An idiot's guide?

[AndrewCKidd]

Hi. I've downloaded the latest Amiberry for OSX on M4 MacBookPro, and the ROM files and some ADF files and I'm stumped. Is there a simple guide to get things up and running? The emulator opens, draws the two eyes and says it is waiting for media. No clue what I'm meant to do then. Apologies if this has been asked before but the search drew a blank.
Many regards.

[giantclambake]

Have you read the wiki pages? --> https://github.com/BlitterStudio/amiberry/wiki

[philburk]

I agree with AndrewCKid that there is something lacking in the startup guide.
The Wiki shows it booting from KickStart. But I do not see that.
I get the two eyes asking me for a Bootable Media.
I have the Amiga Forever ROMS. But what do I do with them?

There are lots of docs on the Wiki but what we really need is a step-by-step guide to starting up the first time.
I was an early Amiga developer, #8, and have used several emulators. But this one has me stumped.

[midwan]

Amiberry is designed to be very similar to the most popular Amiga emulator out there: WinUAE. Usage instructions are almost identical for most parts, place your Kickstart ROMs in the relevant (roms) directory, let Amiberry scan them, and then it's a matter of configuring your desired Amiga model using the GUI. You can save the configuration to a file, so you can easily launch it again.

A more detailed step by step guide might be good, but I don't have the time to go into that right now. If someone else wants to help with it, I'd be happy to host it.

[giantclambake]

Seeing as I posited reading the amiberry wiki as an/the answer here, I decided to revisit the wiki with my own advice in hand...

...if I look at both posts above, the one thing they share in common, is reference to 'the two eyes asking me for a Bootable Media' -- the savvy will know that to be the included AROS rom booting up, because the Amiga kickstart roms have not been put in place....

....the point of order, here, would be that nowhere in the wiki docs, does it state something akin to "If no valid Amiga roms are found, Amiberry will use the included AROS rom image instead" ...(*)

...one's progression through the wiki would be to start here --> https://github.com/BlitterStudio/amiberry/wiki/First-Installation

...at the bottom of that page (First run and default paths), there is a link detailing the default directories created by/used by amiberry at first time start --> https://github.com/BlitterStudio/amiberry/wiki/Amiberry-directories

....at the bottom of that page (Directories in HOME), is the mention of the roms directory...and if I'm not wrong, this is the only place the inclusion of the AROS roms is mentioned....and of course, this is all rather linuxcentric ;)

..having read that, next port of call would be --> https://github.com/BlitterStudio/amiberry/wiki/Kickstart-ROMs-(BIOS)

....I can't help but feel you could bolster this page, with the info (*) above, to at least try avoid any confusion wrt what users are seeing ,,,ie; in one context at least, seeing the AROS rom boot likely infers a 'working' installation =)

FWIW tho', that's all I could find that was a tad obscure in the wiki ~ we understate when the included AROS rom is used.

HTH

[midwan]

I've added some extra text in those areas, to mention where the roms should be copied, and that the AROS one will be used as a fall back, if no other ROMs are found. Hopefully this helps :)

[giantclambake]

I just reviewed the changes, and IMHO that clarifies things nicely ~ kudos =)

[philburk]

I tried again but clearly the new docs are not idiot proof because I failed again.
I tried may experiments based on reading the Wiki but they all led to a black screen or a scrambled video display.

Here are the steps I followed that were almost successful:

1. Install Amiberry on Mac.
2. Copy the ROM files from ~/Documents/FS-UAE/Amiga\ Forever/Shared/rom/ to ~/Amiberry/Roms/ (for example amiga-boot-a590.rom)
3. Copy ~/Documents/FS-UAE/Amiga\ Forever/Shared/dir/System to ~/Amiberry/Harddrives/System (these may not be standard)
4. Also Copy Work and Local folders
5. Launch Amiberry app
6. Select Amiga model: Amiga 1200
7. Clock on ROM tab
8. For "Main ROM File" click the "..." button and select "amiga-os-310-a1200.rom".
9. Click on "Hard drives/CD" tab
10. Click "Add Directory/Archive" button
11. Click "Select Directory" button
12. Click System
13. Click OK
14. Click OK
15. Repeat for to add Work and Local Directories.
16. Click Configurations
17. Enter a name like "MyA1200Test"
18. Click Save button
19. Click Start button at lower right

It started to boot but then ran out of memory creating the RAM drives.
So I reloaded by Configuration and increased all of the RAMs.

Then it crashed with an unrecoverable boot error.

It would be really nice if there was some step-by-step set of starting instructions that would lead to a bootable system.
Then I could modify that to get a bootable custom system.
But so far nothing has worked.

[giantclambake]

Well...lets see where things are at ~ if you followed the wiki correctly, the following should work ;

Launch amiberry GUI -> click Start -->emulation should boot showing the kickstart 1.3 insert disk image --> Quit amiberry

Launch amiberry GUI -> Quickstart panel -> select Amiga model A1200 -> click Start -->emulation should boot showing the kickstart 3.0 insert disk animation --> Quit amiberry

Can you confirm the above works?

