From: skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls)
Subject: Re: AmigaDOS differences-
Organization: University of Mississippi, Dept. of Computer Science
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 18:09:38 GMT

In article <1992Sep13.173059.18326@usl.edu> das9674@usl.edu (Stephenson Daniel A) writes:
>Hi there.

Hello to you also,

>I have heard that some Amiga programs to not work under certain versions
>of the OS.  For example, someone said that he had to boot 1.3 (normally 2.04)
>to play Fairy Tale Adventure.  

This is true for some older games, but not much else.

>Is this a big problem or something?  I am genuinely curious - I haven't
>ever experienced this with DOS programs (but I hear MSDOS 4.01 left too 
>little memory for some things), but there is a thing called 'setver' 
>which is supposed to correct anomolies.

It really is not a problem for anyone using their Amiga for serious work,
only those who treat the Amiga as a games console have problems.  The
problem with older software is that the bozos who wrote the code did not
follow the rules set by Commodore.  I have programs which ran on my 
A1000 with the 1.1 OS which still run properly on my A3000 under 2.04.
This proves that compatibility is very high provided that someone with
a little intelligence wrote the code.

>Isn't there 'setver' for AmigaDOS?  It would seem to make sense the OSs
>after 1.3 since they are supposed to be HD installable.  Am I missing
>something here?  It seems strange that an otherwise homogeneous computer
>such as the Amiga would have to REBOOT a DIFFERENT version of the OS _just_
>to use older type programs, doesn't it?

I don't know about a setver command, but there is a program called Degrader
which can make some older poorly-written software work.  I don't use it
much except to view the occassional EuroDemo as most software is now
written by responsible parties who abide by the rules.  The EuroHackers
produce some neat demos, but their inability to write code which runs on
all Amigas shows their lack of discipline.

Also remember that MS-DOS is not a real OS.  The Amiga's OS is more like
the real OS's for the PC such as OS/2.  Windows is a pretty good hack
that sits on top of DOS and mimics some of the Amiga's features.  There
are programs for Windows 3.1 which break under 3.0 and vice-versa, and
I don't think anyone wants to mention Windows 1.0 and 2.0.  The same is
true for Mac software which breaks under System 7 or won't run under
System 6.0x.  If one looks at the other platforms, the Amiga doesn't
look so bad.

If you are using Windows, I'd bet that you have to exit Windows in order
to run Commander Keen, Wing Commander II, etc.  This is no different 
than Amiga owners using 1.3 for poorly written software.  I used to have
a 1.3 partition on my hard drive, but I re-formatted it nearly a year
ago and don't plan on ever using 1.3 again.  If a piece of software does
not run, I'll toss it as I don't want poorly written crap polluting my
machine.

>Dan Stephenson                                           das9674@usl.edu
>" BERLIN WALL FALLS.  3 BORDER GUARDS LOSE JOBS.  CLINTON BLAMES BUSH! "
>        -George Bush, '92 Republican nomination acceptance speech

Skip Sauls
skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu



Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy