It isn’t entirely obvious, but there is a download link there – honestly! First, you need to download ClassicWB.

1. Amiga Workbench 3.1 Rom
2. Amiga Workbench 3.1 Download

ClassicWB comes in different flavours depending on what Amiga hardware capabilities you’ve got. There is also a for UAE Amiga emulators, and that’s the one we’re going to use. So head over to the and click on the “UAE” link to download ClassicWBUAEvXX.zip. At the time of writing, this is ClassicWBUAEv28.zip.

I’ll refer to it as ClassicWBUAEvXX.zip throughout the tutorial. Now you need to decide where you want to have ClassicWB stored.

I suggest the following location: Documents/FS-UAE/Hard Drives/ClassicWB, but you can put it anywhere you like. The rest of the tutorial will assume this location. Create an empty folder Documents/FS-UAE/Hard Drives/ ClassicWB. Create an empty folder Documents/FS-UAE/Hard Drives/ClassicWB/ PC. Open ClassicWBUAEvXX.zip, browse into ClassicWBUAEvXX and then Hard Disk.

Extract the Software folder and the two.hdf files to Documents/FS-UAE/Hard Drives/ ClassicWB. Initial Setup. All three hard drives have been added to the hard drive tab.

Click the “New Configuration” button in the main tab to ensure you are starting with a blank slate. Change Amiga model to Amiga 1200. Go to the hard drives tab, and click on the file button for the first hard drive and select the SystemP96.hdf file you just extracted.

Click on the folder button for the second hard drive and select the Documents/FS-UAE/Hard Drives/ClassicWB/ Software folder. Click on the folder button for the third hard drive and select Documents/FS-UAE/Hard Drives/ClassicWB/ PC folder. You also need to provide one or more Workbench disks, because ClassicWB needs to copy some files off this/these.

You have three options here:. Use a Workbench 3.0 disk – You’ll then end up with a WB 3.0 ClassicWB install.

Use a Workbench 3.1 disk – You’ll then end up with a WB 3.0 ClassicWB install with some WB 3.1 files. Use the full set of Workbench 3.1 install disks – You’ll then end up with a WB 3.1 ClassicWB install. Here I have added all six 3.1 disks from Amiga Forever to the floppy swap list.

Amiga Workbench 3.1 Rom

Note that no disk is inserted into any drive. Go for the last option if you have all six Workbench 3.1 disks. You now go to the floppy tab, and use the plus button to add floppy disk images to the swap list – because the disk(s) must not be inserted in a floppy drive during boot. So either:. Select your Workbench 3.0 or Workbench 3.1 disk (note: you need the “Workbench” disk, not the “Install” disk).

Multiselect all your 6 Workbench 3.1 disks. Install ClassicWB. ClassicWB installer requesting a workbench disk to be inserted into the first floppy drive. When asked to insert disk, open the FS-UAE menu, navigate down to the first floppy drive with your arrow keys and press return. Either select your single Workbench disk – or, if you’re using the full Workbench 3.1 set – insert disk 2 of 6.

Press return to insert the disk. If you chose a Workbench 3.1 disk, you’ll be asked if you want to upgrade to Workbench 3.1. Type y and return if you have all six disks, otherwise, type n and return. You also need to press return when back in the AmigaDOS prompt to continue with the installation. If you press return too quickly, a requester will appear, but just click on the Retry button if this happens.

If you are asked for disks by name and cannot see the names in FS-UAE, the disks are Extras (3 of 6), Fonts (6 of 6), Install (1 of 6), Locale (5 of 6) and Storage (4 of 6). After the installer is done copying files, you’ll be asked whether you want to enable or disable OldIcons. This is just a matter of preference so you can answer any of them. When the message “Please remove the Workbench disk and reboot” appears, simply quit FS-UAE. Install ClassicWB/ADVSP (Optional) This step is optional. The previous step configured a system drive with support for Picasso 96. This step will install an alternative system drive which runs on more “classic hardware”.

Go to the hard drives tab, and click on the file button for the first hard drive. Choose SystemADVSP.hdf (replaces SystemP96.hdf). Start FS-UAE and you’ll be greeted with the same installation program as you saw in the first boot. You go through the installer, and do exactly the same things as you did during first boot. After the installer is done copying files, you’ll be asked a couple of questions. This is a matter of preference, so you can choose anything. Here are some suggestions:.

