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Amiga notes

This page is my own reference for using my Amiga A600, but it may also help others. I wanted a single page "cheat sheet" for all the things I need to remember about setting up and using the machine, as details are easily forgotten if you only use the Amiga occasionally.

  1. Terminology
  2. My hardware
  3. AmigaDOS commands
  4. Drives and directories
  5. Workbench
  6. System set up
  7. Furia
  8. Older Kickstart versions
  9. PCMCIA CF Card adapter
  10. WiModem232 AT commands
  11. WHDLoad games

1. Terminology

2. My hardware

3. AmigaDOS commands

Most common commands:

4. Drives and directories

AmigaDOS uses volume names followed by a colon rather than drive letters. You can refer to a disk by its device name (DF0:, DH0:, CF0:) or by the volume label written on the disk (e.g. Workbench3.1:, CF_Card:). Both resolve to the same thing. Paths use forward slashes: DH0:Games/MindWalker/MindWalker.info.

Typical device / volume names:

Standard system directories (all live on the boot volume):

Assign: most of the names above (C:, LIBS:, DEVS:, S:, …) are not real devices - they are logical assigns that point to a directory on SYS:. The assign command shows or changes them, so you can relocate system directories or create your own shortcuts:

assign ; list every current assign
assign FOO: DH0:Games ; make FOO: point to DH0:Games
assign FOO: REMOVE ; remove the assign

Put permanent assigns in S:User-Startup so they survive a reboot.

Wildcards:

