../Collecting icons/Amiga conversion
Amiga conversion
[*zenogias:] Basically, this is difficult. But there's some options.
[*zenogias:] Basically, this is difficult. But there's some options.
First, about the Amiga and its icons. An Amiga is a different computer, though a lot of hardware doesn't differ with your pc. It's said to be a cheap and good alternative, but the world won't see, it's future is uncertain... Anyway, archives are packed with LHA, thus can be opened with most .zip utilities. The icons inside are .info files, and there's no way to get the images directly out on a pc, yet.
Original Amiga icons are 16 colors. Also these colors are taken from the "workbench" on the computer (it contains a palette), so icons can look completely different on another Amiga. The NewIcons utility adds a palette to the icon that's independent of the computer, and adds support for 256 colors. Cool feature: there's two versions of the icons inside. When selected the icon can display another image. Also sizes may very much differ with normal Windows sizes. Amiga icons can have all different sizes and don't need to be square... taken all this, the way these icons act can only be emulated using DesktopX. But there's icons more traditional available too.
Original Amiga icons are 16 colors. Also these colors are taken from the "workbench" on the computer (it contains a palette), so icons can look completely different on another Amiga. The NewIcons utility adds a palette to the icon that's independent of the computer, and adds support for 256 colors. Cool feature: there's two versions of the icons inside. When selected the icon can display another image. Also sizes may very much differ with normal Windows sizes. Amiga icons can have all different sizes and don't need to be square... taken all this, the way these icons act can only be emulated using DesktopX. But there's icons more traditional available too.
Well, you'll need an emulator. There's a decent one available for free, WinUAE. Get it. You'll also need a kickstart ROM image and Workbench .adf file, from an Amiga you own - they're not free... read the documentation on this. No further investigation required, because there's...
..Amiga in a Box. It's hard to get WinUAE to do what you want, it's kinda difficult to configure. "AIAB" is coming to the rescue with a full set of configurations, included applications - that's also the Newicons utility - and I don't know what else, but it's running and looking good now (thanks!). Download the executable and be sure to read the readme and you'll have it done soon.
Last, you'll need a copy of "Iconian", an Amiga tool to edit (new)icons. It's got no homepage and there's some different versions around, you'll need the latest. Since it may be distributed, find it here.
Extract the file. There's an automatic installer inside, which may work, but didn't over here... to check and/or correct, here's what to do manually:
You'll need to get the two versions of the icons out seperately. Then... ACDSee and Paint Shop Pro recognize the ".iff" format, also IrfanView is a good choice. It's free and also converts to other formats; batch conversion is easy.
..Amiga in a Box. It's hard to get WinUAE to do what you want, it's kinda difficult to configure. "AIAB" is coming to the rescue with a full set of configurations, included applications - that's also the Newicons utility - and I don't know what else, but it's running and looking good now (thanks!). Download the executable and be sure to read the readme and you'll have it done soon.
Last, you'll need a copy of "Iconian", an Amiga tool to edit (new)icons. It's got no homepage and there's some different versions around, you'll need the latest. Since it may be distributed, find it here.
Extract the file. There's an automatic installer inside, which may work, but didn't over here... to check and/or correct, here's what to do manually:
- Move all the files in Iconian\classes to Workbench\classes
- Move all the files in Iconian\gadgets to Workbench\classes\gadgets
- In Iconian\libs, rename guigfx.library.000 to guigfx.library, and render.library.000 to render.library, and move them to Workbench\libs (different libraries for different CPUs)
- Move the "Iconian" and "Iconian.info" files to Workbench\tools
You'll need to get the two versions of the icons out seperately. Then... ACDSee and Paint Shop Pro recognize the ".iff" format, also IrfanView is a good choice. It's free and also converts to other formats; batch conversion is easy.
You might have the latest free version of this operating system, BeOS 5 personal edition, allready installed. It installs on a Windows partition.
Now you'll need AmigaIcon, a freeware application that will read and convert .info files, also has support for NewIcons.
Now associate this application with .info files. Not comfortable with BeOS, I used the "open with" option on a .info file and selected "DataTranslations". Now set to show both versions of the icon and select the latest palette. When .info files are opened now you'll see two versions of the icons and can save as .tga, .bmp and .png. .Jpeg and .ppm are options also; first isn't a good choice when it comes to good color conversion, don't know about the second. Both versions of the icon of the icon get converted, which is kinda easy... I could settle with this method until something better comes up :).
Now you'll need AmigaIcon, a freeware application that will read and convert .info files, also has support for NewIcons.
Now associate this application with .info files. Not comfortable with BeOS, I used the "open with" option on a .info file and selected "DataTranslations". Now set to show both versions of the icon and select the latest palette. When .info files are opened now you'll see two versions of the icons and can save as .tga, .bmp and .png. .Jpeg and .ppm are options also; first isn't a good choice when it comes to good color conversion, don't know about the second. Both versions of the icon of the icon get converted, which is kinda easy... I could settle with this method until something better comes up :).
Directory Opus 6 is the latest version of the long running file manager series, finally ported to PC. Since it's been around on the Amiga so long, it makes sense that they'd build in Amiga icon viewing support.
If you switch on image thumbnail mode, the icons are displayed like normal picture files - and if you click on one, you get the "clicked" version of the icon, as you'd expect :) No easy conversion built in, though. You can view the icon file in the built in picture viewer, then copy across to a paint program or your icon creation software, and work from there - but you won't get to see the 'clicked version', as it can't be opened in the picture viewer.
The other downside is that DOpus is commercial software, and expensive too. It's worth it as an all-round program (very powerful!), but not just for this limited icon conversion, of course. There's a 30-day evaluation version available though, so you can still try it out - it's worth it.
If you switch on image thumbnail mode, the icons are displayed like normal picture files - and if you click on one, you get the "clicked" version of the icon, as you'd expect :) No easy conversion built in, though. You can view the icon file in the built in picture viewer, then copy across to a paint program or your icon creation software, and work from there - but you won't get to see the 'clicked version', as it can't be opened in the picture viewer.
The other downside is that DOpus is commercial software, and expensive too. It's worth it as an all-round program (very powerful!), but not just for this limited icon conversion, of course. There's a 30-day evaluation version available though, so you can still try it out - it's worth it.