****************************************************************************** * UAE - THE UN*X AMIGA EMULATOR Version 0.6.9 * * Written by Bernd Scmidt * * * * Q U I C K S E T U P G U I D E * * * --------- --------- --------- * * ****************************************************************************** Update for 0.6.9 version by Gustavo Goedert. [FOREWORD] This document has been produced to help the beginner install, configure and run UAE quickly and easily. Some people have experienced difficulties in getting UAE set up properly so I have decided to put together this guide to help those folks out. Brett Eden From a MS-DOS Shell, create a new directory somewhere on your hard-disk. This is where you'll be installing UAE, so give it a logical name like UAE or UAE069, or whatever the version number might be. This is done using the mkdir command: mkdir UAE Copy the .zip files containing the UAE distribution into the UAE directory. Take for example you downloaded them into a directory called DOWNLOAD, and we wanted to copy them into the UAE directory. This is done using the copy command: copy C:\DOWNLOAD\DUAE*.zip C:\UAE Unzip the DOS UAE distribution archives, using PKUNZIP or your favourite zip handling utility: pkunzip DUAE*.zip Run the batchfile 'RUNME.BAT', to finish the instalation procedure. It will prompt for 4 return keys. At dos prompt type: runme (it will produce an normal warning at the end) You should now have a directory full of files, as well as a couple of sub-directories. Before we can launch UAE, we're going to need some software to run on it, aswell as a Kickstart ROM image so that we can use the Workbench operating system. I'm going to use two examples here. Firstly, I'm going to show you how to install UAE disk-images that you may have downloaded from the Internet or obtained from somewhere else. Secondly, I'll demonstrate how to obtain disk-image files from a real Amiga computer. 1. Software you've downloaded or copied from elsewhere. We'll need to copy our new disk-images into the UAE directory, so that we don't lose them. Let's assume we either downloaded them to C:\DOWNLOAD or have them on a 3.5" floppy disk. In the case of having downloaded them: copy C:\DOWNLOAD\GAME.ADF C:\UAE And in the case of our 3.5" floppy disk: copy A:\GAME.ADF C:\UAE You may find that your 3.5" disk drive is B: and not A:, in which case you'll have to make the appropriate changes to the above command. GAME.ADF is just an example file name, and you may find that the image you have obtained may be called something else, in which case you'll have to make that change in either of the above commands. 2. Obtaining disk-images from a real Amiga. In your UAE directory, you will find a subdirectory called AMIGA. In here are four utilities: transdis, transrom, uaectrl and uae-cont. Right now, we'll only look at two of them, transdis and transrom. Transdis (Actually called Transdisk, but was shortened to meet DOS's 8 letter file name requirements) and transrom need to be copied over to the real Amiga so that we can obtain the necessary software to use with UAE. I'm going to make example of two ways which you can copy these files to an Amiga. a) Floppy disk. Amiga's equipped with CrossDOS software (bundled with versions 2.1 and later of Workbench) can read 720KB IBM PC disks. By formatting a 720KB disk on your PC and copying the transdisk and transrom files to it, you can them take it over to the Amiga and copy it there, where it can be used. b) Null-modem cable. If you happen to own a null-modem cable, or can borrow one for use, you can use it to copy files between an Amiga and a PC with the aid of a terminal package like Telix, Terminate, Telemate or any similar packages like the ones that are bundled with Windows 3.x and Windows 95. Initiating a X, Y or Z modem transfer between the two machines after the cable has been attached and the terminal packages loaded should enable you the copy the files to the Amiga. Now that we have our transdisk and transrom files on the Amiga, we can start making some disk images to use with UAE, aswell as that Kickstart ROM image we're going to need. If you're only planning on running games on UAE, you won't need a Kickstart ROM image unless the games in question has some components from the Workbench operating system included with it. Open a shell and type the following: transrom >DH0: Will generate the file "kick.rom" on the DH0: harddisk. Obtaining files from an Amiga without a hard-disk is next to impossible, so I'm not going to go into it here. If you don't have a hard-disk on your Amiga, find someone who does or obtain your disk images elsewhere. To make a disk image of your favourite game, insert the disk into the DF0: floppy drive and type the following from a shell: transdisk >DH0:GAME.ADF Will create the file GAME.ADF on DH0:, which is actually