Kinda disapointed, need to share my views

[Delta]

@davebraco
the filesystem setup I chose SFS/02 with the suggested values in the OS4.1 installation guide. It has been a while since I've setup an amiga that I just blindly followed the instructions like a good newbie. I am not sure where to check if DMA is enabled if you can help me with this one.

Removing the 3114 card and pluggin the hard drive onboard was an option but I do want to use my DVD drive, I can't sacrifice this device over a temperature problem, it makes no sense to me. I'll have to check into the kicklayout as suggested as well.

@djrikki
Yes it is a shame to have to download a bunch of libs from aminet all in separate archives to run a new software. Guess i've been spoiled by Windows and got lazy but if we want to have a system that anybody can use we got to be able to install and run something with a double-click.

@ssolie
This means no Quake 2 for me at the moment then? I've been trying to have it running whitout luck for a couple of weeks. What gfx chipset would be a good temporary solution to play this game in software mode at the moment?

[davebraco]

OK, for the filesystem.

About the DMA, Could you post the result of the following command :
idetool -l sii3114ide.device

[cha05e90]

Guess i've been spoiled by Windows and got lazy but if we want to have a system that anybody can use we got to be able to install and run something with a double-click.

Yep, that's Amiga. By the way: the other amigaoid operating systems aren't different in that respect. It has always been that way - and I suppose it wouldn't change fast in the future, alas software like Rigo's AmiUpdate helps a lot! For someone like me who has a more or less breakless Amiga career from release 1.3 upto 4.1 Update 4 it isn't a real problem, I'm used to it, I even like it that way (in contrast to djrikki). But I admit that it *is* a learning curve for someone who is new to the Amiga world or is a "returner" from Windows/MacOS.

What gfx chipset would be a good temporary solution to play this game in software mode at the moment?

While waiting for full 3D and overlay support for your graphics card you might try to get hold of a Radeon 9250 - it isn't the fastest one, but has everything you need to play Quake II hardware accelerated.

[davebraco]

About Quake2, did you try to run it in software mode?
It's very smooth in 640x480 and playable in 800x600 on my system.

[tonyw]

Not everyone wants to or is capable of downloading a GB of data - look at poor BillE in his broch in the wilds of Caledonia, with only two cans and a length of string to download with.

The SDK is twice as big as the system ISO, and most people don't want it anyway. I can imagine the complaints if we forced them all to download the whole lot.

@Delta:

Are you sure that something is overheating, or are you just suspecting that? Maybe it's something else.

I've had problems in my X-1000 (home built) with hot air from a Radeon 4870 blowing onto the HD and making it overheat and generate errors. I had to separate the GFX card from the HDDs.

I suppose you know that you can switch to the internal SM502 graphics chip on the mobo? That way you could remove the GFX card altogether and at least test the machine without the overheating risk. You can always go back by using "nvsetvar" to change it back.

[Christopher Follett]

Not everyone wants to or is capable of downloading a GB of data - look at poor BillE in his broch in the wilds of Caledonia, with only two cans and a length of string to download with.

The SDK is twice as big as the system ISO, and most people don't want it anyway. I can imagine the complaints if we forced them all to download the whole lot.

When building our systems, if customers request the sdk, we will install it for them before shipping.

[tonyw]

Good service, well done.

[chris]

Guess i've been spoiled by Windows and got lazy but if we want to have a system that anybody can use we got to be able to install and run something with a double-click.

Yep, that's Amiga. By the way: the other amigaoid operating systems aren't different in that respect. It has always been that way - and I suppose it wouldn't change fast in the future, alas software like Rigo's AmiUpdate helps a lot! For someone like me who has a more or less breakless Amiga career from release 1.3 upto 4.1 Update 4 it isn't a real problem, I'm used to it, I even like it that way (in contrast to djrikki). But I admit that it *is* a learning curve for someone who is new to the Amiga world or is a "returner" from Windows/MacOS.

Well, it doesn't have to be that way, it's just a case of people who upload software putting all dependencies in the archive and installing them along with the main program. Not doing this makes the archive smaller (and the install script less complicated), for libraries most people have anyway. I suppose there are licensing implications for including libraries too - can I redistribute xyz.library? It's easier to not bother and tell people to grab it separately.

I don't find it a problem, although it is annoying downloading something and then finding about the ten different libraries it needs. That's what the Requires: field on Aminet is for, but not everybody fills it in properly.

[Hans]

Have to fight with config files or hunt for libraries an entire evening just to watch a DVD

Hm, I personally wouldn't call downloading two archives and unpacking them to the right place "fighting" - but I'm sorry that you feel this way.

which plays horribly slow anyways....no new games work because of the lack of 3d support.

Overlay and full 3D support is pending ansd still in the works AFAIK. Yes, that''s not nice, but it should have been a known fact - but after all my experience I'm sure this will be handled. Using one of the 3D and overlay supported graphics card might help in the meantime.

Lack of overlay and full 3D support for Radeon HD cards is a known fact. Both myself and the companies involved have been very clear on that. Likewise, I have repeated multiple times that overlay is a low priority task, and 3D is much more important. It seems that no amount of repetition will get that through to people.

If DVD playback is as bad as he claims, then this is not due to lack of overlay, anyway. I just tried playing a few DVDs on my Sam460ex (+Radeon HD 4650), and the playback was pretty good. Not perfect, but not "horribly slow" by any measure. Granted, I'm using the latest development version, but there is no overlay present. I had "horribly slow" playback of DVDs on my A1-XE after I upgraded the DVD drive. It turns out that a lot of DVD drives aren't up to standard, and I happened to have bought one of the poor ones. Ripping the DVD to hard-drive, and playing it back from there resulted in perfectly smooth playback.

I know that some people refuse to accept my development priorities and insist on believing that implementing overlay should be trivial. However, overlay is a major task which affects only DvPlayer and MPlayer, whereas 3D drivers affect every single 3D game, and will open up a whole new world of possibilities thanks to the powerful shader units in modern cards. 3D support comes first.

....no new games work because of the lack of 3d support.

Every time that I see people say stuff like this, I point them to Amiboing's games. Their games work without 3D drivers, and are some of the newest games that we have.

Personally, I haven't had any major issues with my Sam460ex.

Hans

[K-L]

Note that Stephen Fellner wants to use the compositing system in DvPlayer to enhance speed of video playback. It won't be as fast as overlay but should be fast enough to cope with any DVD decoding on a Sam460.

I hope he can achieve this goal and bring us a new release of DvPlayer soon.

As Hans say (and has proven it), compositing mode can bring some miracles on our system (just check the link Hans pointed to).