Amiga Forever by Cloanto
   
   
 

Installation

   
Amiga Forever contains different items which can be run from the distribution medium, or installed.

Additionally, the CD Edition of Amiga Forever not only supports running the software directly from CD (without installation, starting from within an existing host operating system), but, thanks to the KX Light boot subsystem, it can also be used to boot a PC.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Installation on Microsoft Windows Systems

If you purchased the Online Edition of Amiga Forever and are now reading this, you probably already installed Amiga Forever.

If you purchased the CD Edition of Amiga Forever, the Amiga Forever launcher window should appear automatically when the CD is inserted in the drive. If however the Windows AutoRun functionality has been disabled you can start the launcher manually, by opening MenuBox.exe, located inside the WINDOWS/MenuBox directory on the CD.

To install Amiga Forever to hard disk select the Install to Hard Disk option in the launcher, and follow the on-screen instructions.

During installation you will be asked to enter a license key (which may also be referred to as "serial number"). This license key is either printed on the CD jewel box inlay (on a label), or, if you purchased the Amiga Forever CD from certain online resellers, it may have been displayed on screen and emailed to you.

The Amiga Forever installer includes certain optional features, such as Amiga Explorer and Software Manager.

Amiga Explorer is a data sharing application which is normally used to connect the PC to an Amiga and share data between the two. It is not required to run the Amiga emulation. When installed, Amiga Explorer includes its own documentation, which can be accessed from the Start menu independently of the remaining Amiga Forever documentation.

We recommend to always install Software Manager, which allows you to check for news and updates, and to easily install new versions of the emulation software, as well as free Amiga Forever updates.

Optional features can be added or removed separately by running the installer again, or via Add/Remove Programs in the system Control Panel.

Installation on Apple Macintosh Systems

If you need to extract the cross-platform edition of Amiga Forever on a Macintosh system, you can use a program like Aladdin StuffIt or Aladdin Expander, which are available for free download from the Aladdin Systems web site.

It is extremely important that the Convert text files to Macintosh format option in StuffIt or Expander be set to Never before unarchiving the files. Otherwise, important Amiga files like the startup-sequence and the ROM key file will be altered, and the emulation will not even boot.

Please note that the Macintosh version of the emulation software is not as advanced as the Windows version.

Installation on GNU/Linux and Other Systems

The Amiga ROM and OS files which are included with Amiga Forever can be used on all Amiga emulation programs which have been released since November 1998, when an agreement which was reached between the Amiga companies, Cloanto, and the emulation software authors came into effect.

The "Emulation/shared" directory contains files which can be used on any platform. The Amiga ROM files which come with Amiga Forever are encoded in a special format, and require that the "rom.key" file (stored inside "Emulation/shared/rom") also be installed together with the other ROM and OS files. The emulation programs (e.g. Fellow and UAE for various platforms) include options to specify the location of this key file.

The chapter on Amiga OS Files contains additional information about the different ROM and OS files.

In addition to the original Amiga ROM and OS files, which are included with Amiga Forever, you will need the specific emulation software required for your computer. This software is free. The "Archives" directory on the Amiga Forever CD contains a variety of versions of the emulation software. The best addresses for the most up-to-date software are listed in the GNU/Linux and Other Platforms sections at the Amiga Forever web site.

Amiga Files

The Amiga Forever CD also contains an "Amiga" directory with data and program files which are meant for access from an Amiga computer (or from the Amiga emulation environment). This directory contains Amiga-specific software and documentation. Among other things, the Amiga directory contains the full version of Personal Paint, inclusive of tutorial animations and extra artwork.

The CD Edition of Amiga Forever also includes a set of Amiga files which are designed to be run or installed not only from CD,  but also from a bootable Amiga floppy disk, if necessary, in order to support Amiga computers without CD drives. These are the basic Amiga tools for cross-platform data sharing, and are stored in the "Amiga/AF_Boot" directory on the CD. From an Amiga computer you can copy the content of this directory to an empty floppy disk (don't remember to make it bootable by entering the Install command from the Amiga Shell). A bootable floppy disk image ("af-boot.adf") with the same data is also included in the "Emulation/shared/adf" directory. The Amiga Forever Plus Pack also includes a copy of the same image.

Gallery Files

The Gallery section of the Amiga Forever CD contains files in the following formats:

  • PNG graphics
  • JPEG graphics
  • TIFF (multi-page) graphics

Most modern operating systems have built-in functionality to view such files. Where this functionality is not preinstalled by default, it is commonly available via free downloads.

Video Files

The Amiga Forever CD contains several videos encoded using the VC-9 codec. The following articles explain how these files can be played back on different operating systems, and why VC-9 technology was used:

  • 5-105 - Playing Back VC-9 Videos
  • 5-104 - Use of Video Codecs in Amiga Forever

In addition to being supported by major operating systems, the videos on Amiga Forever can also be played back by HighMAT Video compatible DVD players.