![[BACK]](/cvsweb/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to FAQ CVS log ![[TXT]](/cvsweb/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/cvsweb/icons/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [UNIX Amiga Emulator] / uae / docs|
Return to FAQ CVS log | Up to [UNIX Amiga Emulator] / uae / docs |
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: But...
28: A: No way.
29:
30: Q: The linker says "final link failed: Bad value"
31: A: Please upgrade your Linux installation with the latest files that you find
32: on sunsite.unc.edu:pub/Linux/GCC, but read the release_* files carefully
33: before you install anything. It seems that a linker bug causes this
34: problem. The package you need is binutils-2.6.0.2 or better.
35:
36: Q: The assembler chokes with something about "operand doesn't match size".
37: A: I don't know yet whether it's a bug in GCC, UAE or in the latest binutils.
38: Try downgrading to binutils-2.6 (binutils-2.6.0.14 for Linux users).
39:
40: Q: What about sound emulation in the DOS version?
41: A: Recent versions of DOS UAE support sound.
42:
43: Q: How can I change diskfiles?
44: A: Read the "Installation" section in the README to find out what you need to
45: use the X GUI.
46:
47: Q: The "configure" script does not find Tcl/Tk, but I have it installed!
48: A: The script checks for an executable called "wish4.0". There is currently
49: no better test. Unfortunately, this executable is not always present,
50: even though Tk 4.0 is installed. If that is the case, find the "wish"
51: executable, go into the directory where you found it and type
52: "ln -s wish wish4.0" (provided you have write rights in that directory,
53: i.e. you are super-user). Then go back to the UAE directory, remove the
54: file config.cache and rerun "configure". That should do the trick.
55:
56: Q: Is it possible to read Amiga harddisks with a PC?
57: A: Yes. Linux 2.0 has an Amiga filesystem that can reportedly read Amiga
58: OFS/FFS harddisks. Since Linux 2.0.7, it's also possible to mount .adf
59: files. Just say (for example)
60: mount wb13.adf /mnt -t affs -o loop
61: to mount the file wb13.adf at /mnt. You'll need to configure the loop
62: device and the affs filesystem into the kernel, and you'll need to say
63: yes to the question about experimental drivers at the beginning of the
64: kernel configuration. You'll also need a reasonably new version of the
65: mount program.
66:
67: Q: When UAE starts up, it says "Illegal instruction: 4e7b". Why?
68: A: That's normal, it's just the Kickstart CPU type test.
69:
70: Q: When UAE starts up, it says "Illegal instruction: 00f8" (many times). Why?
71: A: That's because your Kickstart ROM was compiled for the 68020.
72:
73: Q: When UAE loads <insert your favourite game> it says "Non-standard sync".
74: A: Your favourite game is copy-protected. There are ways to transfer such
75: disks, but it's complicated and I won't help you because it would be much
76: too time-consuming to figure out all sorts of copy-protection schemes.
77: I hope there will be a general solution some day, but for now you're
78: unlucky.
79:
80: Q: While it compiles, it says "xxx illegals generated" or "16 mismatches".
81: Is this a problem?
82: A: No. I can use this information to tell whether there is a problem, and
83: there isn't.
84:
85: Q: Why is there a blank area on the left side of the screen?
86: A: The Amiga can display graphics there, but usually doesn't because this
87: would disable some sprites. The area is only used by some overscan demos.
88: Normal screens are off-center. I'm not going to do anything about that.
89: If you can't stand it, you can try to use 320x200 resolution, which will
90: attempt to center the screen. This is near impossible to get right for
91: every program. If your screen doesn't fit in 320x200, use 800x600.
92:
93: Q: Benchmark program <insert your favourite benchmark> gives weird results.
94: A: Amiga programs run by the emulator think the Amiga timers can be used to
95: measure real time. But in UAE, they only measure "emulation time". Sysinfo,
96: for example, gives the same results on all machines. So don't run
97: benchmarks to test the emulator speed.
98: Some benchmarks also use tight loops of DIV or MUL instructinos to measure
99: CPU speed, and in "emulation time" these instructions take as much time
100: as any other instructions, and you'll get much too high values.
101:
102: Q: Wasn't this called the Unusable Amiga Emulator?
103: A: Yes. But no one thought the name was very fitting anymore, though. It was
104: only really appropriate for v0.1, which couldn't even boot.
105:
106: Q: Sometimes, after UAE exits, there is no autorepeat for the keys!
107: A: Do "xset r on" (happens only in X, apparently mainly on Solaris boxes.
108: Dunno why.).
109:
110: Q: Would it be possible to speed it up by emulating the CPU native on, say,
111: a 68k Mac?
112: A: I doubt it. UAE needs to be able to interrupt the CPU emulation anytime to
113: perform tasks necessary for emulating the hardware.
114:
115: Q: Would it be possible to speed it up by using graphics accelerator boards
116: for example by using the blitter in S3 chips?
117: A: I doubt it. If the S3 blitter worked in similar way as the Amiga blitter,
118: which is unlikely, it might work; but you'd have to keep all Amiga chip
119: RAM in the graphics memory and that would most likely make everything
120: painfully slow.
121:
122: Q: Wouldn't it be better to translate MC68000 code to x86 assembly?
123: A: Yes. It would also be slightly more difficult.
124:
125: Q: Emulating all the hardware is a bad idea. Why don't you just emulate the
126: OS? After all, that's what makes the Amiga the Amiga.
127: A: Short answer: I disagree.
128: Long answer: The OS is half of what makes the Amiga the Amiga. It is a very
129: nice OS, and there are some features that I miss in any other OS, but it is
130: also severely lacking in terms of (for example) memory protection and
131: filesystem performance.
132: The other thing that made the Amiga special back in the 1980s is the custom
133: chip architecture. If you look into old (1985) computer magazines, you will
134: find that the capabilites of the Amiga OS are only mentioned as a side
135: note, because people were not aware that it was revolutionary for a home
136: computer. They were aware, though, that the Amiga could display 4096 colors
137: at the same time and that it had a blitter and a copper that could do all
138: sorts of stuff, like bouncing balls for instance. And I think it was the
139: superiority of the hardware that made the Amiga a success.
140: I see UAE as a program that is similar to C64 emulators: it allows you to
141: run some old games and other programs that you can't replace with better
142: equivalents on the PC. As such, it can already be used to run non-action
143: games (like Monkey Island or Bard's Tale) at a satisfactory speed. Faster
144: CPUs will eventually make it possible to run action games, just like faster
145: CPUs have made it possible to emulate a C64 at full speed on a PC. UAE is
146: not (primarily) meant for the Amiga PowerUser who is running high quality
147: applications on his A4000 with a 68060 board, but for people like me who
148: switched from an A500 to the PC a few years ago because they wanted to make
149: money by developing software.
150: Besides, emulating an OS is far more difficult IMHO. Especially if the
151: platform you are emulating it on is completely different than the platform
152: that is being emulated. You'd have to mess with endianness conversions and
153: other nightmares. The AmigaOS wasn't designed with portability in mind
154: either.
155:
156: Q: How can I transfer non-DOS disks that are used by many demos?
157: A: With transdisk. The fact that they are unreadable by AmigaDOS does not
158: mean they are unreadble by transdisk. Only copy-protected disks can't be
159: transferred that way.
This archive runs on limited infrastructure. Preserving old code on modern bandwidth. Automated agents are requested to crawl responsibly.