Choose Theme: Retro. Copper Background: Disable. We’re now done, and will set up hardware for an expanded Amiga 4000 and save the config as “ClassicWB (Amiga 4000)”:. Go to the floppies tab, and use the clear button to remove the floppies from the floppy list (unless you already did it and the floppy list is now empty). Go to the main tab, change config name to “ClassicWB (Amiga 1200)” and click the save button.

Change the primary hard drive back to SystemP96.hdf. Change Amiga model to Amiga 4000 (68040). Go to the memory options tab, check Zorro III RAM, and choose 64 MB (or more if you like). Go to the expansions tab and choose graphics card UAEGFX and enable UAE bsdsocket.library. Go back to the main tab, change config name to “ClassicWB (Amiga 4000)” and click the save configuration button. Click Start to start FS-UAE and boot into ClassicWB!

Congratulations 🙂 (You’ll get a different desktop environment depending on whether you boot the Amiga 1200 config or the Amiga 4000 one). Keymaps, locale and regional settings (Optional) The following section is copied verbatim from the ClassicWB installation instructions: ClassicWB defaults to the Great Britain locale and keymap settings. Obviously this is no good if you live elsewhere and your time zone and keyboard layout differs. In order to change these settings, do the following:. Move the required keymap from the “Storage/Keymaps” to “Devs/Keymaps” drawer. Place the “gb” keymap back into the “Storage/Keymaps” drawer, or it will take up memory.

Reboot the Amiga and open up the “Prefs/Input” requester. Select your corresponding keymap and save the setting. Open up the “Prefs/Locale” requester and select your region, again saving the setting.

Note that those with an American keyboard layout are able to simply remove the “gb” keymap, placing it back into the “Storage/Keymaps” drawer, leaving the “Devs/Keymaps” drawer empty. The required keymap is built into the ROM as its default setting, so to finish just save the “Prefs/Input” with “American” selected. Enable JIT (Optional) You can to make the emulated system several times faster. Hi, Thank you for the article, it really helps a lot! I try to load whdload but it gives an error message “could not find any of the kickstart images ‘40068.a1200’, ‘40068.a4000’. Should I rename the roms to these names?

Also when i try some programs like ‘perfect paint’ and amigaAMP, it runs really really slow, and i just reboot because it doesn’t respond. I use a p4 2.66GHz, 4 GB DDR1 RAM (3.2 usable) but no separate graphic card (it uses an intel 910gl express chipset on board). Any ideas about these problems? Yes, many WHDLoad slaves need a kickstart ROM file on the Amiga HD with a specific name, for example Devs:Kickstarts/kick40068.A1200. See for more details. About AmigaAMP, I believe it hangs because it tries (in the default setup) to use the (Win)UAE AHI driver, which does not work with FS-UAE, and this causes AmigaOS to hang. If you feel FS-UAE in general are struggling with performance on your computer, it may be that your computer is a bit underpowered for FS-UAE (Pentium 4 sounds old, according to, it scores 608 in the single thread performance test, which is on the low side for FS-UAE).

There are some performance tips on which can help.

/ December 2014; 3 years ago ( 2014-12) Written in, Workbench is the graphical of developed by for their line of computers. Workbench provides the user with a graphical interface to work with and launch applications. It uses a workbench (in place of the more common ) for representing file system organisation. Confusingly, 'Workbench' was also the name originally given to the entire up until version 3.1. From release 3.5 the operating system was renamed 'AmigaOS' and subsequently 'Workbench' refers to the native file manager only (similarly, 'System' was the name given to up until version 7.6). Contents. Overview The Amiga Workbench uses the of a (i.e.

A workbench of manual labor), rather than the now standard, for representing file system organization. The desktop itself is called Workbench and uses the following representations: drawers (instead of folders) for directories, tools for executable programs, projects for data files, and a as a folder intended to contain deleted files. These representations may be considered somewhat unusual by a modern user, but at the time there were no commonly accepted metaphors and Commodore chose to use different idioms from their competitors ( had already pursued legal action to prevent other software companies from offering graphical user interfaces similar to its own). Workbench is a in the sense that it uses a spatial metaphor to represent files and folders as if they are real physical objects.

Under this concept, each drawer (folder) opens in its own window, rather than within a single browser under the now more common concept. Workbench utilizes the Amiga's native windowing system called to provide the. Intuition manages the rendering of screens, windows, and gadgets (graphical elements, equivalent to widgets). Later versions of AmigaOS enhanced the interface with more complex widget systems, such as gadtools.library and (AmigaOS 2.0 and later) and (AmigaOS 3.5 and later).

Intuition also handles user input events, such as, input from the keyboard and mouse. Workbench requires a two button mouse, where right click operates pull-down menus and left click is used for all other purposes. The underlying AmigaOS allows the Workbench to launch multiple applications that can execute concurrently. This is achieved through, the Amiga's multi-tasking kernel, which handles, and. Applications launched from Workbench could report their success back to Workbench, but this was not a requirement and few actually did. Workbench itself has always been a disk-based component, though much of the underlying functionality is stored in the Amiga's firmware, usually stored in. As a consequence, it is necessary to boot from a system disk to launch Workbench.

This setup streamlines the process of launching games (which typically do not require Workbench) and ensures that memory is not used unnecessarily by the OS in memory-limited systems. Workbench was shipped with all Amiga models from Commodore. Workbench was provided either on or later (as part of AmigaOS) on. Initially, Workbench was designed to be launched and operate from floppy disk (or other ).

Later versions could be installed on, for which an installer was developed for use with AmigaOS 2.0 and later. AmigaOS (including Workbench) often came pre-installed on systems shipped with hard disks. 1985 Workbench 1.0 1990 Workbench 2.0 1992 Workbench 3.0 1994 Amiga OS 3.1 1999 Amiga OS 3.5 2000 Amiga OS 3.9 2006 Amiga OS 4.0 Versions Up until release 3.1 of the Amiga's operating system, Commodore used Workbench to refer to the entire Amiga operating system. As a consequence Workbench was commonly used to refer to both the operating system and the file manager component. For end users Workbench was often synonymous with AmigaOS. From version 3.5 the OS was renamed 'AmigaOS' and pre-3.5 versions were also retroactively referred to as 'AmigaOS' (rather than Workbench). Subsequently, 'Workbench' refers to the native graphical file manager only.

From its inception, Workbench offered a highly customizable interface. The user could change the aspect of program icons replacing it with newer ones with different color combinations.

Users could also take a 'snapshot' of icons and windows so the icons will remain on the desktop at coordinates chosen by user and windows will open at the desired size. Workbench 1.x Workbench 1.0 was released with the first Amiga, the, in 1985. The 1.x versions of Workbench used a garish blue and orange color scheme, designed to give high contrast on even the worst of television screens (the colors can be changed by the user). Versions 1.1 consists mostly of bug fixes and, like version 1.0, was distributed for the Amiga 1000 only. The display was highly customizable for the era.

The user was free to create and modify system and user icons, while featured only default system icons whose appearance could not be modified and customizing icons on the Macintosh required using. Icons can be of arbitrary size and design and can have two image states to produce a pseudo-animated effect when selected. Users could customize four display colours and choose from two resolutions: 640×200 or 640×400 (interlaced) on, or 640×256 or 640×512 on systems. In later revisions, the TV or monitor overscan could be adjusted.

Several features were deprecated in later versions. For example, the gauge meter showing the free space on a file system was replaced with a percentage in Workbench 2.0.

Under Workbench 1.x, right clicking on icons opens a display of the files metadata, whereas from Workbench 2.0 right clicking activates pull-down menus only. The default 'busy' pointer (a comic balloon showing 'Zzz.' ) was replaced with a stopwatch in later versions. Workbench 2.0, 2.1.

Amiga Workbench 2.0. Workbench 2.0 was released with the launch of the in 1990. Until AmigaOS 2.0 there was no unified design standard and application developers had to write their own widgets (both buttons and menus) if they wished to enhance the already-meager selection of standard basic widgets provided by Intuition. With Workbench 2.0 gadtools.library was created, which provided standard widget sets. The Amiga User Interface Style Guide, was published which explained how applications should be laid out for consistency. Intuition was improved with (Basic Object Oriented Programming system for Intuition) which enhanced the system with an interface to define a system of classes in which every class individuate a single widget or describes an interface event.