5. Workbench

6. System set up

  1. Make Amiga use v3.1, as it is the most compatible one:
    1. Install Kickstart 3.1 ROM chip
    2. Install from Workbench install disks.
      It's okay to install on top of anything, the install just adds files.
    3. Make NTSC monitor modes work by copying the NTSC folder from the Workbench Storage disk (drives/monitors/NTSC) to the System: disk and reboot:
      copy Storage:drives/monitors/NTSC SYS:NTSC
    4. Go to System > Prefs > Input Preferences and check that Keyboard Type is correct (select Svenskt for Finnish keyboard)
  2. Add ability to extract files from lha archives on the Amiga:
    1. Get lha from Aminet: https://aminet.net/package/util/arc/lha
    2. copy lha_68k SYS:c/lha.
  3. Add md5sum command so you can check files are not corrupted:
    1. Download from Aminet: https://aminet.net/package/util/crypt/MD5SUM
    2. Extract and then install:
      copy md5sum c:
  4. Make CompactFlash work as a hard drive: (newer ones may not work!)
    1. Download and extract cfd141.lha: https://aminet.net/package/driver/media/cfd141
    2. Install driver by copying compactflash.device.small
      Version 1.41 (md5: a45eed...) works
      copy cfd/devs/68000/compactflash.device.small DEVS:compactflash.device.
    3. Install driver from cfd141.lha:copy cfd/devs/CF0 DEVS:dosdrivers.
    4. Install driver info from cfd141.lha:
      copy cfd/devs/CF0.info DEVS:dosdrivers.
    5. Install FAT95 support from fat95.lha: https://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/fat95
      Version 3.18 (md5: 7d4e92...) - newer version did not work!
      copy FAT95 L:fat95.
  5. Terminal and serial communication:
    1. The serial port is slow - use artser.device (not BaudBandit because it is buggy nor New8n1 because it is too simple making Zmodem library not work):
      copy artser.device to DEVS:
    2. Install Term 4.8
      1. Download from https://aminet.net/package/util/comm/Term48 and install.
      2. Select the Term icon and Leave Out so you have nice icon on the Workbench root window.
      3. Use following serial preferences:
        • Serial Device: artser.device
        • Unit: 0
        • Baud Rate: match the modem (19200 / 38400 / 57600 / 115200)
        • Bits/Parity/Stop: 8 / None / 1
        • Handshaking: RTS/CTS (not XON/XOFF)
        • Duplex: Full
        • High-speed: Off - leave off, this setting is for default serial.device
        • Shared Access: Off
        • Break Length: default (250000 µs is fine)
      4. In the Modem settings, check "Do not send modem init/exit commands"
      5. Also change the protocol to ZModem in protocol settings.
  6. Install KingCON to get features like scrollback buffer and autocompletion in the CLI:
    1. Download from https://aminet.net/package/util/shell/KingCON_1.3
    2. Extract and run the installer.
    3. Ed S:KCON-Screen to create a file containing:
      NewShell "KCON:0/0/640/256/KingCON Screen/SCREEN/CLOSE".
    4. Protect S:KCON-Screen +s.
    5. Copy System:System/Shell.info S:KCON-Screen.info.
    6. Set the Default Tool of KCON-Screen.info to C:IconX
      (Workbench: open System, View > All, View > s).
    7. Choose S:KCON-Screen and use Leave Out so you have a nice icon on the Workbench root window.
  7. Set up Commodities (background utilities that register with SYS:Tools/Commodities/Exchange). To get a commodity running at every boot, copy both its executable and its .info icon into SYS:WBStartup/ and add the right tooltypes.
    1. Install my own Gradient commodity to get nice copper gradient colors: https://solvalou.com/gradient):
      1. Copy Gradient and Gradient.info straight into SYS:WBStartup/:
        copy Gradient SYS:WBStartup/
        copy Gradient.info SYS:WBStartup/
        The shipped icon already has the right tooltypes (DONOTWAIT and BACKGROUND), so it just starts silently at every boot.
      2. To configure, open System > WBStartup on Workbench and double-click Gradient. Settings persist to ENVARC:Gradient.prefs.
    2. Install my own AmigaTab commodity to switch windows with Left Amiga + Tab (forward) and Left Amiga + Shift + Tab (backward): https://solvalou.com/amigatab:
      1. Copy AmigaTab and AmigaTab.info straight into SYS:WBStartup/:
        copy AmigaTab SYS:WBStartup/
        copy AmigaTab.info SYS:WBStartup/
    3. Install BoingBlank (: https://aminet.net/package/util/blank/BoingBlank) - because of course you need a Boing Ball screen saver.
      1. Download the BoingBlank archive from Aminet and unpack it.
      2. Copy the required files to commodities directory:
        copy BoingBlank SYS:Tools/Commodities/
        copy BoingBlank.data SYS:Tools/Commodities/
        copy BoingBlank.info SYS:Tools/Commodities/
    4. Make BoingBlank and ClickToFront start at boot too:
      1. Copy the commodities and their icons to SYS:WBStartup/:
        copy SYS:Tools/Commodities/BoingBlank SYS:WBStartup/
        copy SYS:Tools/Commodities/BoingBlank.data SYS:WBStartup/
        copy SYS:Tools/Commodities/BoingBlank.info SYS:WBStartup/
        copy SYS:Tools/Commodities/ClickToFront SYS:WBStartup/
        copy SYS:Tools/Commodities/ClickToFront.info SYS:WBStartup/
      2. Open SYS:WBStartup/ on Workbench and add these tooltypes to each icon:
        • BoingBlank:
          • TIMEOUT=60 - adjust to suit your taste.
        • ClickToFront:
          • QUALIFIER= - leave the modifier keys empty, as we want a plain double click to bring a window to front.
  8. Install WHDLoad to run games from hard drive:
    1. Download "WHDLoad usr small" package and simply extract and copy WHDLoad file to C:
    2. Create DEVS:Kickstarts directory and copy the Kickstart ROMs and RTB files there. It is very important to have the correct ROMS, and there are non-working ROMS dumps out there, so check the md5sum of your ROMs:
      • kick33180.a500 (md5: 85ad74...)
      • kick33180.a500.rgb (md5: c993fe...)
      • kick34005.a500 (md5: 82a21c...)
      • kick34005.a500.rgb (md5: 7eb13d...)
    3. Some games require XPK compressors:
      1. Download https://aminet.net/util/pack/xpk_User.lha and extract it
      2. copy Libs/xpkmaster.library LIBS:
      3. makedir LIBS:compressors
      4. copy Libs/compressors/#? LIBS:compressors/

7. Furia

  1. Partition SD card (use UHS-I SD card, not CF card or slower than UHS-I SD card) into 500MB for System and 2GB chunks. Format using PFS3 (Professional File System 3), not FFS (Fast File System).
    1. Get PFS3 from https://aminet.net/package/disk/misc/pfs3aio and extract it
    2. With HDToolBox, use Advanced options
    3. click "Add/Update"
    4. Click "Add New File System"
    5. Enter path and file name of the pfs3aio
    6. Change DosType to 0x50465303
    7. Click "OK", "OK"
    8. Select drive, click "Change", select Custom File System or PFS/03
    9. Verify identifier is 0x50465303
    10. Make sure MaxTransfer is 0x1fe00
    11. Click "OK"
    12. Make sure single partition is not over 2GB. HDToolbox is misleading and shows partition size as modulo of 2GB so be careful: 3.7GB partition will be shown as 1.7GB!
  2. We can tweak Furia acceleator with furiatune - we want to use the following features:
    • shadowrom - copies the Kickstart ROM from the slow 16-bit chip bus into Furia's 32-bit Fast RAM and re-maps it at the ROM address.
    • ide on - enables Furia's accelerated IDE controller.
    • addmem - enables Furia's Fast RAM.

