Questions tagged [amiga]
For questions related to the Commodore Amiga family of personal computers.
178
questions
4
votes
1answer
86 views
How do I detect if AmigaDOS dos.library/CurrentDir() fails?
It seems that the primary system call to change a new directory within an Amiga process is dos.library/CurrentDir(lock) but the documentation does not tell me how to detect if it succeeded.
Quoting ...
21
votes
1answer
2k views
Why do Amiga Libraries have negative entry points?
As described in these answers, the jump table offsets to functions contained in an AmigaOS library are always negative values. The reason for this is not intuitive to me, but I suspect Carl Sassenrath ...
7
votes
4answers
2k views
What are people using old (and expensive) Amigas for today? [closed]
I recently sold a defective Amiga 1000 on Ebay for over $300. I'm going to list my old Amiga 1200 and expect to get over $1000 for it since its working and "souped up".
This made me wonder: ...
2
votes
0answers
97 views
Use MAME debugger for Amiga software [closed]
I have used the MAME debugger a lot with arcade machine emus.
Now I would like to use it to help debug a game I build for Amiga. Having set up A500 emulation in MAME by adding the roms, I can start it,...
9
votes
3answers
859 views
Why does an Amiga's floppy drive keep clicking?
I seem to remember that an A500 (probably A600 too) would keep emitting a click from the floppy drive. I think this was only with no disk in the drive, but I'm not sure.
What was that?
11
votes
2answers
1k views
How would I reliably detect the amount of RAM, including Fast RAM?
If I was to write an Amiga game, what would be the best/most reliable way to detect how much RAM is actually available?
Looking at Action's Guide to AGA-Fixing!, he mentions Faulty Memory Detection:
...
6
votes
3answers
177 views
How does Symphonie Pro actually work?
I just happened upon this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tNizdyx-DE
It's a selection of Amiga music produced using a program I've never heard of before: "Symphonie Pro".
Does ...
8
votes
1answer
950 views
Is there a seamless, Wine-like AmigaOS emulator for Linux, specifically for text-based programs?
After trying out FS-UAE on my Fedora Linux system, which worked quite nicely, I got to thinking. Even though when the Amiga was originally released in the middle 1980s, it was revolutionary in its ...
8
votes
3answers
590 views
What performance increase did an Amiga typically get with an FPU?
After seeing this question, I reminisced about how my old Amiga 2500/030 had a 68882 FPU unit. I recall that the Amiga's floating point routine library was smart enough to detect if you had an FPU or ...
2
votes
2answers
331 views
What tricks or techniques were used to speed up AmigaOS boot
I did an installation of Workbench 3.1 grounds up. The system takes a moment to boot, well over a minute. I've watched a YouTube video where the system booted in seconds. I have another image of ...
2
votes
1answer
232 views
How to get started with writing drivers for amiga OS
I would like to learn how to write drivers for Amiga OS. Seems like a daunting task, but I have spare time and I find great value for amiga (CDTV) community in particular. Currently if a CD ROM breaks ...
6
votes
2answers
327 views
Amiga OS 3.1 vs 3.5 vs 3.9 system difference
I'm trying to find some resources on different versions of Amiga OS (aka Workbench) especially if there were any major changes to the OS architecture, resource use and drivers (with a goal to make ...
5
votes
1answer
235 views
Could the Apple IIGS play any and all Amiga MOD files?
The Apple IIGS has a wavetable synthesis sound chip with dedicated 64 kilobytes of RAM.
I assume the sound architecture dictates that samples have to be loaded into that dedicated RAM to be able to be ...
8
votes
3answers
772 views
Why does the Amiga 500 have half the HSYNC pulses seperately compared to those in CSYNC?
After many years I bought myself a new old Amiga 500 (rev 5)
and wanted to hook it up to an LCD monitor (Samsung Syncmaster 152N) that has a VGA input.
I tried hooking it up directly by making an ...
17
votes
5answers
2k views
How and why did Intel make the PCI bus “CPU Agnostic”?
Intel invented the original 32/64-bit PCI bus in the early 1990s to replace the decade old ISA bus used in PC's. It was immediately popular (in comparison to Micro Channel or EISA), being both faster ...
4
votes
2answers
247 views
Joystick adapter from 9-pin to USB
I have still a couple of old C64/Amiga joysticks and I'd like to use them on the New C64, which has USB ports.
Is there an adapter from 9-pin male to USB?
This 3-year old article references a company ...
5
votes
1answer
426 views
On Amiga, what happens when I write to $DFC5A0 by mistake?
I'm fixing a game (TV Sports Basketball) that tries to write in audio data (using the range $DFF0A0 to $DFF0D0) but for some reason (bad programming), the index is sometimes (not always) bogus
MOVEA.L ...
