Workbench Release 2.0, v36.68 (Kickstart 36.141)
Release date: 1990 Kickstart / SuperKickstart disk, new software
Shipped with: Early Amiga 3000s only.
Major enhancements:
  • New 3D look throughout with the blue (highlights/selection), gray (fill/backgrounds), and black-and-white (3D) color scheme.
  • Reworked icons and mouse pointer.
  • Boot menu added (allowed selection of boot device, and disabling/enabling of devices and the Startup-sequence).
  • Standard GUI gadgets via GadTools in Kickstart ROM.
  • Overhauled menu system/organization.
  • New "Zoom" window gadget.
  • Revised Fast File System (FFS).
  • Show files without icons.
  • Preferences individualized; new ones introduced.
  • Standard file and font requesters.
  • Integration of ARexx, the scripting language.
  • New screen modes, up to 1280x512 in PAL (Super High-Res mode). Ability to create screens larger than the physical resolution.
  • Better memory management, the FastMemFirst and MergeMem tools were no longer needed.
Screenshot:

Kickstart Menu/
Boot Screen
for Workbench
2.x or 1.3		Note early,
foreshortened
separator bar
for menu items
Hidden messages: see Workbench 2.04
Media information:
Descriptions and Part Numbers
Three (OFS) DS/DD diskettes
A3000 Install Disk
PN: 335603-02
PN: 335603-03
V2.6C		Workbench
Version 2.0
PN: 317235-01		Extras
Version 2.0
PN: 317954-01
Amiga Workbench
Version 2.0
PN: 317954-03
REV36.69D		A3000 Workbench V2.0
PN: 317954-02
International A3000		Extras Version 2.0
PN: 317235-02
International A3000
Notes/comments:
  1. Workbench 2.0 version 36.1, 36.68 was the first official release of the redesigned Workbench (a number of beta releases had already been out up to this point).
  2. Workbench 2.0 required a hardware-based v1.4 ROM chip to get the Amiga 3000 booting before 2.0 could be soft-kicked. Rodney Hester notes that the Amiga 3000 ROM Tower was actually 1.4 beta 3.
  3. Holger Kruse posted on comp.sys.amiga.misc on September 11, 1999: "Commodore never bumped version numbers between beta versions and release versions. 2.0 and 3.0 were both official release versions, not beta versions. However they were not available for all Amigas (2.0 only for Amiga 3000, 3.0 only for Amiga 1200/Amiga 4000), because the functionality was considered incomplete or transient. Even 2.0 was arguably not a beta version, because at the time Commodore had a policy of distributing beta versions, and even gamma versions, only to registered developers. However, Amiga 3000 owners were made aware of the transient and incomplete nature of 2.0, and advised to use 1.3 for "production work". :-)"