGL-game Hurrican.
As for BlobWars, this game is really great! Looks better in fullscreen mode, but then some of the texts and contents are not visible, so the game is better run in window mode. The game is great fun to play! Very fast and smooth, giving me hours of entertainment with the game!
For almost a week ago, i got myself a brand new graphic board! Yes, that's correct! My HIS Radeon HD 6570 2GB DDR3 PCI-E card didn't appear to be compatible with the latest RadeonHD driver for AmigaOS4, that is installed in my AmigaOS 4.1.5 system, and only showed a black display, so what to do?
Well, i contacted Hans De Ruiter personally by sending him an email describing the problem. At the same time i was analyzing the graphic cards test both he and Robert Trevor Dickinson were doing. No 2GB or more VRAM-based graphic cards have ever been tested. Only 512MB and 1GB of most graphic cards, and these are the ones that are working with the latest RadeonHD driver for AmigaOS4. Hans pointed me to a Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6570 1GB DDR3 PCI-E model, as he has this installed in his SAM460ex system fully working with his latest AmigaOS 4.1 update!
So i bought the exact same graphic card as Hans De Ruiter - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6570 1GB DDR3 PCI-E card, installed it into my AmigaOne 500 computer and VOILA! It worked!
A beautiful display of the Radeon HD 6570 card in my AmigaOS 4.1 Update 5! Now both the Workbench titlescreen and Ranger described it as Radeon HD 6570, while Screenmode described it as Radeon HD 6.
Learnt that there was NO need to duplicate a Radeon monitor icon for the new graphic card, i simply just renamed the ordinary Radeon monitor icon that is in DEVS: to RadeonHD instead, and gave it that name and left everything else unmodified. Saved and made myself a new backup! Now i could finally use the faster, more advanced Radeon HD 6570 1GB DDR3 PCI-E card! Along with Gfxbench, tools like render.library, guigfx.library, Wazp3D, SAM460ex_Setup, my system runs more efficiently and smoother, which i am very happy for! Got myself a really fine system now!
Almost forgot to mention that DVPlayer now works with subtitles on my system, even with the plugins i installed from OS4Depot.net! Tried many commercial DVDs and they work great with subtitles! It's a pity there is no overlay or something similar of support to get a complete fullscreen mode, but it's not that bad running it in window mode also. I have a separate Blu-ray player to use if i want to REALLY watch movies now and then. I do not complain at all.
This will be all for now, so these are the things i have managed to do while waiting for AmigaOS 4.2! It's with AmigaOS 4.2 the REAL fun will start, as most things will be brand new and a lot more than what have been seen in AmigaOS! Looking forward to that time coming!
This blog will be updated with more screenshots and perhaps more to write about, so keep an eye on my blog. There is always something exciting to see when it comes to the Amiga ;)
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Thank you for reading :)
Best regards
Helge Kvalheim, Norway