[philburk]

~ if you followed the wiki correctly

What part of it? I have read the Wiki but it is huge and talks about many options.

Launch amiberry GUI -> click Start -->emulation should boot showing the kickstart 1.3 insert disk image --> Quit amiberry

I don't see that. I get the two devil eyes and a message saying "waiting for bootable media." Is it asking for a KickStart, a Workbench or something else? I have copied the .rom files from Amiga Forever into "Amiberry/Roms".

Launch amiberry GUI -> Quickstart panel -> select Amiga model A1200 -> click Start

Same devil eyes.

If I go to the ROM tab and select "amiga-os-310-a1200.rom" then it boots to a screen that says "3.1 ROM" and shows a disk insertion animation.

Could someone who knows how this works please start from scratch on Mac OS, download Amiberry and get it to boot to the Workbench UI, and then write down every step, in order, so others can follow?

A step-by-step "Quick Start" guide is the most important part of the documentation for software.

[giantclambake]

What part of it?

https://github.com/BlitterStudio/amiberry/wiki/Kickstart-ROMs-(BIOS)

Second para (midwan added it as per post above) , "All your ROM files should be copied into Amiberry's roms directory, in order to be detected. If no ROMs are found, then Amiberry will fall back to the included AROS ROM instead."

[solskogen]

I think I see the problem. Even if the roms are copied, the folders aren't scanned. Rescan roms must be done from the Paths page.

[midwan]

That, and if the roms are still not detected, then maybe they are encrypted from Amiga Forever. They need to be decrypted first, which happens automatically when you run an Amiga Forever config for the first time.

[philburk]

I notice that the ROMs listed on this page: https://github.com/BlitterStudio/amiberry/wiki/Kickstart-ROMs-(BIOS)
have names like "Kickstart v3.1 rev 40.68 (1993)(Commodore)(A1200).rom".

The names of the files under AmigaForever are like: "amiga-os-310-a1200.rom"

They need to be decrypted first, which happens automatically when you run an Amiga Forever config for the first time.

I believe I did that because I was able to run the FS-UAE emulator with the Amiga Forever ROMs.
Also I am eventually to boot from those ROMs. I just can't get into Workbench.

If Amiberry finds encrypted ROMs then does it put up a message saying "ROMs are encrypted! You must..."? It should.

Again, I really think that someone who knows how this works should start from scratch on Mac OS, download Amiberry and get it to boot to the Workbench UI, and then write down every step, in order, so others can follow. Then you would probably discover the problems that I am seeing. Or if it works then I can follow those steps and also make it work.

Rescan roms must be done from the Paths page.

Thanks! I did that and it helped. Now if I select A500 I get a screen asking for a 1.3 Workbench. No Devil Eyes! Progress. Yay!

If I select A1200 then I get a different graphic that says 3.0 ROM. It gets to that point in a few seconds. Before I did "Rescan Paths" it was taking almost a minute. The new Quick Start Guide should definitely include a part about "Rescan Paths"!

So now I just need a Workbench image. Is there a Wiki page describing which files to copy where?

[midwan]

You'll need disk images (e.g. .ADF files) with Workbench, in order to boot into that. Depending on the version of Amiga you're emulating, different Workbench releases apply. The A500 with 1.3 Kickstart, had the Workbench 1.3.x release. The A1200 with 3.0, had that one (and there are other versions as you can imagine).

If you have the disks, you insert them into the emulated drive from the GUI, using the Floppy panel. Select the file from there, and it will insert it into drive DF0, then resume emulation and it should boot the disk just like a real Amiga would. You can also increase the disk speed, if you don't want to wait as long as you would on a real Amiga.

You should already have the relevant disk images from Amiga Forever.
I will look at the wiki and see how we can improve this with some kind of quick start guide, in the next days.

[giantclambake]

We've not mentioned the helptexts either ...

[philburk]

ADF files?! Yay. That worked. I can now boot to the Workbench with an A1200 emulator.
Here are the steps for MacOS. Can someone please confirm these and then post them on the Wiki?

Quick Start Guide for Mac OS

1. Install Amiberry on Mac.
2. Copy the ROM files from ~/Documents/AmigaForever/rom/ to ~/Amiberry/Roms/
3. Copy the Floppy disk images from ~/Documents/AmigaForever/adf/ to ~/Amiberry/Floppies/
4. Launch Amiberry app
5. Click on Paths tab
6. Click on "Rescan Paths" button so Amiberry can find the files you copied.
7. For "Amiga model" select "Amiga 1200"
8. For "Config" select the "4 MB Fast..." option.
9. Click "Floppy drives" tab
10. For DF0: select "amiga-os-300-workbench.adf"
11. Click Configurations
12. Enter a name like "MyA1200Test"
13. Click Save button
14. Click Start button at lower right
15. Wait about 30 seconds for it to boot and launch the Workbench.

[midwan]

You don't necessarily need to create/save a new config, it will still work if you just do the rest and start the emulation. But of course saving a config makes it easier to come back to the same configuration faster.

[midwan]

I've updated this section in the wiki, hopefully it's a bit easier to understand and follow now: https://github.com/BlitterStudio/amiberry/wiki/Quick-start-guide