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1.1 root 1: Some Frequently Asked Questions. Please read this carefully if you have
2: problems.
3:
1.1.1.3 root 4: ** COMMON PROBLEMS
1.1.1.2 root 5:
1.1.1.3 root 6: Q: Sometimes, after UAE exits, there is no autorepeat for the keys!
7: A: Do "xset r on" (happens only in X, apparently mainly on Solaris boxes.
8: Dunno why.). [Should be fixed by now. Note that this always happens when
9: UAE crashes]
1.1.1.2 root 10:
1.1.1.3 root 11: Q: When UAE starts up, it says "Illegal instruction: 4e7b". Why?
12: A: That's normal, it's just the Kickstart CPU type test.
1.1.1.2 root 13:
1.1.1.3 root 14: Q: When UAE starts up, it says "Illegal instruction: 00f8" (many times). Why?
15: A: That's because your Kickstart ROM was compiled for the 68020.
16: (could also happen when there's a bug in UAE)
17:
18: Q: When UAE loads <insert your favourite game> it says "Non-standard sync".
19: A: Your favourite game is copy-protected. There are ways to transfer such
20: disks, but it's complicated and I won't help you because it would be much
21: too time-consuming to figure out all sorts of copy-protection schemes.
22: I hope there will be a general solution some day, but for now you're
23: unlucky.
24:
25: Q: While it compiles, it says "xxx illegals generated" or "16 mismatches".
26: Is this a problem?
27: A: No. I can use this information to tell whether there is a problem, and
28: there isn't.
29:
30: Q: How can I produce an @ symbol (or any other sign)? On my PC keyboard it's
31: AltGr+Q, but that doesn't seem to work.
32: A: Look at the keyboard of your Amiga. Use the same combination that you would
33: need on a real Amiga. These combinations differ across countries. Make sure
34: you have loaded the right keyboard translation table for AmigaOS (e.g. in
35: Germany, make sure there's a "setmap de" command in the startup-sequence)
36: You can probably create a @ sign by pressing Alt+2, or Shift+2.
37:
1.1.1.5 root 38: Q: On Linux, the Alt and right control keys aren't working.
39: A: I found out that on my SuSE installation, there's a file called ".Xmodmap"
40: in my home directory which remaps these two keys so that UAE no longer
41: recognizes them. That file has two lines; change those to read
42: keycode 64 = Alt_L
43: keycode 0x6D = Control_R
44: This doesn't seem to be a problem anymore with SuSE 6.4 (or at least
45: they're shipping a different .Xmodmap file).
46:
47: Q: On my Linux system, all the key combinations that involve F12 don't work.
1.1.1.6 ! root 48: A: Known problem - don't use the window manager that comes with KDE2.
1.1.1.5 root 49:
1.1.1.3 root 50:
51: ** INCOMPATIBILITIES
52:
53: Q: UAE does not work with my Kickstart 1.2 image.
54: A: You may need to turn off the harddisk and fastmem emulation with the "-a"
55: parameter. Kick 1.2 doesn't support the autoboot features that the harddisk
56: emulation requires.
57: You can tell that you are suffering from this problem if UAE gives you the
58: message "filesys_bput called".
59:
60: Q: What do I do if a game/demo/application doesn't work?
61: A: If you're trying to run a game or a demo, enable some slow RAM, and try
62: running it again. Some older software has compatability problems which
63: slow RAM can sometimes fix. If it's an application, check for obvious
64: things like Kickstart version requirements, RAM, etc. Also make sure the
65: software you're trying to run isn't for AGA equipped machines.
1.1.1.4 root 66: You can also try changing various other options, like the CPU type. For
67: games, sometimes "-C0c" will make it work.
1.1.1.3 root 68:
69:
70: ** AMIGA DISKS, DISK IMAGES, HARDDISKS, CDROMS
1.1 root 71:
72: Q: Is it possible to read Amiga disks with a PC?
1.1.1.4 root 73: A: No, and yes. No, with a standard PC it's impossible. However, with some
74: additional hardware (i.e. a new floppy controller) it is possible. I
75: currently know of two solutions, the AFR package which consists of a small
76: parallel port interface that you have to build yourself and some software,
77: and the Catweasel controller which is available as an ISA card and comes
78: with DOS software that can create disk files. I have a Catweasel here, and
79: it does in fact work.
