Amiga Forever by Cloanto
   
   
 

Amiga OS

    
Amiga Forever includes a wealth of Amiga ROM and OS (operating system) file versions, with a focus on two preinstalled environments:
  • Amiga OS 1.3 (older version, "blue Workbench screen", recommended for compatibility with older software)
  • Amiga OS 3.X (newer version, "gray Workbench screen", recommended for productivity)

Ever since Amiga Forever 1.0, the "3.X" label has been used to describe a preinstalled environment based on the Amiga 3.1 ROM (the latest 3.X ROM available), plus a preinstalled set of Amiga OS files.

This chapter includes the following sections:

For additional information, please refer to:

  • 5-108 - Name of the Amiga Operating System
  • 3-114 - Amiga ROM and OS Files in Amiga Forever
  • 5-107 - Preinstalled Amiga OS 3.X Files

Different Amiga OS Versions

The following table lists the major Amiga OS versions, and the often "mysterious" library version numbers which were associated to the various releases.

Library Revisions and ROM/OS Versions

Library

ROM/OS

Notes
30 1.0 NTSC NTSC version only
31 1.1 NTSC NTSC version
32 1.1 PAL PAL version
33 1.2
34 1.3
35 1.3 (A2024) 35 was also used for v. "1.4" (later released as 2.0)
36 2.0 (A3000) 36 was also used for v. "1.4"
37 2.04 "Final v. 2.0" (fixed many bugs of rev. 36)
38 2.1 Used with ROM rev. 37
39 3.0
40 3.1
41 3.5* Used with ROM rev. 40
45 3.9* Used with ROM rev. 40

* These "OS" products were released after the bankruptcy of Commodore-Amiga, Inc. and, unlike the original Amiga OS versions by Commodore-Amiga, Inc., include a high proportion of third-party application software add-ons.

While Amiga Forever includes a wealth of popular and very useful Amiga add-ons, it carefully tries to avoid imposing add-ons which might risk introducing incompatibilities or slowdowns, or style choices which are not broadly accepted in the Amiga community. On the other hand, the installation of additional software on top of the preinstalled Amiga Forever configurations is not only possible, but encouraged.

The Amiga OS 3.X environment is the same system which the Amiga Forever team too uses to maintain and build the Amiga Forever environment itself. It is built on top of a solid and time-tested core of Amiga OS 3.1 ROM and OS files, with the addition of version 41 files (but without certain third party add-ons), plus some of the latest version 45 and newer updates (again, with a priority on overall stability and compatibility, and without certain third-party inclusions, which in any case have been licensed separately for use in Amiga Forever, if considered of broad interest).

New Look

Almost 10 years after the last major change in the design of Amiga Workbench icons (version 2.0 of the Amiga OS) the Amiga companies decided to officially endorse Matt Chaput's "GlowIcons" design. The preinstalled Amiga OS 3.X configuration of Amiga Forever includes both the "traditional" Amiga icons and the new GlowIcons. Additionally, Amiga Forever is compatible with "NewIcons" icon data, as well as with icons which use Martin R. Huttenloher's "MagicWB" design and color specifications. Of course, all of these items appear under license and with the kind support of the respective authors.

Picasso96 RTG

The emulated Amiga hardware includes a 24-bit graphics card. This is like having a normal Amiga computer with the original Amiga chip set, plus a "retargetable graphics" (RTG) display card installed in it, so that both the standard Amiga screen modes as well as the new screen modes provided by the display card are available. With the help of appropriate drivers, which are included with all graphics cards, the Amiga OS is able to recognize and use new screen modes in up to 256 colors. "Hi" and "True" Color (respectively 16-bit and 24-bit) screen modes are not supported by default by the Amiga, but can be added with the help of additional software, which in part replaces and extends some operating system functions. Picasso96 provides both the drivers and the additional software required for the Amiga OS and for other programs to detect the emulated graphics card and to use it in palette-based modes up to 256 colors, as well as in hi-color and true-color modes. Of course, the Picasso96 software also supports a variety of "real" graphics cards, and is very popular on Amiga computers of all types.

The Picasso96 software comes preinstalled in the "System" partition in the emulation environment, so that no additional steps are required to install and configure the software. The "Software/Picasso96" directory in the "Work" partition contains additional tools and documentation files, accessible from within the emulation. The original Picasso96 files are stored in the "Archives/Picasso96" directory on the CD.

Amiga Forever includes a licensed copy of the Picasso96 software. This means that no additional shareware fees are due for this copy of the software, which is licensed for use only in the Amiga Forever emulation environment, and without upgrade privileges.

For additional information, please refer to:

Different Amiga Forever Versions

The 1.3 and 3.X environments are included in both the Online Edition of Amiga Forever and the CD Edition.

The CD Edition of Amiga Forever additionally includes all other Amiga ROMs and Workbench disks released between version 1.0 and version 3.1., inclusive of the A1000 boot ROM and extended CDTV and CD³² ROMs. The same files are included in the Online Plus Pack, which extends the Online Edition.

Amiga Forever is also available in a more limited Special Edition, which only includes a partial 1.3 environment (and no 3.X environment).

Organization of Files

Both on the CD, and on the hard disk after installation, these Amiga files are grouped inside the "Emulation/shared" directory. This directory contains four subdirectories, with different contents:

  • "Emulation/shared/rom": Amiga ROM image files
  • "Emulation/shared/adf": "ADF" image files of Amiga floppy disks (e.g. Workbench, game and demo disks)
  • "Emulation/shared/dir": Amiga OS 3.X "System" and "Work" hard disk partitions, stored as directories and files readable by all CD file systems, and then installed in the host file system
  • Other hard disk partitions, each in a single "hardfile"

For additional information, please refer to:

  • 3-156 - Host File System vs. Hardfiles
  • 3-132 - System Configuration Import Checklist
  • 3-109 - Reading Amiga Non-Floppy Media on PC
  • 3-112 - Using ADF, ADZ, FDI and DMS Files
  • 3-118 - Reading Amiga Floppy Disks on PC
  • 3-129 - Booting a PC with Amiga OS
  • 3-167 - Archival of Amiga Floppy Disks