Table Of Contenta
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Contents
Chapter 1 - At the Workbench 5
Whenyou'redoinganythingbutplaygames,knowingWorkbenchisvital
Chapter 2 - Cracking the Shell 15
IfyouwanttobearealAmigaexpert,youneedtoknowtheCIA
Chapter 3 - What's hiding where 33
Doyouknowwhat'swhereonyourWorkbenchdisk?It'simportantinfo!
Chapter 4 - Readyto run 41
Startprogramming-ofsorts-andcreateyourownself-bootingdisks
Chapter 5 - Make like an artist 49
TheAmigaisbestknownforitsgraphicsandyoucangetcreativetoo!
Chapter 6 - Roll over Beethoven 57
Startingwithsamples,youcanwriteyourowntunesontheAmiga...
Chapter 7 - Getting into print 61
FromwordprocessingtoDTP,theAmigacanmakeyourwordsshine
Chapter 8 - Get down to business 65
Startingwithdatabasesandspreadsheets,putyourAmigatowork
Chapter 9 - E-x-p-a-n-d-a-b-i-l-i-t-y 69
Hardwareandlotsofitisthenameofthegame:here'showtoupgrade
Chapter 10 - Playing a part 77
Wouldyoubelieveit?Theidealreferencetoeverygamewe'veeverreviewed
At the Workbench
Whenyou are doinganything exceptplayinggames, the
Workbench becomes the mostimportantdisk inyourcollection.
In caseyou've neverusedthe Workbench before, orifyoufind
you keep having to checkin themanual to try to workoutwhat
you're doing, here's asimpleguide to whatWorkbench doesand
howyougetspecificjobsdone using Workbench. Sofor every
thingfromformatting disks to copyingfiles, here's how...
1.1 How to use Workbench
ThenicethingaboutWorkbenchisthatit'swhat'sknownasa'graphical
userinterface* (GUI)or,alternatively,a'WIMP' system(windows,icons,
menusandpointers).
Thismightsoundalittleintimidating,butitactuallymeansit'svery
easytousebecauseeverythingyouneedtodoisshowntoyouonthescreen,
eitherasapicture(anicon)orastext. It'salloperatedwiththemouse.
Essentiallytherearefourthingsyouneedtoknowhowtodowiththe
mouse,andthesefourtermswillbeconstantlyreferredtoinanythingthat
talksaboutusingtheWorkbench:
1. Clickonsomething.Movethemousepointeroveranobjectonthescreen
andpresstheleft-handmousebuttononce. Clickingontheboxinthetop-
leftcornerofawindow,forexample,willclosethatwindow.
2. Double-dickonsomething. Movethemousepointeroveranobjectonthe
screenandpresstheleft-handmousebuttontwiceinrapidsuccession.
Clickingonadrawerordiskicon,forexample, willopenawindowshowing
thecontentsofthedrawerordisk.
3. Selectanicon.Thisinvolvesmovingthemousepointeroveraniconand
pressingtheleft-handmousebutton(clickingontheicon).Whenaniconis
selected,itishighlighted-itscolourchangestoshowthatitisselected.
Clickingelsewhereonthescreenwill 'deselect' theiconanditscolourwill
changeback.
4. Selectamenuoption.Thisisthepartthatinvolvestheright-handmouse
button. Holddowntheright-handbuttonandyou'llseethebaratthetopof
thescreenchange. Movethepointertothetopleftofthescreenandyouwill
seeamenudropdown. Pullingthepointerdownthismenuwillhighlight
eachofthemenuoptionsinturn.Toselectamenuoption,simplyletgoof
themousebuttonwhentheoptionyouwantishighlighted.
1.2 Versions of Workbench
TheWorkbenchdiskisupdatedeverysooftenandanewversionbrought
out-versionsofWorkbenchareidentifiedbyanumberafterthename.
TherearetworeallycommonversionsofWorkbenchatthemoment-
Workbench1.3(andalso 1.3.2)whichwasavailablewiththeA500,1500
and2000between 1988and 1991,andWorkbench2.04(also2.05)which
wasavailablewiththeA3000,A500PlusandA600fromaboutOctober
1991 tothepresenttime.ThenewA1200andA4000haveWorkbench3.
QuitesubstantialchangeswereintroducedwithWorkbench2andso
manythingsaredoneinadifferentway.We'llbeconcentratingon
Workbench2andabove,butiftherearedifferencesfrom 1.3 we'llmention
theminbrackets.
1.3 Loading Workbench
Workbenchisaself-bootingdisk.AllyouhavetodoisswitchyourAmiga
onandputtheWorkbenchdiskin,andWorkbenchwillload. We'llassume
Workbenchisalreadyloadedfortherestofthisarticle.