1.1 root 80:
81: Q: Couldn't I attach an Amiga floppy drive to the PC somehow, and use that to
82: read Amiga disks?
83: A: You can attach Amiga (low-density) drives to the PC, because they are
84: completely identical to PC drives. This won't help you, because the problem
85: is not the drive, but the PC floppy controller. You have to live with it.
86:
1.1.1.3 root 87: Q: But the PC can read 11-sector formats!
88: A: Yes, but those sectors look a little different to the hardware.
89:
90: Q: But the Amiga can read PC disks!
91: A: So what?
92:
93: Q: But the PC can read Atari ST disks!
94: A: So what?
95:
1.1 root 96: Q: But...
1.1.1.3 root 97: A: No way. If you still are convinced that it must be possible, prove it.
98: Write a program to read Amiga disks with a standard PC controller, and I
99: will apologize in public.
100:
101: Q: How can I use DMS images?
102: A: Run DMS under UAE and use it just like you would on a real Amiga.
103: Decompressing a DMS file to DF0: will overwrite the .adf file that is
104: currently used to emulate df0:.
1.1 root 105:
1.1.1.2 root 106: Q: How can I transfer non-DOS disks that are used by many demos?
107: A: With transdisk. The fact that they are unreadable by AmigaDOS does not
1.1.1.6 ! root 108: mean they are unreadable by transdisk.
1.1.1.2 root 109: Long explanation: There are two things to consider when talking about the
110: "format" of a disk. First, the low-level format which divides each track
111: into sectors in a special way. Most Amiga disks are in the standard Amiga
112: format which has 11 sectors with 512 bytes each per track, with a total of
113: 880K per disk. There's also some extra information outside the sectors so
114: that the floppy controller can find the sectors. PC disks use a different
115: format, which is the reason why a PC controller can't read Amiga disks.
116: If a disk is formatted this way, it can be copied with the normal AmigaDOS
117: diskcopy program or the Workbench equivalent, and transdisk can handle it.
118: Copy-protected disks have a different track layout (sometimes, they don't
119: divide the tracks into sectors at all, or use more sectors, or put
120: different things between the sectors. This type of thing can't be handled
121: by diskcopy or by transdisk.
122: Now, the second part of the "format" of a disk is the filesystem. If you
123: want to put files and directories on a disk, you have to write some special
124: information into some of the sectors on the disk. That information includes
125: (for example) the name of the disk (e.g. "Workbench1.3"), and what files it
126: contains. This information is called a "filesystem". The Amiga knows about
127: several filesystems: There is the original filesystem (called OFS), and the
128: newer Fast Filesystem (FFS) which was introduced with Kickstart 1.3.
129: If you don't put a filesystem on the disk, the data in the sectors can still
130: be read by programs like transdisk or diskcopy, but the data makes no sense
131: to them. The point is, it doesn't have to. It only has to make sense for
132: the Workbench which tries to determine what files there are on a disk. If
133: the Workbench can't find a filesystem it knows about on the disk, it will
1.1.1.3 root 134: be marked as a non-DOS disk (as opposed to an "unreadable" disk which you
135: get if the low-level format is different from the standard).
1.1 root 136:
137: Q: How can I change diskfiles?
1.1.1.2 root 138: A: Your version of UAE may have a user interface (the X11 version does) which
139: enables you to do this. Read your system-specific README file for details.
1.1.1.3 root 140: You can also use the "uaectrl" programs from the "amiga" subdirectory.
1.1 root 141:
1.1.1.3 root 142: Q: Why is the floppy emulation so slow, after all the disk image is on a
143: harddisk?
144: A: Because the disk rotation is emulated. This is necessary. Use the harddisk
145: emulation wherever possible.
146:
147: Q: <insert your favourite problem with the hardfile emulation here>
148: A: Don't use the hardfile. Use the filesystem emulation ("-m" option).
149:
150: Q: How can I read Amiga CD-ROMs?
151: A: With the harddisk emulation. Give UAE the parameter "-M CD:/cdrom" if you
152: are using a Linux system with the CD mounted at /cdrom, or "-m CD:D:\" if
153: you are using DOS and D: is your CD-ROM drive (and if you have a different
154: system you should be able to figure out what to do)
1.1 root 155:
156: Q: Is it possible to read Amiga harddisks with a PC?
