Who Says AmigaBASIC Will Not Run Under OS2.0x To 3.1x?.




Hello,   ITMA,   (It's That Man Again :)
Well for years now I have kept a secret that I suspect no-one else has discovered.  I have been testing various projects with my ancient A500 that has OS1.3x installed BUT for initial tests have used my A1200 with OS3.xx installed AND use,  (present tense) , ~AmigaBASIC~ that came with my original A500 floppy disk set.

"BUT AmigaBASIC doesn't work on OS2.0x and above..."  would probably be your reply and of course you would be correct in that assumption.

However there is a way around this and I have been using it for at least 10 years and has caused me no grief for normal usage.

You don't need ANY software patches,  no hidden special libraries or any strange third party add-ons to try and get it to work,  just a little bit of common sense...

Anyone who knows me also knows that my pet phrase is,  "There is ALWAYS a back door to anything programming wise for your needs,  all you have to do is find it..."

Well here is the back door for AmigaBASIC use...  :)





You WILL need a Workbench 1.3x bootable disk for this proceedure!!!

DiskCopy is ALSO required and IS part of the OS3.xx install,  it resides in the ~SYS:System~ drawer.

I'll assume a STANDARD A1200HD for this proceedure is being used.


Righto Here We Go:-


1)  Boot up your A1200 into your normal Workbench.
2)  Open up a Shell.
3)  Type:- "CD SYS:System" without the quotes.  CD is not strictly required for OS2.0x and above but it always good practice... :)
4)  Insert your Workbench 1.3x bootable disk.
5)  Ensure you have a good second floppy disk ready!!!  It does NOT need to be formatted.
6)  Type:- "DiskCopy DF0: to DF0:" without the quotes and FOLLOW THE ON SCREEN PROMPTS.
7)  Delete ALL files NOT in the ~Listing:-~ below.  The ~Listing:-~ files ARE ALL required.
8)  Copy AmigaBASIC from an Extras1.3 floppy disk to this bootdisk's root directory.
9)  Copy the ~FD1.3~ drawer and contents from an Extras1.3 floppy disk to this bootdisk.
10)  Copy ANY ~#?.bmap~ files over to this floppy bootdisk.  None are shown in this listing.


11) Listing:-



     c (dir)
       Ask                              Assign
       Binddrivers                      CD
       Copy                             Delete
       Dir                              Echo
       Ed                               Else
       EndCLI                           EndIf
       Execute                          Failat
       IconX                            If
       List                             LoadWB
       Makedir                          Mount
       NewCLI                           NewShell
       Path                             Prompt
       Relabel                          Rename
       Run                              SetClock
       SetEnv                           SetPatch
       Stack                            Type
       devs (dir)
       keymaps (dir)
       gb                               usa1
       clipboards (dir)
       printers (dir)
       generic                          
       clipboard.device                 narrator.device
       parallel.device                  printer.device
       ramdrive.device                  serial.device
       system-configuration             
       empty (dir)
       expansion (dir)
       FD1.3 (dir)
       BASIC FD files here!             BASIC FD files here!.info
       clist_lib.fd                     console_lib.fd
       diskfont_lib.fd                  dos_lib.fd
       exec_lib.fd                      expansion_lib.fd
       graphics_lib.fd                  icon_lib.fd
       intuition_lib.fd                 layers_lib.fd
       mathffp_lib.fd                   mathieeedoubbas_lib.fd
       mathieeedoubtrans_lib.fd         mathtrans_lib.fd
       potgo_lib.fd                     romboot_lib.fd
       timer_lib.fd                     translator_lib.fd
       fonts (dir)
       topaz (dir)
       11                               
       topaz.font                       
       l (dir)
       Aux-Handler                      Disk-Validator
       Newcon-Handler                   Pipe-Handler
       Port-Handler                     Ram-Handler
       Speak-Handler                    
       libs (dir)
       diskfont.library                 icon.library
       info.library                     mathieeedoubbas.library
       mathieeedoubtrans.library        mathtrans.library
       translator.library               version.library
       prefs (dir)
       Preferences                      
       s (dir)
       startup-sequence                 
       system (dir)
       CLI                              Diskcopy
       Format                           NoFastMem
       SetMap                           
       t (dir)
       tools (dir)
       trashcan (dir)
       utilities (dir)
       Calculator                       Clock
       More                             Say
       AmigaBASIC                       CLI
       CLI.info                         


12)  Rename this disk to AmigaBASIC.
13)  Put a stick on label onto the disk as ~AmigaBASIC~ and away we go.






Startup-Sequence:-


The ~startup-sequence~ should be as below...


 sys:c/setpatch >NIL:
 sys:c/binddrivers
 sys:c/assign CLIPS: sys:devs/clipboards
 sys:c/assign ENV: sys:t
 sys:c/assign T: sys:t
 sys:c/stack 16384
 sys:c/loadwb -debug
 sys:c/run >NIL: sys:AmigaBASIC
 sys:c/endcli >NIL:





Usage:-


Again I'll assume a STANDARD A1200HD is being used.


1)  Put this new bootdisk into drive DF0:
2)  Reboot the A1200HD and immediately go to the early-startup routines.
3)  Go to ~Display Options...~ and set to OCS or ECS, ECS is probably better as it gives you more choice,  (ECS is what I use)... :)
4)  Click ~Use~ and then go to ~Boot Options...~.
5)  Disable all drives that you don't want.
6)  Disable ALL ~Caches~.
7)  Click ~Use~ and then click ~Boot~ and away we go...
8)  As can be seen it the ~startup-sequence~ AmigaBASIC will auto-run.





Last But Not Least:-



Although you have booted into Workbench 1.3 you are still using Kickstart 3.xx so you have the best of both worlds... :)

Have fun finding simple solutions to often difficult problems... :)



http://homepages.tesco.net/wisecracker/G0LCU.HTM



ANY and ALL comments to be sent to:-

wisecracker@tesco.net



Bazza...



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