Amiga System Libraries Overview
This table lists the system libraries, devices and resources, along with a brief description of their function and version information. Full details of the use of the libraries can be found in the Amiga Reference manuals.
Points to note:
- Many libraries are commonly used on systems that initially didn't ship with them, e.g. GadTools is available for OS 1.x systems.
- Some libraries (e.g. exec.library) were part of the OS earlier than V33 (1.2), but 1.2 is considered as the first widely released version and is thus listed as the introduction date.
- Resources are specific to certain hardware, so their direct use should be avoided if compatibility with different systems is desired. Generally there's a higher level method of accessing the features that should be preferred, e.g. accessing battmem.resource will fail on machines with no non-volatile RAM, but using nonvolatile.library instead will instead redirect the calls to a disk-based resource on such machines.
- Some modules have significant changes between versions, so software written for later versions may not work, even if the library is present on earlier systems.
| Name | Location | First Introduced | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| amigaguide.library | Disk | 39 (3.0) | Provides functions for using AmigaGuide hypertext help files |
| asl.library | Disk | 36 (2.0) | Provides the standard file, drawer, screenmode and font requesters |
| audio.device | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides access to and control of the audio hardware |
| battclock.resource | ROM | 36 (2.0) | Governs access to using the on-board RTC |
| battmem.resource | ROM | 36 (2.0) | Governs access to the non-volatile RAM on some machines |
| bullet.library | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides functions for additional font use, e.g. scalable fonts |
| card.resource | ROM | 37 (2.05) | Governs access to the PCMCIA port |
| cd.device | ROM (extended) | 40 (3.1) | Provides the interface for accessing the CD32 CD-ROM drive |
| cia.resource | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides control of CIA interrupts |
| clipboard.device | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides access to the system clipboard |
| commodities.library | Disk | 36 (2.0) | Provides functions for the commodities framework of communication, hotkeys, Exchange and I/O hooks |
| console.device | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides access to the standard console interface |
| datatypes.library | Disk | 39 (3.0) | Provides functions for using datatypes to load and save information in a variety of formats via the DataTypes system |
| disk.resource | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Governs access to the standard floppy drives |
| diskfont.library | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides functions for loading bitmap fonts from disk |
| dos.library | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides functions for file access and manipulation of disk structures, process loading, shell I/O and other low-level functionality |
| exec.library | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Core of the OS, provides memory, process, library and low-level messaging functions |
| expansion.library | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides functions for dealing with the configuration of hardware (AutoConfig) |
| filesys.resource | ROM | 34 (1.3) | Used for coordinating the loading of filesystems while booting from hard drives |
| gadtools.library | ROM | 36 (2.0) | Provides the standard GadTools gadgets and menus |
| gameport.device | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides access to the standard controller ports |
| graphics.library | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides functions for drawing graphics to a rastport |
| hdwrench.library | Disk | 44 (3.5) | Provides functions for HDToolbox for supporting large hard drives |
| icon.library | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides functions for manipulating and reading Workbench icons and their associated information |
| iffparse.library | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides functions for reading and parsing IFF-formatted files |
| input.device | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides a standard interface for handling user input from the keyboard and mouse |
| intuition.library | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides the key user interface handling functions, e.g. windows, menus, screens, events |
| keyboard.device | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides a low-level interface for the keyboard, including buffering incoming keypresses |
| keymap.library | ROM | 36 (2.0) | Provides functions for translating keypresses according to the system keyboard preferences |
| layers.library | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides functions for handling overlapping areas of the screen graphics (e.g. intuition windows) |
| locale.library | Disk | 38 (2.1) | Provides functions for localisation of programs |
| lowlevel.library | ROM | 40 (3.1) | Provides improved functions for reading input devices, including CD32 controller support |
| mathffp.library | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides fast floating point maths functions |
| mathieeedoubbas.library | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides basic IEEE double-precision floating point functions |
| mathieeedubtrans.library | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides IEEE double-precision trigonometry floating point functions |
| mathieeesingbas.library | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides basic IEEE single-precision floating point functions |
| mathieeesingtrans.library | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides IEEE single-precision trigonometry floating point functions |
| mathtrans.library | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides floating point trigonometry functions |
| misc.resource | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Governs access to various hardware features |
| narrator.device | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides an interface to the standard speech synthesis system |
| nonvolatile.library | ROM | 40 (3.1) | Provides functions for using non-volatile storage |
| parallel.device | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides a standard interface for the parallel port |
| printer.device | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides a standard interface for the printing system |
| potgo.resource | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides functions for controlling the analogue pot pins of the controller ports |
| realtime.library | ROM | 37 (2.04) | Provides clock and timer functions |
| resource.library | Disk | 44 (3.5) | Provides functions for working with BOOPSI objects |
| rexxsyslib.library | Disk | 36 (2.0) | Provides the core functions for ARexx |
| serial.device | Disk | 33 (1.2) | Provides a standard interface for the serial port |
| timer.device | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides a standard interface for the system timers |
| trackdisk.device | ROM | 33 (1.2) | Provides a standard interface for low-level access to floppy drives |
| utility.library | ROM | 36 (2.0) | Provides functions for dealing with tag lists, and other functions like string handling routines and maths routines |
| workbench.library | ROM ->39 (3.0)
ROM 40 (3.1) non-A4000 Disk 40 (3.1) A4000 Disk 44 (3.5 / 3.1.4)-> |
36 (2.0) | Provides additional Workbench functionality, e.g. extra menu items, AppIcons and drag & drop to applications |
