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Annotation of uae/FAQ, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: Some Frequently Asked Questions. Please read this carefully if you have
        !             2: problems.
        !             3: 
        !             4: Q: Will there be a Windows version?
        !             5: A: I'll never write a non-commercial program for DOS/Windows again. I hate
        !             6:    having to reboot after mistakes.
        !             7:    I included the DOS port because a) a DOS version can achieve similar
        !             8:    speeds as the Linux/SVGA version b) it didn't messify too much of the code,
        !             9:    and c) more people told me they would port it to DOS and I wanted to save
        !            10:    them the effort. I don't think a Windows port will fit in as cleanly as the
        !            11:    DOS port, nor do I think it can be efficient. If you want, you can try to 
        !            12:    prove me wrong, but I will be very reluctant to include Windows code. The
        !            13:    same goes for code to support a bazillion soundcards for DOS, or similar
        !            14:    nightmares.
        !            15: 
        !            16: Q: Is it possible to read Amiga disks with a PC?
        !            17: A: Ask that in comp.emulators.misc :-) The answer is: NO! Unless you invent
        !            18:    and build some extra hardware yourself, which no one appears to have done
        !            19:    yet.
        !            20: 
        !            21: Q: Couldn't I attach an Amiga floppy drive to the PC somehow, and use that to 
        !            22:    read Amiga disks?
        !            23: A: You can attach Amiga (low-density) drives to the PC, because they are
        !            24:    completely identical to PC drives. This won't help you, because the problem
        !            25:    is not the drive, but the PC floppy controller. You have to live with it.
        !            26: 
        !            27: Q: The linker says "final link failed: Bad value"
        !            28: A: Please upgrade your Linux installation with the latest files that you find 
        !            29:    on sunsite.unc.edu:pub/Linux/GCC, but read the release_* files carefully
        !            30:    before you install anything. It seems that a linker bug causes this
        !            31:    problem. The package you need is binutils-2.6.0.2 or better.
        !            32: 
        !            33: Q: What about sound emulation in the DOS version?
        !            34: A: I won't do it. Maybe someone else has the time. Get a real OS.
        !            35: 
        !            36: Q: How can I change diskfiles?
        !            37: A: Read the "Installation" section in the README to find out what you need to
        !            38:    use the X GUI.
        !            39: 
        !            40: Q: The "configure" script does not find Tcl/Tk, but I have it installed!
        !            41: A: The script checks for an executable called "wish4.0". There is currently
        !            42:    no better test. Unfortunately, this executable is not always present,
        !            43:    even though Tk 4.0 is installed. If that is the case, find the "wish"
        !            44:    executable, go into the directory where you found it and type 
        !            45:    "ln -s wish wish4.0" (provided you have write rights in that directory,
        !            46:    i.e. you are super-user). Then go back to the UAE directory, remove the
        !            47:    file config.cache and rerun "configure". That should do the trick.
        !            48: 
        !            49: Q: Is it possible to read Amiga harddisks with a PC?
        !            50: A: Yes. Linux 2.0 has an Amiga filesystem that can reportedly read Amiga
        !            51:    OFS/FFS harddisks. You can in theory also mount .adf diskfiles, but I've
        !            52:    had problems when I last tried that. YMMV.
        !            53: 
        !            54: Q: When UAE starts up, it says "Illegal instruction: 4e7b". Why?
        !            55: A: That's normal, it's just the Kickstart CPU type test.
        !            56: 
        !            57: Q: When UAE starts up, it says "Illegal instruction: 00f8" (many times). Why?
        !            58: A: That's because your Kickstart ROM was compiled for the 68020.
        !            59: 
        !            60: Q: When UAE loads <insert your favourite game> it says "Non-standard sync".
        !            61: A: Your favourite game is copy-protected. There are ways to transfer such
        !            62:    disks, but it's complicated and I won't help you because it would be much
        !            63:    too time-consuming to figure out all sorts of copy-protection schemes.
        !            64:    I hope there will be a general solution some day, but for now you're
        !            65:    unlucky.
        !            66: 
        !            67: Q: While it compiles, it says "xxx illegals generated" or "16 mismatches".
        !            68:    Is this a problem?
        !            69: A: No. I can use this information to tell whether there is a problem, and
        !            70:    there isn't.
