Created on 18th July 2002
Updated on 23rd April 2010
My workbench with the OS 3.5
My workbench with Magellan
Would you like that your AMIGA 1200/4000 workbench became like
mine?
If the answer is yes, I tell you how I have done it: first, I have
bought Directory Opus Magellan II and the OS 3.5 from the italian
AMIGA reseller named NonSoLoSoft (http://www.diff.org/nonsolosoft,
e-mail: nonsolosoft@diff.org) paying respectively 77.98 and 51.38
Euros, plus 8.26 Euros for the shipping costs; second, I have
surfed on Massimo Tantignone's site
(http://www.intercom.it/~amigaws/Progetti.html,
e-mail: tanti@intercom.it)
and I have downloaded the latest version of VisualPrefs.
You must have a CD-ROM reader connected to your AMIGA to install
the OS 3.5, because this is available only on CD; your AMIGA must
have the 3.1 ROMs to execute the OS 3.5.
You must update your version of Directory Opus Magellan II from
5.80 to 5.81 and then from 5.81 to 5.82 to execute Magellan under
the OS 3.5; these updates are available on GP Software's site
(http://www.gpsoft.com.au).
I remind you that NewIcons (the icon powering integrated into the
OS 3.5 and into Magellan) is compatible with MUI but not with
MagicWB, it seems there was a competition between the author of
this one and the NewIcons team; however Magellan permits to have
the buttons with the style and colours of MagicWB, indipendently
from the fact that this is installed and running on your AMIGA; I
must say that the MagicWB style buttons are better than the
Magellan standard ones.
At end you can install VisualPrefs; notice that the installation
script asks if you want to add the patch to correct a bug that
comes on workbench opening; I have not installed because Magellan
substitutes the LoadWB command (the one used to launch the
workbench) with the LoadDB command, renaming the first LoadWB_old
and the second LoadWB (this happens only if Magellan is installed
as workbench substitution, that is WBR); moreover Massimo, the
VisualPrefs author, has assured me that the patch is no more needed
from the version 1.5.
I am left pleasantly surprised of the compatibility that this
program has with Magellan; not only it gives no problem, but
supports also the special gadgets of the listers of this one!
The big digits clock bottom showed is CyberClock by Nikola
Smolensky (http://solair.eunet.yu/~smolensk/,
e-mail: smolensk@eunet.yu); the digits are obtained from a normal
IFF brush, and the ones you see are made by me with Personal Paint
6.4!
This clock is on AMINET; to find it go on the SEARCH TOOL and type
"cyberclock": you will find the latest version and you will can
download it.
If you want to lock CyberClock colours, you must download
FullPalette from Massimo Tantignone's site.
The clock with the date and hours in italian is the one made by me
(clockita.lha) with Blitz Basic 2.1, starting from the Clock.bb
source enclosed into the language.
I suggest you to download from AMINET the archive PoolMem.lha; into
this archive you will can find an useful program: PatchRAM.
This can be used to know the exact percentage used from the RAM
device.
You can find on AMINET in the biz/cloan drawer the full versions of
two wonderful programs by Cloanto: ColorType (ColorType.lha), that
is a beutiful colour font editor, and Personal Paint 7.1b
(ppaint.lha), that is the latest version of one of the best
graphics programs for the AMIGA!
To earn hard disk space I have installed the files compression
package named XPK; surf on AMINET and on the SEARCH TOOL type "xpk"
to find the main archive and the related ones; to show you how it
has been useful, I can say you that my work partition of 64 Megs
that it was almost full, it had, after the compression, 30 Megs of
free disk space!
On date 11th november 2000 I have installed AmyGate (AmyGate.lha),
a program that, having at disposal an Internet connection, permits
to semplify all the various operations that can take place
connneting to AMINET; in the future AmyGate will be able to upload
your programs on AMINET.
I must say that I just do the uploading of my programs on AMINET by
the FTP module of Magellan.
There are two programs on AMINET that simulate the WINDOWS taskbar:
WorkBench2000 and StopMenu; seeen that I don't use MUI, in date
First July 2000 I have installed StopMenu and its update; to find
both surf on the SEARCH TOOL of AMINET and type "stopmenu" or
"wb2000" in the typing gadget and press RETURN; you will find the
latest version of one of these and you will can download it.
To activate StopMenu it is sufficient go with the mouse pointer on
the bottom of the screen!
If you use MUI, try instead Worckbench2000.
Besides StopMenu I have installed BusyPointer (BusyPointer.lha), to
have the pointer animated when it is busy (using an animated brush
created by DeluxePaint); ho installed also, on date 18th august
2000, MagicMenu (MagicMenu_II.lha), that improves a lot the
functionality and the appareance of all the menus; I have found it
on an AMIGA italian paper magazine cd.
On date 12th november 2000 I have tried Dynamite (dynamite.lha),
another taskbar WINDOWS like: its unique function is to permit the
access to all the files that resides on your hard disk with a mouse
click; it is pretty because pairs to each file a default icon, but
I have decided to not use it because it appears over the Stop of
StopMenu.
If you have a three button AMIGA mouse, or like me a three button
pc mouse connected by an adapter, use FreeWheel (FreeWheel.lha) to
have some special functions linked to the third (or the fourth)
mouse button or to the wheel, if your mouse has one.
It is on trade the new OS 3.9: it requires 3.1 ROMs, the 3.1 or 3.5
workbench and, obviously, a CD-ROM reader connected to your AMIGA;
for more informations, surf on the commercial site of Schatztruhe
(http://www.schatztruhe.de/), of Vesalia (http://www.vesalia.de/)
or of AMIKIT (http://www.amikit.com/).
Updated on 23rd April 2010
