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Firebird On A500 - New User

Aarbron B

Posts 2
18 Dec 2021 09:20

Dear all, this is my first post in this forum although I read it for a few years now. I'm a ex-user of V2 and a new happy user of Firebird on an A500. However, I do have some basic questions regarding Firebird usage that I'm struggling with, compared to V2, and I thought that this is the best place to ask, so please bear with me:
 
  1. Does Firebird support AGA graphics (e.g. some games that come with AROS)? As it is now, I'm getting an error message every time I try to run an AGA game. I know this was not possible with V2 but I understand that the new core of Firebird supports it. Should I somehow enable it first ?
 
  2. I understand that AROS is the way forward, and I totally agree that Amiga should be free from a closed license-ridden OS and move into the future. However, it seems that AROS is under heavy development as there are plenty of bugs for now. Does the latest Coffin R59 work with Firebird "out of the box" ? Will all these thousands of games work better there until AROS is get more mature and support more of the old legendary Amiga games and demos ?
 
  Thank you in advance for these newbie questions.
 
  Peace.
 


Gunnar von Boehn
(Apollo Team Member)
Posts 5731
18 Dec 2021 11:02

Hello Aarbron,

and welcome to the forum.

Aarbron B wrote:

1. Does Firebird support AGA graphics (e.g. some games that come with AROS)?

The Firebird supports 2 modes.
a) Normal Amiga 500 chipset mode.
In this mode you have the normal Amiga OCS chipset and can use 2 monitors in parallel. You can use your A1084 monitor and also have the same picture on a new DIGITAL-VIDEO monitor.
b) AGA mode. In this mode you have AGA chipset.
But this will disable the video out on the old 1084 port.

To enable AGA mode please HOLD FIRE BUTTON on your Joystick during PowerON.

A Gui-tool which allows you to save your preferred mode into NVRAM is in works. Hopefully be avail soon.

Aarbron B wrote:

  As it is now, I'm getting an error message every time I try to run an AGA game.

Yes if you are in OCS mode this is expected.

Aarbron B wrote:

I know this was not possible with V2 but I understand that the new core of Firebird supports it. Should I somehow enable it first ?
 

You right, you need enable it.
 

Aarbron B wrote:

    2. I understand that AROS is the way forward, and I totally agree that Amiga should be free from a closed license-ridden OS and move into the future. However, it seems that AROS is under heavy development as there are plenty of bugs for now. Does the latest Coffin R59 work with Firebird "out of the box" ?

Yes Coffin works out of the box.
But only need to update the SAGA driver.

BTW all WHDLOAD games will also run fine under ApolloOS
You can use them also from ApolloOS the same way as from Coffin.
Many WHDLOAD games need a copy of 1.3 kick on disk - if you install this then they should run.




Aarbron B

Posts 2
18 Dec 2021 11:17

Thank you very much, Gunnar, for taking the time for these crystal clear explanations. And a big thank you to the entire team for making all this possible, starting from revolutionary V2 cards. You really got our beloved Amiga on your shoulders and carry it forward, without cutting off from their glorious past.

Brilliant work !


posts 3