Amiga 600 CF AmigaOS Setup Part 3

Sorry for the delay in blog entries but I have been quite ill at home for the last few weeks. Anyway, enough of that - let's continue the build of the Amiga 600 CF Card AmigaOS3.1!

If you haven't been following along with the build, I suggest reading Part 1 and Part 2 first, as this Part 3 continues straight on from Part 2.

Next up I wanted to install DiskImageGUI, which allows you to mount ADF, IDF, DMS and ISO images as virtual drives on AmigaOS3.1. Other formats are supported too.

To use DiskImageGUI we have to install a few other programs first, namely AISS4.12, expat.library, IPF capsimage.device, screennotify.library and titlebar_ic - except for capsimage.device (which you download from here), the rest can be downloaded from www.aminet.net. I also took the opportunity while on Aminet to get mpega.library, needed for mp3 playback:

Here is the titlebar_ic installer:

for the screen notify library, we need to copy it to System:libs (LIBS:) - which I did from Dopus5.9 (available on down arrow in SRCE window title bar):

I then copy the 68020 version of the mpega.library, which I use Dopus5.9's CopyAs function (available on down arrow in SRCE window title bar) to rename it from mpega020.library to mpega.library required in the destination system:libs folder when copying. DOpus can definitely saved some time:

Next I copied the capsimage.device to the System:Devs folder - this is needed to support .IPF floppy disk images in DiskImageGUI:

Final step is copying the expat.library to the System:Libs folder:

Phew...lots of pre-requisites. But worth it.

You can then download DiskImageGUI from Aminet here (note it uses a tar bzip2 file format) - I used a Mac to extract the folders and copied across using USB - there is a bzip2 and tar extract tool on Aminet too if you want to use the Amiga to do this. It is rare to have archives like this on Aminet as most are lha...Anyway - Here is the extracted folder ready for installation:

During the installation you can see the various formats supported for virtual disk and disc mounting:

This is a Commodity, so once run it sits in the background and can be called up at any time needed by pressing CTRL-ALT-D. Probably best to put it in the SYS:WBStartup folder so it is available anytime you need it. Here is the GUI for it, showing the virtual IDF0, IDF1, ICD0 and ICD1 devices.

Important Note: I found that DiskImageGUI causes some issues with DOpus 5.9 when mounting disks. It changes all the icons on the desktop and makes them unable to be opened. Make sure you close DOpus 5.9 before mounting disks in DiskImageGUI. After un-mounting the images, you can then run DOpus 5.9 again.

Let's test mounting a floppy ADF first...I copied it to USB and mounted it directly from there onto the AmigaOS3.1 Workbench using DiskImageGUI - I picked an old Amiga Computing cover disk in ADF format, and then played back one of the MusicBox songs directly from it:

While this was running, I then also mounted a DemoMania 1 CD ISO image from the USB stick, which also worked well:

Here is the main program, running directly off the DemoMania 1 CD ISO on the Amiga 600:

Hmmm...I can't read German - I remember now why I just copied off the files I needed instead of using the GUI program...

DiskImageGUI works great!

Next, using DiskImageGUI, I mounted Final Writer 97 ADF images (downloaded from EAB here), and installed it on the Amiga 600. I used to use Pen Pal and Final Copy back in the day, so it is nice to be able to open the documents again in Final Writer...and create new ones:

:-)

I previously covered here how to install and setup the MAS Player Evolution on the Amiga 600, so I won't repeat what I already covered.

With AmigaAmp already installed on the Amiga 600 with the MHI driver needed and configured in AmigaAmp for the MAS Player Evolution hardware attached, MP3 playback on the Amiga 600 using AmigaOS 3.1 is now a reality:

Note that filenames with .mp3 that are too long (as above) stored on a FastFileSystem partition (like the CF Card is) need to be renamed and truncated to include the .mp3 extension - otherwise you can't view or open them in the open file window in AmigaAmp...

Alternatively, keep the mp3's on a USB stick, as the fat95 file system supports the longer names - but be aware that in my testing, streaming mp3's from usb didn't work well - so I copied them to the CF card first. If you have streaming 192k mp3's from usb stick working well under AmigaOS3.1, please let me know what you did!

Next, internet access.

Because this is AmigaOS3.1, I installed AmigaKit's EasyNet software, which installs AMITCP and it's own developed software to configure AmiTCP settings without delving into editing various complicated settings files in AMITCP manually. There is also plenty of help available and support from AmigaKit. You can purchase EasyNet from AmigaKit.com

Previously I covered here how to get AmigaOS3.9 online, which has Genesis included and so it doesn't need EasyNet installed to do it (although you can use it).

Given the annoyance that I know AMITCP is to configure, EasyNet makes it much simpler to get internet access from the Amiga 600 up and running under AmigaOS3.1

Note that for my wireless card to work, I need to install the prism2v2 driver first, as I covered in detail previously here. For AmigaOS3.1, we install EasyNet instead of configuring Genesis (as I did in the blog entry referred to just now), as that is for AmigaOS3.9.

I then ran through the EasyNet installer, but unfortunately forgot to screen grab it! Sorry for that! I did select to use the prismv2 driver for the network and entered my usual fixed network ip address settings I want to use for the Amiga 600.

I don't need to have internet access from the Amiga 600 running all the time (although I could if I wanted to). So I have setup a shortcut to EasyNet from the User Menu in DOpus 5.9 so I can run it whenever I need to have internet access from it. Here is EasyNet main GUI, showing I am online:

To try out the internet access, I used the built in FTP client in DOpus 5.9, which you can launch by clicking FTP in the menu at the bottom of the AmigaOS3.1 screen, which pops up another menu with FTP connect options (you can also access this from the title bar menu). I chose to go to Modland's FTP site as a test:

Next I select the module I want, right click to copy it to RAM - in this shot you can see the FTP menu bar on the right hand side too:

Once downloaded by FTP in DOpus5.9, the file appears in RAM:

I fire up Delitracker to play it - this is a Tim Follin format module so it needs Amiga FollinPlayer_II file support to play back:

Great song, by the way.

I installed Wookiechat next (from Aminet), which is an IRC client. It also includes installation of several commonly used MUI classes that are not included with the standard MUI install, like NList, etc. You can also download the MUI classes from Aminet, but installing Wookiechat does them as well so it was more efficient use of time for me!

Below is Wookiechat, FTP (via DOpus 5.9) and MP3's playing back in AmigaAmp using the MAS Player Evolution hardware, all at the same time on the Amiga 600!

Next entry I plan to tackle local network access which I can't right use now as I found a problem with EasyNet local network services not working with EasyNet - internet access works fine. I traced the problem to my EasyNet version being too old to support the prism v2 driver.

As soon as AmigaKit send me the latest version of the EasyNet software needed to support the prismv2 driver I am using with my wireless card, I will try again.

I also need to sort out why AWeb isn't working properly, which I am guessing relates to the problem above.

Until next time!

Wireless Network card on A600

Today I am installing a wireless network card and setting up internet access on the Amiga 600 as part of my upgrade project.

I am using a PCMCIA wireless LAN card for the setup of the Wireless network access on the Amiga 600. The card was chosen with great care, to ensure it was a model compatible with the Prism2v2 driver, which is downloadable on www.aminet.net. Please review the list careful in the readme guide to ensure you get the correct wireless card model number.

In this case, mine is an Agere chipset model under the rebranding, which is compatible with the prism2v2 driver. this card was brand new when I bought it recently, complete in original packaging:

So, let's get to work setting up on AmigaOS3.9 on the Amiga 600.

The Prism2v2 driver introduced to Classic Amigas the ability to connect them to a WPA/WPA2 secured wireless network, instead of the far less secure WEP secured wireless networks used a number of years ago. Take care not to download the older prism driver which is also there.

Once you have downloaded the prism2v2 driver and extracted it to RAM: you should see the following:

The Manual is an AmigaGuide that explains the installation process. I will cover it in some detail here. If you find this configuration too daunting, then you can purchase the AmigaKit wireless card kit for Amiga600/1200, which included their EasyNet software, and an installer which walks you through the setup process.

Having said that, the setup is not difficult. when running the installer for the Prism2v2 software, it will prompt you for your wireless connection settings to generate the necessary configuration. Please make sure you get this information right the first time. Fixing it afterwards involves a bit of work.

You are prompted for the SSID for your wireless connection:

Of course it then prompts for your WPA passphrase:

The installer goes away and generates the keys needed for WPA connection - as per the below it does indeed take several minutes to do so please be patient:

Installation complete:

Next, we need to reboot.

When rebooting a new program called C:WirelessManager (inserted by the installer) is run at the end of the s:user-startup file to initialise the wireless card. If it is working then you should see the status lights on your wireless card turn on at this time. It is important to ensure the card is inserted into the Amiga 600 PCMCIA slot before turning it on so that this process works.

PCMCIA Hotplug while running is possible (with a reboot to initialise it) but not really recommended - it is a tight fit for the card in the A600, and better done with the power off so the hard disk is not potentially affected.

After that we then need to configure the TCP/IP settings in AmigaOS to use the new network card.

If you run AmigaOS3.1 then you really should get AmigaKit's EasyNet package, which includes their EasyNet GUI driven TCP/IP stack - I am aware that there are other (free) alternatives, but they really suck to install and configure by hand yourself.

Under AmigaOS3.9 it has the Genesis TCP/IP stack included with the operating system (as an optional installation). Please install it first, if it is not installed already.

Under the SYS:Internet folder, you should then see the Genesis folder. We want to run the GenesisWizardRA program - if you have already configured network settings in here previously, you need to modify them using GenesisPrefs. I am not covering GenesisPrefs here, I am just assuming a new network configuration needs to be created using the Wizard:

When running the Genesis Wizard, it then asks if this is a Modem or Network connection. Select Network and click Next:

Next, we need to choose the network card we are going to use (referred to here as the SANA-II device). Click on the icon next to Device: to choose a device:

Choose prism2.device and click OK.

The Prism2 device should now appear in the Wizard in the Device section. Leave the Unit set to 0. Click Next.

The next prompt asks if your sana device (network card) needs a special configuration - select No and click Next:

It will then try to send a BootP request through the network card. In my case, it didn't pick up a DHCP address. Your mileage may vary! For me, I put in the IP address and gateway router addresses manually:

Next you need to put in the DNS (domain Name Server) IP Address for your network. You can also specify a domain suffix (eg. home.local) if you use it in your network at home.

Configuration is now finished - click Done to complete.

Next, we need to run GenesisRA from the Genesis folder. This will display a Genesis status window as per the next screenshot, in a non-connected state. Click on Online to connect the network:

For me, it worked successfully, and went online:

Next, I downloaded and installed AmiSSL v3 from AmiNet. This is needed for the AWeb web browser to display secured websites, which are very common nowadays.

Once downloaded and extracted to RAM: it looks like this. Just run Install-AmiSSL:

I will not show all screens in the install, just the relevant items. Below is the screen prompting which CPU you have - in my case the 68030:

Make sure you allow the installer to add AmiSSL: to your path:

Installation completed:

You then need to reboot for AmiSSL to work.

After the reboot, I ran GenesisRA again and went Online. I then ran AWeb web browser from the SYS:Internet/AWeb folder, which is included with AmigaOS3.9. For AmigaOS3.1 users you can download AWeb from Aminet.

Please remember that we are running a 8 colour workbench, and that Aweb has limited HTML support, so many websites do not render correctly and look terrible.

For me, the main reason to use the web browser on the Amiga 600 is to quickly download software from Aminet direct to the Amiga 600, so I went to Aminet first:

I then tested web browsing and playing a MP3 via the MAS Player I set up previously, and it works great!

You can see it takes a decent chunk of the 32MB FAST memory to run these programs, but still have plenty in reserve for other things too!

As above, I started downloading WookieChat (IRC Chat client) to try our IRC on the Amiga 600.
The install is straightforward so I won't show it here:

Once I setup the Amigaworld sunday chat IRC channel in WookieChat, I dived in...

Unfortunately, given the time difference when I connected, no one was there. While I was waiting I played some more Mp3's on the MAS Player. Loving it!

So now the Amiga 600 is connected to the network (and internet) via Wireless network card!

There are plenty more internet programs still to install and play around with of course, but the goal was to get it up and running initially!

It turned out to be much easier than I expected to get it up and running.

As a side note it is possible to automate the connection of the network via command line from the s:user-startup. Given the CPU overhead on an Amiga 600 though, I think it is better to launch it only when I need to use it.

For now I am very happy with the progress of the Amiga 600 upgrade - it is a terrific machine now with all these upgrades now in place!