a copy of the disk in DF0: which UAE can use. A full description of the transdisk and transrom commands are in the main documentation, so consult there if you want to know more about how they work. Now that we've created our Kickstart ROM image and our disk image(s), we'll have to get them over to the PC for UAE to use them. As I mentioned above, you can copy files over a null-modem cable using a terminal package. If this doesn't sound like the way for you, you can use LhA or ZIP to compress the images on the Amiga and then copy them to a 720KB disk (using CrossDOS as mentioned above) where they can be taken back to the PC, and uncompressed into the UAE directory. I chose LhA and ZIP because they are two archiving formats supported on both the Amiga and tha PC. All being well, you should now have a Kickstart ROM image and one or more disk images in your UAE directory. The Kickstart ROM, providing it is named "kick.rom" will be automatically detected by UAE, so we won't have to do anything there. We have to inform UAE that we have one or more disk images that we wish to use. This is done by selecting "Disk Settings" from the UAE configuration menu, and DF0: to insert a disk into that drive. After selecting DF0:, you will be presented with a file lister, from which you will have to pick the disk image file that you want to go into DF0: DF0: is the Amiga's boot drive, so if you've transferred a multi-disk game, you'll want to put the first disk there. If you have extra disks, allocate them to subsequent drives, DF1:, DF2:, etc. Read over the main documentation for information on changing disk images while the emulator is running, in the case of software that has more than 4 disks. Now it's time to configure our sound and display settings. If you want sound while running UAE, make sure your sound card is installed and configured properly - UAE should detect it when you start up. Select "Sound Settings" from the configuration menu and select the "Produce sound" sub-option until "on - emulated perfectly" appears over in the sound section on the right side of the screen. How you configure your video settings depends on what kind of machine you have, and whether or not you're planning on running Workbench during a particular session. If you have a low-end pentium system and just plan to play games, 320x200, 320x240 or 320x400 are fine. However, if you're going to run Workbench, you will need to use 640x480 or 800x600 with aspect correction enabled if you want it to appear correct and proportional. Slower machines should use the lower resolutions, with 256 colours. Faster machines running Workbench should use the SVGA modes with either 256 or more colours. If you find that a game runs too slow on your machine, edit the frame option in the "Video Settings" menu. This will make the emulator skip a set number of frames to speed up the display. If you don't have a joystick, you can map the joystick controls to the keypad on your keyboard, so you can still control games as you would normally with a joystick. This can be set under the "Other Settings" menu. Alternatively, you can use a real Joystick, which UAE should detect when you first run it. All things being well and good, you should now be ready to run UAE. Consult the following check list to make sure you've got everything configured correctly. þ Have you launched your mouse driver program before running UAE? Workbench and a lot of games will not function without a mouse. þ Do you have a disk image assigned to (at the very least) DF0:? þ If you're going to run Workbench, do you have a Kickstart ROM image installed in the UAE directory? Is it named "kick.rom"? þ If planning on running UAE in SVGA modes, does your video hardware support Vesa BIOS extensions? If not, the display will not look correct. Consult the main documentation for more information on this, and where to obtain a VBE driver. After you're certain you have everything set up properly, launch UAE by selecting the "Run UAE!" option from the top of the UAE configuration menu. If, for some reason, it does not work as expected, consult the main documentation for troubleshooting tips. If you're still having problems after you've read this document, there are still several avenues where you can find help in getting UAE running. They are as follows: þ The author of the DOS port of UAE has set up a UAE discussion board on the World Wide Web, where you can ask general questions about UAE. You're certain to get the answer you want here, because of the number of people who participate in the service. þ If you have access to IRC, you can try the #amiga or #amigauae channel, as there are normally people there who have experience with UAE and can help you. þ The author of this document has offered his services in answering general UAE queries. Answers are normally given the following day.