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Best Launcher?
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 6:13 am
by NightShadowPT
Hi,
I've been wanting to configure a launcher with my Amiga core to allow me boot directly into it and select Games and Demos without having to use the keyboard or mouse.
I know that there are many Amiga launchers, but I wanted to hear your opinion on what would be the best.
I heard the following would be a good fit:
- Tiny Launcher
Arcade Game Selector
Amiga Xbench
Any thoughts?
Cheers!
Re: Best Launcher?
Posted: Mon Dec 21, 2020 9:56 am
by KnC
Arcade Game Selector is the cleanest looking and the best on amiga but that is only my opinion but the longest and more manual work needed
Tiny Launcher you just need to tell it where games and demos are and it will scan and add them for you but the interface is not as nice as AGS imo
xbench is pretty much same as tiny launcher but unless you pay for it has a pop up spoiling the experience a little
Re: Best Launcher?
Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 1:23 pm
by kolla
TinyLauncher is wicked, it just assigns env: to ram: for no good reason, leaving the system in confusion.
Re: Best Launcher?
Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:53 am
by NightShadowPT
kolla wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 1:23 pm
TinyLauncher is wicked, it just assigns env: to ram: for no good reason, leaving the system in confusion.
Can you elaborate a bit more on this?
Re: Best Launcher?
Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:42 am
by kolla
NightShadowPT wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:53 am
kolla wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 1:23 pm
TinyLauncher is wicked, it just assigns env: to ram: for no good reason, leaving the system in confusion.
Can you elaborate a bit more on this?
If you look inside the binary TinyLauncher.exe, you will find two strings "C:Assign ENV: RAM:" and "C:Assign T: RAM:", these are commands that are executed when TinyLauncher.exe starts.
ENV: is where AmigaOS stores global variables, and is normally (in S:startup-sequence), assigned to RAM:Env, and T: is assigned to RAM:T. On boot, content of ENVARC: (typically assigned to sys:prefs/env-archive) is copied to ENV:, this include all system prefs located in ENV:Sys
When TinyLauncher.exe moves the assign from RAM:Env to just RAM:, all system prefs are also essentially temporarely lost. The reason TinyLauncher does this is probably to avoid requesters when launched as first command in startup-sequence, but it should really check whether the assigns already exists before just setting them on its own. My work-around has been to make a wrapper script S:Assign, and just edit the TinyLauncher.exe and replace C:Assign with S:Assign.
Re: Best Launcher?
Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 12:44 pm
by NightShadowPT
kolla wrote: ↑Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:42 am
If you look inside the binary TinyLauncher.exe, you will find two strings "C:Assign ENV: RAM:" and "C:Assign T: RAM:", these are commands that are executed when TinyLauncher.exe starts.
(..)
I see, thanks for the explanation.
I probably won't feel the effect of this too much because I'll have a different HDF for the games launcher and another one to play with the OS.
Thanks for taking the time to share the details nonetheless.
Cheers,
Re: Best Launcher?
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 11:54 pm
by gibs
kolla wrote: ↑Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:42 am
NightShadowPT wrote: ↑Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:53 am
kolla wrote: ↑Mon Dec 28, 2020 1:23 pm
TinyLauncher is wicked, it just assigns env: to ram: for no good reason, leaving the system in confusion.
Can you elaborate a bit more on this?
If you look inside the binary TinyLauncher.exe, you will find two strings "C:Assign ENV: RAM:" and "C:Assign T: RAM:", these are commands that are executed when TinyLauncher.exe starts.
ENV: is where AmigaOS stores global variables, and is normally (in S:startup-sequence), assigned to RAM:Env, and T: is assigned to RAM:T. On boot, content of ENVARC: (typically assigned to sys:prefs/env-archive) is copied to ENV:, this include all system prefs located in ENV:Sys
When TinyLauncher.exe moves the assign from RAM:Env to just RAM:, all system prefs are also essentially temporarely lost. The reason TinyLauncher does this is probably to avoid requesters when launched as first command in startup-sequence, but it should really check whether the assigns already exists before just setting them on its own. My work-around has been to make a wrapper script S:Assign, and just edit the TinyLauncher.exe and replace C:Assign with S:Assign.
I will correct that in the next release.
BTW you can test my latest release which allow you to play without the black borders .
You can also scan your games from the Shared forlder directly in the ExtFat partition (usefull to drop your games by FTP like for the other consoles).
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