21
votes
1answer
2k views
Who ended up owning Commodore's semiconductor IP?
The question of ownership of Amiga-related intellectual property post-Commodore is famously difficult to answer. My question is: does anyone "own" Commodore's semiconductor IP now, and if so,...
1
vote
1answer
117 views
Help in finding signals on schematics
Where are the missing signals that I can't pair between amiga external drive connector and gotek drive?
I'd like to connect GOTEK to CDTV, there is a way to do it directly (caddy died), but I can't ...
5
votes
1answer
280 views
How does DMACON/R registers on Commodore Amiga platform work?
I have a specific question about the DMACON/R registers found in Commodore Amiga range of computers.
As you may know they are the DMA control registers that controls all the DMA channels used by the ...
0
votes
2answers
265 views
CF partitions not showing up in Workbench
4GB Compact Flash
KS 3.1 40.68
WB3.1
Latest WinUAE
I just created a Compact Flash (compatible Transcend) partitions under Workbench on latest WinUAE using this guide. Despite following the steps my CF ...
12
votes
2answers
2k views
Should I use the internal or external drive for loading Amiga 500 games?
I have a working (I think) Amiga 500 system with an internal DF0 drive and an external DF1 drive. The Amiga 500 powers up with Workbench v1.3.
Can anyone tell me how to access a game disc (Marble ...
5
votes
0answers
253 views
What are the needed jumper settings for a 68060 accelerator for an Amiga 3000T?
I'm trying to install a 68060 accelerator on an Amiga 3000T, but I cannot figure out the correct jumper settings. The information I've found online is:
J100 CLK90 Delay jumper. This Jumper has three ...
9
votes
2answers
471 views
How do I tell vasm to allow white spaces?
I have recently been learning to use vasm. For those that don't know, vasm is a cross-platform assembler for multiple types of processors such as the M68000.
http://sun.hasenbraten.de/vasm/
I am ...
9
votes
1answer
424 views
How Amiga A590 autoboot ROM and bootable floppy disk works?
Commodore A590 was a peripheral hard drive and memory expansion unit for Amiga 500/500+ computers. It provides SCSI and XT-harddrive controller and 2MB Fast Ram. Here is the Big Book of Amiga Hardware ...
22
votes
5answers
2k views
Does the “Amiga Client for Novell NetWare” exist?
On page 139 of Brian Bagnall's book "Commodore: The Final Years", there is the statement that at CeBIT Hannover in March 1989, Commodore announced (amongst other things) "Novell Netware for Amiga".
I ...
11
votes
2answers
604 views
How are Amiga Kickstart Relocation Files (.RTB) created?
Examples of Amiga Kickstart files (ROMs) can be 256k (1.2/1.3) or 512k (3.0/3.1) binary files, located at $FC0000-$1000000 or $F80000-$1000000
Several programs are able to "soft-kick" Amigas, i.e. ...
35
votes
4answers
8k views
Why didn't Apple sue Commodore over the Amiga's GUI?
Famously, in the late 1980's Apple sued Microsoft over the "look and feel" of Windows 2.x. The claim was that Windows breached Apple's copyright by being too similar to the Mac UI. Apple ultimately ...
53
votes
7answers
21k views
Why was the Kickstart 1.x “Insert floppy” graphic so bad?
Anyone who used an pre-Kickstart 2.0 Amiga will be very familiar with the "Insert Workbench floppy" image:
I realise that this is subjective, but the image has always stuck me as ... well, a bit ugly....
2
votes
0answers
1k views
How many Amiga 590 units were sold?
The A590 was an external hard disk for the Amiga 500, in 'sidecar' form factor, that could also hold an extra megabyte of RAM.
How many 590s were sold, throughout its life?
4
votes
1answer
269 views
What is the largest RAM expansion for Amiga or Commodore? [closed]
What is the largest RAM expansion being manufactured today for Amiga and Commodore 8-bit?
20
votes
5answers
6k views
Were the custom chips in the Amiga exploited for their hardware bugs like the ones in the C64 and Atari 8 bit computers were?
Here we are some decades on from the C64, and other 8 bit computers.
New ideas that resulted in some new graphics effect or mode seem to happen, though we may be near the end of all that.
Took a ...
22
votes
3answers
3k views
Why was it not possible to cost-reduce the Amiga 500?
According to 'Commodore: The Final Years' (whole trilogy highly recommended, BTW), page 129, 'Jeff Porter realized it would not be possible to significantly cost reduce the Amiga 500 to get it into ...
17
votes
1answer
1k views
Can you split resolutions and scrolling (horizontally) on an Amiga?
