This tutorial will show you how to get a copy of the Amiga Kick.ROM image(s) the legal way. As the Amiga Kick.ROM is still under copyright and due to Amiga Technologies demanding that anyone distributing these files ceases doing so imediately we cannot disclose information on how to illegally find these files OR distribute them through ALE.

The KICK.ROM file is required by all current Amiga emulators and can be classed as the brains of the Amiga. So why and what does it do? this rom is stored on a tiny crystal on the main Amiga board (usually 512Kbs) and controls all the devices connected both internally and externally to the Amiga computer - without this crystal the Amiga wouldn't work. It's pretty easy to see why people who download WinUAE without the kick.rom are having problems getting programs to run.

You will need the following to follow this tutorial:

• A real Amiga computer (A500+/A600/A1200)
• Workbench 2.0+
• CrossDOS
• TransROM (comes with WinUAE)

Once you have all of the above proceed to the guide.

Now this is pretty simple but also easy to mess up - don't worry it won't damage your Amiga.

First of all you will need to copy the TransROM executable from your WinUAE directory onto a 720KB formatted PC disk - if you don't have access to any 720KB disks then grab a 1.44 and cover then non-tabbed side of the disk, now format it as a 720KB floppy and bingo.

Now you will need to fire up the real Amiga and insert your Workbench disks, Once Workbench has loaded double click the Workbench disk and open the System folder now double click Shell or CLI (depending on your version of Windows).

The following window should pop-up:

Remember that file you copied to the 720KB formatted disk? this file then needs transferring over to your real Amiga so in the AmigaShell type:

• Mount PC0:

Insert the disk with TransROM on into your internal Amiga drive, which can now read and write to/from 720KB PC disks and type:

• PC0:
• COPY TRANSROM RAM:

Now we need to rip the Kick.ROM and store it on your RAM drive (easy access). So type the following in the AmigaShell window:

• RAM:
• TRANSROM RAM:KICK.ROM

Your Amiga will be busy for a few seconds depending on the model you are ripping from. You should now find a file named KICK.ROM in the RAM drive - this file needs to be transferred from the RAM drive to your PC, this is were CrossDOS comes in handy.

In the AmigaDOS Shell type:

• RAM:
• COPY KICK.ROM PC0:

Bingo!, one KICK.ROM copied to your PC disk - simply insert this disk back into your PC and copy the KICK.ROM to your WinUAE directory.

Note: The above tutorial is designed for use on machines with Kickstart 2.0 and above only.