THEA500 Mini has been announced via Retro Games Ltd. and distributed by Koch Media

Cavallino said:
May I ask whats the point of ADF support if you can simply use WHDLOAD
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Not all games and programs have been converted to .lha / WHDLOAD.
From what I have read, converting a floppy disk to ADF is an easy process but it's harder to create an lha package of the floppy/multiple floppies
 
Ravenger said:
There are ways to get workbench working with hard disk type behaviour. Look up Aminimiga.
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Was this directed at me / Others? …I know there, i’ve got Workbench 3.11 installed and working perfectly in WinUAE with some original Amiga peripherals (Zipstick & Tank mouse)

Or do you mean its possible to load Workbench on hdf file on a usb stick/portable drive on a 500 mini? If so, that makes it a lot more useful
 
Guest2 said:
Was this directed at me / Others? …I know there, i’ve got Workbench 3.11 installed and working perfectly in WinUAE with some original Amiga peripherals (Zipstick & Tank mouse)

Or do you mean its possible to load Workbench on hdf file on a usb stick/portable drive on a 500 mini? If so, that makes it a lot more useful
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Sorry, yes it's possible to get hard drive emulation working on the A500 mini with a complete workbench environment, and as many applications, games and demos as you want, and add extra ones as necessary.
 
Ravenger said:
Sorry, yes it's possible to get hard drive emulation working on the A500 mini with a complete workbench environment, and as many applications, games and demos as you want, and add extra ones as necessary.
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I dont really know why they left Workbench support out. It was always going to be tested and achieved by someone, may aswell have had it on the ‘experimental’ list or something
 
Im just in the middle of setting up a HD on WinUAE and installing workbench... can you believe I never did this when I had an Amiga (I couldnt afford the HD at the time... so expensive :))

Incidentally I saw something about Amiga OS 3.2.... what is this exactly?

E: Just going through the tutorial, blimey.... there is so much to do to get the HD configured....

Even then Im thinking what is the advantage if the game you are playing can be selectable by ADF via the floppy section of WinUAE.... am I missing the point here somewhere that using HD the only advantage is not disk swapping?
 
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Cavallino said:
Im just in the middle of setting up a HD on WinUAE and installing workbench... can you believe I never did this when I had an Amiga (I couldnt afford the HD at the time... so expensive :))

Incidentally I saw something about Amiga OS 3.2.... what is this exactly?

E: Just going through the tutorial, blimey.... there is so much to do to get the HD configured....

Even then Im thinking what is the advantage if the game you are playing can be selectable by ADF via the floppy section of WinUAE.... am I missing the point here somewhere that using HD the only advantage is not disk swapping?
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For a short while we did have an Amiga A600HD with a 20MB HDD and I remember it feeling quite the future back then. Although I just wanted the AGA chipset at the time so jumped ship to an A1200 as fast as I could.

Workbench OS 3.2 is a 2021 update to the classic Workbench from current right holders Hyperion Entertainment. They did something similar a few years before with Workbench 3.1.4. It basically adds some modern features along with some very minor graphical updates. It will always be limited to running on original hardware. There's a good breakdown of Amiga OS history on Wikipedia here. And why 3.1.4/3.2 is different from 3.9 & 4.0 and the various rights holders.

If you're just running old games and some programs it's arguably not essential to go beyond the last major Commodore release of 3.1 which can keep costs down as 3.1.4/3.2 cost extra.

WHDLoad has the benefit of faster loading, no disc swaps, escape to desktop and being usable with a frontend. So Tiny launcher, or Mega AGS or iGame etc. So therefore it's very feasible to have an HDD file with a very exhaustive list of every ECS/AGA game, CD32/CDTV program or demos. Particularly given the small file sizes in relation to today's storage options.
 
Timber said:
... being usable with a frontend. So Tiny launcher, or Mega AGS or iGame etc. So therefore it's very feasible to have an HDD file with a very exhaustive list of every ECS/AGA game, CD32/CDTV program or demos. Particularly given the small file sizes in relation to today's storage options.
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SO you are saying once you have setup the HDD file you can basically take that with you wherever I guess?

And these "front ends", tiny launcher? Mega AGS are these what you are refering to?

Currently I am accessing the WHLOAD games through Workbench...

(Edit: thank you for your help :))
 
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Cavallino said:
SO you are saying once you have setup the HDD file you can basically take that with you wherever I guess?

And these "front ends", tiny launcher? Mega AGS are these what you are refering to?

Currently I am accessing the WHLOAD games through Workbench...

(Edit: thank you for your help :))
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No worries, glad to help where I can.

In terms of the HDD file - yes once build on WinUAE you can then copy over to real hardware, FPGA, Raspberry Pi or whatever. And indeed it will be far quicker to build any image on your emulator first.

The last time I built an HDD image it was using HSTWB as per this YouTube guide: Youtube Video both with WB 3.1 and 3.1.4 (although 3.1.4 has it's quirks). This should mean you have a HDF image with a basic WB, better WB and AGS + iGame launchers installed, although there are lots of options if using HSTWB. I then used that with my MiSTer as per my post here.
I think Tiny launcher is a bit easier on the original hardware and looks best on a CRT with it's large text. Where as AGS has search and more options. Both of these are full screen launchers which you can boot straight into. iGame will run in Workbench but will be easier to use than searching Workbench folders for your games. Also has option for cover art like AGS. And you can also set up lists etc.
 
Ok I think I did something stoopid.

I followed this guide... and I did the last bit at the end where I setup the Tiny launcher to launch automatically....
Now I am unable to go back to workbench or at least when i do back, its an empty workbench...

How do I break this cycle or edit startup file?
 
Nice one on fixing it. I've haven't tried Tiny Launcher (use AGS) so not sure how much help I'd have been anyway, although I can see in that YouTube video's comments a few people asking how to quit back to Workbench.
 
JohnG7 said:
It failed due to lack of games, I was advised not to buy it over the 1200, Goggle it and yes it was near the end for Commodore.
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Which was sad as it was easy to turn a CD32 in to an A1200 with an SX1 so you had and A1200 with an added Akiko but you couldn't turn the A1200 into a CD32 (even though they tried to develop an addon which failed) as the Akiko couldn't be bussed into the A1200 architecture.
 
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