Amiga notes

This page is my own reference for using my Amiga A600, but it may also help others.

AmigaDOS commands

Most common commands:

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.

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:


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 cdf/desv/68000/compactflash.device.small DEVS:compactflash.device.
    3. Install driver from cfd139.lha:copy cfd/devs/CF0 DEVS:dosdrivers.
    4. Install driver info from cfd139.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...) - never 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 incon on the Workbench root window.
      3. Use following serial preferences:
        • Serial Device: artser.device
        • Unit: 0
        • Baud Rate: match the modem (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 SYS: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. 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...)

Furia

My actively cooled Furia revision contains 680EC020 CPU clocked at 33Mhz, a MC68882 FPU at 40Mhz, and 9.5MB of RAM.

  1. Partition SD card (use USH-1 SD card, not CF card or slower than USH-1 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 ot PFS/03
    9. Verify identifier is 0x60465303
    10. Make sure MaxTranfer is 0x1fe00
    11. Click "OK"
  2. Install furiatune
    1. Download: https://github.com/emartisoft/furiatuneGUI/tree/master/Install/furiatune
    2. Add this (https://retroworkshop.blogspot.com/2020/06/optimising-furia.html) to the top of S:Startup-SequenceC: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
    2. Term has Term/Extras/030/term and Term/Extras/030/gtlayout.libraryfor 68020+ CPU. Altough the directory is named 030, they will work on 68020.
    3. KingCON has Hander/KingCON-handler.020 for 68020+ CPUs
    4. cfd141.lha has cfd/devs/78020/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:

Workbench hotkeys

Icons and folders in Workbench

Workbench only lists directories and files that have a sibling .info next to them (e.g. Games needs Games.info). A directory created from the Shell with makedir is invisible in Workbench until you give it an icon. Easiest fix — copy an existing drawer icon and rename it to match:

makedir DH0:Games/MindWalker
copy SYS:Prefs.info DH0:Games/MindWalker.info

The Leave Out menu item makes an icon live on the Workbench backdrop across reboots. Put Away removes "left out icon".

WiModem232 AT commands

Settings
AT&K1 enable hardware (RTS/CTS) handshaking
AT*B38400 baud rate - altervaitvely 19200 or 57600, even 115200
AT*T1 TELNET translation on (required for most BBSes)
AT&W save settings

Common usage:
at*n Scan WiFi networks
at*nsX,password Connect to Wifi number X with password
atdt host:port Dial a host (e.g. atdtsolvalou.com:32323)

Phonebook (10 slots, 0–9; remember AT&W to persist):
AT&Z? List all phonebook entries
AT&Z0=host:port Store host in slot 0
ATDS=0 Dial slot 0

Getting WHDLoad games onto the Amiga

Simply extract the whdload lha archive - lha x [filename]- games always contains their own directory, so it can be extracted into a "letter directory"

A600 WHDLoad tooltypes

See whdload.de tooltype documentation. Select the game icon (not the slave file), right-click and select Information to edit the tooltypes.

Useful on A600: