Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

60
TECHNICAL
Anorali orth
D o youhavea problem?Doyousometimes
find yourself poised over your Amiga with
axe in hand, spouting profanity at the stubborn
refusal of your Amiga software or
hardware to behave properly?
(
* -
Well, calm down and swap the axe for pen e
us must be a dull person with no lite and few friends.
and paper, jot down your problems. along A
Well, • this is not true. Now that I've got that off my chest, can you recommend a good
with a thorough description of your Amiga
book
t
A on 3D graphics programming? I am keen to create demos and ultimately a game
setup, and send it off to Amiga Computing Advice Service, IDG
using
t
Media, Media House, Adlington Park. Macclesfield SKID 4NP.
n 3D graphics?
I
K. Stanley Birmingham
o
w
r
a My definition of an Anorak is someone who's entire social life revolves
"-
a
n around their computer. to the exclusion of all else. They are more than
k
printer. Last Christmas, my wife bought me
t likely fashion unconscious, often wearing trainers in conjunction with
Sim City 2000 and after following the install question5? tcasual
s trousers and, even more disturbingly. sporting a tank top.
procedure I tried to play the game. The
o They
.
wear spectacles which have broken and have been taped in the middle
result was my that Amiga crashed, allegedly
sand
Einvariably
talk in a rather nasal fashion with a tone of voice akin to Terry
due to the program not accessing the
Christian v of The Word tame.
e
required libraries (according to a technical
Unfortunately, e
Anorak is mistakenly used to describe programmers in general.
t
guy at Maxis).
This r may be due to the fact that long ago, when computers were found only in
t
That is not my problem. The problem now
large y institutions and took up an entire room, programmers usually had David
h
Is that somehow my startup sequence file
Bellamy-type b beards and did indeed wear tank tops.
seems to have been affected and every time
e
They o may well have had no social life because programming a computer in
I turn on my Al200 I get an ArnigaDOS
rthose
d days usually meant flipping switches for each command. A long and
screen. The only way I can get the
etedious
y process.
Workbench screen to appear is to boot with
c Today,
s
however, most programmers are hip, especially those who can produce
a Workbench floppy disk installed in DR:.
ogames
e
with awesome graphics and intros. What would cool films like Terminator
I have tried to find out how to install
rbe
without programmers to create those awesome graphics tools eh? So. not all
e
Workbench onto a hard drive but all the
d programmers are Mr Harry Hypotenuse. sum of all the squares - just some of
shops inform me that unless I am 'up to
sthem
m
are.
s
speed' with AmigaDOS, I will find it difficult -
t As for your request for a good book on 3D, you may still be able to get hold
however, they will do it for me for a small
rof
t
Amiga Real-time 3D Graphics by Andrew Tyler and published by Sigma
remuneration, typically El 6 plus VAT.
a(ISBN
o 1-85058-275-0). Ask for it at any good bookstore.
What I would like to know is:
t
i
1. What is so difficult about installing
h
g
Workbench onto a hard drive?
though i your startup-sequence is script program (which answers ques-
h
2. Why doesn't Workbench have an install
messed n up. Workbench should still be tion 2). Even though your internal hard
t
program?
resident k on your hard drive. The start- drive was already formatted and parti-
3. What is the best book to instruct a novice
up-sequence
a
t file is actually responsible tioned when you bought it, you should
on Workbench?
for b loading
h
Workbench, but you can do still have received the Workbench
4. Having looked at computer languages to
this o manually yourself. Try typing installation disks as well as a disk for
a
learn, I am unable to distinguish between
Loadwb. u This should set your hard your hard drive with the appropriate
t
GFA Basic. Easy Amos, and AmigaDOS.
drive t into activity, hopefully loading utilities for formatting and partitioning.
b
Which will be the best one to get into?
Workbench. p
Next, type Endcli to close
I also find that a 5Mb Workbench par-
e
D. Hargreaves-Turner, Norwich
the r AmigaDOS screen, revealing tition is way too small. Many programs
Workbench c
o in all its glory.
sometimes install their own files to this
You a should now look in the S: drawer system partition during installation.
g
r
(..- messed up your startup-
and ulook
for a file that looks like a back- such as libraries, fonts and other sys-
r
sequence file. Any installation
up s
-
a
of the startup-sequence, something tem files, so you may soon find pro-
program worth its salt should have
like e startup-sequence.bak or similar. grams refusing to install because your
-
m
made a backup of your startup-
Rename y this to startup-sequence and Workbench system partition is full. You
-
m
sequence file before altering it. Even
reboot o your Amiga - hopefully, this can get past this problem by using
-
should
e
u restore your original setup.
ASSIGNS to re-direct some of
-
r
As a for your specific questions - well, Workbench's *system' drawers, such
-
here s
r we go with the answers!
as FONTS: to another partition, but It is
,
w1.
Workbench
e
is really easy to install a little clumsy and untidy.
I
and h does indeed have its own install 3. There are quite a few books on this
a
c
o
subject, all of them being pretty good.
p
a
a
However, the Insider Guide series of
whatsoever. Check r your upgrade board's manual
n
r
publications from Bruce Smith books
1. I have an Al200 which is frtted with a 4Mb mem-
' ory expansion board which also features an FPU
for fitting instructions o
e
for the Fn.
stand out in my mind.
t socket. I have recently bought an FPU along with
Some software g will not work when an FIPLI is 4. This depends on what type of pro-
u
i
VistaPro version 3.
detected and to r overcome this, many upgrade grams you want to write. GFA Basic is
n
boards have a 'jumper' (a kind of on-off switch)
m After fining the FPU to my expansion board. I was look-
a
aimed mainly at application program-
f
a
ing forward to using the floating pornt version of the pro-
which allows you m to enable or disable the FPU mers, Easy Amos is generally for the
without having
a
to remove it entirely from the board.
g
gram. Unfortunately, when I run the FPU version of
m
games programmer. and I wouldn't rec-
VistaPro. I get the message 'Program failed (error BOO
It may be that
i
this e jumper Is in the disable position. ommend AmigaDOS as a programming
i
0000B) Wait for disk activity to finish: What's going on?
Failing that, r
rI'm
afraid your upgrade board or language.
n
R. Stilby, Warwickshire FPU may well l be
,
damaged. Take your board to the It you want to write utilities or appli-
e
supplier you y got
y
the FPU from and ask them to test cations. I would recommend HiSoft
w It seems as if VistaPro isn't finding your
It with another l FPU. This will allow you to check Basic from, er HiSolt actually - it's
o
h FPU. The same thing happens when you
whether the aupgrade
board or the FIDU itself is excellent. If it's games you're looking
••••
u
y try to run VistaPro without any FPU
faulty. b
to develop, I suggest you opt for Blitz
S
e
Basic, which is also very good.
i
m
C
Amiga Computi•g
MAY 1995
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