Some time back I asked if it was possible to get more than 8 sprites on a single scanline with the Amiga using a copper list. It seems it is quite possible indeed!
Now I am wondering if it is ...
11
votes
4answers
1k views
What graphics sytems used display lists?
As near as I can tell, there seems to have been roughly speaking two schools of thought when it comes to graphics hardware among early consoles, what I will call the Atari and Texas Instruments ...
9
votes
1answer
799 views
Did any significant programs or environments take advantage of the Rexx which came with PCDOS 7 (aka PCDOS 2000)?
Being an Amiga fan, I have a fondness for the Rexx language. On that platform, almost every significant program supported ARexx, allowing a high degree of interoperability and customability. So when ...
60
votes
2answers
19k views
What is the “two-drive trick” that can read Amiga disks on a PC?
Standard belief is that the floppy disk controllers used on PCs are incapable of reading Amiga floppy disks, due to the PC disk controller expecting a very specific low-level format of disks, whilst ...
2
votes
1answer
558 views
Which retro personal computers, if any, can use a modern day VGA monitor? [closed]
I play around with emulators, but I would love to go back to my roots, with physical ZX81, BBC Micro, Amiga, etc.
Unfortunately, those all require a CRT monitor, or a TV, as output. I suppose that I ...
10
votes
1answer
690 views
Any Issues with running Workbench 1.3 on a Kickstart 1.2 Amiga 500?
I own a fairly early Amiga 500 with Kickstart 1.2 ROMs, Commodore Logo key and the OCS Agnus 8371. Is this system completely compatible with Workbench 1.3? Or does WB 1.3 require Kickstart 1.3 ROMs? ...
3
votes
1answer
369 views
Is the 3000T's case made by Commodore, or was it stock from elsewhere?
Is the 3000T's case made by Commodore, or was it stock from elsewhere? I need a side panel for one.
6
votes
1answer
248 views
Why does my Amgia 3000 show no Fast RAM even though the ZIP sockets are populated?
I am trying to get an Amiga 3000T up and running, all seems good but there's no Fast RAM. All Zips ard populated. Is there any (easy) way to test the ZIPs? Also, could something like a bad cap kill ...
13
votes
4answers
3k views
Amiga 500 OCS/ECS vs Mega Drive VDP
Superficially the Amiga 500 and Mega Drive are similar. Both run a Motorola 68000 CPU at similar clocks and both have dedicated hardware for sprite and other graphics operations.
Comparing the arcade ...
11
votes
3answers
895 views
Set keyboard layout in Amiga Workbench 3.1
I did a fresh install of the Cloanto amiga-os-310-install.adf disk to a hard drive, and then I wanted to change the keyboard layout to Swedish. I tried SYS:System/SetMap s but then I've learned that ...
13
votes
1answer
911 views
Does the Commodore CDTV-CR contain a 65C02 for some reason?
Browsing around the FS-UAE source code I discovered a 65(S)C02 emulation core, which appears to not be referenced anywhere outside of some CDTV-CR related source file.
Apparently, a CDTV is ...
7
votes
1answer
423 views
Digital PCB Plans for Retro Computers
I use software like Fritzing or Autodesk EAGLE to draw my Raspberry Pi or Arduino projects and was wondering if there is a source for PCB plans of for example an Amiga 500 in a format readable for ...
11
votes
3answers
708 views
What are the Ultra-Highres registers in ECS and AGA for?
The Amiga custom chip set, in its ECS and AGA versions, seems to contain some registers for what is called an "Ultra-HighRes/DUAL" mode:
DFF078 SPRHDAT W Ext. logic UHRES sprite pointer and ...
19
votes
3answers
2k views
What was the role of Commodore-West Germany?
Most of the history of Commodore in personal computers took place while East and West Germany were divided, and Commodore maintained a significant corporate presence in West Germany. While I believe ...
24
votes
10answers
4k views
Why was hardware diversification an asset for the IBM PC ecosystem?
The IBM PC was cloned very early on, and many third parties made hardware peripherals. This required users to run an OS, install drivers, manage IRQs and hardware bus addresses, etc. Why was this a ...
4
votes
1answer
215 views
pfs3 error when copying files
Config: WinUAE 4.2.1, CPU 68020, 24bit, FPU 68882, 8MB FastRam Z2, A1200, CF 4GB Transcend, BetterWB 43, Dopus 4,
When I try to copy folders from PC to CF Partition (2.4GB, pfs3) it goes alright, ...
3
votes
2answers
387 views
Amiga Workbench copy command just outputs 'copy mode'
I'm trying to set up my system using UAE 4.2.1 64 bit and an excellent step by step guide provided by phraxoid:
https://devtty.io/2018/07/computing/how-to-setup-commodore-amiga-workbench-os/
The ...
