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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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