157: A: Yes. Linux 2.0 has an Amiga filesystem that can reportedly read Amiga
1.1.1.2 root 158: OFS/FFS harddisks. Please don't ask for details, I didn't write the thing,
1.1.1.3 root 159: and I don't use it (yet). I did use it to read .adf disk images, though.
1.1 root 160:
161:
1.1.1.3 root 162: ** FUTURE PLANS
1.1 root 163:
1.1.1.3 root 164: Q: When will the next version come out, and what will be in it?
165: A: It will come out when it's done.
1.1 root 166:
1.1.1.3 root 167: Q: Will there be a shareware version or some registration fee for future
168: versions of UAE?
169: A: No.
1.1 root 170:
1.1.1.3 root 171: Q: Couldn't you use ARDI's CPU emulation to speed it up?
172: A: UAE is free software. It comes with sourcecode. ARDI's Executor is
173: proprietary and sold commercially. ARDI has no reason at all to give away
174: their code for free, because they wouldn't make any more money if they did.
175: (yes, I really get asked this kind of thing! I don't know where people take
176: these ideas from).
1.1 root 177:
178:
1.1.1.3 root 179: ** UAE SPEED
1.1 root 180:
1.1.1.3 root 181: Q: I don't get steady sound output! I only have a 486DX40, could this be
182: related?
183: A: Try a Pentium-II-300, these things are reported to do better.
1.1 root 184:
185: Q: Would it be possible to speed it up by emulating the CPU native on, say,
186: a 68k Mac?
187: A: I doubt it. UAE needs to be able to interrupt the CPU emulation anytime to
1.1.1.2 root 188: perform tasks necessary for emulating the hardware. So you can't just let
189: it run all by itself.
1.1 root 190:
191: Q: Would it be possible to speed it up by using graphics accelerator boards
192: for example by using the blitter in S3 chips?
1.1.1.2 root 193: A: I doubt it. I'm no PC graphics card expert, but probably the only thing the
194: S3 blitter and the Amiga blitter have in common are seven lowercase
195: letters. Even if they were similar you'd have to keep all Amiga chip
1.1 root 196: RAM in the graphics memory and that would most likely make everything
197: painfully slow.
198:
1.1.1.3 root 199: Q: How about adding special support for the GUS/other wavetable boards that
200: uses hardware features to speed up the sound emulation?
1.1.1.2 root 201: A: Again, due to the differences in Amiga and PC (in this case: GUS) hardware,
202: this isn't really feasible. You _might_ get something like this to work in
203: some special cases (ProTracker modules might be a case that could be made
204: to work), but I don't think you can come up with something that emulates
205: all of the Amiga sound hardware.
206: The problem is that by just examining the values a program writes into the
207: audio hardware registers, you can hardly figure out what a program is
208: trying to do, and what it is going to do in the future. In contrast to
209: that, it's easy to write a SoundTracker module player for GUS cards because
210: you know exactly what you are playing, and how you have to do it.
211: (That doesn't mean you can't use the GUS for sound output; you just can't
212: use it to _speed up_ the sound output)
1.1 root 213:
214: Q: Emulating all the hardware is a bad idea. Why don't you just emulate the
215: OS? After all, that's what makes the Amiga the Amiga.
216: A: Short answer: I disagree.
217: Long answer: The OS is half of what makes the Amiga the Amiga. It is a very
218: nice OS, and there are some features that I miss in any other OS, but it is
219: also severely lacking in terms of (for example) memory protection and
220: filesystem performance.
221: The other thing that made the Amiga special back in the 1980s is the custom
222: chip architecture. If you look into old (1985) computer magazines, you will
223: find that the capabilites of the Amiga OS are only mentioned as a side
224: note, because people were not aware that it was revolutionary for a home
225: computer. They were aware, though, that the Amiga could display 4096 colors
226: at the same time and that it had a blitter and a copper that could do all
227: sorts of stuff, like bouncing balls for instance. And I think it was the
228: superiority of the hardware that made the Amiga a success.
229: I see UAE as a program that is similar to C64 emulators: it allows you to
230: run some old games and other programs that you can't replace with better
1.1.1.6 ! root 231: equivalents on the PC. UAE is not (primarily) meant for the Amiga PowerUser
! 232: who is running high quality applications on his A4000 with a 68060 board,
! 233: but for people like me who switched from an A500 to the PC a few years ago
! 234: for whatever reason.