        !            71: 
        !            72: Q: Why is there a blank area on the left side of the screen?
        !            73: A: The Amiga can display graphics there, but usually doesn't because this
        !            74:    would disable some sprites. The area is only used by some overscan demos.
        !            75:    Normal screens are off-center. I'm not going to do anything about that.
        !            76:    If you can't stand it, you can try to use 320x200 resolution, which will
        !            77:    attempt to center the screen. This is near impossible to get right for 
        !            78:    every program. If your screen doesn't fit in 320x200, use 800x600.
        !            79: 
        !            80: Q: Benchmark program <insert your favourite benchmark> gives weird results.
        !            81: A: Amiga programs run by the emulator think the Amiga timers can be used to
        !            82:    measure real time. But in UAE, they only measure "emulation time". Sysinfo,
        !            83:    for example, gives the same results on all machines. So don't run
        !            84:    benchmarks to test the emulator speed.
        !            85: 
        !            86: Q: Wasn't this called the Unusable Amiga Emulator?
        !            87: A: Yes. But no one thought the name was very fitting anymore, though. It was
        !            88:    only really appropriate for v0.1, which couldn't even boot.
        !            89: 
        !            90: Q: Sometimes, after UAE exits, there is no autorepeat for the keys!
        !            91: A: Do "xset r on" (happens only in X, apparently mainly on Solaris boxes.
        !            92:    Dunno why.).
        !            93: 
        !            94: Q: Would it be possible to speed it up by emulating the CPU native on, say,
        !            95:    a 68k Mac?
        !            96: A: I doubt it. UAE needs to be able to interrupt the CPU emulation anytime to
        !            97:    perform tasks necessary for emulating the hardware.
        !            98: 
        !            99: Q: Wouldn't it be better to translate MC68000 code to x86 assembly?
        !           100: A: Yes. It would also be slightly more difficult.
        !           101: 
        !           102: Q: Emulating all the hardware is a bad idea. Why don't you just emulate the
        !           103:    OS? After all, that's what makes the Amiga the Amiga.
        !           104: A: Short answer: I disagree. 
        !           105:    Long answer: The OS is half of what makes the Amiga the Amiga. It is a very
        !           106:    nice OS, and there are some features that I miss in any other OS, but it is
        !           107:    also severely lacking in terms of (for example) memory protection and
        !           108:    filesystem performance. 
        !           109:    The other thing that made the Amiga special back in the 1980s is the custom 
        !           110:    chip architecture. If you look into old (1985) computer magazines, you will 
        !           111:    find that the capabilites of the Amiga OS are only mentioned as a side
        !           112:    note, because people were not aware that it was revolutionary for a home 
        !           113:    computer. They were aware, though, that the Amiga could display 4096 colors 
        !           114:    at the same time and that it had a blitter and a copper that could do all
        !           115:    sorts of stuff, like bouncing balls for instance. And I think it was the
        !           116:    superiority of the hardware that made the Amiga a success.
        !           117:    I see UAE as a program that is similar to C64 emulators: it allows you to
        !           118:    run some old games and other programs that you can't replace with better
        !           119:    equivalents on the PC. As such, it can already be used to run non-action
        !           120:    games (like Monkey Island or Bard's Tale) at a satisfactory speed. Faster
        !           121:    CPUs will eventually make it possible to run action games, just like faster
        !           122:    CPUs have made it possible to emulate a C64 at full speed on a PC. UAE is 
        !           123:    not (primarily) meant for the Amiga PowerUser who is running high quality
        !           124:    applications on his A4000 with a 68060 board, but for people like me who
        !           125:    switched from an A500 to the PC a few years ago because they wanted to make
        !           126:    money by developing software.
        !           127:    Besides, emulating an OS is far more difficult IMHO. Especially if the
        !           128:    platform you are emulating it on is completely different than the platform
        !           129:    that is being emulated. You'd have to mess with endianness conversions and
        !           130:    other nightmares. The AmigaOS wasn't designed with portability in mind 
        !           131:    either.
        !           132: 
        !           133: Q: How can I transfer non-DOS disks that are used by many demos?
        !           134: A: With transdisk. The fact that they are unreadable by AmigaDOS does not
        !           135:    mean they are unreadble by transdisk. Only copy-protected disks can't be
        !           136:    transferred that way.

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