Really basic stuff about running programs

[Ninehalt_Sieger]

Hi, I know this will sound laughable to the veterans here, but how do I run programs on a stock Amiga 600 (stock except for a Gotek)? I've already googled what I was looking for, but I'm afraid that all the discussions I found presuppose the use of a hard disk, which I don't have.

So, I need to run two programs I found online: one is an .lha file and the other is a .dms file. My guess is that I have to write them on an an .adf image that then it'll get read by the Gotek, but how do I do that? Probably I'll have to use WinUAE, but how? There does not seem to be a straightforward way to do that.

P.S. I know that the disks won't boot by themselves, in fact, I was thinking that I'll have to read the disks and then run the programs from inside the Workbench.

 

[btp]

Lha is a file archiver, a program that can compress files (like WinZip or WinRAR on the PC). Many Amiga software are released in compressed form (.lha files) that you need to decompress before you can use them. However, most Amiga games and quite a few Amiga utilities come on bootable floppy disks. So you are simply using these disks to run the game or utility. Now, Amiga disks (when not in physical disk form) are distributed as disk image files. These are created with the help of special programs that capture the contents of the whole disk in one file. The most common format of Amiga image files are .adf but there are more such as .dms

These image files can be used directly within an Amiga emulator (e.g. WinUAE) or in your Gotek drive connected to your Amiga to boot a game or utility. If you want to run programs that are on non bootable disks you will first need to boot your Amiga in Workbench (using a Workbench disk or disk images), which is the Amiga's Operating System. Then you can insert the disk with your program and run it from Workbench.

Hope this info will help you getting started and enjoy your Amiga!

 

[Ninehalt_Sieger]

Lha is a file archiver, a program that can compress files (like WinZip or WinRAR on the PC). Many Amiga software are released in compressed form (.lha files) that you need to decompress before you can use them. However, most Amiga games and quite a few Amiga utilities come on bootable floppy disks. So you are simply using these disks to run the game or utility. Now, Amiga disks (when not in physical disk form) are distributed as disk image files. These are created with the help of special programs that capture the contents of the whole disk in one file. The most common format of Amiga image files are .adf but there are more such as .dms

These image files can be used directly within an Amiga emulator (e.g. WinUAE) or in your Gotek drive connected to your Amiga to boot a game or utility. If you want to run programs that are on non bootable disks you will first need to boot your Amiga in Workbench (using a Workbench disk or disk images), which is the Amiga's Operating System. Then you can insert the disk with your program and run it from Workbench.

Hope this info will help you getting started and enjoy your Amiga!

Yes it did, thank you.

OK, so the .dms files are just disk file images, and I know how to boot and mess around in Workbench, so that part is solved. EDIT: Or is it? Read below.

Since I need a program to test my A600 keyboard, I tried this one (AMIGA-TEST-E.dms) in WinUAE, it works, it autoboots and it's got what I need.

The problem is that my Gotek doesn't load .dms files. How do I solve this? I tried ADF Opus but it gives me an error: "Couldn't unpack DMS".

So I went with the WinUAE route but I encountered another roadblock: I cannot see the files of my PC from inside the Workbench (see screenshot).

The drive is mounted, as you can see from the Workbench screen, but if I open it, the window is empty, and in the CLI Shell I cannot see the HDD (nor the floppy, weirdly enough). What am I doing wrong?

Screenshot

 

[Ninehalt_Sieger]

Update: I got past that block (I was using the wrong CLI commands), I can list my PC files inside WinUAE, now the problem is what to do with the .dms file. Can the Workbench handle it or do I need an external program?

 

[btp]

IMO the best utility to test your Amiga (including testing the keyboard) is the Amiga Test Kit by Keir Fraser.
You can download the latest version from his GitHub: https://github.com/keirf/Amiga-Stuff/releases
In the above zip you can find a bootable disk image in .adf format. Boot your Amiga with that .adf and you can test almost everything!

Concerning .dms image files your best bet is to convert them to .adf before use.
You can do that under Workbench using the GoADF! utility (https://bitplan.pl/goadf)

WinUAE (https://www.winuae.net) supports .dms image files without an issue. So you can also load your dms image in WinUAE and then in your emulated Amiga environment simply diskcopy it to a blank disk that in reality is an empty adf image (also created by WinUAE).

 

[rcade]

DMS files are written to disk with a utility, aptly named.... DMS

 

[Ninehalt_Sieger]

DMS files are written to disk with a utility, aptly named.... DMS

I know, my problem is: how do I run it inside the Workbench? I lack even the most basic knowledge about how to run amiga programs who are not just bootable floppies.

Unfortunately most of the tutorials I found do not work, CLI commands seem to be different most of the times.

 

[Ninehalt_Sieger]

IMO the best utility to test your Amiga (including testing the keyboard) is the Amiga Test Kit by Keir Fraser.
You can download the latest version from his GitHub: https://github.com/keirf/Amiga-Stuff/releases
In the above zip you can find a bootable disk image in .adf format. Boot your Amiga with that .adf and you can test almost everything!

Amiga Test Kit worked, thanks. However, I'd still like to learn more about the Workbench.

Concerning .dms image files your best bet is to convert them to .adf before use.
You can do that under Workbench using the GoADF! utility (https://bitplan.pl/goadf)

This goes way above my head, the first problem are the requirements:

App Requirements​

Any Amiga 68k with:

• CPU 68000 (68020+ is needed to use virtual drives)
• 1Mb RAM
• Kickstart 2.0+
• HDD

I can get all this with WinUAE

• xvs.library
• locale.library v37

But I'm stumped about this part.

Sorry if I've no idea of what I'm doing, if it's too bothersome we can just give it up here. At this point I'm going forward just out of curiosity.

simply diskcopy it to a blank disk that in reality is an empty adf image (also created by WinUAE).

Can you tell me more about this? Maybe you could post an example of the full command? I just need the Workbench commands, I know how to make blank adfs with WinUAE.

 

[btp]

If the dms image is from an AmigaDOS disk you can use the diskcopy command.
Be aware that in Amiga 's terminology the internal disk drive is called df0: the second disk drive df1: and so on. Some instructions on how to use this command can be found here:

DISKCOPY | AmigaOS 3.1 Command Reference

Alternatively you can use the most famous Amiga disk duplicator software: X-Copy
You can download a bootable adf of it from here:

AMIGA DOWNLOAD: X-Copiers & X Utility Hard Disk Version - ADF Download (Amiga Power Menu) - Retro32

I keep a sharp eye on all the comments our wonderful visitors leave on R32 and like to go that extra mile when it comes to requests – Especially if that request is for the glory of the Amiga community. In a comment on our article X COPY PROFESSIONAL 6.4 AMIGA 1200 1 TO 2 […]

www.retro32.com

It has a nice gui to guide you copying disks but if still looks complicated to you, just search on YT and you will find many videos about it

 

[bazzaq]

This seems to be a windows program for converting dms to adf etc..
I have not used it myself.

Downloads

DMS-Workshop is an utility that allows you to manage your Amiga ADF collection.

www.tosecdev.org

 

[Ninehalt_Sieger]

This seems to be a windows program for converting dms to adf etc..
I have not used it myself.

Downloads

DMS-Workshop is an utility that allows you to manage your Amiga ADF collection.

www.tosecdev.org

I just converted a floppy and tested it on the Amiga: it works, thank you.

 

[Ninehalt_Sieger]

If the dms image is from an AmigaDOS disk you can use the diskcopy command.
Be aware that in Amiga 's terminology the internal disk drive is called df0: the second disk drive df1: and so on. Some instructions on how to use this command can be found here:

DISKCOPY | AmigaOS 3.1 Command Reference

Alternatively you can use the most famous Amiga disk duplicator software: X-Copy
You can download a bootable adf of it from here:

AMIGA DOWNLOAD: X-Copiers & X Utility Hard Disk Version - ADF Download (Amiga Power Menu) - Retro32

I keep a sharp eye on all the comments our wonderful visitors leave on R32 and like to go that extra mile when it comes to requests – Especially if that request is for the glory of the Amiga community. In a comment on our article X COPY PROFESSIONAL 6.4 AMIGA 1200 1 TO 2 […]

www.retro32.com

It has a nice gui to guide you copying disks but if still looks complicated to you, just search on YT and you will find many videos about it

OK, I'll check this stuff out.