    1. Download from GitHub: https://github.com/emartisoft/furiatuneGUI/tree/master/Install/furiatune
    2. copy furiatune SYS:c/furiatune.
    3. Add this (https://retroworkshop.blogspot.com/2020/06/optimising-furia.html) to the top of S:Startup-Sequence. The script writes furiatune status to a log and uses Search+If WARN (WARN = string not found) to branch on what's already configured:
      • If "no furia" is not in the log, the Furia is present - otherwise do nothing.
      • If "ShadowROM is active" is not in the log, enable ShadowROM and reboot. The reboot is mandatory because ShadowROM only takes effect after a reset - the running Kickstart is still fetched from the slow chip bus until the CPU restarts.
      • On the next boot ShadowROM is active, the inner branch is skipped, and ide on addmem runs.
      C:furiatune >RAM:furiatune.log status
      C:Search >NIL: RAM:furiatune.log "no furia"
      If WARN
      C:Search >NIL: RAM:furiatune.log "ShadowROM is active"
      If WARN
      C:furiatune >NIL: shadowrom reboot
      EndIf
      C:furiatune >NIL: ide on addmem
      EndIf
      C:Delete >NIL: RAM:furiatune.log
  3. Change software from 68000 versions to 68020+ versions. Just copy these files on top of the installed 68000 versions:
    1. LHA has lha_68020 support in form of lha_68020 file
      1. copy lha_68020 C:lha
    2. Term has Term/Extras/030/term and Term/Extras/030/gtlayout.libraryfor 68020+ CPU. Although the directory is named 030, they will work on 68020.
      1. copy Term/Extras/030/gtlayout.library SYS:Libs/gtlayout.library
      2. copy Term/Extras/030/term SYS:Term_4.8/term
    3. KingCON has Handler/KingCON-handler.020 for 68020+ CPUs
      1. copy Handler/KingCON-handler.020 L:KingCON-handler
    4. cfd141.lha has cfd/devs/68020/compactflash.device.small (md5: 59582c...)
  4. Install SysInfo to inspect CPU, FPU, memory and board info:
    1. Download: https://aminet.net/package/util/moni/SysInfo
    2. Extract to System:

8. Older Kickstart versions

Kickstart versioning is weird and complicated:

Some older games require an older version of Kickstart than 3.1. WHDLoad handles that automatically for hard drive installed games, but it naturally does not work for floppy boots. Furia can act as hardware Kickstart switcher by using its MapROM feature which can load an older version of kickstart. This is easy, because older ROM files (we only need the oldest 1.2 Kickstart in DEVS:Kickstarts/kick33180.a500) are already installed for WHDLoad so Furia can just use the same files.

After loading the old Kickstart ROM into Fast RAM, Furia presents it at the normal ROM addresses so the machine boots from it instead of the newer onboard ROM - this modification persists until the machine is cold-booted. On the desktop, there is an icon to trigger the switch and reboot: just click that icon, insert the floppy/SD card, and the machine will reboot and start the disk.

  1. Create a script: ed S:OldKick:

    C:furiatune >RAM:furiatune.log status
    C:Search >NIL: RAM:furiatune.log "no furia"
    If WARN
    C:Delete >NIL: RAM:furiatune.log
    echo "Mapping Kickstart 1.2 and disabling 020 caches..."
    echo "System will reboot in 5 seconds."
    wait 5
    C:furiatune maprom DEVS:Kickstarts/kick33180.a500 cache off reboot
    Else
    C:Delete >NIL: RAM:furiatune.log
    echo "No Furia installed."
    wait 5
    EndIf

  2. Make that script executable and add icon:

    Protect S:OldKick +s
    copy System:System/Shell.info S:OldKick.info

  3. Then find the icon in Workbench, open its information and ...

    1. Set the Default Tool to C:IconX.
      Amiga scripts are just text files, so they need "Default Tool" to set the program that reads and executes them - for scripts IconX is the standard choice.
    2. Leave the icon out on the Workbench so you can click it whenever you want to boot from an older Kickstart ROM.

9. PCMCIA CF Card adapter

10. WiModem232 AT commands

11. WHDLoad games