1.1 root 235: Besides, emulating an OS is far more difficult IMHO. Especially if the
236: platform you are emulating it on is completely different than the platform
237: that is being emulated. You'd have to mess with endianness conversions and
238: other nightmares. The AmigaOS wasn't designed with portability in mind
239: either.
240:
1.1.1.2 root 241: Q: How fast is it?
1.1.1.3 root 242: A: It depends.
243: For crunching files with PowerPacker, UAE is 17 times faster than my A500
244: on my K6-233.
245: For playing Turrican I, it's running at about full speed (with sound).
246: For playing Turrican III, it is slightly slower than the A500.
247: For some (not many) demos, it's a fair bit slower than the A500.
248: Rule of thumb: Sound emulation really takes time; so do copper effects and
249: scrolling. If you don't need either, you're fine.
1.1.1.2 root 250:
251: Q: How can I make it faster?
252: A: Run the emulator in the lowest screen mode (320x200), set it to 256 colors,
253: make sure aspect correction is disabled, and set the frame rate to every 3rd
254: frame. Finally, disable sound (if you have a version that lets you compile
255: your own executable, set "DONT_WANT_SOUND" in config.h). It won't look very
256: nice, but it will run as fast as your machine allows.
1.1.1.3 root 257: If you are running the X version, make sure you use the "-T" option. Not
258: using this option is "safer", but makes the emulator very slow. Even better,
259: when you run configure, say "configure --enable-dga" if your X server
260: (XFree86 3.2 or higher) supports it.
261: It's especially important that you don't use 24 bit or 32 bit color modes.
1.1.1.2 root 262:
1.1.1.3 root 263:
264: ** MISCELLANEOUS
265:
266: Q: Do I need a real Amiga to use this program?
267: A: Yes, unless you have some other way of legally getting ROM files and system
268: software, such as the Cloanto Amiga Forever CD.
269:
270: Q: Where can I download a Kickstart ROM/Amiga games?
271: A: Read the docs again. You can't. It would be illegal to put a ROM image or
272: other copyrighted software on the net (yes, even if you once bought a
273: specific Amiga game and sold it together with the computer, downloading the
274: same game now would still be illegal. Sorry.)
275:
276: Q: Does UAE run on the DEC Alpha/Sparcstations/SGIs/whatever?
277: A: UAE should run on all Unix systems that have at least X11R5 and a decent
278: C compiler installed. So the answer is probably yes. Just use the generic
279: Unix source and follow the instructions in README.UNIX to compile it.
1.1.1.4 root 280: However, using GCC and the GNU binutils can improve your chances.
1.1.1.3 root 281:
282: Q: Why is there a blank area on the left side of the screen?
283: A: The Amiga can display graphics there, but usually doesn't because this
284: would disable some sprites. The area is only used by some overscan demos.
285: Normal screens are off-center. I'm not going to do anything about that.
286: If you can't stand it, you can try to use 320x200 or 640x480 resolution,
287: which will attempt to center the screen. This is near impossible to get
288: right for every program. If your screen doesn't fit in lower resolutions,
289: use 800x600.
290:
291: Q: Where is a complete summary of all command line switches ?
292: A: In the README files. You can also generate it yourself by typing:
293: uae -h > uae-help.txt
294:
295: Q: Benchmark program <insert your favourite benchmark> gives weird results.
296: A: Amiga programs run by the emulator think the Amiga timers can be used to
297: measure real time. But in UAE, they only measure "emulation time". Sysinfo,
298: for example, gives the same results on all machines. So don't run
299: benchmarks to test the emulator speed.
300: Some benchmarks also use tight loops of DIV or MUL instructions to measure
301: CPU speed, and in "emulation time" these instructions take as much time
302: as any other instructions, and you'll get much too high values.
303: If you enabled the "HAVE_RDTSC" option, running benchmarks makes some more
304: sense. Still not a lot, since there is a minimum speed that the benchmark
305: will report on every machine. The faster the machine, the more accurate
306: will your results be.
307:
308: Q: Wasn't this called the Unusable Amiga Emulator?
309: A: Yes. But no one thought the name was very fitting anymore, though. It was
310: only really appropriate for v0.1, which couldn't even boot.
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