1.4 Write-protecting disks
Ifadiskiswrite-protected,itcannothaveanydatasavedontoitanditcan
notbeformatted.Write-protectadiskbymovingtheplastictabinthecorner
sothattheholeisshowing.
Ifadiskiswrite-enabled,itcanhavedatasavedtoitanditcanbe
formatted.Write-enableadiskbymovingtheplastictabsothattheholeis
covered.OncetheyareformattedforuseontheAmiga,youshouldkeep
diskswrite-protecteduntilyouneedtosavesomethingontothem.
1.5 Formatting (preparing) a blank disk
Beforeyoucanuseanewthree-and-a-half-inchfloppydiskinyourAmiga,it
hastobepreparedasanAmigadisk.Thisiscalledformattingthediskand
isoneofseveraljobsthatit'seasiesttodowithWorkbench.
Simplyputyournewdiskintothediskdrive.Itwillappearonthe
Workbenchscreenas aniconwiththewordsDFO:???? writtenunderneath
(orDFOrBADonWorkbench 1.3).ThisshowsthatWorkbenchcan'trecog
nisethediskbecauseitisn'tanAmigadisk(yet).
Selectthedisk'sicon. SelecttheFormatdisk... optionfromtheIcons
menu (withWorkbench 1.3,selecttheInitializeoptionfromtheDisk
menu). TheAmigawillputupmessagesaskingyoutoputtheblankdisk
intothedriveandaskingyoutoconfirmthatyouwanttoerasethedisk: click
onOK(orContinueinWorkbench 1.3)andtheprocesswillstart.
Theformattingprocedurewillnowclickawayquietly,andyouwillsee
acount-downonthescreenshowinghowfarithasgot. Onceithasformat
tedandcheckedall 80ofthetracksfromwhichadiskiscomposed
(numbered0to79)yourblankdiskwillbeAmigaformatandreadytouse.
1.6 Disk swapping and requesters
Ifyou'veonlygotonediskdrive,youwilloftenneedtoswapdisks.Thisis
becausetheAmigahastoreadsomethingfromonediskbeforeitcando
somethingtotheotherdisk.
Whenitwantsyoutoinsertadisk, theAmigawillputaboxwitha
messageinitontothescreen.Thisisknownasarequesterbecauseit's
requestingthatyoudosomething.
Adisk-swaprequestersays somethinglike 'InsertvolumeWorkbench
indrivedfO:' anditreferstothediskasavolumebecausethat'swhatthe
Amigacallsdisks.
Mostrequestersalsohaveareascalledbuttonsonwhichyouaresup
posedtoclicktogiveyourresponse.Thediskrequesterisnoexception-it
hastheoptions 'Cancel' and 'Retry' foryoutoclickon.However,the 'insert
disk' requesterisuniqueinthatifyouinsertthediskit'saskingfor,youdo
notneedtoclickoneitherofthebuttons,ever.
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1.7 Disks, drawers and files
It'simportanttoknowhowthestructureoffiles,drawersanddisksworks.
Basically,afileissomethingcreatedbyanotherprogram,althoughprograms
themselvesaregenerallytreatedasfileswhenitcomestodiskoperations
becausetheyworkexactlythesameway.
OnebasicprincipleoftheAmiga(and,indeed,allcomputers)isthatno
twofilesthatareinthesameplacecanhavethesamename.Thisispretty
obvious,ifyouthinkaboutit,becausehowwouldtheAmigaknowwhich
oneyouwanted?
Youcan,however,havetwofileswiththesamenamestoredonthe
samedisk-providedtheyareinseparatedrawers.Drawersarethereforyou
tostorefilesin,tokeepthemseparate.Youcanalsostoredrawersinside
otherdrawers.
Soadiskcancontainsimplyfiles,oritcancontaindrawersthatcontain
files.Usedrawerstoorganiseyourfiles-keepallyourDPaimpicsinone
drawerandallyourwordprocessordocumentsinanother,forexample.
1.8 Creating a new drawer
Youcan'tcreatedisks,obviously: andyoucan'tcreatefilesfrom
Workbench(theyhavetobecreatedbyaprogram).Andstrangelyenough,
ownersofWorkbench 1.3can'tcreateanewdrawereither:youhaveto
duplicatetheEmptydrawerthat'stherealready(that'swhatthatEmpty
drawerislyingaroundfor,ifyou'deverwondered).
ButifyouhaveWorkbench2,youcancreatenewdrawersonadisk.
Allyouhavetodoismakesurethatthewindow(foradiskoranother
drawer)thatyouwanttocreateyourdrawerinisselected('active',asit's
alsocalled)thenchoosetheNewdraweroptionfromtheWindowmenu.
Aboxwillappearaskingyoutonamethedrawer: getridofthename
'Unnamedl'byusingtheDeletekeyandthentypeinwhatevernameyou
wanttocallyourdrawer.ThenclickontheOKbutton.