It can be used to program object oriented interfaces into Amiga at any level. As of Workbench 2.0 all files became visible as icons without the need of associated.info files, thus streamlining the process of starting executables in the GUI. Workbench 2.0 also added support for public screens.

Instead of the Workbench screen being the only shareable screen, applications could create their own named screens to share with other applications. Workbench 2.0 included and integrated, allowing users to control the system and other programs from user scripts. Workbench 2.0 introduced, a simple text-only markup scheme and browser, for providing online help inside applications. It also introduced, a standard software installation program, driven by a -like scripting language. Finally, Workbench 2.0 rectified the problem of applications directly into the input-events stream to capture keyboard and mouse movements, sometimes locking up the whole system.

Workbench 2.0 provided Commodities, a standard interface for modifying or scanning input events. This included a standard method for specifying global 'hotkey' key-sequences, and a Commodities Exchange registry for the user to see which commodities were running. Workbench 3.0, 3.1 Version 3.0 was originally shipped with the Amiga 1200 and Amiga 4000 computers. Version 3.0 added datatypes support and Workbench could load any background image in any format, as long as the required datatype was installed. This feature was also used in Multiview. Its capabilities were directly related to the datatypes installed in Devs:Datatypes. Localisation was added to allow Workbench, and any installed programs that had localisation, to appear in any supported language.

The established AmigaGuide hypertext system gained more usability by using document links pointing to mediafiles, for example pictures or sounds, all recognized by the datatypes. Workbench 3.5, 3.9. Amiga Workbench 3.9, (2000).

Following Commodore's demise and around six years after Workbench 3.1 was released, were commissioned to update AmigaOS, which was released in 1999 as a software-only update for existing systems. The Workbench, though still largely based on the earlier 3.1 release was revised somewhat, with an improved user interface based on ReAction, improved icon rendering and official support for. These releases included support for existing third-party GUI enhancements, such as, by integrating these patches into the system. The 3.5 and 3.9 releases included a new set of 256 color icons and a choice of desktop wallpaper. These replaced the default all-metal gray 4/8 color scheme used on AmigaOS from release 2.0 to 3.1. The 3.9 release of Workbench was again developed by Haage&Partner and released in 2000.

Amiga Workbench 3.1 Download

The main improvements were the introduction of a program start bar called AmiDock, revised user interfaces for system settings and improved utility programs. Workbench 4.0, 4.1. Amiga Workbench 4.0.

This new Workbench, called Workbench 4.0, has been rewritten to become fully compatible. It was part of, and released in 2006.

Since the screens are now draggable in any direction. Of Workbench icons between different screens is also possible. Additionally, Workbench 4.0 includes a new version of Amidock, / fonts and movie player with and support. In AmigaOS 4.1, a new Startup preferences feature was added which replaced the WBStartup drawer. Additional enhancements include: a new icon set to complement higher screen resolutions, new window themes including drop shadows, AmiDock with true transparency, scalable icons, and a Workbench auto-update feature. Workbench icons The that Workbench uses to represent the files in a volume or a drawer are stored in special.info files, with the name of the.info file matching the name of the file it represents.

For example, the icon for NotePad, a, is found in the file NotePad.info. This.info extension is the only file extension required by AmigaOS. The.info file contains the icon image and its spatial position within its parent window. The icon also specifies the type of the file, as used by Workbench. Workbench recognises five different file types:. Tool: An executable program.

Project: A data file of an executable program. The program which created the file is named in the icon file, double-clicking on the icon loads the program that created it. Drawer: A directory containing files, and other drawers. Volume: A physical disk or a.

Garbage: The Trashcan – a deleted file backup, which works in a similar way to the ' in. An additional three file types are available and are intended for future expansion:. Device: designed for displaying information about attached devices. Kick: The icon of a bootable disk.

