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Setting up UAE

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MickGyver edited this page Feb 19, 2026 · 5 revisions

Installation and setup

  1. Install WinUAE (version 5.3.10 or older) or FS-UAE (Windows, MacOS, Linux). As of now, this extension has issues with WinUAE newer than 5.3.10, so you need to use that version or older. The most recent version of FS-UAE should be fine.

  2. Install Amiga OS (3.x) and Blitz Basic 2 or AmiBlitz 3.x. You can get an updated installation package (that includes an updated pdf manual) for Blitz Basic 2 here.

  3. Ensure that AREXX is started with WorkBench. The line:

    SYS:System/RexxMast >NIL:

    should exist in either S/startup-sequence or S/user-startup. If not, add it to the end of user-startup.

  4. WinUAE: set serial port to TCP://0.0.0.0:1234 and select "Direct" below the drop down box (Settings / Host / IO ports). Deselect any other options for the serial port. Save the WinUAE configuration and quit WinUAE. Open the configuration file in a text editor and add the following to the configuration file manually (under the other lines concerning serial):

    serial_translate=crlf_cr

    For version 0.11.0 (and above) the serial_translate line should not be needed.

    NOTE: You need to ensure that your firewall/antivirus allows network traffic for WinUAE.

    FS-UAE: In the tab 'Additional Configuration', click the gear icon to open the Custom Configuration window. Add the line:

    serial_port = tcp://127.0.0.1:1234

  5. Create the file DEVS:MountList on the virtual harddrive with the following content (if it does not already exist):

    AUX:
Handler = L:Aux-Handler
Stacksize = 1000
Priority = 5

  6. Add the following commands to the end of S:user-startup

    mount aux:
newshell aux:

  7. Add a virtual hard disk pointing to the folder containing your Blitz Basic 2 or AmiBlitz 3 projects (this folder can have sub folders with code).

    This same folder must be your Visual Studio Code workspace folder.

    The device name and volume label of the virtual harddrive must match the "Shared Folder" setting for this extension. By default, the folder is named SharedCode but you can change this in the settings for the extension (on user or workspace level).

  8. For AmiBlitz, you must create an AmiBlitz: assign in your user-startup, similar to the Blitz: assign that is created automatically during installation of Blitz Basic 2. The assign must point to your Amiblitz installation folder. Like this (AmiBlitz installed in the DH0:Apps folder):

    ASSIGN AmiBlitz: DH0:Apps/AmiBlitz

    For Amiblitz, you also have to set a screenmode of 16 colors or more, otherwise you will get a nag screen that will break the automation.

Launching UAE Automatically

UAE can be launched automatically if you enter a full command line for UAE in the settings for this extension. UAE needs to be launched with a configuration file that has everything setup for Blitz Basic 2 development, and it needs to be launched without showing the GUI. For Windows something like this would do:

C:\WinUAE\winuae.exe -config=C:\WinUAE\Configurations\A1200BlitzBasic.uae -s use_gui=no

For Ubuntu Linux (FS-UAE installed using Snap):

/snap/bin/fsuae.fs-uae ~/snap/fsuae/common/FS-UAE/Configurations/A1200.fs-uae

For FS-UAE on MacOS:

open -n /Applications/FS-UAE.app --args ~/Documents/FS-UAE/Configurations/A1200.fs-uae

Activating UAE (bringing UAE to front)

UAE should come into focus automatically on Windows and MacOS without the need for any configuration. On Linux, you need to install xdotool and add execute permissions to the following script:

~/.vscode/extensions/mickgyver.amiga-blitzbasic2*/resources/scripts/activate.sh

MacOS, the script used is the one shown below. It should work as is.

~/.vscode/extensions/mickgyver.amiga-blitzbasic2*/resources/scripts/activate.osa

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