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{subhead} ...Amiga OS version 3.5: The Review{def}{p}
Article by Mark A. Tierno
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Prefs Programs:
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First let me say that in all cases the various prefs programs could
use a "Test" button, so you don't have to quite the program just to
see how it will look. Aside from that, the new Reaction GUI gives
things a really nice look, supporting background patters and some
configurability.. That said, here's some remarks on some of the new
Prefs programs.
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The Font Prefs now shows an actual snap shot of your SYS: partition
icon and it's immediate WB background, and uses this as a sample to
see how your new font settings will look.
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More evidence of GUI improvement, IControl has some nice pics of the
screen drag option Amiga keys, and the Locale map is more artistic in
appearance.. In general, Prefs windows have their information more
compactly and efficiently arranged and drawn more 1 to 1. WB icon
colors  though are not locked, something that makes an appearance as
you go through setting the prefs programs.
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The new Prefs program "Workbench Prefs" controls NewIcon appearance,
display of hidden devices, keyboard selection delay, and default
stack size. The program however is really slow to come up, taking
several minutes after the icon is clicked before the window finally
emerges. I don't care what it's doing, there's just no excuse for
this.
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Included OS Programs:
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Just a highlight of the more notable of the included OS programs,
let's start with F-Key. It's now easier to select actions, and
includes support for window and screen manipulations such as cycle
and enlarge/shrink and allows text insertion, as well as the old run
program or Arexx script.
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Icon Edit has been upgraded for support of 32-color icon editing and
has a better interface. New is Edit Pad, a replacement for both
NotePad and Ed (in fact, just delete Ed now and rename Edit Pad into
C: to satisfy any default tooltypes).
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In the Contributions directory you'll find a new icon.datatype that
you can use to completely replace any old ones with. This version
supports the new 3.5 style icons, which other icon datatypes will Not
view.
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Another program given in Contributions which should become a standard
in your Prefs directory is WBC (for Workbench Control). It makes use
of the new capability to shove the workbench entirely into Fast Ram
and allows you to handle these settings. If you have a graphics board
this one's a must.
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Internet support is now included, starting with Miami as the right
choice for the TCP stack. That follows up with AmigaML; a functional
email program though not as complete as YAM (for one thing, no groups
in the address book, no multiple folders for sorting mail). 
Addresses are stored in SYS:Email/ but default, with each address
stored as a separate file; a bit messy, but it works.
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AWeb3 rounds out the internet support, but a limited edition (read
as: Crippleware) that allows no multiple windows, a disabled hotlist,
and several features limited. It uses the Reaction GUI and AWNPipe
and gives adequate JavaScript support (though, in the demo at least,
it seems not to update properly on some pages). For something that's
an official part of the OS release, I think Crippleware is
inexcusable; at the least they should licence a fully working version
like is done for CrossDOS.
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As long as we're talking Internet support, there's one thing they
left out of the package. A good WYSIWYG web editor is really needed
for the Ami, and not beyond the Amiga's capability (I think MetalWeb
is the one shareware one out there). Add one in if you really want to
bring Amiga into the era of the Web.
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Contributions:
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The Contributions directory has several programs written by other
people specifically for the 3.5 release. Not an official part of the
OS, but there are some notable stand-outs.
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EzSend. A quick and dirty emailer that is used to send  but a single
email message and then quit. It's run from Workbench, with the
Tooltypes supplying your host, POP, and SMTP information.
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RAWBInfo. Replaces the old WB Info command with one that is
compatible with the new 3.5 icons and uses the Reaction GUI. A note
here, if used with SwazInfo, the one run last will take over
completely; of course SwazInfo won't show the 3.5 icons anyway.
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The new Icon.datatype is given in here, supporting 3.5 icons.
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AwnPipe is a pipe that is used in building Reaction GUIs, with
greater data translation features. I recommend you install this and
have a look at the included demos.
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Patches:
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The following patches are no longer needed: FastIPrefs, any fuel
gauge patch for windows (like WBGauge in MCP) as this release brings
back that feature (but the RAM fuel gauge has some display
artifacts), NewIcons patches (But use the new DefIcons44 patch that
just came out), NSD Patch which is now directly supported by
SetPatch, and LoadV43Module. If you still use Magic WB icons, then
you'll still need the Magic WB color pen patch for proper display of
those icons. Also, I advice to turn off any programs that patch the
ROM into Fast Ram as it might overwrite the new ROM patch.