App Icon: An icon which will be used as (part of) the GUI for an application Of these three file types, only 'App Icons' currently are used by any part of Workbench/AmigaOS. While an icon may represent or suggest a file type, the type of the related file is specified by its very own properties, along with the restrictions(AmigaDOS: protection flags) given to thi file. For example, if you add a tool icon to a text document file, AmigaOS will tell you the file 'is not executable' or 'is not of required type' as it has no 'e'-protection-flag (AmigaDOS: Hold, Script, Pure, Archived, Read, Writeable, Executable, Deletable) nor does it have the startup header of an executable. Also, stripping an 'application' from its counterpart icon file ('application'.info) will not render this application useless; it still remains executable, it will run, only missing the (required) options and arguments delivered from workbench via icons 'tool types', e.g. Stack size, public screen, etc. Starting in Workbench 2.x, a file without a.info counterpart (such as a file on non-native media) is represented by the default system icon for one of the five types listed above.

These default icons are also customizable. Icon-less files are only displayed in this manner if the drawer is configured to Show All Files – if this option is not set (which is the case in Workbench 1.x), such files will not appear at all and can only be seen from a CLI. Tool (application) files can include 'tool types' in the.info file.

These are used as configuration options for the program. Each tool type is a single line of text, which can optionally include parameters written after an = sign. Tool types can be commented out by writing them in. For example, the tooltype ' CXPOPKEY=ctrl alt f1' defines that the application (a Commodity) will activate the user interface in response to the key sequence Ctrl-Alt-F1. The colours used in the icon are normally only stored as indices to the Amiga Workbench screen's current palette. Because of this, the icons' colour scheme is inherently tied to the chosen hues in the screen's palette, and choosing non-standard colours can give the icons an ugly appearance.

This problem was partly solved by a third-party system called, which adds additional features to the standard.info files. Unlike normal Workbench icons, NewIcons include actual colour information, and the system tries its best to match the icons' colour hues to those in the screen palette. Since AmigaOS 3.5, Workbench supports icons with up to 256 colors. This release of AmigaOS features the icon set by Matt Chaput. With AmigaOS 3.5, a screen-palette-independent system is used. The 4.0 icons, designed by Martin Merz, can use a 24-bit palette.

Both and support icons natively. PNG allows using full 24-bit palette with alpha blending. On Amiga Workbench PNG icons are supported through plugins. Comparison to other file managers In comparison to the competing and, the early Amiga Workbench (pre-Workbench 2.04) featured, as the default, a 4 color blue desktop screen with color icons at 640 × 200 American standard or 640 × 256 on European television sets, in contrast to the 512 × 342 black and white interface presented by the Mac. The Amiga user was also free to create and modify system and program icons, while featured only default system icons whose appearance could not be modified. Workbench contributed many other unique features/philosophies to intuitive GUI design (starting with version 2.04/2.1):. Menu item indenting, which immediately indicated the item was a 'toggle' function, eliminating guesswork for the user.

The concept of tri-level information using shading to simulate a 3d appearance. Indented controls indicated information-only text, surface-level controls represented labels for GUI elements, and raised GUI elements indicated data editable by, or interactive with, the user. Much like the 'File' and 'Edit' menus became standard on most GUIs, Workbench implemented the concept of a 'Settings' menu designed to standardize the location for all options within an application. Standardized buttons for OS-level preferences or settings dialog boxes through 'Save', 'Use', and 'Cancel' provided a simple and consistent means for short- and long-term settings use. Standardized preference settings for user-level import and export through a '.prefs' extension and file format. Commodities Exchange: a consistent programming standard and GUI for easy launch, control, and removal of all TSRs or background-process utilities/mini-apps.

Datatypes: a modular and user-customizable data identification system that the OS used to recognize, launch, edit, and provide a means of importing and exporting data between OS and applications alike. Locale: an OS and application-wide GUI that provided the means for implementing user-selectable language, time, and other locale-specific settings. Criticisms The freedom in customization and the multitude of color settings and aspects available to the user was sometimes seen as chaotic. Customization permitted icons of a vastly different size and appearance of those of the original system icons.

Before Workbench 2.0, there were no. Hence the look and feel of menu option could be different from one application to the next (i.e. The layout of basic items like Load, Save, Open, Close, Quit, etc.).

This fact was argued as a diminishing feature of Amiga by its detractors. Some historical GUI sites like guidebook gallery presented Amiga Workbench as: 'Unique (if slightly chaotic) GUI for Amiga machines'. Use in fictional media The visual novel, uses an Amiga Workbench 1.0 Design (Known as Amie Workbench in-game). See also.