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My top 5 AmigaOS tools that I wouldn't want to miss

Written on September 13, 2025

I've noticed that in forums and an social media often questions occur like, “What are the first tools you install after a new AmigaOS installation?” or “What tools are essential for your Amiga?” There will often be some overlap, but everyone will still answer this question a little differently. And that's exactly what I want to do here.

I could name many tools that I personally consider important or helpful on an Amiga, and maybe I'll continue that one day. But in order not to make this text too long, I have limited myself to 5 top tools that I wouldn't want to be without on my Amiga.

Before I begin, I would like to point out once again that tools such as LHA, LZX, and UNZIP are, of course, indispensable, but since they are so essential, I will refrain from mentioning them explicitly. Incidentally, I feel the same way about MUI, which has long been the basis for many wonderful Amiga programs.

My top 5 tools at a glance

The order here is meaningless. I listed the tools as they came to mind. The focus was on tools that are particularly helpful and make working with AmigaOS more enjoyable.

1. FBlit

2. FText

3. Magic Menu II

4. Stack Attack 2

5. ClickToFront

The tools in detail

FBlit & FText

I would like to present the first two tools together, as FText depends on FBlit and basically does the same thing. After unpacking, both tools are moved to the C: directory. In order for them to work correctly, they must be entered in the s/startup-sequence, preferably before “BindDrivers” and in this order:

C:FBlit

C:FText

What FBlit does is patch some operating system functions so that they can use the CPU or Fast RAM instead of the Blitter, thus using less or no Chip RAM. If you have less than 2 MB of Chip RAM, you may have noticed from time to time how quickly this memory can be used up. But even on systems with 2 MB of Chip RAM, it can be useful to always have a little more Chip RAM available, for example for Chip RAM-hungry WHDLoad games.

FText basically does the same thing as FBlit, only, as the name suggests, with regard to text. FText renders text in Fast RAM with the help of FBlit.

Together, these two tools not only provide significantly more available chip RAM on systems with enough Fast RAM, but also speed up the system somewhat.

However, the installation described above is not enough. The system is already optimized at this point, but there is more that can be done, which I didn't know before and where my efforts to optimize my system always ended at this point.

Thanks to FBlit, other applications can also be persuaded to use less chip RAM and more Fast RAM.

If you run C:FBlit again after booting, an FBlitGUI window appears and offers numerous configuration options. At this point, however, it should be noted that you should know what you are doing, as you can also “break” the system. If necessary, you will have to remove the entries from the s/startup-sequence if the system becomes unusable.

Click on “FAllocBitMap” in the list on the left and then on the “Lists” tab on the top right. Now two more tabs appear: “Include List” and “Exclude List.”

In the first list, you can enter applications that you want FBlit to optimize, and in the second, those that you don't want to optimize. The reason for this is that some applications may not function properly otherwise, which sometimes manifests itself in display errors.

At the bottom, you will see a drop-down field labeled “Add:”. This displays all open processes that you can add to the include list (or exclude list). If you want to optimize a specific application, start it before FBlitGUI, add it, and then click on “Save.” Done!

Magic Menu II

One thing I really appreciate about AmigaOS is the MacOS-like menu bar, which dynamically adapts to the currently active application. But I don't like how this bar works at all.

I always have to move the mouse pointer to the top of the screen and hold down the right mouse button to activate a menu item in a menu. This works well in itself, but it gets very annoying when you have to use the menu frequently and maybe even dig around in submenus.

After unzipping, Magic Menu II can be copied to the SYS:WBStartup directory so that it loads automatically when booting. This means that the menu not only moves with your mouse pointer like a context menu when you press the right mouse button, but the tool also offers numerous visual and functional configuration options. It's best to play around with it a bit to find the optimal configuration for you.

Personally, I prefer the options that make my menus “sticky.” This means that the menu, whether at the top of the screen or where the mouse pointer is currently located, does not disappear immediately when the right mouse button is released. I love it!

Stack Attack 2

Have you ever started applications that informed you that they require a stack of at least ?????, but the current configuration only provides ?????, with a gentle reminder that this may lead to errors and crashes? You are not alone. This behavior occurs particularly frequently on systems that use numerous tools that patch system functions.

Stack Attack 2 automatically changes the stack that is passed to certain system routines. You can also specify a minimum size for the tool to assign to a program and how many bytes it should increase the stack by if this is not sufficient. Personally, I have had very good results with the automatic setting so far.

After unzipping, copy either “StackAttack” or “StackAttack_020” to C: depending on which CPU you have, and rename the file there to ‘StackAttack’ if necessary. Then open the s/startup-sequence and search for the line “SetPatch”. Make a new entry directly after the "SetPatch" line:

C:StackAttack

Now search for the line “LoadWB” and make the following entry directly before it:

C:StackAttack AUTO

From now on, the tool should do its job automatically and you can enjoy more peace and quiet.

ClickToFront

You don't need to download this tool or extracty any archives, this tool comes with your AmigaOS and only needs to be activated. I think it's included from AmigaOS 3.1 onwards, but please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm using version 3.2.

The tool “ClickToFront” is located in SYS:Tools/Commodities. You can decide for yourself whether to copy or move it from there to SYS:WBStartup. Personally, I prefer to make a copy in case I accidentally delete it from the WBStartup folder in a rush. In any case, it now always starts invisibly when booting.

What it does is quite simple: sometimes you have several windows open that overlap. And sometimes the situation is so awkward that you first have to send windows to the background in order to access a specific window. This can be quite annoying in the long run. With ClickToFront, all you have to do is double-click anywhere on the visible corner of a window and it will be moved to the front. I never want to be without it again!

The End

I'm not telling you anything new here, and many of you will already be familiar with these tools, but perhaps not everyone. I'll be introducing more tools at some point.