While installing all the latest goodies can be very helpful, it can also be challenging to keep evrything up to date. An important bit of knowledge in this task is the version of a particular file. While the Amiga of course, has a version command, it has a few "issues" which make it less than ideal. Most important, is the inability to accurately report the version of a file on disk when that file is loaded into memory. For instance, if you run program foobar, which uses foobar.library, then run the version command on the new version of foobar.library which you've just downloaded, the version command will report the old version, since it is in memory. Luckily, there is a solution, VersionWB, available on aminet:
This Gift-Ware program, by H�kan Parting, not only provides more complete and accurate info, but it can be run from the workbench or shell, and features a filename requester, packed file support via XFD, and can set filenote and filedate to match the version information. See Figure 1 for the VersionWB requester.
Figure 1:VersionWB
Icon Redux
(I know, I've covered most of this before, but I wanted to reiterate it in a little more detail, since this provides the foundation for later glory.)
One of the fundamentals of the graphical interface is the venerable icon. Since the icon plays such a large role in using the Workbench, we'll start our customization there. Aside from the original Amiga icons, there are basically two different icon camps. The Magic Workbench and the NewIcons camps feature different technologies, artistic sensibilities and even philosophies. I've covered these two contenders in past episodes, so I won't go into great depth on either, but will just make a few observations.
The Magic Workbench icons generally have a more subtle color palette, and a stamped semi-3D look. They are also usually wider than they are tall. They are rather distinct in look and feel from the Mac or Windows icons. To get the best, you need careful control of your Workbench palette, which is provided via a patch which locks certains colors. See Figure 2 for a screenshot with the Magic Workbench treatment.
Figure 2:Magic Workbench
NewIcons on the other hand, uses a more sophisticated, perhaps more intrusive approach. NewIcons adds palette information to the icons, which allows the system to render the icon colors much more accurately, regardless of the palette. The icons in the NewIcons package have a completely different look than the Magic Workbench. They are generally more colorful, are taller than wide, and bear a certain resemblance to Windows icons. See Figure 3 for the NewIcons touch.
Figure 3:NewIcons
When people discuss NewIcons vs Magic Workbench, it's generally taken as an either/or kind of thing. But in fact, you can use both together quite nicely. If you want the advantages of the NewIcons system, but like the Magic Workbench icons, it is perfectly possible to convert the Magic Workbench icons to NewIcons. It's a fair amount of work to be sure, but there are a couple of programs that will help.
One such program is MWB2NI, written by, this little freeware program will convert 8 color Magic Workbench icons into NewIcons:
Whatever Icons you prefer, I recommend Iconian as an icon editor. Originally programmed by Chad Randall, and now in the hands of Dominique Dutoit, Iconian has a wealth of features, including support of NewIcons. Iconian can be very help in creating your own NewIcons, and converting Magic Workbench or other icons to NewIcons. Iconian has all the usual drawing tools, including freehand, lines, boxes, fill, multiple undo, many color remapping options plus a raft of other options for dealing with all aspects of Icon creation. It does have a few bugs, but nothing else is as handy, particularly for NewIcons. See Figure 4 for a screenshot.
If you want to change the look of your icons, without messing up their tooltypes or other settings, you might want to download Icon Installer. This handy program features a drag and drop interface, drag the original icon to the right window, the new icon to the left window, and click install. Icon Installer support normal and NewIcon icons, and is very helpful when changing your icon scheme. See Figure 5 for the Icon Installer window.
One final program in the icon department, again by Chad Randall. If you're not happy with NewIcons or Magic Workbench icons, or any of the other designs, perhaps you like to have something completely different. How about making icons out of pictures? PictIcon takes an image, and converts it to an Icon. It has lots of options to specify quality, dithering, size etc, support NewIcons, and can give you a completely unique look. See Figure 6 for some samples.
Although many of you out there refuse to answer the call, if you want access to many of the programs on Aminet, you will need to download MUI. Like Class Act, MUI is a development tool for programmers to help in the making of interfaces. MUI is rather larger than Class Act, and can be a bit slow on lesser Amigas, but the registered user nearly total customization of the interface, including fonts, backgrounds, gadgets, etc.
Another important addon is Class Act. This is a GUI development tool, and consists of various classes which aid programmers in making modern interfaces for their programs. You should download and install the latest classes (they're free), since many useful programs need them, such as the NewIcons preferences. You can get the latest classes at:
http://www.thule.no/classact/
Typecast your Data
Finally, lets have a look at datatypes. The Amiga's datatype system is very useful, but to really get the most from it requires heading to Aminet for some serious enhancing. There are dozens of datatypes for all sorts of purposes, including almost every exotic image format, animations and mpegs, Mac and PC sound formats, and even datatypes for compression, binary and postscript files.
For this episode, I'm going to cover just a few of the datatypes in the visual area. First of all, the main dataype library has an update on Aminet, written by Roland Mainze, with several bug fixes and enhancements. This is not an official upgrade, but appears to be reuqired by several programs, including Nova Design's ImageFX.
Next we need to update the picture.datatype. The original picture.datatype has some limitations, including the inability to accept 24 bit IFF pictures. Note, if you are using the CyberGrafx software, then you should be using Ralph Schmidt's Picture.datatype:
If you're using the Picasso96 software, then you already have the 24 bit picture.datatype.
For the rest of us, first download and unpack the Picasso96 archive. Do not attempt to install! Just copy the picture.datatype to your Classes/DataTypes drawer.
That takes care of the general upgrade. Now we need to look at specific datatypes for each picture format we would like. First of course, we should have a 24 bit capable ILBM/IFF datatype. Stephen Rupprecht has provide just such an animal.
Note, for awhile, this datatype gave me fits. At some point in the development, the author disabled native Amiga support, which through me for a loop when I could no longer view IFF pictures. Luckily, the latest version now works with native Amiga chipsets again.
This brings up a good point. Always install and test one thing at a time, and make sure you back up your system regularly. It may be time consuming and inconveniant, but it will save you time in the long run when something goes wrong. You can trust me, something will eventually go wrong!
Once you have the ILBM datatype installed and working, then move on to other formats like JPEG, PNG, etc. For image formats that support 24 bit, like JPEG, PNG, TARGA and TIFF, look for datatypes which support the v43 standard. Some 24 bit capable datatypes:
