DISCUSSION
Overview
The Classic Support editions of Workbench 1.3 and 2.1 are made available to provide continued support to systems where the use of a newer version is not possible or desirable (e.g. for historical reasons, or for application compatibility).
Amiga Workbench 2.1 Disks Original request.Apps. Hi, I dusted of my Amiga 500+ and noticed that my Workbench disks are missing. Amiga Workbench 2.1 disks. Disclaimer 2006 - 2020 © oscomp.hu (1.47.1.) Oldschool Computer - Retro computer rulez!
System Requirements
Workbench 1.3 (two floppy disks) works on systems with a 1.2 or newer ROM ('Kickstart'). Even the oldest Amiga 500 and 2000 systems have at least a 1.2 ROM. This is the last series to support 256-KB ROM models like the Amiga 1000, which can be booted from a Kickstart 1.2 or 1.3 floppy disk.
Workbench 2.1 (five floppy disks, or a hard disk image) works on systems with a 2.04 or newer ROM. A 2.05 or newer ROM is required for IDE and PC Card (PCMCIA) support. This is the best Workbench version to expand models like the Amiga 600 to boot from hard disk or CompactFlash without needing to upgrade the ROM to the 3.x series.
Workbench 1.3 and 2.1 can boot on systems up to a 3.1 ROM ('Kickstart'), except on an Amiga 4000T model. The A-4000T, and newer ROM versions like 3.X need Workbench 3.1 or Workbench 3.X, which in the Amiga Forever Classic Support distribution include the required 'workbench.library' file.
Shared Improvements
Unlike the improved Workbench 3.1 set, where a combination of ROM enhancements and additional disk space provide the opportunity for additional enhancements, differences between the Classic support edition and the original versions by Commodore are minor.
Workbench 1.3 improvements include:
- Updated C/SetClock command (Y2K patch)
Workbench 2.1 improvements include:
- Updated C/Version command (Y2K patch)
Hard Disk Image (Workbench 2.1 Only)
The Amiga Forever 2.1 Classic Support hard disk image is the result of a full installation from the floppy disk set.
Depending on the desired video modes, one or more monitor files may need to be copied manually from 'Storage/Monitors' to 'Devs/Monitors'.
Support for Large Disks or Partitions
The maximum partition size supported by Workbench 2.1 is 2 GB. Disks larger than 4 GB are not supported. If you need to work with larger-capacity disks, consider an upgrade to Workbench 3.1 (which may require a newer ROM).
Emulation-Specific Changes
Workbench 1.3 and 2.1 versions that are included in the emulation environment of Amiga Forever include the above modifications which are shared with the Classic Support series, plus some emulation-specific changes which are not part of the Classic Support series:
- Added C/Shutdown command (for shutting down the session)
- Added C/GetHostVar command (for passing data from host to guest)
- Set default printer to EpsonQ (emulation has emulated EpsonQ printer)
- Updated S/Startup-Sequence to support Cloanto S/AFShared-Startup
- Updated S/Shell-Startup to support Cloanto UXCLI
- Removed C/FF from 1.3 (due to known issues in emulation environments)
For space reasons, these additional changes were applied to the preinstalled hard disk environments only:
Amiga Workbench 3.1 Adf
- Added C/LhA command (for extracting Amiga archives)
These additional changes were applied to Workbench 2.1 only:
- Restored licensed speech-synthesis files to Devs, L, Libs, Utilities
- Added Devs/DOSDrivers/Speak
- Edited SCSI_DEVICE_NAME in Tools/HDToolBox.info ('scsi.device' replaced with 'uaehf.device')
Slightly different hard disk image file names are used to differentiate between the Classic Support ('workbench-134.hdf' and 'workbench-210.hdf') and the emulation-enhanced ('workbench-135.hdf' and 'workbench-211.hdf') versions.
For more details on 'uaehf.device' vs. 'uaescsi.device' and other emulation-specific changes see:
Online Support
Each Classic Support set comes with a license key that can be used to download the same set again for recovery or update purposes. To register for support, please refer to cloanto.com/genuine.
Additional Enhancements
Workbench 1.3 and 2.1 aim to provide maximum compatibility and support for legacy requirements on even the oldest Amiga models. For this reason, only some required Y2K bug fixes have been applied. For additional enhancements, you may want to consider an upgrade to Workbench 3.1.