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SetPatch now performs the following patches. '040 support code
launched, BOOL Check IO() workaround, Graphics WritePixelLine8,
graphics/WriteChunkyPixel() patched, memory pools, data catch
enabled, runs NSDPatch.cfg in DEVS:, enables Advanced Graphics Modes,
patches in the romupdate 44.1, filesystem 45.1, and the new
scsi.device. These last three are taken from the "AmigaOS ROM Update"
file in DEVS:. Running "SetPatch ?" will list the new command options
for disabling any of the last three ROM update patches.
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Bugs:
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Aside from the ones mentioned throughout this review, there's a few
others that stand out.
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WB screen is sometimes not updated, leaving holes in the display
whenever windows are moved, though this can be fixed by hitting a
refresh. This mainly happens if a window is already open when a new
WB backdrop picture is set (from WBPattern), then leaving holes
behind where the window was if it's moved. Fixed with refresh but
annoying.
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The display lock on text displayed on interlaced 24-bit screens bug
is still there.
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The install manual mentions a "Support" file on the CD that is
supposed to be used before logging into the support site, the file
thence being copied over to your harddrive. This file however is NOT
to be found on the CD.
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Compatibilities:
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I tested several programs for incompatibilities and tried to trouble
shoot them as best I could. Here then are my findings.
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SwazInfo no longer displays standard NewIcons, not to mention the new
3.5 icons.
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M2I (Menu2Icon) also will now not display the old NewIcons, nor some
of the newer 3.5 icons (some are displayed, but converted NewIcon
ones are not). I suspect this could be a problem in other icon--docks
programs so you should check out the one you use (if any).
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The ASL patch to Reqtools is now problematic as some of the new Prefs
programs check for version numbers of asl.library before running.
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MagicMenu still works, though you might have to tweak with your
settings a bit to get the smoothest operation.
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ToolsDaemon works just fine.
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FFNews now hangs every time on opening.
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NewIcons displays in DOpus Magellan are now off and OS3.5 icons don't
display at all. However, there is now a new patch available for DOpus
that fixes this (I've installed it and it works fine).
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IconChief no longer works, and I suspect other icon oriented patches
will have problems until updated to conform to 3.5 standards.
However, 3.5 has a new datatypes identify hook that can select
default icon by datatype; a program in Contributions called "Tweak"
makes use of this, though the newest DefIcons44 just out works fine
and replaces the old NewIcons deficons with 3.5 ones.
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HDToolBox how just hangs every time; a fault I fear of bugs in the
Reaction GUI. the old HDToolBox still works just fine and should be
used to update the filesystems on your Hard Drive partitions.
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IFX (the sound daemon I use) works fine, though there are now some
8SVX files it won't play (datatype conflict probably). I suggest just
tweaking those few files with a conversion program until you find
what plays.
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The biggest incompatibility I've found is with DiskSpare; unfortunate
since I've got 30 backup floppies formatted with DiskSpare. DiskSpare
disks formatted under the old FastFileSystem (FFS) won't read with
the new FFS patched in; such disks are displayed only as
"uninitialized. However, new DiskSpare disks can still be formatted
and used without problem under the new FFS. Investigating further, I
found that when I disabled the new FFS patch (by moving "AmigaOS ROM
Update" file away from DEVS:) that my older Diskspare disks once
again could be read and used but now DiskSpare disks formatted under
the new FFS came up as "uninitialized". Some days you just can't win.
Anyways, I emailed Amiga Support and have yet to hear of a fix. If
you're an avid DiskSpare user you'll have to disable the FFS patch,
at least long enough to transfer the data to hard drive and then to
disks formatted under the new OS (an insufferably unnecessary task).
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Final Summary:
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Overall OS3.5 has several features that look pretty nice. Admittedly
several just duplicate present hacks, but it's nice to have a few of
them rapped up in an OS-compliant manner for a change. I've no doubt
there will be further releases- if nothing else to fix the bugs
introduced in this version. I've had several little complaints, but
nothing that I'd consider fatal. We're once again getting official OS
upgrades, which in itself is worth a few points. Time will show
several developers updating their programs to the new features
(anyone got the email address for the DiskSpare guy?), the main
problems for which concern the new icon interface. Get around the
icon problems with some utilities and half the problems are solved.
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At first glance it seemed just an icon and GUI update, some extra
glitz sprinkled overtop. But figure in the new AREXX capabilities,
graphics board support (that WB to Fast RAM is a major plus), CD
support, and assorted system improvements that accomplish some much
needed house cleaning, and you have a pretty nice package. Nothing
revolutionary, but definitely fixes that have been needed for a very
long time. Further releases should add some polish to this release,
but this is an acceptable first effort. If nothing else, it kind of
grows on you after a while.
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Overall Rating: {bold}79%{nobold} (I'm reserving 1% from my original 80% until the
retail price comes down a small bit).